LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

PART I.

GALAT. VI. 7.

Be not deceived▪ God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

WE shall not take these words in that reference they bear to the foregoing verse, in which they that are taught in the word are exhorted to communicate to those who teach them in all good things. For this is a Doctrine not so sutable to these times: And were S. Paul now alive to preach it, he would be set to his old trade of making of Tents: his pra∣ctice would be turned upon him to confute his do∣ctrine, and that made a duty which was but a charitable yielding and condescension for the Churches sake. If for their sakes, and to take off all scandall and offense from the Gospel of Christ, he will labor with his hands, this his voluntary submission shall be made a Law to bind him and his posterity for ever. Teach he should, and labor he should with his hands. He that teaches must labor, and every laborour may teach. Every man may teach, and none communicate. So that Text of com∣municating is lost quite, and the duty of Teaching left to every one that will take it up. Every man may be a teacher, every man a S. Paul, though he never sate at the feet of Gamaliel.

We will not then take our rise here, but call your thoughts rather to a view of my Text as it looks forwards to the next verse, He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; which presents the shew of a reason, but is indeed no more then a plain commentary on this verse. And in this sense my Text is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a pretious antidote against Er∣rour, against those errours which are most fatall and dangerous to the soul, the errours in our life and conversation. In many things, saith S. James, we offend and erre all. For 1. few men have learnt that precept of Pythagoras, to Reverence themselves, to give that reverence to their own Judgment and Reason which they will to the beck of a Superiour, the voice of a Custom, or the vote of the beast of many heads, the Mul∣titude. And though Errour have a foul name, yet we are never better pleased then when we put a cheat upon our selves, bowing to our Sense, and as stiff as adamant to our Reason; never lying more grosly then when we speak to our selves, and bear both the parts in the Dialogue.

How easily do we persuade and win our selves to that which if a Prophet should commend unto us, we would not receive him in that name, and for which we should anathematize an Angel?

2. Being deceived, and making a kind of sport and pastime in our errour, we are very ready to entertein a low conceit even of God him∣self, as if blindness might happen to his all-seeing eye, and he might also be deceived and mocked. When through negligence or wilfullness we cannot raise our selves to be like unto him, so far as possibility will per∣mit; we make him like unto us, smiling upon us and favouring us in all our undertakings. Men asleep in sin dream of a sleeping God, and men who have blinded themselves phansie a God that will not see. Last∣ly, having made Darkness as a pavilion round about us, we drowse on securely, and dream of life in the very shadow of Death, securi adversus Deos hominesque, fearing neither God nor Man, little heeding what we sow, and not weighing well what we shall hereafter reap. Now to men thus asleep, running wilfully into errour, and then delighting themselves in it, our Apostle lifts up his voice; Awake you that thus sleep; Be not deceived. And this precept he strengthens, and doubles by two infalli∣ble positions, the one grounded on the Wisdom of God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, God is not mocked; the other on his Justice, which gives to every man 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, according to his work. For what a man soweth, that shall he also reap. In sum thus; Be not deceived; that is, Deceive not your selves in those plain and obvious duties of Christianity: For as Gods Wisdom cannot subscribe to this wilfull errour, so his Justice will punish it: There is no deluding the eye of the one, nor avoiding the stroke of the other. It is a foolish errour to think you may do what you list, and have what you list; that you may sow tares, and reap good corn; that you may sow to the flesh, and reap from the spirit.

The parts then are three; 1. a Dehortation from errour, Be not decei∣ved. In which we shall point out first to the Nature, and then to the Dan∣ger of the errour we must fly from. 2. a Vindication of the Wisdom of God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, God is not mocked. I call it a Vindication of Gods Wisdom, not that God hath need of any to stand up and speak for him: for Gods Wisdom will justifie it self; and he that denies him to be wise, denies him to be God: But in respect of a secret persuasion which finds place and lurks in the hearts of those who deceive themselves, That God will not be so severe as he gives himself out for, but will mea∣sure their actions by the same rule and line which themselves make use of. And to strive to shake and remove this persuasion will be a sufficient discharge of this point. 3. The last is a Declaration of the Justice of God proportioning the ••arvest to the seed. And this shall serve onely for conclusion, and as a motive to enforce the rest, that upon the wings of Hope or of Fear we may make haste and fly away from this den of Errour.

Be not deceived: These words have the form of a general Dehortati∣on from all errour, but must be taken in a more restrained and limited sense. For to be free from all errour is not to put off the Old man, but to put off our Humanity. There be some truths to which common under∣standings are not equall, which either stand at such a distance that we cannot ken them, or want a fit medium to convey their species and repre∣sentations. For the Understanding, like the bodily eye, is not of the same quickness and sharpness in all. One man discovers the star it self, when another scarce sees my finger that points to it. Nor need we draw it to fundamental truths in such a manner as to go in quest to find out the exact number of them, and to deliver it by tale to them who are so

vain as to demand it at our hands; as now of late, being put to their shifts, they of the Church of Rome have learnt to do; as if after sixteen hundred years and more Christians were at loss, and to seek for that with∣out which they cannot be Christians. It may suffice that the Will of God is the main fundamental point of our Religion, the several branches whereof he hath spread abroad, and most plainly revealed in his Gospel. The will of God conteined in his word is plain, though the mysteries are great, delivered to us as oracles, but not as riddles; his will, I say, not onely concerning what he will do in Christ for us, but also concerning what he will have us to do our selves, as he hath chosen us in him,* 1.1 that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Now whethersoe∣ver of these two we look upon, Be not deceived, is a good Caveat, the errours on both sides deing dangerous. But the metaphor of Sowing in the Text, which implyeth an outward act, directeth our discourse to the last. And matters of Faith are like those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, those initia Ma∣thematicorum, as Tully calleth them, the beginning and principles of that Science. S. Paul termeth them the principles of the doctrine of Christ.* 1.2 These must be taken for granted: for we speak not to infidels, but to such as have already given up their names unto Christ.

Be not deceived, then, is in effect, Deceive not your selves in the com∣mon actions of your life: which then befalls us, when contrary to the evidence which we already have, and which fairly offers it self, if we would entertain it, we proceed to action, and venture upon that which we know, or may easily know, is unlawful, if we will but pause and consult with Reason, and so wander in the region of light, deceive our selves when the day is brightest, and so loose our selves in the mist which we our selves cast; when at once we profer, and check our selves, and yet resolve to condemn what we embrace, and embrace what we were afraid of; when we drink down sin for some pleasant tast it hath when we know it will be our poyson. The Prophet David plainly expresseth it, Nolunt intelligere; They will not understand, and seek God.* 1.3

The errour then in practice is from the Will alone, which is swai'd more by the flatteries and sophistry of the Sense then by the dictates of the Understanding; as we many times see that a parasite finds welcome and attention, when we stop our ears to seaven wisemen that can render a reason. An errour of a foul aspect, and therefore we look upon it but at distance, through masks and disguises; we seek out divers inven∣tions, and out of a kind of fear that we may not erre at all, or not erre soon enough, we make Sin yet more sinfull, and help the Devil to deceive us. Sometimes we comfort our selves with that which we call a punish∣ment; and being born weak, we are almost persuaded it is our duty to fall. Sometimes the countenance of the Law is too severe, and we trem∣ble and dare not come neer, and because we think it hard to keep, we are the more active to break it. Sometimes we turn the grace of God into wantonness, and since he can do what he please, we will not do what we ought. Sometimes we turn our very remedy into a disease, make the Mercy of God a kind of tentation to sin, and that which should be the death of the sin the security of the sinner. Sometimes we hammer out some glorious pretense, propose a good end, and then drive furiously to∣wards it, though we perish in the way; to defend one Law, break all the rest; pluck the Church in pieces to fit her with a new garment, a new fangled discipline; fight against the King for the good of the Common∣wealth; tread Law and Government under foot to uphold them; say it is necessary, and do it, as if there could be an invincible necessity to sin. This is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Basil calleth it, the Devil's mothod to bring-in

God himself pleading for Baal, and to suborn the Truth as an advocate for Errour. For to make up the cheat, he paints our errour in a new dress, makes it a lovely, majestick errour, that we begin to bow and worship it. Similitudo creat errorem, Errour, saith Tully hath its being from the resemblance which one thing bears to another. It is Presumpti∣on, but it is like Assurance: It is Sacrilege, but it is like Zeal: It is Re∣bellion, but it is like the Love of our country. For as the common prin∣ciples of truth may be discovered in every sect, even in those opinions which are most erroneous; so the common seeds of moral Goodness have some shew and appearance in those actions which are wholly evil. There is something of Love in Effeminacy, something of Zeal in Fury, some sound of Fidelity in the loudest Treason, something of the Saint in the Devil himself. These are fomenta erroris, these breed and nourish Er∣rour in us; these bring forth the brat, and nurse it up: S. Paul's 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, certain wandring and stubborn imaginations, the vapors of a corrupt heart, exhaled and drawn up into the brain, where they hang as mete∣ors, irregularly moving and wheel'd about by the agitation of a wanton phansie; and S. Pau'ls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, strong disputes and subtle reasonings against God and our own souls. The Vulgar translates it consilia, deleberate counsels to undo our selves. We consult and advise, we hold a kind of Parliament within us; and the issue is, we shake and ruine that State which we should establish. Nor do these minuere voluntatem, make our errour less wilfull, but aggrandize it; for of themselves they have no be∣ing, no reality, but are the creation of the mind, the work of a wanton phansie, created and set up to sanctifie and glorifie our errour. There is no such terrour in the Law, till we have made it a killing letter; no difficulty, which our unwillingness frames not; no pretense, which we commend not; no deceiving likeness, which we paint not. Still that is true, Cor nostrum nos decepit, our Heart hath deceived us. Our reason is rea∣dy to advise, if we will consult: and it is no hard matter to devest an a∣ction of those circumstances with which we have clothed it, and to wipe out the paint which we our selves have laid on. But as S. Augustine well observes, Impia mens odit ipsum intellectum; When we forsake our Rea∣son and Understanding, we soon begin to distast and hate it; and because it doth not prophesie good unto us, but evil, are unwilling to hear it speak to us any more: from thence we hear nothing but threatnings, and mena∣ces and the sentence of condemnation. It exhorteth and corrects and instructs, it is a voice behind us, and a voice within us, and we must turn back from the pleasing paths of errour if we listen to it. Timemus intelli∣gere, nè cogamur facere, we are afraid to understand our errour, because we are unwilling to avoid it, we are afraid to hear of Righteousness, who are resolved to be unjust. And what was an apologie for Ovid may be applyed to us to our condemnation, Non ignoramus vitia, sed amamus; We are not ignorant of the errours of our life, but we do love them, and will be those beasts which we know must be thrust through with a dart.

I have now brought before your eye the Errour we must fly from; and the Apostle exhorts us to make haste, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Be not deceived, It is tender'd as good counsel, but indeed is a law. For, as Tertullian speaks, If the ground of every Law be Reason, Lex erit omne quod ra∣tione constiterit, à quocunque productum est, Whatsoever Reason commends, must be a law to us, though it be not written in tables of stone, nor pro∣claimed by the voice of the herald. So had not this exhortatation been Apostolical, yet it might well carry with it the force of a Law, because nothing is more opposite to Reason then Errour. I may say it is not one∣ly

a Law, but compendium totius E••angelii, the sum of all the precepts of the Gospel, or rather a ••••••lar to preserve them all; pressing upon us a duty which if well observed, will fit and qualifie us for all the duties of our life. And th••refore what the Pope usurps upon weak grounds, or none at all, is the prerogative, or rather the duty, of every Christian in those things which concern his peace, to be infallible. One is no further a Christian n••si in quantum caeperit esse Angelus, then so far forth as by casting off errour more and more, he begins to have a tast of an Angelical estate.

And now we should descend to application. And I could wish I could not apply it. But if I should apply it, I must make use of the Rhe∣torick of the antients, who in a copions subject were wont to tell their auditors that they were impoverisht with plenty, streitned with abundance, dull'd and cloy'd with too much matter, and cry out with them, Where should I begin? or how should I end? For we may behold the World as a theatre or stage, and most men walking and treading their paces as in a shadow, all in shew and visor, nothing in substance; maskt and hidden from others, and masked and hidden from themselves; fond of them∣selves, and yet enemies to themselves; loving, and yet hating, flattering, and yet wounding, raising, and yet destroying themselves; in their fore∣head Holiness to the Lord, in their heart a legion of Devils; breathing forth Hosanna's, when they are a nayling their Saviour to the cross; ca∣nonizing themselves saints, when the Devil hath them in his snare, hugging their errour, proud of their errour, glorying in their shame; wiser then the Law, wiser then the Gospel; above command, nauseating and loath∣ing all advice and counsel, whatsoever Reason or Revelation breaths a∣gainst them, as the smoke of the bottomless pit. We may behold the Covetous grasping of wealth, smiling at them that love not the world, and counting them fools because they will not be so; but this man is sick, and dyeth, this man perisheth, and where is he? We may behold the Ambitious in his ascent and mount, and in his height looking down with scorn upon those dull and heavy spirits who will not follow after; and yet every step he rises is a foul descent, and he is never nearer to the low∣est pit then when he is at his height. This man falls, and is dasht to pieces, and where is he? Behold the Seditious, who moves and walks and beats up his march in the name of the Lord of hosts, and thinks God beholding to him when he breaks his Law; this man dyeth, and perisheth, and where is he? Where is the Saint, when the Covetous, the Ambitious, the Sedi∣tious, man are in hell? Oh beloved, would we could see this, and beware of it betimes, before the Son of man comes, who will pluck off our masks and disguises, and make us a wofull spectacle to the world, to men, and to Angels! Oh what a grief is it that we should never hear nor know our selves till we hear that voice, Depart from me, I know you not! that we should deceive our selves so long, till Mercy it self cannot re∣deem us from our errour. That we should never see our selves but in Hell! never feel our pain till it be eternal! Oh what a sad thing is it that we should seal up our eyes in our own bloud and filth! that we should delight in darkness, and call it light! that we should adore our errours, and worship our own vain imaginations, and in this state and pomp and triumph strut on to our destruction! To day if you will hear his voyce harden not your hearts.

Hic meus est, dixere, dies.

This is our day to look into our selves, to examine our selves, to mistrust our selves, to be jealous of our selves, vereri omnia opera, as Job speaks, to be afraid of every work we do, of every enterprise we take in hand,

to hearken to God when he speaks to us by our selves, (for Reason is his voice as well as Scripture: By the one he speaks in us, by the other to us) to consult with our Reason and the rule, to hear them speak in their own dialect, not glossed and corrupted by our sensual affections; to strive with our selves, to fight against our selves, to deny our selves, and in this blessed agony and holy contention to lift up our hearts to the God of light, to take up that of the Prophet David, and make it our prayer; Lord, deliver us from the deceitful man, that is, from our selves.

I need not stand any longer upon this: For even they that deceive themselves will willingly subscribe to all that I have said: and common∣ly none defie Errour louder then they who call it unto them both with hands and words. We will therefore rather, as we proposed, discover the Danger which men incurre by joyning with it, that we may learn by degrees to shake it off, to detest and avoid it.

In the first place, this wilfull deceiving of our selves, this deciding for our selves against our selves, for our Sense against our Reason, this easie falling upon any opinion or persuasion which may bring along with it pleasure, or profit, or honour, all things but the truth; is that which layes us open to every dart of Satan, which wounds us the deeper, be∣cause we receive it as an arrow out of Gods quiver, as a message from Heaven. For we see a false persuasion will build up in us as strong reso∣lutions as a true one. Saul was as zealous for the Law as Paul was for the Gospel; hereticks are as ready for the fiery tryal as the orthodox, the Turk as loud for his Mahomet as the Christian for his Christ. In a word, Errour produceth as strange effects as Truth. Habet & Diabolus suos martyres; for the Devil hath his martyrs as well as Christ. That which is a sin now, and so appears, a crying mortal sin, and we stand at distance, and will not come near it; anon Profit or Pleasure, those two parasites which bewitch the soul, plead for it, commend it, and at last change the shape of it, and it hath no voice to speak against us, but bids us, Go on and prosper. It was a monster, but now it is clothed and dressed up with the beauty of Holiness, and we grow familiar with it. It was as menstru∣ous raggs, but now we put it on, and cloth our selves with it as with the robes of righteousness. A false persuasion hath the same power which the Canonists give the Pope, to make Evil good, and Vice vertue. It is a sin; but if I do it not, I shall loose all that I have: and then I do it, and then it is no sin. It was Oppression; it is now Law: It was Co∣vetousness; it is now Thrift: It was Sacrilege; it is now Zeal: It was Perjury; it is now Wisdom. Persuasion is a wheel on which the greatest part of the world are turned and circled about, till they fall several wayes into several evils, and do but touch at the Truth by the way. Persuasion builds a Church, and Persuasion pulls it down. Persuasion formeth a Discipline, and Persuasion cancels it. Persuasion maketh Saints, and Persuasion thrusts them out the Calendar. Persuasion makes laws, and Persuasion abollisheth them. The Stoicks call it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a kind of preoccupation of the minds, the sourse and original of all the actions of our life, as powerful when we erre as when the Truth is on our side, and commonly carrying us with a greater swinge to that which is forbidden then to that to which we are bound to by a law. This is the first mo∣ver in all those irregular motions of a wanton and untamed will; This is the first wheel in the Devils 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in his devises and enterprises. From this in evil, as from Gods Grace in good, proceed both the Will and the Deed. For when this Persuasion is wrought in us, when by degrees we have lessened that honour, and detestation of Sin which God hath im∣printed

in the mind of every man; when we have often tasted those de∣lights which are but for a season; when this false inscription, From hence is our gain, hath blotted out the true one, The wages of Sin is Death, (for we seldom take down this sop but the Devil enters) when either Fear of inconvenience or Hope of gain hath made us afraid of the Truth, and by degrees driven us into a false persuasion, and at last prevailed with us to conclude against our own determinations, and to approve what we condemn; then every part of the body and faculty of the soul may be made a weapon of unrighteousness, then we rejoyce like giants to run our race, though the way we go be the way that leads unto Death.

Good Lord! what a world of wickedness may be laid upon a poor, thin, and groundless Persuasion! What a burden will Self-deceit bear! What mountains and hills will wilfull Errour lie under, and never feel them! Hamor and Shechem must fall by the sword,* 1.4 and their whole city must be spoyled; and what's the ground? Nothing but a mongrel Per∣suasion made up of Malice and Religion;* 1.5 Should he deal with our Sister as with an harlot? Joseph must be sold; and what's the reason? Behold, the dreamer cometh. Absalom would wrest his fathers sceptre out of his hand? What puts him in arms? Ambition, and that which commends Am∣bition, a thought that he could manage it better; Oh that I might do ju∣stice! King and Nobles and Senators, all must perish together at one blow: For should Hereticks live? Holy things must be devoured: For should Superstition flourish? Such inconsequences and absurdities doth Self-deceit fall upon, having no better props and pillars to uphold her then open Falshood, or mistaken or misapplied Truth. For as we can∣not conclude well from false premisses; so the premisses may be true, and yet we may not conclude well. For he that saith, Thou shalt not commit adultery, hath said also, Thou shalt not kill. He that condemns Heresie, hath made Murder a crying sin. He that forbids Superstition, abhorreth Sacrilege. All that we call Adulterers are not to be slain; All that we term Hereticks are not to be blown up; All that is or seems to be abu∣sed is not presently to be abolished: For Adulterers may be punished, though not by us; Hereticks may be restrained, though not by fire; and things abused may be reserv'd, and put to better uses: And yet see up∣on what a Nothing this Self-deceit upholds it self! For neither were they all adulterers that were slain by those brethren in evil; nor were they Hereticks who were to be blown up; nor is that Superstition which ap∣pears so to them whom the prince of this world hath blinded. Oh what a fine subtle webb doth Self-deceit spin to catch it self? What a Pro∣phet is the Devil in Samuels mantle? How do our own Lusts abuse us when the name or thought of Religion is taken in to make up the cheat! How witty are we to our own damnation! O Self-deceit, from whence art thou come to cover the earth? the very snare of the Devil, but, which we make our selves; his golden fetters which we bear with delight, and with which we walk pleasantly, and say, The bitterness of death is past; and so we rejoyce in evil, triumph in evil, boast of evil, call evil good, and dream of paradise when we are falling into the bottomless pit.

Secondly, this Self-deceit which our Apostle forbiddeth hath brought an evil report upon our Profession, upon Christianity it self, there ha∣ving scarce been found any of any Religion who have so wilfully mista∣ken and deceived themselves in the rules of their Profession as Christians. Christianity is a severe Religion; and who more loose then Christians? Christianity is an innocent Religion, and full of simplicity and single∣ness; and who more deceitful then Christians? The very soul of Christi∣anity

is Charity; and who more malitious then Christians? The Spirit that taught Christianity came down in the shape of a Dove; and who more vultures then Christians? What an incongruity, what a soloecism is this? The best Religion, and the worst men? Men who have learnt an art to make a Promise overthrow a Precept, and one precept supplant a∣nother, sometimes wasting and consuming their Charity in their Zeal, sometimes abating their Zeal with unseasonable Meekness; now break∣ing the second Table to preserve the first, and defying the image of God in detestation of Idolatry; now losing Religion in Ceremony, and anon crying down Ceremony when all their Religion is but a complement. In∣venit diabolus quomodo nos boni sectationibus perdat, saith Tertullian, By the deceit of the Devil we take a fall many times in the pursuit of that which is good, and are very witty to our own damnation. What eva∣sions, what distinctions do we find to delude the precepts of our Savi∣our and his Apostles? As it hath been observed of those God-makers, the Painters and Statuaries of the Heathen; that they were wont to paint their Goddesses like their mistresses, and did then think them most fair when they were most like that which they most loved; so hath it been with many professors of Christian Religion, they temper the precepts of it to their own phansie and liking, they lay upon them glosses and inter∣pretations, as it were colours, to make them look like unto that which they most love: So that, as Hilary observes, quot voluntates, tot fides, there be as many Religions as there be Tempers and Dispositions of men; as many Creeds as Humours. We have annuas & menstrnas fides: We change our Religion with our Almanach, nay with the Moon; and the rules of Holiness are made to give attendance on those sick and loathsome humours which do pollute and defile it. If I will set forth by the com∣mon compass of the world, I may put in at shore when my vessel is sunk; I may live an Atheist, and dye a Saint; I may be covetous, disobedient, merciless, I may be factious, rebellious, and yet religious still; a religious Nabal, a religious Schismatick, a religious Traytor; I had almost said, a religious Devil. For this, saith S. Paul, the name of Christ is evil spoken of, that worthy Name, as S. James calleth it, by those who by our conver∣sation should be won to reverence that Name: For this that blessed Name is blasphemed, by which they might be saved. Omnes in nobis rationes periclitantur, that I may use Tertullians words, though with some change; We are in part guilty of the bloud of those deceived Jews and Pagans, who now perishing in their errour, might have been converted to the faith, had not the Christian himself been an argument against the Gospel. It might well move any man to wonder, that well weighs the simplicity and severity of Christian religion, from whence it should come to pass, that many Christians surpass even Turks and Jews in fraud, deceit, and cruelty: And the resolution is almost as strange: For by the policy of Satan our very Religion is suborn'd to destroy it self, which freely offer∣ing mercy to all offenders, many hence take courage to offend more and more, pardon being so near at hand. They dare be worse then Turks, upon this bare encouragement, that they are Christians. So that to that of S. Paul, Rom. 7. Sin took an occasion by the Law, we may adde, Sin takes an occasion by the Gospel, and so deceiveth us. It is possible for an Atheist to walk by that light which he brought with him into the world: Even Diagoras 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 might have been an honest man. For that Wis∣dom vvhich guides us in our common actions of morality is nothing else, saith Tully, but ratio adulta & perfecta, Reason improved and perfected. But the Christian hath the advantage of another light, another lavv, a light which came down from heaven, and a royal Law, to vvhich if he take

heed he cannot go astray. Miserable errour shall I call it? It is too good a name. It is Folly and Madness thus to be bankrupt with our riches, to be weaker for our helps, to be blinded with light, in montes impingere, as S. Augustine speaks, having so much light, to run upon such visible, pal∣pable and mountanous evils; to enter the gates of our enemies as friends, and think our selves in Dothan when we are in the midst of Samaria. Let us not deceive our selves, which were bought with a price, and redeem∣ed from errour; Let us not flatter our selves to destruction. It is not the name of Christian that will save us, no more then Epictetus his lamp could make a Philosopher. Nay, it is not the name of Christ that can save us, if we dishonour it, and make it stink amongst the Canaanites and Perizzites, among Turks and Jews and Infidels. Behold, thou art called a Christian, and restest in the Gospel, and makest thy boast of Christ. If thou art a Christian, then know also thou art the Temple of Christ, not onely in which he dwells, but out of which he utters his oracles to instruct others in the wayes of truth. If thou art a Christian, thou art a member of Christ; a member, not a sword, to wound thy sick bro∣ther unto death. The folly of thy wayes, thy confidence in errour doth make the Turk smile, and the Jew pluck the veil yet closer to his face. It is a sad truth, but a truth it is, This stamping Religion with our own mark, and setting upon it what image and superscription we please, hath done more hurt to Christianity then all the persecutions for Christ, to this day. These by diminishing the number of Christians have increa∣sed it, and by the blessing of God have added to the Church from day to day such as should be saved. The Sword and the Flame have devoured the Christian; but this is a gulff to swallow up Christianity it self. What Seneca spake of Philosophy is true of Religion, Fuit aliquando simplicior inter minora peccantes; When men did frame and square their lives by the simplicity and plainness of the rule, it was not so hard and busie a thing; and there were fewer errours, when the greatest errour was Im∣piety: But after by degrees it began to spend, and wast it self in hot and endless disputations, one faction prescribing to another, and pro∣mulging their dictates as Laws (which many times were nothing else but the trophies of a prevailing side) waxing worse and worse; deceiving, and being deceived. And now all is heat and words; and our Religion for the most part (if I may so speak) is a negative religion, hath no positive reality in it at all. Not to be a Papist, is to be a Christian; not to love the picture, is to be a Saint; not to love a Bishop, is to be a Royal Priesthood; not to be a Brownist or Anabaptist, is to be Orthodox. Should a Pagan stand by and behold our conversation, he might well say, Where is now their God? Where is their Religion? Thus hath the Church of Christ suffer'd from her own children, from those who suck her breasts. She had stretched her curtains further, to receive in those who were without, had they not been frighted back by the disconsonan∣cy and horrour of their lives whom they saw in her bosome, and she had had many mo children, had not they who called her Mother been so ill-shapen and full of deformity: and that is verified in her which was said of Julius Caesar, Plures illum amici confoderunt quàm inimici; She hath received more wounds from her friends then from her enemies.

Last of all, This Errour in life and conversation, this wilfull mistake of the rule we should walk by, is an errour of the foulest aspect, of greater allay then any other. For in some things licet nescire quae nesci∣mus, it is lawfull to erre; Errour in it self having no moral, culpable de∣formity. In some things oportet nescire quae nescimus, we must not be too bold to seek, lest we loose our way. Some things are beside us, some

things are above us, some things are not to be known, and some things are impertinent. In some things we erre, and sin not: for errantis nul∣la est voluntas, saith the Law; He that hath no knowledge hath no will. But Self deceit in the plain and easie duties of our life is so far from making up an excuse, that it aggravates our sin, and makes it yet more sinfull. For we blind our selves, that we may fall into the ditch; we will erre, that we may sin with the less regret; we place our Reason un∣der the inferiour part of our soul, that it may not check us when we are reaching at the forbidden fruit; we say unto Reason as the Legion of Devils said to our Saviour, What have we to do with thee? art thou come to torment us before our time? Art thou come to blast our delights? to take the crown of roses from off our heads? to retard and shackle us when we are making forward towards the mark? to remove that which our eye longeth after? to forbid that which vve desire, and to command us to hate that vvhich vve best love? We persuade down Reason, vve chide down Reason, vve reason down Reason, and vvill be unreason∣able, that vve may be vvorse then the beasts that perish. First vve vvash our hands vvith Pilate, and then deliver up Jesus to be crucified. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that thus decei∣vest thy self. Yea, so far is this Self-deceit from making up an excuse, that it deserveth no pity. For vvho vvill pity him vvho is vvilling to be deceived, vvho makes haste to be deceived, vvho makes it his crown and glory to be deceived? Had it been an enemy that deceived me, or had it been a friend that deceived me, every man vvould be ready to say, Ah my brother, or, Ah his glory, but vvhen it is I my self deceive my self, when I my self am the cheater and the fool, and never think my self vviser then vvhen I beguile my self, it is a thing indeed to be lamen∣ted with tears of bloud, but yet it deserves no pity at all. Nulla est eo∣rum habenda ratio qui se conjiciunt in non necessarias angustias, saith the Civilian; The Law helps not those vvho entangle themselves with intri∣cate perplexities; nor doth the light of the Gospel shine comfortably up∣on those vvho vvill not see it. It is a true saying, He that will not be sa∣ved, must perish. Dyed Abner as a fool dyeth? saith David. Doth this man erre as a fool erreth? or is he deceived for want of understanding? or because of the remoteness and distance of the object? Then our Sa∣viour himself will plead for him,* 1.6 If you were blind, you should have no sin. But in the Self-deceiver it is not so. His hands are not bound, nor his feet tyed in fetters of brass. His eye is clear, but he dimms it. The object is near him, even in his mouth and his heart, but he puts it from him. The law is quick and lively, but he makes it a dead letter. He turns the day into darkness, gropeth at noon as at midnight, and turns the morn∣ing it self into the shadow of death. We have a worthy Writer, who himself was Ambassadour in Turky, that hath furnisht us with a polite nar∣ration of the manners of the people, and the customes of the places. A∣mongst the rest he tells us what himself observed, that when the Turks did fall to their cups, and were resolved to fill themselves with such li∣quor as they knew would intoxicate and make them drunk, they were wont to make a great and unusual noyse, with which they called down their Soul to the remotest part of their bodies, that it might be as it were at distance, and so not conscious of their brutish intemperance. Belo∣ved, our practice is the very same, When we venture upon some gross notorious sin, which commends and even sanctifieth it self by some profit or pleasure it brings along with it, we straight call down our Reason, that it may not check us when we are reaching at the prey, nor pull us back when we are climbing to honour, nor work a loathing in us of those

pleasures which we are drinking down as the ox doth water; we say un∣to it, Art thou come to blast our riches, and to poyson our delights? Shall we now part with the wedge of gold? shall we fly the harlots lips as a cocatrice? Shall we lay our honour in the dust? Shall every thing which our soul loveth be like the mountain which must not be toucht. Avoid Reason; not now Reason, but Satan, to trouble and torment us. What have we to do with thee? Thou art an offense unto us, a stone of offense, a scandal. And now if there be a Dixit Dominus against us; if the Lord say it, he doth not say it; if a Prophet speak it, he prophesies lyes; if Christ speak it, we bid him Depart from us, for we will be sinful men: And hence it comes to pass that our errour is manifest, and yet not seen: that our errour is known, but not acknowledged; that our errour is punisht, but not felt. Hence it comes to pass that we regard not the truth, we are angry with the truth, we persecute the truth; that admonitions harden us, that threatnings harden us, that judgments harden us; that both the sunshine and the storm, when God shines upon us, and when he thunders against us, we are still the same; knowing e∣nough, but basely prostituting our knowledge and experience to the times and our lusts; false to God and our selves, and so walking on tri∣umphantly in the errours of our life; dreaming of eternity, till at last we meet with what we never dreamt of, death and destruction. Read 2 Kings 8. and see the meeting of Elisha and Hazael. The Text saith, v. 11, 12, 13. The man of God wept. And when Hazael askt him, Why weepeth my Lord? the Prophet answered; Because I know the evil that thou wi••t do to the children of Israel: Their strong holds thou wilt set on fire, and their young men thou wilt slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. What did Hazael now think? Even think himself as innocent as those children. What is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing? Should the same weeping Prophet have wept out such a Prophesie to some of after ages, and have told them, Thus and thus you shall do; actions that have no savour of Man or Christian, a∣ctions which the Angels desire not to look upon, and which Men themselves tremble to think on; would they not have replied as Hazael did, Are we Dogs and Devils, that we should do such things? And yet we know such things have been done.

I might here enlarge my self, and proceed to discover yet a further danger. For Errour is fruitful, and multiplies it self. It seldom ends where it begins, but steals upon us as the Night, first in a twilight, then in thicker darkness. Onely the difference is, it is commonly night with us when the Sun is up and in our hemisphere. We run upon Errour when Light it self is our companion and guide. First we deceive our selves with some gloss, some pretense of our own: Our passion, our lust, our own corrupt heart deceiveth us. And anon our Night is dark as Hell it self, and we are willing to think that God may be of our mind, well plea∣sed with our errour. Now against this we must set up the Wisdom of God; Be not deceived: It is not so. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, God is not mocked, saith our Apostle. This I call'd the Vindication of Gods Wisdom, my second part: Of which in the next place.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Eph. 1.4.
• * 1.2

  Numb 6.••
• * 1.3

  Psal. 3.6.
• * 1.4

  Gen. 34.26.
• * 1.5

  vers. 31.
• * 1.6

  John 9.