Antiquitates christianæ, or, The history of the life and death of the holy Jesus as also the lives acts and martyrdoms of his Apostles : in two parts. Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667. 1675 Approx. 3573 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 378 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A63641 Wing T287 ESTC R19304 11760153 ocm 11760153 48662 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A63641) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 48662) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 551:9) Antiquitates christianæ, or, The history of the life and death of the holy Jesus as also the lives acts and martyrdoms of his Apostles : in two parts. Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667. Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667. Great exemplar of sanctity and holy life according to the christian institution. Cave, William, 1637-1713. Antiquitates apostolicae, or, The lives , acts and martyrdoms of the holy apostles of our Saviour. Cave, William, 1637-1713. Lives, acts and martydoms of the holy apostles of our Saviour. [750] p. : ill., port. Printed by R. Norton for R. Royston ..., London : 1675. Part 1, subdivided into three sections, each with special t.p. Part 1, fifth edition. Reproduction of the original in Bristol Public Library, Bristol, England. Pt. 1: The great exemplar of sanctity and holy life according to the Christian institution / Jer. Taylor -- Pt. 2: Antiquitates apostolicae, or, The lives, acts and martyrdoms of the holy apostles of our Saviour / William Cave. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. 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Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Jesus Christ -- Biography. Bible. -- N.T. -- Biography. Apostles -- Early works to 1800. Fathers of the church -- Early works to 1800. 2000-00 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2001-00 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2001-07 Jason Bredle Sampled and proofread 2005-03 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Antiquitates Christianae : OR , THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF THE HOLY JESUS : AS ALSO THE LIVES , ACTS and MARTYRDOMS OF HIS APOSTLES . IN TWO PARTS . The First Part , containing the Life of CHRIST , Written by JER . TAYLOR , late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor . The Second , containing the Lives of the APOSTLES , with an Enumeration , and some Brief Remarks upon their first Successors in the Five Great APOSTOLICAL CHURCHES ; By WILLIAM CAVE , D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY . By whom also is added an APPARATUS , or Discourse Introductory to the whole Work , concerning the Three Great Dispensations of the Church , Patriarchal , Mosaical and Evangelical . Orig. c●ntr . Cels. lib. 1. d● Pr●●●● , p. 1 , 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON , Printed by R. Norton , for R. Royston , Bookseller to his most Sacred Majesty , at the Angel in Amen-Corner , M DC LXXV . THE ANNUNTIATION . Ave gratiâ plena ; Dominus tecum ; Benedicta tu inter mulieres . Hail thou full of grace . y e Lord is with thee ; Blessed art thou among women . Luke 1. 28. Will : Fathorne sculp . ANTIQUITATES CHRISTIANAE OR The Life and Death of the Holy JESUS AS ALSO The Lives Acts and Martyrdoms of his Apostles . London Printed for R : Royston at the Angell in Amen Corner . 1675. TO THE Right Honourable , and Right Reverend Father in God NATHANAEL , Lord BISHOP of DURHAM , And Clerk of the Closet to His MAJESTY . MY LORD , NOTHING but a great experience of Your Lordships Candor could warrant the laying what concernment I have in these Papers at Your Lordships feet . Not but that the subject is in it self Great and Venemble , and a considerable part of it built upon that Authority that needs no Patronage to defend it : But to prefix Your Lordships Name to a subject so thinly and meanly manag'd , may perhaps deserve a bigger Apologie than I can make . I have only brought some few scattered handfuls of Primitive Story , contenting my self to Glean , where I could not Reap . And I am well assur'd , that Your Lordships wisdom and love to Truth would neither allow me to make my Materials , nor to trade in Legends and Fabulous reports . And yet alas ! how little solid Foundation is left to Build upon in these matters ? So fatally mischievous was the carelessness of those who ought to have been the Guardians of Books and Learning in their several Ages , in suffering the Records of the Ancient Church to perish . Vnfaithful Trustees , to look no better after such Divine and inestimable Treasures committed to them . Not to mention those infinite Devastations that in all Ages have been made by Wars and Flames , which certainly have prov'd the most severe and merciless Plagues and Enemies to Books . By such unhappy accidents as these we have been robb'd of the Treasures of the wiser and better Ages of the World , and especially the Records of the first times of Christianity , whereof scarce any footsteps do remain . So that in this Enquiry I have been forc'd to traverse remote and desert paths , ways that afford little fruit to the weary Passenger : but the consideration , that it was Primitive and Apostolical , sweetned my journey , and rendred it pleasant and delightful . Our inbred thirst after knowledge naturally obliges us to pursue the notices of former times , which are recommended to us with this peculiar advantage , that the Stream must needs be purer and clearer , the nearer it comes to the Fountain ; for the Ancients ( as Plato speaks ) were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , better than we , and dwelt nearer to the Gods. And though'tis true the 〈◊〉 of those times is very obscure and dark , and truth oft covered over with heaps of idle and improbable Traditions ; yet may it be worth our labour to seek for a few Jewels , though under a whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heap of Rubbish . Is not the Gleaning of the Ancients ( say the Jews ) better than the Vintage of later times ? The very fragments of Antiquity are Venerable , and at once instruct our minds , and gratifie our curiosity . Besides , I was somewhat the more inclinable to retire again into these studies , that I might get as far as I could from the crowd and the noise of a quarrelsome and contentious Age. MY LORD , We live in times , wherein Religion is almost wholly disputed into talk and clamour , men wrangle eternally about useless and insignificant Notions , and which have no tendency to make a man either wiser or better . And in these quarrels the Laws of Charity are violated , and men persecute one another with hard names and characters of reproach , and after all consecrate their fierceness with the honourable title of Zeal for Truth . And what is yet a much sorer evil , the Peace and Order of an excellent Church , incomparably the best that ever was since the first Ages of the Gospel , is broken down , her holy Offices derided , her solemn Assemblies deserted , her Laws and Constitutions slighted , the Guides and Ministers of Religion despised , and reduc'd to their Primitive Character , The Scum and Off-scouring of the World. How much these evils have contributed to the 〈◊〉 and Impiety of the present Age , I shall not take upon me to determine . Sure I am , the thing it self is too sadly visible , men are not content to be modest and retired Atheists , and with the Fool to say only in their hearts , there is no God ; but 〈◊〉 appears with an open forehead , and disputes its place in every company , and without any regard to the Voice of Nature , the Dictates of Conscience , and the common sence of Mankind , men peremptorily determine against a Supreme Being , account it a pleasant divertisement to Droll upon Religion , and a piece of Wit to plead for Atheism . To avoid the 〈◊〉 and troublesome importunity of such uncomfortable Reflections , I find no better way , than to retire into those Primitive and better times , those first and purest Ages of the Gospel , when men really were , what they pretended to be , when a solid Piety and Devotion , a strict Temperance and Sobriety , a Catholick and unbounded Charity , an exemplary Honesty and Integrity , a great reverence for every thing that was Divine and Sacred , rendred Christianity Venerable to the World , and led not only the Rude and the Barbarous , but the Learned and Politer part of Mankind in triumph after it . But , My Lord , I must remember that the Minutes of great Men are Sacred , and not to be invaded by every tedious impertinent address . I have done , when I have begg'd leave to acquaint Your Lordship , that had it not been more through other mens fault than my own , these Papers had many Months since waited upon You in the number of those Publick Congratulations , which gave You joy of that great Place , which You worthily sustain in the Church . Which that You may long and prosperously enjoy , happily adorn , and successfully discharge to the honour of God , the benefit of the Church , and the endearing Your Lordships Memory to Posterity , is the hearty Prayer of , My Lord , Your Lordships faithfully devoted Servant , WILLIAM CAVE . TO THE READER . THE design of the following APPARATUS is only to present the Reader with a short Scheme of the state of things in the preceding periods of the Church , to let him see by what degrees and measures the Evangelical state was introduc'd , and what Methods God in all Ages made use of to conduct Mankind in the paths of Piety and Vertue . In the Infancy of the World he taught men by the Dictates of Nature , and the common Notices of Good and Evil ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Philo calls them , the most Ancient Law ) by lively Oracles , and great Examples of Piety . He set forth the Holy Patriarchs ( as Chrysostom observes ) as Tutors to the rest of Mankind , who by their Religious lives might train up others to the practice of Vertue , and as Physicians , be able to cure the minds of those , who were infected and overrun with Vice. Afterwards ( says he ) having sufficiently testified his care of their welfare and happiness by many instances of a wise and benign Providence towards them both in the land of Canaan and in Egypt , he gave them Prophets , and by them wrought Signs and Wonders , together with innumerable other expressions of his bounty . At last finding that none of these Methods did succeed , not Patriarchs , not Prophets , not Miracles , not daily Warnings and Chastisements brought upon the World , he gave the last and highest instance of his love and goodness to Mankind , he sent his only begotten Son out of his own bosom , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the great Physician both of Soul and Body , who taking upon him the form of a Servant , and being born of a Virgin , conversed in the World , and bore our sorrows and infirmities , that by rescuing Humane Nature from under the weight and burden of Sin , he might exalt it to Eternal Life . A brief account of these things is the main intent of the following Discourse , wherein the Reader will easily see , that I considered not what might , but what was fit to be said , with respect to the end I designed it for . It was drawn up under some more disadvantageous circumstances , than a matter of this nature did require ; which were it worth the while to represent to the Reader , might possibly plead for a softer Censure . However such as it is , it is submitted to the Readers Ingenuity and Candor . W. C. IMPRIMATUR . THO. TOMKYNS . Ex AEd. Lambeth . Feb. 25. 1674. AN APPARATUS OR Discourse Introductory TO THE Whole WORK , concerning the Three Great Dispensations OF THE CHURCH , PATRIARCHAL , MOSAICAL , and EVANGELICAL . SECT . I. Of the PATRIARCHAL Dispensation . The Tradition of Elias . The three great Periods of the Church . The Patriarchal Age. The Laws then in force natural or positive . Natural Laws what ; evinced from the testimony of natural conscience . The 〈◊〉 Precepts of the Sons of Noah . Their respect to the Law of Nature . Positive Laws under that dispensation . Eating Blood why prohibited . The mystery and signification of it . Circumcision when commanded and why . The Laws concerning Religion . Their publick Worship what . Sacrifices in what sence natural , and how far instituted . The manner of God's testifying his acceptance . What the place of their publick Worship . Altars , and Groves whence . Abraham's Oke , its long continuance , and destruction by Constantine . The Original of the Druids . The times of their religious Assemblies . In process of time , Genes . 4. what meant by it . The Seventh Day whether kept from the beginning . The Ministers of Religion , who . The Priesthood of the first-born . In what cases exercised by younger Sons . The state of Religion successively under the several Patriarchs . The condition of it in Adam's Family . The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel , and their different success , whence . Seth , his great Learning and Piety . The face of the Church in the time of Enosh . What meant by , Then began Men to call upon the Name of the Lord. No Idolatry before the Flood . The Sons of God , who . The great corruption of Religion in the time of Jared . Enoch's Piety , and walking with God. His translation , what . The incomparable sanctity of Noah , and his strictness in an evil Age. The character of the men of that time . His preservation from the Deluge . God's Covenant with him . Sem or 〈◊〉 whether the Elder Brother . The confusion of Languages when , and why . Abraham's Idolatry and conversion . His eminency for Religion noted in the several instances of it . God's Covenant with him concerning the Messiah . The Piety of Isaac and Jacob. Jacob's blessing the twelve Tribes , and foretelling the Messiah . Patriarchs extraordinary under this dispensation . Melchisedeck who : wherein a type of Christ. Job , his Name , Country , Kindred , Quality , Religion , Sufferings ; when he lived . A reflection upon the religion of the old World , and its agreement with Christianity . GOD who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. For having created Man for the noblest purposes , to love , serve , and enjoy his Maker ; he was careful in all Ages by various Revelations of his Will to acquaint him with the notices of his duty ; and to shew him what was good , and what the Lord did require of him : till all other Methods proving weak and ineffectual for the recovery and the happiness of humane nature , God was pleased to crown all the former dispensations with the Revelation of his Son. There is among the * Jews an ancient Tradition of the House of Elias , that the World should last Six Thousand Years , which they thus compute , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Thousand Years empty , ( little being recorded of those first Ages of the World ) Two Thousand Years the Law , and Two Thousand the Days of the Messiah . A Tradition , which if it minister to no other purposes , does yet afford us a very convenient division of the several Ages and Periods of the Church , which may be considered under a three-fold Oeconomy , the Patriarchal , Mosaical , and Evangelical dispensation . A short view of the two former will give us great advantage to survey the later , that new and better dispensation which God has made to the World. 2. THE Patriarchal Age , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the Jews call it , the days of emptiness , commenced from the beginning of the World , and lasted till the delivery of the Law upon Mount Sinai . And under this state the Laws which God gave for the exercise of Religion , and the Government of his Church were either Natural , or Positive . Natural Laws are those innate Notions and Principles , whether speculative or practical , with which every Man is born into the World , those common sentiments of Vertue and Religion , those Principia justi & decori , Principles of fit and right , that naturally are upon the minds of Men , and are obvious to their reason at first sight , commanding what is just and honest , and forbidding what is evil and uncomely ; and that not only in the general , that what is good is to be embraced , and what is evil to be avoided , but in the particular instances of duty according to their conformity or repugnancy to natural light , being conversant about those things , that do not derive their value and authority from any arbitrary constitutions , but from the moral and intrinsick nature of the things themselves . These Laws , as being the results and dictates of right reason , are , especially as to their first and more immediate emanations , the same in all Men in the World , and in all Times and Places , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ' as the Jewes call them , Precepts that are evident among all Nations , indeed they are interwoven into Mens nature , inserted into the texture and constitution of their minds , and do discover themselves as soon as ever they arrive to the free use and exercise of their reason . That there are such Laws and Principles naturally planted in Mens breasts , is evident from the consent of Mankind , and the common experience of the World. Whence else comes it to pass , that all wicked Men even among the Heathens themselves , after the commission of gross sins , such as do more sensibly rouze and awaken conscience , are filled with horrours and fears of punishment ? but because they are conscious to themselves of having violated some Law and Rule of Duty . Now what Law can this be ? not the written and revealed Law , for this the Heathens never had : it must be therefore the inbred Law of Nature , that 's born with them , and fixed in their minds , antecedently to any external revelation . For when the Gentiles which have not the Law , do by nature ( by the light and evidence , by the force and tendency of their natural notions and dictates ) the things contained in the Law , these having not a Law , are a Law unto themselves , which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts , their conscience also bearing witness , and their thoughts , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the reasonings of their minds , in the mean while ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by turns ) accusing or else excusing one another ; that is , although they had not a written Law , as the Jewes had of old , and we Christians have at this day , yet by the help of their natural Principles they performed the same actions , and discharged the same Duties that are contained in , and commanded by the written and external Law , shewing by their practices that they had a Law ( some common notions of good and evil ) written in their hearts . And to this their very Consciences bear witness , for according as they either observe or break these natural Laws , their Consciences do either acquit or condemn them . Hence we find God in the very infancy of the World , appealing to Gain for the truth of this , as a thing sufficiently plain and obvious , Why art thou wroth , and why is thy countenance fallen ? if thou doest well , shalt thou not be accepted , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be lift up ? able to walk with a pleased and a chearful countenance the great indication of a mind satisfied in the conscience of its duty : but if thou doest not well , sin lies at the door ; the punishments of sin will be ready to follow thee , and conscience as a Minister of vengeance will perpetually pursue and haunt thee . By these Laws Mankind was principally governed in the first Ages of the World , there being for near Two Thousand Years no other fixed and standing Rule of Duty , than the dictates of this Law of Nature ; those Principles of Vice and Vertue , of Justice and Honesty , that are written in the heart of every Man. 3. THE Jewes very frequently tell us of some particular commands to the number of Seven , which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Precepts of the Sons of Noah , Six whereof were given to Adam and his Children , and the Seventh given to Noah , which they thus reckon up . The first was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning strange worship , that they should not give Divine honour to Idols , or the Gods of the Heathens , answerable to the two first commands of the Decalogue , Thou shalt have no other Gods but me ; thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image , nor the likeness of any thing , that is in . Heaven above , or in the Earth beneath , or in the Water under the Earth ; thou shalt not bow down thy self to them , or serve them : for , &c. From the violation of this Law it was that Job , one of the Patriarchs that lived under this dispensation , solemnly purges himself , when speaking concerning the worship of the Celestial Lights , the great if not only Idolatry of those early Ages , says he , if I beheld the Sun when it shined , or the Moon walking in her brightness , and my heart hath been secretly inticed , or my mouth hath kissed my hand , this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge , for I should have denied the God that is above . The second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning blessing , or worshipping , that they should not blaspheme the Name of God. This Law Job also had respect to , when he was careful to sanctifie his Children , and to propitiate the Divine Majesty for them every Morning , for it may be ( said he ) that my Sons have sinned , and cursed God in their hearts . The third was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the shedding of blood , forbidding Man-slaughter ; a Law expresly renewed to Noah after the Flood , and which possibly Job aimed at , when he vindicates himself , that he had not rejoyced at the destruction of him that hated him , or lift up himself when evil found him . Nor was all effusion of humane blood forbidden by this Law , capital punishments being in some cases necessary for the preservation of humane Society , but only that no Man should shed the blood of an innocent Person , or pursue a private revenge without the warrant of publick Authority . The fourth was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the disclosing of uncleanness , against filthiness and adultery , unlawful marriages , and incestuous mixtures : If mine heart ( says Job in his Apology ) hath been deceived by a Woman , or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door ; then let my Wife grind , &c. for this is an heinous crime , yea it is an iniquity to be punished by the Judges . The fifth was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning theft and rapine , the invading another Man's right and property , the violation of bargains and compacts , the falsifying a Man's word or promise , the deceiving of another by fraud , lying , or any evil arts . From all which Job justifies himself , that he had not walked with vanity , nor had his foot hasted to deceit , that his step had not turned out of the way , nor his heart walked after his eyes , nor any blot cleaved to his hands . And elsewhere he bewails it as the great iniquity of the Times , that there were some that removed the Land-marks , that violently took away the Flocks , and fed thereof , that drove away the Asse of the Fatherless , and took the Widows Oxe for a pledge , that turned the needy out of the way , and made the poor of the Earth hide themselves together , &c. The sixth was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning judgments , or the administration of Justice , that Judges and Magistrates should be appointed in every Place for the Order and Government of Civil Societies , the determination of Causes , and executing of Justice between Man and Man. And that such there then were , seems evident from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Job twice speaks of in one Chapter , the judged iniquity , which the Jewes expound , and we truly render , an iniquity to be punished by the Judges . The seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the member of any live-creature , that is , as God expresses it in the Precept to Noah , they might not eat the blood , or the flesh with the life thereof . Whether these Precepts were by any solemn and external promulgation particularly delivered to the Ante-deluvian Patriarchs ( as the Jewes seem to contend ) I will not say : for my part I cannot but look upon them ( the last only excepted ) as a considerable part of Nature's Statute-law , as comprizing the greater strokes and lineaments of those natural dictates that are imprinted upon the souls of Men. For what more comely and reasonable , and more agreeable to the first notions of our minds , than that we should worship and adore God alone , as the Authour of our beings , and the Fountain of our happiness , and not derive the lustre of his incommunicable perfections upon any Creature ; that we should entertain great and honourable thoughts of God , and such as become the Grandeur and Majesty of his being ; that we should abstain from doing any wrong or injury to another , from invading his right , violating his priviledges , and much more from making any attempt upon his life , the dearest blessing in this World ; that we should be just and fair in our transactions , and do to all men , as we would they should do to us ; that we should live chastely and temperately , and not by wild and extravagant lusts and sensualities offend against the natural modesty of our minds ; that Order and Government should be maintained in the World , Justice advanced , and every Man secured in his just possessions ? And so suitable did these Laws seem to the reason and understandings of Men , that the Jewes though the most zealous People under Heaven of their Legal Institutions , received those Gentiles who observed them as Proselytes into their Church , though they did not oblige themselves to Circumcision , and the rest of the Mosaic Rites . Nay in the first Age of Christianity , when the great controversie arose between the Jewish and Gentile-Converts about the obligation of the Law of Moses as necessary to salvation , the observation only of these Precepts , at least a great part of them , was imposed upon the Gentile-Converts as the best expedient to end the difference , by the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem . 4. BUT though the Law of Nature was the common Law by which God then principally governed the World , yet was not he wanting by Methods extraordinary to supply , as occasion was , the exigencies and necessities of his Church , communicating his mind to them by Dreams and Visions , and other ways of Revelation , which we shall more particularly remarque , when we come to the Mosaical Oeconomy . Hence arose those positive Laws which we meet with in this period of the Church , some whereof are more expresly recorded , others more obscurely intimated . Among those that are more plain and obvious two are especially considerable , the prohibition sor not eating blood , and the Precept of Circumcision , the one given to Noah , the other to Abraham . The prohibition concerning blood is thus recorded , every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you : but flesh with the life thereof , which is the blood thereof , shall you not eat . The blood is the vehiculum to carry the spirits , as the Veins are the channels to convey the blood , now the animal 〈◊〉 give vital heat and activity to every part , and being let out , the blood presently cools , and the Creature dies . Not flesh with the blood , which is the life thereof , that is , not flesh while it is alive , while the blood and the spirits are yet in it . The mystery and signification whereof was no other than this that God would not have Men train'd up to arts of cruelty , or whatever did but carry the colour and aspect of a merciless and a savage temper , lest severity towards Beasts should degenerate into fierceness towards Men. It 's good to defend the out-guards , and to stop the remotest ways that lead towards sin , especially considering the violent propensions of humane nature to passion and revenge . Men commence bloody and inhumane by degrees , and little approaches in time render a thing in it self abhorrent not only familiar , but delightful . The Romans who at first entertained the People in the 〈◊〉 only with wild Beasts killing one another , came afterwards wantonly to sport away the Lives of the Gladiators , yea to cast Persons to be devoured by Bears and Lions , for no other end than the divertisement and pleasure of the People . He who can please himself in tearing and eating the Parts of a living Creature , may in short time make no scruple to do violence to the Life of Man. Besides eating blood naturally begets a savage temper , makes the spirits rank and fiery , and apt to be easily inflamed and blown up into choler and fierceness . And that hereby God did design to bar out ferity , and to secure mercy and gentleness , is evident from what follows after : and surely your blood of your lives will I require : at the hand of every beast will I require it , and at the hand of Man , at the hand of every Man's brother will I require the life of man ; whoso sheddeth Man's blood , by Man shall his blood be shed . The life of a Beast might not be wantonly sacrificed to Mens humours , therefore not Man 's ; the life of Man being so sacred , and dear to God , that if kill'd by a Beast , the Beast it self was to dye for it ; if by man , that man's life was to go for retaliation , by man shall his blood be shed ; where by man we must necessarily understand the ordinary Judge and Magistrate , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jewes call it , the lower Judicature , with respect to that Divine and Superiour Court , the immediate judgment of God himself . By which means God admirably provided for the safety and security of Man's life , and for the order and welfare of humane society : and it was no more than necessary , the remembrance of the violence and oppression of the Nephilim or Giants before the Flood being yet fresh in memory , and there was no doubt but such mighty Hunters , men of robust bodies , of barbarous and inhumane tempers would afterwards arise . This Law against eating blood was afterwards renewed under the Mosaic Institution , but with this peculiar signification , for the life of the flesh is in the blood , and I have given it to you upon the Altar , to make an atonement for your souls ; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul : that is , the blood might not be eaten , not only for the former reason , but because God had designed it for particular purposes , to be the great Instrument of Expiation , and an eminent type of the Blood of the Son of God , who was to dye as the great expiatory Sacrifice for the World : Nay it was re-established by the Apostles in the infancy of Christianity , and observed by the Primitive Christians for several Ages , as we have elsewhere observed . 5. THE other Precept was concerning Circumcision , given to Abraham at the time of God's entring into Covenant with him . God said unto Abraham , Thou shalt keep my Covenant , &c. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you , and thy Seed after thee , every Man-child among you shall be circumcised : and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin , and it shall be a token of the Covenant betwixt me and you . God had now made a Covenant with Abraham to take his Posterity for his peculiar People , and that out of them should arise the promised Messiah : and as all foederal compacts have some solemn and external rites of ratification , so God was pleased to add Circumcision as the sign and seal of this Covenant , partly as it had a peculiar fitness in it to denote the promised Seed , partly that it might be a discriminating badge of Abraham's Children ( that part whom God had especially chosen out of the rest of Mankind ) from all other People . On Abraham's part it was a sufficient argument of his hearty compliance with the terms of this Covenant , that he would so chearfully submit to so unpleasing and 〈◊〉 a sign as was imposed upon him . For Circumcision could not but be both painful and dangerous in one of his Years , as it was afterwards to be to all new-born Infants : whence 〈◊〉 complained of Moses , commanding her to circumcise her Son , that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an husband of bloods , a cruel and inhumane Husband . And this the * Jewes tell us was the reason , why circumcision was omitted during their Fourty Years Journy in the Wilderness , it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of the trouble and inconvenience of the way , God mercifully dispensing with the want of it , 〈◊〉 it should hinder their travelling , the soarness and weakness of the circumcised Person not comporting with hard and continual Journies . It was to be administred the eighth day , not sooner , the tenderness of the Infant not well till then complying with it , besides that the Mother of a Male-child was reckoned legally impure till the seventh Day ; not later , probably because the longer it was deferred , the more unwilling would Parents be to put their Children to pain , of which they would every Day become more sensible , not to say the satisfaction it would be to them , to see their Children solemnly entred into Covenant . Circumcision was afterwards incorporated into the Body of the Jewish Law , and entertained with a mighty Veneration , as their great and standing Priviledge , relied on as the main Basis and Foundation of their 〈◊〉 , and hopes of acceptance with Heaven , and accounted in a manner equivalent to all the other Rites of the Mosaic Law. 6. BUT besides these two , we find other positive Precepts , which though not so clearly expressed , are yet sufficiently intimated to us . Thus there seems to have been a Law that none of the Holy Line , none of the Posterity of Seth should marry with Infidels , or those corrupt and idolatrous Nations which God had rejected , as appears in that it 's charged as a great part of the sin of the old World , that the Sons of God matched with the Daughters of Men , as also from the great care which Abraham took that his Son Isaac should not take a Wife of the Daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwelt . There was also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jus Levirationis , whereby the next Brother to him who died without Issue was obliged to marry the Widow of the deceased , and to raise up seed unto his Brother , the contempt whereof cost Onan his Life : together with many more particular Laws which the story of those Times might suggest to us . But what is of most use and importance to us , is to observe what Laws God gave for the administration of his Worship , which will be best known by considering what worship generally prevailed in those early Times ; wherein we shall especially remarque the nature of their publick Worship , the Places where , the Times when , and the Persons by whom it was administred . 7. IT cannot be doubted but that the Holy Patriarchs of those days were careful to instruct their Children , and all that were under their charge ( their Families being then very vast and numerous ) in the Duties of Religion , to explain and improve the natural Laws written upon their minds , and acquaint them with those Divine Traditions , and positive Revelations which they themselves had received from God : this being part of that great character which God gave of Abraham , I know him , that he will command his Children , and his Houshold after him , and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment . To this they joyned Prayer and Invocation , than which no duty is more natural and necessary ; more natural , because it fitly expresses that great reverence and veneration which we have for the Divine Majesty , and that propensity that is in Mankind to make known their wants : none more necessary , because our whole dependance being upon the continuance and constant returns of the Divine power and goodness , 't is most reasonable that we should make our Daily addresses to him , in whom we live , move , and have our being . Nor were they wanting in returns of praise , and solemn celebrations of the goodness of Heaven , both by entertaining high and venerable thoughts of God , and by actions suitable to those honourable sentiments which they had of him . In these acts of worship they were careful to use gestures of the greatest reverence and submission , which commonly was prostration . Abraham bowed himself towards the ground : and when God sent the Israelites the happy news of their deliverance out of Egypt , they bowed their Heads and worshipped . A posture which hath ever been the usual mode of adoration in those Eastern Countries unto this day . But the greatest instance of the Publick Worship of those times was Sacrifices ; a very early piece of Devotion , in all probability taking its rise from Adam's fall . They were either Eucharistical , expressions of thankfulness for blessings received , or expiatory , offered for the remission of sin . Whether these Sacrifices were first taken up at Mens arbitrary pleasure , or positively instituted and commanded by God , might admit of a very large enquiry . But to me the case seems plainly this , that as to Eucharistical 〈◊〉 , such as first-fruits , and the like oblations , Mens own reason might suggest and perswade them , that it was fit to present them as the most natural significations of a thankful mind . And thus far there might be Sacrifices in the state of Innocence : for Man being created under such excellent circumstances as he was in Paradise , could not but know that he owed to God all possible gratitude and subjection ; obedience he owed him as his Supreme Lord and Master , gratitude , as his great Patron and Benefactor , and was therefore obliged to pay to him some Eucharistical Sacrifices , as a testimony of his grateful acknowledgment , that he had both his being and preservation from him . But when sin had changed the scene , and Man-kind was sunk under a state of guilt , he was then to seek for a way how to pacifie God's anger : and this was done by bloody and expiatory sacrifices , which God accepted in the sinners stead . And as to these , it seems reasonable to suppose that they should be founded upon a positive Institution , because pardon of sin being a matter of pure grace and favour , whatever was a means to signifie and convey that , must be appointed by God himself , first revealed to Adam , and by him communicated to his Children . The Deity propitiated by these atonements was wont to testifie his acceptance of them by some external and visible sign ; Thus Cain sensibly perceived that God had respect to Abel's sacrifice , and not to his : though what this sign was , it is not easie to determine . Most probably it was fire from Heaven coming down upon the Oblation , and consuming it : For so it frequently was in the Sacrifices of the Mosaic dispensation , and so we find it was in that famous Sacrifice of Abraham , a Lamp of Fire passed between the parts of the Sacrifice . Thus when 't is said , God had respect to Abel and to his offering , Theodotion renders it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he burnt it ; and to this custome the Psalmist alludes in that Petition , Remember all thy offerings , and accept thy burnt Sacrifice , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reduce thy burnt-offering into ashes . 8. WHERE it was that this Publick Worship was performed , is next to be enquired into . That they had fixed and determinate Places for the discharge of their religious Duties , those especially that were done in common , is greatly probable , Nature and the reason of things would put them upon it . And this most think is intended in that phrase , where it is said of Cain and Abel , that they brought their oblations , that is , ( as Aben-Ezra and others expound it ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the place set apart for divine worship : And this probably was the reason , why Cain though vexed to the heart to see his Brother preferred before him , did not presently set upon him , the solemnity and religion of the Place , and the sensible appearances of the Divine Majesty having struck an awe into him , but deferred his murdrous intentions till they came into the Field , and there fell upon him . For their Sacrifices they had Altars , whereon they offered them , contemporary no doubt with Sacrifices themselves , though we read not of them till after the Flood , when Noah built an Altar unto the Lord , and offered burnt-offerings upon it : So Abraham immediately after his being called to the worship of the true God , in Sichem built an Altar unto the Lord , who appeared unto him , and removing thence , to a Mountain Eastward , he built another Altar , and called on the Name of the Lord , as indeed he did almost in every place where he came . Thus also when he dwelt at Beer-sheba in the Plains of Mamre , he planted a Grove there , and called on the Name of the Lord the everlasting God. This no doubt was the common Chappel or Oratory ; whither Abraham and his numerous Family , and probably those whom he gained to be Proselytes to his Religion were wont to retire for their publick adorations , as a Place infinitely advantageous for such Religious purposes . And indeed the Ancient devotion of the World much delighted in Groves , in Woods and Mountains , partly for the conveniency of such Places , as better composing the thoughts for divine contemplations , and resounding their joynt-praises of God to the best advantage , partly because the silence and retiredness of the Place was apt to beget a kind of sacred dread and horrour in the mind of the Worshipper . Hence we find in Ophrah where Gideon's Father dwelt , an Altar to Baal , and a Grove that was by it ; and how common the superstitions and idolatries of the Heathen-world were in Groves and High-places , no Man can be ignorant , that is never so little conversant either in prophane or sacred stories . For this reason that they were so much abused to idolatry , God commanded the Israelites to destroy their Altars , break down their Images , and cut down their Groves : and that they should not plant a Grove of any Trees near unto the Altar of the Lord , lest he should seem to countenance what was so universally prostituted to false worship and idolatry . But to return to Abraham . He planted a Grove , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tree , which the Ancients generally make to have been a large spreading Oake ; and some foundation there is for it in the sacred Text ; for the place where Abraham planted it is called the Plain of Mamre , or as in the Hebrew , he dwelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Oakes of Mamre , and so the Syriac renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The House of the Oake : The name whereof * Josephus tells us , was Ogyges ; and it is not a conjecture to be despised , that Noah might probably inhabit in this place , and either give the name to it , or at least derive his from it , Ogyges being the Name by which he is usually described in forreign Writers . This very Oake S. * Hierom assures us , and ‖ Eusebius intimates as much , was yet standing till the time of Constantine , and worshipped with great superstition . And * Sozomen tells us more particularly that there was a famous Mart held there every Summer , and a Feast celebrated by a general confluence of the neighbouring Countries , and Persons of all Religions , both Christians , Jews and Gentiles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one doing honour to this Place according to the different Principles of their Religion : but that Constantin being offended that the Place should be prophan'd with the superstitions of the Jews , and the idolatry of the Gentiles , wrote with some severity to Macarius the Bishop of Jerusalem , and the Bishops of Palestin , that they should destroy the Altars and Images , and deface all Monuments of Idolatry , and restore the Place to its ancient Sanctity . Which was accordingly done , and a Church 〈◊〉 in the Place , where God was purely and sincerely worshipped . From this Oake , the ordinary place of Abraham's worship and devotion , the Religion of the Gentiles doubtless derived its Oakes and Groves , and particularly the Druids , the great and almost only Masters and Directors of all Learning and Religion among the Ancient Brittains , hence borrowed their Original ; who are so notoriously known to have lived wholly under Oakes and Groves , and there to have delivered their Doctrines and Precepts , and to have exercised their Religious and mysterious Rites , that hence they fetched their denomination , either from 〈◊〉 ( as the Ancients generally thought ) or more probably from the old Cetlic word Deru , both signifying an Oake , and which the Welch , the Descendants of the Ancient Brittains , still call Derw at this day . But of this enough . 9. FROM the place where , we proceed to the times when they usually paid their Devotions . And seeing Order is necessary in all undertakings , and much more in the actions of Religion , we cannot think that Mankind was left at a roving uncertainty in a matter of so great importance , but that they had their stated and solemn times of Worship : especially when we find among all Nations , even the most rude and unpolished Heathens , times peculiarly set apart for the honour of their gods , and the publick solemnities of Religion . And so no question it was in the more early Ages of the World , they had fix'd and appropriate Seasons , when they met together to do homage unto God , and to offer up their joynt-acknowledgments to Heaven . Thus we read of Cain that he brought his oblation in process of time , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end of days , at one of those fixed and periodical returns , when they used to meet in the Religious Assemblies , the word 〈◊〉 denoting not simply an end , but a determinate and an appointed end . I know many with great zeal and eagerness contend , that the Sabbath or Seventh Day from the Creation was set apart , and universally observed as the time of Publick Worship , and that from the beginning of the World. But alas the foundation upon which this opinion is built , is very weak and sandy , having nothing to rely on , but one place where it is said , that God resting on the Seventh Day from all his Works , blessed the Seventh Day and sanctified it . Which words are reasonably thought to have been set down by Moses by way of Prolepsis , as it was in his time , if they relate at all to the 〈◊〉 , and are not rather to be understood of God's blessing and sanctifying the Seventh Day , as having compleated all his Works in the creating of Man and in whom as in the crown and glory of the Creation he would sanctifie himself . For that it should be meant of a Weekly Sabbath , hath as little countenance from this Text , as it hath from the practice of those times , there being no foot-steps or shadow of any such Sabbath kept through all the Patriarchal periods of the Church , till the times of Moses , which besides the evidence of the story , is universally owned by the Ancient Jewes , and very many of the Fathers do expresly assert it . 10. THE last circumstance concerns the Persons by whom the Publick Worship was administred . Impossible it is that any Society should be regularly managed , where there are not some peculiar Persons to 〈◊〉 , direct , and govern the affairs of it . And God who in all other things is a God of Order , is much more so in matters of Religion : and therefore no doubt from the beginning appointed those , whose care and business it should be to discharge the publick parts of Piety and Devotion in the name of the rest . Now the Priesthood in those times was vested in the Heads of Tribes , and in the first-born of every Family . To the Patriarch or Head of every Tribe it belonged to bless the Family , to offer Sacrifice , to intercede for them by Prayer , and to minister in other solemn acts of Religion . And this Office hereditarily descended to the first-born , who had power to discharge it during the life of his Father ; for it was not necessary , that he who was Priest by vertue of his primogeniture , should be also the eldest of the House , Jacob , who succeeded in his Brother 's right , offered Sacrifices in the life of his Father Isaac , and Abraham was a Priest , though Sem the Head of the Family , and ten degrees removed from him in a direct line , was then alive , yea survived Abraham near Forty Years . Every first-born had three great Prerogatives , a double portion of the Paternal inheritance a Lordship and Principality over his Brethren , and a right to the Priesthood , to instruct them in the knowledge of Divine things , and to manage the common Offices of Religion . So that in those times there was a particular Priesthood in every Family , the administration whereof was usually appropriate to the first born . Thus Noah , Abraham , and Isaac offered Sacrifices , and Job ( who lived about that time , or not long after ) both for his Children and his Friends . Thus 〈◊〉 was a Priest by his primogeniture , and that goodly Raiment of her Son Esau which Rebeccah put upon Jacob , when he went in to his Father , is by many not improbably understood of the Sacerdotal Vestments , wherein as first-born he was wont to execute his Office. Of these Priests we are to understand that Place , Let the Priests which come near to the Lord , sanctifie themselves . This could not be meant of the Levitical Priests , ( the Aaronical Order not being yet instituted ) and therefore must be understood of the Priesthood of the first-born , and so Solomon farchis gloss expounds it . Thus when Moses had built an Altar at the foot of the Mountain , he sent young men of the children of Israel , which offered burnt-offerings , and sacrificed peace-offerings unto the Lord. Where for young men , the Chaldee Paraphrase and the Hierusalem Targum have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first-born of the children of Israel ; so has that of Jonathan , who expresly adds this reason , for unto that very Hour the worship remained among the first-born , the Tabernacle of the Covenant not being yet made , nor the Aaronical Priesthood set up . So when Jacob bequeathed his blessing to Reuben , Reuben thou art my first-born , my might , and the beginning of my strength , the excellency of dignity , and the excellency of power , the same Jewish Paraphrasts tell us , that there were three things in this blessing conveyed and confirmed to Reuben , the Birth-right , the Kingdom , and the Priesthood , but that for his enormous and unnatural sin they were transferred to others , the primogeniture to Joseph , the Kingdom to Judah , and the Priesthood to Levi. But though the Sacerdotal function ordinarily belonged to the first-born , yet was it not so wholly invested in them , but that it might in some cases be exercised by younger Brothers , especially when passing into other Families , and themselves becoming Heads of Tribes and Families . Abraham we know was not a first-born , and it 's highly probable that Sem himself was not Noah's eldest Son , Moses was a Priest , yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jewes call him , the Priest of Priests , and yet was but 〈◊〉 second Son , and Aaron's younger Brother . So that the case in short seemed to lye thus . The Patriarch or surviving Head of every Tribe was a kind of High Priest over all the Families that were descended from him , the first-born in every Family was the ordinary Priest , who might officiate in his Father's stead , and who after his decease succeeded in his room , the younger Brethren , when leaving their Father's house , and themselves becoming heads of Families , and their seats removed too far distant to make use of the ordinary Priesthood , did themselves take the office upon them , and exercise it over all those that were under them , and sprung from them , though the main honour and dignity was reserved for the Priesthood of the first-born : Thus Abraham , though but a second Son , yet when become the head of a great Family , and removed into another Country , became a Priest , and that not only during the life of his Father , but of Sem himself , the grand surviving Patriarch of that time . I observe no more concerning this , than that this right of the first-born was a prime honour and priviledge , and therefore the reason ( 〈◊〉 the * Jews ) why Jacob was so greatly desirous of the birth right , was because in those days the Priesthood was entail'd upon it . And for this chiefly no doubt it was that Esau is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a prophane person , for selling his birth-right for a mess of Pottage , because thereby he made so light of the sacred honour of the Priesthood , the Venerable office of ministring before God. 11. HAVING thus seen what were the Laws , what the Worship of those times , it remains briefly to consider what was the face of the Church , and the state of Religion under the several Patriarchs of this Oeconomy . Not to meddle with the story either of the Creation or Apostasie of Adam , no sooner was he fallen from that innocent and happy state wherein God had placed him , but Conscience began to stir , and he was sensible that God was angry , and saw it necessary to propitiate the offended Deity by Prayer and Invocation , by Sorrow and Repentance , and probably by offering Sacrifice ; a conjecture that hath at least some countenance from those Coats of Skins wherewith God clothed our first Parents , which seem likely to have been the Skins of Beasts slain for Sacrifice ; for that they were not killed for food is evident , because flesh was not the ordinary diet ( if it was at all ) of those first Ages of the World. And God might purposely make choice of this sort of covering , to put our first Parents in mind of their great degeneracy , how deep they were sunk into the animal life , and by gratifying brutish and sensual appetites at so dear a rate , how like they were become to the Beasts that perish . And 〈◊〉 this were so , it possibly might give birth to that Law of Moses , that every Priest that offered any man's burnt-offering , should have to himself the skin of the burnt-offering which he had offered . But however this was , t is certain that Adam was careful to instruct his Children in the knowledge of Divine things , and to maintain Religion and the worship of God in his Family . For we find Cain and Abel bringing their oblations , and that at a certain time , though they had a different success . I omit the Traditions of the East , that the cause of the difference between Cain and Abel was about a Wife , and that they sought to decide the case by Sacrifice , and that when Abel's sacrifice was accepted , Cain out of envy and indignation fell upon his brother , struck his head with a stone , and slew him . The present they brought was according to their different ways and institutions of life : Cain as an Husbandman brought of the fruit of the ground , Abel as a Shepherd brought of the firstlings of his Flock , and of the fat thereof : But the one was accepted , and the other rejected . The cause whereof certainly was not that the one was little and inconsiderable , the other large and noble ; the one only a dry oblation , the other a burnt-offering ; or that Cain had entertained a conceived prejudice against his Brother ; the true cause lay in the different temper and disposition of their minds ; Abel had great and honourable thoughts of God , and therefore brought of the best that he had , Cain mean and unworthy apprehensions , and accordingly took what came first to hand ; Abel came with a grateful sense of the goodness of Heaven , with a mind piously and heartily devoted to the Divine Majesty , and an humble reliance upon the Divine acceptance ; Cain brought his oblation indeed , but looked no further , was not careful to offer up himself a living sacrifice , holy and acceptable to God , as being the most reasonable service , too confidently bearing up himself , as we may suppose , upon the prerogative of his primogeniture . By which means Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain , by which he obtained witness , that he was righteous , God testifying of his gifts . For he had respect unto Abel , and to his offering : But unto Cain , and to his offering he had not respect . And if in that fire , by which God testified his respect by consuming one oblation , and not the other , there was ( as the Jews say ) seen the face of a Lion , it doubtless prefigured the late promised Messiah , The Lion of the Tribe of Judah , our great expiatory sacrifice , of whom all other sacrifices were but types and shadows , and in whom all our oblations are rendred grateful unto God , The odour of a sweet smell , a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing unto God. 12. A. B. E. L being taken away by his envious and enraged Brother , God was pleased to repair the loss by giving his Parents another Son , whom they called Seth , and he accordingly proved a very Vertuous and Religious man. He was ( if we may believe the Ancients ) a great Scholar ; the first inventor of Letters , and Writing , an accurate Astronomer , and taught his Children the knowledge of the Stars , who having heard from their Grandfather Adam , that the World was to be twice destroyed , once by Fire , and again by Water ( if the story be true which Josephus without any great warrant reports ) wrote their Experiments and the principles of their Art upon two Pillars , one of Brick , the other of Stone , that if the one perished , the other might remain , and convey their notions to posterity , one of which Pillars Josephus adds , was said to be standing in Syria in his time . But that which rendred Seth most renowned , was his piety and devotion ; a good man he was , one who asserted and propagated Religion and the true worship of God , as he had received it from his Father Adam , notwithstanding the 〈◊〉 and degeneracy , and possibly oppositions of his Brother Cain and his party . The Eastern Writers , both Jews and * Arabians , confidently assure us , that Seth and his retinue withdrew from Cain , who dwelt in the Valley , where he had killed his brother Abel , into a very high mountain ( on the top whereof their Father Adam was buried ) so high , if we could believe them , that they could hear the Angels singing Anthems , and did daily joyn in with that Heavenly Quire. Here they wholly devoted themselves to the daily worship of God , and obtained a mighty name and veneration for the holiness and purity of their lives . When Seth came to lie upon his death-bed , he summoned his Children , their Wives and Families together , blessed them , and as his last Will commanded them to worship God , adjuring them by the bloud of Abel ( their usual and solemn oath ) that they should not descend from the holy Mount , to hold any correspondence or commerce with Cain or his wicked faction . And then breathed his last . A command , say my Authors , which they observed for seven generations , and then came in the promiscuous mixtures . 13. To Seth succeeded his Son Enos , who kept up the glory and purity of Religion , and the honour of the holy Line . Of his time it is particularly recorded , then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. The ambiguity of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying sometimes to prophane , sometimes to begin , hath begotten various apprehensions among learned men concerning this place , and led them not only into different , but quite contrary sences . The words are by some rendred thus , Then men prophaned in calling upon the name of the Lord ; which they thus explain , that at that time when Enos was born , the true worship and service of God began to sink and fail , corruption and idolatry mightily prevailing by reason of Cains wicked and apostate Family ; and that as a sad memorial of this corrupt and degenerate Age , holy Seth called his son's name Enosh , which not only simply signifies a man , but a poor , calamitous , miserable man. And this way go many of the Jews , and some Christian writers of great name and note . Nay Maimonides , one of the wisest and soberest of all the Jewish writers , begins his Tract about * Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the times of Enosh , referring to this very passage ; he tells us , that men did then grievously erre , and that the minds of the wise men of those days were grown gross and stupid ; yea , that Enos himself was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among those that erred , and that their Idolatry consisted in this , That they worshipped the Stars and the Host of Heaven . ‖ Others there are who expresly assert , that 〈◊〉 was the first that invented Images , to excite the Spirit of the Creatures , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by their mediation men might invocate and call upon God. But how infirm a foundation this Text is to build all this upon , is evident . For besides , what * some have observed , that the Hebrew phrase is not tolerably reconcileable with such a sence , if it were , yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one of the ‖ Rabbins has well noted , that there wants a foundation for any such exposition , no mention being made in Moses his story of any such false Gods as were then worshipped , no footsteps of Idolatry appearing in the World till after the Flood . Nor indeed is it reasonable to suppose , that the Creation of the World being yet fresh in memory , and Divine Traditions so lately received from Adam , and God frequently communicating himself to men , that the case being thus , men could in so short a time be fallen under so great an apostasie , as wholly to forget and renounce the true God , and give Divine honours to senseless and inanimate creatures ; I can hardly think that the Cainites themselves should be guilty of this , much less Enosh and his Children . The meaning of the words then is plainly this , That in Enosh his time the holy Line being greatly multiplied , they applied themselves to the worship of God in a more publick and remarkable manner , either by framing themselves into more distinct societies for the exercise of publick worship , or by meeting at more fixed and stated times , or by invocating God under more solemn and peculiar rites than they had done before . And this probably they did the rather , to obviate that torrent of prophaneness and impiety , which by means of the sons of Cain they saw flowing in upon the World. This will be further confirmed , if we take the words as by some they are rendred , then men began to be called by the name of the Lord , that is , the difference and separation that was between the children of Seth and Cain every day ripening into a wider distance , the posterity of Seth began to take to themselves a distinctive title , that the World might the better distinguish between those who kept to the service of God , and those who threw off Religion , and let loose the reins to disorder and impiety . And hereof we meet with clear intimation in the story of those times when we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of God ( who doubtless were the pious and devout posterity of Seth , calling themselves after the name of the Lord , whom they constantly and sincerely worshipped , notwithstanding the fancy of Josephus , and the Fathers , that they were Angels , or that of the Jewish Paraphrasts , that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of great men and Princes ) in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of men , the impure and debauched posterity of Cain , who made light of Religion , and were wholly governed by 〈◊〉 and sensual inclinations . And the matching of these sons of God with the daughters of men , that is , those of the Family of Cain , and the fatal consequences of those unhappy marriages , was that which provoked God to destroy the World. I have no more to add concerning Enosh , than that we are told , that dying he gave the same commands to his Children , which he had received of his Father , that they should make Religion their great care and business , and keep themselves pure from society and converse with the Line of Cain . 14. AFTER Enosh was his son Kenan , who , as the Arabian * Historian informs us , ruled the people committed to him by a wise and excellent government , and gave the same charge at his death that had been given to him . Next Kenan comes Mahalcleel , who carries devotion and piety in his very name , signifying , one that praises God , of whom they say , that he trained up the people in ways of justice and piety , blessed his Children at his death , and having charged them to separate from the Cainites , appointed his son Jared to be his successor ; whose name denotes a descent , probably either because of the notable decrease and declension of piety in his time , or because in his days some of the Sethites descended from the holy Mountain to mix with the posterity of Cain . For so the * Oriental writers inform us , that a great noise and shout coming up from the Valley , an hundred of the holy Mountaineers agreed to go down to the sons of Cain , whom Jared endeavoured to hinder by all the arts of counsel and perswasion . But what can stop a mind bent upon an evil course ? down they went , and being ravished with the beauty of the Cainite-women , promiscuously committed folly and lewdness with them ; from whence sprang a race of Giants , men of vast and robust bodies , but of more vicious and ungovernable tempers , who made their Will their Law , and Might the standard and rule of Equity . Attempting to return back to the holy Mount , Heaven had shut up their way , the stones of the Mountain burning like fire when they came upon them ; which whether the Reader will have faith enough to believe , I know not . Jared being near his death , advised his Children to be wise by the folly of their Brethren , and to have nothing to do with that prophane generation . His son Enoch followed in his steps , a man of admirable strictness and piety , and peculiarly exemplary for his innocent and holy conversation , it being particularly noted of him , that he walked with God : He set the Divine Majesty before him , as the guide and pattern , the spectator and rewarder of his actions , in all his ways endeavoured to approve himself to his All-seeing eye , by doing nothing but what was grateful and acceptable to him ; he was the great instance of vertue and goodness in an evil Age , and by the even tenor and constancy of a holy and a religious life shewed his firm belief and expectation of a future state , and his hearty dependence upon the Divine goodness for the rewards of a better life . And God , who is never behind-hand with his servants , crowned his extraordinary obedience with an uncommon reward . By faith Enoch was translated , that he should not see death , and was not found , because God had translated him : For before his translation he had this testimony , that he pleased God. And what that faith was , is plain by what follows after , a belief of God's Being and his Bounty , Without faith it is impossible to please him : For he that cometh to God , must believe that he is , and that 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 of them that diligently seek him . What this translation was , and whether it was made , whither into that Terrestrial Paradise out of which Adam was expelled and banished , and whereunto Enoch had desired of God he might be translated , as some fancy , or whether placed among the Stars , as others , or carried into the highest Heavens , as others will have it , were nice and useless speculations . 'T is certain he was taken out of these mutable Regions , and set beyond the reach of those miseries and misfortunes , to which a present state of sin and mortality does betray us ; translated , probably , both Soul and Body , that he might be a type and specimen of a future Resurrection , and a sensible demonstration to the World that there is a reward for the righteous , and another state after this , wherein good Men shall be happy sor ever . I pass by the fancy of the Jewes as vain and frivolous , that though Enoch was a good Man , yet was he very mutable and inconstant , and apt to be led aside , and that this was the reason , why God translated him so soon , lest he should have been debauched by the charms and allurements of a wicked World. He was an eminent Prophet , and a fragment of his Prophecy is yet extant in S. Jude's Epistle , by which it appears , that wickedness was then grown rampant , and the manners of men very corrupt and vicious , and that he as plainly told them of their faults , and that Divine vengeance that would certainly overtake them . Of Methuselah his Son nothing considerable is upon Record , but his great Age , living full DCCCCLXIX . Years ( the longest proportion which any of the Patriarchs arrived to ) and died in that very Year wherein the Flood came upon the World. 15. FROM his Son Lamech , concerning whom we find nothing memorable , we proceed to his Grand child Noah , by the very imposition of whose Name his Parents presaged that he would be a refreshment and comfort to the World , and highly instrumental to remove that curse which God by an Universal Deluge was bringing upon the Earth , he 〈◊〉 his Name Noah , saying , This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands , because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed ; he was one in whom his Parents did acquiesce and rest satisfied , that he would be eminently 〈◊〉 and serviceable to the World. Indeed he proved a person of incomparable sanctity and integrity , a Preacher of righteousness to others , and who as carefully practised it himself . He was a just man , and perfect in his generation , and he walked with God. He did not warp and decline with the humour of the Age he lived in , but maintained his station , and kept his Line . He was upright in his Generation . 'T is no thanks to be religious , when it is the humour and fashion of the Times : the great trial is , when we live in the midst of a corrupt generation . It is the crown of vertue to be good , when there are all manner of temptations to the contrary , when the greatest part of Men goe the other way , when vertue and honesty are laughed and drolled on , and censured as an over-wise and affected singularity ; when lust and debauchery are accounted the modes of Gallantry , and pride and oppression suffered to ride in prosperous triumphs without controll . Thus it was with Noah , he contended with the Vices of the Age , and dared to own God and Religion , when almost all Mankind besides himself had rejected and thrown them off . For in his time wickedness openly appeared with a brazen Forehead , and violence had covered the face of the Earth , the promiscuous mixtures of the Children of Seth and Cain had produced Giants and mighty Men , men strong to do evil , and who had as much will as power , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Josephus describes them , a race of men insolent and ungovernable , scornful and injurious , and who bearing up themselves in the confidence of their own strength , despised all justice and equity , and made every thing truckle under their 〈◊〉 lusts and appetites . The very same character does Lucian give of the Men of this Age , speaking of the times of Deucalion ( their Noah ) and the Flood , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( says he ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Men exceedingly scornful and contumelious , and guilty of the most unrighteous and enormous actions , violating all Oaths and Covenants , throwing off kindness and hospitality , and rejecting all addresses and supplications made to them . For which cause great miseries overtook them : for Heaven and Earth , Seas and Rivers conspired together to pour out mighty Floods upon the World ; which swept all away , but Deucalion only , who for his prudence and piety was left to repair Mankind . And so he goes on with the relation consonant to the account of the Sacred story . This infection had spread it self over all parts , and was become so general and Epidemical , that all Flesh had corrupted their ways , and scarce any besides Noah left to keep up the face of a Church , and the profession of Religion . Things being come to this pass quickly alarm'd the Divine Justice , and made the World ripe for vengeance ; the patience of God was now tired out , and he resolved to make Mankind feel the just effects of his incensed severity . But yet in the midst of judgment he remembers mercy : he tells them , that though he would not suffer his patience to be eternally prostituted to the wanton humours of wicked men , yet that he would bear with them CXX . Years longer in order to their reformation . So loth is God to take advantage of the sins of men , not willing that any should perish , but that all should come unto repentance . In the mean time righteous Noah found favour with Heaven ( a good man hath a peculiar guardianship and protection in the worst of times ) and God orders him to prepare an Ark for the saving of his House . An Hundred Years was this Ark in building , not but that it might have been finished in a far less time , but that God was willing to give them so long a space for wise and sober considerations , Noah preaching all the while both by his doctrine and his practice , that they would break off their sins by repentance , and prevent their ruine . But they that are filthy , will be filthy still ; the hardned World persisted in their impieties , till the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost ; and destroyed the World of the ungodly . God shut up Noah , his Wife , his three Sons and their Wives into the Ark , together with provisions , and so many Creatures of every sort as were sufficient not only for food , but for reparation of the kind ( Miracles must not be expected , where ordinary means may be 〈◊〉 ) and then opened the Windows of Heaven , and broke up the Fountains of the Deep , and brought in the Flood that swept all away . Twelve months Noah and his Family continued in this floating habitation ; when the Waters being gone , and the Earth dried , he came forth , and the first thing he did , was to erect an Altar , and offer up an Eucharistical Sacrifice to God for 〈◊〉 remarkable a deliverance ( some of the Jews tell us , that coming out of the Ark he was bitten by a Lion , and rendred unfit for Sacrifice , and that therefore Sem did it in his room ) he did not concern himself for food , or a present habitation , but immediately betook himself to his devotion . God was infinitely pleased with the pious and grateful sense of the good man , and openly declared that his displeasure was over , and that he would no more bring upon the World such effects of his severity as he had lately done , and that the Ordinances of Nature should duly perform their constant motions , and regularly observe their periodical revolutions . And because Man was the principal Creature in this lower World , he restored to him his Charter of Dominion and Soveraignty over the Creatures , and by enacting some Laws against Murder and Cruelty secured the peace and happiness of his life : and then established a 〈◊〉 with Noah and all Mankind , that he would no more drown the World , for the ratification and ensurance whereof he placed the Rain-bow in the Clouds , as a perpetual sign and memorial of his Promise . Noah after this betook himself to Husbandry , and planting Vineyards , and being unwarily overtaken with the fruit of the Vine , became a scorn to C ham one of his own Sons , while the two others piously covered their Fathers shame . A wakeing out of his sleep , and knowing what had been done , he prophetically cursed Cham and his Posterity ; blessed Sem , and in Japhet foretold the calling of the Gentiles to the worship of God , and the knowledge of the Messiah , that God should enlarge Japhet , and that he should dwell in the Tents of Shem. He died in the DCCCCL . Year of his Age , having seen both Worlds , that before the Flood , and that which came after it . 16. SEM and Japhet were the two good Sons of Noah , in the assigning whose primogeniture , though the Scripture be not positive and decretory , yet do the most probable reasons appear for Japhet , especially if we compute their Age. Sem was an Hundred Years old two Years after the Flood ( for 〈◊〉 he begat Arphaxad ) now the Flood hapned just in the DC . Year of Noah's Age ; whence it follows that Sem was born , when his Father was Five Hundred and Two Years old . But Noah being expresly said to have begotten Sons in the Five Hundredth Year of his Age , plain it is that there must be another Son two Years Elder than Sem , which could be no other than Japhet , Cham being acknowledged by all the Younger Brother . And hence it is that Sem is called , the Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Japhet the Greater , or as we render it , the Elder . They were both pious and devout Men , having been brought up under the religious Institutions , not only of their Father Noah , but their Grand-father 〈◊〉 , and their Great-grand-father Methuselah , who had for some Hundreds of Years conversed with Adam . The holy story records nothing concerning the state of Religion in their days , and little heed 〈◊〉 to be given to the Eastern Writers , when they tell us of Sem , that according to the command of his Father he took the Body of Adam , which Noah had secretly hidden in the Ark , and joyning himself to Melchisedec , they went and 〈◊〉 it in the heart of the Earth , an Angel going before , and conducting them to the placewith a great deal more , with little truth , and to as little purpose . As for the 〈◊〉 born after the Flood , little notice is taken of them besides the 〈◊〉 mention of their names , Arphaxad , Salah , Eber. Of this last they say , that he was a great 〈◊〉 , that he instituted Schools and Seminaries for the advancement and propagation of 〈◊〉 : and there was great reason for him to bestir himself , if it be true , what the Arabian Historians tell us , that now Idolatry began mightily to prevail , and men generally carved to themselves the Images of their Ancestors , to which upon all occasions they addressed themselves with the most solemn veneration , the Daemons giving answers through the Images wich they worshipped . Heber was the Father of the Jewish Nation , who from him are said to have derived the title of Hebrews , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Josephus tells us , ( though there want not those who assign other reasons of the name ) and that the Hebrew Language was preserved in his family , which till his time had been the mother-tongue , and the common Language of the World. To Eber succeeded his son Peleg , a name given him out of a Prophetical foresight of that memorable division that hapned in his time . For now it was that a company of bold daring persons combining themselves under the conduct and command of Nimrod , resolved to erect a vast and stupendous Fabrick , partly to raise themselves a mighty reputation in the World , partly to secure themselves from the Invasion of an after-deluge , and probably as a place of retreat and defence , the better to enable them to put in practice that oppression and tyranny which they designed to exercise over the World. But whatever it was , God was displeased with the attempt , and to shew how easily he can basfle the subtillest Councils , and in a moment subvert the firmest projects , on a sudden he confounded the Language of these foolish Builders , so that they were forced to desist from their vain and ambitious design , as not being able to understand and converse with one another . To Peleg succeeded his son Rehu , to 〈◊〉 Serug , to him 〈◊〉 , to Nachor Terah , who dwelt in Ur of the Chaldaeans , where conversing with those Idolatrous Nations , he laps'd himself into the most gross Idolatry . So apt are men to follow a multitude to do evil , so fatally mischievous is ill company , and a bad example . But the best way to avoid the plague , is to remove out of the house of infection . Away goes Terah to Haran , where by repentance he is said to have recovered himself out of the snare of the Devil . 17. ABRAHAM the second son of Terah succeeds in the Patriarchal Line . In his minority he was educated in the Idolatries of his Father's house , who , they say , was a maker of Statues and Images : And the * Jews tells us many pleasant stories of Abraham's going into the shop in the absence of his Father , his breaking the Images , and jeering those that came to buy , or worship them ; of his Father's carrying him to Nimrod to be punished , his witty answers , and miraculous escapes . But God who had designed him for higher and nobler purposes , called him at length out of his Father's house , fully discoverd himself to him , and by many solemn promises and federal compacts peculiarly engaged him to himself . He was a man intirely devoted to the honour of God , and had consecrated all his services to the interests of Religion , scarce any duty either towards God or men for which he is not eminent upon record . Towards God , how great was his zeal and care to promote his worship ? erecting Altars almost in every place , whereon he publickly offered his prayers and sacrifice . His love to God wholly swallowed up the love and regard that he had to his dearest interests , witness his intire resignation of himself , his chearful renouncing all the concernments of his Estate and Family , and especially his readiness to sacrifice his only son , the son of his old age , and which is above all , the son of the promise , when God by way of trial required it of him . How vigorous and triumpant was his faith , especially in the great promise of a son , which he firmly embraced against all humane probabilities to the contrary ? Against hope he believed in hope , and being strong in faith , gave glory to God. How hearty was his dependence upon the Divine Providence , when called to leave his Father's house , and to go into a strange Country , how chearfully did he obey and go out , though he knew not whither he went ? How unconquerable was his patience , how even the composure of his mind in all conditions ? in fifteen several journeys that he undertook , and ten difficult temptations which he underwent , he never betrayed the least murmuring or hard thought of God. Towards others he shewed the greatest tenderness and respect , the most meek and unpassionate temper , a mind inflamed with a desire of peace and concord : Admirable his justice and equity in all his dealings , his great hospitality and bounty towards strangers , and for that end ( say the Jews ) he got him an house near the entring into Haran , that he might entertain strangers as they went in , or came out of the City , at his own table ; as indeed he seems to have had that most excellent and Divine temper of mind , an universal love and charity towards all men . But his greatest charity appeared in the care that he took of the Souls of men . Maimonides tells us , that he kept a publick School of institution , whither he gathered men together , and instructed them in that truth , which he himself had embraced , and he gives us an account by what methods of reasoning and information he used to convince and perswade them . But whatever he did towards others , we are sure he did it towards those that were under his own charge . He had a numerous family , and a vast retinue , and he was as careful to inform them in the knowledge of the true God , and to instruct them in all the duties of Religion . 'T is the character which God himself gave of him , I know Abraham , that he will command his children , and his houshold after him , and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment . And so he did , his house being a School of piety , wherein Religion was both taught and practised , many reclaimed from the errors and idolatries of the times , and all his domesticks and dependants solemnly dedicated to God by Circumcision . Therefore when 't is said , that he brought with him all the Souls which they had gotten in Haran , the Paraphrase of Onkelos renders it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Souls which they had subjected to the Law in Haran ; Jonathans Targum , and much at the same rate that of Jerusalem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Souls which they had made proselytes in Haran , or as Solomon Jarchi expresses it , a little more after the Hebrew mode , the Souls which they had gathered , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the wings of the Divine Majesty ; and he further adds , that Abraham proselyted the men , and Sarah the women . So when elsewhere we read of his trained servants , some of the Jewish Masters expound it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that were initiated and trained up in the knowledge of the Law. Such being the temper of this holy man , God was pleased frequently to converse with him , and to impart his mind to him , acquainting him with the secret counsels and purposes of his Providence , whence he is stiled the friend of God. But that which shewed him to be most dear to Heaven , was the Covenant which God solemnly made with him , wherein binding Abraham and his seed to a sincere and universal obedience , he obliged himself to become their God , to be his shield and his exceeding great reward , to take his posterity for his peculiar people , to encrease their number , and to inlarge their power , to settle them in a rich and a pleasant Country ( a type of that Heavenly and better Country that is above ) and which was the crown of all , that in his seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed , that is , the promised Messiah should proceed out of his loins , who should be a common blessing to mankind , in whom both Jew and Gentile should be justified and saved , and he by that means become ( spiritually ) the Father of many Nations . This Covenant was ratified and ensured on God's part by a solemn oath , For when God made promise to Abraham , because he could swear by no greater , he sware by himself , saying , Surely blessing I will bless thee , and multiplying I will multiply thee . On Abraham's part it was sealed with the Sacrament of Circumcision , which God instituted as a peculiar federal rite , to distinguish Abraham's posterity from all other people . Abraham died in the 〈◊〉 year of his Age , and was buried in the Sepulchre which himself had purchased of the sons of Heth. Contemporary with Abraham was his Nephew Lot , a just man , but vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked ; for dwelling in the midst of an impure and debauched generation , In seeing and hearing he vexed his righteous Soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds . This endeared him to Heaven , who took a particular care of him , and sent an Angel on purpose to conduct him and his family out of Sodom , before he let loose that fatal vengeance that overturned it . 18. Abraham being dead , Isaac stood up in his stead , the son of his Parents old age , and the fruit of an extraordinary promise . Being delivered from being a sacrifice , he frequented ( say the Jews ) the School of Sem , wherein he was educated in the knowledge of Divine things till his marriage with Rebeccah . But however that was , he was a good man , we read of his going out to meditate or pray in the field at even-tide , and elsewhere we find him publickly sacrificing and calling upon God. In all his distresses God still appeared to him , animated him against his fears , and encouraged him to go on in the steps of his Father , renewing the same promises to him which he had made to Abraham . Nay , so visible and remarkable was the interest which he had in Heaven , that Abimelech King of the Philistines and his Courtiers thought it their wisest course to confederate with him for this very reason , because they saw certainly that the Lord was with him , and that he was the blessed of the Lord. Religion is the truest interest , and the wisest portion , 't is the surest protection , and the safest refuge . When a man's ways please the Lord , he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him . Isaac dying in the CLXXX , year of his life , the Patriarchate devolved upon his son Jacob , by vertue of the primogeniture which he had purchased of his brother Esau , and which had been confirmed to him by the grant and blessing of his Father ( though subtilly procured by the artifice and policy of his Mother ) who also told him , that God Almighty would bless and multiply him and his seed after him , and that the blessing of Abraham should come upon them . He intirely devoted himself to the fear and service of God , kept up his Worship , and vindicated it from the incroachments of Idolatry , he erected Altars at every turn , and zealously purged his house from those Teraphim or Idols which Rachel had brought along with her out of Laban's house , either to prevent her Father's enquiring at them which way Jacob had made his escape , or to take away from him the instruments of his Idolatry , or possibly that she might have wherewith to propitiate and 〈◊〉 her Father in case he should pursue and overtake them , as Josephus thinks , though surely then she would have produced them , when she saw her Father so zealous to retrieve them . He had frequent Visions and Divine condescensions , God appearing to him , and ratifying the Covenant that he had made with Abraham , and changing his name from Jacob to Israel , as a memorial of the mighty prevalency which he had with Heaven . In his later time he removed his family into Egypt , where God had prepared his way by the 〈◊〉 of his son Joseph to be Vice-Roy and Lord of that vast and fertile Country , advanced to that place of state and grandeur by many strange and unsearchable methods of the Divine Providence . By his two Wives , the Daughters of his Uncle Laban , and his two Handmaids he had twelve Sons , who afterwards became founders of the Twelve Tribes of the Jewish Nation ; to whom upon his death-bed he bequeathed his blessings , consigning their several portions , and the particular fates of every Tribe , among whom that of 〈◊〉 is most remarkable , to whom it was foretold , that the 〈◊〉 should arise out of that Tribe , that the Regal Power & Political Soveraignty should be annexed to it , and remain in it till the 〈◊〉 came , at whose coming the Scepter should depart , and the Law-giver from between his knees : And thus all their own Paraphrasts , both Onkelos , Jonathan , and he of Jerusalem do expound it , that there should not want Kings or Rulers of the house of Judah , nor Scribes to teach the Law of that race , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the time that 〈◊〉 the King shall come , whose the Kingdom is . And so it accordingly came to pass , for at the time of Christ's Birth , Herod , who was a stranger , had usurped the Throne , debased the Authority of their great Sanhedrim , murdered their Senators , devested them of all Judiciary power , and kept them so low , that they had not power 〈◊〉 to put a man to death . And unto him shall the gathering of the people be . A prophecy exactly accomplished , when in the first Ages of Christianity the Nations of the World 〈◊〉 to the standard of Christ at the publication of the Gospel . Jacob died CXLVII . years old , and was buried in Canaan , in the Sepulchre of his Fathers : After whose decease his posterity for some hundreds of years were afflicted under the Egyptian yoke . Till God remembring the Covenant he had made with their Fathers , powerfully rescued them from the Iron Furnace ; and conducted them through the wilderness into the Land of Promise , where he framed and ordered their Commonwealth , appointed Laws for the government of their Church , and setled them under a more fixed and certain dispensation . 19. HITHERTO we have surveyed the state of the Church in the constant succession of the Patriarchal Line . But if we step a little further into the History of those times , we shall find that there were some extraordinary persons without the Pale of that holy Tribe , renowned for the worship of God , and the profession of Religion ; among whom two are most considerable , Melchisedeck and Job . Melchisedeck was King of Salem in the land of Canaan , and Priest of the most high God. The short account which the Scripture gives of him hath left room for various fancies and conjectures . The opinion that has most generally obtained is , that Melchisedeck was Sem , one of the sons of Noah , who was of a great Age , and lived above LXX . years after Abraham's coming into Canaan , and might therefore well enough meet him in his triumphant return from his conquest over the Kings of the Plain . But notwithstanding the universal authority which this opinion assumes to it self , it appears not to me with any tolerable probability , partly because Canaan , where Melchisedeck lived , was none of those Countries which were allotted to Sem and to his posterity , and unlikely it is that he should be Prince in a foreign Country : partly , because those things which the Scripture reports concerning Melchisedeck , do no ways agree to Sem , as that he was without Father and Mother , without genealogie , &c. whenas Moses does most exactly describe and record Sem and his Family , both as to his Ancestors , and as to his posterity . That therefore which seems most probable in the case , is , that he was one of the Reguli , or petty Kings ( whereof there were many ) in the land of Canaan , but a pious and devout man , and a worshipper of the true God , as there were many others in those days among the Idolatrous Nations ; he being extraordinarily raised up by God from among the Canaanites , and brought in without mention of Parents , original or end , without any Predecessor or Successor in his office , that he might be a fitter type of the Royal and Eternal Priesthood of Christ. And for any more particular account concerning his person , it were folly and rashness over-curiously to enquire after what God seems industriously to have concealed from us . The great character under which the Scripture takes notice of him , is his relation to our blessed Saviour , who is more than once said to be a Priest , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , after the order , in the same way and manner that Melchisedeck was , or ( as the Apostle explains himself ) after the similitude of Melchisedeck . Our Lord was such a Priest as Melchisedeck was , there being a nearer similitude and conformity between them , than ever was between any other Priests whatsoever . A subject which S. Paul largely and particularly treats of . Passing by the minuter instances of the parallel , taken from the name of his person , Melchisedeck , that is , King of righteousness , and his title to his Kingdom , King of Salem , that is , of Peace ; we shall observe three things especially wherein he was a type of Christ. First , in the peculiar qualification of his person , something being recorded of him uncommon to the rest of men , and that is , that he was without Father , without Mother , and without descent . Not that Melchisedeck like Adam was immediately created , or in an instant dropt down from Heaven , but that he hath no kindred recorded in the story , which brings him in without any mention of Father or Mother , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Chrysostom glosses , we know not what Father or Mother he had : He was ( says S. Paul ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without genealogie , without having any pedigree extant upon record , whence the ancient Syriack Version truly expresses the sence of the whole passage thus , Whos 's neither Father nor Mother are written , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the generations , that is , the genealogies of the ancient Patriarchs . And thus he eminently typified Christ , of whom this is really true : He is without Father in respect of his humane nature , begotten only of a pure Virgin ; without Mother , in respect of his Divinity , being begotten of his Father before all Worlds , by an eternal and ineffable generation . Secondly , Melchisedeck typified our Saviour in the duration and continuance of his office ; for so 't is said of him , that he was without descent , having neither beginning of days , nor end of life , but made like unto the Son of God , abideth a Priest continually . By which we are not to understand that Melchisedeck never died , for being a man he was subject to the same common Law of mortality with other men : But the meaning is , that as he is said to be without Father and Mother , because the Scripture speaking of him makes no mention of his Parents , his Genealogy and descent : So he is said to abide a Priest for ever , without any beginning of days , or end of life , because we have no account of any that either preceded , or succeeded him in his office , no mention of the time either when he took it up , or laid it down . And herein how lively and eminent a type of Christ , the true Melchisedeck , who as to his Divine nature was without beginning of days from Eternal Ages , and who either in the execution or vertue of his office abides for ever . There is no abolition , no translation of his office , no expectation of any to arise that shall succeed him in it : He was made a Priest not after the Law of a carnal Commandment , a transient and mutable dispensation , but after the power of an endless life . Thirdly , Melchisedeck was a type of Christ in his excellency above all other Priests . S. Paul's great design is to evince the preheminence and precedency of Melchisedeck above all the Priests of the Mosaick ministration , yea , above Abraham himself , the Founder and Father of the Jewish Nation , from whom they reckoned it so great an honour to derive themselves . And this the Apostle proves by a double instance . First , that Abraham , in whose loins the Levitical Priests then were , paid tithes to Melchisedeck , when he gave him the tenth of all his spoils , as due to God and his Ministers , thereby confessing himself and his posterity inferiour to him . Now consider how great this man was , unto whom even the Patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils . Secondly , that Melchisedeck conferred upon Abraham a solemn benediction , it being a standing part of the Priests office to bless the people . And this was an undeniable argument of his superiority . He whose descent is not counted from them ( the legal Priests ) received tithes of Abraham , and blessed him that had the promises : And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better . Whereby it evidently appears , that Melchisedeck was greater than Abraham , and consequently than all the Levitical Priests that descended from him . Now herein he admirably prefigured and shadowed out our blessed Saviour , a person peculiarly chosen out by God , sent into the World upon a nobler and a more important errand , owned by more solemn and mighty attestations from Heaven , than ever was any other person ; his office incomparably beyond that of the legal Oeconomy , his person greater , his undertaking weightier , his design more sublime and excellent , his oblation more valuable and meritorious , his prayers more prevalent and successful , his office more durable and lasting , than ever any whose business it was to intercede and mediate between God and man. 20. THE other extraordinary person under this 〈◊〉 is Job , concerning whom two things are to be enquired into , Who he was , and when he lived . For the first , we find him described by his Name , his Country , his Kindred , his Quality , his Religion , and his Sufferings , though in many of them we are left under great uncertainties , and to the satisfaction only of probable conjectures . For his name , among many conjectures two are especially considerable , though founded upon very different reasons , one that it is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying one that grieves or groans , mystically presaging those grievous miseries and sufferings that afterwards came upon him ; the other , more probably , from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to love , or to desire , noting him the desire and delight of his Parents , earnestly prayed for , and affectionately embraced with the tenderest endearments . His Country was the land of 〈◊〉 , though where that was , is almost as much disputed , as about the source of Nilus : Some will have it Armenia , others Palestine , or the land of Canaan , and some of the Jewish Masters assure us , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his School , or place of institution was at Tiberias , and nothing more commonly shewed to Travellers than Job's well in the way between Ramah and Jerusalem ; others place it in Syria near Damascus , so called from 〈◊〉 , the supposed Founder of that City ; others a little more Northward at Apamea , now called Hama , where his house is said to be shewed at this day : Most make it to be part of Idumaea near mount 〈◊〉 , or else Arabia the Desart ( probably it was in the confines of both ) this part of Arabia being nearest to the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans , who invaded him , and most applicable to his dwelling among the Sons of the East , to the situation of his friends who came to visit him , and best corresponding with those frequent Arabisms discernable both in the Language and Discourses of Job and his Friends ; not to say that this Country produced persons exceedingly addicted to Learning and Contemplation , and the studies of natural Philosophy , whence the wise men who came out of the East to worship Christ are thought by many to have been Arabians . For his kindred and his friends , we find four taken notice of , who came to visit him in his distress ; Eliphaz the Temanite , the son probably of Teman , and grandchild of Esau by his eldest son Eliphaz , the Country deriving its name Teman from his Father , and was situate in Idumaea in the borders of the Desart Arabia : Bildad the Shuhite , a descendant in all likelihood of Shuah , one of the sons of Abraham by his wife Keturah , whose seat was in this part of Arabia : Zophar the Naamathite , a Country lying near those parts : And Elihu the Buzite , of the off-spring of Buz the son of Nahor , and so nearly related to Job himself . He was the son of Barachel , of the kindred of Ram , who was the head of the Family , and his habitation was in the parts of Arabia the Desart near Euphrates , or at least in the Southern part of 〈◊〉 bordering upon it . As for Job himself , he is made by some a Canaanite , of the posterity of Cham ; by others to descend from Sem by his son Amram , whose eldest sons name was 〈◊〉 ; by most from Esau , the Father of the Idumaean Nations ; but most probably either from Nahor , Abraham's brother , whose sons were Huz , Buz , Chesed , &c. or from Abraham himself by some of the sons which he had by his wife Keturah , whereby an account is most probably given , how Job came to be imbued with those seeds of Piety and true Religion , for which he was so eminently remarkable , as deriving them from those Religious principles and instructions which Abraham and Nahor had bequeathed to their posterity . His quality and the circumstances of his External state were very considerable , a man rich and honourable ; His substance was seven thousand Sheep , and three thousand Camels , and five hundred yoke of Oxen , and five hundred she-Asses , and a very great houshold , so that he was the greatest of all the men of the East ; himself largely describes the great honour and prosperity of his fortunes , that he washed his steps in Butter , and the rock poured out rivers of Oil ; when he went out to the gate through the City , and prepared his seat in the street , the young men saw him , and hid themselves , the aged arose and stood up , the Princes refrained talking , and laid their hand on their mouth , &c. He delivered the poor that cried , and the fatherless and him that had none to help him , the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him , &c. He brake the jaws of the wicked , and pluckt the spoil out of their teeth , &c. Indeed so great his state and dignity , that it has led many into a perswasion , that he was King of Idumaea , a powerful and mighty Prince ; a fancy that has received no small encouragement from the common but groundless confounding of Job with Jobab King of Edom , of the race of Esau. For the story gives no intimation of any such royal dignity , to which Job was advanced , but always speaks of him as a private person , though exceeding wealthy and prosperous , and thereby probably of extraordinary power and estimation in his Country . Nay that he might not want fit Companions in his Regal capacity , three of his friends are made Kings as well as he , the LXX . Translators themselves stiling Eliphaz King of the Temanites , Bildad of the Suchites , and Zophar King of the Minaeans , though with as little , probably less reason than the former . 21. BUT whatever his condition was , we are sure he was no less eminent for Piety and Religion , he was a man perfect and upright , one that feared God , and eschewed evil . Though living among the Idolatrous Gentiles , he kept up the true and sincere worship of God , daily offered up Sacrifices and Prayers to Heaven , piously instructed his Children and Family , lived in an intire dependence upon the Divine Providence , in all his discourses expressed the highest and most honourable sentiments and thoughts of God , and such as best became the Majesty of an Infinite Being ; in all transactions he was just and righteous , compassionate and charitable , modest and humble , indeed by the character of God himself , who knew him best , There was none like him in the Earth , a perfect and an upright man , fearing God , and eschewing evil : his mind was submissive and compliant , his patience generous and unshaken , great even to a Proverb , You have heard of the Patience of Job . And enough he had to try it to the utmost , if we consider what sufferings he underwent ; those evils which are wont but singly to seise upon other men , all centred and met in him . Plundered in his Estate by the Sabaean and Chaldaean Free-booters ( whose standing livelihood were spoils and robberies ) and not an Oxe or Asse left of all the Herd , not a Sheep or a Lamb either for Food or Sacrifice : Undone in his Posterity , his Seven Sons , and Three Daughters being all slain at once by the fall of one House : blasted in his credit and good name , and that by his nearest friends , who traduced and challenged him for a dissembler and an hypocrite . Ruined in his health , being smitten with sore boiles from the crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot , till his Body became a very Hospital of Diseases : tormented in his mind with sad and uncomfortable reflections , The arrows of the Almighty being shot within him , the poyson whereof drank up his spirit , the terrours of God setting themselves in array against him . All which were aggravated and set home by Satan , the grand Engineer of all those torments , and all this continuing for at least Twelve Months ( say the Jews ) probably for a much longer time ; and yet endured with great courage and fortitude of mind , till God put a period to this tedious Trial , and crowned his sufferings with an ample restitution . We have seen who this excellent Person was , we are next to enquire when he lived . And here we meet with almost an infinite variety of Opinions , some making him contemporary with Abraham , others with Jacob , which had he been , we should doubtless have found some mention of him in their story , as well as we do of 〈◊〉 : others again refer him to the time of the Law given at Mount Sinai , and the Israelites travels in the Wilderness ; others to the times of the Judges after the settlement of the Israelites in the Land of Promise , nay some to the reign of David and Solomon ; and I know not whether the Reader will not smile at the fancy of the Turkish Chronologists , who make Job Major-domo to Solomon , as they make Alexander the Great , the General of his Army . Others go further , and place him among those that were carried away in the Pabylonish Captivity , yea in the time of Ahasuerus , and make his fair Daughters to be of the number of those beautiful young Virgins that were sought-for for the King. Follies that need no confutation . 'T is certain that he was elder than Moses , his Kindred and Family , his way of sacrificing , the Idolatry rise in his time , evidently placing him before that Age ; besides that there are not the least foot-steps in all his Book of any of the great things done for the 〈◊〉 deliverance , which we can hardly suppose should have been omitted , being examples so fresh in memory , and so apposite to the design of that Book . Most probable therefore it is , that he lived about the time of the Israelitish Captivity in Egypt , though whether as some Jews will have it , born that very Year that Jacob came down into Egypt , and dying that Year that they went out of Egypt , I dare not peremptorily affirm . And this no question is the reason why we find nothing concerning him in the Writings of Moses , the History of those Times being crowded up into a very little room , little being recorded even of the Israelites themselves for near Two Hundred Years , more than in general that they were heavily oppressed under the Egyptian Yoke . More concerning this great and good Man , and the things relating to him , if the Reader desire to know , he may among others consult the elaborate exercitations of the younger 〈◊〉 in his Historia Jobi , where the largest curiosity may find enough to satisfie it . 22. AND now for a Conclusion to this Occonomy , if we reflect a little upon the state of things under this period of the World , we shall find that the Religion of those 〈◊〉 Ages was plain and simple , unforced and natural , and highly agreeable to the common dictates and notions of Mens minds . They were not educated under any forreign Institutions , nor conducted by a Body of numerous Laws and written Constitutions , but were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as Philo calls them ) tutor'd and instructed by the dictates of their own minds , and the Principles of that Law that was written in their hearts , following the order of Nature and right Reason , as the safest , and most ancient Rule . By which means ( as one of the Ancients observes ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they maintained a free and uninterrupted course of Religion , conducting their lives according to the rules of Nature , so that having purged their minds from lust and passion , and attained to the true knowledge of God , they had no need of external and written Laws . Their Creed was short and perspicuous , their notions of God great and venerable , their devotion and piety real and substantial , their worship grave and serious , and such as became the grandeur and majesty of the Divine being , their Rites and Ceremonies few and proper , their obedience prompt and sincere , and indeed the whole conduct of their conversation discovering it self in the most essential and important duties of the humane life . According to this standard it was that our blessed Saviour mainly designed to reform Religion in his most excellent Institutions , to retrieve the piety and purity , the innocency and simplicity of those 〈◊〉 and more uncorrupted Ages of the World , to improve the Laws of Nature , and to reduce Mankind from ritual observances to natural and moral duties , as the most vital and essential parts of Religion , and was therefore pleased to charge Christianity with no more than two positive Institutions , Baptism , and the Lord's Supper , that Men might learn , that the main of Religion lies not in such things as these . Hence Eusebius undertakes at large to prove the faith and manners of the Holy Patriarchs , who lived before the times of Moses , and the belief and practice of Christians to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one and the same . Which he does not only assert and make good in general , but deduce from particular instances , the examples of Enoch , Noah , Abraham , Melchisedeck , Job , &c. whom he expresly proves to have believed and lived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , altogether after the manner of Christians : Nay that they had the name also as well as the thing , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as he shews from that place ( which he proves to be meant of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Touch not my Christians , mine Anointed , and do my Prophets no harm . And in short , that as they had the same common Religion , so they had the common blessing and reward . SECT . II. Of the MOSAICAL Dispensation . Moses the Minister of this Oeconomy . His miraculous preservation . His learned and noble education . The Divine temper of his mind . His conducting the Israelites out of Egypt . Their arrival at Mount Sinai . The Law given , and how . Moral Laws ; the Decalogue whether a perfect Compendium of the Moral Law. The Ceremonial Laws what . Reduced to their proper Heads . Such as concerned the matter of their Worship . Sacrifices , and the several kinds of them . Circumcision . The Passover , and its typical relation . The place of Publick Worship . The Tabernacle and Temple , and the several parts of them , and their typical aspects considered . Their stated times and 〈◊〉 , weekly , monthly , annual . The Sabbatical Year . The Year of Jubilee . Laws concerning the Persons ministring ; Priests , Levites , the High-Priest , how a type of Christ. The Design of the Ceremonial Law , and its abolition . The Judicial Laws , what . The Mosaick Law how divided by the Jews into affirmative and negative Precepts , and why . The several ways of Divine revelation . Urim and Thummim what , and the manner of its giving Answers . Bath-Col . Whether any such way of revelation among the Jews . Revelation by Dreams . By Visions . The Revelation of the Holy Spirit , what . Moses his way of Prophecy wherein exceeding the rest . The pacate way of the spirit of prophecy . This spirit when it ceased in the Jewish Church . The state of the Church under this Dispensation briefly noted . From the giving of the Law till Samuel . From Samuel till Solomon . It s condition under the succeeding Kings till the Captivity . From thence till the coming of Christ. The state of the Jewish Church in the time of Christ more particularly considered . The prophanations of the Temple . The Corruption of their Worship . The abuse of the Priesthood . The Depravation of the Law by false glosses . Their Oral and unwritten Law. It s original and succession according to the mind of the Jews . Their unreasonable and blasphemous preferring it above the written Law. Their religious observing the Traditions of the Elders . The Vow of Corban , what . The superseding Moral Duties by it . The Sects in the Jewish Church . The Pharisees , their denomination , rise , temper and principles . Sadducees , their impious Principles , and evil lives . The Essenes , their original , opinions , and way of life . The Herodians , who . The Samaritans . Karraeans . The Sect of the Zealots . The Roman Tyranny over the Jewes . 1. THE Church , which had hitherto lyen dispersed in private Families , and had often been reduced to an inconsiderable number , being now multiplied into a great and a populous Nation , God was pleased to enter into Covenant , not any longer with particular Persons , but with the Body of the People , and to govern the Church by more certain and regular ways and methods , than it had hitherto been . This Dispensation began with the delivery of the Law , and continued till the final period of the Jewish state , consisting only of meats and drinks , and divers washings , and carnal Ordinances , imposed on them until the time of reformation . In the survey whereof we shall chiefly consider what Laws were given for the Government of the Church , by what Methods of revelation God communicated his mind and will to them , and what was the state of the Church , especially towards the conclusion of this Oeconomy . 2. THE great Minister of this Dispensation was Moses the Son of Amram , of the House of Levi , a Person , whose signal preservation when but an Infant presaged him to be born for great and generous undertakings . Pharaoh King of Egypt desirous to suppress the growing numbers of the Jewish Nation had afflicted and kept them under with all the rigorous severities of tyranny and oppression . But this not taking its effect , he made a Law that all Hebrew Male-children should be drowned as soon as born , knowing well enough how to kill the root , if he could keep any more Branches from springing up . But the wisdom of Heaven defeated his crafty and barbarous 〈◊〉 . Among others that were born at that time was Moses , a goodly Child , and whom his Mother was infinitely desirous to preserve : but having concealed him , till the saving of his might endanger the losing her own life , her affection suggested to her this little stratagem , she prepared an Ark made of Paper-reeds , and pitched within , and so putting him a-board this little Vessel , threw him into the River Nilus , committing him to the mercy of the waves , and the conduct of the Divine Providence . God , who wisely orders all events , had so disposed things that Pharaohs daughter ( whose name , say the Jews , was Bithia , Thermuth says Josephus , say the Arabians , Sihhoun ) being troubled with a distemper that would not endure the hot Bathes , was come down at this time to wash in the Nile , where the cries of the tender Babe soon reached her ears . She commanded the Ark to be brought a-shore , which was no sooner opened , but the silent oratory of the weeping Infant sensibly struck her with compassionate resentments : And the Jews add , that she no sooner touched the Babe , but she was immediately healed , and cried out that he was a holy Child , and that she would save his life ; for which ( say they ) she obtained the favour to be brought under the wings of the Divine Majesty , and to be called the daughter of God. His Sister Miriam , who had all this while beheld the scene afar off , officiously proffered her service to the Princess to call an Hebrew Nurse , and accordingly went and brought his Mother . To her care he was committed with a charge to look tenderly to him , and the promise of a reward . But the hopes of that could add but little , where nature was so much concerned . Home goes the Mother joyful and proud of her own pledge , and the royal charge , carefully providing for his tender years . His infant state being pass'd , he was restored to the Princess , who adopted him for her own son , bred him up at Court , where he was polished with all the arts of a noble and ingenuous education , instructed in the modes of civility and behaviour , in the methods of policy and government , Learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians , whose renown for wisdom is not only once and again taken notice of in holy Writ , but their admirable skill in all liberal Sciences , Natural , Moral and Divine , beyond the rate and proportion of other Nations , is sufficiently celebrated by foreign Writers . To these accomplishments God was pleased to add a Divine temper of mind , a great zeal for God , not able to endure any thing that seemed to clash with the interests of the Divine honour and glory ; a mighty courage and resolution in God's service , whose edge was not to be taken off either by threats or charms ; He was not afraid of the Kings commandment , nor feared the wrath of the King , for he endured as seeing him that is invisible . His contempt of the World was great and admirable , sleighting the honours of Pharoah's Court , and the fair probabilities of the Crown , the treasures and pleasures of that rich , soft and luxurious Country , out of a firm belief of the invisible rewards of another World ; He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter , chusing rather to suffer 〈◊〉 with the people of God , than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt ; for he had respect unto the recompence of reward . Josephus relates , that when but a child he was presented by the Princess to her Father , as one whom she had adopted for her son , and designed for his successor in the Kingdom , the King taking him up into his arms , put his Crown upon his head , which the child immediately pull'd off again , and throwing it upon the ground , trampled it under his feet . An action which however looked upon by some Courtiers then present , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 portending a fatal Omen to the Kingdom , did however evidently presage his generous contempt of the grandeur and honours of the Court , and those plausible advantages of Soveraignty that were offered to him . His patience was insuperable , not tired out with the abuses and disappointments of the King of Egypt , with the hardships and troubles of the Wilderness , and which was beyond all , with the cross and vexatious humors of a stubborn and unquiet generation . He was of a most calm and treatable disposition , his spirit not easily ruffled with passion ; he who in the cause of God and Religion could be bold and fierce as a Lion , was in his own patient as a Lamb , God himself having given this character of him , That he was the meekest man upon the Earth . 3. THIS great personage thus excellently qualified , God made choice of him to be the Commander and conducter of the Jewish Nation , and his Embassador to the King of Egypt , to demand the enfranchisement of his people , and free liberty to go serve and worship the God of their Fathers . And that he might not seem a mere pretender to Divine revelation , but that he really had an immediate commission from Heaven , God was pleased to furnish him with extraordinary Credentials , and to seal his Commission with a power of working Miracles beyond all the Arts of Magick , and those tricks for which the Egyptian Sorcerers were so famous in the World. But Pharaoh unwilling to part with such useful Vassals , and having oppressed them beyond possibility of reconcilement , would not hearken to the proposal , but sometimes downright rejected it , otherwhiles sought by subtil and plausible pretences to evade and shift it off ; till by many astonishing Miracles , and severe Judgments God extorted at length a grant from him . Under the conduct of Moses they set forwards after at least two hundred years servitude under the Egyptian yoke ; and though 〈◊〉 sensible of his error , with a great Army pursued them , either to cut them off , or bring them back , God made way for them through the midst of the Sea , the waters becoming like a wall of Brass on each side of them , till being all passed to the other 〈◊〉 , those invisible cords which had hitherto tied up that liquid Element , bursting in sunder , the waters returned and overwhelmed their enemies that pursued them . Thus God by the same stroke can protect his friends , and punish his enemies . Nor did the Divine Providence here take its leave of them , but became their constant guard and defence in all their journeys , waiting upon them through their several stations in the wilderness ; the most memorable whereof was that at Mount Sinai in Arabia : The place where God delivered them the pattern in the Mount , according to which the form both of their Church and State was to be framed and modelled . In order hereunto Moses is called up into the Mount , where by Fasting and Prayer he conversed with Heaven , and received the body of their Laws . Three days the people were by a pious and devout care to sanctifie and prepare themselves for the promulgation of the Law , they might not come near their Wives , were commanded to wash their clothes , as an embleme and representation of that cleansing of the heart , and that inward purity of mind , where with they were to entertain the Divine will. On the third day in the morning God descended from Heaven with great appearances of Majesty and terror , with thunders and lightnings , with black clouds and tempests , with shouts and the loud noise of a trumpet ( which trumpet , say the Jews , was made of the horn of that Ram that was offered in the room of Isaac ) with fire and smoke on the top of the Mount , ascending up like the smoke of a Furnace ; the Mountain it self greatly quaking , the people trembling ; nay , so terrible was the sight , that Moses ( who had so frequently , so familiarly conversed with God ) said , I exceedingly fear and quake . All which pompous trains of terror and magnificence God made use of at this time , to excite the more solemn attention to his Laws , and to beget a greater reverence and veneration for them in the minds of the people , and to let them see how able he was to call them to account , and by the severest penalties to vindicate the violation of his Law. 4. THE Code and Digest of those Laws , which God now gave to the Jews as the terms of that National Covenant that he made with them , consisted of three sorts of Precepts , Moral , Ecelesiastical and Political ; which the Jews will have intimated by those three words , that so frequently occur in the writings of Moses , Laws , Statutes and Judgments . By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laws , they understand the Moral Law , the notices of good and evil naturally implanted in mens minds : By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Statutes , Ceremonial Precepts , instituted by God with peculiar reference to his Church : By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judgments , Political Laws concerning Justice and Equity , the order of humane society , and the prudent and peaceable managery of the Commonwealth . The Moral Laws inserted into this Code are those contained in the Decalogue , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are called , the ten words that were written upon two Tables of Stone . These were nothing else but a summary Comprehension of the great Laws of Nature , engraven at first upon the minds of all men in the World ; the most material part whereof was now consigned to writing , and incorporated into the body of the Jewish Law. I know the Decalogue is generally taken to be a complete System of all natural Laws : But whoever impartially considers the matter , will find that there are many instances of duty so far from being commanded in it , that they are not reducible to any part of it , unless hook'd in by subtilties of wit , and drawn thither by forc'd and unnatural inferences . What provision except in one case or two do any of those Commandments make against neglects of duty ? Where do they obligue us to do good to others , to love , assist , relieve our enemies ? Gratitude and thankfulness to benefactors is one of the prime and essential Laws of Nature , and yet no where that I know of ( unless we will have it implied in the Preface to the Law ) commanded or intimated in the Decalogue : With many other cases , which 'tis naturally evident are our duty , whereof no footsteps are to be seen in this Compendium , unless hunted out by nice and sagacious reasonings , and made out by a long train of consequences , never originally intended in the Commandment , and which not one in a thousand are capable of deducing from it . It is probable therefore that God reduc'd only so many of the Laws of Nature into writing , as were proper to the present state and capacities of that people to whom they were given , superadding some , and explaining others by the Preaching and Ministery of the Prophets , who in their several Ages endeavoured to bring men out of the Shades and Thickets , into clear light and Noon-day , by clearing up mens obligations to those natural and essential duties , in the practice whereof humane nature was to be advanced unto its just accomplishment and perfection . Hence it was that our Lord , who came not to destroy the Law , but to fulfil and perfect it , has explained the obligations of the natural Law more fully and clearly , more plainly and intelligibly , rendred our duty more fixed and certain , and extended many instances of obedience to higher measures , to a greater exactness and perfection , than ever they were understood to have before . Thus he commands a free and universal charity , not only that we love our friends and relations , but that we love our enemies , bless them that curse us , do good to them that hate us , and pray for them that despitefully use and persecute us : He hath forbidden malice and revenge with more plainness and smartness ; obliged us not only to live according to the measures of sobriety , but extended it to self-denial , and taking up the Cross , and laying down our lives , whenever the honour of God , and the interest of Religion calls for it ; he not only commands us to do no wrong , but when we have done it , to make restitution ; not only to retrench our irregular appetites , but to cut off our right hand , and pluck out our right eye , and cast them from us , that is , mortifie and offer violence to those vicious inclinations , which are as dear to us , as the most useful and necessary parts and members of our body . Besides all this , had God intended the Decalogue for a perfect summary of the Laws of Nature , we cannot suppose that he would have taken any but such into the collection , whereas the Fourth Commandment concerning the Seventh day is unquestionably Typical and Ceremonial , and has nothing more of a Natural and Eternal obligation in it , than that God should be served and honoured both with publick and private worship , which cannot be done without some portions of time set apart for it : But that this should be done just at such a time , and by such proportions , upon the Seventh rather than the Sixth or the Eighth day , is no part of natural Religion . And indeed the reasons and arguments that are annexed to it , to enforce the observance of it , clearly shew that it is of a later date , and of another nature than the rest of those Precepts in whose company we find it , though it seems at first sight to pass without any peculiar note of discrimination from the rest . As for the rest they are Laws of Eternal righteousness , and did not derive their value and authority from the Divine sanction which God here gave them at Mount Sinai , but from their own moral and internal goodness and equity , being founded in the nature of things , and the essential and unchangeable differences of good and evil . By which means they always were , always will be obligatory and indispensable , being as Eternal and Immutable as the nature of God himself . 5. THE second sort of Laws were Ceremonial , Divine Constitutions concerning Ritual observances , and matters of Ecclesiastical cognizance and relation , and were instituted for a double end , partly for the more orderly government of the Church , and the more decent administration of the worship of God ; partly that they might be types and figures of the Evangelical state , Shadows of good things to come , visible and symbolical representments of the Messiah , and those great blessings and priviledges which he was to introduce into the World ; which doubtless was the reason why God was so infinitely punctual and particular in his directions about these matters , giving orders about the minutest circumstances of the Temple ministration , because every part of it had a glance at a future and better state of things . The number of them was great , and the observation burdensom , the whole Nation groaning under the servility of that yoke . They were such as principally related to God's worship , and may be reduced either to such as concerned the worship it self , or the circumstances of time , place and persons that did attend it . Their worship consisted chiefly in three things , Prayers , Sacrifices and Sacraments . Prayers were daily put up together with their Offerings , and though we have very few Constitutions concerning them , yet the constant practice of that Church , and the particular forms of Prayer yet extant in their writings , are a sufficient evidence . Sacrifices were the constant and most solemn part of their publick worship ; yea , they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their continual burnt-offering , a Lamb offered Morning and Evening with a Measure of Flower , Oil and Wine , the charge whereof was defrayed out of the Treasury of the Temple . The rest of their Sacrifices may be considered either as they were Expiatory , or Eucharistical . Expiatory were those that were offered as an atonement for the sins of the people , to 〈◊〉 the Divine displeasure , and to procure his pardon , which they did by vertue of their Typical relation to that great Sacrifice which the Son of God was in the fulness of time to offer up for the sins of the World. They were either of a more general relation , for the expiation of sin in general , whole burnt-offerings , which were intirely ( the skin and the entrails only excepted ) burnt to ashes ; or of a more private and particular concernment , designed for the redemption of particular offences , whereof there were two sorts : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the sin-offering , for involuntary offences committed through errour or ignorance , which according to the condition and capacity of the Person were either for the Priest , or the Prince , or the whole Body of the People , or a private Person . The other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the trespass-offering , for sins done wittingly , studied and premeditated transgressions , and which the Man could not pretend to be the effects of surprize or chance . Eucharistical Sacrifices were testimonies of gratitude to God for mercies received , whereof three sorts especially . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the meat-offering , made up of things without life , oyl , fine flower , incense , &c. which the worshipper offered as a thankful return for the daily preservation and provisions of life , and therefore it consisted only of the fruits of the ground . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the peace-offering ; this was done either out of a grateful sense of some blessing conferred , or as a voluntary offering to which the Person had obliged himself by vow in expectation of some safety or deliverance which he had prayed for . In this Sacrifice God had his part , the fat which was the only part of it burnt by fire , the Priest his , as the instrument of the ministration , the Offerer his , that he might have wherewith to rejoyce before the Lord. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thanksgivingoffering , or a Sacrifice of praise , it was a mixt kind of Sacrifice , consisting of living Creatures , and the fruits of the Earth , which they might offer at their own will , but it must be eaten the same day , and none of it left until the morrow . What other provisions we meet with concerning ceremonial uncleannesses , first-fruits , the first-born , tenths , &c. are conveniently reducible to some of these heads which we have already mentioned . The last part of their worship concerned their Sacraments , which were two , Circumcision , and the Paschal Supper . Circumcision was the federal Rite annexed by God as a Seal to the Covenant which he made with Abraham and his Posterity , and accordingly renewed and taken into the Body of the Mosaical constitutions . It was to be administred the eighth day , which the Jews understand not of so many days compleat , but the current time , six full days , and part of the other . In the room of this , Baptism succeeds in the Christian Church . The Passover , which was the eating of the Paschal Lamb , was instituted as an Annual memorial of their signal and miraculous deliverance out of Egypt , and as a typical representation of our spiritual Redemption by Christ from the bondage of sin and that Hell that follows it . It was to be celebrated with a Male-lamb without blemish taken out of the Flock , to note the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World , who was taken from among men , a Lamb without blemish and without spot , holy , harmless , and separate from sinners . The Door-posts of the House were to be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb , to signifie our security from the Divine vengeance by the blood of sprinkling . The Lamb was to be roasted and eaten whole , typifying the great sufferings of our blessed Saviour , who was to pass through the fire of Divine wrath , and to be wholly embrac'd and entertain'd by us in all his Offices , as King , Priest , and Prophet . None but those that were clean and circumcised might eat of it , to shew that only true believers , holy and good men can be partakers of Christ and the merits of his Death ; It was to be eaten standing , with their Loins girt , and their staff in their hand , to put them in mind what haste they made out of the house of bondage , and to intimate to us what present diligence we should use to get from under the empire and tiranny of sin and Satan , under the conduct and assistance of the Captain of our Salvation . The eating of it was to be mixed with bitter herbs , partly as a memorial of that bitter servitude which they underwent in the Land of Egypt , partly as a type of that repentance and bearing of the cross ( duties difficult and unpleasant ) which all true Christians must undergo . Lastly , it was to be eaten with unleavened Bread , all manner of leaven being at that time to be banished out of their Houses with the most critical diligence and curiosity , to represent what infinite care we should take to cleanse and purifie our hearts , to purge 〈◊〉 the old leaven , that we may be a new lump : and that since Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us , therefore we should keep the Feast ( the Festival commemoration of his Death ) not with old leaven , neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness , but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth . 6. THE Places of their Publick Worship were either the Tabernacle made in the Wilderness , or the Temple built by Solomon , between which in the main there was no other difference , than that the Tabernacle was an ambulatory Temple , as the Temple was a standing Tabernacle , together with all the rich costly Furniture that was in them . The parts of it were three , the Holiest of all , whither none entred but the High-Priest , and that but once a Year , this was a type of Heaven ; the holy place , whither the Priests entred every Day to perform their Sacred Ministrations ; and the outward Court , whither the People came to offer up their Prayers and Sacrifices . In the Sanctum Sanctorum , or Holiest of all there was the Golden Censer , typifying the Merits and Intercession of Christ ; the Ark of the Covenant , as a representation of him who is the Mediator of the Covenant between God and man ; the Golden Pot of Manna , a type of our Lord , the true Manna , the Bread that came down from Heaven ; the Rod of Aaron that budded , signifying the Branch of the Root of Jesse , that though our Saviour's Family should be reduced to a state of so much meanness and obscurity , as to appear but like the trunk or stump of a Tree , yet there should come forth a rod out of this stem of Jesse , and a branch grow out of his roots , which should stand for an Ensign of the People , and in him should the Gentiles trust . And within the Ark were the two Tables of the Covenant , to denote him , in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge , and who is the end and perfection of the Law : Over it were the Cherubims of glory shadowing the Mercy-seat , who looking towards each other , and both to the Mercy-seat denoted the two Testaments , or Dispensations of the Church , which admirably agree , and both direct to Christ the Mediator of the Covenant . The Propitiatory , or Mercy-seat was the Golden covering to the Ark , where God vailing his Majesty was wont to manifest his Presence , to give Answers , and shew Himself reconciled to the People , herein eminently 〈◊〉 our Blessed Saviour , who interposes between us and the Divine Majesty , whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation , through faith in his blood for the remission of sins ; so that now we may come boldly to the Throne of Grace , and find mercy to help us . Within the Sanctuary , or the Holy Place was the Golden 〈◊〉 with Seven Branches , representing Christ , who is the Light of the World , and who enlightens every one that comes into the World , and before whose Throne there are said to be seven Lamps of Fire , which are the seven spirits of God : The Table , compassed about with a Border and a Crown of Gold , denoting the Ministry , and the Shew-bread set upon it , shadowing out Christ , the Bread of Life , who by the Ministry of the Gospel is offered to the World : here also was the Golden Altar of Incense , whereon they burnt the sweet 〈◊〉 Morning and Evening , to signifie to us that our Lord is the true Altar , by whom all our Prayers and Services are rendred the odour of a sweet smell acceptable unto God ; to this the Psalmist refers , Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as incense , and the 〈◊〉 up of my hands as the Evening Sacrifice . The third part of the Tabernacle , as also of the Temple , was the Court of Israel , wherein stood the Brazen Altar , upon which the Holy Fire was continually preserved , by which the Sacrifices were consumed , one of the Five great Prerogatives that were wanting in the second Temple . Here was the Brazen Laver , with its Basis , made of the brazen Looking-glasses of the Women that assembled at the Door of the Tabernacle , wherein the Priests washed their Hands and their Feet , when going into the Sanctuary , and both they and the People when about to offer Sacrifice ; to teach us to purifie our hearts , and to cleanse our selves 〈◊〉 all filthiness of flesh and spirit , especially when we approach to offer up our services to Heaven ; hereunto David alludes , I will wash mine hands in innocency , so will I compass thine Altar , O Lord. Solomon in building the Temple made an addition of a fourth Court , the Court of the Gentiles , whereinto the unclean Jewes and Gentiles might enter , and in this was the Corban or Treasury , and it is sometimes in the New Testament called the Temple . To these Laws concerning 〈◊〉 Place of Worship we may reduce those that relate to the holy Vessels and Utensils of the Tabernacle and the Temple , Candlesticks , Snuffers , Dishes , &c. which also had their proper mysteries and significations . 7. THE stated times and seasons of their worship are next to be considered , and they were either Daily , Weekly , Monthly , or Yearly . Their Daily worship was at the time of the Morning , and the Evening Sacrifice ; their Weekly solemnity was the Sabbath , which was to be kept with all imaginable care and strictness , they being commanded to rest in it from all servile labours , and to attend the Duties and Offices of Religion , a type of that rest that remains for the People of God. Their monthly Festivals were the New-moons , wherein they were to blow the Trumpets over their Sacrifices and Oblations , and to observe them with great expressions of joy and triumph , in a thankful resentment of the blessings which all that Month had been conferred upon them . Their Annual Solemnities were either ordinary or extraordinary ; Ordinary were those that returned every Year , whereof the first was the Passover , to be celebrated upon the Fourteenth day of the first Month , as a Memorial of their great deliverance out of Egypt : The second , Pentecost , called also the Feast of Weeks , because just seven Weeks , or fifty days after the Passover : Instituted it was partly in memory of the promulgation of the Law , published at Mount Sinai fifty days after their celebration of the Passover in Egypt , partly as a thanksgiving for the in gathering of their Harvest , which usually was fully brought in about this time . The third was the Feast of Tabernacles , kept upon the Fifteenth day of the Seventh Month for the space of Seven days together ; at which time they dwelt in Booths made of green Boughs , as a memento of that time when they sojourn'd in Tents and Tabernacles in the Wilderness , and a sensible demonstration of the transitory duration of the present life , that the Earthly house of our Tabernacle must be dissolved , and that therefore we should secure a building of God , an house not made with hands , Eternal in the Heavens . These were the three great solemnities , wherein all the Males were obliged to appear at Jerusalem , and to present themselves and their offerings in testimony of their homage and devotion unto God : Besides which they had some of lesser moment , such as their Feast of Trumpets , and that of Expiation . The Annual Festivals extraordinary were those that recurr'd but once in the periodical return of several years ; such was the Sabbatical year , wherein the Land was to lye fallow , and to rest from ploughing and sowing , and all manner of cultivation ; and this was to be every seventh year , typifying the Eternal Sabbatism in Heaven , where good men shall rest from their labours , and their works shall follow them . But the great Sabbatical year of all was that of Jubilee , which returned at the end of seven ordinary Sabbatick years , that is , every fiftieth year , the approach whereof was proclaimed by the sound of Trumpets ; in it servants were released , all debts discharged , and mortgaged Estates reverted to their proper heirs . And how evidently did this shadow out the state of the Gospel , and our Lord 's being sent to preach good tidings to the meek , to bind up the broken hearted , to preach liberty to the captives , and the opening of the prison to them that are bound , to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord , that they might lift up their heads , because their redemption drew nigh ? 8. LASTLY , They had Laws concerning the persons by whom their publick worship was administred ; and here there was appointed an High Priest , who had his proper offices and rules of duty , his peculiar attire and consecration ; ordinary Priests whose business was to instruct the people , to Pray and offer sacrifice , to bless the Congregation , and judge in cases of Leprosie , and such like ; at their Ordination , they were to be chosen before all the people , to be sprinkled with the water of Expiation , their Hair shaved , and their Bodies washed , afterwards anointed , and sacrifices to be offered for them , and then they might enter upon their Priestly ministrations . Next to these were the Levites , who were to assist the Priests in preparing the Sacrifices , to bear the Tabernacle ( while it lasted ) and lay up its Vessels and Utensils , to purifie and cleanse the Vessels and Instruments , to guard the Courts and Chambers of the Temple , to watch weekly in the Temple by their turns , to sing and celebrate the praises of God with Hymns and Musical Instruments , and to joyn with the Priests in judging and determining Ceremonial causes ; they were not to be taken into the full discharge of their Function till the thirtieth , nor to be kept at it beyond the fiftieth year of their age ; God mercifully thinking it fit to give them then a Writ of Ease , whose strength might be presumed sufficiently impaired by truckling for so many years under such toilsom and laborious ministrations . Though the Levitical Priests were types of Christ , yet it was the High Priest , who did eminently typifie him , and that in the unity and singularity of his office ; for though many Orders and Courses of inferior Priests and Ministers , yet was there but one High Priest , There is one Mediator between God and man , the man Christ Jesus ; in the qualifications necessary to his election , as to place , he was to be taken out of the Tribe of Levi ; as to his person , which was to be every ways perfect and comely , and the manner of his Consecration ; in his singular capacity , that he alone might enter into the holy of holies , which he did once every year upon the great day of Expiation , with a mighty pomp and train of Ceremonies , killing Sacrifices , burning Incense , sprinkling the bloud of the Sacrifice before and upon the Mercy-seat , going within the veil , and making an attonement within the holy place . All which immediately referred to Christ , who by the sacrifice of himself , and through the veil of his own flesh entred , not into the holy place made with hands , but into Heaven it self , now to appear in the presence of God for us . All which might be represented more at large , but that I intend not a discourse about these matters . 9. BESIDES the Laws which we have hitherto enumerated , there were several other particular Commands , Ritual Constitutions about Meats and Drinks , and other parts of humane life . Such was the difference they were to make between the Creatures , some to be clean , and others unclean ; such were several sorts of pollution and uncleanness , which were not in their own nature sins , but Ceremonial defilements ; of this kind were several provisions about Apparel , Diet , and the ordering Family-affairs , all evidently of a Ceremonial aspect , but too long to be insisted on in this place . The main design of this Ceremonial Law was to point out to us the Evangelical state , The Law had only a shadow of good things to come , and not the very image of the things themselves , the body was Christ , and therefore though the Law came by Moses , yet grace and truth ( the truth of all those types and figures ) came by Christ. It was time for Moses to resign the Chair , when once this great Prophet was come into the World. Ceremonies could no longer be of use , when once the substance was at hand : well may the Stars disappear at the rising of the Sun : the Messiah being cut off , should cause the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease . At the time of Christ's death the veil of the Temple from top to bottom rent in sunder , to shew that his death had revealed the mysteries , and destroyed the foundations of the legal Oeconomy , and put a period to the whole Temple-ministration . Nay , the Jews themselves confess , that forty years before the destruction of the Temple ( a date that corresponds exactly with the death of Christ ) the Lot did no more go up into the right hand of the Priest ( this is meant of his dismission of the Scape-goat ) nor the scarlet Ribbon , usually laid upon the forehead of the Goat , any more grow white , ( this was a sign that the Goat was accepted for the remission of their sins ) nor the Evening Lamp burn any longer , and that the gates of the Temple opened of their own accord . By which as at once they confirm what the Gospel reports of the opening of the Sanctum Sanctorum by the scissure of the veil ; so they plainly confess , that at that very time their Sacrifices and Temple-services began to cease and fail : As indeed the reason of them then ceasing , the things themselves must needs vanish into nothing . 10. THE third sort of Laws given to the Jews were Judicial and Political , these were the Municipal Laws of the Nation , enacted for the good of the State , and were a kind of appendage to the second Table of the Decalogue , as the Ceremonial Laws were of the first . They might be reduced to four general heads ; such as respected men in their private and domestical capacities , concerning Husbands and Wives , Parents and Children , Masters and Servants ; such as concerned the Publick and the Common-wealth , relating to Magistrates , and Courts of Justice , to Contracts and matters of right and wrong , to Estates and Inheritances , to Executions and Punishments , &c. such as belong'd to strangers , and matters of a soreign nature , as Laws concerning Peace and War , Commerce and Dealing with persons of another Nation ; or lastly , such as secured the honour and the interests of Religion , Laws against Apostates and Idolaters , Wizards , Conjurers and false Prophets , against Blasphemy , Sacriledge , and such like ; all which not being so proper to my purpose , I omit a more particular enumeration of them . These Laws were peculiarly calculated for the Jewish State , and that while kept up in that Country wherein God had placed them , and therefore must needs determine and expire with it . Nor can they be made a pattern and standard for the Laws of other Nations ; for , though proceeding from the wisest Law-giver , they cannot reasonably be imposed upon any State or Kingdom , unless where there is an equal concurrence of circumstances , as there were in that people , for whom God enacted them . They went off the Stage with the Jewish Polity , and if any parts of them do still remain obligatory , they bind not as Judicial Laws , but as branches of the Law of Nature , the reason of them being Immutable and Eternal . I know not whether it may here be useful to remark what the Jews so frequently tell us of , that the intire body of the Mosaick Law consists of DCXIII . Precepts , intimated ( say they ) in that place where 't is said Moses commanded us a Law , where the Numeral Letters of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Law make up the number of DCXI. and the two that are wanting to make up the complete number are the two first Precepts of the Decalogue , which were not given by Moses to the people , but immediately by God himself . Others say that there are just DCXIII . letters in the Decalogue , and that every letter answers to a Law : But some that have had the patience to tell them , assure us that there are two whole words consisting of seven letters supernumerary , which in my mind quite spoils the computation . These DCXIII . Precepts they divide into CCXLVIII . 〈◊〉 , according to the number of the parts of man's body ( which they make account are just so many ) to put him in mind to serve God with all his bodily powers , as if every member of his body should say to him , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make use of me to fulfil the command ; and into CCCLXV . Negative , according to the number of the days of the year , that so every day may call upon a man , and say to him , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oh do not in me transgress the Command : Or as others will have it , they answer to the Veins or Nerves in the body of man ; that as the complete frame and compages of man's body is made up of CCXLVIII . Members , and CCCLXV . Nerves , and the Law of so many affirmative , and so many negative Precepts , it denotes to us , that the whole perfection and accomplishment of man lies in an accurate and diligent observance of the Divine Law. Each of these divisions they reduce under twelve houses , answerable to the twelve Tribes of Israel . In the Affirmative Precepts the first House is that of Divine worship , consisting of twenty Precepts ; the second , the House of the Sanctuary , containing XIX ; the third , the House of Sacrifices , wherein are LVII ; the fourth , that of Cleanness and Pollution , containing XVIII ; the fifth , of Tithes and Alms , under which are XXXII ; the sixth , of Meats and Drinks , containing VII ; the seventh , of the Passeover , concerning Feasts , containing XX ; the eighth , of Judgment , XIII ; the ninth , of Doctrine , XXV ; the tenth , of Marriage , and concerning Women , XII ; the eleventh , of Judgments criminal , VIII ; the twelfth , of Civil 〈◊〉 , XVII . In the Negative Precepts , the first House is concerning the worship of the Planets , containing XLVII Commands ; the second , of separation from the Heathens , XIII ; the third , concerning the reverence due to holy things , XXIX ; the fourth , of Sacrifice and Priesthood , LXXXII ; the fifth , of Meats , XXXVIII ; the sixth , of Fields and Harvest , XVIII ; the seventh , of Doctrine , XLV ; the eighth , of Justice , XLVII ; the ninth , of Feasts , X ; the tenth , of Purity and Chastity , XXIV ; the eleventh , of Wedlock , VIII ; the twelfth , concerning the Kingdom , IV. A method not contemptible , as which might minister to a distinct and useful explication of the whole Law of Moses . 11. THE next thing considerable under the Mosaical Oeconomy , was the methods of the Divine revelation , by what ways God communicated his mind to them , either concerning present emergences or future events , and this was done , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the Apostle tells us , at sundry times , or by sundry degrees and parcels , and in diverse manners , by various methods of revelation , whereof three most considerable , the Urim and Thummim , the audible voice , and the spirit of Prophecy , imparted in dreams , visions , &c. We shall make some brief remarks upon them , referring the Reader , who desires fuller satisfaction herein , to those who purposely treat about these matters . The Urim and Thummim was a way of revelation peculiar to the High Priest : Thou shalt put on the breast-plate of Judgment , the Urim and the Thummim , and they shall be upon Aaron's heart , when he goeth in before the Lord , and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually . Thus Eleazar the Priest is commanded to ask counsel after the Judgment of Urim before the Lord. What this Urim and Thummim was , and what the manner of receiving answers by it , is difficult , if not impossible to tell , there being scarce any one difficulty that I know of in the Bible that hath more exercised the thoughts either of Jewish or Christian Writers . Whether it was some addition to the High Priests breast-plate made by the hand of some curious Artist , or whether only those two words engraven upon it , or the great name Jehovah carved and put within the foldings of the breast-plate , or whether the twelve stones resplendent with light , and completed to perfection with the Tribes names therein , or whether some other mysterious piece of artifice immediately framed by the hand of Heaven , and given to Moses , when he delivered him the two Tables of the Law , is vain and endless to enquire , because impossible to determine . Nor is the manner of its giving answers less uncertain : Whether at such times the fresh and orient lustre of the stones signified the answer in the Affirmative , while their dull and dead colour spake the Negative ; or whether it was by some extraordinary protuberancy and thrusting forth of the letters engraven upon the stones , from the conjunction whereof the Divine Oracle was gathered ; or whether probably it might be , that when the High Priest enquired of God , with this breast-plate upon him , God did either by a lively voice , or by immediate suggestions to his mind , give him a distinct and perspicuous answer , illuminating his mind with the Urim , or the light of the knowledge of his will in those cases , and satisfying his doubts and scruples with the Thummim of a perfect and complete determination of those difficulties that were propounded to him , thereby enabling him to give a satisfactory and infallible answer in all the particulars that lay before him . And this several of the Jews seem to intend , when they make this way of revelation one of the degrees of the Holy Ghost , and say that no sooner did the High Priest put on the Pectoral , and had the case propounded to him , but that he was immediately clothed with the Holy Spirit . But it 's to little purpose to hunt after that where fancy and conjecture must decide the case . Indeed among the various conjectures about this matter , none appears with greater probability than the opinion of those who conceive the Urim and Thummim to have been a couple of Teraphim , or little Images ( probably formed in humane shape ) put within the hollow foldings of the Pontifical breast-plate , from whence God by the ministry of an Angel vocally answered those interrogatories which the High Priest made : Nothing being more common even in the early Ages of the World , than such Teraphim in those Eastern Countries , usually placed in their Temples , and whence the Daemon was wont oracularly to determine the cases brought before him . And as God permitted the Jews the use of Sacrifices , which had been notoriously abused to Superstition and Idolatry in the Heathen World , so he might indulge them these Teraphim ( though now converted to a sacred use ) that so he might by degrees wean them from the Rites of the Gentile World , to which they had so fond an inclination . And this probably was the reason , why when Moses is so particular in describing the other parts of the Sacerdotal Ornaments , nothing at all is said of this , because a thing of common use among the Nations , with whom they had conversed , and notoriously known among themselves . And such we may suppose the Prophet intended , when he threatned the Jews , that they should abide without a Sacrifice , without an Image or Altar , without an Ephod , and without a Teraphim . A notion very happily improved by an ingenious Pen , whose acute conjectures , and elaborate dissertations about this matter justly deserve commendation even from those who differ from it . It seems to have been a kind of political Oracle and to be consulted only in great and weighty cases , as the Election of Supreme Magistrates , making War , &c. and only by Persons of the highest rank , none being permitted ( say the Jews ) to enquire of it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless in a case wherein the King , or the Sanhedrim , or the whole Congregation was concerned . 12. A SECOND way of Divine Revelation was by an audible voice , accompanied many times with Thunder , descending as it were from Heaven , and directing them in any emergency of affairs . This the Jewish Writers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the daughter or Eccho of a 〈◊〉 oice , which they confess to have been the lowest kind of revelation , and to have been in use only in the times of the second Temple , when all other ways of Prophecy were ceased . But notwithstanding their common and confident assertions whether ever there was any such standing way of revelation as this , is justly questionable ( nay it is peremptorily denied by one incomparably versed in the Talmudick Writings , who adds , that if there was any such thing at any time , it was done by Magick Arts , and diabolical delusions ) partly because it is only delivered by Jewish Writers , whose faith and honesty is too well known to the World to be trusted in stories that make so much for the honour of their Nation , not to mention their extravagant propension to lies and fabulous reports ; partly , because by their own confession God had withdrawn all his standing Oracles and ordinary ways of Revelation , their notorious impieties having caused Heaven to retire , and therefore much less would it correspond with them by such immediate converses ; partly , because this seemed to be a way more accommodate to the Evangelical dispensation at the appearance of the Son of God in the World. A voice from Heaven is the most immediate testimony , and therefore sittest to do honour to him who came down from Heaven , and was sure to meet with an obdurate and incredulous Generation , and to give evidence to that Doctrin that he published to the World. Thus by a Bath-Col or a Voice from Heaven God bare witness to our Saviour at his Baptism , and a second time at his Transfiguration , and again at the Passover at Jerusalem , when there came a Voice from Heaven , which the People took for Thunder , or the Communication of an Angel , and most of S. John's intelligences from above recorded in his Book of Revelation are ushered in with an , I heard a 〈◊〉 from Heaven . 13. BUT the most frequent and standing method of Divine communications was that whereby God was wont to transact with the Prophets , and in extraordinary cases with other Men , which was either by Dreams , Visions , or immediate Inspirations . The way by Dreams was when the Person being overtaken with a deep sleep , and all the exteriour senses locked up , God presented the Species and Images of things to their understandings , and that in such a manner , that they might be able to apprehend the will of God , which they presently did upon their awaking out of sleep . These Divine Dreams the Jews distinguish into two sorts , Monitory , such as were sent only by way of instruction and admonition , to give Men notice of what they were to do , or warning of what they should avoid , such were the Dreams of Pharaoh , Abimelech , Laban , &c. or else they were Prophetical , when God by such a powerful energy acted upon the mind and imagination of the Prophet , as carried the strength and force of a Divine evidence along with it . This was sometimes done by a clear and distinct impression of the thing upon the mind without any dark or aenigmatical representation of it , such as God made to Samuel , when he first revealed himself to him in the Temple : sometimes by apparition , yet so as the Man though a-sleep was able to discern an Angel conversing with him . By Visions , God usually communicated himself two ways . First , when something really appeared to the sight ; thus Moses beheld the Bush burning , and stood there while God conversed with him ; Manoah and his 〈◊〉 saw the Angel , while he took his leave , and in a flaming Pyramid went up to Heaven ; the three Angels appeared to Abraham a little before the fatal ruine of Sodom ; all which apparitions were unquestionably true and real , the Angel assuming an humane shape , that he might the freelier converse with , and deliver his message to those to whom he was sent . Secondly , by powerful impressions upon the imagination , usually done while the Prophet was awake , and had the free and uninterrupted exercise of his reason , though the Vision oft over-powered , and cast him into a trance , that the Soul being more retired from sensible objects might the closer intend those Divine notices that were represented to it . Thus all the Prophets had the Ideas of those things that they were to deliver to the People , the more strongly impressed upon their fancies , and this commonly when they were in the greatest solitude and privacy , and their powers most called in , that the Prophetical influx might have the greater force upon them . In some such way S. Paul was caught up into the third Heaven , probably not so much by any real separation of his Soul from his Body , or local translation of his Spirit thither , as by a profound abstraction of it from his corporeal Senses , God , during the time of the trance , entertaining it with an internal and admirable 〈◊〉 of the glory and happiness of that state , as truly and effectually , as if his Soul had been really conveyed thither . 14. THIRDLY , God was wont to communicate his mind by immediate Inspirations , whereby he immediately transacted with the understandings of Men , without any relation to their sancy or their senses . It was the most pacate and serene way of Prophecy , God imparting his mind to the Prophet not by Dreams or Visions , but while they were awake , their powers active , and their minds calm and undisturbed . This the Jews call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Spirit , or that kind of Revelation that was directly conveyed into the mind by the most efficacious irradiation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit ; God by these Divine illapses enabling the Prophet clearly and immediately to 〈◊〉 the things delivered to him . And in this way the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or holy Writings 〈◊〉 dictated and conveyed to the World , in which respect the Apostle says , that all 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , given by divine inspiration . The highest pitch of this Prophetical revelation was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gradus Mosaicus , or that way of Prophecy that God used towards Moses , of whom it is particularly said , that the Lord spake unto Moses face to face , as a Man speaketh unto his friend : and elsewhere it is evidently distinguished from all inferiour ways of Prophecy , If there be 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 : 〈◊〉 Servant Moses is not so , with him I will speak mouth to mouth , even apparently , and not in dark speeches , and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold : Clearly implying a mighty 〈◊〉 in God's way of revelation to Moses above that of other Prophets , which the Jewish Writers make to have lyen in four things . First , that in all God's communications to Moses 〈◊〉 immediately spake to his understanding , without any impressions upon fancy , any visible appearances , any Dreams or Visions of the Night . Secondly , that Moses had prophecies conveyed to him without any fears or consternations , whereas the other Prophets were astonished and weakned at the sight of God. Thirdly , that Moses had no previous dispositions or preparations to make him capable of the Divine revelation , but could directly go to God and consult him , as a man speaketh with his friend , other Prophets being forced many times by some preparatory arts to invite the Prophetick spirit to come upon them . Fourthly , that Moses had a freedom and liberty of spirit to prophecy at all times , and could when he pleased have recourse to the Sacred Oracle . But as to this the Scripture intimates no such thing , the spirit of Prophecy retiring from him at some times as well as from the rest of the Prophets . And indeed the Prophetick spirit did not reside in the holy men by way of habit , but occasionally , as God saw fitting to pour it out upon them ; it was not in them as light is in the Sun , but as light in the Air , and consequently depended upon the immediate irradiations of the Spirit of God. 15. THESE Divine Communications were so conveyed to the minds of the Prophets and inspired 〈◊〉 , that they always knew them to be Divine revelations ; so mighty and 〈◊〉 was the evidence that came along with them , that there could be no doubt , but they were the birth of Heaven . It 's true , when the Prophetick spirit at any time seised upon wicked men , they understood not its effect upon them , nor were in the least improved and bettered by it ; the revelation passed through them , as a sound through a Trunk , or water through a Leaden-pipe , without any particular and distinct apprehension of the thing , or useful impression made upon their minds , as is evident besides others in the case of Caiaphas and Balaam , of which last the Jews say expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he prophesied according to the will of God , but understood not what he prophesied . But it was otherwise with the true Prophets , they always knew who 't was that acted them , & what was the meaning of that intelligence that was communicated to them . In the Gentile world , when the Daemon entred into the inspired person , he was usually carried out to the furious transports of rage and madness . But in the Prophets of God , although the impulse might sometimes be very strong and violent ( whence the Prophet Jeremy complains , Mine heart within me is broken , all my bones shake , I am like a drunken man , like a man whom wine hath overcome , because of the Lord , and because of the words of his holiness ) so as a little to ruffle their imagination , yet never so as to discompose their reason , or hinder them from a clear perception of the notices conveyed upon their minds ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , says Epiphanius , the Prophet had his Oracles dictated by the Holy Spirit , which he delivered strenuously , and with the most firm and unshaken consistency of his rational powers ; and afterwards , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Prophets were often in a bodily ecstasie , but never in an ecstasie of mind , their understandings never being rendred useless and unserviceable to them . Indeed it was absolutely necessary that the Prophet should have a full satisfaction of mind concerning the truth and Divinity of his message ; for how else should they perswade others , that the thing was from God , if they were not first sufficiently assured themselves ; and therefore even in those methods that were most liable to doubts and questions , such as communications by dreams , we cannot think but that the same Spirit that moved and impressed the thing upon them , did also by some secret and inward operations settle their minds in the firmest belief and perswasion of what was revealed and suggested to them . All these ways of immediate revelation ceased some hundreds of years before the final period of the Jewish Church . A thing confessed not only by Christians but by Jews themselves , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was no Prophet in the second Temple ; indeed they universally acknowledge , that there were five things wanting in the second Temple , built after their return from the Babylonish Captivity , which had been in that of Solomon , viz. the Ark of the Covenant , the fire from Heaven that lay upon the Altar , the Schekinah or presence of the Divine Majesty , the 〈◊〉 and Thummim , and the spirit of Prophecy , which ceased ( as they tell us ) about the second year of Darius , to be sure at the death of Malachy , the last of that order , after whom there arose no Prophet in Israel , whom therefore the Jews call , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seal of the Prophets . Indeed it is no wonder that Prophecy should cease at that time , if we consider that one of the prime ends of it did then cease , which was to be a seal and an assurance of the Divine inspiration of the holy Volumes , now the Canon of the Old Testament being consigned and completed by Ezra with the assistance of Malachy , and some of the last Prophets , God did not think good any longer to continue this Divine and Miraculous gift among them : But especially if we consider the great degeneracy into which that Church was falling ; their horrid and crying sins having made God resolve to reject them , the departure of the Prophetick spirit shewed that God had written them a bill of divorce , and would utterly cast them off ; that by this means they might be awakened to a more lively expectation of that new state of things , which the Messiah was coming to establish in the World , wherein the Prophetick spirit should revive , and be again restored to the Church , which accordingly came to pass , as we shall elsewhere observe . 16. THE third thing propounded , was to consider the state of Religion , and the Church under the successive periods of this 〈◊〉 . And here we shall only make some general remarks , a particular survey of those matters not consisting with the design of this discourse . Ecclesiastical Constitutions being made in the Wilderness , and the place for publick worship fram'd and erected , no sooner did they come into the promised Land , but the Tabernacle was set down at Gilgal , where , if the Jewish Chronology say true , it continued fourteen years , till they had subdued and divided the Land : Then fixed at Shiloh , and the Priests and Levites had Cities and Territories assigned to them , where it is not to be doubted but there were Synagogues , or places equivalent for prayer and the ordinary solemnities of Religion , and Courts for the decision of Ecclesiastical causes . Prosperity and a plentiful Country had greatly contributed to the depravation of mens manners , and the corruption of Religion till the times of Samuel , the great Reformer of that Church , who erected Colledges , and instituted Schools of the Prophets , reduced the Societies of the Levites to their Primitive order and purity , forced the Priests to do their duty diligently to minister in the affairs of God's worship , and carefully to teach and instruct the people : A piece of reformation no more than necessay , For the word of the Lord was precious in those days , there was no open vision . CCCLXIX . years ( say the Jews ) the Tabernacle abode at Shiloh , from whence it was translated to Nob a City in the Tribe of Benjamin , probably about the time that the Ark was taken , thence after thirteen years to Gibeon , where it remained fifty years ; and lastly , by Solomon to Jerusalem . The Ark being taken out to carry along with them for their more prosperous success in their War against the Philistines , was ever after exposed to an ambulatory and unsetled course : For being taken captive by the Philistines , it was by them kept prisoner seven months , thence removed to 〈◊〉 , and thence to Kirtath-jearim , where it remained in the house of Abinadab twenty years , thence solemnly 〈◊〉 by David , and after three months rest by the way in the house of Obed-Edom , brought triumphantly to Jerusalem , and placed under the covert of a Tent which he had purposely erected for it . David being setled in the Throne , like a pious Prince took especial care of the affairs of Religion , he fixed the High Priest and his second , augmented the courses of the Priests from eight to four and twenty , appointed the Levites , and Singers , and their several turns and times of waiting , assigned them their proper duties and ministeries , setled the Nethinim or Porters , the posterity of the 〈◊〉 , made Treasurers of the revenues belonging to holy uses , and of the vast summs contributed towards the building of a Temple , as a more solemn and stately place for Divine worship , which he was fully resolved to have erected , but that God commanded it to be reserved for the peaceable and prosperous Reign of Solomon , who succeeding in his Father's Throne , accomplished it , building so stately and magnificent a Temple , that it became one of the greatest wonders of the World. Under his son Rehoboam hapned the fatal division of the Kingdom , when ten parts of twelve were rent off at once , and brought under the Empire of Jeroboam , who knew no better way to secure his new-gotten Soveraignty , than to take off the people from hankering after the Temple and the worship at Jerusalem , and therefore out of a cursed policy erected two Golden Calves at Dan and Bethel , perswading the people there to pay their publick adorations , appointing Chaplains like himself , Priests of the lowest of the people ; and from this time Religion began visibly to ebb and decline in that Kingdom , and Idolatry to get ground amongst them . 17. THE two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin were loyal both to God and their Prince , continuing obedient to their lawful Sovereign , and firmly adhering to the worship of the Temple , though even here too impiety in some places maintained its ground , having taken root in the Reign of Solomon , who through his over-great partiality and fondness to his Wives had been betrayed to give too much countenance to 〈◊〉 . The extirpation hereof was the design and attempt of all the pious and good Princes of Judah : Jehosaphat set himself in good earnest to recover Religion and the state of the Church to its ancient purity and lustre , he abolished the Groves and high places , and appointed itinerant Priests and Levites to go from City to City to expound the Law , and instruct the people in the knowledge of their duty ; nay , he himself held a royal Visitation , Going quite through the Land , and bringing back the people to the Lord God of their Fathers . But under the succeeding Kings Religion again lost its ground , and had been quite extinct during the tyranny and usurpation of Athaliah , but that good Jehoiada the High Priest kept it alive by his admirable zeal and industry . While he lived , his Pupil Joas ( who owed both his Crown and his life to him ) promoted the design , and purged the Temple , though after his Tutors death he apostatized to prophaneness and idolatry . Nor indeed was the reformation effectually advanced till the time of Hezekiah , who no sooner ascended the Throne , but he summoned the Priests and Levites , exhorted them to begin at home , and first to reform themselves , then to cleanse and repair the Temple ; he resetled the Priests and Levites in their proper places and offices , and caused them to offer all sorts of Sacrifices , and the Passeover to be universally celebrated with great strictness and solemnity ; he destroyed the Monuments of Idolatry , took away the Altars in Jerusalem , and having given commission , the people did the like in all parts of the Kingdom , breaking the Images , cutting down the Groves , throwing down the Altars and high places , until they had utterly destroyed them all . But neither greatness nor piety can exempt any from the common Laws of mortality , Hezekiah dies , and his son Manasseh succeeds , a wicked Prince , under whose influence impiety like a land-flood broke in upon Religion , and laid all waste before it . But his Grandchild Josiah made some amends , he gave signal instances of an early piety ; for in the eighth year of his Reign , while he was yet young , he began to seek after the God of David his Father , and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem ; he defaced whatever had been abused and prostituted to Idolatry and Superstition throughout the whole Kingdom , repaired God's house , and ordered its worship according to the prescript of the Mosaick Law , a copy whereof they had found in the ruines of the Temple , solemnly engaged himself and his people to be true to Religion and the worship of God , and caused so great and solemn a Passeover to be held , that there was no Passeover like to it kept in Israel from the days of Samuel . And more he had done , had not an immature death cut him off in the midst both of his days , and his pious designs and projects . Not many years after God being highly provoked by the prodigious impieties of that Nation , delivered it up to the Army of the King of Babylon , who demolished the City , harassed the Land , and carried the people captive unto Babylon . And no wonder the Divine patience could hold no longer , when all the chief of the Priests and the people transgressed very much , after all the abominations of the Heathen , and polluted the house of the Lord , which he had hallowed in Jerusalem . Seventy years they remained under this captivity , during which time the Prophet Daniel gave lively and particular accounts of the Messiah , that he should come into the World to introduce a Law of everlasting righteousness , to die as a sacrifice and expiation for the sins of the people , and to put a period to the Levitical sacrifices and oblations . And whereas other prophecies had only in general defined the time of the Messiah's coming , he particularly determines the period , that all this should be at the end of LXX . weeks , that is , at the expiration of CCCCXC . years ; which exactly fell in with the time of our Saviour's appearing in the World. The seventy years captivity being run out , by the 〈◊〉 of the King of Babylon they were set free , and by him permitted and assisted to repair Jerusalem , and rebuild the Temple , which was accordingly done under the government of Nehemiah , and the succeeding Rulers , and the Temple finished by Zorobabel , and things brought into some tolerable state of order and decency , and so continued till the Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes King of Syria , by whom the Temple was prophaned and violated , and the Jewish Church miserably afflicted and distressed ; he thrust out Onias the High Priest , and put in his brother Jason , a man lost both to Religion and good manners , and who by a vast summ of money had purchased the Priesthood of Antiochus : At this time Matthias a Priest , and the head of the 〈◊〉 Family , stood up for his Country ; after whom came Judas Macchabaeus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Josephus truly characters him , a man of a generous temper , and a valiant mind , ready to do or suffer any thing to assert the Liberties and Religion of his Country , followed both in his zeal and prosperous success by his two Brothers Jonathan and Simon , successively High Priests and Commanders after him . Next him came John surnamed Hyrcanus , then Aristobulus , Alexander , Hyrcanus , Aristobulus junior , Alexander , Antigonus ; in whose time Herod the Great having by the favour of Antony obtained of the Roman Senate the Sovereignty over the Jewish Nation , and being willing that the Priesthood should intirely depend upon his arbitrary disposure , abrogated the succession of the Asmonaean Family , and put in one Ananel , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Josephus calls him , an obscure Priest , of the line of those who had been Priests in Babylon . To him succeeded Aristobulus , to him Jesus the son of Phabes , to him Simon , who being deposed , next came Matthias , deposed also by Herod , next him Joazar , who underwent the same fate from Archelaus , then Jesus the son of Sie , after whom Joazar was again restored to the Chair , and under his Pontificate ( though before his first deposition ) Christ was born , things every day growing worse among them , till about seventy years after the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost , and brought the Romans , who finally took away their place and Nation . 18. BEFORE we go off from this part of our discourse , it may not be amiss to take a more particular view of the state of the Jewish Church , as it stood at the time of our Saviour's appearing in the World , as what may reflect some considerable light upon the History of CHRIST and his Apostles . And if we cast our eyes upon it at this time , How was the Gold become dim , and the most fine Gold changed ! How miserably deformed was the face of the Church , how strangely degenerated from its Primitive Institution ! whereof we shall observe some particular instances . Their Temple though lately repaired and rebuilt by Herod , and that with so much pomp and grandeur , that Josephus , who may justly be presumed partial to the honour of his own Nation , says of it , that it was the most admirable structure that was ever seen or heard of both for the preparation made for it , the greatness and magnificence of the thing it self , and the infinite expence and cost bestowed upon it , as well as for the glory of that Divine worship that was performed in it , yet was it infinitely short of that of Solomon ; besides that it had been often exposed to rudeness and violence . Not to mention the horrible prophanations of Antiochus , it had been of late invaded by Pompey , who boldly ventured into the Sanctum Sanctorum , and without any scruple curiously contemplated the mysteries of that place , but suffered no injury to be offered to it . After him came Crassus , who to the others boldness added Sacrilege , seizing what the others piety and modesty had spared , plundering the Temple of its vast wealth and treasure . Herod having procured the Kingdom , besieged and took the City and the Temple , and though to ingratiate himself with the People he endeavoured what in him lay to secure it from rapine and impicty , and afterwards expended incredible Summes in its reparation , yet did he not stick to make it truckle under his wicked policies and designs . The more to indear himself to his Patrons at Rome , he set up a Golden Eagle of a vast dimension ( the Arms of the Roman Empire ) over the great Gate of the Temple : a thing so expresly contrary to the Law of Moses , which forbids all Images , and accounted so monstrous a prophanation of that holy place , that while Herod lay a dying the People in a great tumult and uproar gathered together and pull'd it down . A great part of it was become an Exchange and a Market ; the place where Men were to meet with God , and to trade with Heaven , was now turned into a Ware-house for Merchants , and a Shop for Usurers , and the House of Prayer into a Den of Thieves . The worship formerly wont to be performed there with pious and devout affections , was now shrunk into a meer shell and out-side , they drew near to God with their mouths , and honoured him with their lips , but their hearts were 〈◊〉 from him ; Rites of humane invention had justled out those of Divine Institution , and their very Prayers were made traps to catch the unwary People , and to devour the Widow and the Fatherless . Their Priesthood was so changed and altered , that it retain'd little but its ancient Name ; the High-priests who by their Original Charter were lineally to succeed , and to hold their place for life , were become almost annual , scarce a Year passing over , wherein one was not thrust out , and another put in , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as 〈◊〉 notes out of their own Historian . Nay which was far worse , it was become not only annual , but venal , Herod exposing it to sale , and scarce admitting any to the Sacerdotal Office , who had not first sufficiently paid for his Patent ; and which was the natural consequence of that , the place was filled with the resuse of the People , Men of mean abilities , and debauched manners , who had neither parts nor piety to recommend them , he being the best and the fittest man , that offered most . Nay into so strange a degeneracy were they fallen in this matter , that Josephus reports , that one Phannias was elected High-priest , not only a rustick and illiterate fellow , not only not of the Sacerdotal Line , but so intolerably stupid and ignorant , that when they came to acquaint him , he knew not what the High-Priesthood meant . And not content to be imposed upon , and tyrannized over by a Forreign Power , they fell a quarrelling among themselves , and mutually prey'd upon one another ; the High-priests falling out with the inferiour Orders , and both Parties going with an armed retinue after them , ready to clash and fight where-ever they met , the High-priest sending his Servants to fetch away the Tithes due to the inferiour Priests , insomuch that many of the poorest of them were famished for want of necessary food . 19. THEIR Law , which had been delivered with so much majesty and magnificence , and for which they themselves pretended so great a reverence , they had miserably corrupted and depraved ( the moral part of it especially ) and that two ways . First , by gross and absurd interpretations , which the Teachers of those times had put upon it . The Scribes and Pharisees , who ruled the Chair in the Jewish Church , had by false and corrupt glosses debased the majesty and purity of the Law , and made it to serve the purposes of an evil life : they had taught the People , that the Law required no more than external righteousness , that if there was but a visible conformity of the life , they needed not be sollicitous about the government of their minds , or the regular conduct of their thoughts or passions ; that so Men did but carry themselves fair to the eye of the World , it was no great matter how things went in the secret and unseen retirements of the Soul , nay that a punctual observance of some external Precepts of the Law would compensate and quit scores with God for the neglect or violation of the rest . They told Men that when the Law forbad murder , so they did not actually kill another , and sheath their Sword in their Brother's bowels , it was well enough , Men were not restrained from furious and intemperate passions , they might be angry , yea though by peevish and uncomely speeches they betray'd the rancor and malice of their minds . They confessed the Law made it adultery actually to embrace the bosom of a stranger , but would not have it extend to wanton thoughts and unchast desires , or that it was adultery for a man to lust after a Woman , and to commit folly with her in his heart : they told them that in all oaths and vows , if they did but perform what they had sworn to God , the Law took no further notice of it , when as every vain and unnecessary oath ; all customary and trifling use of the name of God was forbidden by it . They made them believe that it was lawful for them to proceed by the rigorous Law of retaliation , to exact their own to the utmost , and to right and revenge themselves ; when as the Law requires a tender , compassionate , and benevolent temper of mind , and is so far from owning the rigorous punctilio's of revenge , that it obliges to meekness and patience , to forgiveness and charity , and which is the very height of charity , not only to pardon , but to love and befriend our greatest enemies , quite contrary to the doctrine which these men taught , that though they were to love their neighbours , that is , Jewes , yet might they hate their enemies . In these and such like instances they had notoriously abused and evacuated the Law , and in a manner rendred it of no effect . And therefore when our Lord as the great Prophet sent from God came into the World , the first thing he did after the entrance upon his publick Ministry , was to cleanse and purifie the Law , and to remove that rubbish which the Jewish Doctors had cast upon it . He rescued it out of the hands of their poysonous and pernicious expositions , restored it to its just authority , and to its own primitive sence and meaning , he taught them that the Law did not only bind the external act , but prescribe to the most inward motions of the mind , and that whoever transgresses here , is no less obnoxious to the Divine Justice , and the penalties of the Law , than he that is guilty of the most gross and palpable violations of it : he shewed them how infinitely more pure and strict the command was , than these Impostors had represented it , and plainly told them that if ever they expected to be happy , they must look upon the Law with an other-guise eye , and follow it after another rate , than their blind and deceitful Guides did , For I say unto you , Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , you can in no case enter into the Kingdome of God. 20. THE other way by which they corrupted and dishonoured the Law , and weakned the power and reputation of it , was by preferring before it their Oral and unwritten Law. For besides the Law consigned to Writing , they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Law delivered by word of mouth , whose pedigree they thus deduce . They tell us that when Moses waited upon God Fourty Days in the Mount , he gave him a double Law , one in Writing , the other Traditionary , containing the sence and explication of the former : being come down into his Tent , he repeated it first to Aaron , then to Ithamar and Eleazar his Sons , then to the Seventy Elders , and lastly to all the People , the same Persons being all this while present . Aaron who had now heard it four times recited , Moses being gone out , again repeated it before them : after his departure out of the Tent , his two Sons who by this had heard it as oft as their Father , made another repetition of it , by which means the Seventy Elders came to hear it four times , and then they also repeated it to the Congregation , who had now also heard it repeated four times together , once from Moses , then from Aaron , then from his Sons , and lastly from the Seventy Elders , after which the Congregation broke up , and every one went home , and taught it his Neighbour . This Oral Law Moses upon his Death-bed repeated to 〈◊〉 , he delivered it to the Elders , they to the Prophets , the Prophets to the men of the great Synagogue , the last of whom was Symeon the Just , who delivered it to Antigonus Sochaeus , and he to his Successors , the wise Men , whose business it was to recite it , and so it was handed through several Generations , the names of the Persons who delivered it in the several Ages from its first rise under Moses till above an Hundred Years after Christ , being particularly enumerated by Maimonides . At last it came to R. Jehuda , commonly stiled by the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our holy Master , the Son of Rabban Symeon ( who flourished a little before the time of the Emperour Antoninus ) who considering the unsetled and tottering condition of his own Nation , and how apt these traditionary Precepts would be to be forgotten or mistaken , by the weakness of Mens memories , or the perversness of their wits , or the dispersion of the Jews in other Countries , collected all these Laws and Expositions , and committed them to Writing , stiling his Book Mishnaioth , or the Repetition . This was asterwards illustrated and explained by the Rabbines dwelling about Babylon , with infinite cases and controversies concerning their Law , whose resolutions were at last compiled into another Volume , which they called Gemara , or Doctrin , and both together constitute the intire Body of the Babylonish Talmud , the one being the Text , the other the Comment . The folly and vanity of this account , though it be sufficiently evident to need no confutation with any wise and discerning Man , yet have the Jewes in all Ages made great advantage of it , magnifying and extolling it above the written Law with Titles and Elogies that hyperbolize into blasphemy . They tell us , that this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of the Law for whose sake it was that God entred into Covenant with the Israelites , that without this the whole Law would lye in the dark , yea be meer obscurity and darkness it self , as being contrary and repugnant to it self , and defective in things necessary to be known : that it is joy to the heart , and health to the bones , that the words of it are more lovely and desirable than the words of the Law , and a greater sin to violate the one than thé other ; that it 's little or no commendation for a Man to read the Bible , but to study the Mishna is that for which a Man shall receive the reward of the other World , and that no Man can have a peaceable and quiet conscience , who leaves the study of the Talmud to go to that of the Bible ; that the Bible is like Water , the Mishna like Wine ; the Talmud like spiced Wine ; that all the words of the Rabbins are the very words of the living God ; from which a Man might not depart , though they should tell him his right hand were his left , and his left his right ; nay they blush not , nor tremble to assert , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that to study in the holy Bible is nothing else but to lose our time : I will mention but one bold and blasphemous sentence more , that we may see how far these desperate wretches are given over to a spirit of impiety and infatuation , they tell us , that he that dissents from his Rabbin or Teacher , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dissents from the Divine Majesty , but he that believes the words of the wise men , believes God himself . 21. STRANGE ! that Men should so far offer violence to their reason , so far conquer and subdue their conscience , as to be able to talk at this wild and prodigious rate : and stranger it would seem , but that we know a Generation of Men , great Patrons of Tradition too , in another Church , who mainly endeavour to debase and suppress the Scriptures , and value their unwritten Traditions at little less rate than this . But I let them pass . This is no novel and upstart humour of the Jews , they were notoriously guilty of it in our 〈◊〉 days , whom we find frequently charging them with their superstitious observances of many little rites and usages derived from the Traditions of the Elders , wherein they placed the main of Religion , and for which they had a far more sacred regard , than for the plain and positive commands of God. Such were their frequent washings of their Pots and Cups , their brazen Vessels and Tables , the purifying themselves after they came from Market ( as if the touching of others had defiled them ) the washing their hands before every Meal , and many other things which they had received to hold . In all which they were infinitely nice and scrupulous , making the neglect of them of equal guilt with the greatest immorality , not sticking to affirm , that he who eats Bread with unwashen hands , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is as if he lay with an Harlot . This it 's plain they thought a sufficient charge against our Lord's Disciples , that they were not zealous observers of these things . When they saw some of his Disciples eat Bread with defiled ( that is to say , with unwashen ) hands , they found fault ; and asked him , Why walk not thy Disciples according to the Tradition of the Elders , but 〈◊〉 Bread with unwashen hands ? To whom our Saviour smartly answered , that they were the Persons of whom the Prophet had spoken , who honoured God with their lips , but their hearts were far from him , that in vain did they worship him , while for doctrines they taught the commandments of men , laying aside and rejecting the commandments of God , that they might hold the Tradition of men . For they were not content to make them of equal value and authority with the Word of God , but made them a means wholly to evacuate and supersede it . Whereof our Lord gives a notorious instance in the case of Parents . They could not say but that the Law obliged Children to honour and revere their Parents , and to administer to their necessities in all straits and exigencies , but then had found out a fine way to evade the force of the command , and that under a pious and plausible pretence . Moses said , Honour thy Father and thy Mother : and who so curseth Father or Mother let him die the death . But ye say , If a man shall say to his Father or Mother , It is Corban , that is to say , a gift , by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me , 〈◊〉 shall be 〈◊〉 : And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his Father ; or Mother . By which is commonly understood , that when their Parents required relief and assistance from their Children , they put them off with this excuse , that they had consecrated their Estate to God , and might not divert it to any other use . Though this seems a 〈◊〉 and plausible pretence , yet it is not reasonable to suppose , that either they had , or would pretend that they had intirely devoted whatever they had to God , and must therefore refer to some other custom . Now among the many kinds of oaths and vows that were among the Jews they had one , which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vow of interdict ; whereby a man might restrain himself as to this or that particular person , and this or that particular thing ; as , he might vow not to accept of such a courtesie from this friend or that neighbour , or that he would not part with this or that thing of his own to such a man , to lend him his Horse , or give him any thing towards his maintenance , &c. and then the thing became utterly unlawful , and might not be done upon any consideration whatsoever , lest the Man became guilty of the violation of his Vow . The form of this Vow frequently occurs in the Jewish Writings , and even in the very same words wherein our Lord expresses it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be it 〈◊〉 or a gift ( that is , a thing sacred ) whereby I may be any ways prositable to thee , that is , be that thing unlawful or prohibited to me , wherein I may be helpful and assistant to thee . And nothing more common than this way of vowing in the particular case of Parents , whereof there are abundant instances in the writings of the Jewish Masters , who thus explain the forementioned Vow , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatever I shall gain hereafter , shall be sacred , as to the maintenance of my Father ; or as Maimonides expresses it , That what I provide , my Father shall eat nothing of it , that is , says he , he shall receive no profit by it ; and then as they tell us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that had thus vowed , might not transgress or make void his Vow . So that when indigent Parents craved relief and assistance from their Children , and probably wearied them with importunity , it was but vowing in a passionate resentment , that they should not be better for what they had , and then they were safe , and might no more dispose any part of their Estate to that use , than they might touch the Corban , that which was most solemnly consecrated to God. By which means they were taught to be unnatural under a pretence of Religion , and to suffer their Parents to starve , lest themselves should violate a senceless and unlawful Vow . So that though they were under the precedent obligations of a natural duty , a duty as clearly commanded by God as words could express it , yet a blind Tradition , a rash and impious Vow , made for the most part out of passion or covetousness , should cancel and supersede all these obligations , it being unlawful hence forth to give them one penny to relieve them : 〈◊〉 suffer him no more ( says our Lord ) to do ought for his Father or his Mother , making the word of God of none effect through your tradition , which ye have delivered . 22. THE last instance that I shall note of the corruption and degeneracy of this Church , is the many Sects and divisions that were in it , a thing which the Jews themselves in their writings confess would happen in the days of the 〈◊〉 , whose Kingdom should be overrun with heretical opinions . That Church which heretofore like Jerusalem had been at unity within it self , was now miserably broken into 〈◊〉 and Factions , whereof three most considerable , Pharisees , Sadducees , and the Essenes . The Pharisees derive their name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which may admit of a double signification , and either not unsuitable to them : It may refer to them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Explainers or Interpreters of the Law , which was a peculiar part of their work , and for which they were famous and venerable among the Jews ; or more probably to their separation ( the most proper and natural importance of the word ) so called , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as 〈◊〉 observed of old , because separated from all others in their extraordinary pretences of piety , the very Jews themselves thus describing a Pharisee , he is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that separates himself from all uncleanness , and from all unclean meats , and from the people of the Earth , ( the common rout ) who accurately observe not the difference of Meats . It is not certain when this Sect first thrust up its head into the World , probably not long after the times of the Macchabees , 't is certain they were of considerable standing , and great account in the time of our Saviour : To be sure strangely wide of the mark are those Jewish Chronologists who say , that the Sect of the Pharisees arose in the times of Tiberius Caesar , and 〈◊〉 the AEgyptian , under whom the Septuagint translation was accomplished ; as if Ptolomy Philadelphus and Tiberius Caesar had been Contemporaries , between whom there is the distance of no less than CCLX . years . But when ever it began , a bold and daring Sect it was , not fearing to affront Princes , and persons of the greatest quality , crafty and insinuative , and who by a shew of great zeal , and infinite strictness in Religion , beyond the rate of other men , had procured themselves a mighty reverence from the people ; so strict , that ( as a Learned man observes ) Pharisee is used in the 〈◊〉 writings to denote a pious and holy man ; and Benjamin the Jew speaking of R. Ascher , says , he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a truly devout man , separate from the affairs of this world . And yet under all this seeming severity they were but Religious villains , spiteful and malicious , griping and covetous , great oppressors , merciless dealers , heady and seditious , proud and scornful , indeed guilty of most kinds of immorality , of whose temper and manners I say the less in this place , having elsewhere given an account of them . They held that the Oral Law was of infinitely greater moment and value than the written Word ; that the Traditions of their fore Fathers were above all things to be embraced and followed , the strict observance whereof would entitle a man to Eternal Life ; that the Souls of men are Immortal , and had their dooms awarded in the Subterraneous Regions ; that there is a Metempsuchosis or Transmigration of pious Souls out of one Body into another ; that things come to pass by fate , and an inevitable necessity , and yet that Man's will is free , that by this means men might be rewarded and punished according to their works . I add no more concerning them , than that some great men of the Church of Rome say with some kind of boasting , that such as were the Pharisees among the Jews , such are the Religious ( they mean the Monastical Orders of their Church ) among Christians . Much good may it do them with the comparison , I confess my self so far of their mind , that there is too great a conformity between them . 23. NEXT the Pharisees come the Sadducees , as opposite to them in their temper , as their principles ; so called ( as Epiphanius and some others will have it ) from 〈◊〉 justice , as pretending themselves to be very just and righteous men , but this agrees not with the account given of their lives . They are generally thought to have been denominated from Sadock the Scholar of Antigonus Sochaeus , who flourished about the year of the World MMMDCCXX . CCLXXXIV . years before the Nativity of our Saviour . They pass under a very ill character even among the writers of their own Nation , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impious men , and of very loose and debauched manners : which is no more than what might be expected as the natural consequence of their principles , this being one of their main dogmata or opinions , that the Soul is not Immortal , and that there is no future state after this life . The occasion of which desperate principle is said to have been a mistake of the doctrine of their Master Antigonus , who was wont to press his Scholars not to be like 〈◊〉 Servants , who serve their Masters merely for what they can get by them ; but to serve God for himself , without expectation of rewards . This , Sadock and Baithos , two of his disciples misunderstanding , thought their Master had peremptorily denied any state of future rewards ; and having laid this dangerous foundation , these unhappy superstructures were built upon it ; that there is no Resurrection , for if there be no reward , what need that the Body should rise again ; that the Soul is not Immortal , nor exists in the separate state , for if it did , it must be either rewarded or punished ; and if not the Soul , then by the same proportion of reason no spiritual substance , neither Angel , nor Spirit ; that there is no Divine Providence , but that God is perfectly placed as beyond the commission , so beyond the inspection and regard of what sins or evils are done or happen in the World , as indeed what great reason to believe a wise and righteous Providence , if there be no reward or punishment for vertue and vice in another life ? These pernicious and Atheistical opinions justly exposed them to the reproach and hatred of the people , who were wont eminently to stile them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hereticks , 〈◊〉 , Epicureans , no words being thought bad enough to bestow upon them . They rejected the Traditions so vehemently asserted by the Pharisees , and taught that men were to keep to the Letter of the Law , and that nothing was to be imposed either upon their belief or practice , but what was expresly owned and contained in it . Josephus observes , that they were the fewest of all the Sects , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but usually men of the better rank and quality ; as what wonder , if rich and great men , who tumble in the pleasures and advantages of a prosperous fortune , be willing to take sanctuary at those opinions , that afford the greatest patronage to looseness and debauchery , and care not to hear of being called to account in another World , for what they have done in this ? For this reason the Sadducees ever appeared the greatest sticklers to preserve the peace , and were the most severe and implacable Justicers against the Authors or fomenters of tumults and seditions , lest they should disturb and interrupt their soft and easie course of life , the only happiness their principles allowed them to expect . 24. THE Essenes succeed , a Sect probably distinct from either of the former . Passing by the various conjectures concerning the derivation of their name , which when dressed up with all advantages are still but bare conjectures , they began about the times of the 〈◊〉 , when the violent persecutions of Antiochus forced the Jews for their own safety to retire to the Woods and Mountains . And though in time the storm blew over , yet many of them were too well pleased with these undisturbed solitudes to return , and therefore combined themselves into Religious societies , leading a solitary and contemplative course of life , and that in very great numbers , there being usually above four thousand of them , as both Philo and Josephus tell us . Pliny takes notice of them , and describes them to be a solitary generation , remarkable above all others in this , that they live without Women , without any embraces , without money , conversing with nothing but Woods and Palm-trees ; that their number encreased every day as fast as any died , persons flocking to them from all quarters , to seek repose here , after they had been wearied with the inquietudes of an improsperous fortune . They paid a due reverence to the Temple , by sending gifts and presents thither , but yet worshipped God at home , and used their own Rites and Ceremonies . Every seventh day they publickly met in their Synagogues , where the younger seating themselves at the feet of the elder , one reads some portions out of a Book , which another , eminently skilled in the principles of their Sect , expounds to the rest ( their dogmata , like the Philosophy of the Ancients , being obscurely and enigmatically delivered to them ) instructing them in the rules of piety and righteousness , and all the duties that concerned God , others , or themselves . They industriously tilled and cultivated the ground , and lived upon the fruits of their own labours ; had all their revenues in common ; there being neither rich , nor poor among them : Their manners were very harmless and innocent , exact observers of the rules of Justice , somewhat beyond the practice of other men . As for that branch of them that lived in Egypt , whose excellent Manners and Institutions are so particularly described and commended by Philo , and whom 〈◊〉 and others will needs have to have been Christians converted by S. Mark , we have taken notice of elsewhere in S. Mark' s Life . We find no mention of them in the History of the Gospel , probably because living remote from Cities and all places of publick concourse , they never concerned themselves in the actions of Christ or his Apostles . What their principles were in matters of speculation is not much material to enquire , their Institutions mainly referring to practice . Out of a great regard to wisdom and vertue they neglected all care of the body , renounced all conjugal embraces , abstained very much from Meats and Drinks , some of them not eating or drinking for three , others for five or six days together , accounting it unbecoming men of such a Philosophical temper and genius , to spend any part of the day upon the necessities of the body : Their way they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , worship , and their rules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , doctrines of wisdom ; their contemplations were sublime and speculative , and of things beyond the ordinary notions of other Sects ; they traded in the names and mysteries of Angels , and in all their carriages bore a great shew of modesty and humility . And therefore these in all likelihood were the very persons , whom S. Paul primarily designed ( though not excluding others who espoused the same principles ) when he charges the 〈◊〉 to let no man 〈◊〉 them of their reward in a voluntary humility , and worshipping of Angels , intruding into those things which he hath not seen , vainly puffed up by his 〈◊〉 mind , that being dead to the rudiments of the World , they should no longer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , be subject to these dogmata or ordinances , such as Touch not , taste not , handle not , ( the main principles of the Essenian Institution ) being the commandments and doctrines of men ; which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility , and neglecting of the body , not in any honour to the satisfying of the 〈◊〉 . Besides these three greater , there were several other lesser Sects in the Jewish Church , such as the Herodians , supposed to have been either part of Herod's guard , or a combination of men , who to ingratiate themselves with the Prince , maintained Herod to be the Messiah , and at their own charge celebrated his Coronation-days , as also the Sabbath , when they used to set lighted Candles crowned with Violets in their windows ; an opinion which S. 〈◊〉 justly laughs at as trifling and ridiculous . Probably they were a party that had 〈◊〉 Herod's interest , and endeavoured to support his new-gotten Soveraignty . For Herod being a stranger , and having by the Roman power usurped the Kingdom , was generally hateful and burdensom to the people , and therefore beside the assistance of a foreign power , needed some to stand by him at home . They were peculiarly 〈◊〉 in pressing people to pay Tribute to Caesar , Herod being obliged ( as S. Hierom observes ) by the Charter of his Soveraignty to look after the Tribute due to Caesar , and they could not do him a more acceptable service , by this means endearing him to his great Patrons at Rome . In matters of opinion they seem to have sided with the Sadducees ; what S. Matthew calls the leaven of the Sadducees , S. Mark stiles the leaven of Herod . Probable it is , that they had drawn Herod to be of their principles , that as they asserted his right to the Kingdom , he might favour and maintain their impious opinions . And 't is likely enough that men of so debauched manners might be easily tempted to take shelter under principles that so directly served the purposes of a bad life . Another Sect in that Church were the Samaritans , the posterity of those who succeeded in the room of the ten captivated Tribes , a mixture of Jews and Gentiles , they held , that nothing but the 〈◊〉 was the Word of God , that Mount Gerizim was the true place of publick and solemn worship , that they were the descendents of Joseph , and heirs of the Aaronical Priesthood , and that no dealing or correspondence was to be maintained with strangers , nor any unclean thing to be touched . The Karraeans were a branch of the Sadducees , but rejected afterwards their abominable and unsound opinions , they are the true Textualists , adhering only to the writings of Moses and the Prophets , and expounding the Scripture by it self , peremptorily disowning the absurd glosses of the Talmud , and the idle Traditions of the Rabbins , insomuch that they admit not so much as the Hebrew points into their Bibles , accounting them part of the Oral and Traditionary Law ; for which reason they are greatly hated by the rest of the Jews . They are in great numbers about 〈◊〉 , and in other places at this day . There was also the Sect of the Zealots , frequently mentioned by Josephus , a Generation of men insolent and ungovernable , 〈◊〉 and savage , who under a pretence of extraordinary zeal for God and the honour of his Law , committed the most enormous outrages against God and Man ; but of them we have given an account in the Life of S. Simon the Zealot . And yet as if all this had not been enough to render their Church miserable within it self , their sins and intestine divisions had brought in the Roman power upon them , who set Magistrates and Taskmasters over them , depressed their great 〈◊〉 , put in and out Senators at pleasure , made the Temple pay tribute , and placed a Garrison at hand to command it , abrogated a great part of their Laws , and stript them so naked both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Order and Authority , that they had not power left so much as to put a man to death . All evident demonstrations that Shiloh was come , and the Scepter departed , that the Sacrifice and Oblation was to cease , the Messiah being cut off , who came to finish transgression , to make an end of sins , to make reconciliation for iniquity , and to bring in everlasting righteousness . SECT . III. Of the EVANGELICAL Dispensation . The gradual revelations concerning the Messiah . John the Baptist Christ's forerunner , His extraordinary Birth . His austere Education , and way of Life . His Preaching , what . His initiating proselytes by Baptism . Baptism in use in the Jewish Church . It s Original , whence . His resolution and impartiality . His Martyrdom . The character given him by Josephus , and the Jews . The Evangelical Dispensation wherein it exceeds that of Moses . It s 〈◊〉 and perfection . It s agreeableness to humane nature . The Evangelical promises better than those of the Law , and in what respects . The aids of the Spirit plentifully assorded under the Gospel . The admirable confirmation of this Occonomy . The great extent and latitude of it . Judaism not capable of being communicated to all mankind . The comprehensiveness of the Gospel . The Duration of the Evangelical Covenant . The Mosaical Statutes in what sence said to be for ever . The Typical and transient nature of that State. The great happiness of Christians under the Occonomy of the Gospel . 1. GOD having from the very infancy of the World promised the Messiah , as the great Redeemer of Mankind , was accordingly pleased in all Ages to make gradual discoveries and manifestations of him , the revelations concerning him in every Dispensation of the Church still shining with a bigger and more particular light , the nearer this Sun of Righteousness was to his rising . The first Gospel and glad tidings of him commenced with the fall of Adam , God out of infinite tenderness and commiseration promising to send a person who should triumphantly vindicate and rescue mankind from the power and tyranny of their Enemies , and that he should do this by taking the humane nature upon him , and being born of the seed of the Woman . No further account is given of him till the times of Abraham , to whom it was revealed , that he should proceed out of his loins , and arise out of the Jewish Nation , though both Jew and Gentile should be made happy by him . To his Grandchild Jacob God made known out of what Tribe of that Nation he should rise , the Tribe of Judah ; and what would be the time of his appearing , viz. the departure of the Scepter from Judah , the abrogation of the Civil and Legislative power of that Tribe and People ( accomplished in Herod the Idumaean , set over them by the Roman power . ) And this is all we find concerning him under that Oeconomy . Under the Legal Dispensation we find Moses foretelling one main 〈◊〉 of his coming , which was to be the great Prophet of the Church , to whom all were to hearken as an extraordinary person sent from God to acquaint the World with the Councils and the Laws of Heaven . The next news we hear of him is from David , who was told that he should spring out of his house and family , and who frequently speaks of his sufferings , and the particular manner of his death , by piercing his hands and his feet , of his powerful Resurrection , that God would not leave his Soul in Hell , nor suffer his holy one to see corruption , of his triumphant Ascension into Heaven , and glorious session at God's right hand . From the Prophet Isaiah we have an account of the extraordinary and miraculous manner of his Birth , that he should be born of a Virgin , and his name be Immanuel , of his incomparable furniture of gifts and graces for the execution of his office , of the entertainment he was to meet with in the World , and of the nature and design of those sufferings which he was to undergo . The place of his Birth was foretold by Micah , which was to be 〈◊〉 , the least of the Cities of Judah , but honoured above all the rest with the nativity of a Prince , who was to be Ruler in Israel , whose goings forth had been from everlasting . Lastly , the Prophet Daniel 〈◊〉 the particular period of his coming , expresly affirming , that the Messiah should appear in the World , and be cut off as a Victim and Expiation for the sins of the people at the expiration of LXX . prophetical weeks , or CCCCXC . years , which accordingly punctually came to pass . 2. FOR the date of the prophetick Scriptures concerning the time of the 〈◊〉 's coming being now run out , In the fulness of time God sent his Son made of a Woman , made under the Law , to 〈◊〉 them that were under the Law : This being the truth of which God spake by the mouth of all his holy Prophets , which have been since the World began . But because it was not sit that so great a Person should come into the World , without an eminent Harbinger to introduce and usher in his Arrival , God had promised that he would send his Messenger , who should prepare his way before him , even 〈◊〉 the Prophet , whom he would send before the coming of that great day of the Lord , who should turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children , &c. This was particularly accomplished in John the Baptist , who came in the power and spirit of Elias . He was the Morning-star to the Son of Righteousness , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as S. Cyril says of him , the great and eminent Fore-runner , a Person remarkable upon several accounts . First for the extraordinary circumstances of his Nativity , his Birth foretold by an Angel , sent on purpose to deliver this joyful Message , a sign God intended him for great undertakings , this being never done but where God designed the Person for some uncommon services ; his Parents aged , and though both righteous before God , yet hitherto Childless ; Heaven does not dispence all its bounty to the same Person , Children though great and desirable blessings are yet often denied to those , for whom God has otherwise very dear regards . Elizabeth was barren , and they were both well stricken in years . But is any thing too hard for the Lord ? said God to Abraham in the same case ; God has the Key of the Womb in his own keeping , it is one of the Divine Prerogatives , that he makes the barren Woman to keep house , and to be a joyful Mother of Children . A Son is promised , and mighty things said of him : a promise which old Zachary had scarce faith enough to digest , and therefore had the assurance of it sealed to him by a miraculous dumbness imposed upon him till it was made good , the same Miracle at once confirming his faith , and punishing his infidelity . Accordingly his Mother conceived with Child , and as if he would do part of his errand before he was born , he leaped in her Womb at her salutation of the Virgin Mary , then newly conceived with Child of our Blessed Saviour ; a piece of homage paid by one , to one yet unborn . 3. THESE presages were not vain and fallible , but produced a Person no less memorable for the admirable strictness and austerity of his 〈◊〉 . For having escaped Herod's butcherly and merciless Executioners ( the Divine providence being a shelter and a covert to him ) and been educated among the rudenesses and solitudes of the Wilderness , his manners and way of life were very 〈◊〉 to his Education . His Garments borrowed from no other Wardrobe than the backs of his Neighbour-creatures , the skins of Beasts , 〈◊〉 hair , and a Leathern girdle , and herein he literally made good the character of Elias , who is described as an hairy man , girt with a Leathern girdle about his Loins . His Diet suitable to his Garb , his Meat was Locusts , and wild Honey : Locusts , accounted by all Nations amongst the meanest and vilest sorts of food ; wild honey , such as the natural artifice and labour of the Bees had stored up in caverns and hollow Trees , without any elaborate curiosity to prepare and dress it up . Indeed his abstinence was so great , and his food so unlike other Mens , that the Evangelist says of him , that he came neither eating nor drinking , as if he had eaten nothing , or at least what was worth nothing . But Meat commends us not to God ; it is the devout mind , and the honest life that makes us valuable in the eye of Heaven . The place of his abode was not in Kings houses , in stately and delicate Palaces , but where he was born and bred , the Wilderness of Judaea , he was in the Desarts until the time of his shewing unto Israel . Divine grace is not consined to particular places , it is not the holy City , or the Temple at Mount Sion makes us nearer unto Heaven ; God can , when he please , consecrate a Desart into a Church , make us gather Grapes among Thorns , and Religion become fruitful in a barren Wilderness . 4. PREPARED by so singular an Education , and furnished with an immediate Commission from God , he entred upon the actual administration of his Office : In those days came John the Baptist , preaching in the Wilderness of Judaea , and saying , Repent ye , for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand . He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Justin Martyr calls him , the Herald to Proclaim the first approach of the Holy Jesus , his whole Ministry tending to prepare the way to his entertainment , accomplishing herein what was of old foretold concerning him , For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias , saying , The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness , Prepare ye the way of the Lord , make his paths straight . He told the 〈◊〉 , that the Messiah whom they had so long expected was now at hand , and his Kingdom ready to appear , that the Son of God was come down from Heaven , a Person as far beyond him in dignity , as in time and existence , to whom he was not worthy to minister in the meanest Offices ; that he came to introduce a new and better state of things , to enlighten the World with the clearest Revelations of the Divine will , and to acquaint them with counsels brought from the bosom of the Father , to put a period to all the types and umbrages of the Mosaic Dispensation , and bring in the truth and substance of all those shadows , and to open a Fountain of grace and fulness to Mankind ; to remove that state of guilt into which humane nature was so deeply sunk , and as the Lamb of God by the expiatory Sacrifice of 〈◊〉 to take away the sin of the World , not like the continual Burnt-offering , the Lamb offered Morning and Evening only for the sins of the House of Israel , but for Jew and Gentile , Barbarian and Scythian , bond and free : he told them , that God had a long time born with the sins of Men , and would now bring things to a quicker issue , and that therefore they should do well to break off their sins by repentance , and by a serious amendment and reformation of life dispose themselves for the glad tidings of the Gospel ; that they should no longer bear up themselves upon their external priviledges , the Fatherhood of Abraham , and their being God's select and peculiar People , that God would raise up to himself another Generation , a Posterity of Abraham from among the Gentiles , who should walk in his steps , in the way of his unshaken faith , and sincere obedience ; and that if all this did not move them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance , the Axe was laid to the root of the Tree , to extirpate their Church , and to hew them down as fuel for the unquenchable Fire . His free and resolute preaching together with the great severity of his life procured him a vast Auditory , and numerous Proselytes , for there went out to him Jerusalem , and all Judaea , and the Region round about Jordan , Persons of all ranks and orders , of all Sects and Opinions , 〈◊〉 and Sadducees , Souldiers and Publicans , whose Vices he impartially censured and condemned , and pressed upon them the duties of their particular places and relations . Those whom he gained over to be Proselytes to his Doctrine , he entred into this new Institution of life by Baptism ( and hence he derived his Title of the Baptist ) a solemn and usual way of initiating Proselytes , no less than Circumcision , and of great antiquity in the Jewish Church . In all times ( says Maimonides ) if any Gentile would enter into Covenant , remain under the wings of the Schechina , or Divine Majesty , and take upon him the yoke of the Law , he is bound to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumcision , Baptism , and a Peace-offering : and if a Woman , Baptism , and an Oblation , because it is said , As ye are , so shall the stranger be ; as ye your selves 〈◊〉 into Covenant by Circumcision , Baptism , and a Peace-offering , so ought the Proselyte also in all Ages to enter in . Though this last he confesses is to be omitted during their present state of desolation , and to be made when their Temple shall be rebuilt . This Rite they generally make contemporary with the giving of the Law. So Maimonides , By three things ( says he ) the Israelites entred into Covenant ( he means the National Covenant at Mount Sinai ) by Circumcision , Baptism , and an Oblation ; Baptism being used some little time before the Law ; which he proves from that place , 〈◊〉 the People to day and to morrow , and let them wash their Clothes . This the Rabbines unanimously expound concerning Baptism , and expresly affirm , that where-ever we read of the Washing of Clothes , there an obligation to Baptism is intended . Thus they entred into the first Covenant , upon the frequent violations whereof God having promised to make a new and solemn Covenant with them in the times of the Messiah , they expected a second Baptism , as that which should be the Rite of their Initiation into it . And this probably is the reason , why the Apostle writing to the Hebrews , speaks of the Doctrin of Baptisms ( in the plural number ) as one of the primary and elementary Principles of the faith , wherein the Catechumens were to be instructed ; meaning that besides the Baptism whereby they had been initiated into the Mosaic Covenant , there was another by which they were to enter into this new 〈◊〉 that was come upon the World. Hence the Sanhedrim ( to whom the cognizance of such cases did peculiarly appertain ) when told of John's Baptism , never expressed any wonder at it , as a new upstart Ceremony , it being a thing daily practised in their Church , nor found fault with the thing it self , which they supposed would be a federal Rite under the dispensation of the Messiah , but only quarrelled with him for taking upon him to administer it , when yet he denied himself to be one of the prime Ministers of this new state . They said unto him , why baptizest thou then , if thou be not that Christ , nor 〈◊〉 , neither that 〈◊〉 ? Either of which had he owned himself , they had not questioned his right to enter Proselytes by this way of Baptism . It is called the Baptism of Repentance , this being the main qualification that he required of those , who took it upon them , as the fittest means to dispose them to receive the Doctrine and Discipline of the Messiah ; and to intitle them to that pardon of sin which the Gospel brought along with it ; whence he is said to baptize in the Wilderness , and to preach the Baptism of repentance , for the remission of sins . And the success was answerable , infinite Multitudes flocking to it , and were baptized of him in Jordan , confessing their sins . Nor is it the least part of his happiness , that he had the honour to baptize his Saviour , which though modestly declined , our Lord put upon him , and was accompanied with the most signal and miraculous attestations which Heaven could bestow upon it . 5. AFTER his Preparatory Preachings in the Wilderness he was called to Court by Herod , at least he was his frequent Auditor , was much delighted with his plain and impartial Sermons , and had a mighty reverence for him , the gravity of his Person , the strictness of his Manners , the freedom of his Preaching commanding an awe and veneration from his Conscience , and making him willing in many things to reform ; But the bluntness of the holy Man came nearer , and touched the King in the tenderest part , smartly reproving his adultery and incestuous embraces , for that Prince kept Herodias his Brother Philip's Wife . And now all corrupt interests were awakened to conspire his ruine . Extravagant Lusts love not to be controll'd and check'd , Herodias resents the asfront , cannot brook disturbance in the pleasures of her Bed , or the open challenging of her honour , and therefore by all the arts of Feminine subtlety meditates revenge . The issue was , the Baptist is cast into Prison , as the praeludium to a sadder fate . For among other pleasures and scenes of mirth performed upon the King's Birth-day , Herod being infinitely pleased with the Dancing of a young Lady , Daughter of this Herodias , promised to give her Her request , and solemnly ratified his promise with an Oath . She prompted by her Mother , asks the Head of John the Baptist , which the King partly out of a pretended reverence to his Oath , partly out of a desire not to be interrupted in his unlawful pleasures , presently granted , and it was as quickly accomplished . Thus died the Holy man , a man strict in his conversation beyond the ordinary measures of an Anchoret , bold and resolute , faithful and impartial in his Office , indued with the power and spirit of Elias , a burning and a shining light , under whose light the Jews rejoyced to sit , exceedingly taken with his temper and principles . He was the happy Messenger of the Evangelical tidings , and in that respect more than a Prophet , a greater not arising among them that were born of Women . In short , he was a Man loved of his Friends , revered and honoured by his Enemies ; Josephus gives this character of him , that he was a good man , and pressed the Jews to the study of vertue , to the practice of picty towards God , and justice and righteousness towards men , and to joyn themselves to his Baptism , which he told them would then become effectual , and acceptable to God , when they did not only cleanse the body , but purifie the mind by goodness and vertue . And though he gives somewhat a different account of Herod's condemning him to dic , from what is assigned in the Sacred History , yet he confesses , that the Jews universally looked upon the putting him to death as the cause of the miscarriage of Herod's Army , and an evident effect of the Divine vengeance and displeasure . The Jews in their Writings make honourable mention of his being put to death by Herod , because reproving him for the company of his Brother Philip's Wife , stiling him Rabbi Johanan the High-Priest , and reckoning him one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the wise men of Israel . Where he is called High-Priest , probably with respect to his being the Son of Zachariah , Head or Chief of one of the XXIV . Families or courses of the Priests , who are many times called Chief or High-Priests in Scripture . 6. THE Evangelical state being thus proclaimed and ushered in by the Preaching and Ministry of the Baptist , our Lord himself appeared next more fully to publish and confirm it , concerning whose Birth , Life , Death , and Resurrection , the Doctrine he delivered , the Persons he deputed to Preach and convey it to the World , and its success by the Ministry of the Apostles , large & particular accounts are given in the following work . That which may be proper and material to observe in this place is , what the Scripture so frequently takes notice of , the excellency of this above the preceding dispensations , especially that brought in by Moses , so much magnified in the Old Testament , and so passionately admired and adhered to by the Jews at this day . Jesus is the Mediator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the Apostle calls it , of a better Covenant . And better it is in several regards ; besides the infinite difference between the Persons , who were imployed to introduce and settle them , Moses and our Lord. The preheminence eminently appears in many instances , whereof we shall remark the most considerable . And first , the Mosaick dispensation was almost wholly made up of types and shadows , the Evangelical has brought in the truth and substance . The Law was given by Moses , but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Their Ordinances were but shadows of good things to come , sensible representations of what was to follow after , the Body is Christ , the perfection and accomplishment of their whole ritual Ministration . Their Ceremonies were Figures of those things that are true , the Land of Canaan typified Heaven , Moses and Joshua were types of the Blessed Jesus , and the Israelites after the flesh of the true Israel which is after the Spirit , and all their Expiatory Sacrifices did but represent that Great Sacrifice whereby Christ offered up himself , and by his own bloud purged away the sins of mankind , indeed the most minute and inconsiderable circumstances of the Legal Oeconomy were intended as little lights , that might gradually usher in the state of the Gospel . A curious Artist that designs a famous and excellent piece is not wont to complete and finish it all at once , but first with his Pencil draws some rude lines and rough draughts before he puts his last hand to it . By such a method the wise God seems to have delivered the first draughts and Images of those things by Moses to the Church , the substance and perfection whereof he designed should be brought in by Christ. And how admirably did God herein condescend to the temper and humor of that people ; for being of a more rough and childish disposition , apt to be taken with gaudy and sensible objects , by the external and pompous institutions of the Ceremonial Dispensation he prepared them for better things , as children are brought on by things accommodate to their weak capacities . The Church was then an heir under age , and was to be trained up in such a way , as agreed best with its Infant-temper , till it came to be of a more ripe manly age , able to digest Evangelical mysteries , and then the cover and the veil was taken off , and things made to appear in their own form and shape . 7. HENCE in the next place appears our happiness above them , that we are redeemed from those many severe and burdensom impositions wherewith they were clogg'd , and are now obliged only to a more easie and reasonable service . That the Law was a very grievous and 〈◊〉 Dispensation , is evident to any that considers , how much it consisted of carnal ordinances , costly duties , chargeable sacrifices , and innumerable little Rites and Ceremonies . Under that state they were bound to undergo ( yea even new-born Infants ) the bloudy and painful 〈◊〉 of Circumcision , to abstain from many sorts of food , useful and pleasant to man's life , to keep multitudes of solemn and stated times , new Moons , and Ceremonial Sabbaths , to take long and tedious journeys to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices at the Temple , to observe daily washings and purifications , to use infinite care and caution in every place ; for if by chance they did but touch an unclean thing , besides their present confinement , it put them to the expences of a sacrifice , with hundreds more troublesome and costly observances required of them . A cruel bondage , heavy burdens , and grievous to be born ; under the weight whereof good men did then groan , and earnestly breath after the time of reformation ; the very Apostles complained that it was a yoke upon their necks , which neither their Fathers nor they were able to bear . But this yoke is taken off from our shoulders , and the way open into the liberties of the children of God. The Law bore a heavy hand over them , as children in their minority , we are got from under the rod and lash of its tutorage and Pedagogie , and are no more subject to the severity of its commands , to the exact punctilio's and numerousness of its impositions . Our Lord has removed that low and troublesome Religion , and has brought in a more manly and rational way of worship , more suitable to the perfections of God , and more accommodate to the reason and understandings of men . A Religion incomparably the wisest and the best that ever took place in the World. God did not settle the Religion of the Jews , and their way of worship , because good and excellent in it self , but for its suitableness to the temper of that people . Happy we , whom the Gospel has freed from those intolerable observances to which they were obliged , and has taught us to serve God in a better way , more 〈◊〉 and acceptable , more humane and natural , and in which we are helped forwards by greater aids of Divine assistence , than were afforded under that Dispensation . All which conspire to render our way smooth and plain , Take my yoke upon you , for my yoke is easie , and my burden is light . 8. THIRDLY , the Dispensation of the Gospel is founded upon more noble and excellent promises : A better Covenant established upon better promises . And better promises they are both for the nature and clearness of their revelation . They were of a more sublime and excellent nature , as being promises of spiritual and eternal things , such as immediately concerned the perfection and happiness of mankind , grace , peace , pardon , and eternal life . The Law strictly considered as a particular Covenant with the Jews at Mount Sinai had no other promises but of temporal blessings , plenty and prosperity , and the happiness of this life . This was all that appeared above-ground , and that was expresly held forth in that transaction , whatever might otherwise by due inferences , and proportions of reason be deduced from it . Now this was a great defect in that Dispensation , it being by this means , considering the nature and disposition of that people , and the use they would make of it , apt to intangle and debase the minds of men , and to arrest their thoughts and desires in the pursuit of more sublime and better things . I do not say but that under the Old Testament there were promises of spiritual things , and of eternal happiness , as appears from 〈◊〉 Psalms , and some passages in the Books of the Prophets : But then these though they were under the Law , yet they were not of the Law , that is , did not properly belong to it as a legal Covenant ; God in every age of the Jewish Church raising up some extraordinary persons , who preached notions to the people above the common standard of that Dispensation , and who spoke things more plainly , by how much nearer they approached the times of the Messiah . But under the Christian Oeconomy the promises are evidently more pure and spiritual ; not a temporal Canaan , external prosperity , or pardon of ceremonial uncleanness , but remission of sins , reconciliation with God , and everlasting life are proposed and offered to us . Not but that in some measure temporal blessings are promised to us as well as them , only with this difference , to them earthly blessings were pledges of spiritual , to us spiritual blessings are ensurances of temporal , so far as the Divine wisdom sees fit for us . Nor are they better in themselves , than they are clearly discovered and revealed to us . Whatever spiritual blessings were proposed under the former state were obscure and dark , and very few of the people understood them : But to us the veil is taken off , and we behold the glory of the Lord with open face , especially the things that relate to another World ; for this is the promise that he hath promised us , even Eternal Life . Hence our Lord is said to have brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel . Which he may be justly said to have done , inasmuch as he has given the greatest certainty , and the clearest account of that state . He hath given us the greatest assurance and certainty of the thing , that there is such a state . The happiness of the other World was a notion not so firmly agreed upon either amongst Jews or Gentiles . Among the Jews it was peremptorily denied by the Sadducees , a considerable Sect in that Church , which we can hardly suppose they would have done , had it been clearly propounded in the Law of Moses . And among the Heathens the most sober and considering persons did at some times at least doubt of it , witness that confession of Socrates himself , the wisest and best man that ever was in the Heathen World , who when he came to plead his cause before his Judges , and had bravely discoursed of the happy state of good men in the other Life , plainly consessed , that he could be content 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to die a thousand times over , were he but assured that those things were true ; and being condemned , concludes his Apologie with this farewell , And now , Gentlemen , I am going off the stage , it 's your lot to live , and mine to die , but whether of us two shall fare better , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , unknown to any but to God alone . But our blessed Saviour has put the case past all peradventure , having plainly published this doctrine to the World , and sealed the truth of it , and that by raising others from the dead , and especially by his own Resurrection and 〈◊〉 , which were the highest pledge and assurance of a future Immortality . But besides the security , he hath given the clearest account of the nature of it . 'T is very probable that the Jews generally had of old , as 't is certain they have at this day , the most gross and carnal apprehensions concerning the state of another Life . But to us the Gospel has perspicuously revealed the invisible things of the other World ; told us what that Heaven is , which is promised to good men , a state of spiritual joys , of chaste and rational delights , a conformity of ours to the Divine Nature , a being made like to God , and an endless and uninterrupted communion with him . 9. BUT because in our lapsed and degenerate state we are very unable without some foreign assistance to attain the promised rewards , hence arises in the next place another great priviledge of the Evangelical Oeconomy , that it is blessed with larger and more abundant communications of the Divine Spirit , than was afforded under the Jewish state . Under the one it was given by drops , under the other it is poured forth . The Law laid heavy and hard commands , but gave little strength to do them , it did not assist humane nature with those powerful aids that are necessary for us in our 〈◊〉 state , it could do nothing in that it was weak through the flesh , and by reason of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof , it could make nothing 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 was this made it an heavy yoke , when the commands of it 〈◊〉 uncouth and troublesome , and the assistances so small and inconsiderable . Whereas now the Gospel does not only prescribe such Laws as are happily accommodate to the true temper of humane nature , and adapted to the reason of mankind , such as every wise and prudent man must have pitched upon , but it affords the insluences of the Spirit of God , by whose assistance our vitiated faculties are repaired , and we enabled under so much weakness , and in the midst of so many temptations to hold on in the paths of piety and vertue . Hence it is that the plentiful effusions of the Spirit were reserved as the great blessing of the Evangelical state , that God would then pour water upon him that is thirsty , and sloods upon the dry ground , that he would pour out his Spirit upon their seed , and his blessing upon their off-spring , whereby they should spring up as among the grass , as willows by the water-courses : That he would give them a new heart , and put his Spirit within them , and cause them to walk in his statutes , and keep his judgments to do them : And this is the meaning of those branches of the Covenant , so oft repeated , I will put my Law into their minds , and write it in their hearts , that is , by the help of my Grace and Spirit 〈◊〉 enable them to live according to my Laws , as readily and willingly , as if they were written in their hearts . For this reason the Law is compared to a dead letter , the Gospel to the Spirit that giveth life , thence stiled the ministration of the Spirit , and as such said to 〈◊〉 in glory , and that to such a degree , that what glory the Legal Dispensation had in this 〈◊〉 is eclipsed into nothing , For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect , by reason of the glory that excelleth , for if that which was done away was glorious , much more that which remaineth is glorious . Hence the Spirit is said to be Christ's peculiar mission , I will pray the Father , and he will send you another comforter , even the Spirit of truth , which was done immediately after his Ascension , when he ascended up on high , and gave gifts to men , even the Holy Ghost , which he shed on them abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour : For the Holy Ghost was not yet given , because that Jesus was not yet glorified . Not but that he was given before , even under the old Oeconomy , but not in those large and diffusive measures , wherein it was afterwards communicated to the World. 10. FIFTHLY , The Dispensation of the Gospel had a better establishment and confirmation than that of the Law ; for though the Law was introduced with great scenes of pomp and Majesty , yet was the Gospel ushered in by more kindly and rational methods , 〈◊〉 by more and greater miracles , whereby our Lord unquestionably evinced his Divine Commission , and shewed that he came from God , doing more miracles in three years than were done through all the periods of the Jewish Church , and many of them such as were peculiar to him alone . He often raised the dead , which Moses never did , commanded the winds and waves of the Sea , expelled Devils out of Lunaticks and possessed persons , who fled assoon as ever he commanded them to be gone , cured many inveterate and chronical distempers with the speaking of a word , and some without a word spoken , vertue silently going out from him . He searched men's hearts , and revealed the most secret transactions of their minds ; had this miraculous power always residing in him , and could exert it when , and upon what occasions he pleased , and impart it to others , communicating it to his Apostles and followers , and to the Primitive Christians for the three first Ages of the Church ; he never exerted it in methods of dread and terror , but in doing such miracles as were highly useful and beneficial to the World. And as if all this had not been enough , he 〈◊〉 down his own life after all to give testimony to it . Covenants were ever wont to be ratified with bloud , and the death of sacrifices . But when out Lord came to introduce the Covenant of the Gospel , he did not consecrate it with the bloud of Bulls and Goats , but with his own most precious bloud , as of a Lamb without spot and blemish . And could he give a greater testimony to the truth of his doctrine , and those great things he had promised to the World , than to seal it with his bloud . Had not these things been so , t were infinitely unreasonable to suppose , that a person of so much wisdom and goodness as our Saviour was , should have made the World believe so , and much less would he have chosen to die for it , and that the most acute and ignominious death . But he died , and rose again for us , and appeared after his Resurrection : His enemies had taken him away by a most bitter and cruel death , had guarded and secured his Sepulchre with all the care , power and diligence which they could invent . And yet he rose again the third day in triumph , visibly conversed with his Disciples for forty days together , and then went to Heaven . By which he gave the most solemn and undeniable assurance to the World , that he was the Son of God ( for he was declared to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead ) and the Saviour of mankind , and that those doctrines which he had taught were most true , and did really contain the terms of that solemn transaction , which God by him had offered to men in order to their eternal happiness in another World. 11. THE last instance I shall note of the excellency of this above the Mosaical Dispensation , is the 〈◊〉 extent and latitude of it , and that both in respect of place and time . First , it 's more universally extensive as to place , not confined as the former was to a small part of mankind , but common unto all . Heretofore in Judah only was God known , and his name was great in Israel , he shewed his Word unto Jacob , his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel ; but he did not deal so with any other Nation , neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Laws . In those times Salvation was only of the Jews , a few Acres of Land like Gideons Fleece was watered with the dew of Heaven , while all the rest of the World for many Ages lay dry and barren round about it , God suffering all Nations in times past to walk in their own ways , the ways of their own superstition and Idolatry , being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel , strangers from the Covenants of promise , having no hope , and without God in the World , that is , they were without those promises , discoveries , and declarations which God made to Abraham and his Seed , and are therefore peculiarly described under this character , the Gentiles which knew not God. Indeed the Religion of the Jews was in it self incapable to be extended over the World , many considerable parts of it , as Sacrifices , First-fruits , Oblations , &c. ( called by the Jewes themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 statutes belonging to that land ) being to be performed at Jerusalem and the Temple , which could not be done by those Nations that lay a considerable distance from the Land of promise . They had it's true now and then some few Proselytes of the Gentiles , who came over and imbodied themselves into their way of worship ; but then they either resided among the Jewes , or by reason of their vicinity to Judaea were capable to make their personal appearance , and to comply with the publick Institutions of the Divine Law. Other Proselytes they had , called Proselytes of the Gate , who lived dispersed in all Countries , whom the Jewes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pious of the Nations , Men of devout minds , and Religious lives , but these were obliged to no more than the observation of the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah , that is , in effect to the Precepts of the Natural Law. But now the Gospel has a much wider sphere to move in , as vast and large as the whole World it self , it is communicable to all Countries , and may be exercised in any part or corner of the Earth . Our Lord gave Commission to his Apostles to go into all 〈◊〉 , and to Preach the Gospel to every Creature ; and so they did , their sound went into all the Earth , and their 〈◊〉 unto the ends of the World , by which means , the grace of God that brings salvation appeared unto all men , and the Gospel was Preached to every Creature under Heaven . So that now there is neither Jew , nor Greek , neither bond nor free , neither male nor female , but we are all one in Christ Jesus , and in every Nation he that feareth God , and worketh righteousness is accepted with him . The Prophet had long since foretold it of the times of Christ , that the House of God , that is , his Church should be called an House of Prayer for all People ; the Doors should be open , and none excluded that would enter in . And the Divine providence was singularly remarkable in this affair , that after our Lord's Ascension , when the Apostles were going upon their Commission , and were first solemnly to proclaim it at Jerusalem , there were dwelling there at that time Parthians , Medes , Elamites , &c. persons out of every Nation under Heaven , that they might be as the First-fruits of those several Countries , which were to be gathered in by the preaching of the Gospel , which was accordingly done with great success , the Christian Religion in a few years spreading its triumphant Banners over the greatest part of the then known World. 12. AND as the true Religion was in those Days pent up within one particular Country , so the more publick and ordinary worship of God was confined onely to one particular place of it , viz. Jerusalem , hence called the Holy City . Here was the Temple , here the Priests that ministred at the Altar , here all the more publick Solemnities of Divine adoration , Thither the Tribes go up , the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel , to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. Now this was not the least part of the bondage of that dispensation to be obliged thrice every Year to take such long and tedious Journies , many of the Jews living some Hundreds of Miles distance from Jerusalem , and so strictly were they limited to this place , that to build an Altar , and offer Sacrifices in any other place ( unless in a case or two wherein God did extraordinarily dispense ) although it were to the true God , was though not false , yet unwarrantable worship ; for which reason the Jews at this day abstain from Sacrifices , because banished from Jerusalem and the Temple , the only legal place of offering . But behold the liberty of the Gospel in this case , we are not tied to present our devotions at Jerusalem , a pious and sincere mind is the best Sacrifice that we can offer up to God , and this may be done in any part of the World no less acceptably , than they of old sacrificed in the Temple . The hour cometh , when ye shall neither in this Mountain , ( Mount Gerizim ) nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father , when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth , as our Lord told the Woman of Samaria ; in spirit and in truth ] in spirit , in opposition to that carnal and Idolatrous worship that was in use among the Samaritans , who worshipped God under the representation of a Dove : in truth , in opposition to the typical and figurative worship of the Jews , which was but a shadow of the true worship of the Gospel . The great Sacrifice required in the Christian Religion is not the fat of Beasts , or the first-fruits of the Ground , but an honest heart , and a pious life , and a grateful acknowledgment of our dependance upon God in the publick Solemnities of his praise and worship . For the Law and the Gospel did not differ in this , that the one commanded publick worship , the other not , but that under the one publick worship was fixed to one only place , under the other it is free to any where the providence of God has placed us , it being part of the duty bound upon us by natural and unalterable obligations , that we should publickly meet together for the solemn Celebration of the Divine honour and service . 13. NOR is the Oeconomy of the Gospel less extensive in time than place ; the Old Testament was only a temporary dispensation , that of the Gospel is to last to the end of the World ; the Law was to continue only for a little time , the Gospel is an Everlasting Covenant ; the one to be quickly antiquated and abolished , the other never to be done away by any other to succeed it . The Jews indeed stickle hard for the perpetual and immutable obligation of the Law of Moses , and frequently urge us with those places , where the Covenant of Circumcision is called an Everlasting Covenant , and God said to chuse the Temple at Jerusalem to place his name there for ever , to give the Land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession , thus the Law of the Passeover is called an Ordinance for ever , the command of the First-fruits a statute for ever , and the like in other places , which seem to intimate a perpetual and unalterable Dispensation . But the answer is short and plain , that this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever ( though when 't is applied to God it always denotes Eternity ) yet when 't is attributed to other things , it implies no more than a periodical duration , limited according to the will of the Law-giver , or the nature of the thing ; thus the Hebrew Servant was to serve his Master for ever , that is , but for seven years , till the next year of Jubilee : He shall walk before mine anointed for ever , says God concerning Samuel , that is , be a Priest all his days . Thus when the Ritual services of the Mosaick Law are called Statutes for ever , the meaning is , that they should continue a long time obligatory , until the time of the 〈◊〉 , in whose days the Sacrifice and Oblation was to cease , and those carnal Ceremonies to give way to the more spiritual services of the Gospel . Indeed the very typical nature of that Dispensation evidently argued it to be but for a time , the shadow being to cease , that the substance might take place ; and though many of them continued some considerable time after Christ's death , yet they lost their positive and obligatory power , and were used only as things indifferent in compliance with the inveterate prejudices of new Converts , lately brought over from Judaism , and who could not quickly lay aside that great veneration which they had for the Rites of the Mosaick Institution . Though even in this respect it was not long before all Jewish Ceremonies were thrown off , and Moses quite turn'd out of doors . Whereas the Evangelical state is to run parallel with the age and duration of the World , 't is the Everlasting Covenant , the Everlasting Gospel , the last Dispensation that God will make to the World , God who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past by the Prophets , hath in these last days spoken to us by his 〈◊〉 ; in which respect the Gospel in opposition to the Law is stiled a Kingdom that cannot 〈◊〉 moved . The 〈◊〉 in the foregoing Verses speaking concerning the Mosaical state , Whose voice ( says he ) then shook the Earth , but now he hath promised , saying , Yet once more I shake not the Earth only , but also the Heaven ( a phrase peculiar to the Scripture to note the introducing a new scene and state of things ) and this word , Yet once more , signisieth the removing of those things that are shaken , as of things that are made , that those things which cannot be shaken may remain , that is , that the state of the Gospel may endure for ever . Hence Christ is said to have an unchangeable Priesthood , to be a Priest for ever , to be consecrated for evermore . From all which it appears , how incomparably happy we Christians are under the Gospel , above what the Jews were in the time of the Law ; God having placed us under the best of Dispensations , freed us from those many nice and troublesome observances to which they were tied , put us under the clearest discoveries and revelations , and given us the most noble , rational , and masculine Religion , a Religion the most perfective of our natures , and the most conducive to our happiness ; while their Covenant at best was faulty , and after all could not make him that did the service perfect in things pertaining to the Conscience . Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see , for I 〈◊〉 you that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which ye see , and have not seen them , and to hear those things which ye hear , and have not heard them . The End of the APPARATUS . THE GREAT EXEMPLAR OF Sanctity and Holy Life according to the Christian Institution ; DESCRIBED In the HISTORY of the LIFE and DEATH of the ever-Blessed JESUS CHRIST , THE SAVIOUR of the WORLD . WITH CONSIDERATIONS and DISCOURSES upon the several parts of the Story ; And PRAYERS fitted to the several MYSTERIES . IN THREE PARTS . The Fifth Edition . By JER . TAYLOR , Chaplain in Ordinary to King CHARLES the First , and late Lord Bishop of Down and Conner . LONDON , Printed by R. Norton , for R. Royston , Bookseller to his most Sacred Majesty , at the Angel in Amen-Corner , 1675. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE and most truly Noble Lord , CHRISTOPHER LORD HATTON , Baron HATTON of Kirby , &c. MY LORD , WHEN Interest divides the Church , and the Calentures of men breathe out in Problems and unactive Discourses , each part in pursuance of its own portion follows that Proposition which complies with and bends in all the flexures of its temporal ends ; and while all strive for Truth , they hug their own Opinions dressed up in her imagery , and they dispute for ever , and either the Question is indeterminable , or , which is worse , men will never be convinced . For such is the nature of Disputings , that they begin commonly in Mistakes , they proceed with Zeal and fancy , and end not at all but in Schisms and uncharitable names , and too often dip their feet in bloud . In the mean time , he that gets the better of his adversary oftentimes gets no good to himself , because although he hath fast hold upon the right side of the Problem , he may be an ill man in the midst of his triumphant Disputations . And therefore it was not here that God would have Man's Felicity to grow : For our condition had been extremely miserable , if our final state had been placed upon an uncertain hill , and the way to it had been upon the waters , upon which no spirit but that of Contradiction and Discord did ever move : for the man should have tended to an end of an uncertain dwelling , and walked to it by ways not discernible , and arrived thither by chance ; which , because it is irregular , would have discomposed the pleasures of a Christian Hope , as the very disputing hath already destroyed Charity , and disunited the continuity of Faith ; and in the consequent there would be no Vertue , and no Felicity . But God , who never loved that Man should be too ambitiously busie in imitating his Wisedom , ( and Man lost Paradise for it ) is most desirous we should imitate his Goodness , and transcribe copies of those excellent Emanations from his Holiness , whereby as he communicates himself to us in Mercies , so he propounds himself imitable by us in Graces . And in order to this , God hath described our way plain , certain , and determined : and although he was pleased to leave us indetermined in the Questions of exteriour Communion , yet he put it past all question that we are bound to be Charitable . He hath placed the Question of the state of Separation in the dark , in hidden and undiscerned regions ; but he hath opened the windows of Heaven , and given great light to us , teaching how we are to demean our selves in the state of Conjunction . Concerning the Salvation of Heathens he was not pleased to give us account ; but he hath clearly described the duty of Christians , and tells upon what terms alone we shall be saved . And although the not inquiring into the ways of God and the strict rules of practice have been instrumental to the preserving them free from the serpentine enfoldings and labyrinths of Dispute ; yet God also with a great design of mercy hath writ his Commandments in so large characters , and engraven them in such Tables , that no man can want the Records , nor yet skill to read the hand-writing upon this wall , if he understands what he understands , that is , what is placed in his own spirit . For God was therefore desirous that humane nature should be perfected with moral , not intellectual , Excellencies , because these only are of use and compliance with our present state and conjunction . If God had given to Eagles an appetite to swim , or to the Elephant strong desires to fly , he would have ordered that an abode in the Sea and the Air respectively should have been proportionable to their manner of living ; for so God hath done to Man , fitting him with such Excellencies which are useful to him in his ways and progress to Perfection . A man hath great use and need of Justice ; and all the instances of Morality serve his natural and political ends , he cannot live without them , and be happy : but the filling the rooms of the Understanding with aiery and ineffective Notions , is just such an Excellency as it is in a Man to imitate the voice of Birds ; at his very best the Nightingale shall excel him , and it is of no use to that End which God designed him in the first intentions of creation . In pursuance of this consideration , I have chosen to serve the purposes of Religion by doing assistence to that part of Theologie which is wholly practical , that which makes us wiser , therefore , because it makes us 〈◊〉 . And truly ( my Lord ) it is enough to weary the spirit of a Disputer , that he shall argue till he hath lost his voice , and his time , and sometimes the Question too , and yet no man shall be of his mind more than was before . How few turn Lutherans , or Calvinists , or Roman Catholicks , from the Religion either of their Country or Interest ? Possibly two or three weak or interested , phantastick and easie , prejudicate and effeminate understandings pass from Church to Church , upon grounds as weak as those for which formerly they did dissent ; and the same Arguments are good or bad , as exteriour accidents or interiour appetites shall determine . I deny not but for great causes some Opinions are to be quitted : but when I consider how few do forsake any , and when any do , oftentimes they chuse the wrong side , and they that take the righter do it so by contingency , and the advantage also is so little , I believe that the triumphant persons have but small reason to please themselves in gaining Proselytes , since their purchase is so small , and as inconsiderable to their triumph , as it is unprofitable to them who change for the worse , or for the better upon unworthy motives . In all this there is nothing certain , nothing noble . But he that follows the work of God , that is , labours to gain Souls , not to a Sect and a Subdivision , but to the Christian Religion , that is , to the Faith and Obedience of the Lord JESUS , hath a promise to be assisted and rewarded : and all those that go to Heaven are the purchase of such undertakings , the fruit of such culture and labours ; for it is only a holy life that lands us there . And now ( my Lord ) I have told you my reasons , I shall not be ashamed to say that I am weary and toiled with rowing up and down in the seas of Questions which the Interests of Christendom have commenced ; and in many Propositions of which I am heartily perswaded I am not certain that I am not deceived ; and I find that men are most confident of those Articles which they can so little prove , that they never made Questions of them . But I am most certain , that by living in the Religion and fear of God , in Obedience to the King , in the Charities and duties of Communion with my Spiritual Guides , in Justice and Love with all the world in their several proportions , I shall not fail of that End which is perfective of humane nature , and which will never be obtained by Disputing . Here therefore when I had fixed my thoughts , upon sad apprehensions that God was removing our Candlestick , ( for why should be not , when men themselves put the Light out , and pull the Stars from their Orbs , so hastening the day of God's Judgment ? ) I was desirous to put a portion of the holy fire into a Repository , which might help to re-enkindle the Incense , when it shall please God Religion shall return , and all his Servants sing ( In convertendo captivitatem Sion ) with a voice of Eucharist . But now ( my Lord ) although the results and issues of my retirements and study do naturally run towards You , and carry no excuse for their forwardness , but the confidence that your Goodness rejects no emanation of a great affection ; yet in this Address I am apt to promise to my self a fair interpretation , because I bring you an instrument and auxiliaries to that Devotion whereby we believe you are dear to God , and know that you are to good men . And if these little sparks of holy fire which I have heaped together do not give life to your prepared and already-enkindled Spirit ; yet they will sometimes help to entertain a Thought , to actuate a Passion , to imploy and hallow a Fancy , and put the body of your Piety into fermentation , by presenting you with the circumstances and parts of such Meditations which are symbolical to those of your daily Office , and which are the passe-temps of your severest hours . My Lord , I am not so vain to think that in the matter of Devotion , and the rules of Justice and Religion , ( which is the business of your life ) I can add any thing to your heap of excellent things : but I have known and felt comfort by reading , or hearing from other persons , what I knew my self ; and it was unactive upon my spirit , till it was made vigorous and effective from without : And in this sence I thought I might not be useless and impertinent . My Lord , I designed to be instrumental to the Salvation of all persons that shall read my Book : But unless ( because Souls are equal in their substance , and equally redeemed ) we are obliged to wish the Salvation of all men , with the greatest , that is , with equal , desires , I did intend in the highest manner I could to express how much I am to pay to you , by doing the offices of that Duty which , although you less need , yet I was most bound to pay , even the duties and charities of Religion ; having this design , that when posterity ( for certainly they will learn to distinguish things and persons ) shall see your Honoured Name imployed to separate and rescue these Papers from contempt , they may with the more confidence expect in them something fit to be offered to such a Personage . My Lord , I have my end , if I serve God , and You , and the needs and interests of Souls ; but shall think my return full of reward , if you shall give me pardon , and put me into your Litanies , and account me in the number of your Relatives and Servants ; for indeed , my Lord , I am most heartily Your Lordship's most affectionate and most obliged Servant , JER . TAYLOR . THE CONTENTS . THE PREFACE . fol. I. An Exhortation to the Imitation of the Life of CHRIST . fol. ( i ) SECT . I. The History of the Conception of JESUS . pag. 1. Considerations upon the Annunciation of the Blessed MARY , and the Conception of the Holy Jesus . p. 3. SECT . II. The Bearing of JESUS in the 〈◊〉 of the Blessed 〈◊〉 . p. 7. Considerations concerning the circumstances of the Interval between the Conception and Nativity . p. 8. SECT . III. The Nativity of our Blessed Saviour JESUS . p. 13. Considerations upon the Birth of our Blessed Saviour JESUS . p. 15. Discourse 1. Of Nursing Children , in imitation of the Blessed Virgin-Mother . p. 18. SECT . IV. Of the great and glorious Accidents happening about the Birth of JESUS . p. 25. Considerations upon the Apparition of the Angels to the Shepherds . p. 28. Considerations upon the Epiphany of the Blessed JESUS by a Star , and the Adoration of JESUS by the Eastern Magi. p. 31. SECT . V. Of the Circumcision of JESUS , and his Presentation in the Temple . p. 35. Considerations upon the Circumcision of the Holy Child JESUS . p. 36. Discourse 2. Of the Vertue of Obedience . p. 40. Considerations upon the Presentation of JESUS in the Temple . p. 51. Discourse 3. Of Meditation . p. 54. SECT . VI. Of the Death of the Holy Innocents or the Babes of Bethlehem , and the Flight of JESUS into Egypt . p. 65. Considerations upon the Death of the Innocents , and the Flight of the Holy JESUS into Egypt . p. 67. SECT . VII . Of the younger years of JESUS , and his Disputation with the Doctors in the Temple . p. 73. Considerations upon the Disputation of JESUS with the Doctors in the Temple . p. 74. SECT . VIII . Of the Preaching of John the Baptist , preparative to the Manifestation of JESUS . p. 77. Considerations upon the Preaching of John the Baptist. p. 78. Discourse 4. Of Mortification and corporal Austerities . p. 82. SECT . IX . Of JESUS being Baptized , and going into the Wilderness to be tempted . p. 93. Considerations upon the Baptizing , Fasting , and Temptation of the Holy JESUS by the Devil . p. 95. Discourse 5. Of Temptation . p. 102. Discourse 6. Of Baptism . p. 116. Of Baptizing Infants . p. 127. SECT . X. Of the first Manifestation of JESUS , by the Testimony of John , and a Miracle . p. 151. Considerations touching the Vocation of five Disciples , and of the first Miracle of JESUS , done at Cana in Galilee . p. 155. Discourse 7. Of Faith. p. 159. SECT . XI . Of CHRIST's going to Jerusalem to the Passeover the first time after his Manifestation , and what followed till the expiration of the Office of John the Baptist. p. 167. Considerations upon the first Journey of the Holy JESUS to Jerusalem , when he whipt the Merchants out of the Temple . p. 169. Discourse 8. Of the Religion of Holy Places . p. 171. SECT . XII . Of JESUS's departure into Galilee ; his manner of Life , Miracles and Preaching ; his calling of Disciples ; and what happened until the second Passeover . p. 181. Considerations upon the Entercourse happening between the Holy JESUS and the Woman of Samaria . p. 187. Considerations upon CHRIST's first Preaching , and the Accidents happening about that time . p. 193. Discourse 9. Of Repentance . p. 197. Upon CHRIST's Sermon on the Mount , and of the Eight Beatitudes . p. 221. Discourse 10. Upon that part of the Decalogue which the Holy JESUS adopted into the Institution and obligation of Christianity . p. 231. Of the three additional Precepts which CHRIST super induced , and made parts of the Christian Law. Discourse 11. Of CHARITY , with its parts , Forgiving , Giving , not Judging . p. 232. Of Alms. p. 258. Discourse 12. Of the second additional Precept of CHRIST , ( viz. ) Of PRAYER . p. 261. Discourse 13. Of the third additional Precept of CHRIST , ( viz. ) of the manner of FASTING . p. 272. Discourse 14. Of the Miracles which JESUS wrought for confirmation of his Doctrine , during the whole time of his Preaching . p. 277. SECT . XIII . Of the Second Year of the Preaching of JESUS . p. 289. Discourse 15. Of the Excellency , 〈◊〉 , Reasonableness and Advantages of bearing CHRIST's Yoke , and living according to his Institution . p. 295. Discourse 16. Of Certainty of 〈◊〉 . p. 313. SECT . XIV . Of the Third Year of the Preaching of JESUS . p. 319. Discourse 17. Of Scandal , or Giving and taking Offence . p. 328. Discourse 18. Of the Causes and Manner of the Divine Judgments . p. 335. SECT . XV. Of the Accidents happening from the Death of Lazarus , until the Death and Burial of JESUS . p. 345. Considerations of some preparatory Accidents before the entrance of JESUS into his Passion . p. 357. Considerations upon the Washing of the Disciples feet by JESUS , and his Sermon of 〈◊〉 . p. 363. Discourse 19. Of the Institution and Reception of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper . p. 369. Considerations upon the Accidents happening on the Vespers of the Passion . p. 383. Considerations upon the Scourging and other Accidents happening from the Apprehension till the Crucifixion of JESUS . p. 389. Discourse 20. Of Death , and the due manner of Preparation to it . p. 397. Considerations upon the Crucifixion of the Holy JESUS . p. 411. SECT . XVI . Of the Resurrection and Ascension of JESUS . p. 419. Considerations upon the Accidents happening in the interval after the Death of the Holy JESUS , until his Resurrection . p. 423. THE PREFACE . 1. CHRISTIAN Religion hath so many exterior advantages to its Reputation and Advancement , from the Author and from the Ministers , from the fountain of its Origination and the chanels of Conveyance , ( GOD being the Author , the Word incarnate being the great Doctor and Preacher of it , his Life and Death being its Consignation , the Holy Spirit being the great Argument and demonstration of it , and the Apostles the Organs and Conduits of its dissemination ) that it were glorious beyond all opposition and disparagement , though we should not consider the Excellency of its Matter , and the Certainty of its Probation , and the Efficacy of its Power , and the Perfection and rare accomplishment of its Design . But I consider that Christianity is therefore very little understood , because it is reproached upon that pretence which its very being and design does infinitely confute . It is esteemed to be a Religion contrary in its Principles or in its Precepts to that wisdom * whereby the World is governed , and Common-wealths increase , and Greatness is acquired , and Kings go to war , and our ends of Interest are served and promoted ; and that it is an Institution so wholly in order to another World , that it does not at all communicate with this , neither in its End nor in its Discourses , neither in the Policy nor in the Philosophy : and therefore as the Doctrine of the Cross was entertained at first in scorn by the Greeks , in offence and indignation by the Jews ; so is the whole Systeme and collective Body of Christian Philosophy esteemed imprudent by the Politicks of the world , and flat and irrational by some men of excellent wit and submile discourse ; who , because the permissions and dictates of natural , true and essential Reason are at no hand to be contradicted by any superinduced Discipline , think , that whatsoever seems contrary to their Reason is also violent to our Nature , and offers indeed a good to us , but by ways unnatural and unreasonable . And I think they are very great strangers to the present affairs and perswasions of the World , who know not that Christianity is very much undervalued upon this principle , men insensibly becoming unchristian , because they are perswaded that much of the Greatness of the World is contradicted by the Religion . But certainly no mistake can be greater . For the Holy Jesus by his Doctrine did instruct the Understandings of men , made their Appetites more obedient , their Reason better principled , and argumentative with less deception , their Wills apter for noble choices , their Governments more prudent , their present Felicities greater , their hopes more excellent , and that duration which was intended to them by their Creator he made manifest to be a state of glory : and all this was to be done and obtained respectively by the ways of Reason and Nature , such as God gave to Man then when at first he designed him to a noble and an immortal condition ; the Christian Law being , for the substance of it , nothing but the * restitution and perfection of the Law of Nature . And this I shall represent in all the parts of its natural progression , and I intend it not only as a Preface to the following Books , but for an Introduction and Invitation to the whole Religion . 2. For God when he made the first emanations of his eternal Being , and created Man as the End of all his productions here below , designed him to an End such as himself was pleased to chuse for him , and gave him abilities proportionable to attain that End. God gave Man a reasonable and an intelligent nature . And to this noble Nature he designed as noble an End ; he intended Man should live well and happily , in proportion to his appetites , and in the reasonable doing and enjoying those good things which God made him naturally to desire . For since God gave him proper and peculiar Appetites with proportion to their own objects , and gave him Reason and abilities , not only to perceive the sapidness and relish of those objects , but also to make reflex acts upon such perceptions , and to perceive that he did perceive , which was a rare instrument of pleasure and pain respectively ; it is but reasonable to think , that God , who created him in mercy , did not only proportion a Being to his nature , but did also provide satisfaction for all those Appetites and desires which himself had created and put into him . For if he had not , then the Being of a man had been nothing but a state of perpetual Affliction , and the creation of men had been the greatest Unmercifulness in the world , disproportionate objects being mere instances of affliction , and those unsatisfied appetites nothing else but instruments of torment . 3. Therefore , that this intendment of God and Nature should be effected , that is , that Man should become happy , it is naturally necessary , that all his regular appetites should have an object appointed them , in the fruition of which Felicity must consist . Because nothing is Felicity , but when what was reasonably or orderly desired is possessed : for the having what is not desired , or the wanting of what we desired , or the desiring what we should not , are the several constituent parts of Infelicity ; and it can have no other constitution . 4. Now the first Appetite Man had in order to his great End was , to be as perfect as he could , that is , to be as like * the best thing he knew as his nature and condition would permit . And although by Adam's sancy and affection to his Wife , and by God's appointing fruit for him , we see the lower Appetites were first provided for : yet the first Appetite which Man had , as he distinguishes from lower creatures , was to be like God , ( for by that the Devil tempted him ; ) and in order to that he had naturally sufficient instruments and abilities . For although by being abused with the Devil's sophistry he chose an incompetent instrument ; yet because it is naturally certain , that Love is the greatest assimilation of the object and the faculty , Adam by loving God might very well approach nearer him according as he could . And it was natural to Adam to love God , who was his Father , his Creator , the fountain of all good to him , and of excellency in himself ; and whatsoever is understood to be such , it is as natural for us to love , and we do it for the same reasons , for which we love any thing else ; and we cannot love for any other reason , but for one or both these in their proportion apprehended . 5. But because God is not only excellent and good , but by being supreme Lord hath power to give us what Laws he pleases , Obedience to his Laws therefore becomes naturally , but consequently , necessary , when God decrees them , because he does make himself an enemy to all Rebels and disobedient sons , by affixing penalties to the transgressors : And therefore Disobedience is naturally inconsistent , not only with love to our selves , because it brings afflictions upon us , but with love to our supreme Law-giver : it is contrary to the natural love we bear to God so understood , because it makes him our enemy , whom naturally and reasonably we cannot but love ; and therefore also opposite to the first Appetite of Man , which is to be like God , in order to which we have naturally no instrument but Love , and the consequents of Love. 6. And this is not at all to be contradicted by a pretence that a man does not naturally know there is a GOD. Because by the same instrument by which we know that the World began , or that there was a first man , by the same we know that there is a GOD , and that he also knew it too , and conversed with that God , and received Laws from him . For if we discourse of Man , and the Law of Nature , and the first Appetites , and the first Reasons abstractedly , and in their own complexions , and without all their relations and provisions , we discourse jejunely , and falsely , and unprofitably . For as Man did not come by chance , nor by himself , but from the universal Cause : so we know that this universal Cause did do all that was necessary for him in order to the End he appointed him . And therefore to begin the history of a Man's Reason , and the philosophy of his Nature , it is not necessary for us to place him there where without the consideration of a * GOD , or Society , or Law , or Order , he is to be placed , that is , in the state of a thing rather than a person ; but God by Revelations and Scriptures having helped us with Propositions and parts of story relating Man's first and real condition , from thence we can take the surest account , and make the most perfect derivation of Propositions . 7. From this first Appetite of Man to be like God , and the first natural instrument of it , Love , descend all the first obligations of Religion . In which there are some parts more immediately and naturally expressive , others by superinduction and positive command . Natural Religion I call such actions which either are proper to the nature of the thing we worship , ( such as are giving praises to him , and speaking excellent things of him , and praying to him for such things as we need , and a readiness to obey him in whatsoever he commands : ) or else such as are expressions proportionate to our natures that make them ; that is , giving to God the best things we have , and by which we can declare our esteem of his honour and excellency ; assigning some portion of our time , of our estate , the labours of our persons , the increase of our store , * First fruits , Sacrifices , Oblations , and Tithes ; which therefore God rewards , because he hath allowed to our natures no other instruments of doing him honour , but by giving to him in some manner , which we believe honourable and apt , the best thing we have . 8. The next Appetite a man hath is , to beget one like himself , God having implanted that appetite into Man for the propagation of mankind , and given it as his first Blessing and permission : It is not good for man to be alone ; and , Increase and multiply . And * Artemidorus had something of this doctrine , when he reckons these two Laws of Nature , Deum colere , Mulieribus vinci , To worship God , and To be overcome by women , in proportion to his two first Appetites of Nature , To be like God , and To have another like himself . This Appetite God only made regular by his first provisions of satisfaction . He gave to Man a Woman for a Wife , for the companion of his sorrows , for the instrument of multiplication ; and yet provided him but of one , and intimated he should have no more : which we do not only know by an after-revelation , the Holy Jesus having declared it to have been God's purpose , but Adam himself understood it , as appears by his first discourses at the entertainment of his new Bride . And although there were permissions afterward of Polygamy , yet there might have been a greater pretence of necessity at first , because of enlarging and multiplying fountains rather than chanels ; and three or four at first would have enlarged mankind by greater proportion than many more afterwards ; little distances near the Centre make greater and larger figures than when they part near the fringes of the Circle : and therefore those after-permissions were to avoid a greater evil , not a hallowing of the licence , but a reproach of their infirmity . And certainly the multiplication of Wives is contrariant to that design of love and endearment which God intended at first between Man and Wife . — Connubia mille : Non illis generis nexus , non pignora curae , Sed numero languet pietas — And amongst them that have many Wives , the relation and necessitude is tristing and loose , and they are all equally contemptible ; because the mind entertains no loves or union where the object is multiplied , and the act unfixed and distracted . So that this having a great commodity in order to Man 's great End , that is , of living well and happily , seems to be intended by God in the nature of things and instruments natural and reasonable towards Man's End ; and therefore to be a Law , if not natural , yet at least positive and superinduced at first , in order to Man 's proper End. However , by the provision which God made for satisfaction of this Appetite of Nature , all those actions which deflect and erre from the order of this End are unnatural and inordinate , and not permitted by the concession of God , nor the order of the thing ; but such actions only which naturally produce the end of this provision and satisfaction are natural , regular , and good . 9. But by this means Man grew into a Society and a Family , and having productions of his own kind , which he naturally desired , and therefore loved , he was consequently obliged to assist them in order to their End , that they might become like him , that is , perfect men , and brought up to the same state : and they also by being at first impotent , and for ever after * beneficiaries and obliged persons , are for the present subject to their Parents , and for ever after bound to duty ; because there is nothing which they can do that can directly produce so great a benefit to the Parents , as they have to the Children . From hence naturally descend all those mutual Obligations between Parents and Children , which are instruments of Protection and benefit on the one side , and Duty and obedience on the other ; and all these to be expressed according as either of their necessities shall require , or any stipulation or contract shall appoint , or shall be superinduced by any positive Laws of God or Man. 10. In natural descent of the Generations of Man this one first Family was multiplied so much , that for conveniency they were forced to divide their dwellings ; and this they did by Families especially , the great Father being the Major-domo to all his minors . And this division of dwellings , although it kept the same form and power in the several Families which were in the original , yet it introduced some new necessities , which although they varied in the instance , yet were to be determined by such instruments of Reason which were given to us at first upon foresight of the publick necessities of the World. And when the Families came to be divided , that their common Parent being extinct , no Master of a Family had power over another Master ; the rights of such men and their natural power became equal , because there was nothing to distinguish them , and because they might do equal injury , and invade each other's possessions , and disturb their peace , and surprise their liberty . And so also was their power of doing benefit equal , though not the same in kind : But God , who made Man a sociable creature , because he knew it was not good for him to be alone , so dispensed the abilities and possibilities of doing good , that in something or other every man might need or be benefited by * every man. Therefore that they might pursue the end of Nature , and their own appetites of living well and happily , they were forced to consent to such Contracts which might secure and supply to every one those good things without which he could not live happily . Both the Appetites , the Irascible and the Concupiscible , fear of evil , and desire of benefit , were the sufficient endearments of Contracts , of Societies , and Republicks . And upon this stock were decreed and hallowed all those Propositions , without which Bodies politick and Societies of men cannot be happy . And in the transaction of these , many accidents daily happening , it grew still reasonable , that is , necessary to the End of living happily , that all those after-Obligations should be observed with the proportion of the same faith and endearment which bound the first Contracts . For though the natural Law be always the same , yet some parts of it are primely necessary , others by supposition and accident ; and both are of the same necessity , that is , equally necessary in the several cases . Thus , to obey a King is as necessary and naturally reasonable as to obey a Father , that is , supposing there be a King , as it is certain naturally a man cannot be , but a Father must be supposed . If it be made necessary that I promise , it is also necessary that I perform it ; for else I shall return to that inconvenience which I sought to avoid when I made the Promise : and though the instance be very far removed from the first necessities and accidents of our prime being and production ; yet the reason still pursues us , and natural Reason reaches up to the very last minutes , and orders the most remote particulars of our well-being . 11. Thus , Not to Steal , Not to commit Adultery , Not to kill , are very reasonable prosecutions of the great End of Nature , of living well and happily : But when a man is said to steal , when to be a Murtherer , when to be Incestuous , the natural Law doth not teach in all cases ; but when the superinduced Constitution hath determined the particular Law , by natural Reason we are obliged to observe it : because though the Civil power makes the instance , and determines the particular ; yet right Reason makes the Sanction , and passes the Obligation . The Law of Nature makes the major Proposition ; but the Civil Constitution , or any superinduced Law , makes the Assumption in a practical Syllogism . To kill is not Murther ; but to kill such persons whom I ought not . It was not Murther among the Jews to kill a man-slayer before he entred a City of Refuge : to kill the same man after his entry , was . Among the Romans , to kill an Adulteress or a Ravisher in the act was lawful ; with us it is Murther . Murther , and Incest , and Theft , always were unlawful ; but the same actions were not always the same crimes . And it is just with these as with Disobedience , which was ever criminal ; but the same thing was not estimated to be Disobedience , nor indeed could any thing be so , till the Sanction of a Superior had given the instance of Obedience . So for Theft : To catch Fish in rivers , or Deer , or Pigeons , when they were esteemed ferae naturae , of a wild condition , and so primo 〈◊〉 , was lawful ; just as to take or kill Badgers or Foxes , and Bevers , and Lions : but when the Laws had appropriated Rivers , and divided Shores , and imparked Deer , and housed Pigeons , it became Theft to take them without leave . To despoil the Egyptians was not Theft , when God , who is the Lord of all possessions , had bidden the Israelites : but to do so now were the breach of the natural Law , and of a Divine Commandment . For the natural Law ( I said ) is eternal in the Sanction , but variable in the instance and the expression . And indeed the Laws of Nature are very few : They were but two at first , and but two at last , when the great change was made from Families to Kingdoms . The first is , to do duty to God : The second is , to do to our selves and our Neighbours , that is , to our neighbours as to our selves , all those actions which naturally , reasonably , or by institution or emergent necessity are in order to a happy life . Our Blessed Saviour reduces all the Law to these two ; 1. Love the Lord with all thy heart , 2. Love thy neighbour as thy self . In which I observe , in verification of my former * discourse , that Love is the first natural bond of Duty to God , and so also it is to our Neighbour . And therefore all entercourse with our neighbour was founded in , and derived from , the two greatest endearments of Love in the world : A man came to have a Neighbour by being a Husband , and a Father . 12. So that still there are but two great natural Laws binding us in our relations to God and Man ; we remaining essentially , and by the very design of creation , obliged to God in all , and to our neighbours in the proportions of equality , [ as thy self ; ] that is , that he be permitted and promoted in the order to his living well and happily , as thou art : for Love being there not an affection , but the duty that results from the first natural bands of Love , which began Neighbourhood , signifies Justice , Equality , and such reasonable proceedings which are in order to our common End of a happy life , and is the same with that other , Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you , do you to them ; and that is certainly the greatest and most effective Love , because it best promotes that excellent End which God designed for our natural perfection . All other particulars are but prosecutions of these two , that is , of the order of Nature : save only that there is a third Law , which is a part of Love too , it is Self-love , and therefore is rather supposed than at the first expressed , because a man is reasonably to be presumed to have in him a sufficient stock of Self-love , to serve the ends of his nature and creation ; and that is , that man demean and use his own body in that decorum which is most orderly and proportionate to his perfective End of a happy life ; which Christian Religion calls [ Sobriety : ] and it is a prohibition of those uncharitable , self-destroying sins of Drunkenness , Gluttony , and inordinate and unreasonable manners of Lust ; destructive of Nature's intendments , or at least no ways promoting them . For it is naturally lawful to satisfie any of these desires , when the desire does not carry the satisfaction beyond the design of Nature , that is , to the violation of health , or that happy living which consists in observing those Contracts which mankind thought necessary to be made in order to the same great End ; unless where God hath superinduced a restraint , making an instance of Sobriety to become an act of Religion , or to pass into an expression of Duty to him : But then it is not a natural , but a Religious Sobriety , and may be instanced in fasting or abstinence from some kinds of meat , or some times or manners of conjugation . These are the three natural Laws described in the Christian Doctrine , that we live , 1. Godly , 2. Soberly , 3. Righteously . And the particulars of the first are ordinarily to be determined by God immediately , or his Vicegerents , and by Reason observing and complying with the accidents of the world , and dispositions of things and persons : the second by the natural order of Nature , by sense , and by experience : and the third by humane contracts and civil Laws . 13. The result of the preceding discourse is this . Man , who was designed by God to a happy life , was fitted with sufficient means to attain that End , so that he might , if he would , be happy ; but he was a free Agent , and so might chuse . And it is possible that Man may fail of his End , and be made miserable , by God , by himself , or by his neighbour ; or by the same persons he may be made happy in the same proportions , as they relate to him . If God be angry or disobeyed , he becomes our enemy , and so we fail : If our Neighbour be injured or impeded in the direct order to his happy living , he hath equal right against us as we against him , and so we fail that way : An dif I be intemperate , I grow sick and worsted in some Faculty , and so I am unhappy in my self . But if I obey God , and do right to my Neighbour , and confine my self within the order and design of Nature , I am secured in all ends of Blessing in which I can be assisted by these three , that is , by all my relatives ; there being no End of man designed by God in order to his Happiness , to which these are not proper and sufficient instruments . Man can have no other relations , no other discourses , no other regular appetites , but what are served and satisfied by Religion , by Sobriety , and by Justice . There is nothing whereby we can relate to any person , who can hurt us , or do us benefit , but is provided for in these three . These therefore are all , and these are sufficient . 14. But now it is to be enquired how these become Laws obliging us to sin if we transgress , even before any positive Law of God be superinduced : for else , how can it be a natural Law , that is , a Law obliging all Nations and all persons , even such who have had no intercourse with God by way of special revelation , and have lost all memory of tradition ? For either such persons , whatsoever they do , shall obtain that End which God designed for them in their nature , that is , a happy life according to the duration of an immortal nature : or else they shall perish for prevaricating of these Laws . And yet if they were no Laws to them , and decreed and made sacred by sanction , promulgation and appendent penalties , they could not so oblige them as to become the Rule of Vertue or Vice. 15. When God gave us natural Reason , that is , sufficient ability to do all that should be necessary to live well and happily , he also knew that some Appetites might be irregular , just as some stomachs would be sick , and some eyes blind ; and a man being a voluntary Agent might chuse an evil with as little reason as the Angels of darkness did , that is , they might do unreasonably because they would do so ; and then a man's Understanding should serve him but as an instrument of mischief , and his Will carry him on to it with a blind and impotent desire , and then the beauteous order of creatures would be discomposed by unreasonable and unconsidering or evil persons . And therefore it was most necessary that Man should have his appetites 〈◊〉 within the designs of Nature , and the order to his End ; for a Will without the restraint of a superior power , or a perfect Understanding , is like a knife in a child's hand , as apt for mischief as for use . Therefore it pleased God to bind man by the signature of Laws to observe those great natural reasons , without which man could not arrive at the great End of God's designing , that is , he could not live well and happily . God therefore made it the first Law to love him , and , which is all one , to worship him , to speak honour of him , and to express it in all our ways , the chief whereof is Obedience . And this we find in the instance of that positive Precept which God gave to Adam , and which was nothing but a particular of the great general . But in this there is little scruple , because it is not imaginable that God would in any period of time not take care that himself be honoured , his Glory being the very end why he made Man ; and therefore it must be certain , that this did at the very first pass into a Law. 16. But concerning this and other things , which are usually called natural Laws , I consider , that the things themselves were such , that the doing them was therefore declared to be a Law , because the not doing them did certainly bring a punishment proportionable to the crime , that is , a just deficiency from the End of creation , from a good and happy life ; 2. And also a punishment of a guilty Conscience : which I do not understand to be a 〈◊〉 of Hell , or of any supervening penalty , unless the Conscience be accidentally instructed into such fears by experience or revelation ; but it is a malum in genere Rationis , a disease or evil of the Reasonable faculty : that , as there is a rare content in the discourses of Reason , there is a satisfaction , an acquiescency like that of creatures in their proper place and definite actions and competent perfections ; so in prevaricating the natural Law there is a dissatisfaction , a disease , a removing out of the place , an unquietness of spirit , even when there is no monitor or observer . Adeo facinora atque flagitia sua ipsi quoque in supplicium verterant . Neque frustra 〈◊〉 [ Plato ] sapientiae firmare solitus est , si 〈◊〉 Tyrannorum mentes , posse aspici laniatus & 〈◊〉 , quando ut corpora verberibus , ita saevitia , libidine , malis consultis animus dilaceretur , said a Tacitus out of b Plato , whose words are ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . It is naturally certain , that the Cruelty of Tyrants torments themselves , and is a hook in their nostrils , and a * scourge to their spirit ; and the pungency of forbidden Lust is truly a thorn in the flesh , full of anguish and secret vexation . Quid , demens , manifesta negas ? En pectus inustae Deformant maculae , vitiisque inolevit imago , said Claudian of Rusinus . And it is certain to us , and verified by the experience and observation of all wise Nations , though not naturally demonstrable , that this secret punishment is sharpned and promoted in degrees by the hand of Heaven , the finger of the same hand that writ the Law in our Understandings . 17. But the prevarications of the natural Law have also their portion of a special punishment , besides the scourge of an unquiet spirit . The man that disturbs his neighbour's rest meets with disturbances himself : and since I have naturally no more power over my neighbour than he hath over me , ( unless he descended naturally from me ) he hath an equal priviledge to defend himself , and to secure his quiet by disturbing the order of my happy living , as I do his . And this equal permission is certainly so great a sanction and signature of the law of Justice , that in the just proportion of my receding from the reasonable prosecution of my End , in the same proportion and degree my own Infelicity is become certain ; and this in several degrees up to the loss of all , that is , of Life it self : for where no farther duration or differing state is known , there Death is ordinarily esteemed the greatest infelicity ; where something beyond it is known , there also it is known that such prevarication makes that farther duration to be unhappy . So that an affront is naturally punished by an affront , the loss of a tooth with the loss of a tooth , of an eye with an eye , the violent taking away of another man's goods by the losing my own . For I am liable to as great an evil as I infer , and naturally he is not unjust that inflicts it . And he that is drunk is a fool or a mad-man for the time , and that is his punishment , and declares the law and the sin : and so in proportions to the transgressions of sobriety . But when the first of the natural laws is violated , that is , God is disobeyed or dishonoured , or when the greatest of natural evils is done to our Neighbour , then Death became the penalty : to the first , in the first period of the World ; to the second , at the restitution of the World , that is , at the beginning of the second period . He that did attempt to kill , from the beginning of Ages might have been resisted and killed , if the assaulted could not else be safe ; but he that killed actually , as Cain did , could not be killed himself , till the Law was made in Noah's time , because there was no person living that had equal power on him , and had been naturally injured : while the thing was doing , the assailant and the assailed had equal power ; but when it was done , and one was killed , he that had the power or right of killing his murtherer , is now dead , and his power is extinguished with the man. But after the Floud the power was put into the hand of some trusted person , who was to take the forfeiture . And thus I conceive these natural reasons in order to their proper end became Laws , and bound fast by the band of annexed and consequent penalties : Metum prorsus & noxam conscientiae pro foedere haberi , said Tacitus . And that fully explains my sence . 18. And thus Death was brought into the world ; not by every prevarication of any of the Laws , by any instance of unreasonableness : 〈◊〉 in proportion to the evil of the action would be the evil of the suffering , which in all cases would not arrive at death ; as every injury , every intemperance should not have been capital . But some things were made evil by a superinduced prohibition , as eating one kinde of fruit ; some things were evil by inordination : the first was morally evil , the second was evil naturally . Now the first sort brought in death by a prime sanction ; the second , by degrees and variety of accident . For every disobedience and transgression of that Law which God made as the instance of our doing him honour and obedience , is an integral violation of all the band between him and us ; it does not grow in degrees according to the instance and subject matter ; for it is as great a disobedience to eat when he hath forbidden us , as to offer to climb to Heaven with an ambitious Tower. And therefore it is but reasonable for us to fear , and just in him to make us at once suffer Death , which is the greatest of natural evils , for disobeying him . To which Death we may arrive by degrees , in doing actions against the reasonableness of Sobriety and Justice , but cannot arrive by degrees of Disobedience to God , or Irreligion ; because every such act deserves the worst of things , but the other naturally deserves no greater evil than the proportion of their own inordination , till God by a superinduced Law hath made them also to become acts of Disobedience as well as Inordination , that is , morally evil , as well as naturally : For by the Law ( saith S. Paul ) sin became exceeding sinful , that is , had a new degree of obliquity added to it . But this was not at first . For therefore ( saith S. Paul ) Before , or until , the Law sin was in the world ; but sin is not imputed when there is no Law : meaning , that those sins which were forbidden by Moses's Law were actually in the manners of men and the customs of the world , but they were not imputed , that is , to such personal punishments and consequent evils which afterwards those sins did introduce ; because those sins which were only evil by inordination , and discomposure of the order of man's end of living happily , were made unlawful upon no other stock , but that God would have man to live happily , and therefore gave him Reason to effect that end ; and if a man became unreasonable , and did things contrary to his end , it was impossible for him to be happy , that is , he should be miserable in proportion . But in that degree and manner of evil they were imputed ; and that was sanction enough to raise natural Reason up to the constitution of a Law. 19. Thirdly , The Law of Nature being thus decreed and made obligatory was a sufficient instrument of making man happy , that is , in producing the end of his Creation . But as Adam had evil discourses and irregular appetites before he fell , ( for they made him fall ) and as the Angels , who had no Original sin , yet they chose evil at the first , when it was wholly arbitrary in them to do so or otherwise ; so did Man. God made man upright , and he sought out many inventions . Some men were Ambitious , and by incompetent means would make their brethren to be their servants ; some were Covetous , and would usurp that which by an earlier distinction had passed into private possession : and then they made new principles , and new discourses , such which were reasonable in order to their private indirect ends , but not to the publick benefit , and therefore would prove unreasonable and mischievous to themselves at last . 20. And when once they broke the order of creation , it is easie to understand by what necessities of consequence they ran into many sins and irrational proceedings . AElian tells of a Nation who had a Law binding them to beat their Parents to death with clubs , when they lived to a decrepit and unprofitable age . The Persian Magi mingled with their Mothers and all their nearest relatives . And by a Law of the Venetians ( says Bodinus ) a Son in banishment was redeemed from the sentence , if he killed his banished Father . And in Homer's time there were a sort of Pirats who professed Robbing , and did account it honourable . But the great prevarications of the Laws of Nature were in the first Commandment ; when the tradition concerning God was derived by a long line , and there were no visible remonstrances of an extraordinary power , they were quickly brought to believe that he whom they saw not was not at all , especially being prompted to it by Pride , Tyranny , and a loose imperious spirit . Others 〈◊〉 to low opinions concerning God , and made such as they list of their own ; and they were like to be strange Gods which were of Man's making . When Man either maliciously or carelesly became unreasonable in the things that concerned God , God was pleased to * give him over to a reprobate mind , that is , an unreasonable understanding , and false principles concerning himself and his Neighbour , that his sin against the natural Law might become its own punishment , by discomposing his natural happiness . Atheism and Idolatry brought in all unnatural Lusts , and many unreasonable Injustices . And this we learn from S. Paul : As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge , God gave them over to a reprobate mind , to do those things which are not convenient , that is , incongruities towards the end of their creation ; and so they became full of unrighteousness , lust , covetousness , malice , envy , strise , and murther , disobedient to parents , breakers of Covenants , unnatural in their affections , and in their passions : and all this was the consequent of breaking the first natural Law. They changed the truth of God into a lie : For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections . 21. Now God , who takes more care for the good of man than man does 〈◊〉 his own , did not only imprint these Laws in the hearts and understandings of man , but did also take care to make this light shine clear enough to walk by , by adopting some instances of the natural Laws into Religion . Thus the Law against Murther became a part of Religion in the time of Noah ; and some other things were then added concerning worshipping God , against Idolatry , and against unnatural and impure Mixtures . Sometimes God superadded Judgments , as to the 23000. Assyrians for Fornication . For although these punishments were not threatned to the crime in the sanction and expression of any definite Law , and it could not naturally arrive to it by its inordination ; yet it was as agreeable to the Divine Justice to inflict it , as to inflict the pains of Hell upon evil livers , who yet had not any revelation of such intolerable danger : for it was sufficient that God had made such crimes to be against their very Nature ; and they who will do violence to their Nature , to do themselves hurt , and to displease God , deserve to lose the title to all those good things which God was pleased to design for man's final condition . And because it grew habitual , customary , and of innocent reputation , it pleased God to call this precept out of the darkness , whither their evil customs and false discourses had put it , and by such an extraregular , but very signal , punishment to re-mind them , that the natural permissions of Concubinate were only confined to the ends of mankind , and were hallowed only by the Faith and the design of Marriage . And this was signified by S. Paul in these words . They that sin without the Law shall also perish without the Law ; that is , by such Judgments which God hath inflicted on evil livers in several periods of the world , irregularly indeed , not signified in kind , but yet sent into the world with designs of a great mercy , that the ignorances and prevarications and partial abolitions of the natural Law might be cured and restored , and by the dispersion of prejudices the state of natural Reason be redintegrate . 22. Whatsoever was besides this , was accidental and emergent . Such as were the Discourses of wise men , which God raised up in several Countreys and Ages , as Job , and Eliphaz , and Bildad , and those of the families of the Patriarchs dispersed into several countreys ; and constant Tradition in some noble and more eminent descents . And yet all this was so little and imperfect , not in it self , but in respect of the thick cloud man had drawn before his Understanding , that darkness covered the face of the earth in a great proportion . Almost all the World were Idolaters : and when they had broken the first of the natural Laws , the breach of the other was not only naturally consequent , but also by Divine judgment it descended infallibly . And yet God , pitying mankind , did not only still continue the former remedies , and added blessings , giving them 〈◊〉 seasons , and filling their hearts with food and gladness , so leaving the Nations without excuse ; but also made a very noble change in the world : For having chosen an excellent Family , the Fathers of which lived exactly according to the natural Law , and with observation of those few superadded Precepts , in which God did specificate their prime Duty , having swelled that Family to a great Nation , and given them possession of an excellent Land , which God took from seven Nations , because they were egregious violators of the natural Law , he was pleased to make a very great restitution and declaration of the natural Law in many instances of Religion and Justice , which he framed into positive Precepts , and adopted them into the family of the first original instances , making them as necessary in the particulars as they were in the primary obligation : but the instances were such , whereof some did relate only to the present constitution of the Commonwealth ; others to such universal Contracts which obliged all the World , by reason of the equal necessity of all mankind to admit them . And these himself writ on Tables of stone , and dressed up their Nation into a body politick by an excellent System of politick Laws , and adorned it with a rare Religion , and left this Nation as a piece of leven in a mass of dow , not only to do honour to God , and happiness to themselves , by those instruments which he had now very much explicated , but also to transmit the same reasonable Propositions into other Nations : and he therefore multiplied them to a great necessity of a dispersion , that they might serve the ends of God and of the natural Law by their ambulatory life and their numerous disseminations . And this was it which S. Paul 〈◊〉 , The Law was added because of transgression : meaning , that because men did transgress the natural , God brought Moses's Law into the world , to be as a strand to the inundation of Impiety . And thus the world stood , till the fulness of time was come : for so we are taught by the Apostle , [ The Law was added because of transgression ; ] but the date of this was to expire at a certain period , it was added to serve but [ till the seed should come to whom the Promise was made . ] 23. For because Moses's Law was but an imperfect explication of the natural ; there being divers parts of the three Laws of Nature not at all explicated by that Covenant , not the religion of Prayers , not the reasonableness of Temperance and Sobriety in Opinion and Diet , and in the more noble instances of Humanity and doing benefit it was so short that , as S. Paul says , The Law could not make the comers thereunto perfect ; and , which was most of all considerable , it was confined to a Nation , and the other parts of mankind had made so little use of the Records of that Nation , that all the world was placed in darkness , and sate in the 〈◊〉 of death : Therefore it was that in great mercy God sent his Son , a light to lighten the Gentiles , and the glory of the people Israel ; to instruct those , and consummate these ; that the imperfection of the one and the mere darkness of the other might be illustrated by the Sun of Righteousness . And this was by restoring the Light of Nature , ( which they by evil Customs and 〈◊〉 Principles and evil Laws had obscured ) by restoring Man to the liberty of his spirit , by freeing him from the slavery of Sin , under which they were so lost and oppressed , that all their discourses and conclusions , some of their moral Philosophy , and all their habitual practices , were but servants of sin , and made to cooperate to that end , not which God intended as perfective of humane nature , but which the Devil and vicious persons superinduced to serve little ends and irregular , and to destroy the greater . 24. For certain it is , Christianity is nothing else but the most perfect design that ever was to make a man be happy in his whole capacity : and as the Law was to the Jews , so was Philosophy to the Gentiles , a Schoolmaster to bring them to Christ , to teach them the rudiments of Happiness , and the first and lowest things of Reason ; that when Christ was come , all mankind might become perfect , that is , be made regular in their Appetites , wise in their Understandings , assisted in their Duties , directed to and instructed in their great Ends. And this is that which the Apostle calls [ being perfect men in Christ Jesus , ] perfect in all the intendments of nature , and in all the designs of God. And this was brought to pass by discovering , and restoring , and improving the Law of Nature , and by turning it all into Religion . 25. For the natural Law being a sufficient and a proportionate instrument and means to bring a man to the End designed in his creation , and this Law being eternal and unalterable , ( for it ought to be as lasting and as unchangeable as the nature it self , so long as it was capable of a Law ) it was not imaginable that the body of any Law should make a new Morality , new rules , and general proportions , either of Justice , or Religion , or Temperance , or Felicity ; the essential parts of all these consisting in natural proportions and means toward the consummation of man's last End , which was first intended , and is always the same . It is as if there were a new truth in an essential and a necessary Proposition . For although the instances may vary , there can be no new Justice , no new Temperance , no new relations , proper and natural relations and intercourses , between God and us , but what always were in Praises and Prayers , in adoration and honour , and in the symbolical expressions of God's glory and our needs . 26. Hence it comes that that which is the most obvious and notorious appellative of the Law of Nature , ( that it is a Law written in our hearts ) was also recounted as one of the glories and excellencies of Christianity . Plutarch saying , that Kings ought to be governed by Laws , explains himself , that this Law must be * a word , not written in Books and Tables , but dwelling in the Mind , a living rule , the 〈◊〉 guide of their manners , and monitors of their life . And this was the same which S. Paul expresses to be the guide of the Gentiles , that is , of all men naturally . The Gentiles , which have not the Law , do by nature the things contained in the Law ; which shews the work of the Law written in their hearts . And that we may see it was the Law of Nature that returned in the Sanctions of Christianity ; God declares that in the constitution of this Law he would take no other course than at first , that is , he would write them in the hearts of men : indeed with a new style , with a quill taken from the wings of the holy Dove ; the Spirit of God was to be the great Engraver and the Scribe of the New Covenant , but the Hearts of men should be the Tables . For this is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days , saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their hearts , and into their minds will I write them : And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more : That is , I will provide a means to expiate all the iniquities of man , and restore him to the condition of his first creation , putting him into the same order towards Felicity which I first designed to him , and that also by the same instruments . Now I consider , that the Spirit of God took very great care , that all the Records of the Law of Jesus should be carefully kept and transmitted to posterity in Books and Sermons , which being an act of providence and mercy , was a provision , lest they should be lost or mistaken , as they were formerly , when God writ some of them in Tables of stone for the use of the sons of Israel , and all of them in the first Tables of Nature with the 〈◊〉 of Creation , as now he did in the new creature by the singer of the Spirit . But then writing them in the Tables of our minds ( besides the other , ) can mean nothing but placing them there where they were before , and from whence we blotted them by the mixtures of impure principles and discourses . But I descend to particular and more minute considerations . 27. The Laws of Nature either are bands of Religion , Justice , or Sobriety . Now I consider concerning Religion , that when-ever God hath made any particular Precepts to a Family , as to Abraham's , or to a single Person , as to the man of Judah prophesying against the Altar of Bethel , or to a Nation , as to the Jews at Sinai , or to all Mankind , as to the world descending from Noah ; it was nothing else but a trial or an instance of our Obedience , a particular prosecution of the Law of Nature , whereby we are obliged to do honour to God , which was to be done by such expressions which are natural entercourses between God and us , or such as he hath made to be so . Now in Christianity we are wholly left to that manner of prosecuting this first natural Law which is natural and proportionable to the nature of the thing , which the Holy Jesus calls worshipping God in spirit and truth : In spirit ] that is , with our Souls heartily and devoutly , so as to exclude hypocrisie and 〈◊〉 ; and In truth ] that is , without a lie , without vain imaginations and phantastick resemblances of him , which were introduced by the evil customs of the Gentiles , and without such false guises and absurd undecencies , which as they are contrary to man's Reason , so are they contrary to the Glory and reputation of God ; such as was that universal Custom of all Nations of sacrificing in man's bloud , and offering festival lusts and impurities in the solemnities of their Religion ; for these being against the purpose and design of God , and against right Reason , are a Lie , and enemies to the truth of a natural and proper Religion . The Holy Jesus only commanded us to pray often , and to praise God , to speak honour of his Name , not to use it lightly and vainly , to believe him , to revere the instruments and ministers of Religion , to ask for what we need , to put our trust in God , to worship him , to obey him , and to love him ; for all these are but the expressions of Love. And this is all Christ spake concerning the first natural Law , the Law of Religion . For concerning the Ceremonies or Sacraments which he instituted , they are but few , and they become matter of duty but by accident , as being instruments and rites of consigning those effects and mercies which God sent to the world by the means of this Law , and relate rather to the contract and stipulation which Christ made for us , than to the natural order between Duty and Felicity . 28. Now all these are nothing but what we are taught by natural Reason , that is , what God enabled us to understand to be fit instruments of entercourse between God and us , and what was practised and taught by sober men in all Ages and all Nations , whose Records we have received , ( as I shall remark at the Margent of the several Precepts . ) For to make these appear certainly and naturally necessary there was no more requisite , but that Man should know there was a GOD , that is , an eternal Being , which gave him all that he had or was ; and to know what himself was , that is , indigent and necessitous of himself , needing help of all the Creatures , exposed to accidents and calamity , and 〈◊〉 no ways but by the same hand that made him ; Creation and Conservation , in the Philosophy of all the world , being but the same act continuing and flowing on him from an instant to duration , as a Line from its Mathematical Point . And for this God took sufficient care , for he conversed with Man in the very first in such clear and certain and perceptible transaction , that a man could as certainly know that God was as that Man was . And in all Ages of the world he hath not left himself without witness , but gave such testimonies of himself that were sufficient ; for they did actually perswade all Nations , barbarous and civil , into the belief of a God. And it is but a nicety to consider whether or no that Proposition can be naturally demonstrated . For it was sufficient to all God's purposes and to all Man's , that the Proposition was actually believed ; the instances were therefore sufficient to make faith , because they did it . And a man may remove himself so far 〈◊〉 all the degrees of aptness to believe a Proposition , that nothing shall make them joyn . For if there were a Sect of witty men , that durst not believe their Senses , because they thought them fallible ; it is no wonder if some men should think every Reason reproveable . But in such cases Demonstration is a relative term , and signifies every probation , greater or lesser , which does actually make faith in any Proposition : And in this God hath never been deficient , but hath to all men , that believe him , given sufficient to confirm them ; to those few that believed not , sufficient to reprove them . 29. Now in all these actions of Religion which are naturally consequent to this belief there is no scruple , but in the instance of Faith , which is presented to be an infused Grace , an immission from God , and that for its object it hath principles supernatural , that is , naturally incredible ; and therefore Faith is supposed a Grace above the greatest strength of Reason . But in this I consider , that if we look into all the Sermons of Christ , we shall not easily find any Doctrine that in any sense troubles natural Philosophy , but only that of the Resurrection : ( for I do not think those mystical expressions of plain truths , such as are , [ being born again , eating the flesh of the Son of man , being in the Father , and the Father in him ] to be exceptions in this assertion . ) And although some Gentiles did believe and deliver that article , and particularly Chrysippus , and the Thracians , ( as Mela and Solinus report of them ; ) yet they could not naturally discourse themselves into it , but had it from the imperfect report and opinion of some Jews that dwelt among them : And it was certainly a revelation or a proposition sent into the world by God. But then the believing it is so far from being above or against Nature , that there is nothing in the world more reasonable than to believe any thing which God tells us , or which is told us by a man sent from God with mighty demonstration of his power and veracity . Naturally our bodies cannot rise , that is , there is no natural agent or natural cause sufficient to produce that effect ; but this is an effect of a Divine power : and he hath but a little stock of natural Reason , who cannot conclude that the same power which made us out of nothing , can also restore us to the same condition as well and easily from dust and ashes certainly , as from mere nothing . And in this , and in all the like cases , Faith is a submission of the understanding to the Word of God , and is nothing else but a confessing that God is Truth , and that he is omnipotent , that is , he can do what he will , and he will when he hath once said it . And we are now as ignorant of the essence and nature of forms , and of that which substantially distinguishes Man from Man , or an Angel from an Angel , as we were of the greatest Article of our Religon before it was revealed ; and we shall remain ignorant for ever of many natural things , unless they be revealed ; and unless we knew all the secrets of Philosophy , the mysteries of Nature , and the rules and propositions of all things and all creatures , we are fools , if we say that what we call an Article of Faith , I mean , truly such , is against natural Reason . It may be indeed as much against our natural reasonings , as those reasonings are against truth . But if we remember how great an ignorance dwells upon us all , it will be found the most reasonable thing in the world only to enquire whether God hath revealed any such Proposition ; and then not to say , It is against natural Reason , and therefore an Article of Faith ; but , I am told a truth which I knew not till now , and so my Reason is become instructed into a new Proposition . And although Christ hath given us no new moral Precepts , but such which were essentially and naturally reasonable in order to the End of Man's Creation ; yet we may easily suppose him to teach us many a new Truth which we knew not , and to explicate to us many particulars of that estate which God designed for Man in his first production , but yet did not then declare to him ; and to furnish him with new Revelations , and to signifie the greatness of the designed End , to become so many arguments of indearment to secure his Duty , that is , indeed , to secure his Happiness by the infallible using the instruments of attaining it . 30. This is all I am to say concerning the Precepts of Religion Jesus taught us : he took off those many superinduced Rites which God injoyned to the Jews , and reduced us to the natural Religion , that is , to such expressions of Duty which all wise men and Nations used ; save only that he took away the Rite of sacrificing Beasts , because it was now determined in the great Sacrifice of Himself , which sufficiently and eternally reconciled all the world to God. All the other things , as Prayers , and Adoration , and Eucharist , and Faith in God , are of a natural order and an unalterable expression : And in the nature of the thing there is no other way of address to God than these , no other expression of his Glories and our needs ; both which must for ever be signified . 31. Secondly , Concerning the Second natural Precept , Christian Religion hath also added nothing beyond the first obligation , but explained it all : * Whatsoever ye would men should do to you , do ye so to them , that is the eternal rule of Justice ; and that binds contracts , keeps promises , affirms truth , makes Subjects obedient , and Princes just ; it gives security to Marts and Banks , and introduces an equality of condition upon all the world , save only when an inequality is necessary , that is , in the relations of Government , for the preservation of the * common rights of equal titles and possessions , that there be some common term indued with power , who is to be the Father of all men by an equal provision , that every man's rights be secured by that fear which naturally we shall bear to him , who can and will punish all unreasonable and unjust violations of Property . And concerning this also the Holy Jesus hath added an express Precept , of paying Tribute , and all Caesar's dues , to Caesar : in all other particulars it is necessary that the instances and minutes of Justice be appointed by the Laws and Customs of the several Kingdoms and Republicks . * And therefore it was that Christianity so well combined with the Government of Heathen Princes , because whatsoever was naturally just , or declared so by the Political power , their Religion bound them to observe , making Obedience to be a double duty , a duty both of Justice and Religion : And the societies of Christians growing up from Conventicles to Assemblies , from Assemblies to Societies , introduced no change in the Government , but by little and little turned the Commonwealth into a Church , till the World being Christian , and Justice also being Religion , Obedience to Princes , observation of Laws , honesty in Contracts , faithfulness in promises , gratitude to benefactors , simplicity in discourse , and ingenuity in all pretences and transactions , became the Characterisms of Christian men , and the word of a Christian the greatest solemnity of stipulation in the world . 32. But concerning the general , I consider , that in two very great instances it was remonstrated , that Christianity was the greatest prosecution of natural Justice and equality in the whole world . The one was in an election of an A postle into the place of Judas : when there were two equal Candidates of the same pretension and capacity , the Question was determined by Lots , which naturally was the arbitration in questions whose parts were wholly indifferent ; and as it was used in all times , so it is to this day used with us in many places , where lest there be a disagreement concerning the manner of tithing some creatures , and to prevent unequal arts and unjust practices , they are tithed by lot , and their sortuitous passing through the door of their sold. The other is in the Coenobitick life of the first Christians and Apostles , they had all things in common , which was that state of nature in which men lived charitably and without injustice , before the distinction of dominions and private rights . But from this manner of life they were soon driven by the publick necessity and constitution of affairs . 33. Thirdly , Whatsoever else is in the Christian Law , concerns the natural precept of Sobriety , in which there is some variety and some difficulty . In the matter of 〈◊〉 the Holy Jesus did clearly reduce us to the first institution of Marriage in Paradise , allowing no other mixture but what was first intended in the creation and first sacramental union : and in the instance he so permitted us to the natural Law , that he was pleased to mention no instance of forbidden Lust , but in general and comprehensive terms of Adultery and Fornication : in the other , which are still more unnatural , as their names are concealed and hidden in shame and secrecy , we are to have no instructer but the modesty and order of Nature . 34. As an instance of this Law of Sobriety , Christ superadded the whole doctrine of Humility , which Moses did not , and which seem'd almost to be extinguished in the world ; and it is called by S. Paul , sapere ad sobrietatem , the reasonableness or wisdom of sobriety . And it is all the reason in the world , that a man should think of himself but just as he is . He is deceived that thinks otherwise , and is a fool . And when we consider that Pride makes wars , and causes affronts , and no man loves a proud man , and he loves no man but himself and his flatterers , we shall understand that the Precept of Humility is an excellent art , and a happy instrument towards humane Felicity . And it is no way contradicted by a natural desire of Honour ; it only appoints just and reasonable ways of obtaining it . We are not forbidden to receive Honour ; but to seek it for desigus of pride and complacency , or to make it rest in our hearts . But when the hand of Vertue receives the honour , and transmits it to God from our own head , the desires of Nature are sufficiently satisfied , and nothing of Religion contradicted . And it is certain by all the experience of the world , that in every state and order of men , he that is most humble in proportion to that state is ( if all things else be symbolical ) the most honoured person . For it is very observable , that when God designed man to a good and happy life , as the natural end of his creation , to verifie this , God was pleased to give him objects sufficient and apt to satisfie every appetite ; I say , to satisfie it naturally , not to satisfie those extravagancies which might be accidental , and procured by the irregularity either of Will or Understanding ; not to answer him in all that his desires could extend to , but to satisfie the necessity of every appetite ; all the desires that God made , not all that man should make . For we see even in those appetites which are common to men and beasts , all the needs of Nature and all the ends of creation are served by the taking such proportions of their objects which are ordinate to their end , and which in man we call Temperance , ( not as much as they naturally can : ) such as are mixtures of sexes merely for production of their kind , eating and drinking for needs and hunger . And yet God permitted our appetites to be able to extend beyond the limits of the mere natural design , that God by restraining them , and putting the setters of Laws upon them , might turn natural desires into Sobriety , and Sobriety into Religion , they becoming servants of the Commandment . And now we must not call all those swellings of appetites Natural inclination , nor the satisfaction of such tumours and excrescencies any part of natural felicities : but that which does just cooperate to those ends which perfect humane Nature in order to its proper End. For the appetites of meat , and drink , and pleasures , are but intermedial and instrumental to the End , and are not made for themselves , but first for the End , and then to serve God in the instances of Obedience . And just so is the natural desire of Honour intended to be a spur to Vertue ( for to Vertue only it is naturally consequent , or to natural and political Superiority : ) but to desire it beyond or besides the limit , is the swelling and the disease of the desire . And we can take no rule for its perfect value , but by the strict limits of the natural End , or the superinduced End of Religion in positive restraints . 35. According to this discourse we may best understand , that even the severest precepts of the Christian Law are very consonant to Nature and the first Laws of mankind . Such is the Precept of Self-denial , which is nothing else but a confining the Appetites within the limits of Nature : for there they are permitted , ( except when some greater purpose is to be served than the present answering the particular desire ) and whatsoever is beyond it is not in the natural order to Felicity ; it is no better than an itch , which must be scratched and satisfied , but it is unnatural . But for Martyrdom it self , quitting our goods , losing lands , or any temporal interest , they are now become as reasonable in the present constitution of the world , as taking unpleasant potions , and suffering a member to be cauterized , in sickness or disease . And we see that death is naturally a less evil than a continual torment , and by some not so resented as a great disgrace ; and some persons have chosen it for sanctuary and remedy : And therefore much rather shall it be accounted prudent and reasonable , and agreeable to the most perfect desires of Nature , to exchange a House for a Hundred , a Friend for a Patron , a short Affliction for a lasting Joy , and a temporal Death for an eternal Life . For so the question is stated to us by him that understands it best . True it is , that the suffering of losses , afflictions , and death , is naturally an evil , and therefore no part of a natural Precept , or prime injunction . But when God having commanded instances of Religion , Man will not suffer us to obey God , or will not suffer us to live , then the question is , Which is most agreeable to the most perfect and reasonable desires of Nature , to obey God , or to obey man ; to fear God , or to fear man ; to preserve our bodies , or to preserve our Souls ; to secure a few years of uncertain and troublesome duration , or an eternity of a very glorious condition . Some men reasonably enough chuse to die for considerations lower than that of a happy Eternity ; therefore Death is not such an evil , but that it may in some cases be desired and reasonably chosen , and in some be recompensed at the highest rate of a natural value : And if by accident we happen into an estate in which of necessity one evil or another must be suffered , certainly nothing is more naturally reasonable and eligible than to chuse the least evil ; and when there are two good things propounded to our choice , both which cannot be possessed , nothing is more certainly the object of a prudent choice than the greater good . And therefore when once we understand the question of Suffering , and Self-denial , and Martyrdom to this sence , as all Christians do , and all wise men do , and all Sects of men do in their several perswasions , it is but remembring , that to live happily after this life is more intended to us by God , and is more perfective of humane nature , than to live here with all the prosperity which this state affords ; and it will evidently follow , that when violent men will not let us enter into that condition by the ways of Nature and prime intendment , that is , of natural Religion , Justice , and Sobriety , it is made in that case , and upon that supposition , certainly , naturally and infallibly reasonable to secure the perfective and principal design of our Felicity , though it be by such instruments which are as unpleasant to our senses as are the instruments of our restitution to Health ; since both one and the other in the present conjunction and state of affairs are most proportionable to Reason , because they are so to the present necessity ; not primarily intended to us by God , but superinduced by evil accidents and the violence of men . And we not only find that Socrates suffered death in attestation of a God , though he flattered and discoursed himself into the belief of an immortal reward , De industria consultae aequanimitatis , non de fiducia compertae veritatis ( as Tertullian says of him ; ) but we also find that all men , that believed the Immortality of the Soul firmly and unmoveably , made no scruple of exchanging their life for the preservation of Vertue with the interest of their great hope , for Honour sometimes , and oftentimes for their Countrey . 36. Thus the Holy Jesus perfected and restored the natural Law , and drew it into a System of Propositions , and made them to become of the family of Religion . For God is so zealous to have Man attain to the End to which he first designed him , that those things which he hath put in the natural order to attain that End he hath bound fast upon us , not only by the order of things , by which it was that he that prevaricated did naturally fall short of Felicity , but also by bands of Religion ; he hath now made himself a party and an enemy to those that will be not-happy . Of old , Religion was but one of the natural Laws , and the instances of Religion were distinct from the discourses of Philosophy . Now all the Law of Nature is adopted into Religion , and by our love and duty to God we are tied to do all that is reason ; and the parts of our Religion are but pursuances of the natural relation between God and us : and beyond all this , our natural condition is in all sences improved by the consequents and adherencies of this Religion . For although Nature and Grace are opposite , that is , Nature depraved by evil habits , by ignorance and ungodly customs , is contrary to Grace , that is , to Nature restored by the Gospel , engaged to regular living by new revelations , and assisted by the Spirit ; yet it is observable , that the Law of Nature and the Law of Grace are never opposed . There is a Law of our members , ( saith S. Paul , ) that is , an evil necessity introduced into our appetites by perpetual evil customs , examples and traditions of vanity ; and there is a Law of sin that answers to this : and they differ only as inclination and habit , vicious desires and vicious practices . But then contrary to these are , 〈◊〉 , a Law of my mind , which is the Law of Nature and right Reason , and then the Law of Grace , that is , of Jesus Christ , who perfected and restored the first Law , and by assistances reduced it into a Law of holy living : and these two 〈◊〉 as the other , the one is in order to the other , as 〈◊〉 and growing degrees and capacities are to perfection and consummation . The Law of the mind had been so rased and obliterate , and we by some means or other so disabled from observing it exactly , that until it was turned into the Law of Grace , ( which is a Law of pardoning infirmities , and assisting us in our choices and elections ) we were in a state of deficiency from the perfective state of Man , to which God intended us . 37. Now although God always designed Man to the same state which he hath now revealed by Jesus Christ , yet he told him not of it , and his permissions and licences were then greater , and the Law it self lay closer 〈◊〉 up in the compact body of necessary Propositions in order to so much of his End as was known , or could be supposed . But now , according to the extension of the revelation the Law it self is made wider , that is , more explicit ; and natural Reason is thrust forward into discourses of Charity and benefit , and we tied to do very much good to others , and tied to cooperate to each other's felicity . 38. That the Law of Charity is a Law of Nature , needs no other argument but the consideration of the first constitution of Man. The first instances of Justice or entercourse of man with a second or third person were to such persons towards whom he had the greatest endearments of affection in the world , a 〈◊〉 and Children ; and Justice and Charity at first was the same thing . And it hath obtained in Ages far removed from the first , that Charity is called Righteousness : He hath dispersed and given to the poor ; his righteousness remaineth for ever . And it is certain , Adam could not in any instance be unjust , but he must in the same also be uncharitable ; the band of his first Justice being the ties of love , and all having commenced in love . And our Blessed Lord , restoring all to the intention of the first perfection , expresses it to the same sence , as I formerly observed ; Justice to our Neighbour is , loving him as our selves . For since Justice obliges us to do as we would be done to , as the irascible faculty restrains us 〈◊〉 doing evil for fear of receiving evil , so the concupiscible obliges us to Charity , that our selves may receive good . 39. I shall say nothing concerning the reasonableness of this Precept , but that it concurs rarely with the first reasonable appetite of man , of being like God. Deus est mortali juvare mortalem , 〈◊〉 haec est ad aeternitatem via , said Pliny : and , It is more blessed to give than to receive , ( said our Blessed Saviour : ) And therefore the Commandment of Charity in all its parts is a design not only to reconcile the most miserable person to some participations and sense of felicity , but to make the Charitable man happy ; and whether this be not very agreeable to the desires of an intelligent nature , needs no farther enquiry . And Aristotle asking the Question , whether a man had more need of friends in prosperity or adversity , makes the case equal ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . " When they are in want , they need assistance ; when they are prosperous , they need partners of their felicity , that by communicating their joy to them it may reflect and double upon their spirits . And certain it is , there is no greater felicity in the world , than in the content that results from the emanations of Charity . And this is that which S. John calls the old Commandment , and the new Commandment . It was of old , for it was from the beginning , even in Nature , and to the offices of which our very bodies had an organ and a seat ; for therefore Nature gave to a man bowels and the passion of yerning ; but it grew up into Religion by parts , and was made perfect , and in that degree appropriate to the Law of Jesus Christ. For so the Holy Jesus became our Law-giver , and added many new Precepts over and above what were in the Law of Moses , but not more than was in the Law of Nature . The reason of both is what I have all this while discoursed of : Christ made a more perfect restitution of the Law of Nature than Moses did , and so it became the second Adam to consummate that which began to be less perfect from the prevarication of the first Adam . 40. A particular of the Precept of Charity is forgiving Injuries ; and besides that it hath many superinduced benefits by way of blessing and reward , it relies also upon this natural reason , That a pure and a simple revenge does no way restore man towards the felicity which the injury did interrupt . For Revenge is a doing a simple evil ; and does not in its formality imply reparation : For the mere repeating of our own right is permitted to them that will do it by charitable instruments ; and to secure my self or the publick against the future by positive inflictions upon the injurious , ( if I be not Judge my self ) is also within the moderation of an unblameable defence , ( unless some accidents or circumstances vary the case : ) but forgiving injuries is a separating the malice from the wrong , the transient act from the permanent effect ; and it is certain , the act which is passed cannot be rescinded , the effect may ; and if it cannot , it does no way alleviate the evil of the accident , that I draw him that caused it into as great a misery , since every evil happening in the world is the proper object of pity , which is in some sense afflictive ; and therefore , unless we become unnatural and without bowels , it is most unreasonable that we should encrease our own afflictions by introducing a new misery , and making a new object of pity . All the ends of humane Felicity are secured without Revenge , for without it we are permitted to restore our selves ; and therefore it is against natural Reason to do an evil that no way cooperates towards the proper and perfective End of humane nature . And he is a miserable person whose good is the evil of his neighbour : and he that revenges in many cases does worse than he that did the injury ; in all cases as bad . For if the first injury was an injustice to serve an end of an advantage and real benefit , then my revenge , which is abstracted , and of a consideration separate and distinct from the reparation , is worse ; for I do him evil without doing my self any real good , which he did not , for he received advantage by it . But if the first injury was matter of mere malice without advantage , yet it is no worse than Revenge , for that is just so ; and there is as much phantastick pleasure in doing a spight , as in doing revenge . They are both but like the pleasures of eating coals , and toads , and vipers . And certain it is , if a man upon his private stock could be permitted to revenge , the evil would be immortal . And it is rarely well discoursed by Tyndarus in Euripides ; If the angry Wife shall kill her Husband , the Son shall revenge his Father's death , and kill his Mother , and then the Brother shall kill his Mother's murtherer , and he also will meet with an avenger for killing his Brother . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What end shall there be to such inhumane and sad accidents ? If in this there be injustice , it is against natural Reason ; and , If it be evil , and disorders the felicity and security of Society , it is also against natural Reason . But if it be just , it is a strange Justice that is made up of so many inhumanities . 41. And now if any man pretends specially to Reason , to the ordinate desires and perfections of Nature , and the sober discourses of Philosophy , here is in Christianity , and no-where else , enough to satisfie and inform his Reason , to perfect his Nature , and to reduce to act all the Propositions of an intelligent and wise spirit . And the Holy Ghost is promised and given in our Religion to be an eternal band to keep our Reason from returning to the darknesses of the old creation , and to promote the ends of our natural and proper Felicity . For it is not a vain thing that S. Paul reckons helps , and governments , and healings , to be fruits of the Spirit . For since the two greatest Blessings of the world , personal and political , consist , that in Health , this in * Government , and the ends of humane Felicity are served in nothing greater for the present interval than in these two , Christ did not only enjoyn rare prescriptions of Health , such as are Fasting , Temperance , Chastity , and Sobriety , and all the great endearments of Government , ( and , unless they be sacredly observed , man is infinitely miserable ; ) but also hath given his Spirit , that is , extraordinary aids to the promoting these two , and facilitating the work of Nature : that ( as S. Paul says at the end of a discourse to this very purpose ) the excellency of the power may be of God , and not of us . 42. I shall add nothing but this single consideration . God said to the children of Israel , Ye are a royal Priesthood , a Kingdom of Priests . Which was therefore true , because God reigned by the Priests , and the Priests lips did then preserve knowledge , and the people were to receive the Law from their mouths ; for God having by Laws of his own established Religion and the Republick , did govern by the rule of the Law , and the ministery of the Priests . The Priests said , Thus saith the LORD ; and the people obeyed . And these very words are spoken to the Christian Church ; Ye are a Royal Priesthood , an holy Nation , a peculiar people , that ye should shew forth the praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light . That is , God reigns over all Christendom just as he did over the Jews . He hath now so given to them and restored respectively all those reasonable Laws which are in order to all good ends personal , oeconomical and political , that if men will suffer Christian Religion to do its last intention , if men will live according to it , there needs no other coercion of Laws or power of the Sword. The Laws of God revealed by Christ are sufficient to make all societies of men happy ; and over all good men God reigns by his Ministers , by the preaching of the Word . And this was most evident in the three first Ages of the Church , in which all Christian Societies were for all their proper entercourses perfectly guided , not by the authority and compulsion , but by the Sermons of their Spiritual Guides ; insomuch that S. Paul sharply reprehends the Corinthians , that Brother goeth to law with Brother , and that before the unbelievers ; as if he had said , Ye will not suffer Christ to be your Judge , and his Law to be your Rule : which indeed was a great fault among them , not only because they had so excellent a Law , so clearly described , ( or , where they might doubt , they had infallible Interpreters ) so reasonable and profitable , so evidently concurring to their mutual felicity ; but also because God did design Jesus to be their King to reign over them by spiritual regiment , as himself did over the Jews , till they chose a King. And when the Emperors became Christian , the case was no otherwise altered , but that the Princes themselves submitting to Christ's yoke , were ( as all other Christians are ) for their proportion to be governed by the Royal Priesthood , that is , by the Word preached by Apostolical persons , the political Interest remaining as before , save that by being submitted to the Laws of Christ it received this advantage , that all Justice was turned to be Religion , and became necessary , and bound upon the Conscience by Divinity . And when it happens that a Kingdom is converted to Christianity , the Common-wealth is made a Church , and Gentile Priests are Christian Bishops , and the Subjects of the Kingdom are Servants of Christ , the Religion of the Nation is turned Christian , and the Law of the Nation made a part of the Religion ; there is no change of Government , but that Christ is made King , and the Temporal Power is his substitute , and is to promote the interest of Obedience to him , as before he did to Christ's enemy ; Christ having left his Ministers as Lieger Embassadors , to signifie and publish the Laws of Jesus , to pray all in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God : so that over the obedient Christ wholly reigns by his Ministers , publishing his Laws ; over the disobedient , by the Prince also , putting those Laws in execution . And in this sense it is that S. Paul says , Bonis Lex non est posita , To such ( who live after the Spirit ) there is no Law , that is , there needs no coercion . But now if we reject God from reigning over us , and say , like the people in the Gospel , Nolumus hunc regnare , We will not have him to reign over us , by the ministery of his Word , by the Empire of the Royal Priesthood , then we return to the condition of Heathens , and persons sitting in darkness , then God hath armed the Temporal Power with a Sword to cut us off . If we obey not God speaking by his Ministers , that is , if we live not according to the excellent Laws of Christianity , that is , holily , soberly and justly in all our relations , he hath placed three Swords against us ; the Sword of the Spirit against the unholy and irreligious , the Sword of natural and supervening Infelicities upon the intemperate and unsober , and the Sword of Kings against the unjust ; to remonstrate the excellency of Christianity , and how certainly it leads to all the Felicity of man , because every transgression of this Law , according to its proportion , makes men unhappy and unfortunate . 43. What effect this Discourse may have I know not ; I intended it to do honour to Christianity , and to represent it to be the best Religion in the World , and the conjugation of all excellent things that were in any Religion , or in any Philosophy , or in any Discourses . For whatsoever was honest , whatsoever was noble , whatsoever was wise , whatsoever was of good report , if there be any praise , if there be any vertue , it is in Christianity . For even to follow all these instances of excellency , is a Precept of Christianity . And 〈◊〉 , they that pretend to Reason cannot more reasonably endear themselves to the reputation of Reason , than by endearing their Reason to Christianity ; the conclusions and belief of which is the most reasonable and perfect , the most excellent design , and complying with the noblest and most proper Ends of Man. And if this Gate may suffice to invite such persons into the Recesses of the 〈◊〉 , then I shall tell them that I have dressed it in the ensuing Books with some variety : and as the nature of the Religion is , some parts whereof are apt to satisfie our discourse , some to move our affections , and yet all of this to relate to practice ; so is the design of the following pages . For some men are wholly made up of Passion , and their very Religion is but Passion put into the family and society of holy purposes : and sor those I have prepared Considerations upon the special Parts of the Life of the Holy Jesus : and yet there also are some things mingled in the least severe and most affectionate parts which may help to answer a Question , and appease a Scruple , and may give Rule for Determination of many cases of Conscience . For I have so ordered the Considerations , that they spend not themselves in mere affections and ineffective passions , but they are made Doctrinal and little repositories of Duty . But because of the variety of mens spirits and of mens necessities , it was necessary I should interpose some practical Discourses more severe : For it is but a sad thought to consider , that Piety and Books of Devotion are counted but entertainment for little understandings and softer spirits : and although there is much sault in such imperious minds , that they will not distinguish the weakness of the Writers from the reasonableness and wisdom of the Religion ; yet I cannot but think the Books themselves are in a large degree the occasion of so great indevotion ; because they are ( some few excepted ) represented naked in the conclusions of spiritual life without or art or learning , and made apt for persons who can do nothing but believe and love ; not for them that can consider and love . And it is not well , that , since nothing is more reasonable and excellent in all perfections spiritual than the Doctrines of the Spirit or holy life , yet nothing is offered to us so unlearnedly as this is , so miserable and empty of all its own intellectual perfections . If I could , I would have had it otherwise in the present Books : for since the Understanding is not an idle Faculty in a spiritual life , but hugely operative to all excellent and reasonable choices ; it were very fit that this Faculty were also entertained by such discourses which God intended as instruments of hallowing it , as he intended it towards the sanctification of the whole man. For want of it , busie and active men entertain themselves with notions infinitely unsatisfying and unprofitable : But in the mean time they are not so wise . For concerning those that study unprofitable Notions , and neglect not only that which is wisest , but that also which is of most real advantage , I cannot but think as Aristotle did of Thales and Anaxagoras , that they may be learned , but they are not wise , or wise , but not prudent , when they are ignorant of such things as are profitable to them . For suppose they know the wonders of Nature , and the subtilties of Metaphysicks , and operations Mathematical ; yet they cannot be prudent , who spend themselves wholly upon unprofitable and ineffective contemplations . He is truly wise that knows best to promote the best End , that which he is bound to desire , and is happy if he obtains , and miserable if he misses ; and that is the End of a happy Eternity , which is obtained by the only means of living according to the purposes of God , and the prime intentions of Nature ; natural and prime Reason being now all one with the Christian Religion . But then I shall only observe that this part of Wisdom , and the excellency of its secret and deep Reason , is not to be discerned but by Experience : the Propositions of this Philosophy being ( as in many other ) Empirical , and best found out by observation of real and material events . So that I may say of Spiritual learning as Quintilian said of some of Plato's Books : Nam Plato cum in aliis quibusdam , tum praecipue in Timaeo , ne intelligi quidem , nisi abiis qui hanc quoque partem disciplinae [ Musicae ] diligenter perceperint , potest : The secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven are not understood truly and throughly but by the sons of the Kingdom ; and by them too in several degrees , and to various purposes : but to evil persons the whole systeme of this Wisdom is insipid and flat , dull as the foot of a rock , and unlearned as the elements of our mother-tongue . But so are Mathematicks to a Scythian boor , and Musick to a Camel. 44. But I consider that the wisest persons , and those who know how to value and entertain the more noble Faculties of their Soul , and their precious hours , take more pleasure in reading the productions of those old wise spirits who preserved natural Reason and Religion in the midst of heathen darkness , ( such as are Homer , Euripides , Orpheus , Pindar and Anacreon , AEschylus and Menander , and all the Greek Poets ; Plutarch and Polybius , Xenophon , and all those other excellent persons of both Faculties , ( whose choicest Dictates are collected by Stobaeus , ) Plato and his Scholars , Aristotle , and after him Porphyrie , and all his other Disciples , Pythagoras and his , especially Hierocles ; all the old Academies and Stoicks within the Roman Schools ) more pleasure , I say , in reading these , than the triflings of many of the later School-men , who promoted a petty interest of a Family , or an unlearned Opinion , with great earnestness , but added nothing to Christianity , but trouble , scruple and vexation . And from hence I hope that they may the rather be invited to love and consider the rare documents of Christianity , which certainly is the great Treasure-house of those excellent , moral and perfective discourses , which with much pains and greater pleasure we find respersed and thinly scattered in all the Greek and Roman Poets , Historians and Philosophers . But because I have observed that there are some principles entertained into the perswasions of men which are the seeds of evil life , such as are , the Doctrine of late Repentance , the mistakes of the 〈◊〉 of the sins of 〈◊〉 , the evil understanding the consequents and nature of Original sin , the sufficiency of Contrition in order to pardon , the efficacy of the Rites of 〈◊〉 without the necessity of 〈◊〉 adherencies , the nature of Faith , and many other ; I was diligent to remark such Doctrines , and to pare off the mistakes so far that they hinder not Piety , and yet , as near as I could , without engaging in any Question in which the very life of Christianity is not concerned . Haec sum profatus — haud ambagibus Implicita , sed quae , regulis aequi & boni Suffulta , rudibus pariter & doctis patent . My great purpose is to advance the necessity , and to declare the manner and parts of a good 〈◊〉 , and to invite some persons to the consideration of all the parts of it , by intermixing something of pleasure with the use ; others by such parts which will better entertain their spirits than a Romance . I have followed the design of Scripture , and have given milk for babes , and for stronger men stronger meat ; and in all I have despised my own reputation , by so striving to make it useful , that I was less careful to make it strict in retired sences , and embossed with unnecessary , but graceful , ornaments . I pray God this may go forth into a blessing to all that shall use it , and reflect blessings upon me all the way , that my spark may grow greater by kindling my brother's Taper , and God may be glorified in us both . If the Reader shall receive no benefit , yet I intended him one , and I have laboured in order to it ; and I shall receive a great recompence for that intention , if he shall please to say this Prayer for me , That while I have preached to others , I may not become a cast-away . AN EXHORTATION To the Imitation of the Life of Christ. HOwever the Person of JESUS CHRIST was depressed with a load of humble accidents , and shadowed with the darknesses of Poverty and sad contingencies , so that the Jews , and the contemporary Ages of the Gentiles , and the Apostles themselves could not at first 〈◊〉 the brightest essence of Divinity : yet as a Beauty artificially covered with a thin cloud of Cypress transmits its excellency to the eye , made more greedy and apprehensive by that imperfect and weak restraint ; so was the Sanctity and Holiness of the Life of JESUS glorious in its Darknesses , and found Confessors and Admirers even in the midst of those despites which were done him upon the contrariant designs of malice and contradictory ambition . Thus the wife of Pilate called him that just person ; Pilate pronounced him guiltless ; Judas said he was innocent ; the Devil himself called him the Holy one of God. For however it might concern any man's mistaken ends to mislike the purpose of his Preaching and Spiritual Kingdom , and those Doctrines which were destructive of their 〈◊〉 and carnal securities ; yet they could not deny but that he was a man of God , of exemplar Sanctity , of an Angelical Chastity , of a Life sweet , affable , and complying with humane conversation , and as obedient to Government as the most humble children of the Kingdom . And yet he was Lord of all the World. 2. And certainly very much of this was with a design , that he might shine to all the generations and Ages of the World , and become a guiding Star , and a pillar of fire to us in our journey . For we who believe that Jesus was perfect God and perfect Man , do also believe that one minute of his intolerable Passion , and every action of his , might have been satisfactory , and enough for the expiation and reconcilement of ten thousand worlds ; and God might upon a less effusion of bloud , and a shorter life of merit , ( if he had pleased ) have accepted humane nature to pardon and favour : but , that the Holy Jesus hath added so many excellent instances of Holiness , and so many degrees of Passion , and so many kinds of Vertues , is , that he might become an Example to us , and reconcile our Wills to him , as well as our Persons to his heavenly Father . 3. And 〈◊〉 it will prove but a sad consideration , that one drop of bloud might be enough to obtain our Pardon , and the treasures of his bloud running out till the fountain it self was dry shall not be enough to procure our Conformity to him ; that the smallest minute of his expence shall be enough to justifie us , and the whole Magazine shall not procure our Sanctification ; that at a smaller expence God might pardon us , and at a greater we will not imitate him : For therefore Christ hath suffered for us , ( saith the Apostle ) leaving an Example to us , that we might follow his steps . The least of our Wills cost Christ as much as the greatest of our Sins . And therefore he calls himself the Way , the Truth , and the Life : That as he redeems our Souls from death to life by becoming Life to our Persons , so he is the Truth to our Understandings , and the Way to our Will and Affections , enlightning that , and leading these in the paths of a happy Eternity . 4. When the King of Moab was pressed hard by the sons of Isaac , [ the Israelites and Edomites ] he took the King of Edom's eldest Son , or , as some think , his own Son , the Heir of his Kingdom , and offered him as a Holocaust upon the wall ; and the Edomites presently raised the siege at Kir-haraseth , and went to their own Countrey . The same and much more was God's design , who took not his enemie's , but his own Son , his only begotten Son , and God himself , and offered him up in Sacrifice , to make us leave our perpetual fightings against Heaven : and if we still persist , we are hardned beyond the wildnesses of the Arabs and Edomites , and neither are receptive of the impresses of Pity nor Humanity , who neither have compassion to the Suffering of Jesus , nor compliance with the designs of God , nor conformity to the Holiness and Obedience of our Guide . In a dark night , if an Ignis Fatuus do but precede us , the glaring of its lesser flames do so amuse our eyes , that we follow it into Rivers and Precipices , as if the ray of that false light were designed on purpose to be our path to tread in : And therefore not to follow the glories of the Sun of Righteousness , who indeed leads us over rocks and difficult places , but secures us against the danger , and guides us into safety , is the greatest both undecency and unthankfulness in the world . 5. In the great Council of Eternity , when God set down the Laws and knit fast the eternal bands of Predestination , he made it one of his great purposes to make his Son like us , that we also might be like his Holy Son ; he , by taking our Nature , we , by imitating his Holiness : God hath predestinated us to be conformable to the image of his Son , ( saith the Apostle . ) For the first in every kind is in nature propounded as the Pattern of the rest : And as the Sun , the Prince of all the Bodies of Light , and the Fire of all warm substances , is the principal , the Rule and the Copy which they in their proportions imitate and transcribe : so is the Word incarnate the great Example of all the Predestinate ; for he is the first-born among many brethren . And therefore it was a precept of the Apostle , and by his doctrine we understand its meaning , Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ. The similitude declares the duty . As a garment is composed and made of the same fashion with the body , and is applied to each part in its true figure and commensuration : so should we put on Christ , and imitate the whole body of his Sanctity , conforming to every integral part , and express him in our lives , that God , seeing our impresses , may know whose image and superscription we bear , and we may be acknowledged for Sons , when we have the air and features and resemblances of our elder Brother . 6. In the practice of this duty we may be helped by certain considerations , which are like the proportion of so many rewards . For this , according to the nature of all holy Exercises , stays not for pay till its work be quite finished ; but , like Musick in Churches , is Pleasure , and Piety , and Salary besides . So is every work of Grace ; full of pleasure in the execution , and is abundantly rewarded , besides the stipend of a glorious Eternity . 7. First , I consider that nothing is more honourable than to be like God ; and the Heathens , worshippers of false Deities , grew vicious upon that * stock ; and we who have fondnesses of imitation , counting a Deformity full of honour , if by it we may be * like our Prince , ( for pleasures were in their height in Capreae , because Tiberius there wallowed in them , and a wry neck in Nero's Court was the Mode of Gallantry ) might do well to make our imitations prudent and glorious , and , by propounding excellent Examples , heighten our faculties to the capacities of an evenness with the best of Precedents . He that strives to imitate another , admires him , and confesses his own imperfections : and therefore that our admirations be not flattering , nor our consessions phantastick and impertinent , it were but reasonable to admire Him from whom really all Perfections do derive , and before whose Glories all our imperfections must confess their shame , and needs of reformation . God by a voice from Heaven , and by sixteen generations of Miracles and Grace , hath attested the Holy Jesus to be the fountain of Sanctity , and the wonderful Counsellor , and the Captain of our sufferings , and the guide of our manners , by being his beloved Son in whom he took pleasure and complacency to the height of satisfaction : And if any thing in the world be motive of our affections , or satisfactory to our understandings , what is there in Heaven or Earth we can desire or imagine beyond a likeness to God , and participation of the Divine Nature and Perfections ? And therefore , as when the Sun arises every man goes to his work , and warms himself with his heat , and is refreshed with his influences , and measures his labour with his course : So should we frame all the actions of our life by His Light who hath shined by an excellent Righteousness , that we no more walk in Darkness , or sleep in Lethargies , or run a-gazing after the lesser and imperfect beauties of the Night . It is the weakness of the Organ that makes us hold our hand between the Sun and us , and yet stand staring upon a Meteor or an inflamed jelly . And our judgments are as mistaken , and our appetites are as sottish , if we propound to our selves in the courses and designs of Perfections any copy but of Him , or something like Him , who is the most perfect . And lest we think his Glories too great to behold , 8. Secondly , I consider that the imitation of the Life of Jesus is a duty of that excellency and perfection , that we are helped in it not only by the assistance of a good and a great Example , which possibly might be too great , and scare our endeavours and attempts ; but also by its easiness , compliance and proportion to us . For Jesus in his whole life conversed with men with a modest Vertue , which like a well-kindled fire fitted with just materials casts a constant heat ; not like an inflamed heap of stubble , glaring with great emissions , and suddenly stooping into the thickness of 〈◊〉 . His Piety was even , constant , unblameable , complying with civil society , without affrightment of precedent , or prodigious instances of actions greater than the imitation of men . For if we observe our Blessed Saviour in the whole story of his Life , although he was without Sin , yet the instances of his Piety were the actions of a very holy , but of an ordinary life : and we may observe this difference in the Story of Jesus from Ecclesiastical Writings of certain beatified persons , whose life is told rather to amaze us and to create scruples , than to lead us in the evenness and serenity of a holy Conscience . Such are the prodigious Penances of Simeon Stylites , the Abstinence of the Religious retired into the mountain Nitria , but especially the stories of later Saints in the midst of a declining Piety and aged Christendom , where persons are represented Holy by way of Idea and fancy , if not to promote the interests of a Family and Institution . But our Blessed Saviour , though his eternal Union and adherences of love and obedience to his heavenly Father were next to infinite , yet in his external actions , in which only , with the correspondence of the Spirit in those actions , he propounds himself imitable , he did so converse with men , that men after that example might for ever converse with him . We find that some Saints have had excrescencies and eruptions of Holiness in the instances of uncommanded Duties , which in the same particulars we find not in the story of the Life of Jesus . John Baptist was a greater Mortifier than his Lord was ; and some Princes have given more money than all Christ's Family did , whilest he was alive : but the difference which is observable is , that although some men did some acts of Counsel in order to attain that perfection which in Jesus was essential and unalterable , and was not acquired by degrees , and means of danger and difficulty ; yet no man ever did his whole duty , save only the Holy Jesus . The best of men did sometimes actions not precisely and strictly requisite , and such as were besides the Precept ; but yet in the greatest flames of their shining Piety they prevaricated something of the Commandment : They that have done the most things beyond , have also done some things short of their duty . But Jesus , who intended himself the Example of Piety , did in manners as in the rule of Faith , which , because it was propounded to all men , was fitted to every understanding ; it was true , necessary , short , easie , and intelligible . So was his Rule and his Copy 〈◊〉 not only with excellencies worthy , but with compliances possible to be imitated ; of glories so great , that the most early and constant industry must confess its own imperfections , and yet so sweet and humane , that the greatest infirmity , if pious , shall find comfort and encouragement . Thus God gave his children Manna from Heaven ; and though it was excellent like the food of Angels , yet it conformed to every palate , according to that appetite which their several fancies and constitutions did produce . 9. But now when the Example of Jesus is so excellent , that it allures and tempts with its facility and sweetness , and that we are not commanded to imitate a Life whose story tells of 〈◊〉 in Prayer , and * Abstractions of senses , and immaterial Transportations , and Fastings to the exinanition of spirits , and disabling all animal operations ; but a Life of Justice and Temperance , of Chastity and Piety , of Charity and Devotion , such a Life without which humane Society cannot be conserved , and by which as our irregularities are made regular , so our weaknesses are not upbraided , nor our miseries made a mockery ; we find so much reason to address our selves to a heavenly imitation of so blessed a Pattern , that the reasonableness of the thing will be a great argument to chide every degree and minute of neglect . It was a strange and a confident encouragement which Phocion used to a timorous Greek who was condemned to die with him ; Is it not enough to thee that thou must die with Phocion ? I am sure he that is most incurious of the issues of his life , is yet willing enough to reign with Jesus , when he looks upon the Glories represented without the Duty : but it is a very great stupidity and unreasonableness not to live with him in the imitation of so holy and so prompt a Piety . It is glorious to do what he did , and a shame to decline his Sufferings , when there was a God to hallow and sanctifie the actions , and a Man clothed with infirmity to undergo the sharpness of the passion : so that the Glory of the person added excellency to the first , and the Tenderness of the person excused not from suffering the latter . 10. Thirdly , Every action of the Life of Jesus , as it is imitable by us , is of so excellent merit , that by making up the treasure of Grace , it becomes full of assistances to us , and obtains of God Grace to enable us to its imitation by way of influence and impetration . For as in the acquisition of Habits the very exercise of the Action does produce a Facility to the action , and in some proportion becomes the cause of its self : so does every exercise of the Life of Christ kindle its own fires , inspires breath into it self , and makes an univocal production of its self in a differing subject : And Jesus becomes the fountain of spiritual Life to us , as the Prophet Elisha to the dead child ; when he stretched his hands upon the child's hands , laid his mouth to his mouth , and formed his posture to the boy , and breathed into him , the spirit returned again into the child at the prayer of Elisha : so when our lives are formed into the imitation of the Life of the Holiest Jesus , the spirit of God returns into us , not only by the efficacy of the imitation , but by the merit and impetration of the actions of Jesus . It is reported in the Bohemian Story , that S. Wenceslaus their King one winter-night going to his Devotions in a remote Church bare-footed in the snow and sharpness of unequal and pointed ice , his servant Podavivus , who waited upon his Master's piety , and endeavoured to imitate his affections , began to faint through the violence of the snow and cold , till the King commanded him to follow him , and set his feet in the same footsteps which his feet should mark for him : the servant did so , and either fansied a cure , or found one ; for he followed his Prince , help'd forward with shame and zeal to his imitation , and by the forming footsteps for him in the snow . In the same manner does the Blessed Jesus : for since our way is troublesome , obscure , full of objection and danger , apt to be mistaken and to affright our industry , he commands us to mark his footsteps , to tread where his feet have stood , and not only invites us forward by the argument of his Example , but he hath troden down much of the difficulty , and made the way easier and fit for our feet . For he knows our infirmities , and himself hath felt their experience in all things but in the neighbourhoods of sin ; and therefore he hath proportioned a way and a path to our strengths and capacities , and like Jacob hath marched softly and in evenness with the children and the cattel , to entertain us by the comforts of his company , and the influences of a perpetual guide . 11. Fourthly , But we must know , that not every thing which Christ did is imitable by us , neither did he in the work of our Redemption in all things imitate his heavenly Father . For there are some things which are issues of an absolute Power , some are expresses of supreme Dominion , some are actions of a Judge . And therefore Jesus prayed for his enemies , and wept over Jerusalem , when at the same instant his Eternal Father laughed them to scorn : for he knew that their day was coming , and himself had decreed their ruine . But it became the Holy Jesus to imitate his Father's mercies ; for himself was the great instrument of the eternal Compassion , and was the instance of Mercy ; and therefore in the operation of his Father's design every action of his was univocal , and he shewed the power of his Divinity in nothing but in miracles of Mercy , and illustrations of Faith , by creating arguments of Credibility . In the same proportion we follow Jesus as himself followed his Father : For what he abated by the order to his intendment and design , we abate by the proportions of our Nature : for some excellent acts of his were demonstrations of Divinity , and an excellent Grace poured forth upon him without measure was their instrument ; to which proportions if we should extend our infirmities , we should crack our sinews , and dissolve the silver cords , before we could entertain the instances and support the burthen . Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights : but the manner of our Fastings hath been in all Ages limited to the term of an artificial day ; and in the Primitive Observations and the Jewish Rites , men did eat their meal as soon as the Stars shone in the firmament . We never read that Jesus laughed , and but once that he rejoyced in spirit : but the declensions of our Natures cannot bear the weight of a perpetual grave deportment , without the intervals of refreshment and free alacrity . Our ever-blessed Saviour suffered the Devotion of Mary Magdalene to transport her to an expensive expression of her Religion , and twice to anoint his feet with costly Nard : and yet if persons whose conditions were of no greater lustre or resplendency of Fortune than was conspicuous in his family and retinue should suffer the same profusion upon the dressing and perfuming their bodies , possibly it might be truly said , It might better be sold and distributed to the poor . This Jesus received as he was the CHRIST and Anointed of the Lord , and by this he suffered himself to be designed to Burial , and he received the oblation as Eucharistical for the ejection of seven Devils ; for therefore she loved much . 12. The instances are not many . For how-ever Jesus had some extraordinary transvolations and acts of emigration beyond the lines of his even and ordinary conversation , yet it was but seldom : for his being exemplary was of so great consideration , that he chose to have fewer instances of Wonder , that he might transmit the more of an imitable Vertue . And therefore we may establish this for a rule and limit of our imitations : Because Christ our Law-giver hath described all his Father's will in Sanctions and signature of Laws ; whatsoever he commanded , and whatsoever he did of precise Morality , or in pursuance of the Laws of Nature , in that we are to trace his footsteps : and in these his Laws and his practice differ but as a Map and a Guide , a Law and a Judge , a Rule and a Precedent . But in the special instances of action , we are to abate the circumstances , and to separate the obedience from the effect : whatsoever was moral in a ceremonial performance , that is highly imitable ; and the obedience of Sacrificing , and the subordination to Laws actually in being , even now they are abrogated , teach us our duty , in a differing subject upon the like reason . Jesus's going up to Jerusalem to the Feasts , and his observation of the Sabbaths , teach us our duty in celebration of Festivals constitute by a competent and just Authority . For that which gave excellency to the observation of Mosaical Rites was an Evangelical duty ; and the piety of Obedience did not only consecrate the observations of Levi , but taught us our duty in the constitutions of Christianity . 13. Fifthly , As the Holy Jesus did some things which we are not to imitate : so we also are to do some things which we cannot learn from his Example . For there are some of our Duties which presuppose a state of Sin , and some suppose a violent temptation and promptness to it ; and the duties of prevention and the instruments of restitution are proper to us , but conveyed only by Precept , and not by Precedent : Such are all the parts and actions of Repentance , the duties of Mortification and Self-denial . For whatsoever the Holy Jesus did in the matter of Austerity looked directly upon the work of our Redemption , and looked back only on us by a reflex act , as Christ did on Peter when he looked him into Repentance . Some states of life also there are which Jesus never led ; such are those of temporal Governors , Kings and Judges , Merchants , Lawyers , and the state of Marriage : in the course of which lives many cases do occur which need a Precedent , and the vivacity of an excellent Example , especially since all the rules which they have , have not prevented the subtilty of the many inventions which men have found out , nor made provision for all contingencies . Such persons in all their special needs are to govern their actions by the rules of proportion , by analogy to the Holiness of the person of Jesus , and the Sanctity of his Institution ; considering what might become a person professing the Discipline of so Holy a Master , and what he would have done in the like case ; taking our heights by the excellency of his Innocency and Charity . Only remember this , that in such cases we must always judge on the strictest side of Piety and Charity , if it be a matter concerning the interest of a second person ; and that in all things we do those actions which are farthest removed from scandal , and such as towards our selves are severe , towards others full of gentleness and sweetness . For so would the righteous and merciful Jesus have done ; these are the best analogies and proportions : And in such 〈◊〉 when the Wells are dry , let us take water from a Cistern , and propound to our selves some exemplar Saint , the necessities of whose life have determined his Piety to the like occurrences . 14. But now from these particulars we shall best account to what the duty of the Imitation of Jesus does amount : for it signifies , that we should walk as he walked , tread in his steps , with our hand upon the Guide , and our eye upon his Rule ; that we should do glory to him as he did to his Father ; and that whatsoever we do , we should be careful that it do him honour , and no reproach to his Institution ; and then account these to be the integral parts of our Duty , which are imitation of his Actions or his Spirit , of his Rule or of his Life ; there being no better Imitation of him than in such actions as do him pleasure , however he hath expressed or imitated the precedent . 15. He that gives Alms to the poor , takes Jesus by the hand ; he that patiently endures Injuries and affronts , helps him to bear his Cross ; he that comforts his brother in Affliction , gives an amiable kiss of peace to Jesus ; he that bathes his own and his neighbour's sins in tears of penance and compassion , washes his Master's feet : We lead Jesus into the recesses of our heart by holy Meditations ; and we enter into his heart , when we express him in our actions : for so the Apostle says , He that is in Christ walks as he also walked . But thus the actions of our life relate to him by way of Worship and Religion ; but the use is admirable and effectual , when our actions refer to him as to our Copy , and we transcribe the Original to the life . He that considers with what affections and lancinations of spirit , with what effusions of love Jesus prayed , what fervors and assiduity , what innocency of wish , what modesty of posture , what subordination to his Father and conformity to the Divine Pleasure were in all his Devotions , is taught and excited to holy and religious Prayer : The rare sweetness of his deportment in all Temptations and violences of his Passion , his Charity to his enemies , his sharp Reprehensions to the Scribes and Pharisees , his Ingenuity toward all men , are living and effectual Sermons to teach us Patience and Humility , and Zeal and candid Simplicity , and Justice in all our actions . I add no more instances , because all the following Discourses will be prosecutions of this intendment . And the Life of Jesus is not described to be like a Picture in a chamber of Pleasure , only for beauty and entertainment of the eye ; but like the Egyptian Hieroglyphicks , whose every feature is a Precept , and the Images converse with men by sense , and signification of excellent 〈◊〉 . 16. It was not without great reason advised , that every man should propound the example of a wise and vertuous personage , as Cato , or Socrates , or Brutus ; and by a fiction of imagination to suppose him present as a witness , and really to take his life as the direction of all our actions . The best and most excellent of the old Law-givers and Philosophers among the Greeks had an allay of Viciousness , and could not be exemplary all over : Some were noted for Flatterers , as Plato and Aristippus ; some for Incontinency , as Aristotle , Epicurus , Zeno , Theognis , Plato and Aristippus again ; and Socrates , whom their Oracle affirmed to be the wisest and most perfect man , yet was by Porphyry noted for extreme intemperance of Anger both in words and actions : And those Romans who were offered to them for Examples , although they were great in reputation , yet they had also great Vices ; Brutus dipt his hand in the bloud of Caesar his Prince , and his Father by love , endearments and adoption ; and Cato was but a wise man all day , at night he was used to drink too liberally ; and both he and Socrates did give their Wives unto their friends ; the Philosopher and the Censor were procurers of their Wives Unchastity : and yet these were the best among the Gentiles . But how happy and richly furnished are Christians with precedents of Saints , whose Faith and Revelations have been productive of more spiritual Graces , and greater degrees of moral perfections ? And this I call the priviledge of a very great assistance , that I might advance the reputation and account of the Life of the Glorious Jesu , which is not abated by the imperfections of humane Nature , as they were , but receives great heightnings and perfection from the Divinity of his Person , of which they were never capable . 17. Let us therefore press after Jesus , as 〈◊〉 did after his Master , with an inseparable prosecution , even whithersoever he goes ; that , according to the reasonableness and proportion expressed in S. Paul's advice , As we have born the image of the earthly , we may also bear the image of the heavenly . For , in vain are we called Christians , if we live not according to the example and discipline of Christ the Father of the Institution . When S. Laurence was in the midst of the torments of the Grid-iron , he made this to be the matter of his joy and Eucharist , that he was admitted to the Gates through which Jesus had entred : and therefore thrice happy are they who walk in his Courts all their days . And it is yet a nearer union and vicinity , to imprint his Life in our Souls , and express it in our exterior converse : and this is done by him only who ( as S. Prosper describes the duty ) despises all those gilded vanities which he despised , that fears none of those sadnesses which he suffered , that practises or also teaches those Doctrines which he taught , and hopes for the accomplishment of all his Promises . * And this is truest Religion , and the most solemn Adoration . The PRAYER . OEternal , Holy , and most glorious Jesu , who hast united two Natures of distance infinite , descending to the lownesses of Humane nature , that thou mightest exalt Humane nature to a participation of the Divinity ; we thy people that sate in darkness and in the shadows of death have seen great light , to entertain our Understandings and enlighten our Souls with its excellent influences ; for the excellency of thy Sanctity shining gloriously in every part of thy Life is like thy Angel , the Pillar of Fire which called thy children from the darknesses of Egypt . Lord , open mine eyes , and give me power to behold thy righteous Glories , and let my Soul be so entertained with affections and holy ardours , that I may never look back upon the flames of 〈◊〉 , but may follow thy Light , which recreates and enlightens , and guides us to the mountains of Safety , and Sanctuaries of Holiness . Holy Jesu , since thy 〈◊〉 is imprinted on our Nature by Creation , let me also express thy Image by all the parts of a holy life , 〈◊〉 my Will and Affections to thy holy Precepts , submitting my Understanding to thy Dictates and Lessons of perfection ; imitating thy sweetnesses and Excellencies of Society , thy Devotion in Prayer , thy Conformity to God , thy Zeal tempered with Meekness , thy Patience heightned with Charity ; that Heart , and Hands , and Eyes , and all my Faculties may grow up with the increase of God , till I come to the full measure of the 〈◊〉 of Christ , even to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus ; that at last in thy light I may see light , and reap the fruits of Glory from the seeds of Sanctity in the 〈◊〉 of thy holy Life , O Blessed and Holy Saviour Jesus . Amen . THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF THE HOLY JESUS : BEGINNING At the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin MARY , until his Baptism and Temptation inclusively : WITH CONSIDERATIONS and DISCOURSES upon the several parts of the Story ; And PRAYERS fitted to the several MYSTERIES . THE FIRST PART . Qui sequitur me , non ambulat in Tenebris . LONDON , Printed by R. Norton , for R. Royston , 1675. THE LIFE Of our Blessed Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST . The Evangelical Prophet Behold a Virgin shall conceive & beare a son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 7 14. Mat 1 22 23 The Annunciation . S. LUKE . 1. 28 Haile , thou that art highly favoured , the Lord is with thee ; Blessed art thou among women . SECT . I. The History of the Conception of JESVS . 1. WHen the fulness of time was come , after the frequent repetition of Promises , the expectation of the Jewish Nation , the longings and tedious waitings of all holy persons , the departure of the Scepter from Judah , and the Law-giver from between his feet ; when the number of Daniel's Years was accomplished , and the Egyptian and Syrian Kingdoms had their period ; God having great compassion towards mankind , remembring his Promises and our great Necessities , sent his Son into the world to take upon him our Nature , and all that guilt of Sin which stuck close to our Nature , and all that Punishment which was consequent to our Sin : which came to pass after this manner . 2. In the days of Herod the King , the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a City of Galilce named Nazareth , to a holy Maid called Mary , espoused to Joseph , and found her in a capacity and excellent disposition to receive the greatest Honour that ever was done to the daughters of men . Her imployment was holy and pious , her person young , her years florid and springing , her Body chaste , her Mind humble , and a rare repository of divine Graces . She was full of grace and excellencies . And God poured upon her a full measure of Honour , in making her the Mother of the 〈◊〉 . For the Angel came to her and said , 〈◊〉 thou that art highly 〈◊〉 , the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among women . 3. We cannot but imagine the great mixture of innocent disturbances and holy passions that in the first address of the Angel did rather discompose her settledness , and interrupt the silence of her spirits , than dispossess her dominion which she ever kept over those subjects , which never had been taught to rebel beyond the mere possibilities of natural imperfection . But if the Angel appeared in the shape of a Man , it was an unusual arrest to the Blessed Virgin , who was accustomed to retirements and solitariness , and had not known an experience of admitting a comely person , but a stranger , to her closet and privacies . But if the Heavenly Messenger did retain a Diviner form , more symbolical to Angelical nature , and more proportionable to his glorious Message , although her daily imployment was a conversation with Angels , who in their daily ministring to the Saints did behold her chaste conversation coupled with 〈◊〉 , yet they used not any affrighting glories in the offices of their daily attendances , but were seen only by spiritual discernings . However so it happened , that when she saw him she was troubled at his saying , and cast in her mind what manner of Salutation this should be . 4. But the Angel , who came with designs of honour and comfort to her , not willing that the inequality and glory of the Messenger should , like too glorious a light to a weaker eye , rather confound the Faculty than enlighten the Organ , did , before her thoughts could find a tongue , invite her to a more familiar confidence than possibly a tender Virgin ( though of the greatest serenity and composure ) could have put on in the presence of such a Beauty and such a Holiness . And the Angel said unto her , Fear not , Mary , for thou hast found favour with God. And behold , thou shalt conceive in thy womb , and bring forth a Son , and shalt call his name JESUS . 5. The Holy Virgin knew her self a person very unlikely to be a Mother : For although the desires of becoming a Mother to the MESSIAS were great in every of the Daughters of Jacob , and about that time the expectation of his Revelation was high and pregnant , and therefore she was espoused to an honest and a just person of her kindred and family , and so might not despair to become a Mother ; yet she was a person of a rare Sanctity and so mortified a spirit , that for all this Desponsation of her , according to the desire of her Parents , and the custom of the Nation , she had not set one step toward the consummation of her Marriage , so much as in thought ; and possibly had set her self back from it by a vow of Chastity and holy Coelibate . For Mary said unto the Angel , How shall this be , seeing I know not a man ? 6. But the Angel , who was a person of that nature which knows no conjunctions but those of love and duty , knew that the Piety of her Soul and the Religion of her chaste purposes was a great imitator of 〈◊〉 Purity , and therefore perceived where the Philosophy of her question did consist ; and being taught of God , declared , that the manner should be as miraculous as the Message it self was glorious . For the Angel told her , that this should not be done by any way which our sin and the shame of Adam had unhallowed , by turning Nature into a blush , and forcing her to a retirement from a publick attesting the means of her own preservation ; but the whole matter was from God , and so should the manner be : For the Angel said unto her , The Holy Ghost shall come upon 〈◊〉 , and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee : therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 7. When the Blessed Virgin was so ascertain'd that she should be a Mother * and a Maid , and that two Glories , like the two Luminaries of Heaven , should meet in her , that she might in such a way become the Mother of her Lord , that she might with better advantages be his Servant ; then all her hopes and all her desires received such satisfaction , and filled all the corners of her Heart so much , as indeed it was fain to make room for its reception . But she to whom the greatest things of Religion and the transportations of Devotion were made familiar by the assiduity and piety of her daily practices , however she was full of joy , yet she was carried like a full vessel , without the violent tossings of a tempestuous passion , or the wrecks of a stormy imagination : And as the power of the Holy Ghost did descend upon her like rain into a fleece of wool , without any obstreperous noises or violences to nature , but only the extraordinariness of an exaltation : so her spirit received it with the gentleness and tranquillity fitted for the entertainment of the spirit of love , and a quietness symbolical to the holy Guest of her spotless womb , the Lamb of God ; for she meekly replied , Behold the handmaid of the Lord , be it unto me according unto thy word . And the Angel departed from her , having done his message . And at the same time the holy Spirit of God did make her to conceive in her womb the immaculate Son of God , the Saviour of the World. Ad SECT . I. Considerations upon the Annunciation of the Blessed MARY , and the Conception of the Holy JESVS . 1. THat which shines brightest presents it self first to the eye ; and the devout Soul in the chain of excellent and precious things which are represented in the counsel , design and first beginnings of the work of our Redemption , hath not 〈◊〉 to attend the twinkling of the lesser Stars , till it hath stood and admired the glory and eminencies of the Divine Love , manifested in the Incarnation of the Word eternal . God had no necessity in order to the conservation or the heightning his own Felicity , but out of mere and perfect charity and the bowels of compassion sent into the world his only Son for remedy to humane miseries , to ennoble our Nature by an union with Divinity , to sanctifie it with his Justice , to inrich it with his Grace , to instruct it with his Doctrine , to fortifie it with his Example , to rescue it from servitude , to assert it into the liberty of the sons of God , and at last to make it partaker of a beatifical Resurrection . 2. God , who in the infinite treasures of his wisdom and providence could have found out many other ways for our Redemption than the Incarnation of his eternal Son , was pleased to chuse this , not only that the Remedy by Man might have proportion to the causes of our Ruine , whose introduction and intromission was by the prevarication of Man ; but also that we might with freer dispensation receive the influences of a Saviour with whom we communicate in Nature : although Abana and Pharpar , Rivers of Damascus , were of greater name and current ; yet they were not so salutary as the waters of Jordan to cure Naaman's Leprosie . And if God had made the remedy of humane nature to have come all the way clothed in prodigy , and every instant of its execution had been as terrible , affrighting , and as full of Majesty as the apparitions upon Mount Sinai ; yet it had not been so useful and complying to humane necessities , as was the descent of God to the susception of Humane Nature , whereby ( as in all Medicaments ) the cure is best wrought by those instruments which have the fewest dissonancies to our temper , and are the nearest to our constitution . For thus the Saviour of the world became humane , alluring , full of invitation and the sweetnesses of love , exemplary , humble and medicinal . 3. And if we consider the reasonableness of the thing , what can be given more excellent for the Redemption of Man , than the Bloud of the Son of God ? And what can more ennoble our Nature , than that by the means of his holy Humanity it was taken up into the * Cabinet of the mysterious Trinity ? What better Advocate could we have for us , than he that is appointed to be our Judge ? And what greater hopes of Reconciliation can be imagined , than that God , in whose power it is to give an absolute Pardon , hath taken a new Nature , entertained an Office , and undergone a life of Poverty , with a purpose to procure our Pardon ? For now , though as the righteous Judge he will judge the Nations righteously ; yet by the susception of our Nature , and its appendant crimes , he is become a party : and having obliged himself as Man , as he is God he will satisfie , by putting the value of an infinite Merit to the actions and sufferings of his Humanity . And if he had not been God , he could not have given us remedy ; if he had not been Man , we should have wanted the excellency of Example . 4. And till now Humane nature was less than that of Angels ; but by the Incarnation of the Word was to be exalted above the Cherubims : yet the * Archangel Gabriel being dispatched in embassie , to represent the joy and exaltation of his inferiour , instantly trims his wings with love and obedience , and hastens with this Narrative to the Holy Virgin. And if we should reduce our prayers to action , and do God's Will on earth as the Angels in Heaven do it , we should promptly 〈◊〉 every part of the Divine Will , though it were to be instrumental to the exaltation of a Brother above our selves ; knowing no end but conformity to the Divine Will , and making simplicity of intention to be the 〈◊〉 and exterior borders of our garments . 5. When the eternal God meant to stoop so low as to be fixt to our centre , he chose for his Mother a Holy person and a Maid , but yet 〈◊〉 to a Just man , that he might not only be secure in the Innocency , but also provided sor in the Reputation of his holy Mother : teaching us , That we must not only satisfie our selves in the purity of our purposes and hearty Innocence , but that we must provide also things honest in the 〈◊〉 of all men , being free from the suspicion and semblances of evil ; so making provision for private Innocence and publick Honesty ; it being necessary in order to Charity and edification of our Brethren , that we hold forth no impure flames or smoaking firebrands , but pure and trimmed lamps , in the eyes of all the world . 6. And yet her Marriage was more mysterious : for as , besides the Miracle , it was an eternal honour and advancement to the glory of Virginity , that he chose a Virgin for his Mother ; so it was in that manner 〈◊〉 , that the Virgin was betrothed , lest honourable Marriage might be disreputed and seem inglorious by a positive rejection from any participation of the honour . Divers of the old Doctors , from the authority of 〈◊〉 , add another reason , saying , That the Blessed Jesus was therefore born of a woman betrothed , and under the pretence of Marriage , that the Devil , who knew the 〈◊〉 was to be born of a Virgin , might not expect him there , but so be ignorant of the person , till God had serv'd many ends of Providence upon him . 7. The Angel in his address needed not to go in inquisition after a wandring fire , but knew she was a Star fixt in her own Orb : he found her at home ; and 〈◊〉 that also might be too large a Circuit , she was yet confined to a more intimate retirement , she was in her Oratory private and devout . There are some * Curiosities so bold and determinate as to tell the very matter of her Prayer , and that she was praying for the Salvation of all the World , and the Revelation of the 〈◊〉 , desiring she might be so happy as to kiss the feet of her who should have the glory to be his Mother . We have no security of the particular : but there is no piety so diffident as to require a sign to create a belief that her imployment at the instant was holy and religious ; but in that disposition she received a grace which the greatest Queens would have purchased with the quitting of their Diadems , and hath consigned an excellent Document to all women , that they accustom themselves often to those Retirements , where none but God and his Angels can have admittance . For the Holy Jesus can come to them too , and dwell with them , hallowing their Souls , and consigning their bodies to a participation of all his glories . But recollecting of all our scattered thoughts and exteriour extravagances , and a receding from the inconveniences of a too free conversation , is the best circumstance to dispose us to a heavenly visitation . 8. The holy Virgin , when she saw an Angel , and heard a testimony from Heaven of her Grace and Piety , was troubled within her self at the Salutation , and the manner of it . For she had learn'd , that the affluence of Divine comforts and prosperous successes should not exempt us from fear , but make it the more prudent and wary , lest it intangle us in a vanity of spirit : God having ordered , that our spirits should be affected with dispositions in some degrees contrary to exteriour events , that we be fearful in the affluence of prosperous things , and joyful in adversity ; as knowing that this may produce benefit and advantage ; and the changes that are consequent to the other are sometimes full of mischiefs , but always of danger . But her Silence and Fear were her Guardians ; that , to prevent excrescencies of Joy , this , of vainer complacency . 9. And it is not altogether inconsiderable to observe , that the holy Virgin came to a great perfection and state of Piety by a few , and those modest and even , exercises and external actions . S. Paul travelled over the World , preached to the Gentiles , disputed against the Jews , confounded Hereticks , writ excellently-learned Letters , suffered dangers , injuries , affronts , and persecutions to the height of wonder , and by these violences of life , action and patience , obtained the Crown of an excellent Religion and Devotion . But the holy Virgin , although she was ingaged sometimes in an active life , and in the exercise of an ordinary and small oeconomy and government , or ministeries of a Family , yet she arrived to her Perfections by the means of a quiet and silent Piety , the internal actions of Love , Devotion and Contemplation : and instructs us , that not only those who have opportunity and powers of a magnificent Religion , or a pompous Charity , or miraculous Conversion of Souls , or assiduous and effectual Preachings , or exteriour demonstrations of corporal Mercy , shall have the greatest crowns , and the addition of degrees and accidental rewards ; but the silent affections , the splendors of an internal Devotion , the unions of Love , Humility and Obedience , the daily offices of Prayer and Praises sung to God , the acts of Faith and Fear , of Patience and Meekness , of Hope and Reverence , Repentance and Charity , and those Graces which walk in a veil and silence , make great ascents to God , and as sure progress to favour and a Crown , as the more ostentous and laborious exercises of a more solemn Religion . No 〈◊〉 needs to complain of want of power or opportunities for Religious perfections : a devout woman in her Closet , praying with much zeal and affections for the conversion of Souls , is in the same order to a shining like the stars in glory , as he who by excellent discourses puts it into a more forward disposition to be actually performed . And possibly her Prayers obtained energy and force to my Sermon , and made the ground fruitful , and the seed spring up to life eternal . Many times God is present in the still voice and private retirements of a quiet Religion , and the constant spiritualities of an ordinary life ; when the loud and impetuous winds , and the shining fires of more laborious and expensive actions are profitable to others only , like a tree of Balsam , distilling precious liquor for others , not for its own use . The PRAYER . O Eternal and Almighty God , who didst send thy holy Angel in embassy to the Blessed Virgin-Mother of our Lord , to manifest the actuating 〈◊〉 eternal Purpose of the 〈◊〉 of Mankind by the Incarnation of thine eternal Son ; put me , by the 〈◊〉 of thy Divine Grace , into such holy dispositions , that I may never impede the event and effect of those mercies which in the counsels of thy Predestination thou didst design for me . Give me a promptness to obey thee to the degree and semblance of Angelical alacrity ; give me holy Purity and Piety , Prudence and Modesty , like those Excellencies which thou didst create in the ever-blessed Virgin , the Mother of God : grant that my imployment be always holy , unmixt with worldly affections , and , as much as my condition of life will bear , retired from secular interests and disturbances ; that I may converse with Angels , entertain the Holy JESUS , conceive him in my Soul , nourish him with the expresses of most innocent and holy affections , and bring him forth and publish him in a life of Piety and Obedience , that he may dwell in me for ever , and I may for ever dwell with him in the house of eternal pleasures and glories world without end . Amen . SECT . II. The Bearing of JESUS in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin. MARY visiting ELIZABETH S. LUKE . 1. 43. And whence is this to me that y e Mother of my LORD should come to me . Josephs Dreame . S MAT : 1. 20. Joseph , thou son of David , Feare not to 〈◊〉 unto thee Mar●● thy wife ; for that 〈◊〉 is conceived in her is of the Holy 〈◊〉 1. ALthough the Blessed Virgin had a faith as prompt and ready as her Body was chast and her Soul pure ; yet God , who uses to give full measure , shaken together and running over , did by way of confirmation and fixing the confidence of her assent give an instance of his Omnipotency in the very particular of an extraordinary Conception : For the Angel said , Behold thy Cousin Elizabeth hath also conceived a son in her old age , and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren : For with God nothing shall be impossible . A less argument would have satisfied the necessity of a Faith which had no scruple ; and a greater would not have done it in the incredulity of an ungentle and pertinacious spirit . But the Holy Maid had complacency enough in the Message , and holy desires about her to carry her understanding as far as her affections ; even to the fruition of the Angel's Message ; which is such a sublimity of Faith , that it is its utmost consummation , and shall be its Crown when our Faith is turned into Vision , our Hopes into actual Possessions , and our Grace into Glory . 2. And she , who was now full of God , bearing God in her Virgin-Womb , and the Holy Spirit in her Heart , who had also over-shadowed her , enabling her to a supernatural and miraculous Conception , arose with haste and gladness , to communicate that joy which was designed for all the World ; and she found no breast to pour forth the first emanations of her over-joyed heart so fit as her Cousin Elizabeth's , who had received testimony from God to have been righteous , walking in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless , who also had a special portion in this great honour ; for she was designed to be the Mother of the Baptist , who was sent as a fore-runner to prepare the ways of the Lord , and to make his paths straight . And Mary arose in those days , and went into the Hill-countrey with haste into a City of Judah . 3. Her Haste was in proportion to her Joy and desires , but yet went no greater pace than her Religion : for as in her journey she came near to Jerusalem , she turned in , that she might visit His Temple whose Temple she her self was now ; and there , not only to remember the pleasures of Religion , which she had felt in continual descents and showers falling on her pious heart for the space of eleven years attendance there in her Childhood , but also to pay the first-fruits of her Thanks and Joy , and to lay all her glory at his feet whose humble hand maid she was in the greatest honour of being his blessed Mother . Having worshipped , she went on her journey , and entred into the house of Zasharias , and saluted 〈◊〉 . 4. It is not easiè to imagine what a collision of joys was at this blessed Meeting : two Mothers of two great Princes , the one the greatest that was born of woman , and the other was his Lord , and these made Mothers by two Miracles , met together with joy and mysteriousness ; where the Mother of our Lord went to visit the Mother of his Servant , and the Holy Ghost made the meeting festival , and descended upon Elizabeth , and she prophesied . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heaven was there more joy and ecstásie . The persons , who were Women , whose fancies and affections were not only hallowed , but made pregnant and big with Religion , meeting together to compare and unite their joys , and their Eucharist , and then made prophetical and inspired , must needs have discoursed like 〈◊〉 and the most ecstasied order of Intelligences ; for all the faculties of Nature were turned into Grace , and expressed in their way the excellent Solemnity . For it came to pass when Elizabeth heard the Salutation of Mary , the 〈◊〉 leaped in her Womb ; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost . 5. After they had both prophesied and sang their Hymns , and re-saluted each other with the religion of Saints and the joys of Angels , Mary abode with her cousin Elizabeth about three mouths , and then returned to her own house . Where when she appeared with her holy burthen to her Husband Joseph , and that he perceived her to be with child , and knew that he had never unsealed that holy fountain of virginal purity , he was troubled . For although her deportment had been pious and chaste to a miracle , her carriage reserved , and so grave , that she drave away temptations and impure visits and all unclean purposes from the neighbourhood of her holy person : yet when he saw she was with child , and had not yet been taught a lesson higher than the principles of Nature , he was minded to put her away , for he knew she was with child ; but yet privily , because he was a good man , and knew her Piety to have been such that it had a most done violence to his sense , and made him disbelieve what was visible and notorious , and therefore he would do it privately . But while he thought on these things , the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream , saying , Joseph thou son of David , fear not to take unto thee Mary thy 〈◊〉 , for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost . Then Joseph , being raised from sleep , did as the Angel of the Lord had bidden him , and took unto him his Wife . Ad SECT . II. Considerations concerning the circumstances of the Interval between the Conception and Nativity . 1. WHen the Blessed Virgin was ascertained of the manner of her becoming a Mother , and that her tremblings were over upon the security she should preserve her Virgin purity as a clean oblation to the honour of God , then she expressed her consent to the Angelical message , and instantly she conceived the Holy Jesus in her Womb , by the supernatural and divine influence of the Holy Ghost . For she was highly zealous to reconcile her being Mother to the 〈◊〉 , with those Purities and holy Coelibate which she had designed to keep as advantages to the interests of Religion , and his honour who chose her from all the daughters of Adam , to be instrumental of the restitution of grace and innocence to all her Father's family . And we shall receive benefit from so excellent example , if we be not so desirous of a Priviledge as of a Vertue , of Honour as of Piety : and as we submit to the weight and pressure of sadnesses and infelicities , that God's will may be accomplished ; so we must be also ready to renounce an exteriour grace or favour , rather than it should not be consistent with exemplar and rare Piety . 2. When the Son of God was incarnate in the Womb of his Virgin-Mother , the Holy Maid arose ; and though she was superexalted by an honour greater than the world yet ever saw , she still dwelt upon the foundation of Humility ; and to make that vertue more signal and eminent , she arose and went hastily to visit her Cousin Elizabeth , who also had conceived a son in her old age : for so we all should be curious and watchful against vanities and transportations , when we are advanced to the gayeties of prosperous accidents , and in the greatest priviledges descend to the lowest , to exercise a greater measure of Vertue against the danger of those tentations which are planted against our heart to ruine our hopes and glories . 3. But the Joys that the Virgin-Mother had were such as concerned all the world , and that part of them which was her peculiar she would not conceal from persons apt to their entertainment , but go to publish God's mercy toward her to another holy person , that they might joyn in the praises of God ; as knowing , that though it may be convenient to represent our personal necessities in private , yet God's gracious returns and the blessings he makes to descend on us are more fit , when there is no personal danger collaterally appendent , to be published in the Communion of Saints ; that the Hopes of others may receive increase , that their Faith may have confirmation , that their Charity and Eucharist may grow up to become excellent and great , and the praises of God may be sung aloud , till the sound strike at Heaven , and joyn with the Hallelujahs which the Morning-stars in their Orbs pay to their great Creator . 4. When the Holy Virgin had begun her journey , she made haste over the Mountains , that she might not only satisfie the desires of her joy by a speedy gratulation , but lest she should be too long abroad under the dispersion and discomposing of her retirements : And therefore she hastens to an inclosure , to her Cousin's house , as knowing that all vertuous women , like Tortoises , carry their house on their heads , and their Chappel in their heart , and their danger in their eye , and their Souls in their hands , and God in all their actions . And indeed her very little burthen which she bare hindred her not but she might make haste enough ; and as her spirit was full of chearfulness and alacrity , so even her body was made aiery and vegete : for there was no Sin in her burthen to fill it with natural inconveniences ; and there is this excellency in all spiritual things , that they do no disadvantage to our persons , nor retard our just temporal interests . And the Religion by which we carry Christ within us is neither so peevish as to disturb our health , nor so sad as to discompose our just and modest chearfulness , nor so prodigal as to force us to needs and ignoble trades ; but recreates our body by the medicine of holy Fastings and Temperance , fills us full of serenities and complacencies by the sweetnesses of a holy Conscience and joys spiritual , promotes our temporal interests by the gains and increases of the rewards of Charity , and by securing God's providence over us while we are in the pursuit of the Heavenly Kingdom . And as in these dispositions she climb'd the mountains with much facility ; so there is nothing in our whole life of difficulty so great but it may be managed by those assistances we receive from the Holiest Jesus , when we carry him about us ; as the valleys are exalted , so the mountains are made plain before us . 5. When her Cousin Elizabeth saw the Mother of her Lord come to visit her , as the Lord himself descended to visit all the world in great humility , she was pleased and transported to the height of wonder and prophecy , and the Babe sprang in her womb and was sanctified , first doing his homage and adoration to his Lord that was in presence . And we also , although we can do nothing unless the Lord first prevent us with his gracious visitation , yet if he first come unto us , and we accept and entertain him with the expresses and correspondencies of our duty , we shall receive the grace and honour of Sanctification . But if S. Elizabeth , who received testimony from God , that she walked in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless , was carried into ecstasie , wondring at the dignation and favour done to her by the Mother of her Lord ; with what preparations and holy solemnities ought we to entertain his addresses to us by his Holy Sacrament , by the immissions of his Spirit , by the assistances of his Graces , and all other his vouchsafings and descents into our hearts ? 6. The Blessed Virgin hearing her Cousin full of spirit and prophecy , calling her blessed , and praising her Faith , and confirming her Joy , instantly sang her hymn to God , returning those praises which she received to him to whom they did appertain . For so we should worship God with all ourpraises , being willing upon no other condition to extend one hand to receive our own honour , but that with the other we might transmit it to God , that as God is honoured in all his Creatures , so he may be honoured in us too ; looking upon the Graces which God hath given us but as greater instruments and abilities to serve him , being none of ours , but talents which are intrusted into our Banks to be improved . But as a precious Pearl is orient and medicinal , because God hath placed those excellencies in it for ends of his own , but it self is dcad to all apprehensions of it , and knows no reflexions upon its own value ; only God is magnified in his work : so is every pious person precious and holy , but mortified to all vainer complacencies in those singularities and eminencies , which God placed there because he was so pleased , saying , there he would have a Temple built ; because from thence he would take delight to receive glory and adoration . 7. After all these holy and festival joys which the two glad Mothers feasted themselves withal , a sad cloud did intervene and passed before the face of the Blessed Virgin. The just and righteous Joseph , her espoused Husband , perceiving her to be with child , was minded to put her away , as not knowing the Divinity of the fountain which watered the Virgin 's sealed and hallowed Womb , and made it fruitful . But he purposed to do it privily , that he might preserve the reputation of his Spouse , whose Piety he knew was great , and was sorrowful it should now set in a sad night and be extinct . But it was an exemplar charity , and reads to us a rule for our deportment towards erring and lapsed persons , that we intreat them with meekness and pity and fear ; not hastening their 〈◊〉 , nor provoking their spirit , nor making their remedy desperate by using of them rudely , till there be no worse thing for them to fear if they should be dissolved into all licentiousness . For an open shame is commonly protested unto when it is remediless , and the person either despairs and sinks under the burthen , or else grows impudent and tramples upon it . But the gentleness of a modest and charitable remedy preserves that which is Vertue 's girdle , Fear and Blushing ; and the beginning of a punishment chides them into the horrour of remembrance and guilt , but preserves their meekness and modesty , because they , not feeling the worst of evils , dare not venture upon the worst of sins . 8. But it seems the Blessed Virgin , having received this greatest honour , had not made it known to her Husband Joseph ; and when she went to her Cousin Elizabeth , the Virgin was told of it by her Cousin before she spake of it her self , for her Cousin had it by revelation and the spirit of prophecy . And it is in some circumstances and from some persons more secure to conceal Visions , and those heavenly Gifts which create estimations among men , than to publish them , which may possibly minister to vanity ; and those exteriour Graces may do God's work , though no observer note them but the person for whose sake they are sent : like rain falling in uninhabited Valleys , where no eye observes showers ; yet the Valleys laugh and sing to God in their refreshment without a witness . However , it is better to hear the report of our good things from the mouths of others than from our selves : and better yet , if the beauty of the Tabernacle be covered with skins , that none of our beauties be seen but by worshippers , that is , when the glory of God and the interests of Religion or Charity are concerned in their publication . For so it happened to be in the case of the Blessed Virgin , as she related to her Cousin Elizabeth ; and so it happened not to be , as she referred to her Husband Joseph . 9. The Holy Virgin could not but know that Joseph would be troubled with sorrow and insecure apprehensions concerning her being with child ; but such was her Innocence and her Confidence in God , that she held her peace , expecting which way God would provide a remedy to the inconvenience : for if we commit our selves to God in well doing as unto a faithful Creator , preserving the tranquillity of our spirits and the evenness of our temper in the assault of infamy and disreputation , God , who loves our Innocence , will be its Patron , and will assert it from the scandal , if it be expedient for us ; if it be not , it is not fit we should desire it . But if the Holy Jesus did suffer his Mother to fall into misinterpretation and suspect , which could not but be a great affliction to her excellent spirit , rarely temper'd as an Eye , highly sensible of every ruder touch ; we must not think it strange , if we be tried and pressed with a calamity and unhandsome accidents : only remember , that God will find a remedy to the trouble , and will sanctifie the affliction , and secure the person , if we be innocent , as was the Holy Virgin. 10. But Joseph was not hasty in the execution of his purposes , nor of making his thoughts determinate , but stood long in deliberation , and longer before he acted it , because it was an invidious matter , and a rigour : He was first to have defam'd and accus'd her publickly , and , being convicted , by the Law she was to die , if he had gone the ordinary way ; but he who was a just man , that is , according to the style of Scripture and other wise Writers , a good , a charitable man , found that it was more agreeable to Justice , to treat an offending person with the easiest sentence , than to put things to extremity , and render the person desperate and without remedy , and provoked by the suffering of the worst of what she could fear . No obligation to Justice does force a man to be cruel , or to use the sharpest sentence . A just man does Justice to every man and to every thing ; and then , if he be also wise , he knows there is a debt of mercy and compassion due to the infirmities of a man's nature , and that debt is to be paid : and he that is cruel and ungentle to a sinning person , and does the worst thing to him , dies in his debt , and is unjust . Pity , and forbearance , and long-suffering , and fair interpretation , and excusing our brother , and taking things in the best sence , and passing the gentlest sentence , are as certainly our duty , and owing to every person that does offend and can repent , as calling men to account can be owing to the Law , and are first to be paid ; and he that does not so is an unjust person : which because Joseph was not , he did not call furiously for Justice , or pretend that God required it at his hands presently , to undo a suspected person ; but waved the killing letter of the Law , and secured his own interest and his Justice too , by intending to dismiss her privately . But before the thing was irremediable , God ended his Question by a heavenly demonstration , and sent an Angel to reveal to him the Innocence of his Spouse , and the Divinity of her Son ; and that he was an immediate derivative from Heaven , and the Heir of all the World. And in all our doubts we shall have a resolution from Heaven or some of its Ministers , if we have recourse thither for a Guide , and be not hasty in our discourses , or inconsiderate in our purposes , or rash in judgment . For God loves to give assistances to us , when we most fairly and prudently endeavour that Grace be not put to do all our work , but to facilitate our labour ; not creating new faculties , but improving those of Nature . If we consider warily , God will guide us in the determination : But a hasty person out-runs his guide , prevaricates his rule , and very often engages upon error . The PRAYER . O Holy Jesu , Son of the Eternal God , thy Glory is far above all Heavens , and yet thou didst descend to Earth , that thy Descent might be the more gracious , by how much thy Glories were admirable , and natural , and inseparable : I adore thy holy Humanity with humble veneration , and the thankful addresses of religious joy , because thou hast personally united Humane nature to the Eternal Word , carrying it above the seats of the highest Cherubim . This great and glorious Mystery is the honour and glory of man : it was the expectation of our Fathers , who saw the mysteriousness of thy Incarnation at great and obscure distances : And blessed be thy Name , that thou hast caused me to be born after the fulfilling of thy Prophecies , and the consummation and exhibition of so great a love , so great mysteriousness . Holy Jesu , though I admire and adore the immensity of thy love and condescension , who wert pleased to undergo our burthens and infirmities for us ; yet I abhor my self , and detest my own impurities , which were so great and contradictory to the excellency of God , that to destroy Sia , and save us , it became necessary that thou shouldest be sent into the World , to die our death for us , and to give us of thy Life . 2. DEarest Jesu , thou didst not breath one sigh , nor shed one drop of bloud , nor weep one tear , nor suffer one stripe , nor preach one Sermon for the salvation of the Devils : and what sadness and shame is it then , that I should cause so many insufferable loads of sorrows to fall upon thy sacred head ? Thou art wholly given for me , wholly spent upon my uses , and wholly for every one of the Elect. Thou in the beginning of the work of our Redemption didst suffer nine months imprisonment in the pure Womb of thy Holy Mother , to redeem me from the eternal servitude of Sin and its miserable consequents . Holy Jesu , let me be born anew , receive a new birth and a new life , imitating thy Graces and Excellencies by which thou art beloved of thy Father , and hast obtained for us a favour and atonement . Let thy holy will be done by me , let all thy will be wrought in me , let thy will be wrought concerning me ; that I may do thy pleasure , and submit to the dispensation of thy Providence , and conform to thy holy will , and may for ever serve thee in the Communion of Saints , in the society of thy redeemed ones , now and in the glories of Eternity . Amen . SECT . III. The Nativity of our Blessed Saviour JESVS . The Birth of LESUS . And she brought forth her first borne son , and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a manger , because there was no roome sor them in the Inne . Luk. 2. 7. The Virgin MOTHER S LUKE . 11. 27 Blessed is the Womb that bare thee , and the paps which thou hast Sucked . v. 28. Yea , rather Blessed are they that heare the word of God and keep it . 1. THE Holy Maid longed to be a glad Mother , and she who carried a burthen whose proper commensuration is the days of Eternity counted the tedious minutes , expecting when the Sun of Righteousness should break forth from his bed , where nine months he hid himself as behind a fruitful cloud . About the same time God , who in his infinite wisdom does concentre and tie together in one end things of disparate and disproportionate natures , making things improbable to cooperate to what wonder or to what truth he pleases , brought the Holy Virgin to Bethlehem the City of David , to be taxed with her Husband Joseph , according to a Decree upon all the World issuing from Augustus Caesar. * But this happened in this conjunction of time , that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Micah , And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah ; for out of thee shall come a Governour that shall rule my people Israel . This rare act of Providence was highly remarkable , because this Taxing seems wholly to have been ordered by God to serve and minister ( (a) to the circumstances of this Birth . For this Taxing was not in order to Tribute : Herod was now King , and received all the Revenues of the Fiscus , and paid to Augustus an appointed Tribute after the manner of other Kings , Friends and Relatives of the Roman Empire : neither doth it appear that the Romans laid a new Tribute on the Jews before the Confiscation of the goods of Archelaus . Augustus therefore sending special Delegates to tax every City , made onely an inquest after the strength of the Roman Empire in men and moneys ; and did himself no other advantage , but was directed by him who rules and turns the hearts of Princes , that he might , by verifying a Prophecy , signifie and publish the Divinity of the Mission and the Birth of Jesus . 2. She that had conceived by the operation of that Spirit who dwells within the element of Love , was no ways impeded in her journey by the greatness of her burthen , but arrived at Bethlehem in the throng of strangers , who had so filled up the places of hospitality and publick entertainment , that there was no room for Joseph and Mary in the Inne . But yet she felt that it was necessary to retire where she might softly lay her Burthen , who began now to call at the gates of his prison , and Nature was ready to let him forth . But she that was Mother to the King of all the creatures could find no other but a Stable , * a Cave of a rock , whither she retired ; where when it began to be with her after the manner of women , she humbly bowed her knees , in the posture and guise of worshippers , and in the midst of glorious thoughts and highest speculation brought forth her first born into the world . 3. As there was no sin in the Conception , so neither had she pains in the Production , as the Church from the days of Gregory Nazianzen untill now hath piously believed ; though before his days there were some opinions to the contrary , but certainly neither so pious , nor so reasonable . For to her alone did not the punishment of Eve extend , that in sorrow she should bring forth : For where nothing of Sin was an ingredient , there Misery cannot cohabit . For though amongst the daughters of men many Conceptions are innocent and holy , being sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer , hallowed by Marriage , designed by Prudence , seasoned by Temperance , conducted by Religion towards a just , an hallowed and a holy end , and yet their Productions are in sorrow ; yet this of the Blessed Virgin might be otherwise , because here Sin was no relative , and neither was in the principle nor the derivative , in the act nor in the habit , in the root nor in the branch : there was nothing in this but the sanctification of a Virgin 's Womb , and that could not be the parent of sorrow , especially that gate not having been opened by which the Curse always entred . And as to conceive by the Holy Ghost was glorious , so to bring forth any of the fruits of the spirit is joyful , and full of felicities . And he that came from his grave fast tied with a stone and signature , and into the College of Apostles the doors being shut , and into the glories of his Father through the solid orbs of all the Firmament , came also ( as the Church piously believes ) into the World so , without doing violence to the virginal and pure body of his Mother , that he did also leave her Virginity entire , to be as a seal , that none might open the gate of that Sanctuary , that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet , This gate shall be shut , it shall not be opened , and no man shall enter in by it ; because the Lord God of Israel hath entred by it , therefore it shall be shut . 4. Although all the World were concerned in the Birth of this great Prince , yet I find no story of any one that ministred at it save onely Angels , who knew their duty to their Lord , and the great Interests of that person ; whom , as soon as he was born , they presented to his Mother , who could not but receive him with a joy next to the rejoycings of glory and beatifick vision , seeing him to be born her Son who was the Son of God , of greater beauty than the Sun , purer than Angels , more loving than the Seraphims , as dear as the eye and heart of God , where he was from eternity engraven , his beloved and his onely-begotten . 5. When the Virgin-Mother now felt the first tenderness and yernings of a Mother's bowels and saw the Saviour of the World born , poor as her fortunes could represent him , naked as the innocence of Adam , she took him , and wrapt him in swadling cloaths ; and after she had a while cradled him in her arms , she laid him in a manger : for so was the design of his Humility ; that as the last Scene of his life was represented among Thieves , so the first was amongst Beasts , the sheep and the oxen ; according to that mysterious Hymn of the Prophet Habakkuk , His brightness was as the light , he had horns coming out of his hand , and there was the hiding of his power . 6. But this place , which was one of the great instances of his Humility , grew to be as venerable as became an instrument , and it was consecrated into a Church , the Crib into an Altar , where first lay that Lamb of God which afterwards was sacrificed for the sins of all the World. And when Adrian the Emperour , who intended a great despite to it , built a Temple to Venus and Adonis in that place where the Holy Virgin-Mother and her more Holy Son were humbly laid ; even so he could not obtain , but that even amongst the Gentile inhabitants of the neighbouring Countries it was held in an account far above scandal and contempt . For God can ennoble even the meanest of creatures , especially if it be but a relative and instrumental to Religion , higher than the injuries of scoffers and malicious persons . But it was then a Temple full of Religion , full of glory , when Angels were the Ministers , the Holy Virgin was the Worshipper , and CHRIST the Deity . Ad SECT . III. Considerations upon the Birth of our Blessed Saviour JESVS . 1. ALthough the Blessed Jesus desired with the 〈◊〉 of an inflamed love to be born , and to finish the work of our Redemption ; yet he did not prevent the period of Nature , nor break the laws of the Womb , and antedate his own sanctions which he had established 〈◊〉 ever . He staid nine months , and then brake forth as a Giant joyful to run his course . For premature and hasty actions , and such counsels as know not how to expect the times appointed in God's decree , are like hasty fruit , or a young person snatcht away in his florid age , sad and untimely . He that hastens to enjoy his wish before the time , raises his own expectation , and yet makes it unpleasant by impatience , and loseth the pleasure of the fruition when it comes , because he hath made his desires bigger than the thing can satisfie . He that must eat an hour before his time , gives probation of his intemperance or his weakness ; and if we dare not trust God with the Circumstance of the event , and stay his leisure , either we disrepute the infinity of his Wisdom , or give clear demonstration of our own vanity . 2. When God descended to earth , he chose to be born in the Suburbs and retirement of a small Town ; but he was pleased to die at Jerusalem , the Metropolis of Judaea : Which chides our shame and pride , who are willing to publish our gayeties in Piazza's and the corners of the streets of most populous places ; but our defects and the instruments of our humiliation we carry into desarts , and cover with the night , and hide them under ground , thinking no secrecy dark enough to hide our shame , nor any theatre large enough to behold our pompous vanities ; for so we make provisions for Pride , and take great care to exclude Humility . 3. When the Holy Virgin now perceived that the expectation of the Nations was arrived at the very doors of revelation and entrance into the World , she brought forth the Holy Jesus , who , like Light through transparent glass , past through , or a ripe Pomegranate from a fruitful tree , fell to the earth , without doing violence to its Nurse and Parent : She had no ministers to attend but Angels , and neither her Poverty nor her Piety would permit her to provide other Nurses ; but her self did the offices of a tender and pious Parent . She kissed him and worshipped him , and thanked him that he would be born of her , and she suckled him , and bound him in her arms and swadling-bands ; and when she had 〈◊〉 to God her first scene of joy and Eucharist , she softly laid him in the manger , till her desires and his own necessities called her to take him , and to rock him softly in her arms and from this deportment she read a lecture of Piety and maternal care , which Mothers should perform toward their children when they are born , not to neglect any of that duty which nature and maternal piety requires . 4. Jesus was pleased to be born of a poor Mother in a poor place , in a cold winter's night , far from home , amongst strangers , with all the circumstances of humility and poverty . And no man will have cause to complain of his course Robe , if he remembers the swadling-clothes of this Holy Child ; nor to be disquieted at his hard Bed , when he considers Jesus laid in a manger ; nor to be discontented at his thin Table , when he calls to mind the King of Heaven and Earth was fed with a little breast-milk . But since the eternal wisdom of the Father , who knew to chuse the good and refuse the evil , did chuse a life of Poverty , it gives us demonstration , that Riches and Honors , those idols of the World's esteem , are so far from creating true felicities , that they are not of themselves eligible in the number of good things ; however , no man is to be ashamed of innocent Poverty , of which many wise men make Vows , and of which the Holy Jesus made election , and his Apostles after him made publick profession . And if any man will chuse and delight in the affluence of temporal good things , suffering himself to be transported with caitive affections in the pleasures of every day , he may well make a question whether he shall speed as well hereafter ; * since God's usual method is , that they only who follow Christ here shall be with him for ever . 5. The Condition of the person 〈◊〉 was born is here of greatest consideration . For he that cried in the Manger , that suck'd the paps of a Woman that hath exposed himself to Poverty and a world of inconveniences , is the Son of the living God , of the same substance with his Father , begotten before all Ages , before the Morning-stars ; he is GOD eternal . He is also , by reason of the personal Union of the Divinity with his Humane nature , the Son of God ; not by Adoption , as good Men and beatified Angels are , but by an extraordinary and miraculous Generation . He is the Heir of his Father's glories and possessions , not by succession , ( for his Father cannot die , ) but by an equality of communication . He is the express image of his Father's person according to both Natures ; the miracle and excess of his Godhead being , as upon wax , imprinted upon all the capacities of his Humanity . And after all this , he is our Saviour ; that to our duties of wonder and adoration we may add the affections of love and union , as himself , besides his being admirable in himself , is become profitable to us . Verè Verbum hoc est abbreviatum , saith the Prophet ; The eternal Word of the Father is shortned to the dimensions of an infant . 6. Here then are concentred the prodigles of Greatness and Goodness , of Wisdom and Charity , of Meekness and Humility , and march all the way in mysterie and incomprehensible mixtures ; if we consider him in the bosome of his Father , where he is seated by the postures of Love and essential Felicity ; and in the Manger , where Love also placed him , and an infinite desire to communicate his Felicities to us . As he is God , his Throne is in the Heaven , and he fills all things by his immensity : as he is Man , he is circumscribed by an uneasie Cradle , and cries in a Stable . As he is God , he is seated upon a super-exalted Throne ; as Man , exposed to the lowest estate of uneasiness and need . As God , clothed in a robe of Glory , at the same instant when you may behold and wonder at his Humanity wrapped in cheap and unworthy Cradle-bands . As God , he is incircled with millions of Angels ; as Man , in the company of Beasts . As God , he is the eternal Word of the Father , Eternal , sustained by himself , all-sufficient , and without need : and yet he submitted himself to a condition imperfect , inglorious , indigent and necessitous . And this consideration is apt and natural to produce great affections of love , duty and obedience , desires of union and conformity to his sacred Person , Life , Actions , and Laws ; that we resolve all our thoughts , and finally determine all our reason and our passions and capacities upon that saying of St. Paul , He that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ , let him be accursed . 7. Upon the consideration of these Glories , if a pious soul shall upon the supports of Faith and Love enter into the Stable where this great King was born , and with affections behold every member of the Holy Body , and thence pass into the Soul of Jesus , we may see a scheme of holy Meditations , enough to entertain all the degrees of our love and of our understanding , and make the mysterie of the Nativity as fruitful of holy thoughts as it was of Blessings to us . And it may serve instead of a description of the Person of Jesus conveyed to us in imperfect and Apocryphal schemes . If we could behold his sacred Feet with those affections which the Holy Virgin did , we have transmitted to us those Mysteries in story which she had first in part by spiritual and divine infused light , and afterwards by observation . Those holy Feet , tender and unable to support his sacred Body , should bear him over all the Province of his Cure with great zeal for the gaining of Souls to the belief and obedience of his holy Laws ; those are the Feet that should walk upon seas and hills of water as upon firm pavement ; at which the Lepers and diseased persons should stoop , and gather health up ; which Mary Magdalen should wash with tears , and wipe with her hair , and anoint with costly Nard , as expressions of love and adoration , and there find absolution and remedy for her sins ; and which finally should be rent by the nails of the Cross , and afterwards ascend above the Heavens , making the earth to be his foot-stool . From hence take patterns of imitation , that our Piety be symbolical , that our Affections be passionate and Eucharistical , full of love , and wonder , and adoration , that our feet tread in the same steps , and that we transfer the Symbol into Mystery , and the Mystery to Devotion , praying the Holy Jesus to actuate the same mercies in us which were finished at his holy feet , forgiving our sins , healing our sicknesses ; and then place our selves irremoveably , becoming his Disciples , and strictly observing the rules of his holy Institution , sitting at the feet of this our greatest Master . 8. In the same manner a pious person may ( with the Blessed Virgin ) pass to the consideration of his holy Hands , which were so often lifted up to God in Prayer ; whose touch was miraculous and medicinal , cleansing Lepers , restoring perishing limbs , opening blind eyes , raising dead persons to life ; those Hands which fed many thousands by two Miracles of multiplication , that purged the Temple from prophaneness , that in a sacramental manner bare his own Body , and gave it to be the food and refreshment of elect Souls , and after were cloven and rent upon the Cross , till the Wounds became ( after the Resurrection ) so many transparencies and glorious Instruments of solemn , spiritual and efficacious benediction . Transmit this meditation into affections and practices , lifting up pure hands in prayer , that our Devotions be united to the merits of his glorious Intercession ; and putting our selves into his hands and holy providence , let us beg those effects upon our Souls and spiritual Cures which his precious hands did operate upon their bodies , transferring those Similitudes to our ghostly and personal advantages . 9. We may also behold his holy Breast , and consider , that there lay that sacred Heart , like the Dove within the Ark , speaking peace to us , being the regiment of love and sorrows , the fountain of both the Sacraments , running out in the two holy streams of Bloud and Water , when the Rock was smitten , when his holy Side was pierced : and there with St. John let us lay our head , and place our heart , and thence draw a treasure of holy revelations and affections , that we may rest in him onely , and upon him lay our burthens , filling every corner of our heart with thoughts of the most amiable and beloved JESUS . 10. In like manner we may unite the Day of his Nativity with the day of his Passion , and consider all the parts of his Body as it was instrumental in all the work of our Redemption , and so imitate , and in some proportion partake of , that great variety of sweetnesses and amorous reflexes and gracious intercourses which passed between the Blessed Virgin and the Holy Child , according to his present capacities , and the clarity of that light which was communicated to her by Divine Infusion . And all the Members of this Blessed Child , his Eyes , his Face , his Head , all the Organs of his Senses afford variety of entertainment and motion to our Affections , according as they served in their several imployments and cooperations in the mysteries of our Restitution . 11. But his Body was but his Soul' s upper garment , and the considerations of this are as immaterial and spiritual as the Soul it self , and more immediate to the mystery of the Nativity . This Soul is of the same nature and substance with ours ; in this inferiour to the Angels , that of it self it is incompleat , and discursive in a lower order of ratiocination ; but in this superiour : 1. That it is personally united to the Divinity , full of the Holy Ghost , over-running with Grace , which was dispensed to it without measure . ( And by the mediation of this Union , as it self is exalted far above all orders of Intelligences , so we also have contracted alliance with God , teaching us not to unravel our excellencies by infamous deportments . ) 2. Here also we may meditate , that his Memory is indeterminable and unalterable , ever remembring to do us good , and to present our needs to God by the means of his holy intercession . 3. That his Understanding is without ignorance , knowing the secrets of our hearts , full of mysterious secrets of his Father's Kingdom , in which all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God are hidden . 4. That his Will is impeccable , entertained with an uninterrupted act of Love to God , greater than all Angels and beatified spirits present to God in the midst of the transportations and ravishments of Paradise : That this Will is full of Love to us , of Humility in it self , of Conformity to God , wholly resign'd by acts of Adoration and Obedience . It was moved by six Wings ; Zeal of the honour of God , and Compunction for our sins , Pity to our miseries , and Hatred of our impieties . Desires of satisfying the wrath of God , and great Joy at the consideration of all the fruits of his Nativity , the appeasing of his Father , the redemption of his brethren . And upon these wings he mounted up into the throne of Glory , carrying our nature with him above the seats of Angels . These second considerations present themselves to all that with Piety and Devotion behold the Holy Babe lying in the obscure and humble place of his Nativity . The PRAYER . HOly and Immortal Jesus , I adore and worship thee with the lowest prostrations and humility of Soul and body , and give thee all thanks for that great Love to us whereof thy Nativity hath made demonstration ; for that Humility of thine expressed in the poor and ignoble circumstances which thou didst voluntarily chuse in the manner of thy Birth . And I present to thy holy Humanity inchased in the adorable Divinity my Body and Soul ; humbly desiring , that as thou didst clothe thy self with a Humane body , thou mayest invest me with the robes of Righteousness , covering my sins , inabling my weaknesses , and sustaining my mortality , till I shall finally in conformity to thy Beauties and Perfections be clothed with the stole of Glory . Amen . 2. VOuchsafe to come to me by a more intimate and spiritual approximation , that so thou mayest lead me to thy Father ; for of my self I cannot move one step towards thee . Take me by the hand , place me in thy heart , that there I may live , and there I may die : that as thou hast united our Nature to thy Eternal Being , thou mightest also unite my Person to thine by the interiour adunations of Love , and Obedience , and Conformity . Let thy Ears be open to my prayers , thy merciful Eyes look upon my miseries , thy holy Hands be stretched out to my relief and succour : let some of those precious distilling Tears which nature , and thy compassion , and thy Sufferings did cause to distill and drop from those sacred fontinels , water my stony heart , and make it soft , apt for the impressions of a melting , obedient and corresponding love ; and moisten mine eyes , that I may upon thy stock of pity and weeping mourn for my sins , that so my tears and sorrows , being drops of water coming from that holy Rock , may indeed be united unto thine , and made precious by such holy mixtures . Amen . 3. BLessed Jesus , now that thou hast sanctified and exalted Humane nature , and made even my Body precious by a personal uniting it to the Divinity , teach me so reverently to account of it , that I may not dare to prophane it with impure lusts or caitive affections , and unhallow that ground where thy holy feet have troden . Give to me ardent desires , and efficacious prosecutions of these holy effects which thou didst design for us in thy Nativity , and other parts of our Redemption : give me great confidence in thee , which thou hast encouraged by the exhibition of so glorious favours ; great sorrow and confusion of face at the sight of mine own imperfections , and estrangements , and great distances from thee , and the perfections of thy Soul ; and bring me to thee by the strictnesses of a Zealous and affectionate imitation of those Sanctities which , next to the hypostatical Union , added lustre and excellency to thy Humanity , that I may live here with thee in the expresses of a holy life , and die with thee by mortification and an unwearied patience , and reign with thee in immortal glories world without end . Amen . DISCOURSE I. Of Nursing Children , in imitation of the Blessed Virgin-Mother . 1. THese later Ages of the world have declined into a Softness above the effeminacy of Asian Princes , and have contracted customes which those innocent and healthful days of our Ancestors knew not , whose Piety was natural , whose Charity was operative , whose Policy was just and valiant , and whose Oeconomy was sincere and proportionable to the dispositions and requisites of Nature . And in this particular the good women of * old gave one of their instances ; the greatest personages nurst their own Children , did the work of Mothers , and thought it was unlikely women should become vertuous by ornaments and superadditions of Morality , who did decline the laws and prescriptions of Nature , whose principles supply us with the first and most common rules of Manners and more perfect actions . In imitation of whom , and especially of the Virgin Mary , who was Mother and Nurse to the Holy Jesus , I shall endeavour to correct those softnesses and unnatural rejections of Children , which are popular up to a custom and fashion , even where no necessities of Nature or just Reason can make excuse . 2. And I cannot think the Question despicable , and the Duty of meanest consideration ; although it be specified in an office of small esteem , and suggested to us by the principles of Reason , and not by express sanctions of Divinity . For although other actions are more perfect and spiritual , yet this is more natural and humane ; other things being superadded to a full Duty rise higher , but this builds stronger , and is like a part of the foundation , having no lustre , but much strength ; and however the others are full of ornament , yet this hath in it some degrees of necessity , and possibly is with more danger and irregularity omitted than actions which spread their leaves fairer , and look more gloriously . 3. First , here I consider , that there are many sins in the scene of the Body and the matter of Sobriety which are highly criminal , and yet the Laws of God expressed in Scripture name them not ; but men are taught to distinguish them by that Reason which is given us by nature , and is imprinted in our understanding in order to the conservation of humane kind . For since every creature hath something in it sufficient to propagate the kind , and to conserve the individuals from perishing in confusions and general disorders , which in Beasts we call Instinct , that is , an habitual or prime disposition to do certain things which are proportionable to the End whither it is designed ; Man also , if he be not more imperfect , must have the like : and because he knows and makes reflexions upon his own acts , and understands the reason of it , that which in them is Instinct , in him is natural Reason , which is , a desire to preserve himself and his own kind , and differs from Instinct , because he understands his Instinct and the reasonableness of it , and they do not . But Man being a higher thing even in the order of creation , and designed to a more noble End in his animal capacity , his Argumentative Instinct is larger than the Natural Instinct of Beasts : for he hath Instincts in him in order to the conservation of Society , and therefore hath Principles , that is , he hath natural desires to it for his own good ; and because he understands them , they are called Principles , and Laws of Nature , but are no other than what I have now declared ; for Beasts do the same things we do , and have many the same inclinations , which in us are the Laws of Nature , even all which we have in order to our common End. But that which in Beasts is Nature and an impulsive force , in us must be duty and an inviting power : we must do the same things with an actual or habitual designation of that End to which God designs Beasts , ( supplying by his wisdom their want of understanding ) and then what is mere Nature in them , in us is Natural reason . And therefore Marriage in men is made sacred , when the mixtures of other creatures are so merely natural , that they are not capable of being vertuous ; because men are bound to intend that End which God made . And this , with the superaddition of other Ends , of which Marriage is representative in part , and in part effective , does consecrate Marriage , and makes it holy and mysterious . But then there are in marriage many duties which we are taught by Instinct ; that is , by that Reason whereby we understand what are the best means to promote the End which we have assigned us . And by these Laws all unnatural mixtures are made unlawful , and the decencies which are to be observed in Marriage are prescribed us by this . 4. Secondly , Upon the supposition of this Discourse I consider again , that although to observe this Instinct or these Laws of Nature ( in which I now have instanced ) be no great vertue in any eminency of degree , ( as no man is much commended for not killing himself , or for not degenerating into beastly Lusts ; ) yet to prevaricate some of these Laws may become almost the greatest sin in the world . And therefore although to live according to Nature be a testimony fit to give to a sober and a temperate man , and rises no higher ; yet to do an action against Nature is the greatest dishonour and impiety in the world , ( I mean of actions whose scene lies in the Body ) and disentitles us to all relations to God , and vicinity to Vertue . 5. Thirdly , Now amongst actions which we are taught by Nature , some concern the being and the necessities of Nature , some appertain to her convenience and advantage : and the transgressions of these respectively have their heightnings or depressions ; and therefore to kill a man is worse than some preternatural pollutions , because more destructive of the end and designation of Nature , and the purpose of instinct . 6. Fourthly , Every part of this Instinct is then in some sense a Law , when it is in a direct order to a necessary End , and by that is made reasonable . I say [ in some sence ] it is a Law , that is , it is in a near disposition to become a Law. It is a Rule without obligation to a particular punishment , beyond the effect of the natural inordination and obliquity of the act ; it is not the measure of a moral good or evil , but of the natural , that is , of comely and uncomely . For if in the individuals it should fail , or that there pass some greater obligation upon the person in order to a higher end , not consistent with those means designed in order to the lesser end , in that particular it is no fault , but sometimes a vertue . And therefore although it be an Instinct , or reasonable towards many purposes , that every one should beget a man in his own image , in order to the preservation of nature : yet if there be a superaddition of another and higher end , and contrary means perswaded in order to it , ( such as is holy Coelibate or Virginity in order to a spiritual life , in some persons ) there the instinct of Nature is very far from passing obligation upon the Conscience , and in that instance ceases to be reasonable . And therefore the Romans , who invited men to marriage with priviledges , and punished morose and ungentle natures that refused it , yet they had their chaste and unmarried Vestals ; the first , in order to the Commonwealth ; these , in a nearer order to Religion . 7. Fifthly , These Instincts or reasonable inducements become Laws , obliging us in Conscience and in the way of Religion , and the breach of them is directly criminal , when the instance violates any end of Justice , or Charity , or Sobriety , either designed in Nature's first intention , or superinduced by God or man. For every thing that is unreasonable to some certain purpose is not presently criminal , much less is it against the Law of Nature , ( unless every man that goes out of his way sins against the Law of Nature ; ) and every contradicting of a natural desire or inclination is not a sin against a law of Nature . For the restraining sometimes of a lawful and a permitted desire is an act of great Vertue , and pursues a greater reason ; as in the former instance . But those things only against which such a reason as mixes with Charity or Justice , or something that is now in order to a farther end of a commanded instance of Piety , may be without errour brought , those things are only criminal . And God having first made our instincts reasonable , hath now made our Reason and Instincts to be spiritual ; and having sometimes restrained our Instincts , and always made them regular , he hath by the intermixture of other principles made a separation of Instinct from Instinct , leaving one in the form of natural inclination , and they rise no higher than a permission or a decency , it is lawful , or it is comely so to do : ( for no man can asfirm it to be a Duty to kill him that assaults my life , or to maintain my children for ever without their own industry , when they are able , what degrees of natural fondness 〈◊〉 I have towards them ; nor that I sin , if I do not marry , when I can contain ) and yet every one of these may proceed from the affections and first inclinations of Nature ; but until they mingle with Justice , or Charity , or some instance of Religion and Obedience , they are no Laws ; the other that are so mingled being raised to Duty and Religion . Nature inclines us , and Reason judges it apt and requisite in order to certain ends ; but then every particular of it is made to be an act of Religion from some other principle : as yet , it is but fit and reasonable not Religion and particular Duty , till God or man hath interposed . But whatsoever particular in nature was fit to be made a Law of Religion , is made such by the superaddition of another principle : and this is derived to us by tradition from Adam to Noah , or else transmitted to us by the consent of all the world upon a natural and prompt reason , or else by some other instrument derived to us from God , but especially by the Christian Religion , which hath adopted all those things which we call things honest , things comely , and things of good report , into a law and a duty , as appears Phil. 4. 8. 8. Upon these Propositions I shall infer by way of Instance , that it is a Duty that Women should nurse their own Children . For first , it is taught to women by that Instinct which Nature hath implanted in them . For , as Favorinus the Philosopher discoursed , it is but to be half a Mother to bring forth Children , and not to nourish them : and it is some kind of Abortion , or an exposing of the Infant , which in the reputation of all wise Nations is infamous and uncharitable . And if the name of Mother be an appellative of affection and endearments , why should the Mother be willing to divide it with a stranger ? The Earth is the Mother of us all , not only because we were made of her Red clay , but chiefly that she daily gives us food from her bowels and breasts ; and Plants and Beasts give nourishment to their off-springs , after their production , with greater tenderness than they bare them in their wombs : and yet Women give nourishment to the Embryo , which whether it be deformed or perfect they know not , and cannot love what they never saw ; and yet when they do see it , when they have rejoyced that a Child is born , and forgotten the sorrows of production , they who then can first begin to love it , if they begin to divorce the Infant from the Mother , the Object from the Affection , cut off the opportunities and occasions of their Charity or Piety . 9. For why hath Nature given to women two exuberant Fontinels , which like two Rocs that are twins feed among the Lilics , and drop milk like dew from Hermon , and hath (a) invited that nourishment from the secret recesses where the Infant dwelt at first , up to the Breast where naturally now the Child is cradled in the entertainments of love and maternal embraces ; but that Nature having removed the Babe , and carried its meat after it , intends that it should be (b) preserved by the matter and ingredients of its constitution , and have the same diet prepared with a more mature and proportionable digestion ? If Nature intended them not for Nourishment , I am sure it less intended them for Pride and wantonness ; they are needless Excrescences and Vices of Nature , unless imployed in Nature's work and proper intendment . And if it be a matter of consideration of what bloud Children are derived : we may also consider , that the derivation continues after the birth , and therefore , abating the sensuality , the Nurse is as much the Mother as she that brought it forth ; and so much the more , as there is a longer communication of constituent nourishment ( for so are the first emanations ) in this than in the other . So that here is first the Instinct or prime intendment of Nature . 10. Secondly , And that this Instinct may also become humane and reasonable , we see it by experience in many places , that Foster-Children are dearer to the Nurse than to the Mother , as receiving and ministring respectively perpetual prettinesses of love , and fondness , and trouble , and need , and invitations , and all the instruments of indearment ; besides a vicinity of dispositions and relative tempers by the communication of bloud and spirits from the Nurse to the Suckling , which makes use the more natural , and nature more accustomed . And therefore the affections which these exposed or derelict Children bear to their Mothers have no grounds of nature or assiduity , but civility and opinion ; and that little of love which is abated from the Foster-parents upon publick report that they are not natural , that little is transferred to Mothers upon the same opinion , and no more . Hence come those unnatural aversions , those unrelenting dispositions , those carelesnesses and incurious deportments towards their Children , which are such ill-sown seeds , from whence may arise up a bitterness of disposition and mutual provocation . The affection which Children bear to their Nurses was highly remarked in the instance of Scipio Asiaticus , who rejected the importunity of his Brother Africanus in behalf of the ten Captains who were condemned for offering violence to the Vestals , but pardoned them at the request of his Foster-sister : and being asked why he did more for his Nurse's Daughter than for his own Mother's Son , gave this answer , I esteem her rather to be my Mother that brought me up , than her that bare me and forsook me . And I have read the observation , That many Tyrants have killed their Mothers , but never any did violence to his Nurse ; as if they were desirous to suck the bloud of their Mother raw , which she refused to give to them digested into milk . And the Bastard-Brother of the Gracchi , returning from his Victories in Asia to Rome , presented his Mother with a Jewel of Silver , and his Nurse with a Girdle of Gold , upon the same account . Sometimes Children are exchanged , and artificial Bastardies introduced into a Family , and the right Heir supplanted . It happened so to Artabanus King of Epirus : his Child was changed at nurse , and the Son of a mean Knight succeeded in the Kingdom . The event of which was this : The Nurse too late discovered the Treason ; a bloudy War was commenced , both the Pretenders slain in Battel , and the Kingdom it self was usurped by Alexander the Brother to Olympias , the wife of Philip the Macedonian . At the best , though there happen no such extravagant and rare accidents , yet it is not likely a Stranger should love the Child better than the Mother : and if the Mother's care could suffer it to be exposed , a Stranger 's care may suffer it to be neglected . For how shall an Hireling endure the inconveniences , the tediousnesses and unhandsomnesses of a Nursery , when she , whose natural affection might have made it pleasant , out of wantonness or softness hath declined the burthen ? But the sad accidents which by too frequent observation are daily seen happening to Nurse-children give great probation , that this intendment of Nature designing Mothers to be the Nurses , that their affection might secure and increase their care , and the care best provide for their Babes , is most reasonable , and proportionable to the discourses of Humanity . 11. But as this instinct was made reasonable , so in this also the reason is in order to grace and spiritual effects ; and therefore is among those things which God hath separated from the common Instincts of Nature , and made properly to be Laws , by the mixtures of Justice and Charity . For it is part of that Education which Mothers as a duty owe to their children , that they do in all circumstances , and with all their powers which God to that purpose gave them , * promote their capacities and improve their faculties . Now in this also , as the temper of the Body is considerable in order to the inclinations of the Soul , so is the Nurse in order to the temper of the Body : and a Lamb sucking a Goat , or a Kid sucking an Ewe , change their fleece and hair respectively , say Naturalists . For if the Soul of Man were put into the body of a Mole , it could not see nor speak , because it is not fitted with an Instrument apt and organical to the faculty : and when the Soul hath its proper Instruments , its musick is pleasant or harsh according to the sweetness or the unevenness of the string it touches : for David himself could not have charmed Saul's melancholick spirit with the strings of his Bow , or the wood of his Spear . And just so are the actions or dispositions of the Soul , angry or pleasant , lustful or cold , querulous or passionate , according as the Body is disposed by the various intermixtures of natural qualities . And as the carelesness of Nurses hath sometimes returned Children to their Parents crooked , consumptive , half starved , and unclean from the impurities of Nature : so their society and their nourishment together have disposed them to peevishness , to lust , to drunkenness , to pride ; to low and base demeanours , to stubbornness . And as a man would have been unwilling to have had a Child by Harpaste , Seneca's wife's Fool ; so he would in all reason be as unwilling to have had her to be the Nurse : for very often Mothers by the birth do not transmit their imperfections , yet it seldome happens but the Nurse does . Which is the more considerable , because Nurses are commonly persons of no great rank , certainly lower than the Mother , and by consequence liker to return their Children with the lower and more servile conditions : and commonly those vainer people teach them to be peevish and proud , to lie , or at least seldom give them any first principles contrariant to the Nurse's vice . And therefore it concerns the Parents care , in order to a vertuous life of the Child , to secure its first seasonings ; because , whatever it sucks in first , it swallows and believes infinitely , and practises easily , and continues longest . And this is more proper for a Mother's care , while the Nurse thinks that giving the Child suck , and keeping its body clean , is all her duty . But the Mother cannot think her self so easily discharged . And this consideration is material in all cases , be the choice of the Nurse never so prudent and curious : and it is not easily apprehended to be the portion of her care to give it spiritual milk , and therefore it intrenches very much upon Impiety and positive relinquishing the education of their Children , when Mothers expose the spirit of the Child either to its own weaker inclinations , or the wicked principles of an ungodly Nurse , or the carelesness of any less-obliged person . 12. And then let me add , That a Child sucks the Nurse's milk , and digests her conditions , if they be never so * bad , seldom gets any good . For Vertue being superaddition to Nature , and Perfections not radical in the body , but contradictions to and meliorations of natural indispositions , does not easily convey it self by ministrations of food , as Vice does , which in most instances is nothing but mere Nature grown to Custom , and not mended by Grace : so that it is probable enough , such natural distemperatures may pass in the rivulets of milk , like evil spirits in a white garment , when Vertues are of harder purchase , and dwell so low in the heart , that they but rarely pass through the fountains of generation . And therefore let no Mother venture her child upon a stranger , whose heart she less knows than her own . And because few of those nicer women think better of others than themselves , ( since out of self-love they neglect their own bowels ) it is but an act of improvidence to let my Child derive imperfections from one of whom I have not so good an opinion as of my self . 13. And if those many blessings and holy prayers which the Child needs , or his askings or sicknesses , or the Mother's fears or joyes respectively do occasion , should not be cast into this account ; yet those principles which in all cases wherein the neglect is vicious are the causes of the exposing the Child , are extremely against the Piety and Charity of Christian Religion , which prescribes severity and austere deportment , and the labours of love , and exemplar tenderness of affections , and piety to children , which are the most natural and nearest relations the Parents have . That Religion which commands us to visit and to tend sick strangers , and wash the feet of the poor , and dress their ulcers , and sends us upon charitable embassies into unclean prisons , and bids us lay down our lives for one another ; is not pleased with a niceness and sensual curiosity ( that I may not name the wantonnesses of lusts ) which denies suck to our own children . What is more humane and affectionate than Christianity ? and what is less natural and charitable than to deny the expresses of a Mother's affection ? which certainly to good women is the greatest trouble in the world , and the greatest violence to their desires , if they should not express and minister . 14. And it would be considered , whether those Mothers who have neglected their first Duties of Piety and Charity can expect so prompt and easie returns of Duty and Piety from their Children , whose best foundation is Love , and that love strongest which is most natural , and that most natural which is conveyed by the first ministeries and impresses of Nourishment and Education . And if Love descends more strongly than it ascends , and commonly falls from the Parents upon the Children in Cataracts , and returns back again up to the Parents but in gentle Dews ; if the Child's affection keeps the same proportions towards such unkind Mothers , it will be as little as atoms in the Sun , and never express it self but when the Mother needs it not , that is , in the Sun-shine of a clear fortune . 15. This then is amongst those Instincts which are natural , heightned first by Reason , and then exalted by Grace into the obligation of a Law : and being amongst the Sanctions of Nature , its prevarication is a crime very near those sins which Divines , in detestation of their malignity , call Sins against Nature , and is never to be excused but in , cases of * Necessity or greater Charity ; as when the Mother cannot be a Nurse by reason of natural disability , or is afflicted with a disease which might be 〈◊〉 in the milk , or in case of the publick necessities of a Kingdom , for the securing of Succession in the Royal Family . And yet concerning this last Lycurgus made a Law , that the Noblest amongst the Spartan women , though their Kings Wives , should at least nurse their Eldest son , and the Plebeians should nurse all theirs : and Plutarch reports , that the second son of King Themistes inherited the Kingdom in Sparta , only because he was nursed with his Mother's milk , and the eldest was therefore rejected because a stranger was his Nurse . And that Queens have suckled and nursed their own children , is no very unusual kindness in the simplicity and hearty affections of elder Ages , as is to be seen in Herodotus and other Historians . I shall only remark one instance out of the Spanish Chronicles , which Henry Stephens in his Apology for Herodotus reports to have heard from thence related by a noble personage , Monsieur Marillac ; That a Spanish Lady married into France nursed her child with so great a tenderness and jealousie , that having understood the little Prince once to have suck'd a stranger , she was unquiet till she had forced him to vomit it up again . In other cases the crime lies at their door who inforce neglect upon the other , and is heightned in proportion to the motive of the omission ; as if Wantonness or Pride be the parent of the crime , the Issue , besides its natural deformity , hath the excrescencies of Pride or Lust to make it more ugly . 16. To such Mothers I propound the example of the Holy Virgin , who had the honour to be visited by an Angel yet , after the example of the Saints in the Old Testament , she gave to the Holy Jesus drink from those bottles which himself had filled for his own drinking ; and her Paps were as surely blessed for giving him suck , as her Womb for bearing him ; and reads a Lecture of Piety and Charity , which if we deny to our children , there is then in the world left no argument or relation great enough to kindle it from a cinder to a flame . God gives dry breasts , for a curse to some , for an affliction to others ; but those that invite it to them by voluntary arts , love not blessing , therefore shall it be far from them . And I remember that it was said concerning Annius Minutius the Censor , that he thought it a prodigy and extremely ominous to Rome , that a Roman Lady refused to nurse her Child , and yet gave suck to a Puppy , that her milk might with more safety be dried up with artificial applications . Let none therefore divide the interests of their own Children : for she that appeared before Solomon , and would have the Child divided , was not the true Mother , and was the more culpable of the two . The PRAYER . O Holy and Eternal God , Father of the Creatures , and King of all the World , who hast imprinted in all the sons of thy Creation principles and abilities to serve the end of their own preservation , and to Men hast superadded Reason , making those first propensities of Nature to be reasonable in order to Society , and a conversation in Communities and Bodies politick , and hast by several laws and revelations directed our Reasons to nearer applications to thee , and performance of thy great End , the glory of our Lord and Father ; teach me strictly to observe the order of Creation , and the designs of the Creatures , that in my order I may do that service which every creature does in its proper capacity . Lord , let me be as constant in the ways of Religion as the Sun in his course , as ready to follow the intimations of thy Spirit as little Birds are to obey the directions of thy Providence and the conduct of thy hand ; and let me never by evil customs , or vain company , or false persuasions , extinguish those principles of Morality and right Reason which thou hast imprinted in my understanding , in my creation and education , and which thou hast ennobled by the superadditions of Christian institution : that I may live according to the rules of Nature in such things which she teaches , modestly , temperately and affectionately , in all the parts of my natural and political relations ; and that I , proceeding from Nature to Grace , may henceforth go on from Grace to Glory , the crown of all Obedience , prudent and holy walking , through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen . SECT . IV. Of the great and glorious Accidents happening about the Birth of JESVS . The Angels appearing to the Shepherds . S. LUKE . 2. 14. Glory to God in the highest , and on earth peace , good will towards men . The Epiphanie . S. MAT : 2. 11. When they had opened their treasures , they presented unto him gifts , Gold , and Frank incense , and Myrrhe . 1. ALthough the Birth of Christ was destitute of the usual excrescences and less necessary Pomps which used to signifie and illustrate the birth of Princes ; yet his first Humility was made glorious with Presages , Miracles , and Significations from Heaven , which did not only , like the furniture of a Princely Bed-chamber , speak the riches of the Parent , or greatness of the Son within its own walls , but did declare to all the world that their Prince was born , publishing it with figures and representments almost as great as its Empire . 2. For when all the world did expect that in Judaea should be born their Prince , and that the incredulous world had in their observation slipt by their true Prince , because he came not in pompous and secular illustrations ; upon that very stock Vespasian was nurs'd up in hope of the Roman Empire , and that hope made him great in designs , and they being prosperous made his fortunes correspond to his hopes , and he was indeared and engaged upon that fortune by the Prophecy which was never intended him by the Prophet . But the fortune of the Roman Monarchy was not great enough for this Prince design'd by the old Prophets . And therefore it was not without the influence of a Divinity , that his Decessor Augustus about the time of Christ's Nativity refused to be called LORD : possibly it was , to entertain the people with some hopes of restitution of their Liberties , till he had grip'd the Monarchy with a stricter and faster hold ; but the Christians were apt to believe , that it was upon the 〈◊〉 of a Sibyll foretelling the birth of a greater Prince , to whom all the world should pay adoration ; and that the Prince was about that time born in Judaea , the Oracle which was dumb to Augustus's question told him unask'd , the Devil having no tongue permitted him , but one to proclaim that an Hebrew child was his Lord and Enemy . 3. At the Birth of which Child there was an universal Peace through all the World. For then it was that Augustus Caesar , having composed all the Wars of the World , did the third time cause the gates of Janus's Temple to be shut ; and this Peace continued for twelve years , even till the extreme old age of the Prince , until rust had sealed the Temple doors , which opened not till the Sedition of the 〈◊〉 and the Rebellion of the Dacians caused Augustus to arm . For he that was born was the Prince of Peace , and came to reconcile God with man , and man with his brother ; and to make , by the sweetness of his Example , and the influence of a holy Doctrine , such happy atonements between disagreeing natures , such confederations and 〈◊〉 between Enemies , that the Wolf and the Lamb should lie down together , and a little child boldly and without danger put his finger in the nest and cavern of an Asp : and it could be no less than miraculous , that so great a Body as the Roman Empire , consisting of so many parts , whose Constitutions were differing , their Humours contrary , their Interests contradicting each others greatness , and all these violently oppressed by an usurping power , should have no limb out of joynt , not so much as an aking tooth or a rebelling humour in that huge collection of parts : but so it seemed good in the eye of Heaven , by so great and good a symbol to declare not only the Greatness , but the Goodness of the Prince that was then born in Judaea , the Lord of all the World. 4. But because the Heavens , as well as the Earth , are his Creatures , and do serve him , at his Birth he received a sign in Heaven above , as well as in the Earth beneath , as an homage paid to their common Lord. For as certain Shepherds were keeping watch over their slocks by night , near that part where Jacob did use to feed his cattel when he was in the land of Canaan , the Angel of the Lord came upon them , and the glory of the Lord shone round about them . Needs must the Shepherds be afraid , when an Angel came arrayed in glory , and clothed their persons in a robe of light , great enough to confound their senses and scatter their understandings . But the Angel said unto them , Fear not , for I bring unto you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people . For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour , which is Christ the Lord. The Shepherds needed not be invited to go see this glorious sight ; but lest their fancy should rise up to an expectation of a Prince as externally glorious as might be hoped for upon the consequence of so glorious an Apparition , the Angel , to prevent the mistake , told them of a Sign , which indeed was no other than the thing 〈◊〉 ; but yet was therefore a Sign , because it was so remote from the common probability and exspectation of such a birth , that by being a Miracle , so great a Prince should be born so poorly , it became an instrument to signifie it self and all the other parts of mysterious consequence . For the Angel said , This shall be a sign unto you , Ye shall find the Babe wrapt in swadling-cloaths , lying in a manger . 5. But as Light , when it first begins to gild the East , scatters indeed the darknesses from the earth , but ceases not to increase its 〈◊〉 till it hath made perfect day : so it happened now in this Apparition of the Angel of light , he appeared and told his message , and did shine , but the light arose higher and higher , till midnight was as bright as mid-day ; for suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly 〈◊〉 : and after the Angel had told his Message in plain-song , the whole Chorus joyned in descant , and sang an Hymn to the tune and sence of Heaven , where glory is paid to God in eternal and never-ceasing offices , and whence good will descends upon men in perpetual and never-stopping torrents . Their Song was , Glory be to God on high , on earth peace , good will towards men : by this Song not only * referring to the strange Peace which at that time put all the World in 〈◊〉 , but to the great Peace which this new-born Prince should make between his Father and all Mankind . 6. As soon as these blessed Choristers had sung their Christmas Carol , and taught the Church a Hymn to put into her Offices for ever in the anniversary of this Festivity , the Angels returned into Heaven , and the Shepherds went to Bethlehem , to see this thing which the Lord had made known unto them . And they came with haste , and sound Mary and Joseph , and the Babe lying in a manger . Just as the Angel had prepared their expectation , they found the narrative verified , and saw the glory and the mystery of it by that representment which was made by the heavenly Ministers , seeing GOD through the veil of a Child's flesh , the Heir of Heaven wrapt in Swadling-clothes , and a person to whom the Angels did minister laid in a Manger ; and they beheld , and wondred , and worshipped . 7. But as precious Liquor warmed and heightned by a flame first crowns the vessel , and then dances over its brim into the fire , increasing the cause of its own motion and extravagancy : so it happened to the Shepherds , whose hearts being filled with the oil of gladness up unto the brim , the Joy ran over , as being too big to be consined in their own breasts , and did communicate it self , growing greater by such dissemination : for when they had seen it , they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this Child . And ( as well they might ) all that heard it wondred . But Mary , having first changed her joy into wonder , turned her wonder into entertainments of the mystery , and the mystery into a fruition and cohabitation with it : For Mary kept all these sayings , and pondered them in her heart . And the Shepherds having seen what the Angels did upon the publication of the news , which less concerned them than us , had learnt their duty , to sing an honour to God for the Nativity of Christ : For the Shepherds returned , glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen , as it was told unto them . 8. But the Angels had told the Shepherds that the Nativity was glad tidings of great joy unto all people : and , that the Heavens might declare the glory of God , and the firmament shew his handy-work , this also was told abroad even to the Gentiles by a sign from Heaven , by the message of a Star. For there was a Prophecy of Balaam famous in all the Eastern Countrey , and recorded by Moses , There shall come a Star out of Jacob , and a Scepter shall arise out of Israel : Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion . Which although in its first sence it signified David , who was the conqueror of the Moabites ; yet , in its more mysterious and chiefly-intended sence , it related to the Son of David . And in expectation of the event of this Prophecy , the Arabians , the sons of Abraham by Keturah , whose portion given by their Patriarch was Gold , Frankincense and Myrrh , who were great lovers of Astronomy , did with diligence expect the revelation of a mighty Prince in Judaea at such time when a miraculous and extraordinary Star should appear : And therefore when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 〈◊〉 in the days of Herod the King , there came wise men , inspired by God , taught by Art , and perswaded by Prophecy , from the East to Jerusalem , saying , Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his Star in the East , and are come to worship him . The Greeks suppose this which was called a Star to have been indeed an Angel in a pillar of fire , and the semblance of a Star ; and it is made the more likely , by coming and standing directly over the humble roof of his Nativity , which is not discernible in the station of a Star , though it be supposed to be lower than the Orb of the Moon . To which if we add , that they only saw it , ( so far as we know , ) and that it appeared as it were by voluntary periods , it will not be very improbable but that it might be like the Angel that went before the sons of Israel in a pillar of fire by night , or rather like the little shining Stars sitting upon the Bodies of 〈◊〉 , Tharacus and Andronicus , Martyrs , when their bodies were searched for , in the days of Diocletian , and pointed at by those bright Angels . 9. This Star did not trouble Herod , till the Levantine Princes expounded the mysteriousness of it , and said it declared a King to be born in Jewry , and that the Star was his , not applicable to any signification but of a King's birth . And therefore although it was * no Prodigy nor Comet , foretelling Diseases , Plagues , War , and Death , but only the happy Birth of a most excellent Prince ; yet it brought affrightment to Herod and all Jerusalem : For when Herod the King had heard these things , he was troubled , and all Jerusalem with him . And thinking that the question of the Kingdom was now in dispute , and an Heir sent from Heaven to lay challenge to it , who brought a Star and the Learning of the East with him for evidence and probation of his Title , Herod thought there was no security to his usurped possession ; unless he could rescind the decrees of Heaven , and reverse the results and eternal counsels of Predestination . And he was resolved to venture it , first by craft , and then by violence . 10. And first , he calls the chief Priests and Scribes of the people together , and demanded of them , where CHRIST should be born ; and found by their joynt determination that Bethlehem of Judaea was the place designed by ancient Prophecy and God's Decree . Next he enquired of the Wise men concerning the Star , but privily , what time it appeared . For the Star had not motion certain and regular , by the laws of Nature ; but it so guided the Wise men in their journey , that it stood when they stood , moved not when they rested , and went forward when they were able , making no more haste than they did , who carried much of the business and imployment of the Star along with them . But when Herod was satisfied in his questions , he sent them to Bethlehem , with instructions to search diligently for the young child , and to bring him word , pretending that he would come and worship him also . 11. The Wise men prosecuted the business of their journey , and having heard the King , they departed , and the Star ( which , as it seems , attended their motion ) went before them , until it came and stood over where the young Child was ; where when they saw the Star , they rejoyced with exceeding great joy . Such a Joy as is usual to wearied Travellers when they are entring into their Inne , such a joy as when our hopes and greatest longings are laying hold upon the proper objects of their desires , a joy of certainty immediately before the possession : for that is the greatest Joy , which possesses before it is satisfied , and rejoyces with a joy not abated by the surfeits of possession , but heightned with all the apprehensions and fancies of hope , and the neighbourhood of fruition ; a joy of Nature , of Wonder , and of Religion . And now their hearts laboured with a throng of spirits and passions , and ran into the house to the embracement of Jesus even before their feet : But when they were come into the house , they saw the young Child with Mary his mother . And possibly their expectation was something lessened and their wonder heightned , when they saw their hope empty of pomp and gayety , the great King's Throne to be a Manger , a Stable to his Chamber of presence , a thin Court , and no Ministers , and the King himself a pretty Babe , and , but that he had a Star over his head , nothing to distinguish him from the common condition of children , or to excuse him from the miseries of a poor and empty fortune . 12. This did not scandalize those wise persons , but being convinced by that Testimony from Heaven , and the union of all Circumstances , they fell down and worshipped him , after the manner of the Easterlings when they do veneration to their Kings ; not with an empty Ave and gay blessing of fine words , but they bring presents , and come into his Courts ; for when they had opened their treasures , they presented unto him gifts , Gold , Frankincense , and Myrrh . And if these Gifts were mysterious beyond the acknowledgment of him to be the King of the Jews , and Christ that should come into the world ; Frankincense might signifie him to be acknowledged a God , Myrrh to be a Man , and Gold to be a King : Unless we chuse by Gold to signifie the acts of Mercy , by Myrrh the Chastity of minds and Purity of our bodies , to the incorruption of which Myrrh is especially instrumental , and by 〈◊〉 we intend our * Prayers , as the most apt presents and oblations to the honour and service of this young King. But however the fancies of Religion may represent variety of Idea's , the act of Adoration was direct and religious , and the Myrrh was medicinal to his tender body ; the Incense possibly no more than was necessary in a Stable , the first throne of his Humility ; and the Gold was a good Antidote against the present indigencies of his Poverty : Presents such as were used in all the Levant , ( especially in Arabia and Saba , to which the growth of Myrrh and Frankincense were proper ) in their addresses to their God and to their King , and were instruments with which under the veil of Flesh they worshipped the Eternal Word ; the Wisdom of God under infant Innocency , the Almighty Power in so great Weakness , and under the lowness of Humane nature the altitude of Majesty and the infinity of Divine Glory . And so was verified the prediction of the Prophet * Esay under the type of the son of the Prophetess , Before a child shall have knowledge to cry , My Father and my Mother , he shall take the spoil of Damascus and Samaria from before the King of Assyria . 13. When they had paid the tribute of their Offerings and Adoration , Being warned in their sleep by an Angel not to return to Herod , they returned into their own countrey another way : where , having been satisfied with the pleasures of Religion , and taught by that rare demonstration which was made by Christ , how Man's Happiness did nothing at all consist in the affluence of worldly Possessions , or the tumours of Honour ; having seen the Eternal Son of God poor and weak , and unclothed of all exteriour Ornaments ; they renounced the World , and retired empty into the recesses of Religion , and the delights of Philosophy . Ad SECT . IV. Considerations upon the Apparition of the Angels to the Shepherds . 1. WHen the Angels saw that come to pass which Gabriel the great Embassador of God had declared , that which had been prayed for and expected four thousand years , and that by the merits of this new-born Prince their younger brethren and inferiours in the order of Intelligent creatures were now to be redeemed , that Men should partake the glories of their secret habitations , and should fill up those void places which the fall of Lucifer and the third part of the Stars had made , their joy was great as their understanding , and these mountains did leap with joy , because the valleys were filled with benediction and a fruitful shower from Heaven . And if at the Conversion of one sinner there is jubilation and a festival kept among the Angels , how great shall we imagine this rejoycing to be , when Salvation and Redemption was sent to all the World ? But we also , to whom the joy did more personally relate , ( for they rejoyced for our sakes ) should learn to estimate the grace done us , and believe there is something very extraordinary in the Piety and Salvation of a man , when the Angels , who in respect of us are unconcern'd in the communications , rejoyce with the joy of Conquerors , or persons suddenly 〈◊〉 from tortures and death . 2. But the Angels also had other motions : for besides the pleasures of that joy which they had in beholding Humane nature so highly exalted , and that God was Man , and Man was God ; they were transported with admiration at the ineffable Counsel of God's Predestination , prostrating themselves with adoration and modesty , seeing God so humbled , and Man so changed , and so full of charity , that God stooped to the condition of Man , and Man was inflam'd beyond the love of Seraphims , and was made more knowing than Cherubims , more established than Thrones , more happy than all the orders of Angels . The issue of this consideration teaches us to learn their Charity , and to exterminate all the intimations and beginnings of Envy , that we may as much rejoyce at the good of others as of our selves : for then we love good for God's sake , when we love good whereever God hath placed it ; and that joy is charitable which overflows our neighbours fields , when our selves are unconcerned in the personal accruements ; for so we are made partakers of all that fear God , when Charity unites their joy to ours , as it makes us partakers of their common sufferings . 3. And now the Angels , who had adored the Holy Jesus in Heaven , come also to pay their homage to him upon Earth ; and laying aside their flaming swords they take into their hands instruments of musick , and sing , Glory be to God on high . First signifying to us , that the Incarnation of the Holy Jesus was a very great instrument of the glorification of God , and those divine Perfections in which he is chiefly pleased to communicate himself to us were in nothing manifested so much as in the mysteriousness of this work . Secondly , And in vain doth man satisfie himself with complacencies and ambitious designs upon earth , when he sees before him God in the form of a servant , humble , and poor , and crying , and an infant full of need and weakness . 4. But God hath pleased to reconcile his Glory with our eternal Benefit ; and that also was part of the Angels song , In earth peace to men of good will. For now we need not with Adam to fly from the presence of the Lord , saying , I heard thy voice , and I was afraid , and hid my self ; for he from whom our sins made us once to flie now weeps , and is an infant in his Mother's arms , seeking strange means to be reconciled to us , hath forgotten all his anger , and is swallowed up with love , and 〈◊〉 with irradiations of amorous affections and good will : and the effects of this good will are not referred only to persons of heroical and eminent graces and operations , of vast and expensive charities , of prodigious abstinencies , of eremitical retirements , of ascetical diet , of perfect Religion , and canoniz'd persons ; but to all men of good will , whose Souls are hallowed with holy purposes and pious desires , though the beauties of the Religion and holy thoughts were not spent in exterior acts , nor called out by the opportunities of a rich and expressive fortune . 5. But here we know where the seat and regiment of Peace is placed , and all of it must pass by us and descend upon us as duty and reward . It proceeds from the Word Incarnate , from the Son of God undertaking to reconcile us to his Father ; and it is ministred and consigned unto us by every event and act of Providence , whether it be decyphered in characters of paternal Indulgence , or of Correction , or Absolution . For that is not Peace from above , to have all things according to our humane and natural wishes ; but to be in favour with God , that is Peace ; always remembring , that to be chastised by him is not a certain testimony of his mere wrath , but to all his servants a character of love and of paternal provision , since he chastises every son whom he receives . Whosoever seeks to avoid all this world's Adversity , can never find Peace : but he only who hath resolved all his Affections and placed them in the heart of God , he who denies his own Will , and hath killed Self-love , and all those enemies within that make Afflictions to become Miseries indeed and full of bitterness , he only enjoys this Peace ; and in proportion to every man's Mortification and Self-denial , so are the degrees of his Peace : and this is the Peace which the Angel proclaimed at the enunciation of that Birth which taught Humility , and Contempt of things below , and all their vainer glories , by the greatest argument in the world , even the Poverty of God incarnate . And if God sent his own , natural , only-begotten and beloved Son , in all the 〈◊〉 of Poverty and contempt ; that person is vain who thinks God will love him better than he loved his own Son , or that he will express his love any other or gentler way than to make him partaker of the fortune of his eldest Son. There is one other postern to the dwellings of Peace , and that is , good will to Men ; for so much Charity as we have to others , such a measure of Peace also we may enjoy at home : For Peace was only proclaimed to Men of good will , to them that are at peace with God and all the World. 6. But the Angel brought the Message to Shepherds , to persons simple and mean and humble , persons likely to be more apprehensive of the Mystery , and less of the Scandal , of the Poverty of the Messias : for they whose custom or affections dwell in secular Pomps , who are not used by Charity or Humility to stoop to an Evenness and consideration of their brethren , of equal natures though of unequal fortunes , are persons of all the world most indisposed and removed from the understanding of spiritual excellencies , especially when they do not come clothed with advantages of the world , and of such beauties which they admire . God himself in Poverty comes in a prejudice to them that love Riches , and * Simplicity is Folly to crafty persons , a Mean birth is an ignoble stain , Beggery is a scandal , and the Cross an unanswerable objection . But the Angel's moral in the circumstance of his address , and inviting the poor Shepherds to Bethlehem , is , That none are fit to come to Christ but those who are poor in spirit , despisers of the world , simple in their hearts , without craft and secular designs ; and therefore neither did the Angel tell the story to Herod , nor to the Scribes and Pharisees , whose ambition had ends contradictory to the simplicity and poverty of the Birth of Jesus . 7. These Shepherds when they conversed with Angels were watching over their flocks by night ; no Revellers , but in a painful and dangerous imployment , the work of an honest Calling , securing their Folds against incursions of wild beasts , which in those Countries are not seldom or infrequent . And Christ being the great Shepherd , ( and possibly for the analogie's sake the sooner manifested to Shepherds , ) hath made his Ministers overseers of their Flocks , distinguished in their particular Folds , and conveys the mysteriousness of his Kingdom first to the Pastors , and by their ministery to the Flocks : But although all of them be admitted to the ministery , yet those only to the interiour recesses and nearer imitations of Jesus who are watchful over their Flocks , assiduous in their labours , painful in their sufferings , present in the dangers of the Sheep , ready to interpose their persons and sacrifice their lives ; these are Shepherds who first converse with Angels , and finally shall enter into the presence of the Lord. But besides this symbol , we are taught in the significations of the letter , That he that is diligent in the business of an honest Calling , is then doing service to God , and a work so pleasing to him who hath appointed the sons of men to labour , that to these Shepherds he made a return and recompence by the conversation of an Angel ; and hath advanced the reputation of an honest and a mean imployment to such a testimony of acceptance , that no honest person , though busied in meaner offices , may ever hereafter in the estimation of Christ's disciples become contemptible . 8. The signs which the Angel gave to discover the Babe were no marks of Lustre and Vanity , but they should find , 1. a Babe , 2. swadled , 3. lying in a Manger : the first a testimony of his Humility , the second of his Poverty , the third of his Incommodity and uneasiness ; for Christ came to combate the whole body of Sin , and to destroy every Province of Satan's Kingdom ; for these are direct antinomies to the Lusts of the flesh , the Last of the eyes , and the Pride of life . Against the first Christ opposed his hard and uneasie Lodging ; against the second , the poorness of his Swadling-bands and Mantle ; and the third is combated by the great dignation and descent of Christ from a Throne of Majesty to the state of a sucking Babe . And these are the first Lessons he hath taught us for our imitation ; which that we may the better do , as we must take him for our pattern , so also for our helper , and pray to the Holy Child , and he will not only teach us , but also give us power and ability . The PRAYER . O Blessed and Eternal Jesu , at whose Birth the Quires of Angels sang praises to God , and proclaimed peace to Men , sanctifie my Will and inferiour Affections ; make me to be within the conditions of Peace , that I be holy and mortified , a despiser of the world and exteriour vanities , humble and charitable ; that by thy eminent example I may be so fixed in the designs and prosecution of the Ends of God and a blissful Eternity , that I be unmoved with the terrors of the world , unaltered with its allurements and seductions , not ambitious of its honour , not desirous of its fulness and plenty ; but make me diligent in the imployment thou givest me , faithful in discharge of my trust , modest in my desires , content in the issues of thy Providence : that in such dispositions I may receive and entertain visitations from Heaven , and Revelations of the Mysteries and blisses Evangelical ; that by such directions I may be brought into thy presence , there to see thy Beauties and admire thy Graces , and imitate all thy imitable Excellencies , and rest in thee for ever , in this world by the perseverance of a holy and comfortable life , and in the world to come in the participation of thy essential Glories and Felicities , O Blessed and Eternal Jesus . Considerations of the Epiphany of the B. Jesus by a Star , and the Adoration of Jesus by the Eastern Magi. 1. GOD , who is the universal Father of all Men , at the Nativity of the Messias gave notice of it to all the World , as they were represented by the grand Division of Jews and Gentiles ; to the Jewish Shepherds by an Angel , to the Eastern Magi by a Star. For the Gospel is of universal dissemination , not confined within the limits of a national Prerogative , but Catholick and diffused . As God's Love was , so was the dispensation of it , without respect of persons : for all being included under the curse of Sin , were to him equal and indifferent , undistinguishable objects of Mercy . And Jesus , descended of the Jews , was also the expectation of the Gentiles , and therefore communicated to all : the Grace of God being like the air we breathe , and it hath appeared to all men , saith S. Paul ; but the conveyances and communications of it were different in the degrees of clarity and illustration . The Angel told the Shepherds the story of the Nativity plainly and literally : The Star invited the Wise men by its rareness and preternatural apparition ; to which also , as by a foot-path , they had been led by the Prophecy of Balaam . 2. But here first the Grace of God prevents us ; without him we can do nothing ; he lays the first Stone in every Spiritual Building , and then expects by that strength he first gave us that we make the Superstructures . But as a Stone thrown into a River first moves the water , and disturbs its surface into a Circle , and then its own force wafts the neighbouring drops into a larger figure by its proper weight : so is the Grace of God the first principle of our spiritual motion , and when it moves us into its own figure , and hath actuated and ennobled our natural Powers by the influence of that first incentive , we continue the motion , and enlarge the progress . But as the Circle on the face of the waters grows weaker till it hath smoothed it self into a natural and even current , unless the force be renewed or continued : so does all our natural endeavour , when first set a-work by God's preventing Grace , decline to the imperfection of its own kind , unless the same force be made energetical and operative by the continuation and renewing of the same supernatural influence . 3. And therefore the Eastern Magi , being first raised up into wonder and curiosity by the apparition of the Star , were very far from finding Jesus by such general and indefinite significations ; but then the goodness of God's Grace increased its own influence ; for an inspiration from the Spirit of God admonished them to observe the Star , shewed the Star that they might find it , taught them to acknowledge it , instructed them to understand its purpose , and invited them to follow it , and never left them till they had found the Holy Jesus . Thus also God deals with us . He gives us the first Grace , and adds the second ; he enlightens our Understandings , and actuates our Faculties , and sweetly allures us by the proposition of Rewards , and wounds us with the arrows of his Love , and inflames us with fire from Heaven ; ever giving us new assistances or increasing the old , refreshing us with comforts or arming us with patience ; sometimes stirring our affections by the lights held out to our Understanding , sometimes bringing confirmation to our understanding by the motion of our Affections , till by variety of means we at last arrive at Lethlehem , in the service and entertainments of the Holy Jesus . Which we shall certainly do , if we follow the invitations of Grace and exteriour assistances which are given us to instruct us , to help us , and to invite us , but not to force our endeavours and cooperations . 4. As it was an unsearchable wisdom , so it was an unmeasurable grace of Providence and dispensation which God did exhibit to the Wise men , to them , as to all men , disposing the Ministeries of his Grace sweetly , and by proportion to the capacities of the person suscipient . For God called the Gentiles by such means which their Customs and Learning had made prompt and easie . For these Magi were great Philosophers and Astronomers , and therefore God sent a miraculous Star to invite and lead them to a new and more glorious light , the lights of Grace and Glory . And God so blessed them in following the Star , to which their innocent Curiosity and national Customs were apt to lead them ; that their Custom was changed to Grace , and their Learning heightned with Inspiration , and God crowned all with a spiritual and glorious event . It was not much unlike , which God did to the Princes and Diviners among the Philistines , who sent the Ark back with five golden Emrods and five golden Mice ; an act proportionable to the Custom and sense of their Nation and Religion : yet God accepted their opinion and divination to the utmost end they designed it , and took the plagues of Emrods and Mice from them . For oftentimes the Custom or the Philosophy of the opinions of a Nation are made instrumental , through God's acceptance , to ends higher than they can produce by their own energy and intendment . And thus the Astrological Divinations of the Magi were turned into the order of a greater design than the whole Art could promise , their imployment being altered into Grace , and Nature into a Miracle . But then when the Wise men were brought by this means , and had seen Jesus , then God takes ways more immediate and proportionable to the Kingdom of Grace : the next time God speaks to them by an Angel. For so is God's usual manner to bring us to him ; first , by ways agreeable to us , and then to increase , by ways agreeable to himself . And when he hath furnished us with new capacities , he gives new Lights in order to more perfect imployments : and , To him that hath shall be given full measure , pressed down , shaken together , and running over ; the eternal kindness of God being like the Sea , which delights to run in its old Chanel , and to fill the hollownesses of the Earth which it self hath made , and hath once watered . 5. This Star , which conducted the Wise men to Bethlehem , ( if at least it was proproperly a Star , and not an Angel ) was set in its place to be seen by all ; but was not observed , or not understood , nor its message obeyed , by any but the three Wise men . And indeed no man hath cause to complain of God , as if ever he would be deficient in assistances necessary to his Service ; but first the Grace of God separates us from the common condition of incapacity and indisposition , and then we separate our selves one from another by the use or neglect of this Grace : and God doing his part to us , hath cause to complain of us , who neglect that which is our portion of the work . And however even the issues and the kindnesses of God's Predestination and antecedent Mercy do very much toward the making the Grace to be effective of its purpose , yet the manner of all those influences and operations being moral , perswasive , reasonable and divisible , by concourse of various circumstances , the cause and the effect are brought nearer and nearer in various suscipients ; but not brought so close together , but that God expects us to do * something towards it ; so that we may say with S. Paul , It is not I , but the Grace of God that is with me : and at the same time , when by reason of our cooperation we actuate and improve God's Grace , and become distinguished from other persons more negligent under the same opportunities , God is he who also does distinguish us by the proportions and circumstantiate applications of his Grace to every singular capacity ; that we may be careful not to neglect the Grace , and yet to * return the intire glory to God. 6. Although God , to second the generous design of these wise personages in their Enquiry of the new Prince , made the Star to guide them through the difficulties of their journey , yet when they came to Jerusalem the Star disappeared ; God so resolving to try their Faith , and the activity of their desires ; to remonstrate to them that God is the Lord of all his Creatures , and a voluntary Dispenser of his own favours , and can as well take them away as indulge them ; and to engage them upon the use of ordinary means and ministeries when they are to be had : for now the extraordinary and miraculous Guide for a time did cease , that they being at Jerusalem might enquire of them whose office and profession of sacred Mysteries did oblige them to publish the MESSIAS . For God is so great a lover of Order , so regular and certain an exactor of us to use those ordinary ministeries of his own appointing , that he having used the extraordinary but as Architects do frames of wood , to support the Arches till they be built , takes them away when the work is ready , and leaves us to those other of his designation ; and hath given such efficacy to these , that they are as perswasive and operative as a Miracle ; and S. Paul's Sermon would convert as many , as if Moses should rise from the grave . And now the Doctrines of Christianity have not only the same truth , but the same evidence and virtue also they had in the midst of those prime demonstrations extraordinary by Miracle and Prophecy , if men were equally disposed . 7. When they were come to the Doctors of the Jews , they asked confidently , and with great openness , under the ear and eye of a Tyrant Prince , bloudy and timorous , jealous and ambitious , Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? and so gave evidence of their Faith , of their Magnanimity , and fearless confidence and profession of it , and of their love of the mystery and object , in pursuance of which they had taken so troublesome and vexatious journeys : and besides that they upbraided the tepidity and 〈◊〉 baseness of the Jewish Nation , who stood unmoved and unconcerned by all the Circumstances of wonder , and stirred not one step to make enquiry after or to visit the new-born King ; they also teach us to be open and confident in our Religion and Faith , and not to consider our temporal , when they once come to contest against our Religious interests . 8. The Doctors of the Jews told the Wise men where Christ was to be born , the Magi they address themselves with haste to see him and to worship , and the Doctors themselves stir not ; God not only serving himself with truth out of the mouths of impious persons , but magnifying the recesses of his Counsel and Wisdom and Predestination , who uses the same Doctrine to glorifie himself and to confound his enemies , to save the Scholars and to condemn the Tutors , to instruct one and upbraid the other ; making it an instrument of Faith , and a conviction of Infidelity : the Sermons of the Doctors in such cases being like the spoils of Bevers , Sheep and Silk-worms , design'd to clothe others , and are made the occasions of their own nakedness , and the causes of their death . But as it is a demonstration of the Divine Wisdom , so it is of humane Folly ; there being no greater imprudence in the world , than to do others advantage , and to neglect our own . If thou dost well unto thy 〈◊〉 , men will speak good of thee : but if thou beest like a Chanel in a Garden , through which the water runs to cool and moisten the herbs , but nothing for its own use ; thou buildest a fortune to them upon the ruines of thine own house , while after thy preaching to others , thou thy self dost become a cast-away . 9. When the Wise men departed from Jerusalem , the Star again appeared , and they rejoyced with exceeding great joy : and indeed to new Converts and persons in their first addresses to the worship of God such spiritual and exterior Comforts are often indulged , because then God judges them to be most necessary , as being invitations to Duty by the entertainments of our affections with such sweetnesses , which represent the glory of the reward by the Antepasts and refreshments dispensed even in the ruggedness of the way , and incommodities of the journey . All other delights are the pleasures of Beasts , or the sports of Children ; these are the Antepasts and preventions of the full Feasts and overflowings of Eternity . 10. When they came to Bethlehem , and the Star pointed them to a Stable , they entred in , and being enlightned with a Divine Ray proceeding from the face of the Holy Child , and seeing through the cloud , and passing through the scandal of his mean Lodging and poor condition , they bowed themselves to the earth ; first giving themselves an Oblation to this great King , then they made offering of their Gifts ; for a man's person is first accepted , then his Gift ; God first regarded Abel , and then accepted his Offering : which we are best taught to understand by the present instance ; for it means no more , but that all outward Services and Oblations are made acceptable by the prior presentation of an inward Sacrifice . If we have first presented our selves , then our Gift is pleasant , as coming but to express the truth of the first Sacrifice ; but if our Persons be not first made a Holocaust to God , the lesser Oblations of outward Presents are like Sacrifices without Salt and Fire , nothing to make them pleasant or religious . For all other sences of this Proposition charge upon God the distinguishing and acceptation of Persons , against which he solemnly protests : God regards no man's Person , but according to the doing of his Duty ; but then God is said first to accept the Person , and then the Gist , when the Person is first sanctified and given to God by the vows and habits of a holy life , and then all the actions of his Religion are homogeneal to their principle , and accepted by the acceptation of the man. 11. These Magi presented to the Holy Babe Gold , Frankincense and Myrrh , protesting their Faith of three Articles by the symbolical Oblation : By Gold , that he was a King ; by Incense , that he was a God ; by Myrrh , that he was a Man. And the Presents also were representative of interiour Vertues : the Myrrh signifying Faith , Mortification , Chastity , Compunction , and all the actions of the Purgative way of Spiritual life ; the Incense signifying Hope , Prayer , Obedience , good Intention , and all the actions and Devotions of the Illuminative ; the giving the Gold representing Love to God and our Neighbours , the Contempt of riches , Poverty of spirit , and all the eminencies and spiritual riches of the Unitive life . And these Oblations if we present to the Holy Jesus , both our Persons and our Gifts shall be accepted , our Sins shall be purged , our Understandings enlightned , and our Wills united to this Holy Child , and entitled to a communion of all his Glories . 12. And thus in one view and two Instances God hath drawn all the world to himself by his Son Jesus , in the Instance of the Shepherds and the Arabian Magi , Jews and Gentiles , Learned and Unlearned , Rich and Poor , Noble and Ignoble ; that in him all Nations , and all Conditions , and all Families , and all persons might be blessed ; having called all by one Star or other , by natural Reason or by the secrets of Philosophy , by the Revelations of the Gospel or by the ministery of Angels , by the Illuminations of the Spirit or by the Sermons and Dictates of spiritual Fathers ; and hath consigned this Lesson to us , That we must never appear before the Lord empty , offering Gifts to him by the expences or by the affections of Charity , either the worshipping or the oblations of Religion , either the riches of the World or the love of the Soul : for if we cannot bring Gold with the rich Arabians , we may with the poor Shepherds come and kiss the Son , lest he be angry ; and in all cases come and serve him with fear and reverence , and spiritual rejoycings . The PRAYER . MOst Holy Jesu , Thou art the Glory of thy people Israel , and a light to the Gentiles , and wert pleased to call the Gentiles to the adoration and knowledge of thy sacred Person and Laws , communicating the inestimable riches of thy holy Discipline to all , with an universal undistinguishing Love ; give unto us spirits docible , pious , prudent and ductile , that no motion or invitation of Grace be ineffectual , but may produce excellent effects upon us , and the secret whispers of thy Spirit may prevail upon our Affections in order to Piety and Obedience , as certainly as the loudest and most clamorous Sermons of the Gospel . Create in us such Excellencies as are fit to be presented to thy glorious Majesty ; accept of the Oblation of my self , and my entire services : but be thou pleased to verifie my Offering , and secure the possession to thy self , that the enemy may not pollute the Sacrifice , or divide the Gift , or question the Title ; but that I may be wholly thine , and for ever , clarifie my Understanding , sanctifie my Will , replenish my Memory with arguments of Piety ; then shall I present to thee an Oblation rich and precious as the treble gift of the Levantine Princes . Lord , I am thine , reject me not from thy favour , exclude me not from thy presence ; then shall I serve thee all the days of my life , and partake of the glories of thy Kingdom , in which thou reignest gloriously and eternally . Amen . SECT . V. Of the Circumcision of JESUS , and his Presentation in the Temple . The Circumcision of Iesus . S. LUKE . 2. 21. And when eight daies were accomphshed for the circumcising of the Child , his name was called Iesus , which was so named of the angel , before he was conceived in the Wombe . The Purification and Presentation . S. LUKE . 2. 22. And when the dayes of her purification were accomplished , they brought him to Ierusalem , to present him to the Lord. 1. AND now the Blessed Saviour of the World began to do the work of his Mission and our Redemption : and because Man had prevaricated all the Divine Commandments , to which all humane nature respectively to the persons of several capacities was obliged , and therefore the whole Nature was obnoxious to the just rewards of its demerits ; first Christ was to put that Nature he had assumed into a saveable condition , by fulfilling his Father's preceptive will , and then to reconcile it actually , by suffering the just deservings of its Prevarications . He therefore addresses himself to all the parts of an active Obedience , and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child , he exposed his tender body to the sharpness of the circumcising stone , and shed his bloud in drops , giving an earnest of those rivers which he did afterwards pour out for the cleansing all Humane nature , and extinguishing the wrath of God. 2. He that had no sin , nor was conceived by natural generation , could have no adherences to his Soul or Body which needed to be pared away by a Rite , and cleansed by a Mystery : neither indeed do we find it expressed , that * Circumcision was ordained for abolition or pardon of original sin , ( it is indeed presumed so ) but it was instituted to be a Seal of a Covenant between God and Abraham , and Abraham's posterity , a seal of the righteousness of Faith , and therefore was not improper for him to suffer who was the child of Abraham , and who was the Prince of the Covenant , and the author and finisher of that Faith which was consigned to 〈◊〉 in Circumcision . But so mysterious were all the actions of Jesus , that this one served many ends . For 1. It gave demonstration of the verity of Humane nature . 2. So he began to fulfil the Law. 3. And took from himself the scandal of Uncircumcision , which would eternally have prejudiced the Jews against his entertainment and communion . 4. And then he took upon him that Name which declared him to be the Saviour of the World ; which as it was consummate in the bloud of the Cross , so was it inaugurated in the bloud of Circumcision : For when the eight days were accomplished for circumcising of the Child , his name was called JESUS . 3. But this holy Family , who had laid up their joys in the eyes and heart of God , longed till they might be permitted an address to the Temple , that there they might present the Holy Babe unto his Father ; and indeed that he , who had no other , might be brought to his own house . For although , while he was a child , he did differ nothing from a servant , yet he was the Lord of the place : It was his Father's house , and he was the Lord of all ; and therefore when the days of the Purification were accomplished , they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord , to whom he was holy , as being the first-born ; the first-born of his Mother , the only-begotten son of his Father , and the first-born of every creature . And they did with him according to the Law of Moses , offering a pair of Turtle-doves for his redemption . 4. But there was no publick act about this Holy Child but it was attended by something miraculous and extraordinary . And at this instant the Spirit of God directed a holy person into the Temple , that he might feel the fulfilling of a Prophecy made to himself , that he might before his death behold the Lord 's CHRIST , and imbrace the glory and consolation of Israel and the light of the Gentiles in his arms : for old Simeon came by the Spirit into the Temple , and when the Parents brought in the Child Jesus , then took he him up in his arms , and blessed God , and prophesied , and spake glorious things of that Child , and things sad and glorious concerning his Mother ; that the Child was set for the rising and falling of many in Israel , for a sign that should be spoken against ; and the bitterness of that contradiction should pierce the heart of the holy Virgin-Mother like a Sword , that her joy at the present accidents might be attempered with present revelation of her future trouble , and the excellent favour of being the Mother of God might be crowned with the reward of Martyrdom , and a Mother's love be raised up to an excellency great enough to make her suffer the bitterness of being transfixed with his love and sorrow as with a Sword. 5. But old Anna the Prophetess came also in , full of years and joy , and found the reward of her long prayers and fasting in the Temple ; the long-looked-for redemption of Israel was now in the Temple , and she saw with her eyes the Light of the World , the Heir of Heaven , the long-looked-for Messias , whom the Nations had desired and expected till their hearts were faint , and their eyes dim with looking farther and apprehending greater distances . She also prophesied and gave thanks unto the Lord. But Joseph and his Mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him . Ad SECT . V. Considerations upon the Circumcision of the Holy Child JESVS . 1. WHen eight days were come , the Holy Jesus was circumcised , and shed the first-fruits of his Bloud , offering them to God like the prelibation of a Sacrifice , and earnest of the great seas of effusion designed for his Passion , not for the expiation of any stain himself had contracted , for he was spotless as the face of the Sun , and had contracted no wrinkle from the aged and polluted brow of Adam ; but it was an act of Obedience , and yet of Choice and voluntary susception , to which no obligation had passed upon him in the condition of his own person . For as he was included in the vierge of Abraham's posterity , and had put on the common outside of his Nation , his Parents had intimation enough to pass upon him the Sacrament of the National Covenant , and it became an act of excellent Obedience : but because he was a person extraordinary , and exempt from the reasons of Circumcision , and himself in person was to give period to the Rite , therefore it was an act of Choice in him , and in both the capacities becomes a precedent of Duty to us , in the first of Obedience , in the second of Humility . 2. But it is considerable , that the Holy Jesus , who might have pleaded his exemption , especially in a matter of pain and dishonour , yet chose that way which was more severe and regular ; so teaching us to be strict in our duties , and sparing in the rights of priviledge and dispensation . We pretend every indisposition of body to excuse us from penal duties , from Fasting , From going to Church ; and instantly we satisfie our selves with saying , God will have mercy , and not sacrifice ; so making our selves Judges of our own privileges , in which commonly we are parties against God , and therefore likely to pass unequal sentence . It is not an easie argument that will bring us to the severities and rigours of Duty , but we snatch at occasions of dispensation , and therefore possibly may mistake the justice of the opportunities by the importunities of our desires . However , if this too much easiness be in any case excusable from sin , yet in all cases it is an argument of infirmity , and the regular observation of the Commandment is the surer way to Perfection . For not every inconvenience of body is fit to be pleaded against the inconvenience of losing spiritual advantages , but only such which upon prudent account does intrench upon the Laws of Charity ; or such whose consequent is likely to be impediment of a duty in a greater degree of loss than the present omission . For the Spirit being in many perfections more eminent than the Body , all spiritual improvements have the same proportions ; so that if we were just estimators of things , it ought not to be less than a great incommodity to the Body which we mean to prevent by the loss of a spiritual benefit , or the omission of a Duty : he were very improvident , who would lose a Finger for the good husbandry of saving a Ducat ; and it would be an unhandsome excuse from the duties of Repentance to pretend care of the Body . The proportions and degrees of this are so nice and of so difficult determination , that men are more apt to untie the girdle of Discipline with the loose hands of dispensation and excuse , than to strain her too hard by the strictures and bindings of severity ; but the errour were the surer on this side . 3. The Blessed Jesus refused not the signature of this bloudy Covenant , though it were the Character of a Sinner ; and did Sacramentally rescind the impure reliques of Adam , and the contractions of evil customes ; which was the greatest descent of Humility that is imaginable , that he should put himself to pain to be reckoned amongst sinners , and to have their Sacraments and their Protestations , though his Innocence was purer than the flames of Cherubim . But we use arts to seem more righteous than we are , desiring rather to be accounted holy , than to be so ; as thinking the vanity of Reputation more useful to us than the happiness of a remote and far distant Eternity . But if ( as it is said ) Circumcision was ordained , besides the signing of the Covenant , to abolish the guilt of Original sin , we are willing to confess that , it being no act of humiliation to confess a crime that all the world is equally guilty of , that could not be avoided by our timeliest industry , and that serves us for so many ends in the excuse and minoration of our actual impieties : so that as Diogenes trampled upon Plato's pride with a greater fastuousness and humorous ostentation ; so we do with Original sin , declaim against it bitterly , to save the others harmless , and are free in the publication of this , that we may be instructed how to conceal the actual . The Blessed Jesus had in him no principle of Sin , original nor actual , and therefore this designation of his in submitting himself to the bloudy Covenant of Circumcision , which was a just express and Sacramental abscission of it , was an act of glorious Humility ; yet our charging of our selves so promptly with Adam's fault , what-ever truth it may have in the strictness of Theology , hath ( forsitan ) but an ill end in Morality ; and so I now consider it without any reflexion upon the precise Question . 4. For though the Fall of Adam lost to him all those supernatural assistences which God put into our Nature by way of Grace , yet it is by accident that we are more prone to many sins than we are to Vertue . Adam's sin did discompose his Understanding and Affections ; and every sin we do does still make us more unreasonable , more violent , more sensual , more apt still to the multiplication of the same or the like actions : the first rebellion of the inferiour Faculties against the Will and Understanding , and every victory the Flesh gets over the Spirit , makes the inferiour insolent , strong , tumultuous , domineering and triumphant upon the proportionable ruines of the spirit , blinding our Reason and binding our Will ; and all these violations of our Powers are increased by the perpetual ill customes , and false principles , and ridiculous guises of the World ; which makes the later Ages to be worse than the * former , unless some other accident do intervene to stop the ruine and declension of Vertue , such as are God's Judgments , the sending of Prophets , new imposition of Laws , messages from Heaven , diviner Institutions , such as in particular was the great Discipline of Christianity . And even in this sense here is origination enough for sin , and impairing of the reasonable Faculties of humane Souls , without charging our faults upon Adam . 5. But besides this , God , who hath propounded to Man glorious conditions , and design'd him to an excellent state of Immortality , hath required of him such a duty as shall put man to labour , and present to God a service of a free and difficult obedience . For therefore God hath given us Laws which come cross and are restraints to our natural inclinations , that we may part with something in the service of God which we value . For although this is nothing in respect of God , yet to Man it is the greatest he can do . What thanks were it to man to obey God in such things which he would do though he were not commanded ? But to leave all our own desires , and to take up objects of God's propounding contrary to our own , and desires against our Nature , this is that which GOD design'd as a sacrifice of our selves to him . And therefore God hath made many of his Laws to be prohibitions in the matter of natural pleasure , and restraints of our sensitive appetite . Now this being become the matter of Divine Laws , that we should in many parts and degrees abstain from what pleases our senses , by this supervening accident it happens that we are very hardly weaned from sin , but most easily tempted to a Vice. And then we think we have reason to lay the fault upon Original sin and natural aversation from goodness , when this inclination to Vice is but accidental , and occasional upon the matter and sanction of the Laws . Our Nature is not contrary to Vertue , for the Laws of Nature and right Reason do not only oblige us , but * incline us to it ; but the instances of some Vertues are made to come cross to our Nature , that is , to our natural appetites , by reason of which it comes to pass that ( as * S. Paul says ) we are by nature the children of wrath , meaning , that by our natural inclinations we are disposed to contradict those Laws which lay fetters upon them , we are apt to satisfie the Lusts of the Flesh , for in these he there instances . 6. But in things intellectual and spiritual , where neither the one nor the other 〈◊〉 the sensual part , we are indifferent to Vertue or to Vice , and when we do amiss , it is wholly and in all degrees inexcusably our own fault . In the Old Law , when it was a duty to swear by the God of Israel in solemn causes , men were apt enough to swear by him only ; and that sometimes the Israelites did swear by the Queen of Heaven , it was by the ill example and desires to comply with the neighbour Nations , whose Daughters they sometime married , or whose armes they feared , or whose friendship they desired , or with whom they did negotiate . It is indifferent to us to love our Fathers and to love strangers , according as we are determined by custom or education . Nay , for so much of it as is natural and original , we are more inclined to love them than to disrepute them ; and if we disobey them , it is when any injunction of theirs comes cross to our natural desires and purposes . But if from our infancy we be told concerning a stranger that he is our Father , we frame our affections to nature , and our nature to custome and education , and are as apt to love him who is not , and yet is said to be , as him who is said not to be , and yet indeed is our natural Father . 7. And in sensual things , if GOD had commanded Polygamy or promiscuous Concubinate , or unlimited Eatings and Drinkings , it is not to be supposed but that we should have been ready enough to have obeyed God in all such impositions ; and the sons of Israel never murmured when God bad them borrow jewels and ear-rings ; and spoil the Egyptians : But because God restrained these desires , our duties are the harder , because they are fetters to our Liberty , and contradictions to those natural inclinations , which also are made more active by evil custom and unhandsome educations . From which Premisses we shall observe in order to practice , That sin creeps upon us in our education * so tacitely and undiscernibly , that we mistake the cause of it , and yet so prevalently and effectually , that we judge it to be our very nature , and charge it upon Adam , to lessen the imputation upon us , or to increase the licence or the confidence , when every one of us is the Adam , the man of sin , and the parent of our own impurities . For it is notorious that our own iniquities do so discompose our naturals , and evil customs and examples do so incourage impiety , and the Law of God enjoyns such Vertues which do violence to Nature , that our proclivity to sin is occasioned by the accident , and is caused by our selves ; * what-ever mischief Adam did to us , we do more to our selves . We are taught to be revengeful in our Cradles ; and are taught to strike our Neighbour as a means to still our frowardness , and to satisfie our wranglings . Our Nurses teach us to know the greatness of our Birth , or the riches of our Inheritance , or they learn us to be proud , or to be impatient , before they learn us to know God , or to say our Prayers . And then , because the use of Reason comes at no definite time , but insensibly and divisibly , we are permitted such acts with impunity too long , deferring to repute them to be sins , till the habit is grown strong , natural and masculine : and because from the infancy it began in inolinations , and tender overtures and slighter actions , Adam is laid in the fault , and Original sin did all : and this clearly we therefore confess , * that our faults may seem the less , and the misery be pretended natural , that it may be thought to be irremediable , and therefore we not engaged to endeavour a cure ; so that the confession of our original sin is no imitation of Christ's Humility in suffering Circumcision , but too often an act of Pride , Carelesness , Ignorance and Security . 8. At the Circumcision his Parents imposed the Holy Name told to the Virgin by the Angel , his Name was called JESUS ; a Name above every name . For in old times God was known by names of Power , of Nature , of Majesty : But his name of Mercy was reserved till now , when God did purpose to pour out the whole treasure of his Mercy by the mediation and ministry of his Holy Son. And because God gave to the Holy Babe the name in which the treasures of Mercy were deposited , and exalted this name above all names , we are taught that the purpose of his Counsel was , to exalt and magnifie his Mercy above all his other works , he being delighted with this excellent demonstration of it , in the Mission , and Manifestation , and Crucifixion of his Son ; he hath changed the ineffable Name into a name utterable by man , and desirable by all the world , the Majesty is all arrayed in robes of Mercy , the Tetragrammation or adorable Mystery of the Patriarchs is made fit for pronunciation and expression when it becometh the name of the Lord 's CHRIST . And if JEHOVAH be full of majesty and terrour , the name JESUS is full of sweetness and mercy . It is GOD clothed with circumstances of facility , and opportunities of approximation . The great and highest name of GOD could not be pronounced truly , till it came to be sinished with a Guttural that made up the name given by this Angel to the Holy Child ; nor God received or entertained by men , till he was made humane and sensible by the adoption of a sensitive nature , like Vowels pronunciable by the intertexture of a Consonant . Thus was his Person made tangible , and his Name utterable , and his Mercy brought home to our necessities , and the Mystery made explicate , at the Circumcision of this Holy Babe . 9. But now God's mercy was at full Sea , now was the time when God made no reserves to the effusion of his mercy . For to the Patriarchs and persons of eminent Sanctity and imployment in the elder Ages of the World , God , according to the degrees of his manifestation or present purpose , would give them one letter of this ineffable Name . For the reward that Abraham had in the change of his name was , that he had the honour done him to have one of the letters of Jehovah put into it ; and so had Joshua , when he was a type of Christ , and the Prince of the Israelitish Armies : and when God took away one of these letters , it was a curse . But now he communicated all the whole Name to this Holy Child , and put a letter more to it , to signifie that he was the glory of God , the express image of his Father's person , God Eternal ; and then manifested to the World in his Humanity , that all the intelligent world who expected Beatitude , and had treasured all their hopes in the ineffable Name of GOD , might find them all with ample returns in this Name of JESUS , which God hath exalted above every name , even above that by which God in the Old Testament did represent the greatest awfulness of his Majesty . This miraculous Name is above all the powers of Magical Inchantments , the nightly rites of Sorcerers , the Secrets of Memphis , the Drugs of Thessaly , the silent and mysterious Murmurs of the wise Chaldees , and the Spells of Zoroastres : This is the Name at which the Devils did tremble , and pay their inforced and involuntary adorations , by confessing the Divinity , and quitting their possessions and usurped habitations . If our prayers be made in this Name , God opens the windows of Heaven , and rains down benediction : at the mention of this Name the blessed Apostles , and Hermione the daughter of St. Philip , and Philotheus the son of Theophila , and St. Hilarion , and St. Paul the Eremite , and innumerable other Lights who followed hard after the Sun of Righteousness . wrought great and prodigious Miracles : Signs and wonders and healings were done by the Name of the Holy Child JESUS . This is the Name which we should ingrave in our hearts , and write upon our fore-heads , and pronounce with our most harmonious accents , and rest our faith upon , and place our hopes in , and love with the overflowings of charity , and joy , and adoration . And as the revelation of this Name satisfied the hopes of all the World , so it must determine our worshippings , and the addresses of our exteriour and interiour Religion : it being that Name whereby God and God's mercies are made presential to us , and proportionate objects of our Religion and affections . The PRAYER . MOst Holy and ever-Blessed Jesu , who art infinite in Essence , glorious in Mercy , mysterious in thy Communications , affable and presential in the descents of thy Humanity ; I adore thy glorious Name , whereby thou hast shut up the abysses , and opened the gates of Heaven , restraining the power of Hell , and discovering and communicating the treasures of thy Father's mercies . O Jesu , be thou a JESUS unto me , and save me from the precipices and ruines of sin , from the expresses of thy Father's wrath , from the miseries and unsufferable torments of accursed spirits , by the power of thy Majesty , by the sweetnesses of thy Mercy , and sacred influences and miraculous glories of thy Name . I adore and worship thee in thy excellent Obedience and Humility , who hast submitted thy Innocent and spotless flesh to the bloudy Covenant of Circumcision . Teach me to practise so blessed and holy a precedent , that I may be humble and obedient to thy sacred Laws , severe and regular in my Religion , mortified in my body and spirit , of circumcised heart and tongue ; that what thou didst represent in symbol and mysterie , I may really express in the exhibition of an exemplar , pious and mortified life , cutting off all excrescences of my spirit , and whatsoever may minister to the flesh , or any of its ungodly desires ; that now thy holy Name is called upon me , I may do no dishonour to the Name , nor scandal to the Institution , but may do thee honour and worship and adorations of a pure Religion , O most Holy and ever-Blessed JESU . Amen . DISCOURSE II. Of the Vertue of Obedience . 1. THere are certain Excellencies either of habit or consideration , which Spiritual persons use to call General ways , being a dispersed influence into all the parts of good life , either directing the single actions to the right end , or managing them with right instruments , and adding special excellencies and formalities to them , or morally inviting to the repetition of them ; but they are like the general medicaments in Physick , or the prime instruments in Mathematical Disciplines : such as are the consideration of the Divine presence , the Example of JESUS , right Intention ; and such also is the vertue of Obedience , which perfectly unites our actions to God , and conforms us to the Divine will , which is the original of goodness , and sanctifies and makes a man an holocaust to God , which contains in it eminently all other Graces , but especially those Graces whose essence consists in a conformity of a part or the whole , ( such are Faith , Humility , Patience and Charity ; ) which gives quietness and tranquillity to the spirit , and is an Antepast of Paradise , ( where their Jubilee is the perpetual joys of Obedience , and their doing is the enjoying the Divine pleasure ; ) which adds an excellency and lustre to pious actions , and hallows them which are indifferent , and lifts up some actions from their unhallowed nature to circumstances of good and of acceptation . If a man says his prayers or communicates out of custome , or without intuition of the Precept and divine Commandment , the act is like a Ship returning from her voyage without her venture and her burthen , as unprofitable as without stowage : But if God commands us either to eat or to abstain , to sleep or to be waking , to work or to keep a Sabbath ; these actions , which are naturally neither good nor evil , are sanctified by the Obedience , and rank'd amongst actions of the greatest excellency . And this also was it which made Abraham's offer to kill his Son , and the Israelites spoiling the Egyptians , to become acts laudable , and not unjust : they were acts of Obedience , and therefore had the same formality and essence with actions of the most spiritual Devotions . God's command is all our rule for practice , and our Obedience united to the Obedience of Jesus is all our title to acceptance . 2. But by Obedience I do not here mean the exteriour execution of the work , for so , Obedience is no Grace distinct from the acting any or all the Commandments : but besides the doing of the thing , ( for that also must be presupposed ) it is a sacrifice of our proper Will to God , a chusing the duty because God commands it . For beasts also carry burthens and do our commands by compulsion : and the fear of slaves and the rigour of task-masters made the number of bricks to be compleated , when Israel groaned and cried to God for help . But sons that labour under the sweet paternal regiment of their Fathers , and the influence of love , they love the precept , and do the imposition , with the same purposes and compliant affections with which the Fathers made it . When Christ commanded us to renounce the World , there were some that did think it was a hard saying , and do so still ; and the young rich man forsook him upon it : but Ananias and Sapphira , upon whom some violences were done by custome , or the excellent Sermons of the Apostles , sold their possessions too , but it was so against their will , that they retain'd part of it : but St. Paul did not only forsake all his secular fortunes , but counted all to be dross that he might gain Christ ; he gave his Will , made an offertory of that , as well as of his goods , chusing the act which was enjoyned . This was the Obedience the Holy Jesus paid to his heavenly Father , so voluntary , that it was meat to him to do his Father's will. 3. And this was intended always by God , [ My son , give me thy heart ; ] and particularly by the Holy Jesus , for in the saddest instance of all his Precepts , even that of suffering persecution , we are commanded to rejoyce , and to be exceeding glad . And so did those holy Martyrs in the primitive Ages , who upon just grounds , when God's glory or the 〈◊〉 of the Church had interest in it , they offered themselves to Tyrants , and dared the violence of the most cruel and bowelless hang-men . And this is the best oblation we can present to God. To offer Gold is a present fit to be made by young beginners in Religion , not by men in Christianity ; yea , Crates the Theban threw his gold away , and so did Antisthenes : but to offer our Will to God , to give our selves , is the act of an Apostle , the proper act of Christians . And therefore when the Apostles made challenge of a reward for leaving all their possessions , Christ makes no reply to the instance , nor says , You who have left all , but , You who have followed me in the regeneration , shall sit upon twelve thrones , and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel : meaning , that the quitting the goods was nothing ; but the obedience to Christ , that they followed Jesus in the Regeneration , going themselves in pursuit of him , and giving themselves to him , that was it which intitled them to a Throne . 4. And this therefore God enjoyns , that our offerings to him may be intire and complete , that we pay him a holocaust , that we do his work without murmuring , and that his burthen may become easie , when it is born up by the wings of love and alacrity of spirit . For in effect this obedience of the Will is in true speaking and strict Theology nothing else but that Charity which gives excellency to Alms , and energy to Faith , and acceptance to all Graces . But I shall reduce this to particular and more minute considerations . 5. First , We shall best know that our Will is in the obedience by our prompt undertaking , by our chearful managing , by our swift execution ; for all degrees of delay are degrees of immorigerousness and unwillingness . And since time is extrinsecal to the act , and alike to every part of it , nothing determines an action but the Opportunity without , and the desires and Willingress within . And therefore he who deliberates beyond his first opportunity , and exteriour determination and appointment of the act , brings fire and wood , but wants a Lamb for the sacrifice ; and unless he offer up his Isaac , his beloved Will , he hath no ministery prepared for God's acceptance . He that does not repent to day , puts it to the Question whether he will repent at all or no. He that defers Restitution when all the Circumstances are fitted , is not yet resolved upon the duty . And when he does it , if he does it against his will , he does but do honorary Penance with a Paper upon his hat , & a Taper in his hand ; it may satisfie the Law , but not satisfie his Conscience ; it neither pleases himself , and less pleases God. A Sacrifice without a Heart was a sad and ominous presage in the superstition of the Roman Augurs , and so it is in the service of God ; for what the exhibition of the work is to man , that the presentation of the Will is to God. It is but a cold Charity to a naked begger to say , God help thee , and do nothing ; give him clothes , and he feels your Charity : But God , who is the searcher of the heart , his apprehension of actions relative to him is of the inward motions and addresses of the Will ; and without this our exteriour services are like the paying of a piece of mony in which we have defaced the image , it is not currant . 6. Secondly , But besides the Willingness to do the acts of express command , the readiness to do the Intimations and tacite significations of God's pleasure is the best testimony in the world that our Will is in the obedience . Thus did the Holy Jesus undertake a Nature of infirmity , and suffer a Death of shame and sorrow , and became obedient from the Circumcision even unto the death of the Cross ; not staying for a Command , but because it was his Father's pleasure Mankind should be redeemed . For before the susception of it he was not a person subjicible to a Command : It was enough that he understood the inclinations and designs of his Father's Mercies . And therefore God hath furnished us with instances of uncommanded Piety to be a touchstone of our Obedience . He that does but his endeavour about the express commands hath a bridle in his mouth , and is restrained by violence : but a willing spirit is like a greedy eye , devours all it sees , and hopes to make some proportionable returns and compensations of duty for his infirmity , by taking in the intimations of God's pleasure . When God commands Chastity , he that undertakes a holy Coelibate hath great obedience to the command of Chastity . God bids us give Alms of our increase ; he obeys this with great facility that sells all his goods , and gives them to the poor . And , provided our hastiness to snatch at too much does not make us let go our duty , like the indiscreet loads of too forward persons , too big , or too inconvenient and uncombin'd , there is not in the world a greater probation of our prompt Obedience , than when we look farther than the precise Duty , swallowing that and more with our ready and hopeful purposes ; nothing being so able to do miracles as Love , and yet nothing being so certainly accepted as Love , though it could do nothing in productions and exteriour ministeries . 7. Thirdly , but God requires that our Obedience should have another excellency to make it a becoming present to the Divine acceptance ; our Understanding must be sacrificed too , and become an ingredient of our Obedience . We must also believe that whatsoever God commands is most fitting to be commanded , is most excellent in it self , and the best for us to do . The first gives our Affections and desires to God , and this also gives our Reason , and is a perfection of Obedience not communicable to the duties we owe to Man. For God only is Lord of this faculty , and , being the fountain of all wisdom , therefore commands our Understanding , because he alone can satisfie it . We are bound to obey humane Laws , but not bound to think the Laws we live under are the most prudent Constitutions in the World. But God's Commandments are not only a lantern to our feet , and a light unto our paths , but a rule to our Reason , and satisfaction to our Understandings , as being the instruments of our address to God , and conveyances of his Grace , and manuductions to Eternity . And therefore St. John Climacus defines Obedience to be An unexamined and unquestioned motion , a voluntary death and sepulture of the Will , a life without curiosity , a laying aside our own discretion in the midst of the riches of the most excellent understandings . 8. And certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations than is deposited in an obedient Understanding , because that only can regulary produce the same affections , it admits of fewer degrees , and an infrequent alteration . But the actions proceeding from the Appetite , as it is determined by any other principle than a satisfied Understanding , have their heightnings and their declensions , and their changes and mutations according to a thousand accidents . Reason is more lasting than Desire , and with fewer means to be tempted ; but Affections and motions of appetite , as they are procured by any thing , so may they expire by as great variety of causes . And therefore to serve God by way of Understanding is surer , and in it self , unless it be by the accidental increase of degrees , greater , than to serve him upon the motion and principle of passions and desires ; though this be fuller of comfort and pleasure than the other . When Lot lived amongst the impure 〈◊〉 , where his righteous Soul was in a continual agony , he had few exteriour incentives to a pious life , nothing to enkindle the sensible flame of burning desires toward Piety ; but in the midst of all the discouragements of the world , nothing was left him but the way and precedency of a truly-informed Reason and Conscience . Just so is the way of those wise souls who live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation : where Piety is out of countenance , where Austerity is ridiculous , 〈◊〉 under persecution , no Examples to lead us on ; there the Understanding is left to be the guide , and it does the work the surest , for this makes the duty of many to be certain , regular , and chosen , constant , integral , and perpetual : but this way is like the life of an unmarried or a retired person , less of grief in it , and less of joy . But the way of serving God with the affections , and with the pleasures and entertainments of desires , is the way of the more passionate and imperfect , not in a man's power to chuse or to procure ; but comes by a thousand chances , meeting with a soft nature , credulous or weak , easie or ignorant , softned with fears or invited by forward desires . 9. Those that did live amidst the fervours of the primitive Charity , and were warmed by their fires , grew inflamed by contact and vicinity to such burning and shining lights . And they therefore grew to high degrees of Piety , because then every man made judgment of his own actions by the proportions which he saw before him , and believed all descents from those greater examples to be so many degrees from the Rule : And he that lives in a College of devout persons will compare his own actions with the Devotion and customes of that Society , and not with the remisness of persons he hears of in story , but what he sees and lives with . But if we live in an Age of Indevotion , we think our selves well assoiled if we be warmer than their Ice ; every thing which is above our example being eminent and conspicuous , though it be but like the light of a Gloworm or the sparkling of a Diamond , yet if it be in the midst of darkness , it is a goodly beauty . This I call the way of serving God by desires and affections : and this is altered by example , by publick manners , by external works , by the assignment of 〈◊〉 , by designation of conventions for prayer , by periods and revolutions of times of duty , by hours and solemnities ; so that a man shall owe his Piety to these chances , which although they are graces of God and instruments of Devotion , yet they are not always in our power ; and therefore they are but accidental ministeries of a good life , and the 〈◊〉 constant or durable . But when the principle of our Piety is a conformity of our Understanding to God's Laws , when we are instructed what to do , and therefore do it because we are satisfied it is most excellent to obey God ; this will support our Piety against objections , lead it on in despight of disadvantages ; this chuses God with Reason , and is not determined from without : and as it is in some degree necessary for all times , so it is the greatest security against the change of Laws and Princes , and Religions and Ages : when all the incentives of affection and exteriour determinations of our Piety shall cease , and perhaps all external offices , and the daily sacrifice , and Piety it self shall fail from the face of the Land ; then the obedience founded in the Understanding is the only lasting strength is left us to make retreat to , and to secure our conditions . Thus from the composition of the Will and Affections with our exteriour acts of obedience to God , our Obedience is made willing , swift and chearful ; but from the composition of the Understanding , our Obedience becomes strong , sincere and persevering ; and this is that which S. Paul calls our reasonable service . 10. Fourthly , To which if we add that our Obedience be universal , we have all the qualifications which make the duty to be pious and prudent . The meaning is , that we obey God in all his Sanctions , though the matter be in common account small and inconsiderable , and give no indulgence to our selves to recede from the Rule in any matter whatsoever . For the veriest minute of Obedience is worth our attention , as being by God esteemed the trial of our Obedience in a greater affair . He that is unjust in a little will be unjust in a greater , said our Blessed Saviour . And since to God all matter is alike , and no more accrues to him in an Hecatomb than in a piece of gumm , in an Ascetick severity than in a secular life , God regards not the matter of a precept , but the Obedience , which in all instances is the same ; and he that will prevaricate when the matter is 〈◊〉 , and by consequence the temptations to it weak and impotent , and soon confuted , will think he may better be excused when the temptations are violent and importunate , as it commonly happens in affairs of greater importance . He that will lie to save sixpence , will not stick at it when a thousand pound is the purchase ; and possibly there is more contempt and despite done to the Divine authority , when we disobey it in such particulars wherein the Obedience is most easie , and the temptations less troublesome : I do not say there is more injustice or more malice in a small Disobedience than in a greater , but there is either more contempt , or more negligence and dissolution of discipline , than in the other . 11. And it is no small temptation of the Devil soliciting of us not to be curious of scruples and grains , nor to disturb our peace for lighter Disobediences ; persuading us that something must be indulged to publick manners , something to the civilities of society , something to nature , and to the approaches of our passions , and the motions of our first desires ; but that we be not over-righteous . And true it is , that sometimes such surreptions and smaller undecencies are therefore pardoned and lessened almost to a nullity , because they dwell in the confines of things lawful and honest , and are not so notorious as to be separated from permissions by any publick , certain and universal cognisance , and therefore may pass upon a good man sometimes without observation . But it is a temptation when we think of neglecting them by a predetermined incuriousness , upon pretence they are small . But this must be reduced to more regular Conclusions . 12. First , Although smaller Disobediences , expressed in slight mis-becoming actions , when they come by surprise and sudden invasion , are through the mercies of God dashed in the very approach , their bills of accusation are thrown out , and they are not esteemed as competent instruments of separation from God's love ; yet when a smaller sin comes by design , and is acted with knowledge and deliberation , ( for then it is properly an act of Disobedience ) Malitia supplet defectum aetatis , The malice of the agent heightens the smalness of the act , and makes up the iniquity . To drink liberally once , and something more freely than the strict rules of Christian sobriety and temperance permit , is pardoned the easier , when without deliberation and by surprise the person was abused , who intended not to transgress a minute , but by little and little was mistaken in his proportions : but if a man by design shall estimate his draughts and his good fellowship , and shall resolve upon a little intemperance , thinking , because it is not very much , it is therefore none at all , that man hath mistaken himself into a crime ; and although a little wound upon the finger is very curable , yet the smallest prick upon the heart is mortal : So is a design and purpose of the smallest Disobedience in its formality as malicious and destructive , as in its matter it was pardonable and excusable . 13. Secondly , Although every lesser Disobedience , when it comes singly , destroys not the love of God ; ( for although it may lessen the habit , yet it takes not away its natural being , nor interrupts its acceptation , lest all the world should in all instants of time be in a damnable condition ) yet when these smaller obliquities are repeated , and no repentance intervenes , this repetition combines and unites the lesser till they be concentred , and by their accumulation make a crime : and therefore a careless reiterating and an incurious walking in mis-becoming actions is deadly and damnable in the return , though it was not so much at the setting forth . Every idle word is to be accounted for , but we hope in much mercy ; and yet he that gives himself over to immoderate * talking will swell his account to a vast and mountainous proportion , and call all the lesser escapes into a stricter judgment . He that extends his Recreation an hour beyond the limits of Christian prudence , and the analogie of its severity and imployment , is accountable to God for that improvidence and waste of Time ; but he that shall mis-spend a day , and because that sin is not scandalous like Adultery , or clamorous like Oppression , or unusual like Bestiality , or crying for revenge like detaining the portion of Orphans , shall therefore mis-spend another day without revocation of the first by an act of repentance and redemption of it , and then shall throw away a week , still adding to the former account upon the first stock , will at last be answerable for a habit of Idleness , and will have contracted a vain and impertinent spirit . For since things which in their own kind are lawful become sinful by the degree ; if the degree be heightned by intention , or become great like a heap of sand by a coacervation of the innumerable atoms of dust , the actions are as damnable as any of the natural daughters and productions of Hell , when they are entertained without scruple , and renewed without repentance , and continued without dereliction . 14. Thirdly , Although some inadvertencies of our life and lesser disobediences accidentally become less hurtful , and because they are entailed upon the infirmities of a good man , and the less wary customes and circumstances of society , are also consistent with the state of Grace ; yet all affection to the smallest sins becomes deadly and damnable . He that loves his danger shall perish in it , saith the Wise man ; and every friendly entertainment of an undecency invites in a greater Crime : for no man can love a small sin , but there are in the greater crimes of its kind more desirable flatteries , and more satisfactions of sensuality than in those suckers and sprigs of sin . At first a little Disobedience is proportionable to a man's temper , and his Conscience is not fitted to the bulk of a rude Crime : but when a man hath accepted the first insinuation of delight and swallowed it , that little sin is past , and needs no more to dispute for entrance ; then the next design puts in and stands in the same probability to succeed the first , and greater than the first had to make the entry . However , to love any thing that God hates is direct enmity with him ; and whatsoever the Instance be , it is absolutely inconsistent with Charity , and therefore incompetent with the state of Grace . So that if the sin be small , it is not a small thing that thou hast given thy love to it ; every such person perishes like a Fool , cheaply and ingloriously . 15. Fourthly , But it also concerns the niceness and prudence of Obedience to God to stand at farther distance from a Vice than we usually attend to . For many times Vertue and Vice differ but one degree , and the neighbourhood is so dangerous , that he who desires to secure his Obedience and Duty to God will remove farther from the danger . For there is a rule of Justice , to which if one degree more of severity be added it degenerates into Cruelty ; and a little more Mercy is Remissness and want of discipline , introduces licentiousness , and becomes unmercifulness as to the publick , and unjust as to the particular . Now this Consideration is heightned , if we observe that Vertue and Vice consist not in an indivisible point , but there is a latitude for either , which is not to be judged by any certain rules drawn from the nature of the thing , but to be estimated in proportion to the persons and other accidental Circumstances . He that is burthened with a great charge , for whom he is bound under a Curse and the crime of Infidelity to provide , may go farther in the acquisition , and be more provident in the use of his mony , than those persons for whom God hath made more ample provisions , and hath charged them with fewer burthens and engagements oeconomical . And yet no man can say , that just beyond such a degree of Care stands Covetousness , and thus far on this side is Carelesness , and a man may be in the confines of death before he be aware . Now the only way to secure our Obedience and duty in such cases is , to remove farther off , and not to dwell upon the confines of the enemies Countrey . My meaning is , that it is not prudent nor safe for a man to do whatsoever he lawfully may do . 16. For besides that we are often mistaken in our judgments concerning the lawfulness or unlawfulness of actions , he that will do all that he thinks he may lawfully do , if ever he does change his station and increase in giving himself liberty , will quickly arrive at doing things unlawful . It is good to keep a reserve of our liberty , and to restrain our selves within bounds narrower than the largest sense of the Commandment , that when our affections wander and enlarge themselves , ( as sometime or other they will do ) then they may enlarge beyond the ordinary , and yet be within the bounds of lawfulness . That of which men make a scruple and a question at first , after an habitual resolution of it stirs no more ; but then their question is of something beyond it . When a man hath accustomed himself to pray seven times a day , it will a little trouble his peace if he omits one or two of those times ; but if it be resolved then that he may please God with praying devoutly though but thrice every day , after he hath digested the scruples of this first question , possibly some accidents may happen that will put his Conscience and Reason to dispute whether three times be indispensably necessary : and still if he be far within the bounds of lawfulness , 't is well ; but if he be at the margent of it , his next remove may be into dissolution and unlawfulness . He that resolves to gain all that he may lawfully this year , it is odds but next year he will be tempted to gain something unlawfully . He that , because a man may be innocently angry , will never restrain his passion , in a little time will be intemperate in his anger , and mistake both his object and the degree . Thus facetiousness and urbanity entertained with an open hand will turn into jestings that are uncomely . 17. If you will be secure , remove your tent , dwell farther off . God hath given us more liberty than we may safely use ; and although God is so gracious as to comply much with our infirmities , yet if we do so too , as God's goodness in indulging liberty to us was to prevent our sinning , our complying with our selves will engage us in it : But if we imprison and confine our affections into a narrower compass , then our 〈◊〉 may be imperfect , but will not easily be criminal . The dissolution of a scrupulous and strict person is not into a vice , but into a less degree of vertue : he that makes a conscience of loud Laughter , will not easily 〈◊〉 drawn into the wantonnesses of Balls and Revellings , and the longer and more impure Carnivalls . This is the way to secure our Obedience ; and no men are so curious of their health , as they that are scrupulous of the Air they breathe in . But now for our Obedience to Man , that hath distinct considerations , and apart . 18. First , All obedience to Man is for God's sake ; for God imprinting his Authority upon the sons of men , like the Sun reflecting upon a cloud , produces a Parelius , or a representation of his own glory , though in great distances and imperfection : it is the Divine Authority , though character'd upon a piece of clay , and imprinted upon a weak and imperfect man. And therefore obedience to our Superiours must be universal in respect of persons ; to all Superiours . This precept is expresly Apostolical , Be subject to every constitution and authority of man for the Lord's sake : It is for God's sake , and therefore to every one , Whether it be to the King , as supreme , or to his Ministers in subordination . That 's for Civil government . For Ecclesiastical this ; Obey them that have the rule over you , and submit your selves ; for they watch for your souls , as they that must give account . All upon whom any ray of the Divine Authority is imprinted , whether it be in greater or smaller Characters , are in proportion to their authority to be obeyed ; to all upon the same ground ; [ for * there is no power but of God. ] So that no infirmity of person , no undervaluing circumstance , no exteriour accident is an excuse for disobedience : and to obey the Divine authority passing through the dictates of a wise , excellent and prudent Governour , but to neglect the impositions of a looser head , is to worship Christ onely upon the Mount Tabor , and in the glories of his 〈◊〉 , and to despise him upon Mount Calvary , and in the clouds of his inglorious and humble Passion : Not onely to the good and gentle , ( so * S. Peter , ) but to the harsh and rigid . And it was by Divine providence that all those many and stricter precepts of obedience to Governours in the New Testament were 〈◊〉 by instances of Tyrants , Persecutors , Idolaters , and Heathen Princes ; and for others amongst whom there was variety of disposition , there is no variety of imposition , but all excuses are removed , and all kinds of Governours drawn into the sanction and sacredness of Authority . 19. Secondly , Not onely to all Governours , but in all things we must obey . Children , obey your Parents in all things : and Servants , obey your Masters in all things . And this also is upon the same ground ; Do it as unto Christ ; as unto the Lord , and not unto men . But then this restrains the universality of obedience , that it may run within its own chanel ; as unto the Lord , therefore nothing against the Divine Commandment . For if God speaks to us by man , transmitting Laws for conservation of Civil society , for 〈◊〉 policy , for Justice and personal advantages , for the interests of Vertue and Religion , for discountenancing of Vice , we are to receive it with the same Veneration as if God spake himself to us immediately . But because by his terrour upon Mount Sinai he gave testimony how great favour it is to speak to us by the ministration of our brethren , it were a strange impudence , when we desire a proportionable and gentle instrument of Divine commands , we should for this very proportion despise the Minister ; like the frogs in the Apologue insulting upon their wooden King. But then if any thing come contrary to a Divine Law , know it is the voice of Jacob , of the Supplanter , not of the right Heir ; and though we must obey man for God's sake , yet we must never disobey God for man's sake . In all things else we finde no exception ; but according as the Superiours intend the obligation , and express it by the signature of Laws , Customes , Interpretations , Permissions , and Dispensations , that is , so far as the Law is obligatory in general , and not dispensed with in particular , so far Obedience is a duty in all instances os acts where no sin is ingredient . 20. Thirdly , And here also the smalness and cheapness of the duty does not tolerate disobedience ; for the despising the smallest Injunction is an act of as formal and direct Rebellion as when the prevarication is in a higher instance . It is here as in Divine Laws , but yet with some difference : For small things do so little cooperate to the end of humane Laws , that a smaller reason does by way of interpretation and tacite permission dispense , than can in a Divine Sanction though of the lowest offices . Because God commands duties not for the end to which they of themselves do co-operate ; but to make sacred his Authority , and that we by our obedience may confess him to be Lord : But in humane Laws the Authority is made sacred not primarily for it self , but principally that the Laws made in order to the conservation of Societies may be observed . So that in the neglect of the smallest of Divine Ordinances we as directly oppose God's great purpose and intendment as in greater matters ; God's dominion and authority ( the conservation of which was his principal intention ) is alike neglected : But in omitting an humane Imposition of small concernment the case is different ; it is certain there is not any considerable violence done to the publick interest by a contemptible omission of a Law : the thing is not small , if the Commonwealth be not safe , and all her great ends secured ; but if they be , then the Authority is inviolate , unless a direct contempt were intended , for its being was in order to that end , not for it self , as it is in the case of Divine Laws , but that the publick interest be safe . 21. And therefore as great matters of humane Laws may be omitted for great reasons , so may smaller matters for smaller reasons , but never without reason : for , causelesly and contemptuously are all one . But in the application of the particulars , either the Laws themselves , or Custom , or the prudence of a sincere righteous man , or of a wise and disinterest person , is to be the Judge . But let no man's confidence increase from the smalness of the matter to a contempt of the Authority ; for there are some sins whose malignity is accidentally increased by the slightness of the subject matter ; such are Blasphemy , Perjury , and the contempt of Authority . To blaspheme God for the loss of an Asper or a peny , to be forsworn in judgment for the rescuing of a few Maravides or a fivegroats fine , is a worse crime than to be perjur'd for the saving ten thousand pounds ; and to despise Authority , when the obedience is so easie as the wearing of a garment or doing of a posture , is a greater and more impudent contempt , than to despise Authority imposing a great burthen of a more considerable pressure , where humane infirmity may tempt to a disobedience , and lessen the crime . And let this caution also be inserted , that we do not at all neglect small Impositions , if there be direct and signal injunction in the particular instance . For as a great Body of Light transmitting his rays through a narrow hollowness , does by that small Pyramis represent all the parts of its magnitude and glory : so it may happen that a publick Interest , and the concernments of Authority , and the peace of a Church , and the integral obedience of the Subjects , and the conservation of a Community , may be transferred to us by an instance in its own nature inconsiderable ; such as are wearing of a Cognizance , remembring of a Word , carrying a Branch in time of War , and things of the same nature : And therefore when the hand of Authority is stretced out and held forth upon a Precept , and designs the duty upon particular reason , or with actual intuition ; there is not the same facility of being dispensed with , as in the neglected and unconsidered instances of other duties . This onely I desire to be observed ; That if death or any violent accident , imprisonment , loss of livelihood , or intolerable inconveniences be made accidentally consequent to the observing of a Law merely humane , the Law binds not in the particular instance . No man is bound to be a Martyr for a Ceremony , or to die rather than break a Canon , or to suffer Confiscation of goods for the pertinacious keeping of a civil Constitution . And it is not to be supposed that a Law-giver would have decreed a Rite , and bound the Lives of the subjects to it , which are of a far greater value than a Rite ; not only because it were tyrannical and unreasonable , but because the evil of the Law were greater than the good of it , it were against the reason of all Laws , and destroys the privileges of Nature , and it puts a man into a condition as bad as the want of all Laws ; for nothing is civilly or naturally worse than Death , to which the other evils arrive in their proportion . This is to be understood in particular and positive Precepts , introduced for reasons particular , that is , less than those are which combine all Societies , and which are the cement of all Bodies political ; I mean Laws ritual in the Church , and accidental and emergent in the State. And that which is the best sign to distinguish these Laws from others , is also the reason of the assertion . Laws decreed with a Penalty to the transgressours cannot bind to an evil greater than that Penalty . If it be appointed that we use a certain form of Liturgy under the forseiture of five pound for every omission , I am bound in Conscience to obey it where I can ; but I am supposed legally to be disabled , if any Tyrant-power shall threaten to kill me if I do , or make me pay an hundred pound , or any thing greater than the forfeiture of the Law. For all the civil and natural power of the Law is by its coercion , and the appendent punishment . The Law operates by rewards and punishments , by hope and fear , and it is unimaginable that the Law under a less penalty can oblige us in any case or accident to suffer a greater . For the compulsion of the Tyrant is greater than the coercion of the Law-giver ; and the Prince thinking the penalty annexed to be band sufficient , intended no greater evil to the transgressour than the expressed penalty ; and therefore much less would he have them that obey the Law by any necessity be forced to a greater evil : for then , Disobedience should escape better than 〈◊〉 . True it is , every disobeying person that pays the penalty is not quite discharged from all his Obligation ; but it is then when his disobeying is criminal upon some other stock besides the mere breach of the Law , as Contempt , Scandal , or the like : for the Law binds the Conscience indirectly and by consequence ; that is , in plain language , God commands us to obey humane Laws , & the penalty will not pay for the contempt , because that 's a sin against God ; it * pays for the violation of the Law , because that was all the direct transgression against Man. And then who shall make him recompence for suffering more than the Law requires of him ? Not the Prince ; for it is certain , the greatest value he set upon the Law was no bigger than the Penalty ; and the Common-wealth is supposed to be sufficiently secured in her interest by the Penalty , or else the Law was weak , impotent , and unreasonable . Not God ; for it is not an act of obedience to him , for he binds us no farther to obey humane Laws than the Law-giver himself intends or declares ; who cannot reasonably be supposed so over-careful , as to bind Hay with cords of Silk and Gold , or sumptuary Laws with the threads of Life ; nor a Father commanding his Child to wait on him every Meal , be thought to intend his Obligation , even though the House be ready to fall on his head , or when he is to pass a sudden or unfoordable floud before he can get to him . And that it may appear Man ought not , it is certain God himself doth not oblige us in all cases and in all circumstances to observe every of his positive Precepts . For , assembling together is a duty of God's commanding , which we are not to neglect : but if Death waits at the door of these Assemblies , we have the practice of the Primitive and best Christians to warrant us to serve God in Retirements , and Cells , and Wildernesses , and leave the assembling together till better opportunities . If I receive more benefit , or the Common-wealth , or the Church and Religion any greater advantage by my particular obedience in these circumstances , ( which cannot easily be supposed will be ) it is a great act of charity to do it , and then to suffer for it : But if it be no more , that is , if it be not expresly commanded to be done , ( though with loss of life or confiscation ) it is a good charity to save my own life , or my own estate : And though the other may be better , yet I am not in all cases obliged to do that which is simply the best . It is a tolerable in 〈◊〉 , and allowed amongst the very 〈◊〉 permissions of Nature , that I may preserve my Life , unless it be in a very few cases , which are therefore clearly to be expressed , or else the contrary is to be presumed , as being a case most favourable . And it is considerable , that nothing is worse than Death but Damnation , or something that partakes of that in some of its worst ingredients ; such as is a lasting Torment , or a daily great misery in some other kind . And therefore since no humane Law can bind a man to a worse thing than Death , if Obedience brings me to death , I cannot be worse when I disobey it , and I am not so bad , if the penalty of death be not expressed . And so for other penalties in their own proportions . This Discourse is also to be understood concerning the Laws of Peace , not of War ; not onely because every disobedience in War may be punished with death , ( according as the reason may chance ) but also because little things may be of great and dangerous consequence . But in Peace it is observable , that there is no humane positive superinduced Law but by the practice of all the world ( which , because the 〈◊〉 of the Prince is certainly included in it , is the surest interpretation ) it is dispensed withall , by ordinary necessities , by reason of lesser inconveniences and common accidents : thus the not saying of our Office daily is excused by the study of Divinity , the publishing the banns of Matrimony by an ordinary incommodity , the Fasting-days of the Church by a little sickness or a journey ; and therefore much rather if my Estate , and most of all if my Life be in danger with it : and to say that in these cases there is no interpretative permission to omit the particular action , is to accuse the Laws and the Law-giver , the one of unreasonableness , the other of uncharitableness . 22. Fourthly , These Considerations are upon the execution of the duty : but even towards Man our obedience must have a mixture of the Will and choice , like as our injunction of obedience to the Divine Command . With good will doing service ( saith the Apostle , ) for it is impossible to secure the duty of inferiours but by conscience and good will ; unless provision could be made against all their secret arts and concealments and escapings , which as no providence can foresee , so no diligence can cure . It is but an eye-service whatsoever is compelled and involuntary : nothing rules a man in private but God and his own desires ; and they give Laws in a Wilderness , and accuse in a Cloister , and do execution in a Closet , if there be any prevarication . 23. Fifthly , But obedience to humane Laws goes no farther , we are not bound to obey with a direct and particular act of Understanding , as in all Divine Sanctions : for so long as our Superiours are fallible , though it be highly necessary we conform our wills to their innocent Laws , yet it is not a duty we should think the Laws most prudent or convenient because all Laws are not so ; but it may concern the interest of humility and self-denial to 〈◊〉 subject to an inconvenient , so it be not a sinful , Command : for so we must chuse an affliction when God offers it , and give God thanks for it , and yet we may cry under the smart of it , and call to God for ease and remedy . And yet it were well if inferiours would not be too busie in disputing the prudence of their Governours , and the convenience of their Constitutions : Whether they be sins or no in the execution , and to our particulars , we are concern'd to look to ; I say , as to our particulars ; for an action may be a sin in the Prince commanding it , and yet innocent in the person executing : as in the case of unjust Wars , in which the Subject , who cannot , ought not to be a Judge , yet must be a Minister ; and it is notorious in the case of executing an unjust sentence , in which * not the Executioner , but the Judge is only the unjust person ; and he that serves his Prince in an unjust War is but the executioner of an unjust sentence : But what-ever goes farther , does but undervalue the person , slight the Government , and unloose the golden cords of Discipline . For we are not intrusted in providing for degrees , so we secure the kind and condition of our actions . And since God having derived rays and beams of Majesty , and transmitted it in parts upon several states of men , hath fixed humane authority and dominion in the golden candlestick of Understanding , he that shall question the prudence of his Governour , or the wisdom of his Sanction , does unclasp the golden rings that tie the purple upon the Prince's shoulder ; he tempts himself with a reason to disobey , and extinguish the light of Majesty by overturning the candlestick , and hiding the opinion of his wisdom and understanding . And let me say this ; He that is confident of his own understanding and reasonable powers , ( and who is more than he that thinks himself wiser than the Laws ? ) needs no other Devil in the neighbourhood , no tempter but himself to pride and vanity , which are the natural parents of Disobedience . 24. But a man's Disobedience never seems so reasonable as when the Subject is forbidden to do an act of Piety , commanded indeed in the general , but uncommanded in certain circumstances . And forward Piety and assiduous Devotion , a great and undiscreet Mortifier , is often tempted to think no Authority can restrain the fervours and distempers of zeal in such holy Exercises ; and yet it is very often as necessary to restrain the indiscretions of a forward person , as to excite the remissness of the cold and frozen . Such persons were the Sarabaites spoken of by 〈◊〉 , who were greater labourers and stricter mortifiers than the Religious in Families and Colledges ; and yet they endured no Superiour , nor Laws . But such customs as these are Humiliation without Humility , humbling the body and exalting the spirit , or indeed Sacrifices and no Obedience . It was an argument of the great wisdom of the Fathers of the 〈◊〉 : when they heard of the prodigious Severities exercised by 〈◊〉 Stylites upon himself , they sent one of the Religious to him , with power to enquire what was his manner of living , and what warrant he had for such a rigorous undertaking , giving in charge to command him to give it over , and to live in a community with them , and according to the common institution of those Religious families . The Messenger did so , and immediately 〈◊〉 removed his foot from his Pillar , with a purpose to descend ; but the other according to his Commission called to him to stay , telling him his station and severity was from God. And he that in so great a Piety was humble and obedient , did not undertake that Strictness out of singularity , nor did it transport him to vanity ; for that he had received from the Fathers to make judgment of the man , and of his institution : whereas if upon pretence of the great Holiness of that course he had refused the command , the spirit of the person was to be declared caitive and imprudent , and the man 〈◊〉 from his troublesom and ostentous vanity . 25. Our Fasts , our Prayers , our Watchings , our Intentions of duty , our frequent Communions , and all exteriour acts of Religion , are to be guided by our Superiour , if he sees cause to restrain or asswage any 〈◊〉 . For a wound may heal too fast , and then the tumour of the flesh is proud , not healthful ; and so may the indiscretions of Religion swell to vanity , when we think they grow towards perfection : but when we can indure the causticks and correctives of our Spiritual Guides in those things in which we are most apt to please our selves , then our Obedience is regular and humble , and in other things there is less of danger . There is a story told of a very Religious person , whose spirit in the ecstasie of Devotion was transported to the clarity of a Vision , and he seemed to converse personally with the Holy Jesus , feeling from such entercourse great spiritual delights and huge satisfactions : in the midst of these joys the Bell call'd to Prayers , and he , used to the strictness and well instructed in the necessities of Obedience , went to the Church , and having finished his Devotions , returned , and found the Vision in the same posture of glories and entertainment ; which also said to him , Because thou hast left me , thou hast found me ; for if thou 〈◊〉 not left me , I had presently left thee . What-ever the story be , I am sure it is a 〈◊〉 Parable ; for the way to increase spiritual comforts is , to be strict in the offices of humble Obedience ; and we never lose any thing of our joy by laying it aside to attend a Duty : and Plutarch reports more honour of Agesilaus's prudence and modesty , than of his gallantry and military fortune ; * for he was more honourable by obeying the Decree of the Spartan Senate recalling him from the midst of his Triumphs , than he could have been by finishing the War with prosperous success and disobedience . 26. Our Obedience , being guided by these Rules , is urged to us by the consignation of Divine Precepts and the loud voice of thunder , even seal'd by a signet of God's right hand , the signature of greatest Judgments . For God did with greater severity punish the Rebellion of Korah and his company , than the express Murmurs against himself , nay , than the high crime of Idolatry : for this Crime God visited them with a sword ; but for Disobedience and Mutiny against their Superiours , God made the Earth to swallow some of them , and fire from Heaven to consume the rest ; to shew that Rebellion is to be punished by the conspiration of Heaven and Earth , as it is hateful and contradictory both to God and Man. And it is not amiss to observe , that obedience to Man , being it is for God's sake , and yet to a person clothed with the circumstances and the same infirmities with our selves , is a greater instance of Humility , than to obey God immediately , whose Authority is Divine , whose Presence is terrible , whose Power is infinite , and not at all depressed by exterior disadvantages or lessening appearances : just as it is both greater Faith and greater Charity to relieve a poor Saint for Jesus sake , than to give any thing to Christ himself , if he should appear in all the robes of Glory and immediate address . For it is to God and to Christ , and wholly for their sakes , and to them that the Obedience is done , or the Charity expressed ; but themselves are persons whose awfulness , majesty and veneration , would rather force than invite Obedience or Alms. But when God and his Holy Son stand behind the cloud , and send their Servants to take the Homage or the Charity , it is the same as if it were done to them , but receives the advantage of acceptation by the accidental adherencies of Faith and Humility to the several actions respectively . When a King comes to Rebels in person , it strikes terrour and veneration into them , who are too apt to neglect and despise the person of his Ministers , whom they look upon as their fellow-subjects , and consider not in the exaltation of a deputed Majesty . Charles the Fifth found a happy experience of it at Gaunt in Flanders , whose Rebellion he appeased by his presence , which he could hardly have done by his Army . But if the King's Authority be as much rever'd in his Deputy as it is sacred in his own Person , it is the greater Humility and more confident Obedience . And as it is certain that he is the most humble that submits to his inferiours ; so in the same proportion , the lower and meaner the instrument upon which God's authority is born , the higher is the Grace that teaches us to stoop so low . I do not say that a sin against humane Laws is greater than a prevarication against a Divine Commandment ; as the instances may be , the distance is next to infinite , and to touch the earth with our foot within the Octaves of Easter , or to tast flesh upon days of Abstinence , ( even in those places and to those persons where they did or do oblige ) have no consideration , if they be laid in balance against the crimes of Adultery , or Blasphemy , or Oppression : because these Crimes cannot stand with the reputation and sacredness of Divine Authority ; but those others may in most instances very well consist with the ends of Government , which are severally provided for in the diversity of Sanctions respectively . But if we make our instances to other purposes , we find , that to mutiny in an Army , or to keep private Assemblies in a Monarchy , are worse than a single thought or morose delectation in a fancy of impurity ; because those others destroy Government more than these destroy Charity of God or Obedience . But then though the instances may vary the Conclusion , yet the formal reason is alike , and Disobedience to Man is a disobedience against God ; for God's Authority , and not Man's , is imprinted upon the Superiour ; and it is like sacred fire in an earthen Censer , as holy as if it were kindled with the fanning of a Cherub's wing , or placed just under the Propitiatory upon a golden Altar ; and it is but a gross conceit which cannot distinguish Religion from its Porter , 〈◊〉 from the Beast that carried it : so that in all Disobedience to Men , in proportion to the greatness of the matter , or the malice of the person , or his contradiction to the ends of Government and combinations of Society , we may use the words by which the Prophet upbraided Israel , 〈◊〉 it not enough that you are grievous unto men , but will you grieve my God also ? It is a contempt of the Divinity , and the affront is transmitted to God himself , when we despise the Power which God hath ordained , and all power of every lawful Superiour is such ; the Spirit of God being witness in the highest measure , Rebellion is as the sin of 〈◊〉 , and stubbornness as Idolatry . * It is spoken of Rebellion against God , and all Rebellion is so , for , * He that despiscth you , despiseth me , saith the Blessed Jesus ; that 's menace enough in the instance of Spiritual regiment . And , You are gathered together against the Lord , saith Moses to the rebellious Princes in the conspiracy of Dathan ; that 's for the Temporal . And to encourage this Duty , I shall use no other words than those of Achilles in Homer , * They that obey in this world are better than they that command in Hell. A PRAYER for the Grace of Holy OBEDIENCE . O Lord and Blessed Saviour Jesus , by whose Obedience many became righteous , and reparations were made of the ruines brought to humane Nature by the Disobedience of Adam ; thou camest into the world with many great and holy purposes concerning our Salvation , and hast given us a great precedent of Obedience , which that thou mightest preserve to thy Heavenly Father , thou didst neglect thy Life , and becamest obedient even to the death of the Cross : O , let me imit ate so blessed example , and by the merits of thy Obedience let me obtain the grace of Humility and Abnegation of all my own desires in the clearest Renunciation of my Will ; that I may will and refuse in conformity to thy sacred Laws and holy purposes ; that I may do all thy will chearfully ; chusingly , humbly , confidently , and continually ; and thy will may be done upon me with much mercy and fatherly dispensation of thy Providence . Amen . 2. LOrd , let my Understanding adhere to and be satisfied in the excellent 〈◊〉 of thy Commandments ; let my Affections dwell in their desires , and all my other Faculties be set on daily work for performance of them : and let my love to obey thee make me dutiful to my Superiors , upon whom the impresses of thy Authority are set by thine own hand ; that I may never despise their Persons , nor refuse their Injunctions , nor chuse mine own work , nor murmur at their burthens , nor dispute the prudence of the Sanction , nor excuse my self , nor pretend 〈◊〉 or impossibilities ; but that I may be 〈◊〉 in my desires , and resigned to the will of those whom thou hast set over me ; that since all thy Creatures obey thy word , I alone may not disorder the Creation , and cancel those bands and intermedial links of Subordination whereby my duty should pass to 〈◊〉 and thy glory , but that my Obedience being united to thy Obedience , I may also have my portion in the 〈◊〉 of thy Kingdom , O Lord and Blessed Saviour Jesus . Amen . Considerations upon the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple . 1. THE Holy Virgin-Mother , according to the Law of Moses , at the expiration of a certain time came to the Temple to be purified : although in her sacred Parturition she had contracted no Legal impurity ; yet she exposed her self to the publick opinion and common reputation of an ordinary condition ; and still amongst all generations she is in all circumstances accounted blessed , and her reputation no tittle altered , save only that it is made the more sacred by this testimony of her Humility . But this we are taught from the consequence of this instance ; That if an End principally designed in any Duty should be supplied otherwise in any particular person , the Duty is nevertheless to be observed ; and then the obedience and publick order is reason enough for the observation , though the proper End of its designation be wanting in the single person . Thus is Fasting designed for mortification of the flesh and killing all its unruly appetites ; and yet Married persons who have another remedy , and a Virgin whose Temple is hallowed by a gift and the strict observances of Chastity , may be tied to the Duty : and if they might not , then Fasting were nothing else but a publication of our impure desires , and an exposing the person to the confidence of a bold temptation , whilst the young men did observe the Faster to be tempted from within . But the Holy Virgin from these acts ( of which in signification she had no need , because she sinned not in the Conception , nor was impure in the production ) expressed other Vertues besides Obedience ; such as were humble thoughts of her self , Devotion and Reverence to publick Sanctions , Religion and Charity , which were like the pure leaves of the whitest Lily , fit to represent the beauties of her innocence , but were veiled and shadowed by that sacramental of the Mosaick Law. 2. The Holy Virgin received the greatest favour that any of the Daughters of Adam ever did , and knowing from whence and for whose glory she had received it , returns the Holy Jesus in a Present to God again ; for she had nothing so precious as himself to make oblation of : and besides that , every first-born among the Males was holy to the Lord ; this Child had an eternal and essential Sanctity , and until he came into the World , and was made apt for her to make present of him , there was never in the world any act of Adoration proportionable to the honour of the great God ; but now there was , and the Holy Virgin made it , when she presented the Holy Child Jesus . And now , besides that we are taught to return to God whatsoever we have received from him , if we unite our Offerings and Devotions to this holy Present , we shall by the merit and excellency of this Oblation exhibit to God an Offertory , in which he cannot but delight for the combination's sake and society of his Holy Son. 3. The Holy Mother brought five Sicles and a pair of Turtle-doves to redeem the Lamb of God from the Anathema ; because every first-born was to be sacrificed to God , or redeemed if it was clean ; it was the poor man's price , and the Holy Jesus was never set at the greater prices when he was estimated upon earth . For he that was Lord of the Kingdom chose his portion among the poor of this World , that he might advance the poor to the riches of his inheritance ; and so it was from his Nativity hither . For at his Birth he was poor , at his Circumcision poor , and in the likeness of a sinner ; at his Presentation poor , and like a sinner and a servant , for he chose to be redeemed with an ignoble price . The five Sicles were given to the Priest for the redemption of the Child ; and if the Parents were not able , he was to be a servant of the Temple , and to minister in the inferiour offices to the Priest ; and this was God's seizure and possession of him : for although all the servants of God are his inheritance ; yet the Ministers of Religion , who derive their portion of temporals from his title , who live upon the Corban , and eat the meat of the Altar , which is God's peculiar , and come nearer to his Holiness by the addresses of an immediate ministration , are God's own upon another and a distinct challenge . But because Christ was to be the Prince of another Ministry , and the chief Priest of another Order ; he was redeemed from attending the Mosaick Rites , which he came to 〈◊〉 , that he might do his Father's business in establishing the Evangelical . Only remember , that the Ministers of Religion are but God's 〈◊〉 : as they are not Lords of God's portion , and therefore must dispense it like Stewards , not like Masters ; so the People are 〈◊〉 their Patrons in paying , nor they their Beneficiaries in receiving Tithes or other provisions of maintenance ; they owe for it to none but to God himself : and it would also be considered , that in all sacrilegious detentions of Ecclesiastical rights God is the person principally injured . 4. The Turtle-doves * were offered also with the signification of another mystery . In the sacred Rites of Marriage , although the permissions of natural desires are such as are most ordinate to their ends , the avoiding Fornication , the alleviation of Oeconomical cares and vexations , and the production of Children , and mutual comfort and support ; yet the apertures and permissions of Marriage have such restraints of modesty and prudence , that all transgression of the just order to such ends is a crime : and besides these , there may be degrees of inordination or obliquity of intention , or too sensual complacency , or unhandsom preparations of mind , or unsacramental thoughts ; in which particulars , because we have no determined rule but Prudence , and the analogy of the Rite , and the severity of our Religion , which allow in some cases more , in some 〈◊〉 , and always uncertain latitudes , for ought we know , there may be lighter transgressions , something that we know not of : and for these at the Purification of the woman it is supposed the Offering was made , and the Turtures , by being an oblation , did deprecate a supposed irregularity ; but by being a chast and marital Embleme , they professed the obliquity ( if any were ) was within the protection of the sacred bands of Marriage , and therefore so excusable as to be expiated by a cheap offering : and what they did in Hieroglyphick , Christians must do in the exposition ; be strict observers of the main rites and principal obligations , and not neglectful to deprecate the lesser unhandsomenesses of the too sensual applications . 5. God had at that instant so ordered that , for great ends of his own and theirs , two very holy persons , of divers Sexes and like Piety , 〈◊〉 and Anna , the one who lived an active and secular , the other a retired and contemplative life , should come into the Temple by revelation and direction of the holy Spirit , and see him whom they and all the World did look for , the Lord 's CHRIST , the consolation of Israel . They saw him , they rejoyced , they worshipped , they prophesied , they sang Hymns ; and old Simeon did comprehend and circumscribe in his arms him that filled all the World , and was then so satisfied that he desired to live no longer : God had verified his promise , had shewn him the Messias , had filled his heart with joy , and made his old age honourable ; and now after all this sight , no object could be pleasant but the joys of Paradise . For as a man who hath stared too freely upon the face and beauties of the Sun is blind and dark to objects of a less splendor , and is forced to shut his eyes , that he may through the degrees of darkness perceive the inferiour beauties of more proportioned objects : so was old Simeon , his eyes were so filled with the glories of this Revelation , that he was willing to close them in his last night , that he might be brought into the communications of Eternity ; and he could never more find comfort in any other object this world could minister . For such is the excellency of spiritual things , when they have once filled the corners of our hearts , and made us highly sensible and apprehensive of the interiour beauties of God and of Religion , all things of this World are flat and empty , and unsatisfying vanities , as unpleasant as the lees of Vineger to a tongue filled with the spirit of high Italick Wines . And until we are so dead to the World as to apprehend no gust or freer complacency , in exteriour objects , we never have entertained Christ , or have had our cups overflow with Devotion , or are filled with the Spirit . When our Chalice is filled with holy oyl , with the Anointing from above , it will entertain none of the waters of bitterness ; or if it does , they are thrust to the bottom , they are the lowest of our desires , and therefore only admitted , because they are natural and constituent . 6. The good old Prophetess Anna had lived long in chast Widowhood , in the service of the Temple , in the continual offices of Devotion , in Fasting and Prayer ; and now came the happy instant in which God would give her a great benediction , and an earnest of a greater . The returns of Prayer and the blessings of Piety are certain ; and though not dispensed according to the expectances of our narrow conceptions , 〈◊〉 shall they so come , at such times and in such measures , as shall crown the Piety , and 〈◊〉 the desires , and reward the expectation . It was in the Temple , the same place where she had for so many years poured out her heart to God , that God poured forth his heart to her , sent his Son from his bosom , and there she received his benediction . Indeed in such places God does most particularly exhibit himself , and Blessing goes along with him where-ever he goes : In holy places God hath put his holy Name , and to holy persons God does oftentimes manifest the interiour and more secret glories of his Holiness ; provided they come thither , as old Simeon and Anna did , by the motions of the holy Spirit , not with designs of vanity , or curiosity , or sensuality ; for such spirits as those come to profane and desecrate the house , and unhallow the person , and provoke the Deity of the place , and blast us with unwholsom airs . 7. But Joseph and Mary wondred at these things which were spoken , and treasured them in their hearts , and they became matter of Devotion and mental Prayer , or Meditation . The PRAYER . O Eternal God , who by the Inspirations of thy Holy Spirit didst direct thy servants Simeon and Anna to the Temple at the instant of the Presentation of the Holy Child Jesus , that so thou mightest verifie thy promise , and manifest thy Son , and reward the 〈◊〉 of holy people , who longed for Redemption by the coming of the Messias ; give me the perpetual assistance of the same Spirit to be as a Monitor and a Guide to me , leading me to all holy actions , and to the embracements and possessions of thy glorious Son ; and remember all thy faithful people , who wait for the consolation and redemption of the Church from all her miseries and persecutions , and at last satisfie their desires by the revelations of thy mercies and Salvation . Thou hast advanced thy Holy Child , and set him up for a sign of thy Mercies , and a representation of thy Glories . Lord , let no act or thought or word of mine ever be in contradiction to this blessed sign , but let it be for the ruine of all my vices , and all the powers the Devil imploys against the Church , and for the raising up all those vertues and Graces which thou didst design me in the purposes of Eternity : but let my portion never be amongst the 〈◊〉 , or the scornful , or the Heretical , or the profane , or any of those who stumble at this Stone which thou hast laid for the foundation of thy Church , and the structures of a vertuous life . Remember me with much mercy and compassion when the sword of Sorrows or Afflictions shall pierce my heart ; first transfix me with love , and then all the Troubles of this world will be consignations to the joys of a better : 〈◊〉 grant for the mercies and the name sake of thy Holy Child Jesus . Amen . DISCOURSE III. Of Meditation . 1. IF in the Definition of Meditation I should call it an unaccustomed and unpractised Duty , I should speak a truth , though somewhat inartificially : for not only the interior beauties and brighter excellencies are as unfelt as Idea's and Abstractions are , but also the practice and common knowledge of the Duty it self are strangers to us , like the retirements of the Deep , or the undiscovered treasures of the Indian Hills . And this is a very great cause of the driness and expiration of mens Devotion , because our Souls are so little 〈◊〉 with the waters and holy dews of Meditation . We go to our prayers by chance , or order , or by determination of accidental occurrences ; and we recite them as we read a book ; and sometimes we are sensible of the Duty , and a flash of lightning makes the room bright , and our prayers end , and the lightning is gone , and we as dark as ever . We draw our water from standing pools , which never are filled but with sudden showers , and therefore we are dry so often : Whereas if we would draw water from the Fountains of our Saviour , and derive them through the chanel of diligent and prudent Meditations , our Devotion would be a continual current , and safe against the barrenness of frequent droughts . 2. For Meditation is an attention and application of spirit to Divine things ; a searching out all instruments to a holy life , a devout consideration of them , and a production of those affections which are in a direct order to the love of God and a pious conversation . Indeed Meditation is all that great instrument of Piety whereby it is made prudent , and reasonable , and orderly , and perpetual . For supposing our Memory instructed with the knowledge of such mysteries and revelations as are apt to entertain the Spirit , the Understanding is first and best imployed in the consideration of them , and then the Will in their reception , when they are duly prepared and so transmitted ; and both these in such manner and to such purposes , that they become the Magazine and great Repositories of Grace , and instrumental to all designs of Vertue . 3. For the Understanding is not to consider the matter of any meditation in itself , or as it determines in natural excellencies or unworthiness respectively , or with a purpose to furnish it self with notion and riches of knowledge ; for that is like the Winter-Sun , it shines , but warms not ; but in such order as themselves are put in the designations of Theology , in the order of Divine Laws , in their spiritual capacity , and as they have influence upon Holiness : for the Understanding here is something else besides the Intellectual power of the Soul , it is the Spirit , that is , it is celestial in its application , as it is spiritual in its nature ; and we may understand it well by considering the beatifical portions of Soul and body in their future glories . For therefore even our Bodies in the Resurrection shall be spiritual , because the operation of them shall be in order to spiritual glories , and their natural actions ( such as are Seeing and Speaking ) shall have a spiritual object and supernatural end ; and here as we partake of such excellencies and cooperate to such purposes , men are more or less spiritual . And so is the Understanding taken from its first and lowest ends of resting in notion and ineffective contemplation , and is made Spirit , that is , wholly ruled and guided by God's Spirit to supernatural ends and spiritual imployments ; so that it understands and considers the motions of the Heavens , to declare the glory of God , the prodigies and alterations in the Firmament , to demonstrate his handy-work ; it considers the excellent order of creatures , that we may not disturb the order of Creation , or dissolve the golden chain of Subordination . Aristotle and Porphyry , and the other Greek Philosophers , studied the Heavens to search out their natural causes and production of Bodies ; the wiser Chaldees and Assyrians studied the same things , that they might learn their Influences upon us , and make Predictions of contingencies ; the more moral AEgyptian described his Theorems in Hieroglyphicks and phantastick representments , to teach principles of Policy , Oeconomy , and other prudences of Morality and secular negotiation : But the same Philosophy , when it is made Christian , considers as they did , but to greater purposes , even that from the Book of the Creatures we may glorifie the Creator , and hence derive arguments of Worship and Religion ; this is Christian Philosophy . 4. I instance only in considerations natural to spiritual purposes ; but the same is the manner in all Meditation , whether the matter of it be Nature or Revelation . For if we think of Hell , and consider the infinity of its duration , and that its flames last as long as God lasts , and thence conjecture , upon the rules of proportion , why a finite creature may have an infinite , unnatural duration ; or think by what ways a material fire can torment an immaterial substance ; or why the Devils , who are intelligent and wise creatures , should be so foolish as to hate God from whom they know every rivulet of amability derives ; This is to study , not to meditate : for Meditation considers any thing that may best make us to avoid the place , and to quit a vicious habit , or master and 〈◊〉 an untoward inclination , or purchase a vertue , or exercise one : so that Meditation is an act of the Understanding put to the right use . 5. For the Holy Jesus , coming to redeem us from the bottomless pit , did it by lifting us up out of the puddles of impurity and the unwholsome waters of vanity ; He redeemed us from our vain conversation ; and our Understandings had so many vanities , that they were made instruments of great impiety . The unlearned and ruder Nations had fewer Vertues , but they had also fewer Vices than the wise Empires , that ruled the World with violence and wit together . The softer * Asians had Lust and Intemperance in a full Chalice ; but their Understandings were ruder than the finer Latines , for these mens understandings distilled wickedness as through a Limbeck , and the Romans drank spirits and the sublimed quintessences of Villany , whereas the other made themselves drunk with the lees and cheaper instances of sin : so that the Understanding is not an idle and useless faculty , but naturally drives to practice , and brings guests into the inward Cabinet of the Will , and there they are entertained and feasted . And those Understandings which did not serve the baser end of Vices , yet were unprofitable for the most part , and furnished their inward rooms with glasses and beads , and trifles fit for an American Mart. From all these impurities and vanities Jesus hath redeemed all his Disciples , and not only thrown out of his Temples all the impure rites of Flora and Cybele , but also the trifling and unprofitable ceremonies of the more sober Deities , not only Vices , but useless and unprofitable Speculations , and hath consecrated our Head into a Temple , our Understanding to Spirit , our Reason to Religion , our Study to Meditation : and this is the first part of the Sanctification of our Spirit . 6. And this was the cause Holy Scripture commands the duty of Meditation in proportion still to the excellencies of Piety and a holy life , to which it is highly and aptly instrumental . Blessed is the man that meditates in the Law of the Lord day and night . And the reason of the Proposition and the use of the Duty is expressed to this purpose ; Thy words have I hid in my heart , that I should not sin against thee . The placing and fixing those divine Considerations in our understandings , and hiding them there , are designs of high Christian prudence , that they with advantage may come forth in the expresses of a holy life . For what in the world is more apt and natural to produce Humility , than to meditate upon the low stoopings and descents of the Holy Jesus , to the nature of a Man , to the weaknesses of a Child , to the poverties of a Stable , to the ignobleness of a Servant , to the shame of the Cross , to the pains of Cruelty , to the dust of Death , to the title of a Sinner , and to the wrath of God ? By this instance Poverty is made honourable , and Humility is sanctified and made noble , and the contradictions of nature are amiable and 〈◊〉 for a wise election . Thus hatred of sin , shame of our selves , confusion at the sense of humane misery , the love of God , confidence in his Promises , desires of Heaven , holy resolutions , resignation of our own appetites , 〈◊〉 to Divine will , oblations of our selves , Repentance and mortification , are the proper emanations from Meditation of the sordidness of sin , our proneness to it , our daily miseries as issues of Divine vengeance , the glories of God , his infinite unalterable Veracity , the satisfactions in the vision of God , the rewards of Piety , the rectitude of the Laws of God , and perfection of his Sanctions , God's supreme and paternal Dominion , and his certain malediction of sinners : and when any one of these Considerations is taken to pieces , and so placed in the rooms of application , that a piece of duty is conjoyned to a piece of the mystery , and the whole office to the purchase of a grace , or the extermination of a vice , it is like opening our windows to let in the Sun and the Wind ; and Holiness is as proportioned an effect to this practice , as Glory is to a persevering Holiness , by way of reward and moral causality . 7. For all the Affections that are in Man are either natural , or by chance , or by the incitation of Reason and discourse . Our natural affections are not worthy the entertainments of a Christian ; they must be supernatural and divine that put us into the hopes of Perfection and Felicities : and these other that are good , unless they come by Meditation , they are but accidental , and set with the evening Sun : But if they be produced upon the strengths of pious Meditation , they are as perpetual as they are reasonable , and excellent in proportion to the Piety of the principle . A Garden that is watered with short and sudden showrs is more uncertain in its fruits and beauties than if a Rivulet waters it with a perpetual distilling and constant humectation : And just such are the short emissions and unpremeditated resolutions of Piety begotten by a dash of holy rain from Heaven , whereby God sometimes uses to call the careless but to taste what excellencies of Piety they neglect ; but if they be not produced by the Reason of Religion , and the Philosophy of Meditation , they have but the life of a Fly or a tall Gourd , they come into the World only to say they had a Being , you could scarce know their length but by measuring the ground they cover in their fall . 8. For since we are more moved by material and sensible objects than by things merely speculative and intellectual , and generals even in spiritual things are less perceived and less motive than particulars : Meditation frames the understanding part of Religion to the proportions of our nature and our weakness , by making some things more circumstantiate and material , and the more spiritual to be particular , and therefore the more applicable ; and the mystery is made like the Gospel to the Apostles , Our eyes do see , and our ears do hear , and our hands do handle thus much of the word of life as is prepared for us in the Meditation . 9. First , And therefore every wise person , that intends to furnish himself with affections of Religion , or detestation against a Vice , or glorifications of a Mystery , still will proportion the Mystery , and fit it with such circumstances of fancy and application , as by observation of himself he knows aptest to make impression . It was a wise design of Mark Antony when he would stir up the people to revenge the death of Caesar , he brought his body to the pleading-place , he shewed his wounds , held up the rent mantle , and shewed them the garment that he put on that night in which he beat the Nervii , that is , in which he won a victory , for which his memory was dear to them ; he shewed them that wound which pierced his heart , in which they were placed by so dear a love , that he made them his heirs , and left to their publick use places of delight and pleasure : and then it was natural , when he had made those things present to them which had once moved their love and his honour , that grief at the loss of so honourable and so lov'd a person should succeed ; and then they were Lords of all , their sorrow and revenge seldom slept in two beds . And thus holy Meditation produces the passions and desires it intends , it makes the object present and almost sensible , it renews the first passions by a fiction of imagination ; it passes from the Paschal Parlour to Cedron , it tells the drops of sweat , and measures them , and finds them as big as drops of bloud , and then conjectures at the greatness of our sins ; it fears in the midst of Christ's Agonies , it hears his groans , it spies Judas his Lantern afar off , it follows Jesus to Gabbatha , and wonders at his innocence and their malice , and feels the strokes of the Whip , and shrinks the head when the Crown of Thorns is thrust hard upon his holy brows , and at last goes step by step with Jesus , and carries part of the Cross , and is nailed fast with sorrow and compassion , and dies with love . For if the Soul be principle of its own actions , it can produce the same effects by reflex acts of the Understanding , when it is assisted by the Imaginative part , as when it sees the thing acted : only let the Meditation be as minute , particular and circumstantiate as it may ; for a Widow by representing the caresses of her dead Husband's love produces sorrow and the new affections of a sad endearment . It is too sure , that the recalling the circumstances of a past impurity does re-inkindle the flame , and entertain the fancy with the burnings of an impure fire : And this happens not by any advantages of Vice , but by the nature of the thing , and the efficacy of Circumstances . So does holy Meditation produce those impresses and signatures which are the proper effects of the Mystery , if presented in a right line and direct representation . 10. Secondly , He that means to meditate in the best order to the productions of Piety , must not be inquisitive for the highest Mysteries , but the plainest Propositions are to him of the greatest use and evidence . For Meditation is the duty of all , and therefore God hath fitted such matter for it which is proportioned to every understanding , and the greatest Mysteries of Christianity are plainest , and yet most fruitful of Meditation , and most useful to the production of Piety . High Speculations are as barren as the tops of Cedars ; but the Fundamentals of Christianity are fruitful as the Valleys or the creeping Vine . For know , that it is no Meditation , but it may be an Illusion , when you consider Mysteries to become more learned , without thoughts of improving Piety . Let your affections be as high as they can climb towards God , so your considerations be humble , fruitful , and practically mysterious . Oh that I had the wings of a Dove , that I might flie away and be at rest , said David . The wings of an Eagle would have carried him higher , but yet the innocent Dove did furnish him with the better Embleme to represent his humble design ; and lower meditations might sooner bring him to rest in God. It was a saying of AEgidius , That an old and a simple woman , if she loves Jesus , may be greater than was Brother Bonaventure . Want of Learning and disability to consider great secrets of Theology does not at all retard our progress to spiritual perfections ; Love to Jesus may be better promoted by the plainer understandings of honest and unlettered people , than by the finer and more exalted speculations of great Clerks that have less Devotion . For although the way of serving God by the Understanding be the best and most lasting , yet it is not necessary the Understanding should be dressed with troublesom and laborious Notions : the Reason that is in Religion is the surest principle to engage our services , and more perpetual than the sweetnesses and the motives of Affection ; but every honest man's Understanding is then best furnished with the discourses and the reasonable parts of Religion , when he knows those mysteries of Religion upon which Christ and his Apostles did build a holy life , and the superstructures of Piety ; those are the best materials of his Meditation . 11. So that Meditation is nothing else but the using of all those arguments , motives and irradiations which God intended to be instrumental to Piety . It is a composition of both ways ; for it stirs up our Affections by Reason and the way of Understanding , that the wise Soul may be satisfied in the Reasonableness of the thing , and the affectionate may be entertained with the sweetnesses of holy Passion ; that our Judgment be determined by discourse , and our Appetites made active by the caresses of a religious fancy . And therefore the use of Meditation is , to consider any of the Mysteries of Religion with purposes to draw from it Rules of life , or affections to Vertue , or detestation of Vice ; and from hence the man rises to Devotion , and mental Prayer , and Entercourse with God ; and after that he rests himself in the bosom of Beatitude , and is swallowed up with the comprehensions of Love and Contemplation . These are the several degrees of Meditation . But let us first understand that part of it which is Duty ; and then , if any thing succeed of a middle condition between Duty and Reward , we will consider also how that Duty is to be performed , and how the Reward is to be managed , that it may prove to be no Illusion : Therefore I add also this Consideration . 12. Thirdly , Whatsoever pious purposes and deliberations are entertained in the act of Meditation , they are carefully to be maintained and thrust forward to actual performances , although they were indefinite and indeterminate , and no other ways decreed but by resolutions and determinations of Reason and Judgment . For God assists every pious action according to its exigence and capacity , and therefore blesses holy Meditations with results of Reason , and prepossessions dogmatically decreeing the necessity of Vertue , and the convenience of certain exercises in order to the purchase of it . He then that neglects to actuate such discourses , loses the benefit of his Meditation ; he is gone no farther than when he first set out , and neglects the inspirations of the Holy Spirit . For if at any time it be certain what spirit it is that speaks within the Soul , it is most certain that it is the good Spirit that moves us to an act of Vertue in order to acquisition of the habit : and when God's grace hath assisted us so far in our Meditation that we understand our Duty , and are moved with present arguments , if we put not forth our hand and make use of them , we do nothing towards our Duty ; and it is not certain that God will create Graces in us as he does the Soul. Let every pious person think every conclusion of Reason in his Meditation to have passed an obligation upon him : and if he hath decreed that Fasting so often , and doing so many Religious acts , is convenient and conducing to the production of a Grace he is in pursuit of ; let him know that every such decree and reasonable proposition is the Grace of God , instrumental to Piety , part of his assistance , and therefore in no case to be extinguished . 13. Fourthly , In Meditation let the Understanding be restrained , and under such prudent coercion and confinement that it wander not from one discourse to another , till it hath perceived some fruit from the first ; either that his Soul be instructed in a Duty , or moved by a new argument , or confirmed in an old , or determined to some exercise and intermedial action of Religion , or hath broke out into some Prayers and intercourse with God in order to the production of a Vertue . And this is the mystical design of the Spouse in the 〈◊〉 of Solomon : I adjure you , O you daughters of Jerusalem , by the 〈◊〉 and by the Hinds of the field , that you stir not up nor awake my love till he please . For it is lightness of spirit to pass over a field of flowers and to fix no-where , but to leave it without carrying some honey with us ; unless the subject be of it self barren and unfruitful , and then why was it chosen ? or that it is made so by our indisposition , and then indeed it is to be quitted . But ( it is S. Chrysostom's Simile ) As a Lamb sucking the breast of its dam and Mother moves the head from one part to another till it hath found a distilling fontinel , and then it fixes till it be satisfied , or the 〈◊〉 cease dropping : so should we in Meditation reject such materials as are barren like the tops of hills , and six upon such thoughts which nourish and refresh , and there dwell till the nourishment be drawn forth , or so much of it as we can then temperately digest . 14. Fifthly , In Meditation strive rather for Graces than for Gifts , for affections in the way of Vertue more than the overslowings of sensible Devotion ; and therefore if thou findest any thing by which thou mayest be better , though thy spirit do not actually rejoyce or find any gust or relish in the manducation , yet chuse it greedily . For although the chief end of Meditation be Affection , and not Determinations intellectual ; yet there is choice to be had of the Affections , and care must be taken that the affections be desires of Vertue , or repudiations and aversions from something criminal ; not joys and transportations spiritual , comforts and complacencies , for they are no part of our duty : sometimes they are encouragements , and sometimes rewards ; sometimes they depend upon habitude and disposition of body , and seem great matters when they have little in them , and are more bodily than spiritual , like the gift of tears , and yerning of the bowels ; and sometimes they are illusions and temptations , at which if the Soul stoops and be greedy after , they may prove like Hippomenes's golden Apples to Atalanta , retard our course , and possibly do some hazard to the whole race . And this will be nearer reduced to practice , if we consider the variety of matter which is fitted to the Meditation in several states of men travelling towards Heaven . 15. For the first beginners in Religion are imployed in the mastering of their first Appetites , casting out their Devils , exterminating all evil customs , lessening the proclivity of habits , and countermanding the too-great forwardness of vicious inclinations ; and this , which Divines call the Purgative way , is wholly spent in actions of Repentance , Mortification and Self-denial : and therefore if a penitent person snatches at Comforts , or the tastes of sensible Devotion , his Repentance is too delicate , it is but a rod of Roses and Jessamine . If God sees the spirit broken all in pieces , and that it needs a little of the oyl of gladness for its support and restitution to the capacities of its duty , he will give it ; but this is not to be designed , nor snatched at in the Meditation : Tears of joy are not good expressions nor instruments of Repentance ; we must not gather grapes from thorns , nor figs from thistles ; no refreshments to be looked for here , but such only as are necessary for support ; and when God sees they are , let not us trouble our selves , he will provide them . But the Meditations which are prompt to this Purgative way and practice of first beginners are not apt to produce delicacies , but in the sequel and consequent of it . Afterwards it brings forth the pleasant fruit of righteousness , but for the present it hath no joy in it , no joy of sense , though much satisfaction to Reason . And such are Meditations of the Fall of Angels and Man , the Ejection of them from Heaven , of our Parents from Paradise , the Horrour and obliquity of Sin , the Wrath of God , the severity of his Anger , Mortification of our body and spirit , Self-denial , the Cross of Christ , Death , and Hell , and Judgment , the terrours of an evil Conscience , the insecurities of a Sinner , the unreasonableness of Sin , the troubles of Repentance , the Worm and sting of a burthened spirit , the difficulties of rooting out evil Habits , and the utter abolition of Sin : if these nettles bear honey , we may fill our selves ; but such sweetnesses spoil the operations of these bitter potions . Here therefore let your addresses to God and your mental prayers be affectionate desires of Pardon , humble considerations of our selves , thoughts of revenge against our Crimes , designs of Mortification , indefatigable solicitations for Mercy , expresses of shame and confusion of face ; and he meditates best in the purgative way that makes these affections most operative and high . 16. After our first step is taken , and the punitive part of Repentance is resolved on , and begun , and put forward into good degrees of progress , we then enter into the Illuminative way of Religion , and set upon the acquist of Vertues , and the purchase of spiritual Graces ; and therefore our Meditations are to be proportioned to the design of that imployment : such as are considerations of the Life of Jesus , Examples of Saints , reasons of Vertue , means of acquiring them , designations of proper exercises to every pious habit , the Eight Beatitudes , the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost , the Promises of the Gospel , the Attributes of God as they are revealed to represent God to be infinite , and to make us Religious , the Rewards of Heaven , excellent and select Sentences of holy persons , to be as incentives of Piety : These are the proper matter for Proficients in Religion . But then the affections producible from these are love of vertue , desires to imitate the Holy Jesus , affections to Saints and holy persons , conformity of choice , subordination to God's will , election of the ways of Vertue , satisfaction of the Understanding in the ways of Religion , and resolutions to pursue them in the midst of all discomforts and persecutions ; and our mental prayers or entercourse with God , which are the present emanations of our Meditations , must be in order to these affections , and productions from those : and in all these yet there is safety and piety , and no seeking of our selves , but designs of Vertue in just reason and duty to God , and for his sake , that is , for his commandment . And in all these particulars , if there be such a sterility of spirit that there be no end served but of spiritual profit , we are never the worse ; all that God requires of us is , that we will live well , and repent in just measure and right manner , and he that doth so , hath meditated well . 17. From hence if a pious Soul passes to affections of greater sublimity , and intimate and more immediate , abstracted and immaterial love , it is well ; only remember that the love God requires of us is an operative , material , and communicative love ; If ye love me , keep my Commandments : so that still a good life is the effect of the sublimest Meditation ; and if we make our duty sure behind us , ascend up as high into the Mountain as you can , so your ascent may consist with the securities of your person , the condition of infirmity , and the interests of your duty . According to the saying of * 〈◊〉 , Our empty saying of 〈◊〉 , and reciting verses in honour of his Name , please not God so well as the imitation of him does advantage to us ; and a devout 〈◊〉 pleases the Spouse better than an idle Panegyrick : Let your work be like his , your Duty in imitation of his Precept and Example , and then sing praises as you list ; no heart is large enough , no voice pleasant enough , no life long enough , nothing but an eternity of duration and a beatifical state can do it well : and therefore holy David joyns them both , Whoso offereth me thanks and praise , he honoureth me ; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God. All thanks and praise without a right-ordered conversation are but the Echo of Religion , a voice and no substance ; but if those praises be sung by a heart righteous and obedient , that is , singing with the spirit and singing with understanding , that is the Musick God delights in . 18. Sixthly , But let me observe and press this caution : It is a mistake , and not a little dangerous , when people religious and forward shall too promptly , frequently and nearly spend their thoughts in consideration of Divine Excellencies . God hath shewn thee merit enough to spend all thy stock of love upon him in the characters of his Power , the book of the Creature , the great tables of his Mercy , and the lines of his Justice ; we have cause enough to praise his Excellencies in what we feel of him , and are refreshed with his influence , and see his beauties in reflexion , though we do not put our eyes out with staring upon his face . To behold the Glories and Perfections of God with a more direct intuition is the priviledge of Angels , who yet cover their faces in the brightness of his presence : it is only permitted to us to consider the back parts of God. And therefore those Speculations are too bold and imprudent addresses , and minister to danger more than to Religion , when we pass away from the direct studies of Vertue , and those thoughts of God which are the freer and safer communications of the Deity , which are the means of entercourse and relation between him and us , to those considerations concerning God which are Metaphysical and remote , the formal objects of adoration and wonder , rather than of vertue and temperate discourses : for God in Scripture never revealed any of his abstracted Perfections and remoter and mysterious distances , but with a purpose to produce fear in us , and therefore to chide the temerity and boldness of too familiar and nearer entercourse . 19. True it is that every thing we see or can consider represents some perfections of God ; but this I mean , that no man should consider too much and meditate too frequently upon the immediate Perfections of God , as it were by way of intuition , but as they are manifested in the Creatures and in the ministeries of Vertue : and also when-ever God's Perfections be the matter of Meditation , we should not ascend upwards into him , but descend upon our selves , like fruitful vapours drawn up into a cloud , descending speedily into a shower , that the effect of the consideration be a design of good life ; and that our loves to God be not spent in abstractions , but in good works and humble Obedience . The other kind of love may deceive us ; and therefore so may such kind of considerations which are its instrument . But this I am now more particularly to consider . 20. For beyond this I have described , there is a degree of Meditation so exalted , that it changes the very name , and is called Contemplation , and it is in the unitive way of Religion , that is , it consists in unions and adherences to God ; it is a prayer of quietness and silence , and a meditation extraordinary , a discourse without variety , a vision and intuition of 〈◊〉 Excellencies , an immediate entry into an orb of light , and a resolution of all our faculties into sweetnesses , affections and starings upon the Divine beauty ; and is carried on to ecstasies , raptures ; suspensions , elevations , abstractions , and apprehensions beatifical . In all the course of vertuous meditation the Soul is like a Virgin invited to make a matrimonial contract , it inquires the condition of the person , his estate and disposition , and other circumstances of amability and desire : But when she is satissied with these enquiries , and hath chosen her Husband , she no more considers particulars , but is moved by his voice and his gesture , and runs to his entertainment and sruition , and spends her self wholly in affections , not to obtain , but enjoy his love . Thus it is said . 21. But this is a thing not to be discoursed of , but felt : And although in other Sciences the terms must first be known , and then the Rules and Conclusions scientifical ; here it is otherwise : for first the whole experience of this must be obtained , before we can so much as know what it is ; and the end must be acquired first , the Conclusion before the Premises . They that pretend to these Heights call them the Secrets of the Kingdom ; but they are such which no man can describe , such which God hath not revealed in the publication of the Gospel , such for the acquiring of which there are no means prescribed , and to which no man is obliged , and which are not in any man's power to obtain , nor such which it is lawful to pray for or desire , nor concerning which we shall ever be called to an account . 22. Indeed when persons have been long sostned with the continual droppings of Religion , and their spirits made timorous and apt for impression by the assiduity of Prayer , and perpetual alarms of death , and the continual dyings of Mortification ; the Fancy , which is a very great instrument of Devotion , is kept continually warm and in a disposition and aptitude to take fire , and to flame out in great ascents : and when they suffer transportations beyond the burthens and support of Reason , they suffer 〈◊〉 know not what , and call it what they please , and other pious people that hear 〈◊〉 of it admire that Devotion which is so eminent and beatified , ( for so they esteem 〈◊〉 ) and so they come to be called Raptures and Ecstasies , which even amongst the A 〈◊〉 were so seldom , that they were never spoke of ; for those Visions , Raptures and Intuitions of S. Stephen , * S. Paul , S. Peter , and S. John , were not pretended to be of this kind , not excesses of Religion , but prophetical and intuitive Revelations to great and significant purposes , such as may be and are described in story ; but these other cannot : for so Cassian reports and commends a saying of Antony the Eremite , That is not a perfect Prayer in which the Votary does either understand himself or the Prayer ; meaning , that persons eminently Religious were Divina patientes , as Dionysius Areopagita said of his Master Hierotheus , Paticks in Devotion , suffering ravishments of senses , transported beyond the uses of humanity into the suburbs of beatifical apprehensions : but whether or no this be any thing besides a too intense and indiscreet pressure of the faculties of the Soul to inconveniences of understanding , or else a credulous , busie and untamed fancy , they that think best of it cannot give a certainty . There are and have been some Religious who have acted Madness , and pretended Inspirations ; and when these are destitute of a Prophetick spirit , if they resolve to serve themselves upon the pretences of it , they are disposed to the imitation , if not to the sufferings of Madness ; and it would be a great folly to call such Dei plenos , full of God , who are no better than phantastick and mad People . 23. This we are sure of , that many Illusions have come in the likeness of Visions , and absurd fancies under the pretence of Raptures , and what some have called the spirit of Prophecy hath been the spirit of Lying , and Contemplation hath been nothing but Melancholy and unnatural lengths , and stilness of Prayer hath been a mere Dream and hypochondriacal devotion , and hath ended in pride or despair , or some sottish and dangerous temptation . It is reported of Heron the Monk , that having lived a retired , mortified and religious life for many years together , at last he came to that habit of austerity or singularity , that he refused the festival refection and freer meals of Easter and other Solemnities , that he might do more eminently than the rest , and spend his time in greater abstractions and contemplations : but the Devil , taking advantage of the weakness of his melancholick and unsettled spirit , gave him a transportation and an ecstasie in which he fansied himself to have attained so great perfection , that he was as dear to God as a crowned Martyr , and Angels would be his security for indemnity , though he threw himself to the bottome of a Well . He obeyed his fancy and temptation , did so , bruised himself to death , and died possessed with a persuasion of the verity of that Ecstasie and transportation . 24. I will not say that all violences and extravagancies of a religious fancy are Illusions , but I say that they are all unnatural , not hallowed by the warrant of a Revelation , nothing reasonable , nothing secure : I am not sure that they ever consist with Humility , but it is confessed that they are often produced by Self-love , Arrogancy , and the great opinion others have of us . I will not judge the condition of those persons who are said to have suffered these extraordinaries , for I know not the circumstances , or causes , or attendants , or the effects , or whether the stories be true that make report of them ; but I shall onely advise that we follow the intimation of our Blessed Saviour , that we sit down in the lowest place , till the Master of the Feast comes and bids us sit up higher . If we entertain the inward Man in the purgative and illuminative way , that is , in actions of Repentance , Vertue and precise Duty , that is the surest way of uniting us to God , whilest it is done by Faith and Obedience ; and that also is Love : and in these peace and safety dwell . And after we have done our work , it is not discretion in a servant to hasten to his meal , and snatch at the refreshment of Visions , Unions , and Abstractions ; but first we must gird our selves , and wait upon the Master , and not sit down our selves till we all be called at the great Supper of the Lamb. 25. It was therefore an excellent desire of St. Bernard , who was as likely as any to have such altitudes of Speculation , if God had really dispensed them to persons holy , phantastick and Religious ; I pray God grant to me peace of spirit , joy in the 〈◊〉 Ghost , to compassionate others in the midst of my mirth ; to be charitable in simplicity , to rejoyce with them that rejoyce , and to mourn with them that mourn ; and with these I shall be content : other Exaltations of Devotion I leave to Apostles and Apostolick men ; the high Hills are for the Harts and the climbing Goats , the stony Rocks and the recesses of the earth for the Conies . It is more healthful and nutritive to dig the earth , and to eat of her fruits , than to stare upon the greatest glories of the Heavens , and live upon the beams of the Sun : so unsatisfying a thing is Rapture and transportation to the Soul ; it often distracts the Faculties , but seldome does advantage 〈◊〉 , and is full of danger in the greatest of its lustre . If ever a man be more in love with God by such instruments , or more indeared to Vertue , or made more severe and watchful in his Repentance , it is an excellent grace and gift of God ; but then this is nothing but the joys and comfort of ordinary Meditation : those extraordinary , as they have no sense in them , so are not pretended to be instruments of Vertue , but are like , Jonathan's arrows shot beyond it , to signifie the danger the man is in towards whom such arrows are shot ; but if the person be made unquiet , unconstant , proud , pusillanimous , of high opinion , pertinacious and confident in uncertain judgments , or desperate , it is certain they are temptations and illusions : so that , as all our duty consists in the ways of Repentance and acquist of Vertue ; so there rests all our safety , and by consequence all our solid joys ; and this is the effect of ordinary , pious , and regular Meditations . 26. If I mistake not , there is a temptation like this under another name amongst persons whose Religion hath less discourse and more fancy , and that is a Familiarity with God , which indeed , if it were rightly understood , is an affection consequent to the Illuminative way , that is , an act or an effect of the vertue of Religion and Devotion , which consists in Prayers and addresses to God , Lauds and Eucharists and Hymns , and confidence of coming to the throne of Grace upon assurance of God's veracity and goodness infinite : so that Familiarity with God , which is an affection of Friendship , is the entercourse of giving and receiving blessings and graces respectively ; and it is produced by a holy life , or the being in the state of Grace , and is part of every man's inheritance that is a friend of God. But when familiarity with God shall be esteemed a privilege of singular and eminent persons not communicated to all the faithful , and is thought to be an admission to a nearer entercourse of secrecy with God , it is an effect of Pride , and a mistake in judgment concerning the very same thing which the old Divines call the Unitive way , if themselves that claim it understood the terms of art , and the consequents of their own intentions . 27. Onely I shall observe one Circumstance , That Familiarity with God is nothing else but an admission to be of God's Family , the admission of a servant or a son in minority , and implies Obedience , Duty and Fear on our parts ; Care and Providence and Love on God's part : And it is not the familiarity of Sons , but the impudence of proud Equals , to express this pretended privilege in 〈◊〉 , unmannerly and unreverent addresses and discourses : and it is a sure rule , that whatsoever heights of Piety , union or familiarity any man pretends to , it is of the Devil , unless the greater the pretence be , the greater also be the Humility of the man. The highest flames are the most tremulous ; and so are the most holy and eminent Religious persons more full of awfulness , and fear , and modesty , and humility : so that in true Divinity and right speaking there is no such thing as the Unitive way of Religion , save onely in the effects of duty , obedience , and the expresses of the precise vertue of Religion . Meditations in order to a good life let them be as exalted as the capacity of the person and subject will endure , up to the height of Contemplation ; but if Contemplation comes to be a distinct thing , and something besides or beyond a distinct degree of vertuous Meditation , it is lost to all sense and Religion and prudence . Let no man be hasty to eat of the fruits of Paradise before his time . 28. And now I shall not need to enumerate the blessed fruits of holy Meditation ; for it is a Grace that is instrumental to all effects , to the production of all Vertues , and the extinction of all Vices , and , by consequence , the inhabitation of the Holy Ghost within us is the natural or proper emanation from the frequent exercise of this Duty , onely it hath something particularly excellent , besides its general influence : for Meditation is that part of Prayer which knits the Soul to its right object , and confirms and makes actual our intention and Devotion . Meditation is the Tongue of the Soul and the language of our spirit ; and our wandring thoughts in prayer are but the neglects of Meditation , and recessions from that Duty ; and according as we neglect Meditation , so are our Prayers imperfect , Meditation being the Soul of Prayer , and the intention of our spirit . But in all other things Meditation is the instrument and conveyance ; it habituates our affections to Heaven , it hath permanent content , it produces constancy of purpose , despising of things below , inflamed desires of Vertue , love of God , self-denial , humility of understanding , and universal correction of our life and manners . The PRAYER . HOly and Eternal Jesus , whose whole Life and Doctrine was a perpetual Sermon of Holy life , a treasure of Wisedom , and a repository of Divine materials for Meditation ; give me grace to understand , diligence and attention to consider , care to lay up , and carefulness to reduce to practice all those actions , discourses and pious lessons and intimations by which thou didst expresly teach , or tacitly imply , or mysteriously signifie our Duty . Let my Understanding become as spiritual in its imployment and purposes as it is immaterial in its nature : fill my Memory as a vessel of Election with remembrances and notions highly compunctive , and greatly incentive of all the parts of 〈◊〉 . Let thy holy Spirit dwell in my Soul , instructing my Knowledge , sanctifying my Thoughts , guiding my Affections , directing my Will in the choice of Vertue ; that it may be the great imployment of my life to meditate in thy Law , to study thy preceptive will , to understand even the niceties and circumstantials of my Duty , that Ignorance may neither occasion a sin , nor become a punishment . Take from me all vanity of spirit , lightness of fancy , curiosity and impertinency of inquiry , illusions of the Devil and phantastick deceptions : Let my thoughts be as my Religion , plain , honest , pious , simple , prudent and charitable , of great imployment and force to the production of Vertues and extermination of Vice , but suffering no transportations of sense and vanity , nothing greater than the capacities of my Soul , nothing that may minister to any intemperances of spirit ; but let me be wholly inebriated with Love , and that love wholly spent in doing such actions as best please thee in the conditions of my infirmity and the securities of Humility , till thou shalt please to draw the curtain and reveal thy interiour beauties in the Kingdom of thine eternal Glories : which grant for thy mercie 's sake , O Holy and Eternal Jesu . Amen . The goodly CEDAR of Apostolick & Catholick EPISCOPACY , compared with the moderne Shoots & Slips of divided NOVELTIES , in the Church before the Introduction of the Apostles Lives In Rama was there a voice heard , lamentation and weeping and great mourning , ●●●hel weeping for her Children , and would not be Comforted because they are not . SECT . VI. Of the Death of the Holy Innocents , or the Babes of Bethlehem , and the Flight of JESVS into Egypt . The killing the Infants S. MAT. 2. 18 In Rama was there a voice heard Lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not be conforted because they are not The flight into Egipt S. MAT. 2. 14. When he arose he took the young Child and his mother by night and departed into egipt 1. ALL this while Herod waited for the return of the Wise men , that they might give directions where the Child did lie , and his Sword might find him out with a certain and direct execution . But when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise men , he was exceeding wroth . For it now began to deserve his trouble , when his purposes which were most secret began to be contradicted and diverted with a prevention , as if they were resisted by an all-seeing and almighty Providence . He began to suspect the hand of Heaven was in it , and saw there was nothing for his purposes to be acted , unless he could dissolve the golden chain of Predestination . Herod believed the divine Oracles , foretelling that a King should be born in Bethlehem ; and yet his Ambition had made him so stupid , that he attempted to cancel the Decree of Heaven . For if he did not believe the Prophecies , why was he troubled ? If he did believe them , how could he possibly hinder that event which God had foretold himself would certainly bring to pass ? 2. And therefore since God already had hindered him from the executions of a distinguishing sword , he resolved to send a sword of indiscrimination and confusion , hoping that if he killed all the Babes of Bethlehem , this young King's Reign also should soon determine . He therefore sent forth and 〈◊〉 all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof from two years old and under , according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the Wise men . For this Execution was in the beginning of the second year after Christ's Nativity , as in all probability we guess ; not at the two years end , as some suppose : because as his malice was subtile , so he intended it should be secure ; and though he had been diligent in his inquiry , and was near the time in his computation , yet he that was never sparing of the lives of others , would now to secure his Kingdom , rather over-act his severity for some moneths , than by doing execution but just to the tittle of his account hazard the escaping of the Messias . 3. This Execution was sad , cruel and universal : no abatements made for the dire shriekings of the Mothers , no tender-hearted souldier was imployed , no hard-hearted person was softned by the weeping eyes and pity-begging looks of those Mothers , that wondred how it was possible any person should hurt their pretty Sucklings ; no connivences there , no protections , or friendships , or consideration , or indulgences ; but Herod caus'd that his own child which was at nurse in the coasts of Bethlehem should bleed to death : which made Augustus Caesar to say , that in Heroa's house it were better to be a 〈◊〉 than a Child ; because the custome of the Nation did secure a Hog from Heroa's knife , but no Religion could secure his Child . The sword being thus made sharp by Herod's commission killed 14000 pretty Babes , as the Greeks in their Calendar , and the 〈◊〉 of AEthiopia do commemorate in their offices of Liturgy . For Herod , crafty and malicious , that is perfectly * Tyrant , had caused all the Children to be gathered together ; which the credulous Mothers ( supposing it had been to take account of their age and number in order to some taxing ) hindred not , but unwittingly suffered themselves and their Babes to be betrayed to an irremediable 〈◊〉 . 4. Then was 〈◊〉 that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet , saying , Lamentation and weeping and great mourning , Rachel weeping for her children , and would not be comforted . All the synonyma's of sadness were little enough to express this great weeping , when 14000 Mothers in one day saw their pretty Babes pouring forth their blood into that bosome whence not long before they had sucked milk , and instead of those pretty smiles which use to entertain the fancy and dear affections of their Mothers , nothing but affrighting shrieks , and then gastly looks . The mourning was great , like the mourning in the valley of Hinnom , and there was no comforter ; their sorrow was too big to be cured till it should lie down alone and rest with its own weariness . 5. But the malice of Herod went also into the Hill-countrey , and hearing that of John the son of Zachary great things were spoken , by which he was designed to a great ministery about this young Prince , he attempted in him also to rescind the Prophecies , and sent a messenger of death towards him ; but the Mother's care had been early with him , and sent him into desart places , where he continued till the time appointed of his manifestation unto 〈◊〉 . But as the Children of Bethlehem died in the place of Christ , so did the Father of the Baptist die for his Child . For Herod 〈◊〉 Zachary between the Temple and the Altar , * because he refused to betray his son to the fury of that rabid Bear. Though some persons very eminent amongst the Stars of the Primitive Church ( a ) report a Tradition , that a place being separated in the Temple for Virgins , Zachary suffered the Mother of our Lord to abide there after the Birth of her Holy Son , affirming her still to be a Virgin ; and that for this reason , not Herod , but the Scribes and Pharisees did kill Zachary . 6. Tertullian * reports , that the bloud of Zachary had so 〈◊〉 the stones of the pavement , which was the Altar on which the good old Priest was sacrificed , that no art or industry could wash the tincture out , the dye and guilt being both indeleble ; as if , because God did intend to exact of that Nation all the bloud of righteous persons from Abel to Zacharias , who was the last of the Martyrs of the Synagogue , he would leave a character of their guilt in their eyes to upbraid their Irreligion , Cruelty and 〈◊〉 . Some there are who affirm these words of our Blessed Saviour not to relate to any Zachary who had been already slain ; but to be a Prophecy of the last of all the Martyrs of the Jews , who should be slain immediately before the destruction of the last Temple and the dissolution of the Nation . Certain it is , that such a Zachary the son of 〈◊〉 ( if we may believe Josephus ) was slain in the middle of the Temple a little before it was destroyed ; and it is agreeable to the nature of the Prophecy and reproof here made by our Blessed Saviour , that [ from Abel to Zachary ] should take in all the righteous bloud from first to last , till the iniquity was complete ; and it is not imaginable that the bloud of our Blessed Lord and of S. James their Bishop ( for whose death many of themselves thought God destroyed their City ) should be left out of the account , which yet would certainly be left out , if any other Zachary should be 〈◊〉 than he whom they last slew : and in proportion to this , Cyprian de 〈◊〉 expounds that which we read in the past tense , to signifie the future , ye slew , i. e. shall slay ; according to the style often used by Prophets , and as the Aorist of an uncertain signification will beat . But the first great instance of the Divine vengeance for these Executions was upon Herod , who in very few years after was smitten of God with so many plagues and tortures , that himself alone seemed like an Hospital of the 〈◊〉 : For he was tormented with a soft slow fire , like that of burning Iron or the cinders of Yew , in his body ; in his bowels with intolerable Colicks and Ulcers , in his natural parts with Worms , in his feet with Gout , in his nerves with Convulsions , 〈◊〉 of breathing ; and out of divers parts of his body issued out so impure and ulcerous a steam , that the loathsomness , pain and indignation made him once to snatch a knife with purpose to have killed himself , but that he was prevented by a Nephew of his that stood there in his attendance . 7. But as the flesh of Beasts grows callous by stripes and the pressures of the yoak ; so did the heart of Herod by the loads of Divine vengeance . God began his Hell here , and the pains of Hell never made any man less impious : for Herod perceiving that he must now die , * first put to death his son Antipater , under pretence that he would have poisoned him ; and that the last scene of his life might for pure malice and exalted spight out-do all the rest , because he believed the Jewish nation would rejoyce at his death , he assembled all the Nobles of the people , and put them in prison , giving in charge to his Sister Salome , that when he was expiring his last all the Nobility should be slain , that his death might be lamented with a perfect and universal sorrow . 8. But God , that brings to nought the counsels of wicked Princes , turned the design against the intendment of Herod ; for when he was dead , and could not call his Sister to account for disobeying his most bloudy and unrighteous commands , she released all the imprisoned and despairing Gentlemen , and made the day of her Brother's death a perfect Jubilee , a day of joy , such as was that when the Nation was delivered from the violence of Haman in the days of 〈◊〉 . 9. And all this while God had provided a Sanctuary for the Holy Child Jesus . For God seeing the secret purposes of bloud which Herod had , sent his Angel , who appeared to Joseph in a dream , saying , Arise and take the young Child and his Mother , and fly into Egypt , and be thou there until I bring thee word ; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy him . Then he arose , and took the young Child and his Mother by night , and departed into Egypt . And they made their first abode in Hermopolis in the Countrey of Thebais , whither when they first arrived , the Child Jesus being by design or providence carried into a Temple , all the Statues of the Idol-gods fell down , like Dagon at the presence of the Ark , and suffered their timely and just dissolution and dishonour , according to the Prophecy of Isaiah , * Behold the Lord shall come into Egypt , and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence . And in the Life of the Prophet Jeremy , written by Epiphanius , it is reported , that he told the Egyptian Priests , that then their Idols should be broken in pieces , when a Holy Virgin with her Child should enter into their Countrey : which Prophecy possibly might be the cause that the Egyptians did , besides their vanities , worship also an Infant in a manger , and a Virgin in her bed . 10. From Hermopolis to Maturea went these Holy Pilgrims in pursuance of their safety and provisions , where it was reported they dwelt in a garden of balsam , till Joseph being at the end of seven years ( as it is commonly believed ) ascertain'd by an Angel of the death of Herod , and commanded to return to the land of Israel , he was obedient to the heavenly Vision , and returned . But hearing that Archelaus did reign in the place of his Father , and knowing that the Cruelty and Ambition of Herod was 〈◊〉 or intail'd upon Archelaus , being also warned to turn aside into the parts of Galilee , which was of a distinct jurisdiction , governed indeed by one of Herod's sons , but not by Archelaus , thither he diverted , and there that Holy Family remained in the City of Nazareth , whence the Holy Child had the appellative of a Nazarene . Ad SECT . VI. Considerations upon the Death of the Innocents , and the Flight of the Holy JESVS into Egypt . 1. HErod having called the Wise men , and received information of their design , and the circumstances of the Child , pretended Religion too ; and desired them to bring him word when they had found the Babe , that he might come and worship him ; meaning to make a Sacrifice of him , to whom he should pay his Adoration ; and in stead of investing the young Prince with a Royal purple , he would have stained his swadling-bands with his bloud . It is ever dangerous when a wicked Prince pretends Religion , his design is then foulest by how much it needs to put on a fairer out-side : but it was an early policy in the world , and it concerned mens interests to seem Religious , when they thought that to be so was an abatement of great designs . When Jezabel designed the robbing and destroying Naboth , she sent to the Elders to proclaim a Fast ; for the external and visible remonstrances of Religion leave in the spirits of men a great reputation of the seeming person , and therefore they will not rush into a furious sentence against his actions , at least not judge them with prejudice against the man towards whom they are so fairly prepared , but do some violence to their own understanding , and either disbelieve their own Reason , or excuse the fact , or think it but an errour , or a less crime , or the incidencies of humanity ; or however , are so long in decreeing against him , whom they think to be religious , that the rumour is abated , or the stream of indignation is diverted by other laborious arts intervening before our zeal is kindled , and so the person is unjudged , or at least the design secured . 2. But in this , humane Policy was exceedingly infatuated : and though Herod had trusted his design to no keeper but himself , and had pretended fair , having Religion for the word , and called the Wise men privately , and intrusted them with no imployment but a civil request , an account of the success of their journey , which they had no reason or desire to conceal ; yet his heart was opened to the eye of Heaven , and the Sun was not more visible than his dark purpose was to God , and it succeeded accordingly : the Child was sent away , the Wise men warned not to return , Herod was mocked and enraged ; and so his crast became foolish and vain : and so are all counsels intended against God , or any thing of which he himself hath undertaken the protection . For although we understand not the reasons of security , because we see not that admirable concentring of infinite things in the Divine Providence , whereby God brings his purposes to act by ways unlook'd for , and sometimes contradictory ; yet the publick and perpetual experience of the world hath given continual demonstrations , that all evil counsels have come to nought ; that the succeeding of an impious design is no argument that the man is prosperous ; that the curse is then surest , when his fortune spreads the largest ; that the contradiction and impossibilities of deliverance to pious persons are but an opportunity and engagement for God to do wonders , and to glorifie his power and to exalt his mercy by the instances of miraculous or extraordinary events . And as the Afflictions happening to good men are alleviated by the support of God's good Spirit ; and enduring them here are but consignations to an honourable amends hereafter : so the succeeding Prosperities of fortunate impiety , when they meet with punishment in the next or in the third Age , or in the deletion of a people five Ages after , are the greatest arguments of God's Providence , who keeps wrath in store , and forgets not to do judgment for all them that are oppressed with wrong : It was laid up with God , and was perpetually in his eye , being the matter of a lasting , durable and unremitted anger . 3. But God had care of the Holy Child ; he sent his Angel to warn Joseph with the Babe and his Mother to fly into Egypt . Joseph and Mary instantly arise , and without inquiry how they shall live there , or when they shall return , or how be secured , or what accommodations they shall have in their Journey , at the same hour of the night begin the Pilgrimage with the chearfulness of Obedience , and the securities of Faith , and the confidence of Hope , and the joys of Love , knowing themselves to be recompensed for all the trouble they could endure , that they were instruments of the safety of the Holy Jesus , that they then were serving God , that they were encircled with the securities of the Divine Providence , and in these dispositions all places were alike ; for every region was a Paradise where they were in company with Jesus . And indeed that man wants many degrees of faith and prudence , who is solicitous for the support of his necessities when he is doing the commandment of God. If he commands thee to offer a Sacrifice , himself will provide a Lamb , or enable thee to find one ; and he would remove thee into a state of separation , where thy body needs no supplies of provision , if he meant thou shouldest serve him without provisions : He will certainly take away thy need , or satisfie it : he will feed thee himself , as he did the Israelites ; or take away thy hunger , as he did to Moses ; or send ravens to feed thee , as he did to Elias ; or make charitable people minister to thee , as the Widow to Elisha , or give thee his own portion , as he maintained the Levites ; or make thine enemies to pity thee , as the Assyrians did the captive Jews : For whatsoever the World hath , and whatsoever can be conveyed by wonder or by providence , all that is thy security for provisions , so long as thou doest the work of God. And remember that the assurance of Blessing and Health and Salvation is not made by doing what we list , or being where we desire , but by doing God's will , and being in the place of his appointment : we may be safe in Egypt , if we be there in obedience to God ; and we may perish among the Babes of Bethlehem , if we be there by our own election . 4. Joseph and Mary did not argue against the Angel's message , because they had a confidence of their charge , who with the breath of his mouth could have destroyed Herod , though he had been abetted with all the Legions marching under the Roman Eagles ; but they , like the two Cherubims about the Propitiatory , took the Child between them , and fled , giving way to the fury of Persecution , which possibly when the materials are withdrawn might expire , and die like fire , which else would rage for ever . Jesus fled , undertook a sad Journey , in which the roughness of the ways , his own tenderness , the youth of his Mother , the old age of his supposed Father , the smalness of their viaticum and accommodation for their voyage , the no-kindred they were to go to , hopeless of comsorts and exteriour supplies , were so many circumstances of Poverty , and lesser strokes of the Persecution ; things that himself did chuse to remonstrate the verity of his Nature , the infirmity of his Person , the humility of his spirit , the austerity of his undertaking , the burthen of his charge , and by which he did teach us the same vertues he then expressed , and also consign'd this permission to all his Disciples in future Ages , that they also may fly from their persecutors , when the case is so that their work is not done , that is , they may glorifie God with their lives more than with their death . And of this they are ascertained by the arguments of prudent account : For sometimes we are called to glorisie God by dying , and the interest of the Church and the Faith of many may be concerned in it ; then we must abide by it . In other cases it is true that Demosthenes said in apology for his own escaping from a lost field , A man that runs away may fight again . And S. Paul made use of a guard of Souldiers to rescue him from the treachery of the Jewish Rulers , and of a basket to escape from the Inquisition of the Governour of Damascus , and the Primitive Christians of Grotts and subterraneous retirements , and S. Athanasius of a fair Ladie 's House , and others of desarts and graves ; as knowing it was no shame to fly when their Master himself had fled , that his time and his work might be fulfilled ; and when it was , he then laid his life down . 5. It is hard to set down particular Rules that may indefinitely guide all persons in the stating of their own case ; because all things that depend upon circumstances are alterable unto infinite . But as God's glory and the good of the Church are the great considerations to be carried before us all the way , and in proportions to them we are to determine and judge our Questions ; so also our infirmities are allowable in the scrutiny : for I doubt not but God intended it a mercy and a compliance with humane weakness when he gave us this permission , as well as it was a design to secure the opportunities of his service and the consummation of his own work by us . And since our fears , and the incommodities of flight , and the sadness of exile , and the insecurities and inconveniences of a strange and new abode are part of the Persecution ; provided that God's glory be not certainly and apparently neglected , nor the Church evidently scandalized by our 〈◊〉 , all interpretations of the question in favour of our selves , and the declension of that part which may tempt us to apostasie , or hazard our confidence , and the chusing the lesser part of the Persecution , is not against the rule of Faith , and always hath in it less glory , but oftentimes more security . 6. But thus far Herod's Ambition transported him , even to resolutions of murther of the highest person , the most glorious and the most innocent upon earth ; and it represents that Passion to be the most troublesome and vexatious thing that can afflict the sons of men . Vertue hath not half so much trouble in it , it sleeps quietly without startings and affrighting fancies , it looks chearfully , smiles with much 〈◊〉 , and though it laughs not often , yet it is ever delightful in the apprehensions of some faculty ; it fears no man , nor no thing , nor is it discomposed , and hath no concernments in the great alterations of the World , and entertains Death like a Friend , and reckons the issues of it as the greatest of its hopes : but Ambition is full of distractions , it teems with stratagems , as Rebecca with strugling twins , and is swelled with expectation as with a tympany , and sleeps sometimes as the wind in a storm , still and quiet for a minute , that it may burst out into an impetuous blast till the cordage of his heart-strings crack ; fears when none is 〈◊〉 , and prevents things which never had intention , and falls under the inevitability of such accidents which either could not be foreseen , or not prevented . It is an infinite labour to make a man's self miserable , and the utmost acquist is so goodly a purchase , that he makes his days full of sorrow to enjoy the troubles of a three years reign ; for Herod lived but three years , or five at the most , after the flight of Jesus into Egypt . And therefore there is no greater unreasonableness in the world than in the designs of Ambition : for it makes the present certainly miserable , unsatisfied , troublesome and discontent , for the uncertain acquist of an honour which nothing can secure ; and besides a thousand possibilities of miscarrying , it relies upon no greater certainty than our life , and when we are dead , all the world sees who was the fool . But it is a strange caitiveness and baseness of disposition of men so furiously and unsatiably to run after perishing and uncertain interests , in defiance of all the Reason and Religion of the world ; and yet to have no appetite to such excellencies which satisfie Reason , and content the spirit , and create great hopes , and ennoble our expectation , and are advantages to Communities of men and publick Societies , and which all wise men teach , and all Religion commands . 7. And it is not amiss to observe how Herod vexed himself extremely upon a mistake . The Child Jesus was born a King , but it was a King of all the World , not confined within the limits of a Province , like the weaker beauties of a Torch to shine in one room , but , like the Sun , his Empire was over all the World ; and if Herod would have become but his Tributary , and paid him the acknowledgments of his Lord , he should have had better conditions than under Caesar , and yet have been as absolute in his own Jewry as he was before : His Kingdom was not of this World , and he that gives heavenly Kingdoms to all his servants , would not have stooped to have taken up Herod's petty Coronet . But as it is a very vanity which Ambition seeks , so it is a shadow that disturbs and discomposes all its motions and apprehensions . 8. And the same mistake caused calamities to descend upon the Church , for some of the Persecutions commenced upon pretence Christianity was an enemy to Government : But the pretence was infinitely unreasonable , and therefore had the fate of senseless allegations , it disbanded presently ; for no external accident did so incorporate the excellency of Christ's Religion into the hearts of men , as the innocency of the men , their inoffensive deportment , the modesty of their designs , their great humility and obedience , a life expresly in enmity and contestation against secular Ambition . And it is to be feared that the mingling humane interests with Religion will deface the image Christ hath stamped upon it . Certain it is , the metall is much abated by so impure allay , while the Christian Prince serves his end of Ambition , and bears arms upon his neighbour's Countrey for the service of Religion , making Christ's Kingdom to invade Herod's rights : and in the state Ecclesiastical secular interests have so deep a portion , that there are snares laid to tempt a Persecution , and men are invited to Sacrilege , while the Revenues of a Church are a fair fortune for a Prince . I make no scruple to find fault with Painters that picture the poor Saints with rich garments ; for though they deserved better , yet they had but poor ones : and some have been tempted to cheat the Saint , not out of ill will to his Sanctity , but love to his Shrine , and to the beauty of the cloaths , with which some imprudent persons have of old time dressed their Images . So it is in the fate of the Church , Persecution and the robes of Christ were her portion and her cloathing , and when she is dressed up in gawdy fortunes , it is no more than she deserves , but yet sometimes it is occasion that the Devil cheats her of her Holiness , and the men of the world sacrilegiously cheat her of her Riches : and then when God hath reduced her to that Poverty he first promised and intended to her , the Persecution ceases , and Sanctity returns , and God curses the Sacrilege , and stirs up mens minds to religious Donatives ; and all is well till she grows rich again . And if it be dangerous in any man to be rich , and discomposes his steps in his journey to Eternity ; it is not then so proportionable to the analogy of Christ's Poverty and the inheritance of the Church , to be sedulous in acquiring great Temporalties , and putting Princes in jealousie , and States into care for securities , lest all the Temporal should run into Ecclesiastical possession . 9. If the Church have by the active Piety of a credulous , a pious and less-observant Age , been endowed with great Possessions , she hath rules enough , and poor enough , and necessities enough to dispend what she hath with advantages to Religion : but then all she gets by it is , the trouble of an unthankful , a suspected and unsatisfying dispensation ; and the Church is made by evil persons a Scene of ambition and stratagem ; and to get a German Bishoprick is to be a Prince ; and to defend with niceness and Suits of Law every Custom or lesser Rite , even to the breach of Charity and the scandal of Religion , is called a Duty : and every single person is bound to forgive injuries , and to quit his right rather than his Charity ; but if it is not a duty in the Church also , in them whose life should be excellent to the degree of Example , I would fain know if there be not greater care taken to secure the Ecclesiastical Revenue , than the publick Charity and the honour of Religion in the strict Piety of the Clergy ; for as the not ingaging in Suits may occasion bold people to wrong the Church , so the necessity of ingaging is occasion of losing Charity and of great Scandal . I find not fault with a free Revenue of the Church ; it is in some sense necessary to Governours , and to preserve the Consequents of their Authority ; but I represent that such things are occasion of much mischief to the Church , and less Holiness , and in all cases respect should be had to the design of Christianity , to the Prophecies of Jesus , to the promised lot of the Church , to the dangers of Riches , to the excellencies and advantages and rewards of Poverty ; and if the Church have enough to perform all her duties and obligations chearfully , let her of all Societies be soonest content . If she have plenty , let her use it temperately and charitably ; if she have not , let her not be querulous and troublesome . But however it would be thought upon , that though in judging the quantum of the Church's portion the World thinks every thing too much , yet we must be careful we do not judge every thing too little ; and if our fortune be safe between envy and contempt , it is much mercy . If it be despicable , it is safe for Ecclesiasticks , though it may be accidentally inconvenient or less profitable to others ; but if it be great , publick experience hath made remonstrance that it mingles with the world , and durties those fingers which are instrumental in Consecration and the more solemn Rites of Christianity . 10. Jesus fled from the Persecution ; as he did not stand it out , so he did not stand out against it ; he was careful to transmit no precedent or encouragement of resisting tyrannous Princes , when they offer violence to Religion and our lives : He would not stand disputing for privileges , nor calling in Auxiliaries from the Lord of Hosts , who could have spared him many Legions of Angels , every single Spirit being able to have defeated all Herod's power ; but he knew it was a hard lesson to learn Patience , and all the excuses in the world would be sought out to discourage such a Doctrine by which we are taught to die , or lose all we have , or suffer inconveniences at the will of a Tyrant : we need no authentick examples , much less Doctrines , to invite men to War , from which we see Christian Princes cannot be restrained with the engagements and peaceful Theorems of an excellent and a holy Religion , nor Subjects kept from Rebelling by the interests of all Religions in the world , nor by the necessities and reasonableness of Obedience , nor the indearments of all publick Societies of men ; one word or an intimation from Christ would have sounded an alarm , and put us into postures of defence , when all Christ's excellent Sermons and rare exemplar actions cannot tie our hands . But it is strange now , that of all men in the World Christians should be such fighting people , or that Christian Subjects should lift up a thought against a Christian Prince , when they had no intimation of encouragement from their Master , but many from him to endear Obedience , and Humility , and Patience , and Charity ; and these four make up the whole analogy , and represent the chief design and meaning of Christianity in its moral constitution . 11. But Jesus , when himself was safe , could also have secured the poor Babes of Bethlehem , with thousands of diversions and avocations of Herod's purposes , or by discovering his own Escape in some safe manner not unknown to the Divine wisedom ; but yet it did not so please God. He is Lord of his Creatures , and hath absolute dominion over our lives , and he had an end of Glory to serve upon these Babes , and an end of Justice upon Herod : and to the Children he made such compensation , that they had no reason to complain that they were so soon made Stars , when they shined in their little Orbs and participations of Eternity : for so the sense of the Church hath been , that they having dyed the death of Martyrs , though incapable of making the choice , God supplied the defects of their will by his own entertainment of the thing ; that as the misery and their death , so also their glorification might have the same Author in the same manner of causality , even by a peremptory and unconditioned determination in these particulars . This sense is pious and nothing unreasonable , considering that all circumstances of the thing make the case particular ; but the immature death of other Infants is a sadder story : for though I have no warrant or thought that it is ill with them after death , and in what manner or degree of well-being it is there is no revelation ; yet I am not of opinion , that the securing of so low a condition as theirs in all reason is like to be , will make recompence , or is an equal blessing with the possibilities of such an Eternity as is proposed to them who in the use of Reason and a holy life glorifie God with a free Obedience ; and if it were otherwise , it were no blessing to live till the use of Reason , and Fools and Babes were in the best , because in the securest , condition , and certain expectation of equal glories . 12. As soon as Herod was dead , ( for the Divine Vengeance waited his own time for his arrest ) the Angel presently brought Joseph word . The holy Family was full of content and indifferency , not solicitous for return , not distrustful of the Divine Providence , full of poverty , and sanctity , and content , waiting God's time , at the return of which God delayed not to recall them from Exile ; out of Egypt he called his Son , and directed Joseph's fear and course , that he should divert to a place in the jurisdiction of Philip , where the Heir of Herod's Cruelty , Archelaus , had nothing to do . And this very series of Providence and care God expresses to all his sons by adoption ; and will determine the time , and set bounds to every Persecution , and punish the instruments , and ease our pains , and refresh our sorrows , and give quietness to our fears , and deliverance from our troubles , and sanctifie it all , and give a Crown at last , and all in his good time , if we wait the coming of the Angel , and in the mean time do our duty with care , and sustain our temporals with indifferency : and in all our troubles and displeasing accidents we may call to mind , that God by his holy and most reasonable Providence hath so ordered it , that the spiritual advantages we may receive from the holy use of such incommodities are of great recompence and interest , and that in such accidents the Holy Jesus , having gone before us in precedent , does go along with us by love and fair assistences ; and that makes the present condition infinitely more eligible than the greatest splendour of secular fortune . The PRAYER . O Blessed and Eternal God , who didst suffer thy Holy Son to fly from the violence of an enraged Prince , and didst chuse to defend him in the ways of his infirmity by hiding himself , and a voluntary exile ; be thou a defence to all thy faithful people when-ever Persecution arises against them , send them the ministery of Angels to direct them into ways of security , and let thy holy Spirit guide them in the paths of Sanctity , and let thy Providence continue in custody over their persons till the times of refreshment and the day of Redemption shall return . Give , O Lord , to thy whole Church Sanctity and Zeal , and the confidences of a holy Faith , boldness of confession , Humility , content , and resignation of spirit , generous contempt of the World , and unmingled desires of thy glory and the edification of thy Elect ; that no secular interests disturb her duty , or discompose her charity , or depress her hopes , or in any unequal degree possess her affections and pollute her spirit : but preserve her from the snares of the World and the Devil , from the rapine and greedy desires of Sacrilegious persons ; and in all conditions , whether of affluence or want , may she still promote the interests of Religion : that when plenteousness is within her palaces , and peace in her walls , that condition may then be best for her ; and when she is made as naked as Jesus to his Passion , then Poverty may be best for her : that in all estates she may glorifie thee , and in all accidents and changes thou mayest sanctifie and bless her , and at last bring her to the eternal riches and abundances of glory , where no Persecution shall disturb her rest . Grant this for sweet Jesus sake , who suffered exile and hard journeys , and all the inconveniences of a friendless person , in a strange Province ; to whom with thee and the eternal Spirit be glory for ever , and blessing in all generations of the World , and for ever and ever . Amen . SECT . VII . Of the younger years of JESVS , and his Disputation with the Doctors in the Temple . The House of Prayer . It is written , My house shall be called of all Nations , the house of prayer . Mark. 11. 17. If they return , confess thy name , and pray , and make supplication before thee in this House : Then hear thou in heaven , and forgive . 2. Chron 6. 24. 26. IESUS disputing with the Doctors S. LUKE . 2. 46. 47. They found him in the Temple , sitting in the midst of the Doctors both hearing them and asking them questions . And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding & answers . 1. FRom the return of this holy Family to Judaea , and their habitation in Nazareth , till the blessed Child Jesus was twelve years of age , we have nothing transmitted to us out of any authentick Record , but that they went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover . And when Jesus was twelve years old , and was in the Holy City attending upon the Paschal Rites and solemn Sacrifices of the Law , his Parents , having fulfilled their days of Festivity , went homeward , supposing the Child had been in the Caravan among his friends , and so they erred for the space of a whole day's journey ; and when they sought him , and found him not , they returned to Jerusalem full of fears and sorrow . 2. No fancy can imagine the doubts , the apprehensions , the possibilities of mischief , and the tremblings of heart which the Holy Virgin-Mother felt thronging about her fancy and understanding , but such a person who hath been tempted to the danger of a violent fear and transportation , by apprehension of the loss of a hope greater than a Miracle ; her discourses with her self could have nothing of distrust , but much of sadness and wonder , and the indetermination of her thoughts was a trouble great as the passion of her love : Possibly an Angel might have carried him she knew not whither ; or it may be the son of Herod had gotten the prey , which his cruel Father missed ; or he was sick , or detained out of curiosity and wonder , or any thing but what was right . And by this time she was come to Jerusalem , and having spent three days in her sad and holy pursuit of her lost jewel , despairing of the prosperous event of any humane diligence , as in all other cases she had accustomed , she made her address to God , and entring into the Temple to pray , God , that knew her desires , prevented her with the blessings of goodness , and there her sorrow was changed into joy and wonder ; for there she found her Holy Son sitting in the midst of the Doctors , both hearing them and asking them questions . 3. And when they saw him , they were amazed , and so were all that heard him , at his understanding and answers ; beyond his education , beyond his experience , beyond his years , and even beyond the common spirits of the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 up to the height of a Prophet , with the clearness of an Angel , and the infallibility of inspiration : for here it was verified in the highest and most literal signification , that out of the 〈◊〉 of babes God had ordained strength ; but this was the strength of 〈◊〉 , and science of the highest Mysteries of Religion and secret Philosophy . 4. Glad were the Parents of the Child to find him illustrated with a Miracle , concerning which when he had given them such an account which they understood not , but yet Mary laid up in her heart , as that this was part of his imployment and his Father's business , he returned with them to Nazareth , and was subject to his Parents ; where he lived in all Holiness and Humility , shewing great signs of Wisdom , indearing himself to all that beheld his conversation , did nothing less than might become the great expectation which his miraculous Birth had created of him ; for he increased in 〈◊〉 and stature , and favour with God and Man , still growing in proportion to his great beginnings to a miraculous excellency of Grace , sweetness of demeanour , and excellency of understanding . 5. They that love to serve God in hard questions , use to dispute whether Christ did truly or in appearance only increase in Wisdom . For being personally united to the Word , and being the eternal Wisdom of the Father , it seemed to them that a plenitude of Wisdom was as natural to the whole Person , as to the Divine Nature . But others , fixing their belief upon the words of the story , which equally affirms Christ as properly to have increased in favour with God as with Man , in wisdom as in stature , they apprehend no inconvenience in affirming it to belong to the verity of Humane Nature to have degrees of Understanding as well as of other perfections : and although the Humanity of Christ made up the same Person with the Divinity , yet they think the Divinity still to be free , even in those communications which were imparted to his inferiour Nature , and the Godhead might as well suspend the emanation of all the treasures of Wisdom upon the Humanity for a time , as he did the Beatifical Vision , which most certainly was not imparted in the interval of his sad and dolorous Passion . But whether it were truly or in appearance , in habit or in exercise of act , by increase of notion or experience , it is certain the promotions of the Holy Child were great , admirable , and as full of wonder as of Sanctity , and sufficient to entertain the hopes and expectations of Israel with preparations and dispositions , as to satisfie their wonder for the present , so to accept him at the time of his publication , they having no reason to be scandalized at the smalness , improbability , and indifferency of his first beginnings . 6. But the Holy Child had also an imployment which he undertook in obedience to his supposed Father , for exercise and example of Humility , and for the support of that holy Family which was dear in the eyes of God , but not very splendid by the opulency of a free and indulgent fortune . He wrought in the trade of a Carpenter , and when Joseph died , which happened before the Manifestation of Jesus unto Israel , he wrought alone , and was no more called the Carpenter's son , but the Carpenter himself . Is not this the Carpenter , the son of Mary ? said his offended Countrymen . And in this condition the Blessed Jesus did abide till he was thirty years old ; for he that came to fulfil the Law , would not suffer one tittle of it to pass unaccomplished ; for by the Law of the Nation and custom of the Religion no Priest was to officiate , or Prophet was to preach , before he was thirty years of age . Ad SECT . VII . Considerations upon the Disputation of JESVS with the Doctors in the Temple . 1. JOseph and Mary , being returned unto Nazareth , were sedulous to enjoy the priviledges of their Countrey , the opportunities of Religion , the publick address to God , in the Rites of Festivals and Solemnities of the Temple : they had been long grieved with the impurities and Idol-rites which they with sorrow had observed to be done in Egypt ; and being deprived of the blessings of those holy Societies and imployments they used to enjoy in Palestine , at their return came to the offices of their Religion with appetites of fire , and keen as the evening Wolf ; and all the joys which they should have received in respersion and distinct emanations , if they had kept their Anniversaries at Jerusalem , all that united they received in the duplication of their joys at their return , and in the fulfilling themselves with the resection and holy Viands of Religion . For so God uses to satisfie the longings of holy people , when a Persecution has shut up the beautiful gates of the Temple , or denied to them opportunities of access : although God hears the Prayers they make with their windows towards Jerusalem , with their hearts opened with desires of the publick communions , and sends them a Prophet with a private meal , as Habakkuk came to Daniel ; yet he fills their hearts when the year of Jubilee returns , and the people sing In convertendo , the Song of joy for their redemption . For as of all sorrows the deprivations and eclipses of Religion are the saddest , and of the worst and most inconvenient consequence ; so in proportion are the joys of spiritual plenty and religious returns , the Communion of Saints being like the Primitive Corban , a 〈◊〉 to feed all the needs of the Church , or like a Taper joyned to a Torch , it self is kindled , and increases the other's flames . 2. They failed not to go to Jerusalem : for all those holy prayers and ravishments of love , those excellent meditations and entercourses with God , their private readings and discourses , were but entertainments and satisfaction of their necessities , they lived with them during their retirements ; but it was a Feast when they went to Jerusalem , and the freer and more indulgent resection of the Spirit ; for in publick Solemnities God opens his treasures , and pours out his grace more abundantly . Private Devotions and secret Offices of Religion are like refreshing of a Garden with the distilling and petty drops of a Water-pot ; but addresses to the Temple , and serving God in the publick communion of Saints , is like rain from Heaven , where the Offices are described by a publick spirit , heightned by the greater portions of assistance , and receive advantages by the adunations and symbols of Charity , and increment by their distinct title to Promises appropriate even to their assembling , and mutual support , by the piety of Example , by the communication of Counsels , by the awfulness of publick Observation , and the engagements of holy Customs . For Religion is a publick vertue , it is the ligature of Souls , and the great instrument of the conservation of Bodies politick , and is united in a common object , the God of all the World , and is managed by publick ministeries , by Sacrifice , Adoration , and Prayer , in which with variety of circumstances indeed , but with infinite consent and union of design , all the sons of Adam are taught to worship God ; and it is a publication of God's honour , its very purpose being to declare to all the World how great things God hath done for us , whether in publick Donatives or private Missives ; so that the very design , temper and constitution of Religion is to be a publick address to God : and although God is present in Closets , and there also distills his blessings in small rain ; yet to the Societies of Religion and publication of Worship as we are invited by the great blessings and advantages of Communion , so also we are in some proportions more straitly limited by the analogy and exigence of the Duty . It is a Persecution when we are forced from publick Worshippings ; no man can hinder our private addresses to God , every man can build a Chappel in his breast , and himself be the Priest , and his heart the Sacrifice , and every foot of glebe he treads on be the Altar ; and this no Tyrant can prevent . If then there can be Persecution in the offices of Religion , it is the prohibition of publick profession and Communions , and therefore he that denies to himself the opportunities of publick rites and conventions , is his own Persecutor . 3. But when Jesus was twelve years old , and his Parents had finished their Offices , and returned filled with the pleasures of Religion , they missed the Child , and sought him amongst their kindred , but there they found him not ; for whoever seeks Jesus must seek him in the Offices of Religion , in the Temple , not amongst the engagements and pursuit of worldly interests : I forgat also mine own Father's house , said 〈◊〉 , the Father of this Holy Child ; and so must we , when we run in an enquiry after the Son of David . But our relinquishing must not be a dereliction of duty , but of engagement ; our affections toward kindred must always be with charity , and according to the endearments of our relation , but without immersion , and such adherencies as either contradict or lessen our duty towards God. 4. It was a sad effect of their pious journey to lose the joy of their Family , and the hopes of all the World : but it often happens that after spiritual imployments God seems to absent himself , and withdraw the sensible effects of his presence , that we may seek him with the same diligence and care and holy fears with which the Holy Virgin-Mother sought the Blessed Jesus . And it is a design of great mercy in God to take off the light from the eyes of a holy person , that he may not be abused with complacencies and too confident opinions and reflexions upon his fair performances . For we usually judge of the well or ill of our Devotions and services by what we feel ; and we think God rewards every thing in the present , and by proportion to our own expectations ; and if we feel a present rejoycing of Spirit , all is well with us , the smoak of the Sacrifice ascended right in a holy Cloud : but if we feel nothing of comfort , then we count it a prodigy and ominous , and we suspect our selves , ( and most commonly we have reason . ) Such irradiations of chearfulness are always welcom , but it is not always anger that takes them away : the Cloud removed from before the camp of Israel , and stood before the host of Pharaoh ; but this was a design of ruine to the Egyptians , and of security to Israel : and if those bright Angels that go with us to direct our journeys , remove out of our sight and stand behind us , it is not always an argument that the anger of the Lord is gone out against us ; but such decays of sense and clouds of spirit are excellent conservators of Humility , and restrain those intemperances and vainer thoughts which we are prompted to in the gayety of our spirits . 5. But we often give God cause to remove and for a while to absent himself , and his doing of it sometimes upon the just provocations of our demerits makes us at other times with good reason to suspect our selves even in our best actions . But sometimes we are vain , or remiss , or pride invades us in the darkness and incuriousness of our spirits , and we have a secret sin which God would have us to enquire after ; and when we suspect every thing , and condemn our selves with strictest and most angry sentence , then , it may be , God will with a ray of light break through the cloud ; if not , it is nothing the worse for us : for although the visible remonstrance and face of things in all the absences and withdrawings of Jesus be the same , yet if a sin be the cause of it , the withdrawing is a taking away his Favour and his love ; but if God does it to secure thy Piety , and to enflame thy desires , or to prevent a crime , then he withdraws a Gift only , nothing of his Love , and yet the darkness of the spirit and sadness seem equal . It is hard in these cases to discover the cause , as it is nice to judge the condition of the effect ; and therefore it is prudent to ascertain our condition by improving our care and our Religion ; and in all accidents to make no judgment concerning God's Favour by what we feel , but by what we do . 6. When the Holy Virgin with much Religion and sadness had sought her joy , at last she found him disputing among the Doctors , hearing them , and asking them questions ; and besides that he now first opened a fontinel , and there sprang out an excellent rivulet from his abyss of Wisdom , he consigned this Truth to his Disciples , That they who mean to be Doctors and teach others , must in their first accesses and degrees of discipline learn of those whom God and publick Order hath set over us in the Mysteries of Religion . The PRAYER . BLessed and most Holy Jesus , Fountain of Grace and comfort , Treasure of Wisdom and spiritual emanations , be pleased to abide with me for ever by the inhabitation of thy interiour assistances and refreshments ; and give me a corresponding love , acceptable and unstained purity , care and watchfulness over my ways , that I may never , by provoking thee to anger , cause thee to remove thy dwelling , or draw a cloud before thy holy face : but if thou art pleased upon a design of charity or trial to cover my eyes , that I may not behold the bright rays of thy Favour , nor be refreshed with spiritual comforts ; let thy Love support my spirit by ways insensible , and in all my needs give me such a portion as may be instrumental and incentive to performance of my duty ; and in all accidents let me continue to seek thee by Prayers , and Humiliation , and frequent desires , and the strictness of a Holy life ; that I may follow thy example , pursue thy foot-steps , be supported by thy strength , guided by thy hand , enlightned by thy favour , and may at last after a persevering holiness and an unwearied industry dwell with thee in the Regions of Light and eternal glory , where there shall be no fears of parting from the habitations of Felicity , and the union and fruition of thy Presence , O Blessed and most Holy Jesus . Amen . SECT . VIII . Of the Preaching of John the Baptist , preparative to the Manifestation of JESVS . ELIAS Luke : 1 : 17. And he shall goe before him in the spirit and power of Elias . S t IOHN the Baptist Luk : 1 : 15 And as the people were in expectation . ve : 16 Iohn answered saying unto them all , I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier then I cometh y e latchet of whose shooes I am not worthy to unloose he shall baptize you with y e Holy Ghost and with fire WHen Herod had drunk so great a draught of bloud at Bethlehem , and sought for more from the Hill-country , Elizabeth carried her Son into the Wilderness , there in the desert places and recesses to hide him from the fury of that Beast , where she attended him with as much care and tenderness as the affections and fears of a Mother could express in the permission of those fruitless Solitudes . The Child was about eighteen months old when he first sled to Sanctuary ; but after forty days his Mother died , and his Father Zachary at the time of his ministration , which happened about this time , was killed in the Court of the Temple ; so that the Child was exposed to all the dangers and infelicities of an Orphan , in a place of solitariness and discomfort , in a time when a bloudy King endeavoured his destruction . But when his Father and Mother were taken from him , the Lord took him up . For , according to the tradition of the Greeks , God deputed an Angel to be his nourisher and Guardian , as he had formerly done to * Ishmael who dwelt in the Wilderness , and to Elias when he fled from the rage of Ahab ; so to this Child , who came in the spirit of Elias , to make demonstration that there can be no want where God undertakes the care and provision . 2. The entertainment that S. John's Proveditóre the Angel gave him was such as the Wilderness did afford , and such as might dispose him to a life of Austerity ; for there he continued spending his time in Meditations , Contemplation , Prayer , Affections and Colloquies with God , eating Flies and wild Honey , not clothed in soft , but a hairy garment , and a leathern girdle , till he was thirty years of age . And then , being the fifteenth year of Tiberius , Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judaea , the Word of God came unto John in the Wilderness . And he came into all the countrey about Jordan , preaching and baptizing . 3. This John , according to the Prophecies of him and designation of his person by the Holy Ghost , was the fore-runner of Christ , sent to dispose the people for his entertainment , and prepare his ways ; and therefore it was necessary his person should be so extraordinary and full of Sanctity , and so clarified by great concurrences and wonder in the circumstances of his life , as might gain credit and reputation to the testimony he was to give concerning his LORD the Saviour of the World. And so it happened . 4. For as the Baptist , while he was in the Wilderness , became the pattern of solitary and contemplative life , a School of Vertue , and Example of Sanctity and singular Austerity ; so at his emigration from the places of his Retirement he seemed , what indeed he was , a rare and excellent Personage : and the Wonders which were great at his Birth , the prediction of his Conception by an Angel , which never had before happened but in the persons of Isaac and Sampson , the contempt of the world which he bore about him , his mortified countenance and deportment , his austere and eremitical life , his vehement spirit and excellent zeal in Preaching , created so great opinions of him among the people , that all held him for a Prophet in his Office , for a heavenly person in his own particular , and a rare example of Sanctity and holy life to all others : and all this being made solemn and ceremonious by his Baptism , he prevailed so , that he made excellent and apt preparations for the LORD 's appearing ; for there went out to him Jerusalem , and all Judaea , and all the regions round about Jordan , and were baptized of him , confessing their sins . 5. The Baptist having by so heavenly means won upon the affections of all men , his Sermons and his testimony concerning Christ were the more likely to be prevalent and accepted ; and the summ of them was Repentance and dereliction of sins , and bringing forth the fruits of good life ; in the promoting of which Doctrine he was a severe reprehender of the Pharisees and Sadducees , he exhorted the people to works of mercy , the Publicans to do justice and to decline oppression , the Souldiers to abstain from plundering , and doing violence or rapine : and publishing that he was not the CHRIST , that he only baptized with water , but the Messias should baptize with the holy Ghost and with fire ; he finally denounced judgment and great severities to all the World of impenitents , even abscission and fire unquenchable . And from this time forward , viz. From the days of John the Baptist , the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence , and the violent take it by force . For now the Gospel began to dawn , and John was like the Morning-star , or the blushings springing from the windows of the East , foretelling the approach of the Sun of Righteousness : and as S. John Baptist laid the first rough , hard and unhewen stone of this building in Mortification , Self denial and doing violence to our natural affections ; so it was continued by the Master-builder himself , who propounded the glories of the Crown of the heavenly Kingdom to them only who should climb the Cross to reach it . Now it was that Multitudes should throng and croud to enter in at the strait gate , and press into the Kingdom ; and the younger brothers should snatch the inheritance from the elder , the unlikely from the more likely , the Gentiles from the Jews , the strangers from the natives , the Publicans and Harlots from the Scribes and Pharisees , who , like violent persons , shall by their importunity , obedience , watchfulness and diligence snatch the Kingdom from them to whom it was first offered ; and Jacob shall be loved , and Esau rejected . Ad SECT . VIII . Considerations upon the Preaching of John the Baptist. 1. FRom the Disputation of Jesus with the Doctors to the time of his Manifestation to Israel , which was eighteen years , the Holy Child dwelt in Nazareth in great obedience to his Parents , in exemplar Modesty , singular Humility , working with his hands in his supposed Father's trade , for the support of his own and his Mother's necessities , and that he might bear the Curse of Adam , that in the sweat of his brows he should eat his bread : all the while he increased in favour with God and man , sending forth excellent testimonies of a rare Spirit and a wise Understanding in the temperate instances of such a conversation to which his Humility and great Obedience had engaged him . But all this while the stream ran under ground : and though little bublings were discerned in all the course , and all the way men looked upon him as upon an excellent person , diligent in his calling , wise and humble , temperate and just , pious and rarely temper'd ; yet at the manifestation of John the Baptist he brake forth like the stream from the bowels of the earth , or the Sun from a cloud , and gave us a precedent that we should not shew our lights to minister to vanity , but then only when God , and publick order , and just dispositions of men call for a manifestation : and yet the Ages of men have been so forward in prophetical Ministeries , and to undertake Ecclesiastical imployment , that the viciousness and indiscretions and scandals the Church of God feels as great burthens upon the tenderness of her spirit , are in great part owing to the neglect of this instance of the Prudence and Modesty of the Holy Jesus . 2. But now the time appointed was come , the Baptist comes forth upon the Theatre of Palestine , a fore-runner of the Office and publication of Jesus , and by the great reputation of his Sanctity prevailed upon the affections and judgment of the people , who with much case believed his Doctrine , when they had reason to approve his Life ; for the good Example of the Preacher is always the most prevailing Homily , his Life is his best Sermon . He that will raise affections in his Auditory must affect their eyes ; for we seldom see the people weep if the Orator laughs loud and loosely ; and there is no reason to think that his discourse should work more with me than himself . If his arguments be fair and specious , I shall think them fallacies , while they have not faith with him ; and what necessity for me to be temperate , when he that tells me so sees no such need , but hopes to go to Heaven without it ? or if the duty be necessary , I shall learn the definition of Temperance , and the latitudes of my permission , and the bounds of lawful and unlawful , by the exposition of his practice ; if he binds a burthen upon my shoulders , it is but reason I should look for him to bear his portion too . Good works convince more than Miracles ; and the power of ejecting Devils is not so great probation that Christian Religion came from God , as is the holiness of the Doctrine , and its efficacy and productions upon the hearty Professors of the Institution . S. Pachomius , when he wore the military girdle under Constantine the Emperor , came to a City of Christians , who having heard that the Army in which he then marched was almost starved for want of necessary provisions , of their own charity relieved them speedily and freely . He wondring at their so free and chearful dispensation , inquired what kind of people these were whom he saw so bountiful . It was answered they were Christians , whose Profession it is to hurt no man , and to do good to every man. The pleased Souldier was convinced of the excellency of that Religion which brought forth men so good and so pious , and loved the Mother for the Children's sake , threw away his girdle , and became Christian , and Religious , and a Saint . And it was Tertullian's great argument in behalf of Christians , See how they love one another , how every man is ready to die for his brother : it was a living argument and a sensible demonstration of the purity of the Fountain , from whence such lympid waters did derive . But so John the Baptist made himself a fit instrument of preparation , and so must all the Christian Clergy be fitted for the dissemination of the Gospel of Jesus . 3. The Baptist had till this time , that is , about thirty years , lived in the Wilderness under the Discipline of the Holy Ghost , under the tuition of Angels , in conversation with God , in great mortification and disaffections to the World , his garments rugged and uneasie , his meat plain , necessary , and without variety , his imployment prayers and devotion , his company wilde beasts , in ordinary , in extraordinary , messengers from Heaven ; and all this not undertaken of necessity to subdue a bold lust , or to punish a loud crime , but to become more holy and pure from the lesser stains and insinuations of too free infirmities , and to prepare himself for the great ministery of serving the Holy Jesus in his Publication . Thirty years he lived in great austerity ; and it was a rare Patience and exemplar Mortification : we use not to be so pertinacious in any pious resolutions , but our purposes disband upon the sense of the first violence ; we are free and confident of resolving to fast when our * bellies are full , but when we are called upon by the first necessities of nature , our zeal is cool , and dissoluble into air upon the first temptation ; and we are not upheld in the violences of a short Austerity without faintings and repentances to be repented of , and enquirings after the vow is past , and searching for excuses and desires to reconcile our nature and our Conscience ; unless our necessity be great , and our sin clamorous , and our Conscience loaden , and no peace to be had without it : and it is well if upon any reasonable grounds we can be brought to suffer contradictions of nature , for the advantages of Grace . But it would be remembred , that the Baptist did more upon a less necessity ; and possibly the greatness of the example may entice us on a little farther than the customs of the World or our own indevotions would engage us . 4. But after the expiration of a definite time John came forth from his Solitude , and served God in Societies . He served God and the content of his own spirit by his conversing with Angels and Dialogues with God , so long as he was in the Wilderness , and it might be some trouble to him to mingle with the impurities of Men , amongst whom he was sure to observe such recesses from perfection , such violation of all things sacred , so great despite done to all ministeries of Religion , that to him who had no experience or neighbourhood of actions criminal , it must needs be to his sublim'd and clarified spirit more punitive and affictive than his hairen shirt and his ascetick diet was to his body ; but now himself , that tried both , was best able to judge which state of life was of greatest advantage and perfection . 5. In his Solitude he did breath more pure inspiration , Heaven was more open , God was more familiar and frequent in his visitations . In the Wilderness his company was Angels , his imployment Meditations and Prayer , his Temptations simple and from within , from the impotent and lesser rebellions of a mortified body , his occasions of sin as few as his examples , his condition such , that if his Soul were at all busie , his life could not easily be other than the life of Angels ; for his work and recreation , and his visits , and his retirements , could be nothing but the variety and differing circumstances of his Piety : his inclinations to Society made it necessary for him to repeat his addresses to God ; for his being a sociable Creature , and yet in solitude , made that his conversing with God , and being partaker of Divine communications , should be the satisfaction of his natural desires , and the supply of his singularity and retirement ; the discomforts of which made it natural for him to seck out for some refreshment , and therefore to go to Heaven for it , he having rejected the solaces of the World already . And all this besides the innocencies of his * silence , which is very great , and to be judged of in proportion to the infinite extravagancies of our language , there being no greater ‖ perfection here to be expected than not to offend in our tongue . It was solitude and retirement in which Jesus kept his Vigils , the Desart places heard him pray , in a privacy he was born , in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fed his thousands , upon a Mountain apart he was transfigured , upon a Mountain he died , and from a Mountain he 〈◊〉 to his Father ; in which Retirements his Devotion certainly did receive the advantage of convenient circumstances , and himself in such dispositions twice had the opportunities of Glory . 6. And yet after all these Excellencies the Spirit of God called the Baptist forth to a more excellent Ministery : for in Solitude pious persons might go to Heaven by the way of Prayers and Devotion , but in Society they might go to Heaven by the way of Mercy and Charity and dispensations to others . In Solitude there are fewer occasions of Vices , but there is also the exercise of fewer Vertues ; and the Temptations , though they be not from many Objects , yet are in some Circumstances more dangerous , not only because the worst of evils , spiritual Pride , does seldom miss to creep upon those goodly Oaks , like Ivy , and suck their heart out , and a great Mortifier without some complacencies in himself , or affectations or opinions , or something of singularity , is almost as unusual as virgin-purity and unstained thoughts in the Bordelli , ( S. Hierom had tried it and found it so by experience , and he it was that said so ; ) but also because whatsoever temptation does invade such retired persons , they have * privacies enough to act it in , and no eyes upon them but the eye of Heaven , no shame to encounter withal , no fears of being discovered : and we know by experience , that a Witness of our conversation is a great restraint to the inordination of our actions . Men seek out darknesses and secrecies to commit a sin ; and The evil that no man sees , no man reproves ; and that makes the Temptation bold and confident , and the iniquity easie and ready : So that as they have not so many tempters as they have abroad , so neither have they so many restraints ; their vices are not so many , but they are more dangerous in themselves , and to the World safe and opportune . And as they communicate less with the World , so they do less Charity and fewer offices of Mercy : no Sermons there but when solitude is made popular , and the City removes into the Wilderness ; no comforts of a publick Religion , or visible remonstrances of the Communion of Saints ; and of all the kinds of spiritual Mercy , only one can there properly be exercised , and of the corporal none at all . And this is true in lives and institutions of less retirement , in proportion to the degree of the Solitude : and therefore Church story reports of divers very holy persons , who left their Wildernesses and sweetnesses of Devotion in their retirement , to serve God in publick by the ways of Charity and exteriour offices . Thus S. Antony and Acepsamas came forth to encourage the fainting people to contend to death for the Crown of Martyrdom ; and Aphraates in the time of Valens the Arian Emperor came abroad to assist the Church in the suppressing the flames kindled by the Arian Faction . And upon this ground they that are the greatest admirers of Eremitical life call the Episcopal Function the State of perfection , and a degree of ministerial and honorary excellency beyond the pieties and contemplations of Solitude , because of the advantages of gaining Souls , and Religious conversation , and going to God by doing good to others . 7. John the Baptist united both these lives , and our Blessed Saviour , who is the great Precedent of Sanctity and Prudence , hath determined this question in his own instance ; for he lived a life common , sociable , humane , charitable , and publick , and yet for the opportunities of especial Devotion retir'd to prayer and contemplation , but came forth speedily ; for the Devil never set upon him but in the Wilderness , and by the advantage of retirement . For as God hath many , so the Devil hath some opportunities of doing his work in our solitariness . But Jesus reconcil'd both , and so did John the Baptist in several degrees and manners : and from both we are taught , that Solitude is a good School , and the World is the best Theatre ; the Institution is best there , but the Practice here ; the Wilderness hath the advantage of Discipline , and Society opportunities of Perfection ; Privacy is the best for Devotion , and the Publick for Charity . In both God hath many Saints and Servants , and from both the Devil hath had some . 8. His Sermon was an Exhortation to Repentance and an Holy life : He gave particular schedules of Duty to several states of persons ; sharply reproved the 〈◊〉 for their Hypocrisie and Impiety , it being worse in them , because contrary to their rule , their profession and institution ; gently guided others into the ways of Righteousness , calling them the streight ways of the Lord , that is , the direct and shortest way to the Kingdom , for of all Lines the streight is the shortest , and as every Angle is a turning out of the way , so every Sin is an obliquity , and interrupts the journey . By such 〈◊〉 and a Baptism he disposed the spirits of men for the entertaining the 〈◊〉 , and the Homilies of the Gospel . For John's Doctrine was to the Sermons of Jesus as a Preface to a Discourse ; and his Baptism was to the new Institution and Discipline of the Kingdom as the Vigils to a Holy-day , of the same kind in a less degree . But the whole Oeconomy of it represents to us , that Repentance is the first intromission into the Sanctities of Christian Religion . The Lord treads upon no paths that are not hallowed and made smooth by the sorrows and cares of Contrition , and the impediments of sin cleared by dereliction and the succeeding fruits of emendation . But as it related to the Jews , his Baptism did signifie , by a cognation to their usual Rites and Ceremonies of Ablution and washing Gentile Proselytes , that the Jews had so far receded from their duty and that Holiness which God required of them by the Law , that they were in the state of strangers , no better than Heathens , and therefore were to be treated , as themselves received Gentile Proselytes , by a Baptism and a new state of life , before they could be fit for the reception of the 〈◊〉 , or be admitted to his Kingdom . 9. It was an excellent sweetness of Religion that had entirely 〈◊〉 the Soul of the Baptist , that in so great reputation of Sanctity , so mighty concourse of people , such great multitudes of Disciples and confidents , and such throngs of admirers , he was humble without mixtures of vanity , and confirmed in his temper and Piety against the strength of the most impetuous temptation . And he was tried to some purpose : for when he was tempted to confess himself to be the CHRIST , he refused it , or to be Elias , or to be accounted that Prophet , he refused all such great appellatives , and confessed himself only to be a Voice , the lowest of Entities , whose being depends upon the Speaker , just as himself did upon the pleasure of God , receiving form and publication and imployment wholly by the will of his Lord , in order to the manifestation of the Word eternal . It were 〈◊〉 that the spirits of men would not arrogate more than their own , though they did not lessen their own just dues . It may concern some end of Piety or Prudence , that our reputation be preserved by all just means ; but never that we assume the dues of others , or grow vain by the spoils of an undeserved dignity . Honours are the rewards of Vertue , or engagement upon Offices of trouble and publick use ; but then they must suppose a preceding worth , or a fair imployment . But he that is a Plagiary of others titles or offices , and dresses himself with their beauties , hath no more solid worth or reputation , than he should have nutriment if he ate only with their mouth , and slept their slumbers , himself being open and unbound in all the Regions of his Senses . The PRAYER . O Holy and most glorious God , who before the publication of thy eternal Son , the Prince of Peace , didst send thy Servant John Baptist , by the examples of Mortification , and the rude Austerities of a penitential life , and by the Sermons of Penance , to remove all the impediments of sin , that the ways of his Lord and ours might be made clear , ready and expedite ; be pleased to let thy Holy Spirit lead me in the streight paths of Sanctity , without deslections to either hand , and without the interruption of deadly sin , that I may with facility , Zeal , 〈◊〉 and a persevering diligence walk in the ways of the Lord. Be pleased that the Axe may be laid to the root of Sin , that the whole body of it may be cut down in me , that no fruit of Sodom may grow up to thy displeasure . Throughly purge the floor and 〈◊〉 of my heart with thy Fan , with the breath of thy Diviner Spirit , that it may be a holy repository of Graces , and full of benediction and Sanctity ; that when our Lord shall come , I may at all times be prepared for the entertainment of so Divine a Guest , apt to lodge him and to feast him , that he may for ever delight to dwell with me . And make me also to dwell with him , sometimes retiring into his recesses and private rooms by Contemplation , and admiring of his Beauties , and beholding the Secrets of his Kingdom ; and at all other times walking in the Courts of the Lord's House by the diligences and labours of Repentance and an Holy life , till thou shalt please to call me to a nearer communication of thy Excellencies , which then grant , when by thy gracious assistances I shall have done thy works , and glorified thy holy Name , by the strict and never-failing purposes and proportionable endeavours of Religion and Holiness , through the merits and mercies of Jesus Christ. Amen . DISCOURSE IV. Of Mortification and corporal Austerities . 1. FRom the days of John the Baptist , the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence , and the violent take it by force , said our Blessed Saviour . For now that the new Covenant was to be made with Man , Repentance , which is so great a part of it , being in very many actions a punitive duty , afflictive and vindicative , from the days of the Baptist ( who first , by office and solemnity of design , published this Doctrine ) violence was done to the inclinations and dispositions of Man , and by such violences we were to be possessed of the Kingdom . And his Example was the best 〈◊〉 upon his Text ; he did violence to himself ; he lived a life in which the rudenesses of Camel's hair , and the lowest nutriment of Flies and Honey of the Desart , his life of singularity , his retirement from the sweetnesses of Society , his resisting the greatest of Tentations , and despising to assume false honours , were instances of that violence , and explications of the Doctrine of Self-denial and Mortification , which are the Pedestal of the Cross , and the Supporters of Christianity , as it distinguishes from all Laws , Religions , and Institutions of the World. 2. Mortification is the one half of Christianity ; it is a dying to the World , it is a denying of the Will and all its natural desires : An abstinence from pleasure and sensual complacencies , that the 〈◊〉 being subdued to the spirit , both may joyn in the service of God , and in the offices of holy Religion . It consists in actions of Severity and Renunciation ; it refuses to give entertainment to any vanity , nor uses a freer licence in things lawful , lest it be tempted to things unlawful ; it kills the lusts of the flesh by taking away its fewel and incentives , and by using to contradict its appetite , does inure it with more facility to obey the superiour Faculties : and , in effect , it is nothing but a great care we sin not , and a prudent and severe using such remedies and instruments which in Nature and Grace are made apt for the production of our purposes . And it consists in interiour and exteriour offices ; these being but instruments of the interiour , as the Body is organical or instrumental to the Soul , and no part of the Duty it self , but as they are advantages to the End , the mortification of the Spirit ; which by whatsoever means we have once acquired and do continue , we are disobliged from all other exteriour 〈◊〉 , unless by accident they come to be obligatory , and from some other cause . 3. Mortification of the Will or the Spirit of Man , that 's the Duty ; that the Will of Man may humbly obey God , and absolutely rule its inferiour Faculties ; that the inordinations of our natural desires , begun by Adam's sin , and continued and increased by our continuing evil customs , may be again placed in the right order ; that since many of the Divine Precepts are restraints upon our natural desires , we should so deny 〈◊〉 Appetites that covet after natural satisfactions , that they may not serve themselves by disserving God. For therefore our own Wills are our greatest dangers and our greatest enemies , because they tend to courses contradictory to God. God commands us to be humble ; our own desires are to be great , considerable , and high ; and we are never secure enough from contempt , unless we can place our neighbours at our feet : Here therefore we must deny our Will , and appetites of Greatness , for the purchase of Humility . God commands Temperance and Chastity ; our desires and natural promptness breaks the bands asunder , and entertains dissolutions to the licentiousness of Apicius , or the wantonness of a Mahumetan Paradise , sacrificing meat and drink-offerings to our appetites , as if our stomachs were the Temples of 〈◊〉 , and making Women and the opportunities of Lust to be our dwelling , and our imployment , even beyond the common loosenesses of entertainment : Here therefore we must deny our own Wills , our appetites of Gluttony and Drunkenness , and our prurient beastly inclinations , for the purchase of Temperance and Chastity . And every other Vertue is , either directly or by accident , a certain instance of this great Duty , which is , like a Catholicon , purgative of all distemperatures , and is the best preparative and disposition to Prayer in the world . 4. For it is a sad consideration , and of secret reason , that since Prayer of all Duties is certainly the sweetest and the 〈◊〉 , it having in it no difficulty or 〈◊〉 labour , no weariness of bones , no dimness of eyes or hollow 〈◊〉 is directly consequent to it , no natural desires of contradictory quality , nothing of disease , but much of comfort and more of hope in it ; yet we are infinitely averse from it , weary of its length , glad of an occasion to pretermit our offices ; and yet there is no visible cause of such 〈◊〉 , nothing in the nature of the thing , nor in the circumstances necessarily appendent to the duty . Something is amiss in us , and it wanted a name , till the Spirit of God by enjoyning us the duty of Mortification hath taught us to know that Immortification of spirit is the cause of all our secret and spiritual indispositions : we are so incorporated to the desires of sensual objects , that we feel no relish or gust of the spiritual . It is as if a Lion should eat hay , or an Oxe venison , there is no proportion between the object and the appetite , till by mortification of our first desires our Wills are made spiritual , and our Apprehensions supernatural and clarified . For as a Cook told Dionysius the Tyrant , the black Broth of Lacedaemon would not do well at Syracusa , unless it be tasted by a Spartan's palate ; so neither can the Excellencies of Heaven be discerned but by a spirit disrelishing the sottish appetites of the world , and accustomed to diviner banquets . And this was mystically signified by the two Altars in Solomon's Temple , in the outer Court whereof Beasts were sacrificed , in the inner Court an Altar of incense : the first representing Mortification or slaying of our beastly appetites ; the 〈◊〉 the offering up our Prayers , which are not likely to become a pleasant offertory , unless our impurities be removed by the attonement made by the first Sacrifices ; without 〈◊〉 spirit be mortified , we neither can love to pray , nor God love to hear us . 5. But there are three steps to ascend to this Altar . The first is , to abstain from satisfying our carnal desires in the instances of sin ; and although the furnace flames with vehement emissions at some times , yet to walk in the midst of the burning without being consumed , like the Children of the Captivity : that is the duty even of the most imperfect , and is commonly the condition of those good persons whose interest in secular imployments speaks fair , and solicits often , and tempts highly ; yet they manage their affairs with habitual Justice , and a Constant Charity , and are temperate in their daily meals , chast in the solaces of marriage , and pure in their spirits , unmingled with sordid affections in the midst of their possessions and enjoyments . These men are in the world , but they are strangers here : They have a City , but not an abiding one ; they are Proselytes of the House , but have made no Covenant with the world . 〈◊〉 though they desire with secular desires , yet it is but for necessaries , and then they are content ; they use the creatures with freedom and modesty , but never to intemperance and transgression : so that their hands are below tied there by the necessities of their life ; but their hearts are above , lifted up by the abstractions of this first degree of Mortification . And this is the first and nicest distinction between a man of the world and a man of God ; for this state is a denying our affections nothing but the sin , it enjoys as much of the World as may be consistent with the possibilities of Heaven : a little less than this is the state of Immortification , and a being in the 〈◊〉 , which ( 〈◊〉 the Apostle ) cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The flesh must first be separated , and the adherences pared off from the skin , before the parchment be fit to make a schedule for use , or to transmit a Record : whatsoever in the sence of the Scripture is 〈◊〉 , or an enemy to the spirit , if it be not rescinded and mortified , makes that the Laws of God cannot be written in our hearts . This is the Doctrine S. Paul taught the Church : For if ye live after the flesh , ye shall die ; but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live . This first Mortification is the way of life , if it continues : but its continuance is not fecured , till we are advanced towards life by one degree more of this Death . For this condition is a state of a daily and dangerous warfare , and many inrodes are made by sin , and many times hurt is done and booty carried off : for he that is but thus far mortified , although his dwelling be within the Kingdom of Grace , yet it is in the borders of it , and hath a dangerous neighbourhood . If we mean to be safe , we must remove into the heart of the Land , or carry the war farther off . 6. Secondly , We must not only be strangers here , but we must be dead too , dead unto the World : that is , we must not only deny our Vices , but our Passions ; not only contradict the direct immediate Perswasion to a sin , but also cross the Inclination to it . So long as our Appetites are high and full , we shall never have peace or safety , but the dangers and insecurities of a full War and a potent Enemy ; we are always disputing the Question , ever strugling for life : but when our Passions are killed , when our desires are little and low , then Grace reigns , then our life is hid with Christ in God , then we have fewer interruptions in the way of Righteousness , then we are not so apt to be surprised by sudden eruptions and transportation of Passions , and our Piety it self is more prudent : and reasonable , chosen with a freer election , discerned with clearer understanding , hath more in it of Judgment than of Fancy , and is more spiritual and Angelical . He that is apt to be angry , though he be habitually careful and full of observation that he sin not , may at some time or other be surprised , when his guards are undiligent and without actual expectation of an enemy : but if his Anger be dead in him , and the inclination lessened to the indisferency and gentleness of a Child , the man dwells safe , because of the impotency of his Enemy , or that he is reduced to Obedience , or hath taken conditions of peace . He that hath refused to consent to actions of Uncleanness , to which he was strongly tempted , hath won a victory by sine force , God hath blessed him well : but an opportunity may betray him instantly , and the sin may be in upon him unawares ; unless also his desires be killed , he is betrayed by a party within . David was a holy person , but he was surprised by the sight of Bathsheba , for his freer use of permitted beds had kept the fire alive , which was apt to be put into a flame when so fair a beauty reflected through his eyes . But Joseph was a Virgin , and kept under all his inclinations to looser thoughts ; opportunity , and command , and violence , and beauty did make no breach upon his spirit . 7. He that is in the first state of Pilgrimage does not mutiny against his Superiors , nor publish their faults , nor envy their dignities ; but he that is dead to the world sees no fault that they have , and when he hears an objection , he buries it in an excuse , and rejoyces in the dignity of their persons . Every degree of Mortification endures reproof without murmur ; but he that is quite dead to the world and to his own will feels no regret against it , and hath no secret thoughts of trouble and unwillingness to the suffering , save only that he is sorry he deserv'd it . For so a dead body resists not your violence , changes not its posture you plac'd it in , strikes not his striker , is not moved by your words , nor provoked by your scorn , nor is troubled when you shrink with horror at the sight of it ; only it will hold the head downward in all its situations , unless it be hindred by violence : And a mortified spirit is such , without indignation against scorn , without revenge against injuries , without murmuring at low offices , not impatient in troubles , indifferent in all accidents , neither transported with joy nor deprest with sorrow , and is humble in all his thoughts . And thus he that is dead ( saith the Apostle ) is justified from sins . And this is properly a state of life , in which by the grace of Jesus we are restored to a condition of order and interiour beauty in our Faculties , our actions are made moderate and humane , our spirits are even , and our understandings undisturbed . 8. For Passions of the sensitive Soul are like an Exnalation , hot and dry , born up from the earth upon the wings of a cloud , and detained by violence out of its place , causing thunders , and making eruptions into lightning and sudden fires . There is a Tempest in the Soul of a passionate man ; and though every wind does not shake the earth , nor rend trees up by the roots , yet we call it violent and ill weather , if it only makes a 〈◊〉 and is harmless . And it is an inordination in the spirit of a man , when his Passions are tumultuous and mighty ; though they do not determine directly upon a sin , they discompose his peace , and disturb his spirit , and make it like troubled waters , in which no man can see his own figure and just 〈◊〉 portions , and therefore by being less a man cannot be so much a Christian , in the midst 〈◊〉 so great indispositions . For although the Cause may hallow the Passion , ( and if a man be very angry for God's cause , it is Zeal , not Fury ) yet the Cause cannot secure the Person from violence , transportation and inconvenience . When Elisha was consulted by three Kings concerning the success of their present Expedition , he grew so angry against idolatrous soram , and was carried on to so great degrees of disturbance , that when for Jehosaphat's sake he was content to enquire of the Lord , he called for a minstrel , who by his harmony might re-compose his disunited and troubled spirit , that so he might be apter sor divination . And sometimes this zeal goes besides the intention of the man , and beyond the degrees of prudent or lawful , and ingages in a sin , though at first it was Zeal for Religion . For so it happened in Moses , at the waters of Massah and Meribah he spake foolishly ; and yet it was when he was zealous for God , and extremely careful of the people's interest . For his Passion , he was hindred from entring into the Land of Promise . And we also , if we be not moderate and well-tempered , even in our 〈◊〉 for God , may , like Moses , break the Tables of the Law , and throw them out of our hands with zeal to have them preserved ; for Passion violently snatches at the Conclusion , but is inconsiderate and incurious concerning the Premises . The summ and purpose of this Discourse is that saying of our Blessed Saviour , He that will be my Disciple must deny himself ; that is , not only desires that are sinful , but desires that are his own , pursuances of his own affections , and violent motions , though to things not evil or in themselves contagious . 9. Thirdly , And yet there is a degree of Mortification of spirit beyond this : for the condition of our security may require , that we not only deny to act our temptations , or to please our natural desires , but also to seek opportunities of doing displeasure to our affections , and violence to our inclinations ; and not only to be indifferent , but to chuse a contradiction and a denial to our strongest appetites , to rejoyce in a trouble : and this was the spirit of S. Paul , I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations ; and , We glory in it . Which joy consists not in any sensitive pleasure any man can take in asflictions and adverse accidents , but in a despising the present inconveniences , and looking through the cloud unto those great felicities , and graces , and consignations to glory , which are the effects of the Cross : Knowing that tribulation worketh patience , and patience experience , and experience hope , and hope maketh not ashamed ; that was the incentive of S. Paul's joy . And therefore as it may consist with any degree of Mortification to pray for the taking away of the Cross , upon condition it may consist with God's glory and our ghostly profit ; so it is properly an act of this vertue to pray for the Cross , or to meet it , if we understand it may be for the interest of the spirit . And thus S. Basil prayed to God to remove his violent pains of Head-ach : but when God heard him , and took away his pain , and Lust came in the place of it , he prayed to God to restore him his Head-ach again ; that cross was gain and joy , when the removal of it was so full of danger and temptation . And this the Masters of spiritual life call being crucified with Christ ; because as Christ chose the death , and desired it by the appetites of the spirit , though his flesh smarted under it , and groaned and died with the burthen ; so do all that are thus mortified , they place misfortunes and sadnesses amongst things eligible , and set them before the eyes of their desire , although the flesh and the desires of sense are factious and bold against such sufferings . 10. Of these three degrees of interiour or spiritual Mortification , the first is Duty , the second is Counsel , and the third is Perfection . We sin if we have not the first ; we are in danger without the second ; but without the third we cannot be perfect as our heavenly Father is , but shall have more of humane infirmities to be ashamed of than can be excused by the accrescencies and condition of our nature . The first is only of absolute necessity ; the second is prudent , and of greatest convenience ; but the third is excellent and perfect . And it was the consideration of a wise man , that the Saints in Heaven , who understand the excellent glories and vast differences of state and capacities amongst beatified persons , although they have no envy nor sorrows , yet if they were upon earth with the same notion and apprehensions they have in Heaven , would not for all the world lose any degree of Glory , but mortifie to the greatest 〈◊〉 , that their Glory may be a derivation of the greatest ray of light ; every degree being of compensation glorious , and disproportionably beyond the inconsiderable troubles of the greatest Self-denial . God's purpose is , that we abstain from sin ; there is no more in the Commandment ; and therefore we must deny our selves , so as not to admit a sin , under pain of a certain and eternal curse : but the other degrees of Mortification are by accident so many degrees of Vertue , not being enjoyned or counselled for themselves , but for the preventing of crimes , and for securities of good life ; and therefore are parts and offices of Christian prudence , which whosoever shall positively reject , is neither much in love with Vertue , nor careful of his own safety . 11. Secondly , But Mortification hath also some designs upon the Body . For the Body is the Shop and Forge of the Soul , in which all her designs which are transient upon external objects are framed : and it is a good servant , as long as it is kept in obedience and under discipline ; but he that breeds his servant delicately will find him contumacious and troublesome , bold and confident as his son : and therefore S. Paul's practice , ( as himself gives account of it ) was , to keep his body under , and bring it into subjection , lest he should become a 〈◊〉 - away ; for the desires of the Body are in the same things in which themselves are satisfied so many injuries to the Soul , because upon every one of the appetites a restraint is made , and a law placed sor Sentinel , that if we transgress the bounds fixt by the divine 〈◊〉 , it becomes a sin ; now it is hard for us to keep them within compass , because they are little more than agents merely natural , and therefore cannot interrupt their act , but covet and desire as much as they can without suspension or coercion but what comes from without , which is therefore the more troublesome , because all such restraints are against nature , and without sensual pleasure . And therefore this is that that S. Paul said , When we were in the flesh , the 〈◊〉 of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto Death . For these pleasures of the body draw us as loadstones draw iron , not for love , but for prey and nutriment ; it feeds upon the iron , as the bodily pleasures upon the life of the spirit , which is lessened and impaired according as the gusts of the flesh grow high and sapid . 12. He that seeds a Lion must obey him , unless he make his den to be his prison : Our Lusts are as wild and as cruel Beasts , and , unless they feel the load of fetters and of Laws , will grow unruly and troublesome , and increase upon us , as we give them food and satisfaction . He that is used to drink high Wines , is sick if he hath not his proportion , to what degree soever his custom hath brought his appetite ; and to some men Temperance becomes certain death , because the inordination of their desires hath introduced a custom , and custom hath increased those appetites , and made them almost natural in their degree : but he that hath been used to hard diet and the pure stream , his 〈◊〉 are much within the limits of Temperance , and his desires as moderate as his diet . S. Jerom affirms , that to be continent in the state of Widowhood is barder than to keep our Firgin pure : and there is reason that then the Appetite should be harder to be restrained , when it hath not been accustomed to be denied , but satisfied in its freer solicitations . When a fontinel is once opened , all the symbolical humours run thither , and issue out , and it is not to be stopped without danger , unless the humour be purged or diverted : So is the satisfaction of an impure desire , it opens the issue , and makes way for the emanation of all impurity , and , unless the desire be mortified , will not be stopt by purposes and easie desires . 13. Since therefore the Body is the instrument of sins , the fewel and the incentive , our Mortification must reach thither also , at least in some degrees , or it will be to small purpose to think of mortifying our spirit in some instances of Temptation . In vain does that man think to keep his honour and Chastity , that invites his Lust to an activeness by soft beds and high diet , and idleness and opportunity : Make the Soul's instrument unapt , and half the work is done . And this is true in all instances of Carnality or natural desires , whose scene lies in the lower region of Passions , and are acted by the Body ; but the operation of the cure must be in proportion to the design ; as the mortification of the Spirit is in several degrees , so the mortification of the Body also hath its several parts of prudence , injunction and necessity . For the prescribing all sorts of Mortifications corporal indefinitely and indiseriminately to all persons , without separation of their ends and distinct capacities , is a snare to mens Consciences , makes Religion impertinently troublesome , occasions some men to glory in corporal Austerity , as if of it self it were an act of Piety , and a distinction of the man from the more imperfect persons of the world , and is all the way unreasonable and inartificial . 14. First , Therefore such whose ingagements in the world or capacities of person confine them to the lowest and first step of Mortification , those who fight only for life and liberty , not for priviledges and honour , that are in perpetual contestation and close fightings with sin , it is necessary that their Body also be mortified in such a degree , that their desires transport them not beyond the permissions of Divine and humane Laws : let such men be strict in the rules of Temperance and Sobriety , be chaste within the laws of Marriage , cherish their body to preserve their health , and their health to serve God , and to do their offices . To these persons the best instruments of Discipline are the strict laws of Temperance , denying all transgressions of the appetite boiling over its margent and proper limit , assiduous Prayer and observation of the publick laws of 〈◊〉 , which are framed so moderate and even , as to be proportionable to the common manner of living of persons secular and incumbred . For though many persons of common imployments and even manner of living have , in the midst of worldly avocations , undertaken Austerities very rude and rigorous , yet it was in order to a higher mortification of spirit ; and it is also necessary they should , if either naturally , or habitually , or easily they suffer violent transportation of Passions : for since the occasions of anger and disturbance in the world frequently occur , if such Passions be not restrained by greater violence than is competent to the ordinary offices of a moderate Piety , the cure is weaker than the humour , and so leaves the work imperfect . 15. Secondly , But this is coincident to the second degree of Mortification : for if either out of desire of a farther step towards perfection , or out of the necessities of nature or evil customs , it be necessary also to subdue our Passions as well as the direct invitations to sin , in both these cases the Body must suffer more Austerities , even such as directly are contrariant to every passionate disturbance , though it be not ever sinful in the instance . All Mortifiers must abstain from every thing that is unlawful ; but these , that they may abstain from things unlawful , must also deny to themselves satisfaction in things lawful and pleasant : and this is in a just proportion to the End , the subduing the Passions , lest their liberty and boldness become licentious . And we shall easier deny their importunity to sin , when we will not please them in those things in which we may : such in which the fear of God , and the danger of our Souls , and the convictions of Reason and Religion do not immediately cooperate . And this was the practice of David , when he had thirsted for the water of Bethlehem , and some of his Worthies ventured their lives and brought it , he refused to drink it , but poured it upon the ground unto the Lord , that is , it became a Drink-offering unto the Lord ; an acceptable Oblation , in which he 〈◊〉 his desires to God , denying himself the satisfaction of such a desire which was natural and innocent , save that it was something nice , delicate and curious . Like this was the act of the Fathers in the mountain Nitria , to one of which a fair cluster of dried grapes being sent , he refused to taste them , lest he should be too sensual and much pleased , but sent them to another , and he to a third , and the same consideration transmitted the Present through all their Cells , till it came to the first man again ; all of them not daring to content their appetite in a thing too much desired , lest the like importunity in the instance of a sin should prevail upon them . To these persons the best instruments of Discipline are subtractions rather than imposition of Austerities ; let them be great haters of corporal pleasures , eating for necessity , diet 〈◊〉 and cheap , abridging and making short the opportunities of natural and permitted solaces , * refusing exteriour comforts , not chusing the most pleasant object , nor suffering delight to be the end of eating , and therefore separating delight from it as much as prudently they may , not being too importunate with God to remove his gentler hand of paternal correction , but inuring our selves to patient suffering , and indifferent acceptation of the Cross that God lays upon us , at no hand living delicately , or curiously , or impatiently . And this was the condition of S. Paul , suffering with excellent temper all those persecutions and inconveniences which the enemies of Religion loaded him withall ; which he called bearing the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body , and carrying about in his body the dying or mortification of the Lord Jesus : it was in the matter of Persecution , which because he bare patiently , and was accustomed to , and he accepted with indifference and renunciation , they were the mortifications and the marks of Jesus , that is , a true 〈◊〉 to the Passion of Christ , and of great effect and interest for the preventing sins by the mortification of his natural desires . 16. Thirdly , But in the pale of the Church there are and have been many tall Cedars 〈◊〉 tops have reached to Heaven ; some there are that chuse afflictions of the Body , that by turning the bent and inclination of their affections into sensual 〈◊〉 , they may not only cut off all pretensions of Temptation , but grow in spiritual Graces , and perfections intellectual and beatified . To this purpose they served themselves with the instances of Sack-cloth , Hard lodging , long Fasts , Pernoctation in prayers , Renunciation of all secular possessions , great and expensive Charity , bodily Labours to great weariness and affiction , and many other prodigies of voluntary suffering , which Scripture and the Ecclesiastical stories do frequently mention . S. Lewis King of France wore Sack-cloth every day , unless sickness hindred ; and S. Zenobius as long as he was a Bishop . And when Severus Sulpitius sent a Sack-cloth to S. Panlinus Bishop of Nola , he returned to him a letter of thanks , and discoursed piously concerning the use of corporal Austerities . And that I need not instance , it was so general , that this was by way of appropriation called the Garment of the Church , because of the frequent use of such instruments of exteriour 〈◊〉 : and so it was in other instances . S. James neither are flesh nor drank wine ; S. Matthew lived upon acorns , seeds and herbs ; and , amongst the elder Christians , some rolled themselves naked in snows , some upon thorns , some on burning coals , some chewed bitter pills and masticated gumms , and sipped frequently of horrid potions , and wore iron upon their skin and bolts upon their legs , and in witty torments excelled the cruelty of many of their persecutors , whose rage determined quickly in death , and had certainly less of torment than the tedious afflictions and rude penances of Simeon surnamed Stylites . But as all great examples have excellencies above the ordinary Devotions of good people , so have they some danger and much consideration . 17. First , therefore , I consider , that these Bodily and voluntary self - 〈◊〉 can only be of use in carnal and natural Temptations , of no use in spiritual : for ascetick diet hard lodging and severe disciplines , cannot be directly operative upon the spirit , but only by mediation of the Body , by abating its extravagancies , by subtracting its maintenance , by lessening its temptations ; these may help to preserve the Soul chaste or temperate , because the scene of these sins lies in the Body , and thence they have their * maintenance , and from thence also may receive their abatements . But in actions which are less material , such as Pride , and Envy , and Blasphemy , and Impenitence , and all the kinds and degrees of Malice , external Mortifications do so little cooperate to their cure , that oftentimes they are their greatest 〈◊〉 and incentives , and are like Cordials given to cure a cold fit of an Ague , they do their work , but bring a hot fit in its place : and besides that great Mortifiers have been soonest assaulted by the spirit of Pride , we find that great Fasters are naturally angry and cholerick . S. Hierom found it in himself , and 〈◊〉 felt some of the effects of it . And therefore this last part of corporal Mortification , and the chusing such Afflictions by a voluntary imposition , is at no hand to be applied in all cases , but in cases of Lust only and Intemperance or natural Impatience , or such crimes which dwell in the Senses : and then it also would be considered , whether or no rudeness to the Body applied for the obtaining Patience be not a direct temptation to Impatience , a provoking the spirit , and a running into that whither we pray that God would not suffer us to be led . Possibly such Austerities , if applied with great caution and wise circumstances , may be an exercise of Patience , when the Grace is by other means acquired ; and he that finds them so , may use them , if he dares trust himself : but as they are dangerous before the Grace is obtained , so when it is , they are not necessary . And still it may be enquired in the case of temptations to Lust , whether any such Austerities which can consist with health will do the work . So long as the Body is in health , it will do its offices of nature ; if it is not in health , it cannot do all offices of Grace , nor many of our Calling . And therefore although they may do some advantages to persons tempted with the lowest sins , yet they will not do it all , nor do it alone , nor are they safe to all dispositions : and where they are useful to these smaller and lower purposes , yet we must be careful to observe , that the Mortification of the spirit to the greatest and most perfect purposes is to be set upon by means spiritual and of immediate efficacy ; for they are the lowest operations of the Soul which are moved and produced by actions corporal ; the Soul may from those become lustful or chast , chearful or sad , timorous or confident : but yet even in these the Soul receives but some dispositions thence , and more forward inclinations : but nothing from the Body can be operative in the begetting or increase of Charity , or the Love of God , or Devotion , or in mortifying spiritual and 〈◊〉 Vices : and therefore those greater perfections and heights of the Soul , such as are designed in this highest degree of 〈◊〉 , are not apt to be enkindled by corporal Austerities . And Nigrinus in Lucian finds sault with those Philosophers who thought Vertue was to be purchased by cutting the skin with whips , binding the nerves , razing the 〈◊〉 with iron : but he taught that 〈◊〉 is to be placed in the Mind by actions internal and immaterial , and that from thence remedies are to be derived against perturbations and actions criminal . And this is determined by the Apostle in fairest intimation , Mortifie therefore your carthly members ; and he instances in carnal crimes , fornication , uncleanness , inordinate affection , evil concupiscence , and covetousness , which are things may be something abated by corporal Mortifications : and that these are by distinct manner to be helped from other more spiritual Vices , he adds , But now therefore put off all these , anger , wrath , malice , blasphemy , filthy communication , and lying . To both these sorts of sins , Mortification being the general remedy , particular applications are to be made , and it must be only spiritual , or also corporal in proportion to the nature of the sins : he seems to distinguish the remedy by separation of the nature of the crimes , and possibly also by the differing words of [ * 〈◊〉 ] applied to carnal sins , and [ * put 〈◊〉 ] to crimes spiritual . 18. Secondly , But in the lesser degrees of Mortification , in order to subduing of all Passions of the Sensitive appetite , and the consequent and symbolical sins , * bodily Austerities are of good use , if well understood and prudently undertaken . To which purpose I also consider , No acts of corporal Austerity or external Religion are of themselves to be esteemed holy or acceptable to God , are no-where precisely commanded , no instruments of union with Christ , no immediate parts of Divine worship ; and therefore to suffer corporal Austerities with thoughts determining upon the external action or imaginations of Sanctity inherent in the action , is against the purity , the spirituality and simplicity of the Gospel . And this is the meaning of S. Paul , It is a good thing that the heart be established with Grace , not with meats , which have not profited them which have walked in them ; and , The kingdom of God consists not in meat and drink , but in righteousness , and peace , and joy in the holy Ghost ; and , Bodily exercise profiteth little , but Godliness is profitable unto all things . Now if external Mortifications are not for themselves , then they are to receive their estimate as they cooperate to the End : Whatsoever is a prudent restraint of an extravagant Passion , whatsoever is a direct denial of a sin , whatsoever makes provision for the spirit , or withdraws the fewel from the impure fires of carnality , that is an act of Mortification ; but those Austerities which Baal's Priests did use , or the 〈◊〉 , an ignorant Faction that went up and down Villages whipping themselves , or those which return periodically on a set day of Discipline , and using rudenesses to the Body by way of ceremony and solemnity , not directed against the actual incursion of a pungent Lust , are not within the vierge of the grace of 〈◊〉 . For unless the Temptation to a carnal sin be actually incumbent and pressing upon the Soul , pains of 〈◊〉 and smart do no benefit to ward suppressing the habit or inclination : for such sharp disciplines are but short and transient troubles ; and although they take away the present fancies of a Temptation , yet unless it be rash and uncharitable , there is no effect remanent upon the body , but that the Temptation may speedily return . As is the danger , so must be the application of the remedy . Actual Severities are not imprudently undertaken in case of imminent danger ; but to cure an habitual Lust , such corporal Mortifications are most reasonable whose effect is permanent , and which takes away whatsoever does minister more 〈◊〉 , and puts a torch to the pile . 19. But this is 〈◊〉 a discourse of Christian Prudence , not of precise Duty and Religion ; for if we do by any means provide for our indemnity and secure our innocence , all other exteriour Mortifications are not necessary , and they are convenient but as they do facilitate or cooperate towards the 〈◊〉 . And if that be well understood , it will concern us that they be used with prudence and caution , with purity of intention , and without pride : for since they are nothing in themselves , but are hallowed and adopted into the family of Religious actions by participation of the End , the doing them not for themselves takes off all complacency and fancy reflecting from an opinion of the external actions , guides and purifies the intention and teaches us to be prudent in the managing of those Austerities , which as they are in themselves afflictive , so have in them nothing that is eligible , if they be imprudent . 20. And now supposing these premises as our guide to chuse and enter into the action , Prudence must be called into the execution and discharge of it , and the manner of its managing . And for the prudential part , I shall first give the advice of Nigrinus in the discipline of the old Philosophers : He that will best institute and instruct men in the studies of Vertue and true Philosophy , must have regard to the mind , to the body , to the age , to the former education , and capacities or incapacities of the person ; to which all such circumstances may be added as are to be accounted for in all prudent estimations ; such as are national customs , dangers of scandal , the presence of other remedies , or disbanding of the inclination . 21. Secondly , It may also concern the prudence of this duty , not to neglect the smallest inadvertencies and minutes of Lust or spiritual inconvenience , but to contradict them in their weakness and first beginnings . We see that great disturbances are wrought from the smallest occasions meeting with an impatient spirit , like great flames kindled from a little spark fallen into an heap of prepared Nitre . S. Austin tells a Story of a certain person much vexed with Flies in the region of his dwelling , and himself heightned the trouble by too violent and busie reflexions upon the inconsiderableness of the instrument , and the greatness of the vexation alighting upon a peevish spirit . In this disposition he was visited by a Manichee , ( an Heretick that denied God to be the Maker of things visible : ) he being busie to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infection upon the next thing he met , asked the impatient person whom he thought to be the Maker of Flies . He 〈◊〉 , I think the Devil was ; for they are instruments of great vexation and perpetual trouble . What he rather sansied than believed , or expressed by anger rather than at all had entertained within , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by such arguments , to which his adversary was very apt to give consent by reason of his impatience and peevishness . The Manichee having set his foot firm upon his first breach proceeded in his Question , If the Devil made Flies , why not Bees , who are but a little bigger , and have a sting too ? The consideration of the Sting made him fit to think , that the little difference in bigness needed not a distinct and a greater Efficient , especially since the same work-man can make a great as well as a little vessel . The Manichee proceeded , If a Bee , why not a Locust ? if a Locust , then a Lizzard ? if a Lizzard , then a Bird ? if a Bird , then a Lamb ? and thence he made bold to 〈◊〉 to a Cow , to an Elephant , to a Man. His adversary by this time being insnared by granting so much , and now ashamed not to grant more , lest his first concessions should seem unreasonable and impious , confessed the Devil to be the Maker of all Creatures visible . The use which is made of this Story is this Caution , that the Devil do not abuse us in Flies , and provoke our spirits by trifles and impertinent accidents : for if we be unmortified in our smallest motions , it is not imaginable we should stand the blast of an impetuous accident and violent perturbation . Let us not therefore give our Passions course in a small accident , because the instance is inconsiderable ; for though it be , the consequence may be dangerous , and a wave may follow a wave , till the inundation be general and desperate . And therefore here it is intended for advice , that we be observant of the accidents of our domestick affairs , and curious that every trifling inadvertency of a servant , or slight misbecoming action , or imprudent words , be not apprehended as instruments of vexation ; for so many small occasions , if they be productive of many small disturbances , will produce an habitual churlishness and immortification of spirit . 22. Thirdly , Let our greatest diligence and care be imployed in mortifying our predominant Passion : for if our care be so great as not to entertain the smallest , and our resolution so strong and holy as not to be subdued by the greatest and most passionate desires , the Spirit hath done all its work , secures the future , and sanctifies the present , and nothing is wanting but perseverance in the same prudence and Religion . And this is typically commanded in the Precept of God to Moses and Aaron in the matter of Peor ; Vex the Midianites , because they vexed you , and made you sin by their daughters : and Phinehas did so , he killed a Prince of the house of Simeon and a Princess of Midian , and God confirmed the Priesthood to him for ever ; meaning , that we shall for ever be admitted to a nearer relation to God , if we sacrifice to God our dearest Lust. And this is not so properly an act , as the end of Mortification . Therefore it concerns the prudence of the Duty , that all the efficacy and violence of it be imployed against the strongest , and there where is the most dangerous hostility . 23. Fourthly , But if we mean to be Matters of the field , and put our victory past dispute , let us mortifie our morosity and natural aversations , reducing them to an indifferency , having in our wills no fondnesses , in our spirits no faction of persons or nations , being prepared to love all men , and to endure all things , and to undertake all employments which are duty or counsel in all circumstances and disadvantages . For the excellency of Evangelical Sanctity does surmount all Antipathies , as a vessel climbs up and rides upon a wave ; The Wolf and the Lamb shall cohabit , and a Child shall play and put his fingers in the Cavern of an Aspick ; Nations whose interests are most contradictory must be knit by the confederations of a mortified and a Christian Spirit , and single persons must triumph over the difficulties of an indisposed nature , or else their own will is unmortified , and Nature is stronger than can well consist with the dominion and absolute empire of Grace . To this 〈◊〉 reduce such peevish and unhandsome nicenesses in matters of Religion , that are unsatisfied unless they have all exteriour circumstances trimmed up and made pompous for their Religious offices ; such who cannot pray without a convenient room , and their Devotion is made active only by a well-built Chappel , and they cannot sing Lauds without Church-musick , and too 〈◊〉 light dissolves their intention , and too much dark promotes their melancholy ; and because these and the like exteriour Ministeries are good advantages , therefore without them they can do nothing , which certainly is a great intimation and likeness to Immortification . Our Will should be like the Candle of the Eye , without all colour in it self , that it may entertain the species of all colours from without : and when we lust after mandrakes and deliciousness of exteriour Ministeries , we many times are brought to betray our own interest , and prostitute our dearest affections to more ignoble and stranger desires . Let us love all natures , and serve all persons , and pray in all places , and fast without opportunities , and do alms above our power , and set our selves heartily on work , to neglect and frustrate those lower temptations of the Devil , who 〈◊〉 frequently enough make our Religion inopportune if we then will make it infrequent ; and will present us with objects enough and flies to disquiet our persons , if our natures be petulant , peevish , curious , and unmortified . 24. It is a great mercy of God to have an affable , sweet and well-disposed nature , and it does half the work of Mortification for us ; we have the less trouble to 〈◊〉 our Passions and destroy our Lusts. But then as those whose natures are morose , cholerick , peevish and lustful , have greater difficulty ; so is their vertue of greater excellence , and returned with a more ample reward : but it is in all mens natures as with them who gathered Manna , They that gathered little had no lack , and they that gathered much had nothing over : they who are of ill natures shall want * no assistance of God's grace to work their cure , though their flesh be longer 〈◊〉 ; and they who are sweetly tempered , being naturally meek and modest , chaste or temperate , will find work enough to contest against their temptations from without , though from within possibly they may have fewer . Yet there are greater degrees of Vertue and heroical excellencies , and great rewards to which God hath designed them by so fair dispositions , and it will concern all their industry to mortifie their spirit , which though it be malleable and more ductile , yet it is as bare and naked of imagery as the rudest and most iron nature : so that Mortification will be every man's duty ; no nature , nor piety , nor wisdom , nor 〈◊〉 , but will need it , either to subdue a Lust , or a Passion ; to cut off an occasion , or to resist a Temptation ; to persevere , or to go on ; to secure our present estate , or to proceed towards perfection . But all men do not think so . 25. For there are some who have great peace , no fightings within , no troubles without , no disputes or contradictions in their spirit : but these men have the peace of tributaries or a conquered people , the gates of their city stand open day and night , that all the carriages may enter without disputing the pass : the flesh and the spirit dispute not , because the spirit is there in pupillage or in bonds , and the flesh rides in triumph , with the tyranny and pride and impotency of a female tyrant . For in the sence of Religion we all are Warriors or Slaves ; either our selves are stark dead in trespasses and sins , or we need to stand perpetually upon our guards in continual observation , and in contestation against our Lusts and our Passions ; so long denying and contradicting our own Wills , till we will and chuse to do things against our Wills , having an eye always to those infinite satisfactions which shall 〈◊〉 our Wills and all our Faculties , when we arrive to that state in which there shall be no more contradiction , but only that our mortal shall put on immortality . 26. But as some have a vain and dangerous peace , so others double their trouble by too nice and impertinent scruples , thinking that every Temptation is a degree of Immortification . As long as we live we shall have to do with Enemies : but as this Life is ever a state of 〈◊〉 , so the very design and purpose of Mortification is not to take away Temptations , but to overcome them ; it endeavours to facilitate the work , and secure our condition by removing all occasions it can : but the opportunity of a crime and the solicitation to a sin is no fault of ours , unless it be of our procuring , or finds entertainment when it comes unsent for . To suffer a Temptation is a misery , but if we then set upon the 〈◊〉 of it , it is an occasion of Vertue ; and never is criminal , unless we give consent . But then also it would be considered , that it is not good offering our selves to fire ordeal , to confirm our Innocence ; nor prudent to enter into Battel without need , and to shew our valour ; nor safe to procure a Temptation , that we may have the reward of Mortification of it . For 〈◊〉 of the spirit is not commanded as a Duty finally resting in it self , or immediately landing upon God's glory , such as are acts of Charity and Devotion , Chastity and Justice : but it is the great instrument of Humility and all other Graces ; and therefore is to be undertaken to destroy a sin , and to secure a vertuous habit . And besides that to call on a danger is to tempt God , and to invite the Devil , ( and no man is sure of a victory : ) it is also great imprudence to create a need , that we may take it away again ; to drink poison , to make experiment of the antidote ; and at the best it is but a running back , to come just to the same place again : for he that is not tempted does not sin , but he that invites a Temptation , that he might overcome it , or provokes a Passion , that he may allay it , is then but in the same condition after his pains and his 〈◊〉 : He was not sure he should come so far . The PRAYER . O Dearest God , who hast framed Man of Soul and Body , and fitted him with Faculties and proportionable instruments to serve thee according to all our capacities , let thy holy Spirit rule and sanctifie every power and member both of Soul and Body , that they may keep that beautious order which in our creation thou didst intend , and to which thou dost restore thy people in the renovations of Grace ; that our Affections may be guided by Reason , our Understanding may be enlightned with thy Word , and then may guide and perswade our Will ; that we suffer no violent transportation of Passions , nor be overcome by a Temptation , nor consent to the impure solicitations of Lust ; that Sin may not reign in our mortal bodies , but that both Bodies and Souls may be conformable to the Sufferings of the Holy Jesus ; that in our Body we may bear the marks and dying of our Lord , and in our spirits we may be humble and mortified , and like him in all his imitable perfections ; that we may die to sin and live to righteousness , and after our suffering together with him in this world , we may reign together with him hereafter , to whom in the unity of the most mysterious Trinity be all glory and dominion and praise for ever and ever . Amen . SECT . IX . Of JESVS being Baptized , and going into the Wilderness to be Tempted . The Baptisme of Iesus S. MAT. 3. 17. And lo , a voice from heaven , saying This is my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased . Luc. 3 : 23. And Iesus himselfe began to be about thirty yeares of age . The Temqtation of Iesus S. MAT. 4 : 10 Get thee behind me Satan For it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou sarue 1. NOW the full time was come , Jesus took leave of his Mother and his Trade , to begin his Father's work and the Office Prophetical in order to the Redemption of the World ; and when John was baptizing in Jordan Jesus came to John to be baptized of him . The Baptist had never seen his face , because they had been from their infancy driven to several places , designed to several imployments , and never met till now . But immediately the Holy Ghost inspired S. John with a discerning and knowing spirit , and at his first arrival he knew him , and did him worship . And when Jesus desired to be baptized , John forbad him , saying , I have need to be baptized of thee , and comest thou to me ? For the Baptism of John , although it was not a direct instrument of the Spirit for the collation of Grace , neither find we it administred in any form of words , not so much as in the name of Christ to come , ( as * many dream ) ( because even after John had baptized , the Pharisees still doubted if he were the Messias , which they would not , if in his form of Ministration he had published Christ to come after him ; and also because it had not been proper for Christ himself to have received that Baptism whose form had specified himself to come hereafter ; neither could it consist with the Revelation which John had , and the confession which he made , to baptize in the name of Christ to come , whom the Spirit marked out to him to be come already , and himself pointed at him with his 〈◊〉 ) yet it was a ceremonious consignation of the Doctrine of * Repentance , which was one great part of the Covenant Evangelical , and was a Divine Institution , the susception of it was in order to the fulfilling all righteousness , it was a sign of Humility , the persons baptized confessed their sins , it was a sacramental disposing to the Baptism and Faith of Christ ; but therefore John wondred why the Messias , the Lamb of God , pure and without spot , who needed not the abstersions of Repentance or the washings of Baptism , should demand it , and of him a sinner and his servant . And in the Hebrew Gospel of S. Matthew which the 〈◊〉 used at 〈◊〉 ( as S. Hierom reports ) these words are added ; [ The Mother of the Lord and his brethren said unto him , John Baptist baptizeth to the Remission of sins , let us go and be baptized of him . He said to them , 〈◊〉 have I sinned , that I should go and be baptized of him ? ] And this part of the Story is also told by Justin Martyr . But Jesus wanted not a proposition to consign by his Baptism proportionable enough to the analogy of its institution ; for as others professed their return towards Innocence , so he avowed his perseverance in it : and though he was never called in Scripture [ a Sinner , ] yet he was made Sin for us ; that is , he did undergo the shame and the punishment ; and therefore it was proper enough for him to perform the Sacrament of Sinners . 2. But the Holy Jesus who came ( as himself in answer to the Baptist's question professed ) to sulfil all rightcousness , would receive that Rite which his Father had instituted in order to the manifestation of his Son. For although the Baptist had a glimpse of him by the first irradiations of the Spirit , yet John professed , That he therefore came baptizing with water , that Jesus might be manifested to Israel ; and it was also a sign given to the Baptist himself , that on whomsoever he saw the Spirit descending and remaining , he is the person that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost . And God chose to actuate the sign at the waters of Jordan in great and religious assemblies convened there at John's Baptism , and therefore Jesus came to be baptized , and by this Baptism became known to John , who as before he gave to him an indiscriminate testimony , so now he pointed out the person in his Sermons and Discourses , and by calling him the * Lamb of God prophesied of his Passion , and preached him to be the World's Redeemer , and the Sacrifice for mankind . He was now manifest to Israel , he confirmed the Baptism of John , he 〈◊〉 the water to become sacramental and ministerial in the remission of sins , he by a real event declared , that to them who should rightly be baptized the Kingdom of Heaven should certainly be opened , he inserted himself by that Ceremony into the society and participation of holy people , of which communion himself was Head and Prince ; and he did in a symbol purifie Humane nature , whose stains and guilt he had undertaken . 3. As soon as John had performed his Ministery , and Jesus was baptized , he prayed , and the heavens were opened , and the air clarified by a new and * glorious light , and the holy Ghost in the manner of a Dove alighted upon his sacred head , and God the Father gave a voice from Heaven , saying , Thou art my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased . This was the inauguration and proclamation of the Messias , when he began to be the great Prophet of the new Covenant . And this was the greatest meeting that ever was upon earth , where the whole Cabinet of the mysterious Trinity was opened and shewn , as much as the capacities of our present imperfections will permit ; the Second Person in the veil of Humanity , the Third * in the shape or with the motion of a Dove : but the First kept his primitive state , and as to the Israelites he gave notice by way of caution , Ye saw no shape , but ye heard a voice ; so now also God the Father gave testimony to his Holy Son , and appeared only in a voice without any visible representment . 4. When the Rite and the Solemnity was over , Christ ascended up out of the waters , and left so much vertue behind him , that , as Gregorius Turonensis reports , that creek of the River where his holy body had been baptized was indued with a healing quality , and a power of curing Lepers that bathed themselves in those waters , in the faith and with invocation of the holy Name of Jesus . But the manifestation of this power was not till afterwards , for as yet Jesus did no Miracles . 5. As soon as ever the Saviour of the World was baptized , had opened the Heavens , which yet never had been opened to Man , and was declared the Son of God , Jesus was by the Spirit driven into the Wilderness , not by an unnatural violence , but by the efficacies of Inspiration , and a supernatural inclination and activity of resolution ; for it was the Holy Spirit that bare him thither , he was led by the good Spirit to be tempted by the evil : whither also he was pleased to retire , to make demonstration that even in an active life , such as he was designed to and intended , some recesses and temporary dimissions of the world are most expedient , for such persons especially whose office is Prophetical , and for institution of others , that by such vacancies in prayer and contemplation they may be better enabled to teach others , when they have in such retirements conversed with God. 6. In the Desart , which was four miles 〈◊〉 the place of his Baptism , and about twenty miles from Jerusalem , as the common computations are , he did abide forty days and forty nights , where he was perpetually disturbed and assaulted with evil spirits , in the midst of wild beasts , in a continual fast , without eating bread or drinking water ; And the Angels ministred to him , being Messengers of comfort and sustentation sent from his Father for the support and service of his Humanity , and imployed in resisting and discountenancing the assaults and temporal hostilities of the spirits of darkness . 7. Whether the Devils 〈◊〉 in any horrid and affrighting shapes is not certain ; but it is more likely , to a person of so great Sanctity and high designation they would appear more Angelical and immaterial , in representments intellectual , in words and Idea's , temptations and inticements , because Jesus was not a person of those low weaknesses to be affrighted or troubled with an ugly 〈◊〉 , which can do nothing but abuse the weak and imperfect conceptions of persons nothing extraordinary . And this was the way which Satan or the Prince of the Devils took , whose Temptations were reserved for the last assault , and the great day of trial ; for at the expiration of his forty days , Jesus being hungry , the Tempter invited him only to eat bread of his own providing , which might refresh his Humanity and prove his Divinity , hoping that his hunger , and the desire of convincing the Devil , might tempt him to eat before the time appointed . But Jesus answered , It is written , Man shall not live by Bread alone , but by every word that 〈◊〉 out of the mouth of God ; meaning , that in every word of God , whether the Commandment be general or special , a promise is either expressed or implied of the supply of all provisions necessary for him that is doing the work of God ; and that was the present case of Jesus , who was then doing his Father's work , and promoting our interest , and 〈◊〉 was sure to be provided for : and therefore so are we . 8. The Devil , having failed in this assault , tries him again , requiring but a demonstration of his being the Son of God. He sets him upon the * battlement of the Temple , and invites him to throw himself down , upon a pretence that God would send his Angels to keep his Son , and quotes Scripture for it . But Jesus understood it well ; and though he was secured of God's protection , yet he would not tempt God , nor solicite his Providence to a dereliction by tempting him to an unnecessary conservation . This assault was silly and weak . But at last he unites all his power of stratagem , and places the Holy Jesus upon an exceeding high mountain , and by an Angelical power draws into one Centre Species * and Idea's from all the Kingdoms and glories of the World , and makes an admirable Map of beauties , and represents it to the eyes of Jesus , saying , that all that was put into his power to give , and he would give it him , if he would fall down and worship him . But then the Holy Lamb was angry as a provoked Lion , and commanded him away , when his temptations were violent , and his demands impudent and blasphemous . Then the Devil leaveth him , and the Angels came and ministred unto him , bringing such things as his necessities required , after he had by a forty days Fast done penance for our sins , and consigned to his Church the Doctrine and Discipline of Fasting in order to a Contemplative life , and the resisting and overcoming all the Temptations and allurements of the Devil , and all our ghostly enemies . Ad SECT . IX . Considerations upon the Baptizing , Fasting , and Temptation of the Holy JESVS by the Devil . 1. WHen the day did break , and the Baptist was busie in his Offices , the Sun of Righteousness soon entred upon our Hemisphere ; and after he had lived a life of darkness and silence for thirty years together , yet now that he came to do the greatest work in the World , and to minister in the most honourable Embassie , he would do nothing of singularity , but fulfil all righteousness , and satisfie all Commands , and joyn in the common Rites and Sacraments , which all people innocent or penitent did undergo either as deleteries of 〈◊〉 or instruments of Grace . For so he would needs be baptized by his servant ; and though he was of Purity sufficient to do it , and did actually by his Baptism purifie the Purifier , and sanctifie that and all other streams to a holy ministery and effect , yet he went in , bowing his head like a sinner , uncloathing himself like an imperfect person , and craving to be washed , as if he had been crusted with an impure Leprosie : thereby teaching us to submit our selves to all those Rites which he would institute ; and although 〈◊〉 of them be , like the Baptism of John , joyned with confession of sins and publication of our infirmities , yet it were better for us to lay by our loads and wash our ulcers , than by concealing them , out of vainer desires of impertinent reputation , cover our disease till we are heart-sick and die . But when so holy a person does all the pious Ministeries of the more imperfect , it is a demonstration to us , that a life common and ordinary , without affectation or singularity , is the most prudent and safe . Every great change , every violence of fortune , all eminencies and unevennesses whatsoever , whether of person or accident or circumstance , puts us to a new trouble , requires a distinct care , creates new dangers , objects more temptations , marks us out the object of envy , makes our standing more insecure , and our fall more contemptible and ridiculous . But an even life spent with as much rigour of duty to God as ought to be , yet in the same manner of Devotions , in the susception of ordinary Offices , in bearing publick burthens , frequenting publick Assemblies , performing offices of civility , receiving all the Rites of an established Religion , complying with national Customs and hereditary Solemnities of a people , in nothing disquieting publick peace , or disrelishing the great instruments of an innocent communion , or dissolving the circumstantial ligaments of Charity , or breaking Laws , and the great relations and necessitudes of the World , out of fancy or singularity , is the best way to live holily , and 〈◊〉 , and happily ; safer from sin and envy , and more removed from trouble and temptation . 2. When Jesus came to John to be baptized , John out of humility and modesty refused him ; but when Jesus by reduplication of his desire , fortifying it with a command , made it in the Baptist to become a Duty , then he obeyed . And so also did the primitive Clerks refuse to do offices of great dignity and highest ministery , looking through the honour upon the danger , and passing by the Dignity they considered the charge of the Cure , and knew that the eminency of the Office was in all sences insecure to the person , till by command and peremptory injunction of their Superiours it was put past a dispute , and became necessary , and that either they must perish instantly in the ruines and precipices of Disobedience , or put it to the hazard and a fair venture for a brighter crown or a bigger damnation . I wish also this care were entailed and did descend upon all Ages of the Church ; for the ambitious seeking of Dignities and Prelacies Ecclesiastical is grown the Pest of the Church , and corrupts the Salt it self , and extinguishes the lights , and gives too apparent evidences to the world that neither the end is pure , nor the intention sanctified , nor the person innocent , but the purpose ambitious or covetous , and the person vicious , and the very entrance into Church offices is with an impure torch , and a foul hand , or a heart empty of the affections of Religion , or thoughts of doing God's work . I do not think the present Age is to be treated with concerning denying to accept rich Prelacies and pompous Dignities ; but it were but reasonable that the main intention and intellectual design should be to appreciate and esteem the Office and employment to be of greatest consideration . It is lawful to desire a Bishoprick , neither can the unwillingness to accept it be , in a prudent account , adjudged the aptest disposition to receive it , ( especially if done in * ceremony , just in the instant of their entertainment of it , and possibly after a long ambition : ) but yet it were well if we remember that such desires must be sanctified with holy care and diligence in the Office ; for the hony is guarded with thousands of little sharp stings and dangers , and it will be a sad account , if we be called to audit for the crimes of our Diocese after our own Talleys are made even ; and he that believes his own load to be big enough , and trembles at the apprehension of the horrors of Dooms-day , is not very wise if he takes up those burthens which he sees have crushed their Bearers , and presses his own shoulders till the bones crack , only because the bundles are wrapt in white linen and bound with silken cords . He that desires the Office of a Bishop , desires a good work , saith S. Paul ; and therefore we must not look on it for the fair-spreading Sails and the beauteous Streamers which the favour of Princes hath put to it , to make it sail fairer and more secure against the dangers of secular discomforts ; but upon the Burthen it bears . Prelacy is a good work , and a good work well done is very honourable , and shall be rewarded ; but he that considers the infinite dangers of miscarrying , and that the 〈◊〉 of the Ship will be imputed to the Pilot , may think it many times the safest course to put God or his Superiours to the charge of a Command before he undertakes such great Ministeries : And he that enters in by the force of Authority , as he himself receives a testimony of his worth and aptness to the employment , so he gives the world another , that his search for it was not criminal , nor his person immodest , and by his weighty apprehension of his dangers he will consider his work , and obtain a grace to do it diligently , and to be accepted graciously . And this was the modesty and prudence of the Baptist. 3. When Jesus was baptized , he prayed , and the heavens were opened . External Rites of Divine Institution receive benediction and energy from above , but it is by the mediation of Prayer : * for there is nothing ritual , but it is also joyned with something moral , and required on our part in all persons capable of the use of Reason , that we may 〈◊〉 that the blessings of Religion are works and Graces too ; God therefore requiring us to do something , not that we may glory in it , but that we may estimate the Grace , and go to God for it in the means of his own hallowing . Naaman had been stupid , if , when the Prophet bade him wash seven times in Jordan for his cure , he had not confessed the cure to be wrought by the God of Israel and the ministery of his Prophet , but had made himself the Author , because of his obedience to the enjoyned condition ; and it is but a weak sancy to derogate from God's grace , and the glory and the freedom of it , because he bids us wash before we are cleansed , and pray when we are washed , and commands us to ask before we shall receive . But this also is true from this instance , that the external rite 〈◊〉 Sacrament is so instrumental in a spiritual Grace , that it never does it but with the conjunction of something moral : And this truth is of so great perswasion in the Greek Church , that the mystery of Consecration in the venerable Eucharist is amongst them attributed not to any mystical words and secret operations of syllables , but to the efficacy of the prayers of the Church , in the just imitation of the whole action and the rite of Institution . And the purpose of it is , that we might secure the excellency and holiness of such predispositions and concomitant Graces , which are necessary to the worthy and effectual susception of the external Rites of Christianity . 4. After the Holy Jesus was baptized and had prayed , the Heavens opened , the holy Ghost descended , and a voice from Heaven proclaimed him to be the Son of God , and one in whom the Father was well pleased ; and the same 〈◊〉 that was cast upon the head of our High Priest , went unto his 〈◊〉 , and thence sell to the borders of his garment : for as Christ our Head felt these effects in manifestation , so the Church believes God does to her and to her meanest children in the susception of the holy Rite of Baptism in right , apt and holy dispositions . For the Heavens open too upon us , and the Holy Ghost descends to 〈◊〉 the waters , and to hallow the Catechumen , and to pardon the passed and repented sins , and to consign him to the inheritance of 〈◊〉 , and to put on his military girdle , and give him the Sacrament and oath of fidelity ; for all this is understood to be meant by those frequent expressions of Scripture , calling Baptism the Laver of Regeneration , Illumination , a washing away the filth of the flesh , and the Answer of a good conscience , a being buried with Christ , and many others of the like purpose and signification . But we may also learn hence sacredly to esteem the Rites of Religion , which he first sanctified by his own personal susception , and then made necessary by his own institution and command , and God hath made to be conveyances of blessing and ministeries of the Holy Spirit . 5. The Holy Ghost descended upon Jesus in the manner or visible representment of a Dove : either in similitude of figure which he was pleased to assume , as the Church more generally hath believed ; or at least he did descend like a Dove , and in his robe of fire hovered over the Baptist's head , and then sate upon him , as the Dove uses to sit upon the house of her dwelling ; whose proprieties of nature are pretty and modest Hieroglyphicks of the duty of spiritual persons , which are thus observed in both Philosophies . The Dove sings not , but mourns , it hath no * gall , strikes not with its bill , hath no crooked talons , and forgets its young ones soonest of any the inhabitants of the air . And the effects of the Holy Spirit are symbolical in all the sons of Sanctification : For the voice of the Church is sad in those accents which express her own condition : but as the Dove is not so sad in her breast as in her note ; so neither is the interiour condition of the Church wretched and miserable , but indeed her Song is most of it Elegy within her own walls , and her condition looks sad , and her joys are not pleasures in the publick estimate , but they that afflict her think her miserable , because they know not the sweetnesses of a holy peace and serenity which supports her spirit , and plains the heart under a rugged brow , making the Soul festival under the noise of a Threne and sadder groanings . But the Sons of consolation are also taught their Duty by this Apparition : for upon whomsoever the Spirit descends , he teaches him to be meek and charitable , neither offending by the violence of hands , or looser language . For the Dove is inoffensive in beak and foot , and feels no disturbance and violence of passions when its dearest interests are destroyed ; that we also may be of an even spirit in the saddest accidents , which usually discompose our peace : and however such symbolical intimations receive their efficacy from the fancy of the contriver ; yet here , whether this Apparition did intend any such moral representment or no , it is certain that where-ever the holy Spirit does dwell , there also Peace and Sanctity , Meekness and Charity , a mortisied will and an active dereliction of our desires do inhabit . But besides this hieroglyphical representment , this Dove , like that which Noah sent out from the Ark , did aptly signifie the World to be renewed , and all to be turned to a new creation , and God hath made a new Covenant with us , that , unless we provoke him , he will never destroy us any more . 6. No sooner had the voice of God pronounced Jesus to be the well-beloved Son of God , but the Devil thought it of great concernment to attempt him with all his malice and his art ; and that is the condition of all those whom God's grace hath separated from the common expectations and societies of the world : and therefore the Son of Sirach gave good advice , My son , if thou come to serve the Lord , prepare thy Soul for temptation ; for not only the Spirits of darkness are exasperated at the declension of their own Kingdom , but also the nature and constitution of vertues and eminent graces , which holy persons exercise in their lives , is such as to be easily assailable by their contraries , apt to be lessened by time , to be interrupted by weariness , to grow flat and insipid by tediousness of labour , to be omitted and grow infrequent by the impertinent diversions of society and secular occasions ; so that to rescind the 〈◊〉 of Vice made firm by nature and evil habits , to acquire every new degree 〈◊〉 Vertue , to continue the holy fires of zeal in their just proportion , to 〈◊〉 the Devil , and to reject the invitations of the World , and the 〈◊〉 embraces of the Flesh , which are the proper employment of the sons of God , is a perpetual difficulty , and every possibility of 〈◊〉 the strictness of a Duty is a Temptation , and an insecurity to them who have begun to serve God in hard battels . 7. The Holy Spirit did drive Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil . And 〈◊〉 we are bound to pray instantly that we fall into no Temptation ; yet if by Divine permission or by an inspiration of the Holy Spirit we be engaged in an action or course of life that is full of Temptation and empty of comfort , let us apprehend it as an issue of Divine Providence , as an occasion of the rewards of Diligence and Patience , as an instrument of Vertue , as a designation of that way in which we must glorifie God ; but no argument of disfavour , since our dearest Lord , the most Holy Jesus , who could have driven the Devil away by the Breath of his mouth , yet was by the Spirit of his Father permitted to a trial and molestation by the spirits of Darkness . And this is S. James's counsel , My brethren , count it all joy when ye enter into divers temptations , knowing that the trial of your Faith worketh Patience . So far is a Blessing , when the Spirit is the instrument of our motion , and brings us to the trial of our Faith : but if the Spirit leaves us , and delivers us over to the Devil , not to be tempted , but to be abused and ruined , it is a sad condition , and the greatest instance of their infelicity whom the Church upon sufficient reason and with competent authority delivers over to Satan , by the infliction of the greater Excommunication . 8. As soon as it was permitted to the Devil to tempt our Lord , he , like fire , had no power to suspend his act , but was as entirely determined by the fulness of his malice as a natural agent by the appetites of nature ; that we may know to whom we owe the happinesses of all those hours and days of peace in which we sit under the trees of Paradise , and see no serpent encircling the branches , and presenting us with fair fruit to ruine us . It is the mercy of God we have the quietness of a minute ; for if the Devil's chain were taken off , he would make our very beds a torment , our tables to be a snare , our sleeps phantastick , lustful and illusive , and every sense should have an object of delight and danger , an Hyaena to kiss , and to perish in its embraces . But the Holy Jesus having been assaulted by the Devil , and felt his malice by the experiments of Humanity , is become so merciful a high Priest , and so sensible of our sufferings and danger , by the apprehensions of compassion , that he hath put a hook into the nostrils of Leviathan ; and although the reliques of seven Nations be in our borders and fringes of our Countrey , yet we live as safe as did the Israelites , upon whom sometimes an inroad and invasion was made , and sometimes they had rest forty years , and when the storm came , some remedy was found out , by his grace by whose permission the tempest was stirred up : and we find many persons who in seven years meet not with a violent temptation to a crime , but their battels are against impediments and retardations of improvement ; their own rights are not directly questioned , but the Devil and Sin are wholly upon the defensive . Our duty here is an act of affection to God , making returns of thanks for the protection , and of duty to secure and continue the favour . 9. But the design of the Holy Ghost being to expose Jesus to the Temptation , he arms himself with Fasting , and Prayer , and Baptism , and the Holy Spirit against the day of battel ; he continues in the Wilderness forty days and sorty nights without meat or drink , attending to the immediate addresses and colloquies with God , not suffering the interruption of meals , but representing his own and the necessities of all mankind with such affections and instances of spirit , love and wisdom , as might express the excellency of his person , and promote the work of our Redemption ; his conversation being in this interval but a resemblance of Angelical perfection , and his * Fasts not an instrument of Mortification , for he needed none , he had contracted no stain from his own nor his Parents acts ; neither do we find that he was at all hungry , or asslicted with his 〈◊〉 , till after the expiration of forty days . He was afterwards an hungry ( said the Evangelist , ) and his abstinence from meat might be a defecation of his faculties , and an opportunity of Prayer , but we are not sure it intended any thing else : but it may concern the prudence of Religion to snatch at this occasion of duty so far as the instance is imitable , and in all violences of Temptation to fast and pray , Prayer being a rare antidote against the poison , and Fasting a convenient disposition to intense , actual and undisturbed Prayer . * And we may remember also that we have been baptized and consign'd with the Spirit of God , and have received the adoption of Sons , and the graces of Sanctification in our Baptisms , and had then the seed of God put into us , and then we put on Christ , and entring into battel put on the whole armour of Righteousness ; and therefore we may by observing our strength gather also our duty and greatest obligation , to fight manfully , that we may triumph gloriously . 10. The Devil 's first Temptation of Christ was upon the instances and first necessities of Nature ; Christ was hungry , and the Devil invited him to break his fast upon the expence of a Miracle , by turning the stones into bread . But the answer Jesus made was such as taught us , since the ordinary Providence of God is sufficient for our provision or support , extraordinary ways of satisfying necessities are not to be undertaken , but God must be relied upon , his time attended , his manner entertained , and his measure thankfully received . Jesus refused to be relieved , and denied to manifest the Divinity of his Person , rather than he would do an act which had in it the intimation of a diffident spirit , or might be expounded a disreputation to God's Providence . And therefore it is an improvident care and impious security to take evil courses , and use vile instruments to furnish our Table , and provide for our necessities . God will certainly give us bread , and till he does , we can live by the breath of his mouth , by the Word of God , by the light of his countenance , by the refreshment of his Promises ; for if God gives not provisions into our granaries , he can feed us out of his own , that is , 〈◊〉 of the repositories of Charity . If the flesh-pots be removed , he can also alter the appetite ; and when our stock is 〈◊〉 , he can also lessen the necessity ; or if that continues , he can drown the sense of it in a deluge of patience and resignation . Every word of God's mouth can create a Grace , and every Grace can supply two necessities , both of the body and the spirit , by the comforts of this to support that , that they may bear each others burthen , and alleviate the pressure . 11. But the Devil is always prompting us to change our Stones into Bread , our sadnesses into sensual comfort , our drinesses into inundations of fancy and exteriour sweetnesses : for he knows that the ascetick Tables of Mortification and the stones of the Desart are more healthful than the fulnesses of voluptuousness and the corn of the valleys . He cannot endure we should live a life of Austerity or Self-denial : if he can get us but to satisfie our Senses , and a little more freely to please our natural desires , he then hath a fair Field for the Battel ; but so long as we force him to fight in hedges and morasses , encircling and crowding up his strengths into disadvantages , by our stone-walls , our hardnesses of Discipline and rudenesses of Mortification , we can with more facilities repell his flatteries , and receive fewer incommodities of spirit . But thus the Devil will abuse us by the impotency of our natural desires , and therefore let us go to God for satisfaction of our wishes : God can , and does , when it is good for us , change our stones into bread : for he is a Father so merciful , that if we ask him a Fish , he will not give us a Scorpion ; if we ask him bread , he will not offer us a stone ; but will satisfie all our desires by ministrations of the Spirit , making stones to become our meat , and tears our drink ; which although they are unpleasant and harsh to natural appetites , yet by the operation and influences of God's Holy Spirit they are made instruments of health , and life , and Salvation . 12. The Devil , perceiving Jesus to be a person of greater eminency and perfection than to be moved by sensual and low desires , makes a second assault by a Temptation something more spiritual , and tempts him to Presumption and indiscreet confidence , to a throwing himself down from the pinnacles of the Temple , upon the stock of Predestination , that God might secure him by the ministery of Angels , and so prove his being the Son of God. And indeed it is usual with the Devil , when severe persons have so much mortified their lower appetites that they are not easily overcome by an invitation of carnality or intemperance , to stir them to opinions of their own Sanctity , and make their first escaping prove their second and greater dangers . But that the Devil should perswade Jesus to throw himself down because he was the Son of God , was an invitation to no purpose , save only that it gave occasion to this truth , That God's Providence secures all his sons in the ways of Nature , and while they are doing their duty ; but loves not to be tempted to acts unreasonable and unnecessary : God will protect his servants in or from all evils happening without their knowledge , or against their will ; but not from evils of their own procuring . Heron , an inhabitant of the Desart , suffered the same Temptation , and was overcome by it ; for he died with his fall , sinfully and ingloriously . For the caresses of God's love to his Saints and servants are security against all but themselves . The Devil and all the World offer to do them mischief , but then they shall be safe , because they are innocent ; if they once offer to do the same to themselves , they lose their Protection , because they lost their Prudence and their Charity . But here also it will concern all those who by their eminent imployment and greater ministeries in Ecclesiasticals are set upon the pinnacle of the Temple , to take care that the Devil tempt not them to a precipice ; a fall from so great a height will break the bones in pieces : and yet there also the station is less firm , the posture most uneasie , the prospect vertiginous , and the Devil busie and desirous to thrust us headlong . 13. S. Hierom here observes well , the Devil intending mischief to our Blessed Saviour , invited him to cast himself down . He may perswade us to a fall , but cannot precipitate us without our own act . And it is an infinite mercy in God , that the Devil , who is of malice infinite , is of so restrained and limited a power , that he can do us no ghostly disadvantage , but by perswading us to do it our selves . And then it will be a strange imprudence to lay violent and unreasonable hands upon our selves , and do that mischief which our strongest and most malicious Adversary cannot ; or to be invited by the only Rhetorick of a dog's barking , to come near him , to untie his chain , to unloose his muzzle , for no other end but that we may be bitten . Just such a fool is every person that consents to the Temptations of the Devil . 14. By this time the Devil began to perceive that this was the Son of God , and designed to be the King of all the World , and therefore resolved for the last assault to profer him the Kingdoms of the World ; thinking Ambition more likely to ruine him , because he knew it was that which prevailed upon himself , and all those fallen Stars , the Angels of Darkness . That the Devil told a lie it is most likely , when he said , he had power to dispose the Kingdoms of the World ; for originally and by proper inherent right God alone disposes all Governments : but it is also certain , that the Devil is a person capable of a delegate imployment in some great mutation of States ; and many probabilities have been observed by wise personages , perswading that the Grandeur of the Roman Empire was in the degrees of increment and decrement permitted to the power and managing of the Devil , that the greatness of that Government , being in all appearance full of advantage to Satan's Kingdom , and imployed for the dis-improvement of the weak beginnings and improbable increase of Christianity , might give lustre and demonstration to it that it came from God , since the great permissions of power made to the Devil , and acted with all art and malice in defiance of the Religion , could produce no other effect upon it but that it made it grow greater ; and the greatness was made more miraculous , since the Devil , when his chain was off , fain would , but could not suppress it . 15. The Lamb of God , that heard him with patience tempt him to do himself a mischief , and to throw himself headlong , could by no means endure it when he tempted to a direct dishonouring of God. Our own injuries are opportunities of patience ; but when the glory of God and his immediate Honour is the question , then is the occasion and precise minute for the 〈◊〉 of a clear-shining and unconsuming Zeal . But the care of God's Glory had so filled and imployed all the Faculties of Jesus , that he takes no notice of the offer : and it were well also that we had fewer opinions of the lustre of worldly dignities , or at least that we in imitation of our Blessed Master should resuse to accept all the World , when it is to be bought of the Devil at the expence of a deadly sin . For that Government cannot be very honourable that makes us slaves to the worst of Tyrants ; and all those Princes and great personages , who by injury and usurpation possess and invade others rights , would do well to consider , that a Kingdom is too dearly paid for if the condition be first to worship the Devil . 16. When the Devil could do no good , he departed for a time . If he could ever have spied a time of returning , he wanted not will nor malice to observe and use it : And although Jesus was a person without danger , yet I doubt not but the Holy Ghost described that circumstance , that we should not have the securities of a deep peace when we have had the success of conquerors , for a surprise is most full of horror and of more certain ruine ; so that we have no security , but a perpetual observation ; that , together with the grace of God , ( who takes care of all his servants , and will drive away the Tempter when he pleases , and help us always when we need ) is as great an argument for our confidence and encouragement to our prayers and address to God , as it is safety to our person , and honour to our victory . And let us account it our honour , that the trials of Temptation , which is the greatest sadness of our condition , are hallowed by the Temptation of Jesus , and our condition assured by his assistances , and the assistances procured by our Prayers most easily upon the advantage of his sufferings and compassion . And we may observe that Poverty , Predestination and Ambition are the three quivers from which the Devil drew his arrows which ( as the most likely to prevail ) he shot against Christ : but now he shot in vain , and gave probation that he might be overcome ; our Captain hath conquered for himself and us . By these instances we see our danger , and how we are provided of a remedy . The PRAYER , O Holy Jesus , who didst fulfil all Righteousness , and didst live a life of evenness and obedience and community , submitting thy self to all Rites and Sanctions of Divine ordinance ; give me grace to live in the fellowship of thy holy Church , a life of Piety , and without singularity , receiving the sweet influence of thy Sacraments and Rites , and living in the purities and innocencies of my first Sanctification . I adore thy goodness infinite , that thou hast been pleased to wash my Soul in the Laver of Regeneration , that thou hast consigned me to the participation of thy favours by the holy 〈◊〉 . Let me not return to the infirmities of the Old Man , whom thou hast crucified on thy Cross , and who was buried with thee in Baptism ; nor 〈◊〉 the crimes of my sinsul years , which were so many recessions from 〈◊〉 purities : but let me ever receive the emissions of thy Divine Spirit , and be a Son of God , a partner of thine immortal inheritance ; and when thou seest it needful , I may receive testimony from Heaven , that I am thy servant and thy child . And grant that I may so walk , that I neither disrepute the honour of the Christian Institution , nor stain the whitenesses of that Innocence which thou didst invest my Soul withall when I put on the Baptismal Robe , nor break my holy Vow , nor lose my right of inheritance which thou hast given me by promise and grace ; but that thou mayest love me with the love of a Father , and a Brother , and a Husband , and a Lord , and I serve thee in the communion of Saints , in the susception of Sacraments , in the actions of a holy life , and in a never-failing love or uninterrupted Devotion ; to the glory of thy Name , and the promotion of all those Ends of Religion which thou hast designed in the excellent Oeconomy of Christianity . Grant this , Holy Jesus , for thy mercie 's sake , and for the honour of thy Name , which is and shall be adored for ever and ever . Amen . DISCOURSE V. Of Temptation . 1. GOD , who is the Fountain of good , did chuse rather to bring good out of evil , than not to suffer any evil to be : not only because variety of accidents and natures do better entertain our affections and move our spirits , who are transported and suffer great impressions by a circumstance , by the very opposition and accidental lustre and eminency of contraries ; but also that the glory of the Divine Providence in turning the nature of things into the designs of God might be illustrious , and that we may in a mixt condition have more observation , and after our danger and our labour may obtain a greater reward : for Temptation is the opportunity of Vertue and a Crown ; God having disposed us in such a condition , that our Vertues must be difficult , our inclinations 〈◊〉 and corrigible , our avocations many , our hostilities bitter , our dangers proportionable , that our labour might be great , our inclinations suppressed and corrected , our intentions be made actual , our enemies be resisted , and our dangers pass into security and honour , after a contestation , and a victory , and a perseverance . It is every man's case ; * Trouble is as certainly the lot of our nature and inheritance , and we are so sure to be tempted , that in the deepest peace and silence of spirit oftentimes is our greatest danger ; not to be tempted is sometimes our most subtle Temptation . It is certain then , we cannot be secure when our Security is our enemy ; but therefore we must do as God himself does , make the best of it , and not be sad at that which is the publick portion and the case of all men , but order it according to the intention , place it in the eye of vertue , that all its actions and motions may tend thither , there to be changed into felicities . But certain it is , unless we first be cut and hewen in the mountains , we shall not be fixed in the Temple of God ; but by incision and contusions our roughnesses may become plain , or our sparks kindled , and we may be either for the Temple or the Altar , spiritual building or holy fire , something that God shall delight in , and then the Temptation was not amiss . 2. And therefore we must not wonder that oftentimes it so happens , that nothing will remove a Temptation , no diligence , no advices , no labour , no prayers ; not because these are ineffectual , but because it is most fit the Temptation should abide for ends of God's designing : and although S. Paul was a person whose prayers were likely to be prevalent , and his industry of much prudence and efficacy toward the drawing out of his thorn ; yet God would not do it , but continued his war , only promising to send him succour , My grace is sufficient for thee : meaning , he should have an enemy to try his spirit and improve it , and he should also have God's grace to comfort and support it ; but as without God's grace the Enemy would spoil him , so without an Enemy God's grace would never swell up into glory and crown him . For the caresses of a pleasant Fortune are apt to swell into extravagancies of spirit , and burst into the dissolution of manners ; and unmixt Joy is dangerous : but if in our fairest Flowers we spie a Locust , or feel the uneasiness of a Sackcloth under our fine Linen , or our Purple be tied with an uneven and a rude Cord ; any little trouble , but to correct our wildnesses , though it be but a Death's-head served up at our Feasts , it will make our Tables fuller of health and freer from snare , it will allay our spirits , making them to retire from the weakness of dispersion , to the union and strength of a sober recollection . 3. Since therefore it is no part of our imployment or our care to be free from all the attempts of an enemy , but to be safe in despite of his hostility ; it now will concern us to inform our selves of the state of the War in general , and then to make provisions and to put on Armour accordingly . 4. First , S. * 〈◊〉 often observes , and makes much of the discourse , that the Devil , when he intends a Battery , first views the Strengths and Situation of the place . His sence drawn out of the cloud of an Allegory is this ; The Devil first considers the Constitution and temper of the person he is to tempt , and where he observes his natural inclination apt for a Vice , he presents him with objects , and opportunity , and arguments 〈◊〉 to his caitive disposition ; from which he is likely to receive the smaller opposition , since there is a party within that desires his intromission . Thus to Lustful natures he represents the softer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Fornication ; to the Angry and revengeful he offers to consideration the satisfactions and content of a full Revenge , and the emissions of anger ; to the Envious he makes Panegyricks of our Rivals , and swells our fancies to opinion , our opinion to self-love , self-love to arrogance , and these are supported by contempt of others , and all determine upon Envy , and expire in Malice . Now in these cases , when our natures are caitive and unhandsome , it were good we were conscious of our own weaknesses , and by special arts and strengths of Mortification fortifie that part where we are apt and exposed to danger : we are sure enough to meet a Storm there , and we also are likely to perish in it , unless we correct those a versenesses and natural indispositions , and reduce them to the evennesses of Vertue , or the affections and moderation of a good nature . Let us be sure that the Devil take not a helve from our own branches to 〈◊〉 his axe , that so he may cut the tree down : and certainly he that does violence to his nature , will not be easie to the entertainment of affections preternatural and violent . 5. Secondly , But the Devil also observes all our exteriour Accidents , Occasions and Opportunities of action ; he sees what Company we keep , he observes what degrees of love we have to our Wives , what looseness of affection towards Children , how prevalent their perswasions , how inconvenient their discourses , how trifling their interests , and to what degrees of determination they move us by their importunity or their power . The Devil tempted Adam by his Wife , because he saw his affections too pliant , and encirling her with the entertainment of fondness , joy , wonder , and amorous fancy : It was her hand that made the fruit beauteous to Adam ; She saw it 〈◊〉 of it self , and so she ate ; but Adam was not moved by that argument , but , The Woman gave it me , and I did eat : she gave vivacity to the Temptation , and efficacy to the argument . And the severity of the Man's understanding would have given a reasonable answer to the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent ; That was an ugly Beast , and his arguments not being of themselves convincing to a wise person , either must put on advantages of a fair insinuation and representment , or they are returned with scorn : But when the 〈◊〉 hands of his young Virgin. Mistriss became the Orators , the Temptation was an amorevolezza , he kisses the presenter , and hugs the ruine . Here therefore it is our safest course , to make a retrenchment of all those excrescences of Affections which , like wild and irregular Suckers , draw away nourishment from the Trunk , making it as sterile as it self is unprofitable . As we must restrain the inclinations of Nature , so also of Society and Relation , when they become inconvenient , and let nothing of our Family be so adopted or naturalized into our affections , as to create within us a new concupiscence , and a second time spoil our nature : What God intended to us for a Help , let not our fondnesses convert into a Snare ; and he that is not ready to deny the importunities and to reject the interests of a Wife or Child or Friend , when the question is for God , deserves to miss the comforts of a good , and to feel the troubles of an imperious woman . 6. Thirdly , We also have Ends and designs of our own , some great purpose upon which the greatest part of our life turns ; it may be we are to raise a Family , to recover a sunk Estate , or else Ambition , Honour , or a great Imployment is the great hindge of all our greater actions ; and some men are apt to make haste to be rich , or are to pass through a great many difficulties to be honourable : and here the Devil will swell the hopes , and obstruct the passages ; he will heighten the desire , and multiply the business of access , making the concupiscence more impatient , and yet the way to the purchase of our purposes so full of imployment and variety , that both the implacable desire and the multitude of changes and transactions may increase the danger , and multiply the sin . When the Enemy hath observed our Ends , he makes his Temptations to reflect from that angle which is direct upon them , provoking to malice and impatience against whomsoever we find standing in our way , whether willingly or by accident ; then follow naturally all those sins which are instrumental to removing the impediments , to facilitating the passage , to endearing our friends , to procuring more confidents , to securing our hopes , and entring upon possession . Simon Magus had a desire to be accounted some great one ; and by that purpose he was tempted to Sorcery and Divination ; and with a new object he brought a new sin into the world , adding Simony to his Sorcery , and taught posterity that crime , which till then had neither name nor being . And those Ecclesiasticks who violently affect rich or pompous Prelacies , pollute themselves with worldly Arts , growing covetous as Syrian Merchants , ambitious as the Levantine Princes , factious as the people , revengeful as 〈◊〉 , and proud as Conquerors and Usurpers ; and by this means Beasts are brought into the Temple , and the Temple it self is exposed to sale , and the holy Rites as well as the beasts of Sacrifice are made venial . To prevent the 〈◊〉 inconveniencies that thrust themselves into the common and great roads of our life , the best course is to cut our great Chanel into little Rivulets , making our Ends the more , that we may be indifferent to any , proposing nothing great , that our desires may be little ; for so we shall be better able to digest the troubles of an Enemy , the contradictions of an unhandsome accident , the crossing of our hopes , because our desires are even , and our ends are less considerable , and we can with much readiness divert upon another purpose , having another ready with the 〈◊〉 proportion to our hopes and desires as the 〈◊〉 . Thus 〈◊〉 we propound to our selves an honest imployment or a quiet retirement , a work of Charity abroad or of Devotion at home , if we miss in our first setting sorth , we return to shoar , where we can 〈◊〉 with content , it being alike to us either to 〈◊〉 abroad with more gain , or trade at home with more 〈◊〉 : But when we once grow great in our desires , fixing too earnestly upon one object , we either grow 〈◊〉 , ( as Rachel , Give me children , or I die ; ) or take ill courses and use 〈◊〉 means , ( as Thamar , chusing rather to lie with her Father than to die without issue ; ) or else are 〈◊〉 in the loss and frustration of our hopes , ( like the Women of Ramah , who would 〈◊〉 be comforted , ) Let therefore our life be moderate , our desires reasonable , our hopes little , our Ends none in eminency and 〈◊〉 above others : for as the rays of Light passing through the thin air end in a small and undiscerned Pyramis , but 〈◊〉 upon a wall are doubled and increase the warmth to a scorching and troublesome heat ; so the desires of Man , if they pass through an even and an indifferent life towards the issues of an ordinary and necessary course , they are little and within command , but if they pass upon an end or aim of difficulty or ambition , they duplicate and grow to a 〈◊〉 : and we have seen the even and temperate lives of indifferent persons continue in many degrees of Innocence ; but the Temptation of busie designs is too great even for the best of dispositions . 7. But these Temptations are crasse and material , and soon discernible ; it will require some greater observation to arm against such as are more spiritual and immaterial . For he hath Apples to cousen Children , and Gold for Men ; the Kingdoms of the World for the Ambition of Princes , and the Vanities of the World for the Intemperate ; he hath Discourses and fair-spoken Principles to abuse the pretenders to Reason , and he hath common Prejudices for the more vulgar understandings . Amongst these I chuse to consider such as are by way of Principle or Proposition . 8. The first great Principle of Temptation I shall note , is a general mistake , which excuses very many of our crimes upon pretence of Infirmity , calling all those sins to which by natural disposition we are inclined ( though by carelesness and evil customs they are heightned to a habit ) by the name of Sins of infirmity ; to which men suppose they have reason and title to pretend . If , when they have committed a crime , their Conscience checks them , and they are troubled , and , during the interval and abatement of the heats of desire , resolve against it , and commit it readily at the next opportunity ; then they cry out against the weakness of their Nature , and think , as long as this body of death is about them , it must be thus , and that this condition may stand with the state of Grace : And then the Sins shall return periodically , like the revolutions of a Quartan Ague , well and ill for ever , till Death surprizes the mistaker . This is a Patron of sins , and makes the Temptation prevalent by an authentick instrument : and they pretend the words of S. Paul , For the good that I would , that I do not ; but the evil that I would not , that I do . For there is a law in my members 〈◊〉 against the law of my mind , bringing me into captivity to the law of Sin. And thus the 〈◊〉 of Sin is mistaken for a state of Grace , and the imperfections of the Law are miscalled the affections and necessities of Nature , that they might seem to be incurable , and the persons apt for an excuse therefore , because for Nature there is no absolute cure . But that these words of S. Paul may not become a 〈◊〉 of death and instruments of a temptation to us , it is observable , that the Apostle by a siction of person ( as is usual * with him ) speaks of himself not as in the state of Regeneration under the Gospel , but under the 〈◊〉 , obscurities , insufficiencies and imperfections of the Law , which indeed he there contends to have been a Rule good and holy , apt to remonstrate our misery , because by its prohibitions , and limits given to natural desires , it made actions ( before indifferent ) now to be sins , it added many curses to the breakers of it , and by an 〈◊〉 of contrariety it made us more desirous of what was now unlawful : but it was a Covenant in which our Nature was restrained , but not helped ; it was provoked , but not sweetly assisted ; our Understandings were instructed , but our Wills not sanctified , and there were no suppletories of Repentance ; every greater sin was like the fall of an Angel , irreparable by any mystery , or express recorded or enjoyned . Now of a man under this Govenant he describes the condition to be such , that he understands his Duty , but by the infirmities of Nature he is certain to fall , and by the helps of the Law not strengthened against it , nor restored after it ; and therefore he calls himself under that notion a miserable man sold under sin , not doing according to the rules of the Law or the dictates of his Reason , but by the unaltered misery of his Nature certain to prevaricate . But the person described here is not S. Paul , is not any justified person , not so much as a Christian , but one who is under a state of direct opposition to the state of Grace ; as will manifestly appear if we observe the antithesis from S. Paul's own characters . For the Man here named is such , as in whom sin wrought all concupiscence , in whom sin lived , and slew him , ( so that he was dead in trespasses and sins ; ) and although he did delight in the Law after his inwardman , that is , his understanding had intellectual complacencies and satisfactions , which afterwards he calls serving the Law of God with his mind , ( that is , in the first dispositions and preparations of his spirit ) yet he could act nothing ; for the law in his members did inslave him , and brought him into captivity to the law of sin : so that this person was full of actual and effective lusts , he was a slave to sin and dead in trespasses : But the state of a regenerate person is such , as to have 〈◊〉 the flesh with the affections and lusts ; in whom sin did not reign , not only in the mind , but even also not in the mortal body ; over whom sin had no dominion ; in whom the old man was crucified , and the body of sin was destroyed , and sin not at all served . And to make the antithesis yet clearer , in the very beginning of the next Chapter the Apostle saith , that the spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the law of sin and death ; under which law he complained immediately before , he was sold and killed , to shew the person was not the same in these so different and contradictory representments . No man in the state of Grace can say , The evil that I would not , that I do : if by evil he means any evil that is habitual , or in its own nature deadly . 9. So that now let no man pretend an inevitable necessity to sin : for if ever it comes to a custom or to a great violation , though but in a single act , it is a condition of Carnality , not of spiritual life ; and those are not the infirmities of Nature , but the weaknesses of Grace , that make us sin so frequently ; which the Apostle truly affirms to the same purpose , The flesh lusteth against the Spirit , and the Spirit against the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to the other : so that [ ye cannot ] or [ that ye * do not do ] the things that ye would . This disability proceeds from the strength of the flesh , and weakness of the spirit : For he adds , But if ye be led by the Spirit , ye are not under the Law : saying plainly , that the state of such a combate , and disability of doing good , is a state of a man under the Law , or in the flesh , which he accounts all one ; but every man that is sanctified under the Gospel is led by the Spirit , and walks in the Spirit , and brings forth the fruits of the Spirit . It is not our excuse , but the aggravation of our sin , that we fall again in despite of so many resolutions to the contrary . And let us not flatter our selves into a confidence of sin , by supposing the state of Grace can stand with the Custom of any sin : for it is the state either of an animalis homo , ( as the Apostle calls him ) that is , a man in pure naturals , without the clarity of divine Revelations , who cannot perceive or understand the things of God ; or else of the carnal man , that is , a person , who though in his mind he is convinced , yet he is not yet freed from the dominion of sin , but only hath his eyes opened , but not his bonds loosed . For by the perpetual analogy and frequent expresses in Scripture , the spiritual person , or the man redeemed by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus , is free from the Law , and the Dominion , and the Kingdom , and the Power of all sin . For to be carnally minded is death , but to be spiritually minded is life and peace . 10. But sins of Infirmity in true sence of Scripture signifie nothing but the sins of an unholy and an unsanctified nature , when they are taken for actions done against the strength of resolution out of the strength of natural appetite and violence of desire : and therefore in Scripture the state of Sin and the state of Infirmity is all one . For when we were yet without strength , in due time Christ died for the ungodly , ( saith the Apostle : ) the condition in which we were when Christ became a sacrifice for us was certainly a condition of sin and enmity with God , and yet this he calls a being without strength , or in a state of weakness and infirmity ; which we , who believe all our strength to be derived from Christ's death , and the assistance of the holy Spirit , the fruit of his Ascension , may soon apprehend to be the true meaning of the word . And in this sence is that saying of our Blessed Saviour , The whole have no need of a Physician , but they that are weak : for therefore Christ came into the world to save sinners , those are the persons of Christ's Infirmary , whose restitution and reduction to a state of life and health was his great design . So that whoever sin habitually , that is , constantly , periodically , at the revolution of a temptation , or frequently , or easily , are persons who still remain in the state of sin and death ; and their intervals of Piety are but preparations to a state of Grace , which they may then be when they are not used to countenance or excuse the sin , or to flatter the person . But if the intermediate resolutions of emendation ( though they never run beyond the next assault of passion or desire ) be taken for a state of Grace blended with infirmities of Nature , they become destructive of all those purposes , through our mistake , which they might have promoted if they had been rightly understood , observed and cherished . Sometimes indeed the greatness of a Temptation may become an instrument to excuse some degrees of the sin , and make the man pitiable , whose ruine seems almost certain , because of the greatness and violence of the enemy , meeting with a natural aptness : but then the question will be , whither and to what actions that strong Temptation carries him ; whether to a work of a mortal nature , or only to a small irregularity , that is , whether to death , or to a wound : for whatever the principle be , if the effect be death , the man's case was therefore to be pitied , because his ruine was the more inevitable ; not so pitied , as to excuse him from the state of death . For let the Temptation be never so strong , every Christian man hath assistances sufficient to support him , so as that , without his own yielding , no Temptation is stronger than that grace which God offers him ; for if it were , it were not so much as a sin of infirmity , it were no sin at all . This therefore must be certain to us ; When the violence of our Passions or desires overcomes our resolutions and fairer purposes , against the dictate of our Reason , that indeed is a state of Infirmity , but it is also of sin and death , a state of Immortification ; because the offices of Grace are to crucifie the Old man , that is , our former aud impurer conversation , to subdue the petulancy of our Passions , to reduce them to reason , and to restore Empire and dominion to the superiour Faculties . So that this condition in proper speaking is not so good as the Infirmity of Grace , but it is no Grace at all : for whoever are Christ's , have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts : those other imperfect , ineffective resolutions are but the first approaches of the Kingdom of Christ , nothing but the clarities of lightning , dark as 〈◊〉 as light ; and they therefore cannot be excuses to us , because the contrary weaknesses ( as we call them ) do not make the sin involuntary , but chosen and pursued , and in true speaking is the strength of the Lust , not the infirmity of a state of Grace . 11. But yet there is a condition of Grace which is a state of little and imperfect ones , such as are called in Scripture Smoaking flax and bruised reeds ; which is a state of the first dawning of the Sun of Righteousness , when the lights of Grace new rise upon our eyes ; and then indeed they are weak , and have a more dangerous neighbourhood of Temptations and desires , but they are not subdued by them : they sin not by direct election ; their actions criminal are but like the slime of Nilus , leaving rats half formed ; they sin but seldom , and when they do , it is in small instances , and then also by surprise , by inadvertency , and then also they interrupt their own acts , and lessen them perpetually ; and never do an act of sinfulness , but the principle is such as makes it to be involuntary in many degrees . For when the Understanding is clear , and the dictate of Reason undisturbed and determinate , whatsoever then produces an irregular action excuses not , because the action is not made the less voluntary by it ; for the action is not made involuntary from any other principle but from some defect of Understanding , either in act , or habit , or faculty . For where there is no such defect , there is a full deliberation according to the capacity of the man , and then the act of election that follows is clear and full , and is that proper disposition which makes him truly capable of punishment or reward respectively . Now although in the first beginnings of Grace there is not a direct Ignorance to excuse totally ; yet because a sudden surprise or an inadvertency is not always in our power to prevent , these things do lessen the election and freedom of the action : and then because they are but seldom , and never proceed to any length of time , or any great instances of crime , and are every day made still more infrequent , because Grace growing stronger , the observation and advertency of the spirit and the attendance of the inner man grows more effectual and busie ; this is a state of the imperfection of Grace , but a state of Grace it is . And it is more commonly observed to be expressed in the imperfection of our good actions , than in the irregularity of bad actions : and in this sence are those words of our Blessed Saviour , The Spirit 〈◊〉 is willing , but the flesh is weak ; which in this instance was not expressed in sin , but in a natural imperfection , which then was a recession from a civility , a not watching with the Lord. And this is the only Infirmity that can consist with the state of Grace . 12. So that now we may lay what load we please upon our Nature , and call our violent and unmortified desires by the name of an imperfect Grace ; but then we are dangerously mistaken , and flatter our selves into an opinion of Piety , when we are in the gall of bitterness ; so making our misery the more certain and irremediable , because we think it needs nothing but a perpetuity and perseverance to bring us to Heaven . The violence of Passion and Desires is a misery of Nature , but a perfect principle of Sin ; multiplying and repeating the acts , but not lessening the malignity : But sins of Infirmity , when we mean sins of a less and lower malice , are sins of a less and imperfect choice , because of the unavoidable imperfection of the Understanding . Sins of Infirmity are always infirm sins , that is , weak and imperfect in their principle , and in their nature , and in their design ; that is , they are actions incomplete in all their capacities : but then Passions and periodical inclinations consisting with a regular and determined and actual understanding must never be their principle ; for whatsoever proceeds thence is destructive of spiritual life , and inconsistent with the state of Grace . But sins of infirmity , when they pretend to a less degree of malignity and a greater degree of excuse , are such as are little more than sins of pure and inculpable ignorance ; for in that degree in which any other principle is mixt with them , in the same degree they are criminal and inexcusable . For as a sin of infirmity is pretended to be little in its value and malignity : so it is certain , if it be great in the instance , it is not a sin of infirmity , that is , it is a state or act of death , and absolutely inconsistent with the state of Grace . 13. Secondly , Another Principle of Temptation pregnant with sin , and fruitful of monsters , is a weaker pretence which less wary and credulous persons abuse themselves withall , pretending as a ground for their confidence and incorrigible pursuance of their courses , that they have a Good meaning , that they intend sometimes well , and sometimes not ill , and this shall be sufficient to sanctifie their actions , and to hallow their sin . And this is of worse malice , when Religion is the colour for a War , and the preservation of Faith made the warrant for destruction of Charity , and a Zeal for God made the false light to lead us to Disobedience to Man , and hatred of Idolatry is the usher of Sacriledge , and the 〈◊〉 of Superstition the introducer of Profaneness , and Reformation made the colour for a Schism , and Liberty of conscience the way to a 〈◊〉 and saucy Heresie : for the End may indeed hallow an indifferent action , but can never make straight a crooked and irregular . It was not enough for Saul to cry for God and the Sacrifice , that he spared the fat flocks of Amalek : and it would be a strange zeal and forwardness , that rather than the Altar of incense should not smoak , will burn Assa foetida , or the marrow of a man's bones . For as God will be honoured by us , so also in ways of his own appointment : for we are the makers of our Religion , if we in our zeal for God do what he hath forbidden us . And every sin committed for Religion is just such a violence done to it as it seeks to prevent or remedy . 14. And so it is if it be committed for an end or pretence of Charity as well as of Religion . We must be curious that no pretence engage us upon an action that is certainly criminal in its own nature . Charity may sometimes require our Lives , but no obligation can endear a Damnation to us ; we are not bound to the choice of an eternal ruine , to save another . Indeed so far as an Option will go , it may concern the excrescences of Piety to chuse by a tacite or express act of volition to become Anathema for our brethren , that is , by putting a case and fiction of Law , to suppose it better , and wish it rather , that I should perish than my Nation . Thus far is charitable , because it is innocent ; for as it is great love to our Countrey , so it is no uncharitableness to our selves : for such Options always are ineffective , and produce nothing but rewards of Charity , and a greater glory . And the Holy Jesus himself , who only could be and was effectively accursed to save us , got by it an exceeding and mighty glorification ; and S. Paul did himself advantage by his charitable Devotion for his Countreymen . But since God never puts the question to us , so that either we or our Nation must be damned , he having xt every man's final condition upon his own actions in the vertue and obedience of Christ , if we mistake the expresses of Charity , and suffer our selves to be damned indeed for God's glory or our Brethrens good , we spoil the Duty , and ruine our selves when our Option comes to act . But it is observable , that although Religion is often pretended to justifie a sin , yet Charity is but seldom ; which makes it full of suspicion , that Religion is but the cover to the Death's-head , and at the best is but an accusing of God , that he is not willing or not able to preserve Religion without our irregular and impious cooperations . But however , though it might concern us to wish our selves rather 〈◊〉 than Religion , or our Prince , or our Country should perish , ( for I find no instances that it is lawful so much as to 〈◊〉 it for the preservation of a single friend ; ) yet it is against Charity to bring such a 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 , and by sin to damn our selves really for a good end either 〈◊〉 Religion or Charity . 15. Let us therefore serve God as he hath 〈◊〉 the way ; for all our accesses to him , being acts of his free concession and grace , must be by his 〈◊〉 designation and appointment . We might as well have chosen what shape our 〈◊〉 should be of , as of what instances the substance of our Religion should consist . 16. Thirdly , a third Principle of Temptation is , an opinion of prosecuting actions of Civility , Compliance and Society , to the luxation of a point of Piety and 〈◊〉 Duty : and good natures , persons of humane and sweeter dispositions , are too apt to dash upon this rock of offence . But the evil that I would note is , that there are some conditions of men to whom a Vice is so accustomed , that he that 〈◊〉 with them must handle the crime and touch the venome . There are some Vices which are National , there are some that are points of Honour , some are Civilities of entertainment ; and they are therefore accounted unavoidable , because the understandings of men are degenerous as their manners , and it is accounted sottish and 〈◊〉 not to 〈◊〉 in their accustomed loosenesses . Amongst some men all their first addresses are 〈◊〉 , their entertainments intemperate beyond the permissions of Christian austerity ; their drink is humorous , and their humours quarrellous , and it is dishonourable not to engage in Duel , and venture your Soul to 〈◊〉 an empty Reputation . These inconveniences 〈◊〉 upon false opinions and vain fancies , having no greater foundation than the sottish discourses of ignorant and 〈◊〉 persons ; and they have no peculiar and appropriate remedy , but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of manners , and a consideration what is required of us as Christians to 〈◊〉 against 〈◊〉 fonder customs and expectations from us , as we engage in the puddles of the world and are blended in society . 17. To which purposes we must be careful not to engage too freely in looser company , never without business or unavoidable accidents ; and when we mingle in affairs , it will concern our safety to watch , lest multitude of talk , 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 of nature , the delight of company , and the freedom and ill - 〈◊〉 civilities do by degrees draw us away from our guards and 〈◊〉 of spirit . For in these cases every degree of dissolution disarms us of our strengths ; and if we give way 〈◊〉 far as we think it tolerable , we instantly and undiscernibly pass into unlawful and criminal . But our best defences are deposited in a severe and prudent understanding , and discerning the sottishness of such principles which represent Vice in civil 〈◊〉 , and propound a crime to you under the cover of kindness ; which is just so much recompence as it is satisfaction to a condemned person that he was accused by a witty Oratour , and sentenced by an eloquent Judge . Remember always , that the friendships of the world are enmity with God ; and that those Societies which are combined by relations of drink , and wantonness , and impertinency , and crimes , are either inconsiderable in civility , or reason , or reputation ; no wise man is moved by their testimony or discourses ; and they are so impotent , rude and undiscerning a theatre , that most commonly he is the best man who from thence is the worst reported and represented . 18. But in all the instances of this great evil , the very stating the question right is above half the victory . For it is a question between mistaken Civility and certain Duty ; Piety on one side , and the disguises of Humanity on the other . God and Man are the parties interested : and to counterpoise the influence of the sight and face of Man , ( which being in a visible communication , it is not in some natures to neglect or contradict ) there are all the Excellencies of God , the effects of his Power , his certain Presence and Omniscience , the severities of his Judgment , and the sweetness and invitation of his Mercies ; besides the prudence , wisdom and satisfaction to the spirit when we wisely neglect such sottish and low abuses and temptations , to conform to the rules of Reason and Duty in compliance with the purposes of God and our own 〈◊〉 . 19. Thirdly , These ill-managed Principles are dangers as universal as an infected air ; yet there are some diseases more proper to the particular state of Religion . First , To young beginners in Religion he represents the Difficulties of Religion , and propounds the greater Examples of holy persons , and affrights them with those mountains of Piety , observing where and upon what instance of Severity his fancy will be most apprehensive and 〈◊〉 : and this he fails not often to represent with a purpose , that by believing no Piety less than the greatest can be good , he may despair of those heights , and retire into the securities and indifferencies of a careless life . But this is to be cured by all those instruments of Piety which in special are incentives of the love of God , and endearments of spiritual and religious affections ; and particularly by consideration of the Divine goodness , who knows whereof we are made , and remembers that we are but dust , and will require no more of us than according to our powers and present capacities . But the subject matter of this Temptation is considered and refuted in the Discourse of the Love of God. 20. But most commonly young beginners are zealous and high , and not so easily tempted to a recession , till after a long time by a revolution of affections they are abated by a defervescency in holy actions . The Devil uses to prompt them on , not that he loves the Piety and the progress , but that he would engage the person in imprudences and such forwardness of expresses , which either are in their own nature indiscretions , or from which , by reason of the incapacity of the person , it is necessary for him to retire . A new Convert is like a Bird newly entred into a Net , through which possibly she might pass without danger , if her fears and unreasonable strivings did not intangle her ; but when by busie and disturbed slutterings she discomposes the order of it , she is intangled and unpenned , and made a prey to her treacherous enemy . Such are the undiscreet strivings and too 〈◊〉 enterprises of new Penitents , whom we shall observe too often undertaking great Austerities , making Vows and casting bands upon their liberty , and snares upon their persons , thinking nothing great enough to expiate their sin , or to present to God , or to endear their services , or secure their perseverance ; and therefore they lay a load of fetters upon themselves , or rather cut off their legs that they may never go back ; therefore laying an obligation of Vows and intolerable burthens on themselves , that by these they may by a compendium of Piety redeem the time , and by those make it impossible to prevaricate . But the observation of the sad events and 〈◊〉 accidents of these men hath given probation of the indiscretion of such furious addresses and beginnings . And it was prudently done of Mcletius of Antioch , when he visited the Dioceses of Syria , and the several Religious persons famous for severe undertakings ; espying that Simeon Stylites dwelt upon a Pillar , and had bound his leg with a strong chain of iron , he sent for a Smith , causing it to be knocked off , and said , To 〈◊〉 man that loves God , his Mind is a sufficient chain . For the loads of voluntary Austerities rashly undertaken make Religion a burthen when their first heats expire ; and their Vows , which are intended to secure the practice and perpetuate the Piety , are but the occasions of an aggravate crime ; and the Vow does not secure the Piety , but the weariness and satiety of the Duty tempts to the breaking of the Vow , or at least makes the man impatient , when he cannot persist with content , nor retire with 〈◊〉 . 21. It therefore concerns all Spiritual Guides , to manage their new Converts with sober counsels and moderate permissions , knowing that sublime speculations in the Metaphysicks are not fit entertainment for an infant-understanding . There is milk for babes , and strong meat for men of riper Piety ; and it will imploy all the regular strength of young beginners to contest against the reliques of those mischiefs which remain since the expulsion of the Old man , and to master those difficulties which by the nature of the state are certainly consequent to so late mutation . And if we by the furies of Zeal and the impatience of mistaken Piety are violent and indiscreet in the destroying of our Enemies , we probably may tread the thistle down , and trample upon all its appearances , and yet leave the root in the ground with haste and imprudent forwardness . Gentle and soft counsels are the surest Enemies to your Vice , and the best conservators and 〈◊〉 of a vertuous state : but a hasty charge and the conduct of a young Leader may engage an early spirit in dangers and dishonours . And this Temptation is of so much greater danger , because it 〈◊〉 a face of Zeal , and meets with all encouragements from without ; every man being apt to cherish a Convert , and to enflame his new 〈◊〉 : but few consider 〈◊〉 inconveniences that are consequent to indiscreet beginnings , and the worse events usually appendent to 〈◊〉 inconveniences . 22. Indeed it is not usual that Prudence and a new-kindled Zeal meet in the 〈◊〉 person : but it will therefore concern the safety of new Converts , who cannot guide themselves , to give themselves up to the conduct of an experienced Spiritual person , who being disinterest in those heats of the 〈◊〉 apprehensions , and being long taught by the observation of the accidents of a spiritual life upon what rocks Rashness and Zeal usually do engage us , can best tell what degrees and what instances of Religion they may with most safety undertake : but for the general , it is best in the addresses of Grace to follow the course of Nature ; let there be an Infancy , and a Childhood , and a vigorous Youth , and by the divers and distant degrees of increment let the persons be established in Wisdom and Grace . But above all things let them be careful that they do not lay upon themselves Necessities of any lasting course , no Vows of perpetuity in any instance of uncommanded action or degree of Religion : for he may alter in his capacity and exteriour condition ; he may see by experience , that the particular engagement is imprudent ; he may by the virtue of Obedience be engaged on a duty inconsistent with the conveniences and advantages of the other ; and his very loss of liberty in an uncommanded instance may tempt him to inconvenience . But then , for the single and transient actions of Piety , although in them the danger is less , even though the imprudence be great , yet it were well if new beginners in Religion would attempt a moderate and an even Piety , rather than actions of eminency , lest they retire with shame , and be 〈◊〉 with scruple , when their first heats are spent , and expire in weariness and temptation . It is good to keep within the circuits of a man's affections , not stretching out all the degrees of fancy and desire , but leaving the appetites of Religion rather unsatisfied , and still desiring more , than by stretching out the whole faculty leave no desires but what are fulfilled and wearied . 23. Thirdly , I shall not need here to observe such Temptations which are direct invitations to sin , upon occasion of the Piety of holy persons ; such as are Security , too much Confidence , Pride and Vanity : these are part of every man's danger , and are to be considered upon their several arguments . Here I was only to note the general instruments of mischief . It remains now that I speak of such Remedies and general Antidotes , not which are proportioned to Sins in special , but such as are preventions or remedies and good advices in general . 24. First , Let every man abstain from all Occasions of sin as much as his condition will permit . And it were better to do some violence to our secular affairs , than to procure apparent or probable danger to our Souls . For if we see not a way open and ready prepared to our iniquity , our desires oftentimes are not willing to be troubled , but Opportunity gives life and activeness to our appetites . If David had not from his towers beheld the private beauties of Bathsheba , Uriah had lived , and his Wife been unattempted ; but sin was brought to him by that chance , and entring at the casements of his eyes set his heart on fire , and despoiled him of his robes of honour and innocence . The riches of the wedge of gold and the beauty of the Babylonish garment made Achan sacrilegious upon the place , who was innocent enough in his preceding purposes : and therefore that Soul that makes it self an object to sin , and invites an Enemy to view its possessions and live in the vicinage , loves the sin it self ; and he that is pleased with the danger , would willingly be betrayed into the necessity and the pleasure of the sin : for he can have no other ends to entertain the hazards , but that he hath a farther purpose to serve upon them ; he loves the pleasure of the sin , and therefore he would make the condition of sinning certain and unavoidable . And therefore Holy Scripture , which is admirable and curious in the cautions and securities of Vertue , does not determine its Precepts in the precise commands of vertuous actions , but also binds up our senses , obstructs the passage of Temptation , blocks up all the ways and avenues of Vice , commanding us to make a covenant with our eyes ; not to look upon a Maid ; not to sit with a woman that is a singer ; not to consider the wine when it sparkles , and gives its colour rightly in the cup ; but to set a watch before our mouths , to keep the door of our lips , and many more instances to this purpose , that sin may not come so near as to be repulsed ; as knowing sin hath then prevailed too far , when we give the denial to its solicitations . 25. We read a Story of a vertuous Lady , that desired of S. Athanasius to procure for her , out of the number of the Widows fed from the Ecclesiastical Corban , an old woman , morose , peevish and impatient , that she might by the society of so ungentle a person have often occasion to exercise her Patience , her Forgiveness and Charity . I know not how well the counsel succeeded with her ; I am sure it was not very safe : and to invite the trouble to triumph over it , is to wage a war of an uncertain issue for no end but to get the pleasures of the victory , which oftentimes do not pay for the trouble , never for the danger . An Egyptian , who acknowledged Fire for his God , one day doing his devotions kissed his God after the manner of Worshippers , and burnt his lips . It was not in the power of that false and imaginary Deity to cure the real hurt he had done to his devoutest worshipper . Just such a fool is he that kisses a danger , though with a design of vertue , and hugs an opportunity of sin for an advantage of Piety ; he burns himself in the neighbourhood of the flame , and twenty to one but he may perish in its embraces : And he that looks out a danger that he may overcome it , does as did the Persian , who 〈◊〉 the Sun , looked upon him when he prayed him to cure his sore eyes . The Sun may as well cure a weak eye , or a great burthen knit a broken arm , as a danger can do him advantage that seeks such a combate which may ruine him , and after which he rarely may have this reward , that it may be said of him , he had the good 〈◊〉 not to perish in his folly . It is easier to prevent a mischief than to cure it ; and besides the pain of the wound , it is infinitely more full of 〈◊〉 to cure a broken leg , which a little care and observation would have preserved whole . To recover from a sin is none of the 〈◊〉 labours that concern the sons of men ; and therefore it concerns them rather not to enter into such a narrow strait , from which they can never draw back their head , without leaving their hair and skin and their ears behind . If God please to try us , he means us no hurt , and he does it with great reason and great mercy ; but if we go to try our selves , we may mean well , but not wisely : For as it is simply unlawful for weak persons to seek a Temptation , so for the more perfect it is dangerous . We have enemies enough without , and one of our own within : but we become our own tempter , when we run out to meet the World or invite the Devil home , that we may throw holy water upon his flames , and call the danger nearer , that we may run from it . And certainly men are more guilty of many of their temptations than the Devil , through their incuriousness or 〈◊〉 doing as much mischief to themselves as he can : For he can but offer ; and so much we do when we run into danger . Such were those Stories of S. Antony provoking the Devil to battel : If the Stories had been as true as the actions were rash & ridiculous , the Story had 〈◊〉 a note of indiscretion upon that good man ; though now I think there is nothing but a mark of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 on the Writer . 26. Secondly , Possibly without 〈◊〉 we may be engaged in a 〈◊〉 , but then we must be diligent to resist the first Beginnings : For when our strength is yet intire and unabated , if we suffer our selves to be overcome , and consent to its 〈◊〉 and weakest attempts , how shall we be able to resist when it hath tired our contestation , and wearied our patience , when we are weaker and prevailed upon , and the Temptation is stronger and triumphant in many degrees of victory ? By how much a Hectick Feaver is harder to be cured than a Tertian , or a Consumption of the Lungs than a little Distillation of Rheum upon the throat ; by so much is it harder to prevail upon a 〈◊〉 Lust than upon its first insinuations . But the ways of resisting are of a different consideration , proportionably to the nature of the crimes . 27. First , If the Temptation be to crimes of Pleasure and Sensuality , let the resistance be by flight : For in case of Lust , even to consider the arguments against it is half as great Temptation as to press the arguments for it : For all considerations of such allurements make the Soul perceive something of its relish , and entertain the fancy . Even the pulling pitch from our cloaths defiles the fingers ; and some adherences of pleasant and carnal sins will be remanent even from those considerations which stay within the circuit of the flames , though but with purpose to quench the fire and preserve the house . Chastity cannot suffer the least thought of the reproaches of the spirit of impurity : and it is necessary to all that will keep their purity and innocence against sensual Temptations , to avoid every thing that may prejudice decorum . Libanius 〈◊〉 Sophister reports , that a Painter being one day desirous to paint Apollo upon a Laurelboard , the colours would not stick , but were rejected : out of which his fancy found out this extraction ; That the 〈◊〉 Daphne ( concerning whom the Poets feign that , flying from Apollo , who attempted to 〈◊〉 her , she was turned into a Laurel-tree ) could not endure him even in painting , and rejected him after the loss of her sensitive powers . And indeed chaste Souls do even to death resent the least image and offer of impurity : whatsoever is like a sin of uncleanness , he that means to preserve himself chaste must avoid , as he would avoid the sin ; in this case there being no difference but of degrees between the inward Temptation and the Crime . 28. Secondly , If the Temptation be to crimes of troublesome and preternatural desires or intellectual nature , let the resistance be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by a perfect fight , by the amassing of such arguments in general and remedies in particular which are apt to become deleteries to the Sin , and to abate the Temptation . But in both these instances the resistance must at 〈◊〉 be as soon as the attempt is , lest the violence of the Temptation out-run our powers : for if against our full strength it hath prevailed to the first degrees , its progress to a complete victory is not so improbable as were its successes at the first beginnings . But to serve this and all other ends in the resisting and subduing a Temptation , these following Considerations have the best and most universal influence . 29. First , Consideration of the Presence of God , who is witness of all our actions , and a revenger of all Impiety . This is so great an instrument of fear and Religion , that whoever does actually consider God to be present , and considers what the first consideration signifies , either must be restrained from the present Temptation , or must have thrown off all the possibilities and aptnesses for Vertue ; such as are Modesty , and Reverence , and holy Fear . For if the face of a Man scatters all base machinations , and we dare not act our crimes in the Theatre , unless we be impudent as well as criminal ; much more does the sense of a present Deity fill the places of our heart with veneration and the awe of Religion , when it is throughly apprehended and actually considered . We see not God , he is not in our thoughts , when we run into darkness to act our impurities . For we dare not commit Adultery if a Boy be present ; behold the Boy is sent off with an excuse , and God abides there , but yet we commit the crime : it is because , as Jacob said at Bethel , God was in that place , and we knew not of it ; and yet we neither breath nor move an artery but in him and by his assistance ; ( a ) In him we live , and move , and have our being . And , ( b ) All things are naked and open in his sight . ( c ) The iniquity of my people is very great ; for they say , The Lord seeth not . ( d ) Shall not he that made the eye see ? ( e ) To him the night and day are both alike . These and many more to the same design are the voices of Scripture , that our spirits may retire into the beholding of God , to the purposes of fear and holiness , with whom we do cohabit by the necessities of nature , and the condition of our essence wholly in dependence ; and then only we may sin securely , when we can contrive to do it so that God may not see us . 30. There are many men who are servants of the eyes , as the Apostle's phrase is , who when they are looked on act vertue with much pompousness and theatrical bravery ; but these men when the Theatre is empty , put off their upper garment , and retire into their primitive baseness . Diogenes endured the extremity of winter's cold , that the people might wonder at his austerity and philosophical patience : but Plato seeing the people admiring the man , and pitying the susserance , told them , that the way to make him warm himself was for them to be gone and to take no notice of him . For they that walk as in the sight of men , serve that design well enough when they fill the publick voice with noises and opinions , and are not by their purposes engaged to act in private ; but they who are servants of the eyes of God , and walk as in the Divine presence , perceive the same restraints in darkness , and closets , and grots , as in the light and midst of theatres ; and that consideration imposes upon us a happy necessity of doing vertuously , which presents us placed in the eyes of our Judge . And therefore it was not unhandsomely said of a Jewish Doctor , If every man would consider God to be the great Eye of the World watching perpetually over all our actions , and that his Hand is indefatigable , and his Ear ever open , possibly sin might be extirpated from off the face of the earth . And this is the condition of Beatitude ; and the blessed Souls within their regions of light and felicity cannot sin , because of the Vision beatifical , they always behold the face of God : and those who partake of this state by way of consideration , which is essential to the condition of the Blessed , and derive it into practice and discourse , in proportion to this shall retain an innocence and a part of glory . 31. For it is a great declension of humane Reason , and a disreputation to our spirits , that we are so wholly led by Sense , that we will not walk in the regions of the Spirit , and behold God by our eyes of Faith and Discourse , suffering our course of life to be guided by such principles which distinguish our natures from Beasts , and our conditions from vicious , and our spirits from the World , and our hopes from the common satisfactions of Sense and corruption . The better half of our Nature is of the same constitution with that of Angels ; and therefore although we are drenched in Matter and the communications of Earth , yet our better part was designed to converse with God : and we had , besides the eye of Reason , another eye of Faith put into our Souls , and both clarified with revelations and demonstrations of the Spirit , expressing to us so visible and clear characters of God's presence , that the expression of the same Spirit is , We may feel him , for he is within us , and about us , and we are in him , and in the comprehensions of his embracings , as birds in the Air , or Infants in the wombs of their pregnant Mothers . And that God is pleased not to communicate himself to the eyes of our Body , but still to remain invisible , besides that it is his own glory and perfection , it is also no more to us but like a retreat behind a curtain , where when we know our Judge stands as an Espial and a watch over our actions , we shall be sottish if we dare to provoke his jealousie , because we see him not , when we know that he is close by , though behind the cloud . 32. There are some general impressions upon our spirits , which by way of presumption and custom possess our perswasions , and make restraint upon us to excellent purposes ; such as are the Religion of Holy places , reverence of our Parents , presence of an austere , an honourable , or a vertuous person . For many sins are prevented by the company of a witness , especially if besides the ties of modesty we have also towards him an indearment of * reverence and fair opinion ; and if he were with us in our privacies , he would cause our retirements to be more holy . S. Ambrose reports of the Virgin Mary , that she had so much Piety and Religion in her Countenance and deportment , that divers persons , moved by the veneration and regard of her Person , in her presence have 〈◊〉 commenced their resolutions of Chastity and sober living . However the story be , her person certainly was of so express and great Devotion and Sanctity , that he must needs have been of a very impudent disposition and firm immodesty who durst have spoken unhandsome language in the presence of so rare a person . And why then any rudeness in the presence of God , if that were as certainly believed and considered ? For whatsoever amongst men can be a restraint of Vice or an endearment of Vertue , all this is highly verisied in the presence of God , to whom our Conscience in its very concealments is as a fair Table written in capital letters by his own finger ; and then if we fail of the advantage of this exercise , it must proceed either from our dishonourable opinion of God , or our own fearless inadvertency , or from a direct spirit of reprobation : for it is certain , that this consideration is in its own nature apt to correct our manners , to produce the fear of God , and Humility , and spiritual and holy thoughts , and the knowledge of God and of our selves , and the consequents of all these , holy walking , and holy comforts . And by this only argument S. Paphnutius and S. Ephrem are reported in Church-story to have converted two Harlots from a course of Dissolution to great Sanctity and Austerity . 33. But then this Presence of God must not be a mere speculation of the Understanding ; though so only it is of very great benefit and immediate efficacy , yet it must reflect as well from the Will as from discourse : and then only we walk in the presence of God , when by Faith we behold him present , when we speak to him in frequent and holy Prayers , when we beg aid from him in all our needs , and ask counsel of him in all our doubts , and before him bewail our sins , and tremble at his presence . This is an entire exercise of Religion . And beside that the Presence of God serves to all this , it hath also especial influence in the disimprovement of Temptations , because it hath in it many things contrariant to the nature and efficacy of Temptations ; such as are Consideration , Reverence , Spiritual thoughts , and the Fear of God : for where-ever this consideration is actual , there either God is highly despised , or certainly feared . In this case we are made to declare ; for our purposes are concealed only in an incuriousness and inconsideration ; but whoever considers God as present , will in all reason be as religious as in a Temple , the Reverence of which place Custom or Religion hath imprinted in the spirits of most men : so that as Ahasuerus said of Haman , Will he ravish the Queen in my own house ? aggravating the crime by the incivility of the circumstance ; God may well say to us , whose Religion compells us to believe God every-where present ; since the Divine Presence hath made all places holy , and every place hath a Numen in it , even the Eternal God , we unhallow the place , and desecrate the ground whereon we stand , supported by the arm of God , placed in his heart , and enlightned by his eye , when we sin in so sacred a Presence . 34. The second great instrument against Temptation is Meditation of Death . Raderus reports , that a certain Virgin , to restrain the inordination of intemperate desires , which were like thorns in her flesh , and disturbed her spiritual peace , shut her self up in a Sepulchre , and for twelve years dwelt in that Scene of death . It were good we did so too , making Tombs and Coffins presential to us by frequent meditation . For God hath given us all a definitive arrest in Adam , and from it there lies no appeal , * but it is infallibly and unalterably 〈◊〉 for all men once to die , or to be changed , to pass from hence to a condition of Eternity , good or bad . Now because this law is ‖ certain , and the time and the manner of its execution is uncertain , and from this moment Eternity depends , and that after this life the final sentence is irrevocable , that all the pleasures here are sudden , transient , and unsatisfying , and vain ; he must needs be a 〈◊〉 that knows not to distinguish moments from Eternity : and since it is a condition of necessity , established by Divine decrees , and fixt by the indispensable Laws of Nature , that we shall after a very little duration pass on to a condition strange , not understood , then unalterable , and yet of great mutation from this , even of greater distance from 〈◊〉 in which we are here than this is from the state of Beasts ; this , when it is considered , must in all reason make the same impression upon our understandings and affections which naturally all strange things and all great considerations are apt to do , that is , create resolutions and results passing through the heart of man , such as are reasonable and prudent , in order to our own 〈◊〉 , that we neglect the vanities of the present Temptation , and secure our future condition , which will , till Eternity it self expires , remain such as we make it to be by our deportment in this short transition and passage through the World. 35. And that this Discourse is reasonable I am therefore confirmed , because I find it to be to the same purpose used by the Spirit of God , and the wisest personages in the world . My soul is always in my hand , therefore do I keep thy Commandments , said David : he looked upon himself as a dying person , and that restrained all his inordinations , and so he prayed , Lord , teach me to number my days , that I may apply my heart unto wisdom . And therefore the AEgyptians used to serve up a Skeleton to their Feasts , that the dissolutions and vapours of wine might be restrained with that bunch of myrrh , and the vanities of their eyes chastised by that sad object : for they thought it unlikely a man should be transported far with any thing low or vicious that looked long and often into the hollow eye-pits of a Death's head , or dwelt in a Charnel-house : And such considerations make all the importunity and violence of sensual desires to disband . For when a man stands perpetually at the door of Eternity , and , as did John the Almoner , every day is building of his Sepulchre , and every night one day of our life is gone and passed into the possession of death , it will concern us to take care that the door leading to Hell do not open upon us , that we be not crusht to ruine by the stones of our grave , and that our death become not a consignation to us to a sad Eternity . For all the pleasures of the whole world , and in all its duration , cannot make recompence for one hour's torment in Hell : and yet if wicked persons were to 〈◊〉 in Hell for ever without any change of posture , or variety of torment beyond that session , it were unsufferable beyond the indurance of nature : and therefore where little less than infinite misery in an infinite duration shall punish the pleasures of sudden and transient crimes , the gain of pleasure and the exchange of banks here for a condition of eternal and miserable death is a permutation 〈◊〉 to be made by none but fools and desperate persons , who made no use of a reasonable Soul , but that they in their perishing might be convinced of unreasonableness , and die by their own fault . 36. The use that wise men have made when they reduced this consideration to practice is to believe every day to be the last of their life , for so it may be , and for ought we know it will ; and then think what you would avoid , or what you would do , if you were dying , or were to day to suffer death by sentence and conviction ; and that in all reason ; and in proportion to the strength of your consideration , you will do every day . For that is the sublimity of Wisdom , to do those things living , which are to be desired and chosen by dying persons . An alarm of death every day renewed , and pressed earnestly , will watch a man so tame and soft , that the precepts of Religion will dwell deep in his spirit . But they that make a covenant with the grave , and put the 〈◊〉 day far 〈◊〉 them , they are the men that eat spiders and toads for meat greedily , and a Temptation to them is as welcome as joy , and they seldom dispute the point in behalf of Piety or Mortification : for they that look upon Death at distance apprehend it not , but in such general lines and great representments that describe it only as future and possible , but nothing of its terrors or 〈◊〉 or circumstances of advantage are discernible by such an eye that disturbs its 〈◊〉 and discomposes the posture , that the object may seem another thing than what it is truly and really . S. Austin with his Mother Monica was led one day by a Roman Prator to 〈◊〉 the tomb of Caesar. Himself thus describes the Corps . It looked of a blew mould , the bone of the nose laid bare , the flesh of the neather lip quite fallen off , his mouth full of worms , and in his eye-pits two hungry Toads feasting upon the remanent portion of flesh and moisture ; and so he dwelt in his house of darkness . And if every person tempted by an opportunity of Lust or intemperance would chuse such a room for his privacy , that company for his witness , that object to allay his appetite , he would soon find his spirit more sober , and his desires obedient . I end this with the counsel of S. Bernard , Let every man in the first address to his actions consider , whether if he were now to die he might safely and prudently do such an act , and whether he would not be infinitely troubled that death should surprise him in the present dispositions , and then let him proceed accordingly . For since our treasure is in earthen vessels , which may be broken in pieces by the collision of ten thousand accidents , it were not safe to treasure up wrath in them ; for if we do , we shall certainly drink it in the day of recompence . 37. Thirdly , Before , and in , and 〈◊〉 all this the Blessed Jesus propounds Prayer as a remedy against Temptations ; Watch and pray , that ye enter not into temptation : For besides that Prayer is the great instrument of obtaining victory by the grace of God , as a fruit of our desires and of God's natural and essential goodness ; the very praying against a Temptation , if it be hearty , servent and devout , is a denying of it , and part of the victory : for it is a 〈◊〉 the entertainment of it , it is a positive rejection of the crime ; and every consent to it is a ceasing to pray , and to desire remedy . And we shall observe that whensoever we begin to listen to the whispers of a tempting spirit , our Prayers against it lessen , as the consent increases ; there being nothing a more direct enemy to the Temptation than Prayer , which as it is of it self a professed hostility against the crime , so it is a calling in auxiliaries from above to make the victory more certain . If Temptation sets upon thee , do thou set upon God ; for he is as soon overcome as thou art , as soon moved to good as thou art to evil , * he is as quickly invited to pity thee as thou to ask him ; provided thou dost not finally rest in the petition , but pass into action , and endeavour by all means humane and moral to quench the 〈◊〉 newly kindled in thy bowels , before it come to devour the marrow of the bones . For a strong Prayer , and a lazy , incurious , unobservant walking , are contradictions in the discourses of Religion . * 〈◊〉 tells us a story of a young man solicited by the spirit of Uncleanness , who came to an old Religious person , and begged his prayers . It was in that Age when God used to answer Prayers of very holy persons by more clear and familiar significations of his pleasure than he knows now to be necessary . But after many earnest prayers sent up to the throne of Grace , and the young man not at all bettered , upon consideration and enquiry of particulars , he found the cause to be , because the young man relied so upon the Prayers of the old Eremite , that he did nothing at all to discountenance his Lust or contradict the Temptation . But then he took another course , enjoyned him Austerities and exercises of Devotion , gave him rules of prudence and caution , tied him to work and to stand upon his guard ; and then the Prayers returned in triumph , and the young man trampled upon his Lust. And so shall I and you , by God's grace , if we pray earnestly and frequently , if we watch carefully that we be not surprised , if we be not idle in secret , nor talkative in publick , if we read Scriptures , and consult with a spiritual Guide , and make Religion to be our work , that serving of God be the business of our life , and our designs be to purchase Eternity ; then we shall walk safely or recover speedily , and , by doing advantages to 〈◊〉 , secure a greatness of Religion and spirituality to our spirits and understanding . But remember that when Israel fought against Amalek , Moses's prayer and Moses's hand secured the victory , his Prayer grew ineffectual when his Hands were slack ; to remonstrate to us , that we must cooperate with the grace of God , praying devoutly , and watching carefully , and observing prudently , and labouring with diligence and assiduity . The PRAYER . ETernal God and most merciful Father , I adore thy Wisdom , Providence , and admirable Dispensation of affairs in the spiritual Kingdom of our Lord Jesus , that thou , who art infinitely good , dost permit so many sadnesses and dangers to discompose that order of things and spirits which thou didst create innocent and harmless , and dost design to great and spiritual perfections ; that the emanation of good from evil by thy over-ruling power and excellencies may force glory to thee from our shame , and honour to thy Wisdom by these contradictory accidents and events . Lord , have pity upon me in these sad disorders , and with mercy know my infirmities . Let me , by suffering what thou pleasest , cooperate to the glorification of thy Grace and magnifying thy Mercy ; but never let me consent to sin , but with the power of thy Majesty , and mightiness of thy prevailing Mercy , rescue me from those 〈◊〉 of dangers and enemies which daily seck to 〈◊〉 that Innocence with which thou didst cloath my Soul in the New birth . Behold , O God , how all the Spirits of Darkness endeavour the extinction of our hopes , and the dispersion of all those Graces , and the prevention of all those 〈◊〉 which the Holy Jesus hath purchased for every loving and obedient Soul. Our very 〈◊〉 and drink are full of poison , our Senses are snares , our 〈◊〉 is various Temptatio .. , our sins are inlets to more , and our good actions made occasions of sins . Lord , deliver me from the Malice of the Devil , from the Fallacies of the World , from my own Folly ; that I be not devoured by the first , nor cheated by the second , nor betrayed by my self : but let thy Grace , which is sufficient for me , be always present with me ; let thy Spirit 〈◊〉 me in the spiritual 〈◊〉 , arming my Understanding , and securing my Will , and 〈◊〉 my Spirit with resolutions of Piety , and incentives of Religion , and deleteries of Sin ; that the dangers I am encompassed withall may become unto me an occasion of victory and trimph , through the aids of the Holy Ghost , and by the Cross of the Lord Jesus , who hath for himself and all his servants triumphed over Sin and Hell and the Grave , even all the powers of Darkness , from which by the mercies of Jesus and the merits of his Passion now and ever deliver me and all thy 〈◊〉 people . Amen . DISCOURSE VI. Of Baptism . Part I. 1. WHen the Holy Jesus was to begin his Prophetical Office , and to lay the foundation of his Church on the Corner-stone , he first temper'd the Cement with Water , and then with Bloud , and afterwards built it up by the hands of the Spirit : Himself enter'd at that door by which his Disciples for ever after were to follow him ; for therefore he went in at the door of Baptism , that he might hallow the entrance which himself made to the House he was now building . 2. As it was in the old , so it is in the new Creation ; out of the waters God produced every living creature : and when at first the Spirit moved upon the waters , and gave life , it was the type of what was designed in the Renovation . Every thing that lives now is born of Water and the Spirit ; and Christ , who is our Creator and Redeemer in the New birth , opened the fountains and hallowed the stream : Christ , who is our Life , went down into the waters of Baptism ; and we , who descend thither , find the effects of life : it is living Water , of which whose drinks needs not to drink of it again , for it shall be in him a Well of water springing up to life eternal . 3. But because every thing is resolved into the same principles from whence they are taken ; the old World , which by the power of God came from the Waters , by their own sin fell into the Waters again , and were all drowned , and only eight persons were saved by an Ark : and the World renewed upon the stock and reserves of that mercy consigned the Sacrament of Baptism in another figure ; for then God gave his sign from Heaven , that by water the World should never again perish : but he meant that they should be saved by water ; for Baptism , which is a figure like to this , doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 4. After this the Jews report that the World took up the doctrine of Baptisms , in remembrance that the iniquity of the old world was purged by water ; and they washed all that came to the service of the true God , and by that Baptism bound them to the observation of the Precepts which God gave to Noah . 5. But when God separated a Family for his own special service , he gave them a Sacrament of Initiation , but it was a Sacrament of bloud , the Covenant of Circumcision : and this was the fore-runner of Baptism , but not a Type ; when that was abrogated , this came into the place of it , and that consigned the same Faith which this professes . But it could not properly be a Type , whose nature is by a likeness of matter or ceremony to represent the same Mystery . Neither is a Ceremony , as Baptism truly is , properly capable of having a Type , it self is but a Type of a greater mysteriousness . And the nature of Types is , in shadow to describe by dark lines a future substance : so that although Circumcision might be a Type of the effects and graces bestowed in Baptism , yet of the Baptism or Ablution it self it cannot be properly , because of the unlikeness of the symbols and configurations , and because they are both equally distant from substances , which Types are to consign and represent . The first Bishops of Jerusalem and all the Christian Jews for many years retained Circumcision together with Baptism ; and Christ himself , who was circumcised , was also baptized ; and therefore it is not so proper to call Circumcision a Type of Baptism : it was rather a Seal and Sign of the same Covenant to Abraham and the Fathers and to all Israel , as Baptism is to all Ages of the Christian Church . 6. And because this Rite could not be administred to all persons , and was not at all times after its institution , God was pleased by a proper and specifick Type to consign this Rite of Baptism , which he intended to all , and that for ever : and God , when the family of his Church grew separate , notorious , numerous and distinct , sent them into their own Countrey by a Baptism through which the whole Nation pass'd ; for all the Fathers were under the Cloud , and all passed through the Sea , and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud , and in the Sea ; so by a double figure foretelling , that as they were initiated to Moses's Law by the Cloud above and the Sea beneath , so should all the persons of the Church , men , women and children , be initiated unto Christ by the Spirit from above and the Water below : for it was the design of the Apostle in that discourse , to represent that the Fathers and we were equal as to the priviledges of the Covenant ; he proved that we do not exceed them , and it ought therefore to be certain that they do not exceed us , nor their children ours . 7. But after this , something was to remain which might not only consign the Covenant which God made with Abraham , but be as a passage from the Fathers through the Synagogue to the Church , from Abraham by Moses to Christ : and that was Circumcision , which was a Rite which God chose to be a mark to the posterity of Abraham , to distinguish them from the Nations which were not within the Covenant of Grace , and to be a Seal of the righteousness of Faith , which God made to be the spirit and life of the Covenant . 8. But because Circumcision , although it was ministred to all the males , yet it was not to the females , although they and all the Nation were baptized and initiated into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea ; therefore the Children of Israel by imitation of the Patriarchs , the posterity of Noah , used also Ceremonial Baptisms to their Women and to their Proselytes , and to all that were circumcised ; and the Jews deliver , That Sarah and Rebecca , when they were adopted into the family of the Church , that is , of Abraham and Isaac , were baptized : and so were all strangers that were married to the sons of Israel . And that we may think this to be typical of Christian Baptism , the Doctors of the Jews had a Tradition , that when the Messias would come , there should be so many Proselytes , that they could not be circumcised , but should be baptized . The Tradition proved true , but not for their reason . But that this Rite of admitting into Mysteries , and Institutions , and Offices of Religion by Baptisms , was used by the posterity of Noah , or at least very early among the Jews , besides the testimonies of their own Doctors , I am the rather induced to believe , because the Heathens had the same Rite in many places and in several Religions : so they initiated disciples into the Secrets of (a) Mithra ; and the Priests of 〈◊〉 were called (b) 〈◊〉 , because by Baptism they were admitted into the Religion ; and they (c) thought Muther , Incest , Rapes , and the worst of crimes , were purged by dipping in the Sea or fresh Springs ; and a Proselyte is called in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 , a Baptized person . 9. But this Ceremony of Baptizing was so certain and usual among the Jews in their admitting Proselytes and adopting into Institutions , that to baptize and to make Disciples are all one ; and when John the Baptist by an order from Heaven went to prepare the way to the coming of our Blessed Lord , he preached Repentance , and baptized all that professed they did repent . He taught the Jews to live good lives , and baptized with the Baptism of a Prophet , such as was not unusually done by extraordinary and holy persons in the change or renewing of Discipline or Religion . Whether 〈◊〉 's Baptism was from heaven , or os men , Christ asked the Pharisees . That it was from heaven the people therefore believed , because he was a Prophet and a holy person : but it implies also , that such Baptisms are sometimes from men , that is , used by 〈◊〉 of an eminent Religion , or extraordinary fame for the gathering of Disciples and admitting Proselytes : and the Disciples of Christ did so too ; even before Christ had instituted the Sacrament for the Christian Church , the Disciples that came to Christ were baptized by his Apostles . 10. And now we are come to the gates of Baptism . All these till John were but Types and preparatory Baptisms , and John's Baptism was but the prologue to the Baptism of Christ. The Jewish Baptisms admitted Proselytes to Moses and to the Law of Ceremonies ; John's Baptism called them to 〈◊〉 in the Messias now appearing , and to repent of their sins , to enter into the Kingdom which was now at 〈◊〉 , and preached that Repentance which should be for the 〈◊〉 os 〈◊〉 . His Baptism remitted no sins , but preached and consigned Repentance , which in the belief of the 〈◊〉 , whom he pointed to , should pardon sins . But because he was taken from his Office before the work was completed , the Disciples of Christ 〈◊〉 it : They went forth preaching the same Sermon of Repentance , and the approach of the Kingdom and baptized , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Disciples , as John did ; only they ( as it is probable ) baptized in the Name of Jesus , which it is not so likely John did . And this very thing might be the cause of the (a) different forms of Baptism recorded in the Acts , of (b) baptizing in the Name of 〈◊〉 , and at other times (c) In the 〈◊〉 of the Father , Son , and 〈◊〉 Ghost ; the sormer being the manner of doing it in pursuance of the design of John's Baptism , and the latter the form of Institution by Christ for the whole Christian Church , appointed after his Resurrection ; the Disciples at first using promiscuously what was used by the same Authority , though with some difference of Mystery . 11. The Holy Jesus having found his way ready prepared by the Preaching of 〈◊〉 and by his Baptism , and the 〈◊〉 manner of adopting Proselytes and Disciples into the Religion a way chalked out for him to initiate Disciples into his Religion , took what was so prepared , and changed it into a perpetual Sacrament . He kept the Ceremony , that they who were led only by outward things might be the better called in and easier enticed into the Religion , when they entred by a Ceremony which their Nation always used in the like cases : and therefore without change of the outward act he put into it a new spirit , and gave it a new grace and a proper efficacy ; he sublimed it to higher ends , and adorned it with Stars of Heaven ; he made it to signific greater Mysteries , to convey greater Blessings , to consign the bigger Promises , to cleanse deeper than the skin , and to carry Proselytes farther than the gates of the Institution . For so he was pleased to do in the other Sacrament : he took the Ceremony which he found ready in the Custom of the Jews , where the Major-domo after the Paschal Supper gave Bread and Wine to every person of his family ; he changed nothing of it without , but transferred the Rite to greater Mysteries , and put his own Spirit to their Sign , and it became a Sacrament Evangelical . It was so also in the matter of Excommunication , where the Jewish practice was made to pass into Christian discipline : without violence and noise old things became new , while he fulfilled the Law , making it up in full measures of the Spirit . 12. By these steps Baptism passed on to a Divine Evangelical institution , which we find to be consigned by three Evangelists ; Go ye therefore , and teach all Nations , baptizing them in the Name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost . It was one of the last Commandments the Holy Jesus gave upon the earth , when he taught his Apostles the things which concerned his Kingdom . For he that believes and is baptized shall be saved : but , 〈◊〉 a man be born of Water and the Holy Spirit , he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; agreeable to the decretory words of God by Abraham in the Circumcision , to which Baptism does succeed in the consignation of the same Covenant and the same Spiritual Promises , The uncircumcised child whose flesh is not circumcised , that soul shall be cut off from his people ; he hath broken my Covenant . The Manichees , Selencas , Hermias , and their followers , people of a day's abode and small interest , but of malicious doctrine , taught Baptism not to be necessary , not to be used , upon this ground , because they supposed that it was proper to John to baptize with water , and reserved for Christ , as his peculiar , to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire . Indeed Christ baptized none otherwise ; he sent his Spirit upon the Church in Pentecost and baptized them with fire , the Spirit appearing like a flame : but he appointed his Apostles to baptize with water , and they did so , and their successors after them , every-where and for ever , not expounding , but obeying the preceptive words of their Lord , which were almost the last that he spake upon earth . And I cannot think it needful to prove this to be necessary by any more Arguments ; for the words are so plain that they need no exposition : and yet if they had been obscure , the universal practice of the Apostles and the Church for ever is a sufficient declaration of the Commandment : No Tradition is more universal , no not of Scripture it self ; no words are plainer , no not the Ten Commandments : and if any suspicion can be superinduced by any jealous or less discerning person , it will need no other refutation , but to turn his eyes to those lights by which himself fees Scripture to be the Word of God , and the Commandments to be the declaration of his Will. 13. But that which will be of greatest concernment in this affair is , to consider the great benefits are conveyed to us in this Sacrament ; for this will highly conclude , that the Precept was 〈◊〉 ever , which God so seconds with his grace and mighty blessings ; and the susception of it necessary , because we cannot be without those excellent things which are the Graces of the Sacrament . 14. First , The first fruit is , That in Baptism we are admitted to the Kingdom of Christ , presented unto him , consigned with his Sacrament , enter into his Militia , give up our Understandings and our choice to the obedience of Christ , and in all senses that we can become his Disciples , witnessing a good confession , and undertaking a holy life : and therefore in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are conjoyned in the significations , as they are in the mystery ; it is a giving up our names to Christ , and it is part of the foundation or the first Principles of the Religion , as appears in S. Paul's Catechism ; it is so the first thing , that it is for babes and Neophytes , in which they are matriculated and adopted into the house of their Father , and taken into the hands of their Mother . Upon this account Baptism is called in antiquity 〈◊〉 janua , porta Gratiae , & primus introitus Sanctorum adaeternam Dei & Ecclesiae consuetudinem ; The gate of the Church , the door of Grace , the first entrance of the Saints to an eternal conversation with God and the Church . Sacramentum initiationis , & intrantium Christianismum investituram , S. Bernard calls it ; The Sacrament of initiation , and the investiture of them that enter into the Religion . And the person so entring is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one of the Religion , or a Proselyte and Convert , and one added to the number of the Church , in imitation of that of S. Luke , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , God added to the Church those that should be saved ; just as the Church does to this day and for ever , baptizing Infants and Catechuments : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they are added to the Church , that they may be added to the Lord , and the number of the Inhabitants of Heaven . 15. Secondly , The next step beyond this is Adoption into the Convenant , which is an immediate consequent of the first Presentation ; this being the first act of man , that the first act of God. And this is called by S. Paul a being * baptized in one spirit into one body , that is , we are made capable of the Communion of Saints , the blessings of the faithful , the priviledges of the Church : by this we are , as S. Luke calls it , ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ordained , or disposed , put into the order of Eternal Life , being made members of the mystical Body under Christ our Head. 16. Thirdly , And therefore Baptism is a new birth , by which we enter into the new world , the new Creation , the blessings and spiritualities of the Kingdom : and this is the expression which our Saviour himself used * Nicodemus , Unless a man be born of Water and the Spirit ; and it is by S. Paul called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the laver of Regeneration ; for now we begin to be reckoned in new Census or account , God is become our Father , Christ our elder Brother , the Spirit the earnest of our Inheritance , the Church our Mother , our food is the body and bloud of our Lord , Faith is our learning , Religion our employment , and our whole life is spiritual , and Heaven the object of our Hopes , and the mighty price of our high Calling . And from this time forward we have a new principle put into us , the Spirit of Grace , which , besides our Soul and body , is a principle of action , of one nature , and shall with them enter into the portion of our Inheritance . And therefore the Primitive Christians , who consigned all their affairs and goods and writings with some marks of their Lord , usually writing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Jesus Christ , the Son of God , our Saviour , made it an abbreviature by writing only the Capitals thus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; which the Heathens in mockery and derision made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifies a Fish , and they used it for Christ as a name of reproach : but the Christians owned the name , and turned it into a pious Metaphor , and were content that they should enjoy their pleasure in the Acrostich ; but upon that occasion Tertullian speaks pertinently to this Article , Nos pisciculi , sccundùm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrum Jesum Christum , in aqua nascimur , Christ , whom you call a Fish , we knowledge to be our Lord and Saviour ; and we , if you please , are the little fishes , for we are born in water , thence we derive our spiritual life . And because from henceforward we are a new Creation , the Church uses to assign new relations to the Catechumens , Spiritual Fathers and Susceptors ; and , at their entrance into Baptism , the Christians and Jewish Proselytes did use to cancel all secular affections to their temporal relatives . Nec quicquam priùs 〈◊〉 quàm contemnere Deos , exuere patriam , parentes , liberos , fratres vilia habere , said Tacitus of the Christians : which was true in the sence only that Christ said , He that doth not hate father or mother for my sake , is not worthy of me ; that is , he that doth not hate them praeme , rather than forsake me , forsake them , is unworthy of me . 17. Fourthly , In Baptism all our sins are pardoned , according to the words of a Prophet , I will sprinkle clean water upon you , and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness . The Catechumen descends into the Font a Sinner , he arises purified ; he goes down the son of Death , he comes up the son of the Resurrection ; he enters in the son of Folly and prevarication , he returns the son of Reconciliation ; he stoops down the child of Wrath , and ascends the heir of Mercy ; he was the child of the Devil , and now he is the servant and the son of God. They are the words of Venerable Bede concerning this Mystery . And this was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon a Font , which is so prettily contriv'd , that the words may be read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner , and be exactly the same ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Lord , wash my sin , and not my face only . And so it is intended and promised : * Arise and be baptized , and wash away thy sins , and call on the Name of the Lord , said Ananias to Saul ; for ‖ Christ loved the Church , and gave himself for it , that he might sanctifie and cleanse it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the washing of water in the word , that is , Baptism in the Christian Religion : and therefore * Tertullian calls Baptism lavacrum compendiatum , a compendious Laver , that is , an intire cleansing the Soul in that one action justly and rightly performed . In the rehearsal of which Doctrine it was not an unpleasant Etymology that 〈◊〉 Sinaita gave of Baptism , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in which our sins are thrown off ; and they fall like leeches when they are full of bloud and water , or like the chains from S. Peter's hands at the presence of the Angel. Baptism is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an intire full forgiveness of sins , so that they shall never be called again to scrutiny . — Omnia Daemonis armae His merguntur aquis , quibus ille renascitur Infans Qui captivus erat — The captivity of the Soul is taken away by the bloud of Redemption , and the fiery darts of the Devil are quenched by these salutary waters ; and what the flames of Hell are expiating or punishing to eternal ages , that is washed off quickly in the Holy Font , and an eternal debt paid in an instant . For so sure as the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea , so sure are our Sins washed in this Holy floud : for this is a Red Sea too ; these waters signifie the bloud of Christ ; These are they that have washed their Robes , and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , The Bloud of Christ cleanseth us , the Water cleanseth us , the Spirit purifies us ; the Bloud by the Spirit , the Spirit by the Water , all in Baptism , and in pursuance of that Baptismal state . * These three are they that bear record in Earth , the Spirit , the Water , and the Bloud , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these three agree in one , or are to one purpose ; they agree in Baptism , and in the whole pursuance of the assistances which a Christian needs all the days of his life . And therefore S. Cyrill calls Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Antitype of the Passions of Christ : it does preconsign the death of Christ , and does the infancy of the work of Grace , but not weakly ; it brings from death to life ; and though it brings us but to the birth in the New life , yet that is a greater change than is in all the periods of our growth to manhood , to a perfect man in Christ Jesus . 18. Fifthly , Baptism does not only pardon our sins , but puts us into a state of Pardon for the time to come . For Baptism is the beginning of the New life , and an admission of us into the Evangelical Covenant , which on our parts consists in a sincere and timely endeavour to glorifie God by Faith and Obedience ; and on God's part , he will pardon what is past , assist us for the future , and not measure us by grains and scruples , or exact our duties by the measure of an Angel , but by the span of a man's hand . So that by Baptism we are consigned to the mercies of God and the Graces of the Gospel ; that is , that our Pardon be continued , and our Piety be a state of Repentance . And therefore that Baptism which in the Nicene Creed we 〈◊〉 to be for the remission of sins , is called in the Jerusalem 〈◊〉 The Baptism of Repentance ; that is , it is the entrance of a new life , the gate to a perpetual change and reformation , all the way continuing our title to and hopes of forgiveness of sins . And this excellency is clearly recorded by S. Paul ; The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man hath appeared , Not by works of righteousness which we have done : that 's the formality of the Gospel-Covenant , not to be exacted by the strict measures of the Law : but according to his mercy he saved us , that is , by gentleness and remissions , by pitying and pardoning us , by relieving and supporting us , because he remembers that we are but dust ; and all this mercy we are admitted to , and is conveyed to us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the laver of Regeneration , and the renewing of the Holy Ghost . And this plain evident Doctrine was observed , explicated and urged against the Messalians , who said that Baptism was like a razor , that cuts away all the sins that were past , or presently adhering , but not the sins of our future life : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . This Sacrament promises more and greater things ; It is the earnest of future good things , the type of the Resurrection , the communication of the Lord's Passion , the partaking of his Resurrection , the robe of Righteousness , the garment of Gladness , the vestment of Light , or rather Light it self . And for this reason it is that Baptism is not to be repeated , because it does at once all that it can do at an hundred times : for it admits us to the condition of Repentance and Evangelical mercy , to a state of Pardon for our infirmities and sins , which we timely and effectually leave ; and this is a thing that can be done but once , as a man can begin but once ; he that hath once entred in at this gate of Life is always in possibility of Pardon , if he be in a possibility of working and doing after the manner of a man that which he hath promised to the Son of God. And this was expresly delivered and observed by S. Austin : That which the Apostle says , Cleansing him with the washing of water in the word , is to be understood , that in the same Laver of Regeneration and word of Sanctification all the evils of the regenerate are cleansed and healed ; not only the sins that are past , which are all now remitted in Baptism , but also those that are contracted afterwards by humane ignorance and infirmity : not that Baptism be repeated as often as we sin , but because by this which is once administred is brought to pass that pardon of all sins , not only of those that are past , but also those which will be committed afterwards , is obtained . The Messalians denied this , and it was part of their Heresie in the undervaluing of Baptism ; and for it they are most excellently confuted by Isidore Pelusiot , in his third Book , 195 Epistle to the Count Hermin , whither I refer the Reader . 19. In proportion to this Doctrine it is that the Holy Scripture calls upon us to live a holy life , in pursuance of this grace of Baptism . And S. Paul recalls the lapsed Galatians to their Covenant , and the grace of God stipulated in Baptism : Ye are all children of God by faith in Jesus Christ ; that is , heirs of the promise , and Abraham's seed ; that promise which cannot be disannulled , encreased or diminished , but is the same to us as it was to Abraham , the same before the Law and after . Therefore do not you hope to be 〈◊〉 by the Law , for you are entred into the Covenant of Faith , and are to be justified thereby . This is all your hope , by this you must stand for ever , or you cannot stand at all ; but by this you may : for you are God's children by Faith , that is , not by the Law , or the Covenant of Works . And that you may remember whence you are going , and return again , he proves that they are the Children of God by 〈◊〉 in Jesus Christ , because they have been baptized into Christ , and so put on Christ. This makes you Children , and such as are to be saved by Faith , that is , a Covenant , not of Works , but of Pardon in Jesus Christ , the Author and Establisher of this Covenant . For this is the Covenant made in Baptism , that being justified by his grace , we shall be heirs of life eternal : for by grace , that is , by favour , remission and forgiveness in Jesus Christ , ye are saved . This is the only way that we have of being justified , and this must remain as long as we are in hopes of Heaven ; for besides this we have no hopes : and all this is stipulated and consigned in Baptism , and is of force after our 〈◊〉 into sin and risings again . In pursuance of this the same Apostle declares , that the several states of sin are so many recessions from the state of Baptismal grace ; and if we arrive to the direct Apostasie , and renouncing of or a contradiction to the state of Baptism , we are then unpardonable , because we are fallen from our state of Pardon . This S. Paul conditions most strictly in his Epistle to the Hebrews ; This is the Covenant I will make in those days : I will put my Laws in their hearts ; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more . Now where remission of these is , there is no more offering for sin ; that is , our sins are so pardoned that we need no more oblation , we are then made partakers of the death of Christ ; which we afterwards renew in memory and Eucharist and representment . But the great work is done in Baptism ; for so it follows , Having boldness to 〈◊〉 into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way , that is , by the veil of his flesh , his Incarnation . But how do we enter into this ? Baptism is the door , and the ground of this confidence for ever : for so he adds , Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith , having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , and our bodies washed with pure water . This is the consignation of this blessed state , and the gate to all this mercy . Let us hold fast the profession of our faith , that is , the Religion of a Christian , the Faith into which we were baptized ; for that is the Faith that justifies and saves us : Let us therefore hold fast this profession of this Faith , and do all the intermedial works in order to the conservation of it such as are assembling in the Communion of Saints , ( the use of the Word and Sacrament is included in the Precept ) mutual Exhortation , good Example , and the like : For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth , that is , if we sin against the profession of this Faith , and hold it not fast , but let the Faith and the profession go wilfully , ( which afterwards he calls a treading under foot the Son of God , accounting the bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing , and a doing despite to the spirit of grace , viz. which moved upon those waters , and did illuminate him in Baptism ) if we do this , there is no more sacrifice for sins , no more deaths of Christ into which you may be baptized ; that is , you are fallen from the state of Pardon and Repentance into which you were admitted in Baptism , and in which you continue so long as you have not quitted your baptismal Rights and the whole Covenant . Contrary to this is that which S. Peter calls making our Calling and Election sure , that is , a doing all that which may continue us in our state of Baptism and the grace of the Covenant . And between these two states , of absolute Apostasie from , and intirely adhering to and securing , this state of Calling and Election , are all the intermedial sins , and being overtaken in single faults , or declining towards vicious habits , which in their several proportions are degrees of danger and insecurity ; which S. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a forgetting our Baptism or purification from our sins . And in this sence are those words , The just shall live by Faith , that is , by that profession which they made in Baptism ; from which if they swerve not , they shall be supported in their spiritual life . It is a Grace which , by virtue of the Covenant consigned in Baptism , does like a centre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the periods and portions of our life ; our whole life , all the periods of our succeeding hopes are kept alive by this . This consideration is of great use , besides many other things , to reprove the folly of those who in the Primitive Church deferred their Baptism till their death-bed ; because Baptism is a Laver of Sanctification , and drowns all our sins , and buries them in the grave of our Lord , they thought they might sin securely upon the stock of an after-Baptism ; for unless they were strangely prevented by a sudden accident , a death-bed Baptism they thought would secure their condition : but early some of them durst not take it , much less in the beginning of their years , that they might at least gain impunity for their follies and heats of their youth . Baptism hath influence into the pardon of all our sins committed in all the days of our folly and infirmity ; and so long as we have not been baptized , so long we are out of the state of Pardon : and therefore an early Baptism is not to be avoided upon this mistaken fancy and plot upon Heaven ; it is the greater security towards the pardon of our sins , if we have taken it in the beginning of our days . 20. Fifthly , The next benefit of Baptism , which is also a verification of this , is a Sanctification of the baptized person by the Spirit of Grace . Sanctus in hunc coelo descendit Spiritus amnem , Coelestique sacras fonte maritat aquas : Concipit unda Deum , sanctámque liquoribus almis Edit ab aeterno semine progeniem . The Holy Ghost descends upon the waters of Baptism , and makes them prolifical , apt to produce children unto God : and therefore S. Leo compares the Font of Baptism to the Womb of the Blessed Virgin when it was replenished with the Holy Spirit . And this is the Baptism of our dearest Lord : his Ministers baptize with Water , our Lord at the same time verifies their Ministery with giving the Holy Spirit . They are joyned together by S. Paul , We are by one Spirit baptized into one body ; that is , admitted into the Church by baptism of Water and the Spirit . This is that which our Blessed Lord calls a being born of Water and of the Spirit ; by Water we are sacramentally dead and buried , by the Spirit we are made alive . But because these are mysterious expressions , and , according to the style of Scripture , high and secret in spiritual significations , therefore , that we may understand what these things signifie , we must consider it by its real effects , and what it produces upon the Soul of a man. 21. First , It is the suppletory of original Righteousness , by which Adam was at first gracious with God , and which he lost by his prevarication . It was in him a principle of Wisdom and Obedience , a relation between God and himself , a title to the extraordinary mercies of God , and a state of Friendship : When he fell , he was discomposed in all , the links of the golden chain and blessed relation were broken ; and it so continued in the whole life of Man , which was stained with the evils of this folly and the consequent mischiefs : and therefore when we began the world again , entring into the Articles of a new life , God gave us his Spirit to be an instrument of our becoming gracious persons , and of being in a condition of obtaining that supernatural End which God at first designed to us . And therefore as our Baptism is a separation of us from unbelieving people ; so the descent of the Holy Spirit upon us in our Baptism is a consigning or marking us for God , as the Sheep of his pasture , as the Souldiers of his Army , as the Servants of his houshold : we are so separated from the world , that we are appropriated to God , so that God expects of us Duty and Obedience ; and all Sins are acts of Rebellion and Undutifulness . Of this nature was the sanctification of Jeremy and John the Baptist from their mothers womb ; that is , God took them to his own service by an early designation , and his Spirit marked them to a holy Ministery . To this also relates that of S. Paul , whom God by a decree separated from his mother's womb to the Ministery of the Gospel : the 〈◊〉 did antedate the act of the Spirit , which did not descend upon him until the day of his Baptism . What these persons were in order to exteriour Ministeries , that all the faithful are in order to Faith and Obedience , consigned in Baptism by the Spirit of God to a perpetual relation to God , in a continual service and title to his Promises . And in this sence the Spirit of God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , * a Seal , ‖ In whom also , after that ye believed , ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Water washes the body , and the Spirit seals the Soul , viz. to a participation of those Promises which he hath made , and to which we receive a title by our Baptism . 22. Secondly , The second effect of the Spirit is Light or Illumination ; that is , the holy Spirit becomes unto us the Author of holy thoughts and firm perswasions , and sets to his seal that the Word of God is true , into the belief of which we are then baptized , and makes Faith to be a Grace , and the Understanding resigned , and the Will confident , and the Assent stronger than the premises , and the Propositions to be believed , because they are beloved ; and we are taught the ways of Godliness after a new manner , that is , we are made to perceive the Secrets of the Kingdom , and to love Religion , and to long for Heaven and heavenly things , and to despise the World , and to have new resolutions , and new perceptions , and new delicacies , in order to the establishment of Faith , and its increments and perseverance . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God sits in the Soul when it is illuminated in 〈◊〉 , as if he sate in his Throne ; that is , he rules by a firm perswasion , and intire principles of Obedience . And therefore Baptism is called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; illuminated ; Call to mind the former days , in which you were illuminated : and the same phrase is in the * 6. to the Hebrews , where the parallel places expound each other . For that which S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illuminated , he calls after , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a receiving the knowledge of the truth : and that you may perceive this to be wholly meant of Baptism , the 〈◊〉 expresses it still by Synonyma's , Tasting of the heavenly gift , and made partakers of the Holy Ghost , sprinkled in our hearts from an evil conscience , and washed in our bodies with pure water ; all which also are a syllabus or collection of the several effects of the graces bestowed in Baptism . But we are now instancing in that which relates most properly to the Understanding , in which respect the Holy Spirit also is called Anointing or Unction ; and the mystery is explicated by S. John , The Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you ; and ye need not that any man teach you , but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things . 23. Thirdly , The Holy Spirit descends upon us in Baptism , to become the principle of a new life , to become a holy seed , springing up to Holiness , and is called by S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the 〈◊〉 of God ; and the purpose of it we are taught by him , Whosoever is 〈◊〉 of God ( that is , he that is regenerated and entred into this New birth ) doth not 〈◊〉 sin ; for his seed remaineth in him , and he cannot sin , because he is born of God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of life ; and now that he by the Spirit is born anew , he hath in him that principle which , if it be cherished , will grow up to life , to life eternal . And this is the Spirit of Sanctification , the victory over the World , the deletery of Concupiscence , the life of the Soul , and the perpetual principle of Grace sown in our spirits in the day of our Adoption to be the sons of God , and members of Christ's body . But take this Mystery in the words of S. Basil. There are two Ends proposed in Baptism ; to wit , to abolish the body of Sin , that we may no more bring forth fruit unto death ; and to live in the Spirit , and to have our fruit to Sanctification . The Water represents the image of death , receiving the body in its bosom , as in a Sepulchre : but the quickning Spirit sends upon us a vigorous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power or 〈◊〉 , even from the beginning renewing our Souls from the death of sin unto life : For as our Mortification is 〈◊〉 in the water , so the Spirit works life in us . To this purpose is the discourse of S. Paul , having largely discoursed of our being baptized into the death of 〈◊〉 , he adds this as the Corollary of all , a He that is * dead is freed from sin ; that is , being mortified and b buried in the waters of Baptism , we have a new life of Righteousness put into us , we are quitted from the dominion of Sin , and are c planted together in the likeness of Christ's Resurrection , d that henceforth we should not serve sin . 24. Fourthly , But all these intermedial Blessings tend to a glorious Conclusion , for Baptism does also consign us to a holy Resurrection . It takes the sting of death from us , by burying us together with Christ ; and takes 〈◊〉 Sin , which is the sting of death , and then we shall be partakers of a blessed Resurrection . This we are taught by S. Paul , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ , were baptized into his Death ? For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death , we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection . That declares the real event in its due season . But because Baptism consigns it , and admits us to a title to it , we are said with S. Paul , to be risen with Christ in Baptism ; Buried with him in Baptism , wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God , which hath raised him from the dead . Which expression I desire to be remembred , that by it we may better understand those other sayings of the Apostle , of putting on Christ in Baptism , putting on the new man , &c. for these only signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the design on God's part , and the endeavour and duty on Man's : we are then consigned to our Duty , and to our Reward ; we undertake one , and have a title to the other . And though men of ripeness and Reason enter instantly into their portion of Work , and have present use of the assistances , and something of their Reward in hand ; yet we cannot conclude , that those that cannot do it 〈◊〉 are not baptized rightly , because they are not in capacity to put on the New man in Righteousness , that is , in an actual holy life ; for they may put on the New man in Baptism , just as they are risen with Christ : which because it may be done by Faith before it is done in real event , and it may be done by Sacrament and design before it be done by a proper Faith ; so also may our putting on the New man be ; it is done sacramentally , and that part which is wholly the work of God does only antedate the work of man , which is to succeed in its due time , and is after the 〈◊〉 of preventing grace . But this is by the bye . In order to the present Article , Baptism is by 〈◊〉 called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a participation of the Lord's Resurrection . 25. Fifthly and lastly , By Baptism we are saved : that is , we are brought from death to life 〈◊〉 , and that is the first Resurrection ; and we are brought from death to life hereafter , by virtue of the Covenant of the state of Grace into which in Baptism we enter , and are preserved from the second Death , and receive a glorious and an eternal life . He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved , said our Blessed Saviour ; and , According to his mercy he saved us , by the washing of Regeneration and renowing of the Holy Ghost . 26. After these great Blessings so plainly testified in Scripture and the Doctrine of the Primitive Church , which are regularly consigned and bestowed in Baptism , I shall less need to descend to temporal Blessings , or rare contingencies , or miraculous events , or probable notices of things less certain . Of this nature are those Stories recorded in the Writings of the Church , that Constantine was cured of a Leprosie in Baptism ; Theodosius recovered of his disease , being baptized by the Bishop of Thessalonica ; and a paralytick Jew was cured as soon as he became a Christian , and was baptized by Atticus of CP . and Bishop Arnulph baptizing a Leper also cured him , said Vincentius Bellovacensis . It is more considerable which is generally and piously believed by very many eminent persons in the Church , that at our Baptism God assigns an Angel-Guardian , ( for then the Catechumen , being made a Servant and a Brother to the Lord of Angels , is sure not to want the aids of them who pitch their tents round about them that fear the Lord ) and that this guard and ministery is then appointed when themselves are admitted into the inheritance of the Promises : and their title to Salvation is hugely agreeable to the words of S. Paul , Are they not all ministring spirits , sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of Salvation ? where it appears , that the title to the inheritance is the title to this ministery , and therefore must begin and end together . But I insist not on this , though it seems to me hugely probable . All these Blessings put into one Syllabus have given to Baptism many honourable appellatives in Scripture and other Divine Writers , calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacramentum 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 salutis : A New birth , a Regeneration , a Renovation , a Chariot carrying us to God , the great Circumcision , a Circumcision made without hands , the Key of the Kingdom , the Paranymph of the Kingdom , the Earnest of our inheritance , the Answer of a good Conscience , the Robe of light , the Sacrament of a new life and of eternal Salvation . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . This is celestial water , springing from the sides of the Rock upon which the Church was built , when the Rock was smitten with the Rod of God. 27. It remains now that we enquire what concerns our Duty , and in what persons or in what dispositions Baptism produces all these glorious effects : for the Sacraments of the Church work in the virtue of Christ , but yet only upon such as are servants of Christ , and hinder not the work of the Spirit of Grace . For the water of the Font and the Spirit of the Sacrament are indeed to wash away our Sins , and to purifie our Souls ; but not unless we have a mind to be purified . The Sacrament works pardon for them that hate their sin , and procures Grace for them that love it . They that are guilty of sins must repent of them , and renounce them , and they must make a profession of the Faith of Christ , and give or be given up to the obedience of Christ ; and then they are rightly disposed . He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved , saith Christ ; and S. Peter call'd out to the whole assembly , Repent , and be baptized every one of you . Concerning this Justin Martyr gives the same account of the Faith and practice of the Church ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. Whosoever are perswaded and believe those things to be true which are delivered and spoken by us , and undertake to live accordingly , they are commanded to fast and pray , and to ask of God remission for their former sins , we also praying together with them , and fasting . Then they are brought to us where water is , and are regenerated in the same manner of Regeneration by which we our selves are regenerated . For in Baptism S. Peter observes there are two parts , the Body and the Spirit : that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the putting away the 〈◊〉 of the flesh , that is the material washing ; and this is Baptism no otherwise than a dead corps is a man : the other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the answer of a good conscience towards God , that is , the conversion of the Soul to God ; that 's the effective disposition in which Baptism does save us . And in the same sence are those sayings of the Primitive Doctors to be understood ; Anima non lavatione , sed 〈◊〉 sancitur , The Soul is not healed by washing , viz. alone , but by the answer , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter , the correspondent of our part of the Covenant : sor that 's the perfect 〈◊〉 of this unusual expression . And the effect is attributed to this , and denied to the other , when they are distinguished . So Justin Martyr affirms ; The only Baptism that can heal us is Kepentance , and the knowledge of God. For what need is there of that Baptism that can only 〈◊〉 the flesh and the body ? Be washed in your flesh from wrath and 〈◊〉 , from envy and hatred ; and behold the body is pure . And Clemens Alexandrinus upon that Proverbial saying , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Be not pure in the laver , but in the mind , adds , I suppose that an exact and a firm Repentance is a sufficient purification to a man ; if judging and considering our selves for the facts we have done before , we proceed to that which is before us , considering that which follows , and cleansing or washing our mind from sensual affections and from former sins . Just as we use to deny the effect to the instrumental cause , and attribute it to the principal , in the manner of speaking , when our purpose is to affirm this to be the principal , and of chief 〈◊〉 . So we say , It is not the good Lute , but the skilful hand , that makes the musick : It is not the Body , but the Soul , that is the Man : and yet he is not the man without both . For Baptism is but the material part in the Sacrament , it is the Spirit that giveth life ; whose work is Faith and Repentance begun by himself without the Sacrament , and consigned in the Sacrament , and actuated and increased in the cooperation of our whole life . And therefore Baptism is called in the Jerusalem Creed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins : and by Justin Martyr , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , The Baptism of Repentance and the knowledge of God , which was made for the sins of the people of God. He explains himself a little after , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Baptism that can only cleanse them that are penitent . In Sacrament is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fides credentium & professio , quae apud Act a conficitur Angelorum , 〈◊〉 miscentur 〈◊〉 & spiritualia semina ; ut sancto germine nova possit renascentium indoles procreari , ut dum Trinitas cum Fide concordat , qui natus fuerit seculo renascatur spiritualiter Deo. Sic fit hominum Pater Deus , sancta fit Mater Ecclesia , said Optatus : The Faith and Profession of the Believers meets with the ever-blessed Trinity , and is recorded in the Register of Angels , where heavenly and spiritual seeds are mingled ; that from so holy a Spring may be produced a new nature of the Regeneration , that while the Trinity ( viz. that is invocated upon the baptized ) meets with the Faith of the Catechumen , he that was born to the world may be born spiritually to God. So God is made a Father to the man , and the holy Church a Mother . Faith and Repentance stript the Old man naked , and make him fit for Baptism ; and then the Holy Spirit moving upon the waters cleanses the Soul , and makes it to put on the New man , who grows up to perfection and a spiritual life , to a life of glory , by our verification of our undertaking in Baptism on our part , and the Graces of the Spirit on the other . For the waters pierce no farther than the skin , till the person puts off his affection to the sin that he hath contracted ; and then he may say , Aquae intraverunt 〈◊〉 ad animam meam , The waters are entred even unto my Soul , to purifie and cleanse it , by the washing of water , and the renewing by the Holy Spirit . The summ is this ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being baptized we are illuminated , being illuminated we are adopted to the inheritance of sons , being adopted we are promoted towards perfection , and being perfected we are made immortal . Quisquis in hos fontes vir venerit , exeat indè Semideus , tactis citò nobilitetur in undis . 28. This is the whole Doctrine of Baptism , as it is in it self considered , without relation to rare Circumstances or accidental cases : and it will also serve to the right understanding of the reasons why the Church of God hath in all Ages baptized all persons that were within her power , for whom the Church could stipulate that they were or might be relatives of Christ , sons of God , heirs of the Promises , and partners of the Covenant , and such as did not hinder the work of Baptism upon their Souls . And such were not only persons of age and choice , but the Infants of Christian Parents . For the understanding and verifying of which truth , I shall only need to apply the parts of the former Discourse to their particular case , premising first these Propositions . Of Baptizing Infants . Part II. 1. BAPTISM is the Key in Christ's hand , and therefore opens as he opens , and shuts by his rule : and as Christ himself did not do all his Blessings and effects unto every one , but gave to every one as they had need ; so does Baptism . Christ did not cure all mens eyes , but them only that were blind ; Christ came not to call the righteous , but sinners , to 〈◊〉 : that is , They that lived in the fear of God , according to the Covenant in which they were debtors , were indeed improved and promoted higher by Christ , but not called to that Repentance to which he called the vicious Gentiles , and the Adulterous persons among the Jews , and the hypocritical Pharisees . There are some so innocent that they need no repentance , ( saith the Scripture ; ) meaning , that though they do need Contrition for their single acts of sin , yet they are within the state of Grace , and need not Repentance as it is a Conversion of the whole man. And so it is in Baptism , which does all its effects upon them that need them all , and some upon them that need but some : and therefore as it pardons sins to them that have committed them , and do repent and believe ; so to the others , who have not committed them , it does all the work which is done to the others above or besides that Pardon . 2. Secondly , When the ordinary effect of a Sacrament is done already by some other efficiency or instrument , yet the Sacrament is still as obligatory as before , not for so many reasons or necessities , but for the same Commandment . Baptism is the first ordinary Current in which the Spirit moves and descends upon us ; and where God's Spirit is , they are the Sons of God , for Christ's Spirit descends upon none but them that are his : and yet Cornelius , who had received the holy Spirit , and was heard by God , and visited by an Angel , and accepted in his Alms and Fastings and Prayers , was tied to the susception of Baptism . To which may be added . That the receiving the effects of Baptism before-hand was used as an argument the rather to administer Baptism . The effect of which consideration is this , That Baptism and its effect may be separated , and do not always go in conjunction ; the effect may be before , and therefore much rather may it be after its susception ; the Sacrament operating in the virtue of Christ , even as the Spirit shall move : according to that saying of S. Austin , Sacrosancto lavacro inchoata innovatio novi hominis perficiendo perficitur in aliis citiùs , in aliis taràiùs ; and S. Bernard , Lavari quidem citò possumus , sed ad sanandum multâ curatione opus est . The work of Regeneration , that is begun in the ministery of Baptism , is perfected in some sooner , in some later : We may soon be washed , but to be healed is a work of a long cure . 3. Thirdly , The Dispositions which are required to the ordinary susception of Baptism are not necessary to the efficacy , or required to the nature of the Sacrament , but accidentally , and because of the superinduced necessities of some men ; and therefore the Conditions are not regularly to be required . But in those accidents it was necessary for a Gentile Proselyte to repent of his sins , and to believe in Moses's Law , before he could be circumcised : but Abraham was not tied to the same Conditions , but only to Faith in God ; but Isaac was not tied to so much ; and Circumcision was not of Moses , but of the Fathers : and yet after the sanction of Moses's Law , men were tied to conditions , which were then made necessary to them that entred into the Covenant , but not necessary to the nature of the Covenant it self . And so it is in the susception of Baptism : If a sinner enters into the Font , it is necessary he be stripped of those appendages which himself sewed upon his Nature , and then Repentance is a necessary disposition : if his Understanding hath been a stranger to Religion , polluted with evil Principles and a false Religion , it is necessary he have an actual Faith , that he be given in his Understanding up to the obedience of Christ. And the reason of this is plain , Because in these persons there is a disposition contrary to the state and effects of Baptism ; and therefore they must be taken off by their contraries , Faith and Repentance , that they may be reduced to the state of pure Receptives . And this is the sence of those words of our Blessed Saviour , Unless ye become like one of these little ones , ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; that is , Ye cannot be admitted into the Gospel-Covenant , unless all your contrarieties and impediments be taken from you , and you be as apt as children to receive the new immissions from Heaven . And this Proposition relies upon a great Example , and a certain Reason . The Example is our Blessed Saviour , who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debitor , he had committed no sin , and needed no Repentance ; he needed not to be saved by Faith , for of Faith he was the Author and Finisher , and the great object , and its perfection and reward : and yet he was baptized by the Baptism of John , the Baptism of Repentance . And therefore it is certain that Repentance and Faith are not necessary to the susception of Baptism , but necessary to some persons that are baptized . For it is necessary we should much consider the difference . If the Sacrament by any person may be justly received in whom such Dispositions are not to be sound , then the Dispositions are not necessary or intrinsecal to the susception of the Sacrament ; and yet some persons coming to this Sacrament may have such necessities of their own as will make the Sacrament ineffectual without such Dispositions . These I call necessary to the person , but not to the Sacrament ; that is , necessary to all such , but not necessary to all absolutely . And Faith is necessary sometimes where Repentance is not , sometimes Repentance and Faith together , and sometimes otherwise . When Philip baptized the Eunuch , he only required of him to believe , not to repent . But S. Peter , when he preached to the Jews and converted them , only required Repentance ; which although it in their case implied Faith , yet there was explicit stipulation for it : they had crucified the Lord of life , and if they would come to God by Baptism , they must renounce their sin ; that was all was then stood upon . It is as the case is , or as the persons have superinduced necessities upon themselves . In Children the case is evident as to the one part , which is equally required , I mean , Repentance ; the not doing of which cannot prejudice them as to the susception of Baptism , because they having done no evil are not bound to repent ; and to repent is as necessary to the susception of Baptism as Faith is : But this shews that they are accidentally necessary , that is , not absolutely , not to all , not to Insants : and if they may be excused from one duty which is indispensably necessary to Baptism , why they may not from the other , is a secret which will not be found out by these whom it concerns to believe it . 4. And therefore when our Blessed Lord made a stipulation and express Commandment for Faith , with the greatest annexed penalty to them that had it not , He that believeth not shall be damned , the proposition is not to be verified or understood as relative to every period of time ; for then no man could be converted from Insidelity to the Christian Faith , and from the power of the Devil to the Kingdom of Christ , but his present Infidelity shall be his final ruine . It is not therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not a Sentence , but a 〈◊〉 , a Prediction and Intermination . It is not like that saying , God is true , and every man a lier , and , Every good and every perfect gift is from above ; for these are true in every instant , without reference to circumstances : but , He that believeth not shall be damned , is a Prediction , or that which in Rhetorick is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or a Use , because this is the affirmation of that which usually or frequently comes to pass ; such as this , He that strikes with the sword shall perish by the sword ; He that robs a Church shall be like a wheel , of a vertiginous and unstable estate ; He that loves wine and oyl shall not be rich : and therefore it is a declaration of that which is universally or commonly true ; but not so , that in what instant soever a man is not a believer , in that instant it is true to say he is damned ; for some are called the third , some the sixth , some the ninth hour , and they that come in , being first called , at the eleventh hour , shall have their reward : so that this sentence stands true at the day and the judgment of the Lord , not at the judgment or day of man. And in the same necessity as Faith stands to Salvation , in the same it stands to Baptism , that is , to be measured by the whole latitude of its extent . Our Baptism shall no more do all its intention , unless Faith supervene , than a man is in possibility of being saved without Faith ; it must come in its due time , but is not indispensably necessary in all instances and periods . Baptism is the seal of our Election and adoption ; and as Election is brought to effect by Faith and its consequents , so is Baptism : but to neither is Faith necessary as to its beginning and first entrance . To which also I add this Consideration , That actual Faith is necessary , not to the susception , but to the consequent effects of Baptism , appears , because the Church , and particularly the Apostles , did baptize some persons who had not Faith , but were Hypocrites ; such as were Simon Magus , Alexander the Copper-smith , Demas and Diotrephes ; and such was Judas when he was baptized , and such were the Gnostick Teachers . For the effect depends upon God , who knows the heart , but the outward susception depends upon them who do not know it : which is a certain argument , That the same Faith which is necessary to the effect of the Sacrament is not necessary to its susception ; and if it can be administred to Hypocrites , much more to Infants ; if to those who really hinder the effect , much rather to them that hinder not . And if it be objected , that the Church does not know but the Pretenders have Faith , but she knows Infants have not : I reply , that the Church does not know but the Pretenders hinder the effect , and are contrary to the grace of the Sacrament , but she knows that Infants do not : The first possibly may receive the Grace , the other cannot hinder it . 5. But besides these things it is considerable , that , when it is required , persons have Faith : It is true , they that require Baptism should give a reason why they do ; so it was in the case of the Eunuch baptized by Philip : but this is not to be required of others that do not ask it , and yet they may be of the Church , and of the Faith ; for by Faith is also understood the Christian Religion , and the Christian Faith is the Christian Religion , and of this a man may be though he make no confession of his Faith , as a man may be of the Church , and yet not be of the number of God's secret ones ; and to this more is required than to that : to the first it is sufficient that he be admitted by a Sacrament or a Ceremony ; which is infallibly certain , because Hypocrites and wicked people are in the visible Communion of the Church , and are reckoned as members of it , and yet to them there was nothing done but the Ceremony administred ; and therefore when that is done to Insants , they also are to be reckoned in the Church-Communion . And indeed , in the examples of Scripture , we find more inserted into the number of God's family by outward Ceremony than by the inward Grace . Of this number were all those who were circumcised the eighth day , who were admitted thither , as the woman's daughter was cured in the Gospel , by the Faith of their mother , their natural parents , or their spiritual ; to whose Faith it is as certain God will take heed , as to their Faith who brought one to Christ who could not come himself , the poor Paralytick ; for when Christ saw their faith , he cured their friend : and yet it is to be observed , that Christ did use to exact faith , actual faith , of them that came to him to be cured , [ According to your faith be it unto you . ] The case is equal in its whole kind . And it is considerable what Christ saith to the poor man that came in behalf of his son , All things are possible to him that believeth : it is possible for a son to receive the blessing and benefit of his father's faith ; and it was so in his case , and is possible to any ; for to Faith all things are possible . And as to the event of things it is evident in the story of the Gospel , that the faith of their relatives was equally effective to children and friends or servants , absent or sick , as the faith of the interested person was to himself : as appears beyond all exception in the case of the friends of the Paralytick , let down with cords through the tiles ; of the Centurion , in behalf of his servant ; of the nobleman , for his son sick at Capernaum ; of the 〈◊〉 , for her daughter : and Christ required saith of no sick man , but of * him that presented himself to him , and desired for himself that he might be cured , as it was in the case of the blind man. Though they could not believe , yet Christ required belief of them that came to him on their behalf . And why then it may not be so , or is not so , in the case of Infants Baptism , I confess it is past my skill to conjecture . The Reason on which this farther relies is contained in the next Proposition . 6. Fourthly , No disposition or act of man can deserve the first Grace , or the grace of Pardon : for so long as a man is unpardoned , he is an enemy to God , and as a dead person , and , unless he be prevented by the grace of God , cannot do a single act in order to his pardon and restitution ; so that the first work which God does upon a man is so wholly his own , that the man hath nothing in it , but to entertain it , that is , not to hinder the work of God upon him . And this is done in them that have in them nothing that can hinder the work of Grace , or in them who remove the hinderances . Of the latter sort are all Sinners , who have lived in a state contrary to God ; of the first are they who are prevented by the grace of God before they can chuse , that is , little Children , and those that become like unto little Children . So that Faith and Repentance are not necessary at first to the reception of the first grace , but by accident . If Sin have drawn curtains , and put bars and coverings to the windows , these must be taken away ; and that is done by Faith and Repentance : but if the windows be not shut , so that the light can pass through them , the eye of Heaven will pass in and dwell there . No man can come unto me , unless my Father draw him : that is , The first access to Christ is nothing of our own , but wholly of God ; and it is as in our creation , in which we have an obediential capacity , but cooperate not ; only if we be contrary to the work of Grace , that contrariety must be taken off , else there is no necessity . And if all men , according to Christ's saying , must receive the Kingdom of God as little children , it is certain , little children do receive it ; they receive it as all men ought , that is , without any impediment or obstruction , without anything within that is contrary to that state . 7. Fifthly , Baptism is not to be estimated as one act , transient and effective to single purposes ; but it is an entrance to a conjugation and a state of Blessings . All our life is to be transacted by the measures of the Gospel-Covenant , and that Covenant is consign'd by Baptism , there we have our title and adoption to it ; and the grace that is then given to us is like a piece of Leven put into a lump of dough , and Faith and Repentance do in all the periods of our life put it into fermentation and activity . Then the seed of God is put into the ground of our hearts , and Repentance waters it , and Faith makes it subactum solum , the ground and surrows apt to produce fruits : and therefore Faith and Repentance are necessary to the effect of Baptism , not to its susception ; that is , necessary to all those parts of life in which Baptism does operate , not to the first sanction or entring into the Covenant . The seed may lie long in the ground , and produce fruits in its due season , if it be refreshed with the former and the later rain , that is , the Repentance that first changes the state , and converts the man , and afterwards returns him to his title , and recalls him from his wandrings , and keeps him in the state of Grace , and within the limits of the Covenant : and all the way Faith gives efficacy and acceptation to this Repentance , that is , continues our title to the Promise of not having Righteousness exacted by the measures of the Law , but by the Covenant and promise of Grace , into which we entred in Baptism , and walk in the same all the days of our life . 8. Sixthly , The Holy Spirit which descends upon the waters of Baptism does not instantly produce its effects in the Soul of the baptized ; and when he does , it is irregularly , and as he pleases . The Spirit bloweth where it listeth , and no man knoweth whence it cometh , nor whither it goeth : and the Catechumen is admitted into the Kingdom , yet the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation : and this saying of our Blessed Saviour was spoken of * the Kingdom of God that is within us , that is , the Spirit of Grace , the power of the Gospel put into our hearts , concerning which he affirmed , that it operates so secretly , that it comes not with outward shew ; neither shall they say , Lo here , or lo there . Which thing I desire the rather to be observed , because in the same discourse , which our Blessed Saviour continued to that assembly , he affirms this Kingdom of God to belong unto little children , this Kingdom that cometh not with outward significations or present expresses , this Kingdom that is within us . For the present , the use I make of it is this , That no man can conclude that this Kingdom of Power , that is , the Spirit of Sanctification , is not come upon Infants , because there is no sign or expression of it . It is within us , therefore it hath no signification . It is the seed of God ; and it is no good Argument to say , Here is no seed in the bowels of the earth , because there is nothing green upon the face of it . For the Church gives the Sacrament , God gives the Grace of the Sacrament . But because he does not always give it at the instant in which the Church gives the Sacrament , ( as if there be a secret impediment in the suscipient ) and yet afterwards does give it when the impediment is removed , ( as to them that repent of that impediment ) it follows , that the Church may administer rightly even before God gives the real Grace of the Sacrament : and if God gives this Grace afterwards by parts , and yet all of it is the effect of that Covenant which was consigned in Baptism ; he that desers some may defer all , and verifie every part as well as any part . For it is certain , that in the instance now made all the Grace is deferred ; in Infants it is not certain but that some is collated or infused : however , be it so or no , yet upon this account the administration of the Sacrament is not hindred . 9. Seventhly , When the Scripture speaks of the effects of or dispositions to Baptism , it speaks in general expressions , as being most apt to signifie a common duty , or a general effect , or a more universal event , or the proper order of things : but those general expressions do not supponere universaliter , that is , are not to be understood exclusively to all that are not so qualified , or universally of all suscipients , or of all the subjects of the Proposition . When the Prophets complain of the Jews , that they are fallen from God , and turned to Idols , and walk not in the way of their Fathers ; and at other times the Scripture speaks the same thing of their Fathers , that they walked perversly toward God , starting aside like a broken bow ; in these and the like expressions the Holy Scripture uses a Synecdoche , or signifies many only , under the notion of a more large and indesinite expression : for neither were all the Fathers good , neither did all the sons prevaricate ; but among the Fathers there were enough to recommend to posterity by way of example , and among the Children there were enough to stain the reputation of the Age ; but neither the one part nor the other was true of every single person . S. John the Baptist spake to the whole audience , saying , O generation of 〈◊〉 ! and yet he did not mean that all Jerusalem and Judaea that went out to be baptized of him were such ; but he , under an undeterminate reproof , intended those that were such , that is , especially the Priests and the Pharisees . And it is more considerable yet in the story of the event of Christ's Sermon in the Synagogue , upon his Text taken out of Isaiah , All wondred at his gracious words , and bare him witness ; and a little after , All they in the Synagogue were filled with wrath : that is , it was generally so , but hardly to be supposed true of every single 〈◊〉 , in both the contrary humors and usages . Thus Christ said to the Apostles , To have abidden with me in my temptations ; and yet Judas was all the way a follower of interest and the bag , rather than Christ , and afterwards none of them all did abide with Christ in his greatest Temptations . Thus also , to come nearer the present Question , the secret effects of Election and of the Spirit are in Scripture attributed to all that are of the outward Communion . So S. Peter calls all the Christian strangers of the Eastern dispersion , Elect according to the sore-knowledge of God the Father ; and S. Paul saith of all the Roman Christians , and the same of the 〈◊〉 , that their Faith was spoken of in all the world : and yet amongst them it is not to be supposed that all the 〈◊〉 had an unreproveable Faith , or that every one of the Church of 〈◊〉 was an excellent and a charitable person ; and yet the 〈◊〉 useth this expression , 〈◊〉 faith groweth exceedingly , and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth . These are usually significant of a general custom or order of things , or duty of men , or design , and natural or proper expectation of events . Such are these also in this very Question , As many of you as are baptized into Christ , have put on Christ ; that is , so it is regularly , and so it will be in its due time , and that is the order of things , and the designed event : but from hence we cannot conclude of every person , and in every period of time , This man hath been baptized , therefore now he is 〈◊〉 with Christ , he hath put on Christ ; nor thus , This person cannot in a spiritual sence as yet put on Christ , therefore he hath not been baptized , that is , he hath not put him on in a 〈◊〉 sence . Such is the saying of S. Paul , Whom he hath predestinated , them he also called ; and whom he called , them he also justified ; and whom he justified , them he also glorified : this also declares the regular event , or at least the order of things , and the design of God , but not the actual verification of it to all persons . These sayings concerning Baptism in the like manner are to be so understood , that they cannot exclude all persons from the 〈◊〉 that have not all those real effects of the Sacrament at all times which some men have at some times , and all men must have at some time or other , viz. when the Sacrament obtains its last intention . But he that shall argue from hence , That Children are not rightly baptized , because they cannot in a spiritual sence put on Christ , concludes nothing , unless these Propositions did signifie universally , and at all times , and in every person , and in every manner : which can no more pretend to truth , than that all Christians are God's Elect , and all that are baptized are Saints , and all that are called are justified , and all that are once justified shall be saved finally . These things declare only the event of things , and their order , and the usual effect , and the proper design , in their proper season , in their limited proportions . 10. Eighthly , A Negative Argument for matters of fact in Scripture cannot conclude a Law , or a necessary or a regular event . And therefore supposing that it be not intimated that the Apostles did baptize Insants , it follows not that they did not ; and if they did not , it does not follow that they might not , or that the Church may not . For it is unreasonable to argue , The Scripture speaks nothing of the Baptism of the Holy Virgin Mother , therefore she was not baptized . The words and deeds of Christ are infinite which are not recorded , and of the Acts of the Apostles we may suppose the same in their proportion : and therefore what they did not is no rule to us , unless they did it not because they were forbidden . So that it can be no good Argument to say , The Apostles are not read to have baptized Infants , therefore Infants are not to be baptized : but thus , We do not find that Infants are excluded from the common Sacraments and Ceremonies of Christian institution , therefore we may not presume to exclude them . For although the Negative of a Fact is no good Argument , yet the Negative of a Law is a very good one . We may not say , The Apostles did not , therefore we may not : but thus , They were not forbidden to do it , there is no Law against it , therefore it may be done . No man's deeds can prejudicate a Divine Law expressed in general terms , much less can it be prejudiced by those things that were not done . That which is wanting cannot be numbred , cannot be effectual ; therefore , Baptize all Nations , must signifie all that it can signifie , all that are reckoned in the Capitations and accounts of a Nation . Now since all contradiction to this Question depends wholly upon these two Grounds , the Negative Argument in matter of Fact , and the Pretences that Faith and Repentance are required to Baptism ; since the first is wholly nothing , and infirm upon an infinite account , and the second may conclude , that Infants can no more be saved than be baptized , because Faith is more necessary to Salvation than to Baptism ; it being said , He that believeth not shall be damned , and it is not said , He that believeth not shall be excluded from Baptism : it follows , that the Doctrine of those that resuse to baptize their Infants is upon both its legs weak and broken and insufficient . 11. Upon the supposition of these Grounds , the Baptism of Infants , according to the perpetual practice of the Church of God , will stand firm and unshaken upon its own Base . For , as the Eunuch said to Philip , What hinders them to be baptized ? If they can receive benefit by it , it is infallibly certain , that it belongs to them also to receive it , and to their Parents to procure it ; for nothing can deprive us of so great a Grace but an Unworthiness , or a Disability . They are not disabled to receive it , if they need it , and if it does them good ; and they have neither done good nor evil , and theresore they have not sorseited their right to it . This theresore shall be the first great Argument or Combination of inducements , Infants receive many benefits by the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 , and theresore in charity and in duty we are to bring them to Baptism . 12. First , The first Effect of Baptism is , That in it we are admitted to the Kingdom of Christ , offered and presented unto him . In which certainly there is the same act of Worship to God , and the same blessing to the Children of Christians , as there was in presenting the first-born among the Jews . For our Children can be God's own portion as well as theirs : And as they presented the first-born to God , and so acknowledged that God might have taken his life in Sacrifice , as well as the Sacrifice of the Lamb or the Oblation of a Beast ; yet when the right was consessed , God gave him back again , and took a Lamb in exchange , or a pair of Doves : so are our Children presented to God as forseit , and God might take the forfeiture , and not admit the Babe to the Promises of Grace ; but when the Presentation of the Child and our acknowledgment is made to God , God takes the Lamb of the World in exchange , and he hath paid our forfeiture , and the Children are holy unto the Lord. And what hinders here ? Cannot a Cripple receive an alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple , unless he go thither himself ? or cannot a Gift be presented to God by the hands of the owners , and the Gift become holy and pleasing to God , without its own consent ? The Parents have a portion of the possession : Children are blessings , and God's gifts , and the Father's greatest wealth , and therefore are to be given again to him . In other things we give something to God of all that he gives us ; all we do not , because our needs force us to retain the greater part , and the less sanctifies the whole : but our Children must all be returned to God ; for we may love them , and so may God too , and they are the better our own by being made holy in their Presentation . Whatsoever is given to God is holy , every thing in its proportion and capacity ; a Lamb is holy when it becomes a Sacrifice , and a Table is holy when it becomes an Altar , and an House is holy when it becomes a Church , and a Man is holy when he is consecrated to be a Priest , and so is every one that is dedicated to Religion : these are holy persons , the others are holy Things . And Infants are between both : they have the Sanctification that belongs to them , the Holiness that can be of a reasonable nature offer'd and destin'd to God's service ; but not in that degree that is in an understanding , chusing person . Certain it is that Infants may be given to God ; and if they may be , they must be : for it is not here as in Goods , where we are permitted to use all or some , and give what portion we please out of them ; but we cannot do our duty towards our Children unless we give them wholly to God , and offer them to his service and to his grace . The first does honour to God , the second does charity to the Children . The effects and real advantages will appear in the sequel . In the mean time this Argument extends thus sar , That Children may be presented to God acceptably in order to his service . And it was highly preceptive , when our Blessed Saviour commanded that we should 〈◊〉 little children to come to him : and when they came , they carried away a Blessing along with them . He was desirous they should partake of his Merits : he is not willing , neither is it his Father's will , that any of these little ones should perish . And therefore he died for them , and loved , and blessed them : and so he will now , if they be brought to him , and presented as Candidates of the Religion and of the Resurrection . Christ hath a Blessing for our Children ; but let them come to him , that is , be presented at the doors of the Church to the Sacrament of Adoption and Initiation ; for I know no other way for them to come . 13. Secondly , Children may be adopted into the Covenant of the Gospel , that is , made partakers of the Communion of Saints , which is the second Effect of Baptism ; parts of the Church , members of Christ's Mystical body , and put into the order of eternal life . Now concerning this , it is certain the Church clearly hath power to do her offices in order to it . The faithful can pray for all men , they can do their piety to some persons with more regard and greater earnestness , they can admit whom they please in their proper dispositions to a participation of all their holy Prayers , and Communions , and Preachings , and Exhortations : and if all this be a blessing , and all this be the actions of our own Charity , who can hinder the Church of God from admitting Infants to the communion of all their pious offices , which can do them benefit in their present capacity ? How this does necessarily infer Baptism , I shall * afterwards discourse . But for the present I enumerate , That the blessings of Baptism are communicable to them ; they may be admitted into a fellowship of all the Prayers and Priviledges of the Church , and the Communion of Saints , in blessings , and prayers , and holy offices . But that which is of greatest perswasion and convincing efficacy in this particular is , That the Children of the Church are as capable of the same Covenant as the children of the Jews : But it was the same Covenant that Circumcision did consign , a spiritual Covenant under a veil , and now it is the same spiritual Covenant without the veil ; which is evident to him that considers it , thus : 14. The words of the Covenant are these , [ I am the Almighty God , walk before me , and be thou perfect : I will multiply thee exceedingly : Thou shalt be a Father of many Nations : Thy name shall not be Abram , but Abraham : Nations and Kings shall be out of thee : I will be a God unto thee and unto thy seed after thee : and , I will give all the Land of Canaan to thy seed : and , All the Males shall be circumcised ; and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and thee : and , He that is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people . ] The Covenant which was on 〈◊〉 's part was , To walk before God , and to be perfect ; on God's part , To bless him with a numerous issue , and them with the Land of Canaan : and the sign was Circumcision , the token of the Covenant . Now in all this here was no duty to which the posterity was obliged , nor any blessing which 〈◊〉 could perceive or feel , because neither he nor his posterity did enjoy the Promise for many hundred years after the Covenant : and therefore as there was a duty for the posterity which is not here expressed ; so there was a blessing for Abraham , which was concealed under the leaves of a temporal Promise , and which we shall better understand from them whom the Spirit of God hath taught the mysteriousness of this transaction . The argument indeed and the observation is wholly S. Paul's . Abraham and the Patriarchs died in faith , not having received the Promises , viz. of a possession in Canaan . They saw the Promises afar off , they embraced them , and looked through the Cloud , and the temporal veil : this was not it ; they might have returned to Canaan , if that had been the object of their desires , and the design of the Promise : but they desired and did seek a Country , but it was a better , and that a heavenly . This was the object of their desire , and the end of their seach , and the reward of their Faith , and the secret of their Promise . And therefore Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of Faith which he had before his Circumcision , before the making this Covenant ; and therefore it must principally relate to an effect and a blessing greater than was afterwards expressed in the temporal Promise : which effect was forgiveness of sins , a not imputing to us our infirmities , Justification by Faith , accounting that for righteousness : and these effects or graces were promised to Abraham , not only for his posterity after the flesh , but his children after the spirit , even to all that shall believe and walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he walked in being yet uncircumcised . 15. This was no other but the Covenant of the Gospel , though afterwards otherwise consigned : for so the Apostle expresly affirms , that Abraham was the father of Circumcision ( viz. by virtue of this Covenant ) not only to them that are circumcised , but to all that believe : for this promise was not through the Law of Works , or of Circumcision , but of Faith. And therefore , as S. Paul observes , God promised that Abraham should be a father ( not of that Nation only , but ) of many Nations , and the heir of the world ; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith. And if ye be Christ's , then ye are Abraham's seed , and heirs according to the Promise . Since then the Covenant of the Gospel is the Covenant of Faith , and not of Works ; and the Promises are spiritual , not secular ; and Abraham the father of the faithful Gentiles as well as the circumcised Jews ; and the heir of the world , not by himself , but by his seed , or the Son of Man , our Lord Jesus : it follows , that the Promises which Circumcision did seal were the same Promises which are consigned in Baptism ; the Covenant is the same , only that God's people are not impal'd in 〈◊〉 , and the veil is taken away , and the Temporal is passed into Spiritual ; and the result will be this , That to as many persons , and in as many capacities , and in the same dispositions as the Promises were applied and did relate in Circumcision , to the same they do belong and may be applied in Baptism . And let it be remembred , That the Covenant which Circumcision did sign was a Covenant of Grace and 〈◊〉 ; the Promises were of the Spirit , or spiritual ; it was made before the Law , and could not be rescinded by the Legal Covenant ; nothing could be added to it , or taken from it : and we that are partakers of this grace are therefore partakers of it by being Christ's servants , united to Christ , and so are become Abraham's seed , ( as the Apostle at large and prosessedly proves in divers places , but especially in the fourth to the 〈◊〉 , and the third to the Galatians . ) And therefore if Infants were then admitted to it , and consigned to it by a Sacrament which they understood not any more than ours do , there is not any reason why ours should not enter in at the ordinary gate and door of grace as well as they . Their Children were circumcised the eighth day , but were instructed afterwards , when they could enquire what these things meant . Indeed their Proselytes were first taught , then circumcised ; so are ours baptized : but their Infants were consigned first ; and so must ours . 16. Thirdly , In Baptism we are born again ; and this Infants need in the present circumstances , and for the same great reason that men of age and reason do . For our natural birth is either of it self insufficient , or is made so by the Fall of Adam and the consequent evils , that Nature alone , or our first birth , cannot bring us to Heaven , which is a supernatural end , that is , an end above all the power of our Nature as now it is . So that if Nature cannot bring us to Heaven , Grace must , or we can never get thither ; if the first birth cannot , a second must : but the second birth spoken of in Scripture is Baptism , A man must be born of 〈◊〉 and the Spirit . And therefore Baptism is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the laver of a new birth . Either then Infants cannot go to Heaven any way that we know of , or they must be baptized . To say they are to be left to God , is an excuse , and no answer : for when God hath opened the door , and calls that the entrance into Heaven , we do not leave them to God , when we will not carry them to him in the way which he hath described , and at the door which himself hath opened : we leave them indeed , but it is but helpless and destitute : and though God is better than man , yet that is no warrant to us ; what it will be to the children , that we cannot warrant or conjecture . And if it be objected , that to the New birth are required dispositions of our own , which are to be wrought by and in them that have the use of Reason : Besides that this is wholly against the Analogy of a New birth , in which the person to be born is wholly a passive , and hath put into him the principle that in time will produce its proper actions ; it is certain that they that can receive the new birth are capable of it . The effect of it is a possibility of being saved , and arriving to a supernatural felicity . If Infants can receive this effect , then also the New birth , without which they cannot receive the effect . And if they can receive Salvation , the effect of the New birth , what hinders them but they may receive that that is in order to that effect , and ordained only for it , and which is nothing of it self , but in its institution and relation , and which may be received by the same capacity in which one may be created , that is , a passivity , or a capacity obediential ? 17. Fourthly , Concerning pardon of sins , which is one great effect of Baptism , it is certain that 〈◊〉 have not that benefit which men of sin and age may receive . He that hath a sickly stomach drinks wine , and it not only refreshes his spirits , but cures his stomach : He that drinks wine and hath not that disease , receives good by his wine , though it does not minister to so many needs ; it refreshes , though it does not cure him : and when oyl is poured upon a man's head , it does not always heal a wound , but sometimes makes him a chearful countenance , sometimes it consigns him to be a King or a Priest. So it is in Baptism : it does not heal the wounds of actual sins , because they have not committed them : but it takes off the evil of Original sin : whatsoever is imputed to us by Adam's prevarication , is washed off by the death of the second Adam into which we are baptized . But concerning original sin , because there are so many disputes which may intricate the Question , I shall make use only of that which is confessed on both sides , and material to our purpose . Death came upon all men by Adam's sin , and the necessity of it remains upon us as an evil consequent of the Disobedience . For though death is natural , yet it was kept off from man by God's favour , which when he lost , the banks were broken , and the water reverted to its natural course , and our nature became a curse , and death a punishment . Now that this also relates to Infants so far is certain , because they are sick , and die . This the Pelagians denied not . But to whomsoever this evil descended , for them also a remedy is provided by the second Adam ; That as in Adam all die , even so in Christ shall all be made alive ; that is , at the day of Judgment : then death shall be destroyed . In the mean time , Death hath a sting and a bitterness , a curse it is , and an express of the Divine anger : and if this sting be not taken away here , we shall have no participation of the final victory over death . Either therefore Infants must be for ever without remedy in this evil consequent of their Father's sin , or they must be adopted into the participation of Christ's death , which is the remedy . Now how can they partake of Christ's death , but by Baptism into his death ? For if there be any spiritual way 〈◊〉 , it will by a stronger argument admit them to Baptism : for if they can receive spiritual effects , they can also receive the outward Sacrament ; this being denied only upon pretence they cannot have the other . If there be no spiritual way extraordinary , then the ordinary way is only left for them . If there be an extraordinary , let it be shewn , and Christians will be at rest concerning their Children . One thing only I desire to be observed , That Pelagius denied Original Sin , but yet denied not the necessity of Infants Baptism ; and being accused of it in an Epistle to Pope Innocent the First , he purged himself of the suspicion , and allowed the practice , but denied the inducement of it : which shews , that their arts are weak that think Baptism to be useless to Infants , if they be not formally guilty of the prevarication of Adam . By which I also gather , that it was so universal , so primitive a practice , to baptize Infants , that it was greater than all pretences to the contrary : for it would much have conduced to the introducing his opinion against Grace and Original Sin , if he had destroyed that practice which seemed so very much to have its greatest necessity from the doctrine he denied . But against Pelagins , and against all that follow the parts of his opinion , it is of good use which S. Austin , Prosper and Fulgentius argue ; If Infants are punished for Adam's sin , then they are also guilty of it in some sence . Nimis enim impium est hoc de Dei sentire 〈◊〉 , quòd à praevaricatione liberos cum reis 〈◊〉 esse 〈◊〉 : So Prosper . Dispendia quae slentes nascendo testantur , dicito quo merito sub 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 judice 〈◊〉 , sinullum peccatum 〈◊〉 , arrogentur , said S. Austin . For the guilt of it signifies nothing but the obligation to the punishment ; and he that feels the evil consequent , to him the sin is imputed ; not as to all the same dishonour , or moral accounts , but to the more material , to the natural account : and in Holy Scripture the taking off the punishment is the pardon of the sin ; and in the same degree the punishment is abolished , in the same God is appeased , and then the person stands upright , being reconciled to God by his grace . Since therefore Infants have the punishment of sin , it is certain the sin is imputed to them ; and therefore they need being reconciled to God by Christ : and if so , then when they are baptized into Christ's Death and into his Resurrection , their sins are pardoned , because the punishment is taken off , the sting of natural death is taken away , because God's anger is removed , and they shall partake of Christ's Resurrection ; which because Baptism does signifie and consign , they also are to be baptized . To which also add this appendent Consideration , That whatsoever the Sacraments do consign , that also they do convey and minister : they do it , that is , God by them does it ; lest we should think the Sacraments to be mere illusions , and abusing us by deceitful ineffective signs : and therefore to Infants the grace of a title to a Resurrection and Reconciliation to God by the death of Christ is conveyed , because it signifies and consigns this to them more to the life and analogy of resemblance than Circumcision to the Infant sons of Israel . I end this Consideration with the words of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Our birth by Baptism does cut off every unclean appendage of our natural birth , and leads us to a celestial life . And this in Children is therefore more necessary , because the evil came upon them without their own act of reason and choice , and therefore the grace and remedy ought not to stay the leisure of dull Nature and the formalities of the Civil Law. 18. Fifthly , The Baptism of Insants does to them the greatest part of that benefit which belongs to the remission of sins : For Baptism is a state of Repentance and Pardon for ever . This I suppose to be already proved ; to which I only add this Caution , That the Pelagians , to undervalue the necessity of Supervening grace , affirmed , that Baptism did minister to us Grace sufficient to live perfectly , and without sin for ever . Against this S. Jerome sharply declaims , and affirms , Baptismum praeterita donare peccata , non suturam servare justitiam ; that is , non statim justum facit & omni plenum justitiâ , as he expounds his meaning in another place . Vetera peccata conscindit , novas virtutes non tribuit ; dimittit à carcere , & dimisso , si laboraverit , praemia pollicetur . Baptism does not so forgive future sins that we may do what we please , or so as we need not labour and watch , and fear perpetually , and make use of God's grace to actuate our endeavours ; but puts us into a state of Pardon , that is , in a Covenant of Grace , in which so long as we labour and repent , and strive to do our duty , so long our infirmities are pitied , and our sins certain to be pardoned upon their certain conditions ; that is , by virtue of it we are capable of Pardon , and must work for it , and may hope it . And therefore Infants have a most certain capacity and proper disposition to Baptism : for sin creeps before it can go ; and little undecencies are soon learned , and malice is before their years , and they can do mischief and irregularities betimes ; and though we know not when , nor how far they are imputed in every month of their lives , yet it is an admirable art of the Spirit of grace , to put them into a state of Pardon , that their remedy may at least be as soon as their necessity . And therefore Tertullian and Gregory Nazianzen advised the Baptism of Children to be at three or four years of age ; meaning , that they then begin to have little inadvertencies and hasty follies , and actions so evil as did need a Lavatory . But if Baptism hath an influence upon sins in the succeeding portion , of our life , then it is certain , that their being presently innocent does not hinder and ought not to retard the Sacrament : and therefore Tertullian's Quid festinat innocens aetas ad remissionem peccatorum ? What need Innocents hasten to the remission of sin ? is soon answered . It is true , they need not in respect of any actual sins , for so they are innocent : but in respect of the evils of their nature derived from their original , and in respect of future sins in the whole state of their life , it is necessary they be put into a state of Pardon before they sin , because some sin early , some sin later ; and therefore unless they be baptized so early as to prevent the first sins , they may chance die in a sin , to the pardon of which they have ●●t derived no title from Christ. 19. Sixthly , The next great effect of Baptism which Children can have is the Spir it of Sanctification ; and it they can be baptized with Water and the Spirit , it will be sacriledge to rob them of so holy treasures . And concerning this , although it be with them as S. Paul says of Heirs , The Heir so long as he is a child differeth nothing from a Servant , though he be Lord of all ; and Children , although they receive the Spirit of Promise , and the Spirit of Grace , yet in respect of actual exercise they differ not from them that have them not at all : yet this hinders not but they may have them . For as the reasonable Soul and all its Faculties are in Children , Will , and Understanding , Passions , and Powers of Attraction and Propulsion , yet these Faculties do not operate or come ahead till time and art , observation and experience have drawn them forth into action : so may the Spirit of Grace , the principle of Christian life , be infused , and yet lie without action , till in its own day it is drawn forth . For in every Christian there are three parts concurring to his integral constitution , Body , and Soul , and Spirit ; and all these have their proper activities and times ; but every one in his own order , first that which is natural , then that which is spiritual . And what Aristotle said , A man first lives the life of a Plant , then of a Beast , and lastly of a Man , is true in this sence : and the more spiritual the principle is , the longer it is before it operates , because more things concur to spiritual actions than to natural : and these are necessary , and therefore first ; the other are perfect , and therefore last . And who is he that so well understands the Philosophy of this third principle of a Christian's life , the Spirit , as to know how or when it is infused , and how it operates in all its periods , and what it is in its being and proper nature ; and whether it be like the Soul , or like the faculty , or like a habit ; or how or to what purposes God in all varieties does dispence it ? These are secrets which none but bold people use to decree , and build propositions upon their own dreams . That which is certain is , * That the Spirit is the principle of a new life , or a new birth . * That Baptism is the Laver of this new birth . * That it is the seed of God , and may lie long in the furrows before it springs up . * That from the faculty to the act the passage is not always sudden and quick . * That the Spirit is the earnest of our Inheritance , that is , of Resurrection to eternal life : which inheritance because Children we hope shall have , they cannot be denied to have its Seal and earnest ; that is , if they shall have all , they are not to be denied a part . * That Children have some effects of the Spirit , and therefore do receive it , and are baptized with the Spirit , and therefore may with Water : which thing is therefore true and evident , because some Children are sanctified , as Jeremy and the Baptist , and therefore all may . And because all Sanctification of persons is an effect of the Holy Ghost , there is no peradventure but they that can be 〈◊〉 by God , can in that capacity receive the Holy Ghost : and all the ground of dissenting here is only upon a mistake ; because Infants do no act of Holiness , they suppose them incapable of the grace of 〈◊〉 . Now 〈◊〉 of Children is their Adoption to the Inheritance of sons , their Presentation to Christ , their Consignation to Christ's service and to Resurrection , their being put into a possibility of being saved , their restitution to God's favour , which naturally , that is , as our Nature is depraved and punished , they could not have . And in short the case is this : * Original righteousness was in Adam 〈◊〉 the manner of Nature , but it was an act or effect of Grace , and by it men were not made , but born Righteous ; the inferiour Faculties obeyed the superiour , the Mind was whole and right , and conformable to the Divine Image , the Reason and the Will always concurring , the Will followed Reason , and Reason followed the Laws of God ; and so long as a man had not lost this , he was pleasing to God , and should have passed to a more perfect state . Now because this , if Adam had stood , should have been born with every child , there was in Infants a principle which was the seed of holy life here , and a blessed hereafter ; and yet the children should have gone in the road of Nature then as well as now , and the Spirit should have operated at Nature's leisure ; God being the giver of both , would have made them instrumental to and perfective of each other , but not destructive . Now what was lost by Adam is restored by Christ , the same Righteousness , only it is not born , but superinduced , not integral , but interrupted ; but such as it is , there is no difference , but that the same or the like principle may be derived to us from Christ as there should have been from Adam , that is , a principle of Obedience , a regularity of 〈◊〉 , a beauty in the Soul , and a state of acceptation with God. And we see also in men of understanding and reason , the Spirit of God 〈◊〉 in them , ( which Tatianus describing uses these words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 Soul is possessed with sparks , or materials , of the power of the Spirit ) and yet it is sometimes ineffective and unactive , sometimes more , sometimes less , and does no more do its work at all times than the Soul does at all times understand . Add to this , that if there be in 〈◊〉 naturally an evil principle , a proclivity to sin , an ignorance and pravity of mind , a disorder of affections , ( as experience teacheth us there is , and the perpetual Doctrine of the Church , and the universal mischiefs issuing from mankind , and the sin of every man does witness too much ) why cannot Infants have a good principle in them , though it works not till its own season , as well as an evil principle ? If there were not by nature some evil principle , it is not possible that all the world should chuse sin . In free Agents it was never heard that all individuals loved and chose the same thing , to which they were not naturally inclined . Neither do all men chuse to marry , neither do all chuse to abstain ; and in this instance there is a natural inclination to one part . But of all the men and women in the world there is no one that hath never sinned : If we say that we have no sin , we deceive our selves , and the truth is not in us , said an Apostle . If therefore Nature hath in Infants an evil principle , which operates when the child can chuse , but is all the while within the Soul ; either Infants have by Grace a principle put into them , or else Sin abounds where Grace does not superabound , expresly against the doctrine of the Apostle . The event of this discourse is , That if Infants be capable of the Spirit of Grace , there is no reason but they may and ought to be baptized as well as men and women ; unless God had expresly forbidden them , which cannot be pretended : and that Infants are capable of the Spirit of Grace , I think is made very credible . Christus infantibus infans 〈◊〉 , sanctificans 〈◊〉 , said Irenaeus ; Christ became an Infant among the Infants , and does sanctifie Infants : and S. Cyprian affirms , Esse apud omnes , 〈◊〉 Infantes 〈◊〉 majores 〈◊〉 , unam divini muneris aequitatem ; There is the same dispensation of the Divine grace to all alike , to Infants as well as to men . And in this Royal Priesthood , as it is in the secular , Kings may be anointed in their Cradles . Dat ( Deus ) sui Spiritûs 〈◊〉 gratiam , quam etiam latenter infundit in parvulis ; God gives the most secret Grace of his Spirit , which he also secretly infuses into Infants . And if a secret infusion be rejected , because it cannot be proved at the place and at the instant , many men that hope for Heaven will be very much to 〈◊〉 for a proof of their earnest , and need an earnest of the earnest . For all that have the Spirit of God cannot in all instants prove it , or certainly know it : neither is it defined by how many indices the Spirit 's presence can be proved or fig●●ed . And they limit the Spirit too much , and understand it too little , who take ac●●unts of his secret workings , and measure them by the material lines and methods of natural and animal effects . And yet because whatsoever is holy is made so by the Holy Spirit , we are certain that the Children of believing , that is , of Christian , Parents are holy . S. Paul affirmed it , and by it hath distinguished ours from the Children of unbelievers , and our Marriages from theirs . And because the Children of the Heathen , when they come to choice and Reason , may enter into Baptism and the Covenant , if they will ; our Children have no priviledge beyond the Children of Turks or Heathens , unless it be in the present capacity , that is , either by receiving the Holy Ghost immediately , and the Promises , or at least having a title to the Sacrament , and entring by that door . If they have the Spirit , nothing can hinder them from a title to the 〈◊〉 ater ; and if they have only a title to the water of the Sacrament , then they shall receive the promise of the Holy Spirit , the benefits of the Sacrament : else their priviledge is none at all , but a dish of cold water , which every Village-Nurse can provide for her new-born babe . 20. But it is in our case as it was with the Jews Children : Our Children are a holy seed ; for if it were not so with Christianity , how could S. Peter move the Jews to Christianity by telling them the Promise was to them and their Children ? For if our Children be not capable of the Spirit of Promise and Holiness , and yet their Children were holy , it had been a better Argument to have kept them in the Synagogue , than to have called them to the Christian Church . Either therefore , 1. there is some Holiness in a reasonable nature , which is not from the Spirit of Holiness ; or else , 2. our Children do receive the Holy Spirit because they are holy ; or if they be not holy , they are in worse condition under Christ than under Moses : or if none of all this be true , then our Children are holy by having received the holy Spirit of Promise , and consequently nothing can hinder them from being baptized . 21. And indeed if the Christian 〈◊〉 , whose Children are circumcised , and made partakers of the same Promises and Title , and Inheritance and Sacraments , which themselves had at their Conversion to the Faith of Christ , had seen their Children now shut out from these new Sacraments , it is not to be doubted but they would have raised a strom greater than could easily have been suppressed , since about their Circumcisions they 〈◊〉 raised such Tragedies and implacable disputations . And there had been great reason to look for a storm ; for their Children were circumcised , and if not baptized , then they were left under a burthen which their fathers were quit of , for S. Paul said , Whosoever is circumcised is a debtor to keep the whole Law. These Children therefore that were circumcised stood obliged , for want of Baptism , to perform the Law of Ceremonies , to be presented into the Temple , to pay their price , to be redeemed with silver and gold , to be bound by the Law of pollutions and carnal Ordinances : and therefore , if they had been thus left , it would be no wonder if the Jews had complained and made a tumult : they used to do it for less matters . 22. To which let this be added , That the first book of the New Testament was not written till eight years after Christ's Ascension , and S. Mark' s Gospel twelve years . In the mean time , to what Scriptures did they appeal ? By the Analogy or proportion of what writings did they end their Questions ? Whence did they prove their Articles ? They only appealed to the Old Testament , and only added what their Lord superadded . Now either it must be said that our Blessed Lord commanded that Infants should not be baptized , which is no-where pretended ; and if it were , cannot at all be proved : or if by the proportion of Scriptures they did serve God , and preach the Religion , it is plain , that by the Analogy of the Old Testament , that is , of those Scriptures by which they proved Christ to be come and to have suffered , they also approved the Baptism of Infants , or the admitting them to the society of the faithful Jews , of which also the Church did then principally consist . 23. Seventhly , That Baptism , which consigns men and women to a blessed Resurrection , doth also equally consign Infants to it , hath nothing , that I know of , pretended against it , there being the same signature and the same grace , and in this thing all being alike passive , and we no way cooperating to the consignation and promise of Grace : and Infants have an equal necessity , as being liable to sickness and groaning with as sad accents , and dying sooner than men and women , and less able to complain , and more apt to be pitied , and broken with the unhappy consequents of a short life and a speedy death , & infelicitate priscorum hominum , with the infelicity and folly of their first Parents ; and therefore have as great need as any : and that is capacity enough to receive a remedy for the evil which was brought upon them by the fault of another . 24. Eightly , And after all this , if Baptism be that means which God hath appointed to save us , it were well if we would do our parts towards Infants final interest : which whether it depends upon the Sacrament and its proper grace , we have nothing to relie upon but those Texts of Scripture which make Baptism the ordinary way of entring into the state of Salvation : save only we are to add this , that because of this law since Infants are not personally capable , but the Church for them , as for all others indefinitely , we have reason to believe that their friends neglect shall by some way be supplied ; but Hope hath in it nothing beyond a Probability . This we may be certain of , that naturally we cannot be heirs of Salvation , for by nature we are children of wrath ; and therefore an eternal separation from God is an infallible consequent to our evil nature : either therefore Children must be put into the state of Grace , or they shall dwell for ever where God's face does never shine . Now there are but two ways of being put into the state of Grace and Salvation ; the inward , by the Spirit , and the outward , by Water ; which regularly are together . If they be renewed by the Spirit , what hinders them to be baptized , who receive the Holy Ghost as well as we ? If they are not capable of the Spirit , they are capable of Water ; and if of neither , where is their title to Heaven , which is neither internal nor external , neither spiritual nor sacramental , neither secret nor manifest , neither natural nor gracious , neither original nor derivative ? And well may we lament the death of poor babes that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , concerning whom if we neglect what is regularly prescribed to all that enter Heaven , without any difference expressed or case reserved , we have no reason to be comforted over our dead children , but may weep as they that have no hope . We may hope when our neglect was not the hinderance , because God hath wholly taken the matter into his own hand , and then it cannot miscarry ; and though we know nothing of the Children , yet we know much of God's goodness : but when God hath permitted it to us , that is , offered and permitted Children to our ministery , what-ever happens to the Innocents , we may well fear 〈◊〉 God will require the Souls at our hands : and we cannot be otherwise secure , but that it will be said concerning our children which S. Ambrose used in a case like this , Anima illa potuit salva fieri , si habuisset purgationem , This Soul might have gone to God , if it had been purified and washed . We know God is good , infinitely good ; but we know it is not at all good to tempt his goodness : and he tempts him that leaves the usual way , and pretends it is not made for him , and yet hopes to be at his journey's end , or expects to meet his Child in Heaven , when himself shuts the door against him , which , for ought he knows , is the only one that stands open . S. Austin was severe in this Question against unbaptized Infants , therefore he is called durus Pater Infantum : though I know not why the original of that Opinion should be attributed to him , since S. Ambrose said the same before him , as appears in his words before quoted in the margent . 25. And now that I have enumerated the Blessings which are consequent to Baptism , and have also made apparent that Infants can receive these Blessings , I suppose I need not use any other perswasions to bring Children to Baptism . If it be certain they may receive these good things by it , it is certain they are not to be hindred of them without the greatest impiety and sacriledge and uncharitableness in the world . Nay , if it be only probable that they receive these Blessings , or if it be but possible they may , nay , unless it be impossible they should , and so declared by revelation or demonstratively certain ; it were intolerable unkindness and injustice to our pretty Innocents , to let their crying be unpitied , and their natural misery eternally irremediable , and their sorrows without remedy , and their Souls no more capable of relief than their bodies of Physick , and their death left with the sting in , and their Souls without Spirits to go to God , and no Angel-guardian to be assigned them in the Assemblies of the faithful , and they not to be reckoned in the accounts of God and God's Church . All these are sad stories . 26. There are in Scripture very many other probabilities to perswade the Baptism of Infants ; but because the places admit of divers interpretations , the Arguments have so many diminutions , and the certainty that is in them is too fine for 〈◊〉 understandings , I have chosen to build the ancient Doctrines upon such principles which are more easie and certain , and have not been yet sullied and rifled with the contentions of an adversary . This only I shall observe , That the words of our Blessed Lord [ Unless a man be born of Water and the Spirit , he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ] cannot be expounded to the exclusion of Children , but the same expositions will also make Baptism not necessary for men : for if they be both necessary ingredients , Water and the Spirit , then let us provide water , and God will provide the Spirit ; if we bring wood to the Sacrifice , he will provide a Lamb. And if they signifie distinctly , one is ordinarily as necessary as the other ; and then Infants must be baptized , or not be saved . But if one be exegetical and explicative of the other , and by Water and the Spirit is meant only the purification of the Spirit , then where is the necessity of Baptism 〈◊〉 men ? It will be , as the other Sacrament , at most but highly convenient , not simply necessary ; and all the other places will easily be answered , if this be avoided . But however , these words being spoken in so 〈◊〉 a manner are to be used with fear and reverence ; and we must be infallibly sure by some certain infallible arguments , that 〈◊〉 ought not to be baptized , or we ought to fear concerning the 〈◊〉 of these decretery words . I shall only add two things by way of Corollary to this Discourse . 27. That the Church of God , ever since her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hath for very many Ages consisted almost wholly of Assemblies of them who have been 〈◊〉 in their Infancy : and although in the 〈◊〉 callings of the Gentiles the chiefest and most frequent Baptisms were of converted and 〈◊〉 persons and believers , yet from the beginning also the Church hath baptized the Infants of Christian Parents ; according to the Prophecy of Isaiah , Behold , I will list up my hands to the Gentiles , and set up a standard to the people , and they shall bring thy sons in their arms , and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders . Concerning which I shall not only bring the testimonies of the matter of 〈◊〉 , but either a report of an Apostolical Tradition , or some Argument from the Fathers , which will make their testimony more effectual in all that shall relate to the Question . 28. The Author of the Book of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy , attributed to S. Denis the 〈◊〉 , takes notice , that certain unholy persons and enemies to the Christian Religion think it a ridiculous thing that Infants , who as yet cannot understand the Divine Mysteries , should be partakers of the Sacraments ; and that Professions and Abrenunciations should be made by others for them and in their names . He answers , that Holy men , Governours of Churches , have so taught , having received a Tradition from their Fathers and Elders in Christ. By which answer of his , as it appears that he himself was later than the Areopagite ; so it is so early by him affirmed , that even then there was an ancient Tradition for the Baptism of Infants , and the use of Godfathers in the ministery of the Sacrament . Concerning which , it having been so ancient a Constitution of the Church , it were well if men would rather humbly and modestly observe , than like scorners deride it , in which they shew their own folly as well as immodesty . For what 〈◊〉 or incongruity is it , that our Parents , natural or spiritual , should stipulate for us , when it is agreeable to the practice of all the laws and transactions of the world , an effect of the Communion of Saints and of Christian Oeconomy ? For why may not Infants be stipulated for as well as we ? All were included in the stipulation made with Adam ; he made a losing bargain for himself , and we smarted for his folly : and if the faults of Parents , and Kings , and relatives , do bring evil upon their Children , and subjects , and correlatives , it is but equal that our children may have benefit also by our charity and 〈◊〉 . But concerning making an agreement for them , we find that God was confident concerning Abraham , that he would teach his children : and there is no doubt but Parents have great power , by strict education and prudent discipline , to efform the minds of their children to Vertue . 〈◊〉 did expresly undertake for his houshold , I and my house will serve the Lord : and for children we may better do it , because , till they are of perfect choice , no Government in the world is so great as that of Parents over their children , in that which can concern the parts of this Question ; for they rule over their Understandings , and children know nothing but what they are told , and they believe it infinitely . And it is a rare art of the Spirit , to engage Parents to bring them up well in the 〈◊〉 and admonition of the Lord ; and they are persons obliged by a superinduced band , they are to give them instructions and holy principles as they give them meat . And it is certain that Parents may better stipulate for their Children than the Church can for men and women : For they may be present Impostors and Hypocrites , as the Church story tells of some , and consequently are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not really converted , and ineffectively baptized ; and the next day they may change their resolution , and grow weary of their Vow : and that is the most that Children can do when they come to age : and it is very much in the Parents whether the Children shall do any such thing or no. — purus & insons ( Ut me collandem ) si & vivo charus amicis , Causa fuit Pater his — Ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus omnes Circum Doctores aderat : quid multa ? pudicum ( Qui primus virtutis honos ) servavit ab omni Non solùm facto , verùm opprobrio quoque turpi : — ob hoc nunc Laus illi debetur , & à me gratia major . For education can introduce a habit and a second nature , against which Children cannot kick , unless they do some violence to themselves and their inclinations . And although it fails too 〈◊〉 when-ever it fails , yet we pronounce prudently concerning future things when we have a less influence into the event than in the present case , ( and therefore are more unapt persons to stipulate ) and less reason in the thing it self , ( and therefore have not so much reason to be confident . ) Is not the greatest prudence of Generals instanced in their foreseeing 〈◊〉 events , and guessing at the designs of their enemies ? concerning which they have less reason to be confident , than Parents of their childrens belief of the Christian Creed . To which I add this consideration , That Parents or Godfathers may therefore safely and prudently promise that their Children shall be of the Christian Faith , because we not only see millions of men and women who not only believe the whole Creed only upon the stock of their education , but there are none that ever do renounce the Faith of their Country and breeding , unless they be violently tempted by 〈◊〉 or weakness , antecedent or consequent . He that sees all men almost to be Christians because they are bid to be so , need not question the fittingness of Godfathers promising in behalf of the Children for whom they answer . 29. And however the matter be for Godfathers , yet the tradition of baptizing Infants passed through the hands of 〈◊〉 : Omnem aetatem sanctificans per illam quae ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 similitudinem . Omnes 〈◊〉 venit per semetipsum salvare , omnes , inquam , qui per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Deum , infantes , & parvulos , & 〈◊〉 , & juvenes , & seniores . Ideo per 〈◊〉 venit 〈◊〉 , & infantibus infans factus , sanctificans infantes ; in parvulis 〈◊〉 , &c. Christ did sanctifie every age by his own susception of it , and similitude to it . For he came to save all men by himself , I say , all who by him are born again unto God , infants , and children , and boys , and young men , and old men . He was made an Infant to Infants , sanctifying Infants ; a little one to the little ones , &c. And Origen is express , 〈◊〉 traditionem ab Apostolis suscepit 〈◊〉 parvulis dare Baptismum , The Church hath received a Tradition from the 〈◊〉 to give Baptism to Children . And S. 〈◊〉 in his Epistle to 〈◊〉 gives account of this Article : for being questioned by some less 〈◊〉 persons whether it were lawful to baptize Children before the eighth day , he gives account of the whole Question : And a whole Council of sixty six Bishops upon very good reason decreed , that their Baptism should at no hand be deferred ; though whether six or eight or ten days , was no matter , so there be no danger or present necessity . The whole Epistle is worth the reading . 30. But besides these Authorities of such who writ before the starting of the Pelagian Questions , it will not be useless to bring the discourses of them and others , I mean , the reason upon which the Church did it both before and after . 31. 〈◊〉 his Argument was this : Christ took upon him our Nature to sanctific and to save it , and passed through the several periods of it , even unto death , which is the symbol and effect of old age ; and therefore it is certain he did sanctifie all the periods of it : and why should he be an Infant , but that Infants should receive the crown of their age , the 〈◊〉 of their stained nature , the sanctification of their persons , and the saving of their 〈◊〉 by their Infant Lord and elder Brother ? 32. Omnis 〈◊〉 anima 〈◊〉 in Adam censetur , 〈◊〉 in Christo recenseatur ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : Every Soul is accounted in Adam , till it be new accounted in Christ ; and so long as it is accounted in Adam , so long it is unclean ; and we know no unclean thing 〈◊〉 enter into Heaven , and therefore our Lord hath desined it , Unless 〈◊〉 be born of Water and the Spirit , ye cannot 〈◊〉 into the Kingdom of Heaven ; that is , ye cannot be holy . It was the argument of 〈◊〉 ; which the rather is to be received , because he was one less favourable to the Custom of the Church in his time of baptizing Infants , which Custom he noted and acknowledged , and hath also in the preceding discourse fairly proved . And indeed , ( that S. Cyprian may superadd his symbol ) God , who is no accepter of persons , will also be no accepter of ages . For if to the greatest delinquents 〈◊〉 long before against God remission of sins be given when afterwards they believe , and from Baptism and from Grace no man is forbidden ; how much more ought not an 〈◊〉 be forbidden , who being new born hath 〈◊〉 nothing , save only that being in the 〈◊〉 , born of Adam , in his first birth he hath contracted the contagion of an old death ? who therefore comes the easier to obtain 〈◊〉 of sins , because to him are forgiven not his own , but the 〈◊〉 of another man. None ought to be driven from Baptism and the Grace of God , who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentle , and pious unto all ; and therefore much less Infants , who more 〈◊〉 our aid , and more need the Divine mercy , because in the first beginning of their birth , crying and 〈◊〉 , they can do nothing but call for mercy and relief . 〈◊〉 this reason it was , ( saith 〈◊〉 ) that they to whom the secrets of the Divine 〈◊〉 were committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 , because there was born with them the impurities of sin , which did need material Ablution , as a Sacrament of spiritual purification . For that it may appear that our sins have a proper analogy to this Sacrament , the Body it self is called the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 : and therefore the washing of the Body is not ineffectual towards the great work of Pardon and abolition . Indeed after this Ablution there remains 〈◊〉 , or the material part of our misery and sin : For Christ by his death only took away that which , when he did die for us , he bare in his own body upon the tree . Now Christ only bare the punishment of our sin , and therefore we shall not die for it ; but the material part of the sin Christ bare not : Sin could not come so near him ; it might make him sick and die , but not disordered and stained . He was pure from Original and Actual sins ; and therefore that remains in the body , though the guilt and 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 off , and changed into advantages and grace ; and the Actual are 〈◊〉 by the Spirit of Grace descending afterwards upon , the Church , and sent by our Lord to the same purpose . 33. But it is not rationally to be answered what S. Ambrose says , Quia omnis peccato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : For it were strange that sin and misery should seize upon the innocent and most 〈◊〉 persons ; and that they only should be left without a Sacrament , and an instrument of expiation . And although they cannot consent to the present susception , yet neither do they refuse ; and yet they consent as much to the grace of the Sacrament as to the prevarication of Adam ; and because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under this , it were but reason they should be relieved by that . And * it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as Gregory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) that they should be consigned and sanctified without their own knowledge , than to die without their being sanctified ; for so it happened to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Israel : and if the conspersion and washing the door-posts with the bloud of a Lamb did sacramentally preserve all the first-born of Goshen ; it cannot 〈◊〉 thought impossible or unreasonable , that the want of understanding in Children should hinder them from the blessing of a Sacrament , and from being redeemed and washed with the bloud of the Holy Lamb , who was 〈◊〉 for all from the beginning of the world . 34. After all this it is not inconsiderable , that we say the Church hath great power and authority about the Sacraments ; which is observable in many instances . She appointed what persons she pleased , and in equal power made an unequal dispensation and ministery . The Apostles first dispensed all things , and then they left off exteriour ministeries to attend to the Word of God and Prayer : and S. Paul accounted it no part of his office to Baptize , when he had been separated by imposition of hands at Antioch to the work of Preaching and greater ministeries ; and accounted that act of the Church the act of Christ , saying , Christ sent me not to baptize , but to preach the Gospel . They used various forms in the ministration of Baptism : sometimes baptizing in the name of Christ , sometimes expresly invocating the Holy and ever-Blessed Trinity ; one while [ 〈◊〉 baptize 〈◊〉 , ] as in the Latine Church , but in the Greek , [ Let the servant of Christ be baptized . ] And in all Ecclesiastical ministeries the Church invented the forms , and in most things hath often changed them , as in Absolution , Excommunication . And sometimes they baptized people under their profession of Repentance , and then taught them ; as it happened to the Goaler and his family ; in whose case there was no explicit Faith 〈◊〉 in the mysteries of Religion , so far as appears , and yet he , and not only he , but all his house were baptized at that hour of the night when the Earthquake was terrible , and the 〈◊〉 was pregnant upon them ; and this upon their Master's account , as it is likely : but others were baptized in the conditions of a previous Faith , and a new-begun * Repentance . They baptized in Rivers or in Lavatories , by dipping or by sprinkling : for so we find that S. Laurence did as he went to martyrdom ; and so the Church did sometimes to Clinicks ; and so it is highly convenient to be done in Northern Countries ; according to the Prophecy of 〈◊〉 , So shall 〈◊〉 sprinkle many Nations , according as the typical expiations among the Jews were usually by sprinkling . And it is fairly relative to the mystery , to the sprinkling with the 〈◊〉 of Christ , and the watering of the furrows of our Souls with the dew of Heaven , to make them to bring forth fruit unto the Spirit and unto Holiness . The Church sometimes dipt the Catechumen three times , sometimes but once . Some Churches use Fire in their Baptisms ; so do the Ethiopians ; and the custom was ancient in 〈◊〉 places . And so in the other Sacrament : sometimes they stood , and sometimes kneeled ; and sometimes received it in the mouth , and sometimes in the hand ; one while in 〈◊〉 , another while in unlevened bread : sometimes the wine and water were mingled , sometimes they were pure ; and they admitted some persons to it sometimes , which at other times they rejected : sometimes the Consecration was made by one form , sometimes by another : and , to conclude , sometimes it was given to Infants , sometimes not . And she had power so to do ; for in all things where there was not a Commandment of Christ expressed or implied in the nature and in the end of the Institution , the Church had power to alter the particulars as was most expedient , or conducing to edification . And although the after-Ages of the Church , which refused to communicate Infants , have 〈◊〉 some little things against the lawfulness , and those Ages that used it found out some pretences for its 〈◊〉 ; yet both the one and the other had liberty to follow their own necessities , so in all things they followed Christ. Certainly there is 〈◊〉 more reason why Insants may be Communicated , than why they may not be Baptized . And that this discourse may 〈◊〉 to its first intention ; although there is no record extant of any Church in the world , and from the Apostles days inclusively to this very day ever refused to Baptize their Children , yet if they had upon any present reason , they might also change 〈◊〉 practice , when the reason should be 〈◊〉 ; and therefore if there were nothing else in it , yet the universal practice of all Churches in all Ages , is abundantly sufficient to determine us , and to legitimate the practice , since Christ hath not forbidden it . It is sufficient confutation to disagreeing people to use the words of S. Paul , We have no such custom , nor the Churches of God , to suffer Children to be strangers from the Covenant of Promise , till they shall enter into it as 〈◊〉 or Turks may enter , that is , by choice and disputation . But although this 〈◊〉 to modest and obedient , that is , to Christian Spirits , be sufficient , yet this is more than the question did need . It can stand upon its proper foundation . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recentes ab uteris matrum baptizandos negat , anathema 〈◊〉 . He that refuseth to baptize his Infants , shall be in danger of the Council . The PRAYER . OHoly and Eternal Jesus , who in thine own person wert pleased to sanctifie the waters of Baptism , and by thy Institution and Commandment didst make them effectual to excellent purposes of grace and remedy , be pleased to verifie the holy effects of Baptism to me and all thy servants whose names are dedicated to thee in an early and timely presentation , and enable us with thy grace to verifie all our promises , by which we are bound , then when thou didst first make us thy own proportion and 〈◊〉 in the consummation of a holy Covenant . O be pleased to pardon all those undecencies and unhandsome interruptions of that state of favour in which thou didst plant us by thy grace , and admit us by the gates of Baptism : and let that Spirit which moved upon 〈◊〉 holy Waters never be absent from us , but call upon us and invite us by a perpetual argument and daily solicitations and inducements to holiness ; that we may never return to the 〈◊〉 of sin , but by the answer of a good Conscience may please thee and glorifie thy name and do honour to thy Religion and Institution in this world , and may receive the blessings and the rewards of it in the world to come , being presented to thee pure and spotless in the day of thy power when thou shalt lead thy Church to a Kingdom , and endless glories . Amen . Appendix ad Sect. 9. numb . 3. of JESUS being Baptized , &c. Christ ' s Prayer at his Baptism . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Father , according to the good pleasure of thy will I am made a Man , and from the time in which I was born of a Virgin unto this day I have finished those things which are agreeing to the nature of Man , and with due observance have perform'd all thy Commandments , the mysteries and types of the Law : and now truly I am baptized , and so have I ordain'd Baptism , that from thence , as from the place of spiritual birth , the Regeneration of men may be accomplish'd : and as John was the last of the Legal Priests , so am I the first of the Evangelical . Thou therefore , O Father , by the mediation of my Prayer open the Heavens , and from thence send thy Holy Spirit upon this womb of Baptism ; that as he did untie the womb of the Virgin , and thence form me , so also he would loose this Baptismal womb , and so sanctifie it unto men , that from thence new men may be begotten , who may become thy Sons , and my Brethren , and Heirs of thy Kingdom . And what the Priests under the Law until John could not do , grant unto the Priests of the New Testament , ( whose chief I am in the oblation of this Prayer ) that whensoever they shall celebrate Baptism , or pour forth Prayers unto thee , as the Holy Spirit is seen with me in open vision , so also it may be made manifest that the same Spirit will adjoyn himself in their society a more secret way , and will by them persorm the ministeries of the New Testament , for which I am made a Man ; and as the High Priest I do offer these Prayers in thy sight . This Prayer was transcrib'd out of the Syriack Catena upon the third Chapter of S. Luke's Gospel , and is by the Author of that Catena reported to have been made by our Blessed Saviour immediately before the opening of the Heavens at his Baptism ; and that the Holy Spirit did 〈◊〉 upon him while he was thus praying : and for it he cites the Authority of S. Philoxenus . I cannot but foresee that there is one clause in it which will be us'd as an objection against the authority of this Prayer ; viz. [ as John was the last of Legal Priests : ] For he was no Priest at all , nor ever officiated in the Temple , or at the Mosaick Rites . But this is nothing : because , that the Baptist was of the family of the Priests , his Father Zachary is a demonstration ; that he did not 〈◊〉 , his being imployed in another Ministery is a sufficient answer ; that he was the last of the Priests is to be understood in this sence , that he was the period of the Law , the common term between the Law and the Gospel : by him the Gospel was first preached solemnly , and therefore in him the Law first ended . And as he was the last of the Prophets , so he was the last of the Priests : not but that after him many had the gift of Prophecy , and some did officiate in the Mosaical Priesthood ; but that his Office put the first period to the solemnity of Moses's Law , that is , at him the Dispensation Evangelical did first enter . That the Ministers of the Gospel are here called Priests , ought not to be a prejudice against this Prayer in the perswasions of any men ; because it was usual with our Blessed Saviour to retain the words of the Jews his Country-men before whom he spake , that they might by words to which they were used be instructed in the notice of persons and things , offices and ministeries Evangelical , which afterwards were to be represented under other , that is , under their proper , names . And now all that I shall say of it is this : 1. That it is not unlikely but our Blessed Saviour prayed when he was baptized , and when the Holy Ghost descended upon him ; not only because it was an imployment symbolical to the Grace he was to receive , but also to become to us a precedent by what means we are to receive the Holy Spirit of God. 2. That it is very likely our Blessed Lord would consecrate the Waters of Baptism to those mysterious ends whither he design'd them , as well as the Bread and Chalice of the Holy Supper . 3. That it is most likely the Easterlings did preserve a record of many words and actions of the Holy Jesus which are not transmitted to us . 4. It is certain that our Blessed Lord did do and say many more things than are in the Holy Scriptures ; and that this was one of them we have the credit of this ancient Author , and the Authority of S. Philoxenus . However , it is much better to make such good use of it as the matter and piety of the Prayer will minister , than to quarrel at it by the imperfection of uncertain conjectures . The End of the First Part. THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF THE HOLY JESUS : BEGINNING At the time of his first MIRACLE , until the Second Year of his PREACHING : WITH CONSIDERATIONS and DISCOURSES upon the several parts of the Story ; And PRAYERS fitted to the several MYSTERIES . THE SECOND PART . Chrysost. ad Demet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON , Printed by R. Norton , for R. Royston , 1675. TO The Right Honourable and Excellent Lady , THE LADY MARY Countess Dowager of NORTHAMPTON . I AM now to present to your Honour part of that Production of which your great love to Sanctity was Parent , and which was partly designed to satisfie those great appetites to Vertue which have made you hugely apprehensive and forward to entertain any Instrument whereby you may grow and encrease in the Service of God , and the Communion and Charities of holy people . Your Honour best knows in what Soil the first Design of these Papers grew ; and but that the Excellent Personage who was their first Root is transplanted for a time , that he may not have his righteous Soul vexed with the impurer Conversation of ill-minded men , I am confident you would have received the fruits of his abode to more excellent purposes . But because he was pleased to leave the managing of this to me , I hope your Honour will for his sake entertain what that rare Person conceived , though I was left to the pains and danger of bringing forth ; and that it may dwell with you for its first relation , rather than be rejected for its appendent imperfections , which it contracted not in the fountain , but in the chanels of its progress and emanation . Madam , I shall beg of God that your Honour may receive as great increment of Piety and ghostly strength in the reading this Book , as I receive honour if you shall be pleased to accept and own this as a confession of your great Worthiness , and a testimony of the Service which ought to be payed to your Honour by , Madam , Your Honour 's most humble and most obliged Servant , JER . TAYLOR . SECT . X. Of the first Manifestation of JESVS , by the Testimony of John , and a Miracle . Iohn points to Iesus . The next day Iohn seeth Iesus coming unto him , and saith , Behold the Lamb of God , which taketh away the sin of the world . This is he of whom . I said , after me cometh a man , which is preserred before me ; for he was before me . And I knew him not , but that he should be made manifest to Israel . Ioh. 1. 29 , 30 , 31. Christ turns water into wine . There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee . And there were set there six water pots of stone , after the manner of the purifying of the Iewes , containing two or three firkins a peice . Iesus saith unto them , fill the water pots with water , and they filled them to the brim . Iesus saith unto them draw out now &c. This begin̄ing of miracles did Iesus in Cana of Galilee , and manifested forth his glory . Ioh. 2 6 , 7 , 8-11 . 1. AFTER that the Baptist by a sign from Heaven was confirmed in spirit and understanding that Jesus was the Messias , he immediately published to the Jews what God had manifested to him ; and first to the Priests and 〈◊〉 , sent in legation from the Sanhedrim , he professed indefinitely , in answer to their question , that himself was (a) not the CHRIST , nor Elias , nor that Prophet whom they by a special Tradition did expect to be revealed they knew not when . And concerning himself definitely he said nothing , but that he was (b) the voice of one crying in the wilderness , Make straight the way of the Lord. He it was who was then (c) amongst them , but not known , a person of great dignity , to whom the Baptist was (d) not worthy to do the office of the lowest Ministery , (e) who coming after John was preferred far before him , who (f) was to increase , and the Baptist was to decrease , who did (g) baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire . 2. This was the Character of his personal Prerogatives ; but as yet no demonstration was made of his Person , till after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Jesus , and then when-ever the Baptist saw Jesus , he points him out with his finger , Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World : This is he . Then he shews him to Andrew , Simon Peter's brother , with the same designation , and to another Disciple with him , who both followed Jesus , and abode with him all night : Andrew brings his brother Simon with him , and then Christ changes his name from Simon to Peter , or Cephas , which signifies a Stone . Then Jesus himself finds out Philip of Bethsaida , and bad him follow him ; and Philip finds out Nathanael , and calls him to see . Thus persons bred in a dark cell , upon their first ascent up to the chambers of light , all run staring upon the beauties of the Sun , and call the partners of their darkness to communicate in their new and stranger revelation . 3. When Nathanael was come to Jesus , Christ saw his heart , and gave him a testimony to be truly honest , and full of holy simplicity , a true Israelite without guile . And Nathanael , being overjoyed that he had found the Messias , believing out of love , and loving by reason of his joy , and no suspicion , took that for a proof and verification of his person , which was very insufficient to 〈◊〉 a doubt , or ratifie a probability : But so we believe a story which we love , taking probabilities for demonstrations , and casual accidents for probabilities , and any thing creates vehement presumptions ; in which cases our guides are not our knowing faculties , but our 〈◊〉 , and if they be holy , God guides them into the right perswasions , as he does little birds to make rare nests , though they understand not the mystery of operation , nor the design and purpose of the action . 4. But Jesus took his will and forwardness of affections in so good part , that he promised him greater things ; and this gave occasion to the first Prophecy which was made by Jesus . For Jesus said 〈◊〉 him , 〈◊〉 I said I saw thee under the Fig-tree , believest thou ? Thou shalt see greater things than these : and then he prophesied that he should see Heaven open , and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. But , being a Doctor of the Law , Christ chose him not at all to the Colledge of Apostles . 5. Much about the same time there happened to be a Marriage in Cana 〈◊〉 Galilee , in the vicinage of his dwelling , where John the Evangelist is by some supposed to have been the Bridegroom ; ( but of this there is no certainty : ) and thither Jesus being with his 〈◊〉 invited , he went to do civility to the persons espoused , and to do honour to the holy rite of Marriage . The persons then married were but of indifferent fortunes , richer in love of neighbours than in the 〈◊〉 of rich possessions ; they had more company than wine . For the Master of the Feast ( whom , according to the order and piety of the Nation , they chose 〈◊〉 the order of * Priests to be the president of the Feast , by the reverence of his person to restrain all inordination , by his discretion to govern and order the Circumstances , by his religious knowledge to direct the solemnities of Marriage , and to retain all the persons and actions in the bounds of prudence and modesty ) complained to the Bridegroom that the Guests wanted 〈◊〉 . 6. As soon as the Holy Virgin-Mother had notice of the want , out of charity , that uses to be imployed in 〈◊〉 even the minutes and smallest articles of necessity as well as the clamorous importunity of extremities and great indigencies , she complained to her Son by an indefinite address ; not desiring him to make supply , for she knew not how he should ; but either out of an habitual commiseration she complained without hoping for remedy , or else she looked on him who was a fountain of holiness and of plenty , as expecting a derivation from him either of discourses or Miracles . But Jesus answered her , Woman , what have I to do with thee ? mine hour is not yet come . By this answer intending no denial to the purpose of his Mother's intimation , to whom he always bare a religious and pious reverence ; but to signifie that he was not yet entred into his period and years of Miracles ; and when he did , it must be not for respect of kindred or civil relations , but as it is a derivation of power from above , so it must be in pursuit of that service and design which he had received in charge together with his power . 7. And so his Mother understood him , giving express charge to the ministers to do whatsoever he commanded . Jesus therefore bad them fill the water-pots which stood there for the use of frequent washings , which the Jews did use in all publick meetings , for fear of touching pollutions , or contracting legal impurities : which they did with a curiousness next to superstition , washing the very beds and tables used at their Feasts . The ministers filled them to the brim , and , as they were commanded , drew out , and bare 〈◊〉 the Governour of the Feast , who knew not of it , till the Miracle grew publick , and like light shewed it self : for while they wondred at the oeconomy of that Feast in keeping the best wine till the last , it grew apparent that he who was the Lord of the Creatures , who in their first seeds have an obediential capacity to receive the impresses of what forms he pleases to imprint , could give new natures , and produce new qualities in that subject in which he chuses to glorifie his Son. 8. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee . For all those Miracles which are reported to be done by Christ in his Infancy , and interval of his younger years , are Apocryphal and spurious , feigned by trifling understandings , ( who think to serve God with a well-meant lie , ) and promoted by the credulity of such persons in whose hearts easiness , folly , and credulity are bound up and tied fast with silken thread , and easie softnesses of religious affections , not made severe by the rigours of wisdom and experience . This first Miracle manifested his Glory , and his Disciples believed in him . Ad SECT . X. Considerations touching the Vocation of five Disciples , and of the first Miracle of JESVS , done at Cana in Galilee . Christ calling Peter and Andrew . Matth. 4. 18 , 19 , 20. Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren , Simon called Peter & Andrew his brother , casting a net into the sea , ( for they were fishers ) . And he saith unto them , follow me , and I will make you fishers of men . And they straightway left their nets , and followed him . Nathanaels coming to Christ. John 45 , 46. Philip findeth Nathanael & saith unto him , we have found him , of whom Moses in ye● and y e prophets did write , Jesus of Nazareth y e son of Joseph , Nathanael said unto him , can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him , come and see . Jesus saw Nathanael coming , & said , Behold an Israelite indeed , etc. 1. AS soon as ever John the Baptist was taught by the descent of the Holy Spirit that this was Jesus , he instantly preaches him to all that came near him . For the Holy Ghost was his Commission and instruction ; and now he was a Minister Evangelical , and taught all those that have the honour to be servants in so sacred imployment , that they must not go till they be sent , nor speak till they be instructed , 〈◊〉 yet hold their peace when their Commission is signed by the consignation of the Spirit in ordinary Ministery . For all power and all wisdom is from above , and in spiritual ministrations is a direct emanation from the Holy Spirit : that as no man is fit to speak the Mysteries of Godliness , be his person never so holy , unless he derive wisdom in order to such ministeries ; so be he never so instructed by the assistance of art or infused knowledge , yet unless he also have derived power as well as skill , authority as well as knowledge from the same Spirit , he is not enabled to minister in publick in ordinary ministrations . The Baptist was sent by a prime designation to prepare the way to Jesus , and was instructed by the same 〈◊〉 , which had sanctified or consecrated him in his Mother's womb to this holy purpose . 2. When the Baptist had shewed Jesus to Andrew and another Disciple , they immediately followed him with the distances and fears of the first approach , and the infirmities of new Converts ; but Jesus seeing them follow their first light , invited them to see the Sun : For God loves to cherish Infants in grace , and having sown the immortal seed in their hearts , if it takes root downwards , and springs out into the verdure of a leaf , he still waters it with the gentle rain of the Holy Spirit , in graces and new assistances , till it brings forth the fruits of a holy conversation . And God , who knows that Infants have need of pleasant , and gentle , and frequent nutriment , hath given to them this comfort , that himself will take care of their first beginnings , and improve them to the strength of men , and give them the strengths of nature , and the wisdom of the Spirit , which ennoble men to excellencies and perfections . By the preaching of the Baptist they were brought to seek for Christ , and when they did , Christ found them , and brought them home , and made them stay all night with him ; which was more favour than they look'd for . For so God usually dispenses his mercies , that they may run over our thoughts and expectations , and they are given in no proportion to us , but according to God's measures ; he considering not what we are worthy of , but what is fit for him to give ; he only requiring of us capacities to receive his favour , and fair reception and entertainment of his graces . 3. When Andrew had found Jesus , he calls his Brother Simon to be partaker of his joys , which ( as it happens in accidents of greatest pleasure ) cannot be contained within the limits of the possessor's thoughts . But this calling of Peter was not to a beholding , but to a participation of his felicities : for he is strangely covetous who would enjoy the Sun , or the Air , or the Sea , alone ; here was treasure sor him and all the world : and by lighting his brother Simon' s taper , he made his own light the greater and more glorious . And this is the nature of Grace , to be diffusive of its own excellencies ; for here no 〈◊〉 can inhabit : the proper and personal ends of holy persons in the contract and transmissions of Grace are increased by the participation and communion of others . For our Prayers are more effectual , our aids increased , our incouragement and examples more prevalent , God more honoured , and the rewards of glory have accidental advantages , by the superaddition of every new Saint and beatified person ; the members of the mystical body , when they have received nutriment from God and his Holy Son , supplying to each other the same which themselves received , and live on , in the communion of Saints . Every new Star gilds the firmament , and increases its first glories : and those who are instruments of the Conversion of others , shall not only introduce new beauties , but when themselves shine like the stars in glory , they shall have some reflexions from the light of others , to whose fixing in the Orb of Heaven themselves have been instrumental . And this consideration is not only of use in the exaltations of the dignity Apostolical and Clerical , but for the enkindling even of private charities ; who may do well to promote others interests of Piety , in which themselves also have some concernment . 4. These Disciples asked of Christ where he 〈◊〉 : Jesus answered , Come and see . It was an answer very expressive of our duty in this instance . It is not enough for us to understand where Christ inhabits , or where he is to be found ; for our understandings may follow him afar off , and we receive no satisfaction unless it be to curiosity ; but we must go where he is , eat of his meat , wash in his Lavatory , rest on his beds , and dwell with him : for the Holy Jesus hath no kind influence upon those who stand at distance , save only the affections of a Loadstone , apt to draw them nigher , that he may transmit his vertues by union and confederations ; but if they persist in a sullen distance , they shall learn his glories as Dives understood the peace of Lazarus , of which he was never to participate . Although the Son of man hath not where to lay his head , yet he hath many houses where to convey his Graces ; he hath nothing to cover his own , but he hath enough to sanctifie ours : and as he dwelt in such houses which the charity of good people then afforded for his entertainment ; so now he loves to abide in places which the Religion of his servants hath vowed to his honour , and the advantages of Evangelical ministrations . Thither we must come to him , or any-where else where we may enjoy him : He is to be found in a Church , in his ordinances , in the communion of Saints , in every religious duty , in the heart of every holy person ; and if we go to him by the addresses of Religion in Holy places , by the ministery of Holy rites , by Charity , by the adherences of Faith , and Hope , and other combining Graces , the Graces of union and society , or prepare a lodging for him within us , that he may come to us , then shall we see such glories and interiour beauties , which none know but they that dwell with him . The secrets of spiritual benediction are understood only by them to whom they are conveyed , even by the children of his house . Come and see . 5. S. Andrew was first called , and that by Christ immediately , his Brother Simon next , and that by Andrew ; but yet Jesus changed Simon' s name , and not the other 's ; and by this change design'd him to an eminency of Office , at least in signification , principally above his Brother , or else separately and distinctly from him : to shew that these Graces and favours which do not immediately cooperate to eternity , but are gifts and offices , or impresses of authority , are given to men irregularly , and without any order of predisponent causes , or probabilities on our part , but are issues of absolute predestination ; and as they have efficacy from those reasons which God conceals , so they have some purposes as conccal'd as their causes ; only if God pleases to make us vessels of fair imployment and of great capacity , we shall bear a greater burthen , and are bound to glorifie God with special offices . But as these exteriour and ineffective Graces are given upon the same good will of God which made this matter to be a humane Body , when , if God had so pleased , it was as capable of being made a Fungus or a Sponge : so they are given to us with the same intentions as are our Souls , that we might glorifie God in the distinct capacity of Grace , as before of a reasonable nature . And besides that it teaches us to magnifie God's free mercy , so it removes every such exalted person from being an object of envy to others , or from pleasing himself in vainer opinions : for God hath made him of such an imployment as freely and voluntarily as he hath made him a Man , and he no more cooperated to this Grace than to his own creation , and may as well admire himself for being born in Italy , or from rich parents , or for having two hands or two feet , as for having received such a designation extraordinary . But these things are never instruments of reputation among severe understandings , and never but in the sottish and unmanly apprehensions of the vulgar . Only this , when God hath imprinted an authority upon a person , although the man hath nothing to please himself withal but God's grace , yet others are to pay the duty which that impression demands ; which duty because it rapports to God , and touches not the man , 〈◊〉 as it passes through him to the fountain of authority and grace , it extinguishes all 〈◊〉 of opinion and pride . 6. When Jesus espied 〈◊〉 ( who also had been called by the first Disciples ) coming towards him , he gave him an excellent character , calling him a true Israelite in whom was no guile , and admitted him amongst the first Disciples of the Institution ; by this character in one of the first of his Scholars hallowing Simplicity of spirit , and receiving it into his Discipline , that it might now become a vertue and duty Evangelical . For although it concerns us as a Christian duty to be prudent , yet the Prudence of Christianity is a duty of spiritual effect , and in instances of Religion with no other purposes than to avoid giving offence to those that are without and within ; that we cause no disreputation to Christianity ; that we do nothing that may incourage enemies to the Religion ; and that those that are within the communion and obedience of the Church may not suffer as great inconveniences by the indiscreet conduct of religious actions as by direct temptations to a sin . These are the purposes of private Prudence , to which in a greater measure and upon more variety of rules the Governours of Churches are obliged . But that which Christian Simplicity prohibits is the mixing arts and unhandsome means for the purchase of our ends ; witty counsels that are underminings of our neighbour , destroying his just interest to serve our own , stratagems to deceive , infinite and insignificant answers with fraudulent design , unjust and unlawful concealment of our purposes , fallacious promises and false pretences , flattery and unjust and unreasonable praise , saying one thing and meaning the contrary , pretending Religion to secular designs , breaking faith , taking false oaths , and such other instruments of humane purposes framed by the Devil , and sent into the world to be perfected by man. Christian Simplicity speaks nothing but its thoughts ; and when it concerns Prudence that a thought or purpose should be concealed , it concerns Simplicity that silence be its cover , and not a false vizor ; it rather suffers inconvenience than a lie ; it destroys no man's right , though it be inconsistent with my advantages ; it reproves freely , palliates no man's wickedness ; it intends what it ought , and does what is bidden , and uses courses regular and just , sneaks not in corners , and walks always in the eye of God and the face of the world . 7. Jesus told Nathanael that he knew him , when he saw him under the Fig-tree ; and Nathanael took that to be probation sufficient that he was the 〈◊〉 , and believed rightly upon an insufficient motive : which because Jesus did accept , it gives testimony to us , that however Faith be produced , by means regular or by arguments incompetent , whether it be proved or not proved , whether by chance or deliberation , whether wisely or by occasion , so that Faith be produced by the instrument , and love by Faith , God's work is done , and so is ours . For if S. Paul rejoyced that Christ was preached , though by the 〈◊〉 of peevish persons ; certainly God will not reject an excellent product because it came from a weak and sickly parent : and he that brings good out of evil , and rejoyces in that good , having first triumphed upon the evil , will certainly take delight in the Faith of the most ignorant persons , which his own grace hath produced out of innocent , though insufficient , beginnings . It was folly in Naaman to refuse to be cured , because he was to recover only by washing in Jordan . The more incompetent the means is , the greater is the glory of God , who hath produced waters from a rock , and fire from the collision of a sponge and wool ; and it is certain , the end , unless it be in products merely natural , does not take its estimate and degrees from the external means . Grace does miracles , and the productions of the Spirit in respect of its instruments are equivocal , extraordinary , and supernatural ; and ignorant persons believe as strongly , though they know not why , and love God as 〈◊〉 , as greater spirits and more excellent understandings : and when God pleases , or if he sees it expedient , he will do to others as to Nathanael , give them greater arguments and better instruments for the confirmation and heightning of their 〈◊〉 , than they had for the first production . 8. When Jesus had chosen these few Disciples to be witnesses of succeeding accidents , every one of which was to be a probation of his mission and Divinity , he entred into the theatre of the world at a Marriage-feast , which he now first hallowed to a Sacramental signification , and made to become mysterious : he now began to chuse his Spouse out from the communities of the world , and did mean to endear her by unions ineffable and glorious , and consign the Sacrament by his bloud , which he first gave in a secret 〈◊〉 , and afterwards in 〈◊〉 and apparent effusion . And although the Holy Jesus did in his own person consecrate Coelibate , and Abstinence , and Chastity in his Mother's : yet by his 〈◊〉 he also hallowed Marriage , and made it honourable , not only in civil account and the rites of Heraldry , but in a spiritual sence , he having new sublim'd it by making it a Sacramental representment of the union of Christ and his 〈◊〉 the Church . And all married persons should do 〈◊〉 to remember what the conjugal society does represent , and not break the matrimonial bond , which is a 〈◊〉 ligament of Christ and his Church ; for whoever dissolves the sacredness of the Mystery , and unhallows the Vow by violence and impurity , he dissolves his relation to Christ. To break faith with a Wife or Husband is a divorce from Jesus , and that is a separation from all possibilities of Felicity . In the time of the 〈◊〉 Statutes , to violate Marriage was to do injustice and dishonour and a breach to the sanctions of Nature , or the first constitutions : But two bands more are added in the Gospel , to make Marriage more sacred . For now our Bodies are made Temples of the Holy Ghost , and the Rite of Marriage is made significant and Sacramental , and every act of Adultery is Profanation and Irreligion , it 〈◊〉 a Temple , and deflours a Mystery . 9. The Married pair were holy , but poor , and they wanted wine , and the Blessed Virgin-Mother , pitying the 〈◊〉 of the young man , complained to Jesus of the want ; and 〈◊〉 gave her an answer which promised no satisfaction to her purposes . For now that Jesus had lived thirty years , and done in person nothing answerable to 〈◊〉 glorious Birth and the miraculous accidents of his Person , she longed till the time 〈◊〉 in which he was to manifest himself by actions as miraculous as the Star of his Birth : She knew by the rejecting of his Trade , and his going abroad , and probably by his own 〈◊〉 to her , that the time was near ; and the forwardness of her love and holy desires 〈◊〉 might go some minutes before his own precise limit . However 〈◊〉 answered to this purpose , to shew , that the work he was to do was done not to satisfie her importunity , which is not occasion enough for a Miracle , but to prosecute the great work of Divine designation . For in works spiritual and religious all exteriour relation ceases . The world's order , and the manner of our nature , and the infirmities of our person have produced Societies , and they have been the parents of Relation ; and God hath tied them fast by the knots of duty , and made the duty the occasion and opportunities of reward : But in actions spiritual , in which we relate to God , our relations are sounded upon the Spirit , and therefore we must do our duties upon considerations separate and spiritual , but never suffer temporal relations to impede our Religious duties . Christian Charity is a higher thing than to be confined within the terms of dependence and correlation , * and those endearments which leagues or nature or society have made , pass into spiritual , and , like Stars in the presence of the Sun , appear not when the heights of the Spirit are in place . Where duty hath prepared special instances , there we must for Religion's sake promote them ; but even to our Parents or our Children the charities of Religion ought to be greater than the affections of Society : And though we are bound in all offices exteriour to prefer our Relatives before others , because that is made a Duty ; yet to purposes spiritual , all persons eminently holy put on the efficacy of the same relations , and pass a duty upon us of religious affections . 10. At the command of Jesus the Water-pots were filled with water , and the water was by his Divine power turned into wine ; where the different oeconomy of God and the world is highly observable . Every man sets forth good wine at first , and then the worse : But God not only turns the water into wine , but into such wine that the last draught is most pleasant . The world presents us with fair language , promising 〈◊〉 , convenient fortunes , pompous honours , and these are the outsides of the bole ; but when it is swallowed , these dissolve in the instant , and there remains 〈◊〉 , and the malignity of Coloquintida . Every sin 〈◊〉 in the first address , and carries light in the face , and hony in the lip ; but when we have well drunk , then comes that which is worse , a whip with six strings , fears and terrors of Conscience , and shame and displeasure , and a caitive disposition , and diffidence in the day of death . But when after the manner of the purifying of the Christians we fill our Water-pots with water , watering our couch with our tears , and moistening our cheeks with the perpetual distillations of Repentance ; then Christ turns our water into wine ; first Penitents , and then Communicants ; first waters of sorrow , and then the wine of the Chalice ; first the justifications of Correction , and then the sanctifications of the Sacrament , and the effects of the Divine power , joy , and peace , and serenity , hopes full of confidence , and confidence without shame , and boldness without presumption : for Jesus keeps the best wine till the last ; not only because of the direct reservations of the highest joys till the nearer approaches of glory , but also because our relishes are higher after a long 〈◊〉 than at the first Essays ; such being the nature of Grace , that it increases in relish as it does in fruition , every part of Grace being new Duty and new Reward . The PRAYER . O Eternal and ever-Blessed Jesu , who didst chuse Disciples to be witnesses of thy Life and Miracles , so adopting man into a participation of thy great imployment of bringing us to Heaven by the means of a holy Doctrine ; be pleased to give me thy grace , that I may 〈◊〉 and revere their Persons whom thou hast set over me , and follow their Faith , and imitate their Lives , while they imitate thee ; and that I also in my capacity and proportion may do some of the meaner offices of spiritual building , by Prayers , and by holy Discourses , and 〈◊〉 Correption , and friendly Exhortations , doing advantages to such Souls with whom I shall converse . And since thou wert pleased to enter upon the stage of the World with the commencement of Mercy and a Miracle , be pleased to visit my Soul with thy miraculous grace , turn my water into wine , my natural desires into supernatural perfections , and let my sorrows be turned into joys , my sins into vertuous habits , the weaknesses of humanity into communications of the 〈◊〉 nature ; that since thou keepest the best unto the last , I may by thy assistance grow from Grace to Grace , till thy Gifts be turned to Reward , and thy Graces to participation of thy Glory , O Eternal and ever-Blessed Jesu . Amen . DISCOURSE VII . Of Faith. 1. NAthanael's Faith was produced by an argument not demonstrative , not certainly concluding ; Christ knew him when he saw him first , and he believed him to be the Messias : His Faith was excellent , what-ever the argument was . And I believe a GOD , because the Sun is a glorious body ; or because of the variety of Plants , or the fabrick and rare contexture of a man's Eye : I may as fully assent to the Conclusion , as if my belief dwelt upon the Demonstrations made by the Prince of Philosophers in the 8. of his Physicks and 12. of his Metaphysicks . This I premise as an inlet into the consideration concerning the Faith of ignorant persons . For if we consider upon what 〈◊〉 terms most of us now are Christians , we may possibly suspect that either Faith hath but little excellence in it , or we but little Faith , or that we are mistaken generally in its definition . For we are born of Christian parents , made Christians at ten days old , interrogated concerning the Articles of our Faith by way of anticipation , even then when we understand not the difference between the Sun and a Tallow-candle : from thence we are taught to say our Catechism , as we are taught to speak , when we have no reason to judge , no discourse to dilcern , no arguments to contest against a Proposition , in case we be catechised into False doctrine ; and all that is put to us we believe infinitely , and without choice , as children use not to chuse their language . And as our children are made Christians , just so are thousand others made Mahumetans , with the same necessity , the same facility . So that thus sar there is little thanks due to us for believing the Christian Creed ; it was indifferent to us at first , and at last our Education had so possest us , and our interest , and our no temptation to the contrary , that as we were disposed into this condition by Providence , so we remain in it without praise or excellency . For as our beginnings are inevitable , so our progress is imperfect and insufficient ; and what we begun by Education , we retain only by Custom : and if we be instructed in some slighter Arguments to maintain the Sect or Faction of our Country Religion as it disturbs the unity of Christendom ; yet if we examine and consider the account upon what slight arguments we have taken up Christianity it self , ( as that it is the Religion of our Country , or that our Fathers before us were of the same Faith , or because the Priest bids us , and he is a good man , or for something else , but we know not what ) we must needs conclude it the good providence of God , not our choice , that made us Christians . 2. But if the question be , Whether such a Faith be in it self good and acceptable that relies upon insufficient and unconvincing grounds ; I suppose this case of Nathanael will determine us : and when we consider that Faith is an 〈◊〉 Grace , if God pleases to behold his own glory in our weakness of understanding , it is but the same thing he does in the instances of his other Graces . For as God enkindles Charity upon variety of means and instruments , by a thought , by a chance by a text of Scripture , by a natural tenderness , by the sight of a dying or a tormented beast : so also he may produce Faith by arguments of a differing quality , and by issues of his Providence he may engage us in such conditions , in which as our Understanding is not great enough to chuse the best , so neither is it furnished with powers to reject any proposition ; and to believe well is an effect of a singular predestination , and is a Gift in order to a Grace , as that Grace is in order to Salvation . But the insufficiency of an argument or disability to prove our Religion is so far from disabling the goodness of an ignorant man's Faith , that as it may be as strong as the Faith of the greatest Scholar , so it hath full as much excellency , not of nature , but in order to Divine acceptance . For as he who believes upon the only stock of Education made no election of his Faith ; so he who believes what is demonstrably proved is forced by the demonstration to his choice . Neither of them did 〈◊〉 and both of them may equally love the Article . 3. So that since a 〈◊〉 Argument in a weak understanding does the same work that a strong Argument in a more 〈◊〉 and learned , that is , it convinces and makes Faith , and yet neither of them is matter of choice ; if the thing believed be good , and matter of 〈◊〉 or necessity , the Faith is not rejected by God upon the weakness of the first , nor accepted upon the strength of the latter principles : when we are once in , it will not be enquired by what entrance we passed thither ; whether God leads us or drives us in , whether we come by Discourse or by Inspiration , by the guide of an Angel or the conduct of Moses , whether we be born or made Christians , it is indifferent , so we be there where we should be ; for this is but the gate of Duty , and the entrance to Felicity . For thus far Faith is but an act of the Understanding , which is a natural Faculty , serving indeed as an instrument to Godliness , but of it self no part of it ; and it is just like fire producing its act inevitably , and burning as long as it can , without power to interrupt or suspend its action ; and therefore we cannot be more pleasing to God for understanding rightly , than the fire is for burning clearly : which puts us evidently upon this consideration , that Christian Faith , that glorious Duty which gives to Christians a great degree of approximation to God by Jesus Christ , must have a great proportion of that ingredient which makes actions good or bad , that is , of choice and effect . 4. For the Faith of a Christian hath more in it of the Will than of the Understanding . Faith is that great mark of distinction which separates and gives formality to the Covenant of the Gospel , which is a Law of Faith. The Faith of a Christian is his Religion , that is , it is that whole conformity to the Institution or Discipline of Jesus Christ which distinguishes him from the believers of false Religions . And to be one of the faithful signifies the same with being a Disciple ; and that contains Obedience as well as believing . For to the same sense are all those appellatives in Scripture , [ the Faithful , Brethren , Believers , the Saints , Disciples , ] all representing the duty of a Christian . A Believer and a Saint , or a holy person , is the same thing ; Brethren signifies Charity , and Believers Faith in the intellectual sence : the Faithful and Disciples signifie both ; for besides the consent to the Proposition , the first of them is also used for Perseverance and Sanctity , and the greatest of Charity mixt with a confident Faith up to the height of Martyrdom . Be faithful unto the death , ( said the Holy Spirit ) and I will give thee the Crown of life . And when the Apostles by way of abbreviation express all the body of Christian Religion , they call it Faith working by Love ; which also S. Paul in a parallel place calls a New Creature ; it is a keeping of the Commandments of God : that is the Faith of a Christian , into whose desinition Charity is ingredient , whose sence is the same with keeping of God's Commandments ; so that if we desine Faith , we must first distinguish it . The faith of a natural person , or the saith of Devils , is a 〈◊〉 believing a certain number of Propositions upon conviction of the Understanding : But the Faith of a Christian ; the Faith that justifies and saves him , is Faith working by Charity , or Faith keeping the Commandments of God. They are distinct Faiths in order to different ends , and therefore of different constitution ; and the instrument of distinction is Charity or Obedience . 5. And this great Truth is clear in the perpetual testimony of Holy Scripture . For Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful ; and yet our Blessed Saviour told the Jews , that if they had been the sons of Abraham , they would have done the works of Abraham ; and therefore Good works are by the Apostle called the sootsteps of the Faith of our Father Abraham . For Faith in every of its stages , at its first beginning , at its increment , at its greatest perfection , is a Duty made up of the concurrence of the Will and the Understanding , when it pretends to the Divine acceptance ; Faith and Repentance begin the Christian course . Repent and believe the Gospel was the summ of the Apostles Sermons ; and all the way after it is , Faith working by Love. Repentance puts the first spirit and life into Faith , and Charity preserves it , and gives it nourishment and increase ; it self also growing by a mutual supply of spirits and nutriment from Faith. Whoever does heartily believe a Resurrection and Life eternal upon certain Conditions , will certainly endeavour to acquire the Promises by the Purchase of Obedience and observation of the Conditions . For it is not in the nature or power of man directly to despise and reject so 〈◊〉 a good : So that Faith supplies Charity with argument and maintenance , and Charity supplies Faith with life and motion ; Faith makes Charity reasonable , and Charity makes Faith living and effectual . And therefore the old Greeks called Faith and Charity a miraculous Chariot or Yoke , they bear the burthen of the Lord with an equal consederation : these are like 〈◊〉 twins , they live and die together . Indeed Faith is the first-born of the twins ; but they must come both at a birth , or else they die , being strangled at the gates of the womb . But if Charity , like Jacob , lays hold upon his elder brother's heel , it makes a timely and a prosperous birth , and gives certain title to the eternal Promises . For let us give the right of primogeniture to Faith , yet the Blessing , yea and the Inheritance too , will at last fall to Charity . Not that Faith is disinherited , but that Charity only enters into the possession . The nature of Faith passes into the excellency of Charity before they can be rewarded ; and that both may have their estimate , that which justifies and saves us keeps the name of Faith , but doth not do the deed till it hath the nature of Charity . * For to think well , or to have a good opinion , or an excellent or a fortunate understanding , entitles us not to the love of God , and the consequent inheritance ; but to chuse the ways of the Spirit , and to relinquish the paths of darkness , this is the way of the Kingdom , and the purpose of the Gospel , and the proper work of Faith. 6. And if we consider upon what stock Faith it self is instrumental and operative of Salvation , we shall find it is in it self acceptable , because it is a Duty and commanded ; and therefore it is an act of Obedience , a work of the Gospel , a submitting the Understanding , a denying the Affections , a laying aside all interests , and a bringing our thoughts under the obedience of Christ. This the Apostle calls * the Obedience of Faith. And it is of the same condition and constitution with other Graces , all which equally relate to Christ , and are as firm instruments of union , and are washed by the bloud of Christ , and are sanctified by his Death , and apprehend him in their capacity and degrees , some higher and some not so high : but Hope and Charity apprehend Christ in a measure and proportion greater than Faith , when it distinguishes from them . So that if Faith does the work of Justification , as it is a mere relation to Christ , 〈◊〉 so also does Hope and Charity ; or if these are Duties and good works , so also is Faith : and they all being alike commanded in order to the same end , and encouraged by the same reward , are also accepted upon the same stock , which is , that they are acts of Obedience and relation too ; they obey Christ , and lay hold upon Christ's merits , and are but several instances of the great duty of a Christian , but the actions of several faculties of the 〈◊〉 Creature . But 〈◊〉 Faith is the beginning Grace , and hath insluence and causality in the production of the other , 〈◊〉 all the other , as they are united in Duty , are also united in their Title and appellative ; they are all called by the name of Faith , because they are parts of Faith , as Faith is taken in the larger sence : and when it is taken in the strictest and distinguishing sence , they are 〈◊〉 and proper products by way of natural emanation . 7. That a good life is the genuine and true-born issue of Faith , no man questions that knows himself the Disciple of the Holy Jesus ; but that Obedience is the same thing with * Faith , and that all Christian Graces are parts of its bulk and constitution , is also the doctrine of the Holy Ghost , and the Grammar of Scripture , making Faith and Obedience to be terms coincident and expressive of each other . For Faith is not a single Star , but a Constellation , a chain of Graces , called by S. Paul the power of God unto salvation to every believer ; that is , Faith is all that great instrument by which God intends to bring us to Heaven : and he gives this reason , In the Gospel the 〈◊〉 cousness of God is revealed from faith to faith , for it is written , The 〈◊〉 shall live by Faith. Which discourse makes Faith to be a course of Sanctity and holy 〈◊〉 , a continuation of a Christian's duty , such a duty as not only gives the first breath , but by which a man lives the life of Grace . The just shall live by Faith ; that is , such a Faith as grows from step to step , till the whole righteousness of God be fulfilled in it . From faith to faith , ( saith the Apostle ) which S. 〈◊〉 expounds , From Faith believing , to Faith obeying ; from imperfect Faith , to Faith made perfect by the animation of Charity ; that he who is justified may be justified still . For as there are several degrees and parts of Justification , so there are several degrees of Faith answerable to it ; that in all sences it may be true , that by Faith we are justified , and by Faith we live , and by Faith we are saved . For if we proceed from Faith to Faith , from believing to obeying , from Faith in the Understanding to Faith in the Will , from Faith barely assenting to the revelations of God to Faith obeying the Commandments of God , from the body of Faith to the soul of Faith , that is , to Faith sormed and made alive by Charity ; then we shall proceed from Justification to Justification , that is , from Remission of Sins to become the Sons of God , and at last to an actual possession of those glories to which we were here consigned by the fruits of the Holy Ghost . 8. And in this sence the Holy Jesus is called by the Apostle the Author and 〈◊〉 of our Faith : he is the principle , and he is the promoter ; he begins our Faith in Revelations , and perfects it in Commandments ; he leads us by the assent of our Understanding , and finishes the work of his grace by a holy life : which S. Paul there expresses by its several constituent parts ; as laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us , and running with patience the race that is set before us , resisting unto bloud , striving against sin ; for in these things Jesus is therefore made our example , because he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith ; without these Faith is imperfect . But the thing is something plainer yet , for S. James says that Faith lives not but by Charity ; and the life or essence of a thing is certainly the better part of its constitution , as the Soul is to a Man. And if we mark the manner of his probation , it will come home to the main point . For he proves that Abraham's saith was therefore imputed to him for Righteousness , because he was justified by Works ; Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works , when he offered up his son ? And the Scripture was fulfilled , saying , Abraham believed God , and it was imputed to him for righteousness . For Faith wrought with his Works , and made his Faith perfect . It was a dead and an imperfect Faith , unless Obedience gave it being , and all its integral or essential parts . So that Faith and Charity in the sence of a Christian are but one duty , as the Understanding and the Will are but one reasonable Soul ; only they produce several actions in order to one another , which are but divers 〈◊〉 , and the same spirit . 9. Thus S. Paul , describing the (a) Faith of the Thessalonians , calls it that whereby they turned from Idols , and whereby they served the living God ; and the (b) Faith of the Patriarchs believed the world's Creation , received the Promises , did Miracles , wrought Rightcousness , and did and suffered so many things as make up the integrity of a holy life . And therefore (c) disobedience and unrighteousness is called want of Faith ; and (d) Heresie , which is opposed to Faith , is a work of the flesh , because Faith it self is a work of Righteousness . And , that I may enumerate no more particulars , the thing is so known , that the word * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in propriety of language signifies 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 , is rendred disobedience ; and the not providing for our families is an act of 〈◊〉 , by the same reason and analogy that 〈◊〉 or Charity and a holy life are the duties of a Christian , of a justifying Faith. And although in the natural or philosophical sence Faith and Charity are distinct habits ; yet in the sence of a Christian and the signification of duty they are the same ; for we cannot believe aright , as Believing is in the Commandment , unless we live aright ; for our Faith is put upon the account just as it is made precious by Charity ; according to that rare saying of S. 〈◊〉 , recorded by the supposed S. Denis , Charity is the greatest and the least Theologie : all our Faith , that is , all our Religion , is compleated in the duties of universal Charity ; as our Charity or our manner of living is , so is our Faith. If our life be unholy , it may be the faith of Devils , but not the Faith of Christians . For this is the difference . 10. The faith of the Devils hath more of the Understanding in it , the Faith of Christians more of the Will : The Devils in their saith have better Discourse , the Christians better affections : They in their faith have better Arguments , we more Charity . So that Charity or a good life is so necessary an ingredient into the definition of a Christian's Faith , that we have nothing else to distinguish it from the faith of Devils : and we need no trial os our Faith , but the examination of our lives . If you keep the Commandments of God , then have you the Faith of Jesus , ( they are immediate in S. John's expression : ) but if you be 〈◊〉 and ungodly , you are in S. Paul's list amongst them that have no saith . Every Vice , that rules amongst us and sullies the fair beauty of our Souls , is a conviction of Infidelity . 11. For it was the Faith of Moses that made him despise the riches of Egypt ; the Faith of 〈◊〉 , that made him valiant ; the Faith of Joseph , that made him chast : Abraham's Faith made him obedient ; S. Mary Magdalen's Faith made her penitent ; and the Faith of S. Paul made him travel so far , and suffer so much , till he became a prodigy both of zeal and patience . Faith is a Catholicon , and cures all the distemperatures of the Soul ; (a) it 〈◊〉 the World , ( saith S. John ) it (b) works rightcousness , ( saith S. Paul ) it (c) purifies the heart , ( saith S. Peter ) it works Miracles , ( saith our Blessed Saviour ) Miracles in Grace always , as it did Miracles in nature at its first publication : and whatsoever is good , if it be a Grace , it is an act of Faith ; if it be a reward , it is the fruit of Faith. So that as all the actions of man are but the productions of the Soul , so are all the actions of the new man the effects of Faith. For Faith is the life of Christianity , and a good life is the life of Faith. 12. Upon the grounds of this discourse we may understand the sence of that Question of our Blessed Saviour , When the son of man comes , shall he find Faith on earth ? Truly just so much as he finds Charity and holy living , and no more . For then only we can be confident that Faith is not failed from among the children of men , when we seel the heats of the primitive Charity return , and the calentures of the first old Devotion are renewed ; when it shall be accounted honourable to be a servant of Christ , and a shame to commit a sin : then , and then only , our Churches shall be Assemblies of the faithful , and the Kingdoms of the world Christian Countries . But so long as it is notorious that we have made Christian Religion another thing than what the Holy Jesus designed it to be ; when it does not make us live good lives , but it self is made a pretence to all manner of impiety , a stratagem to serve ends , the ends of covetousness , of ambition and revenge ; when the Christian Charity ends in killing one another for Conscience sake , so that Faith is made to cut the throat of Charity , and our Faith kills more than our Charity preserves ; when the Humility of a Christian hath indeed a name amongst us , but it is like a mute person , talk'd of only ; while Ambition and Rebellion , Pride and Scorn , Self-seeking and proud undertakings transact most of the great affairs of Christendom ; when the custody of our Senses is to no other purposes but that no opportunity of pleasing them pass away ; when our Oaths are like the fringes of our discourses , going round about them , as if they were ornaments and trimmings ; when our Blasphemies , Prophanation , Sacriledge and Irreligion are become scandalous to the very Turks and Jews ; while our Lusts are always habitual , sometimes unnatural ; will any wise man think that we believe those Doctrines of Humility and Obedience , of Chastity and Charity , of Temperance and Justice , which the Saviour of the World made sacred by his Sermon and example , or indeed any thing he either said or did , promised or threatned ? For is it possible , a man with his wits about him , and believing that he should certainly be damned , ( that is , be eternally tormented in body and Soul with terments greater than can be in this world ) if he be a Swearer , or Lier , or Drunkard , or cheats his neighbour , that this man should dare to do these things , to which the temptations are so small , in which the delight is so inconsiderable , and the satisfaction so none at all ? 13. We see by the experience of the whole world , that the belief of an honest man in a matter of temporal advantage makes us do actions of such danger and difficulty , that half so much industry and 〈◊〉 would ascertain us into a possession of all the Promises Evangelical . Now let any man be asked , whether he had rather be rich or be saved , he will tell you , without all doubt , Heaven is the better option by infinite degrees : for it cannot be that Riches , or Revenge , or Lust should be directly preferred , that is , be thought more eligible than the glories of Immortality . That therefore men neglect so great Salvation , and so greedily run after the satisfaction of their baser appetites , can be attributed to nothing but want of Faith ; they do not heartily believe that Heaven is worth so much ; there is upon them a stupidity of spirit , and their Faith is dull , and its actions suspended most commonly , and often interrupted , and it never enters into the Will : so that the Propositions are considered nakedly and precisely in themselves , but not as referring to us or our interests ; there is nothing of Faith in it , but so much as is the first and direct act of Understanding ; there is no consideration nor reflexion upon the act , or upon the person , or upon the subject . So that even as it is seated in the Understanding , our Faith is commonly lame , mutilous and imperfect ; and therefore much more is it culpable , because it is destitute of all cooperation of the rational appetite . 14. But let us consider the power and efficacy of worldly Belief . If a man believes that there is gold to be had in Peru for fetching , or Pearls and rich Jewels in India for the exchange of trifles , he instantly , if he be in capacity , leaves the wife of his bosom , and the pretty delights of children , and his own security , and ventures into the dangers of waters and unknown seas , and freezings and calentures , thirst and hunger , Pirates and shipwrecks , and hath within him a principle strong enough to answer all objections , because he believes that Riches are desirable , and by such means likely to be had . Our Blessed Saviour , comparing the Gospel to a Merchant-man that found a pearl of great price , and sold all to buy it , hath brought this instance home to the present discourse . For if we did as verily believe that in Heaven those great Felicities which transcend all our apprehensions are certainly to be obtained by leaving our Vices and lower desires , what can hinder us but we should at least do as much for obtaining those great Felicities as for the lesser , if the belief were equal ? For if any man thinks he may have them without Holiness and Justice and Charity , then he wants Faith , for he believes not the saying of S. Paul , Follow peace with all men , and Holiness , without which no man shall ever see God. If a man believes Learning to be the only or chiefest ornament and beauty of Souls , that which will ennoble him to a fair employment in his own time , and an honourable memory to succeeding ages ; this if he believes heartily it hath power to make him indure Catarrhs , Gouts , Hypochondriacal passions , to read till his eyes almost fix in their orbs , to despise the pleasures of idleness or tedious sports , and to undervalue whatsoever does not cooperate to the end of his Faith , the desire of Learning . Why is the Italian so abstemious in his drinkings , or the Helvetian so valiant in his fight , or so true to the Prince that imploys him , but that they believe it to be noble so to be ? If they believed the same , and had the same honourable thoughts of other Vertues , they also would be as national as these . For Faith will do its proper work . And when the Understanding is peremptorily and fully determined upon the perswasion of a Proposition , if the Will should then dissent and chuse the contrary , it were unnatural and monstrous , and possibly no man ever does so ; for that men do things without reason and against their Conscience is , because they have put out their light , and discourse their Wills into the election of a sensible good , and want faith to believe truly all circumstances which are necessary by way of predisposition for choice of the 〈◊〉 . 15. But when mens Faith is confident , their resolution and actions are in proportion : For thus the Faith of Mahumetans makes them to abstain from Wine for ever ; and therefore , if we had the Christian Faith , we should much rather abstain from Drunkenness for ever ; it being an express Rule Apostolical , Be not drunk with wine , wherein is excess . The Faith of the Circumcellians made them to run greedily to violent and horrid deaths as willingly as to a Crown : for they thought it was the King's high-way to Martyrdom . And there was never any man zealous for his Religion , and of an imperious bold Faith , but he was also willing to die for it ; and therefore also by as much reason to live in it , and to be a strict observer of its prescriptions . And the stories of the strict Sanctity , and prodigious Sufferings , and severe Disciplines , and expensive Religion , and compliant and laborious Charity of the primitive Christians , is abundant argument to convince us , that the Faith of Christians is infinitely more fruitful and productive of its univocal and proper issues than the Faith of Hereticks , or the false religions of Misbelievers , or the perswasions of Secular persons , or the Spirit of Antichrist . And therefore when we see men serving their Prince with such difficult and ambitious services , because they believe him able to reward them , though of his will they are not so certain , and yet so supinely negligent and incurious of their services to God , of whose power and will to reward us infinitely there is certainty absolute and irrespective ; it is certain probation that we believe it not : for if we believe there is such a thing as Heaven , and that every single man's portion of Heaven is far better than all the wealth in the world , it is morally impossible we should prefer so little before so great profit . 16. I instance but once more . The Faith of Abraham was instanced in the matter of confidence or trust in the Divine Promises ; and he being the father of the faithful , we must imitate his Faith by a clear dereliction of our selves and our own interests , and an intire confident relying upon the Divine goodness in all cases of our needs or danger . Now this also is a trial of the verity of our Faith , the excellency of our condition , and what title we have to the glorious names of Christians , and Faithful , and 〈◊〉 . If our Fathers when we were in pupillage and minority , or a true and an able Friend when we were in need , had made promises to supply our necessities ; our confidence was so great that our care determined . It were also well that we were as confident of God , and as secure of the event , when we had disposed our selves to reception of the blessing , as we were of our Friend or Parents . We all profess that God is Almighty , that all his Promises are certain , and yet , when it comes to a pinch , we find that man to be more confident that hath ten thousand pounds in his purse than he that reads God's Promises over ten thousand times . Men of a common spirit , ( saith S. Chrysostome ) of an ordinary Sanctity , will not steal , or kill , or lie , or commit Adultery ; but it requires a rare Faith , and a sublimity of pious affections , to believe that God will work a 〈◊〉 which to me seems impossible . And indeed S. 〈◊〉 hit upon the right . He had need be a good man and love God 〈◊〉 that puts his trust in him . For those we * love we are most apt to trust ; and although trust and confidence is sometime founded upon experience , yet it is also begotten and increased by love , as often as by reason and discourse . And to this purpose it was excellently said by S. Basil , That the 〈◊〉 which one man learneth of another is made perfect by continual Use and Exercise ; but that which through the grace of God is engrassed in the mind of man is made absolute by Justice , 〈◊〉 and Charity . So that if you are willing even in death to confess not only the Articles , but in affliction and death to trust the Promises ; if in the lowest nakedness of Poverty you can cherish your selves with the expectation of God's promises and dispensation , being as confident of food and raiment and deliverance or support when all is in God's hand , as you are when it is in your own ; if you can be chearful in a storm , smile when the world frowns , be content in the midst of spiritual desertions and anguish of spirit , expecting all should work together for the best , according to the promise ; if you can strengthen your selves in God when you are weakest , believe when you see no hope , and entertain no jealousies or suspicions of God though you see nothing to make you confident ; then , and then only , you have Faith , which in conjunction with its other parts is able to save your Souls . For in this precise duty of trusting God there are the rays of hope , and great proportions of Charity and Resignation . 17. The summ is that pious and most Christian sentence of the Author of the ordinary Gloss : To believe in God through Jesus Christ is , by believing to love him , to adhere to him , to be united to him by Charity and Obedience , and to be incorporated into Christ ' s mystical body in the Communion of Saints . I conclude this with a collation of certain excellent words of S. Paul highly to the present purpose : Examine your selves , Brethren , whether ye be in the Faith ; prove your own selves . Well , but how ? Know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you , except ye be Reprobates ? There 's the touchstone of Faith. If Jesus Christ dwells in us , then we are true Believers ; if he does not , we are Reprobates , we have no Faith. But how shall we know whether Christ be in us or no ? Saint Paul tells us that too : If Christ be in you , the body is dead , by reason of sin ; but the spirit is life , because of righteousness . That 's the Christian's mark , and the Characteristick of a true Believer ; A death unto sin , and a living unto righteousness ; a mortified body , and a quickned spirit . This is plain enough , and by this we see what we must trust to . A man of a wicked life does in vain hope to be saved by his Faith , for indeed his Faith is but equivocal and dead , which as to his purpose is just none at all ; and therefore let him no more deceive himself . For ( that I may still use the words of S. Paul ) This is a faithful saying , and these things I will that thou affirm constantly , that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works . For such , and such only , in the great scrutiny for Faith in the day of Doom , shall have their portion in the bosom of faithful Abraham . The PRAYER . I. O Eternal GOD , 〈◊〉 of all Truth and Holiness , in whom to believe is life eternal ; let thy Grace descend with a mighty power into my Soul , beating down every strong hold and vainer imagination , and bringing every proud thought and my confident and ignorant understanding into the obedience of Jesus : Take from me all disobdience and refractoriness of spirit , all ambition and private and baser interests ; remove from me all prejudice and weakness of perswasion , that I may wholly resign my Understanding to the perswasions of Christianity , acknowledging Thee to be the principle of Truth , and thy Word the measure of Knowledge , and thy Laws the rule of my life , and thy Promises the satisfaction of my hopes , and an union with thee to be the consummation of Charity in the fruition of Glory . Amen . II. HOly JESUS , make me to acknowledge thee to be my Lord and Master , and my self a Servant and Disciple of thy holy Discipline and Institution ; let me love to sit at thy feet , and suck in with my ears and heart the sweetness of thy holy Sermons . Let my Soul be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace , with a peaceable and docile disposition . Give me great boldness in the publick Confession of thy Name and the Truth of thy Gospel , in despite of all hostilities and temptations . And grant I may always remember that thy Name is called upon me , and I may so behave my self , that I neither give scandal to others , nor cause disreputation to the honour of Religion ; but that thou mayest be glorified in me , and I by thy mercies after a strict observance of all the holy Laws of Christianity . Amen . III. O Holy and ever-Blessed SPIRIT , let thy gracious influences be the perpetual guide of my rational Faculties : Inspire me with Wisdom and Knowledge , spiritual Understanding and a holy Faith ; and sanctifie my Faith , that it may arise up to the confidence of Hope , and the adherencies of Charity , and be fruitful in a holy Conversation . Mortifie in me all peevishness and pride of spirit , all heretical dispositions , and whatsoever is contrary to sound Doctrine ; that when the eternal Son of God , the Author and Finisher of our Faith , shall come to make scrutiny and an inquest for Faith , I may receive the Promises laid up for them that believe in the Lord Jesus , and wait for his coming in holiness and purity : to whom with the Father and thee , O Blessed Spirit , be all honour and eternal adoration payed with all sanctity and joy and Eucharist now and for ever . Amen . SECT . XI . Of CHRIST's going to Jerusalem to the Passeover the first time after his Manifestation , and what followed till the expiration of the Office of John the Baptist. The Visitation of the Temple . Marke . 11. 15. And Iesus went into y e Temple & began to cast out them that sold & bought in y e Temple , and overthrew the tables of the money changers . 16. And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the Temple . The Conference with Nicodemus . Iohn . 3. 9. Nicodemus answered & said unto him . How can these things be ? 10. Iesus answered and sayd unto him , Art thou a Master of Israel , and knowest not these things ? 1. IMmediately after this Miracle Jesus abode a few days in Capernaum , but because of the approach of the great Feast of Passeover he ascended to Jerusalem ; and the first publick act of record that he did was an act of holy Zeal and Religion in behalf of the honour of the Temple . For divers Merchants and Exchangers of money made the Temple to be the Market and the Bank , and brought Beasts thither to be sold for sacrifice against the great Paschal Solemnity . At the sight of which Jesus , being moved with zeal and indignation , made a whip of cords , and drave the Beasts out of the Temple , overthrew the accounting Tables , and commanded them that sold the Doves to take them from thence . For his anger was holy , and he would mingle no injury with it ; and therefore the Doves , which if let loose would be detrimental to the owners , he caused to be fairly removed ; and published the Religion of Holy places , establishing their Sacredness for ever by his first Gospel-Sermon that he made at Jerusalem . Take these things hence : Make not my Father's House a house of merchandise ; for it shall be called a house of Prayer to all Nations . And being required to give a sign of his Vocation , ( for this , being an action like the Religion of the Zelots among the Jews , if it was not attested by something extraordinary , might be abused into an excess of liberty ) he only foretold the Resurrection of his body after three days death , but he expressed it in the metaphor of the Temple : Destroy this Temple , and I will build it again in three days . He spake of the Temple of his Body , and they understood him of the Temple at Jerusalem ; and it was never rightly construed till it was accomplished . 2. At this publick Convention of the Jewish Nation Jesus did many Miracles , published himself to be the Messias , and perswaded many Disciples , amongst whom was Nicodemus , a Doctor of the Law , and a Ruler of the Nation : he came by night to Jesus , and affirmed himself to be convinced by the Miracles which he had seen ; for no man could do those miracles except God be with him . When Jesus perceived his understanding to be so far disposed , he began to instruct him in the great secret and mysteriousness of Regeneration , telling him that every production is of the same nature and condition with its parent ; from flesh comes flesh and corruption , from the Spirit comes spirit and life and immortality ; and nothing from a principle of nature could arrive to a supernatural end ; and therefore the only door to enter into the Kingdom of God was Water by the manuduction of the Spirit ; and by this Regeneration we are put into a new capacity , of living a spiritual life in order to a spiritual and supernatural end . 3. This was strange Philosophy to Nicodemus ; but Jesus bad him not to wonder : for this is not a work of humanity , but a fruit of God's Spirit , and an issue of Predestination . For the Spirit bloweth where it listeth , and is as the wind , certain and notorious in the effects , but secret in the principle and in the manner of production . And therefore this Doctrine was not to be estimated by any proportions to natural principles or experiments of sense , but to the secrets of a new Metaphysick , and abstracted , separate Speculations . Then Christ proceeds in his Sermon , telling him there are yet higher things for him to apprehend and believe ; for this , in respect of some other mysteriousness of his Gospel , was but as Earth in comparison of Heaven . Then he tells of his own descent from Heaven , foretells his Death and Ascension , and the blessing of Redemption , which he came to work for mankind ; he preaches of the Love of the Father , the Mission of the Son , the rewards of Faith , and the glories of Eternity ; he upbraids the unbelieving and impenitent , and declares the differences of a holy and a corrupt Conscience , the shame and fears of the one , the confidence and serenity of the other . And this is the summ of his Sermon to Nicodemus , which was the fullest of mystery and speculation and abstracted sences of any that he ever made , except that which he made immediately before his Passion ; all his other Sermons being more practical . 4. From Jerusalem Jesus goeth into the Country of Judaea , attended by divers Disciples , whose understandings were brought into subjection and obedience to Christ upon confidence of the divinity of his Miracles . There his Disciples did receive all comers , and baptized them , as John at the same time did , and by that Ceremony admitted them to the Discipline and Institution , according to the custom of the Doctors and great Prophets among the Jews , whose Baptizing their Scholars was the ceremony of their Admission . As soon as John heard it , he acquitted himself in publick by renewing his former testimony concerning Jesus , affirming him to be the Messias , and now the time was come that Christ must increase , and the Baptist suffer diminution ; for Christ came from above , was above all , and the summ of his Doctrine was that which he had heard and seen from the Father , whom God sent to that purpose , to whom God had set his seal , that he was true , who spake the words of God , whom the Father loved , to whō he gave the Spirit without measure , and into whose hands God had delivered all things ; this was he , whose testimony the world received not . And that they might know not only what person they sleighted , but how great Salvation also they neglected , he summs up all his Sermons and finishes his Mission with this saying , He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life , but the wrath of God abideth on him . 5. For now that the Baptist had fulfilled his Office of bearing witness unto Jesus , God was pleased to give him his writ of ease , and bring him to his reward upon this occasion . John , who had so learned to despise the world and all its exteriour vanities and impertinent relations , did his duty justly , and so without respect of persons , that as he reproved the people for their prevarications , so he spared not Herod for his , but abstaining from all expresses of the spirit of scorn and asperity , mingling no discontents , interests nor mutinous intimations with his Sermons , he told Herod it was not lawful for him to have his * Brother's wife . For which Sermon he felt the furies and malice of a woman's spleen , was cast into prison , and about a year after was sacrificed to the scorn and pride of a lustful woman and her immodest daughter , being at the end of the second year of Christ's Preaching beheaded by Herod's command , who would not retract his promise , because of his honour , and a rash vow he made in the gayety of his Lust and complacencies of his riotous dancings . His head was brought up in a dish , and made a Festival-present to the young girl , ( who gave it to her mother : ) a Cruelty that was not known among the Barbarisms of the worst of people , to mingle banquetings with bloud and sights of death ; an insolency and inhumanity for which the 〈◊〉 Orators accused Q. Flaminius of Treason , because , to satisfie the wanton cruelty of Placentia , he caused a condemned slave to be killed at supper ; and which had no precedent but in the furies of Marius , who caused the head of the Consul Antonius to be brought up to him in his Feasts , which he handled with much pleasure and insolency . 6. But God's Judgments , which sleep not * long , found out Herod , and marked him for a Curse . For the Wise of Herod , who was the Daughter of Aretas a King of Arabia Petraea , being repudiated by paction with Herodias , provoked her Father to commence a War with Herod ; who prevailed against Herod in a great Battel , defeating his whole Army , and forcing him to an inglorious flight : which the Jews generally expounded to be a Judgment on him for the unworthy and barbarous execution and murther of John the Baptist ; God in his wisdom and severity making one sin to be the punishment of another , and neither of them both to pass without the signature of a Curse . And Nicephorus reports , that the dancing daughter of Herodias passing over a frozen lake , the ice brake , and she fell up to the neck in water , and her head was parted from her body , by the violence of the fragments shaked by the water and its own fall , and so perished ; God having fitted a Judgment to the Analogy and representment of her Sin. Herodias her self with her adulterous Paramour Herod were banished to Lions in France by decree of the Roman Senate , where they lived ingloriously and died miserably , so paying dearly for her triumphal scorn superadded to her crime of murther : for when she saw the Head of the Baptist , which her Daughter Salome had presented to her in a charger , she thrust the tongue through with a needle , as Fulvia had formerly done to Cicero . But her self paid the charges of her triumph . Ad SECT . XI . Considerations upon the first Journey of the Holy Jesus to Jerusalem , when he whipt the Merchants out of the Temple . 1. WHen the Feast came , and Jesus was ascended up to Jerusalem , the first place we find him in is the Temple , where not only was the Area and Court of Religion , but , by occasion of publick Conventions , the most opportune scene for transaction of his Commission and his Father's business . And those Christians who have been religious and affectionate even in the circumstances of Piety have taken this for precedent , and accounted it a good express of the regularity of their Devotion and order of Piety , at their first arrival to a City to pay their first visits to God , the next to his servant the President of Religious Rites ; first they went into the Church and worshipp'd , then to the Angel of the Church , to the Bishop , and begg'd his blessing : and having thus commenced with the auspiciousness of Religion , they had better hopes their just affairs would succeed prosperously , which after the rites of Christian Countries had thus been begun with Devotion and religious order . 2. When the Holy Jesus entred the Temple , and espied a Mart kept in the Holy Sept , a Fair upon Holy ground , he , who suffered no transportations of Anger in matters and accidents temporal , was born high with an ecstasie of Zeal , and , according to the custom of the Zelots of the Nation , took upon him the office of a private insliction of punishment in the cause of God , which ought to be dearer to every single person than their own interest and reputation . What the exterminating Angel did to 〈◊〉 , who came into the Temple upon design of Sacriledge , that the meekest Jesus did to them who came with acts of Profanation ; he whipt them forth : and as usually good Laws spring from ill Manners , and excellent Sermons are occasioned by mens 〈◊〉 ; now also our great Master upon this accident asserted the Sacredness of Holy places in the words of a Prophet , which now he made a Lesson Evangelical , My House shall be called a house of Prayer to all Nations . 3. The Beasts and Birds there sold were brought for Sacrifice , and the Banks of money were for the advantage of the people that came from far , that their returns might be safe and easie when they came to Jerusalem upon the employments of Religion . But they were not yet fit for the Temple ; they who brought them thither purposed their own gain , and meant to pass them through an unholy usage , before they could be made Anathemata , Vows to God : and when Religion is but the purpose at the second hand , it cannot hallow a Lay-design , and make it fit to become a Religious ministery , much less sanctifie an unlawful action . When Rachel stole her Father's gods , though possibly she might do it in zeal against her Father's Superstition , yet it was occasion of a sad accident to her self . For the Jews say that Rachel died in Child-birth of her second Son , because of that imprecation of Jacob , With whomsoever thou findest thy gods , let him not live . Saul pretended Sacrifice when he spared the fat cattel of Amalek ; and Micah was zealous when he made him an Ephod and a Teraphim , and meant to make himself an Image for Religion when he stole his mother's money : but these are colours of Religion , in which not only the world but our selves also are deceived by a latent purpose , which we are willing to cover with a remote design of Religion , lest it should appear unhandsome in its own dressing . Thus some believe a Covetousness allowable , it they greedily heap treasure with a purpose to build Hospitals or Colledges ; and sinister acts of acquiring Church-livings are not so soon condemned , if the design be to prefer an able person ; and actions of Revenge come near to Piety , if it be to the ruine of an 〈◊〉 man ; and indirect proceedings are made sacred , if they be for the good of the Holy Cause . This is profaning the Temple with Beasts brought for Sacrifices , and dishonours God by making himself accessary to his own dishonour , as far as lies in them ; for it disserves him with a pretence of Religion : and , but that our hearts are deceitful , we should easily perceive that the greatest business of the Letter is written in Postscript ; the great pretence is the least purpose ; and the latent Covetousness or Revenge , or the secular appendix , is the main engine to which the end of Religion is made but instrumental and pretended . But men , when they sell a Mule , use to speak of the Horse that begat him , not of the Ass that bore him . 4. The Holy Jesus made a whip of cords , to represent and to chastise the implications and enfoldings of sin and the cords of vanity . 1. There are some sins that of themselves are a whip of cords : those are the crying sins , that by their degree and malignity speak loud for vengeance ; or such as have great disreputation , and are accounted the basest issues of a caitive disposition ; or such which are unnatural and unusual ; or which by publick observation are marked with the signature of Divine Judgments . Such are Murther , Oppression of widows and orphans , detaining the Labourer's hire , Lusts against nature , Parricide , Treason , Betraying a just trust in great instances and base manners , Lying to a King , Perjury in a Priest : these carry Cain's mark upon them , or Judas's sting , or Manasses's sorrow , unless they be made impudent by the spirit of Obduration . 2. But there are some sins that bear shame upon them , and are used as correctives of pride and vanity , and if they do their cure , they are converted into instruments of good by the great power of the Divine grace ; but if the spirit of the man grows impudent and hardned against the shame , that which commonly follows is the worst string of the whip , a direct consignation to a reprobate spirit . 3. Other sins there are for the chastising of which Christ takes the whip into his own hand ; and there is much need ; when sins are the Customs of a Nation , and marked with no exteriour disadvantage , or have such circumstances of encouragement that they are unapt to disquiet a Conscience , or make our beds uneasie , till the pillows be softned with penitential showers . In both these cases the condition of a sinner is sad and miserable . For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ; his hand is heavy , and his sword is sharp , and pierces to the dividing the marrow and the bones : and he that considers the infinite distance between God and us must tremble , when he remembers that he is to feel the issues of that anger , which he is not certain whether or no it will destroy him infinitely and eternally . 4. But if the whip be given into our hands , that we become executioners of the Divine wrath , it is sometimes worse ; for we seldom strike our selves for emendation , but add sin to sin , till we perish miserably and inevitably . God scourges us often into Repentance ; but when a Sin is the whip of another sin , the rod is put into our hands , who like blind men strike with a rude and undiscerning hand , and , because we love the punishment , do it without intermission or choice , and have no end but ruine . 5. When the Holy Jesus had whipt the Merchants in the Temple , they took away all the instruments of their sin . For a Judgment is usually the commencement of Repentance : Love is the last of Graces , and 〈◊〉 at the beginning of a new life , but is reserved to the perfections and ripeness of a Christian. We begin in Pear ; The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom : 〈◊〉 hen he smote them , then they turned , and enquired early after God. And afterwards the impresses of Fear continue like a hedge of thorns about us , to restrain our dissolutions within the awfulness of the Divine Majesty , that it may preserve what was from the same principle begun . This principle of their emendation was from God , and therefore innocent and holy ; and the very purpose of Divine Threatnings is , that upon them , as upon one of the great hindges , the Piety of the greatest part of men should turn : and the effect was answerable ; but so are not the actions of all those who follow this precedent in the tract of the letter . For indeed there have been some reformations which have been so like this , that the greatest alteration which hath been made was , that they carried all things out of the Temple , the Money , and the Tables , and the Sacrifice ; and the Temple it self went at last . But these mens scourge is to follow after , and Christ , the Prince of the Catholick Church , will provide one of his own contexture , moresevere than the stripes which 〈◊〉 felt from the infliction of the exterminating Angel. But the Holy Spirit of God , by making provision against such a Reformation , hath prophetically declared the aptnesses which are in pretences of religious alterations to degenerate into sacrilegious desires : Thou that abhorrest Idols , dost thou commit sacriledge ? In this case there is no amendment , only one sin resigns to another , and the person still remains under its power and the same dominion . The PRAYER . OEternal Jesu , thou bright Image of thy Father's glories , whose light did shine to all the world , when thy heart was inflamed with zeal and love of God and of Religion , let a coal from thine Altar , fanned with the wings of the Holy Dove , kindle in my Soul such holy flames , that I may be zealous of thy honour and glory , forward in Religious duties , earnest in their pursuit , prudent in their managing , ingenuous in my purposes , making my Religion to serve no end but of thy glories , and the obtaining of thy promises : and so sanctific my Soul and my Body , that I may be a holy Temple , fit and prepared for the inhabitation of thy ever-blessed Spirit , whom grant that I may never grieve by admitting any impure thing to desecrate the place , and unhallow the Courts of his abode ; but give me a pure Soul in a chaste and healthful 〈◊〉 , a spirit full of holy simplicity , and designs of great ingenuity , and perfect Religion , that I may intend what thou commandest , and may with proper instruments 〈◊〉 what I so intend , and by thy aids may obtain the end of my labours , the rewards of obedience and holy living , even the society and inheritance of Jesus in the participation of the joys of thy Temple , where thou dwellest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost , O Eternal Jesus . Amen . DISCOURSE VIII . Of the Religion of Holy Places . 1. THE Holy Jesus brought a Divine warrant for his Zeal . The selling Sacrifices , and the exchange of Money , and every Lay-employment did violence and dishonour to the Temple , which was hallowed to Ecclesiastical ministeries , and set apart for Offices of Religion , for the use of holy things ; for it was God's House : and so is every house by publick designation separate for Prayer or other uses of Religion , it is God's House . [ My house : ] God had a propriety in it , and had set his mark on it , even his own Name . And therefore it was in the Jews Idiome of speech called the Mountain of the Lord's House , and the House of the Lord by David frequently : God had put his Name into all places appointed for solemn Worship ; In all places where I record my Name , I will come unto thee , and bless thee . For God , who was never visible to mortal eye , was pleased to make himself presential by substitution of his Name ; that is , in certain places he hath appointed that his Name shall be called upon , and by promising and imparting such Blessings which he hath made consequent to the invocation of his Name , hath made such places to be a certain determination of some special manner of his Presence . For God's Name is not a distinct thing from himself , not an Idea , and it cannot be put into a place in literal signification ; the expression is to be resolved into some other sence : God's Name is that whereby he is known , by which he is invocated , that which is the most immediate publication of his Essence , nearer than which we cannot go unto him : and because God is essentially present in all places , when he makes himself present in one place more than another , it cannot be understood to any other purpose , but that in such places he gives special Blessings and Graces , or that in those places he appoints his Name , that is , himself , specially to be invocated . 2. So that when God puts his Name in any place by a special manner , it signifies that there himself is in that manner : But in separate and hallowed places God hath expressed that he puts his Name with a purpose it should be called upon ; therefore in plain signification it is thus , In Consecrate places God himself is present to be invok'd , that is , there he is most delighted to hear the Prayers we make unto him . For all the expressions of Scripture , of God's 〈◊〉 , the Tabernacle of God , God's Dwellings , putting his Name there , his Sanctuary , are resolved into that saying of God to Solomon , who prayed that he would hear the Prayers of necessitous people in that place : God granting the request expressed it thus ; I have sanctified the House which thou hast built : that is , the House which thou hast designed for my Worship , I have designed for your Blessing ; what you have dedicated , I have accepted ; what you have consecrated , I have hallowed ; I have taken it to the same purpose to which your desires and designation pretended it in your first purposes and expence . So that since the purpose of man in separating places of Worship is , that thither by order and with convenience and in communities of men God may be worshipped and prayed unto , God having declared that he accepts of such separate places to the same purposes , says , that there he will be called upon , that such places shall be places of advantage to our Devotions in respect of humane order and Divine acceptance and benediction . 3. Now these are therefore God's Houses , because they were given by men , and accepted by God , for the service of God and the offices of Religion . And this is not the effect or result of any distinct Covenant God hath made with man in any period of the world , but it is merely a favour of God , either hearing the Prayer of Dedication , or complying with humane order or necessities . For there is nothing in the Covenant of Moses's Law that by virtue of special stipulation makes the assignment of a house for the service of God to be proper to Moses's rite . Not only because God had memorials and determinations of this manner of his Presence before Moses's Law , as at 〈◊〉 , where Jacob laid the first stone of the Church , ( nothing but a Stone was God's memorial ) and the beginning and first rudiments of a Temple ; but also because after Moses's Law was given , as long as the Nation was ambulatory , so were their places and instruments of Religion : and although the Ark was not confined to a place till Solomon's time , yet God was pleased in this manner to confine himself to the Ark ; and in all places where-ever his Name was put , even in Synagogues and Oratories and Threshing-floors , when they were hallowed with an Altar and Religion , thither God came , that is , there he heard them pray , and answered and blessed accordingly , still in proportion to that degree of Religion which was put upon them . And those places , when they had once entertained Religion , grew separate and sacred for ever . For therefore David bought the Threshing-floor of Araunah , that it might never return to common use any more : for it had been no trouble or inconvenience to Araunah to have used his floor for one solemnity ; but he offered to give it , and David resolved to buy it , because it must of necessity be aliened from common uses , to which it could never return any more when once it had been the instrument of a religious solemnity : and yet this was no part of Moses's Law , that every place of a temporary Sacrifice should be holy for ever . David had no guide in this but right Reason and the Religion of all the world . For such things which were great instruments of publick ends , and thing ; of highest use , were also in all societies of men of greatest honour , and immured by reverence and the security of Laws . For honour and reputation is not a thing inherent in any creature , but depends upon the estimate of God or men , who either in diffusion or representation become fountains of a derivative honour . Thus some Men are hohourable ; that is , those who are fountains of Honour in civil account have commanded that they shall be honoured . And so Places and Things are made honourable , that as honourable Persons are to be distinguished from others by honourable usages and circumstances proper to them , so also should Places and Things ( upon special reason separate ) have an usage proper to them , when by a publick Instrument or Minister they are so separated . No common usage then ; something proper to tell what they are , and to what purposes they are designed , and to signifie their separation and extraordinariness . Such are the Person of the Prince , the Archives and Records of a Kingdom , the Walls and great Defences of the Imperial City , the Eagles and Ensigns of war amongst the 〈◊〉 , and above all things , though not above all persons , the Temples and Altars , and all the instruments of Religion . And there is much reason in it . For thus a servant of a King , though his employment be naturally mean , yet is more honourable , because he relates to the most excellent person : and therefore much more those things which relate to God. And though this be the reason why it should be so ; yet for this and other reasons they that have power , that is , they who are acknowledged to be the fountains and the chanels of Honour , I mean the Supreme power , and publick fame have made it actually to be so . For whatsoever all wise men , and all good men , and all publick societies , and all supreme Authority hath commanded to be honoured or rever'd , that is honourable and reverend ; and this Honour and Reverence is to be expressed according to the Customs of the Nation , and instruments of honour proper to the nature of the thing or person respectively . Whatsoever is 〈◊〉 so is so ; because Honour and Noble separations are relative actions and terms , creatures and productions of Fame , and the voice of Princes , and the sense of people : and they who will not honour those things or those persons which are thus decreed to be honourable , have no communications with the civilities of humanity , or the guises of wise Nations ; they do not give honour to whom honour belongs . Now that which in civil account we call [ honourable , ] the same in religious account we call [ sacred : ] for by both these words we mean things or persons made separate and retired from common opinion and vulgar usages by reason of some excellency really inherent in them , ( such as are excellent men ; ) or for their relation to excellent persons , or great ends , publick or * religious , ( and so servants of Princes , and Ministers of Religion , and its Instruments and Utensils , are made honourable or sacred : ) and the expressions of their honour are all those actions and usages which are contrary to despite , and above the usage of vulgar Things or Places . ( (a) Whatsoever is sacred , that is honourable for its religious relation ; and whatsoever is honourable , that also is sacred ( that is , separate from the vulgar usages and account ) for its civil excellency or relation . The result is this , That when publick Authority , or the consent ( (b) of a Nation hath made any Place sacred for the uses of Religion , we must esteem it sacred , just as we esteem Persons honourable who are so honoured . And thus are Judges and the very places of Judicature , the King's Presence-chamber , the Chair of State , the Senate-house , the royal Ensigns of a Prince , whose Gold and Purple in its natural capacity hath in it no more dignity than the Money of the bank , or the Cloth of the Mart ; but it hath much more for its signification and relative use . And it is certain , these things whose excellency depends upon their relation must receive the degree of their Honour in that proportion they have to their term and foundation : and therefore what belongs to God ( as holy Places of Religion ) must rise highest in this account ; I mean higher than any other places . And this is besides the honour which God hath put upon them by his presence & his title to them , w ch in all Religions he hath signified to us . 4. Indeed among the Jews , as God had confined his Church and the rites of Religion to be used only in communion and participation with the Nation , so also he had limited his Presence , and was more sparing of it than in the time of the Gospel his Son declared he would be . It was said of old , that at Jerusalem men ought to worship , that is , by a solemn , publick and great address in the capital expresses of Religion , in the distinguishing rites of Liturgy ; for else it had been no new thing . For in ordinary Prayers God was then , and long before , pleased to hear Jeremy in the dungeon , Manasses in prison , Daniel in the Lion's den , Jonas in the belly of the deep , and in the offices yet more solemn in the Proseuchae , in the houses of prayer which the Jews had , not only in their dispersion , but even in Palestine , for their diurnal and nocturnal offices . But when the Holy Jesus had broken down the partition-wall , then the most solemn Offices of Religion were as unlimited as their private Devotions were before ; for where-ever a Temple should be built , thither God would come , if he were worshipped spirituallly and in truth , that is , according to the rites of Christ , ( who is Grace and Truth ) and the dictate of the Spirit , and analogy of the Gospel . All places were now alike to build Churches in , or Memorials for God , God's houses . And that our Blessed Saviour discourses of places of publick Worship to the woman of Samaria is notorious , because the whole question was concerning the great addresses of Moses's rites , whether at Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim , which were the places of the right and the 〈◊〉 Temple , the 〈◊〉 of the whole Religion : and in antithesis Jesus said , Nor here nor there shall be the solemnities of address to God , but in all places you may build a Temple , and God will dwell in it . 5. And this hath descended from the first beginnings of Religion down to the consummation of it in the perfections of the Gospel . For the Apostles of our Lord carried the Offices of the Gospel into the Temple of Jerusalem , there they preached and prayed , and payed Vows , but never , that we read of , offered Sacrifice : which 〈◊〉 , that the Offices purely Evangelical were proper to be done in any of God's proper places , and that thither they went not in compliance with Moses's Rites , but merely for Gospel-duties , or for such Offices which were common to Moses and Christ , such as were Prayers and Vows . While the Temple was yet standing they had peculiar places for the Assemblies of the faithful , where either by accident , or observation , or Religion , or choice , they met regularly . And I instance in the house of John surnamed Mark , which , as Alexander reports in the life of S. Barnabas , was consecrated by many actions of Religion , by our Blessed Saviour's eating the 〈◊〉 , his Institution of the holy Eucharist , his Farewell-Sermon ; and the Apostles met there in the Octaves of Easter , whither Christ came again , and hallowed it with his presence ; and there , to make up the relative Sanctification complete , the Holy Ghost descended upon their heads in the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 : and this was erected into a fair 〈◊〉 , and is mentioned as a famous Church by S. Jerome and V. Bede ; in which , as 〈◊〉 adds , S. Peter preached that 〈◊〉 which was miraculoasly prosperous in the Conversion of three thousand ; there S. James Brother of our Lord was 〈◊〉 first Bishop of Jerusalem , S. Stephen and the other six were there ordained Deacons ; there the Apostles kept their first Council , and 〈◊〉 their Creed : by these actions and their frequent conventions shewing the same reason , order and prudence of Religion in 〈◊〉 of special places of Divine service , which were ever observed by all the Nations , and Religions , and wise men of the world . And it were a strange imagination to 〈◊〉 that in Christian Religion there is any principle contrary to that wisdom or God and all the world , which for order , for necessity , for convenience , for the solemnity of Worship , hath set apart Places for God and for Religion . Private Prayer had always an unlimited residence and relation , even under Moses's Law ; but the publick solemn Prayer of 〈◊〉 in the Law of Moses was restrained to one Temple : In the Law of Nature it was not confined to one , but yet determined to publick and solemn places ; and when the Holy Jesus disparked the inclosures of Moses , we all returned to the permissions and liberty of the Natural Law , in which although the publick and solemn Prayers were confined to a Temple , yet the Temple was not consined to a place ; but they might be any-where , so they were at all ; instruments of order , conveniences of assembling , residences of Religion : and God , who always loved order , and was apt to hear all holy and prudent Prayers , ( and therefore also the Prayers of Consecration ) hath often declared that he loves such Places , that he will dwell in them ; not that they are advantages to him , but that he is pleased to make them so to us . And therefore all Nations of the world built publick Houses for Religion ; and since all Ages of the Church * did so too , it had need be a strong and a convincing argument that must shew they were deceived . And if any man list to be 〈◊〉 , he must be answered with S. Paul's reproof , We have no such custom , nor the Churches of God. 6. Thus S. Paul reproved the Corinthians for despising the Church of God by such uses , which were therefore unsit for God's , because they were proper for their own , that is , for common houses . And although they were at first and in the descending Ages so afflicted by the tyranny of enemies , that they could not build many Churches ; yet some they did , and the Churches themselves suffered part of the persecution . For so 〈◊〉 reports , that when under Severus and Gordianus , 〈◊〉 and Galienus , the Christian affairs were in a tolerable condition , they built Churches in great number and expence . But when the Persecution waxed hot under Diocletian , down went the Churches , upon a design to extinguish or disadvantage the Religion . Maximinus gave leave to re-build them . Upon which Rescript ( saith the story ) the Christians were overjoyed , and raised them up to an incredible height and * incomparable beauty . This was Christian Religion then , and so it hath continued-ever since , and , unless we should have new reason and new revelation , it must continue so till our Churches are exchanged for Thrones , and our Chappels for seats placed before the Lamb in the eternal Temple of celestial Jerusalem . 7. And to this purpose it is observed , that the Holy Jesus first ejected the Beasts of Sacrifice out of the Temple , and then proclaimed the Place holy , and the scene of representing Prayers , which in type intimates the same thing which is involved in the expression of the next words , My House shall be called the House of Prayer to all Nations ; now and for ever , to the Jews and to the Gentiles , in all circumstances and variety of Time and Nation , God's Houses are holy in order to holy uses ; the time as unlimited as the * Nations were indefinite and universal . Which is the more observable , because it was of the outward Courts , not whither Moses's Rites alone were admitted , but the natural Devotion of Jews and Gentile-Proselytes , that Christ affirmed it to be holy , to be the House of God , and the place of Prayer . So that the Religion of publick places of Prayer is not a Rite of Levi , but a natural and prudent circumstance and advantage of Religion in which all wise men agree , who therefore must have some common principle with influence upon all the World which must be the univocal cause of the consent of all men : which common principle must either be a dictate of natural or prime Reason , or else some Tradition from the first Parents of mankind ; which because it had order in it , beauty , Religion , and confirmation from Heaven , and no reason to contest against it , it hath surprised the understanding and practices of all Nations . And indeed we find that even in Paradise God had that which is analogical to a Church , a distinct place where he manifested himself present in proper manner : For Adam and Eve , when they had sinned , hid themselves from the Presence of the Lord ; and this was the word in all descent of the Church , for the being of God in holy places , the Presence of the Lord was there . And probably when Adam from this intimation , or a greater direction , had taught Cain and Abel to offer sacrifice to God in a certain place , where they were observed of each in their several Offerings , it became one of the rules of Religion which was derived to their posterity by tradition , the only way they had to communicate the dictates of Divine commandment . 8. There is no more necessary to be added in behalf of Holy Places , and to assert them into the family and relatives of Religion ; our estimate and deportment towards them is matter of practice , and therefore of proper consideration . To which purpose I consider , that Holy Places being the residence of God's Name upon earth , there where he hath put it , that by fiction of Law it may be the * sanctuary and the last resort in all calamities and need , God hath sent his Agents to possess them in person for him . Churches and Oratories are regions and courts of Angels , and they are there not only to minister to the Saints , but also they possess them in the right of God. There they are : so the greatest and Prince of Spirits tells us , the Holy Ghost ; I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne , and his train filled the Temple ; Above it stood the Seraphim ; that was God's train , and therefore holy David knew that his addresses to God were in the presence of Angels : I will praise thee with my whole heart , before the gods will i sing praise unto thee : * before the Angels , so it is in the Septuagint And that we might know where or how the Kingly worshipper would pay this adoration , he adds , I will worship towards thy holy 〈◊〉 . And this was so known by him , that it became expressive of God's manner of presence in Heaven : The Chariots of God are twenty thousand , even thousands of Angels , and the Lord is among them as in Sinai , in the holy place ; God in the midst of Angels , and the Angels in the midst of the 〈◊〉 place ; and God in Heaven in the midst of that holy circle , as 〈◊〉 as he is amongst Angels in the recesses of his Sanctuary . Were the rudiments of the Law worthy of an attendance of Angels ? and are the memorials of the Gospel destitute of so brave a retinue ? Did the beatisied Spirits wait upon the Types ? and do 〈◊〉 decline the office at the ministration of the Substance ? Is the nature of Man made worse since the Incarnation of the Son of God ? and have the Angels purchased an exemption from their ministery since Christ became our brother ? We have little reason to think so : And therefore S. Paul still makes use of the argument to press women to modesty and humility in Churches , because of the Angels . And upon the same stock S. Chrysostome chides the people of his Diocese for walking , and laughing , and prating in Churches : The Church is not a shop of manufactures or merchandise , but the place of Angels and of Archangels , the Court of God , and the image or representment of Heaven it self . 9. For if we consider that Christianity is something more than ordinary , that there are Mysteries in our Religion and in none else , that God's Angels are ministring spirits for 〈◊〉 good , and especially about the conveyances of our Prayers ; either we must think very low of Christianity , or that greater things are in it than the presence of Angels in our Churches : and yet if there were no more , we should do well to behave our selves there with the thoughts and apprehensions of Heaven about us ; always remembring , that our business there is an errand of Religion , and God is the object of our Worshippings ; and therefore although by our weakness we are fixt in the lowness of men , yet because God's infinity is our object , it were very happy if our actions did bear some few degrees of a proportionable and commensurate address . 10. Now that the Angels are there in the right of God , and are a manner and an exhibition of the Divine Presence , is therefore certain , because when-ever it is said in the Old Testament that God appeared , it was by an Angel ; and the Law it self , in the midst of all the glorious terrors of its manisestation , was ordained by Angels , and a word spoken by Angels ; and yet God is said to have descended upon the Mount : and in the greatest glory that ever shall be revealed till the consummation of all things , the instrument of the Divine splendour is the apparition of Angels ; for when the Holy Jesus shall come in the glory of his Father , it is added by way of explication , that is , with an 〈◊〉 of Angels . 11. The result is those words of God to his people , Reverence my 〈◊〉 . For what God loves in an especial manner , it is most fit we should esteem accordingly . God loves the gates of Sion more than all the 〈◊〉 of Jacob. The least turf of hallowed glebe is with God himself of more value than all the Champain of common possession ; it is better in all sences : The Temple is better than gold , said our Blessed Saviour ; and therefore it were well we should do that which is expressed in the command of giving reverence to it , for we are too apt to pay undue devotions to gold . Which precept the holiest of that Nation expressed by worshipping towards the Sanctuary , by * pulling off their shoes when they went into it , by making it the determination of their Religious addresses , by falling down low upon the earth in their accesses , by opening their windows towards it in their private Devotions , by calling it the glory of their Nation ; as is certain in the instances of David , Daniel , and the wife of Phinehas . I shall not need to say , that the devouter Christians in the first Ages did worship God with solemnities of address when-ever they entred into their Oratories . It was a civility Jesus commanded his Disciples to use to common houses , When ye enter into a house , salute it : I suppose he means the dwellers in it . And it is certain , what-ever those devouter people did in their religious approaches , they designed it to God , who was the Major-domo , the Master of those Assemblies : and thus did the convinced Christian in S. Paul's discourse , when he came into the Church where they were prophesying in a known language ; The secrets of his heart are made manifest , and so falling down on his face he will worship God. 12. It was no unhandsome expression of reverencing God's Sanctuary , that pious people ever used in bestowing costly and 〈◊〉 Ornaments upon it : for so all the Christians did ; as soon as themselves came from contempt and scorn , they raised Christian Oratories to an equal portion of their honour ; and by this way they thought they did honour to God , who was the Numen of the place . Not that a rich house or costly Offertory is better in respect of God , for to him all is alike , save that in equal abilities our Devotion is distinguished by them ; and be the Offering never so contemptible , it is a rich Devotion that gives the best we have : because although if all the wealth of the Levant were united into a Present , it were short of God's infinity ; yet such an Offertory , or any best we have , makes demonstration , that if we had an Offering infinitely better , we should give it , to express our love and our belief of God's infinite merit and perfection . And therefore let not the widow's two mites become a Precedent to the instance and value of our Donation ; and because she , who gave no more , was accepted , think that two farthings is as fit to be cast into the Corban as two thousand pound . For the reason why our Blessed Saviour commended the Widow's oblation was for the greatness of it , not the smallness ; she gave all she had , even all her living , therefore she was accepted . And indeed since God gives to us more than enough , beyond our necessities , much for our conveniency , much for ease , much for repute , much for publick compliances , for variety , for content , for pleasure , for ornament ; we should deal unworthily with God Almighty , if we limit and restrain our returns to him , by confining them within the narrow bounds of mere necessity . Certainly beggerly services and cheapness is not more pleasing to God than a rich and magnificent address . To the best of Essences the best of Presents is most proportionable : and although the service of the Soul and Spirit is most delectable and esteemed by God ; yet because our Souls are served by things perishing and material , and we are of that constitution , that by the Body we serve the Spirit , and by both we serve God , as the Spirit is chiefly to be offered to God , because it is better than the Body , so the richest Oblation is the best in an equal power and the same person , because it is the best of things material : and although it hath not the excellency of the Spirit , it hath an excellency that a cheap Oblation hath not ; and besides the advantage of the natural value , it can no otherwise be spoiled than a meaner Offering may , it is always capable of the same commendation from the Piety of the presenter's spirit , and may be as much purified and made holy as the cheaper or the more contemptible . God hath no-where expressed that he accepts of a cheaper Offering , but when we are not able to give him better . When the people brought Offerings more than enough for the Tabernacle , Moses restrained their forwardness , by saying it was enough , but yet commended the disposition highly , and wished it might be perpetual : But God chid the people when they let his House lie waste without reparation of its decaying beauty ; and therefore sent famines upon the Land and a curse into their estate because they would not by giving a portion to Religion sanctifie and secure all the rest . For the way for a man to be a saver by his Religion is to deposite one part of his estate in the Temple , and one in the hands of the Poor ; for these are God's treasury and stewards respectively : and this is laying up treasures in Heaven ; and besides that it will procure blessing to other parts , it will help to save our Souls ; and that 's good husbandry , that 's worth the saving . 13. For I consider that those riches and beauties in Churches and Religious solemnities , which add nothing to God , add much Devotion to us , and much honour and efficacy to Devotion . For since impression is made upon the Soul by the intervening of corporal things , our Religion and Devotion of the Soul receives the addition of many degrees by such instruments . Insomuch that we see persons of the greatest fancy , and such who are most pleased with outward fairnesses , are most Religious . Great Understandings make Religion lasting and reasonable ; but great Fancies make it more scrupulous , strict , operative , and effectual . And therefore it is strange , that we shall bestow such great expences to make our own houses convenient and delectable , that we may entertain our selves with complacency and appetite ; and yet think that Religion is not worth the ornament , nor our fancies fit to be carried into the choice and prosecution of religious actions with sweetness , entertainments , and fair propositions . If we say that God is not the better for a rich House or a costly service : we may also remember that neither are we the better for rich Cloaths ; and the Sheep will keep us as modest , as warm , and as clean as the Silk-worm ; and a Gold chain or a carkenet of Pearl does no more contribute to our happiness than it does to the service of Religion . For if we reply , that they help to the esteem and reputation of our Persons , and the distinction of them from the vulgar , from the servants of the lot of Issachar , and add reverence and veneration to us : how great a shame is it , if we study by great expences to get reputation and accidental advantages to our selves , and not by the same means to purchase reverence and esteem to Religion , since we see that Religion amongst persons of ordinary understandings receives as much external and accidental advantages by the accession of exteriour ornaments and accommodation , as we our selves can by rich cloaths and garments of wealth , ceremony and distinction ? And as in Princes Courts the reverence to Princes is quickened and encreased by an outward state and glory ; so also it is in the service of God : although the Understandings of men are no more satisfied by a pompous magnificence than by a cheap plainness ; yet the Eye is , and the Fancy , and the Affections , and the Senses ; that is , many of our Faculties are more pleased with Religion , when Religion by such instruments and conveyances pleases them . And it was noted by Sozomen concerning Valens the Arrian Emperor , that when he came to Caesarea in Cappadocia he praised S. Basil their Bishop , and upon more easie terms revoked his Banishment , * because he was a grave person , and did his holy Offices with reverent and decent addresses , and kept his Church-assemblies with much ornament and solemnity . 14. But when I consider that saying of S. Gregory , that the Church is Heaven within the Tabernacle , Heaven dwelling among the sons of men , and remember that God hath studded all the Firmament and paved it with stars , because he loves to have his House beauteous , and highly representative of his glory ; I see no reason we should not do as Apollinaris says God does , In earth do the works of Heaven . For he is the God of beauties and perfections , and every excellency in the Creature is a portion of influence from the Divinity , and therefore is the best instrument of conveying honour to him who made them for no other end but for his own honour , as the last resort of all other ends for which they were created . 15. But the best manner to reverence the Sanctuary is by the continuation of such actions which gave it the first title of Holiness . Holiness becometh thine House for ever , said David : Sancta sanc̄tis , Holy persons and holy rites in holy places ; that as it had the first relation of Sanctity by the consecration of a holy and reverend Minister and President of Religion , so it may be perpetuated in holy Offices , and receive the daily consecration by the assistance of sanctified and religious persons . Foris canes , dogs and criminal persons are unfit for Churches ; the best ornament and beauty of a Church is a holy Priest and a sanctified people . * For since Angels dwell in Churches , and God hath made his Name to dwell there too ; if there also be a holy people , that there be Saints as well as Angels , it is a holy fellowship and a blessed communion : But to see a Devil there , would scare the most confident and bold fancy , and disturb the good meeting ; and such is every wicked and graceless person : Have I not chosen twelve of you , and one of you is a Devil ? An evil Soul is an evil spirit , and such are no good ornaments for Temples : and it is a shame that a goodly Christian Church should be like an Egyptian Temple ; without , goodly buildings , within , a Dog or a Cat for the Deity they adore : It is worse , if in our addresses to Holy Places and Offices we bear our Lusts under our garments . For Dogs and Cats are of God's making , but our Lusts are not , but are God's enemies ; and therefore , besides the Unholiness , it is an affront to God to bring them along , and it defiles the place in a great degree . 16. For there is a defiling of a Temple by insinuation of impurities , and another by direct and positive profanation , and a third by express Sacriledge : This defiles a Temple to the ground . Every small sin is an unwelcome guest , and is a spot in those Feasts of Charity which entertain us often in God's Houses : but there are some ( and all great crimes are such ) which desecrate the place , unhallow the ground , as to our particulars , stop the ascent of our Prayers , obstruct the current of God's blessing , turn Religion into bitterness , and Devotion into gall ; such as are marked in Scripture with a distinguishing character , as enemies to the peculiar dispositions of Religion : And such are Unchastity , which defiles the Temples of our Bodies ; Covetousness , which sets up an Idol in stead of God ; and Unmercifulness , which is a direct enemy to the Mercies of God , and the fair return of our Prayers . He that shews not the mercies of Alms , of Forgiveness and Comfort , is forbid to hope for comfort , relief or forgiveness from the hands of God. * A pure Mind is the best manner of worship , and the impurity of a crime is the greatest contradiction to the honour and religion of Holy Places . And therefore let us imitate the Precedent of the most religious of Kings , ( a ) I will wash my hands in innocency , O Lord , and so will I go to thine Altar ; always remembring those decretory and final words of ( b ) S. Paul , He that defiles a Temple , him will God destroy . The PRAYER . O Eternal God , who dwellest not in Temples made with hands , the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain thee , and yet thou art pleased to manifest thy presence amongst the sons of men by special issues of thy favour and benediction ; make my Body and Soul to be a Temple pure and holy , apt for the entertainments of the Holy Jesus , and for the habitation of the Holy Spirit . Lord , be pleased with thy rod of paternal discipline to cast out all impure Lusts , all worldly affections , all covetous desires from this thy Temple , that it may be a place of Prayer and Meditation , of holy appetites and chaste thoughts , of pure intentions and zealous desires of pleasing thee ; that I may become also a Sacrifice as well as a Temple , eaten up with the zeal of thy glory , and consumed with the fire of love ; that not one thought may be entertained by me but such as may be like perfume breathing from the Altar of Incense , and not a word may pass from me but may have the accent of Heaven upon it , and sound pleasantly in thy ears . O dearest God , fill every Faculty of my Soul with impresses , dispositions , capacities and aptnesses of Religion ; and do thou hallow my Soul , that I may be possest with zeal and religious affections , loving thee above all things in the world , worshipping thee with the humblest adorations and frequent addresses , continually feeding upon the apprehensions of thy divine sweetness , and consideration of thy infinite excellencies , and observations of thy righteous Commandments , and the feast of a holy Conscience , as an antepast of Eternity , and consignation to the joys of Heaven , through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen . SECT . XII . Of JESVS's departure into Galilee ; his manner of Life , Miracles , and Preaching ; his calling of Disciples ; and what happened until the Second Passeover . Jesus and the Woman of Samaria Joh. 4. 5 , 6. 7. He cometh to a City of Samaria called Sychar : now Iacob's well was there . There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water . Iesus saith etc. For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meat V. 27. His disciples came & marvelled y t he talked with the woman , yet no man said , what seekest thou ? or , why talkest thou with her ? The Samaritans coming to Jesus V. 28. The woman left her water pot & went her way into the city , & saith to the men , Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did : is not this the Christ ? Then they went out of the city , & came unto him . V. 39. Many of the Samaritans beleived on him , for the saying of the woman ; & when they were come to him , many more believed because of his own word . 1. WHen Jesus understood that John was cast into prison , and that the Pharisees were envious at him for the great multitudes of people that resorted to his Baptism , which he ministred not in his own person , but by the deputation of his Disciples , they finishing the ministration which himself began , ( who , as Euodins Bishop of Antioch reports , baptized the Blessed Virgin his Mother ther and Peter only , and Peter baptized Andrew , James and John , and they others ) he left Judaea , and came into Galilee ; and in his passage he must touch Sychar a City of Samaria , where in the heat of the day and the weariness of his journey he sate himself down upon the margent of Jacob's Well ; whither , when his Disciples were gone to buy meat , a Samaritan woman cometh to draw water , of whom Jesus asked some to cool his thirst , and refresh his weariness . 2. Little knew the woman the excellency of the person that asked so small a charity ; neither had she been taught , that a cup of cold water given to a Disciple should be rewarded , and much rather such a present to the Lord himself . But she prosecuted * the spite of her Nation , and the interest and quarrel of the Schism ; and in stead of washing Jesus's feet , and giving him drink , demanded , why he being a Jew should ask water of a Samaritan : for the Jews have no intercourse with the Samaritans . 3. The ground of the quarrel was this . In the sixth year of Hezekiah Salmanasar King of Assyria sacked Samaria , transported the Israelites to Assyria , and planted an Assyrian Colony in the Town and Country , who by Divine vengeance were destroyed by Lions , which no power of man could restrain or lessen . The King thought the cause was , their not serving the God of Israel according to the Rites of Moses ; and therefore sent a Jewish captive Priest to instruct the remanent inhabitants in the Jewish Religion ; who so learned and practised it , that they still retained the Superstition of the Gentile rites ; till Manasses , the Brother of Jaddi the high Priest at Jerusalem , married the daughter of Sanballat , who was the Governour under King Darius . Manasses being reproved for marrying a stranger , the daughter of an uncircumcised Gentile , and admonished to dismiss her , flies to Samaria , perswades his Father-in-law to build a Temple in Mount Gerizim , introduces the Rites of daily Sacrifice , and makes himself high Priest , and began to pretend to be the true successor of Aaron , and commences a Schism in the time of Alexander the Great . From whence the Question of Religion grew so high , that it begat disassections , anger , animosities , quarrels , bloudshed and murthers , not only in Palestine , but where ever a Jew and Samaritan had the ill fortune to meet : Such being the nature of men , that they think it the greatest injury in the world when other men are not of their minds ; and that they please God most when they are most furiously zealous ; and no zeal better to be expressed than by hating all those whom they are pleased to think God hates . This Schism was prosecuted with the greatest spite that ever any was , because both the people were much given to Superstition ; and this was helped forward by the constitution of their Religion , consisting much in externals and Ceremonials , and which they cared not much to hallow and make moral by the intertexture of spiritual senses and Charity . And therefore the Jews called the Samaritans accursed ; the Samaritans at the Paschal solemnity would at midnight , when the Jews Temple was open , scatter dead mens bones to profane and desecrate the place ; and both would fight , and eternally dispute the Question : sometimes referring it to Arbitrators , and then the conquered party would decline the Arbitration after sentence ; which they did at Alexandria before Ptolemaeus Philometor , when Andronicus had by a rare and exquisite Oration procured sentence against Theodosius and Sabbaeus , the Samaritan Advocates : The sentence was given for Jerusalem , and the Schism increased , and lasted till the time of our Saviour's conference with this woman . 4. And it was so implanted and woven in with every understanding , that when the woman perceived Jesus to be a Prophet , she undertook this Question with him : Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain ; and ye say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship . Jesus knew the Schism was great enough already , and was not willing to make the rent wider : and though he gave testimony to the truth by saying , Salvation is of the Jews ; and we know what we worship , ye do not ; yet because the subject of this Question was shortly to be taken away , Jesus takes occasion to preach the Gospel , to hasten an expedient , and by way of anticipation to reconcile the disagreeing interests , and settle a revelation to be verified for ever . Neither here nor there by way of confinement , not in one Countrey more than another , but where-ever any man shall call upon God in spirit and truth , there he shall be heard . 5. But all this while the Holy Jesus was athirst , and therefore hastens at least to discourse of water , though as yet he got none . He tells her of living water , of eternal satisfactions , of never thirsting again , of her own personal condition , of matrimonial relation , and professes himself to be the Messias : And then was interrupted by the coming of his Disciples , who wondred to see him alone talking with a woman , besides his custom and usual reservation . But the Woman full of joy and wonder left her water-pot , and ran to the City , to publish the Messias : and immediately all the City came out to see , and many believed on him upon the testimony of the Woman , and more when they heard his own discourses . They invited him to the Town , and received him with hospitable civilities for two days , after which he departed to his own Galilee . 6. Jesus therefore came into the Countrey , where he was received with respect and fair entertainment , because of the Miracles which the Galileans saw done by him at the Feast ; and being at Cana , where he wrought the first Miracle , a Noble personage , a little King say some , a Palatine says S. Hierome , a Kingly person certainly , came to Jesus with much reverence , and desire that he would be pleased to come to his house , and cure his Son now ready to die ; which he seconds with much importunity , fearing left his Son be dead before he get thither . Jesus , who did not do his Miracles by natural operations , cured the child at distance , and dismissed the Prince , telling him his Son lived ; which by narration of his servants he found to be true , and that he recovered at the same time when Jesus spake these'salutary and healing words . Upon which accident he and all his house became Disciples . 7. And now Jesus left Nazareth , and came to Capernaum , a maritime Town , and of great resort , chusing that for his scene of Preaching , and his place of dwelling . For now the time was fulfilled , the office of the Baptist was expired , and the Kingdom of God was at hand . He therefore preached the summ of the Gospel , Faith and Repentance , Repent ye , and believe the Gospel . And what that Gospel was , the summ and series of all his Sermons afterwards did declare . 8. The work was now grown high and pregnant , and Jesus saw it convenient to chuse Disciples to his ministery and service in the work of Preaching , and to be witnesses of all that he should say , do or teach , for ends which were afterwards made publick and excellent . Jesus therefore , as he walked by the Sea of Galilee , called Simon and Andrew , who knew him before by the preaching of John , and now left all , their ship and their net , and followed him . And when he was gone a little farther , he calls the two sons of Zebedee , James and John ; and they went after him . And with this family he goes up and down the whole Galilee , preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom , healing all manner of diseases , curing Demoniacks , cleansing Lepers , and giving strength to Paralyticks and lame people . 9. But when the people pressed on him to hear the word of God ; he stood by the Lake of Genesareth , and presently entring into Simon 's ship , commanded him to lanch into the deep , and from thence he taught the people , and there wrought a Miracle ; for , being Lord of the Creatures , he commanded the fishes of the sea , and they obeyed . For when Simon , who had fished all night in vain , let down his net at the command of Jesus , he inclosed so great a multitude of fishes , that the Net brake , and the fishermen were amazed and fearful at so prodigious a draught . But beyond the Miracle it was intended , that a representation should be made of the plenitude of the Catholick Church , and multitudes of Believers who should be taken by Simon and the rest of the Disciples , whom by that Miracle he consign'd to become fishers of men ; who by their artifices of prudence and holy Doctrine might gain Souls to God , that when the Net should be drawn to shore , and separation made by the Angels , they and their Disciples might be differenced from the reprobate portion . 10. But the light of the Sun uses not to be confined to a Province or a Kingdom ; so great a Prophet , and so divine a Physician , and so great Miracles created a same loud as thunder , but not so full of sadness and presage . Immediately the fame of Jesus went into all Syria , and there came to him multitudes from Galilee , Decapolis , Jerusalem and Judaea . And all that had any sick with divers deseases brought them to him ; and he laid his hands on every one of them , and healed them . And when he cured the Lunaticks and persons possessed with evil spirits , the Devils cried out and confessed him to be CHRIST the Son of God ; but he suffered them not , chusing rather to work Faith in the perswasions of his Disciples by moral arguments and the placid demonstrations of the Spirit , that there might in Faith be an excellency in proportion to the choice , and that it might not be made violent by the conviction and forced testimonies of accursed and unwilling spirits . 11. But when Jesus saw his assembly was grown full , and his audience numerous , he went up into a mountain , and when his Disciples came unto him , he made that admirable Sermon , called the Sermon upon the Mount ; which is a Divine repository of such excellent Truths and mysterious Dictates of secret Theology , that contains a Breviary of all those Precepts which integrate the Morality of Christian Religion ; pressing the Moral Precepts given by Moses , and enlarging their obligation by a stricter sence and more severe exposition , that their righteousness might exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ; preaches Perfection , and the doctrines of Meekness , Poverty of spirit , Christian mourning , desire of holy things , Mercy and Purity , Peace and toleration of injuries ; affixing a special promise of blessing to be the guerdon and inheritance of those Graces and spiritual excellencies . He explicates some parts of the Decalogue , and adds appendices and precepts of his own . He teaches his Disciples to Pray , how to Fast , how to give Alms , contempt of the world , not to judge others , forgiving injuries , an indifferency and incuriousness of temporal provisions , and a seeking of the Kingdom of God and its appendent righteousness . 12. When Jesus had finished his Sermon , and descended from the mountain , a poor leprous person came and worshipped , and begged to be cleansed ; which Jesus soon granted , engaging him not to publish it where he should go abroad , but sending him to the Priest to offer an oblation according to the Rites of Moses's Law ; and then came directly to Capernaum , and taught in their Synagogues upon the Sabbath-days : where in his Sermons he expressed the dignity of a Prophet , and the authority of a person sent from God , not inviting the people by the soft arguments and insinuations of Scribes and Pharisees , but by demonstrations and issues of Divinity . There he cures a Demoniack in one of their Synagogues , and by and by after going abroad he heals Peter's wives 〈◊〉 of a Fever ; insomuch that he grew the talk of all men and their wonder , till they flocked so to him to see him , to hear him , to satisfie their curiosity and their needs , that after he had healed those multitudes which beset the house of Simon , where he cured his Mother of the Fever , he retired himself into a desert place very early in the morning , that he might have an opportunity to pray , free from the oppressions and noises of the multitude . 13. But neither so could he be hid , but , like a light shining by the fringes of a curtain , he was soon discovered in his solitude ; for the multitude found him out , imprisoning him in their circuits and undeniable attendances . But Jesus told them plainly , he must preach the Gospel to other Cities also , and therefore resolved to pass to the other side of the Lake of Genesareth , so to quit the throng . Whither as he was going , a Scribe offered himself a Disciple to his Institution ; till Jesus told him his condition to be worse than foxes and birds , for whom an habitation is provided , but none for him , no not a place where to bow his head and find rest . And what became of this forward Professor afterward we find not . Others that were Probationers of this fellowship Jesus bound to a speedy profession , not suffering one to go home to bid his Friends farewell , nor another so much as to bury his dead . 14. By the time Jesus got to the Ship it was late , and he , heavy to sleep , rested on a pillow , and slept soundly , as weariness , meekness , and innocence could make him ; insomuch that a violent storm , the chiding of the winds and waters , which then happened , could not awake him ; till the ship being almost covered with broken billows and the impetuous dashings of the waters , the men already sunk in their spirits , and the ship like enough to sink too , the Disciples awaked him , and called for help : Master , carest thou not that we perish ? Jesus arising reproved their infidelity , commanded the wind to be still and the seas peaceable , and immediately there was a great calm ; and they presently arrived in the land of the Gergesenes or Gerasenes . 15. In the land of Gergesites or Gergesenes , which was the remaining name of an extinct people , being one of the Nations whom the sons of Jacob drave from their inheritance , there were two Cities ; Gadara from the tribe of Gad , to whom it fell by lot in the Division of the Land , ( which , having been destroyed by the Jews , was rebuilt by Pompey at the request of Demetrius Gadarensis , Pompey's freed man ) and near to it was Gerasa , as Josephus reports : which diversity of Towns and names is the cause of the various recitation of this story by the Evangelists . Near the City of Gadara there were many sepulchres in the hollownesses of rocks , where the dead were buried , and where many superstitious persons used Memphitick and Thessalick rites , invocating evil spirits ; insomuch that at the instant of our Saviour's arrival in the Countrey there met him two possessed with Devils from these tombs , exceeding fierce , and so had been long , insomuch that no man durst pass that way . 16. Jesus commanded the Devils out of the possessed persons : but there were certain men feeding swine , which though extremely abominated by the Jewish Religion , yet for the use of the Roman armies and quarterings of souldiers they were permitted , and divers priviledges * granted to the Masters of such herds : and because Gadara was a Greek City , and the company mingled of Greeks , Syrians and Jews , these last in all likelihood not making the greatest number ; the Devils therefore besought Jesus , he would not send them into the abysse , but permit them to enter into the Swine . He gave them leave ; and the swine ran violently down a steep place into the hot baths , which were at the foot of the hill on which Gadara was built , ( which smaller congregation of waters the Jews used to call [ Sea ; ] ) or else , as others think , into the Lake of Genesareth , and perished in the waters . But this accident so troubled the inhabitants , that they came and intreated Jesus to depart out of their coasts . And he did so ; leaving Galilee of the Gentiles , he came to the lesser Galilee , and so again to the City of Capernaum . 17. But when he was come thither , he was met by divers Scribes and Pharisees , who came from Jerusalem , and Doctors of the Law from Galilee ; and while they were sitting in a house , which was encompassed with multitudes , that no business or necessity could be admitted to the door , a poor Paralytick was brought to be cured , and they were fain to uncover the tiles of the house , and let him down in his bed with cords in the midst before Jesus sitting in conference with the Doctors . When Jesus saw their Faith , he said , Man , thy sins be forgiven thee . At which saying the Pharisees being troubled , thinking it to be blasphemy , and that none but God could forgive sins ; Jesus was put to 〈◊〉 his absolution , which he did in a just satisfaction and proportion to their understandings . For the Jews did believe that all afflictions were punishments 〈◊〉 sin ; ( Who sinned , this man or his Father , that he was born blind ? ) and that removing of the punishment was forgiving of the sin . And therefore Jesus , to prove that his sins were forgiven , removed that which they supposed to be the effect of his sin , and by curing the Palsie prevented their farther murmur about the Pardon ; That ye might know the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins , ( he saith to the sick of the Palsie , ) Arise , take up thy bed , and walk . And the man arose , was healed , and glorified God. 18. A while after Jesus went again toward the Sea , and on his way , seeing Matthew the Publican sitting at the receit of custom , he bad him follow him . Matthew first feasted Jesus , and then became his Disciple . But the Pharisees that were with him began to be troubled that he ate with Publicans and sinners . For the office of Publican , though amongst the Romans it was honest and of great account , and * the flower of the Roman Knights , the ornament of the City , the security of the Commonwealth , was accounted to consist in the society of Publicans ; yet amongst both the (a) Jews and Greeks the name was odious , and the persons were accursed : not only because they were strangers that were the chief of them , who took in to them some of the Nation where they were imployed ; but because the Jews especially stood upon the Charter of their Nation and the priviledge of their Religion , that none of them should pay tribute ; and also because they exercised great injustices and (b) oppressions , having a power unlimited , and a covetousness wide as hell , and greedy as the fire or the grave . But Jesus gave so fair an account concerning his converse with these persons , that the Objection turned to be his Apology : for therefore he conversed with them because they were sinners ; and it was as if a Physician should be reproved for having so much to do with sick persons ; for therefore was he sent , not to call the righteous , but sinners , to Repentance , to advance the reputation of Mercy above the rites of Sacrifice . 19. But as the little bubbling and gentle murmurs of the water are presages of a Storm , and are more troublesome in their prediction than their violence : so were the arguings of the Pharisees symptoms of a secret displeasure and an ensuing war ; though at first represented in the civilities of Question and scholastical 〈◊〉 , yet they did but fore-run vigorous objections and bold calumnies , which were the fruits of the next Summer . But as yet they discoursed fairly , asking him why John's Disciples fasted often , but the Disciples of Jesus did not fast . Jesus told them , it was because these were the days in which the Bridëgroom was come in person to espouse the Church unto himself ; and therefore for the children of the bride-chamber to fast then , was like the bringing of a dead corps to the joys of a Bride or the pomps of Coronation ; the days should come , that the Bridegroom should retire into his chamber and draw the curtains , and then they should fast in those days . 20. While Jesus was discoursing with the Pharisees , Jairus , a Ruler of the Synagogue , came to him , desiring he would help his Daughter , who lay in the confines of death ready to depart . Whither as he was going , a woman met him who had been diseased with an issue of bloud twelve years , without hope of remedy from art or nature ; and therefore she runs to Jesus , thinking , without precedent , upon the confident perswasions of a holy Faith , that if she did but touch the hem of his garment , she should be whole . She came trembling , and full of hope and reverence , and touched his garment , and immediately the 〈◊〉 of her unnatural emanation was stopped , and reverted to its natural course and offices . S. Ambrose says that this woman was Martha . But it is not likely that she was a Jewess , but a Gentile , because of that return which she made in memory of her cure and honour of Jesus according to the Gentile rites . For (a) Eusebius reports that himself saw at Caesarea Philippi a Statue of 〈◊〉 representing a woman kneeling at the feet of a goodly personage , who held his hand out to her in a posture of granting her request , and doing favour to her ; and the inhabitants said it was erected by the care and cost of this woman , adding ( whether out of truth or easiness is not certain ) that at the pedestal of this Statue an usual plant did grow , which when it was come up to that maturity and height as to arrive at the fringes of the brass monument , it was medicinal in many dangerous diseases : So far Eusebius . Concerning which story I shall make no censure but this , that since S. Mark and S. Luke affirm that this woman before her cure had spent all her substance upon Physicians , it is not easily imaginable how she should become able to dispend so great a summ of money as would purchase two so great Statues of brass : and if she could , yet it is still more unlikely that the Gentile Princes and Proconsuls , who searched all places publick and private , and were curiously diligent to destroy all honorary monuments of Christianity , should let this alone ; and that this should escape not only the diligence of the Persecutors , but the fury of such Wars and changes as happened in Palestine , and that for three hundred years together it should stand up in defiance of all violences and changeable fate of all things . However it be , it is certain that the Book against Images , published by the command of Charles the Great 850 years ago , gave no credit to the story : and if it had been true , it it more than probable that Justin Martyr , who was born and bred in Palestine , and Origen , who lived many years in Tyre , in the neighbourhood of the place where the Statue is said to stand , and were highly diligent to heap together all things of advantage and reputation to the Christian cause , would not have omitted so notable an instance . It is therefore likely that the Statues which Eusebius saw , and concerning which he heard such stories , were first placed there upon the stock of a heathen story or Ceremony , and in process of time , for the likeness of the figures , and its capacity to be translated to the Christian story , was by the Christians in after-Ages attributed by a fiction of fancy , and afterwards by credulity confidently applied , to the present Narrative . 21. When Jesus was come to the Ruler's house , he found the minstrels making their funeral noises for the death of Jairus's daughter , and his servants had met him , and acquainted him of the death of the child ; yet Jesus turned out the minstrels , and entred with the parents of the child into her chamber , and taking her by the hand called her , and awakened her from her sleep of death , and commanded them to give her to eat , and enjoyned them not to publish the Miracle . But as 〈◊〉 suppressed by violent detentions break out and rage with a more impetuous and rapid motion : so it happened to Jesus , who endeavouring to make the noises and reports of him less popular , made them to be 〈◊〉 ; for not only we do that most greedily from which we are most restrained , but a great merit enamell'd with humility , and restrained with modesty , grows more beautious and florid , up to the heights of wonder and glories . 22. As he came from Jairus's house , he cured two blind men upon their petition , and confession that they did believe in him , and cast out a dumb Devil , so much to the wonder and amazement of the people , that the Pharisees could hold no longer , being ready to burst with envy , but said , he cast out Devils by help of the Devils : Their malice being , as usually it is , contradictory to its own design , by its being unreasonable ; nothing being more sottish than for the Devil to divide his kingdom upon a plot ; to ruine his certainties upon hopes future and contingent . But this was but the first eruption of their malice ; all the year last past , which was the first year of Jesus's Preaching , all was quiet , neither the Jews nor the Samaritans nor the Galileans did malign his Doctrine or Person , but he preached with much peace on all hands ; for this was the year which the Prophet Isaiah called in his prediction the acceptable year of the Lord. Ad SECT . XII . Considerations upon the Entercourse happening between the Holy Jesus and the Woman of Samaria . The Woman of Samaria . Iohn . 4 : 7. There cemeth a woman of Samaria to draw water . Iesus saith unto her , giue me to drink . 9. Then saith the Woman of Samaria unto him , How is it , that thou being a Iew , askest drink of me , which am a woman of Samaria ? The great draught of Fishes . Luk. 5. 4. 5. etc. He said unto Simon , Let down your nets for a draught . And they enclosed a great multitude of fishes : and when Simon Peter saw it he fell down att Jesus knees — for he was astonished , & all that were with him , at the draught of the fishes . And Jesus said to Simon , Fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men . 1. WHen the Holy Jesus , perceiving it unsafe to be at Jerusálem , returned to Galilee , where the largest scene of his Prophetical Office was to be represented , he journeyed on foot through Samaria , and being weary and faint , hungry and thirsty , he sate down by a Well , and begged water of a Samaritan woman that was a Sinner ; who at first refused him with some incivility of language . But he , in stead of returning anger and passion to her rudeness , which was commenced upon the interest of a mistaken * Religion , preached the coming of the Messias to her , unlock'd the secrets of her heart , and let in his Grace , and made a fountain of living water to spring up in her Soul , to extinguish the impure flames of Lust which had set her on fire , burning like Hell ever since the death of her ‖ fifth Husband , she then becoming a Concubine to the sixth . Thus Jesus transplanted Nature into Grace , his hunger and thirst into religious appetites , the darkness of the Samaritan into a clear revelation , her Sin into Repentance and Charity , and so quenched his own thirst by relieving her needs : and as it was meat to him to do his Father's will , so it was drink to him to bring us to drink of the fountain of living water . For thus God declared it to be a delight to him to see us live , as if he were refreshed by those felicities which he gives to us as communications of his grace , and instances of mercy , and consignations to Heaven . Upon which we can look with no eye but such as sees and admires the excellency of the Divine Charity , which being an emanation from the mercies and essential compassion of Eternity , God cannot chuse but 〈◊〉 in it , and love the works of his Mercy , who was so well pleased in the works of his Power . He that was delighted in the Creation , was highly pleased in the nearer conveyances of himself , when he sent the Holy Jesus to bear his image , and his mercies , and his glories , and offer them to the use and benefit of Man. For this was the chief of the works of God , and therefore the Blessed Master could not but be highliest pleased with it , in imitation of his heavenly Father . 2. The woman observing our Saviour to have come with his face from 〈◊〉 , was angry at him upon the quarrel of the old Schism . The Jews and the Samaritans had differing Rites , and the zealous persons upon each side did commonly dispute themselves into Uncharitableness : and so have Christians upon the same confidence , and zeal , and mistake . For although righteousness hath no fellowship with unrighteousness , nor Christ with Belial ; yet the consideration of the crime of Heresie , which is a spiritual wickedness , is to be separate from the person , who is material . That is , no spiritual communion is to be endured with Heretical persons , when it is certain they are such , when they are convinced by competent authority and sufficient argument . But the persons of the men are to be pitied , to be reproved , to be redargued and convinced , to be wrought upon by fair compliances and the offices of civility , and invited to the family of Faith by the best arguments of Charity , and the instances of a holy life ; having your conversation honest among them , that they may , beholding your good works , glorifie God in the day when he shall visit them . Indeed if there be danger , that is , a weak understanding may not safely converse in civil society with a subtile Heretick ; in such cases they are to be avoided , not saluted : But as this is only when the danger is by reason of the unequal capacities and strengths of the person ; so it must be only when the article is certainly Heresie , and the person criminal , and interest is the ingredient in the perswasion , and a certain and a necessary Truth destroyed by the opinion . We read that S. John , spying Cerinthus in a Bath , refused to wash there where the enemy of God and his Holy Son had been . This is a good precedent for us when the case is equal . S. John could discern the spirit of Cerinthus , and his Heresie was notorious , fundamental and highly criminal , and the Apostle a person assisted up to infallibility . And possibly it was done by the whisper of a Prophetick spirit , and upon a miraculous design ; for immediately upon his retreat the Bath fell down , and crushed Cerinthus in the ruines . But such acts of aversation as these are not easily by us to be drawn into example , unless in the same or the parallel concourse of equally-concluding accidents . We must not quickly , nor upon slight grounds , nor unworthy instances , call Heretick ; there had need be a long process , and a high conviction , and a competent Judge , and a necessary Article , that must be ingredients into so sad and decretory definitions , and condemnation of a person or opinion . But if such instances occur , come not near the danger nor the scandal . And this advice S. Cyprian gave to the Lay-people of his Diocese : Let them decline their discourses , whose Sermons creep and corrode like a Cancer ; let there be no colloquies , no banquets , no commerce with such who are excommunicate and justly driven from the Communion of the Church . For such persons ( as S. Leo descants upon the Apostle's expression of heretical discourses ) creep in humbly , and with small and modest beginnings , they catch with flattery , they bind gently , and kill privily . Let therefore all persons who are in danger secure their persons and Perswasions by removing far from the infection . And for the scandal , S. Herminigilda gave an heroick example , which in her perswasion , and the circumstances of the Age and action , deserved the highest testimony of zeal , religious passion , and confident perswasion . For she rather chose to die by the mandate of her tyrant-Father Leonigildus the Goth , than she would at the Paschal solemnity receive the blessed Sacrament at the hand of an Arrian Bishop . 3. But excepting these cases , which are not to be judged with forwardness , nor rashly taken measure of , we find that conversing charitably with persons of differing Perswasions hath been instrumental to their Conversion and God's glory . The believing wife may sanctifie the unbelieving husband ; and we find it verified in Church-story . S. Cecily converted her husband Valerianus ; S. Theodora converted Sisinius ; S. Monica converted Patricius , and Theodelinda Agilulphus ; S. Clotilda perswaded King Clodoveus to be a Christian ; and S. Natolia perswaded Adrianus to be a Martyr . For they , having their conversation honest and holy amongst the unbelievers , shined like virgin Tapers in the midst of an impure prison , and amused the eyes of the sons of darkness with the brightness of the flame . For the excellency of a holy life is the best argument of the inhabitation of God within the Soul : and who will not offer up his understanding upon that Altar , where a Deity is placed as the President and author of Religion ? And this very entercourse of the Holy Jesus with the Woman is abundant argument , that it were well we were not so forward to refuse Communion with dissenting persons upon the easie and confident mistakes of a too-forward zeal . They that call Heretick may themselves be the mistaken persons , and by refusing to communicate the civilities of hospitable entertainment may shut their doors upon Truth , and their windows against Light , and refuse to let Salvation in . For sometimes Ignorance is the only parent of our Perswasions , and many times 〈◊〉 hath made an impure commixture with it , and so produced the issue . 4. The Holy Jesus gently insinuates his discourses . If thou hadst known who it is that asks thee water , thou wouldest have asked water of him . Oftentimes we know not the person that speaks , and we usually chuse our Doctrine by our affections to the man : but then if we are uncivil upon the stock of prejudice , we do not know that it is Christ that calls our understandings to obedience , and our affections to duty and compliances . The Woman little thought of the glories which stood right against her . He that sate upon the Well had a Throne placed above the heads of Cherubims . In his arms who there rested himself was the Sanctuary of rest and peace , where wearied Souls were to lay their heads , and dispose their cares , and there to turn them into joys , and to gild their thorns with glory . That holy tongue which was parched with heat streamed forth rivulets of holy Doctrine , which were to water all the world , to turn our Deserts into Paradise . And though he begged water at Jacob's Well , yet Jacob drank at his : For at his charge all Jacob's flocks and family were sustained , and by him Jacob's posterity were made honourable and redeemed . But because this Well was deep , and the woman had nothing to draw water with , and of her self could not fathom so great a depth , therefore she refused him ; just as we do , when we refuse to give drink to a thirsty Disciple . Christ comes in that humble manner of address , under the veil of poverty or contempt , and we cannot see Christ from under that robe , and we send him away without an alms ; little considering , that when he begs an alms of us in the instance of any of his poor relatives , he asks of us but to give him occasion to give a blessing for an alms . Thus do the Ministers of Religion ask support , but when the Laws are not more just than many of the people are charitable , they shall fare as their Master did ; they shall preach , but , unless they can draw water themselves , they shall not drink : but , si scirent , if men did but know who it is that asks them , that it is Christ either in his Ministers or Christ in his poor servants , certainly they could not be so obstructed in the issues of their Justice and Charity , but would remember that no honour could be greater , no love more fortunate , than to meet with an opportunity to be expressed in so noble a manner , that God himself is pleased to call his own relief . 5. When the Disciples had returned from the Town , whither they went to buy provision , they wondred to see the Master talking alone with a woman . They knew he never did so before , they had observed him to be of a reserved deportment , and not only innocent , but secure from the dangers of Malice , and suspicion in the matter of Incontinence . The Jews were a jealous and froward people : and as nothing will more blast the reputation of a Prophet than effeminacy and wanton affections ; so he knew no crime was sooner objected or harder cleared than that : Of which , because commonly it is acted in privacy , men look for no probation , but pregnant circumstances and arguments of suspect : so nothing can wash it off , until a man can prove a negative ; and if he could , yet he is guilty enough in the estimate of the vulgar for having been accused . But then , because nothing is so destructive of the reputation of a Governour , so contradictory to the authority and dignity of his person , as the low and baser appetites of Uncleanness , and the consequent shame and scorn , ( insomuch that David , having faln into it , prayed God to confirm or establish him spiritu principali with the spirit of a Prince , the spirit of Lust being uningenuous and slavish ) the Holy Jesus , who was to establish a new Law in the authority of his person , was highly curious so to demean himself , that he might be a person uncapable of any such suspicions , and of a temper apt not only to answer the calumny , but also to prevent the jealousie . But yet , now he had a great design in hand , he meant to reveal to the Samaritans the coming of the Messias ; and to this his discourse with the Woman was instrumental . And in imitation of our great Master , Spiritual persons and the Guides of others have been very prudent and reserved in their societies and entercourse with women . Hereticks have served their ends upon the impotency of the Sex , and having led captive silly women , led them about as triumphs of Lust , and knew no scandal greater than the scandal of Heresie , and therefore sought not to decline any , but were infamous in their unwary and lustful mixtures . Simon Magus had his Helena partner of his Lust and Heresie ; the author of the Sect of the Nicolaitans ( if S. Hierom was not misinformed ) had whole troups of women ; Marcion sent a woman as his Emissary to Rome ; Apelles had his Philomene ; Montanus , Prisca and Maximilla ; Donatus was served by Lucilla , Helpidius by Agape ; Priscillian by Galla , and 〈◊〉 spreads his nets by opportunity of his conversation with the Prince's Sister , and first he corrupted her , then he seduced the world . 6. But holy persons , Preachers of true Religion and holy Doctrines , although they were careful by publick Homilies to instruct the female Disciples , that they who are heirs together with us of the same Hope may be servants in the same Discipline and Institution ; yet they remitted them to their * Husbands and Guardians to be taught at home . And when any personal transactions concerning the needs of their spirit were of necessity to intervene between the Priest and a woman , the action was done most commonly under publick test ; or if in private , yet with much caution and observation of circumstance , which might as well prevent suspicion as preserve their innocence . Conversation and frequent and familiar address does too much rifle the ligaments and reverence of Spiritual authority , and amongst the best persons is matter of danger . When the Cedars of Libanus have been observed to fall , when David and Solomon have been dishonoured , he is a bold man that will venture farther than he is sent in errand by necessity , or invited by charity , or warranted by prudence . I deny not but some persons have made holy friendships with women ; S. Athanasius with a devout and religious Virgin , S. Chrysostome with Olympia , S. Hierome with Paula Romana , S. John with the elect Lady , S. Peter and S. Paul with * Petronilla and Tecla . And therefore it were a jealousie beyond the suspicion of Monks and Eunuchs to think it impossible to have a chaste conversation with a distinct Sex. 1. A pure and right intention , 2. an entercourse not extended beyond necessity or holy ends , 3. a short stay , 4. great modesty , 5. and the business of Religion , will by God's grace hallow the visit , and preserve the friendship in its being spiritual , that it may not degenerate into carnal affection . And yet these are only advices useful when there is danger in either of the persons , or some scandal incident to the Profession , that to some persons and in the conjunction of many circumstances are oftentimes not considerable . 7. When Jesus had resolved to reveal himself to the Woman , he first gives her occasion to reveal her self to him , fairly insinuating an opportunity to confess her sins , that , having purged her self from her impurity , she might be apt to entertain the article of the revelation of the Messias . And indeed a crime in our Manners is the greatest indisposition of our Understanding to entertain the Truth and Doctrine of the Gospel : especially when the revelation contests against the Sin , and professes open hostility to the Lust. For Faith being the gift of God and an illumination , the Spirit of God will not give this light to them that prefer their darkness before it ; either the Will must open the windows , or the light of Faith will not shine into the chamber of the Soul. How can ye believe ( said our Blessed Saviour ) that receive honour one of another ? Ambition and Faith , believing God and seeking of our selves , are incompetent and totally incompossible . And therefore Serapion Bishop of Thmuis spake like an Angel , ( saith Socrates ) saying , that the Mind , which feedeth upon spiritual knowledge , must throughly be cleansed . The Irascible faculty must first be cured with brotherly Love and Charity , and the Concupiscible must be suppressed with Continency and Mortification . Then may the Understanding apprehend the mysteriousness of Christianity . For since Christianity is a holy Doctrine , if there be any remanent affections to a sin , there is in the Soul a party disaffected to the entertainment of the Institution , and we usually believe what we have a mind to : Our Understandings , if a crime be lodged in the Will , being like icterical eyes , transmitting the species to the Soul with prejudice , disaffection , and colours of their own framing . If a Preacher should discourse that there ought to be a Parity amongst Christians , and that their goods ought to be in common , all men will apprehend that not Princes and rich persons , but the poor and the servants would soonest become Disciples , and believe the Doctrines , because they are the only persons likely to get by them ; and it concerns the other not to believe him , the Doctrine being destructive of their interests . Just such a perswasion is every persevering love to a vicious habit ; it having possessed the Understanding with fair opinions of it , and surprised the Will with Passion and desires , whatsoever Doctrine is its enemy will with infinite difficulty be entertained . And we know a great experience of it in the article of the Messias dying on the Cross , which though infinitely true , yet because to the Jews it was a scandal , and to the Greeks 〈◊〉 , it could not be believed , they remaining in that indisposition ; that is , unless the Will were first set right , and they willing to believe any Truth , though for it they must disclaim their interest : Their Understanding was blind , because the Heart was hardened and could not receive the impression of the greatest moral demonstration in the world . 8. The Holy Jesus asked water of the Woman , unsatisfying water ; but promised that himself , to them that ask him , would give waters of life , and satisfaction infinite ; so distinguishing the pleasures and appetites of this world from the desires and complacencies spiritual . Here we labour , but receive no 〈◊〉 ; we sow many times , and reap not ; or reap , and do not gather in ; or gather in , and do not 〈◊〉 ; or possess , but do not enjoy ; or if we enjoy , we are still 〈◊〉 , it is with 〈◊〉 of spirit and circumstances of vexation . A great heap of riches make 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 warm , nor our meat more nutritive , nor our beverage more 〈◊〉 ; and it seeds the eye , but never fills it , but , like drink to an hydropick person , increases the thirst , and promotes the torment . But the Grace of 〈◊〉 , though but like a grain of 〈◊〉 dseed , fills the furrows of the heart ; and as the capacity increases , it self grows up in equal degrees , and never suffers any emptiness or dissatisfaction , but carries content and fulness all the way ; and the degrees of augmentation are not steps and near approaches to satisfaction , but increasings of the capacity ; the 〈◊〉 is satished all the way , and receives more , not because it wanted any ; but that it can now hold more , is more receptive of 〈◊〉 : and in every minute of 〈◊〉 there is so excellent a condition of joy and high satisfaction , that the very calamities the afflictions and persecutions of the world are turned into 〈◊〉 by the activity of the prevailing ingredient ; like a drop of water falling into a tun of wine , it is ascribed into a new family , losing its own nature by a conversion into the more noble . For now that all passionate desires are dead , and there is nothing remanent that is vexatious , the peace , the 〈◊〉 , the quiet sleeps , the evenness of spirit and contempt of things below , remove the Soul from all neighbourhood of displeasure , and place it at the foot of the throne , whither when it is ascended , it is possessed of Felicities eternal . These were 〈◊〉 waters which were given to us to drink , when with the rod of God the Rock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was smitten : the Spirit of God moves for ever upon these waters ; and when the Angel of the Covenant hath stirred the pool , who ever descends hither shall find health and peace , joys spiritual and the satisfactions of Eternity . The PRAYER . O Holy Jesus , Fountain of eternal life , thou Spring of joy and spiritual satisfactions , let the holy stream of bloud and water issuing from thy sacred side cool the thirst , soften the hardness , and refresh the barrenness of my desert Soul ; that I thirsting after thee , as the wearied Hart after the cool stream , may despise all the vainer complacencies of this world , refuse all societies but such as are safe , pious and charitable , mortifie all 〈◊〉 appetites , and may desire nothing but thee , seek none but thee , and rest in thee with intire 〈◊〉 of my own caitive inclinations ; that the desires of Nature may pass into desires of Grace , and my thirst and my hunger may be spiritual , and my hopes placed in thee , and the expresses of my Charity upon thy relatives , and all the parts of my life may speak thy love and obedience to thy Commandments : that thou possessing my Soul and all its Faculties , during my whole life , I may possess thy glories in the fruition of a blessed Eternity ; by the light of thy Gospel here and the streams of thy Grace being guided to thee the fountain of life and glory , there to be inebriated with the waters of Paradise , with joy and love and contemplation , adoring and admiring the beauties of the Lord for ever and ever . Amen . Considerations upon Christ's first Preaching , and the Accidents happening about that time . Jesus preaching to the people . Mauh . 4. 17. From that time Jesus began to preach saying , Repent . for the Kingodm of heaven is at hand . V. 29. And he went about all Gallilee teaching & preaching the Gospel of the kingdom , and healing all manner of sickness , &c. V. 25. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee , and from D●●apolis , and from Ierusalem , etc. Christ sending forth his Apostles . Mark. 6. 7. And he called unto him y e twelve & began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits , And conunanded them that they should take nothing for their journey , etc. V. 12 And they went out , and preached that men should repent . 1. WHen John was cast into Prison , then began Jesus to preach ; not only because the Ministery of John by order of Divine designation was to precede the Publication of Jesus , but also upon prudent considerations and designs of Providence , lest two great personages at once upon the theatre of Palestine might have been occasion of divided thoughts , and these have determined upon a Schism , some professing themselves to be of Christ , some of John. For once an offer was made of a dividing Question by the spite of the Pharisees , Why do the Disciples of John fast often , and thy Disciples fast not ? But when John went off from the scene , then Jesus appeared like the Sun in 〈◊〉 to the Morning-Star , and there were no divided interests upon mistake , or the fond adherencies of the Followers . And although the Holy Jesus would certainly have cured all accidental inconveniences which might have happened in such accidents ; yet this may become a precedent to all Prelates , to be prudent in avoiding all occasions of a Schism , and rather than divide a people , submit and relinquish an opportunity of Preaching to their inferiours , as knowing that God is better served by Charity than a Homily ; and if my modesty made me resign to my inferiour , the advantages of honour to God by the cession of Humility are of greater consideration than the smaller and accidental advantages of better-penned and more accurate discourses . But our Blessed Lord , designing to gather Disciples , did it in the manner of the more extraordinary persons and Doctors of the Jews , and particularly of the Baptist , he initiated them into the Institution by the solemnity of a Baptism ; but yet he was pleased not to minister it in his own person . His Apostles were baptized in John's Baptism , said Tertullian ; or else , S. Peter only was baptized by his Lord , and he baptized the rest . However , the Lord was pleased to depute the ministery of his servants , that so he might constitute a Ministery ; that he might reserve it to himself as a specialty to baptize with the Spirit , as his servants did with water ; that he might declare that the efficacy of the Rite did not depend upon the Dignity of the Minister , but his own Institution , and the holy Covenant ; and lastly , lest they who were baptized by him in person might please themselves above their brethren whose needs were served by a lower ministery . 2. The Holy Jesus , the great Physician of our Souls , now entring upon his Cure and the Diocese of Palestine , which was afterwards enlarged to the pale of the Catholick Church , was curious to observe all advantages of prudence for the benefit of Souls , by the choice of place , by quitting the place of his education , ( which , because it had been poor and humble , was apt to procure contempt to his Doctrine and despite to his Person ) by fixing in Capernaum , which had the advantage of popularity , and the opportunity of extending the benefit , yet had not the honour and ambition of Jerusalem ; that the Ministers of Religion might be taught to seek and desire imployment in such circumstances which may serve the end of God , but not of Ambition ; to promote the interest of Souls , but not the inordination of lower appetites . Jesus quitted his natural and civil interests , when they were less consistent with the end of God and his Prophetical Office , and considered not his Mother's house , and the vicinage in the accounts of Religion , beyond those other places in which he might better do his Father's work : In which a forward piety might behold the insinuation of a duty to such persons , who by rights of Law and Custome were so far instrumental to the cure of Souls , as to design the persons ; they might do but duty if they first considered the interests of Souls before the advantages of their kindred and relatives : and although , if all things else be alike , they may in equal dispositions prefer their own before strangers ; yet it were but reason that they should first consider sadly if the men be equal , before they remember that they are of their kindred , and not let this consideration be ingredient into the former judgment . And another degree of liberty yet there is ; if our kindred be persons apt and holy , and without exceptions either of Law , or Prudence , or Religion , we may do them advantages before others who have some degrees of Learning and improvement beyond the other : or else no man might lawfully prefer his kindred , unless they were absolutely the ablest in a Diocese or Kingdom ; which doctrine were a snare apt to produce scruples to the Consciences , rather than advantages to the Cure. But then also Patrons should be careful that they do not account their Clerks by an estimate taken from comparison with unworthy Candidates , set up on purpose , that when we chuse our kindred we may abuse our consciences by saying , We have fulfilled our trust , and made election of the more worthy . In these and the like cases let every man who is concerned deal with justice , nobleness and sincerity , with the simplicity of a Christian and the wisdome of a man , without tricks and stratagems , to disadvantage the Church by doing temporal advantages to his friend or family . 3. The Blessed Master began his Office with a Sermon of Repentance , as his Decessor John the Baptist did in his Ministration , to tell the world that the new Covenant , which was to be established by the Mediation and Office of the Holy Jesus , was a Covenant of grace and favour , not established upon Works , but upon Promises , and remission of right on God's part , and remission of sins on our part . The Law was a Covenant of Works , and who-ever prevaricated any of its Sanctions in a considerable degree , he stood sentenced by it without any hopes of restitution supplied by the Law. And therefore it was the Covenant of Works ; not because Good works were then required more than now , or because they had more efficacy than now ; but because all our hopes did rely upon the perfection of Works and Innocence , without the suppletories of Grace , Pardon , and Repentance . But the Gospel is therefore a Covenant of Grace , not that works are excluded from our duty , or from cooperating to Heaven ; but that , because there is in it so much mercy , the imperfections of the Works are made up by the grace of Jesus , and the defects of Innocence are supplied by the substitution of Repentance . Abatements are made for the infirmities and miseries of humanity ; and if we do our endeavour now after the manner of men , the Faith of Jesus Christ , that is , conformity to his Laws , and submission to his Doctrine , entitles us to the grace he hath purchased for us , that is , our sins for his sake shall be pardoned . So that the Law and the Gospel are not opposed barely upon the title of Faith and Works , but as the Covenant of Faith and the Covenant of Works . In the Faith of a Christian Works are the great ingredient and the chief of the constitution , but the Gospel is not a Covenant of Works , that is , it is not an agreement upon the stock of Innocence without allowances of Repentance , requiring Obedience in rigour and strictest estimate . But the Gospel requires the Holiness of a Christian , and yet after the manner of a man ; for , always provided that we do not allow to our selves a liberty , but endeavour with all our strength , and love with all our Soul , that which , if it were upon our allowance , would be required at our hands , now that it is against our will , and highly contested against , is put upon the stock of Christ , and allowed to us by God in the accounts of Pardon by the merits of Jesus , by the Covenant of the Gospel . And this is the Repentance and Remission of sins which John first preached upon the approximation of the Kingdom , and Christ at the first manifestation of it , and the Apostles afterward in the name of Jesus . 4. Jesus now having begun his Preaching , began also to gather his Family ; and first called Simon and Andrew , then James and John ; at whose vocation he wrought a Miracle , which was a signification of their Office and the success of it ; a draught of fishes so great and prodigious , that it convinc'd them that he was a person very extraordinary , whose voice the Fishes heard , and came at his call : and since he designed them to become fishers of men , although themselves were as unlikely instruments to persuade men as the voice of the Son of man to command fishes , yet they should prevail in so great numbers , that the whole world should run after them , and upon their Summons come into the Net of the Gospel , becoming Disciples of the glorious Nazarene . S. Peter the first time that he threw his net , at the descent of the Holy Ghost in Pentecost , catched three thousand men ; and at one Sermon sometimes the Princes of a Nation have been converted , and the whole Land presently baptized ; and the multitudes so great , that the Apostles were forced to design some men to the ministration of Baptism by way of peculiar office ; and it grew to be work enough , the easiness of the ministery being made busie and full of imployment where a whole Nation became Disciple . And indeed the Doctrine is so holy , the Principle so Divine , the Instruments so supernatural , the Promises so glorious , the Revelations so admirable , the Rites so mysterious , the whole fabrick of the Discipline so full of wisdome , perswasion and energy , that the infinite number of the first Conversions were not so great a wonder , as that there are so few now : every man calling himself Christian , but few having that power of godliness which distinguishes Christian from a word and 〈◊〉 empty name . And the Word is now the same , and the arguments greater , ( for some have been growing ever since , as the Prophecies have been fulfilled ) and the Sermons more , and the Spirit the same ; and yet such diversity of operations , that we hear and read the Sermons and Dictates Evangelical as we do a Romance , but that it is with less passion , but altogether as much unconcerned as with a story of Salmanasar or Ibrahim Bassa : For we do not leave one Vice , nor reject one Lust , nor deny one impetuous Temptation the more for the four Gospels sake , and all S. Paul's Epistles mingled in the argument . And yet all think themselves fishes within Christ's Net , and the prey of the Gospel : and it is true they are so ; for the Kingdom is like unto a Net , which inclosed fishes good and bad ; but this shall be of small advantage when the Net shall be drawn to the shore , and the separation made . 5. When Jesus called those Disciples , they had been fishing all night , and caught nothing ; but when Christ bad them let down the Net , they took multitudes : to shew to us , that the success of our endeavours is not in proportion to our labours , but the divine assistence and benediction . It is not the excellency of the Instrument , but the capacity of the Subject , nor yet this alone , but the aptness of the application , nor that without an influence from Heaven , can produce the fruits of a holy Perswasion and Conversion . Paul may plant , and Apollo may water ; but God gives the increase . Indeed when we let down the Nets at the Divine appointment , the success is the more probable , and certainly God will bring benefit to the place , or Honour to himself , or Salvation to them that will obey , or Conviction to them that will not : But what-ever the fruit be in respect of others , the reward shall be great to themselves . And therefore S. Paul did not say he had profited , but , he had laboured more than they all , as knowing the Divine acceptance would take its account in proportion to our endeavours and intendments ; not by commensuration to the effect , which being without us , depending upon God's blessing and the cooperation of the recipients , can be no ingredients into our account . But this also may help to support the weariness of our hopes , and the protraction and deferring of our expectation , if a laborious Prelate and an assiduous Preacher have but few returns to his many cares and greater labours . A whole night a man may labour , ( the longest life is no other ) and yet catch nothing , and then the Lord may visit us with his special presence , and more forward assistences , and the harvest may grow up with the swiftness of a Gourd , and the fruitfulness of Olives , and the plaisance of the Vine , and the strength of Wheat ; and whole troups of Penitents may arise from the darkness of their graves at the call of one Sermon , even when he pleases : and till then we must be content that we do our duty , and lay the consideration of the effect at the feet of Jesus . 6. In the days of the Patriarchs the Governours of the Lord's people were called Shepherds ; so was Moses , and so was David . In the days of the Gospel they are Shepherds still , but with the addition of a new appellative , for now they are called Fishers . Both the callings were honest , humble and laborious , watchful and full of trouble ; but now that both the titles are conjunct , we may observe the symbol of an implicit and folded duty . There is much simplicity and care in the Shepherd's Trade ; there is much craft and labour in the Fisher's : and a Prelate is to be both full of Piety to his Flock , careful of their welfare ; and , because in the political and spiritual sense too feeding and governing are the same duty , it concerns them that have cure of Souls to be discrect and wary , observant of advantages , laying such baits for the people as may entice them into the nets of Jesus's Discipline . But being crafty I caught you , saith S. Paul ; for he was a Fisher too . And so must Spiritual persons be Fishers to all spiritual senses of watchfulness and care and prudence : only they must not fish for preferment and ambitious purposes , but must say with the King of Sodom , Date nobis animas , caetera vobis tollite ; which S. Paul renders , We seek not yours , but you . And in order to such acquist , the purchace of Souls , let them have the diligence and the craft of Fishers , the watchfulness and care of Shepherds , the prudence of Politicks , the tenderness of Parents , the spirit of Government , the wariness of Observation , great knowledge of the dispositions of their people , and experience of such advantages by means of which they may serve the ends of God , and of Salvation upon their Souls . 7. When Peter had received the fruits of a rich Miracle in the prodigious and prosperous draught of fishes , he instantly falls down at the feet of Jesus , and confesses himself a sinner , and unworthy of the presence of Christ. In which confession I not only consider the conviction of his Understanding by the testimony of the Miracle , but the modesty of his spirit , who in his exaltation , and the joy of a sudden and happy success , retired into Humility and consideration of his own unworthiness , lest , as it happens in sudden joys , the lavishness of his spirit should transport him to intemperance , to looser affections , to vanity and garishness , less becoming the severity and government of a Disciple of so great a Master . For in such great and sudden accidents men usually are dissolved and melted into joy and inconsideration , and let fly all their severe principles and discipline of manners , till , as Peter here did , though to another purpose , they say to Christ , Depart from me , O Lord ; as if such excellencies of joys , like the lesser Stars , did disappear at the presence of him who is the fountain of all joys regular and just . When the spirits of the Body have been bound up by the cold Winter air , the warmth of the Spring makes so great an aperture of the passages , and by consequence such dissolution of spirits , in the presence of the Sun , that it becomes the occasion of Fevers and violent diseases . Just such a thing is a sudden Joy , in which the spirits leap out from their cells of austerity and sobriety , and are warmed into Fevers and wildnesses , and forfeiture of all Judgment and vigorous understanding . In these accidents the best advice is to temper and allay our joys with some instant consideration of the vilest of our sins , the shamefulness of our disgraces , the most dolorous accidents of our lives , the worst of our fears , with meditation of Death , or the terrours of Dooms-day , or the unimaginable miseries of damned and accursed spirits . For such considerations as these are good instruments of Sobriety , and are correctives to the malignity of excessive Joys or temporal prosperities , which , like Minerals , unless allayed by art , prey upon the spirits , and become the union of a contradiction , being turned into mortal medicines . 8. At this time Jesus preached to the people from the Ship , which in the fancies and tropical discoursings of the old Doctors signifies the Church , and declares that the Homilies of order and authority must be delivered from the Oracle ; they that preach must be sent , and God hath appointed Tutors and Instructors of our Consciences by special designation and peculiar appointment : if they that preach do not make their Sermons from the Ship , their discourses either are the false murmurs of Hereticks and false Shepherds , or else of Thieves and invaders of Authority , or corrupters of Discipline and Order . For God , that loves to hear us in special places , will also be heard himself by special persons ; and since he sent his Angels Ministers to convey his purposes of old , then when the Law was ordained by Angels , as by the hands of a Mediatour , now also he will send his servants the sons of men , since the new Law was ordained by the Son of man , who is the Mediatour between God and man in the New Covenant . And therefore in the Ship Jesus preach'd , but he had first caused it to put off from land ; to represent to us , that the Ship in which we preach must be put off from the vulgar communities of men , * separate from the people , by the designation of special appointment and of special Holiness ; that is , they neither must be common men , nor of common lives , but consecrated by order , and hallowed by holy living , lest the person want authority in destitution of a Divine Character , and his Doctrine lose its energy and power when the life is vulgar , and hath nothing in it holy and extraordinary . 9. The Holy Jesus in the choice of his Apostles was resolute and determined to make election of persons bold and confident , ( for so the Galilaeans were observed naturally to be , and Peter was the boldest of the Twelve , and a good Sword-man , till the spirit of his Master had fastened his sword within the scabbard , and charmed his spirit into quietness ) but he never chose any of the Scribes and Pharisees , none of the Doctors of the Law , but persons ignorant and unlearned ; which , in design and institutions whose divinity is not demonstrated from other Arguments , would seem an art of concealment and distrust . But in this , which derives its raies from the fountain of wisdom most openly and infallibly , it is a contestation against the powers of the world upon the interests of God , that he who does all the work might have all the glory , and in the productions in which he is fain to make the instruments themselves , and give them capacity and activity , every part of the operation and causality and effect may give to God the same honour he had from the Creation , for his being the only workman ; with the addition of those degrees of excellency which in the work of Redemption of Man are beyond that of his Creation and first being . The PRAYER . O Eternal Jesu , Lord of the Creatures , and Prince of the Catholick Church , to whom all Creatures obey in acknowledgment of thy supreme Dominion , and all according to thy disposition cooperate to the advancement of thy Kingdom , be pleased to order the affairs and accidents of the world , that all things in their capacity may do the work of the Gospel , and cooperate to the good of the Elect , and retrench the growth of Vice , and advance the interests of Vertue . Make all the states and orders of men Disciples of thy holy Institution : Let Princes worship thee and defend Religion ; let thy Clergy do thee honour by personal zeal , and vigilancy over their Flocks ; let all the world submit to thy Scepter , and praise thy Righteousness , and adore thy Judgments , and revere thy Laws : and in the multitudes of thy people within the enclosure of thy Nets let me also communicate in the offices of a strict and religious duty , that I may know thy voice , and obey thy call , and entertain thy Holy Spirit , and improve my talents ; that I may also communicate in the blessings of the Church ; and when the Nets shall be drawn to the shore , and the Angels shall make separation of the good Fishes from the bad , I may not be rejected , or thrown into those Seas of fire which shall afflict the enemies of thy Kingdom , but be admitted into the societies of Saints , and the everlasting communion of thy 〈◊〉 and Glories , O Blessed and Eternal Jesu . Amen . DISCOURSE IX . Of Repentance . 1. THE whole Doctrine of the Gospel is comprehended by the Holy Ghost in these two Summaries , Faith and Repentance ; that those two potent and imperious Faculties which command our lower powers , which are the fountain of actions , the occasion and capacity of Laws , and the title to reward or punishment , the Will and the Understanding , that is , the whole man considered in his superiour Faculties , may become subjects of the Kingdom , servants of Jesus , and heirs of glory . Faith supplies our imperfect conceptions , and corrects our Ignorance , making us to distinguish good from evil , not onely by the proportions of Reason and Custome and old Laws , but by the new standard of the Gospel ; it teaches us all those Duties which were enjoyned us in order to a participation of mighty glories ; it brings our Understanding into subjection , making us apt to receive the Spirit for our Guide , Christ for our Master , the Gospel for our Rule , the Laws of Christianity for our measure of good and evil : and it supposes us naturally ignorant , and comes to supply those defects which in our Understandings were left after the spoils of Innocence and Wisdome made in Paradise upon Adam's prevarication , and continued and encreased by our neglect , evil customes , voluntary deceptions , and infinite prejudices . And as Faith presupposes our Ignorance , so Repentance presupposes our Malice and Iniquity . The whole design of Christ's coming and the Doctrines of the Gospel being to recover us from a miserable condition , from Ignorance to spiritual Wisdome , by the conduct of Faith ; and from a vicious habitually-depraved life and ungodly manners to the purity of the Sons of God , by the instrument of Repentance . 2. And this is a loud publication of the excellency and glories of the Gospel , and the felicities of man over all the other instances of Creation . The Angels , who were more excellent Spirits than humane Souls , were not comprehended and made safe within a Covenant and Provisions of Repentance . Their first act of volition was their whole capacity of a blissful or a miserable Eternity : they made their own sentence when they made their first election ; and having such excellent Knowledge , and no weaknesses to prejudge and trouble their choice , what they first did was not capable of Repentance ; because they had at first in their intuition and sight all which could afterward bring them to Repentance . But weak Man , who knows first by elements , and after long study learns a syllable , and in good time gets a word , could not at first know all those things which were sufficient or apt to determine his choice , but as he grew to understand more , saw more reasons to rescind his first elections . The Angels had a full peremptory Will and a satisfied Understanding at first , and therefore were not to mend their first act by a second contradictory : But poor Man hath a Will alwayes strongest when his Understanding is weakest , and chuseth most when he is least able to determine ; and therefore is most passionate in his desires , and follows his object with greatest earnestness , when he is blindest , and hath the least reason so to do . And therefore God , pitying Man , begins to reckon his choices to be criminal just in the same degree as he gives him Understanding . The violences and unreasonable actions of Childhood are no more remembred by God than they are understood by the Child . The levities and passions of Youth are not aggravated by the imputation of Malice , but are sins of a lighter dye , because Reason is not yet impressed , and marked upon them with characters and tincture in grain . But he who ( when he may chuse , because he understands ) shall chuse the evil and reject the good , stands marked with a deep guilt , and hath no excuse left to him , but as his degrees of Ignorance left his choice the more imperfect . And because every sinner in the style of Scripture is a fool , and hath an election as imperfect as is the action , that is , as great a declension from Prudence as it is from Piety , and the man understands as imperfectly as he practises : therefore God sent his Son to take upon him ( not the nature of Angels , but ) the 〈◊〉 of Abraham , and to propound Salvation upon such terms as were possible , that is , upon such a Piety which relies upon experience , and trial of good and evil ; and hath given us leave , if we chuse amiss at first , to chuse again , and chuse better ; Christ having undertaken to pay for the issues of their first follies , to make up the breach made by our first weaknesses and abused understandings . 3. But as God gave us this mercy by Christ , so he also revealed it by him . He first used the Authority of a Lord and a Creator and a Law-giver : he required Obedience indeed upon reasonable terms , upon the instance of but a few Commandments at first , which when he afterwards multiplied , he also appointed ways to expiate the smaller irregularities ; but left them eternally bound without remedy who should do any great violence or a crime . But then he bound them but to a Temporal death . Only this , as an eternal death was also tacitely implied , so also a remedy was secretly ministred , and Repentance particularly preached by Homilies distinct from the Covenant of Moses's Law. The Law allowed no Repentance for greater crimes ; he that was convicted of Adultery was to die without mercy : but God pitied the miseries of man , and the inconveniences of the Law , and sent Christ to suffer for the one , and remedy the other ; for so it behoved Christ to suffer , and to rise from the dead , and that Repentance and Remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations . And now this is the last and only hope of Man , who in his natural condition is imperfect , in his customs vicious , in his habits impotent and criminal . Because Man did not remain innocent , it became necessary he should be penitent , and that this Penitence should by some means be made acceptable , that is , become the instrument of his Pardon , and restitution of his hope . Which because it is an act of favour , and depends wholly upon the Divine dignation , and was revealed to us by Jesus Christ , who was made not onely the Prophet and Preacher , but the Mediatour of this New Covenant and mercy ; it was necessary we should become Disciples of the Holy Jesus , and servants of his Institution ; that is , run to him to be made partakers of the mercies of this new Covenant , and accept of him such conditions as he should require of us . 4. This Covenant is then consigned to us when we first come to Christ , that is , when we first profess our selves his Disciples and his servants , Disciples of his Doctrine and servants of his Institution ; that is , in Baptism , in which Christ who died for our sins makes us partakers of his death . For we are buried by Baptism into his death , saith S. Paul. Which was also represented in ceremony by the Immersion appointed to be the Rite of that Sacrament . And then it is that God pours forth together with the Sacramental waters a salutary and holy fountain of Grace to wash the Soul from all its stains and impure adherences . And therefore this first access to Christ is in the style of Scripture called Regeneration , the New Birth , Redemption , Renovation , Expiation , or Atonement with God , and Justification . And these words in the New Testament relate principally and properly to the abolition of sins committed before Baptism . For we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ; Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation , to declare his Rightcousness for the remission of sins that are past : To declare , I say , at this time his righteousness . And this is that which S. Paul calls Justification by Faith , that boasting might be excluded , and the grace of God by Jesus made exceeding glorious . For this being the proper work of Christ , the first entertainment of a Disciple , and manifestation of that state which is first given him as a favour , and next intended as a duty , is a total abolition of the precedent guilt of sin , and leaves nothing remaining that can condemn ; we then freely receive the intire and perfect effect of that Atonement which Christ made for us , we are put into a condition of innocence and favour . And this , I say , is done regularly in Baptism , and S. Paul expresses it to this sense ; after he had enumerated a series of Vices subjected in many , he adds , and such were some of you ; but ye are washed , but ye are sanctified . There is nothing of the old guilt remanent , when ye were washed ye were sanctified , or , as the Scripture calls it in another place , Ye were redeemed from your vain conversation . 5. For this Grace was the formality of the Covenant : Repent , and believe the Gospel . Repent and be converted , ( so it is in S. Peter's Sermon , ) and your sins shall be done away , that was the Covenant . But that Christ chose Baptism for its signature appears in the Parallel ; Repent , and be baptized , and wash away your sins : For Christ loved his Church , and gave himself for it ; That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word ; That he might present it to himself a glorious Church , not having spot or wrinkle , or any such thing , but that it should be holy and without blemish . The Sanctification is integral , the Pardon is universal and immediate . 6. But here the process is short , no more at first but this , Repent , and be baptized , and wash away your sins ; which Baptism because it was speedily administred , and yet not without the preparatives of Faith and Repentance , it is certain those predispositions were but instruments of reception , actions of great facility , of small employment , and such as , supposing the * person not unapt , did confess the infiniteness of the Divine mercy , and fulness of the redemption & is called by the Apostle ( a ) a being justified freely . 7. Upon this ground it is that , by the Doctrine of the Church , heathen persons , strangers from the 〈◊〉 of grace , were invited to a confession of Faith , and dereliction of false Religions , with a promise , that at the very first resignation of their persons to the service of Jesus they should obtain full pardon . It was S. Cyprian's counsel to old Demetrianus , Now in the evening of thy days , when thy Soul'is almost expiring , repent of thy sins , believe in Jesus , and turn Christian ; and although thou art almost in the embraces of death , yet thou shalt be comprehended of immortality . Baptizatus ad horam securus bine exit , saith S. Austin ; A baptized person dying immediately shall live eternally and gloriously . And this was the case of the Thief upon the Cross , he confessed Christ , and repented of his sins , and begged pardon , and did acts enough to facilitate his first access to Christ , and but to remove the hindrances of God's favour ; then he was redeemed and reconciled to God by the death of Jesus , that is , he was pardoned with a full , instantaneous , integral and clear Pardon ; with such a pardon which declared the glory of God's mercies , and the infiniteness of Christ's merits , and such as required a more reception and entertainment on man's part . 8. But then we , having received so great a favour , enter into Covenant to correspond with a proportionable endeavour ; the benefit of absolute Pardon , that is , Salvation of our Souls , being not to be received till the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord : all the intervall we have promised to live a holy life in obedience to the whole Discipline of Jesus . That 's the condition on our part : And if we prevaricate that , the mercy shewn to the blessed Thief is no argument of hope to us , because he was saved by the mercies of the first access , which corresponds to the Remission of sins we receive in Baptism ; and we shall perish by breaking our own promises and obligations , which Christ passed upon us when he made with us the Covenant of an intire and gracious Pardon . 9. For in the precise Covenant there is nothing else described , but Pardon so given and ascertained upon an Obedience persevering to the end . And this is clear in all those places of Scripture which express a holy and innocent life to have been the purpose and design of Christ's death for us , and redemption of us from the former estate . Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree , that we being dead unto sins , should live unto righteousness ; by whose stripes ye are healed . [ Exinde ] from our being healed , from our dying unto sin , from our being buried with Christ , from our being baptized into his death ; the end of Christ's dying for us is , that we should live unto righteousness . Which was also highly and prophetically expressed by S. Zachary in his divine Ecstasie : This was the oath which he sware to our Fore-father Abraham , That he would grant unto us , that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear , In holiness and righteousness before him , all the days of our life . And S. Paul discourses to this purpose pertinently and largely : For the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men , Teaching us , that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts , [ Hi sunt Angeli quibus in lavacro renunciavimus , saith Tertullian , Those are the evil Angels , the Devil and his works , which we deny or renounce in Baptism ] we should live soberly , righteously and godly in this present world , that is , lead a whole life in the pursuit of universal holiness , [ Sobriety , Justice and Godlinèss being the proper language to signifie our Religion and respects to God , to our neighbours , and to our selves . ] And that this was the very end of our dying in Baptism , and the design of Christ's manifestation of our Redemption , he adds , Looking for that blessed hope , and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus , Who gave himself for us , to this very purpose , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works . Purifying a people peculiar to himself is cleansing it in the Laver of Regeneration , and appropriating it to himself in the rites of Admission and Profession . Which plainly designs the first consignation of our Redemption to be in Baptism , and that Christ , there cleansing his Church from every spot or wrinkle , made a Covenant with us , that we should renounce all our sins , and he should cleanse them all , and then that we should abide in that state . Which is also very explicitely set down by the same Apostle in that divine and mysterious Epistle to the Romans : How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein ? Know ye not , that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ , were baptized into his death ? Well , what then ? Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into his death , that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father , even so we also should walk in newness of life . That 's the end and mysteriousness of Baptism , it is a consignation into the Death of Christ , and we die with him that once , that is , die to sin , that we may for ever after live the life of righteousness . Knowing this , that our old man is crucified with him ; that the body of sin might be destroyed , that henceforth we should not serve sin ; that is , from the day of our Baptism to the day of our death . And therefore God , who knows the weaknesses on our part , and yet the strictness and necessity of conserving Baptismal grace by the Covenant Evangelical , hath appointed the auxiliaries of the Holy Spirit to be ministred to all baptized people in the holy Rite of Confirmation , that it might be made possible to be done by Divine aids , which is necessary to be done by the Divine Commandments . 10. And this might not be improperly said to be the meaning of those words of our Blessed Saviour , He that speaks a word against the Son of man , it shall be forgiven him ; but he that speaks a word against the Holy Ghost , it shall not be forgiven him : That is , those sins which were committed in Infidelity , before we became Disciples of the Holy Jesus , are to be remitted in Baptism and our first profession of the Religion ; but the sins committed after Baptism and Confirmation , in which we receive the Holy Ghost , and by which the Holy Spirit is grieved , are to be accounted for with more severity . And therefore the * Primitive Church , understanding our obligations according to this discourse , admitted not any to holy Orders who had lapsed and fallen into any sin of which she could take cognisance , that is , such who had not kept the integrity of their Baptism ; but sins committed before Baptism were no impediments to the susception of Orders , because they were absolutely extinguished in Baptism . This is the nature of the Covenant we made in Baptism , that 's the grace of the Gospel , and the effect of Faith and Repentance ; and it is expected we should so remain . For it is nowhere expressed to be the mercy and intention of the Covenant Evangelical , that this Redemption should be any more than once , or that Repentance , which is in order to it , can be renewed to the same or so great purposes and present effects . 11. But after we are once reconciled in Baptism and put intirely into God's favour , when we have once been redeemed , if we then fall away into sin , we must expect God's dealing with us in another manner and to other purposes . Never must we expect to be so again justified , and upon such terms as formerly ; the best days of our Repentance are interrupted : not that God will never forgive them that sin after Baptism , and recover by Repentance ; but that Restitution by repentance after Baptism is another thing than the first Redemption . No such intire , clear , and integral , determinate , and presential effects of Repentance ; but an imperfect , little , growing , uncertain , and hazardous Reconciliation : a Repentance that is always in production , a Renovation by parts , a Pardon that is revocable , a Salvation to be wrought by fear and trembling : all our remanent life must be in bitterness , our hopes allayed with fears , our meat attempered with Coloquintida , and death is in the pot : as our best actions are imperfect , so our greatest Graces are but possibilities and aptnesses to a Reconcilement , and all our life we are working our selves into that condition we had in Baptism , and lost by our relapse . As the habit lessens , so does the guilt ; as our Vertues are imperfect , so is the Pardon ; and because our Piety may be interrupted , our state is uncertain , till our possibilities of sin are ceased , till our fight is finished , and the victory therefore made sure because there is no more fight . And it is remarkable , that S. Peter gives counsel to live holily in pursuance of our redemption , of our calling , and of our escaping from that corruption that is in the world through Lust , lest we lose the benefit of our purgation , to which by way of antithesis he opposes this . Wherefore the rather give diligence to make your calling and election sure . And , if ye do these things , ye shall never fall . Meaning , by the perpetuating our state of Baptism and first Repentance we shall never fall , but be in a sure estate ; our calling and election shall be sure . But not , if we fall ; * if we forget we were purged from our old sins ; if we forfeit our calling , we have also made our election unsure , movable and disputable . 12. So that now the hopes of lapsed sinners relie upon another bottom . And as in Moses's Law there was no revelation of Repentance , but yet the Jews had hopes in God , and were taught the succours of Repentance by the Homilies of the Prophets and other accessory notices : So in the Gospel the Covenant was established upon Faith and Repentance , but it was consigned in Baptism , and was verifiable onely in the integrity of a following holy life according to the measures of a man ; not perfect , but sincere ; not faultless , but heartily endeavoured : but yet the mercies of God in pardoning sinners lapsed after Baptism was declared to us by collateral and indirect occasions ; by the Sermons of the Apostles , and the Commentaries of Apostolical persons , who understood the meaning of the Spirit , and the purposes of the Divine mercy , and those other significations of his will which the blessed Jesus left upon record in other parts of his Testament , as in Codicills annexed , besides the precise Testament it self . And it is certain , if in the Covenant of Grace there be the same involution of an after-Repentance as there is of present Pardon upon past Repentance and future Sanctity , it is impossible to justifie that a holy life and a persevering Sanctity is enjoyned by the Covenant of the Gospel : if , I say , in its first intention it be declared that we may as well , and upon the same terms , hope for Pardon upon a Recovery hereafter , as upon the perseverance in the present condition . 13. From these premisses we may soon understand what is the Duty of a Christian in all his life , even to pursue his own undertaking made in Baptism or his first access to Christ , and redemption of his person from the guilt and punishment of sins . The state of a Christian is called in Scripture Regeneration , Spiritual life , Walking after the Spirit , Walking in newness of life , that is , a bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance . That Repentance which tied up in the same ligament with Faith was the disposition of a Christian to his Regeneration and Atonement , must have holy life in perpetual succession ; for that is the apt and proper fruit of the first Repentance which John the Baptist preached as an introduction to Christianity , and as an entertaining the Redemption by the bloud of the Covenant . And all that is spoken in the New Testament is nothing but a calling upon us to do what we promised in our Regeneration , to perform that which was the design of Christ , who therefore redeemed us , and bare our sins in his own body , that we might die unto sin , and live unto righteousness . 14. This is that saying of S. Paul , Follow peace with all men , and holiness , without which no man shall see the Lord : Looking diligently , lest any man fail of the grace of God , lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you : Plainly saying , that unless we pursue the state of Holiness and Christian communion into which we were baptized when we received the grace of God , we shall fail of the state of Grace , and never come to see the glories of the Lord. And a little before , Let us draw near with a true heart , in full assurance of Faith , having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , and our bodies washed with pure water . That 's the first state of our Redemption , that 's the Covenant God made with us , to remember our sins no more , and to put his laws in our hearts and minds . And this was done when our bodies were washed with water , and our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , that is , in Baptism . It remains then that we persist in the condition , that we may continue our title to the Covenant ; for so it follows , Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering : For if we sin wilfully after the profession , there remains no more sacrifice : that is , If we hold not fast the profession of our Faith , and continue not the condition of the Covenant , but fall into a contrary state , we have forfeited the mercies of the Covenant . So that all our hopes of Blessedness , relying upon the Covenant made with God in Jesus Christ , are ascertained upon us by holding fast that profession , by retaining our hearts still sprinkled from an evil conscience , by following peace with all men and holiness : For by not failing of the grace of God , we shall not fail of our hopes , the mighty price of our high calling ; but without all this we shall never see the face of God. 15. To the same purpose are all those places of Scripture which intitle us to Christ and the Spirit upon no other condition but a holy life , and a prevailing , habitual , victorious Grace . Know you not your own selves , Brethren , how that Jesus Christ is in you , except ye be reprobates ? There are but two states of being in order to Eternity , either a state of the Inhabitation of Christ , or the state of Reprobation : Either Christ is in us , or we are reprobates . But what does that signifie , to have Christ dwelling in us ? That also we learn at the feet of the same Doctor ; If Christ be in you , the body is dead by reason of sin , but the spirit is life because of righteousness . The body of Sin is mortified , and the life of Grace is active , busie , and spiritual in all them who are not in the state of Reprobation . The Parallel with that other expression of his ; They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts . If sin be vigorous , if it be habitual , if it be beloved , if it be not dead or dying in us , we are not of Christ's portion , we belong not to him , nor he to us . For whoever is born of God doth not commit sin , for his seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot sin , because he is born of God : that is , every Regenerate person is in a condition whose very being is a contradiction and an opposite design to Sin. When he was regenerate and born anew of water and the spirit , the seed of God , the original of Piety , was put into him , and bidden to encrease and multiply . The seed of God ( in S. John ) is the same with the word of God ( in S. James ) by which he begat us ; and as long as this remains , a Regenerate person cannot be given up to sin ; for when he is , he quits his Baptism , he renounces the Covenant , he alters his relation to God in the same degree as he enters into a state of sin . 16. And yet this discourse is no otherwise to be understood than according to the design of the thing it self and the purpose of God , that is , that it be a deep ingagement and an effectual consideration for the necessity of a holy life : but at no hand let it be made an instrument of Despair , nor an argument to lessen the influences of the Divine Mercy . For although the nicety and limits of the Covenant being consigned in Baptism are fixed upon the condition of a holy and persevering uninterrupted Sanctity ; and our Redemption is wrought but once , compleated but once , we are but once absolutely , intirely and presentially forgiven , and reconciled to God , this Reconciliation being in virtue of the Sacrifice , and this Sacrifice applied in Baptism is one , as Baptism is one , and as the Sacrifice is one : yet the Mercy of God besides this great Feast hath fragments , which the Apostles and Ministers spiritual are to gather up in baskets , and minister to the afterneeds of indigent and necessitous Disciples . 17. And this we gather , as fragments are gathered , by respersed sayings , instances and examples of the Divine mercy recorded in Holy Scripture . The Holy Jesus commands us to forgive our brother seventy times seven times , when he asks our pardon and implores our mercy ; and since the Divine mercy is the pattern of ours , and is also procured by ours , the one being made the measure of the other by way of precedent and by way of reward , God will certainly forgive us as we forgive our brother : and it cannot be imagined God should oblige us to give pardon oftner than he will give it himself , especially since he hath expressed ours to be a title of a proportionable reception of his ; and hath also commanded us to ask pardon all days of our life , even in our daily offices , and to beg it in the measure and rule of our own Charity and Forgiveness to our Brother . And therefore God in his infinite wisdom foreseeing our frequent relapses , and considering our infinite infirmities , appointed in his Church an ordinary ministery of Pardon , designing the Minister to pray for sinners , and promising to accept him in that his advocation , or that he would open or shut Heaven respectively to his act on earth , that is , he would hear his prayers , and verifie his ministery , to whom he hath committed the word of Reconciliation . This became a duty to Christian Ministers , Spiritual persons , that they should restore a person overtaken in a fault , that is , reduce him to the condition he begins to lose ; that they should pray over sick persons , who are also commanded to confess their sins , and God hath promised that the sins they have committed shall be forgiven them . Thus S. Paul absolved the incestuous excommunicate Corinthian ; in the person of Christ he forgave him . And this also is the confidence S. John taught the Christian Church upon the stock of the excellent mercy of God and propitiation of Jesus : * If we confess our sins , he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins , and to cleanse us from all 〈◊〉 . Which discourse he directs to them who were Christians already initiated into the Institution of Jesus . And the Epistles which the Spirit sent to the Seven Asian Churches , and were particularly addressed to the Bishops , the Angels , of those Churches , are exhortations , some to Perseverance , some to Repentance , that they may return from whence they are fallen . And the case is so with us , that it is impossible we should be actually and perpetually free from sin in the long succession of a busie , and impotent , and a tempted conversation . And without these reserves of the Divine grace and after-emanations from the Mercy-seat , no man could be saved ; and the death of Christ would become inconsiderable to most of his greatest purposes : for none should have received advantages but newly-baptized persons , whose Albs of Baptism served them also for a winding-sheet . And therefore our Baptism , although it does consign the work of God presently to the baptized person in great , certain and intire effect in order to the remission of what is past , in case the Catechumen be rightly disposed or hinders not ; yet it hath also influence upon the following periods of our life , and hath admitted us into a lasting state of Pardon , to be renewed and actually applied by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper , and all other Ministeries Evangelical , and so long as our Repentance is timely , active , and affective . 18. But now although it is infinitely certain that the gates of Mercy stand open to sinners after Baptism ; yet it is with some variety , and greater difficulty . He that renounces Christianity , and becomes Apostate from his Religion , not by a seeming abjuration under a storm , but by a voluntary and hearty dereliction , he seems to have quitted all that Grace which he had received when he was illuminated , and to have lost the benefits of his Redemption and former expiation . And I conceive this is the full meaning of those words of S. Paul , which are of highest difficulty and latent sense ; For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned , &c. if they shall fall away , to renew them again unto Repentance . The reason is there subjoyned , and more clearly explicated a little after : For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there remains no more sacrifice for sins ; For he hath counted the bloud of the Covenant , wherewith he was sanctified , an unholy thing , and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace . The meaning is divers , according to the degrees of apostasie or relapse . They who fall away after they were once enlightned in Baptism , and felt all those blessed effects of the sanctification and the emanations of the Spirit , if it be into a contradictory state of sin and mancipation , and obstinate purposes to serve Christ's enemies ; then there remains nothing but a fearful expectation of Judgment : but if the backsliding be but the interruption of the first Sanctity by a single act , or an unconformed , unresolved , unmalicious habit ; then also it is impossible to renew them unto Repentance , viz. as formerly , that is , they can never be reconciled as before , integrally , fully , and at once , during this life . For that Redemption and expiation was by Baptism into Christ's death , and there are no more deaths of Christ , nor any more such sacramental consignations of the benefit of it ; there is no more sacrifice for sins , but the Redemption is one , as the Sacrifice is one in whose virtue the Redemption does operate . And therefore the Novatians , who were zealous men denied to the first sort of persons the peace of the Church , and remitted them to the Divine Judgment . The * Church her self was sometimes almost as zealous against the second sort of persons lapsed into capital crimes , granting to them Repentance but once ; by such disciplines consigning this truth , That every recession from the state of Grace , in which by Baptism we were established and consigned , is a farther step from the possibilities of Heaven , and so near a ruine , that the Church thought them persons fit to be transmitted to a Judicature immediately Divine ; as supposing either her power to be too little , or the others malice too great , or else the danger too violent , or the scandal insupportable . For concerning such persons , who once were pious , holy , and forgiven , ( for so is every man and woman worthily and aptly baptized ) and afterwards fell into dissolution of manners , extinguishing the Holy Ghost , doing despite to the Spirit of Grace , crucisying again the Lord of Life , that is , returning to such a condition from which they were once recovered , and could not otherwise be so but by the death of our dearest Lord ; I say , concerning such persons the Scripture speaks very suspiciously , and to the sense and signification of an infinite danger . For if the speaking a word against the Holy Ghost be not to be pardoned here nor hereafter , what can we imagine to be the end of such an impiety which crucifies the Lord of Life , and puts him to an open shame , which quenches the Spirit , doing despite to the Spirit of Grace ? Certainly that is worse than speaking against him . And such is every person who falls into wilful Apostasie from the Faith , or does that violence to Holiness which the other does to Faith ; that is , extinguishes the sparks of Illumination , quenches the Spirit , and is habitually and obstinately criminal in any kind . For the same thing that 〈◊〉 was in the first period of the world , and Idolatry in the second , the same is Apostasie in the last ; it is a state wholly contradictory to all our religious relation to God according to the nature and manner of the present communication . Only this last , because it is more malicious , and a declension from a greater grace , is something like the fall of Angels . And of this the Emperour Julian was a sad example . 19. But as these are degrees immediately next , and a little less ; so the hopes of pardon are the more visible . Simon Magiss spake a word , or at least thought , against the Holy Ghost , he thought he was to be bought with mony . Concerning him S. Peter pronounced , Thou art in the gall of bitterness , and in the bond of iniquity : Yet repent , & pray God , if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee . Here the matter was of great difficulty ; but yet there was a possibility 〈◊〉 , at least no impossibility of recovery declared . And therefore S. Jude bids us , of some to have compassion , making a difference ; and others save with fear , pulling them out of the fire : meaning that their condition is only not desperate . And still in descent , retaining the same proportion , every lesser sin is easier pardoned , as better consisting with the state of Grace ; the whole Spirit is not destroyed , and the body of sin is not introduced : Christ is not quite ejected out of possession , but , like an oppressed Prince , still continues his claim ; and such is his mercy that he will still do so , till all be lost , or that he is provoked by too much violence , or that Antichrist is put in substitution , and sin reigns in 〈◊〉 mortal body . So that I may use the words of Saint John , These things I write unto you , that ' you sin not . But if any man sin , we have an Advocate with the 〈◊〉 , Jesus Christ the Righteous : And he is a propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only , but for the sins of the whole world . That is plainly , Although the design of the Gospel be , that we should erect a Throne for Christ to reign in our spirits , and this doctrine of Innocence be therefore preached that ye sin not ; yet if one be overtaken in a fault , despair not , Christ is our Advocate , and he is the Propitiation : he did propitiate the Father by his death , and the benefit of that we receive at our first access to him ; but then he is our Advocate too , and prays perpetually for our perseverance or restitution respectively . But his purpose is , and he is able so to do , to keep you from falling , and to present you faultless before the presence of his Glory . 20. This consideration I intend should relate to all Christians of the world : And although by the present custom of the Church , we are baptized in our infancy , and do not actually reap that fruit of present Pardon which persons of a mature age in the primitive Church did , ( for we yet need it not , as we shall when we have past the calentures of Youth , which was the time in which the wisest of our Fathers in Christ chose for their Baptism , as appears in the instance of S. Ambrose , S. Austin , and divers others ; ) yet we must remember , that there is a Baptism of the Spirit as well as of water : and when-ever this happens , whether it be together with that Baptism of water , as usually it was when only men and women of years of discretion were baptized ; or whether it be ministred in the rite of Confirmation , which is an admirable suppletory of an early Baptism , and intended by the Holy Ghost for a corroborative of Baptismal grace , and a defensative against danger ; or that , lastly , it be performed by an internal and merely spiritual Ministery , when we by acts of our own election verifie the promise made in Baptism , and so bring back the Rite by receiving the effect of Baptism ; that is , when-ever the filth of our flesh is washt away , and that we have the answer of a pure conscience towards God , which S. Peter affirms to be the true Baptism , and which by the purpose and design of God it is expected we should not defer longer than a great reason or a great necessity enforces ; when our sins are first explated , and the sacrifice and death of Christ is made ours , and we made God's by a more immediate title , ( which at some time or other happens to all Christians , that pretend to any hopes of Heaven : ) then let us look to our standing , and take heed lest we fall . When we once have tasted of the heavenly gift , and are made partakers of the Holy Ghost , and have tasted the good word of God , and the powers of the world to come , that is , when we are redeemed by an actual mercy and presential application , which every Christian that belongs to God is at some time or other of his life ; then a fall into a deadly crime is highly dangerous , but a relapse into a contrary estate is next to desperate . 21. I represent this sad , but most true , Doctrine in the words of S. Peter : If , after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , they are again entangled therein , and overcome ; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning . For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness , than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them . So that a relapse after a state of Grace into a state of sin , into confirmed habits , is to us a great sign , and possibly in it self it is more than a sign , even a state , of reprobation and final abscission . 22. The summ of all is this . There are two states of like opposite terms . First , Christ redeems us from our vain conversation , and reconciles us to God , putting us into an intire condition of Pardon , Favour , Innocence and Acceptance , and becomes our Lord and King , his Spirit dwelling and reigning in us . The opposite state to this is that which in Scripture is called a crucifying the Lord of Life , a doing despite to the Spirit of grace , a being entangled in the pollutions of the world , the Apostasie or falling away , an impotency or disability to do good , viz. of such who cannot cease from sin , who are slaves of sin , and in whom sin reigns in their bodies . This condition is a full and integral deletery of the first ; it is such a condition , which as it hath no Holiness or remanent affections to Vertue , so it hath no hope or revelation of a mercy , because all that benefit is lost which they received by the death of Christ ; and the first being lost , there remains no more sacrifice for sins , but a certain fearful expectation of Judgment . But between these two states stand all those imperfections and single delinquencies , those slips and falls , those parts of recession and apostasie , those grievings of the Spirit : and so long as any thing of the first state is left , so long we are within the Covenant of grace , so long we are within the ordinary limits of mercy and the Divine compassion , we are in possibilities of recovery , and the same sacrifice of Christ hath its power over us ; Christ is in his possession , though he be disturbed : but then our restitution consists upon the only condition of a renovation of our integrity ; as are the degrees of our Innocence , so are our degrees of Confidence . 23. Now because the intermedial state is divisible , various , successive , and alterable ; so also is our condition of Pardon . Our flesh shall no more return as that of a little child , our wounds shall never be perfectly cured ; but a scar , and pain , and danger of a relapse shall for ever afflict us ; our sins shall be pardoned by parts and degrees , to uncertain purposes , but with certain danger of being recalled again ; and the Pardon shall never be 〈◊〉 till that day in which all things have their consummation . 24. And this is evident to have been God's usual dealing with all those upon whom his Name is called . God pardoned David's sins of Adultery and Murther : but the Pardon was but to a certain degree , and in a limited expression ; God hath taken away thy sin , thou shalt not die : but this Pardon was as imperfect as his condition was , Nevertheless the child that is born unto thee , that shall die . Thus God pardoned the Israelites at the importunity of Moses , and yet threatned to visit that sin upon them in the day of Visitation . And so it is in Christianity : when once we have broke and discomposed the golden chain of Vocation , Election and Justification , which are intire links and methodical periods of our happiness when we first give up our names to Christ , for ever after our condition is imperfect ; we have broken our Covenant , and we must be saved by the excrescencies and overflowings of mercy . Our whole endeavour must be to be reduced to the state of our Baptismal innocence and integrity , because in that the Covenant was established . And since our life is full of defailances , and all our endeavours can never make us such as Christ made us , and yet upon that condition our hopes of happiness were established , I mean , of remaining such as he had made us ; as are the degrees of our Restitution and access to the first federal condition , so also are the degrees of our Pardon : but as it is always in imperfection during this life , and subject to change and defailance ; so also are the hopes of our felicity , never certain till we are taken from all danger , never perfect till all that is imperfect in us is done away . 25. And therefore in the present condition of things our pardon was properly expressed by David , and S. Paul , by a covering , and a not imputing . For because the body of sin dies visibly , and fights perpetually , and disputes with hopes of victory , and may also prevail , all this life is a condition of suspense ; our sin is rather covered , than properly pardoned ; God's wrath is suspended , not satisfied ; the sin is not to all purposes of anger imputed , but yet is in some sence remanent , or at least lies ready at the door . Our condition is a state of Imperfection ; and every degree of imperfection brings a degree of Recession from the state Christ put us in ; and every recession from our Innocence is also an abatement of our Confidence ; the anger of God hovers over our head , and breaks out into temporal Judgments ; and he retracts them again ; and threatens worse , according as we approach to or retire from that first Innocence , which was the first entertainment of a Christian , and the Crown of the Evangelical Covenant . Upon that we entertained the mercies of Redemption ; and God established it upon such an Obedience which is a constant , perpetual and universal sincerity and endeavour : and as we perform our part , so God verifies his , and not only gives a great assistance by the perpetual influences of his Holy Spirit , by which we are consigned to the day of Redemption , but also takes an account of Obedience , not according to the standard of the Law and an exact scrutiny , but by an Evangelical proportion ; in which we are on one side looked upon as persons already redeemed and assisted , and therefore highly engaged ; and on the other side as compassed about with infirmities and enemies , and therefore much pitied . So that as at first our Calling and Election is presently good , and shall remain so , if we make it sure ; so if we once prevaricate it , we are rendred then full of hazard , difficulty and uncertainty , and we must with pains and sedulity work out our Salvation with fear and trembling ; first by preventing a fall , or afterwards by returning to that excellent condition from whence we have departed . 26. But although the pardon of sins after Baptism be , during this life , difficult , imperfect , and revocable ; yet because it is to great effects for the present , and in order to a complete Pardon in the day of Judgment , we are next to enquire , what are the parts of duty to which we are obliged after such prevarications which usually interrupt the state of Baptismal innocence , and the life of the Spirit . S. John gives this account : If we say we have fellowship with God , and walk in darkness , we lie , and do not the truth . But if we walk in the light , as he is in the light , we have communion one with another , and the bloud of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin . This state of duty S. Paul calls a casting off the works of darkness , a putting on the armour of light , a walking honestly , a putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. And to it he confronts , making provision for the flesh , to fulfill the lusts thereof . S. Peter , describing the duty of a Christian , relates the proportion of it as high as the first precedent , even God himself . As he which hath called you is holy , so be ye holy in all manner of conversation : Not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts . And again , Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved , what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness ? And S. John , with the same severity and perfection , Every one that hath this hope ( that is , every one who either does not , or hath no reason to despair ) purifieth himself , even as God is pure ; meaning , that he is pure by a Divine purity , which God hath prescribed as an imitation of his Holiness , according to our capacities and possibilities . That Purity must needs be a laying aside all malice , and guile , and hypocrisies , and envies , and evil speakings ; so S. Peter expresses it : a laying aside every weight , and the sin that does so easily beset us ; so S. Paul. This is to walk in the light , as he is in the light ; for in him is no darkness at all ; which we have then imitated , when we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lusts , that is , so as we are not held by them , that we take them for our enemies , for the object and party of our contestation and spiritual fight , when we contend earnestly against them , and resist them unto bloud , if need be ; that 's being pure as he is pure . But besides this positive rejection of all evil , and perpetually contesting against sin , we must pursue the interests of Vertue and an active Religion . 27. And besides this , saith S. Peter , giving all diligence , add to your Faith Vertue , to your Vertue Knowlege , and to Knowledge Temperance , and to Temperance Patience , and to Patience Godliness , and to Godliness Brotherly kindness , and to Brotherly kindness Charity . All this is an evident prosecution of the first design , the holiness and righteousness of a whole life , the being clear from all spots and blemishes , a being pure , and so presented unto Christ : for upon this the Covenant being founded , to this all industries must endeavour , and arrive in their proportions . * For if these things be in you and abound , they shall make that you be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind , and hath forgotten he was purged from his old sins ; that is , he hath lost his Baptismal grace , and is put from the first state of his Redemption towards that state which is contradictory and destructive of it . 28. Now because all these things are in latitude , distance and divisibility , and only injoyn a sedulity and great endeavour , all that we can dwell upon is this , That he who endeavours most is most secure , and every degree of negligence is a degree of danger ; and although in the intermedial condition between the two states of Christianity and a full impiety there is a state of recovery and possibility , yet there is danger in every part of it , and it increases according as the deflection and irregularity comes to its height , position , state and finality . So that we must give all diligence to work out our Salvation , and it would ever be with fear and trembling : with fear , that we do not lose our innocence ; and with trembling , if we have lost it , for fear we never recover , or never be accepted . But Holiness of life and uninterrupted Sanctity being the condition of our Salvation , the ingredient of the Covenant , we must proportion our degrees of hope and confidence of Heaven according as we have obtained degrees of Innocence , or Perseverance , or Restitution . Only this : As it is certain he is in a state of reprobation who lives unto sin , that is , whose actions are habitually criminal , who gives more of his consent to wickedness than to Vertue : so it is also certain he is not in the state of God's favour and Sanctification , unless he lives unto righteousness , that is , whose desires , and purposes , and endeavours , and actions , and customs are spiritual , holy , sanctified , and obedient . When sin is dead , and the spirit is life ; when the Lusts of the flesh are mortified , and the heart is purged from an evil conscience , and we abound in a whole Systeme of Christian Vertues ; when our hearts are right to God , and with our affections and our wills we love God and keep his Commandments ; when we do not only cry , Lord , Lord , but also do his will ; then Christ dwells in us , and we in Christ. Now let all this be taken in the lowest sence that can be imagined , all I say which out of Scripture I have transcribed ; [ casting away every weight ; laying aside all malice , mortifying the deeds of the flesh , crucifying the old man with all his affections and lusts , and then having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust , besides this , adding vertue to vertue till all righteousness be fulfilled in us , walking in the light , putting on the Lord Jesus , purifying our selves as God is pure , following peace with all men and holiness , resisting unto bloud , living in the Spirit , being holy in all manner of conversation as he is holy , being careful and excellent in all conversation and godliness , ] all this , being a pursuit of the first design of Christ's death and our reconcilement , can mean no less but that , 1. We should have in us no affection to a sin ; of which we can best judge , when we never chuse it , and never fall under it but by surprise , and never lie under it at all , but instantly recover , judging our selves severely : and 2. That we should chuse Vertue with great freedom of spirit and alacrity , and pursue it earnestly , * integrally , and make it the business of our ‖ lives : and that , 3. The effect of this be , that sin be crucified in us , and the desires to it dead , flat and useless ; and that our desires of serving Christ be quick-spirited , active , and effective , inquisitive for opportunities , apprehensive of the offer , chearful in the action , and persevering in the employment . 29. Now let a prudent person imagine what infirmities and over-sights can consist with a state thus described , and all that does no violence to the Covenant ; God pities us , and calls us not to an account for what * morally cannot , or certainly will not with great industry be prevented . But whatsoever is inconsistent with this condition is an abatement from our hopes , as it is a retiring from our duty , and is with greater or less difficulty cured , as are the degrees of its distance from that condition which Christ stipulated with us when we became his Disciples . For we are just so restored to our state of grace and favour as we are restored to our state of purity and holiness . Now this redintegration or renewing of us into the first condition is also called Repentance , and is permitted to all persons who still remain within the powers and possibilities of the Covenant , that is , who are not in a state contradictory to the state and portion of Grace ; but with a difficulty increased by all circumstances , and incidences of the crime and person . And this I shall best represent in repeating these considerations . 1. Some sins are past hopes of Pardon in this life . 2. All that are pardoned are pardoned by parts , revocably and imperfectly during this life , not quickly , nor yet manifestly . 3. Repentance contains in it many operations , parts and imployments , its terms and purpose being to redintegrate our lost condition , that is , in a second and less perfect sence , but , as much as in such circumstances we can , to verifie our first obligations of innocence and holiness in all manner of conversation and godliness . 30. Concerning the first , it is too sad a consideration to be too dogmatical and conclusive in it ; and therefore I shall only recall those expresses of Scripture which may without envy decree the article : such as are those of S. Paul , that there is a certain sort of men , whom he twice describes , whom it is impossible to renew again unto Repentance ; or those of S. Peter , such whose latter end is worse than the beginning , because after they once had escaped the pollutions of the world , they are intangled therein ; such who , as our Blessed Saviour threatens , shall never be forgiven in this world , nor in the world to come . For there is an unpardonable estate , by reason of its malice and opposition to the Covenant of Grace ; and there is a state unpardonable , because the time of Repentance is past . There are days and periods of Grace : If thou hadst known , at least in this thy day , said the weeping Saviour of the world to foreknown and determined Jerusalem . When God's decrees are gone out , they are not always revocable : and therefore it was a great caution of the Apostle , that we should follow peace and holiness , and look diligently that we fall not from the grace of God , lest any of us become like 〈◊〉 , to whose Repentance there was no place left , though he sought it carefully with tears : meaning , that we also may put our selves into a condition , when it shall be impossible we should be renewed unto Repentance : and those are they who sin a sin unto death , for whom we have from the Apostle no encouragement to pray . And these are in so general and conclusive terms described in Scripture , that every persevering sinner hath great reason to suspect himself to be in the number : If he endeavours , as soon as he thinks of it , to recover , it is the best sign he was not arrived so far ; but he that liveth long in a violent and habitual course of sin is at the margin and brim of that state of final reprobation , and some men are in it before they be aware , and to some God reckons their days swifter and their periods shorter . The use I make of this consideration is , that if any man hath reason to suspect , or to be certain that his time of Repentance is past , it is most likely to be a death-bed Penitent after a vicious life , a life contrary to the mercies and grace of the Evangelical Covenant ; for he hath provoked God as long as he could , and rejected the offers of Grace as long as he lived , and refused Vertue till he could not entertain her , and hath done all those things which a person rejected from hopes of Repentance can easily be imagined to have done . And if there be any time of rejection , although it may be earlier , yet it is also certainly the last . 31. Concerning the second I shall add this to the former discourse of it , that perfect Pardon of sins is not in this world at all after the first emission and great efflux of it in our first Regeneration . During this life we are in imperfection , minority , and under conditions , which we have prevaricated , and our recovery is in perpetual flux , in heightnings and declensions , and we are highly uncertain of our acceptation , because we are not certain of our restitution and innocence ; we know not whether we have done all that is sufficient to repair the breach made in the first state of favour and Baptismal grace . But he that is dead , saith S. Paul , is justified from sin ; not till then . And therefore in the doctrine of the most learned Jews it is affirmed ; He that is guilty of the profanation of the Name of God , he shall not interrupt the apparent malignity of it by his present Repentance , nor make attonement in the day of Expiation , nor wath the stains away by chastising of himself , but during his life it remains wholly in suspence , and before death is not extinguished ; according to the saying of the Prophet Esay , This iniquity shall not be blotted out till ye die , saith the LORD of Hosts . And some wise persons have affirmed , that Jacob related to this in his expression and appellatives of God , whom he called the God of Abraham , and the fear of his father Isaac , because ( as the Doctors of the Jews tell us ) Abraham being dead was ascribed into the final condition of God's family ; but Isaac , being living , had apprehensions of God not only of a pious , but also of a tremulous fear : he was not sure of his own condition , much less of the degrees of his reconciliation , how far God had forgiven his sins , and how far he had retained them . And it is certain , that if every degree of the Divine favour be not assured by a holy life , those sins of whose pardon we were most hopeful return in as full vigour and clamorous importunity as ever , and are made more vocal by the appendent ingratitude , and other accidental degrees . And this Christ taught us by a Parable : For as the lord made his uncharitable servant pay all that debt which he had formerly forgiven him ; even so will God do to us , if we from our hearts forgive not one another their trespasses . Behold the goodness and severity of God , saith S. Paul : on them which fell severity ; but on thee goodness , if thou continue in that goodness ; otherwise thou shalt be cut off . For this is my Covenant which I shall make with them , when I shall take away their sins . And if this be true in those sins which God certainly hath forgotten , such as were all those which were committed before our illumination ; much rather is it true in those which we committed after , concerning whose actual and full pardon we cannot be certain without a revelation . So that our pardon of sins , when it is granted after the breach of our Covenant , is just so secure as our perseverance is : concerning which because we must ascertain it as well as we can , but ever with fear and trembling so also is the estate of our Pardon , hazardous , conditional , revocable and uncertain ; and therefore the best of men do all their lives ask pardon even of those sins for which they have wept bitterly and done the sharpest and severest penance . And if it be necessary we pray that we may not enter into temptation , because temptation is full of danger , and the danger may bring a sin , and the sin may ruine us : it is also necessary that we understand the condition of our pardon to be , as is the condition of our person , variable as will , sudden as affections , alterable as our purposes , revocable as our own good intentions , and then made as ineffective as our inclinations to good actions . And there is no way to secure our confidence and our hope but by being perfect , and holy , and pure , as our heavenly Father is ; that is , in the sence of humane capacity , free from the habits of all sin , and active and industrious and continuing in the ways of godliness . For upon this only the Promise is built , and by our proportion to this state we must proportion our confidence , we have no other revelation . Christ reconciled us to his Father upon no other conditions , and made the Covenant upon no other articles , but of a holy life , in obedience universal and perpetual : and the abatements of the rigorous sence of the words , as they are such as may infinitely testifie and prove his mercy , so they are such as must secure our duty and habitual graces ; an industry manly , constant and Christian : and because these have so great latitude , ( and to what degrees God will accept our returns he hath no-where punctually described ) he that is most severe in his determination does best secure himself , and by exacting the strictest account of himself , shall obtain the easier scrutiny at the hands of God. The use I make of this consideration is to the same purpose with the former : For if every day of sin and every criminal act is a degree of recess from the possibilities of Heaven , it would be considered at how great distance a death-bed Penitent after a vicious life may apprehend himself to stand for mercy and pardon : and since the terms of restitution must in labour , and in extension of time , or intension of degrees , be of value great enough to restore him to some proportion or equivalence with that state of Grace from whence he is fallen , and upon which the Covenant was made with him ; how impossible , or how near to impossible , it will appear to him to go so far , and do so much in that state , and in those circumstances of disability . 32. Concerning the third particular , I consider that Repentance , as it is described in Scripture , is a system of holy Duties , not of one kind , not properly consisting of parts as if it were a single Grace ; but it is the reparation of that estate into which Christ first put us , a renewing us in the spirit of our mind , so the Apostle calls it ; and the Holy Ghost hath taught this truth to us by the implication of many appellatives , and also by express discourses . For there is in Scripture (a) a Repentance to be repented of , and (b) a Repentance never to be repented of . The first is mere Sorrow for what is past , an ineffective trouble producing nothing good ; such as was the Repentance of Judas , he repented , and hanged himself ; and such was that of Esau , when it was too late ; and so was the Repentance of the five foolish Virgins : which examples tell us also when ours is an impertinent and ineffectual Repentance . To this Repentance Pardon is nowhere promised in Scripture . But there is a Repentance which is called Conversion or Amendment of life , a Repentance productive of holy fruits , such as the Baptist and our Blessed Saviour preached , such as himself also propounded in the example of the (c) Ninivites ; they repented at the preaching of Jonah , that is , (d) they fasted , they covered them in sackcloth , they cried mightily unto God , yea , they turned every one from his evil way , and from the violence that was in their hands . And this was it that appeased God in that instance . God saw their works , that they turned from their evil way ; and God repented of the evil , and did it not . 33. The same Character of Repentance we find in the Prophet Ezekiel : When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed , and doth that which is lawful and right ; If the wicked restore the pledge , give again that he had robbed , walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity , he hath done that which is lawful and right , he shall surely live , he shall not die . And in the Gospel Repentance is described with as full and intire comprehensions as in the old Prophets . For Faith and Repentance are the whole duty of the Gospel . Faith when it is in conjunction with a practical grace signifies an intellectual . Faith signifies the submission of the understanding to the Institution ; and Repentance includes all that whole practice which is the intire duty of a Christian after he hath been overtaken in a fault . And therefore Repentance first includes a renunciation and abolition of all evil , and then also enjoyns a pursuit of every vertue , and that till they arrive at an habitual confirmation . 34. Of the first sence are all those expressions of Scripture which imply Repentance to be the deletery of sins . Repentance from dead works S. Paul affirms to be the prime Fundamental of the Religion , that is , conversion or returning from dead works : for unless Repentance be so construed , it is not good sence . And this is therefore highly verified , because Repentance is intended to set us into the condition of our first undertaking , and articles covenanted with God. And therefore it is a redemption of the time , that is , a recovering what we lost , and making it up by our doubled industry . Remember whence thou art fallen , repent , that is , return , and do thy first works , said the Spirit to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus ; or else I will remove the Candlestick , except thou repent . It is a restitution ; If a man be overtaken in a fault , restore such a one , that is , put him where he was . And then , that Repentance also implies a doing all good , is certain by the Sermon of the Baptist , Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance : Do thy first works , was the Sermon of the Spirit ; Laying aside every weight , and the sin that easily encircles us , let us run with patience the race that is set before us , So S. Paul taught . And S. Peter gives charge , that when we have escaped the corruptions of the world and of lusts , besides this , we give all diligence to acquire the rosary and conjugation of Christian vertues . And they are proper effects , or rather constituent parts , of a holy Repentance . For godly sorrow worketh Repentance ( saith S. Paul ) not to be repented of : and that ye may know what is signified by Repentance , behold the product was carefulness , clearing of themselves , indignation , fear , vehement desires , zeal and revenge ; to which if we add the Epithet of holy , ( for these were the results of a godly sorrow , and the members of a Repentance not to be repented of ) we are taught that Repentance , besides the purging out the malice of iniquity , is also a sanctification of the whole man , a turning Nature into Grace , Passions into Reason , and the flesh into spirit . 35. To this purpose I reckon those Phrases of Scripture calling it a (a) renewing of our minds ; a * renewing of the Holy Ghost ; a (b) cleansing of our hands and purifying our hearts , that is , a becoming holy in our affections and righteous in our actions ; a ( a ) transformation or utter change ; a (c) crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts ; a * mortified state ; a ‖ purging out the old leven , and becoming a new conspersion ; a (a) waking out of sleep , and (b) walking honestly as in the day ; a (c) being born again , and being born from above ; a new life . And I consider that these preparative actions of Repentance , such as are Sorrow , and Confession of sins , and Fasting , and exteriour Mortifications and severities , are but fore-runners of Repentance , some of the retinue , and they are of the family , but they no more complete the duty of Repentance than the harbingers are the whole Court , or than the Fingers are all the body . There is more joy in Heaven , said our Blessed Saviour , over one sinner that repenteth , than over ninety nine just persons who need no repentance . There is no man but needs a tear and a sorrow even for his daily weaknesses , and possibly they are the instrumental expiations of our sudden and frequent and lesser surprises of imperfection ; but the just persons need no repentance , that is , need no inversion of state , no transformation from condition to condition , but from the less to the more perfect the best man hath . And therefore those are vain persons who when they owe God a hundred will write fourscore , or a thousand will write fifty . It was the saying of an excellent person , that Repentance is the beginning of Philosophy , a flight and renunciation of evil works and words , and the first preparation and entrance into a life which is never to be repented of : And therefore a penitent is not taken with umbrages and appearances , nor quits a real good for an imaginary , or chuses evil for fear of enemies and adverse accidents ; but peremptorily conforms his sentence to the Divine Laws , and submits his whole life in a conformity with them . He that said those excellent words had not been taught the Christian Institution , but it was admirable reason and deep Philosophy , and most consonant to the reasonableness of Vertue , and the proportions and designs of Repentance , and no other than the doctrine of Christian Philosophy . 36. And it is considerable , since in Scripture there is a Repentance mentioned which is impertinent and ineffectual as to the obtaining Pardon , a Repentance implied which is to be repented of , and another expressed which is never to be repented of , and this is described to be a new state of life , a whole conversion and transformation of the man ; it follows , that whatsoever in any sence can be called Repentance , and yet is less than this new life , must be that ineffective Repentance . A Sorrow is a Repentance , and all the acts of dolorous expression are but the same sorrow in other characters , and they are good when they are parts or instruments of the true Repentance : but when they are the whole Repentance , that Repentance is no better than that of Judas , nor more prosperous than that of Esau. Every sorrow is not a godly sorrow , and that which is , is but instrumental and in order to Repentance . Godly sorrow worketh repentance , saith S. Paul ; that is , it does its share towards it , as every Grace does toward the Pardon , as every degree of Pardon does toward Heaven . By godly sorrow it is probable S. Paul means the same thing which the School hath since called Contrition ; a grief proceeding from a holy principle , from our love of God , and anger that we have offended him : and yet this is a great way off from that Repentance without the performance of which we shall certainly perish : But no Contrition alone is remissive of sins , but as it cooperates towards the integrity of our duty . 〈◊〉 conversus ingemuerit , is the Prophet's expression ; When a man mourns and turns from all his evil way , that 's a godly sorrow , and that 's Repentance too : but the tears of a dolorous person , though running over with great effusions , and shed in great bitterness , and expressed in actions of punitive justice , all being but the same sence in louder language , being nothing but the expressions of sorrow , are good only as they tend farther ; and if they do , they may by degrees bring us to Repentance , and that Repentance will bring us to Heaven ; but of themselves they may as well make the Sea swell beyond its margin , or water and refresh the Sun-burnt earth , as move God to merey and pierce the heavens . But then to the consideration we may add , that a sorrow upon a death-bed after a vicious life is such as cannot easily be understood to be ordinarily so much as the beginning of Vertue , or the first instance towards a holy life . For he that till then retained his sins , and now when he is certain and believes he shall die , or is fearful lest he should , is sorrowful that he hath sinned , is only sorrowful because he is like to perish : and such a sorrow may perfectly consist with as great an affection to sin as ever the man had in the highest caresses and invitation of his Lust. For even then in certain circumstances he would have refused to have acted his greatest temptation . The boldest and most pungent Lust would refuse to be satisfied in the Market-place , or with a dagger at his heart ; and the greatest intemperance would refuse a pleasant meal , if he believed the meat to be mixt with poison : and yet this restraint of appetite is no abatement of the affection , any more than the violent fears which by being incumbent upon the death-bed Penitent make him grieve for the evil consequents more than to hate the malice and irregularity . He that does not grieve till his greatest fear presses him hard , and damnation treads upon his heels , feels indeed the effects of fear , but can have no present benefit of his sorrow , because it had no natural principle , but a violent , unnatural and intolerable cause , inconsistent with a free , placid and moral election . But this I speak only by way of caution : for God's merey is infinite , and can , if he please , make it otherwise . But it is not good to venture , unless you have a promise . 37. The same also I consider concerning the Purpose of a new life , which that any man should judge to be Repentance , that Duty which restores us , is more unreasonable than to think sorrow will do it . For as a man may sorrow , and yet never be restored , ( and he may sorrow so much the more , because he shall never be restored , as Esan did , as the five 〈◊〉 Virgins did , and as many more do : ) so he that purposes to lead a new life hath convinced himself that the Duty is undone , and therefore his pardon not granted , nor his condition restored . As a letter is not a word , nor a word an action ; as an Embryo is not a man , nor the seed the fruit : so is a purpose of Obedience but the element of Repentance , the first imaginations of it , differing from the Grace it self as a disposition from a habit , or ( because it self will best express it self ) as the purpose does from the act . For either a holy life is necessary , or it is not necessary . If it be not , why does any man hope to escape the wrath to come by resolving to do an unnecessary thing ? or if he does not purpose it , when he pretends he does , that is a mocking of God , and that is a great way from being an instrument of his restitution . But if a holy life be necessary , as it is certain by infinite testimonies of Scriptures , it is the unum necessarium , the one great necessary ; it cannot reasonably be thought that any thing less than doing it shall serve our turns . That which is only in purpose is not yet done , and yet it is necessary it should be done , because it is necessary we should purpose it . And in this we are sufficiently concluded by that ingeminate expression used by S. Paul : * In Jesus Christ nothing can avail but a new Creature ; nothing but Faith working by Charity , nothing but a keeping the Commandments of God. ‖ And as many as walk according to this rule , peace be on them , and mercy , they are the Israel of God. 38. This consideration I intended to oppose against the carnal security of Death-bed penitents , who have ( it is to be feared ) spent a vicious life , who have therefore mocked themselves , because they meant to mock God , they would reap what they sowed not . But be not deceived , saith the Apostle , he that soweth to the flesh , shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he 〈◊〉 soweth to the Spirit , shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting . Only this , let us not be weary of well-doing , for in due season we shall reap , if we faint not : meaning , that by a persevering industry , and a long work , and a succession of religious times , we must sow to the Spirit ; a work of such length , that the greatest danger is of fainting and intercision : but he that sows to the Spirit , not being weary of well-doing , not fainting in the long process , he , and he only , shall reap life everlasting . But a purpose is none of all this . If it comes to act , and be productive of a holy life , then it is useful , and it was like the Eve of a Holiday , festival in the midst of its abstinence and vigils , it was the beginnings of a Repentance . But if it never come to act , it was to no purpose , a mocking of God , an act of direct hypocrisie , a provocation of God , and a deceiving our own selves ; you are unhappy you began not early , or that your earlier days return not together with your good purposes . 39. And neither can this have any other sentence , though the purpose be made upon our death-bed . For God hath made no Covenant with us on our death-bed distinct from that he made with us in our life and health . And since in our life and present abilities good purposes and resolutions and vows ( for they are but the same thing in differing degrees ) did signifie nothing till they came to act , and no man was reconciled to God by good intentions , but by doing the will of God ; can we imagine that such purposes can more prevail at the end of a wicked life than at the beginning ? that less piety will serve our turns after 50 or 60 years impiety , than after but 5 or 10 ? that a wicked and sinful life should by less pains be expiated than an unhappy year ? For it is not in the state of Grace as in other exteriour actions of Religion or Charity , where God will accept the will for the deed , when the external act is inculpably out of our powers , and may also be supplied by the internal : as bendings of the body , by the prostration of the Soul ; Alms , by Charity ; Preaching , by praying for conversion . These things are necessary , because they are precepts , and obligatory only in certain circumstances , which may fail , and we be innocent and disobliged . But it is otherwise in the essential parts of our duty , which God hath made the immediate and next condition of our Salvation , such which are never out of our power but by our own fault . Such are Charity , Forgiveness , Repentance , and Faith ; such to which we are assisted by God , such which are always put by God's grace into our power , therefore because God indispensably demands them . In these cases , as there is no revelation God will accept the will for the deed , the purpose for the act , so it is unreasonable to expect it ; because God did once put it into our powers , and , if we put it out , we must not complain of want of fire which our selves have quench'd , nor complain we cannot see , when we have put our own lights out ; and hope God will accept the will for the deed , since we had no will to it when God put it into our powers . These are but fig leaves to cover our nakedness , which our sin hath introduced . 40. For either the reducing such vows and purposes to act is the duty , without which the purpose is ineffectual ; or else that practice is but the sign and testimony of a sincere intention , and that very sincere intention was of it self accepted by God in the first spring . If it was nothing but a sign , then the Covenant which God made with Man in Jesus Christ was Faith and Good meaning , not Faith and Repentance , and a man is justified as soon as ever he purposes well , before any endeavours are commenced , or any act produced , or habit ratified ; and the duties of a holy life are but shadows and significations of a Grace , no part of the Covenant , not so much as smoak is of fire , but a mere sign of a person justified as soon as he made his vow : but then also a man may be justified five hundred times in a year , as often as he makes a new vow and confident resolution , which is then done most heartily , when the Lust is newly satisfied , and the pleasure disappears for the instant , though the purpose disbands upon the next temptation . Yea but , unless it be a sincere purpose , it will do no good ; and although we cannot discern it , nor the man himself , yet God knows the heart , and if he sees it would have been reduced to act , then he accepts it , and this is the hopes of a dying man. But faint they are and dying , as the man himself . 41. For it is impossible for us to know but that what a man intends ( as himself thinks ) heartily , is sincerely meant , and if that may be insincere , and is to be judged only by a never-following event , ( in case the man dies ) it cannot become to any man the ground of hope , nay , even to those persons who do mean sincerely it is still an instrument of distrust and fears infinite , since his own sincere meaning hath nothing in the nature of the thing , no distinct formality , no principle , no sign to distinguish it from the unsincere vows of sorrowful , but not truly penitent , persons . 2. A purpose acted and not acted differ not in the principle , but in the effect , which is extrinsecal and accidental to the purpose , and each might be without the other : a man might live holily , though he had not made that vow ; and when he hath made the vow , he may fail of living holily . * And as we should think it hard measure to have a damnation encreased upon us for those sins which we would have committed if we had lived ; so it cannot be reasonable to build our hopes of Heaven upon an imaginary Piety , which we never did , and , if we had lived , God knows whether we would or not . 3. God takes away the godly , lest malice should corrupt their Understandings , and for the Elects sake those days are shortned , which if they should continue , no flesh should escape : but now shall all that be laid upon their score which , if God had not so prevented by their death , God knows they would have done ? And God deals with the wicked in a proportionable manner , to the contrary purpose , he shortens their days , and takes a way their possibilities and opportunities , when the time of Repentance is past , because he will not do violence to their Wills ; and this * lest they should return , and be converted , and I should heal them : so that it is evident , some persons are by some acts of God , after a vicious life and the frequent rejection of the Divine grace , at last prevented from mercy , who , without such courses and in contrary circumstances , might possibly do acts of Repentance , and return , and then God would healthem . 4. Let their purposes and vows be never so sincere in the principle , yet since a man who is in the state of Grace may again fail of it , and forget he was purged from his old sins , ( and every dying sinner did so , if ever he was washed in the laver of Regeneration and sanctified in his spirit ; ) then much more may such a sincere purpose fail , and then it would be known to what distance of time or state from his purpose will God give his final sentence . Whether will he quit him , because in the first stage he will correspond with his intention , and act his purposes ; or condemn him , because in his second stage he would prevaricate ? And when a man does fail , it is not because his first principle was not good ; for the Holy Spirit , which is certainly the best principle of spiritual actions , may be extinguished in a man , and a sincere or hearty purpose may be lost , or it may again be recovered , and be lost again : so that it is as unreasonable as it is unrevealed , that a sincere purpose on a death-bed shall obtain pardon or pass for a new state of life . Few men are at those instants and in such pressures hypocritical and vain ; and yet to perform such purposes is a new work and a new labour ; it comes in upon a new stock differing from that principle , and will meet with temptations , difficulties and impediments ; and an honest heart is not sure to remain so , but may split upon a rock of a violent invitation . A promise is made to be faithful or unfaithful ex post 〈◊〉 by the event , but it was sincere or insincere in the principle , only if the person promising did or did not respectively at that time mean what he said . A sincere promise many times is not truly performed . 42. Concerning all the other acts which it is to be supposed a dying person can do , I have only this consideration : If they can make up a new Creature , become a new state , be in any sence a holy life , a keeping the Commandments of God , a following of peace and holiness , a becoming holy in all conversation ; if they can arrive to the lowest sence of that excellent condition Christ intended to all his Disciples , when he made keeping the Commandments to be the condition of entring into life , and not crying Lord , Lord , but doing the will of God ; if he that hath served the Lusts of the flesh and taken pay under all God's enemies during a long and malicious life , can for any thing a dying person can do be said in any sence to have lived holily ; then his hopes are fairly built : if not , they rely upon a sand , and the 〈◊〉 of Death and the Divine displeasure will beat 〈◊〉 violently upon them . There are no suppletories of the Evangelical Covenant : If we walk according to the Rule , then shall peace and righteousness kiss each other ; if we have sinned and prevaricated the Rule , Repentance must bring us into the ways of Righteousness , and then we must go on upon the old stock ; but the deeds of the 〈◊〉 must be mortified , and Christ must dwell in us , and the Spirit must reign in us , and Vertue must be habitual , and the habits must be confirmed : and this as we do by the Spirit of Christ , so it is hallowed and accepted by the grace of God , and we put into a condition of favour , and redeemed from sin , and reconciled to God. But this will not be put off with single acts , nor divided parts , nor newly-commenced purposes , nor fruitless sorrow ; it is a great folly to venture Eternity upon dreams : so that now let me represent the condition of a dying person after a vicious life . 43. First , He that considers the srailty of humane bodies , their incidences and aptness to sickness , casualties , death sudden or expected , the condition of several diseases , that some are of too quick a sense and are intolerable , some are dull , stupid and Lethargical ; then adds the prodigious Judgments which fall upon many sinners in the act of sin , and are marks of our dangers and God's essential justice and severity ; and that security which possesses such persons whose lives are vicious , and that habitual carelesness , and groundless confidence , or an absolute inconsideration , which is generally the condition and constitution of such minds , every one whereof is likely enough to confound a persevering sinner in miseries eternal ; will soon apprehend the danger of a delayed Repentance to be infinite and unmeasurable . 44. Secondly , But suppose such a person , having escaped the antecedent circumstances of the danger , is set fairly upon his Death-bed with the just apprehension of his sins about him and his addresses to Repentance ; consider then the strength of his Lusts , that the sins he is to mortifie are inveterate , habitual and confirmed , having had the growth and stability of a whole life ; that the liberty of his Will is impaired , ( the Scripture saying of such persons , whose eyes are full of lust , and that cannot cease from sin ; and that his servants they are whom they obey ; that they are slaves to sin , and so not sui juris , not at their own dispose ) that his Understanding is blinded , his Appetite is mutinous and of a long time used to rebell and prevail ; that all the inferiour Faculties are in disorder ; that he wants the helps of Grace proportionable to his necessities , ( for the longer he hath continued in sin the weaker the Grace of God is in him ; so that , in effect , at that time the more need he hath the less he shall receive , it being God's rule to give to him that hath , and from him that hath not to take even what he hath : ) then add the innumerable parts and great burthens of Repentance , that it is not a Sorrow , nor a Purpose , because both these suppose that to be undone which is the only necessary support of all our hopes in Christ when it is done ; the innumerable difficult cases of Conscience that may then occur , particularly in the point of Restitution , ( which , among many other necessary parts of Repentance , is indispensably required of all persons that are able , and in every degree in which they are able ; ) the many Temptations of the Devil , the strength of Passions , the impotency of the Flesh , the illusions of the spirits of darkness , the tremblings of the heart , the incogitancy of the mind , the implication and intanglings of ten thousand thoughts , and the impertinences of a disturbed fancy , and the great * hindrances of a sick body and a sad and weary spirit : All these represent a Death-bed to be but an ill station for a Penitent . If the person be suddenly snatched away , he is not left so much as to dispute ; if he be permitted to languish in his sickness , he is either stupid , and apprehends nothing , or else miserable , and hath reason to apprehend too much . However , all these difficulties are to be passed and overcome before the man be put into a saveable condition . From this consideration ( though perhaps it may infer more , yet ) we cannot but conclude this difficulty to be as great as the former danger , that is , vast , and ponderous , and insupportable . 45. Thirdly , Suppose the Clinick or death-bed Penitent to be as forward in these employments , and as successfull in the mastering many of the Objections , as reasonably can be thought : yet it is considerable , that there is a Repentance which is to be repented of , and that is a Repentance which is not productive of fruits of amendment of life ; that there is a period set down by God in his Judgment , and that many , who have been profane as Esau was , are reduced into the condition of Esau , and there is no place left for their Repentance , though they seek it carefully with tears ; that they who have long refused to hear God calling them to Repentance , God will refuse to hear them calling for grace and mercy ; that he will laugh at some men when their calamity comes ; that the five foolish Virgins addressed themselves at the noise of the Bridegroom 's coming , and begg'd oil , and went out to buy oil , and yet for want of some more time and an early diligence came too late , and were shut out for ever ; that it is no-where revealed that such late endeavours and imperfect practices shall be accepted ; that God hath made but one Covenant with us in Jesus Christ , which is Faith and Repentance consigned in 〈◊〉 , and the signification of them and the purpose of Christ is , that we should henceforth no more serve sin , but mortifie and kill him perpetually , and destroy his kingdom , and extinguish as much as in us lies his very title ; that we should live holily , justly , and soberly in this present world , in all holy conversation and godliness ; and that either we must be continued or reduced to this state of holy living and habitual sanctity , or we have no title to the Promises ; that every degree of recession from the state Christ first put us in is a recession from our hopes , and an insecuring our condition , and we add to our 〈◊〉 only as our Obedience is restored : All this is but a sad story to a dying person , who sold himself to work wickedness in an habitual iniquity and aversation from the conditions of the holy Covenant in which he was sanctified . 46. And certainly it is unreasonable to plant all our hopes of Heaven upon a Doctrine that is destructive of all Piety , which supposes us in such a condition that God hath been offended at us all our life long , and yet that we can never return our duties to him unless he will unravel the purposes of his Predestination , or call back time again and begin a new computation of years for us ; and if he did , it would be still as uncertain . For what hope is there to that man who hath fulfilled all iniquity , and hath not fulfilled righteousness ? Can a man live to the Devil ; and die to God ? sow to the flesh , and reap to the Spirit ? hope God will in mercy reward him who hath served his enemy ? Sure it is , the Doctrine of the avail of a death-bed Repentance cannot easily be reconciled with God's purposes and intentions to have us live a good life , for it would reconcile us to the hopes of Heaven for a few thoughts or words or single actions when our life is done ; it takes away the benefit of many Graces , and the use of more , and the necessity of all . 47. For let it be seriously weighed , To what purpose is the variety of God's Grace ? what use is there of preventing , restraining , concomitant , subsequent , and persevering Grace , unless it be in order to a religious conversation ? And by deferring Repentance to the last we despoil our Souls , and rob the Holy Ghost of the glory of many rays and holy influences with which the Church is watered and refreshed , that it may grow from grace to grace , till it be consummate in glory . It takes away the very being of Chastity and Temperance ; no such Vertues , according to this Doctrine , need to be named among Christians . For the dying person is not in capacity to exercise these ; and then either they are troublesome , without which we may do well enough , or else the condition of the unchaste and intemperate Clinick is sad and deplorable . For how can he eject those Devils of Lust and Drunkenness and Gluttony , from whom the disease hath taken all powers of election and variety of choice , unless it be possible to root out long-contracted habits in a moment , or acquire the habits of Chastity , Sobriety and Temperance , those self-denying and laborious Graces , without doing a single act of the respective vertues in order to obtaining of habits ; unless it be so that God will infuse habits into us more immediately than he creates our reasonable Souls , in an instant , and without the cooperation of the suscipient , without the working out our Salvation with fear , and without giving all diligence , and running with patience , and resisting unto bloud , and striving to the last , and enduring unto the end in a long fight and a long race ? If God infuses such habits , why have we laws given us , and are commanded to work , and to do our duty with such a succession and lasting diligence as if the habits were to be acquired , to which indeed God promises and ministers his aids , still leaving us the persons obliged to the law and the labour , as we are capable of the reward ? I need not instance any more . But this doctrine of a death-bed Repentance is inconsistent with the duties of Mortification , with all the vindictive and punitive parts of Repentance in exteriour instances , with the precepts of waiting and watchfulness and preparation , and standing in a readiness against the coming of the Bridegroom , with the patience of well-doing , with exemplary living , with the imitation of the Life of Christ , and conformities to his Passion , with the kingdom and dominion and growth of Grace . And lastly , it goes about to defeat one of God's great purposes ; for Cod therefore concealed the time of our death , that we might always stand upon our guard ; the Holy Jesus told us so , Watch , for ye know not what hour the Lord will come : but this makes men seem more crafty in their late-begun Piety , than God was provident and mysterious in concealing the time of our dissolution , 48. And now if it be demanded , How long time must our Repentance and holy living take up ? what is the last period of commencement of our Piety , after which it will be unaccepted or ineffectual ? will a month , or a year , or three years , or seven suffice ? For since every man fails of his first condition , and makes violent recessions from the state of his Redemption and his Baptismal grace , how long may he lie in that state of recession with hopes of Salvation ? To this I answer , He cannot lie in sin a moment without hazarding his Eternity ; every instant is a danger , and all the parts of its duration do increase it ; and there is no answer to be given antecedently , and by way of rule , but all the hopes of our restitution depends upon the event . It is just as if we should ask , How long will it be before an Infant comes to the perfect use of Reason , or before a fool will become wise , or an ignorant person become excellently learned ? The answer to such questions must be given according to the capacity of the man , to the industry of his person , to his opportunities or hinderances , to his life and health , and to God's blessing upon him . Only this ; every day of deferring it lessens our hopes , and increases the difficulty ; and when this increasing , divisible difficulty comes to the last period of impossibility , God only knows , because he measures the thoughts of man , and comprehends his powers in a span , and himself only can tell how he will correspond in those assistences without which we can never be restored . Agree with thy adversary quickly , while thou art in the way : Quickly . And therefore the Scripture sets down no other time than to day , while it is yet called to day . But because it will every day be called to day , we must remember that our duty is such as requires a time , a duration , it is a course , a race that is set before us , a duty requiring patience , and longanimity , and perseverance , and great care and diligence , that we faint not . And supposing we could gather probably by circumstances when the last period of our hopes begins ; yet he that stands out as long as he can , gives probation that he came not in of good will or choice , that he loves not the present service , that his body is present , but his heart is estranged from the yoak of his present imployment ; and then all that he can do is odious to God , being a sacrifice without a heart , an offertory of shells and husks , while the Devil and the Man's Lusts have devoured the Kernels . 49. So that this question is not to be asked beforehand , but after a man hath done much of the work , and in some sence lived holily , then he may enquire into his condition , whether , if he persevere in that , he may hope for the mercies of Jesus . But he that enquires beforehand , as commonly he means ill , so he can be answered by none but God , because the satisfaction of such a vain question depends upon future contingencies , and accidents depending upon God's secret pleasure and predestination . He that repents but to day , repents late enough , that he put it off from yesterday . It may be that some may begin to day , and find mercy , and to another person it may be too late ; but no man is safe or wise that puts it off till to morrow . And that it may appear how necessary it is to begin early , and that the work is of difficulty and continuance , and that time still encreases the objections , it is certain that all the time that is lost must be redeemed by something in the sequel equivalent , or sit to make up the breach , and to cure the wounds long since made , and long festering ; and this must be done by doing the first works , by something that God hath declared he will accept in stead of them : the intension of the following actions and the frequent repetition must make up the defect in the extension and coexistence with a longer time . It was an act of an heroical Repentance and great detestation of the crime which Thomas Cantipratanus relates of a young Gentleman condemned to die for robberies who endeavouring to testifie his Repentance , and as far as was then permitted him to expiate the crime , begged of the Judge that tormentors might be appointed him , that he might be long a dying , and be cut in small pieces , that the severity of the execution might be proportionable to the immensity of his sorrow and greatness of the iniquity . Such great acts do facilitate our Pardon , and hasten the Restitution , and in a few days comprise the elapsed duty of many moneth 's : but to relie upon such acts is the last remedy , and like unlikely Physick to a despairing person : if it does well , it is well ; if it happen otherwise , he must thank himself , it is but what in reason he could expect . The Romans sacrificed a Dog to Mana Geneta , and prayed Ne quis domi natorum bonus fiat , that none of their Domesticks might be good ; that is , that they might not die , ( saith Plutarch ) because dead people are called good . But if they be so only when they die , they will hardly find the reward of goodness in the reckonings of Eternity , when to kill and to make good is all one , ( as Aristole observed it to be in the Spartan Covenant with the Tegeatae , and as it is in the case of Penitents never mending their lives till their lives be done ; ) that goodness is fatal , and the prologue of an eternal death . 50. I conclude this point with the words of S. Paul , God will render to every man according to his deeds : To them 〈◊〉 by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality ; [ to them ] 〈◊〉 life . But to them that are contentious , and do not obey the truth , but obey unrighteousness ; [ to them ] indignation and wrath : Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil . 51. Having now discoursed of Repentance upon distinct principles , I shall not need to consider upon those particulars which are usually reckoned parts or instances of Repentance ; such as are Contrition , Confession , and Satisfaction . Repentance is the fulfilling all righteousness , and includes in it whatsoever is matter of Christian duty and expresly commanded ; such as is Contrition or godly Sorrow , and Confession to God , both which are declared in Scripture to be in order to Pardon and purgation of our sins . A contrite and a broken heart , O God , thou wilt not despise ; and , If we consess our sins , God is just and righteous to forgive us our sins , and to cleanse us from all iniquity . To which add concerning Satisfaction , that it is a judging and punishing of our selves ; that it also is an instrument of Repentance , and a fruit of godly sorrow , and of good advantage for obtaining mercy of God. For indignation and revenge are reckoned by S. Paul effects of a godly sorrow , and the blessing which encourages its practice is instanced by the same Saint ; When we are judged , we are chastened of the Lord ; but if we would judge our selves , we should not be judged : where he expounds judged by chastened ; if we were severer to our selves , God would be gentle and 〈◊〉 . And there are only these two cautions to be annexed , and then the direction is sufficient . 1. That when promise of Pardon is annexed to any of these or another Grace , or any good action , it is not to be understood as if alone it were effectual either to the abolition or pardon of sins , but the promise is made to it as to a member of the whole body of Piety . In the coadunation and conjunction of parts the title is firm , but not at all in distinction and separation . For it is certain , if we fail in one , we are guilty of all , and therefore cannot be repaired by any one Grace , or one action , or one habit . And therefore Charity hides a multitude of sins with men and God too ; Alms deliver from death ; 〈◊〉 pierceth the clouds , and will not depart before its answer be gracious ; and Hope purifieth , and makes not ashamed ; and Patience , and Faith , and Piety to parents , and Prayer , and the eight Beatitudes , have promises of this life , and of that which is to come respectively : and yet nothing will obtain these promises but the harmony and uniting of these Graces in a holy and habitual confederation . And when we consider the Promise as singularly relating to that one Grace , it is to be understood comparatively ; that is , such persons are happy if compared with those who have contrary dispositions . For such a capacity does its portion of the work towards complete Felicity , from which the contrary quality does estrange and disintitle us . 2. The special and minute actions and instances of these three preparatives of Repentance are not under any command in the particulars , but are to be disposed of by Christian prudence in order to those ends to which they are most aptly instrumental and designed : such as are Fasting , and corporal severities in Satisfaction , or the punitive parts of Repentance ; they are either vindictive of what is past and so are proper acts or effects of Contrition and godly sorrow ; or else they relate to the present and future estate , and are intended for correction or emendation , and so are of good use as they are medicinal , and in that proportion not to be omitted . And so is Confession to a Spiritual person an excellent instrument of Discipline , a bridle of intemperate Passions , an opportunity of Restitution ; Ye which are spiritual 〈◊〉 such a person overtaken in a fault , ( saith the Apostle ; ) it is the application of a remedy , the consulting with a guide , and the best security to a weak or lapsed or an ignorant person , in all which cases he is 〈◊〉 to judge his own questions , and in these he is also committed to the care and conduct of another . But these special instances of Repentance are capable of suppletories , and are like the corporal works of Mercy , necessary only in time and place , and in accidental obligations . He that relieves the poor , or visits the sick , chusing it for the instance of his Charity , though he do not redeem captives , is charitable , and hath done his Alms. And he that cures his sin by any instruments , by external , or interiour and spiritual remedies , is penitent , though his diet be not 〈◊〉 and afflictive , or his lodging hard , or his sorrow bursting out into tears , or his expressions passionate and dolorous . I only add this , that acts of publick Repentance must be by using the instruments of the Church , such as she hath appointed ; of private , such as by experience , or by reason , or by the counsel we can get , we shall learn to be most effective of our penitential purposes . And yet it is a great argument that the exteriour expressions of corporal severities are of good benefit , because in all Ages wise men and severe Penitents have chosen them for their instruments . The PRAYER . O Eternal God , who wert pleased in mercy to look upon us when we were in our 〈◊〉 , to reconcile us when we were enemies , to forgive us in the midst of our provocations of thy infinite and eternal Majesty , finding out a remedy for us which man-kind could never ask , even making an atonement for us by the death of thy Son , sanctifying us by the bloud of the everlasting Covenant and thy all-hallowing and Divinest Spirit ; let thy 〈◊〉 so perpetually assist and encourage my endeavours , conduct my will , and fortifie my intentions , that 〈◊〉 may persevere in that holy condition which thou hast put me in by the grace of the Covenant , and the mercies of the Holy Jesus . O let me never fall into those sins , and retire to that vain conversation , from which the eternal and merciful Saviour of the World hath redeemed me ; but let me grow in Grace , adding Vertue to vertue , reducing my purposes to act , and increasing my acts till they grow into habits , and my habits till they be confirmed , and still confirming them till they be consummate in a blessed and holy perseverance . Let thy Preventing grace dash all Temptations in their approach ; let thy Concomitant grace enable me to resist them in the assault , and overcome them in the fight : that my hopes be never discomposed , nor my Faith weakned , nor my confidence made remiss , or my title and portion in the Covenant be lessened . Or if thou permittest me at any time to 〈◊〉 , ( which , Holy Jesu , avert for thy mercy and compession sake ) yet let me not sleep in sin , but recall me instantly by the clamours of a nice and tender Conscience , and the quickning Sermons of the Spirit , that I may never pass from sin to sin , from one degree to another ; lest sin should get the dominion over me , lest thou be angry with me , and reject me from the Covenant , and I perish . Purifie me from all 〈◊〉 , sanctifie my spirit , that I may be holy as thou art , and let me never provoke thy jealousie , nor presume upon thy goodness , nor distrust thy mercies , nor 〈◊〉 my Repentance , nor rely upon vain confidences ; but that I may by a constant , sedulous and timely endeavour make my calling and election sure , living to thee and dying to thee , that having sowed to the Spirit , I may from thy mercies reap in the Spirit bliss , and eternal sanctity , and everlasting life , through Jesus Christ our Saviour , our hope , and our mighty and ever-glorious Redeemer . Amen . Vpon Christ ' s Sermon on the Mount , and of the Eight Beatitudes . Moses delivers the Law. Joh. 1. 17. The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. These words the Lord spake unto all the Assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire with a great voice , & he wrote them in two Tables of stone , delivered them unto me . Deut. 5. 22. Christ preaches in the Mount. He went up into a mountain , & opened his mouth & taught them saying Blessed are the poor in spirit , &c. Blessed are they that mourn , &c. Blessed are the meek , &c. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst , &c. Blessed are the merciful , &c. Math. 5. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , & 1. THe Holy Jesus , being entred upon his Prophetical Office , in the first solemn Sermon gave testimony that he was not only an Interpreter of Laws then in being , but also a Law-giver , and an Angel of the new and everlasting Covenant ; which because God meant to establish with mankind by the mediation of his Son , by his Son also he now began to publish the conditions of it : and that the publication of the Christian Law might retain some proportion at least and analogy of circumstance with the promulgation of the Law of Moses , Christ went up into a Mountain , and from thence gave the Oracle . And here he taught all the Disciples ; for what he was now to speak was to become a Law , a part of the condition on which he established the Covenant , and founded our hopes of Heaven . Our excellent and gracious Law-giver , knowing that the great argument in all practical disciplines is the proposal of the end , which is their crown and their reward , begins his Sermon , as David began his most divine collection of Hymns , with Blessedness . And having enumerated Eight Duties , which are the rule of the spirits of Christians , he begins every Duty with a Beatitude , and concludes it with a Reward ; to manifest the reasonableness , and to invite and determine our choice to such Graces which are circumscribed with Felicities , which have blessedness in present possession and glory in the consequence , which in the midst of the most passive and afflictive of them tells us that we are blessed , which is indeed a felicity , as a hope is good , or as a rich heir is rich , who in the midst of his Discipline and the severity of Tutors and Governours knows he is designed to and certain of a great inheritance . 2. The Eight Beatitudes , which are the duty of a Christian , and the rule of our spirit , and the special discipline of Christ , seem like so many paradoxes and impossibilities reduced to Reason ; and are indeed Vertues made excellent by rewards , by the sublimity of Grace , and the mercies of God , hallowing and crowning those habits which are despised by the world , and are esteemed the conditions of lower and less considerable people . But God sees not as man sees , and his rules of estimate and judgment are not borrowed from the exteriour splendour , which is apt to seduce children , and cousen fools , and please the appetites of sense and abused fancy ; but they are such as he makes himself , excellencies which by abstractions and separations from things below land us upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . And they are states of suffering rather than states of life : for the great imployment of a Christian being to bear the Cross , Christ laid the Pedestal so low , that the rewards were like rich mines interred in the deeps and inaccessible retirements , and did chuse to build our 〈◊〉 upon the torrents and violences of affliction and sorrow . Without these Graces we 〈◊〉 get Heaven ; and without sorrow and sad accidents we cannot exercise these Graces . Such are , 3. First , Blessed are the Poor in spirit ; for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven . Poverty of spirit is in respect of secular affluence and abundance , or in respect of great opinion and high thoughts ; either of which have divers acts and offices . That the first is one of the meanings of this Text is certain , because S. Luke , repeating this Beatitude , delivers it plainly , Blessed are the poor ; and to it he opposes riches . And our Blessed Saviour speaks so suspiciously of riches and rich men , that he represents the condition to be full of danger and temptation : and S. James calls it full of sin , describing rich men to be oppressors , litigious , proud , spightful , and contentious ; which sayings , like all others of that nature , are to be understood in common and most frequent accidents , not regularly , but very improbable to be otherwise . For if we consider our Vocation , S. Paul informs us , That not many mighty , not many noble are called ; but God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith : And how hard it is for a rich man to enter into Heaven , our great Master hath taught us , by saying , it is more easie for a Camel to pass through a needle's eye . And the reason is , because of the infinite temptation which Riches minister to our spirits , it being such an opportunity of vices , that nothing remains to countermand the act but a strong , resolute , unaltered and habitual purpose , and pure love of 〈◊〉 ; Riches in the mean time offering to us occasions of Lust , fuel for Revenge , instruments of Pride , entertainment of our desires , engaging them in low , worldly and sottish appetites , inviting us to shew our power in oppression , our greatness in vanities , our wealth in prodigal expences , and to answer the importunity of our Lusts , not by a denial , but by a correspondence and satisfaction , till they become our mistresses , imperious , arrogant , tyrannical and vain . But Poverty is the sister of a good mind , it ministers aid to wisdome , industry to our spirit , severity to our thoughts , soberness to counsels , modesty to our desires ; it restrains extravagancy and dissolution of appetites ; the next thing above our present condition , which is commonly the object of our wishes , being temperate and little , proportionable enough to nature , not wandring beyond the limits of necessity or a moderate conveniency , or at 〈◊〉 but to a free 〈◊〉 and recreation . And the 〈◊〉 of Poverty are single and mean , rather a sit imploiment to correct our levities , than a business to impede our better thoughts ; since a little thing supplies the needs of nature , and * the earth and the fountain with little trouble minister food to us , and God's common providence and daily dispensation cases the cares , and makes them portable . But the cares and businesses of rich men are violences to our whole man , they are loads of memory , business for the understanding , work for two or three arts and sciences , imployment for many servants to assist in , increase the appetite and heighten the thirst ; and by making their dropsie bigger , and their capacities large , they destroy all those opportunities and possibilities of Charity in which only Riches can be useful . 4. But it is not a 〈◊〉 poverty of possession which intitles us to the blessing , but a poverty of spirit ; that is , a contentedness in every state , an aptness to renounce all when we are obliged in duty , a refusing to continue a possession when we for it must quit a vertue or a noble action , a divorce of our affections from those gilded vanities , a generous contempt of the world ; and at no hand heaping riches , either with injustice or with avarice , either with wrong or impotency , of action or affection . Not like Laberius described by the Poet , who thought nothing so criminal as Poverty , and every spending of a sesterce was the loss of a moral 〈◊〉 , and every gaining of a talent was an action glorious and heroical . But Poverty of spirit accounts Riches to be the servants of God first , and then of our selves , being sent by God , and to return when he pleases , and all the while they are with us to do his business . It is a looking upon riches and things of the earth , as they do who look upon it from Heaven , to whom it appears little and unprofitable . And because the residence of this blessed Poverty is in the mind , it follows that it be here understood , that all that exinanition and renunciation , abjection and humility of mind , which depauperates the spirit , making it less worldly and more spiritual , is the duty here enjoyned . For if a man throws away his gold , as did Crates the Theban , or the proud Philosopher Diogenes , and yet leaves a spirit high , aiery , phantastical and vain , pleasing himself , and with complacency reflecting upon his own act , his Poverty is but a circumstance of Pride , and the opportunity of an imaginary and a secular greatness . Ananias and Sapphira renounced the world by selling their possessions ; but because they were not poor in spirit , but still retained the affections to the world , therefore they kept back part of the price , and lost their hopes . The Church of Laodicea was possessed with a spirit of Pride , and flattered themselves in imaginary riches ; they were not poor in spirit , but they were poor in possession and condition . These wanted Humility , the other wanted a generous contempt of worldly things ; and both were destitute of this Grace . 5. The acts of this Grace are ; 1. To cast off all inordinate affection to * Riches . 2. In heart and spirit , that is , preparation of mind , to quit the possession of all Riches , and actually so to do when God requires it , that is , when the retaining Riches loses a Vertue . 3. To be well pleased with the whole oeconomy of God , his providence and dispensation of all things , being contented in all estates . 4. To imploy that wealth God hath given us in actions of Justice and Religion . 5. To be thankful to God in all temporal losses . 6. Not to distrust God , or to be solicitous and fearful of want in the future . 7. To put off the spirit of vanity , pride and phantastick complacency in our selves , thinking lowly or meanly of whatsoever we are or do . 8. To prefer others before our selves , doing honour and prelation to them , and either contentedly receiving affronts done to us , or modestly undervaluing our selves . 9. Not to praise our selves , but when God's glory and the edification of our neighbour is concerned in it , nor willingly to hear others praise us . 10. To despoil our selves of all interiour propriety , denying our own will in all instances of subordination to our Superiours , and our own judgment in matters of difficulty and question , permitting our selves and our affairs to the advice of wiser men , and the decision of those who are trusted with the cure of our Souls . 11. Emptying our selves of our selves , and throwing our selves wholly upon God , relying upon his Providence , trusting his Promises , craving his Grace , and depending upon his strength for all our actions , and deliverances , and duties . 6. The reward promised is the Kingdome of Heaven . Fear not little Flock , it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom . To be little in our own eyes is to be great in God's ; the Poverty of the spirit shall be rewarded with the Riches of the Kingdoms , of both Kingdoms : that of Heaven is expressed . Poverty is the high-way of Eternity . But therefore the Kingdom of Grace is taken in the way , the way to our Countrey ; and it being the forerunner of glory , and nothing else but an antedated Eternity , is part of the reward as well as of our duty . And therefore whatsoever is signified by Kingdome in the appropriate Evangelical sense , is there intended as a recompence . For the Kingdom of the Gospel is a congregation and society of Christ's poor , of his little ones : they are the Communion of Saints , and their present entertainment is knowledge of the truth , remission of sins , the gift of the Holy Ghost , and what else in Scripture is signified to be a part or grace or condition of the Kingdom . For to the poor the Gospel is preached : that is , to the poor the Kingdome is promised and ministred . 7. Secondly , Blessed are they that Mourn ; for they shall be comforted . This duty of Christian mourning is commanded not for it self , but in order to many good ends . It is in order to Patience : Tribulation worketh Patience ; and therefore we glory in them , ( saith S. Paul ; ) and S. James , * My brethren , count it all joy when ye enter into divers temptations , Knowing that the trial of your faith ( viz. by afflictions ) worketh Patience . 2. It is in order to Repentance : (a) Godly sorrow worketh Repentance . By consequence it is in order to Pardon ; for a contrite heart God will not reject . And after all this it leads to Joy. And therefore S. * James preached a Homily of Sorrow ; Be afflicted , and mourn , and weep , that is , in penitential mourning ; for he adds , Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord , and he shall lift you up . The acts of this duty are ; 1. To bewail our own sins . 2. To lament our infirmities , as they are principles of sin , and recessions from our first state . 3. To weep for our own evils and sad accidents , as they are issues of the Divine anger . 4. To be sad for the miseries and calamities of the Church , or of any member of it , and indeed to weep with every one that weeps ; that is , not to rejoyce in his evil , but to be compassionate , and pitiful , and apt to bear another's burthen . 5. To avoid all loose and immoderate laughter , all dissolution of spirit and manners , uncomely jestings , free revellings , carnivals and balls , which are the perdition of precious hours , ( allowed us for Repentance and possibilities of Heaven ) which are the instruments of infinite vanity , idle talking , impertinency and lust , and very much below the severity and retiredness of a Christian spirit . Of this Christ became to us the great example ; for S. Basil reports a tradition of him , that he never laughed , but wept often . And if we mourn with him , we also shall rejoyce in the joys of eternity . 8. Thirdly , Blessed are the Meek ; for they shall possess the earth : That is , the gentle and softer spirits , persons not turbulent or unquiet , not clamorous or impatient , not over-bold or impudent , not querulous or discontented , not brawlers or contentious , not nice or curious , but men who submit to God , and know no choice of fortune or imployment or success but what God chuses for them , having peace at home , because nothing from without does discompose their spirit . In summe , Meekness is an indifferency to any exteriour accident , a being reconciled to all conditions and instances of Providence , a reducing our selves to such an evenness and interiour satisfaction , that there is the same conformity of spirit and fortune by complying with my fortune , as if my fortune did comply with my spirit . And therefore in the order of Beatitudes , Meekness is set between Mourning and Desire , that it might balance and attemper those actions by indifferency which by reason of their abode are apt to the transportation of passion . The reward expressed is a possission of the earth , that is , a possession of all which is excellent here below , to consign him to a future glory , as Canaan was a type of Heaven . For Meekness is the best cement and combining of friendships , it is a great endearment of us to our company . It is an (a) ornament to have a meek and quiet spirit , a (b) prevention of quarrels , and pacifier of wrath ; it purchaseth peace , and is it self a quietness of spirit : it is the greatest affront to all injuries in the world ; for it returns them upon the injurious , and makes them useless , ineffective , and innocent : and is an antidote against all the evil consequents of anger and adversity , and tramples upon the usurping passions of the irascible faculty . 9. But the greatest part of this Paisage and Landtschap is Sky : and as a man in all countreys can see more of Heaven than of the earth he dwells on ; so also he may in this Promise . For although the Christian hears the promise of the inheritance of the Earth , yet he must place his eye and fix his heart upon Heaven , which by looking downward also upon this Promise , as in a vessel of limpid water , he may see by reflexion , without looking upwards by a direct intuition . It is Heaven that is designed by this Promise as well as by any of the rest ; though this Grace takes in also the refreshments of the earth by equivalence and a suppletory 〈◊〉 . But here we have no abiding city , and therefore no inheritance ; this is not our Countrey , and therefore here cannot be our portion : unless we chuse , as did the Prodigal , to go into a strange Countrey , and spend our portion with riotous and beastly living , and forfeit our Father's blessing . The Devil carrying our Blessed Saviour to a high mountain shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world ; but , besides that they were offered upon ill conditions , they were not eligible by him upon any . And neither are they to be chosen by us for our inheritance and portion Evangelical : for the Gospel is founded upon better promises , and therefore the hopes of a Christian ought not to determine upon any thing less than Heaven . Indeed our Blessed Saviour chose to describe this Beatitude in the words of the Psalmist , so inviting his Disciples to an excellent precept by the insinuation of those Scriptures which themselves admitted . But as the earth which was promised to the meek man in David's Psalm was no other earth but the terra 〈◊〉 , the Land of Canaan ; if we shall remember that this Land of promise was but a transition and an allegory to a greater and more noble , that it was but a type of Heaven , we shall not see cause to wonder why the Holy Jesus intending Heaven for the reward of this Grace also , together with the rest , did call it the inheritance of the earth . For now is revealed to us a new heaven and a new earth , an habitation made without hands , 〈◊〉 in the heavens . And he understands nothing of the excellency of Christian Religion whose affections dwell below , and are satisfied with a portion of dirt and corruption . If we be risen with Christ , let us seek those things that are above , where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. But if a Christian desires to take possession of this earth in his way as his inheritance or portion , he hath reason to fear it will be his All. We have but one inheritance , one countrey , and here we are strangers and Pilgrims . Abraham told Dives that he had enjoyed his good things here ; he had the inheritance of the earth , in the crass material sense ; and therefore he had no other portion but what the Devils have . And when we remember that Persecution is the lot of the Church , and that Poverty is her portion , and her quantum is but food and raiment at the best , and that Patience is her support , and Hope her refreshment , and Self-denial her security , and Meekness is all her possession and title to a subsistence ; it will appear certain , that as Christ's Kingdom was not of this world , so neither shall his Saints have their portion in that which is not his Kingdom . They are miserable if they do not reign with him , and he never reigned here ; but if we suffer with him , we shall also reign with him hereafter . True it is , Christ promised to him that should lose any interest for his sake the restitution of a hundred fold in this world . But as the sense of that cannot be literal , for he cannot receive a hundred Mothers or a hundred Wives ; so whatsoever that be , it is to be enjoyed with persecution . And then such a portion of the Earth as Christ hath expressed in figure , and shall by way of recompence restore us , and such a recompence as we can enjoy with Persecution , and such an enjoyment as is consistent with our having lost all our temporals , and such an acquist and purchace of it as is not destructive of the grace of Meekness ; all that we may enter into our accounts as part of our lot , and the emanation from the holy Promise . But in the foot of this account we shall not find any great affluence of temporal accruements . However it be although , when a meek man hath earthly possessions , by this Grace he is taught how to use them and how to part with them ; yet if he hath them not , by the vertue here commanded , he is not suffered to use any thing violent towards the acquiring them , not so much as a violent passion or a stormy imagination ; for then he loses his Meekness , and what ever he gets can be none of the reward of this Grace . He that sights for temporals ( unless by some other appendent duty he be obliged ) loses his title by striving incompetently for the reward , he cuts off that hand by which alone he can receive it . For unless he be indeed meek , he hath no right to what he calls the inheritance of the earth ; and he that is not content to want the inheritance of the earth when God requires him , is not meek . So that if this Beatitude be understood in a temporal sense , it is an offer of a reward upon a condition we shall be without it , and be content too : For , in every sense of the word , Meekness implies a just satisfaction of the spirit , and acquiescence in every estate or contingency whatsoever , though we have no possessions but of a good Conscience , no bread but that of carefulness , no support but from the Holy Spirit , and a providence ministring to our natural necessities by an extemporary provision . And certain it is , the meekest of Christ's servants , the Apostles and the Primitive Christians , had no other verification of this Promise but this , that rejoycing in tribulation , and knowing how to want as well as how to abound , through many tribulations they entered into the Kingdom of Heaven : For that is the Countrey in which they are co-heirs with Jesus . But if we will certainly understand what this reward is , we may best know it by understanding the duty ; and this we may best learn from him that gave it in commandment . Learn of me , for I am meek , ( said the Holy Jesus : ) and to him was promised that the uttermost ends of the earth should be his inheritance ; and yet he died first , and went to Heaven before it was verified to him in any sense , but only of content , and desire , and joy in suffering , and in all variety of accident . And thus also if we be meek , we may receive the inheritance of the Earth . 10. The acts of this Grace are , 1. To submit to all the instances of Divine Providence , not repining at any accident which God hath chosen for us , and given us as part of our lot , or a punishment of our deserving , or an instrument of vertue ; not envying the gifts , graces , or prosperities of our neighbours . 2. To pursue the interest and imployment of our calling in which we are placed , not despising the meanness of any work , though never so disproportionable to our abilities . 3. To correct all malice , wrath , evil-speaking , and inordinations of anger , whether in respect of the object or the degree . 4. At no hand to entertain any thoughts of revenge or retaliation of evil . 5. To be affable and courteous in our deportment towards all persons of our society and entercourse . 6. Not to censure or reproach the weakness of our neighbour , but support his burthen , cover and cure his infirmities . 7. To excuse what may be excused , lessening severity , and being gentle in reprehension . 8. To be patient in afflictions , and thankful under the Cross. 9. To endure reproof with shame at our selves for deserving it , and thankfulness to the charitable Physician that offers the remedy . 10. To be modest and fairly-mannered toward our Superiours , obeying , reverencing , speaking honourably of and doing honour to aged persons , and all whom God hath set over us , according to their several capacities . 11. To be ashamed and very apprehensive of the unworthiness of a crime ; at no hand losing our fear of the invisible God , and our reverence to visible societies , or single persons . 12. To be humble in our exteriour addresses and behaviour in Churches and all Holy places . 13. To be temperate in government , not imperious , unreasonable , insolent or oppressive ; lest we provoke to wrath those whose interest of person & of Religion we are to defend or promote . 14. To do our endeavour to expiate any injury we did , by confessing the fact , & offering satisfaction , & asking forgiveness . 11. Fourthly , Blessed are they that Hunger and thirst after Righteousness ; for they shall be filled . This Grace is the greatest indication of spiritual health , when our appetite is right , strong , and regular ; when we are desirous of spiritual nourishment , when we long for Manna , and follow Christ for loaves , not of a low and terrestrial gust , but of that bread which came down from heaven . Now there are two sorts of holy repast which are the proper objects of our desires . The bread of Heaven , which is proportioned to our hunger ; that is , all those immediate emanations from Christ's pardon of our sins , and redemption from our former conversation , holy Laws and Commandments . To this Food there is also a spiritual Beverage to quench our thirst : and this is the effects of the Holy Spirit , who first moved upon the waters of Baptism , and afterwards became to us the breath of life , giving us holy inspirations and assistences , refreshing our wearinesses , cooling our fevers , and allaying all our intemperate passions , making us holy , humble , resigned and pure , according to the pattern in the mount , even as our Father is pure . So that the first Redemption and Pardon of us by Christ's Merits is the Bread of Life , for which we must hunger ; and the refreshments and daily emanations of the Spirit , who is the spring of comforts and purity , is that drink which we must thirst after : A being first reconciled to God by Jesus , and a being sanctisied and preserved in purity by the Holy Spirit , is the adequate object of our desires . Some to hunger and thirst best fancy the analogy and proportion of the two Sacraments , the Waters of Baptism , and the Food of the Eucharist ; some , the Bread of the Patin , and the Wine of the Chalice . But it is certain they signifie one desire expressed by the most impatient and necessary of our appetites , hungring and thirsting . And the object is whatsoever is the principle or the effect , the beginning , or the way , or the end of righteousness ; that is , the Mercies of God , the Pardon of Jesus , the Graces of the Spirit , a holy life , and a holy death , and a blessed Eternity . 12. The blessing and reward of this Grace is fulness or satisfaction ; which relates immediately to Heaven , because nothing here below can satisfie us . The Grace of God is our Viaticum , and entertains us by the way ; its nature is to increase , not to satisfie the appetites : not because the Grace is empty and unprofitable , as are the things of the world ; but because it is excellent , but yet in order to a greater perfection ; it invites the appetite by its present goodness , but it leaves it unsatisfied , because it is not yet arrived at glory : and yet the present imperfection , in respect of all the good of this World's possession , is rest and satisfaction , and is imperfect only in respect of its own future complement and perfection , and our hunger continues , and our needs return , because all we have is but an antepast . But the glories of Eternity are also the proper object of our desires ; that 's the reward of God's Grace , this is the crown of righteousness . As for me , I will behold thy face in righteousness ; and when I awake up after thy likeness , I shall be satisfied with it . The acts of this Vertue are multiplied according to its object ; for they are only , 1. to desire , and 2. pray for , and 3. labour for all that which is Righteousness in any sense : 1. For the Pardon of our sins ; 2. for the Graces and Sanctification of the Spirit ; 3. for the advancement of Christ's Kingdome ; 4. for the reception of the holy Sacrament , and all the instruments , ordinances and ministeries of Grace ; 5. for the grace of Perseverance ; 6. and finally for the crown of Righteousness . 13. Fisthly , Blessed are the Merciful ; for they shall obtain mercy . Mercy is the greatest mark and token of the 〈◊〉 , elect and predestinate persons in the world . Put ye on ( my beloved ) as the elect of God the bowels of mercy , holy and precious . For Mercy is an attribute , in the manifestation of which as all our happiness consists , so God takes greatest complacency , and delights in it above all his other Works . He punishes to the third and fourth Generation , but shews mercy unto thousands . Therefore the Jews say , that Michael 〈◊〉 with one wing , and Gabriel with two ; meaning , that the pacifying Angel , the Minister of mercy , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but the exterminating Angel , the Messenger of wrath , is slow . And we are called to our approximation to God by the practice of this Grace : we are made partakers of the Divine nature by being merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful . This mercy consists in the affections , and in the effects and actions . In both which the excellency of this Christian Precept is eminent above the goodness of the moral precept of the old Philosophers , and the piety and charity of the Jews by virtue of the Mosaic Law. The Stoick Philosophers affirm it to be the duty of a wise man to succour and help the necessities of indigent and miserable persons ; but at no hand to pity them , or suffer any trouble or compassion in our affections : for they intended that a wise person should be dispassionate , unmoved , and without disturbance in every accident and object and concernment . But the Blessed Jesus , who came to reconcile us to his Father , and purchase us an intire possession , did intend to redeem us from sin , and make our passions obedient and apt to be commanded , even and moderate in temporal affairs , but high and active in some instances of spiritual concernment ; and in all instances , that the affection go along with the Grace ; that we must be as merciful in our compassion , as compassionate in our exteriour expressions and actions . The Jews by the prescript of their Law were to be merciful to all their Nation and confederates in Religion ; and this their Mercy was called Justice : He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor , his righteousness [ or Justice ] 〈◊〉 for ever . But the mercies of a Christian are to extend to all : Do good to all men , especially to the houshold of Faith. And this diffusion of a Mercy , not only to Brethren , but to Aliens and Enemies , is that which S. Paul calls goodness , still retaining the old appellative for Judaical mercy , [ 〈◊〉 : ] For scarcely for a 〈◊〉 man will one die , yet peradventure for a good man some will even dare to die . So that the Christian Mercy must be a mercy of the whole man , the heart must be merciful , and the hand operating in the labour of love ; and it must be extended to all persons of all capacities , according as their necessity requires , and our ability permits , and our endearments and other obligations dispose of and determine the order . 14. The acts of this Grace are , 1. To pity the miseries of all persons , and all calamities spiritual or temporal , having a fellow-feeling in their afflictions . 2. To be afflicted and sad in the publick Judgments imminent or incumbent upon a Church , or State , or Family . 3. To pray to God for remedy for all afflicted persons . 4. To do all acts of bodily assistence to all miserable and distressed people , to relieve the Poor , to redeem Captives , to forgive Debts to disabled persons , to pay Debts for them , to lend them mony , to feed the hungry and clothe the naked , to rescue persons from dangers , to defend and relieve the oppressed , to comfort widows and fatherless children , to help them to right that suffer wrong ; and , in brief , to do any thing of relief , support , succour , and comfort . 5. To do all acts of spiritual 〈◊〉 , to counsel the doubtful , to admonish the erring , to strengthen the weak , to resolve the scrupulous , to teach the ignorant , and any thing else which may be instrumental to his Conversion , Perseverance , Restitution and Salvation , or may rescue him from spiritual dangers , or supply him in any ghostly necessity . The reward of this Vertue is symbolical to the Vertue it self , the grace and glory differing in nothing but degrees , and every vertue being a reward to it self . The merciful shall receive mercy ; mercy to help them in time of need ; mercy from God. who will not only give them the great mercies of Pardon and Eternity , but also dispose the hearts of others to pity and supply their needs as they have done to others . For the present , there is nothing more noble than to be beneficial to others , and to lift up the poor 〈◊〉 of the mire , and rescue them from misery ; it is to do the work of God : and for the future , nothing is a greater title to a mercy at the Day of Judgment than to have shewed mercy to our necessitous Brother ; it being expressed to be the only rule and instance in which Christ means to judge the world , in their Mercy and Charity , or their Unmercifulness respectively ; I was hungry , and ye fed me , or ye fed me not : and so we stand or fall in the great and eternal scrutiny . And it was the prayer of Saint Paul , ( Onesiphorus shewed kindness to the great Apostle ) The Lord shew him a mercy in that day . For a cup of charity , though but full of cold water , shall not lose its reward . 15. Sixthly , Blessed are the Pure 〈◊〉 heart ; for they shall see God. This purity of heart includes purity of hands . Lord , who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle ? even he that is of clean hands and a pure heart ; that is , he that hath not given his mind unto vanity , nor sworn to deceive his Neighbour . It signifies justice of action and candour of spirit , innocence of manners and sincerity of purpose ; it is one of those great circumstances that consummates Charity : For the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart , and of a good Conscience , and Faith unfeigned ; that is , a heart free from all carnal affections , not only in the matter of natural impurity , but also spiritual and immaterial , such as are Heresies , ( which are theresore impurities , because they mingle secular interest or prejudice with perswasions in Religion ) Seditions , hurtful and impious Stratagems , and all those which S. Paul enumerates to be works or fruits of the flesh . A good Conscience ; that 's a Conscience either innocent or penitent , a state of Grace , 〈◊〉 a not having prevaricated , or a being restored to our Baptismal purity . Faith unfeigned ; that also is the purity of Sincerity , and excludes Hypocrisie , timorous and half perswasions , neutrality and indifferency in matters of Salvation . And all these do integrate the whole duty of Charity . But Purity , as it is a special Grace , signifies only honesty and uprightness of Soul , without hypocrisie to God and dissimulation towards men ; and then a freedom from all carnal desires , so as not to be governed or led by them . Chastity is the purity of the body , Simplicity is the purity of the spirit ; both are the Sanctification of the whole Man , for the entertainment of the Spirit of Purity and the Spirit of Truth . 16. The acts of this Vertue are , 1. To quit all Lustful thoughts , not to take delight in them , not to retain them or invite them , but as objects of displeasure to avert them from us . 2. To resist all lustful desires , and extinguish them by their proper correctories and remedies . 3. To resuse all occasions , opportunities and temptations to Impurity ; denying to please a wanton 〈◊〉 , or to use a 〈◊〉 gesture , or to go into a danger , or to converse with an improper , unsafe object ; hating the garment spotted with the flesh , so S. Jude calls it ; and not to look upon a maid , so Job ; not to sit with a woman that is a singer , so the son of Sirach . 4. To be of a liberal soul , not mingling with affections of mony and inclinations of covetousness , not doing any act of violence , rapine or injustice . 5. To be ingenuous in our thoughts , purposes and professions , speaking nothing contrary to our intentions , but being really what we 〈◊〉 . 6. To give all our faculties and affections to God , without dividing interests between God and his enemies , without entertaining of any one crime in society with our pretences for God. 7. Not to lie in sin , but instantly to repent of it and return , purifying our Conscience from dead works , 8. Not to dissemble our faith or belief when we are required to its confession , pretending a perswasion complying with those from whom 〈◊〉 we differ . Lust , Covetousness and Hypocrisie are the three great enemies of this Grace , they are the motes of our eyes , and the spots of our Souls . The reward of Purity is the vision beatifical . If we are pure as God is pure , we shall also see him as he is : When we awake up after his likeness , we shall 〈◊〉 hold his presence . To which in this world we are consigned by freedom from the cares of Covetousness , the shame of Lust , the fear of discovery , and the stings of an evil Conscience , which are the portion of the several Impurities here forbidden . 17. Seventhly , Blessed are the Peace-makers ; for they shall be called the children of God. The wisdome of God is first pure , and then peaceable ; that 's the order of the Beatitudes . As soon as Jesus was born , the Angels sang a Hymn , Glory be to God on high , and on earth peace , good will towards men ; signifying the two great 〈◊〉 upon which Christ was dispatched in his Legation from Heaven to earth . He is the Prince of Peace . Follow peace with all men , and holiness , without which no man ever shall see God. The acts of this Grace are , 1. To mortisie our Anger , 〈◊〉 , and fiery dispositions , apt to enkindle upon every slight accident , inadvertency , or misfortune of a friend or servant . 2. Not to be hasty , rash , provocative , or upbraiding in our language . 3. To live quietly and serenely in our families and neighbourhoods . 4. Not to backbite , slander , misreport or undervalue any man , carrying tales , or sowing dissention between brethren . 5. Not to interest our selves in the quarrels of others by abetting either part , except where Charity calls us to rescue the oppressed ; and then also to do a work of charity without mixtures of uncharitableness . 6. To avoid all suits of Law as much as is possible , without intrenching upon any other collateral obligation towards a third interest , or a necessary support for our selves , or great conveniency for our families ; or , if we be engaged in Law , to pursue our just interests with just means and charitable maintenance . 7. To endeavour by all means to reconcile disagreeing persons . 8. To endeavour by affability and fair deportment to win the love of our neighbours . 9. To offer satisfaction to all whom we have wronged or slandered , and to remit the offences of others , and in trials of right to find out the most charitable expedient to determine it , as by indifferent arbitration , or something like it . 10. To be open , free and ingenuous in reprehensions and fair expostulations with persons whom we conceive to have wronged us , that no seed of malice or rancor may be latent in us , and upon the breath of a new displeasure break out into a flame . 11. To be modest in our arguings , disputings , and demands , not laying great interest upon trifles . 12. To moderate , balance and temper our zeal by the rules of Prudence and the allay of Charity , that we quarrel not for opinions , nor intitle God in our impotent and mistaken fancies , nor lose Charity for a pretence of an article of Faith. 13. To pray heartily for our enemies , real or imaginary , always loving and being apt to benefit their persons , and to cure their faults by charitable remedies . 14. To abstain from doing all affronts , disgraces , slightings and 〈◊〉 jearings and mockings of our neighbour , not giving him appellatives of scorn or irrision . 15. To submit to all our Superiours in all things , either doing what they command , or suffering what they impose ; at no hand lifting our 〈◊〉 against those upon whom the characters of God and the marks of Jesus are imprinted in signal and eminent authority ; such as are principally the King , and then the Bishops , whom God hath set to watch over our Souls . 16. Not to invade the possessions of our Neighbours , or commence War , but when we are bound by justice and legal trust to defend the rights of others , or our own in order to our duty . 17. Not to speak evil of dignities , or undervalue their persons , or publish their faults , or upbraid the levities of our Governours ; knowing that they also are designed by God , to be converted to us for castigation and amendment of us . 18. Not to be busie in other mens affairs . And then the peace of God will rest upon us . The reward is no less than the adoption and inheritance of sons ; for he hath given unto us power to be called the sons of God ; for he is the Father of Peace , and the Sons of Peace are the Sons of God , and theresore have a title to the inheritance of Sons , to be heirs with God , and coheirs with Christ in the kingdom of Peace , and essential and never-failing charity . 18. Eightly , Blessed are they which are Persecuted sor righteousness sake ; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven . This being the hardest command in the whole Discipline of Jesus is fortified with a double Blessedness ; for it follows immediately , Blessed are ye when men shall revile you , and persecute you : meaning , that all Persecution for a cause of Righteousness , though the affliction be instanced only in reproachful language , shall be a title to the Blessedness . Any suffering for any good or harmless action is a degree of Martyrdom . It being the greatest testimony in the world of the greatest love , to quit that for God which hath possessed our most natural , regular and orderly affections . It is a preferring God's cause before our own interest ; it is a loving of Vertue without secular ends ; it is the noblest , the most resigned , ingenuous , valiant act in the world , to die for 〈◊〉 , whom we never have seen ; it is the crown of Faith , the confidence of Hope , and our greatest Charity . The Primitive Churches living under Persecution commenced many pretty opinions concerning the state and special dignity of Martyrs , apportioning to them one of the three Coronets which themselves did knit , and supposed as pendants to the great Crown of righteousness . They made it suppletory of Baptism , expiatory of sin , satisfactory of publick 〈◊〉 ; they placed them in bliss immediately , declared them to need no after-Prayer , such as the Devotion of those times used to pour upon the graves of the faithful : with great prudence they did endeavour to alleviate this burthen , and sweeten the bitter chalice ; and they did it by such doctrines which did only remonstrate this great truth , That since no love was greater than to lay down our lives , nothing could be so great but God would indulge to them . And indeed whatsoever they said in this had no inconvenience , nor would it now , unless men should think mere suffering to be sufficient to excuse a wicked life , or that they be invited to dishonour an excellent patience with the mixture of an impure action . There are many who would die for Christ if they were put to it , and yet will not quit a Lust for him : those are hardly to be esteemed Christ's Martyrs : unless they be dead unto sin , their dying for an Article or a good action will not pass the great scrutiny . And it may be boldness of spirit , or sullenness , or an honourable gallantry of mind , or something that is excellent in civil and political estimate , moves the person , and endears the suffering ; but that love only which keeps the Commandments will teach us to 〈◊〉 for love , and from love to pass to blessedness through the red Sea of bloud . And indeed it is more easie to die for Chastity than to live with it : and many women have been found , who suffered death under the violence of Tyrants for defence of their holy vows and purity , who , had they long continued amongst pleasures , courtships , curiosities , and importunities of men , might perchance have yielded that to a Lover which they denied to an Executioner . S. Cyprian observes that our Blessed Lord , in admitting the innocent Babes of Bethlehem first to die for him , did to all generations of Christendom consign this Lesson , That only persons holy and innocent were fit to be Christ's Martyrs . And I remember that the Prince of the Latine Poets , over against the region and seats of Infants , places in the Shades below persons that suffered death wrongfully ; but adds , that this their death was not enough to place them in such blessed mansions , but the Judge first made inquiry into their lives , and accordingly designed their station . It is certain that such dyings or great sufferings are Heroical actions , and of power to make great compensations , and redemptions of time , and of omissions and imperfections ; but if the Man be unholy , so also are his * Sufferings : for Hereticks have died , and vicious persons have suffered in a good cause , and a dog's neck may be cut off in sacrifice , and Swine's bloud may 〈◊〉 the trench about the Altar : but God only accepts the Sacrifice which is pure and spotless , first seasoned with salt , then seasoned with fire . The true Martyr must have all the preceding Graces , and then he shall receive all the Beatitudes . 19. The acts of this Duty are , 1. Boldly to confess the Faith , nobly to exercise publick vertues , not to be ashamed of any thing that is honest , and rather to quit our goods , our liberty , our health , and life it self , than to deny what we are bound to affirm , or to omit what we are bound to do , or to pretend contrary to our present perswasion . 2. To rejoyce in Afflictions ; counting it honourable to be conformable to Christ , and to wear the cognizance of Christianity , whose certain lot it is to suffer the hostility and violence of enemies visible and invisible . 3. Not to revile our Persecutors , but to bear the Cross with evenness , tranquillity , patience and charity . 4. To offer our sufferings to the glory of God , and to joyn them with the Passions of Christ , by doing it in love to God , and obedience to his Sanctions , and testimony of some part of his Religion , and designing it as a part of duty . The reward is the Kingdom of Heaven ; which can be no other but eternal Salvation , in case the Martyrdom be consummate : and they also shall be made perfect ; so the words of the reward were read in Clement's time . If it be less , it keeps its proportion : all suffering persons are the combination of Saints , they make the Church , they are the people of the Kingdom , and heirs of the Covenant . For if they be but Confessors , and confess Christ in prison , though they never preach upon the rack or under the axe , yet Christ will confess them before his heavenly Father ; and they shall have a portion where they shall never be persecuted any more . The PRAYER . O Blessed Jesus , who art become to us the Fountain of Peace and Sanctity , of Righteousness and Charity , of Life and perpetual Benediction , imprint in our spirits these glorious characterisms of Christianity , that we by such excellent dispositions may be consigned to the infinity of Blessedness which thou camest to reveal , and minister , and exhibit to mankind . Give us great Humility of spirit ; and deny us not , when we beg Sorrow of thee , the mourning and sadness of true Penitents , that we may imitate thy excellencies , and conform to thy sufferings . Make us Meek , patient , indifferent , and resigned in all accidents , changes and issues of Divine Providence . Mortifie all inordinate Anger in us , all Wrath , Strife , Contention , Murmurings , Malice and Envy ; and interrupt , and then blot out all peevish dispositions and morosities , all disturbances and unevenness of spirit 〈◊〉 of habit , that may hinder us in our duty . Oh teach me so to hunger and thirst after the ways of Righteousness , that it may be meat and drink to me to do thy Father's will. Raise my affections to Heaven and heavenly things , fix my heart there , and prepare a treasure for me , which I may receive in the great diffusions and communications of thy glory . And in this sad interval of infirmity and temptations strengthen my hopes , and 〈◊〉 my Faith , by such emissions of light and grace from thy Spirit , that I may relish those Blessings which thou preparest for thy Saints with so great appetite , that I may despise the world and all its gilded vanities , and may desire nothing but the crown of righteousness and the paths that lead thither , 〈◊〉 graces of thy Kingdom and the glories of it ; that when I have served thee in holiness and strict obedience , I may reign with thee in the glories of Eternity : for thou , O Holy Jesus , art our hope , and our life , and glory , our 〈◊〉 great reward . Amen . II. 〈◊〉 Jesu , who art infinitely pleased in demonstrations of thy Mercy , and didst descend into a state of misery , suffering persecution and 〈◊〉 , that thou mightest give us thy mercy , and reconcile us to thy Father , and make us partakers of thy Purities ; give unto us tender bowels , that we may suffer together with our calamitous and necessitous Brethren , that we having a fellow-feeling of their miseries may use all our powers to help them , and ease our selves of our common sufferings . But do thou , O Holy Jesu , take from us also all our great calamities , the Carnality of our affections , our Sensualities and Impurities , that we may first be pure , then peaceable , living in peace with all men , and preserving the peace which thou hast made for us with our God , that we may never commit a sin which may interrupt so blessed an atonement . Let neither hope nor fear , tribulation nor anguish , pleasure nor pain make us to relinquish our interest in thee , and our portion of the everlasting Covenant . But give us hearts constant , bold and valiant , to confess thee before all the world in the midst of all disadvantages and contradictory circumstances , chusing rather to beg , or to be disgraced , or 〈◊〉 , or to die , than quit a holy Conscience , or renounce an Article of Christianity : that we either in act , when thou shalt call us , or always in preparation of mind , suffering with thee , may also reign with thee in the Church Triumphant , O Holy and most merciful Saviour Jesu . Amen . DISCOURSE X. A Discourse upon that part of the Decalogue which the Holy JESVS adopted into the Institution and obligation of Christianity . 1. WHen the Holy Jesus had described the Characterisms of Christianity in these Eight Graces and Beatitudes , he adds his Injunctions , that in these Vertues they should be eminent and exemplar , that they might adorn the Doctrine of God ; for he intended that the Gospel should be as Leven in a lump of dough , to season the whole mass , and that Christians should be the instruments of communicating the excellency and reputation of this holy Institution to all the world . Therefore Christ calls them Salt , and Light , and the societies of Christians a City set upon a hill , and a 〈◊〉 set in a candlestick , whose office and energy is to illuminate all the vicinage ; which is also expressed in these preceptive words , Let your light so shine before men , that they may see your good works , and glorifie your Father which is in heaven : which I consider not only as a Circumstance of other parts , but as a precise Duty it self , and one of the Sanctions of Christianity , which hath so confederated the Souls of the Disciples of the Institution , that it hath in some proportion obliged every man to take care of his Brother's Soul. And since Reverence to God and Charity to our Brother are the two 〈◊〉 Ends which the best Laws can have , this precept of exemplary living is enjoyned in order to them both : We must shine as lights in the world , that God may be glorified , and our Brother edified ; that the excellency of the act may 〈◊〉 the reputation of the Religion , and invite men to confess God according to the sanctions of so holy an Institution . And if we be curious that vanity do not mingle in the intention , and that the intention do not spoil the action , and that we suffer not our lights to shine that men may magnifie us , and not glorifie God , this duty is soon performed by way of adherence to our other actions , and hath no other difficulty in it , but that it will require our prudence and care to preserve the simplicity of our purposes and humility of our spirit in the midst of that excellent reputation which will certainly be consequent to a holy and exemplary life . 2. But since the Holy Jesus had set us up to be lights in the world , he took care we should not be stars of the least magnitude , but eminent , and such as might by their great emissions of light give evidence of their being immediately derivative from the Sun of Righteousness . He was now giving his Law , and meant to retain so much of Moses , as Moses had of natural and essential Justice and Charity , and superadd many degrees of his own ; that as far as Moses was exceeded by Christ in the capacity of a Law-giver , so far Christianity might be more excellent and holy than the Mosaical Sanctions . And therefore , as a Preface to the Christian Law , the Holy Jesus declares , that unless our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees , that is , of the stricter sects of the Mosaical Institution , we shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven . Which not only relates to the prevaricating Practices of the Pharisees , but even to their Doctrines and Commentaries upon the Law of Moses , as appears evidently in the following instances . For if all the excellency of Christianity had consisted in the mere command of Sincerity and prohibition of Hypocrisie , it had nothing in it proportionable to those excellent promises and clearest revelations of Eternity there expressed , nor of a fit imployment for the designation of a special and a new Law-giver , whose Laws were to last forever , and were established upon foundations stronger than the pillars of Heaven and Earth . 3. But S. Paul , calling the Law of Moses a Law of Works , did well insinuate what the Doctrine of the Jews was concerning the degrees and obligations of Justice : for besides that it was a Law of Works in opposition to the Law of Faith , ( and so the sence of it is * formerly explicated ) it is also a Law of Works in opposition to the Law of the Spirit ; and it is understood to be such a Law which required the exteriour Obedience ; such a Law according to which S. Paul so lived that no man could reprove him , that is , the Judges could not tax him with prevarication ; such a Law which , being in very many degrees carnal and material , did not with much severity exact the intention and purposes spiritual . But the Gospel is the Law of the spirit . If they failed in the exteriour work , it was accounted to them for sin ; but to Christians nothing becomes a sin , but a failing and prevaricating spirit . For the outward act is such an emanation of the interiour , that it enters into the account for the relation sake , and for its parent . When God hath put a duty into our hands , if our spirits be right , the work will certainly follow ; but the following work receives its acceptation , not from the value the Christian Law hath precisely put upon it , but because the spirit from whence it came hath observed its rule : the Law of Charity is acted and expressed in works , but hath its estimate from the spirit . Which discourse is to be understood in a limited and qualified signification . For then also God required the Heart , and interdicted the very concupiscences of our irregular passions , at least in some instances ; but because much of their Law consisted in the exteriour , and the Law appointed not nor yet intimated any penalty to evil thoughts , and because the expiation of such interiour irregularities was easie , implicite , and involved in their daily Sacrifices without special trouble , therefore the old Law was a Law of Works , that is , especially and in its first intention . But this being less perfect , the Holy Jesus inverted the order . 1. For very little of Christianity stands upon the outward action ; ( Christ having appointed but two Sacraments immediately : ) and 2. a greater restraint is laid upon the passions , desires , and first motions of the spirit , than under the severity of Moses : and 3. they are threatned with the same curses of a sad eternity with the acts proceeding from them : and 4. because the obedience of the spirit does in many things excuse the want of the outward act , God always requiring at our hands what he hath put in our power , and no more : and 5. lastly , because the spirit is the principle of all actions moral and spiritual , and certainly productive of them when they are not impeded from without ; therefore the Holy Jesus hath secured the fountain , as knowing that the current must needs be healthful and pure , if it proceeds through pure chanels from a limpid and unpolluted principle . 4. And certainly it is much for the glory of God , to worship him with a Religion whose very design looks upon God as the searcher of our hearts and Lord of our spirits , who judges the purposes as a God , and does not only take his estimate from the outward action as a man. And it is also a great reputation to the Institution it self , that it purifies the Soul , and secures the secret cogitations of the mind : It punishes Covetouiness as it judges Rapine ; it condemns a Sacrilegious heart as soon as an Irreligious hand ; it detests hating of our Brother by the same aversation which it expresses against doing him 〈◊〉 . He that curses in his heart shall die the death of an explicite and bold Blasphemer ; murmur and repining is against the Laws of Christianity : but either by the remissness of Moses's Law , or the gentler execution of it , or the innovating or lessening glosses of the Pharisees , he was esteemed innocent whose actions were according to the letter , not whose spirit was conformed to the intention and more secret Sanctity of the Law. So that our Righteousness must therefore exceed the Pharisaical standard , because our spirits must be pure as our hands , and the heart as regular as the action , our purposes must be sanctified , and our thoughts holy ; we must love our Neighbour as well as relieve him , and chuse Justice with adhesion of the mind , as well as carry her upon the palms of our hands . And therefore the Prophets , foretelling the Kingdom of the Gospel and the state of this Religion , call it a writing the Laws of God in our hearts . And S. Paul distinguishes the Gospel from the Law by this only measure , We are all Israelites , of the seed of Abraham , heirs of the same inheritance ; only now we are not to be accounted Jews for the outward consormity to the Law , but for the inward consent and obedience to those purities which were secretly signified by the types of Moses . They of the Law were Jews outwardly , their Circumcision was outward in the flesh , their praise was of men : We are Jews inwardly , our Circumcision is that of the heart , in the spirit , and not in the letter , and our praise is of God ; that is , we are not judged by the outward act , but by the mind and the intention ; and though the acts must sollow in all instances where we can and where they are required , yet it is the less principal , and rather significative , than by its own strength and energy operative , and accepted . 5. S. Clemens of Alexandria saith , the Pharisees righteousness consisted in the not doing evil , and that Christ superadded this also , that we must do the contrary good , and so exceed the Pharisaical measure . They would not wrong a Jew , nor many times relieve him ; they reckoned their innocence by not giving offence , by walking blameless , by not being accused before the Judges sitting in the gates of their Cities . But the balance in which the Judge of quick and dead weighs Christians is , not only the avoiding evil , but doing good ; the following peace with all men and holiness ; the proceeding from faith to faith ; the adding vertue to vertue ; the persevering in all holy conversation and godliness . And therefore S. Paul , commending the grace of universal Charity , says , that Love worketh no ill to his neighbour , therefore Love is the fulfilling of the Law ; implying , that the prime intention of the Law was , that every man's right be secured , that no man receive wrong . And indeed all the Decalogue consisting of Prohibitions rather than Precepts , saving that each Table hath one positive Commandment , does not obscurely verifie the doctrine of S. Clement's interpretation . Now because the Christian Charity abstains from doing all injury , therefore it is the fulfilling of the Law : but because it is also patient and liberal , that it suffers long and is kind ; therefore the Charity commanded in Christ's Law exceeds that Charity which the Scribes and Pharisees reckoned as part of their Righteousness . But Jesus himself does with great care in the particulars instance in what he would have the Disciples to be eminent above the most strict Sect of the Jewish Religion : 1. in practising the moral Precepts of the Decalogue with a stricter interpretation ; 2. and in quitting the Permissions and licences which for the hardness of their heart Moses gave them as indulgences to their persons , and securities against the contempt of too severe Laws . 6. The severity of exposition was added but to three Commandments , and in three indulgences the permission was taken away . But because our great Law-giver repeated also other parts of the Decalogue in his * after-Sermons , I will represent in this * one view all that he made to be Christian by adoption . 7. The first Commandment Christ often repeated and enforced , as being the basis of all Religion , and the first endearment of all that relation whereby we are capable of being the sons of God , as being the great Commandment of the Law , and comprehensive of all that duty we owe to God in the relations of the vertue of Religion : Hear , O Israel , the Lord thy God is one Lord ; and , Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy mind , and with all thy strength . This is the first Commandment , that is , this comprehends all that which is moral and eternal in the first Table of the 〈◊〉 . 8. The Duties of this Commandment are , 1. To worship God alone with actions proper to him , and 2. to love , and 3. obey him with all our faculties . 1. Concerning Worship . The actions proper to the Honour of God are , to offer Sacrifice , Incense and Oblations , making Vows to him , Swearing by his Name as the instrument of secret testimony , confessing his incommunicable Attributes , and Praying to him for those Graces which are essentially annexed to his dispensation , as Remission of sins , Gifts of the Spirit , and the grace of 〈◊〉 , and Life eternal . Other acts of Religion , such as are uncovering the head , 〈◊〉 the knee , falling upon our face , stooping to the ground , reciting praises , are by the consent of Nations used as testimonies of civil or religious veneration , and do not always pass for confessions of a Divinity , and therefore may be without sin used to Angels , or Kings , or Governours , or to persons in any sence more excellent than our selves , provided they be intended to express an excellency no greater than is proper to their dignities and persons ; not in any sence given to an Idol , or false Gods. But the first sort are such which all the world hath consented to be actions of Divine and incommunicable Adoration , and such which God also in several Religions hath reserved as his own appropriate regalities , and are Idolatry if given to any Angel or man. 9. The next Duties are , 2. Love , 3. and Obedience ; but they are united in the Gospel , This is Love , that we keep his Commandments : and since we are for God's sake bound also to love others , this Love is appropriate to God by the extension of parts , and the intension of degrees . The Extension signifies that we must serve God with all our Faculties ; for all division of parts is hypocrisie , and a direct prevarication : our Heart must think what our Tongue speaks , our Hands act what we promise or purpose ; and God's enemies must have no share so much as in appearance or dissimulation . Now no Creature can challenge this ; and if we do Justice to our neighbours , though unwillingly , we have done him no injury ; for in that case he only who sees the irregularity of our thoughts is the person injured . And when we swear to him , our heart must swear as well as our tongue , and our hands must pay what our lips have promised ; or else we provoke him with an imperfect sacrifice : we love him not with all our mind , with all our strength , and all our faculties . 10. But the difficulty and question of this Commandment lies in the Intension . For it is not enough to serve God with every Capacity , Passion , and Faculty ; but it must be every degree of every Faculty , all the latitude of our Will , all the whole intension of our Passions , all the possibility and energy of our Senses and our Understanding : which because it is to be understood according to that moderate sentence and account which God requires of us set in the midst of such a condition , so attended , and depressed and prejudiced , the full sence of it I shall express in several Propositions . 11. First , The Intension of the Love to which we are obliged requires not the Degree which is absolutely the greatest and simply the most perfect . For there are degrees of Grace , every one of which is pleasing to God , and is a state of Reconciliation and atonement : and he that breaks not the bruised reed , nor quenches the smoaking slax , loves to cherish those endeavours which , beginning from small principles , pass through the variety of degrees , and give demonstration that though it be our duty to contend for the best , yet this contention is with an enemy , and that enemy makes an abatement , and that abatement being an imperfection rather than a sin is actually consistent with the state of Grace , the endeavour being in our power , and not the success ; the perfection is that which shall be our reward , and therefore is not our present duty . And indeed if to do the best action , and to love God as we shall do in Heaven , were a present obligation , it would have been clearly taught us what is simply the best action ; whereas now that which is of it self better , in certain circumstances is less perfect , and sometimes not lawful ; and concerning those circumstances we have no rules , nor any guide but prudence and probable inducements : so that it is certain , in our best endeavours we should only increase our scruples in stead of doing actions of the highest perfections , we should crect a tyranny over our Consciences , and no augmentation of any thing but the trouble . And therefore in the Law of Moses , when this Commandment was given in the same words , yet that the sence of it might be clear , the analogy of the Law declared that their duty had a latitude , and that God was not so strict a task-master , but that he left many instances of Piety to the voluntary Devotion of his servants , that they might receive the reward of Free-will-offerings . But if these words had obliged them to the greatest degree , that is , to all the degrees of our capacities in every instance , every act of Religion had been duty and necessity . 12. And thus also it was in the Gospel . Ananias and Sapphira were killed by sentence from Heaven for not performing what was in their power at first not to have promised ; but because they brought an obligation upon themselves which God brought not , and then prevaricated , they paid the forfeiture of their lives . S. Paul took no wages of the Corinthian Churches , but wrought night and day with his own hand ; but himself says he had power to do otherwise . There was laid upon him a necessity to preach , but no necessity to preach without wages and support . There is a good and a better in Virginity and Marriage ; and yet there is no command in either , but that we abstain from sin : we are left to our own election for the particular , having no necessity , but power in our will. David prayed seven times a day , and Daniel prayed three times ; and both were beloved of God. The Christian masters were not bound to manumit their slaves , and yet were commended if they did so . Sometimes the Christians fled in Persecution ; S. Paul did so , and S. Peter did so , and S. Cyprian did so , and S. Athanasius , and many more : But time was , when some of these also chose to suffer death rather than to fly . And if to fly be a permission , and no duty , there is certainly a difference of degrees in the choice ; to fly is not so great a suffering as to die , and yet a man may innocently chuse the easier . And our Blessed Lord himself , who never failed of any degree of his obligations , yet at some time prayed with more zeal and servour than at other times , as a little before his Passion . Since then at all times he did not do actions of that degree which is absolutely the greatest ; it is evident that God's goodness is so great , as to be content with such a Love which parts no share between him and sin ; and leaves all the rest under such a liberty , as is only encouraged by those extraordinary rewards and crowns proportioned to heroical endeavours . It was a pretty Question which was moved in the Solitudes of Nitria concerning two Religious Brothers ; the one gave all his goods to the poor at once , the other kept the inheritance and gave all the revenue . None of all the Fathers knew which was absolutely the better , at once to renounce all , or by repetition of charitable acts to divide it into portions : one act of Charity in an heroical degree , or an habitual Charity in the degree of Vertue . This instance is probation enough , that the opinion of such a necessity of doing the best action simply and indefinitely is impossible to be safely acted , because it is impossible to be understood . Two talents shall be rewarded , and so shall five , both in their proportions : He that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly , but he shall reap : Every man as he purposes in his heart , so let him give . The best action shall have the best reward ; and though he is the happiest who rises highest , yet he is not sasest that enters into the state of disproportion to his person . I find in the Lives of the later reputed Saints , that S. Teresa à Jesu made a vow to do every thing which she should judge to be the best . I will not judge the person , nor censure the action , because possibly her intention and desires were of greatest Sanctity ; but whosoever considers the story of her Life , and the strange repugnancies in the life of man to such undertakings , must needs fear to imitate an action of such danger and singularity . The advice which in this case is safest to be followed is , That we employ our greatest industry that we fall not into sin and actions of forbidden nature ; and then strive by parts and steps , and with much wariness , in attempering our zeal , to superadd degrees of eminency , and observation of the more perfect instances of Sanctity ; that doing some excellencies which God hath not commanded , he may be the rather moved to pardon our prevaricating so many parts of our necessary duty . If Love transport us and carry us to actions sublime and heroical , let us follow so good a guide , and pass on with diligence , and zeal , and prudence , as far as Love will carry us : but let us not be carried to actions of great eminency and strictness and unequal severities by scruple and pretence of duty ; lest we charge our miscarriages upon God , and call the yoak of the Gospel insupportable , and Christ a hard Task-master . But we shall pass from Vertue to Vertue with more fafety , if a Spiritual guide take us by the hand ; only remembring , that if the Angels themselves and the beatisied Souls do now and shall hereafter differ in degrees of love and glory , it is impossible the state of imperfection should be confined to the highest Love , and the greatest degree , and such as admits no variety , no increment or difference of parts and stations . 13. Secondly , Our Love to God consists not in any one determinate Degree , but hath such a latitude as best agrees with the condition of men , who are of variable natures , different affectious and capacities , changeable abilities , and which receive their heightnings and declensions according to a thousand accidents of mortality . For when a Law is regularly prescribed to perions whose varieties and different constitutions cannot be regular or uniform , it is certain 〈◊〉 gives a great latitude of perfermance , and binds not to just atomes and points . The Laws of God are like universal objects received into the Faculty partly by choice , partly by nature ; but the variety of perfection is by the variety of the instruments , and disposition of the Recipient , and are excelled by each other in several sences , and by themselves at several times . And so is the practice of our Obedience , and the entertainments of the Divine Commandments : For some are of malleable natures , others are morese ; some are of healthful and temperate constitutions , others are lustful , full of fancy , full of appetite ; some have excellent leisure and opportunities of retirement , others are busie in an active life , and cannot with advantages attend to the choice of the better part ; some are peaceable and timorous , and some are in all instances serene , others are of tumultuous and unquiet spirits : and these become opportunities of Temptation on one side , and on the other occasions of a Vertue : But every change of faculty and variety of circumstance hath influence upon Morality ; and therefore their duties are personally altered , and increase in obligation , or are slackned by necessities , according to the infinite alteration of exteriour accidents and interiour possibilities . 14. Thirdly , Our Love to God must be totally exclusive of any affection to sin , and engage us upon a great , assiduous and laborious care to resist all Temptations , to subdue sin , to acquire the habits of Vertues , and live holily ; as it is already expressed in the Discourse of Repentance . We must prefer God as the object of our hopes , we must chuse to obey him rather than man , to please him rather than satisfie our selves , and we must do violence to our strongest Passions when they once contest against a Divine Commandment . If our Passions are thus regulated , let them be fixed upon any lawful object whatsoever , if at the same time we prefer Heaven and heavenly things , that is , would rather chuse to lose our temporal love than our eternal hopes , ( which we can best discern by our refusing to sin upon the solicitation or engagement of the temporal object ; ) then , although we feel the transportation of a sensual love towards a Wife , or Child , or Friend , actually more pungent and sensible than Passions of Religion are , they are less perfect , but they are not criminal . Our love to God requires that we do his Commandments , and that we do not sin ; but in other things we are permitted in the condition of our nature to be more sensitively moved by visible than by invisible and spiritual objects . Only this , we must ever have a disposition and a mind prepared to quit our sensitive and pleasant objects , rather than quit a Grace , or commit a sin . Every act of sin is against the Love of God , and every man does many single actions of hostility and provocation against him ; but the state of the Love of God is that which we actually call the state of Grace . When Christ reigns in us , and sin does not reign , but the Spirit is quickned , and the Lusts are mortified ; when we are habitually vertuous , and do acts of Piety , Temperance and Justice frequently , easily , chearfully , and with a successive , constant , moral and humane industry , according to the talent which God hath intrusted to us in the banks of Nature and Grace ; then we are in the love of God , then we love him with all our heart . But if Sin grows upon us , and is committed more frequently , or gets a victory with less difficulty , or is obeyed more readily , or entertained with a freer complacency ; then we love not God as he requires , we divide between him and sin , and God is not the Lord of all our faculties . But the instances of Scripture are the best exposition of this Commandment : For David followed God with all his heart , to do that which was right in his eyes ; and Josiah turned to the Lord with all his heart , and with all his soul , and with all his might . Both these Kings did it ; and yet there was some imperfection in David , and more violent recessions : for so saith the Scripture of Josiah , Like unto him was there no King before him ; David was not so exact as he , and yet he followed God with all his heart . From which these two Corollaries are certainly deducible : That to love God with all our heart admits variety of degrees , and the lower degree is yet a Love with all our heart ; and yet to love God requires a holy life , a diligent walking in the Commandments , either according to the sence of innocence or of penitence , either by first or second counsels , by the spirit of Regeneration or the spirit of Renovation and restitution . The summ is this , The sence of this Precept is such as may be reconciled with the Infirmities of our Nature , but not with a Vice in our Manners ; with the recession of single acts seldom 〈◊〉 , and always disputed against , and long fought with , but not with an habitual aversation , or a ready obedience to sin , or an easie victory . 15. This Commandment , being the summ of the First Table , had in Moses's Law particular instances which Christ did not insert into his Institution ; and he added no other particular , but that which we call the Third Commandment , concerning Veneration and reverence to the Name of God. The other two , viz. concerning Images and the Sabbath , have some special considerations . 16. The Jews receive daily offence against the 〈◊〉 of some Churches , who , 〈◊〉 . COM. in the recitation of the Decalogue , omit the Second Commandment , as supposing it to be a part of the first , according as we account them ; and their offence rises higher , because they observe that in the New Testament , where the Decalogue is six times repeated in special recitation and in summaries , there is no word prohibiting the making , retaining , or respect of Images . Concerning which things Christians consider , that God for bad to the Jews 〈◊〉 very having and making Images and Representments , not only of the true God , or of false and imaginary Deities , but of visible creatures ; which because it was but of temporary reason , and relative consideration of their aptness to Superstition and their conversing with idolatrous Nations , was a command proper to the Nation , part of their Govenant , not of essential , indispensable and eternal reason , not of that which we usually call the Law of Nature . Of which also God gave testimony , because himself commanded the signs and representment of Seraphim to be set upon the Mercy - 〈◊〉 , toward which the Priest and the people made their addresses in their religious Adorations ; and of the Brazen Serpent , to which they looked when they called to God for help against the sting of the venomous Snakes . These instances tell us , that to make Pictures or Statues of creatures is not against a natural reason , and that they may have uses which are profitable , as well as be abused to danger and Superstition . Now although the nature of that people was apt to the abuse , and their entercourse with the Nations in their confines was too great an invitation to entertain the danger ; yet Christianity hath so far removed that danger by the analogy and design of the Religion , by clear Doctrines , Revelations , and infinite treasures of wisdom , and demonstrations of the Spirit , that our Blessed Law-giver thought it not necessary to remove us from Superstition by a prohibition of the use of Images and Pictures ; and therefore left us to the sence of the great Commandment , and the dictates of right Reason , to take care that we do not dishonour the invisible God with visible representations of what we never saw nor cannot understand , 〈◊〉 yet convey any of God's incommunicable Worship in the forenamed instances to any thing but himself . And for the matter of Images we have no other Rule left us in the New Testament ; the rules of Reason and Nature , and the other parts of the Institution , are abundantly sufficient for our security . And possibly S. Paul might relate to this , when he affirmed concerning the Fifth , that it was the first Commandment with promise . For in the Second Commandment to the Jews , as there was a great threatning , so also a greater promise of shewing mercy to a thousand generations . But because the body of this Commandment was not transcribed into the Christian Law , the first of the Decalogue which we retain , and in which a promise is inserted , is the Fifth Commandment . And therefore the wisdom of the Church was remarkable in the variety of sentences concerning the permission of Images . At first , when they were blended in the danger and impure mixtures of Gentilism , and men were newly recovered from the snare , and had the reliques of a long custom to superstitious and false worshippings , they endured no Images , but merely civil : but as the danger ceased , and Christianity prevailed , they found that Pictures had a natural use of good concernment , to move less-knowing people by the representment and declaration of a Story ; and then they , knowing themselves permitted to the liberties of Christianity and the restraints of nature and reason , and not being still weak under prejudice and childish dangers , but fortified by the excellency of a wise Religion , took them into lawful uses , doing honour to Saints as unto the absent Emperors , according to the custom of the Empire ; they erected Statues to their honour , and transcribed a history , and sometimes a precept , into a table , by figures making more lasting impressions than by words and sentences . While the Church stood within these limits , she had natural reason for her warrant , and the custom of the several Countreys , and no precept of Christ to countermand it : They who went farther were unreasonable , and according to the degree of that excess were Superstitious . 17. The Duties of this Commandment are learned by the intents of it : For it was directed against the false Religion of the Nations , who believed the Images of their Gods to be filled with the Deity ; and it was also a caution to prevent our low imaginations of God , lest we should come to think God to be like Man. And thus far there was indispensable and eternal reason in the Precept : and this was never lessened in any thing by the Holy Jesus , and obliges us Christians to make our addresses and worshippings to no God but the God of the Christians , that is , of all the world ; and not to do this in or before an Image of him , because he cannot be represented . For the Images of Christ and his Saints , they come not into either of the two considerations , and we are to understand our duty by the proportions of our reverence to God , expressed in the great Commandment . Our Fathers in Christianity , as I observed now , made no scruple of using the Images and Pictures of their Princes and Learned men ; which the Jews understood to be forbidden to them in the Commandment . Then they admitted even in the Utensils of the Church some coelatures and engravings : Such was that Tertullian speaks of , The good Shepherd in the 〈◊〉 . Afterwards they admitted Pictures , but not before the time of Constantine ; for in the Council of Eliberis they were forbidden . And in succession of time the scruples lessened with the danger , and all the way they signified their belief to be , that this Commandment was only so far retained by Christ as it relied upon natural reason , or was a particular instance of the great Commandment : that is , Images were forbidden where they did dishonour God , or lessen his reputation , or estrange our duties , or became Idols , or the direct matter of superstitious observances , charms , or senseless confidences ; but they were permitted to represent the Humanity of Christ , to remember Saints and Martyrs , to recount a story , to imprint a memory , to do honour and reputation to absent persons , and to be the instruments of a relative civility and esteem . But in this particular infinite care is to be taken of Scandal and danger , of a forward and zealous ignorance , or of a mistaking and peevish confidence ; and where a Society hath such persons in it , the little good of Images must not be violently retained with the greater danger and certain offence of such persons of whom consideration is to be had in the cure of Souls . I only add this , that the first Christians made no scruple of saluting the Statues of their Princes , and were confident it made no intrenchment upon the natural prohibition contained in this Commandment ; because they had observed , that exteriour inclinations and addresses of the body , though in the lowest manner , were not proper to God , but in Scripture found also to be communicated to Creatures , * to Kings , to Prophets , to Parents , to Religious persons : and because they found it to be death to do affront to the Pictures and Statues of their Emperors , they concluded in reason , ( which they also saw verified by the practice and opinion of all the world ) that the respect they did at the Emperor's Statue was accepted as a veneration to his person . But these things are but sparingly to be drawn into Religion , because the customs of this world are altered , and their opinions new ; and many , who have not weak understandings , have weak Consciences ; and the necessity for the entertainment of them is not so great as the offence is or may be . 18. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain . This our Blessed Saviour repeating expresses it thus , It hath been said to them of old time , [ Thou shalt not for swear thy self ; ] to which Christ adds out of Num. 30. 2. But thou shalt perform thy Oaths unto the Lord. The meaning of the one we are taught by the other . We must not invocate the Name of God in any promise in vain , that is , with a Lie : which happens either out of levity , that we change our purpose , which at first we really intended ; or when our intention at that instant was fallacious , and contradictory to the undertaking . This is to take the Name of God , that is , to use it , to take it into our mouths , for vanity ; that is , according to the perpetual style of Scripture , for a Lie. Every one hath spoken vanity to his neighbour , that is , he hath lied unto him ; for so it follows , with flattering lips , and with a double heart : and swearing deceitfully is by the Psalmist called lifting up his soul unto vanity . And Philo the Jew , who well understood the Law and the language of his Nation , renders the sence of this Commandment to be , to call God to witness to a Lie. And this is to be understood only in Promises , for so Christ explains it by the appendix out of the Law , Thou shalt perform thy Oaths : For lying in Judgment , which is also with an Oath , or taking God's Name for witness , is forbidden in the Ninth Commandment . To this Christ added a farther restraint . For whereas by the Natural Law it was not unlawful to swear by any Oath that implied not Idolatry , 〈◊〉 the belief of a false God , ( I say ) any grave and prudent Oath , when they spake a grave truth ; and whereas it was lawful for the 〈◊〉 in ordinary entercourse to swear by God , so they did not swear to a Lie , ( to which also swearing to an impertinency might be reduced by a proportion of reason , and was so accounted of in the practice of the Jews ) but else and in other cases they us'd to swear by God , or by a Creature respectively ; ( for , they that swear by him shall be commended , saith the Psalmist ; and swearing to the Lord of Hosts is called speaking the language of Canaan : ) Most of this was rescinded ; Christ forbad all swearing , not only swearing to a Lie , but also swearing to a truth in common affairs ; not only swearing commonly by the Name of God , but swearing commonly by Heaven , and by the Earth , by our Head , or by any other Oath : only let our speech be yea , or nay , that is , plainly affirming or denying . In these , I say , Christ corrected the licence and vanities of the Jews and Gentiles . For as the Jews accounted it Religion to name God , and therefore would not swear by him but in the more solemn occasions of their life ; but in trifles they would swear by their Fathers , or the Light of Heaven , or the Ground they trode on : so the Greeks were also careful not to swear by the Gods lightly , much less fallaciously ; but they would swear by any thing about them or near them , upon an occasion as vain as their Oath . But because these Oaths are either indirectly to be referred to God , ( and Christ instances in divers ) or else they are but a vain testimony , or else they give a Divine honour to a Creature by making it a Judge of truth and discerner of spirits ; therefore Christ seems to forbid all forms of Swearing whatsoever . In pursuance of which law , Basilides , being converted at the prayers of Potamiaena a Virgin-Martyr , and required by his fellow-souldiers to swear upon some occasion then happening , answered , it was not lawful for him to swear , for he was a Christian ; and many of the Fathers have followed the words of Christ in so severe a sence , that their words seem to admit no exception . 19. But here a grain of salt must be taken , lest the letter destroy the spirit . First , it is certain the Holy Jesus forbad a * custom of Swearing ; it being great irreligion to despise and lessen the Name of God , which is the instrument and conveyance of our Adorations to him , by making it common and applicable to trifles and ordinary accidents of our life . He that swears often , many times swears false , and however lays by that reverence which , being due to God , the Scripture determines it to be due at his Name : His Name is to be loved and feared . And therefore Christ commands that our communication be yea , yea , or nay , nay ; that is , our ordinary discourses should be simply affirmative or negative . In order to this , * Plutarch affirms out of Phavorinus , that the reason why the Greeks forbad children who were about to swear by Hercules , to swear within doors , was , that by this delay and preparation they might be taught not to be hasty or quick in swearing , but all such invocations should be restrained and retarded by ceremony : and Hercules himself was observed never to have sworn in all his life-time but once . 2. Not only customary Swearing is forbidden , but all Swearing upon a slight cause . S. Basil upbraids some Christians his contemporaries with the example of Clinias the Pythagorean , who , rather than he would swear , suffered a mulct of three talents . And all the followers of Pythagoras admitted no Oath , unless the matter were grave , necessary , and charitable : and the wisest and gravest persons among the Heathens were very severe in their Counsels concerning Oaths . 3. But there are some cases in which the interests of Kingdoms and 〈◊〉 politick , Peace and Confederacies , require the sanction of promissory Oaths ; and they whom we are bound to obey , and who may kill us if we do not , require that their interests be secured by an Oath : and that in this case , and all that are equal , our Blessed Saviour did not forbid Oaths , is certain , not only by the example of Christians , but of all the world before and since this prohibition , understanding it to be of the nature of such natural bands and securities , without which Commonwealths in some cases are not easily combined , and therefore to be a thing necessary , and therefore not to be forbidden . Now what is by Christians to be esteemed a slight cause , we may determine by the account we take of other things . The Glory of God is certainly no light matter ; and therefore when that is evidently and certainly concerned , not phantastically and by vain and imaginary consequences , but by prudent and true estimation , then we may lawfully swear . We have S. Paul's example , who well understood the precept of his Master , and is not to be supposed easily to have done any violence to it ; but yet we find religious affirmations , and God invoked for witness as a record upon his soul , in his Epistles to the Romans , Galatians , and Corinthians . But these Oaths were only assertory . Tertullian affirmeth , that Christians refused to swear by the Genius of their Prince , because it was a Daemon ; but they sware by his Health , and their solemn Oath was by God , and Christ , and the Holy Spirit , and the Majesty of the Emperor . The Fathers of the Ephesine Council made Nestorius and Victor swear ; and the Bishops at Chalcedon sware by the health of their Princes . But as S. Paul did it extrajudicially , when the glory of God was concerned in it and the interest of Souls ; so the Christians used to swear in a cause of Piety and Religion , in obedience and upon publick command , or for the ends of Charity and Justice , both with Oaths promissory and assertory , as the matter required : with this only difference , that they never did swear in the causes of Justice or Charity but when they were before a Magistrate ; but if it were in a cause of Religion , and in matters of promise , they did indeed swear among themselves , but always to or in communities and societies , obliging themselves by Oath not to commit wickedness , Robberies , Sacriledge , not to deceive their trust , not to detain the pledge ; which rather was an act of direct entercourse with God , than a solemn or religious obligation to man. Which very thing Pliny also reports of the Christians . 20. The summ is this : Since the whole subject matter of this Precept is Oaths promissory , or Vows ; all Promises with Oaths are regularly forbidden to Christians , unless they be made to God or God's 〈◊〉 , in a matter not trisling . For in the first case , a Promise made to God , and a swearing by God to perform the Promise , to him is all one : For the Name of God being the instrument and determination of all 〈◊〉 addresses , we cannot be supposed to speak to God without using of his Name 〈◊〉 or by implication : and therefore he that promises to God makes a Promise , and uses God's Name in the Promise ; the Promise it self being in the nature of a Prayer or solemn Invocation of God. In the second case , when the publick necessity requires it , of which we are not judges , but are under authority , we find the lawfulness by being bound to believe , or not to contradict , the pretence of its necessity ; only care is to be taken that the matter be grave or religious , that is , it is to be esteemed and presumed so by us , if the Oath be imposed by our lawful Superiours , and to be cared for by them : or else it is so to be provided for by our selves , when our entercourse is with God , as in Vows and Promises passed to God ; being careful that we do not offer to God Goats-hair , or the 〈◊〉 of Mushromes , or the bloud of Swine , that is , things either impious or vain . But in our communication , that is , in our ordinary entercourse with men , we must promise by simple testimony , not by religious adjurations , though a creature be the instrument of the Oath . 21. But this forbids not assertory Oaths at all , or deposing in Judgment ; for of this Christ speaks not here , it being the proper matter of another Commandment : and since ( as S. Paul affirms ) an Oath is the end of all controversie , and that the necessity of Commonwealths requires that a period should be fixed to questions , and a rule for the nearest certainty for Judgment ; whatsoever is necessary is not unlawful , and Christ , who came to knit the bonds of Government faster by the stricture of more religious ties , cannot be understood to have given precepts to dissolve the instruments of Judicature and prudent Government . But concerning assertory Oaths , although they are not forbidden , but supposed in the Ninth Commandment to be done before our Judges in the cause of our Neighbour ; yet because they are only so supposed , and no way else mentioned by permission or intimation , therefore they are to be estimated by the proportions of this Precept concerning promissory Oaths : they may be taken in Judgment and righteousness , but never lightly , never extrajudicially ; only a less cause , so it be judicial , may authorize an assertory than a promissory Oath ; because many cases occur in which Peace and Justice may be concerned , which without an Oath are indeterminable , but there are but few necessities to confirm a Promise by an Oath . And therefore the reverence of the Name of God ought not to be intrenched upon in accidents of little or no necessity ; God not having made many necessities in this case , would not in the matter of Promise give leave to use his Name but when an extraordinary case happens . An Oath in Promises is of no use for ending questions and giving judicial sentences ; and the faith of a Christian and the word of a just person will do most of the work of Promises ; and it is very much to the disreputation of our Religion or ourselves , if we fall into hypocrisie or deceit , or if a Christian Asseveration were not of value equal with an Oath . And therefore Christ forbidding promissory Oaths , and commanding so great simplicity of spirit and honesty , did consonantly to the design and perfection of his Institution , intending to make us so just and sincere , that our Religion being infinite obligation to us , our own Promises should pass for bond enough to others , & the Religion receive great honour by being esteemed a sufficient security and instrument of publick entercourse . And this was intimated by our Lord himself in that reason he is pleased to give of the prohibition of swearing : ( (a) Let your communication be Yea , yea , Nay , nay ; for whatsoever is more cometh of evil : that is , As good Laws come from ill manners , the modesty of cloathing from the shame of sin , Antidotes and Physick by occasion of poisons and diseases ; so is Swearing an effect of distrust , and want of faith or honesty , on one or both sides . Men dare not trust the word of a Christian , or a Christian is not just and punctual to his Promises , and this calls for confirmation by an Oath . So that Oaths suppose a fault , though they are not faults always themselves ; whatsoever is more than Yea or Nay , is not always evil , but it always cometh of evil . And therefore the Essenes esteemed every man that was put to his Oath no better than an infamous person , a perjurer , or at least suspected , not esteemed a just man : and the Heathens would not suffer the Priest of Jupiter to swear , because all men had great opinion of his sanctity and authority : and the Scythians derided Alexander's caution and timorous provision , when he required an Oath of them ; Nos religionem in ipsa side novimus , Our faith is our bond : and * they who are willing to deceive men will not stick to deceive God , when they have called God to witness . But I have a caution to insert for each , which I propound as an humble advice to persons eminent and publickly interested . 22. First , That Princes , and such as have power of decreeing the injunction of promissory Oaths , be very curious and reserved , not lightly enjoyning such Promises , neither in respect of the matter trivial , nor yet frequently , nor without great reason enforcing . The matter of such Promises must be only what is already matter of Duty or Religion ; for else the matter is not grave enough sor the calling of God to testimony : but when it is a matter of Duty , then the Oath is no other than a Vow or Promise made to God in the presence of men . And because Christians are otherwise very much obliged to do all which is their duty in matters both civil and religious , of Obedience and Piety ; therefore it must be an instant necessity and a great cause to superinduce such a confirmation as derives from the so sacredly invocating the Name of God ; it must be when there is great necessity that the duty be actually performed , and when the Supreme power either hath not power sufficient to punish the delinquent , or may miss to have notice of the delict . For in these cases it is reasonable to bind the faith of the obliged persons by the fear of God after a more special manner ; but else there is no reason sufficient to demand of the subject any farther security than their own faith and contract . The reason of this advice relies upon the strictness of the words of this Precept against promissory Oaths , and the reverence we owe to the name of God. Oaths of Allegiance are fit to be imposed in a troubled State or to a mutinous People : But it is not so fit to tie the People by Oath to abstain from transportations of Metal , or Grain , or Leather , from which by Penalties they are with as much security , and less suspicion of iniquity , restrained . 23. Secondly , Concerning assertory Oaths and Depositions in Judgment , although a greater liberty may be taken in the subject matter of the Oath , and we may , being required to it , swear in Judgment , though the cause be a question of money , or our interest , or the rights of a Society ; and S. Athanasius purged himself by Oath before the Emperour Constantius : yet it were a great pursuance and security of this part of Christian Religion , if in no case contrary Oaths might be admitted , in which it is certain one part is perjured to the * ruine of their Souls , to the intricating of the Judgment , to the dishonour of Religion ; but that such rules of prudence and reasonable presumption be established , that upon the Oath of that party which the Law shall chuse , and upon probable grounds shall presume for , the sentence may be established . For by a small probability there may a surer Judgment be given than upon the confidence of contradictory Oaths , and after the sin the Judge is left to the uncertainty of conjectures as much as if but one part had sworn ; and to much more , because such an Oath is by the consent of all men accepted as a rule to determine in Judgment . By these discourses we understand the intention of our Blessed Master in this Precept : and I wish by this or any thing else men would be restrained 〈◊〉 that low , cheap , unreasonable and unexcusable vice of customary Swearing , to which we have nothing to invite us that may lessen the iniquity , for which we cannot pretend temptation nor alledge infirmity , but it begins by wretchlesness and a malicious carelesness , and is continued by the strength of habit and the greatest immensity of folly . And I consider that Christian Religion , being so holy an Institution , to which we are invited by so great promises , in which we are instructed by so clear revelations , and to the performance of our duties compelled by the threatnings of a sad and insupportable eternity , should more than sufficiently endear the performance of this Duty to us . The name of a Christian is a high and potent antidote against all sin , if we consider aright the honour of the name , the undertaking of our Covenant , and the reward of our duty . The Jews eat no Swines flesh , because they are of Moses , and the Turks drink no Wine , because they are Mahumetans ; and yet we swear for all we are Christians , than which there is not in the world a greater conviction of our baseness and irreligion . Is the authority of the Holy Jesus so despicable ? are his Laws so unreasonable , his rewards so little , his threatnings so small , that we must needs in contempt of all this profane the great Name of God , and trample under foot the Laws of Jesus , and cast away the hopes of Heaven , and enter into security to be possessed by Hell-torments for Swearing , that is , for speaking like a fool , without reason , without pleasure , without reputation , much to our disesteem , much to the trouble of civil and wise persons with whom we joyn in society and entercourse ? Certainly Hell will be heat seven times hotter for a customary Swearer , and every degree of his unreasonableness will give him a new degree of torment , when he shall find himself in flames for being a stupid , an Atheistical , an irreligious fool . This only I desire should be observed , that our Blessed Master forbids not only swearing by God , but by any Creature ; for every Oath by a creature does involve and tacitely relate to God. And therefore saith Christ , Swear not by Heaven , for it is the throne of God ; and he that sweareth by the throne of God , sweareth by it , and by him that sitteth thereon . So that it is not a less matter to swear by a Creature than to swear by God ; for a Creature cannot be the instrument of testimony , but as it is a relative to God ; and it by implication calls the God of that Creature to witness . So that although in such cases in which it is permitted to swear by God , we may in those cases express our Oath in the form of advocating and calling the Creature , ( as did the primitive Christians swearing by the health of their Emperour , and as Joseph swearing by the life of Pharaoh , and as Elisha swearing by the life of Elias , and as did S. Paul protesting by the rejoycing he had in Jesus Christ , and as we in our forms of swearing in Courts of Judicature touch the Gospels , saying , So help me God , and the Contents of this Book ; and in a few Ages lately past Bishops and Priests sometimes swore upon the Cross , sometimes upon the Altar , sometimes by their holy Order : ) yet we must remember that this in other words and ceremonies is but a calling God for witness ; and he that swears by the Cross , swears by the holy Crucifix , that is , Jesus crucified thereon . And therefore these and the like forms are therefore not to be used in ordinary communication , because they relate to God ; they are as obligatory as the immediate invocation of his Holiness and Majesty ; and it was a Judaical vanity to think swearing by Creatures was less obliging : they are just with the same restraints made to be religious as the most solemn invocation of the holy and reverend Name of God , lawful or unlawful as the other : unless the swearing by a Creature come to be spoiled by some other intervening circumstance , that is , with a denying it to relate to God ; for then it becomes Superstition as well as Profanation , and it gives to a Creature what is proper to God ; or when the Creature is contemptible , or less than the gravity of the matter , as if a man should swear by a Fly , or the shadow of a Tree ; or when there is an indecorum in the thing , or something that does at too great distance relate to God : for that which with greatest vicinity refers to God in several Religions is the best instrument of an Oath , and nearest to God's honour ; as in Christianity are the Holy Sacrament , the Cross , the Altar , and the Gospels ; and therefore too great a distance may be an indecency next to a disparagement . This only may be added to this consideration ; That although an Oath , which is properly calling God or God's relative into testimony , is to be understood according to the former Discourse ; yet there may be great affirmations or negations respectively , and confirmed by forms of vehement asseveration , such as the customes of a Nation or consent shall agree upon : and those do in some cases promote our belief or confirm our pretensions better than a plain Yea or No ; because by such consent the person renders himself infamous if he breaks his word or trust . And although this will not come under the restraint of Christ's words , because they are not properly Oaths , but circumstances of earnest affirmation or negation ; yet these are humane Attestations , introduced by custome or consent , and as they come not under the notion of Swearing , so they are forms of testimony and collateral engagement of a more strict truth . 24. The Holy Jesus having specified the great Commandment of loving God with all our heart , in this one instance of hallowing and keeping his Name sacred , that is , from profane and common talk , and less prudent and unnecessary entercourses , instanced in no other commandment of Moses : but having frequent occasion to speak of the Sabbath , for ever expresses his own dominion over the Day , and that he had dissolved the bands of Moses in this instance ; that now we were no more obliged to that Rest which the 〈◊〉 religiously observed by prescript of the Law ; and by divers acts against securities of the then-received practices did desecrate the day , making it a broken yoke , and the first great instance of Christian Liberty . And when the Apostle gave instructions that no man should judge his 〈◊〉 in a Holy-day , or New-moons , or the Sabbath-days , he declared all the Judaical Feasts to be obliterated by the spunge which Jesus tasted on the Cross ; it was within the Manuscript of Ordinances , and there it was cancelled . And there was nothing moral in it , but that we do honour to God for the Creation , and to that and all other purposes of Religion separate and hallow some portion of our time . The Primitive Church kept both the Sabbath and the Lord's day till the time of the 〈◊〉 Council , about 300 years after Christ's nativity , and almost in every thing made them equal ; and therefore did not esteem the Lord's day to be substituted in the place of the obliterated Sabbath , but a Feast celebrated by great reason and perpetual consent , without precept or necessary Divine injunction . But the liberty of the Church was great : they found themselves disobliged from that strict and necessary Rest which was one great part of the Sabbatick rites , only they were glad of the occasion to meet often for offices of Religion , and the day served well for the gaining and facilitating the Conversion of the Jews , and for the honourable sepulture of the Synagogue , it being kept so long , 〈◊〉 the forty days mourning of Israel for the death of their Father Jacob ; but their liberty they improved not to licence , but as an occasion of more frequent assemblies . And there is something in it for us to imitate , even to sanctifie the Name of God in the great work of the Creation , reading his praises in the book of his Creatures , and taking all occasions of religious acts and offices , though in none of the Jewish circumstances . 25. Concerning the observation of the Lord's Day , which now the Church observes and ever did in remembrance of the Resurrection , because it is a day of positive and Ecclesiastical institution , it is fit that the Church , who instituted the day , should determine the manner of its observation . It was set apart in honour of the Resurrection , and it were not ill if all Churches would into the weekly Offices put some memorial of that mystery , that the reason of the Festival might be remembred with the day , & God thanked with the renewing of the Offices . But because Religion was the design of the Feast , and 〈◊〉 was necessary for Religion , therefore to abstain from * Suits of Law and servile works , but such works as are of (a) necessity and charity , ( which to observe are of themselves a very good Religion ) is a necessary duty of the day ; and to do acts of publick Religion is the other part of it . So much is made matter of duty by the intervention of Authority : and though the Church hath made no more prescriptions in this , & God hath made none at all ; yet he who keeps the Day most strictly , most religiously , he keeps it best , and most consonant to the design of the Church , and the ends of Religion , and the opportunity of the present leisure , and the interests of his Soul. The acts of Religion proper for the Day are Prayers and publick Liturgies , Preaching , Catechizing , acts of Charity , Visiting sick persons , acts of Eucharist to God , of Hospitality to our poor neighbours , of friendliness and civility to all , reconciling differences ; and after the publick Assemblies are dissolved , any act of direct Religion to God , or of ease and remission to Servants , or whatsoever else is good in Manners , or in Piety , or in Mercy . What is said of this great Feast of the Christians is to be understood to have a greater 〈◊〉 and obligation in the Anniversary of the Resurrection , of the Ascension ; of the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour , and of the descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost . And all days festival to the honour of God in remembrance of the holy Apostles , and Martyrs , and departed Saints , as they are with prudence to be chosen and retained by the Church , so as not to be unnecessary , or burthensome , or useless ; so they are to be observed by us as instances of our love of the communion of Saints , and our thankfulness for the blessing , and the example . 26. Honour thy Father and thy Mother . This Commandment Christ made also to be Christian by his frequent repetition and mention of it in his Sermons and Laws , and so ordered it , that it should be the band of civil Government and Society . In the Decalogue God sets this Precept immediately after the duties that concern himself , our duty to Parents being in the consines with our duty to God , the Parents being in order of nature next to God , the cause of our being and production , and the great Almoners of Eternity , conveying to us the essences of reasonable Creatures , and the charities of Heaven . And when our Blessed Saviour in a Sermon to the 〈◊〉 spake of duty to Parents , he rescued it from the impediments of a vain tradition , and secured this Duty , though against a pretence of Religion towards God , telling us that God would not himself accept a gift which we took from our Parents needs . This duty to Parents is the very 〈◊〉 and band of Commonwealths . He that honours his Parents will also love his Brethren derived from the same loins , he will dearly account of all his relatives and persons of the same cognation ; and so Families are united , and 〈◊〉 them Cities and Societies are framed . And because Parents and Patriarchs of 〈◊〉 and of Nations had regal power , they who by any change 〈◊〉 in the care and government of Cities and Kingdomes succeeded in the power and authority of Fathers , and became so in estimate of Law and true Divinity to all their people . So that the Duty here commanded is due to all our Fathers in the sense of Scripture and Laws , not onely to our natural , but to our civil Fathers , that is , to Kings and Governours . And the Scripture adds Mothers , for they also , being instruments of the blessing , are the objects of the Duty . The duty is , Honour , that is , Reverence and Support , if they shall need it . And that which our Blessed Saviour calls not 〈◊〉 our Parents in S. Matthew , is called in S. Mark doing nothing for them ; and Honour is expounded by * S. Paul to be maintenance as well as reverence . Then we honour our Parents , if with great readiness we minister to their necessities , and communicate our estate , and attend them in sicknesses , and supply their wants , and , as much as lies in us , give them support , who gave us being . 27. Thou shalt do no Murther : so it was said to them of old time . He that kills shall be guilty of Judgment , that is , he is to die by the sentence of the Judge . To this Christ makes an appendix , But I say unto you , he that is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment . This addition of our Blessed Saviour , as all the other , which are severer explications of the Law than the Jews admitted , was directed against the vain and imperfect opinion of the Lawyers , who thought to be justified by their external works , supposing , if they were innocent in matter of fact , God would require no more of them than Man did , and what by custome or silence of the Laws was not punishable by the Judge , was harmless before God ; and this made them to trust in the letter , to neglect the duties of Repentance , to omit asking pardon for their secret irregularities , and the obliquities and aversations of their spirits ; and this S. Paul also complains of , that neglecting the righteousness of God , they sought to establish their own , that is , according to Man's judgment . But our Blessed Saviour tells them that such an innocence is not enough ; God requires more than conformity , and observation of the fact , and exteriour 〈◊〉 , placing Justice not in legal innocency , or not being condemned in judgment of the Law and humane judicature , but in the righteousness of the spirit also : for the first acquits us before man , but by this we shall be held upright in judgment before the Judge of all the world . And therefore besides abstinence from murther or actual wounds , Christ forbids all anger without cause against our Brother , that is , against any man. 28. By which not the first motions are forbidden , the twinklings of the eye , as the Philosophers call them , the pro-passions and sudden and irresistible alterations ; for it is impossible to prevent them , unless we could give our selves a new nature , any more than we can refuse to wink with our eye when a sudden blow is offered at it , or refuse to yawn when we see a yawning sleepy person : but by frequent and habitual mortification , and by continual watchfulness , and standing in readiness against all inadvertencies , we shall lessen the inclination , and account fewer sudden irreptions . A wise and meek person should not kindle at all , but after violent and great collision ; and then , if like a flint he sends a spark out , it must as soon be extinguished as it shews , and cool as soon as sparkle . But however , the sin is not in the natural disposition . But when we entertain it , though it be , as 〈◊〉 expresses it , cum voluntate non 〈◊〉 , without a determination of revenge , then it begins to be a sin . Every indignation against the person of the man , in us is pride and self-love , and towards others ungentleness , and an immorigerous spirit . Which is to be understood , when the cause is not sufficient , or when the anger continues longer , or is excessive in the degrees of its proportion . 29. The causes of allowable Anger are , when we see God dishonoured , or a sin committed , or any irregularity , or fault in matter of Government ; a fault against the laws of a family or good manners , disobedience or stubbornness ; which in all instances where they may be prudently judged such by the Governour , yet possibly they are not all direct sins against God and Religion . In such cases we may be angry . But then we may also sin , if we exceed in time , or measure of degree . 30. The proportion of time S. Paul expresses , by not letting the Sun set upon 〈◊〉 anger . Leontius Patricius was one day extremely and unreasonably angry with John the Patriarch of Alexandria ; at Evening the Patriarch sent a servant to him with this message , Sir , the Sun is set : upon which Patricius reflecting , and the grace of God making the impression deep , visible and permanent , he threw away his anger , and became wholly subject to the counsel and ghostly aids of the Patriarch . This limit S. Paul borrowed from the Psalmist : for that which in the fourth Psalm verse 5. we read , Stand in awe , and sin not , the Septuagint reads , Be angry , but sin not . And this measure is taken from the analogy of the Law of the Jews , that a malefactor should not hang upon the accursed tree after the Sun was set : and if the Laws laid down their just anger against Malefactors as soon as the Sun descended , and took off his beams from beholding the example ; much more is it reasonable that a private anger , which is not warranted by authority , not measured by laws , not examined by solemnities of Justice , not made reasonable by considering the degree of the causes , not made charitable by intending the publick good , not secured from injuriousness by being disinterest , and such an anger in which the party is judge and witness and executioner ; it is ( I say ) but reason such an anger should unyoke and go to bed with the Sun , since Justice and Authority laid by the Rods and Axes as soon as the Sun unteamed his chariot . Plutarch reports that the Pythagoreans were strict observers of the very letter of this caution : For if Anger had boiled up to the height of injury or reproach , before Sun set they would shake hands , salute each other , and depart friends : for they were ashamed that the same anger which had disturbed the counsels of the day should also trouble the quiet and dreams of the night , lest anger by mingling with their rest and nightly fancies should grow natural and habitual . Well , anger must last no longer ; but neither may a Christian's anger last so long ; for if his anger last a whole day , it will certainly before night sour into a crime . A man's anger is like the Spleen , at the first it is natural , but in its excess and distemper it swells into a disease : and therefore although to be angry at the presence of certain objects is natural , and therefore is indifferent , because he that is an essential enemy to sin never made sin essential to a man ; yet unless it be also transient and pass off at the command of Reason and Religion , it quickly becomes criminal . The meaning is , that it be no more but a transient Passion , not permanent at all ; but that the anger against the man pass into indignation against the crime , and pity of the person , till the pity grows up into endeavours to help him . For an angry , violent and disturbed man is like that white Bramble of Judaea , of which Josephus reports , that it is set on 〈◊〉 by impetuous winds , & consumes it self , and burns the neighbour-plants : and the * evil effects of a violent and passionate Anger are so great , so dangerous , so known to all the world , that the very consideration of them is the best argument in the world to dispute against it ; Families and Kingdomes have suffered horrid calamities ; and whatsoever is violent in art or nature hath been made the instrument of sadness in the hands of Anger . 31. The measure of the degree is to be estimated by humane prudence , that it exceed not the value of the cause , nor the proportion of other circumstances , and that it cause no eruption into indiscretions or undecencies . For therefore Moses's anger , though for God and Religion , was reproved , because it went forth into a violent and troubled expression , and shewed the degree to be inordinate . For it is in this passion as in Lightning , which , if it only breaks the cloud and makes a noise , shews a tempest and disturbance in nature , but the hurt is none ; but if it seises upon a man , or dwells upon a house , or breaks a tree , it becomes a judgment and a curse . And as the one is a mischief in chance and accident , so the other is in morality and choice : if it passes from passion into action , from a transient violence to a permanent injury , if it abides , it scorches the garment or burns the body ; and there is no way to make it innocent , but to remove and extinguish it , and , while it remains , to tie the hands , and pare the nails , and muzzle it , that it may neither scratch , nor bite , nor talk . An anger in God's cause may become unhallowed , if it sees the Sun rise and set : and an anger in the cause of a man is innocent according to the degrees of its suddenness and discontinuance ; for by its quickness and volatile motion it shews that it was 1. unavoidable in its production , or 2. that it was 〈◊〉 in the event , or 3. quickly suppressed : according to which several cases Anger is either 1. natural , or 2. excusable , or 3. the matter of a vertue . 32. The Vulgar 〈◊〉 Bible in this Precept of our Blessed Saviour reads not the appendix , without a cause , but indefinitely , he that is angry with his Brother ; and S. 〈◊〉 affirms that the clause without a cause is not to be found in the true Greek copies : upon supposition of which , because it is not to be imagined that all Anger in 〈◊〉 causes and in all degrees is simply unlawful , and S. Paul distinguishes being angry from committing a sin , Be angry , but sin not , these words are left to signifie such an anger as is the crime of Homicide in the heart , like the secret Lusting called by Christ Adultery in the heart ; and so here is forbidden not only the outward act , but the inward inclinations to 〈◊〉 , that is , * an Anger with deliberation and purpose of revenge , this being explicative and additional to the Precept forbidding Murther : which also our Blessed Saviour seems to have intended , by threatning the same penalty to this anger or spiritual Homicide which the Law inflicted upon the actual and external , that is , judgment or condemnation . And because this prohibition of Anger is an explication and more severe commentary upon the Sixth Commandment , it is more than probable that this Anger , to which condemnation is threatned , is such an Anger as hath entertained something of mischief in the spirit . And this agrees well enough with the former interpretation , save that it affirms no degree of anger to be criminal as to the height of condemnation , unless it be with a thought of violence or desires of revenge ; the other degrees receiving their heightnings and declensions as they keep their distance or approach to this . And besides , by not limiting or giving caution concerning the cause , it restrains the malice only or the degree , but it permits other causes of anger to be innocent besides those spiritual and moral , of the interests of God's glory and Religion . But this is also true , which soever of the readings be retained . For the irascible faculty having in nature an object proper to its constitution and natural design , if our anger be commenced upon an object naturally troublesome , the anger is very natural , and no-where said to be irregular . And he who is angry with a servant's unwariness or inadvertency , or the remisness of a child's spirit and application to his studies , or on any sudden displeasure , is not in any sense guilty of prevaricating the Sixth Commandment , unless besides the object he adds an inequality of degree , or unhandsome circumstance , or adjunct . And possibly it is not in the nature of man to be strict in discipline , if the prohibitions of Anger be confined only to causes of Religion ; and it were hard that such an Anger which is innocent in all effects , and a good instrument of Government , should become criminal and damnable ; because some instances of displeasure are in actions not certainly and apparently sinful . So that our Blessed Saviour forbidding us to be angry without a cause , means such causes which are not only irregularities in Religion , but 〈◊〉 in manners ; and an Anger may be religious , and political , and oeconomical , according as it meets with objects proper to it in several kinds . It is sometimes necessary that a man carry a tempest in his face and a rod in his hand ; but for ever let him have a smooth mind , or at least under command , and within the limits of Reason and Religion , that he may steer securely , and avoid the rocks of sin : for then he may reprove a friend that did amiss , or chastise an offending son , or correct a vicious servant . The summe is this : There are no other bounds to hallow or to allow and legitimate Anger but that , 1. The cause be Religion , or matter of Government : 2. That the degree of the Anger in prudent accounts be no bigger than the cause : 3. That if it goes forth , it be not expressed in any action of uncharitableness , or unseasonable violence : 4. Whether it goes forth or abides at home , it must not dwell long any-where ; nor abide in the form of a burning coal , but at the most of a thin flame , thence passing into air salutary and gentle , fit to breath , but not to blast . There is this onely nicety to be observed : That although an Anger arising for Religion , or in the matter of 〈◊〉 , cannot innocently abide long ; yet it may abide till it hath passed forth into its proper and temperate expression , whether of reprehension or chastisement , and then it must sit down . But if the Anger arises from another cause , ( provided it be of it self innocent , not sinful in the object or cause ) the passion in its first spring is also innocent , because it is 〈◊〉 , and on the sudden unavoidable : but this must be suppressed within , and is not permitted to express it self at all : for in that degree in which it goes out of the mouth , or through the eyes , or from the hand , in that degree it is violent , ought to be corrected and restrained ; for so that passion was intended to be turned into vertue . For this passion is like its natural parent or instrument : And if Choler keeps in its proper seat , it is an instrument of digestion ; but if it goes forth into the stranger regions of the body , it makes a Fever : and this Anger which commences upon natural causes , though so far as it is natural it must needs be innocent , yet when any consent of the will comes to it , or that it goes forth in any action or voluntary signification , it also becomes criminal . Such an Anger is only permitted to be born and die ; but it must never take nourishment , or exercise any act of life . 33. But if that prohibition be 〈◊〉 , then it is certain the analogy of the Commandment , of which this is an explication , refers it to Revenge or Malice : it is an Anger that is Wrath , an Anger of Revenge or Injury , which is here prohibited . And I add this consideration , That since it is certain that Christ intended this for an explication of the prohibition of Homicide , the clause of [ * without cause ] seems less natural and proper . For it would intimate , that though anger of Revenge is forbidden when it is rash and unreasonable ; yet that there might be a cause of being angry with a purpose of revenge and recompence , and that in such a case it is permitted to them to whom in all other it is denied , that is , to private persons ; which is against the meekness and charity of the Gospel . More reasonable it is , that as no man might kill his Brother in Moses's Law by his own private authority ; so an Anger is here forbidden , such an Anger which no qualification can permit to private persons , that is , an Anger with purposes of Revenge . 34. But Christ adds , that a farther degree of this sin is , when our Anger breaks out in contumelies and ill language , and receives its increment according to the degree and injury of the reproach . There is a Homicide in the tongue as well as in the heart ; and he that kills a mans * reputation by calumnies , or slander , or open reviling , hath broken this Commandment . But this is not to be understood so , but that persons in authority or friends may reprehend a vicious person in language proper to his crime , or expressive of his malice or iniquity . Christ called Herod Fox : and although S. Michael brought not a railing accusation against Satan , yet the Scripture calls him an Accuser , and Christ calls him the Father of lies , and S. Peter , a devourer and a roaring Lion ; and S. John calls Diotrephes a lover of pre-eminence , or ambitious . But that which is here forbidden , is not a representing the crimes of the man for his emendation , or any other charitable or religious end , but a reviling him to do him mischief , to murther his reputation : which also shews , that whatever is here forbidden is in some sense or other accounted Homicide ; the Anger in order to reproach , and both in order to murther , subject to the same punishment , because forbidden in the same period of the Law ; save only that , according to the degrees of the sin , Christ proportions several degrees of punishment in the other world , which he apportions to the degrees of death which had ever been among the Jews , viz. the Sword , & Stoning to death , which were punishments legal and judicial , and the Burning infants in the Valley of Hinnom , which was a barbarous and superstitious custome used formerly by their Fathers in imitation of the Phoenician accursed rites . 35. The remedies against Anger , which are prescribed by Masters of spiritual life , are partly taken from rules of Prudence , partly from Piety and more precise rules of Religion . In Prudence , 1. Do not easily entertain , or at all encourage , or willingly hear , or promptly believe Tale-bearers and reporters of other mens faults : for oftentimes we are set on fire by an ignis 〈◊〉 , a false flame , and an empty story . 2. Live with peaceable people , if thou canst . 3. Be not inquisitive into the misdemeanours of others , or the reports which are made of you . 4. Find out reasons of excuse to alleviate and lessen the ignorances of a friend , or carelesnesses of a servant . 5. Observe what object is aptest to inflame thee , and by special arts of fortification stop up the avenues to that part : If Losses , if Contempt , if Incivilities , if Slander , still make it the greatest part of your imployment to subdue the impotency of that Passion that is more apt to raise tempests . 6. Extirpate petty curiosities of Apparel , Lodging , Diet , and learn to be indifferent in circumstances ; and if you be apt to be transported with such little things , do some great thing that shall cut off their frequent intervening . 7. Do not multiply secular cares , and troublesome negotiations which have variety of conversation with several humours of men and accidents of things ; but frame to thy self a life simple as thou canst , and free from all affectations . 8. Sweeten thy temper and allay the violence of thy spirit with some convenient , natural , temperate and medicinal solaces ; for some dispositions we have seen inflamed into Anger , and often assaulted by Peevishness , through immoderate fasting and inconvenient austerities . 9. A gentle answer is an excellent Remora to the progresses of Anger , whether in thy self or others . For Anger is like the waves of a troubled sea ; when it is corrected with a soft reply , as with a little strand , it retires , and leaves nothing behind it but froth and shells , no permanent mischief . 10. ( (a) ) Silence is an excellent art : and that was the advice which S. Isaac , an old religious person in the Primitive Church , is reported to have followed , to suppress his Anger within his breast , and use what means he could there to strangle it ; but never permitting it to go forth in language : Anger and Lust being like fire , which if you enclose , suffering it to have no emission , it perishes and dies ; but give it the smallest vent , and it rages to a consumption of all it reaches . And this advice is coincident with the general rule which is prescribed in all temptations , that Anger be suppressed in its cradle and first ( (b) assaults . 11. Lastly , let every man be careful that in his Repentance , or in his Zeal , or his Religion , he be as dispassionate and free from Anger as is possible ; lest Anger pass upon him in a reflex act , which was rejected in the direct . Some mortifiers in their contestation against Anger , or any evil or troublesome principle , are like Criers of Assizes , who calling for silence make the greatest noise ; they are extremely angry when they are fighting against the habit or violent inclinations to Anger . 36. But in the way of more strict Religion it is advised , that he who would cure his Anger should pray often . It is S. Austin's counsel to the Bishop Auxilius , that , like the Apostles in a storm , we should awaken Christ , and call to him for aid , lest we shipwreck in so violent 〈◊〉 and impetuous disturbances . 2. Propound to thy self the example of Meek and Patient persons ; remembring always that there is a family of Meek Saints , of which Moses is the Precedent ; a family of Patient Saints , under the conduct of Job : every one in the mountain of the Lord shall be gathered to his own Tribe , to his own Family , in the great day of Jubilee : and the Angry shall perish with the effects of Anger ; and peevish persons shall be vexed with the disquietness of an eternal worm and sting of a vexatious Conscience , if they suffer here the transportations and saddest effects of an unmortified , habitual and prevailing anger . 3. Above all things endeavour to be humble , to think of thy self as thou deservest , that is , meanly and unworthily ; and in reason it is to be presumed thou wilt be more patient of wrong , quiet under affronts and injuries , susceptive of inconveniences , and apt to entertain all adversities , as instruments of Humiliation . deleteries of Vice , corrections of undecent Passions , and instruments of Vertue . 4. All the Reason , and all the Relations , and all the Necessities of mankind are daily arguments against the violences and inordinations of Anger . For he that would not have his Reason confounded , or his discourse useless , or his family be a den of Lions ; he that would not have his Marriage a daily duel , or his Society troublesome , or his Friendship formidable , or his Feasts bitter ; he that delights not to have his Discipline cruel , or his Government tyrannical , or his Disputations violent , or his Civilities unmannerly , or his Charity be a rudeness , or himself brutish as a Bear , or peevish as a Fly , or miserable upon every accident and in all the changes of his life , must mortifie his Anger . For it concerns us as much as Peace , and Wisdome , and Nobleness , and Charity , and Felicity are worth , to be at peace in our breasts , and to be pleased with all God's Providence , and to be in charity with every thing , and with every man. 37. Thou shalt not commit Adultery . These two Commandments are immediate to each other , and of the greatest cognation : for Anger and Lust work upon one subject ; and the same fervours of bloud which make men revengeful , will also make men unchast . But the prohibition is repeated in the words of the old Commandment ; so it was said to them of old : which was not only a prohibition of the violation of the rights of Marriage , but was even among the Jews extended to signifie all mixture of sexes not matrimonial . For Adultery in Scripture is sometimes used to signifie Fornication , and Fornication for Adultery ; as it is expressed in the permissions of Divorce in the case of Fornication : and by Moses's Law Fornication also was forbidden , and it was hated also and reproved in the natural . But it is very probable that this Precept was restrained only to the instance of Adultery in the proper sense , that is , violation of Marriage ; for Moses did in other annexes of the Law forbid Fornication . And as a blow or wound was not esteemed in Moses's Law a breach of the sixth Commandment ; so neither was any thing but Adultery esteemed a violation of the seventh by very many of their own Doctors : of which I reckon this a sufficient probation , because they permitted stranger Virgins and Captives to fornicate ; only they believed it sinful in the Hebrew Maidens . And when two Harlots pleaded before Solomon for the Bastard-child , he gave sentence of their question , but nothing of their crime . * Strangers with the Hebrews signified many times Harlots , because they were permitted to be such , and were entertained to such purposes . But these were the licences of a looser interpretation ; God having to all Nations given sufficient testimony of his detestation of all Concubinate not hallowed by Marriage : of which among the Nations there was abundant testimony , in that the Harlots were not permitted to abide in the Cities , and wore veils in testimony of their shame and habitual undecencies ; which we observe * in the story of Thamar , and also in Chrysippus . And although it passed without punishment , yet never without shame , and a note of turpitude . And the abstinence from Fornication was one of the Precepts of Noah , to which the Jews obliged the stranger-Proselytes , who were only Proselytes of the House : and the Apostles inforce it upon the Gentiles in their first Decree at Jerusalem , as renewing an old stock of Precepts and obligations in which all the converted & religious Gentiles did communicate with the Jews . 38. To this Christ added , that the Eyes must not be adulterous ; his Disciples must not only abstain from the act of unlawful Concubinate , but from the impurer intuition of a wife of another man : so according to the design of his whole Sermon opposing the Righteousness of the Spirit to that of the Law , or of Works , in which the Jews confided . Christians must have chast desires , not indulging to themselves a liberty of looser thoughts ; keeping the threshold of their Temples pure , that the Holy Ghost may observe nothing unclean in the entry of his habitation . For he that lusts after a woman , wants nothingto the consummation of the act but some convenient circumstances ; which because they are not in our power the act is impeded , but nothing of the malice abated . But so severe in this was our Blessed Master , that he commanded us rather to put our eyes out than to suffer them to become an offence to us , that is , an inlet of sin , or an invitation or transmission of impurity : by putting our eye out meaning the extinction of all incentives of Lust , the rejection of all opportunities and occasions , the quitting all conditions of advantage which ministers fuel to this Hell-fire . And by this severity we must understand all beginnings , temptations , likenesses , and insinuations and minutes 〈◊〉 Lust and impurity to be forbidden to Christians ; such as are all morose delectations in vanity , wanton words , gestures , Balls , revellings , wanton diet , garish and lascivious dressings and trimmings of the body , looser Banquetings : all making provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it , all lust of Concupiscence , and all lust of the eye , and all lust of the hand , unclean contracts , are to be rescinded , all lust of the tongue and palate , all surfeiting and drunkenness : for it is impossible to keep the spirit pure , if it be exposed to all the entertainment of enemies . And if Christ forbad the wanton eye , and placed it under the prohibition of Adultery ; it is certain , whatsoever ministers to that Vice , and invites to it , is within the same restraint ; it is the eye , or the hand , or the foot , that is to be cut off . To this Commandment Fastings and severe Abstinences are apt to be reduced , as being the proper abscission of the instruments and temptations of Lust , to which Christ invites by the mixt proposition of threatning and reward ; for better it is to go to Heaven with but one eye or one foot , that is , with a body half nourished , than with full meals and an active Lust to enter into Hell. And in this our Blessed Lord is a Physician rather than a Law-giver : for abstinence from all impure Concubinate , and morose delectations so much as in thought , being the Commandment of God ; that Christ bids us retrench the occasions and insinuations of Lust , it is a facilitating the duty , not a new severity , but a security and caution of prudence . 39. Thou shalt not steal . To this Precept Christ added nothing ; because God had already in the Decalogue 〈◊〉 this Precept with a restraint upon the * desires . ( (a) ) For the Tenth Commandment sorbids all coveting of our Neighbour's goods : for the Wife there reckoned , and forbidden to be desired from another man , is not a restraint of Libidinous appetite , but of the Covetous ; it being accounted part of wealth to have a numerous family , many wives and many servants : and this also God by the Prophet Nathan upbraided to David , as an instance of David's wealth and God's liberality . But yet this Commandment Christ adopted into his Law , it being prohibited by the natural Law , or the Law of right Reason , Commonwealths not being able to subsist without distinction of Dominion , nor industry to be encouraged but by propriety , nor Families to be maintained but by defence of just rights and truly-purchased Possessions . And this Prohibition extends to all injustice , whether done by force or fraud ; whether it be by ablation , or prevention , or detaining of rights ; any thing in which injury is done directly or obliquely to our Neighbour's fortune . 40. Thou shalt not bear false witness . That is , Thou shalt not answer in judgment against thy Neighbour falsely : which testimony in the Law was given solemnly and by Oath , invoking the Name of God. 〈◊〉 adjure thee by God that thou tell us whether thou be the CHRIST , said the High Priest to the Blessed Jesus , that is , speak upon thy Oath ; and then he told them fully , though they made it the pretence of murthering him , and he knew they would do so . Confessing and witnessing truth is giving glory to God : but false witness is high injustice , it is inhumanity and treason against the quietness , or life , or possession of a just person ; it is in it self irregular and unreasonable , and therefore is so forbidden to Christians , not only as it is unjust , but as it is false . For a Lie in communication and private converse is also forbidden as well as unjust testimony ; ( (a) Let every man speak truth with his Neighbour , that is , in private society : and whether a Lie be in * jest or earnest , when the purpose is to deceive and abuse , though in the smallest instance , it is in that degree criminal as it is injurious . I find not the same affirmed in every deception of our Neighbours , wherein no man is injured , and some are benefited ; the errour of the affirmation being nothing but a natural irregularity , nothing malicious , but very charitable . I find no severity superadded by Christ to this Commandment prohibiting such discourse which , without injury to any man , deceives a man into Piety or safety . But this is to be extended no farther : In all things else we must be severe in our discourses , and neither lie in a great matter nor a small , for the custom thereof is not good , saith the son of Sirach . I could add concerning this Precept , That Christ having left it in that condition he found it in the Decalogue , without any change or alteration of circumstance , we are commanded to give true testimony in Judgment ; which because it was under an Oath , there lies upon us no prohibition , but a severity of injunction to swear truth in Judgment when we are required . The securing of Testimonies was by the sanctity of an Oath , and this remains unaltered in Christianity . 41. Thou shalt not covet . This Commandment we find no-where repeated in the Gospel by our Blessed Saviour ; but it is inserted in the repetition of the Second Table , which S. Paul mentioned to the Romans : for it was so abundantly expressed in the inclosures of other Precepts , and the whole design of Christ's Doctrine , that it was less needful specially to express that which is every-where affixed to many Precepts Evangelical . Particularly it is inherent in the first Beatitude , Blessed are the poor in spirit ; and it means , that we should not wish our Neighbour's goods with a deliberate entertained desire , but that upon the commencement of the motion it be disbanded instantly : for he that does not at the first address and 〈◊〉 of the passion suppress it , he hath given it that entertainment which in every period of staying is a degree of morose delectation in the appetite . And to this I find not Christ added any thing , for the Law it self , forbidding to entertain the desire , hath commanded the instant and present suppression ; they are the same thing , and cannot reasonably be distinguished . Now that Christ in the instance of Adultery hath commanded to abstain also from occasions and accesses towards the Lust , in this hath not the same severity ; because the vice of Covetousness is not such a wild-fire as Lust is , not inflamed by contact , and neighbourhood of all things in the world : every thing may be instrumental to libidinous desires , but to covetous appetites there are not temptations of so different natures . 42. Concerning the order of these Commandments it is not unusefully observed , that , if we account from the first to the last , they are of greatest perfection which are last described ; and he who is arrived to that severity and dominion of himself as not to desire his Neighbour's goods , is very far from actual injury , and so in proportion ; it being the least degree of Religion to confess but One God. But therefore Vices are to take their estimate in the contrary order : he that prevaricates the First Commandment is the greatest sinner in the world ; and the least is he that only covets without any actual injustice . And there is no variety or objection in this , unless it be altered by the accidental difference of degrees ; but in the kinds of sin the Rule is true : this onely , The Sixth and Seventh are otherwise in the Hebrew Bibles than ours , and in the Greek otherwise in Exodus than in Deuteronomy ; and by this rule it is a greater sin to commit Adultery than to Kill ; concerning which we have no certainty , save that S. Paul in one respect makes the sin of Uncleanness the greatest of any sin , whose scene lies in the body ; Every sin is without the body , but he that commits Fornication sins against his own body . The PRAYER . O Eternal Jesus , Wisdome of the Father , thou light of Jews and Gentiles , and the great Master of the world , who by thy holy Sermons and clearest revelations of the mysteries of thy Father's Kingdom didst invite all the world to great degrees of Justice , Purity and Sanctity , and instruct us all in a holy Institution , give us understanding of thy Laws ; that the light of thy celestial Doctrine illuminating our darknesses , and making bright all the recesses of our spirits and understandings , we may direct our feet , all the lower man , the affections of the inferiour appetite , to walk in the paths of thy Commandments . Dearest God , make us to live a life of Religion and Justice , of Love and Duty ; that we may adore thy Majesty , and reverence thy Name , and love thy Mercy , and admire thy infinite glories and perfections , and obey thy Precepts . Make us to love thee for thy self , and our neighbours for thee ; make us to be all Love and all Duty : that we may adorn the Gospel of thee our Lord , walking worthy of our Vocation ; that as thou hast called us to be thy Disciples , so we may walk therein , doing the work of faithful servants , and may receive the adoption of sons , and the gift of eternal glory , which thou hast reserved for all the Disciples of thy holy Institution . Make all the world obey thee as a Prophet ; that , being redeemed and purified by thee our High Priest , all may reign with thee our King in thy eternal Kingdom , O Eternal Jesus , Wisdom of thy Father . Amen . Of the Three additional Precepts which Christ superinduced , and made parts of the Christian Law. DISCOURSE XI . Of CHARITY , with its parts , Forgiving , Giving , not Judging . Of Forgiveness . PART I. 1. THE Holy Jesus coming to reconcile all the world to God , would reconcile all the parts of the world one with another , that they may rejoyce in their common band and their common Salvation . The first instance of Charity forbad to Christians all Revenge of Injuries ; which was a perfection and endearment of duty beyond what either most * of the old Philosophers , or the Laws of the Nations 〈◊〉 of Moses , ever practised or enjoyned . For Revenge was esteemed to unhallowed , unchristian natures as sweet as life , a satisfaction of injuries , and the onely cure of maladies and affronts . Onely , Laws of the wisest Commonwealths commanded that Revenge should be taken by the Judge ; a few cases being excepted , in which , by sentence of the Law , the injured person or his nearest Relative might be the Executioner of the Vengeance : as among the Jews in the case of Murther ; among the Romans , in the case of an Adulteress or a ravished daughter , the Father might kill the Adulteress or the Ravisher . In other things the Judge onely was to be the Avenger . But Christ commanded his Disciples , rather than to take revenge , to expose themselves to a second injury , rather offer the other cheek than be avenged for a blow on this ; For vengeance belongs to God , and he will retaliate : and to that wrath we must give place , saith S. Paul ; that is , in well-doing and evil suffering commit our selves to his righteous judgment , leaving room for his execution , who will certainly do it , if we snatch not the sword from his arm . 2. But some observe , that our Blessed Saviour instanced but in smaller injuries : He that bad us suffer a blow on the cheek , did not oblige us tamely to be sacrificed ; he that enjoyned us to put up the loss of our Coat and Cloak , did not signifie his pleasure to be that we should 〈◊〉 our Family to be turned out of doors , and our whole Estate aliened and cancelled , especially we being otherwise obliged to provide for them under the pain of the curse of Infidelity . And indeed there is much reason our defences may be extended , when the injuries are too great for our sufferance , or that our defence bring no greater damage to the other than we divert from our selves . But our Blessed Saviour's prohibition is instanced in such small particulars , which are no limitations of the general Precept , but particulars of common consideration . But I say unto you , resist not evil : so our English Testament reads it ; but the word signifies avenge not evil , and it binds us to this only , that we be not avengers of the wrong , but rather suffer twice , than once to be avenged . He that is struck on the face may run away , or may divert the blow , or bind the hand of his enemy ; and he whose Coat is snatched away may take it again , if without injury to the other he may do it . We are sometimes bound to resist evil : every clearing of our innocence , refuting of calumnies , quitting our selves of reproach , is a resisting evil ; but such which is hallowed to us by the example of our Lord himself and his Apostles . But this Precept is clearly expounded by S. Paul , Render not evil for evil , that is , be not revenged : You may either secure or restore your selves to the condition of your own possessions or fame , or preserve your life , provided that no evil be returned to him that offers the injury . For so sacred are the Laws of Christ , so holy and great is his Example , so much hath he endear'd us who were his enemies , and so frequently and severely hath he preached and enjoyned Forgiveness ; that he who knows not to forgive , knows not to be like a Christian , and a Disciple of so gentle a Master . 3. So that the smallness or greatness of the instance alters not the case in this duty : In the greatest matters we are permitted only to an innocent defence , in the smallest we may do so too : I may as well hold my coat fast as my gold , and I may as well hide my goods as run away , and that 's a defence ; and if my life be in danger , I must do no more but defend my 〈◊〉 . Save only that defence in case of life is of a larger signification than in case of goods . I may wound my enemy , if I cannot else be safe ; I may disarm him , or in any sence disable him , and this is extended even to a liberty to kill him , if my defence necessarily stands upon so hard conditions : for although I must not give him a wound for a wound , because that cannot cure me , but is certainly Revenge ; yet when my life cannot be otherwise safe than by killing him , I have used that liberty which Nature hath permitted me , and Christ hath not forbidden , who only interdicted Revenge , and for bad no desence which is charitable and necessary , and not blended with malice and anger . And it is as much Charity to preserve my self as him , when I fear to die . 4. But although we find this no-where forbidden , yet it is very consonant to the excellent mercy of the Gospel , and greatly laudable , if we chuse rather to lose our life ; in imitation of Christ , than save it by the loss of another's in pursuance of the permissions of Nature . When Nature only gives leave , and no Law-giver gives command to defend our lives , and the excellence of Christianity highly commends dying for our enemies , and propounds to our imitation the greatest Example that ever could be in the world ; it is a very great imperfection , if we chuse not rather to obey an insinuation of the Holy Jesus , than with greediness and appetite pursue the bare permissions of Nature . But in this we have no necessity . Only this is to be read with two cautions . 1. So long as the assaulted person is in actual danger , he must use all arts and subterfuges which his wit or danger can supply him with , as passive defence , flight , arts of diversion , entreaties , soft and gentle answers , or whatsoever is in its kind innocent , to prevent his sin and my danger ; that when he is forced to his last defence , it may be certain he hath nothing of Revenge mingled in so sad a remedy . 2. That this be not understood to be a permission to defend our lives against an angry and unjust Prince : for if my lawful Prince should attempt my life with rage , or with the abused solemnities of Law ; in the first case the Sacredness of his Person , in the second , the reverence and religion of Authority , are his defensatives , and immure him , and bind my hands , that I must not 〈◊〉 them up , but to Heaven , for my own defence and his pardon . 5. But the vain pretences of vainer persons have here made a Question where there is no seruple ; And if I may defend my Life with the sword , or with any thing which Nature and the Laws forbid not , why not also mine Honour , which is as dear as life , which makes my 〈◊〉 without contempt , useful to my friend , and comfortable to my self ? For to be reputed a Coward , a baffled person , and one that will take affronts , is to be miserable and scorned , and to invite all insolent persons to do me injuries . May I not be permitted to fight for mine Honour , and to wipe off the stains of my reputation ? Honour is as dear as life , and sometimes dearer . To this I have many things to say , For that which men in this question call Honour is nothing but a reputation amongst persons vain , unchristian in their deportment , empty and ignorant souls , who count that the standard of Honour which is the instrument of reprobation ; as if to be a Gentleman were to be no Christian. They that have built their Reputation upon such societies must take new estimates of it , according as the wine , or fancy , or custom , or some great fighting person shall determine it ; and whatsoever invites a quarrel is a rule of Honour . But then it is a sad consideration to remember , that it is accounted honour not to recede from any thing we have said or done : It is honour not to take the Lie , in the mean time it is not dishonourable to lie indeed , but to be told so ; and not to kill him that says it , and venture my life and his too , that is a forfeiture of reputation . A Mistresses's favour , an idle discourse , a jest , a jealousie , a health , a gayety , any thing must ingage two lives in hazard , and two Souls in ruine ; or else they are dishonoured . As if a Life , which is so dear to a man's self , which ought to be dear to others , which all Laws and wisePrinces and States have secured by the circumvallation of Laws and penalties , which nothing but Heaven can recompense for the loss of , which is the breath of God , which to preserve Christ died , the Son of God died , as if this were so contemptible a thing , that it must be ventured for satisfaction of a vicious person , or a vain custom , or such a folly which a wise and a severe person had rather die than be guilty of . Honour is from him that honours : now certainly God and the King are the fountains of Honour ; right Reason and Religion , the Scripture and the Laws , are the best rules of estimating Honour : and if we offer to account our Honours by the senseless and illiterate discourses of vain and vicious persons , our Honour can be no greater than the fountain from whence it is derivative ; and at this rate Harpaste , Seneca's Wive's fool , might have declared Thersites an honourable person , and every bold Gladiator in a Roman Theatre , or a fighting Rebel among the slaves of Sparta , or a Trouper of Spartacus his Guard , might have stood upon their Honour upon equal and as fair a challenge . Certainly there is no greater honour than to be like the Holy Jesus , and he is delectable in the eyes of God , and so are all his relatives and sollowers , by participation of his honour ; and nothing can be more honourable than to do wise and excellent actions , according to the account of Divine and 〈◊〉 Laws : and if either God or the King can derive Honour upon their subjects , then whatsoever is contrary to that which they honour must needs be base , dishonourable and inglorious . 6. But if we be troubled for fear of new and succeeding injuries , and will needs fight , and as much as lies in us kill our Brother to * prevent an injury , nothing can be more unworthy of a Christian , nothing can be more inhumane . 〈◊〉 , pleading in the Roman Senate in the behalf of the Rhodian Embassadors , who came to beg peace of the Commonwealth , which had entertained an anger and some thoughts of war against them , upon pretence that the Rhodians would war with them when they durst , discoursed severely and prudently against such unreasonable purposes . And the life of men and the interest of states is not like the trade of Fencers , whose lot is to conquer if they strike sirst , to die if they be prevented : Man's life is not established upon so unequal and unreasonable necessities , that either we must sirst do an injury , or else it is certain we must receive a mischief . God's providence and care in his government of the world is more vigilant and merciful , and he protects persons innocent and just in all cases , except when he means to make an injury the instrument of a grace , or a violent death to be the gate of glory . It was not ill answered of 〈◊〉 to King Polyphontes , who therefore killed his Brother , because he had entertained a purpose to have killed him ; You should only have done the same injury to him which he did to you ; you should still have had a purpose to kill him : for his injustice went no farther ; and it is hard to requite ill and uncertain purposes with actual Murther , especially when we are as much secured by the power of Laws , as the whole Commonwealth is in all its greatest interests . And therefore for Christians to kill a man to prevent being bastled or despised , is to use an extreme desperate remedy , infinitely painful and deadly , to prevent a little griping in the belly foreseen as possible to happen it may be three years after . But besides , this objection supposes a Disease almost as earnestly to be cured as this of the main Question ; for it represents a man keeping company with lewd and debauched persons , spending his time in vanity , drunken societies , or engaged in lust , or placing his 〈◊〉 amongst persons apt to do affronts and unworthy misdemeanours ; and indeed an affront , an injury , a blow , or a loud disgrace , is not the consequent of not sighting , but a punishment for engaging in loose , baser and vicious company . If the Gallants of the age would find an honest and a noble employment , or would be delicate in the choice of their friends and company , or would be severe in taking accounts of themselves and of their time , would live as becomes persons wise and innocent , that is , like Christians , they would soon perceive themselves removed far from injuries , and yet farther from trouble , when such levities of mischance or folly should intervene . But suppose a man affronted or disgraced , it is considerable whether the man deserved it or no. If he did , let him entertain it for his punishment , and use it for an instrument of correction and humility : If he did not , as an instance of fortitude and despite of lower things . But to venture lives to abolish a past-act is madness , unless in both those lives there was not good enough to be esteemed greater and of better value than the light affront had in it of misery and trouble . Certainly those persons are very unfortunate , in whose lives much more pleasure is not than there is mischief in a light blow , or a lighter affront , from a vain or an angry person . But suppose there were not , yet how can sighting or killing my adversary wipe off my aspersion , or take off my blow , or prove that I did not lie ? For it is but an ill argument to say , If I dare kill him , then I did not lie ; or if I dare fight , then he struck me not ; or if I dare venture damnation , then I am an honourable person . And yet farther , who gave me power over my own life , or over the life of another , that I shall venture my own , and offer to take his ? God and God's Vicegerent only are the Lords of lives ; who made us Judges , and Princes , or Gods ? and if we be not such , we are Murtherers and Villains . When Moses would have parted the Duellists that fought in Egypt , the injurious person asked him , Who made thee a judge or ruler over us ? Wilt thou kill me , as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday ? meaning , he had no power to kill , none to judge of life and death , unless he had been made a Ruler . Yea but flesh and bloud cannot endure a blow or a disgrace . Grant that too , but take this into the account , Flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. And yet besides this , those persons have but a tender stock of reason and wisdom and patience who have not discourse enough to make them bear an injury , which the Philosophy of the Gentiles , without the light of Christianity , taught them to tolerate with so much equanimity and dispassionate entertainment . That person is not a man who knows not how to suffer the inconvenience of an accident , and indiscretion of light persons ; or if he could not , yet certainly that is a mad impatience when a man , to remedy the pain of a drop of scalding water , shall drench himself in the liquid flames of pitch and a bituminous bath . 7. Truth is , to fight a Duel is a thing that all Kingdoms are bound to restrain with highest severity ; it is a consociation of many the worst acts that a person ordinarily can be guilty of ; it is want of Charity , of Justice , of Humility , of trust in God's providence ; it is therefore Pride , and Murther , and Injustice , and infinite Unreasonableness , and nothing of a Christian , nothing of excuse , nothing of honour in it , if God and wise men be admitted Judges of the Lists . And it would be considered , that every one that fights a Duell must reckon himself as dead or dying , ( for however any man flatters himself by saying he will not kill , if he could avoid it ; yet rather than be killed he will , and to the danger of being killed his own act exposes him : ) now is it a good posture for a man to die with a sword in his hand thrust at his Brother's breast with a purpose either explicit or implicit to have killed him ? Can a man die twice , that in case he miscarries and is damned for the first ill dying , he may mend his fault and die better the next time ? Can his vain , imaginary and phantastick shadow of Reputation make him recompence for the disgrace and confusion of face , and pains and horrors of Eternity ? Is there no such thing as forgiving injuries , nothing of the discipline of Jesus in our spirits ? are we called by the name of Christ , and have nothing in us but the spirit of Cain , and Nimrod , and Joab ? If neither Reason nor Religion can rule us , neither interest nor safety can determine us , neither life nor Eternity can move us , neither God nor wise men be sufficient Judges of Honour to us ; then our damnation is just , but it is heavy ; our fall is certain , but it is cheap , base , and inglorious . And let not the vanities or the Gallants of the world slight this friendly monition , rejecting it with a scorn , because it is talking like a Divine : it were no disparagement if they would do so too , and believe accordingly ; and they would find a better return of honour in the crowns of Eternity by talking like a Divine , than by dying like a fool ; by living in imitation and obedience to the laws of the Holy Jesus , than by perishing , or committing Murther , or by attempting it , or by venturing it , like a weak , impotent , passionate and brutish person . Upon this Chapter it is sometime asked , whether a Virgin may not kill a Ravisher to defend her Chastity . Concerning which as we have no special and distinct warrant , so there is in reason and analogy of the Gospel much for the negative . For since his act alone cannot make her criminal , and is no more than a wound in my body , or a civil or a natural inconvenience , it is unequal to take a life in exchange for a lesser injury , and it is worse that I take it my self . Some great examples we find in story , and their names are remembred in honour ; but we can make no judgement of them , but that their zeal was reproveable for its intemperance , though it had excellency in the matter of the Passion . 8. But if we may not secure our Honour , or be revenged for injuries by the sword , may we not crave the justice of the Law , and implore the vengeance of the Judge , who is appointed for vengeance against evil doers ? and the Judge being the King's Officer , and the King God's Vicegerent , it is no more than imploring God's hand ; and that is giving place to wrath , which S. Paul speaks of , that is , permitting all to the Divine Justice . To this I answer , That it is not lawful to go to Law for every occasion or slighter injury , because it is very distant from the mercies , forgiveness and gentleness of a Christian , to contest for Trifles ; * and it is certain that the injuries , or evil , or charges of trouble and expence , will be more vexatious and afflictive to the person contested , than a small instance of wrong is to the person injured . And it is a great intemperance of anger and impotence of spirit , a covetousness and impatience , to appeal to the Judge for determination concerning a lock of Camel's hair or a Goat's beard , I mean any thing that is less than the gravity of Laws or the solemnity of a Court , and that does not out-weigh the inconveniencies of a Suit. But this we are to consider in the expression of our Blessed Saviour , If a man will sue thee at the Law , and take thy Cloak , let him have thy Coat also . Which words are a particular instance in pursuit of the general Precept , Resist not , or avenge not , evil . The primitive Christians ( as it happens in the first fervours of a Discipline ) were sometimes severe in observation of the letter , not subtlely distinguishing Counsels from Precepts , but swallowing all the words of Christ without chewing or discrimination . They abstained from Tribunals , unless they were forced thither by persecutors ; but went not thither to repeat their goods . And if we consider Suits of Law as they are wrapp'd in circumstances of action and practice , with how many subtleties and arts they are managed , how pleadings are made mercenary , and that it will be hard to find right counsel that shall advise you to desist if your cause be wrong , ( and therefore there is great reason to distrust every Question , since , if it be never so wrong , we shall meet Advocates to encourage us and plead for it ) what danger of miscarriages , of uncharitableness , anger and animosities , what desires to prevail , what care and fearfulness of the event , what 〈◊〉 temptations do intervene , how many sins are secretly 〈◊〉 in our 〈◊〉 and actions ; if a Suit were of it self never so lawful , it would concern the duty of a Christian to avoid it , as he prays against temptations , and cuts off the opportunities of a sin . It is not lawful for a Christian to sue his brother at the Law , unless he can be patient if he loses , and charitable if he be wronged , and can 〈◊〉 his end without any mixture of Covetousness , or desires to prevail without Envy , or can believe himself wrong when his Judge says he is , or can submit to peace when his just cause is oppressed , and rejected and condemned , and without pain or regret can sit down by the loss of his right , and of his pains and his money . And if he can do all this , what need he go to Law ? He may with less trouble and less danger take the loss singly , and expect God's providence for reparation , than disentitle himself to that by his own srowardness , and take the loss when it comes loaden with many circumstances of trouble . 9. But however by accident it may become unlawful to go to Law in a just cause , or in any , yet by this Precept we are not 〈◊〉 . To go to Law for revenge we are simply 〈◊〉 , that is , to return evil for evil ; and therefore all those Suits which are for * vindictive sentences , not for reparative , are directly criminal . To follow a Thief to death for spoiling my goods is extremely unreasonable and uncharitable ; for as there is no proportion between my goods and his life , ( and therefore I demand it to his evil and injury ) so the putting him to death repairs not my estate : the first makes it in me to be unjust , the latter declares me malicious and revengeful . If I demand an eye for an eye , his eye extinguished will not enlighten mine ; and therefore to prosecute him to such purposes is to resist or render evil with evil , directly against Christ's Sermon . But if the postulation of sentence be in order only to restore my self , we find it permitted by S. Paul , who , when for the 〈◊〉 sake he forbad going to Law before unbelievers , and for the danger and temptation's sake , and the latent irregularity which is certainly appendent to ordinary Litigations , he is angry indefinitely with them that go to Law ; yet he adviseth that Christian Arbitrators be appointed for decision of emergent Questions . And therefore when the Supreme Authority hath appointed and regularly established an Arbitrator , the permission is the same . S. Paul is angry that among Christians there should be Suits , but it is therefore he is chiefly angry because Christians do wrong ; they who should rather suffer wrong , yet that they should do it , and defraud their brother , which in some sence enforces Suits , that 's it he highly blames . But when injustice is done , and a man is in a considerable degree defrauded , then it is permitted to him to repeat his own before Christian Arbitrators , whether chosen by private consent or publick authority ; for that circumstance makes no essential alteration in the Question : but then this must be done with as much simplicity and unmingled design as is possible , without any desire of rendring evil to the person of the offender , without arts of heightning the charge , without prolongation , devices , and arts of vexation , without anger and animosities ; and then although accidentally there is some appendent charge to the offending person , that is not accounted upon the stock of Revenge , because it was not designed , and is not desired , and is cared for to prevent it as much as may be , and therefore offer was made of private and unchargeable Arbitrators ; and this being refused , the charge and accidental evil , if it be less than the loss of my sufferance and injury , must be reckoned to the necessities of affairs , and put upon the stock of his injustice , and will not affix a guilt upon the actor . I say , this is true , when the actor hath used all means to accord it without charge , and when he is refused manages it with as little as he can , and when it is nothing of his desire , but something of his trouble , that he cannot have his own without the lesser accidental evil to the offender , and that the question is great and weighty in his proportion ; then a Suit of Law is of it self lawful . But then let it be remembred how many ways afterwards it may become unlawful , and I have no more to add in this Article but the saying of the son of Sirach , He that loves danger shall perish in it . And certainly he had need be an Angel that manages a Suit innocently ; and he that hath so excellent a spirit as with innocence to run through the 〈◊〉 temptations of a Law-suit , in all probability hath so much holiness as to suffer the injury , and so much prudence as to avoid the danger : and therefore nothing but a very great defalcation or ruine of a man's estate will from the beginning to the end justifie such a controversie . When the man is put to it so , that he cannot do some other duty without venturing in this , then the grace of God is sufficient for him ; but he that enters lightly shall walk dangerously , and a thousand to one but he will fall foully . It is utterly a fault among you , said S. Paul , because ye go to Law one with another . It is not always a crime , but ever a fault and an irregularity , a recession from Christian perfection , and an entertaining of a danger , which though we escape through , yet it was a fault to have entred into it , when we might have avoided it . And even then when it is lawful for us , it is not expedient : For so the Apostle summs up his reprehension concerning Christians going to Law , We must rather take wrong , rather suffer our selves to be defrauded ; and when we cannot bear the burthen of the loss , then indeed we are permitted to appeal to Christian Judges ; but then there are so many cautions to be observed , that it may be the remedy is worse than the disease . I only observe this one thing , that S. Paul permits it only in the instance of defraudation or matter of interest ; such as are defending of Widows and Orphans and Churches , which in estimation of Law are by way of fiction reckoned to be in pupillage and minority ; add also repeating our own interests , when our necessities , or the support of our family and relatives , requires it : for all these are cases of Charity or duty respectively . But besides the matter of defraudation , we find no instance expressed , nor any equality and parallel of reason to permit Christians in any case to go to Law ; because in other things the sentence is but vindictive , and cannot repair us ; and therefore demanding Justice is a rendring evil in the proper matter of Revenge . Concerning which I know no 〈◊〉 but in an action of Scandal and ill report . But because an innocent and an holy life will force light out of darkness , and Humility , and Patience , and waiting upon God will bring glory out of shame ; I suppose he who goes to Law to regain his credit attempts the cure by incompetent remedies : if the accusation be publick , the Law will call him to an account , and then he is upon his defence , and must acquit himself with meekness and sincerity ; but this allows not him to be the actor , for then it is rather a design of Revenge than a proper deletery of his disgrace , and purgative of the 〈◊〉 . For if the accusation can be proved , it was no calumny ; if it be not proved , the person is not always innocent , and to have been accused leaves something foul in his reputation : and therefore he that by Law makes it more publick propagates his own disgrace , and sends his shame farther than his innocence , and the crime will go whither his absolution shall not arrive . 10. If it be yet farther questioned , whether it be lawful to pray for a Revenge , or a Punishment upon the offender , ( I reckon them all one ; he that prays for punishment of him that did him personal injury cannot easily be supposed to separate the Punishment from his own Revenge ) I answer , that although God be the avenger of all our wrongs , yet it were fit for us to have the affections of brethren , not the designs and purposes of a Judge , but leave them to him to whom they are proper . When in the bitterness of soul an oppressed person curses sadly , and prays for vengeance , the calamity of the man and the violence of his enemy hasten a curse , and ascertain it . But whatever excuses the greatness of the Oppression may make I know not ; but the bitterness of the spirit , besides that it is pitiable as it is a passion , yet it is violent and less Christian as it is active and sends forth prayers . Woe is pronounced to them by whom the 〈◊〉 cometh ; yet we must beware of offences , because by them we are engaged in a sin : and he that prays for a Revenge hath a revengeful spirit , however it be restrained by Laws and exteriour tendernesses from acting such dire purposes . And he that prays for Revenge may indeed procure a Justice to be done upon the injurious person ; but oftentimes it happens then to fall on him when we least wish it , when we also have a conjunct interest in the others preservation and escape : God so punishing the first wrong , that we also may smart for our uncharitable wishes . For the ground of all this discourse is , that it is part of Christian Charity to forgive * injuries : which forgiveness of the injury , although it may reasonably enough stand with my fair and innocent requiring of my own , which goes no farther than a fair repetition ; yet in no case can it stand with the acting and desiring Revenge , which also in the formality of Revenge can have no pretence of Charity , because it is ineffective to my restitution . This Discourse concerns private persons ; whether it concern the Question of War , and how far , is not proper for this Consideration . Of Alms. PART II. 1. BUT Christian Charity hath its effect also in Benefits as well as Gentleness and innocence : Give to him that asketh , and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away . But when thou dost thine Alms , 〈◊〉 not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth . These are the Precepts of the Lord , for the substance and the manner of Alms , for the quantity and freeness of the donative , and the simplicity of him that gives ; to which add those other words of his , Sell your possessions , and give Alms. This Precept with its circumstances was intended as a defensative against Covetousness and Prodigality , and a suppletory to make up the wants , and to make even the breaches of mankind : In which we shall best understand our obligation , if we consider in what proportion we must give Alms , and to what persons , and in what manner . 2. First , For the Quantity , we shall best take an estimate of it , if we remember the portion which God allows to Christians , Having food and raiment , let us be content with it : and our Blessed Saviour at the latter end of this Sermon stirs us up to confidence in God , and not to doubt our provisions , by telling that God feeds the Ravens , and clothes the Lilies , and he will much rather do it to us , he will clothe us and feed us ; no more is in the promise , no more is in our need : and therefore whatsoever is beside our needs natural and personal , that is , proportioning our needs to the condition of our life , and exigence of our calling , and quality of our person , all that can be spared from what we modestly and temperately spend in our support , and the supply of our families , and other necessary incidents , all that is to be spent in Charity or Religion . He defrauds the poor of their right who detains from them beyond his own necessary , prudent , and convenient supplies , saith S. Hierom : and this is intended to be a retrenchment of all vain expences , costly feasts , rich cloaths , pompous retinue , and such 〈◊〉 of expence which of themselves serve no end of piety or just policy , but by wife and temperate persons are esteemed unnecessary , and without which the dignity and just value of the person may still be retained . Whatsoever is vainly spent was the portion of the poor ; whatsoever we lose in idle gaming , revelling , and wantonness of prodigality , was designed by Christ to refresh his own bowels , to fill the bellies of the poor ; whatsoever lies in our repository useless and superfluous , all that is the poor man's inheritance : and certainly there is not any greater baseness than to suffer a man to perish or be in extreme want of that which God gave me for him , and beyond my own needs . It is unthankfulness to God , it is unmercifulness to the poor , it is improvidence to our selves , it is unfaithfulness in the dispensation of the money of which God made him but the Steward , and his chest the Bank for the exchange and issuing it to the indigent . And he that is unmerciful and unjust is extremely unlike God. But in taking this estimate concerning our 〈◊〉 we are to 〈◊〉 according to the rules of prudence , not making determinations in grains and scruples , but in the greater actions and accountable proportions of our estates . And if any man seeing great necessities of indigent and calamitous persons shall give beyond his ability , he had the Philippians for his precedent , and he hath God ingaged for his payment , and a greater 〈◊〉 in Heaven for his reward . Only this ; as we are to provide for our selves , so also for our Family and the relatives of our charge and nearer endearments , not only with a provision of the present day's entertainment , but also for all nearer , probable , foreseen and expected events , such as are Portions for our Children , Dowries for Daughters : but this must not be extended to care and reservations for all possible and far-distant events ; but so much is to be permitted to the Divine Providence as our present duty gives leave . In which although a prudent guide and a sober reason are to make application to practice , yet the Rule in general is , That by so much we are to relieve the poor , as we can deduct from such a portion of good things as God permits us to use for our own support , and reasonable and temporal conveniencies of our person and condition ; ever remembring , that if we encrease in our Estate we also should encrease in Charity , that in this also may be verified what is written , He that had much had nothing over , and he that had little had no lack . There is in the quantity of these donatives some latitude ; but if we sow sparingly , or if we scatter plentifully , so we shall reap : Only we must be careful that no extreme necessity or biting want lies upon any poor man , whom we can relieve without bringing such a want upon our selves which is less than the permissions of fortune which the mercies of God have permitted to us , that is , food and raiment proper for us . Under food and raiment all the necessaries of our life are to be understood : Whatsoever is more than this is counsel and perfection ; for which a proportionable reward is deposited in the treasures of Eternity . 3. Secondly , If question be made concerning the Persons who are to be the object of our Alms , our rule is plain and easie ; for nothing is required in the person suscipient and capable of Alms , but that he be in misery and want , and unable to relieve himself . This last clause I insert in pursuance of that caution given to the Church of Thessalonica by S. Paul , If any one will not work , neither let him eat ; for we must be careful that our Charity , which is intended to minister to poor mens needs , do not minister to idleness and the love of beggery , and a wandring , useless , unprofitable life . But , abating this , there is no other consideration that can exempt any needy person from participation of your Charity ; not , though he be your Enemy ; ( for that is it which our Blessed Saviour means in the appendix of this Precept , Love your Enemies , that is , according to the exposition of the Apostle , If thine enemy hunger , 〈◊〉 him , if he thirst , give him drink ) not , though he be an Unbeliever ; not , though he be a vicious * person : provided only that the vice be such to which your relief ministers no fuel and adds no flame ; and if the mere necessities of his nature be supplied , it will be a fair security against the danger ; but if the vice be in the scene of the body , all freer comforts are to be denied him , because they are but incentives of sin and Angels of darkness . This I the rather insert , that the pride and supercilious austerities of some persons become not to them an instrument of excuse from ministring to needy persons , upon pretence their own sins brought them into that condition . For though the causes of our calamities are many times great secrets of Providence , yet suppose the poverty of the man was the effect of his Prodigality or other baseness , it matters not as to our duty how he came into it , but where he is ; lest we also be denied a visit in our sicknesses , and a comfort in our sorrow , or a counsel in our doubts , or aid in any distress , upon pretence that such sadness was procured by our sins : and ten to one but it was so . Do good to all , faith the Apostle , but especially to the family of faith ; for to them our Charity is most proper and proportioned : to all , viz. who are in need , and cannot relieve themselves ; in which number persons that can work are not to be accounted . So that if it be necessary to observe an order in our Charity , that is , when we cannot supply and suffice for all our opportunities of mercy , then let not the Brethren of our Lord go away ashamed ; and in other things observe the order and propriety of your own relations , and where there is otherwise no difference , the degree of the necessity is first to be considered . This also , if the necessity be 〈◊〉 and extreme , what-ever the man be , he is first to be relieved before the lesser necessities of the best persons or most holy poor . But the proper objects of our Charity are old persons , sick or impotent , laborious and poor Housekeepers , Widows and Orphans , people oppressed or persecuted for the cause of Righteousness , distressed Strangers , Captives and abused Slaves , prisoners of Debt . To these we must be liberal , whether they be holy or unholy , remembring that we are sons of that Father who makes the dew of Heaven to drop upon the dwellings of the righteous and the fields of sinners . 4. Thirdly , The Manner of giving Alms is an office of Christian prudence ; for in what instances we are to exemplifie our Charity we must be determined by our own powers , and others needs . The Scripture reckons entertaining strangers , visiting the sick , going to prisons , feeding and cloathing the hungry and naked : to which , by the exigence of the poor and the analogy of Charity , many other are to be added . The Holy Jesus in the very Precept instanced in lending money to them that need to borrow ; and he adds , looking for nothing again , that is , if they be unable to pay it . Forgiving Debts is a great instance of mercy , and a particular of excellent relief : but to imprison men for Debt , when it is certain they are not able to pay it , and by that prison will be far more disabled , is an uncharitableness next to the cruelties of salvages , and at infinite distance from the mercies of the Holy Jesus . Of not Judging . PART III. ANother instance of Charity our great Master inserted in this Sermon , [ not to judge our Brother : ] and this is a Charity so cheap and so reasonable , that it requires nothing of us but silence in our spirits . We may perform this duty at the charge of a negative ; if we meddle not with other mens affairs we shall do them no wrong , and purchase to our selves a peace , and be secured the rather from the 〈◊〉 sentence of a severer Judge . But this interdict forbids only such judging as is ungentle and uncharitable : in criminal causes let us find all the ways to alleviate the burthen of the man by just excuses , by extenuating or lessening accidents , by abatement of incident circumstances , by gentle sentences , and whatsoever can do relief to the person , that his spirit be not exasperated , that the crime be not the parent of impudence , that he be not insulted on , that he be invited to repentance , and by such sweetnesses he be led to his restitution . This also in questions of doubts obliges us to determine to the more favourable sence ; and we also do need the same mercies , and therefore should do well by our own rigour not to disintitle our selves to such possibilities and reserves of Charity . But it is foul and base , by detraction and iniquity to blast the reputation of an honourable action , and the fair name of vertue with a calumny . But this duty is also a part of the grace of Justice and of Humility , and by its relation and kindred to so many vertues is furnished with so many arguments of amability and endearment . The PRAYER . HOly and merciful Jesus , who art the great principle and the instrument of conveying to us the charity and mercies of Eternity , who didst love us when we were enemies , forgive us when we were debtors , recover us when we were dead , ransom us when we were slaves , relieve us when we were poor , and naked , and wandring , and full of sadness and necessities ; give us the grace of Charity , that we may be pitiful and compassionate of the needs of our necessitous Brethren , that we may be apt to relieve them , and that according to our duty and possibilities we may rescue them from their calamities . Give us courteous , affable , and liberal souls ; let us by thy example forgive our debtors , and love our enemies , and do to them offices of civility and tenderness and relief ; always propounding thee for our pattern , and thy mercies for our precedent , and thy Precepts for our rule , and thy Spirit for our guide : that we , shewing mercy here , may receive the mercies of Eternity by thy merits , and by thy charities , and dispensation , O Holy and merciful Jesus . Amen . DISCOURSE XII . Of the Second additional Precept of Christ , ( viz. ) Of PRAYER . Non magna loquimur sed vivimus . Cum clamore valido et lachrymas pr●ces offerens exauditus ●●● pro sua rererent●● 1. THE Soul of a Christian is the house of God , Ye are God's building , ( saith S. Paul ; ) but the house of God is the house of Prayer : and therefore Prayer is the work of the Soul , whose organs are intended for instruments of the Divine praises ; and when every stop and pause of those instruments is but the conclusion of a Collect , and every breathing is a Prayer , then the Body becomes a Temple , and the Soul is the Sanctuary , and more private recess , and place of entercourse . Prayer is the great duty , and the greatest priviledge of a Christian ; it is his entercourse with God , his Sanctuary in troubles , his remedy for sins , his cure of griefs , and , as S. Gregory calls it , it is the principal instrument whereby we minister to God in execution of the decrees of eternal Predestination ; and those things which God intends for us , we bring to our selves by the mediation of holy Prayers . Prayer is the * ascent of the mind to God , and a petitioning for such things as we need for our support and duty . It is an abstract and summary of Christian Religion . Prayer is an act of Religion and Dinine ‖ Worship , confessing his power and his mercy ; it celebrates his Attributes , and confesses his glories , and reveres his person , and implores his aid , and gives thanks for his blessings : it is an act of Humility , condescension , and dependence , expressed in the prostration of our bodies and humiliation of our spirits : it is an act of Charity when we pray for others ; it is an act of Repentance when it confesses and begs pardon for our sins , and exercises every Grace according to the design of the man , and the matter of the Prayer . So that there will be less need to amass arguments to invite us to this Duty ; every part is an excellence , and every end of it is a blessing , and every design is a motive , and every need is an impulsive to this holy office . Let us but remember how many needs we have , at how cheap a rate we may obtain their remedies , and yet how honourable the imployment is to go to God with confidence , and to fetch our supplies with easiness and joy ; and then , without farther preface , we may address our selves to the understanding of that Duty by which we imitate the imployment of Angels and beatified spirits , by which we ascènd to God in spirit while we remain on earth , and God descends on earth while he yet resides in Heaven , sitting there on the Throne of his Kingdom . 2. Our first enquiry must be concerning the Matter of our Prayers ; for our Desires are not to be the rule of our Prayers , unless Reason and Religion be the rule of our Desires . The old Heathens * prayed to their Gods for such things which they were ashamed to name publickly before men ; and these were their private prayers , which they durst not for their undecency or iniquity make publick . And indeed sometimes the best men ask of God Things not unlawful in themselves , yet very hurtful to them : and therefore , as by the Spirit of God and right Reason we are taught in general what is lawful to be asked ; so it is still to be submitted to God , when we have asked lawful things , to grant to us in kindness , or to deny us in mercy : after all the rules that can be given us , we not being able in many instances to judge for our selves , unless also we could certainly pronounce concerning future contingencies . But the Holy Ghost being now sent upon the Church , and the rule of Christ being left to his Church , together with his form of Prayer taught and prescribed to his Disciples , we have sufficient instruction for the matter of our Prayers so far as concerns the lawfulness or unlawfulness . And the rule is easie and of no variety . 1. For we are bound to pray for all things that concern our duty , all that we are bound to labour for ; such as are Glory and Grace , necessary assistances of the Spirit , and rewards spiritual , Heaven and Heavenly things . 2. Concerning those things which we may with safety hope for , but are not matter of duty to us , we may lawfully testifie our hope and express our desires by petition : but if in their particulars they are under no express promise , but only conveniencies of our life and person , it is only lawful to pray for them under condition , that they may conform to God's will and our duty , as they are good and placed in the best order of eternity . Therefore 1 for spiritual blessings let our Prayers be particularly importunate , perpetual and persevering : 2 For temporal blessings let them be generally * short , conditional and modest : 3 And whatsoever things are of mixt nature , more spiritual than Riches , and less necessary than Graces , such as are gifts and exteriour aids , we may for them as we may desire them , and as we may expect them , that is , with more confidence and less restraint than in the matter of temporal requests , but with more reservedness and less boldness of petition than when we pray for the graces of Sanctification . In the first case we are bound to pray : in the second , it is only lawful under certain conditions : in the third , it becomes to us an act of zeal , nobleness , and Christian prudence . But the matter of our Prayers is best taught us in the form our Lord taught his Disciples ; which because it is short , mysterious , and , like the treasures of the Spirit , full of wisdom and latent sences , it is not improper to draw forth those excellencies which are intended and signified by every Petition , that by so excellent an authority we may know what it is lawful to beg of God. 3. Our Father which art in Heaven . The address reminds us of many parts of our duty . If God be our Father , where is his fear , and reverence , and obedience ? If ye were Abraham's children , ye would do the works of Abraham ; and , Ye are of your father the Devil , for his works ye do . Let us not dare to call him Father , if we be rebels and enemies ; but if we be obedient , then we know he is our Father , and will give us a Child's portion , and the inheritance of Sons . But it is observable , that Christ here speaking concerning private Prayer , does describe it in a form of plural signification ; to tell us , that we are to draw into the communication of our prayers all those who are confederated in the common relation of Sons to the same Father . Which art in Heaven tells us * where our hopes and our hearts must be fixed , whither our desires and our prayers must tend . Sursum corda ; Where our treasure is , there must our hearts be also . 4. Hallowed be thy Name . That is , Let thy Name , thy Essence and glorious Attributes be honoured and adored in all the world , believed by Faith , loved by Charity , celebrated with praises , thanked with Eucharist ; and let thy Name be hallowed in us ; as it is in it self . Thy Name being called upon us , let us walk worthy of that calling ; that our light may shine before men , that they seeing our good works may glorifie thee our Father which art in heaven . In order also to the sanctification of thy Name grant that all our praises , hymns , Eucharistical remembrances and representments of thy glories may be useful , blessed and esfectual for the dispersing thy fame , and advancing thy honour over all the world . This is a direct and formal act of worshipping and adoration . The Name of God is representative of God himself , and it signifies , Be thou worshipped and adored , be thou thanked and celebrated with honour and Eucharist . 5. Thy Kingdom come . That is , As thou hast caused to be preached and published the coming of thy Kingdom , the peace and truth , the revelation and glories of the Gospel ; so let it come verily and esfectually to us and all the world ; that thou mayest truly reign in our spirits , exercising absolute dominion , subduing all thine Enemies , ruling in our Faculties , in the Understanding by Faith , in the Will by Charity , in the Passions by Mortification , in the Members by a chaste and right use of the parts . And as it was more particularly and in the letter proper at the beginning of Christ's Preaching , when he also taught the Prayer , that God would hasten the coming of the Gospel to all the world : so 〈◊〉 also and ever it will be in its proportion necessary and pious to pray that it may come still , making greater progress in the world , extending it self where yet it is not , and intending it where it is already ; that the Kingdom of Christ may not only be in us in name and form and honourable appellatives , but in effect and power . This Petition in the first Ages of Christianity was not expounded to signifie a prayer for Christ's second coming ; because the Gospel not being preached to all the world , they prayed for the delay of the day of Judgment , that Christ's Kingdom upon earth might have its proper increment : but since then every Age , as it is more forward in time , so it is more earnest in desire to accomplish the intermedial Prophecies , that the Kingdom of God the Father might come in glories infinite . And , indeed , the Kingdom of Grace being in order to the Kingdom of Glory , this , as it is principally to be desired , so may possibly be intended chiefly : which also is the more probable , because the address of this Prayer being to God the Father , it is proper to observe , that the Kingdom of Grace , or of the Gospel , is called the Kingdom of the * Son , and that of Glory in the style of the Scripture is the Kingdom of the Father . S. German , Patriarch of Constantinople , expounds it with some little difference , but not ill ; Thy Kingdom come , that is , Let thy Holy Spirit come into us ; for the Kingdom of Heaven is within us , saith the Holy Scripture : and so it intimates our desires that the promise of the Father , and the Prophecies of old , and the Holy Ghost the Comforter , may come upon us : Let that anointing from above descend upon us , whereby we may be anointed Kings and Priests in a spiritual Kingdom and Priesthood by a holy Chrism . 6. Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven . That is , The whole Oeconomy and dispensation of thy Providence be the guide of the world , and the measure of our desire ; that we be patient in all accidents , conformable to God's will both in doing and in suffering , submitting to changes , and even to persecutions , and doing all God's will : which because without God's aid we cannot do , therefore we beg it of him by prayer ; but by his aid we are 〈◊〉 we may do it in the manner of Angelical obedience , that is , promptly , readily , chearfully , and with all our faculties . Or thus : As the Angels in Heaven serve thee with harmony , concord and peace ; so let us all joyn in the service of thy Majesty with peace and purity , and love unfeigned : that as all the Angels are in peace , and amongst them there is no persecutor and none persecuted , there is none afflicting or afflicted , none assaulting or assaulted , but all in sweetness and peaceable serenity glorifying thee ; so let thy will be done on earth by all the world in peace and unity , in charity and tranquillity , that with one heart and one voice we may glorifie thee our universal Father , having in us nothing that may displease thee , having quitted all our own desires and pretensions , living in Angelick conformity , our Souls subject to thee , and our Passions to our Souls ; that in earth also thy will may be done as in the spirit and Soul , which is a portion of the heavenly substance . These three Petitions are addressed to God by way of adoration . In the first the Soul puts on the affections of a Child , and devests it self of its own interest , offering it self up wholly to the designs and glorifications of God. In the second it puts on the relation and duty of a Subject to her legitimate Prince , seeking the promotion of his Regal Interest . In the third she puts on the affection of a Spouse , loving the same love , and chusing the same object , and delighting in unions and conformities . The next part descends lower , and makes addresses to God in relation to our own necessities . 7. Give us this day our * daily bread . That is , Give unto us all that is necessary for the support of our lives , the bread of our necessity , so the Syriack Interpreter reads it ; This day give us the portion of bread which is day by day necessary . Give us the bread or support which we shall need all our lives ; only this day minister our present part . For we pray for the necessary bread or maintenance , which God knows we shall need all our days ; but that we be not careful for to morrow , we are taught to pray not that it be all at once represented or deposited , but that God would minister it as we need it , how he pleases : but our needs are to be the measure of our desires , our desires must not make our needs ; that we may be consident of the Divine Providence , and not at all covetous : for therefore God feeds his people with extemporary provisions , that by needing always they may learn to pray to him , and by being still supplied may learn to trust him for the future , and thank him for that is past , and rejoyce in the present . So God rained down Manna , giving them their daily portion ; and so all Fathers and Masters minister to their children and servants , giving them their proportion as they eat it , not the meat of a year at once ; and yet no child or servant fears want , if his Parent or Lord were good , and wise , and rich . And it is necessary for all to pray this Prayer : the Poor , because they want the bread , and have it not deposited but in the hands of God ; mercy ploughing the 〈◊〉 of Heaven ( as Job's expression is ) brings them corn ; and the caltel upon a thousand hills are God's , and they find the poor man meat : the Rich also need this Prayer , because although they have the bread , yet they need the blessing ; and what they have now may perish or be taken from them ; and as preservation is a perpetual creation , so the continuing to rich men what God hath already bestowed is a continual giving it . Young men must pray , because their needs are like to be the longer ; and Old men , because they are present : but all these are to pray but for the * present ; that which in estimation of Law is to be reckoned as imminent upon the present , and part of this state and condition . But it is great improvidence , and an unchristian spirit , for old men to heap up provisions , and load their sumpters still the more by how much their way is shorter . But there is also a bread which came down from heaven , a diviner nutriment of our Souls , the food and wine of Angels , Christ himself , as he communicates himself in the expresses of his Word and Sacraments : and if we be destitute of this bread , we are miserable and perishing people . We must pray that our Souls also may feed upon those celestial viands prepared for us in the antepasts of the Gospel , till the great and fuller meal of the Supper of the Lamb shall answer all our prayers , and 〈◊〉 every desire . 8. Forgive us our trespasses , as we forgive them that trespass against us . Not only those sins of infirmity , invasion , and sudden surprise , which , like excrescencies of luxuriant trees , adhere to many actions by inadvertency , and either natural weakness or accidental prejudice ; but also all those great sins which were washed off from our Souls , and the stain taken away in Baptism ; or when by choice and after the use of Reason we gave up our names to Christ , when we first received the adoption of sons : for even those things were so pardoned , that we must for ever confess and glory in the Divine mercy , and still ascertain it by performing what we then promised , and which were the conditions of our covenant . For although Christ hath taken off the guilt , yet still there remains the disreputation ; and S. Paul calls himself the chiefest of sinners , not referring to his present condition , but to his former persecuting the Church of God , which is one of the greatest crimes in the world , and for ever he asked pardon for it : and so must we , knowing that they may return ; if we shake off the yoke of Christ , and break his cords from us , the bands of the covenant Evangelical , the sins will return so as to undo us . And this we pray with a tacite obligation to forgive : for so only and upon that condition we beg pardon to be given or continued respectively ; that is , as we from our hearts forgive them that did us injury in any kind , never entertaining so much as a thought of revenge , but contrariwise loving them that did us wrong ; for so we beg that God should do to us : and therefore it is but a lesser revenge to say , I will forgive , but I will never have to do with him . For if he become an object of Charity , we must have to do with him to relieve him ; because he needs prayers , we must have to do with him and pray for him : and to refuse his society when it is reasonably and innocently offered , is to deny that to him which Christians have only been taught to deny to persons excommunicate , to persons under punishment , i. e. to persons not yet forgiven : and we shall have but an evil portion , if God should forgive our sins , and should not also love us , and do us grace , and bestow benefits upon us . So we must forgive others ; so God forgives us . 9. And lead us not into temptation . S. Cyprian , out of an old Latin copy , reads it , * Suffer us not to be led into temptation , that is , Suffer us not to be overcome by temptation . And therefore we are bound to prevent our access to such temptation whose very approximation is dangerous , and the contact is irregular and evil ; such as are temptations of the flesh : yet in other temptations the assault sometimes makes confident , and hardens a resolution . For some spirits , who are softned by fair usages , are steeled and emboldned by a persecution . But of what nature soever the temptations be , whether they be such whose approach a Christian is bound to fear , or such which are the certain lot of Christians , ( such are troubles and persecutions , into which when we enter we must count it joy ) yet we are to pray that we enter not into the possession of the temptation , that we be not overcome by it . 10. But deliver us from evil . From the assaults or violence of evil , from the Wicked one , who not only presents us with objects , but heightens our concupiscence , and makes us imaginative , phantastical and passionate , setting on the temptation , making the lust active , and the man full of appetite , and the appetite full of energy and power : therefore deliver us from the Evil one , who is interested as an enemy in every hostility and in every danger . Let not Satan have any power or advantage over us ; and let not evil men prevail upon us in our danger , much less to our ruine . Make us safe under the covering of thy wings against all fraud and every violence , that no temptation destroy our hopes , or break our strength , or alter our state , or overthrow our glories . In these last Petitions , which concern our selves , the Soul hath affections proper to her own needs ; as in the former proportion to God's glory . In the first of these , the affection of a poor , indigent , and necessitous Begger ; in the second , of a delinquent and penitent servant ; in the last , of a person in affliction or danger . And after all this the reason of our confidence is derived from God. 11. For thine is the kingdom , the power , and the glory , for ever . That is , These which we beg are for the honour of thy kingdom , for the manifestation of thy power , and the glory of thy Name and mercies : And it is an express Doxology or Adoration , which is apt and 〈◊〉 to conclude all our Prayers and addresses to God. 12. These are the generals and great Treasures of matter to which all our present or sudden needs are reducible ; and when we make our Prayers more minute and particular , if the instance be in matter of duty and merely spiritual , there is no danger : but when our needs are temporal , or we are transported with secular desires , all descending to particulars is a confining the Divine Providence , a judging for our selves , a begging a temptation oftentimes , sometimes a mischief : and to beg beyond the necessities of our life , is a mutiny against that Providence which assigns to Christians no more but food and raiment for their own use ; all other excrescencies of possessions being entrusted to the rich man's 〈◊〉 , only as to a steward , and he shall be accountable for the coat that lies by him , as the portion of moths , and for the shoes which are the spoils of mouldiness , and the contumely of plenty . Grant me , O Lord , not what I desire , but what is profitable for me . For sometimes we desire that which in the succeeding event of things will undo us . This rule is in all things that concern our selves . There is some little difference in the affairs and necessities of other men : for , provided we submit to the Divine Providence , and pray for good things for others only with a tacite condition , so far as they are good and profitable in order to the best ends , yet if we be particular , there is no covetousness in it ; there may be indiscretion in the particular , but in the general no fault , because it is a prayer and a design of Charity . For Kings and all that are in authority we may yet enlarge , and pray for a peaceable reign , true lieges , strong armies , victories and fair success in their just wars , health , long life , and riches , because they have a capacity which private persons have not ; and whatsoever is good for single persons , and whatsoever is apt for their uses as publick persons , all that we may and we must pray for , either particularly , for so we may , or in general significations , for so we must at least : that we may lead a godly , peaceable and quiet life , in all godliness and honesty ; that is S. Paul's rule , and the prescribed measure and purpose of such prayers . And in this instance of Kings , we may pray for defeating all the King's enemies , such as are truly such ; and we have no other restraint upon us in this , but that we keep our desires confined within the limits of the end we are commanded ; that is , so far to confound the King's enemies , that he may do his duty , and we do ours , and receive the blessing : ever as much as we can to distinguish the malice from the person . But if the enemies themselves will not also separate what our intentions distinguish , that is , if they will not return to their duty , then let the prayers operate as God pleases , we must be zealous for the end of the King's authority and peaceable government . By enemies I mean Rebels or Invaders , Tyrants and 〈◊〉 ; for in other Wars there are many other considerations not proper for this place . 13. The next consideration will be concerning the Manner ; I mean both the manner of our Persons , and the manner of our Prayers ; that is , with what conditions we ought to approach to God , and with what circumstances the Prayers may or ought to be performed . The Conditions to make our Prayers holy and certain to prevail are , 1. That we live good lives , endeavouring to conform by holy obedience to all the Divine Commandments . This condition is expresly recorded by S. John ; Beloved , if our hearts condemn us not , then have we confidence towards God , and whatsoever we ask of him we shall obtain : and S. James affirms that the effectual servent prayer of a righteous man availeth much : and our Blessed Saviour , limiting the confidence of our Prayers for Forgiveness to our Charity and forgiving others , plainly tells us , that the uncharitable and unrighteous person shall not be heard . And the blind man in the Gospel understood well what he said , Now we know that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man be a worshipper , and doth his will , him he heareth . And it was so decreed and resolved a point in the doctrine of their Religion , that it was a proverbial saying . And although this discourse of the blind man was of a restrained occasion , and signified , if Christ had been a false Prophet , God would not have attested his Sermons with the power of Miracles ; yet in general also he had been taught by David , If I regard iniquity in my heart , the Lord will not hear my prayer . And therefore when men pray in every place , ( for so they are commanded ) let them lift up pure hands , without anger and contention . And indeed although every sin entertained with a free choice and a full understanding is an obstruction to our Prayers ; yet the special sin of Uncharitableness makes the biggest cloud , and is in the proper matter of it an indisposition for us to receive mercy : for he who is softned with apprehension of his own needs of mercy , will be tender-hearted towards his brother ; and therefore he that hath no bowels here , can have no aptness there to receive or heartily to hope for mercy . But this rule is to be understood of persons who persevere in the habit and remanent affections of sin ; so long as they entertain sin with love , complacency and joy , they are in a state of enmity with God , and therefore in no fit disposition to receive pardon and the entertainment of friends : but penitent sinners and returning souls , loaden and grieved with their heavy pressures , are next to holy innocents , the aptest persons in the world to be heard in their Prayers for pardon ; but they are in no farther disposition to large favours , and more eminent charities . A sinner in the beginning of his Penance will be heard for himself , and yet also he needs the prayers of holy persons more signally than others ; for he hath but some very few degrees of dispositions to reconciliation : but in prayers of intercession or mediation for others , only holy and very pious persons are fit to be interested . All men as matter of duty must pray for all men : but in the great necessities of a Prince , of a Church , or Kingdom , or of a family , or of a great danger and calamity to a single person , only a Noah , a David , a Daniel , a 〈◊〉 , an Enoch or Job , are fit and proportioned advocates . God so requires Holiness in us that our Prayers may be accepted , that he entertains them in several degrees according to the degrees of our Sanctity ; to fewer or more purposes , according as we are little or great in the kingdom of Heaven . As for those irregular donations of good things which wicked persons ask for and have ; they are either no mercies , but instruments of cursing and crime ; or else they are designs of grace , intended to convince them of their unworthiness , and so , if they become not instruments of their Conversion , they are aggravations of their Ruine . 14. Secondly , The second condition I have already explained in the description of the Matter of our Prayers . For although we may lawfully ask for whatsoever we need , and this leave is consigned to us in those words of our Blessed Saviour , Your heavenly Father knoweth what you have need of : yet because God's Providence walks in the great deep , that is , his foot-steps are in the water , and leave no impression ; no former act of grace becomes a precedent that he will give us that in kind which then he saw convenient , and therefore gave us , and now he sees to be inconvenient , and therefore does deny . Therefore in all things , but what are matter of necessary and unmingled duty , we must send up our Prayers ; but humility , mortification and conformity to the Divine will must attend for an answer , and bring back not what the publick Embassy pretends , but what they have in private instructions to desire ; accounting that for the best satisfaction which God pleases , not what I have either unnecessarily , or vainly , or sinfully desired . 15. Thirdly , When our persons are disposed by Sanctity , and the matter of our Prayers is hallowed by prudence and religious intendments , then we are bound to entertain a full Perswasion and 〈◊〉 Hope that God will hear us . What things soever ye desire when ye pray , believe that ye receive them , and ye shall obtain them , said our Blessed Saviour : and S. James taught from that Oracle , If any of you lack wisdome , let him ask it of God : But let him ask in faith , nothing wavering ; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea , driven with the wind and tossed to and fro : Meaning , that when there is no fault in the matter of our Prayers , but that we ask things pleasing to God , and there is no indisposition and hostility in our persons and manners between God and us , then to doubt were to distrust God ; for all being right on our parts , if we doubt the issue , the defailance must be on that part , which to suspect were infinite impiety . But after we have done all we can , if , out of humility , and fear that we are not truly disposed , we doubt of the issue , it is a modesty which will not at all discommend our persons , nor impede the event ; provided we at no hand suspect either God's power or veracity . Putting trust in God is an excellent advantage to our Prayers ; I will deliver him , ( saith God ) because he hath put his trust in me . And yet distrusting our selves , and suspecting our own dispositions , as it pulls us back in our actual confidence of the event , so because it abates nothing of our confidence in God , it prepares us to receive the reward of humility , and not to lose the praise of a holy trusting in the Almighty . 16. These conditions are essential : some other there are which are incidents and accessories , but at no hand to be neglected . And the first is , actual or habitual attention to our Prayers , which we are to procure with moral and severe endeavours , that we desire not God to hear us when we do not hear our selves . To which purpose we must avoid , as much as our duty will permit us , multiplicity of cares and exteriour imployments ; for a River cut into many rivulets divides also its strength , and grows contemptible , and apt to be forded by a lamb , and drunk up by a Summer-Sun : so is the spirit of man busied in variety and divided in it self ; it abates its fervour , cools into indifferency , and becomes trifling by its dispersion and inadvertency . Aquinas was once asked , with what compendium a man might best become learned ; he answered , By reading of one Book : meaning that an understanding entertained with several objects is intent upon neither , and profits not . And so it is when we pray to God ; if the cares of the world intervene , they choak our desire into an indifferency , and suppress the flame into a smoak , and strangle the spirit . But this being an habitual carelesness and intemperance of spirit , is an enemy to an habitual attention , and therefore is highly criminal , and makes our Prayers to be but the labour of the lips , because our desires are lessened by the remanent affections of the world . But besides an habitual attention in our Prayers , that is , a desire in general of all that our Prayers pretend to in particular , there is also for the accommodation , and to facilitate the access of our Prayers , required , that we attend actually to the words or sense of every Collect or Petition . To this we must contend with Prayer , with actual dereliction and seposition of all our other affaires , though innocent and good in other kinds , by a present spirit . And the use of it is , that such attention is an actual conversing with God ; it occasions the exercise of many acts of vertue , it increases zeal and fervency , and by reflexion enkindles love and holy desires . And although there is no rule to determine the degree of our actual attention , and it is ordinarily impossible never to wander with a thought , or to be interrupted with a sudden immission into our spirit in the midst of prayers ; yet our duty is , by mortification of our secular desires , by suppression of all our irregular passions , by reducing them to indifferency , by severity of spirit , by enkindling our holy appetites and desires of holy things , by silence and meditation and repose , to get as forward in this excellency as we can : to which also we may be very much helped by ejaculatory prayers and short breathings ; in which as , by reason of their short abode upon the spirit , there is less fear of diversion ; so also they may so often be renewed , that nothing of the Devotion may be unspent or expire for want of oil to feed and entertain the flame . But the determination of the case of Conscience is this : Habitual attention is absolutely necessary in our Prayers , that is , it is altogether our duty to desire of God all that we pray for , though our mind be not actually attending to the form of words ; and therefore all worldly desires , that are inordinate , must be rescinded , that we more earnestly attend on God than on the world . He that prays to God to give him the gift of Chastity , and yet secretly wishes rather for an opportunity of Lust , and desires God would not hear him , ( as S. Austin confesses of himself in his youth ) that man sins for want of holy and habitual desires ; he prays only with his lips , what he in no sense attests in his heart . 2. Actual attention to our Prayers is also necessary , not ever to avoid a sin , but that the present Prayer become effectual . He that means to feast , and to get thanks of God , must invite the poor ; and yet he that invites the rich , in that he sins not , though he hath no reward of God for that . So that Prayer perishes to which the man gives no degree of actual attention , for the Prayer is as if it were not , it is no more than a dream or an act of custom and order , nothing of Devotion , and so accidentally becomes a sin ( I mean there where and in what degrees it is avoidable ) by taking God's Name in vain . 3. It is not necessary to the prevalency of the Prayer that the spirit actually accompany every clause or word ; if it says a hearty Amen , or in any part of it attests the whole , it is such an attention which the present condition of most men will sometimes permit . 4. A wandering of the spirit through carelesness , or any vice , or inordinate passion , is in that degree criminal as is the cause , and it is heightened by the greatness of the interruption . 5. It is only excused by our endeavours to cure it , and by our after-acts either of sorrow , or repetition of the Prayer , and reinforcing the intention . And certainly if we repeat our Prayer , in which we have observed our spirits too much to wander , and resolve still to repeat it , ( as our opportunities permit ) it may in a good degree defeat the purpose of the Enemy , when his own arts shall return upon his head , and the wandring of our spirits be made the occasion of a Prayer , and the parent of a new Devotion . 6. Lastly , according to the degrees of our actual attention , so our Prayers are more or less perfect : a present spirit being a great instrument and testimony of wisdome , and apt to many great purposes ; and our continual abode with God being a great indearment of our persons by encreasing the affections . 17. Secondly , The second accessory is intension of spirit or fervency ; such as was that of our Blessed Saviour , who prayed to his Father with strong cries and loud petitions , not clamorous in language , but strong in Spirit . S. Paul also , when he was pressed with a strong temptation , prayed thrice , that is , earnestly ; and S. James affirms this to be of great value and efficacy to the obtaining blessings , The effectual servent prayer of a just person avails much ; and 〈◊〉 , though a man of like 〈◊〉 , yet by earnest prayer he obtained rain , or drought , according as he desired . Now this is properly produced by the greatness of our desire of heavenly things , our true value and estimate of Religion , our sense of present pressures , our lears ; and it hath some accidental increases by the disposition of our body , the strength of fancy , and the tenderness of spirit , and assiduity of the dropping of religious discourses ; and in all men is necessary to be so great , as that we prefer Heaven and Religion before the world , and desire them rather , with the choice of our wills and understanding : though there cannot always be that degree of sensual , pungent or delectable affections towards Religion , as towards the desires of nature and sense ; yet ever we must prefer celestial objects , restraining the appetites of the world , lest they be immoderate , and heightning the desires of grace and glory , lest they become indifferent , and the fire upon the altar of incense be extinct . But the greater zeal and servour of desire we have in our Prayers , the sooner and the greater will the return of the Prayer be , if the Prayer be for spiritual objects . For other things our desires must be according to our needs , not by a value derived from the nature of the thing , but the usefulness it is of to us in order to our greater and better purposes . 18. Thirdly , Of the same consideration it is , that we persevere and be importunate in our Prayers , by repetition of our desires , and not remitting either our affections or our offices , till God , overcome by our importunity , give a gracious answer . Jacob wrastled with the Angel all night , and would not dismiss him till he had given him a blessing ; Let me alone , saith God , as if he felt a pressure and burthen lying upon him by our prayers , or could not quit himself , nor depart , unless we give him leave . And since God is detained by our Prayers , and we may keep him as long as we please , and that he will not go away till we leave speaking to him ; he that will dismiss him till he hath his blessing , knows not the value of his benediction , or understands not the energy and power of a persevering Prayer . And to this purpose Christ spake a Parable , that men ought always to pray , and not to faint : Praying without ceasing S. Paul calls it , that is , with continual addresses , frequent interpellations , never ceasing renewing the request till I obtain my desire . For it is not enough to recommend our desires to God with one hearty Prayer , and then forget to ask him any more ; but so long as our needs continue , so long , in all times , and upon all occasions , to renew and repeat our desires : and this is praying continually . Just as the Widow did to the unjust Judge , she never left going to him , she troubled him every day with her clamorous suit ; so must we pray always , that is , every day , and many times every day , according to our occasions and necessities , or our devotion and zeal , or as we are determined by the customs and laws of a Church ; never giving over through weariness or distrust , often renewing our desires by a continual succession of Devotions , returning at certain and determinate periods . For God's blessings , though they come infallibly , yet not always speedily ; saving only that it is a blessing to be delayed , that we may encrease our desire , and renew our prayers , and do acts of confidence and patience , and ascertain and encrcase the blessing when it comes . For we do not more desire to be blessed than God does to hear us importunate for blessing ; and he weighs every sigh , and bottles up every tear , and records every Prayer , and looks through the cloud with delight to see us upon our knees , and when he sees his time , his light breaks through it , and shines upon us . Only we must not make our accounts for God according to the course of the Sun , but the measures of Eternity . He measures us by our needs , and we must not measure him by our impatience . God is not slack , as some men count slackness , saith the Apostle ; and we find it so , when we have waited long . All the elapsed time is no part of the tediousness ; the trouble of it is passed with it self : and for the future , we know not how little it may be : for ought we know we are already entred into the cloud that brings the blessing . However , pray till it comes : for we shall never miss to receive our desire , if it be holy , or innocent , and safe ; or else we are sure of a great reward of our Prayers . 19. And in this so determined there is no danger of blasphemy or vain repetitions : For those repetitions are vain which repeat the words , not the Devotion , which renew the expression , and not the desire ; and he that may pray the same Prayer to morrow which he said to day , may pray the same at night which he said in the morning , and the same at noon which he said at night , and so in all the hours of Prayer , and in all the opportunities of Devotion . Christ in his agony went thrice , and said the same words , but he had intervals for repetition ; and his need and his Devotion pressed him forward : and whenever our needs do so , it is all one if we say the same words or others , so we express our desire , and tell our needs , and beg the remedy . In the same office and the same hour of Prayer to repeat the same things often hath but few excuses to make it reasonable , and fewer to make it pious : But to think that the Prayer is better for such repetition is the fault which the Holy Jesus condemned in the Gentiles , who in their Hymns would say a name over a hundred times . But in this we have no rule to determine us in numbers and proportion , but right Reason . God loves not any words the more for being said often ; and those repetitions which are unreasonable in prudent estimation cannot in any account be esteemed pious . But where a reasonable cause allows the repetition , the same cause that makes it reasonable makes it also proper for Devotion . He that speaks his needs , and expresses nothing but his fervour and greatness of desire , cannot be vain or long in his Prayers ; he that speaks impertinently , that is , unreasonably and without desires , is long , though he speak but two syllables ; he that thinks for speaking much to be heard the sooner , thinks God is delighted in the labour of the lips : but when Reason is the guide , and Piety is the rule , and Necessity is the measure , and Desire gives the proportion , let the Prayer be very long ; he that shall blame it for its length must proclaim his disrelish both of Reason and Religion , his despite of Necessity and contempt of Zeal . 20. As a part and instance of our importunity in Prayer it is usually reckoned and advised , that in cases of great , sudden and violent need we corroborate our Prayers with a Vow of doing something holy and religious in an uncommanded instance , something to which God had not formerly bound our duty , though fairly invited our will ; or else , if we chuse a Duty in which we were obliged , then to vow the doing of it in a more excellent manner , with a greater inclination of the Will , with a more fervent repetition of the act , with some more noble circumstance , with a fuller assent of the Understanding , or else adding a new Promise to our old Duty , to make it become more necessary to us , and to secure our duty . In this case , as it requires great prudence and caution in the susception , lest what we piously intend obtain a present blessing , and lay a lasting snare ; so if it be prudent in the manner , holy in the matter , useful in the consequence , and safe in all the circumstances of the person , it is an endearing us and our Prayer to God by the increase of duty and charity , and therefore a more probable way of making our Prayers gracious and acceptable . And the religion of Vows was not only hallowed by the example of Jacob at Bethel , of Hannah praying for a child and God hearing her , of David vowing a Temple to God , and made regular and safe by the rules and cautions in Moses's Law ; but left by our Blessed Saviour in the same constitution he found it , he having innovated nothing in the matter of Vows : and it was practised accordingly in the instance of S. Paul at Cenchrea ; of * Ananias and Sapphira , who vowed their possessions to the use of the Church ; and of the Widows in the Apostolical age , who therefore vowed to remain in the state of widowhood , because concerning them who married after the entry into Religion S. Paul says , they have broken their first faith : and such were they of whom our Blessed Saviour affirms , that some make themselves 〈◊〉 for the kingdom of Heaven , that is , such who promise to God a life of Chastity . And concerning the success of Prayer so seconded with a prudent and religious Vow , besides ‖ the instances of Scripture , we have the perpetual experience and witness of all Christendom ; and in particular our Saxon Kings have been remarked for this part of importunity in their own Chronicles . * Oswy got a great victory with unlikely forces against Penda the 〈◊〉 after his earnest Prayer , and an appendent Vow : and Ceadwalla obtained of God power to recover the Isle of Wight from the hands of Infidels after he had prayed , and promised to return the fourth part of it to be imployed in the proper services of God and of Religion . This can have no objection or suspicion in it among wise and disabused persons ; for it can be nothing but an encreasing and a renewed act of Duty , or Devotion , or Zeal , or Charity , and the importunity of Prayer acted in a more vital and real expression . 21. First , All else that is to be considered concerning Prayer is extrinsecal and accidental to it . Prayer is publick , or private ; in the communion or society of Saints , or in our Closets : these Prayers have less temptation to vanity ; the other have more advantages of Charity , example , fervour , and energy . In publick offices we avoid singularity , in the private we avoid hypocrisie : those are of more 〈◊〉 , these of greater retiredness and silence of spirit : those serve the needs of all the world in the first intention , and our own by consequence ; these serve our own needs first , and the publick only by a secondary intention : these have more pleasure , they more duty : these are the best instruments of Repentance , where our Confessions may be more particular , and our shame less scandalous ; the other are better for Eucharist and instruction , for edification of the Church and glorification of God. 22. Secondly , The posture of our bodies in Prayer had as great variety as the Ceremonies and civilities of several Nations came to . The Jews most commonly prayed standing : so did the Pharisee and the Publican in the Temple . So did the Primitive Christians in all their greater Festivals , and intervals of Jubilee ; in their Penances they kneeled . The Monks in 〈◊〉 sate when they sang the Psalter . And in every Country , whatsoever by the custom of the Nation was a symbol of reverence and humility , of silence and attention , of gravity and modesty , that posture they translated to their Prayers . But in all Nations bowing the head , that is , a laying down our glory at the feet of God , was the manner of Worshippers : and this was always the more humble and the lower , as their Devotion was higher ; and was very often expressed by prostration , or lying flat upon the ground ; and this all Nations did and all Religions . Our deportment ought to be grave , decent , humble , apt for adoration , apt to edisie ; and when we address our selves to Prayer , not instantly to leap into the office , as the Judges of the Areopage into their sentence , without preface or preparatory affections ; but , considering in what presence we speak , and to what purposes , let us balance our servour with reverential fear : and when we have done , not rise from the ground as if we vaulted , or were glad we had done ; but , as we begin with desires of assistance , so end with desires of pardon and acceptance , concluding our longer offices with a shorter mental Prayer of more private reflexion and reverence , designing to mend what we have done amiss , or to give thanks and proceed if we did well , and according to our powers . 23. Thirdly , In private Prayers it is permitted to every man to speak his Prayers , or only to think them , which is a speaking to God. Vocal or mental Prayer is all one to God , but in order to us they have their several advantages . The sacrifice of the heart and the calves of the lips make up a holocaust to God : but words are the arrest of the desires , and keep the spirit fixt , and in less permissions to wander from fancy to fancy ; and mental Prayer is apt to make the greater fervour , if it wander not : our office is more determined by words ; but we then actually think of God when our spirits only speak . Mental Prayer , when our spirits wander , is like a Watch standing still , because the spring is down ; wind it up again , and it goes on regularly : but in Vocal Prayer , if the words run on , and the spirit wanders , the Clock strikes false , the Hand points not to the right hour , because something is in disorder , and the striking is nothing but noise . In mental Prayer we confess God's omniscience ; in vocal Prayer we call the Angels to witness . In the first our spirits rejoyce in God ; in the second the Angels rejoyce in us . Mental Prayer is the best remedy against lightness , and indifferency of affections ; but vocal Prayer is the aptest instrument of communion . That is more Angelical , but yet fittest for the state of separation and glory ; this is but humane , but it is apter for our present constitution . They have their distinct proprieties , and may be used according to several accidents , occasions , or dispositions . The PRAYER . O Holy and eternal God , who hast commanded us to pray unto thee in all our necessities , and to give thanks unto thee for all our instances of joy and blessing , and to adore thee in all thy Attributes and communications , thy own glories and thy eternal mercies ; give unto me thy servant the spirit of Prayer and Supplication , that I may understand what is good for me , that I may desire regularly , and chuse the best things , that I may conform to thy will , and submit to thy disposing , relinquishing my own affections and imperfect choice . Sanctifie my heart and spirit , that I may sanctifie thy Name , and that I may be gracious and accepted in thine eyes . Give me the humility and obedience of a Servant , that I may also have the hope and confidence of a Son , making humble and confident addresses to the Throne of grace ; that in all my necessities I may come to thee for aids , and may trust in thee for a gracious answer , and may receive satisfaction and supply . II. GIve me a sober , diligent and recollected spirit in my Prayers , neither choaked with cares , nor scattered by levity , nor discomposed by passion , nor estranged from thee by inadvertency , but fixed fast to thee by the indissolvible bands of a great love and a pregnant Devotion : And let the beams of thy holy Spirit descending from above enlighten and enkindle it with great servours , and holy importunity , and unwearied industry ; that I may serve thee , and obtain thy blessing by the assiduity and Zeal of perpetual religious offices . Let my Prayers come before thy presence , and the lifting up of my hands be a daily sacrifice , and let the fires of zeal not go out by night or day ; but unite my Prayers to the intercession of thy Holy Jesus , and to a communion of those offices which Angels and beatified Souls do pay before the throne of the Lamb , and at the celestial Altar ; that my Prayers being hallowed by the Merits of Christ , and being presented in the phial of the Saints , may ascend thither where thy glory dwells , and from whence mercy and eternal benediction descends upon the Church . III. LOrd , change my sins into penitential sorrow , my sorrow to petition , my petition to 〈◊〉 ; that my Prayers may be consummate in the adorations of eternity , and the glorious participation of the end of our hopes and prayers , the fulness of never-failing Charity , and fruition of thee , O Holy and Eternal God , Blessed Trinity and mysterious Unity , to whom all honour , and worship , and thanks , and confession , and glory , be ascribed for ever and ever . Amen . DISCOURSE XIII . Of the Third additional Precept of Christ , ( viz. ) Of the manner of FASTING . 1. FAsting , being directed in order to other ends , as for mortifying the body , taking away that fuel which ministers to the flame of Lust , or else relating to what is past , when it becomes an instrument of Repentance , and a part of that revenge which S. Paul affirms to be the effect of godly sorrow , is to take its estimate for value , and its rules for practice , by analogy and proportion to those ends to which it does cooperate . Fasting before the holy Sacrament is a custom of the Christian Church , and derived to us from great antiquity ; and the use of it is , that we might express honour to the mystery , by suffering nothing to enter into our mouths before the symbols . Fasting to this purpose is not an act of Mortification , but of Reverence and venerable esteem of the instruments of Religion , and so is to be understood . And thus also , not to eat or drink before we have said our morning Devotions , is esteemed to be a religious decency , and preference of Prayer and God's honour before our temporal satisfaction , a symbolical attestation that we esteem the words of God's mouth more than our necessary food . It is like the zeal of Abraham's servant , who would not eat nor drink till he had done his errand . And in pursuance of this act of Religion , by the tradition of their Fathers it grew to be a custom of the Jewish Nation , that they should not eat bread upon their solemn Festivals before the sixth hour ; that they might first celebrate the rites of their Religious solemnities , before they gave satisfaction to the lesser desires of nature . And therefore it was a reasonable satisfaction of the objection made by the assembly against the inspired Apostles in Pentecost , These are not drunk , as ye suppose , seeing it is but the third hour of the day : meaning , that the day being festival , they knew it was not lawful for any of the Nation to break their fast before the sixth hour ; for else they might easily have been drunk by the third hour , if they had taken their morning's drink in a freer proportion . And true it is that Religion snatches even at little things ; and as it teaches us to observe all the great Commandments and significations of duty , so it is not willing to pretermit any thing , which , although by its greatness it cannot of it self be considerable , yet by its smallness it may become a testimony of the greatness of the affection , which would not omit the least minutes of love and duty . And therefore when the Jews were scandalized at the Disciples of our Lord for rubbing the ears of corn on the Sabbath-day , as they walked through the fields early in the morning , they intended their reproof not for breaking the Rest of the day , but the Solemnity ; for eating before the publick Devotions were finished . Christ excused it by the necessity and charity of the act ; they were hungry , and therefore having so great need , they might lawfully do it : meaning , that such particles and circumstances of Religion are not to be neglected , unless where greater cause of charity or necessity does supervene . 2. But when Fasting is in order to greater and more concerning purposes , it puts on more Religion , and becomes a duty , according as it is necessary or highly conducing to such ends , to the promoting of which we are bound to contribute all our skill and faculties . Fasting is principally operative to mortification of carnal appetites , to which Feasting and full tables do minister aptness and power and inclinations . When I fed them to the full , then they committed adultery , and assembled by troups in the Harlots houses . And if we observe all our own vanities , we shall find that upon every sudden joy , or a prosperous accident , or an opulent fortune , or a pampered body , and highly spirited and inflamed , we are apt to rashness , levities , inconsiderate expressions , scorn and pride , idleness , wantonness , curiosity , niceness , and impatience . But Fasting is one of those afflictions which reduces our body to want , our spirits to soberness , our condition to sufferance , our desires to abstinence and customes of denial ; and so , by taking off the inundations of sensuality , leaves the enemies within in a condition of being easier subdued . Fasting directly advances towards Chastity ; and by consequence and indirect powers to Patience , and Humility , and Indifferency . But then it is not the Fast of a day that can do this ; it is not an act , but a state of Fasting , that operates to Mortification . A perpetual Temperance and frequent abstinence may abate such proportions of strength and nutriment , as to procure a body mortified and 〈◊〉 in desires . And thus S. Paul kept his body under , using severities to it for the taming its rebellions and distemperatures . And S. Jerom reports of S. Hilarion , that when he had fasted much and used course diet , and found his Lust too strong for such austerities , he resolv'd to encrease it to the degree of Mastery , lessening his diet , and encreasing his hardship , till he should rather think of food than wantonness . And many times the Fastings of some men are ineffectual , because they promise themselves cure too soon , or make too gentle applications , or put less proportions into their antidotes . I have read of a Maiden , that , seeing a young man much transported with her love , and that he ceased not to importune her with all the violent pursuits that passion could suggest , told him , she had made a Vow to fast forty days with bread and water , of which she must discharge her self before she could think of corresponding to any other desire ; and desired of him as a testimony of his love , that he also would be a party in the same Vow . The young man undertook it , that he might give probation of his love : but because he had been used to a delicate and nice kind of life , in twenty days he was so weakned , that he thought more of death than love ; and so got a cure for his intemperance , and was wittily cousened into remedy . But S. Hierom's counsel in this Question is most reasonable , not allowing violent and long fasts , and then returns to an ordinary course ; for these are too great changes of diet to consist with health , and too sudden and transient to obtain a permanent and natural effect : but a belly always hungry , a table never full , a meal little and necessary , no extravagancies , no freer repast , this is a state of Fasting , which will be found to be of best avail to suppress pungent Lusts and rebellious desires . And it were well to help this exercise with the assistences of such austerities which teach Patience , and ingenerate a passive fortitude , and accustome us to a despight of pleasures , and which are consistent with our health . For if Fasting be left to do the work alone , it may chance either to spoil the body , or not to spoil the Lust. Hard lodging , 〈◊〉 garments , laborious postures of prayer , journies on foot , sufferance of cold , paring away the use of ordinary solaces , denying every pleasant appetite , rejecting the most pleasant morsels ; these are in the rank of bodily exercises , which though ( as S. Paul says ) of themselves they profit little , yet they accustome us to acts of self-denial in exteriour instances , and are not useless to the designs of mortifying carnal and sensual lusts . They have * a proportion of wisdome with these cautions , viz. in will-worship , that is , in voluntary susception , when they are not imposed as (a) necessary Religion ; in humility , that is , without contempt of others that use them not ; in neglecting of the body , that is , when they are done for discipline and mortification , that the flesh by such handlings and rough usages become less satisfied and more despised . 3. As Fasting hath respect to the future , so also to the present ; and so it operates in giving assistence to Prayer . There is a kind of Devil that is not to be ejected but by prayer and fasting , that is , Prayer elevated and made intense by a defecate and pure spirit , not loaden with the burthen of meat and vapours . S. (b) Basil affirms , that there are certain Angels deputed by God to minister , and to describe all such in every Church who mortifie themselves by Fasting ; as if paleness and a meagre visage were that mark in the forehead which the Angel observed when he signed the Saints in Jerusalem to escape the Judgment . Prayer is the * wings of the Soul , and Fasting is the wings of Prayer . Tertullian calls it (c) the nourishment of Prayer . But this is a Discourse of Christian Philosophy ; and he that chuses to do any act of spirit , or understanding , or attention , after a full meal , will then perceive that Abstinence had been the better disposition to any intellectual and spiritual action . And therefore the Church of God ever joyned Fasting to their more solemn offices of Prayer . The Apostles fasted and prayed when they laid hands and invocated the Holy Ghost upon Saul and Barnabas . And these also , when they had prayed with fasting , ordained Elders in the Churches of Lystra and Iconium . And the Vigils of every Holy-day tell us , that the Devotion of the Festival is promoted by the Fast of the Vigils . 4. But when Fasting relates to what is past , it becomes an instrument of Repentance , it is a punitive and an 〈◊〉 action , an effect of godly sorrow , a testimony of contrition , a judging of our selves , and chastening our bodies , that we be not judged of the Lord. The Fast of the Ninevites , and the Fast the Prophet Joel calls for , and the Discipline of the Jews in the rites of Expiation , proclaim this usefulness of Fasting in order to Repentance . And indeed it were a strange Repentance that had no sorrow in it , and a stranger sorrow that had no affliction ; but it were the strangest scene of affliction in the world , when the sad and afflicted person shall * eat freely , and delight himself , and to the banquets of a full table serve up the chalice of tears and sorrow , and no bread of affliction . Certainly he that makes much of himself hath no great indignation against the sinner , when himself is the man. And it is but a gentle revenge and an easie judgment , when the sad sinner shall do penance in good meals , and expiate his sin with sensual satisfaction . So that Fasting relates to Religion in all variety and difference of time : it is an antidote against the poison of sensual temptations , an advantage to Prayer , and an instrument of extinguishing the guilt and the affections of sin by judging our selves , and representing in a Judicatory of our own , even our selves being Judges , that sin deserves condemnation , and the sinner merits a high calamity . Which excellencies I repeat in the words of Baruch the Scribe , he that was Amanuensis to the Prophet Jeremy , The soul that is greatly vexed , which goeth stooping and feeble , and the eyes that fail , and the hungry soul , will give thee praise and righteousness , O Lord. 5. But now as Fasting hath divers ends , so also it hath divers Laws . If Fasting be intended as an instrument of Prayer , it is sufficient that it be of that quality and degree that the spirit be clear , and the head undisturbed ; an ordinary act of Fast , an abstinence from a meal , or a deferring it , or a lessening it when it comes , and the same abstinence repeated according to the solemnity , and intendment of the offices . And this is evident in reason , and the former instances , and the practice of the Church , dissolving some of her Fasts which were in order only to Prayer by noon , and as soon as the great and first solemnity of the day is over . But if Fasting be intended as a punitive act , and an instrument of Repentance , it must be greater . S. Paul at his Conversion continued three days without eating or drinking . It must have in it so much affliction as to express the indignation , and to condemn the sin , and to judge the person . And although the measure of this cannot be exactly determined , yet the general proportion is certain ; for a greater sin there must be a greater sorrow , and a greater sorrow must be attested with a greater penalty . And Ezra declares his purpose thus , I proclaimed a Fast , that we might afflict our selves besore God. Now this is no farther required , nor is it in this sense 〈◊〉 useful , but that it be a trouble to the body , an act of judging and severity ; and this is to be judged by proportion to the sorrow and indignation , as the sorrow is to the crime . But this affliction needs not to leave any remanent effect upon the body ; but such transient sorrow which is consequent to the abstinence of certain times designed for the solemnity is sufficient as to this purpose . Only it is to be renewed often , as our Repentance must be habitual and lasting ; but it may be commuted with other actions of severity and discipline , according to the Customs of a Church , or the capacity of the persons , or the opportunity of circumstances . But if the Fasting be intended for Mortification , then it is fit to be more severe , and medicinal by continuance , and quantity , and quality . To Repentance , total abstinences without interruption , that is , during the solemnity , short and sharp , are most apt : but towards the mortifying a Lust those sharp and short Fasts are not reasonable ; but a diet of Fasting , an habitual subtraction of nutriment from the body , a long and lasting austerity , increasing in degrees , but not violent in any . And in this sort of Fasting we must be highly careful we do not violate a duty by sondness of an instrument ; and because we intend Fasting as a help to mortifie the Lust , let it not destroy the body , or retard the spirit , or violate our health , or impede us in any part of our necessary duty . As we must be careful that our Fast be reasonable , serious , and apt to the end of our designs ; so we must be curious , that by helping one duty uncertainly , it do not certainly destroy another . Let us do it like honest persons and just , without artifices and hypocrisie ; but let us also do it like wise persons , that it be neither in it self unreasonable , nor by accident become criminal . 6. In the pursuance of this Discipline of Fasting , the Doctors of the Church and Guides of Souls have not unusefully prescribed other annexes and circumstances ; as that all the other acts of deportment be symbolical to our Fasting . If we fast for Mortification , let us entertain nothing of temptation or semblance to invite a Lust ; no sensual delight , no freer entertainments of our body to countenance or corroborate a passion . If we fast that we may pray the better , let us remove all secular thoughts for that time ; for it is vain to alleviate our spirits of the burthen of meat and drink , and to depress them with the loads of care . If for Repentance we fast , let us be most curious that we do nothing contrary to the design of Repentance , knowing that a sin is more contrary to Repentance than Fasting is to sin ; and it is the greatest stupidity in the world to do that thing which I am now mourning for , and for which I do judgment upon my self . And let all our actions also pursue the same design , helping one instrument with another , and being so zealous for the Grace , that we take in all the aids we can to secure the Duty . For to fast from flesh , and to eat delicate fish ; not to eat meat , but to drink rich wines freely ; to be sensual in the objects of our other appetites , and restrained only in one ; to have no dinner , and that day to run on hunting , or to play at cards ; are not handsome instances of sorrow , or devotion , or self-denial . It is best to accompany our Fasting with the retirements of Religion , and the enlargements of Charity , giving to others what we deny to our selves . These are proper actions : and although not in every instance necessary to be done at the same time , ( for a man may give his Alms in other circumstances , and not amiss ; ) yet as they are very convenient and proper to be joyned in that society , so to do any thing contrary to Religion or to Charity , to Justice or to Piety , to the design of the person or the design of the solemnity , is to make that become a sin which of it self was no vertue , but was capable of being hallowed by the end and the manner of its execution . 7. This Discourse hath hitherto related to private Fasts , or else to Fasts indefinitely . For what rules soever every man is bound to observe in private for Fasting piously , the same rules the Governours of a Church are to intend in their publick prescription . And when once Authority hath intervened , and proclaimed a Fast , there is no new duty incumbent upon the private , but that we obey the circumstances , letting them to chuse the time and the end for us : and though we must prevaricate neither , yet we may improve both ; we must not go less , but we may enlarge ; and when Fasting is commanded only for 〈◊〉 , we may also use it to Prayers , and to Mortification . And we must be curious that we do not obey the letter of the prescription , and violate the intention , but observe all that care in publick Fasts which we do in private ; knowing that our private ends are included in the publick , as our persons are in the communion of Saints , and our hopes in the common inheritance of sons : and see that we do not fast in order to a purpose , and yet use it so as that it shall be to no purpose . Whosoever so fasts as that it be not effectual in some degree towards the end , or so fasts that it be accounted of it self a duty and an act of Religion , without order to its proper end , makes his act vain , because it is unreasonable ; or vain , because it is superstitious . The PRAYER . O Holy and Eternal Jesu , who didst for our sake fast forty days and forty nights , and hast left to us thy example , and thy prediction , that in the days of thy absence from us we thy servants and children of thy Bride-chamber should fast ; teach us to do this act of discipline so , that it may become an act of Religion . Let us never be like Esau , valuing a dish of meat above a blessing ; but let us deny our appetites of meat and drink , and accustom our selves to the yoak , and subtract the fuel of our Lusts , and the incentives of all our unworthy desires : that our bodies being free from the intemperances of nutriment , and our spirits from the load and pressure of appetite , we may have no desires but of thee ; that our outward man daily decaying by the violence of time , and mortified by the abatements of its too free and unnecessary support ; it may by degrees resign to the intire dominion of the Soul , and may pass from vanity to Piety , from weakness to ghostly strength , from darkness and mixtures of impurity to great transparences and clarity in the society of a beatified Soul , reigning with thee in the glories of Eternity , O Holy and Eternal Jesu . Amen . DISCOURSE XIV . Of the Miracles which JESVS wrought for confirmation of his Doctrine during the whole time of his Preaching . Mary & Martha . A woman , named Martha , received him into her house And her sister Mary sat at Iesus feet , and heard his word . But Martha was cumbred about much serving — And Iesus said unto her , Martha , Martha , thou art careful & troubled about many things : but one thing is needfull : & Mary hath chosen that good part : Luk. 10. 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42. The dried hand healed , & devil cast out Mat 12. 10 And behold There was a man which had his hand dryed up &c. 13. Then said he unto the man stretch sorth thine hand &c. 22. Then was brought to him one possessed with a Devill &c. and he healed him . 1. WHen Jesus had ended his Sermon on the Mount , he descended into the valleys , to consign his Doctrine by the power of Miracles and the excellency of a rare Example ; that he might not lay a yoak upon us which himself also would not bear . But as he became the authour , so also the finisher of our Faith ; what he designed in proposition , he represented in his * own practice ; and by these acts made a new Sermon , teaching all Prelates and spiritual persons to descend from their 〈◊〉 of contemplation , and the authority and business of their discourses , to apply themselves to do more material and corporal mercies to afflicted persons , and to preach by Example as well as by their Homilies . For he that teaches others well , and practises contrary , is like a fair candlestick bearing a goodly and bright taper , which sends forth light to all the house , but round about it self there is a shadow and circumstant darkness . The Prelate should be the light consuming and spending it self to enlighten others , scattering his rays round about from the 〈◊〉 of Contemplation and from the 〈◊〉 of Practice , but himself always tending upwards , till at last he expires into the element of Love and celestial fruition . 2. But the Miracles which Jesus did were next to infinite ; and every circumstance of action that passed from him , as it was intended for Mercy , so also for Doctrine , and the impotent or diseased persons were not more cured than we instructed . But because there was nothing in the actions but what was a pursuance of the Doctrines delivered in his Sermons , in the Sermon we must look after our Duty , and look upon his practice as a verification of his Doctrine , & instrumental also to other purposes . Therefore in general if we consider his Miracles , we shall see that he did design them to be a compendium of Faith and Charity . For he chose to instance his Miracles in actions of Mercy , that all his powers might especially determine upon bounty and Charity ; and yet his acts of Charity were so miraculous , that they became an argument of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine . Once he turned water into wine , which was a mutation by a supernatural power in a natural suscipient , where a person was not the subject , but an Element ; and yet this was done to rescue the poor Bridegroom from affront and trouble , and to do honour to the holy rite of Marriage . All the rest , ( unless we except his Walking upon the waters ) during his natural life , were actions of relief and mercy , according to the design of God , manifesting his power most chiefly in shewing mercy . 3. The great design of Miracles was to prove his Mission from God , to convince the world of sin , to demonstrate his power of forgiving sins , to indear his Precepts , and that his Disciples might believe in him , and that believing they might have life through his name . For he , to whom God by doing Miracles gave testimony from Heaven , must needs be sent from God ; and he who had received power to restore nature , and to create new organs , and to extract from incapacities , and from privations to reduce habits , was Lord of Nature , and therefore of all the world . And this could not but create great confidences in his Disciples , that himself would verifie those great Promises upon which he established his Law. But that the argument of Miracles might be infallible , and not apt to be reproved , we may observe its eminency by divers circumstances of probability heightned up to the degree of moral demonstration . 4. First , The Holy Jesus did Miracles which no man ( before him , or at that time ) ever did . Moses smote the Rock , and water gushed out ; but he could not turn that water into wine : Moses cured no diseases by the empire of his will , or the word of his mouth ; but Jesus healed all infirmities . Elisha raised a dead Child to life ; but Jesus raised one who had been dead four days , and buried , and corrupted . Elias . and Samuel , and all the Prophets , and the succession of the High Priests in both the Temples , put all together , never did so many or so great Miracles as Jesus did . He cured Leprous persons by his touch : he restored Sight to the blind , who were such not by any intervening accident hindering the act of the organ , but by nature , who were born blind , and whose eyes had not any natural possibility to receive sight , who could never see without creating of new eyes for them , or some integral part cooperating to vision ; and therefore the Miracle was wholly an effect of a Divine power , for nature did not at all cooperate ; or , that I may use the elegant expression of Dante , it was such — à cui natura Non scaldò ferro mai , ne battè ancude , for which Nature never did heat the iron , nor beat the anvil . He made crooked lims become straight , and the lame to walk ; and habitual diseases and inveterate of 18 years continuance ( and once of 38 ) did disappear at his speaking , like darkness at the presence of the Sun. He cast out Devils , who by the majesty of his person were forced to confess and worship him , and yet by his humility and restraints were commanded silence , or to go whither he pleased ; and without his leave all the powers of Hell were as infirm and impotent as a withered member , and were not able to stir . He raised three dead persons to life ; he fed thousands of People with two small fishes and five little barly-cakes : and , as a consummation of all power and all Miracles , he foretold , and verified it , that himself would rise from the dead after three days sepulture . But when himself had told them , he did Miracles which no man else ever did , they were not able to reprove his saying with one single instance ; but the poor blind man found him out one instance to verify his assertion , It was yet never heard , that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind . 5. Secondly , The scene of his Preaching and Miracles was Judaea , which was the Pale of the Church , and God's inclosed portion , of whom were the Oracles and the Fathers , and of whom , as concerning the Flesh , Christ was to come , and to whom he was promised . Now since these Miracles were for verification of his being the Christ , the promised MÉSSIAS , they were then to be esteemed a convincing argument , when all things else concurring , as the Predictions of the Prophets , the Synchronisms , and the capacity of his person , he brought Miracles to attest himself to be the person so declared and signified . God would not suffer his People to be abused by Miracles , nor from Heaven would speak so loud in testimony of any thing contrary to his own will and purposes . They to whom he gave the Oracles , and the Law , and the Predictions of the Messias , and declared before-hand , that at the coming of the Messias the blind should see , the lame should walk , and the deaf should hear , the lepers should be cleansed , and to the poor the Gospel should be preached , could not expect a greater conviction for acceptation of a person , than when that happened which God himself by his Prophets had consigned as his future testimony ; and if there could have been deception in this , it must needs have been inculpable in the deceived person , to whose errour a Divine Prophecy had been both nurse and parent . So that taking the Miracles Jesus did in that conjunction of circumstances , done to that People to whom all their Oracles were transmitted by miraculous verifications , Miracles so many , so great , so accidentally , and yet so regularly , to all comers and necessitous persons that prayed it , after such Predictions and clearest Prophecies , and these Prophecies owned by himself , and sent by way of symbol and mysterious answer to John the Baptist , to whom he described his Office by recounting his Miracles in the words of the Prediction ; there cannot be any fallibility or weakness pretended to this instrument of probation , applied in such circumstances to such a people , who , being dear to God , would be preserved from invincible deceptions , and being commanded by him to expect the Messias in such an equipage of power and demonstration of Miracles , were therefore not deceived , nor could they , because they were bound to accept it . 6. Thirdly , So that now we must not look upon these Miracles as an argument primarily intended to convince the Gentiles , but the Jews . It was a high probability to them also , and so it was designed also in a secondary intention : But it could not be an argument to them so certain , because it was destitute of two great supporters . For they neither believed the Prophets foretelling the Messias to be such , nor yet saw the Miracles done : So that they had no testimony of God before-hand , and were to rely upon humane testimony for the matter of fact ; which , because it was fallible , could not infer a necessary conclusion alone and of it self , but it put on degrees of perswasion , as the 〈◊〉 had degrees of certainty or universality ; that they also which see not , and yet have believed , might be blessed . And therefore Christ sent his Apostles to convert the Gentiles , and supplied in their case what in his own could not be applicable , or so concerning them . For he sent them to do Miracles in the sight of the Nations , that they might not doubt the matter of fact ; and prepared them also with a Prophecy , foretelling that they should do the same and greater Miracles than he did : they had greater prejudices to contest against , and a more unequal distance from belief and aptnesses to credit such things ; therefore it was necessary that the Apostles should do greater Miracles to remove the greater mountains of objection . And they did so ; and by doing it in pursuance and testimony of the ends of Christ and Christianity , verified the fame and celebrity of their Master's Miracles , and represented to all the world his power , and his veracity , and his Divinity . 7. Fourthly , For when the Holy Jesus appeared upon the stage of Palestine , all things were quiet and at rest from prodigy and wonder ; nay , John the Baptist , who by his excellent Sanctity and Austerities had got great reputation to his person and Doctrines , yet did no Miracle ; and no man else did any , save some few Exorcists among the Jews cured some Demoniacks and distracted People . So that in this silence a Prophet appearing with signs and wonders had nothing to lessen the arguments , no opposite of like power , or appearances of a contradictory design . And therefore it perswaded infinitely , and was certainly operative upon all persons , whose interest and love of the world did not destroy the piety of their wills , and put their understanding into fetters . And Nicodemus , a Doctor of the Law , being convinced , said , We know that thou art a Doctor sent from God ; for no man can do those 〈◊〉 which thou doest , unless God be with him . But when the Devil saw what great affections and confidences these Miracles of Christ had produced in all persons , he too late strives to lessen the argument by playing an after-game ; and weakly endeavours to abuse vicious persons ( whose love to their sensual pleasures was of power to make them take any thing for argument to retain them ) by such low , few , inconsiderable , uncertain and suspicious instances , that it grew to be the greatest confirmation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in behalf of Religion , that either friend or foe upon his own industry could have represented . Such as were the making an Image speak , or fetching fire from the clouds ; and that the images of Diana Cyndias and Vesta among the Jasiaeans would admit no rain to wet them , or cloud to darken them ; and that the bodies of them who entred into the Temple of Jupiter in Arcadia would cast no shadow : which things Polybius himself , one of their own Superstition , laughs at as impostures , and says they were no way to be excused , unless the pious purpose of the inventors did take off from the malice of the lie . But the Miracles of Jesus were confessed , and wondred at by Josephus , were published to all the world by his own Disciples , who never were accused , much less convicted , of forgery , and they were acknowledged by (a) Celsus and (b) Julian , the greatest enemies of Christ. 8. But farther yet , themselves gave it out that one Caius was cured of his blindness by AEsculapius , and so was 〈◊〉 Aper ; and at Alexandria Vespasian cured a man of the Gout by treading upon his Toes , and a blind man with spittle . And when Adrian the Emperour was sick of a Fever , and would have killed himself , it is said , two blind persons were cured by touching him , whereof one of them told him that he also should recover . But although Vespasian by the help of Apollonius Tyaneus , who was his familiar , who also had the Devil to be his , might do any thing within the power of nature , or by permission might do much more ; yet besides that this was of an uncertain and less credible report , if it had been true , it was also infinitely short of what Christ did , and was a weak , silly imitation , and usurping of the argument which had already prevailed upon the perswasions of men beyond all possibility of confutation . And for that of Adrian , to have reported it is enough to make it ridiculous ; and it had been a strange power to have cured two blind persons , and yet be so unable to help himself , as to attempt to kill himself by reason of anguish , impatience and despair . 9. Fifthly , When the Jews and Pharisees believed not Christ for his Miracles , and yet perpetually called for a Sign , he refused to give them a Sign which might be less than their prejudice , or the perswasions of their interest ; but gave them one which alone is greater than all the Miracles which ever were done , or said to be done , by any Antichrist or the enemies of the Religion , put all together ; a Miracle which could have no suspicion of imposture , a Miracle without instance or precedent or imitation : and that is , Jesus's lying in the grave three days and three nights , and then rising again , and appearing to many , and conversing for forty days together , giving probation of his Rising , of the verity of his Body , making a glorious promise , which at Pentecost was verified , & speaking such things which became Precepts & parts of the Law for ever after . 10. Sixthly , I add two things more to this consideration . First , that the Apostles did such Miracles , which were infinitely greater than the pretensions of any adversary , and inimitable by all the powers of man or darkness . They raised the dead , they cured all diseases by their very shadow passing by , and by the touch of garments ; they converted Nations , they foretold future events , they themselves spake with Tongues , and they gave the Holy Ghost by imposition of hands , which inabled others to speak Languages which immediately before they understood not , and to cure diseases , and to eject Devils . Now supposing Miracles to be done by Gentile Philosophers and Magicians after ; yet when they fall short of these in power , and yet teach a contrary Doctrine , it 〈◊〉 a demonstration that it is a lesser power , and therefore the Doctrine not of Divine authority and sanction . And it is remarkable , that among all the Gentiles none ever reasonably pretended to a power of casting out Devils . For the Devils could not get so much by it , as things then stood : And besides , in whose name should they do it who worshipped none but Devils and false gods ? which is too violent presumption , that the Devil was the Architect in all such buildings . And when the seven sons of Sceva , who was a Jew , ( amongst whom it was sometimes granted to cure Demoniacks ) offered to exorcize a possessed person , the Devil would by no means endure it , but beat them for their pains . And yet , because it might have been for his purpose to have enervated the reputation of S. Paul , and by a voluntary cession equalled S. Paul's enemies to him , either the Devil could not go out but at the command of a Christian ; or else to have gone out would have been a disservice and ruine to his kingdom : either of which declares , that the power of casting out Devils is a testimony of God , and a probation of the Divinity of a Doctrine , and a proper argument of Christianity . 11. Seventhly , But , besides this , I consider , that the Holy Jesus , having first possessed upon just title all the reasonableness of humane understanding by his demonstration of a miraculous power , in his infinite wisdome knew that the Devil would attempt to gain a party by the same instrument , and therefore so ordered it , that the Miracles which should be done , or pretended to , by the Devil , or any of the enemies of the Cross of Chris̄t , should be a confirmation of Christianity , not do it disservice ; for he foretold that Antichrist and other enemies should come in prodigies , and lying wonders and signs . Concerning which , although it may be disputed whether they were truly Miracles , or mere deceptions and magical pretences ; yet because they were such which the People could not discern from Miracles really such , therefore it is all one , and in this consideration are to be supposed such : but certainly he that could foretell such a future contingency , or such a secret of Predestination , was able also to know from what principle it came ; and we have the same reason to believe that Antichrist shall do Miracles to evil purposes , as that he shall do any at all ; he that foretold us of the man , foretold us also of the imposture , and commanded us not to trust him . And it had been more likely for Antichrist to prevail upon Christians by doing no Miracles , than by doing any : For if he had done none , he might have escaped without discovery ; but by doing Miracles , as he verified the wisdom and prescience of Jesus , so he declared to all the Church that he was the enemy of their Lord , and therefore less likely to deceive : for which reason it is said , that he shall deceive , if it were possible , the very elect ; that is therefore not possible , because that by which he insinuates himself to others , is by the elect , the Church and chosen of God , understood to be his sign and mark of discovery , and a warning . And therefore as the Prophecies of Jesus were an infinite verification of his Miracles , so also this Prophecy of Christ concerning Antichrist disgraces the reputation and faith of the Miracles he shall act . The old Prophets foretold of the Messias , and of his Miracles of power and mercy , to prepare for his reception and entertainment : Christ alone , and his Apostles from him , foretold of Antichrist , and that he should come in all Miracles of deception and lying , that is , with true or false Miracles to perswade a lie : and this was to prejudice his being accepted , according to the Law of Moses . So that as all that spake of Christ bade us believe him for the Miracles ; so all that foretold of Antichrist bade us disbelieve him the rather for his : and the reason of both is the same , because the mighty and surer word of Prophecy ( as S. Peter calls it ) being the greatest testimony in the world of a Divine principle , gives authority , or reprobates , with the same power . They who are the predestinate of God , and they that are the praesciti , the foreknown and marked people , must needs stand or fall to the Divine sentence ; and such must this be acknowledged : for no enemy of the Cross , not the Devil himself , ever foretold such a contingency , or so rare , so personal , so voluntary , so unnatural an event , as this of the great Antichrist . 12. And thus the Holy Jesus , having shewed forth the treasures of his Father's Wisdom in Revelations and holy Precepts , and upon the stock of his Father's greatness having dispended and demonstrated great power in Miracles , and these being instanced in acts of Mercy , he mingled the glories of Heaven to transmit them to earth , to raise us up to the participations of Heaven : he was pleased , by healing the bodies of infirm persons , to invite their spirits to his Discipline , and by his power to convey healing , and by that mercy to lead us into the treasures of revelation ; that both Bodies and Souls , our Wills and Understandings , by Divine instruments might be brought to Divine perfections in the participations of a Divine nature . It was a miraculous mercy that God should look upon us in our bloud , and a miraculous condescension that his Son should take our nature ; and even this favour we could not believe without many Miracles : and so contrary was our condition to all possibilities of happiness , that if Salvation had not marched to us all the way in Miracle , we had perished in the ruines of a sad eternity . And now it would be but reasonable , that , since God for our sakes hath rescinded so many laws of natural establishment , we also for his , and for our own , would be content to do violence to those natural inclinations , which are also criminal when they derive into action . Every man living in the state of Grace is a perpetual Miracle , and his Passions are made reasonable , as his Reason is turned to Faith , and his Soul to Spirit , and his Body to a Temple , and Earth to Heaven ; and less than this will not dispose us to such glories , which being the portion of Saints and Angels , and the nearest communications with God , are infinitely above what we see , or hear , or understand . The PRAYER . O Eternal Jesu , who didst receive great power , that by it thou mightest convey thy Father's mercies to us impotent and wretched people ; give me grace to believe that heavenly Doctrine which thou didst ratifie with arguments from above , that I may fully assent to all those mysterious Truths which integrate that Doctrine and Discipline in which the obligations of my duty and the hopes of my felicity are deposited . And to all those glorious verifications of thy Goodness and thy Power add also this Miracle , that I , who am stained with Leprosie of sin , may be cleansed , and my eyes may be opened , that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law ; and raise thou me up from the death of sin to the life of righteousness , that I may for ever walk in the land of the living , abhorring the works of death and darkness : that as I am by thy miraculous mercy partaker of the first , so also I may be accounted worthy of the second Resurrection ; and as by Faith , Hope , Charity and Obedience I receive the fruit of thy Miracles in this life , so in the other I may partake of thy Glories , which is a mercy above all Miracles . Lord , if thou wilt , thou canst make me clean . Lord , I believe ; help mine unbelief : and grant that no 〈◊〉 or incapacity of mine may hinder the wonderful operations of thy Grace ; but let it be thy first Miracle to turn my water into wine , my barrenness into fruitfulness , my aversations from thee into unions and intimate adhesions to thy infinity , which is the fountain of mercy and power . Grant this for thy mercie 's sake , and for the honour of those glorious Attributes in which thou hast revealed thy self and thy Father's excellencies to the world , O Holy and Eternal Jesu . Amen . The End of the Second Part. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF THE HOLY JESUS : BEGINNING At the Second Year of his PREACHING , until his ASCENSION : WITH CONSIDERATIONS and DISCOURSES upon the several parts of the Story ; And PRAYERS fitted to the several MYSTERIES . THE THIRD PART . Seneca apud Lactant. lib. 6. c. 17. Hic est ille homo qui , sive toto corpore tormenta patienda sunt , sive flamma ore recipienda est , sive extendenda per patibulum manus ; non quaerit quid patiatur , sed quàm bene . LONDON , Printed by R. Norton , for R. Royston , 1675 TO The Right Honourable and Vertuous Lady , The LADY FRANCES Countess of CARBERY . MADAM , SInce the Divine Providence hath been pleased to bind up the great breaches of my little fortune by your Charity and Nobleness of a religious tenderness , I account it an excellent circumstance and handsomeness of condition , that I have the fortune of S. Athanasius , to have my Persecution relieved and comforted by an Honourable and Excellent Lady ; and I have nothing to return for this honour done to me , but to do as the poor Paralyticks and infirm people in the Gospel did when our Blessed Saviour cured them , they went and told it to all the Countrey , and made the Vicinage full of the report , as themselves were of health and joy . And although I know the modesty of your person and Religion had rather do favours than own them , yet give me leave to draw aside the curtain and retirement of your Charity ; for I had rather your vertue should blush , than my unthankfulness make me ashamed . Madam , I intended by this Address not onely to return you spirituals for your temporal's , but to make your noble usages of me and mine to become , like your other Charities , productive of advantages to the standers by . For although the beams of the Sun reflected from a marble return not home to the body and fountain of light ; yet they that walk below feel the benefit of a doubled heat : so whatever reflexions or returns of your Favours I can make , although they fall short of what your Worth does most reasonably challenge , and can proceed but towards you with forward desires and distant approaches ; yet I am desirous to believe that those who walk between us may receive assistences from this entercourse , and the following Papers may be auxiliary to the enkindling of their Piety , as to the confirming and establishing yours . For although the great Prudence of your most Noble Lord , and the modesties of your own temperate and sweeter dispositions , become the great endearments of Vertue to you ; yet because it is necessary that you make Religion the business of your life , I thought it not an impertinent application , to express my thankfulness to your Honour by that which may best become my duty and my gratitude , because it may do you the greatest service . Madam , I must beg your pardon , that I have opened the sanctuary of your retired Vertues ; but I was obliged to publish the endearments and favours of your Noble Lord and your self towards me and my relatives : For as your hands are so clasp'd , that one Ring is the ligature of them both ; so I have found emanations from that conjuncture of hands with a consent so forward and apt , that nothing can satisfie for my obligations , but by being , in the greatest eminency of thankfulness and humility of person , MADAM , Your Honour 's most obliged and most humble Servant , JER . TAYLOR . TO The Right Honourable and Vertuous Lady , The LADY ALICE Countess of CARBERY . MADAM , BY the Divine Providence , which disposes all things wisely and charitably , you are in the affections of your Noblest Lord Successor to a very dear and most Excellent person , & designed to fill up those offices of Piety to her dear pledges , which the hast which God made to glorify and secure her would not permit her to finish . I have much ado to refrain from telling great stories of her Wisdom , Piety , Judgment , Sweetness , and Religion ; but that it would renew the wound , and make our sins bleed afresh at the memory of that dear Saint : and we hope that much of the storm of the Divine anger is over , because he hath repaired the breach by sending you to go on upon her account , and to give countenance and establishment to all those Graces which were warranted and derived from her example . Madam , the Nobleness of your Family , your Education and your excellent Principles , your fair dispositions & affable Comportment , have not only made all your servants confident of your Worthiness and great Vertues , but have disposed you so highly and necessarily towards an active and a zealous Religion , that we expect it should grow to the height of a great Example ; that you may draw others after you , as the eye follows the light in all the angles of its retirement , or open stages of its publication . In order to this I have chosen your Honour into a new relation , and have endeared you to this instrument of Piety ; that if you will please to do it countenance , and imploy it in your counsels and pious offices , it may minister to your appetites of Religion ; which as they are already fair and prosperous , so they may swell up to a vastness large enough to entertain all the secrets and pleasures of Religion : that so you may add , to the Blessings and Prosperities which already dwell in that Family where you are now fixed , new title to more , upon the stock of all those Promises which have secured and entailed Felicities upon such persons who have no vanities , but very many Vertues . Madam , I could not do you any service but by doing my self this honour , to adorn my Book with this fairest title and inscription of your Name . You may observe , but cannot blame , my ambition ; so long as it is instanced in a religious service , and means nothing but this , that I may signifie how much I honour that Person who is designed to bring new Blessings to that Family which is so Honourable in it self , and for so many reasons dear to me . Madam , upon that account , besides the stock of your own Worthiness , I am Your Honour 's most humble and obedient Servant , JER . TAYLOR . SECT . XIII . Of the Second Year of the Preaching of JESVS . The poole of Bethesda . IOH. 5. 8. 9. Iesus saith unto him Rise take up thy bed and walk and immediately the man was made whol and walked and on the same day was the Sabboath . place this to the third Sunday in Advent . Marie washing CHRISTS feet . IOH. 12. 7 Then said Iesus . let her alone : Against the day of my burying hath she kept this . 8 For the poore alwayes ye haue with you , but me ye haue not alwayes . Monday before Easter . 1. WHEN the First Year of Jesus , the year of Peace and undisturbed Preaching , was expired , there was a Feast of the Jews , and Jesus went up to Jerusalem . This Feast was the second Passeover he kept after he began to preach ; not the Feast of Pentecost or Tabernacles , both which were passed before Jesus came last from Judaea : whither when he was now come , he finds an impotent person lying at the pool of Bethesda , waiting till the Angel should move the waters , after which whosoever first stepped in was cured of his infirmity . The poor man had waited thirty eight years , and still was prevented by some other of the Hospital that needed a Physician . But Jesus seeing him , had pity on him , cured him , and bade him take up his bed and walk . This cure happened to be wrought upon the Sabbath , for which the Jews were so moved with indignation , that they thought to 〈◊〉 him : And their anger was enraged by his calling himself the Son of God , and making himself equal with God. 2. Upon occasion of this offence , which they snatched at before it was ministred , Jesus discourses upon his Mission , and derivation of his authority from the Father ; of the union between them , and the excellent communications of power , participation of dignity , delegation of judicature , reciprocations and reflexions of honour from the Father to the Son , and back again to the Father . He preaches of life and Salvation to them that believe in him ; prophesies of the resurrection of the dead by the efficacy of the voice of the Son of God ; speaks of the day of Judgment , the differing conditions after , of Salvation and Damnation respectively ; confirms his words and mission by the testimony of John the Baptist , of Moses and the other Scriptures , and of God himself . And still the scandal rises higher : for in the second Sabbath after the first , that is , in the first day of unleavened bread , which happened the next day after the weekly Sabbath , the Disciples of Jesus pull ripe 〈◊〉 of corn , rub them in their hands , and eat them to satisfie their hunger : For which he offered satisfaction to their scruples , convincing them , that works of necessity are to be permitted even to the breach of a positive temporary constitution , and that works of Mercy are the best serving of God upon any day whatsoever , or any part of the day that is vacant to other offices , and proper for a religious Festival . 3. But when neither Reason nor Religion would give them satisfaction , but that they went about to kill him , he withdrew himself from Jerusalem , and returned to Galilee ; whither the Scribes and Pharisees followed him , observing his actions , and whether or no he would prosecute that which they called profanation of their Sabbath , by doing acts of Mercy upon that day . He still did so . For entring into one of the Synagogues of Galilee upon the Sabbath , Jesus saw a man ( whom S. Hierom reports to have been a Mason ) coming to Tyre , and complaining that his hand was withered , and desiring help of him , that he might again be restored to the use of his hands , lest he should be compelled with misery and shame to beg his bread . Jesus restored his hand as whole as the other in the midst of all those spies and enemies . Upon which act , being confirmed in their malice , the Pharisees went forth , and joyned with the Herodians , ( a Sect of people who said Herod was the Messias , because by the decree of the Roman Senate , when the Sceptre departed from Judah , * he was declared King ) and both together took counsel how they might kill him . 4. Jesus therefore departed again to the sea-coast , and his companies encreased as his fame , for he was now followed by new multitudes from Galilee , from Judaea , from Jerusalem , from Idumaea , 〈◊〉 beyond Jordan , from about Tyre and Sidon ; who , hearing the report of his miraculous power to cure all diseases by the word of his mouth , or the touch of his hand , or the handling his garment , came with their ambulatory hospital of sick and their possessed ; and they pressed on him , but to touch him , and were all immediately cured . The Devils confessing publickly , that he was the Son of God , till they were upon all such occasions restrained , and compelled to silence . 5. But now Jesus having commanded a ship to be in readiness against any inconvenience or troublesome pressures of the multitude , went up into a mountain to pray , and continued in prayer all night , intending to make the first ordination of Apostles : which the next day he did , chusing out of the number of his Disciples these * twelve to be Apostles ; Simon Peter and Andrew , James and John , the sons of thunder , Philip and Bartholomew , Matthew and Thomas , James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zelot , Judas the brother of James and Judas 〈◊〉 . With these descending from the mountain to the plain , he repeated the same Sermon , or much of it , which he had before preached in the first beginning of his Prophesyings ; that he might publish his Gospel to these new Auditors , and also more particularly inform his Apostles in the Doctrine of the Kingdom : for now , because he saw Israel scattered like sheep having no Shepherd , he did purpose to send these twelve abroad to preach Repentance and the approximation of the Kingdom ; and therefore first instructed them in the mysterious parts of his holy Doctrine , and gave them also particular instructions together with their temporary commission for that journey . 6. For Jesus sent them out by two and two , giving them power over unclean spirits , and to heal all manner of sickness and diseases ; telling them they were the light , and the eyes , and the salt of the world , so intimating their duties of diligence , holiness , and incorruption ; giving them in charge to preach the Gospel , to dispense their power and Miracles freely , as they had received it , to anoint sick persons with oil , not to enter into any Samaritan Town , but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel , to provide no viaticum for their journeys , but to put themselves upon the Religion and Piety of their Proselytes : he arms them against persecutions , gives them leave to slye the storm from City to City , promises them the assistances of his Spirit , encourages them by his own example of long-sufferance , and by instances of Divine providence expressed even to creatures of smallest value , and by promise of great rewards , to the confident confession of his Name ; and furnishes them with some propositions , which are like so many bills of exchange , upon the trust of which they might take up necessaries ; promising great retributions not only to them who quit any thing of value for the sake of Jesus , but to them that offer a cup of water to a thirsty Disciple . ] And with these instructions they departed to preach in the Cities . 7. And Jesus returning to Capernaum received the address of a faithful Centurion of the Legion called the Iron Legion ( which usually quartered in Judaea ) in behalf of his servant , whom he loved , and who was grievously afflicted with the Palsie ; and healed him , as a reward and honour to his Faith. And from thence going to the City Naim , he raised to life the only son of a widow , whom the mourners followed in the street , bearing the corps sadly to his funeral . Upon the fame of these and divers other Miracles John the Baptist , who was still in prison , ( for he was not put to death till the latter end of this year ) sent two of his Disciples to him by divine providence , or else by John's designation , to minister occasion of his greater publication , enquiring if he was the Messias . To whom Jesus returned no answer , but a Demonstration taken from the nature of the thing , and the glory of the Miracles , saying , Return to John and tell him what ye see ; for the deaf hear , the blind see , the lame walk , the dead are raised , and the lepers are cleansed , and to the poor the Gospel is preached : which were the Characteristick notes of the Messias , according to the predictions of the holy Prophets . 6. When John's Disciples were gone with this answer , Jesus began to speak concerning John , of the austerity and holiness of his person , the greatness of his function , the Divinity of his commission , saying , that he was greater than a Prophet , a burning and shining light , the Elias that was to come , and the consummation or ending of the old Prophets : Adding withall , that the perverseness of that Age was most notorious in the entertainment of himself and the Baptist : for neither could the Baptist , who came neither eating nor drinking , ( that by his austerity and mortified deportment he might invade the judgment and affections of the people ) nor Jesus , who came both eating and drinking , ( that by a moderate and an affable life framed to the compliance and common use of men he might sweetly insinuate into the affections of the multitude ) obtain belief amongst them . They could object against every thing , but nothing could please them . But wisdom & righteousness had a theatre in its own family , and is justified of all her children . Then he proceeds to a more applied reprehension of Capernaum and Chorazin and Bethsaida , for being pertinacious in their sins and infidelity , in defiance and reproof of all the mighty works which had been wrought in them . But these things were not revealed to all dispositions ; the wife and the mighty of the world were not subjects prepared for the simplicity and softer impresses of the Gospel , and the down-right severity of its Sanctions . And therefore Jesus glorified God for the magnifying of his mercy , in that these things which were hid from the great ones were revealed to babes ; and concludes this Sermon with an invitation of all wearied and disconsolate persons , loaded with sin and misery , to come to him , promising ease to their burthens , and refreshment to their weariness , and to exchange their heavy pressures into an easie yoke , and a light burthen . 9. When Jesus had ended this Sermon , one of the Pharisees , named Simon , invited him to eat with him ; into whose house when he was entred , a certain woman that was a sinner , abiding there in the City , heard of it ; her name was Mary : she had been married to a noble personage , a native of the Town and Castle of Magdal , from whence she had her name of Magdalen , though she her self was born in Bethany ; a widow she was , and prompted by her wealth , liberty and youth to an intemperate life , and too free entertainments . She came to Jesus into the Pharisee's house : not ( as did the staring multitude ) to glut her eyes with the sight of a miraculous and glorious person ; nor ( as did the Centurion , or the 〈◊〉 , or the Ruler of the Synagogue ) for cure of her sickness , or in behalf of her friend , or child , or servant ; but ( the only example of so coming ) she came in remorse and regret for her sins , 〈◊〉 came to Jesus to lay her burthen at his feet , and to present him with a broken heart , and a weeping eye , and great affection , and a box of Nard Pistick , salutary and precious . For she came trembling , and fell down before him , weeping bitterly for her sins , pouring out a 〈◊〉 great enough to wash the feet of the Blessed Jesus , and wiping them with the hairs of her head ; after which she brake the box , and anointed his feet with ointment . Which expression was so great an ecstasie of love , sorrow and adoration , that to anoint the feet even of the greatest Monarch was long unknown , and in all the pomps and greatnesses of the Roman Prodigality it was not used till Otho taught it to Nero ; in whose instance it was by Pliny reckoned for a prodigy of unnecessary profusion , and in it self , without the circumstance of 〈◊〉 free a dispensation , it was a present for a Prince , and an Alabaster-box of Nard Pistick was sent as a present from 〈◊〉 to the King of Ethiopia . 10. When Simon observed this sinner so busie in the expresses of her Religion and 〈◊〉 to Jesus , he thought with himself that this was no Prophet , that did not know her to be a sinner , or no just person , that would suffer her to touch him . For although the Jews Religion did permit Harlots of their own Nation to live , and enjoy the priviledges of their Nation , save that their Oblations were refused : yet the Pharisees , who pretended to a greater degree of Sanctity than others , would not admit them to civil 〈◊〉 , or the benefits of ordinary society ; and thought Religion it self and the honour of a Prophet was concerned in the interests of the same superciliousness : and therefore Simon made an objection within himself . Which Jesus knowing , ( for he understood his thoughts as well as his words ) made her Apology and his own in a civil question expressed in a Parable of two Debtors , to whom a greater and a less debt respectively was forgiven ; both of them concluding , that they would love their merciful Creditor in proportion to his mercy and donative : and this was the case of Mary Magdalen , to whom because much was forgiven , she loved much , and expressed it in characters so large , that the Pharisee might read his own incivilities and inhospitable entertainment of the Master , when it stood confronted with the magnificency of Mary Magdalen's penance and charity . 11. When Jesus had dined , he was presented with the sad sight of a poor Demoniack possessed with a blind and a dumb Devil , in whose behalf his friends intreated Jesus , that he would cast the Devil out ; which he did immediately , and the blind man saw , and the dumb spake , so much to the amazement of the people , that they ran in so prodigious companies after him , and so scandalized the Pharisees , who thought that by means of this Prophet their reputation would be lessened and their Schools empty , that first a rumour was scattered up and down from an uncertain principle , but communicated with tumult and apparent noises , that Jesus was beside himself . Upon which rumour his friends and kindred came together to see , and to make provisions accordingly ; and the holy Virgin-mother came her self , but without any apprehensions of any such horrid accident . The words and things she had from the beginning laid up in her heart would furnish her with principles exclusive of all apparitions of such fancies ; but she came to see what that persecution was which , under that colour , it was likely the Pharisees might commence . 12. When the Mother of Jesus and his kindred came , they found him in a house , encircled with people , full of wonder and admiration : And there the holy Virgin-mother might hear part of her own Prophecy verified , that the generations of the earth should call her blessed ; for a woman worshipping Jesus cried out , Blessed is the womb that bare thee , and the paps that gave thee suck . To this Jesus replied , not denying her to be highly blessed who had received the honour of being the Mother of the Messias , but advancing the dignities of spiritual excellencies far above this greatest temporal honour in the world ; Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God , and do it . For in respect of the issues of spiritual perfections and their proportionable benedictions , all immunities and temporal honours are empty and hollow blessings ; and all relations of kindred disband and empty themselves into the greater chanels and flouds of Divinity . 13. For when Jesus being in the house , they told him his Mother and his Brethren staid for him without ; he told them , those relations were less than the ties of Duty and Religion : For those dear names of Mother and Brethren , which are hallowed by the laws of God and the endearments of Nature , are made far more sacred when a spiritual cognation does supervene , when the relations are subjected in persons religious and holy : but if they be abstract and separate , the conjunction of persons in spiritual bands , in the same Faith , and the same Hope , and the union of them in the same mystical Head , is an adunation nearer to identity than those distances between Parents and Children , which are only cemented by the actions of Nature as it is of distinct consideration from the spirit . For Jesus pointing to his Disciples said , Behold my Mother and my Brethren ; for whosoever doth the will of my Father which is in heaven , he is my Brother , and Sister , and Mother . 14. But the Pharisees upon the occasion of the Miracles renewed the old quarrel ; He casteth out Devils by Beelzebub . Which senseless and illiterate objection Christ having confuted , charged them highly upon the guilt of an unpardonable crime , telling them , that the so charging those actions of his done in the virtue of the Divine Spirit , is a sin against the Holy Ghost : and however they might be bold with the Son of Man , and prevarications against his words or injuries to his person might upon Repentance and Baptism find a pardon ; yet it was a matter of greater consideration to sin against the Holy Ghost ; that would find no pardon here , nor hereafter . But taking occasion upon this discourse , he by an ingenious and mysterious Parable gives the world great caution of recidivation and backsliding after Repentance . For if the Devil returns into a house once swept and garnished , he bringeth seven spirits more impure than himself ; and the last estate of that man is worse than the first . 15. After this , Jesus went from the house of the Pharisee , and , coming to the Sea of Tiberias or Genezareth , ( for it was called the Sea of Tiberias from a Town on the banks of the Lake ) taught the people upon the shore , himself sitting in the ship ; but he taught them by Parables , under which were hid mysterious senses , which shined through their veil like a bright Sun through an eye closed with a thin eye-lid ; it being light enough to shew their infidelity , but not to dispell those thick Egyptian darknesses which they had contracted by their habitual indispositions and pertinacious aversations . By the Parable of the Sower scattering his seed by the way side , and some on stony , some on thorny , some on good ground , he intimated the several capacities or indispositions of mens hearts , the carelesness of some , the frowardness and levity of others , the easiness and softness of a third , and how they are spoiled with worldliness and cares , and how many ways there are to miscarry , and that but one sort of men receive the word , and bring forth the fruits of a holy life . By the Parable of Tares permitted to grow amongst the Wheat , he intimated the toleration of dissenting Opinions not destructive of Piety or civil societies . By the three Parables of the Seed growing insensibly , of the grain of Mustard-seed swelling up to a tree , of a little Leven qualifying the whole lump , he signified the increment of the Gospel , and the blessings upon the Apostolical Sermons . 16. Which Parables when he had privately to his Apostles rendred into their proper senses , he added to them two Parables concerning the dignity of the Gospel , comparing it to Treasure hid in a field , and a Jewel of great price , for the purchace of which every good Merchant must quit all that he hath rather than miss it : telling them withall , that however purity and spiritual perfections were intended by the Gospel , yet it would not be acquired by every person ; but the publick Professors of Christianity should be a mixt multitude , like a net inclosing fishes good and bad . After which discourses he retired from the Sea side , and went to his own City of Nazareth ; where he preached so excellently upon certain words of the Prophet * 〈◊〉 , that all the people wondred at the wisdom which he expressed in his Divine discourses . But the men of Nazareth did not do honour to the Prophet , that was their Countryman , because they knew him in all the disadvantages of youth , and kindred , and trade , and poverty , still retaining in their minds the infirmities and humilities of his first years , and keeping the same apprehensions of him a man and a glorious Prophet , which they had to him a child in the shop of a Carpenter . But when Jesus in his Sermon had reproved their infidelity , at which he wondred , and therefore did but few Miracles there in respect of what he had done at Capernaum , and intimated the prelation of that City before 〈◊〉 , they thrust him out of the City , and led him to the brow of the hill on which the City was built , intending to throw him down headlong . But his work was not yet finished , therefore he passing through the midst of them went his way . 17. Jesus therefore departing from Nazareth went up and down to all the Towns and Castles of Galilce , attended by his Disciples , and certain women out of whom he had cast unclean spirits ; such as were Mary Magdalen , Johanna wife to Chuza Herod's Steward , Susanna , and some others , who did for him offices of provision , and ministred to him out of their own substance , and became parts of that holy Colledge which about this time began to be 〈◊〉 ; because now the Apostles were returned from their Preaching , full of joy that the Devils were made subject to the word of their mouth , and the Empire of their Prayers , and invocation of the holy Name of Jesus . But their Master gave them a lenitive to asswage the tumour and excrescency , intimating that such priviledges are not solid foundations of a holy joy ; but so far as they cooperate toward the great end of God's glory and their own Salvation , to which when they are consigned , and their names written in Heaven , in the book of Election and Registers of Predestination , then their joy is reasonable , holy , true , and perpetual . 18. But when Herod had heard these things of Jesus , presently his apprehensions were such as derived from his guilt , he thought it was John the Baptist who was risen from the dead , and that these mighty works were demonstrations of his power , increased by the superadditions of immortality and diviner influences made proportionable to the honour of a Martyr , and the state of separation . For a little before this time Herod had sent to the Castle of Macheruns , where John was prisoner , and caused him to be beheaded . His head Herodias buried in her own Palace , thinking to secure it against a re-union , lest it should again disturb her unlawful Lusts , and disquiet Herod's conscience . But the body the Disciples of John gathered up , and carried it with honour and sorrow , and buried it in Sebaste , in the confines of Samaria , making his grave between the bodies of 〈◊〉 and Abdias the Prophets . And about this time was the Passeover of the Jews . DISCOURSE XV. Of the Excellency , Ease , Reasonableness and Advantages of bearing Christ ' s Yoke , and living according to his Institution . Ecce agnus Dei gui to●lit peccata Mundi Iohn . 1. 29. Behold the lamb of God , which taketh away the sin of the World. The Christian's Work and Reward . Matth. 11. 29 , 30. Take my yoke upon you , & learn of me . For my yoke is easie & my burthen is light . Revel . 2 , 10. Be thou faithful unto death , and I will give thee a crown of life . 1 Cor. 9. 24 , 25. So run that ye may obtain . Every man that striueth for y e mastery is temperate in all things : now they do it to obtain a corrupible crown , but we an incorruptible . THE Holy Jesus came to break from off our necks two great yokes ; the one of Sin , by which we were fettered and imprisoned in the condition of slaves and miserable persons ; the other of Moses's Law , by which we were kept in pupillage and minority , and a state of Imperfection : and asserted us into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The first was a Despotick Empire , and the Government of a Tyrant : the second was of a School-master , severe , absolute and imperious , but it was in order to a farther good , yet nothing pleasant in the sufferance and load . And now Christ having taken off these two , hath put on a third . He quits us of our Burthen , but not of our Duty ; and hath changed the former Tyranny and the less-perfect Discipline into the sweetness of paternal regiment , and the excellency of such an Institution whose every Precept carries part of its reward in hand , and assurances of after-glories . Moses's Law was like sharp and unpleasant Physick , certainly painful , but uncertainly healthful . For it was not then communicated to them by promise and universal revelations , that the end of their Obedience should be Life eternal : but they were full of hopes it might be so , as we are of health when we have a learned and wise Physician . But as yet the Reward was in a cloud , and the hopes in fetters and confinement . But the Law of Christ is like Christ's healing of diseases ; he does it easily , and he does it infallibly . The event is certainly consequent , and the manner of cure is by a touch of his hand , or a word of his mouth , or an approximation to the hem of his garment , without pain and vexatious instruments . My meaning is , that Christianity is by the assistance of Christ's spirit , which he promised us and gave us in the Gospel , made very easie to us : And yet a reward so great is promised , as were enough to make a lame man to walk , and a broken arm endure the burthen ; a reward great enough to make us willing to do violence to all our inclinations , passions , and desires . A hundred weight to a giant is a light burthen , because his strength is disproportionably great , and makes it as easie to him as an ounce is to a child . And yet if we had not the strength of giants , if the hundred weight were of Gold or Jewels , a weaker person would think it no trouble to bear that burthen , if it were the reward of his portage and the hire of his labours . The Spirit is given to us to enable us , and Heaven is promised to encourage us ; the first makes us able , and the second makes us willing : and when we have power and affections , we cannot complain of pressure . And this is the meaning of our Blessed Saviour's invitation ; Come to me , for my burthen is light , my 〈◊〉 is easie : which S. John also observed , For this is the love of God , that we keep his Commandments ; and his Commandments are not grievous . For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world ; and this is the victory that overcometh , even our Faith : that is , our belief of God's promises , the promise of the Spirit for present aid , and of Heaven for the future reward , is strength enough to overcome all the world . 2. But besides that God hath made his yoke easie by exteriour supports more than ever was in any other Religion ; Christianity is of it self , according to humane estimate , a Religion more easie and desirable by our natural and reasonable appetites , than Sin in the midst of all its pleasures and imaginary felicities . Vertue hath more pleasure in it than Sin , and hath all satisfactions to every desire of man in order to humane and prudent ends ; which I shall represent in the consideration of these particulars . 〈◊〉 To live according to the Laws of Jesus is in some things most natural and proportionable to the desires and first intentions of Nature . 2. There is in it less trouble than in Sin. 3. It conduces infinitely to the content of our lives , and natural and political satisfactions . 4. It is a means to preserve our temporal lives long and healthy . 5. It is most reasonable ; and he only is prudent that does so , and he a fool that does not . And all this besides the considerations of a glorious and happy Eternity . 3. Concerning the First I consider , that we do very ill when , in stead of making our Natural infirmity an instrument of Humility , and of recourse to the grace of God , we pretend the sin of Adam to countenance our actual sins , natural infirmity to excuse our malice ; either laying Adam in fault for deriving the disability upon us , or God , for putting us into the necessity . But the 〈◊〉 that we feel in this are from the rebellion of the inferiour Appetite against Reason , or against any Religion that puts restraint upon our first desires , And therefore in carnal and sensual instances accidentally we 〈◊〉 the more natural averseness , because God's Laws have put our irascible and concupiscible faculties in fetters and restraints ; yet in matters of duty , which are of immaterial and spiritual concernment , all our natural reason is a perfect enemy and contradiction to , and a Law against , Vice. It is natural for us to love our Parents , and they who do not are unnatural ; they do violence to those dispositions which God gave us to the constitution of our Nature , and for the designs of Vertue : and all those tendernesses of affection , those bowels and relenting dispositions , which are the endearments of Parents and Children , are also the bands of duty . Every degree of love makes duty delectable : and therefore either by nature we are inclined to hate our Parents , which is against all reason and experience ; or else we are by nature enclined to do to them all that which is the effect of love to such Superiours and principles of being and dependency : and every prevarication from the rule , effects and expresses of love , is a contradiction to Nature , and a mortification ; to which we cannot be invited by any thing from within , but by something from without , that is violent and preternatural . There are also many other vertues even in the matter of sensual appetite which none can lose , but by altering in some degree the natural disposition . And I instance in the matter of Carnality and Uncleanness , to which possibly some natures may think themselves apt and disposed : but yet God hath put into our mouths a bridle to curb the licentiousness of our speedy appetite , putting into our very natures a principle as strong to restrain it as there is in us a disposition apt to invite us ; and this is also in persons who are most apt to the vice , women and young persons , to whom God hath given a modesty and shame of nature , that the entertainments of Lusts may become contradictions to our retreating and backward modesty , more than they are satisfactions to our too-forward appetites . It is as great a mortification and violence to nature to blush , as to lose a desire ; and we find it true , when persons are invited to confess their sins , or to ask forgiveness publickly , a secret smart is not so violent as a publick shame : and therefore to do an action which brings shame all along , and opens the Sanctuaries of nature , and makes all her retirements publick , and dismantles her inclosure , as Lust does , and the shame of carnality , hath in it more asperity and abuse to nature , than the short pleasure to which we are invited can repay . There are unnatural Lusts , Lusts which are such in their very condition and constitution , that a man must turn a woman , and a woman become a beast in acting them ; and all Lusts that are not unnatural in their own complexion , are unnatural by a consequent and accidental violence . And if Lust hath in it dissonancies to Nature , there are but few apologies 〈◊〉 to excuse our sins upon Nature's stock : and all that systeme of principles and reasonable inducements to Vertue , which we call the Law of Nature , is nothing else but that firm ligature and incorporation of Vertue to our natural principles and dispositions , which whoso prevaricates does more against Nature than he that restrains his appetite . And besides these particulars , there is not in our natural discourse any inclination directly and by intention of it self contrary to the love of God , because by God we understand that Fountain of Being which is infinitely perfect in it self , and of great good to us ; and whatsoever is so apprehended , it is as natural for us to love , as to love any thing in the world ; for we can love nothing but what we believe to be good in it self , or good to us . And beyond this , there are in Nature many principles and reasons to make an aptness to acknowledge and confess God ; and by the consent of Nations , which they also have learned from the dictates of their Nature , all men in some manner or other worship God. And therefore when this our Nature is determined in its own indefinite principle to the manner of worship , all acts against the Love , the Obedience and the Worship of God , are also against Nature , and offer it some rudeness and violence . And I shall observe this , and refer it to every man's reason and experience , that the great difficulties of Vertue commonly apprehended commence not so much upon the stook of Nature , as of * Education and evil Habits . Our Vertues are difficult , because we at first get ill Habits ; and these Habits must be unrooted before we do well : and that 's our trouble . But if by the strictness of Discipline and wholsome Education we begin at first in our duty and the practice of vertuous principles , we shall find Vertue made as natural to us , while it is customary and habitual , as we pretend infirmity to be and propensity to vicious practices . And this we are taught by that excellent Hebrew who said , Wisdom is easily seen of them that love her , and found of such as seek her : She preventeth them that desire her , in making her self first known unto them . Whoso seeketh her early shall have no great travel ; for he shall find her sitting at his doors . 4. Secondly , In the strict observances of the Law of Christianity there is less Trouble than in the habitual courses of sin . For if we consider the general design of Christianity , it propounds to us in this world nothing that is of difficult purchase , nothing beyond what God allots us by the ordinary and common Providence , such things which we are to receive without care and solicitous vexation : So that the Ends are not big , and the Way is easie ; and this walk'd over with much simplicity and sweetness , and those obtained without difficulty . He that propounds to himself to live low , pious , humble , and retired , his main imployment is nothing but sitting quiet , and undisturbed with variety of impertinent affairs : But he that loves the World and its acquisitions entertains a thousand businesses , and every business hath a world of employment , and every employment is multiplied and made intricate by circumstances , and every circumstance is to be disputed , and he that disputes ever hath two sides in enmity and opposition ; and by this time there is a genealogy , a long descent and cognation of troubles , branched into so many particulars , that it is troublesome to understand them , and much more to run through them . The ways of Vertue are very much upon the defensive , and the work one , uniform and little ; they are like war within a strong Castle , if they stand upon their guard , they seldom need to strike a stroak . But a Vice is like storming of a Fort , full of noise , trouble , labour , danger , and disease . How easie a thing is it to restore the pledge ? but if a man means to defeat him that trusted him , what a world of arts must he use to make pretences ? to delay first , then to excuse , then to object , then to intricate the business , next to quarrel , then to forswear it , and all the way to palliate his crime , and represent himself honest ? And if an oppressing and greedy person have a design to cozen a young Heir , or to get his neighbour's land , the cares of every day and the interruptions of every night's sleep are more than the purchase is worth ; since he might buy Vertue at half that watching , and the less painful care of a fewer number of days . A plain story is soonest told , and best confutes an intricate Lie. And when a person is examined in judgment , one false answer asks more wit for its support and maintenance than a History of truth . And such persons are put to so many shameful retreats , false colours , Fucus's and dawbings with untempered morter , to avoid contradiction or discovery , that the labour of a false story seems in the order of things to be designed the beginning of its punishment . And if we consider how great a part of our Religion consists in Prayer , and how easie a thing God requires of us when he commands us to pray for blessings , the duty of a Christian cannot seem very troublesome . 5. And indeed I can cardly instance in any Vice but there is visibly more pain in the order of acting and observing it , than in the acquist or promotion of Vertue . I have seen drunken persons in their seas of drink and talk dread every cup as a blow , and they have used devices and private arts to escape the punishment of a full draught ; and the poor wretch being condemned by the laws of Drinking to his measure , was forced and haled to execution , and he suffered it , and thought himself engaged to that person who with much kindness and importunity invited him to a Fever : but certainly there was more pain in it than in the strictness of holy and severe Temperance . And he that shall compare the troubles and dangers of an ambitious War with the gentleness and easiness of Peace , will soon perceive that every Tyrant and usurping Prince , that snatches at his neighbour's rights , hath two armies , one of men , and the other of cares . Peace sheds no bloud , but of the pruned vine ; and hath no business , but modest and quiet entertainments of the time , opportune for Piety , and circled with reward . But God often punishes Ambition and Pride with Lust ; and he sent a thorn in the flesh as a corrective to the elevations and grandezza of S. Paul , growing up from the multitude of his Revelations : and it is not likely the punishment should have less trouble than the crime , whose pleasures and obliquity this was designed to punish . And indeed every experience can verifie , that an Adulterer hath in him the impatience of desires , the burnings of lust , the fear of shame , the apprehensions of a jealous , abused , and an inraged Husband . He endures affronts , mistimings , tedious waitings , the dulness of delay , the regret of interruption , the confusion and amazements of discovery , the scorn of a reproached vice , the debasings of contempt upon it ; unless the man grows impudent , and then he is more miserable upon another stock . But David was so put to it to attempt , to obtain , to enjoy Bathsheba , and to prevent the shame of it , that the difficulty was greater than all his wit and power , and it drove him into base and unworthy arts , which discovered him the more , and multiplied his crime . But while he enjoyed the innocent pleasures of his lawful bed , he had no more trouble in it than there was in inclining his head upon his pillow . The ways of sin are crooked , desert , rocky and uneven : they are broad indeed , and there is variety of ruines , and allurements to entice fools , and a large theatre to act the bloudy tragedies of Souls upon ; but they are nothing smooth , or safe , or delicate . The ways of Vertue are streight , but not crooked ; narrow , but not unpleasant . There are two Vices for one Vertue ; and therefore the way to Hell must needs be of greater extent , latitude and dissemination : But because Vertue is but one way , therefore it is easie , regular , and apt to walk in without error or diversions . Narrow is the gate , and streight is the way . It is true , considering our evil customs and depraved natures , by which we have made it so to us . But God hath made it more passable by his grace and present aids ; and S. John Baptist receiving his Commission to preach Repentance , it was expressed in these words , Make plain the paths of the Lord. Indeed Repentance is a rough and a sharp vertue , and like a mattock and spade breaks away all the roughnesses of the passage , and hinderances of sin : but when we enter into the dispositions which Christ hath designed to us , the way is more plain and easie than the ways of Death and Hell. Labour it hath in it , just as all things that are excellent ; but no confusions , no distractions of thought , no amazements , no labyrinths , and intricacy of counsels : But it is like the labours of Agriculture , full of health and simplicity , plain and profitable , requiring diligence , but such in which crafts and painful stratagems are useless and impertinent . But Vice hath oftentimes so troublesome a retinue , and so many objections in the event of things , is so intangled in difficult and contradictory circumstances , hath in it parts so opposite to each other , and 〈◊〉 inconsistent with the present condition of the man , or some secret design of his , that those little pleasures which are its Fucus and pretence are less perceived and least enjoyed , while they begin in phantastick semblances , and rise up in smoak , vain and hurtful , and end in dissatisfaction . 6. But it is considerable , that God , and the Sinner , and the Devil , all joyn in increasing the difficulty and trouble of sin , upon contrary designs indeed , but all cooperate to the verification of this discourse . For God by his restraining grace , and the checks of a tender Conscience , and the bands of publick honesty , and the sense of honour and reputation , and the customs of Nations , and the severities of Laws , makes that in most men the choice of Vice is imperfect , dubious and troublesome , and the pleasures abated , and the apprehensions various and in differing degrees ; and men act their crimes while they are disputing against them , and the balance is cast by a few grains , and scruples vex and disquiet the possession ; and the difference is perceived to be so little , that inconsideration and inadvertency is the greatest means to determine many men to the entertainment of a sin . And this God does with a design to lessen our choice , and to disabuse our perswasions from arguments and weak pretences of Vice , and to invite us to the trials of Vertue , when we see its enemy giving us so ill conditions . And yet the Sinner himself makes the business of sin greater ; for its nature is so loathsome , and its pleasure so little , and its promises so unperformed , that when it lies open , easie and apt to be discerned , there is no argument in it ready to invite us ; and men hate a vice which is every day offered and prostitute , and when they seek for pleasure , unless difficulty presents it , as there is nothing in it really to perswade a choice , so there is nothing strong or witty enough to abuse a man. And to this purpose ( amongst some others , which are malicious and crafty ) the Devil gives assistance , knowing that men despise what is cheap and common , and suspect a latent excellency to be in difficult and forbidden objects : and therefore the Devil sometimes crosses an opportunity of sin , knowing that the desire is the iniquity , and does his work sufficiently ; and yet the crossing the desire by impeding the act heightens the appetite , and makes it more violent and impatient . But by all these means sin is made more troublesome than the pleasures of the temptation can account for : and it will be a strange imprudence to leave Vertue upon pretence of its difficulty , when for that very reason we the rather entertain the instances of sin , despising a cheap sin and a costly Vertue ; chusing to walk through the brambles of a Desart , rather than to climb the fruit-trees of Paradise . 7. Thirdly , Vertue conduces infinitely to the Content of our lives , to secular felicities , and political satisfactions ; and Vice does the quite contrary . For the blessings of this life are these that make it happy , Peace and quietness , Content and satisfaction of desires , Riches , Love of friends and neighbours , Honour and reputation abroad , a Healthful body , and a long Life . This last is a distinct consideration , but the other are proper to this title . For the first it is certain , Peace was so designed by the Holy Jesus , that he framed all his Laws in compliance to that design . He that returns good for evil , a soft answer to the asperity of his enemy , kindness to injuries , lessons the contention always , and sometimes gets a friend , and when he does not , he shames his enemy . Every little accident in a family to peevish and angry persons is the matter of a quarrel , and every quarrel discomposes the peace of the house , and sets it on fire , and no man can tell how far that may burn , it may be to a dissolution of the whole fabrick . But whosoever obeys the Laws of Jesus , bears with the infirmities of his relatives and society , seeks with sweetness to remedy what is ill , and to prevent what it may produce , and throws water upon a spark , and lives sweetly with his wife , affectionately with his children , providently and discreetly with his servants ; and they all love the Major-domo , and look upon him as their Parent , their Guardian , their Friend , their Patron , their Proveditore . But look upon a person angry , peaceless and disturbed , when he enters upon his threshold , it gives an alarm to his house , and puts them to flight , or upon their defence ; and the Wife reckons the joy of her day is done , when he returns ; and the Children enquire into their Father's age , and think his life tedious ; and the Servants curse privately , and do their service as slaves do , only when they dare not do otherwise ; and they serve him as they serve a Lion , they obey his strength , and fear his cruelty , and despise his manners , and hate his person . No man enjoys content in his family but he that is peaceful and charitable , just and loving , forbearing and forgiving , careful and provident . He that is not so , his house may be his Castle , but it is manned by enemies ; his house is built , not upon the sand , but upon the waves , and upon a tempest : the foundation is uncertain , but his ruine is not so . 8. And if we extend the relations of the man beyond his own walls , he that does his duty to his Neighbour , that is , all offices of kindness , gentleness and humanity , nothing of injury and affront , is certain never to meet with a wrong so great as is the inconvenience of a Law-suit , or the contention of neighbours , and all the consequent dangers and inconvenience . Kindness will create and invite kindness ; an injury provokes an injury . And since the love of Neighbours is one of those beauties which Solomon did admire , and that this beauty is within the combination of precious things which adorn and reward a peaceable , charitable disposition ; he that is in love with spiritual excellencies , with intellectual rectitudes , with peace and with blessings of society , knows they grow amongst rose bushes of Vertue and holy obedience to the Laws of Jesus . And for a good man some will even dare to die , and a sweet and charitable disposition is received with fondness , and all the endearments of the Neighbourhood . He that observes how many families are ruined by contention , and how many spirits are broken by the care , and contumely , and fear , and spite , which are entertained as advocates to promote a Suit of Law , will soon confess that a great loss , and peaceable quitting of a considerable interest , is a purchace and a gain , in respect of a long Suit and a vexatious quarrel . And still if the proportion rises higher , the reason swells , and grows more necessary and determinate . For if we would live according to the Discipline of Christian Religion , one of the great plagues which vex the world would be no more . That there should be no wars , was one of the designs of Christianity ; and the living according to that Institution which is able to prevent all wars , and to establish an universal and eternal peace , when it is obeyed , is the using an infallible instrument toward that part of our political happiness which consists in Peace . This world would be an image of Heaven , if all men were charitable , peaceable , just , and loving . To this excellency all those precepts of Christ which consist in forbearance and forgiveness do cooperate . 9. But the next instance of the reward of holy Obedience and conformity to Christ's Laws is it self a Duty , and needs no more but a mere repetition of it . We must be content in every state ; and because Christianity teaches us this lesson , it teaches us to be happy : for nothing from without can make us 〈◊〉 , unless we joyn our own consents to it , and apprehend it such , and entertain it in our sad and melancholick retirements . A Prison is but a retirement , and opportunity of serious thoughts , to a person whose spirit is confined , and apt to sit still , and desires no enlargement beyond the cancels of the body , till the state of Separation calls it forth into a fair liberty . But every retirement is a prison to a loose and wandring fancy , for whose wildness no 〈◊〉 are restraint , no band of duty is consinement , who , when he hath broken the first hedge of duty , can never after endure any enclosure so much as in a Symbol . But this Precept is so necessary , that it is not more a duty than a rule of prudence , and in many accidents of our lives it is the only cure of sadness : for it is certain that no providence less than divine can prevent evil and cross accidents ; but that is an excellent remedy to the evil that receives the accident within its power , and takes out the sting , paring the nails , and drawing the teeth of the wild beast , that it may be tame , or harmless and medicinal . For all Content consists in the proportion of the object to the appetite : and because external accidents are not in our power , and it were nothing excellent that things happened to us according to our first desires ; God hath by his grace put it into our own power to make the happiness , by making our desires descend to the event , and comply with the chance , and combine with all the issues of Divine Providence . And then we are noble persons , when we borrow not our content from things below us , but make our satisfactions from * within . And it may be considered , that every little care may disquiet us , and may increase it self by reflexion upon its own acts , and every discontent may discompose our spirits , and put an edge , and make afflictions poynant , but cannot take off one from us , but makes every one to be two . But Content removes not the accident , but complies with it , it takes away the sharpness and displeasure of it , and by stooping down makes the lowest equal , proportionable , and commensurate . Impatience makes an Ague to be a Fever , and every Fever to be a Calenture , and that Calenture may expire in Madness : But a quiet spirit is a great disposition to health , and for the present does alleviate the sickness . And this also is notorious in the instance of Covetousness . The love of money is the root of all evil , which while some have coveted after , they have pierced themselves with many sorrows . Vice makes poor , and does ill endure it . 10. For he that in the School of Christ hath learned to determine his desires when his needs are served , and to judge of his needs by the proportions of nature , hath nothing wanting towards Riches . Vertue makes Poverty become rich , and no Riches can satisfie a covetous mind , or rescue him from the affliction of the worst kind of Poverty . He only wants that is not satisfied . And there is great infelicity in a Family where Poverty dwells with discontent : There the Husband and Wife quarrel for want of a full table and a rich wardrobe ; and their love , that was built upon false arches , sinks when such temporary supporters are removed ; they are like two Milstones , which set the Mill on fire when they want corn : and then their combinations and society were unions of Lust , or not supported with religious love . But we may easily suppose S. Joseph and the Holy Virgin-Mother in Egypt poor as hunger , forsaken as banishment , disconsolate as strangers ; and yet their present lot gave them no afflicton , because the Angel fed them with a necessary hospitality , and their desires were no larger than their tables , and their eyes look'd only upwards , and they were careless of the future , and careful of their duty , and so made their life pleasant by the measures and discourses of Divine Philosophy . When Elisha stretched himself upon the body of the child , and laid hands to hands , and applied mouth to mouth , and so shrunk himself into the posture of commensuration with the child , he brought life into the dead trunk : and so may we , by applying our spirits to the proportions of a narrow fortune , bring life and vivacity into our dead and lost condition , and make it live till it grows bigger , or else returns to health and salutary uses . 11. And besides this Philosophical extraction of gold from stones , and Riches from the dungeon of Poverty , a holy life does most probably procure such a proportion of Riches which can be useful to us , or consistent with our felicity . For besides that the Holy Jesus hath promised all things which our heavenly Father knows we need , ( provided we do our duty ) and that we find great securities and rest from care when we have once cast our cares upon God , and placed our hopes in his bosome ; besides all this , the temperance , sobriety , and prudence of a Christian is a great income , and by not despising it , a small revenue combines its parts till it grows to a heap big enough for the emissions of Charity , and all the offices of Justice , and the supplies of all necessities : whilest Vice is unwary , prodigal and indiscreet , throwing away great revenues as tributes to intem perance and vanity , and suffering dissolution and forfeiture of estates as a punishment and curse . Some sins are direct improvidence and ill husbandry . I reckon in this number Intemperance , Lust , Litigiousness , Ambition , Bribery , Prodigality , * Caming , Pride , Sacrilege , which is the greatest spender of them all , and makes a fair estate evaporate like Camphire , turning it into nothing , no man knows which way . But what the 〈◊〉 gave as an estimate of a rich man , saying , He that can maintain an Army is rich , was but a short account ; for he that can maintain an Army may be beggered by one Vice , and it is a vast revenue that will pay the debt-books of Intemperance or Lust. 12. To these if we add that Vertue is * honourable , and a great advantage to a fair reputation , that it is * praised by them that love it not , that it is honoured by the followers and family of Vice , that it forces glory out of shame , honor from contempt , that it reconciles men to the fountain of Honour , the Almighty God , who will honour them that honour him ; there are but a few more excellencies in the world to make up the Rosary of temporal Felicity . And it is so certain that Religion serves even our temporal ends , that no great end of State can well be served without it ; not Ambition , not desires of Wealth , not any great design , but Religion must be made its usher or support . If a new Opinion be commenced , and the Author would make a Sect , and draw Disciples after him , at least he must be thought to be Religious ; which is a demonstration how great an instrument of reputation Piety and Religion is : and if the pretence will do us good offices amongst men , the reality will do the same , besides the advantages which we shall receive from the Divine Benediction . The power of godliness will certainly do more than the form alone . And it is most notorious in the affairs of the Clergy , whose lot it hath been to fall from great riches to poverty , when their wealth made them less curious of their duty ; but when Humility and Chastity and exemplary Sanctity have been the enamel of their holy Order , the people , like the Galatians , would pull out their own eyes to do them benefit . And indeed God hath singularly blessed such instruments to the being the only remedies to repair the breaches made by Sacrilege and Irreligion . But certain it is , no man was ever honoured for that which was esteemed vicious . Vice hath got mony , and a curse many times , and Vice hath adhered to the instruments and purchaces of Honour : But among all Nations whatsoever those called Honourable put on the face and pretence of Vertue . But I chuse to instance in the proper cognisance of a Christian , Humility , which seems contradictory to the purposes and reception of Honour ; and yet in the world nothing is a more certain means to purchase it . Do not all the world hate a proud man ? And therefore what is contrary to Humility is also contradictory to Honour and Reputation . And when the Apostle had given command , that in giving honour we should one go before another , he laid the foundation of praises , and Panegyricks , and Triumphs . And as Humility is secure against affronts and tempests of despight , because it is below them : so when by imployment or any other issue of Divine Providence it is drawn from its 〈◊〉 and secrecy , it shines clear and bright as the purest and most polished metals . Humility is like a Tree , whose Root , when it sets deepest in the earth , rises higher , and spreads fairer , and stands surer , and lasts longer ; every step of its descent is like a rib of iron combining its parts in unions indissoluble , and placing it in the chambers of security . No wise man ever lost any thing by cession ; but he receives the hostility of violent 〈◊〉 into his embraces , like a stone into a lap of wooll , it rests and sits down soft and innocently ; but a stone falling upon a stone makes a collision , and extracts fire , and finds no rest : and just so are two proud persons , despised by each other , contemned by all , living in perpetual dissonancies , always fighting against asfronts , 〈◊〉 of every person , disturbed by every accident , a perpetual storm within , and daily hissings from without . 13. Fourthly , Holiness and Obedience is an excellent preservative of Life , and makes it long and healthful . In order to which discourse , because it is new , material , and argumentative , apt to perswade men who prefer life before all their other interests , I consider many things . First , In the Old Testament a long and a prosperous life were the great promises of the Covenant , their hopes were built upon it , and that was made the support of all their duty . If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God , I will put none of the diseases upon thee which I brought upon the Egyptians ; for I am the LORD that healeth thee . And more particularly yet , that we may not think Piety to be security only against the plagues of Egypt , God makes his promise more indefinite and unconfined ; Ye shall serve the LORD your God , and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee , and will fulfill the number of thy days ; that is , the period of nature shall be the period of thy person thou shalt live long , and die in a seasonable and ripe age . And this promise was so verified by a long experience , that by David's time it grew up to a rule , What man is he that desireth life , and loveth many days , that he may see good ? Keep thy tongue from evil , and thy lips that they speak no guile . And the same argument was pressed by Solomon , who was an excellent Philosopher , and well skilled in the natural and accidental means of preservation of our lives . Fear the LORD , and depart from evil ; and it shall be health to thy navel , and marrow to thy bones . Length of days is in the right hand of wisdome : For she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her . Meaning , that the Tree of Life and immortality which God had planted in Paradise , and which if Man had stood he should have tasted , and have lived for ever , the fruit of that Tree is offered upon the same conditions ; if we will keep the Commandments of God , our Obedience , like the Tree of life , shall consign us to Immortality hereafter by a long and a healthful life here . And therefore although in Moses's time the days of Man had been shortned , till they came to threescore years and ten , or fourscore years , and then their strength is but labour and sorrow ; ( for Moses was Author of that Psalm ; ) yet to shew the great privilege of those persons whose Piety was great , Moses himself attained to one hundred and twenty years , which was almost double to the ordinary and determined period . But Enoch and Elias never died , and became great examples to us , that a spotless and holy life might possibly have been immortal . 14. I shall add no more examples , but one great conjugation of precedent observed by the Jewish Writers , who tell us that in the second Temple there were 300 high Priests , ( I suppose they set down a certain number for an uncertain , and by 300 they mean very many ) and yet that Temple lasted but 420 years ; the reason of this so rapid and violent abscission of their Priests being their great and scandalous impieties : and yet in the first Temple , whose abode was within ten years as long as the second , there was a succession but of 18 high Priests ; for they being generally very pious , and the preservers of their Rites and Religion against the Schism of 〈◊〉 , and the Defection of 〈◊〉 , and the Idolatry and Irreligion of many of the Kings of Judah , God took delight to reward it with a long and honourable old age . And 〈◊〉 knew well enough what he said , when in his 〈◊〉 and prophetick rapture he made his prayer to God , Let my Soul die the death of the righteous . It was not a Prayer that his Soul might be saved , or that he might repent at last ; for Repentance and Immortality were revelations of a later date : but he in his prophetick 〈◊〉 seeing what God had purposed to the Moabites , and what blessings he had reserved for Israel , prays that he might not die , as the Moabites were like to die , with an untimely death , by the sword of their enemies , dispossessed of their Countrey , spoiled of their goods , in the period and last hour of their Nation : but let my soul die the death of the just , the death designed for the faithful Israelites ; such a death which God promised to Abraham , that he should return to his Fathers in peace , and in a good old age . For the death of the righteous is like the descending of ripe and wholsome fruits from a pleasant and florid Tree ; our senses intire , our lims unbroken , without horrid tortures , after provision made for our children , with a blessing entailed upon posterity , in the presence of our Friends , our dearest relative closing up our eyes and binding our feet , leaving a good name behind us . O let my soul die such a death ; for this , in whole or in part , according as God sees it good , is the manner that the righteous die . And this was Balaam's prayer . And this was the state and condition in the Old Testament . 15. In the Gospel the case is nothing altered . For besides that those austerities , rigours and mortifications which are in the Gospel advised or commanded respectively , are more salutary or of less corporal inconvenience than a vicious life of Intemperance , or Lust , or Carefulness , or tyrant Covetousness ; there is no accident or change to the sufferance of which the Gospel hath engaged us , but in the very thing our life is carefully provided for , either in kind , or by a gainful exchange : He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it , and he that will save his life shall lose it . And although God , who promised long life to them that obey , did not promise that himself would never call for our life , borrowing it of us , and repaying it in a glorious and advantagious exchange ; yet this very promise of giving us a better life in exchange for this , when we exposed it in Martyrdome , does confirm our title to this , this being the instrument of permutation with the other : for God obliging himself to give us another in exchange for this , when in cases extraordinary he calls for this , says plainly , that this is our present right by grace , and the title of the Divine Promises . But the Promises are clear . For S. Paul calls children to the observation of the fifth Commandment by the same argument which God used in the first promulgation of it . Honour thy Father and thy Mother , ( which is the first Commandment with Promise ) That it may be well with thee , and that thou mayst live long upon the earth . For although the Gospel be built upon better Promises than the Law , yet it hath the same too , not as its foundation , but as appendences and adjuncts of grace , and supplies of need . Godliness hath the promise of this life , as well as of the life that is to come . That is plain . And although Christ revealed his Father's mercies to us in new expresses and great abundance ; yet he took nothing from the world which ever did in any sense invite Piety , or indear Obedience , or cooperate towards Felicity . And 〈◊〉 the Promises which were made of old are also presupposed in the new , and mentioned by intimation and implication within the greater . When our Blessed Saviour in seven of the Eight Beatitudes had instanced in new Promises and Rewards , as Heaven , Seeing of God , Life eternal ; in one of them , to which Heaven is as certainly consequent as to any of the rest , he did chuse to instance in a temporal blessing , and in the very words of the Old Testament ; to shew , that that part of the old Covenant which concerns Morality , and the rewards of Obedience , remains firm and included within the conditions of the Gospel . 16. To this purpose is that saying of our Blessed Saviour ; Man liveth not by bread alone , but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God : meaning , that besides natural means ordained for the preservation of our lives , there are means supernatural and divine . God's Blessing does as much as bread : nay , it is Every word proceeding out of the 〈◊〉 of God ; that is , every Precept and Commandment of God is so for our good , that it is intended as food and Physick to us , a means to make us live long . And therefore God hath done in this as in other graces and issues Evangelical , which he purposed to continue in his Church for ever : He first gave it in miraculous and extraordinary manner , and then gave it by way of perpetual ministery . The Holy Ghost appeared at first like a prodigy , and with Miracle ; he descended in visible representments , expressing himself in revelations and powers extraordinary : but it being a Promise intended to descend upon all Ages of the Church , there was appointed a perpetual ministery for its conveyance ; and still , though without a sign or miraculous representment , it is ministred in Confirmation by imposition of the Bishop's hands . And thus also health and long life , which by way of ordinary benediction is consequent to Piety , Faith and Obedience Evangelical , was at first given in a miraculous manner ; that so the ordinary effects , being at first confirmed by miraculous and extraordinary instances and manners of operation , might for ever after be confidently expected without any dubitation , since it was in the same manner consigned by which all the whole Religion was , by a voice from Heaven , and a verification of Miracles , and extraordinary supernatural effects . That the gift of healing , and preservation and restitution of life , was at first miraculous , needs no particular probation . All the story of the Gospel is one entire argument to prove it : and amongst the fruits of the Spirit S. Paul reckons gifts of healing , and government , and helps , or exteriour assistences and advantages ; to represent that it was intended the life of Christian people should be happy and healthful for ever . Now that this grace also descended afterwards in an ordinary ministery is recorded by S. James : Is any man sick amongst you ? let him call for the Elders of the Church , and let them pray over him , anointing him with oyl in the name of the Lord ; that was then the ceremony , and the blessing and effect is still ; for the prayer of faith shall save the sick , and the Lord shall raise him up . For it is observable , that the blessing of healing and recovery is not appendent to the Anealing , but to the Prayer , of the Church ; to manifest , that the ceremony went with the first miraculous and extraordinary manner ; yet that there was an ordinary ministery appointed for the daily conveyance of the blessing : the faithful prayers & offices of holy Priests shall obtain life and health to such persons who are receptive of it , and in spiritual and apt dispositions . And when we see , by a continual flux of extraordinary benediction , that even some Christian Princes are instruments of the Spirit not only in the government , but in the gifts of healing too , as a reward for their promoting the just interests of Christianity ; we may acknowledge our selves convinced , that a holy life in the faith and obedience of Jesus Christ may be of great advantage for our health and life , by that instance to entertain our present desires , and to establish our hopes of life eternal . 17. For I consider that the fear of God is therefore the best antidote in the World against sickness and death , because it is the direct enemy to sin , which brought in sickness and death ; and besides this , that God by spiritual means should produce alterations natural , is not hard to be understood by a Christian Philosopher , take him in either of the two capacities . 2. For there is a rule of proportion , and analogy of effects , that if sin destroys not only the Soul but the Body also , then may Piety preserve both , and that much rather : for if sin , that is , the effects and consequents of sin , hath abounded , then shall grace superabound ; that is , Christ hath done us more benefit than the Fall of Adam hath done us injury ; and therefore the effects of sin are not greater upon the body , than either are to be restored or prevented by a pious life . 3. There is so near a conjunction between Soul and Body , that it is no wonder if God , meaning to glorifie both by the means of a spiritual life , suffers spirit and matter to communicate in effects and mutual impresses . Thus the waters of Baptism purifie the Soul ; and the Holy Eucharist , not the symbolical , but the mysterious and spiritual part of it , makes the Body also partaker of the death 〈◊〉 Christ and a holy union . The flames of Hell , whatsoever they are , torment accursed Souls ; and the stings of Conscience vex and disquiet the Body . 4. And if we consider that in the glories of Heaven , when we shall live a life purely spiritual , our Bodies also are so clarified and made spiritual that they also become immortal ; that state of Glory being nothing else but a perfection of the state of Grace , it is not unimaginable but that the Soul may have some proportion of the same operation upon the Body as to conduce to its prolongation , as to an antepast of immortality . 5. For since the Body hath all its life from its conjunction with the Soul , why not also the perfection of life according to its present capacity , that is , health and duration , from the perfection of the Soul , I mean , from the ornaments of Grace ? And as the blessedness of the Soul ( saith the Philosopher ) consists in the speculation of honest and just things ; so the perfection of the Body and of the whole Man consists in the practick , the exercise and operations of Vertue . 18. But this Problem in Christian Philosophy is yet more intelligible , and will be reduced to certain experience , if we consider good life in union and concretion with particular , material , and circumstantiate actions of Piety : For these have great powers and influences even in Nature to restore health and preserve our lives . Witness the sweet sleeps of temperate persons , and their constant appetite ; which Timotheus the son of Conon observed , when he dieted in Plato's Academy with severe and moderated diet ; They that sup with Plato are well the next day . Witness the symmetry of passions in meek men , their freedome from the violence of inraged and passionate indispositions , the admirable harmony and sweetness of content which dwells in the retirements of a holy Conscience : to which if we add those joys which they only understand truly who feel them inwardly , the joys of the Holy Ghost , the content and joys which are attending upon the lives of holy persons are most likely to make them long and healthful . For now we live , ( saith S. Paul ) if ye stand fast in the Lord. It would prolong S. Paul's life to see his ghostly children persevere in holiness ; and if we understood the joys of it , it would do much greater advantage to our selves . But if we consider a spiritual life abstractedly and in it self , Piety produces our life , not by a natural efficiency , but by Divine benediction . God gives a healthy and a long life as a reward and blessing to crown our Piety even before the sons of men : For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the Earth ; but they that be cursed of him shall be cut off . So that this whole matter is principally to be referred to the act of God , either by ways of nature , or by instruments of special providence , rewarding Piety with a long life . And we shall more fully apprehend this if , upon the grounds of Scripture , Reason , and Experience , we weigh the contrary . Wickedness is the way to shorten our days . 19. Sin brought Death in first ; and yet Man lived almost a thousand years . But he sinned more , and then Death came nearer to him : for when all the World was first drowned in wickedness , and then in water , God cut him shorter by one half , and five hundred years was his ordinary period . And Man sinned still , and had strange imaginations , and built towers in the air ; and then about Peleg's time God cut him shorter by one half yet , two hundred and odd years was his determination . And yet the generations of the World returned not unanimously to God ; and God cut him off another half yet , and reduced him to one hundred and twenty years . And by Moses's time one half of the final remanent portion was pared away , reducing him to threescore years and ten ; so that , unless it be by special dispensation , men live not beyond that term , or thereabout . But if God had gone on still in the same method , and shortned our days as we multiplied our sins , we should have been but as an Ephemeron , Man should have lived the life of a Fly or a Gourd ; the morning should have seen his birth , his life have been the term of a day , and the evening must have provided him of a shroud . But God seeing Man's thoughts were onely evil continually , he was resolved no longer so to strive with him ; nor destroy the kinde , but punish individuals onely and single persons ; and if they sinned , or if they did obey , regularly their life should be proportionable . This God set down for his rule , Evil shall 〈◊〉 the wicked person : and , He that keepeth the Commandments keepeth his own Soul ; but he that despiseth his own ways shall die . 20. But that we may speak more exactly in this Probleme , we must observe that in Scripture three general causes of natural death are assigned , Nature , Providence , and Chance . By these three I onely mean the several manners of Divine influence and operation . For God only predetermines ; and what is changed in the following events by Divine permission , to this God and Man in their several manners do cooperate . The saying of David concerning Saul with admirable Philosophy describes the three ways of ending Man's life . David said furthermore , As the LORD liveth , the LORD shall smite him , or his day shall come to die , or he shall descend into battel and perish . The first is special Providence . The second means the term of Nature . The third is that which in our want of words we call Chance or Accident , but is in effect nothing else but another manner of the Divine Providence . That in all these Sin does interrupt and retrench our lives , is the undertaking of the following periods . 21. First , In Nature Sin is a cause of dyscrasies and distempers , making our bodies healthless and our days few . For although God hath prefixed a period to Nature by an universal and antecedent determination , and that naturally every man that lives temperately , and by no supervening accident is interrupted , shall arrive thither ; yet because the greatest part of our lives is governed by will and understanding , and there are temptations to Intemperance and to violations of our health , the period of Nature is so distinct a thing from the period of our person , that few men attain to that which God had fixed by his first law and 〈◊〉 purpose , but end their days with folly , and in a period which God appointed 〈◊〉 with anger , and a determination secondary , consequent , and accidental . And therefore says David , Health is far from the 〈◊〉 , for they regard not thy statutes . And to this purpose is that saying of (a) Abenezra : He that is united to God , the Fountain of Life , his Soul , being improved by Grace , communicates to the Body an establishment of its radical moisture and natural heat , to make it more healthful , that so it may be more instrumental to the spiritual operations and productions of the Soul , and it self be preserved in perfect constitution . Now how this blessing is contradicted by the impious life of a wicked person is easie to be understood , if we consider that from (b) drunken Surfeits come Dissolution of members , Head-achs , Apoplexies , dangerous Falls , Fracture of bones , Drenchings and dilution of the brain , Inslammation of the liver , Crudities of the stomach , and thousands more , which Solomen sums up in general terms ; * Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow ? who hath redness of eyes ? they that tarry long at the 〈◊〉 . I shall not need to instance in the sad and uncleanly consequents of Lusts , the wounds and accidental deaths which are occasioned by Jealousies , by Vanity , by Peevishness , vain Reputation and Animosities , by Melancholy , and the despair of evil Consciences ; and yet these are abundant argument , that when God so permits a man to run his course of Nature , that himself does not intervene by an extraordinary 〈◊〉 , or any special acts of providence , but only gives his ordinary assistence to natural causes , a very great part of men make their natural period shorter , and by sin make their days miserable and few . 22. Secondly , Oftentimes Providence intervenes , and makes the way shorter ; God for the iniquity of man not suffering Nature to take her course , but stopping her in the midst of her journey . Against this David prayed , O my God , cut me 〈◊〉 off in the midst of my days . But in this there is some variety . For God does it sometimes in mercy , sometimes in judgment . The righteous die , and no man regardeth ; not considering that they are taken away from the evil to come . God takes the righteous man hastily to his Crown , lest temptation snatch it from him by interrupting his hopes and sanctity . And this was the case of the old World. For from Adam to the Floud by the Patriarchs were eleven generations , but by Cain's line there were but eight , so that Cain's posterity were longer liv'd : because God , intending to bring the Floud upon the World , took delight to rescue his elect from the dangers of the present impurity , and the future Deluge . Abraham lived five years less than his son Isaac , it being ( say the Doctors of the Jews ) intended for mercy to him , that he might not see the iniquity of his Grandchild 〈◊〉 . And this the Church for many Ages hath believed in the case of baptized Infants dying before the use of Reason . For besides other causes in the order of Divine Providence , one kind of mercy is done to them too ; for although their condition be of a lower form , yet it is secured by that timely ( shall I call it ? ) or untimely death . But these are cases extraregular : ordinarily and by rule God hath revealed his purposes of interruption of the lives of sinners to be in anger and judgment ; for when men commit any signal and grand impiety , God suffers not Nature to take her course , but strikes a stroke with his own hand . To which purpose I think it a remarkable instance which is reported by 〈◊〉 , that for 3332 years even to the twentieth Age , there was not one example of a Son that died before his Father , but the course of Nature was kept , that he who was first born in the descending line did die first ; ( I speak of natural death , and therefore Abel cannot be opposed to this observation ) till that Terah the father of Abraham taught the People to make Images of clay and worship them ; and concerning him it was first remarked , that Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity : God by an unheard-of Judgment and a rare accident punishing his newly-invented crime . And when-ever such 〈◊〉 of a life happens to a vicious person , let all the world acknowledge it for a Judgment ; and when any man is guilty of evil habits or unrepented sins , he may therefore expect it , because it is threatned and designed for the lot and curse of such persons . This is threatned to Covetousness , Injustice , and Oppression . As a Partridge sitteth on eggs , and hatcheth them not : so he that getteth riches , and not by right , shall leave them in the midst of his days , and at his end shall be a Fool. The same is threatned to Voluptuous persons in the highest caresses of delight ; and Christ told a parable with the same design . The rich man said , Soul , take thy ease ; but God answered , O fool , this night shall thy Soul be required of thee . Zimri and Cozbi were slain in the trophies of their Lust ; and it was a sad story which was told by Thomas Cantipratanus : Two Religious persons tempted by each other in the vigour of their youth , in their very first pleasures and opportunities of sin were both struck dead in their embraces and posture of entertainment . God (a) smote Jeroboam for his Usurpation and Tyranny , and he died . (b) Saul died for Disobedience against God , and asking counsel of a Pythonisse . God smote (c) 〈◊〉 with a Leprosie for his profaneness ; and distressed ‖ 〈◊〉 sorely for his Sacrilege ; and (d) sent a horrid disease upon Jehoram for his Idolatry . These instances represent Voluptuousness and Covetousness , Rapine and Injustice , Idolatry and Lust , Profaneness and Sacrilege , as remarked by the signature of exemplary Judgments to be the means of shortening the days of man ; God himself proving the Executioner of his own fierce wrath . I instance no more , but in the singular case of Hananiah the false Prophet : Thus saith the LORD , Behold , I will cut thee from off the face of the earth ; this year thou shalt die , because thou hast taught Rebellion against the LORD . That is the curse and portion of a false Prophet , a short life , and a suddén death of God's own particular and more immediate 〈◊〉 . 23. And thus also the sentence of the Divine anger went forth upon criminal persons in the New Testament ; Witness the Disease of Herod , Judas's Hanging himself , the Blindness of 〈◊〉 , the Sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira , the Buffetings with which Satan 〈◊〉 the bodies of persons excommunicate . Yea , the blessed Sacrament of CHRIST's Body and Bloud , which is intended for our spiritual life , if it be unworthily received , proves the cause of a natural death : For this cause many are weak and sickly among you , and many are fallen asleep , saith S. Paul to the 〈◊〉 Church . 24. Thirdly , But there is yet another manner of ending man's life , by way of Chance or Contingency ; meaning thereby the manner of God's Providence and event of things which is not produced by the disposition of natural causes , nor yet by any particular and special act of God ; but the event which depends upon accidental causes , not so certain and regular as Nature , not so conclusive and determined as the acts of decretory Providence , but comes by disposition of causes irregular to events rare and accidental . This David expresses by entring into battel : and in this , as in the other , we must separate cases extraordinary and rare from the ordinary and common . Extraregularly , and upon extraordinary reasons and permissions , we find that holy persons have miscarried in battel . So the 〈◊〉 fell before Benjamin ; and Jonathan , and 〈◊〉 , and many of the Lord's champions , fighting against the Philistines : but in these deaths as God served other ends of Providence , so he kept to the good men that fell all the mercies of the Promise by giving them a greater blessing of event and compensation . In the more ordinary course of Divine dispensation , they that prevaricate the Laws of God are put out of protection ; God withdraws his special Providence , or their tutelar Angel , and leaves them exposed to the influences of Heaven , to the power of a Constellation , to the accidents of humanity , to the chances of a Battel , which are so many and various , that it is ten thousand to one , a man in that case never escapes ; and in such variety of contingencies there is no probable way to assure our safety , but by a holy life to endear the Providence of God to be our Guardian . It was a remarkable saying of Deborah , The Stars sought in their courses , 〈◊〉 in their orbs , against Sisera . Sisera fought when there was an evil Aspect or malignant influence of Heaven upon him . For even the smallest thing that is in opposition to us is enough to turn the chance of a Battel ; that although it be necessary for defence of the godly that a special Providence should intervene , yet to confound the impious no special act is requisite . If God exposes them to the ill aspect of a Planet , or any other casualty , their days are interrupted , and they die . And this is the meaning of the Prophet * Jeremy ; Be not ye 〈◊〉 at the signs of Heaven , for the Heathen are dismayed at them : meaning , that God will over-rule all inferiour causes for the safety of his servants ; but the wicked shall be exposed to chance and humane accidents ; and the signs of Heaven , which of themselves do but signifie , or at most but dispose and incline towards events , shall be enough to actuate and consummate their ruine . And this is the meaning of that Proverb of the Jews , * Israel hath no Planet : which they expounded to mean , If they observe the Law , the Planets shall not hurt them , God will over-rule all their influences ; but if they prevaricate and rebel , the least Star in the firmament of Heaven shall bid them battel , and overthrow them . A 〈◊〉 shall lie in a wicked Man's way , and God shall so expose him to it , leaving him so unguarded and defenceless , that he shall stumble at it and fall , and break a bone , and that shall 〈◊〉 a Fever , and the Fever shall end his days . For not onely every creature , when it is set on by God , can prove a ruine ; but if we be not by the Providence of God defended against it , we cannot behold the least atome in the Sun without danger of losing an eye , nor eat a grape without fear of choaking , nor sneeze without breaking of a vein . And Arius , going to the ground , purged his entrails forth , and fell down unto the earth and died . Such and so miserable is the great insecurity of a sinner . And of this Job had an excellent meditation : How oft is the candle of the wicked put out ? and how oft cometh their destruction upon them ? GOD distributeth sorrows in his anger . For what pleasure hath he in his house after him , when the number of his moneths is cut off in the midst ? This is he that dieth in his full strength , being wholly at ease and quiet . 25. I summe up this discourse with an observation that is made concerning the Family of Eli , upon which , for the remisness of Discipline on the Father's part , and for the Impiety and Profaneness of his 〈◊〉 , God sent this Curse , All the increase of their house shall die in the flower of their age . According to that sad malediction it happened for many generations ; the Heir of the Family died as soon as he begat a Son to succeed him : till the Family being wearied by so long a Curse , by the counsel of Rabbi Johanan Ben Zachary , betook themselves universally to a sedulous and most devout meditation of the Law , that is , to an exemplar Devotion and strict Religion : but then the Curse was turned into a Blessing , and the line masculine lived to an honourable old age . For the Doctors of the Jews said , that God often changes his purposes concerning the death of man , when the sick person is liberal in Alms , or fervent in Prayer , or changes his Name , that is , gives up his name to God by the serious purposes and religious vows of holy Obedience . He that followeth after righteousness ( Alms it is in the vulgar 〈◊〉 ) and mercy findeth life ; that verifies the first : and the fervent Prayer of Hezekiah is a great instance of the second : and all the 〈◊〉 discourse was intended for probation of the third and proves that no disease is so deadly as a deadly Sin ; and the ways of Righteousness are therefore advantages of Health , and preservatives of Life , ( when health and life are good for us ) because they are certain title to all God's Promises and Blessings . 26. Upon supposition of these premisses I consider , there is no cause to wonder , that tender persons and the softest women endure the violences of art and Physick , sharp pains of Causticks and Cupping-glasses , the abscission of the most sensible part , for preservation of a mutilous and imperfect body : but it is a wonder that , when God hath appointed a remedy in Grace apt to preserve Nature , and that a dying unto sin should prolong our natural life , yet few men are willing to try the experiment ; they will buy their life upon any conditions in the world but those which are the best and easiest , any thing but Religion and Sanctity ; although for so doing they are promised that immortality shall be added to the end of a long life , to make the life of a mortal partake of the eternal duration of an Angel , or of God himself . 27. Fifthly , The last testimony of the Excellency and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ's yoke , the fair load of Christianity , is the Reasonableness of it , and the Unreasonableness of its contrary . For whatsoever the wisest men in the world in all Nations and Religions did agree upon as most excellent in it self , and of greatest power to make political , or future and immaterial felicities , all that and much more the Holy Jesus adopted into his Law : for they receiving sparks or single irradiations from the regions of light , or else having fair tapers shining indeed excellently in representations and expresses of Morality , were all involved and swallowed up into the body of light , the Sun of Righteousness . Christ's Discipline was the breviary of all the Wisdome of the best men , and a fair copy and transcript of his Father's Wisdome ; and there is nothing in the laws of our Religion but what is perfective of our spirits , excellent rules of Religion , and rare expedients of obeying God by the nearest ways of imitation , and such duties which are the proper ways of doing benefits to all capacities and orders of men . But I remember my design now is not to represent Christianity to be a better Religion than any other ; for I speak to Christians , amongst whom we presuppose that : but I design to invite all Christians in name to be such as they are called , upon the interest of such arguments which represent the advantages of Obedience to our Religion as it is commanded us by God. And this I shall do yet farther , by considering , that those Christian names who apprehend Religion as the Fashion of their Countrey , and know no other use of a Church but customary , or secular and profane , that , supposing Christian Religion to have come from God , as we all profess to believe , there are no greater fools in the world than such whose life conforms not to the pretence of their Baptism and Institution . They have all the signs and characters of fools , and undiscreet , unwary persons . 28. First , Wicked persons , like children and fools , chuse the present , whatsoever it is , and neglect the infinite treasures of the future . They that have no faith nor foresight have an excuse for snatching at what is now represented , because it is that all which can move them : but then such persons are infinitely distant from wisdome , whose understanding neither Reason nor Revelation hath carried farther than the present adherencies ; not only because they are narrow souls who cannot look forward , and have nothing to distinguish them from beasts , who enjoy the present , being careless of what is to come ; but also because whatsoever is present is not fit satisfaction to the spirit , nothing but gluttings of the sense and sottish appetites . Moses was a wise person , and so esteemed and reported by the Spirit of God , because he despised the pleasures of Pharaoh's Court , having an eye to the recompence of reward ; that is , because he despised all 〈◊〉 present arguments of delight , and preferred those excellencies which he knew should 〈◊〉 infinitely greater , as well as he knew they should be at all . He that would have rather chosen to stay in the Theatre and see the sports out , then quit the present Spectacle upon assurance to be adopted into Caesar's family , had an offer made him too great for a fool ; and yet his misfortune was not big enough for pity , because he understood nothing of his felicity , and rejected what he understood not . But he that prefers moments before eternity , and despises the infinite successions of eternal Ages that he may enjoy the present , not daring to trust God for what he sees not , and having no objects of his affections but those which are the objects of his eyes , hath the impatience of a child , and the indiscretion of a fool , and the faithlesness of an unbeliever . The Faith and Hope of a Christian are the graces and portions of spiritual wisdome , which Christ designed as an antidote against this folly . 29. Secondly , Children and fools chuse to please their Senses rather than their Reason , because they still dwell within the regions of Sense , and have but little residence amongst intellectual essences . And because the needs of Nature first imploy our sensual appetites , these being first in possession would also fain retain it , and therefore for ever continue their title , and perpetually fight for it : but because the inferiour faculty fighting against the superiour is no better than a Rebel , and that it takes Reason for its enemy , it shews such actions which please the Sense and do not please the Reason to be unnatural , monstrous , and unreasonable . And it is a great disreputation to the understanding of a man , to be so cozened and deceived , as to chuse Money before a moral Vertue ; to please that which is common to him and beasts , rather than that part which is a communication of the Divine nature ; to see him run after a bubble which himself hath made , and the Sun hath particoloured , and to despise a treasure , which is offered to him to call him off from pursuing that emptiness and nothing . But so does every vicious person , feeds upon husks , and loaths Manna ; worships Cats and Onions , the beggarly and basest of Egyptian Deities , and neglects to adore and honour the eternal God : he prefers the society of Drunkards before the communion of Saints ; or the fellowship of Harlots before a quire of pure , chast , and immaterial Angels ; the sickness and filth of Luxury before the health and purities of Chastity and Temperance ; a dish of red lentil pottage before a Benison ; Drink before Immortality , Money before Mercy , Wantonness before the severe Precepts of Christian Philosophy , Earth before Heaven & Folly before the crowns and 〈◊〉 and glories of a Kingdom . Against this folly Christian Religion opposes 〈◊〉 of things below , and setting our affections on things above . 30. Thirdly , Children and fools propound to themselves Ends silly , low and cheap , the getting of a nut-shel , or a bag of cherry-stones , a gaud to entertain the fancy of a few minutes ; and in order to such ends direct their counsels and designs . And indeed in this they are innocent . But persons not living according to the Discipline of Christianity are as foolish in the designation of their Ends , chusing things as unprofitable and vain to themselves , and yet with many mixtures of malice and injuriousness both to themselves and others . His end is to cozen his Brother of a piece of Land , or to disgrace him by telling of a lie , to supplant his fortune , to make him miserable : Ends which wise men and good men look upon as miseries and persecutions , instruments of affliction and regret ; because every man is a member of a society , and hath some common terms of union and conjuncture , which make all the body susceptive of all accidents to any part . And it is a great folly , for pleasing of the eye to snatch a knife which cuts our fingers ; to bring affliction upon my brother or relative , which either must affect me , or else I am an useless , a base or dead person . The ends of Vice are ignoble and dishonourable : to discompose the quiet of a family , or to create jealousies , or to raise wars , or to make a man less happy , or apparently miserable , or to fish for the Devil , and gain Souls to our Enemy , or to please a passion that undoes us , or to get something that cannot satisfie us ; this is the chain of counsels , and the great aims of unchristian livers , they are all of them extreme great miseries . And it is a great undecency for a man to propound an end less and more imperfect than our present condition ; as if we went about to unravel our present composure , and to unite every degree of essence and capacity , and to retire back to our first matter and unshapen state , hoping to get to our journey's end by going backwards . Against this folly the Holy Jesus opposed the Fourth Beatitude , or Precept of hungring and thirsting after Righteousness . 31. Fourthly , But children and fools , what-ever their ends be , they pursue them with as much weakness and folly as they first chose them with indiscretion ; running to broken cisterns or to puddles to quench their thirst . When they are hungry , they make phantastick banquets , or put Coloquintida into their pottage , that they may be furnished with pot-herbs : or are like the Asse that desired to flatter his Master , and therefore fawned upon him like a Spaniel , and bruised his shoulders . Such undecencies of means and prosecutions of interests we find in unchristian courses . It may be-they propound to themselves Riches for their end , and they use Covetousness for their means , and that brings nought home ; or else they steal to get it , and they are apprehended , and made to restore fourfold . Like moths gnawing a garment they devour their own house , and by greediness of desire they destroy their content , making impatience the parent and instrument of all their 〈◊〉 . Or they are so greedy and imaginative , and have raised their expectation by an over-valuing esteem of temporary felicities , that when they come they fall short of their promises , and are indeed less than they 〈◊〉 have been , by being before-hand apprehended greater than they could be . If their design be to represent themselves innocent and guiltless of a suspicion or a fault , they deny the fact , and double it . When they would repair their losses they fall to Gaming ; and besides that they are infinitely full of fears , passions , wrath and violent disturbances in the various chances of their game , that which they use to restore their 〈◊〉 ruines even the little remnant , and condemns them to beggery , or what is worse . Thus evil men 〈◊〉 for content out of things that cannot satisfie , and take care to get that content ; that is , they raise War to enjoy present Peace , and renounce all Content to get it : They strive to depress their Neighbours , that they may be their equals ; to disgrace them , to get reputation to themselves ; ( which arts being ignoble do them the most disparagement ) and resolve never to enter into the felicities of God by content taken in the prosperities of man , which is a making our selves wretched by being wicked . Malice and Envy is indeed a mighty curse ; and the Devil can shew us nothing more foolish and unreasonable than Envy , which is in its very formality a curse , an eating of coals and vipers because my neighbour's table is full , and his cup is crowned with health and plenty . The Christian Religion , as it chuseth excellent ends , so it useth proportionate and apt means . The most contradictory accident in the world , when it becomes hallowed by a pious and Christian design , becomes a certain means of felicity and content . To quit our lands for Christ's sake will certainly make us rich ; to depart from our friends will encrease our relations and beneficiaries : but the striving to secure our temporal interests by any other means than obedient actions or obedient sufferings , is declared by the Holy Jesus to be the greatest improvidence and ill husbandry in the world . Even in this world Christ will repay us an hundred fold for all our losses which we suffer for the interests of Christianity . In the same proportion we find , that all Graces do the work of humane felicities with a more certain power and 〈◊〉 effect than their contraries . Gratitude endears Benefits , and procures more Friendships : Confession gets a Pardon ; Impudence and lying doubles the fault , and exasperates the offended person : Innocence is bold , and rocks a man asleep ; but an evil Conscience is a continual alarm . Against this folly of using disproportionate means in order to their ends the Holy Jesus hath opposed the Eight Beatitudes , which by contradictions of nature and improbable causes , according to humane and erring estimate , bring our best and wisest ends to pass infallibly and divinely . 32. But this is too large a field to walk in : for it represents all the flatteries of sin to be a mere cozenage and deception of the Understanding ; and we find by this scrutiny , that evil and unchristian persons are infinitely unwise , because they neglect the counsel of their superiours and their guides . They dote passionately upon trifles ; they rely upon false foundations and deceiving principles ; they are most confident when they are most abused ; they are like shelled fish , singing loudest when their house is on fire about their ears , and being merriest when they are most miserable and perishing ; when they have the option of two things , they ever chuse the worst ; they are not masters of their own actions , but break all purposes at the first temptation ; they take more pains to do themselves a mischief than would 〈◊〉 Heaven : that is , they are rude , ignorant , foolish , unwary and undiscerning people in all senses and to all purposes ; and are incurable but by their Obedience and conformity to the Holy Jesus , the eternal Wisdome of the Father . 33. Upon the strength of these premisses the yoke of Christianity must needs be apprehended light , though it had in it more pressure than it hath ; because lightness or heaviness being relative terms are to be esteemed by comparison to others . Christianity is far easier than the yoke of Moses's Law , not only because it consists of fewer Rites , but also because those perfecting and excellent Graces which integrate the body of our Religion are made easie by God's assisting , and the gifts of the Holy Ghost : and we may yet make it easier by Love and by Fear , which are the proper products of the Evangelical Promises and Threatnings . For I have seen persons in affrightment have carried burthens , and leaped ditches , and climbed walls , which their natural power could never have done . And if we understood the sadnesses of a cursed Eternity , from which we are commanded to fly , and yet knew how near we are to it , and how likely to fall into it , it would create fears greater than a sudden fire , or a mid-night alarm . And those unhappy souls who come to feel this truth , when their condition is without remedy , are made the more miserable by the apprehension of their stupid folly . For certainly the accursed Spirits feel the smart of Hell once doubled upon them , by considering by what vain unsatisfying trifles they lost their happiness , with what pains they perished , and with how great ease they might have been beatified . And certain it is , Christian Religion hath so furnished us with assistences , both exteriour and interiour , both of perswasion and advantages , that whatsoever Christ hath doubled upon us in perfection he hath alleviated in aids . 34. And then if we compare the state of Christianity with Sin , all the preceding discourses were intended to represent how much easier it is to be a Christian , than a vile and wicked person . And he that remembers , that whatever fair allurements may be pretended as invitations to a sin , are such false and unsatisfying pretences , that they drive a man to repent him of his folly , and like a great laughter end in a sigh , and expire in weariness and indignation ; must needs confess himself a fool for doing that which he knows will make him repent that he ever did it . A sin makes a man afraid when it thunders , and in all dangers the sin detracts the visour , and affrights him and visits him when he comes to die , upbraiding him with guilt , and threatning misery . So that Christianity is the easiest Law and the easiest state , it is more perfect and less troublesome ; it brings us to Felicity by ways proportionable , landing us in rest by easie and unperplexed journeys . This Discourse I therefore thought necessary , because it reconciles our Religion with those passions and desires which are commonly made the instruments and arguments of sin . For we rarely meet with such spirits which love Vertue so metaphysically , as to abstract her from all sensible and delicious compositions , and love the purity of the Idea . S. Lewis the King sent Ivo Bishop of Chartres on an Embassy : and he told , that he met a grave Matron on the way with fire in one hand , and water in the other ; and , observing her to have a melancholick , religious and phantastick deportment and look , asked her what those symbols meant , and what she meant to do with her fire and water . She answered , My purpose is with the fire to burn Paradise , and with my water to quench the flames of Hell , that men may serve God without the incentives of hope and fear , and purely for the love of God. Whether the Woman were onely imaginative and sad , or also zealous , I know not . But God knows he would have few Disciples , if the arguments of invitation were not of greater promise than the labours of Vertue are of trouble . And therefore the Spirit of God knowing to what we are inflexible , and by what we are made most ductile and malleable , hath propounded Vertue clothed and dressed with such advantages as may entertain even our Sensitive part and first desires , that those also may be invited to Vertue who understand not what is just and reasonable , but what is profitable , who are more moved with advantage than justice . And because emolument is more felt than innocence ; and a man may be poor for all his gift of 〈◊〉 ; the Holy Jesus , to endear the practices of Religion , hath represented Godliness unto us under the notion of gain , and sin as unfruitful : and yet besides all the natural and reasonable advantages , every Vertue hath a supernatural reward , a gracious promise attending ; and every Vice is not only naturally deformed , but is made more ugly by a threatning , and horrid by an appendent curse . Henceforth therefore let no man complain that the Commandments of God are impossible ; for they are not onely possible , but easie ; and they that say otherwise , and do accordingly , take more pains to carry the instruments of their own death , than would serve to ascertain them of life . And if we would do as much for Christ as we have done for Sin , we should find the pains less , and the pleasure more . And therefore such complainers are without excuse ; for certain it is , they that can go in foul ways , must not say they cannot walk in fair : they that march over rocks in despight of so many impediments , can travel the even ways of Religion and Peace , when the Holy Jesus is their Guide , and the Spirit is their Guardian , and infinite felicities are at their journey's end , and all the reason of the world , political , oeconomical and personal , do entertain and support them in the travel of the passage . The PRAYER . O Eternal Jesus , who gavest Laws unto the world , that man-kind , being united to thee by the bands of Obedience , might partake of all thy glories and felicities ; open our understanding , give us the spirit of discerning , and just apprehension of all the beauties with which thou hast enamelled Vertue , to represent it beauteous and amiable in our eyes ; that by the allurements of exteriour decencies and appendent blessings our present desires may be entertained , our hopes promoted , our affections satisfied , and Love entring in by these doors may dwell in the interiour regions of the Will. O make us to love thee for thy self , and Religion for thee , and all the instruments of Religion in order to thy glory and our own felicities . Pull off the visors of Sin , and discover its deformities by the lantern of thy Word and the light of the Spirit ; that I may never be bewitched with sottish appetites . Be pleased to build up all the contents I expect in this world upon the interests of a vertuous life , and the support of Religion ; that I may be rich in Good works , content in the issues of thy Providence , my Health may be the result of Temperance and severity , my Mirth in spiritual emanations , my Rest in Hope , my Peace in a good Conscience , my Satisfaction and acquiescence in thee : that from Content I may pass to an eternal Fulness , from Health to Immortality , from Grace to Glory , walking in the paths of Righteousness , by the waters of Comfort , to the land of everlasting Rest , to feast in the glorious communications of Eternity , eternally adoring , loving and enjoying the infinity of the ever-Blessed and mysterious Trinity ; to whom be glory , and 〈◊〉 , and dominion now and for ever . Amen . DISCOURSE XVI . Of Certainty of Salvation . 1. WHen the Holy Jesus took an account of the first Legation and voyage of his Apostles , he found them rejoycing in priviledges and exteriour powers , in their authority over unclean spirits : but weighing it in his balance , he found the cause too light , and therefore diverted it upon the right object ; Rejoyce that your names are written in Heaven . The revelation was confirmed and more personally applied in answer to S. Peter's Question , We have for saken all and followed thee : what shall we have therefore ? Their LORD answered , Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel . Amongst these persons to whom Christ spake Judas was ; he was one of the Twelve , and he had a throne allotted for him ; his name was described in the book of life , and a Scepter and a Crown was deposited for him too . For we must not judge of Christ's meaning by the event , since he spake these words to produce in them Faith , comfort and joy in the best objects : it was a Sermon of duty as well as a Homily of comfort , and therefore was equally intended to all the Colledge : and since the number of Thrones is proportioned to the number of men , it is certain there was no exception of any man there included ; and yet it is as certain Judas never came to sit upon the throne , and his name was blotted out of the book of life . Now if we put these ends together , that in Scripture it was not revealed to any man concerning his final condition , but to the dying penitent Thief , and to the twelve Apostles , that twelve thrones were designed for them , and a promise made of their inthronization , and yet that no man's final estate is so clearly declared miserable and lost as that of Judas , one of the Twelve , to whom a throne was promised ; the result will be , that the election of holy persons is a condition allied to duty , absolute and infallible in the general , and supposing all the dispositions and requisites concurring ; but fallible in the particular , if we fall off from the mercies of the Covenant , and prevaricate the conditions . But the thing which is most observable is , that if in persons so eminent and priviledged , and to whom a revelation of their Election was made as a particular grace , their condition had one weak leg , upon which because it did rely for one half of the interest , it could be no stronger than its supporters ; the condition of lower persons , to whom no revelation is made , no priviledges are indulged ; no greatness of spiritual eminency is appendent , as they have no greater certainty in the thing , so they have less in person , and are therefore to work out their salvation with great fears and tremblings of spirit . 2. The purpose of this consideration is , that we do not judge of our final condition by any discourses of our own , relying upon God's secret Counsels , and Predestination of Eternity . This is a mountain upon which whosoever climbs , like Moses , to behold the land of Canaan at great distances , may please his eyes , or satisfie his curiosity , but is certain never to enter that way . It is like enquiring into fortunes , concerning which Phavorinus the Philosopher spake not unhandsomely ; They that foretell events of destiny and secret providence , either foretell sad things , or prosperous . If they promise prosperous , and deceive , you are made miserable by a vain speculation . If they threaten ill fortune , and say false , thou art made wretched by a false fear . But if they foretell adversity , and say true , thou art made miserable by thy own apprehension before thou art so by destiny ; and many times the fear is worse than the evil feared . But if they promise felicities , and promise truly what shall come to pass ; then thou shalt be wearied by an impatience and a suspended hope , and thy hope shall ravish and * deflower the joys of thy possession . Much of it is hugely applicable to the present Question ; and our Blessed Lord , when he was petitioned that he would grant to the two sons of Zebedee , that they might sit one on the right hand and the other on the left in his Kingdom , rejected their desire , and only promised them what concerned their duty and their suffering , referring them to that , and leaving the final event of men to the disposition of his Father . This is the great Secret of the Kingdom , which God hath locked up and sealed with the counsels of Eternity . The sure foundation of God standeth , having this seal , The Lord knoweth who are his . This seal shall never be broken up till the great day of Christ ; in the mean time the Divine knowledge is the only 〈◊〉 of the final sentences , and this way of God is unsearchable and past finding out . And therefore if we be solicitous and curious to know what God in the counsels of Eternity hath decreed concerning us , he hath in two fair Tables described all those sentences from whence we must take accounts , the revelations of Scripture , and the book of Conscience : The first recites the Law and the conditions ; the other gives in evidence : the first is clear , evident and conspicuous ; the other , when it is written with large characters , may also be discerned ; but there are many little accents , periods , distinctions , and little significations of actions , which either are there written in water , or fullied over with carelesness , or blotted with forgetfulness , or not legible by ignorance , or misconstrued by interest and partiality , that it will be extremely difficult to read the hand upon the wall , or to copy out one line of the eternal sentence . And therefore excellent was the counsel of the Son of Sirach , 〈◊〉 not out the things that are 〈◊〉 hard for thee , 〈◊〉 search the things that are above thy strength : 〈◊〉 what is 〈◊〉 thee think thereupon with reverence ; for it is not 〈◊〉 for thee 〈◊〉 see with thine eyes the things that are in secret . For whatsoever God hath revealed in general concerning Election , it concerns all persons within the pale of Christianity : He hath conveyed notice to all Christian people , that they are the sons of God , that they are the 〈◊〉 of Eternity , coheirs 〈◊〉 Christ , partakers of the Divine nature ; meaning , that such they are by the design of God , and the purposes of the manifestation of his Son. The Election 〈◊〉 God is disputed in Scripture to be an act of God separating whole Nations , and rejecting others ; in each of which many particular instances there were contrary to the general and universal purpose ; and of the elect nations many particulars perished , and many of the rejected people sate down with Abraham , Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven : and to those persons to whom God was more particular , and was pleased to shew the scrowls of his eternal counsels , and to reveal their particular Elections , as he did to the twelve Apostles , he shewed them wrapped up and 〈◊〉 ; and , to take off their confidences or presumptions , he gave probation in one instance that those scrowls may be cancelled , that his purpose concerning particulars may be altered by us ; and 〈◊〉 that he did not discover the bottom of the Abysse , but some purposes of special grace and 〈◊〉 design . But his peremptory , final , 〈◊〉 Decree he keeps in the cabinets of the eternal ages , never to be unlocked till the Angel of the Covenant shall declare the unalterable universal Sentence . 3. But as we take the measure of the course of the Sun by the dimensions of the shadows made by our own bodies or our own instruments ; so must we take the measures of Eternity by the span of a man's hand , and guess at what God decrees of us , by considering how our relations and endearments are to him . And it is observable , that all the confidences which the Spirit of God hath created in the Elect are built upon Duty , and stand or fall according to the strength or weakness of such supporters . We know we are translated from death to life by our love unto the Brethren : meaning , that the performance of our duty is the best consignation to Eternity , and the only testimony God gives us of our Election . And therefore we are to make our judgments accordingly . And here I consider , that there is no state of a Christian in which by virtue of the Covenant of the Gospel it is effectively and fully declared that his sins are actually pardoned , but only in Baptism , at our first coming to Christ , when he redeems us from our 〈◊〉 conversation , when he makes us become Sons of God , when he justifies us 〈◊〉 by his grace , when we are purified by Faith , when we make a Covenant with Christ to live 〈◊〉 ever according to his Laws . And this I shall suppose I have already proved and explicated in the Discourse of Repentance . So that whoever is certain he hath not offended God since that time , and in nothing transgresseth the Laws of Christianity , he is certain that he actually remains in the state of Baptismal purity : but it is too certain that this certainty remains not long , but we commonly throw some dirt into our waters of Baptism , and stain our white robe which we then put on . 4. But then because our restitution to this state is a thing that consists of so many parts , is so divisible , various , and uncertain whether it be arrived to the degree of Innocence , ( and our Innocence consists in a Mathematical point , and is not capable of degrees any more than Unity , because one stain destroys our being innocent ) it is therefore a very difficult matter to say that we have done all our duty towards our restitution to Baptismal grace ; and if we have not done all that we can do , it is harder to say that God hath accepted that which is less than the conditions we entred into when we received the great Justification and Pardon of sins . We all know we do less than our duty , and we hope that God makes abatements for humane infirmities ; but we have but a few rules to judge by , and they not infallible in themselves , and we yet more fallible in the application , whether we have not mingled some little minutes of malice in the body of infirmities , and how much will bear excuse , and in what time , and to what persons , and to what degrees , and upon what endeavours we shall be pardoned . So that all the interval between our losing baptismal grace and the day of our death we walk in a cloud , having lost the certain knowledge of our present condition by our prevarications . And indeed it is a very hard thing for a man to know his own heart : And he that shall observe how often himself hath been abused by confidences and secret imperfections , and how the greatest part of Christians in name only do think themselves in a very good condition , when God knows they are infinitely removed from it ; ( and yet if they did not think themselves well and sure , it is unimaginable they should sleep so quietly , and walk securely , and consider negligently , and yet proceed 〈◊〉 ) he that considers this , and upon what weak and false principles of Divinity men have raised their strengths and perswasions , will easily consent to this , that it is very easie for men to be deceived in taking estimate of their present condition , of their being in the state of Grace . 5. But there is great variety of men , and difference of degrees ; and every step of returning to God may reasonably add one degree of hope , till at last it comes to the certainty and top of hope . Many men believe themselves to be in the state of Grace , and are not : many are in the state of Grace , and are infinitely fearful they are out of it : and many that are in God's favour do think they are so , and they are not deceived . And all this is certain . For some sin that sin of Presumption and Flattery of themselves , and some good persons are vexed with violent fears and temptations to despair , and all are not : and when their hopes are right , yet some are strong , and some are weak ; for they that are well perswaded of their present condition have perswasions as different as are the degrees of their approach to innocence ; and he that is at the highest hath also such abatements which are apt and proper for the conservation of humility and godly 〈◊〉 . I am guilty of nothing , ( saith S. Paul ) but I am not hereby justified ; meaning thus , Though I be innocent , for ought I know , yet God , who judges otherwise than we judge , may find something to reprove in me : It is God that judges , that is , concerning my degrees of acceptance and hopes of glory . If the person be newly recovering from a state of sin , because his state is imperfect , and his sin not dead , and his lust active , and his habit not quite extinct , it is easie for a man to be too hasty in pronouncing well . He is wrapt up in a cloak of clouds , hidden and encumbred ; and his brightest day is but twilight , and his discernings dark , conjectural and imperfect ; and his heart is like a cold hand newly applied to the fire , full of pain , and whether the heat or the cold be strongest is not easie to determine ; or like middle colours , which no man can tell to which of the extremes they are to be accounted . But according as persons grow in Grace , so they may grow in confidence of their present condition . It is not certain they will do so ; for sometimes the beauty of the tabernacle is covered with goats hair and skins of beasts , and holy people do infinitely deplore the want of such Graces which God observes in them with great complacency and acceptance . Both these cases say , that to be certainly perswaded of our present condition is not a Duty : Sometimes it is not possible , and sometimes it is better to be otherwise . But if we consider of this Certainty as a Blessing and a Reward , there is no question but in a great and an eminent Sanctity of life there may also be a great confidence and fulness of perswasion that our present being is well and gracious , and then it is certain that such persons are not deceived . For the thing it self being sure , if the perswasion answers to it , it is needless to dispute of the degree of certainty and the manner of it . Some persons are heartily perswaded of their being reconciled ; and of these some are deceived , and some are not deceived ; and there is no sign to distinguish them , but by that which is the thing signified : a holy life according to the strict rules of Christian Discipline tells what persons are confident , and who are presumptuous . But the certainty is reasonable in none but in old Christians , habitually holy persons , not in new Converts , or in lately lapsed people : for concerning them we find the Spirit of God speaking with clauses of restraint and ambiguity , a * perhaps , and , who knoweth , and , peradventure the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee ; God may have mercy on 〈◊〉 And that God hath done so , they only have reason to be confident whom God hath blessed with a lasting continuing Piety , and who have wrought out the habits of their precontracted vices . 6. But we find in Scripture many precepts given to holy persons being in the state of Grace to secure their standing , and perpetuate their present condition . For , (a) He that endureth unto the end , he [ only ] shall be saved , ( said our Blessed Saviour : ) and , (b) He that standeth , let him take heed lest he fall : and (c) Thou standest by Faith ; be not high-minded , but fear : and , (d) Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling . (e) Hold fast that 〈◊〉 hast , and let no man take the crown from thee . And it was excellent advice ; for one Church had (f) lost their first love , and was likely also to lose their crown . And S. Paul himself , who had once entred within the veil , and seen unutterable glories , yet was forced to endure hardship , and to fight against his own disobedient appetite , and to do violence to his inclinations , for fear that , whilest he preached to others , himself should become a cast-away . And since we observe in holy story that Adam and Eve fell in Paradise , and the Angels fell in Heaven it self , stumbling at the very jewels which pave the streets of the celestial Jerusalem ; and in Christ's family , one man for whom his Lord had prepared a throne turned Devil ; and that in the number of the Deacons it is said that one turned Apostate , who yet had been a man full of the Holy Ghost : it will lessen our train , and discompose the gayeties of our present confidence , to think that our securities cannot be really distinguished from danger and uncertainties . For every man walks upon two legs : one is firm , invariable , constant and eternal ; but the other is his own . God's Promises are the objects of our Faith ; but the events and final conditions of our Souls , which is consequent to our duty , can at the best be but the objects of our Hope . And either there must in this be a less certainty , or else Faith and Hope are not two distinct Graces . God's 〈◊〉 and vocation are without repentance ; meaning , on God's part : but the very people concerning whom S. Paul used the expression were reprobate and cut off , and in good time shall be called again ; in the mean time many single persons perish . There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus . God will look to that , and it will never fail ; but then they must secure the following period , and not walk after the Flesh , but after the Spirit . Behold the goodness of God towards thee , ( saith S. Paul ) if thou continue in his goodness , otherwise thou also shalt be cut off . And if this be true concerning the whole Church of the Gentiles , to whom the Apostle then made the address , and concerning whose election the decree was publick and manifest , that they might be cut off , and their abode in God's favour was upon condition of their perseverance in the Faith ; much more is it true in single persons , 〈◊〉 election in particular is shut up in the abyss , and permitted to the condition of our Faith and Obedience , and the revelations of Dooms-day . 7. Certain it is that God hath given to holy persons the Spirit of adoption , enabling them to cry , Abba , Father , and to account themselves for sons ; and by this Spirit we know we dwell in him , and therefore it is called in Scripture the earnest of the Spirit : though at its first mission , and when the Apostle wrote and used this appellative , the Holy Ghost was of greater signification , and a more visible earnest and endearment of their hopes , than it is to most of us since . For the visible sending of the Holy Ghost upon many Believers in gifts , signs and prodigies , was infinite argument to make them expect events as great beyond that as that was beyond the common gifts of men : just as Miracles and Prophecy , which are gifts of the Holy Ghost , were arguments of probation for the whole Doctrine of Christianity . And this being a mighty verification of the great Promise , the promise of the Father , was an apt instrument to raise their hopes and confidences concerning those other Promises which Jesus made , the promises of Immortality and eternal life , of which the present miraculous Graces of the Holy Spirit were an earnest , and in the nature of a contracting peny : and still also the Holy Ghost , though in another manner , is an earnest of the great price of the heavenly calling , the rewards of Heaven ; though not so visible and apparent as at first , yet as certain and demonstrative where it is discerned or where it is believed , as it is and ought to be in every person who does any part of his duty , because by the Spirit we do it , and without him we cannot . And since we either feel or believe the presence and gifts of the Holy Ghost to holy purposes , ( for whom we receive voluntarily , we cannot casily receive without a knowledge of his reception ) we cannot but entertain him as an argument of greater good hereafter , and an earnest-peny of the perfection of the present Grace , that is , of the rewards of Glory ; Glory and Grace differing no otherwise , than as an earnest in part of payment does from the whole price , the price of our high calling . So that the Spirit is an earnest , not because he always signifies to us that we are actually in the state of Grace , but by way of argument or reflexion ; we know we do belong to God when we receive his Spirit ; ( and all Christian people have received him , if they were rightly baptized and confirmed ) I say , we know by that testimony that we belong to God , that is , we are the people with whom God hath made a Covenant , to whom he hath promised and intends greater blessings , to which the present gifts of the Spirit are in order . But all this is conditional , and is not an immediate testimony of the certainty and future event ; but of the event as it is possibly future , and may ( without our fault ) be reduced to act as certainly as it is promised , or as the earnest is given in hand . And this the Spirit of God oftentimes tells us in secret visitations and publick testimonies : and this is that which S. Paul calls , tasting of the heavenly gift , and partaking of the Holy Ghost , and tasting of the good word of God , and the powers of the world to come . But yet some that have done so have fallen away , and have quenched the Spirit , and have given back the earnest of the Spirit , and contracted new relations , and God hath been their Father no longer , for they have done the works of the Devil . So that if new Converts be uncertain of their present state , old Christians are not absolutely certain they shall persevere . They are as sure of it as they can be of future acts of theirs which God hath permitted to their own power . But this certainty cannot exclude all fear , till their Charity be perfect ; only according to the strength of their habits , so is the confidence of their abodes in Grace . 8. Beyond this , some holy persons have degrees of perswasion superadded as Largesses and acts of grace , God loving to bless one degree of Grace with another , till it comes to a Confirmation in Grace , which is a state of Salvation directly opposite to Obduration ; and as this is irremediable and irrecoverable , so is the other inamissible : as God never saves a person obdurate and obstinately impenitent , so he never loses a man whom he hath confirmed in grace , whom he [ so ] loves , he loves unto the end ; and to others indeed he offers his persevering love , but they will not entertain it with a persevering duty , they will not be beloved unto the end . But I insert this caution , that every man that is in this condition of a confirmed Grace does not always know it ; but sometimes God draws aside the curtains of peace , and shews him his throne , and visits him with irradiations of glory , and sends him a little star to stand over his dwelling , and then again covers it with a cloud . It is certain concerning some persons , that they shall never fall , and that God will not permit them to the danger or probability of it ; to such it is morally impossible : but these are but few , and themselves know it not as they know a demonstrative proposition , but as they see the Sun , sometimes breaking from a cloud very brightly , but all day long giving necessary and sufficient light . 9. Concerning the multitude of Believers this discourse is not pertinent , for they only take their own accounts by the imperfections of their own duty blended with the mercies of God : the cloud gives light on one side , and is dark upon the other ; and sometimes a bright ray peeps through the fringes of a shower , and immediately hides it self , that we might be humble and diligent , striving forwards and looking upwards , endeavouring our duty and longing after Heaven , working out our Salvation with fear and trembling , and in good time our calling and 〈◊〉 may be assured , when we first according to the precept of the Apostle , use all diligence . S. Paul , when he writ his first Epistle to the Corinthians , was more fearful of being reprobate , and therefore he used exteriour arts of mortification . But when he writ to the Romans , which was a good while after , we find him more confident of his final condition , perswaded that neither height , nor depth , Angel , nor principality , nor power could separate him from the love of God in Jesus Christ : and when he grew to his latter end , when he wrote to S. Timothy , he was more confident yet , and declared that now a crown of rightcousness was certainly laid up for him , for now he had sought the fight , and finished his course , the time of his departure was at hand . Henceforth he knew no more fear ; his love was perfect as this state would permit , and that cast out all fear . According to this precedent if we reckon our securities , we are not likely to be reproved by any words of Scripture , or by the condition of humane infirmity . But when the confidence out-runs our growth in Grace , it is it self a sin ; though when the confidence is equal with the Grace , it is of it self no regular and universal duty , but a blessing and a reward indulged by special dispensation , and in order to personal necessities or accidental purposes . For only so much hope is simply necessary as excludes despair , and encourages our duty , and glorifies God , and entertains his mercy ; but that the hope should be without fear is not given but to the highest Faith , and the most excellent Charity , and to habitual , ratified and confirmed Christians , and to them also with some variety . The summ is this : All that are in the state of beginners and imperfection have a conditional Certainty , changeable and fallible in respect of us , ( for we meddle not with what it is in God's secret purposes ; ) changeable , I say , as their wills and resolutions . They that are grown towards perfection have more reason to be confident , and many times are so : but still although the strength of the habits of Grace adds degrees of moral certainty to their expectation , yet it is but as their condition is , hopeful and promising , and of a moral determination . But to those few to whom God hath given confirmation in Grace , he hath also given a certainty of condition , and therefore if that be revealed to them , their perswasions are certain and infallible . If it be not revealed to them , their condition is in it self certain , but their perswasion is not so ; but in the highest kind of Hope , an anchor of the Soul sure and stedfast . The PRAYER . O Eternal God , whose counsels are in the great deep , and thy ways past finding out ; thou hast built our Faith upon thy Promises , our Hopes upon thy Goodness , and hast described our paths between the waters of comfort and the dry barren land of our own duties and affections : we acknowledge that all our comforts derive from thee , and to our selves we owe all our shame and confusions and degrees of desperation . Give us the assistances of the Holy Ghost to help us in performing our duty , and give us those comforts and visitations of the Holy Ghost which thou in thy 〈◊〉 and eternal wisdom knowest most apt and expedient to encourage our duties , to entertain our hopes , to alleviate our sadnesses , to refresh our spirits , and to endure our abode and constant endeavours in the strictnesses of Religion and Sanctity . Lead us , dearest God , from Grace to Grace , from imperfection to strength , from acts to habits , from habits to confirmation in Grace , that we may also pass into the regions of comfort , receiving the earnest of the Spirit , and the adoption of Sons ; till by such a signature we be consigned to glory , and enter into the possession of the inheritance which we expect in the Kingdom of thy Son , and in the fruition of the felicities of thee , O gracious Father , God Eternal . Amen . SECT . XIV . Of the Third Year of the Preaching of JESUS . Five loaves satisfy so many Thousands . Mat : 14. 19. And he took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to Heaven he blessed and brake , and gave the loaves to his Disciples , and the Disciples to the Multitude . 20. And they did all eat and were filled , and they took up the fragments , that remayned twelve baskets . 21. And they that had eaten , were about five Thousand men , beside women and Children . Lazarus at the rich glutton's gate . Luk : 16. 19. There was a certain rich man which was Clothed in purple and fine linen , and fared sumptuously everey day . 20. And there was a certain Begger , named Lazarus , which was layd at his gate , full of sores . 25. And in Hell he lift up his eyes being in Torments , and seeth Abraham a far off , and Lazarus in his Bosome . 1. BUT Jesus knowing of the death of the Baptist , Herod's jealousie , and the envy of the Pharisees , retired into a desert place beyond the Lake together with his Apostles : For the people pressed so upon them , they had not leisure to eat . But neither there could he be hid , but great multitudes flocked thither also , to whom he preached many things . And afterwards , because there were no villages in the neighbourhood , lest they should faint in their return to their houses , he caused them to sit down upon the grass , and with five loaves of barley and two small fishes he satisfied five thousand men , besides women and children , and caused the Disciples to gather up the fragments , which being amassed together filled twelve baskets . Which Miracles had so much proportion to the understanding , and met so happily with the affections of the people , that they were convinced that this was the 〈◊〉 who was to come into the world , and had a purpose to have taken him by force , and made him a King. 2. But he , that left his Father's Kingdom to take upon him the miseries and infelicities of the world , fled from the offers of a Kingdom , and their tumultuary election , as from an enemy ; and therefore sending his Disciples to the ship before towards Bethsaida , he ran into the mountains to hide himself till the multitude should scatter to their several habitations ; he in the mean time taking the opportunity of that retirement for the advantage of his Prayers . But when the Apostles were far engaged in the Deep , a great tempest arose , with which they were pressed to the extremity of danger and the last refuges , labouring in sadness and hopelesness , till the fourth watch of the night , when in the midst of their fears and labours Jesus comes walking on the sea , and appeared to them , which turned their fears into affrightments ; for they supposed it had been a spirit : but he appeased their fears with his presence , and manifestation who he was ; which yet they desired to have proved to them by a sign . For Simon Peter said unto him , Master , if it be thou , command me to come to thee on the waters . The Lord did so ; and Peter , throwing himself upon the confidence of his Master's power and providence , came out of the ship , and his fear began to weigh him down , and he cried , saying , Lord , save me . Jesus took him by the hand , reproved the timorousness of his Faith , and went with him into the ship : where when they had worshipped him , and admired the Divinity of his Power and Person , they presently came into the land of Genesareth , the ship arriving at the Port immediately ; and all that were sick or possessed with unclean spirits were brought to him , and as many as touched the border of his garment were made whole . 3. By this time they whom Jesus had left on the other side of the Lake had come as far as Capernaum to seek him , wondring that he was there before them : but upon the occasion of their so diligent inquisition Jesus observes to them , That it was not the Divinity of the Miracle that provoked their zeal , but the satisfaction they had in the loaves , a carnal complacency in their meal ; and upon that intimation speaks of celestial bread , the divine nutriment of souls ; and then discourses of the mysterious and symbolical manducation of Christ himself , affirming that he himself was the bread of life that came down from Heaven , that he would give his Disciples his flesh to eat and his bloud to drink , and all this should be for the life of the World , to nourish unto life eternal ; so that without it a happy eternity could not be obtained . Upon this discourse divers of his Disciples ( amongst whom S. Mark the Evangelist is said to be one , though he was afterwards recalled by Simon Peter ) for sook him , being scandalized by their literal and carnal understanding of those words of Jesus , which he intended in a spiritual sence . For the words that he spake were not profitable in the sence of flesh and bloud , but they are spirit , and they are life , himself being the Expounder , who best knew his own meaning . 4. When Jesus saw this great defection of his Disciples from him , he turned him to the twelve Apostles , and asked if they also would go away . Simon Peter answered , Lord , whither shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life : And we believe and are sure thou art that CHRIST , the Son of the living God. Although this publick confession was made by Peter in the name and confidence of the other Apostles , yet Jesus told them , that even amongst the twelve there was one Devil ; meaning Judas Iscariot , who afterwards betrayed him . This he told them Prophetically , that they might perceive the sad accidents which afterwards happened did not invade and surprize him in the disadvantages of ignorance or improvision , but came by his own knowledge and providence . 5. Then came to him the Pharisees , and some Scribes which came from Jerusalem and Galilee , ( for Jesus would not go to Judaea , because the Jews laid wait to kill him ) and quarrelled with him about certain impertinent , unnecessary Rites , derived to them not by Divine sanction , but ordinances of man ; such as were washing their hands oft when they eat , baptizing cups and platters , and washing tables and beds ; which ceremonies the Apostles of Jesus did not observe , but attended diligently to the simplicity and spiritual Holiness of their Master's Doctrine . But , in return to their vain demands , Jesus gave them a sharp reproof for prosecuting these and many other traditions to the discountenance of Divine Precepts ; and in particular they taught men to give to the Corban , and refused to supply the necessity of their parents , thinking it to be Religion , though they neglected Piety and Charity . And again he thunders out woes and sadnesses against their impieties , for being curious of minutes , and punctual in rites and ceremonials , but most negligent and incurious of Judgment and the love of God ; for their Pride , for their Hypocrisie , for their imposing burthens upon others which themselves helped not to support ; for taking away the key of knowledge from the people , obstructing the passages to Heaven ; for approving the acts of their Fathers in persecuting the Prophets . But for the Question it self concerning Washings , Jesus taught the people that no outward impurity did stain the Soul in the sight of God , but all pollution is from within , from the corruption of the heart , and impure thoughts , unchast desires , and unholy purposes , and that Charity is the best purifier in the world . 6. And thence Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon , and entred into a house , that he might not be known . The diligence of a Mother's love , and sorrow and necessity , found him out in his retirement ; for a Syrophoenician woman came and be sought him that he would cast the Devil out of her daughter . But Jesus discoursed to her by way of discomfort and rejection of her , for her Nation 's sake . But the seeming denial did but enkindle her desires , and made her importunity more bold and undeniable ; she begged but some crums that fell from the childrens table , but one instance of favour to her daughter , which he poured forth without measure upon the sons and daughters of Israel , Jesus was pleased with her zeal and discretion , and pitied her daughter's infelicity , and dismissed her with saying , The Devil was gone out of her Daughter . 7. But Jesus stayed not long here , but returning to the Sea of Galilee through the midst of 〈◊〉 , they brought unto him a man deaf and dumb , whom Jesus cured by touching his tongue , and putting his fingers in his ears : which caused the people to give a large testimony in approbation of all his actions . And they followed him unto a mountain , bringing to him multitudes of diseased people , and he healed them all . But because the people had followed him three days , and had nothing to eat , Jesus in pity to their need resolved to 〈◊〉 them once more at the charge of a Miracle : therefore taking seven 〈◊〉 and a few small fishes , he blessed them , and satisfied four thousand men , besides women and children . And there remained seven baskets full of broken bread and fish . From whence Jesus departed by ship to the coasts of Mageddon and Dalmanutha , whither the Pharisees and Sadduces came , seeking of him a sign . But Jesus rejected their impertinent and captious demand , knowing they did it to ill purposes and with disaffection ; reproving them , that they discerned the face of the sky , and the prognosticks of fair or foul weather , but not the signs of the times of the Son of man. However , since they had neglected so great demonstrations of Miracles , gracious Discourses , holy Laws and Prophecies , they must expect no other sign but the 〈◊〉 of the Prophet Jonas ; meaning , the Resurrection of his Body after three days burial : and so he dismissed the impertinent inquisitors . 8. And passing again over the Lake , as his Disciples were solicitous because they had forgot to take bread , he gave them caution to beware of the leven of the Pharisees and Sadduces , and the leven of Herod ; meaning , the Hypocrisie and vanities of the one , and the Heresie of the other . For Herod's leven was the pretence that he was the Messias , which the Sect of the 〈◊〉 did earnestly and spitefully promote . And after this 〈◊〉 of themselves by the way , they came together to Bethsaida , where Jesus cured a blind man with a collyrium of spittle , salutary as Balsam or the purest Eyebright , when his divine benediction once had hallowed it . But Jesus staid not there , but departing thence into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi , out of Herod's power , ( for it was in Philip's jurisdiction ) after he had prayed with his Disciples , he enquired what opinion the world had of him , and whom they reported him to be . They answered , Some say thou art John the Baptist , some that thou art Elias , or Jeremias , or one of the Prophets : for in 〈◊〉 especially the Sect of the Pharisees was mightily disseminated , whose opinion it was , that the Souls of dead men according to their several merits did transmigrate into other bodies of very perfect and excellent persons . And therefore in all this variety none hit upon the right , or fansied him to be a distinct person from the ancients ; but although they differed in the assignation of his name , yet generally they agreed it was the Soul of a departed Prophet which had passed into another Body . But Jesus asked the Apostles their opinion , and Peter , in the name of all the rest , made an open and confident Confession , Thou art CHRIST , the Son of the living God. 9. This Confession Jesus not only confirmed as true , but as revealed by God , and of fundamental necessity : for after the blessing of Peter's person , upon allusion of Peter's name , Jesus said , that upon this Rock [ the article of Peter's Confession ] he would build his Church , promising to it assistances even to perpetuity , insomuch that the gates of hell , that is , persecution and death and the grave , should never prevail against it : adding withall a promise to Peter , in behalf of all the rest , as he had made a Confession for them all , that he would give unto him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven , so that whatsoever he should bind on earth should be bound in Heaven , and whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed in Heaven ; a power which he never communicated before or since , but to their successors ; greater than the large Charter of Nature and the donative of Creation , in which all the creatures under Heaven were made subject to Man's Empire , but till now Heaven it self was never subordinate to humane ministration . 10. And now the days from hence forward to the Death of Jesus we must reckon to be like the Vigils or Eves of his Passion ; for now he began and often did ingeminate those sad predictions of his unhandsome usage he should shortly find , that he 〈◊〉 be rejected of the Elders , and chief Priests , and Scribes , and suffer many things at Jerusalem , and be killed , and be raised up the third day . But Peter , hearing that sad discourse so contrary to his hopes , which he had blended with temporal expectances , ( for he had learned the Doctrine of Christ's Advent , but not the mystery of the Cross ) in great and mistaken civility took Jesus aside , and began to rebuke him , saying , Be it far from thee , Lord , this shall not be unto thee . But Jesus full of zeal against so soft and humane admonition , that savoured nothing of God or of abstracted immaterial considerations , chid Peter bitterly ; Get thee behind me , Satan , thou art an offence unto me . And calling his Disciples to him , told them a second part of a sad doctrine , that not only himself , but all they also must suffer . For when the Head was to be crowned with thorns , if the Members were wrapped in softnesses , it was an unhansome undecency , and a disunion too near an antipathy ; and therefore who ever will be the Disciple of Jesus must take up his Cross , deny himself and his own fonder appetites , and trace his Master's foot-steps marked out with bloud that he shed for our Redemption and restitution . And that there be no escape from the participation of Christ's suffering , Jesus added this Dilemma ; He that will save his life shall lose it ; and he that will lose it shall save it to eternity . Which part soever we chuse , there is a life to be lost : but as the first are foolish to the extremest misery , that will lose their Souls to gain the World ; so they are most wise and fortunate that will give their lives for him ; because when the Son of Man shall come in his own glory , and his Father's , and of his Angels , he shall reward every man according to his works . This discourse Jesus concluded with a Prophecy , that some standing in that presence should not die till they saw the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom . 11. Of the greater glories of which , in due time to be revealed , Jesus after eight days gave a bright and excellent probation . For , taking with him Peter and James and John , he went up into the mountain Tabor to pray ; and while he prayed , he was transfigured before them , and his face did shine like the Sun , and his garments were white and 〈◊〉 . And there appeared talking with him Moses and Elias gloriously , speaking of the decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem , which glory these Apostles , after they had awaked from sleep , did behold . And the Interlocutors with Jesus having finished their embassy of death ( which they delivered in forms of glory representing the excellencies of the reward , together with the sharpness of the passage and interval ) departed , leaving the Apostles full of fear , and wonder , and 〈◊〉 , insomuch that Peter talked he knew not what , but nothing amiss , something Prophetical , saying , Master , it is good to be here ; 〈◊〉 us build three tabernacles . And some devout persons in memory of the mystery did 〈◊〉 three Churches in the same place in after-Ages . But after the departure of those attendent Saints , a cloud incircled Jesus and the Disciples , and a voice came from the excellent glory , This is my beloved Son , hear him . The cloud quickly disappeared , and freed the Disciples from the fear it had put them in . So they attended Jesus , and descended from the mountain , being commanded silence , which they observed till the Resurrection . 12. The next day came to Jesus a man praying in behalf of his son , Lunatick and sore troubled with a Devil , who sought oft to destroy him in fire and water , that Jesus would be pleased to deliver him . For his Apostles tried , and could not , by reason of the want of Faith ; for this Grace , if it be true , though in a less degree , is of power to remove mountains , to pluck up trees by the roots , and to give them solid foundation in the waters . And Jesus rebuked the Devil , and 〈◊〉 departed out of him from that very hour . Thence Jesus departed privately into Galilee , and in his journey repeated those sadnesses of his approaching Passion : Which so afflicted the spirits of the Disciples , that they durst no more provoke him to discourse , lest he should take occasion to interweave something of that unpleasant argument with it . For sad and disconsolate persons use to create comsorts to themselves by fiction of fancy , and use arts of avocation to remove displeasure from them , and stratagems to remove it from their presence , by removing it from their apprehensions , thinking the incommodity of it is then taken away when they have lost the sense . 13. When Jesus was now come to Capernaum , the exactors of rates came to Simon Peter , asking him if his Master paid the accustomed imposition , viz. a sicle or didrachm , the fourth part of an ounce of silver , which was the tribute which the Lord imposed upon all the sons of Israel from twenty years old and above , to pay for redemption and propitiation , and for the use of the Tabernacle . When Peter came into the house , Jesus knowing the message that he was big with , prevented him , by asking him , Of whom do the Kings of the Nations take tribute ? of their own children , or of strangers ? Peter answered , Of strangers . Then said Jesus , then are the children free ; meaning , that since the Gentile Kings do not exact tribute of their sons , neither will God of his . And therefore this Pension to be paid for the use of the Tabernacle , for the service of God , for the redemption of their Souls , was not to be paid by him , who was the Son of God , but by strangers . Yet to avoid offence , he sent Peter a-fishing , and provided a fish with two didrachms of silver in it , which he commanded Peter to pay for them two . 14. But when the Disciples were together with Jesus in the house , he asked them what they discoursed of upon the way ; for they had fallen upon an ambitious and mistaken quarrel , which of them should be greatest in their Master's Kingdom , which they still did dream should be an external and secular Royalty , full of fancy and honour . But the Master was diligent to check their forwardness , establishing a rule for Clerical deportment ; He that will be greatest among you , let him be your Minister : so supposing a greater and a lesser , a Minister and a person to be ministred unto , but dividing the grandeur of the Person from the greatness of Office , ( that the higher the imployment is , the more humble should be the man ; ) because in Spiritual prelation it is not as in Secular pomps , where the Dominion is despotick , the Coercion bloudy , the Dictates 〈◊〉 , the Laws externally compulsory , and the Titles arrogant and vain ; and all the advantages are so passed upon the Person , that making that first to be splendid , it passes from the Person to the subjects , who in abstracted essences do not easily apprehend Regalities in veneration , but as they are subjected in persons made excellent by such superstructures of Majesty : But in Dignities Ecelesiastical the Dominion is paternal , the 〈◊〉 perswasive and argumentative , the Coercion by censures immaterial , by cession and consent , by denial of benefits , by the interest of vertues , and the efficacy of hopes , and impresses upon the spirit ; the Laws are full of admonition and Sermon ; the Titles of honour monitors of duty , and memorials of labour and offices ; and all the advantages , which from the Office usually pass upon the Person , are to be devested by the humility of the man ; and when they are of greatest veneration they are abstracted excellencies and immaterial , not passing through the Person to the people , and reslected to his lustre , but transmitted by his labour and ministery , and give him honour for his labour's sake , ( which is his personal excellency ) not for his honour and title , which is either a derivative from Christ , or from the constitution of pious persons , estimating and valuing the relatives of Religion . 15. Then Jesus taketh a little child , and setteth him in the midst , propounding him by way of Emblem a pattern of Humility and Simplicity , without the mixtures of Ambition or caitive distempers ; such infant candour and low liness of spirit being the necessary port through which we must pass , if we will enter into the Courts of Heaven . But as a current of wholsome waters breaking from its restraint runs out in a succession of waters , and every preceding draught draws out the next : so were the Discourses of Jesus excellent and opportune , creating occasions for others , that the whole doctrine of the Gospel and the entire will of the Father might be communicated upon design ; even the chances of words and actions being made regular and orderly by Divine Providence . For from the instance of Humility in the symbol and Hieroglyphick of the child , Jesus discourses of the care God takes of little children , whether naturally or spiritually such ; the danger of doing them scandal and offences ; the care and power of their Angels guardian ; of the necessity in the event that Scandals should arise , and of the great woe and infelicity of those persons who were the active ministers of such offences . 16. But if in the traverses of our life discontents and injuries be done , Jesus teaches how the injured person should demean himself : First , reprove the offending party privately ; if he repent , forgive him for ever with a mercy as unwearied and as multiplied as his repentance . For the servant to whom his Lord had forgiven 10000 talents , because he refused to forgive his fellow-servant 100 pence , was delivered to the * tormentors , till he should pay that debt which his Lord once forgave , till the servant's impiety forced him to repent his donative and remission . But if he refuses the charity of private correction , let him be reproved before a few witnesses : and in case he be still incorrigible , let him be brought to the tribunal of the Church ; against whose advices if he shall kick , let him feel her power , and be cut off from the communion of Saints , becoming a Pagan or a Publican . And to make that the Church shall not have a dead and ineffectual hand in her animadversions , Jesus promises to all the Apostles , what before he promised to Peter , a power of binding and loosing on earth , and that it should be ratified in Heaven what they shall so dispose on earth with an unerring key . 17. But John interrupted him , telling him of a stranger that cast out Devils in the name of Jesus , but because he was not of the family , he had forbidden him . To this Jesus replied , that he should in no wise have forbidden him , for in all reason he would do veneration to that person whose Name he saw to be energetical and triumphant over Devils , and in whose name it is almost necessary that man should believe ; who used it as an instrument of ejection of impure spirits . Then Jesus proceeded in his excellent Sermon and union of discourses , adding holy Precepts concerning offences which a man might do to himself ; in which case he is to be severe , though most gentle to others . For in his own case he must shew no mercy , but abscission : for it it better to cut off the offending hand or foot , or extinguish the offending eye , rather than upon the support of a troublesome soot , and by the light of an offending eye , walk into ruine and a sad eternity , where the worm dieth not , and the fire is not quenched . And so Jesus ended this chain of excellent Discourses . 18. About this time was the Jews Feast of Tabernacles , whither Jesus went up as it were in secret , and passing through Samaria he found the inhabitants of a little village so inhospitable , as to refuse to give him entertainment ; which so provoked the intemperate zeal of James and John , that they would fain have called for fire to consume them , even as Elias did . But Jesus rebuked the furies of their anger , teaching them to distinguish the spirit of Christianity from the ungentleness of the decretory zeal of Elias . For since the Son of man came with a purpose to seek and save what was lost , it was but an indiscreet temerity suddenly upon the lightest umbrages of displeasure to destroy a man , whose redemption cost the effusion of the dearest bloud from the heart of Jesus . But contrariwise Jesus does a Miracle upon the ten Leprous persons which came to him from the neighbourhood , crying out with sad exclamations for help . But Jesus sent them to the Priest to offer for their cleansing . Thither they went , and but one only returned to give thanks , and he a stranger , who with a loud voice glorified God , and with humble adoration worshipped , and gave thanks to Jesus . 19. When Jesus had finished his journey , and was now come to Jerusalem , for the first days he was undiscerned in publick conventions , but heard of the various opinions of men concerning him : some saying he was a good man , others , that he 〈◊〉 the people ; and the Pharisees sought for him to do him a mischief . But when they despaired of finding him in the midst of the Feast and the people , he made Sermons openly in the midst of the Temple ; whom when he had convinced by the variety and divinity of his Miracles and Discourses , they gave the greatest testimony in the world of humane weakness , and how prevalent a prejudice is above the confidence and conviction of a demonstration . For a proverb , a mistake , an error in matter of circumstance did in their understandings outweigh multitudes of Miracles and arguments ; and because Christ was of Galilee , because they knew whence he was , because of the Proverb , that 〈◊〉 of Galilee comes no Prophet , because the Rulers did not believe in him , these outweighed the demonstrations of his mercy , and his power , and Divinity . But yet very many believed on him ; and no man durst lay hands to take him ; for as yet his time was not come , in which he meant to give himself up to the power of the Jews : and therefore when the Pharisees sent Officers to seise him , they also became his Disciples , being themselves surprised by the excellency of his Doctrine . 20. After this Jesus went to the mount of Olivet on the East of Jerusalem , and the next day returned again into the Temple , where the Scribes and Pharisees brought him a woman taken in the act of Adultery , tempting him to give sentence , that they might accuse him of severity or intermedling if he condemned her , or of remisness and popularity if he did acquit her . But Jesus found out an expedient for their difficulty , and changed the Scene , by bidding the innocent person among them cast the first stone at the Adulteress ; and then stooping down to give them fair occasion to withdraw , he wrote upon the ground with his finger , whilest they left the woman and her crime to a more private censure : Jesus was left alone , and the woman in the midst ; whom Jesus dismissed , charging her to sin no more . And a while after Jesus begins again to discourse to them , of his Mission from the Father , of his Crucifixion and exaltation from the earth , of the reward of Believers , of the excellency of Truth , of spiritual Liberty and Relations , who are the sons of Abraham , and who the children of the Devil , of his own eternal generation , of the desire of Abraham to see his day . In which Sermon he continued , adding still new excellencies , and confuting their malicious and vainer calumnies , till they , that they also might 〈◊〉 him , took up stones to cast at him ; but he went out of the Temple , going through the midst of them , and so passed by . 21. But in his passage he met a man who had been born blind : and after he had discoursed cursorily of the cause of that Blindness , it being a misery not sent as a punishment to his own or his parents sin , but as an occasion to make publick the glory of God ; he , to manifest that himself was the light of the World in all sences , said it now , and proved it by a Miracle : for sitting down he made clay of spittle , and anointing the eyes of the blind man , bid him go wash in Siloam ; which was a Pool of limpid water which God sent at the Prayer of Isaiah the Prophet , a little before his death , to satisfie the necessities of his people oppressed with thirst and a strict siege , and it stood at the foot of the mount Sion , and gave its water at first by returns and periods , always to the Jews , but not to the enemies . And those intermitted springings were still continued , but only a Pool was made from the frequent effluxes . The blind man went , and washed , and returned seeing ; and was incessantly vexed by the Pharisees , to tell them the manner and circumstances of the cure : and when the man had averred the truth , and named his Physician , giving him a pious and charitable testimony , the Pharisees , because they could not force him to disavow his good opinion of Jesus , cast him out of the 〈◊〉 . But Jesus meeting him received him into the Church , told him he was CHRIST ; and the man became again enlightned , and he believed , and worshipped . But the Pharisees blasphemed : for such was the dispensation of the Divine mysteries , that the blind should see , and they which think they see clearly should become blind , because they had not the excuse of ignorance to lessen or take off the sin , but in the midst of light they shut their eyes , and doted upon darkness , and therefore did their sin remain . 22. But Jesus continued his Sermon among the Pharisees , insinuating reprehensions in his dogmatical discourses , which like light shined and discovered error . For by discoursing the properties of a good Shepherd , and the lawful way of intromission , he proved them to be thieves and robbers , because they refused to enter in by Jesus , who is the door of the sheep ; and upon the same ground reproved all those false Christs which before him usurped the title of Messias , and proved his own vocation and office by an argument which no other shepherd would use , because he laid down his life for his sheep : others would take the fleece and eat the flesh , but none but himself would die for his sheep ; but he would first die , and then gather his sheep together into one fold , ( intimating the calling of the Gentiles ; ) to which purpose he was enabled by his Father to lay down his life , and to take it up ; and had also endeared them to his Father , that they should be preserved unto eternal life , and no power should be able to take them out of his hand , or the hand of his Father : for because Jesus was united to the Father , the Father's care preserved the Son's flocks . 23. But the Jews , to requite him for his so divine Sermons , betook themselves to their old argument , they took up stones again to cast at him , pretending he had blasphemed : but Jesus proved it to be no blasphemy to call himself the son of God , because they to whom the Word of God came are in Scripture called Gods. But nothing could satisfie them , whose temporal interest was concerned not to consent to such Doctrine which would save their souls by ruining their temporal concernments . But when they sought again to take him , Jesus escaped out of their hands , and went away beyond Jordan , where John at first baptized : which gave the people occasion to remember that John did no Miracle , but this man does many , and John , whom all men did revere and highly account of for his Office and Sanctity , gave testimony to Jesus . And many believed on him there . 24. After this , Jesus , knowing that the harvest was great , and as yet the labourers had been few , sent out seventy two of his Disciples with the like commission as formerly the 12. Apostles , that they might go before to those places whither himself meant to come . Of which number were the Seven , whom afterwards the Apostles set over the Widows , and Matthias , Mark , and some say Luke , Justus , Barnabas , Apelles , Rufus , Niger , Cephas , ( not Peter ) Thaddaeus , Aristion , and John. The rest of the names could not be recovered by the best diligence of Eusebius and Epiphanius . But when they returned from their journey , they rejoyced greatly in the legation and power , and Jesus also rejoyced in spirit , giving glory to God , that he had made his revelations to babes and the more imperfect 〈◊〉 ; like the lowest Valleys which receive from Heaven the greatest flouds of rain and blessings , and stand thick with corn and flowers , when the Mountains are unfruitful in their height and greatness . 25. And now a Doctor of the Law came to Jesus , asking him a Question of the greatest consideration that a wise man could ask , or a Prophet answer ; Master , what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? Jesus referred him to the Scriptures , and declared the way to Heaven to be this only , to love the Lord with all our powers and faculties , and our neighbour as our self . But when the Lawyer being captious made a scruple in a smooth rush , asking what is meant by Neighbour : Jesus told him , by a Parable of a Traveller fallen into the hands of robbers , and neglected by a Priest and by a Levite , but relieved by a Samaritan , that no distance of Countrey or Religion destroys the relation of Neighbourhood ; but every person with whom we converse in peace and charity is that Neighbour whom we are to love as our selves . 26. Jesus having departed from Jerusalem upon the forementioned danger , came to a village called Bethany , where Martha making great and busie preparation for his entertainment , to express her joy and her affections to his person , desired Jesus to dismiss her Sister Mary from his feet , who sate there feasting her self with the viands and sweetnesses of his Doctrine , incurious of the provisions for entertainment . But Jesus commended her choice ; and though he did not expresly disrepute Martha's Civility , yet he preferred Mary's Religion and Sanctity of affections . In this time ( because the night drew on , in which no man could work ) Jesus hastened to do his Father's business , and to pour out whole cataracts of holy Lessons , like the fruitful Nilus swelling over the banks , and filling all the trenches , to make a plenty of corn and fruits great as the inundation . Jesus therefore teaches his Disciples that Form of Prayer the second time which we call the Lord's Prayer : teaches them assiduity and indefatigable importunity in Prayer , by a Parable of an importunate Neighbour borrowing loaves at midnight , and a troublesome Widow who forced an unjust Judge to do her right by her clamorous and hourly addresses : encourages them to pray , by consideration of the Divine goodness and fatherly affection , far more indulgent to his Sons than natural Fathers are to their dearest issue ; and adds a gracious promise of success to them that pray . He reproves Pharisaical ostentation ; arms his Disciples against the fear of men and the terrors of Persecution , which can arrive but to the incommodities of the Body ; teaches the fear of God , who is Lord of the whole Man , and can accurse the Soul as well as punish the Body . He refuses to divide the inheritance between two Brethren , as not having competent power to become Lord in temporal jurisdictions . He preaches against Covetousness , and the placing felicities in worldly possessions , by a Parable of a rich man , whose riches were too big for his barns , and big enough for his Soul , and he ran over into voluptuousness , and stupid complacencies in his perishing goods : he was snatched from their possession , and his Soul taken from him in the violence of a rapid and hasty sickness in the space of one night . Discourses of divine Providence and care over us all , and descending even as low as grass . He exhorts to Alms-deeds , to Watchfulness , and preparation against the sudden and unexpected coming of our Lord to Judgment , or the arrest of death : tells the offices and sedulity of the Clergy , under the Apologue of Stewards and Governours of their Lords houses ; teaches them gentleness and sobriety , and not to do evil upon confidence of their Lord's absence and delay ; and teaches the people even of themselves to judge what is right concerning the signs of the coming of the Son of Man. And the end of all these discourses was , that all men should repent , and live good lives , and be saved . 27. At this Sermon there were present some that told him of the Galileans , whose bloud Pilate mingled with their sacrifices . For the Galileans were a sort of people that taught it to be unlawful to pay tribute to strangers , or to pray for the Romans ; and because the Jews did both , they refused to communicate in their sacred Rites , and would sacrifice apart : at which Solemnity when Pilate the Roman Deputy had apprehended many of them , he caused them all to be slain , making them to die upon the same Altars . These were of the Province of Judaea , but of the same Opinion with those who taught in Galilee , from whence the Sect had its appellative . But to the story ; Jesus made reply , that these external accidents , though they be sad and calamitous , yet they are no arguments of condemnation against the persons of the men , to convince them of a greater guilt than others , upon whom no such visible signatures have been imprinted . The purpose of such chances is , that we should repent , lest we perish in the like judgment . 28. About this time a certain Ruler of a Synagogue renewed the old Question about the observation of the Sabbath , repining at Jesus that he cured a woman that was crooked , loosing her from her infirmity , with which she had been afflicted eighteen years . But Jesus made the man ashamed by an argument from their own practice , who themselves loose an oxe from the stall on the Sabbath , and lead him to watering : And by the same argument he also stopt the mouths of the Scribes and Pharisees , which were open upon him for curing an Hydropick person upon the Sabbath . For Jesus , that he might draw off and separate Christianity from the yoke of Ceremonies by abolishing and taking off the strictest Mosaical Rites , chose to do very many of his Miracles upon the Sabbath , that he might do the work of abrogation and institution both at once ; not much unlike the Sabbatical Pool in Judaea , which was dry six days , but gushed out in a full stream upon the Sabbath . For though upon all days Christ was operative and miraculous , yet many reasons did concur and determine him to a more frequent working upon those days of publick ceremony and convention . But going forth from thence he went up and down the Cities of Galilee , re-enforcing the same Doctrine he had formerly taught them , and daily adding new Precepts and cautions , and prudent insinuations : advertising of the multitudes of them that perish , and the paucity of them that shall be saved , and that we should strive to enter in at the strait gate ; that the way to destruction is broad and plausible , the way to Heaven nice and austere , and few there be that find it : teaches them modesty at Feasts , and entertainments of the poor : discourses of the many excuses and unwillingnesses of persons who were invited to the feast of the Kingdom , the refreshments of the Gospel ; and tacitly insinuates the rejection of the Jews , who were the first invited , and the calling of the Gentiles , who were the persons called in from the high ways and hedges . He reprehends Herod for his subtilty and design to kill him : prophesies that he should die at Jerusalem ; and intimates great sadnesses future to them for neglecting this their day of visitation , and for killing the Prophets and the Messengers sent from God. 29. It now grew towards Winter , and the Jews feast of Dedication was at hand ; therefore Jesus went up to Jerusalem to the Feast , where he preached in Solomon's Porch , which part of the Temple stood intire from the first ruines : and the end of his Sermon was , that the Jews had like to have stoned him . But retiring from thence he went beyond Jordan , where he taught the people in a most elegant and perswasive Parable concerning the mercy of God in accepting Penitents , in the Parable of the Prodigal son returning ; discourses of the design of the Messias coming into the world to recover erring persons from their sin and danger , in the Apologues of the Lost sheep , and Goat ; and under the representment of an Unjust , but prudent , Steward , he taught us so to employ our present opportunities and estates , by laying them out in acts of Mercy and Religion , that when our Souls shall be dismissed from the stewardship and custody of our body , we may be entertained in everlasting habitations . He instructeth the Pharisees in the question of Divorces , limiting the permissions of Separations to the only cause of Fornication : preferreth holy Coelibate before the estate of Marriage , in them to whom the gift of Continency is given in order to the Kingdom of Heaven . He telleth a Story or a Parable ( for which , is uncertain ) of a Rich man ( whom Euthymius out of the tradition of the Hebrews , nameth Nymensis ) and Lazarus ; the first a voluptuous person , and uncharitable ; the other pious , afflicted , sick , and a begger : the first died , and went to Hell ; the second to Abraham's bosome : God so ordering the dispensation of good things , that we cannot easily enjoy two Heavens , nor shall the infelicities of our lives ( if we be pious ) end otherwise than in a beatified condition . The Epilogue of which story discovered this truth also , That the ordinary means of Salvation are the express revelations of Scripture , and the ministeries of God's appointment ; and whosoever neglects these shall not be supplied with means extraordinary , or if he were , they would be totally ineffectual . 30. And still the people drew water from the fountains of our Saviour , which streamed out in a full and continual emanation . For adding wave to wave , line to line , precept upon precept , he reproved the Fastidiousness of the Pharisee , that came with Eucharist to God and contempt to his brother ; and commended the Humility of the Publican's address , who came deploring his sins , and with modesty and penance and importunity begged and obtained a mercy . Then he laid hands upon certain young children , and gave them benediction , charging his Apostles to admit infants to him , because to them in person , and to such in embleme and signification , the Kingdom of Heaven does appertain . He instructs a young man in the ways and counsels of perfection , besides the observation of Precepts , by heroical Renunciations and acts of munificent Charity . Which discourse because it alighted upon an indisposed and an unfortunate subject , ( for the young man was very rich ) Jesus discourses how hard it is for a rich man to be saved ; but he expounds himself to mean , they that trust in riches ; and however it is a matter of so great temptation , that it is almost impossible to escape , yet with God nothing is impossible . But when the Apostles heard the Master bidding the young man sell all , and give to the poor , and follow him , and for his reward promised him a heavenly treasure , Peter , in the name of the rest , began to think that this was their case , and the promise also might concern them : but they asked the Question , What shall we have , who have forsaken all , and followed thee ? Jesus answered , that they should sit upon twelve thrones , judging the twelve tribes of Israel . 31. And Jesus extended this mercy to every Disciple that should forsake either house , or wife , or children , or any thing for his sake and the Gospel's , and that they should receive a hundred fold in this life , by way of comfort and equivalency , and in the world to come thousands of glories and possessions in fruition and redundancy . For they that are last shall be first , and the first shall be last : and the despised people of this world shall reign like Kings , and contempt it self shall swell up into glory , and poverty into an eternal satisfaction . And these rewards shall not be accounted according to the priviledges of Nations , or priority of vocation , but readiness of mind and obedience , and sedulity of operation after calling : which Jesus taught his Disciples in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard , to whom the Master gave the same reward , though the times of their working were different ; as their calling and employment had determined the opportunity of their labours . DISCOURSE XVII . Of Scandal , or Giving and taking Offence . 1. A Sad curse being threatned in the Gospel to them who offend any of Christ's little ones , that is , such as are novices and babes in Christianity , it concerns us to learn our duty and perform it , that we may avoid the curse ; for , Woe to all them by whom offences come . And although the duty is so plainly explicated and represented in gloss and case by the several Commentaries of S. Paul upon this menace of our Blessed Saviour ; yet because our English word Offence , which is commonly used in this Question of Scandal , is so large and equivocal that it hath made many pretences , and intricated this article to some inconvenience , it is not without good purpose to draw into one body those Propositions which the Masters of Spiritual life have described in the managing of this Question . 2. First , By whatsoever we do our duty to God we cannot directly do offence or give scandal to our Brother ; because in such cases where God hath obliged us , he hath also obliged himself to reconcile our duty to the designs of God , to the utility of Souls , and the ends of Charity . And this Proposition is to be extended to our Obedience to the lawful Constitutions of our competent Superiours , in which cases we are to look upon the Commandment , and leave the accidental events to the disposition of that Providence who reconciles dissonancies in nature , and concentres all the variety of accidents into his own glory . And whosoever is offended at me for obeying God or God's Vicegerent , is offended at me for doing my duty ; and in this there is no more dispute , but whether I shall displease God , or my peevish neighbour . These are such whom the Spirit of God complains of under other representments : They think it strange we run not into the same excess of riot ; Their eye is evil because their Master's eye is good ; and the abounding of God's grace also may become to them an occasion of falling , and the long-suffering of God the encouragement to sin . In this there is no difficulty : for in what case soever we are bound to obey God or Man , in that case and in that conjunction of circumstances we have nothing permitted to our choice , and have no authority to remit of the right of God or our Superiour . And to comply with our neighbour in such Questions , besides that it cannot serve any purposes of Piety if it declines from Duty in any instance , it is like giving Alms out of the portion of Orphans , or building Hospitals with the money and spoils of Sacriledge . It is pusillanimity , or hypocrisie , or a denying to confess Christ before men , to comply with any man , and to offend God , or omit a Duty . Whatsoever is necessary to be done , and is made so by God , no weakness or peevishness of man can make necessary not to be done . For the matter of Scandal is a duty beneath the prime obligations of Religion . 3. Secondly , But every thing which is used in Religion is not matter of precise Duty , but there are some things which indeed are pious and religious , but dispensable , voluntary , and commutable ; such as are voluntary Fasts , exteriour acts of Discipline and Mortification not enjoyned , great degrees of exteriour Worship , Prostration , long Prayers , Vigils : and in these things , although there is not directly a matter of Scandal , yet there may be some prudential considerations in order to Charity and Edification . By pious actions I mean either particular pursuances of a general Duty , which are uncommanded in the instance , such as are the minutes and expresses of Alms ; or else they are commended , but in the whole kind of them unenjoyned , such as Divines call the Counsels of perfection . In both these cases a man cannot be scandalous . For the man doing in charity and the love of God such actions which are aptly expressive of love , the man ( I say ) is not uncharitable in his purposes ; and the actions themselves being either attempts or proceedings toward Perfection , or else actions of direct Duty , are as innocent in their productions as in themselves , and therefore without the malice of the recipient cannot induce him into sin : and nothing else is Scandal . To do any pious act proceeds from the Spirit of God , and to give Scandal , from the Spirit of Malice or Indiscretion ; and therefore a pious action , whose fountain is love and 〈◊〉 , cannot end in Uncharitableness or Imprudence . But because when any man is offended at what I esteem Piety , there is a question whether the action be pious or no : therefore it concerns him that works to take care that his action be either an act of Duty , though not determined to a certain particular ; or else be something 〈◊〉 in Scripture , or practised by a holy person there recorded , and no-where reproved ; or a practice warranted by such precedents which modest , prudent and religious persons account a sufficient inducement of such particulars : for he that proceeds upon such principles derives the warrant of his actions from beginnings which secure the particular , and quits the Scandal . 4. This , I say , is a security against the Uncharitableness and the Sin of Scandal ; because a zeal of doing pious actions is a zeal according to God : but it is not always a security against the Indiscretion of the Scandal . He that reproves a foolish person in such circumstances that provoke him , or make him impudent or blasphemous , does not give Scandal , and brings no sin upon himself , though he occasioned it in the other : But if it was probable such effects would be consequent to the reprehension , his zeal was imprudent and rash ; but so long as it was zeal for God , and in its own matter lawful , it could not be an active or guilty Scandal : but if it be no zeal , and be a design to entrap a man's unwariness or passion or shame , and to disgrace the man , by that means or any other to make him sin , then it is directly the offending of our Brother . They that preach'd Christ out of envy intended to do offence to the Apostles : but because they were impregnable , the sin rested in their own bosom , and God wrought his own ends by it . And in this sence they are Scandalous persons who fast for Strife , who pray for Rebellion , who intice simple persons into the snare by colours of Religion . Those very exteriour acts of Piety become an Offence , because they are done to evil purposes , to abuse Proselytes , and to draw away Disciples after them , and make them love the sin , and march under so splendid and fair colours . They who out of strictness and severity of perswasion represent the conditions of the Gospel alike to every person , that is , nicer than Christ described them in all circumstances , and deny such liberties of exteriour desires and complacency which may be reasonably permitted to some men , do very indiscreetly , and may occasion the alienation of some mens minds from the entertainments of Religion : but this being accidental to the thing it self , and to the purpose of the man , is not the Sin of Scandal , but it is the Indiscretion of Scandal , if by such means he divorces any man's mind from the cohabitation and unions of Religion : and yet if the purpose of the man be to affright weaker and unwise persons , it is a direct Scandal , and one of those ways which the Devil uses toward the peopling of his kingdom ; it is a plain laying of a snare to entrap feeble and uninstructed souls . 5. But if the pious action have been formerly joyned with any thing that is truly criminal , with Idolatry , with Superstition , with impious Customs or impure Rites , and by retaining the Piety I give cause to my weak brother to think I approve of the old appendage , and by my reputation invite him to swallow the whole action without discerning ; the case is altered : I am to omit that pious action , if it be not under command , until I have acquitted it from the suspicion of evil company . But when I have done what in prudence I guess sufficient to thaw the frost of jealousie , & to separate those dissonancies which formerly seemed united , I have done my duty of Charity , by endeavouring to free my brother from the snare , and I have done what in Christian prudence I was obliged , when I have protested against the appendent crime : If afterwards the same person shall entertain the crime upon pretence of my example , who have plainly 〈◊〉 it , he lays the snare for himself , and is glad of the pretence , or will in spite enter into the net , that he might think it reasonable to rail at me . I may not with Christian charity or prudence wear * the picture of our Blessed Lord in rings or medals , though with great affection and designs of doing him all the honour that I can , if by such Pictures I invite persons , apt more to follow me than to understand me , to give Divine honour to a Picture : but when I have declared my hatred of Superstitious worshippings , and given my brother warning of the snare which his own mistake or the Devil's malice was preparing for him , I may then without danger signifie my Piety and affections in any civil representments which are not against God's Law , or the Customs of the Church , or the analogy of Faith. And there needs no other reason to be given for this Rule than that there is no reason to be given against it : if the nature of the thing be innocent , and the purpose of the man be pious , and he hath used his moral industry to secure his brother against accidental mischances and abuses ; his duty in this particular can have no more parts and instances . 6. But it is too crude an assertion to affirm indefinitely , that whatsoever hath been abused to evil or superstitious purposes must presently be abjured , and never entertained for fear of Scandal ; for it is certain that the best things have been most abused . Have not some persons used certain verses of the Psalter as an antidote against the Tooth-ach ? and carried the blessed Sacrament in pendants about their necks as a charm to countermand Witches ? and S. John's Gospel as a spell against wild beasts and wilder untamed spirits ? Confession of sins to the Ministers of Religion hath been made an instrument to serve base ends ; and so indeed hath all Religion been abused : and some persons have been so receptive of Scandal , that they suspected all Religion to be a mere stratagem , because they have observed very many men have used it so . For some natures are like Spunges or Sugar , whose utmost verge if you dip in Wine , it drowns it self by the moisture it sucks up , and is drenched all over , receiving its alteration from within ; it s own nature did the mischief , and plucks on its own dissolution . And these men are greedy to receive a Scandal , and when it is presented but in small instances , they suck it up to the dissolution of their whole Religion , being glad of a quarrel , that their impieties may not want all excuse . But yet it is certainly very unreasonable to reject excellent things because they have been abused ; as if separable accidents had altered natures and essences , or that they resolve never to forgive the duties for having once fallen into the hands of unskilful or malicious persons . Hezekiah took away the brazen Serpent because the people abused it to Idolatry ; but the Serpent had long before lost its use : and yet if the people had not been a peevish and refractory and superstitious people , in whose nature it was to take all occasions of Superstition ; and farther yet , if the taking away such occasions and opportunities of that Sin in special had not been most agreeable with the designs of God , in forbidding to the people the common use of all Images in the second Commandment , which was given them after the erection of that brazen Statue ; Hezekiah possibly would not , or at least had not been bound to have destroyed that monument of an old story and a great blessing , but have sought to separate the abuse from the minds of men , and retained the Image . But in Christianity , when none of these circumstances occur , where by the greatness and plenty of revelations we are more fully instructed in the ways of Duty , and when the thing it self is pious , and the abuse very separable , it is infinite disparagement to us , or to our Religion , either that our Religion is not sufficient to cure an abuse , or that we will never part with it , but we must unpardonably reject a good because it had once upon it a crust or spot of leprosie , though since it hath been washed in the waters of Reformation . The Primitive Christians abstained from actions of themselves indifferent , which the unconverted people used , if those actions were symbolical , or adopted into false Religions , or not well understood by those they were bound to satisfie : But when they had washed off the accrescences of Gentile Superstition , they chose such Rites which their neighbours used , and had designs not imprudent or unhandsome ; and they were glad of a Heathen Temple to celebrate the Christian Rites in them , and they made no other change , but that they ejected the Devil , and invited their Lord into the possession . 7. Thirdly , In things merely indifferent , whose practice is not limited by command , nor their nature heightned by an appendent Piety , we must use our liberty so as may not offend our Brother , or lead him into a sin directly or indirectly . For Scandal being directly against Charity , it is to be avoided in the same measure and by the same proportions in which Charity is to be pursued . Now we must so use our selves , that we must cut off a foot , or pluck out an eye , rather than the one should bear us and the other lead us to sin and death ; we must rather rescind all the natural and sensual or dearest invitations to Vice , and deny our selves lawful things , than that lawful things should betray us to unlawful actions . And this rule is the measure of Charity : our neighbour's Soul ought to be dearer unto us than any temporal priviledge . It is lawful for me to eat herbs , or fish , and to observe an ascetick diet : But if by such austerities I lead others to a good opinion of Montanism , or the practices of Pythagoras , or to believe flesh to be impure , I must rather alter my diet , than teach him to sin by mistaking me . S. Paul gave an instance of eating flesh sold in the shambles from the Idol Temples : to eat it in the relation of an Idol-sacrifice is a great sin ; but when it is sold in the shambles , the property is altered to them that understand it so . But yet even this Paul would not do , if by so doing he should encourage undiscerning people to eat all meat conveyed from the Temple , and offered to Devils . It is not in every man's head to distinguish formalities , and to make abstractions of purpose from exteriour acts , and to alter their devotions by new relations and respects depending upon intellectual and Metaphysical notions . And therefore it is not safe to do an action which is not lawful , but after the making distinctions , before ignorant and weaker persons , who swallow down the bole and the box that carries it , and never 〈◊〉 their apple , or take the core out . If I by the law of Charity must rather quit my own goods than suffer my brother to perish ; much rather must I quit my priviledge , and those superstructures of favour and grace which Christ hath given me beyond my necessities , than wound the spirit and destroy the Soul of a weak man , for whom Christ died . It is an inordinate affection to love my own case , and circumstances of pleasure , before the soul of a Brother ; and such a thing are the priviledges of Christian liberty : for Christ hath taken off from us the restraints which God had laid upon the Jews in meat and Holy-days ; but these are but circumstances of grace given us for opportunities , and cheap instances of Charity ; we should ill die for our brother , who will not lose a meal to prevent his sin , or change a dish to save his Soul. And if the thing be indifferent to us , yet it ought not to be indifferent to us whether our brother live or die . 8. Fourthly , And yet we must not , to please peevish or froward people , betray our liberty which Christ hath given us . If any man opposes the lawfulness and licence of indifferent actions , or be disturbed at my using my priviledges innocently ; in the first case I am bound to use them still , in the second I am not bound to quit them to please him . For in the first instance , he that shall cease to use his liberty , to please him that says his liberty is unlawful , encourages him that says so in his false opinion , and by complying with him gives the Scandal ; and he who is angry with me for making use of it , is a person that , it may be , is crept in to spy out and invade my liberty , but not apt to be reduced into sin by that act of mine which he detests , for which he despises me , and so makes my person unapt to be exemplar to him . To be angry with me for doing what Christ hath allowed me , and which is part of the liberty he purchased for me when he took upon himself the form of a servant , is to judge me , and to be uncharitable to me : and he that does so is beforehand with me , and upon the active part ; he does the Scandal to me , and by offering to deprive me of my liberty he makes my way to Heaven narrower and more encumbred than Christ left it , and so places a stumbling-stone in my way ; I put none in his . And if such peevishness and discontent of a Brother engages me to a new and unimposed yoke , then it were in the power of my enemy or any malevolent person to make me never to keep Festival , or never to observe any private Fast , never to be prostrate at my Prayers , nor to do any thing but according to his leave , and his humour shall become the rule of my actions ; and then my Charity to him shall be the greatest uncharitableness in the world to my self , and his liberty shall be my bondage . Add to this , that such complying and obeying the peevishness of discontented persons is to no end of Charity : for besides that such concessions never satisfie persons who are unreasonably angry , because by the same reason they may demand more , as they ask this for which they had no reason at all ; it also incourages them to be peevish , and gives fewel to the passion , and seeds the wolf , and so encourages the sin , and prevents none . 9. Fifthly , For he only gives Scandal who induces his Brother directly or collaterally into sin , as appears by all the discourses in Scripture guiding us in this Duty ; and it is called laying a stumbling-block in our Brother's way , a wounding the Conscience of our weak Brother . Thus Balaam was said to lay a Scandal before the sons of Israel , by tempting them to Fornication with the daughters of Moab . Every evil example , or imprudent , sinful and unwary deportment , is a Scandal , because it invites others to do the like leading them by the hand , taking off the strangeness and insolency of the act , which deters many men from entertaining it ; and it gives some offers of security to others , that they shall escape as we have done ; besides that it is in the nature of all agents , natural and moral , to assimilate either by proper efficiency , or by counsel and moral invitements , others to themselves . But this is a direct Scandal : and such it is to give money to an idle person , who you know will be drunk with it ; or to invite an intemperate person to an opportunity of excess , who desires it always , but without thee wants it . Indirectly and accidentally , but very criminally , they give Scandal , who introduce persons into a state of life from whence probably they pass into a state of sin : so did the 〈◊〉 , who married their daughters to the idolatrous Moabites ; and so do they who intrust a Pupil to a vicious Guardian . For although God can preserve children in the midst of flames without scorching ; yet if they sindge their hair or scorch their flesh , they that put them in are guilty of the burning . And yet farther , if persons so exposed to danger should escape by miracle , yet they escape not who expose them to the danger . They who threw the Children of the Captivity into the furnace were burnt to death , though the Children were not hurt : and the very offering a person in our trust to a certain or probable danger foreseen and understood , is a likely way to pass sin upon the person so exposed , but a certain way to contract it in our selves ; it is directly against Charity , for no man loves a Soul unless he loves its safety , and he cares not to have his child safe that throws him into the fire . Hither are to be reduced all false Doctrines aptly productive of evil life ; the Doctrines are scandalous , and the men guilty , if they understand the consequents of their own propositions : or if they think it probable that persons will be led by such Doctrines into evil perswasions , though themselves believe them not to be necessary products of their Opinions , yetthe very publishing such Opinions which ( of themselves not being necessary , or otherwise very profitable ) are apt to be understood , by weak persons at least , to ill ends , is against Charity , and the duty we owe to our Brother's Soul. 10. Sixthly , It is not necessary for ever to abstain from things indifferent to prevent the offending of a Brother , but only till I have taken away that rock against which some did stumble , or have done my endeavour to remove it . In Questions of Religion it is lawful to use primitive and ancient words , at which men have been weakned and seem to stumble , when the objection is cleared , and the ill consequents and suspicion disavowed : and it may be of good use , charity and edification , to speak the language of the purest Ages , although that some words were used also in the impurest Ages , and descended along upon changing and declining Articles ; when it is rightly explicated in what sence the best men did innocently use them , and the same sence is now protested . But in this case it concerns prudence to see that the benefit be greater than the danger . And the same also is to be said concerning all the actions and parts of Christian liberty . For if after I have removed the unevenness and objection of the accident , that is , if when I have explained my disrelish to the crime which might possibly be gathered up and taken into practice by my misunderstood example , still any man will stumble and fall , it is a resolution to fall , a love of danger , a peevishness of spirit , a voluntary misunderstanding ; it is not a misery in the man more than it is his own fault : and when ever the cause of any sin becomes criminal to the man that sins , it is certain that if the other who was made the occasion did disavow and protest against the crime , the man that sins is the only guilty person both in the effect and cause too ; for the other could do no more but use a moral and prudent industry to prevent a being mis-interpreted ; and if he were tied to more , he must quit his interest for ever in a perpetual scruple ; and it is like taking away all Laws to prevent Disobedience , and making all even to secure the world against the effects of Pride or Stubbornness . I add to this , that since actions indifferent in their own natures are not productive of effects and actions criminal , it is merely by accident that men are abused into a sin ; that is , by weakness , by misconceit , by something that either discovers malice or indiscretion ; which because the act it self does not of it self , if the man does not voluntarily or by intention , the sin dwells no-where but with the man that entertains it : the man is no longer weak than he is mistaken , and he is not mistaken or abused into the sin by example of any man who hath rightly stated his own question , and divorced the suspicion of the sin from his action ; whatsoever comes after this is not weakness of understanding , but strength of passion ; and he that is always learning , and never comes to the knowledge of the truth , is something besides a silly man : Men cannot be always * babes in Christ without their own fault ; they are no longer Christ's little 〈◊〉 than they are inculpably ignorant . For it is but a mantle cast over pride and frowardness , to think our selves able to teach others , and yet pretend Offence and Scandal ; to scorn to be instructed , and yet complain that we are offended , and led into sin for want of knowledge of our Duty . He that understands his Duty is not a person capable of Scandal by things indifferent . And it is certain , that no man can say concerning himself that he is scandalized at another , that is , that he is led into sin by mistake and weakness ; for if himself knows it , the mistake is gone : well may the Guides of their Souls complain concerning such persons , that their sin is procured by offending persons or actions ; but he that complains concerning himself to the same purpose , pretends ignorance for other ends , and contradicts himself by his complaint and knowledge of his error . The boy was prettily peevish who , when his Father bid him pronounce Thalassius , told him he could not pronounce Thalassius , at the same time speaking the word : just so impotent , weak and undiscerning a person is that , who would forbid me to do an indifferent action upon pretence that it makes him ignorantly sin ; for his saying so confutes his Ignorance , and argues him of a worse folly ; it is like asking my neighbour , whether such an action be done against my own will. 11. Seventhly , When an action is apt to be mistaken to contrary purposes , it concerns the prudence and charity of a Christian to use such compliance as best cooperates to God's glory , and hath in it the less danger . The Apostles gave an instance in the matter of Circumcision , in which they walked warily , and with variety of design , that they might invite the Gentiles to the easie yoke of Christianity , and yet not deter the Jew by a disrespect of the Law of Moses . And therefore S. Paul circumcised Timothy , because he was among the Jews , and descended from a Jewish parent , and in the instance gave sentence in compliance with the Jewish perswasion , because Timothy might well be accounted for a Jew by birth ; unto them the Rites of Moses were for a while permitted : But when Titus was brought upon the scene of a mixt assembly , and was no Jew , but a Greek , to whom Paul had taught they ought not to be circumcised ; although some Jews watched what he would do , yet he plainly refused to circumcise him , chusing rather to leave the Jews angry , than the Gentiles scandalized or led into an opinion that Circumcision was necessary , or that he had taught them otherwise out of collateral ends , or that now he did so . But when a case of Christian liberty happened to S. Peter , he was not so prudent in his choice , but at the coming of certain Jews from Jerusalem withdrew himself from the society of the Gentiles ; not considering , that it was worse if the Gentiles , who were invited to Christianity by the sweetness of its liberty and compliance , should fall back , when they that taught them the excellency of Christian liberty durst not stand to it , than if those Jews were displeased at Christianity for admitting Gentiles into its communion , after they had been instructed that God had broken down the partition-wall , and made them one sheepfold . It was of greater concernment to God's glory to gain the Gentiles , than to retain the Jews ; and yet if it had not , the Apostles were bound to bend to the inclinations of the weaker , rather than be mastered by the wilfulness of the stronger , who had been sufficiently instructed in the articles of Christian liberty , and in the adopting the Gentiles into the Family of God. Thus if it be a question whether I should abate any thing of my external Religion or Ceremonies to satisfie an Heretick or a contentious person , who pretends Scandal to himself , and is indeed of another Perswasion ; and at the same time I know that good persons would be weakned at such forbearance , and estranged from the good perswasion and Charity of Communion , which is part of their Duty ; it more concerns Charity and the glory of God that I secure the right , than twine about the wrong , wilful and malicious persons . A Prelate must rather fortifie and encourage Obedience , and strengthen Discipline , than by remisness toward refractory spirits , and a desire not to seem severe , weaken the hands of consciencious persons by taking away the marks of difference between them that obey and them that obey not : and in all cases when the question is between a friend to be secured from Apostasie , or an enemy to be gained from Indifferency , S. Paul's rule is to be observed , Do good to all , but especially to the houshold of Faith. When the Church in a particular instance cannot be kind to both , she must first love her own children . 12. Eighthly , But when the question is between pleasing and contenting the fancies of a Friend , and the gaining of an Enemy , the greater good of the Enemy is infinitely to be preferred before the satisfying the unnecessary humour of the Friend ; and therefore , that we may gain persons of a different Religion , it is lawful to entertain them in their innocent customs , that we may represent our selves charitable and just , apt to comply in what we can , and yet for no end complying farther than we are permitted . It was a policy of the Devil to abuse Christians to the Rites of 〈◊〉 by imitating the Christian Ceremonies ; and the Christians themselves were before-hand with him in that policy ; for they facilitated the reconcilement of Judaism with Christianity by common Rites , and invited the Gentiles to the Christian Churches , because they never violated the Heathen Temples , but loved the men , and imitated their innocent Rites , and only offered to reform their Errors , and hallow their abused purposes : and this , if it had no other contradictory or unhandsome circumstance , gave no offence to other Christians , when they had learned to trust them with the government of Ecclesiastical affairs to whom God had committed them , and they all had the same purposes of Religion and Charity . And when there is no objection against this but the furies or greater heats of a mistaken Zeal , the compliance with evil or unbelieving persons , to gain them from their Errors to the ways of Truth and sincerity , is great prudence and great Charity ; because it chuses and acts a greater good at no other charge or expence but the discomposing of an intemperate Zeal . 13. Ninthly , We are not bound to intermit a good or a lawful action as soon as any man tells us it is scandalous , ( for that may be an easie stratagem to give me laws , and destroy my liberty : ) but either when the action is of it self , or by reason of a publick known indisposition of some persons , probably introductive of a sin ; or when we know it is so in fact . The other is but affrighting a man ; this only is prudent , that my Charity be guided by such rules which determine wise men to actions or omissions respectively . And therefore a light fame is not strong enough to wrest my liberty from me ; but a reasonable belief or a certain knowledge , in the taking of which estimate we must neither be too credulous and easie , nor yet ungentle and stubborn , but do according to the actions of wise men and the charities of a Christian. Hither we may refer the rules of abstaining from things which are of evil report . For not every thing which is of good report is to be followed , for then a false opinion , when it is become popular , must be professed for Conscience sake ; nor yet every thing that is of bad report is to be avoided , for nothing endured more shame and obloquy than Christianity at its first commencement . But by good report we are to understand such things which are well reported of by good men and wise men , or Scripture , or the consent of Nations . And thus for a woman to marry within the year of mourning is scandalous , because it is of evil report , gives suspicion of lightness or some worse confederacy before the death of her husband : the thing it self is apt to minister the suspicion , and this we are bound to prevent : And unless the suspicion be malicious , or imprudent and unreasonable , we must conceal our actions from the surprises and deprehensions of suspicion . It was scandalous amongst the old Romans not to marry ; among the Christians for a Clergy-man to marry twice , because it was against an Apostolical Canon : but when it became of ill report for any Christian to marry the second time , because this evil report was begun by the errors of Montanus , and is against a permission of holy Scripture , no Lay-Christian was bound to abstain from a second bed for fear of giving scandal . 14. Tenthly , The precept of avoiding Scandal concerns the Governours of the Church or State in the making and execution of Laws . For no Law in things indifferent ought to be made to the provocation of the Subject , or against that publick disposition which is in the spirits of men , and will certainly cause perpetual irregularities and Schisms . Before the Law be made , the Superiour must comply with the subject ; after it is made , the subject must comply with the Law. But in this the Church hath made fair provision , accounting no Laws obligatory till the people have accepted them , and given tacite approbation : for Ecclesiastical Canons have their time of probation , and if they become a burthen to the people , or occasion Schisms , Tumults , publick disunion of affections , and jealousies against Authority , the Laws give place , and either fix not when they are not first approved , or disappear by desuetude . And in the execution of Laws no less care is to be taken ; for many cases occur in which the Laws can be rescued from being a snare to mens Consciences by no other way but by dispensation , and slacking of the Discipline as to certain particulars . Mercy and Sacrifice , the Letter and the Spirit , the words and the intention , the general case and the particular exception , the present disposition and the former state of things , are oftentimes so repugnant , and of such contradictory interests , that there is no stumbling-block more troublesome or dangerous than a severe literal and rigorous exacting of Laws in all cases . But when Stubbornness or a Contentious spirit , when Rebellion and Pride , when secular Interest or ease and Licenciousness set men up against the Laws , the Laws then are upon the defensive , and ought not to give place : It is ill to cure particular Disobedience by removing a Constitution decreed by publick wisdom for a general good . When the evil occasioned by the Law is greater than the good designed , or than the good which will come by it in the present constitution of things , and the evil can by no other remedy be healed , it concerns the Law-giver's charity to take off such positive Constitutions which in the authority are merely humane , and in the matter indifferent , and evil in the event . The summ of this whole duty I shall chuse to represent in the words of an excellent person , S. Jerome : We must , for the avoiding of Scandal , quit everything which may be omitted without prejudice to the threefold truth , of Life , of Justice , and Doctrine : meaning , that what is not expresly commanded by God or our Superiours , or what is not expresly commended as an act of Piety and Perfection , or what is not an obligation of Justice , that is , in which the interest of a third person , or else our own Christian liberty , is not totally concerned , all that is to be given in sacrifice to Mercy , and to be made matter of Edification and Charity , but not of Scandal , that is , of danger , and sin , and falling , to our neighbour . The PRAYER . O Eternal Jesus , who art made unto us Wisdom , Righteousness , Sanctification , and Redemption , give us of thy abundant Charity , that we may love the eternal benefit of our 〈◊〉 Soul with a true , diligent and affectionate care and tenderness : Give us a fellow-feeling of one another's calamities , a readiness to bear each others burthens , aptness to forbear , wisdom to advise , counsel to direct , and a spirit of meekness and modesty trembling at our 〈◊〉 , fearful in our Brother's dangers , and joyful in his restitution and securities . Lord , let all our actions be pious and prudent , our selves wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves , and our whole life exemplar , and just , and charitable ; that we may like Lamps shining in thy Temple serve thee , and enlighten others , and guide them to thy Sanctuary ; and that shining clearly and burning zealously , when the Bridegroom shall come to bind up his Jewels , and beautifie his Spouse , and gather his Saints together , we and all thy Christian people knit in a holy fellowship may enter into the joy of our Lord , and partake of the eternal refreshments of the Kingdom of Light and Glory , where thou , O Holy and Eternal Jesu , livest and reignest in the excellencies of a Kingdom , and the infinite durations of Eternity . Amen . DISCOURSE XVIII . Of the Causes and Manner of the Divine Judgments . 1. GOD's Judgments are like the Writing upon the wall , which was a missive of anger from God upon Belshazzar ; it came upon an errand of Revenge , and yet was writ in so dark characters that none could read it but a Prophet . When-ever God speaks from Heaven , he would have us to understand his meaning ; and if he declares not his sence in particular signification , yet we understand his meaning well enough , if every voice of God lead us to Repentance . Every sad accident is directed against sin , either to prevent it , or to cure it ; to glorifie God , or to humble us ; to make us go forth of our selves and to rest upon the centre of all Felicities , that we may derive help from the same hand that smote us . Sin and Punishment are so near relatives , that when God hath marked any person with a sadness or unhandsome accident , men think it warrant enough for their uncharitable censures , and condemn the man whom God hath smitten , making God the executioner of our uncertain or ungentle sentences . Whether sinned , this man , or his parents , that 〈◊〉 was born blind ? said the Pharisees to our blessed LORD . Neither this man nor his parents , was the answer : meaning , that God had other ends in that accident to serve ; and it was not an effect of wrath , but a design of mercy both directly and collaterally . God's glory must be seen clearly by occasion of the curing the blind man. But in the present case the answer was something different . Pilate slew the Galileans when they were sacrificing in their Conventicles apart from the Jews . For they first had separated from Obedience and paying Tribute to Caesar ; and then from the Church , who disavowed their mutinous and discontented Doctrines . The cause of the one and the other are linked in mutual complications and endearment , and he who despises the one will quickly disobey the other . Presently upon the report of this sad accident the people run to the Judgment-seat , and every man was ready to be accuser and witness and judge upon these poor destroyed people . But Jesus allays their heat , and though he would by no means acquit these persons from deserving death for their denying tribute to Caesar , yet he alters the face of the tribunal , and makes those persons who were so apt to be accusers and judges to act another part , even of guilty persons too , that since they will needs be judging , they might judge themselves ; for , Think not these were greater sinners than all the other Galileans , because they suffered such things . I tell you nay , but , except ye repent ; ye shall all likewise perish : meaning , that although there was great probability to believe such persons , 〈◊〉 ( I mean ) and Rebels , to be the greatest sinners of the world , yet themselves , who had designs to destroy the Son of God , had deserved as great damnation . And yet it is observable , that the Holy Jesus only compared the sins of them that suffered with the estate of the other Galileans who suffered not ; and that also applies it to the persons present who told the news : to consign this Truth unto us , That when persons consederate in the same crimes are spared from a present Judgment falling upon others of their own society , it is indeed a strong alarm to all to secure themselves by Repentance against the hostilities and eruptions of sin ; but yet it is no exemption or security to them that escape , to believe themselves persons less sinful : for God sometimes decimates or tithes delinquent persons , and they die for a common crime , according as God hath cast their lot in the decrees of Predestination ; and either they that remain are sealed up to a worse calamity , or left within the reserves and mercies of Repentance ; for in this there is some variety of determination and undiscerned Providence . 2. The purpose of our Blessed Saviour is of great use to us in all the traverses and changes , and especially the sad and calamitous accidents , of the world . But in the misfortune of others we are to make other discourses concerning Divine Judgments than when the case is of nearer concernment to our selves . For first , when we see a person come to an * unfortunate and untimely death , we must not conclude such a man perishing and miserable to all eternity . It was a sad calamity that fell upon the Man of Judah , that returned to eat bread into the Prophet's house contrary to the word of the Lord : He was abused into the act by a Prophet , and a pretence of a command from God ; and whether he did violence to his own understanding , and believed the man because he was willing , or did it in sincerity , or in what degree of sin or excuse the action might consist , no man there knew : and yet a Lion slew him , and the lying Prophet that abused him escaped and went to his grave in peace . Some persons joyned in * society or interest with criminals have perished in the same Judgments ; and yet it would be hard to call them equally guilty who in the accident were equally miserable and involved . And they who are not strangers in the affairs of the world cannot but have heard or seen some persons who have lived well and moderately , though not like the 〈◊〉 of the Holocaust , yet like the ashes of Incense , sending up good perfumes , and keeping a constant and slow fire of Piety and Justice , yet have been surprised in the midst of some unusual , unaccustomed irregularity , and died in that sin : A sudden gayety of fortune , a great joy , a violent change , a friend is come , or a marriage-day hath transported some persons to indiscretions and too bold a licence ; and the indiscretion hath betrayed them to idle company , and the company to drink , and drink to a fall , and that hath hurri'd them to their grave . And it were a sad sentence to think God would not repute the untimely death for a punishment great enough to that deflexion from duty , and judge the man according to the constant tenor of his former life ; unless such an act was of malice great enough to outweigh the former habits , and interrupt the whole state of acceptation and grace . Something like this was the case of 〈◊〉 , who espying the tottering Ark went to support it with an unhallowed hand ; God smote him , and he died immediately . It were too severe to say his zeal and indiscretion carried him beyond a temporal death to the ruines of Eternity . Origen and many others have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdome of Heaven , and did well after it ; but those that did so , and died of the wound , were smitten of God , and died in their folly : and yet it is rather to be called a sad consequence of their indiscretion , than the express of a final anger from God Almighty . For as God takes off our sins and punishments by parts , remitting to some persons the sentence of death , and inflicting the fine of a temporal loss , or the gentle scourge of a lesser sickness : so also he lays it on by parts , and according to the proper proportions of the man and of the crime ; and every transgression and lesser deviation from our duty does not drag the Soul to death eternal , but God suffers our Repentance , though imperfect , to have an imperfect effect , knocking off the fetters by degrees , and leading us in some cases to a Council , in some to Judgment , and in some to Hell-fire : but it is not always certain that he who is led to the prison-doors shall there lie entombed ; and a Man may by a Judgment be brought to the gates of Hell , and yet those gates shall not prevail against him . This discourse concerns persons whose life is habitually fair and just , but are surprised in some unhandsome , but less criminal , action , and 〈◊〉 or suffer some great Calamity as the instrument of its expiation or amendment . 3. Secondly , But if the person upon whom the Judgment falls be habitually vicious , or the crime of a clamorous nature or deeper tincture ; if the man sin a sin unto death , and either meets it , or some other remarkable calamity not so feared as death ; provided we pass no farther than the sentence we see then executed , it is not against Charity or prudence to say , this calamity in its own formality , and by the intention of God , is a Punishment and Judgment . In the favourable cases of honest and just persons our sentence and opinions ought also to be favourable , and in such questions to encline ever to the side of charitable construction , and read other ends of God in the accidents of our neighbour than Revenge or express Wrath. But when the impiety of a person is scandalous and notorious , when it is clamorous and violent , when it is habitual and yet corrigible , if we find a sadness and calamity dwelling with such a sinner , especially if tho punishment be spiritual , we read the sentence of God written with his own hand , and it is not 〈◊〉 of opinion , or a pressing into the secrets of Providence , to say the same thing which God hath published to all the world in the 〈◊〉 of his Spirit . In such cases we are to observe the severity of God , on them that fall severity ; and to use those Judgments as instruments of the fear of God , & arguments to hate sin ; which we could not well do , but that we must look on them as verifications of God's threatning against great and impenitent sinners . But then if we descend to particulars , we may easily be deceived . 4. For some men are diligent to observe the accidents and chances of Providence upon those especially who differ from them in Opinion ; and whatever ends God can have , or whatever sins man can have , yet we lay that in fault which we therefore hate because it is most against our interest ; the contrary Opinion is our enemy , and we also think God hates it . But such fancies do seldom serve either the ends of Truth or Charity . Pierre Calceon died under the Barber's hand : there wanted not some who said it was a Judgement upon him for condemning to the fire the famous Pucelle of France , who prophesied the expulsion of the English out of the Kingdom . They that thought this believed her to be a Prophetess ; but others , that thought her a Witch , were willing to 〈◊〉 out another conjecture for the sudden death of the Gentleman . Garnier Earl of Gretz kept the Patriarch of Jerusalem from his right in David's Tower and the City , and died within three days ; and by Dabert the Patriarch it was called a Judgment upon him for his Sacrilege . But the uncertainty of that censure appeared to them who considered that Baldwin ( who gave commission to Garnier to withstand the Patriarch ) did not die ; but Godsrey of 〈◊〉 did die immediately after he had passed the right of the Patriarch : and yet when Baldwin was beaten at Rhamula , * some bold People pronounced that then God punished him upon the Patriarch's score , and thought his Sacrilege to be the secret cause of his overthrow ; and yet his own Pride and Rashness was the more visible , and the Judgment was but a cloud , and passed away quickly into a succeeding Victory . But I instance in a trisle . Certain it is , that God removed the Candlestick from the Levantine Churches because he had a quarrel unto them ; for that punishment is never sent upon pure designs of emendation , or for direct and immediate purposes of the Divine glory , but ever makes reflexion upon the past sin : but when we descend to a judgment of the particulars , God walks so in the dark to us , that it is not discerned upon what ground he smote them . Some say it was because they dishonoured the eternal Jesus , in denying the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son. And in this some thought themselves sufficiently assured by a sign from Heaven , because the Greeks lost Constantinople upon Whitsunday , the day of the Festival of the Holy Spirit . The Church of Rome calls the Churches of the Greek Communion Schismatical , and thinks God righted the Roman quarrel when he revenged his own . Some think they were cut off for being Breakers of Images ; others think that their zeal against Images was a means they were cut off no sooner : and yet he that shall observe what innumerable Sects , Heresies and Factions were commenced amongst them , and how they were wanton with Religion , making it serve ambitious and unworthy ends , will see that , besides the ordinary conjectures of interested persons , they had such causes of their ruine which we also now feel heavily incumbent upon our selves . To see God adding eighteen years to the life of Hezekiah upon his Prayer , and yet cutting off the young Son of David begotten in adulterous embraces ; to see him rejecting Adonijah , and receiving Solomon to the Kingdom , begotten of the same Mother whose Son God in anger formerly slew ; to observe his mercies to Manasses , in accepting him to favour , and continuing the Kingdom to him , and his severity to Zedekiah , in causing his eyes to be put out ; to see him rewarding Nebuchadnezzar with the spoils of Egypt for destroying Tyre , and executing God's severe anger against it , and yet punishing others for being executioners of his wrath upon Jerusalem , even then when he purposed to chastise it ; to see 〈◊〉 raised from a Peasant to a Throne , and Pompey from a great Prince reduced to that condition , that a Pupil and an Eunuch passed sentence of death upon him ; to see great fortunes fall into the hand of a Fool , and Honourable old persons and Learned men descend to unequal Beggery ; to see him strike a stroke with his own hand in the Conversion of Saul , and another quite contrary in the cutting off of Judas , must needs be some restraint to our judgments concerning the general state of those men who lie under the rod ; but it proclaims an infinite uncertainty in the particulars , since we see contrary accidents happening to persons guilty of the same crime , or put in the same indispositions . God hath marked all great sins with some signal and express Judgments , and hath transmitted the records of them , or represented them before our eyes ; that is , hath done so in our Age , or it hath been noted to have been done before : and that being sufficient to affright us from those crimes , God hath not thought it expedient to do the same things to all persons in the same cases , having to all persons produced instances and examples of fear by fewer accidents , sufficient to restrain us , but not enough to pass sentence upon the changes of Divine Providence . 5. But sometimes God speaks plainer , and gives us notice what crimes he punishes in others , that we may the rather decline such rocks of offence . If the Crime and the Punishment be symbolical , and have proportion and correspondence of parts , the hand of God strikes the Man , but holds up one finger to point at the Sin. The death of the child of Bathsheba was a plain declaration that the anger of God was upon David for the Adulterous mixture . That Blasphemer whose Tongue was presently struck with an ulcerous tumour , with his tongue declared the glories of God and his own shame . And it was not doubted but God , when he smote the Lady of Dominicus Silvius , the Duke of Venice , with a loathsome and unsavory disease , did intend to chastise a remarkable vanity of hers in various and costly Perfumes , which she affected in an unreasonable manner , and to very evil purposes . And that famous person , and of excellent learning , Giacchettus of Geneva , being by his Wife found dead in the unlawful embraces of a stranger woman , who also died at the same instant , left an excellent example of God's anger upon the crime , and an evidence that he was then judged for his intemperate Lust. Such are all those punishments which are natural consequents to a Crime : as Dropsies , Redness of eyes , Dissolution of nerves , Apoplexies , to continual Drunkenness ; to intemperate Eating , Short lives and Sudden deaths ; to Lust , a Caitive slavish disposition , and a Foul diseased body ; Fire and Sword , and Depopulation of Towns and Villages , the consequents of Ambition and unjust Wars ; Poverty to Prodigality ; and all those Judgments which happen upon Cursings and horrid Imprecations , when God is under a Curse called to attest a Lie , and to connive at impudence ; or when the Oppressed persons in the bitterness of their souls wish evil and pray for vengeance on their Oppressors ; or that the Church upon just cause inflicts Spiritual censures , and delivers unto Satan , or curses and declares the Divine sentence against sinners , as S. Peter against Ananias and Sapphira , and S. Paul against Elymas , and of old Moses against Pharaoh and his Egypt , ( of this nature also was the plague of a withered hand inflicted upon 〈◊〉 , for stretching forth his hand to strike the Prophet . ) In these and all such instances the off-spring is so like the parent , that it cannot easily be concealed . Sometime the crime is of that nature , that it cries aloud for vengeance , or is threatned with a special kind of punishment , which by the observation and experience of the World hath regularly happened to a certain sort of persons : such as are dissolutions of Estates , the punishment of Sacrilege ; a descending curse upon posterity for four generations , specially threatned to the crime of Idolatry ; any plague whatsoever to Oppression ; untimely death to Murther ; an unthriving estate to the detention of Tithes , or whatsoever is God's portion allotted for the services of Religion : untimely and strange deaths to the Persecutors of Christian Religion : Nero killed himself ; Domitian was killed by his servants ; Maximinus and Decius were murthered , together with their children ; Valerianus imprisoned , flay'd and slain with tortures by Sapor King of Persia ; Diocletian perished by his own hand , and his House was burnt with the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah , with fire from above ; Antiochus the President under Aurelian , while Agapetus was in his agony and sufferance of Martyrdom , cried out of a flame within him , and died ; Flaccus vomited out his entrails presently after he had caused Gregory Bishop of Spoleto to be slain ; and Dioscorus , the father of S. Barbara , accused and betrayed his Daughter to the Hangman's cruelty for being a Christian , and he died by the hand of God by fire from Heaven . These are God's tokens , marks upon the body of insected persons , and declare the malignity of the disease , and bid us all beware of those determined crimes . 6. Thirdly , But then in these and all other accidents we must first observe from the cause to the effect , and then judge from the effect concerning the nature and the degree of the cause . We cannot conclude , This family is lessened , beggered , or extinct , therefore they are guilty of Sacrilege : but thus , They are Sacrilegious , and God hath blotted out their name from among the posterities , therefore this Judgment was an express of God's anger against Sacrilege : the Judgment will not conclude a Sin , but when a Sin infers the Judgment with a legible character and a prompt signification , not to understand God's choice is next to stupidity or carelesness . Arius was known to be a seditious , heretical and dissembling person , and his entrails descended on the earth when he went to cover his feet : it was very suspicious that this was the punishment of those sins which were the worst in him : But he that shall conclude Arius was an Heretick or Seditious , upon no other ground but because his bowels gushed out , begins imprudently , and proceeds uncharitably . But it is considerable , that men do not arise to great crimes on the sudden , but by degrees of carelesness to lesser impieties , and then to clamorous sins : And God is therefore said to punish great crimes or actions of highest malignity , because they are commonly productions from the spirit of Reprobation , they are the highest ascents , and suppose a Body of sin . And therefore although the Judgment may be intended to punish all our sins , yet it is like the Syrian Army , it kills all that are its enemies , but it hath a special commission to fight against none but the King of Israel , because his death would be the dissolution of the Body . And if God humbles a man for his great sin , that is , for those acts which combine and consummate all the rest , possibly the Body of sin may separate , and be apt to be scattered and subdued by single acts and instruments of mortification : and therefore it is but reasonable , in our making use of God's Judgments upon others , to think that God will rather strike at the greatest crimes ; not only because they are in themselves of greatest malice and iniquity , but because they are the summe total of the rest , and by being great progressions in the state of sin suppose all the rest included ; and we , by proportioning and observing the Judgment to the highest , acknowledge the whole body of sin to lie under the curse , though the greatest only was named , and called upon with the voice of thunder . And yet because it sometimes happens , that upon the violence of a great and new occasion some persons leap into such a sin which in the ordinary course of sinners uses to be the effect of an habitual and growing state , then if a Judgment happens , it is clearly appropriate to that one great crime , which as of it self it is equivalent to a vicious habit , and interrupts the acceptation of all its former contraries , so it meets with a curse , such as usually God chuses for the punishment of a whole body and state of sin . However , in making observation upon the expresses of God's anger , we must be careful that we reflect not with any bitterness or scorn upon the person of our calamitous Brother , left we make that to be an evil to him which God intends for his benefit , if the Judgment was medicinal ; or that we increase the load , already great enough to sink him beneath his grave , if the Judgment was intended for a final abscission . 7. Fourthly , But if the Judgments descend upon our selves , we are to take another course ; not to enquire into particulars to find out the proportions , ( for that can only be a design to part with just so much as we must needs ) but to mend all that is amiss ; for then only we can be secure to remove the Achan , when we keep nothing within us or about us that may provoke God to jealousie or wrath . And that is the proper product of holy fear , which God intended should be the first effect of all his Judgments : and of this God is so careful , and yet so kind and provident , that fear might not be produced always at the expence of a great suffering , that God hath provided for us certain prologues of Judgment , and keeps us waking with alarms , that so he might reconcile his mercies with our duties . Of this nature are Epidemical diseases , not yet arrived at us , prodigious Tempests , Thunder and loud noises from Heaven ; and he that will not fear when God speaks so loud , is not yet made soft with the impresses and perpetual droppings of Religion . Venerable Bede reports of S. Chad , that if a great gust of Wind suddenly arose , he presently made some holy ejaculation to beg favour of God for all mankind , who might possibly be concerned in the effects of that Wind ; but if a Storm succeeded , he fell prostrate to the earth , and grew as violent in Prayer as the Storm was 〈◊〉 at Land or Sea. But if God added Thunder and Lightning , he went to the Church , and there spent all his time during the Tempest in reciting Litanies , Psalms , and other holy Prayers , till it pleased God to restore his favour , and to seem to forget his anger . And the good Bishop added this reason ; Because these are the extensions and stretchings forth of God's hand , and yet he did not strike : but he that trembles not when he sees God's arm held forth to strike us , understands neither God's mercies nor his own danger ; he neither knows what those horrours were which the People saw from mount Sinai , nor what the glories and amazements shall be at the great day of Judgment . And if this Religious man had seen Tullus Hostilius , the Roman King , and Anastasius , a Christian Emperor , but a reputed Heretick , struck dead with Thunderbolts , and their own houses made their urns to keep their ashes in ; there could have been no posture humble enough , no Prayers devout enough , no place holy enough , nothing sufficiently expressive of his fear , and his humility , and his adoration , and Religion to the almighty and infinite power and glorious mercy of God , sending out his Emissaries to denounce war with designs of peace . A great Italian General , seeing the sudden death of Alfonsus Duke of Ferrara , kneeled down instantly , saying , And shall not this sight make me religious ? Three and twenty thousand fell in one night in the Assyrian Camp , who were all slain for Fornication . And this so prodigious a Judgement was recorded in Scripture for our example and affrightment , that we should not with such freedom entertain a crime which destroyed so numerous a body of men in the darkness of one evening . Fear , and Modesty , and universal Reformation , are the purposes of God's Judgments upon us , or in our neighbourhood . 8. Fifthly , Concerning Judgments happening to a Nation or a Church , the consideration is particular , because there are fewer capacities of making sins to become national than personal ; and therefore if we understand when a sin is National , we may the rather understand the meaning of God's hand when he strikes a People . For National sins grow higher and higher not merely according to the degree of the sin , or the intension alone , but according to the extension ; 〈◊〉 to its being 〈◊〉 , so it is productive of more or less mischief to a Kingdom . Customary iniquities amongst the People do then amount to the account of National sins , when they are of so universal practice as to take in well-near every particular ; such as was that of Sodom , not to leave ten righteous in all the Countrey : and such were the sins of the Old world , who left but eight persons to escape the angry baptism of the Floud . And such was the murmur of the children of Israel , refusing to march up to Canaan at the commandment of God , they all murmured but Caleb and 〈◊〉 ; and this God in the case of the Amalekites calls the fulfilling of their sins , and a filling up the measure of their iniquities . And hither also I reckon the defection of the Ten Tribes from the House of Judah , and the Samaritan Schism ; these caused the total extirpation of the offending People . For although these sins were personal and private at first , yet when they come to be universal by diffusion and dissemination , and the good People remaining among them are but like drops of Wine in a Tun of Water , of no consideration with God , save only to the preservation of their own persons ; then , although the persons be private , yet all private or singular persons make the Nation . But this hath happened but seldome in Christianity : I think indeed never , except in the case of Mutinies and Rebellion against their lawful Prince , or the attesting violence done in unjust Wars . But God only knows , and no man can say , that any sin is national by diffusion ; and therefore in this case we cannot make any certain judgment or advantage to our selves , or very rarely , by observing the changes of Providence upon a People . 9. But the next above this in order to the procuring popular Judgments is publick impunities , the not doing Justice upon Criminals publickly complained of and demanded , especially when the persons interested call for Justice and execution of good Laws , and the Prince's arm is at liberty and in full strength , and there is no contrary reason in the particular instance to make compensation to the publick for the omission , or no care taken to satisfie the particular . Abimelech thought he had reason to be angry with Isaac for saying 〈◊〉 was his Sister ; for one of the people might have ly'ne with thy wife , and thou shouldst have brought 〈◊〉 upon us : meaning , that the man should have escaped unpunished by reason of the mistake , which very impunity he feared might be expounded to be a countenance and encouragement to the sin . But this was no more than his fear . The case of the Benjamites comes home to this present article ; for they refused to do justice upon the men that had ravished and killed the Levite's Concubine ; they lost twenty five thousand in battel , their Cities were destroyed , and the whole Tribe almost extinguished . For punishing publick and great acts of injustice is called in Scripture putting away the evil from the land ; because to this purpose the sword is put into the Prince's hand , and he bears the sword in vain who ceases to protect his People : and not to punish the evil is a voluntary retention of it , unless a special case intervene , in which the Prince thinks it convenient to give a particular pardon ; provided this be not encouragement to others , nor without great reason , big enough to make compensation for the particular omission , and with care to render some other satisfaction to the person injured : in all other cases of impunity , that sin becomes National by forbearing , which in the acting was personal ; and it is certain the impunity is a spring of universal evils , it is no thank to the publick if the best man be not as bad as the worst . 10. But there is a step beyond this , and of a more publick concernment : such are the Laws of Omri , when a Nation consents to and makes ungodly Statutes ; when mischief is established as a Law , then the Nation is engaged to some purpose . When I see the People despise their Governours , scorn and rob and disadvantage the Ministers of Religion , make rude addresses to God , to his Temple , to his Sacraments ; I look upon it as the insolency of an untaught People , who would as readily do the contrary , if the fear of God and the King were upon them by good Examples , and Precepts , and Laws , and severe executions . And farther yet , when the more publick and exemplar persons are without sense of Religion , without a dread of Majesty , without reverence to the Church , without impresses of Conscience and the tendernesses of a religious fear towards God ; as the persons are greater in estimation of Law and in their influences upon the People , so the score of the Nation advances , and there is more to be paid for in popular Judgments . But when Iniquity or Irreligion is made a Sanction , and either God must be dishonoured , or the Church exauthorated , or her Rites invaded by a Law ; then the fortune of the Kingdom is at stake . No sin engages a Nation so much , or is so publick , so solemn iniquity , as is a wicked Law. Therefore it concerns Princes and States to secure the Piety and innocency of their Laws : and if there be any evil Laws , which upon just grounds may be thought productive of God's anger , because a publick misdemeanour cannot be expiated but by a publick act of Repentance , or a publick Calamity , the Laws must either have their edge abated by a desuetude , or be laid asleep by a non-execution , or dismembred by contrary proviso's , or have the sting drawn forth by interpretation , or else by abrogation be quite rescinded . But these are National sins within it self , or within its own Body , by the act of the Body ( I mean ) diffusive or representative , and they are like the personal sins of men in or against their own bodies in the matter of Sobriety . There are others in the matter of Justice , as the Nation relates to other People communicating in publick Entercourse . 11. For as the Entercourse between man and man in the actions of commutative and distributive Justice is the proper matter of Vertues and Vices personal ; so are the Transactions between Nation and Nation against the publick rules of Justice Sins National directly , and in their first original , and answer to Injustice between man and man. Such are commencing War upon unjust titles , Invasion of neighbours territories , Consederacies and aids upon tyrannical interest , Wars against true Religion or Sovereignty , Violation of the Laws of nations , which they have consented to as the publick instrument of accord and negotiation , Breach of publick faith , desending Pirates , and the like . When a publick Judgment comes upon a Nation , these things are to be thought upon , that we may not think our selves acquitted by crying out against Swearing and Drunkenness and Cheating in manufactures , which , unless they be of universal dissemination , and made national by diffusion , are paid for upon a personal score ; and the private infelicities of our lives will either expiate or punish them severely . But while the People mourns for those sins of which their low condition is capable , sins that may produce a popular Fever , or perhaps the Plague , where the misery dwells in Cottages , and the Princes often have indemnity , as it was in the case of David : yet we may not hope to appease a War , to master a Rebellion , to cure the publick Distemperatures of a Kingdom , which threaten not the People only , or the Governours also , but even the Government it self , unless the sins of a more publick capacity be cut off by publick declarations , or other acts of national Justice and Religion . But the duty which concerns us all in such cases is , that every man in every capacity should enquire into himself , and for his own portion of the Calamity , put in his own symbol of Emendation for his particular , and his Prayers for the publick interest : in which it is not safe that any private persons should descend to particular censures of the crimes of Princes and States , no not towards God , unless the matter be notorious and past a question ; but it is a sufficient assoilment of this part of his duty , if , when he hath set his own house in order , he would pray with indefinite significations of his charity and care of the publick , that God would put it into the hearts of all whom it concerns , to endeavour the removal of the sin that hath brought the exterminating Angel upon the Nation . But yet there are sometimes great lines drawn by God in the expresses of his anger in some Judgments upon a Nation ; and when the Judgment is of that danger as to invade the very Constitution of a Kingdom , the proportions that Judgments many times keep to their sins intimate that there is some National sin , in which either by diffusion , or representation , or in the direct matter of sins , as false Oaths , unjust Wars , wicked Confederacies , or ungodly Laws , the Nation in the publick capacity is delinquent . 12. For as the Nation hath in Sins a capacity distinct from the sins of all the People , inasmuch as the Nation is united in one Head , guarded by a distinct and a higher Angel , as Persia by Saint Michael , transacts affairs in a publick right , transmits insluence to all particulars from a common fountain , and hath entercourse with other collective Bodies , who also distinguish from their own particulars : so likewise it hath Punishments distinct from those infelicities which vex particulars , Punishments proportionable to it self and to its own Sins ; such as are Change of Governments , of better into worse , of Monarchy into Aristocracy , and so to the lowest ebb of Democracy ; Death of Princes , Infant Kings , Forein Invasions , Civil Wars , a disputable Title to the Crown , making a Nation tributary , Conquest by a Foreiner , and , which is worst of all , removing the Candlestick from a People by extinction of the Church , or that which is necessary to its conservation , the several Orders and Ministeries of Religion : and the last hath also proper sins of its own analogy ; such as are false Articles in the publick Confessions of a Church , Schism from the Catholick , publick Scandals , a general Viciousness of the Clergy , an Indifferency in Religion , without warmth and holy fires of Zeal , and diligent pursuance of all its just and holy interests . Now in these and all parallel cases , when God by Punishments hath probably marked and distinguished the Crime , it concerns publick persons to be the more forward and importunate in consideration of publick Irregularities : and for the private also not to neglect their own particulars ; for by that means , although not certainly , yet probably , they may secure themselves from falling in the publick calamity . It is not infallibly sure that holy persons shall not be smitten by the destroying Angel ; for God in such deaths hath many ends of mercy , and some of Providence , to serve : but such private and personal emendations and Devotions are the greatest securities of the men against the Judgment , or the evil of it , preserving them in this life , or wasting them over to a better . Thus many of the Lord's champions did fall in battel , and the armies of the 〈◊〉 did twice prevail upon the juster People of all Israel ; and the Greek Empire hath declined and shrunk under the fortune and power of the Ottoman Family ; and the Holy Land , which was twice possessed by Christian Princes , is now in the dominion of unchristened Saracens ; and in the production of these alterations many a gallant and pious person suffered the evils of war , and the change of an untimely death . 13. But the way for the whole Nation to proceed in cases of epidemical Diseases , Wars , great Judgments , and popular Calamities , is to do in the publick proportion the same that every man is to do for his private ; by publick acts of Justice , Repentance , Fastings , pious Laws , and execution of just and religious Edicts , making peace , quitting of unjust interests , declaring publickly against a Crime , protesting in behalf of the contrary Vertue or Religion : and to this also every man , as he is a member of the body politick , must co-operate ; that by a Repentance in diffusion help may come , as well as by a Sin of universal dissemination the Plague was hastened and invited the rather . But in these cases all the work of discerning and pronouncing concerning the cause of the Judgment , as it must be without asperity , and only for designs of correction and emendation , so it must be done by Kings and Prophets , and the assistence of other publick persons , to whom the publick is committed . Josua cast lots upon Achan , and discovered the publick trouble in a private instance ; and of old the Prophets had it in commission to reprove the popular iniquity of Nations , and the consederate sins of Kingdomes ; and in this Christianity altered nothing . And when this is done modestly , prudently , humbly and penitently , oftentimes the tables turn immediately , but always in due time ; and a great Alteration in a Kingdome becomes the greatest Blessing in the world , and fastens the Church , or the Crown , or the publick Peace , in bands of great continuance and security ; and it may be the next Age shall feel the benefits of our Sufferance and Repentance . And therefore , as we must endeavour to secure it , so we must not be too decretory in the case of others , or disconsolate or diffident in our own , when it may so happen , that all succeeding generations shall see that God pardoned us and loved us even when he smote us . Let us all learn to fear and walk humbly . The Churches of Laodicea and the Colossians suffered a great calamity within a little while after the Spirit of God had sent them two Epistles by the ministery of S. Paul ; their Cities were buried in an Earthquake : and yet we have reason to think they were Churches beloved of God , and Congregations of holy People . The PRAYER . OEternal and powerful God , thou just and righteous Governour of the world , who callest all orders of men by Precepts , Promises and Threatnings , by Mercies and by Judgments , teach us to admire and adore all the Wisdome , the effects and infinite varieties of thy Providence ; and make us to dispose our selves so by Obedience , by Repentance , by all the manners of Holy living , that we may never provoke thee to jealousie , much less to wrath and indignation against us . Keep far from us the Sword of the destroying Angel , and let us never perish in the publick expresses of thy wrath , in diseases Epidemical , with the furies of War , with calamitous , sudden and horrid Accidents , with unusual Diseases ; unless that our so strange fall be more for thy glory and our eternal benefit , and then thy will be done : We beg thy grace , that we may chearfully conform to thy holy will and pleasure . Lord , open our understandings , that we may know the meaning of thy voice , and the signification of thy language , when thou speakest 〈◊〉 Heaven in signs and Judgments ; and let a holy fear so soften our spirits , and an intense love so 〈◊〉 and sanctifie our desires , that we may apprehend every intimation of thy pleasure at its first and remotest and most obscure representment , that so we may with Repentance go out to meet thee , and prevent the expresses of thine anger . Let thy restraining grace and the observation of the issues of thy Justice so allay our spirits , that we be not severe and forward in condemning others , nor backward in passing sentence upon our selves . Make us to obey thy voice described in holy Scripture , to tremble at thy voice expressed in wonders and great effects of Providence , to condemn none but our selves , nor to enter into the recesses of thy Sanctuary , and search the forbidden records of Predestination ; but that we may read our duty in the pages of Revelation , not in the labels of accidental effects ; that thy Judgments may confirm thy Word , and thy Word teach us our Duty , and we by such excellent instruments may enter in and grow up in the ways of Godliness , through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen . SECT . XV. Of the Accidents happening from the Death of Lazarus , untill the Death and Burial of JESVS . Bartimeus healed of blindnesse . Mark. 10. 46. And as he went out of Iericho with his Disciples , and a great number of people , blind Bartimeus sate by the high way begging . 47. And when he heard , that it was Iesus of Nazareth he began to cry out , and say , Iesus thou son of David have mercy on me . Lazarus raysed from death . Ioh. 11. 44. And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with gravecloths , and his face was bound about with a napkin , Iesus saith unto them , Loose him and let him go . 45. Then Many of the Iewes , which came to Mary , and had seen the things , which Iesus did believed on him . 1. VVHile Jesus was in Galilee , messengers came to him from Martha and her Sister Mary , that he would hasten into Judaea to Bethany , to relieve the sickness and imminent dangers of their Brother Lazarus . But he deferred his going till Lazarus was dead ; purposing to give a great probation of his Divinity , Power , and Mission , by a glorious Miracle ; and to give God glory , and to receive reflexions of the glory upon himself . For after he had stayed two days , he called his Disciples to go with him into Judaea , telling them , that Lazarus was dead , but he would raise him out of that sleep of death . But by that time Jesus was arrived at Bethany , he found that Lazarus had been dead four days , and now near to putrefaction . But when Martha and Mary met him , weeping their pious tears for their dead Brother , Jesus suffered the passions of piety and humanity , and wept , distilling that precious liquor into the grave of Lazarus , watering the dead plant , that it might spring into a new life , and raise his head above the ground . 2. When Jesus had by his words of comfort and institution strengthened the Faith of the two mourning Sisters , and commanded the stone to be removed from the grave , he made an address of Adoration and Eucharist to his Father , confessing his perpetual propensity to hear him , and then cried out , Lazarus , come forth . And he that was dead came forth from his bed of darkness with his night-cloaths on him , whom when the Apostles had unloosed at the command of Jesus , he went to Bethany : and many that were present believed on him ; but others wondring and malicious went and told the Pharisees the story of the Miracle , who upon that advice called their great Council , whose great and solemn cognisance was of the greater causes of Prophets , of Kings , and of the holy Law. At this great Assembly it was that Caiaphas , the High Priest , prophesied , that it was expedient one should die for the people . And thence they determined the death of Jesus . But he , knowing they had passed a decretory sentence against him , retired to the City 〈◊〉 in the Tribe of Judah near the desart , where he stayed a few days , till the approximation of the Feast of Easter . 3. Against which Feast when Jesus with his Disciples was going to Jerusalem , he told them the event of the journey would be , that the Jews should deliver him to the Gentiles , that they should scourge him , and mock him , and crucifie him , and the third day he should rise again . After which discourse the Mother of 〈◊〉 's Children begg'd of Jesus for her two Sons , that one of them might sit at his right hand , the other at the left , in his Kingdom . For no discourses of his Passion or intimations of the mysteriousness of his Kingdom could yet put them into right understandings of their condition . But Jesus , whose heart and thoughts were full of phancy and apprehensions of the neighbour Passion , gave them answer in proportion to his present conceptions and their future condition . For if they desired the honours of his Kingdom , such as they were , they should have them , unless themselves did decline them ; they should drink of his Cup , and dip in his Lavatory , and be washed with his baptism , and sit in his Kingdom , if the heavenly Father had prepared it for them ; but the donation of that immediately was an issue of Divine election and predestination , and was only competent to them who by holy living and patient suffering put themselves into a disposition of becoming vessels of Election . 4. But as Jesus in this journey came near Jericho , he cures a blind man , who sate begging by the way-side : and espying Zaccheus , the chief of the Publicans , upon a tree , ( that he being low of stature might upon that advantage of station see Jesus passing by ) he invited himself to his house ; who received him with gladness , and repentance of his crimes , purging his Conscience , and filling his heart and house with joy and sanctity ; for , immediately upon the arrival of the Master at his house , he offered restitution to all persons whom he had injured , and satisfaction , and half of his remanent estate he gave to the poor , and so gave the fairest entertainment to Jesus , who brought along with him Salvation to his house . There it was that he spake the Parable of the King who concredited divers talents to his servants , and having at his return exacted an account , rewarded them who had improved their bank , and been faithful in their trust , with rewards proportionable to their capacity and improvement ; but the negligent servant , who had not meliorated his stock , was punished with ablegation and 〈◊〉 to outer darkness . And from hence sprang up that dogmatical proposition , which is mysterious and 〈◊〉 in Christianity , To him that hath shall be given ; and from him that hath not shall be taken away even what he hath . After this , going forth of Jericho , he cured two blind men upon the way . 5. Six days before Easter Jesus came to Bethany , where he was feasted by Martha and Mary , and accompanied by Lazarus , who sate at the table with Jesus . But Mary brought a pound of Nard * Pistick , and , as formerly she had done , again anoints the feet of Jesus , and fills the house with the odour , till God himself smelt thence a savour of a sweet-smelling sacrifice . But Judas Iscariot , the Thief and the Traitor , repined at the vanity of the expence , ( as he pretended ) because it might have been sold for three hundred pence , and have been given to the poor . But Jesus in his reply taught us , that there is an opportunity for actions of Religion as well as of Charity . Mary did this against the Burial of Jesus , and her Religion was accepted by him , to whose honours the holocaust of love and the oblations of alms-deeds are in their proper seasons direct actions of worship and duty . But at this meeting there came many Jews to see Lazarus , who was raised from death , as well as to see Jesus : and because by occasion of his Resurrection many of them believed on Jesus , therefore the Pharisees deliberated about putting him to death . But God in his glorious providence was pleased to preserve him as a trumpet of his glories , and a testimony of the Miracle , thirty years after the death of Jesus . 6. The next day , being the fifth day before the Passeover , Jesus came to the foot of the mount of Olives , and sent his Disciples to Bethphage , a village in the neighbourhood , commanding them to unloose an asse and a colt , and bring them to him , and to tell the owners it was done for the Master's use ; and they did so : and when they brought the Asse to Jesus , he rides on him to Jerusalem ; and the People , having notice of his approach , took * branches of Palm-trees , and went out to meet him , strewing branches and garments in the way , crying out , Hosanna to the son of David : Which was a form of exclamation used to the honour of God , and in great Solemnities , and * signifies [ Adoration to the Son of David by the rite of carrying branches ; ] which when they used in procession about their Altars they used to pray , Lord , save us , Lord , prosper us , which hath occasioned the reddition of Hoschiannah to be , amongst some , that Prayer which they repeated at the carrying of the Hoschiannah , as if it self did signifie , Lord , save us . But this honour was so great and unusual to be done even to Kings , that the Pharisees , knowing this to be an appropriate manner of address to God , said one to another by way of wonder , Hear ye what these men say ? For they were troubled to hear the People revere him as a God. 7. When Jesus from the mount of Olives beheld Jerusalem , he wept over it , and foretold great sadnesses and infelicities futurely contingent to it ; which not only happened in the sequel of the story according to the main issues and significations of this Prophecy , but even to minutes and circumstances it was verified . For in the mount of Olives , where Jesus shed tears over perishing Jerusalem , the Romans first pitched their Tents when they came to its final overthrow . From thence descending to the City he went into the Temple , and still the acclamations followed him , till the Pharisees were ready to burst with the noises abroad , and the tumults of envy and scorn within , and by observing that all their endeavours to suppress his glories were but like clapping their hands to veil the Sun , and that , in despight of all their stratagems , the whole Nation was become Disciple to the glorious Nazarene . And there 〈◊〉 cured certain persons that were blind and lame . 8. But whilest he abode at Jerusalem , certain Greeks , who came to the Feast to worship , made their address to Philip , that they might be brought to Jesus . Philip tells Andrew , and they both tell Jesus ; who , having admitted them , discoursed many things concerning his Passion , and then prayed a petition , which is the end of his own Sufferings , and of all humane actions , and the purpose of the whole Creation , Father , glorifie thy Name . To which he was answered by a voice from Heaven , I have both glorified it , and will glorifie it again . But this , nor the whole series of Miracles that he did , the Mercies , the Cures , nor the divine Discourses , could gain the Faith of all the Jews , who were determined by their humane interest ; for many of the Rulers who believed on him durst not confess him , because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Then Jesus again exhorted all men to believe on him , that so they might in the same act believe on God ; that they might approach unto the light , and not abide in darkness ; that they might obey the commandments of the Father , whose express charge it was , that Jesus should preach this Gospel ; and that they might not be judged at the last Day by the Word which they have rejected , which Word to all its observers is everlasting life . After which Sermon retiring to Bethany , he abode there all Night . 9. On the morrow returning to Jerusalem , on the way being hungry he passed by a Fig-tree , where expecting fruit he found none , and cursed the Fig-tree , which by the next day was dried up and withered . Upon occasion of which preternatural event Jesus discoursed of the power of Faith , and its power to produce Miracles . But upon this occasion others , the Disciples of Jesus in after-Ages , have pleased themselves with phancies and imperfect descants , as that he cursed this Tree in mystery and secret intendment , it having been the tree in the eating whose fruit Adam , prevaricating the Divine Law , made an inlet to sin , which brought in death , and the sadnesses of Jesus's Passion . But Jesus having entred the City came into the Temple , and preached the Gospel ; and the chief Priests and Scribes questioned his commission , and by what authority he did those things . But Jesus promising to answer them , if they would declare their opinions concerning John's Baptism , which they durst not for fear of displeasing the people , or throwing durt in their own faces , was acquitted of his obligation , by their declining the proposition . 10. But there he reproved the Pharisees and Rulers by the Parable of two Sons ; the first whereof said to his Father , he would not obey , but repented , and did his command ; the second gave good words , but did nothing : meaning , that persons of the greatest improbability were more heartily converted than they whose outside seemed to have appropriated Religion to the labels of their frontlets . He added a Parable of the Vineyard let out to Husbandmen , who killed the servants sent to demand the fruits , and at last the Son himself , that they might invade the inheritance : but made a sad commination to all such who should either stumble at this stone , or on whom this stone should fall . After which , and some other reprehensions , which he so veiled in Parable that it might not be expounded to be calumny or declamation , although such sharp Sermons had been spoken in the People's hearing , but yet so transparently , that themselves might see their own iniquity in those modest and just representments , the Pharisees would fain have seised him , but they durst not for the People , but resolved , if they could , to entangle him in his talk ; and therefore sent out spies , who should pretend sanctity and veneration of his person , who with a goodly 〈◊〉 preface , that Jesus regarded no man's person , but spake the word of God with much simplicity and justice , desired to know if it were lawful to pay tribute to 〈◊〉 , or not . A question which was of great dispute , because of the numerous Sect of the 〈◊〉 , who denied it , and of the affections of the People , who loved their Money , and their Liberty , and the Privileges of their Nation . And now in all probability he shall fall under the displeasure of the People , or of Caesar. But Jesus called to see a peny ; and 〈◊〉 it to be superscribed with Caesar's image , with incomparable wisdome he brake their snare , and established an Evangelical proposition for ever , saying , Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's , and to God the things that are God's . 11. Having so excellently and so much to their wonder answered the Pharisees , the Sadduces bring their great objection to him against the Resurrection , by putting case of a Woman married to seven Husbands , and whose Wife should she be in the Resurrection ? thinking that to be an impossible state , which ingages upon such seeming incongruities , that a woman should at once be wife to seven men . But Jesus first answered their objection , telling them , that all those relations whose 〈◊〉 is in the imperfections and passions of 〈◊〉 and bloud , and duties here below , shall cease in that state , which is so spiritual , that it is like to the condition of Angels , amongst whom there is no difference of sex , no cognations , no genealogies or derivation from one another ; and then by a new argument proves the Resurrection , by one of God's appellatives , who did then delight to be called the God of Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob : for since God is not the God of the dead , but of the living , unto him even these men are alive ; and if so , then either they now exercise acts of life , and therefore shall be restored to their bodies , that their actions may be compleat , and they not remain in a state of imperfection to all eternity ; or if they be alive , and yet cease from operation , they shall be much rather raised up to a condition which shall actuate and make perfect their present capacities and dispositions , lest a power and inclination should for ever be in the root , and never rise up to fruit or herbage , and so be an eternal vanity , like an old bud , or an eternal child . 12. After this , the Pharisees being well pleased , not that Jesus spake so excellently , but that the Sadduces were 〈◊〉 , came to him , asking , which was the great Commandment , and some other things , more out of curiosity than pious desires of satisfaction . But at last Jesus was pleased to ask them concerning CHRIST , whose son he was . They answered , The Son of David : but he replying , How then doth David call him Lord ? [ The LORD said unto my Lord , Sit thou on my right hand , &c. ] they had nothing to answer . But Jesus then gave his Disciples caution against the Pride , the Hypocrisie , and the Oppression of the Scribes and Pharisees ; and commended the poor widow's oblation of her two mites into the treasury , it being a great love in a little print , for it was all her living . All this was spoken in the Temple , the goodly stones of which when the Apostles beheld with wonder , they being white and firm , twenty cubits in length , twelve in breadth , eight in depth , as Josephus reports , Jesus prophesies the destruction of the place : concerning which Prediction when the Apostles , being with him at the mount of Olives , asked him privately concerning the time and the ligns of so sad event , he discoursed largely of his coming to Judgment against that City , and interweaved Predictions of the universal Judgment of all the world ; of which this , though very sad , was but a small adumbration : adding Precepts of Watchfulness , and standing in preparation with hearts filled with grace , our lamps always shining , that when the Bridegroom shall come we may be ready to enter in ; which was intended in the Parable of the five wise Virgins : and concluded his Sermon with a narrative of his Passion , foretelling that within two days he should be crucisied . 13. Jesus descended from the mount , and came to Bethany , and turning into the house of Simon the Leper , Mary 〈◊〉 Magdalen having been reproved by Judas for spending ointment upon 〈◊〉 's 〈◊〉 , it being so unaccustomed and large a profusion , thought now to speak her love once more , and trouble no body , and therefore the poured ointment on his sacred head , believing that , being a pompousness of a more accustomed festivity , would be indulged to the expressions of her affection : but now all the Disciples murmured , wondring at the prodigiousness of the woman's Religion , great enough to consume a Province in the 〈◊〉 of her thankfulness and duty . But Jesus now also entertained the sincerity of her miraculous love , adding this Prophecy , that where the Gospel should be preached , there also a record of this act should be kept , as a perpetual monument of her Piety , and an attestation of his Divinity , who could foretell future 〈◊〉 ; Christianity receiving the greatest argument from that which S. Peter calls the surer word of Prophecy , meaning it to be greater than the testimony of Miracles , not easie to be dissembled by impure spirits , and whose efficacy should descend to all Ages : for this Prophecy shall for ever be fulfilling , and , being every day verified , does every day preach the Divinity of Christ's 〈◊〉 and of his Institution . 14. Two days before the 〈◊〉 the Scribes and Pharisees called a council to contrive crafty ways of 〈◊〉 Jesus , they not daring to do it by open violence . Of which meeting when Judas 〈◊〉 had notice , ( for those assemblies were publick and notorious ) he ran from 〈◊〉 , and offered himself to betray his Master to them , if they would give him a considerable reward . They agreed for thirty pieces of silver . Of what value each piece was is uncertain ; but their own Nation hath given a rule , that when a piece of silver is named in the Pentateuch it signifies a sicle ; if it be named in the Prophets , it signifies a pound ; if in the other writings of the Old Testament , it signifies a talent : This therefore being alledged out of the Prophet * Jeremy by one of the Evangelists , it is probable the price at which Judas sold his Lord was thirty pound weight of silver ; a 〈◊〉 price for the Saviour of the world to be prized at by his undiscerning and unworthy Countreymen . 15. The next day was the first day of 〈◊〉 bread , on which it was necessary they should kill the Passeover ; therefore Jesus sent Peter and John to the City to a certain man , whom they should 〈◊〉 carrying a pitcher of water to his house ; him they should follow , and there prepare the Passeover . They went and found the man in the same circumstances , and prepared for Jesus and his Family , who at the even came to celebrate the Passeover . It was the house of John surnamed Mark , which had always been open to this blessed Family , where he was pleased to finish his last Supper , and the mysteriousness of the Vespers of his Passion . 16. When evening was come , Jesus stood with his Disciples and 〈◊〉 the Paschal Lamb ; after which he girt himself with 〈◊〉 , and taking a bason washed the feet of his Disciples , not only by the ceremony , but in his discourses , instructing them in the doctrine of Humility , which the Master by his so great 〈◊〉 to his Disciples had made sacred , and imprinted the lesson in lasting characters by making it symbolical . But Peter was unwilling to be washed by his Lord , until he was told he must renounce his part in him unless he were washed ; which option being given to Peter , he cried out , Not my feet only , but my hands and my head . But Jesus said the ablution of the feet was sufficient for the purification of the whole man ; relating to the custom of those Countreys who used to go to supper immediately from the baths , who therefore were sufficiently clean save only on their feet , by reason of the dust contracted in their passage from the baths to the dining-rooms ; from which when by the hospitable master of the house they were caused to be cleansed , they needed no more ablution : and by it Jesus , passing from the letter to the spirit , meant , that the body of sin was washed in the baths of Baptism ; and afterwards , if we remained in the same state of purity , it was only necessary to purge away the filth contracted in our passage from the Font to the Altar ; and then we are clean all over , when the 〈◊〉 state is unaltered , and the little adherencies of imperfection and passions are also washed off . 17. But after the 〈◊〉 of the Paschal Lamb it was the custom of the Nation to sit down to a second Supper , in which they ate herbs and unlevened bread , the Major-domo first dipping his morsel , and then the family ; after which the Father brake bread into pieces , and distributed a part to every of the Guests , and first drinking himself , gave to the rest the chalice filled with wine , according to the age and dignity of the person , adding to each distribution a form of benediction proper to the mystery , which was Eucharistical and commemorative of their Deliverance from Egypt . This Supper Jesus being to celebrate , changed the forms of benediction , turned the Ceremony into Mystery , and gave his body and bloud in Sacrament and religious configuration ; so instituting the venerable Sacrament which from the time of its institution is called the Lord's Supper : which rite Jesus commanded the Apostles to perpetuate in commemoration of him their Lord until his second coming . And this was the first delegation of a perpetual Ministery which Jesus made to his Apostles , in which they were to be succeeded to in all generations of the Church . 18. But Jesus being troubled in spirit told his Apostles that one of them should betray him ; which Prediction he made , that they might not be scandalized at the sadness of objection of the Passion , but be confirmed in their belief , seeing so great demonstration of his wisdom and spirit of Prophecy . The Disciples were all troubled at this 〈◊〉 arrest , looking one on another , and doubting of whom he spake ; but they beckned to the beloved Disciple , 〈◊〉 on Jesus's breast , that he might ask : for they who knew their own innocency and infirmity were desirous to satisfie their curiosity , and to be rid of their indetermination and their fear . But Jesus being asked gave them a sign , and a 〈◊〉 to Judas , commanding him to do what he list speedily ; for Jesus was extremely 〈◊〉 till he had drunk the chalice off , and accomplished his mysterious and 〈◊〉 Baptism . After Judas received the sop , the Devil entred into him , and Judas went forth immediately , it being now night . 19. When he was gone out , Jesus began his Farewel-Sermon , rarely mixt of sadness and joys , and studded with mysteries as with Emeralds , discoursing of the glorification of God in his Son , and of those glories which the Father had prepared for him ; of his sudden departure , and his migration to a place whither they could not come yet , but afterwards they should ; meaning , first to death , and then to glory : commanding them to love one another ; and foretelling to Peter , ( who made consident protests that he would die with his Master ) that before the cock should crow twice , he should deny him thrice . But lest he should afflict them with too sad representments of his present condition , he comforts them with the comforts of Faith , with the intendments of his departure to prepare places in Heaven for them , whither they might come by him , who is the way , the truth , and the life ; adding a promise in order to their present support and future felicities , that if they should ask of God any thing in his name , they should receive it ; and upon condition they would love him , and keep his Commandments , he would pray for the Holy Ghost to come upon them , to supply his room , to furnish them with proportionable comforts , to enable them with great Gifts , to lead them into all truth , and to abide with them for ever . Then arming them against future Persecutions , giving them divers holy Precepts , discoursing of his emanation from the Father , and of the necessity of his departure , he gave them his blessing , and prayed for them ; and then , having sung a Hymn , which was part of the great Allelujah beginning at the 114 Psalm , [ When Israel came out of Egypt ] and ending at the 118 inclusively , went forth with his Disciples over the brook 〈◊〉 unto the mount of Olives to a village called Gethsemani , where there was a Garden , into which he entred to pray together with his Disciples . 20. But taking Peter , James and John apart with him about a stone 's cast from the rest , he began to be exceeding sorrowful and sad even unto death . For now he 〈◊〉 the ingredients of his bitter Draught pouring into the Chalice , and the sight was full of horror and amazement ; he therefore fell on his face , and prayed , O my Father , if it be possible , let this cup pass from me . In this Prayer he fell into so sad an agony , that the pains inflicted by his Father's wrath and made active by his own apprehension were so great , that a sweat distilled from his sacred body as great and conglobated as drops of 〈◊〉 ; and God , who heard his Prayer , but would not answer him in kind , sent an Angel to comfort him in the sadness , which he was pleased not to take away . But knowing that the drinking this Cup was the great end of his coming into the world , he laid aside all his own interests , and devested himself of the affections of flesh and bloud , willing his Father's will ; and because his Father commanded , he , in desiance of sense and passion , was desirous to suffer all our pains . But as when two seas meet , the billows 〈◊〉 in ungentle embraces , and make violent noises , till , having wearied themselves into smaller waves and disunited drops , they run quietly into one stream : so did the spirit and nature of Jesus assault each other with disagreeing interests and distinguishing disputations , till the earnestness of the contention was diminished by the demonstrations of the spirit , and the prevailings of Grace , which the sooner got the victory , because they were not to contest with an unsanctified or a rebellious nature , but a body of affections which had no strong desires , but of its own preservation : and therefore Jesus went thrice , and prayed the same prayer , that , if it were 〈◊〉 , the cup might pass from him , and thrice made an act of resignation , and in the intervals came and found his Apostles asleep , gently chiding their incuriousness , and warning them to watch and pray , that they enter not into temptation ; till the time that the Traitor came with a multitude armed with swords and staves from the Priests and Elders of the people to apprehend him . 21. Judas gave them the opportunity of the night , that was all the advantage they had by him , because they durst not seise him by day for fear of the people ; and he signified the person of his Master to the souldiers by a Kiss , and an address of seeming civility . But when they came towards him , Jesus said , Whom seek ye ? They said , JESUS of Nazareth . He said , I am he . But there was a Divinity upon him , that they could not seise him at first : But as a wave climbing of a Rock is beaten back and scattered into members , till falling down it creeps with gentle waftings and kisses the feet of the stony mountain , and so encirles it : so the Souldiers , coming at first with a rude attempt , were twice repelled by the glory of his person , till they falling at his feet were at last admitted to the seisure of his body , having by those involuntary prostrations confessed his power greater than theirs , and that the lustre and influence of a GOD are greater than the violences and rudenesses of Souldiers . And still they like weak eyes durst not behold the glory of this Sun , till a cloud like a dark veil did interrupt the emissions of his glories ; they could not seise upon him , till they had thrown a veil upon his holy face : which although it was a custom of the Easterlings , and of the * Roman Empire generally ; yet in this case was violence and necessity , because a certain impetuosity and vigorousness of spirit and Divinity issuing from his holy Face made them to take sanctuary in darkness , and to throw a veil over him in that dead time of a sad and dismal night . But Peter , a stout * Galilean , bold and zealous , attempted a rescue , and smote a servant of the High Priest , and cut off his ear ; but Jesus rebuked the intemperance of his passion , and commanded him to put up his sword , saying , all they that strike with the sword shall perish with the sword ; so putting a bridle upon the illegal inflictions and expresses of anger or revenge from an incompetent authority . But Jesus touched Malchus's ear , and cured it . 22. When Jesus had yielded himself into their power , and was now led away by the chief Priests , Captains of the Temple , Elders of the people , and Souldiers , who all came in combination and covenant to surprize him , his Disciples fled ; and John the Evangelist , who with grief and an over-running phancy had forgot to lay aside his upper garment , which in Festivals they are used to put on , began to make escape , but being arrested by his linen upon his bare body , was forced to leave that behind him , that himself might escape his Master's danger : for now was verified the prophetical saying , I will smite the Shepherd , and the sheep shall be scattered . But Peter followed afar off ; and the greatness of John's love , when he had mastered the first inconsiderations of his fear , made him to return a while after into the High Priest's Hall. 23. Jesus was first led to Annas , who was the Prince of the Sanhedrim , and had cognizance of Prophets and publick Doctrines ; who therefore enquired of Jesus concerning his Disciples and his Discipline : but he answered , that his Doctrine had been publick or popular , that he never taught in Conventicles ; and therefore referred him to the testimony of all the people . For which free answer , a servant standing by smote him on the face ; and Jesus meekly asked him what evil he had done . But Annas without the Seventy Assessors could judge nothing , and therefore sent him bound to Caiaphas , who was High Priest that year , President of the Rites of the Temple , as the other High Priest was of the great Council . Thither Peter came , and had admission by the means of another Disciple , supposed to be John , who , having sold his possessions in Galilee to Caiaphas , came and dwelt near mount Sion , but was by intervention of that bargain made known to the High Priest , and brought Peter into the house ; where when Peter was challenged three times by the servants to be a Galilean , and of Jesus's family , he denied and forswore it ; till Jesus , looking back , re-minded him of his prediction , and the foulness of the crime , and the cock crew ; for it was now the second cock-crowing after ten of the clock in the fourth Watch. And Peter went out , and wept bitterly , that he might cleanse his Soul , washing off the foul stains he had contracted in his shameful Perjury and Denying of his Lord. And it is reported of the same holy person , that ever after , when he heard the cock crow , he wept , remembring the old instrument of his Conversion , and his own unworthiness , for which he never ceased to do actions of sorrow and sharp Repentance . 24. On the morning the Council was to assemble ; and whilest Jesus was detained in expectation of it , the servants mocked him , and did all actions of affront and ignoble despite to his Sacred head : and because the question was whether he were a Prophet , they covered his eyes , and smote him in derision , calling on him to prophesie who smote him . But in the morning , when the high Priests and rulers of the people were assembled , they sought false witness against Jesus , but found none to purpose ; they railed boldly , and could prove nothing ; they accused vehemently , and the allegations were of such things as were no crimes , and the greatest article which the united diligence of all their malice could pretend was , that he said he would destroy the Temple , and in three days build it up again . But Jesus neither answered this nor any other of their vainer allegations ; for the witnesses destroyed each others testimony by their disagreeing : till at last Caiaphas , who , to verifie his Prophecy , and to satisfie his Ambition , and to bait his Envy , was furiously determined Jesus should die , adjures him by the living God to say whether he were the CHRIST , the Son of the living God. Jesus knew his design to be an inquisition of death , not of Piety or curiosity ; yet , because his hour was now come , openly affirmed it without any expedient to elude the high Priest's malice , or to decline the question . 25. When Caiaphas heard the saying , he accused Jesus of Blasphemy , and pretended an apprehension so tragical , that he over-acted his wonder and feigned 〈◊〉 ; for he rent his garments , ( which was the interjection of the Countrey , and custom of the Nation , but forbidden to the High Priest ) and called presently to sentence : and , as it was agreed before-hand , they all condemned him as guilty of death , and as far as they had power inflicted it ; for they beat him with their fists , smote him with the palms of their hands , spit upon him , and abused him beyond the licence of enraged 〈◊〉 . When Judas heard that they had passed the final and decretory sentence of death upon his Lord , he , who thought not it would have gone so far , repented him to have been an instrument of so damnable a machination , and came and brought the silver which they gave him for hire , threw it in amongst them , and said , I have sinned in betraying the innocent 〈◊〉 . But they , incurious of those Hell-torments Judas felt within him , because their own fires burnt not yet , dismissed him , and upon consultation bought with the money a field to bury strangers in . And Judas went and hanged himself : and the Judgment was made more notorious and eminent by an unusual accident at such deaths , for he so swelled , that he burst , and his bowels gushed out . But the Greek Scholiast and some * others report out of Papias , S. John's Scholar , that Judas fell from the Fig-tree on which he hanged , before he was quite dead , and survived his attempt some while , being so sad a spectacle of deformity , and pain , and a prodigious tumour , that his plague was deplorable , and highly miserable , till at last he burst in the very substance of his Trunk , as being extended beyond the possibilities and capacities of nature . 26. But the High Priests had given Jesus over to the secular power , and carried him to Pilate , to be put to death by his sentence and military power : but coming thither , they would not enter into the Judgment-hall because of the Feast , but Pilate met them , and , willing to decline the business , bid them judge him according to their own Law. They replied , it was not lawful for them to put any man to death ; meaning , during the seven days of unlevened bread , ( as appears in the instance of Herod , who detained Peter in prison , intending after Easter to bring him out to the people . ) And their malice was restless , till the Sentence they had passed were put in execution . Others thinking that all the right of inflicting capital punishments was taken from the Nation by the Romans ; and * Josephus writes , that when Ananias their High Priest had by a Council of the Jews condemned S. James the Brother of our Lord , and put him to death , without the consent of the Roman President , he was deprived of his Priesthood . But because Pilate , who either by common right , or at that time , was the Judge of capital inflictions , was averse from intermedling in the condemnation of an innocent person , they attempted him with excellent craft ; for knowing that Pilate was a great servant of the Roman Greatness , and a hater of the Sect of the Galileans , the High Priest accused Jesus , that he was of that Sect , that he denied paying tribute to 〈◊〉 , that he called himself King. Concerning which when Pilate interrogated Jesus , he answered that his Kingdom was not of this world ; and Pilate thinking he had nothing to do with the other , came forth again , and gave testimony , that he found nothing worthy of death in Jesus . But hearing that he was a Galilean and of Herod's jurisdiction , Pilate sent him to Herod , who was at Jerusalem at the Feast . And Herod was glad , because he had heard much of him , and since his return from Rome had desired to see him , but could not , by reason of his own avocations , and the ambulatory life of Christ ; and now he hoped to see a Miracle done by him , of whom he had heard so many . But the event of this was , that Jesus did there no Miracle ; Herod's souldiers set him at nought , and mocked him . And that day Herod was reconciled to Pilate . And Jesus was sent back arrayed in a white and splendid garment : which though possibly it might be intended for derision , yet was a symbol of Innocence , condemned persons usually being arrayed in blacks . And when Pilate had again examined him , Jesus , meek as a lamb , and as a sheep before the shearers , opened not his mouth ; insomuch that Pilate wondred , perceiving the greatest Innocence of the man by not offering to excuse or lessen any thing : for though Pilate had power to release him , or crucifie him , yet his contempt of death was in just proportion to his Innocence ; which also Pilate concealed not , but published Jesus's Innocence by Herod's and his own sentence ; to the great regret of the Rulers , who , like ravening wolves , thirsted for a draught of bloud , and to devour the morning prey . 27. But Pilate hoped to prevail upon the Rulers by making it a favour from them to Jesus , and an indulgence from him to the Nation , to set him free : for oftentimes even Malice it self is driven out by the Devil of Self-love , and so we may be acknowledged the authors of a safety , we are content to rescue a man even from our own selves . Pilate therefore offered that , according to the custom of the Nation , Jesus should be released for the honour of the present Festival , and as a donative to the people . But the spirit of Malice was here the more prevalent , and they desired that Barabbas , a Murtherer , a Thief , and a seditious person , should be exchanged for him . Then Pilate casting about all ways to acquit Jesus of punishment , and himself of guilt , offered to scourge him , and let him go , hoping that a lesser draught of bloud might stop the furies and rabidness of their passion , without their bursting with a river of his best and vital liquor . But these leeches would not so let go ; they cry out , Crucifie him ; and to engage him finally they told him , if he did let this man go , he was no friend to Caesar. 28. But Pilate called for water , and washed his hands , to demonstrate his own unwillingness , and to reject and transmit the guilt upon them , who took it on them as greedily as they sucked the bloud ; they cried out , His bloud be on us and our children . As Pilate was going to give sentence , his Wife , being troubled in her dreams , sent , with the earnestness and passion of a woman , that he should have nothing to do with that just Person ; but he was engaged : Caesar and Jesus , God and the King , did seem to have different interests ; or at least he was threatned into that opinion ; and Pilate , though he was satisfied it was but Calumny and Malice , yet he was loth to venture upon his answer at Rome , in case the High Priest should have accused him . For no man knows whether the interest or the mistake of his Judge may cast the sentence ; and who-ever is accused strongly is never thought intirely innocent . And therefore , not only against the Divine Laws , but against the Roman too , he condemned an innocent person upon objections notoriously malicious ; he adjudged him to a death which was only due to publick Thieves and Homicides , ( crimes with which he was not charg'd ) upon a pretence of Blasphemy , of which he stood accused , but not convicted , and for which by the Jewish Law he should have been stoned , if found guilty . And this he did put into present execution , against the Tiberian Law , which about twelve years before decreed in favour of condemned persons , that after sentence execution should be deferred ten days . 29. And now was the Holy Lamb to bleed . First therefore Pilate's souldiers array him in a kingly robe , put a reed in his hand for a Sceptre , plait a Crown of thorns and put it on his head , they bow the knee , and mock him , they smite him with his phantastick Sceptre , and in stead of tribute pay him with blows and spittings upon his holy head : and when they had emptied the whole stock of poisonous contempt , they devest him of the robes of mockery , and put him on his own ; they lead him to a pillar , and bind him fast , and scourage him with whips , a punishment that Slaves only did use to suffer , ( free persons being in certain cases beaten with rods and clubs ) that they might add a new scorn to his afflictions , and make his sorrows like their own guilt , vast and mountainous . After which Barabbas being set free , Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified . 30. The Souldiers therefore having framed a Cross sad and heavy , laid it upon Jesus's shoulders , ( who , like Isaac , bore the wood with which he was to be sacrificed himself ) and they drive him out to Crucifixion , who was scarce able to stand under that load . It is generally supposed that Jesus bore the whole Tree , that is , both the parts of his Cross ; but to him that considers it it will seem impossible : and therefore it is more likely , and agreeable to the old manner of crucifying malefactors , that Jesus only carried the cross part ; the body of it being upon the place either already fixed , or prepared for its station . Even that lesser part was grievous and intolerable to his tender , virginal , and weakned body ; and when he fainted , they compel Simon a Cyrenian to help him . A great and a mixt multitude followed Jesus to Golgotha , the 〈◊〉 - house of the City , and the place of Execution . But the Women wept with bitter exclamations , and their sadness was increased by the sad predictions Jesus then made of their future misery , saying , Ye daughters of Jerusalem , weep not for me , but weep for your selves and for your children : For the time shall come that men shall say , Blessed are the barren that never bare , and the paps that never gave 〈◊〉 ; for they shall call on the hills to cover them , and on the mountains to fall upon them , that by a sudden ruine they may escape the lingring calamities of famine and fear , and the horror of a thousand deaths . 31. When Jesus was come to Golgotha , a place in the mount of Calvary , ( where , according to the tradition of the (a) Ancients , Adam was buried , and where (b) Abraham made an Altar for the sacrifice of his Son ) by the piety of his Disciples , and ( it is probable ) of those good women which did use to minister to him , there was provided wine mingled with myrrh , which among the Levantines is an (c) excellent and pleasant mixture , and such as the piety and indulgence of the nations used to administer to condemned persons . But Jesus , who by voluntary susception did chuse to suffer our pains , refused that refreshment which the piety of the women presented to him . The souldiers having stripp'd him , nail'd him to the Cross with * four nails , and divided his Mantle into four parts , giving to each souldier a part ; but for his Coat , because it would be spoiled if parted , it being weaved without seam , they cast lots for it . 32. Now Pilate had caused a title containing the cause of his death to be superscribed on a Table in Latine , Greek , and Hebrew , the Hebrew being first , the Greek next , and the Latine nearest to the holy body ; but all written after the Jewish manner , from the right hand to the left ; for so the Title is shewn in the Church of Santa Croce in Rome , the Latin letters being to be read as if it were Hebrew : the reason of which I could never find sufficiently discovered , unless it were to make it more legible to the Jews , who by conversing with the Romans began to understand a little Latine . The title was , JESUS OF NAZARETH , KING OF THE JEWS : But the Pharisees would have it altered , and that he said he was King of the Jews . But Pilate out of wilfulness , or to do despight to the Nation , or in honour to Jesus , whom he knew to be a just person , or being over-ruled by Divine providence , refused to alter it . And there were crucified with Jesus two Thieves , Jesus being in the midst , according to the Prophecy , He was reckoned with the transgressors . Then Jesus prayed for his Persecutors ; Father , forgive them , for they know not what they do . But while Jesus was full of pain and charity , and was praying and dying for his Enemies , the Rulers of the Jews mocked him , upbraiding him with the good works he did and the expresses of his power , saying , He saved others , himself he cannot save ; others saying , Let him come down from the Cross , if he be the King of the Jews , and we will believe in him : and others , according as their Malice was determined by phancy and occasion , added weight and scorn to his pains ; and of the two Malefactors that were crucified with him , one reviled him , saying , If thou be the CHRIST , save thy self and us . And thus far the Devil prevailed , undoing himself in riddle , provoking men to do despite to Christ , and to heighten his Passion out of hatred to him ; and yet doing and promoting that which was the ruine of all his own Kingdom and potent mischiefs : like the * Jew who in indignation against Mercury threw stones at his Image , and yet was by his Superiour judged idolatrous , that being the manner of doing honour to the Idol among the Gentiles . But then Christ , who had upon the Cross prayed for his enemies , and was heard of God in all that he desired , felt now the beginnings of success . For the other Thief , whom the present pains and circumstances of Jesus's Passion had softned and made believing , reproved his fellow for not fearing God , confessed that this death happened to them deservedly , but to Jesus causelesly : and then prayed to Jesus , Lord , remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom . Which combination of pious acts and miraculous Conversion Jesus entertained with a speedy promise of a very great felicity , promising that upon that very day he should be with him in Paradise . 33. Now there were standing by the Cross the Mother of Jesus and her Sister , and Mary Magdalen and John. And Jesus being upon his Death-bed , although he had no temporal estate to bestow , yet he would make provision for his Mother , who , being a Widow , and now childless , was likely to be exposed to necessity and want ; and therefore he did arrogate John the beloved Disciple into Marie's kindred , making him to be her adopted Son , and her to be his Mother , by fiction of Law : Woman , behold thy son ; and , Man , behold thy Mother . And from that time forward John took her home to his own house , which he had near mount Sion , after he had sold his inheritance in Galilee to the High Priest. 34. While these things were doing , the whole frame of Nature seemed to be dissolved and out of order , while their LORD and Creator suffered . For the Sun was so darkened that the Stars appeared ; and the Eclipse was prodigious in the manner as well as in degree , because the Moon was not then in Conjunction , but full : and it was noted by Phlegon , the freed man of the Emperor Hadrian , by Lucian out of the Acts of the Gauls , and Dionysius while he was yet a Heathen , excellent Scholars all , great Historians and Philosophers ; who also noted the day of the week and hour of the day , agreeing with the circumstances of the Cross. For the Sun hid his head from beholding such a prodigy of sin and sadness , and provided a veil for the nakedness of Jesus , that the women might be present , and himself die , with modesty . 35. The Eclipse and the Passion began at the sixth hour , and endured till the ninth , about which time Jesus , being tormented with the unsufferable load of his Father's wrath due for our sins , and wearied with pains and heaviness , cried out , My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken me ? and , as it is thought , repeated the whole two and twentieth Psalm , which is an admirable Narrative of the Passion , full of Prayer and sadness , and description of his pains at first , and of Eucharist and joy and prophecy at the last . But these first words , which it is certain and recorded that he spake , were in a language of it self , or else by reason of distance , not understood , for they thought he had called for Elias to take him down from the Cross. Then Jesus , being in the agonies of a high Fever , said , I thirst . And one ran , and filled a spunge with vinegar , wrapping it with hyssop , and put it on a reed , that he might drink . The Vinegar and the Spunge were in Executions of condemned persons set to stop the too violent issues of bloud , and to prolong the death ; but were exhibited to him in scorn ; mingled with gall , to make the mixture more horrid and ungentle . But Jesus tasted it only , and refused the draught . And now knowing that the Prophecies were fulfilled , his Father's wrath appeased , and his torments satisfactory , he said , It is finished , and crying with a loud voice , Father , into thy hands I commend my spirit , he bowed his head , and yielded up his spirit into the hands of God , and died , hastning to his Father's glories . Thus did this glorious Sun set in a sad and clouded West , running speedily to shine in the other world . 36. Then was the veil of the Temple , which separated the secret Mosaick Rites from the eyes of the people , rent in the midst from the top to the bottom ; and the Angels , Presidents of the Temple , called to each other to depart from their seats ; and so great an Earthquake happened , that the rocks did rend , the mountains trembled , the graves opened , and the bodies of dead persons arose , walking from their coemeteries to the Holy City , and appeared unto many : and so great apprehensions and amazements happened to them all that stood by , that they departed , smiting their breasts with sorrow and fear : and the Centurion that ministred at the execution said , Certainly this was the Son of God ; and he became a Disciple , renouncing his military imployment , and died a Martyr . 37. But because the next day was the Jews Sabbath , and a Paschal Festival besides , the Jews hastened that the bodies should be taken from the Cross ; and therefore sent to 〈◊〉 to hasten their death by breaking their legs , that * before Sun-set they might be taken away , according to the Commandment , and be buried . The souldiers therefore came , and brake the legs of the two Thieves ; but espying , and wondring , that Jesus was already dead , they brake not his legs ; for the Scripture foretold , that a bone of him should not be broken : but a souldier with his lance pierced his side , and immediately there streamed out two rivulets of Water and Bloud . But the Holy Virgin-Mother , ( whose Soul during this whole passion was pierced with a sword and sharper sorrows , though she was supported by the comforts of Faith , and those holy Predictions of his Resurrection and future glories , which Mary had laid up in store against this great day of expence ) now that she saw her Holy Son had suffered all that our necessities and their malice could require or inflict , caused certain ministers , with whom she joyned , to take her dead Son from the Cross ; whose Body when she once got free from the nails she kissed , and embraced with entertainments of the nearest vicinity that could be expressed by a person that was holy and sad , and a Mother weeping for her dead Son. 38. But she was highly satisfied with her own meditations , that now that great Mystery determined by Divine Predestination before the beginning of all Ages was fulfilled in her Son ; and the Passion , that must needs be , was accomplished : she therefore first bathes his cold body with her warm tears , and makes clean the surface of the wounds , and delivering a winding napkin to Joseph of Arimathaea , gave to him in charge to enwrap the Body and embalm it , to compose it to the grave , and do it all the rites of Funeral , having first exhorted him to a publick confession of what he was privately till now : and he obeyed the counsel of so excellent a person , and ventured upon the displeasure of the Jewish Rulers , and went confidently to Pilate , and begged the body of Jesus . And Pilate gave him the power of it . 39. Joseph therefore takes the body , binds his face with a napkin , washes the body , anoints it with ointment , enwraps it in a composition of myrrh and aloes , and puts it into a new tomb which he for himself had hewen out of a rock , ( it not being lawful among the Jews to interr a condemned person in the common coemeteries : ) for all these circumstances were in the Jews manner of burying . But when the Sun was set , the chief Priests and Pharisees went to Pilate , telling him that Jesus , whilest he was living , foretold 〈◊〉 own resurrection upon the third day ; and lest his Disciples should come and steal the body , and say he was risen from the dead , desired that the sepulchre might be secured against the danger of any such imposture . Pilate gave them leave to do their pleasure , even to the satisfaction of their smallest scruples . They therefore sealed the grave , rolled a great stone at the mouth of it , and , as an ancient Tradition says , bound it about with labels of iron , and set a watch of souldiers , as if they had intended to have made it surer than the decrees of Fate , or the never-failing laws of Nature . Ad SECT . XV. Considerations of some preparatory Accidents before the entrance of JESVS into his Passion . Christ riding in triumph . Matth. 21. 7. And they brought y e Ass. & put on their clothes , & set him thereon ; and a very great multitude spread their garments , others cut down branches from y e trees , & strawed them in y e way . And the multitude y t went before , and y t followed after , cried ; Hosannah , etc. Mary pouring ointment on Christ's head . Mark. 14. 3. As he sat at meat in the house of Simon y e leper , there came a woman having an Alabaster-box of ointment very pretious , & poured it on his head . And Jesus said , let hir alone she is come aforehand to anoint my body to y e burying . 1. HE that hath observed the Story of the Life of Jesus , cannot but see it all the way to be strewed with thorns and sharp-pointed stones ; and although by the kisses of his feet they became precious and salutary , yet they procured to him sorrow and disease : it was meat and drink to him to do his Father's will , but it was bread of affliction , and rivers of tears to drink ; and for these he thirsted like the earth after the cool stream . For so great was his Perfection , so exact the conformity of his Will , so absolute the subordination of his inferiour Faculties to the infinite love of God , which sate Regent in the Court of his Will and Understanding , that in this election of accidents he never considered the taste , but the goodness , never distinguished sweet from bitter , but Duty and Piety always prepared his table . And therefore now knowing that his time determined by the Father was nigh , he hastened up to Jerusalem ; he went before his Disciples , saith S. Mark , and they followed him trembling and amazed ; and yet before that , even then when his brethren observed he had a design of publication of himself , he suffered them to go before him , and went up as it were in secret . For so we are invited to Martyrdom , and suffering in a Christian cause by so great an example : the Holy Jesus is gone before us , and it were a holy contention to strive whose zeal were forwardest in the designs of Humiliation and Self-denial ; but it were also well , if in doing our selves secular advantage , and promoting our worldly interest , we should follow him , who was ever more distant from receiving honours than from receiving a painful death . Those affections which dwell in sadness , and are married to grief , and lie at the foot of the Cross , and trace the sad steps of Jesus , have the wisdom of recollection , the tempers of sobriety , and are the best imitations of Jesus , and securities against the levity of a dispersed and a vain spirit . This was intimated by many of the Disciples of Jesus in the days of the Spirit , and when they had tasted of the good word of God , and the powers of the world to come ; for then we find many ambitious of Martyrdom , and that have laid stratagems and designs by unusual deaths to get a Crown . The Soul of S. Laurence was so scorched with ardent desires of dying for his Lord , that he accounted the coals of his Gridiron but as a Julip or the aspersion of cold water to refresh his Soul ; they were chill as the Alpine snows in respect of the heats of his diviner flames . And if these lesser Stars shine so brightly and burn so warmly , what heat of love may we suppose to have been in the Sun of Righteousness ? If they went fast toward the Crown of Martyrdom , yet we know that the Holy Jesus went before them all : no wonder that he cometh forth as a Eridegroom from his chamber , and rejoyceth as a giant to run his course . 2. When the Disciples had overtaken Jesus , he begins to them a sad Homily upon the old Text of Suffering , which he had well nigh for a year together preached upon ; but because it was an unpleasing Lesson , so contradictory to those interests upon the hopes of which they had entertained themselves , and spent all their desires , they could by no means understand it : for an understanding prepossessed with a fancy , or an unhandsome principle , construes all other notions to the sence of the first ; and whatsoever contradicts it , we think it an objection , and that we are bound to answer it . But now that it concerned Christ to speak so plainly , that his Disciples by what was to happen within five or six days might not be scandalized , or believe it happened to Jesus without his knowledge and voluntary entertainment , he tells them of his Sufferings to be accomplished in this journey to Jerusalem . And here the Disciples shewed themselves to be but men , full of passion and indiscreet affection ; and the bold Galilean , S. Peter , took the boldness to dehort his Master from so great an infelicity ; and met with a reprehension so great , that neither the Scribes , nor the Pharisees , nor Herod himself ever met with its parallel : Jesus called him Satan ; meaning , that no greater contradiction can be offered to the designs of God and his Holy Son , than to disswade us from Suffering . And if we understood how great are the advantages of a suffering condition , we should think all our Daggers gilt , and our pavements strewed with Roses , and our Halters silken , and the Rack an instrument of pleasure , and be most impatient of those temptations which seduce us into ease , and divorce us from the Cross , as being opposite to our greatest hopes and most perfect desires . But still this humour of S. Peter's imperfection abides amongst us : He that breaks off the yoak of Obedience , and unties the bands of Discipline , and preaches a cheap Religion , and presents Heaven in the midst of flowers , and strews Carpets softer than the Asian luxury in the way , and sets the songs of Sion to the tunes of Persian and lighter airs , and offers great liberty of living , and bondage under affection and sins , and reconciles Eternity with the present enjoyment , he shall have his Schools filled with Disciples ; but he that preaches the Cross , and the severities of Christianity , and the strictnesses of a holy life , shall have the lot of his Blessed Lord , he shall be thought ill of , and deserted . 3. Our Blessed Lord , five days before his Passion , sent his Disciples to a village to borrow an Asse , that he might ride in triumph to Jerusalem ; he had none of his own , but yet he who was so dear to God could not want what was to supply his needs . It may be God hath laid up our portion in the repositories of other men , and means to furnish us from their tables , to feed us from their granaries , and that their wardrobe shall cloath us ; for it is all one to him to make a Fish bring us money , or a Crow to bring us meat , or the stable of our neighbour to furnish our needs of Beasts : if he brings it to thy need as thou wantest it , thou hast all the good in the use of the Creature which the owners can receive ; and the horse which is lent me in charity does me as much ease , and the bread which is given me in alms feeds me as well , as the other part of it , which the good man that gave me a portion reserved for his own eating , could do to him . And if we would give God leave to make provisions for us in the ways of his own chusing , and not estimate our wants by our manner of receiving , being contented that God by any of his own ways will minister it to us , we should find our cares eased , and our content encreased , and our thankfulness engaged , and all our moderate desires contented by the satisfaction of our needs . For if God is pleased to feed me by my neighbour's charity , there is no other difference , but that God makes me an occasion of his ghostly good , as he is made the occasion of my temporal ; and if we think it disparagement , we may remember that God conveys more good to him by me , than to me by him : and it is a proud impatience to refuse or to be angry with God's provisions , because he hath not observed my circumstances and ceremonies of election . 4. And now begins that great Triumph in which the Holy Jesus was pleased to exalt his Office , and to abase his Person . He rode like a poor man upon an Asse , a beast of burthen and the lowest value , and yet it was not his own ; and in that equipage he received the acclamations due to a mighty Prince , to the Son of the eternal King : telling us , that the smallness of fortune , and the rudeness of exteriour habiliments , and a rough wall , are sometimes the outsides of a great glory ; and that when God means to glorifie or do honour to a person , he needs no help from secular advantages . He hides great Riches in Renunciation of the World , and makes great Honour break forth from the clouds of Humility , and Victory to arise from Yielding and the modesty of departing from our interest , and Peace to be the reward of him that suffers all the Hostilities of men and Devils . For Jesus in this great Humility of his gives a great probation that he was the Messias , and the King of Sion , because no other King entred into those gates riding upon an Asse , and received the honour of Hosannah in that unlikelihood and contradiction of unequal circumstances . 5. The Blessed Jesus had never but two days of triumph in his life ; the one was on his 〈◊〉 upon mount Tabor , the other , this his riding into the Holy City . But that it may appear how little were his joys and present exteriour complacencies ; in the day of his Transfiguration Moses & Elias appeared to him , telling him what great things he was to suffer ; and in this day of his riding to Jerusalem he wet the Palms with a dew sweeter than the moistures upon mount Hermon or the drops of Manna : for , to allay the little warmth of a springing joy , he let down a shower of tears , weeping over undone Jerusalem in the day of his triumph , leaving it disputable whether he felt more joy or sorrow in the acts of love ; for he triumphed to consider that the Redemption of the world was so near , and wept bitterly that men would not be redeemed ; his joy was great to consider that himself was to suffer so great sadness for our good , and his sorrow was very great to consider that we would not entertain that Good that he brought and laid before us by his Passion . He was in figure , as his servant S. 〈◊〉 was afterwards in letter and true story , crucified upon Palms : which indeed was the emblem of a Victory ; but yet such as had leaves sharp , poinant , and vexatious . However , he entred into Jerusalem dressed in gayeties , which yet he placed under his feet ; but with such pomps and solemnities each Family , according to its proportion , was accustomed to bring the Paschal Lamb to be slain for the Passeover : and it was not an undecent ceremony , that the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world should be brought to his slaughter with the acknowledgments of a religious solemnity , because now that real good was to be exhibited to the world which those little Paschal Lambs did but signifie and represent in shadow : and that was the true cause of all the little joy he had . 6. And if we consider what followed , it might seem also to be a design to heighten the dolorousness of his Passion : for to descend from the greatest of worldly honours , from the adoration of a GOD , and the acclamations to a King , to the death of a Slave , and the torments of a Cross , and the dishonours of a condemned Criminal , were so great stoopings and vast changes that they gave height and sense and excellency to each other . This then seemed an excellent glory , but indeed was but an art and instrument of grief : for such is the nature of all our Felicities , they end in sadness , and increase the sting of sorrows , and add moment to them , and cause impatience and uncomfortable remembrances ; but the griefs of a Christian , whether they be instances of Repentance , or parts of Persecution , or exercises of Patience , end in joy and endless comfort . Thus Jesus , like a Rainbow , half made of the glories of light , and half of the moisture of a cloud , half triumph , and half sorrow , entred into that Town where he had done much good to others , and to himself received nothing but affronts : yet his tenderness encreased upon him , and that very journey , which was Christ's last solemn visit for their recovery , he doubled all the instruments of his Mercy and their Conversion : He rode in triumph , the 〈◊〉 sang Hosannah to him , he cured many diseased persons , he wept for them , and pitied them , and sighed out the intimations of a Prayer , and did penance for their ingratitude , and stayed all day there , looking about him towards evening , and no man would invite him home , but he was forced to go to Bethany , where he was sure of an hospitable entertainment . I think no Christian that reads this but will be full of indignation at the whole City , who for malice or for fear would not or durst not receive their Saviour into their houses ; and yet we do worse : for now that he is become our Lord with mightier demonstrations of his eternal power , we suffer him to look round about upon us for months and years together , and possibly never entertain him , till our house is ready to rush upon our heads , and we are going to unusual and stranger habitations . And yet in the midst of a populous and mutinous City this great King had some good subjects , persons that threw away their own garments , and laid them at the feet of our Lord ; that being devested of their own , they might be re-invested with a robe of his Righteousness , wearing that till it were changed into a stole of glory : the very ceremony of their reception of the Lord became symbolical to them , and expressive of all our duties . 7. But I consider that the Blessed Jesus had affections not less than infinite towards all mankind ; and he who wept upon Jerusalem , who had done so great despight to him , and within five days were to fill up the measure of their iniquities , and do an act which all Ages of the world could never repeat in the same instance , did also in the number of his tears reckon our sins as sad considerations and incentives of his sorrow . And it would well become us to consider what great evil we do , when our actions are such as for which our Blessed Lord did weep . He who was seated in the bosom of Felicity , yet he moistened his 〈◊〉 Lawrels upon the day of his Triumph with tears of love and bitter allay . His day of Triumph was a day of Sorrow : and if we would weep for our sins , that instance of sorrow would be a day of triumph and 〈◊〉 . 8. From hence the Holy Jesus went to Pethany , where he had another manner of reception than at the Holy City . There he supped ; for his goodly day of Triumph had been with him a fasting-day . And Mary Magdalen , who had spent one box of Nard pistick upon our Lord's feet as a sacrifice of Eucharist for her Conversion , now bestowed another in thankfulness for the restitution of her Brother Lazarus to life , and consigned her Lord unto his Burial . And here she met with an evil interpreter : 〈◊〉 , an Apostle one of the Lord 's own Family , pretended it had been a better Religion to have given it to the poor ; but it was Malice , and the spirit either of Envy or Avarice , in him that passed that sentence ; for he that sees a pious action well done , and seeks to undervalue it by telling how it might have been better , reproves nothing but his own spirit . For a man may do very well , and God would accept it ; though to say he might have done better , is to say only that action was not the most perfect and absolute in its kind : but to be angry at a religious person , and without any other pretence but that he might have done better , is spiritual Envy ; for a pious person would have nourished up that infant action by love and praise , till it had grown to the most perfect and intelligent Piety . But the event of that man gave the interpretation of his present purpose ; and at the best it could be no other than a rash judgment of the action and intention of a religious , thankful , and holy person . But she found her Lord , who was her 〈◊〉 in this , become her Patron and her Advocate . And hereafter , when we shall find the Devil , the great Accuser of God's Saints , object against the Piety and Religion of holy persons ; a cup of cold water shall be accepted unto reward , and a good intention heightned to the value of an exteriour expression , and a piece of gum to the equality of a 〈◊〉 , and an action done with great zeal and an intense love be acquitted from all its adherent imperfections ; Christ receiving them into himself , and being like the Altar of incense , hallowing the very smoak , and raising it into a flame , and entertaining it into the embraces of the firmament and the bosom of Heaven . Christ himself , who is the Judge of our actions , is also the entertainer and object of our Charity and Duty , and the Advocate of our persons . 9. Judas , who declaimed against the woman , made tacite reflexions upon his Lord for suffering it : and indeed every obloquy against any of Christ's servants is looked on as an arrow shot into the heart of Christ himself . And now a Persecution being begun against the Lord within his own Family , another was raised against him from without . For the chief Priests took crafty counsel against Jesus and called a Consistory to contrive how they might destroy him : and here was the greatest representment of the goodness of God and the ingratitude of man that could be practised or understood . How often had Jesus poured forth tears for them ? how many sleepless nights had he awaked to do them advantage ? how many days had he spent in Homilies and admirable visitations of Mercy and Charity , in casting out Devils , in curing their sick , in correcting their delinquencies , in reducing them to the ways of security and peace , and , that we may use the greatest expression in the world , that is , his own in gathering them as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings , to give them strength , and warmth , and life , and ghostly nourishment ? And the chief Priests together with their faction use all arts and watch all opportunities to get Christ , not that they might possess him , but to destroy him ; little considering that they extinguish their own eyes , and destroy that spring of life which was intended to them for a blissful immortality . 10. And here it was that the Devil shewed his promptness to furnish every evil-intended person with apt instruments to act the very worst of his intentions : the Devil knew their purposes , and the aptness and proclivity of Judas ; and by bringing these together he served their present design , and his own great intendment . The Devil never fails to promote every evil purpose ; and , except where God's restaining grace does intervene and interrupt the opportunity , by interposition of different and cross accidents to serve other ends of Providence , no man easily is fond of wickedness , but he shall receive enough to ruine him . Indeed Nero and Julian , both witty men and powerfull , desired to have been Magicians , and could not : and although possibly the Devil would have corresponded with them , who yet were already his own in all degrees of security ; yet God permitted not that , lest they might have understood new ways of doing despight to Martyrs and 〈◊〉 Christians . And it concerns us not to tempt God , or invite a forward enemy : for as we are sure the Devil is ready to promote all vicious desires , and bring them out to execution ; so we are not sure that God will not permit him ; and he that desires to be undone , and cares not to be prevented by God's restraining grace , shall finde his ruine in the folly of his own desires , and become wretched by his own election . Judas , hearing of this Congregation of the Priests , went and offered to betray his Lord , and made a Covenant , the Price of which was Thirty Pieces of Silver , and he returned . 11. It is not intimated in the History of the Life of Jesus , that Judas had any Malice against the Person of Christ ; for when afterwards he saw the matter was to end in the death of his Lord , he repented : but a base and unworthy spirit of Covetousness possessed him ; and the reliques of 〈◊〉 for missing the Price of the Ointment which the holy Magdalen had poured upon his feet burnt in his bowels with a secret dark melancholick 〈◊〉 and made an eruption into an act which all ages of the world could never parallel . They appointed him for hire thirty pieces , and some say that every piece did in value equal ten ordinary current Deniers ; and so Judas was satisfied by receiving the worth of the three hundred pence at which he valued the Nard pistick . But hereafter let no Christian be ashamed to be despised and undervalued ; for he will hardly meet so great a reproach as to have so disproportioned a price set upon his life as was upon the Holy Jesus . S. Mary 〈◊〉 thought it not good enough to aneal his sacred feet , Judas thought it a sufficient price for his head : for Covetousness aims at base and low purchaces , whilest holy Love is great and comprehensive as the bosome of Heaven , and aims at nothing that is less than infinite . The love of God is a holy fountain , limpid and pure , sweet and salutary , lasting and eternal : the love of Mony is a vertiginous pool sucking all into it to destroy it ; it is troubled and uneven , giddy and unsafe , serving no end but its own , and that also in a restless and uneasie motion . The love of God spends it self upon him , to receive again the reflexions of grace and benediction : the love of Money spends all its desires upon it sell , to purchase nothing but unsatisfying instruments of exchange , or supernumerary provisions , and ends in dissatisfaction , and emptiness of spirit , and a bitter curse . S. Mary Magdalen was defended by her Lord against calumny , and rewarded with an honourable mention to all Ages of the Church ; besides the unction from above , which she shortly after received to consign her to crowns and sceptres : but Judas was described in the Scripture , the Book of life , with the black character of death , he was disgraced to eternal Ages , and presently after acted his own tragedy with a sad and ignoble death . 12. Now , all things being fitted , our Blessed Lord sends two Disciples to prepare the Passeover , that he might fulfill the Law of Moses , and pass from thence to institutions Evangelical , and then fulfill his Sufferings . Christ gave them a sign to guide them to the house , a man bearing a pitcher of water ; by which some , that delight in mystical significations , say was typified the Sacrament of Baptism : meaning , that although by occasion of the Paschal solemnity the holy Eucharist was first instituted , yet it was afterwards to be applied to practice according to the sence of this accident ; only baptized persons were apt suscipients of the other more perfective Rite , as the taking nutriment supposes persons born into the world , and within the common conditions of humane nature . But in the letter it was an instance of the Divine omniscience , who could pronounce concerning accidents at distance as if they were present : and yet also , like the provision of the Colt to ride on , it was an instance of Providence , and security of all God's sons for their portion of temporals . Jesus had not a Lamb of his own , and possibly no money in the bags to buy one : and yet Providence was his guide , and the charity of a good man was his Proveditore , and he found excellent conveniences in the entertainments of a hospitable good man , as if he had dwelt in Ahab's Ivory-house , and had had the riches of Solomon , and the meat of his houshold . The PRAYER . O Holy King of Sion , Eternal Jesus , who with great Humility and infinite Love didst enter into the Holy City , riding upon an Asse , that thou mightest verisie the Predictions of the Prophets , and give example of Meekness and of the gentle and paternal government which the eternal Father laid upon thy shoulders ; be pleased , deares̄t Lord , to enter into my Soul with triumph , trampling over all thine enemies : and give me grace to entertain thee with joy and adoration , with abjection of my own desires , with lopping off all my supersluous branches of a temporal condition , and spending them in the offices of Charity and Religion , and devesting my self of all my desires , laying them at thy holy feet , that I may bear the yoke and burthen of the Lord with alacrity , with love , and the wonders of a satisfied and triumphant spirit . Lord , enter in and take possession ; and thou , to whose honour the very stones would give testimony , make my stony heart an instrument of thy praises ; let me strew thy way with flowers of Vertue , and the holy Rosary of Christian Graces : and by thy aid and example let us also triumph over all our infirmities and hostilities , and then lay our victories at thy feet , and at last follow thee into thy heavenly Jerusalem with palms in our hands , and joy in our hearts , and eternal acclamations on our lips , rejoycing in thee , and singing Hallelujahs in a happy Eternity to thee , O holy King of Sion , eternal Jesus . Amen . 2. O Blessed and dear Lord , who wert pleased to permit thy self to be sold to the assemblies of evil persons for a vile price by one of thy own servants , for whom thou hadst done so great favours , and hadst designed a crown and a throne to him , and he turned himself into a sooty coal , and entred into the portion of evil Angels ; teach us to value thee above all the joys of men , to prize thee at an estimate beyond all the wealth of nature , to buy wisdome , and not to sell it , to part with all that we may enjoy thee : and let no temptation abuse our understandings , no loss vex us into impatience , no frustration of hope fill us with indignation , no pressure of calamitous accidents make us angry at thee the fountain of love and blessing , no Covetousness transport us into the suburbs of Hell and the regions of sin ; but make us to love thee as well as ever any creature loved thee , that we may never burn in any fires but of a holy love , nor sink in any inundation but what proceeds from penitential showrs , and suffer no violence but of implacable desires to live with thee , and , when thou callest us , to suffer with thee , and for thee . 3. LOrd , let me never be betrayed by my self , or any violent accident and 〈◊〉 temptation ; let me never be sold for the vile price of temporal gain , or transient pleasure , or a pleasant dream ; but since thou hast bought me with a price , even then when thou wert sold thy self , let me never be separated from thy possession . I am thine , bought with a price , Lord , save me ; and in the day when thou bindest up thy Jewels remember , Lord , that I cost thee as dear as any , and therefore cast me not into the portion of Judas : but let me walk and dwell and bathe in the field of thy bloud , and pass from hence pure and sanctified into the society of the elect Apostles , receiving my part with them , and my lot in the communications of thy inheritance , O gracious Lord and dearest Saviour Jesus . Amen . Considerations upon the Washing of the Disciples Feet by JESUS , and his Sermon of Humility . He washeth his Disciples feet . Iohn . 13. 5. After that he powreth water into a baso● and began to wash the Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel , wherewith he was girded . 6. Then cometh he to Simon Peter , & Peter saith unto him , Lord doest thou wash my feet ? The Institution of his last Supper . Mark : 14. 22. And as they did eat , Lesus took bread ; & blessed & brake it & gaue to them & said , Take eat , this is my body . And he took y e Cup & when he had given thanks he gave it to them & they all dranke of it . In the 〈◊〉 of the Communion 1. THE Holy JESUS went now to eat his last Paschal Supper , and to finish the work of his Legation , and to fulfill that part of the Law of Moses in every of its smallest and most minute particularities , in which also the actions were significant of spiritual duties : which we may transfer from the letter to the spirit in our own instances , That as JESUS ate the Paschal Lamb with a staff in his Hand , with his Loins girt , with sandals on his Feet , in great haste , with unlevened Bread , and with bitter Herbs ; so we also should do all our services according to the signification of these symbols , leaning upon the Cross of JESUS for a staff , and bearing the rod of his Government , with Loins girt with Angelical Chastity , with shoes on our Feet , that so we may guard and have custody over our affections , and be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace , eating in haste , as becomes persons hungring and thirsting after Righteousness , doing the work of the Lord zealously and fervently , without the leven of Malice and secular interest , with bitter herbs of Self-denial and Mortification of our sensual and inordinate desires . The sence and mystery of the whole act with all its circumstances is , That we obey all the Sanctions of the Divine Law , and that every part of our Religion be pure and peaceable , chaste and obedient , confident in God and diffident in our selves , frequent and zealous , humble and resigned ; just and charitable ; and there will not easily be wanting any just circumstance to hallow and consecrate the action . 2. When the Holy Jesus had finished his last Mosaic Rite , he descends to give example of the first fruit of Evangelical Graces : he rises from Supper , lays aside his garment like a servant , and with all the circumstances of an humble ministery washes the feet of his Disciples , * beginning at the first , S. Peter , until he came to Judas the Traitor ; that we might in one scheme see a rare conjunction of Charity and Humility , of Self-denial and indifferency , represented by a person glorious and great , their Lord and Master , sad and troubled . And he chose to wash their * feet rather than their head , that he might have the opportunity of a more humble posture , and a more apt signification of his Charity . Thus God lays every thing aside that he may serve his servants ; Heaven stoops to earth , and one abyss calls upon another , and the Miseries of man , which were next to infinite , are excelled by a Mercy equal to the immensity of God. And this washing of their feet , which was an accustomed civility and entertainment of honoured strangers at the beginning of their meal , Christ deferred to the end of the Paschal Supper , that it might be the preparatory to the second , which he intended should be festival to all the world . S. Peter was troubled that the hands of his Lord should wash his servants feet , those hands which had opened the eyes of the blind , and cured lepers , and healed all diseases , and when lift up to Heaven were omnipotent , and could restore life to dead and buried persons ; he counted it a great indecency for him to suffer it : but it was no more than was necessary , for they had but lately been earnest in dispute for Precedency ; and it was of it self so apt to swell into tumour and inconvenience , that it was not to be cured but by some Prodigy of Example and Miracle of Humility , which the Holy Jesus offered to them in this express , calling them to learn some great Lesson ; a Lesson which God descended from Heaven to earth , from riches to poverty , from essential innocence to the disreputation of a sinner , from a Master to a Servant , to learn us , that is , that we should esteem our selves but just as we are , low , sinful , miserable , needy and unworthy . It seems it is a great thing that man should come to have just and equal thoughts of himself , that God used such powerful arts to transmit this Lesson , and engrave it in the spirits of men ; and if the Receipt fails , we are eternally lost in the mists of vanity , and enter into the condition of those Angels whom Pride transformed and spoiled into the condition of Devils : and upon consideration of this great example Guericus a good man cried out , Thou hast overcome , O Lord , thou hast overcome my Pride ; this Example hath mastered me ; I deliver my self up into thy hands , never to receive liberty or exaltation but in the condition of thy humblest servant . 3. And to this purpose S. Bernard hath an affectionate and devout consideration , saying , That some of the Angels as soon as they were created had an ambition to become like God , and to aspire into the Throne which God had appointed to the Holy Jesus in eternal ages . When God created Man , presently the Devil rubbed his Leprosie upon him , and he would needs be like God too , and Satan promised him that he should . As the evil Angels would have been like to God in Power and Majesty , so Man would have been like him in Knowledge , and have imitated the Wisdome of the Eternal Father . But Man had the fate of Gehezi ; he would needs have the talent and garments of Lucifer , and he had also his plague ; he lost Paradise for his Pride . And now what might befit the Son of God to do , seeing Man so lost , and God so zealous of his honour ? I see ( saith he ) that by occasion of me the Father loses his Creatures , for they have all aspired to be like me , and are fallen into the greatest infelicities . Behold , I will go towards man in such a form , that whosoever from henceforth would become like me shall be so , and be a gainer by it . And for this cause the Son of God came from Heaven , and made himself a poor humble person , and by all the actions of his life commented upon the present discourse : Learn of me , for I am meek and humble of heart . Blessed be that mercy and bounty which moved Almighty God to condescend to that so great appetite we had of being like him ; for now 〈◊〉 may be like unto God , but it must be by Humility , of which he hath given us an example powerful as Miracles , and great as our own Pride and Misery . 4. And indeed our Blessed Lord , knowing that Examples are like Maps and perfect Schemes in which the whole Continent may at once be represented to the eye to all the purposes of art and benefit , did in the latter end of his life draw up the dispersions and larger harvest of his Precepts , binding them in the bundle of great Examples , and casting them into actions as into summs total : for so this act of Washing the feet of his own Ministers , and then dying for them , and for all his enemies , did preach the three great 〈◊〉 of Evangelical Perfection with an admirable energy and abbreviature ; Humility , and Charity , and Sufferings , being to Christianity as the Body , and the Soul , and the Spirit are to the whole man. For no man brings a sad Funeral into the theatre to make his spectators merry , nor can well preach Chastity in the impurity of the Bordelli , or perswade Temperance when himself is full of wine and luxury , and enters into the baths to boil his undigested meat that he may return to his second supper , and breaths forth impure belchings together with his Homily ; a poor Eremite , or a severely-living Philosopher , into whose life his own Precepts have descended , & his Doctrin is mingled with his Soul , mingles also effect and virtue with Homilies , and incorporates his Doctrine in the hearts of his Disciples . And this the Holy Jesus did in his own person , bearing the burthen first upon his own shoulders , that we may with better alacrity undergo what our Blessed Lord bears with us and for us . But that we may the better understand what our Blessed Lord designed to us in this Lecture , let us consider the proper acts of Humility which integrate the Vertue . 5. The first is , Christ's Humble man thinks meanly of himself : and there is great reason every man should . For his Body is but rottenness and infirmity covered with a fair mantle , a dunghil overcast with snow : and if we consider sadly , that from Trees and Plants come oile , balsam , wine , spices , and aromatick odors , and that from the sinks of our Body no such sweet or salutary emanations are observed , we may at least think it unreasonable to boast our Beauty , which is nothing but a clear and well-coloured skin , which every thing in the world can spoil ; nor our Strength , which an Ague tames into the infirmities of a child , and in which we are excelled by a Bull ; nor any thing of our Body , which is nothing but an unruly servant of the Soul , marked with characters of want and dependence , and begging help from all the elements , and upon a little disturbance growing troublesome to it self by its own impurities . And yet there is no reason in respect of the Soul for any man to exalt himself above his Brother ; because all reasonable Souls are equal ; and that one is wise , and another is foolish or less learned , is by accident and extrinsick causes : God at first makes all alike ; but an indisposed Body , or an mopportune Education , or evil Customs superinduce variety and difference . And if God discerns a man from his Brother by distinction of Gifts , it alters not the case ; still the man hath nothing of himself that can call him excellent : it is as if a Wall upon which the Sun reflects should boast it self against another that stands in the shadow . Greater glory is to be paid to God for the discerning Gifts ; but to take any of it to our selves , and rise higher than our Brother , or advance our own opinion , is as if a man should be proud of being in debt , and think it the greater excellency that he is charged with heavier and more severe accounts . 6. This act consists not in declamations and forms of Satyre against our selves , saying , I am a miserable sinful creature , I am proud , or covetous , or ignorant . For many men say so that are not willing to be thought so . Neither is Humility a vertue made up of wearing old cloaths , or doing servile and mean imployments by voluntary undertaking , or of sullen gestures , or demiss behaviour , and artifice of lowly expressions : for these may become snares to invite and catch at Honour , and then they are collateral designs of Pride , and direct actions of Hypocrisie . But it consists in a true understanding of our own condition , and a separating our own Nothing from the good we have received , and giving to God all the glory , and taking to our selves all the shame and dishonour due to our sinful condition . He that thinks himself truly miserable and vilified by sin , hates it perfectly ; and he that knows himself to be nothing cannot be exalted in himself : and whatsoever is besides these two extremes of a natural Nothing and a superadded Sin , must be those good things we have received , which , because they derive from God , must make all their returns thither . But this act is of greater difficulty in persons pious , full of Gifts and eminent in Graces , who , being fellow-workers together with God , sometimes grow tacitely and without notice given to 〈◊〉 in themselves , and with some freer phancy ascribe too much of the good action to their own choice and diligence , and take up their crowns , which lie at the foot of the throne , and set them upon their own heads . For a Sinner to desire to be esteemed a sinner , is no more Humility than it is for the son of a Plow-man to confess his Father ; but indeed it is hard for a man to be cried up for a Saint , to walk upon the spire of glory , and to have no adherence or impure mixtures of Vanity grow upon the outside of his heart . All men have not such heads as to walk in great heights without giddiness and unsettled eyes : Lucifer and many Angels walking upon the battlements of Heaven grew top-heavy and fell into the state of Devils ; and the Father of the Christian Eremites , S. Antony , was frequently attempted by the Devil , and solicited to vanity , the Devil usually making phantastick noises to be heard before him , Make room for the Saint and Servant of God : But the good man knew Christ's voice to be a low Base of Humility , and that it was the noise of Hell that invited to complacencies and vanity ; and therefore took the example of the Apostles , who in the midst of the greatest reputation and spiritual advancements were dead unto the world , and seemed to live in the state of separation . For the true stating our own Question and knowing our selves must needs represent us set in the midst of infinite imperfections , loaden with sins , choaked with the noises of a polluted Conscience , persons fond of trifles , neglecting objects fit for wise men , full of ingratitude , and all such things which in every man else we look upon as scars and deformities , and which we use to single out , and take one alone as sufficient to disgrace and disrepute all the excellencies of our Neighbour : But if we would esteem them with the same severity in our selves , and remember with how many such objections our little felicities are covered , it would make us charitable in our censures , compassionate and gentle to others , apt to excuse , and as ready to support their weaknesses , and in all accidents and chances to our selves to be content and thankful , as knowing the worst of poverty and inconvenience to be a mercy and a splendid fortune in respect of our demerits . I have read , that when the Duke of Candia had voluntarily entred into the incommodities of a Religious Poverty and retirement , he was one day spied and pitied by a Lord of Italy , who out of tenderness wished him to be more careful and nutritive of his person . The good Duke answered , Sir , be not troubled , and think not that I am ill provided of conveniences , for I send a Harbinger before , who makes my lodgings ready , and takes care that I be royally entertained . The Lord asked him who was his Harbinger . He answered , The knowledge of my self , & the consideration of what I deserve for my sins , which is eternal torments ; and when with this knowledge I arrive at my lodging , how unprovided soever I find it , methinks it is ever better than I deserve . The summe of this Meditation consists in believing , and considering , and reducing to practice those thoughts , that we are nothing of our selves , that we have nothing of our own , that we have received more than ever we can discharge , that we have added innumerable sins , that we can call nothing our own but such things which we are ashamed to own , and such things which are apt to ruine us . If we do nothing contrary to the purpose and hearty perswasion of such thoughts , then we think meanly of our selves . And in order to it , we may make use of this advice , To let no day pass without some sad recollection and memory of somewhat which may put us to confusion and mean opinion of our selves ; either call to mind the worst of our sins , or the undiscreetest of our actions , or the greatest of our shame , or the uncivilest of our affronts , any thing to make us descend lower , and kiss the foot of the mountain . And this consideration applied also to every tumour of spirit as soon as it rises may possibly allay it . 7. Secondly , Christ's Humble man bears contumelies evenly and sweetly , and desires not to be honoured by others : He chuses to do those things that deserve honour and a fair name , but then eats not of those fruits himself , but transmits them to the use of others , and the glories of God. This is a certain consequence of the other : for he that truly disesteems himself is content that others should do so too ; and he who with some regret and impatience hears himself scorned or undervalued , hath not acquired the grace of Humility . Which Serapion in Cassian noted to a young person , who perpetually accused himself with the greatest semblances of Humility , but was impatient when Serapion reproved him . Did you hope that I would have praised your Humility , and have reputed you for a Saint ? It is a strange perversness to desire others to esteem highly of you for that , in which to your self you seem most unworthy . He that inquires into the faults of his own actions , requiring them that saw them to tell him in what he did amiss , not to learn the fault , but to engage them to praise it , cozens himself into Pride and makes Humility the instrument . And a man would be ashamed if he were told that he used stratagems for praise : but so glorious a thing is Humility , that Pride , to hide her own shame , puts on the others vizor ; it being more to a proud man's purposes to seem humble than to be so . And such was the Cynick whom Lucian derided , because that one searching his scrip in expectation to have found in it mouldy bread or old rags , he discovered a bale of dice , a box of perfumes , and the picture of his fair Mistress . Carisianus walked in his Gown in the Feast of Saturn , and when all Rome was let loose in wantonness , he put on the long Robe of a Senator , and a severe person ; and yet nothing was more lascivious than he . But the Devil Pride prevails sometimes upon the spirit of Lust. Humility neither directly nor by consequence seeks for praise , and suffers it not to rest upon its own pavement , but reflects it all upon God , and receives all lessenings and instruments of affront and disgrace , that mingle not with sin or undecencies , more willingly than Panegyricks . When others have their desires , thou not thine ; the sayings of another are esteemed , thine slighted ; others ask and obtain , thou beggest and art refused ; they are cried up , thou disgraced and hissed at ; and while they are imployed , thou art laid by , as fit for nothing ; or an unworthy person commands thee and rules thee like a tyrant , he reproves thee , suspects thee , reviles thee ; canst thou bear this sweetly , and entertain the usage as thy just portion , and as an accident most fit and proper to thy person and condition ? Dost thou not raise Theatres to thy self , and take delight in the suppletories of thy own good opinion , and the flatteries of such whom thou endearest to thee , that their praising thee should heal the wounds of thine honour by an imaginary and phantastick restitution ? He that is not content and patient in affronts , hath not yet learned Humility of the Holy Jesus . 8. Thirdly , As Christ's Humble man is content in affronts , and not greedy of praise ; so when it is presented to him , he takes no contentment in it : and if it be easie to want Praise when it is denied , yet it is harder not to be delighted with it when it is offered . But there is much reason that we should put restraints upon our selves , lest if we be praised without desert , we find a greater Judgment of God ; or if we have done well and received praise for it , we 〈◊〉 all our reward , which God hath deposited for them that receive not their good things in this life . For as silver is tried in the melter , and gold in the Crucible : so is a man tried by the mouth of him that praises him : that is , he is either clarified from his dross by looking upon the praise as a homily to teach and an instrument to invite his duty ; or else , if he be already pure , he is consolidated , strengthned in the sobriety of his spirit , and retires himself closer into the strengths and securities of Humility . Nay , this step of Humility uses in very holy persons to be enlarged to a delight in affronts and disreputation in the world . Now I begin to be Christ ' s Disciple , ( said 〈◊〉 the Martyr , when in his journey to Rome he suffered perpetual revilings and abuse . ) S. Paul rejoyced in his infirmities and reproach : and all the Apostles at Jerusalem went from the tribunal rejoycing that they were esteemed worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus . This is an excellent condition and degree of Humility . But I chuse to add one that is less , but in all persons necessary . 9. Fourthly , Christ's Humble man is careful never to speak any thing that may redound to his own praise , unless it be with a design of Charity or Duty , that either God's glory or the profit of his neighbour be concerned in it ; but never speaking with a design to be esteemed learned or honourable . S. Arsenius had been Tutor to three Caesars , Theodosius , Arcadius , and Honorius ; but afterwards when he became Religious , no word escaped him that might represent and tell of his former greatness : and it is observable concerning S. Jerome , that although he was of noble extraction , yet in all his own Writings there is not the smallest intimation of it . This I desire to be understood only to the sence and purposes of Humility , and that we have no designs of vanity and phancy in speaking learnedly , or recounting our exteriour advantages : but if either the 〈◊〉 of our brother or the glory of God , if either there be Piety or Charity in the design , it is lawful to publish all those excellencies with which God hath distinguished us from others . The young Marquess of Castilion being to do publick exercise in his course of Philosophy , made it a case of Conscience whether he were bound to dispute his best , fearing lest vanity might transport him in the midst of those praises which his Collegiates might give him . It was an excellent consideration in the young Gentleman : but in actions civil and humane , since the danger is not so immediate , and a little complacency becoming the instrument of vertue and encouragement of studies may with like care be referred to God as the giver , and 〈◊〉 his praises ; he might with more safety have done his utmost , it being in some sense a duty to encourage others , to give account of our Graces and our labours , and all the appendent vanity may quickly be suppressed . A good name may give us opportunity of perswading others to their duty , especially in an Age in which men chuse their Doctrines by the men that preach them : and S. Paul used his liberty when he was zealous for his Corinthian Disciples , but restrained himself when it began to make reflexions upon his own spirit . But although a good name be necessary , and in order to such good ends whither it may serve it is lawful to desire it ; yet a great name , and a pompous honour , and secular greatness , hath more danger in it to our selves than ordinarily it can have of benefit to others : and although a man may use the greatest honours to the greatest purposes , yet ordinary persons may not safely desire them ; because it will be found very hard to have such mysterious and abstracted considerations , as to separate all our proper interest from the publick end . To which I add this consideration , That the contempt of Honour , and the instant pursuit of Humility , is more effective of the ghostly benefit of others , than Honours and great Dignities can be , unless it be rarely and very accidentally . 10. If we need any new incentives to the practice of this Grace , I can say no more , but that Humility is Truth , and Pride is a Lie ; that the one glorifies God , the other dishonours him ; Humility makes men like Angels , Pride makes Angels to become Devils ; that Pride is Folly , Humility is the temper of a holy spirit and excellent Wisdom ; that Humility is the way to glory , Pride to ruine and confusion : Humility makes Saints on Earth , Pride undoes them : Humility beatifies the Saints in Heaven , and the Elders throw their Crowns at the foot of the Throne ; Pride disgraces a man among all the Societies of Earth : God loves one , and Satan solicits the cause of the other , and promotes his own interest in it most of all . And there is no one Grace in which Christ propounded himself imitable so signally as in this of Meekness and Humility : for the enforcing of which he undertook the condition of a Servant , and a life of Poverty , and a death of Disgrace ; and washed the feet of his Disciples , and even of Judas himself , that his action might be turned into a Sermon to preach this Duty , and to make it as eternal as his own Story . The PRAYER . O Holy and Eternal Jesus , who wert pleased to lay aside the Glories and incomprehensible Majesty which clothed thy Infinity from before the beginning of Creatures , and didst put on a cloud upon thy Brightness , and wert invested with the impure and imperfect broken robe of Humane nature , and didst abate those Splendors which broke through the veil , commanding Devils not to publish thee , and men not to proclaim thy Excellencies , and the Apostles not to reveal those Glories of thine which they discovered incircling thee upon mount Tabor in thy transfiguration , and didst by perpetual Homilies and symbolical mysterious actions , as with deep characters , engrave Humility into the spirits of thy Disciples and the Discipline of Christianity ; teach us to approach near to these thy Glories which thou hast so covered with a cloud that we might without amazement behold thy Excellencies ; make us to imitate thy gracious Condescensions ; take from us all vanity and phantastick complacencies in our own persons or actions ; and when there arises a reputation consequent to the performance of any part of our Duty , make us to 〈◊〉 the glory upon thee , suffering nothing to adhere to our own spirits but shame at our own imperfection , and thankfulness to thee for all thy assistences : let us never seek the praise of men from unhandsome actions , from flatteries and unworthy discourses , nor entertain the praise with delight , though it proceed from better principles ; but fear and tremble , lest we deserve punishment , or lose a reward which thou hast deposited for all them that seek thy glory , and despise their own , that they may imitate the example of their Lord. Thou , O Lord , didst triumph over Sin and Death ; subdue also my proud Understanding and my prouder Affections , and bring me under thy yoak ; that I may do thy work , and obey my Superiours , and be a servant of all my brethren in their necessities , and esteem my self inferiour to all men by a deep sense of my own unworthiness , and in all things may obey thy Laws , and conform to thy precedents , and enter into thine inheritance , O Holy and Eternal Jesus . Amen . DISCOURSE XIX . Of the Institution and Reception of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper . 1. AS the Sun among the Stars , and Man among the sublunary creatures , is the most eminent and noble , the Prince of the inferiours , and their measure , or their guide : so is this action among all the instances of Religion ; it is the most perfect and consummate , it is an union of Mysteries and a consolidation of Duties , it joyns God and Man , and confederates all the Societies of men in mutual complexions , and the entertainments of an excellent Charity ; it actually performs all that could be necessary for Man , and it presents to Man as great a thing as God could give ; for it is impossible any thing should be greater than himself . And when God gave his Son to the world , it could not be but he should give us all things else : and therefore this Blessed Sacrament is a consigning us to all Felicities , because after a mysterious and ineffable manner we receive him who is Light and Life , the fountain of Grace , and the sanctifier of our secular comforts , and the author of Holiness and Glory . But as it was at first , so it hath been ever since ; Christ came into the world , and the world knew him not : so Christ hath remained in the world by the communications of this Sacrament , and yet he is not rightly understood , and less truly valued . But Christ may say to us as once to the woman of Samaria , Woman , if thou didst know the gift of God , and who it is that speaks to thee , thou wouldst ask him : So if we were so wise , or so fortunate , to know the excellency of this Gift of the Lord , it would fill us full of wonder and adoration , joy and thankfulness , great hopes and actual felicities , making us heirs of glory by the great additions and present increment of Grace . 2. After supper Jesus took bread , and blessed it , and made it to be a heavenly gift : He gave them bread , and told them it was his body ; that Body which was broken for the redemption of Man , for the Salvation of the world . S. Paul calls it [ bread ] even after Consecration ; The Bread which we break , is it not the communication of the Body of Christ ? So that by divine Faith we are taught to express our belief of this Mystery in these words ; [ The Bread , when it is consecrated and made sacramental , is the Body of our Lord ; and the fraction and distribution of it is the communication of that Body which died for us upon the Cross. ] He that doubts of either of the parts of this Proposition must either think , Christ was not able to verifie his word , and to make bread by his benediction to become to us to be his body ; or that S. Paul did not well interpret and understand this Mystery , when he called it bread . Christ reconciles them both , calling himself the bread of life : and if we be offended at it , because it is alive , and therefore less apt to become food , we are invited to it because it is bread ; and if the Sacrament to others seem less mysterious , because it is bread , we are heightned in our Faith and reverence because it is life : The Bread of the Sacrament is the life of our Soul , and the Body of our Lord is now conveyed to us by being the Bread of the Sacrament . And if we consider how easie it is to Faith , and how impossible it seems to Curiosity , we shall be taught confidence and modesty ; a resigning our understanding to the voice of Christ and his Apostles , and yet expressing our own articles as Christ did , in indefinite significations . And possibly it may not well consist with our Duty to be inquisitive into the secrets of the Kingdom , which we see by plain event hath divided the Church almost as much as the Sacrament hath united it , and which can only serve the purposes of the School and of evil men , to make Questions for that , and Factions for these , but promote not the ends of a holy life , Obedience , or Charity . 3. Some so observe the literal sence of the words , that they understand them also in a natural : Some so alter them by metaphors and preternatural significations , that they will not understand them at all in a proper . We see it , we feel it , we taste it , and we smell it to be Bread ; and by Philosophy we are led into a belief of that substance whose accidents these are , as we are to believe that to be fire which burns and flames and shines : but Christ also affirmed concerning it , This is my Body ; and if Faith can create an assent as strong as its object is infallible , or can be as certain in its conclusion as sense is certain in its apprehensions , we must at no hand doubt but that it is Christ's Body . Let the sence of that be what it will , so that we believe those words , and ( whatsoever that sence is which Christ intended ) that we no more doubt in our Faith than we do in our Sense ; then our Faith is not reproveable . It is hard to do so much violence to our Sense , as not to think it Bread ; but it is more unsafe to do so much violence to our Faith , as not to believe it to be Christ's Body . But it would be considered , that no interest of Religion , no saying of Christ , no reverence of Opinion , no sacredness of the Mystery is disavowed , if we believe both what we hear and what we see . He that believes it to be Bread , and yet verily to be Christ's Body , is only tied also by implication to believe God's Omnipotence , that he who affirmed it can also verifie it . And they that are forward to believe the change of substance , can intend no more but that it be believed verily to be the Body of our Lord. And if they think it impossible to reconcile its being Bread with the verity of being Christ's Body , let them remember that themselves are put to more difficulties , and to admit of more Miracles , and to contradict more Sciences , and to refuse the testimony of Sense , in affirming the special manner of Transubstantiation . * And therefore it were safer to admit the words in their first sence , in which we shall no more be at war with Reason , nor so much with Sense , and not at all with Faith. And for persons of the contradictory perswasion , who to avoid the natural sence affirm it only to be figurative , since their design is only to make this Sacrament to be Christ's Body in the sence of Faith , and not of Philosophy , they may remember that its being really present does not hinder but that all that reality may be spiritual ; and if it be Christ's Body , so it be not affirmed such in a natural sence and manner , it is still only the object of Faith and spirit ; and if it be affirmed only to be spiritual , there is then no danger to Faith in admitting the words of Christ's institution , This is my Body . I suppose it to be a mistake , to think what soever is real must be natural ; and it is no less to think spiritual to be only figurative : that 's too much , and this is too little . Philosophy and Faith may well be reconciled ; and whatsoever objection can invade this union may be cured by modesty . And if we profess we understand not the manner of this Mystery , we say no more but that it is a Mystery ; and if it had been necessary we should have construed it into the most latent sence , Christ himself would have given a Clavis , and taught the Church to unlock so great a Secret. Christ said , This is my Body , this is my 〈◊〉 : S. Paul said , The bread of blessing that we break is the communication of the body of Christ , and the Chalice which we bless is the communication of the bloud of Christ ; and , We are all one body , because we eat of one bread . One proposition as well as the other is the matter of Faith , and the latter of them is also of Sense ; one is as literal as the other : and he that distinguishes in his belief , as he may place the impropriety upon which part he please , and either say it is improperly called Bread , or improperly called Christ's Body ; so he can have nothing to secure his proposition from errour , or himself from boldness , in decreeing concerning Mysteries against the testimonies of Sense , or beyond the modesty and simplicity of Christian Faith. Let us love and adore the abyss of Divine Wisdom and Goodness , and entertain the Sacrament with just and holy receptions ; and then we shall receive all those fruits of it which an earnest disputer , or a peremptory dogmatizer , whether he happen right or wrong , hath no warrant to expect upon the interest of his Opinion . 4. In the Institution of this Sacrament Christ manifested , first , his Almighty Power , secondly , his infinite Wisdome , and thirdly , his unspeakable Charity . First , his Power is manifest in making the Symbols to be the instruments of conveying himself to the spirit of the Receiver : He nourishes the Soul with Bread , and feeds the Body with a Sacrament ; he makes the Body spiritual by his Graces there ministred , and makes the Spirit to be united to his Body by a participation of the Divine nature : In the Sacrament that Body which is reigning in Heaven is exposed upon the Table of blessing ; and his Body which was broken for us is now broken again , and yet remains impassible . Every consecrated portion of bread and wine does exhibit Christ intirely to the faithful Receiver ; and yet Christ remains one , while he is wholly ministred in 10000 portions . So long as we call these mysterious , and make them intricate to exercise our Faith , and to represent the wonder of the Mystery , and to encrease our Charity ; our being inquisitive into the abyss can have no evil purposes . God hath instituted the Rite in visible Symbols , to make the secret Grace as presential and discernible as it might , that by an instrument of Sense our spirits might be accommodated as with an exteriour object to produce an internal act . But it is the prodigy of a miraculous power , by instruments so easie to produce effects so glorious . This then is the object of Wonder and Adoration . 5. Secondly , And this effect of Power does also remark the Divine Wisdome , who hath ordained such Symbols , which not only , like spittle and clay toward the curing blind eyes , proclaim an Almighty Power , but they are apposite and proper to signifie a Duty , and become to us like the Word of Life , and from Bread they turn into a Homily . For therefore our wisest Master hath appointed Bread and Wine , that we may be corporally united to him ; that as the Symbols becoming nutriment are turned into the substance of our bodies , so Christ being the food of our Souls should assimilate us , making us partakers of the Divine Nature . It also tells us , that from hence we derive life and holy motion ; for in him we live , and move , and have our being . He is the staff of our life , and the light of our eyes , and the strength of our spirit ; He is the Viand for our journey , and the antepast of Heaven . And because this holy Mystery was intended to be a Sacrament of Union , that Lesson is morally represented in the Symbols ; That as the salutary juice is expressed from many clusters running into one 〈◊〉 , and the Bread is a mass made of many grains of Wheat ; so we also ( as the Apostie infers from hence , himself observing the analogy ) should be one bread and one bodr , because we partake of that one bread . And it were to be wished that from hence also all Christians would understand a signification of another Duty , and that they would 〈◊〉 communicate , as remembring that the Soul may need a frequent ministration , as well as the Body its daily proportion . This consideration of the Divine Wisdome is apt to produce Reverence , Humility , and Submission of our understanding to the immensity of God's unsearchable abysses . 6. Thirdly , But the story of the Love of our dearest Lord is written in largest characters , who not only was at that instant busie in doing Man the greatest good , even then when man was contriving his death and his dishonour , but contrived to represent his bitter Passion to us without any circumstances of horror , in symbols of pleasure and delight ; that we may taste and see how gracious our LORD is , who would not transmit the record of his Passion to us in any thing that might trouble us . No Love can be greater than that which is so beatifical as to bestow the greatest good ; and no Love can be better expressed than that which , although it is productive of the greatest blessings , yet is curious also to observe the smallest circumstances . And not only both these , but many other circumstances and arguments of Love concur in the Holy Sacrament . 1. It is a tenderness of affection that ministers wholsome Physick with arts and instruments of pleasure : And such was the Charity of our Lord , who brings health to us in a golden Chalice ; life , not in the bitter drugs of Egypt , but in spirits and quintessences ; giving us apples of Paradise , at the same time yielding food and health and pleasure . 2. Love desires to do all good to its beloved object , and that is the greatest love which gives us the greatest blessings : And the Sacrament therefore is the argument of his greatest love ; for in it we receive the honey and the honey-comb , the Paschal Lamb with his bitter herbs , Christ with all his griefs , and his Passion with all the salutary effects of it . 3. Love desires to be remembred , and to have his object in perpetual representment : And this Sacrament Christ designed to that purpose , that he , who is not present to our eyes , might always be present to our spirits . 4. Love demands love again , and to desire to be beloved is of it self a great argument of love : And as God cannot give us a greater blessing than his Love , which is himself with an excellency of relation to us superadded ; so what greater demonstration of it can he make to us , than to desire us to love him with as much earnestness and vehemency of desire , as if we were that to him which he is essentially to us , the author of our being and our blessing ? 5. And yet to consummate this Love , and represent it to be the greatest and most excellent , the Holy Jesus hath in this Sacrament designed that we should be united in our spirits with him , incorporated to his body , partake of his Divine nature , and communicate in all his Graces ; and Love hath no expression beyond this , that it desires to be united unto its object . So that what Moses said to the men of Israel , What nation is so great , who hath God so nigh unto them , as the Lord our God is in all things for which we call upon him ? we can enlarge in the meditation of this Holy Sacrament : for now the Lord our God calls upon us , not only to be nigh unto him , but to be all one with him ; not only as he was in the Incarnation , flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone , but also to communicate in spirit , in grace , in nature , in Divinity it self . 7. Upon the strength of the premisses we may sooner take an estimate of the Graces which are conveyed to us in the reception and celebration of this Holy Sacrament and Sacrifice . For as it is a Commemoration and representment of Christ's Death , so it is a commemorative Sacrifice : as we receive the symbols and the mystery , so it is a Sacrament . In both capacities the benefit is next to infinite . First , For whatsoever Christ did at the Institution , the same he commanded the Church to do in remembrance and repeated rites ; and himself also does the same thing in Heaven for us , making perpetual Intercession for his Church , the body of his redeemed ones , by representing to his Father his death and sacrifice : there he sits a high Priest continually , and offers still the same one perfect sacrifice , that is , still represents it as having been once finished and consummate in order to perpetual and never-failing events . And this also his Ministers do on earth , they offer up the same Sacrifice to God , the sacrifice of the Cross , by prayers , and a commemorating rite and representment according to his holy Institution . And as all the effects of Grace and the titles of glory were purchased for us on the Cross , and the actual mysteries of Redemption perfected on earth , but are applied to us and made effectual to single persons and communities of men by Christ's Intercession in Heaven ; so also they are promoted by acts of Duty and Religion here on earth , that we may be workers together with God , ( as S. Paul expresses it ) and in virtue of the eternal and all-sufficient Sacrifice may offer up our prayers and our duty , and by representing that sacrifice may send up together with our prayers an instrument of their graciousness and acceptation . The Funerals of a deceased friend are not only performed at his first interring , but in the monthly minds and anniversary commemorations , and our grief returns upon the fight of a picture , or upon any instance which our dead friend desired us to preserve as his memorial : we celebrate and exhibite the Lora's death in sacrament and symbol : and this is that great express , which when the Church offers to God the Father , it obtains all those blessings which that sacrifice purchased . Themistocles snatch'd up the son of King Admetus , and held him between himself and death , to mitigate the rage of the King , and prevailed accordingly . Our very holding up the Son of God , and representing him to his Father , is the doing an act of mediation 〈◊〉 advantage to our selves in the virtue and efficacy of the Mediatour . As Christ is a Priest in Heaven for ever , and yet does not sacrifice himself afresh , nor yet without a sacrifice could he be a Priest , but by a daily ministration and intercession represents his sacrifice to God , and offers himself as sacrificed : so he does upon earth by the ministery of his servants ; he is offered to God , that is , he is by Prayers and the Sacrament represented or offered up to God as sacrificed , which , in effect , is a celebration of his death , and the applying it to the present and future necessities of the Church , as we are capable , by a ministery like to his in Heaven . It follows then , that the celebration of this Sacrifice be in its proportion * an instrument of applying the proper Sacrifice to all the purposes which it first designed ; It is ministerially and by application an instrument propitiatory , it is Eucharistical , it is an homage , and an act of adoration , and it is impetratory , and obtains for us and for the whole Church all the benefits of the sacrifice , which is now celebrated and applied ; that is , As this Rite is the remembrance and ministerial celebration of Christ's sacrifice , so it is destined to do honour to God , to express the homage and duty of his servants , to acknowledge his supreme dominion , to give him thanks and worship , to beg pardon , blessings and supply of all our needs . And its profit is enlarged not only to the persons celebrating , but to all to whom they design it , according to the nature of Sacrifices and Prayers , and all such solemn actions of Religion . 8. Secondly , If we consider this , not as the act and ministery of Ecclesiastical persons , but as the duty of the whole Church communicating , that is , as it is a 〈◊〉 , so it is like the Springs of Eden , from whence issue many Rivers , or the Trees of celestial Jerusalem , bearing various kinds of Fruit. For whatsoever was offered in the Sacrifice , is given in the Sacrament ; and whatsoever the Testament bequeaths , the holy Mysteries dispense . 1. He that 〈◊〉 my 〈◊〉 and drinketh my bloud abideth in me , and 〈◊〉 in him ; Christ in his Temple and his resting-place , and the worthy Communicant is in Sanctuary and a place of protection : and every holy Soul having feasted at his Table may say as S. Paul , * 〈◊〉 live , yet not I , but Christ liveth in me . ‖ So that to live is Christ : * Christ is our life , and he dwells in the body and the spirit of every one that eats Christ's flesh and drinks his bloud . Happy is that man that sits at the Table of Angels , that puts his hand into the dish with the King of all the Creatures , and feeds upon the eternal Son of God , joyning things below with things above , Heaven with Earth , Life with Death , that mortality might be swallowed up of life , and Sin be destroyed by the inhabitation of its greatest Conqueror . And now I need not enumerate any particulars , since the Spirit of God hath ascertained us that Christ enters into our hearts , and takes possession , and abides there ; that we are made Temples and celestial mansions ; that we are all one with our Judge , and with our Redeemer ; that our Creator is bound unto his Creature with bonds of charity which nothing can dissolve , unless our own hands break them ; that Man is united with God , and our weakness is fortified by his strength , and our miseries wrapped up in the golden leaves of glory . 2. Hence it follows that the Sacrament is an instrument of reconciling us to God , and taking off the remanent guilt , and stain , and obligations of our sins . This is the 〈◊〉 that was shed for you for the remission of sins . For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus . And such are all they who worthily eat the flesh of Christ ; by receiving him , they more and more receive remission of sins , redemption , sanctification , wisdom , and certain hopes of glory . 〈◊〉 as the Soul touching and united to the flesh of Adam contracts the stain of original misery and imperfection ; so much the 〈◊〉 shall the Soul united to the flesh of Christ receive pardon and purity , and all those blessed emanations from our union with the Second Adam . But this is not to be understood , as if the first beginnings of our pardon were in the holy Communion ; for then a man might come with his impurities along with him , and lay them on the holy Table , to stain and pollute so bright a presence . No ; first , Repentance must 〈◊〉 the ways of the Lord : and in this holy Rite those words of our Lord are verified , He that is justified , let him be justified 〈◊〉 , that is , here he may receive the increase of Grace ; and as it grows , so sin dies , and we are reconciled by nearer unions and approximations to God. 9. Thirdly , The holy Sacrament is the pledge of Glory and the earnest of Immortality ; for when we have received him who hath overcome Death , and henceforth dies no more , he becomes to us like the Tree of life in Paradise ; and the consecrated Symbols are like the seeds of an eternal duration , springing up in us to eternal life , nourishing our spirits with Grace , which is but the prologue and the infancy of Glory , and differs from it only as a Child from a Man. But God first raised up his Son to life , and by giving him to us hath also consigned us to the same state ; for our life is hid with Christ in God : When we lay down and cast aside the impurer robes of flesh , they are then but preparing for glory ; and if by the only touch of Christ bodies were redintegrate and restored to natural perfections , how shall not we live for ever who eat his flesh and drink his bloud ? It is the discourse of S. Cyril . Whatsoever the Spirit can convey to the body of the Church , we may expect 〈◊〉 this Sacrament ; for as the Spirit is the instrument of life and action , so the bloud of Christ is the conveyance of his Spirit . And let all the mysterious places of holy Scripture concerning the effects of Christ communicated in the blessed Sacrament be drawn together in one Scheme , we cannot but observe , that although they are so expressed as 〈◊〉 their meaning may seem intricate and involved , yet they cannot be drawn to any meaning at all , but it is as glorious in its sense as it is mysterious in the expression ; and the more intricate they are , the greater is their purpose ; no words being apt and proportionate to signifie this spiritual secret , and excellent effects of the Spirit . A veil is drawn before all these testimonies , because the people were not able to behold the glory which they cover with their curtain ; and Christ dwelling in us , and giving us his flesh to 〈◊〉 and his bloud to drink , and the hiding of our life with God , and the communication of the body of Christ , and Christ being our life , are such secret glories , that as the fruition of them is the portion of the other world , so also is the full perception and understanding of them : for therefore God appears to us in a cloud , and his glories in a veil , that we understanding more of it by its concealment than we can by its open face , which is too bright 〈◊〉 our weak eyes , may with more piety also entertain the greatness by these indefinite and mysterious significations , than we can by plain and direct intuitions , which like the Sun in a direct ray enlightens the object , but confounds the organ . 10. I should but in other words describe the same glories , if I should add , That this holy Sacrament does enlighten the spirit of Man , and clarifie it with spiritual discernings ; and as he was to the two Disciples at 〈◊〉 , so also to other faithful people , Christ is known in the breaking of bread ; That it is a great * defence against the hostilities of our ghostly enemies , this Holy Bread being like the Cake in 〈◊〉 's Camp , overturning the tents of 〈◊〉 ; That it is the relief of our sorrows , the antidote and preservative of Souls , the viand of our journey , the guard and passe-port of our death , the wine of Angels ; That it is more healthful than Rhubarb , more pleasant than Cassia ; That the Betele and 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 , the * Moly or Nepenthe of Pliny , the Lirinon of the 〈◊〉 , the Balsam of 〈◊〉 , the Manna of Israel , the Honey of Jonathan , are but weak expressions to tell us that this is excellent above Art and Nature , and that nothing is good enough in Philosophy to become its 〈◊〉 . All these must needs fall very short of those plain words of Christ , This is my Body . The other may become the ecstasies of Piety , the transportation of joy and wonder , and are like the discourse of S. 〈◊〉 upon mount Tabor , he was resolved to say some great thing , but he knew not what : but when we remember that the Body of our Lord and his Bloud is communicated to us in the Bread and the Chalice of blessing , we must sit down and rest our selves , for this is the mountain of the Lord , and we can go no farther . 11. In the next place it will 〈◊〉 our enquiry to consider how we are to prepare our selves : For at the gate of life a man may meet with death : and although this holy Sacrament be like Manna , in which the obedient find the relishes of Obedience , the chaste of Purity , the meek persons of Content and Humility ; yet vicious and corrupted palats find also the gust of death and Coloquintida . The Sybarites invited their women to their solemn sacrifices a full year before the solemnity , that they might by previous dispositions and a long foresight 〈◊〉 with gravity and fairer order the celebration of the rites . And it was a reasonable answer of Pericles , to one that ask'd him why he , being a Philosophical and severe person , came to a wedding trimmed and adorned like a Paranymph ; I come adorned to an adorned person , trimmed , to a Bridegroom . And we also , if we come to the marriage of the Son with the Soul , ( which marriage is celebrated in this sacred Mystery ) and have not on a wedding garment , shall be cast into outer darkness , the portion of undressed and unprepared souls . 12. For from this Sacrament are excluded all unbaptized persons , and such who lie in a known sin , of which they have not purged themselves by the apt and proper instruments of Repentance . For if the Paschal Lamb was not to be eaten but by persons pure and clean according to the sanctifications of the Law ; the Son of God can less endure the impurities of the Spirit , than God could 〈◊〉 the uncleannesses of the Law. S. Paul hath given us instruction in this : First , let a man examine himself , and so let him eat : For he that eats and drinks unworthily , eats and drinks damnation to himself , not discerning the Lord's body . That is , although in the Church of Corinth , by reason of the present Schism , the publick Discipline of the Church was neglected , and every man permitted to himself ; yet even then no man was disobliged from his duty of private Repentance , and holy preparations to the perception of so great a mystery ; that the Lord's body may be discerned from common nutriment . Now nothing can so unhallow and desecrate the rite as the remanent affection to a sin , or a crime unrepented of . And Self-examination is prescribed , not for it self , but in order to abolition of sin and death ; for it self is a relative term and an imperfect duty , whose very nature is in order to something beyond it . And this was in the Primitive Church understood to so much severity , that if a man had relapsed after one publick Repentance into a 〈◊〉 crime , he was never again readmitted to the holy Communion ; and the Fathers of the Council of 〈◊〉 call it [ a mocking and jesting at the Communion of our Lord , to give it once again after a Repentance and a relapse , and a second or third postulation . ] And indeed we use to make a sport of the greatest instruments of Religion , when we come to them after an habitual vice , whose face we have , it may be , wetted with a tear , and breathed upon it with a sigh , and abstained from the worst of crimes for two or three days , and come to the Sacrament to be purged , and to take our rise by going a little back from our sin , that afterwards we may leap into it with more violence , and enter into its utmost angle : This is dishonouring the body of our Lord , and deceiving our selves . Christ and Belial cannot cohabit ; unless we have left all our sins , and have no fondness of affection towards them , unless we hate them , ( which then we shall best know when we leave them , and with complacency entertain their contraries : ) then Christ hath washed our feet , and then he invites us to his holy Supper . Hands dipt in bloud , or polluted with unlawful gains , or stained with the spots of flesh , are most unfit to handle the holy body of our Lord , and minister nourishment to the Soul. Christ loves not to enter into the mouth full of cursings , oathes , blasphemies , revilings or evil speakings ; and a heart full of vain and vicious thoughts stinks like the lake of Sodom ; he finds no rest there , and when he enters he is vexed with the unclean conversation of the impure inhabitants , and flies from thence with the wings of a Dove , that he may retire to pure and whiter habitations . S. Justin Martyr , reckoning the predispositions required of every faithful soul for the entertainment of his Lord , says , that it is not lawful for any to eat the Eucharist , but to him that is washed in the laver of regeneration sor the remission of sins , that believes Christ's Doctrine to be true , and that lives according to the Discipline of the Holy Jesus . And therefore S. Ambrose refused to minister the holy Communion to the Emperor Theodostus , till by publick Repentance he had reconciled himself to God and the society of faithsul people , after the furious and cholerick rage and slaughter committed at Thessalonica : And as this act was like to cancellating and a circumvallation of the holy mysteries , and in that sence and so far was a proper duty sor a Prelate , to whose dispensation the rites are committed ; so it was an act of duty to the Emperor , of paternal and tender care , not of proper authority or jurisdiction , which he could not have over his Prince , but yet had a care and the supravision of a Teacher over him , whose Soul S. Ambrose had betrayed , unless he had represented his indisposition to communicate in expressions of Magisterial or Doctoral authority and truth . For this holy Sacrament is a nourishment of spiritual life , and therefore cannot with effect be ministred to them who are in the state of spiritual death ; it is giving a Cordial to a dead man ; and although the outward rite be ministred , yet the Grace of the Sacrament is not communicated , and therefore it were well that they also abstained from the rite it self . For a * fly can boast of as much priviledge as a wicked person can receive from this holy Feast ; and oftentimes pays his life sor his access to sorbidden delicacies , as certainly as they . 13. It is more generally thought by the Doctors of the Church , that our Blessed Lord administred the Sacrament to Judas , although he knew he sold him to the Jews . * Some others deny it , and suppose Judas departed presently after the sop given him , before he communicated . However it was , Christ , who was Lord of the Sacraments , might dispense it as he pleased ; but we must minister and receive it according to the rules he hath since described : but it becomes a precedent to the Church in all succeeding Ages , although it might also have in it something extraordinary and apter to the first institution ; for because the fact of Judas was secret , not yet made notorious , Christ chose rather to admit him into the rites of external Communion , than to separate him with an open shame for a fault not yet made open . For our Blessed Lord did not reveal the man and his crime till the very time of ministration , if Judas did communicate . But if Judas did not communicate , and that our Blessed Lord gave him the sop at the Paschal Supper , 〈◊〉 at the interval between it and the institution of his own , it is certain that Judas went out as soon as he was discovered , and left this part of Discipline upon record , That when a crime is made publick and notorious , the Governours of the Church , according to their power , are to deny to give the blessed Sacrament , till by Repentance such persons be restored . * In private sins , or sins not known by solemnities of Law , or evidence of fact , good and bad are entertained in publick communion ; and it is not to be accounted a crime in them that minister it , because they cannot avoid it , or have not competent authority to separate persons , whom the publick act of the Church hath not separated : but if once a publick separation be made , or that the fact is notorious , and the 〈◊〉 of Law is in such cases already declared , they that come , and he that rejects them not , both pollute the bloud of the everlasting Covenant . And here it is applicable what God spake by the Prophet , * If thou wilt separate the precious thing from the vile , thou shalt be as my mouth . But this is wholly a matter of Discipline , arbitrary , and in the power of the Church ; nothing in it of Divine commandment , but what belongs to the Communicants themselves : For S. Paul reproves them that receive disorderly , but gives no orders to the Corinthian Presbyters to reject any that present themselves . Neither did our Blessed Lord leave any Commandment concerning it , nor hath the holy Scripture given rules or measures concerning its actual reduction to practice ; neither who are to be separated , nor for what offences , nor by what authority , nor who is to be the Judge . And indeed it is a judgment that can only belong to God , who knows the secrets of hearts , the degrees of every sin , the beginnings and portions of Repentance , the sincerity of purposes , by what thoughts and designs men begin to be accepted , who are hypocrites , and who are true men . But when many and common men come to judge , they are angry upon trisling mistakes and weak disputes ; they call that Sin that angers their Party , or grieves their Interest ; they turn Charity into Pride , and Admonition into Tyranny ; they set up a tribunal that themselves may sit higher , not that their Brethren may walk more securely : And then concerning sins , in most cases , they are most incompetent 〈◊〉 ; they do not know all their kinds ; they miscall many ; they are ignorant of the ingredient and constituent parts and circumstances ; they themselves make false measures , and give out according to them , when they please ; and when they list not , they can change the balance . When the matter is publick , evident and notorious , the man is to be admonished of his danger by the Minister , but not by him to be forced from it : for the power of the Minister of holy things is but the power of a Preacher and a Counsellor , of a Physician and a Guide ; it hath in it no coercion or violence , but what is indulged to it by humane laws and by consent , which may vary as its 〈◊〉 . Add to this , that the Grace of God can begin the work of Repentance in an instant , and in what period or degree of Repentance the holy Communion is to be administred no Law of God declares ; which therefore plainly allows it to every period , and leaves no difference , except where the Discipline of the Church and the authority of the Supreme power doth intervene . For since we do not find in Scripture that the Apostles did drive from the communion of holy things even those whom they delivered over to Satan or other Censures , we are left to consider that , in the nature of the thing , those who are in the state of weakness and 〈◊〉 have more need of the solemn Prayers of the Church , and therefore , by presenting themselves to the holy Sacrament , approach towards that Ministery which is the most effectual cure ; especially since the very presenting themselves is an act of Religion , and therefore supposes an act of Repentance and Faith , and other little introductions to its fair reception : and if they may be prayed for , and prayed with , why they may not also be communicated , which is the 〈◊〉 of the greatest Prayer , is not yet clearly revealed . This discourse relates only to private Ministery : for when I affirm , that there is no command from Christ to all his Ministers to refuse whom they are pleased to call scandalous or sinners , I intend to defend good people from the tyranny and arbitrary power of those great companies of Ministers , who in so many hundred places would have a Judicature supreme in Spirituals , which would be more intolerable than if they had in one Province 20000 Judges of life and death . But when the power of separation and interdiction is only in some more eminent and authorized persons , who take publick cognizance of causes by solemnities of Law , and exercise their power but in some rare instances , and then also for the publick interest , in which although they may be 〈◊〉 , yet they are the most competent and likely Judges , much of the inconvenience which might otherwise follow is avoided : and then it only remains that they consider , in what cases it can be a competent and a proper infliction upon sinners , to take from them that which is the means and ministery of grace and recovery ; whether they have any warrant from Christ , or precedent in the Apostles practice , and how far . As for the sorms and 〈◊〉 of the Primitive Church , they were hugely different , sometimes for one cause sometimes for another . Sometimes whole Churches have been excommunicated ; sometimes the criminal and all his houshold for his offence , as it happened in the Excommunication of Andronicus and Thoas in Synesius , in the year 411 : sometimes they were absolved and restored by Lay Confessors , sometimes by Emperors , as it happened to Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nice , who were absolved by Constantine from the sentence of Excommunication inflicted by the Nicene Fathers ; and a Monk did excommunicate Theodosius the younger . So that in this there can be no certainty to make a measure and a rule . The surest way , most agreeable to the precedents of Scripture and the Analogy of the Gospel , is , that by the word of their proper ministery all sinners should be separate from the holy Communion , that is , threatned by the words of God with damnation , and fearful temporal dangers , if themselves , knowing an unrepented sin , and a remanent affection to sin to be within them , shall dare to profane that Body and Bloud of our Lord by so impure an address . The evil is to themselves , and if the Ministers declare this powerfully , they are acquitted . But concerning other judgments or separations , The Supreme power can forbid all assembling , and therefore can permit them to all , and therefore can deny them or grant them to single persons ; and therefore when he by Laws makes separations in order to publick benefit they are to be obeyed : but it is not to be endured that single Presbyters should upon vain pretences erect so high a tribunal and tyranny over Consciences . 14. The duty of Preparation , that I here discourse of , is such a Preparation as is a disposition to life : it is not a matter of convenience or advantage , to repent of our sins before the Communion , but it is of absolute necessity , we perish if we neglect it ; for we cat 〈◊〉 , and Satan enters into us , not Christ. And this Preparation is not the act of a day or a week ; but it is a new state of life : no man that is an habitual sinner must come to this Feast , till he hath wholly changed his course of life . And then , according as the actions of infirmity have made 〈◊〉 or greater invasion upon his peace and health , so are the acts of Repentance to be proportioned ; in which the greatness of the prevarications , their neighbourhood to death , or their frequent repetition , and the conduct of a Spiritual man , are to give us counsel and determination . When a ravening and hungry Wolf is destitute of prey , he 〈◊〉 the turf , and loads his stomach with the glebe he treads on ; but as soon as he finds better food , he vomits up his first load . Our secular and sensual affections are loads of earth upon the Conscience , and when we approach to the Table of the Lord to eat the bread of the elect , and to drink the wine of Angels , we must reject such impure adhesions , that holy persons , being nourished with holy Symbols , may be sanctified and receive the eternal reward of Holiness . 15. But as none must come hither but they that are in the state of Grace , or Charity , and the love of God and their Neighbours , and that the abolition of the state of sin is the necessary preparation , and is the action of years , and was not accepted as sufficient till the expiration of divers years by the Primitive Discipline , and in some cases not till the approach of Death : so there is another Preparation which is of less necessity , which supposes the state of Grace , and that oil is burning in our lamps ; but yet it is a preparation of ornament , a trimming up the Soul , a dressing the spirit with degrees and instances of Piety and progresses of perfection : and it consists in setting apart some portion of our time before the Communion , that it be spent in Prayer , in Meditations , in renewing the vows of holy Obedience , in Examining our Consciences , in Mortifying our lesser irregularities , in Devotions and actions of precise Religion , in acts of Faith , of Hope , of Charity , of Zeal and holy desires , in acts of Eucharist or Thanksgiving , of Joy at the approach of so blessed opportunity , and all the acts of Vertue whatsoever , which have indefinite relation to this and to other mysteries ; but yet are specially to be exercised upon this occasion , because this is the most perfect of external 〈◊〉 , and the most mysterious instrument of sanctification and perfection . There is no time or degree to be determined in this Preparation ; but they to whom much is forgiven will love much ; and they who 〈◊〉 the excellence and holiness of the Mystery , the glory of the Guest that comes to inhabit , and the undecency of the closet of their Hearts by reason of the adherencies of impurity , the infinite benefit then designed , and the increase of degrees by the excellence of these previous acts of Holiness , will not be too inquisitive into the necessity of circumstances and measures , but do it heartily , and devoutly , and reverently , and as much as they can , ever esteeming it necessary , that the actions of so great solemnity should by some actions of Piety attending like handmaids be distinguished from common imployments , and remarked for the principal and most solemn of religious actions . The Primitive Church gave the holy Sacrament to Infants * immediately after Baptism , and by that act transmitted this Proposition , That nothing was of absolute necessity ‖ but Innocency and purity from sin , and a being in the state of Grace ; other actions of Religion are excellent addition to the dignity of the person and honour of the mystery , but they were such of which Infants were not capable . The summ is this ; After the greatest consociation of religious duties for Preparation , no man can be sufficiently worthy to communicate : let us take care that we be not unworthy , by bringing a guilt with us , or the remanent affection to a sin . Est gloriosus sanè convictus Die ; Sed illi qui invitatur , non qui invisus est . 16. When the happy hour is come in which the Lord vouchsafes to enter into us , and dwell with us , and be united with his servants , we must then do the same acts over again with greater 〈◊〉 & intension ; confess the glories of God and thy own unworthiness , praise his mercy with ecstasie of thanksgiving and joy , make oblation of thy self , of all thy faculties and capacities , pray , and read , and meditate , and worship : And that thou mayest more opportunely do all this , rise early to meet the Bridegroom , pray for special assistance , enter into the assembly of faithful people chearfully , attend there diligently , demean thy self reverently , and before any other meat or drink receive the Body of thy Saviour with pure hands , with holy intention , with a heart full of joy , and faith , and hope , and wonder , and Eucharist . These things I therefore set down irregularly and without method , because in these actions no rule can be given to all persons ; and only such a love and such a Religion in general is to be recommended , which will over-run the banks , and not 〈◊〉 stand confined within the margent of rules and artificial prescriptions . Love and Religion are boundless , and all acts of grace relating to the present Mystery are sit and proportioned entertainments of our Lord. This only remember , that we are by the Mystery of one bread confederated into one body , and the communion of Saints , and that the 〈◊〉 , which we then commemorate was designed by our Lord for the benefit of all his Church : Let us be sure to draw all faithful people into the society of the present Blessing , joyning with the holy Man that ministers in prayers and offerings of that Mystery for the 〈◊〉 of all sorts of men , of Christ's Catholick Church . And it were also an excellent act of Christian communion , and agreeable to the practice of the Church in all Ages , to make an Oblation to God for the poor ; that as we are 〈◊〉 by Christ's body , so we also should 〈◊〉 Christ's body , making such returns as we can , a grain of Frankincense in exchange for a Province , an act of duty and Christian Charity as Eucharistical for the present Grace , that all the body may rejoyce and glory in the Salvation of the Lord. 17. After thou hast received that pledge of immortality and antepast of glory , even the Lord's Body in a mystery , leave not thy Saviour there alone , but attend him with holy thoughts and colloquies of Prayer and Eucharist . It was sometime counted infamous for a woman to entertain a second love , till the body of her dead Husband was dissolved into ashes , and disappeared in the form of a body . And it were well , that so long as the consecrated Symbols remain within us according to common estimate , we should keep the flame bright , and the perfume of an actual Devotion burning , that our Communion be not a transient act , but a permanent and lasting intercourse with our Lord. But in this every man best knows his own opportunities and necessities of diversion . I only commend earnestly to practice , that every Receiver should make a recollection of himself , and the actions of the day , that he improve it to the best advantage , that he shew unto our Lord all the defects of his house , all his poverty and weaknesses : and this let every man do by such actions and Devotions which he can best attend , and himself by the advice of a Spiritual man finds of best advantage . I would not make the practice of Religion , especially in such irregular instances , to be an art , or a burthen , or a snare to scrupulous persons : What S. Paul said in the 〈◊〉 of Charity , I say also in this ; He that sows plentifully shall reap plentifully , and he that 〈◊〉 sparingly shall gather at the same rate ; let every man do as himself purposeth in his heart . Only it were well in this Sacrament of Love we had some correspondency , and proportionable returns of Charity and religious affections . 18. Some religious persons have moved a Question , Whether it were better to communicate often or seldom : some thinking it more reverence to those holy Mysteries to come but seldom ; while others say , it is greater Religion or Charity to come frequently . But I suppose this Question does not differ much from a dispute , Whether is better to pray often , or to pray seldom ? For whatsoever is commonly pretended against a frequent Communion , may in its proportion object against a solemn Prayer ; 〈◊〉 affection to a sin , enmity with neighbours , secular avocations to the height of care and trouble : for these either are great undecencies in order to a holy Prayer ; or else are direct irregularities , and unhallow the Prayer . And the celebration of the holy Sacrament is in it self and its own formality a sacred , solemn , and ritual Prayer , in which we invocate God by the Merits of Christ , expressing that adjuration not only in words , but in actual representment and commemoration of his Passion . And if the necessities of the Church were well considered , we should find that a daily Sacrifice of Prayer and a daily Prayer of Sacrifice were no more but what her condition requires : and I would to God the Governours of Churches would take care , that the necessities of Kings and Kingdoms , of Churches and States , were represented to God by the most solemn and 〈◊〉 intercessions ; and Christ hath taught us none greater than the praying in the virtue and 〈◊〉 of his Sacrifice . And this is the counsel that the Church received from Ignatius ; Haslen frequently to approach the 〈◊〉 , the glory of God. For when this is daily celebrated , we break the powers of Satan , who turns all his actions into 〈◊〉 and darts of fire . But this concerns the Ministers of Religion , who living in Communities and Colledges must make Religion the business of their lives , and support Kingdoms , and serve the interest of Kings by the prayer of a daily sacrifice . And yet in this ministery the Clergy may serve their own necessary affairs , if the ministration be divided into courses , as it was by the oeconomy and wisdom of Solomon for the Temple . 19. But concerning the Communion of Secular and lay persons , the consideration is something different . * S. Austin gave this answer to it : To receive the Sacrament every day I neither praise nor reprove ; at least let them receive it every Lord's day . And this he spake to Husbandmen and Merchants . At the first commencement of Christianity , while the fervors Apostolical and the calentures of infant Christendom did last , the whole assembly of faithsul people communicated every day ; and this lasted in Rome and Spain until the time of S. Jerome : concerning which diligence he gives the same 〈◊〉 which I now recited from S. Austin ; for it suffered inconvenience by reason of a declining Piety , and the intervening of secular interests . But then it came to once a week ; and yet that was not every-where strictly observed . But that it be received once every fortnight S. 〈◊〉 counsels very strongly to Eustochium a holy Virgin ; Let the 〈◊〉 confess their sins twice every month , or 〈◊〉 , and being fortified with the communion of the Lord's Body , let them manfully fight against the Devil's forces and attempts . A while 〈◊〉 it came to once a month , then once a year , then it fell from that too ; till all the Christians in the West were commanded to communicate every Easter by the Decree of a * great Council above 500 years since . But the Church of England , finding that too little , hath commanded all her Children to receive thrice every year at least , intending that they should come oftner ; but of this she demands an account . For it hath fared with this Sacrament as with other actions of Religion , which have descended 〈◊〉 flames to still fires , from fires to sparks , from sparks to embers , from embers to smoke , from smoke to nothing . And although the publick 〈◊〉 of Piety is such , that in this present conjuncture of things it is impossible men should be reduced to a daily Communion ; yet that they are to communicate frequently is so a Duty , that as no excuse but impossibility can make the omission innocent , so the loss and consequent want is infinite and invaluable . 20. For the holy Communion being a remembrance and sacramental repetition of Christ's Passion , and the application of his Sacrifice to us and the whole Catholick Church ; as they who seldom communicate delight not to remember the Passion of our Lord , and sin against his very purpose , and one of the designs of institution ; so he cares not to receive the benefits of the Sacrifice who so neglects their application , and reducing them to actual profit and 〈◊〉 . Whence came the sanctimony of the primitive Christians ? whence came their strict observation of the Divine Commandments ? whence was it that they persevered in holy actions with hope and an unweary diligence ? from whence did their despising worldly things come , and living with common possession , and the distributions of an universal Charity ? Whence came these and many other excellencies , but from a constant Prayer , and a daily Eucharist ? They who every day represented the death of Christ , every day were ready to die for Christ. It was the discourse of an ancient and excellent person . And if we consider this Sacrament is intended to unite the spirits and affections of the world , and that it is diffusive and powerful to this purpose , [ for we are one body , ( saith S. Paul ) because we partake of one bread ; ] possibly we may have reason to say , that the wars of Kingdoms , the animosity of Families , the infinite multitude of Law-suits , the personal hatreds , and the 〈◊〉 want of Charity , which hath made the world miserable and wicked , may in a great degree be attributed to the neglect of this great symbol and instrument of Charity . The Chalice of the Sacrament is called by S. Paul , The cup of blessing ; and if children need every day to beg blessing of their Parents , if we also thirst not after this Cup of blessing , blessing may be far from us . It is called The communication of the bloud of Christ ; and it is not imaginable that man should love Heaven , or felicity , or his Lord , that desires not perpetually to bathe in that salutary stream , the Bloud of the Holy Jesus , the immaculate Lamb of God. 21. But I find that the religious fears of men are pretended a colour to excuse this Irreligion . Men are wicked , and not prepared , and busie , and full of cares and affairs of the world , and cannot come with due Preparation ; and therefore better not come at all : Nay , men are not ashamed to say , they are at 〈◊〉 with certain persons , and therefore cannot come . Concerning those persons who are unprepared because they are in a state of sin or uncharitableness , it is true , they must not come ; but this is so far from excusing their not coming , that they increase their sin , and secure misery to themselves , because they do not lay aside every weight , and the sin that doth so easily beset them , that they may come to the Marriage-supper . It is as if we should excuse our selves from the duties of Charity , by saying we are uncharitable ; from giving Alms , by saying we are covetous ; from Chastity , by saying we are lascivious . To such men it is just that they graze with the Goats , because they refuse to wash their hands , that they may come to the Supper of the Lamb. 2. Concerning those that pretend cares and incumbrances of the world ; If their affairs make sin and impure affections to stick upon them , they are in the first consideration : but if their office be necessary , just , or charitable , they imitate Martha , and chuse the less perfect part , when they neglect the offices of Religion for duties oeconomical . 3. But the other sort have more pretence and fairer vertue in their outside . They suppose , like the Persian Princes , the seldomer such mysterious rites are seen , the more reverence we shall have , and they the more majesty : and they are fearful lest the frequent attrectation of them should make us less to value the great earnests of our Redemption and Immortality . It is a pious consideration , but not becoming them : For it cannot be that the Sacrament be under-valued by frequent reception , without the great unworthiness of the persons , so turning God's grace into lightness and loathing Manna : nay , it cannot be without an unworthy communication ; for he that receives worthily increases in the love of God and Religion , and the fires of the Altar are apt to kindle our sparks into a slame ; and when Christ our Lord enters into us , and we grow weary of him , or less fond of his frequent entrance and perpetual cohabitation , it is an infallible sign we have let his enemy in , or are preparing for it . For this is the difference between secular and spiritual objects : Nothing in this world hath any pleasure in it long beyond the hope of it , for the possession and enjoyment is found so empty , that we grow weary of it ; but whatsoever is spiritual , and in order to God , is less before we have it , but in the fruition it swells our desires , and enlarges the appetite , and makes us more receptive and forward in the entertainment : and therefore those acts of Religion that set us forward in time , and backward in affection , do declare that we have not well done our duty , but have communicated unworthily . So that the mending of our fault will answer the objection . Communicate with more devotion , and repent with greater contrition , and walk with more caution , and pray more earnestly , and meditate diligently , and receive with reverence and godly fear ; and we shall find our affections increase together with the spiritual emolument ; ever remembring that pious and wise advice of S. Ambrose , Receive every day , that which may profit thee every day . But he that is not disposed to receive it every day , is not fit to receive it every year . 22. And if after all diligence it be still feared that a man is not well prepared , I must say that it is a scruple , that is , a trouble beyond a doubt and without reason , next to Superstition and the dreams of Religion ; and it is nourished by imagining that no duty is accepted , if it be less than perfection , and that God is busied in Heaven , not only to destroy the wicked , and to dash in pieces vessels of dishonour , but to break a bruised reed in pieces , and to cast the smoaking flax into the flames of hell . In opposition to which we must know , that nothing makes us unprepared but an evil Conscience , a state of sin , or a deadly act : but the lesser infirmities of our life , against which we daily strive , and for which we never have any kindness or affections , are not spots in these Feasts of Charity , but instruments of Humility , and stronger invitations to come to those Rites which are ordained for 〈◊〉 against infirmities of the Soul , and for the growth of the spirit in the strengths of God. For those other acts of Preparation which precede and accompany the duty , the better and more religiously they are done , they are indeed of more advantage , and honourary to the Sacrament ; yet he that comes in the state of Grace , though he takes the opportunity upon a sudden offer , sins not : and in such indefinite duties , whose degrees are not described , it is good counsel to do our best ; but it is ill to make them instruments of scruple , as if it were essentially necessary to do that in the greatest height , which is only intended for advantage and the fairer accommodation of the mystery . But these very acts , if they be esteemed necessary preparations to the Sacrament , are the greatest arguments in the world that it is best to communicate often ; because the doing of that which must suppose the exercise of so many Graces , must needs promote the interest of Religion , and dispose strongly to habitual Graces by our frequent and solemn repetition of the acts . It is necessary that every Communicant be first examined concerning the state of his Soul , by himself or his Superiour ; and that very Scrutiny is in admirable order towards the reformation of such irregularities which time and temptation , negligence and incuriousness , infirmity or malice have brought into the secret regions of our Will and Understanding . Now although this Examination be therefore enjoyned , that no man should approach to the holy Table in the state of ruine and reprobation , and that therefore it is an act not of direct Preparation , but an enquiry whether we be prepared or no ; yet this very Examination will find so many little irregularities , and so many great imperfections , that it will appear the more necessary , to repair the breaches and lesser ruines by such acts of Piety and Religion ; because every Communication is intended to be a nearer approach to God , a 〈◊〉 step in Grace , a progress towards glory , and an instrument of perfection ; and therefore upon the stock of our spiritual interests , for the purchase of a greater hope , and the advantages of a growing Charity , ought to be frequently received . I end with the words of a pious and learned person : It is a vain fear and an imprudent 〈◊〉 , that procrastinates and desers going to the Lord that calls them : they deny to go to the fire , pretending they are cold ; and refuse Physick , because they need it . The PRAYER , O Blessed and Eternal Jesus , who gavest thy self a Sacrifice for our sins , thy Body for our spiritual food , thy 〈◊〉 to nourish our spirits , and to quench the flames of Hell and Lust , who didst so love us , who were thine enemies , that thou desiredst to reconcile us to thee , and becamest all one with us , that we may live the same life , think the same thoughts , love the same love , and be partakers of thy Resurrection and Immortality ; open every window of my Soul , that I may be full of light , and may see the excellency of thy Love , the merits of thy Sacrifice , the bitterness of thy Passion , the glories and virtues of the mysterious Sacrament . Lord , let me ever hunger and thirst after this instrument of Righteousness ; let me have no gust or relish of the unsatisfying delights of things below , but let my Soul dwell in thee ; let me for ever receive thee spiritually , and very frequently communicate with thee sacramentally , and imitate thy Vertues pionsly and strictly , and dwell in the pleasures of thy house eternally . Lord , thou hast prepared a table for me , against them that trouble me : let that holy Sacrament of the Eucharist be to me a defence and shield , a nourishment and medicine , life and health , a means of sanctification and spiritual growth ; that I receiving the body of my dearest Lord may be one with his mystical body , and of the same spirit , united with indissoluble bonds of a strong Faith , and a holy Hope , and a never-failing Charity , that from this veil I may pass into the visions of eternal clarity , from eating thy Body to beholding thy face in the glories of thy everlasting Kingdom , O Blessed and Eternal Jesus . Amen . Considerations upon the Accidents happening on the Vespers of the Passion . The Prayer in the Garden . Luk : 22. 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a stones cast , & kneeled down & prayed . 42 Saying , Father , if thou be willing remove this Cup from me : nevertheless not my will but thine be done . 43 And there appeared an Angel from heaven strengthening him . Iudas betrayeth Christ : Mat : 26. 47. And while he yet spake , Lo. Iudas one of the twelue came , and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief Preists & Elders of the people . 48. Now he that be trayed him gave them a sign saying whomsoever I shall kiss , that same is he , hold him fast . 49. And forthwith he came to Iesus and said , Haile Master , and kissed him . 1. WHen Jesus had supped and sang a Hymn , and prayed , and exhorted and comforted his Disciples with a Farewell-Sermon , in which he repeated 〈◊〉 of his former Precepts which were now apposite to the present condition , and re-inforced them with proper and pertinent arguments , he went over the brook Cedron , and entred into a Garden , and into the prologue of his Passion ; chusing that place for his Agony and satisfactory pains , in which the first scene of humane misery was represented , and where he might best attend the offices of Devotion preparatory to his Death . Besides this , he therefore departed from the house , that he might give opportunity to his Enemies surprise , and yet not incommodate the good man by whose hospitality they had eaten the Paschal Lamb ; so that he went like a Lamb to the slaughter , to the Garden as to a prison , as if by an agreement with his persecutors he had expected their arrest , and stayed there to prevent their farther enquiry . For so great was his desire to pay our Ransom , that himself did assist by a forward patience and active opportunity towards the persecution : teaching us , that by an active zeal and a ready spirit we assist the designs of God's glory , though in our own sufferings and secular infelicities . 2. When he entred the Garden , he left his Disciples at the entrance of it , calling with him only Peter , James and John : he withdrew himself from the rest about a stone 's cast , and began to be exceeding heavy . He was not sad till he had called them , ( for his sorrow began when he pleased : ) which sorrow he also chose to represent to those three who had seen his Transfiguration , the earnest of his future Glory , that they might see of how great glory for our sakes he disrobed himself ; and that they also might by the confronting those contradictory accidents observe , that God uses to dispense his comforts , the irradiations and emissions of his glory , to be preparatives to those sorrows with which our life must be allayed and seasoned ; that none should refuse to partake of the sufferings of Christ , if either they have already felt his comforts , or hope hereafter to wear his crown . And it is not ill observed , that S. Peter , being the chief of the Apostles and Doctor of the Circumcision , S. John , being a Virgin , and S. James the first of the Apostles that was martyred , were admitted to Christ's greatest retirements and mysterious secrecies , as being persons of so singular and eminent dispositions , to whom , according to the pious opinion of the Church , especially Coronets are prepared in Heaven , besides the great Crown of rightcousness , which in common shall beautifie the heads of all the Saints ; meaning this , that Doctors , Virgins and Martyrs shall receive , even for their very state of life and accidental Graces , more eminent degrees of accidental Glory , like as the Sun , reflecting upon a limpid fountain , receives its rays doubled , without any increment of its proper and natural light . 3. Jesus began to be exceeding sorrowful , to be sore amazed and sad even to death . And because he was now to suffer the pains of our sins , there began his Passion whence our sins spring . From an evil heart and a prevaricating spirit all our sins arise ; and in the spirit of Christ began his sorrow , where he truly felt the full value and demerit of Sin , which we think not worthy of a tear or a hearty sigh , but he groaned and fell under the burthen . But therefore he took upon him this sadness , that our imperfect sorrow and contrition might be heightned in his example , and accepted in its union and consederacy with his . And Jesus still designed a farther mercy for us ; for he sanctified the passion of Fear , and hallowed natural sadnesses , that we might not think the infelicities of our nature and the calamities of our temporal condition to become criminal , so long as they make us not omit a duty , or dispose us to the election of a crime , or force us to swallow a temptation , nor yet to exceed the value of their impulsive cause . He that grieves for the loss of friends , and yet had rather lose all the friends he hath than lose the love of God , hath the sorrow of our Lord for his precedent . And he that fears death , and trembles at its approximation , and yet had rather die again than sin once , hath not sinned in his fear ; Christ hath hallowed it , and the necessitous condition of his nature is his excuse . But it were highly to be wished , that in the midst of our caresses and levities of society , in our festivities and triumphal merriments , when we laugh at folly and rejoyce in sin , we would remember that for those very merriments our Blessed Lord felt a bitter sorrow ; and not one vain and sinful laughter ; but cost the Holy Jesus a sharp pang and throe of Passion . 4. Now that the Holy Jesus began to taste the bitter Cup , he betook him to his great Antidote , which himself , the great Physician of our Souls , prescribed to all the world to cure their calamities , and to make them pass from miseries into vertue , that so they may arrive at glory ; he prays to his heavenly Father , he kneels down , and not only so , but falls flat upon the earth , and would in humility and fervent adoration have descended low as the centre ; he prays with an intension great as his sorrow , and yet with a dereliction so great , and a conformity to the Divine will so ready , as if it had been the most indifferent thing in the world for him to be delivered to death , or from it : for though his nature did decline death , as that which hath a natural horrour and contradiction to the present interest of its preservation ; yet when he looked upon it as his heavenly Father had put it into the order of Redemption of the World , it was that Baptism which he was straitned till he had accomplished . And now there is not in the world any condition of prayer which is essential to the duty , or any circumstances of advantage to its performance , but were concentred in this one instance ; Humility of spirit , lowliness of deportment , importunity of desire , a fervent spirit , a lawful matter , resignation to the will of God , great love , the love of a Son to his Father , ( which appellative was the form of his address ) perseverance , ( he went thrice , and prayed the same prayer . ) It was not long , and it was so retired as to have the advantages of a sufficient solitude and opportune recollection ; for he was withdrawn from the most of his Disciples : and yet not so alone as to lose the benefit of communion ; for Peter and the two Boanerges were near him . Christ in this prayer , which was the most fervent that he ever made on earth , intending to transmit to all the world a precedent of Devotion to be transcribed and imitated ; that we should cast all our cares , and empty them in the bosom of God , being content to receive such a portion of our trouble back again , which he assigns us for our spiritual emolument . 5. The Holy Jesus having in a few words poured out torrents of innocent desires , was pleased still to interrupt his Prayer , that he might visit his charge , that little flock which was presently after to be scattered : he was careful of them in the midst of his Agonies ; they in his sufferings were fast asleep . He awakens them , gives them command to watch and pray , that is to be vigilant in the custody of their senses , and obervant of all accidents , and to pray that they may be strengthened against all incursions of enemies and temptations ; and then returns to prayer ; and so a third time ; his Devotion still encreasing with his sorrow . And when his Prayer was full , and his sorrow come to a great measure , after the third , God sent his Angel to comfort him ; and by that act of grace then only expressed , hath taught us to continue our Devotions so long as our needs last . It may be God will not send a Comsorter till the third time , that is , after a long expectation , and a patient 〈◊〉 , and a lasting hope : in the interim God supports us with a secret hand , and in his own time will refresh the spirit with the visitations of his Angels , with the emissions of comfort from the Spirit , the Comforter . And know this also , that the holy Angel , and the Lord of all the Angels , stands by every holy person when he prays ; and although he draws before his glories the curtain of a cloud , yet in every instant he takes care we shall not perish , and in a just season dissolves the cloud , and makes it to distill in holy dew , and drops sweet as Manna , pleasant as Nard , and wholsome as the breath of Heaven . And such was the consolation which the Holy Jesus received by the ministery of the Angel , representing to Christ the Lord of the Angels , how necessary it was that he should die for the glory of God ; that in his Passion his Justice , Wisdom , Goodness , Power and Mercy should shine ; that unless he died all the World should perish , but his bloud should obtain their pardon ; and that it should open the gates of Heaven , repair the ruine of Angels , establish a holy Church , be 〈◊〉 of innumerable adoptive children to his Father , whom himself should make heirs of glory ; and that his Passion should soon pass away , his Father hearing and granting his Prayer , that the Cup should pass speedily , though indeed it should pass through him ; that it should be attended and followed with a glorious Resurrection , with eternal rest and glory of his Humanity , with the exaltation of his Name , with a supreme dominion over all the world , and that his Father should make him King of Kings , and Prince of the Catholick Church . These , or whatsoever other comforts the Angel ministred , were such considerations which the Holy Jesus knew , and the Angel knew not but by communication from that God to whose assumed Humanity the Angel spake ; yet he was pleased to receive comfort from his servant , just as God receives glory from his creatures , and as he rejoyces in his own works , even because he is good and gracious , and is pleased so to do ; and because himself had caused a voluntary sadness to be interposed between the habitual knowledge and the actual consideration of these discourses ; and we feel a pleasure when a friendly hand lays upon our wound the plaister which our selves have made , and applies such instruments and considerations of comfort which we have in notion and an ineffective habit , but cannot reduce them to act , because no man is so apt to be his own comforter ; which God hath therefore permitted , that our needs should be the occasion of a mutual Charity . 6. It was a great season for the Angel's coming , because it was a great necessity which was incumbent upon our Lord ; for his sadness and his Agony was so great , mingled and compounded of sorrow and zeal , fear and desire , innocent nature and perfect grace , that he sweat drops as great as if the bloud had started through little undiscerned fontinels , and outrun the streams and rivers of his Cross. * Euthymius and ‖ Theophylact say , that the Evangelists use this as a tragical expression of the greatest Agony , and an unusual sweat , it being usual to call the tears of the greatest sorrow tears of 〈◊〉 . But from the beginning of the Church it hath been more generally apprehended literally , and that some bloud mingled with the 〈◊〉 substance issued from his veins in so great abundance , that they moistened the ground , and bedecked his garment , which stood like a new firmament studded with stars , portending an approaching storm . Now he came from Bozrah with his garments red and bloudy . And this Agony verified concerning the Holy Jesus those words of David , I am poured out like water , my bones are dispersed , my heart in the midst of my body is like melting wax , saith Justin Martyr . * Venerable Bede saith , that the descending of these drops of bloud upon the earth , besides the general purpose , had also a particular relation to the present infirmities of the Apostles , that our Blessed Lord obtained of his Father , by the merits of those holy drops , mercies and special support for them ; and that effusion redeemed them from the present participation of death . And S. Austin meditates , that the Body of our Lord all overspread with drops of bloudy sweat did prefigure the future state of Martyrs , and that his Body mystical should be clad in a red garment variegated with the symbols of labour and passion , sweat and bloud ; by which himself was pleased to purifie his Church , and present her to God holy and spotless . What collateral designs and tacite significations might be designed by this mysterious sweat , I know not ; certainly it was a sad beginning of a most dolorous Passion : and such griefs , which have so violent , permanent and sudden effects upon the body , which is not of a nature symbolical to interiour and immaterial causes , are proclaimed by such marks to be high and violent . We have read of some persons , that the grief and fear of one night hath put a cover of snow upon their heads , as if the labours of thirty years had been extracted , and the quintessence drank off in the passion of that night : but if Nature had been capable of a greater or more prodigious impress of passion than a bloudy sweat , it must needs have happened in this Agony of the Holy Jesus , in which he undertook a grief great enough to make up the imperfect Contrition of all the Saints , and to satisfie for the impenitencies of all the world . 7. By this time the Traitor Judas was arrived at Gethsemani , and being in the vicinage of the Garden , Jesus rises from his prayers , and first calls his Disciples from their sleep , and by an Irony seems to give them leave to sleep on , but reproves their drousiness , when danger is so near , and bids them henceforth take their rest ; meaning , if they could for danger , which now was indeed come to the Garden-doors . But the Holy Jesus , that it might appear he undertook the Passion with choice and a free election , not only refused to flie , but called his Apostles to rise , that they might meet his Murtherers , who came to him with swords and staves , as if they were to surprise a Prince of armed Out-laws , whom without force they could not reduce . So also might Butchers do well to go armed , when they are pleased to be afraid of Lambs , by calling them Lions . Judas only discovered his Master's retirements , and betrayed him to the opportunities of an armed band ; for he could not accuse his Master of any word or private action , that might render him obnoxious to suspicion or the Law. For such are the rewards of innocence and prudence , that the one secures against sin , the other against suspicion and appearances . 8. The Holy Jesus had accustomed to receive every of his Disciples after absence with entertainment of a Kiss , which was the endearment of persons , and the expression of the oriental civility : and Judas was confident that his Lord would not reject him , whose feet he had washed at the time when he foretold this event , and therefore had agreed to signifie him by this * sign ; and did so , beginning war with a Kiss , and breaking the peace of his Lord by the symbol of kindness : which because Jesus entertained with much evenness and charitable expressions , calling him ‖ Friend , he gave evidence , that if he retained civilities to his greatest enemies in the very acts of hostility , he hath banquets and crowns and scepters for his friends , that adore him with the kisses of Charity , and love him with the sincerity of an affectionate spirit . But our Blessed Lord , besides his essential sweetness and serenity of spirit , understood well how great benefits himself and all the World were to receive by occasion of that act of Judas : and our greatest enemy does by accident to holy persons the offices of their dearest friends ; telling us our faults without a cloak to cover their deformities , but out of malice laying open the circumstances of aggravation , doing us affronts , from whence we have an instrument of our Patience , and restraining us from scandalous crimes , lest we become a scorn and reproof to them that 〈◊〉 us . And it is none of God's least mercies , that he permits enmities amongst men , that animosities and peevishness may reprove more sharply , and correct with more severity and simplicity , than the gentle hand of friends , who are apter to bind our wounds up , than to discover them and make them smart ; but they are to us an excellent probation how friends may best do the offices of friends , if they would take the plainness of enemies in accusing , and still mingle it with the tenderness and good affections of friends . But our Blessed Lord called Judas Friend , as being the instrument of bringing him to glory , and all the World to pardon , if they would . 9. Jesus himself begins the enquiry , and leads them into their errand , and tells them he was JESUS of Nazareth whom they sought . But this also , which was an answer so gentle , had in it a strength greater than the Eastern wind or the voice of thunder ; for God was in that still voice , and it * struck them down to the ground . And yet they , and so do we still persist to persecute our Lord , and to provoke the eternal God , who can with the breath of his mouth , with a word , or a sign , or a thought , reduce us into nothing , or into a worse condition , even an eternal duration of torments , and cohabitation with a never-ending misery . And if we cannot bear a soft answer of the merciful God , how shall we dare to provoke the wrath of the Almighty Judge ? But in this instance there was a rare mixture of effects , as there was in Christ of Natures ; the voice of a Man , and the power of God. For it is observed by the Doctors of the Primitive Ages , that from the Nativity of our Lord to the day of his Death , the Divinity and Humanity did so communicate in effects , that no great action passed , but it was like the Sun shining through a cloud , or a beauty with a thin veil drawn over it , they gave illustration and testimony to each other . The Holy Jesus was born a tender and a crying Infant ; but is adored by the Magi as a King , by the Angels as their GOD. He is circumcised as a Man ; but a name is given him to signifie him to be the SAVIOUR of the World. He flies into Egypt like a distressed Child under the conduct of his helpless Parents ; but as soon as he enters the Country , the Idols fall down and confess his true Divinity . He is presented in the Temple as the Son of man ; but by Simeon and Anna he is celebrated with divine praises for the MESSIAS , the SON OF GOD. He is baptized in Jordan as a Sinner ; but the Holy Ghost descending upon him proclaimed him to be the well-beloved of God. He is hungry in the Desart as a Man ; but sustained his body without meat and drink for forty days together by the power of his Divinity : There he is tempted of Satan as a weak Man , and the Angels of light minister unto him as their supreme Lord. And now a little before his death , when he was to take upon him all the affronts , miseries and exinanitions of the most miserable , he receives testimonies from above , which are most wonderful : For he was tranfigured upon Mount Tabor , entred triumphantly into Jerusalem , had the acclamations of the people : when he was dying , he darkned the Sun ; when he was dead , he opened the sepulchres ; when he was fast nailed to the Cross , he made the earth to tremble ; now when he suffers himself to be apprehended by a guard of Souldiers , he strikes them all to the ground only by replying to their answer , that the words of the Prophet might be verified , Therefore my people shall know my Name ; therefore they shall know in that day , that I am he that doth speak , behold it is I. 10. The Souldiers and servants of the Jews having recovered from their fall , and risen by the permission of Jesus , still persisted in their enquiry after him , who was present , ready , and desirous to be sacrificed . He therefore permitted himself to be taken , but not his Disciples : for he it was that set them their bounds ; and he secured his Apostles to be witnesses of his suffering and his glories ; and this work was the Redemption of the world , * in which no man could have an active share , he alone was to tread the wine-press ; and time enough they should be called to a fellowship of sufferings . But Jesus went to them , and they bound him with cords : and so began our liberty and redemption from slavery , and sin , and cursings , and death . But he was bound faster by bands of his own ; his Father's Will , and Mercy , Pity of the world , Prophecies , and ‖ Mysteries , and Love held him fast : and these cords were as strong as death ; and the cords which the Souldiers malice put upon his holy hands were but symbols and figures , his own compassion and affection were the morals . But yet he undertook this short restraint and condition of a prisoner , that all sorts of persecution and exteriour calamities might be hallowed by his susception , and these pungent sorrows should like bees sting him , and leave their sting behind , that all the sweetness should remain for us . Some melancholick Devotions have from uncertain stories added sad circumstances of the first violence done to our Lord ; That they bound him with three cords , and that with so much violence , that they caused bloud to start from his tender hands ; That they 〈◊〉 then also upon him with a violence and incivility like that which their Fathers had used towards Hur the brother of Aaron , whom they choaked with impure spittings into his throat , because he refused to consent to the making a golden Calf . These particulars are not transmitted by certain Records . Certain it is , they wanted no malice , and now no power ; for the Lord had given himself into their hands . 11. S. Peter seeing his Master thus ill used asked , Master , shall we strike with the sword ? and before he had his answer cut off the ear of Malchus . Two swords there were in Christ's family , and S. Peter bore one ; either because he was to kill the Paschal Lamb , or , according to the custom of the Country , to secure them against beasts of prey , which in that region were frequent , and dangerous in the night . But now he used it in an unlawful war ; he had no competent authority , it was against the Ministers of his lawful Prince , and against our Prince we must not draw a sword for Christ himself , himself having forbidden us ; as his kingdom is not of this world , so neither were his defences secular : he could have called for many legions of Angels for his guard , if he had so pleased ; and we read that one Angel slew 185000 armed men in one night ; and therefore it was a vast power which was at the command of our Lord ; and he needs not such low auxiliaries as an army of Rebels , or a navy of Pirates , to 〈◊〉 his cause : he first lays the foundation of our happiness in his sufferings , and hath ever since supported Religion by patience and suffering , and in poverty , and all the circumstances and conjunctures of improbable causes . Fighting for Religion is certain to destroy Charity , but not certain to support Faith. S. Peter therefore may use his keys , but he is commanded to put up his sword ; and he did so ; and presently he and all his fellows fairly ran away : and yet that course was much the more Christian , for though it had in it much infirmity , yet it had no malice . In the mean time the Lord was pleased to touch the ear of Malchus , and he cured it ; adding to the first instance of power , in throwing them to the ground , an act of miraculous mercy , curing the wounds of an enemy made by a friend . But neither did this pierce their callous and obdurate spirits ; but they led him in uncouth ways , and through the brook Cedron , in which it is said the ruder souldiers plunged him , and passed upon him all the affronts and rudenesses which an insolent and cruel multitude could think of , to signifie their contempt and their rage . And such is the nature of evil men , who , when they are not softned by the instruments and arguments of Grace , are much hardned by them ; such being the purpose of God , that either Grace shall cure sin , or accidentally increase it ; that it shall either pardon it , or bring it to greater punishment : for so I have seen healthful medicines abused by the incapacities of a heathless body become fuel to a fever , and increase the distemperature from indisposition to a sharp disease , and from thence to the margent of the grave . But it was otherwise in Saul , whom Jesus threw to the ground with a more angry sound than these persecutors : but Saul rose a Saint , and they persisted Devils , and the grace of God distinguished the events . The PRAYER . O Holy Jesus , make me by thy example to conform to the will of that Eternal God who is our Father , merciful and gracious , that I may chuse all those accidents which his Providence hath actually disposed to me , that I may know no desires but his commands , and his will , and that in all afflictions I may fly thither for mercy , pardon , and support , and may wait for deliverance in such times and manners which the Father hath reserved in his own power , and graciously dispenses according to his infinite wisdom and compassion . Holy Jesus , give me the gift and spirit of Prayer , and do thou by thy gracious intercession supply my ignorances and passionate desires and imperfect choices , procuring and giving to me such returns of favour which may support my needs , and serve the ends of Religion and the Spirit , which thy wisdom chuses , and thy Passion hath purchased , and thy grace loves to bestow upon all thy Saints and servants . Amen . II. ETernal God , sweetest Jesu , who didst receive Judas with the affection of a Saviour , and sufferedst him to kiss thy cheek , with the serenity and tranquillity of God , and didst permit the souldiers to bind thee , with Patience exemplary to all ages of Martyrs , and didst cure the wound of thy enemy with the Charity of a Parent , and the tenderness of an infinite pity ; O kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth , embrace me with the entertainments of a gracious Lord , and let my Soul dwell and feast in thee , who art the repository of eternal sweetness and refreshments . Bind me , O Lord , with those bands which tied thee fast , the chains of Love ; that such holy union may dissolve the cords of vanity , and confine the bold pretensions of usurping Passions , and imprison all extravagancies of an impertinent spirit , and lead Sin captive to the dominion of Grace and sanctified Reason ; that I also may imitate all the parts of thy holy Passion , and may by thy bands get my liberty , by thy kiss enkindle charity , by the touch of thy hand and the breath of thy mouth have all my wounds cured and restored to the integrity of a holy Penitent , and the purities of Innocence , that I may love thee , and please thee , and live with thee for ever , O Holy and sweetest Jesu . Amen . Considerations upon the Scourging and other Accidents happening from the Apprehension till the Crucifixion of JESUS . Christ brought before the Highpreist . Iohn . 18 : 12. Then the Band and the Captain and the Officers of the Iews took Iesus and bound him . 25. And lead him away to Annas first for he was Father-in-law to Cajaphas , which was Highpreist that same yeare . Christ arraigned before Herod . Luk. 23. 7. 8. 11. And assoone as he knew that he belonged to Herods jurisdiction , he sent him to Herod . 8. And when Herod saw Iesus , he was exceeding glad : 11. And Herod with his men of war set him at nought , and mocked him , and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe , and sent him againe to Pilate . 1. THE house of Annas stood in the mount Sion , and in the way to the house of Caiaphas ; and thither he was led as to the first stage of their triumph for their surprise of a person so feared and desired ; and there a naughty person smote the 〈◊〉 Jesus upon the face , for saying to Annas that he had made his Doctrine publick , and that all the people were able to give account of it : to whom the Lamb of God 〈◊〉 as much meekness and patience in his answer , as in his answer to Annas he had 〈◊〉 prudence and modesty . For now that they had taken Jesus , they wanted a crime to object against him , and therefore were desirous to snatch occasion from his discourses , to which they resolved to tempt him by questions and affronts : but his answer was general and indefinite , safe and true , enough to acquit his Doctrine from suspicions of secret designs , and yet secure against their present snares ; for now himself , who always had the innocence of Doves , was to joyn with it the prudence and wariness of Serpents ; not to prevent death , ( for that he was resolved to suffer ) but that they might be destitute of all apparence of a just cause on his part . Here it was that Judas received his money ; and here that holy Face which was designed to be that object in the beholding of which much of the celestial glory doth consist , that Face which the Angels stare upon with wonder , like infants at a bright Sun-beam , was smitten extrajudicially by an incompetent person , with circumstances of despight , in the presence of a Judge , in a full assembly , and none reproved the insolency and the cruelty of the affront : for they resolved to use him as they use Wolves and Tigres , with all things that may be destructive , violent and impious : and in this the injury was heightned , because the blow was said to be given by Malchus an Idumaean slave , and therefore a contemptible person ; but far more unworthy by his ingratitude , for so he repayed the Holy Jesus for working a Miracle and healing his ear . But so the Scripture was fulfilled ; He shall give his body to the smiters , and his cheeks to the nippers , saith the Prophet Isay ; and , They shall smite the cheek of the Judge of Israel , saith Micah . And this very circumstance of the Passion Lactantius . * affirms to have been foretold by the Erythraean Sibyll . But no meekness or indifferency could engage our Lord not to protest his innocency : and though following his steps we must walk in the regions of patience , and tranquillity , and admirable toleration of injuries ; yet we may represent such defences of our selves , which by not resisting the sentence may testifie that our suffering is undeserved : and if our Innocency will not preserve our lives , it will advance our title to a better ; and every good cause ill judged shall be brought to another tribunal to receive a just and unerring sentence . 2. Annas having suffered this unworthy usage towards a person so excellent , sent him away to Caiphas , who had formerly in a full council resolved he should die ; yet now palliating the design with the scheme of a tribunal , they seek out for witnesses , and the witnesses are to seek for allegations ; and when they find them , they are to seek for proof , and those proofs were to seek for unity and consent , and nothing was ready for their purposes ; but they were forced to use the semblance of a judicial process , that , because they were to make use of Pilate's authority to put him to death , they might perswade Pilate to accept of their examination and conviction without farther enquiry . But such had been the excellency and exemplar Piety and prudence of the life of Jesus , that if they pretended against him questions of their Law , they were not capital in a Roman Court : if they affirmed that he had moved the people to sedition and affected the Kingdom , they saw that all the world would convince them of 〈◊〉 testimony . At last , after many attempts , they accused him for a figurative speech , a trope which they could not understand ; which if it had been spoken in a literal sence , and had been acted too according to the letter , had been so far from a fault , that it would have been a prodigy of power ; and it had been easier to raise the Temple of Jerusalem , than to raise the temple of his Body . In the mean time , the Lamb of God left his cause to defend it self under the protection of his heavenly Father ; not only because himself was determined to die , but because if he had not , those premisses could never have inferred it . But this Silence of the Holy Jesus fulfilled a Prophecy , it made his enemies full of murmur and amazement , it made them to see that he despised the accusations as certain and apparent calumnies ; but that himself was fearless of the issue , and in the sence of morality and mysteries taught us not to be too apt to excuse our selves , when the semblance of a fault lies upon us , unless by some other duty we are obliged to our defences ; since he who was most innocent , was most silent : and it was expedient , that as the first Adam increased his sin by a vain apology , the silence and sufferance of the second Adam should expiate and reconcile it . 3. But Caiaphas had a reserve , which he knew should do the business in that assembly ; he adjured him by God to tell him if he were the CHRIST . The Holy Jesus , being adjured by so sacred a Name , would not now refuse an answer , lest it might not consist with that honour which is due to it , and which he always payed , and that he might neither despise the authority of the High Priest , nor upon so solemn occasion be wanting to that great truth which he came down to earth to perswade to the world . And when three such circumstances concur , it is enough to open our mouths , though we let in death . And so did our Lord , confessed himself to be the CHRIST , the Son of the living God. And this the High Priest was pleased , as the design was laid , to call Blasphemy ; and there they voted him to die . Then it was the High Priest rent his cloaths ; the veil of the Temple was rent when the Passion was finished , the cloaths of the Priests at the beginning of it : and as that signified the departing of the Synagogue , and laying Religion open ; so did the rending the garments of Caiaphas prophetically signifie that the Priesthood should be rent from him , and from the Nation . And thus the personated and theatrical admiration at Jesus became the type of his own punishment , and consigned the Nation to delition : and usually God so dispenses his Judgments , that when men personate the tragedies of others , they really act their own . 4. Whilest these things were acting concerning the Lord , a sad accident happened to his servant Peter : for being engaged in strange and evil company in the midst of danger , surprised with a question without time to deliberate an answer , to find subterfuges , or to fortifie himself , he denied his Lord shamefully , with some boldness at first , and this grew to a licencious confidence , and then to impudence , and denying with perjury , that he knew not his Lord , who yet was known to him as his own heart , and was dearer than his eyes , and for whom he professed but a little before he would die ; but did not do so till many years after . But thus he became to us a sad example of humane infirmity ; and if the Prince of the Apostles fell so 〈◊〉 , it is full of pity , but not to be upbraided , if we see the fall of lesser stars . And yet that we may prevent so great a ruine , we must not mingle with such company who will provoke or scorn us into sin ; and if we do , yet we must stand upon our guard that a sudden motion do not surprise us : or if we be arrested , yet let us not enter farther into our sin , like wild beasts intricating themselves by their impatience . For there are some who , being ashamed and impatient to have been engaged , take sanctuary in boldness and a shameless abetting it , so running into the darkness of Hell to hide their nakedness . But he also by returning , and rising instantly , became to us a rare example of Penitence ; and his not lying long in the crime did facilitate this restitution . For the spirit of God being extinguished by our works of darkness , is like a taper , which if , as soon as the 〈◊〉 is blown out , it be brought to the fire , it sucks light , and without trouble is re-enkindled ; but if it cools into death and stiffness , it requires a longer stay and trouble . The Holy Jesus in the midst of his own sufferings forgat not his servant's danger , but was pleased to look upon him when the Cock crew ; and the Cock was the Preacher , and the Look of Jesus was the Grace that made the Sermon effectual : and because he was but newly fallen , and his habitual love of his Master , though interrupted , yet had suffered no natural abatement , he returned with the swiftness of an Eagle to the embraces and primitive affections of his Lord. 5. By this time suppose Sentence given , Caiaphas prejudging all the Sanhedrim ; for he first declared Jesus to have spoken Blasphemy , and the fact to be notorious , and then asked their votes ; which whoso then should have denied , must have contested the judgment of the High Priest , who by the favour of the Romans was advanced , ( Valerius Gratus , who was President of Judaea , having been his Patron ) and his Faction potent , and his malice great , and his heart set upon this business : all which inconveniences none of them durst have suffered , unless he had had the confidence greater than of an Apostle at that time . But this Sentence was but like strong dispositions to an enraged fever ; he was only declared apt and worthy for death , they had no power at that time to inflict it ; but yet they let loose all the fury of mad-men and insolency of wounded smarting souldiers : and although from the time of his being in the house of Annas till the Council met , they had used him with studied indignities ; yet now they renewed and doubled the unmercifulness , and their injustice , to so great a height , that their injuries must needs have been greater than his Patience , if his Patience had been less than infinite . For thus Man's Redemption grows up as the load swells which the Holy Jesus bare for us ; for these were our portion , and we , having turned the flowers of Paradise into thistles , should for ever have felt their infelicity , had not Jesus paid the debt . But he bearing them upon his tender body with an even and excellent and dispassionate spirit , offered up these beginnings of sufferings to his Father , to obtain pardon even for them that injured him , and for all the World. 6. Judas now seeing that this matter went farther than he intended it , repented of his fact . For although evil persons are in the progress of their iniquity invited on by new arguments , and supported by confidence and a careless spirit : yet when iniquity is come to the height , or so great a proportion that it is apt to produce Despair or an intolerable condition , then the Devil suffers the Conscience to thaw and grow tender ; but it is the tenderness of a Bile , it is soreness rather and a new disease ; and either it comes when the time of Repentance is past , or leads to some act which shall make the pardon to be impossible : and so it happened here . For Judas , either impatient of the shame or of the sting , was thrust on to despair of pardon , with a violence as hasty and as great as were his needs . And Despair is very often used like the bolts and bars of Hell-gates , it 〈◊〉 upon them that had entred into the suburbs of eternal death by an habitual sin , and it secures them against all retreat . And the Devil is forward enough to bring a man to Repentance , provided it be too late ; and Esau wept bitterly and repented him , and the five foolish Virgins lift up their voice aloud when the gates were shut , and in Hell men shall repent to all eternity . But I consider the very great folly and infelicity of Judas : it was at midnight he received his money in the house of Annas , betimes in that morning he repented his bargain ; he threw the money back again , but his sin stuck close , and it is thought to a 〈◊〉 eternity . Such is the purchace of Treason and the reward of Covetousness ; it is cheap in its offers , momentany in its possession , unsatisfying in the fruition , uncertain in the stay , sudden in its 〈◊〉 , horrid in the remembrance , and a ruine , a certain and miserable ruine is in the event . When Judas came in that sad condition , and told his miserable story to them that set him on work , they 〈◊〉 him go away unpitied ; he had served their ends in betraying his Lord , and those that hire such servants use to leave them in the disaster , to shame and to sorrow : and so did the Priests , but took the money , and 〈◊〉 to put it into the treasury , because it was the price of bloud ; but they made no scruple to take it from the treasury to buy that bloud . Any thing seems lawful that serves the ends of ambitious and bloudy persons , and then they are scrupulous in their cases of Conscience when nothing of Interest does intervene : for evil men make Religion the servant of Interest ; and sometimes weak men think that it is the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Religion , and suspect that all of it is a design , because many great Politicks make it so . The end of the Tragedy was , that Judas died with an ignoble death , marked with the circumstances of a horrid Judgment , and perished by the most infamous hands in the world , that is , by his own . Which if it be confronted against the excellent spirit of S. Peter , who did an act as contradictory to his honour and the grace of God as could be easily imagined ; yet taking sanctuary in the arms of his Lord , he lodged in his heart for ever , and became an example to all the world of the excellency of the Divine Mercy , and the efficacy of a holy Hope , and a hearty , timely and an operative Repentance . 7. 〈◊〉 now all things were ready for the purpose , the High Priest and all his Council go along with the Holy Jesus to the house of Pilate , hoping he would verifie their Sentence , and bring it to execution , that they might 〈◊〉 be rid of their fears , and enjoy their sin and their reputation quietly . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that the High Priest caused the Holy Jesus to be led with a cord about his neck , and , in memory of that , the Priests for many Ages 〈◊〉 a stole about theirs . But the Jews did it according to the custom of the Nation , to signifie he was condemned to death : they desired Pilate that he would crucifie him , they having 〈◊〉 him worthy . And when Pilate enquired into the particulars , they gave him a general and an indefinite answer ; If he were not guilty , we would not have brought him 〈◊〉 thee : they intended not to make Pilate Judge of the cause , but 〈◊〉 of their cruelty . But Pilate had not learned to be guided by an implicite faith of such persons , which he knew to be malicious and violent ; and therefore still called for instances and arguments of their Accusation . And that all the world might see with how great unworthiness they prosecuted the 〈◊〉 , they chiefly there accused him of such crimes upon which themselves condemned him not , and which they knew to be false , but yet likely to move Pilate , if he had been passionate or inconsiderate in his sentences ; [ He offered to make himself a King. ] This 〈◊〉 happened at the entry of the Praetorium ; for the 〈◊〉 , who made no conscience of killing the King of Heaven , made a conscience of the external customs and ceremonies of their Law , which had in them no interiour sanctity , which were apt to separate them 〈◊〉 the Nations , and remark them with characters of Religion and abstraction : it would defile them to go to a Roman Forum , 〈◊〉 a capital action was to be judged ; and yet the effusion of the best bloud in the world was not esteemed against their 〈◊〉 : so violent and blind is the spirit of malice , which turns humanity into 〈◊〉 , wisdom into craft , diligence into subornation , and Religion into Superstition . 8. Two other articles they alledged against him : but the first concerned not Pilate , and the second was involved in the third , and therefore he chose to examine him upon this only of his being a King. To which the Holy Jesus answered , that it is true , he was 〈◊〉 King indeed , but not of this world ; his Throne is Heaven , the Angels are his Courtiers , and the 〈◊〉 Creation are his Subjects : His Regiment is spiritual , his 〈◊〉 are the Courts of Conscience and Church-tribunals , and at Dooms-day the Clouds : The Tribute which he demands are conformity to his Laws , Faith , 〈◊〉 , and Charity ; no other Gabels but the duties of a holy Spirit , and the expresses of a religious Worship , and obedient Will , and a consenting Understanding . And in all this Pilate thought the interest of 〈◊〉 was not invaded . For certain it is , the Discipline of Jesus confirmed it much , and supported it by the strongest pillars . And here Pilate saw how impertinent and malicious their Accusation was : And we , who declaim against the unjust proceedings of the Jews against our dearest Lord , should do well to take care that we , in accusing any of our Brethren either with malicious purpose , or with an uncharitable circumstance , do not commit the same fault which in them we so hate and accuse . Let no man speak any thing of his neighbourhood but what is true : and yet if a truth be heightned by the biting Rhetorick of a satyrical spirit , extended and drawn forth in circumstances and arts of aggravation , the truth becomes a load to the guilty person , is a prejudice to the sentence of the Judge , and hath not so much as the excuse of Zeal , much less the Charity of Christianity . Sufficient to every man is the plain story of his crime ; and to excuse as much of it as we can , would better become us , who perish unless we be excused for infinite irregularities . But if we add this also , that we accuse our Brethren 〈◊〉 them that may amend them and reform their error , if we pity their persons and do not hate them , if we seek nothing of their disgrace and make not their shame publick , but when the publick is necessarily concerned or the state of the man's sin requires it ; then our accusations are charitable : but if they be not , all such accusations are accepted by Christ with as much displeasure in proportion to the degree of the malice and the proper effect , as was this Acculation of his own person . 9. But Pilate having pronounced Jesus innocent , and perceiving he was a Galilean , sent him to 〈◊〉 , as being a more competent person to determine 〈◊〉 one of his own jurisdiction . Herod was glad at the honour done to him and the person brought him , being now desirous to see some Miracle 〈◊〉 before him . But the Holy Jesus spake not one word there , nor did any sign ; so to reprove the sottish carelesness of Herod , who , living in the place of Jesus's abode , never had seen his person or heard his Sermons . And if we neglect the opportunities of Grace , and refuse to hear the 〈◊〉 of Christ in the time of mercy and Divine appointment , we may arrive at that state of 〈◊〉 in which Christ will refuse to speak one word of comfort to us ; and the Homilies of the Gospel shall be dead letters , and the spirit not at all refreshed , nor the Understanding instructed , nor the Affections moved , nor the Will determined ; but because we have during all our time stopt our ears , in his time God will stop his mouth , and shut up the springs of Grace , that we shall receive no refreshment , or instruction , or pardon , or felicity . Jesus suffered not himself to be moved at the pertinacious accusations of the 〈◊〉 , nor the desires of the Tyrant , but persevered in silence , till Herod and his servants despised him and dismissed him . For so it became our High Priest , who was to sanctifie all our sufferings , to consecrate affronts and scorn , that we may learn to endure contempt , and to suffer our selves in a religious cause to be despised ; and when it happens in any other , to remember that we have our dearest Lord for a precedent of bearing it with admirable simplicity and equanimity of deportment : and it is a mighty stock of Self-love that dwells in our spirits , which makes us of all afflictions most impatient of this . But Jesus endured this despite , and suffered this to be added , that he was exposed in scorn to the boys of 〈◊〉 streets . For 〈◊〉 caused him to be arrayed in white , sent him out to be scorned by the people and hooted at by idle persons , and so remitted him to Pilate . And since that Accident to our Lord , the Church hath not undecently chose to cloath her Priests with Albs or white garments ; and it is a symbolical intimation and representment of that part of the Passion and 〈◊〉 which Herod passed upon the Holy Jesus : and this is so far from deserving a reproof , that it were to be wished all the children of the Church would imitate all those Graces which Christ exercised when he wore that garment , which she hath taken up in ceremony and thankful memory ; that is , in all their actions and sufferings be so estranged from secular arts and mixtures of the world , so intent upon Religion , and active in all its interests , so indifferent to all acts of Providence , so equal in all chances , so patient of every accident , so charitable to enemies , and so undetermined by exteriour events , that nothing may draw us forth from 〈◊〉 severities of our Religion , or entice us from the retirements of a 〈◊〉 and sober and patient spirit , or make us to depart from the courtesies of Piety , though for such adhesion and pursuit we be esteemed fools , or ignorant , or contemptible . Iesus is scourged by the Souldiers Mar : 15 : 14. Then Pilate said unto them why what evill hath he done and they cried the more exceedingly Crucify him . 15 And so Pilate willing to content the People released Barabbas unto them and delivered Iesus when he had scourged him to be Crucified . They Crown him with Thornes . Mat : 27. 28. And they stripped him and put on him a Scarlet robe . 29 And when they had platted a crown of Thornes , they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand , and they bowed the knee before him , & mocked him , saying , Hayle King of the Iews . 10. When Pilate had received the Holy Jesus , and found that Herod had sent him back uncondemned , he attempted to rescue him from their malice , by making him a donative and a freed man at the petition of the people . But they preferred a Murtherer and a Rebel , Barabbas , before him ; for themselves being Rebels against the King of Heaven , loved to acquit persons criminal in the same kind of sin , rather than their Lord , against whom they took up all the arms which they could receive from violence and perfect malice , desiring to have him crucified who raised the dead , and to have the other 〈◊〉 who destroyed the living . And when Pilate saw they were set upon it , he consented , and delivered him first to be scourged ; which the souldiers executed with violence and unrelenting hands , opening his virginal body to nakedness , and tearing his tender flesh till the pavement was purpled with a shower of holy bloud . Itis reported in the Ecclesiastical story , that when S. Agnes and S. Barbara , holy Virgins and Martyrs , were stripp'd naked to execution , God , pitying their great shame and trouble to have their nakedness discovered , made for them a veil of light , and sent them to a modest and desired death . But the Holy Jesus , who chose all sorts of shame and confusion , that by a fulness of suffering he might expiate his Father's anger , and that he might consecrate to our sufferance all kind of affront and passion , endured even the shame of nakedness at the time of his scourging , suffering himself to be devested of his robes , that we might be clothed with that stole he put off : for 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 on him the state of sinning Adam , and became naked , that we might 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 with Righteousness , and then with Immortality . 11. After they had scourged him without remorse , they clothed him with purple , and crowned him with thorns , and put a cane in his hand for a scepter , and bowed their knees before him , and saluted him with mockery , with a [ Hail King of the Jews , ] and 〈◊〉 beat him and spate upon him ; and then Pilate brought him forth , and shewed this sad spectacle to the people , hoping this might move them to compassion , who never loved to see a man prosperous , and are always troubled to see the same man in misery . But the Earth , which was cursed for Adam's sake , and was sowed with thorns and thistles , produced the full harvest of them , and the Second Adam gathered them all , and made garlands of them as ensigns of his Victory which he was now in pursuit of against Sin , the Grave , and Hell. And we also may make our thorns , which are in themselves 〈◊〉 and dolorous , to be a Crown , if we bear 〈◊〉 patiently , and unite them to Christ's Passion , and offer them to his honour , and bear them in his cause , and rejoyce in them for his sake . And indeed , after such a grove of 〈◊〉 growing upon the head of our Lord , to see one of Christ's members soft , delicate and effeminate , is a great indecency , next to this of seeing the Jews use the King of glory with the greatest reproach and infamy . 12. But nothing prevailing , nor the Innocence of Jesus , nor his immunity from the sentence of Herod , nor the industry and diligence of Pilate , nor the misery nor the sight of the afflicted Lamb of God , at last ( for so God decreed to permit it , and Christ to 〈◊〉 it ) Pilate gave sentence of death upon him , having first washed his hands ; of which God served his end , to declare the Innocence of his Son , of which in this whole process he was most curious , and suffered not the least probability to adhere to him ; yet Pilate served no end of his , nor preserved any thing of his innocence . He that 〈◊〉 upon a Prince , and cries , Saving your honour , you are a Tyrant ; and he that strikes a man upon the face , and cries him mercy , and undoes him , and says it was in jest , does just like that person that sins against God , and thinks to be excused by saying it was against his Conscience ; that is washing our hands when they are stained in bloud , as if a ceremony of purification were enough to cleanse a soul from the stains of a spiritual impurity . So some refuse not to take any Oath in times of Persecution , and say it obliges not , because it was forced , and done against their wills ; as if the doing of it were washed off by protesting against it , whereas the protesting against it declares me criminal , if I rather chuse not death than that which I profess to be a sin . But all the persons which cooperated in this death were in this life consigned to a fearful judgment after it . The Jews took the bloud ( which Pilate seemed to wash off ) upon themselves and their children , and the bloud of this Paschal Lamb stuck upon their forehead and marked them , not to escape , but to fall under the sword of the destroying Angel , and they perished either by a more hasty death , or shortly after in the extirpation and miserable ruine of their Nation . And Pilate , who had a less share in the crime , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a black character of a secular Judgment ; for not long after he was by Vitellius the President of Syria sent to Rome to answer to the crimes objected against him by the Jews , whom to please he had done so much violence to his Conscience ; and by 〈◊〉 sentence he was banished to Vienna , deprived of all his honours , where he lived ingloriously , till by impatience of his calamity he killed himself with his own hand . And thus the bloud of Jesus shed for the Salvation of the world became to them a Curse , and that which purifies the Saints stuck to them that shed it , and mingled it not with the tears of Repentance , to be a leprosie loathsome and incurable . So Manna turns to worms , and the wine of Angels to Vineger and Lees , when it is received into impure vessels , or tasted by wanton palats ; and the Sun himself produces Rats and Serpents , when it reflects upon the dirt of Nilus . The PRAYER . O Holy and immaculate Lamb of God , who wert pleased to 〈◊〉 shame and sorrow , to be brought before tribunals , to be accused maliciously , betrayed treacherously , condemned unjustly , and scourged most 〈◊〉 , suffering the most severe and most unhandsome inflictions which could be procured by potent , subtle and extremest malice , and didst 〈◊〉 this out of love greater than the love of Mothers , more affectionate than the tears of joy and pity dropt from the eyes of most passionate women , by these fontinels of bloud issuing forth life and health and pardon upon all thine enemies ; teach me to apprehend the baseness of Sin , in proportion to the greatest of those calamities which my sin made it necessary for thee to susfer , that I may hate the cause of thy 〈◊〉 , and adore thy mercy , and imitate thy charity , and copy 〈◊〉 thy patience ànd humility , and love thy person to the uttermost extent and degrees of my affections . Lord , what am I , that the eternal Son of God should 〈◊〉 one stripe for me ? But thy Love is infinite : and how great a misery is it to provoke by sin so great a mercy , and despise so miraculous a goodness , and to do fresh despite to the Son of God ? But our sins are innumerable , and our infirmities are mighty . Dearest Jesu , pity me , for I am accused by my own Conscience , and am found guilty ; I am stripped naked of my Innocence , and bound fast by Lust , and tormented with stripes and wounds of enraged Appetites . But let thy Innocence excuse me , the robes of thy Righteousness cloath me , thy Bondage set me free , and thy Stripes heal me ; that thou being my Advocate , my Physician , my Patron , and my Lord , I may be adopted into the union of thy Merits , and partake of the efficacy of thy Sufferings , and be crowned as thou art , having my sins changed to vertues , and my thorns to rays of glory under thee our Head , in the participations of Eternity , O Holy and immaculate Lamb of God. Amen . DISCOURSE XX. Of Death , and the due manner of Preparation to it . 1. THE Holy Spirit of God hath in Scripture revealed to us but one way of preparing to Death , and that is , by a holy life ; and there is nothing in all the Book of Life concerning this exercise of address to Death , but such advices which suppose the dying person in a state of Grace . S. James indeed counsels , that in sickness we should send for the Ministers Ecclesiastical , and that they pray over us , and that we confess our sins , and they shall be forgiven ; that is , those prayers are of great efficacy for the removing the sickness , and taking off that punishment of sin , and healing them in a certain degree , according to the efficacy of the ministery , and the dispositions or capacities of the sick person . But we must know that oftentimes universal effects are attributed to partial causes ; because by the analogy of Scripture we are taught , that all the body of holy actions and ministeries are to unite in production of the event , and that without that adunation one thing alone cannot operate ; but because no one alone does the work , but by an united power , therefore indefinitely the effect is ascribed sometimes to one , sometimes to another , meaning , that one as much as the other , that is , all together , are to work the Pardon and the Grace . But the doctrine of Preparation to Death we are clearest taught in the * Parable of the ten Virgins . Those who were wise stood waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom , their Lamps burning ; only when the Lord was at hand , at the notice of his coming published , they trimmed their Lamps , and they , so disposed , went forth and met him , and entred with him into his interiour and eternal joys . They whose Lamps did not stand ready before-hand , expecting the uncertain hour , were shut forth , and bound in darkness . [ Watch therefore , so our Lord applies and expounds the Parable , for ye know not the day nor the hour of the coming of the Son of man. ] Whenever the arrest of Death seises us , unless before that notice we had Oil in our Vessels , that is , Grace in our hearts , habitual Grace , ( for nothing else can reside or dwell there , an act cannot inhabit or be in a Vessel ) it is too late to make preparation . But they who have it , may and must prepare , that is , they must stir the fire , trim the vessel , make it more actual in its exercise and productions , full of ornament , advantages and degrees . And that is all we know from Scripture concerning Preparation . 2. And indeed since all our life we are dying , and this minute in which I now write death divides with me , and hath got the surer part and more certain possession , it is but reasonable that we should always be doing the Offices of Preparation . If to day we were not dying and passing on to our grave , then we might with more safety defer our work till the morrow : But as fewel in a furnace in every degree of its heat and reception of the flame is converting into fire and ashes , and the disposing it to the last mutation is the same work with the last instance of its change : so is the age of every day a beginning of death , and the night composing us to sleep bids us go to our lesser rest ; because that night , which is the end of the preceding day , is but a lesser death ; and whereas now we have died so many days , the last day of our life is but the dying so many more , and when that last day of dying will come we know not . There is nothing then added but the circumstance of Sickness , which also happens many times before ; only men are pleased to call that Death which is the end of dying , when we cease to die any more : and therefore to put off our Preparation till that which we call Death , is to put off the work of all our life , till the time comes in which it is to cease and determine . 3. But to accelerate our early endeavour , ( besides what hath been formerly considered upon the proper grounds of Repentance ) I here re-inforce the consideration of Death in such circumstances which are apt to engage us upon an early industry . 1. I consider , that no man is sure that he shall not die suddenly ; and therefore if Heaven be worth securing , it were fit that we should reckon every day the Vespers of death , and therefore that according to the usual rites of Religion it be begun and spent with religious offices : And let us consider , that those many persons who are remarked in history to have died suddenly , either were happy by an early Piety , or miserable by a sudden death . And if uncertainty of condition be an abatement of felicity , and spoils the good we possess , no man can be happy but he that hath lived well , that is , who hath secured his condition by an habitual and living Piety . For since God hath not told us we shall not die suddenly is it not certain he intended we should prepare for sudden death , as well as against death cloathed in any other circumstances ? Fabius surnamed Pictor was choaked with a Hair in a mess of Milk , Anacreon with a Raisin , Cardinal Colonna with Figs crusted with Ice , Adrian the fourth with a Flie , Drusius Pompeius with a Pear , Domitius Afer , Quintilian's Tutor , with a full Cup , * Casimire the Second , King of Polonia , with a Little draught of Wine , Amurath with a Full goblet , Tarquinius Priscus with a Fish-bone . For as soon as a man is born , that which in nature only remains to him is to die ; and if we differ in the way or time of our abode , or the manner of our Exit , yet we are even at last : and since it is not determined by a natural cause which way we shall go , or at what age , a wise Man will suppose himself always upon his Death-bed ; and such supposition is like making of his Will , he is not the nearer Death for doing it , but he is the readier for it when it comes . 4. Saint Jerome said well , He deserves not the name of a Christian , who will live in that state of life in which he will not die : And indeed it is a great venture to be in an evil state of life , because every minute of it hath a danger ; and therefore a succession of actions , in every one of which he may as well perish as escape , is a boldness that hath no mixture of wisdome or probable venture . How many persons have died in the midst of an act of sport , or at a merry meeting ? Grimoaldus , a Lombard King , died with shooting of a Pidgeon ; Thales the Milesian in the Theatre : Lucia , the sister of Aurelius the Emperor , playing with her little son , was wounded in her breast with a Needle , and died : Benno , Bishop of Adelburg , with great ceremony and joy consecrating S. Michael's Church , was crouded to death by the People ; so was the Duke of Saxony at the Inauguration of Albert I. The great Lawyer Baldus , playing with a little Dog , was bitten upon the lip , instantly grew mad , and perished : Charles the Eighth of France , seeing certain Gentlemen playing at Tenniscourt , swooned , and recovered not : Henry II. was killed running at Tilt : Ludovicus Borgia with riding the great Horse : and the old Syracusan , Archimedes , was slain by a rude Souldier as he was making Diagrams in the sand , which was his greatest pleasure . How many Men have died laughing , or in the ecstasies of a great joy ? (a) Philippides the Comedian , and Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily , died with joy at the news of a victory : (b) Diagoras of Rhodes , and Chilo the Philosopher , expired in the embraces of their sons crowned with an Olympick Lawrel : (c) Polycrita Naxia , being saluted the Saviouress of her Countrey ; Marcus Juventius , when the Senate decreed him honours ; the Emperour (d) Conrade the Second , when he triumphed after the conquest of Italy , had a joy bigger than their heart , and their phancy swelled it , till they burst and died . Death can enter in at any door : 〈◊〉 of Nice died with excessive laughter ; so did the Poet Philemon , being provoked to it only by seeing an Asse eat sigs . And the number of persons who have been found suddenly dead in their beds is so great , that as it ingages many to a more certain and regular devotion for their Compline , so it were well it were pursued to the utmost intention of God ; that is , that all the parts of Religion should with zeal and assiduity be entertained and finished , that , as it becomes wise men , we never be surprised with that we are sure will sometime or other happen . A great General in Italy at the sudden death of Alsonsus of Ferrara , and Lodovico 〈◊〉 at the sight of the sad accident upon Henry II. of France now mentioned , turned religious , and they did what God intended in those deaths . It concerns us to be curious of single actions , because even in those shorter periods we may expire and 〈◊〉 our Graves . But if the state of life be contradictory to our hopes of Heaven , it is like affronting of a Cannon 〈◊〉 a beleaguer'd Town a month together ; it is a contempt of safety , and a rendring all Reason useless and unprofitable : but he only is wise who , having made Death familiar to him by expectation and daily apprehension , does at all instants go forth to meet it . The wise Virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom , for they were ready . Excellent therefore is the counsel of the Son of Sirach ; Use Physick or ever thou be sick . 〈◊〉 Judgment examine thy self , and in the day of visitation thou shalt finde mercy . Humble thy self before then be sick , and in the time of sins shew Repentance . Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy 〈◊〉 in due time , and defer not until death to be justified . 5. Secondly , I consider , that it osten happens that in those few days of our last visitation , which many Men design for their Preparation and Repentance , God hath expressed by an exteriour accident , that those persons have deceived themselves and neglected their own Salvation . S. Gregory reports of Chrysaurius , a Gentleman in the Province of 〈◊〉 , rich , vicious and witty , lascivious , covetous and proud , that being cast upon his Death-bed he phansied he saw evil spirits coming to arrest him and drag him to Hell. He fell into great agony and trouble , shrieked out , called for his son , who was a very religious person , flattered him , as willing to have been rescued by any thing : but perceiving his danger increase and grown desperate , he called loud with repeated clamours , Give me respite but till the morrow , and with those words he died , there being no place left 〈◊〉 his Repentance , though he sought it carefully with tears and groans . The same was the case of a drunken Monk , whom Venerable Bede mentions . Upon his Death bed he seemed to see Hell opened , and a place assigned him near to Caiaphas and those who crucified our dearest Lord. The religious persons that stood about his Bed called on him to repent of his sins , to implore the mercies of God , and to trust in Christ : But he answered with reason enough , This is no time to change my life , the sentence is passed upon me , and it is too late . And it is very considerable and sad * which Petrus Damianus tells of Gunizo , a sactious and ambitious person , to whom , it is said , the Tempter gave notice of his approaching death : but when any Man preached Repentance to him , out of a strange incuriousness , or the spirit of reprobation , he seemed like a dead and unconcerned person ; in all other discourses he was awake and apt to answer . For God had shut up the gates of Mercy , that no streams should issue forth to quench the flames of Hell ; or else had shut up the gates of reception and entertainment , that it should not enter : either God denies to give them pardon when they call , or denies to them a power to call ; they either cannot pray , or God will not answer . Now since these stories are related by Men learned , pious and eminent in their generations , and because they served no design but the ends of Piety , and have in them nothing dissonant from revelation or the frequent events of Providence , we may upon their stock consider , that God's Judgements and visible marks being set upon a state of Life , although they happen but seldom in the instances , yet they are of universal purpose and signfication . Upon all Murtherers God hath not thrown a thunder-bolt , nor broke all sacrilegious persons upon the wheel of an inconstant and ebbing estate , nor spoken to every Oppressor from Heaven in a voice of thunder , nor cut off all Rebels in the first attempts of insurrection : But because he hath done so to some , we are to look upon those Judgments as Divine accents , and voices of God , threatning all the same crimes with the like events , and with the ruines of eternity . For though God does not always make the same prologues to death , yet by these few accidents happening to single persons we are to understand his purposes concerning all in the same condition ; it was not the person so much as the estate which God then remarked with so visible characters of his displeasure . 6. And it seems to me a wonder , that since from all the records of Scripture urging the uncertainty of the day of death , the horrour of the day of Judgment , the severity of God , the dissolution of the world , the certainty of our account , still from all these premisses the Spirit of God makes no other inference , but that we watch , and stand in a readiness , that we live in all holy conversation and godliness , and that there is no one word concerning any other manner of an essentially-necessary Preparation , none but this ; yet that there are Doctrines commenced , and Rules prescribed , and Offices set down , and Suppletories invented by Curates of Souls how to prepare a vicious person , and upon his Death-bed to reconcile him to the hopes and promises of Heaven . Concerning which I desire that every person would but enquire , where any one promise is recorded in Scripture concerning such addresses , and what Articles CHRIST hath drawn up between his Father and us concerning a Preparation begun upon our Death-bed : and if he shall find none ( as most certainly from Genesis to the Revelation there is not a word concerning it , but very much against it ) let him first build his hopes upon this proposition , that A holy life is the onely Preparation to a happy death , and then we can without danger proceed to some other Considerations . 7. When a good man , or a person concerning whom it is not certain he hath lived in habitual Vices , comes to die , there are but two general ways of entercourse with him ; the one to keep him from new sins , the other to make some emendations of the old ; the one to fortifie him against special weaknesses and proper temptations of that estate , and the other to trim his lamp , that by excellent actions he may adorn his spirit , making up the omissions of his life , and supplying the imperfections of his estate , that his Soul may return into the hands of its Creator as pure as it can , every degree of perfection being an advantage so great , as that the loss of every the least portion of it cannot be recompensed with all the good of this World. Concerning the first ; The Temptations proper to this estate are either Weakness in Faith , Despair , or Presumption : for whatsoever is besides these , as it is the common infelicity of all the several states of life , so they are oftentimes arguments of an ill condition , of immortification of vicious habits , and that he comes not to this combate well prepared ; such as are Covetousness , unwillingness to make Restitution , remanent affections to his former Vices , an unresigned spirit , and the like . 8. In the Ecclesiastical story we finde many dying persons mentioned , who have been very much afflicted with some doubts concerning an Article of Faith. S. Gregory in an Epistle he writ to S. Austin instances in the temptation which Fusebius suffered upon his Death-bed . And although sometimes the Devil chuses an Article that is not proper to that state , knowing that every such doubt is well enough for his purpose , because of the incapacity of the person to suffer long disputes , and of the jealousie and suspicion of a dying and weak man , fearing lest every thing should cozen him ; yet it is commonly instanced in the Article of the Resurrection , or the state of Separation or re-union . And it seems to some persons incredible , that from a bed of sickness , a state of misery , a cloud of ignorance , a load of passions , a man should enter into the condition of a perfect understanding , great joy , and an intellectual life , a conversation with Angels , a fruition of God ; the change is greater than his Reason ; and his Faith being in conclusion tottering like the Ark , and ready to fall , seems a Pillar as unsafe and unable to rely on , as a bank of turf in an Earth-quake . Against this a general remedy is prescribed by Spiritual persons ; That the sick man should apprehend all changes of perswasion which happened to him in his sickness , contradictory to those assents which in his clearest use of Reason he had , to be temptations and arts of the Devil . And he hath reason so to think , when he remembers how many comforts of the Spirit of God , what joys of Religion , what support , what assistences , what strengths he had in the whole course of his former life upon the stock of Faith , & interest of the Doctrin of Christianity . And since the disbelieving the Promises Evangelical at that time can have no end of advantage , and that all wise men tell him it may have an end to make him lose the title to them , and do him infinite disadvantage ; upon the stock of interest and prudence he must reject such fears which cannot help him , but may ruine him . For all the works of Grace which he did upon the hopes of God , and the stock of the Divine revelations , ( if he fails in his hold upon them ) are all rendred unprofitable . And it is certain , if there be no such thing as Immortality and Resurrection , he shall lose nothing for believing there is ; but if there be , they are lost to him for not believing it . 9. But this is also to be cured by proper arguments . And there is no Christian man but hath within him , and carries about him , demonstrations of the possibility and great instances of the credibility of those great changes , which these tempted persons have no reason to distrust , but because they think them too great , and too good to be true . And here , not only the consideration of the Divine Power and his eternal Goodness is a proper Antidote , but also the observation of what we have already received from God. To be raised from nothing to something is a mutation not less than insinite ; and from that which we were in our first conception to pass into so perfect and curious bodies , and to become discursive , sensible , passionate , and reasonable , and next to Angels , is a greater change , than from this state to pass into that excellency and perfection of it which we expect as the melioration and improvement of the present : for this is but a mutation of degrees , that of substance : this is more sensible , because we have perception in both states ; that is of greater distance , because in the first term we were so far distant from what we are , that we could not perceive what then we were , much less desire to be what we now perceive : and yet God did that for us unasked , without any obligation on his part , or merit on ours ; much rather then may we be confident of this alteration of accidents and degrees , because God hath obliged himself by promise ; he hath disposed us to it by qualities , actions , and habits , which are to the state of Glory as infancy is to manhood , as 〈◊〉 are to excellent discourses , as blossoms are to ripe fruits . And he that hath wrought miracles for us , preserved us in dangers , done strange acts of Providence , sent his Son to take our Nature , made a Virgin to bear a Son , and GOD to become Man , and two Natures to be one individual Person , and all in order to this End of which we doubt , hath given us so many arguments of credibility , that if he had done any more , it would not have been lest in our choice to believe or not believe ; and then much of the excellency of our Faith would have been lost . Add to this , that we are not tempted to disbelieve the Roman story , or that Virgil's AEneids , were writ by him , or that we our selves are descended of such Parents ; because these things are not only transmitted to us by such testimony which we have no reason to distrust , but 〈◊〉 the Tempter cannot serve any end upon us by producing such doubts in us : and therefore since we have greater testimony for every Article of Faith , and to believe it is of so much concernment to us , we may well suspect it to be an artifice of the Devil to rob us of our reward ; this proceeding of his being of the same nature with all his other Temptations , which in our life-time like fiery darts he threw into our face , to despoil us of our glory , and blot out the Image of God imprinted on us . 10. Secondly , If the Devil tempts the sick person to Despair , he who is by God appointed to minister a word of comfort must fortifie his spirit with consideration and representment of the Divine Goodness , manifest in all the expresses of Nature and Grace , of Providence and Revelation ; that God never extinguishes the smoaking slax , nor breaks the bruised reed ; that a constant and a hearty endeavour is the Sacrifice which God delights in ; that in the firmament of Heaven there are little Stars , and they are most in number , and there are but few of the greatest magnitude ; that there are children and babes in Christ as well as strong men , and amongst these there are great difference ; that the interruptions of the state of Grace by intervening crimes , if they were rescinded by Repentance , they were great danger in the intervall , but served as increment of the Divine Glory , and arguments of care and diligence to us at the restitution . These and many more are then to be urged when the sick person is in danger of being swallowed up with over-much sorrow ; and therefore to be insisted on in all like cases as the Physician gives him Cordials , that we may do charity to him and minister comfort , not because they are always necessary , even in the midst of great sadnesses and discomforts . For we are to secure his love to God , that he acknowledge the Divine Mercy , that he believe the Article of Remission of sins , that he be thankful to God for the blessings which already he hath received , and that he lay all the load of his discomfort upon himself , and his own incapacities of mercy : and then the sadness may be very great , and his tears clamorous , and his heart broken all in pieces , and his Humility lower than the earth , and his Hope indiscernible ; and yet no danger to his final condition . Despair reflects upon God , and dishonours the infinity of his Mercy : And if the sick person do but confess that God is not at all wanting in his Promises , but ever abounding in his Mercies , and that it is want of the condition on his own part that makes the misery , and that if he had done his duty God would save him ; let him be assisted with perpetual prayers , with examples of lapsed and returning sinners , whom the Church celebrates for Saints , such as Mary Magdalen , Mary of Egypt , Asra , Thasis , Pelagia ; let it be often inculcated to him , that as God's Mercy is of it self infinite , so its demonstration to us is not determined to any certain period , but hath such latitudes in it and reservations , which as they are apt to restrain too great boldness , so also to become sanctuaries to disconsolate persons ; let him be invited to throw himself upon God upon these grounds , that he who is our Judge is also our Advocate and Redeemer , that he knows and pities our infirmities , and that our very hoping in him does indear him , and he will deliver us the rather for our confidence , when it is balanced with reverence and humility : and then all these supernumerary fears are advantagious to more necessary Graces , and do more secure his final condition than they can disturb it . 11. When Saint Arsenius was near his death , he was observed to be very tremulous , sad , weeping and disconsolate . The standers by asked the reason of his fears , wondring that he , having lived in great Sanctity for many years , should not now rejoyce at the going forth of his prison . The good man confessed the fear , and withall said it was no other than he had always born about with him in the days of his pilgrimage ; and what he then thought a duty , they had no reason now to call either a fault or a misery . Great sorrows , fears and distrustings of a man 's own condition , are oftentimes but abatements of confidence , or a remission of joys and gayeties of spirit ; they are but like salutary clouds , dark and fruitful : and if the tempted person be strengthened in a love of God , though he go not farther in his hopes than to believe a possibility of being saved , than to say , God can save him , if he please , and to pray that he will save him , his condition is a state of Grace , it is like a root in the ground , trod upon , humble and safe , not so fine as the state of flowers ; yet that which will spring up in as glorious a Resurrection as that which looks fairer , and pleases the sense , and is indeed a blessing , but not a duty . 12. But there is a state of Death-bed which seems to have in it more Question , and to be of nicer consideration , A sick person after a vicious and base life : and if upon whatsoever he can do , you give him hopes of a Pardon , where is your promise to warrant it ? if you do not give him hopes , do you not drive him to Despair , and ascertain his ruine , to verifie your proposition ? To this I answer that Despair is opposed to Hope , and Hope relies upon the Divine Promises ; and where there is no Promise , there the Despair is not a sin , but a mere impossibility . The accursed Spirits which are sealed up to the Judgment of the last Day cannot hope ; and he that repents not , cannot hope for pardon . And therefore if all which the state of Death-bed can produce be not the duty of Repentance , which is required of necessity to Pardon , it is not in such a person properly to be called Despair , any more than it is Blindness in a stone that it cannot see : Such a man is not within the capacities of Pardon , and therefore all those acts of exteriour Repentance , and all his sorrow and resolution and tears of emendation , and other preparatives to interiour Repentance , are like oil poured into mortal wounds ; they are the care of the Physician ; and these are the cautions of the Church , and they are at no hand to be neglected . For if they do not alter the state , they may lessen the judgment , or procure a temporal blessing ; and if the person recover , they are excellent beginnings of the state of Grace , and if they be pursued in a happy opportunity , will grow up into Glory . 13. But if it be demanded , whether in such cases the Curate be bound to give Absolution ; I can give no other answer but this , that if he lie under the Censure of the Church , the Laws of the Church are to determine the particular , and I know no Church in the World but uses to absolve Death-bed Penitents upon the instances of those actions of which their present condition is capable ; though in the Primitive Ages in some cases they denied it . But if the sick person be under no positive Censure , and is bound only by the guilt of habitual vice , if he desires the Prayers of the Church , she is bound in charity to grant them , to Pray for Pardon to him , and all other Graces in order to Salvation : and if she absolves the Penitent , towards God it hath no other efficacy but of a solemn Prayer ; and therefore it were better that all the charity of the Office were done , and the solemnity omitted ; because in the earnest Prayer she co-operates to his Salvation as much as she can , and by omitting the solemnity distinguishes evil livers from holy persons , and walks securely , whilst she refuses to declare him pardoned whom God hath not declared to be so . And possibly that form of Absolution which the Churches of the West now use , being indicative and declaratory of a present Pardon , is for the very form sake not to be used to Death bed Penitents after a vicious life ; because if any thing more be intended in the form than a Prayer , the truth of the affirmation may be questioned , and an Ecclesiastical person hath no authority to say to such a man , I absolve thee : but if no more be intended but a Prayer , it is better to use a mere Prayer and common form of address , than such words which may countenance unsecure confidences , evil purposes , and worse lives . 14. Thirdly , If the Devil tempts a sick person , who hath lived well , to Presumption , and that he seems full of Confidence and without trouble , the care that is then to be taken is to consider the Disease , and to state the Question right . For at some instants and periods God visits the spirit of a man , and sends the immission of a bright ray into him ; and some good men have been so used to apprehensions of the Divine mercy , that they have an habitual chearfulness of spirit and hopes of Salvation . Saint Hierome reports that Hilarion in a Death-bed agony felt some tremblings of heart , till reflecting upon his course of life , he found comforts springing from thence by a proper emanation , and departed chearfully : and Hezekiah represented to God in Prayer the integrity of his life , and made it the instrument of his hope . And nothing of this is to be calied Presumption , provided it be in persons of eminent Sanctity and great experience , old Disciples , and the more perfect Christians : But because such persons are but seldome and rare , if the same Confidence be observed in persons of common imperfection and an ordinary life , it is to be corrected and allayed with consideration of the Divine Severity and Justice , and with the strict requisites of a holy life , with the deceit of a man 's own heart , with consideration and general remembrances of secret sins , and that the most perfect state of life hath very great needs of mercy , and if the righteous scarcely be saved , where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ? And the spirit of the man is to be promoted and helped in the encrease of Contrition , as being the proper deletery to cure the extravagancies of a forward and intemperate spirit . 15. But there is a Presumption commenced upon opinion , relying either upon a perswasion of single Predestination , or else ( which is worse ) upon imaginary securities , that Heaven is to be purchased upon conditions easier than a Day 's labour , and that an evil life may be reconciled to Heaven by the intervening of little or single acts of Piety or Repentance . If either of them both have actually produced ill life , to which they are apt , or apt to be abused , the persons are miserable in their condition , and cannot be absolutely remedied by going about to cure the Presumption ; that was the cause of all , but now it is the least thing to be considered : his whole state is corrupted , and men will not by any discourses or spiritual arts used on their Death-beds be put into a state of Grace ; because then is no time to change the state , and there is no mutation then but by single actions ; from good to better a dying man may proceed , but not from the state of Reprobation to the life of Grace . And yet it is good charity to unloose the bonds of Satan , whereby the man is bound and led captive at his will , to take off the Presumption by destroying the cause ; and then let the work of Grace be set as forward as it can , and leave the event to God ; for nothing else is left possible to be done . But if the sick man be of a good life , and yet have a degree of Confidence beyond his Vertue upon the phancie of Predestination , it is not then a time to rescind his opinion by a direct opposition , but let him be drawn off from the consideration of it by such discourses as are apt to make him humble and penitent ; for they are the most apt instruments to secure the condition of the man , and attemper his spirit . These are the great Temptations incident to the last scene of our lives ; and are therefore more particularly suggested by the Tempter , because they have in them something contrary to the universal effect of a holy life , and are designs to interpose between the end of the journey and the reception of the crown : and therefore it concerns every man who is in a capacity of receiving the end of his Faith , the Salvation of his Soul , to lay up in the course of his life something against this great day of expence , that he may be better fortified with the armour of the Spirit against these last assaults of the Devil , that he may not shipwreck in the haven . 16. Eschewing evil is but the one half of our work , we must also do good . And now in the few remanent days or hours of our life there are certain exercises of Religion which have a special relation to this state , and are therefore of great concernment to be done , that we may make our condition as certain as we can , and our portion of Glory greater , and our Pardon surer , and our Love to increase , and that our former omissions and breaches be repaired with a condition in some measure proportionable to those great hopes which we then are going to possess . And first , Let the sick person , in the beginning of his sickness , and in every change and great accident of it , make acts of Resignation to God , and intirely submit himself to the Divine will ; remembring , that Sickness may , to men properly disposed , do the work of God , and produce the effect of the Spirit , and promote the interest of his Soul , as well as Health , and oftentimes better , as being in it self and by the grace of God apt to make us confess our own impotency and dependencies , and to understand our needs of mercy , and the continual influences and supports of Heaven ; to withdraw our appetites from things below , to correct the vanities and insolencies of an impertinent spirit , to abate the extravagancies of the flesh , to put our carnal lusts into fetters and disability , to remember us of our state of pilgrimage , that this is our way and our stage of trouble and banishment , and that Heaven is our Countrey : for so Sickness is the trial of our Patience , a fire to purge us , an instructer to teach us , a bridle to restrain us , and a state inferring great necessities of union and adhesions unto God. And as upon these grounds we have the same reason to accept sickness at the hands of God , as to receive Physick from a Physician ; so it is argument of excellent Grace to give God hearty thanks in our Disease , and to accept it chearfully , and with spiritual joy . 17. Some persons create to themselves excuses of discontent , and quarrel not with the pain , but the ill consequents of Sickness , It makes them troublesome to their friends ; and consider not that their friends are bound to accept the trouble , as themselves to accept the sickness ; that to tend the sick is at that time allotted for the portion of their work , and that Charity receives it as a duty , and makes that duty to be a pleasure . And however , if our friends account us a burthen , let us also accept that circumstance of affliction to our selves with the same resignation and indifferency as we entertain its occasion , the Sickness it self ; and pray to God to enkindle a flame of Charity in their breasts , and to make them compensation for the charge and trouble we put them to ; and then the care is at an end . But others excuse their discontent with a more religious colour , and call the disease their trouble and affliction , because it impedes their other parts of Duty ; they cannot preach , or study , or do exteriour assistences of Charity and Alms , or acts of Repentance and Mortification . But it were well if we could let God proportion out our work , and set our task ; let him chuse what vertues we shall specially exercise : and when the will of God determines us , it is more excellent to endure afflictions with patience , equanimity and thankfulness , than to do actions of the most pompous Religion , and laborious or expensive Charity ; not only because there is a deliciousness in actions of Religion and choice , which is more agreeable to our spirit than the toleration of sickness can be , which hath great reward , but no present pleasure ; but also because our suffering and our imployment is consecrated to us when God chuses it , and there is then no mixture of imperfection or secular interest , as there may be in other actions even of an excellent Religion , when our selves are the chusers . And let us also remember , that God hath not so much need of thy works , as thou hast of Patience , Humility , and Resignation . S. Paul was far a more considerable person than thou canst be , and yet it pleased God to shut him in prison for two years , and in that intervall God secured and promoted the work of the Gospel : and although 〈◊〉 was an excellent Minister , yet God laid a sickness upon him , and even in his disease gave him work enough to do , though not of his own chusing . And therefore fear it not but the ends of Religion or Duty will well enough proceed without thy health ; and thy own eternal interest , when God so pleases , shall better be served by Sickness , and the Vertues which it occasions , than by the opportunities of Health , and an ambulatory active Charity . 18. When thou art resigned to God , use fair and appointed means for thy Recovery ; trust not in thy spirit upon any instrument of health ; as thou art willing to be disposed by God , so look 〈◊〉 for any event upon the stock of any other cause or principle ; be ruled by the Physician and the people appointed to tend thee , that thou neither become troublesome to them , nor give any sign of impatience or a peevish spirit . But this advice only means , that thou do not disobey them out of any evil principle ; and yet if Reason be thy guide to chuse any other aid , or sollow any other counsel , use it temperately , prudently , and charitably . It is not intended for a Duty , that thou shouldst drink Oil in stead of Wine , if thy Minister reach it to thee , as did Saint Bernard ; nor that thou shouldst accept a Cake tempered with Linseed-oil in stead of Oil of Olives , as did F. Stephen , mentioned by 〈◊〉 : but that thou tolerate the defects of thy servants , and accept the evil accidents of thy disease , or the unsuccessfulness of thy Physician 's care , as descending on thee from the hands of God. Asa was noted in Scripture , that in his sickness he sought not to the Lord , but to the Physicians . Lewis the XI . of France was then the miserablest person in his Kingdom , when he made himself their servant , courting them with great pensions and rewards , attending to their Rules as Oracles , and from their mouths waited for the sentence of life or death . We are , in these great accidents , especially to look upon God as the disposer of the events , which he very often disposes contrary to the expectation we may have of probable causes ; and sometimes without Physick we recover , and with Physick and excellent applications we grow worse and worse ; and God it is that makes the remedies unprosperous . In all these and all other accidents , if we take care that the sickness of the Body derive not it self into the Soul , nor the pains of one procure impatience of the other , we shall alleviate the burthen , and make it supportable and profitable . And certain it is , if men knew well to bear their sicknesses , humbly towards God , charitably towards our Ministers , and chearfully in themselves , there were no greater advantage in the world to be received than upon a sick bed ; and that alone hath in it the benefits of a Church , of a religious Assembly , of the works of Charity and labour . And since our Soul 's eternal well-being depends upon the Charities and Providence and Veracity of God , and we have nothing to show for it but his word and Goodness , and that is infinitely enough ; it is but reason we be not more nice and scrupulous about the usage and accommodation of our Body : if we accept a at God's hand sadness and driness of affection and spiritual desertion patiently and with indifferency , it is unhandsome to express our selves less satisfied in the accidents about our body . 19. But if the Sickness proceed to Death , it is a new charge upon our spirits , and God calls for a final and intire Resignation into his hands . And to a person who was of humble affections , and in his life-time of a mortified spirit , accustomed to bear the yoke of the Lord , this is easie , because he looks upon Death not only as the certain condition of Nature , but as a necessary (b) transition to a state of Blessedness , as the determination of his sickness , the period of humane inselicities , the last change of condition , the beginning of a new , strange , and excellent life , a security against sin , a freedom from the importunities of a Tempter , from the tyranny of an imperious Lust , from the rebellion of Concupiscence , from the disturbances and tempests of the Irascible faculty , and from the fondness and childishness of the Concupiscible ; and ( S. Ambrose says well ) the trouble of this life and the dangers are so many , that in respect of them Death is a remedy , and a fair proper object of desires . And we finde that many Saints have prayed for death , that they might not see the Persecutions and great miseries incumbent upon the Church : and if the desire be not out of Impatience , but of Charity , and with resignation , there is no reason to reprove it . Elias prayed that God would take his life , that he might not see the evils of Ahab and Jezebel , and their vexatious intendments against the Prophets of the Lord. And S. Austin , upon the Incursion of the Vandals into Africa , called his Clergy together , and at their Chapter told them , he had prayed to God either to deliver his People from the present calamity , or grant them patience to bear it , or that he would take him out of the world , that he might not see the miseries of his Diocese ; adding , that God had granted him the last : and he presently fell sick , and died in the siege of his own Hippo. And if Death in many cases be desirable , and for many reasons , it is always to be submitted to , when God calls . And as it is always a misery to fear death , so it is very often a sin , or the effect of sin . If our love to the world hath fastened our affections here , it is a direct sin : and this is by the son of Sirach noted to be the case of rich and great personages ; How bitter , O death , is thy remembrance to a man that is at rest in his possessions ! But if it be a fear to perish in the ruines of Eternity , they are not to blame for fearing , but that their own ill lives have procured the fear . And yet there are persons in the state of Grace , but because they are in great imperfection , have such lawful fears of Death and of entring upon an uncertain Sentence , which must stand eternally irreversible , be it good or bad , that they may with piety and care enough pray David's prayer , O spare me a little , that I may recover my strength , before I go hence , and be no more seen . But in this and in all other cases Death must be accepted without murmur , though without fear it cannot . A man may pray to be delivered from it ; and yet if God will not grant it , he must not go as one hal'd to execution : but if with all his imperfect fears he shall throw himself upon God , and accept his sentence as righteous , whether it speak life or death , it is an act of so great excellency , that it may equal the good actions of many succeeding and surviving days ; and peradventure a longer life will be yet more imperfect , and that God therefore puts a period to it , that thou mayest be taken into a condition more certain , though less eminent . However , let not the fears of Nature , or the fear of Reason , or the fears of Humility become accidentally criminal by a murmur or a pertinacious contesting against the event , which we cannot hinder , but ought to accept by an election secondary , rational and pious , and upon supposition that God will not alter the sentence passed upon thy temporal life ; always remembring , that in Christian Philosophy Death hath in it an excellency of which the Angels are not capable . For by the necessity of our Nature we are made capable of dying for the Holy Jesus : and next to the privilege of that act , is our willingness to die at his command , which turns necessity into vertue , and nature into grace , and grace to glory . 20. When the sick person is thus disposed , let him begin to trim his wedding-garment , and dress his Lamp with the repetition of acts of Repentance , perpetually praying to God for pardon of his sins , representing to himself the horror of them , the multitude , the obliquity , being helped by arguments apt to excite Contrition , by repetition of penitential Psalms and holy Prayers ; and he may , by accepting and humbly receiving his sickness at God's hand , transmit it into the condition of an act or effect of 〈◊〉 , acknowledging himself by sin to have deserved and procured it , and praying that the punishment of his crimes may be here , and not reserved for the state of Separation , and for ever . 21. But above all single acts of this exercise , we are concerned to see that nothing of other mens Goods stick to us , but let us shake it off as we would a burning coal 〈◊〉 our flesh ; for it will destroy us , it will carry a curse with us , and leave a curse behind us . Those who by thy means or importunity have become vicious , exhort to Repentance and holy life ; those whom thou hast cozened into crimes , restore to a right understanding ; those who are by violence and interest led captive by thee to any undecency , restore to their liberty , and encourage to the prosecution of holiness ; discover and confess thy fraud and unlawful arts , cease thy violence , and give as many advantages to Vertue as thou hast done to Viciousness . Make recompence for bodily wrongs , such as are wounds , dismembrings and other disabilities : restore every man ( as much as thou canst ) to that good condition from which thou hast removed him ; restore his Fame , give back his Goods , return the Pawn , release 〈◊〉 , and take off all unjust invasions or surprises of his Estate , pay Debts , satisfie for thy fraud and injustice as far as thou canst , and as thou canst , and as soon ; or this alone is weight enough , no less than a Mil-stone about thy Neck . But if the dying man be of God , and in the state of Grace , that is , if he have lived a holy life , repented seasonably , and have led a just , sober and religious conversation in any acceptable degree , it is to be supposed he hath no great account to make for unpretended injuries and unjust detentions : for if he had detained the goods of his neighbour fraudulently or violently without amends , when it is in his power and opportunity to restore , he is not the man we suppose him in this present Question : and although in all cases he is bound to restore according to his ability , yet the act is less excellent when it is compelled , and so it seems to be , if he have continued the injustice till he is forced to quit the purchace . However , if it be not done till then , let it be provided for then . And that I press this duty to pious persons at this time , is only to oblige them to a diligent scrutiny concerning the lesser omissions of this duty in the matter of fame , or lesser debts , or spiritual restitution ; or that those unevennesses of account which were but of late transaction may now be regulated ; and that whatsoever is undone in this matter , from what principle soever it proceeds , whether of sin , or only of forgetfulness , or of imperfection , may now be made as exact as we can , and are obliged ; and that those excuses which made it reasonable and lawful to defer Restitution , as want of opportunity , clearness of ability , and accidental inconvenience , be now laid aside , and the action be done or provided for in the midst of all objections and inconvenient circumstances , rather than to omit it , and hazard to perform it . 22. Hither also I reckon resolutions and forward purposes of emendation and greater severity , in case God return to us hopes of life ; which therefore must be re-inforced , that we may serve the ends of God , and understand all his purposes , and make use of every opportunity ; every sickness laid upon us being with a design of drawing us nearer to God ; and even holy purposes are good actions of the Spirit , and Principles of Religion : and though alone they cannot do the work of Grace , or change the state , when they are ineffectual , that is , when either we will not bring them into act , or that God will not let us ; yet to a Man already in the state of Grace they are the additions of something good , and are like blowing of coals , which although it can put no life into a dead coal , yet it makes a live coal shine brighter , and burn clearer , and adds to it some accidental degrees of heat . 23. Having thus disposed himself to the peace of God , let him make peace with all those in whom he knows or suspects any minutes of anger , or malice , or displeasure towards him , submitting himself to them with humility whom he unworthily hath displeased , asking pardon of them who say they are displeased , and offering pardon to them that have displeased him ; and then let him crave the peace of Holy Church . For it is all this while to be supposed that he hath used the assistence and prayers , the counsel and the advices of a spiritual man , and that to this purpose he hath opened to him the state of his whole life , and made him to understand what emendations of his faults he hath made , what acts of Repentance he hath done , how lived after his fall and reparation , and that he hath submitted all that he did or undid to the discerning of a holy man , whose office it is to guide his Soul in this agony and last offices . All men cannot have the blessing of a wise and learned Minister , and some die where they can have none at all : yet it were a safer course to do as much of this as we can , and to a competent person , if we can ; if we cannot , then to the best we have , according as we judge it to be of spiritual advantage to us : for in this conjuncture of accidents it concerns us to be sure , if we may , and not to be deceived , where we can avoid it ; because we shall never return to life to do this work again . And if after this entercourse with a Spiritual guide we be reconciled by the solemn prayer of the Church , the prayer of Absolution , it will be of great advantage to us ; we depart with our Father's blessing , we die in the actual Communion of the Church , we hear the sentence of God applied after the manner of men , and the promise of Pardon made circumstantiate , material , present , and operative upon our spirits , and have our portion of the promise which is recorded by S. James , that if the Elders of the Church pray over a sick person fervently and effectually , ( add solemnly ) his sins shall be forgiven him , ( that is , supposing him to be in a capacity to receive it ) because such prayers of such a man are very prevalent . 24. All this is in a spiritual sense washing the hands in innocency , and then let him go to the altar : let him not for any excuse less than impossibility omit to receive the holy Sacrament ; which the Father 's assembled in the great Nicene Council have taught all the Christian world to call the most necessary provisions for our last journey ; which is the memory of that Death by which we hope for life ; which is the seed of Immortality and Resurrection of our bodies ; which unites our spirit to Christ ; which is a great defensative against the hostilities of the Devil ; which is the most solemn Prayer of the Church , united and made acceptable by the Sacrifice of Christ , which is then represented and exhibited to God ; which is the great instrument of spiritual increase and the growth of Grace ; which is duty and reward , food and Physick , health and pleasure , deletery and cordial , prayer and thanksgiving , an union of mysteries , the marriage of the Soul , and the perfection of all the Rites of Christianity : dying with the holy Sacrament in us is a going to God with Christ in our arms , and interposing him between us and his angry sentence . But then we must be sure that we have done all the duty , without which we cannot communicate worthily . For else Satan comes in the place of Christ , and it is a horrour not less than infinite to appear before God's Tribunal possessed in our Souls with the spirit of darkness . True it is , that by many Laws of the Church the Bishop and the Minister are bound to give the holy Eucharist to every person who in the article or apparent danger of death desires it , provided that he hath submitted himself to the imposition and counsels of the Bishop or Guide of his Soul , that , in case he recovers , he may be brought to the peace of God and his Church by such steps and degrees of Repentance by which other publick sinners are reconciled . But to this gentleness of Discipline and easiness of Administration those excellent persons who made the Canons thought themselves compelled by the rigour of the 〈◊〉 : and because they admitted not lapsed persons to the peace of the Church upon any terms , though never so great , so publick , or so penal a Repentance ; therefore these not onely remitted them to the exercise and station of Penitents , but also to the Communion . But the Fathers of the Council of Eliberis denied this favour to persons who after Baptism were Idolaters ; either intending this as a great argument to affright persons from so great a crime , or else believing that it was unpardonable after Baptism , a contradiction to that state which we entred into by Baptism and the Covenant Evangelical . However , I desire all learned persons to observe it , and the less learned also to make use of it , that those more ancient Councils of the Church which commanded the holy Communion to be given to dying persons , meant only such which , according to the custome of the Church , were under the conditions of Repentance , that is , such to whom punishment and Discipline of divers years were injoyned ; and if it happened they died in the intervall , before the expiration of their time of reconciliation , then they admitted them to the Communion . Which describes to us the doctrine of those Ages when Religion was purer , and Discipline more severe , and holy life secured by rules of excellent Government ; that those only were fit to come to that Feast who before their last sickness had finished the Repentance of many years , * or at least had undertaken it . I cannot say it was so always , and in all Churches ; for as the Disciples grew slack , or mens perswasions had variety , so they were more ready to grant Repentance as well as Absolution to dying persons : but it was otherwise in the best times , and with severer Prelates . And certainly it were great charity to deny the Communion to persons who have lived viciously till their death ; provided it be by competent authority , and done sincerely , prudently ; and without temporal interest : to other persons , who have lived good lives , or repented of their bad , though less perfectly , it ought not to be denied , and they less ought to neglect it . 25. But as every man must put himself , so also he must put his house in order , make his Will , if he have an Estate to dispose of ; and in that he must be careful to do Justice to every man , and Charity to the poor , according as God hath enabled him : and though Charity is then very late , if it begins not earlier ; yet if this be but an act of an ancient habit , it is still more perfect , as it succeeds in time , and superadds to the former stock . And among other acts of Duty let it be remembred , that it is excellent Charity to leave our Will and desires clear , plain and determinate , that contention and Law-suits may be prevented by the explicate declaration of the Legacies . At last and in all instances and periods of our following days let the former good acts be renewed ; let God be praised for all his Graces and Blessings of our life , let him be intreated for Pardon of our sins , let acts of Love and Contrition , of Hope , of Joy , of Humility be the work of every day which God still permits us , always remembring to ask remission for those sins we remember not . And if the condition of our sickness permits it , let our last breath expire with an act of Love ; that it may begin the Charities of Eternity , and , like a Taper burnt to its lowest base , it may go out with a great emission of light , leaving a sweet smell behind us to perfume our Coffin ; and that these lights , newly made brighter or trimmed up in our sickness , may shine about our Herse , that they may become arguments of a pious sadness to our friends , ( as the charitable Coats which Dorcas made were to the widows ) and exemplar to all those who observed , or shall hear of , our holy life and religious death . But if it shall happen that the disease be productive of evil accidents , as a disturbed phancy , a weakned understanding , wild discoursings , or any deprivation of the use of Reason , it concerns the sick persons , in the happy intervalls of a quiet untroubled spirit , to pray earnestly to God that nothing may pass from him in the rages of a Fever or worse distemper which may less become his duty , or give scandal , or cause trouble to the persons in attendance : and if he shall also renounce and disclaim all such evil words which his disease may speak , not himself , he shall do the duty of a Christian and a prudent person . And after these 〈◊〉 , he may with Piety and confidence resign his Soul into the hands of God , to be deposited in holy receptacles till the day of restitution of all things ; and in the mean time with a quiet spirit descend into that state which is the lot of Caesars , and where all Kings and Conquerours have laid aside their glories . The PRAYER . O Eternal and Holy Jesus , who by Death hast overcome Death , and by thy Passion hast taken out its sting , and made it to become one of the gates of Heaven , and an entrance to Felicity ; have mercy upon me now and at the hour of my death : let thy Grace accompany me all the days of my life , that I may by a holy Conversation , and an habitual performance of my Duty , wait for the coming of our Lord , and be ready to enter with thee at whatsoever hour thou shalt come . Lord , let not my death be in any sence unprovided , nor untimely , nor hasty , but after the common manner of men , having in it nothing extraordinary , but an extraordinary Piety , and the manifestation of a great and miraculous Mercy . Let my Senses and Understanding be preserved intire till the last of my days , and grant that I may die the death of the righteous , having first discharged all my obligations of justice , leaving none miserable and unprovided in my departure ; but be thou the portion of all my friends and relatives , and let thy blessing descend upon their heads , and abide there , till they shall meet me in the bosom of our Lord. Preserve me ever in the communion and peace of the Church ; and bless my Death bed with the opportunity of a holy and a spiritual Guide , with the assistence and guard of Angels , with the perception of the holy Sacrament , with Patience and dereliction of my own 〈◊〉 , with a strong Faith , and a firm and humble Hope , with just measures of Repentance , and great treasures of Charity to thee my God , and to all the world ; that my Soul in the arms of the Holy Jesus may be deposited with safety and joy , there to expect the revelation of thy Day , and then to partake the glories of thy Kingdom , O Eternal and Holy Jesus . Amen . Considerations upon the Crucifixion of the Holy JESUS . He beareth his Cross Ioh : 19. 16. 17. And they took Iesus and lead him away : 17. And he bearing his Cross went forth into a place called the place of a Scult ; which is called in y e Hebrew , Golgotha . They Erect the Crucifixe . Ioh : 3. 14. 15. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in y e wilderness , even so must y e Son of man be lifted up . 15. That whosoever believeth on him should not perish , but haue eternall life . 1. WHen the Sentence of Death pronounced against the Lord was to be put in execution , the Souldiers pulled off the Robe of mockery , the scarlet Mantle , which in jest they put upon him , and put on his own garments . But , as Origen observes , the Evangelist mentioned not that they took off the Crown of thorns ; what might serve their interest they pursue , but nothing of remission or mercy to the afflicted Son of man : but so it became the King of Sufferings ; not to lay aside his Imperial thorns , till they were changed into Diadems of Glory . But now Abel is led forth by his brother to be slain . A gay spectacle to satisfie impious eyes , who would not stay behind , but attended and waited upon the hangman to see the Catastrophe of this bloudy Tragedy . But when Piety looks on , she beholds a glorious mystery . Sin laughed to see the King of Heaven and Earth , and the great lover of Souls , in stead of the Scepter of his Kingdom to bear a Tree of 〈◊〉 and shame . But Plety wept tears of pity , and knew they would melt into joy , when she should behold that Cross which loaded the shoulders of her Lord afterward sit upon the Scepters , and be engraved and signed upon the Foreheads of Kings . 2. It cannot be thought but the Ministers of Jewish malice used all the circumstances of affliction which in any case were accustomed towards malefactors and persons to be crucified , and therefore it was that in some old Figures we see our Blessed Lord described with a Table appendent to the fringe of his garment , set full of nails and pointed iron ; for so sometimes they afflicted persons condemned to that kind of Death , and S. Cyprian affirms that Christ did stick to the wood that he carried , being galled with the iron at his heels , and nailed even before his Crucifixion . But this and the other accidents of his journey and their malice so crushed his wounded , tender and virginal body , that they were forced to lay the load upon a Cyrenian , fearing that he should die with less shame and smart than they intended him . But so he was pleased to take man unto his aid , not only to represent his own need and the dolorousness of his Passion , but to consign the duty unto man , that we must enter into a 〈◊〉 of Christ's sufferings , taking up the Cross of Martyrdom when God requires us , enduring affronts , being patient under affliction , loving them that hate us , and being benefactors to our enemies , abstaining from sensual and intemperate delight , forbidding to our selves lawful festivities and recreations of our weariness , when we have an end of the spirit to serve upon the ruines of the bodie 's strength , mortifying our desires , breaking our own will , not seeking our selves , being entirely resigned to God. These are the Cross , and the Nails , and the Spear , and the Whip , and all the instruments of a Christian's Passion . And we may consider , that every man in this world shall in some sence or other bear a Cross , few men escape it , and it is not well with them that do : but they only bear it well that 〈◊〉 Christ , and tread in his steps , and bear it for his sake , and walk as he walked ; and he that follows his own desires , when he meets with a cross there , ( as it is certain enough he will ) bears the cross of his Concupiscence , and that hath no fellowship with the Cross of Christ. By the Precept of bearing the Cross we are not tied to pull evil upon our selves , that we may imitate our Lord in nothing but in being afflicted ; or to personate the punitive exercises of Mortification and severe Abstinencies which were eminent in some Saints , and to which they had special assistances , as others had the gift of Chastity , and for which they had special reason , and , as they apprehended , some great necessities : but it is required that we bear our own Cross , so said our dearest Lord. For when the Cross of Christ is laid upon us , and we are called to Martyrdom , then it is our own , because God made it to be our portion : and when by the necessities of our spirit and the rebellion of our body we need exteriour mortifications and acts of self-denial : then also it is our own cross , because our needs have made it so ; and so it is when God sends us sickness or any other calamity : what-ever is either an effect of our ghostly needs , or the condition of our temporal estate , it calls for our sufferance , and patience , and equanimity ; for therefore Christ hath suffered for us , ( saith S. Peter ) leaving us an example , that we should follow his steps , who bore his Cross as long as he could , and when he could no longer , he murmured not , but sank under it ; and then he was content to receive such aid , not which he chose himself , but such as was assigned him . 3. Jesus was led out of the gates of Jerusalem , that he might become the sacrifice for persons without the pale , even for all the world : And the daughters of Jerusalem followed him with pious tears till they came to Calvary , a place difficult in the ascent , eminent and apt for the publication of shame , a hill of death and dead bones , polluted and impure , and there beheld him stript naked , who cloaths the field with flowers , and all the world with robes , and the whole globe with the canopy of Heaven , and so dress'd , that now every circumstance was a triumph : By his Disgrace he trampled upon our Pride ; by his Poverty and nakedness he triumphed over our Covetousness and love of riches ; and by his Pains chastised the Delicacies of our flesh , and broke in pieces the fetters of Concupiscence . For as soon as Adam was clothed he quitted Paradise ; and Jesus was made naked , that he might bring us in again . And we also must be despoil'd of all our exteriour adherencies , that we may pass through the regions of duty and divine love to a society of blessed spirits , and a clarified , immortal , and beatified estate . 4. There they nailed Jesus with four nails , fixed his Cross in the ground , which with its fall into the place of its station gave infinite torture by so violent a concussion of the body of our Lord , which rested upon nothing but four great wounds ; where he was designed to suffer a long and lingring torment . For Crucifixion , as it was an excellent pain , sharp and passionate , so it was not of quick effect towards taking away the life . S. Andrew was two whole days upon the Cross ; and some Martyrs have upon the Cross been rather starved and devoured with birds , than killed with the proper torment of the tree . But Jesus took all his Passion with a voluntary susception , God heightning it to the great degrees of torment supernaturally ; and he laid down his life voluntarily , when his Father's wrath was totally appeased towards mankind . 5. Some have phansied that Christ was pleased to take something from every condition of which Man ever was or shall be possessed ; taking Immunity from sin from Adam's state of Innocence , Punishment and misery from the state of Adam fallen , the fulness of Grace from the state of Renovation , and perfect Contemplation of the Divinity and beatifick joys from the state of Comprehension and the blessedness of Heaven ; meaning , that the Humanity of our Blessed Saviour did in the sharpest agony of his Passion behold the face of God , and communicate in glory . But I consider that , although the two Natures of Christ were knit by a mysterious union into one Person , yet the Natures still retain their incommunicable properties . Christ as God is not subject to sufferings , as a man he is the subject of miseries ; as God he is eternal , as man , mortal and commensurable by time ; as God , the supreme Law-giver , as man , most humble and obedient to the Law : and therefore that the Humane nature was united to the Divine , it does not infer that it must in all instances partake of the Divine felicities , which in God are essential , to man communicated without necessity , and by an arbitrary dispensation . Add to this , that some vertues and excellencies were in the Soul of Christ which could not consist with the state of glorified and beatified persons ; such as are Humility , Poverty of spirit , Hope , Holy desires ; all which , having their seat in the Soul , suppose even in the supremest 〈◊〉 a state of pilgrimage , that is , a condition which is imperfect , and in order to something beyond its present . For therefore Christ ought to suffer , ( saith our Blessed Lord himself ) and so enter into his glory . And S. Paul affirms , that we see Jesus made a little lower than the Angels , for the suffering of death , 〈◊〉 with glory and honour . And again , Christ humbled himself , and became obedient unto death , even the death of the Cross : Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him , and given him a Name above every name . Thus his present life was a state of merit and work , and as a reward of it he was crowned with glory and immortality , his Name was exalted , his Kingdom glorified , he was made the Lord of all the Creatures , the first-fruits of the Resurrection , the exemplar of glory , and the Prince and Head of the Catholick Church : and because this was his recompence , and the fruits of his Humility and Obedience , it is certain it was not a necessary consequence and a natural efflux of the personal union of the Godhead with the Humanity . This I discourse to this purpose , that we may not in our esteem lessen the suffering of our dearest Lord by thinking he had the supports of actual Glory in the midst of all his Sufferings . For there is no one minute or ray of Glory but its fruition does outweigh and make us insensible of the greatest calamities , and the spirit of pain , which can be extracted from all the infelicities of this world . True it is , that the greatest beauties in this world are receptive of an allay of sorrow , and nothing can have pleasure in all capacities . The most beautious feathers of the birds of Paradise , the Estrich , or the Peacock , if put into our throat , are not there so pleasant as to the eye : But the beatifick joys of the least glory of Heaven take away all pain , wipe away all tears from our eyes ; and it is not possible that at the same instant the Soul of Jesus should be ravished with Glory , and yet abated with pains grievous and 〈◊〉 . On the other side , some say that the Soul of Jesus upon the Cross suffered the pains of Hell , and all the torments of the damned , and that without such sufferings it is not imaginable he should pay the price which God's wrath should demand of us . But the same that reproves the one does also reprehend the other ; for the Hope that was the support of the Soul of Jesus , as it confesses an imperfection that is not consistent with the state of Glory , so it excludes the Despair that is the torment proper to accursed souls . Our dearest Lord suffered the whole condition of Humanity , Sin only excepted , and freed us from Hell with suffering those sad pains , and merited Heaven for his own Humanity , as the Head , and all faithful people , as the Members of his mystical Body . And therefore his life here was only a state of pilgrimage , not at all trimmed with beatifick glories . Much less was he ever in the state of Hell , or upon the Cross felt the formal misery and spirit of torment which is the 〈◊〉 of damned spirits ; because it was impossible Christ should despair , and without Despair it is impossible there should be a Hell. But this is highly probable , that in the intension of degrees and present anguish the Soul of our Lord might feel a greater load of wrath than is incumbent in every instant upon perishing souls . For all the sadness which may be imagined to be in Hell consists in acts produced from principles that cannot surpass the force of humane or Angelical nature ; but the pain which our Blessed Lord endured for the expiation of our sins was an issue of an united and concentred anger , was received into the heart of God and Man , and was commensurate to the whole latitude of the Grace , Patience and Charity of the Word incarnate . The Crucisixion . Mark : 15 : 25. Erat autem Hora tertia & crucifixerunt eum . Mark. 15 : 25. And is was the third houre & they crucified him . The takeing down from the Cross. Luk. 23 : 50 And there was a man named Ioseph , a Counsellour & he was a good man & a lust ( y e same had not consented to y e counsell & deed of them . 52. This man went unto Pilate & begged y e Body of Iesus . 53 And he took it down & wrapped it in linen , & layd it in a Sepulehre , that was hewn in stone wherein never man before was layd . 6. And now behold the Priest and the Sacrifice of all the world laid upon the Altar of the Cross , bleeding , and tortured , and dying , to reconcile his Father to us : and he was arrayed with ornaments more glorious than the robes of Aaron . The Crown of Thorns was his Mitre , the Cross his Pastoral staffe , the Nails piercing his hands were in stead of Rings , the ancient ornament of Priests , and his flesh rased and checker'd with blew and bloud in stead of the parti-coloured Robe . But as this object calls for our Devotion , our Love and Eucharist to our dearest Lord ; so it must needs irreconcile us to Sin , which in the eye of all the world brought so great shame and pain and amazement upon the Son of God , when he only became engaged by a charitable substitution of himself in our place ; and therefore we are assured , by the demonstration of sense and experience , it will bring death and all imaginable miseries as the just expresses of God's indignation and hatred : for to this we may apply the words of our Lord in the prediction of miseries to Jerusalem , If this be done in the green tree , what shall be done in the dry ? For it is certain , Christ infinitely pleased his Father even by becoming the person made 〈◊〉 in estimate of Law ; and yet so great Charity of our Lord , and the so great love and pleasure of his Father , exempted him not from suffering pains intolerable : and much less shall those escape who provoke and displease God , and despise so great Salvation , which the Holy Jesus hath wrought with the expence of bloud and so precious a life . 7. But here we see a great representation and testimony of the Divine Justice , who was so angry with sin , who had so severely threatned it , who does so essentially hate it , that he would not spare his only Son , when he became a conjunct person , relative to the guilt by undertaking the charges of our Nature . For although God hath set down in holy Scripture the order of his Justice , and the manner of its manifestation , that one Soul shall not perish for the sins of another ; yet this is meant for Justice and for Mercy too , that is , he will not curse the Son for the Father's fault , or in any relation whatsoever substitute one person for another to make him involuntarily guilty : But when this shall be desired by a person that cannot finally perish , and does a mercy to the exempt persons , and is a voluntary act of the suscipient , and shall in the event also redound to an infinite good , it is no deflection from the Divine Justice to excuse many by the affliction of one , who also for that very suffering shall have infinite compensation . We see that for the sin of Cham all his posterity were accursed : the Subjects of David died with the Plague , because their Prince numbred the people : Idolatry is punished in the children of the fourth generation : Saul's seven sons were hanged for breaking the League of Gibeon ; and Ahab's sin was punished in his posterity , he escaping , and the evil was brought upon his house in his son's days . In all these cases the evil descended upon persons in near relation to the sinner , and was a punishment to him and a misery to these , and were either chastisements also of their own sins , or if they were not , they served other ends of Providence , and led the afflicted innocent to a condition of recompence accidentally procured by that infliction . But if for such relation's sake and oeconomical and political conjunction , as between Prince and People , the evil may be transmitted from one to another , much rather is it just , when by contract a competent and conjunct person undertakes to quit his relative . Thus when the Hand steals , the Back is whipt ; and an evil Eye is punished with a hungry Belly . Treason causes the whole Family to be miserable ; and a Sacrilegious Grandfather hath sent a Locust to devour the increase of the Nephews . 8. But in our case it is a voluntary contract , and therefore no Injustice ; all parties are voluntary . God is the supreme Lord , and his actions are the measure of Justice : we , who had deserved the punishment , had great reason to desire a Redeemer : and yet Christ , who was to pay the ransome , was more desirous of it than we were , for we asked it not before it was promised and undertaken . But thus we see that Sureties pay the obligation of the principal Debtor , and the Pledges of Contracts have been by the best and wisest Nations slain when the Articles have been broken : The Thessalians slew 250 Pledges ; the Romans 300 of the Volsci , and threw the Tarentines from the Tarpeian rock . And that it may appear Christ was a person in all sences competent to do this for us , himself * testifies that he had power over his own life , to take it up , or lay it down . And therefore as there can be nothing against the most exact justice and reason of Laws and punishments ; so it magnifies the Divine Mercy , who removes the punishment from us who of necessity must have sunk under it , and yet makes us to adore his Severity , who would not forgive us without punishing his Son for us ; to consign unto us his perfect hatred against Sin , to conserve the sacredness of his Laws , and to imprint upon us great characters of fear and love . The famous Locrian Zaleucus made a Law , that all Adulterers should lose both their eyes : his son was first unhappily surprised in the crime ; and his Father , to keep a temper between the piety and soft spirit of a Parent , and the justice and severity of a Judge , put out one of his own eyes , and one of his Sons . So God did with us ; he made some abatement , that is , as to the person with whom he was angry , but inflicted his anger upon our Redeemer , whom he essentially loved , to secure the dignity of his Sanctions and the sacredness of Obedience ; so marrying Justice and Mercy by the intervening of a commutation . Thus David escaped by the death of his Son , God chusing that penalty for the expiation : and Cimon offered himself to prison , to purchase the liberty of his Father Miltiades . It was a filial duty in Cimon , and yet the Law was satisfied . And both these concurred in our great Redeemer . For God , who was the sole Arbitrator , so disposed it , and the eternal Son of God submitted to this way of expiating our crimes , and became an argument of faith and belief of the great Article of Remission of sins , and other its appendent causes and effects and adjuncts ; it being wrought by a visible and notorious Passion . It was made an encouragement of Hope ; for he that spared not his own Son to reconcile us , will with him give all things else to us so reconciled : and a great endearment of our Duty and Love , as it was a demonstration of his . And in all the changes and traverses of our life he is made to us a great example of all excellent actions and all patient sufferings . 9. In the midst of two Thieves three long hours the holy Jesus hung clothed with pain , agony and dishonour , all of them so eminent and vast , that he who could not but hope , whose Soul was enchased with Divinity , and dwelt in the bosom of God , and in the Cabinet of the mysterious Trinity , yet had a cloud of misery so thick and black drawn before him , that he complained as if God had forsaken him : but this was the pillar of cloud which conducted Israel into Canaan . And as God behind the Cloud supported the Holy Jesus , and stood ready to receive him into the union of his Glories ; so his Soul in that great desertion had internal comforts proceeding from consideration of all those excellent persons which should be adopted into the fellowship of his Sufferings , which should imitate his Graces , which should communicate his Glories . And we follow this Cloud to our Country , having Christ for our Guide : and though he trode the way , leaning upon the Cross , which like the staffe of Egypt pierced his hands ; yet it is to us a comfort and support , pleasant to our spirits as the sweetest Canes , strong as the pillars of the earth , and made apt for our use by having been born and made smooth by the hands of our Elder Brother . 10. In the midst of all his torments Jesus only made one Prayer of sorrow to represent his sad condition to his Father ; but no accent of murmur , no syllable of anger against his enemies : In stead of that he sent up a holy , charitable and effective Prayer for their forgiveness , and by that Prayer obtained of God that within 55 days 8000 of his enemies were converted . So potent is the prayer of Charity , that it prevails above the malice of men , turning the arts of Satan into the designs of God ; and when malice occasions the Prayer , the Prayer becomes an antidote to malice . And by this instance our Blessed Lord consigned that Duty to us which in his Sermons he had preached , That we should forgive our enemies , and pray for them : and by so doing our selves are freed from the stings of anger , and the storms of a revengeful spirit ; and we oftentimes procure servants to God friends to our selves , and heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven . 11. Of the two Thieves that were crucified together with our Lord , the one blasphemed ; the other had at that time the greatest Piety in the world , except that of the Blessed Virgin , and particularly had such a Faith , that all the Ages of the Church could never shew the like . For when he saw Christ in the same condemnation with himself , crucisied by the Romans , accused and scorned by the Jews , forsaken by his own Apostles , a dying distressed Man , doing at that time no Miracles to attest his Divinity or Innocence ; yet then he confesses him to be a Lord , and a King , and his Saviour : He confessed his own shame and unworthiness , he submitted to the death of the Cross , and , by his voluntary acceptation and tacite volition of it , made it equivalent to as great a punishment of his own susception ; he shewed an incomparable modesty , begging but for a remembrance only , he knew himself so sinful , he durst ask no more ; he reproved the other Thief for Blasphemy ; he confessed the world to come , and owned Christ publickly , he prayed to him , he hoped in him , and pitied him , shewing an excellent Patience in this sad condition . And in this I consider , that besides the excellency of some of these acts , and the goodness of all , the like occasion for so exemplar Faith never can occur ; and until all these things shall in these circumstances meet in any one man , he must not hope for so safe an Exit after an evil life 〈◊〉 the confidence of this example . But now Christ had the key of Paradise in his hand , and God blessed the good Thief with this opportunity of letting him in , who at another time might have waited longer , and been tied to harder conditions . And indeed it is very probable that he was much advantaged by the intervening accident of dying at the same time with Christ ; there being a natural compassion produced in us towards the partners of our miseries . For Christ was not void of humane passions , though he had in them no imperfection or irregularity , and therefore might be invited by the society of misery , the rather to admit him to participate his joys ; and S. Paul proves him to be a merciful high Priest , because he was touched with a feeling of our infirmities : the first expression of which was to this blessed Thief ; Christ and he together sate at the Supper of bitter herbs , and Christ payed his symbol , promising that he should that day be together with him in Paradise . 12. By the Cross of Christ stood the Holy Virgin Mother , upon whom old Simeon's Prophecy was now verified : for now she felt a sword passing through her very soul : she stood without clamour and womanish noises , sad , silent , and with a modest grief , deep as the waters of the abysse , but smooth as the face of a pool , full of Love , and Patience , and Sorrow , and Hope . Now she was put to it to make use of all those excellent discourses her Holy Son had used to build up her spirit , and fortifie it against this day . Now she felt the blessings and strengths of Faith , and she passed from the griefs of the Passion to the expectation of the Resurrection , and she rested in this Death as in a sad remedy ; for she knew it reconciled God with all the World. But her Hope drew a veil before her Sorrow ; and though her Grief was great enough to swallow her up , yet her Love was greater , and did swallow up her grief . But the Sun also had a veil upon his face , and taught us to draw a curtain before the Passion , which would be the most artificial expression of its greatness , whilest by silence and wonder we confess it great beyond our expression , or , which is all one , great as the burthen and baseness of our sins . And with this veil drawn before the face of Jesus let us suppose him at the gates of Paradise , calling with his last words in a loud voice to have them opened , that the King of glory might come in . The PRAYER . O Holy Jesus , who for our sakes didst suffer incomparable anguish and pains commensurate to thy Love , and our Miseries , which were infinite , that thou mightest purchase for 〈◊〉 blessings upon Earth , and an inheritance in Heaven ; dispose us by Love , Thankfulness , Humility and Obedience , to receive all the benefit of thy Passion , granting unto us and thy whole Church remission of all our sins , integrity of mind , health of body , competent maintenance , peace in our days , a temperate air , fruitfulness of the earth , unity and integrity of Faith , extirpation of Heresies , reconcilements of Schisms , destruction of all wicked counsels intended against us ; and bind the hands of Rapine and Sacriledge , that they may not destroy the vintage , and root up the Vine it self . Multiply thy Blessings upon us , sweetest Jesus , increase in us true Religion , sincere and actual devotion in our Prayers , Patience in troubles , and whatsoever is necessary to our Soul's health , or conducing to thy Glory . Amen . II. O Dearest Saviour , I adore thy mercies and thy incomparable love expressed in thy so voluntary susception and affectionate suffering such horrid and sad Tortures , which cannot be remembred without a sad compassion ; the waters of bitterness entred into thy Soul , and the storms of Death and thy Father's anger broke thee all in pieces : and what shall I do , who by my sins have so tormented my dearest Lord ? what Contrition can be great enough , what tears sufficiently expressive , what hatred and detestation of my crimes can be equal and commensurate to those sad accidents which they have produced ? Pity me , O Lord , pity me , dearest God , turn those thy merciful eyes towards me , O most merciful Redeemer ; for my sins are great , like unto thy Passion , full of sorrow and shame , and a burthen too great for me to bear . Lord , who hast done so much for me , now only speak the word , and thy servant shall be whole : Let thy Wounds heal me , thy Vertues amend me , thy Death quicken me ; that I in this life suffering the cross of a sad and salutary Repentance , in the union and merits of thy 〈◊〉 and Passion , may die with thee , and rest with thee , and rise again with thee , and live with thee for ever in the possession of thy Glories , O dearest Saviour Jesus . Amen . SECT . XVI . Of the Resurrection and Ascension of JESUS . The Burial of Iesus . Mat 27 57 When the even was come there came a rich man of Arimathea , named Jo seph , who also himself was Jesus Disciple , he went to Pilate , & beggd the body of Jesus . Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered . And when Ioseph had taken the body , he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth , & layd it in his own new tomb , which he had hewen out in y e rock . The Resurrection of Iesus . Mat 28 2 And behold there was a great earthquake : for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven & came & rolled back y e stone from the doore , and sate upon it And for feare of him the keepers did shake , & became as dead men . And the Angel sayd unto the woman . Fear not ye , for I know , that ye seek Iesus , that was crucified . He is not here for he is Risen , as he sayd . 1. WHile it was yet early in the morning , upon the first day of the week , Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James and Salome brought sweet spices to the Sepulchre , that they might again embalm the Holy Body ; ( for the rites of Embalming among the Hebrews used to last forty days ) and their love was not satisfied with what Joseph had done . They therefore hastned to the grave ; and after they had expended their money , and bought the spices , then begin to consider , who shall remove the stone : but yet they still go on , and their love answers the objection , not knowing how it should be done , but yet resolving to go through all the difficulties ; but never remember or take care to pass the guards of Souldiers . But when they came to the Sepulchre , they found the Guard affrighted and removed , and the stone rolled away ; for there had a little before their arrival been a great Earthquake , and an Angel descending from Heaven rolled away the stone , and sate upon it ; and for fear of him the guards about the tomb became astonished with fear , and were like dead men : and some of them ran to the High Priests , and told them what happened . But they now resolving to make their iniquity safe and unquestionable by a new crime , hire the Souldiers to tell an incredible and a weak fable , that his Disciples came by night and stole him away : Against which accident the wit of man could give no more security than themselves had made . The women entred into the Sepulchre , and missing the body of Jesus , Mary Magdalen ran to the eleven Apostles , complaining that the body of our Lord was not to be found . Then Peter and John ran as fast as they could to see : for the unexpectedness of the relation , the wonder of the story and the sadness of the person moved some affections in them , which were kindled by the first principles and sparks of Faith , but were not made actual and definite , because the Faith was not raised to a flame : they looked into the Sepulchre , and finding not the body there , they returned . By this time Mary Magdalen was come back , and the women who stayed weeping for their Lord's body saw two Angels sitting in white , the one at the head , and the other at the 〈◊〉 ; at which unexpected sight they trembled , and bowed themselves : but an Angel bid them not to fear , telling them that Jesus of Nazareth , who was crucified , was also risen , and was not there , and called to mind what Jesus had told them in Galilee concerning his Crucifixion , and Resurrection the third day . 2. And Mary Magdalen turned her self back , and saw Jesus ; but supposing him to be the Gardiner , she said to him , Sir , if thou have born him hence , tell me where thou hast laid him , and I will take him away . But Jesus said unto her , Mary . Then she knew his voice , and with ecstasie of joy and wonder was ready to have crushed his feet with her imbraces : but he commanded her not to touch him , but go to his Erethren , and say , I ascend unto my Father , and to your Father , to my God , and your God. Mary departed with satisfaction beyond the joys of a victory or a full vintage , and told these things to the Apostles : but the narration seem'd to them as talk of abused and phantastick persons . About the same time Jesus also appeared unto Simon Peter . Towards the declining of the day , two of his Disciples going to Emmans sad , and discoursing of the late occurrences , Jesus puts himself into their company , and upbraids their incredulity , and expounds the Scriptures , that Christ ought to suffer , and rise again the third day , and in the breaking of bread disappeared ; and so was known to them by vanishing away , whom present they knew not . And instantly they hasten to Jerusalem , and told the Apostles what had happened . 3. And while they were there , that is , the same day at evening , when the Apostles were assembled all save Thomas , secretly for fear of the Jews , the doors being shut , Jesus came and stood in the midst of them . They were exceedingly troubled , supposing it had been a Spirit . But Jesus confuted them by the Philosophy of their senses , by feeling his 〈◊〉 and bones , which spirits have not . For he gave them his benediction , shewing them his hands and his feet . At which sight they rejoyced with exceeding joy , and began to be restored to their indefinite hopes of some future felicity by the returns of their Lord to life : and there he first breathed on them , giving them the holy Ghost , and performing the promise twice made before his death , the promise of the Keys , or of binding and loosing , saying , Whose soever sins ye remit , they are remitted to them ; and whose soever sins ye retain , they are retained . And that was the second part of Clerical power with which Jesus instructed his Disciples , in order to their great Commission of Preaching and Government 〈◊〉 . These things were told to Thomas , but he believed not , and resolved against the belief of it , unless he might put his finger into his hands , and his hand into his side . Jesus therefore on the Octaves of his Resurrection appeared again to the Apostles met together , and makes demonstration to Thomas , in conviction and reproof of his unbelief , promising a special benediction to all succeeding Ages of the Church ; for they are such who saw not , and yet have believed . 4. But Jesus at his early appearing had sent an order by the women , that the Disciples should go into 〈◊〉 ; and they did so after a few days . And Simon Peter being there went a fishing , and six other of the Apostles with him , to the Sea of Tiberias , where they laboured all night , and caught nothing . Towards the morning Jesus appeared to them , and bad them cast the net on the right side of the ship ; which they did , and inclosed an hundred and fifty three great fishes : by which prodigious draught John the beloved Disciple perceived it was the Lord. At which instant Peter threw himself into the Sea , and went to Jesus ; and when the rest were come to shore , they din'd with broiled fish . After dinner Jesus , taking care for those scattered sheep which were dispersed over the face of the earth , that he might gather them into one Sheepfold under one 〈◊〉 , asked Peter , Simon son of Jonas , lovest thou me more than these ? Peter answered , Yea , Lord , thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee . Then Jesus said unto him , Feed my Lambs . And Jesus asked him the same question , and gave him the same Precept the second time , and the third time : for it was a considerable and a weighty imployment , upon which Jesus was willing to spend all his endearments and stock of affections that Peter owed him , even upon the care of his little Flock . And after the intrusting of this charge to him , he told him , that the reward he should have in this world should be a sharp and an honourable Martyrdom ; and withall checks at Peter's curiosity in busying himself about the temporal accidents of other men , and enquiring what should become of John the beloved Disciple . Jesus answered his question with some sharpness of reprehension , and no satisfaction ; If I will that he tarry till I come , what is that to thee ? Then they phansied that he should not die : But they were mistaken , for the intimation was expounded and verified by S. John's surviving the destruction of Jerusalem ; for after the attempts of persecutors , and the miraculous escape of prepared torments , he died a natural death in a good old age . 5. After this , Jesus having appointed a solemn meeting for all the Brethren that could be collected from the dispersion , and named a certain mountain in 〈◊〉 , appeared to five hundred Brethren at once ; and this was his most publick and solemn manifestation : and while some doubted , Jesus came according to the designation , and spake to the eleven , sent them to preach to all the world Repentance and Remission of sins in his Name , promising to be with them to the end of the world . He appeared also unto James , but at what time is uncertain ; save that there is something concerning it in the Gospel of S. Matthew which the Nazarens of 〈◊〉 used , and which it is likely themselves added out of report ; for there is nothing of it in our Greek Copies . The words are these : When the Lord had given the linen in which he was wrapped to the servant of the High Priest , he went and appeared unto James . For James had vowed , after he received the Lord's Supper , that he would eat no bread till he saw the Lord risen from the grave . Then the Lord called for bread , he blessed it and brake it , and gave it to James the Just , and said , My Brother , eat bread , for the Son of man is risen from the sleep of death . So that by this it should seem to be done upon the day of the Resurrection . But the relation of it by S. Paul puts it between the appearance which he made to the five hundred , and that last to the Apostles when he was to ascend into Heaven . Last of all , when the Apostles were at dinner , he appeared to them , upbraiding their incredulity : and then he opened their understanding , that they might discern the sence of Scripture , and again commanded them to preach the Gospel to all the world , giving them power to do Miracles , to cast out Devils , to cure 〈◊〉 ; and instituted the Sacrament of Baptism , which he commanded should together with the Sermons of the Gospel be administred to all Nations in the Name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost . Then he led them into Judaea , and they came to Bethany , and from thence to the mount Olivet ; and he commanded them to stay in Jerusalem , till the Holy Ghost , the promise of the Father , should descend upon them , which should be accomplished in few days ; and then they should know the times , and the seasons , and all things necessary for their ministration and service , and propagation of the Gospel . And while he discoursed many things concerning the Kingdom , behold a Cloud came and parted Jesus from them , and carried him in their sight up into Heaven , where he sits at the right hand of God blessed for ever . Amen . 6. While his Apostles stood gazing up to Heaven , two Angels appeared to them , and told them , that Jesus should come in like manner as he was taken away , viz. with glory and majesty , and in the clouds , and with the ministry of Angels . Amen . Come , Lord JESUS ; come quickly . Ad SECT . XVI . Considerations upon the Accidents happening in the intervall after the Death of the Holy JESUS , untill his Resurrection . Jesus and Mary in the Garden . Joh. 20. 14. 15. 16. Mary turning about saw Jesus standing & knew not y t it was Jesus , Jesus saith , woman , whom seekest thou ? Shee supposing him to be the garidner , saith . sir , if thou have born him hence , tell me , etc. Jesus saith unto her , Mary : she turned her self , and saith unto him , Rabboni , which is Master . Jesus saith unto her , touch me not for , etc. Mary Magdalen came and told the desciples , that she had seen the Lord. Our Lords Ascension . Acts. 1. 9. And when he had spoken these things , while they beheld , he was taken up , & a Cloud received him out of their sight . 10. And while they stedfastly looked toward heaven , behold two men stood by them in white apparell . 11. Which also said , this same Iesus shall so come , as you have seen him go into heaven . 1. THE Holy Jesus promised to the blessed Thief , that he should that day be with him in Paradise ; which therefore was certainly a place or state of Blessedness , because it was a promise ; and in the society of Jesus , whose penal and afflictive part of his work of Redemption was finished upon the Cross. Our Blessed Lord did not promise he should that day be with him in his Kingdom , for that day it was not opened , and the everlasting doors of those interiour recesses were to be shut till after the Resurrection , that himself was to ascend thither , and make way for all his servants to enter , in the same method in which he went before us . Our Blessed Lord descended into Hell , saith the Creed of the Apostles , from the Sermon of Saint Peter , as he from the words of David , that is , into the state of Separation and common receptacle of Spirits , according to the style of Scripture . But the name of [ Hell ] is no-where in Scripture an appellative of the Kingdom of Christ , of the place of final and supreme Glory . But concerning the verification of our Lord's promise to the beatified Thief , and his own state of Separation , we must take what light we can from Scripture , and what we can from the Doctrine of the Primitive Church . (a) S. Paul had two great Revelations ; he was rapt up into Paradise ; and he was rapt up into the third Heaven : and these he calls visions & revelations , not one , but divers : for Paradise is distinguished from the Heaven of the blessed , being it self a receptacle of holy Souls , made illustrious with visitation of Angels , and happy by being a repository for such spirits who at the day of Judgment shall go forth into eternal glory . In the interim Christ hath trod all the paths before us , and this also we must pass through to arrive at the Courts of Heaven . Justin Martyr said it was the doctrine of heretical persons to say that the Souls of the Blessed instantly upon the separation from their Bodies enter into the highest Heaven . And (a) Irenaeus makes Heaven and the intermediate receptacle of Souls to be distinct places : both blessed , but hugely differing in degrees . (b) Tertullian is dogmatical in the assertion , that till the voice of the great Archangel be heard , and as long as Christ sits at the right hand of his Father making intercession for the Church , so long blessed Souls must expect the assembling of their brethren , the great Congregation of the Church , that they may all pass from their outer courts into the inward tabernacle , the Holy of Holies , to the Throne of God. And as it is certain that no Soul could enter into glory before our Lord 〈◊〉 , by whom we hope to have access : so it is most agreeable to the proportion 〈◊〉 the mysteries of our Redemption , that we believe the entrance into Glory to have been made by our Lord at his glorious Ascension , and that his Soul went not thither before 〈◊〉 , to come back again , to be contracted into the span of Humanity , and dwell forty days in his body upon earth . But that he should return from Paradise , that is , from the common receptacle of departed Spirits who died in the love of God , to earth again , had in it no lessening of his condition , since himself in mercy called back Lazarus from thence , and some others also returned to live a life of grace , which in all senses is less than the least of glories . Sufficient it is to us , that all holy Souls departing go into the hands , that is , into the custody , of our Lord ; that (a) they rest from their labours ; that their works shall follow them , and overtake them too , at the day of Judgment ; that they are happy presently ; that they are visited by Angels ; (b) that God sends , as he pleases , excellent irradiations and types of glory to entertain them in their mansions ; that their condition is secured : but (c) the crown of 〈◊〉 is laid up against the great day of Judgment , and then to be produced and given to S. Paul , and to all that love the coming of our Lord ; that is , to all who either here in duty , or in their receptacles , with joy and certain hope long for the revelation of that day . At the day of Judgment Christ will (d) send the Angels , and they shall gather together the elect from the four winds ; and all the refuse of men , evil persons , they shall throw into everlasting burning . Then our Blessed Lord shall call to the elect to enter into the Kingdom , and reject the cursed into the portion of Devils ; for whom the fire is but now prepared in the intervall . For (e) we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ , ( saith S. Paul ) that every man may receive in his body according as he hath done , whether it be good or evil . Out of the body the reception of the reward is not . And therefore (f) S. Peter affirms , that God hath delivered the evil Angels into chains of darkness , to be reserved unto Judgment . And (g) S. Jude saith , that the Angels which kept not their first faith , but left their first habitation , he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great day . And therefore the (h) Devils expostulated with our Blessed Saviour , Art thou come to torment us before the time ? And the same also he does to evil men , (i) reserving the unjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished . For since the actions which are to be judg'd are the actions of the whole man , so also must be the Judicature . And our Blessed Saviour intimated this to his Apostles ; (k) In my Father's house are many mansions : but I go to prepare a place for you . And if I go away , I will come again , and take you unto me ; that where I am , there ye may be also . At Christ's Second coming this is to be performed . Many Outer courts , many different places or different states there may be ; and yet there is a place whither holy Souls shall arrive at last , which was not then ready for us , and was not to be entred into until the entrance of our Lord had made the preparation : and that is , certainly , the highest Heaven , called by S. Paul the third Heaven ; because the other receptacles were ready , and full of holy Souls , Patriarchs and Prophets and holy men of God ; concerning whom * S. Paul affirms expresly , that the Fathers received not the Promises : God having provided some better thing for us , that they without us should not be made perfect : Therefore certain it is that their condition was a state of imperfection , and yet they were placed in Paradise , in Abraham's bosom ; and thither Christ went , and the blessed Thief attended him . And then it was that Christ made their condition better : for though still it be a place of relation in order to something beyond it , yet the term and object of their hope is changed : they sate in the regions of darkness , expecting that great Promise made to Adam and the Patriarchs , the Promise of the Messias ; but when he that was promised came , he preached to the spirits in Prison , he communicated to them the Mysteries of the Gospel , the Secrets of the Kingdom , the things hidden from eternal Ages , and taught them to look up to the glories purchased by his Passion , and made the term of their expectation be his Second coming , and the objects of their hope the glories of the beatifick vision . And although the state of Separation is sometimes in Scripture called 〈◊〉 , and sometimes 〈◊〉 , ( for these words in Scripture are of large significations ; ) yet it is never called the third 〈◊〉 , nor the Hell of the damned : for although concerning it nothing is clearly revealed , or what is their portion till the day of Judgment ; yet it is intimated in a Parable , that between good and evil spirits even in the state of Separation there is distance of place : certain it is there is great distance of condition ; and as the holy Souls in their regions of light are full of love , joy , hope , and longing for the coming of the great Day , so the accursed do expect it with an insupportable amazement , and are presently tormented with apprehensions of the future . Happy are they that through Paradise pass into the Kingdom , who from their highest hope pass to the 〈◊〉 Charity , from the state of a blessed Separation to the Mercies and * gentle Sentence of the day of Judgment , which S. Paul prayed to God to grant 〈◊〉 ; and more explicitely for the Thessalonians , ‖ that their whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus . And I pray God to grant the same to me , and all faithful people whatsoever . 2. As soon as the Lord had given up his spirit into the hands of God , the veil of the Temple was rent , the Angels Guardians of the place deserted it , the Rites of Moses were laid open , and the inclosures of the Tabernacle were dispark'd , the earth trembled , the graves were opened , and all the old world and the old Religion were so shaken towards their first Chaos , that if God had not supported the one , and reserved the other for an honourable burial , the earth had left to support her children , and the Synagogue had been thrown out to an inglorious exposition and contempt . But yet in these symbols these were changed from their first condition , and passed into a new dominion ; all old things passed away , and all things became new ; the Earth and the Heavens were reckoned as a new creation , they passed into another kingdom , under Christ their Lord ; and as before the creatures were servants of humane necessities , they now become servants of election , and in order to the ends of Grace , as before of Nature ; Christ having now the power to dispose of them in order to his Kingdom , and by the administration of his own Wisdom . And at the instant of these accidents , God so determined the perswasions of men , that they referred these Prodigies of the honour to Christ , and took them as testimonies of that truth for the affirmation of which the High Priest had condemned our dearest Lord : and although the heart of the Priest rent not , even then when rocks did tear in pieces ; yet the people , who saw the Passion , 〈◊〉 their breasts , and returned , and confessed Christ. 3. The graves of the dead were opened at the Death , but the dead boies of the Saints that slept arose not till the Resurrection of our Lord ; for he was the first fruits , and they followed him as instant witnesses , to publish the Resurrection of their Head , which it is possible they declared to those to whom they appeared in the Holy City . And amongst these , the curiosity or pious credulity of some have supposed Adam and Eve , Abraham , Isaac and Jacob , who therefore were 〈◊〉 to be buried in the Land of Promise , as having some intimation or hope that they might be partakers of the earliest glories of the Messias , in whose 〈◊〉 and distant expectation they lived and died . And this calling up of company from their graves did publish to all the world , not only that the Lord himself was risen , according to his so 〈◊〉 and repeated predictions , but that he meant * to raise up all his servants , and that all who believe in him should be partakers of the Resurrection . 4. When the souldiers observed that Jesus was dead , out of spite and impotent ineffective malice , one of them pierced his holy side with a spear ; and the rock being smitten it gushed out with water and 〈◊〉 , streaming forth two Sacraments to refresh the Church , and opening a gate that all his brethren might enter in , and dwell in the heart of God. And so great a love had our Lord , that he suffered his heart to be opened , to shew , as Eve was formed from the side of Adam , so was the Church to be from the side of her Lord , receiving from thence life and spiritual nutriment ; which he ministred in so great abundance , and suffered himself to be pierced , that all his bloud did stream over us , until he made the fountain dry , and reserved nothing of that by which he knew his Church was to live , and move , and have her being . Thus the stream of Bloud issued out to become a fountain for the Sacrament of the Chalice , and Water gushed out to fill the Fonts of Baptism and Repentance . The Bloud , being the testimony of the Divine Love , calls upon us to die for his love , when he requires it ; and the noise of the Water calls upon us to 〈◊〉 our spirits , and present our Conscience to Christ holy and pure , without spot or wrinkle . The Bloud running upon us , makes us to be of the cognation and family of God ; and the Water quenches the flames of Hell , and the fires of Concupiscence . 5. The friends and Disciples of the Holy Jesus , having devoutly composed his Body to Burial , anointed it , washed it , and condited it with spices and perfumes , laid it in a Sepulchre hewen from a rock in a Garden ; which ( saith 〈◊〉 ) was therefore done , to represent , that we were by this death returned to Paradise , and the Gardens of pleasures and Divine favours , from whence by the prevarication of Adam man was expelled . Here he finished the work of his Passion , as he had begun it in a Garden ; and the place of sepulchre , being a Rock , serves the ends of pious succeeding Ages : for the place remains in all Changes of government , of Wars , of Earthquakes and ruder accidents , to this day , as a 〈◊〉 of the Sepulchre of our dearest Lord , as a sensible and proper confirmation of the perswasions of some persons , and as an entertainment of their pious phancy and religious affections . 6. But now it was that in the dark and undiscerned mansions there was a scene of the greatest joy and the 〈◊〉 horrour represented , which yet was known since the first falling of the morning stars . Those holy souls whom the Prophet Zechary calls prisoners of hope , 〈◊〉 in the lake where there is no water , that is , no constant stream of joy to refresh their present condition , ( yet supported with certain showers and gracious visitations from God , and illuminations of their hope ) now that they saw their Redeemer come to change their condition , and to improve it into the neighbourhoods of glory and clearer revelations , must needs have the joy of intelligent and beatified understandings , of redeemed captives , of men forgiven after the sentence of death , of men satisfied after a tedious expectation , enjoying and seeing their Lord , whom for so many Ages they had expected . But the accursed spirits , seeing the darkness of their prison shine with a new light , and their Empire invaded , and their retirements of horrour discovered , wondered how a man durst venture thither , or if he were a GOD , how he should come to die . But the Holy Jesus was like that body of light , receiving into himself the reflexion of all the lesser rays of joy which the Patriarchs felt , and being united to his 〈◊〉 of felicity apprehended it yet more glorious . He now felt the effects of his bitter Passion to return upon him in Comforts ; every hour of which was abundant recompence for three hours Passion upon the Cross , and became to us a great precedent , to invite us to a toleration of the acts of Repentance , Mortification , and Martyrdom , and that in times of suffering we live upon the stock and expence of Faith , as remembring that 〈◊〉 few moments of infelicity are infinitely paid with every minute of glory , and yet that the glory which is certainly consequent is so lasting and perpetual , that it were enough in a lower joy to make amends by its continuation of eternity . And let us but call to mind what thoughts we shall have when we die , or are dead , how we shall then without prejudice consider , that if we had done our duty , the trouble and the affliction would now be past , and nothing remain but pleasures and felicities eternal , and how infinitely happy we shall then be if we have done our duty , and how miserable if not ; all the pleasures of sin disappearing , and nothing surviving but a certain and everlasting torment . Let us carry alway the same thoughts with us which must certainly then intervene , and we shall meet the Holy Jesus , and partake of his joys , which over-flowed his holy Soul when he first entred into the possession of those excellent fruits and effects of his Passion . 7. When the third day was come , the Soul of Jesus returned from Paradise , and the visitation of separate spirits , and re-entred into his holy Body , which he by his Divine power did redintegrate , filling his veins with bloud , healing all the wounds , excepting those five of his hands , feet and side , which he reserved as Trophies of his victory , and argument of his Passion . And as he had comforted the Souls of the Fathers with the presence of his Spirit ; so now he saw it to be time to bring comfort to his Holy Mother , to re-establish the tottering Faith of his Disciples , to verifie his Promise , to make demonstration of his Divinity , to lay some superstructures of his Church upon the foundation of his former Sermons , to instruct them in the mysteries of his Kingdom , to prepare them for the reception of the Holy Ghost : and as he had in his state of Separation triumphed over Hell , so in his Resurrection he set his foot upon Death , and brought it under his dominion ; so that although it was not yet destroyed , yet it is made his subject : it hath as yet the condition of the Gibeonites , who were not banished out of the land , but they were made drawers of water and bewers of wood ; so is Death made instrumental to Christ's Kingdom , but it abides still , and shall till the day of Judgment , but shall serve the ends of our Lord , and promote the interests of Eternity , and do benefit to the Church . 8. And it is considerable , that our Blessed Lord having told them that after three days he would rise again , yet he shortened the time as much as was possible , that he might verifie his own prediction , and yet make his absence the less troublesome ; he rises early in the morning the first day of the week : for so our dearest Lord abbreviates the days of our sorrow , and lengthens the years of our consolation ; for he knows that a day of sorrow seems a year , and a year of joy passes like a day ; and therefore God lessens the one , and 〈◊〉 the other , to make this perceived , and that supportable . Now the Temple which the Jews destroyed God raised up in six and thirty hours : but this second Temple was more glorious than the first ; for now it was clothed with robes of glory , with clarity , agility , and immortality : and though , like Moses descending from the mount , he wore a veil , that the greatness of his splendor might not render him unapt for conversation with his servants ; yet the holy Scripture affirms that he was now no more to see corruption ; meaning , that now he was separate from the passibility and affections of humane bodies , and could suffer S. Thomas to thrust his hand into the wound of his side , and his singer into the holes of his hands , without any grief or smart . 9. But although the graciousness and care of the Lord had prevented all diligence , and satisfied all desires , returning to life before the most forward faith could expect him ; yet there were three Maries went to the grave so early , that they prevented the rising of the Sun , and though with great obedience they stayed till the end of the Sabbath , yet , as soon as that was done , they had other parts of duty and affection , which called with greatest importunity to be speedily satisfied . And if Obedience had not bound the feet of Love , they had gone the day before ; but they became to us admirable patterns of Obedience to the Divine Commandments . For though Love were stronger than death , yet Obedience was stronger than Love , and made a rare dispute in the spirits of those holy Women , in which the flesh and the spirit were not the litigants , but the spirit and the spirit ; and they resisted each other as the Angel-guardian of the Jews resisted the tutelar Angel of Persia , each striving who should with most love and zeal perform their charge , and God determined . And so he did here too . For the Law of the Sabbath was then a Divine Commandment ; and although piety to the dead , and to such a dead , was ready to force their choice to do violence to their will , bearing them up on wings of desire to the grave of the LORD , yet at last they reconciled Love with Obedience . For they had been taught that Love is best expressed in keeping of the Divine Commandments . But now they were at liberty ; and sure enough they made use of its first minute : and going so early to seek Christ , they were sure they should find him . 10. The Angels descended Guardians of the Sepulchre ; for God sent his guards too , and they affrighted the Watch appointed by Pilate and the Priests : but when the women came , they spake like comforters , full of sweetness and consolation , laying aside their affrighting glories , as knowing it is the will of their Lord , that they should minister good to them that love him . But a conversation with Angels could not satisfie them who came to look for the Lord of the Angels , and found him not : and when the Lord was pleased to appear to Mary Magdalen , she was so swallowed up with love and sorrow , that she entred into her joy , and perceived it not ; she saw the Lord , and knew him not . For so , from the closets of darkness they that immediately stare upon the Sun perceive not the beauties of the light , and feel nothing but amazement . But the voice of the Lord opened her eyes , and she knew him , and worshipped him , but was denied to touch him , and commanded to tell the Apostles : for therefore God ministers to us comforts and revelations , not that we may dwell in the sensible fruition of them our selves alone , but that we communicate the grace to others . But when the other women were returned and saw the Lord , then they were all together admitted to the embracement , and to kiss the feet of Jesus . For God hath his opportunities and periods , which at another time he denies ; and we must then rejoyce in it , when he vouchsafes it , and submit to his Divine will , when he denies it . 11. These good women had the first fruits of the apparition : for their forward love and the passion of their Religion made greater haste to entertain a Grace , and was a greater endearment of their persons to our Lord , than a more sober , reserved , and less active spirit . This is more safe , but that is religious ; this goes to God by the way of understanding , that by the will ; this is supported by discourse , that by passions ; this is the sobriety of the Apostles , the other was the zeal of the holy women : and because a strong fancy and an earnest passion sixed upon holy objects are the most active and forward instruments of Devotion , as Devotion is of Love , therefore we find God hath made great expressions of his acceptance of such dispositions . And women , and less knowing persons , and tender dispositions , and pliant natures , will make up a greater number in Heaven , than the severe and wary and enquiring people , who sometimes love because they believe , and believe because they can demonstrate , but never believe because they love . When a great Understanding and a great Affection meet together , it makes a Saint great like an Apostle ; but they do not well who make abatement of their religious passions by the severity of their Understanding . It is no matter by which we are brought to Christ , so we love him and obey him ; but if the production admit of 〈◊〉 , that instrument is the most excellent which produces the greatest love : and 〈◊〉 discourse and a sober spirit be in it self the best , yet we do not always suffer that to be a parent of as great Religion as the good women make their fancy , their softness , and their passion . 12. Our Blessed Lord appeared next to Simon : and though he and John ran forthtogether , and S. John outran Simon , although Simon Peter had denied and forsworn his Lord , and S. John never did , and followed him to his Passion and his death ; yet Peter had the savour of seeing Jesus first . Which some Spiritual persons understand as a testimony , that penitent 〈◊〉 have accidental eminences and priviledges sometimes 〈◊〉 to them beyond the temporal graces of the just and innocent , as being such who not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the remanent and inherent evils even of repented sins , and their aptnesses to relapse ; but also because those who are true Penitents , who understand the infiniteness of the Divine mercy , and that for a sinner to pass from death to 〈◊〉 , from the state of sin into pardon and the state of Grace , is a greater gift , and a more excellent and improbable mutation , than for a just man to be taken into glory , out of gratitude to God , and indearment 〈◊〉 so great a change , added to a fear of returning to such danger and misery , will re-enforce all their industry , and double their study , and 〈◊〉 more diligently , and watch more carefully , and redeem the 〈◊〉 , and make amends for their omissions , and oppose a good to the former evils , beside the duties of the 〈◊〉 imployment ; and then , commonly , the life of a holy Penitent is more holy , active , zealous , and impatient of Vice , and more rapacious of Vertue and holy actions , and arises to greater 〈◊〉 of Sanctity , than the even and moderate affections of just persons , who ( as our Blessed Saviour's expression is ) 〈◊〉 no Repentance , that is , no change of state , nothing but a perseverance , and an improvement of degrees . There is more joy in heaven before the Angels of God over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 , than 〈◊〉 ninety nine just persons that need it not : for , where sin hath abounded , there doth grace super abound ; and that makes joy in Heaven . 13. The Holy Jesus having received the affections of his most passionate Disciples , the women and S. 〈◊〉 , puts himself upon the way into the company of two good men going to Emmaus with troubled spirits and a reeling faith , shaking all its upper building , but leaving some of its foundation firm . To them the Lord discourses of the necessity of the Death and Resurrection of the 〈◊〉 , and taught them not to take estimate of the counsels of God by the designs and proportions of man : for God by ways contrary to humane judgment brings to pass the purposes of his eternal Providence . The glories of Christ were not made pompous by humane circumstances ; his Kingdom was spiritual : he was to enter into Felicities through the gates of Death ; he refused to do Miracles before 〈◊〉 , and yet did them before the people ; he confuted his accusers by silence , and did not descend from the Cross , when they offered to believe in him , if he would , but 〈◊〉 them to be perswaded by greater arguments of his power , the miraculous circumstances of his Death , and the glories of his Resurrection ; and by walking in the secret paths of Divine election hath commanded us to adore his footsteps , to admire and revere his Wisdom , to be satisfied with all the events of Providence , and to rejoyce in him , if by Afflictions he makes us holy , if by Persecutions he supports and enlarges his Church , if by Death he brings us to life ; so we arrive at the communion of his Felicities , we must let him chuse the way ; it being sufficient that he is our guide , and our support , and our exceeding great reward . For therefore Christ preached to the two Disciples going to 〈◊〉 the way of the Cross , and the necessity of that passage , that the wisdom of God might be glorified , and the conjectures of man ashamed . But whilest his discourse lasted , they knew him not ; but in the breaking of bread he discovered himself . For he turned their meal into a Sacrament , and their darkness to light ; and having to his Sermon added the Sacrament , opened all their discerning faculties , the eyes of their body , and their understanding too ; to represent to us , that when we are blessed with the opportunities of both those instruments , we want no exteriour assistence to guide us in the way to the knowing and enjoying of our Lord. 14. But the Apparitions which Jesus made were all upon the design of laying the foundation of all Christian Graces ; for the begetting and establishing Faith , and an active Confidence in their persons , and building them up on the great fundamentals of the Religion . And therefore he appointed a general meeting upon a mountain in Galilee , that the number of witnesses might not only disseminate the same , but establish the Article of the Resurrection ; for upon that are built all the hopes of a Christian ; and if the dead rise not , then are we of all men most miserable , in quitting the present possessions , and entertaining injuries and affronts without hopes of reparation . But we lay two gages in several repositories ; the Body in the bosome of the earth , the Soul in the 〈◊〉 of God : and as we here live by Faith , and lay them down with hope ; so the 〈◊〉 is a restitution of them both , and a state of re-union . And therefore although the glory of our spirits without the body were joy great enough to make compensation for mere than the troubles of all the world ; yet because one shall not be glorified without the other , they being of themselves incomplete substances , and God having revealed nothing clearly concerning actual and complete felicities till the day of Judgment , when it is promised our bodies shall rise ; therefore it is that the Resurrection is the great Article upon which we rely , and which Christ took so much care to prove and ascertain to so many persons , because if that should be disbelieved with which all our felicities are to be received , we have nothing to establish our Faith , or entertain our Hope , or satisfie our desires , or make retribution for that state of secular inconveniences in which , by the necessities of our nature and the humility and patience of our Religion , we are engaged . 15. But I consider that holy Scripture onely instructs us concerning the life of this world and the life of the Resurrection , the life of Grace and the life of Glory , both in the body , that is , a life of the whole man ; and whatsoever is spoken of the Soul , considers it as an essential part of man , relating to his whole constitution , not as it is of it self an intellectual and separate substance ; for all its actions which are separate and removed from the body are relative and incomplete . Now because the Soul is an incomplete substance , and created in relation to the Body , and is but a part of the whole man , if the Body were as eternal and incorruptible as the Soul , yet the separation of the one from the other would be as now it is , that which we call natural death ; and supposing that God should preserve the Body for ever , or restore it at the day of Judgment to its full substance and perfect organs , yet the man would be dead for ever , if the Soul for ever should continue separate from the Body . So that the other life , that is , the state of Resurrection , is a re-uniting Soul and Body . And although in a Philosophical sence the Resurrection , is of the Body , that is , a restitution of our flesh and bloud and bones , and is called Resurrection as the entrance into the state of Resurrection may have the denomination of the whole ; yet in the sence of Scripture the Resurrection is the restitution of our life , the renovation of the whole man , the state of Re-union ; and untill that be , the man is not , but he is dead , and onely his essential parts are deposited and laid up in trust : and therefore whatsoever the Soul does or perceives in its incomplete condition , is but to it as embalming and honourable funerals to the Body , and a safe monument to preserve it in order to a living again ; and the felicities of the intervall are wholly in order to the next life . And therefore if there were to be no Resurrection , as these intermedial joys should not be at all ; so , as they are , they are but relative and incomplete : and therefore all our hopes , all our felicities depend upon the Resurrection ; without it we should never be persons , men or women ; and then the state of Separation could be nothing but a phantasm , trees ever in blossome , never bearing fruit , corn for ever in the blade , eggs always in the shell , a hope eternal , never to pass into fruition , that is , for ever to be deluded , for ever to be miserable . And therefore it was an elegant expression of S. Paul , Our life is hid with Christ in God ; that is , our life is passed into custody , the dust of our body is numbred , and the Spirit is refreshed , visited and preserved in celestial mansions : but it is not properly called a Life ; for all this while the man is dead , and shall then live when Christ produces this hidden life at the great day of restitution . But our faith of all this Article is well wrapt up in the words of S. John : Beloved , now we are the Sons of God , and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him , for we shall see him as he is . The middle state is not it which Scripture hath propounded to our Faith , or to our Hope ; the reward is then when Christ shall appear : but in the mean time the Soul can converse with God and with Angels , just as the holy Prophets did in their Dreams , in which they received great degrees of favour and revelation . But this is not to be reckoned any more than an entrance or a waiting for the state of our Felicity . And since the glories of Heaven is the great fruit of Election , we may consider that the Body is not predestinate , nor the Soul , alone , but the whole Man ; and until the parts embrace again in an essential complexion , it cannot be expected either of them should receive the portion of the predestinate . But the article and the event of future things is rarely set in order by Saint Paul ; But ye are come into the mount Sion , and to the City of the living God , the heavenly Jerusalem , and to an innumerable company of Angels , To the general assembly and Church of the first born , which are written in heaven , and to God the Judge of all , ( and then follows , after this general assembly , after the Judge of all appears , [ to the spirits of just men made perfect , ] that is , re-united to their bodies , and entring into glory . The beginning of the contrary Opinion brought some new practices and appendent perswasions into the Church , or at least promoted them much . For those Doctors who , receding from the Primitive belief of this Article , taught that the glories of Heaven are fully communicated to the Souls before the day of Judgment , did also upon that stock teach the Invocation of Saints , whom they believed to be received into glory , and insensibly also brought in the opinion of Purgatory , that the less perfect Souls might be glorified in the time that they assigned them . But the safer opinion and more agreeable to Piety is that which I have now described from Scripture and the purest Ages of the Church . 16. When Jesus appeared to the Apostles , he gave them his Peace for a Benediction , and when he departed , he left them Peace for a Legacy , and gave them , according to two former promises , the power of making Peace , and reconciling Souls to God by a ministerial act ; so conveying his Father's mercy , which himself procured by his Passion , and actuates by his Intercession and the giving of his Grace , that he might comply with our infirmities , and minister to our needs by instruments even and proportionate to our selves ; making our brethren the conduits of his Grace , that the excellent effect of the Spirit might not descend upon us , as the Law upon Mount Sinai , in expresses of greatness and terrour , but in earthen vessels , and images of infirmity : so God manifesting his power in the smalness of the instrument , and descending to our needs , not only in giving the grace of Pardon , but also in the manner of its ministration . And I meditate upon the greatness of this Mercy , by comparing this Grace of God , and the blessing of the Judgment and Sentence we receive at the hand of the Church , with the Judgment which God makes at the hour of death upon them who have despised this mercy , and neglected all the other parts of their duty . The one is a Judgment of mercy , the other of vengeance : In the one the Devil is the Accuser , and Heaven and earth bear witness ; in the other the penitent sinner accuses himself : In that the sinner gets a pardon , in the other he finds no remedy : In that all his good deeds are remembred and returned , and his sins are blotted out ; in the other all his evil deeds are represented with horrour and a sting , and remain for ever : In the first the sinner changes his state for a state of Grace , and only smarts in some temporal austerities and acts of exteriour mortification ; in the second his temporal estate is changed to an eternity of pain : In the first the sinner suffers the shame of one man or one society , which is sweetned by consolation , and homilies of mercy and health ; in the latter all his sins are laid open before all the world , and himself confounded in eternal amazement and confusions : In the judgment of the Church the sinner is honoured by all for returning to the bosome of his Mother , and the embraces of his heavenly Father ; in the judgment of vengeance he is laughed at by God , and mocked by accursed spirits , and perishes without pity : In this he is prayed for by none , helped by none , comforted by none , and he makes himself a companion of Devils to everlasting ages ; but in the judgment of Repentance and Tribunal of the Church the penitent sinner is prayed for by a whole army of militant Saints , and causes joy to all the Church triumphant . And to establish this Tribunal in the Church , and to transmit pardon to penitent sinners , and a salutary judgment upon the person and the crime , and to appoint Physicians and Guardians of the Soul , was one of the designs and mercies of the Resurrection of Jesus . And let not any Christian man either by false opinion , or an unbelieving spirit , or an incurious apprehension , undervalue or neglect this ministery , which Christ hath so sacredly and solemnly established . Happy is he that dashes his sins against the rock upon which the Church is built , that the Church gathering up the planks and fragments of the shipwreck , and the shivers of the broken heart , may re-unite them , pouring Oil into the wounds made by the blows of sin , and restoring with meekness , gentleness , care , counsel , and authority , persons overtaken in a fault . For that act of Ministery is not ineffectual which God hath promised shall be ratified in Heaven ; and that Authority is not contemptible which the Holy Jesus conveyed by breathing upon his Church the Holy Ghost . But Christ intended that those whom he had made Guides of our Souls , and Judges of our Consciences in order to counsel and ministerial pardon , should also be used by us in all cases of our Souls , and that we go to Heaven the way he hath appointed , that is , by offices and ministeries Ecclesiastical . 17. When our Blessed Lord had so confirmed the Faith of the Church and appointed an Ecclesiastical Ministery , he had but one work more to do upon earth , and that was the Institution of the holy Sacrament of Baptism , which he ordained as a solemn Initiation and mysterious Profession of the Faith upon which the Church is built ; making it a solemn Publication of our Profession , the rite of Stipulation or entring Covenant with our Lord , the solemnity of the Paction Evangelical , in which we undertake to be Disciples to the Holy Jesus , that is , to believe his Doctrine , to fear his Threatnings , to rely upon his Promises , and to obey his Commandments all the days of our life : and he for his part actually performs much , and promises more ; he takes off all the guilt of our preceding days , purging our Souls , and making them clean as in the day of innocence ; promising withall , that if we perform our undertaking , and remain in the state in which he now puts us , he will continually assist us with his * Spirit , prevent and attend us with his Grace , he will deliver us from the power of the Devil , he will keep our Souls in merciful , joyful and safe custody till the great Day of the Lord , he will then raise our Bodies from the Grave , he will make them to be spiritual and immortal , he will re-unite them to our Souls , and beatifie both Bodies and Souls in his own Kingdom , admitting them into eternal and unspeakable glories . All which that he might verifie and prepare respectively , in the presence of his Disciples he ascended into the bosome of God , and the eternal comprehensions of celestial Glory . The PRAYER . O Holy and Eternal Jesus , who hast overcome Death , and triumphed over all the powers of Hell , Darkness , Sin , and the Grave , manifesting the truth of thy Promises , the power of thy Divinity , the majesty of thy Person , the rewards of thy Glory , and the mercies and excellent designs of thy Evangelical Kingdom , by thy glorious and powerful Resurrection ; preserve my Soul from eternal death , and make me to rise from the death of Sin , and to live the life of Grace , loving thy Perfections , adoring thy Mercy , pursuing the interest of thy Kingdom , being united to the Church under thee our Head , conforming to thy holy Laws , established in Faith , entertained and confirmed with a modest , humble , and certain Hope , and sanctified by Charity ; that I engraving thee in my heart , and submitting to thee in my spirit , and imitating thee in thy glorious example , may be partaker of thy Resurrection , which is my hope and my desire , the support of my Faith , the object of my Joy , and the strength of my Confidence . In thee , Holy Jesus , do I trust : I confess thy Faith , I believe all that thou hast taught ; I desire to perform all thy injunctions and my own undertaking : my Soul is in thy hand , do thou support and guide it , and pity my infirmities ; and when thou shalt reveal thy great Day , shew to me the mercies and effects of thy Advocation and Intercession and Redemption . Thou shalt answer for me , O Lord my God ; for in thee have I trusted , let me never be confounded . Thou art just , thou 〈◊〉 merciful , thou art gracious and compassionate , thou hast done miracles and prodigies of favour to me and all the world . Let not those great actions and sufferings be ineffective , but make me capable and receptive of thy Mercies , and then I am certain to receive them . I am thine , O save me ; thou art mine , O Holy Jesus , O dwell with me for ever , and let me dwell with thee , adoring and praising the eternal glories of God the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost . Amen . THE END . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . THE TABLE OF The Life of CHRIST . Where are more Numbers than one , the first Number denotes the Page , the latter , the Number of the Section . A. ABsolution of dying Persons of what benefit 407. 23. Whether to be given to all that desire it 408. 24. Acceptable Year of the Lord , what it means 186. 22. Actions of Jesus confuted his Accusers 390. 2. Acts of Vertue to be done by sick and dying Persons 405 , 406. 19 , 20. Accusation of Criminals not to be aggravated odiously 393. 8. It ought to be onely for purposes of Charity ibid. Accusation of innocent persons ought to be born patiently by the innocent 393. 9. Accusation of Jesus 352. 24. Adam buried in Golgotha 354. 31. Adoption of Sons 316. 7. Advent of our Lord must be entertained with joy 156. 3. Adultery made more criminal under the Gospel than under the Law 249. 37 , &c. Adultery of the eyes 250. 36. Adrian the Emperour built a Temple to Venus and Adonis in the place of Christ's Birth 14. 6. Agony of Jesus in the Garden 350. 20. Agesilaus was more commended for his modesty and obedience than for his prosperous good Conduct 50. 25. Albes or white garments wore by the Church , and why 393. 9 , 10. Alms intended for a defensative against Covetousness 258. 1. Ordinarily to be according to our ability ibid. Sometimes beyond , in what cases ibid. Necessities of all indigent people are the object of our Alms 259. 3. Manner of Alms an office of Christian prudence ibid. The two Altars in Solomon's Temple , what they did represent 83. 4. Ambitious seeking Ecclesiastical Dignities very criminal 96. 2. Ambition is an affliction to him that hath it 69 , 70. 6. Amorous young man cured of his Vanity by a Stratagem 273. 2. Angels ministred at the Birth of Jesus 14. 4. Angels invited Shepherds to see the new-born Prince 26. 4. Angels multiplied into a Quire to sing Gloria Patri at the Birth of Christ 26. 5. Angels taught the Church the Christian Hymn ibid. That the Star appearing to the Wise men was an Angel , the Opinion of the Greeks 27. 8. They rejoyced greatly when Mankind was redeemed 29. 1. They that fell not admitted to Repentance , and why 198. 2. Are appointed to observe them that fast piously 274. 3. One of them comforted Jesus 385. 5. In what manner ibid. One of them rolled the Stone from the Grave of Jesus 419. 1. They were Guardians of the Sepulchre 427. 10. Anger forbidden in the 6. Commandment 245. 28. In what cases allowable ibid. Rules and measures of a lawful anger 246. 31. How long to abide 245. 30. That of the Heart forbidden ib. 27. Remedies against it 248. 35. Annas chief of the Sanhedrim 351. 23. He sent Jesus to Caiaphas ibid. Anniversaries of Christ's Nativity , Resurrection and Ascension to be religiously observed 243. 24 , 26. Of Saints ibid. Anna the Prophetess received Christ as a reward to her long Fasting and Prayer 36. 5. & 53. 6. Mark Antony , to stir the Peoples affections , presented the Body of Caesar 56. 9. Antichrist's pretence not furthered but hindred by his Miracles 280. 11. Apostasy from Christianity unpardonable ; in what sence true 201. 10 , 11. Apostles chosen by Christ 290. 5. Sent to preach by two and two ibid. Rejoyce at their power over Devils 203. 17. Who saw the Transfiguration , saw also the Agony 383. 2. Apocryphal Miracles feigned of Christ's younger years 153. 8. Arsenius sad and troubled upon his Death-bed 402. 11. Arms not to be taken up against our Prince for Religion 492. 11. Ascension of Jesus into Heaven 421. 5. Attention to our Prayers . Vid. Prayers . S. Augustine entred into the Tomb of Caesar 114. 36. Authority of Ecclesiastical Censures 430. 16. Of the Contempt of Authority in smaller Impositions 46. 20 , 21. Augustus Caesar refused to be called Lord about the time of Christ's Nativity 25. 2. B. BAlaam's Prophecy of Christ's Star 27. 8. His Prayer explicated 303. 14. Babes of Bethlehem had the Reward of Martyrs 72. 11. Baptism sanctifies the worthy Suscipient 97. 4. Baptism is the only state , wherein our sins in this life are declared to be fully and absolutely pardoned 314. 3. In it all our sins are forgiven 199. 7. To it Faith and Repentance are necessary Preparatories ibid. It is necessary before the Reception of the Eucharist 349. 16. & 374. 12. Ordained by Christ 431. 17. what it operates and signifies ibid. Vide Disc. of Baptism 106. Baptism not onely pardons for the present , but puts into a lasting state of easier pardon for the future 203. 17. S. Barbara to Execution miraculously veil'd 394. 10. Basil recalled from Exile for his reverent and grave saying his Offices 178. 13. Prayed for Head-ach 85. 9. The Baptist's Character of himself 151. 1. His Death , and the occasion 169. 5. His Death revenged 169. 6. Beginners in Religion to be ruled by an experienced Guide 109 , 110. 22. They have a conditional certainty of Salvation 316. 7. Beginnings of Evil to be resisted 111. 26. Birth of Christ illustrated with Miracles 25. 1. It s place turned to a Church 14. 6. Peace universal at his Birth 25. 3. It was signified to Jews and Gentiles in the persons of Shepherds and Wise-men 31. 1. & 34. 12. Whether Saints enjoy the Beatifick Vision before the day of Judgment 423. 1. & 429. 15. Binding Jesus with Cords with circumstances of cruelty 387. 10. Blasphemy falsly charged upon Jesus 325. 23. Bloudy sweat of Christ what it did then effect , and what it did then prefigure 385. 6. Blessings of the Gospel 429. 16. Assurance of Blessing made to them who are or do , where or what God commands 68. 3. Breasts that are drie , a curse 22. Bramble of Judaea an emblem of Anger 245. 30. Buffeting of Jesus foretold by a Sibyl . 389 , 390. 1. C. CAmbyses sent the AEthiopian King a box of Nard 291. 9. Care for our Families how far to regard the future 258. 2. Ceadwalla's Vow 270. 20. Gentarion of the Iron Legion comes to Christ 291. 7. Charity makes us partake of the Joys and Sufferings of all Christians 29. 2. It is the measure of our own Peace 29 , 30. 5. Charity of Christians converted Pachomius 79. 2. It is consistent with repeating our own right 256. 9. It is part of the definition of Christian Faith 161. 5 , 6. Charity of Christians greater than civil Relations 158. 8. Is the last of graces 171. 5. Being exercised toward Christ's Servants is accepted as done to Christ 189. 4. It must increase with our Wealth 258. 2. S. Chad pray'd for others in stormy times 340. 7. Chastity wittily represented by Libanius 111. 27. Easier to die for it than to live with it 230. 15. Chastity of the Mind , of the Eyes , of all the Members , enjoyned 249. 38. It abstains from all undecencies ibid. Caiaphas prophesied and determined the Death of Jesus 345. 2. He rent his Cloaths against the Law 352. 25. Casual and contingent Causes cut off the life of a Sinner 308. 24. Certainty of Salvation 313. per tot . Cheap Offering not accepted , when a better may be given 177. 12. Christ chose to do all the Ministeries of Religion 96. 1. His Passion in every minute was sufficient for Reconcilement of all the World 1. Exh. 3. The surplusage for example ibid. Christ paid mere for our Obedience than our Pardon 1. Exh. 3. He for himself merited the exaltation of his Humanity , his Name , his Kingdom , &c. 413. 5. How and to what purposes he overcame Death 426. 7. He is our Pattern 2. Exh. 7. How far imitable by us 4. Exh. 11. His Sufferings of value infinite 1. Exh. 3. He honoured Virginity and Marriage in the choice of his Mother ibid. He manifested his power in the instances of Mercy 5. Exh. 11. & 278. 2. He is to be followed in the like proportion as he followed his Father V. 11. 5. Exh. 11. His Life easie , compliant and imitable 9. 4. & IV. 8 , 9. It helps us to its own imitation 3 , 4. Exh. 8 , 9. ibid. His Life is imitable by Practice and Religion VI. Exh. 15 , 16. He is God and Man 16. 6. He was first revealed to poor men 30. 6. By his Humility , his Poverty and uneasiness fought against the Lust of the Flesh , of the Eyes , and the pride of Life 30. 8. He put himself to pain to be reckoned among Sinners 37. 3. He was redeemed at first , and sold at last , for an ignoble price 52. 3. He is best relished by them who least relish worldly things 53. 5. He is a Physician and a Law-giver 249. 36. His servants are most honourable 253. 5. He did no Miracles before 30 years of age 154. 6 , 8. He entertains five Disciples ibid. He is to be sought for in his Ordinances 156. 4. He ejected the Merchants out of the Temple 169. 2. He mingled no Injury with his Zeal 170. 4. He Baptized Peter onely 181. 1. He ends the Samaritan's Qu. about the place of Worship 182. 4. He made a Covenant of Faith and Repentance 200. 9. This Covenant is consigned in Baptism ibid. His Miracles were greater than any man did before him 277. 2. His Passion cured our Miseries 411. 2. He was viator , not comprehensor , in his Passion 413. 5. His Prayer for his Enemies was effectual 416. 10. He first ascended into Heaven 419. 1. His side streamed forth two Sacraments 426. 4. He raised the Widow's son to life 291. 7. He shewed the power of a God with the infirmities of a Man 387. 9. Crowned with thorns 395. 11. His Commission to Peter 419. 4. & 420. 4. He is our Advocate for actions relative to him 360. 8 , 9. A King 28. 13. A Star was his evidence ibid. Christians ought to be exemplary in their Lives 231. 1. Their Righteousness to exceed the Pharisaical 232 , 233. Christian prudence 157. 6. Christian simplicity 157. 6. They for the most part chuse not their Religion 160. 1. They are to be like Children 325. 15. Christian Liberty not to be betrayed 331. 8. Christianity an easie Yoak 295. 1. More pleasant than Sin ibid. More natural ibid. & vide Praes . Not so troublesome as sin 297. It is the way of peace 299. 7. Of Content ibid. & 300. Of Riches and of long life 302. 13 , 14. & seq . Of Health ibid. Of Wisdom 308. 27. Children of God exposed to Temptations 98. 7 , 8. Church deserves great Revenues , but needs them not 70. 8 , 9. Her endowments are of advantage to the People ibid. Dangerous for the Church to be Rich in Temporal possessions ibid. Church ought to be more apt to remit of Temporal rights than others ibid. Church-Tribunal to be of great mercy 430. 16. Compared with God's Tribunal ibid. It is impregnable against Hell-gates 321. 9. Built upon the Confession of Peter ibid. Churches built upon Mount Tabor 322. 11. They are Holy Places , to what sence , and to what purposes 172. How to be used 176. 11. Church in Paradise called the presence of God 175. 7. The residence of Angels ibid. 8. Their best ornament is the holiness of worshippers 178. 14. They are desecrated by Vice ibid. Circumcision an earnest of the Passion 36. 1. Not declared to be remissive of original sin ibid. Circumcision of Christ served many purposes 37. 2. It was an act of Obedience ibid. Complying with customes of civility sometimes a Temptation 108. 16. Company-keeping to be avoided as it can ibid. Communion of Saints profitable and pleasant 75. Comforts more necessary to 〈◊〉 Converts 33. 9. Clergie's duty under the Parable of a Steward 326. 26. Covetousness its fruits 361. 10. 390. Confession to a Minister of Religion 218. 51. Contrition alone not sufficient for Pardon ibid. Consecration of the Eucharist mysterious 369. 2. Cure of Souls a dangerous and grave Imployment 96. 2. D. DEscription of Jesus by way of Meditation and Mystery 16. 5 , 6. Decalogue expounded 231. Death happening untimely doth not always consign to Damnation 336. Preparation to Death 397. & seq . It comes by all accidents ibid. Deaths sudden and rare ibid. Death-bed Repentance too late 339. 5. ( Vide Repentance ) It is desirable 405. 19. How far it may be prayed against ibid. To be submitted to in all cases ibid. Death of Man sanctified and conquered by Christ's Death 426. 7. & 405. 19. Dying persons how to be treated and assisted 400. 6. Devils confessed Christ 290. 4. That the Devil had the managing of the Roman Empire , was the Opinion of some Wise-men 100. 14. One deaf and dumb ejected 321. 7. He furnishes evil persons with apt instruments 361. 10. How they did appear to Jesus in the Desart 95. 7. They are impotent in their malice 100. Can hurt no Soul without its consent ibid. 13. The Tribute of the Didrachm . 322. 13. Diligence in our Calling accepted , though our Calling be mean 32. Dispensations not to be accepted too freely 37. Disobedience to God in great and small instances compared 44. 12 , 13. Disobedience to GOD and Man compared 46. A deliberate choice of the smallest disobedience in its formality is destructive , though in the matter it be otherwise pardonable . 44. 12. Defence of our selves permitted 252. 2. Not against our Prince ibid. Defence of our innocence in Judgment permitted 252. Dove descending on Christ was mysterious 97. 5. Doubting the issue of our Prayers , in what sense lawful 267. 15. Duels unlawful 253. 5. & seq . Doubting in an Article , how to be cured 400. 8. Despair , how to be cured . 401. 10. E. EGyptian Idols fell to the Ground at Christ's coming thither 67. 9. In AEgypt Christ dwelt in a Garden of Balsam ibid. Egyptians worshipped an Infant in a Cradle , and a Virgin in a Bed ibid. Envy reproved by the example of Angels 29. 2. Envy spiritual 360. 9. Eat for necessity , not delight 87. 15. Eli's Family short-lived 308. 24. Cured by Repentance ibid. Election what it signifies in Scripture 313. 2. It depends upon Duty 314. uncertain to us ibid. Ecclesiastical Regiment how differing from Secular 323. 14. Ecclesiastical power verified in Heaven 323. 16. Ecclesiastical persons bound to communicate often 379. 18. Ecclesiastical Persons are to imitate Christ in Meekness , Innocence , Suffering 393. 8 , 9. Ecclesiastical Judicatories compared with the Divine 430. Earnest of the Spirit what it signifies 316. 7. Eclipse of the Sun at the Passion was miraculous 355. 34. Enemies occasion to us of much good 386. 8. Erring persons how to be treated 188. 2. & 10. 7. Evil counsels come to nought 85. 2. Though they succeed , it is not Prosperity ibid. Elizabeth carried her Son the Baptist into the Wilderness 77. 1. She died after 40 days ibid. Example of Preachers is the best Sermon 78. 5. & 364. 4. Examples of Divine Judgments 338. 5. Esau's Repentance 391. 7. Excuses from frequent communion not valid 379. 20. Evenness and moderation of a religious state most necessary for young beginners , and safest for all men 407 , 408. Expences unnecessary to be cut off and spent in Alms. 252. 2. F. FAlse witness highly criminal 250. 40. Familiarity with God , what it should signifie 33. 26. Faith described 160. 2. Charity is part of its constitution ibid. However it be produced , whether it be proved or not , it is sufficient 157. 7. & 162. 1. Pref. 28. Faith of ignorant and knowing men compared 160. 1 , 2. Faith of Christians how it differs from that of Devils 163. 7. Excellencies and effects of Faith 163. 9. & seq . The marks of a truly Christian Faith ibid. Vide Disc. of Faith per tot . Fasting before the Sacrament 272. 1. Degrees , Manner , and Rules of Fasting 274. & 275. It is no duty of it self , but in order to certain ends 272. 1. Why Jesus fasted Forty Dayes 128. 9. Vide Disc. of Fasting per tot . Fear hallowed by Christ's fear 384. 3. It is the first of Graces 171. 5. Farewell-Sermon made by Jesus 350. 19. Flaminius condemned to Death for wanton Cruelty 168. 5. Fornication against the Law of God in all Ages 249. 37. Permitted to Strangers among the Jews ibid. Forgiving Injuries a Christian duty . 252. G. GAdara built by Pompey 184. 15. Full of Sepulchres and Witches ibid. Gabriel ministers to the exaltation of his inferiours 3. 4. Galilaeans , why slain by Pilate , and what they were 326. 27. Garden , why chosen for the place of the Agony 364. & 383. 2. Gentleness a duty of Christians 323. 16. Giacchetus of Geneva his Death in the midst of his Lust 338. 5. God , his Gifts effects of Predestination 156. 5. Those Gifts how to be prayed for 261 , 264. Consideration of his Presence a good remedy against Temptations 112. 29. The Vision of God preserveth the Blessed Souls from Sin ibid. 30. GOD's method in bringing us to him , and treating us after 32. 4. He gives his Servants more than they look for 155. He gives more Grace to them that use the first well ibid. & 32. 6. He rejoyces in his own works of mercy 187. 1. And in ours 227. 13. He requires not always the greatest degree of Vertue 234. 11. He is never wanting in necessaries to us 32. He changeth his purpose of the death of a Man for several reasons 308. 24. He works his ends by unlikely means 427. GOD certainly supports those in their necessities , who are doing his work 68. 3. Gold , and Frankincense , and Myrrhe , what signification they had in the gift of the Magi 34. 11. & 28. 12. Grace , it helps our Faculties , but creates no new ones 31. 2. It works severally at several times 32. Being refused it hardens our Hearts 387. 369. Government supported by Christianity 68. 7. Gospel and the Law , how they differ 193. 3. & 296. & 232. 3. H. HAsty persons and actions always unreasonable , sometimes criminal 15. 1. Herod mock'd by the Magi 65. 1. & 84. 1. His stratagem to surprize all the male children 66. The cause why he slew Zecharias 66. 5. Caesar's saying concerning him 66. 3. He felt the Divine vengeance 67. 6. His Malice near his Death defeated 67. 7. He pretended Religion to his secret design 68. 1. He slew 14000 Infants 66. 4. Fear of the Child Jesus proceeded from his mistake 70. 7. The Tetrarch overthrown by the King of Arabia 169. 6. His reception of Christ 352. 26. Is careless of inquiring after Christ 393. 9. Herodians , what they were 290. 3. Herodias Daughter beheaded with Ice 169. 6. She and Herod banished ibid. Heron the Monk abused with an illusion 61. 23. Herminigilda refused to communicate with an Arian Bishop 188. 2. Hereticks served their ends of Heresie upon Women , upon whom also they served their Lust 189. 5. Heroical actions of Repentance at our Death-bed more prevalent than any other hope then left 217. 49. Health promised and consigned in the Gospel by Miracles and by an ordinary Ministery 304. 15 , 16. There were two High-Priests , the one President of the Rites of the Temple , the other of the great Council 351. 23. Honour done to us to be returned to God 9. 6. It is due to what the Supreme power separates from common usages 172. 3. How it is to be estimated 253. 5. Honourable and Sacred all one 173. S. Hilarion a great Faster 273. 2. S. Hierom's advice concerning Fasting ibid. Holy Ghost descending upon Jesus at his Baptism 94. 3. Holiness of Religious places 172. It is a great preservative of Life 302. 13. Hope , of Salvation encreases according to degrees of holy walking 315. Necessary in our Prayers 267. House of John Mark consecrated into a Church 174. 5. Hosanna , what it signifies 347. 6. Onely sung to God ibid. Humane Nature by the Incarnation exalted above the Angels 3. Humane infirmity to be pitied , not to be upbraided 384. Humility , of Jesus 14. The surest way to Heaven 37. Of the Baptist 68. It makes good men more honourable 186. Its excellencies 302. 11 , 12. & 367. Its Properties and Acts 364. & seq . Humility of the young Mar. of Castilion 367. 9. Hunger after Righteousness 373. 11. Hunger and Thirst spiritual , how they differ ibid. Its Acts and Reward ibid. Husbands converted by their Wives 189. 3. J. JAirus begs help of Jesus for his Daughter 185. 20. His Daughter restored to Life 186. 21. Jesus , discoursing wonderfully with the Doctors 75. 1. He wrought in the Carpenter's Trade before and after Joseph's death 76. 6. Baptized by John 93. 1. Attended by good Angels in the Wilderness 95. Was angry when the Devil tempted him to dishonour God 95. 8. & 101. 15. He slept in a Storm 184. 14. Preached the first Year in peace 186. 22. Appeared several times after his Resurrection 419. He was known in the breaking of Bread ibid. He had but two days of Triumph all his Life 359. 5. And they both allayed with Sorrow ibid. & 360. He was used inhospitably at Jerusalem ibid. Infinitely loving 360. He received all his Disciples with a Kiss 386. 8. Civil to his Enemies , and beneficial to his Friends ibid. He was stripp'd naked , and why 394. 10. He came eating and drinking , and why 291. He invites all to him ibid. The Pharisees report him mad 291. He refused to be made a King 319. 1. Transfigured 322. 13. He shamed the Accusers of the Adulteress 324. 20. He teaches his Disciples to pray the second time 326. 26. Refuses to judge a Title of Land ibid. Blesseth 〈◊〉 327. 30. The Price of him 349. 14. All his great Actions in his Life had a mixture of Divinity and Humanity 387. 9. He was not compelled to bear the transverse Beam of the Cross 354. 30. He wept for Lazarus 345. And over Jerusalem 347. 7. Answered the Pharisees concerning Tribute to Caesar 347. 10. Prayed against the bitter Cup 450. 20. Smitten upon the Face 351. Accused of Blasphemy before the High-Priest ibid. Of Treason bëfore Pilate 352. 26. Nailed with Four Nails 354. 31. Provided for his Mother after his Death 355. 33. Recited the two and twentieth Psalm , or part of it , upon the Cross ibid. He felt the first Recompence of his Sorrows in the state of Separation 426. At the Resurrection he did redintegrate all his Body but the five Wounds ibid. He arose with a glorified Body 427. But veil'd with a Cloud of common Appearance ibid. Jewish Women hoped to be the Mother of the Messias 2. 5. Jews looked to be justified by external Innocence 243. 26. They were scrupulous in Rites , careless of Moral Duties 392. 7. Could not put any Man to Death at Easter 352. 26. They eat not till the Solemnities of their Festival is over 272. 1. Jezabel pretended Religion to her design of Murther and Theft 68. 1. Illusions come often in likeness of Visions 61. 23. Sins of Infirmity explicated 105. 10. & seq . Intentions , though good , excuse not evil Actions 107. 13. Incontinence destroys the Spirit of Government 189. 5. Instruments weak and unlikely used by GOD to great purposes 197. Incarnation of Jesus instrumental to God's Glory and our Peace 31. Inevitable Infirmities consistent with a state of Grace 207. Injuries great and little to be forgiven 252. Intention of Spirit , how necessary in our Prayers 267. 17. Images , their Lawfulness or unlawfulness considered 237. 16. Admitted into the Church with difficulty and by degrees 237. 16. Images of Jupiter and Diana Cyndias did ridiculous and weak Miracles 279. 7. Imprisonment sanctified by the binding of Jesus 387. Ingratitude of Judas 360. 9. John the Baptist , his Life and Death 66. 5. & 77. & 78. and 79. & 93. & 292. 18. His Baptism 93. Whether the form of it were in the Name of Christ to come ibid. Joyes spiritual increase by communication 156. 3. Joyes of Eternity recompense all our Sorrowes in every instant of their fruition 426. Joyes sudden and violent are to be allayed by reflexion on the vilest of our Sins 196. 7. John Patriarch of Alexandria appeased the anger of Patricius 245. 30. Innocence is security against evil Actions 10. Justice of GOD in punishing Jesus cleared 415. 7 , 8. Several degrees of Justification answerable to several degrees of Faith 162. 7. Judgment of Life and Death is to be only by the supreme Power , or his Deputy 253. A Jew condemned of Idolatry for throwing stones ( though in detestation ) at the Idol of Mercury 354. 32. Judging our Brother , how far prohibited 260. 5. Judas's name written in Heaven , and blotted 〈◊〉 again 313. 1. His manner of death 352. 25. Ingrateful 360. 8. He valued the Ointment at the same rate he sold his Lord 361. 11. He enjoyed his Money not Ten Hours 386. 7. Julian desired , but could not be a Magician 361. 10. Judgment of GOD upon Sinners , their causes and manner 336. 1. & seq . Judgments National 340. 8. Not easily understood by Men 339. 5. Joseph of Arimath . embalmed the Body of Jesus 356. 38. Whether Judas received the Holy Sacrament . 375. 13. K. KIng and Church have the same Friends and Enemies 336. Kingdom of Christ not of this World 352. What it is 392. 8. Kingdom of God what 263. 5. Kingdom of Grace and Glory ibid. A King came to Jesus in behalf of his Son 182. 6. Kings specially to be prayed for 365. 13. King's Enemies how to be prayed against ibid. To Kill the assaulting Person in what cases lawful . 253. 3. L. LAws evil make a National Sin 341. 10. Law of Nature , Vide Pref. per tot . & 20. 7. Laws of Man to be obeyed , but not always to be thought most reasonable 42. 7. & 48. 21. Laws of God and Man in respect of the greatness of the subject matter compared 46. & 49. Laws of Men bind not to Death or an insufferable Calamity , rather than not to break them 48. 21. Laws of Superiours not to be too freely disputed by Subjects 49. 23. Laws of order to be observed even when the first reason ceases 52. 1. It is not safe to do all that is lawful 45. 15 , 16. Law and Gospel , how differ 194. 3. & 232. 3. & 295. S. Paul often by a Fiction of Person speaks of himself not as in the state of Regeneration under the Gospel , but as under the imperfections of the Law 104. 8. Law of Nature perfected by Christianity Pref. Law of Moses a Law of Works , how 232. Law of Jesus a Law of the Spirit , and not of Works , in what sence ibid. Law-Suits to be managed charitably 256. When lawful to be undertaken ibid. Lazarus restored to Life 345. 2. Leonigildus kill'd his Daughter for not communicating with the Arians 188. 2. Leven of Herod , what 321. 8. Lepers cured 324. 18. Sent to the Priest ibid. Unthankful ibid. The Levantine Churches afflicted , the cause uncertain 338. 4. S. Laurence his Gridiron less hot than his Love 358. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 . 17. Life of Man cut off for Sin 303. & 305. It hath several periods ibid. & 274. Good life necessary to make our Prayers acceptable 266. 13. A comparison between a Life in Solitude , and in Society 80. 5. Lord's Supper the greatest of Christian Rites 369. It manifests God's Power 371. 4. His Wisdome and his Charity 371. 5 , 6. It is a Sacrament of Union 371. 5 , 6. A Sacrament and a Sacrifice , in what sence 372. 7. As it is an act of the Ecclesiastical Officer , of what efficacy 373. 8. It is expressed in mysterious words , when the value is recited 373. Not to be administred to vicious persons 374. 12. Whether persons vicious under suspicion only are to be deprived of it 376. 13. How to be received 377. 15. What deportment to be used after it 378. 17. To be received by dying Persons 407. 23. Of what benefit it is to them ibid. Love and Obedience Duties of the first Commandment 234. 8. Love and Obedience reconciled 427. 9. Love of God , its extension 234. 9. It s intension ibid. n. 11. Love the fulfilling of the Law , explicated 233. 5. It consists in latitude 236. 13. It must exclude all affection to sin ibid. 14. Signs of true love to God 236. 14. Love to God with all our hearts possible , and in what sence ibid. Love of God and love of money compared 361. 11. Lord's Day by what authority to be observed 244. 24. And how ibid. Lucian's Cynick an Hypocrite 366. 7. Likeness to God being desired at first ruined us , now restores us 364. 3. Lying in that degree is criminal as it is injurious . 250. 40. M. MArriage , honoured by Christ's presence and the first Miracle 154. Hallowed to a Mystery 158. 8. Marriage-breakers are more criminal now than under Moses's Law 158. The smaller undecencies must be prevented or deprecated Of Martyrdom 229. 18. Magi at the sight of Christ's Poverty renounce the World , and retire into Philosophy 28. 13. Mary , a Virgin alwayes 14. & 2. An excellent Personage 2 , 3. & 8. She conceived Jesus without Sin , and brought him forth without Pain 13. Her joy at the Prophecies concerning her Son attempered with Predictions of his Passion 30. 4. Full of Fears , when she lost Jesus 73. 1. She went to the Temple to pray , and there found him ibid. Full of Piety in Her countenance and deportment 113. 32. She converted many to thoughts of Chastity by her countenance and aspect ibid. Mary Magdalen's Story 377. 9. & 360. 5. & 391. 9. & 346. 5. & 349. 13. Mary's Choice preferred 326. 26. Mark for sook Jesus upon a Scandal taken , but was reduced by S. Peter 320. 3. Malchus an Idumaean Slave smote Jesus on the Face 389. 1. Meditation described 54. It turns the understanding into spirit 55. Its Parts , Actions , manner of Exercise , Fruits and Effects Disc. 3. per tot . 54. Men ought not to run into the Ministery , till they are called 99. 3. Ordinary Means and Ministeries are to be used when they are to be had , whereof the Star appearing to the Wise men was an emblem 33. 6. VVhat is signified by the Inheritance of the Earth in the reward of Meekness 224. 9. The Parts , Actions and Reward of Meekness ibid. Mortification described , its Parts , Actions , Rules , Designs and Benefits 82. Master of the Feast , his Office among the Jews 152. 5. Mercy , a mark of Predestination 227. To be expressed in Affections and Actions ibid. Its Object , Acts , Reward ibid. Merope's answer to Polyphontes 254. 6. A Mason's withered hand cured by Jesus 290. 3. Members of Christ ought not to be soft and nice 393. 9. Miseries of this Life not always tokens of precedent Sin 325. & 326. Miracles of Christ and his Apostles weakly imitated by the Devil 279. 〈◊〉 . Greater than the pretences of their Enemies 280. 10. Which were done by Christ were primarily for conviction of the Jewes , those by the Apostles for the Gentiles 279. 6. Vide 277. Were confirmed by Prophecies of Jesus ibid. Mount Olivet the place of the Romans first Incamping 347. 7. Mourning a duty , its Acts , Duty , Reward 223. Multitudes fed by Christ 319. & 321. 7. N. NAme of God put into H. places , in what sence 172. 1. Name of Jesus , its mysteriousness explicated 39. 8. It s excellency and efficacy ibid. Good Name to be sought after 367. Names of some of the LXXII 325. 24. Names of some that were supposed to rise after the Passion of Jesus 425. 3. Good Nature an Instrument of Vertue 91. 24. Nard pistick poured upon Jesus's Head and Feet 346. 5. & 361. 11. Natural to love God when we understand him 296. 3. Natures of Christ communicated in Effects 387. 9. National Sins and Judgements 340. 8. Their Cure ibid. Necessity to Sin laid upon no Man 105. 9. Necessity to be obeyed before positive Constitutions 289. Necessity of Holy Living 204. 〈◊〉 . Necessities of our selves and other men in several manner to be prayed for 265. 12. Nicodemus his 〈◊〉 with Jesus 167. New Creation at the Passion 431. Nero first among the Romans 〈◊〉 with Nard 291. 9. Nursing Children a duty of Mothers . 19. O. OAths forbidden , and how 240. Oaths 〈◊〉 Judicature , if contradictory , not to be admitted 241. Oaths promissory not to be exacted by Princes but in great necessity 240. Vide Swearing Obedience to God and Man , its Parts , Actions , Necessity , Definition and Constitution 41. & 224. & 205. Obedience in small instances stated 44. 12 , 13. Obedience to GOD our only security for defence and provisions 68. 3. Obedience of Jesus to his Parents 72. Obedience and Love 〈◊〉 in the holy Women , and how reconciled 427. 9. Occasions of Sin to be avoided 110. 24. Offending Hand or Eye to be cut off or pull'd out 323. 17. Ordinary means of Salvation to be pursued 32. 5. Original Sin disputed to evil purposes 37. Considered and stated in order to Practice 38. 4. Opinion of our selves ought to be small and true 365. 5. It was the Duke of Candia's Harbinger 365. 6. In what mean opinion of our selves consists ibid. Oswy's Vow 270. 19. Outward 〈◊〉 addes reverence to Religion 177. 12. P. PAradise distinct from Heaven 424. 1. Place of GOD's special appearance in Paradise 175. 7. Patriarchs why desirous to be 〈◊〉 in the Land of Promise 425. 3. Pardon of Sins by Christ is most properly of Sins committed before Baptism 193. Pardon of Sins after Baptism how consigned 200. & 201. It is more uncertain and difficult ibid. It is less and to fewer purposes 204. Alwayes imperfect after Baptism ibid. It is by Parts ibid. Possibility of Pardon hath a period in this life 210. Patrons to present able persons to their Benefices 194. 2. How far lawful to prefer their Kindred ibid. Parents in order of Nature next to God 244. 25. Duty to Parents the band of Republicks ibid. What it consists of ibid. Passion of Jesus 355. & 412. Passions sanctified by Jesus 384. 3. Paschal Rites representative of moral Duties 364. Patience to be preserved by Innocents accused 393. And in Sickness 404. 17. Paul calling himself the greatest Sinner , in what sence he understood it 264. 8. He hoped for Salvation more confidently towards his end 317. 9. Palms cut down for the Reception of Jesus 347. Persecution an earnest of future Bliss 229. 18. It is lawful to fly it 290. & 69. 4. Not , to fight against it 70. The Duty of Suffering explicated 229. 18. Peacefulness . its Acts and Reward 228. 17. Peace 〈◊〉 from God by Christ 29. 5. Personal Priviledges not to be insisted upon so much as strict Duty 37. Personal Infirmity of Princes excuses not our Disobedience 46. Person of a Man first accepted , and then his Gift , in what sence true 33. Parental Piety of the Virgin Mary 15. Person of Christ of great excellency 15. Presentation of Jesus the only Present that was commensurate to God's excellency 52. Poverty of Christ's Birth in many circumstances 15. Christ chose his Portion among the poor of this World 52. 3. Poverty better than Riches ibid. & 222. 3. No shame to be poor ibid. & 29. & 15. 4. Christ was revealed first to poor Men 29. Poverty of Spirit described 222. Its Parts , Acts and Offices ibid. Peter for want of Faith ready to drown 320. Providence of God provides Bread for us It unites causes disparate in one event 13. Providence of GOD disposes evil Men to evil events 66. And good Men to good , secretly , but certainly ibid. It is wholly to be relied upon for provisions and defence 67. & 71. & 99. It supplies all our needs 358. & 361. & 371. Sometimes it shortens Man's life 264. 307. 22. S. Paphnutius converted a Harlot by the argument of the Divine Presence 113. 32. Plato's reproof of Diogenes 112. 30. Preachers ought to be of good Example 79. 2. Ambitious seeking of Prelacy hath been the Pest of the Church 96. 2. For liberty of Prophesying 187. 2. & 233. 18. Presbyters have no power by Divine right to reject from the Communion those that present themselves , and desire to receive it 376. 13. Passions , if violent , though for God , are irregular 10. & 270. Publick and private Devotions compared 75. 2. Presence of God an Antidote against Temptations 168. 29. Publication to be made of the Divine Excellencies 9. Prosperity dangerous ; how to be managed ibid. Podavivus his imitation of Wenceslaus 4. Exh. 10. Prodigies of Greatness and Goodness in Christ's Person 16. Prayer the easiest and most pleasant Duty , and yet we are averse from it , and why 83. A great Remedy against Temptation 115. 37. It must be joyned with our own endeavour ibid. Its Definition , Conditions , Matter , Manner , Efficacy , Excellency , Rules 267. Lord's Prayer explicated 267. Mental and Vocal Prayer compared 271. 23. Presumption in dying persons carefully to be distinguished from Confidence 403. 15. Means of curing it ibid. Presumption upon false Opinions in Religion how to be cured 402. Physicians to be obeyed in Sickness , or suffered , how far 404. 18. Predestination to be searched for in the Books of Scripture and Conscience 313. It is God's great Secret , not to be inquired into curiously ibid. It was revealed to the Apostles concerning their own particulars , and how ibid. It was conditional ibid. The ground of true Joy 223. 17. To be estimated above Priviledges ibid. Phavorinus his Discourse concerning enquiring into Fortunes 313. 2. Preparation to the Lord's Supper 374. 11. Of two sorts , viz. of Necessity , and of Ornament 365. A Duty of unlimited time ibid. Preparation to Death no other but a holy Life 397. 1. Parables 292. 10. & 326. 25. & 323. & 345. Pilate's usage and deportment towards Jesus 395. & 352. 26. He broke the Jewish and Tiberian Law in the Execution of Jesus 352. 28. Sent to Rome by Vitellius 395. 12. Banished to Vienna ibid. Killed himself ibid. Prayer of Jesus in the Garden made excellent by all the requisites of Prayer 384. 4. Prelates are Shepherds and Fishers 330. Their Duty and Qualifications ibid. & 153. Pride incident to spiritual Persons 100. & 88. Gifts extraordinary ought not to make us proud 156. Promise to God , and Swearing by him in the matter of Vows , is all one 269. 20. Promises made to single Graces not effectual , but in conjunction with all parts of our Duty 218. Promises Temporal do also belong to the Gospel 302. Pierre Calceon condemned the Pucelle of France 337. 4. Peter rebuked for fighting 322. 21. Rebuked the saying of his Lord concerning the Passion 321. 10. He was sharply reproved for it ibid. & 358. 2. He received the power of the Keys for himself and his Successors in the Apostolate 322. & 324. Denied his Master 351. 23. Repented ibid. & 391. Prophets must avoid suspicion of Incontinence 189. 4. Prophecy of Jesus 349. Prudence of a Christian described 156. Piety an excellent disposition to justifying Faith 190. Publican an Office of Honour among the Romans 185. 18. Hated by the Jews and Greeks ibid. Prejudice an enemy to Religion 189. It brings a Curse ibid. Publick fame a Rule of Honour 172. Purity Evangelical described 228. It s Act and Reward ibid. Q. QUarrel between Jews and Samaritans 182. The ground of it ibid. Question of Original Sin stated in order to Practice 38. 4. & 296. 3. Questions . Whether we are bound to suffer Death or Imprisonment , rather than break a Humane Law 47. 21. Whether Christ did truly or in appearance onely increase in Wisdome 74. 5. Whether is more advantage to Piety , a retired and contemplative , or a publick and active Life 80. 5 , 6. Whether way of serving God is better , the way of 〈◊〉 or the way of Affections 42. 8. & 424. 11. Whether Faith of Ignorant persons produced by insufficient Arguments be acceptable 157. 7. & 159. Whether purposes of good Life upon our Death-bed can be 〈◊〉 212. 39. How long time must Repentance of an evil Life begin before our Death 217. 48. Whether we be always bound to do absolutely the best thing 234. 11. Whether it be lawful for Christians to swear 238. 18. Whether it be lawful to swear by a Creature in such cases , wherein it is permitted to swear by God 241. 23. Whether a Virgin may not kill a Ravisher 255. 7. Whether it be lawful to pray for Revenge 257. 10. Whether it be lawful for Christians to go to Law , and in what cases 255. 8. Whether actual Intention in our Prayers be simply necessary 267. 16. Whether is better , Publick or Private Prayer 270. 22. & 75. Whether is better , Vocal or Mental Prayer 270. 23. Whether a Christian ought to be , or can be , in this Life ordinarily certain of Salvation 313. Whether a thing in its own nature indifferent is to be thrown off , if it have been abused to Superstition 330. 6. Whether it be lawful to fight a Dùell 253. 5 , 6 , &c. Whether men be to be kept from receiving the Sacrament for private Sins 376. 13. Whether is better , to communicate often , or seldom 378. 18. Whether a Death-bed Penitent after a wicked Life is to be absolved , if he desires it 403. 13. Whether the same Person is to be communicated 407. 23. Whether Christ was in the state of Comprehension during his Passion 413. & 414. Whether Christ suffered the pains of Hell upon the Cross ibid. How the Divine Justice could consist with Punishing the innocent Jesus 415. 7 , 8. Whether Saints enjoy the 〈◊〉 Vision before the Day of Judgment 423. & 429. 15. R. RAshness an enemy to good Counsels and happy Events 11. Religion as excellent in its silent Affections , as in its exteriour Actions 4. & 30. Religion , its Comforts and Refreshments 58. When necessary ibid. Not greedily to be sought after 100. 11 , 12. Vide Spiritual Sadness . Religion pretended to evil purposes 66. 1. It is a publick Vertue 75. It observes the smallest things 272. It s Pretence does not hallow every Action 170. Religion of Holy Places 171. In differing Religions how the parties are to deme an themselves 187. Ministers of Religion to be content , if their Labours be not successful 195. They are to have a Calling from the Church 196. Ought to live well ibid. Religion of a Christian purifies and reigns in the Soul 232. 3. It best serves our Temporal ends 303. Not to be neglected upon pretence of Charity 346. Affections of Religion are estimated by their own Excellency , not by the Donative , so it be our best 360. 8. Religious Actions to be submitted to the Conduct of spiritual Guides 48. A religious person left a Vision to obey his Orders 49. 25. Religious Actions to be repeated often by Sick and Dying persons 406. Rebellion against Prince and Priest more severely punished than Murmurers against GOD 50. 26. Repentance necessary to humane nature 198. The ends of its Institution 198. Revealed first by Christ as a Law 199. Not allowed in the Law of Moses for greater Crimes ibid. Repentance and Faith the two hands to apprehend Christ ibid. After Baptism not so clearly expressed to be accepted , nor upon the same terms as before 199. & 201. It is a collection of holy Duties 210. The extirpation of all vicious Habits 210. Described ibid. It is not meerly a Sorrow 211. 36. Nor meerly a Purpose 212. Too late upon our Death-bed 214. Publick Repentance must use the instruments of the Church 218. Must begin immediately after Sin 391. & 398. Promoted by the Devil , when it is too late 392. 7. Repentance of Esau ibid. Repentance accidentally may have advantages beyond Innocence 391. Repenting often , and sinning often , and 〈◊〉 changing , is a sign of an ill condition 106. Revenues not to be greedily sought for by Ecclesiasticks 71. 9. They are dangerous to all men ib. That the Roman Empire was permitted to the power and management of the Devil , the opinion of some 100. 14. How the Righteousness of Christians must exceed the Righteousness of Pharisees 233. Revenge forbidden 245. & 253. Praef. n. 40. Recidivation or Relapse into a state of sin unpardonable , and how 156. Reproachful Language prohibited 247. Reprehension of evil Persons may be in Language properly expressive of the Crime ibid. Resisting evil in what sence lawful 225. Reverence of posture to be used in Prayer 271. 23. Remedies against Anger 248. 35. Repetition of Prayers 270. Relations secular must be quitted for Religion , in what sence 320. They must not hinder Religious Duties 236. Reformation begins ill , if it begins with Sacrilege 171. 5. Reward propounded in the beginning and end of Christian Duties 222. It makes the labour easie 295. 1. Restitution to the state of Grace is divisible , and by parts 314. Restitution made by Zacchaeus 346. 4. Resurrection proved and described by Jesus 348. 11. All Relations of Kindred or 〈◊〉 cease then ibid. Resurrection of Jesus 393. Given for a sign 160. & 279. It is the support of Christianity 428. Resignation of himself to be made by a dying or sick person 405. 17. Rich men less disposed for reception of Christianity 29. Riches are surest and to best purposes obtained by Christianity 301. 10. Rites of Burial among the Jewes lasted Fourty days . 419. S. SArabaitae great Mortifiers , but not obedient 49. 24. Sacrilege a robbing of God 52. Saints to inherit the Earth , in what sence 224. 9. Sacraments ineffectual without the conjunction of something moral 97. They operate by way of Prayers ibid. Sacrament of the Lord's Supper instituted 349. 17. It s manner ibid. To be received Fasting 272. Of the Presence of Christ's Body in it 370. 3. Sabbath of the Jewes abolished 327. 28. & 243. 25. Primitive Christians kept both the Sabbath and the Lord's Day 243. 24. Second Sabbath after the first , what it means 290. 2. Sabbatick pool streamed onely upon the Sabbath 327. 28. Salome presented John Baptist's Head to her Mother 169. She was killed with Ice ibid. Samaritans were Schismaticks 182. 3. They hated the Jewes ibid. They were cast in their Appeal to Ptolemy ibid. Samaritan 〈◊〉 , a Concubine after the death of her fifth Husband 187. 1. Scandal cannot be given by any thing that is our Duty 328. & 334. 13. Sin of Scandal , and the indiscretion of Scandal 330. 6. Scandalous persons who 328. & 334. 13. No Man can say that himself is scandalized 333. 10. The Rules , Measure and Judgement of Scandal 328. Between a Friend and an Enemy how we are to doe in the question of Scandal 334. 12. Scandal how to be avoided in making and executing Laws 334. 14. State of Separation 423. & 429. 15. The Pool of Siloam 325. 21. Scorn must not be cast upon our calamitous Brother 339. Secular Persons tied to a frequent Communion 379. 19. Secular and Spiritual Objects their difference 380. 21. Serapion's Reproof of a young proud Monk 366. 7. Sepulchre of Jesus sealed 501. 39. Sermon of Christ upon the Mount 183. 11. His Farewell-Sermon 350. 19. Severity to our selves and Gentleness to others , a Duty 324. 17. Sensuality . Vide Temptations Simon' s name changed 151. 2. His Wifes Mother cured 184. 12. Simeon Stylites commended for Obedience 49. 24. Simon Magus brought a new Sin into the world 104. 6. Sins of Infirmity . Vide 〈◊〉 Sins small in themselves are made great when they come by design 44. 12. When they are acted by deliberation ibid. When they are often repeated and not interrupted by Repentance ibid. 13. When they are 〈◊〉 45. 14. Sin pleasant at the first , bitter in the end 159. It carries a whip with it 170. They are forgiven when the Punishment is remitted 184. After Pardon they may return in guilt 211. It is more troublesome than Vertue is 297. 4. Not cared for , unless it be difficult 299. 6. It shortens our lives naturally 305. 19. It made Jesus weep 359. To be accounted as great Blemishes to our selves as we account them to others 365. 6. Sinners Prayers not heard , in what sence 266. 13. Sinners in need are to be relieved 258. Sinners are Fools 310. 28. State of Sin totally opposed to the Mercies of the Covenant 200. Sin against the Holy Ghost , what it is 201. 10. Simplicity of Spirit , a Christian Duty 157. Shame of Lust more violent to Nature than the Severities of Continence 295. The good Shepherd 325. Shepherds by Night watchful had a Revclation of Christ 29. Spiritual Shepherds must be watchful ibid. Spiritual Sadness is often a Mercy , and a Grace 236. When otherwise 160. Spiritual persons apt to be tempted to Pride 86 , & 100. Spiritual Mourning 224. Spiritual Pleasures distinguished from Temporal 191. Spiritual good things how to be prayed for 266. & 262. Spiritual 〈◊〉 360. 8. Spirit makes Religion 〈◊〉 295. It is the earnest of Salvation 316. Spirit of Adoption ibid. It is quenched by some ibid. Spirit is 〈◊〉 to be offered to God 176. Solemnities of Christ's Kingdom 392. Souldiers plunged Jesus into the Brook Cedron 388. 11. They pierced his Side 355. They mock and beat Him 351. & 353. They cover his Face at his Attachment 351. They fell to the ground at the glory of his Person ibid. Sun's Eclipse at the Passion , miraculous 354. Stones of the Temple , of what bigness 348. 12. Star at Christ's Birth moved irregularly 27. 9. That the Star appearing to the Wise Men was an Angel , the Opinion of the Greeks 27. 8. Swine kept by the Jews , and why 194 Statue of Brass erected by the Woman cured of her Bloudy issue 185. 20. Success of our endeavours depends on God 196. 5. Sudden Joys are dangerous 196. 7. Schism to be avoided in the Occasions 194. Swearing in common Talk a great Crime 304. By Creatures , forbidden ibid. Suits at Law , with what Cautions permitted 264. Syrophoenician importunate with Jesus for her Daughter 321. 6. Solomon's Porch a fragment of the first Temple 327. 29. Sweat of Christ in the Agony , as great as drops of Bloud . 350. 20. & 385. 6. T. TAble with Nails fastned to Christ's Garment when he bore the Cross 413. 2. Teachers of others should be exemplary 33. & 79. They should learn first of their Superiours 75. Not to make too much haste into the Imployment 79. Teresa à Jesu , her Vow 235. 22. Temporal Priviledges inferiour to Spiritual 292. Temporal good things how to be prayed for 261. Temptation not alwayes a sign of immortification 91. Not to be voluntarily entred into 91. & 110. Not alwayes an argument of GOD's Disfavour 97. & 361. It is every Man's Lot 105. Not alwayes to be removed by Prayer 102. The several manners of Temptation ibid. Remedies against it 112. 29. & seq . 1. Consideration , 1. Of the Presence of God 112. 29. 1. Consideration , 2. Of Death 114. 34. 2. Prayer 115. 37. Temple of Jerusalem , how many High-Priests it had in Succession 303. 14. Transmigration of Souls maintained by the Pharisees 321. 8. Tribute to be paid 347. Traitor discovered by a Sop 350. Trinity meeting at the 〈◊〉 of our Blessed Lord by some manners of exteriour Communication 94. 3. Triumphant riding of Jesus 359. 4. Thief upon the Cross pardoned , and in what sence 200. 8. An excellent Penitent 354. 32. Themistocles appeased King Admetus by 〈◊〉 his Son to his sight 372. 7. Thomas's Infidelity 420. 3. Tongue-murther 247. V. VAin Repetitions in Prayer to be avoided 270. Value of the Silver pieces Judas had 349. 14. Value of Jesus in this World was always at a low rate 57. 4. Vespasian upon the Prophecies concerning the Messias 〈◊〉 himself into hopes of the Empire 25. 2. Vinegar and Gall offered to Jesus 355. 35. Virginity preserred before Marriage 327. Vertue is honourable 301. 11. Productive of 〈◊〉 299. 7. More pleasant than Vice 69. 6. The holy Virgin incouraged Joseph of Arimathea to a publick Confession of Jesus 356. 38. She caused Ministers to take her Son's Body from the Cross 356. Full of sorrow at the Passion 356. 37. She was saluted Blessed by a Capernaite 292. 12. Vice a great Spender 301. 9. It 〈◊〉 from Vertue sometimes but in one nice degree 45. 15. Why we are more prone to Vice than Vertue 37. 4. A Virgin shut her self up twelve Years in a Sepulchre to cure her Temptation 114. 34. Vicious persons not to be admitted to the Sacrament 374. 12. Unitive way of Religion to be practised with caution 60. 20. Vows are a good instance of Importunity in Prayer 270. 20. To be made with much caution and prudence ibid. Uncleanness of Body and Spirit forbidden to Christians 249 W. WAter-pots among the Jews at Feasts , and why 152. 7. Way to Heaven narrow , in what sence 297. Washing the Feet an hospitable civility to Strangers 350. 16. Washing the Disciples Feet ib. Wandring thoughts in Prayer to be prayed against 268. Watchfulness designed in the Parable of the ten Virgins 348. Want cannot be , where God undertakes the Provision 77. Wenceslaus King of Bohemia led his Servant by a vigorous example 4. Exh. 10. Widows two Mites accepted 348. Widowhood harder to preserve Continence than Virginity 86. Wise-mens expectation lessened at the sight of the Babe lying in a Stable 28. But not 〈◊〉 ibid. They publickly consess him 33. Wilderness chosen by Christ , he was not involuntarily driven by the evil Spirit 95. Works of Religion upon our Death-bed , after a pious Life , are of great concernment 403. Women must be lovers of Privacy 9. Instrumental to Conversion of Men 182. 3. To Heresie 189. 5. Not to be conversed withall too freely by Spiritual persons ibid. They 〈◊〉 Religious Friendships with Apostles and Bishops ibid. 6. Cautions concerning Conversation with Women ibid. They ministred to Christ 293. 17. Go early to the Sepulchre 419. Will for the Deed accepted , how to be understood 213. 41. Will of God is to be chosen before our own 247. & 267. World to be refused when the Devil offers it 100. Wine mixed with Myrrhe offered to Jesus 353. Y. YOak of Christianity easie 295. Yoak of Moses and Yoak of Sin broken by Christ 295. 1. Z. ZEal of Elias not imitable by us 324. 18. Zeal of Prayer of great efficacy 269. 18. It discomposed Moses and Elisha 85. 8. Zacchaeus his Repentance 346. 4. Zebedee's Sons Petition ibid. Zechary slain by Herod , and why 66. 5. His Bloud left a Tincture in the Pavement for a long while after . ibid. The End of the TABLE . ERRATA . PAge 85. Line 13. for Consulted by three things , read Consulted by three Kings . Antiquitates Apostolicae : OR , THE LIVES , ACTS and MARTYRDOMS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES OF OUR SAVIOUR . To which are added The Lives of the two EVANGELISTS , SS . MARK and LVKE . By WILLIAM CAVE , D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his MAJESTY . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Euseb. H. Eccl. lib. 1. cap. 10. pag. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Chrysost. Praesat . in Epist. ad Philem. pag. 1733. LONDON , Printed by R. Norton , for R. Royston , Bookseller to his most Sacred Majesty , at the Angel in Amen-Corner , 1675. TO THE READER . IT will not , I suppose , seem improbable to the Reader , when I tell him , with how much reluctancy and unwillingness I set upon this undertaking . Besides the disadvantage of having this piece annexed to the Elaborate Book of that excellent Prelate , so great a Master both of Learning and Language , I was intimately conscious to mine own unfitness for such a Work at any time , much more when clogg'd with many habitual Infirmities and Distempers . I considered the difficulty of the thing it self , perhaps not capable of being well managed by a much better Ten than mine ; few of the Ancient Monuments of the Church being extant , and little of this nature in those few that are . Indeed I could not but think it reasonable , that all possible honour should be done to those , that first Preached the Gospel of peace , and brought glad tidings of good things , that it was fit men should be taught how much they were obliged to those excellent Persons , who were willing at so dear a rate to plant Christianity in the World , who they were , and what was that Piety and that Patience , that Charity and that Zeal , which made them to be reverenc'd while they liv'd , and their Memories ever since to be honourably celebrated through the World , infinitely beyond the glories of Alexander , and the triumphs of a Pompey or a Caesar. But then how this should be done out of those few imperfect Memoires , that have escaped the general shipwrack of Church-Antiquities , and much more by so rude and unskilful a hand as mine , appear'd , I confess , a very difficult task , and next door to impossible . These , with some other considerations , made me a long time obstinately resolve against it , till being overcome by importunity , I yielded to do it , as I was able , and as the nature of the thing would bear . THAT which I primarily designed to my self , was to draw down the History of the New Testament especially from our Lord's death , to enquire into the first Originals and Plantations of the Christian Church by the Ministery of the Apostles , the success of their Doctrine , the power and conviction of their Miracles , their infinite Labours and hardships , and the dreadful Sufferings which they underwent ; to consider in what instances of Piety and Vertue they ministred to our imitation , and served the purposes of Religion and an Holy Life . Indeed the accounts that are left us of these things are very short and inconsiderable , sufficient possibly to excite the appetite , not to allay the hunger of an importunate Enquirer into these matters . A consideration that might give us just occasion to lament the irreparable loss of those Primitive Records , which the injury of time hath deprived us of , the substance being gone , and little left us but the shell and carcass . Had we the Writings of Papias Bishop of Hierapolis , and Scholar , says Irenaeus , to S. John , ( wherein , as himself tells us , he set down what he had learnt from those who had familiarly conversed with the Apostles , the sayings and discourses of Andrew and Peter , of Philip and Thomas , &c. ) Had we the Ancient Commentaries of Hegesippus , Clemens Alexandrinus his Institutions , Africanus his Chronography , and some others , the Reader might expect more intire and particular relations . But alas ! these are long since perish'd , and little besides the names of them transmitted to us . Nor should we have had most of that little that is left us , had not the commendable care and industry of Eusebius preserv'd it to us . And if he complain'd in his time ( when those Writings were extant ) that towards the composing of his History he had only some few particular accounts here and there left by the Ancients of their times ; what cause have we to complain , when even those little portions have been ravish'd from us ? So that he that would build a work of this nature , must look upon himself as condemn'd to a kind of Egyptian Task , to make Brick without Straw , at least to pick it up where he can find it , though after all it amounts to a very slender parcel . Which as it greatly hinders the beauty and completeness of the structure , so does it exceedingly multiply the labour and difficulty . For by this means I have been forc'd to gather up those little fragments of Antiquity , that lie dispers'd in the Writings of the Ancients , thrown some into this corner , and others into that : which I have at length put together , like the pieces of a broken Statue , that it might have at least some kind of resemblance of the person , whom it designs to represent . HAD I thought good to have traded in idle and frivolous Authors , Abdias Babylonius , the Passions of Peter and Paul , Joachim Perionius , Peter de Natalibus , and such like , I might have presented the Reader with a larger , not a better account . But besides the averseness of my nature to falshoods and trifles , especially in matters wherein the honour of the Christian Religion is concern'd , I knew the World to be wiser at this time of day , than to be imposed upon by Pious frauds , and cheated with Ecclesiastical Romances , and Legendary Reports . For this reason I have more fully and particularly insisted upon the Lives of the two first Apostles , so great a part of them being secur'd by an unquestionable Authority , and have presented the larger portions of the Sacred History , many times to very minute circumstances of action . And I presume the wise and judicious Reader will not blame me , for chusing rather to enlarge upon a story , which I knew to be infallibly true , than to treat him with those , which there was cause enough to conclude to be certainly false . THE Reader will easily discern , that the Authors I make use of are not all of the same rank and size . Some of them are Divinely inspir'd , whose Authority is Sacred , and their reports rendred not only credible , but unquestionable , by that infallible and unerring Spirit that presided over them . Others such , of whose faith and testimony , especially in matters of fact , there is no just cause to doubt , I mean the genuine Writings of the Ancient Fathers , or those , which though unduly assign'd to this or that particular Father , are yet generally allowed to be Ancient , and their credit not to be despis'd , because their proper Parent is not certainly known . Next these come the Writers of the middle and later Ages of the Church , who though below the former in point of credit , have yet some particular advantages that recommend them to us . Such I account Symeon Metaphrastes , Nicephorus Callistus , the Menaea and Menologies of the Greek Church , &c. wherein though we meet with many vain and improbable stories , yet may we also rationally expect some real and substantial accounts of things , especially seeing they had the advantage of many Ancient and Ecclesiastick Writings , extant in their times , which to us are utterly lost . Though even these too I have never called in , but in the want of more Ancient and Authentick Writers . As for others , if any passages occur either in themselves of doubtful and suspected credit , or borrowed from spurious and uncertain Authors , they are always introduced or dismissed with some kind of censure or remark , that the most easie and credulous Reader may know what to trust to , and not fear being secretly surpriz'd into a belief of doubtful and fabulous reports . And now after all I am sufficiently sensible , how lank and thin this Account is , nor can the Reader be less satisfied with it , than I am my self ; and I have only this piece of justice and charity to beg of him , that he would suspend his censure , till he has taken a little pains to enquire into the state of the Times and Things I Write of : And then however he may challenge my prudence in undertaking it ; he will not , I hope , see reason to charge me with want of care and faithfulness in the pursuance of it . THE CONTENTS . THE Introduction . The Life of S. Peter . SECT . I. Of S. Peter , from his Birth , till his first coming to Christ. Page 1. SECT . II. Of S. Peter , from his first coming to Christ , till his being call'd to be a Disciple . p. 6. SECT . III. Of S. Peter , from his Election to the Apostolate , till the confession which he made of Christ. p. 8. SECT . IV. Of S. Peter , from the time of his Confession , till our Lord's last Passeover . p. 11. SECT . V. Of S. Peter , from the last Passeover , till the Death of Christ. p. 15. SECT . VI. Of S. Peter , from Christ's Resurrection , till his Ascension . p. 19. SECT . VII . S. Peter's Acts , from our Lord's Ascension , till the dispersion of the Church . p. 22. SECT . VIII . Of S. Peter's Acts from the dispersion of the Church at Jerusalem , till his contest with S. Paul at Antioch . p. 28. SECT . IX . Of S. Peter's Acts , from the End of the Sacred story , till his Martyrdom . p. 33. SECT . X. The Character of his Person and Temper , and an account of his Writings . p. 37. SECT . XI . An Enquiry into S. Peter's going to Rome . p. 41. The Life of S. Paul. SECT . I. Of S. Paul , from his Birth , till his Conversion . Pag. 45. SECT . II. Of S. Paul , from his Conversion , till the Council at Jerusalem . p. 50. SECT . III. Of S. Paul , from the time of the Synod at Jerusalem , till his departure from Athens . P. 55. SECT . IV. Of S. Paul's Acts at Corinth and Ephesus . p. 62. SECT . V. S. Paul's Acts , from his departure from Ephesus , till his Arraignment before Felix . p. 67. SECT . VI. Of S. Paul , from his first Trial before Felix , till his coming to Rome . p. 72. SECT . VII . S. Paul's Acts , from his coming to Rome , till his Martyrdom . p. 76. SECT . VIII . The description of his Person and Temper , together with an account of his Writings . p. 82. SECT . IX . The principal Controversies that exercised the Church in his time . p. 88. The Life of S. Andrew . P. 99. The Life of S. James the Great . P. 105. The Life of S. John. P. 113. The Life of S. Philip. P. 123. The Life of S. Bartholomew . P. 127. The Life of S. Matthew . P. 131. The Life of S. Thomas . P. 137. The Life of S. James the Less . P. 143. The Life of S. Simon the Zealot . P. 149. The Life of S. Jude . P. 153. The Life of S. Matthias . P. 157. The Life of S. Mark the Evangelist . P. 161. The Life of S. Luke the Evangelist . P. 167. Diptycha Apostolica , Or , an Enumeration of the Apostles , and their Successors for the first three hundred years in the five great Churches said to have been founded by them . pag. 171. IMPRIMATUR . THO. TOMKYNS . Ex AEd. Lambeth . Feb. 25. 1674. THE INTRODUCTION . Christs faithfulness in appointing Officers in his Church . The dignity of the Apostles above the rest . The importance of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . The nature of the Apostolick Office considered . Respect had in founding it to the custom among the Jews . Their Apostoli , who . The number of the Apostles limited . Why twelve , the several conjectures of the Ancients . Their immediate election . Their work wherein it consisted . The Universality of their Commission . Apostolical Churches , what . How soon the Apostles propagated Christianity through the World. An argument for the Divinity of the Christian Religion inferr'd thence . The power conveyed to the Apostles , equally given to all . Peter's superiority over the rest disprov'd both from Scripture and Antiquity . The Apostles how qualified for their Mission . Immediately taught the Doctrine they delivered . Infallibly secur'd from Error in delivering it . Their constant and familiar converse with their Master . Furnished with a power of working Miracles . The great evidence of it to prove a Divine Doctrine . Miraculous powers conferr'd upon the Apostles particularly considered . Prophecy , what , and when it ceas'd . The gift of discerning Spirits . The gift of Tongues . The gift of Interpretation . The unreasonable practice of the Church of Rome in keeping the Scripture and Divine Worship in an Unknown Tongue . The gift of Healing : Greatly advantageous to Christianity . How long it lasted . Power of Immediately inflicting corporal punishments ; and the great benefit of it in those times . The Apostles enabled to confer miraculous powers upon others . The Duration of the Apostolical Office. What in it extraordinary , what ordinary . Bishops in what sence styled Apostles . I. JESUS CHRIST , the great Apostle and High Priest of our Profession , being appointed by God to be the Supreme Ruler and Governour of his Church , was , like Moses , faithful in all his house : but with this honourable advantage , that Moses was faithful as a Servant , Christ as a Son over his own house , which he erected , established and governed with all possible care and diligence . Nor could he give a greater instance either of his fidelity towards God , or his love and kindness to the Souls of men , than that after he had purchas'd a Family to himself , and could now no longer upon earth manage its interests in his own person , he would not return back to Heaven , till he had constituted several Orders of Officers in his Church , who might superintend and conduct its affairs ; and according to the various circumstances of its state , administer to the needs and exigencies of his Family . Accordingly therefore he gave some Apostles , and some Prophets , and some Evangelists , and some Pastors and Teachers , for the perfecting of the Saints , for the work of the Ministery , 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. The first and prime Class of Officers is that of Apostles : God hath set some in the Church , first Apostles , then secondarily Prophets , &c. First Apostles , as far in office as honour before the rest , their election more immediate , their commission more large and comprehensive , the powers and priviledges where with they were furnished greater and more honourable : Prophecy , the gift of Miracles , and expelling Daemons , the order of Pastors and Teachers were all spiritual powers , and ensigns of great authority , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , says * Chrysostom , but the Apostolick eminency is far greater than all these , which therefore he calls a spiritual Consulship , an Apostle having as great preheminence above all other officers in the Church , as the Consul had above all other Magistrates in Rome . These Apostles were a few select persons whom our Lord chose out of the rest , to devolve part of the Government upon their shoulders , and to depute for the first planting and setling Christianity in the World : He chose twelve , whom he named Apostles : of whose Lives and Acts being to give an Historical account in the following work , it may not possibly be unuseful to premise some general remarks concerning them , not respecting this or that particular person , but of a general relation to the whole , wherein we shall especially take notice of the importance of the word , the nature of the imployment , the fitness and qualification of the persons , and the duration and continuance of the Office. II. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or sent , is among ancient Writers applied either to things , actions , or persons . To things ; thus those Dimissory letters that were granted to such who appeal'd from an Inferiour to a Superiour Judicature , were in the language of the * Roman Laws usually called Apostoli : thus a Packet-boat was styled , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because sent up and down for advice and dispatch of business : thus though in somewhat a different sence , the lesson taken out of the Epistles is in the Ancient Greek ‖ Liturgies called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because usually taken out of the Apostles Writings . Sometimes it is applied to actions , and so imports no more than mission , or the very act of sending ; thus the setting out a Fleet , or a Naval expedition was wont to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so * Suidas tells us , that as the persons designed for the care and management of the Fleet were called ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so the very sending sorth of the Ships themselves , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , were styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Lastly , what principally falls under our present consideration , it is applied to persons , and so imports no more than a messenger , a person sent upon some special errand , for the discharge of some peculiar affair in his name that sent him . Thus Epaphroditus is called the Apostle or Messenger of the Philippians , when sent by them to S. Paul at Rome : thus Titus and his companions are styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Messengers of the Churches . So our Lord , he that is sent , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an Apostle or Messenger is not greater than him that sent him . This then being the common notion of the word , our Lord fixes it to a particular use , applying it to those select persons , whom he had made choice of to act by that peculiar authority and commission , which he had deriv'd upon them . Twelve , whom he also named Apostles ; that is , Commissioners , those who were to be Embassadors for Christ , to be sent up and down the World in his name , to plant the Faith , to govern and superintend the Church at present , and by their wise and prudent settlement of affairs , to provide for the future exigencies of the Church . III. The next thing then to be considered is the nature of their Office , and under this enquiry we shall make these following remarks . First , it is not to be doubted but that our Lord in founding this Office had some respect to the state of things in the Jewish Church , I mean not only in general , that there should be superiour and subordinate Officers , as there were superiour and inferiour Orders under the Mosaic dispensation ; but that herein he had an eye to some usage and custom common among them . Now amongst the Jews as all Messengers were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Apostles , so were they wont to dispatch some with peculiar letters of authority and Commission , whereby they acted as Proxies and Deputies of those that sent them , thence their Proverb , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every man's Apostle is as himself , that is , whatever he does is look'd upon to be as firm and valid , as if the person himself had done it . Thus when Saul was sent by the Sanhedrim to Damascus to apprehend the Jewish converts , he was furnished with letters from the High Priest , enabling him to act as his Commissary in that matter . Indeed * Epiphanius tells us of a sort of persons called Apostles , who were Assessors and Counsellors to the Jewish Patriarch , constantly attending upon him to advise him in matters pertaining to the Law , and sent by him ( as ‖ he intimates ) sometimes to inspect and reform the manners of the Priests and Jewish Clergy , and the irregularities of Country-Synagogues , with commission to gather the Tenths and First-fruits due in all the Provinces under his jurisdiction . Such Apostles we find mention'd both by * Julian the Emperor in an Epistle to the Jews , and in a Law of the Emperor ‖ Honorius , imploy'd by the Patriarch to gather once a year the Aurum Coronarium or Crown-Gold , a Tribute annually paid by them to the Roman Emperors . But these Apostles could not under that notion be extant in our Saviour's time ; though sure we are there was then something like it , * Philo the Jew more than once mentioning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sacred messengers annually sent to collect the holy treasure paid by way of First-fruits , and to carry it to the Temple at Jerusalem . However our Lord in conformity to the general custom of those times , of appointing Apostles or Messengers , as their Proxies and Deputies to act in their names , call'd and denominated those Apostles , whom he peculiarly chose to represent his person , to communicate his mind and will to the World , and to act as Embassadors or Commissioners in his room and stead . IV. Secondly , We observe that the persons thus deputed by our Saviour were not left uncertain , but reduced to a fixed definite number , confin'd to the just number of Twelve : he ordained twelve that they should be with him . A number that seems to carry something of mystery and peculiar design in it , as appears in that the Apostles were so careful upon the fall of Judas immediately to supply it . The Fathers are very wide and different in their conjectures about the reason of it . * S. Augustine thinks our Lord herein had respect to the four quarters of the World , which were to be called by the preaching of the Gospel , which being multiplied by three ( to denote the Trinity , in whose name they were to be called ) make Twelve . ‖ Tertullian will have them typified by the twelve fountains in Elim , the Apostles being sent out to water and refresh the dry thirsty World with the knowledge of the truth ; by the twelve precious stones in Aaron's breast-plate , to illuminate the Church , the garment which Christ our great High Priest has put on ; by the twelve stones which Joshua chose out of Jordan to lay up within the Ark of the Testament , respecting the firmness and solidity of the Apostles Faith , their being chosen by the true Jesus or Joshua at their Baptism in Jordan , and their being admitted in the inner Sanctuary of his Covenant . By others we are told that it was shadowed out by the twelve Spies taken out of every Tribe , and sent to discover the Land of Promise : or by the twelve gates of the City in Ezekiel's vision ; or by the twelve Bells appendant to Aaron's garment , * their sound going out into all the World , and their words unto the ends of the Earth . But it were endless , and to very little purpose to reckon up all the conjectures of this nature , there being scarce any one number of Twelve mentioned in the Scripture , which is not by some of the Ancients adapted and applied to this of the Twelve Apostles , wherein an ordinary fancy might easily enough pick out a mystery . That which seems to put in the most rational plea is , that our Lord pitched upon this number , in conformity either to the twelve Patriarchs as founders of the twelve Tribes of Israel , or to the twelve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or chief heads ; as standing Rulers of those Tribes among the Jews , as we shall afterwards possibly more particularly * remark . Thirdly , these Apostles were immediately called and sent by Christ himself , elected out of the body of his Disciples and followers , and receiv'd their Commission from his own mouth . Indeed Matthias was not one of the first election , being taken in upon Judas his Apostasie after our Lord's Ascension into Heaven . But besides that he had been one of the seventy Disciples , called and sent out by our Saviour , that extraordinary declaration of the Divine will and pleasure that appeared in determining his election , was in a manner equivalent to the first election . As for S. Paul , he was not one of the Twelve , taken in as a supernumerary Apostle , but yet an Apostle as well as they , and that not of men , neither by man , but by Jesus Christ , as he pleads his own cause against the insinuations of those Impostors who traduced him as an Apostle only at the second hand ; whereas he was immediately call'd by Christ as well as they , and in a more extraordinary manner ; they were called by him , while he was yet in his state of meanness and humiliation , he , when Christ was now advanced upon the Throne , and appeared to him encircled with those glorious emanations of brightness and majesty , which he was not able to endure . V. Fourthly , The main work and imployment of these Apostles was to preach the Gospel , to establish Christianity , and to govern the Church that was to be founded , as Christ's immediate Deputies and Vicegerents : they were to instruct men in the doctrines of the Gospel , to disciple the World , and to baptize and initiate men into the Faith of Christ ; to constitute and ordain Guides and Ministers of Religion , persons peculiarly set apart for holy ministrations , to censure and punish obstinate and contumacious offenders , to compose and over-rule disorders and divisions , to command or countermand as occasion was , being vested with an extraordinary authority and power of disposing things for the edification of the Church . This Office the Apostles never exercised in its full extent and latitude during Christ's residence upon Earth ; for though upon their election he sent them forth to Preach and to Baptize , yet this was only a narrow and temporary imployment , and they quickly returned to their private stations , the main power being still executed and administred by Christ himself , the complete exercise whereof was not actually devolved upon them , till he was ready to leave the World : for then it was that he told them , as my father hath sent me , even so send I you ; receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose soever sins ye remit , they are remitted , and whose soever sins ye retain , they are retained . Whereby he conferr'd in some proportion the same authority upon them , which he himself had derived from his Father . Fisthly , This Commission given to the Apostles was unlimited and universal , not only in respect of power , as enabling them to discharge all acts of Religion relating either to Ministry or Government , but in respect of place , not confining them to this or that particular Province , but leaving them the whole World as their Diocese to Preach in , they being destinati Nationibus Magistri , in * Tertullian's phrase , designed to be the Masters and Instructors of all Nations : so runs their Commission , ‖ Go ye into all the World , and preach the Gospel to every creature , that is , to all men , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Evangelist answering to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Jews , to all creatures , whereby they used to denote all men in general , but especially the Gentiles in opposition to the Jews . Indeed while our Saviour lived , the Apostolical ministry extended no further than Judaea ; but he being gone to Heaven , the partition-wall was broken down , and their way was open into all places and Countries . And herein how admirably did the Christian Oeconomy transcend the Jewish dispensation ! The preaching of the Prophets like the * light that comes in at the window , was confin'd only to the house of Israel , while the doctrine of the Gospel preached by the Apostles was like the light of the Sun in the Firmament , that diffused its beams , and propagated its heat and influence into all quarters of the World ; their sound going out into all the Earth , and their words unto the ends of the World. It 's true , for the more prudent and orderly management of things they are generally said by the Ancients to have divided the World into so many quarters and portions , to which they were severally to betake themselves ; Peter to Pontus , Galatia , Cappadocia , &c. S. John to Asia , S. Andrew to Scythia , &c. But they did not strictly tye themselves to those particular Provinces that were assigned to them ; but as occasion was , made excursions into other parts ; though for the main they had a more peculiar inspection over those parts that were allotted to them ; usually residing at some principal City of the Province , as S. John at Ephesus , S. Philip at Hierapolis , &c. whence they might have a more convenient prospect of affairs round about them , and hence it was that these places more peculiarly got the title of Apostolical Churches , because first planted , or eminently watered and cultivated by some Apostle , Matrices & Originales Fidei , as * Tertullian calls them , Mother-Churches , and the Originals of the Faith , because here the Christian doctrine was first sown , and hence planted and propagated to the Countries round about , Ecclesias apud unamquamque civitatem condiderunt , à quibus traducem fidei & semina doctrinae , caeterae exinde Ecclesiae mutuatae sunt , as his own words are . VI. In pursuance of this general Commission we find the Apostles not long after our Lord's Ascension traversing almost all parts of the then known World ; S. Andrew in Scythia and those Northern Countries , S. Thomas and Bartholomew in India , S. Simon and S. Mark in Afric , Egypt , and the parts of Libya and Mauritania , S. Paul , and probably Peter and some others in the farthest Regions of the West : And all this done in the space of less than forty years , viz. before the destruction of the Jewish State by Titus and the Roman Army . For so our Lord had expresly foretold , that the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached in all the World for a witness unto all Nations , before the end came , that is , the end of the Jewish State , which the Apostles a little before had called the end of the World , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the shutting up or consummation of the Age , the putting a final period to that present State and dispensation that the Jews were under . And indeed strange it is to consider , that in so few years these Evangelical Messengers should overrun all Countries ; with what an incredible swiftness did the Christian Faith like lightning pierce from East to West , and diffuse it self over all quarters of the World , and that not only unassisted by any secular advantages , but in defiance of the most fierce and potent opposition , which every where set it self against it ? 'T is true the impostures of Muhammed in a very little time gained a great part of the East . But besides that this was not comparable to the universal spreading of Christianity , his doctrine was calculated on purpose to gratifie mens lusts , and especially to comply with the loose and wanton manners of the East , and , which is above all , had the sword to hew out its way before it : and we know how ready even without force in all changes and revolutions of the world , the conquered have been to follow the Religion of the Conquerors . Whereas the Apostles had no visible advantages , nay , had all the enraged powers of the world to contend against them . And yet in despite of all went on in triumph , and quickly made their way into those places , where for so many Ages no other conquest ever came ; those parts of Britain ( as * Tertullian observes ) which were unconquerable and unapproachable by the power of the Roman Armies , submitting their necks to the yoke of Christ. A mighty evidence ( as he there argues ) of Christ's Divinity , and that he was the true Messiah . And indeed no reasonable account can be given of the strange and successful progress of the Christian Religion in those first Ages of it , but that it was the birth of Heaven , and had a Divine and Invisible power going along with it to succeed and prosper it . * S. Chrysoslom discourses this argument at large , some of whose elegant reasonings I shall here transcribe . He tells the Gentile ( with whom he was disputing ) that he would not prove Christ's Deity by a demonstration from Heaven , by his Creation of the World , his great and stupendious miracles , his raising the dead , curing the blind , expelling Devils ; nor from the mighty promises of a future state , and the resurrection of the dead ( which an Infidel might easily not only question , but deny ) but from what was sufficiently evident and 〈◊〉 to the meanest Idiot , his planting and propagating Christianity in the World. For it is not ( says he ) in the power of a mere man , in so short a time to encircle the World , to compass Sea and Land , and in matters of so great importance to rescue mankind from the slavery of absurd and unreasonable customs , and the powerful tyranny of evil habits : and these not Romans only , but Persians , and the most barbarous Nations of the world . A reformation which he wrought not by force and the power of the sword ; nor by pouring into the world numerous Legions and Armies : but by a few inconsiderable men ( no more at first than Eleven ) a company of obscure and mean , simple and illiterate , poor and helpless , naked and unarmed persons , who had scarce a shooe to tread on , or a coat to cover them . And yet by these he perswaded so great a part of mankind to be able freely to reason , not only of things of the present , but of a future state ; to renounce the Laws of their Country , and throw off those ancient and inveterate customs , which had taken root for so many Ages , and planted others in their room ; and reduced men from those easie ways , whereinto they were hurried , into the more rugged and difficult paths of vertue . All which he did , while he had to contend with opposite powers , and when he himself had undergone the most ignominious death , even the death of the Cross. Afterwards he addresses himself to the Jew , and discourses with him much after the same rate . Consider ( says * he ) and bethink thy self , what it is in so short a time to fill the whole world with so many famous Churches , to convert so many Nations to the Faith , to prevail with men to forsake the Religion of their Country , to root up their rites and customs , to shake off the Empire of lust and pleasure , and the Laws of vice like dust ; to abolish and abominate their Temples and their Altars , their Idols and their Sacrifices , their profane and impious Festivals as dirt and dung ; and instead hereof to set up Christian Altars in all places , among the Romans , Persians , Scythians , Moors and Indians ; and not there only , but in the Countries beyond this World of ours . For even the British Islands that lie beyond the Ocean , and those that are in 〈◊〉 , have felt the power of the Christian Faith ; Churches and Altars being erected there to the service of Christ. A matter truly great and admirable , and which would clearly have demonstrated a Divine and Supereminent Power , although there had been no opposition in the case , but that all things had run on calmly and smoothly , to think that in so few years the Christian Faith should be able to reclaim the whole World from its vicious customs , and to win them over to other manners , more laborious and difficult , repugnant both to their native inclinations , and to the Laws and principles of their education , and such as oblig'd them to a more strict and accurate course of life ; and these persons not one or two , not twenty or an hundred , but in a manner all mankind : and this brought about by no better instruments than a few rude and unlearned , private and unknown tradesmen , who had neither estate nor reputation , learning nor eloquence , kindred nor Country to recommend them to the world ; a few Fishermen and Tent-makers , and whom distinguished by their Language as well as their Religion , the rest of the world scorn'd as barbarous . And yet these were the men , by whom our Lord built up his Church , and extended it from one end of the world unto the other . Other considerations there are with which the Father does urge and illustrate this argument , which I forbear to insist on in this place . VII . Sixthly , The power and authority convey'd by this Commission to the Apostles , was equally conferr'd upon all of them . They were all chosen at the same time , all equally impowred to Preach and Baptize , all equally intrusted with the power of binding and loosing , all invested with the same mission , and all equally furnished with the same gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost . Indeed the Advocates of the Church of Rome do with a mighty zeal and fierceness contend for S. Peter's being Head and Prince of the Apostles , advanced by Christ to a supremacy and prerogative not only above , but over the rest of the Apostles ; and not without reason , the fortunes of that Church being concerned in the supremacy of S. Peter . No wonder therefore they ransack all corners , press and force in whatever may but seem to give countenance to it . Witness those thin and miserable shifts , which Bellarmine calls arguments , to prove and make it good ; so utterly devoid of all rational conviction , so unable to justifie themselves to sober and considering men , that a man would think they had been contrived for no other purpose , than to cheat sools , and make wise men laugh . And the truth is , nothing with me more shakes the reputation of the wisdom of that learned man , than his making use of such weak and trifling arguments in so important and concerning an Article , so vital and essential to the constitution of that Church . As when he argues Peter's * superiority from the mere changing of his name , ( for what 's this to supremacy ? besides that it was not done to him alone , the same being done to James and John ) from his being first reckoned up in the Catalogue of Apostles , his walking with Christ upon the water , his paying tribute for his Master and himself , his being commanded to let down the Net , and Christ's teaching in Peter's ship , ( and this ship must denote the Church , and Peter's being owner of it , entitle him to be supreme Ruler and Governour of the Church , so Bellarmine in terms as plain as he could well express it ) from Christ's first washing Peter's feet ( though the story recorded by the Evangelist says no such thing ) and his foretelling only his death : all which and many more prerogatives of S. Peter , to the number of no less than XXVIII . are summoned in to give in evidence in this cause ; and many of these too drawn out of Apocryphal and supposititious Authors , and not only uncertain , but absurd and fabulous : and yet upon such arguments as these do they found his paramount authority . A plain evidence of a desperate and sinking cause , when such twigs must be laid hold on to support and keep it above water . Had they suffered Peter to be content with a primacy of Order ( which his age and gravity seemed to challenge for him ) no wise and peaceable man would have denied it , as being a thing ordinarily practised among equals , and necessary to the well governing a society : but when nothing but a primacy of Power will serve the turn , as if the rest of the Apostles had been inferiour to him , this may by no means be granted , as being expresly contrary to the positive determination of our Saviour , when the Apostles were contending about this very thing , which of them should be accounted the greatest , he thus quickly decides the case , The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them , and they that are great , exercise authority upon them . But ye shall not be so : but whosover will be great among you , let him be your Minister , and whosoever will be chief among you , let him be your Servant . Than which nothing could have been more peremptorily spoken , to rebuke this naughty spirit of preheminence . Nor do we ever find S. Peter himself laying claim to any such power , or the Apostles giving him the least shadow of it . In the whole course of his affairs there are no intimations of this matter ; in his Epistle he styles himself but their fellow-Presbyter , and expresly forbids the governours of the Church to Lord it over God's heritage . When dispatched by the rest of the Apostles upon a message to Samaria , he never disputes their authority to do it ; when accused by them for going in unto the Gentiles , does he stand upon his prerogative ? no , but submissively apologizes for himself ; nay , when smartly reprov'd by S. Paul at Antioch ( when , if ever , his credit lay at stake ) do we find him excepting against it as an affront to his supremacy , and a sawcy controlling his superiour ? surely the quite contrary ; he quietly submitted to the reproof , as one that was sensible how justly he had 〈◊〉 it . Nor can it be supposed but that S. Paul would have carried it towards him with a greater reverence , had any such peculiar soveraignty been then known to the World. How confidently does S. Paul assert himself to be no whit inferiour to the chiefest Apostles , not to Peter himself ? the Gospel of the uncircumcision being committed to him , as that of the circumcision was to Peter . Is Peter oft named first among the Apostles ? elsewhere others , sometimes James , sometimes Paul and Apollos , are placed before him . Did Christ honour him with some singular commendations ? an honourable elogium conveys no super-eminent power and soveraignty . Was he dear to Christ ? we know another , that was the beloved Disciple . So little warrant is there to exalt one above the rest , where Christ made all alike . (u) If from Scripture we descend to the ancient Writers of the Church ; we shall find that though the Fathers bestow very great and honourable Titles upon Peter ; yet they give the same , or what are equivalent to others of the Apostles . * Hesychius stiles S. James the Great , the Brother of our Lord , the Commander of the new Jerusalem , the Prince of Priests , the Exarch or chief of the Apostles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the top or crown amongst the heads , the great light amongst the Lamps , the most illustrious and resplendent amongst the stars : 't was Peter that preach'd , but 't was James that made the determination , &c. Of S. Andrew he gives this encomium , (y) that he was the sacerdotal Trumpet , the first born of the Apostolick Quire , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the prime and firm Pillar of the Church , Peter before Peter , the foundation of the foundation , the first fruits of the beginning . Peter and John are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , equally honourable , by S. Cyril (z) with his whole Synod of Alexandria . S. John ( says (a) Chrysostom ) was Christ's beloved , the Pillar of all the Churches in the world , who had the Keys of Heaven , drank of his Lords cup , was wash'd with his Baptism , and with confidence lay in his bosome . And of (b) S. Paul he tells us , that he was the most excellent of all men , the Teacher of the world , the Bridegroom of Christ , the Planter of the Church , the wise Master-builder , greater than the Apostles , and much more to the same purpose . Elsewhere he says , (c) that the care of the whole world was committed to him , that nothing could be more noble or illustrious , yea that ( his Miracles considered ) he was more excellent than Kings themselves . And a little after (d) he calls him the tongue of the earth , the light of the Churches , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of the faith , the pillar and ground of truth . And in a discourse on purpose , wherein he compares Peter and Paul together , he makes them of equal esteem and vertue ; (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What greater than Peter ? What equal to Paul ? a Blessed pair ! 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , who had the Souls of the whole world committed to their charge . But instances of this nature were endless and infinite . If the Fathers at any time style Peter , Prince of the Apostles , they mean no more by it , than the best and purest Latine writers mean by princeps , the first or chief person of the number , more considerable than the rest , either for his age or zeal . Thus (f) Eusebius tells us , Peter was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the prolocutor of all the rest , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the greatness and generosity of his mind , that is , in (g) Chrysostome's language , he was the mouth and chief of the Apostles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because eager and forward at every turn , and ready to answer those questions which were put to others . In short , as he had no Prerogative above the rest , besides his being the Chair-man and President of the Assembly , so was it granted to him upon no other considerations , than those of his age , zeal , and gravity , for which he was more eminent than the rest . VIII . We proceed next to enquire into the fitness and qualification of the Persons commissionated for this employment ; and we shall finde them admirably qualified to discharge it , if we consider this following account . First , They immediately received the Doctrine of the Gospel from the mouth of Christ himself ; he intended them for Legati à latere , his peculiar Embassaders to the World , and therefore furnished them with instructions from his own mouth ; and in order hereunto he train'd them up for some years under his own Discipline and institution : he made them to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , when to others it was not given ; treated them with the affection of a Father , and the freedom and familiarity of a friend . Henceforth I call you not servants , for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth , but I have called you friends : for all things that I have heard of my Father , I have made known unto you . They heard all his Sermons , were privy both to his publick and private discourses ; what he preach'd abroad , he expounded to them at home ; he gradually instructed them in the knowledge of Divine things , and imparted to them the notions and mysteries of the Gospel , not all at once , but as they were able to bear them . By which means they were sufficiently capable of giving a satisfactory account of that doctrine to others , which had been so immediately , so frequently communicated to themselves . Secondly , They were insallibly secured from error in delivering the Doctrins and Principles of Christianity : for though they were not absolutely priviledg'd from failures and miscarriages in their lives , ( these being of more personal and private consideration ) yet were they infallible in their Doctrine , this being a matter whereupon the salvation and eternal interests of men did depend . And for this end they had the spirit of truth promised to them , who should guide them into all truth . Under the conduct of this unerring Guide they all steer'd the same course , taught and spake the same things , though at different times , and in distant places : and for what was consign'd to writing , all Scripture was given by inspiration of God , and the holy men spake not , but as they were moved by the Holy Ghost . Hence that exact and admirable harmony that is in all their writings and relations , as being all equally dictated by the same spirit of truth . Thirdly , They had been eye-witnesses of all the material passages of our Saviour's life , continually conversant with him from the commencing of his publick ministery , till his ascension into heaven ; they had survey'd all his actions , seen all his miracles , observ'd the whole method of his conversation , and some of them attended him in his most private solitudes and retirements . And this could not but be a very rational satisfaction to the minds of men , when the publishers of the Gospel solemnly declared to the world , that they reported nothing concerning our Saviour , but what they had seen with their own eyes , and of the truth whereof they were as competent Judges , as the acutest Philosopher in the world . Nor could there be any just 〈◊〉 to suspect that they impos'd upon men in what they delivered ; for besides their naked plainness and simplicity in all other passages of their lives , they chearfully submitted to the most exquisire hardships , tortures , and sufferings meerly to attest the truth of what they published to the World. Next to the evidence of our own senses , no testimony is more valid and forcible , than his who relates what himself has seen . Upon this account our Lord told his Apostles , that they should be witnesses to him both in Judaea and Samaria , and to the uttermost parts of the earth . And so necessary a qualification of an Apostle was this thought to be , that it was almost the only condition propounded in the choice of a new Apostle after the fall of Judas : Wherefore ( says Peter ) of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went 〈◊〉 and out among us , beginning from the Baptism of John , unto the same day that he was taken up from us , must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his 〈◊〉 . Accordingly we find the Apostles constantly making use of this argument as the most rational evidence to convince those whom they had to deal with . We are witnesses of all things which Jesus did both in the Land of the Jews , and in Jerusalem , whom they slew and hanged on a tree : Him God raised up the third day , and shewed him openly , not to all the people , but unto witnesses , chosen 〈◊〉 of God , even to us , who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead : And he commanded us to preach unto the people , and to testifie that it is he that is ordained of God to be Judge of the quick and dead . Thus S. John after the same way of arguing appeals to sensible demonstration , That which was from the beginning , which we have heard , which we have seen with our eyes , which we have look'd upon , and our hands have handled of the word of life : ( For the life was manifested , and we have seen it and bear witness , and shew unto you that cternal life which was with the Father , and was manifested unto us ) That which we have seen and heard , declare we unto you , that ye also may have fellowship with us . This , to name no more , S. Peter thought a sufficient vindication of the Apostolical doctrine from the suspicion of forgery and imposture , We have not followed cunningly devised fables , when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ , but were eye-witnesses of his majesty . God had frequently given testimony to the divinity of our blessed Saviour , by visible manifestations and appearances from Heaven , and particularly by an audible voice , This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased . Now this Voice which came from Heaven ( says he ) we heard , when we were with him in the holy Mount. IX . Fourthly , The Apostles were invested with a power of working Miracles , as the readiest means to procure their Religion a firm belief and entertainment in the minds of men . For Miracles are the great confirmation of the truth of any doctrine , and the most rational evidence of a divine commission . For seeing God only can create , and controll the Laws of nature , produce something out of nothing , and call things that are not , as if they were , give eyes to them that were born blind , raise the dead , &c. things plainly beyond all possible powers of nature ; no man that believes the wisdom and goodness of an infinite being , can suppose that this God of truth should affix his seal to a lye , or communicate this power to any that would abuse it , to confirm and countenance delusions and impostures . Nicodemus his reasoning was very plain and convictive , when he concludes that Christ must needs be a teacher come from God , for that no man could do those Miracles that he did , except God were with him . The force of which argument lies here , that nothing but a Divine power can work Miracles , and that Almighty God cannot be supposed miraculously to assist any but those , whom he himself sends upon his own errand . The stupid and barbarous Lycaonians , when they beheld the Man who had been a Cripple from his Mothers womb , cured by S. Paul in an instant only with the speaking of a word , saw that there was something in it more than humane , and therefore concluded that the Gods were come down to them in the likeness of men . Upon this account * S. Paul reckons Miracles among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the signs and evidences of an Apostle , whom therefore (h) Chrysostom brings in elegantly pleading for himself , that though he could not shew as the signs of his Priesthood and Ministry , long Robes , and gaudy Vestments , with Bells sounding at their borders , as the Aaronical Priests did of old ; though he had no golden Crowns or holy Mitres , yet could he produce what was infinitely more venerable and regardable than all these , unquestionable Signs and Miracles : he came not with Altars and Oblations , with a number of strange and symbolick Rites ; but what was greater , raised the dead cast out Devils , cured the blind , healed the lame , making the Gentiles obedient by word and deed , thorough many signs and wonders wrought by the power of the spirit of God. These were the things that clearly shewed that their mission and ministry was not from men , nor taken up of their own heads , but that they acted herein by a Divine warrant and authority . That therefore it might plainly appear to the World , that they did not falsify in what they said , or deliver any more than God had given them in commission , he enabled them to do strange and miraculous operations , bearing them witness both with signs and wonders , and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost . This was a power put into the first draught of their commission , when confined only to the Cities of Israel ; As ye go , preach , saying , The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand ; Heal the sick , cleanse the lepers , raise the dead , cast out Devils , freely you have received , freely give : but more fully confirmed upon them , when our Lord went to Heaven , then he told them , that these signs should follow them that believe , that in his Name they should cast out Devils , and speak with new tongues ; that they should take up serpents , and if they drank any deadly thing it should not hurt them , that they should lay hands on the sick and they should recover : And the event was accordingly , for they went forth , and preached every where , the Lord working with them , and confirming the word with signs following . When Paul and Barnabas came up to the Council at Jerusalem , this was one of the first things they gave an account of , all the multitude keeping silence , while they declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them . Thus the very shadow of Peter as he passed by cured the sick : thus God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul : so that from his body were brought unto the sick , handkerchiefs , or aprons , and the diseases departed from them , and the evil spirits went out of them . So that besides the innate characters of Divinity which the Christian religion brought along with it , containing nothing but what was highly reasonable , and very becoming God to reveal ; it had the highest external evidence that any Religion was capable of , the attestation of great and unquestionable Miracles , done not once or twice , not privately and in corners , not before a few simple and credulous persons , but frequently and at every turn , publickly and in places of the most solemn concourse , before the wisest and most judicious enquirers , and this power of miracles continued not only during the Apostles time , but for some Ages after . X. But because besides Miracles in general , the Scripture takes particular notice of many gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost conferred upon the Apostles and first Preachers of the Gospel , it may not be amiss to consider some of the chiefest and most material of them , as we find them enumerated by the Apostle , only premising this observation , that though these gifts were distinctly distributed to persons of an inferiour order , so that one had this , and another that , yet were they all conferr'd upon the Apostles , and doubtless in larger proportions than upon the rest . First , we take notice of the gift of Prophecy , a clear evidence of divine inspiration , and an extraordinary mission , the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy . It had been for many Ages the signal and honourable priviledge of the Jewish Church , and that the Christian Oeconomy might challenge as sacred regards from men , and that it might appear that God had not withdrawn his Spirit from his Church in this new state of things , it was revived under the dispensation of the Gospel , according to that famous prophecy of Joel exactly accomplished ( as Peter told the Jews ) upon the day of 〈◊〉 , when the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost were so plentifully shed upon the Apostles and Primitive Christians ; This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel , It shall come to pass in the last days ( saith God ) I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh , and your Sons and your Daughters shall 〈◊〉 , and your young Men shall see 〈◊〉 , and your old Men shall dream Dreams ; and on my servants , and on my Hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit , and they shall prophesie . It lay in general in revealing and making known to others the mind of God , but discovered it self in particular instances ; partly in forctelling things to come , and what should certainly happen in after-times : a thing set beyond the reach of any finite understanding ; for though such effects as depend upon natural agents , or moral and political causes , may be foreseen by studious and considering persons , yet the knowledge of futurities , things purely contingent , that meerly depend upon mens choice , and their mutable and uncertain wills , can only fall under his view , who at once beholds things past , present , and to come . Now this was conferred upon the Apostles and some of the first Christians , as appears from many instances in the History of the Apostolick Acts , and we find the Apostles writings frequently interspersed with prophetical predictions concerning the great apostasie from the 〈◊〉 , the universal corruption and degeneracy of manners , the rise of particular heresies , the coming of Antichrist , and several other things which the spirit said 〈◊〉 should come to pass in the latter times ; besides that S. John's whole Book of Revelation is almost intirely made up of prophecies concerning the future state and condition of the Church . Sometimes by this spirit of prophecy God declared things that were of present concernment to the exigences of the Church , as when he signified to them that they should set apart Paul and Barnabas for the conversion of the Gentiles , and many times immediately designed particular persons to be Pastors and Governours of the Church . Thus we read of the gift that was given to Timothy by prophecy , with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery , that is , his Ordination , to which he was particularly pointed out by some prophetick designation . But the main use of this prophetick gift in those times was to explain some of the more difficult and particular parts of the Christian doctrine , especially to expound and apply the ancient prophecies concerning the 〈◊〉 and his Kingdom in their publick Assemblies ; whence the gift of prophecy is explained by understanding all mysteries , and all knowledge , that is , the most dark and difficult places of Scripture , the types and figures , the ceremonies and prophecies of the Old Testament . And thus we are commonly to understand those words , Prophets , and prophecying , that so familiarly occur in the New Testament . Having 〈◊〉 differing according to the grace that is given to us , whether prophesie , let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith , that is , expound Scripture according to the generally-received principles of Faith and Life . So the Apostle elsewhere prescribing Rules for the decent and orderly managing of Divine worship in their publick Assemblies , let the Prophets ( says he ) speak two or three ( that is , at the same Assembly ) and let the other judge ; and if while any is thus expounding , another has a Divine 〈◊〉 , whereby he is more particularly enabled to explain some difficult and emergent passage , let the first hold his peace : for ye may all , all that have this gift , prophesie one by one , that so thus orderly proceeding , all may learn , and all may be comforted . Nor can the 〈◊〉 pretend that this interruption is an unseasonable check to his revelation , seeing he may command himself ; for though among the Gentiles the prophetick and 〈◊〉 impulse did so violently press upon the inspired Person , that he could not govern himself , yet in the Church of God the spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets , may be so ruled and restrained by them , as to make way for others . This order of Christian Prophets considered as a distinct Ministery by it self is constantly placed next to the Apostolical Office , and is frequently by Saint Paul preferred before any other spiritual Gifts then bestowed upon the Church . When this spirit of Prophecy ceased in the Christian Church , we cannot certainly finde . It continued some competent time beyond the Apostolick Age. ( (i) ) Justin Martyr expresly tells Trypho the Jew , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the gifts of Prophecy are even yet extant among us ; an argument , as he there tells him , that those things which had of old been the great Priviledges of their Church , were now translated into the Christian Church . And ( (k) ) 〈◊〉 speaking of a Revelation made to one Alcibiades , who lived about the time of Irenaeus , adds , that the Divine Grace had not withdrawn its Presence from the Church , but that they still had the Holy Ghost as their Councellor to direct them . XI . Secondly , They had the gift of discerning spirits , whereby they were enabled to discover the truth or falshood of mens pretences , whether their gifts were real or counterfeit , and their persons truly inspired or not . For many men acted only by diabolical impulses , might entitle themselves to Divine inspirations , and others might be imposed upon by their delusions , and mistake their dreams and fancies for the Spirits dictates and revelations ; or might so subtilly and artificially counterfeit revelations , that they might with most pass for currant , especially in those times when these supernatural gifts were so common and ordinary ; and our Lord himself had 〈◊〉 told them that false Prophets would arise , and that many would confidently plead for themselves before him , that they had prophesied in his name . That therefore the Church might not be imposed upon , God was pleased to endue the Apostles , and it may be some others , with an immediate faculty of discerning the Chaffe from the Wheat , true from false Prophets ; nay , to know when the true Prophets delivered the revelations of the Spirit , and when they expressed only their own conceptions . This was a mighty priviledge , but yet seems to me to have extended farther , to judge of the sincerity or hypocrisie of mens hearts in the profession of Religion , that so bad men being discovered , suitable censures and punishments might be passed upon them , and others cautioned to avoid them . Thus Peter at first sight discovered Ananias and Saphira , and the rotten hypocrisie of their intentions , before there was any external evidence in the case ; and told Simon Magus , though baptized before upon his embracing Christianity , that his heart was not right in the sight of God , for I perceive ( says he ) that thou art in the gall of bitterness , and in the bond of iniquity . Thirdly , the Apostles had the gift of Tongues , furnished with variety of utterance , able to speak on a sudden several languages which they had never learnt , as occasion was administred , and the exigences of persons and Nations with whom they conversed , did require . For the 〈◊〉 being principally designed to convert the world , and to plant Christianity in all Countries and Nations ; it was absolutely necessary that they should be able readily to express their minds in the Languages of those Countries to which they addressed themselves : seeing otherwise it would have been a work of time and difficulty , and not consistent with the term of the Apostles lives , had they been first to learn the different Languages of those Nations , before they could have preached the Gospel to them . Hence this gift was diffused upon the Apostles in larger measures and proportions than upon other men ; I speak with Tongues more than you all , says S. Paul ; that is , than all the gifted persons in the Church of Corinth . Our Lord had told the Apostles before his departure from them , that they should be endued with power from on high , which upon the day of Pentecost was particularly made good in this instance , when in a moment they were enabled to speak almost all the Languages of the then known World , and this as a specimen and first-fruits of the rest of those miraculous powers that were conferr'd upon them . XII . A fourth gift was that of Interpretation , or unfolding to others what had been delivered in an unknown tongue . For the Christian Assemblies in those days were frequently made up of men of different Nations , and who could not understand what the Apostles or others had spoken to the Congregation ; this God supplied by this gift of interpretation , enabling some to interpret what others did not understand , and to speak it to them in their own native language . S. Paul largely discourses the necessity of this gift in order to the instructing and edifying of the Church , seeing without it their meetings could be no better than the Assembly at Babel after the confusion of Languages , where one man must needs be a Barbarian to another , and all the praying and preaching of the Minister of the Assembly be to many altogether fruitless and unprofitable , and no better than a speaking into the Air. What 's the speaking though with the tongue of Angels to them that do not understand it ? How can the Idiot and unlearned say Amen , who understands not the language of him that giveth thanks ? The duty may be done with admirable quaintness and accuracy , but what 's he the better , from whom 't is lock'd up in an unknown tongue ? A consideration that made the Apostle solemnly profess , that he had rather speak five words in the Church with his understanding , that by his voice he may teach others also , than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue . Therefore if any man speak in an unknown tongue , let it be but by two , or at most by three , and let one interpret what the rest have spoken : but if there be no interpreter , none present able to do this , let him keep silence in the Church , and speak to himself and to God. A man that impartially reads this discourse of the Apostle , may wonder how the Church of Rome in defiance of it can so openly practise , so confidently defend their Bible and Divine Services in an unknown tongue , so flatly repugnant to the dictates of common reason , the usage of the first Christian Church , and these plain Apostolical commands . But this is not the only instance wherein that Church has departed both from Scripture , Reason , and the practice of the first and purest Ages of Christianity . Indeed there is some cause why they are so zealous to keep both Scripture and their Divine Worship in a strange Language , lest by reading the one the people should become wise enough to discover the gross errors and corruptions of the other . Fifthly , The Apostles had the gift of Healing , of curing diseases without the arts of Physick ; the most inveterate distempers being equally removable by an Almighty power , and vanishing at their speaking of a word . This begot an extraordinary veneration for them and their Religion among the common sort of men , who , as they are strongliest moved with sensible effects , so are most taken with those miracles that are beneficial to the life of man. Hence the infinite Cures done in every place , God mercifully providing that the Body should partake with the Soul in the advantages of the Gospel , the cure of the one ushering in many times the conversion of the other . This gift was very common in those early days , bestowed not upon the Apostles only , but the ordinary Governours of the Church , who were wont to lay their hands upon the sick , and sometimes to anoint them with oil ( a symbolick rite in use among the Jews , to denote the grace of God ) and to pray over , and for them in the name of the Lord Jesus , whereby upon a hearty confession and forsaking of their sins , both health and pardon were at once bestowed upon them . How long this gift , with its appendant ceremony of Unction lasted in the Church , is not easie to determine ; that it was in use in * Tertullian's time , we learn from the instance he gives us of Proculus a Christian , who cured the Emperor Severus , by anointing him with oil ; for which the Emperor had him in great honour , and kept him with him at Court all his life ; it afterwards vanishing by degrees , as all other miraculous powers , as Christianity gain'd firm sooting in the World. As for Extreme 〈◊〉 , so generally maintained and practised in the Church of Rome , nay , and by them made a Sacrament , I doubt it will receive very little countenance from this Primitive usage . Indeed could they as easily restore sick men to health , as they can anoint them with oil , I think no body would contradict them ; but till they can pretend to the one , I think it unreasonable they should use the other . The best is , though founding it upon this Apostolical practice , they have turn'd it to a quite contrary purpose , instead of recovering men to life and health , to dispose and fit them for dying , when all hopes of life are taken from them . XIII . Sixthly , The Apostles were invested with a power of immediately inflicting corporal punishments upon great and notorious sinners ; and this probably is that which he means by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , operations of powers , or working miracles , which surely cannot be meant of miracles in general , being reckoned up amongst the particular gifts of the Holy Ghost , nor is there any other to which it can with equal probability refer . A power to inflict diseases upon the body , as when S. Paul struck Elymas the Sorcerer with blindness , and sometimes extending to the loss of life it self , as in the sad instance of Ananias and Saphira . This was the Virga Apostolica , the Rod ( mentioned by S. Paul ) which the Apostles held and shak'd over scandalous and insolent offenders , and sometimes laid upon them : What will ye ? shall I come to you with a rod ? or in love , and the spirit of meekness ? Where , observe ( says * Chrysostom ) how the Apostle tempers his discourse ; the love and meekness , and his desire to know , argued care and kindness ; but the rod spake dread and terror : a Rod of severity and punishment , and which sometimes mortally chastised the offender . Elsewhere he frequently gives intimations of this power , when he has to deal with stubborn and incorrigible persons ; Having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience , when your obedience is fulfilled ; for though I should boast something more of our authority ( which the Lord hath given us for edification , and not for your destruction ) I should not be ashamed ; that I may not seem as if I would terrifie you by letters . And he again puts them in mind of it at the close of his Epistle , I told you before , and foretell you as if I were present the second time , and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned , and to all others , that if I come again I will not spare . But he hop'd these smart warnings would supersede all further severity against them ; Therefore I write these things being absent , lest being present I should use sharpness , according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification , and not to destruction . Of this nature was the delivering over persons unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh , the chastising the body by some present pain or sickness , that the spirit might be saved by being brought to a seasonable repentance . Thus he dealt with Hymeneus and Alexander , who had made shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience , he delivered them unto Satan , that they might learn not to blaspheme . Nothing being more usual in those times than for 〈◊〉 excommunicate , and cut off from the body of the Church , to be presently arrested by Satan , 〈◊〉 the common Serjeant and Executioner , and by him either actually possessed , or tormented in their bodies by some diseases which he brought upon them . And indeed this severe discipline was no more than necessary in those times , when Christianity was wholly destitute of any civil or coercive power , to beget and keep up a due reverence and regard to the sentence and determinations of the Church , and to secure the Laws of Religion , and the holy censures from being sleighted by every bold and contumacious offender . And this effect we find it had after the dreadful instance of 〈◊〉 and Saphira , Great fear came upon all the Church , and upon as many as heard these things . To what has been said concerning these Apostolical gifts , let me further observe , That they had not only these gifts residing in themselves , but a power to bestow them upon others , so that by imposition of hands or upon hearing and embracing the Apostle's doctrine , and being baptized into the Christian Faith , they could confer these miraculous powers upon persons thus qualifisied to receive them , whereby they were in a moment enabled to speak divers Languages , to Prophecy , to Interpret , and do other miracles to the admiration and astonishment of all that heard and saw them . A priviledge peculiar to the Apostles ; for we do not find that any inferiour Order of gifted persons were intrusted with it . And therefore as * Chrysostom well observes , though Philip the Deacon wrought great miracles at Samaria , to the conversion of many , yea to the conviction of Simon Magus himself , yet the Holy Ghost fell upon none of them , only they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus : till Peter and John came down to them , who having prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost , they laid their hands upon them , and they received the Holy Ghost . Which when the Magician beheld , he offered the Apostles money to enable him , that on whom soever he laid his hands , he might derive these miraculous powers upon them . XIV . Having seen how sitly furnished the Apostles were for the execution of their Office , let us in the last place enquire into its duration and continuance . And here it must be considered , that in the Apostolical Office there was something extraordinary , and something ordinary . What was 〈◊〉 was their immediate Commission derived from the mouth of Christ himself , their unlimited charge to preach the Gospel up and down the World , without being tied to any particular places ; the supernatural and miraculous powers conferr'd upon them as Apostles ; their infallible guidance in delivering the doctrines of the Gospel ; and these all expired and determined with their persons . The standing and perpetual part of it was to teach and instruct the people in the duties and principles of Religion , to administer the Sacraments , to constitute Guides and 〈◊〉 , and to exercise the discipline and government of the Church : and in these they are succeeded by the ordinary Rulers and Ecclesiastick Guides , who were to superintend and discharge the affairs and offices of the Church , to the end of the World. Whence it is that Bishops and Governours came to be styled Apostles , as being their successors in ordinary ; for so they frequently are in the writings of the Church . Thus Timothy , who was Bishop of Ephesus , is called an (a) Apostle ; Clemens of Rome , Clemens the (b) Apostle ; S. Mark Bishop of Alexandria , by (c) 〈◊〉 styled both an Apostle and Evangelist ; Ignatius , a Bishop and (d) Apostle . A title that continued in after Ages , especially given to those that were the first planters or restorers of Christianity in any Country . In the Coptick Kalendar , published by (e) Mr. Selden , the VII th day of the month Baschnes , answering to our Second of May , is dedicated to the memory of S. Athanasius the Apostle . Acacius and Paulus in their (f) Letter to Epiphanius , style him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a new Apostle and Preacher : and (g) Sidonius Apollinaris writing to Lupus Bishop of Troyes in France , speaks of the honour due to his eminent Apostleship . An observation which it were easie enough to confirm by abundant instances , were it either doubtful in it self , or necessary to my purpose , but being neither , I forbear . Joan. Euchait . Metropolitae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE LIFE OF S. PETER . S. PETER . He was crucified at Rome with his head downwards , and Buried in the Vatican there . S. Hierom. after he had planted a Christian Church first at Antioch and afterwards at Rome . S. Peter's Martyrdom . Ioh. 21. 18. 19. Verily verily I say unto thee when thou wast young thou girdedst thy self & walkedst whither thou wouldst but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands & another shall gird thee & carry thee whither thou wouldst not . This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God SECT . I. Of S. Peter from his Birth till his First coming to Christ. Bethsaida S. Peter's Birth-place : Its dignity of old , and fate at this day . The time of his Birth enquired into . Some Errors noted concerning it . His names ; Cephas , the imposing of it notes no Superiority over the rest of the Apostles . The custom of Popes assuming a new Name at their Election to the Papacy , whence . His kindred and relations ; whether He or Andrew the elder Brother . His Trade and way of life what , before his coming to Christ. The Sea of Galilee , and the conveniency of it . The meanness and obscurity of his Trade . The remarkable appearances of the Divine Providence in propagating Christianity in the World by mean and unlikely Instruments . THE Land of Palestine was , at and before , the coming of our Blessed Saviour , distinguished into three several Provinces , Judaea , Samaria , and Galilee . This last was divided into the Upper , and the Lower . In the Upper , called also Galilee of the Gentiles , within the division anciently belonging to the Tribe of Nephthali , stood Bethsaida , formerly an obscure and inconsiderable Village , till lately reedified and enlarged by * Philip the Tetrarch , by him advanced to the place and title of a City , replenished with inhabitants , and fortified with power and strength ; and in honour of Julia the daughter of Augustus Caesar , by him styled Julias . Situate it was upon the banks of the Sea of Galilee , and had a Wilderness on the other side , thence called the Desart of Bethsaida , whither our Saviour used often to retire , the privacies and solitudes of the place advantageously ministring to Divine contemplations . But Bethsaida was not so remarkable for this adjoyning Wilderness , as it self was memorable for a worse sort of Barrenness , Ingratitude and Unprofitableness under the influences of Christ's Sermons and Miracles , thence severely upbraided by him , and threatned with one of his deepest woes , Woe unto thee Chorazin , woe unto thee Bethsaida , &c. A woe that it seems stuck close to it , for whatever it was at this time , * one who surveyed it in the last Age tells us , that it was shrunk again into a very mean and small Village , consisting only of a few cottages of Moores and wild Arabs ; and later travellers have since assured us , that even these are dwindled away into one poor cottage at this day . So fatally does sin undermine the greatest , the goodliest places ; so certainly does God's Word take place , and not one lot a either of his promises or threatnings fall to the ground . Next to the honour that was done it by our Saviour's presence , who living most in these parts frequently resorted hither , it had nothing greater to recommend it to the notice of posterity , than that ( besides some other of the Apostles ) it was the Birth-place of S. Peter ; a person how inconsiderable soever in his private fortunes , yet of great note and eminency , as one of the prime Embassadors of the Son of God , to whom both Sacred and Ecclesiastical stories give , though not a superiority , a precedency in the Colledge of Apostles . 2. THE particular time of his Birth cannot be recovered , no probable footsteps or intimations being left of it : in the general we may conclude him at least Ten years elder than his Master ; his married condition , and setled course of life at his first coming to Christ , and that authority and respect which the gravity of his person procured him amongst the rest of the Apostles , can speak him no less : but for any thing more particular and positive in this matter , I see no reason to affirm . Indeed might we trust the account , which one ( who pretends to calculate his Nativity with ostentation enough ) has given of it , we are told that he was born three years before the Blessed Virgin , and just XVII . before the Incarnation of our Saviour . But let us view his account . Nat. est Ann. ab Orbe Cond . 4034 à Diluvio 2378 V. G. 734 Ann. Oct. August . 8 à 10 ejus consul . 24 à pugna Actiac . 12 An. Herodis Reg. 20 ante B. Virg. 3 ante Chr. nat . 17 When I met with such a pompous train of Epocha's , the least I expected was truth and certainty . This computation he grounds upon the date of S. Peter's death , placed ( as * elsewhere he tells us ) by Bellarmine in the LXXXVI . year of his Age ; so that recounting from the year of Christ LXIX . when Peter is commonly said to have suffered , he runs up his Age to his Birth , and spreads it out into so many several dates . But alas , all is built upon a sandy bottom . For besides his mistake about the year of the World , few of his dates hold due correspondence . But the worst of it is , that after all this , * Bellarmine ( upon whose single testimony all this fine fabrick is erected ) says no such thing , but only supposes , merely for arguments sake , that S. Peter might very well be LXXXVI . ( 't is erroneously printed LXXVI . ) years old at the time of his Martyrdom . So far will confidence , or ignorance , or both carry men aside , if it could be a mistake , and not rather a bold imposing upon the World. But of this enough , and perhaps more than it deserves . 3. BEING circumcised according to the Rites of the Mosaic Law , the name given him at his circumcision was Simon or Symeon , a name common amongst the Jews , especially in their latter times . This was afterwards by our Saviour not abolished , but additioned with the title of Cephas , which in Syriack ( the vulgar Language of the Jéws at that time ) signifying a stone or rock , was thence derived into the Greek , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and by us , Peter : so far was * Hesychius out , when rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an Expounder or Interpreter , probably deriving it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifies to explain and interpret . By this new imposition our Lord seemed to denote the firmness and constancy of his Faith , and his vigorous activity in building up the Church , as a spiritual house upon the the true rock , the living and corner-stone , chosen of God and precious , as S. Peter himself expresses it . Nor can our Saviour be understood to have hereby conferred upon him any peculiar Supremacy or Sovereignty above , much less over the rest of the Apostles ; for in respect of the great trusts committed to them , and their being sent to plant Christianity in the World , they are all equally stiled Foundations : nor is it accountable either to Scripture , or reason to suppose , that by this Name our Lord should design the person of Peter to be that very rock , upon which his Church was to be built . In a fond imitation * of this new name given to S. Peter , those who pretend to be his Successors in the See of Rome , usually lay by their own , and assume a new name upon their advancement to the Apostolick Chair , it being one of the first questions ‖ which the Cardinals put to the new-elected Pope , by what name he will please to be called . This custome first began about the Year 844 , when Peter di Bocca-Porco ( or Swines-mouth ) being chosen Pope , changed his name into Sergins the Second : probably not so much to avoid the uncomeliness of his own name , as if unbefitting the dignity of his place ( for this being but his Paternal name would after have been no part of his Pontifical stile and title ) as out of a mighty reverence to S. Peter , accounting himself not worthy to bear his name ; though it was his own baptismal name . Certain it is that none of the Bishops of that See ever assumed S. Peter's name , and some who have had it as their Christian name before , have laid it aside upon their election to the Papacy . But to return to our Apostle . 4. HIS Father was Jonah , probably a Fisherman of Bethsaida , for the sacred story takes no further notice of him , than by the bare mention of his Name ; and I believe there had been no great danger of mistake , though * Metaphrastes had not told us , that it was not Jonas the Prophet , who came out of the Belly of the Whale . Brother he was to S. Andrew the Apostle , and some question there is amongst the Ancients which was the elder Brother . ‖ Epiphanius ( probably from some Tradition current in his time ) clearly adjudges it to S. Andrew , herein universally followed by those of the Church of Rome , that the precedency given to S. Peter may not seem to be put upon the account of his Seniority . But to him we may oppose the authority of * S. Chrysostome , a Person equal both in time and credit , who expresly says , that though Andrew came later into life than Peter , yet he first brought him to the knowledge of the Gospel : which Baronius against all pretence of reason would understand of his entring into eternal life . Besides (a) S. Hierom , (b) Cassian , (c) Bede , and others , are for S. Peter being elder Brother , expresly ascribing it to his Age , that he rather than any other , was President of the Colledge of Apostles . However it was , it sounds not a little to the honour of their Father , ( as of Zebedee also in the like case ) that of but twelve Apostles two of his Sons were taken into the number . In his Youth he was brought up to Fishing , which we may guess to have been the staple-trade of Bethsaida , ( which hence probably borrowed its name , signifying an house or habitation of Fishing , though others render it by Hunting ; the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equally bearing either ) much advantaged herein by the Neighbourhood of the Lake of Gennesareth ( on whose banks it stood ) 〈◊〉 also the Sea of Galilee , and the Sea of Tiberias , according to the mode of the Hebrew language , wherein all greater confluences of Waters are called Seas . Of this Lake the Jews have a saying , * that of all the seven Seas which God created , he made choice of none but the Sea of Gennesareth : which however intended by them , is true only in this respect , that our blessed Saviour made choice of it , to honour it with the frequency of his presence , and the power of his miraculous operations . In length it was an hundred furlongs , ‖ and about XI over ; the Water of it pure and clear , sweet and most fit to drink ; stored it was with several sorts of Fish , and those different both in kind and taste from those in other places . Here it was that Peter closely followed the exercise of his calling ; from whence it seems he afterwards removed to Capernaum , ( probably upon his marriage , at least frequently resided there ) for there we meet with his House , and there we find him paying Tribute : an House , over which * Nicephorus tells us , that Helen the Mother of Constantine erected a beautiful Church to the honour of S. Peter . This place was equally advantageous for the managery of his Trade , standing upon the Influx of Jordan into the Sea of Galilee , and where he might as well reap the fruits of an honest and industrious diligence . A mean , I confess , it was , and a more servile course of life , as which besides the great pains and labour it required , exposed him to all the injuries of wind and weather , to the storms of the Sea , the darkness and tempestousness of the Night , and all to make a very small return . An imployment , whose restless troubles , constant hardships , frequent dangers , and amazing horrours are ( for the satisfaction of the learned Reader ) thus elegantly described by one , whose Poems may be justly stiled Golden Verses , receiving from the Emperour Antoninus a piece of Gold for every Verse . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But meanness is no bar in God's way , the poor , if virtuous , are as dear to Heaven , as the wealthy and the honourable , equally alike to him , with whom there is no respect of persons . Nay our Lord seemed to cast a peculiar honour upon this profession , when afterwards calling him and some others of the same Trade from catching of Fish , to be ( as he told them ) Fishers of men . 5. AND here we may justly reflect upon the wise and admirable methods of the Divine providence , which in planting and propagating the Christian Religion in the World , made choice of such mean and unlikely instruments , that he should hide these things from the wise and prudent , and reveal them unto babes , men that had not been educated in the Academy , and the Schools of Learning , but brought up to a Trade , to catch Fish , and mend Nets ; most of the Apostles being taken from the meanest Trades , and all of them ( S. Paul excepted ) unfurnished of all arts of learning , and the advantages of liberal and ingenuous education : and yet these were the men that were designed to run down the World , and to overturn the learning of the prudent . Certainly had humane wisdome been to manage the business , it would have taken quite other measures , and chosen out the profoundest Rabbins , the acutest Philosophers , the smoothest Orators , such as would have been most likely by strength of reason and arts of rhetorick to have triumph'd over the minds of men , to grapple with the stubberness of the Jews , and baffle the finer notions and speculations of the Greeks . We find that those Sects of Philosophy that gain'd most credit in the Heathen-world , did it this way , by their eminency in some Arts and Sciences , whereby they recommended themselves to the acceptance of the wiser and more ingenious part of mankind . * Julian the Apostate thinks it a reasonable exception against the Jewish Prophets , that they were incompetent messengers and interpreters of the Divine will , because they had not their minds cleared and purged , by passing through the Circle of polite arts and learning . Why , now this is the wonder of it , that the first Preachers of the Gospel should be such rude unlearned men , and yet so suddainly , so powerfully prevail over the learned World , and conquer so many , who had the greatest parts and abilities , and the strongest prejudices against it , to the simplicity of the Gospel . When Celsus objected that the Apostles were but a company of mean and illiterate persons , sorry Mariners and Fishermen , * Origen quickly returns upon him with this answer , That hence 't was plainly evident , that they taught Christianity by a Divine power , when such persons were able with such an uncontrouled success to subdue men to the obedience of the Word ; for that they had no eloquent tongues , no subtle and discursive heads , none of the refin'd and rhetorical Arts of Greece to conquer the minds of men . For my part ( says he ‖ in another place ) I verily believe that the Holy Jesus purposely made use of such Preachers of his Doctrine , that there might be no suspicion , that they came instructed with Arts of Sophistry , but that it might be clearly manifest to all the World , that there was no crafty design in it , and that they had a Divine power going along with them , which was more efficacious , than the greatest volubility of expression , or ornaments of speech , or the artifices which were used in the Graecian compositions . Had it not been for this Divine power that upheld it ( as he * elsewhere argues ) the Christian Religion , must needs have sunk under those weighty pressures that lay upon it , having not only to contend with the potent opposition of the Senate , Emperors , People , and the whole power of the Roman Empire , but to conflict with those home-bred wants and necessities , wherewith its own professors were oppressed and burdened . 6. IT could not but greatly vindicate the Apostles from all suspicion of forgery and imposture in the thoughts of sober and unbyassed persons , to see their Doctrine readily entertained by men of the most discerning and inquisitive minds . Had they dealt only with the rude and the simple , the idiot and the unlearned , there might have been some pretence to suspect , that they lay in wait to deceive , and designed to impose upon the World by crafty and insinuative arts and methods . But alas they had other persons to deal with , men of the acutest wits , and most profound abilities , the wisest Philosophers , and most subtle disputants , able to weigh an argument with the greatest accuracy , and to decline the force of the strongest reasonings , and who had their parts edg'd with the keenest prejudices of education , and a mighty veneration for the Religion of their Country , a Religion that for so many Ages had governed the World , and taken firm possession of the minds of men . And yet notwithstanding all these disadvantages these plain men conquered the wise and the learned , and brought them over to that Doctrine that was despised and scorned , opposed and persecuted , and that had nothing but its own native excellency to recommend it : A clear evidence that there was something in it beyond the craft and power of men . Is not this ( says an elegant * Apologist , making his address to the Heathens ) enough to make you believe and entertain it , to consider that in so short a time it has diffused it self over the whole World , civilized the most barbarous Nations , softned the roughest and most intractable tempers , that the greatest Wits and Scholars , Orators , Grammarians , Rhetoricians , Lawyers , Physicians , and Philosophers have quitted their formerly dear and beloved sentiments , and heartily embraced the Precepts and Doctrines of the Gospel ? Upon this account ‖ Theodoret does with no less truth than elegancy insult and triumph over the Heathens : He tells them that whoever would be at the pains to compare the best Law-makers either amongst the Greeks or Romans , with our Fishermen and Publicans , would soon perceive what a Divine vertue and efficacy there was in them above all others , whereby they did not only conquer their neighbours , not only the Greeks and Romans , but brought over the most barbarous Nations to a compliance with the Laws of the Gospel , and that not by force of Arms , not by numerous bands of Souldiers , not by methods of torture and cruelty , but by meek perswasives , and a convincing the World of the excellency and usefulness of those Laws which they propounded to them . A thing which the wisest and best men of the Heathen-world could never do , to make their dogmata and institutions universally obtain , nay that Plato himself could never by all his plausible and insinuative arts make his Laws to be entertained by his own dear Athenians . He farther shews them , that the Laws published by our Fishermen and Tentmakers could never be abolished ( like those made by the best amongst them ) by the policies of Caius , the power of Claudius , the cruelties of Nero , or any of the succeding Emperors , but still they went on conquering and to conquer , and made Millions both of Men and Women willing to embrace flames , and to encounter Death in its most horrid shapes , rather than dis-own and forsake them : whereof he calls to witness those many Churches and Monuments every where erected to the memory of Christian Martyrs , no less to the honour than advantage of those Cities and Countries , and in some sence to all Mankind . 7. THE summe of the Discourse is , in the Apostles words , that God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise , the weak to confound those that are mighty , the base things of the world , things most vitified and despised , yea and things which are not , to bring to nought things that are . These were the things , these the Persons , whom God sent upon this errand to silence the Wise , the Scribe , and the Disputer of this World , and to make foolish the wisdome of this world . For though the Jews required a sign , and the Greeks sought after wisdome , though the preaching a crucified Saviour was a scandal to the Jewes , and foolishness to the learned 〈◊〉 , yet by this foolishness of preaching God was pleased to save them that believed : and in the event made it appear that the foolishness of God is wiser than men , and the weakness of God stronger than men . That so the honour of all might intirely redound to himself ; so the Apostle concludes , that no Flesh should glory in his presence , but that he that glorieth , should glory in the Lord. SECT . II. Of S. Peter from his first coming to Christ , till his being call'd to be a Disciple . Peter , before his coming to Christ , 〈◊〉 Disciple ( probably ) of John the Baptist. His first approaches to Christ. Our Lord's communication with him . His return to his Trade . Christ's entring into Peter's Ship , and preaching to the people at the Sea of Galilee . The 〈◊〉 draught of Fishes . Peter's great astonishment at this evidence of our Lord's Divinity . His call to be a Disciple . Christ's return to Capernaum , and healing Peter's Mother-in-Law . THOUGH we find not whether Peter before his coming to Christ was engag'd in any of the particular Sects at this time in the Jewish Church , yet is it greatly probable , that he was one of the Disciples of John the Baptist. For first , 't is certain that his brother Andrew was so , and we can hardly think , these two brothers should draw contrary ways , or that he who was so ready to bring his brother the early tidings of the Messiah , that the Sun of righteousness was already risen in those parts , should not be as solicitous to bring him under the discipline and influences of John the Baptist , the Day-star that went before him . Secondly , Peter's forwardness and curiosity at the first news of Christ's appearing , to come to him , and converse with him , shew that his expectations had been awakened , and some light in this matter conveyed to him by the preaching and ministry of John , who was the voice of one crying in the wilderness , Prepare ye the way of the Lord , make his paths streight , shewing them who it was that was coming after him . 2. HIS first acquaintance with Christ commenced in this manner . The Blessed Jesus having for thirty years passed through the solitudes of a private life , had lately been baptized in Jordan , and there publickly owned to be the Son of God by the 〈◊〉 solemn attestations that Heaven could give him , whereupon he was immediately 〈◊〉 into the wilderness to a personal contest with the Devil for forty days together . So natural is it to the enemy of mankind to malign our happiness , and to seek to blast our joys , when we are under the highest instances of the Divine grace and favour . His enemy being conquered in three set battels , and fled , he returned hence , and came down to Bethabara beyond Jordan , where John was baptizing his Proselytes , and endeavouring to satisfie the Jews , who had sent to him curiously to enquire concerning this new Messiah that appeared among them . Upon the great testimony which the Baptist gave him , and his pointing to our Lord then passing by him ; two of John's disciples who were then with him presently followed after Christ , one of which was Andrew , Simon' s brother . It was towards Evening when they came , and therefore probably stayed with him all night , during which Andrew had opportunity to inform himself , and to satisfie his most scrupulous enquiries . Early the next morning ( if not that very evening ) he hastned to acquaint his brother Simon with these glad tidings . 'T is not enough to be good and happy alone ; Religion is a communicative principle , that like the circles in the water , delights to multiply it self , and to diffuse its influences round about it , and especially upon those , whom nature has placed nearest to us . He tells him , they had found the long-look'd for Messiah , him whom Moses and the Prophets had so signally foretold , and whom all the devout and pious of that Nation had so long expected . 3. SIMON ( one of those who look'd for the Kingdom of God , and waited for redemption in Israel ) ravished with this joyful news , and impatient of delay , presently follows his brother to the place : whither he was no sooner come , but our Lord to give him an evidence of his Divinity , salutes him at first 〈◊〉 by name , tells him what , and who he was , both as to his name and kindred , what title should be given him , that that he should be call'd Cephas , or Peter ; a name which he afterwards actually conferr'd upon him . What passed further between them , and whether these two brothers henceforward personally attended our Saviour's motions in the number of his Disciples , the Sacred Story leaves us in the dark . It seems probable , that they stay'd with him for some time , till they were instructed in the first rudiments of his doctrine , and by his leave departed home . For it 's reasonable to suppose , that our Lord being unwilling , at this time especially , to awaken the jealousies of the State by a numerous retinue , might dismiss his Disciples for some time , and Peter and Andrew amongst the rest , who hereupon returned home to the exercise of their calling , where he found them afterwards . 4. IT was now somewhat more than a year , since our Lord having entred upon the publick stage of action , constantly went about doing good , healing the sick , and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom , residing usually at 〈◊〉 , and the parts about it , where by the constancy of his preaching , and the reputation of his miracles , his fame spread about all those Countries ; by means whereof multitudes of people from all parts flock'd to him , greedily desirous to become his Auditors . And what wonder if the parch'd and barren Earth thirsted for the showers of Heaven ? It hapned that our Lord retiring out of the City , to enjoy the privacies of contemplation upon the banks of the Sea of Galilee , it was not long before the multitude found him out ; to avoid the crowd and press whereof he step'd into a Ship or Fisher-Boat , that lay near to the shore , which belonged to Peter , who together with his companions after a tedious and unsuccessful night , were gone a-shore to wash and dry their Nets . He who might have commanded , was yet pleased to intreat Peter ( who by this time was returned into his Ship ) to put a little from the shore . Here being sate , he taught the people , who stood along upon the shore to hear him . Sermon ended , he resolv'd to seal up his doctrine with a miracle , that the people might be the more effectually convinced , that he was a Teacher come from God. To this purpose , he bad Simon lanch out further , and cast his Net into the Sea : Simon tells him , they had don 't already , that they had been fishing all the last night , but in vain ; and if they could not succeed then ( the most proper season for that imployment ) there was less hope to speed now , it being probably about Noon . But because where God commands , it is not for any to argue , but obey ; at our Lord's instance he let down the Net , which immediately inclosed so great a multitude of Fishes , that the Net began to break , and they were forced to call to their partners , who were in a Ship hard by them , to come in to their assistence . A draught so great , that it loaded both their Boats , and that so full , that it endangered their sinking before they could get safe to shore : An instance , wherein our Saviour gave an ocular demonstration , that , as Messiah , God had put all things under his feet , not only Fowls of the Air , but the Fish of the Sea , and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the Seas . 5. AMAZ'D they were all at this miraculous draught of Fishes , whereupon Simon in an 〈◊〉 of admiration , and a mixture of humility and fear , threw himself at the feet of Christ , and pray'd him to depart from him , as a vile and a sinful person . So evident were the appearances of Divinity in this miracle , that he was over-powred and dazled with its brightness and lustre , and reflecting upon himself , could not but think himself unworthy the presence of so great a person , so immediately sent from God ; and considering his own state ( Conscience being hereby more sensibly awakened ) was afraid , that the Divine vengeance might pursue and overtake him . But our Lord to abate the 〈◊〉 of his fears , assures him that this miracle was not done to amaze and terrifie him , but to strengthen and confirm his Faith ; that now he had nobler work and imployment for him ; instead of catching Fish , he should , by perswading men to the obedience of the Gospel , catch the Souls of men : And accordingly commanded him and his brother to follow him : ( the same command which presently after he gave to the two Sons of 〈◊〉 . ) The word was no sooner spoken , and they landed , but disposing their concerns in the hands of friends ( as we may presume prudent and reasonable men would ) they immediately left all , and followed him ; and from this time Peter and the rest became his constant and inseparable Disciples , living under the rules of his Discipline and Institutions . 6. FROM hence they returned to 〈◊〉 , where our Lord entring into Simon' s house ( the place in all likelihood where he was wont to lodge during his residence in that City ) found his Mother-in-law visited with a violent Fever . No priviledges afford an exemption from the ordinary Laws of humane Nature ; Christ under her roof did not protect this Woman from the assaults and invasions of a Fever : Lord , behold , he whom thou lovest is sick , as they said concerning Lazarus . Here a fresh opportunity offered it self to Christ of exerting his Divine Power . No sooner was he told of it , but he came to her bed-side , rebuked the Paroxysms , commanded the Fever to be gone , and taking her by the hand to lift her up , in a moment restored her to perfect health , and ability to return to the business of her Family , all cures being equally easie to Omnipotence . SECT . III. Of S. Peter from his Election to the Apostolate , till the Confession which he made of Christ. The Election of the Apostles ; and our Lord 's solemn preparation for it . The Powers and Commission given to them . Why Twelve chosen . Peter the first in order , not power . The Apostles when and by whom Baptized . The Tradition of Euodius of Peter's being immediately Baptized by Christ , rejected , and its authorities proved in sufficient . Three of the Apostles more intimately conversant with our Saviour . Peter's being with Christ at the raising Jairus his Daughter . His walking with Christ upon the Sea. The creatures at God's command act contrary to their natural Inclinations . The weakness of Peter's Faith. Christ's power in commanding down the storm , an evidence of his Divinity . Many Disciples desert our Saviour's preaching . Peter's prosession of constancy in the name of the rest of the Apostles . OUR Lord being now to elect some peculiar persons , as his immediate Vicegerents upon Earth , to whose care and trust he might commit the building up of his Church , and the planting that Religion in the World , for which he himself came down from Heaven ; In order to it he privately over-night withdrew himself into a solitary Mountain ( commonly called the Mount of Christ , from his frequent repairing thither , though some of the Ancients will have it to be Mount Tabor ) there to make his solemn address to Heaven for a prosperous success on so great a work . Herein leaving an excellent copy and precedent to the Governours of his Church , how to proceed in setting apart persons to so weighty and difficult an employment . Upon this Mountain we may conceive there was an Oratory or place of prayer ( probably intimated by S. Luke's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for such Proseucha's or houses of Prayer , usually uncovered , and standing in the fields , the Jews had in several places ) wherein our Lord continued all night , not in one continued and intire act of devotion , but probably by intervals , and repeated returns of duty . 2. EARLY the next morning his Disciples came to him , out of whom he made choice of Twelve to be his Apostles , that they might be the constant attendants upon his person , to hear his Discourses , and be Eye-witnesses of his Miracles ; to be always conversant with him while he was upon Earth , and afterwards to be sent abroad up and down the World to carry on that work which he himself had begun ; whom therefore he invested with the power of working Miracles , which was more completely conferr'd upon them after his Ascension into Heaven . Passing by the several fancies and conjectures of the Ancients , why our Saviour pitch'd upon the just number of Twelve ; ( whereof before ) it may deserve to be considered , whether our Lord being now to appoint the Supreme Officers and Governours of his Church , which the Apostle styles the Commonwealth of Israel , might not herein have a more peculiar allusion to the twelve Patriarchs , as founders of their several Tribes , or to the constant Heads and Rulers of those twelve Tribes of which the body of the Jewish Nation did consist : Especially since he himself seems elsewhere to give countenance to it , when he tells the Apostles that when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory , that is , be gone back to Heaven , and have taken full possession of his Evangelical Kingdom , which principally commenc'd from his Resurrection , that then they also should sit upon twelve Thrones , judging the twelve Tribes of Israel , that is , they should have great powers and authorities in the Church , such as the power of the Keys , and other Rights of Spiritual Judicature and Sovereignty , answerable in some proportion to the power and dignity which the Heads and Rulers of the twelve Tribes of Israel did enjoy . 3. IN the enumeration of these twelve Apostles , all the Evangelists constantly place S. Peter in the front ; and S. Matthew expresly tells us , that he was the first , that is , he was the first that was called to be an Apostle : his Age also and the gravity of his person more particularly qualifying him for a Primacy of Order amongst the rest of the Apostles , as that without which no society of men can be managed or maintained . 〈◊〉 than this , as none will deny him , so more than this , neither Scripture nor 〈◊〉 antiquity do allow him . And now it was , that our Lord actually conferr'd that 〈◊〉 upon him , which before he had promised him , Simon he surnamed Peter . It 〈◊〉 here be enquired , when , and by whom the Apostles were baptized . That they were is unquestionable , being themselves appointed to confer it upon others ; but when , or how , the Scripture is altogether silent . * Nicephorus from no worse an Author , as he pretends , than Euodius , next 〈◊〉 S. Peter's immediate successor in the 〈◊〉 of Autioch , tells us , That of all the Apostles Christ baptized none but Peter with his own hands ; that Peter baptized Andrew , and the two sons of 〈◊〉 , and they the rest of the Apostles . This , if so , would greatly make for the honour of S. Peter . But , alas ! his authority is not only suspicious , but 〈◊〉 , in a manner deserted by S. Peter's best friends , and the strongest champions of his cause : Baronius himself , however 〈◊〉 * willing to make use of him , elsewhere ‖ confessing that this Epistle of 〈◊〉 is altogether unknown to any of the Ancients . As for the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus , which to the same purpose he quotes out of Sophronius , ( though not Sophronius , but * Johannes Moschus , as is notoriously known , be the Author of that Book ) besides , that it is delivered upon an uncertain report , pretended to have been alledged in a discourse between one Dionysius Bishop of Ascalon and his Clergy , out of a Book of Clemens , not now extant ; his Authors are much alike , that is , of no great value and authority . 4. AMONGST these Apostles , our Lord chose a Triumvirate , Peter and the two sons of Zebedee to be his more intimate companions , whom he admitted more familiarly than the rest , unto all the more secret passages and transactions of his Life . The first instance of which was on this occasion . Jairus , a Ruler of the Synagogue , had a daughter desperately sick , whose disease having baffled all the arts of Physick , was 〈◊〉 curable by the immediate agency of the God of Nature . He therefore in all humility addresses himself to our Saviour ; which he had no sooner done , but servants 〈◊〉 post to tell him , that it was in vain to trouble our Lord , for that his daughter was dead . Christ bids him not despond , if his Faith held out , there was no danger . And 〈◊〉 none to follow him , but Peter , James , and John , goes along with him to the house ; where he was derided by the sorrowful friends , and neighbours , for telling them that she was not perfectly dead . But our Lord entering in , with the commanding efficacy of two words , restor'd her at once both to life and perfect health . 5. OUR Lord after this preached many Sermons , and wrought many Miracles : amongst which , none more remarkable , than his feeding a multitude of five thousand men , besides women and children , with but five Loaves , and two Fishes ; of which , nevertheless , twelve Baskets of sragments were taken up . Which being done , and the multitude dismissed , he commanded the Apostles to take Ship , it being now near night , and to cross over to Capernaum , whilest he himself , as his manner was , retired to a neighbouring mountain , to dispose himself to Prayer and Contemplation . The Apostles were 〈◊〉 got into the middle of the Sea , when on a sudden a violent Storm and Tempest began to arise , whereby they were brought into present danger of their lives . Our Saviour , who knew how the case stood with them , and how much they laboured under infinite pains and fears , having himself caused this Tempest , for the greater trial of their Faith , a little before morning ( for so long they remained in this imminent danger ) immediately conveyed himself upon the Sea , where the Waves received him , being proud to carry their Master . He who refused to 〈◊〉 the Devil , when tempting him to throw himself down from the Pinnacle of the Temple , did here commit himself to a boisterous & instable Element , and that in a violent Storm , walking upon the water , as if it had been dry ground . But that infinite power that made and supports the World , as it gave rules to all particular beings , so can when it please countermand the Laws of their Creation , and make them act contrary to their natural inclinations . If God say the word , the Sun will stand still in the middle of the Heavens ; if Go back , 't will retrocede , as upon the Dial of Ahaz : if he command it , the Heavens will become as Brass , and the Earth as Iron , and that for three years and an half together , as in the case of 〈◊〉 's prayer ; if he say to the Sea Divide , 't will run upon heaps , and become on both sides as firm as a wall of Marble . Nothing can be more natural , than for the fire to burn , and yet at God's command it will forget its nature , and become a screen and a fence to the three Children in the Babylonian Furnace . What heavier than Iron , or more natural than for gravity to tend downwards ? and yet when God will have it , Iron shall float like Cork on the top of the water . The proud and raging Sea that naturally refuses to bear the bodies of men while alive , became here as firm as Brass , when commanded to wait upon , and do homage to the God of Nature . Our Lord walking towards the Ship , as if he had an intention to pass by it , he was espied by them , who presently thought it to be the Apparition of a Spirit . Hereupon they were seiz'd with great terror and consternation , and their fears in all likelihood heightned by the vulgar opinion , that they are evil Spirits that chuse rather to appear in the night than by day . While they were in this agony , our Lord taking compassion on them , calls to them , and bids them not be afraid , for that it was no other than he himself . Peter ( the eagerness of whose temper carried him forward to all bold and resolute undertakings ) intreated our Lord , that if it was he , he might have leave to come upon the water to him . Having received his orders , he went out of the Ship , and walked upon the Sea to meet his Master . But when he found the wind to bear hard against him , and the waves to rise round about him , whereby probably the sight of Christ was intercepted , he began to be afraid , and the higher his fears arose , the lower his Faith began to sink , and together with that , his body to sink under water : whereupon in a passionate fright he cried out to our Lord to help him , who , reaching out his arm , took him by the hand , and set him again upon the top of the water , with this gentle reproof , O thou of little Faith , wherefore didst thou doubt ? It being the weakness of our Faith that makes the influences of the Divine power and goodness to have no better effect upon us . Being come to the Ship , they took them in , where our Lord no sooner arrived , but the winds and waves observing their duty to their Sovereign Lord , and having done the errand which they came upon , mannerly departed , and vanished away , and the Ship in an instant was at the shore . All that were in the Ship being strangely astonished at this Miracle , and fully convinced of the Divinity of his person , came and did homage to him , with this confession , Of a truth thou art the Son of God. After which they went ashore , and landed in the Country of Genezareth , and there more fully acknowledged him before all the people . 6. THE next day great multitudes flocking after him , he entred into a Synagogue at Capernaum , and taking occasion from the late Miracle of the loaves , which he had wrought amongst them , he began to discourse concerning himself , as the true Manna , and the Bread that came down from Heaven ; largely opening to them many of the more sublime and Spiritual mysteries , and the necessary and important duties of the Gospel . Hereupon a great part of his Auditory , who had hitherto followed him , finding their understandings gravelled with these difficult and uncommon Notions , and that the duties he required were likely to grate hard upon them , and perceiving now that he was not the Messiah they took him for , whose Kingdom should consist in an external Grandeur and plenty , but was to be managed and transacted in a more inward and Spiritual way ; hereupon fairly left him in open field , and henceforth quite turned their backs upon him . Whereupon our Lord turning about to his Apostles , asked them whether they also would go away from him ? Peter ( spokes-man generally for all the rest ) answered , whither should they go , to mend and better their condition ? should they return back to Moses ? Alas ! he laid a yoke upon them , which neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear . Should they go to the Scribes and Pharisees ? they would feed them with Stones instead of Bread , obtrude humane Traditions upon them for Divine dictates and Commands . Should they betake themselves to the Philosophers amongst the Gentiles ? they were miserably blind and short-sighted in their Notions of things , and their sentiments and opinions not only different from , but contrary to one another . No , 't was he only had the words of Eternal life , whose doctrine could instruct them in the plain way to Heaven ; that they had fully assented to what both John and he had said concerning himself , that they were fully perswaded both from the efficacy of his Sermons , which they heard , and the powerful conviction of his Miracles , which they had seen , that he was the Son of the living God , the true Messiah and Saviour of the World. But notwithstanding this fair and plausible testimony , he tells them , that they were not all of this mind , that there was a Satan amongst them , one that was moved by the spirit and impulse , and that acted according to the rules and interest of the Devil : intimating Judas who should betray him . So hard is it to meet with a body of so just and pure a constitution , wherein some rotten member or distempered part is not to be found . SECT . IV. Of S. Peter from the time of his Confession , till our Lord's last Passover . Our Saviour's Journy with his Apostles to Caesarea . The Opinions of the People concerning Him. Peter's eminent Confession of Christ , and our Lord 's great commendation of it . Thou art Peter , and upon this Rock , &c. The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven how given . The advantage the Church of Rome makes of these passages . This confession made by Peter in the name of the rest , and by others before him . No personal priviledge intended to S. Peter : the same things elsewhere promised to the other Apostles . Our 〈◊〉 discourse concerning his 〈◊〉 . Peter's unseasonable zeal in disswading him from it , and our Lord 's severe rebuking him . Christ's Transfiguration , and the glory of it : Peter how affected with it . Peter's paying Tribute for Christ and himself . This Tribute , what . Our Saviour's discourse upon it . Offending brethren how oft to be forgiven . The young man commanded to sell all . What compensation made to the followers of Christ. Our Lord 's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem . Preparation made to keep the Passover . 1. IT was some time since our Saviour had kept his third Passover at Jerusalem , when he directed his Journy towards Caesarea Philippi , where by the way having like a lawful Master of his Family first prayed with his Aposlles , he began to ask them ( having been more than two Years publickly conversant amongst them ) what the world thought concerning him . They answered , that the Opinions of Men about him were various and different ; that some took him for John the Baptist , lately risen from the dead , between whose Doctrine , Discipline , and way of life , in the main there was so great a Correspondence . That others thought he was Elias ; probably judging so , from the gravity of his Person , freedom of his Preaching , the fame and reputation of his Miracles , especially since the Scriptures assured them he was not dead , but taken up into Heaven ; and had so expresly foretold , that he should return back again . That others look'd upon him as the Prophet Jeremiah alive again , of whose return the Jewes had great expectations , in so much that some of them thought the Soul of Jeremias was re-inspired into 〈◊〉 . Or if not thus , at least that he was one of the more eminent of the ancient Prophets , or that the Souls of some of these Persons had been breathed into him ; The Doctrine of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Transmigration of Souls first broached and propagated by Pythagoras , being at this time current amongst the Jews , and owned by the Pharisees as one of their prime Notions and Principles . 2. THIS Account not 〈◊〉 , our Lord comes closer and nearer to them ; tells them , It was no wonder if the common People were divided into these wild thoughts concerning him : but since they had been always with him , had been hearers of his Sermons , and Spectators of his Miracles , he enquired , what they themselves thought of him . Peter , ever forward to return an Answer , and therefore by the Fathers frequently stiled The Mouth of the Apostles , * told him in the name of the rest , That he was the Messiah , The Son of the living God , promised of old in the Law and the Prophets , heartily desired and looked for by all good men , anointed and set apart by God to be the King , Priest , and Prophet of his People . To this excellent and comprehensive confession of Peter's , Our Lord returns this great Eulogie and Commendation ; Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jonah , Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it unto thee , but my Father which is in Heaven : That is , this Faith which thou hast now confessed is not humane , contrived by Man's wit , or built upon his testimony , but upon those Notions and Principles which I was sent by God to reveal to the World , and those mighty and solemn attestations , which he has given from Heaven to the truth both of my Person and my Doctrine . And because thou hast so freely made this Confession , therefore I also say unto thee , that thou art Peter , and upon this Rock I will build my Church , and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it : That is , that as thy Name signifies a Stone or Rock , such shalt thou thy self be , firm , solid , and immoveable , in building of the Church , which shall be so orderly erected by thy care and diligence , and so firmly founded upon that faith which thou hast now confessed , that all the assaults and attempts which the powers of Hell can make against it , shall not be able to overturn it . Moreover I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven , and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth , shall be bound in Heaven , and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth , shall be loosed in Heaven : That is , thou shalt have that spiritual authority and power within the Church , whereby as with Keys thou shalt be able to shut and lock out obstinate and impenitent sinners , and upon their repentance to unlock the door , and take them in again : And what thou shalt thus regularly do , shall be own'd in the Court above , and ratified by God in Heaven . 3. UPON these several passages , the Champions of the Church of Rome , mainly build the unlimited Supremacy and Infallibility of the Bishops of that See ; with how much truth , and how little reason , it is not my present purpose to discuss . It may suffice here to remark , that though this place does very much tend to exalt the honour of Saint Peter , yet is there nothing herein personal and peculiar to him alone , as distinct from , and preserred above the rest of the Apostles . Does he here make confession of Christ's being the Son of God ? Yet , besides that herein he spake but the sence of all the rest , this was no more than what others had said as well as he , yea besore he was so much as call'd to be a Disciple . Thus Nathanael at his first coming to Christ expresly told him , Rabbi , thou art the Son of God , Thou art the King of Israel . Does our Lord here stile him a Rock ? All the Apostles are elsewhere equally called Foundations , yea said to be the Twelve Foundations , upon which the Wall of the new Jerusalem , that is , the Evangelical Church is 〈◊〉 ; and sometimes others of them besides Peter are called Pillars , as they have relation to the Church already built . Does Christ here promise the Keys to Peter ? that is , Power of Governing , and of exercising Church-censures , and of absolving penitent sinners ? The very same is elsewhere promised to all the Apostles , and almost in the very same termes and words . If thine offending Brother , prove obstinate , tell it unto the Church ; but , if he neglect to hear the Church , let him be unto thee as an Heathen and a Publican . Verily I say unto you , whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth , shall be bound in Heaven , and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth , shall be loosed in Heaven . And elsewhere , when ready to leave the World , he tells them , As my Father hath sent me , even so send I you : whose soever sins ye remit , they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain , they are retained . By all which it is evident , that our Lord did not here give any personal prerogative to S. Peter , as Universal Pastor and Head of the Christian Church , much less to those who were to be his Successors in the See of Rome ; But that as he made this Confession in the name of the rest of the Apostles , so what was here promised unto him , was equally intended unto all . Nor did the more considering and judicious part of the Fathers ( however giving a mighty reverence to S. Peter ) ever understand it in any other sence . Sure I am , that * Origen tells us , that every true Christian that makes this confession with the same Spirit and Integrity which S. Peter did , shall have the same blessing and commendation from Christ conferr'd upon him . 4. THE Holy Jesus knowing the time of his Passion to draw on , began to prepare the minds of his Apostles against that fatal Hour ; telling them what hard and bitter things he should suffer at Jerusalem , what affronts and indignities he must undergo , and be at last put to death with all the arts of torture and disgrace , by the Decree of the Jewish Sanhedrim . Peter , whom our Lord had infinitely incouraged and indeared to him , by the great things which he had lately said concerning him , so that his spirits were now afloat , and his passions ready to over-run the banks , not able to endure a thought that so much evil should befall his Master , broke out into an over-confident and unseasonable interruption of him : He took him and began to rebuke him , saying , Be it far from thee , Lord , this shall not be unto thee . Besides his great kindness and affection to his Master , the minds of the Apostles were not yet throughly purged from the hopes and expectations of a glorious reign of the Messiah , so that Peter could not but look upon these sufferings as unbecoming and inconsistent with the state and dignity of the Son of God. And therefore thought good to advise his Lord , to take care of himself , and while there was time to prevent and avoid them . This , our Lord , who valued the redemption os Mankind infinitely before his own ease and safety , resented at so high a rate , that he returned upon him with this tart and stinging reproof , Get thee behind me Satan ; The very same treatment which he once gave to the Devil himself , when he made that insolent proposal to him , To fall down and worship him : though in Satan it was the result of pure malice and hatred ; in Peter only an error of love , and great regard . However our Lord could not but look upon it as mischievous and diabolical counsel , prompted and promoted by the great Adversary of Mankind . A way therefore , says Christ , with thy hellish and pernicious counsel , Thou art an offence unto me , in seeking to oppose and undermine that great design , for which I purposely came down from 〈◊〉 : In this thou savourest not the things of God , but those that be of men , in suggesting to me those little shifts and arts of safety and self-preservation , which humane prudence , and the love of mens own selves are wont to dictate to them . By which , though we may learn Peter's mighty kindness to our Saviour , yet that herein he did not take his measures right . A plain evidence that his infallibility had not yet taken place . 5. About a week after this , our Saviour being to receive a Type and Specimen of his future 〈◊〉 , took with him his three more intimate Apostles , Peter , and the two sons of Zebedee , and went up into a very high mountain , which the Ancients generally conceive to have been Mount Thabor , a round and very high mountain , situate in the plains of Galilce . And now was even literally fulfilled what the Psalmist had spoken , Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy Name : for what greater joy and triumph , than to be peculiarly chosen to be the holy Mount , whereon our Lord in so eminent a manner received from God the Father , honour and glory , and made such magnificent displays of his Divine power and Majesty ? For while they were here earnestly imployed in Prayer , ( as seldom did our Lord enter upon any eminent action , but he first made his address to Heaven ) he was suddenly transformed into another manner of appearance ; such a lustre and radiancy darted from his face , that the Sun it self shines not brighter at Noon-day ; such beams of light reflected from his garments , as out-did the light it self that was round about them , so exceeding pure and white , that the Snow might blush to compare with it ; nor could the Fullers art purifie any thing into half that whiteness : an evident and sensible representation of the glory of that state , wherein the just shall walk in white , and shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father . During this Heavenly scene , there appeared Moses and Elias , ( who , as the Jews say , shall come together ) clothed with all the brightness and majesty of a glorified state , familiarly conversing with him , and discoursing of the death and sufferings which he was shortly to undergo , and his departure into Heaven . Behold here together the three greatest persons that ever were the Ministers of Heaven : Moses , under God , the Instituter and promulgator of the Law ; Elias the great reformer of it , when under its deepest degeneracy and corruption ; and the blessed Jesus the Son of God , who came to take away what was weak and imperfect , and to introduce a more manly and rational institution , and to communicate the last Revelation which God would make of his mind to the World. Peter and the two Apostles that were with him , were in the mean time fallen asleep , heavy through want of natural rest , ( it being probably night when this was done ) or else over-powred with these extraordinary appearances , which the frailty and weakness of their present state could not bear , were fallen into a Trance . But now awaking , were strangely surprised to behold our Lord surrounded with so much glory , and those two great persons conversing with him , knowing who they were , probably by some particular marks and signatures that were upon them , or else by immediate revelation , or from the discourse which passed betwixt Christ and them , or possibly from some communication which they themselves might have with them . While these Heavenly guests were about to depart , Peter in a great rapture and ecstasie of mind addressed himself to our Saviour , telling him how infinitely they were pleased and delighted with their being there ; and to that purpose desiring his leave , that they might erect three Tabernacles , one for him , one for Moses , and one for Elias . While he was thus saying , a bright cloud suddenly over-shadowed , and wrapt them up : out of which came a voice , This is my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased , hear ye him : which when the Apostles heard , and saw the cloud coming over them , they were seised with a great consternation , and fell upon their faces to the ground , whom our Lord gently touched , bade them arise and disband their fears : whereupon looking up , they saw none but their Master , the rest having vanished and disappeared . In memory of these great transactions , * Bede tells us , that in pursuance of S. Peter's petition about the three Tabernacles , there were afterwards three Churches built upon the top of this Mountain , which in after times were had in great veneration , which might possibly give some foundation to 〈◊〉 report which * one makes , that in his time there were shew'd the ruines of those three Tabernacles , which were built according to S. Peter's desire . 6. After this , our Lord and his Apostle's having travelled through Galilce , the gatherers of the Tribute-money came to Peter , and asked him , whether his Master was not obliged to pay the Tribute , which God , under the Mosaick Law , commanded to be yearly paid by every Jew above Twenty years old , to the use of the Temple , which so continued to the times of Vespatian , under whom the Temple being destroyed , it was by him transferred to the use of the Capitol at Rome , being to the value of half a Shekel , or Fifteen pence of our money . To this question of theirs , Peter positively answers , yes ; knowing his Master would never be backward , either to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's , or to God the things that are God's . Peter going into the house to give an account to his Master , and to know his mind concerning it , Christ prevented him with this question , What thinkest thou , Simon , of whom do 〈◊〉 Kings exact Tribute , of their own Children and Family , or from other people ? Peter answered , Not from their own Servants , and Family , but from Strangers . To which our Lord presently replied , That then according to his own argument and opinion , both he himself , as being the Son of God , and they whom he had taken to be his Menial and Domestick 〈◊〉 , were free from this Tax of Head-money , yearly to be paid to God. But rather than give offence , by seeming to despise the Temple , and to undervalue that Authority that had setled this Tribute , he resolves to put himself to the expence and charges of a Miracle , and therefore commanded Peter to go to the Sea , and 〈◊〉 up the first Fish which came to his Hook , in whose mouth he should find a piece of money ( a Stater , in value a Shekel or half a Crown ) which he took and gave to the Collectors , both for his Master and himself . 7. OUR Lord after this , discoursing to them , how to carry themselves towards their offending Brethren , Peter being desirous to be more particularly informed in this matter , asked our Saviour , How oft a man was obliged to forgive his Brother , in case of offence and trespass , whether seven times were not enough ? He told him , That upon his Neighbours repentance , he was not only bound to do it seven times , but until seventy times seven , that is , he must be indulgent to him , as oft as the offender returns and begs it , and heartily professes his sorrow and repentance . Which he further illustrates by a plain and excellent Parable , and thence draws this Conclusion , That the same measures , either of compassion or cruelty , which men show to their fellow Brethren , they themselves shall meet with at the hands of God , the Supreme Ruler and Justiciary of the World. It was not long after when a brisk young man addressed himself to our Saviour , to know of him , by what methods he might best attain Eternal life . Our Lord , to humble his confidence , bade him sell his Estate , and give it to the poor ; and putting himself under his discipline , he should have a much better treasure in Heaven . The man was rich , and liked not the counsel , nor was he willing to purchase happiness at such a rate ; & accordingly went away under great sorrow and discontent . Upon which Christ takes occasion to let them know , how hardly those men would get to Heaven , who build their comfort and happiness upon the plenty and abundance of these outward things . Peter taking hold of this opportunity , ask'd , What return they themselves should make , who had quitted and renounced whatever they had for his sake and service ? Our Saviour answers , that no man should be a loser by his service ; that , for their parts , they should be recompenced with far greater priviledges ; and that whoever should forsake houses or lands , kindred and relations , out of love to him , and his Religion , should enjoy them again with infinite advantages in this World , if consistent with the circumstances of their state , and those troubles and persecutions which would necessarily arise from the profession of the Gospel : however , they should have what would make infinite amends for all ; Eternal life in the other World. 8. OUR Saviour in order to his last fatal journey to Jerusalem , that he might the better comply with the prophecy that went before of him , sent two of his Apostles , who in all probability were Peter and John , with an Authoritative Commission to fetch him an Asse to ride on , ( he had none of his own ; he who was rich , for our sakes made himself poor ; he lived upon charity all his life , had neither an Asse to ride on , nor an House where to lay his head , no nor after his death a Tomb to lie in , but what the charity of others provided for him ) whereon being mounted , and attended with the festivities of the people , he set forward in his journey ; wherein there appears an admirable mixture of humility and Majesty : The Asse he rode on became the meanness and meekness of a Prophet ; but his arbitrary Commission for the fetching it , and the ready obedience of its owners , spake the prerogative of a King : The Palms born before him , the Garments strew'd in his way , and the joyful Hosannahs and Acclamations of the people , proclaim at once both the Majesty of a Prince , and the Triumph of a Saviour . For such expressions of joy we find were usual in publick and festival solemnities ; thus the * Historian describing the Emperor Commodus his triumphant return to Rome , tells us , that the Senate and whole people of Rome , to testifie their mighty kindness and veneration for him , came out of the City to meet him , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , carrying Palms and Laurels along with them , and throwing about all sorts of Flowers that were then in season . In this manner our Lord being entred the City , he soon after retired to Bethany , whence he dispatched Peter and John , to make preparation for the Passeover ; giving them instructions where he would have it kept . Accordingly they found the person whom he had described to them , whom they followed home to his house . Whether this was the house of John the Evangelist ( as Nicephorus tells us ) situate near Mount Sion , or of Simon the Leper , or of Nicodemus , or of Joseph of Arimathea , as others severally conjecture , seeing none of the Evangelists have thought fit to tells us , it may not become us curiously to enquire . SECT . V. Of S. Peter from the last Passeover , till the death of Christ. The Passeover celebrated by our Lord and his Apostles . His washing their feet . Peter's imprudent modesty . The mystery and meaning of the action . The Traitor , who . The Lord's Supper instituted . Peter's confident promise of suffering with and for Christ. Our Lord's dislike of his confidence , and foretelling his denial . Their going to the Mount of Olives . Peter renews his resolution . His 〈◊〉 zeal and affection . Our Saviour's Passion , why begun in a Garden . The bitterness of his Ante-passion . The drowziness of Peter , and the two sons of Zebedee . Our Lord 's great candor towards them , and what it ought to teach us . Christ's apprehension , and Peter's bold attempt upon Malchus . Christ deserted by the Apostles . Peter's following his Master to the High-Priests Hall , and thrice denying him , with Oaths and Imprecations . The Galilean dialect , what . The Cock-crowing , and Peter's repentance upon it . ALL things being now prepared , our Saviour with his Apostles comes down for the celebration of the Passcover . And being entred into the house , they all orderly took their places . Our Lord , who had always taught them by his practice , no less than by his doctrine , did now particularly design to teach them humility and charity by his own example . And that the instance might be the greater , he underwent the meanest offices of the Ministery : towards the end therefore of the Paschal Supper , he arose from the Table , and laying aside his upper garment ( which , according to the fashion of those Eastern Countries , being long , was unfit for action ) and himself taking a Towel , and pouring water into a Bason , he began to wash all the Apostles feet ; not disdaining those of Judas himself . Coming to Peter , he would by no means admit an instance of so much condescension . What ? the Master do this to the Servant ? the Son of God to so vile a sinner ? This made him a second time refuse it , Thou shalt never wash my feet . But our Lord soon corrects his imprudent modesty , by telling him , That if he wash'd him not , he could have no part with him : Insinuating the mystery of this action , which was to denote Remission of sin , and the purifying vertue of the Spirit of Christ to be poured upon all true Christians . Peter satisfied with this answer , soon altered his resolution , Lord , not my feet only , but also my hands , and my head . If the case be so , let me be wash'd all over , rather than come short of my portion in thee . This being done , he returned again to the Table , and acquainted them with the meaning and tendency of this mystical action , and what force it ought to have upon them towards one another . The washing it self denoted their inward and Spiritual cleansing by the Bloud and Spirit of Christ , symbolically typified and 〈◊〉 by all the washings and Baptisms of the Mosaick Institution : The washing of the feet respected our intire sanctification in our whole Spirit , Soul and Body , no part being to be left impure . And then , that all this should be done by so great a person , their Lord and Master , preached to their very senses a Sermon of the greatest humility and condescension , and taught them how little reason they had to boggle at the meanest offices of kindness and charity towards others , when he himself had stoop'd to solow an abasure towards them . And now he began more immediately to reflect upon his sufferings , and upon him , who was to be the occasion of them ; telling them that one of them would be the Traitor to betray him . Whereat they were strangely troubled , and every one began to suspect himself , till Peter ( whose love and care for his Master commonly made him start sooner than the rest ) made signs to S. John , who lay in our Saviour's bosom , to ask him particularly who it was ? which our Saviour presently did , by making them understand , that it was Judas Iscariot , who not long after left the company . 2. AND now our Lord began the Institution of his Supper , that great solemn Institution which he was resolved to leave behind him , to be constantly celebrated in all Ages of the Church , as the standing monument of his love in dying for mankind . For now he told them , that he himself must leave them , and that whither he went , they could not come . Peter , not well understanding what he meant , asked him whither it was that he was going ? Our Lord replied , It was to that place , whither he could not now follow him : but that he should do it afterwards : intimating the Martyrdom he was to undergo for the sake of Christ. To which Peter answered , that he knew no reason why he might not follow him , seeing that if it was even to the laying down of his life for his sake , he was most ready and resolved to do it . Our Lord liked not this over-confident presumption , and therefore told him , they were great things which he promised , but that he took not the true measures of his own strength , nor espied the snares and designs of Satan , who desired no better an occasion than this , to sift and winnow them . But that he had prayed to Heaven for him , That his faith might not fail : by which means being strengthened himself , he should be obliged to strengthen and confirm his brethren . And whereas he so confidently assured him , that he was ready to go along with him , not only into prison , but even to death it self ; our Lord plainly told him , That not withstanding all his confident and generous resolutions , before the Cock crowed twice , that is , before three of the Clock in the morning , he would that very night three several times deny his Master . With which answer our Lord wisely rebuked his confidence , and taught him ( had he understood the lesson ) not to trust to his own strength , but intirely to depend upon him , who is able to keep us from salling . Withall insinuating , that though by his sin he would justly forseit the Divine grace and favour , yet upon his repentance he should be restored to the honour of the Apostolate , as a certain evidence of the Divine goodness and indulgence to him . 3. HAVING sung an Hymn , and concluded the whole affair , he left the house where all these things had been transacted , and went with his Apostles unto the Mount of Olives : where he again put them in mind how much they would be offended at those things which he was now to suffer ; and Peter again renewed his resolute and undaunted promise of suffering , and dying with him ; yea , out of an excessive confidence told him , That though all the rest should for sake and deny him , yet would not 〈◊〉 deny him . How far will zeal and an 〈◊〉 affection transport even a good man into vanity and presumption ! Peter questions others , but never doubts himself . So natural is self-love , so apt are we to take the fairest measures of our selves . Nay , though our Lord had but a little before , once and again reproved this vain humour , yet does he still , not only persist , but grow up in it . So hardly are we brought to espy our own faults , or to be so throughly convinced of them , as to correct and reform them . This confidence of his inspired all the rest with a mighty courage , all the Apostles likewise assuring him of their constant and unshaken adhering to him . Our Lord returning the same answer to Peter which he had done before . From hence they went down into the Village of Gethsemane , where , leaving the rest of the Apostles , he accompanied with none but Peter , James , and John , retired into a neighbouring Garden , ( whither , * 〈◊〉 tells us , Christians even in his time were wont to come solemnly to offer up their Prayers to Heaven , and where , as the ‖ Arabian Geographer informs us , a fair and stately Church was built to the honour of the Virgin Mary ) to enter upon the Ante-scene of the fatal Tragedy that was now approaching ; it bearing a very fit proportion ( as some of the * Fathers have observed ) that as the first Adam fell and ruin'd mankind in a Garden , so a Garden should be the place where the second Adam should begin his Passion , in order to the Redemption of the World. Gardens , which to us are places of repose and pleasure , and scenes of divertisement and delight , were to our Lord a school of Temptation , a Theatre of great horrors and sufferings , and the first approaches of the hour of darkness . 4. HERE it was that the Blessed Jesus laboured under the bitterest Agony that could fall upon humane Nature , which the holy Story describes by words sufficiently expressive of the higest grief and sorrow , he was afraid , sorrowful , and very heavy , yea , his Soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , exceeding sorrowful , and that even unto death , he was fore amazed , and very heavy , he was troubled , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his Soul was shaken with a vehement commotion ; yea , he was in an Agony , a word by which the Greeks are wont to represent the greatest conflicts and anxieties . The effect of all which was , that he prayed more earnestly , offering up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears , as the Apostle expounds it , and sweat , as it were , great drops of bloud falling to the ground . What this bloudy sweat was , and how far natural or extraordinary , I am not now concerned to enquire . Certain it is , it was a plain evidence of the most intense grief and sadness : for if an extreme fear or trouble will many times cast us into a cold sweat , how great must be the commotion and conflict of our Saviour's mind , which could force open the pores of his body , lock'd up by the coldness of the night , and make not drops of sweat , but great drops , or ( as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies ) clods of bloud to issue from them . While our Lord was thus contending with these Ante-Passions , the three Apostles , whom he had left at some distance from him , being tired out with watching , and disposed by the silence of the Night , were fallen fast asleep . Our Lord , who had made three several addresses unto Heaven , that if it might consist with his Father's will , this bitter Cup might pass from him , ( expressing herein the harmless and innocent desires of humane Nature , which always studies its own preservation ) between each of them came to visit the Apostles , and calling to Peter , asked him . Whether they could not watch with him one hour ? advising them to watch and pray , that they enter'd not into temptation , adding this Argument , That the spirit indeed was willing , but that the flesh was weak , and that therefore there was the more need that they should stand upon their guard . Observe here the incomparable sweetness , the generous candor of our blessed Saviour , to pass so charitable a censure upon an action , from whence malice and ill-nature might have drawn monsters and prodigies , and have represented it black as the shades of darkness . The request which our Lord made to these Apostles , was infinitely reasonable , to watch with him in this bitter Agony , their company at least being some refreshment to one , under such sad fatal circumstances ; and this but for a little time , one hour , it would soon be over , and then they might freely consult their own ease and safety : 'T was their dear Lord and Master , whom they now were to attend upon , ready to lay down his life for them , sweating already under the first skirmishes of his sufferings , and expecting every moment when all the powers of darkness would fall upon him . But all these considerations were drown'd in a profound security , the men were fast asleep , and though often awakened and told of it , regarded it not , as if nothing but ease and softness had been then to be dream'd of . An action that look'd like the most prodigious ingratitude , and the highest unconcernedness for their Lord and Master , and which one would have thought had argued a very great coldness and indifferency of affection towards him . But he would not set it upon the Tenters , nor stretch it to what it might easily have been drawn to : he imputes it not to their unthankfulness , or want of affection , nor to their carelesness of what became of him , but merely to their infirmity and the weakness of their bodily temper , himself making the excuse , when they could make none for themselves , the spirit indeed is willing , but the flesh is weak . Hereby teaching us , to put the most candid and favourable construction upon those actions of others , which are capable of various interpretations , and rather with the Bee to suck honey , than with the Spider to draw poison from them . His last Prayer being ended , he came to them , and told them with a gentle rebuke , That now they might sleep on if they pleased , that the hour was at hand , that he should be betrayed , and delivered into the hands of men . 5. WHILE he was thus discoursing to them , a Band of Souldiers sent from the High Priests , with the Traitor Judas to conduct and direct them , rush'd into the Garden , and seised upon him : which when the Apostles saw , they asked him whether they should attempt his rescue . Peter ( whose ungovernable zeal put him upon all dangerous undertakings ) without staying for an answer , drew his Sword , and espying one more busie than the rest in laying hold upon our Saviour , which was Malchus ( who , though carrying Kingship in his name , was but Servant to the High Priest ) struck at him , with an intention to dispatch him : but God over-ruling the stroak , it only cut off his right Ear. Our Lord liked not this wild and unwarrantable zeal , and therefore intreated their patience , whilest he miraculously healed the Wound . And turning to Peter , bad him put up his Sword again ; told him , that they who unwarrantably use the Sword , should themselves perish by it ; that there was no need of these violent and extravagant courses ; that if he had a mind to be rid of his Keepers , he could ask his Father , who would presently send more than twelve Legions of Angels to his rescue and deliverance : But he must drink the Cup which his Father had put into his hand : for how else should the Scriptures be fulfilled , which had expresly foretold , That these things must be ? Whereupon , all the Apostles forsook him , and fled from him ; and they who before in their promises were as bold as Lions , now it came to it like fearful and timorous Hares ran away from him : Peter and John , though staying last with him , yet followed the same way with the rest , preferring their own safety , before the concernments of their Master . 6. NO sooner was he apprehended by the Souldiers , and brought out of the Garden , but he was immediately posted from one Tribunal to another , brought first to Annas , then carried to Caiaphas , where the Jewish Sanhedrim met together in order to his Trial and Condemnation . Peter having a little recovered himself , and gotten loose from his fears , probably encouraged by his Companion S. John , returns back to seek his Master : And finding them leading him to the High Priest's Hall , followed afar off , to see what would be the event and issue . But coming to the Door , could get no admittance , till one of the Disciples who was acquainted there , went out and perswaded the Servant , who kept the Door , to let him in . Being let into the Hall , where the Servants and Officers stood round the Fire , Peter also came thither to warm himself , where being espied by the Servant-maid that let him in , and earnestly looking upon him , she charged him with being one of Christ's Disciples ; which Peter publickly denied before all the Company , positively affirming , that he knew him not ; And presently withdrew himself into the Porch , where he heard the Cock crow : An intimation which one would have thought should have awakened his Conscience into a quick sense of his duty , and the promise he had made unto his Master . In the Porch , another of the Maids set upon him , charging him that he also was one of them that had been with Jesus of Nazareth : which Peter stoutly denyed , saying , that he knew not Christ ; and the better to gain their belief to what he said , ratified it with an Oath . So natural is it for one sin to draw on another . 7. ABOUT an Hour after , he was a third time set upon , by a Servant of the High Priest , Malchus his Kinsman , whose Ear Peter had lately cut off : By him he was charged to be one of Christ's Disciples ; Yea , that his very speech betrayed him to be a Galilean . For the Galileans , though they did not speak a different language , had yet a different Dialect , using a more confused and barbarous , a broader and more unpolished way of pronunciation than the rest of the Jews ; whereby they were easily distinguishable in their speaking from other men : abundant instances whereof there are extant in the Talmud at this day . Nay , not only gave this evidence , but added , that he himself had seen him with Jesus in the Garden . Peter still resolutely denied the matter , and to add the highest accomplishment to his sin , ratified it not only with an Oath , but a solemn Curse and execration , that he was not the person , that he knew not the man. 'T is but a very weak excuse , which * S. Ambrose , and some others make for this Act of Peter's , in saying , I knew not the Man. He did well ( says he ) to deny him to be Man , whom he knew to be God. ‖ S. Hierom takes notice of this pious and well-meant excuse made for Peter , though out of modesty he conceals the name of its Authors , but yet justly censures it as trifling and frivolous , and which to excuse Man from folly , would charge God with falshood : for if he did not deny him , then our Lord was out , when he said , that , that Night he should thrice deny him , that is , his Person , and not only his humanity . Certainly the best Apology that can be made for Peter is , that he quickly repented of this great sin , for no sooner had he done it , but the Cock crew again ; at which intimation our Saviour turn'd about , and earnestly looked upon him : a glance that quickly pierced him to the Heart , and brought to his remembrance , what our Lord had once and again foretold him of , how foully and shamefully he should deny him : whereupon not being able to contain his sorrow , he ran out of Doors to give it vent , and wept bitterly , passionately bewailing his folly , and the aggravations of his sin ; thereby indeavouring to make some reparation for his fault , and recover himself into the favour of Heaven , and to prevent the execution of Divine Justice , by taking a severe revenge upon himself : by these penitential tears he endeavoured to wash off his guilt : as indeed Repentance is the next step to Innocence . SECT . VI. Of S. Peter from Christ ' s Resurrection till his Ascension . Our Lord's care to acquaint Peter with his Resurrection . His going to the Sepulchre . Christ's appearance to Peter , when , and the Reasons of it : The Apostles Journey into Galilee : Christ's appearing to them at the Sea of Tiberias ; His being discovered by the great draught of Fishes . Christ's questioning Peter's love , and why . Feed my Sheep , commended to Peter , imports no peculiar supereminent power and soveraignty . Peter's death and sufferings foretold . Our Lord takes his last leave of the Apostles at Bethany . His Ascension into Heaven . The Chappel of the Ascension . The Apostles joy at their Lord's Exaltation . 1. WHAT became of Peter after his late Prevarication , whether he followed our Saviour through the several stages of his Trial , and personally attended , as a Mourner at the Funerals of his Master , we have no account left upon Record . No doubt he stayed at Jerusalem , and probably with S. John , together with whom we first find him mentioned , when both setting forwards to the Sepulchre : which was in this manner . Early on that Morning , whereon our Lord was to return from the Grave , Mary Magdalen , and some other devout and pious Women brought Spices and Ointments , with a design to Imbalm the Body of our crucified Lord. Coming to the Sepulchre at Sun-rising , and finding the Door open , they entred in , where they were suddainly 〈◊〉 by an Angel , who told them , that Jesus was risen , and bad them go and 〈◊〉 his Apostles , and particularly Peter , that he was returned from the dead ; and that he would go before them into Galilee , where they should meet with him . Hereupon they returned back , and acquainted the Apostles with what had passed , who beheld the story as the product of a weak frighted fancy . But Peter and John presently hastned towards the Garden ; John being the younger and nimbler , out-ran his Companion , and came first thither , where he only looked , but entred not in , either out of fear in himself , or a great Reverence to our Saviour . Peter , though behind in space , was before in zeal , and being elder and more considerate , came and resolutely entred in , where they found nothing but the Linnen Clothes lying together in one place , and the Napkin that was about his Head wrapped together in another ; which being disposed with so much care and order , shewed ( what was falsly suggested by the Jewes ) that our Saviour's Body was not taken away by Thieves , who are wont more to consult their escape , than how to leave things orderly disposed behind them . 2. THE same Day about Noon we may suppose it was , that our Lord himself appeared alone to Peter ; being assured of the thing , though not so precisely of the time . That he did so , S. Paul expresly tells us ; and so did the Apostles the two Disciples that came from Emmaus , The Lord is risen , and had appeared unto Simon : which probably intimates , that it was before his appearing to those two Disciples . And indeed we cannot but think that our Lord would hasten the manifestation of himself to him , as compassionating his case , being overwhelmed with sorrow for the late shameful denial of his Master : and was therefore willing in the first place to honour him with his presence , at once to confirm him in the Article of his Resurrection , and to let him see , that he was restored to the place which before he had in his grace and favour . S. Paul mentioning his several appearances after his Resurrection , seems to make this the first of them , That he was seen of Cephas . Not that it was simply the first , for he first appeared to the Women . But as * 〈◊〉 observes , it was the first , that was made to men . He was first seen by him who most desired to see him . He also adds several probable conjectures , why our Lord first discovered himself to Peter : As , that it required a more than ordinary firmness and resolution of mind , to be able to bear such a sight : For they who beheld him after others had seen him , and had heard their frequent Testimonies and Reports , had had their Faith greatly prepared and encouraged to entertain it ; But he who was to be honoured with the first appearance had need of a bigger , and more undaunted faith , lest he should be over-born , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with such a strange and unwonted sight : That Peter was the first that had made a signal confession of his Master , and therefore it was fit and reasonable , that he should first see him alive after his Resurrection : That Peter had lately denied his Lord , the grief whereof lay hard upon him , that therefore our Saviour was willing to administer some consolation to him , and as soon as might be to let him see , that he had not cast him off ; like the kind Samaritan , he made haste to help him , and to pour Oile into his wounded Conscience . 3. SOME time after this , the Apostles began to resolve upon their journy into Galilee , as he himself had commanded them . If it be inquired why they went no sooner , seeing this was the first message and intimation , they had received from him ; ‖ S. Ambrose his resolution seems very rational , that our Lord indeed had commanded them to go thither , but that their fears for some time kept them at home ; not being as yet fully satisfied in the truth of his Resurrection , till our Lord by often appearing to them , had confirmed their minds , and put the case beyond all dispute . They went , as we may suppose , in several Companies , lest going all in one Body , they should awaken the power and malice of their enemies , and alarm the care and vigilancy of the state , which by reason of the Noise that our Saviour's Trial and Execution had made up and down the City and Country , was yet full of jealousies and fears . We find Peter , Thomas , Nathanael , and the two Sons of 〈◊〉 , and two more of the Disciples arrived at some Town about the Sea of Tiberias : Where , the Providence of God guiding the Instance of their imployment , Peter accompanied with the rest , returns to his old Trade of Fishing . They laboured all Night , but caught nothing . Early in the Morning a grave Person , probably in the habit of a Traveller , presents himself upon the shore : And calling to them , asked them whether they had any meat : When they told him , No ; He advised them to cast the Net on the right side of the Ship , that so the Miracle might not seem to be the effect of chance , and they should not fail to speed . They did so , and the Net presently inclosed so great a draught , that they were scarce able to drag it a shore . S. John amazed with the strangeness of the matter , told 〈◊〉 that surely this must be the Lord , whom the Winds and the Sea , and all the Inhabitants of that watry Region were so ready to obey . Peter's zeal presently took fire , not withstanding the coldness of the Season , and impatient of the least moments being kept from the company of his dear Lord and Master , without any consideration of the danger to which he exposed himself , he girt his Fishers Coat about him , and throwing himself into the Sea , swam to shore , not being able to stay till the Ship could arrive , which came presently after . Landing , they found a Fire ready made , and Fish laid upon it , either immediately created by his Divine power , or which came to the shore of its own accord , and offered it self to his hand . Which notwithstanding , he commands them to bring of the Fish which they had lately caught , and prepare it for their Dinner , He himself dining with them ; both that he might give them an instance of mutual love and fellowship , and also assure them of the truth of his humane nature , since his return from the dead . 4. DINNER being ended , our Lord more particularly addressed himself to Peter ; urging him to the utmost diligence in his care of Souls : and because he knew , that nothing but a mighty love to himself could carry him through the troubles and hazards of so dangerous and difficult an imployment ; an imployment attended with all the impediments , which either the perversness of men , or the malice and subtilty of the Devil could cast in the way to hinder it ; therefore he first enquired of him , whether he loved him more than the rest of the Apostles , herein mildly reproving his former over-confident resolution , that though all the rest should deny him , yet would not he deny him . Peter modestly replyed , not censuring others , much less preferring himself before them , that our Lord knew the integrity of his affection towards him . This Question he put three several times to Peter , who as often returned the same Answer : It being but just and reasonable , that he who by a threefold denial had given so much cause to question , should now by a threefold consession * give more than ordinary assurance of his sincere affection to his Master . Peter was a little troubled at this frequent questioning of his love , and therefore more expresly appeals to our Lord's omnisciency , that He who knew all things , must needs know that he loved him . To each of these confessions our Lord added this signal trial of his affection ; then , Feed my sheep , that is , faithfully instruct and teach them , carefully rule and guide them , perswade , not compel them , feed , not fleece , nor kill them . And so 't is plain S. Peter himself understood it , by the charge which he gives to the Guides and Rulers of the Church , that they should feed the Flock of God , taking the over-sight thereof , not by constraint , but willingly , not for filthy 〈◊〉 but of a ready mind : Neither as being Lords over God's heritage , but as examples to the slock . But that by feeding Christ's Sheep and Lambs , here commended to S. Peter , should be meant an universal and uncontrollable Monarchy and Dominion over the whole Christian Church , and that over the Apostles themselves and their Successors in ordinary , and this power and supremacy solely invested in S. Peter , and those who were to succeed him in the See of Rome , is so wild an inference , and such a melting down words to run into any shape , as could never with any face have been offered , or been possible to have been imposed upon the belief of mankind , if men had not first subdued their reason to their interest , and captivated both to an implicite faith and a blind obedience . For granting that our Lord here addressed his speech only unto Peter , yet the very same power in equivalent terms is elsewhere indifferently granted to all the Apostles , and in some measure to the ordinary Pastors and Governours of the Church : As when our Lord told them , That all power was given him in Heaven and in Earth , by vertue whereof they should go teach and baptize all Nations , and preach the Gospel to every Creature : That they should feed God's slock , Rule well , inspect and watch ever those over whom they had the Authority and the Rule . Words of as large and more express signification , than those which were here spoken to S. Peter . 5. OUR Lord having thus engaged Peter to a chearful compliance with the dangers that might attend the discharge and execution of his Office , now particularly intimates to him what that fate was that should attend him : telling him , that though when he was young he girt himself , lived at his own pleasure , and went whither he pleased ; yet when he was old , he should stretch forth his hands , and another should gird and bind him , and lead him whither he had no mind to go : intimating , as the Evangelist tells us , by what death he should glorifie God , that is , by Crucifixion , the Martyrdom which he afterward underwent . And then rising up , commanded him to follow him ; by this bodily attendance mystically implying his conformity to the death of Christ , that he should follow him in dying for the truth and testimony of the Gospel . It was not long after , that our Lord appeared to them to take his last farewell of them , when leading them out unto Bethany , a little Village upon the Mount of Olives , he briefly told them , That they were the persons , whom he had chosen to be the witnesses both of his Death and Resurrection ; a testimony which they should bear to him in all parts of the World : In order to which he would after his Ascension pour out his Spirit upon them in larger measures , than they had hitherto received , that they might be the better fortified to grapple with that violent rage and sury , wherewith both Men and Devils would endeavour to oppose them ; and that in the mean time they should return to Jerusalem , and stay till these miraculous powers were from on high conferred upon them . His discourse being ended , laying his hands upon them , he gave them his solemn blessing ; which done , he was immediately taken from them , and being attended with a glorious guard and train of Angels , was received up into Heaven . * Antiquity tells us , that in the place where he last trod upon the rock , the impression of his feet did remain , which could never afterwards be fill'd up or impaired , over which Helena , mother of the Great Constantine , afterwards built a little Chappel , called the Chappel of the Ascension ; in the floor whereof upon a whitish kind of stone , modern ‖ Travellers tell us , that the impression of his Foot is shewed at this day ; but 't is that of his right foot only , the other being taken away by the Turks , and as 't is said , kept in the Temple at Jerusalem . Our Lord being thus taken from them , the Apostles were filled with a greater sense of his glory and majesty , than while he was wont familiarly to converse with them ; and having performed their solemn adorations to him , returned back to Jerusalem , waiting for the promise of the Holy Ghost , which was shortly after conferred upon them . They worshipped him , and returned to Jerusalem with great joy . They who lately were overwhelmed with sorrow at the very mention of their Lord's departure from them , entertained it now with joy and triumph , being fully satisfied of his glorious advancement at God's right hand , and of that particular care and providence which they were sure he would exercise towards them , in pursuance of those great trusts he had committed to them . SECT . VII . S. Peter's Acts , from our Lord's Ascension , till the Dispersion of the Church . The Apostles return to Jerusalem . The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or upper-room where they assembled , what . Peter declares the necessity of a new Apostles being chosen in the room of Judas . The promise of the Holy Ghost made good upon the day of Pentecost . The Spirit descended in the likeness of siery cloven tongues , and why . The greatness of the Miracle . Peter's vindication of the Apostles from the standers of the Jews , and proving Christ to be the promised Messiah . Great numbers converted by his Sermon . His going up to the Temple . What their stated hours of Prayer . His curing the impotent Cripple there , and discourse to the Jews upon it . What numbers converted by him . Peter and John seised , and cast into Prison . Brought before the Sanhedrim , and their resolute carriage there . Their refusing to obey , when commanded not to preach Christ. The great security the Christian Religion provides sor subjection to Magistrates in all lawful instances of Obedience . The great severity used by Peter towards Ananias and Saphira . The great Miracles wrought by him . Again cast into Prison , and delivered by an Angel. Their appearing before the Sanhedrim ; and deliverance , by the prudent counsels of Gamaliel . 1. THE Holy Jesus being gone to Heaven , the Apostles began to act according to the Power and Commission he had left with them . In order whereunto , the first thing they did after his Ascension , was to fill up the vacancy in their Colledge , lately made by the unhappy fall and Apostasie of Judas . To which end no sooner were they returned to Jerusalem , but they went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , into an upper-room . Where this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was , whether in the house of S. John , or of Mary John-Mark's mother , or in some of the out-rooms belonging to the Temple , ( for the Temple had over the Cloisters several Chambers for the service of the Priests and Levites , and as Repositories , where the consecrated Vessels and Utensils of the Temple were laid up , though it be not probable , that the Jews , and especially the Priests would suffer the Apostles and their company to be so near the Temple ) I stand not to enquire . 'T is certain that the Jews usually had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , private Oratories in the upper parts of their houses , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the more private exercises of their devotions . Thus Daniel had his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his upper-Chamber ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LXX render it ) whither he was wont to retire to pray to his God : and * Benjamin the Jew tells us , that in his time ( Ann. Chr. 1172. ) the Jews at Babylon were wont to pray both in their Synagogues , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and in that ancient upper-room of Daniel , which the Prophet himself built . Such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or upper-Chamber , was that wherein S. Paul preached at Troas : and such probably this , where the Apostles were now met together , and in all likelihood the same , where our Lord had lately kept the Passeover , where the Apostles and the Church were assembled on the day of Pentecost , and which was then the usual place of their Religious Assemblies , as we have elsewhere observed more at * large . Here the Church being met , to the number of about CXX , Peter , as President of the Assembly , put them in mind , that Judas , one of our Lord's Apostles , being betrayed by his own covetous and insatiable mind , had lately fallen from the honour of his place and ministery : that this was no more than what the Prophet had long since foretold should come to pass , and that the rule and oversight in the Church , which had been committed unto him , should be devolved upon another : that therefore it was highly necessary , that one should be substituted in his room , and especially such a one as had been familiarly conversant with our Saviour , from first to last , that so he might be a competent witness both of his doctrine and miracles , his life and death , but especially of his Resurrection from the dead . For seeing no evidence is so valid and satisfactory , as the testimony of an eye-witness , the Apostles all along mainly insisted upon this , that they delivered no other things concerning our Saviour to the World , than what they themselves had seen and heard . And seeing his rising from the dead was a principle likely to meet with a great deal of opposition , and which would hardliest gain belief and entertainment with the minds of men , therefore they principally urg'd this at every turn , that they were eye-witnesses of his Resurrection , that they had seen , felt , eaten , and familiarly conversed with him after his return from the Grave . That therefore such an Apostle might be chosen , two Candidates were proposed , Joseph called Barsabas , and Matthias . And having prayed , that the Divine Providence would immediately guide and direct the choice , they cast lots , and the lot fell upon Matthias , who was accordingly admitted into the number of the twelve Apostles . 2. FIFTY days since the last Passeover being now run out , made way for the Feast of Pentecost . At what time the great promise of the Holy Ghost was fully made good unto them . The Christian Assembly being met together , for the publick services of their Worship , on a sudden a sound , like that of a mighty wind , rush'd in upon them ; representing the powerful efficacy of that Divine Spirit , that was now to be communicated to them : After which there appeared little flames of fire , which in the fashion of Cloven Tongues , not only descended , but sate upon each of them , probably to note their perpetual enjoyment of this gift upon all occasions , that when necessary , they should never be without it ; not like the Prophetick gifts of old , which were conferred but sparingly , and only at some particular times and seasons . As the seventy Elders prophesied and ceased not , but it was only at such times as the Spirit came down and rested upon them . Hereupon they were all immediately filled with the Holy Ghost , which enabled them in an instant to speak several Languages , which they had never learn't , and probably never heard of , together with other miraculous gifts and powers . Thus as the confounding of Languages became a curse to the old World , separating men from all mutual offices of kindness and commerce , rendring one part of mankind Barbarians to another : so here the multiplying several Languages became a blessing , being intended as the means to bring men of all Nations into the unity of the saith , and of the knowledge of the Son of God , into the fellowship of that Religion , that would banish discords , cement differences , and unite mens hearts in the bond of peace . The report of so sudden and strange an action presently spread it self into all corners of the City , and there being at that time at Jerusalem multitudes of Jewish Proselytes , Devout men out of every Nation under Heaven , Parthians , Medes , Elamites ( or Persians ) the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judaea , Gappadocia , Pontus , and Asia minor , from Phrygia and Pamphylia , from Egypt and the parts of Libya and Cyrene , from Rome , from Crete , from Arabia , Jews and Proselytes ( probably drawn thither by the general report and expectation which had spread it self over all the * Eastern parts , and in a manner over all places of the Roman Empire , of the Jewish Messiah , that about this time should be born at Jerusalem ) they no sooner heard of it , but universally flocked to this Christian Assembly : where they were amazed to hear these Galileans speaking to them in their own native Languages , so various , so vastly different from one another . And it could not but exceedingly encrease the wonder to reflect upon the meanness and inconsiderableness of the persons , neither assisted by natural parts , nor polished by education , nor improved by use and custom : which three things Philosophers require to render a man accurate and extraordinary in any art or discipline , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , says Plutarch ; Natural disposition without institution is blind , instruction without a genius and disposition is defective , and exercise without both is lame and imperfect . Whereas these Disciples had not one of these to set them off ; their parts were mean , below the rate of the common people , the Galileans being generally accounted the rudest and most stupid of the whole Jewish Nation ; their education had been no higher than to catch Fish , and to mend Nets ; nor had they been used to plead causes , or to deliver themselves before great Assemblies ; but spoke on a sudden , not premeditated discourses , not idle stories , or wild roving fancies , but the great and admirable works of God , and the mysteries of the Gospel beyond humane apprehensions to find out , and this delivered in almost all the Languages of the then known World. Men were severally affected with it , according to their different tempers and apprehensions . Some admiring , and not knowing what to think on 't , others deriding it , said , that it was nothing else but the wild raving effect of drunkenness and 〈◊〉 . At so wild a rate are men of prophane minds wont to talk , when they take upon them to pass their censure in the things of God. 3. HEREUPON the Apostles rose up , and Peter in the name of the rest , took this occasion of discoursing to them : He told them , that this scandalous slander proceeded from the spirit of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 ; that their censure was as uncharitable , as it was unreasonable ; that they that are drunken , are drunk in the night ; that it was against nature and custom for men to be in drink so soon , too early for such a suspicion to take place , it being now but about nine of the clock , the hour for Morning Prayer , till when men even of ordinary sobriety and devotion on Festival days were wont to fast . That these extraordinary and miraculous passages were but the accomplishment of an ancient prophecy , the fulfilling of what God had expresly foretold should come to pass in the times of the Messiah ; that Jesus of Nazareth had evidently approv'd himself to be the Messiah sent from God by many unquestionable miracles , of which they themselves had been eye-witnesses : And though by God's permission , who had determined by this means to bring about the Salvation of mankind , they had wickedly crucified and slain him , yet that God had raised him from the dead : That it was not possible he should be holden always under the dominion of the Grave ; nor was it consistent with the justice and goodness of God , and especially with those Divine predictions which had expresly foretold he should rise again from the dead : David having more particularly foretold , That his 〈◊〉 should rest in hope , that God would not leave his Soul in Hell , neither suffer his holy one to see corruption ; but would make known to him the ways of life : That this prophecy could not be meant concerning David himself , by whom it was spoken , he having many Ages since been turn'd to ashes , his body resolv'd into rottenness and putrefaction , his Tomb yet visible among them , from whence he never did return ; that therefore it must needs have been prophetically spoken concerning Christ , having never been truly fulfill'd in any but him , who both died , and was risen again , whereof they were witnesses . Yea , that he was not only risen from the dead , but ascended into Heaven , and according to David's prediction , State down on God's right hand , until he made his Enemies his foot-stool : which could not be primarily meant of David , he never having yet bodily ascended into Heaven ; that therefore the whole house of Israel ought to believe , and take notice , that this very Jesus , whom they had crucified , was the person whom God had appointed to be the Messiah and the Saviour of his Church . 4. THIS discourse in every part of it , like so many daggers , pierc'd them to the heart ; who thereupon cried out to Peter and his Brethren to know what they should do . Peter told them , that there was no other way , than by an hearty and sincere repentance , and a being baptized into the Religion of this crucified Saviour , to 〈◊〉 their guilt , to obtain pardon of sin , and the gifts and benefits of the Holy Ghost . That upon these terms the promises of the new Covenant , which was ratified by the death of Christ , did belong to them , and their children , and to all that should effectually believe and embrace the Gospel : Further pressing and perswading them by doing thus , to save themselves from that unavoidable ruine and destruction , which this wicked and untoward generation of obstinate unbelieving Jews were shortly to be exposed to . The effects of his preaching were strange and wonderful : as many as believed , were baptized : there being that day added to the Church no less than three thousand souls . A quick and plentiful harvest ; the late sufferings of our Saviour , as yet fresh bleeding in their memories , the present miraculous powers of the Holy Ghost , that appeared upon them , the zeal of his Auditors , though heretofore misplaced and misguided , and above all , the efficacy of Divine grace , contributing to this numerous conversion . 5. THOUGH the converting so vast a multitude might justly challenge a place amongst the greatest miracles , yet the Apostles began now more particularly to exercise their miraculous power . Peter and John going up to the Temple , about three of the clock in the afternoon , towards the conclusion of one of the solemn hours of prayer , ( for the Jews divided their day into four greater hours , each quarter containing three lesser under it , three of which were publick and stated times of prayer , instituted ( say they ) by the three great Patriarchs of their Nation ; the first from six of the clock in the morning till nine , called hence the third hour of the day , instituted by Abraham , this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or morning prayer : the second from nine till twelve , called the sixth hour , and this hour of prayer ordain'd by Isaac , this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mid-day prayer : the third from twelve till three in the afternoon , called the ninth hour , appointed by Jacob , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or evening prayer ; and at this hour it was that these two Apostles went up to the Temple , where ) they found a poor impotent Cripple , who , though above forty years old , had been lame from his Birth , lying at the beautiful Gate of the Temple , and asking an Alms of them . Peter earnestly looking on him , told him , he had no money to give him , but that he would give him that which was a great deal better , restore him to his health ; and lifting him up by the hand , commanded him in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth to rise up and walk . The word was no sooner said , than the thing was done : Immediately the Nerves and Sinews were inlarged , and the Joynts returned to their proper use . The man standing up went into the Temple walking , leaping , and praising God. The beholding so suddain and extraordinary a Cure begot great admiration in the minds of the People , whose curiosity drew them to the Apostles to see those who had been the Authors of it . Which Peter taking notice of , began to discourse to them to this effect ; That there was no reason they should wonder at them , as if by their own skill and art they had wrought this Cure , it being intirely done in the Name of their crucified Master , by the Power of that very Christ , that Holy and Just Person , whom they themselves had denyed and delivered up to Pilate , and preferred a Rebel and a Murtherer before him , when his Judge was resolved to acquit him : and that though they had put him to death , yet that they were witnesses that God had raised him up again , and that He was gone to Heaven , where he must remain till the times of the General Restitution : That he presumed that this in them , as also in their Rulers , was in a great measure the effect of ignorance , and the not being throughly convinced of the Greatness and Divinity of his Person ; which yet God made use of for the bringing about his Wife and Righteous Designs , the accomplishing of what he had foretold concerning Christ's Person and Sufferings , by Moses and Samuel , and all the holy Prophets which had been 〈◊〉 the World began : That therefore it was now high time for them to repent , and turn to God , that their great wickedness might be expiated , and that when Christ should shortly come in Judgment upon the Jewish Nation , it might be a time of comfort and refreshing to them , what would be of vengeance and destruction to other men : that they were the peculiar persons , to whom the blessings of the promises did primarily appertain , and unto whom God in the first place sent his Son , that he might derive his blessing upon them by turning them away from their iniquities . While Peter was thus discoursing to the People in one place , we may suppose that John was preaching to them in another ; and the success was answerable . The Apostles cast out the seed , and God immediately gave the increase . There being by this means no 〈◊〉 than Five Thousand brought over to the Faith : though'tis possible the whole Body of Believers might be comprehended in that Number . 6. WHILE the Apostles were thus Preaching , the Priests and Sadducees ( who particularly appeared in this business , as being enemies to all tumults , or what ever might disturb their present ease and quiet , the only portion of happiness they expected ; besides that they hated Christianity , because so expresly asserting the Resurrection ) being vexed to hear this Doctrine vented amongst the People , intimated to the Magistrate , that this Concourse might probably tend to an Uproar and Insurrection : Whereupon they came with the Captain of the Temple ( Commander of the Tower of 〈◊〉 , which stood close by , on the North side of the Temple , wherein was a Roman Garrison to prevent or suppress , especially at Festival times , Popular Tumults and Uproars ) who seized on the Apostles , and put them into Prison . The next Day they were convented before the Jewish Sanhedrim ; and being asked by what Power and Authority they had done this ; Peter resolutely answered , That as to the Cure done to this impotent Person , Be it known to them and all the Jews , that it was perfectly wrought in the Name of that Jesus of Nazareth , whom they themselves had crucified , and God had raised from the dead , and whom , though they had thrown him by as waste and rubbish , yet God had made head of the corner ; and that there was no other way , wherein they , or others , could expect salvation , but by this crucified Saviour . Great was the boldness of the Apostles , admired by the Sanhedrim it self , in this matter ; especially if we consider , that this probably was the very Court that had so lately sentenced and condemned their Master , and being fleshed in such sanguinary proceedings , had no other way but to go on and justifie one cruelty with another : that the Apostles did not say these things in corners , and behind the curtain , but to their very faces , and that in the open Court of Judicature , and before all the People : That the Apostles had not been used to plead in such publick places nor had been polished with the Arts of education , but were ignorant unlearned men , known not to be versed in the study of the Jewish Law. 7. THE Council ( which all this while had beheld them with a kind of wonder , and now remembred that they had been the companions and attendants of the late crucisied Jesus ) commanded them to withdraw , and debated amongst themselves what they should do with them . The Miracle they could not deny , the fact being so plain and evident , and therefore resolved strictly to charge them , that they should Preach no more in the Name of Jesus . Being called in again , they acquainted them with the Resolution of the Council , to which Peter and John replyed , That they could by no means yield obedience to it , appealing to themselves , whether it was not more sit , that they should obey God , rather than them : And that they could not but testifie what they had seen and heard . Nor did they in this answer make any undue reflection upon the power of the Magistrates , and the obedience due to them , it being a ruled 〈◊〉 by the first dictates of reason , and the common vote and suffrage of Mankind , that Parents and Governours are not to be obeyed , when their commands interfere with the obligations under which we stand to a superiour power . All authority is originally derived from God , and our duty to him may not be superseded by the Laws of any Authority deriving from him : and even Socrates himself in a parallel instance , when perswaded to leave off his excellent way of institution and instructing youth , and to comply with the humour of his Athenian Judges to save his life , returned this answer , that indeed he loved and honoured the Athenians ; but yet resolved to obey God , rather than them . An answer almost the same both in substance and words , with that which was here given by our Apostles . In all other cases where the Laws of the Magistrate did not interfere with the commands of Christ , none more loyal , more compliant than they . As indeed no Religion in the World ever secured the interests of Civil authority like the Religion of the Gospel . It positively charges every soul of what rank or condition soever to be subject to the higher powers , as a Divine ordinance and institution , and that not for wrath only , but for conscience sake ; it puts men in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers , and to obey Magistrates , to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake , both to the King as supreme , and unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him : for so it the will of God. So far is it from allowing us to violate their persons , that it suffers us not boldly to censure their actions , to revile the gods , despise 〈◊〉 , and speak evil of Dignities , or to vilifie and injure them so much , as by a dishonourable thought ; commanding us when we cannot obey to suffer the most rigorous penalties imposed upon us with calmness , and to possess our souls in patience . Thus when these two Apostles were shortly after again summoned before the Council , commanded no more to Preach the Christian Doctrine , and to be scourged for what they had done already , though they could not obey the one , they chearfully submitted to the other without any peevish or tart reflections , but went away rejoycing . But what the carriage of Christians was in this matter in the first and best ages of the Gospel , we have in another place sufficiently discovered to the World. We may not withhold our obedience , till the Magistrate invades God's Throne , and countermands his authority , and may then appeal to the sence of Mankind , whether it be not most reasonable that Gods authority should first take place , as the Apostles here appealed to their very Judges themselves . Nor do we find that the Sanhedrim did except against the Plea. At least whatever they thought , yet not daring to punish them for fear of the People , they only threatned them , and let them go : vvho thereupon presently return'd to the rest of the Apostles and Believers . 8. The Church exceedingly multiplied by these means : And that so great a Company ( most whereof were poor ) might be maintained , they generally sold their Estates , and brought the Money to the Apostles , to be by them deposited in one common Treasury , and thence distributed according to the several exigencies of the Church : which gave occasion to this dreadful Instance . Ananias and his Wife Saphira having taken upon them the profession of the Gospel , according to the free and generous spirit of those times , had consecrated and devoted their Estate to the honour of God , and the necessities of the Church . And accordingly sold their Possessions , and turned them into Money . But as they were willing to gain the reputation of charitable Persons , so were they loth wholly to cast themselves upon the Divine providence , by letting go all at once , and therefore privately with-held part of what they had devoted , and bringing the rest , laid it at the Apostles feet : hoping herein they might deceive the Apostles , though immediately guided by the Spirit of God. But Peter at his first coming in treated Ananias with these sharp inquiries ; Why he would suffer Satan to fill his heart with so big a wickedness , as by keeping back part of his estate , to think to deceive the Holy Ghost ? That before it was sold , it was wholly at his own disposure ; and after , it was perfectly in his own power fully to have performed his vow : So that it was capable of no other interpretation , than that herein he had not only abused and injured men , but mocked God , and , what in him lay , lyed to , and cheated the Holy Ghost ; who , he knew , was privy to the most secret thoughts and purposes of his heart . This vvas no sooner said , but suddenly to the great terror and amazement of all that vvere present , Ananias vvas arrested vvith a stroke from Heaven , and fell dovvn dead to the ground . Not long after his Wife came in , vvhom Peter entertained vvith the same severe reproofs , vvherevvith he had done her Husband , adding , that the like sad fate and doom should immediately seize upon her , who thereupon dropt down dead : As she had been Copartner with him in the Sin , becoming sharer with him in the punishment . An Instance of great severity , filling all that heard of it with fear and terror , and became a seasonable prevention of that hypocrisie and dissimulation , wherewith many might possibly think to have imposed upon the Church . 9. THIS severe Case being extraordinary , the Apostles usually exerted their power in such Miracles as were more useful and beneficial to the World : Curing all manner of Diseases , and dispossessing Devils : In so much that they brought the Sick into the Streets , and laid them upon Beds and Couches , that at least Peter's shadow , as he passed by , might come upon them . These astonishing Miracles could not but mightily contribute to the propagation of the Gospel , and convince the World that the Apostles were more considerable Persons , than they took them for , poverty and meanness being no bar to true worth and greatness . And methinks * Erasmus his reflection here is not unseasonable ; that no honour or soveraignty , no power or dignity was comparable to this glory of the Apostle ; that the things of Christ , though in another way , were more noble and excellent , than any thing that this World could afford . And therefore he tells us , that when he beheld the state and magnificence wherewith Pope Julius the Second appeared first at Bononia , and then at Rome , equalling the triumphs of a Pompey , or a Caesar ; he could not but think how much all this was below the greatness and majesty of S. Peter , who converted the World , not by Power or Armies , not by Engines , or 〈◊〉 of pomp and grandeur , but by faith in the power of Christ , and drew it to the admiration of himself : and the same state ( says he ) would no doubt attend the Apostles Successours , were they Men of the same temper and holiness of life . The Jewish Rulers alarm'd with this News , and awakened with the growing numbers of the Church , sent to apprehend the Apostles , and cast them into Prison . But God who is never wanting to his own cause , sent that Night an Angel from Heaven to open the Prison doors , commanding them to repair to the Temple , and to the exercise of their Ministery . Which they did early in the Morning , and there taught the People . How unsuccessful are the projects of the wisest Statesmen , when God frowns upon them ! how little do any counsels against Heaven prosper ! In vain is it to shut the doors , where God is resolved to open them ; the firmest Bars , the strongest Chains cannot hold , where once God has designed and decreed our liberty . The Officers returning the next Morning , found the Prison shut and guarded , but the Prisoners gone : Wherewith they acquainted the Council , who much wondred at it : but being told where the Apostles were , they sent to bring them withóut any noise or violence before the Sanhedrim : where the High Priest asked them , how they durst go on to propagate that Doctrine which they had so strictly commanded them not to preach ? Peter in the name of the rest told them , That they must in this case obey God rather than men : That though they had so barbarously and contumeliously treated the Lord Jesus , yet that God had raised him up , and exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give both repentance and remission of sins : That they were witnesses of these things , and so were those Miraculous Powers which the Holy Ghost conferred upon all true Christians . Vexed was the Council with this Answer , and began to consider how to cut them off . But Gamaliel , a grave and learned Senator , having commanded the Apostles to withdraw , bad the Council take heed what they did to them ; putting them in mind , that several persons had heretofore raised parties and factions , and drawn vast Numbers after them ; but that they had miscarried , and they and their designs come to nought : that therefore they should do well to let these men alone : that if their doctrines and designs were meerly humane , they would in time of themselves fall to the ground ; but if they were of God , it was not all their power and policies would be able to defeat and overturn them : and that they themselves would herein appear to oppose the counsels and designs of Heaven . With this prudent and rational advice they were satisfied ; and having commanded the Apostles to be scourged , and charged them no more to preach this doctrine , restored them to their liberty . Who notwithstanding this charge and threatning returned home in a kind of triumph , that they were accounted worthy to suffer in so good a cause , and to undergo shame and reproach for the sake of so good a Master . Nor could all the hard usage they met with from men discourage them in their duty to God , or make them less zealous and diligent both publickly and privately to preach Christ in every place . SECT . VIII . Of S. Peter's Acts , from the Dispersion of the Church at Jerusalem , till his contest with S. Paul at Antioch . The great care of the Divine Providence over the Church . Peter dispatched by the Apostles to confirm the Church newly planted at Samaria . His 〈◊〉 and silencing Simon Magus there . His going to Lydda , and curing AEneas . His raising Dorcas at Joppa . The 〈◊〉 of all sorts of Creatures presented to him , to prepare him for the conversion of the Gentiles . His going to Cornelius , and declaring God's readiness to receive the Gentiles into the Church . The Baptizing Cornelius and his Family . Peter censured by the Jews for conversing with the Gentiles . The mighty prejudices of the Jews against the Gentiles noted out of Heathen Writers . Peter cast into prison by Herod Agrippa : miraculously delivered by an Angel. His discourse in the Synod at Jerusalem , that the Gentiles might be received without being put under the obligation of the Law of Moses . His unworthy compliance with the Jews at Antioch in opposition to the Gentiles . Severely checked and resisted by S. Paul. The ill use Porphyry makes of this difference . The conceit of some that it was not Peter the Apostle , but one of the Seventy . 1. THE Church had been hitherto tossed with gentle storms , but now a more violent tempest overtook it , which began in the Proto-Martyr Stephen , and was more vigorously carried on afterwards ; by occasion whereof the Disciples were dispersed . And God , who always brings good out of evil , hereby provided , that the Gospel should not be confin'd only to Jerusalem . Hitherto the Church had been crowded up within the City-walls , and the Religion had crept up and down in private corners ; but the professors of it being now dispersed abroad by the malice and cruelty of their enemies , carried Christianity along with them , and propagated it into the neighbour-Countries , accomplishing hereby an ancient prophecy , That out of Sion should go forth the Law , and the 〈◊〉 of the Lord from Jerusalem . Thus God over-rules the malice of men , and makes intended poison to become food , or physick . That Divine Providence that governs the World , more particularly superintends the affairs and interests of his Church , so that no weapon 〈◊〉 against Israel shall prosper ; curses shall be turned into blessings , and that become an eminent means to enlarge and propagate the Gospel , which they designed as the only way to suppress and stifle it . Amongst those that were scattered , Philip the Deacon was driven down unto Samaria , where he preached the Gospel , and confirmed his preaching by many miraculous cures , and dispossessing Devils . In this City there was one Simon , who by Magick Arts and Diabolical Sorceries sought to advance himself into a great fame and reputation with the people , insomuch that they generally beheld him as the great power of God , for so the * Ancients tell us , he used to style himself , giving out himself to be the first and chiefest Deity , the Father , who is God over all , that is , that he was that which in every Nation was accounted the supreme Deity . This man hearing the Sermons , and beholding the Miracles that were done by Philip , gave up himself amongst the number of believers , and was baptized with them . The Apostles , who yet remained at Jerusalem , having heard of the great success of Philip's ministery at Samaria , thought good to send some of their number to his assistance . And accordingly deputed Peter and John , who came thither . Where having prayed for , and laid their hands upon these new converts , they presently received the Holy Ghost . Simon the Magician observing , that by laying on of the Apostle's hands , miraculous gifts were conferred upon men , offered them a considerable summ of money to invest him with this power , that on whom he laid his hands they might receive the Holy Ghost . Peter perceiving his rotten and insincere intentions , rejected his impious motion with scorn and detestation : Thy money perish with thee . He told him that his heart was naught and hypocritical ; that he could have no share nor portion in so great a priviledge ; that it more concerned him to repent of so great a wickedness , and sincerely seek to God , that so the thought of his heart might be forgiven him ; for that he perceived that he had a very vicious and corrupt temper and constitution of mind , and was as yet bound up under a very wretched and miserable state , displeasing to God , and dangerous to himself . The Conscience of the man was a little startled with this , and he prayed the Apostles to intercede with Heaven , that God would pardon his sin , and that none of these things might fall upon him . But how little cure this wrought upon him , we shall find elsewhere , when we shall again meet with him afterwards . The Apostles having thus confirmed the Church at Samaria , and preached up and down in the Villages thereabouts , returned back to Jerusalem , to joyn their counsel and assistance to the rest of the Apostles . 2. THE storm , though violent , being at length blown over , the Church injoyed a time of great calmness and serenity : during which Peter went out to visit the Churches lately planted in those parts by those Disciples who had been dispersed by the persecution at Jerusalem . Coming down to Lydda , the first thing he did was to work a cure upon one AEneas , who being crippl'd with the Palsie , had layn bed-rid for eight years together . Peter coming to him , bad him in the name of Christ to arise , and the man was immediately restored to perfect health . A miracle that was not confined only to his person , for being known abroad generally brought over the inhabitants of that place . The fame of this miracle having flown to Joppa , a Sea-port Town , some six miles thence ; the Christians there presently sent for Peter upon this occasion . Tabitha , whose Greek name was Dorcas , a woman venerable for her piety and diffusive charity , was newly dead , to the great lamentation of all good men , and much more to the loss of the poor that had been relieved by her . Peter coming to the house , found her dressed up for her Funeral solemnity , and compassed about with the sorrowful Widows , who shewed the Coats and Garments wherewith she had clothed them , the badges of her charitable liberality . Peter shutting all out , kneeled down and prayed , and then turning him to the body , commanded her to arise , and lifting her up by the hand , presented her in 〈◊〉 health to her friends , and those that were about her : by which he confirmed many , and converted more to the Faith. After which he staid some considerable time at Joppa , lodging in the house of Simon a Tanner . 3. WHILE he abode in this City , retiring one morning to the house-top to pray , ( as the Jews frequently did , having thence a free and open prospect towards Jerusalem and the Temple ) it being now near Noon , which was the conclusion of one of their stated times of Prayer , he found himself hungry , and called for meat : but while it was preparing he himself fell into a Trance , wherein were presented to him a large sheet let down from Heaven , containing all sorts of Creatures , clean and unclean ; a voice at the same time calling to him , that he should rise , kill freely , and indifferently 〈◊〉 upon them ; Peter tenacious as yet of the Rites and Institutions of the Mosaick Law , rejoyn'd , That he could not do it , having never eaten any thing that was common or unclean . To which the voice replied , That what God had cleansed he should not account or call common . Which being done thrice , the vessel was again taken up into Heaven , and the Vision presently disappeared . By this symbolick representment , though Peter at present knew not what to make of it , God was teaching him a new lesson , and preparing him to go upon an Errand and Embassy , which the Spirit at the same time expresly commanded him to undertake . While he was in this doubtful posture of mind , three messengers knock'd at the door , enquiring for him , from whom he received this account : That Cornelius a Roman , Captain of a Band of Italian Souldiers at Caesarea , a person of great Piety and Religion ( being a Proselyte of the Gate , who though not observing an exact conformity to the Rites of the Mosaick Law , did yet maintain some general correspondence with it , & lived under the obligation of the seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah ) had by an immediate command from God sent for him . The next day Peter accompanied with some of the Brethren , went along with them , and the day after they came to Caesarea . Against whose arrival Cornelius had summoned his friends and kindred to his house . Peter arriving , Cornelius ( who was affected with a mighty reverence for so great a person ) fell at his feet , and worshipped him : a way of address frequent in those Eastern Countries towards Princes and great men , but by the Greeks and Romans appropriated as a peculiar honour to the Gods. Peter rejecting the honour , as due only to God , entred into the house , where he first made his Apology to the company , that though they could not but know , that it was not lawful for a Jew to 〈◊〉 in the duties of Religion with those of another Nation , yet that now God had taught him another lesson . And then proceeded particularly to enquire the reason of Cornelius his sending for him . Whereupon Cornelius told him , That four days since , being conversant in the duties of Fasting and Prayer , an Angel had appeared to him , and told him , that his Prayers and Alms were come up for a memorial before God , that he should send to Joppa for one Simon Peter , who lodged in a Tanners house by the Sea side , who should further make known his mind to him ; that accordingly he had sent , and being now come , they were there met to hear what he had to say to them . Where we see , that though God sent an Angel to Cornelius to acquaint him with his will , yet the Angel was only to direct him to the Apostle for instruction in the Faith ; which no doubt was done , partly that God might put the greater honour upon an institution , that was likely to meet with contempt and scorn enough from the World ; partly to let us see , that we are not to expect extraordinary and miraculous ways of teaching and information , where God affords ordinary means . 4. HEREUPON Peter began this discourse , that by comparing things it was now plain and evident , that the partition-wall was broken down ; that God had no longer a particular kindness for Nations or Persons ; that it was not the Nation , but the Religion ; not the outward quality of the man , but the inward temper of the mind that recommends men to God ; that the devout and the pious , the righteous and the good man , whereever he be , is equally dear to Heaven ; that God has as much respect for a just and a vertuous person in the Wilds of Scythia , as upon Mount Sion : that the reconciling and making peace between God and Man by Jesus Christ , was the Doctrine published by the Prophets of old , and of late , since the times of John , preached through Galilee and Judaea , viz. that God had anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with Divine Powers and Graces , in the exercise whereof he constantly went about to do good to men : that they had seen all he had done amongst the Jews , whom though they had slain and crucified , yet that God had raised him again the third day , and had openly show'd him to his Apostles and followers , whom he had chosen to be his peculiar witnesses , and whom to that end he had admitted to eat and drink with him after his Resurrection , commanding them to preach the Gospel to mankind , and to 〈◊〉 that he was the person whom God had ordained to be the great Judge of the World : that all the Prophets with one consent bore witness of him : that this Jesus is he , in whose Name whosoever believes , should certainly receive remission of sins . While Peter was thus preaching to them , the Holy Ghost fell upon a great part of his Auditory , enabling them to speak several Languages , and therein to magnifie the giver of them . Whereat the 〈◊〉 , who came along with Peter , did sufficiently wonder , to see that the gifts of the Holy Ghost should be poured upon the Gentiles . Peter seeing this , told the company that he knew no reason why these persons should not be baptized , having received the Holy Ghost as well as they ; and accordingly commanded them to be baptized . For whose further confirmation he staid some time longer with them . This act of Peter's made a great noise among the Apostles and Brethren at Jerusalem , who being lately converted from their Judaism , were as yet zealous for the Religion of their Country , and therefore severely charged Peter at his return for his too familiar conversing with the Gentiles . See here the powerful prejudice of education . The Jews had for several Ages conceived a radicated and inveterate prejudice against the Gentiles . Indeed the Law of Moses commanded them to be peculiarly kind to their own Nation ; and the Rites and Institutions of their Religion , and the peculiar form of their Commonwealth made them different from the fashion of other Countries : a separation which in after-times they drew into a narrower compass . Besides they were mightily 〈◊〉 up with their external priviledges , that they were the seed of Abraham , the people whom God had peculiarly chosen for himself , above all other Nations of the World , and therefore with a lofty scorn proudly rejected the Gentiles as Dogs and Reprobates , utterly refusing to shew them any office of common kindness and converse . We find the Heathens frequently charging them with this rudeness and inhumanity . * Juvenal accuses them , that they would not shew a Traveller the right way , nor give give him a draught of water , if he were not of their Religion . ‖ Tacitus tells us , that they had adversus omnes alios hostile odium , a bitter hatred of all other people : * Haman represented them to Ahasuerus as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. A people that would never kindly mix and correspond with any other , as different in their Manners , as in their Laws and Religion from other Nations . The friends of Antiochus ( as the ‖ Historian reports ) charged them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , That they alone of all others were the most unsociable people under Heaven ; that they held no converse or correspondence with any other , but accounted them as their mortal enemies ; that they would not eat or drink with men of another Nation , no nor so much as wish well to them , their Ancestors having leavened them with an hatred of all mankind . This was their humour ; and that the 〈◊〉 herein did not wrong them , is sufficiently evident from their ordinary practice , and is openly avowed by their own * writings . Nay , at their first coming over to Christianity , though one great design of it was to soften the manners of men , and to oblige them to a more extensive and universal charity , yet could they hardly quit this common prejudice , quarrelling with Peter for no other reason , but that he had eaten and drunken with the Gentiles : insomuch that he was forced to Apologize for himself , and to justifie his actions as immediately done by Divine warrant and authority . And then , no sooner had he given them a naked and impartial account of the whole transaction , from first to last , but they presently turned their 〈◊〉 against him , into thanks to God , that he had granted to the Gentiles also Repentance unto life . 5. IT was now about the end of Caligula's Reign , when Peter having finished his visitation of the new planted Churches , was returned unto Jerusalem . Not long after Herod Agrippa , Grand child to Herod the great , having attained the Kingdom , the better to ingratiate himself with the people , had lately put S. James to death . And finding that this gratified the Vulgar , resolved to send Peter the same way after him . In order whereunto he apprehended him , cast him into prison , and set strong guards to watch him : the Church in the mean time being very instant and importunate with Heaven for his life and safety . The night before his intended execution , God purposely sent an Angel from Heaven , who coming to the Prison , found him fast asleep between two of his Keepers . So soft and secure a pillow is a good Conscience , even in the confines of death , and the greatest danger . The Angel raised him up , knock'd off his Chains , bad him gird on his Garments , and follow him . He did so , and having passed the first and second Watch , and entred through the Iron-Gate into the City ( which opened to them of its own accord ) after having passed through one Street more , the Angel departed from him . By this time Peter came to himself , and perceived that it was no Vision , but a reality that had hapned to him . Whereupon he came to Marie's house , where the Church were met together at Prayer for him . Knocking at the door , the Maid , who came to let him in , perceiving 't was his voice , ran back to tell them , that Peter was at the door . Which they at first looked upon as nothing , but the effect of fright or fancy , but she still affirming it , they concluded that it was his Angel , or some peculiar messenger sent from him . The door being open , they were strangely amazed at the sight of him : but he briefly told them the manner of his deliverance , and charging them to acquaint the Brethren with it , presently withdrew into another place . 'T is easie to imagine what a bustle and a stir there was the next morning among the Keepers of the Prison , with whom Herod was so much displeased , that he commanded them to be put to death . 6. SOME time after this it hapned , that a controversie arising between the Jewish and the Gentile Converts , about the observation of the Mosaick Law , the minds of men were exceedingly disquieted and disturbed with it ; the Jews zealously contending for Circumcision , and the observance of the Ceremonial Law to be joyn'd with the belief and profession of the Gospel , as equally necessary to Salvation . To compose this difference , the best expedient that could be thought on , was to call a General Council of the Apostles and Brethren , to meet together at Jerusalem , which was done accordingly , and the case throughly scanned and canvassed . At last Peter stood up , and acquainted the Synod , that God having made choice of him among all the Apostles , to be the first that preached the Gospel to the Gentiles ; God who was best able to judge of the hearts of men , had born witness to them , that they were accepted of him , by giving them his Holy Spirit as well as he had done to the Jews ; having put no difference between the one and the other . That therefore it was a tempting and a provoking God , to put a 〈◊〉 upon the necks of the Disciples , which neither they themselves nor their Fathers were able to bear : there being ground enough to believe , that the Gentiles as well as the Jews should be saved by the grace of the Gospel . After some other of the Apostles had declared their judgments in the case , it was unanimously decreed , that except the temporary observance of some few particular things , equally convenient both for Jew and Gentile , no other burden should be imposed upon them . And so the decrees of the Council being drawn up into a Synodical Epistle , were sent abroad to the several Churches , for allaying the heats and controversies that had been raised about this matter . 7. PETER a while after the celebration of this Council , left Jerusalem , and came down to Antioch , where using the liberty which the Gospel had given him , he familiarly ate and conversed with the Gentile Converts , accounting them , now that the partition-wall was broken down , no longer strangers and foreigners , but fellow-Citizens with the Saints , and of the houshold of God : This he had been taught by the Vision of the sheet let down from Heaven ; this had been lately decreed , and he himself had promoted and subscribed it , in the Synod at Jerusalem : this he had before practised towards Cornelius and his Family , and justified the action to the satisfaction of his accusers ; and this he had here freely and innocently done at Antioch , till some of the Jewish Brethren coming thither , for fear of offending and displeasing them , he withdrew his converse with the Gentiles , as if it had been unlawful for him to hold Communion with uncircumcised persons , when yet he knew , and was fully satisfied , that our Lord had wholly removed all difference , and broken down the Wall of separation between Jew and Gentile . In which affair , as he himself acted against the light of own mind and judgment , condemning what he had approved , and destroying what he had before built up , so hereby he confirmed the Jewish zealots in their inveterate error , cast infinite scruples into the minds of the Gentiles , filling their Consciences with fears and dissatisfactions , reviving the old feuds and prejudices between Jew & Gentile ; by which means many others were ensnared , yea , the whole number of Jewish Converts followed his example , separating themselves from the company of the Gentile Christians . Yea , so far did it spread , that Barnabas himself was carried away with the stream and torrent of this unwarrantable practice . S. Paul , who was at this time come to Antioch , unto whom Peter gave the right hand of fellowship , acknowledging his Apostleship of the Circumcision , observing these evil and unevangelical actings , resolutely withstood Peter to the face , and publickly reproved him as a person worthy to be blamed for his gross prevarication in this matter ; severely expostulating and reasoning with him , that he who was himself a Jew , and thereby under a more immediate obligation to the Mosaick Law , should cast off that Yoke himself , and yet endeavour to impose it upon the Gentiles , who were not in the least under any obligation to it . A smart , but an impartial charge ; and indeed so remarkable was this carriage of S. Paul towards our Apostle , that though it set things right for the present , yet it made some noise abroad in the World. Yea , * Porphyry himself , that acute and subtil enemy of Christianity , makes use of it as an argument against them both : charging the one with error and falshood , and the other with rudeness and incivility ; and that the whole was but a compact of forgery and deceit , while the Princes of the Church did thus fall out among themselves . And so sensible were some of this in the first Ages of Christianity , that rather than such a dishonour and disgrace , as they accounted it , should be reflected upon Peter ; they tell * us of two several Cephas's , one the Apostle , the other one of the seventy Disciples ; and that it was the last of those , that was guilty of this prevarication , and whom S. Paul so vigorously resisted and reproved at Antioch . But for this plausible and well-meant Evasion the Champions of the Romish Church conn them no great thanks at this day . Nay , S. Hierom long since fully confuted it in his Notes upon this place . SECT . IX . Of S. Peter's Acts from the End of the Sacred Story till his Martyrdom . Peter's story prosecuted out of Ecclesiastical Writers . His planting of a Church , and an Episcopal Sea at Antioch ; when said to be . His first Journey to Rome , and the 〈◊〉 it brought to the Roman Empire . His preaching in other places , and return to Rome . His encounter with Simon Magus . The impostures of the Magician . His familiarity with the Emperours , and the great honours said to be done to him . Of his Statue , and Inscription at Rome . Peter's victory over him by raising one from the Dead . Simon attempting to fly is by Peter's Prayers hindred , falls down , and dies . Nero's displeasure against Peter , whence . His being cast into Prison . His flight thence , and being brought back by Christ appearing to him . Crucified with his head downwards , and why . The place of his Martyrdom , and Burial . The original and greatness of S. Peter's Church in Rome . His Episcopal Chair pretended to be still kept there . HITHER TO in drawing of the Life of this great Apostle , we have had an infallible Guide to conduct and lead us : But the sacred story breaking off here , forces us to look abroad , and to pick up what Memoires the Ancients have left us in this matter : which we shall for the main digest according to the order , wherein Baronius , and other Ecclesiastick Writers have disposed the series of S. Peter's Life : Reserving what is justly questionable , to a more particular examination afterward . And that we may present the account more intire and perfect , we must step back a little in point of time , that so we may go forward with greater advantage . We are to know therefore , that during the time of peace and calmness which the Church enjoyed after Saul's Persecution , when S. Peter went down to visit the Churches , he is said to have gone to Antioch , where great Numbers of Jews inhabited , and there to have planted the Christian faith . That he founded a Church here , * 〈◊〉 expresly tells us , and by ‖ others it is said , that he himself was the first Bishop of this See. Sure I am that * S. Chrysostom reckons it one of the greatest honours of that City , that S. Peter staid so long there , and that the Bishops of it succeeded him in that See. The care and precedency of this Church he had between Six and Seven Years . Not that he staid there all that time , but that having ordered and disposed things to the best advantage , he returned to other affairs and exigencies of the Church : confirming the new Plantations , bringing in Cornelius and his Family , and in him the first fruits of the Gentiles conversion to the faith of Christ. After which he returned unto Jerusalem , where he was imprisoned by Herod , and miraculously delivered by an Angel sent from Heaven . 2. WHAT became of Peter after his deliverance out of Prison , is not certainly known : probably he might preach in some parts a little further distant from Judaea , as we are told * he did at 〈◊〉 , and in the Countries thereabouts ( though , I confess , the evidence to me is not convincing . ) After this he resolved upon a Journey to Rome ; where most agree he arrived about the Second Year of the Emperor Claudius . ‖ Orosius tells us , that coming to Rome , he brought prosperity along with him to that City : For besides several other extraordinary advantages which at that time hapned to it , this was not the least observable , that Camillus Scribonianus Governor of Dalmatia , soliciting the Army to rebell against the Emperor , the Eagles , their Military Standard , remained so fast in the Ground , that no power , nor strength was able to pluck them up . With which unusual accident the minds of the Souldiers were surprized and startled , and turning their Swords against the Author of the sedition , continued firm and loyal in their obedience . Whereby a dangerous Rebellion was prevented , likely enough otherwise to have broken out . This he ascribes to S. Peter's coming to Rome , and the first Plantation of the Christian faith in that City . Heaven beginning more particularly to smile upon that place at his first coming thither . 'T is not to be doubted , but that at his first arrival , he disposed himself amongst the Jews his Country-men , who ever since the time of Augustus , had dwelt in the Region beyond Tybur . But when afterwards he began to preach to the Gentiles , he was forced to change his Lodging , and was taken in by one Pudens , a Senator lately converted to the Faith. Here he closely plyed his main office and imployment , to establish Christianity in that place . Here we are told * he met with Philo the Jew , lately come on his second Embassy unto Rome , in the behalf of his Countrymen at Alexandria , and to have contracted an intimate friendship and acquaintance with him . And now it was , says ‖ Baronius , that Peter being mindful of the Churches which he had founded in Pontus , Galatia , Cappadocia , Bithynia , and Asia the less , wrote his first Epistle to them , which he probably infers hence , that S. Mark being yet with him at the time of the date of this Epistle , it must be written at least some time this Year , for that now it was that S. Mark was sent to preach and propagate the Faith in Egypt . Next to the planting Religion at Rome , he took care to propagate it in the Western parts . And to that end ( if we may believe one * of those that pretend to be his Successors ) he sent abroad Disciples into several Provinces . That so their sound might go into all the Earth , and their words into the ends of the World. 3. IT hapned that after S. Peter had been several Years at Rome , Claudius the Emperor taking advantage of some seditions and tumults raised by the Jews , by a publick Edict ‖ banished them out of Rome . In the Number of whom S. Peter ( they say ) departed thence , and returned back to Jerusalem , where he was present at that great Apostolical Synod , of which before . After this we are left under great uncertainties , how he disposed of himself for many Years . Confident we may be , that he was not idle , but spent his time sometimes in preaching in the Eastern parts , sometimes in other parts of the World , as in * Africk , Sicily , Italy , and other places . And here it may not be amiss to insert a claim in behalf of our own Country . Eusebius telling us ( as ‖ Metaphrastes reports it ) that Peter was not only in these Western parts , but particularly that he was a long time in Britain , where he converted many Nations to the Faith. But we had better be without the honour of S. Peter's company , than build the story upon so sandy a foundation : Metaphrastes his Authority being of so little value in this case , that it is slighted by the more learned and moderate Writers of the Church of Rome . But where-ever it was , that S. Peter imployed his time , towards the latter part of Nero's Reign , he returned to Rome : where he found the minds of People strangely bewitched and hardned against the embracing of the Christian Religion by the subtilties and Magick arts of Simon Magus , whom ( as we have before related ) he had formerly baffled at Samaria . This Simon was born at * Gitton , a Village of Samaria , bred up in the Arts of Sorcery and Divination , and by the help of the Diabolical powers performed many strange feats of wonder and activity . Insomuch that People generally looked upon him as some great Deity come down from Heaven . But being discovered and confounded by Peter at Samaria , he left the East and fled to Rome . Where by Witchcraft and Sorceries he insinuated himself into the favour of the People , and at last became very acceptable to the Emperours themselves , insomuch that no honour and veneration was too great for him . ‖ Justin Martyr assures us , that he was honoured as a Deity that a Statue was erected to him in the Insula Tyberina between two Bridges with this Inscription , SIMONI DEO SANCTO : To Simon the holy God : that the Samaritans generally , and very many of other Nations did own and worship him as the chief principal Deity . I know the credit of this Inscription is shrewdly shaken by some later Antiquaries , who tell us , that the good Father being a Greek might easily mistake in a Latin Inscription , or be imposed upon by others ; and that the true Inscription was SEMONI SANGO DEO FIDIO , &c. such an Inscription being in the last Age dug up in the Tyberine Island , and there preserved to this day . It is not impossible but this might be the foundation of the story . But sure I am , that it is not only reported by the Martyr , who was himself a Samaritan , and lived but in the next Age , but by others almost of the same time (a) Irenaeus , (b) Tertullian , and by others (c) after them . It further deserves to be considered , that J. Martyr was a person of great learning and gravity , inquisitive about matters of this nature , at this time at Rome , where he was capable fully to satisfie himself in the truth of things , that he presented this Apology to the Emperor and the Senate of Rome , to whom he would be careful what he said , and who as they knew whether it was true or no , so if false , could not but ill resent to be so boldly imposed upon by so notorious a fable . But be it as it will , he was highly in favour both with the People , and their Emperors ; especially Nero , who was the Great Patron of Magicians , * and all who maintained secret ways of commerce with the infernal powers . With him ‖ S. Peter thought fit in the first place to encounter , and to undeceive the People , by discovering the impostures and delusions of that wretched man. 4. THAT he did so , is generally affirmed by the Ancient Fathers , * who tell us of ome particular Instances , wherein he baffled and confounded him . But because the 〈◊〉 is more intirely drawn up by ‖ Hegesippus the younger , an Author contemporary with S. Ambrose , if not ( which is most probable ) S. Ambrose himself , we shall from him 〈◊〉 the summary of the story . There was at this time at Rome an eminent young Gentleman , and a Kinsman of the Emperors , lately dead . The fame which Peter had for raising persons to life , perswaded his friends that he might be called . Others also prevailing that Simon the Magician might be sent for . Simon glad of the occasion to magnifie himself before the People , propounded to Peter , that if he raised the Gentleman unto life , then Peter , who had so injuriously provoked the great power of God , ( as he stiled himself ) should lose his life : But if Peter prevailed , he himself would submit to the same fate and sentence . Peter accepted the termes , and Simon began his Charmes and Inchantments : Whereat the dead Gentleman seemed to move his hand . The People that stood by , presently cryed out , that he was alive , and that he talked with Simon , and began to sall foul upon Peter , for daring to oppose himself against so great a power . The Apostle intreated their patience , told them , that all this was but a phantasm and appearance , that if Simon was but taken from the Bed-side , all this pageantry would quickly vanish . Who being accordingly removed , the Body remained without the least sign of motion . Peter standing at a good distance from the Bed , silently made his address to Heaven , and then before them all commanded the young Gentleman in the Name of the Lord Jesus to arise : who immediately did so , spoke , walked , and ate and was by Peter restored to his Mother . The People who saw this , suddenly changed their opinions , and fell upon the Magician with an intent to stone him . But Peter begged his life , and told them , that it would be a sufficient punishment to him , to live and see that in despite of all his power and malice , the Kingdom of Christ should increase and flourish . The Magician was inwardly tormented with this defeat and vext to see the triumph of the Apostle , and therefore mustering up all his powers , summoned the People , told them that he was offended at the Galileans , whose Protector and Guardian he had been , and therefore set them a Day , when he promised that they should see him fly up into Heaven . At the time appointed he went up to the Mount of the Capitol , and throwing himself from the top of the Rock , began his flight . A sight which the People entertained with great wonder and veneration , affirming that this must be the power of God , and not of man. Peter standing in the Croud , prayed to our Lord , that the People might be undeceived , and that the vanity of the Impostor might be discovered in such a way , that he himself might be sensible of it . Immediately the Wings which he had made himself , began to fail him , and he fell to the ground , miserably bruised and wounded with the fall : Whence being carried into a neighbouring Village , he soon after dyed . This is the story , for the particular circumstances whereof , the Feader must rely upon the credit of my Author , the thing in general being sufficiently acknowledged by most ancient Writers . This contest of Peter's with Simon Magus is placed by Eusebius under the Reign of Claudius , but by the generality both of ancient and later Authors , it is referred to the Reign of Nero. 5. SUCH was the end of this miserable and unhappy Man. Which no sooner came to the ears of the Emperor , to whom by wicked artifices he had indeared himself , but it became an occasion of hastning Peter's ruine . The Emperor probably had before been displeased with Peter , not only upon the account of the general disagreement and inconformity of his Religion , but because he had so strictly pressed temperance and chastity , and reclaimed so many Women in Rome from a dissolute and vicious life , thereby crossing that wanton and lascivious temper , to which that Prince was so immoderate a slave and vassal . And being now by his means robbed of his dear favorite and companion , he resolved upon revenge , commanded Peter ( as also S. Paul , who was at this time at Rome ) to be apprehended , and cast into the Mamertine Prison : * where they spent their time in the exercises of Religion , and especially in Preaching to the Prisoners , and those who resorted to them . And here we may suppose it was ( if not a little before ) that Peter wrote his second 〈◊〉 to the dispersed Jews , wherein he indeavours to confirm them in the belief and practice of Christianity , and to fortifie them against those poysonous and pernicious principles and practices , which even then began to break in upon the Christian Church . 6. NERO returning from Achaia , and entring Rome with a great deal of pomp and triumph , resolved now the Apostles should fall as a Victim and Sacrifice to his cruelty and revenge . While the fatal stroke was daily expected , the Christians in Rome did by daily prayers and importunities solicite ‖ S. Peter , to make an escape , and to reserve himself to the uses and services of the Church . This at first he rejected , as what would ill reflect upon his courage and constancy , and argue him to be afraid of those sufferings for Christ , to which he himself had so often perswaded others . But the prayers and the tears of the People overcame him , and made him yield . Accordingly the next Night having prayed with , and taken his farewell of the Brethren , he got over the Prison-wall , and coming to the City-Gate , he is there said to have met with our Lord , who was just entring into the City . Peter asked him , Lord , whither art thou going ? from whom he presently received this answer , I am come to Rome , to be crucified a second time . By which answer , Peter apprehended himself to be reproved , and that our Lord meant it of his death , that he was to be recrucified in his Servant . Whereupon he went back to the Prison , and delivered himself into the hands of his Keepers , shewing himself most ready and chearful to acquiesce in the will of God. And we are told * that in the stone , whereon our Lord stood while he talked with Peter , he left the impression of his Feet , which stone has been ever since preserved as a very sacred Relique , and after several translations was at length fixed in the Church of S. Sebastian the Martyr , where it is kept and visited with great expressions of reverence and devotion at this day . Before his suffering he was no question scourged , according to the manner of the Romans , who were wont first to whip those Malefactors , who were adjudged to the most severe and capital punishments : Having saluted his Brethren , and especially having taken his last farewell of S. Paul , he was brought out of the Prison , and led to the top of the Vatican Mount , near to Tybur , the place designed for his Execution . The death he was adjudged to was crucifixion , as of all others accounted the most shameful , so the most severe and terrible . But he intreated the favour of the Officers , that he might not be crucified in the ordinary way , ‖ but might suffer with his Head downwards , and his Feet up to Heaven , affirming that he was unworthy to suffer in the same posture wherein his Lord had suffered before him . Happy man ( as * Chrysostom glosses ) to be set in the readiest posture of travelling from Earth to Heaven . His Body being taken from the Cross , is said , to have been imbalmed by Marcellinus the Presbyter after the Jewish manner , and was then buried in the Vatican , near the Triumphal way . Over his Grave a small Church ‖ was soon after erected , which being destroyed by Heliogabalus , his Body was removed to the Coemetery in the Appian way , two Miles from Rome : where it remained till the time of Pope Cornelius , who re-conveyed it to the Vatican , where it rested somewhat obscurely until the Reign of Constantine , who out of the mighty reverence which he had for the Christian Religion , caused many Churches to be built at Rome , but especially rebuilt and inlarged the Vatican to the honour of S. Peter . In the doing whereof Himself is said to have been the first that began to dig the Foundation , and to have carried thence twelve Baskets of Rubbish with his own hands , in honour , as it should seem , of the twelve Apostles . He infinitely inriched the Church with Gifts and Ornaments , which in every Age increased in 〈◊〉 and Riches , till it is become one of the wonders of the World at this day . Of whose glories , stateliness , and beauty , and those many venerable Monuments of antiquity that are in it , they who desire to know more , may be plentifully satisfied by Onuphrius . Only one amongst the rest must not be forgotten : there being kept that very wooden Chair , wherein S. Peter sat when he was at Rome , by the onely touching whereof many Miracles are said to be performed . But surely * Baronius his wisdome and gravity were from home , when speaking of this Chair , and fearing that Heretiques would imagine , that it might be rotten in so long a time , he tells us , that it 's no wonder that this Chair should be preserved so long , when Eusebius affirms , that the wooden Chair of S. James Bishop of Jerusalem was extant in the time of Constantine . But the Cardinal it seems forgot to consider , that there is some difference between three , and sixteen hundred Years . But of this enough . S. Peter was crucified according to the common computation in the Year of Christ , sixty nine , and the 13th . ( or as Eusebius , the 14th . ) of Nero , how truly may be inquired afterwards . SECT . X. The Character of his Person and Temper : and an Account of his Writings . The description of S. Peter's person . An account of his Temper . A natural fervor and eagerness predominant in him . Fierceness and animosity peculiarly remarkable in the Galileans . The abatements of his Zeal and courage . His humility and lowliness of mind . His great love to , and zeal for Christ. His constancy and resolution in confessing Christ. His faithfulness and diligence in his Office. His Writings genuine and supposititious . His first Epistle ; what the design of it . What meant by Babylon , whence it was dated . His second Epistle a long time questioned , and why , Difference in the style no considerable objection . Grotius his conceit of its being written by Symeon Bishop of Jerusalem , exploded . A concurrence of circumstances to entitle S. Peter to it . 〈◊〉 things in it referred to , which he had preached at Rome , particularly the destruction of Jerusalem . Written but a little before his death . The spurious Writings attributed to him , mentioned by the Ancients . His Acts. Gospel . Petri Praedicatio . His Apocalypse . Judicium Petri . Peter's married relation . His Wife the companion of his Travels . Her Martyrdom . His Daughter 〈◊〉 . 1. HAVING run through the current History of S. Peter's Life , it may not be amiss in the next place to survey a little his Person and Temper . His Body ( if we may believe the description given of him by * Nicephorus ) was somewhat slender , of a middle size , but rather inclining to tallness , his complexion very pale , and almost white : The hair of his Head and Beard curl'd and thick , but withall short ; though ‖ S. Hierom tells us out of Clemens his Periods , that he was Bald , which probably might be in his declining age ; his Eyes black , but speckt with red , which * Baronius will have to proceed from his frequent weeping ; his Eye-brows thin , or none at all ; his Nose long , but rather broad and flat than sharp ; such was the Case and out-side . Let us next look inwards , and view the Jewel that was within . Take him as a Man , and there seems to have been a natural eagerness predominant in his Temper , which as a Whetstone sharpned his Soul for all bold and generous undertakings . It was this in a great measure that made him so forward to speak , and to return answers , sometimes before he had well considered them . It was this made him expose his person to the most eminent danger , promise those great things in behalf of his Master , and resolutely draw his Sword in his quarrel against a whole Band of Souldiers , and wound the High-Priests Servant ; and possibly he had attempted greater matters , had not our Lord restrained , and taken him off by that seasonable check that he gave him . 2. THIS Temper he owed in a great measure to the Genius and nature of his Country , of which * Josephus gives this true character , That it naturally bred in men a certain fierceness and animosity , whereby they were fearlesly carried out upon any action , and in all things shew'd a great strength and courage both of mind and body . The Galileans ( says he ) being 〈◊〉 from their childhood , the men being as seldom overtaken with cowardize , as their Country with want of men . And yet notwithstanding this , his fervor and fierceness had its intervals ; there being some times when the Paroxysms of his heat and courage did intermit , and the man was surprised and betrayed by his own fears . Witness his passionate crying out , when he was upon the Sea in danger of his life , and his fearful deserting his Master in the Garden , but especially his carriage in the High-Priests Hall , when the confident charge of a sorry Maid made him sink so far beneath himself , and not withstanding his great and resolute promises so shamefully deny his Master , and that with curses and imprecations . But he was in danger , and passion prevailed over his understanding , and fear betrayed the succours which reason offered , and being intent upon nothing but the present safety of his life , he heeded not what he did , when he 〈◊〉 his Master , to save himself ; so dangerous is it to be left to our selves , and to have our natural passions let loose upon us . 3. CONSIDER him as a Disciple and a Christian , and we shall find him exemplary in the great instances of Religion . Singular his Humility , and the lowliness of mind . With what a passionate earnestness upon the conviction of a Miracle , did he beg of our Saviour to depart from him : accounting himself not worthy , that the Son of God should come near so vile a sinner . When our Lord by that wonderful condescension stoopt to wash his Apostles feet , he could by no means be perswaded to admit it , not thinking it sit , that so great a person should submit himself to so servile an office towards so mean a person as himself ; nor could he be induced to accept it , till our Lord was in a manner forced to threaten him into obedience . When Cornelius heightned in his apprehensions of him by an immediate command from God concerning him , would have entertained him with expressions of more than ordinary honour and veneration ; so far was he from complying with it , that he plainly told him , he was no other than such a man as himself . With how much candor and modesty does he treat the inferiour Rulers and Ministers of the Church . He , upon whom Antiquity heaps so many honourable titles , stiling himself no other than their fellow-Presbyter . Admirable his love to , and zeal for his Master , which he thought he could never express at too high a rate : for his sake venturing on the greatest dangers , and exposing himself to the most imminent hazards of his life . 'T was in his quarrel that he drew his Sword against a Band of Souldiers , and an armed multitude ; and 't was love to his Master drew him into that imprudent advice , that he should seek to save himself , and avoid those sufferings that were coming upon him , that made him promise and engage so deep , to suffer and die with him . Great was his forwardness in owning Christ to be the Messiah and Son of God ; which drew from our Lord that honourable Encomium , Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jonah . But greater his courage and constancy in confessing Christ before his most inveterate enemies , especially after he had recovered himself of his fall . With how much plainness did he tell the Jews at every turn to their very faces , that they were the Murderers and Crucifiers of the Lord of Glory . Nay , with what an undaunted courage , with what an Heroick greatness of mind , did he tell that very Sanhedrim , that had sentenced and condemned him , that they were guilty of his murder , and that they could never be saved any other way , than by this very Jesus , whom they had crucified and put to death . 4. LASTLY , let us reflect upon him as an Apostle , as a Pastor and Guide of Souls . And so we find him faithful and diligent in his office , with an infinite zeal endeavouring to instruct the ignorant , reduce the erroneous , to strengthen the weak , and confirm the strong , to reclaim the vicious , and turn Souls to righteousness . We find him taking all opportunities of preaching to the people , converting many thousands at once . How many voiages and travels did he undergo ? with how unconquerable a patience did he endure all conflicts and trials , and surmount all difficulties and oppositions , that he might plant and propagate the Christian Faith ? Not thinking much to lay down his own life , to promote and further it . Nor did he only do his duty himself , but as one of the prime Superintendents of the Church , and as one that was sensible of the value and the worth of Souls , he was careful to put others in mind of theirs , earnestly pressing and perswading the Pastors and Governours of it , To feed the flock of God , To take upon them the Rule and Inspection of it freely and willingly , not out of a sinister end , merely of gaining advantages to themselves , but out of a sincere design of doing good to Souls ; that they would treat them mildly and gently , and be themselves examples of Piety and Religion to them , as the best way to make their Ministery successful and effectual . And because he could not be always present to teach and warn men , he ceased not by Letters to stir up their minds to the remembrance and practice of what they had been taught . A course , he tells them , which he was resolved to hold as long as he lived , as thinking it meet while he was in this Tabernacle , to stir them up , by putting them in mind of these things , that so they might be able after his decease , to have them always in remembrance . And this may lead us to the consideration of those Writings , which he left behind him for the benefit of the Church . 5. NOW the Writings that entitle themselves to this Apostle , were either genuine , or supposititious . The genuine Writings are his two Epistles , which make up part of the Sacred Canon . For the first of them , no certain account can be had when it was written . Though Baronius and most Writers commonly assign it to the year of Christ Forty Four. But this cannot be , Peter not being at Rome ( from whence it is supposed to have been written ) at that time , as we shall see anon . He wrote it to the Jewish Converts , dispersed through Pontus , Galatia , and the Countries thereabouts , chiefly upon the occasion of that persecution , which had been raised at Jerusalem . And accordingly the main design of it , is to confirm and comfort them under their present sufferings and persecutions , and to direct and instruct them how to carry themselves in the several states and relations , both of the Civil , and the Christian life . For the place whence it was written , 't is expresly dated from Babylon . But what , or where this Babylon is , is not so easie to determine . Some think it was Babylon in Egypt , and probably 〈◊〉 ; and that there Peter preached the Gospel . Others will have it to have been Babylon the Ancient Metropolis of Assyria , and where great numbers of Jews dwelt ever since the times of their Captivities . But we need not send Peter on so long an Errand , if we embrace the Notion of a Learned * man , who by Babylon will figuratively understand Jerusalem , no longer now the holy City , but a kind of spiritual Babylon , in which the Church of God did at this time groan under great servitude and captivity . And this Notion of the Word he endeavours to make good , by calling in to his assistance two of the Ancient * Fathers , who so understand that of the Prophet , We have healed Babylon , but she was not healed . Where the Prophet ( say they ) by Babylon means Jerusalem , as differing nothing from the wickedness of the Nations , nor conforming it self to the Law of God. But generally the Writers of the Romish Church , and the more moderate of the Reformed party , acquiescing herein in the Judgment of Antiquity , by Babylon understand Rome . And so 't is plain S. John calls it in his Revelation , either from its conformity in power and greatness to that ancient City , or from that great Idolatry which at this time reign'd in Rome . And so we may suppose S. Peter to have written it from Rome , not long after his coming thither , though the precise time be not exactly known . 6. AS for the Second Epistle , it was not accounted of old of equal value and authority with the First , and therefore for some Ages not taken into the Sacred Canon , as is expresly affirmed by * 〈◊〉 , and many of the Ancients before him . The Ancient Syriack Church did not receive it , and accordingly it is not to be found in their ancient ‖ Copies of the New Testament . Yea , those of that Church at this day do not own it as Canonical , but only read it privately , as we do the Apocryphal Books . The greatest * exception that I can find against it , was the difference of its style from the other Epistle ; and therefore it was presumed , that they were not both written by the same hand . But S. 〈◊〉 , who tells us the objection , does ‖ elsewhere himself return the answer , That the difference in the style and manner of writing might very well arise from hence , that S. Peter according to his different circumstances , and the necessity of affairs , was forced to use several Amanuenses and Interpreters ; sometimes S. Mark , and after his departure some other person , which might justly occasion a difference in the style and character of these 〈◊〉 . Not to say , that the same person may vastly alter and vary his style according to the times when , or the persons to whom , or the subjects about which he writes , or the temper and disposition he is in at the time of writing , or the care that is used in doing it . Who sees not the vast difference of Jeremie's writing in his Prophecy , and in his Book of Lamentations ? between S. John's in his Gospel , his 〈◊〉 , and Apocalypse ? How oft does S. Paul alter his style in several of his Epistles , in some more lofty and elegant , in others more rough and harsh ? Besides hundreds of instances that might be given both in Ecclesiastical and Foreign Writers , too obvious to need insisting on in this place . The Learned * Grotius will have this Epistle to have been written by Symeon , S. James his immediate Successor in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem , and that the word [ Peter ] was inserted into the Title by another hand . But as a Judicious * person of our own observes , these were but his Posthume Annotations , published by others , and no doubt never intended as the deliberate result of that great man's Judgment : especially since he himself tacitly acknowledges , that all Copies extant at this day read the Title and Inscription , as it is in our Books . And indeed there is a concurrence of circumstances to prove S. Peter to be the Author of it . It bears his name in the Front and Title , yea , somewhat more expresly than the former , which has only one , this , both his Names . There 's a passage in it , that cannot well relate to any but him . When he tells us , that he was present with Christ in the holy Mount , When he received from God the Father honour , and glory ; Where he heard the voice which came from Heaven , from the excellent glory , This is my Beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased . This evidently refers to Christs Tranfiguration , where none were present , but Peter , and the two Sons of Zebedee , neither of which were ever thought of to be the Author of this Epistle . Besides , that there is an admirable consent and agreement in many passages between these two Epistles , as it were easie to show in particular instances . Add to this , that S. Jude speaking of the Scoffers who should come in the last time , walking after their own ungodly lusts , cites this as that which had been before spoken by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ : wherein he plainly quotes the words of this Second Epistle of Peter , affirming , That there should come in the last days scoffers , walking after their own lusts . And that this does agree to Peter , will further appear by this , that he tells us of these Scoffers , that should come in the last days , that is , before the destruction of Jerusalem ( as that phrase is often used in the New Testament ) that they should say , Where is the promise of his coming ? Which clearly respects their making light of those threatnings of our Lord , whereby he had foretold , that he would shortly come in Judgment for the destruction of Jerusalem , and the Jewish Nation . This he now puts them in mind of , as what probably he had before told them of 〈◊〉 vocc , when he was amongst them . For so we find he did elsewhere . Lactantius assuring us , That amongst many strange and wonderful things which Peter and Paul preached at Rome , and lest upon Record , this was one , That within a short time God would send a Prince , who should destroy the Jews , and lay their Cities level with the ground , straitly besiege them , destroy them with Famine , so that they should feed upon one another : That their Wives and Daughters should be ravished , and their Childrens brains dasht out before their faces ; that all things should be laid waste by Fire and Sword , and themselves perpetually banished from their own Countrey ; and this for their insolent and merciless usage of the innocent and dear Son of God. All which , as he observes , came to pass soon after their death , when 〈◊〉 came upon the Jews , and extinguished both their Name and Nation . And what Peter here foretold at Rome , we need not question but he had done before to those Jews , to whom he wrote this Epistle . Wherein he especially antidotes them against those corrupt and poisonous principles , wherewith many , and especially the followers of Simon Magus began to insect the Church of Christ. And this but a little time before his death , as appears from that passage in it , where he tells them , That he knew he must shortly put off his earthly Tabernacle . 7. BESIDES these Divine Epistles , there were other supposititious writings which in the first Ages were fathered upon S. Peter . Such was the Book called his Acts , mentioned by * Origen , ‖ Eusebius , and others , but rejected by them . Such was his Gospel , which probably at first was nothing else but the Gospel written by S. Mark , dictated to him ( as is generally thought ) by S. Peter ; and therefore as * S. 〈◊〉 tells us , said to be his . Though in the next Age there appeared a Book under that Title , mentioned by ‖ Serapion Bishop of Antioch , and by him at 〈◊〉 suffered to be read in the Church , but afterwards upon a more careful perusal of it , he rejected it as Apocryphal , as it was by others after him . Another was the Book stiled , His Preaching , mentioned and quoted both by * Clemens Alexandrinus , and by ‖ Origen , but not acknowledged by them to be Genuine : Nay , expresly said to have been forged by Hereticks , by an ancient (a) Author contemporary with S. Cyprian . The next was his Apocalypse , or Revelation , rejected , as (b) Sozomen tells us , by the 〈◊〉 as Spurious , but yet read in some Churches in Palestine in his time . The last was the Book called , His Judgment , which probably was the same with that called * Hermes , or Pastor , a Book of good use and esteem in the first times of Christianity , and which , as ‖ Eusebius tells us , was not only frequently cited by the Ancients , but also publickly read in Churches . 8. WE shall conclude this Section by considering Peter with respect to his several Relations : That he was married , is unquestionable , the Sacred History mentioning his Wives Mother : his Wife ( might we believe * Metaphrastes ) being the Daughter of Aristobulus , Brother to Barnabas the Apostle . And though ‖ S. Hierom would perswade us , that he left her behind him , together with his Nets , when he forsook all to follow Christ ; yet we know that Father too well , to be over-confident upon his word in a case of Marriage or Single life , wherein he is not over-scrupulous sometimes to strain a point , to make his opinion more fair and plausible . The best is , we have an infallible Authority which plainly intimates the contrary , the testimony of S. Paul , who tells us of Cephas , that he led about a Wife , a Sister , along with him , who for the most part mutually cohabited & lived together , for ought that can be proved to the contrary . * Clemens Alexandrinus gives us this account , though he tells us not the time or place , That Peter seeing his Wife going towards Martyrdom , exceedingly rejoyced that she was called to so great an honour , and that she was now returning home , encouraging and earnestly exhorting her , and calling her by her Name , bad her to be mindful of our Lord. Such ( says he ) was the Wedlock of that blessed couple , and the perfect disposition and agreement in those things that were dearest to them . By her he is said to have had a * Daughter , called Petronilla ( ‖ Metaphrastes adds a Son ) how truly I know not . This only is certain , that * S. Clemens of Alexandria reckons Peter for one of the Apostles that was Married and had Children . And surely he who was so good a man , and so good an Apostle , was as good in the relation both of an Husband and a Father . SECT . XI . An Enquiry into S. Peter's going to Rome . Peter's being at Rome granted in general . The account of it given by Baronius and the Writers of that Church rejected , and disproved . No foundation for it in the History of the Apostolick Acts. No mention of it in S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans . No news of his being there , at S. Paul's coming to Rome , nor intimation of any such thing in the several Epistles which S. Paul wrote from thence . S. Peter's first being at Rome inconsistent with the time of the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem . And with an Ancient Tradition , that the Apostles were commanded to stay Twelve years in Judaea after Christ's death . Apassage out of Clemens Alexandrinus noted and corrected to that purpose . Difference among the 〈◊〉 of the Romish Church in their Accounts . Peter's being XXV . years Bishop of Rome , no solid foundation for it in Antiquity . The Planting and Governing that Church equally attributed to Peter and Paul. S. Peter when ( probably ) came to Rome . Different dates of his Martyrdom assigned by the Ancients . A probable account given of it . 1. THOUGH it be not my purpose to swim against the Stream and Current of Antiquity , in denying S. Peter to have been at Rome , an Assertion easilier perplexed and intangled , than confuted and disproved ; yet may we grant the main , without doing any great service to that Church , there being evidence enough to every impartial and considering man , to spoil that smooth and plausible Scheme of Times , which 〈◊〉 and the Writers of that Church have drawn with so much care and diligence . And in order to this we shall first enquire , whether that Account which Bellarmine and Baronius give us of Peter's being at Rome be tolerably reconcileable with the History of the Apostles Acts recorded by S. Luke , which will be best done by briefly presenting S. Peter's Acts in their just Series and order of Time , and then seeing what countenance and foundation their Account can receive from hence . 2. AFTER our Lord's Ascension , we find Peter , for the first year at least , staying with the rest of the Apostles at Jerusalem . In the next year he was sent , together with S. John , by the command of the Apostles , to Samaria , to preach the Gospel to that City , and the parts about it . About three years after S. Paul meets him at Jerusalem , with whom he staid some time . In the two following years he visited the late planted Churches , preached at Lydda and Joppa , where having tarried many days , he thence removed to 〈◊〉 , where he preached to , and baptized Cornelius and his Family . Whence after some time he returned to Jerusalem , where he probably staid , till cast into prison by Herod , and delivered by the Angel. After which we hear no more of him , till three or four years after we find him in the Council at Jerusalem . After which he had the contest with S. Paul at Antioch . And thence forward the Sacred Story is altogether silent in this matter . So that in all this time , we find not the least footstep of any intimation that he went to Rome . This * Baronius well foresaw , and therefore once and again inserts this caution , that S. Luke did not design to record all the Apostles Acts , and that he has omitted many things which were done by Peter . Which surely no man ever intended to deny . But then that he should omit a matter of such vast moment and importance to the whole Christian World , that not one 〈◊〉 should be said of a Church planted by Peter at Rome ; a Church that was to be Paramount , the seat of all Spiritual Power and Infallibility , and to which all other Churches were to vail and do homage ; nay , that he should not so much as mention that ever he was there , and yet all this said to be done within the time he designed to write of , is by no means reasonable to suppose . Especially considering , that S. Luke records many of his journeys and travels , and his preaching at several places , of far less consequence and concernment . Nor let this be thought the worse of , because a negative Argument , since it carries so much rational evidence along with it , that any man who is not plainly byassed by Interest , will be satisfied with it . 3. BUT let us proceed a little further to enquire , whether we can meet any probable footsteps afterwards . About the year Fifty three , towards the end of Claudins his Reign S. Paul is thought to have writ his Epistle to the Church at Rome , wherein he spends the greatest part of one Chapter in saluting particular persons that were there ; amongst whom it might reasonably have been expected , that S. Peter should have had the first place . And supposing with * Baronius , that Peter at this time might be absent from the City , preaching the Gospel in some parts in the 〈◊〉 , yet we are not sure that S. Paul knew of this , and if he did , it is strange that in so large an Epistle , wherein he had occasion enough , there should be neither direct nor indirect mention of him , or of any Church there founded by him . Nay , S. Paul himself intimates , what an earnest desire he had to come thither , that he might impart unto them some spiritual gists , to the end they might be established in the Faith , for which there could have been no such apparent cause had Peter been there so lately , and so long before him . Well , S. Paul himself not many years after is sent to Rome , Ann. Chr. LVI . or as Eusebius , LVII . ( though Barontus makes it two years after ) about the second year of Nero ; when he comes thither , does he go to sojourn with Peter , as 't is likely he would , had he been there ? No , but dwelt by himself in his own hired house . No sooner was he come , but he called the chief of the Jews together , acquainted them with the cause and end of his coming , explains the doctrine of Christianity , which when they rejected , he tells them , That henceforth the Salvation of God was sent unto the Gentiles who would hear it , to whom he would now address himself . Which seems to intimate , that however some few of the Gentiles might have been brought over , yet that no such harvest had been made before his coming , as might reasonably have been expected from S. Peter s having been so many years amongst them . Within the two first years after S. Paul s coming to Rome , he wrote Epistles to several Churches , to the Colossians , Fphesians , Philippians , and one to Philemon , in none whereof there is the least mention of S. Peter , or from whence the least probability can be derived , that he had been there . In that to the Colossians , he tells them , that of the Jews at Rome , he had had no other fellow-workers unto the Kingdom of God , which had been a comfort unto him , save only Aristarchus , Marcus , and Jesus who was called Justus , which evidently excludes S. Peter . And in that to Timothy , which Baronius consesses to have been written a little before his Martyrdom , ( though probably it was written the same time with the rest above mentioned ) he tells him , That at his first answer at Rome , no man stood with him , but that all men for sook him . Which we can hardly believe S. Peter would have done , had he then been there . He further tells him , That only Luke was with him , that Crescens was gone to this place , Titus to that , and Tychicus left at another . Strange ! that if Peter was at this time gone from Rome , S. Paul should take no notice of it as well as the rest . Was he so inconsiderable a person , as not to be worth the remembring ? or his errand of so small importance , as not to deserve a place in S. Paul's account , as well as that of Crescens to Galatia , or of Titus to Dalmatia ? Surely , the true reason was , that S. Peter as yet had not been at Rome , and so there could be no foundation for it . 4. IT were no hard matter , further to demonstrate the inconsistency of that Account which Bellarmine and Baronius give us of Peter's being at Rome , from the time of the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem . For if S. Paul went up to that Council Fourteen years after his own Conversion , as he plainly intimates ; and that he himself was converted Ann. XXXV . somewhat less than two years after the death of Christ , then it plainly appears , that this Council was holden Ann. XLVIII . in the sixth year of Claudius , if not somewhat sooner , for S. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not necessarily imply , that Fourteen years were completely past , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying circa , as well as post , but that it was near about that time . This being granted ( and if it be not , it is easie to make it good ) then three things amongst others will follow from it . First , That whereas , according to * Bellarmine and ‖ Baronius , S. Peter after his first coming to Rome ( which they place Ann. XLIV . and the second of Claudius ) was seven years before he returned thence to the Council at Jerusalem , they are strangely out in their story , there being but three , or at most four years between his going thither , and the celebration of that Council . Secondly , That when they tell * us , that S. Peter's leaving Rome to come to the Council , was upon the occasion of the decree of Claudius , banishing all Jews out of the City , this can no ways be . For * Orosius does not onely 〈◊〉 , but prove it from Josephus , that Claudius his Decree was published in the Ninth Year of his Reign , or Ann. Chr. LI. Three Years at least after the Celebration of the Council . Thirdly , That when ‖ Baronius tells us , that the Reason why Peter went to Rome after the breaking up of the Synod , was because Claudius was now dead , he not daring to go before for fear of the Decree , this can be no reason at all , the Council being ended at least Three Years before that Decree took place : so that he might 〈◊〉 have gone thither without the least danger from it . It might further be shewed ( if it were necessary ) that the account which even they themselves give us , is not very consistent with it self . So fatally does a bad cause draw Men whether they will or no into Errours and Mistakes . 5. THE truth is , the learned Men of that Church are not well agreed among themselves , to give in their verdict in this case . And indeed , how should they , when the thing it self affords no solid foundation for it ? Onuphrius a man of great learning and industry in all matters of antiquity , and who ( as the * writer of Baronius his life insorms us ) designed before Baronius to write the History of the Church , goes a way by himself , in assigning the time of S. Peter's founding his See both at Antioch and ‖ Rome . For finding by the account of the sacred story , that Peter did not leave 〈◊〉 for the Ten first Years after our Lord's Aseension , and consequently could not in that time erect his See at Antioch ; he affirms , that he went first to Rome , whence returning to the Council at Jerusalem , he thence went to Antioch , where he remained Seven Years , till the Death of Claudius , and having spent almost the whole Reign of Nero in several parts of Europe , returned in the last of Nero's Reign to Rome , and there dyed . An opinion , for which he is sufficiently chastised by * Baronius , and others of that Party . And here I cannot but remarque the ingenuity ( for the learning sufficiently commends it self ) of ‖ Monsieur l'alois , who freely confesses the mistake of Baronius , Petavius , &c. in making Peter go to Rome , Ann. XLIV . the Second Year of Claudius , when as it is plain ( says he ) from the History of the Acts , that Peter went not out of Judaea and Syria , till the Death of Herod , Claudii Ann. IV. Two whole Years after . Consonant to which , as he observes , is what Apollonius , a Writer of the Second Century , reports from a Tradition current in his time , that the Apostles did not depart asunder till the Twelfth Year after Christ's Ascension , our Lord himself having so commanded them . In confirmation whereof , let me add a passage that I meet with in Clemens of ‖ Alexandria , where from S. Peter he records this Speech of our Saviour to his Apostles , spoken probably either a little before his Death , or after his Resurrection . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . If any Israelite shall repent , and believe in God through my Name , his sins shall be forgiven him after twelve years . Go ye into the World , lest any should say , we have not heard . This passage , as ordinarily pointed in all Editions that I have seen , is scarce capable of any tolerable sence : for what 's the meaning , of a penitent Israelite's being pardoned after twelve years ? It is therefore probable , yea certain with me , that the stop ought to be after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned to the following clause , and then the sence will run clear and smooth ; If any Jew shall repent , and believe the Gospel , he shall be pardoned ; but after twelve years go ye into all the World , that none may pretend that they have not heard the sound of the Gospel . The Apostles were first to Preach the Gospel to the Jews for some considerable time , Twelve Years after Christ's Ascension , in and about Judaea , and then to betake themselves to the Provinces of the Gentile-World , to make known to them the glad tidings of Salvation ; exactly answerable to the Tradition mentioned by Apollonius . Besides , the Chronicon Alexandrinum tells us , that Peter came not to Rome till the Seventh Year of Claudius , Ann. Christi XLIX . So little certainty can there be of any matter , wherein there is no truth . Nay , the samo excellent Men before * mentioned does not stick elsewhere to profess , he wonders at Baronius , that he should make Peter come from Rome , banished thence by Claudius his Edict , to the Synod at Jerusalem , the same Year , viz. Ann. Claudii 9. a thing absolutely inconsistent with that story of the Apostles Acts , recorded by S. Luke , wherein there is the space of no less than Three Years from the time of that Synod , to the Decree of Claudius . It being evident , what he observes , that after the celebration of that Council , S. Paul went back to Antioch , afterwards into Syria and Cilicia to Preach the Gospel ; thence into Phrygia , Galatia and Mysia ; from whence he went into Macedonia , and first Preached at Philippi , then at Thessalonica and Beraea , afterwards stay'd some consider time at Athens , and last of all went to Corinth , where he met with Aquila and Priscilla , lately come from Italy , banished Rome with the rest of the Jews , by the Decree of Claudius : all which by an easie and reasonable computation can take up no less than Three Years at least . 6. THAT which caused Baronius to split upon so many Rocks , was not so much want of seeing them , which a Man of his parts and industry could not but in a great measure see , as the unhappy necessity of defending those 〈◊〉 principles which he had undertaken to maintain . For being to make good Peter's five and twenty years presidency over the Church of Rome , he was forced to confound times , and dislocate stories , that he might bring all his ends together . What foundation this story of Peter's being five and twenty years Bishop of Rome , has in antiquity , I find not , unless it sprang from hence , that 〈◊〉 places Peter's coming to Rome in the Second Year of Claudius , and his Martyrdom in the Fourteenth of Nero , between which there is the just space of five and twenty years . Whence those that came after concluded , that he sate Bishop there all that time . It cannot be denied , but that in S. Hierom's Translation it is expresly said , that he continued five and twenty years Bishop of that City . But then it is as evident , that this was his own addition , who probably set things down as the report went in his time , no such thing being to be found in the Greek Copy of * Eusebius . Nor indeed does he ever there or else-where positively affirm S. Peter to have been Bishop of Rome , but only that he preached the Gospel there . And expresly ‖ affirms , that he and S. Paul being dead , Linus was the first Bishop of Rome . To which I may add , that when the Ancients speak of the Bishops of Rome , and the first Originals of that Church , they equally attribute the founding , and the Episcopacy and Government of it to Peter and Paul , making the one as much concerned in it as the other . Thus * Epiphanius reckoning up the Bishops of that See , places Peter and Paul in the front , as the first Bishops of Rome , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Peter and Paul Apostles became the first Bishops of Rome , then Linus , &c. And again a little after , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the succession of the Bishops of Rome was in this manner , Peter and Paul , Linus , Cletus , &c. And ‖ Egesippus speaking of their coming to Rome , equally says of them , that they were Doctores Christianorum , sublimes operibus , clari magisterio , the Instructors of the Christians , admirable for miracles , and renowned for their authority . However granting not only that he was there , but that he was Bishop , and that for five and twenty years together , yet what would this make for the unlimited Soveraignty and Universality of that Church , unless a better evidence than Feed my sheep could be produced for its uncontroulable Supremacy and Dominion over the whole Christian World ? 7. THE summe is this , granting what none that has any reverence for Antiquity will deny , that S. Peter was at Rome , he probably came thither some few Years before his death , joyned with , and assisted S. Paul in Preaching of the Gospel , and then both sealed the Testimony of it with their Bloud . The date of his Death is differently assigned by the Ancients . * Eusebius places it Ann. LXIX . in the Fourteenth of Nero , ‖ Epiphanius in the Twelfth . That which seems to me most probable is , that it was in the Tenth , or the Year LXV . which I thus compute : Nero's burning of Rome is placed by * Tacitus , under the Consulship of C. Lecanius , and M. Licinius , about the Month of July , that is , Ann. Chr. LXIV . This act procured him the infinite hatred and clamours of the People , which having in vain endeavoured several ways to remove and pacifie , he at last resolved upon this project , to derive the Odium upon the Christians , whom therefore both to appease the Gods , and please the People , he condemned as guilty of the fact , and caused to be executed with all manner of acute and exquisite Tortures . This Persecution we may suppose began about the end of that , or the beginning of the following Year . And under this Persecution , I doubt not , it was that S. Peter suffered , and changed Earth for Heaven . The End of S. Peter's Life . THE LIFE OF S. PAUL . S. PAUL . He was beheaded by the command of Nero the Roman Emperour . Place this to the Epistle for the Conversion of S. Paul. St. Paul's Conversion . Act. 9. 3. 4. And as he journied he came near to Damascus & suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven & he fell to the earth & heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul &c. Ver. 7 And the men which journied with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man. SECT . I. Of S. PAUL , from his Birth till his Conversion . S. Paul , why placed next Peter . Tarsus the place of his Birth ; an University , and a Roman Corporation . His Parents of the old stock of Israel ; descended of the Tribe of Benjamin . Jacob's Prophecy applied to him by the Ancients . His Names ; Saul , whence ; Paul , when assumed , and why . His Education in the Schools of Tarsus , and in the Trade of Tent-making . The Custom of the Jews in bringing up their Youth to Manual Trades . His study of the Law under the Tutorage of Gamaliel . This Gamaliel , who . Why said to have been a Christian. Sitting at the feet of their Masters the posture of learners . His joyning himself to the Sect of the Pharisees . An Enquiry into the Temper and Manners of that Sect. The fiery Zeal and Activity of his Temper . His being engaged in Stephen's Martyrdom . His violent persecution of the Church . His journey to Damascus . His Conversion by the way , and the manner of it . His blindness . His rapture into the third Heaven , when ( probably . ) His sight restored . His being Baptized , and preaching Christ. THOUGH S. Paul was none of the Twelve Apostles , yet had he the honour of being an Apostle extraordinary , and to be immediately called in a way peculiar to himself . He justly deserves a place next S. Peter ; for as in their lives they were pleasant and lovely , so in their death they were not divided : especially if it be true , that they both suffered not only for the same cause , but at the same time , as well as place . S. Paul was born at Tarsus , the Metropolis of Cilicia ; a City infinitely rich and populous , and what contributed more to the fame and honour of it , an Academy , furnished with Schools of Learning , where the Scholars so closely plied their Studies , that as * Strabo informs us , they excelled in all Arts of polite Learning and Philosophy those of other places , yea , even of Alexandria , and Athens it self ; and that even Rome was beholden to it for many of its best Professors . It was a Roman Municipium , or free Corporation , invested with many Franchises and Priviledges by Julius Caesar , and Augustus , who granted to the Inhabitants of it the honours and immunities of Citizens of Rome . In which respect S. Paul owned and asserted it as the priviledge of his Birth-right , that he was a Roman , and thereby free from being bound or beaten . True it is , that * S. Hierom ( followed herein by ‖ one , who himself travelled in these parts ) makes him born at Gischalis , a well fortified Town in Judaea , which being besieged and taken by the Roman Army , his Parents fled away with him and dwelt at Tarsus . But besides that this contradicts S. Paul , who expresly affirms , that he was born at Tarsus , there needs no more to confute this opinion , than that * S. Hierom elsewhere slights it as a fabulous report . 2. HIS Parents were Jews , and that of the Ancient stock , not entering in by the Gate of proselytism , but originally descended from that Nation , which surely he means , when he says , That he was an Hebrew of the Hebrews , either because both his Parents were Jews , or rather , that all his Ancestors had been so . They belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin , whose Founder was the youngest son of the old Patriarch Jacob , who thus prophesied of him . Benjamin shall raven as a Wolf , in the morning he shall devour the prey , and at night he shall divide the spoil . This prophetical character * Tertullian , and others after him will have to be accomplished in our Apostle . As a ravening Wolf in the morning devouring the prey , that is , as a persecutor of the Churches , in the first part of his life destroying the flock of God : In the evening dividing the spoil , that is , in his declining and reduced age , as Doctor of the Nations , feeding and distributing to Christ's sheep . 3. WE find him described by two names in Scripture , one Hebrew , and the other Latin ; probably referring both to his Jewish and Roman capacity and relation . The one , Saul , a name frequent and common in the Tribe of Benjamin ever since the first King of Israel , who was of that name , was chosen out of that Tribe . In memory whereof they were wont to give their Children this name at their Circumcision . His other was , Paul , assumed by him , as some think , at his Conversion , to denote his humility ; as others , in memory of his converting Sergius Paulus the Roman Governour , in imitation of the Generals and Emperors of Rome , who were wont from the places and Nations that they conquered , to assume the name , as an additional honour and title to themselves , as Scipio Africanus , Caesar Germanicus , Parthicus , Sarmaticus , &c. But this seems no way consistent with the great humility of this Apostle . More probable therefore it is , what * Origen thinks , That he had a double name given him at his Circumcision ; Saul , relating to his Jewish original ; and Paul , referring to the Roman Corporation , where he was born . And this the Scripture seems to favour , when it says , Saul , who also is called Paul. Or if it was taken up by him afterwards , it was probably done at his Conversion , according to the custom and manner of the Hebrews , who used many times upon solemn and eminent occasions , especially upon their entering upon a more strict and religious course of life , to change their names , and assume one which they had not before . 4. IN his Youth he was brought up in the Schools of Tarsus , fully instructed in all the liberal Arts and Sciences , whereby he became admirably acquainted with foreign and external Authors . Together with which he was brought up to a particular Trade and course of life ; according to the great Maxim and principle of the Jews , That , * He who teaches not his son a Trade , teaches him to be a Thief . They thought it not only fit , but a necessary part of Education , for their wisest and most learned Rabbins to be brought up to a manual Trade , whereby , if occasion was , he might be able to maintain himself . Hence ( as ‖ Drusius observes ) nothing more common in their writings , than to have them denominated from their callings , Rabbi Jose the Tanner , Rabbi Jochanan the Shoomaker , Rabbi Juda the Baker , &c. A custom taken up by the Christians , especially the ‖ Monks and Asceticks of the Primitive times , who together with their strict profession and almost incredible exercises of devotion , each took upon him a particular Trade , whereat he daily wrought , and by his own hand-labour maintained himself . And this course of life the Jews were very careful should be free from all suspicion of scandal . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as they call * it ) a clean , that is , honest Trade , being wont to say , That he was happy that had his Parents imployed in an honest and commendable Calling ; as he was miserable , who saw them conversant in any sordid and dishonest 〈◊〉 of life . The Trade our Apostle was put to , was that of Tent-making , whereat he wrought , for some particular reasons , even after his calling to the Apostolate . An honest , but mean course of life , and as * Chrysostom observes , an argument that his Parents were not of the nobler and better rank ; however , it was an useful and gainful Trade , especially in those war-like Countries , where Armies had such frequent use of Tents . 5. HAVING run through the whole circle of the Sciences , and laid the sure foundations of humane Learning at Tarsus ; he was by his Parents sent to Jerusalem , to be perfected in the study of the Law , and put under the Tutorage of Rabban Gamaliel . This Gamaliel was the son of Rabban Symeon ( probably presumed to be the same Symeon that came into the Temple , and took Christ into his arms ) President of the Court of the Sanhedrim : he was a Doctor of the Law , a person of great wisdom and prudence , and head at that time of one of the Families of the Schools at Jerusalem . A man of chief eminency and authority in the Jewish Sanhedrim , and President of it at that very time when our Blessed Saviour was brought before it . He lived to a great age , and was buried by 〈◊〉 the proselyte , Author of the Chaldee Paraphrase ( one who 〈◊〉 loved and honoured him ) at his own vast expence and charge . He it was that made that wise and excellent speech in the Sanhedrim , in favour of the Apostles and their Religion . Nay , he himself is * said ( though I know not why ) to have been a Christian , and his sitting amongst the Senators to have been conniv'd at by the Apostles , that he might be the better friend to their affairs . ‖ Chrysippus , 〈◊〉 of the Church of Jerusalem adds , that he was brothers son to 〈◊〉 , together with whom he and his son Abib were baptized by Peter and John. This account he derives from Lucian , a Presbyter also of that Church under John Patriarch of Jerusalem , who in an Epistle of his still extant , tells us , that he had this , together with some other things , communicated to him in a Vision by Gamaliel himself . Which if true , no better evidence could be desired in this matter . At the feet of this Gamaliel , 8. Paul tells us , he was brought up , alluding to the custom of the Jewish Masters , who were wont to sit , while their Disciples and Scholars stood at their feet . Which honorary custom continued till the death of this Gamaliel , and was then left off . Their own * Talmud telling us , That since old Rabban Gamaliel died , the honour of the Law was perished , 〈◊〉 and Pharisaism were destroyed : which the Gloss thus explains , That whilest he lived , men were sound , and studied the Law standing ; but he being dead , weakness crept into the World , and they were forced to sit . 6. UNDER the Tuition of this great Master S. Paul was Educated in the knowledge of the Law , wherein he made such quick and vast improvements , that he soon out-stript his fellow-Disciples . Amongst the various Sects at that time in the Jewish Church , he was especially Educated in the Principles and Institutions of the Pharisees : Of which Sect was both his Father and his Master , whereof he became a most earnest and zealous professor . This being , as himself tells us , the strictest Sect of their Religion . For the understanding whereof , it may not be 〈◊〉 a little to enquire into the Temper and Manners of this Sect. * Josephus , though himself a Pharisee , gives this character of them , That they were a crafty and subtil generation of men , and so perverse even to Princes themselves , that they would not fear many times openly to affront and oppose them . And so far had they ‖ insinuated themselves into the affections and estimations of the populacy , that their good or ill word was enough to make , or blast any one with the people , who would implicitly believe them , let their report be never so false or malicious . And therefore Alexander 〈◊〉 , when he lay a dying , wisely advised his Queen by all means to comply with them , and to seem to Govern by their counsel and direction , affirming , that this had been the greatest cause of his fatal miscarriage , and that which had derived the odium of the Nation upon him , that he had offended this sort of men . Certain it is , that they were infinitely proud and insolent , surly and ill-natured , that they hated all mankind but themselves , & censured whoever would not be of their way , as a Villain and a Reprobate : greatly zealous to gather 〈◊〉 to their party , not to make them more religious , but more fierce and cruel , more carping and censorious , more heady and high-minded , in short , twofold more the children of the Devil , than they were before . All Religion and kindness was confined within the bounds of their own party , and the first principles wherewith they inspired their new converts were , That none but they were the godly party , and that all other persons were slaves and sons of the Earth : and therefore especially endeavoured to inspire them with a mighty zeal and fierceness against all that differed from them , so that if any one did but speak a good word of our Saviour , he should be presently excommunicated and cast out , persecuted and devoted to the death . To this end they were wont , not only to separate , but 〈◊〉 themselves from the herd and community , by some peculiar notes and badges of distinction ; such as their long Robes , broad 〈◊〉 , and their large Fringes and Borders of their Garments , whereby they made themselves known from the rest of men . These dogged and ill-natured principles , together with their seditious , unnatural , unjust , unmerciful , and uncharitable behaviour , which otherwise would have made them stink above-ground in the nostrils of men , they sought to palliate and 〈◊〉 over with a more than ordinary pretence and profession of Religion : but were especially active and diligent in what cost them little , the outward instances of Religion , such duties especially as did more immediately refer to God , as frequent fasting , and praying , which they did very often , and very long , with demure and mortified looks , in a whining and an affected tone , and this almost in every corner of the streets : and indeed so contrived the scheme of their Religion , that what they did , might appear above ground , where they might be seen of men to the best advantage . 7. THOUGH this seems to have been the general temper and disposition of the party , yet doubtless there were some amongst them of better and honester principles than the rest . In which number we have just reason to reckon our Apostle : who yet was deeply leavened with the active and fiery genius of the Sect ; not able to brook any opposite party in Religion , especially if late and novel . Insomuch that when the Jews were resolved to do execution upon Stephen , he stood by and kept the cloaths of them that did it . Whether he was any further engaged in the death of this innocent and good man , we do not find . However this was enough loudly to proclaim his approbation and consent . And therefore elsewhere we find him indicting himself for this fact , and pleading guilty . When the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed , I also was standing by , and consenting unto his death , and kept the raiment of them that slew him . God chiefly inspects the heart , and if the vote be passed there , writes the man guilty , though he stir no farther . 'T is easie to murder another by a silent wish , or a passionate desire . In all moral actions God values the will for the deed , and reckons the man a companion in the sin , who , though possibly he may never actually joyn in it , does yet inwardly applaud and like it . The storm thus begun , encreased a pace , and a violent persecution began to arise , which miserably afflicted and dispersed the Christians at Jerusalem . In which our Apostle was a prime Agent and Minister , raging about in all parts with a mad and ungovernable zeal , searching out the Saints , beating them in the Synagogues , compelling many to blaspheme , imprisoning others , and procuring them to be put to death . Indeed he was a kind of Inquisitor 〈◊〉 pravitatis to the High-Priest , by whom he was imployed to hunt and find out these upstart 〈◊〉 , who preached against the Law of Moses , and the Traditions of the Fathers . Accordingly having made strange havock at Jerusalem , he addressed himself to the Sanhedrim , and there took out a Warrant and Commission to go down and ransack the Synagogues at Damascus . How eternally infatiable is fury and a misguided zeal ! how restless and unwearied in its designs of cruelty ! it had already 〈◊〉 harassed the poor Christians at Jerusalem , but not content to have vexed them there , and to have driven them thence , it persecuted them unto strange Cities , following them even to Damascus it self , whither many of these persecuted Christians had 〈◊〉 for shelter , resolving to bring up those whom he found there to Jerusalem , in order to their punishment and execution . For the Jewish Sanhedrim had not only power of seising and scourging offenders against their Law within the bounds of their own Country , but by the connivence and favour of the Romans , might send into other Countries , where there were any Synagogues that acknowledged a dependence in Religious matters upon the Council at Jerusalem , to apprehend them ; as here they sent Paul to Damascus to fetch up what Christians he could find , to be arraigned and sentenced at Jerusalem . 8. BUT God who had designed him for work of another nature , and separated him from his Mothers womb to the preaching of the Gospel , stopt him in his journey . For while he was together with his company travelling on the Road , not far from Damascus , on a sudden a gleam of light beyond the splendor and brightness of the Sun , was darted from Heaven upon them , whereat being strangely amazed and confounded , they all fell to the ground , a voice calling to him , Saul , Saul , why persecutest thou me ? To which he replied , Lord , who art thou ? Who told him , That he was Jesus whom he persecuted , that what was done to the members was done to the head , that it was hard for him to kick against the pricks , that he now appeared to him , to make choice of him for a Minister , and a 〈◊〉 of what he had now seen , and should after hear ; that he would stand by him , and preserve him , and make him a great instrument in the conversion of the Gentile World. This said , He asked our Lord , what he would have him to do ? who bad him go into the City , where he should receive his Answer . S. Paul's companions , who had been present at this transaction , heard the voice , but saw not him that spoke to him : though elsewhere the Apostle himself affirms , that they saw the light , but heard not the voice of him that spake , that is , they heard a confused sound , but not a distinct and articulate voice ; or , more probably , being ignorant of the Hebrew Language , wherein our Lord spake to S. Paul , they heard the words , but knew not the sence and the meaning of them . 9. S. PAUL by this time was gotten up , but though he found his feet , yet he had lost his eyes , being stricken blind with the Extraordinary brightness of the light , and was accordingly led by his companions into Damascus . In which condition he there remained fasting three days together . At this time , we may probably suppose it was , that he had that vision and ecstasie , wherein he was taken up into the third Heaven , where he saw and heard things great and unutterable , and was fully instructed in the mysteries of the Gospel , and hence expresly affirms , that he was not taught the Gospel which he preached by man , but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. There was at this time at Damascus one Ananias , a very devout and religious man , ( one of the seventy Disciples , as the Ancients inform us , and probably the first planter of the Christian Church in this City ) and though a Christian , yet of great reputation amongst all the Jews . To him our Lord appeared , commanding him to go into such a street , and to such an house , and there enquire for one Saul of Tarsus , who was now at Prayer , and had seen him in a Vision coming to him , to lay his hands upon him , that 〈◊〉 might receive his sight . Ananias startled at the name of the man , having heard of his bloudy temper and practises , and upon what errand he was now come down to the City . But our Lord to take off his fears , told him , that he mistook the man , that he had now taken him to be a chosen vessel , to preach the Gospel both to Jews and Gentiles , and before the greatest Potentates upon Earth , acquainting him with what great things he should both do and suffer for his sake , what chains and imprisonments , what racks and scourges , what hunger and thirst , what shipwracks and death , he should undergo . Upon this Ananias went , laid his hands upon him , told him that our Lord had sent him to him , that he might receive his sight , and be filled with the Holy Ghost , which was no sooner done , but thick films like scales fell from his eyes , and his sight returned . And the next thing he did was to be baptized , and solemnly initiated into the Christian Faith. After which he joyned himself to the Disciples of that place , to the equal joy and wonder of the Church : that the Wolf should so soon lay down its fierceness , and put on the meek nature of a Lamb ; that he who had lately been so virulent a persecutor , should now become not a professor only , but a preacher of that Faith , which before he had routed and destroyed . SECT . II. Of S. Paul , from his Conversion , till the Council at Jerusalem . S. Paul's leaving Damascus , and why . His Three Years Ministry in Arabia . His return to Damascus . The greatness of that City . The design of the Jews to surprize S. Paul , and the manner of his escape . His coming to Jerusalem , and converse with Peter and James . His departure thence . The Disciples first stiled Christians 〈◊〉 Antioch . This when done , and by whom . The solemnity of it . The importance of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , what . S. Paul's Journey to Jerusalem with contributions . His voyage to Cyprus , and planting Christianity there . The opposition made by Elymas , and his severe punishment . The Proconsuls conversion . His preaching to the Jews at Antioch of Pisidia . His curing a Cripple at Lystra ; and discourse to the people about their Idolatry . The Apostles way of arguing noted ; and his discourse concerning the Being and Providence of God illustrated . His confirming the Churches in the Faith. The controversie at Antioch ; and S. Paul's account of it in the Synod at Jerusalem . SAINT Paul staid not long at Damascus after his Conversion , but having received an immediate intimation from Heaven , probably in the Ecstasie wherein he was caught up thither , he waited for no other counsel or direction in the case , lest he should seem to derive his Mission and Authority from Men , and being not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision , he presently retired out of the City ; and the sooner probably , to decline the Odium of the Jews , and the effects of that rage and malice , which he was sure would pursue and follow him . He withdrew into the parts of Arabia , where he spent the first fruits of his Ministery , Preaching up and down for three Years together . After which he returned back to Damascus , Preached openly in the Synagogues , and convinced the Jews of Christ's Messiah-ship , and the truth of his Religion . Angry and inraged hereat , they resolved his Ruine , which they knew no better way to effect , than by exasperating and incensing the Civil powers against him . Damascus was a place , not more venerable for its Antiquity , if not built by , at least it gave title to Abraham's steward , hence called , Eliezer of Damascus , than it was considerable for its strength , stateliness and scituation : it was the noblest City of all Syria ( as * Justin of old , and the Arabian ‖ Geographer has since informed us , and the Prophet Isaiah before both calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the head of Syria ) seated in a most healthful Air , in a most fruitful Soyl , watered with most pleasant Fountains and Rivers , rich in Merchandize , adorned with stately Buildings , goodly and magnificent Temples , and fortified with strong Guards and Garrisons : in all which respects * Julian calls it the Holy and great Damascus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Eye of the whole East . Scituate it was between Libanus and Mount Hermon , and though properly belonging to Syria , yet Arabiae retro deputabatur ( as ‖ Tertullian tells us ) was in after times reckoned to Arabia . Accordingly at this time it was under the Government of Aretas ( Father-in-law to Herod the Tetrarch ) King of Arabia Petraea , a Prince tributary to the Roman Empire . By him there was an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Governour , who had Jurisdiction over the whole Syria Damascena , placed over it , who kept constant residence in the City , as a place of very great importance . To him the Jews made their address , with crafty and cunning insinuations perswading him to apprehend S. Paul , possibly under the notion of a Spy , there being War at this time between the Romans , and that King. Hereupon the Gates were shut , and extraordinary Guards set , and all Engines that could be laid to take him . But the Disciples to prevent their cruel designs , at Night put him into a Basket , and let him down over the City-wall . And the place , we are * told , is still shewed to Travellers , not far from the Gate , thence called S. Paul's Gate at this day . 2. HAVING thus made his escape , he set forwards for Jerusalem , where when he arrived , he addressed himself to the Church . But they knowing the former temper and principles of the Man , universally shunn'd his company ; till Barnabas brought him to Peter , who was not yet cast into Prison , and to James , our Lord's Brother , Bishop of Jerusalem , acquainting them with the manner of his conversion , and by them he was familiarly entertained . Here he staid fifteen days , preaching Christ , and confuting the Hellenist Jews with a mighty courage and resolution . But snares were here again laid to intrap him , as malice can as well cease to be , as to be restless and active . Whereupon he was warned by God in a Vision , that his Testimony would not find acceptance in that place , that therefore he should leave it , and betake himself to the Gentiles . Accordingly being conducted by the Brethren to Caesarea , he set saile for Tarsus , his Native City , from whence not long after he was fetched by Barnabas to Antioch , to assist him in propagating Christianity in that place . In which imployment they continued there a whole Year . And now it was that the Disciples of the Religion were at this place first called Christians ; according to the manner of all other Institutions , who were wont to take their denominations from the first Authors and Founders of them . Before this they were usually stiled ‖ Nazarens , as being the Disciples and followers of Jesus of Nazareth , a Name by which the Jews in scorn call them to this day , with the same intent that the Gentiles of old used to call them Galileans . The name of Nazarenes was hence-forward fixed upon those Jewish converts , who mixed the Law and the Gospel , and compounded a Religion out of Judaism and Christianity . The fixing this honourable Name upon the Disciples of the crucified Jesus was done at Antioch ( as an ancient * Historian informs us ) about the beginning of Claudius his Reign , Ten Years after Christ's Ascension ; nay , he further adds , that Euodius lately ordained Bishop of that place was the person that imposed this name upon them , stiling them Christians , who before were called Nazarenes and Galilaeans , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as my Authors words are . I may not omit , what a learned ‖ Man has observed , that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by S. Luke ( they were called ) implies the thing to have been done by some publick and solemn act and declaration of the whole Church , such being the use of the word in the Imperial Edicts and proclamations of those times , the Emperors being said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to stile themselves , when they publickly proclaimed by what titles they would be called . When any Province submitted it self to the Roman Empire , the Emperor was wont by publick Edict 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to entitle himself to the Government and Jurisdiction of it , and the People to several great priviledges and immunities . In a grateful sense whereof the People usually made this time the solemn date of their common Epocha or computation . Thus ( as the forementioned * Historian informs us ) it was in the particular case of Antioch , and thence their publick AEra was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Ascription of the People of Antioch . Such being the general acception of the word , S. Luke ( who was himself a Native of this City ) makes use of it to express that solemn declaration , whereby the Disciples of the Religion entitled themselves to the Name of Christians . 3. IT happened about this time that a terrible Famine , foretold by Agabus , afflicted several parts of the Roman Empire , but especially Judaea : The consideration whereof made the Christians at Antioch compassionate the case of their suffering Brethren , and accordingly raised considerable contributions for their relief and succour , which they sent to Jerusalem by Barnabas and Paul , who having dispatched their Errand in that City , went back to Antioch . Where while they were joyning in the publick exercises of their Religion , it was revealed to them by the H. Ghost , that they should set apart Paul and Barnabas to preach the Gospel in other places . Which was done accordingly , and they by Prayer , Fasting and Imposition of Hands immediately deputed for that service . Hence they departed to Seleucia , and thence sailed to Cyprus , where at Salamis , a great City in that Island , they Preached in the Synagogues of the Jews . Hence they removed to Paphos , the residence of Sergius Paulus the Proconsul of the Island , a Man of great wisdom and prudence , but miserably seduced by the wicked Artifices of Barjesus a Jewish Impostor , who called himself Elymas , or the Magician , vehemently opposed the Apostles , and kept the Proconsul from embracing of the Faith. Nay , ‖ one who pretends to be ancient enough to know it , seems to intimate , that he not only spake , but wrote against S. Paul's Doctrine , and the Faith of Christ. However , the Proconsul calls for the Apostles , and S. Paul first takes Elymas to task , and having severely checked him for his malicious opposing of the truth , told him , that the Divine Vengeance was now ready to seize upon him . Upon which he was immediately struck blind . The Vengeance of God observing herein a kind of just proportion , that he should be punished with the loss of his Bodily eyes , who had so wilfully and maliciously shut the eyes of his mind against the light of the Gospel , and had indeavoured to keep not only himself , but others under so much blindness and darkness . This Miracle turned the Scale with the Proconsul , and quickly brought him over a Convert to the Faith. 4. AFTER this success in Cyprus , he went to Perga in Pamphilia , where taking Titus along with him in the room of Mark , who was returned to Jerusalem , they went to Antioch the Metropolis of Pisidia . Where entring into the Jewish Synagogue on the Sabbath Day , after some Sections of the Law were read , they were invited by the Rulers of the Synagogue to discourse a little to the People . Which S. Paul did in a large and eloquent Sermon , wherein he put them in mind of the many great and particular blessings which God had heaped upon the Jewes , from the first Originals of that Nation ; that he had crowned them all with the sending of his Son , to be the Messiah and the Saviour , that though the Jewes had ignorantly crucified this just , innocent Person , yet that God according to his own predictions had raised him up from the dead , that through Him they preached forgiveness of sins , and that by Him alone it was that Men , if ever , must be justified and acquitted from that Guilt and Condemnation , which all the pompous Ceremonies , and Ministeries of the Mosaic Law could never do away : That therefore they should do well to take heed lest by their opposing this way of Salvation , they should bring upon themselves that prophetical curse , which God had threatned to the Jews of old for their great contumacy and neglect . This Sermon wanted not its due effects . The 〈◊〉 - Jewes desired the Apostles to discourse again to them of this matter the next Sabbath Day , the Apostles also perswading them to continue firm in the belief of these things . The Day was no sooner come , but the whole City almost flocked to be their Auditors , which when the Jewes saw , acted by a spirit of envy , they began to blaspheme , and to contradict the Apostles , who nothing daunted , told them that our Lord had charged them first to preach the Gospel to the Jews , which since they so obstinately rejected , they were now to address themselves to the Gentiles , who hearing this exceedingly rejoyced at the good news , and magnified the Word of God , and as many of them as were thus prepared and disposed towards eternal life , heartily closed with it and embraced it ; the Apostles preaching not there only , but through the whole Country round about . The Jews more exasperated than before , resolved to be rid of their company , and to that end perswaded some of the more devout and honourable Women , to deal with their Husbands , Persons of prime rank and quality in the City , by whose means they were driven out of those parts . Whereat Paul and Barnabas shaking off the dust of their Feet , as a Testimony against their ingratitude and infidelity , departed from them . 5. THE next place they went to was Iconium , where at first they found kind entertainment , and good success , God setting a Seal to their Doctrine by the Testimony of his Miracles . But here the Jewish malice began again to ferment , exciting the People to sedition and a mutiny against them . Insomuch that hearing of a 〈◊〉 to stone them , they seasonably withdrew to Lystra : where they first made their way by a miraculous cure . For S. Paul seeing an impotent Cripple that had been lame from his Mothers Womb , cured him with the speaking of a word . The People who beheld the Miracle , had so much natural Logick , as to infer , that there was a Divinity in the thing , though mistaking the Author , they applied it to the Instruments , crying out , That the Gods in humane shape were come down from Heaven ; Paul as being chief Speaker , they termed Mercury , the God of speech and eloquence ; Barnabas by reason of his Age and gravity , they called Jupiter , the Father of their Gods ; accordingly the Syriac Interpreter here renders Jupiter by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord , or Soveraign of the Gods. The fame of this being spread over the City , the Priest of Jupiter brought Oxen , dressed up with Garlands after the Gentile Rites , to the House where the Apostles were , to do Sacrifice to them . Which they no sooner understood , but in detestation of those undue honours offered to them , they rent their clothes , and told them that they were Men of the same make and temper , of the same passions and infirmities with themselves , that the design of their Preaching was to convert them from these vain Idolatries and superstitions , to the worship of the true God , the great Parent of the World , who though heretofore he had left Men to themselves , to go on in their own ways of Idolatrous worship , yet had he given sufficient evidence of himself in the constant returns of a gracious and benign providence in crowning the Year with fruitful Seasons , and other acts of common kindness and bounty to Mankind . 6. A SHORT discourse , but very rational and convictive , which it may not be amiss a little more particularly to consider , and the method which the Apostle uses to convince these blind Idolaters . He proves Divine honours to be due to God alone , as the Sovereign Being of the World , and that there is such a Supreme infinite Being , he argues from his Works both of Creation and Providence . Creation , He is the living God that made Heaven , and Earth , the Sea , and all things that are therein . Providence , He left not himself without witness , in that he did good , and gave rain from Heaven , and fruitful seasons , filling our hearts with food and gladness . Than which no argument can be more apt and proper to work upon the minds of men . That which may be known of God is manifest to the Gentiles , for God hath shewed it unto them . For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world , even his eternal power and Godhead , are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made : It being impossible impartially to survey the several parts of the Creation , and not see in every place evident footsteps of an infinite wisdom , power , and goodness . Who can look up unto the Heavens , and not there discern and Almighty wisdom , beautifully garnishing those upper Regions , distinguishing the circuits , and perpetuating the motions of the Heavenly lights ? placing the Sun in the middle of the Heavens , that he might equally dispence and communicate his light and heat to all parts of the World , and not burn the Earth with the too near approach of his seorching beams : by which means the Creatures are refreshed and cheared , the Earth impregnated with fruits and flowers by the benign influence of a vital heat , and the vicissitudes and seasons of the year regularly distinguished by their constant and orderly revolutions . Whence are the great Orbs of Heaven kept in continual motion , always going in the same tract , but because there 's a Superiour power that keeps these great wheels a going ? Who is it that poises the ballancings of the Clouds ; that divides a water-course for the overflowing of waters , and a way for the lightning of the Thunder ? Who can bind the sweet influences of Pleiades , or loose the bands of Orion ? Or who can bring forth Mazaroth in his season , or guide Arcturus with his sons ? Do these come by chance ? or by the secret appointment of infinite wisdom ? Who can consider the admirable thinness and purity of the Air , its immediate subserviency to the great ends of the Creation , its being the treasury of vital breath to all living Creatures , without which the next moment must put a period to our days , and not reflect upon that Divine wisdom that contrivedit ? If we come down upon the Earth , there we discover a Divine providence , supporting it with the pillars of an invisible power , stretching the North over the empty space , and hanging the Earth upon nothing ; filling it with great variety of admirable and useful Creatures , and maintaining them all according to their kinds at his own cost and charges . 'T is he that clothes the Grass with a delightful verdure , that crowns the Year with his loving kindness , and makes the Valleys stand thick with corn ; that causes the Grass to grow for the Cattel , and Herb for the service of Man , that he may bring forth food out of the Earth ; and Wine that maketh glad the heart of man , and Oil to make his face to shine , and Bread which strengthneth man's heart ; that beautifies the Lilies that neither toil nor spin , and that with a glory that out-shines Solomon in all his pomp and grandeur . From Land let us ship our observations to Sea , and there we may descry the wise effects of infinite understanding : A wide Ocean fitly disposed for the mutual commerce and correspondence of one part of mankind with another ; filled with great and admirable Fishes , and enriched with the treasures of 〈◊〉 deep . What but an Almighty arm can shut in the Sea with doors , bind it by a 〈◊〉 tual decree that it cannot pass , and tye up its wild raging waves with no stronger 〈◊〉 dage than ropes of Sand ? Who but he commands the storm , and stills the 〈◊〉 and brings the Mariner , when at his wits-end , in the midst of the greatest dangers , to his desired Haven ? They that go down to the Sea in ships , and do business in great waters ; these see the works of the Lord , and his wonders in the deep . So impossible is it for a man to stand in any part of the Creation , wherein he may not discern evidences enough of an infinitely wise , gracious and Omnipotent Being . Thus much I thought good to add , to illustrate the Apostles argument ; whence he strongly infers , that 't is very reasonable , that we should worship and adore this great Creator and Benefactor , and not transfer the honours due to him alone upon men of frail and sinful passions , and much less upon dumb Idols , unable either to make or to help themselves . An argument , which though very plain and plausible , and adapted to the meanest understandings , yet was all little enough to restrain the people from offering Sacrifice to them . But how soon was the wind turned into another corner ? The old spirit of the Jews did still haunt and pursue them : Who coming from Antioch and 〈◊〉 , exasperated and stirred up the multitude . And they who just before accounted them as Gods , used them now worse , not only than ordinary men , but slaves . For in a mighty rage they fall upon S. Paul , stone him , as they thought , dead , and then drag him out of the City : Whither the Christians of that place coming , probably to interr him , he suddenly revived , and rose up amongst them , and the next day went thence to Derbe . 7. HERE they preached the Gospel , and then returned to Lystra , 〈◊〉 , and Antioch of Pisidia , confirming the Christians of those places in the belief and profession of Christianity , earnestly perswading them to persevere , and not be discouraged with those troubles and persecutions which they must expect would attend the profession of the Gospel . And that all this might succeed the better , with fasting and prayer they ordained Governours and Pastors in every Church , and having recommended them to the grace of God , departed from them . From hence they passed through Pisidia and thence came to Pamphilia , and having preached to the people at Perga , they went down to Attalia . And thus having at this time finished the whole circuit of their Ministery , they returned back to Antioch in Syria , the place whence they had first set out . Here they acquainted the Church with the various transactions and successes of their travels , and how great a door had hereby been opened to the conversion of the Gentile World. 8. WHILE S. Paul staid at Antioch there arose that famous controversie about the observation of the Mosaic Rites , set on foot and brought in by some Jewish Converts that came down thither , whereby great disturbances and distractions were made in the minds of the people . For the composing whereof the Church of Antioch resolved to send Paul and Barnabas to consult with the Apostles and Church at Jerusalem . In their way thither , they declared to the Brethren , as they went along , what success they had had in the conversion of the Gentiles . Being come to Jerusalem , they first addressed themselves to Peter , James , and John , the pillars and principal persons in that place : By whom they were kindly entertained , and admitted to the right hand of fellowship . And perceiving by the account which S. Paul gave them , that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to him , as that of the circumcision was to Peter ; they ratified it by compact and agreement , that Peter should preach to the Jews , and Paul unto the Gentiles . Hereupon a Council was summoned , wherein Peter having declared his sence of things , Paul and Barnabas acquainted them what great things God by their Ministery had done among the Gentiles . A plain evidence , that though uncircumcised , they were accepted by God as well as the Jews with all their legal Rites and Priviledges . The issue of the debate was , That the Gentiles were not under the obligation of the Law of Moses , and that therefore some persons of their own should be joyned with Paul and Barnabas , to carry the Canons and decrees of the Council down to Antioch , for their fuller satisfaction in this matter . But of this affair we shall give the Reader a more distinct and particular account in another place . SECT . III. Of S. Paul , from the time of the Synod at Jerusalem , till his departure from Athens . S. Paul's carrying the Apostolick Decree to Antioch . His 〈◊〉 with Peter . The dissention between him and Barnabas . His Travels to confirm the new-planted Churches . The conversion of Lydia at Philippi . The Jewish Proseuchae , what ; the frequency of them in all places . The dispossessing of a Pythonesse . S. Paul's imprisonment and ill usage at Philippi . The great provision made by the Roman Laws for the security of its Subjects . His preaching at Thessalonica and Beraea . His going to Athens . The fame of that place . His doctrine opposed by the Stoicks and Epicureans , and why . The great 〈◊〉 and Superstition of that City . The Altar to the Unknown God. This Unknown God , who . The Superstition of the Jews in concealing the name of God. This imitated by the Gentiles . Their general Forms of 〈◊〉 their Deities noted . The particular occasion of these Altars at Athens , whence . S. Paul's discourse to the Philosophers in the Areopagus concerning the Divine Being and Providence . The different entertainment of his Doctrine . Dionysius the Areopagite , who . His Learning , Conversion , and being made Bishop of Athens . The difference between him and S. Denys of Paris . The Books published under his name . 1. SAINT Paul and his Companions having received the Decretal Epistle , returned back to 〈◊〉 ; where they had not been long before Peter came thither to them . And according to the Decree of the Council freely and inoffensively conversed with the Gentiles : Till some of the Jews coming down thither from Jerusalem , he withdrew his converse , as if it were a thing unwarrantable and unlawful . By which means the minds of many were dissatisfied , and their Consciences very much ensnared . Whereat S. Paul being exceedingly troubled , publickly rebuked him for it , and that as the case required , with great sharpness and severity . It was not long after , that S. Paul and 〈◊〉 resolved upon visiting the Churches , which they had lately planted among the Gentiles . To which end Barnabas determined to take his cousin Mark along with them . This , Paul would by no means agree to , he having deserted them in their former journey : A little spark , which yet kindled a great feud and dissention between these two good men , and arose to that height , that in some discontent they parted from each other . So natural is it for the best of men sometimes to indulge an unwarrantable passion , and so far to espouse the interest of a private and particular humour , as rather to hazard the great Law of Charity , and violate the bands of friendship , than to recede from it . The effect was , Barnabas taking his Nephew , went for Cyprus , his native Country , S. Paul made choice of Silas , and the success of his undertaking being first recommended to the Divine care and goodness , they set forwards on their journey . 2. THEIR first passage was into Syria and Cilicia , confirming the Churches as they went along . And to that end 〈◊〉 with them Copies of the Synodical Decrees , lately ordained in the Council at Jerusalem . Hence we may suppose it was that he set 〈◊〉 for Crete , where he preached and propagated Christianity , and constituted Titus to be the first Bishop and Pastor of that Island , whom he left there , to settle and dispose those affairs , which the shortness of his own stay in those parts would not suffer him to do . Hence he returned back unto Cilicia , and came to Lystra , where he found Timothy , whose Father was a Greek , his Mother a Jewish convert , by whom he had been brought up under all the advantages of a pious and religious education , and especially an incomparable skill and dexterity in the holy Scriptures . S. Paul designing him for the companion of his travels , and a special instrument in the Ministery of the Gospel , and knowing that his being uncircumcised would be a mighty prejudice in the opinion and estimation of the Jews , caused him to be circumcised ; being willing in lawful and indifferent matters ( such was Circumcision now become ) to accommodate himself to mens humors and apprehensions for the saving of their Souls . 3. FROM hence with his company he passed through Phrygia , and the Country of Galatia , where he was entertained by them with as mighty a kindness and veneration , as if he had been an Angel immediately sent from Heaven . And being by Revelation forbidden to go into Asia , by a second Vision he was commanded to direct his journey for Macedonia . And here it was that S. Luke joyned himself to his company , and became ever after his inseparable companion . Sailing from Troas , they arrived at the Island Samothracia , and thence to 〈◊〉 , from whence they went to Philippi , the chief City of that part of Macedonia , and a Roman Colony : where he staid some considerable time to plant the Christian Faith , and where his Ministery had more particular success on Lydia , a Purple-seller , born at 〈◊〉 , baptized together with her whole Family ; and with her the Apostle sojourned during his residence in that place . A little without this City there was a Proseucha , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Syriac renders it , an Oratory , or house of Prayer , whereto the Apostle and his company used frequently to retire , for the exercise of their Religion , and for preaching the Gospel to 〈◊〉 that resorted thither . The Jews had 〈◊〉 sorts of places for their publick worship : The Temple at Jerusalem , which was like the Cathedral , or Mother-Church , where all Sacrifices and Oblations were 〈◊〉 , and where all Males were bound three times a-year personally to pay their devotions : Their Synagogues ( many whereof they had almost in every place , not unlike our Parochial Churches ) where the Scriptures were read and expounded , and the people taught their duty . Moses of old time hath in every City them that preach him , being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day . And then they had their 〈◊〉 ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Philo sometimes calls them ) or 〈◊〉 , which were like Chappels of Ease to the Temple and the 〈◊〉 , whither the people were wont to come solemnly to offer up their Prayers to Heaven . They were built ( as * 〈◊〉 informs us ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without the City , in the open Air and uncovered , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , being large spacious places , after the manner of Fora , or Market-places , and these they called 〈◊〉 . And that the Jews and Samaritans had such places of Devotion , he proves from this very place at Philippi , where S. Paul preached . For they had them not in Judaea only , but even at Rome it self , where Tiberius ( as * Philo tells 〈◊〉 the Emperor ) suffered the Jews to inhabit the Transtiberin Region , and undisturbedly to 〈◊〉 according to the Rites of their Institutions , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 to have their Proseucha's , and to meet in them , especially upon their holy Sabbaths , that they might be familiarly instructed in the Laws and Religion of their Country . Such they had also in other places , especially where they had not , or were not suffered to have Synagogues for their publick worship . But to return . 4. AS they were going to this Oratory , they were often followed by a Pythonesse , a Maid-servant , acted by a spirit of Divination , who openly cried out , That these men were the servants of the most high God , who came to shew the way of Salvation to the World. So easily can Heaven extort a Testimony from the mouth of Hell. But S. Paul , to shew how little he needed Satan to be his witness , commanded the Daemon to come out , which immediately left her . The evil Spirit thus thrown out of possession , presently raised a storm against the Apostles ; for the Masters of the Damsel , who used by her Diabolical arts to raise great advantages to themselves , being sensible that now their gainful Trade was spoil'd , resolved to be revenged on them that had spoiled it . Accordingly they laid hold upon them , and drag'd them before the Seat of Judicature , insinuating to the Governours , that these men were Jews , and sought to introduce different customs and ways of worship , contrary to the Laws of the Roman Empire . The Magistrates and People were soon agreed , the one to give Sentence , the other to set upon the Execution . In fine , they were stript , beaten , and then commanded to be thrown into Prison ; and the Jaylor charged to keep them with all possible care and strictness . Who to make sure of his charge , thrust them into the Inner-Dungeon , and made their feet fast in the Stocks . But a good man can turn a Prison into a Chappel , and make a den of Thieves to be an house of Prayer . Our feet cannot be bound so fast to the Earth , but that still our hearts may mount up to Heaven . At midnight the Apostles were over-heard by their fellow-prisoners , praying , and singing Hymns to God. But after the still voice came the Tempest . An Earthquake suddenly 〈◊〉 the foundations of the Prison , the Doors 〈◊〉 open , and their Chains fell off . The Jaylor awaking with this amazing accident , concluded with himself , that the Prisoners were fled , and to prevent the Sentence of publick Justice , was going to lay violent hands upon himself , which S. Paul espying , called out to him to hold his hand , and told him they were all there : Who thereupon came in to them with a greater Earthquake in his own Conscience , and falling down before them , asked them , What he should do to be saved ? They told him there was no other way of Salvation for him or his , than an hearty and sincere embracing of the Faith of Christ. What a happy change does Christianity make in the minds of men ! How plain does it smooth the roughest tempers , and instill the sweetest principles of civility and good nature ! He who but a little before had tyrannized over the Apostles with the most merciless and cruel usage , began now to treat them with all the arts of kindness and charity , bringing them out of the Dungeon , and washing their stripes and wounds , and being more fully instructed in the principles of Christianity , was , together with his whole Family , immediately baptized by them . Early in the morning the Magistrates sent Officers privately to release them : Which the Apostles refused , telling them , That they were not only innocent persons , but Romans ; that they had been illegally condemned & beaten , that therefore their delivery should be as publick , as the injury , and an open vindication of their innocency , and that they themselves , that had sent them thither , should fetch them thence ; for the Roman Government was very tender of the lives and liberties of its own subjects , those especially that were free Denizens of Rome , every injury offered to a Roman being look'd upon as an affront against the Majesty of the whole people of Rome . Such a one might not be beaten ; but to be 〈◊〉 , or bound , without being first legally heard and tried , was not only against the Roman , but the Laws of all Nations : * and the more publick any injury was , the greater was its aggravation , & the Laws required a more strict and solemn reparation . S. Paul who was a Roman , and very well understood the Laws and priviledges of Rome , insisted upon this , to the great startling and affrighting of the Magistrates , who sensible of their error , came to the Prison , and intreated them to depart . Whereupon going to Lydia's house , and having saluted and encouraged the Brethren , they departed from that place . 5. LEAVING Philippi , they came next to Thessalonica , the Metropolis of Macedonia ; where Paul , according to his custom , presently went to the Jewish Synagogue , for three Sabbath-days , reasoning and disputing with them , proving from the predictions of the Old Testament , that the 〈◊〉 was to suffer , and to rise again , and that the blessed Jesus was this Messiah . Great numbers , especially of religious Proselytes , were converted by his preaching : while like the Sun that melts wax , but hardens clay , it wrought a quite contrary effect in the unbelieving Jews , who presently ser themselves to blow up the City into a tumult and an uproar , and missing S. Paul ( who had withdrawn himself ) they fell foul upon Jason , in whose house he lodged ; representing to the Magistrates , that they were enemies to Caesar , and sought to undermine the peace and prosperity of the Roman Empire . At night Paul and Silas were conducted by the Brethren to Beraea . Where going to the Synagogue , they found the people of a more noble and generous , a more pliable and ingenuous temper , ready to entertain the Christian doctrine , but yet not willing to take it merely upon the Apostles word , till they had first compared his preaching with what the Scriptures say of the Messiah and his Doctrine . And the success was answerable , in those great numbers that came over to them . But the Jewish malice pursued them still , for hearing at Thessalonica , what entertainment they had found in this place , they presently came down , to exasperate and stir up the people . To avoid which , S. Paul leaving Silas and Timothy behind him , thought good to withdraw himself from that place . 6. FROM Beraea he went to Athens , one of the most renowned Cities in the World , excelling all others ( says an Ancient * Historian ) in Antiquity , Humanity , and Learning : Indeed it was the great seat of Arts and Learning , and as ‖ Cicero will have it , the fountain whence Civility , Learning , Religion , Arts and Laws were derived into all other Nations . So universally flocked to by all that had but the least kindness for the Muses , or good Manners , that he who had not seen Athens , was accounted a Block ; he who having seen it , was not in love with it , a dull stupid Asse ; and he who after he had seen it , could be willing to leave it , fit for nothing but to be a Pack-Horse . Here among the several Sects of Philosophers , he had more particular contests with the 〈◊〉 and Epicureans , who beyond all the rest seemed enemies to Christianity . The Epicureans , because they found their pleasant and jovial humour , and their loose and exorbitant course of life , so much checked and controlled by the strict and severe precepts of Christ , and that Christianity so plainly and positively asserted a Divine providence , that governs the World , and that will adjudge to men suitable rewards and punishments in another World. The Stoicks on the other hand , though pretending to principles of great and uncommon rigour and severity , and such as had nearest affinity to the doctrines of the Christian Religion , yet found themselves aggrieved with it : That meek and humble temper of mind , that modesty and self-denial , which the Gospel so earnestly recommends to us , and so strictly requires of us , being so directly contrary to the immoderate pride and ambition of that Sect , who beyond all proportions of reason were not ashamed to make their wise man equal to , and in some things to exceed God himself . 7. WHILE S. Paul staid at Athens in expectation of Silas and Timothy to come to him , he went up and down to take a more curious view and survey of the City ; which he found miserably overgrown with Superstition and Idolatry . As indeed Athens was noted by all their own writers for far greater numbers of Deities and Idols than all Greece besides . They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 * Strabo notes : Not more sond of strangers and novelties in other things , than forward to comply with novelties in Religion , ready to entertain any foreign Deities and Rites of worship ; no Divinity that was elsewhere adored , coming amiss to them . Whence Athens is by ‖ one of their own Orators stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the great Summ and Center of Piety and Religion : And he there aggravates the impiety of Epicurus , in speaking unworthily and irreverently of the Gods , from the place where he did it ; at Athens , a place so pious , so devoted to them . Indeed herein justly commendable , that they could not brook the least dishonourable reflexion upon any Deity , and therefore * Apollonius Tyanaeus tells Timasion , that the safest way was to speak well of all the Gods , and especially at Athens , where Altars were dedicated even to Unknown Gods. And so S. Paul here found it , for among the several Shrines and places of Worship and Devotion , he took more particular notice of one Altar inscribd To the Unknown God. The intire Inscription , whereof the Apostle quotes only part of the last words , is thought to have been this . TO the Gods of Asia , Europe , and Africa , to the strange and UNKNOWN GOD. Saint * Hierom represents it in the same manner , onely makes it Gods in the plural number , which because , says he , S. Paul needed not , he only cited it in the singular . Which surely he affirms without any just ground and warrant : though it cannot be denied , but that Heathen Writers make frequent mention of the Altars of unknown Gods , that were at Athens , as there want not others who speak of some erected there to an unknown God. This Notion the Athenians might probably borrow from the Hebrews , who had the Name of God in great secrecy and veneration . This being one of the Titles given him by the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a hidden God , or a God that hides himself . Sure I am that ‖ Justin Martyr tells us , that one of the principal names given to God by some of the Heathens , was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one altogether hidden . Hence the Egyptians probably derived their great God Ammon , or more truly Amun , which signifies occult , or hidden . Accordingly in this passage of S. Paul the Syriac Interpreter renders it , the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the hidden God. The Jews were infinitely superstitious in concealing the Name of God , not thinking it lawful ordinarily to pronounce it . This made the Gentiles , strangers at best both to the Language and Religion of the Jews , at a great loss by what Name to call him , only stiling him in general an uncertain , unspeakable , invisible Deity ; whence * Caligula in his ranting Oration to the Jewes , told them , that wretches as they were , though they refused to own him , whom all others had confessed to be a Deity , yet they could worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their own nameless God. And hence the Gentiles derived their custom of keeping secret the name of their Gods ; Thus (a) Plutarch tells us of the Tutelar Deity of Rome , that it was not lawful to name it , or so much as to enquire what Sex it was of , whether God or Goddess ; and that for once revealing it , Valerius Soranus ; though Tribune of the People , came to an untimely end , and was crucified , the vilest and most dishonourable kind of death . Whereof among other reasons he assigns this , that by concealing the Author of their publick safety , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not he only , but all the other Gods might have due honour and worship paid to them . Hence in their publick adorations , after the Invocation of particular Deities , they were wont to add some more general and comprehensive form , as when Cicero had been making his address to most of their particular Gods , he concludes with a * Caeteros item Deos , Deasque omnes imploro atque obtestor . Usually the form was , DII DEAEQUE OMNES. The reason whereof was this , that not being assured many times what that peculiar Deity was , that was proper to their purpose , or what numbers of Gods there were in the World , they would not 〈◊〉 or offend any , by seeming to neglect and pass them by . And this ‖ Chrysostome thinks to have been particularly designed in the erection of this Athenian Altar , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they were afraid lest there might be some other Deity ( besides those whom they particularly worshipped ) as yet unknown to them , though honoured and adored elsewhere , and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the more security , they dedicated an Altar to the unknown God. As for the particular occasion of erecting theso Altars at Athens ( omitting that of Pans appearing to Philippides , mentioned by Occumenius ) the most probable seems to be this . When a great Plague raged at * Athens , and several means had been attempted for the removal of it , they were advised by 〈◊〉 the Philosopher , to build an Altar , and dedicate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to the proper and peculiar Deity , to whom it did appertain , be he what he would . A course which proving successful , no doubt gave occasion to them by way of gratitude to erect more shrines to this unknown God. And accordingly Laertius , who lived long after S. Paul's time , tells us that there were such nameless Altars ( he means such as were not inscribed to any particular Deity ) in and about Athens in his days , as Monuments of that eminent deliverance . 7. BUT whatever the particular cause might be , hence it was that S. Paul took occasion , to discourse of the true , but to them unknown God. For the Philosophers had before treated him with a great deal of scorn and derision , asking what that idle and prating fellow had to say to them ? Others looking upon him as a propagater of new and strange Gods , because he preached to them Jesus and Anastasis or the Resurrection , which they looked upon as two upstart Deities ; lately come into the World. Hereupon they brought him to the place , where stood the famous Senate-house of the Areopagites , and according to the Athenian humour , which altogether delighted in curious novelties , running up and down the 〈◊〉 , and places of publick concourse to see any strange accident , or hear any new report ( a vice which their own great * Orator long since taxed them with ) they asked him , what that new and strange Doctrine was , which he preached to them ? Whereupon , in a neat and elegant discourse he began to tell them , he had observed how much they were over-run with superstition , that their zeal for Religion was indeed generous and commendable , but which miserably over-shot its due measures and proportions ; that he had taken notice of an Altar among them Inscribed , To the unknown God , and therefore in compassion to their blind and misguided zeal , he would declare unto them the Deity which they ignorantly worshipped ; and that this was no other , than the great God , the Creator of all things , the Supreme Governor and Ruler of the World , who was incapable of being confined within any Temple or humane Fabrick : That no Image could be made as a proper Instrument to represent him ; that he needed no Gifts or Sacrifices , being himself the Fountain , from whence Life , Breath , and all other blessings were derived to particular Beings : That from one common original he had made the whole Race of Mankind , and had wisely fixed and determined the times and bounds of their habitation : And all to this end , that Men might be the stronglier obliged to seek after him , and sincerely to serve and worship him . A duty which they might easily attain to ( though otherwise sunk into the deepest degeneracy , and over-spread with the grossest darkness ) he every where affording such palpable evidences of his own being and providence , that he seemed to stand near , and touch us ; It being intirely from him , that we derive our life , motion , and subsistence . A thing acknowledged even by their own Poct , that We also are his Off-spring . If therefore God was our Creator , it was highly unreasonable , to think that we could make any Image or Representation of Him : That it was too long already , that the Divine patience had born with the manners of Men , and suffered them to go on in their blind Idolatries , that now he expected a general repentance and reformation from the World , especially having by the publishing of his Gospel put out of all dispute the case of a future judgment , and particularly appointed the Holy Jesus to be the Person that should sentence and judge the World : By whose Resurrection he had given sufficient evidence and assurance of it . No sooner had he mentioned the Resurrection , but some of the Philosophers ( no doubt Epicureans , who were wont to laugh at the notion of a future state ) mocked and derided him , others more gravely answered , that they would hear him again concerning this matter . But his discourse however scorned and slighted , did not wholly want its desired effect , and that upon some of the greatest quality and rank among them . In the number of whom was Dionysius one of the grave Senators and Judges of the Areopagus , and Damaris whom the Ancients * not improbably make his Wife . 8. THIS Dionysius was bred at Athens , in all the learned Arts and Sciences ; at sive and twenty Years of Age , he is said to have travelled into Egypt , to perfect himself in the study of Astrology , for which that Nation had the credit and renown . Here beholding the miraculous Eclipse that was at the time of our Saviour's Passion , he concluded that some great accident must needs be coming upon the World. Returning to Athens , he became one of the Senators of the Arcopagus , disputed with S. Paul , and was by him converted from his Errours and Idolatry ; and being thoroughly instructed , was by him ( as the * Ancients inform us ) made the first Bishop of Athens . As for ‖ those that tell us , that he went afterwards into France by the direction of Clemens of Rome , planted Christianity at , and became Bishop of Paris , of his suffering Martyrdom there under Domitian , his carrying his Head for the space of two Miles in his Hand , after it had been cut off , and the rest of his Miracles done before , and after his Death , I have as little leisure to enquire into them , as I have faith to believe them . Indeed the foundation of all is justly denied , viz. that ever he was there , a thing never heard of till the times of Charles the Great , though since that , Volumes have been written of this controversie both heretofore , and of later times , among which J. Sirmondus the Jesuit , and Monsieur Launoy , one of the learned Doctors of the Sorbon , have unanswerably proved the Athenian and Parisian Dionysius to be distinct Persons . For the Books that go under his name , M. Daillé has sufficiently evinced them to 〈◊〉 of a date many Hundred Years younger than S. Denys , though I doubt not but they may claim a greater Antiquity , than what he allows them . But whoever was their Author , I am sure Suidas has over-stretched the praise of them beyond all proportion , when he gives them this character , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that whoever considers the elegancy of his discourses , and the profoundness of his notions and speculations , must needs conclude that they are not the issue of any humane understanding , but of some Divine and Immaterial Power . But to return to our Apostle . SECT . IV. Of S. Paul's Acts at Corinth and Ephesus . S. Paul's arrival at Corinth . The opposition made by the Jews . The success of his Preaching upon others . His first Epistle to the Thessalonians , when written . His Arraignment before Gallio . The second Epistle to the Thessalonians , and the design of it . S. Paul's voyage to Jerusalem . His coming to Ephesus . Disciples baptized into John's Baptism . S. Paul's preaching at Ephesus , and the Miracles wrought by him . Ephesus noted for the study of Magick . Jews eminently versed in Charms and Inchantments . The Original of the Mystery , whence pretended to have been derived . The ill attempt of the Sons of Sceva to dipossess Daemons in the name of Christ. S. Paul's doctrine greatly successful upon this sort of men . Books of Magick forbidden by the Roman Laws . S. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians , why , and when written . Diana's Temple at Ephesus , and its great stateliness and magnificence . The mutiny against S. Paul raised by Demetrius , and his party . S. Paul's first Fpistle to the Corinthians , upon what occasion written . His Epistle to Titus . Apollonius Tyanaeus , whether at Ephesus at the same time with S. Paul. His Miracles pretended to be done in that City . 1. AFTER his departure from Athens , he went to Corinth , the Metropolis of Greece , and the residence of the Proconsul of Achaia : where he found Aquila and Priscilla lately come from Italy , banished out of Rome by the Decree of Claudius : And they being of the same trade and profession , wherein he had been educated in his youth , he wrought together with them , lest he should be unnecessarily burdensom unto any , which for the same reason he did in some other places . Hither , after some time , Silas and Timothy came to him . In the Synagogue he frequently disputed with the Jews and Proselytes , reasoning and proving , that Jesus was the true Messiah . They , according to the nature of the men , made head and opposed him , and what they could not conquer by argument and sorce of reason , they endeavoured to carry by noise and clamour , mixed with blasphemies and revilings , the last refuges of an impotent and baffled cause . Whereat to testifie his resentment , he shook his Garments , and told them , since he saw them resolved to pull down vengeance and destruction upon their own heads , he for his part was guiltless and innocent , and would henceforth address himself unto the Gentiles . Accordingly he left them , and went into the house of Justus , a religious Proselyte , where by his preaching and the many miracles which he wrought , he converted great numbers to the Faith. Amongst which were Crispus , the chief Ruler of the Synagogue , Gaius , and Stephanus , who together with their Families embraced the doctrine of the Gospel , and were baptized into the Christian Faith. But the constant returns of malice and ingratitude are enough to tire the largest charity , and cool the most generous resolution : therefore that the Apostle might not be discouraged by the restless attempts and machinations of his enemies , our Lord appeared to him in a Vision , told him that not withstanding the bad success he had hitherto met with , there was a great harvest to be gathered in that place , that he should not be afraid of his enemies , but go on to preach confidently and securely , for that he himself would stand by him and preserve him . 2. ABOUT this time , as is most probable , he wrote his first Epistle to the Thessalonians , Silas and Timothy being lately returned from thence , and having done the message for which he had sent them thither . The main design of the Epistle , is to confirm them in the belief of the Christian Religion , and that they would persevere in it , notwithstanding all the afflictions and persecutions , which he had told them would ensue upon their profession of the Gospel , and to instruct them in the main duties of a Christian and Religious life . While the Apostle was thus imployed , the malice of the Jews was no less at work against him , and universally combining together , they brought him before Gallio the Proconsul of the Province , elder Brother to the famous Seneca : Before him they accused the Apostle as an Innovator in Religion , that sought to introduce a new way of worship , contrary to what was established by the Jewish Law , and permitted by the Roman Powers : The Apostle was ready to have pleaded his own cause , but the Proconsul told them , that had it been a matter of right or wrong , that had faln under the cognizance of the Civil Judicature , it had been very fit and reasonable that he should have heard and determined the case , but since the controversie was only concerning the punctilio's and niceties of their Religion , it was very improper for him to be a Judge in such matters . And when they still clamoured about it , he threw out their Indictment , and commanded his officers to drive them out of Court. Whereupon some of the Towns men seised upon Sosthenes , one of the Rulers of the Jewish Consistory , a man active and busie in this Insurrection , and beat him even before the Court of Judicature , the Proconsul not at all concerning himself about it . A year and an half S. Paul continued in this place , and before his departure thence , wrote his second Epistle to the Thessalonians , to supply the want of his coming to them , which in his former he had resolved on , and for which , in a manner , he had engaged his promise . In this therefore he endeavours again to confirm their minds in the truth of the Gospel , and that they would not be shaken with those troubles which the wicked unbelieving Jews would not cease to create them ; a lost and undone race of men , and whom the Divine vengeance was ready finally to overtake . And because some passages in his 〈◊〉 Letter , relating to this destruction , had been mis-understood , as if this day of the Lord were just then at hand , he rectifies those mistakes , and shews what must precede our Lord's coming unto Judgment . 3. S. 〈◊〉 having thus fully planted and cultivated the Church at Corinth , resolved now for Syria . And taking along with him Aquila and Priscilla , at Cenchrea , the Port and Harbour of Corinth , Aquila ( for of him it is certainly to be understood ) shaved his head , in performance of a Nazarite-Vow he had formerly made , the time whereof was now run out . In his passage into Syria he came to Ephesus , where he preached a while in the Synagogue of the Jews . And though desired to stay with them , yet having resolved to be at Jerusalem at the Passeover ( probably that he might have the fitter opportunity to meet his friends , and preach the Gospel to those vast numbers that usually 〈◊〉 to that great solemnity ) he promised , that in his return he would come again to them . Sailing thence , he landed at Caesarca , and thence went up to Jerusalem , where having visited the Church , and kept the Feast , he went down to Antioch . Here having staid some time , he traversed the Countries of Galatia , and Phrygia , confirming , as he went , the new-converted Christians , and so came to 〈◊〉 , where finding certain Christian Disciples , he enquired of them , whether , since their conversion , they had received the miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost . They told him , that the Doctrine which they had received had nothing in it of that nature , nor had they ever heard that any such extraordinary Spirit had of late been bestowed upon the Church . Hereupon he further enquired , unto what they had been baptized ( the Christian Baptism being administred in the name of the Holy Ghost ? ) They answered , they had received no more than John's Baptism ; which though it 〈◊〉 them to repentance , yet did explicitly speak nothing of the Holy Ghost , or its gists and powers . To this the Apostle replied , That though John's Baptism did openly oblige to nothing but Repentance , yet that it did implicitly acknowledge the whole Doctrine concerning Christ and the Holy Ghost . Whereto they assenting , were solemnly initiated by Christian Baptism , and the Apostle laying his hands upon them , they immediately received the Holy Ghost , in the gift of Tongues , Prophecy , and other miraculous powers conferred upon them . 4. AFTER this he 〈◊〉 into the Jewish Synagogues , where for the first three months he contended and disputed with the Jews , endeavouring with great earnestness and resolution to convince them of the truth of those things that concerned the Christian Religion . But when instead of success , he met with nothing but refractoriness and infidelity , he left the Synagogue , and taking those with him whom he had converted , instructed them , and others that resorted to him , in the School of one Tyrannus , a place where Scholars were wont to be educated and instructed . In this manner he continued for two years together : In which time the Jews and Proselytes of the whole 〈◊〉 Asia had opportunity of having the Gospel preached to them . And because Miracles are the clearest evidence of a Divine commission , and the most immediate Credentials of Heaven , those which do nearliest affect our senses , and consequently have the strongest influence upon our minds , therefore God was pleased to ratifie the doctrine which S. Paul delivered by great and miraculous operations ; and those of somewhat a more peculiar and extraordinary nature . Insomuch that he did not only heal those that came to him , but if Napkins or Handkerchiefs were but touched by him , and applied unto the sick , their diseases immediately vanished , and the Daemons and evil Spirits departed out of those that were possessed by them . 5. EPHESUS , above all other places in the World , was noted of old for the study of Magick , and all secret and hidden Arts , whence the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so often spoken of by the Ancients , which were certain obscure and mystical Spells and Charms , by which they endeavoured to heal Diseases , and drive away evil Spirits , and do things beyond the reach and apprehensions of common people . Besides other professors of this black Art , there were at this time at Ephesus certain Jews , who dealt in the arts of 〈◊〉 and Incantation ; a craft and mystery which * Josephus affirms to have been derived from Solomon ; who , he tells us , did not only find it out , but composed forms of Exorcism and Inchantment , whereby to cure diseases , and expel Daemons , so as they should never return again ; and adds , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , That this Art was still in force among the Jews : Instances whereof , he tells us , he himself had seen , having beheld one Eleazar a Jew , in the presence of 〈◊〉 , his Sons , and the great Officers of his Army , curing Daemoniacks , by holding a ring to their nose , under whose Seal was hid the root of a certain Plant , prescribed by Solomon , at the scent whereof the Daemon presently took leave and was gone , the Patient falling to the ground , while the Exorcist , by mentioning Solomon , and reciting some Charms made by him , stood over him , and charged the evil Spirit never to return . And to let them see that he was really gone , he commanded the Daemon as he went out to overturn a cup full of water , which he had caused to be set in the room before them . In the number of these Conjurers now at Ephesus , there were the seven Sons of 〈◊〉 , one of the chief heads of the Families of the Priests , who seeing what great things were done by calling over Daemoniacks the name of Christ , attempted themselves to do the like , Conjuring the evil Spirit in the name of that Jesus , whom Paul preached , to depart . But the stubborn Laemon would not obey the warrant , telling them , he knew who Jesus and Paul were , but did not understand what authority they had to use his name . And not content with this , forced the Daemoniack violently to fall upon them , to tear their clothes , and wound their bodies , scarce suffering them to escape with the safety of their lives . An accident that begot great terror in the minds of men , and became the occasion of converting many to the Faith , who came to the Apostle , and confessed the former course and manner of their lives . Several also , who had traded in curious Arts , and the mysterious methods of Spells and Charms , freely brought their Books of Magick Rites ( whose price , had they been to be sold , according to the rates which men who dealt in those cursed mysteries put upon them , would have amounted to the value of above One thousand Five hundred pounds ) and openly burnt them before the people , themselves adjudging them to those flames , to which they were condemned by the Laws of the Empire . For so we find the * Roman Laws prohibiting any to keep Books of Magick Arts , and that where any such were found , their Goods should be forfeited , the Books publickly burned , the persons banished , and if of a meaner rank , beheaded . These Books the penitent converts did of their own accord 〈◊〉 to the fire , not tempted to spare them either by their former love to them , or the present price and value of them . With so mighty an efficacy did the Gospel prevail over the minds of men . 6. ABOUT this time it was that the Apostle writ his Epistle to the Galatians . For he had heard , that since his departure , corrupt opinions had got in amongst them about the necessary observation of the legal Rites , and that several Impostors were crept into that Church , who knew no better way to undermine the Doctrine he had planted there , than by vilifying his person , slighting him as an Apostle only at the second hand , not to be compared with Peter , James and John , who had familiarly conversed with Christ in the days of his flesh , 〈◊〉 been immediately deputed by him . In this Epistle therefore he reproves them with some necessary smartness and severity , that they had been so soon led out of that right way , wherein he had set them , and had so easily suffered themselves to be imposed upon by the crasty artifices of seducers . He vindicates the honour of his Apostolate , and the immediate receiving his Commission from Christ , wherein he shews , that he came not behind the very best of those Apostles . He largely refutes those Judaical opinions , that had tainted and infected them , and in the conclusion instructs them in the rules and duties of an holy life . While the Apostle thus staid at Ephesus , he resolved with himself to pass through 〈◊〉 and Achaia , thence to Jerusalem , and so to Rome . But for the present altered his resolution , and continued still at Ephesus . 7. DURING his stay in this place , an accident happened , that involved him in great trouble and danger . 〈◊〉 above all the Cities of the East was renowned for the famous Temple of Diana , one of the stateliest Temples of the World. It was ( as * Pliny tells us ) the very wonder of magnificence , built at the common charges of all Asia properly 〈◊〉 called , 220 Years ( elsewhere ‖ he says 400 ) in building , which we are to understand of its successive rebuildings and reparations , being often wasted and destroyed . It was 425 Foot long , 220 broad , supported by 127 Pillars , 60 Foot high ; for its antiquity it was in some degree before the times of Bacchus , equal to the Reign of the Amazons , ( by whom it is generally said to have been first built ) as the * Ephesian Embassadors told Tiberius , till by degrees it grew up into that greatness and splendor , that it was generally reckoned one of the seven wonders of the World. But that which gave the greatest same and reputation to it , was an Image of Diana kept there , made of no very costly materials , but which the crasty Priests perswaded the People was beyond any humane artifice or contrivement , and that it was immediately formed by Jupiter , and dropt down from Heaven , having first killed , or banished the Artists that made it ( as ‖ Suidas informs us ) that the cheat might not be discovered , by which means they drew not Ephesus only , but the whole World into a mighty veneration of it . Besides there were within this Temple multitudes of Silver Cabinets , or Chappelets , little Shrines , made in fashion of the Temple , wherein was placed the Image of Diana . For the making of these holy shrines , great numbers of Silver-smiths were imployed and maintained , among whom one Demetrius was a Leading-man , who foreseeing that if the Christian Religion still got ground , their gainful Trade would soon come to nothing , presently called together the Men of his Profession , especially those whom he himself set on work , told them , that now their welfare and livelihood were concerned , and that the fortunes of their Wives and Children lay at stake , that it was plain that this Paul had perverted City and Country , and perswaded the People that the Images , which they made and worshipped , were no real Gods ; by which means their Trade was not only like to fall to the ground , but also the honour and magnificence of the great Goddess Diana , whom not Asia only , but the whole Word did worship and adore . Inraged with this discourse , they cryed out with one voice , that Great was Diana of the 〈◊〉 . The whole City was presently in an uproar , and seising upon two of S. Paul's Companions , hurried them into the Theatre , probably with a design to have cast them to the wild Beasts . S. Paul hearing of their danger , would have ventured himself among them , had not the Christians , nay , some even of the Gentile Priests , Governors of the popular Games and Sports , earnestly disswaded him from it ; well knowing that the People were resolved , if they could meet with him , to throw him to the wild Beasts , that were kept there for the disport and pleasure of the People . And this doubtless he means , when elsewhere he tells us , that he fought with Beasts at Ephesus , probably intending what the People designed , though he did not actually suffer ; though the brutish rage , the savage and inhumane manners of this People did sufficiently deserve that the censure and character should be fixed upon themselves . 8. GREAT was the confusion of the Multitude , the major-part not knowing the reason of the Concourse . In which distraction Alexander a Jewish Convert being thrust forward by the Jewes , to be questioned and examined about this matter , he would accordingly have made his Apologie to the People , intending no doubt to clear himself by casting the whole blame upon S. Paul ; This being very probably that Alexander the Copper-smith , of whom our Apostle elsewhere complains , that he did him much evil , and greatly withstood his 〈◊〉 , and whom he delivered over unto Satan for his Apostasie , for blaspheming Christ , and reproaching Christianity . But the Multitude perceiving him to be a Jew , and thereby suspecting him to be one of S. Paul's Associates , began to raise an out-cry for near two Hours together , wherein nothing could be heard , but Great is Diana of the Ephesians . The noise being a little over , the Recorder , a discreet and prudent Man , came out and calmly told them , That it was sufficiently known to all the World , what a mighty honour and veneration the City of Ephesus had for the great Goddess Diana , and the famous Image which fell from Heaven , that therefore there needed not this stir to vindicate and assert it : That they had seized Persons , who were not guilty either of Sacriledge , or Blasphemy towards their Goddess ; that if Demetrius and his Company had any just charge against them , the Courts were sitting , and they might prefer their Indictment : or if the Controversie were about any other matter , it might be referred to such a proper Judicature , as the Law appoints for the determination of such cases : That therefore they should do well to be quiet , having done more already than they could answer , if called in question , ( as 't is like they would ) there being no cause sufficient to justifie that days riotous Assembly . With which prudent discourse , he appeased and dismissed the Multitude . 9. IT was about this time that S. Paul heard of some disturbance in the Church at Corinth , hatched and fomented by a pack of false heretical Teachers , crept in among them , who indeavoured to draw them into Parties and Factions , by perswading one Party to be for Peter , another for Paul , a third for Apollos , as if the main of Religion consisted in being of this or that Denomination , or in a warm active zeal to decry and oppose whoever is not of our narrow Sect. 'T is a very weak and slender claim , when a Man holds his Religion by no better a title , than that he has joyned himself to this Man's Church , or that Man's Congregation , and is zealously earnest to maintain and promote it , to be childishly and passionately clamorous for one Man's mode and way of administration , or for some particular humour or opinion , as if Religion lay in nice and curious disputes , or in separating from our Brethren , and not rather in righteousness , peace , and joy in the Holy Ghost . By this means Schisms and Factions broke into the Corinthian Church , whereby many wild and extravagant Opinions , and some of them such as undermined the fundamental Articles of Christianity , were planted , and had taken root there . As the envious Man never fishes more successfully than in troubled Waters . To cure these Distempers S. Paul ( who had received an Account of all this by Letters which Apollos , and some others had brought to him from the Church of Corinth ) writes his first Epistle to them . Wherein he smartly reproves them for their Schisms and Parties , conjures them to peace and unity , corrects those gross corruptions that were introduced among them , and particularly resolves those many cases and controversies , wherein they had requested his advice and counsel . Shortly after Apollos designing to go for Crete , by him and Zenas S. Paul sends his Epistle to Titus , whom he had made Bishop of that Island , and had left there for the propagating of the Gospel . Herein he fully instructs him in the execution of his Office , how to carry himself , and what directions he should give to others , to all particular ranks and relations of men , especially those who were to be advanced to places of Office and Authority in the Church . 10. A LITTLE before S. Paul's departure from Ephesus , we may not improbably suppose , that Apollonius Tyaneus , the famous Philosopher and Magician of the Heathen World ( a Man remarkable for the strictness of his manners , and his sober and regular course of life , but especially for the great Miracles said to have been done by him ; whom therefore the Heathens generally set up as the great Corrival of our Saviour ; though some of his own party , and particularly * Euphratus the Philosopher , who lived with him at the same time at Rome , accused him for doing his strange feats by Magick ) came to Ephesus . The enemy of Mankind , probably designing to obstruct the propagation of Christianity , by setting up one who by the Arts of Magick might , at least in the Vogue and estimation of the People , equal , or eclipse the Miracles of S. Paul. Certain it is , if we compare times and actions set down by the ‖ Writer of his Life , we shall find that he came hither about the beginning of Nero's Reign , and he particularly sets down the strange things that were done by him , especially his clearing the City of a grievous Plague , for which the People of Ephesus had him in such veneration , that they erected a Statue to him as to a particular Deity , and did divine honour to it . But whether this was before S. Paul's going thence , I will not take upon me to determine ; though it seems most probable to have been done afterwards . SECT . V. S. Paul's Acts , from his departure from Ephesus , till his Arraignment before Foelix . S. Paul's journey into Macedonia . His preaching as far as Illyricum , and return into Greece . His second 〈◊〉 to the Corinthians , and what the design of it . His first Epistle to Timothy . His Epistle to the Romans whence written , and with what design . S. Paul's preaching at Troas , and raising Eutychus . His summoning the Asian Bishops to Myletus , and pathetical discourse to them . His stay at Caesarea with Philip the Deacon . The Churches passionate disswading him from going to Jerusalem . His coming to Jerusalem , and compliance with the indifferent Rites of the Mosaick Law , and why . The tumults raised against him by the Jews , and his rescue by the Roman Captain . His asserting his Roman freedom . His carriage before the Sanhedrim . The difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees about him . The Jews conspiracy against his life discovered . His being sent unto Caesarea . 1. IT was not long after the tumult at Ephesus , when S. Paul having called the Church together , and constituted Timothy Bishop of that place , took his leave , and departed by 〈◊〉 for Macedonia . And at this time it was , that , as he himself tells us , he preached the Gospel round about unto Illyricum , since called Sclavonia , some parts of Macedonia bordering on that Province . From Macedonia he returned back unto Greece , where he abode three months , and met with Titus , lately come with great contributions 〈◊〉 the Church at Corinth . By whose example he stirr'd up the liberality of the Macedonians , who very freely , and somewhat beyond their ability contributed to the poor Christians at Jerusalem . From Titus he had an account of the present state of the Church at Corinth ; and by him at his return , together with S. Luke , he sent his second Epistle to them . Wherein he endeavours to set right what his former Epistle had not yet effected , to vindicate his Apostleship from that contempt and scorn , and himself from those slanders and aspersions , which the seducers , who had found themselves lasht by his first Epistle , had cast upon him , together with some other particular cases relating to them . Much about the same time he writ his first Epistle to Timothy , whom he had left at Ephesus , wherein at large he counsels him , how to carry himself in the discharge of that great place and authority in the Church , which he had committed to him ; instructs him in the particular qualifications of those whom he should make choice of , to be Bishops and Ministers in the Church . How to order the Deaconesses , and to instruct Servants , warning him withall of that pestilent generation of hereticks and seducers , that would arise in the Church . During his three months stay in Greece , he went to Corinth , whence he wrote his famous Epistle to the Romans , which he sent by Phoebe , a Deaconess of the Church of Cenchrea , nigh Corinth : wherein his main design is fully to state and determine the great controversie between the Jews and Gentiles , about the obligation of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish Law , and those main and material Doctrines of Christianity , which did depend upon it , such as of Christian liberty , the use of indifferent things , &c. And which is the main end of all Religion , instructs them in , and presses them to the duties of an holy and good life , such as the Christian Doctrine does naturally tend to oblige men to . 2. S. PAUL being now resolved for Syria , to convey the contributions to the Brethren at Jerusalem , was a while diverted from that resolution , by a design he was told of which the Jews had to kill and rob him by the way . Whereupon he went back into Macedonia , and so came to Philippi , and thence went to Troas , where having staid a week , on the Lords-day the Church met together to receive the holy Sacrament . Here S. Paul preached to them , and continued his discourse till midnight , the longer probably , being the next day to depart from them . The length of his discourse , and the time of the night had caused some of his Auditors to be overtaken with sleep and drowsiness , among whom a young man called 〈◊〉 being fast asleep , fell down from the third story , and was taken up dead , but whom S. Paul presently restored to life and health . How indefatigable was the industry of our Apostle ! how close did he tread in his Masters steps , who went about doing good ! He compassed Sea and Land , preached and wrought miracles whereever he came . In every place like a wise Master-builder , he either laid a foundation , or raised the superstructure . He was instant in season and out of season , and spared not his pains , either night or day , that he might do good to the Souls of men . The night being thus spent in holy exercises , S. Paul in the morning took his leave , and went on foot to 〈◊〉 , a Sea-port Town , whither he had sent his company by Sea. Thence they set sail to 〈◊〉 , from thence to Samos , and having staid some little time at Trogyllium , the next day came to Myletus , not so much as putting in at Ephesus , because the Apostle was resolved , if possible , to be at Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost . 3. AT Myletus he sent to Ephesus , to summon the Bishops and Governours of the Church , who being come , he put them in mind with what uprightness and integrity , with what affection and humility , with how great trouble and danger , with how much faithfulness to their Souls he had been conversant among them , and had preached the Gospel to them , ever since his first coming into those parts : That he had not failed to acquaint them both publickly and privately with whatever might be useful and profitable to them , urging both upon Jews and Gentiles repentance and reformation of life , and an hearty entertainment of the Faith of Christ : That now he was resolved to go to Jerusalem , where he did not know what particular sufferings would befall him , more than this , That it had been foretold him in every place by those who were indued with the Prophetical gifts of the Holy Ghost , that afflictions and imprisonment would attend him there : But that he was not troubled at this , no nor unwilling to lay down his life , so he might but successfully preach the Gospel , and faithfully serve his Lord in that place and station wherein he had set him : That he knew that henceforth they should see his face no more , but that this was his encouragement and satisfaction , that they themselves could bear him witness , that he had not by concealing from them any parts of the Christian Doctrine , betray'd their Souls : That as for themselves , whom God had made Bishops and Pastors of his Church , they should be careful to feed , guide and direct those Christians under their inspection , and be infinitely tender of the good of Souls , for whose redemption Christ laid down his own life : That all the care they could use was no more than necessary , it being certain , that after his departure , Heretical Teachers would break in among them , and endanger the ruine of mens Souls ; nay , that even among themselves , there would some arise , who by subtil and crasty methods , by corrupt and pernicious Doctrines would gain Proselytes to their party , and thereby make Rents and Schisms in the Church : That therefore they should watch , remembring with what tears and sorrow , he had 〈◊〉 three years together warned them of these things : That now he recommended them to the Divine care and goodness , and to the rules and instructions of the Gospel , which if adhered to , would certainly dispose and perfect them for that state of happiness , which God had prepared for good men in Heaven . In short , that he had all a long dealt faithfully and uprightly with them , they might know from hence , that in all his preaching he had had no crafty or covetous designs upon any man's Estate or Riches , having ( as themselves could witness ) industriously laboured with his own hands , and by his own work maintained both himself and his company : Herein leaving them an example , what pains they ought to take to support the weak , and relieve the poor , rather than to be themselves chargeable unto others ; according to that incomparable saying of our Saviour ( which surely S. Paul had received from some of those that had conversed with him in the days of his flesh ) It is more blessed to give , than to receive . This Concio ad Clerum , or 〈◊〉 - Sermon being ended , the Apostle kneeled down , and concluded all with Prayer . Which done , they all melted into tears , and with the greatest expressions of sorrow attended him to the Ship , though that which made the deepest impression upon their minds was , that he had told them , That they should 〈◊〉 his face no more . 4. DEPARTING from Myletus , they arrived at Coos , thence came to Rhodes , thence to Patara , thence to Tyre ; where meeting with some Christians , he was advised by those among them , who had the gift of Prophecy , that he should not go up to Jerusalem : with them he staid a week , and then going all together to the shore , he kneeled down and prayed with them , and having mutually embraced one another , he went on board , and came to 〈◊〉 , where only saluting the Brethren , they came next day unto Caesarea . Here they lodged in the house of Philip the Evangelist , one of the seven Deacons that were at first set apart by the Apostles , who had four Virgin-daughters , all endued with the gift of prophecy . During their stay in this place , Agabus a Christian Prophet came down hither from Judaea , who taking Paul's girdle , bound with it his own hands and feet , telling them , that by this external Symbol the Holy Ghost did signifie and declare , that S. Paul should be thus serv'd by the Jews at 〈◊〉 , and be by them delivered over into the hands of the Gentiles . Whereupon they all passionately besought him , that he would divert his course to some other place . The Apostle ask'd them , what they meant , by these compassionate disswasives to add more affliction to his sorrow ; that he was willing and resolved not only to be imprisoned , but , if need were , to die at Jerusalem for the sake of Christ and his Religion . Finding his resolution fixed and immoveable , they importuned him no further , but left the event to the Divine will and pleasure . All things being in readiness , they set forwards on their journey , and being come to Jerusalem , were kindly and joyfully entertained by the Christians there . 5. THE next day after their arrival , S. Paul and his company went to the house of S. James the Apostle , where the rest of the Bishops and Governours of the Church were met together ; after mutual salutations , he gave them a particular account with what success God had blessed him in propagating Christianity among the Gentiles , for which they all heartily blessed God , but withall told him , that he was now come to a place , where there were many thousands of Jewish converts , who all retained a mighty zeal and veneration for the Law of Moses , and who had been informed of him , that he taught the Jews , whom he had converted , in every place , to renounce Circumcision , and the Ceremonies of the Law : That as soon as the multitude heard of his arrival , they would come together to see how he behaved himself in this matter ; and therefore to prevent so much disturbance , it was advisable , that there being four men there at that time , who were to accomplish a Vow ( probably not the 〈◊〉 - vow , but some other , which they had made for deliverance from sickness , or some other eminent danger and distress ; for so * Josephus tells us , they were wont to do in such cases , and before they came to offer the accustomed Sacrifices , to abstain for some time from Wine , and to shave their heads ) he would joyn himself to them , perform the usual Rites and Ceremonies with them , and provide such Sacrifices for them , as the Law required in that case , and that in discharge of their Vow , they might shave their heads . Whereby it would appear , that the reports which were spread concerning him were false and groundless , and that he himself did still observe the Rites and Orders of the Mosaical Institution : That as for the Gentile converts they required no such observances at their hands , nor expected any thing more from them in these indifferent matters , than what had been before determined by the Apostolical Synod in that place . S. Paul ( who in such things was willing to become all things to all men , that he might gain the more ) consented to the counsel which they gave him , and taking the persons along with him to the Temple , told the 〈◊〉 , that the time of a Vow which they had made being now run out , and having purified themselves , as the nature of the case required , they were come to make their offerings according to the Law. 6. THE seven days wherein those Sacrifices were to be offered being now almost 〈◊〉 , some Jews that were come from 〈◊〉 ( where , probably , they had opposed S. Paul ) now finding him in the Temple , began to raise a tumult and uproar , and laying hold of him , called out to the rest of the Jews for their assistance : Telling them , that this was the fellow , that every where vented Doctrines 〈◊〉 to the prerogative of the Jewish Nation , destructive to the Institutions of the Law , and to the purity of that place , which he had prophaned by bringing in uncircumcised Greeks into it : Positively concluding , that because they had seen Trophimus a Gentile convert of Ephesus with him in the City , therefore he had brought him also into the Temple . So apt is malice to make any premises , from whence it may infer its own conclusion . Hereupon the whole City was presently in an uproar , and seising upon him , they dragged him out of the Temple , the doors being presently shut against him . Nor had they failed there to have put a period to all his troubles , had not 〈◊〉 Lysias , Commander of the Roman Garrison in the Tower of Antonia , come in with some Souldiers to his rescue and deliverance , and supposing him to be a more than an ordinary Malefactor , commanded a double chain to be put upon him , though as yet altogether ignorant , either who he , or what his crime was , and wherein he could receive little satisfaction from the clamorous multitude , who called for nothing but his death , following the cry with such crouds and numbers , that the Souldiers were forced to take him into their arms , to secure him from the present rage and violence of the people . As they were going up into the Castle , S. Paul asked the Governour , whether he might have the liberty to speak to him , who finding him to speak Greek enquired of him , whether he was not that Egyptian , which a few Years before had raised a Sedition in 〈◊〉 , and headed a party of Four Thousand debauched and profligate wretches . The Apostle replied , that he was a Jew of Tarsus , a Free-man of a rich and honourable City , and therefore begg'd of him , that he might have leave to speak to the People . Which the Captain readily granted , and standing near the Door of the Castle , and making signs that they would hold their peace , he began to address himself to them in the Hebrew Language : which when they heard , they became a little more calm and quiet , while he discoursed to them to this effect . 7. HE gave them an account of himself from his Birth , of his education in his youth , of the mighty zeal which he had for the Rites and Customes of their Religion , and with what a passionate earnestness he persecuted and put to death all the Christians that he met with , whereof the High Priest and the Sanhedrim could be sufficient witnesses . He next gave them an intire and punctual relation of the way and manner of his conversion , and how that he had received an immediate command from God himself to depart Jerusalem , and preach unto the Gentiles . At this word the patience of the Jews could hold no longer , but they unanimously cried out , to have him put to death . it not being fit that such a Villain should live upon the Earth . And the more to express their fury , they threw off their Clothes , and cast dust into the Air , as if they immediately designed to stone him . To avoid which , the Captain of the Guard commanded him to be brought within the Castle , and that he should be examined by whipping , till he confessed the reason of so much rage against him . While the Lictor was binding him in order to it , he asked the Centurion that stood by , whether they could justifie the scourging a Citizen of Rome , and that before any sentence legally passed upon him . This the Centurion presently intimated to the Governor of the Castle , bidding him have a care what he did , for the Prisoner was a Roman . Whereat the Governor himself came , and asked him , whether he was a free Denizon of Rome ? and being told that he was , he replied , that it was a great priviledge , a priviledge which he himself had purchased at a considerable rate . To whom S. Paul answered , that it was his Birth right , and the priviledge of the place where he was born and bred . Hereupon they gave over their design of whipping him , the Commander himself being a little startled , that he had bound and chained a Denizon of Rome . 8. THE next Day the Governor commanded his Chains to be knock'd off , and that he might throughly satisfie himself in the matter , commanded the Sanhedrim to meet , and brought down Paul before them : where being set before the Council , he told them , that in all passages of his life he had been careful to act according to the severest rules and conscience of his duty . Men and Brethren , I have lived in all good conscience before God untill this day . Behold here the great security of a good man , and what invisible supports innocency affords under the greatest danger . With how generous a confidence does vertue and honesty guard the breast of a good man ! as indeed nothing else can lay a firm basis and foundation for satisfaction and tranquillity , when any misery or calamity does overtake us . Religion and a good conscience beget peace and a Heaven in the Man's bosome beyond the power of the little accidents of this World to ruffle and discompose . Whence * Seneca compares the mind of a wise and a good man to the state of the upper Region , which is always serene and calm . The High-Priest Ananias being offended at the holy and ingenuous freedom of our Apostle , as if by asserting his own innocency , he had reproached the justice of their Tribunal , commanded those that stood next him , to strike him in the Face ; whereto the Apostle tartly replied , That GOD would smite him , Hypocrite as he was , who under a pretence of doing Justice had illegally commanded him to be punished , before the Law condemned him for a Malefactor . Whereupon they that stood by asked him , how he durst thus affront so sacred and venerable a Person as Gods High Priest ? He calmly returned , That he did not know [ or own ] Ananias to be an High Priest [ of God's appointment . ] However being a Person in Authority , it was not lawful to revile him , God himself having commanded , that no man should speak evil of the Ruler of the People . The Apostle , who as he never laid aside the innocency of the Dove , so knew how , when occasion was , to make use of the wisdom of the Serpent , perceiving the Council to consist partly of Sadduces , and partly of Pharisees , openly told them , that he was a Pharisee , and the Son of a Pharisee , and that the main thing he was questioned for , was his belief of a future Resurrection . This quickly divided the Council , the Pharisees being zealous Patrons of that Article , and the Sadducees as stifly denying , that there is either Angel ( that is , of a spiritual and immortal nature , really subsisting of it self , for otherwise they cannot be supposed to have utterly denied all sorts of Angels , seeing they own'd the Pentateuch , wherein there is frequent mention of them ) or Spirit , or that humane Souls do exist in a separate state , and consequently that there is no Resurrection . Presently the Doctors of the Law , who were Pharisees , stood up to acquit him , affirming he had done nothing amiss , that it was possible he had received some intimation from Heaven by an Angel , or the revelation of the H. Spirit , and if so , then in opposing his Doctrine , they might fight against God himself . 9. GREAT were the dissentions in the Council about this matter , in so much that the Governor fearing S. Paul would be torn in pieces , commanded the Souldiers to take him from the Bar , and return him back into the Castle . That night to comfort him after all his frights , and fears , God was pleased to appear to him in a vision , incouraging him to constancy and resolution , assuring him that as he had born witness to his cause at Jerusalem , so in despite of all his enemies he should live to bear his testimony even at Rome it self . The next Morning the Jews , who could as well cease to be , as to be mischievous and malicious , finding that these dilatory proceedings were not like to do the work , resolved upon a quicker dispatch . To which end above Forty of them entred into a wicked confederacy , which they ratified by Oath and Execration , never to eat or drink till they had killed him : and having acquainted the Sanhedrim with their design , they intreated them to importune the Governor , that he might again the next day be brought down before them , under pretence of a more strict trial of his case , and that they themselves would lye in ambush by the way , and not fail to dispatch him . But that Divine providence that peculiarly superintends the safety of good men , disappoints the devices of the crafty . The design was discovered to S. Paul by a Nephew of his , and by him imparted to the Governor , who immediately commanded two Parties of Foot and Horse , to be ready by Nine of the Clock that Night , and provision to be made for S. Paul's carriage to Foelix the Roman Governor of that Province : To whom also he wrote , signifying whom he had sent , how the Jews had used him , and that his enemies also should appear before him to manage the charge and accusation . Accordingly he was by Night conducted to Antipatris , and afterwards to Caesarea , where the Letters being delivered to Foelix , the Apostle was presented to him : and finding that he belonged to the Province of Cilicia , he told him , that as soon as his Accusers were arrived he should have an hearing , commanding him in the mean time to be secured in the place called Herod's Hall. SECT . VI. Of S. Paul , from his first Trial before Foelix , till his coming to Rome . S. Paul impleaded before Foelix by Tertullus the Jewish Advocate . His charge of Sedition , Heresie , and Prophanation of the Temple . S. Paul's reply to the several parts of the charge . His second Hearing before Foelix and Drusilla . His smart and impartial Reasonings . Foelix his great injustice and oppression : His Luxury and Intemperance , Bribery and Covetousness . S. Paul's Arraignment before Festus , Foelix his Successor , at Caesarea . His Appeal to Caesar. The nature and manner of those Appeals . He is again brought before Festus and Agrippa . His vindication of himself , and the goodness of his cause . His being acquitted by his Judges of any Capital crime . His Voyage to Rome . The trouble and danger of it . Their Shipwrack , and being cast upon the Island Melita . Their courteous entertainment by the Barbarians , and their different censure of S. Paul. The civil usage of the Governour , and his Conversion to Christianity . S. Paul met and conducted by Christians to Rome . 1. NOT many days after down comes Ananias the High Priest , with some others of the Sanhedrim to Caesarea , accompanied with Tertullus their Advocate , who in a short but neat speech , set off with all the flattering and insinuating arts of Eloquence , began to implead our Apostle , charging him with Sedition , Heresie , and the Prophanation of the Temple : That they would have saved him the trouble of this Hearing , by judging him according to their own Law , had not Lysias the Commander violently taken him from them , and sent both him and them down thither . To all which the Jews that were with him gave in their Vote and Testimony . S. Paul having leave from Foelix to defend himself , and having told him , how much he was satisfied that he was to plead before one , who for so many years had been Governour of that Nation , distinctly answered to the several parts of the Charge . 2. AND first for Sedition , he point-blank denied it , affirming that they found him behaving himself quietly and peaceably in the Temple , not so much as disputing there , nor stirring up the people either in the Synagogues , or any other place of the City . And though this was plausibly pretended by them , yet were they never able to make it good . As for the charge of Heresie , that he was a ringleader of the Sect of the Nazarenes , he ingenuously acknowledged , that after the way which they counted Heresie , so he worshipped God , the same way in substance wherein all the Patriarchs of the Jewish Nation had worshipped God before him , taking nothing into his Creed , but what the Authentick writings of the Jems themselves did own and justifie : That he firmly believed , what the better part of themselves were ready to grant , another Life , and a future Resurrection : In the hope and expectation whereof he was careful to live unblameable , and conscientiously to do his duty both to God and men . As for the third part of the Charge , his Prophaning of the Temple , he shews how little foundation there was for it , that the design of his coming to Jerusalem was to bring charitable contributions to his distressed Brethren , that he was indeed in the Temple , but not as some Asiatick Jews falsely suggested , either with tumult or with multitude , but only purifying himself according to the rites and customs of the Mosaick Law : And that if any would affirm the contrary , they should come now into open Court , and make it good . Nay , that he appealed to those of the Sanhedrim that were there present , whether he had not been acquitted by their own great Council at Jerusalem , where nothing of moment had been laid to his charge , except by them of the Sadducean party , who quarrelled with him only for asserting the Doctrine of the Resurrection . Foelix having thus heard both parties argue , refused to make any final determination in the case , till he had more fully advised about it , and spoken with Lysias , Commander of the Garrison , who was best able to give an account of the Sedition and the Tumult ; commanding in the mean time that S. Paul should be under guard , but yet in so free a custody , that none of his friends should be hindred from visiting him , or performing any office of kindness and friendship to him . 3. IT was not long after this before his Wife Drusilla ( a Jewess , Daughter of the elder Herod , and whom Tacitus , I fear by a mistake for his former Wife Drusilla , Daughter to Juba King of Mauritania , makes Niece to Anthony and Cleopatra ) came to him to Caesarea . Who being present , he sent for S. Paul to appear before them , and gave him leave to discourse concerning the doctrine of Christianity . In his discourse he took occasion particularly to insist upon the great obligation , which the Laws of Christ lay upon men to Justice and Righteousness toward one another , to Sobriety and Chastity both towards themselves and others , withall urging that severe and impartial account , that must be given in the Judgment of the other World , wherein men shall be arraigned for all the actions of their past life , and be eternally punished or rewarded according to their works . A discourse wisely adapted by the Apostle to Foelix his state and temper . But corrosives are very uneasie to a guilty mind : Men naturally hate that which brings their sins to their remembrance , and sharpens the sting of a violated conscience . The Prince was so netled with the Apostles reasonings , that he fell a trembling , and caused the Apostle to break off abruptly , telling him , he would hear the rest at some other season . And good reason there was that Foelix his conscience should be sensibly alarmed with these reflexions , being a man notoriously infamous for rapine and violence . * Tacitus tells us of him , that he made his will the Law of his Government , practising all manner of cruelty and injustice . And then for incontinency , he was given over to luxury and debauchery , for the compassing whereof he serupled not to violate all Laws both of God and Man. Whereof this very Wife Drusilla was a famous * instance . For being married by her Brother to Azis King of the Emisenes , Foelix , who had heard of her incomparable beauty , by the help of Simon the Magician , a Jew of Cyprus , ravished her from her Husbands bed , and in defiance of all law and right , kept her for his own Wife . To these qualities he had added bribery and covetousness , and therefore frequently sent for S. Paul to discourse with him , expecting that he should have given him a considerable summ for his release ; and the rather probably , because he had heard that S. Paul had lately brought up great summs of money to Jerusalem . But finding no offers made , either by the Apostle or his friends , he kept him prisoner for two years together , so long as himself continued Procurator of that Nation , when being displaced by Nero , he left S. Paul still in prison , on purpose to 〈◊〉 the Jews , and engage them to speak better of him after his departure from them . 4. TO him succeeded Portius Festus in the Procuratorship of the Province , at whose first coming to Jerusalem , the High-Priest and Sanhedrim presently began to prefer to him an Indictment against S. Paul , desiring , that in order to his Trial , he might be sent for up from Caesarea , designing under this pretence that some Assassinates should lie in the way to murder him . Festus told them , that he himself was going shortly for Caesarea , and that if they had any thing against S. Paul , they should come down thither and accuse him . Accordingly being come to Caesarea , and sitting in open Judicature , the Jews began to renew the Charge which they had heretofore brought against S. Paul : Of all which he cleared himself , they not being able to make any proof against him . However Festus being willing to oblige the Jews in the entrance upon his Government , asked him , whether he would go up and be tried before him at Jerusalem ? The Apostle well understanding the consequences of that proposal , told him that he was a Roman , and therefore ought to be judged by their Laws , that he stood now at Caesar's own Judgment-seat ( as indeed what was done by the Emperor's Procurator in any Province , the * Law reckoned as done by the Emperor himself ) and though he should submit to the Jewish Tribunal , yet he himself saw , that they had nothing which they could prove against him ; that if he had done any thing which really deserved capital punishment , he was willing to undergo it ; but if not , he ought not to be delivered over to his enemies , who were before-hand resolved to take away his life . However as the safest course , he solemnly made his appeal to the Roman Emperor , who should judge between them . Whereupon Festus advising with the Jewish Sanhedrim , received his appeal , and told him he should go to Caesar. This way of appealing was frequent amongst the Romans , introduced to defend and secure the lives and fortunes of the populacy from the unjust incroachments , and over-rigorous severities of the Magistrates , whereby it was lawful in cases of oppression to appeal to the people for redress and rescue , a thing more than once and again setled by the Sanction of the Valerian Laws . These * appeals were wont to be made in writing , by Appellatory Libels given in , wherein was contained an account of the Appellant , the person against whom , and from whose Sentence he did appeal . But where the case was done in open Court , it was enough for the Criminal verbally to declare , that he did appeal : In great and weighty cases appeals were made to the Prince himself , and that not only at Rome , but in the Provinces of the Empire , all Proconsuls and Governours of Provinces being strictly * forbidden to execute , scourge , bind , or put any badge of servility upon a Citizen , or any that had the priviledge of a Citizen of Rome , who had made his appeal , or any ways to hinder him from going thither , to obtain justice at the hands of the Emperor , who had as much regard to the liberty of his Subjects ( says the Law it self ) as they could have of their good will and obedience to him . And this was exactly S. Paul's case , who knowing that he should have no fair and equitable dealing at the hands of the Governour , when once he came to be swayed by the Jews , his sworn and inveterate enemies , appealed from him to the Emperor , the reason why Festus durst not deny his demand , it being a priviledge so often , so plainly setled and confirmed by the Roman Laws . 5. SOME time after King Agrippa , who succeeded Herod in the Tetrarchate of 〈◊〉 , and his Sister Bernice came to Caesarea , to make a visit to the new-come Governour . To him Festus gave an account of S. Paul , and the great stir and trouble that had been made about him , and how for his safety and vindication he had immediately appealed to Caesar. Agrippa was very desirous to see and hear him , and accordingly the next day the King and his Sister accompanied with Festus the Governour , and other persons of quality , came into the Court with a pompous and magnificent retinue , where the prisoner was brought forth before him . Festus having acquainted the King and the Assembly , how much he had been solicited by the Jews both at Caesarea and Jorusalem , concerning the prisoner at the Bar , that as a notorious Malefactor he might be put to death , but that having found him guilty of no capital crime , and the prisoner himself having appealed to Caesar , he was resolved to send him to Rome , but yet was willing to have his case again discussed before Agrippa , that so he might be furnished with some material instructions to send along with him , since it was very absurd to send a prisoner , without signifying what crimes were charged upon him . 6. HEREUPON Agrippa told the Apostle , he had liberty to make his own defence . To whom , after silence made , he particularly addressed his speech ; he tells him in the first place what a happiness he had , that he was to plead before one so exactly versed in all the rites and customs , the questions and the controversies of the Jewish Law , that the Jews themselves knew what had been the course and manner of his life , how he had been educated under the Institutions of the Pharisces , the strictest Sect of the whole Jewish Religion , and had been particularly disquieted and arraigned for what had been the constant belief of all their Fathers , what was sufficiently credible in it self , and plainly enough revealed in the Scripture , the Resurrection of the dead . He next gave him an account with what a bitter and implacable zeal he had formerly persecuted Christianity , told him the whole story and method of his conversion , and that in compliance with a particular Vision from Heaven , he had preached repentance and reformation of life first to the Jews , and then after to the Gentiles : That it was for no other things than these that the Jews apprehended him in the Temple , and designed to murder him ; but being rescued and upheld by a Divine power , he continued in this testimony to this day , asserting nothing but what was perfectly agreeable to Moses and the Prophets , who had plainly foretold that the Messiah should both be put to death , and rise again , and by his doctrine enlighten both the Jewish and the Gentile World. While he was thus discoursing , Festus openly cried out , that he talked like a mad-man , that his over-much study had put him besides himself . The Apostle calmly replied , he was far from being transported with idle and distracted humours , that he 〈◊〉 nothing but what was most true and real in it self , and what very well became that grave sober Auditory . And then again addressing himself to Agrippa , told him , that these things having been open and publick , he could not but be acquainted with them , that he was confident that he believed the Prophets , and must needs therefore know that those Prophecies were fulfilled in Christ. Hereat Agrippa replied , That he had in some degree perswaded him to embrace the Christian Faith. To which the Apostle returned , that he heartily prayed , that not only he , but the whole Auditory were , not only in some measure , but altogether , though not prisoners , yet as much Christians as he himself was . This done , the King and the Governour , and the rest of the Council withdrew a-while , to confer privately about this matter . And finding by the accusations brought against him , that he was not guilty by the Roman Laws of any 〈◊〉 offence , no nor of any that deserved so much as imprisonment , Agrippa told 〈◊〉 , that he might have been released , if he had not appealed unto Caesar. for the Appeal being once made , the Judge had then no power either to absolve or condemn , the cause being intirely reserved to the cognizance of that Superior , to whom the Criminal had appealed . 7. IT was now finally resolved that S. Paul should be sent to Rome : in order whereunto he was , with some other Prisoners of remarque , committed to the charge of Julius , Commander of a Company belonging to the Legion of Augustùs ; accompanied in this Voyage by S. Luke , Aristarchus , 〈◊〉 , & some others . In September , Ann. Chr. LVI . or as others , LVII . they went on board a Ship of 〈◊〉 , and sailed to Sidon , where the Captain civilly gave the Apostle leave to go a-shoar to visit his Friends , and refresh himself : Hence to Cyprus , till they came to the Fair-Havens , a place near Myra , a City of Lysia . Here , Winter growing on , and S. Paul foreseeing it would be a dangerous Voyage , perswaded them to put in , and winter . But the Captain preferring the judgment of the Master of the Ship , and especially because of the incommodiousness of the Harbour , resolved , if possible , to reach Phoenice , a Port of Crete , and to winter there . But it was not long before they found themselves disappointed of their hopes : For the calm southerly Gale that blew before , suddainly changed into a stormy and blustring North-East Wind , which so bore down all before it , that they were forced to let the ship drive at the pleasure of the Wind ; but as much as might be , to prevent splitting , or running a-ground , they threw out a great part of their Lading , and the Tackle of the Ship. Fourteen Days they remained in this desperate and uncomfortable condition , neither Sun nor Stars appearing for a great part of the time ; the Apostle putting them in mind how ill-advised they were in not taking his counsel : Howbeit they should be of good chear , for that that God whom he served and worshipped , had the last Night purposely sent an Angel from Heaven , to let him know , that notwithstanding the present danger they were in , yet that he should be brought safe before Nero ; that they should be shipwrack'd indeed , and cast upon an Island , but that for his sake God had spared all in the Ship , not one whereof should miscarry , and that he did not doubt , but that it would accordingly come to pass . On the fourteenth Night upon sounding they found themselves nigh some Coast ; and therefore to avoid Rocks , thought good to come to an Anchor , till the Morning might give them better information . In the mean time the Sea-men ( who best understood the danger ) were preparing to get into the Skiff , to save themselves : which S. Paul espying , told the Captain , that unless they all staid in the Ship , none could be safe : whereupon the Souldiers cut the Ropes , and let the Skiff fall off into the Sea. Between this and day-break the Apostle advised them to eat and refresh themselves , having all this time kept no ordinary and regular Meals , assuring them they should all escape . Himself first taking Bread , and having blessed God for it before them all , the rest followed his example , and chearfully sell to their Meat : which done , they lightned the Ship of what remained , and endeavoured to put into a Creek , which they discovered not far off . But falling into a place where two Seas met , the fore-part of the Ship ran a-ground , while the hinder-part was beaten in pieces with the violence of the Waves . Awakened with the danger they were in , the Souldiers cried out to kill the Prisoners , to prevent their escape : which the Captain , desirous to save S. Paul , and probably in confidence of what he had told them , refused to do ; commanding , that every one should shift for himself : the issue was , that part by swimming , part on planks , part on pieces of the broken Ship , they all , to the number of two hundred threescore and sixteen ( the whole number in the Ship ) got safe to shore . 8. THE Island upon which they were cast was Melita ( now Malta ) situate in the Libyan Sea between Syracuse and Africk . Here they found civility among Barbarians , and the plain acknowledgments of a Divine justice written among the naked and untutored notions of Mens minds . The People treated them with great humanity , entertaining them with all necessary accommodations ; but while S. Paul was throwing sticks upon the Fire , a Viper dislodged by the heat , came out of the wood , and fastned on his hand . This the People no sooner espyed , but presently concluded , that surely he was some notorious Murderer , whom though the Divine vengeance had suffered to escape the Hue-and-cry of the Sea , yet had it only reserved him for a more publick and solemn execution . But when they saw him shake it off into the Fire , and not presently swell , and drop down , they changed their opinions , and concluded him to be some God. So easily are light and credulous minds transported from one extreme to another . Not far off lived Publius , a Man of great Estate and Authority , and ( as we may probably guess from an Inscription found there , and set down by Grotius , wherein the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is reckoned amongst the Roman Offices ) Governor of the Island , by him they were courteously entertained three Days at his own charge , and his Father lying at that time sick of a Feaver and a Dysentery , S. Paul went in , and having prayed , and laid his hands upon him , healed him ; as he did also many of the Inhabitants , who by this Miracle were encouraged to bring their diseased to him : whereby great honours were heaped upon him , and both he and his company furnished with provisions necessary for the rest of their Voyage . Nay Publius himself is said by * some to have been hereby converted to the Faith , and by S. Paul to have been constituted Bishop of the Island , and that this was he that succeeded S. Denys the Areopagite in the See of Athens , and was afterwards crowned with Martyrdom . 9. AFTER three Months stay in this Island , they went a-board the Castor and Pollux , a Ship of Alexandria , bound for Italy . At Syracuse they put in , and staid three Days ; thence sailed to Rhegium , and so to Puteoli , where they landed , and finding some Christians there , staid a week with them , and then set forward in their Journey to Rome . The Christians at Rome having heard of their arrival , several of them came part of the way to meet them , some as far as the Three Taverns , a place thirty three Miles from Rome , others as far as Appii Forum , fifty one Miles distant thence . Great was their mutual salutation , and the encouragement which the Apostle received by it , glad no doubt to see that Christians found so much liberty at Rome . By them he was conducted in a kind of triumph into the City , where when they were arrived , the rest of the Prisoners were delivered over to the Captain of the Guard , and by him disposed in the common Gaol , while S. Paul ( probably at Julius his request and recommendation ) was permitted to stay in a private House , only with a Souldier to secure and guard him . SECT . VII . S. Paul's Acts , from his coming to Rome , till his Martyrdom . S. Paul's summoning the chief of the Jews at Rome , and his discourse to them . Their resractoriness and infidelity . His first hearing before Nero. The success of his Preaching . Poppaea Sabina Nero's Concubine one of his Converts . Tacitus his character of her . Onesimus converted by S. Paul at Rome , and sent back with an Epistle to Philemon his Master . The great obligation which Christianity lays upon Servants to diligence and sidelity in their duty . The rigorous and arbitrary power of Masters over Servants by the Roman Laws . This mitigated by the Laws of the Gospel . S. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians , upon what occasion sent . His Epistle to the Ephesians , and another to the Colossians . His second Epistle to Timothy written ( probably ) at his first being at Rome . The Epistle to the Hebrews by whom written ; and in what Language . The aim and design of it . S. Paul's Preaching the Gospel in the West , and in what parts of it . His return to Rome , when . His imprisonment under Nero , and why . His being beheaded . Milk instead of blood said to flow from his body . Different Accounts of the time of his suffering . His burial where , and the great Church erected to his memory . 1. THE first thing S. Paul did after he came to Rome , was to summon the Heads of the Jewish Consistory there , whom he acquainted with the cause and manner of his coming , that though he had been guilty of no violation of the Law of their Religion , yet had he been delivered by the Jews into the hands of the Roman Governours , who would have acquitted him once and again as innocent of any capital offence , but by the perversness of the Jews he was forced , not with an intention to charge his own Nation ( already sufficiently odious to the Romans ) but only to vindicate and clear himself , to make his Appeal to Caesar ; that being come , he had sent for them , to let them know , that it was for his constant asserting the Resurrection , the hope of all true 〈◊〉 , that he was bound with that Chain which they saw upon him . The Jews replied , that they had received no advice concerning him , nor had any of the Nation that came from Judaea , brought any Charge against him : only for the Religion which he had espoused , they desired to be a little better informed about it , it being every where decried both by Jew and Gentile . Accordingly upon a day appointed he discoursed to them from morning to night concerning the Religion and Doctrine of the holy Jesus , proving from the promises and predictions of the Old Testament , that he was the true Messiah . His discourse succeeded not with all alike , some being convinced , others persisted in their infidelity : And as they were departing in some discontent at each other , the Apostle told them , it was now too plain , God had accomplished upon them the prophetical curse , of being left to their own wilful hardness and impenitency , to be blind at noon-day , and to run themselves against all means and methods into irrecoverable ruine : That since the case was thus with them , they must expect , that henceforth he should turn his preaching to the Gentiles , who would be most ready to entertain , what they had so scornfully rejected , the glad tidings of the Gospel . 2. IT was not , probably , long after this , that he was brought to his first hearing before the Emperor , where those friends , whom he most expected should stand by him , plainly deserted him , afraid it seems of appearing in so ticklish a cause before so unreasonable a Judge , who governed himself by no other measures , than the brutish and extravagant pleasure of his lust or humour . But God stood by him , and encouraged him ; as indeed Divine consolations are many times then nearest to us , when humane assistances are farthest from us . This cowardise of theirs the Apostle had a charity large enough to cover , heartily praying , that it might not be brought in against them in the Accounts of the great Day . Two years he dwelt at Rome in an house which he hired for his own use , wherein he constantly imployed himself in preaching and writing for the good of the Church . He preached daily , without interruption , to all that came to him , and with good success , yea , even upon some of the better rank and quality , and those belonging to the Court it self . Among which the Roman * Martyrologie reckons Torpes , an Officer of prime note in Nero's Palace , and afterwards a Martyr for the Faith ; and Chrysostom ( if ‖ Baronius cite him right ) tells us of Nero's Cup-bearer , and one of his Concubines , supposed by some to have been Poppaea Sabina , of whom * Tacitus gives this character , that she wanted nothing to render her one of the most accomplished Ladies in the World , but a chast and a vertuous mind : And I know not how far it may seem to countenance her conversion , at least inclination to a better Religion than that of Paganism , that ‖ Josephus styles her a pious woman , and tells us that she effectually solicited the cause of the Jews with her Husband Nero ; and what favours Josephus himself received from her at Rome , he relates in his own life . 3. AMONGST others of our Apostle's Converts at Rome was Onesimus , who had formerly been servant to Philemon , a person of eminency in Colosse ; but had run away from his Master , and taken things of some value with him . Having rambled as far as Rome , he was now converted by S. Paul , and by him returned with recommendatory Letters to Philemon his Master , to beg his pardon , and that he might be received into favour , being now of a much better temper , more faithful and diligent , and useful to his Master than he had been before : As indeed Christianity where 't is heartily entertained , makes men good in all relations , no Laws being so wisely contrived for the peace and happiness of the World , as the Laws of the Gospel , as may appear by this particular case of servants ; what admirable rules , what severe Laws does it lay upon them for the discharge of their duties ! it commands them to honour their Masters as their Superiors , and to take heed of making their authority light and cheap by familiar and contemptible thoughts and carriages , to obey them in all honest and lawful things , and that not with eye-service as men-pleasers , but in singleness of heart as unto God ; that they be faithful to the trust committed to them , and manage their Masters interest with as much care and conscience as if it were their own ; that they entertain their reproofs , counsels , corrections with all silence and sobriety , not returning any rude surly answers ; and this carriage to be observed , not only to Masters of a mild and gentle , but of a cross and peevish disposition , that whatever they do , they do it heartily , not as to men only , but to the Lord ; knowing that of the Lord they shall receive the reward of the inheritance , for that they serve the Lord Christ. Imbued with these excellent principles , Onesimus is again returned unto his Master ; for Christian Religion , though it improve mens tempers , does not cancel their relations , it teaches them to abide in their callings , and not to despise their Masters , because they are Erethren , but rather do them service , because they are faithful . And being thus improved , S. Paul the more confidently beg'd his pardon . And indeed had not Philemon been a Christian , and by the principles of his Religion both disposed and obliged to mildness and mercy , there had been great reason why S. Paul should be thus importunate with him for Onesimus his pardon , the case of servants in those days being very hard , for all Masters were looked upon as having an unlimited power over their Servants , and that not only by the * Roman , but by the Laws of all Nations , whereby without asking the Magistrate's leave , or any publick and formal trial , they might adjudge and condemn them to what work or punishment they pleased , even to the taking away of life it self . But the severity and exorbitancy of this power was afterwards somewhat curb'd by the Laws of succeeding Emperors , especially after the Empire submitted it self to Christianity , which makes better provision for persons in that capacity and relation , and in case of unjust and over-rigorous usage , enables them to appeal to a more righteous and impartial Tribunal , where Master and Servant shall both stand upon even ground , where he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done ; and there is no respect of persons . 4. THE Christians at Philippi having heard of S. Paul's imprisonment at Rome , and not knowing what straits he might be reduced to , raised a contribution for him , and sent it by Epaphroditus their Bishop , who was now come to Rome , where he shortly after fell dangerously sick : But being recovered , and upon the point to return , by him S. Paul sent his Epistle to the Philippians , wherein he gives them some account of the state of affairs at Rome , gratefully acknowledges their kindness to him , and warns them of those dangerous opinions , which the Judaizing Teachers began to vent among them . The Apostle had heretofore for some years liv'd at Ephesus , and perfectly understood the state and condition of that place ; and therefore now by Tychicus writes his Epistle to the Ephesians , endeavouring to countermine the principles and practices both of Jews and Gentiles , to confirm them in the belief and obedience of the Christian doctrine , to represent the infinite riches of the Divine goodness in admitting the Gentile world to the unsearchable treasures of Christianity , especially pressing them to express the life and spirit of it in the general duties of Religion , and in the duties of their particular relations . Much about the same time , or a little after , he wrote his Epistle to the Colossians , where he had never been , and sent it by Epaphras , who for some time had been his fellow-prisoner at Rome . The design of it is for the greatest part the same with that to the Ephesians , to settle and confirm them in the Faith of the Gospel , against the errors both of Judaism , and the superstitious observances of the Heathen World , some whereof had taken root amongst them . 5. IT is not improbable but that about this , or rather some considerable time before , S. Paul wrote his second Epistle to Timothy . I know Eusebius , and the Ancients , and most Moderns after them , will have it written a little before his Martyrdom , induced thereunto by that passage in it , that he was then ready to be offered , and that the time of his departure was at hand . But surely it 's most reasonable to think , that it was written at his first being at Rome , and that at his first coming thither , presently after his Trial before Nero. Accordingly the passage before mentioned may import no more , than that he was in imminent danger of his life , and had received the sentence of death in himself , not hoping to escape out of the paws of Nero : But that God had delivered him out of the mouth of the Lion , i. e. the great danger he was in at his coming thither : Which exactly agrees to his case at his first being at Rome , but cannot be reconciled with his last coming thither ; together with many more circumstances in this Epistle , which render it next door to certain . In it he appoints Timothy shortly to come to him , who accordingly came , whose name is joyned together with his in the front of several Epistles , to the Philippians , Colossians , and to Philemon . The only thing that can be levelled against this is , that in this Epistle to Timothy , he tells him , that he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus , by whom 't is plain that the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians were dispatched , and that therefore this to Timothy must be written after them . But I see no inconvenience to affirm , that Tychicus might come to Rome presently after S. Paul's arrival there , be by him immediately sent back to Ephesus upon some emergent affair of that Church ; and after his return to Rome be sent with those two Epistles . The design of the Epistle was to excite the holy man to a mighty zeal and diligence , care and fidelity in his office , and to antidote the people against those poisonous principles that in those parts especially began to debauch the minds of men . 6. AS for the Epistle to the Hebrews , 't is very uncertain when , or whence , and ( for some Ages doubted ) by whom 't was written . * Eusebius tells us , 't was not received by many , because rejected by the Church of Rome , as none of S. Paul's genuine Epistles . ‖ Origen affirms the style and phrase of it to be more fine and elegant , and to contain in it a richer vein of purer Greek , than is usually found in S. Paul's Epistles ; as every one that is able to judge of a style , must needs confess : That the sentences indeed are grave and weighty , and such as breath the Spirit and Majesty of an Apostle : That therefore 't was his judgment , that the matter contained in it had been dictated by some Apostle , but that it had been put into phrase , form , and order by some other person that did attend upon him : That if any Church owned it for S. Paul's , they were not to be condemned , it not being without reason by the Ancients ascribed to him ; though God only knew who was the true Author of it . He further tells us , that report had handed it down to his time , that it had been composed partly by Clemens of Rome , partly by Luke the Evangelist . * Tertullian adds , that it was writ by Barnabas . What seems most likely in such variety of opinions is , that S. Paul originally wrote it in Hebrew , it being to be sent to the Jews his Country-men , and by some other person , probably S. Luke , or Clemens Romanus translated into Greek : Especially since both ‖ Eusebius and * S. Hierom observed of old such a great affinity both in style and sence between this and Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians , as thence positively to conclude him to be the Translator of it . 'T was written , as we may conjecture , a little after he was restored to his liberty , and probably while he was yet in some parts of Italy , whence he dates his salutations . The main design of it is to magnifie Christ and the Religion of the Gospel , above Moses and the Jewish Oeconomy and Ministration , that by this means he might the better 〈◊〉 and confirm the convert-Jews in the firm belief and profession of Christianity , notwithstanding those sufferings and persecutions that came upon them , endeavouring throughout to arm and 〈◊〉 them against Apostasie from that noble and excellent Religion , wherein they had so happily engaged themselves . And great need there was for the Apostle severely to urge them to it , heavy persecutions both from Jews and Gentiles pressing in upon them on every side , besides those trains of specious and plausible 〈◊〉 that were laid to reduce them to their Ancient Institutions . Hence the Apostle calls Apostasie the sin which did so easily beset them , to which there were such frequent temptations , and into which they were so prone to be betrayed in those suffering times . And the more to deter them from it , he once and again sets before them the dreadful state and condition of Apostates , those who having been once enlightned , and baptized into the Christian Faith , tasted the promises of the Gospel , and been made partakers of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost , those powers which in the world to come , or this new state of things were to be conferred upon the Church , if after all this these men fall away , and renounce Christianity , it 's very hard , and even impossible to renew them again unto repentance . For by this means they trod under foot , and crucified the Son of God afresh , and put him to an open shame , prophaned the bloud of the Covenant , and did despite to the Spirit of Grace . So that to sin thus wilfully after they had received the knowledge of the truth , there could remain for them no more sacrifice for sins , nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which should devour these adversaries . And a searful thing it was in such circumstances to fall into the hands of the living God , who had particularly said of this sort of sinners , that if any man drew back , his soul should have no pleasure in him . Hence it is , that every where in this Epistle he mixes exhortations to this purpose , that they would give earnest heed to the things which they had heard , lest at any time they should let them slip , that they would hold fast the confidence , and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end , and beware lest by an evil heart of unbelief they departed from the living God ; that they would labour to enter into his 〈◊〉 , lest any man fall after the example of unbelief ; that leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ , they would go on to perfection , shewing diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end , not being slothful , but followers of them , who through faith and patience inherit the promises ; that they would hold fast the profession of the faith without wavering , not forsaking the assembling of themselves together ( as the manner of some was ) nor cast away their confidence , which had great recompence of reward ; that they had need of patience , that after they had done the will of God , they might receive the promise ; that they would not be of them who drew back unto perdition , but of them that believed to the saving of the Soul ; that being encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses , who with the most unconquerable constancy and resolution had all holden on in the way to Heaven , they would lay aside every weight , and the sin which did so easily beset them , and run with patience the race that was set before them , especially looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of their faith , who endured the cross , and despised the shame , that therefore they should consider him that endured such 〈◊〉 of sinners against himself , lest they should be wearied and faint in their minds , for that they had not yet resisted unto blood , striving against sin ; looking diligently lest any man should fail of the grace of God , lest any root of bitterness springing up should trouble them , and thereby many be defiled . By all which , and much more that might be observed to this purpose , it is evident , what our Apostles great design was in this excellent Epistle . 7. OUR Apostle being now after two Years custody perfectly restored to liberty , remembred that he was the Apostle of the Gentiles , and had therefore a larger Diocese than Rome , and accordingly prepared himself for a greater Circuit , though which way he directed his course , is not absolutely certain . By some he is said to have returned back into Greece , and the parts of Asia , upon no other ground that I know of , than a few intimations in some of his Epistles that he intended to do so . By others he is thought to have preached both in the Eastern and Western parts , which is not inconsistent with the time he had after his departure from Rome . But of the latter we have better evidence . Sure I am an Author beyond all exception , S. Paul's contemporary and Fellow-labourer , I mean * Clemens , in his famous Epistle to the Corinthians expresly tells us , that being a Preacher both in the East and West , he taught righteousness to the whole World , and went to the utmost bounds of the West . Which makes me the more wonder at the confidence of ‖ one ( otherwise a Man of great parts and learning ) who so peremptorily denies that ever our Apostle preached in the West , meerly because there are no Monuments left in Primitive Antiquity of any particular Churches there founded by him . As if all the particular passages of his life , done at so vast a distance must needs have been recorded , or those records have come down to us , when it is so notoriously known , that almost all the Writings and Monuments of those first Ages of Christianity are long since perished : or as if we were not sufficiently assured of the thing in general , though not of what particularly he did there . Probable it is , that he went into Spain , a thing which himself tells us he had formerly once and again resolved on . Certain it is that the * Ancients do generally assert it , without seeming in the least to doubt of it . Theodoret and others tell us , that he preached not only in Spain , but that he went to other Nations , and brought the Gospel into the Isles of the Sea , by which he undoubtedly means Britain , and therefore elsewhere reckons the Gauls and Britains among the Nations , which the Apostles , and particularly the Tent-maker perswaded to embrace the Law of Christ. Nor is he the only Man that has said it , ‖ others having given in their testimony and suffrage in this case . 8. TO what other parts of the World S. Paul preached the Gospel , we find no certain foot-steps in Antiquity , nor any further mention of him , till his return to Rome , which probably was about the Eighth or Ninth Year of Nero's Reign . Here he met with Peter , and was together with him thrown into Prison , no doubt in the general Persecution raised against the Christians , under the pretence that they had fir'd the City . Besides the general , we may reasonably suppose there were particular causes of his Imprisonment . Some of the Ancients make him engaged with Peter in procuring the fall of Simon Magus , and that that derived the Emperor's fury and rage upon him . * S. Chrysostome gives us this account ; that having converted one of Nero's Concubines , a Woman of whom he was infinitely fond , and reduced her to a life of great strictness and chastity , so that now she wholly refused to comply with his wanton and impure embraces ; the Emperor stormed hereat , calling the Apostle a Villain and Impostor , a wretched perverter and debaucher of others , giving order that he should be cast into Prison , and when he still persisted to perswade the Lady to continue her chast and pious resolutions , commanding him to be put to death . 9. HOW long he remained in Prison is not certainly known ; at last his Execution was resolved on ; what his preparatory treatment was , whether scourged as Malefactors were wont to be in order to their death , we find not . As a Roman Citizen by the Valerian and the Porcian Law he was exempted from it : Though by the Law of the XII . Tables notorious Malefactors , condemned by the Centuriate Assemblies , were first to be scourged , and then put to death : and Baronius tells us that in the Church of S. Mary beyond the Bridge in Rome , the Pillars are yet extant , to which both Peter and Paul are said to have been bound and scourged . As he was led to Execution , he is said to have converted three of the Souldiers that were sent to conduct and guard him , who within few days after by the Emperours command became Martyrs for the Faith. Being come to the place , which was the Aquae Salviae , three Miles from Rome , after some solemn preparation , he chearfully gave his Neck to the fatal stroke . As a Roman he might not be put upon the Cross , too infamous a Death for any but the worst of Slaves and Malefactors , and therefore was beheaded , accounted a more noble kind of Death among the Romans , fit for Persons of better Quality , and more ingenuous Education : And from this Instrument of his Execution the custom , no doubt , first arose , that in all Pictures and Images of this Apostle , he is constantly represented with a Sword in his right hand . Tradition reports ( justified herein by the suffrage of many of the * Fathers ) that when he was beheaded , a Liquor more like Milk than Blood flowed from his Veins , and spirted upon the Clothes of his Executioner ; and had I list or leisure for such things , I might entertain the Reader with the little glosses that are made upon it . S. Chrysostom adds , that it became a means of converting his Executioner , and many more to the Faith ; and that the Apostle suffered in the sixty eighth Year of his Age. Some question there is whether he suffered at the same time with Peter , many of the * Ancients positively affirm , that both suffered on the same Day , and Year : but ‖ others though allowing the same Day , tell us that S. Paul suffered not till the Year after ; nay some interpose the distance of several Years . A Manuscript * writer of the Lives and Travels of Peter and Paul , brought amongst other venerable Monuments of Antiquity out of Greece , will have Paul to have suffered no less than five Years after Peter , which he justifies by the authority of no less than Justin Martyr , and Irenaeus . But what credit is to be given to this nameless Author , I see not , and therefore lay no weight upon it , nor think it fit to be put into the balance with the testimonies of the Ancients . Certainly if he suffered not at the very same time with Peter , it could not be long after , not above a Year at most . The best is , which of them soever started first , they both came at last to the same end of the race , to those Palms and Crowns , which are reserved for all good Men in Heaven , but most eminently for the Martyrs of the Christian Faith. 10. HE was buried in the Via Ostiensis , about two Miles from Rome , over whose Grave about the Year CCCXVIII . * Constantine the Great , at the instance of Pope Sylvester , built a stately Church , within a Farme which Lucina a noble Christian Matron of Rome had long before setled upon that Church . He adorned it with an hundred of the best Marble columns , and beautified it with the most exquisit workmanship ; the many rich gifts and endowments which he bestowed upon it being particularly set down in the Life of Sylvester . This Church as too narrow and little for the honour of so great an Apostle , 〈◊〉 , or rather Theodosius the Emperor ( the one but finishing what the other began ) by a * Rescript directed to Sallustius Praefect of the City , caused to be taken down , and a larger and more noble Church to be built in the room of it : Further beautified ( as appears from an ancient ‖ Inscription ) by Placidia the Empress , at the perswasion of Leo , Bishop of Rome . What other additions of Wealth , Honour , or stateliness it has received since , concerns not me to enquire . SECT . VIII . The Description of his Person and Temper , together with an Account of his Writings . The Person of S. Paul described . His infirm constitution . His natural endowments . His ingenuous Education , and admirable skill in humane Learning and Sciences . The Divine temper of his mind . His singular humility and condescension . His temperance and sobriety , and contempt of the World. Whether he lived a married or a single life . His great kindness and compassion . His charity to mens Bodies and Souls . His mighty zeal for Religion . His admirable industry and diligence in his Office. His unconquerable Patience : The many great troubles he underwent . His constancy and fidelity in the profession of Christianity . His Writings . His style and way of Writing , what . S. Hierom's bold censure of it . The perplexedness and obscurity of his Discourses , whence . The account given of it by the Ancients . The Order of his Epistles , what . Placed not according to the time when , but the dignity of Persons or Places to which they were written . The 〈◊〉 at the end of them , of what value . The writings fathered upon S. Paul. His 〈◊〉 A third Epistle to the Corinthians . The Epistle to the Laodiceans . His 〈◊〉 His Acts. The Epistles between him and Seneca . 1. THOUGH we have drawn S. Paul at large , in the account we have given of his Life , yet may it be of use , to represent him in little , in a brief account of his Person , Parts , and those Graces and Vertues , for which he was more peculiarly eminent and remarkable . For his Person , we find it thus * described . He was low and little of stature , and somewhat stooping , his complexion fair , his countenance grave , his head small , his eyes carrying a kind of beauty and sweetness in them , his eye-brows a little hanging over , his nose long , but gracefully bending , his beard thick , and like the hair on his head , mixed with grey hairs . Somewhat of this description may be learnt from ‖ Lucian , when in the person of Trypho , one of S. Paul's disciples , he calls him by way of derision , the high-nosed bald-pated Galilean , that was caught up through the Air unto the third Heaven , where he learnt great and excellent things . That he was very low , himself plainly intimates , when he tells us , they were wont to say of him , that his bodily presence was weak , and his speech contemptible ; in which respect he is styled by * Chrysostom , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man three cubits [ or a little more than four foot ] high , and yet tall enough to reach Heaven . He seems to have enjoyed no very firm and athletick constitution , being often subject to distempers ; ‖ S. Hierom particularly reports , that he was frequently afflicted with the head-ach , and that this was thought by many to have been the thorn in the flesh , the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him , and that probably he intended some such thing by the temptation in his flesh , which he elsewhere speaks of : Which however it may in general signifie those afflictions that came upon him , yet does it primarily denote those diseases and infirmities that he was obnoxious to . 2. BUT how mean soever the Cabinet was , there was a treasure within more precious and valuable , as will appear , if we survey the accomplishments of his mind . For his natural abilities and endowments , he seems to have had a clear and solid judgment , quick invention , a prompt and ready memory ; all which were abundantly improved by Art , and the advantages of a more liberal Education . The Schools of Tarsus had sharpned his discursive faculty by Logick , and the Arts of reasoning , instructed him in the Institutions of Philosophy , and enriched him with the furniture of all kinds of humane Learning . This gave him great advantage above others , and ever raised him to a mighty reputation for Parts and Learning ; insomuch that * S. Chrysostom tells us of a dispute between a Christian and a Heathen , wherein the Christian endeavoured to prove against the Gentile , that S. Paul was more Learned and Eloquent than Plato himself . How well he was versed , not only in the Law of Moses , and the writings of the Prophets , but even in Classick and Foreign writers , he has left us sufficicient ground to conclude , from those excellent sayings , which here and there 〈◊〉 quotes out of Heathen Authors . Which as at once it shews , that 't is not unlawful to bring the spoils of Egypt into the service of the Sanctuary , and to make use of the advantages of Foreign studies and humane literature to Divine and excellent purposes , so does it argue his being greatly conversant in the paths of humane Learning , which upon every occasion he could so readily command . Indeed he seemed to have been furnished out on purpose to be the Doctor of the Gentiles , to contend with , and 〈◊〉 the grave and the wise , the acute and the subtil , the sage and the learned of the Heathen World , and to wound them ( as Julian's word was ) with arrows drawn out of their own Quiver . Though we do not find , that in his disputes with the Gentiles he made much use of Learning and Philosophy ; it being more agreeable to the designs of the Gospel , to confound the wisdom and learning of the World by the plain doctrine of the Cross. 3. THESE were great accomplishments , and yet but a shadow to that Divine temper of mind that was in him , which discovered it self through the whole course and method of his life . He was humble to the lowest step of abasure and condescension , none ever thinking better of others , or more meanly of himself . And though when he had to deal with envious and malicious adversaries , who by vilifying his person , sought to obstruct his ministry , he knew how to magnifie his office , and to let them know , that he was no whit inferior to the very chiefest Apostles ; yet out of this case he constantly declared to all the World , that he looked upon himself as an Abortive , and an untimely Birth , as the least of the Apostles , not meet to be called an Apostle ; and as if this were not enough , he makes a word on purpose to express his humility , stiling himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , less than the least of all Saints , yea , the very chief of sinners . How freely , and that at every turn does he confess what he was before his conversion , a Blasphemer , a Persecutor , and Injurious both to God and Men ? Though honoured with peculiar Acts of the highest grace and favour , taken up to an immediate converse with God in Heaven , yet did not this swell him with a supercilious lostiness over the rest of his brethren : Intrusted he was with great power and authority in the Church , but never affected dominion over men's Faith , nor any other place , than to be an helper of their joy , nor ever made use of his power , but to the edification , not destruction of any . How studiously did he decline all honours and commendations that were heaped upon him ? When some in the Church of Corinth cried him up beyond all measures , and under the patronage of his name began to set up for a party , he severely rebuked them , told them , that it was Christ , not he , that was crucified for them , that they had not been baptized into his name , which he was so far from , that he did not remember that he had baptized 〈◊〉 three or four of them , and was heartily glad he had baptized no more , 〈◊〉 a foundation might have been laid for that suspicion ; that this Paul , whom they so much extolled , was no more than a minister of Christ , whom our Lord had appointed to plant and build up his Church . 4. GREAT was his temperance and sobriety , so far from going beyond the bounds of regularity , that he abridged himself of the conveniencies of lawful and necessary accommodations ; frequent his hungrings and thirstings , not constrained only , but voluntary ; it 's probably thought that he very rarely drank any Wine ; certain , that by abstinence and mortification he kept under and subdued his body , reducing the extravagancy of the sensual appetites to a perfect subjection to the laws of Reason . By this means he easily got above the World , and its charms and frowns , had his mind continually conversant in Heaven , his thoughts were fixed there , his desires always ascending thither , what he taught others , he practised himself , his conversation was in Heaven , and his desires were to depart , and to be with Christ ; this World did neither arrest his affections , nor disturb his fears , he was not taken with its applause , nor frighted with its threatnings ; he studied not to please men , nor valued the censures and judgments which they passed upon him ; he was not greedy of a great estate , or titles of honour , or rich presents from men , not seeking theirs , but them ; food and raiment was his bill of fare , and more than this he never cared for ; accounting , that the less he was clogged with these things , the lighter he should march to Heaven , especially travelling through a World over-run with troubles and persecutions . Upon this account it 's probable he kept himself always within a single life , though there want not some of the Ancients who expresly reckon him in the number of the married Apostles , as * Clemens Alexandrinus , ‖ Ignatius , and some others . 'T is true that passage is not to be found in the genuine Epistle of Ignatius , but yet is extant in all those that are owned and published by the Church of Rome , though they have not been wanting to banish it out of the World , having expunged S. Paul's name out of some ancient Manuscripts , as the learned Bishop * Usher has to their shame sufficiently discovered to the World. But for the main of the question we can readily grant it , the Scripture seeming most to favour it , that though he asserted his power and liberty to marry as well as the rest , yet that he lived always a single life . 5. HIS kindness and charity was truly admirable , he had a compassionate tenderness for the poor , and a quick sense of the wants of others : To what Church soever he came , it was one of his first cares , to make provision for the poor , and to stir up the bounty of the rich and the wealthy , nay , himself worked often with his own hands , not only to maintain himself , but to help and relieve them . But infinitely greater was his charity to the Souls of men , fearing no dangers , refusing no labours , going through good and evil report , that he might gain men over to the knowledge of the truth , reduce them out of the crooked paths of vice and idolatry , and set them in the right way to eternal life . Nay , so insatiable his thirst after the good of Souls , that he affirms , that rather than his Country-men the Jews should miscarry by not believing and entertaining the Gospel , he could be content , nay wished , that himself might be accursed from Christ for their sake , i. e. that he might be anathematized and cut off from the Church of Christ , and not only lose the honour of the Apostolate , but be reckoned in the number of the abject and execrable persons , such as those are who are separated from the communion of the Church . An instance of so large and passionate a charity , that lest it might not find room in mens belief , he ushered it in with this solemn appeal , and attestation , that he said the truth in Christ , and lied not , his conscience bearing him witness in the Holy Ghost . And as he was infinitely solicitous to gain men over to the best Religion in the World , so was he not less careful to keep them from being seduced from it , ready to suspect every thing that might corrupt their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie , as he told the Church of Corinth : An affection of all others the most active and vigilant , and which is wont to inspire men with the most passionate care and concernment for the good of those , for whom we have the highest measures of love and kindness . Nor was his charity to men greater than his zeal for God , endeavouring with all his might to promote the honour of his Master . Indeed zeal seems to have had a deep foundation in the natural forwardness of his temper . How exceedingly zealous was he , while in the Jews Religion , of the Traditions of his Fathers , how earnest to vindicate and assert the Divinity of the Mosaick dispensation , and to persecute all of a contrary way , even to rage and madness . And when afterwards turned into a right 〈◊〉 , it ran with as swift a current ; carrying him out against all opposition to ruine the kingdom and the powers of darkness , to beat down idolatry , and to plant the World with right apprehensions of God , and the true notions of Religion . When at Athens he saw them so much overgrown with the grossest superstition and idolatry , giving the honour that was alone due to God to Statues and Images , his zeal began to ferment , and to boil up into 〈◊〉 of indignation , and he could not but let them know the resentments of his mind , and how much herein they dishonoured God , the great Parent and Maker of the World. 6. THIS zeal must needs put him upon a mighty diligence and industry in the execution of his office , warning , reproving , intreating , perswading , preaching in season , and out of season , by night , and by day , by Sea and Land ; no pains too much to be taken , no dangers too great to be overcome . For five and thirty years after his Conversion , he 〈◊〉 staid long in one place , from Jerusalem , through Arabia , 〈◊〉 , Greece , round about to Illyricum , to Rome , and even to the utmost bounds of the Western-world , fully preaching the Gospel of Christ : Running ( says S. Hierom ) from Ocean to Ocean , like the Sun in the Heavens , of which 't is said , His going forth is from the end of the Heaven , and his circuit unto the ends of it ; sooner wanting ground to tread on , than a desire to propagate the Faith of Christ. * 〈◊〉 compares him to a Bird in the Air , that in a few years flew round the World : Isidore the * Pelusiot to a winged husbandman , that flew from place to place to cultivate the World with the most excellent rules and institutions of life . And while the other Apostles did as 't were chuse this or that particular Province , as the main sphere of their ministry , S. Paul over-ran the whole World to its utmost bounds and corners , planting all places where he came with the Divine doctrines of the Gospel . Nor in this course was he tired out with the dangers and difficulties that he met with , the troubles and oppositions that were raised against him . All which did but reflect the greater lustre upon his patience , whereof indeed ( as * Clement observes ) he became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a most eminent pattern and exemplar , enduring the biggest troubles and persecutions with a patience triumphant and unconquerable . As will easily appear , if we take but a survey of what trials and sufferings he underwent , some part whereof are briefly summed up by himself : In labours abundant , in stripes above measure , in prisons frequent , in deaths oft ; thrice beaten with rods , once stoned , thrice suffered shipwrack , a night and a day in the deep : In journeyings often , in perils of waters , in perils of robbers , in perils by his own Country-men , in perils by the Heathen , in perils in the City , in perils in the Wilderness , in perils in the Sea , in perils among false Brethren ; in weariness , in painfulness , in watchings often , in hunger and thirst ; in fastings often , in cold and nakedness : And besides these things that were without , that which daily came upon him , the care of all the Churches . An account , though very great , yet far short of what he endured , and wherein , as * 〈◊〉 observes , he does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , modestly keep himself within his measures ; for had he taken the liberty fully to have enlarged himself , he might have filled hundreds of Martyrologies with his sufferings . A thousand times was his life at stake , in every suffering he was a Martyr , and what fell but in parcels upon others , came all upon him , while they skirmished only with single parties , he had the whole Army of sufferings to contend with . All which he generously underwent with a Soul as calm and serene as the morning-Sun , no spite or rage , no fury or storms could ruffle and discompose his spirit : Nay , those sufferings , which would have broken the back of an ordinary patience , did but make him rise up with the greater eagerness and resolution for the doing of his duty . 7. HIS patience will yet further appear from the consideration of another , the last of those vertues we shall take notice of in him , his constancy and fidelity in the discharge of his place , and in the profession of Religion . Could the powers and policies of Men and Devils , spite and oppositions , torments and threatnings have been able to baffle him out of that Religion wherein he had engaged himself , he must have sunk under them , and left his station . But his Soul was steel'd with a courage and resolution that was impenetrable , and which no temptation either from hopes or fears could make any more impression upon , than an arrow can , that 's shot against a wall of marble . He wanted not solicitation on either hand , both from Jews and Gentiles , and questionless might in some degree have made his own terms , would he have been false to his trust , and have quitted that way , that was then every-where spoken against . But alas ! these things weighed little with our Apostle , who counted not 〈◊〉 life to be dear unto him , so that he might finish his course with joy , and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus : And therefore when under the sentence of death in his own apprehension , could triumphingly say , I have fought a good fight , I have finished my course , I have kept the Faith : and so indeed he did , kept it inviolably , undauntedly to the last minute of his life . The summ is , He was a man , in whom the Divine life did eminently manifest and display it self ; he lived piously and devoutly , soberly and temperately , justly and righteously , carefull alway to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and Men. This he tells us was his support under suffering , this the foundation of his confidence towards God , and his firm hopes of happiness in another World ; This is our rejoycing , the testimony of our conscience , that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World. 8. IT is not the least instance of his care and fidelity in his office , that he did not only preach and plant Christianity in all places whither he came , but what he could not personally do , he supplied by writing . XIV . Epistles he 〈◊〉 upon record , by which he was not only instrumental in propagating Christian Religion at first , but has been useful to the World ever since in all Ages of the Church . We have all along in the History of his life taken particular notice of them in their due place and order : We shall here only make some general observations and remarks upon them , and that as to the stile and way wherein they are written , their Order , and the Subscriptions that are added to them . For the Apostle's stile and manner of writing it is plain and simple , and though not set off with the elaborate artifices , and affected additionals of humane eloquence , yet grave and majestical , and that by the confession of his very enemies , his Letters ( say they ) are weighty and powerful . Nor are there wanting in them some strains of Rhetorick , which sufficiently testifie his ability that way , had he made it any part of his study and design . Indeed * S. Hierom is sometimes too rude and bold in his censures of S. Paul's stile and character . He tells us , that being an Hebrew of the Hebrews , and admirably skill'd in the Language of his Nation , he was greatly defective in the Greek Tongue , ( though a late great ‖ Critick is of another mind , affirming him to have been as well , or better skill'd in Greek , than in Hebrew , or in Syriac ) wherein he could not sufficiently express his conceptions in a way becoming the majesty of his sence and the matter he delivered , nor transmit the elegancy of his Native Tongue into another Language : that hence he became obscure and intricate in his expressions , guilty many times of solecisms , and scarce tolerable syntax , and that therefore 't was not his humility , but the truth of the thing that made him say , that he came not with the excellency of speech , but in the power of God. A censure from any other than S. Hierom that would have been justly wondred at , but we know the liberty that he takes to censure any , though the reverence due to so great an Apostle might , one would think , have challenged a more modest censure at his hands . However * elsewhere he cries him up as a great Master of composition , that as oft as he heard him , he seemed to hear not words , but thunder , that in all his citations he made use of the most prudent artifices , using simple words , and which seemed to carry nothing but plainness along with them , but which way soever a Man turned , breathed force and thunder : He seems intangled in his cause , but catches all that comes near him ; turns his back , as if intending to fly , when 't is only that he may overcome . 9. SAINT Peter long since observed , that in Paul's Epistles there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , some things hard to be understood : which surely is not altogether owing to the profoundness of his sence , and the mysteriousness of the subject that he treats of , but in some degree to his manner of expression ; his frequent Hebraisms , ( common to him with all the Holy Writers of the New Testament ) his peculiar forms and ways of speech , his often inserting Jewish Opinions , and yet but tacitly touching them , his using 〈◊〉 words in a new and uncommon sence ; but above all , his frequent and abrupt transitions , suddainly starting aside from one thing to another , whereby his Reader is left at a loss , not knowing which way to follow him , not a little contributing to the perplex'd obscurity os his discourses . * Irenaeus took notice of old , that S. Paul makes frequent use of these Hyperbata , by reason of the swiftness of his arguings , and the great fervour and impetus that was in him , leaving many times the designed srame and texture of his discourse , not bringing in what should have immediately connected the sence and order , till some distance after : which indeed to Men of a more nice and delicate temper , and who will not give themselves leave patiently to trace out his reasonings , must needs create some obscurity . Origen and S. Hierom sometimes observe , that besides this he uses many of his Native phrases of the Cilician dialect , which being in a great measure forraign and exotick to the ordinary Greek , introduces a kind of strangeness into his discourse , and renders it less intelligible . ‖ Epiphanius tells us , that by these methods he acted like a skilful Archer , hitting the mark , before his adversaries were aware of it ; by words misplaced making the frame of his discourse seem obscure and intangled , while in it self it was not only most true ; but elaborate , and not difficult to be understood ; that to careless and trifling Readers it might sometimes seem dissonant and incoherent , but to them that are diligent , and will take their reason along with them , it would appear full of truth , and to be disposed with great care and order . 10. AS for the order of these Epistles , we have already given a particular account of the times when , and the places whence they were written . That which is here considerable , is the Order according to which they are disposed in the sacred Canon . Certain it is that they are not plac'd according to the just order of time , wherein they were written , the two Epistles to the Thessalonians being on all hands agreed to have been first written , though set almost last in order . Most probable therefore it is , that they were plac'd according to the dignity of those to whom they were sent : the reason , why those to whole Churches have the precedency of those to particular persons : and among those to Churches , that to the Romans had the first place and rank assigned to it , because of the majesty of the Imperial City , and the eminency and honourable respect which that Church derived thence : and whether the same reason do not hold in others , though I will not positively assert , yet I think none will over-confidently deny . The last enquiry concerns the subscriptions added to the end of these Epistles ; which , were they authentick , would determine some doubts concerning the time and place of their writing . But alas , they are of no just value and authority , not the same in all Copies , different in the Syriac and Arabic Versions , nay wholly wanting in some ancient Greek Copies of the New Testament ; and were doubtless at first added at best upon probable conjectures . When at any time they truly represent the place whence , or the Person by whom the Epistle was sent , 't is not that they are to be relied upon in it , but because the thing is either intimated or expressed in the body of the Epistle . I shall add no more but this observation , that S. Paul was wont to subscribe every Epistle with his own hand , which is my token in every Epistle ; so I write . Which was done ( says * one of the Ancients ) to prevent impostures , that his Epistles might not be interpolated and corrupted , and that if any vented Epistles under his name , the cheat might be discovered by the Apostles own hand not being to them : And this brings me to the last consideration that shall conclude this Chapter . 11. THAT there were some even in the most early Ages of Christianity , who took upon them ( for what ends I stand not now to enquire ) to write Books , and publish them under the name of some Apostle , is notoriously known to any , though but never so little conversant in Church-Antiquities . Herein S. Paul had his part and share , several supposititious Writings being fathered and thrust upon him . We find a Gospel ascribed by some of the Ancients to him , which surely arose from no other cause , than that in some of his Epistles he makes mention of my Gospel . Which as * S. Hierom observes , can be meant of no other than the Gospel of S. Luke , his constant Attendant , and from whom he chiefly derived his intelligence . If he wrote another Epistle to the Corinthians , precedent to those two extant at this Day , as he seems to imply in a passage in his first Epistle , I have wrote unto you in an Epistle , not to keep company , &c. a passage not conveniently appliable to any part either in that or the other Epistle , nay a Verse or two after the first Epistle is directly opposed to it ; all that can be said in the case is , that it long since perished , the Divine providence not seeing it necessary to be preserved for the service of the Church . Frequent mention there is also of an Epistle of his to the Laodiceans , grounded upon a mistaken passage in the Epistle to the Colossians : but besides that the Apostle does not there speak of an Epistle written to the Laodiceans , but of one from them , * Tertullian tells us that by the Epistle to the Laodiceans is meant that to the Ephesians , and that Marcion the Heretick was the first that changed the title , and therefore in his enumeration of S. Paul's Epistles he omits that to the 〈◊〉 , for no other reason doubtless but that according to Marcion's opinion he had reckoned it up under the title of that to the Laodiceans . Which yet is more clear , if we consider that ‖ Epiphanius citing a place quoted by Marcion out of the Epistle to the Laodiceans , it is in the very same words found in that to the Ephesians at this Day . This Epistle is still extant , forged no doubt 〈◊〉 S. Hierem's time , * who tells us , that it was read by some , but yet exploded and rejected by all . Besides these there was his ‖ Revelation , call'd also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or his Ascension , grounded on his ecstasie or rapture into Heaven , first forged by the Cainian Hereticks , and in great use and estimation among the Gnosticks . * Sozomen tells us that this Apocalypse was owned by none of the Ancients , though much commended by some Monks in his time : and he further adds , that in the time of the Emperour Theodosius , it was said to have been found in an under-ground Chest of Marble in S. Paul's house at Tarsus , and that by a particular revelation . A story which upon enquiry he found to be as false , as the Book it self was forged and spurious . The Acts of S. Paul are mentioned both by ‖ Origen and * Eusebius , but not as Writings of approved and unquestionable credit and authority . The Epistles that are said to have passed between S. Paul and Seneca , how early soever they started in the Church , yet the falshood and fabulousness of them is now too notoriously known , to need any further account or description of them . SECT . IX . The principal Controversies that exercised the Church in his time . Simon Magus the Father of Hereticks . The wretched principles and practices of him and his followers . Their asserting Angel-worship ; and how countermin'd by S. Paul. Their holding it lawful to sacrifice to Idols , and abjure the Faith in times of persecution , discovered and opposed by S. Paul. Their maintaining an universal licence to sin . Their manners and opinions herein described by S. Paul in his Epistles . The great controversie of those times about the obligation of the Law of Mofes upon the Gentile Converts . The Original of it , whence . The mighty veneration which the Jews had for the Law of Moses . The true state of the Controversie , what . The Determination made in it by the Apostolick Synod at Jerusalem . Meats offered to Idols , what . Abstinence from Bloud , why enjoyned of old . Things strangled , why forbidden . Fornication commonly practised and accounted lawful among the Gentiles . The hire of the Harlot , what . How dedicated to their Deities among the Heathens . The main passages in S. Paul's Epistles concerning Justification and Salvation shewed to have respect to this Controversie . What meant by Law , and what by Faith in S. Paul's Epistles . The Persons whom he has to deal with in this Controversie , who . The Jew's strange doting upon Circumcision . The way and manner of the Apostles Reasoning in this Controversie considered . His chief Arguments shewed immediately to respect the case of the Jewish and Gentile Converts . No other controversie in those times , which his discourses could refer to . Two Consectaries 〈◊〉 this Discourse . I. That works of Evangelical Obedience are not opposed to Faith in Justification . What meant by works of Evangelical Obedience . This method of Justification excludes boasting , and intirely gives the glory to God. II. That the doctrines of S. Paul and S. James about Justification are fairly consistent with each other . These two Apostles shewed to pursue the same design . S. James his excellent Reasonings to that purpose . 1. THOUGH our Lord and his Apostles delivered the Christian Religion , especially as to the main and essential parts of it , in words as plain as words could express it , yet were there men of perverse and corrupt minds , and reprobate concerning the Faith , who from different causes , some ignorantly or wilfully mistaking the doctrines of Christianity , others to serve ill purposes and designs , began to introduce errors and unsound opinions into the Church , and to debauch the minds of men from the simplicity of the Gospel , hereby disquieting the thoughts , and alienating the affections of men , and disturbing the peace and order of the Church . The first Ring-leader of this Heretical crue was Simon Magus , who not being able to attain his ends of the Apostles , by getting a power to confer miraculous gifts , whereby he designed to greaten and enrich himself , resolved to be revenged of them , scattering the most poisonous tares among the good wheat that they had sown , bringing in the most pernicious principles , and as the natural consequent of that , patronizing the most debauched villainous practises , and this under a pretence of still being Christians . To enumerate the several Dogmata and damnable Heresies , first broached by Simon , and then vented and propagated by his disciples and followers , who though passing under different Titles , yet all centred at last in the name of Gnosticks , ( a term which we shall sometimes use for conveniency , though it took not place till after S. Paul's time ) were as endless , as 't is alien to my purpose . I shall only take notice of a few of more signal remark , and such as S. Paul in his Epistles does eminently reflect upon . 2. AMONGST the opinions and principles of Simon and his followers this was * one , That God did not create the World , that it was made by Angels , that Divine honours were due to them , and they to be adored as subordinate mediators between God and us . This our Apostle saw growing up apace , and struck betimes at the root , in that early caution he gave to the Colossians , to let no man beguile them in a voluntary humility , and worshipping of Angels , intruding into those things which he hath not seen , vainly puft up by his fleshly mind ; and not holding the head , i. e. hereby disclaiming Christ , the head of the Church . But notwithstanding this warning , this error still continued and spread it self in those parts for several Ages , till expresly condemned by the * 〈◊〉 Council . Nay , ‖ Theodoret tells us , that in his time there were still Oratories erected to the Archangel Michael in those places , wherein they were wont to meet and pray to Angels . Another Gnostick principle was , * that men might freely and indifferently eat what had been offered in sacrifice to Idols , yea , sacrifice to the Idol it self , it being lawful confidently to abjure the Faith in time of persecution . The first part whereof S. Paul does largely and frequently discuss up and down his Epistles ; the latter , wherein the sting and poison was more immediately couched , was craftily adapted to those times of suffering , and greedily swallowed by many , hereby drawn into Apostasie . Against this our Apostle antidotes the Christians , especially the Jewish Converts , among whom the Gnosticks had mixed themselves , that they would not suffer themselves to be drawn aside by an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God : That notwithstanding sufferings and persecutions they would hold fast the profession of the Faith without wavering , not forsaking the assembling of themselves together , as the manner of some is ( the Gnostick Hereticks ) remembring how severely God has threatned Apostates , that if any man draw back , his Soul shall have no pleasure in him , and what a fearful thing it is thus to fall into the hands of the living God. 3. BUT besides this , Simon and his followers made the gate yet wider , maintaining an universal licence to sin , * that men were free to do whatever they had a mind to , that to press the observance of good works was a bondage inconsistent with the liberty of the Gospel ; that so men did but believe in him , and his dear Helen , they had no reason to regard Law or Prophets , but might do what they pleased , they should be saved by his grace , and not according to good works . Irenaeus adds ( what a man would easily have inferred , had he never been told it ) that they lived in all lust and filthiness ; as indeed whoever will take the pains to peruse the account that is given of them , will find that they wallowed in the most horrible and unheard of bestialities . These persons S. Paul does as particularly describe , as if he had named them , having once and again with tears warned the Philippians of them , that they were enemies of the Cross of Christ , whose end is destruction , whose God is their belly , and whose glory is in their shame , who mind earthly things . And elsewhere to the same effect , that they would mark them that caused divisions and offences , contrary to the doctrine which they had learned , and avoid them ; for they that were such , served not our Lord Jesus Christ , but their own belly , by good words and fair speeches deceiving the hearts of the simple . This I doubt not he had in his eye , when he gave those Caveats to the Ephesians , that fornication , and all uncleanness , and inordinate desires should not be once named amongst them , as became Saints , nor filthiness , nor unclean talking ; being assured by the Christian doctrine , that no whoremonger , nor unclean person , &c. could be saved : that therefore they should let no man deceive them with vain words ; these being the very things for which the wrath of God came upon the children of disobedience , and accordingly it concerned them not to be partakers with them . Plainly intimating , that this impure Gnostick-crue ( whose doctrines and practices he does here no less truly than lively represent ) had begun by crafty and insinuative arts to screw it self into the Church of Ephesus , cheating the people with subtil and flattering insinuations , probably perswading them that these things were but indifferent , and a part of that Christian liberty , wherein the Gospel had instated them . By these and such like principles and practices ( many whereof might be reckoned up ) they corrupted the Faith of Christians , distracted the peace of the Church , stained and defiled the honour and purity of the best Religion in the World. 4. BUT the greatest and most famous Controversie that of all others in those times exercised the Christian Church , was concerning the obligation that Christians were under to observe the Law of Moses as necessary to their Justification and Salvation . Which because a matter of so much importance , and which takes up so great a part of S. Paul's Epistles , and the clearing whereof will reflect a great light upon them , we shall consider more at large : In order whereunto three things especially are to be enquired after , the true 〈◊〉 of the Controversie , what the Apostles determined in this matter , and what respect the most material passages in S. Paul's Epistles about Justification and Salvation bear to this Controversie . First we shall enquire into the true state and nature of the Controversie ; and for this we are to know , that when Christianity was published to the World , it mainly prevailed among the Jews , they being generally the first Converts to the Faith. But having been brought up in a mighty reverence and veneration for the Mosaick Institutions , and looking upon that Oeconomy as immediately contrived by God himself , delivered by Angels , setled by their great Master Moses , received with the most solemn and sensible 〈◊〉 of Divine power and majesty , ratified by miracles , and entertained by all their forefathers as the peculiar prerogative of that Nation for so many Ages and Generations , they could not easily be brought off from it , or behold the Gospel but with an evil eye , as an enemy that came to supplant and undermine this ancient and excellent Institution . Nay , those of them that were prevailed upon by the convictive power and evidence of the Gospel , to embrace the Christian Religion , yet could not get over the prejudice of education , but must still continue their observance of those legal rites and customs , wherein they had been brought up . And not content with this , they began magisterially to impose them upon others , even all the Gentile Converts , as that without which they could never be accepted by God in this , or rewarded by him in another World. This controversie was first started at Antioch , a place not more remarkable for its own greatness , than the vast numbers of Jews that dwelt there , enjoying great immunities granted them by the Kings of Syria . For after that Antiochus Epiphanes had destroyed 〈◊〉 , and laid waste the Temple , the Jews generally flocked hither , where they were courteously entertained by his successors , the spoils of the Temple restored to them for the enriching and adorning of their Synagogue , and they made equally with the Greeks free-men of that City . By which means their numbers encreased daily , partly by the resort of others from Judaea , partly by a numerous conversion of Proselytes , whom they gained over to their Religion . Accordingly Christianity at its first setting out found a very successful entertainment in this place . And hither it was that some of the Jewish Converts being come down from Jerusalem , taught the Christians , that unless they observed Circumcision , and the whole Law of Moses , they could not be saved . Paul and Barnabas then at Antioch , observing the ill influence that this had upon the minds of men ( disturbing many at present , and causing the Apostasie of some afterwards ) began vigorously to oppose this growing error ; but not able to conjure down this Spirit , that had been raised up , they were dispatched by the Church at Antioch to consult the Apostles and Governours at Jerusalem about this matter : Whither being come , they found the quarrel espoused among others by some Converts of the Sect of the Pharisees ( of all others the most zealous assertors of the Mosaick rites ) stifly maintaining , that besides the Gospel or the Christian Religion , it was necessary for all Converts , whether Jews or Gentiles , to keep to Circumcision , and the Law of Moses . So that the state of the controversie between the Orthodox , and these JudaiZing Christians was plainly this , Whether Circumcision and the observation of the Mosaick Law , or , only the belief and practice of Christianity be necessary to Salvation ? The latter part of the question was maintained by the Apostles , the former asserted by the Judaizing Zelots , making the Law of Moses equally necessary with the Law of Christ ; and no doubt pretending that whatever these men might preach at Antioch , yet the Apostles were of another mind ; whose sentence and resolution it was therefore thought necessary should be immediately known . 5. WE are then next to consider what determination the Apostostolick Synod at Jerusalem made of this matter . For a Council of the Apostles and Rulers being immediately convened , and the question by Paul and Barnabas brought before them , the case was canvassed and debated on all hands , and at last it was resolved upon by their unanimous sentence and suffrage , that the Gentile Converts were under no obligation to the Jewish Law , that God had abundantly declared his acceptance of them , though strangers to the Mosaical Oeconomy , that they were sufficiently secured of their happiness and salvation by the grace of the Gospel , wherein they might be justified and saved without Circumcision or legal Ceremonies , a yoke from which Christ had now set us free . But because the Apostles did not think it prudent in these circumstances , too much to stir the exasperated humour of the Jews ( lest by straining the string too high at first , they should endanger their revolting from the Faith ) theresore they thought of some indulgence in the case , S. James then Bishop of Jerusalem , and probably President of the Council , propounding this expedient , that for the present the Gentile Converts should so far only comply with the humour of the Jews , as to abstain from meats offered to Idols , from bloud , from things strangled , and from fornication . Let us a little more distinctly survey the ingredients of this imposition . Meats offered to Idols , or as S. James in his discourse stiles them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the pollutions of Idols , the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly denoting the meats that were polluted by being consecrated to the Idol . Thus we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as the LXX render it ) polluted bread upon God's Altar , i. e. such probably as had been before offered to Idols . So that these meats offered to the Idols were parts of those Sacrifices which the Heathens offered to their Gods , of the remaining portions whereof they usually made a Feast in the Idol-Temple , inviting their friends thither , and sometimes their Christian friends to come along with them . This God had particularly forbidden the Jews by the Law of Moses , Thou shalt worship no other God : lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land , and go a whoring after their Gods , and do sacrifice unto their Gods , and one call thee , and thou eat of his sacrifice . And the not observing this prohibition cost the Jews dear , when invited by the Moabites to the Sacrifices of their Gods , they did eat with them , and bowed down to their Gods. Sometimes these remaining portions were sold for common use in the Shambles , and bought by Christians . Both which gave great offence to the zealous Jews , who looked upon it as a participation in the Idolatries of the Heathen : Of both which our Apostle discourses elsewhere at large , pressing Christians to abstain from Idolatry , both as to the Idol-feasts , and the remainders of 〈◊〉 Sacrifice : From the former as more immediately unlawful , from the latter , the Sacrificial meats sold in the Shambles , as giving offence to weak and undiscerning Christians . For though in it self an Idol was nothing in the world , and consequently no honour could be done it by eating what was offered to it , yet was it more prudent and reasonable to abstain , partly because flesh-meats have no peculiar excellency in them to commend us to God ; partly because all men were not alike instructed in the knowledge of their liberty , their minds easily puzled , and their consciences intangled , the Gentiles by this means hardned in their idolatrous practises , weak brethren offended ; besides , though these things were in their own nature indifferent , and in a mans own power to do , or to let alone , yet was it not convenient to make our liberty a snare to others , and to venture upon what was lawful , when it was plainly unedifying and inexpedient . From blood : This God forbad of old , and that some time before the giving of the Law by Moses , that they should not eat the flesh with the bloud , which was the life thereof . The mystery of which prohibition was , to instruct men in the duties of mercy and tenderness even to brute beasts , but ( as appears from what sollows after ) primarily designed by God as a solemn fence and bar against murther , and the effusion of humane bloud . A Law afterwards renewed upon the Jews , and inserted into the body of the Mosaick precepts . From things strangled : that is , that they should abstain from eating of those Beasts that died without letting bloud , where the bloud 〈◊〉 not throughly drained from them ; a prohibition grounded upon the reason of the former , and indeed was greatly abominable to the Jews , being so expresly sorbidden in their Law. But it was not more offensive to the Jews , than acceptable to the * Gentiles , who were wont with great art and care to strangle living Creatures , that they might stew or dress them with their bloud in them , as a point of curious and exquisite delicacy . This and the foregoing prohibition , abstinence from bloud , died not with the Apostles , nor were buried with other Jewish rites , but were inviolably observed for several Ages in the Christian Church , as we have elsewhere observed from the Writers of those times . Lastly , From Fornication : This was a thing commonly practised in the Heathen World , who generally beheld simple Fornication as no * sin , and that it was lawful for persons , not engaged in wedlock , to make use of women that exposed themselves . A custom justly offensive to the Jews , and therefore to cure two evils at once , the Apostles here solemnly declare against it . Not that they thought it a thing indifferent , as the rest of the prohibited rites were , 〈◊〉 it is forbidden by the natural Law ( as contrary to that chastness and modesty , that order and comeliness which God has planted in the minds of men ) but they joyned it in the same Class with them , because the Gentiles looked upon it as a thing lawful and indifferent . It had been expresly forbidden by the Mosaick Law , There shall be no Whore of the daughters of Israel ; and because the Heathens had generally thrown down this fence and bar set by the Law of nature , it was here again repaired by the first planters of Christianity , as by S. Paul elsewhere , Ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus ; for this is the will of God , even your Sanctification , that you should abstain from fornication : That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour , not in the lust of concupiscence , even as the Gentiles which know not God. Though after all I must confess my self inclinable to imbrace 〈◊〉 his ingenious conjecture , that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fornication , we are here to understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the harlots hire , or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the offering which those persons were wont to make . For among the Gentiles nothing was more usual , than for the common women , that prostituted themselves to lewd embraces ( those especially that attended at the Temples of Venus ) to dedicate some part of their gain , and present it to the Gods. * Athanasius has a passage very express to this purpose . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . The women of old were wont to sit in the Idol-Temples of Phoenicia , and to dedicate the gain which they got by the prostitution of their bodies as a kind of first-fruits to the Deities of the place ; supposing that by fornication they should pacifie their Goddess , and by this means render her favourable and propitious to them . Where 't is plain he uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or fornication , in this very sence , for that gain or reward of it , which they consecrated to their Gods. Some such thing Solomon had in his eye , when he brings in the Harlot thus courting the young man , I have peace-offerings with me , this day have I paid my Vows . These presents were either made in specie , the very mony thus unrighteously gotten , or in 〈◊〉 bought with it , and offered at the Temple , the remainders whereof were taken and sold among the ordinary sacrificial portions . This as it holds the nearest correspondence with the rest of the rites here sorbidden , so could it not chuse but be a mighty scandal to the Jews , it being so particularly prohibited in their Law , Thou shalt not bring the hire of an Whore into the house of the Lord thy God for any Vow , for it is an abomination to the Lord. 6. THESE prohibitions here laid upon the Gentiles , were by the Apostles intended only for a temporary compliance with the Jewish Converts , till they could by degrees be brought off from their stiffness and obstinacy , and then the reason of the thing ceasing , the obligation to it must needs cease and fail . Nay , we may observe that even while the Apostolical decree lasted in its greatest force and power , in those places where there were few or no Jewish Converts , the Apostle did not stick to give leave , that except in case of scandal , any kind of meats , even the portions of the Idol - 〈◊〉 might be indifferently bought and taken by Christians as well as Heathens . These were all which in order to the satisfaction of the Jews , and for the present peace of the Church the Apostles thought necessary to require of the Converted Gentiles , but that for all the rest they were perfectly free from legal observances , obliged only to the commands of Christianity . So that the Apostolical decision that was made of this matter was this , That ( besides the temporary observation of those few indifferent rites before mentioned ) the belief and practice of the Christian Religion was perfectly sufficient to Salvation , without Circumcision , and the observation of the Mosaick Law. This Synodical determination allayed the controversie for a while , being joyfully received by the Gentile Christians . But alas , the Jewish zeal began again to ferment and spread it self , they could not with any patience endure to see their beloved Moses deserted , and those venerable Institutions trodden down , and therefore laboured to keep up their credit , and still to assert them as necessary to Salvation . Than which nothing created S. Paul greater trouble at every turn , being forced to contend against these Judaizing teachers almost in every Church where he came , as appears by that great part that they bear in all his Epistles , especially that to the Romans , and Galatians , where this leaven had most diffused it self , whom the better to undeceive , he discourses at large of the nature and institution , the end and design , the antiquating and abolishing of that Mosaick Covenant , which these men laid so much stress and weight upon . 7. HENCE then we pass to the third thing considerable for the clearing of this matter , which is to shew , that the main passages in S. Paul's Epistles , concerning Justification and Salvation , have an immediate reference to this controversie . But before we enter upon that , something must necessarily be premised for the explicating some terms and phrases frequently used by our Apostle in this question , these two especially , what he means by Law , and what by Faith. By Law then 't is plain he usually understands the Jewish Law , which was a complex body of Laws , containing moral , ceremonial and judicial precepts , each of which had its use and office as a great instrument of duty : The Judicial Laws being peculiar Statutes accommodated to the state of the Jew's Commonwealth , as all civil constitutions restrained men from the external acts of sin : The Ceremonial Laws came somewhat nearer , and besides their Typical relation to the Evangelical state , by external and symbolical representments signified and exhibited that spiritual impurity , from which men were to abstain : The Moral Laws , founded in the natural notions of mens minds concerning good and evil , directly urged men to duty , and prohibited their prevarications . These three made up the intire Code and Pandects of the Jewish Statutes ; all which our Apostle comprehends under the general notion of the Law , and not the moral Law singly and separately considered , in which sence it never appears that the Jews expected justification and salvation by it , nay rather , that they looked for it meerly from the observance of the ritual and ceremonial Law : so that the moral Law is no further considered by him in this question , than as it made up a part of the Mosaical constitution , of that National and Political Covenant , which God made with the Jews at Mount Sinai . Hence the Apostle all along in his discourses constantly opposes the Law and the Gospel , and the observation of the one to the belief and practice of the other , which surely he would not have done , had he simply intended the moral Law , it being more expresly incorporated into the Gospel , than ever it was into the Law of Moses . And that the Apostle does thus oppose the Law and Gospel , might be made evident from the continued series of his discourses ; but a few places shall suffice . By what Law ( says the Apostle ) is boasting excluded ? by the Law of works : i. e. by the Mosaic Law , in whose peculiar priviledges and prerogatives the Jews did strangely flatter and pride themselves ? Nay , but by the Law of Faith : i. e. by the Gospel , or the Evangelical way of God's dealing with us . And elsewhere giving an account of this very controversie between the Jewish and Gentile Converts , he first opposes their Persons , Jews by nature , and sinners of the Gentiles , and then infers , that a man is not justified by the works of the Law , by those legal observances , whereby the Jews expected to be justified , but by the faith of Christ , by a hearty belief of , and 〈◊〉 with that way , which Christ has introduced , for by the works of the Law , by legal obedience , no flesh , neither Jew , nor Gentile , shall now be justified . Fain would I learn , whether you received the spirit by the works of the Law , or by the hearing of Faith , that is , whether you became partakers of the miraculous powers of the Holy Ghost , while you continued under the legal dispensation , or since you embraced the Gospel , and the faith of Christ : and speaking afterwards of the state of the Jews 〈◊〉 the revelation of the Gospel , says he , before saith came , we were kept under the Law , i. e. before the Gospel came , we were kept under the Discipline of the legal Oeconomy , shut up unto the faith , reserved for the discovery of the Evangelical dispensation , which should afterwards [ in its due time ] be revealed to the World. This in the following Chapter he discourses more at large . Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law , i. e. Ye Jews that so fondly dote upon the legal state , Do ye not hear the Law ? i. e. Understand what your own Law does so clearly intimate ? and then goes on to unriddle what was wrapt up in the famous Allegory of Abraham's two Sons by his two Wives . The one , Ishmael , born of Hagar , the Bond-woman , who denoted the Jewish Covenant made at Mount Sinai , which according to the representation of her condition was a servile state : The other Isaac , born of Sarah , the Free-woman , was the Son of the promise , denoting Jerusalem that is above , and is free , the mother of us all ; i. e. The state and covenant of the Gospel , whereby all Christians , as the spiritual children of Abraham , are set free from the bondage of the Mosaic dispensation . By all which it is evident , that by Law and the works of the Law , in this controversie , the Apostle understands the Law of Moses , and that obedience which the legal dispensation required at their hands . 8. WE are secondly to enquire , what the Apostle means by Faith ; and he commonly uses it two ways . 1. More generally for the Gospel , or that Evangelical way of justification and salvation , which Christ has brought in , in opposition to Circumcision , and the observation of those Rites , by which the Jews expected to be justified : and this is plain from the preceding opposition , where Faith , as denoting the Gospel , is frequently opposed to the Law of Moses . 2. Faith is taken more particularly for a practical belief , or such an assent to the Evangelical revelation as produces a sincere obedience to the Laws of it , and indeed as concerned in this matter is usually taken not for this or that single vertue , but for the intire condition of the New Covenant , as comprehending all that duty that it requires of us : than which nothing can be more plain and evident ; In Christ Jesus , i. e. under the Gospel , neither Circumcision availeth any thing , nor Uncircumcision ; 't is all one to Justification whether a Man be circumcised or no ; What then ? but Faith , which worketh by love ; which afterwards he explains thus , In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing , nor uncircumcision , but a new creature , a renewed and divine temper of mind , and a new course and state of life . And lest all this 〈◊〉 not be thought plain enough , he elsewhere tells us , that circumcision is nothing , and uncircumcision is nothing ; but the keeping the Commandments of God. From which places there needs no skill to infer , that that Faith whereby we are justified , contains in it a new disposition and state both of heart and life , and an observation of the Laws of Christ ; in which respect the Apostle does in the very same Verse expound believing , by obeying of the Gospel . Such he assures us was that very Faith by which Abraham was justified , who against all probabilities of reason believed in God's promise , he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief , but was strong , &c. that is , he so firmly believed what God had promised , that he gave him the glory of his truth and faithfulness , his infinite power and ability to do all things . And how did he that ? by acting suitably in a way of intire resignation , and sincere obedience to the divine will and pleasure : so the Apostle elsewhere more expresly , by Faith he obeyed , and went out , not knowing whither he went. This Faith ( he tells us ) was imputed to Abraham for righteousness , that is , God by vertue of the New Covenant made in Christ was graciously pleased to look upon this obedience ( though in it self imperfect ) as that for which he accounted him , and would deal with him as a just and a righteous Man. And upon this account we find Abraham's faith opposed to a perfect and unsinning obedience , for thus the Apostle tells us , that Abraham was justified by faith , in opposition to his being justified by such an absolute and compleat obedience , as might have enabled him to challenge the reward by the strict Laws of Justice : whereas now his being pardoned and accepted by God in the way of a mean and imperfect obedience , it could not claim impunity , much less a reward , but must be intirely owing to the Divine grace and favour . 9. HAVING thus cleared our way , by restoring these words to their genuine and native sence , we come to shew , how the Apostle in his discourses does all along refer to the Original controversie between the Jewish and Gentile-Converts , whether Justification was by the observation of the Mosaic Law , or by the belief and practice of the Gospel : and this will appear , if we consider the persons that he has to deal with , the way and manner of his arguing , and that there was then no other controversie on foot , to which these passages could refer . The Persons whom he had to deal with , were chiefly of two sorts , pure Jews , and Jewish Converts . Pure Jews were those that kept themselves wholly to the Legal Oeconomy , and expected to be justified and saved in no other way , than the observation of the Law of Moses . Indeed they laid a more peculiar stress upon Circumcision , because this having been added as the Seal of that Covenant which God made with Abraham , and the discriminating badge whereby they were to be distinguished from all other Nations , they looked upon it as having a special efficacy in it to recommend them to the divine acceptance . Accordingly we find in their Writings that they make this the main Basis and Foundation of their hope and confidence towards God. For they tell us , that the Precept of Circumcision is greater than all the rest , and equivalent to the whole Law , that the reason why God hears the Prayers of the Israelites , but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gentiles or Christians , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the vertue and merit of Circumcision ; yea that so great is the power and efficacy of the Law of Circumcision , that no man that is circumcised shall go to * Hell. Nay according to the idle and 〈◊〉 humour of these ‖ Men , they fetch down Abraham from the Seat of the Blessed , and place him as Porter at the Gates of Hell , upon no other errand than to keep circumcised Persons from entring into that miserable place . However nothing is more evident , than that Circumcision was the Fort and Sanctuary wherein they ordinarily placed their security , and accordingly we find S. Paul frequently disputing against circumcision , as virtually comprizing , in their notion , the keeping of the whole Jewish Law. Besides , to these literal impositions of the Law of Moses , the Pharisees had added many vain Traditions and several superstitious usages of their own contrivance , in the observance whereof the People plac'd not a little confidence , as to that righteousness upon which they hoped to stand clear with Heaven . Against all these our Apostle argues , and sometimes by arguments peculiar to them alone . Jewish Converts were those , who having embraced the Christian Religion , did yet out of a veneration to their ancient Rites , make the observance of them equally necessary with the belief and practice of Christianity both to themselves and others . These last were the Persons , who as they first started the controversie , so were those against whom the Apostle mainly opposed himself , endeavouring to dismount their pretences , and to beat down their Opinions level with the ground . 10. THIS will yet further appear from the way and manner of the Apostles arguing , which plainly respects this controversie , and will be best seen in some particular instances of his reasonings . And first , he argues , that this way of justification urged by Jews and Jewish Converts was inconsistent with the goodness of God , and his universal kindness to Mankind , being so narrow and limited , that it excluded the far greatest part of the World : Thus in the three first Chapters of his Epistle to the Romans having proved at large that the whole World , both Jew and Gentile were under a state of guilt , and consequently liable to the divine sentence and condemnation , he comes next to enquire by what means they may be delivered from this state of vengeance , and shews that it could not be by legal observances , but that now there was a way of righteousness or justification declared by Christ in the Gospel ( intimated also in the Old Testament ) extending to all , both Jews and Gentiles , whereby God with respect to the satisfaction and expiation of Christ is ready freely to pardon and justifie , all penitent believers : That therefore there was a way revealed in the Gospel , whereby a man might be justified , without being beholden to the rites of the Jewish Law , otherwise it would argue that God had very little care of the greatest part of men . Is he God of the Jews only ? is he not also of the Gentiles ? Yes , of the Gentiles also : Seeing it is one God , which shall 〈◊〉 the Circumcision by Faith , and the uncircumcision through Faith , Jew and Gentile in the same Evangelical way . The force of which argument lies in this , That that cannot be necessary to our Justification , which excludes the greatest part of mankind from all possibility of being justified ( and this justification by the Mosaick Law plainly does ) a thing by no means consistent with God's universal love and kindness to his Creatures . Hence the Apostle magnifies the grace of the Gospel , that it has broken down the partition-wall , and made way for all Nations to come in , that now there is neither Greek nor Jew , Circumcision nor uncircumcision , Barbarian nor 〈◊〉 , no difference in this respect , but all one in Christ Jesus , all equally admitted to terms of pardon and justification , in every Nation he that feareth God , and worketh righteousness being accepted with him . 11. SECONDLY , He argues , that this Jewish way of Justification could not be indispensably necessary , in that it had not been the constant way whereby good men in all Ages had been justified and accepted with Heaven . This he eminently proves from the instance of Abraham , whom the Scripture sets forth as the Father of the faithful , and the great Exemplar of that way , wherein all his spiritual seed , all true Believers were to be justified : Now of him 't is evident , that he was justified and accepted with God upon his practical belief of God's power and promise , before ever Circumcision , and much more before the rest of the Mosaick Institution was in being . Cometh this blessedness then upon the Circumcision only , or upon the uncircumcision also ? For we say that Faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteousness . How was it then reckoned , when he was in Circumcision , or in uncircumcision ? Not in Circumcision , but in uncircumcision . And he received the sign of Circumcision , a seal of the righteousness of the faith , which he had being yet uncircumcised , &c. The meaning whereof is plainly this , That pardon of sin cannot be entailed upon the way of the Mosaick Law , it being evident , that Abraham was justified and approved of God , before he was Circumcised , which was only added as a seal of the Covenant between God and him , and a testimony of that acceptance with God , which he had obtained before . And this way of God's dealing with Abraham , and in him with all his spiritual children , the legal Institution could not make void , it being impossible that that dispensation which came so long after should disannul the Covenant which God had made with Abraham and his spiritual seed CCCCXXX . years before . Upon this account , as the Apostle observes , the Scripture sets forth Abraham as the great type and pattern of Justification , as the Father of all them that believe , though they be not Circumcised , that righteousness might be imputed to them also , and the father of Circumcision , to them who are not of the Circumcision only , but also walk in the steps of the Faith of our Father Abraham , which he had being yet uncircumcised . They therefore that are of Faith , the same are the children of Abraham : And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith , preached before the Gospel ( this Evangelical way of justifying ) unto Abraham , saying , In thee shall all Nations be blessed , So then they which be of Faith , who believe and obey , as Abraham did , shall be blessed , pardoned and saved , with faithful Abraham . It might further be demonstrated that this has ever been God's method of dealing with mankind , our Apostle in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews , proving all along by particular instances , that it was by such a Faith as this , without any relation to the Law of Moses , that good men were justified and accepted with God in all Ages of the World. 12. THIRDLY , He argues against this Jewish way of Justification from the deficiency and imperfection of the Mosaick Oeconomy , not able to justifie and save sinners . 〈◊〉 , as not able to assist those that were under it with sufficient aids to perform what it required of them , This the Law could not do , for that it was weak through the flesh , till God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful 〈◊〉 , to enable us , that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us , who walk not after the flesh , but after the Spirit . And indeed could the Law have given life , verily righteousness should have been by the Law : But alas ! the Scripture having concluded all mankind , Jew and Gentile , under sin , and consequently incapable of being justified upon terms of perfect and intire obedience , there is now no other way but this , That the promise by the Faith of Christ be given to all them that believe , i. e. this Evangelical method of justifying sincere believers . Besides , the Jewish Oeconomy was deficient in pardoning sin , and procuring the grace and favour of God , it could only awaken the knowledge of sin , not remove the guilt of it : It was not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin ; all the 〈◊〉 of the Mosaick Law were no further available for the pardon of sin , than merely as they were founded in , and had respect to that great sacrifice and expiation , which was to be made for the sins of mankind by the death of the Son of God. The Priests , though they daily ministred , and oftentimes offered the same sacrifices , yet could they never take away sins : No , that was reserved for a better and a higher sacrifice , even that of our Lord himself , who after he had offered one sacrifice for sins , for ever sat down on the right hand of God , having completed that , which the repeated sacrifices of the Law could never effect . So that all men being under guilt , and no justification , where there was no remission , the Jewish Oeconomy being in it self unable to pardon , was incapable to justifie . This S. Paul elsewhere declared in an open Assembly before Jews and Gentiles ; Be it known unto you , men and brethren , that through this man [ Christ Jesus ] is preached unto you forgiveness of sins : And by him all that believe are justified from all things , from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses . 13. FOURTHLY , He proves that Justification by the Mosaick Law could not stand with the death of Christ , the necessity of whose death and sufferings it did plainly evacuate and take away . For if righteousness come by the Law , then Christ is dead in vain : If the Mosaical performances be still necessary to our Justification , then certainly it was to very little purpose , and altogether unbecoming the wisdom and goodness of God , to send his own Son into the World , to do so much for us , and to suffer such exquisite pains and tortures . Nay , he tells them , that while they persisted in this fond obstinate opinion , all that Christ had done and suffered could be of no advantage to them . Stand fast in the liberty , wherewith Christ has made us free , and be not again intangled in the yoke of bondage , the bondage and servitude of the Mosaick rites ; Behold 〈◊〉 Paul solemnly say unto you , That if you be Circumcised , Christ shall profit you nothing : For I testifie again to every man that is Circumcised , that he is a debtor to do the whole Law ; Christ is become of none effect to you ; whosoever of you are justified by the Law , ye are fallen from grace . The summ of which argument is , That whoever lay the stress of their Justification upon Circumcision , and the observances of the Law , do thereby declare themselves to be under an obligation of perfect obedience to all that the Law requires of them , and accordingly supersede the vertue and efficacy of Christ's death , and disclaim all right and title to the grace and favour of the Gospel . For since Christ's death is abundantly sufficient to attain its ends , whoever takes in another , plainly renounces that , and rests upon that of his own chusing . By these ways of reasoning 't is evident what the Apostle drives at in all his discourses about this matter : More might have been observed , had I not thought , that these are sufficient to render his design , especially to the unprejudiced and impartial , obvious and plain enough . 14. LASTLY , That S. Paul's discourses about Justification and Salvation do immediately refer to the controversie between the Orthodox and Judaizing Christians , appears hence , that there was no other controversie then on foot , but concerning the way of Justification , whether it was by the observation of the Law of Moses , or only of the Gospel and the Law of Christ. For we must needs suppose , that the Apostle wrote with a primary respect to the present state of things , and so as they whom he had to deal with might , and could not but understand him : Which yet would have been impossible for them to have done , had he intended them for the controversies which have since been bandied with so much zeal and fierceness , and to give countenance to those many nice and subtil propositions , those curious and elaborate schemes which some men in these later Ages have drawn of these matters . 15. FROM the whole discourse two Consectaries especially plainly follow . I. Consect . That works of Evangelical obedience are not opposed to Faith in Justification . By works of Evangelical obedience I mean such Christian duties , as are the fruits , not of our own power and strength , but God's Spirit , done by the assistance of his grace . And that these are not opposed to Faith , is undeniably evident , in that ( as we observed before ) Faith as including the new nature , and the keeping God's commands , is made the usual condition of Justification . Nor can it be otherwise , when other graces and vertues of the Christian life are made the terms of pardon and acceptance with Heaven , and of our title to the merits of Christ's death , and the great promise of eternal life . Thus Repentance , which is not so much a single Act , as a complex body of Christian duties , Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ , for the remission of sins , and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost ; Repent and be converted , that your sins may be blotted out . So Charity and forgiveness of others , Forgive , if ye have ought against any , that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses : For if ye forgive men their trespasses , your heavenly Father also will forgive you : But if ye forgive not men their trespasses , neither will your Father forgive yours . Sometimes Evangelical obedience in general ; God is no respecter of persons , but in every Nation , he that feareth him , and worketh righteousness is accepted with him . If we walk in the light , as God is in the light , we have fellowship one with another , and the bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin . What priviledge then has Faith above other graces in this matter ? are we justified by Faith ? We are pardoned and accepted with God upon our repentance , charity , and other acts of Evangelical obedience . Is Faith opposed to the works of the Mosaick Law in Justification ? so are works of Evangelical obedience ; Circumcision is nothing , and uncircumcision is nothing , but the keeping of the Commandments of God. Does Faith give glory to God , and set the crown upon his head ? Works of Evangelical obedience are equally the effects of Divine grace , both preventing and assisting of us , and indeed are not so much our works , as his : So that the glory of all must needs be intirely resolved into the grace of God , nor can any man in such circumstances with the least pretence of reason lay claim to merit , or boast of his own archievements . Hence the Apostle magnifies the Evangelical method of Justification above that of 〈◊〉 Law , that it wholly excludes all proud 〈◊〉 upon our selves ; Where is 〈◊〉 then ? it is excluded . By what Law ? of works ? Nay , but by the Law of Faith. The Mosaical Oeconomy fostered men up in proud and high thoughts of themselves , they looked upon themselves as a peculiar people , honoured above all other Nations of the World , the seed of Abraham , invested with mighty priviledges , & c. whereas the Gospel proceeding upon other principles , takes away all foundations of pride , by acknowledging our acceptance with God , and the power whereby we are enabled to make good the terms and conditions of it , to be the mere result of the Divine grace and mercy , and that the whole scheme of our Salvation , as it was the contrivance of the Divine wisdom , so is the purchase of the merit and satisfaction of our crucified Saviour . Nor is Faith it self less than other graces an act of Evangelical obedience , and if separated from them , is of no moment or value in the accounts of Heaven : Though I have all Faith , and have no Charity , I am nothing . All Faith , be it of what kind soever . To this may be added , that no tolerable account can be given , why that which is on all hands granted to be the condition of our Salvation ( such is Evangelical obedience ) should not be the condition of our Justification : And at the great day Christians shall be acquitted or condemned according as in this World they have fulfilled or neglected the conditions of the Gospel : The decretory sentence of absolution that shall then be passed upon good men , shall be nothing but a publick and solemn declaration of that private sentence of Justification that was passed upon them in this World ; so that upon the same terms that they are justified now , they shall be justified and acquitted then , and upon the same terms that they shall then be judged and acquitted , they are justified now , viz. an hearty belief , and a sincere obedience to the Gospel . From all which , I hope , 't is evident , that when S. Paul denies men to be justified by the works of the Law ; by works he either means works done before conversion , and by the strength of mens natural powers , such as enabled them to pride and boast themselves , or ( which mostwhat includes the other ) the works of the Mosaick Law. And indeed though the controversies on foot in those times did not plainly determine his reasonings that way , yet the considerations which we have now suggested , sufficiently shew that they could not be meant in any other sence . 16. CONSECT . II. That the doctrines of S. Paul and S. James about Justification are fairly consistent with each other . For seeing S. Paul's design in excluding works from Justification , was only to deny the works of the Jewish Law , or those that were wrought by our own strength , and in asserting that in opposition to such works we are justified by Faith , he meant no more than that either we are justified in an Evangelical way , or more particularly by Faith intended a practical belief , including Evangelical obedience : And seeing on the other hand S. James in affirming that we are justified by works , and not by Faith only ; by works means no more than Evangelical obedience , in opposition to a naked and an empty Faith ; these two are so far from quarrelling , that they mutually embrace each other , and both in the main pursue the same design . And indeed if any disagreement seem between them , 't is most reasonable that S. Paul should be expounded by S. James , not only because his propositions are so express and positive , and not justly liable to ambiguity , but because he wrote some competent time after the other , and consequently as he perfectly understood his meaning , so he was capable to countermine those ill principles , which some men had built upon S. Paul's assertions . For 't is evident from several passages in S. Paul's Epistles , that even then many began to mistake his doctrine , and from his assertions about Justification by Faith , and not by works , to infer propositions that might serve the purposes of a bad life ; They slanderously reported him to say , that we might do evil , that good might come ; that we might continue in sin , that the grace of the Gospel might the more abound : They thought that so long as they did but believe the Gospel in the naked notion and speculation of it , it was enough to recommend them to the favour of God , and to serve all the purposes of Justification and Salvation , however they shaped and steered their lives . Against these men 't is beyond all question plain , that S. James levels his Epistle , to batter down the growing doctrines of Libertinism and Prophaneness , to shew the insufficiency of a naked Faith , and an empty profession of Religion , that 't is not enough to recommend us to the Divine acceptance , and to justifie us in the sight of Heaven , barely to believe the Gospel , unless we really obey and practise it ; that a Faith destitute of this Evangelical obedience is fruitless and unprofitable to Salvation ; that 't is by these works that Faith must appear to be vital and sincere ; that not only Rahab , but Abraham the Father of the faithful , was justified not by a bare belief of God's promise , but an 〈◊〉 obedience to God's command , in the ready offer of his Son , whereby it appears that his Faith and Obedience did cooperate and conspire together , to render him capable of God's favour and approbation , and that herein the Scripture was fulfilled , which saith , That Abraham believed God , and it was imputed to him for righteousness , ( whence by the way nothing can be clearer , than that both these Apostles intend the same thing by Faith in the case of Abraham's Justification , and its being imputed to him for 〈◊〉 , viz. a practical belief and obedience to the commands of God ) that it follows hence , that Faith is not of it self sufficient to justifie and make us acceptable to God , unless a proportionable Obedience be joyned with it ; without which Faith serves no more to these ends and purposes , than a Body destitute of the Soul to animate and enliven it , is capable to exercise the functions and offices of the natural life . His meaning in short being nothing else , than that good works , or Evangelical obedience is , according to the Divine appointment , the condition of the Gospel-Covenant , without which 't is in vain for any to hope for that pardon which Christ hath purchased , and the favour of God , which is necessary to Eternal Life . The End of S. Paul's Life . THE LIFE OF S. ANDREW . St. ANDREW . He was fastened to a Cross since distinguished by his name by y e Proconsul at Patrae a City of Achaia , from which he preached severall dayes to y e Spectators . S. Hierom. Baron . Nov : 29. St. Andrew's Crucifixion . Matth. 23. 34. Behold I send unto you prophets and wisemen and scribes , & some of them ye shall kill and crucifie , & some of them shall ye scurge in your synagogues , and persecute them from Cyty to City . The Sacred History sparing in the Acts of the succeeding Apostles , and why . S. Andrew's Birth-place , Kindred , and way of Life . John the Baptist's Ministry and Discipline , S. Andrew educated under his Institution . His coming to Christ , and 〈◊〉 to be a Disciple . His Election to the Apostolate . The Province assigned for his Ministry . In what places he chiesly preached . His barbarous usage at Sinope . His planting Christianity at Byzantium , and ordaining Stachys Bishop there . His travails in Greece , and preaching at Patrae in Achaia . His arraignment before the Proconsul , and resolute defence of the Christian Religion . The Proconsul's displeasure against him , whence . An account of his Martyrdom . His preparatory sufferings , and crucifixion . On what kind of Cross he suffered . The Miracles reported to be done by his Body . It s translation to Constantinople . The great Encomium given of him by one of the Ancients . 1. THE Sacred Story , which has hitherto been very large and copious in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles , is henceforward very sparing in its accounts , giving us only now and then a few oblique and accidental remarques concerning the rest , and some of them no further mentioned , than the meer recording of their Names . For what reasons it pleased the Divine wisdom and providence , that no more of their Acts should be consigned to Writing by the Pen-men of the Holy story , is to us unknown . Probably , it might be thought convenient , that no more account should be given of the first plantations of Christianity in the World , than what concerned Judaea , and the Neighbour-countries , at least the most eminent places of the Roman Empire , that so the truth of the Prophetical Predictions might appear , which had foretold , that the Law of the Messiah should come forth from Sion , and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem . Besides , that a particular relation of the Acts of so many 〈◊〉 , done in so many several Countries , might have swell'd the Holy Volumes into too great a bulk , and rendred them less serviceable and accommodate to the ordinary use of Christians . Among the Apostles that succeed we first take notice of S. Andrew . He was born at Bethsaida , a City of Galilee , standing upon the banks of the Lake of Gennesareth , Son to John or Jonas a Fisherman of that Town ; Brother he was to Simon Peter , but whether Elder or Younger , the Ancients do not clearly decide , though the major part intimate him to have been the younger Brother , there being only the single authorlty of Epiphanius on the other side , as we have formerly noted . He was brought up to his Father's Trade , whereat he laboured , till our Lord called him from catching Fish , to be a Fisher of men , for which he was fitted by some preparatory Institutions , even before his coming unto Christ. 2. JOHN the Baptist was lately risen in the Jewish Church , a Person whom for the efficacy and impartiality of his Doctrine , and the extraordinary strictness and austerities of his Life , the Jews generally had in great veneration . He trained up his Proselytes under the Discipline of Repentance , and by urging upon them a severe change and reformation of life , prepared them to entertain the Doctrine of the Messiah , whose approach , he told them , was now near at hand , representing to them the greatness of his Person , and the importance of the design that he was come upon . Besides the multitudes that promiscuously flock'd to the Baptists discourses , he had according to the manner of the Jewish Masters some peculiar and select Disciples , who more constantly attended upon his Lectures , and for the most part waited upon his Person . In the number of these was our Apostle , who was then with him about Jordan , when our Saviour , who some time since had been baptized , came that way : upon whose approach the Baptist told them , that this was the 〈◊〉 , the great Person whom he had so 〈◊〉 spoken of , to usher in whose appearing his whole Ministry was but subservient , that this was the Lamb of God , the true Sacrifice that was to expiate the sins of Mankind . Upon this testimony Andrew and another Disciple ( probably S. John ) follow our Saviour to the place of his abode . Upon which account he is generally by the Fathers and ancient Writers stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the first called Disciple ; though in a strict sence he was not so ; for though he was the first of the Disciples that came to Christ , yet was he not called till afterwards . After some converse with him , Andrew goes to acquaint his Brother Simon , and both together came to Christ. Long they stayed not with him , but returned to their own home , and to the exercise of their calling , wherein they were imployed , when somewhat more than a Year after our Lord passing through Galilee , found them 〈◊〉 upon the Sea of Tiberias , where he fully satisfied them of the Greatness and Divinity of his Person by the convictive evidence of that miraculous draught of Fishes , which they took at his command . And now he told them he had other work for them to do , that they should no longer deal in Fish , but with Men , whom they should catch with the efficacy and influence of that Doctrine , that he was come to deliver to the World ; commanding them to follow him , as his immediate Disciples and Attendants , who accordingly left all and followed him . Shortly after S. Andrew together with the rest was called to the Office and Honour of the Apostolate , made choice of to be one of those that were to be Christ's immediate Vice-gerents for planting and propagating the Christian Church . Little else is particularly recorded of him in the Sacred story , being comprehended in the general account of the rest of the Apostles . 3. AFTER our Lord's Ascension into Heaven , and that the Holy 〈◊〉 had in its miraculous powers been plentifully shed upon the Apostles , to fit them for the great errand they were to go upon , to root out prophaneness and idolatry , and to subdue the World to the Doctrine of the Gospel , it is generally affirmed by the Ancients , that the Apostles agreed among themselves ( by lot , say * some ) probably not without the special guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost , what parts of the World they should severally take . In this division S. Andrew had Scythia , and the Neighbouring Countries primarily allotted him for his ‖ Province . First then he travelled through Cappadocia , Galatia , and Bithynia , and instructed them in the Faith of Christ , pasling all along the Euxin Sea ( formerly called ‖ Axenus , from the barbarous and inhospitable temper of the People thereabouts , who were wont to sacrifice strangers , and of their skulls to make Cups to drink in in their Feasts and Banquets ) and so into the solitudes of Scythia . An ancient * Author ( though whence deriving his intelligence I know not ) gives us a more particular account of his travails and transactions in these parts . He tells us , that he first came to 〈◊〉 , where being entertained by a Jew , he went into the Synagogue ; discoursed to them concerning Christ , and from the prophecies of the Old Testament proved him to be the Messiah , and the Saviour of the World. Having here converted and baptized many , ordered their publick Meeting , and ordained them Priests , he went next to 〈◊〉 , a maritime City upon the 〈◊〉 Sea , whence after many other places he came to Nice , where he staid two Years , Preaching and working Miracles with great success : thence to Nicomedia , and so to 〈◊〉 , whence sailing through the Propontis he came by the Euxin Sea to Heraclea , and from thence to Amastris : in all which places he met with great difficulties and discouragements , but overcame all with an invincible patience and resolution . He next came to Sinope , a City scituate upon the same Sea , a place famous both for the birth and burial of the great King Mithridates ; here , as my Author reports from the Ancients ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) he met with his Brother Peter , with whom he staid a considerable time at this place : as a Monument whereof he tells us , that the Chairs made of white stone wherein they were wont to sit while they taught the People , were still extant , and commonly shewed in his time . The Inhabitants of this City were most Jews , who partly through zeal for their Religion , partly through the barbarousness of their manners , were quickly exasperated against the Apostle , and contriving together attempted to burn the House , wherein he sojourned : however they treated him with all the instances of savage cruelty , throwing him to the ground , stamping upon him with their 〈◊〉 , pulling and dragging him from place to place , some beating him with Clubs , others pelting him with stones , and some the better to satisfie their revenge , biting off his Flesh with their Teeth ; till apprehending they had fully dispatched him , they cast him out of the City . But he miraculously recovered , and publickly returned into the City , whereby and by some other Miracles , which he wrought amongst them , he reduced many to a better mind , converting them to the Faith. Departing hence , he went again to Amynsus , and then to Trapezus , thence to 〈◊〉 ; and to Samosata ( the birth-place of the witty but impious Lucian ) where having baffled the acute and wise Philosophers , he purposed to return to Jerusalem . Whence after some time he betook himself to his former Provinces , travailing to the Country of the Abasgi , where at Sebastople , 〈◊〉 upon the Eastern shore of the Euxin Sea , between the 〈◊〉 of the Rivers Phasis and Apsarus , he successfully Preached the Gospel to the Inhabitants of that City . Hence he removed into the Country of the Zecchi , and the Bosphorani , part of the 〈◊〉 Scythia or Sarmatia , but finding the Inhabitants very barbarous and intractable , he staid not long among them , only at Cherson , or Chersonesus , a great and populous City within the Bosphorus , he continued some time , instructing and confirming them in the Faith. Hence taking Ship he sailed cross the Sea to 〈◊〉 , to encourage and confirm the Churches which he had lately planted in those parts , and here he ordained Philologus , formerly one of S. Paul's Disciples , Bishop of that City . 4. HENCE he came to Byzantium ( since called Constantinople ) where he instructed them in the knowledge of the Christian Religion , founded a Church for Divine worship , and ordained Stachys ( whom S. Paul calls his beloved Stachys ) first Bishop of that place . * Baronius indeed is unwilling to believe this , desirous to engross the honour of it to S. Peter , whom he will have to have been the first Planter of Christianity in these parts . But besides that Baronius his authority is very slight and insignificant in this case ( as we have before noted in S. Peter's life ) this matter is expresly asserted not only by Nicephorus ‖ Callistus , but by another * Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople , and who therefore may be presumed 〈◊〉 in his Predecessors in that See. Banished out of the City by him , who at that time usurped the Government , he fled to 〈◊〉 , a place near at hand , where he preached the Gospel for two Years together with good success , converting great Numbers to the Faith. After this he travelled over Thrace , Macedonia , Thessaly , Achaia : ‖ Nazianzen adds Epyrus , in all which places for many Years he preached and propagated Christianity , and confirmed the Doctrine that he taught with great signs and miracles : at last he came to Patrae a City of Achaia , where he gave his last and great testimony to it , I mean , laid down his own Life to ratifie and ensure it : in describing whose Martyrdom , we shall for the main follow the account that is given us in the Acts of his * Passion , pretended to have been written by the Presbyters and Deacons of Achaia , present at his Martyrdom ; which , though I dare not with some assert to be the genuine work of those persons , yet can it not be denied to be of considerable antiquity , being mentioned by ‖ Philastrius , who flourished Ann. 380. and were no doubt written long before his time . The summ of it is this . 5. AEGEAS , Proconsul of Achaia , came at this time to Patrae , where observing that multitudes were fallen off from Paganism , and had embraced Christianity , he endeavoured by all arts both of favour and cruelty to reduce the people to their old Idolatries . To him the Apostle resolutely makes his address , calmly puts him in mind , that he being but a judge of men should own and revere him , who was the supreme and impartial Judge of all , that he should give him that Divine honour that was due to him , and leave off the impieties of his false Heathen-worship . The Proconsul derided him as an Innovator in Religion , a propagator of that superstition , whose Author the Jews had infamously put to death upon a Cross. Hereat the Apostle took occasion to discourse to him of the infinite love and kindness of our Lord , who came into the World to purchase the Salvation of mankind , and for that end did not disdain to die upon the Cross. To whom the Proconsul answered , that he might perswade them so , that would believe him ; for his part , if he did not comply with him in doing sacrifice to the Gods , he would cause him to suffer upon that Cross , which he had so much extolled and magnified . S. Andrew replied , That he did sacrifice every day to God , the only true and omnipotent Being , not with fumes and bloudy offerings , but in the sacrifice of the immaculate Lamb of God. The issue was , the Apostle was committed to prison , whereat the people were so enraged , that it had broken out into a mutiny , had not the Apostle restrained them , perswading them to imitate the mildness and patience of our meek humble Saviour , and not to hinder him from that crown of Martyrdom that now waited for him . 6. THE next day he was again brought before the Proconsul , who perswaded him that he would not foolishly destroy himself , but live and enjoy with him the pleasures of this life . The Apostle told him , that he should have with him eternal joys , if renouncing his execrable idolatries , he would heartily entertain Christianity , which he had hitherto so successfully preached amongst them . That , answered the Proconsul , is the very reason , why I am so earnest with you to sacrifice to the Gods , that those whom you have every where seduced , may by your example be brought to return back to that ancient Religion , which they have forsaken : Otherwise I 'le cause you with exquisites tortures to be crucified . The Apostle replied , That now he saw it was in vain any longer to deal with him , a person incapable of sober counsels , and hardned in his own blindness and folly ; that as for himself , he might do his worst , and if he had one torment greater than another , he might heap that upon him : The greater constancy he shewed in his sufferings for Christ , the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master . AEgeas could now hold no longer , but passed the sentence of death upon him ; and * Nicephorus gives us some more particular account of the Proconsul's displeasure and rage against him , which was , that amongst others he had converted his wife Maximilla , and his brother Stratocles to the Christian Faith , having cured them of desperate distempers that had seised upon them . 7. THE Proconsul first commanded him to be scourged , seven Lictors successively whipping his naked body ; and seeing his invincible patience and constancy , commanded him to be crucified , but not to be fastned to the Cross with Nails , but Cords , that so his death might be more lingring and tedious . As he was led to execution , to which he went with a chearful and composed mind , the people cried out , that he was an innocent and good man , and unjustly condemned to die . Being come within sight of the Cross , he saluted it with this kind of address , That he had long desired and expected this happy hour , that the Cross had been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it , and adorned with his members as with so many inestimable Jewels , that he came joyfull and triumphing to it , that it might receive him as a disciple and follower of him , who once hung upon it , and be the means to carry him safe unto his Master , having been the instrument upon which his Master had redeemed him . Having prayed , and exhorted the people to constancy and perseverance in that Religion which he had delivered to them , he was fastned to the Cross , whereon he hung two days , teaching and instructing the people all the time , and when great importunities in the mean while were used to the Proconsul to spare his life , he earnestly begged of our Lord , that he might at this time depart and seal the truth of his Religion with his bloud . God heard his prayer , and he immediately expired on the last of November , though in what year no certain account can be recovered . 8. THERE seems to have been something peculiar in that Cross that was the instrument of his martyrdom , commonly affirmed to have been a Cross decussate , two pieces of Timber crossing each other in the middle , in the form of the letter X , hence usually known by the name of S. Andrew's Cross ; though there want not * those , who affirm him to have been crucified upon an Olive Tree . His body being taken down and embalmed , was decently and honourably interred by Maximilla , a Lady of great quality and estate , and whom Nicephorus , I know not upon what ground , makes wise to the Proconsul . As for that report of ‖ Gregory Bishop of Tours , that on the Anniversary day of his Martyrdom , there was wont to flow from S. Andrew's Tomb a most fragrant and precious oyl , which according to its quantity denoted the scarceness or plenty of the following year ; and that the sick being anointed with this oyl , were restored to their former health , I leave to the Readers discretion , to believe what he please of it . For my part , if any ground of truth in the story , I believe it no more , than that it was an exhalation and sweating sorth at some times of those rich costly perfumes and ointments , wherewith his Body was embalmed after his crucisixion . Though I must confess this conjecture to be impossible , if it be true what my Author adds , that some years the oyl burst out in such plenty , that the stream arose to the middle of the Church . His Body was afterwards , by Constantine the * Great , solemnly removed to Constantinople , and buried in the great Church , which he had built to the honour of the Apostles : Which being taken down some hundred years after by ‖ Justinian the Emperor in order to its reparation , the Body was found in a wooden-Coffin , and again reposed in its proper place . 9. I SHALL conclude the History of this Apostle with that Encomiastick Character , which one of the * Ancients gives of him . S. Andrew was the first-born of the Apostolick Quire , the main and prime pillar of the Church , a rock before the rock ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) the foundation of that foundation , the first-fruits of the beginning , a caller of others before he was called himself ; he preached that Gospel that was not yet believed or entertained , revealed and made known that life to his brother , which he had not yet perfectly learn'd himself . So great treasures did that one question bring him , Master where dwellest thou ? which he soon perceived by the answer given him , and which he deeply pondered in his mind , come and see . How art thou become a Prophet ? whence thus Divinely skilful ? what is it that thou thus soundest in Peter's ears ? [ We have found him , &c. ] why dost thou attempt to compass him , whom thou canst not comprehend ? how can he be found , who is Omnipresent ? But he knew well what he said : We have found him , whom Adam lost , whom Eve injured , whom the clouds of sin have hidden from us , and whom our transgressions had hitherto made a stranger to us , &c. So that of all our Lord's Apostles S. Andrew had thus far the honour to be the first Preacher of the Gospel . The End of S. Andrew's Life . THE LIFE OF S. JAMES the Great . St. Iames Major He being the Son of Zebedee was at the Command of Herod beheaded at Hierusalem . Ad. 122 St. James the Great his Martyrdom . Act. 12. 1 , 2. About that time Herod the King streched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church . And he killed James the brother of John with y e sword . S. James , why surnamed the Great . His Country and kindred . His alliance to Christ. His Trade and way of Life . Our Lord brought up to a Manual Trade . The quick reparteé of a Christian Schoolmaster to Libanius . His being called to be a Disciple , and great readiness to follow Christ. His election to the Apostolick Office , and peculiar favours from Christ. Why our Lord chose some few of the Apostles to be witnesses of the more private passages of his life . The imposition of a new name at his election to the Apostleship . He and his Brother stiled Boanerges , and why . The Zeal and activity of their temper . Their ambition to sit on Christ's right and left hand in his Kingdom , and confident promise of suffering . This ill resented by the rest . Our Lord's discourse concerning the nature of the Evangelical state . Where he preached after Christ's Ascension . The story of his going into Spain exploded . Herod Agrippa in favour with the Roman Emperors . The character of his temper . His zeal for the Law of Moses . His condemning S. James to death . The sudden conversion of his Accuser , as he was led to Martyrdom . Their being beheaded . The Divine Justice that pursued Herod . His grandeur and arrogance at Caesarea . His miserable death . The story of the Translation of S. James his Corps to Compostella in Spain , and the Miracles said to be done there . 1. SAINT James surnamed the Great , either because of his Age , being much elder than the other , or for some peculiar honours and favours which our Lord conferred upon him , was by Country a Galilean , born , probably , either at Gapernaum , or Bethsaida , being one of Simon Peter's Partners in the Trade of Fishing . He was the Son of Zebdai , or Zebedee , ( and probably the same whom the Jews mention in their Talmud , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi James or Jacob the Son of Zebedee ) a Fisherman , and the many servants which he kept for that imployment ( a circumstance not taken notice of in any other ) speak him a man of some more considerable note in that Trade and way of life ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Nicephorus notes . His Mother's name was Mary , surnamed Salome , called first Taviphilja , says an ancient Arabick * writer ; the Daughter , as is most probable , not Wife of Cleopas , Sister to Mary the Mother of our Lord ; not her own Sister properly so called ( the Blessed Virgin being in all likelihood an only Daughter ) but Cousin-german , stiled her Sister , according to the mode and custom of the Jews , who were wont to call all such near relations by the names of Brothers and Sisters ; and in this respect he had the honour of a near relation to our Lord himself . His education was in the Trade of Fishing ; no imployment is base , that 's honest and industrious , nor can it be thought mean and dishonourable to him , when it is remembred , that our Lord himself , the Son of God , stoop'd so low , as not only to become the [ reputed ] Son of a Carpenter , but during the retirements of his private life , to work himself at his Father's Trade , not devoting himself merely to contemplations , nor withdrawing from all useful society with the World , and hiding himself in the solitudes of an Anchoret , but busying himself in an active course of life , working at the Trade of a Carpenter , and particularly ( as one of the * Ancients tells us ) making Ploughs and Yokes . And this the sacred History does not only plainly intimate , but it is generally asserted by the Ancient writers of the ‖ Church : A thing so notorious , that the Heathens used to object it as a reproach to Christianity . Thence that smart and acute * reparteé which a Christian School-master made to Libanius the famous Orator at Antioch , when upon Julian's expedition into Persia ( where he was killed ) he asked in scorn , what the Carpenters Son was now a doing . The Christian replied with salt enough , That the great Artificer of the World , whom he scoffingly called the Carpenter's Son , was making a coffin for his Master Julian ; the news of whose death was brought soon after . But this only by the way . 2. S. JAMES applied himself to his Father's Trade , not discouraged with the meanness , not sinking under the difficulties of it ; and , as usually the blessings of Heaven meet men in the way of an honest and industrious diligence , it was in the exercise of this calling , when our Saviour passing by the Sea of Galilee , saw him and his brother in the Ship , and called them to be his Disciples . A Divine power went along with the word , which they no sooner heard , but chearfully complied with it , immediately leaving all to follow him . They did not stay to dispute his commands , to argue the probability of his promise , solicitously to enquire into the minute consequences of the undertaking , what troubles and hazards might attend this new employment , but readily delivered up themselves to whatever services he should appoint them . And the chearfulness of their obedience is yet further considerable , that they left their aged Father in the Ship behind them . For elsewhere we find others excusing themselves from an immediate attendance upon Christ , upon pretence that they must go bury their Father , or take their leave of their kindred at home . No such slight and trivial pretences could stop the resolution of our Apostles , who broke through these considerations , and quitted their present interests and relations . Say not it was unnaturally done of them to desert their Father , an aged person , and in some measure unable to help himself . For , besides that they left servants with him to attend him , it is not cruelty to our Earthly , but obedience to our Heavenly Father , to leave the one , that we may comply with the call and summons of the other . It was the triumph of Abraham's Faith , when God called him to leave his kindred and his Father's house , to go out , and sojourn in a foreign Country , not knowing whither he went. Nor can we doubt but that Zebedee himself would have gone along with them , had not his Age given him a Supersedeas from such an active and ambulatory course of life . But though they left him at this time , it 's very reasonable to suppose , that they took care to instruct him in the doctrine of the Messiah , and to acquaint him with the glad tidings of Salvation , especially since we find their Mother Salome so hearty a friend to , so constant a follower of our Saviour : But this ( if we may believe the account which one gives of it ) was after her Husbands decease , who próbably lived not long after , dying before the time of our Saviour's Passion . 3. IT was not long after this , that he was called from the station of an ordinary Disciple , to the Apostolical Office , and not only so , but honoured with some peculiar acts of favour beyond most of the Apostles , being one of the three , whom our Lord usually made choice of to admit to the more intimate transactions of his life , from which the others were excluded . Thus with Peter and his Brother John he was taken to the miraculous raising of Jairus his Daughter ; admitted to Christ's glorious transfiguration upon the Mount , and the discourses that there passed between him and the two great Ministers of Heaven ; taken along with him into the Garden , to be a Spectator of those bitter Agonies , which the Holy Jesus was to undergo as the preparatory sufferings to his Passion . What were the reasons of our Lord 's admitting these three Apostles to these more special acts of favour than the rest , is not easie to determine : though surely our Lord , who governed all his actions by Principles of the highest prudence and reason , did it for wise and proper ends ; whether it was that he designed these three to be more solemn and peculiar witnesses of some particular passages of his life , than the other Apostles , or that they would be more eminently useful and serviceable in some parts of the Apostolick Office , or that hereby he would the better prepare and encourage them against suffering , as intending them for some more eminent kinds of Martyrdom or suffering , than the rest were to undergo . 4. NOR was it the least instance of that particular honour which our Lord conferr'd upon these three Apostles , that at his calling them to the Apostolat he gave them the addition of a new Name and Title . A thing not unusual of old , for God to impose a new Name upon Persons , when designing them for some great and peculiar services and employments ; thus he did to Abraham and Jacob. Nay the thing was customary among the Gentiles , as had we no other instances , might appear from those which the Scripture gives us , of Pharaoh's giving a new name to Joseph , when advancing him to be Vice-Roy of Egypt . 〈◊〉 to Daniel ; &c. Thus did our Lord in the Election of these three Apostles , Simon he sirnamed Peter , James the Son of Zebedee , and John his Brother he sirnamed Boanerges , which is , the Sons of Thunder . What our Lord particularly intended in this Title , is easier to conjecture , than certainly to determine ; some think it was given them upon the account of their being present in the Mount , when a voice came out of the Cloud , and said , This is my beloved Son , &c. The like whereto when the People heard at another time , they cried out , that it Thundred . But besides that this account is in it self very slender and inconsiderable , if so , then the title must equally have belonged to Peter , who was then present with them . Others think it was upon the account of their loud , bold and resolute preaching Christianity to the World , fearing no threatnings , daunted with no oppositions , but going on to thunder in the Ears of the secure sleepy World , rouzing and awakening the consciences of Men with the earnestness and vehemency of their Preaching , as Thunder , which is called God's Voice , powerfully shakes the natural World , and breaks in pieces the 〈◊〉 of Lebanon : Or , if it relate to the Doctrines they delivered , it may signifie their teaching the great mysteries and speculations of the Gospel in a profounder strain than the rest ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Theophylact notes ; which how true it might be of our S. James , the Scripture is wholly silent ; but was certainly verified of his Brother John , whose Gospel is so full of the more sublime notions and mysteries of the Gospel , concerning Christ's Deity , eternal prae-existence , &c. that he is generally affirmed by the Ancients , not so much to speak , as thunder . Probably the expression may denote no more , than that in general they were to be prime and eminent Ministers in this new scene and state of things , the introducing of the Gospel or Evangelical dispensation , being called a Voice shaking the Heavens and the Earth , and so is exactly correspondent to the native importance of the Word , signifying an Earth-quake , or a vehement commotion that makes a noise like to Thunder . 5. HOWEVER it was , our Lord , I doubt not , herein had respect to the furious and resolute disposition of those two Brothers , who seem to have been of a more fierce and fiery temper than the rest of the Apostles : whereof we have this memorable instance . Our Lord being resolved upon his Journy to Jerusalem , sent some of his Disciples as Harbingers to prepare his way , who coming to a Village of Samaria , were uncivilly rejected , and refused entertainment ; probably , because of that old and inveterate quarrel that was between the Samaritans and the Jews , and more especially at this time , because our Saviour seemed to slight Mount Gerizim ( where was their staple and solemn place of worship ) by passing it by , to go worship at Jerusalem ; the reason in all likelihood why they denied him those common courtesies and conveniences due to all Travellers . This piece of rudeness and inhumanity was presently so deeply resented by S. James , and his Brother , that they came to their Master to know , whether as Elias did of old , they might not pray down Fire from Heaven to consume these barbarous and inhospitable People . So apt are Men for every trifle to call upon Heaven , to Minister to the extravagancies of their own impotent and unreasonable passions . But our Lord rebukes their zeal , tells them they quite mistook the case , that this was not the frame and temper of his Disciples and Followers , the nature and design of that Evangelical dispensation , that he was come to set on foot in the World , which was a more pure and perfect , a more mild and gentle Institution , than what was under the Old Testament in the times of Moses and Elias , The Son of Man being come not to destroy mens lives , but to save them . 6. THE Holy Jesus not long after set forwards in his Journy to Jerusalem in order to his crucifixion , and the better to prepare the minds of his Apostles for his death and departure from them , he told them what he was to suffer , and yet that after all he should rise again . They , whose minds were yet big with expectations of a temporal power and monarchy , understood not well the meaning of his discourses to them . However S. James and his Brother supposing the Resurrection that he spoke of , would be the time , when his Power and Greatness would commence , prompted their Mother Salome to put up a Petition for them . She , presuming probably on her relation to Christ , and knowing that our Saviour had promised his Apostles , that when he was come into his Kingdom , they should sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel ; and that he had already honoured her two Sons with an intimate familiarity , after leave modestly asked for her address , begg'd of him , that when he took possession of his Kingdom , her two Sons James and John might have the principal places of honour and dignity next his own Person , the one sitting on his right hand , and the other on his left , as the Heads of Judah and Joseph had the first places among the Rulers of the Tribes in the Jewish Nation . Our Lord directing his discourse to the two Apostles , at whose suggestion he knew their Mother had made this address , told them , they quite mistook the nature of his Kingdom , which consisted not in external grandeur and soveraignty , but in an inward life and power , wherein the highest place would be to take the greatest pains , and to undergo the heaviest troubles and sufferings ; that they should do well to consider , whether they were able to endure , what he was to undergo , to drink of that bitter Cup which he was to drink of , and to go through that Baptism , wherein he was shortly to be baptized in his own blood . Our Apostles were not yet cured of their ambitious humour , but either not understanding the force of our Saviour's reasonings , or too confidently presuming upon their own strength , answered , that they could do all this . But he , the goodness of whose nature ever made him put the best and most candid interpretation upon mens words and actions , yea even those of his greatest enemies , did not take the advantage of their hasty and inconsiderate reply , to treat them with sharp and quick reproofs , but mildly owning their forwardness to suffer , told them , that as for sufferings , they should indeed suffer as well as he ( and so we accordingly find they did , S. James after all dying a violent death , S. John enduring great miseries and torments , and might we believe Chrysostom and Theophylact , Martyrdom it self , though others nearer to those times assure us , he died a natural death ) but for any peculiar honour or dignity he would not by an absolute and peremptory favour of his own dispose it any otherwise , than according to those rules and instructions which he had received of his Father . The rest of the Apostles were offended with this ambitious request of the Sons of Zebedee ; but our Lord to calm their passions , discoursed to them of the nature of the Evangelick state , that it was not here , as in the Kingdoms and seignteuries of this World , where the great ones receive homage and fealty from those that are under them , but that in his service humility was the way to honour , that who ever took most pains , and did most good , would be the greatest Person , pre-eminence being here to be measured by industry and diligence , and a ready condescension to the meanest offices that might be subservient to the Souls of Men , and that this was no more than what he sufficiently taught them by his own Example , being come into the World , not to be served himself with any pompous circumstances of state and splendor , but to serve others , and to lay down his life for the redemption of Mankind . With which discourse the storm blew over , and their exorbitant passions began on all hands to be allayed and pacified . 7. WHAT became of S. James after our Saviour's Ascension , we have no certain account either from Sacred , or Ecclesiastick stories . * Sophronius tells us , that he preached to the dispersed Jews , which surely he means of that dispersion that was made of the Jewish Converts after the death of Stephen . The Spanish writers generally contend , that having preached the Gospel up and down 〈◊〉 and Samaria , after the death of Stephen he came to these Western parts , and particularly into Spain ( some add Britain and * Ircland ) where he planted Christianity , and appointed some select Disciples to perfect what he had begun , and then returned back to Jerusalem . Of this are no footsteps in any Ancient writers , earlier than the middle Ages of the Church , when 't is mentioned by * Isidore , the Breviary of ‖ Toledo , an Arabick Book of * Anastasius , Patriarch of Antioch , concerning the Passions of the 〈◊〉 , and some others after them . Nay , ‖ Baronius himself , though endeavouring to render the account as smooth and plausible as he could , and to remove what objections lay against it ; yet after all confesses , he did it only to shew , that the thing was not impossible , nor to be accounted such a monstrous and extravagant Fable , as some men made it to be , as indeed elsewhere he plainly and peremptorily both denies and disproves it . He could not but see , that the shortness of this Apostle's Life , the Apostles continuing all in one intire body at Jerusalem , even after the dispersing of the other Christians , probably not going out of the bounds of 〈◊〉 for many years after our Lord's Ascension , could not comport with so tedious and difficult a voyage , and the time which he must necessarily spend in those parts : And therefore 't is 〈◊〉 to confine his ministry to Judaea , and the parts thereabouts , and to seek for him at Jerusalem , where we are sure to find him . 8. HEROD Agrippa , son of Aristobulus , and Grandchild of Herod the Great ( under whom Christ was born ) had been in great favour with the late Emperor Caligula , but much more with his successor Claudius , who confirmed his predecessors grant , with the addition of Judaea , Samaria , and Abylene , the remaining portions of his Grandfathers dominions . Claudius being setled in the Empire , over comes Herod from Rome to take possession , and to manage the affairs of his new acquired Kingdom . A Prince noble and generous , prudent and politick , throughly versed in all the arts of Courtship , able to oblige enemies , and to 〈◊〉 or decline the displeasure of the Emperor , ( witness his subtil and cunning insinuations to Caligula , when he commanded the Jews to account him a * God ) he was one that knew , let the wind blow which way it would , how to gain the point he aimed at , of a courteous and affable demeanour , but withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a mighty zealot for the Jewish Religion , and a most accurate observer of the Mosaick Law , keeping himself free from all legal impurities , and suffering no day to pass over his head , in which he himself was not present at sacrifice . Being desirous in the entrance upon his sovereignty to insinuate himself into the favour of the populacy , and led no less by his own zealous inclination , he saw no better way , than to fall heavy upon the Christians , a sort of men , whom he knew the Jews infinitely hated , as a novel and an upstart Sect , whose Religion proclaimed open desiance to the Mosaick Institutions . Hereupon he began to raise a persecution , but alas , the commonalty were too mean a sacrifice to fall as the only victim to his zeal and popular designs , he must have a fatter and more honourable sacrifice . It was not long before S. James his stirring and active temper , his bold reproving of the Jews , and vigorous contending for the truth and excellency of the Christian Religion , rendred him a sit object for his turn . Him he commands to be apprehended , cast into prison , and sentence of death to be passed upon him . As he was led forth to the place of * Martyrdom , the Souldier or Officer that had guarded him to the Tribunal , or rather his Accuser ( and so ‖ Suidas expresly tells us it was ) having been convinced by that mighty courage and constancy which S. James shewed at the time of his trial , repented of what he done , came and fell down at the Apostle's feet , and heartily begged pardon for what he said against him . The holy man , after a little surprise at the thing , raised him up , embraced and kissed him , Peace ( said he ) my son , peace be to thee , and the pardon of thy faults . Whereupon before them all he publickly professed himself to be a Christian , and so both were beheaded at the same time . Thus fell S. James , the Apostolick Proto-Martyr , the first of that number that gained the Crown , chearfully taking that cup , which he had long since told his Lord he was most ready to drink of . 9. BUT the Divine vengeance , that never sleeps , suffered not the death of this innocent and righteous man to pass long unrevenged ; of which , though S. Luke gives us but a short account , yet * Josephus , who might himself remember it , being a youth at that time of seven or eight years of age , sets down the story with its particular circumstances , agreeing almost exactly with the Sacred Historian . Shortly after S. James his Martyrdom , Herod removed to Caesarea , being resolved to make war upon the neighbouring Tyrians and Sidonians : While he was here , he proclaimed solemn sights and Festival entertainments to be held in honour of Caesar , to which there flocked a great confluence of all the Nobility thereabouts . Early in the morning on the second day he came with great state into the Theatre , to make an Oration to the people , being clothed in a Robe all over curiously wrought with silver , which encountring with the beams of the rising Sun , reflected such a lustre upon the eyes of the people ( who make sensible appearances the only true measures of greatness ) as begot an equal wonder and veneration in them , crying out ( prompted no doubt by flatterers , who began the cry ) that it was some Deity which they beheld , and that he who spake to them must be something above the ordinary standard of humanity . This impious applause Herod received without any token of dislike , or sense of that injury that was hereby done to the supreme Being of the World. But a sudden accident changed the scene , and turned the Gomick part into a black fatal Tragedy . Looking up , he espied an Owle sitting upon a rope over his head ( as probably also he did an Angel , for so S. Luke mentions it ) which he presently beheld as the fatal messenger of his death , as heretofore it had been of his prosperity and success . An incurable melancholy immediately seised upon his mind , as exquisite torments did upon his bowels , caused without question by those 〈◊〉 S. Luke speaks of , which immediately fed and preyed upon him . Behold , said he , turning to those about him , the Deity you admired , and your selves evidently convinced of flattery and falshood ; see me here by the Laws of Fate condemned to die , whom just now you stiled immortal . Being removed into the Palace , his pains still encreased upon him , and though the people mourned and wept , fasted and prayed for his life and health , yet his acute torments got the upper hand , and after five days put a period to his life . But to return to S. James . 10. BEING put to death , his Body is said to have taken a second voyage into Spain , where we are with confidence enough told it rests at this day . Indeed I meet with a very formal account of its translation thither , written ( says the Publisher ) above DC . years since , by a Monk of the Abby of La-Fleury in * France : The summ whereof is this : The Apostles at Jerusalem designing Ctesiphon for Spain , ordained him Bishop , and others being joyned to his assistance , they took the Body of S. James , and went on board a Ship without Oars , without a Pilot , or any to steer and conduct their voyage , trusting only to the merits of that Apostle , whose remains they carried along with them . In seven days they arrived at a Port in Spain , where landing , the Corps was suddenly taken from them , and with great appearances of an extraordinary light from Heaven , conveyed they knew not whither , to the place of its interment . The men you may imagine were exceedingly troubled , that so great a treasure should be ravished from them ; but upon their prayers and tears they were conducted by an Angel to the place where the Apostle was buried , twelve miles from the Sea. Here they addressed themselves to a rich Noble Matron , called Luparia , who had a great Estate in those parts , but a severe Idolatress , begging of her , that they might have leave to intomb the bones of the holy Apostle within her jurisdiction . She entertained them with contempt and scorn , with curses and execrations , bidding them go and ask leave of the King of the Country . They did so , but were by him treated with all the instances of rage and fury , and pursued by him , till himself perished in the attempt . They returned back to their Gallaecian Matron , whom by many miracles , and especially the destroying a Dragon that miserably infested those parts , they at last made Convert to the Faith , who thereupon commanded her Images to be broken , the Altars to be demolished , and her own Idol-Temple , being cleansed and purged , to be dedicated to the honour of S. James , by which means Christianity mightily prevailed , and triumphed over Idolatry in all those Countries . This is the summ of the Account , call it Romance or History , which I do not desire to impose any further upon the Readers faith , than he shall find himself disposed to believe it . I add no more , than that his Body was afterwards translated from Iria Flavia ( the place of its first repose ) to Compostella : Though a Learned * person will have it to have been but one and the same place , and that after the story of S. James had gotten some footing in the belief of men , it began to be called ad Jacobum Apostolum , thence in after-times Giacomo 〈◊〉 , which was at last jumbled into Compostella ; where it were to tire both the Reader and my self , to tell him with what solemn veneration , and incredible miracles reported to be done here , this Apostle's reliques are worshipped at this day : Whence ‖ Baronius calls it the great store-house of Miracles lying open to the whole World , and wisely confesses it one of the best arguments to prove , that his Body was translated thither . And I should not scruple to be of his mind , could I be assured that such Miracles were truly done there . The End of the Life of S. James the Great . THE LIFE OF S. JOHN . S. IOHN Evangelist . Having lived to a great age , he died at Ephesus 68 years after our Lords Passion , and was Buried neere that City . Baron . S t John put into a Cauldron of boyling oyl . Joh. 21. 21 , 32. Peter sait , Lord , what shall this man do ? Jesus saith unto hun . if I will that he tarry till I come , what is that to thee ? 1 Pet. 4. 12. Think it not strange concerning I fiery trial that is to try you , as though some strange thing hapned to you . His kindred and relations ; whether eminent for Nobility . The peculiar favours conferred upon him by our Saviour . His lying in our Lord's Bosom . His attending at the crucifixion . Our Lord 's committing the Blessed Virgin to his care . The great intimacy between him and Peter . How long he resided at Jerusalem . Asia his Apostolical Province . His planting Christianity there , and in other parts of the East . His being sent prisoner to Rome , and being put into a Caldron of boiling Oil by the command of Domitian . His banishment into Patmos . Transportation , what kind of punishment . Capitis Diminutio what . His writing the Apocalypse there . The tradition of his hand wherewith he wrote it , being still kept there . His return to Ephesus , and governing the affairs of that Province . His great Age , and Death . The fancy of his being still alive , whence derived by the Ancients . The Tradition of his going alive into his Grave , and sleeping there . Several counterfeits pretending themselves to be S. John. His Celibacy ; whether he was ever married . His humility . His admirable love and charity , and hearty recommending it to the last . His charity to mens Souls . His endangering himself to reclaim 〈◊〉 debauched young man. His singular vigilancy against Hereticks and Seducers . His publick disowning Cerinthus his company , Cerinthus , who , and what his principles . The Heresie of Ebion , what . Nicolaitans , who ; whence their Original . An account of Nicolas the Deacon's separating from his Wife . The vile principles and practises of his pretended followers . S. John's writings . His Revelation . Dionysius Alexandrinus his judgment concerning it , and its Author . Asserted and proved to be S. John's . The ground of doubting , what . His Gospel when and where written . The solemn 〈◊〉 , and causes moving him to undertake it . The subject of it sublime and mysterious . Admired and cited by Heathen Philosophers . It s Translation into Hebrew . His first Epistle , and the design of it . His two other Epistles to whom written , and why not admitted of old . His 〈◊〉 and way of writing considered . The great Encomium given of his writings by the ancient Fathers . 1. SAINT John was a Galilean , the Son of Zebedee and Salome , younger Brother to S. James , together with whom he was brought up in the Trade of Fishing . * S. 〈◊〉 makes him remarkable upon the account of his Nobility , whereby he became acquainted with the High-Priest , and resolutely ventured himself amongst the Jews at our Saviour's Trial , prevailed to introduce Peter into the Hall , was the only Apostle that attended our Lord at his Crucifixion , and afterwards durst own his Mother , and keep her at his own house . But the nobility of his Family , and especially that it should be such as to procure him so much respect from persons of the highest rank and quality , seems not reconcileable with the meanness of his Father's Trade , and the privacy of his fortunes . And for his acquaintance with the High-Priest , I should rather put it upon some other account , especially if it be true what * Nicephorus relates , That he had lately sold his Estate left him by his Father in Galilee to Annas the High-Priest , and had therewith purchased a fair house at Jerusalem , about Mount Sion , whence he became acquainted with him . Before his coming to Christ , he seems for some time to have been Disciple to John the Baptist , being probably that other disciple that was with Andrew , when they left the Baptist to follow our Saviour , so particularly does he relate all circumstances of that transaction , though modestly , as in other parts of his Gospel , concealing his own name . He was at the same time with his Brother called by our Lord both to the Discipleship and Apostolate , by far the youngest of all the Apostles , as the Ancients generally affirm , and his great Age seems to evince , living near LXX . years after our Saviour's suffering . 2. THERE is not much said concerning him in the 〈◊〉 story , more than what is recorded of him in conjunction with his Brother James , which we have already remarked in his life . He was peculiarly dear to his Lord and Master , being the Disciple whom Jesus loved , that is , treated with more freedom and familiarity than the rest . And indeed he was not only one of the Three , whom our Saviour made partakers of the private passages of his life , but had some instances of a more particular kindness and favour conferred upon him . Witness his lying in our Saviour's bosom at the Paschal Supper , it being the custom of those times to lie along at meals upon Couches , so that the second lay with his head in the bosom of him that was before him ; this honourable place was not given to any of the Aged , but reserved for our Apostle : Nay , when Peter was desirous to know , which of them our Saviour meant , when he told them that one of them should betray him , and durst not himself propound the question , he made use of S. John ( whose familiarity with him might best warrant such an enquiry ) to ask our Lord ; who thereupon made them understand , 't was Judas whom he designed by the Traitor . This favour our Apostle endeavoured in some measure to answer by returns of particular kindness and constancy to our Saviour , staying with him , when the rest deserted him . Indeed upon our Lord's first apprehension he fled after the other Apostles , it not being without some probabilities of reason , that the Ancients conceive him to have been that young man that followed after Christ ; having a linen cloath cast about his naked body , whom when the Officers laid hold upon , he left the linen cloath , and fled naked from them . This in all likelihood was that garment that he had cast about him at Supper ( for they had peculiar Vestments for that purpose ) and being extremely affected with the Treason , and our Lord 's approaching Passion , had forgot to put on his other garments , but followed him into the Garden in the same habit wherewith he arose from the Table , it being then night , and so less liable to be taken notice of either by himself or others . But though he 〈◊〉 at present to avoid that sudden violence that was offered to him , yet he soon recovered himself , and returned back to seek his Master , confidently entred into the High-Priests Hall , and followed our Lord through the several passages of his Trial , and at last waited upon him ( and for any thing we know , was the only Apostle that did so ) at his Execution , owning him , as well as being own'd by him , in the midst of arms and guards , and in the thickest crowds of his most inveterate enemies . Here it was that our Lord by his last Will and Testament made upon the Cross , appointed him Guardian of his own Mother , the Blessed Virgin ; When he saw his Mother , and the Disciple standing by whom he loved , he said unto his Mother , Woman , behold thy Son , see , here is one that shall supply my place , and be to thee instead of a Son , to love and honour thee , to provide and take care for thee : and to the Disciple he said , Behold thy Mother ; Her , whom thou shalt henceforth deal with , treat and observe with that duty and honourable regard , which the relation of an indulgent Mother challenges from a pious and obedient Son : whereupon he took her into his own House , her Husband Joseph being some time since dead , and made her a principal part of his charge and care . And certainly the Holy Jesus could not have given a more honourable testimony of his particular respect and kindness to S. John , than to commit his own Mother , whom of all earthly Relations he held most dear and valuable , to his trust and care , and to substitute him to supply that duty which he himself paid her while he was here below . 3. AT the first news of our Lord's return from the dead , he , accompanied with Peter , presently hasted to the Sepulchre . Indeed there seems to have been a mutual intimacy between these two Apostles more than the rest . 'T was to Peter that S. John gave the notice of Christ's appearing , when he came to them at the Sea of 〈◊〉 in the habit of a stranger ; and it was for John that Peter was so sollicitously inquisitive to know what should become of him . After Christ's Ascension , we find these two going up to the Temple at the Hour of Prayer , and miraculously healing the poor impotent Cripple ; both Preaching to the People , and both apprehended together by the Priests and 〈◊〉 , and thrown into Prison , and the next Day brought forth to plead their cause before the 〈◊〉 . These were the two chosen by the Apostles to send down to Samaria , to settle and confirm the Plantations which Philip had made in those Parts , where they confounded and baffled Simon the Magician , and set him in an hopeful way to repentance . To these S. Paul addressed himself , as those that seemed to be Pillars among the rest , who accordingly gave him the right hand of fellowship ; and confirmed his mission to the Gentiles . 4. IN the division of Provinces which the Apostles made among themselves , * Asia fell to his share , though he did not presently enter upon his charge , otherwise we must needs have heard of him in the account which S. Luke gives of S. Paul's several Journies into , and residence in those parts . Probable therefore it is , that he dwelt still in his own House at Jerusalem , at least till the death of the Blessed Virgin ( and this is plainly asserted by ‖ Nicephorus from the account of those Historians that were before him ) whose death ( says * 〈◊〉 ) hapned Ann. Chr. XLVIII . about Fifteen Years after our Lord's Ascension . Some time ( probably Years ) after her death he took his Journy into Asia , and industriously applied himself to the propagating Christianity , Preaching where the Gospel had not yet taken place , and confirming it where it was already planted . Many Churches of note and eminency were of his foundation , Smyrna , Pergamus , Thyatira , Sardis , Philadelphia , Laodicea , and others ; but his chief place of residence was at Ephesus , where S. Paul had many Years before setled a Church , and constituted Timothy Bishop of it . Nor can we suppose that he confined his Ministry meerly to Asia Minor , but that he Preached in other Parts of the East ; probably in Parthia , his first Epistle being anciently intitled to them ; and the * Jesuits in the relation of their success in those Parts , assure us that the Bassorae ( a People of India ) constantly affirm from a Tradition received from their Ancestors , that S. John Planted the Christian Faith there . 5. HAVING spent many Years in this imployment , he was at length accused to Domitian , who had begun a Persecution against the Christians , as an eminent assertor of Atheism and impiety , and a publick subverter of the Religion of the Empire . By his command the Proconsul of Asia sent him bound to ‖ Rome , where his treatment was , what might be expected from so bloody and barbarous a Prince ; he was cast into a Cauldron of boyling Oyl , or rather Oyl set on Fire . But that Divine Providence that secured the three Hebrew Captives in the flames of a burning Furnace , brought this 〈◊〉 Man safe out of this , one would have thought , unavoidable destruction . An instance of so signal preservation , as had been enough to perswade a considering Man , that there must be a Divinity in that Religion that had such mighty and solemn attestations . But Miracles themselves will not convince him , that 's fallen under an hard heart , and an injudicious mind . The cruel Emperor was not satisfied with this , but presently orders him to be banished and transported into an Island . This was accounted a kind of capital punishment , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , says * Pachymer , speaking of this very instance , where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be understood as extending to life , but loss of priviledge . Therefore this punishment in the ‖ Roman Laws is called Capitis 〈◊〉 ( and it was the second sort of it ) because the Person thus banished was disfranchised , and the City thereby lost an head . It succeeded in the room of that ancient punishment , Aqua & igni interdicere , to interdict a Person the use of Fire and Water , the two great and necessary conveniences of Man's life , whereby was tacitly implied , that he must for his own defence betake himself into banishment ; it being unlawful for any to accommodate him with Lodging or Diet , or any thing necessary to the support of life . This banishing into Islands was properly called Deportatio , and was the worst and severest kind of exile , whereby the criminal forfeited his Estate , and being bound and put on Ship-board was by publick Officers transported into some certain Island ( which none but the Emperor himself might assign ) there to be confined to perpetual banishment . The place of our S. John's banishment was not Ephesus , as * Chrysostome by a great mistake makes it , but Patmos , a disconsolate Island in the Archipelago , where he remained several Years , instructing the Inhabitants in the Faith of Christ. Here it was about the latter end of Domitian's Reign , ( as 〈◊〉 tells ‖ us ) that he wrote his Apocalypse or Book of Revelations , wherein by frequent Visions and Prophetical representments , he had a clear Scheme and Prospect of the state and condition of Christianity in the future Periods and Ages of the Church . Which certainly was not the least instance of that kindness and favour which our Lord particularly shew'd to this Apostle ; and it seemed very suitable at this time , that the goodness of God should over-power the malice of Men , and that he should be entertained with the more 〈◊〉 converses of Heaven , who was now cut off from all ordinary conversation and society with Men. In a Monastery of Caloires , or Greek Monks in this Island , they shew a dead Man's hand at this * day , the Nails of whose Fingers grow again as oft as they are paired ; which the Turks will have to be the hand of one of their Prophets , while the Greeks constantly affirm it to have been the hand of S. John , wherewith he wrote the Revelations . 6. DOMITIAN , whose prodigious wickednesses had rendred him infamous and burdensome to the World , being taken out of the way , Cocceius Nerva succeeded in the Empire , a prudent Man , and of a milder and more sober temper . He rescinded the odious Acts of his Predecessor , and by publick Edict recalled those from banishment , whom the fury of Domitian had sent thither . S. John taking the advantage of this general Indulgence , left Patmos , and returned into Asia , his ancient charge , but chiefly fixed his Seat at 〈◊〉 , the care and presidency whereof ( Timothy their Bishop having been lately martyr'd by the People for perswading them against their Heathen-Feasts and Sports , especially one called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , wherein was a mixture of debauchery and ‖ idolatry ) he took upon him , and by the assistance of seven Bishops governed that large spacious Diocese ; * Nicephorus adds , that he not only managed the affairs of the Church , ordered and disposed the Clergy , but erected Churches , which surely must be meant of Oratories , and little places for their solemn conventions , building Churches in the modern notion , not being consistent with the poverty and persecution of Christians in those early times . Here at the request of the Bishops of Asia he wrote his Gospel ( they are Authors of no credit and value , that make it written during his confinement in the Isle of Patmos ) with very solemn preparation , whereof more when we come to consider the Writings which he left behind him . 7. HE lived till the time of Trajan , about the beginning of whose Reign he departed this Life , very Aged , about the Ninety-eighth or Ninety-ninth Year of his Life , as is generally thought . * Chrysostome is very positive , that he was an Hundred Years old when he wrote his Gospel , and that he liv'd full Twenty Years after . The same is affirmed by ‖ Dorotheus , that he lived CXX . Years : which to me seems altogether improbable , seeing by this account he must be Fifty Years of Age when called to be an Apostle , a thing directly contrary to the whole consent and testimony of Antiquity , which makes him very young at the time of his calling to the Apostolick Office. He died ( says the * Arabian ) in the expectation of his blessedness , by which he means his quiet and peaceable departure , in opposition to a violent and bloody death . Indeed Theophylact , and others before him conceive him to have died a Martyr , upon no other ground , than what our Saviour told him and his Brother , that they should drink of the Cup , and be baptized with the Baptism wherewith he was baptized , which ‖ Chrysostom strictly understands of Martyrdom and a bloudy death . It was indeed literally verified in his brother James ; and for him , though , as * S. Hierom observes , he was not put to death , yet may he be truly stiled a Martyr , his being put into a vessel of boiling Oil , his many years banishment , and other sufferings in the cause of Christ , justly challenging that honourable title , though he did not actually lay down his life for the testimony of the Gospel , it being not want of good will either in him or his enemies , but the Divine Providence immediately over-ruling the powers of nature , that kept the malice of his enemies from its full execution . 8. OTHERS on the contrary are so far from admitting him to die a Martyr , that they question , nay , peremptorily deny that he ever died at all . The first Assertor , and that but obliquely , that I find of this opinion , was Hippolytus Bishop of Porto , and Scholar to Clemens of Alexandria , who ranks him in the same capacity with Enoch and Elias ; for speaking of the twofold coming of Christ , he tells * us , that his first coming in the flesh had John the Baptist for its forerunner , and his second to Judgment shall have Enoch , Elias , and S. John. ‖ Ephrem Patriarch of Antioch is more express , he tells us , there are three persons , answerable to the three dispensations of the word , yet in the body , Enoch , Elias , and S. John , Enoch before the Law , Elias under the Law , and S. John under the Gospel ; concerning which last , that he never died , he confirms both from Scripture and Tradition , and quotes S. Cyrill ( I suppose he means him of Alexandria ) as of the same opinion . The whole foundation upon which this Error is built , was that discourse that passed between our Lord and Peter concerning this Apostle : For Christ having told Peter what was to be his own fate , Peter enquires what should become of S. John , knowing him to be the Disciple whom Jesus loved ? Our Lord rebukes his curiosity , by asking him , what that concerned him , If I will that he 〈◊〉 till I come , what is that to thee ? This the Apostles misunderstood , and a report presently went out amongst them , That that Disciple should not die : Though S. John , who himself records the passage , inserts a caution , That Jesus did not say , he should not die , but only what if I will that he tarry till I come ? Which doubtless our Lord meant of his coming ( so often mentioned in the New Testament ) in Judgment upon the Jews , at the 〈◊〉 overthrow of Jerusalem , which S. John out-lived many years ; and which our Lord particularly intended when elsewhere he told them , Verily I say unto you , there be some standing here , which shall not taste of death , till they see the Son of man coming in his Kingdom . 9. FROM the same Original sprang the report , that he only lay sleeping in his Grave . The story was currant in S. Augustines days , from whom we receive this account , though possibly the Reader will smile at the conceit . He tells * us , 't was commonly reported and believed that S. John was not dead , but that he rested like a man asleep in his Grave at Ephesus , as plainly appeared from the dust sensibly boiling and bubling up , which they accounted to be nothing else but the continual motion of his breath . This report S. Augustine seems inclinable to believe , having received it , as he tells us , from very credible hands . He further adds out of some Apocryphal writings , what was generally known and reported , that when S. John , then in health , had caused his Grave to be dug and prepared , he laid himself down in it as in a Bed , and as they thought , only fell asleep . * Nicephorus relates the story more at large , from whom ( if it may be any pleasure to entertain the Reader with these things ) we shall give this account . S. John foreseeing his translation into Heaven , took the Presbyters and Ministers of the Church of Ephesus , and several of the Faithful , along with him out of the City , carried them unto a Cemetery near at hand , whither he himself was wont to retire to prayer , and very earnestly recommended the state of the Churches to God in prayer . Which being done , he commanded a Grave to be immediately dug , and having instructed them in the more recondite mysteries of Theologie , the most excellent precepts of a good life , concerning Faith , Hope , and especially Charity , confirmed them in the 〈◊〉 of Religion , commended them to the care and blessing of our Saviour , and solemnly taking his leave of them , he signed himself with the sign of the Cross , and before them all went down into the Grave ; strictly charging them , to put on the Grave-stone , and to make it fast , and the next day to come and open it , and take a view of it . They did so , and having opened the Sepulchre , found nothing there but the Grave clothes which he had left behind him . To all which let me add , while my hand is in these things , what * Ephrem relates , that from this Grave , wherein he rested so short a time , a kind of Sacred Oil or Unguent was wont to be gathered . Gregory of ‖ Tours says 't was Manna , which even in his time like flour was cast up from the Sepulohre , and was carried up and down the World for the curing of diseases . This report of our Apostles being yet alive , some men made use of to wild and phantastick purposes . * Beza tells us of an Impostor in his time ( whom Postellus , who vainly boasted that he had the Soul of Adam , was wont to call his Brother ) who publickly prosessed himself to be our S. John , and was afterwards burnt at Tholose in France . Nor was this any more than what was done in the more early Ages of Christianity . For ‖ Sulpitius Severus giving us an account of a young Spaniard that first professed himself to be Elias , and then Christ himself ; adds , That there was one at the same time in the East , who gave out himself to be S. John. So fast will Error , like circles in the water , multiply it self , and one mistaken place of Scripture give countenance to an hundred stories , that shall be built upon it . I have no more to add , but what we meet with in the * Arabick writer of his life , ( though it little agrees with the preceding passages ) who reports , that there were none present at his burial but his disciple Phogsir ( probably Proghor , or Prochorus , one of the seven Deacons , and generally said to have been S. John's companion and assistent ) whom he strictly charged never to discover his Sepulchre to any ; it may be for the same reason for which it is thought God concealed the body of Moses , to prevent the Idolatrous worshipping of his Reliques : And accordingly the Turks , who conceit him to be buried in the confines of Lydia , pay great honour and veneration to his Tomb. 10. S. JO H N seems always to have led a single life , and so the * Ancients tell us , nay , S. Ambrose positively ‖ affirms , that all the Apostles were married , except S. John and S. Paul. There want not indeed some , and especially the middle Writers of the * Church , who will have our Apostle to have been married , and that it was his marriage which our Lord was at in Cana of Galilee , invited thither upon the account of his consanguinity and alliance : But that being convinced by the Miracle of the Water turned into Wine , he immediately quitted his conjugal relation , and became one of our Lord's Disciples . But this , as 〈◊〉 himself confesses , is trifling , and the issue of fabulous invention , a thing wholly unknown to the Fathers and best Writers of the Church , and which not only has no just authority to support it , but arguments enough to beat it down . As for his natural temper , he seems ( as we have observed in his Brother's Life ) to have been of a more eager and resolute disposition , easily apt to be inflamed and provoked , which his reduced Age brought to a more staid and a calmer temper . He was polished by no study or arts of Learning , but what was wanting in that , was abundantly made up in the excellent temper and constitution of his mind , and that furniture of Divine graces , which he was adorned withall . His humility was admirable , studiously concealing his own worth and honour , in all his Epistles ( as * Eusebius long since observed ) he never puts down the honourable Titles of Apostle or Evangelist , but only stiles himself , and that too but sometimes , Presbyter , or Elder , alluding probably to his Age , as much as Office ; in his Gospel , when he speaks of the Disciple whom Jesus loved , he constantly conceals his own name , leaving the Reader to conjecture who was meant . Love and Charity he practised himself , and affectionately pressed upon others , our Lord 's great love to him seems to have inspired his Soul with a bigger and more generous charity than the rest : 'T is the great vein that runs through his writings , and especially his Epistles , where he urges it as the great and peculiar Law of Christianity , and without which all other pretences to Christian Religion are vain and frivolous , useless and insignificant . And this was his constant practice to his dying day . When Age and weakness grew upon him at * Ephesus , that he was no longer able to preach to them , he used at every publick meeting to be led to the Church , and say no more to them , than , Little children , love one another . And when his Auditors wearied with the constant repetition of the same thing , asked him why he always spoke the same , he answered , Because it was the command of our Lord , and that if they did nothing else , this alone was enough . 11. BUT the largest measures of his Charity he expressed in the mighty care that he shewed to the Souls of men , unweariedly spending himself in the service of the Gospel , travelling from East to West to leaven the World with the principles of that holy Religion which he was sent to propagate , patiently enduring all torments , breaking through all difficulties and discouragements , shunning no dangers , that he might do good to Souls , redeem mens minds from error and idolatry , and reduce them from the snares of a debauched and a vicious life . Witness one famous * instance . In his visitation of the Churches , near to Ephesus , he made choice of a young man , whom with a special charge for his instruction and education he committed to the Bishop of that place . The 〈◊〉 man undertook the charge , instructed his Pupil , and baptized him : And then thinking he might a little remit the reins of discipline , the youth made an ill use of his liberty , and was quickly debauched by bad companions , making himself Captain to a company of High-way men , the most loose , cruel , and profligate wretches of the Country . S. John at his return understanding this , and sharply reproving the negligence and unfaithfulness of his Tutor , resolved to find him out : And without any consideration of what danger he entred upon , in venturing himself upon persons of desperate fortunes , and forfeited consciences , he went to the mountains , where their usual haunt was ; and being here taken by the Sentinel , he desired to be brought before their Commander , who no sooner espied him coming towards him , but immediately fled . The aged Apostle followed after , but not able to overtake him , passionately intreated him to stay , promising him to undertake with God for his peace and pardon . He did so , and both melted into tears , and the Apostle having prayed with , and for him , returned him a true Penitent and Convert to the Church . This story we have elsewhere related more at large out of 〈◊〉 , as he does from Clemens Alexandrinus , since which that Tract it self of * Clemens is made publick to the World. 12. NOR was it the least instance of his care of the Church , and charity to the Souls of men , that he was so infinitely vigilant against Hereticks and Seducers , countermining their artifices , antidoting against the poison of their errors , and shunning all communion and conversation with their persons . * Going along with some of his friends at Ephesus to the Bath ( whither he used frequently to resort , and the ruines whereof of Porphyry not far from the place where stood the famous Temple of Diana , as a late ‖ eye-witness informs us , are still shewed at this day ) he enquired of the servant that waited there , who was within ; the servant told him , Cerinthus ( Epiphanius says it was Ebion , and 't is not improbable that they might be both there ; ) which the Apostle no sooner understood , but in great abhorrency he turned back , Let 's be gon my brethren ( said he ) and make haste from this place , lest the Bath wherein there is such an Heretick as Cerinthus , the great enemy of the truth , fall upon our heads . This account Irenaeus delivers from Polycarp , S. John's own Scholar and Disciple . This Cerinthus was a man of loose and pernicious principles , endeavouring to corrupt Christianity with many damnable * Errors . To make himself more considerable , he struck in with the Jewish Converts , and made a bustle in that great controversie at Jerusalem , about Circumcision and the observation of the Law of Moses . But his usual haunt was Asia , where amongst other things he openly denied Christ's Resurrection , affirmed the World to have been made by Angels , broaching unheard of Dogmata , and pretending them to have been communicated to him by Angels , venting Revelations composed by himself , as a great Apostle , affirming that after the Resurrection the reign of Christ would commence here upon Earth , and that men living again at Jerusalem , should for the space of a thousand years enjoy all manner of sensual pleasures and delights : hoping by this fools Paradise that he should tempt men of loose and brutish minds over to his party . Much of the same stamp was * Ebion ( though in some principles differing from him , as error agrees with it self as little as with truth ) who held that the holy Jesus was a mere , and a mean man , begotten by Joseph of Mary his Wife , and that the observance of the Mosaick Rites and Laws was necessary to Salvation : And because they saw S. Paul stand so full in their way , they reproached him as an Apostate from his Religion , and rejected his Epistles , owning none but S. Matthew's Gospel in Hebrew , having little or no value for the rest ; the Sabbath and Jewish Rites they observed with the Jews , and on the Lord's day celebrated the memory of our Lord's Resurrection , 〈◊〉 cording to the custom and practice of the Christians . 13. BESIDES these , there was another sort of Hereticks that infested the Church in S. John's time , the Nicolaitans , mentioned by him in his Revelation , and whose doctrine our Lord is with a particular Emphasis there said to hate ; indeed a most wretched and brutish Sect , generally supposed to derive their original from Nicolas , one of the seven Deacons , whom we read of 〈◊〉 the Acts , whereof Glemens of Alexandria gives this probable * account . This Nicolas having a beautiful Wife , and being reproved by the Apostles for being jealous of her , to shew how far he was from it , brought her forth , and gave any that would leave to marry her , affirming this to be suitable to that saying , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That we ought to abuse the flesh . This speech , he tell us , was ascribed to S. Matthias , who taught , That we must fight with the flesh and abuse it , and not allowing it any thing for pleasure , encrease the Soul by faith and knowledge . These words and actions of his , his disciples and followers misunderstanding , and perverting things to the worst sence imaginable , began to let loose the reins , and henceforwards to give themselves over to the greatest filthiness , the most shameless and impudent uncleanness , throwing down all inclosures , making the most promiscuous mixtures lawful , and pleasure the ultimate end and happiness of Man. Such were their principles , such their practices ; whereas Nicolas , their pretended Patron and Founder , was ( says Clemens ) a sober and a temperate Man , never making use of any but his own Wife , by whom he had one Son , and several Daughters , who all liv'd in perpetual Virginity . 14. THE last instance that we shall remark of our Apostles care for the good of the Church , is the Writings which he left to Posterity . Whereof the first in time , though plac'd last , is his Apocalypse or Book of Revelations , written while consined in Patmos . It was of old not only rejected by Hereticks , but controverted by many of the Fathers themselves . 〈◊〉 Bishop of * Alexandria has a very large discourse concerning it ; he tells us , that many plainly disowned this Book , not only for the matter , but the Author of it , as being neither Apostle , no nor any Holy or Ecclesiastical Person ; that Cerinthus prefixed S. John's name to it , to give the more plausible title to his Dream of Christ's Reign upon Earth , and that sensual and carnal state that should attend it : that for his part he durst not reject it , looking upon it as containing wise and admirable mysteries , though he could not fathom and 〈◊〉 them , that he did not measure them by his own line , nor condemn , but rather admire what he could not understand ; that he owned the Author to have been an holy , and divinely-inspired Person , but could not believe it to be S. John the Apostle and Evangelist , neither stile , matter , nor method agreeing with his other Writings ; that in this he frequently names himself , which he never does in any other ; that there were several Johns at that time , and two buried at Fphesus , the Apostle , and another , one of the Disciples that dwelt in Asia , but which the Author of his Book , he leaves uncertain . But though doubted of by some , it was entertained by the far greater part of the Ancients as the genuine work of our S. John. Nor could the setting down his Name be any reasonable exception , for whatever he might do in his other Writings , especially his Gospel , where it was less necessary , Historical matters depending not so much upon his authority , yet it was otherwise in Prophetick Revelations , where the Person of the Revealer adds great weight and moment , the reason why some of the Prophets under the Old Testament did so frequently set down their own Names . The diversity of the stile is of no considerable value in this case , it being no wonder , if in arguments so vastly different the same Person do not always observe the same tenor and way of writing ; whereof there want not instances in some others of the Apostolick Order . The truth is , all circumstances concur to intitle our Apostle to be the Author of it , his name frequently expressed , its being written in the Island Patmos ( a circumstance not competible to any but S. John ) his stiling himself their Brother and Companion in Tribulation , and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ , his writing particular Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia , all planted , or at least cultivated by him , the doctrine in it suitable to the Apostolick spirit and temper , evidently bearing witness in this case . That which seems to have given ground to doubt concerning both its Author and authority , was its being long before it was usually joyned with the other Books of the holy Canon : for containing in it some passages directly levell'd at Rome , the Seat of the Roman Empire , others which might be thought to symbolize with some Jewish dreams and 〈◊〉 , it might possibly seem fit to the prudence of those Times for a while to suppress it . Nor is the conjecture of a learned * Man to be despised , who thinks that it might be intrusted in the keeping of John the Presbyter , Scholar to our Apostle , whence probably the report might arise , that he , who was only the Keeper , was the Author of it . 15. HIS Gospel succeeds , written ( say ‖ some ) in Patmos , and published at Ephesus , but as * Irenaeus , and others more truly , written by him after his return to Ephesus ; composed at the earnest intreaty and sollicitation of the Asian Bishops , and Embassadors from several Churches , in order whereunto he first caused them to proclaim a general Fast , to seek the blessing of Heaven on so great and solemn an undertaking , which being done , he set about it . And if we may believe the report of Gregory Bishop of ‖ Tours , he tells us , that upon a Hill near Ephesus there was a Proseucha , or uncovered Oratory , whither our Apostle used often to retire for Prayer and Contemplation , and where he obtained of God , that it might not Rain in that Place , till he had finished his Gospel . Nay he adds , that even in his time , no shower or storm ever came upon it . Two causes especially contributed to the writing of it ; the one , that he might obviate the early heresies of those times , especially of Ebion , Cerinthus , and the rest of that crew , who began openly to deny Christ's Divinity , and that he had any existence before his Incarnation ; the reason why our Evangelist is so express and copious in that subject . ‖ The other was , that he might supply those passages of the Evangelical History , which the rest of the Sacred Writers had omitted . Collecting therefore the other three Evangelists , he first set to his Seal , ratifying the truth of them with his approbation and consent , and then added his own Gospel to the rest , principally insisting upon the Acts of Christ from the first commencing of his Ministery to the Death of John the Baptist , wherein the others are most defective , giving 〈◊〉 any account of the first Year of our Saviour's Ministry , which therefore he made up in very large and particular Narrations . He largely records ( as Nazianzen * observes ) our Saviour's discourses , but takes little notice of his Miracles , probably because so fully and particularly related by the rest . The subject of his writing is very sublime and mysterious , mainly designing to prove Christ's Divinity , eternal pre-existence , creating of the World , &c. Upon which account ‖ Theodoret stiles his Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a Theology which humane understandings can never fully penetrate and find out . Thence generally by the Ancients , he is resembled to an Eagle * , soaring aloft within the Clouds , whither the weak eye of Man was unable to follow him ; hence peculiarly honoured with the title of The Divine , as if due to none but him , at least to him in a more eminent and extraordinary manner . Nay the very Gentile-Philosophers themselves could not but admire his Writings : Witness ‖ Amelius the famous Platonist , and Regent of Porphyries School at Alexandria ; who quoting a passage out of the beginning of S. John's Gospel , sware by Jupiter , that this Barbarian ( so the proud Greeks counted and called all that differed from them ) had hit upon the right notion , when he affirmed , that the Word that made all things was in the beginning , and in place of prime dignity and authority with God , and was that God that created all things , in whom every thing that was made had according to its nature its life and being ; that he was incarnate , and clothed with a body , wherein he manifested the glory and magnificence of his nature ; that after his death , he returned to the repossession of Divinity , and became the same God , which he was before his assuming a body , and taking the humane nature and flesh upon him . I have no more to observe , but that his Gospel was afterwards translated into * Hebrew , and kept by the Jews , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among their secret Archives and Records in their Treasury at Tiberias ; where a Copy of it was found by one Joseph a Jew , afterwards converted , and whom 〈◊〉 the Great advanced to the honour of a Count of the Empire , who breaking open the Treasury , though he missed of mony , found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Books beyond all Treasure , S. Matthew , and S. John's Gospels , and the Acts of the Apostles in Hebrew , the reading whereof greatly contributed towards his Conversion . 16. BESIDES these , our Apostle wrote three Epistles ; the first whereof is Catholick , calculated for all times and places , containing most excellent rules for the conduct of the Christian life , pressing to 〈◊〉 and purity of manners , and not to rest in a naked and empty profession of Religion , not to be led away with the crafty insinuations of Seducers , antidoting Men against the poyson of the Gnostick-principles and practices , to whom it is not to be doubted , but that the Apostle had a more particular respect in this Epistle . According to his wonted modesty he conceals his name , it being of more concernment with 〈◊〉 Men , what it is that is said , than who it is that says it . And this Epistle Eusebius tells ‖ us , was universally received , and never questioned by any ; anciently , as appears 〈◊〉 * S. Augustin , inscribed to the Parthians , though for what reason I am yet to learn , unless ( as we hinted before ) it was , because he himself had heretofore Preached in those Parts of the World. The other two Epistles are but short , and directed to particular Persons , the one a Lady of honourable Quality , the other the charitable and hospitable Gaius , so kind a friend , so courteous an entertainer of all indigent Christians . * These Epistles indeed were not of old admitted into the Canon , nor are owned by the Church in Syria at this Day , ascribed by many to the younger John , Disciple to our Apostle . But there is no just cause to question who was their Father , seeing both the Doctrine , phrase , and design of them do sufficiently challenge our Apostle for their Author . These are all the Books , wherein it pleased the Holy Spirit to make use of S. John for its Pen man and Secretary , in the composure whereof though his stile and character be not florid and elegant , yet is it grave and simple , short , and perspicuous . Dionysius of Alexandria tells us , that in his Gospel and first Epistle his phrase is more neat and elegant , there being an accuracy in the contexture both of words and matter , that runs through all the reasonings of his discourses ; but that in the Apocalypse the stile is nothing so pure and clear , being frequently mixed with more barbarous and improper phrases . Indeed his Greek generally abounds with Syriasms , his discourses many times abrupt , set off with frequent antitheses , connected with copulatives , passages often repeated , things at first more obscurely propounded , and which he is forced to enlighten with subsequent explications , words peculiar to himself , and phrases used in an uncommon sence . All which concur to render his way of writing less grateful , possibly , to the Masters of eloquence , and an elaborate curiosity . * S. Hierom observes , that in citing places out of the Old Testament , he more immediately translates from the Hebrew Original , studying to render things word for word ; for being an Hebrew of the Hebrews , admirably skill'd in the Language of his Country , it probably made him less exact in his Greek composures , wherein he had very little advantage , besides what was immediately communicated from above . But whatever was wanting in the politeness of his stile , was abundantly made up in the zeal of his temper , and the excellency and sublimity of his matter ; he truly answered his Name , Boanerges , spake and writ like a Son of Thunder . Whence it is that his Writings , but especially his Gospel , have such great and honourable things spoken of them by the Ancients . The Evangelical writings ( says ‖ S. Basil ) transcend the other parts of the Holy Volumes , in other parts God speaks to us by Servants , the Prophets ; but in the Gospels our Lord himself speaks to us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but among all the Evangelical Preachers none like S. John the Son of Thunder for the sublimeness of his speech , and the heighth of his discourses beyond any Man's capacity duly to reach and comprehend . S. John as a true Son of Thunder ( says * Epiphanius ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by a certain greatness of speech peculiar to himself , does as it were out of the Clouds and the dark recesses of wisdome acquaint us with Divine Doctrines concerning the Son of God. To which let me add , what S. Cyril of ‖ Alexandria among other things says concerning him , that whoever looks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to the sublimity of his incomprehensible notions , the acumen and sharpness of his reason , and the quick inferences of his discourses constantly succeeding and following upon one another , must needs confess , that his Gospel perfectly exceeds all admiration . The End of S. John's Life . THE LIFE OF S. PHILIP . S t Philip After he had converted all Scythia he was at Hierapolis a City of Asia first crucified and then stoned to death Baron . May. 1o. St. Philip's Martyrdom . Act. 5. 30. Whom ye slew , & hanged on a tree . Matth. 10. 24 , 25. The disciple is not above his master , nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple , that he be as his master , and the servant as his Lord. Galilee generally despised by the Jews , and why . The honour which our Lord put upon it . S. Andrew's birth-place . His being first called to be a Disciple , and the manner of it . An account of his ready obedience to Christ's call . What the 〈◊〉 relate concerning him considered . The discourse between our Lord and him concerning the knowledge of the Father . His preaching the Gospel in the upper Asia , and the happy effects of his Ministry . His coming to Hierapolis in Phrygia , and successful confutation of their Idolatries . The rage and fury of the Magistrates against him . His Martyrdom , Crucifixion , and Burial . His married condition . The confounding him with Philip the Deacon . The Gospel forged by the Gnosticks under his name . 1. OF all parts of Palestine Galilee seem to have passed under the greatest character of ignominy and reproach . The Country it self , because bordering upon the Idolatrous 〈◊〉 Nations , called Galilee of the Gentiles ; the people generally beheld as more rude and boisterous , more unpolished and barbarous than the rest , not remarkable either for Civility or Religion . The Galileans received him , having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the Feast , for they also went up unto the Feast ; as if it had been a wonder , and a matter of very strange remark , to 〈◊〉 so much devotion in them as to attend the solemnity of the Passeover . Indeed both Jew and Gentile conspired in this , that they thought they could not fix a greater title of reproach upon our Saviour and his followers , than that of Galilean . Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? a City in this Province , said Nathanael concerning Christ. Search and look ( say the Pharisees ) for out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet ; as if nothing but briers and thorns could grow in that soil . But there needs no more to confute this ill-natured opinion , than that our Lord not only made choice of it as the seat of his ordinary 〈◊〉 and retreat , but that hencehe chose those excellent persons , whom he made his Apostles , the great instruments to convert the World. Some of these we have already given an account of , and more are yet behind . 2. OF this number was S. Philip , born at Bethsaida , a Town near the Sea of Tiberias , the City of Andrew and Peter . Of his Parents and way of life the History of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no notice , though 〈◊〉 he was a Fisherman , the Trade general of that 〈◊〉 . He had the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 honour of being first called to the Discipleship , 〈◊〉 thus came to pass . Our Lord soon after his return from the wilderness having met with Andrew and his brother Peter , after some short discourse parted from them : And the very next day , as he was passing through Galilee , he found Philip , whom he presently commanded to follow him , the constant form which he used in making choice of his Disciples , and those that did inseparably attend upon him . So that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or prerogative of being first called , evidently belongs to Philip , he being the first-fruits of our Lord's Disciples . For though Andrew and Peter were the first that came to , and conversed with Christ , yet did they immediately return to their Trade again , and were not called to the Discipleship till above a whole year after , when John was cast into prison . * Clemens 〈◊〉 tells us , that it was Philip , to whom our Lord said ( when he would have excused himself at present , that he must go bury his Father ) Let the dead bury their dead , but follow 〈◊〉 me . But besides that he gives no account , whence he derived this intelligence , it is plainly inconsistent with the time of our Apostle's call , who was called to be a Disciple a long time before that speech and passage of our Saviour . It may seem justly strange that Philip should at first sight so readily comply with our Lord's command , and turn himself over into his service , having not yet seen any miracle , that might evince his 〈◊〉 - ship , and Divine Commission , nor probably so much as heard any tidings of his appearance ; and especially being a Galilean , and so of a more rustick and unyielding temper . But it cannot be doubted but that he was admirably versed in the writings of Moses and the Prophets . * Metaphrastes assures us ( though how he came to know it otherwise than by conjecture , I cannot imagine ) that from his childhood he had excellent education , that he frequently read over Moses his Books , and considered the Prophecies that related to our Saviour : And was no question awakened with the general expectations that were then on foot among the Jews ( the date of the Prophetick Scriptures concerning the time of Christ's coming being now run out ) that the 〈◊〉 would immediately appear . Add to this , that the Divine grace did more immediately accompany the command of Christ , to incline and dispose him to believe , that this person was that very 〈◊〉 that was to come . 3. NO sooner had Religion taken possession of his mind , but like an active principle it began to 〈◊〉 , and diffuse it self . A way he goes , and 〈◊〉 Nathanael , a person of note and eminency , acquaints him with the tidings of the new-found Messiah , and conducts him to him . So forward is a good man to draw and direct others in the same way to happiness with himself . After his call to the Apostleship much is not recorded of him in the Holy story : 'T was to him that our Saviour propounded the question , What they should do for so much bread in the wilderness , as would feed so vast a multitude , to which he answered , That so much was not easily to be had ; not considering , that to feed two or twenty thousand are equally 〈◊〉 to Almighty Power , when pleased to exert it self . 'T was to him that the Gentile Proselytes that came up to the Passeover addressed themselves , when desirous to see our Saviour , a person of whom they had heard so loud a fame . 'T was with him that our Lord had that discourse concerning himself a little before the last Paschal Supper . The holy and compassionate Jesus had been fortifying their minds with fit considerations against his departure from them , had told them , that he was going to prepare room for them in the Mansions of the Blessed , that he himself was the way , the truth , and the life , and that no man could come to the Father but by him , and that knowing him , they both knew and had seen the Father . Philip not duly understanding the force of our Saviour's reasonings , begged of him , that he would shew them the Father , and then this would abundantly convince and satisfie them . We can hardly suppose he should have such gross conceptions of the Deity , as to imagine the Father vested with a corporeal and visible nature ; but Christ having told them that they had seen him , and he knowing that God of old was wont frequently to appear in a visible shape , he only desired that he would 〈◊〉 himself to them by some such appearance . Our Lord gently reproved his ignorance , that aster so long attendance upon his instructions , he should not know , that he was the Image of his Father , the express characters of his infinite wisdom , power and goodness appearing in him , that he said and did nothing but by his Father's appointment , which if they did not believe , his miracles were a sufficient evidence : That therefore such demands were unnecessary and impertinent , and that it argued great weakness after more than three years education under his discipline and Institution to be so unskilful in those matters . God expects improvement according to mens opportunities , to be old 〈◊〉 ignorant in the School of Christ , deserves both reproach and punishment , 't is the character of very bad persons , that they are ever learning , but never come to the knowledge of the truth . 4. IN the distribution of the several Regions of the World made by the Apostles , though no mention be made by Origen or 〈◊〉 , what part fell to our Apostle , yet we are told by * others , that the Upper Asia was his Province ( the reason doubtless why he is said by many to have preached and planted Christianity in 〈◊〉 ) where he applied himself with an indefatigable diligence and industry to recover men out of the snare of the Devil , to the embracing and acknowledgment of the truth . By the constancy of his preaching , and the efficacy of his Miracles he gained numerous Converts , whom he baptized into the Christian Faith , at once curing both Souls and Bodies , their Souls of Error and Idolatry , their Bodies of infirmities and distempers , healing diseases , dispossessing Daemons , setling Churches , and appointing them Guides and Ministers of Religion . 5. HAVING for many years successfully managed his Apostolical Office in all those parts , he came in the last periods of his life to Hierapolis in Phrygia , a City rich and populous , but answering its name in its Idolatrous Devotions . Amongst the many vain and trifling Deities , to whom they payed religious adoration , was a Serpent or Dragon ( in memory no doubt of that infamous Act of Jupiter , who in the shape of a Dragon insinuated himself into the embraces of Proserpina , his own Daughter begot of Ceres , and whom these phrygians chiefly worshipped , as * Clemens Alexandrinus tells us , so little reason had ‖ Baronius to say that they worshipped no such God ) of a more prodigious bigness than the rest , which they worshipped with great and solemn veneration . S. Philip was troubled to see the people so wretchedly enslaved to error , and therefore continually solicited Heaven , till by prayer and calling upon the name of Christ , he had procured the death , or at least vanishing of this famed and beloved Serpent : Which done , he told them , how unbecoming it was to give Divine honours to such odious creatures , that God alone was to be worshipped as the great Parent of the World , who had made man at first after his own glorious Image , and when fallen from that innocent and happy state , had sent his own Son into the World to redeem him , who died , and rose from the dead , and shall come again at the last day , to raise men out of their Graves , and to sentence and reward them according to their works . The success was , that the people were ashamed of their fond Idolatry , and many broke loose from their chains of darkness , and ran over to Christianity . Whereupon the great enemy of mankind betook himself to his old methods , cruelty and persecution . The Magistrates of the City seise the Apostle , and having put him into prison , caused him to be severely whip'd and scourg'd . This preparatory cruelty passed , he was led to execution , and being bound , was hanged up by the neck against a pillar , though others tell us , that he was crucified . We are further told , that at his execution the Earth began suddenly to quake , and the ground whereon the people stood , to sink under them , which when they apprehended and bewailed as an evident act of Divine vengeance pursuing them for their sins , it as suddenly stopt , and went no further . The Apostle being dead , his body was taken down by S. Bartholomew , his fellow-sufferer , though not finally executed , and Mariamne , S. Philip's Sister , who is said to have been the constant companion of his travels , and decently buried , after which having confirmed the people in the Faith of Christ , they departed from them . 6. THAT S. Philip was married , is generally affirmed by the Antients ; * Clemens of Alexandria reckons him one of the married Apostles , and that he had Daughters , whom he disposed in marriage : ‖ Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus tell us , that Philip , one of the Twelve Apostles , died at 〈◊〉 , with two of his Daughters , who persevered in their Virginity , and that he had a third which died at 〈◊〉 . The truth is , the not careful distinguishing between Philip the Deacon ( who lived at Caesarea , and of whose four Virgin-daughters we read in the History of the Apostles Acts ) and our Apostle , has bred some confusion among the Ancients in this matter . But the account concerning them is greatly different ; sor as they differed in their Persons and Offices , the one a Deacon , the other an Apostle , so also in the number of their Children , four Daughters being ascribed to the one , while three only are attributed to the other . He was one of the Apostles who left no Sacred writings behind him , the greater part of the Apostles ( as * Ensebius observes ) having little leisure to write Books , being imployed in ministeries more immediately useful and subservient to the happiness of mankind : Though ‖ Epiphanius tells us , that the Gnosticks were wont to produce a Gospel forged under S. Philip's name , which they abused to the patronage of their horrible principles , and more brutish practises . The End of S. Philip's Life . THE LIFE OF S. BARTHOLOMEW . S. BARTHOLOMEW He was flea'd aliue by the command of a Barbarous King. Place this to the Collect for St. Bartholomews day . St. Bartholomew's Martyrdom . Rom. 8. 36 , 37. For thy sake we are killed all the daylong , we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter : But in all these things we are more then . Conquerours . The silence concerning this Apostle in the History of the Gospel . That he is the same with Nathanael , proved by many probable arguments . His title of Bar-Tholmai , whence . The School of the Tholmaeans . An objection against his being Nathanael answered . His descent and way of life . His first coming to Christ , and converse with him . In what parts of the world he planted the Christian Faith. His preaching in India , and leaving S. Matthew's Gospel there . His return to Hierapolis , and deliverance there from Crucifixion . His removal to Albanopolis in Armenia , and suffering Martyrdom there for the Faith of Christ. His being first flead alive , and then crucified . The fabulous Gospel attributed to him . 1. THAT S. Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles , the Evangelical History is most express and clear , though it seems to take no further notice of him , than the bare mention of his name . Which doubtless gave the first occasion to many , both anciently and of later time , not without reason to suppose , that he lies concealed under some other name , and that this can be no other than Nathanael , one of the first Disciples that came to Christ. Accordingly we may observe , that as S. John never mentions Bartholomew in the number of the Apostles , so the other Evangelists never take notice of Nathanael , probably because the same person under two several names : And as in John , Philip and Nathanael are joyned together in their coming to Christ , so in the rest of the Evangelists Philip and Bartholomew are constantly put together without the least variation ; for no other reason , I conceive , than because as they were joyntly called to the Discipleship , so they are joyntly referred in the Apostolick Catalogue ; as afterwards we find them joynt-companions in the writings of the Church . But that which renders the thing most specious and probable is , that we find Nathanael particularly reckoned up with the other Apostles , to whom our Lord appeared at the Sea of Tiberias after his Resurrection , where there were together Simon Peter , and Thomas , and Nathanael of Gana in Galilee , and the two sons of Zebedee , and two other of his Disciples , who probably were Andrew and Philip. That by Disciples is here meant Apostles ; is evident , partly from the names of those that are reckoned up , partly because it is said , that this was the third time that Jesus appeared to his Disciples , it being plain that the two foregoing appearances were made to none but the Apostles . 2. HAD he been no more than an ordinary Disciple , I think no tolerable reason can be given , why in filling up the vacancy made by the death of Judas , he being so eminently qualified for the place , should not have been propounded as well as either Barsabas or Matthias , but that he was one of the Twelve already . Nor indeed is it reasonable to suppose , that Bartholomew should be his proper name , any more than Bar-Jona the proper name of Peter , importing no more than his relative capacity , either as a Son , or a Scholar . As a Son , it notes no more than his being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the son of Tholmai , a name not uncommon amongst the Jews , it being customary among them for the son thus to derive his name , so Bar-Jona , Bartimeus , the son of Timeus , &c. and to be usually called rather by this relative , than his own proper name , thus Joseph was called Barsabas , thus Barnabas constantly so stiled , though his right name was Joses . Or else it may relate to him as a Disciple of some particular Sect and Institution among the Jews , it being a custom for Scholars out of a great reverence for their Masters , or first Institutors of that way , to adopt their names , as Ben-Ezra , Benuziel , &c. And this will be much more evident , if the observation which * one makes be true ( which yet I will not contend for ) that as several Sects in the Jewish Church denominated themselves from some famous person of that Nation , the Essenes from Enosh , the Sadduces from Sadock , so there were others that called themselves Tholmaeans , from Thalmai , Scholar to Heber the ancient Master of the Hebrews , who was of the race or institution of the Enakim , who flourished in Debir and Hebron , with whom Abraham was confederate , that is , joyned himself to their society . And of this Order and Institution , he tells us , Nathanael seems to have been , hence called Bartholomew , the Son or Scholar of the Tholmaeans ; hence said to be an Israelite indeed , that is , one of the ancient race of the Schools and Societies of Israel . This , if so , would give us an account of his skill and ability in the Jewish Law , wherein he is generally supposed to have been a Doctor or Teacher . But which soever of these two accounts of his denomination shall find most favour with the Reader , either of them will serve my purpose , and reconcile the difference that seems to be between S. John and the other Evangelists about his name , the one stiling him by his proper name , the other by his relative and paternal title . To all this , if necessary , I might add the consent of Learned men , who have given in their suffrages in this matter , that it is but the same person under several * names . But hints of this may suffice . These arguments , I confess , are not so forcible and convictive as to command assent , but with all their circumstances considered , are suffioient to incline and sway any mans belief . The great and indeed only reason brought against it , is what * S. Augustine objected of old , that it is not probable that our Lord would chuse Nathanael , a Doctor of the Law , to be one of his Apostles , as designing to confound the wisdom of the World by the preaching of the Ideot and the unlearned . But this is no reason to him that considers , that this objection equally lies against S. Philip , for whose skill in the Law and Prophets there is as much evidence in the History of the Gospel , as for Nathanael's ; and much stronglier against S. Paul , than whom ( besides his abilities in all humane Learning ) there were few greater Masters in the Jewish Law. 3. THIS difficulty being cleared , we proceed to a more particular account of our Apostle . By some he is thought to have been a Syrian , of a noble extract , and to have derived his pedigree from the Ptolomies of Egypt , upon no other ground , I believe , than the more analogy and sound of the name . 'T is plain , that he , as the rest of the Apostles , was a Galilean , and of Nathanael we know it is particularly said , that he was of Gana in Galilee . The Scripture takes no notice of his Trade or way of life , though some circumstances might seem to intimate that he was a Fisherman , which Theoderet affirms of the Apostles in general , and another particularly reports of our Apostle . At his first coming to Christ ( supposing him still the same with Nathanael ) he was conducted by Philip , who told him that now they had found the long-look'd for Messiah , so oft foretold by Moses and the Prophets , Jesus of Nazareth , the son of Joseph : And when he objected that the Messiah could not be born at Nazareth , Philip bids him come and satisfie himself . At his first approach our Lord entertains him with this honourable character , that he was an Israelite indeed , a man of true simplicity and integrity ; as indeed his simplicity particularly appears in this , that when told of Jesus , he did not object against the meanness of his Original , the low condition of his Parents , the narrowness of their fortunes , but only against the place of his birth , which could not be Nazareth , the Prophets having peremptorily foretold , that the Messiah should be born at Bethlehem . By this therefore he appeared to be a true Israelite , one that waited for redemption in Israel , which from the date of the Scripture-predictions he was assured did now draw nigh . Surprized he was at our Lord's salutation , wondring how he should know him so well at first sight , whose face he had never seen before . But he was answered , that he had seen him while he was yet under the Fig-tree , before Philip called him . Convinc'd with this instance of our Lord's Divinity , he presently made this confession , That now he was sure , that Jesus was the promised Messiah , the Son of God , whom he had appointed to be the King and Governour of his Church . Our Saviour told him , that if upon this inducement he could believe him to be the Messiah , he should have far greater arguments to confirm his faith , yea , that ere long he should behold the Heavens opened to receive him thither , and the Angels visibly appearing to wait and attend upon him . 4. CONCERNING our Apostles travels up and down the World to propagate the Christian Faith , we shall present the Reader with a brief account , though we cannot warrant the exact order of them . That he went as far as India , is owned by all , which surely is meant of the hither India , or the part of it lying next to Asia ; * Socrates tells us , 't was the India bordering upon AEthiopia , meaning no doubt the Asian AEthiopia ( whereof we shall speak in the life of S. Thomas ) ‖ Sophronius calls it the Fortunate India , and tells us , that here he left behind him S. Matthew's Gospel , whereof * Ensebius gives a more particular relation : That when Pantaenus , a man famous for his skill in Philosophy , and especially the Institutions of the Stoicks , but much more for his hearty affection to Christianity , in a devout and zealous imitation of the Apostles , was inflamed with a desire to propagate the Christian Religion unto the Eastern Countries , he came as far as India it self . Here amongst some that yet retained the knowledge of Christ , he found S. Matthew's Gospel , written in Hebrew , left here ( as the tradition was ) by S. Bartholomew , one of the twelve Apostles , when he preached the Gospel to these Nations . 5. AFTER his labours in these parts of the World , he returned to the more Western and Northern parts of Asia . At Hieropolis in Phrygia we find him in company with S. Philip , instructing that place in the principles of Christianity , and convincing them of the folly of their blind Idolatries . Here by the enraged Magistrates he was at the same time with Philip designed for Martyrdom ; in order whereunto he was fastned upon the Cross , with an intent to dispatch him ; but upon a sudden conviction that the Divine Justice would revenge their death , he was taken down again and dismissed . Hence probably he went into Lycaonia , the people whereof * Chrysostom assures us , he instructed and trained up in the Christian discipline . His last remove was to Albanople in Armenia the ‖ Great ( the same no doubt which * Nicephorus calls Urbanople , a City of Cilicia ) a place miserably over-grown with Idolatry ; from which while he sought to reclaim the people , he was by the Governour of the place commanded to be crucified , which he chearfully underwent , comforting and confirming the Convert Gentiles to the last minute of his life . ‖ Some add , that he was crucified with his head downwards , others that he was flead , and his skin first taken off , which might consist well enough with his Crucifixion , excoriation being a punishment in use , not only in Egypt , but amongst the Persians , next neighbours to these Armenians ( as * Ammianus Marcellinus assures us , and ‖ Plutarch records a particular instance of Mesabates the Persian Eunuch first flead alive , and then crucified ) from whom they might easily borrow this piece of barbarous and inhumane cruelty . As for the several stages to which his Body removed after his death , first to Daras , a City in the borders of Persia , then to Liparis , one of the AEolian Islands , thence to Beneventum in Italy , and last of all to Rome , they that are fond of those things , and have better leisure , may enquire . Hereticks persecuted his memory after his death , no less than Heathens did his person while alive , by forging and fathering a fabulous Gospel upon his name , which , together with others of like stamp , * Gelasius Bishop of Rome justly branded as Apocryphal , altogether unworthy the name and patronage of an Apostle . The End of S. Bartholomew's Life . THE LIFE OF S. MATTHEW . S. MATHEW . S. Mathew the Apostle and Euangelist . preached the Gospel in AEthiopia and was there slayn with an Holbert Bed el Baron Sept. 21 St Mathew his Martyrdom . 1 Pet. 3. 14. If ye suffer for righteousnesse sake happy are ye , & be not afraid of their terrour , neither be ye troubled : His Birth-place and Kindred . His Trade , the Office of a Publican . The great dignity of this Office among the Romans . The honours done to Vespasian's Father for the faithful . discharge of it . This Office infamous among the Greeks , but especially the Jewes . What things concurr'd to render it odious and grievous to them . Their bitter abhorrency of this sort of men . S. Matthew's imployment wherein it particularly consisted . The Publican's Ticket what . S. Matthew's call , and his ready obedience . His inviting our Lord to Dinner . The Pharisees cavil , and our Saviour's answer . His Preaching in Judaea . His travails into Parthia , AEthiopia , &c. to propagate Christianity . The success of his Ministry . His Death . His singular contempt of the World. Gensured herein by Julian and Porphyry . His exemplary temperance and sobriety . His humility and modesty . Unreasonable to reproach Penitents with the vices of their former Life . His Gospel when and why written . Composed by him in Hebrew . The general consent of Antiquity herein . It s translation into Greek , when and by whom . The Hebrew Copy by whom owned and interpolated . Those now extant not the same with those mentioned in Antiquity . 1. SAINT Matthew , called also Levi , was , though a Roman Officer , an Hebrew of the Hebrews , ( both his Names speaking him purely of Jewish extract and Original ) and probably a Galilean , and whom I should have concluded born at , or near Capernaum , but that the Arabick * Writer of his life tells us , he was born at Nazareth , a City in the Tribe of Zebulun , famous for the habitation of Joseph and Mary , but especially the education and residence of our Blessed saviour , who though born at Bethlehem , was both conceiv'd and bred up here , where he lived the whole time of his private life , whence he derived the Title of Jesus of Nazareth . S. Matthew was the Son of Alpheus and Mary , Sister or Kinswoman to the Blessed Virgin ; in the same Arabick Author his Father is called 〈◊〉 , and his Mother Karutias , both originally descended of the Tribe of Issachar , nothing being more common among the Jews , than for the same Person to have several names , these latter probably express'd in Arabick according to their Jewtsh signification . His Trade or way of life was that of a Publican or Toll-gatherer to the 〈◊〉 ( which probably had been his Father's Trade , his Name denoting a Broker or Mony-changer ) an Office of bad report amongst the Jews . Indeed among the Romans it was accounted a place of power and credit , and honourable reputation , not ordinarily conferred upon any but Roman Knights ; insomuch that T. Fl. Sabinus , Father to the Emperor Vespasian , was the Publican of the Asian Provinces , an Office which he discharged so much to the content and satisfaction of the People , that they erected Statues to him with this Inscription , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * , To him that has well managed the Publican-Office . These Officers being sent into the Provinces to gather the Tributes , were wont to imploy the Natives under them , as Persons best skilled in the affairs and customes of their own Country . Two things especially concurred to render this Office odious to the Jews . First , that the Persons that managed it were usually covetous , and great Exactors ; for having themselves farmed the Customes of the Romans , they must gripe and scrape by all methods of Extortion , that they might be able both to pay their Rent , and to raise gain and advantage to themselves : which doubtless 〈◊〉 , the Chief of these Farmers , was sensible of , when after his Conversion , he offered four-fold restitution to any Man , from whom he had taken any thing by fraud and evil arts . And upon this account they became insamous , even among the Gentiles themselves , who commonly speak of them as Cheats , and Thieves , and publick Robbers , and worse members of a community , more voracious and destructive in a City , than wild Beasts in the Forest. The other thing that made the Jews so much detest them was , that this Tribute was not only a grievance to their Purses , but an affront to the liberty and freedom of their Nation ; for they looked upon themselves as a Free-born People , and that they had been immediately invested in this priviledge by God himself , and accordingly beheld this as a daily and standing instance of their slavery , which of all other things they could least endure , and which therefore betrayed them into so many unfortunate Rebellions against the Romans . Add to this , that these Publicans were not only obliged by the necessity of their Trade to have frequent dealing and converse with the Gentiles ( which the Jews held unlawful and abominable ) but that being Jews themselves they rigorously exacted these things of their Brethren , and thereby seemed to conspire with the Romans to entail perpetual slavery upon their own Nation . For though * Tertullian thought that none but Gentiles were imployed in this sordid office , yet the contrary is too evident to need any argument to prove it . 2. BY these means Publicans became so universally abhorred by the Jewish Nation , that it was accounted unlawful to do them any office of common kindness and courtesie , nay they held it no sin to couzen and over-reach a Publican , and that with the solemnity of an Oath ; they might not eat or drink , walk or travel with them ; they were looked upon as common Thieves and Robbers and Money received of them might not be put to the rest of a Man's Estate , it being presumed to have been gained by rapine and violence ; they were not admitted as Persons fit to give testimony and evidence in any cause : so infamous were they , as not only to be banished all communion in the matters of Divine Worship , but to be shunned in all affairs of civil society and commerce , as the Pests of their Country , Persons of an infectious converse , of as vile a Classe as Heathens themselves . Hence the common Proverb among them , Take not a Wife out of that Family , wherein there is a Publican , for they are all Publicans , that is , Thieves , Robbers , and wicked sinners . To this Proverbial usage our Lord alludes , when speaking of a contumacious sinner , whom neither private reproofs , nor the publick censures and admonitions of the Church can prevail upon , Let him be unto 〈◊〉 ( says he ) as an Heathen and a Publican ; as elsewhere Publicans and sinners are yoked together , as Persons of equal esteem and reputation . Of this Trade and Office was our S. Matthew , and it seems more particularly to have consisted in gathering the Customs of Commodities that came by the Sea of Galilee , and the Tribute which Passengers were to pay that went by Water ; a thing frequently mentioned in the Jewish writings , where we are also told of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ticket , consisting of two greater Letters written in Paper , or some such matter , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ticket or signature of the Publicans , which the Passenger had with him to certifie them on the other side the Water , that he had already paid the Toll or Custom : upon which account the Hebrew Gospel of S. Matthew published by Munster , renders Publican by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord of the Passage . For this purpose they kept their Office or Custom-house by the Sea-side , that they might be always near at hand ; and here it was ( as S. Mark intimates ) that Matthew had his Toll-booth , where He sate at the Receipt of Custome . 3. OUR Lord having lately cured a famous Paralytick , retired out of Capernaum to walk by the Sea-side , where he taught the People that flocked after him . Here he espied Matthew sitting in his Custom-office , whom he called to come and follow Him. The Man was rich , had a wealthy and a gainful Trade , a wise and prudent Person ( no fools being put into that Office ) and understood no doubt what it would cost him to comply with this new imployment , that he must exchange Wealth for Poverty , a Custom-house for a Prison , gainful Masters for a naked and despised Saviour . But he overlooked all these considerations , left all his Interests and Relations , to become our Lord's Disciple , and to embrace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as * Chrysostom observes ) a more spiritual way of commerce and traffique . We cannot suppose that he was before wholly unacquainted with our Saviour's Person or Doctrine , especially living at Capernaum , the place of Christ's usual residence , where his Sermons and Miracles were so frequent , by which he could not but in some measure be prepared to receive the impressions , which our Saviour's call now made upon him . And to shew that he was not discontented at his change , nor apprehended himself a loser by this bargain , he entertained our Lord and his Disciples at a great Dinner in his House , whither he invited his Friends , especially those of his own Profession , piously hoping that they also might be caught by our Saviour's converse and company . The Pharisees , whose Eye was constantly evil , where another Man 's was good , and who would 〈◊〉 find or make occasions to snarle at him , began to suggest to his Disciples , that it was unbecoming so pure and holy a Person as their Master pretended himself to be , thus familiarly to converse with the worst of men , Publicans and sinners , Persons infamous to a Proverb . But he presently replied upon them , that they were the sick that needed the Physician , not the sound and healthy , that his company was most suitable , where the necessities of Souls did most require it , that God himself preferred acts of Mercy and Charity , especially in reclaiming sinners , and doing good to Souls , infinitely before all ritual observances , and the nice rules of Persons conversing with one another , and that the main design of his coming into the World was not to bring the righteous , or those who like themselves proudly conceited themselves to be so , and in a vain Opinion of their own strictness loftily scorned all Mankind besides , but sinners , modest , humble , self-convinced offenders , to repentance , and to reduce them to a better state and course of life . 4. AFTER his election to the Apostolate , he continued with the rest till our Lord's Ascension , and then for the first eight Years at least Preached up and down 〈◊〉 . After which being to betake himself to the Conversion of the Gentile-world , he was intreated by the Convert Jewes to commit to Writing the History of our Saviour's Life and Actions , and to leave it among them as the standing Record of what he had Preached to them ; which he did accordingly , and so composed his Gospel , whereof more in due place . Little certainty can be had what Travails he underwent for the advancement of the Christian Faith , so irrecoverably is truth lost in a crowd of Legendary stories . * AEthiopia is generally assigned as the Province of his Apostolical Ministry : ‖ Metaphrastes tells us , that he 〈◊〉 first into Parthia , and having successfully planted Christianity in those Parts , thence travailed into AEthiopia , that is , the Asiatick AEthiopia , lying near to India : here by Preaching and Miracles he mightily triumphed over error and Idolatry , convinced and converted Multitudes , ordained spiritual Guides and Pastors to confirm and build them up , and bring over others to the Faith , and then finished his own course . As for what is related by * Nicephorus of his going into the Country of the Cannibals , constituting Plato , one of his followers , Bishop of Myrmena , of Christ's appearing to him in the form of a beautiful Youth , and giving him a Wand , which he pitching into the ground , immediately it grew up into a Tree , of his strange converting the Prince of that Country , of his numerous Miracles , peaceable Death , and sumptuous Funerals , with abundance more of the same stamp and coin , they are justly to be reckoned amongst those fabulous reports , that have no Pillar nor ground either of truth or probability to support them . Most probable it is ( what an Ancient * Writer affirms ) that he suffered Martyrdom at Naddaber a City in AEthiopia , but by what kind of Death , is altogether uncertain . Whether this Naddaber be the same with Beschberi , where the Arabick * Writer of his Life affirms him to have suffered Martyrdom , let others enquire : he also adds , that he was buried Arthaganetu 〈◊〉 , but where that is , is to me unknown . ‖ Dorotheus makes him honourably buried at Hierapolis in Parthia , one of the first places to which he Preached the Gospel . 5. HE was a great instance of the power of Religion , how much a Man may be brought off to a better temper . If we reflect upon his circumstances while yet a stranger to Christ , we shall find that the World had very great advantages upon him . He was become Master of a plentiful Estate , engaged in a rich and a gainful Trade , supported by the power and favour of the Romans , prompted by covetous inclinations , and these confirmed by long habits and customs . And yet notwithstanding all this , no sooner did Christ call , but without the least scruple or dissatisfaction , he flung up all at once , and not only renounced ( as S. Basil * observes ) his gainful incomes , but ran an immediate hazard of the displeasure of his Masters that imployed him , for quitting their service , and leaving his accounts intangled and confused behind him . Had our Saviour been a mighty Prince , it had been no wonder , that he should run over to his service : but when he appeared under all the circumstances of meanness and disgrace , when he seemed to promise his followers nothing but misery and suffering in this life , and to propound no other rewards but the invisible encouragements of another World , his change in this case was the more strange and admirable . Indeed so admirable , that Porphyry and ‖ Julian ( two subtle and acute adversaries of the Christian Religion ) hence took occasion to charge him either with falshood , or with folly ; either that he gave not a true account of the thing ; or , that it was very weakly done of him , so hastily to follow any one that call'd him . But the Holy Jesus was no common Person , in all his commands there was somewhat more than ordinary . Indeed S. Hierom conceives that besides the Divinity that manifested it self in his Miracles , there was a Divine brightness and a kind of Majesty in our Saviour's looks , that at first sight was attractive enough to draw Persons after him . However his miraculous powers , that reflected a lustre from every quarter , and the efficacy of his Doctrine accompanied with the grace of God , made way for the summons that were sent our Apostle , and enabled him to conquer all oppositions that stood in the way to hinder him . 6. HIS contempt of the World further appeared in his exemplary temperance and abstemiousness from all the delights and pleasures , yea the ordinary conveniences and accommodations of it ; so far from indulging his appetite with nice and delicate curiosities , that he refused to gratifie it with lawful and ordinary provisions , eating no flesh , his usual Diet being nothing but Herbs , Roots , Seeds and * Berries . But what appeared most remarkable in him , and which though the least vertue in it self , is the greatest in a wise Man's esteem and value , was his humility , mean and modest in his own conceit , in honour preferring others before himself . Whereas the other Evangelists in describing the Apostles by pairs , constantly place him before Thomas , he modestly places him before himself . The rest of the Evangelists openly mention the honour of his Apostleship , but speak of his former sordid , dishonest , and disgraceful course of life , only under the name of Levi , while he himself sets it down , with all its circumstances , under his own proper and common name . Which as at once it commends his own candor and ingenuity , so it administers to us this not unuseful consideration , That the greatest sinners are not excluded the lines of Divine grace ; nor can any , if penitent , have just reason to despair , when Publicans and sinners are taken in . And as S. Matthew himself does freely and impartially record his own vile and dishonourable course of life , so the two other Evangelists though setting down the story , take notice of him only under another name ; to teach us to treat a penitent Brother with all modesty and tenderness . If a man repent ( say the Jews ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man say to him , remember thy former works ; which they explain not only concerning Israelites , but even strangers and Proselytes . It being against the rules of civility , as well as the Laws of Religion , when a Man hath repented , to upbraid and reproach him with the errors and follies ‖ of his past life . 7. THE last thing that calls for any remarks in the life of this Apostle is his Gospel , written at the intreaty of the Jewish Converts , and as Epiphanius tells * us , at the command of the Apostles , while he was yet in Palestine , about Eight Years after the death of Christ : though ‖ Nicephorus will have it to be written Fifteen Years after our Lord's Ascension , and * 〈◊〉 yet much wider , who seems to imply that it was written , while Peter and Paul Preached at Rome , which was not till near Thirty Years after . But most plain it is , that it must be written before the dispersion of the Apostles , seeing S. Bartholomew ( as we have noted in his Life ) took it along with him into India , and left it there . He wrote it in Hebrew , as primarily designing it for the use of his Country-men , and strange it is , that any should question its being originally written in that Language , when the thing is so universally and uncontroulably asserted by all Antiquity , not one that I know of , after the strictest enquiry I could make , dissenting in this matter , and who certainly had far greater opportunities of being satisfied in these things , than we can have at so great a distance . It was no doubt soon after translated into Greek , though by whom S. Hierom professes he could not tell ; * Theophylact says it was reported to have been done by S. John , but ‖ Athanasius more expresly attributes the Translation to S. James the less . The best is , it matters not much whether it was translated by an Apostle , or some Disciple , so long as the Apostles approved the Version , and that the Church has ever received the Greek Copy for 〈◊〉 , and reposed it in the Sacred Canon . 8. AFTER the Greek Translation was entertained , the Hebrew Copy was chiefly owned and used by the * 〈◊〉 , a middle Sect of Men between Jews and Christians ; with the Christians they believed in Christ , and embraced his Religion , with the Jews they adhered to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Mosaick Law , and hence this Gospel came to be stiled the Gospel according to the Hebrews , and the Gospel of the Nazarens . By them it was by degrees interpolated , several Passages of the Evangelical History , which they had heard either from the Apostles , or those who had familiarly conversed with them , being inserted , which the ancient Fathers frequently refer to in their Writings ; as by the ‖ Ebionites it was mutilated , and many things cut off , for the same reason for which the followers of Cerinthus , though making use of the greatest part of it , rejected the rest , because it made so much against them . This Hebrew Copy ( though whether exactly the same as it was written by S. Matthew , I will not say ) was found among other Books in the Treasury of the Jews at * Tiberias , by Joseph a Jew , and after his Conversion a Man of great honour and esteem in the time of Constantine ; another ‖ S. Hierom assures us was kept in the Library at Caesarea in his time , and another by the Nazarens at Beroea , from whom he had the liberty to transcribe it , and which he afterwards translated both into Greek and Latin , with this particular observation , that in quoting the Texts of the Old Testament , the Evangelist immediately follows the Hebrew , without taking notice of the Translation of the Septuagint . A Copy also of this Gospel was Ann. CCCCLXXXV . dug up and found in the Grave of Barnabas in Cyprus , transcribed with his own * hand . But these Copies are long since perished , and for those that have been since published to the World , both by Tile and Munster , were there no other argument , they too openly betray themselves by their barbarous and improper stile , not to be the genuine issue of that less corrupt and better Age. The End of S. Matthew's Life . THE LIFE OF S. THOMAS . St. Thomas . By the command of an Indian King he was thrust through with lances . Baron . Martyrolog . Dec. 21 St. Thomas his Martyrdom Joh. 11. 16. Thomas which is called Didunus said unto his fellow-desciples , Let us also goe , that we may die with him . The custom of the Jews to have both an Hebrew and a Roman name . S. Thomas his name the same in Syriack and Greek . His Country and Trade . His call to the Apostleship . His great affection to our Saviour . Christ's discourse with him concerning the way to Eternal life . His obstinate refusal to believe our Lord's Resurrection , and the unreasonableness of his Infidelity . Our Lord's convincing him by sensible demonstrations . S. Thomas his deputing Thaddaeus to Abgarus of Edessa . His Travels into Parthia , Media , Persia , &c. AEthiopia , what , and where situate . His coming into India , and the success of his Preaching there . An account of his Acts in India from the relation of the Portugals at their first coming thither . His converting the King of Malipur . The manner of his Martyrdom by the Brachmans . The Miracles said to be done at his Tomb. His Bones dug up by the Portugals . A Cross , and several Brass Tables with Inscriptions found there . An account of the Indian or S. Thomas Christians , their Number , State , Rites , and way of life . 1. IT was customary with the Jews , when travelling into foreign Countries , or familiarly conversing with the Greeks and Romans , to assume to themselves a Greek or a Latin name , of great affinity ; and sometimes of the very same signification with that of their own Country . Thus our Lord was called Christ , answering to his Hebrew title Mashiach , or the 〈◊〉 ; Simon stiled Peter according to that of Cephas , which our Lord put upon him : Tabitha called 〈◊〉 both signifying a Goat : Thus our S. Thomas according to the Syriack importance of his name , had the title of Didymus , which signifies a Twin . Thomas which is called Didymus . Accordingly the Syriack Version renders it , 〈◊〉 , which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thama , that is , a Twin : The not understanding whereof imposed upon Nonnus the Greek Paraphrast , who makes him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to have had two distinct names , — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being but the same name expressed in different Languages . The History of the Gospel takes no particular notice either of the Country or Kindred of this Apostle . That he was a Jew is certain , and in all probability a Galilean : He was born ( if we may believe * Symeon Metaphrastes ) of very mean Parents , who brought him up to the trade of Fishing , but withall took care to give him a more useful education , instructing him in the knowledge of the Scriptures , whereby he learnt wisely to govern his life and manners . He was together with the rest called to the Apostleship , and not long after gave an eminent instance of his hearty willingness to undergo the saddest fate that might attend them . For when the rest of the Apostles disswaded our Saviour from going into Judaea ( whither he was now resolved for the raising his dear Lazarus lately dead ) left the Jews should stone him , as but a little before they had attempted it , S. Thomas desires them not to hinder Christ's journey thither , though it might cost their lives , Let us also go that we may die with him , probably concluding , that instead of raising Lazarus from the dead , they themselves should be sent with him to their own Graves . So that he made up in pious affections , what he seemed to want in the quickness and acumen of his understanding , not readily apprehending some of our Lord's discourses , nor over-forward to believe more than himself had seen . When the holy Jesus a little before his fatal sufferings had been speaking to them of the joys of Heaven , and had told them that he was going to prepare , that they might follow him , that they knew both the place whither he was going , and the way thither : Our Apostle replied , that they knew not whither he went , and much less the way that led to it . To which our Lord returns this short but satisfactory answer , That he was the true living way , the person whom the Father had sent into the World to shew men the paths of Eternal life , and that they could not miss of Heaven , if they did but keep to that way , which he had prescribed and chalked out before them . 2. OUR Lord being dead , 't is evident how much the Apostles were distracted between hopes and fears concerning his Resurrection , not yet fully satisfied about it : Which engaged him the sooner to hasten his appearance , that by the sensible manifestations of himself he might put the case beyond all possibilities of dispute . The very day whereon he arose he came into the house where they were , while for fear of the Jews the doors were yet fast shut about them , and gave them sufficient assurance that he was really risen from the dead . At this meeting S. Thomas was absent , having probably never recovered their company , since their last dispersion in the Garden , when every ones fears prompted him to consult his own safety . At his return they told him that their Lord had appeared to them ; but he obstinately refused to give credit to what they said , or to believe that it was he , presuming it rather a phantasm or mere apparition , unless he might see the very prints of the Nails , and feel the wounds in his hands and sides . A strange piece of infidelity ! Was this any more than what Moses and the Prophets had long since foretold ? had not our Lord frequently told them in plain terms that he must rise again the third day ? could he question the possibility of it , who had so often seen him do the greatest miracles ? was it reasonable to reject the testimony of so many eye-witnesses , ten to one against himself , and of whose fidelity he was assured ? or could he think that either themselves should be deceived , or that they would jest and trifle with him in so solemn and serious a matter ? A stubbornness that might have betrayed him into an eternal infidelity . But our compassionate Saviour would not take the advantage of the mans refractory unbelief , but on that day seven-night again came to them , as they were solemnly met at their devotions , and calling to Thomas , bad him look upon his hands , put his fingers into the prints of the Nails , and thrust his hand into the hole of his side , and satisfie his faith by a demonstration from sense . The man was quickly convinced of his error and obstinacy , confessing that he now acknowledged him to be his very Lord and Master , a God omnipotent , that was thus able to rescue himself from the powers of death . Our Lord replied no more , than that it was well he believed his own senses , but that it was a more noble and commendable act of Faith to acquiesce in a rational evidence , and to entertain the doctrines and relations of the Gospel upon such testimonies and assurances of the truth of things , as will satisfie a wise and sober man , though he did not see them with his own eyes . 3. THE Blessed Jesus being gone to Heaven , and having eminently given gifts and miraculous powers to the Apostles , S. Thomas moved thereto by some Divine intimation , is * said to have dispatched 〈◊〉 , one of the Seventy Disciples to Abgarus Toparch of Edessa , ( between whom and our Saviour the letters commonly said to have passed are still extant in 〈◊〉 ) whom he first cured of an inveterate distemper , and after converted him and his subjects to the Faith. The Apostolical Province assigned to S. Thomas ( as * Origen tells us ) was Parthia , after which ‖ Sophronius and others inform us , that he preached the Gospel to the Medes , Persians , Carmans , Hyrcani , Bactrians , and the neighbour Nations . In Persia , one of the * Ancients ( upon what ground I know not ) acquaints us , that he met with the Magi or Wise men , who came that long journey from the East to bring presents to our new-born Saviour , whom he baptized , and took along with him as his companions and assistents in the propagation of the Gospel . Hence he preached in and passed through * AEthiopia , that is , ( that we may a little clear this by the way ) the Asian AEthiopia , conterminous to , if not the same with Chaldaea , whence ‖ Tacitus does not only make the Jews descendents from the AEthiopians , as whose Ancestors came from Ur of the Chaldeans ; but * Hesychius makes the inhabitants of Zagrus , a mountain beyond Tygris , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a people of the AEthiopians ; this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Benjamin the Jew in his ‖ 〈◊〉 , the land of 〈◊〉 or AEthiopia , the inhabitants whereof are stiled by * Herodotus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the oriental AEthiopians , by way of distinction from those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , who lived South of AEgypt , and were under the same military Prefecture with the Arabians , under the command of Arsames , as the other were joyned with the Indians , and in the same place are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Asian AEthiopians . Having travelled through these Countries , he at last came to India . We are told by ‖ Nicephorus , that he was at first unwilling to venture himself into those Countries , fearing he should find their manners as rude and intractable as their faces were black and deformed , till encouraged by a Vision , that assured him of the Divine Presence to assist him . He travelled a great way into those Eastern Nations , as far as the Island Taprobane , since called Sumatra , and the Country of the Brachmans , preaching every where with all the arts of gentleness and mild * perswasives , not flying out into tart invectives , and surious heats against their idolatrous practises , but calmly instructing them in the principles of Christianity , by degrees perswading them to renounce their follies , knowing that confirmed habits must be cured by patience and long forbearing , by slow and gentle methods ; and by these means he wrought upon the people , and brought them over from the grossest errors and superstition to the hearty belief and entertainment of Religion . 4. IN want of better evidence from Antiquity , it may not be amiss to enquire , what account the Portugals in their first discoveries of these Countries , received of these matters , partly from ancient Monuments and Writings , partly from constant and uncontrolled Traditions , which the Christians whom they found in those parts , preserved amongst them . They tell * us , that S. Thomas came first to Socotora , an Island in the Arabian Sea , thence to Cranganor , where having converted many , he travelled further into the East , and having successfully preached the Gospel , returned back into the Kingdom of Cormandel , where at Malipur , the Metropolis of the Kingdom , not far from the influx of Ganges into the Gulph of Bengala , he began to erect a place for Divine worship , till prohibited by the Priests , and Sagamo , Prince of that Country . But upon the conviction of several 〈◊〉 the work went on , and the Sagamo himself embraced the Christian Faith , whose example was soon followed by great numbers of his friends and subjects . The Brachmans , who plainly perceived that this would certainly spoil their Trade , and in time extirpate the Religion of their Country , thought it high time to put a stop to this growing Novelism , and resolved in Council , that some way or other the Apostle must be put to death . There was a Tomb not far from the City , whither the Apostle was wont to retire to his solitudes and private devotions ; hither the Brachmans and their armed followers pursue the Apostle , and while he was intent at prayer , they first load him with darts and stones , till one of them coming nearer , ran him through with a Lance. His Body was taken up by his Disciples , and buried in the Church which he had lately built , and which was afterwards improved into a 〈◊〉 of great stateliness and magnificence . Gregory of * Tours relates many miracles done upon the annual solemnities of his Martyrdom , and one standing miracle , an account whereof , he tells us , he received from one Theodorus , who had himself been in that place , viz. that in the Temple where the Apostle was buried there hung a Lamp before his Tomb , which burnt perpetually , without Oil or any Fewel to feed and nourish it , the light whereof was never diminished , nor by wind or any other accident could be extinguished . But whether Travellers might not herein be imposed upon by the crafty 〈◊〉 of the Priests , or those who did attend the Church ; or if true , whether it might not be performed by art , I leave to others to enquire . Some will have his Body to have been afterwards translated to Edessa , a City in Mesopotamia , but the Christians in the East constantly affirm it to have remained in the place of his Martyrdom , where ( if we may believe ‖ relations ) it was after dug up with great cost and care at the command of Don Emmanuel Frea , Governour of the Coast of Cormandel , and together with it was found the Bones of the Sagamo , whom he had converted to the Faith. 5. WHILE Don Alsonso 〈◊〉 , one of the first Vice-Roys in India under John the Third , King of Portugal , resided in these parts , certain Brass Tables were brought to him , whose ancient Inscriptions could scarce be read , till at last by the help of a Jew , an excellent Antiquary , they were found to contain nothing but a donation made to S. Thomas , whereby the King , who then reign'd , granted to him a piece of ground for the building of a Church . They tell us also of a famous Cross found in S. Thomas his Chappel at Malipur , wherein was an unintelligible Inscription , which by a Learned Bramin ( whom they compelled to read and expound it ) gave an account to this effect , That Thomas a Divine person was sent into those Countries by the Son of God in the time of King Sagamo , to instruct them in the knowledge of the true God , that he built a Church , and performed admirable miracles , but at last while upon his knees at prayer was by a Brachman thrust through with a Spear ; and that that Cross stained with his bloud had been left as a memorial of these matters . An interpretation that was afterwards confirmed by another grave and learned Bramin , who expounded the Inscription to the very same effect . The judicious Reader will measure his belief of these things by the credit of the Reporters , and the rational probability of the things themselves , which for my part as I cannot certainly affirm to be true , so I will not utterly conclude them to be false . 6. FROM these first plantations of Christianity in the Eastern India's by our Apostle , there is said to have been a continued series and succession of Christians ( hence called S. Thomas-Christians ) in those parts unto this day . The Portugals at their first arrival here found them in great numbers in several places , no less , as some tell us , than fifteen or sixteen thousand Families . They are very poor , and their Churches generally mean and sordid , wherein they had no Images of Saints , nor any representations but that of the Cross ; they are governed in Spirituals by an High-Priest ( whom some make an Armenian Patriarch , of the Sect of Nestorius , but in truth is no other than the Patriarch of Muzal , the remainder , as is probable , of the ancient 〈◊〉 , and by some , though erroneously , stiled Babylon ) residing Northward in the Mountains , who , together with twelve Cardinals , two Patriarchs , and several Bishops , disposes of all affairs referring to Religion ; and to him all the Christians of the East yield subjection . They promiscuously admit all to the Holy Communion , which they receive under both kinds of Bread and Wine , though instead of Wine , which their Country affords not , making use of the juice of Raisons , steep'd one night in water , and then pressed forth . Children , unless in case of sickness , are not baptized till the fortieth day . At the death of Friends , their kindred and relations keep an eight days feast in memory of the departed . Every Lord's-day they have their publick Assemblies for prayer and preaching , their devotions being managed with great reverence and solemnity . Their Bible , at least the New Testament , is in the Syriack Language , to the study whereof the Preachers earnestly exhort the people . They observe the times of Advent and Lent , the Festivals of our Lord , and many of the Saints , those especially that relate to S. Thomas , the Dominica in Albis , or Sunday after Easter , in memory of the famous confession which S. Thomas on that day made of Christ , after he had been sensibly cured of his unbelief ; another on the first of July , celebrated not only by Christians , but by Moors and Pagans , the people who come to his Sepulchre on Pilgrimage carrying away a little of the red Earth of the place where he was interred , which they keep as an inestimable treasure , and 〈◊〉 it sovereign against diseases . They have a kind of Monasteries of the Religious , who live in great abstinence and chastity . Their Priests are shaven in fashion of a Cross , have leave to marry once , but denied a second time : No marriages to be dissolved but by death . These rites and customs they solemnly pretend to have derived from the very time of S. Thomas , and with the greatest care and diligence do observe them at this day . The End of S. Thomas's Life . THE LIFE OF S. JAMES the Less . S. IAMES . Minor. This Apostle being a Kinsman of our Lord and having Sale first Bishop of Hierusalem was cast down from the top of the Temple and after killed with a Fu●●ers club Baron . ●●● 1 o The Martyrdom of St. James y e lesse . Mauh . 23. 37. O Jerusalem , Jerusalem , thou that killest the prophets & stonest them which are sent unto thee . S. James the Less proved to be the same with him that was Bishop of Jerusalem . His Kindred and Relations . The Son of Joseph by a former Wife . The Brethren of our Lord , who . His Country what . Our Lord's appearance to him after his Resurrection . Invested in the See of Jerusalem by whom and why . His authority in the Synod at Jerusalem . His great diligence and fidelity in his Ministry . The conspiracy of his Enemies to take away his Life . His Discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees about the Messiah . His Martyrdom , and the manner of it . His Burial where . His Death resented by the Jews . His strictness in Religion . His Priesthood whence . His singular delight in Prayer , and efficacy in it . His great love and charity to Men. His admirable Humility . His Temperance according to the rules of the Nazarite - Order . The Love and respect of the People towards him . His Death an inlet to the destruction of the Jewish Nation . His Epistle when written . What the design and purpose of it . The Proto-evangelium ascribed to him . 1. BEFORE we can enter upon the Life of this Apostle , some difficulty must be cleared , relating to his Person . Doubted it has been by some , whether this was the same with that S. James that was Bishop of Jerusalem , three of this Name being presented to us , S. James the Great , this S. James the Less ( both Apostles ) and a third sirnamed the Just , distinct ( say they ) from the former and Bishop of Jerusalem . But this ( however pretending to some little countenance from antiquity ) is a very great mistake , and built upon a sandy bottom . For besides that the Scripture mentions no more than two of this Name , and both Apostles , nothing can be plainer , than that that S. James the Apostle , whom S. Paul calls our Lord's Brother , and reckons with Peter and John one of the Pillars of the Church , was the same that presided among the Apostles ( no doubt by vertue of his place , it being his Episcopal Chair ) and determined in the Synod at Jerusalem . Nor do either Clemens * Alexandrinus or 〈◊〉 out of him mention any more than two , S. James put to death by Herod , and S. James the Just , Bishop of Jerusalem , whom they expresly affirm to be the same with him whom S. Paul calls the Brother of our Lord. Once indeed ‖ 〈◊〉 makes our S. James one of the Seventy , though * elsewere quoting a place of Clemens of Alexandria , he numbers him with the Chief of the Apostles , and expresly distinguishes him from the Seventy Disciples . Nay S. * Hierom , though when representing the Opinion of others he stiles him the Thirteenth Apostle , yet ‖ elsewhere when speaking his own sence , sufficiently proves that there were but two , James the Son of 〈◊〉 , and the other the Son of Alphaeus , the one sirnamed the Greater , the other the Less . Besides that the main support of the other Opinion is built upon the authority of Clemens his Recognitions , a Book in doubtful cases of no esteem and value . 2. This doubt being removed , we proceed to the History of his Life . He was the Son ( as we may probably conjecture ) of Joseph ( afterwards Husband to the Blessed Virgin ) and his first Wife , whom S. * Hierom from Tradition stiles Escha , Hippolytus Bishop of Porto calls Salome ; and further adds , ‖ that she was the Daughter of Aggi , Brother to Zacharias , Father to John the Baptist. Hence reputed our Lord's Brother , in the same sence that he was reputed the Son of Joseph . Indeed we find several spoken of in the History of the Gospel , who were Christ's Brethren ; but in what sence , was controverted of old . S. Hierom , Chrysostom , and some others will have them so called , because the Sons of Mary , Cousin-german , or according to the custome of the Hebrew Language , Sister to the Virgin Mary . But * Eusebius , ‖ Epiphanius , and the far greater part of the Ancients ( from whom especially in matters of fact , we are not rashly to depart ) make them the Children of Joseph , by a former Wife . And this seems most genuine and natural , the Evangelists seeming very express and accurate in the account which they give of them : Is not this the Carpenter's Son ? Is not his Mother called Mary ? and his Brethren James , and Joses , and Simon , and Jude ? and his Sisters ( whose Names , says the foresaid Hippolytus , were Esther and Thamar ) are they not all with us , whence then hath this man these things ? By which it is plain , that the Jews understood these Persons not to be Christ's Kinsmen only , but his Brothers , the same Carpenter's Sons , having the same relation to him that Christ himself had : though indeed they had more , Christ being but his reputed , they his natural Sons . Upon this account the Blessed Virgin is sometimes called the Mother of James and Joses ; for so amongst the Women that attended at our Lord's Crucifixion , we find three eminently taken notice of , Mary Magdalen , Mary the Mother of James and Joses , and the Mother of Zebedees Children . Where by Mary the Mother of James and Joses , no other can be meant than the Virgin Mary : it not being reasonable to suppose that the Evangelists should omit the Blessed Virgin , who was certainly there ; and therefore S. John reckoning up the same Persons , expresly stiles her the Mother of Jesus . And though it is true she was but S. James his Mother-in-law , yet the Evangelists might chuse so to stile her , because commonly so called after Joseph's death ; and probably ( as Gregory of Nyssa thinks ) known by that Name all along , chusing that Title , that the Son of God , whom as a Virgin she had brought forth , might be better concealed , and less exposed to the malice of the envious Jews : nor is it any more wonder , that she should be esteemed and called the Mother of James , than that Joseph should be stiled and accounted the Father of Jesus . To which add , that ‖ Josephus eminently skilful in matters of Genealogy and descent , expresly says that our S. James was the Brother of Jesus Christ. One thing there is that may seem to lye against it , that he is called the Son of Alphaeus : But this may probably mean no more , than either that Joseph was so called by another Name ( it being frequent , yea almost constant among the Jews for the same Person to have two Names ) Quis unquam prohibuerit duobus vel tribus nominibus , hominem 〈◊〉 vocari ? as S. * Augustin speaks in a parallel case ; or ( as a learned ‖ Man conjectures ) it may relate to his being a Disciple of some particular Sect or Synagogue among the Jews , called Alphaeans , from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denoting a Family or Society of devout and learned Men of somewhat more eminency than the rest , there being , as he tells us , many such at this time among the Jews ; and in this probably S. James had entred himself , the great reputation of his Piety and strictness ; his Wisdom , Parts , and Learning rendring the conjecture above the censure of being trifling and contemptible . 3. OF the place of his Birth the Sacred story makes no mention . The Jewes in their * Talmud ( for doubtless they intend the same Person ) stile him more than once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of the Town of Sechania ; though where that was , I am not able to conjecture . What was his particular way and course of life before his being called to the Discipleship and Apostolate , we find no intimations of in the History of the Gospel , nor any distinct account concerning him during our Saviour's life . After the Resurrection he was honoured with a particular Appearance of our Lord to him , which though silently passed over by the Evangelists , is recorded by S. Paul , next to the manifesting himself to the Five Hundred Brethren at once , he was seen of James , which is by all understood of our Apostle . S. ‖ Hierom out of the Hebrew Gospel of the Nazarens ( wherein many passages are set down , omitted by the Evangelical Historians ) gives us a fuller relation of it , viz. that S. James had solemnly sworn that from the time that he had drank of the Cup at the Institution of the Supper , he would eat Bread no more , till he saw the Lord risen from the dead . Our Lord therefore being returned from the Grave , came and appeared to him , commanded Bread to be set before him , which he took , blessed , and brake , and gave to S. James , saying , Eat thy Bread , my Brother , for the Son of Man is truly risen from among them that sleep . After Christ's Ascension ( though I will not venture to determine the precise time ) he was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem , preferred before all the rest , for his near relation unto Christ , for this we find to have been the reason why they chose * Symeon to be his immediate Successor in that See , because he was after him our Lord's next Kinsman . A consideration that made Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee , though they had been peculiarly honoured by our Saviour , not to contend for this high and honourable ‖ Place , but freely chuse James the Just to be Bishop of it . This dignity is by some of the * Ancients said to have been conferred on him by Christ himself , constituting him Bishop at the time of his appearing to him . But it 's safest with others to understand it of its being done by the Apostles , or possibly by some particular intimation concerning it , which our Lord might leave behind him . 4. TO him we find S. Paul making his Address after his Conversion , by whom he was honoured with the right hand of fellowship : to him Peter sent the news of his miraculous deliverance out of Prison , Go shew these things unto James , and to the Brethren , that is , to the whole Church , and especially S. James the Bishop and Pastor of it . But he was principally active in the Synod at Jerusalem in the great controversie about the Mosaick Rites : for the case being opened by Peter , and further debated by Paul and Barnabas , at last stood up S. James to pass the final and decretory sentence , that the Gentile-Converts were not to be troubled with the bondage of the Jewish Yoke , only that for a present accommodation some few indifferent Rites should be observed ; ushering in the expedient with this positive conclusion , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , I thus judge or decide the matter , this is my sentence and determination . A circumstance the more considerable , because spoken at the same time when Peter was in Council , who produced no such intimation of his Authority . Had the Champions of the Church of Rome but such a passage for Peter's judiciary Authority and Power , it would no doubt have made a louder noise in the World , than , Thou art Peter , or , Feed my sheep . 5. HE administred his Province with all possible care and industry , omitting no part of a diligent and faithful Guide of Souls ; strengthning the weak , informing the ignorant , reducing the erroneous , reproving the obstinate , and by the constancy of his Preaching conquering the stubbornness of that perverse and refractory Generation that he had to deal with , many of the nobler and the better sort being brought over to a compliance with the Christian Faith. So careful , so successful in his charge , that he awakened the spite and malice of his Enemies to conspire his ruine : a sort of Men , of whom the Apostle has given too true a character , that they please not God , and are contrary to all men . Vexed they were to see that S. Paul by appealing to Caesar had escaped their hands : Malice is as greedy and insatiable as Hell it self , and therefore now turn their revenge upon S. James , which not being able to effect under Festus his Government , they more effectually attempted under the Procuratorship of Albinus his Successor , Ananus the Younger , then High-Priest , and of the Sect of the Sadducees , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , says * Josephus , speaking of this very passage , of all others the most merciless and implacable Justicers ) resolving to dispatch him before the new Governor could arrive . To this end a Council is hastily summoned , and the Apostle with some others arraigned and condemned as Violators of the Law. But that the thing might be carried in a more plausible and popular way , they set the Scribes and Pharisees ( Crafts-masters in the arts of dissimulation ) at work to ensnare him : who coming to him , began by flattering insinuatious to set upon him . They tell him , that they all had a mighty confidence in him , and that the whole Nation as well as they gave him the testimony of a most just man , and one that was no respecter of Persons ; that therefore they desired he would correct the error and false Opinion which the People had of Jesus , whom they looked upon as the Messiah , and would take this opportunity of the universal confluence to the Paschal solemnity , to set them right in their notions about these things , and would to that end go up with them to the top of the Temple ; where he might be seen and heard by all . Being advantageously placed upon a Pinnacle or Wing of the Temple , they made this address to him . Tell us , O Justus , whom we have all the reason in the World to believe , that seeing the People are thus generally led away with the Doctrine of Jesus that was crucified , tell us , What is this Institution of the crucified Jesus ? To which the Apostle answered with an audible Voice ; Why do ye enquire of Jesus the Son of man ? he sits in Heaven on the right hand of the Majesty on high , and will come again in the Clouds of Heaven . The People below hearing it , glorified the blessed Jesus , and openly proclaimed Hosanna to the Son of David . The Scribes and Pharisees perceived now that they had over-shot themselves , and that instead of reclaiming , they had confirmed the People in their Error ; that there was no way left , but presently to dispatch him , that by his sad fate others might be warned not to believe him . Whereupon suddenly crying out , that Justus himself was seduced and become an Impostor , they threw him down from the Place where he stood . Though bruised , he was not killed by the fall , but recovered so much strength , as to get upon his Knees , and Pray to Heaven for them . Malice is of too bad a nature either to be pacified with kindness , or satisfied with cruelty : Jealousie is not more the rage of a Man , than Malice is the rage of the Devil , the very soul and spirit of the Apostate nature . Little portions of revenge do but inflame it , and serve to flesh it up into a fiercer violence . Vexed that they had not done his work , they fall afresh upon the poor remainders of his life ; and while he was yet at Prayer , and that a Rechabite who stood by ( which , says * Epiphanius , was Symeon , his Kinsman and Successor ) stept in and intreated them to spare him , a just and a righteous Man , and who was then praying for them , they began to load him with a showre of stones , till one more mercifully cruel than the rest with a Fullers Club beat out his Brains . Thus died this good Man in the XCVI . Year of his Age , and about XXIV . Years after Christ's Ascension into Heaven , ( as Epiphanius tells us ; ) being taken away to the great grief and regret of all good Men , yea of all sober and just Persons even amongst the Jews themselves ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as * Josephus himself confesses , speaking of this matter . He was buried ( says ‖ Gregory Bishop of Tours ) upon Mount Olivet , in a Tomb which he had built for himself , and wherein he had buried Zacharias , and old Simeon : which I am rather inclinable to believe , than what * Hegesippus reports , that he was buried near the Temple in the place of his Martyrdom , and that a Monument was there erected for him , which remained a long time after . For the Jews were not ordinarily wont to bury within the City , much less so near the Temple , and least of all would they suffer him , whom as a Blasphemer and Impostor they had so lately put to death . 6. HE was a Man of exemplary and extraordinary Piety and Devotion , educated under the strictest Rules and Institutions of Religion , a Priest ( as we may probably guess ) of the ancient Order of the Rechabites , or rather , as * Epiphanius conjectures , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , according to the most ancient order and form of Priesthood , when the Sacerdotal Office was the Prerogative of the first-born : and such was S. James the Eldest Son of Joseph , and thereby sanctified and set apart for it . Though whether this way of Priesthood at any time held under the Mosaick dispensation , we have no intimations in the holy story . But however he came by it , upon some such account it must be , that he had a priviledge ( which the ‖ Ancicnts say was peculiar to him , probably , because more frequently made use of by him than by any others ) to enter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not into the Sancta Sanstorum , or most holy of all , but the Sanctuary , or holy place , whither the Priests of the Aaronical Order might come . Prayer was his constant business and delight , he seemed to live upon it , and to trade in nothing but the frequent returns of converse with Heayen : and was therefore wont to retire alone into the Temple to pray , which he always performed kneeling and with the greatest reverence , till by his daily Devotions his knees were become as hard and brawny as a Camels . And he who has told us , that the effectual servent prayer of a righteous man availeth much , himself found it true by his own experience , Heaven lending a more immediate Ear to his Petitions , so that when in a time of great drought he prayed for Rain , the Heavens presently melted into fruitful showres . Nor was his Charity towards Men less than his Piety towards God , he did good to all , watched over Men's souls , and studied to advance thelr eternal interests ; his daily errand into the Temple was to pray for the happiness of the People , and that God would not severely reckon with them : he could forgive his fiercest enemies , and overcome evil with good : when thrown from the top of the Temple , he made use of all the breath he had left in him , only to send up this Petition to Heaven for the pardon of his Murderers , I beseech thee , O Lord God , Heavenly Father , forgive them , for they know not what they do . 7. HE was of a most meek humble temper , honouring what was excellent in others , concealing what was valuable in himself : the eminency of his relation , and the dignity of his place did not exalt him in lofty thoughts above the measures of his Brethren , industriously hiding whatever might set him up above the rest . Though he was our Lora's Brother , yet in the Inscription of his Epistle he stiles himself but the Servant of the Lord Jesus , not so much as giving himself the Title of an Apostle . His temperance was admirable , he wholly abstained from Flesh , and drank neither Wine nor strong Drink , nor ever used the Bath . His holy and mortified mind was content with the meanest accommodations , he went bare-foot , and never wore other than Linnen-garments . Indeed he lived after the strictest rules of the Nazarite-Order , and as the Miter , or Sacerdotal Plate ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the * Ancients call it ) which he wore upon his Head , evinced his Priesthood , which was rather after Melchisedeck's , or the Priesthood of the first-born , than the Aaronical Order , so his never shaving his Head , nor using Unguents , his Habit and Diet , and the great severity of his Life , shewed him to appertain to the NaZarite-Institution , to which he was holy ( says Hegesippus ) or consecrated from his Mother 's Womb. A Man of that Divine temper , that he was the love and wonder of his Age , and for the reputation of his holy and religious Life was universally stiled , 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 . Indced the safety and happiness of the Nation was reckoned to depend upon his Prayers and interest in Heaven , which gained him the honourable Title of Oblias or 〈◊〉 , the defence and fortress of the People ; as if when he was gone , their Garrisons would be dismantled , and their strength laid level with the ground . And so we find it was , when some few Years after his Death the Roman Army broke in upon them , and turned all into bloud and ruine . As what wonder if the judgments of God like a Flood come rowling in upon a Nation , when the Sluces are plucked up , and the Moses taken away that before stood in the Gap to keep them out ? Elisha died , and a Band of the Moabites invaded the Land. In short , he was the delight of all good Men , in so much favour and estimation with the People , that they used to flock after * him , and strive who should touch , though it were but the hem of his Garment ; his very Episcopal Chair , wherein he used to sit , being ( as ‖ Eusebius informs us ) carefully preserved , and having a kind of veneration paid to it , even unto his time : loved and honoured not by his friends only , but by his enemies , the * Jews in their Talmud mentioning James as a worker of Miracles in the Name of Jesus his Master ; yea the ‖ wisest of them looked upon his Martyrdom as the inlet to all those miseries and calamities that soon after flowed in upon them . Sure I am that * Josephus particularly reckons the Death of this S. James , as that which more immediately alarm'd the Divine vengeance , and hastned the universal ruine and destruction of that Nation . 8. HE wrote only one Epistle , probably not long before his Martyrdom , as appears by some passages in it relating to the near approaching ruine of the Jewish Nation . He directed it to the Jewish Converts , dispersed up and down those Eastern Countries , to comfort them under sufferings , and confirm them against Error . He saw a great degeneracy and declension of manners coming on , and that the purity of the Christian Faith began to be undermined by the loose doctrines and practices of the Gnosticks , who under a pretence of zeal for the legal rites generally mixed themselves with the Jews : he beheld Libertinism marching on a-pace , and the way to Heaven made soft and easie , Men declaiming against good works as useless and unnecessary , and asserted a naked belief of the Christian doctrine to be sufficient to salvation . Against these the Apostle opposes himself , presses Purity , Patience , and Charity , and all the Vertues of a good Life , and by undeniable Arguments evinces that that faith only that carries along with it obedience and an holy life can justifie us before God , and intitle us to eternal Life . Besides this Epistle , there is a kind of preparatory Gospel ascribed to him , published under the Name of 〈◊〉 , ( still extant at this Day ) containing the descent , birth and first Originals of Christ , and the Virgin Mary ; at the end whereof the Author pretends to have written it at a time , when Herod having raised a great tumult in Jerusalem , he was forced to retire into the Wilderness . But though in many things consistent enough with the History of the Gospels , yet has it ever been rejected as spurious and Apochryphal , forged in that licentious Age , when Men took the boldness to stamp any Writing with the Name of an Apostle . The End of the Life of S. James the Less . THE LIFE OF S. SIMON the Zealot . S SIMON S. Simon Zelotes preached in AEgypt Africa and Britaine and at length was crucified . Nic●ph . l. 2. c. 40. Baron . Oct. 28. St. Simon 's Martyrdom . Mauh . 10. 16. Behold I send you forth as sheep in y e midst of wol●es 1. Cor. 4. 9. God hath set forth US y e Apostles last , as it were men appointed to death , For we are made a spectacle to the world , and to Angels , and to men . His kindred . Whence stiled the Cananite , and the Zealot . An enquiry into the nature and temper , and original of the Sect of the Zealots among the Jews . An account of their wild and licentious practises . This no reflection upon our Apostle . In what parts of the World he Preached the Gospel . His planting Christianity in Africk . His removal into the West , and Preaching in Britain . His Martyrdom there . By whom said to have preached and suffered in Persia. The difference between him and Symeon Bishop of Jerusalem . 1. SAINT Simon the Apostle was , as some think , one of the four Brothers of our Saviour , Sons of Joseph by his former marriage , though no other evidence appear for it , but that there was a Simon one of the number ; too infirm a foundation to build any thing more upon than a mere conjecture . In the Catalogue of the Apostles he is stiled Simon the Cananite ; whence some , led by no other reason that I know of , than the bare sound of the name , have concluded him born at Cana in Galilee ; as for the same reason * others have made him the Bridegroom , at whose marriage our Lord was there present , when he honoured the solemnity with his first Miracle , turning Water into Wine . But this word has no relation to his Country , or the place from whence he borrowed his Original , as plainly descending from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie Zeal , and denote a hot and sprightly temper : Therefore what some of the Evangelists call Cananite , others rendring the Hebrew by the Greek word stile , Simon Zelotes , or the Zealot : So called , not ( as * Nicephorus thinks ) from his burning zeal , and ardent affection to his Master , and his eager desire to advance his Religion in the World , but from his warm active temper , and zealous forwardness in some particular way and profession of Religion before his coming to our Saviour . 2. FOR the better understanding of this we are to know , that as there were several Sects and Parties among the Jews , so was there one , either a distinct Sect , or at least a branch of the Pharisees , called the Sect of the Zealots : They were mighty assertors of the honour of the Law , and the strictness and purity of Religion , assuming a liberty to themselves to question notorious offenders , without staying for the ordinary formalities of Law , nay , when they thought good , and as the case required , executing capital vengeance upon them : Thus when a blasphemer cursed God by the name of any Idol ( says * Maimonides ) the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Zealots that next met him might immediately kill him , without ever bringing him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Sanhedrim . They looked upon themselves as the successors of Phineas , who in a mighty passion for the honour of God , did immediate execution upon Zimri and 〈◊〉 . An act which was counted unto him for righteousness unto all posterities for evermore , and God so well pleased with it , that he made with him and his seed after him the covenant of an everlasting Priesthood , because he was zealous for his God , and made an attonement for Israel . In imitation whereof these men took upon them to execute judgment in extraordinary cases , and that not only by the connivance , but with the leave both of the Rulers and the People , till in after-times under a pretence of this , their zeal degenerated into all manner of licentiousness and wild extravagance , and they not only became the Pests of the Commonwealth at home , but opened the door for the Romans to break in upon them , to their final and irrecoverable ruine ; they were continually prompting the people to throw off the Roman yoke , and vindicate themselves into their native liberty , and when they had turned all things into hurry and confusion , themselves in the mean while fished in these troubled waters . Josephus gives a large account of them , and every where bewails them as the great plague of the Nation . He tells us of * them , that they scrupled not to rob any , to kill many of the prime Nobility , under pretence of holding correspondence with the Romans , and betraying the liberty of their Country , openly glorying that herein they were the benefactors and Saviours of the people . They abrogated the succession of ancient Families , thrusting obscure and ignoble persons into the High-Priests office , that so they might oblige the most infamous villains to their party ; and as if not content to injure men , they affronted Heaven , and proclaimed defiance to the Divinity it self , breaking into and prophaning the most holy place . Stiling themselves Zealots ( says he ) as if their undertakings were good and honourable , while they were greedy and emulous of the greatest wickednesses , and out-did the worst of men . Many attempts were made , especially by Annas the High-Priest , to reduce them to order and sobriety . But neither force of arms , nor fair and gentle methods could do any good upon them ; they held out , and went on in their violent proceedings , and joyning with the Idumeans , committed all manner of out-rage , slaying the High-Priests themselves . Nay , when Jerusalem was straitly besieged by the Roman Army , they ceased not to create tumults and factions within , and were indeed the main cause of the Jew 's ill success in that fatal war. 'T is probable , that all that went under the notion of this Sect were not of this wretched and ungovernable temper , but that some of them were of a better make , of a more sober and peaceable disposition : And as it is not to be doubted , but that our Simon was of this Sect in general , so there 's reason to believe he was of the better sort . However this makes no more reflexion upon his being called to the Apostleship , than it did for S. Matthew , who was before a Publican , or S. Paul's being a Pharisee , and so zealously persecuting the Church of God. 3. BEING invested in the Apostolical office , no further mention appears of him in the History of the Gospel . Continuing with the Apostles till their dispersion up and down the World , he then applied himself to the execution of his charge . He is * said to have directed his journey towards Egypt , thence to Cyrene , and Asrick ( this indeed ‖ Baronius is not willing to believe , being desirous that S. Peter should have the honour to be the first that planted Christianity in Africk ) and throughout Mauritania and all Libya , preaching the Gospel to those remote and barbarous Countries . Nor could the coldness of the Climate benumb his zeal , or hinder him from shipping himself and the Christian doctrine over to the Western Islands , yea , even to Britain it self . Here he preached , and wrought many miracles , and after infinite troubles and difficulties which he underwent ( if we may believe our Authors , whom , though Baronius in this case makes no great account of , yet never scruples freely to use their verdict and suffrage when they give in evidence to his purpose ) suffered Martyrdom for the Faith of Christ , as is not only affirmed by * Nicephorus and ‖ Dorotheus , but expresly owned in the Greek * Menologies , where we are told , that he went at last into Britain , and having enlightned the minds of many with the doctrine of the Gospel , was crucified by the Infidels , and buried there . 4. I KNOW indeed that there want not those who tell * us , that after his preaching the Gospel in Egypt , he went into Mesopotamia , where he met with S. Jude the Apostle , and together with him took his journey into Persia , where having gained a considerable harvest to the Christian Faith , they were both crowned with Martyrdom ; which Baronius himself confesses to be founded upon no better authority , than the Passions of the Apostles , a Book which at every turn he rejects as trifling and impertinent , as false and fabulous . But however , wide is the mistake of ‖ those who confound our Apostle with Symeon the son of Cleophas , successor to S. James the Just in the See of Jerusalem , who was crucified in the hundred and twentieth year of his Age , in the persecution under Trajan : The different character of their persons , and the account both of their Acts and Martyrdoms being sufficiently distinguished in the writings of the Church . The End of S. Simon' s Life . THE LIFE OF S. JUDE . St Jude . Maith . 15. 55. Is not this the Carpenter's son ? are not his brethren James , & Joses , & Simon , & JUDAS ? Luk. 6. 16. Judas the Brother of James . His Martyrdom . Having preached y e Gospel in Mesopotamia , he went into Persia , where after he had gained great numbers to Christianity , he suffered martyrdom . Martyrol . Rom. Oct. 28. The several names attributed to him in the Gospel . Thaddaeus , whence . The custom of the Jews to alter their names , when bearing affinity with the great name Jehova . The name Judas why distasteful to the Apostles . Lebbaeus , whence derived . His Parentage , and Relation to our Lord. The Question put by him to Christ. Whether the same with Thaddaeus sent to Edessa . In what places he preached . His death . His married condition . The story of his Grandchildren brought before Domitian . His Epistle , and why questioned of old . It s Canonicalness vindicated . The Book of Enoch , and what its authority . The contention between Michael and the Devil about Moses his Body , whence borrowed . S. Jude proved to be the Author of this Epistle . Grotius his conceit of its being written by a younger Jude , rejected . It s affinity with the second Epistle of S. Peter . The design of it . 1. THERE are three several names by which this Apostle is described in the History of the Gospel , Jude , Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus , it being usual in the holy Volumes for the same person to have more proper names than one . For the first , it was a name common amongst the Jews , recommended to them as being the name of one of the great Patriarchs of their Nation . This name he seems to have changed afterwards for Thaddaeus , a word springing from the same root , and of the very same import and signification , which might arise from a double cause : Partly from the superstitious veneration , which the Jews had for the name Jehova ( the Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or name consisting of four letters ) which they held unlawful to be pronounced by any but the High-Priest , and not by him neither , but at the most solemn times . Hence it was , that when any man had a name , wherein there was the major part of the letters of this ineffable title ( and such was Jehudah or Juda ) they would not rashly pronounce it in common usage , but chose rather to mould it into another like it , and of the same importance , or that which had a near affinity and resemblance with it : Partly from a particular dislike of the name of Judas among the Apostles , the bloudy and treasonable practises of Judas Iscariot having rendred that name very odious and detestable to them . To prevent therefore all possibility of mistake , and that they might not confound the righteous with the wicked , S. Matthew and Mark never call him by this , but by some other name ; as no question for the same reason he both stiles himself , and is frequently called by others , Judas the brother of James ; and that this was one great design of it , the Evangelist plainly intimates , when speaking of him , he says , Judas , not Iscariot . For his name Lebbaeus , it seems to have been derived either from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an heart , whence S. Hierom renders it Corculum , probably to denote his wisdom and prudence , or else from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lion , and therein to have respect to old Jacob's prophecy concerning Judah , That he should be as a Lion , an old Lion , and as a Lions whelp , which probably might have a main stroke in fastning this name upon S. Jude . From this Patriarchal prophecy , we are * told , that one of the Schools or Synagogues of Learned men among the Jews ( who to avoid confusion were wont to distinguish themselves by different appellations ) took occasion to denominate themselves Labii , as accounting themselves the Scholars and descendents of this Lion-like son of Jacob ; and that S. Jude was of this society , and because of his eminency among them retained the title of Labius , or as it was corruptly pronounced , Lebbaeus . I confess I should have thought the conjecture of a Learned * man very probable , that he might have derived this name from the place of his nativity , as being born at Lebba , a Town which , he tells us , ‖ Pliny speaks of in the Province of Galilee , not far from Carmel , but that it is not Lebba , but Jebba in all copies of Pliny that I have seen . But let the Reader please himself in which conjecture he likes best . 2. FOR his Descent and Parentage , he was of our Lord's kindred , * Nicephorus truly making him the son of Joseph , and brother to James Bishop of Jerusalem ; that there was a Jude one of the number is very evident , Are not his brethren James , and Joses , and Simon , and Judas ? which makes me the more to wonder at Scaliger , who so confidently denies that any of the Evangelists ever mention a Jude the brother of our Lord. S. Hierom seems often to confound him with Simon the Zealot , whose title he ascribes to him , though second thoughts set him right , as indeed common advertency could do no less , so plain is the account which the Evangelists give of this matter . When called to the Discipleship we find not , as not meeting with him , till we find him enumerated in the Catalogue of Apostles ; nor is any thing particularly recorded of him afterwards , more than one question that he propounded to our Saviour , who having told them what great things he and his Father would do , and what particular manifestations after his Resurrection he would make of himself to his sincere disciples and followers , S. Jude ( whose thoughts as well as the rest were taken up with the expectations of a temporal Kingdom of the Messiah ) not knowing how this could consist with the publick solemnity of that glorious state they looked for , asked him , what was the reason that he would manifest himself to them , and not to the World. Our Lord replied , that the World was not capable of these Divine manifestations , as being a stranger , and an enemy to what should fit them for fellowship with Heaven ; that they were only good men , persons of a Divine temper of mind , and religious observers of his Laws and Will , whom God would honour with these familiar converses , and admit to such particular acts of grace and favour . 3. * EUSEBIUS relates that soon after our Lord's Ascension S. Thomas dispatched Thaddaeus the Apostle to Abgarus Governour of Edessa , where he healed diseases , wrought miracles , expounded the doctrines of Christianity , and converted Abgarus and his people to the Faith : For all which pains when the Toparch offered him vast gifts and presents , he refused them with a noble scorn , telling him , they had little reason to receive from others , what they had freely relinquished and left themselves . A large account of this whole affair is extant in Eusebius , translated by him out of Syriack from the Records of the City of Edessa . This Thaddaeus ‖ S. Hierom expresly makes to be our S. Jude , though his bare authority is not in this case sufficient evidence ; especially since 〈◊〉 makes him no more than one of the seventy Disciples , which he would scarce have done , had he been one of the Twelve . He calls him indeed an Apostle , but that may imply no more than according to the large acception of the word , that he was a Disciple , a Companion , and an Assistent to them , as we know the Seventy eminently were . Nor is any thing more common in ancient Ecclesiastick Writers , than for the first planters and propagaters of Christian Religion in any Country to be honoured with the name and title of Apostles . But however this be , at his first setting out to preach the Gospel , he went up and down Judaea and 〈◊〉 , then through Samaria into Idumea , and to the Cities of Arabia , and the neighbour Countries , yea , to Syria and Mesopotamia . * Nicephorus adds , that he came at last to Edessa , where Abgarus was Governour , and where the other Thaddeus , one of the Seventy had been before him . Here he perfected what the other had begun , and having by his Sermons and Miracles established the Religion of our Saviour , died a peaceable and a quiet death ; though ‖ Dorotheus makes him slain at Berytus , and honourably buried there . By the almost general consent of the Writers of the Latin Church he is said to have travelled into Persia , where after great success in his Apostolical Ministry for many years , he was at last for his free and open reproving the superstitious rites and usages of the Magi cruelly put to death . 4. THAT he was one of the married Apostles sufficiently appears from his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Grandsons mentioned by * 〈◊〉 , of whom Hegesippus gives this account . Domitian the Emperor , whose enormous wickednesses had awakened in him the quickest jealousies , and made him suspect every one that might look like a corrival in the Empire , had heard that there were some of the line of David , and Christ's kindred that did yet remain . Two Grandchildren of S. Jude the Brother of our Lord were brought before him : Having confessed that they were of the Race and posterity of David , he asked what possessions and estate they had : they told him that they had but a very few acres of land , out of the improvement whereof they both paid him Tribute , and maintained themselves with their own hard labour , as by the hardness and callousness of their hands ( which they then shewed him ) did appear . He then enquired of them concerning Christ , and the state of his Kingdom , what kind of Empire it was , and when and where it would commence . To which they replied , That his Kingdom was not of this World , nor of the Seigniories and Dominions of it , but Heavenly and Angelical , and would finally take place in the end of the World , when coming with great glory , he would judge the quick and the dead , and award all men recompences according to their works . The issue was , that looking upon the meanness and simplicity of the men as below his jealousies and fears , he dismissed them without any severity used against them ; who being now beheld not only as kinsmen , but as Martyrs of our Lord , were honoured by all , preferred to places of authority and government in the Church , and lived till the times of Trajan . 5. S. Jude left only one Epistle , of Catholick and universal concernment , inscribed at large to all Christians . It was some time before it met with general reception in the * Church , or was taken notice of . The Author indeed stiles not himself an Apostle , but no more does S. James , S. John , nor in some Epistles S. Paul himself . And why should he fare the worse for his humility , only for calling himself the servant of Christ , when he might have added not only Apostle , but the Brother of our Lord ? The best is , he has added what was equivalent , Jude the Brother of James , a character that can belong to none but our Apostle ; beside , that the Title of the Epistle , which is of great antiquity , runs thus , The general Epistle of Jude the Apostle . One great argument , as ‖ S. 〈◊〉 informs us , against the authority of this Epistle of old , was its quoting a passage out of an Apocryphal Book of Enoch . This Book called the Apocalypse of Enoch was very early extant in the Church , frequently mentioned , and passages cited out of it by 〈◊〉 , Tertullian , Clemens Alexandrinus , Origen , and others , some of whom accounted it little less than Canonical . But what if our Apostle had it not out of this Apocryphal Book , but from some prophecy currant from age to age , handed to him by common tradition , or immediately revealed to him by the Spirit of God ? But suppose it taken out of that Book going under Enoch's name , this makes nothing against the authority of the Epistle ; every thing , I hope , is not presently false , that 's contained in an Apocryphal and Uncanonical writing , nor does the taking a single testimony out of it any more infer the Apostles approbation of all the rest , than S. Paul's quoting a good sentence or two out of Menander , Aratus , and Epimenides , imply that he approved all the rest of the writings of those Heathen Poets . And indeed nothing could be more fit and proper than this way , if we consider that the Apostle in this Epistle chiesly argues against the Gnosticks , who mainly traded in such Traditionary and Apocryphal writings , and probably in this very Book of Enoch . The same account may be given of that other passage in this Epistle concerning the contention between Michael the Archangel and the Devil about the burial of Moses his Body , no where extant in the holy Records , supposed to have been taken out of a Jewish writing called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Dismission of Moses , mentioned by some of the Greek Fathers under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the Ascension of Moses , in which this passage was upon record . Nor is it any more a wonder that S. Jude should do this , than that S. Paul should put down Jannes and Jambres for the two Magicians of Pharaoh that opposed Moses , which he must either derive from Tradition , or fetch out of some Uncanonical Author of those times , there being no mention of their names in Moses his relation of that matter . But be these passages whence they will , 't is enough to us , that the Spirit of God has made them Authentick , and consecrated them part of the holy Canon . 6. BEING thus satisfied in the Canonicalness of this Epistle , none but S. Jude could be the Author of it ; for who but he was the Brother of S. James ? a character by which he is described in the Evangelical story more than once . * Grotius indeed will needs have it written by a younger Jude , the fifteenth Bishop of Jerusalem , in the reign of Adrian ; and because he saw that that passage [ the Brother of James ] stood full in his way , he concludes without any shadow of reason , that it was added by some Transcriber . But is not this to make too bold with Sacred things ? is not this to indulge too great a liberty ? this once allowed , 't will soon open a door to the wildest and most extravagant conjectures , and no man shall know where to find sure-sooting for his Faith. But the Reader may remember what we have elsewhere observed concerning the Posthume Annotations of that learned man. Not to say that there are many things in this Epistle that evidently refer to the time of this Apostle , and imply it to have been written upon the same occasion , and about the same time with the second Epistle of Peter , between which and this there is a very great affinity both in words and matter , nay , there want not ‖ some that endeavour to prove this Epistle to have been written no less than twenty seven years before that of Peter , and that hence it was that Peter borrowed those passages that are so near a-kin to those in this Epistle . The design of the Epistle is to preserve Christians from the infection of Gnosticism , the loose and debauched principles vented by Simon Magus and his followers , whose wretched doctrines and practises he briefly and elegantly represents , perswading Christians heartily to contend for the Faith that had been delivered to them , and to avoid these pernicious Seducers as pests and fire-brands , not to communicate with them in their sins , lest they perished with them in that terrible vengeance that was ready to overtake them . The End of S. Jude's Life . THE LIFE OF S. MATTHIAS . S. MATHIAS . He preached the Gospell in Ethiopia , suffered Martyrdome and was buried there . S. Hierom. St. Matthias his Martyrdom . Hebr. 11 . 37. They were stoned , they were sawn asunder , they were tempted , were slain with the sword . S. Matthias one of the Seventy . Judas Iscariot , whence . A bad Minister nulls not the ends of his ministration . His worldly and covetous temper . His monstrous ingratitude . His betraying his Master , and the aggravations of the sin . The distraction and horror of his mind . The miserable state of an evil and guilty Conscience . His violent death . The election of a new Apostle : The Candidates , who . The Lot cast upon Matthias . His preaching the Gospel , and in what parts of the World. His Martyrdom when , where , and how . His Body whither translated . The Gospel and Traditions vented under his name . 1. SAINT Matthias not being an Apostle of the first Election , immediately called and chosen by our Saviour , particular remarks concerning him are not to be expected in the History of the Gospel . He was one of our Lord's Disciples ( and probably one of the Seventy ) that had attended on him the whole time of his publick Ministry , and after his death was elected into the Apostleship upon this occasion . Judas Iscariot ( so called , probably , from the place of his nativity , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of Kerioth , a City anciently situate in the Tribe of Judah ) had been one of the Twelve , immediately called by Christ to be one of his intimate Disciples , equally impowered and commissioned with the rest to Preach and work Miracles , was numbred with them , and had obtained part of their Ministry : And yet all this while was a man of vile and corrupt designs , branded with no meaner a character , than Thief and Murderer . To let us see that there may be bad servants in Christ's own family , and that the wickedness of a Minister does not evacuate his Commission , nor render his Office useless and ineffectual . The unworthiness of the instrument hinders not the ends of the ministration : Seeing the efficacy of an ordinance depends not upon the quality of the person , but the Divine institution , and the blessing which God has entailed upon it . Judas preached Christ no doubt with zeal and fervency , and for any thing we know , with as much success as the rest of the Apostles ; and yet he was a bad man , a man acted by 〈◊〉 and mean designs , one that had prostituted Religion and the honour of his place to covetousness and evil arts . The love of money had so intirely possessed his thoughts , that his resolutions were bound for nothing but interest and advantage . But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare . This covetous temper betrayed him , as in the issue to the most fatal end , so to the most desperate attempt , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as Origen calls the putting Christ to death , the most prodigious impiety that the Sun ever shone on , the betraying his innocent Lord into the hands of those , who he knew would treat him with all the circumstances of insolent scorn and cruelty . How little does kindness work upon a disingenuous mind ! It was not the honour of the place , to which when thousands of others were passed by , our Lord had called him , the admitting him into a free and intimate fellowship with his person , the taking him to be one of his peculiar domesticks and attendants , that could divert the wretch from his wicked purpose . He knew how desirous the great men of the Nation were to get Christ into their hands , especially at the time of the Passeover , that he might with the more publick disgrace 〈◊〉 sacrificed before all the people , and therefore bargains with them , and for no greater a summ than under four pounds , to betray the Lamb of God into the paws of these Wolves and Lions : In short , he heads the party , conducts the Officers , and sees him delivered into their hands . 2. BUT there 's an active principle in man's breast , that seldom suffers daring sinners to pass in quiet to their Graves : Awakened with the horror of the fact , conscience began to rouze and follow close , and the man was unable to bear up under the furious revenges of his own mind : As indeed all wilful and deliberate sins , and especially the guilt of bloud , are wont more sensibly to alarm the natural notions of our minds , and to excite in us the fears of some present vengeance that will seise upon us . And how intolerable are those scourges that lash us in this vital and tender part : The spirit of the man sinks under him , and all supports snap asunder : As what case or comfort can he enjoy , that carries a Vultur in his bosom , always gnawing and preying upon his heart ? Which made * Plutarch compare an evil Conscience to a Cancer in the breast , that perpetually gripes and stings the Soul with the pains of an intolerable repentance . Guilt is naturally troublesome and uneasie , it disturbs the peace and serenity of the mind , and fills the Soul with storms and thunder . ‖ Did ever any harden himself against God , and prosper ? And indeed how should he , when God has such a powerful and invisible executioner in his own bosom ? Whoever rebels against the Laws of his duty , and plainly affronts the dictates of his Conscience , does that moment bid adieu to all true repose and quiet , and expose himself to the severe resentments of a self-tormenting mind . And though by secret arts of wickedness he may be able possibly to drown and stifle the voice of it for a while , yet every little affliction or petty accident will be apt to awaken it into horror , and to let in terror like an armed man upon him . A torment infinitely beyond what the most ingenious Tyrants could ever contrive . Nothing so effectually invades our ease , as the reproaches of our own minds . The wrath of man may be endured , but the irruptions of Conscience are irresistible ; it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as Chrysostom very elegantly stiles it ) to be choaked or strangled with an evil Conscience , which oft reduces the man to such distresses , as to make him chuse death rather than life . A sad instance of all which we have in this unhappy man : who being wearied with furious and melancholy reflexions upon what was past , threw back the wages of iniquity in open Court , and dispatched himself by a violent death : Vainly hoping to take sanctuary in the Grave , and that he should meet with that ease in another World which he could not find in this . He departed , and went and hanged himself , and falling down burst asunder , and his bowels gushed out : Leaving a memorable warning to all treacherous and ingrateful , to all greedy and covetous persons , not to let the World insinuate it self too far into them ; and indeed to all to watch and pray that they enter not into temptation . Our present state is slippery and insecure ; Let him that thinketh he 〈◊〉 , take heed lest he fall . What priviledges can be a sufficient fence , a foundation firm enough to rely upon , when the Miracles , Sermons , favours , and familiar converses of Christ himself could not secure one of the Apostles from so fatal an Apostasie ? 3. A VACANCY being thus made in the Colledge of Apostles , the first thing they did after their return from Mount Olivet , where our Lord took his leave of them , to S. John's house in Mount Sion ( the place , if we may believe * Nicephorus , where the Church met together ) was to fill up their number with a fit proper person . To which purpose Peter acqualnted them , that Judas , according to the prophetical prediction , being fallen from his ministry , it was necessary that another should be substituted in his room , one that had been a constant companion and disciple of the holy Jesus , and consequently capable of bearing witness to his life , death , and resurrection . Two were propounded in order to the choice , Joseph called Barsabas , and Justus ( whom some make the same with Joses one of the brothers of our Lord ) and Matthias , both duly qualified for the place . The way of election was by Lots , a way frequently used both among Jews and Gentiles for the determination of doubtful and difficult cases , and especially the chusing Judges and Magistrates : And this course the Apostles the rather took , because the Holy Ghost was not yet given , by whose immediate dictates and inspirations they were chiefly guided afterwards . And that the business might proceed with the greater regularity and success , they first solemnly make their address to Heaven , that the Omniscient Being that governed the World , and perfectly understood the tempers and dispositions of men , would immediately guide and direct the choice , and shew which of these two he would appoint to take that part of the Apostolick charge , from which Judas was so lately fallen . The Lots being put into the Urn , Matthias his name was drawn out , and thereby the Apostolate devolved upon him . 4. NOT long after the promised powers of the Holy Ghost were conferred upon the Apostles , to fit them for that great and difficult imployment , upon which they were sent : And among the rest S. Matthias betook himself to his Charge and Province . The first-fruits of his Ministry he spent in 〈◊〉 , where having reaped a considerable harvest , he betook himself to other Provinces . An * Author , I confess , of no great credit in these matters , tells us , that he preached the Gospel in Macedonia , where the Gentiles to make an experiment of his Faith and Integrity , gave him a poisonous and intoxicating potion , which he chearfully drunk off , in the name of Christ , without the least prejudice to himself ; and that when the same potion had deprived above two hundred and fifty of their sight , he laying his hands upon them , restored them to their sight : with a great deal more of the same stamp , which I have neither faith enough to believe , nor leisure enough to relate . The Greeks with more probability report him to have travelled Eastward , he came ( says ‖ Nicephorus ) into the first , ( says * Sophronius ) into the second AEthiopia , and in both , I believe , it is a mistake , either of the Authors or Transcribers , for Cappadocia , his residence being principally near the irruption of the River Apsarus , and the Haven Hyssus , both places in Cappadocia . Nor is there any AEthiopia nearer those places than that conterminous to Chaldaea , whereof before . And as for those that tell us , that he might well enough preach both in the Asian and African AEthiopia , and that both might be comprehended under that general name , as the Eastern and Western parts of the World were heretofore contained under the general title of the India's , it's a fancy without any other ground to stand on , 〈◊〉 their own bare conjecture . The place whither he came was very barbarous , and his usage was accordingly . For here meeting with a people of a fierce and intractable temper , he was treated by them with great rudeness and inhumanity , from whom after all his labours and sufferings , and a numerous conversion of men to Christianity , he obtained at last the crown of Martyrdom , Ann. Chr. LXI . or as others , LXIV . Little certainty can be retrieved concerning the manner of his death . * Dorotheus will have him to die at Sebastople , and to be buried there near the Temple of the Sun. An ancient ‖ Martyrologic reports him to have been seised by the Jews , and as a blasphemer to have been first stoned , and then beheaded . But the * Greek Offices , seconded herein by several ancient Breviaries , tell us that he was crucified , and that as Judas was hanged upon a Tree , so Matthias suffered upon a Cross. His Body is said to have been kept a long time at Jerusalem , thence thought by Helen the Mother of the Great Constantine to have been translated to Rome , where some parts of it are shewed with great veneration at this day . Though * others with as great eagerness , and probably as much truth , contend that his Reliques were brought to , and are still preserved at Triers in Germany , a controversie wherein I shall not concern my self . His memory is celebrated in the Greek Church August the IX . as appears not only from their Menologies , but from a Novel ‖ constitution of Manuel Comuenus , appointing what holy days should be kept in the Church , while the Western Churches keep February XXIV . sacred to his memory . Among many other Apocryphal writings attributed to the Apostles , there was a Gospel published under his name , mentioned by * Eusebius and the Ancients , and condemned with the rest by ‖ Gelasius Bishop of Rome , as it had been rejected by others before him : Under his name also there were extant Traditions , cited by a Clemens of Alexandria , from whence no question it was that the Nicolaitans borrowed that saying of his , which they abused to so vile and beastly purposes , as under the pretended patronage of his name and doctrines the Marcionites and b Valentinians defended some of their most absurd and impious opinions . The End of S. Matthias's Life . THE LIFE OF S. MARK the Evangelist . The Evangelist St. Mark. He having been the Coädiutor of St. Paul & St. Peter severally , at Alexandria planted & governd a Church and there by the violence of the Pagan multitude suffered Martyrdom . AD. 64. Baron : & Centur St. Mark 's Martyrdom . Hebr. 11. 35. Others were tortured , not accepting deliverance , that they might obtain a better resurrection . Of whom the world was not worthy . His Kindred , and distinction from others of the same Name . Whether one of the Seventy . His Conversion . His attendance upon Peter , and Preaching the Gospel in Italy , and at Rome . His planting Christianity at Alexandria , and great success there . An account of the Therapeutae ( mentioned by Philo ) and their excellent manners , rules , and way of Life . These proved not to have been Christians by several arguments . The Original of the mistake whence . S. Mark' s Preaching in the Parts of Africk . His return to Alexandria , and diligence in his Ministry . The manner of his Martyrdom . The time of it enquired into . The description of his Person . His Gospel when and where written , and why said to be Peter's . His great impartiality in his Relations . In what Language written . The Original whether extant at this Day . 1. SAINT Mark , though carrying something of Roman in his Name , probably assumed by him upon some great change , or accident of his Life , or which was not unusual among the Jews , when going into the European Provinces of the Roman Empire , taken up at his going for Italy and Rome , was doubtless born of Jewish Parents , originally descended of the Tribe of * Levi , and the Line of the Priesthood , and ( if ‖ Nicephorus say true ) Sister 's Son to Peter , though by others against all reason confounded with John sirnamed Mark the Son of Mary , and Mark Sisters Son to Barnabas . By the Ancients he is generally thought to have been one of the Seventy Disciples , and * Epiphanius expresly tells us , that he was one of those who taking exception at our Lord's discourse of cating his Flesh and drinking his Blood , went back and walked no more with him , but was seasonably reduced and reclaimed by Peter . But no foundation appears either for the one or for the other , nay ‖ Papias Bishop of Hierapolis , who lived near those times , positively affirms that he was no hearer nor follower of our Saviour . He was converted by some of the Apostles , and probably by S. Peter , who is said to have been his undertaker at his Baptism . ( if I understand 〈◊〉 . * aright ) for no other reason I suppose , than because he calls him his Son. Indeed he was his constant attendant in his Travails , supplying the place of an Amanuensis and Interpreter ; for though the Apostles were divinely inspired , and among other miraculous powers had the gift of Languages conferred upon them , yet was the interpretation of Tongues a gift more peculiar to some than others . This might probably be S. Mark' s Talent , in expounding S. Peter's Discourses , whether by word or writing , to those who understood not the Language wherein they were delivered . He accompanied him in his Apostolical progress , Preached the Gospel in ‖ Italy , and at Rome , where at the request of the Christians of those Parts he composed and wrote his Gospel . 2. BY Peter he was sent into Egypt to plant Christianity in those Parts , fixing his main residence at Alexandria , and the places thereabouts : where so great ( says * Eusebius ) was the success of his Ministry , that he converted Multitudes both of Men and Women , not only to the embracing of the Christian Religion , but to a more than ordinarily strict profession of it , insomuch that Philo wrote a Book of their peculiar Rites and way of Life , the only reason why S. ‖ Hierom reckons him among the Writers of the Church . Indeed Philo the Jew wrote a Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , extant at this day , wherein he speaks of a sort of Persons called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , who in many parts of the World , but especially in a pleasant place near the Maraeotick Lake in Egypt had formed themselves into Religious Societies , and gives a large account of their Rites and Customes , their strict , philosophical , and contemplative course of life . He tells * us of them , that when they first enter upon this way , they renounce all secular interests and imployments , and leaving their Estates to their Relations , retire into Groves and Gardens , and Places devoted to solitude and contemplation ; that they had their Houses or Colledges , not contiguous , that so being free from noise and tumult , they might the better minister to the designs of a contemplative life ; nor yet removed at too great a distance , that they might maintain mutual society , and be conveniently capable of helping and assisting one another . In each of these Houses there was an Oratory , call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , wherein they discharged the more secret and solemn Rites of their Religion ; divided in the middle with a Partition wall three or four Cubits high , the one apartment being for the Men , and the other for the Women : here they publickly met every Seventh day , where being set according to their seniority , and having composed themselves with great decency and reverence , the most aged Person among them , and best skilled in the Dogmata and Principles of their Institution came forth into the midst , gravely and soberly discoursing what might make the deepest impression upon their minds ; the rest attending with a profound silence , and only testifying their assent with the motion of their Eyes or Head. Their discourses were usually my stical and allegorical , seeking hidden sences under plain words , and of such an allegorical Philosophy consisted the Books of their Religion , left them by their Ancestors : The Law they compared to an Animal , the Letter of it resembling the Body , while the Soul of it lay in those abstruse and recondite notions , which the external veil and surface of the words concealed from vulgar understandings . He tells us also , that they took very little care of the Body , perfecting their minds by Precepts of Wisdom and Religion ; the day they intirely spent in Pious and Divine Meditations , in reading and expounding the Law and the Prophets , and the Holy Volumes of the ancient Founders of their Sect , and in singing Hymns to the honour of their Maker ; absolutely temperate and abstemious , neither eating nor drinking till Night , the only time they thought fit to refresh and regard the body , some of them out of an insatiable desire of growing in knowledge and vertue , fasting many days together . What Diet they had was very plain and simple , sufficient only to provide against hunger and thirst , a little Bread , Salt and Water being their constant bill of fare : their clothes were as mean as their food , designed only as a present security against cold and nakedness . And this not only the case of men , but of pious and devout Women that lived ( though separately ) among them ; that they religiously observed every Seventh Day , and especially the preparatory Week to the great solemnity , which they kept with all expressions of a more severe abstinence and devotion . This and much more he has in that Tract concerning them . 3. THESE excellent Persons 〈◊〉 peremptorily affirms to have been Christians , converted and brought under these admirable Rules and Institutions of Life by S. Mark at his coming hither , accommodating all passages to the Manners and Discipline of Christians : followed herein by * Epiphanius , ‖ Hierom , and others of old , as by a Baronius , and some others of later time : and this so far taken for granted , that b many have hence fetched the rise of Monasteries and Religious Orders among Christians . But whoever seriously and impartially considers Philo's account , will plainly find that he intends it of Jews and Professors of the Mosaick Religion , though whether Essenes , or of some other particular Sect among them , I stand not to determine . That they were not Christians , is evident , besides that Philo gives not the least intimation of it , partly because it is improbable that Philo being a Jew should give so great a character and commendation of Christians , so hateful to the Jews at that time in all places of the World ; partly , in that Philo speaks of them as an Institution of some considerable standing , whereas Christians had but lately appeared in the World , and were later come into Egypt ; partly , because many parts of Philo's account does no way suit with the state and manners of Christians at that time ; as that they withdrew themselves from publick converse , and all affairs of civil life , which Christians never did , but when forced by violent Persecutions , for ordinarily , as Justin Martyr and Tertullian tell us , they promiscuously dwelt in Towns and Cities , plowed their Lands , and followed their Trades , ate and drank , and were clothed and habited like other men . So when he says that besides the Books of Moses and the Prophets , they had the Writings of the Ancient Authours of their Sect and Institution ; this cannot be meant of Christians : for though Eusebius would understand it of the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles , yet , besides that there were few of them published when Philo wrote this discourse , they were however of too late an edition to come under the character of ancient Authours . Not to say that some of their Rites and Customes were such , as the Christians of those days were meer strangers to , not taken up by the Christian Church till many Years , and some of them not till some Ages after . Nay some of them never used by any of the Primitive Christians ; such were , their religious dances , which they had at their Festival Solemnities , especially that great one which they held at the end of every Seven Weeks ; when their entertainment being ended , they all rose up , the Men in one Company , and the Women in another , dancing with various measures and motions , each Company singing Divine Hymns and Songs , and having a Precentor going before them , now one singing , and anon another , till in the conclusion they joyned in one common chorus , in imitation of the triumphant Song sung by Moses and the Israelites after their deliverance at the Red-Sea . To all which let me add , what a Learned * Man has observed , that the Essenes ( if Philo means them ) were great Physicians ( thence probably called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Healers , though ‖ Philo , who is apt to turn all things into Allegory , refers it only to their curing , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the Souls of Men infected and over-run with difficult and desperate distempers , created by pleasures and extravagant appetites , and a long train of other lusts and passions ) * Josephus reporting of them , that they accurately study the Writings of the Ancients , excerping thence whatever is conducive either to Soul or Body ; and that for the curing of Diseases , they diligently enquired into the Vertues of Roots and Stones , that were most proper to drive away Distempers . An Account no ways agreeing with the Christians of those times , who miraculously cured Diseases without the Arts of Physick , or any other Preparations , than calling the Name of Christ over the afflicted Person . Doubtless that which led Euscbius into the mistake , was the conformity that he observed between the Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in and before his time , who entred upon a more strict and severe course of life , and these Therapeutae described by Philo , an ordinary fancy being able to draw a fair parallel between them , and so it was but removing them some Ages higher , and imagining them to have been converted and founded by S. Mark , and the work was done . Indeed it is not to be doubted , but that Persons educated under these excellent rules and methods of life , were more than ordinarily prepared for the reception of Christianity ( between which and their Principles and Rules of Life , there was so great an affinity and agreement ) which must needs render our Evangelists success great in those Parts , and open the way for men to come flocking over to the Faith. 4. S. MARK did not confine his Preaching to Alexandria , and the Oriental Parts of Egypt , but removed * Westmard to the Parts of Libya , going thorough the Countries of Marmarica , Pentapolis , and others thereabouts , where though the People were both barbarous in their manners , and idolatrous in their worship , yet by his Preaching and Miracles he made way for the entertainment of the Gospel , and left them not , till he had not only gained them to , but confirmed them in , the profession of it . Returning to Alexandria he preached freely , and ordered and disposed the affairs of the Church , and wisely provided for succession by constituting Governors and Pastors of it . But the restless enemy of the souls of Men would not long suffer him to be quiet : it was the time of Easter , at what time the great Solemnities of Scrapis hapned to be celebrated , when the minds of the People being excited to a passionate vindication of the honour of their Idol , broke in upon S. Mark , then engaged in the solemn celebration of Divine worship , and binding his Feet with Cords , dragged him through the streets and the most craggy places to the Bucelus , a Precipice near the Sea , and for that Night thrust him into Prison , where his Soul was by a Divine Vision erected and encouraged under the ruines of his shattered Body . Early the next Morning the Tragedy began again , dragging him about in the same manner , till his Flesh being raked off , and his Blood run out , his spirits failed , and he expired . But their malice died not with him , Metaphrastes adds that they burnt his Body , whose Bones and Ashes the Christians there decently intombed near the place where he was wont to Preach . His Body , at least the remains of it were afterwards with great pomp removed from Alexandria to Venice , where they are religiously honoured , and he adopted as the Tutelar Saint and Patron of that State , and one of the richest and stateliest Churches erected to his Memory , that the World can boast of at this Day . He suffered in the Month Pharmuthi , on the XXV . of April , though the certain Year of his Martyrdom is not precisely determined by the Ancients . * Kirstenius out of the Arabick Memoires of his Life says , it was in the Fourteenth or the last Year of Claudius ; S. ‖ Hierom places it in the Eighth of Nero. But extravagantly wide is * Dorotheus his computation , who makes him to suffer in the time of Trajan , with as much truth as ‖ Nicephorus on the other hand affirms him to have come into Egypt in the Reign of Tiberius . If in so great variety of Opinions I may interpose my conjecture , I should reckon him to have suffered about the end of Nero's Reign : For supposing him to have come with S. Peter to Rome about the Fifth or Sixth Year of Nero , he might thence be dispatched to Alexandria , and spend the residue of his Life and of that Emperor's Reign in planting Christianity in those parts of the World. Sure I am that * Irenaeus reports S. Mark to have out-lived Peter and Paul , and that after their decease he composed his Gospel out of those things which he had heard Peter preach . But whatever becomes of that , it is evident that Irenaeus supposed ( whose supposition certainly was not founded upon meer fancy and conjecture ) that S. Mark for some considerable time survived the Martyrdom of those two great Apostles . A passage that so troubled Christophorson ( one of those who in these later Ages first translated Eusebius into Latin ) because crossing the accounts of their Writers in this matter , that he chose rather to expunge the word , decease , and substitute another of a quite different sence , expresly contrary to the faith of all ancient Copies , and to the most ancient Version of Irenaeus it self . But to return . S. Mark as to his ‖ Person was of a middle size and stature , his Nose long , his Eye brows turning back , his Eyes graceful and amiable , his Head bald , his Beard prolix and gray , his Gate quick , the constitution of his Body strong and healthful . 5. HIS Gospel , the only Book he left behind him , was , as before we observed , written at the intreaty of the Converts at * Rome , who not content to have heard Peter preach , pressed S. Mark his Disciple , that he would commit to Writing an Historical account of what he had delivered to them : which he performed with no less faithfulness than brevity , all which S. Peter perused , ratified with his Authority , and commanded to be publickly read in their Religious Assemblies . And though , as we noted but now , Irenaeus seems to intimate that it was written after Peter's death : yet all that can be inferred hence will be , what in it self is a matter of no great moment and importance , that the Ancients were not agreed in assigning the exact time when the several Gospels were published to the World. It was frequently stiled S. Peter's Gospel , not so much because dictated by him to S. Mark , as because he principally composed it out of that account which S. Peter usually delivered in his Discourses to the People . Which probably is the reason of what * Chrysostome observes , that in his stile and manner of expression he delights to imitate S. Peter , representing much in a few words . Though he commonly reduces the story of our Saviour's Acts into a narrower compass than S. Matthew , yet want there not passages , which he relates more largely than he . The last Chapter of his Gospel , at least part of it , was ( as ‖ Hierom informs us ) wanting in all ancient Greek Copies , rejected upon pretence of some disagreement with the other Gospels , though , as he there shews , they are fairly consistent with each other . His great impartiality in his Relations appears from hence , that he is so far from concealing the shameful lapse and denial of Peter , his dear Tutor and Master , that he sets it down with some particular circumstances and aggravations , which the other Evangelists take no notice of . Some dispute has been made in what Language it was written , whether in Greek or Latin ; That which seems to give most countenance to the Latin Original , is the note that we find at the end of the Syriac Version of this Gospel , where it is said that Mark preached and declared his Holy Gospel at Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; in the Roman , or the Latin Tongue . An evidence that with me would almost carry the force of a demonstration , were I assured that this note is of equal value and authority with that Ancient Version , generally supposed to come very few Centuries short of the Apostolick Age. But we know how usual it is for such additions to be made by some later hand . And what credit is to be given to the subscriptions at the end of S. Paul's Epistles , we have shewed elsewhere . Besides , that it is not here said that he wrote , but that he Preached his Gospel at Rome in that Language . The Advocates of the Romish Church plead , that it 's very congruous and suitable , that it should at first be consigned to Writing in that Language , being principally designed for the use of the Christians at Rome . An objection that will easily vanish , when we consider , that as the Convert Jewes there understood very little Latin , so there were very few Romans that understood not Greek , it being ( as appears from the Writers of that Age ) the gentile and fashionable Language of those Times . Nor can any good reason be assigned , why it should be more inconvenient for S. Mark to write his Gospel in Greek for the use of the Romans , than that S. Paul should in the same Language write his Epistle to that Church . The Original Greek Copy , written with S. Mark' s own hand , is said to be extant at Venice at this Day . Written ( they tell us ) by him at Aquileia , and thence after many Hundreds of Years translated to Venice , where it is still preserved , though the Letters so worn out with length of time , that they are not capable of being read . A story which as I cannot absolutely disprove , so am I not very forward to believe , and that for more reasons , than I think worth while to insist on in this place . The End of S. Mark' s Life . THE LIFE OF S. LUKE the Evangelist . S. LUKE 2. COR. 8. 8. 19. The Brother , whose praise is in y e Gospel throughout all y e Churches : And not that onely , but who was also chosen of y e Churches to travell with us . St. Luke his Martyrdom . Col. 4. 14. Luke the beloved Physician . The brother whose Praise is in the Gospel . 2 Cor. 4. 11. We are delivered unto death for Jesus sake . Bearing in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus . Antioch S. Luke's birth-place . The fame and dignity of it . His learned and liberal education . His 〈◊〉 of Physick . His skill in Painting . S. Luke none of the Seventy , Converted , where , and by whom . His constant attendance upon S. Paul. In what parts he principally exercised his Ministry . The place , and manner of his Death . The translation of his Body to Constantinople . His Writings . Theophilus , who . His Gospel , where written , and upon what occasion . How fitted for it . The Acts of the Apostles written at Rome , and when . Why principally containing the Acts of S. Paul. This Book why publickly read just after Easter in the Primitive Church . S. Luke's polite and exact 〈◊〉 and way of writing above the rest . 1. SAINT Luke was born at Antioch , the Metropolis of Syria , a City celebrated for its extraordinary blessings and eminences , the pleasantness of its situation , the fertility of its soil , the riches of its Traffick , the wisdom of its Senate , the learning of its Professors , the civility and politeness of its Inhabitants , by the Pens of some of the greatest * Orators of their times : And yet above all these renowned for this one peculiar honour , that here it was that the Disciples were first called Christians . It was an University , replenished with Schools of learning , wherein were Professors of all Arts and Sciences . So that being born in the very lap of the Muses , he could not well miss of an ingenuous and liberal education , his natural parts meeting with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great improvements . Nay , we are * told , that he studied not only at 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 in all the Schools both of Greece and Egypt , whereby he became accomplished in all parts of Learning and humane Sciences . Being thus furnished out with skill in all the preparatory Institutions of Philosophy , he more particularly applied himself to the study of Physick , for which the 〈◊〉 Academies weremost famous ; though they that hence infer the 〈◊〉 of his Birth and Fortunes , forget to 〈◊〉 , that this noble Art was in those times generally managed by persons of no better rank than servants : Upon which account a Learned ‖ man conceives S. Luke , though a Syrian by birth , to have been a servant at Rome , where he sometimes practised Physick , and whence being manumitted , he returned into his own Country , and probably continued his profession all his life , it being so fairly consistent with , and in many cases so subservient to the Ministry of the Gospel , and the care of Souls . Besides his abilities in Physick , he is said to have been very skilful in * Painting , and there are no less than three or four several pieces still in being , pretended to have been drawn with his own hand ; a tradition which ‖ Gretser the Jesuit sets himself with a great deal of pains , and to very little purpose to defend , though his Authors , either in respect of credit or antiquity , deserve very little esteem and value . Of more authority with me would be an ancient Inscription found in a Vault near the Church of S. Mary in Via lata at Rome , supposed to have been the place where S. Paul dwelt , wherein mention is made of a Picture of the B. Virgin , U NA EX VII . A B. LUCA DEPICTIS , being one of the seven painted by S. Luke . 2. HE was a Jewish Proselyte , 〈◊〉 abounding with men of that Nation , who had here their Synagogues and Schools of Education , so that we need not with * Theophylact send him to Jerusalem to be instructed in the study of the Law. As for that opinion of ‖ 〈◊〉 and others , that he was one of the Seventy Disciples , one of those that deserted our Lord for the unwelcome discourse he made to them , but recalled afterwards by S. Paul , I behold it as a story of the same coin and stamp with that of S. Mark' s leaving Christ upon the same occasion , and being reduced by Peter , and that the one was made to answer the other ; as upon no better ground it is * said that he was one of those two Disciples that were going to Emaus . For besides the silence of Scripture in the case , he himself plainly confesses , that he was not from the beginning an Eye-witness and minister of the Word . Most probable it is , that he was converted by S. Paul during his abode at Antioch , when as the Apostles of catchers of Fish were become fishers of men , so he of a Physician of the Body became a Physician of the Soul. This , Nicephorus will have to have been done at Thebes , the chief City of 〈◊〉 , about forty miles from Athens , though it appears not to me by any credible Author that ever S. Paul was there . He became ever after his inseparable companion and fellow-labourer in the ministry of the Gospel , especially after his going into Macedonia , from which time in recording the History of S. Paul's travels , he always speaks of himself in his own person . He followed him in all his dangers , was with him at his several arraignments at Jerusalem , accompanied him in his desperate voyage to Rome , where he still attended on him to serve his necessities , and supply those ministerial Offices , which the Apostle's 〈◊〉 would not 〈◊〉 him to undergo , and especially in carrying messages to those Churches where he had planted Christianity . This infinitely endeared him to S. Paul , who own'd him for his fellow-labourer , called him the beloved Physician , and the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel , throughout all the Churches , which the Ancients , and especially * Ignatius , apply to our Evangelist . 3. PROBABLE it is that he did not wholly leave S. Paul till he had finished his course , and crowned all with Martyrdom , though there are that tell ‖ us , that he left S. Paul at Rome , and returned back into the East , travelled into Egypt and the parts of Libya , preached the Gospel , wrought Miracles , converted multitudes , constituted Guides and Ministers of Religion , yea , that he himself took upon him the Episcopal charge of the City of Thebais . Epiphanius gives us this account , that he first preached in Dalmatia , and Galatia ( he reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in Gaul , or France , and peremptorily affirms , that they are all mistaken that say that it was Galatia where Crescens preached , though some think that himself in the mean while is under the most confident mistake ) then in Italy and Macedonia , where he spared no pains , declined no dangers that he might faithfully discharge the trust committed to him . The Ancients are not very well agreed , either about the time or manner of his death , some affirming him to die in Egypt , others in Greece , the * Roman Martyrologie in Bithynia , ‖ 〈◊〉 at Ephesus ; some make him die a natural , others a violent death . Indeed neither Eusebius nor S. Hierom take any notice of it : But * Nazianzen , ‖ Paulinus Bishop of Nola , and several other expresly assert his Martyrdom , whereof * Nicephorus gives this particular account , that coming into Greece he successfully preached , and baptized many Converts into the Christian Faith , till a party of Infidels making head against him , drew him to execution , and in want of a Cross whereon to dispatch him presently , hanged him upon an Olive-Tree , in the eightieth ( the eighty fourth says ‖ S. Hierom ) year of his age . * Kirstenius from an ancient Arabick writer , makes him to have suffered Martyrdom at Rome , which he thinks might probably be after S. Paul's first imprisonment there , and departure thence , when S. Luke being left behind as his deputy to supply his place , was shortly after put to death , the reason ( says he ) why he no longer continued his History of the Apostles Acts , which surely he would have done , had he lived any considerable time after S. Paul's departure . His Body afterwards , by the command of Constantine , or his Son Constantius , was solemnly removed to Constantinople , and buried in the great Church built to the memory of the Apostles . 4. TWO Books he wrote for the use of the Church , his Gospel , and the History of the Apostles Acts , both dedicated to Theophilus , which many of the * Ancients suppose to be but a feigned name , denoting no more than a lover of God , a title common to every Christian. While others with better reason conclude it the proper name of a particular person , especially since the stile of most excellent is attributed to him , the usual title and form of address in those times to Princes and great men . ‖ Theophylact stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a man of Consular dignity , and probably a Prince ; the * Author of the Recognitions makes him a Nobleman of Antioch , converted by Peter , and who upon his conversion gave his house to the Church for the place of their publick and solemn meetings . We may probably suppose him to have been some Magistrate , whom S. Luke had converted and baptised , to whom he now dedicated these Books , not only as a testimony of honourable respect , but as a means of giving him further certainty and assurance of those things , wherein he had been instructed by him . For his Gospel , ‖ S. Hierom supposes it to have been written in Achaia during his travels with S. Paul in those parts , whose help he is generally said to have made use of in the composing of it , and that this the Apostle primarily intends when he so often speaks of his Gospel . But whatever assistance S. Paul might contribute towards it , we are sure the Evangelist himself tells us , that he derived his intelligence in these matters from those , who from the beginning had been eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word . Nor does it in the least detract from the authority of his relations , that he himself was not present at the doing of them ; for if we consider who they were from whom he derived his accounts of things , Habuit utique authenticam paraturam , as * Tertullian speaks , he had a stock both of credit and intelligence sufficiently authentick to proceed upon , delivering nothing in his whole History but what he had immediately received from persons present at , and concerned in the things which he has lest upon record . The occasion of his writing it , is thought to have been partly to prevent those false and fabulous relations which even then began to be obtruded upon the World , partly , to supply what seemed wanting in those two Evangelists that wrote before him ; and the additions or larger explications of things are particularly enumerated by ‖ Irenaeus . He mainly insists upon what relates to Christ's Priestly Office , and though recording other parts of the Evangelical story , yet it ever is with a peculiar respect to his Priesthood . Upon which account the Ancients in accommodating the four Symbolical representments in the Prophets Vision to the four Evangelists , assigned the Oxe or 〈◊〉 to S. Luke . 5. His History of the Apostolick Acts was written no doubt at Rome , at the end of S. Paul's two years imprisonment there , with which he concludes his story ; it contains the Actions , and sometimes the sufferings of some principal Apostles , especially S. Paul ; for , besides that his activity in the cause of Christ made him bear a greater part both in doing and suffering , S. Luke was his constant attendant , an eye-witness of the whole carriage of his life , and privy to his most intimate transactions , and therefore capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account and relation of them ; seeing no evidence or testimony in matters of fact can be more rational and convictive , than his who reports nothing but what he has heard and seen . Among other things he gives us a particular account of those great miracles which the Apostles did for the confirmation of their doctrine . And this ( as * Chrysostom informs us ) was the reason why in the Primitive times the Book of the Acts , though containing those Actions of the Apostles that were done 〈◊〉 Pentecost were yet usually read in the Church before it , in the space between that and Easter , when as at all other times those parts of the Gospel were read which were proper to the season , it was ( says he ) because the Apostles miracles being the grand confirmation of the truth of Christ's Resurrection , and those Miracles recorded in that Book , it was therefore thought most proper to be read next to the feast of the Resurrection . In both these Books his way and manner of writing is exact and accurate , his stile polite and elegant , sublime and lofty , and yet clear and perspicuous , flowing with an easie and natural grace and sweetness , admirably accommodate to an historical design , all along expressing himself in a vein of purer Greek , than is to be found in the other writers of the holy Story . Indeed being born and bred at Antioch ( than which no place more famous for Oratory and Eloquence ) he could not but carry away a great share of the native genius of that place , though his stile is sometimes allayed with a tang of the Syriack and Hebrew dialect . It was observed of old ( as * S. Hierom tells us ) that his skill was greater in Greek than Hebrew , that therefore he always makes use of the Septuagint Translation , and refuses sometimes to render words , when the propriety of the Greek tongue will not bear it . In short , as an Historian , he was faithful in his relations , elegant in his writings ; as a Minister , careful and diligent for the good of Souls ; as a Christian , devout and pious : and who crowned all the rest with the laying down his life for the testimony of that Gospel , which he had both Preached and Published to the World. The End of S. Luke's Life . DIPTYCHA APOSTOLICA : OR , A Brief Enumeration and Account of the APOSTLES and their SUCCESSORS , FOR THE First Three Hundred Years in the Five great Churches , said to have been Founded by them , thence called by the Ancients , APOSTOLICAL CHURCHES , VIZ. Antioch , Rome , Jerusalem , Byzantium or Constantinople , and Alexandria . ANTIOCH . THIS I place first , partly because 't is generally acknowledged even by the Romish Writers , that a Church was founded here by S. Peter some considerable time before that at Rome ; partly because here it was that the Venerable name of Christians did first commence . In which respect the ‖ Fathers in the Council at Constantinople under Nectarius in their Synodicon to them at Rome stile the Church of Antioch , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , The most Ancient , and truly Apostolical ; and * S. Chrysostom , The head of the whole World. The Succession of its Bishops till the time of Constantine ( which shall be the Boundary of this Catalogue ) was as followeth . I. S. Peter the Apostole ; who governed this Church at least 7. years . Nicephorus of Constantinople says Eleven . II. Euodius , who sat 23. years . In his time the Disciples were first called Christians at Antioch . III. Ignatius . After near 40. years Presidency over this Church he was carried out of Syria to Rome , and there thrown to wild Beasts in the Theatre , Ann. Chr. 110. Trajan 11. IV. Heron , he was Bishop 20. years : To him succeeded V. Cornelius , who kept the place 13. years , dying Ann. Chr. 142. VI. Eros , 26 , or as Eusebius , 24. years . VII . Theophilus , 13. a man of great Parts and Learning , many of his Works were extant in Eusebius his time , and some of them we still have at this day . VIII . Maximinus , 13. he dying , the next that was chosen was IX . Serapio , 25. many of his Works are mentioned by Eusebius and S. Hierom. To him succeeded X. Asclepiades , a man of great worth and eminency , and invincible constancy in the time of persecution ; he continued in this See 9. years . XI . Philetus , 8. XII . Zebinus , or Zebennus , he sat 6. years . XIII . Babylas , 13. after many conflicts and sufferings for the Faith , he received the crown of Martyrdom under Decius ; and commanded his Chains to be buried with him . XIV . Fabius , or as the Patriarch Nicephorus calls him , Flavius , possessed tho Chair 9. years . He was a little inclining towards Novatianism . XV. Demetrianus , he sat Bishop , says Nicephorus 4 , says Eusebius , 8. years . XVI . Paulus Samosatenus sat in the chair 8. years , when for his Unepiscopal manners and practices , his unsound Dogmata and principles , and especially his mean and unworthy opinions concerning our Saviour , he was condemned and deposed by a Synod at Antioch , whose Synodical determination is at large extant in 〈◊〉 . XVII . Domnus succeeded in the place of the deposed . He was son to Demetrian , Paulus his predecessor in that See ; constituted and ordained to the place by the Fathers of that Synod , who farther give him this honourable character , that he was a man indued with all Episcopal vertues and ornaments . Eusebius makes him to have sitten 6 , Nicephorus but 2. years . XVIII . Timaeus , he sat in the chair 10. years . XIX . Cyrillus , who presided over that Church in the account of Nicephorus 15 , of Eusebius 24. years . XX. Tyrannus , he sat 13. years ; in his time began the tenth Persecution under Dioclesian , which rag'd with great severity . XXI . Vitalis , 6. XXII . Philogonius , 5. succeeded by XXIII . Paulinus , or as Nicephorus calls him , Paulus , who after five years was deposed and driven out by the prevalency of the Arrian faction . XXIV . Eustathius , formerly Bishop of Beroea , a learned man , and of great note and eminency in the Council of Nice , the first general Council , summoned by the Great Constantine , after he had restored peace and prosperity to the Church . ROME . THE foundation of this Church is with just probabilities of reason by many of the Fathers equally attributed to Peter and Paul , the one as Apostle of the Circumcision preaching to the Jews , while the other probably as the Apostle of the Uncircumcision preached to the Gentiles . Its Bishops succeeded in this order . I. S. Peter and S. Paul , who both suffered Martyrdom under Nero. II. Linus , the son of Herculaneus , a Tuscan ; he is mentioned by S. Paul , he sat between 11. and 12. years . III. Cletus , or Anacletus , or Anencletus , supposed by many to be the same person , ( though others who reckon 〈◊〉 a Greek , born at Athens , make them distinct , whom yet we have left out , not being mentioned by 〈◊〉 ) a Roman , the son of AEmilianus , sat 9 , though others say but 2. years . IV. Clemens , a Roman , born in Mount Caelius , the son of Faustinus , near a kin , say some , to the Emperor : He was condemned to dig in the Marble-Quarries near the Euxin Sea , and by the command of Trajan with an Anchor about his neck thrown into the Sea. He was Bishop of Rome 9. years , and 4. months . V. Euarestus , by birth a Greek , but his Father a Jew of Bethlehem . He is said to have been crowned with Martyrdom the last year of Trajan , in the ninth of his Bishoprick , or as others , the thirteenth . VI. Alexander , a Roman , though young in years , was grave in his manners and conversation . He sat 10. years and 7. months , and died a Martyr . VII . Xystus , or Sixtus , a Roman , he was Martyred in the tenth year of his Bishoprick , and buried in the Vatican . VIII . Telesphorus , a Greek , succeeded ; Just in the Martyr flourished in his time . He died a Martyr , having sat 11. years , and 3. months ; 10. years , 8. months say others : and lies buried near S. Peter in the Vatican . IX . Hyginus , the son of an Athenian Philosopher was advanced to the Chair under Antoninus Pius : He sat 4. years ; Eusebius says 8. X. Pius , an Italian , born at Aquilcia , he died having been Bishop 11. years , and 4. months ; according to Eusebius , 15. years . XI . Anicetus , born in Syria : He is said after 9 , or as others , 11. years to have suffered Martydom , and was buried in the Via Appia in the Cemetery of Callistus . In his time Polycarp came to Rome . XII . 〈◊〉 , or as Nicephorus calls him , Soterichus , was a Campanian , the son of Concordius . There was an intercourse of Letters between him and Dionysius Bishop of Corinth . He died after he had sat 9. years , or as Eusebius reckons , 7. XIII . Eleutherius , born at Nicopolis in Greece . To him Lucius King of Britain sent a Letter and an Embassy . He sat 15. years , died Ann. Chr. 186. and lies buried in the Vatican . XIV . Victor , an African , the son of Felix , a man of a furious and intemperate spirit , as appeared in his passionate proceedings in the controversie about the observation of Easter . He was Bishop 10. years . Onuphrius assigns him 12. years , and one month . XV. Zephyrinus , a Roman , succeeded , and possessed the chair 8 , but as others , 18. years ; 20. says Onuphrius . A pious and learned man , but a little warping towards the Errors of Montanus . XVI . Callistus , or Calixtus , the son of Dòmitius , a Roman ; a prudent and modest man. He suffered much in the persecution under Alexander Severus , under whom he became a Martyr , being thrown into a Well by the procurement of Ulpian the great Lawyer , but severe enemy of Christians . He sat 6. years , or 5. as others , and one month ; and though he made a Cemetery , called after his own name , yet was he buried in that of Calepodius in the Appian way . XVII . Urbanus , the son of Pontianus , a Roman , after 4 , or as some , 6. years , he suffered martyrdom for the Faith : Eusebius has 5 , S. Hierom in his translation 9. He was buried in Pretextatus his Cemetery in the Appian way . XVIII . Pontianus , the son of Calphurnius , a Roman ; for his bold reproving the Roman Idolatry he was banished into the Island Sardinia , where he died ; he was Bishop about 3. or 4 , or as Eusebius , 5. years . XIX . Anteros , a Greek , the son of Romulus . He died by that he had kept his place one month , though others without reason make him to have lived in it many years , and was buried in the Cemetery of Callistus . XX. Fabianus , a Roman , he was unexpectedly chosen Bishop , while several others being in competition , a Pigeon suddenly descended , and sat upon his head , the great emblem of the Holy Spirit . He died a martyr after 14. years ; buried in the same place with his predecessor . XXI . Cornelius , a Roman , he opposed and condemned Novatian : frequent Letters passed between him and Cyprian . After somewhat more than two years he was first cruelly whipp'd , and then beheaded : buried in a Vault within the Grange of Lucina , near the Appian way . XXII . Lucius , a Roman , sat 2 , or as others , 3. years . He suffered martyrdom by the command of Valerian , and was buried in Callistus his Cemetery . XXIII . Stephanus , a Roman , the son of Julius : Great contests were between him and Cyprian about rebaptizing those who had been baptized by Hereticks . He was beheaded after he had sat about 2. or 3. years , though others say 7 ; and buried with his predecessor . XXIV . Xystus , a Greek , formerly a Philosopher of Athens . After 1 , or as other compute , 2. years , and 10. months he suffered martyrdom , Eusebius reckons it 8. years . XXV . Dionysius , of a Monk 〈◊〉 Bishop , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in the judgment of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria , a truly learned and admirable person . The time of his Presidency is uncertainly assign'd , 6 , 9 , 10 , 11. Eusebius extends it to 12. years . XXVI . Felix , a Roman : In his time arose the Manichaean Heresie . He suffered about the fourth or fifth year of his Episcopacy , and lies buried in the Aurelian way , in a Cemetery of his own , two miles from Rome . XXVII . Eutychianus , a Tuscan , a man exceedingly careful of the burial of martyrs , after one years space was himself crowned with martyrdom : Eusebius allows him but 8. months , Onuphrius 8. years and 6. months . XXVIII . Caius , or as Eusebius calls him , Gaianus , a Dalmatian , kinsman to the Emperor Dioclesian , and in the persecution under him became a martyr . He sat 11. years , some say longer . 〈◊〉 , 15. years : He was beheaded and buried in Callistus his Cemetery . XXIX . Marcellinus , a Roman : Through fear of torment he did sacrifice to the gods ; but recovering himself , died a martyr , after he had sat 8 , or 9. years . He was beheaded , and buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla in the Salarian way . To him succeeded XXX . Marcellus , a Roman ; he was condemned by Maxentius the Tyrant to keep Beasts in a stable , which yet he performed with his prayers and exercises of devotion . He died after 5. years , and 6. months , and was buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla . XXXI . Eusebius , a Greek , the son of a Physician . He suffered much under the Tyranny of Maxentius . He sat 6. years say some , 4. say others , though Eusebius allows him but 7. months , Onuphrius 1. year , and 7. months ; he was buried in the Appian way near Callistus his Cemetery . XXXII . Miltiades , an African . He might be a Confessor under Maxentius , but could not be a martyr under Maximinus , as some report him . He sat 3. or 4 , though others assign him but 2. years : and was buried in the Cemetery of Callistus . XXXIII . Silvester , a Roman . He was elected into the place Ann. Chr. CCCXIV . fetch'd from the mountain Soracte , whither he had fled for fear of persecution . He was highly in favour with Constantine the Great . He sat 23 , Nicephorus says 28. years . JERUSALEM . THE Church of Jerusalem may in some sence be said to have been founded by our Lord himself , as it was for some time cultivated and improved by the Ministery of the whole Colledge of Apostles . The Bishops of it were as followeth . I. S. James the Less , the Brother of our Lord , by him , say some , immediately constituted Bishop , but as others more probably by the Apostles : He was thrown off the Temple , and knock'd on the head with a Fullers club . II. Symeon , the son of Cleopas , brother to Joseph , our Lord 's reputed Father . He sat in this chair 23. years , and suffered martyrdom in the reign of Trajan , in the one hundred and twentieth year of his Age. III. Justus succeeded in his room , and sat 6. years . IV. Zachaeus , or as Nicephorus the Patriarch calls him , Zacharias , 4. V. Tobias ; to him after 4. years succeeded VI. Benjamin : who sat 2. years . VII . John : who continued the same space . VIII . Matthias , or Matthaeus , 2. years . IX . Philippus , one year : next came X. Seneca , who sat 4. years . XI . Justus , 4. XII . Levi , or Lebes , 2. XIII . Ephrem , or Ephres , or as Epiphanius stiles him , Vaphres , 2. XIV . Joseph , 2. XV. Judas , 2. Most of these Bishops we may observe to have sat but a short time , following one another with a very quick succession . Which doubtless was in a great measure owing to the turbulent and unquiet humour of the Jewish Nation , frequently rebelling against the Roman powers , whereby they provoked them to fall heavy upon them , and cut off all that came in their way , making no distinction between Jews and Christians : as indeed they were all Jews , though differing in the Rites of their Religion . For hitherto the Bishops of Jerusalem had successively been of the Circumcision , the Church there having been intirely made up of Jewish converts . But Jerusalem being now utterly laid waste , and the Jews dispersed into all other Countries , the Gentiles were admitted not only into the body of that Church , but even into the Episcopal chair . The first whereof was XVI . Marcus , who sat 8. years . XVII . Cassianus , 8. XVIII . Publius , 5. XIX . Maximus , 4. XX. Julianus , 2. XXI . Caianus , 3. XXII . Symmachus , 2. XXIII . Caius , 3. XXIV . Julianus , 4. XXV . Elias , 2. I find not this Bishop mentioned by Eusebius ; but he is recorded by Nicephorus of Constantinople . XXVI . Capito , 4. XXVII . Maximus , 4. XXVIII . Antoninus , 5. XXIX . Valens , 3. XXX . Dulichianus , 2. XXXI . Narcissus , 4. He was a man of eminent piety , famous for the great miracles which he wrought : but not being able to bear the aspersions which some unjustly cast upon him ( though God signally and miraculously vindicated his innocency ) he left his Church , and retired into desarts and solitudes . In his absence was chosen XXXII . Dius , who sat 8. years . After him XXXIII . Germanio , 4. XXXIV . Gordius , 5. In his time Narcissus , as one from the dead , returned from his solitudes , and was importuned by the people again to take the government of the Church upon him ; being highly revercuced by them , both for his strict and Philosophical course of life , and the signal vengeance which God took of his accusers . And in this second administration he continued 10. years , suffering martyrdom when he was near 120. years old . To relieve the infirmities of his great Age , they took in to be his Colleague XXXV . Alexander , formerly Bishop in Cappadocia , who at that time had out of devotion taken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; the choice being extraordinarily designed by a particular revelation from Heaven . He was an eminent Confessor , and after having sat 15. years , died in prison under the Decian persecution . By him Origen was ordained Presbyter . He was a great Patron of Learning as well as Religion , a studious preserver of the Records of the Church . He erected a Library at Jerusalem , which he especially furnished with the Writings and Epistles of Ecclesiastical persons . And out of this treasury it was that Eusebius borrowed a great part of his materials for the composing of his History . XXXVI . Mazabanes , 9. years . XXXVII . Hymenaeus , 23. XXXVIII . Zabdas , 10. XXXIX . Hermon , 9. he was , as Eusebius tells us , the last Bishop of this See before that fatal persecution that rag'd even in his time . XL. Macarius , ordain'd Ann. Christ. CCCXV. He was present in the great Nicene Council . He sat , says Nicephorus of Constantinople , 20. years , but S. Hierom allows him a much longer time . BYZANTIUM , afterwards called CONSTANTINOPLE . THAT this Church was first founded by S. Andrew , we have shewed in his Life . The succession of its Bishops was as followeth . I. S. Andrew the Apostle . He was crucified at Patrae in 〈◊〉 . II. Stachys , whom S. Paul calls , his beloved Stachys , ordained Bishop by S. Andrew ; he sat 16. 〈◊〉 . III. Onesimus , 14. IV. Polycarpus , 17. V. Plutarchus , 16. VI. Sedecio , 9. VII . Diogenes , 15. Of the last three no mention is made in Nicephorus of Constantinople , but they are delivered by Nicephorus Callistus , lib. 8. c. 6. p. 540. VIII . Eleutherius , 7. IX . Felix , 5. X. Polycarpus , 17. XI . Athenodorus , 4. he erected a Church called Elea , afterwards much beautified and enlarged by Constantine the Great . XII . Euzoius , 16. though Nicephorus Callistus allow but 6. XIII . Laurentius , 11. years and 6. months . XIV . Alypius , 13. XV. Pertinax , a man of Consular dignity , he built another Church near the Sea-side , which he called , Peace . He sat 19. years , which Nicephorus Callistus reduces to 9. XVI . Olympianus , 11. XVII . Marcus , 13. XVIII . Cyriacus , or Cyrillianus , 16. XIX . Constantinus , 7. In the first year of his Bishoprick he built a Church in the North part of the City , which he dedicated to the honour of Euphemia the Martyr , who had suffered in that place . In this Oratory he spent the remainder of his life , quitting his Episcopal Chair to XX. Titus , who sat 35. years and 6. months , though Nicephorus Callistus makes it 37. years . After him came XXI . Dometius , brother ( as they tell us ) to the Emperor Probus , he was Bishop 21. years 6. months . XXII . Probus succeeded his Father Dometius , and sat 12. years . As after him XXIII . Metrophanes his brother , who governed that Church 10. years . And in his time it was that Constantine translated the Imperial Court hither , enlarged and adorned it , called it after his own name , and made it the seat of the Empire . XXIV . Alexander succeeded , a man of great piety and integrity , zealous and constant in maintaining the truth against the blasphemies of Arrius . He sat 23. years . ALEXANDRIA . THE foundations of this Church were laid , and a great part of its superstructure rais'd by S. Mark , who though 〈◊〉 strictly and properly an Apostle , yet being an Apostle at large , and immediately commissionated by S. Peter ; it justly obtained the honour of an Apostolical Church . Its Bishops and Governours are thus recorded . I. S. Mark the Evangelist , of whose travels and martyrdom we have spoken in his Life . Nicephorus of Constantinople makes him to sit two years . II. Anianus , charactered by Eusebius , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a man beloved of God , and admirable in all things . He ruled in that Throne 22. years . III. Avilius , 12 , or as Eusebius , 13. IV. 〈◊〉 , succeeded about the first year of Trajan ; he sat 10. years , according to Eusebius , 11. V. Primus , 12. VI. 〈◊〉 , or Justinus , 10. VII . Eumenes , 10 , or as Eusebius , 13. S. Hierom in his translation calls him Hymenaeus . VIII . Marcus or Marcianus , 13 , or as Eusebius , 10. IX . Celadion , 10 , but in Eusebius his computation , 14. X. Agrippinus , 14 , according to Eusebius , 12. XI . Julianus , 15 , though Eusebius allows but 10. XII . Demetrius , 21 , but Eusebius more truly makes him to have governed that Church no less than 43. years . He was a man of great zeal and piety , and underwent many troubles in the persecution at Alexandria . He was at first a great friend to Origen , but afterwards became his enemy , laying some irregularities to his charge : partly out of emulation at the great reputation which Origen had gained in the world ; partly , in that Origen had suffered 〈◊〉 to be ordained Presbyter by two other Bishops , Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem , and Theoctistus of Caesarea . XIII . Heraclas , a man of a Philosophical genius , and way of life . He was educated under the institution of Origen , and by him taken to be his Assistant in the School of the Catechumens , the whole government whereof he afterwards resigned to him ; and upon the death of Demetrius he was advanced to the government of that Church , the care whereof he took for 16. years ; though Nicephorus of Constantinople by a mistake , I suppose , for his predecessor , makes it 43. XIV . 〈◊〉 , 17. He was one of the most eminent Bishops of his time . He was one of Origen's Scholars , then preferr'd first Master of the Catechetical School at Alexandria , and afterwards Bishop of that See. In the persecution under Decius he was banished first to Taposiris , a little Town between Alexandria and Canopus ; then to Cephro , and other places in the Desarts of Libya . But a large account of his own and others sufferings , with many other transactions of those times , we have out of his own Letters , yet extant in Eusebius . He died in the Twelfth year of the Emperor Gallienus . XV. Maximus ; of a Presbyter he was made Bishop of Alexandria ; he sat in that Chair 18. years according to Eusebius his computation , though Nicephorus of Constantinople assign but 8. XVI . Theonas , 17 , or according to S. Hierom's Version of Eusebius , 19. To him succeeded XVII . Petrus , 12. He began his office three years before the last persecution . A man of infinite strictness and accuracy , and of indefatigable industry for the good of the Church . He suffered in the ninth year of the persecution , with the loss of his head , gaining the crown of Martyrdom . After whose death came in the prosperous and happy days of the Church , Constantine the Great turning the black and dismal scene of things into a state of calmness and serenity . XVIII . Achillas , 9 , though Nicephorus of Constantinople allows him but one year . By him Arius upon his submission was ordained Presbyter . XIX . Alexander , 23 , under him Arius began more openly to broach his Heresie at Alexandria , who was thereupon excommunicated and thrust out by Alexander , and shortly after condemn'd by the Fathers of the Council of Nice . ERRATA . 〈◊〉 . Pag. 15. line 17. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 22. l. 6. for silent , r. 〈◊〉 . p. 31. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 47. l. 51. for were , r. 〈◊〉 . Lives of the Apostles . Introduct . p. 7. l. 20. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Book , p. 2. l. 27. r. 〈◊〉 . p. 9. l. 12. dele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 11. l. 17. for lawful , r. careful . p. 32. l. 45. r. 〈◊〉 . p. 33. l. 15. for of , r. 〈◊〉 . p. 36. marg . over against l. 32. r. 〈◊〉 . p. 43. l. 54. r. Man. p. 84. l. 17. after , the , add 〈◊〉 , p. 87. l. 33. for This , add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 109. l. 52. after , he , add had . Some other literal mistakes the Reader , I hope , will amend . In the 〈◊〉 words these two letters , Daleth and Resh , are not sufficiently distinguished . FINIS . A Brief Catalogue of Books newly Printed and Reprinted for R. Royston , Bookseller to his Most Sacred Majesty . THE Works of the Reverend and Learned Henry Hammond , D. D. containing a Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical , with many Additions and Corrections from the Author' s own hand ; together with the Life of the Author , enlarged by the Reverend Dr. Fell , Dean of Christ-Church in Oxford . In large Folio . A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament , Briefly explaining all the difficult Places thereof . The Fourth Edition corrected . By H. Hammond , D. D. In Folio . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Or , a Collection of Polemical Discourses addressed against the enemies of the Church of England , both Papists and Fanaticks , in large Folio , by Jer. Taylor , Chaplain in Ordinary to K. Charles the First of Blessed Memory , and late Lord Bishop of Down and Conner . The Second Part of the Practical Christian , consisting of Meditations and Psalms , illustrated with Notes , or Paraphrased ; relating to the Hours of Prayer , the ordinary Actions of Day and Night , and several Dispositions of Men. By R. Sherlock , D. D. Rector of Winwick . An Answer to a Book , Entituled , A Rational Compendious way to Convince without dispute all persons whatsoever dissenting from the true Religion ; by J. K. By Gilbert Burnet . In Octavo new . The Royal Martyr , and the Dutiful Subject , in two Sermons : By Gilbert Burnet . New. The Christian Sacrifice , a Treatise shewing the Necessity , End and Manner of Receiving the Holy Communion , &c. The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to : or , a Book of Devotions for Families , &c. Both written by the Reverend S. Patrick , D. D. in 12. A Serious aud Compassionate Enquiry into the Causes of the present Neglect and Contempt of the Protestant Religion and Church of England , &c. Considerations concerning Comprehension , Toleration , and the Renouncing the Covenant . In Octavo , new . Animadversions upon a Book , Entituled , Fanaticism Fanatically imputed to the Catholick Church : by Dr. Stillingfleet , and the Imputation Refuted and Retorted by S. C. The Second Edition . By a Person of Honour . In Octavo . Reflections upon the Devotions of the Roman Church . With the Prayers , Hymns and Lessons themselves , taken out of their Authentick Authors . In Three Parts . In Octavo . Go in Peace . Containing some brief Directions for young Ministers , in their Visitation of the Sick. Useful for the People , in their state both of Health and Sickness . In 12. New. Conformity according to Canon Justified ; and the new way of Moderation Reproved : A Sermon Preached at Exon , in the Cathedral of S. Peter , at the Visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God , Anthony by Divine permission Lord Bishop of Exon. By William Gould . In Quarto . New. A Visitation Sermon preached in the Cathedral at Exon. By John Prince , Minister of the Gospel at S. Martins , Exon. A Sermon preached at the Oxfordshire-Feast , Novemb. 25. 1674. In the Church of S. Michael's Cornhill , London . By John Woolley , M. A. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A63641-e460 In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 16. Tom. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notes for div A63641-e760 Lib. de 〈◊〉 . pag. 350. 〈◊〉 . XXVII . in Genes . Tom. 2. p. 285. Notes for div A63641-e1030 Heb. 1. 1 , 2. * Talm. Trast . Sanbedr . cap. Halce . & alibi . vid. Menass . Ben Isr. d● Resurrect . lib. 3. c. 3. & Concil . Quast . xxx . in Genes . Rom. 2. 14 , 15. Gen. 4. 6 , 7. Gem. Babyl . T● . Sanhedr . cap. 7. fol. 56. Maimond . Tr. Me lak . cap. 9. & al ●● passim ap . Judaeos . vid. Sel●en de Jur. N. & G. l. 1. c. 10. & de Synedr . Vol. 1. c. 2. p. 8. Job 31. 26 , 27 , 28. Job 1. 6. Job 31. 29 Job 31. 9 , 10 , 11. Vers. 5. 7. Chap. 24. 2 , 3 , 4 , & seq . Chap. 31. 11-28 . Gen. 9. 3 , 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Porphyr . de 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. Sect. 47. p. 39. 〈◊〉 . V. 5 , 6. 〈◊〉 . 17. 11. Gen 17. 9 , 10 , 11. * Talm. Tract . Jeban . 〈◊〉 . 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Mor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 49. p. 506. Gen. 6. 2 , 3. Gen. 18. 19. Gen. 18. 2. Exod , 4. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , XVIII , in 〈◊〉 . p. 173. Tom. 2. Gen. 15. 17. Psalm 20. 3. 〈◊〉 P. 〈◊〉 . in Gen. 4. Gen. 8. 20. Gen. 12. 7 , 8. 〈◊〉 . chap. 13. 4. 18. Gen. 21. 33. Judg 6. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 13. Deut. 16. 21. 〈◊〉 . 13. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . LXX . Ita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliter 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . 18. 1. * Antiquit. Jd. l. 1. c. 11. p. 19. * 〈◊〉 loc . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 Arboch . ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Hist. Ec. l. lit . 2. c. 4. p. 447. Gen. 4. 30 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 , 19. 22. Exod. 24. 5. Gen. 49. 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 71. col . 1. ap . Selden . de success . ad leg . Ebr. c. 5. p. 45. Heb. 12. 16. Gen. 3. 21. Levit. 7. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Homil. XVIII . in 〈◊〉 . p. 174. Heb. 11. 4. Gen. 4. 4 , 5. Antiquit. Jud. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Smeg . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 8. p. 226. & seqq . Gen. 4. 26. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. Sect. 1. ‖ Vid. ap . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cit . p. 230. * Dionys. Voss. not . in 〈◊〉 . p. 4. 〈◊〉 . de Hist. Patr. 〈◊〉 . 6. p. 223. ‖ R. Eliez . Maas . Beres . 〈◊〉 . 22. ibid. Gen. 6. 2. * Elmacin . ap . 〈◊〉 . p. 233. Id. 〈◊〉 . p. 234. * Elmac. & Patric . apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supr . p. 235. Gen. 5. 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. 5 , 6. Gen. 5. 29. Gen. 6. 9. Antiqu. Jud. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 4. p. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syria . p. 882. 〈◊〉 . 2. Genes . 11. 〈◊〉 . 7. 11. 5. 32. 10. 21. 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 〈◊〉 . Antiq. Jud. l. 1. c. 7. p. 15. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 8. 〈◊〉 Hotting . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 8. p. 291. conser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . part . 3. 〈◊〉 . 29. p. 421. Mor. 〈◊〉 . Part. 2 cap. 39. p. 301. Gen. 12. 5. Gen. 14. 14. Heb. 6. 13 , 14. 2 Pet. 2. 7 , 8. Gen. 24. 63. Gen. 26. 28 , 29. Antiq. Jul. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 19. p. 31. Gen. 49. 10. Heb. 7. 15. Heb. 7 3. 〈◊〉 . 12. in Hebr. p. 1838. Heb. 7. 4 , 5 , 6 , 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . Ibid. Ver. 6. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Part. 3. cap. 22. p. 395. Anz. 〈◊〉 , de 〈◊〉 . Turcic . Epist. 1. p. 94. Phil. lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 350. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Evangel . lib. 7. c. 6. 〈◊〉 . 304. Demonstrat . Evangel . lib. 1. cap. 5. & 6. p. 9 , 10. &c. & 〈◊〉 . supr . 〈◊〉 . Antiq. Jud. l. 2. c. 5. p. 56. R. Ellez . c. 48. apud Hotting . Smeg . Orient . c. 8. p. 402. 〈◊〉 . 5. 27. Ver. 24 , 25 , 26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 57. Heb. 12. 21. Deut. 4. 13. 〈◊〉 . 29. 1 Cor. 5. 7. 8. 〈◊〉 . 11. 1-10 . Rom. 15. 12. Rev. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 141. 2. Psalm 26. 6. Isa. 61. 1 , 2. Luke 4. 18. Heb. 10. 1. John 1. 17. Jom . cap. 4. fol. 39. ap . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 218. 〈◊〉 . 33. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ap . 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . Div. c. 23. p. 338. R. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de Num. 〈◊〉 . ap . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 〈◊〉 . Exod. 28. 30. Numb . 27 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de Vaticin . lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 3. Hos. 3. 4. Joan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 & Thum. Edit . 〈◊〉 . 1670. 8. 〈◊〉 . Jom . cap. 7. Sect. 5. pag. 167. Dr. 〈◊〉 . H. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 3. 17. Vid. 〈◊〉 . Mor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. cap. 45. p. 317. Exod. 33. 11. 〈◊〉 . 12. 6 , 7 , 8. Adv. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . XLVIII p. 176. Ibid. pag. 177. Nizz. p. 159. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Th. Phil. l. 2. c. 3. p. 564. 2 〈◊〉 , 19. 〈◊〉 . 2 Chron. 34. 3. 2 Chron. 36. 14. 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib. 12. c. 19. p. 425. Lib. 15. cap. 2. p. 512. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 958. Jos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jud. l. 17. c. 8. p. 596. & de 〈◊〉 . Jud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 21. p 772. H. Eccl. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 10. p. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jud. l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 872. Joseph . 〈◊〉 l 20. c. 8. pag. 698. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cap. 1. Sect. 1. 2 , 3. p. 1. Jad Chozak . ex quo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prolixum 〈◊〉 Jos. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . div . 〈◊〉 . 9. & 〈◊〉 . ubi varias 〈◊〉 de Legis 〈◊〉 origine & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Vid. Buxtorf . de 〈◊〉 . p. 222. & de Synag . Jud. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 . Thes. Phil. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 3. Mark 7. 2 , 3 ; & sequ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Syn Jud. c 11. p. 236 Mark 7. 2 〈◊〉 . Vid. Lud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corban . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . 15. 5 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Gemar . 〈◊〉 . p. 273. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Phil. l. 1. c. 1 , Sect. 5 , p. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . R. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 104. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Th. Phil. l. 1. c. 1. p. 27. 〈◊〉 . not . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 147. 〈◊〉 . p. 6. Vid. Joseph . 〈◊〉 Jud. l. 18. c. 2 p. 617. & de 〈◊〉 Jud. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 788. 〈◊〉 . Aboth . cap. 1. 〈◊〉 3. p. in . 1. Joseph . de 〈◊〉 . Jud. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 788. 〈◊〉 . Jud. l. 18. c. 2. p. 617. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 5. 〈◊〉 . 17. p. 80. 〈◊〉 . Phil. lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liber . p. 876 , 877. Joseph . Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. p. 617. 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 785. & seqq . Col. 2. 18. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. Comm. in Matth. 22. p. 66. Tom. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Matth. 16. 6. Mark 8. 15. Deut. 18. 〈◊〉 . 18 , 19. Psalm 22. 〈◊〉 . Psalm 16. 10. Psalm 68. 18. Psalm 110. 1. 〈◊〉 . 7. 14. -61. 1 , 2. -53. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. 〈◊〉 . 5. 2. Dan. 9 24 26 Mal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 4. 5 , 6. 〈◊〉 . in Joan. 1. 15. 2 Kings 1. 8. Luk. 1. 80. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 268. Maim . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cap. 13. 〈◊〉 . Jac. Alting . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . VII . ds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 25. p. 249. Numb . 15. 16. Ibid. Sect. 24. p. 248. Exod. 19. 10. Vid. R. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 87. col . 2. ibid. 〈◊〉 . 6. 2. Joh. 1. 25. Mark 1. 4. Antiquit. Jud. lib. 18. c. 7. p. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 David Part. 1. ad Ann. 770. Millen . 4. & 〈◊〉 . Templi secund . 〈◊〉 . 54. col . 4. Heb. 8. 6. 〈◊〉 . 1. 17. Acts 15. 10. Heb. 8. 6. 1 〈◊〉 2. 25. 2 Tim. 1. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 22. p. m. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Sect. 23. ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. 8 3. Heb. 7. 18. Isai. 44. 3. 4. 〈◊〉 . 36. 26. 27. 2 Cor. 3. 6. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 10 , 11. Joh. 14. 16. 17. Ephes. 4. 8. 〈◊〉 . 3. 6. 〈◊〉 7. 39. Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Psal. 76. 1 , 2. Psal. 147. 19. 20. Act. 14. 16. E , hes . 2. 13. 1 Thes. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 16. 15. Rom. 10. 〈◊〉 . Tit. 2. 11. Cololl . 1. 13. 〈◊〉 . 3. 28. Act. 10. 35. 〈◊〉 . 56. 7. Psal. 122. 4. Joh. 4. 21-23 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 755. 〈◊〉 . 17 7. 1 〈◊〉 9. 〈◊〉 . Gen. 17. 8. 〈◊〉 12 , 14. 〈◊〉 . 23 , 14. Exod. 21. 6. 1 Sam. 2. 36. Heb. 13. 20. Rev. 14. 6. Heb. 1. 1 , 2. Heb. 12. 28. Luke 11. 23. 24. Notes for div A63641-e27730 * — 〈…〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vis 〈◊〉 perit , si 〈…〉 Facere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & summa 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quem 〈◊〉 pudebunt . Lucan . 〈◊〉 . 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Epiph. Panar . l. 1. tom . 1. num . 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magis 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agit quam ut naturam collapsam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Erasm. in 11. 〈◊〉 . Mat. Ratio Dti 〈◊〉 est humanis rebus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est hominibus bene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , si non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à summo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de C●●● . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de Diis , 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict. 〈◊〉 . 38. * 〈◊〉 Somn. 〈◊〉 . Gen. 2. 24. Claudian , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gurth . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Androm . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is praprium , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parentum 〈◊〉 prius , qui 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 buerant 〈◊〉 , Philo , * Animus 〈◊〉 liberalitatis materiam , 〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Senec. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 10. 23. * Num. 4. a Anual . 6. b In Gorgia , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Lucian . in 〈◊〉 . " Rhadamanthus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Claudian . de Rufin . lib. 1. Rom. 7. 13. Rom. 5. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . De rep . l. 1. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A. Gel. l. 11. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Dial . 〈◊〉 . Tryph. * Rom. 1. 25 , 26 , &c. Rom. 1. 28 , &c. Ver. 25 , 26. 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . Gal. 3. 19. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 . 10. 16 , 17. Polyd. Virg. 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 5. c. 8. Maxim. Tyr. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Apud Lactant , l. 7. c. 23. Just. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad Orthodox . ad qu. 83. Tertul. adv . 〈◊〉 . 2. 2. Maimon . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 32. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tob. 4. 16. Dixit Mimus , Ab a●io exspectes alteri quod free●is . * Singulorum interess , si universi regantur . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Dividit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. 1. Sat. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , natis 〈◊〉 alma 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : hos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Virg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 7. c. 7. Rom. 7. 23. Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M. Anton , l. 9. Psal. 〈◊〉 12. 9. 1 Ep. Joh. 2. 7 , 8 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocl . Oedip. — Hoc Reges habent 〈◊〉 & ingens , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dies , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Senec. 〈◊〉 . — Mollissima corda Hamano 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natura fatetur , 〈◊〉 lacrymas dedit ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pars optima sens●s Juven . Sat. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Tyrius in 〈◊〉 An 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 injurid . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand . Eurip. Orest. * 〈…〉 regit ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concilia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 Cor. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Phil. 〈◊〉 . 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Arist. l. 6. Eth. cap. 7. Polynic . apud Eurip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Arist , Ethic. l. 2. Notes for div A63641-e32850 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. 21. 2 Kings 3. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 . Rom. 8. 29. Ibid. Rom. 13 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis ? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : probat , imitatur , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , Caenum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 animos 〈◊〉 abrupta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calamitate ducitis 〈◊〉 hominibus 〈◊〉 volentibus sacinorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exemplis . Julius Firmic . de Error . prof . Relig. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 optimus 〈…〉 est . Vellei . 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Eurip. Ion. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod aliquando factum 〈◊〉 . Exempla 〈◊〉 , qua jam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Cyprian . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. 1 〈◊〉 . h 2. 6. 〈◊〉 . Ep. 11. 〈◊〉 , lib. 3. & 13. & Theognis de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . Hoc 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Narratur & piisci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mero 〈◊〉 . Horat. Majorum & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Graei 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suas amicis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & alibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidem an 〈◊〉 : quid n. de 〈◊〉 curarent , quam 〈◊〉 tam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? O 〈◊〉 Attica , O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exemplum ! 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philosophus & Censor . Tertul. Apolog. c. 39. 1 Cor. 15. 49. Dictum 〈◊〉 Abbat . apud S. Bernardum in 〈◊〉 S. Mal. Lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 6. 21. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Notes for div A63641-e35060 * — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beato 〈◊〉 Matris babens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honore , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visa 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉 & Deum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 , ad 〈◊〉 Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Greg. * Quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : quod si 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 alicujus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Primasius . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 6. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 1 Matth. S. 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 . * S. Bernard . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sumit . 1 John 1. 9. Psal. 111. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philostr . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appollon . l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 7. Non 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sed 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justifi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ambros. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Euseb. l. 1. c. 6. Histor. Eccles. Anno scil . tertio Olympiad . 194. Caesare Augusto & Plautio Silano Coss. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Chrysost. hom . 8. in Matth. 〈◊〉 Suidam in verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. lib. 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Juxta propheticum illud , Isa. 33. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sed hanc periodum Judaei erasirunt ex Hebraeo textu . Sic & Symm●●bus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my●●●● Bethlehem , sive Domus panis , indig●tatur . Vide Waddingum pag. 270. Ezek. 44. 2. Hab. 3. v. 4. In medio animalicum cognosceris . Sic Lxx. Vin. Beda de lotis sanctis , c. 8. S. Hieron . Epist. 48. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; Diphilus . 1 Cor. 16. 22. Col. 2. 3. * Quod si pudica 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domum 〈◊〉 dulces 〈◊〉 : ( Sabina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magis . &c. Hor. Epod. 2. Naturale 〈◊〉 : partim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Joseph . Orig. 16. 10. Apud A. 〈◊〉 l. 12. c. 1. Cant. 4. 5. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Si prohibes , furit in mammis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miscet , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sammatth , 〈◊〉 . (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alimenta suis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bibunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Id. Obliter 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elementis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patrem atque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , magnam partem non natural's ille 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 civilis & opinabilis . Phavor . apud A. Gellium . * Nam Gracchorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accepimus 〈◊〉 Matrem . Quint. l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 1. Protinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 factus , acrem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curam impendat , ante omnia 〈◊〉 sit vitiosus serme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , si 〈◊〉 posset , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Quint. lib. 1. cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 . l. de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Aristoph . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 proverb . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . unt 〈◊〉 tigres . Vir. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Necessitat , 〈…〉 . Senec. Sueton. in vita , V. sp . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ciceron . de Divin . 〈◊〉 , 1. 6. 1. 22. Suidas in 〈◊〉 Verb. Augustus . Orosius . Esa. 11. 6. * 〈◊〉 to tempore , i. e. 〈◊〉 anno , quo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 composuit , 〈◊〉 est Christus ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pax 〈◊〉 famulata 〈◊〉 : in cujus ortu audientibus hominibus exsultantes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Gloria in 〈◊〉 Dro , & in 〈◊〉 a Pax , &c. P. Orosius . Num. 24. 17. Epiphan . in Expos. sid . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 8. * Et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Timaeum Platonis . Leo 〈◊〉 : 4. de Epiphan . 〈◊〉 . Ambros. in 2. Lu. 6. Leo , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Theophil . in 〈◊〉 . 2. S. Bernard , in Serm. 2. de 〈◊〉 . * Phil. 4. 18. Psal. 141. 2. Revel . 5. 8. * 〈◊〉 . 8. 4. 〈◊〉 M. Dial. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tertul. 〈◊〉 . 3. contra Marcion . c. 13. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vas incrustare . 〈…〉 homo , illi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pinguis damus — Simplicior si 〈◊〉 — 〈…〉 planè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 Serm. 〈◊〉 1. 〈◊〉 3. Tit. 2. 11. 〈◊〉 intellectum qui 〈◊〉 signum . S. Leo , Ser. 1. de 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AEschyl . Persis . * AEschyl . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Piaga 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si 〈◊〉 puo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animisqus duri , Et 〈◊〉 suâ Bessi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oves sacti , duce 〈◊〉 , gregantur Pacis in 〈◊〉 . Nox ubi quondam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angelorum , Et 〈◊〉 Justus quibus ipse 〈◊〉 Vixit in autris . S. Paulinus in reditu 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. 9. c 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr . l. 4. de Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 3. * 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Arist. 2. Top. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stob. 〈◊〉 . 250. * — 〈…〉 . Horat. 〈…〉 . l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 ep . Timoth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 JESV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 21. 11. in casu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 H. John 4. 34. S. 〈◊〉 . episs . ad 〈◊〉 . Hispan . Idem in 19. Matth , 28. Fidelis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moras , fugit 〈◊〉 , ignorat tarditatem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , parat oculos visui , aures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voci , manus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pedes : 〈◊〉 se colligit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colligat voluntatem . S. Bernard . Serm. de Obedient . Et barbaris 〈◊〉 servilis , 〈◊〉 exsequi Regium . Tacit. l. 6. Annal. Luke 16. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parva , tamen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , si collecta 〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grande peccatum , S. Aug. l. 50. 〈◊〉 . 50. 〈◊〉 lib. de Poenit. 〈◊〉 venialla si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ut à 〈◊〉 sponsi 〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod non 〈◊〉 criminale dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 25. sect . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. August . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 libidinum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat. Od. 18. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . 1. 1 Pet. 13. 2. Heb. 13. 7. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsos imperium 〈…〉 . l. 3. Od. 1. Rom. 13. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 3. 20 , 22. 〈◊〉 . 6. 5 , 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. x. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 os hominis liberi 〈…〉 assium 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 percusserat , jussit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 25 asses , 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tab. 〈◊〉 . A. Gel. l. 20. c. 1. Heb , 10. 25. Vide Par. 2. Dise . 10 , 〈◊〉 . 11. * Is 〈…〉 . l. 130. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in to 〈◊〉 est quod bonum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sen. 〈◊〉 . 23. Collat. 18. c. 17. 〈…〉 . l. 1. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . ad . A. D. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 20. & S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. B 〈◊〉 D 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 〈◊〉 . * 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 . A. 〈◊〉 . l. 9. 〈◊〉 . 13. 〈◊〉 . 7. 13. 1 Sam. 15. 23. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Rodriquez in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; and Sir Thom as More against 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prima , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjugii sidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Plin. l. 10. 〈◊〉 . 33. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. l. 4. Psal. 1. 2. Psal. 119. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . * Serm. 1. de assumpt . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Psal. 50. 〈◊〉 * Acts 10. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Chapter 11. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 vidit 〈◊〉 dum 〈◊〉 averat . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , atque 〈◊〉 toto sibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — quod de Apolline dixit Lucanus . Qualis erat 〈◊〉 sive ecstasis Balaami , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vidit , excidens , sed retectis oculis , Num. 24. 4 , 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. ibid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Apol. 〈◊〉 dit 〈◊〉 ordinaria : sd Onuphrius in Fastis ait 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post Christum natum 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. cap. 4. * 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 23. in Evang. Matth. S. 〈◊〉 . homil . 〈◊〉 Humana Christi 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 Christi , Cyril . adv . 〈◊〉 . * In 〈◊〉 , cap. 8. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 2. 13. Euseb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 20. S. Athanas. lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Palladius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 . * Isa. 19. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Pallad . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Heb. 13. 5 , 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dubia pro 〈◊〉 solent 〈◊〉 inere 〈◊〉 . Seneca Oedip. Hestis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Christum 〈◊〉 quid times ? Non 〈◊〉 terrestria Qui regna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Qui 〈◊〉 duro saevus imperio regit , T 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , metus in authorem eadit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 quae dixit Ammian . Marcel . l. 17. & Epistolas S. 〈◊〉 M. l. 4. 〈◊〉 . 32 , 34 , 36. & l. 6. 〈◊〉 . 30. l. 7. indict . 1. 〈◊〉 . 30. & Concil . Africanum , quo 〈◊〉 est Cael stinus Papa , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , quae lucem simplicitatis & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 videre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , videamur inducere . AEtas 〈◊〉 habills ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad coronam ; & ut appareret innocentes esse qui propter Christum 〈◊〉 , infantia innocens occisa est . S. Cyprian . Athenagoras dixit Infantes resurrectures , sed non ventures in judicium . Mark 6. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privilegium 〈◊〉 , ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod publicâ lege 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dependitur . Leo De 〈◊〉 . 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serm. A. Publica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privatis , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devotio , 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unus est animus & 〈◊〉 sensus . Heb. 10. 25. Niceph , lib. 1. c. 14. S. Chrys. Hom. de Nativ . S. Jo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Gen. 21. 17. 1 King. 19. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curvi setis 〈◊〉 cameli , Contra 〈◊〉 molles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 artus , As en 〈◊〉 graves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Paulinus . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de S. Babyla . * Satiatis & expletis 〈◊〉 est carere quàm 〈◊〉 . Cicero de 〈◊〉 . In 〈…〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ‖ James 3. Petrus Cellensis , l. 4. 〈◊〉 . 12. In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ep. 4. * Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Quint. Maxims pars 〈◊〉 sol litur , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Senec. S 〈◊〉 . Malum quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , nemo arguit ; ubi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Euseb. hist. 11. 6. c. 3. Theod. l. 4. c. 23 , 24. 〈◊〉 est illi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui omnem 〈◊〉 mundum 〈◊〉 quod quid m in terris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hominum jure sociali , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Cicer. Somn. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , S. Basil. 〈◊〉 11. 13 〈◊〉 Tim. 6. 〈◊〉 2. Cor. 5. 6. Rom. 8. 13. O quàm 〈◊〉 res 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super humana se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. 6. 7. 2 〈◊〉 . 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 16 〈◊〉 . 2 Cor. 7. 4. Rom. 5. 3. Rom. 5. 3. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 . 29 21. 1 Cor. 9. 27. Rom. 6. 4. Heb. 12. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 1. and 4. 1. Rom 7. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ad 〈◊〉 . Huic 〈◊〉 , vie 〈…〉 super , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — De Catone dixit 〈◊〉 ; & de 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 rigidam in 〈◊〉 desc as 〈…〉 , 2 Sam. 23. 17. Apud Pal'ad . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , à 〈◊〉 plura 〈◊〉 . Hor. Gal. 6. 17. 2 Cor. 4. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Fp. 20. 〈◊〉 l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 22 , 〈◊〉 . Alex , 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 3. 5. 〈◊〉 8. Vt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈…〉 . Vt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. Heb. 13. 9. Rom. 14. 17. 1 〈◊〉 . 4. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 1. in 〈◊〉 . * 〈…〉 . Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Disc. of 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 , Sotus , Scotus , &c. * Acts 19. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Quast . ad Orthod . 37. Dial. 〈◊〉 . advers . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Clem. Constit. 〈◊〉 . 1. 7. c. 23. * Symbolum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Just. Mart. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ebion . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 . 1. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 3. 22. Cap. 17. de gloria Martyr . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In Pontifical Rom. * 〈◊〉 Cor. 10. 〈◊〉 . 2. 3. Gal. 3. 14. 27. 〈◊〉 Per. 3. 21. 〈◊〉 Cor. 12 7. 13. Matth. 3. 2 , 6. Justin , Mart , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . 1. c. 1. 〈◊〉 . 5. 26. 〈◊〉 . 10. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. 21. Rom. 6. 4. * Scil. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 2. 1. Jam. 1. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in S. Bapt. S. Hie. on . in 4. cap. Matt. * 〈◊〉 , mi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , si 〈◊〉 unquam 〈…〉 , S. 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 . 2 Cor. 12. 9. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quandam admonitio 〈◊〉 , quum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 . S. Chrysost. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dii quoque 〈◊〉 In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. 7. 19. 23 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Rom. 3. 7. Gal. 2 18. 1 Cor. 6. 12. & 10. 23 , 29 , 30. & 13. 2. Rom. 7. 8 , 11. 〈◊〉 22. verse 25. verse 23. Gal. 5. 24. Rom. 〈◊〉 . 6 , 12 , 14. Rom. 8. 2. Gal. 5. 17. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7. 14. Rom. 8. 6. Rom. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without strength , that is , ungodly . Vide August . l. 2. c 17. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & Anchir . 81. Gal. 5. 24. S. August . lib. de 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 17. &c. 19. Vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 Sam. 6. cap. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. vers . Rom. 9. 3. 〈◊〉 . 2. in Explicat . of the 〈◊〉 . 1. Com. Theod. l. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 omne malum mundique 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , genus , & 〈◊〉 , & vim , Quid sint , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Prud. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 21. 27. 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cadere ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Aug. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Act. 17. 28. b Heb. 4. 13. c 〈◊〉 . 9 , 9. Jer. 23. 24. d Psal. 94. 9. e Psal. 139. 12. 〈◊〉 6. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non n. 〈◊〉 ac studiis ut haberentur phils . sophi laberabant ; sed 〈◊〉 & tristitiam , & dissentientem à cater is habitum , pessimis meribus praetendebant . Quintil. l. 1. 〈◊〉 . Ambitio & 〈◊〉 & impotentia sienam desiderans ; sanabis ista , si 〈◊〉 . Sence . 〈◊〉 . 95. Magna vobis , si dissimular 〈◊〉 vultis , injecta 〈◊〉 probitatis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agitis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judicis 〈◊〉 cernentis . Boeth . l. 5. Censol . presâ ult . Acts 17. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aliquem habeat animus 〈…〉 . Quid prodest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deo. Senec. l. 1. ep . 15. * 〈…〉 lera simulac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pudore & 〈◊〉 , suo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Tacit. 〈◊〉 . 6. 〈◊〉 . 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sophocl . Tota philosophia nihil est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Plato . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 , Phil. Dies 〈…〉 quod ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 102. Psal. 119. 109. Psal. 90. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 que 〈…〉 . l. 2. 〈◊〉 . 14. 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Theog . In 〈◊〉 monach . Matth. 26. 41. * — His 〈…〉 . Hor. l. 2. 〈◊〉 . 18. * Lib. 3. 13. John 4. 14. 1 Pet. 3 21. 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , imago in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . S. Ambr. 1 Cor. 10. 1 , 2. (a) 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . c. 40 (b) 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 1. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 4. 2. 〈…〉 . (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. 〈◊〉 . 1. (b) Acts 8. 16. Acts 2. 38. (c) Matth. 28. 19. Mat h. 28. 19. Mark 16. 16. John 3. 5. Gen 17. 14. S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 46 , 59. Heb. 6. 1. S. August . 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . 1. de Cat. 〈◊〉 . Just. Martyr . Apol. 2. Acts 2. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril . Hierosol . 〈◊〉 . 2. * 1 Cor. 12. 13. ‖ Acts 13. 48. * John 3. 5. Titus 3. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc. l. 4. Orth. fid . c. 10. Lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Lib 5. 〈◊〉 . Ezek. 36. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Symb. 〈◊〉 . Lib. 1. c. 3. in 〈◊〉 . * Acts 22. 16. ‖ Eph. 5. 26. * Lib. 5. adv . 〈◊〉 . c. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gr. prov . Annon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Origen . 〈◊〉 15. in 〈…〉 & expiare vix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 submersum est , & de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 creditore transactum est . Ambros. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 7. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Baptismo non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in mari 〈◊〉 . AEgyptios non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Greg. M. l. 9. 〈◊〉 . 39. Arator l. 2. Hist. Apostol . Rev. 7. 14. 1 John 1. 7. 〈◊〉 22. 16. Tu. 3. 5. * 〈◊〉 John 5. 8. Heb 9 14. 〈◊〉 . 3. 4 , 5. Theodor. 〈◊〉 . de div . 〈◊〉 . cap. de Bapt. Lib. de 〈◊〉 c. 23. & 〈◊〉 . 124. in Joan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 13. p. 487. Gal. 3. 26. Verse 29. Verse 27. Heb. 10. 16 , &c. 〈◊〉 19 &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 29. 2 Pet. 1. 9. 〈◊〉 Par. 2. 〈◊〉 . 9. of Repentance , 〈◊〉 . 9. ad 31. Paul. Ep. 12. ad S●enum 1 Cor. 12. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. S. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . S. c. 15. * 2 Cor. 1. 22. ‖ 〈◊〉 . 1. 13. Eph. 4. 30. John 6. 27. S. 〈◊〉 . Hieros 〈◊〉 . 3. S. 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . 28. 〈◊〉 . 10. 32. * 〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 . 6. 4. 1 John 2. 20. 〈◊〉 27. 1 John 3. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 13. a Rom. 6. 7. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch . b ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c 〈◊〉 . 5. d 〈◊〉 . 6. Vide Disc 9. of Repentance , n. 46. 〈◊〉 . 6. 3 , 5. Col. 2. 12. 〈◊〉 16. 16. 〈◊〉 . 3. 5. Niceph. 1. 7. c. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. 〈◊〉 . 6. 〈◊〉 , lib. 7. 〈◊〉 . 7. Psal. 34. 7. Heb. 1. 14. Basil. Theod. Epiphan . Nazianz . Col. 2. 2. Cyril . 〈◊〉 . Dionyl . Areop . Aug. 〈◊〉 . 2. c. 13. contra Crescon . Gram. 〈◊〉 16. 16. Acts 2. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Res. 〈◊〉 . Ad 〈◊〉 . Jul. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 2. adv . Parm. Clem. Alex , lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . c. 6. Acts 10. 〈◊〉 . Aug. de moribus 〈◊〉 . Cath. l. 1. c. 35. Bern. Serm. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dom. Acts 8. 37. Acts 2. 38. Acts 3. 15. Matth. 9. 29. Mark 9. 23. Matth. 8. 13. * Matth. 9. 28. John 4. 50. John 6. 44. Mark 10. 15. 〈◊〉 17. 20. * 〈◊〉 21. Luke 18. 16. Luke 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; 1 〈◊〉 1. 2. 2 Thess. 1. 3. Rom. 8. 30. Eccles. 1. 15. * Sect. 25 , &c. 〈◊〉 . 17. 1 , &c. 〈◊〉 . 11. 13 , 15. 14. 16. Ron. 4. 11. 7 , 8. 3 , 5 , 12. Rom. 4. 11 , 13. 17 , 13. Gal. 3. 14. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 3. 5. 〈◊〉 . 5. 17 , 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. Prosper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. a lv . Pelag. Lib. 1. in initio . Lib. de Baptis . c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 1 John 1. 〈◊〉 . Ep. a l 〈◊〉 , l. 3. ep . 8. S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . 9. Nisi quis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , non infantem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ambr. 〈◊〉 Abrah . Patrlib . 2. 〈◊〉 11. Lib. 2. c. 11. 〈◊〉 Abrah . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 49. 22. Horat. l. b. 1. 8. at . 6. L. 2 c. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Clementis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. in 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 . 8. Hom. 8. in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 , c. 39 , & 〈◊〉 . S. Cyprian . op . ad Fidum . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 40. 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it . 〈◊〉 . 52. 15. 1 〈◊〉 . 1. 2. Aqua 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima 〈…〉 . m. 23. 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Alex. Concil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transcripsit & transmisit Eruditissimus vir , & linguarum orientallium 〈◊〉 gnarus , Du. 〈◊〉 , J. V. D. & Juris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 publicus in Academia Dul 〈◊〉 apud Hi bernos , prosessor 〈◊〉 uarum Orientalium apud eosdem . Notes for div A63641-e74390 (a) John 1. 20 , 21. (b) V. 23. (c) V. 26. (d) V. 27. (e) V. 15 , 27 , 30. (f) Chap. 3. 30. (g) Matt. 3. 11. Joh 11. 29 , 36. V. 37 , 39. S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 17. c. 1. in Joan. * 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Clem. Alex , 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 in exposit . general . Rev. 2. 10. 〈◊〉 . 5 6. Ch. 6. 15. 1 〈◊〉 . 7. 19. Gal. 5. 6. John 8. 39. Rom. 4. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Rom. 16. 〈◊〉 . * 〈…〉 Rom. 1. 16 , 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 . Heb. 12. 2. Ibid. v. 1. 〈◊〉 4. Jam. 2. 20 , 26. Verse 21. Verse 23. Verse 22. (a) 1 Thess. 1 , 8 , 9. (b) Heb 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 Thess. 3. 2. (c) Col. 3. 6. (d) Gal. 5. 20. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2. & 5. 6. 1 Tim. 5. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Apoc. 14. 12. 2 〈◊〉 . 3. 2. (a) 1 〈◊〉 5. 4. (b) Heb. 11. 33 (c) Acts 15. 9. Luke 18 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 12. 14. 〈◊〉 . 5. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , re 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae in nobis est cum mortali compage 〈◊〉 . Ab his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : omnibus — uni autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 animi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & ejus qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 capiatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rerum illecebris . Phil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Quis 〈◊〉 Div. haeres . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Credere in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , credendo diligere , 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ire , & membris ejus 〈◊〉 . Gloss. ord . in Rom. 4. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Rom. 8. 10. Titus 3. 8. John 3. 36. * Montanistae , & cum bis Tertul. adv . Ma●●ion l. 4. c. 34. aiunt Philippum desconctum fuisse , & in●● probare satagunt secondas nuptiaes illicitas esse . Sed haec tam apertâ fraude , ut ag●ns adv . Catholices Tertulllianus abstineat abs sam iniqua recitatic●● Marioni autem Evangelicum neganti hoc obs●udere in facili erat . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 5. 〈◊〉 , l 39. Plut. in 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Jos. Ant. 〈◊〉 . 18. c. 7 lib. Hist. c. 20. G. n. 31. 32. Psal. 〈◊〉 . 34. 〈◊〉 . 22. 〈◊〉 , 20. 〈◊〉 . 1 〈◊〉 9. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Religiosum est quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gel. l. 4. c. 9. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regum , Jul. 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 . (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 ad crandum in 〈◊〉 loci 〈◊〉 : sit una communis 〈◊〉 , una mens , una sies in charitate & side 〈◊〉 in Christum Jesum ; quo 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 . Omnes velut unus quispiam ad Templum Dei concurrite , velut ad unum altare , ad unum Jesum Christum , &c. S. Ignat. ad Magnes . 1 Cor. 11. 22. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnibus 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 6. * Psal , 27 4 , 〈◊〉 , 6. Isa. 6. 1. Psal. 138. 1. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , LXX . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Psal. 〈◊〉 . 17. 〈◊〉 16. in 〈◊〉 & de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 , in c. 1. 〈◊〉 . Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Christus 〈◊〉 . R. Canutus in Leg. 〈◊〉 . c. 4. Angeli siquidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 19. 30. Psal. 87. 2. Matth , 23. 17. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 , in omne 〈…〉 non 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 ? 〈◊〉 , de 〈◊〉 . c. 1. Con. Gang. c. 5. 1 Cor. 14. 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 . pl●bs devota veni , pérque haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Simplicius P. in expositione Ecclesiae S. Andreanae in Roma . Delicta Majorum im●●eritus l●●s , Romane , donec templa refeceris , AEdèsque labentes Deorum , & Foeda nigro simulachro ●●●o . Hor. l. 3. cd . 6. In pictatis notatur Zeno , qu●d dixerit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Et 〈◊〉 Gentium mos erat aras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , nemoribus , & montium jugis , iò quò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includendos non esse dix●●ant . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Philo. * Quid cum tanto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacerdotio 〈◊〉 convent●sque ageret . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Gravitas honesta , diligentia attonita , cura solicita , apparitio devota , & processio modesta . Terr . de praescript . Confluunt ad Ecclesiam costâ celebri●ate , honestâ utriusque sexûs discretione . S. Aug. l. 2. c. 28. de Civit. Dei. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo legat . ad Caium . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem . Quin demus id superis — Compositum jus s●sque animus , sanct●sque recessus Mentis , & incoctum generoso pectus honesto : Hec cedò ut admoveam templis , & ●arre litabo . Pers. Sat. 2. * 〈◊〉 gratiorem existimari qui delubris Deorum param 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quàm qui 〈◊〉 carmen 〈◊〉 . Plin. Sec , Pan. Trajan . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr . de Non esu 〈◊〉 . l. 2. Optimus animus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ( a ) Psal. 26. 6. ( b ) 1 Cor. 3. 17. Matth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eurhym . 〈◊〉 in Joan. Apud 〈◊〉 l. 2. c. 3. 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 solos deducere verpos . Juv. 〈◊〉 . 14. Joseph , 〈◊〉 , l. 18. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph , de 〈◊〉 . Jud. l. 1. c 5. & l. 3. c. 2. & l. 5. c. 3. Epiph. contr . Eb. bares . 30. * Cod. Theod. de 〈◊〉 , Joseph . l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jud. 〈◊〉 . 33. 〈◊〉 Mare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 templi ad aquarum 〈◊〉 . * Cicero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 13. & in 〈◊〉 . pro Plancic . (a) 〈◊〉 ad Quint. Fratrem de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asian . (b) Vita Publicanorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , impunita rapina , 〈◊〉 nullâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , V. 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud 〈◊〉 textum D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicti Parisim , 〈◊〉 proprio 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicti Gabaim ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gabella . (a) Lib. 7. 〈◊〉 . c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Sozomen . l. 5. c. 20. Johan . Damas. 〈◊〉 imagin . 〈◊〉 . 3. ex 〈◊〉 Johan . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ait , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philippo 〈◊〉 Trachonitidis 〈◊〉 , ut liceret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in memoriam 〈◊〉 beneficii . Mark 5. 26. 〈◊〉 8. 43. Lib. 4. 〈◊〉 Imagin . cap. 15. Epiphan . in Panar . lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 51. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , adversus 〈◊〉 alios 〈◊〉 odium . Tacit. ‖ Quae nubis toties non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Offendor 〈◊〉 simpliciore 〈◊〉 . Martial . 〈◊〉 . 1 Pet. 2. 12. Tit. 3. 10. 2 Epjst. John 10. Irenae . l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 3. Euseb. l. 3. c. 13. Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 p. 3. 〈◊〉 . 5. de Jejun , decimi 〈◊〉 . Gregor . l. 3. dial . 3. 13. * 1 〈◊〉 . 14. 35 * Quam B. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 probat Baronius . John 5. 44. 〈◊〉 . 4. Hist. 〈◊〉 . 23. Lurida 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in corum 〈…〉 . Lucret. lib. 4. Lib. de Baptis . Simul & quod gaudes & quod times 〈◊〉 . Seneca . Gal. 3. 19. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Act. 20. 21. Heb. 2. 16. Lev. 20. 10. Luke 24. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & infrequens , 〈◊〉 dum sapientiae Consultus erro , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , atque 〈◊〉 cursus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 34. Rom. 6. 4. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Rom. 5. 1. 〈◊〉 3. 5. 7. Rom. 3. 26. Gal. 2. 16. Rom. 3. 24. 25 , 26. Vers. 28. Vers. 27. 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 〈◊〉 . 1. 18. Mar. 1. 15. Act. 3. 19. Act. 2. 38. Mar. 16. 16. Eph. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Mart. Dial. cum 〈◊〉 . * Act. 8. 37. & 10. 47. & 16. 15 , 33. a Rom. 3. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ratio 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 quos Dominus in 〈◊〉 , Mauh . 20. 〈◊〉 dimum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ratio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 nos conduxerat , vers . 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cui respondes Christus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril . Hier of . Act. 3. 19. 〈◊〉 latio 〈◊〉 meruisset in fine de 〈◊〉 suo 〈◊〉 , non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptiz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tune enim baptizatus est , qui tune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Cruce confessus est : 〈◊〉 enim , si in extremo 〈◊〉 hiatu 〈◊〉 , sanat & liberat in ablutione Baptismi . IBi 〈◊〉 qul , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , nunquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cùm jam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , won sie 〈◊〉 acquirunt quod volunt . S. Aug. cap. Nullus de 〈◊〉 . dist . 7. Vide Part 3. Consid. of Crucifix , of Jesus . 1 Pet , 2. 24. Luk. 1. 73 , & 〈◊〉 . Tit. 2. 11 , 12. Vers. 13. 14. Rom. 6. 2 , 3 , 4. Ib. v. 6. * Vitia Catechumeno non 〈◊〉 fidell , imd & Polygamia ante 〈◊〉 sacerdotibus non 〈◊〉 obicem . S. 〈◊〉 in fin . Apol. 1. centra 〈◊〉 . S. Aug. de 〈◊〉 conjugali , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agitur , non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Nam in Baptismo omnia peccata 〈◊〉 . Can. Apost . 17. Concil . Eliber . c. 30 , 31. 〈◊〉 post 〈◊〉 rursus 〈◊〉 igni destinatur : sicut & homo qui post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tertul. de Baptis . Nune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , alios mores 〈◊〉 . Ante obitum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. 4. Verse 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1. 21 , 22 , 23. * 2 Pet. 1. 9. Heb. 12. 14 , 15. Heb. 10. 22. 〈◊〉 . 16 , 17. Heb. 10. 23 , 26. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Rom. 8. 10. Gal. 5. 24. 1 John 3. 9. Jam. 1. 18. Gal. 6. 1. James 5. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Can. Apost . 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . Can. 〈◊〉 . * 1 Joh. 1. 9. Apocal. 2. 5. See Discourse 6. of Baptism . Heb. 6. 4 , 6. Heb. 10. 26 , 29. Quid igitur ? 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 ? Haud . quaquam : sed 〈◊〉 per novum 〈…〉 est ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apestolo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & renovationis 〈◊〉 sancti . Theophyl . in hunc locum . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 10. 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sed jam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. de 〈◊〉 . c. 7. Hujus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 . c. 9. Act. 8. 22 , 23. 〈◊〉 . 22 , 23 , 1 〈◊〉 2 , 1 , 2. 2 〈◊〉 . 2 , 20 , 21. 〈◊〉 amissos 〈◊〉 Lana resert 〈◊〉 fuco : Nee 〈◊〉 virtus , 〈◊〉 semel excidit . Curat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. 〈◊〉 . 3. Od. 5. 2 Pet. 2. 14. 2 Sam. 12. 13 , 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophoel . Psal. 32. 1 , 2. Rom. 4. 7. 1 John 1. 6 , 7. Rom. 13. 12 , 13 , 14. 1 Pet. 1. 15 , 14. 2 Pet. 3. 11. 1 John 3. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 1. Heb. 12. 1. 1 John 1. 5. 7. 2 Pet. 1. 4. Ibid. v. 5 , &c. Veri boni aviditas tuta est . Quid sit istud , interrogas , aut unde subeat ? dicam : ex bona conscientia , ex honestis consiliis , ex rectis actionibus , ex contemptra fortuitorum , ex placido vitae & continuo tenore unam prementis viam . Sen. ep . 23. * Verse 8 , 9. * Bonum ex 〈◊〉 causa , malum ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( qued 〈◊〉 Diodorum Siculum ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . Heb. 12. 14 , 15 , 16. 1 John 5. 16. Rom 6. 7. Esay 22 14. Gen. 31. 42. Matth. 18. 35. Rom. 11. 22. Verse 27. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Acts 3. 19. Hnit 〈◊〉 promittitur 〈◊〉 remissio in seq . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (c) Matt. 12. 41 (d) 〈◊〉 . 3. 8. 〈◊〉 . 10. Ezek. 18. 27. Ezek. 33. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polybius . Vide 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexan. 〈◊〉 . l. 2. ubi ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6. 1. Apocal. 2. 5. Gal. 6. 1. Matth. 3. 8. 2 Pet. 1. 4. 5. 2 Cor. 7. 10. (a) Ro. 12. 2. * Tit. 3. 5. (b) Jam. 4. 8. (c) Gal. 5. 24. * Col. 3. 5. ‖ 1 Cor. 5. 7. (a) Eph. 5. 14. (b) Rom. 13. 13. (c) Joh. 3. 3. Rom. 13. 11. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Eradenda Cupidinis Pravi sunt 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Hor. l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl . in Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl . Nam 〈◊〉 qui ex 〈◊〉 propesisis in alia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nè transiliunt 〈◊〉 , sed 〈◊〉 quodam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pessunt , suspensi & vagi ? Seneca 〈◊〉 . * Gal. 6. 15. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 Cor. 7. 19. ‖ Gal. 6. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 9. Matatus — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ! ( quoties 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 videris 〈◊〉 ) Quae mens est 〈◊〉 , cur 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non redeunt 〈◊〉 ? Hor. lib. 4. Od. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Epict. c. 75. * Et quis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui , quod ad sese 〈◊〉 , aquum censeat quenquam poenas dare ob tam rem quod arguatur male 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , opinor . — 〈◊〉 si henorem non 〈◊〉 est habere ob eam rem , quod 〈◊〉 facere 〈◊〉 quis dicit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tamin ; 〈◊〉 tale 〈◊〉 , non quòd malè 〈◊〉 , sed quia 〈◊〉 dicuntur 〈◊〉 . Orat. M. Catonis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . apud A. Gellium , l. 7. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 facto 〈◊〉 astimatio . D. dereg . Jur. * Matr. 13. 15. ex Isa. 6. 9 , 10. Mark 4. 12. Luke 8. 10. Joh. 12. 40. Acts 28. 27. Rom. 11. 8. Audies plorosque dicontes , A quinquagesimo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 annul 〈◊〉 me 〈◊〉 . Et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Senec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 Pet. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Repub. * Nequit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , si adversû 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cap. 4. Ante 〈◊〉 curandum 〈◊〉 ut homo bene 〈◊〉 ; in senectute 〈◊〉 , ut 〈◊〉 moriatur . Seneca . O si compunct as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ante 〈◊〉 mutare , 〈◊〉 exspectare 〈◊〉 Fata 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; ergd 〈◊〉 spatium nobis dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cl-mentia sese 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plangamus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 licet , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Avit . Bis jam penè tibi consul 〈◊〉 irstat , Et numeras paucos vix iua vita dies . Mart. l. 1. ep . 16. Vide S. Ambros. l. 2. de 〈◊〉 . c. 1. & 11. S. Aug in l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 41. S. Basil. orat . 4. S. Bernard , in parvis 〈◊〉 . ser. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temporis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat. l. 3. Od. 29. Vita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , data est sine 〈◊〉 nobis Mutua , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 quod sit 〈◊〉 vitae spatium ? 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Qui ad illam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non longissimum 〈◊〉 , sed maximum . Senec. Malè vivunt qui 〈◊〉 vivere 〈◊〉 . Non 〈◊〉 stare paratus ad mortem , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vivere . Quidam vivere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; quidam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quám 〈◊〉 . Senec. 〈◊〉 . 23. 〈◊〉 est locus solvendi aeris alieni . Serec . ibid. Mortem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hilaris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 diu 〈◊〉 . Idem ep . 30. — Qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 in serum tempus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Non potest stare paratus ad mortem qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Id 〈◊〉 est , ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Quidam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈…〉 . Senec. 〈◊〉 . 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 victurum , 〈◊〉 dicis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 istud , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vivis ? 〈◊〉 jam vivere , 〈◊〉 , serum 〈◊〉 : Ille sapit quisquis , 〈◊〉 , vixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 5. 〈◊〉 . 59. Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae 〈◊〉 negari ; Et solum hoc ducat , quod suit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Non est , crede mihi , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Vivam . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vita est 〈◊〉 ; vive 〈◊〉 . l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutor . ibid. ex Aristotele . Rom. 2. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. Jam. 5. 20. Tob. 4. 10. 1 〈◊〉 . 3. 3. Rom. 5. 5. 1 Tim. 4. 8. 〈◊〉 . 6. 1. Vide 〈◊〉 . of 〈◊〉 , Part 1. and 〈◊〉 . of 〈◊〉 , Part 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Luke 6. 20. 〈◊〉 24. Jam. 2. 6 , &c. 5. 1 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 minùs 〈◊〉 quàm 〈◊〉 creditur , Aliâ 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Timocr . 〈◊〉 . Vil nos in mare proximum 〈◊〉 & lapides , 〈◊〉 & inutile , Summi 〈◊〉 mali , 〈◊〉 . Hor. lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 , l. 13. 〈◊〉 . Ju 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 dixit qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Lucan . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 nil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortè minùs locuples uno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sibi — Horat. Apocal. 3. 17. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rectè beatum : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomen beati , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 call . 〈…〉 , &c. Hor. lib. 4. Od. 9. 〈◊〉 regnes avidum domando Spiritum , 〈◊〉 si Libyam remotis Gadibus jung as , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. l 2. Od. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qui parvo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. Matt. 11. 11. & 18. 4. Matt. 11. 5. Rom. 5. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Jam : 1. 2 , 3. (a) 2 Cor. 〈◊〉 , 10. * 〈◊〉 . 4. 9. 10. Sic 〈…〉 ; & fit 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 culpae disciplina 〈◊〉 , S. Ambros. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 , in Psal. 33. 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. Carm. aur . AEquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; non 〈◊〉 in bonis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 li. Horat 〈◊〉 . l. 2. 〈◊〉 . 3. (a) 1 〈◊〉 . 3. 4. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . — ad Euse. — Non si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & olim Sic 〈◊〉 — 〈…〉 . Hot. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam qui maximè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 7. c. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salva 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Comoed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Psal. 17. 15. Col. 3. 12. 〈◊〉 enim sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 duram & quasi 〈◊〉 volum ; quae quidem 〈◊〉 cùm in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & bonis amici quasi 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud M. T. 〈◊〉 , Gal. 6. 10. Rom. 5 7. Syrus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Bona comparas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Deus est mortali juvare mortalem , atque haec est ad aeternitatem via . Sen. Psal. 24 , 3 , 4. 1 Tim. 1. 5. Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jam. 3. 17. Phil. 4. 9. 1 Th 〈◊〉 . 5. 23. 2 〈◊〉 3. 16. Heb. 13. 20. 〈◊〉 . 8. 17. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , O 〈◊〉 , sequi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pam . Hor. lib. 3. Od. 25. C. 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 , Animas praelio 〈◊〉 suppliciis 〈◊〉 aeternas putant . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Non 〈◊〉 autem 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 non frangatur , eum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 se à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , vinci à 〈◊〉 . Cic. de Offic. l. 1. Tertul. de 〈◊〉 . Hos 〈◊〉 , a falso damnati 〈◊〉 mortis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine 〈◊〉 datae , sine judice , 〈◊〉 Quaesitor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; ille 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Virg. 〈◊〉 . 6. * Athleta non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cp . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 olim 〈◊〉 haec 〈◊〉 ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Mar. 〈◊〉 S. Paulus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Phil. 2. 15. Rom. 3. 27. * Vide Considerat . of Christ's first Preaching , ● . 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amphiar . Apud . AEschyl . Jose hus 〈◊〉 Polybium , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dixit ob cogitatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 nisi ob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2. 28 , 29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Optimus est qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. 13. 10. * Luke 18. 20. * 〈◊〉 10. 19. 〈◊〉 . 19. 18. Rom. 13. 9. I. COMMAND . 〈◊〉 22 37. Mark 12. 30. Luke 10. 27. 2 Cor. 11. 7 , 8. 1 Cor. 7. 37. Histor. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Epict. 〈◊〉 . 75. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophoc , 〈◊〉 . 1 King. 14. 8. 2 King. 23. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Gigant . Vido Exod . 34. 13. Deut. 4. 16. & 7. 5 , Numb . 33. 52. 〈◊〉 & Eeclesia & . Novemb. celebrat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 , qui , 〈…〉 , quàm Gentilibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sic. 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Philo de 〈◊〉 . Prioribus 170. 〈◊〉 Templa quidem alificabant [ Romani , ] Simulacrum 〈…〉 per deteriorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strab. l. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . * Gen. 48. 12. Gen. 23. 12. & 27 , 29 , & 42. 6. 1 Sam. 20. 41. 1 King. 1 , 16. III. COM. Apud Romanos sancitum est , ut si per Deum 〈◊〉 quis 〈◊〉 , ad Deum ipsum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quem 〈◊〉 esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Majestatis vindicem 〈◊〉 . L. 〈◊〉 , C. de rebus 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . Sinper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 elogio , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Si duo 〈◊〉 , Sect. fin . de 〈◊〉 . Lysandir dixit 〈◊〉 uti posse pro suo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Plutarch . in Lysand. 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ait , 〈◊〉 usos esse juramento 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Psal. 12. 2. Psal. 24. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. Psal. 63. 11. 1 Sam. 20. 17. 〈◊〉 . 19. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Mart. l. 11. ep . 95. Ecco negat , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tonantis . Non 〈◊〉 , jura , 〈◊〉 , per 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 est , per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Vide Harmenopulum in 〈◊〉 . l. 5. c. 27. & Scalig. de Emend . temp . in append . libror. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Interp. in Hom. 〈◊〉 . lib. 6. hist. cap. 4. * Vide Ecclus. 23. 9 , 11 , 13. Dominus & Jacobus ideo prohibuer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 andum , non ut illud prorsus è rebus humanis 〈◊〉 , sed quia 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 non facilè jurando . S. August . ser. 28. de verbis Apost . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom 1. 9. 2 Cor. 11. 31. Gal. 1. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basil. l. 〈◊〉 S 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 magnum humanae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 um ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Heb. 6. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sit . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . (a) 〈◊〉 . 5. 37. 〈…〉 sensum apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praetoris ex edicto 〈◊〉 . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in omni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non cogam . ] A. Gell. 〈◊〉 . 10. c. 15. Curtius lib. 7. * Qui non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro Roscio . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo in 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad . l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Qui per 〈◊〉 suam jurat , 〈…〉 jurat . 〈◊〉 . J. C. Concil . Chalc. c. 25. 2 King. 2. 2. 1 Cor. 15. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 19. Per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sacra , 〈◊〉 caput . Matt. Deut. 30. 19. Isa. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 1. 2. S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad Publicolam ; & l. 51. Duo patroni , 〈◊〉 . Si quis 〈◊〉 ; & l. Non 〈◊〉 , D. de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad Seap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dulce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 accingier 〈◊〉 . Virgil. l. 4. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 suos illam quondam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . IV. COM. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 7. c. 24. & lib 8. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Canon 〈◊〉 . 65. & 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Vide 〈◊〉 Synod . 〈◊〉 . Col. 2. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tacit. l. 3. Annal. his verbis : Quémne diem vacuum 〈◊〉 ? ubi inter sacra & 〈◊〉 , quo 〈◊〉 verbis etiam profanis 〈◊〉 mos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 inducantur . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in famulis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Cicer. de 〈◊〉 . l. 2. (a) Quippe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & jura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nulla Relligio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sepem , 〈…〉 flu vio 〈◊〉 salubri . Virgil. apud Macrob. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. in Joan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ad 〈◊〉 , ad 〈…〉 , quàm illo die in 〈◊〉 saltarent ? 〈◊〉 in Psal. 92. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . V. COM. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo 〈◊〉 D. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 avo , 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 . Hor. 〈◊〉 . 2. od . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 H 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . Cicer. 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 15. 6. Mar. 7. 12. * 1 Tim. 5. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ( baeum . VI. COM. Lev. 24. 21. Num. 35. 16 , 17. Rom. 10. 3. 8. Hieron . epist. ad 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 lib. 2. de Ira , c. 4. Leontius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cur 〈…〉 . Horat. 〈◊〉 . 1. od . 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 . Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Divinae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per gladium 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 . S. Greg. 〈◊〉 . 5. Moral . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c.. 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ; i. e. non 〈◊〉 extra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & extra modum . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me , 〈…〉 me 〈…〉 ? — A turpi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dissimilis sis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Deprensi non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fama 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — Horat. Sat. 4. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fabricator descripsit ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est : si 〈◊〉 iram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . (a) Ex quo factus sum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meum non 〈◊〉 , dixit S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . (b) Melius 〈◊〉 est 〈…〉 probabils 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Aug. ad 〈◊〉 . VII . COM. Vbi 〈…〉 est 〈◊〉 . Cassian . — Numquid ego à 〈◊〉 Magno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Horat : 〈◊〉 . l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 , ad 〈◊〉 & ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terentius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Gen. 38. 14. Nihil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 philos , apud Plutarch . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Plato . Vt jam servaris 〈◊〉 corpus , adultera mens est : Omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ovid. 〈◊〉 est etiam sine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . VIII . COM. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sibi dirus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , niss causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat. l. 2. Od. 2. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 10. de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. 〈◊〉 J. C. l. 〈◊〉 . D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , D. de Verborum 〈◊〉 . IX . COM. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod . l. 〈◊〉 . (a) Ephes. 4. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sidi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . X. COM. Furtum 〈◊〉 sine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solâ 〈◊〉 , atque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surtum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . A. Gell. l. 11. c. 18. Has 〈…〉 intra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 ullum , Facts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 . Dixit Xenocrates , Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Plutarchus 〈◊〉 multa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inimicos . " 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est quàm in 〈◊〉 — Oblatâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inimicum , 〈◊〉 missum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est . Qui 〈◊〉 miseratur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indigenti , & filiis 〈◊〉 at familiae 〈◊〉 ipsorum 〈◊〉 operam suam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 amat , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 cap. ex inim ; 〈◊〉 . Et Cicero dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 primum munus est , ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 injuriâ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Exod. 21. 23. Levit. 24. 20. Deut. 19. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vigor , 〈◊〉 publici 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 constituta , 〈◊〉 quisquam 〈◊〉 ipsi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ultionem . Honor. & Theod. in Cod. 〈◊〉 . Rom. 12. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sumitur 〈◊〉 generali pro omni 〈◊〉 . Rom. 12. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sed ut 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 ; nisi si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magni hominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , non principis , ulciscar , dixit 〈◊〉 . Tacit. l. 3. Annal. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Quis 〈◊〉 statuit unquam , aut cui concedi 〈◊〉 summo omnium periculo 〈◊〉 , ut 〈◊〉 jure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a quo 〈◊〉 ; sdicat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Cicero . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Menand . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; Timon . Phlias . 〈…〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Qui 〈…〉 . 2. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 32. 〈◊〉 . 5. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . * 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 Cor. 6. 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cor. 6. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Vers. 12. Vers. 7. * 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tacit. Matth. 5 42. 6. 3. Luke 12. 33. 1 Tim. 6. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convincitur , qui 〈◊〉 sibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dist . 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hor. l. 2. 〈◊〉 . 2. James 5. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fur auferat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dederis , solas semper babebis 〈◊〉 . Martial . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maximum incentivum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compatiamur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quantum possumus , 〈◊〉 interdum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Ambr. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 Thess. 3. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 39. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , vir Consularis , quum pal 〈◊〉 quidam 〈…〉 est , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 homini . A. Gell. l. 9. c. 2. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Limine 〈…〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & falso 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Juren . Satyr . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Menand . Amititiam 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 nostrum referemus , 〈◊〉 ad illius commoda quem diligimus , nonerit ista 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quadam utilltatum 〈◊〉 : Prata , & 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diliguntur 〈◊〉 modo , 〈◊〉 strctus ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; Hominum charitas & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est . Cicer , de 〈◊〉 . Deor. l. 1. Qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriis offendat amicum 〈◊〉 , ignoscat 〈◊〉 illius : aquum i st 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat. l. 1. sat . 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proximum , 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 locum 〈◊〉 . Prov. 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sancimus iniquam ? Nam vitiis nemo sins 〈◊〉 ; optimus ille est Qui minimis urgetur . — Horat. ibid. 1 Cor. 3. 9. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc. l. 3. Orthodox . sid . ‖ Qui singit sacros auro vel marmore vultus , Non facit ille D●●s : qui regat , ille facit . * 〈◊〉 ridet 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Si tuito mala 〈◊〉 susurro 〈◊〉 — Pu'chra Laverna , D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , da justum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & fraudibus 〈◊〉 nubem . Horat. * — Si 〈◊〉 vit , 〈◊〉 ipsis expendere Numinibus , quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ; Nam pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaque dabunt 〈◊〉 , Juvenal . 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 regantium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Multa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( est . D sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , cui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qued 〈◊〉 est , manu . Hor. l. 3. od . 16. Oratio 〈◊〉 quantum substringitur verbis . tantum dissunditur sensibus . Tertull. Evangelii 〈◊〉 . Idem l. 〈◊〉 Orat. c. 1. Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pessumus quàm quod in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . in Erem . Vir bonus 〈◊〉 D. i progenies . Senec. de Provident 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menan . Hot donum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donum , ut 〈◊〉 bominem vocet 〈◊〉 , Leo Ser. de Nativ . Matth. 23. 8. Ephes. 4. 6. * Nibil 〈◊〉 in insimis , qui Patrem 〈◊〉 incoeslis . Leo Ser. de Asens . * Colos. 1. 13. Revel . 1. 9. Matth. 13. 41. Luke 6. 20. Matth. 16. 28. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 ) 〈◊〉 [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : ] S. Lucas [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Sordidus 〈◊〉 , Horat. l. 2. Od. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ab Jove donari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat , ad 〈◊〉 , l. 2. F. p. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch . * 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — Horat. l 2 Od. 16. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Horat. l. 2. Od. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 longam : Jam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Et 〈◊〉 exilis 〈◊〉 . — Horat. l. 1. Od. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Conc. 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 & diligi . Hugo de S. Victor . l. 2. 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. German . 〈◊〉 . C P. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Pro jucundis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 homo quam 〈◊〉 . Nes , animorum 〈◊〉 & 〈…〉 : at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Juven . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈…〉 . Virg. 1 John 3. 21. James 5. 15. 〈◊〉 9 31. Psal. 66. 18. 1 〈◊〉 . 2. 8. 〈…〉 . Lam. 5. 〈◊〉 n. 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Gregor . Pastor . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Farre pio & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. l. 3. Od. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar. 11. 24. James 1. 5 , 6. Chrysantio 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in vita Maximi . Signum futurae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Cassian . Collat. 9. c. 32. Ecclus. 35. 17. Psal , 102. 17. Non in pluribus sint actus 〈◊〉 . Ecclus. 11. 10. Impar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad singula , dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dividitur ad 〈◊〉 . S. Greg. Past. 1. p. c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puta , 〈◊〉 unum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nemo unum agit ; 〈◊〉 multiformes 〈◊〉 . Seneca . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Inveni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , i. e. in 〈◊〉 ; quia quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quies explicat . S. Bernard . Serm. 1. in Cant. 〈◊〉 locus ingenio , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carmine solo Vexant — Pectora nostra 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus , 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Sophocl , 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 12. Quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Luke 18. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ohe jam desine 〈◊〉 , uxor , gratulando 〈◊〉 Tuam 〈◊〉 inventam gnatam : nisi illos 〈◊〉 ex ingenio 〈◊〉 , Vt nil 〈◊〉 intelligere nisi idem dictum est 〈◊〉 . Ter. Heaut . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Philem. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sophocl . 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 . Solebant autem & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arboris ictu . Horat. l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 8. Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — ad miser as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Nè Cypria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Addant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1d . l. 3. od . 29. 〈…〉 l. 11. Anu . * 〈◊〉 & 〈…〉 . S. Hieron . 〈◊〉 . 8. ad 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . Idem , 〈◊〉 S. Virgin. c. 14. ‖ Eccles. 5. v. 4. 5. Psal. 132. 1 , 2. Deut. 23. 21. Acts 18. 18. * 〈…〉 . — 〈…〉 . Hor. l. 2. od . 17. Nehem. 9. 5. Mark 11. 25. Luke 18 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plautarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide S. Aug. l. 3. c. 5. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 suis ornamentis pretiosis , Simplicis & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vestis , 〈…〉 ; Et 〈◊〉 sacram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Rosweld de Hon. 〈◊〉 . & de Otbon . Per universum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observatur , 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacramenti , in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicum corpus 〈◊〉 quàm 〈◊〉 cibi . S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prandium vocare solet 〈◊〉 . Joseph , in vita 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 5. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 in cippo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Cyp. 〈◊〉 junia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra peccata saciunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , superbiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 voluntatis 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Leo , 〈◊〉 . 4. de Jejun . Saginantur 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , de Jejun . S. Hieron . in Vita S. Hilarion . 〈◊〉 cibus & 〈◊〉 semper 〈◊〉 triduana 〈◊〉 superant . S. Hieron . 〈◊〉 . 8. ad 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 . 2. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Apost , 50. (b) 〈◊〉 . 5. de Jejun . Jejunium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , leves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in vigil . S. 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dixil S. Chrysost. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al re , 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Dominum . 〈◊〉 . Acts 13. 1 , 2. Acts 14. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basil. Joel 2. 15. Levit. 23. 27 , &c. 〈◊〉 . 22. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ph lo , 〈◊〉 de ipso 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , animum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illa quae 〈◊〉 tristi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . c. 9. Baruch 2. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 . Vnde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezra 8. 21. Vid. Dan. 10. 12. Psa. 35. 13. Levit. 16. 29 , 30 , 31. Isa. 58. 3. * 〈…〉 . Lactant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ennodius in vita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suis paginam quam 〈◊〉 , & quod liber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signabat . Acts 10. 38. Joh. 20. 31. 10. 38. 5. 30. John 15. 24. Isai. 35. 4. 5. Matth. 11. 5. John 3. 2. Lib. 16. Hst. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dixit 〈◊〉 apud Origen . (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. verba Juliani apud Cyril . 〈◊〉 . 6. Spartianus in Adriano ; qui 〈◊〉 , Marium 〈◊〉 dixiss hac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : per 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 19. Deut. 13. 1 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notes for div A63641-e116350 John 5. 1 , &c. Iren. l. 2. c. 10. John 5. 19. &c. Suidas Voc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evangel . Naz. quod S. Hieron . 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Gracum 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . advers . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 du 〈…〉 & 〈◊〉 , Omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sedul . Dio hist. Rom. lib. 55. Isa. 35. 4. 5. Luke 7. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Munda suis lacrymis redis , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sedul . l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 13. c. 3. Vide 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. 12. 〈◊〉 30. 〈◊〉 in Thalia . * Chap. 61. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Discourse of Certainty of Salvation , Num. 3. 〈◊〉 incolumem 〈◊〉 , Sublatam ex oculis qu erimus invidi . Horat. 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 24. 〈◊〉 . 11. 30. 1 John 5. 3 , 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Procop. Gothic . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Siquidem Leomdes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eum 〈◊〉 imbuit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoque & jam maximum Regem ab illa institutions puerili sunt 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. 1. c. 1 Wisd. 6. 12 , 13 , 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est facere ist a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n. quiete 〈◊〉 est animi ? quid 〈◊〉 à laboriosius ? 〈◊〉 elementiâ remissius ? quid 〈◊〉 negotiosius ? Vacat 〈◊〉 , libido 〈◊〉 est . Omnium denique virtutum tutela facilior est ; vitia magno 〈◊〉 . Seneca . In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turpitudo ; cùm in rectè factis 〈◊〉 labor , 〈◊〉 honest 〈◊〉 . Muson . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 innocentiâ 〈◊〉 , quàm 〈◊〉 â. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de orat . 〈◊〉 namque à nobis 〈◊〉 ( 〈◊〉 ) quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈…〉 , humilitatem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sanctitatem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nos , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Salvian . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domûs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quòd malè 〈◊〉 Regumest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat. l. 4. od . 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 5. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Malignum hunc 〈◊〉 hominem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ego esse 〈◊〉 credo , cui placet 〈◊〉 . Matt. Ep. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jac. 3. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Poli. 〈◊〉 M. Cato 〈◊〉 Aul. Gell. l. 13. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 egeo ; at ego 〈◊〉 , quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Nique mala 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vulgus putat : 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; si illi gravem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tolerent , hi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tacit. 〈◊〉 . l. 6. — 〈◊〉 ( fortuna ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , resigno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me involvo : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine dote 〈◊〉 . Hor. l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Non 〈…〉 Mentis , & cur at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. l. 2. 〈◊〉 . 16. 〈◊〉 fortem videris , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Senec. trag . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Zoroast . 1 Tim. 6. 10. 〈◊〉 perjura patris sides Consortem 〈◊〉 fallat & hespitem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 improbae Crescunt divitiae , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid semper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 3. od . 24. — Vel dic , quid refer at intra Naturae fines viventi , jugera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mille 〈◊〉 — Vt , tibi 〈◊〉 sit 〈◊〉 liquidi non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Vel cyatho ; & 〈◊〉 , Magno de flumine mallem , Quàm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fonticulo tantundem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Plenior ut si quos delectet copia 〈◊〉 , Cum ripa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . At qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 ; limo Turbatam 〈◊〉 it aquam , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in undis . Horat. Serm. l. 〈◊〉 . Sat. 1. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Soph. 〈◊〉 . * Aleam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ut cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jactu de libertate & de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tacit . de mor. Germ. * Virtus repulsae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honoribus ; 〈◊〉 sumit aut ponit 〈◊〉 Arbitrio popularis aurae . Horat. l. 3. od . 2. * Virtus laudatur , & alget . Juven . Praecipuam 〈◊〉 Majestatis curam 〈◊〉 prospicimus , religiouis indaginem ; 〈◊〉 si 〈◊〉 retinere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inceptis . Theod. & Valent. in Cod. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 providentia 〈◊〉 munus , ut 〈◊〉 magis juvarent . 〈◊〉 , l. 1. c. 12. Exod. 15. 26. Exod. 23. 25 , 26. Psal. 34. 12 , 13. Prov. 3. 7 , 8. Verse 16 , 18. Psal. 90. 10. Num. 23. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Cicero in 〈◊〉 . 1. sic reddit ; Mors mea non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 . Matt. 10. 39. 〈◊〉 . 6. 2 , 3. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Philoct . 1 Tim. s 4. 8. Matt. 5. 3. &c. Verse 5. Psal. 37. 11. Matt. 4. 4. Deut. 8. 3. Jam. 5. 14 , 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Dominus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sciamus esse , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praemoriuntur in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quòd in 〈◊〉 in aliena aetate 〈◊〉 ; dixit S. Hieron . Paulo 〈◊〉 vigeto & pio 〈◊〉 , l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 8. Rom. 5. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . De 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Thu. cyd . 1 Thess. 3. 8. Psal. 37. 22. Prov. 10. 27. Psal. 34. 21. Prov. 19. 16. 1 Sam. 26. 10. 〈◊〉 omnia 〈…〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incubuit 〈…〉 gradum . Horat. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. (a) In 〈◊〉 . 23. 〈◊〉 unitur Deo , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 per vim 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ultra limitatum 〈◊〉 . (b) Eubulus apud 〈◊〉 , l. 7. c. 1. 〈…〉 : Vnu n 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qui 〈…〉 , &c. 〈…〉 . * Prov. 23. 29 , 30. 〈◊〉 102. 24. Isa. 57. 1. Lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. Panar . 〈◊〉 . 6. Gen. 11. 28. Jer. 17. 11. (a) 2 〈◊〉 . 13. 20. (b) 1 〈◊〉 . 10. 13. (c) 2 〈◊〉 . 26. 19. ‖ 2 Kings 16. (d) 2 Chron. 21. 18. Jer. 28. 16. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Jndg. 5. 20. * Jer. 10. 2. Gentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luna 〈◊〉 reputabatur , unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quintas 〈◊〉 suspectas habet . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 21. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 21. 〈◊〉 23. 1 〈◊〉 . 2. 33. Prov. 21. 21. 〈◊〉 sapientiam 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Lactan , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sophoc . 〈…〉 futura prospectant . 〈◊〉 ad Constant filium . — Quis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsam 〈◊〉 si 〈◊〉 ? 〈◊〉 studiorum 〈…〉 Tacit. Vide Ciceron . 〈◊〉 . 2. Lact. l. 3. c. 27. 〈◊〉 . Virtusper 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 est , quoniam in 〈◊〉 , ut dixi , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ejus est . 〈◊〉 , c. 12. Aug. ep . 12. Ad Num. 17. Quod dixit Jesus 72 〈◊〉 . Lucae to . v. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 descripta 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , non tamen ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad munus Evangelicum & 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . Alii autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sed 〈◊〉 gaudii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 ; ex 〈◊〉 scil . & quando hoc 〈◊〉 , aut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem verba significent , 〈◊〉 est Doctores 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 72 Discipulos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ad scelus ab 〈◊〉 votis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Tacit. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debile vulgus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pallor & 〈◊〉 , Hine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Statins . * Futurum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . A. Gellius , l. 14 2 Tim. 2. 19. 〈◊〉 . 3. 21 , 22. 1 John 3 14. 1 Cor. 4. 4. Cum 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 , Nihil 〈◊〉 sum , &c. q. d. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 me non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ait , 〈◊〉 quis 〈◊〉 ? S. 〈◊〉 . c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 9. 1 , 2. * Beatus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dubitat . Rem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui audacter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Hieron . (a) Matth. 24. 13. Dan. 4. 27. (b) 1 Cor. 10. 12. (c) Rom. 11. 20. Jocl 2. 14. (d) 〈◊〉 . 2. 12. Acts 8. 22. (e) Rev. 3. 11. (f) Chap. 24. Rom. 11. 29. Rom. 8. 1. Rom. 11. 22. Rom. 8. 15. 1 John 4. 13. 2 Cor. 1. 22. & 〈◊〉 . 5. v. 5. Heb. 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; Is , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 1 Cor. 9. 27. Rom. 8. 38. 2 Tim. 4. 6 , 〈◊〉 Epiphan . Haeres . 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , c , 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aquis , 〈…〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Exod. 30. 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; qui fecit , 〈◊〉 . Tacit. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debitorum qui solvendo non sunt , vid. I 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 6. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 6. & A. 〈◊〉 , 1. 20. c. 1. qui 〈…〉 Gellius ) 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉 in leges 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Cod. Theod. l. 4. & 7. de exact . Epiphan , de vita & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 7. Epiphan . Pan. l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 1. Euseb . l. 1. c. 12. Papias apud 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 33. Joseph . de 〈◊〉 Jud. l. 7. c. 24. 〈◊〉 Num. 3. Matth. 18. 7. Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 8. Galat. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , contra 〈◊〉 & inanes ceremonias 〈◊〉 & popularis 〈◊〉 . 1 Cor. 8. 10 , 12 Rom. 14. 21. Matth. 5. 29. & 13. 57. Mark 14. 27 & 6. 3. & 4. 17. Luke 7. 23. John 16. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 14. 1. 1 Cor. 8. 10 , 12 Gal. 23 , 4 , &c. Ad Num. 21. & 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solon . Luke 13. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suae gladio , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omntbus simul & 〈◊〉 censuram , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Salvian . * 〈◊〉 An 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 dixit 〈◊〉 , Digni 〈◊〉 trant in 〈…〉 ab 〈◊〉 vita , mundati castigatione sibi 〈◊〉 per mortem communem , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . Idem ait S. Aug. l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 1. com . 〈◊〉 . & Cassian . * — 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 sacrum Vulgâris arcanae , sub iisdem Sit trabibus , 〈◊〉 mecum Solvat phaselum : 〈◊〉 Di 〈◊〉 , Neglectus , incesto 〈◊〉 integrum . Hor. l. 3. ed. 2. Peudula dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 capilli , Exspirans Eadit , & gelidâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D. cubat : 〈◊〉 sic pendunt crimina 〈◊〉 . Valerand . * 〈◊〉 . A. D. 1100. & 2024. 〈◊〉 . Fulgos. lib. 9. c. 12. Pana tamen praesens , cùm 〈◊〉 deponis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & crudum pavonem in balnea portas . 〈◊〉 subitae mortes atque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Juven . Sat. 1. 〈◊〉 nimis 〈◊〉 habui , 〈◊〉 vapulo 〈◊〉 . Sic luiur juvenis culp 〈◊〉 dolore senis . — Ruit Arius alvo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cadens , 〈◊〉 peremptu ; Cum Juda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curvatus obit : nec poena sequestrat Quos par culpa ligat , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab ore parant . Hic prodidit , ille diremis Sacrilega de 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 . Christ. apud Baron . T. 3. ad ann . Christ. 336. 〈◊〉 . Gent. Anglor . l. 3. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquinavere , & genus , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fluxit . Hor. l. 3. od . 6. Ezek. 14. 20. Deut. 17. 12. 19. 13. 19 21. 9 , 21. & 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judex , Et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In 〈◊〉 : ex quo 〈◊〉 D os 〈◊〉 pactâ 〈◊〉 — Hor. l. 3. od . 3. 〈…〉 , but 〈…〉 . Hor. l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 6. * 〈◊〉 , id est , 〈◊〉 , corrupte , 〈◊〉 ex Latinis 〈◊〉 solent 〈◊〉 . Vide Erasm. in 14. Marci . 〈◊〉 . 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindar . vccat 〈◊〉 ramos , Olymp. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & coronarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 . H. b. N. T. c. 19. 〈◊〉 . 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 N. T. Joseph . de 〈◊〉 Jud. 1. 6. c. 3. 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 51. Lib. 14. 〈◊〉 . cap. 14. Elias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Montanus in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Matth. 27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 , per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . Nam 〈◊〉 S. Augustini in 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 . T. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & in N. T. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. Junii . Vide 〈◊〉 . in descript . 〈◊〉 . n. 6. Quidam ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . tam 〈◊〉 . Sic Philippus 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Hieron . in c. 9. Matt. * I , Lictor , obnu●e caput Liberatoris Vrbis hujus . Livi. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Arse●●●s in Vitis Pp. * Euthym , in 26. 〈◊〉 . Codren in 〈◊〉 . Oecumen . in c. 1. 〈◊〉 . Juvencus hist. Evang. l. 4 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 Sanct. c. 4. S. Aug. tract . 114. in Joan. Cyril . in Joan. l. 12. c. 6. 〈◊〉 hom . 12. in Joan. Ambros . serm . 〈◊〉 Calend. Januar . l. 20. * 〈◊〉 . c. 8. Joseph . l. 16. c. 14. Idem in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 , c. 75. Dio Rom. 〈◊〉 . l. 57. Sub 〈◊〉 & Druso Coss. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est codex Epist. Sidonii , qui ait , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. C. Tiberiano triginta dierum vitam post sententiam 〈◊〉 . Lib. In 〈◊〉 , D. d. 〈◊〉 . Lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de accus . Lignum transversum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jesus , scil . Patibulum , ad locum ubi Crux , scil . lignum oblongum , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plautus , Patibulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pictores 〈◊〉 pingunt Josum , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lignum scil . Lipsius tract , de supplicio 〈◊〉 . (a) Tertul. l. 2. contra Marcion . Origen . tract . 35. in Matth. Basil. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. Athan , de Pass . & 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pp. unico 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in epist. 〈◊〉 Ephes. c. 5. & in c. 27. Matth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Nonnus in Joan. (b) S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 71. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Golgotha locus est 〈◊〉 . Calvaria quondam , Lingua paterna prior sic illum nomine dixit . Hit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — . (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hist. l. 14. c. 13 Athenaeus l. 11. c. 30. Si calidum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Convenit , & 〈◊〉 sit sapor indè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 14. * Ego 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primus qui in 〈…〉 bis pedes , bis 〈◊〉 . Plaut . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lecta , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unâ , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recitata , 〈◊〉 Provinciae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Apul. 1. l. 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 . Vide Dionys . 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab. R. Maimon . Origen . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 2. 〈◊〉 . Apolog. Lucian . in actis sui Mart. August . ep . 80. ad 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 in vita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum dix 〈◊〉 , Aut Deus 〈◊〉 , aut 〈◊〉 compatitur : & hac de causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidam . Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conglutinant vulnera . Tertul. de Spect. c. 25. 〈◊〉 & de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in morsus untorum , & spongias 〈◊〉 . S. Hieron . 〈◊〉 . 150. q. 8. 〈◊〉 Metaph. 〈◊〉 16. Octob. In hac ipsa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quadam buccarum inanitas est , quâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jugulo , spiritus 〈◊〉 . Plin. l. 11. c. 45. Vide Lactant. l. 1. c. 26. Cic. pro 〈◊〉 . * Philo de leg . special . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Metaphr . August . 15. Beda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cap. 2. Niceph. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 . 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 victorum , palmae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 es ; ergd Laetus obi , quoniam 〈◊〉 nisi victor 〈◊〉 . Ad Num. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Idcirco pides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & capui ; quia in lavandis pidibus , & 〈◊〉 est gestus humilitatis , & propinquior significatio charitatis , 〈◊〉 nos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suo a 〈◊〉 nostris . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sub tam 〈◊〉 Dio ? S. Bernard . Matt. 11. 29. Turgidus bic 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sulphureas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Pers. Sat. 3. 〈…〉 patientia 〈◊〉 . S. Hier. S. Hier. in 〈◊〉 S. Anton. Ama nesciri & pro ●●hilo reputari . Gerson . Appetere de humilitale laudem humilitatis non est virtus , sed subversio . Quid enim perversum magi● aut indignius , quàm ut indè velu haberi melior , unde tibi videris deterior ? S. Bernard . Est qui nequiter humiliat si , & interiora ejus sunt plena dolo . Eccle● . 12. 11. Nil lascivius est Carisiano ; In Saturnalibus ambulat regatus . Matt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( David , ) 〈◊〉 aut de his in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & non sunt , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judicium 〈◊〉 at ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 quibus 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Gieg. Acts 5. 41. 1 Cor. 10. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & distributum 〈◊〉 corpus suum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est corpus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , id est , figura 〈◊〉 . Figura a , 〈◊〉 , non fuisset , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corpus . 〈◊〉 . lib. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cap. 40. 〈◊〉 si quicquid 〈◊〉 in os , in 〈◊〉 abit , & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 cibus qui 〈◊〉 per verbum Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Origen . in 15. cap. S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Theod. Dial. 2. Idem disput . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christi Naturam conversum iri in Divinam , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . modo quo 〈◊〉 in corpus Christi , 〈◊〉 , Certè 〈◊〉 scil . 〈◊〉 , hoc est , 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Our 〈◊〉 Saviour , who hath called 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Bread and a Vine , hath also honoured the visible Signs with the title and 〈◊〉 of his Body and Bloud , not changing their Nature , but adding to Nature Grace . See the Dialog . called the Immoveable . 〈◊〉 quae suminus 〈◊〉 & Sanguinis Christi divina res est . 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consortes 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 natura 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 ; & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 Corporis & 〈◊〉 Christi in actione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . P. Gelasius libr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 panis , & poculum sanguis ; sed quòd 〈◊〉 corporis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Facundus . Si n. 〈◊〉 quandam 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quarum sunt sacramenta , omnino sacramenta non essent : ex 〈◊〉 a. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actipiunt . 〈◊〉 S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 23. 〈◊〉 contr . 〈◊〉 Manich. lib. 10. c. 2. Quod ob omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in quo caro Christi post 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Apud Grauanum de Consecrat . dist . 2. c. 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 : virba : Sicut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , suo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus Christi , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis Christi , 〈◊〉 viz. quod visibile , quod palpabile , 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsa 〈◊〉 carnis quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Passio ; Mors , Crucifixio , non 〈…〉 quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est . * Si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vasa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , in quibus non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christi , sed mysterium corporis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mag's vasa corporis 〈◊〉 , &c. S. Chrysost. Opere imperf . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . ad Caesarium , in 〈◊〉 . Pp. 〈◊〉 . 1618. 〈…〉 illum sanctificante gratiâ , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidem est ab 〈◊〉 Panis , dignus autem 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 Corporis appellations , 〈◊〉 natura Panis in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 1 Cor. 10. 16 , 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 Panem esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corpus Domini , 〈◊〉 fiant unum participans & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 Caro. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partem aliquam sibi 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 particips est . 2 Cor. 6. 1. * 〈◊〉 calix , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ad 〈…〉 & 〈◊〉 , ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , exsi 〈◊〉 . S. Cyp. di 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . John 6. 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . ‖ 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 . * Col. 3. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud S. Ignat. ep . ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Optar . Milevit . 〈◊〉 . 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Joh. 6. 54. Qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in novissimo 〈◊〉 . Colos. 3. 3. S. Cyril . Alex. l. 4. in Joh. c. 14. Et Irenae . l. 4. c. 34. Sic & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 percipientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non sunt 〈◊〉 , spim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈…〉 . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Ambros. Ser. 15. in Psal. 118. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Cor. 11. 28 , 29. Concil . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 3. S. 〈◊〉 . l. 2. de Bapt. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . l. 6. c. 37. in Luc. 9. Vbique 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per 〈…〉 . in 〈◊〉 S. Ambros. Si Dux quispiam , si Consul ipse , si qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indigne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si ipse pellere non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fieri ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . hom . 83. in 〈◊〉 . * Exta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnia ; In 〈◊〉 Regis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 visum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oscula . Phaedr . Jab . 80. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5. Const. c. 16. ab Hilario ca. 30. in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 13. a Ruperto Hildebrand . Cenoman . & 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quenquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consessum , aut in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seculari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judicio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convictum . S. Aug. l. 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 50. S. Thomas 3. p. q. 81. a. 2. * 〈◊〉 . 15. 19. Synes . ep . 79. Theod. 〈◊〉 . l. 5. 36. 〈◊〉 . tom . 5. A. D. 425. Sect. 16. * Clem. Rom. l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 20. Concil . Tolet. 1. c. 11. S. Aug , 〈◊〉 . 23 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . 107. & lib. 4. de 〈◊〉 . c. 10. ‖ 〈…〉 quàm 〈◊〉 : sed 〈◊〉 de iis 〈◊〉 quos 〈◊〉 & mortalia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Gennad . l. 3. de Eccl. 〈◊〉 . c. 53. 〈◊〉 olim actum est , cùm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Philo. * Gennadius , c. 54. de Eccl. s. dogmat . Epist. 80. ad Lucinum . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel jejunare semper , vel semper 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 Dominicum , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domini , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Idem . * Concil . Lat. De Sacram , l. 5. c. 4. 〈◊〉 accessum sola 〈◊〉 integrltas facit . S. Chrys. Joan. Gerson in Magnificat . 〈◊〉 in horto tanquam in 〈◊〉 . S. Chrys. 〈◊〉 laborem minuat 〈◊〉 se 〈◊〉 , Theophyl . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 22. 44. Extensius orabat , sic Latinus Interpres 〈◊〉 : Alii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per [ 〈◊〉 . ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae 〈◊〉 non minuit 〈◊〉 magis auxit : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . non 〈◊〉 doloris 〈◊〉 . Beda in Lucae 22. Cum 〈◊〉 , solamen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Res miranda ! 〈◊〉 dans 〈◊〉 Rex à 〈◊〉 sumit 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Anglus . * In c. 24. Mat. ‖ In 22. 〈◊〉 . Justin , 〈◊〉 . Dial , 〈◊〉 . Athan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 6. 〈◊〉 Beat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Aug. 〈◊〉 . 6. 〈◊〉 . 5. de Consecr . 〈◊〉 . Hier. l. de 〈◊〉 . Heb. Iren. l. 4. 〈◊〉 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Idem aiunt Dionys. Alex , Aymonius , Epiphan , & 〈◊〉 . * Lib. 6. in 〈◊〉 . * O signum 〈◊〉 ! O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 osculo incipitur 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 pacis 〈◊〉 pacis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Aug. 〈◊〉 . 12. ‖ Si 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 Domine , 〈◊〉 Amici 〈◊〉 , Qu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 ? Hondem . de Passione . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . S. Cyril . S. 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 , &c. Isai. 52. 6. * Simovit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solum 〈◊〉 illud & opus salutis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Regnantis 〈◊〉 , & non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus est . S. Cyril . ‖ Dominum omnium 〈◊〉 , non arma , 〈◊〉 . S. Amb. in Lue 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 in via 〈◊〉 . Psal. 110. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 missus 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 . Vida , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . Isa. 50. 6. Micah 5. 1. * Lib. 4. 〈◊〉 . cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Victor in S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Hieron , in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sua , ostendens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 manifestans , 〈◊〉 esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Origen . 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Capit. 〈◊〉 . 69. Ieo 〈◊〉 . 9. 〈◊〉 pass . Dom. & Euthym , in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Indè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quòd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jam condere 〈◊〉 , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Juvencus 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Non 〈◊〉 Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , S. August . 〈 ◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 17. In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 15. in Joann . 〈◊〉 in his Dominus 〈…〉 ut 〈…〉 columna . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Prudent . 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amor . Naz. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . James 5. 14 , &c. * 〈◊〉 . 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . AEschyl . 〈◊〉 . Matt. 25. 13. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elosculus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agam. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Quid quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lux 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Jam cras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hos annoi , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sat. 5. Quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , nunquam homini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . Navita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ultrà Caca 〈◊〉 aliunde 〈◊〉 : Miles 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parthus & Italum Robur . Sod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. l. 2. od . 13. * 〈◊〉 . Crom. l. 6. Volaterran . l. 4. c. 22. Cui nasci contigit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quintil. Divésne , 〈◊〉 natus ab Inacho , Nil interest , an 〈◊〉 & infima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sub dio 〈◊〉 , Victima nil miserantis 〈◊〉 . Omnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Hor. l. 2. od . 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 l. 3. c. 51. Matthiol . in 〈◊〉 . (a) Plin. l. 7. c. 53. (b) 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 . (c) Plut. & Gel. de illust . 〈◊〉 . (d) Cuspin . Lotus 〈◊〉 est , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Mart. 〈◊〉 . 6. 〈◊〉 . 18. 19 , &c. 〈◊〉 . 12. 〈◊〉 Evang. L. 5. 〈◊〉 . 15. hist. Gent. Anglor . * Biblioth . Ss. Pp. 〈◊〉 . 3. Matt. 25. 13. & 24. 42. Mark 13. 33. 2 Pet. 3. 10. — tecum priùs ergo volut● Haec animo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : galeatum ferò duelli Poenitetmdash ; Juven . Sat. 1. De traec●●●● S. Hieron . In hunc ferè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrates , apud Platonem in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Non abs re 〈◊〉 crit 〈◊〉 morthundus , si 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 Fidei disserat & 〈◊〉 de siducia compertae verit : tis , at 〈◊〉 ( 〈◊〉 de Socrate dixit 〈◊〉 ) de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est : 〈◊〉 it . 〈◊〉 qua a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & ipsa moriatur . S. Aug. Serm. de 〈◊〉 Vide 〈◊〉 l. 50. bom l. 41. Egredere , anima , quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 annis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & jam 〈◊〉 times ? S Hier , in vita 〈◊〉 . Va vita 〈◊〉 laudabili , si sine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eam . S. Aug. l. 9. Confess . 2 Chron. 〈◊〉 . 12. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 15. Peto , 〈◊〉 , suspice coelum ; 〈◊〉 enim tibi vita 〈◊〉 , sed 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , Dixit mater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in vita Symphor . Serm. in c. 7. Jobi . (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo lib. Hoc homo morte lucratur , nè malum 〈◊〉 esset . Naz. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AEschyl . 〈◊〉 . 1 King. 19. 4. In vita S. Aug. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animum mortis terrore carentem , Qui sp 〈◊〉 vitae 〈◊〉 inter muner a 〈◊〉 Naturae , qui ferre queat quoseunque labores , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , cupiat 〈◊〉 — Juven . 〈◊〉 . 41. 1. 〈◊〉 sunt qui vitam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corrum punt , kis qui 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . S. Greger . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 6. 14. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Conc. Nicen. 〈◊〉 . 13. Concil . Nicen . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Conc. Ancyr . c. 6. 〈◊〉 . Aurelian . 2. c. 12. 〈◊〉 . Elib . 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Concil . 〈◊〉 . c. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Conc. Anc. 〈◊〉 . 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui in 〈…〉 vacuum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Conc , Aurel. 2. 〈◊〉 . 12. * Vide Concil . Eliber . c. 46. & 〈◊〉 . 69. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vixisse beatum 〈◊〉 , & exacto contentus tempore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conviva satur — Hor. 〈◊〉 . 1. S. Aug. 〈◊〉 . 119. in Joan. O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈…〉 , si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Plaut , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 quod toleras , 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 16. 24. 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. 21. Heb. 13. 13. Athanas. de Pass . & 〈◊〉 Domini . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — Nonn . Albigenses primi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & Virginem Mariam monoculam ; 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 : sed 〈◊〉 prior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , & 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Lucas Tud . 〈◊〉 . 2. contra Albig . Luke 24. 26. 〈◊〉 vulg . 〈◊〉 . Heb. 2. 9. Philip. 2. 8 , 9. Deut. 14. 16. Ezek. 18. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , &c. Livius . Vide l. Si quis 〈◊〉 D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & exhib . 〈◊〉 L. Si à 〈◊〉 , D. De sidejussoribus . * John 10. 10. Apud Diodorum Sicul. & 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Latro non simper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 M 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 ob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliquid contra 〈◊〉 Romanas secerat : alioqui vir suit non omnino malus . 〈◊〉 qui viderunt 〈◊〉 mortuos 〈◊〉 ; credidit 〈◊〉 qui videbat secum in ligno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quam non 〈◊〉 Christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Discipulis suis. S. Aug Serm. 144. de 〈◊〉 . S. Ambros. l. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Gen. 50. Tacit. annal . l. 21. Aurora lucis ritulat , Coelum laudibus intonat , Mundus exsultans jubila , Gemens infernus ululat ; Cùm Rex ille fortissimus , Mortis consractis viribus , Pede conculcans Tartara , Solvit à poena miseres . Ille qui clausus lapid● Custoditur sub milite , Triumphans pompâ nobili , Victor surgit de funere . Hymn . Paschal , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & ex to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . (a) — Vbi duat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( Paulm , ) 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 raptum ; 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad paradisum . Methodius cont . Origen , apud 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses Barcephas , 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 ; p. 4. 〈◊〉 . 7. Dial. adv . 〈◊〉 . (a) l. 5. c. 3. (b) L. 〈◊〉 Anima ; & de Praescript . Idem sentiunt Scriptor 〈◊〉 ad Orthod . q. 76. S. Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 . 10. S. 〈◊〉 . hom . 15. in 〈◊〉 . S. Ambr. in 〈◊〉 , Cyrilli 〈◊〉 . Epiphan . 〈◊〉 . apud S. Hier. Theodoretus , Theophylactus , & 〈◊〉 . passim . (a) Revel . 14. 13. (b) Just. Mart. 75. inter quaest . 〈◊〉 ait , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duci à morte ad Paradisum , ubi consuetudo & 〈◊〉 est Angelorum & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . (c) 2 Tim. 4. 8. (d) 〈◊〉 . 13. 41. & 24. 31. (e) 2 Cor. 5. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . (f) 2 Pet. 2. 4. (g) Jude 6. (h) 〈◊〉 . 8. 29 (i) 2 Pet. 2. 9. 〈◊〉 tamen quisquam 〈◊〉 animas post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judicari : Nam omnes in una 〈◊〉 ; custodia 〈◊〉 , donec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maximus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faciat examen . 〈◊〉 . l. 7. 〈◊〉 . 21. (k) Joh. 14. 2 , 3. Satiabor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Psal , 17. 15. * Heb. 11. 40. Irenae . l. 5. adv . Haeres . ad sin . Origen . 〈◊〉 . 7. in 〈◊〉 . Chrys. hom . 39. in 1 Cor. Theodoret. Theophylact. Oecumenius in 〈◊〉 . 11 , S. Aug. l. 1. 〈◊〉 . c. 14. Victorin . 〈◊〉 . in c. 6. Apoc , 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 Bono mortis , c. 10 , & 11. * 2 Tim. 1. 18. ‖ 1 Thesl. 5. 23. Vide 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l 5 c. 6. adv . 〈◊〉 . ubi 〈◊〉 , absque unione corporis , 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 , beminem non 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . l. 10. in Lucam . Euseb. Emiss . 〈◊〉 . 6. de 〈◊〉 . — tumulóque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , resurgentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sipulios . Prudent . 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . & Ch ys , hom . 88. in 27. 〈◊〉 . Zech. 9. 11 , 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musonius apud A. Gellium l. 16. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈…〉 . Luke 15. 7. Coloss. 3. 3. John 3. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 apud Sextum Empirie . Heb. 12 , 22 , 23. Mark 16. 16. Act. 2. 38. & 22. 16. Rom. 6. 3 , 4. 〈◊〉 . 4. 5 , &c. * Matt. 28. 20. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 〈◊〉 . 2. 12. Galat. 3. 17. 1 Per. 3. 21. Notes for div A63641-e169440 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eccl. lib. 3. c. 39. p. 111. H. Eccl. lib. 1. c. 2. p. 4. Notes for div A63641-e170910 Eph. 4. 11 , 12 , 13. * Serm. de util . lection . S. Script . Tom. 8. Edit . Savil. p. 114. Luke 6 13. * 〈…〉 . 6. vid. L. 1●6 T● . 16 lib 50. & Paul. l. C. S●n 〈…〉 . 39. ‖ Vid Chrys. Lu●● in Ritual Gras. p. 68 * Suid , in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex D 〈…〉 h. vid. H●●●●●● Lex . in Dec. Rhet. Phil. 2. 25. 2 Cor. 8. 23. John 13. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb in Caien . MS. apud H●ns . 〈…〉 . in Luc. 6. * Haeros . 30. p. 60. ‖ Ibid. p. 63. * Epist. 25. p. 153. ‖ L. 14. C. T● . de Judaeis lib. 16. T●● . 8. * Lib. de 〈◊〉 , ad Caium , p. 1023. vid. p. 1035. ● . Mark 3. 15. * Serm. 3. in Psalm . 103. Col 1192. Tom. 8. vid. in Psalm . 59. Ce● . 603. ‖ Adv. 〈◊〉 . lib. 4. c. 13. p. 425. * J. Mart. dial . cum Tryph , p. 260. * See S. Peter's Life , Sect. 3. Num. 2. Gal. 1. 1. John 20. 21 , 22 , 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 115. 〈◊〉 . 8. Edit . Savil. * De praescript . Haerit . c. 20. p. 208. ‖ Mark 16. 15. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Macar . Homil. 14. p. 171. * Di praescript . Haeret. c. 21. p. 209. 〈◊〉 . c. 20. p. 208. Matth. 24. 14. Verse 3. * 〈◊〉 . Jud. c. 7 p. 189. * Lib. qued . Chr. 〈◊〉 Deus , c. 1. Tim. 5. p. 726. * Ibid. c. 11. p. 746. * 〈◊〉 Rom. Pontis . lib. 1. c. 17. 18. & siq . Matth. 20 , 25 , 26 , 27. Luke 22 , 24 , 25 , 26 , (u) Hic erant utique & ceteri Apostoli , quod fuit Petrus , pari consortio praediti . & honoris & pote ●●●● . Cyprian de unitat . Eccles . p. 180. * Orat. in S. Jac. ap 〈◊〉 . Cod. 〈◊〉 . Col. 1525. (y) 〈◊〉 . S. Thom. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . col . 1488. (z) In Conc. Ephes. 〈◊〉 . Tom. 2. p. 209. (a) Prolog . in 〈◊〉 . p. 2. (b) De Pet. 〈◊〉 . Zeb . p. 378. Tom. 1. (c) In illud . sal . Aquil & 〈◊〉 . p. 218. 〈◊〉 5. (d) Ibid. p. 221. (e) 〈◊〉 . in Petr. & Paul. p. 261. Tom. 6. (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 14. p. 52. (g) In 〈◊〉 . c. 16. p. 483. Joh. 15. 15. Joh. 16. 13. Act. 1. 8. Act. 1. 21 , 22. Act. 10. 39 , 40 , &c. 1 Joh. 1. 1 , 2 , 3. 2 Pet. 1. 16 , 17. Joh. 3. 2. Act. 14. 10 , 11. * 2 Cor. 12 12. (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Chiysott . 〈◊〉 . 29. in 〈◊〉 . p. 302 , 303. Hebr. 2. 4. Matt. 10. 7 , 8. 〈◊〉 16. 17. 〈◊〉 . Act. 15. 12. Act. 19. 11 , 12. 1 Cor. 12. 9 , 10. Rev. 19. 10. Joel 2. 18 , 19. Act. 2. 16 , 17 , 〈◊〉 . 1 Cor. 18. 2. Rom. 12. 8. 1 Cor. 14. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32. (i) Dial , cum 〈◊〉 . p. 308. (k) H. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 168. Act , 8 21 , 23. 1 Cor. 14 1 Cor. 14. Verse Verse Jam. 5. 14. 15 , 16. * Ad 〈◊〉 . c. 4. p. 〈◊〉 . 1 Cor. 12. 10. 1 Cor. 4. 21. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Chrysost . 〈◊〉 . 14. in 1. ad Corinth . p. 444. vid. 〈◊〉 . in loc , Tom. 9. p. 305. 2 Cor. 10. 6 , 8 , 9. Chap. 13. 2. Verse 10. 1 Cor. 5. 5. vid. 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . in loc . 1 Tim. 1. 20. Acts 5. 11. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 18. in Act. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . (a) 〈◊〉 H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 2. p. 24. (b) 〈◊〉 . Al. Strom. 〈◊〉 . 4. p 516. (c) H. Eccl. 〈◊〉 . 2. c. 24. p. 66. (d) 〈◊〉 . Encom . S. Ignat . p. 499. T. 〈◊〉 . (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 15. p. 398. (f) Praefix . 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . p. 1. (g) Lib. 6. Ep. 4. p. 147. 〈◊〉 . Ep. 7. p. 150. Notes for div A63641-e177070 * Joseph . Antiqu . Judaic . lib. 18. cap. 3. p. 618. Matth. 11. 21. * J. Co●ovic . Itiner . Hierosol . lib. 3. c. 8. p. 358 Surgel . de S. Petro cap. 1. * Ib. c. 49. * Bellarm. de Rom. Pontif. lib. 2. c. 9. col . 624. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesych . in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2 , 4 , 5 , 6. Rev. 21. 14. * Pap Masson . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 . 172. p. 2. ex 〈◊〉 . Vict. ‖ Sac. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Rom. Sect. 1. fol. 18. * Com. de Petr. & Paul. apud Sur. ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Jun. ‖ 〈◊〉 . 51. p. 192. * 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . Andr. quem 〈◊〉 Metaphrast . ap . 〈◊〉 potius , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 6. vid. Baron . not . ad Martyrol . Novemb. XXX . p. 737. (a) 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. adv . Jovin . p. 35. 〈◊〉 . 2. (b) Cassian . de Incarn . Dom. lib. 3. c. 12. p. 996. (c) Bed. Comment . in 〈◊〉 . 1. Joan. Tom. 5. * Midr. 〈◊〉 . sol . 41. ap . 〈◊〉 . Cent. 〈◊〉 . in Matth. c. 70. p. 131. ‖ Joseph . de Bell. Jud. l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 860. Matth. 8. 14. — 17 24. * H. Eccl. lib. 8. c. 30. p. 596. Optian . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d. non longe ab init . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Epist. pag. 541. Tom. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . p. 47 , 48. ‖ lib. 3. p. 135. * lib. 1. p. 6. * Arnob. adv . Gent. lib. 2. p. 21. ‖ De Curand . Grac. 〈◊〉 . Serm. 9. de 〈◊〉 . p. 123. Ibid. p. 125. Ibid. p. 128. Ibid. p. 126. Ibid. p. 135. 1 Cor. 1. 27. 28. vers . 22 , 23 , 24 , 25. 〈◊〉 primi vocati sunt , 〈◊〉 Dominum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & illiterati 〈◊〉 ad pradicandum , ne 〈◊〉 credentium non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fieri putaretur . 〈◊〉 . comm . in Matth. c. 4. Tom. 9. p. 17. John 1. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sub 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . John 1. 42. 〈◊〉 . 4. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 5. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 8. 6 , 7 , 8. 〈◊〉 . 8. 14. Mark 1. 29. Luke 4. 38. John 11. 3. 〈◊〉 5. 12. 〈◊〉 . 10. 1. 〈◊〉 3. 14. Luke 6. 13. 〈◊〉 . 2. 12. Matth. 19. 28. Matth. 10. 2. Mark 3. 16. * Hist. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 3. p. 134. * 〈◊〉 An. 〈◊〉 . num . 40. ‖ 〈◊〉 An. 71. 〈◊〉 . 13. * Vid. Jo. Moschi Prat. Spir. 〈◊〉 . 176. Bibl. P. 〈◊〉 . L. 〈◊〉 . 2 p. 1133. Mark 5. 22. Matth. 14. 17. John 6. 24. 〈◊〉 8. 27. Matth. 16. 〈◊〉 . Luk. 9. 18. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . 16 , 〈◊〉 . 483. Joh. 1. 49. Rev. 21. 14. 〈◊〉 . 2. 20. Gal. 2. 9. 〈◊〉 . 18. 17 , 18. Joh. . 20. 21-23 . * Comment . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 . 2. Matth. 16. 21. 〈◊〉 8. 31. 〈◊〉 9. 22. Luk. 4. 8. Matth. 17. 1. 〈◊〉 9. 2. Luke 9. 28. 〈◊〉 89. 12. * 〈◊〉 Loc. Sanct. c. 17. * 〈◊〉 . à Bridenb . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanct. vid. J. Cotovic . 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 7 p. 355. Matth. 17. 24. Matth , 18. 21. Matth. 19. 16. 〈◊〉 10. 17. Luke 18. 18. Matth. 21. 1. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. in 〈◊〉 . Comm. p. 17. Matth. 26. 17. Mark 14. 12. Luke 22. 7. H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 28. p. 104. John 13. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Nonn . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . John 13. 36. 〈◊〉 22. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Com. in Luc. 22. in Bibl. Pp. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 p. 829. 〈◊〉 . 26. 30. Mark 14. 26. * De loc . Hebr. in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 134. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Nub. Clim . 3. part . 5. p. 114. * Cyril . comment . in 〈◊〉 . 18. Tom. 4. 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . 18. Matth. 26. 57. Muk 14. 53. Luk. 22. 54. Joh. 18. 12. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deum . Ambr. in 〈◊〉 . 22. Tom. 5. p. 157. vid. 〈◊〉 . comment . in Matth. p. 328. ‖ Hieron . in 〈◊〉 . 26. p. 81. Tom. 9. vid. August . in Joan . Tract . lxvi . col . 417. Tom. 9. Mark 16. 1. Luk. 24. 12. Joh. 20. 2. 1 Cor. 15. 5. Luk. 24. 34. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in . 1. ad Cor. 〈◊〉 . 15. Hom. 38. p. 666. Ibid. p. 667. ‖ 〈◊〉 . in Lut. 24. in fin . p. 170. Tom. 5. Joh. 21. 1. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Redditur 〈◊〉 trina trina Confessio , 〈◊〉 minus amori lingua serviat , quàm timori ; & plus 〈◊〉 elicuisse videatur mors 〈◊〉 , quàm vita 〈◊〉 , Aug. in 〈◊〉 . Tract . 123. col . 566. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. Ep. 103. p. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 1 , 2 , 3. Acts'1 . 8. Luke 24. 49. * Paulin. Epist . 3. ad Sever . lib. 2. p. 130 Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacr. lib ; 2. p. 145. 〈◊〉 . de l. c. Heb. in Act. App. p. 297. Tom. 3. ‖ J Cotovic . 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 11. p. 271. vid. Sands 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. p. 156. Luke 24. 52. Dan̄ . 6. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 76. Acts 20. 8. * Prim. 〈◊〉 . Part 1. Ch. 6. 〈◊〉 . 126. Acts 1. 15. Acts 2. 1. Numb . 11. 25. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 toto vetus & 〈◊〉 opinio , 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tempore Judaea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Id de 〈◊〉 , &c. Sueton. in vit . Vespas . c. 4. p. 728. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Histor. l. 5. c. 13. p. 540. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Joseph . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 1020. Acts 3. 〈◊〉 Vid. 〈◊〉 . in Act. 3. 1. Act. 4. 4. Act. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Muson . apud Siob . 〈◊〉 . 77. 〈◊〉 honor . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 458. 〈◊〉 pluribus 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 hac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 11. p. 25. 〈◊〉 , Christ. Part. 3. 〈◊〉 . 4. Act. 5. 1. Act. 5. 12. * 〈◊〉 . in loc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. c. 29. p. 163. Acts 8. 1. 〈◊〉 . 2. 3. * J. Mart. Apol. 2 p. 69. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 . 20. p. 115. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. 46. p. 219. Acts 9. 32. Acts 10. 9. Vas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domini , & Spiritus Sanctus habitat in 〈◊〉 . Et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & de Britannia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Regnum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intra vos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . p. 102. Tom. 1. Acts 11. 1. * Satyr . p. 439. ‖ 〈◊〉 . lib. 5. 〈◊〉 . 4 , 5. p. 535. * Ap. 〈◊〉 . Antiqu. Jud. lib. 〈◊〉 . c. 6. ‖ Diod. 〈◊〉 . lib. 34. apud 〈◊〉 . Cod. CCXLIV . Col. 1149. * Vid. 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 12. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 11. Acts 12. 1. Acts. 15. 1. Gal. 2. 11. * Apud Hieron . pr●oem . in Ep. ad Gal. p. 159. Tom. 9. * Hieron . Com. in Gal. 2. p. 168 * 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . Chr. xliii . ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 ad 〈◊〉 . p. 168. T. 9. * 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 503. Tom. 1. * Bar. ad An. Chr. xliv . Num. 12. vid. Epist. 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in V. 〈◊〉 . sub Men. 〈◊〉 . Tom. 4. pag. 24. ‖ 〈◊〉 . lib. 7. c. 6. sol . 296. & seq . * Euseb. H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 17. p. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 script . 〈◊〉 . in Phil. p 270. ‖ ad An. 45. Num. 16. * 〈◊〉 . Ep. 1. ad Dic Eug. 〈◊〉 . Tom. 1. p. 751. ‖ Vid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 7. c. 6. fol. 297. * Vid. 〈◊〉 . Epist. 〈◊〉 supr . ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 29. Jun. Num. 23. vid. 〈◊〉 N. 10. ibid. * J. 〈◊〉 . Apol. 2. p. 69-91 . vid. Dial. cum 〈◊〉 . p. 349. ‖ Vbi supr . 〈◊〉 . 2. (a) 〈◊〉 . adv . 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. c. 20. p. 115. (b) 〈◊〉 . Apol. c. 13. p. 14. (c) Euseb. lib. 2. c. 14. p. 51. Aug. de 〈◊〉 . in Simon . Tom. 6. col . 13. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 14. pag. 154. * Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 30. c. 2. p. 606. ‖ Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 14. pag. 51 , 52. * Damas. in vit . Petr. Conc. Tom. 1. Const. App. lib. 6. c. 8 , 9. p. 944. Arnob . adv . 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. p. 23. Epiph. 〈◊〉 . 21. p. 31. Sulp. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. pag. 137. & 〈◊〉 . ‖ Higes . d. Excid . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. c. 2 p. 293. ‖ Vid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Ep. lib. 5. p. 125. Tom. 〈◊〉 . * Vid. Martyr . Rom. ad 〈◊〉 14. 〈◊〉 . p. 165. ‖ Vid. Ambr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & Heges . ib. p. 279. * Rom. 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 21. N. 15. Tom. 1. pag. 292. ‖ 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eccles. lib. 3. c. 1. p. 71. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . p. 262. Heges . p. 279. 〈…〉 Prudent . Peristeph 〈◊〉 XI . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & Paul. * 〈◊〉 in Petr. & Paul. p. 267. T. 6. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de VII . Vrb B 〈◊〉 c. 4. p. 45 , &c. 〈◊〉 . supr . 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 Ann. 45. 〈◊〉 . 11. * Hist. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c 37. p. 195. ‖ Com. in Gal. 2. p. 164. T. 9. ex lib. dicto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Ad An. 69. n. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Ham. 32. in Joan. p. 170. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 Jud. lib. 3. c. 4. p. 833. 〈◊〉 Pet. 5. 3 , 4. 2 Pet. 1. 12 , 13 , 15. * L. Capell . 〈◊〉 . ad Hist. App. pag. 42. * Cyril . Alex. & 〈◊〉 . Gaz. in Esa. 53. Chap. 18. v. 2 , 10 , 21. * H. 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 3. p. 72. Orig. apud 〈◊〉 . l. b. 5. c. 16. p. 365. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad Epist. Syr. d se edit . * Hier. de script . Eccl in Petr. ‖ 〈◊〉 . 11. ad Hedib . 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 151. * Annot. in 2 〈◊〉 . 1. * Dr. Ham. in Argum. 〈◊〉 . 2 Pet. 1. 16 , 17 , 18. Jud. v. 17 , 18. 2 〈◊〉 . 3. 2 , 3. Lib. 4 c. 21. p. 422. Chap. 1. v. 14. * Orig. Tom. 20 in Joan. ‖ 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 3. p. 〈◊〉 . * In Petro , ut 〈◊〉 . ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. c. 12. p. 213. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . p. 635. & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ex 〈◊〉 . p 809. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Tom. 13. in 〈◊〉 . (a) D : 〈◊〉 . non 〈◊〉 . apud Cypr. p. 142. (b) H. Eccl. lib. 7. c 19. p. 735. * Vid. Russin . 〈◊〉 Symbol . inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . T. 〈◊〉 . 4. p. 113. ‖ H. Eccl. lib. 3. c. 3. p. 72. * 〈◊〉 . de S. Petr. 〈◊〉 Sur. ad 〈◊〉 29 Jun. n. 2. ‖ Ep. ud Julian . Tom. 1. p. 207. 1 Cor. 95. Vid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lit . 7. 〈◊〉 76. p. 2. * Strom. lib. 7. p. 736. * 〈◊〉 . ad An. 60. H 32. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . p. 448. * Ad 〈◊〉 . 39. num . 12. ad An. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Ad An. 58. 〈◊〉 . 51. Rom. 1. 10 , 11 , 12. Acts 28. 17. Chap. 4. 10 , 11. 2 Tim. 4. 16. Gal. 2. 1. * 〈◊〉 de Rom. Pontif. lib. 2. c. 6. Col. 615. ‖ Bar. ad An. 39. n. 15. * Ibid. & Bar. ad An. 51. n. 1 , 3. * Lib. 7. c. 〈◊〉 , fol. 297. p. 2. ‖ Ad An. 58 , n. 51. * Hier. Batnab , de vin . Bar. l. 1. c. 18. ‖ Onuphr . Annot . ad Plat. in nit . Petr. p. 9. & in 〈◊〉 . * Ad Ann. 39. N. 12. ‖ 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 16. ‖ Stromat . lib. 6. p. 636. * H. 〈◊〉 Annot . in Euseb. lib. 2. c. 18. p. 37. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ad Num. 〈◊〉 . p. 204. ‖ H. Eccl. lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 2. p. 71. * Contr. Carpocrat . 〈◊〉 . XXVII . p. 51. ‖ De 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib. 3. c. 2. p. 292. * Chron. p. 162. ‖ 〈◊〉 . 27. p. 51. * Annal. lib. 15. c. 38. 41. p. 316 , &c. Notes for div A63641-e201660 * Geograph . lib. 14. p. 463. Act. 22. 25 , 26 * De Script , Eccl. in Paul. ‖ Bellon . Ob. scr v. lib. 2 c. 99. p. 366. * Com. in Philem p. 263. Tom. 9. * Adv. Marc. lib. 5. c. 1. p. 461 Gen. 49. 27. * Praefat. in F●p ad Rom. fol. 132. Tom. 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talm. Tract . Kidduseh . c. 1. ap . Buxtorf , in voc . ‖ Annot. in Act. 18. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ Epith. 80. p. 451. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supr . Acts 18. 3. * De 〈◊〉 S. Paul. Tim. 5. p. 512. Acts 22. 3. & 5. 34. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. p. 16. 17. ‖ Ap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . CIXXI . Col. 384. 〈…〉 ad 3. Aug. p. 31. & Bar. ad Ann. 415. * 〈◊〉 . c. 9. 〈◊〉 . 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Hor. H. in 〈◊〉 . 13. 2 Gal. 1. 14. * Antiq. Jud. lib. 17. cap. 3. p. 585. ‖ Id 〈◊〉 . lib. 13 c. 23. p. 463 Acts 22. 20. Acts 9. 1. Gal. 1. 15. Acts 22. 9. 2 Cor. 12. 1. Gal. 1. 10 , 11. Gal. 1. 17. 18. Act. 9. 23. 2 Cor. 11. 32 , 33. * Just. lib. 36. 1. 2. p. 425. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Nub. Clim . 3. 〈◊〉 . 5. p. 116. 〈◊〉 . 7. 7. * Epist. XXIV . p. 145. ‖ Alv. Mart. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 . 13. p. 404. * G. 〈◊〉 . & J. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 4. p. 11. Act. 9. 26. Gal. 1. 18 , 19. Act. 9. 30. Act. 11. 26. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loc . Hebr. in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * Joan. 〈◊〉 . in Chronol . MS. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , cit . 〈◊〉 Synedr . l. 1. c. 8. p. 226. vid. Suid. in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ‖ J. Greg. 〈◊〉 . & obs . 〈◊〉 . 36. * J. 〈◊〉 . Chron. lib. 9. Act. 11. 27. Act. 13. 2. ‖ Dionys. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 8. pag. 623. Act. 13. 13 , 14. Act. 14. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Arrian . 〈◊〉 . lib : 1. c. 16. p. 126. Acts 15. 1. Acts 15. 35. Acts 16. 6. Acts 15. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 685. * Alv. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . LXXX . 〈◊〉 . 450. In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? Juvenal . 〈◊〉 . 3. v. 296. P 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Schol , ibid. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 , p. 1014 Milites si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ipsi in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l 12. 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . hib . 〈◊〉 . T. 1. 3. Ista laus primum est majorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , qui 〈…〉 corpus omnium 〈◊〉 Romanorum 〈◊〉 libertatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lex virgas ab omnium civium Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . C. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 civium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . pro C. Rabir. p. 314. Tom. 2. * L. 7. ff . de 〈◊〉 . lib. 49. T. 〈◊〉 . 10. Acts 17 15. * C. Nep. 〈◊〉 vit . 〈◊〉 . c. 3 : p. 267. ‖ Orat. pro Flac. Tom. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Comic . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de vit . Grac. à 〈◊〉 . edit . cap. 3. p. 18. Tantum 〈◊〉 sua , quantum 〈◊〉 omnis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Est aliquid , quo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : ille naturae benesicio non timet , suo sapiens . Ecce res magna , babere 〈◊〉 hominis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sencc . Epist. 53. p. 131. 〈◊〉 S. 〈◊〉 dicere , Jovem plus non 〈◊〉 , quam bonum virum . Plura Jupiter 〈◊〉 , quae prastet hominibus : sed inter duos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ni lior , qui locupletior . Jupiter quo 〈◊〉 virum bonum ? 〈◊〉 bonus est . 〈◊〉 nihilo se minoris astimat , quod virtutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breviore claudumur . Id. Epist. 73. p. 203. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Pausen , lib. 1. p. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Id. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 438. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Nonn . Dionys lib. 38. p. 542. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 10. pag. 325. ‖ Himer . Orat. in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . CCXLIII , col . 1086. * Philostr . de vit . 〈◊〉 . lib. 6. cap. 2. p. 262 & ex to , Suid. in vot . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Schol. in Act. 17. pag. 137. * Com. in Tit. cap. 1. ad Paul. & Eustoch . p. 248. Tom. 9. Isai ; 45. 15. ‖ Paran . ad Graec. p. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Plutarch . lib. de Isid. & Osir. p. 354. ‖ — deditae 〈◊〉 Incerti 〈◊〉 Dei , 〈◊〉 . Pharsal . lib. 2. incertum 〈◊〉 numon . 〈◊〉 Poll. in vit . Claud. c. 2. p. 800. 〈◊〉 mente sola , unumque 〈◊〉 intelligunt ; summum illud & 〈◊〉 , neque mutabile , neque 〈◊〉 . Tacit. Histor. lib. 〈◊〉 c. 5. p. 535. * Phil. de 〈◊〉 . ad Cal. p. 1041. (a) Quaest. Rom. p. 279. vid. Serv. ad illud Virgil. Georgic . lib. 1. Dii patrii indigites , &c. * In Verr. Actus . 7. p. 223. Pest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , transit ad generalitatem , nè quod numen 〈◊〉 , more 〈◊〉 , per quos ritu 〈◊〉 in omnibus sacris , post speciales 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad ipsum sactum , quod 〈◊〉 , necesse erat 〈◊〉 , generaliter omnia numina invocabantur . Serv. in illud Virgil , 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 Deaeque omnes . ‖ 〈◊〉 . 38. in Act. p. 705. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. in vit . 〈◊〉 p. 78. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 . Philip . 4. pag. 53. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Schol. ibid. * Chrysoft . de Sacerdot . lib. 4. c. 7. p. 67. T. 4. Vid. inter alios Suid. in vic . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 Corinth . Episc. ap Euseb. lib. 3. c. 4. p. 74. lib. 4. c. 22. p. 144. ‖ Martyrium S. Dionys. per S. Metaphr . ap . Sur. ad diem 9. Octob Epist. Hisduin . Abb. & H uem . 〈◊〉 . item Passio ejus , altaque ib d. Niceph . lib. 2. c. 20. p. 167. Vbi 〈◊〉 . Acts 18. 1. Acts 18. 18. Acts 19. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suid. in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Strom , l , 1. p. 305 , 306. * 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib 8. 〈◊〉 . 2. p. 257. 〈◊〉 . 19. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 7 d. ob . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1562 〈◊〉 . 10 s * Paul. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib 5. Sent. 21. Sect. 4 〈◊〉 . 23. 〈…〉 . * H. Natur. lib. 36. c. 14. p. 716. ‖ Lib. 16. c. 40. p. 336. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Hymn . 2. p. 23. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Perieg . 〈◊〉 . 829. * 〈◊〉 . Annal. lib. 3. c. 61. p. 117. ‖ Suid. in voc , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 4. 14. 1 〈◊〉 . 1. 20. * Euseb. lib. 4. contra Hierocl . p. 530. ad calc . Demonstr , Evang. ‖ Philostr . de vit . Apollon , Tyan . lib. 4. cap. 1. p. 159. &c. 12. p. 194. constr . lib. 5. Ibid. lib. 4 c. 3. p. 164. vid. Euseb. in Hierocl . lib. 4. ap . Philostr , p. 457. Acts 20. 1. Acts 20. 17. Acts 20. 1. Acts 21. 18. * 〈◊〉 B 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib. 2. c. 15. Act. 22. 1. 〈◊〉 virgis in medio sero 〈◊〉 Civis Romanut , cum interea nullus 〈◊〉 , nulla vox 〈◊〉 istius miseri 〈◊〉 , nisi hac , 〈◊〉 Romanus sum . Hac 〈◊〉 commemorationis Civitatis omnia verbera depulsurum 〈◊〉 . — O nomen dulce 〈◊〉 ! O jus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 civitatis ! O lex Porcia , 〈◊〉 Semproniae ! Ciccr. in Virr . lib. 7. Tim. 2. p 218. 〈◊〉 est vincire 〈◊〉 Romanum , scelus , terberare . ld . ib. p. 220. vid. supra Sict . Ill. Num. 4. Act. 23. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . M. Anton. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 7. sect . 28. p. 63. Justum & tenatem 〈◊〉 Virum , Non Civium ardor prava jubemium , Non vultus inst 〈◊〉 Tiranni M 〈◊〉 quatit solida : 〈◊〉 Auster 〈◊〉 inquieti turbidus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sulminantis magna Jovls manus . Si fractus illabatur orbis , Impavidum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Horat , Carm. l. 3. Od. 3. p. 154. * 〈◊〉 ille est plenus gandio , 〈◊〉 , & placidus , inconcussus , cum diis ex 〈◊〉 vivit : per dies noctesque sar & aequalis animi 〈◊〉 erecti & placentis sibi est . — . Talis est 〈◊〉 animus , qualis mundi 〈◊〉 super Lunam , semter illie serenum est : 〈◊〉 sim gaudio est . Gaudium bot non 〈◊〉 , nisiex virtutum conscientia . Senec. Epist. 59. p. 152. Hae Pauli verba Ananias & Apparitores sic 〈◊〉 , quasi excusares Paulus quod sibi in istis vialis 〈◊〉 nois satis in mentem 〈◊〉 , quicum sibires esset . Verum latentior sensus 〈◊〉 , non esse cum sacerdotem , aut principem 〈◊〉 , qui 〈◊〉 dignitates precio comparasset . Didicerat enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gamalitle Paulus : Judicem qui honotis consequendi causa pecunias dederit , revera neque judicem este , neque honorandum , sed asini habendum loco , ut ect in Tisulo Talmudico dt Synedrio . Grot. in loc . Acts 24. 1. * Histor. lib. 5. c. 9. p. 538. vid. Annal. lib. 12. c. 54. p. 234. * Joseph . Antiquit . Jud. lib. 20. c. 5. p. 693. Acts 25. 1. * L. 1. ss . 〈◊〉 Ofsic . Procur . 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 19 * Leg. 1. Sect. 4. ss de Appellat . lib. 49 Tit. 1. 〈◊〉 . 2 & 3. ibid. * Ibid. 〈◊〉 . 25 , & 〈◊〉 7. ff . ad 〈◊〉 . Jul. 〈◊〉 public . lib. 48. 〈◊〉 . 6. Acts 26. 1. Act , 27. 1. Act. 28. 1. Annot. in loc . * Bar. ad 〈◊〉 . LVIII . 〈◊〉 . 173. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . martyr . ad 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Feb. Martyr . Rom. ad 〈◊〉 21. Jan. Eusib. l. 4. c. 23. p. 143. 1 Tim. 4. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XVII . Maii p. 308. ‖ Ad 〈◊〉 . 59. 〈◊〉 . 9. vid. Chrysost. adv . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . c. 4. p. 361. * 〈◊〉 l 13. c. 45. p. 263. ‖ 〈◊〉 Jud. lib. 20. cap. 7. p. 697. 〈◊〉 vit . sua , p. 999. * L. 1. & 2. 〈◊〉 . de his , qui sui vel 〈◊〉 juris sunt , lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 6. vid. 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 8. * Lib. 3. c. 3 p. 72. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 6. c. 25. p. 227. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , c. 20. 〈◊〉 . 582. 〈◊〉 . Cl 〈◊〉 Alex. in lib. 〈◊〉 . apud 〈◊〉 . l. 6. 〈◊〉 14. p 215. ‖ Euseb. lib. 3. 38. p. 110. * 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Clem. Cap. 13. 24. 〈◊〉 . 12. 1. Cap. 6. v. 4. 5 6 C. 10. v. 26 , 27 , 28 , 29. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ep. ad Corinth . p. 8. ‖ L. Cappell . Append. ad Hist. App. p. 33. * Epiphan . Haeres . 27. p. 51. Chrysost. de Laud. Paul. p. 536. T. 5. C●●ill . Catech. 17. p. 457. Theod. in 2 Tim 4. 16. & in Psalm , 116 id . de cur . Graec , Affect . Serm. 9. p. 125. Rom. 15. 24-28 . ‖ Sopheon , Serm. de natali . App. Transit & Ortanum , vel quà facit insula porium Quasque Britannus habet terras atque ultima Thule . Venant . Fortun. de vit . Martin . lib. 3. non procul à fin . * Adv. vit . Monast. vituperat . lib. 1 c. 4. p. 361. Tom. 4. ad An. 69. n. 8. * Ambr. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & Pau. , 〈◊〉 , 68. p. 294. T. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Petr. & Paul. Tom. 6. p. 267. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ap , Euseb. l. 2 , c. 25. p. 〈◊〉 . Ambr. ib. 〈◊〉 . 66. p. 291. Max. 〈◊〉 . Hom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & Paul. p. 231. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Pass . Petr. & Paul. Hymn , 12. p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 App. 〈◊〉 . 2 , in sin . p. 700. Aug. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 28. T. m. 10. col . 1225. 〈◊〉 . Turon . de glor . Martyr . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 35. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Apud . P. 〈◊〉 . not . in 〈◊〉 . Fp. ad Cor. ad p. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Metaphr . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ap . 〈◊〉 , ad 29. Jun. n. 23. p. 357. * Damas. Pontif . in vit . Sylv . st . 1. vid. Onuphr . de 7. Vrb. 〈◊〉 . 87. * Apud . Bar. ad An. 386. p. 527. 〈◊〉 Cod. Vatic . ‖ Ib. d. in Addend . ad Tom. 4. p. 12. * 〈◊〉 . H. Eccl. 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . 37. p. 196. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Tom. 2. p. 999. 2 Cor. 10. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & Paul. p. 265. Tom. 6. ‖ Com. in Gal. 4. p. 182. Tom. 9 〈◊〉 . 4. 14. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 . c. 〈◊〉 . Hom. 3. p. 349. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1. p. 299. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 448. ‖ Ignat. Ep. ad Philadelph . in Bibl. 〈◊〉 . Gr. L. T. 1. p. 23. 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 30. * 〈◊〉 . Not , in Ignat. Epist. ad Philadelph . 〈◊〉 . James his corrupt , of the Fath , Part. II. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 2 Cor. 11. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. Homil. 23. in 2. ad 〈◊〉 . p. 899. * Lib. 3. c. 1. p. 223. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. Epist. 176. ad 〈◊〉 . Diac. p. 285. * Epist. ad Cor. p. 8. 2 Cor. 11. 23. & 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 25. in 2 ad Cor. p. 921. 2 Cor. 1. 12. 2 Cor. 10. 10. * Ad Algas . 〈◊〉 . 11. p. 169 T. 2. 〈◊〉 . 11. ad H dib . p. 151. ibid. in Eph. 3. Tom. 9. p. 216. com . in Gal. 3. p. 170. ibid. ‖ Salmas de 〈◊〉 . Part. 1. 〈◊〉 . 6. * Apol. adv . Jovin . T. 2. p. 106. 2 Pet. 3. 16. * Adv. Haer. lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 7. p. 248. ‖ 〈◊〉 . 64. p. 239. 2 〈◊〉 . 3. 17. * Ambr. in 〈◊〉 . T. 5. p. 397. * De Script . 〈◊〉 . in Luc. 1 Cor. 5. 9. V. 11. Col : 4. 16. * Adv. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. 〈◊〉 . 11. p. 476. ib. c. 17. p. 481 ‖ 〈◊〉 . 42. adv . 〈◊〉 . p. 142. * De Script . Eccl. in Paulo . ‖ Epiph. Haeres . 38. p. 124. August . in Joan . Tract . 98. col . 488. * H. Eccl. l. 7. c. 19. p. 735. ‖ Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 1. c. 2. fol. 114. p. 2. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 3. p. 72. * 〈◊〉 . l. 1. 〈◊〉 20. Epiph. 〈◊〉 . 21. 〈◊〉 . di 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 33. p. 214 , &c. 46. p. 219. Aug. di 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . XXXIX , Col. 2. 18. * Can. 35. ‖ Theod. in 〈◊〉 . 2. * Orig adv . 〈◊〉 . lib 6. p. 282. Euseb. l. 4. c. 7. p. 120. Heb. 3. 12. Heb. 10. 23. 25 , 31 , 38. * 〈◊〉 . adv . H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . c. 20 p. 116. Phil. 3. 17 , 18. Rom. 16. 17 , 18. Eph. 5. 3. 4. &c. 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 7. c. 21. p. 973. Acts 15. 1. Mat. 1. 7. Exod. 34. 14. 15. 〈◊〉 25. 2. 4 Gen. 9. 4. Lev. 17. 10 , 11 , 12 , &c. * Athen. D ipnos lib. 2 c. 24. p. 65. 〈◊〉 vid. Casaub. in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Christ. Part. 3. 〈◊〉 . 1. p. 230. * Vid. 〈◊〉 . pro Coelio Orat. 34. p. 503. 〈◊〉 . 2 , Terent. Adelph . Ac. 1. Sc. 2. p. 166. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . &c. 〈◊〉 . Comic . in 〈◊〉 . ap . Athen. 〈◊〉 . 13. 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 569. Vid. Leg. 〈◊〉 . 1. 6. 〈◊〉 . 5. p. 41. & 〈◊〉 . Comment . p. 474. 〈◊〉 . 23. 17. 1 〈◊〉 , 4. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. * 〈◊〉 . adv . 〈◊〉 . pag. 27. Tom. 1. Prov. 7. 14. 〈◊〉 . 23. 〈◊〉 . Rom. 3. 27. 〈◊〉 . 2. 15 , 16. Gal. 3. 2. 5. V. 23. Gal. 4. 21. & 〈◊〉 . Gal. 5. 6. Gal. 6. 15. 1 Cor. 7. 19. Rom. 10. 16. Heb. 11. 8. Rom. 4. 22. Rom. 4. 〈◊〉 , 3 , &c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cad Hakkem . ap . Buxtorf . F. praef . ad Syn. Jud. ‖ Syna● . Jud , c. 4. p. 87. Rom. 3. 20 , 21 , &c. Ga. 3. 28. Col. 3. 11. Rom. 4 9 , 10 , 11 , &c. Gal. 3. 17. Rom. 4. 11 , 12. 〈◊〉 . 3. 7. 8. 9. Rom. 8. 3 , 4. Heb. 10. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 11 , 12. Gal. 2. 21. Gal. 5. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. Acts 2. 38. Acts 3. 17. Mark 11. 25 , 26. Matth. 6. 14 , 15. Acts 10. 34 , 35. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 1 Cor. 7. 〈◊〉 . Rom. 3. 27. 1 Cor. 13. 2. Rom. 3. 8. Rom. 6. 1. Vid. Chap. 2. v. 14 , 15. & 〈◊〉 . Notes for div A63641-e229510 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sub lit . 〈◊〉 . * Socr. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 19. p. 50. ‖ Orig. in 〈◊〉 . l. 3. ap . 〈◊〉 . l. 3. 〈◊〉 . 1. p. 71. 〈◊〉 . H. 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 39. p. 199. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Geogr. l. 7. p. 206. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Andr. Apost . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sub lit . 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 An. 44. N. 31. vid. ad An. 314. n. 94 , 95 , &c. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 39. l. 5. c. 6. p. 540. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 , C. P. in 〈◊〉 , à 〈◊〉 . edit , p. 309. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man. Grac. 〈◊〉 supr . ‖ 〈◊〉 . 25. p. 438. * Extant apud Sur. ad ditm 30. 〈◊〉 . p. 653. ‖ De 〈◊〉 . c. 89. * Lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 39. p. 200. vid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 30. Novemb. ubi 〈◊〉 babent . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2. 〈◊〉 S. Andr. 〈◊〉 . 327. * 〈◊〉 . in S And. 〈◊〉 . 133. p. 120. 〈◊〉 Comment . MS. Gr. ap . Bar. Not. in Martyr . ad 30. Novemb. ‖ Di Glor. Martyr . hb. 1. 6. 31. pag. 37. * 〈◊〉 . adv . 〈◊〉 . p. 122. T. 2. ‖ 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . Justin. lib. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . CCIXIX . Col. 1488. Notes for div A63641-e231820 Mark 1. 20. H. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 3. p. 135. * Apud Kirsten . de vit . Quat . Evangel . p. 47. John 19. 25. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . J. Mart. dial . cum Tryph. p. 316. Mark 6. 3. Matth 13. 55. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Bas. Constit. Monast. c. 4. p. 764. Tom. 2. vid. Hilar. in Matth. Can. 14. * Theod. H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 18. p. 105. Luk. 9. 59. 61. Zachar. Chrysopol . Comm. in Concord . Evang. p. 111. Mark 3. 16 , 17. 〈◊〉 . Ccmm. in Marc. c. 3. p. 92. T. 9. Gaudent , 〈◊〉 . Tract 1. de Lect. Evang. seu , in ordine , 8. Matth. 17. 5. Joh. 12. 29. Filios Zebedaei Boanerges , hcc est , 〈◊〉 tonitrui vccat , 〈◊〉 divina corum praedicatio magnum 〈◊〉 & illustrem sonitum per terrarum Orbem datura crat . Vict. Anticch , comment . in Marc. cap. 2. Comment , in Marc. 3. p. 205. Heb. 12. 26. Hagg. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tremere faciam . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Luk. 9. 54. 〈◊〉 . 20. 20. * 〈◊〉 . Hitron . de Script . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jacob. * Pseudo . 〈◊〉 . Chronic. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 8. c. 7. * 〈◊〉 vit . & obit , S S. 〈◊〉 Test. c. 72. ‖ Brev. Tol. 〈◊〉 . S. 〈◊〉 . ri . * Apud 〈◊〉 . de adv . Jac. in Hispan . c. 7. p. 11. sid ex side 〈◊〉 . ‖ In Not. ad Martyrol . ad 25. Jul p. 452. vid. Orat. Roder. A. 〈◊〉 . Tol. in 〈◊〉 . G. 〈◊〉 . ad decret . Gund . Tom. 4. Concil . p. 548 , 549. Ad Ann. DCCCXVI . Num. 69 , 70. Tom. 9. * Vid. Epist. 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 Imp. ap . Phil. de Legat . ad 〈◊〉 . p. 1031. & seqq . ‖ Joseph . Antiquit . Jud. 〈◊〉 . 19. c. 7. p. 677. * Clem. Alex. Hypotyp . lib. 7. apud Euseb. 〈◊〉 . 2. c. 9. p. 46. ‖ Said . in voc . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 . Jud. lib. 19. cap. 7. p. 679. Hunc Josephi locum laudans 〈◊〉 , totam bubonis mentionem 〈◊〉 , jusque loco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substituit : 〈◊〉 quidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mala side . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Comment . dt 〈◊〉 . S. Jacob. Apost . ap . Joan. a 〈◊〉 . Biblioth . Floriac . Part. 2 p. 183 , &c. * Is. 〈◊〉 . Observat . in 〈◊〉 . Mel. lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 1. p. 231. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 72. Notes for div A63641-e235020 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notus er at 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 insidias non 〈◊〉 , in tantum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 , & staret solus Apostolorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salvatoris in sua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Epitaph . Marcell . p. 119. T. 1. * H. Eccl. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 28. p. 104. vid. lib. 2. c. 3. p. 135. ubi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caipha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicit . Mark 14. 51. Joh. 19. 26 , 27. * 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 1. p. 71. ‖ H. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 42. p. 206. * In Chron. 〈◊〉 . B 〈◊〉 . ad An. 48. N. 4. * 〈◊〉 . Jesuit , Ann. 1555. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolicas , apud quas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolorum , &c. habes Romam , &c. ubi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Oleum 〈◊〉 demersus , nibil 〈◊〉 est , in Insulam relegatur . 〈◊〉 . de Praescript . 〈◊〉 . c. 36. p. 215. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 444. ‖ 1. 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 16. 〈◊〉 . 2. l. 2. & 4. ff , de 〈◊〉 . lib. 48. Tu. 19. L. 3 ad 〈◊〉 . Jul 〈◊〉 . ib. 〈◊〉 . 13. vid. L. 6. & 7. de 〈◊〉 . & Rel. ib. 〈◊〉 . 22. * Argum. E pist . ad 〈◊〉 . p. 1032. ‖ Adv. 〈◊〉 . lib. 5. c. 30. p. 485. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 11. p. 205. Oros. lib. 7. c. 11. p. 303. 〈◊〉 . 2. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Timoth . apud 〈◊〉 . Cod. 254. Col. 1401. 1404. * Lib. 2. c. 42. p. 206. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Chrysost. Sum. de S. Joan. Ap. p. 505. T. 6. ‖ Synops. de Vit. & 〈◊〉 . App. Bibl. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 147. * Apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vit. Quat . Evang. p. 52. ‖ Hom. 66. in 〈◊〉 . c. 20. p. 575. * Comm. in Matth. 20. p. 59. Tom. 9. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 summ . Mund. & Antichr . in Auctuar . Bibl. Pp. Gr. Lat. T. 2. p. 351. ‖ Apud 〈◊〉 . Cod. CCXXIX . Col. 797. John 21. 21 , 22 , 23. Matth. 16. 28. * Tract . 124. in Joan. Col. 569 Tom. 9. * H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 42. p. 208. * Apud Phot. ubi 〈◊〉 . p. 800 ‖ 〈◊〉 Glor. 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. cap. 30. pag. 36 * 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 . c. 21. ‖ In vit . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 25 p. 213 * Apud 〈◊〉 . de vit . 〈◊〉 . Evangel . p. 52. * Epiph. 〈◊〉 . 78 p. 4 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . adv . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 35. T. 2. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Comm. in 2 Cor. 11. T. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Joan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Comm. in Joan. lib. 2. in sin . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 120. * 〈◊〉 . Comm. in 〈◊〉 . 6 ; ad Galat. 〈◊〉 . 9. p. 200. * 〈◊〉 . H. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. c. 23. p. 92. Prim. Christ. Part. 3. ch . 2. p. 248. * Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Auctuar . 〈◊〉 . Pp. Gr. L. à Er. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1672. Part. 1. p. 185. 〈◊〉 . 42. * 〈◊〉 . adv . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. c. 3. p. 233. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 28 p. 100 Epiph. Haeres . 30. p. 69. ‖ Th. Smith . 〈◊〉 . de VII . Asia 〈◊〉 . p. 159. * Epiphan . Hares . 28. p. 53. 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 28 p. 100. * 〈◊〉 . ib. p. 99. Rev. 2 15. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. p. 436. 〈◊〉 3 seb . 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 . 29. p. 101. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 7. c. 25. p. 272. &c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Cap. 1. Joan. ‖ 〈◊〉 . de vit . App. in 〈◊〉 . Pp. T. 3. p. 147. * Iren. adv . 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. 〈◊〉 . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Math. Tom. 9. & de script . 〈◊〉 . in Joan. ‖ De glor . 〈◊〉 . lib. l. cap. 30. pag. 37. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Eccl. lib. 3. c. 24. p. 95. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. 〈◊〉 . 41. p. 102. ‖ Comm. in 〈◊〉 , c. 47. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sublimitate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dei vidit , & 〈◊〉 proprio 〈◊〉 reseravit . Transeendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 virtutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angelos , & verbum in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vidit . Ambr. praef . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 5. p. 5. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amel. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 11. p. 540. vid. Theodor. 〈◊〉 Cxr. Graec. 〈◊〉 . Serm. 2. p. 33. * Epiph. adv . Ebinn . 〈◊〉 . XXX . p. 60. ibid. pag. 61. ‖ Lib. 7. c. 25. p. 276. * Quest. Evang. lib. 2. c. 39. Col. 353. vid. Possid . Indic . Oper. August . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supr . &c. 26. Huron . de 〈◊〉 . Ecel . in Joan. * Comm. in cap. 12. Zathar . 〈◊〉 . 178. Tom. 6. ‖ Homil. 16. p. 502. Tom. 1. * 〈◊〉 . 73. adv . 〈◊〉 . p. 363. ‖ 〈◊〉 . in Joan p. 8. Notes for div A63641-e240520 John 4. 45. 〈◊〉 1. 46. John 7. 52. John 1. 44. * 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 436. * Apud Sur. ad 〈◊〉 1. 〈◊〉 Tom. 4. 〈◊〉 6. 5. John 12. 22. John 14. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 〈◊〉 . * S. 〈◊〉 , Comm. de S. Philip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , H. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 , c. 39. p. 200. 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . ibid. * 〈◊〉 . ad Gent. p. 11. ‖ Ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. p. 448. ‖ Ap. 〈◊〉 . H. Eccl. lib. 3. c. 31. p. 102. vid. Doroth . 〈◊〉 . de vit . & mort . App. B. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 148. Acts 21. 8 , 9. * Lib. 3. cap. 24. p. 94. ‖ Adv. Gnost . Haris . 26. p. 46 Notes for div A63641-e242080 John 21. 1 , 2. Ib. v. 14. * Boldut . de Eccles. post Leg. c. 7 , p. 45. vid. de Eccl , a●● Leg. lib. 2. c. 8. * Rupert . Tuit . Comm. in Joan. 1. ●anser . Concord . c. 17. Onuphr . in Fa● . Salmer . Trast . 18. Tom. 4. Moniac . Orig-Sacr . Part. 2. p. 18. Dr. H. Annot. in Job . 1. aliique . * Tract . VII . in Joau . Col. 68. Tom. 9. & in Psalm . LXV . Col. 671. Tom. 8 〈◊〉 1 , 45. * H. Eccl. lib. 1. c. 19. p. 50. ‖ Apud Hier. de Script . Eccl. in Barthol . * H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 5. c. 10. p. 175. * 〈◊〉 , in SS , XII . App. p. 269. T. 6. ‖ Sophron. ap . Hieron . in Barth . * Lib. 2. c 39. p. 201. vid. Metaphr , ad Aug. 24. ‖ Hippol , de App. ap . Bar. in Not. ad Martyr , ad Aug. 25. Isid. de SS . 〈◊〉 T. c. 77. * Am. Mar. lib. 23. ‖ In vit . 〈◊〉 , p. 1019 Vid. 〈◊〉 . Turon , de glor . Martyr . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 34. p. 46. * Decret . Part. 1. Distinct. 15. 〈◊〉 . 3. Sect. Caterum . Notes for div A63641-e244260 * 〈◊〉 Kirsten . Vit. 4. Evangel . p , 22. * 〈◊〉 . in vit . Vespas . 〈◊〉 . 1. p. 722. Luk. 19. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Comic . apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vit . 〈◊〉 . cap. 4. p. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . apud Stob. 〈◊〉 . 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 7. p. 561. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 18. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Lex in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 9. 9. Mark 2. 13. 14. Luk. 5. 27 , 28 , 29. * Homil. 11. 〈◊〉 1. ad 〈◊〉 . p. 419. * Sur. l. 〈◊〉 . c. 19. p. 50. ‖ Apud Sur. ad 〈◊〉 . 21. 〈◊〉 . Vol. 3. p 217. * H. Eecl . lib , 2. c. 41. p. 203. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 India 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naddaber a'ta 〈◊〉 . Ven. Fortun. de Senat. Cur. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 7. p. 〈◊〉 . * Vbi supr . p. 30. 〈◊〉 . p. 31. ‖ Synops. de vit . & mort . App. in Bibl. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 148. * Reg. 〈◊〉 disput . Interrog . VIII . pag. 545. 〈◊〉 . 2. ‖ Ap. 〈◊〉 . in Matth. 9. p. 26. 〈◊〉 . 9. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 1. p. 148. Cateri 〈◊〉 in conjunctione nominum , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & postea Thomom : 〈◊〉 verò & post 〈◊〉 se 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . Hieron . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. c. 10. p. 29. T. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec 〈◊〉 nomen 〈◊〉 : ne 〈…〉 . ibid. ‖ Bava 〈◊〉 fol. 58. 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 185. ‖ H. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 45. p. 213. * Adv. 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 1. p. 229. 〈◊〉 ap . 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 39. p. 113. 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 1. p. 229. Origen , Exposit. in 〈◊〉 . l. 5. ap . Enseb. 〈◊〉 . 6. c. 25. p. 226. 〈◊〉 . Synops. S. Script . p. 493. Cyrill . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 14. p. 341. Epiphan . 〈◊〉 . 29. p. 59. 〈◊〉 . 51. p. 185. 〈◊〉 . Homil . 1. in Matth. p. 4. 〈◊〉 . de Script . Eccl. in Math. 〈◊〉 . in 4. 〈◊〉 . ad Dam. Tom. 3. p. 30. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . August . de 〈◊〉 . Evang. lib. 1. c. 2. col . 372. 〈◊〉 . Synops. de vit . App. p. 148. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 8. Arabs quidam in vit . MS. 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 . de vit . Quat , Evangel . 〈◊〉 . 10. p. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 . Evangel . S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arabs , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad id . Evangel . * 〈◊〉 . Comment . in 〈◊〉 . pag. 2. ‖ Synops. S. Script . p. 493. * Epiph. 〈◊〉 . 29. p. 59. ‖ Epiph. 〈◊〉 . 40. p. 64. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 27. p. 54. * 〈◊〉 . ib. 〈◊〉 . XXX . p. 61. vid. p. 60. ‖ 〈◊〉 Script . Eccl. in 〈◊〉 . * Theodor. Lect. Collect an . lib. 2. non longe ab init . p. 184. Notes for div A63641-e247060 Nonn . Panop . in Joan. c. 11. * Apud Sur. ad diem 21. Decemb. n. 2. John 11. 16. John 14. 5. John 20. 19. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . c. 13. p. 32. & lib. 2. c. 1. p. 39. * Lib. 3. in Gen. ap . Euseb. lib. 3. c. 1. p. 71. 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. c. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 9 p. 101. fac . 2. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de Script . in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 9. * Auth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . ap . 〈◊〉 . Hom. 2 p. 776. * 〈◊〉 . Serm. in XII . App. T. 6. p. 269 ‖ 〈◊〉 . lib. 5. c. 2 p. 534. * 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ‖ 〈◊〉 . D. 〈◊〉 . Tud . p. 98. * Lib. 7. c 69. 70. p. 408. ‖ H. 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 40. p. 201. * S. Metaphr . ad 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8 , 9. * Mass. H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. p. 85. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Martyr . lib. 1. cap. 32. p. 41. ‖ 〈◊〉 . ib. lib. 8. p. 363. 〈◊〉 . de reb . 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. p. 120. 〈◊〉 . ibid. p. 119. & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. p. 88. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Navig . 〈◊〉 Relat. Nov. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 134. Notes for div A63641-e249500 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Clem. Al. 〈◊〉 . lib. 7. ap . 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 1. p. 38. ‖ H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. c. 12. p. 31. * Lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 1. p. 38. * 〈◊〉 . in Isai. cap. 17. p. 60. T. 5. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Helvid . T. 2. p. 10. * 〈◊〉 . in Math. 12. p. 38. T. 9. ‖ Ap. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 135. * H. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 1. p. 38. ‖ Contr. Cerinth . 〈◊〉 . XXVIII . p. 55. Contr. Naz. 〈◊〉 XXIX . p. 56. & contr . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lxxviii . p. 438 , 439. Greg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Christ. 〈◊〉 . II. p. 844. Tom. 2. Math 13. 55 , 56 〈◊〉 . 27. 56. 〈◊〉 14. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Gregor . 〈◊〉 . loc . supr . laud. Joh. 19. 25. Vbi supr . ‖ 〈◊〉 , Jud. l. 20. c. 8. p. 698. Matth. 10. 3. * 〈◊〉 Consens . 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . c. 28. col . 432. ‖ Bolduc . de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. 7. p. 47. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & Abod . 〈◊〉 cap. 2. & 〈◊〉 En 〈◊〉 . vid. Chr. 〈◊〉 . Hist. 〈◊〉 . p. 394. 1 Cor. 15. 7. ‖ 〈◊〉 Script . Eccles. in Jacob . min. * 〈◊〉 . apud Euseb. lib. 4. c. 22. p. 142. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Al. 〈◊〉 . l. 6. ap . 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 1. p. 38. * Phot. Epist. 117. ad Theodos. Monach p. 158. Theophyl . in 1. ad Cor. 15. 7. vid. Euseb. l. 7. c. 19. p. 265. Gal. 1. 19. 2 9. Act. 12. 17. Act. 15. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 33. in Act. p. 676. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Presb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Jac. apud Phot. Ced . CLXXV . col . 1525. Eusib. lib. 2. c. 23. p. 64. ld . ib. p. 63. * Josephus Antiquit . Jud. lib. 20. c. 8. p. 698. 〈◊〉 . Comment . lib. 5. 〈◊〉 Euseb. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 23. p. 64 * 〈◊〉 . 78. p. 441. Epiph. ibid. * Antiquit. Jud. lib. 20. c. 8. p. 698. ‖ De glor . 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. c. 27. pag. 33. * Ap. Eusib. lib. 2. c. 23. p. 65 * Contr. Nazar . Haeres . XXIX . p. 56. ‖ 〈◊〉 . apud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. laudat . p. 63. Epiph . ibid. 〈◊〉 . 5. 17. Epiph. Haeres . 78. p. 441. * Epiph. Haeres . 29. p. 56. ex Clem. Al. & Euseb. & haeres . 78. p. 441. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 N. Fullerus 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Miscellan . 〈◊〉 . lib. 3 c. 1. 2 King. 13. 20. * 〈◊〉 . Com. in c. 1. ad Gal , p. 165. T. 9. ‖ H. Eccl. lib. 7. c. 19. p. 265. * Vid. supr . num . 3. ‖ Euseb. l. 2. c. 23. p. 65. * Verba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Euseb. loc , laudat . Notes for div A63641-e253020 Matth. 10. 4 , Mark 3. 18. * Niceph. H. Eccl. lib. 8. 〈◊〉 . 30 p. 596. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 H , Eccl. lib. 2. c. 40. p. 202. Luke 6. 15. Acts 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 Idolol . cap. 2. Sect. 12. pag. 19. Psalm 106. 30 Numb . 25. 11. 13. * 〈◊〉 Bell Jnd. lib. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 871. & 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . supra laudat . ‖ Ad Ann. 44. n. 38. Vbi supra . * 〈◊〉 . ib. ‖ Doroth , in Synops. de vit . App. p. 148. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ad diem X. Maii. * Vid. Breviar . Roman . ad diem 28. Octobr. & Martyrol . Rom. ad eund . diem & 〈◊〉 . Not. ibid. vid. illum ad Ann. 68. 〈◊〉 . 7. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de Script . Eccl. in Simone . Isidor . de 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . SS . 〈◊〉 T. cap. 83. Notes for div A63641-e254380 John 14. 22. * Boldur . 〈◊〉 Eccl. post leg . cap. 7. p. 47. 48. * 〈◊〉 . H. 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . p. 147. ‖ Hist. Nat. lib. 5. 〈◊〉 . 19. * H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. 〈◊〉 . 40. p. 202. Matth. 13. 55. Animadv . in Euseb. 〈◊〉 . ad Num. MMCXII . p. 205. * H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. 〈◊〉 . 13 . p. 32 ‖ Commint . in Matth. 〈◊〉 . 10. * 〈◊〉 . H. Eccl. l. 2. 〈◊〉 . 40. p. 202. ‖ Synops. de 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . App. in Bibl. Pp. 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 148. * Apud . Euseb. lib. 3 . c . 20 . p. 89. * 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c 23 . p. 66. & lib. 3 . c . 25. ‖ 〈◊〉 Script . Eccl. in 〈◊〉 . Scio 〈◊〉 Enoch , quae hune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dedit , non recipi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quia 〈◊〉 in Armarium Judaicum 〈◊〉 . Opinor non 〈◊〉 illam 〈◊〉 Cataclysmum 〈◊〉 , post 〈◊〉 casum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , salvam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Si ista ratio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. Sid cum Enoch 〈◊〉 Scriptura 〈◊〉 de Domino 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nobis quidem nihil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est , quod 〈◊〉 ad nos . A Judais 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 videri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qua 〈◊〉 sonant . Eo 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 apud Judam Apostolum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de Cult . 〈◊〉 . lib. 1 . c . 3 . p. 151. Vid. 〈◊〉 . Comment . in Tit. c. 1. p. 249. T. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( cujus 〈◊〉 meminu in Epistola Apostolus Judas ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum Diabolo disputans de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ait Diabolo , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 . Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 . 2. sol . 142. p. 2. * 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . Epist. Jud. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. Jud. p. 106. ad 〈◊〉 lib. 〈◊〉 Eccl. post leg . Notes for div A63641-e256540 Contr. Cels. lib. 4. p. 175. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 476. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. in aur . carm . in quem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter alia Hierecles , optima prorsus & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Aur. Carm. p. 165. ‖ Job 9 , 4. * H. Ecd. l. 2. c. 1. p. 131. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sanct. lib. 3. c. 149. ‖ H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 40. p. 203. * Ap. 〈◊〉 , de Script . Eccl. in 〈◊〉 . * Synops. de vit . App. in Bibl. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 148. ‖ Colon. Impress . 1490. ad Febr. 24. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grator . ad 〈◊〉 IX . August . apud Bolland . de vit . SS . ad Febr. XXIV . Tom. 3. p. 433. * Vid. Cbr. 〈◊〉 . Annal , 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. p. 658. & 〈…〉 . cit . p. 435. ‖ 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . Gr. Rom. lib. 2. p. 161. * H. 〈◊〉 . l. 3 c. 25 p. 97. Orig. in Luc. Homil. 10. Ambr. praf . in Luc. Tom. 5. p. 7. ‖ 〈◊〉 . Part. 1. Dist. 15. cap. 〈◊〉 . Rom. Sect. 〈◊〉 . a 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. p. 380. ibid. lib. 3. p. 436. b 〈◊〉 . lib. 7. p. 765. Notes for div A63641-e258130 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Marc Tom. 9. p. 87. ‖ H. Eccl. l. 2 : c. 43. p. 209. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 186. ‖ Apud 〈◊〉 . l. 3. c. 39. p. 113. * 〈◊〉 discipulus , & in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Isid. de 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . S S. c. 84. p. 542. ‖ Naz. 〈◊〉 . 25. p. 438. * H. 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. c. 16. p. 53. ‖ 〈◊〉 Script . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . * Phil. lib. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 891 , 892 , & 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 . XXIX . p. 57. ‖ De Script . in 〈◊〉 . a Ad Ann. 64. 〈◊〉 . 11. b 〈◊〉 . H. Eccl. lib. 1. c. 12. p. 419. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Monach . lib. 2. c. 5. p. 12. Phil. ibid. p. 901. 902. * N. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 1. cap 3. ‖ Lib. supr . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 889. * De Bill . 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 786. * S. Martyr . S. 〈◊〉 . apud Sur. ad 〈◊〉 25. Apr. 〈◊〉 . Diac. Laudat . S. Marc. ib. 〈◊〉 . 8. 〈◊〉 . H. 〈◊〉 . l. 2. c. 43. p. 209. Id. ibid. Vid. vit . 〈◊〉 MS. 〈◊〉 script . ap . 〈◊〉 . p. 37. * Vbi 〈◊〉 . ‖ De Script . Eccles. in 〈◊〉 * Synops. de vit . & morl . App. in Bibl. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 148. col . 2. ‖ Lib. 2. c. 43. p. 209. * Adv. 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 1. pag. 229. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ap . Euseb. lib. 5. c. 8. p. 172. ‖ 〈◊〉 . ibid. n. 10. 〈◊〉 . ib. p. 210. * 〈◊〉 . Al. Hypotyp . lib. 6. ap . Euseb. l. 2. c. 15. p. 53. Papias ib. l. 3. c. 39. p. 113. Vid. Pap. 〈◊〉 . supr . citat . * Homil. 3. in 〈◊〉 . p. 30. ‖ Ad Hedib . 〈◊〉 . 3. p. 143. 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Homil. 86. 〈◊〉 Matth. p. 719. 〈◊〉 . à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Marc. 〈◊〉 . 562. Notes for div A63641-e260790 * Dion . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 47. de 〈◊〉 . Liban . Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Encom . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 17. 〈◊〉 Pop , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 198. 〈◊〉 . 1. * S. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sur. ad 〈◊〉 18. 〈◊〉 . p. 289. ‖ Grot. 〈◊〉 . in Luc. 1. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 . 43. ‖ 〈◊〉 . non manus . & a S. Luca 〈◊〉 . c. 18. & 19. p. 354. Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Part. 2. c. 46. 〈◊〉 . 10. p. 188. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in Luc. p. 293. ‖ 〈◊〉 . 51. p. 188. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prius , 〈…〉 . p. 39. 〈◊〉 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Acts 16. 10. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 44. ‖ 〈◊〉 ubi 〈◊〉 n. 11. 〈◊〉 supra . * 〈◊〉 xviii . 〈◊〉 p. 645. ‖ 〈◊〉 vit . & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Bibl. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 148. * 〈◊〉 1. in Julian . p. 76. ‖ Epist. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 138. * Lib. 2. c. 43. p. 210. ‖ 〈◊〉 Script . 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 Quat . Evangel . p. 45. * Drig 〈◊〉 1. in Lus. fol. 94. Ambros. in 〈◊〉 1. p. 9. T. 5. 〈◊〉 . Epiph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 186. ‖ 〈◊〉 in Luc. p. 293. * Lib. 10. 〈◊〉 fin . 〈◊〉 . 120. ‖ 〈◊〉 , in 〈◊〉 . Tom. 9. * Adv. Matt. lib. 4. c. 〈◊〉 . 414 ‖ Adv. 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. c. 14 , p. 272. * Sum. 73. Cur. Act. App. 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 . Tom. 〈◊〉 * Comm. in c. 6. Esai . p. 30. T. 5. ibid. in c. 28. p. 118. Epist. ad Damas . p. 124. T. 3. Notes for div A63641-e262990 ‖ Ap. Theod. H. Eccles. lib. 5. c. 9. p. 151. * Homil. 3. ad Pop. Am. Tom. 1. p. 40.