Commentary on Malachi 2, Chapter 2 · Exposition on verse 8
VERS. VIII.
But yee are gone out of the way: yee have cauſed many to fall by the Law: yee have broken the covenant of Levi, ſaith the Lord of hoſts.
BVt yee are gone out of the way.] Or, Yee have departed from that way. The ſecond part of this diſſimilitude followes now in this and the next verſe, which containes their degenerating, and ſo their corruption, verſ. 8. and the iteration of the judgement, verſ. 9. And in the 8. verſe there are three corruptions, theſe Prieſts be chalenged withall, wherein they are moſt unlike to the former Prieſts. You are gone out of that way: that is, from the piety and faithfulneſſe of thoſe Prieſts who lived in the firſt age, and with whom I made the covenant at firſt. They neither ſwarved from that rule, but you have forſaken and contemned my law, and followed your owne devices, and ſought your ſelves and the eſtabliſhing of your dignity more then my glory, and have ſought how to make a gaine to your ſelves of my worſhip: You have done this who have the ſame place, enjoy the ſame priviledges, have the ſame portion of tythes and offerings they had.
Yee have cauſed many to fall by the Law.] The ſecond difference and diffimilitude: That whereas the former Prieſts by their care and diligence in their places, recovered and cauſed many to returne from their ſinnes, and the breaches of the Law, and to walk uprightly by it: They on the contrary, by their defect and want in teaching, and their paſſing over their ſinnes as if they ſaw them not, that they might purchaſe grace, and procure commoditie to themſelves. As alſo by their wicked example they were the cauſe of the fall of many; that is, that many have ſinned, and were not puniſhed, as the word ſometime ſignifies. By the Law, is not meant, as if they did ſo teach and temper the Law as ſometime the Prieſts did, in giving liberty by it to ſinne, as to hate their enemies, to luſt and covet, ſo nothing were outwardly acted: but that they cauſed many to ſtumble and go contrary to the Law.
Yee have broken the covenant of Levi.] The third difference: They kept my covenant and were faithfull, and I performed whatſoever I promiſed to them; but you have broken covenant, & gone cleane contrary to the agreement which paſſed betwixt me and your predeceſſours in whoſe loynes you were, and who made the covenant for you; and ſo by your iniquities have cauſed me not to performe to you peace, plenty and proſperity, with length of dayes. From the generall I obſerve this:
Men, Doctrine. of what ſort and condition ſoever they be, ought to imitate and follow the vertue, pietie, and faith of their predeceſſours, whether they were in place, nature, or age. And on the contrary, it is a great wickedneſſe and ſhame to degenerate from their pietie and vertue, to be unlike unto them. Therefore reproves our Prophet theſe Prieſts. To this purpoſe is that Heb. 6.12. and 13.7. and 12.1. inferred upon the 11. and Jam. 5.11. Hence was the commendations of Iehoſaphat, 1 King. 22.43. and of Ioſiah, 2 King. 22.2. On the contrary, it was reproved in Iehoram, 2 Chron. 21.12. and in the Jewes, Joh. 8.39.
Becauſe God hath therefore written theſe; Reaſon 1 he hath written not that they ſhould be knowne as matter of ſtory, to be made for delight or ſpeech onelyonly; but for matter of life and converſation: thereby teaching us what to do in others whoſe memory is new and freſh, that God may have his end.
Becauſe it will not profit them to have deſcended from, Reaſon, 2 or ſucceeded ſuch: for as he ſaid of Nobility, what profiteth it a channell or river, flowing from a pure and wholeſome ſpring, if it be corrupt and defiled? Nay, it will the more condemne them, as we may well gather from that, Matth. 12.41.42.
Then are they juſtly reproved, Ʋſe 1 who talk of doing as their forefathers have done, being neither willing nor able to examine what they did, good or evill; but is all one to them, ſo they did it before them. Such as our ignorant Papiſts be, who imitate not the faith, but the infidelity and errours of their fathers; not their vertues and pietie, but their vices and prophaneneſſe, their liberty and licenciouſneſſe. No man will condemne their following of that is good in them, or rather that which had but the ſhew of goodneſſe in them; as their workes which were good for the outward act, though not otherwiſe, their workes of merciemercy and liberality, their zeale, fervencie, and diligence in prayer, though their prayers not to be imitated; as a man may imitate the diligence and watchfulneſſe of a thiefe, but not his theft: the providence of a bad Steward, but not his corruption. But to imitate any thing they have done, without choyce of their good, is that which is juſtly condemned: For if the Apoſtle muſt not, nor will not be otherwiſe followed, then 1 Corinth. 11.1. as he followes Chriſt. If the Prophet forbid us to follow our fathers, if they are condemned for following their fore-fathers, as did all the Kings of Iſrael. If that be the commendations of Iehoſaphat, 2 Chro. 17.3. that he walked in the firſt way of his father David, and not that he imitated him in all things. Is it approveable to follow thoſe who are farre inferiour to him in all things? Nay, it is that which ſhall improve their ſin, and inhance their puniſhment, as Iſai. 14.21. with 65.7.
To provoke us to read the Scriptures, Vſe 2 where we may ſee the truth, and patience, and piety of our moſt holy predeceſſors, and when wee ſee them, to provoke our ſelves to imitate them, and to uphold our ſelves in right paths by them, Heb. 12.1.
But yee are gone out of the way.] They had erred from the truth and good wayes of their predeceſſors.
The Rulers, Governours, Doctrine. and Miniſters of the Church may erre, both in matter of doctrine, and of Gods worſhip. Let us look into the booke of God, and we ſhall finde this true, not in ſome one or two, but in the greateſt part of them; yea all, for ought we know. Firſt, theſe things were fore-told: for though the people bragged, Jer. 18.18. The Law ſhould not periſh from the Prieſt, nor counſell from the wiſe: God threatned the farre contrary, Ezek. 7.26. and Micha. 3.6. That the Sunne ſhould go downe over the Prieſt. And ſee the event of this, Iſa. 56.10. Zephan. 3.4. Jerem. 6.13. and 23.13. But this was in Iſrael onelyonly: yea, ſee it in Judah, Jerem 23.14.16. and not in Prophets onelyonly but Prieſts, 2 Chron. 36.14.
Becauſe their knowledge, be it never ſo great, is but in part, Reaſon 1 Vulgare illud maxima pars eorum quae ſcimus, & minima pars eorum quae ignoramus.and imperfect, 1 Cor. 13.9. Now they who are ignorant in part, may erre in ſome things. Ignorantia erroris mater. Bernard ad …t niſi ignorando errare non poteſt. Auguſt. En…hirid. Seeing a…en are in part ignorant, then they may erre; yea the Prieſt, Heb. 5.2.
Becauſe they are but in part ſanctified, and every man hath ſome part of the old man in him, as Saint Paul, 2 Cor. 11.5. who had gone as farre as any other, confeſſeth of himſelfe, Philip. 3.12.13. Rom. 7.17.24 Therefore may they in part ſtrive againſt their owne judgement, and be drawne by temptation to defend errour. Sometime againſt their owne conſcience: for though errour in judgement, ariſe ever of ignorance; yet errour in act, as in teaching, in defending and maintaining of error, is joyned often with knowledge, and ariſeth not out of ignorance, but want of grace and ſanctification.
Becauſe the promiſe of inceſſant aſſiſtance, Reaſon 3 and infallible guidance, was never made to any but to the Apoſtles, becauſe they were to plant Churches where there never had any been before, and to eſtabliſh a new forme of Church government and worſhip of God, never uſed or heard of before, therefore to them; John 14.26. and 16.13. which was not a perfect and abſolute illumination which the Apoſtle profeſſeth he had not, 1 Cor. 13.9. but an infallible ſuggeſtion of things as occaſion required: Which is underſtood not of things that were expedient for them to know as Chriſtians nor as teachers, which they had already but as Apoſtles. 1. To be planters of new Churchs, and new government. Now that this was promiſed to them onelyonly, I prove; for it is added, he will ſhew you the things to come; a priviledge that no Pope or Patriarch ever durſt challenge; and if not this will paſſe by vertue of that promiſe, why the other, when they are both in one and the ſame promiſe: therefore it was to them alone; yea not ſo much as the extraordinary Prophets of the old Teſtament, had it either promiſed or performed, as Greg. ſuper 1 Reg. 3.8. obſerveth: for they had not the Spirit extraordinarily alwayes infallibly guiding them, ſave when they came with ſome ſpeciall meſſage from God, which is manifeſt by the errour of Nathan, when he was out of his meſſage, 2 Sam. 7.3. And of him that was deluded by the falſe Prophet after he had done his meſſage to Ieroboam, and made to tranſgreſſe the commandment of the Lord, 1 King. 13.2.18. and 19. which he would not have done if he had not been deceived: for before he would not do it for all the Kings offer, verſ. 7.8. and in Jer. cap. 42.4.7.
This ſerves to confute the doctrine of Popery, Vſe. who hold, that the Church cannot erre, nor a Councell, which is the repreſentative Church; but they have brought it to a narrower ſcantling: for the queſtion is wholly about one, for whatſoever they talke of Church or Councels, it commeth in concluſion all home to the Pope, he it is alone that cannot erre: For the Church, they grant that any particular Church in the world may erre, ſave the Curch of Rome; & that too, if the Pope ſhould tranſlate his Sea from Rome, as Peter did from Antioch thither, Bell. de Pont. Rom. 4.4. For Councels, that a generall Councel may erre, if the Pope do not confirme it. Ibid. 4.3. And è contra Idem de Conc. author 2.2.5. But if all be true that we have ſhewed, he may erre. But Bellar. de Pontif Rom. 4.3. proveth he cannot: for Luke 22.32. I have prayed for thee, that thy faith faile not, and ſo for the Pope, and ſo he cannot erre. It is anſwered: Firſt, that by faith is not heere meant an hiſtoricall faith, but a juſtifying faith; not a generall faith, but a particular; nor that by which we beleeve God, but in God: which fails not by errour, ſo it be not fundamentall: for ſo ſhould we condemne all who ever have lived: But when a man doth fall wholly from grace, and ceaſeth to be a member of Chriſt. And that it is ſo, appeares out of the drift and ſcope of our Saviour Chriſt. for his drift was to arme and protect Peter againſt that triall and temptation that he then foretold him of: not againſt errour in teaching the Church, but againſt Apoſtaſie in time of triall. Therefore ſaith Theophilact in Lucam, he ſheweth him the particular temptation: for our Saviour would not arme there where he was not to be hurt, where there was no danger: not put an helmet upon the head when the heart and breaſt was to be ſtrucken. And thus much Bellarmine confeſſeth, when he makes Peters fall to be a matter of fact, to caſt utterly off his former profeſſion, and not of faith; and therefore it was perſeverance in the habit of juſtifying faith, not infallibility in the matter of hiſtoricall faith that Chriſt prayed for; which ſo differs, that a man may have the one, that is, juſtifying faith, and yet hold an errour not fundamentall to the death, as Bellarmine contends for the Fathers, divers of them. And the other, that is a right beliefe of the generall points of religion, and yet not have juſtifying faith, nor ſaving and ſanctifying grace, as Bellarmine contendeth the Pope cannot erre, and yet confeſſeth he may want ſaving grace.
Secondly, it is anſwered, that that he prayed for here, was a thing not proper to Peter, but common to all the Apoſtles, yea all the elect; and if the gift and grace be common to all, and conceived, Joh. 17.9.10.20. by the ſame perſon in effect the ſame for all: upon which ground the ancient Fathers apply this place to all the Apoſtles; yea to all the elect: and if to all, then helps it them but a little.
The ſecond proofe he cannot erre, is Matth. 16.18. The gates of hell ſhall not prevaile againſt the Church: whence they firſt reaſon, that the foundation and roofe of the Church cannot erre: ſuch as Peter and the Popes his ſucceſſors. I ſay nothing that it is not yet proved, that the Pope is Peters ſucceſſor: nay, it is manifeſt, that he ſucceeded rather Simon Magus then Simon Peter. But I ſay, that Peter is not the rocke. In the words, ſaith Auguſtine, there is difference betwixt Petrus and Petra, both in the Greeke and Latine. Againe, the rocke here is not Peter, but Chriſt, 1 Cor. 10.4. and 3.11. whereunto agrees the Fathers, and their owne writers, & alſo late writers; whereby all colour of argument taken from this place for the Pope, is utterly quaſhed. But grant that they begge: then muſt it either be in regard of his perſon; but that cannot be: for the Church cannot be builded upon fleſh and bloud; Or in regard of ſome ſuperioritie and place above the reſt. But as that cannot be proved: ſo the contrary is manifeſt, 2. Cor. 12.11. Or of his doctrine taught by him, and of the faith of Chriſt confeſſed by him, and ſo it is true. Now this was common to him and all the reſt. For as Iohn is called a Pillar, Gal. 2.9. ſo was Iames as well as Peter, and all the reſt, as Revel. 21.14. To which is that, Epheſ. 2.20. with whom the Prophets are joyned, becauſe they writ the Scriptures, which is indeed the foundation of our faith; they being put for their writings. Out of all which nothing will follow for the Pope, or nothing in ſpeciall manner.
I will trouble you with no other reaſons, onelyonly I will ſhew you this chalenge is falſe, becauſe many of them have erred. The firſt ſhall be Marcellus, or Marcellinus. who offered up ſacrifice to Idols, and by the Councell of Seſſa was made to recant it. The ſecond Liberius, whom Hierom and Athanaſius affirme to have been an Arrian, one that denied the Deity of Chriſt. Thirdly, Thirdly, like to him was Felix, who was an Arrian, as the ſame Hierom writeth. Innocent the firſt made both Baptiſme and the Euchariſt neceſſary to ſalvation of infants. Auguſtine lib. 1. contra Iulian. Peligian. cap. 2. The latter of theſe errours was condemned by the Councell of Trent, Seſſio. 5. ſub Pio quarto, Ca. non 4. Fourthly, Leo the firſt, who died as Arrius did, an Arrian. Fifthly, Siricius accounted Matrimony, pollution. Sixthly, Vigilius accurſed all who affirmed, that there be two natures in Chriſt. Seventhly, Honorius the firſt, which taught, as Melchior Canus confeſſeth, that Chriſt had not two wills or operations. Eighthly,In Concilio Romano. Pope Stephen the ſixth, he aboliſhed all the Acts of Formoſus his predeceſſour, and commanded all that had received Orders from him, to be ordered againe: and thought that the Sacrament depended upon the vertue of the Miniſter. Ninthly, in concilio Ravennae habito Iohn 9. diſanulled all the Acts of Stephen: and Sergius the third, all that Formoſus had done: And ſo that which Iohn had done and approved the Acts of Stephen. Some of theſe muſt needs erre. Tenthly, Gregory the ſeventh, whom Cardinal Benno in his writing of him, who lived at the ſame time, makes an Heretick, a Necromancer, a ſeditious, and a Simoniſt, & an adulterer, not the worſt Biſhop, but the worſt of all men. A right Hellebrand. Eleventhly, Celeſtinus the third allowed hereſie to breake the bond of marriage, and that a man might marry againe if his wife fell into hereſie, and è contra. So Alphonſus de Caſtro. Twelfthly, Iohn 22. or 21. who held that the ſoules ſeparated from the bodies, ſaw not God, nor rejoyced not with him, before the day of judgement, and was forced to recant it with ſound of trumpet by the Univerſity of Paris, for feare of loſing his Popedome, as Iohn Gerſon writeth in his Sermon of Eaſter. Thirteenthly, Iohn 23. or 22. was accuſed in the Councell of Conſtance for denying eternall life. and the reſurrection of the body.
All which, with many moe, prove manifeſtly againſt them, that the Pope can erre, and hath erred, and ſo may ſtill. Bellarmine, I confeſſe, hath a great many of ſhifts and evaſions to cleare his holy Fathers, but they are ſo light and fooliſh, they are not worth the ſtudying on for the moſt part.
This teacheth us how dangerous a thing ignorance is, Ʋſe 2 even in every Chriſtian: for if it be the cauſe of errour in the Miniſters, it will be in the people. And if the Miniſters all, one and other, are ſubject to errour, if they erre, and the people be without knowledge, they will go after, taking errour for truth; becauſe they are able to diſtinguiſh neither the one nor the other. If it were infallible and certaine, that their guides could not erre, nor their Miniſters be deceived, it were no matter though they were never ſo ignorant; but when it is moſt certaine that they are ſubject to it, and their erring will not excuſe the people, though the other anſwer for their abuſing and miſ-leading of them; their ignorance is very dangerous, and that implicite faith (Popery ſo much commends) damnable. And in them and others, who would perſwade the people they may be ignorant, and a little or no knowledge is required of them, it is ſuſpitious, as if they meant to make a prey of them, & to broach ſome errors among them: For then (ſaith Chryſoſtome) theeves go to ſtealing when they have firſt put out the candle; and then do men utter their bad wares, when they have dim and falſe lights.
To perſwade all men to labour for knowledge, Vſe 3 and to increaſe in the knowledge of the Word and Myſteries of ſalvation. That they having the rule of truth and falſhood, the word of God may not be carried away with the errour of one or many, be they never ſo great or learned. Erre they may, be they never ſo learned: for they know but at the beſt in part, and erre oftentimes they do, becauſe they are not wholly ſanctified. For as the greateſt part of a Church is wholly unſanctified: ſo the beſt are but in part ſanctified, and ſo are ſubject to partiality and errour; yea, may both erre, and defend errour againſt their knowledge, ſome violent temptation of pride, pleaſure, and profit, and ſuch like, carrying them thereunto, ſeeing none now is inceſſantly guided and governed by the Spirit. Then had they need of knowledge, that they may try and diſcerne the ſpirits and doctrines, and he that is not careleſſe which end goes forwards, not retchleſſe for his ſoule whether it walke in the paths of truth, or in the paths of errour, will not be careleſſe for it, and to grow in knowledge. But if they erre, how not we? Lookers on may ſee more then players. We may allude to that, Prov. 28.11. The rich man is wiſe in his owne conceit: but the poore that hath underſtanding can try him. And God, often to the ſimple, reveales things, when hid from wiſe, Matth. 11.25. to humble them, and know themſelves but men.
It is a thing that cannot be denied, becauſe ſtories of all times do manifeſtly prove it, that ſometimes errours and hereſies have ſo much prevailed, that the moſt part of them who held and poſſeſſed great places of office and dignity in the Church of God, either for feare, flattery, hope of gaine, or honour, or elſe miſ-led through ſimplicitie, or directly falling into errour and hereſie, and departed from the ſoundneſſe of the faith, ſo that the ſincerity of religion was upholden, and the truth defended and maintained onelyonly by ſome few, and they moleſted, perſecuted and traduced, as turbulent and ſeditious perſons, enemies to the common peace of the Chriſtian world. To ſay nothing of the times of Chriſt, and after him of the firſt Churches in the Acts. This was the ſtate of the Chriſtian world in the time of Athanaſius, when in the Councell of Seleucia and Ariminium, the Nicence faith was condemned, and all the Biſhops of the whole world were carried from the ſoundneſſe of the faith, ſave Athanaſius, and ſome few Confeſſors baniſhed with him. So that Hieron. contra Luciferam, Ingemuit totius orbis, & miratus eſt factum ſe Arrianum. So Hilarius contra Aux. Epiſc. Mill. complained that the Arrian faction had confounded all. Paphnutius in the Councell of Nice for the marriage of Miniſters, was alone.
But yee are gone out of the way.] Though they ſucceeded them in their places, yet not in their faith, not in the truth of doctrine.
There may be an ordinary and externall ſucceſſion of place and perſon without ſucceſſion of faith and truth of doctrine. Doctrine. Manifeſt here in theſe Prieſts, who held the places, and did ordinarily ſucceed the Prieſts, who were ſpecially approved of God, yet did not ſucceed them in faith, and in ſoundneſſe of truth. And as it was in the times before, often a ſucceſſion of the one without the other. And this is firſt manifeſt by the former doctrine: for when it often happened, that all the ordinary Prieſts, ſuch as had the outward ſucceſſion, were in errour; God exciting extraordinary Prophets to reprove them, as Iſaiah, Ieremie, &c. It muſt needs be that there was a ſeparation of theſe two. In particular, it is manifeſt in the time of Elijah, 1 King. 19.14. So when wicked Ahaz was King, 2 King. 16.11. Vriah the high Prieſt corrupting the worſhip. In the Church of the Jewes in Chriſts time it was ſo: for they condemning Chriſt and his followers as ſchiſmaticall, Joh. 9.22. and 12.42. This is further proved, Acts 20.29.30. Theſe had their ſucceſſion from the Apoſtles, and held the ſame ſeats, the ſame places which the Apoſtles held, yet had ſnot the ſame truth and faith. So out of the Eccleſiaſticall ſtories it is manifeſt, that the Arrian Biſhops, as Euſebius Nicomedienſ. and Euſtathius, and others did derive their ſucceſſion of place, perſons, ſeats and Churches, from the Apoſtles. For they were called, choſen, and ordained, after the cuſtome of the Church, and had no new, but the lawfull calling. So of the Donatiſts, and Paulus Samoſatenus in the Church of Antioch ſucceeded Peter, as well as they did at Rome. And the Greeke Church, judged by the Papiſts, ſchiſmaticall, hath her perſonall ſucceſſion not onelyonly 1200. yeares, as they confeſſe, from Conſtantines time, but long before, from Andreas the Apoſtle, as Nicephorus lib. 8. Chronol. cap. 6.
Becauſe the grace of God, Reaſon 1 and the truth is not hereditary, that men ſhould leave it at their pleaſure to their heires and ſucceſſors, as they can their places and ſeats: for John 3. as the winde, ſo the Spirit, blowes where it liſts. Not living men can make others whom they gladly would, partakers of their faith and truth: how ſhould the dead and departed? living men more likely.
Becauſe as in a common wealth, new Lords new lawes, Reaſon 2 and ſucceeding men have different mindes, affections, wills, deſires, ends, &c. and ſo change many things: ſo it is in the Church. And though they ſhould leave them it, as an inheritance, yet we ſee children hold not their patrimony, but many ſpend all: ſo of this. And as is ſaid of Himeneus and Alexander, that they made ſhipwrack of faith, 1 Tim. 1.19.20. So of others.
Then falls to the ground the doctrine of Popery, Ʋſe 1 making this externall and perſonall ſucceſſion, a note of the Church, and by it would prove theirs to be the true Church. But if there may be ſuch a ſucceſſion without true faith, and if true faith onelyonly makes a true Church, then can it be no true nor certaine note. Beſides, it is not certaine nor expreſſed in the word of God, that the Pope was Peters ſucceſſor, no not in place, but to be proved onelyonly by tradition, and not to be deduced out of the Word, as Bellarmine de Rom. Pont. lib. 2. cap. 12. confeſſeth. And ſo the maine point, whereon the government and Hierarchy of the Papacie dependeth, hath no word in the Scriptures to prove it: and ſo the whole is hanged upon the conjectures of men, as upon a rotten threed. For the Scripture not affirming it, what aſſurance can there be for matter of faith, the matter muſt needs be ſuſpitious and doubtfull? Againe, even the hiſtories, which is their proofe, are in ſuch various opinions, that a man can hardly tell whom to follow, touching Peters comming to Rome, and his immediate ſucceſſors. Some ſay he came to Rome in the firſt yeare of Claudius the Emperour, ſome in the ſecond, ſome in the fourth, ſome in the tenth, and it may be that none of theſe is true: ſure it is, all cannot be true: For his ſucceſſors, Tertullian maketh Clement his next ſucceſſor. Optatus nameth Linus, and then Clement. Irenaeus maketh Linus, then Cletus, then Clement. If they differ thus, what certainty? where ſhould faith finde any ſure ground? If then the ſucceſſion at beſt is queſtionable and doubtfull, if it may be certaine, and yet be diſ-joyned from the ſucceſſion of faith, as it is moſt certainly in them, and true faith onelyonly makes a Church: then can this be no true note of the Church.
To teach us not to be deceived with the glorious ſhew and great boaſt of ſuch ſucceſſion; Ʋſe 2 ſpecially when there is an apparant digreſſion from the faith, or a probable doubt of corruption in it. For what ſucceſſion ſoever, be it never ſo long or glorious (as a greater could not be then theſe Prieſts and people could have objected unto the Prophet) yet if it be without truth of doctrine, and true faith, which is the very ſoule of ſucceſſion, it is nothing elſe but a very dead carkaſſe; whereas true faith, without any ſuch outward ſucceſſion, eſtabliſheth and maketh a Church. And indeed one of the pureſt and moſt excellenteſt Churches was without ſuch a ſucceſſion. For the Church, of which Chriſt in his owne perſon was Authour and Maſter, in which the Apoſtle was brought up & inſtructed, had no ſucceſſion. And yet none will, or dare deny, that it was the beſt and pureſt Church. For whom ſucceeded Chriſt and his Apoſtles? Did he ſucceed Aaron and the Leviticall Prieſthood? Did he elect his Apoſtles out of them? Nothing leſſe. For he ſucceeded not Aaron, but Melchiſedech, being a Prieſt after his order, not the others: and ſo the ſucceſſion was interrupted for many hundred yeares, and ſo may be ſtill. And on the contrary, there may be ſucceſſion and no true Church, when the faith is corrupt, and not ſound, which made the Fathers when they ſpeake of ſucceſſion, not urge a naked and externall ſucceſſion, but a true ſucceſſion, and ſuch as was joyned with the ſucceſſion of faith and religion.*Non ſanctorum filii ſunt, qui tenent loca ſanctorum, ſed qui exercent opera eorum. S. Hierom. They are not the children of the Saints who hold their ſeats, but who follow their workes. *Nonex perſonis fidem, ſed ex ſide perſones probari oportet. Tertul. lib. de Preſcr. averſ. Haeret.We muſt not prove the faith from the perſons, but the perſons from the faith. So ſay we, let them prove the perſons from the faith, and not faith from the perſons. They have not the inheritance of Peter who have not the faith of Peter. All which ſhewes they would not have us to ſtand upon the ſucceſſion of the place and perſon, but the faith and doctrine.*Non habent haereditatem Petri, qui fidem Petri non habent. Ambr. lib. 1. de poenit. c. 6.
This wil prove our Church to be a true Church, Ʋſe 3 though we have no ſucceſſion externall and perſonall, which ſeparated from faith, makes no Church; but we have ſucceſſion of faith, which makes a Church: for if theſe may be ſeparated, if there may be a Church where there is no perſonall ſucceſſion, as before; If a perſonall ſucceſſion and no Church, as alſo before: we holding the true faith of Chriſt, the true doctrine of ſalvation, are notwithſtanding the want of perſonall ſucceſſion, the Church of Chriſt. If they underſtand an extraordinary ſucceſſion, ſuch as hath oftentimes been in the Church, we ſay we have it. Neither hinders that which the adverſaries object, that an extraordinary ſucceſſion ought to be confirmed with miracles, which we have not: for the calling of the Prophets was extraordinary, yet had they no miracles to confirme it; let them ſhew us what miracles, Ieremy, Ezekiel Ioel, Hoſea, Amos had, who were called extraordinarily, or Iohn Baptiſt, John 10.41. Beſides, what miracles needs there, when as our Paſtors either deceaſed or living, bring in no new doctrine, or new faith, nor erect a new Church, but reſtore the old faith, and repaire and purge the Church foully corrupted. And whereas they deny us any ordination of Miniſters, becauſe they which are lawfully ordained, muſt be by an Apoſtle, or one ſucceeding him immediately; they be all fictions of their owne, without a word of the Scripture: for they are true Paſtors, which are called of their flockes, and of the lawfull Magiſtrate, teaching the people, and doing thoſe things which good Paſtors ſhould do. And for Bellarmines diſtinction of calling or election, which he acknowledgeth was ſometime alone of that the people did chuſe, and grants may be good, but not ordination. It is anſwered, if election be good, we contend not much about ordination: for they who have authoritie to chuſe and call, have to ordain, If an orderly ordination be not to be had. And finally, if all Biſhops ſhould be Arrians, and ſuch as would ordaine none but them of their owne ſect, as ſometimes they were, muſt ordination by them be neceſſary, or we muſt have no Miniſters.
Then ought men to labour for knowledge, Vſe 4 that they be not deceived by the face of men and the Church, but that they may know what is the true faith, and who they are that bring it, knowing them to be the Paſtors of the Church by their doctrine, Mat. 7.15.16. This fruit is doctrine.
Yee have cauſed many to fall by the Law.] The ſecond thing reproved in them, in ſeducing or miſ-leading others, making them to fall into ſinne.
It is a manifeſt corruption in the Miniſters of the Church, Doctrine. a thing wherein they are farre unlike to their faithful predeceſſors & whereby they are made unacceptable unto God, when their preaching or carriage is ſuch, as men by them are kept in ſin, cauſed or occaſioned to ſinne: As this proves it, and Iſaiah 3.12. Ezek. 13.22.
And this is done either by not preaching, or very negligently, that they cannot know what to doe, and ſo muſt needs ſinne and offend. Or by not reproving, by which they doe not thinke thir ſinnes to be ſinnes, but remaine in them, according to that, Levit. 19.17. or by dawbing, as Ezek. 13.10. and promiſing life unto them, notwithſtanding their ſinnes, as verſ. 22. or by bad example, as Gal. 2.12.13.
Becauſe it is againſt the main and principall end of his calling, Reaſon 1 which is to turne men from ſinne and Satan to God and godlineſſe, and righteouſnes. As then it is a fault for men to go contratry to the main end of their calling or trade; any Artificer, as when he ſhould build, to pull downe; when he ſhould make, to marre; when he ſhould cure, to wound. And if we may ſpeake familiarly, as we complaine of Tinkers for making two holes when they undertake to ſtp one; or of Chyrurgions that make two wounds when they profeſſe to cure one, made already: ſo muſt it needs be a corruption in theſe.
Becauſe he croſſeth the deſire of God, Reaſon. 2 who delighteth much in the converſion of a ſinner, and would have men converted from ſinne, and not kept in them.
This will convince many Miniſters of corruption & degenerating from the Prophets & faithful Miniſters of God, Vſe 1 who ſo walk in their Miniſtery, as men are hardened by them, cauſed and occaſioned to ſinne; they preach ſo ſeldome, and careleſly inſtruct the people they have charge of, they reprove ſo little, or ſmooth ſo much, or are ſo corrupt and licentious. And this not in the Church of Rome only, but in the reformed Churches, which hauehave juſtly ſeparated from her: ſo that ſinne abounds every where. Now woe be to ſuch watchmen, for they ſhall anſwer for the bloud of thoſe periſhing ſoules, and that which periſheth ſhall be made good, ſoule for ſoule. And woe unto ſuch dawbers, Ezek. 13.13.
This may ſerve for an Apologie for the Miniſters of God, Ʋſe 2 when they preach, and exhort, and reprove, and threaten, but with ſmall thankes from thoſe that heare them; yet ſeeing the contrary is corruption, and a degenerating from the faithfull and their ſteps, and a meanes to make them unacceptable to God their Lord and Maſter. It may ſpeake for them, if they thus preach and practiſe. It may be, if they preached all peace, all placentia, and waken never a ſecure man out of his ſinne, they would cunne him more thanke, and all ſpeake well of him. But woe unto you when all men ſpeake well of you, ſaith Chriſt, Luke 6.26. this is a ſigne of a falſe Prophet, a corrupt Teacher: but bleſſed on the contrary, verſ. 22.23. when they ſpeake but that which he hath commanded, and do but that he hath enjoyned them, Iſaiah 58.1. For want of which he reproves and threatens the falſe Prophets, and will condemne all Miniſters. A Phyſitian hath two ſonnes of a Prince committed unto him, the one taken with a frenzie, the other ſicke of a lethargie, upon paine of the Princes diſpleaſure if they miſ-carry and be not cured by his default, for him to loſe life for life, if he ſhould be heard and ſeen chiding and beating, and binding the one, and pinching and nipping the other, and uſing all ſuch meanes as might cure them, he were not to be blamed.
Yee have broken the covenant of Levi.] This is the third thing, and the generall of the former; the former being a proofe of this, that the covenant was broken when they had failed in theſe particulars. Of the covenant and the conditions of it, and ſo of the keeping and breaking of it, hath been ſpoken verſ. 4. and 5. One thing may we obſerve, which will ſerve for more generall uſe, which is from this, that by two particulars they are made guilty of the breach of the whole covenant.
One or two particular offences makes a man guilty of the whole covenant which he hath made with God. Doctrine. And to ſpeake with Jam. 2.10. He that is guilty of one is guilty of all: ſo much the nature of a covenant will carry. For when it ſtands on ſeverall conditions on both parts, when any condition is broken, the whole muſt be. In this the generall on mans part is obedience, the ſpeciall are the particulars of that obedience, which are the ſeverall commandments and branches of them: hee then that is guilty of one branch, and hath broken it, is guilty of that commandment; and he that is of that, of the whole, whereof that is a part; and ſo faulty in one, he is in the whole guilty of the breach of the whole covenant, and the whole law, Jam. 2.10.