| OCR Text |
Show 8r+ 11679· ~ Pmll. An Addrefs to Proteflants: VoL r. ' muft wear a Toy in his Cap, that Co the Spe£\arors might difi:inguilb then;; ' whence comes it, that they fiand fo much upon ~rate and Ceremony tn ' rhe Church? ]s it not from ~cn:e, that they t~tnk .the Chnrch muft ' come in like .Agrippa and Bernue In the .Alls fA'~" "'"M'•••1ut~, asS~. ' Luke fpeaks, with a great deal of Pomp, and Tr!'tn, an~ Sbt~, an~ Vanz .. ' ry? And that the Service of God, doth neceifanly reqmre .rhts Notfe and ' Tumult of outward State and Ceremony ? Whence comes It, that we are c at our Wits End, when we fee Perfecution, a_nd Sword, and Fire, to ra~ge ' againft the true Profefi'ors of the _Gofpel ? Is 1t not hecaufe, as thefe bung ' Ruin and Defolation UP.OD the Kmgdoms of the World, fo we fuppo(e ' they work no other Effetl: in the King~om ofChrift? All thefe C?nceits, ' and many more of the like N~ture, ipnng out of no other Fountam than ' that old ixveterate Error, whtch is fo hardly wtped. out of our Hearts, ' That the St.tte of the Cb~trcb and Kingdom of C~nft, doth hold f~mc 'J'roporrion fomelikenift with the State and managmg cif temporal Kmg .. • tfdiiU: Wherefore to pluck out of our Hearts, Opin~onem ram infi!(}m, ' tam verujl4m a Conceit fo ancient, fo deeply rooted In us, our S.Htour • fpake mofte~eellently, moft ~ertinent~y, and m?ft fully, when he tells ' us that his Cburcb, that his Km~dom n .nor of thu World. . • ' In which Words of his, there 1$ contatned the true Art of d1fcovenng ' and knowing the true Nature and Efi'ence of the Cburcb. For as they • which make St11ruu, cut and pare ~way all Superfluities of the Ma~ter ' upon which they work; fo our Sav10ur, to fhew us the true Pro par non 'and Feature of the Church, prunes away the W~rld, and all Super.fiuous ' excrefcencies and fends her to be feen, at he d1d our firft Parents tn Pa~ ' radife, jlark ~aked: As thofe Elden in the Apocryp!Jal Story of Sufanna, ' when they would fee her Beauty, commanded to take off her M:~fk; fo I he that longs to fee. the Beauty of the Oulrcb, mufi pull off that Matk or ' the World and outward fhew. For as Juda in the Book of Gemjit, when ' Thamar fur vail'd by the Way Side, knew not his . Oaughrer f~cm an ' 'Whore; fo whilfi the Church, the Daughter. and. Spoufe of Chnft, /tt& ' vaifd with the World, and Pomp and Shew, , tt wtll be an bar~ Mauer to ' difcern her from an Harlot. But yet further, to make the Dtfferencc be· ' twiit thefe Kingdoms the more plainly to appear, and fo bc~ter to. fix ' in your Memories, I will briefly touch fome of thofe Heads, Jn whtth • they are moit nororioufiy differenced. ' The firft Head wherein the Difference is feen, are the Perfons ~nd Sub' je8s of this Kingdom: Fo.r as the Kingdom of Chrift is nor of tbu Wor/J~ ' tO the SubjeOs of th1s Kmgdom are .Men of another World, and not of ' this. Every one of us bears 3. double 'Perfon, and accordi~_gly .is.the Sub .. ' jeU of a double Kin~dom: The Holy Gbojl, by the Pjnlmzjf, dtvtdes He>' ven and Earth betWIXt God and Man, and tells us, as for God, He ts m ' Heaven, but the Earth bm be given to .t~e Children tJf .Men : So hath ~he ' fame Spirit, by the Apoftle St. Paul, dtvtded every one of our. Perfons ~n~ ' to Heaven and Earth into an outward and earthly Man, and mto an m~ • ward and Heavenly Man : This Earth,. that is. this Body of Clay hath ho ' given to the Sons of Mrn, to th~ Prmces unde~ ~hofe Government we ' live; but Heavm, that is, the mw~rd and fprraual Man, h:tth he re' ferved unto bimfeif: They can reftram the tJIItf1JarJ .iUan, and moderate ' mu outf1Jard All ions by EdiOs and Laws; they can rye our Hands and our ' Tongues; -IUa J~ jaOet in auld ~olus: Thus far they can go, and. when ' they are gone thus far, they can go no farther: .But to rule .the tnn•ard ' Man in our Hearts and Soulr, to fet up an Imparual Throne In our Un· ' dtrflandings, and WiDr, this.Pan of .our Government belong~ to ~od an~ ' to thrift: Tbefe are the SubJeas, th1s the Government of. h11 Km~dom • • Men may be Kings of Earth and Bodies, but Chrift alone ts the Ktng of ' Spirits and Souls. Yet this inwar~ GtJver'!menr hath lnfiuence upon o~I ' outt»ard AOionr: For the Authonty Q[ Ktngs over our. outward Man IS t not fo abfolute, but that it fuffers a great Reftraint ; I! muft ftretc~ no ! farther than the Ptiuce of our inward Man pleafes : For tf fecular ~;::b Voi.. I. An AdJrefs to Proteftants. c ftretch out the Skirts of their Authority to comm d . : Souls are prejudic'd, the King of Souls hath i~nthi:g~ by ~~1ch our greater Co.mmand, That wt' rntbtr obey God than Men. fc gncn· us a Ill. A Thtrd Grear Caufe of Perfecution for R r . . . tJJ.Jke too .mnny Thi11g1 nccelfory 10 b~ believed to $ ;gto~ IS th1s, that A.1en PcrJecutton entred with Crad-mak· :{; . n vntzon and Commumon. rl.ifiingui(h the Tree in the Bulk, 'J;no~r ~~tto~~~1f.ku~. ~h~\thofe ~ho Branch or Leaf that grows upon it . and to run 0 1 e .a e 1 cern e1 ery Faith to e\•ery good or true Thing that rhe w·r uf ~e neceffary Articles of the Text, and fo too, as that I ought to have I a odilr aa uay deduce from [ton 11 every ore ft them, and muft run them over inlr:ny Mi~~r a~PfC~~id wou con!l a e . on b~ Heart, of which I rnufi not rnifs a Tittle u on my Salvauo.n 5 th1s I thmk to be a Temptation upon Men to fail into ))if· pure and D1vtfion, and then we are taught by long E · b that has mofi. Power. will OJ?prefs his Opi~ion that i~p~~~ek~:: ~~~n~= comes Perfecuu?n: T~ts cerramly puts Unity and Peace too much 'u on the Ha.zard. Marys ChoiCe therefore was not of man Thin h ph Tb111g ncce.ffary, as Chrift, the Lord of the rrueDivinit~Term:~t L:/ 1~ one A~d pra~ what was this .one needful Thing, hut Cbrijl Jejm. bimfo/f, "d:a· btr F~ztb, Love and Obedtence m and to him"? Here is no perplex'd Cre~d tofub11: nbe, no Syflcm of Divinity to charge the Head with Th · 0 J: /ul Thing .was Mary's Choice and Blefiing: M:ay it be o~rs a~d jefhn;~1d' hope a qutck End to Comroverfies, and confequently to Perf~cuddns IV. Anothert Ca.u~e o~ Perfecution, is The Prejudice of Ed~cntio11 a'!d that ~afs. radttzon.gJVCI to tbofe Men, who hzve not made tbeir Reh: l 10'f the . cltgton of tbtlr ]lldgmcnt .' For fuch will forbid an rheIn uir wh1ch mtght qu~~on the Weaknefs or Falfbood of their Re1igion, antha~ rather bf de~etv d m an honourable DefCcnt9 than be fo unchil to the Me'mory o the1r Ance~ors as to feek the Truth, whicli found mull repro\'e the lgnor:10ce of thetr Ages; of this, the vaineft of all Ho;ours they are ~xrream careful~ and at the very Mention of any Thing to ti1em' new tho' as old as Truth, and older than this ~orld, are eafily urg'd into a Te~peft, an~ are nor appeaf~ b~t by a Sacrifice. This Ignorance and Want of ln· qutry helps on Periecuuon. . V. Another Reafon, and that no fmall one, is Sdf·Lov~ and Jmpa~ tt:nce of Men under ConrraJiOion, he it of Ignorance, that they are angry Wit~ wh~r. they cann<?t refute, or out of pri\'~te lncerefr, it matters QOt: Th;t~ Optmon mufi ~e1gn al.one, they are tenaciOus of their own Senfe and cant mdur~ to have n quefi10ned, be there never fo much Reafon for it. Men of theu Paffions are yet to learn that they are ignorant of Religion by the want they. have of Mo.rtification; fuch Perfcins can eafily let go rheir Hold on Chanty, toby vtolenr Hands upon their Oppofers: If they have Po~er, they rarely fatl to ufe it fo; not remembring, that when they abfolv d rhemfelvcs ~r~m the Tye of Love, Meeknefs and Patience. they 3• bando~ed true ~ehgton, and contended not for the Faith, once deliver'd tO' the ~amts, whtch fiood therein, but for meet Words. It ts here that proud Fleth, and a capricious Head difputes for Religif>n and not an humble Heart a~d a Divine Frame ofSpirir . .M~n that are angrY for God, Paffi~nare for Cbrijl, that can caO Names for RtligitJn, and jlin,t Stones for Fauh, may tell us they a.re Ch~i/lians if they will, but no Body would know them to be fuch by thetr Fruits ~ to be fure they are no Chrijlians of Chrift's making. I wou~d. ro God that t.he Difputants of oUt Time did hut calmly weigh the Irrehgt.oufn~fs of then ow~ Hears for Religion, and fee if what they contend _for wtll qu1t _the Coft,·.w11l countervail the Charge of dep-.::mir.g from Chamy, and maktng a Sacnfice of Peace to gain their Poinr. Upon fo fea~onable a Refte.a.ion I am confident they would find that they rather (bow the1r Love to Opmton than Truth, and feek Victory more than Concord. Could Men be contented, as he whom they call their Lord was, to declare their M~.ffnge, and nor flrive for Profl/yru, r.or vtx for Ynq11efl. they - woultf 81) 1679· ~ Pan. II. • |
