Not fear, but love a sermon preached before the governors of the Charity for Relief of Poor Widows and Orphans of Clergy-men, at St. Mary le Bow, on the 7th day of Decemb., 1682 / by Ar. Bury ...

ANnot. 5.

Nothing certainly but Fearfulness.] It may be worth observing, how the light of Nature concurreth with that of the Gospel, to cast out this spirit. For as in All Ages, Nations, and Religions, it hath pos∣sessed and tormented the Weakest; so hath it in them All be'n exorcised by the Wisest.

The Greeks gave it a name which expresseth its Na∣ture, the Latins gave it one that expresseth its Operaetions, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 sheweth it in its Cause; Superstition, in its Effects: That, signifieth Fearfulness towards God; This, signifyeth Overdoing our duty toward him: yet Both agree in the same apprehensions. For when the Greeks describe its Operations, they paint them with the very same colours as do the Latins, witness Theophra∣stus's Character: and again, when the Latins define its Nature, they do it by the very name which the Greeks have given it; witness Varro, who maketh this the es∣sential difference between Religion and Superstition; that the Superstitios Fear the Gods, while the Religios reverence them as Parents, but do not fear them as Enemies: and what is this other than St Paul's do∣ctrine? You have not received the spirit of Fear, but you have received the spirit of Adoption. Seneca more Laconically giveth us account both of its Nature and Effects: Superstitio error insanus, amandos ti∣met, quos colit, violat:

Superstition is a mad error;

whom it should love, it feareth; whom it worshippeth, it slandereth.

And more largely in another place: Si∣cui intueri vacet, quae patiuntur superstitiosi, inve∣nies tam indecora honestis, tam indigna liberis, tam dissimilia sanis, ut nemo fuerit dubitaturus furere eos, si cum paucioribus furerent.

If any one be at leisure to view what the superstitious suffer, you shall find things so disgraceful for gentlemen, so unworthy of free men, so unsuitabl to sound men, that no man would doubt but they were mad, were they mad with fewer companions.

Give us who can, a better explication of those words of St. Paul, which call it, the spirit of bon∣dage, and oppose it to the spirit of Power, of Love, and of a Sound mind.

And all this St. Paul spoke of the Law of Moses, which had been nothing else but Superstition, had not God authorised it: For as throughout the Old Testament Fear is Godliness; so in all the ceremonies of the Law, Obedience hallowed the exercises.

For as I said but now, Superstition, however exploded by the Wisest, ever possessed the Weakest, that is, the Great∣est part of mankind: And at That time, the world was not capabl to have it Cured, but only Fomented.

And that upon That very account the Law imposed such exercises as the Gospel forbids, we have a clear discours of St, Paul, in the beginning of the fourth chapter to the Galatians Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, thogh he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father; even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the Elements (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the a, b, c,) of the world. But when the fulness of time was com, God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law, to redeem

them that were under the law, that we might receiv the adoption of sons. And bicause ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, father. Wherefor thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God throgh Christ.

In this discours you have a full discovery of Supersti∣tion, its Nature, its Operations, and its Abolition. 1. Its Nature, childishness, requiring the discipline of Fear to govern it: 2. Its Exercises, childish, weak, and beggar∣ly Elements, the first letters that children learn. 3. Its Cure, the spirit of Adoption, sent forth into the hearts of Gods children now grown up to manhood.

Ʋpon this discours how justly doth he ground his ex∣postulation, ver. 9. Now after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye a∣gain to the weak and beggarly elements, wherein you desire again to be in bondage? When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thoght as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. When mankind was unripe in Age, it was so in Ʋnderstanding, and no wonder its Ex∣ercises should be suitabl. It was governed by the rod, and busied about ceremonies; but now it is com to man∣hood, you are called to have fellowship with the Fa∣ther, and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 Jo. 1.3. to be partakers of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1.4. and con∣sequently of his Wisdom and Holines, his Loves, and his Hates: and therefore to approve things that are ex∣cellent. Phil. 1.10. How is it then, that you still spend your time, your strength, and your labour in whipping of topps, bandying of balls, and playing with nuts, no less childish in your imaginations, than the law of Moses could either Find, or Make you?

Thus did the Apostl rebuke the Galatians, and what would he have said to this and som preceding generati∣ons, which have outgo'n both Jews and Gentiles in this childishness? and that especially in two great respects.

1. We find not that either Jews or Gentiles disquieted themselvs about maters of mere Belief, thogh they did about maters of Action.

2. Nor that they disturbed the peace of their Nations, thogh they did that of their own Minds.

1. They disquieted not themselvs with maters of mere belief, conceiving that the true worship of God consisted not in Disputing, but Imitating his Perfe∣ctions. But we, in mere honor to the glorious promises which are made to Believing, have multiplied Articls of Faith, and Questions upon every Articl, and Doubts up∣on every Question; and every one of these we call maters of Faith, and mater of Faith we take to be mater of Sal∣vation, and if we mistake in the One, we believ we shall miss of the Other. Hence is it that Catholik and Here∣tik among the Romanists, Orthodox and Heterodox among the Beformed, sound so terribly as to fray many a good man, if not quite out of his Wits, yet (which is al∣most as bad) out of his Corage to use them.

Reason, we are told, must not presume to medl in ma∣ters of Faith, but we must deny our selvs, no less in our Rational faculties, than in our Sensual appetites; for it is no less impious to Disbeliev God's word, than to Diso∣bey his command: And in This, they speak, not only Truth, but Reason, which therefor they justify by exer∣cising.

But, as it is in Moral vertues, so is it in Faith; it lieth between two extremes, Defect on One hand, and Ex∣cess on the Other. It is no less frequent in maters of Faith than in Manners, to teach for Doctrines of God

the Commandments of Men; in the One tormenting the Mind with needless Mysteries, as in the Other, the Body with needless Penances.

But to Faith what could have be'n more incongruos? Repentance, indeed, in its very name carrieth a sower countenance, importing a mortification of our Natural appetites, and consequently a pain to our hearts: But Faith, who's proper object is Glad-tidings, might justly claim, not only freedom from Pain, but such fulness of joy, as should cast out the grief even of Repentance; whereas now it is made the harder taskmaster of the two. For however painful it be, it is not impossibl, to cut off hands, or feet, or pull out eys; but our Reason is not only the Ey, but the Heart of our Soul, not to be cutt or pluckt off: Tormented indeed it may be, and most in those who have most improved it, as the clearest ey is always tenderest: and stupified it may be, yet not to such a privation, but that it will ever and anon feel anxios fits of melancholy, doubting of the truth of som things which are received as matters of Faith, and consequently of our title to Salva∣tion for want of Faith.

Few can at all times bost with the Physician, there are not impossibilities enogh in Religion, and fewer with the Father, credo quia impossibile est. It is hard to apprehend, how any thing can be at once True and Im∣possib'l; but to make the very Impossibility, a reason why I should believ it, let St. Paul judg, whether this be not cum ratione insanire. For when he would perswade a belief of the Resurrection, he did not urge the impossibili∣ty but the contrary: Why should it be thoght a thing incredib'l that God should raise the dead? and when hereupon Festus charged him with madness, he replied, I am not mad, but speak the words of truth and soberness. What Soberness can there be in a quite

contrary argument, yea, what plainer madness, than to talk such extravagant inconsistences, as infer credibility from impossibility?

What other spirit but that of Fear could thus confound mens understandings? Fear, of all passions the most infa∣tuating; Fear, which most frequently blindeth the most piercing judgments; Fear, which maketh every shadow a man, and every bush a thief, and every thief a murtherer; Fear, and only fear, can so disorder our minds, that we think it equally necessary to salvation, to believ the nice∣ties of Schoolmen, and the Doctrines of the Gospel; and distrust our interest in Christ, if we can neither satisfie, nor destroy our reason, when it cannot comply with contra∣dictions, which he never enjoyned us to believ.

2. Much less did they embroil the publik peace with controversies in Religion: Whereas among Chri∣stians, there is not any question so nice in point of Belief, or so slight in point of Worship; but hath be'n able to en∣gage whole Families in the fiercest contentions, and whole Nations in most bloody wars; yea, for two or three ages there hath hardly b'en a rebellion, whereof Religion hath not be'n either the Real or Pretended cause.

And This, as it is more notoriosly scandalous than the now mentioned disquiets of private persons, so is it (if possibl) more directly opposit to the most earnest endeavours of the Gospel: which doth indeed very frequently exhort us to joy and comfort in our own spirits; but much more earnestly and solenly provoke us to love and peace toward others: Yea, Love maketh so great a figure in almost every page of the New Testament, that it seemeth not on∣ly the Supreme, but almost the Only grace: It looks like unlawful to fight upon Any occasion whatsoever; but to fight for Religion, seemeth no less contradictious, than to fight for Love: And that the Only Religion which com∣mandeth

to beat swords into plow-shares, should be the only religion that forgeth plow-shares to swords; is a fa∣naticism so irrational, as nothing but Fear could have produced.

The summ therefor is This: The light of Nature a∣greeth with that of the Gospel, to declare, that we are not to serv God for Fear, but Love: What our Apost'l opposeth to a Sound mind, that our Philosopher caleth a mad error; but the madness is incomparably greater in a Christian, than ever it was, or indeed could possibly be, in a Heathen: For as it is the utmost extravagance of frensy, to beat our selvs, or our friends; so in this we ex∣ceed the Heathen, that many among Ʋs, but none among Them, disturb their own souls with anxios doubts concer∣ning Faith, or imbroil their Nation with bloody wars upon difference of opinions in Doctrine or Worship; so is it more monstrosly mad in a Christian, by how much more clearly and solenly the Gospel hath labored to pre∣vent the one and the other, by declaring that we have not receved the slavish and mad spirit of Fear, but of Power and Love, and of a sound mind. And again, that The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteosness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, for he that in these things serveth Christ, is accepted of God, and approved of men: This upright and erect walking, this frank and chearful, this manly yea divine freedom of spirit, as it maketh men more Like God, so doth it make them more Acceptabl to him; it will not on∣ly vindicate religion from the obloquies of its enemies, who either despise or fear it, as a curb to generosity and free∣dom; but recommend it to them as most noble and plea∣sant: nor will it only silence our quarrels, but endear us in mutual affection.