Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part · Sermon 36
The Quarrel of the Sons of the Church.
The Song of Solomon, cap. 1. ver. 6.
My Mothers childr…n were angry with me.
THE Spouse of Christ is most like, most unlike a Woman: Unlike in the confession of her deformity, Black I am: But yet like again in the setting forth her beauty, Yet comely. Unlike again in the manner of the discovery of her imperfections; for she begins with it, and doth it willingly: As for her beauty, she speaks sparingly of it, and modestly, intimating it to be only such which might vindicate her from scorn, since it could not allure the eyes of the Daughters of Jerusalem. A fool I was in glorying, 2 Cor. 12.11.but ye have compelled me; foolish perhaps this vindication of her beauty might seem, but she was forc'd unto it.
For upon the view of her face discolour'd by infirmity, sorrow, and furrow'd with affliction, she was (and a greater trouble cannot befall a woman) in danger of contempt: And therefore averruncat, intreats all her Lovers not to look so disdainfully upon her, at least not to swell every Mole into a wenne, and every Moat into a Beam: For this blackness, besides those causes before recited,Bern. in Cant. Serm. 28. had one meerely external brought upon her from her ungracious Children. Nigredinem fervor persecutionis, non conversationis pudor invexit; Her afflictions and persecutions, her wrongs, disgraces, and discourtesies received from her own, were like the direct beams of than fountain of light beating on the head of fainting Jonah, that scorch'd her,Jon. 4.8. and made her Moorish. They were not Aliens, but Sons that set this foreign; and because they have dealt so roundly with my Mother, and yours, I desire your Christian patience, while I deale roundly with them. A fathers danger made a dumb Childe speak; and a Mothers infamy hath unloosed the tongue of an obedient Sonne. 'Tis a Sword to my Soule, that my Mother should justly complaine, My Mothers Sonnes were angry with Me.
In which Complaint we have to consider
1. The Mother.
2. The Children.
3. Their Frowa…dness.
4. The object of it, The Mother.
1. The Mother is the Catholick Church: Hierusalem from above, which is the Mother of us all.Gal. 4, 26.
2. Her children are those sons and daughters which were born to her in Baptism, foster'd by the Ministry, nursed up by the sincere milk of the Word, strengthened by the body and blood of Christ, and to be corrected to, when they do amiss, by her Discipline, a Rod sometimes being as fit for a Child as bread.
3. Their ill condition is, That they grew angry, nay, incensed with anger,Jun. Vulgar. T…ausl. irà accensi; nay, so cholerick and hot, that pugnaverunt, they fought, 'twas but a word and a blow with them; anger was the the Root, but quarrelling the fruit:Gen. 49.7. But cu…sed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.
4. And so much the more cruel, if you reflect upon the Object, Me, their own Mother, to whom pity and compassion, not anger, was due.
Every word to me seems an aggravation of their fault; Children they were, and therefore ought love and obedience; sons of one womb, and therefore by nature bound to agree; or if not so kind as they ought, yet not to be enraged to quarrel and fight; especially since all their anger and blow…s are interpreted, what fair pretences soever may be made for it, to be against her; they sons in the plural, many false Brethren combin'd, she but one silly woman, yet a Mother.
Vi gil. Aen. 2.Egregiam vero laudem, & spolia ampla; a very worthy act, and manlike exploit no question!
Ʋna dolo virûm si foemina victa, that they many and ungracious children should set upon, and abuse their poor Mother: First then I will speak of her, then of her ungracious sons.
1. The Church of God in his Book hath many specious Titles, some in respect to him,Cant. 8.1. others in respect to us. To him she is a Spouse, ever since her elder brother became her Kinsman in the flesh; ever since he betrothed her in righteousness and judgement, Hos. 2.19, 20.and loving-kindness, and m…rcies unto himself for ever. But to all us she is a common Mother, doing all the Offices of a kind parent to us; as then we are beholding to our parents for our natural life and well-being, so are we bound to this good Mother for our spiritual life and well-being; from the one we are meer men, by the means of the other Christian men: And it had been better for us never to have been born, had we not been by her Ministry re-born: For as men we had been miserable, damnati prius quam nati; the disobedience of our Grandsire Adam had involved every Mothers son of us in the guilt of sin and punishment. With Job, we should have had good Reason to have cursed that day in which it was said a Man-child was born into the World, Job 3.3, 4, 5.and wished that a cloud might perpetually have dwelt upon it, since our Nativity was of the hand of Canaan; our father at best but an Amorite, Ezek. 16.3.and our mother a Hittite; father and mother, and children accursed for eating the forbidden fruit.
But the day of our New Birth it pleased our heavenly Father to make the time of love,Ephes. 2.4. proceeding from the riches of his ineffable mercy. Then he purposed tollere filium, not to expose, as those cruel Fathers among the Heathens, the New-born Babe, but to take from the Earth the Infant, and put them into the Lap of his dear Wife, the Church; that their Navel might be cut, that they might be washed with water, Ezek. 16.4.suppled, salted, swadled; that however through their own default they could not be his children by Nature, yet through Grace they should be his Adopted sons, and so once again, as I may so say, naturalized and enabled to receive that inheritance which they had lost.
Despise then your Birth-day in comparison of this Nativity, and rejoyce on that day in which you were made a son of this Mother; then it was, and not before you were made sons of your Father in heaven; and if sons, then heirs, Rom. 8.16, 17.heirs annexed with Christ. Then it was, and not before you were made one body, by reason of that one spirit, by which you are conjoyned together in this one body, Eph. 1.22, 23.and to the head. One Baptism was the door by which you entred;Ephes. 4.4, 5. the profession of one faith, the Note and Cognizance of distinction, and the sincere Homage you do this one Lord, the assurance of your Filiation; the Spirit effectually quickned, Baptism admitted, your profession and fa…th manifests your obedience, gives assurance that you are her sons.
Which that you may be better enabled to perform, consider how indulgent ever si… … on w…re washed, this kind Mother hath been unto you. She hath s…adled you her self, born with much sluttery in you; she hath drawn forth unto you foreign, the two Bottles of her Breasts, the two Testaments,Triphiodorus. Psal. 45. 1 Pet. 2.2. Heb. 5.14. stoop'd, though a Queen, yet to be a Nursing-mother; fed you with Milk while ye were children, and stronger meat since you came to be men; at no time she can be said to have forgotten h…r child. Love calls for love, affection requires mutual affection, her Motherly care, Reverence and Obedience: peevishness and frowardness, stomach and anger toward a Mother, are Arguments of little grace and piety; and yet even to these, such is her charity, she shews her affection, renounce them utterly she will not, nor quite and clean cast them off, and cast them out of her Family; still she acknowledgeth them for her children, and here calls them sons, Her Mothers sons.
2. My Mothers sons.
You know now who the Mother is, and what she hath done for you, next take notice of her children; some of these are graceless, others, gracious sons; some of these are angry, cholerick, hasty Zelots, others are of a calm, meek, cool, sober spirit: Among the first kind, some profess the same faith with her, but not wholly, not entirely, and these are Hereticks: Others adde to her Faith, their own Inventions, Imaginations, Fancies, Doctrines, and these are Will-worshippers, Sectaries: Others profess the whole saving-faith, but not in Unity, and such are Scismaticks: Others profess the whole faith in conformity, perhaps, but not in sincerity, and sanctity of life, and such are Hypocrites, and practical Atheists, to whom, yet while they are Professors, she vouchsafes the name of sons.
Her gracious sons are those only, that profess the whole saving Truth in Unity, in Sincerity, and conscionable Obedience, whose life is an honour to their Faith, and whose Faith hath a strong and effectual influence upon their life. Now of these true believers she complains not, 'tis of the outward Professors, whether Hereticks, Schismaticks, or profane persons, these are those angry, waspish Zelots, yet these in charity she holds for sons: Whether they be obedient sons or no, is not the question; for that is confessed they are not, and wished they were; the sole doubt is, whether they may be said to be of the Family.
Dissenters there are on both hands; Rome ejects all those for sons, who are not born in her womb; and the Brethren of separation will acknowledge none for children, who are not nursed up at their breasts, and dandled upon their knees: Zeal hath transported them both beyond the truth, in the midst it lies, and this it is.
The Husband of this our Mother, is Christ, the Houshold is the Church, to whose Family men belong either visibly or mystical…y, these are commonly called either the visible or mystical Members of th…s Society: The mystical Society is that company whom Christ doth animate, and formalize with his own Spirit, being truly united to him; and of this Corporation, nor Hypocrites, nor Hereticks, nor profane persons are parts and members; the Reasons for it are evident.
1. They are but as ill humours in the body, which though in the body, yet are not any true parts of the body, no more are these.
2. Nothing is truly and formally that whose name it bears, quando diciur cum termino dimuente; when a term of limitation, restriction, or diminution is added to it; as a dead man, is not truly a man; a painted City, is not truly a City. Thus it is here, members these are, but dead members; Christians they are, but painted Christians; not therefore living members of Christs body, not truly Christians; in name they are, and not farther.
3. There is no true and mystical member of Christs body which receives not a vital influx from the head; but Infidels and wicked men receive not this vital influence, and therefore they cannot be parts of that body which Christ doth quicken with his Spirit.
4. At the same time the same man cannot be a member of Christ and the Divel; but profane and heretical persons qua tales, are by Saint John, reckon'd to be servants and sons of that evil spirit; Joh. 8.44.and therefore truly they belong not to Christ, nor are really the Sonnes of our Mother.
2. But besides this Mystical, there be other Visible parts of this socie…y, that communicate in the outward profession of these Heavenly verities, who in regard of the close and inward disposition of their minds, and outward conversation, I adde, in regard of some parts of their very profession, are most worthily hateful in the eyes of Almighty God, and the eyes of the sounder part of the Visible Church execrable; and yet Truth and Charity bids us call these our Mothers sons: Call them, so I say, equivocally, as we call a wooden Leg, or a glass Eye, a part of the body, which in truth are not such. And could we as easily and certainly discern that they are but ascititious and counterfeit, as we can that Leg to be of wood, and that Eye of glass, we would not call them so neither. But that Charity that bids us hope all things, and believe all things, 1 Cor. 13.7. 1 Cor. 4.5.commands us not to eject and damn any before the time: The Hypocrite we can never discern; the profane man is an object of our hope and compassion; the Heretick may come to the knowledge of the truth; and therefore we are bound to esteem them Brethren, whom our Mother calls sons.
A man hath a rotten Leg, a gangred and corrupted Arm, Is it not for all that a part of his body? an unsound part I confess, but a part though. I would ask, Whether the incesluous Corinthian, before he was cast out, were of that Church or not? If not, then they had no power to cast him out. For what have we to do, 1 Cor. 5.1.(saith the Apostle) to judge those who are without? If he were in the Church,Ver. 12. as he was, for within he must be, before he could be cast out; then possible it is for a profane person to be a member of a Visible Church; or which is all one, a son of our Mother; not by Merit, not by Election, but by Tale, and outward profession.
And what can our Saviour mean else, When he likens the Kingdom of God to a Net cast into the Sea, Matth. 13.47. Matth. 3.12. Mat. 13.24. & Ver. à 3.8.into which all that comes, neither is, nor seems to be Fish? To a Floor, in which there is Wheat and Chaffe: To a Field, wherein are Tares and Wheat: To the ground, that received and rejected the seed: To the Ʋirgins, of which, five were wise, and five were foolish. Of different kinds they were,Chap. 25.2. yet both in the same Net, in the same Floor, in the same Field, and Ground, in the same Kingdom. All which, it cannot be denied, are Resemblances of the Church, and therefore may, as they did, receive good and bad.
The good principally, fully, intrinsecally, absolutely are acknowledged to be our Mothers sons, her first-born, that shall go away with the blessing: To the other she is but Mater putativa, a supposed Mother; and they, as the Lawyers, speak Muli…r, or Supposititious; Children, and with her legitimate sons, they shall not inherit: Both which Bellarmine hath well expressed; Ecclesia precipuè, & ex intentione suâ fidelis tantum colligit, &c. Cum autem aliqui admiscentur ficti, qui verè non credunt, B…llar. d… Ecclesia M…it. lib. 3. cap. 10.id accidit praeter intentionem Ecclesiae; si enim eos nosse possit, nunquam admitteret, aut casu admis…os continuò excluderet.
Down then with those high thoughts with which many a Pharisee is transported, who out of a contemplation of his own purity, stands apart, and disdains a poor Publican, rejects utterly his company and society,Luke 18.11. as if he were pitch that may not be touch't; or an infirm sheep, which the sound may not approach without danger. This was the furious zeal of the Pelagians of old, and the off-spring of Donatus and Luciferius in our dayes, who have diffamed this our Mother for a Strumpet, and Bastardiz'd her Children.
Parent sibi scalas, & ascendant in Caelum soli; Aug.for we may not be admitted to their company: Well then, after we will come, and upon the sight of our defects call for a Psalme of mercy, upon the hearty recital of which,Psal. 51.1. we have great hope our good Father will forget our imperfections, and our kind Mother will bestow upon us her absolution and blessing. Foolish men, to suppose unholy children could not be found in so holy an Assembly, nothing remembring that Cham was in the Ark as w…ll as Sem, Gen. 7.8.unclean Beasts as well as clean; and that a venemous Toad may lie under the consecrated stones of the Temple.
It had been therefore their Charity not to have renounced us, till we had renounced Christ; and their duty not to have made a Nullity in their Mothers Marriage, for the disobedience of her sons; yea, and wisdom also, lest at unawares they make themselves no Christians; because in her womb it was, that most of them were first conceived, and nursed up at her breasts, and esteemed children of God; either then they must acknowledge her Christendom, or deny their Sonship, which many of them do not, nor will not.
Say she were weak, poor, ragged, black in their eye in her personal defects, blackish in her Ecclesiastical Ornaments; yet she was their Mother, we their Brethren; pity had been better than stomach; prayers, than separation; as putative sons of our common mother they might safely have taken us, and so eat and drunk without sin in our company, could not their Charity have been inflamed to that degree to have accounted us zealous B…ethren.
And because I am fallen upon this point of Separation, I shall freely impart a little more largely my thoughts about it. That which can give a just cause to separate, is reducible to these two Heads; Errors in Life, or else Errors in Doctrine.
1. As touching Errors of Life, the Apostle gives us this command, Have not any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; Ephes. 5.10.for what communion hath light with darkness? Christ with Belial? God with M…mmon? But observe here, the Apostle names the works of darkness, not …he Men: To withdraw from the persons when they walk inordinatly, is sober wisdom; but to say to such, Stand apart, for I am holier than thou, Pharisaisme; Isa. 65.5.for the works, they are absolutely to be avo…ded: To do the same which a wicked man does, to give counsel, assistance, approbation, commendation to a leud act; not to restrain when it lies in our power another mans malice or wickedness, is no question to communicate with the works of darkness. And he who will walk honestly, will neither have such a heart, nor such a hand, nor such a tongue; not such a heart to consent; not such a tongue to commend; not such a hand to co-operate with an evil doer.
But for the persons, it is not so easie to avoid, nor indeed so necessary in that sense as many strait-laced men conceive; for wicked men are to be considered as Members of a civil society, or of that society which is called the Church.
As Members of the society of mankind, a common fellowship may, and must sometimes be retained with them for Commerce, for civil peace, for the performance of all outward Courtesies of love, usque ad Aras. Abraham made a Covenant with Abimelech, Gen. 20. Gen. 19. Gen. 31. 1 Cor. 7.13.Jacob with Laban, Lot conversed with the Sodomites; the believing Wife was not to depart from the unbelievidg husband. Simply the society of wicked men is not to be avoided; for then we must go out of the World, 1 Cor. 5.10.as saith the Apostle; only care must be taken that we be not the worse for their company, that the Name of God be not thereby blasphemed.Isa. 52.5.
But let men be considered as our Mothers sons, that is, as Members of some particular Church; and then before we refuse to communicate with them, these three Directions would be diligently observed and remembred.
1. Whether the faults imputed to the Mother lie not in the wicked lives of the Priests and People;Perk. in Jude. if that appear, to separate is not lawful; for the Scribes and Pharisees sate in Moses seat, Mat. 23.1.and yet Christ commanded that they be heard. Many evil Priests there were in Israel, yet the people for their sakes refrained not from the Sacrifice of the Lord.
2. Whether the Church erre in matter of Religion; then we must consider whether the Errour lie in a more weighty, substantial Doctrine, or else in some lighter or circumstantial matter.
First, If it be a matter of less importance, such as St. Paul calls Hey, Wood and Stubble, 1 Cor. 3.15.then we may not separate; for there may salvation be had in such a Church.
Secondly, Yea, but what if this Error lie in the foundation or substance of Doctrine; then it is easily to be considered,
3. Whether this Errour proceed of frailty, and is defended only with a peaceable and docible mind, or else be pertinaciously and obstinately maintained.
1. If upon frailty only, it may be suffered with hope that God in his good time will reveal the truth: The Church of Galatia was through frailty quickly turned to another Gospel, and erred in the foundation, expecting justification by the works of the Law. Gal. 1.6.The Church of Corinth denied an Article, the Resurrection; 1 Cor. 15.12.yet Saint Paul writes to both, as unto Churches of Christ.
2. But if the Errour lie in the foundation, and is defended with a pertinacy and obstinacy, then a separation may be made with a good conscience; then we need not esteem them our Mothers sons: Then that place of the Corinths out of the Prophet is aptly urged,2 Cor. 6.17. Come out from among them, and be you separate; and that counsel which Saint Paul gives Timothy, If any man teach otherwise, 1 Tim. 4.5.and consent not to the wholsome Doctrine, from such separate thy self: Yea, his own Example comes home to the purpose, Acts 19.19. Yet before we may pass this harsh censure of obstinacy and pertinacy upon any Church, it is necessary that there be not a proud and rash, but an humble and prudent Examination of the Doctrine; not a heady, factious and tumultuous, but a discreet, legal and peaceable conviction: Lastly, not the Vote of private men, but a grave Censure of a lawful assembled Synod.
This being the naked truth, doth easily discover the weakness and rashness of those Zelots who have departed from our Mother, and separated from her children; for who can with a good conscience fasten this upon the Church of England?
For let the worst be admitted that can be said; be it that the lives of the Professors were not comely, nor such as becomes the Gospel; (though it becomes him that throws a stone, to take heed lest it fall not on his own Noddle) yet our dislike and disclaiming such works of darkness, shews our separation from them sufficiently: And that there were those who mourned in Zion for what was amiss in execution, and prayed for, and wished, and endeavoured a Reformation, and yet never separated as much as they who in an und…screet zeal have removed farthest; rhis may justifie us in the first case.
As for the quarrel that is pretended to the Service, Ceremonies, and Discipline, it is but the Structure and Edifice; nay scarce that, rather about the Hang…ngs, Furniture and Government of the House; for which no wise man ought to contend to a separation, so long as all things are done decently, 1 Cor. 14.40.and in order.
In the foundation no Errour can be shewed; a flat Heretick may asperse her as an An…ini…arian, an Arrian, a Socinian, or some such Monster; but the bare Sectary hath not impeached her; she never yet was for her affirmative Articles, no not by the Papist convicted, much less in a lawful Synod censured; and therefore there is no just cause given of separation, nor yet that her Mothers sons should be so angry with her, which yet is the unkindness she here complains of:
3. My Mothers sons were angry with me.
Man is like a Ship at Sea; Reason is the Pilot, the Passions the Oars and Sails, or rather the Winds that drive it; so long as these be useful, and blow fair and gently, on the Vessel passes merrily, and at last arrives safely at the Port: But if these Winds begin to be boysterous and rough, then nor Oar, nor Sail is of any great use; nor the Pilots hand shall be so far able to stear the Ship, that it fall not upon some Rock, that it split not, that it sink not. Now among these windy passions, there is none so tempestuous, none so furious, as that of anger; for what is anger else for the time, but a short madness? for it doth foreign, turn a man for the time into a Beast,Clem. Alex. outing him of the use of Reason. The people were angry with St. Paul, they rent their cloa hs, and cast dirt into the Aire; Act. 22.22, 23.what could mad Bulls have done more in their Rage? Yea, so far it puts him from his Reason, that he violates the Law of justice; for what Judge being blinded with it, ever gave a just sentence? The wrath of man works not the righteousness of God; Jam. 1.20.because the mind of man that is troubled with it, discerns every fault presented to it, as through a Mist, which transmits the Object not in its just proportion, but far bigger than it is: It did so here, presented the Mothers spots to the sons eyes as blains; and therefore she had Reason to complain that they were angry.
Of angry people all are not alike;Arist. Ethic. lib. 4. cap. 5. Aristotle hath set them in three Ranks; there be saith he, foreign, Acuti, amari, difficiles, sharp, bitter, implacable people: The first of these sting as Bees, the second as Wasps, the third as Hornets: The first burns as fire in stubble, the second glowes as fire in Iron, the third lives long as fire raked up in Embers.
1. The first are a sort of Cholerique men, who have a great bag of gall, and yellow choler, into which an occasion of anger falling by chance, is as a spark that lights in powder, that presently rises in your face. The ground of sudden heat is commonly envy, emulation, grudging, which hath for its obiect the prosperous and flourishing estate of another. This fills men to the eyes, and in the eyes it sits, and by those windows it looks forth, and wheresoever it sees a blessing, displeas'd it is, if God do not curse. The Elder Brother in the Gospel, when he heard melody and dancing in his Fathers house, Luk. 15.28.and heard of the Ring, and Robe, and fat Calf killed by the Father to welcome home his lost son, he was angry at the matter, and would not go in. Thus far go the Acuti, even good-natur'd men.
2. But the second sort are far worse, those foreign, or Amari, who have an equal share of black and yellow choler; Men that are not very soon angry, nor yet very soon pleased: As their heat is longer kindling, so it is longer ere it go out; much like Old Rotten Wood, which once on fire, will burn Day and Night. This commonly ends in malice and bitterness.
3. But yet these bitter men, are not half so bad as those who are foreign, or foreign, who have more splene than gall; that once angry, will never be pacified. In them the cold Saturnine humour is not apt to be heated; yet as cold water it may be made to boyle, and then scalld as much as fire. This by Nyssen is call'd fury; by Gregory, The tumour of the heart; which is not properly pride, Thom. 2. 2. e.q. 158. Art. 7.but the endeavor and attempt of a man to be revenged.
Of which kinde of these angry people the Spouse here speaks, it is not easie to determine, since Translators differ, and the effects differ also: For some reade inflammati, some incensi; the vulgar goes farther, pugnaverunt. It puts me to think, that the Church might have many ungracious discontented Sons, all Opponents to their Mother, yet upon different occasions; some who upon envy, some who on malice, some who on pride, were inflam'd against her.
Her Prosperity and Dowry was the object of their envy; Her Discipline and Order, of their malice and bitterness; Her Officers or Prelates, of their tumour and pride. Their pride was such, that it suggested a Parity; their malice so great, that it call'd for an Anarchy; their envy so blinded, that it dreamed of a Community. Against which whatsoever they saw in practice, made them angry, inflam'd them, incens'd them, brought them to be implacable, they fought.
How little reason there was for her Children to be angry for her Discipline, Orders, or Constitutions, with her Officers and Prelates, I shall shew at large in a discourse by it self. At this time I shall only justifie her Dowry and Maintenance.
This was conferr'd upon her, either by the bounty of Princes and Benefactors; or else by the indulgence of Heaven. The first was a free gift, and voluntary; she layes no claim to it, till it was given; for while it was their own, Act. 5.4.was it not in their own power? They might have kept it without sinne at pleasure. But being once given, Justinian tells us, that God was the proprietary, the Goods were his; & quae in Dei sunt bonis, over that which is Gods, man can have no power; and therefore can not alienate them, nor take them away.
The Dowry which God made over unto her, was Tithes: In that he had right. Right indeed he hath to all; but he is content we enjoy the Nine parts; conditionally, we pay the Tenth to him. In the Prophet Malachi he layes his claim,Mal. 3.8. All Tithes are mine; and upon it he calls for payment, Bring in all Tithes into my store-house; where he assignes the Priest to be his Receiver; and is very angry when they are with-held; Will a man spoile his God?
Men are very much mistaken, when they conceive a Tenth to be paid as a meere stipend to the Priest: They should look further, and remember it is Gods Tribute, his due debt, an offering of Thanksgiving and gratitude, for blessing the whole Harvest. And is the Priests no other way than by Gods Assignation, he Ordaining that he should receive it in his Name, and take it for his wages, for doing his work.
This Dowry was not denyed our Mother in the Law of Nature;Gen. 14.20. Gen. 28.22. Abraham paid it, Jacob vow'd it, and 'tis very likely that Abel before both gave it; for the Septuagints Translation favours a division, which is more apt for the Quantity, than Quality, foreign. If thou bring thy offering aright, and dividest not aright,Gen. 4.7. be quiet. Under the Law for payment there can be no question; and by what Law soever payable, I am sure not by the Ceremonial; for Tithes were no Types. And in the beginning of the Gospel a Command there is,Mat. 23.23. Haec oportet fieri.
Over and above I shall adde thus much, that even the light of Nature taught the Heathens to pay this part, and no other to their Gods, who yet were no Gods: Festus shall speak for the Romans, Cit. ab ipso Seld. cap. 3. de Dec.Decima quae{que} veteres dijs s…is offerebant: Didymus in Har…ocration for the Greeks, foreign. 'Twas not then to some Deities, by some people, and sometimes only, and of some things only, as the Author of the History of Tithes would make us believe: But it was to those Deities indefinitely, by all people in Rome, in Greece, among the Romans Ʋeteres the Ancients did it; and among the Greeks it was; not a custom in some parts, but foreign, a Greeksh custome; yea, and of all things foreign, Quae{que}, and that which is punctually to the purpose; for the Quota pars, the oblation or payment was the Decima, the foreign, The Tithe. These two Testimonies were so evident, that the Divine Scaliger with his Pupil, knew not what to Answer, till boldly and enviously they mended or rather marr'd the Record; the one, for Dijs, reading Uni He…culi; the other, blotted out the Note of Universality, Quae{que}: Which course let it be granted to any Lawyer, when an Evidence or Record is produc'd, let it but lie in his power to put out or put in what words he pleases, and he may shape any case to his own turn. That which I intend to inferre out of these or the like Testimonies, for they are many, is this, That in the judgement of the Heathen the Tenth was Gods part; that Reason taught them to pay it, and they did pay it to their Gods; that their Priests received it, employed it to Divine uses, and were maintained by it. So that it is not a portion due by a positive Law only, but by a Dictate of Natural Reason.
I have reserv'd Saint Pauls Argument to the last, as that in which there is the greatest force, Heb. 7.2, 6. The Apostle is to prove Melchizedeck to be a Priest, and a greater Priest than Levi. His Mediums to induce those conclusions are two; Melchizedecks Benediction and Decimation of Abraham; He blessed him; ergo, foreign, not took what he would give, but out of his power Tith'd Abraham, Ver. 6, 7.therefore the greater Priest.
Whether it were the Spoyles, or all the Spoyles, or the Spoyles alone, or of all his goods (though it is most likely to be of this last;) for vers. 2. The Apostle saith, He gave a tenth part of all: and after addes, vers. 4. That he gave even the tenth of the Spoyles; that over and above, I dispute not; for it is enough to my purpose, that foreign, that out of right he tith'd Abraham, be they tenth of spoyles or other Goods.
For out of this Apostolical Logique it seems to me, that to Tithe and receive Tithes, belongs to the Priesthood foreign reciprocally, as if he, that by right receives Tithes, must be a Priest, and none but a Priest must receive Tithes. The consequent of which will be, That since Melchizedecks Priesthood remains for ever, those also which externally execute that function, shall also continue to the end of the world, and have right to Melchizedecks portion, the tenth.
Adde to this Saint Pauls position, viz. Even so hath God Ordained, that those which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. The whole Scope of the precedent words,1 Cor. 9.14. is, that the Minister have a sufficient maintenance. Which lest any man should interpret an arbitrary stipend or Contribution, in this verse he closes all his instances with foreign, Even so God hath ordained, an Ordinance then, a positive Law there is for it, not only a deduction out of the principle and equity of Reason; for no man ever yet call'd that foreign, an Order: But such a one is not evidently extant in the New Testament for the Quota pars; and therefore that Order and Constitution that God once gave to the Jew for Tithes, must be that Order, to continue for ever; since the claim upon which it is demanded, and the end for which it is to be paid, is to continue for ever.
This plea here put in for my Mothers Dowry, would I know, have been censur'd at another time as treading too much inward; but since he that puts it in, hath no benefit by it, nor is like to have, I hope it will receive the more candid interpretation, as proceeding, which it doth, from a love to Truth, and not to any Interest. And I hope, that they who were wont to cry so loud against our Mothers Dowry, will not take this plea in ill part, since now they live and thrive upon it, and grow thereby as faire and fat, and well liking as any of her former Children. Now I hope they will be no longer angry with her Dowry. The out-cry is still'd, the noyse is over, ever since it came to their hands.
CONCLƲSIO.
God the searcher of all hearts knows that I take no delight in Recriminations; and therefore have but only touch'd this sore with a Ladies hand, O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself, Jer. 10.23.it is not in man that walks to direct his steps. The raging flame about our Mothers Dowry, and other priviledges will not be quenched, so long as man consults with his own corrupt Heart. God therefore is my witnesse, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, Rom 1.9. Col. 1.9.that without ceasing I make mention of these froward and angry brethren in my prayers, that God would give unto them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him, and that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightned.
In Cant. Serm. 29.That they may lay to heart Bernards Note, viz. That it is The Sons by the Mothers side, not the Fathers who are angry; I forbear to press it in his words.Mat. 5.22. Next, that their anger is foreign, Causless, in this, or other respects, as the Learned of our Church have abundantly proved. Lastly, that this unkindness had been better taken, had it come from another. Cruelty and hard measure though ever grievous, yet it alwayes receives an aggravation from the quality of the person that offers it;Suet. foreign. A stab from Brutus went deeper to Caesars heart, than all the blows of the other Senators;Mat. 26.49. a…d one trayte…ous kiss from the lips of Judas, was more unkindly taken, than all the blows and stripes of the Jews; at those, as a Lamb, Christ he was silent; at this he expostulates, Judas, betrayest thou? How passionately doth David complain! It was not an enemy that reproached me, Psal. 55.12, 13, 14.then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me, that did magnifie himself against me, then I would have hid my self from him; But it was thou, a man, my equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance: we took sweet Coun…el together, and walked in the House of GOD as Friends.
Our Mother may in the same pathetical words melt upon her Children, and melt them if possible into compassion. It was not an enemy from Rome or Tiber, that hath loaded her with reproaches, for then she could have borne it; neither was it a Cain that imbrued his hands in her Abels bloo…; Gen. 4. & 32.no Esau that hated his brother, or struggled with him before he was born that rose up against me; for then with the Woman in the R…velation, Rev. 12.6.I might have took my self to the Wilderness, till the anger had been overpassed: But they my Children, equally born in my womb, with equal care Nurst up at my breasts, companions of the same faith, and the same Table, those who took sweet counsel, and walked in the House of God as friends, these are the men who in anger have lift up their heele against me. My Masters words I see are verified, Tradet frater fratrem: Mat. 20.21, 36.And a mans enemies shall be those of his own house: which is that which most grieves the Mother, because foreign.Sopho cl. No wound so deep, as is that of an injurious friend.
I know the Spirit of the Gospel is a coole, calme, milde, charitable Spirit; and therefore far different from that of Elijah, being both Legal and Prophetique, whence I willingly pass by the following verse. The effects which their anger hath wrought upon the true sons of this our mother, are Noble and Christian.
1. Their anger hath sadly set us to think upon a greater and higher, without which their wrath and Rage could never have hurt us. Our Father in heaven was justly angry with us, we acknowledge and confess it. There were amongst us some that were more busie with the flesh-hook, than careful for the Sacrifice. The Key was too easily turn'd to let in unworthy persons;1 Sam. 2.14. and not turn'd, as it ought to be, upon scandalous and unworthy sinners. The Sacred Laws of our Mother were slighted, neglected, scorned. The Salt we were of the earth; but evanuimus, we became light persons and unsavoury;Mat. 5.13. and therefore Gods anger hath justly taken hold of us; devised he hath a device against us; hath watched upon the evil, and brought it to pass: Zach. 1.5.The punishment answers the sinne, as the Wax the Seale. Habetis jam confitentem reum; and while you sit down and smile, and make your advantage of it, we will sit down in the dust, and mourn, and petition our Father in Heaven for pardon and mercy, nothing doubting but he will at last remove his anger, and our reproach.
2. But then there must be a Reformation also; for our Humiliation without a Reformation, will never avert our Fathers jealousie. And this, I perswade my self, all the pious and devout sonnes of my Mother have vowed, and intend to performe. They resolve to be more careful in their respective Callings, more exemplary in their lives, more studious of their mothers peace; in a word, so pass their time, that the very anger of their enemies shall be turn'd into love.
3. Till this come to pass, we will submit to the wrath of God, and anger of men with patience. In these troubles we have lost our Wealth, our Dignities, our temporal Goods, but we have not lost our patience; and so …ong as we retain that, we are sure to possess our souls, a possession more pre…ious than any that the world can give. And to perswade us to retain this,Luk. 21.19. there be divers Reasons, but these especially.
1. Because that foreign are foreign that which our impatience hath mis-named a cross or loss, is from God. The wisdom of God sends it, hi power over-rules it, his providence dispenseth it in what measure, and to what person he pleaseth. Fortune, want of good take heed, malice of enemies, Revenge, Ambition, or Covetousness, are but empty words; it is Ignorance that hath set them in the Rank of prime causes: For there is no evil in the City (be it by War, Oppression, or Depopulation) but God in justice hath done it. Amos 3.6.To that hand Job looks, when he was smitten and Robb'd;Job 1.21. Men did it, but God so order'd: God, saith he, hath given, and God hath taken. To that providence David, when Shimei cursed; God hath sent Shimei to curse David. 2 Sam. 16.10. Gen. 45.4, 5.To this eye Joseph, when his Brethren out of malice sold him; God sent me into Egypt. And this consideration may exceedingly abate the edge of all that we call evil, that thy sufferings are from God, from thy God. From God; and therefore must be, whatsoever thou thinkest of them, good; for foreign From thy God,Eurip. and therefore must be for thy good; for all things work together for good to those which love God, Rom. 8.28.even sinners, and all.
2. The Wine is indeed red; but the Cup is in his hand, and he measures it out by Cups,Psa. 75.8. that every one of his Family may have his portion. The potion may seem very unpleasant in the taking, and troublesome in the operation, but being temper'd by so skilful a hand, it must be wholesome and healthful.
That you may know we drink it with the greater patience, assured we are that it is administred for that end that other Physical potions are, viz. to remove some ill humour, that did affect, or rather disaffect the soul. Man is a diseased Creature, sick of an infirmity in his understanding, in his Will, in his affections; and affliction is Medicina animae, a Soveraign medicine for all these, upon which experience hath set Probatum est.
The first infirmity is in the understanding; in prosperity so weak-eyed man is,Prov. 30 8, 9. that he sees not clearly his way to heaven: Give me not Riches, saith Solomon, Prov. 29.15.lest I forget God. Now Schola crucis, schola lucis; the Rod gives wisdome, and affliction gives understanding. By experience we finde, that the wits of men are in necessity sharpest; and no man, I hope, will take it ill to be made wiser day by day.
The next defect is in the Will, by which men are not only prone to, but wilfully set on mischief. Now in hard times this Obstinacy is very much mended: For as the dew falls most in the night, so the sweet dews of grace descend most frequently in the nights of sadness. Stories assure us, That the lives of Gods Servants have been then most holy, then their words more milde and chast, their behaviour more modest, their prayers more frequent and fervent,Naz. foreign. their peace within most comfortable, when God hath given them this drink of deadly Wine. And I dare say, these have been the effects which our late sufferings have wrought in every pious soul. They may be then the more patiently endured, which have carried away so much perverseness and wilfulness.
Our affections have their sickness also; a softness there is in us, whereby we yield to all difficulties; and wantonness, whereby we thirst after pleasing sensualities; so that our courage for God is cooled, and our love to God abated: But afflictions bring both to the Test, and make a perfect Trial both of our Ʋalour and of our Love. In them when nor threats, nor preferments can conquer us, we shew our Magnanimity: In them, when nor the specious baits of pleasure nor gaine can allure us, we shew our Love: Both which,1 Pet. 4.12. as Oare in the Mine, lie hid, till the fiery Tryal hath passed upon it. This flame melts it, purifieth it, sets it in the open view, as it is to be seen in this Furnace; there remaining yet a few berries in the top of the Olive, whom nor tribulations have been able to beat down;Isa. 17.6. nor yet anger, nor profits, nor delicacies, have been of power to effeminate and soften;Heb. 11.25. Chos…n they have rather to suff…r affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season. Thanks then to this Soveraign Antidote, that hath freed us from ignorance, hardness of heart, cowardize, and wantonness, and hath enriched our souls with light, with tenderness, with love, w…th fortitude, and a patient submi… sion to the Will and Wayes of God, which are the true vertues of the Saints.
3. I know, were it not for your Patience, I had tired you; but presuming on that, I shall adde one word more. Men may wonder, why when some are so angry, we can be thus Patient. Be it known to you, this is no work of flesh and blood, it proceeds from that Spirit who hath taught us,Mat. 5.10. Phil. 1.29. Psa. 73.5. Psa. 55 19. Heb. 12.6. that to suffer for Righ…eousness, is a Seal of our Adoption, and a hansel of our promised Rew…rd. To come in no mis-fortune like other men, is but an ill sign; to feel no changes, but an uncomfortable happiness, because God scourgeth every Son that he receives. Now to bear this chastisement patiently in relation to Gods hand, is the property of a childe. This is a seal of our love to God, that as he suffer'd for us, so again we are content to suffer for Him.
Lastly, this is an earnest of our future happiness.Rom. 8 17, 18, For if we suffer with him, we shall also raign with him. Upon which promise when the Apostle cast his eye, He endured the Cross, and despised the shame. The foreign,Gal. 6.17. the marks that he bore in his body, were not considerable; the afflictions which he had or should undergo, but light and momentary. The Crown he expected, was weighty; an everlasting weight of Glory: And as the earth to the Tenth Heaven is but as a point: so the troubles of this life to that joy bears no proportion.
The Husbandman ploughs, sows, plants, waters, for hope of fruits: The Merchant at Sea endures many a storm to gain a Pearle of price. All labour is sweetned by the end. This joy then that God hath set before us, doth comfort our sorrows here; and the Glory that he hath promised, weigh down our dishonours now. This is the Handkerchief with which we wipe all Tears from our Eyes, all sweat from our face, all the gore blood from our backs.
Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum
Tendimus in coelum,Virgil. Aen. 1. sedes ubi fata quietas
Ostendunt.
Ʋicibus disposita haec res est. The world doth now rejoyce, and here Gods best Servants weep; but then the world is to weep, and the other to rejoyce. Joh. 16 20.'Twas so with Dives; and F…ther Abraham puts him in minde of it,Luk. 16.25. Remember, Sonne, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy pl su e, and Lazarus his pain; therefore is he now comforted, and th u ar… to…mented. That's the time of Retribution and Vengeance: Of Reward for the good, of Vengeance for the bad: Of Anger for those who have been angry with their Brethren without a c…use; of joy for such who for Christs sake have sustain'd their anger with meekness and patience.
These are the resolutions of our souls, these the exercises of the rema…nder of our dayes; these the Arts we intend to use, with thes… arms and no other we threaten to fight against Amalek; and if we prevail not to avert their anger and fury, yet we hope so far to pacifie the wrath of our heavenly Father, that he return and have mercy upon us. I shall close up all all I have to say at this time, with an apt and devout Prayer of the Great Basil.
O Long Suffering and Eternal King, who for the condemnation that came by the Trée, wert lifted up on the Tree, and hast shewed forth thy self to all that choose to follow thy steps, a pattern and copy of long-sufferance and patience: Thou who hast offered up thy intercession to thy Co-eternal Father, for those very Fighters against God, who crucified thée: Do Thou O Lord, Thou the same Lover of Mankind, indulge thy mercy and pardon to all that are Enemies to us, which either by Treachery, or Reproach, by Fraud, Contumely, or Envy, or by any other means, through the laying in wait, or deceit of the Divel, that lover of debate, have expressed their Malice or Madness against us. Change their Counsels and Resolutions from a mischievous design, to the swéet Christian temper of gentleness. Infuse into their Hearts sincere Love and Charity, such as is single, and removed from deceit. Bind them fast to us in the inviolable Bands of spiritual Good-will; and by what meanes thou knowest most fit, make them Partakers of thy Divine, Pure, and Holy Way of Life.
As for those that love us, or for thy Holy Names sake do administer to our bodily Necessities, repay them with the Riches and Abundance of thy Gifts, and vouchsafe them the Lot and Portion of Faithful and Wise Stewards: And for those, who out of good affection have remembred our Infirmities, or have made Intercession for us, Reward them with the Plentiful Riches of thy Grace.
To those that have commanded us miserable unworthy Creatures to pray for them, gratifie them with those things that are profitable; and grant them those Requests which tend to their Salvation, and send them from thy Holy Place thy Rich Mercies, and Bowels of Compassion.
And O Thou Father of Compassion and Tender Mercy, Pity all those who Rely upon Thée, and Trust to Thee; Draw all to the Divine Love of Thée, Be Thou President in all Things, Be assistant and help all; Work together with us thy sinful and unprofitable Servants, and make us Heirs of thy Kingdom: For to Thée it belongs to shew Mercy, and to save us, O our God; for Thine is the Power for ever. Amen.