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REVEL. 3. 19.

THESE words are part of one of the Seven Epistles sent by Christ unto the Seven Churches in Asia; namely an Exhortation unto the Church of Laodicea, whose disease was Lukewarmness and want of Fervency in the matter of Religion, and that accompanied with Security arising from presumption of God's love through the abundance of his outward blessings bestowed upon them ( verse. 17.) That therefore which they abused as an Argument why they might be secure, (as being God's darling and so much beloved,) in my Text is retorted unto them as an Argument of fear of some Chastisement near unto them and even hanging over their heads; For those whom God loveth, he chastiseth: Certain therefore it was that they should erelong feel the Scourge of God, unless they should timely rouse themselves out of their lazy devotions, out of the hateful and dangerous temper of Lukewarmness, unless they should blow up the fire of Zeal, to love and worship God with all earnestness and fervency; in sum, unless they would amend that grievous fault by Repentance; for, As many as I love, (saith Christ) I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent.

It belongs not much to our purpose to inquire Whether those seven Epistles concern historically and literally only the Churches here named, or Whether they were intended for Types of Churches or Ages of the Church afterwards to come. It shall be sufficient to say, That if we consider their Number, being Seven (which is a number of revolution of Times, and therefore in this Book the Seals, Trumpets and Vials also are seven: ) or if we consider the choice of the Holy Ghost, in that he taketh neither all, no nor the most famous Churches then in the world, as Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, and many other, and such (no doubt) as had need of instruction as well as those here named; if these things be well considered, it will seem that these Seven Churches, besides their Literal respect, were intended (and it may be chiefly) to be as Patterns and Types of the several Ages of the Catholic Church from the beginning thereof unto the end of the World: that so these Seven Churches should Prophetically sample unto us a sevenfold Temper and Constitution of the whole Church according to the several Ages thereof, answering the Pattern of the Churches named here.

For as in the course of Man's life diversity of ages hath diverse manners and conditions, so was it to be with the Church of Christ: Yea and as some Diseases are in regard of predominancy proper unto some men and not to others; so is it with the Church: All of these with their praises, if good; and remedies, if evil, are portrayed in these Seven Epistles unto the Seven Churches.

Nay not only the whole Church, but even particular Churches have their Ages, Manners and Conditions answerable unto the whole Body: They have likewise their Infancy, Youth, Virility and old age, with their several Constitutions, Conditions and Diseases: The first age and spring-time of both like unto Ephesus, full of patience, labor, tolerancy and zeal; The last and old age like unto Laodicea, in abundance of all external things Lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold. That which the Poet says of the disposition of old men [ Nullus Senex veneratur Iovem, ] being more true of Churches; as they grow old, their zeal grows cold also.

So that in this regard my Text will not be unseasonable, if the Times wherein we live be either the Last times (as most men think) or near upon the Last (as no man will deny.) Howsoever since no Condition, Temper or Disease is so proper to any one Age, but that it is found sometime more or less in all: So may this of Lukewarmness be with us, what time soever of our age it be; and therefore no question but we may in Laodicea, as in a lively Example, clearly read our own state and learn wisdom.

Without any longer Preface therefore I come unto the Words themselves, which contain, First, God's rule, Those whom he loves, he rebukes and chastens. Secondly, Our and his Churches duty, We must be zealous and repent. Lastly, The Connection of these two; Because those whom God loves, he will rebuke and chasten for their sin, especially Lukewarmness; We must therefore be zealous and repent.

[unspec I] To begin with the first, God's rule. [As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. ] The words need no great explanation: the two last [ I rebuke and chasten ] are rendered for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : the first whereof [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I rebuke ] notes a reproving and convincing by Argument; the second [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I chasten ] notes such a correction as Fathers give their children; not to hurt them, but to amend them, which we use to call a discipling, a punishment of discipline intended ad correctionem, non ad destructionem. So that the meaning is; Those whom I love, if after I have long reproved them and convinced them of sin, by my Word and Ministers, all be but in vain, then I use to chastise them with my rod, to afflict them with some scourge of my discipline, even as a Father doth the child whom he loveth.

Come we therefore to the Observations these words afford us; The first whereof is, That God chastises his children out of love and for their good. For all the actions of God towards those he loves, must needs be out of love; and whatsoever he doth out of love, must be for the good of those he loveth. Indeed men for want of wisdom often do out of love that which hurts, as the Proverb is, they kill with kindness: But with God it is otherwise; He wants not skill to know what is best for his beloved, as men do; and therefore as certain it is that his chastisements shall end with our profit, as we are sure they spring from our sins.

The ignorance of this point makes many to err, and with the friends of Job to judge amiss of God's love and hate towards men. But we must know that God hath two sorts of arrows, Arrows of judgment and Arrows of mercy: the first he shoots against those he hates ( Psal. 7. 13. Ps. 144. 6.) the other he shoots at his own, even those whom he loves, and therewith he wounds them that he may cure them; and such as these may apply to themselves the words of the Spouse in the Canticles, I am wounded with love: God's love hath wounded me, and the wound of God makes me love him: it begins in his love to me, and aims at and ends in my love to him. For we must remember in this case that which S. Austin well observes, That when the godly and the wicked suffer the very same things to outward appearance, yet there is a great unlikeness of the sufferers, even in the likeness of suffering: the one are punished out of God's just displeasure and wrathful vengeance; the other are disciplined out of mercy, that God might fit them and keep them for himself, because he loves them.

And that we may the better understand this, let us consider what Effects Afflictions work, and what fruits they bring forth in those whom God loveth.

• 1. Afflictions to them whom God loves are Medicinal, and thereby they recover their health by repentance from some spiritual disease they are sick of. For howsoever the Lord gives the rein loose to the children of wrath, and lets them enjoy their hearts desire; yet will he hedge with Thorns the ways of those he loveth, and will awaken them by some sharp rod or other out of the sleep of security. So he taught Miriam by a leprosy to leave her murmuring; he wakened Jonah out of his sleep by casting him into the Sea: Zacharias his unbelief was cured with dumbness; and Blessed is the man whom the Lord this way chastens and corrects. Psal. 94.
• 2. Afflictions are Preservatives to keep them whom God loveth, from sin. Thus an Angel of Satan must buffet Paul, lest he should be exalted above measure, 2 Cor. 12. 7. The Earth which is not tilled and broken up, bears nothing but thorns and briers. Vines wax wild in time, unless we prune and cut them. Our hearts would be overgrown with evil affections and dispositions, as with so many noisome weeds, if God by his loving chastisements should not Till and Manure them: My Father (saith Christ) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is the Husbandman, John 15. 1.
• 3. Afflictions make the fruitless bring forth fruit, beget many Virtues, and make God's Graces in us to bloom and bring forth works pleasing unto our Heavenly Father. The Prodigal Son (in Luke. 15.) never thought of returning to his Father, till he was brought low by affliction. Hagar was proud in the house of Abraham, but humble in the Wilderness, Gen. 21. Jonah sleepeth in the ship, but watches and prays in the Whales belly. Sicut Aromata odorem non nisi cum accenduntur, expandunt, saith Gregory; as sweet spices send not forth nor spread abroad their sweet smell until they be burnt or beaten; so neither do the Graces of God's children send forth so sweet, so rich a fragrancy as when they are exercised by Afflictions.
• 4. Lastly, Afflictions draw men nearer unto God. Manasseh, who lived in Jerusalem as a Libertine; when he was bound with chains in Babylon, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers. 2 Chron. 33. 11, 12. In the Gospel we read that Corporal diseases brought many to Christ, whereas many who had their health, neither regarded nor acknowledged him.

And thus I have let you see (according to Sampson 's Riddle, Judge. 14.) how that out of the eater comes meat, and out of the sour (or sharp) comes sweet: Out of sour and sharp or bitter afflictions, out of troubles and calamities that sometimes threaten to devour us, comes sweetness, comfort and refreshment.

The main use of all is for comfort in all our sufferings and crosses whensoever God sends them: For they are Signs of our Son-ship and Tokens of his love. So the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us expressly, chap. 12. 6. &c. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth; If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with Sons. But if ye be without chastisement—then are ye bastards and not Sons. Let us then learn to bless God in our afflictions; and say with David (Psal. 94. 12.) Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy Law; It is good for me that I have been afflicted; for before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy Word, Psal. 119. 67, 71.

My Second Observation is this, That if God spares not those whom he loveth, much less shall his Enemies escape punishment. Surely if God chastises those whom he loves, he will break in pieces those whom he hates. If thou art God's Enemy, as thou canst not expect any of that Favor he shows unto his Friends and children, so much less hast thou reason to hope that he will not revenge himself on thee, when thou feest him so severe unto his own. Let them think on this who live in enmity against God, and never yet made their peace with him, by casting off the old man and putting on the new; but continue still to walk after the flesh, in all the ways of sin, and cast God's Law behind them. Let them not rejoice at the afflictions of God's children, nor laugh at their sufferings; but fear and tremble; For every lash that the Children of God feel is a Warning-piece to ungodly men, and should make them dread those sorer punishments, those many (and worse) stripes (Luke 12. 47.) the indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish which shall be to everyone that doth evil, Rom. 2. To conclude, consider, that in 1 Pet. 4. 17. If judgment must first begin at the house of God, what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God?

AND now I come to the last thing to be observed out of these words, viz. That God rebukes before he chastens. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: first 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I rebuke, and then 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I chasten; first admonish and reprove them, and convince them of their Sin; and then chastise them: his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 hath an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , his disciplining goes with admonition.

It is a part of God's style whereby he proclaims himself, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious and longsuffering. And this appears in that he strikes not a sinner without frequent forewarnings, reproofs and convincing him of sin: His Word is always the harbinger of his Sword: he rebukes and then chastens; for he desireth not our misery but our amendment. As I live (saith the Lord) I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather that he would turn from his way and live. And so in Prov. 1. Wisdom first cries out in the streets, How long will ye Scorners delight in scorning, and ye fools hate knowledge? First she calls, before she laughs at their calamity, before destruction comes upon them as a whirlwind, or distress and anguish fall upon them.

Before the Flood came and overwhelmed the Earth for sin, man had given him 120 years warning, so long a space for repentance; as the Chaldee Paraphrast expounds that in Gen. 6. 3.[— his days shall be an 120 years ] to this sense, A term of 120 years shall be given them (i.e. the men of that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 evil generation) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , if they will return or repent. Before Nineveh should be destroyed, the Prophet Jonah was sent to cry against it. Israel was not carried captive into Assyria before the Lord had testified against them by all the Prophets and by all the Seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my Commandments, &c. 2 Kings 17. 13. The like is said of Judah, in 2 Chron. 36. 15, 16. The Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers; rising early and sending, because he had compassion on his people— But they mocked the Messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his Prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. The wing of abominations [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 whereof Daniel speaks in ch. 9. 27.] overwhelmed not the City Jerusalem, until Christ had long labored in vain to gather them under his wings, as a Hen gathereth her Chickens; and they would not, Matth. 23. 37. Nay when other warnings have been fruitless, and God's chastisements and Iudgments near, the very Heavens themselves shall by Comets and other Signs give warning of their approach, if at length by our humiliation we would stop them even at the door, or at least by our preparation to endure them mitigate them unto us.

• 1. If this then be God's manner of dealing, To warn us by reproof, of our danger, that so we might avoid it before it comes; it should behove us not lightly to pass by his warnings, his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , so often sounding in our ears in the reading or preaching of his Word. There is no Evil that hath, doth, or shall befall us for any sin we commit, but there it is foretold and threatened us: no one Example there, but it is for our learning or instruction 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Rom. 15. 4. and for our admonition 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 1 Cor. 10. 11. Nay the Holy Ghost doth so lively pattern by Examples the several cases which may befall men; as none scarce ever hath been or in any age shall be, which in one Example or other may not clearly read his own case and learn Wisdom. The Precepts also in the Holy Scripture are so plentiful, and the Threatenings so plain; that neither can we excuse our sins by ignorance, nor justly say that God's Iudgments took us unawares.
• 2. If God so powerfully warns his Creature before he strikes him, how dare we strike our Brother before we warn him: For those who deal with men, as Experience showeth, are often scorched with the fire before they see the smoke. But the reason of this difference is plain; God strikes because he loves and would amend us, and therefore he first rebukes and warns before he chastiseth: But we punish if we have power, or procure our Brother to be punished if we have not, because we hate him, and therefore lie in wait to entrap him: He must not be admonished, lest he should take heed and grow too wary, and so escape our snare: and yet we cry nothing but Discipline and Execution of Justice, when our hearts and Consciences tell us it is but the wreaking of our Malice.

But God gives us a Rule to follow, fashioned according to the Pattern of his own Long-suffering: If thy Brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone— if again, take with thee one or two more: and if yet he amend not, Tell the Church, &c. Matth. 18. He that observeth not this Rule, little hope is there that ever God will give him grace to make use of his warning, who gives no warning to his brother.

AND thus I come to the Second part of my Text, which is our duty; We [unspec II] must be zealous and repent. Where first as the words lie, we will speak of Zeal, and then of Repentance.

Concerning Zeal, I will draw all I have to speak unto these two Heads. 1. What [unspec 1] is this Zeal which is here commanded. 2. What Motives there are to urge and command it.

For the first, Zeal is the Intension and Vehemency of all our affections in matters of God and his Service. It hath its name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which is to burn and boil as water over the fire, and thence may be styled the Fervency and boiling of our affections. Such a one was Apollos, as S. Luke (in Acts 18. 25.) describes him to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 fervent in Spirit, and such S. Paul exhorts the Romans to be, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 fervent or burning in Spirit, ch. 12. 11. For as burning is the excess or highest pitch of heat, so is zeal of our affections. The Schoolmen make it an Intension of love; which is true if Love be taken as the Scripture useth; for it comprehendeth all our Affections under that name: all of them spring from presupposing Love. No man is ignorant of this that knoweth how in Scripture all our Duty both to God and man is styled Love and Charity. But Love is a special affection, Zeal is not the Intension of it alone, but of the rest also, Hatred, Joy, Grief, Hope, Fear, &c.

So he that with David loves the Law of God more than honey or the honey-comb, more than thousands of gold and silver; he loves zealously. He that rejoiceth in God's Testimonies more than they that find great spoil, more than his appointed food; he joys zealously. He whose eyes gush out rivers of waters, and wisheth his eyes were a fountain of tears, because men keep not God's Law; he grieves zealously. He whose eyes fail and whose soul almost fainteth with waiting and longing for the Salvation of the Lord; he hopes zealously. He who says, my flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments; he fears zealously: and so of the rest.

But as in our Bodies we find Aguish burnings as well as the healthful vigor of Natural heat; and as Nadab and Abihu offered fire unto God, but not the right and holy fire, but strange fire which he commanded them not (Lev. 10. 1.) So are there some counterfeits of zeal, as it were false fires, abominable unto God and odious unto men. All is not gold that glisters, no more is all Zeal which seemeth so, this zeal which God approves. Lest therefore blazing Comets be mistaken for the purer Stars of heaven, and Nadab and Abihu's strange fires for the fire of God's Altar; let us take a survey of the kinds and characters of false zeal, for the better discerning of the true.

The kinds then of false zeal may be reduced unto Three heads. 1. Hypocritical zeal, which wants sincerity. 2. Blind zeal, which wants knowledge. 3. Turbulent zeal, which wants love and moderation.

• 1. The First of these [ Hypocritical zeal ] is a mere blaze and show of fervency, without any true and solid heat: It is nothing but the Vizor of zeal; looking a squint one way, but tending another; pretending God and his Glory, but aiming at some private and sinister end. Such was the zeal of Jehu who marched furiously, and his word was, The Lord of hosts; Come (said he to Jonadab) and see my zeal for the Lord: but his project was the Kingdom. Jezebel proclaimed a Fast, as out of an Extasie of zeal that God should be blasphemed; but her aim was Naboth 's vineyard. So in Acts 19. Demetrius the Silver-Smith and his fellows cry, Great is Diana of the Ephesians; but meant the gain they got by making of her Silver Shrines, (verse. 24.)

This Zeal is soon descried by the proper Character it hath, namely, an affectation of having their works seen of men (which is said of the vain-glorious Pharisees in Matt. 6.) be it by ostentation of their zealous deeds, like Jehu; or by the excess of affected gestures, sighs, and other like actions falling within the view of men: Not but that a true zeal doth show itself vehement, even in external actions; but it is the straining of them beyond measure which argues the Heart to be guilty of emptiness within.

• 2. The Second kind of False zeal is Blind zeal, Ignis fatuus or Fools fire, leading a man out of the right way: when men zealously affect evil things, supposing them to be good; or are eagerly bent against good things, supposing them to be evil. Such was the Zeal of the Jews, of whom S. Paul witnesseth that they had a zeal of God (that is, in the matters of God) but not according to knowledge. And with this Zeal was he himself once carried, when he persecuted the Christians with an opinion of doing God good service, as the phrase is John 16. 2. I verily thought (saith he ) with my self, that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth. And such is the zeal of simple and devout Sectaries, who blindly run after some person they esteem, without knowing themselves either why or whither. This kind of zeal is like to metal in a Blind horse, that will speed to fall into a pit or to break his neck: The counsel I would give for avoiding this kind, is to look before we leap, and see our way clearly before we run.
• 3. The Third kind of False zeal is Turbulent zeal, which S. James calls 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 bitter zeal; a kind of Wildfire transporting a man beyond all compass of Moderation; namely when in the excess of our heat we either outgo the bounds of our place and calling, or use undue Means or ways, or overshoot the limits of Love and Charity whether to God or our Neighbor. For howsoever Zeal be an excess of our affections in the things of God; yet must this excess never break over the banks either of our vocation, or in choice of Means out-bound the Rule of God's Law, as theirs most certainly doth who endeavor to color their Religion by the Massacres of Princes, overturning of Kingdoms, breach of Oaths and almost all bands of human Society. Such was the Zeal of Saul when he slew the Gibeonites, forgetting the Oath which the Princes of the Congregation had made unto them, Josh. 9. 15, 18, 19. And such was the zeal of James and John in the Gospel, when to vindicate the honor of Christ they would have Fire to come down from heaven to consume a whole Village of Samaria. Such also was Peter 's zeal, when he cut off Malchus his ear: The former outwent the limits of Love and Charity; the last the limits of his Vocation. As Clocks whose Springs are broken, overstrike the hour of the day; So this mad and untempered Zeal the measure of Moderation.

Thus I have briefly described these False fires, that by the Law of contraries we may know who is the true Zealot whom God approveth, namely, He whose Spirit is in Fervency and not in Shew, for God and not for himself, guided by the Word and not with humors and opinions, tempered with Charity and free from head-strong violence. This is that Zeal which our Savior calls for in my Text [ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Be zealous therefore. ] This is that Zeal which whoso wants, in him God hath no pleasure, but will spew him out of his Mouth, as it is said in verse. 15. a little before my Text.

But why (will you say) should this zeal be so needful, or why may we not worship God without it? Let us therefore now see the Reasons and Motives which do evince and prove it needful, and should urge us to it.

• 1. First, therefore I will seek no further than my Text, where the want of Zeal is reckoned for a Sin, a Sin to be repented of, Be zealous and Repent: Is not that needful, without which all our works are sinful?

But Virtue (you will say) consists in a Mean, and not in Excess; and why should not Piety also?

I answer, The Mean wherein Virtue is placed, is the Middle of different kinds, and not the Middle or Mean of degrees in one and the same kind. Virtue (so it be Virtue ) is at the best in the highest degree, and so is Religion in the highest pitch of Zeal.

• 2. It is the Ground-rule of the whole Law of God, and of all the Precepts concerning his Worship; That we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our Soul, with all our Mind, and with all our Strength. What is this else but to love him zealously, to worship him with the highest pitch of our affections and the uttermost strain both of Body and Soul? For he is the Sovereign and chiefest Good; what Love then can suite to him but the very top and Sovereignty of Love? All things in God are Supreme; his Power, his Knowledge, his Mercy; and therefore he cannot truly be worshipped, unless we yield him whatsoever is Supreme in ourselves; a supremacy of Fear, a supremacy of Hope, a supremacy of Thankfulness. For whom then should we reserve the top and chief of our affections? for our gold? for our Herodias, &c, How can we offer God a baser indignity? will he endure that anything in the world should be respected before him, or equalled to him? The Lord our God is a jealous God, and will not suffer it. Let therefore all the Springs and Brooks of our affections run into this Main, and let no Rivulet be drawn another way. If Zeal be good in anything, it is most required in the best things: and if in anything it be comely to work with all our might (Eccles. 9. 10.) certainly in the service of God it is most comely: Be not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, Rom. 12. 11.
• 3. Zeal is that which carries our Devotions up to Heaven, As Wings to a Fowl, Wheels to a Chariot, Sails to a Ship; so is Zeal to the Soul of Man. Without Zeal our Devotions can no more ascend than Vapours from a Still, without fire put under it. Prayer, if it be fervent, availeth much: but a cold Sute will never get to Heaven. In brief, Zeal is the Chariot wherein our Alms, our Offerings and all the good works we do, are brought before the Throne of God in Heaven. No Sacrifice in the Law could be offered without fire; no more in the Gospel is any Service rightly performed without Zeal.

Be zealous therefore, lest all thy works, all thy endeavors be else unprofitable: Rouze up thy dull and heavy Spirit, serve God with earnestness and fervency; and pray unto him that he would send us this fire from his Altar which is in Heaven, whereby all our Sacrifices may become acceptable and pleasing unto him.

AND thus I come to the next thing in my Text, Repentance. [ Be zealous and repent.] [unspec 2] Repentance is the changing of our course from the old way of Sin unto the new way of Righteousness: or more briefly, A changing of the course of sin for the course of Righteousness. It is called also Conversion, Turning and Returning unto God. This matter would ask a long discourse, but I will describe it briefly in five degrees which are as five steps in a Ladder, by which we ascend up to Heaven.

• 1. The first step is the Sight of Sin and the punishment due unto it, for how can the Soul be possessed with fear and sorrow, except he Understanding do first apprehend the danger: for, that which the Eye sees not, the Heart rues not. If Satan can keep sin from the Eye, he will easily keep sorrow from the Heart. It is impossible for a man to repent of his wickedness, except the reflect and say What have I done? The serious Penitent must be like the wary Factor, he must retire himself, look into his Books, and turn over the leaves of his life; he must consider the expense of his Time, the employment of his Talent, the debt of his Sin, and the strictness of his Account.
• 2. And so he shall ascend unto the next step, which is Sorrow for sin. For he that seriously considers how he hath grieved the Spirit of God and endangered his own Soul by his sins, cannot but have his Spirit grieved with remorse. The Sacrifices of God are a contrite Spirit. Neither must we sorrow only, but look unto the quality of our Sorrow, that it be Godly, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : and to the quantity of it, that it be Great. We must fit the plaster to the wound, and proportion our sorrow to our Sins. He that with Peter hath sinned heinously, or with Mary Magdalene frequently; must with them weep bitterly and abundantly.
• 3. The Third step of this Ladder is the Loathing of sin. A Surfiet of Meats how dainty and delicate soever, will afterwards make them loathsome: He that hath taken his fill of sin, and committed iniquity with greediness, and is sensible of his supersinity or abundance of naughtiness, and hath a great Sorrow for it; he will the more loath his sins, though they have been never so full of delight: Yea it will make him loath himself, and cry out in a mournful manner with S. Paul (Rom. 7. 24.) O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?
• 4. The fourth step is the leaving off Sin. For as Amnon hating Tamar shut her out of doors: So he that loathes and hates his Sins; the sight, the thought, the remembrance of them will be grievous unto him, and he will labor by all good means to expel them. For true Repentance must be the consuming of sin. To what purpose doth the Physician evacuate ill humors, if the Patient still distempers himself with ill diet? What shall it avail a man to endure the lancing, searching and tenting of a wound; if he stay not for the cure? So in vain also is the Sight of sin, and the Sorrow for and Loathing of Sin, if the works of darkness still remain, and the Soul is impatient of a through-cure. And therefore as Amnon not only put out his loathed Sister, but bolted the door after her (as it is said in the forequoted place): So must we keep out our sins with the Bolts of Resolution and Circumspection. Noah pitched the Ark within and without (Gen. 6. 14.) So to keep out the waters: and a Christian must be watchful to secure all his Senses, External and Internal, to keep out sin.
• 5. The Fifth and last step is the Cleaving unto God with full purpose of heart, to walk before him in newness of life. All the former Degrees of Repentance were for the putting off of the Old man; this is for the putting on of the New: For ubi Emendatio nulla, Poenitentia necessario vana (saith Tertullian de Poenit. c. 2.) Where there is no Reformation, there the Repentance must needs be vain and fruitless; for (as he goes on) caret fructu suo, eui eam Deus sevit (i. e. hominis saluti ) it hath not its fruit unto holiness, nor the end everlasting life, Rom. 6. 22.

And thus have I let you see briefly What Repentance is. Will you have me say anymore to make you to affect it as earnestly, as I hope by this time you understand it clearly: Know then that this is that which opens Heaven and leads into Paradise: This is that Ladder, without which no man can climb thither: and therefore (as S. Austin saith) Mutet vitam qui vult accipere vitam: Let us change our life here, if we look for the Life of Glory hereafter: Let us leave the old way of sin for the new way of righteousness: and (to apply all to my Text) Let us change our course of Lukewarmness for a course of fervency in God's service, our dull and drowsy Devotions for a course of Zeal. Be zealous and Repent.

[unspec III] AND thus I come to the Third thing I propounded, namely, the Connection and dependence of these latter words [ Be zealous therefore and Repent ] upon the former [ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. ] Many things might be here observed, but I will name but one, which is this, That Repentance is the means to avoid and prevent God 's Iudgments. For (as Tertullian in his de Poenitentia observes,)* Qui poenam per judicium destinavit, idem & veniam per poenitentiam spospondit: He that hath decreed to punish by Justice, hath promised to grant pardon by Repentance. And so we read in Jeremiah 18. 7. When I shall speak (saith the Lord there) concerning a Nation or Kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it: If that Nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from evil, I will repent of the evil which I thought to do unto them. And in Ezekiel 18. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, for why will ye die, O ye house of Israel; namely, that death wherewith God threatened them, if they should continue in their sins, they might prevent by returning to him by repentance. And so saith God to Jeremiah, in chap. 26. 2, 3. Speak all the words that I command thee to speak unto them: If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them, because of the evil of their doings. Lo here, If we repent us of our Sins, God will also repent him of his Iudgments, that is, he will not send them. Thus when the Ninevites repented in Sackcloth and ashes, it is said ( Jonah 3. 10.) And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil may, and God repented of (that is, he brought not upon them) the evil that he had said he would do unto them. And so if Laodicea (in my Text) should leave her Lukewarmness; God, who would have chastised her because he loved her, would yet withhold her chastisements because she repented. Would we then avoid the Iudgments of God hanging over our heads? Let us not then defer our Repentance. Would we not have the flaming fire of God's wrath and vengeance to consume us? Let us repent of our Lukewarmness, and get this sacred Fire of Zeal, the only means to preserve us: Be zealous therefore and repent.

1 Ep. JOHN 2. 3.

MAN that is born of a woman (saith Job) is of short continuance and full of trouble: Nay our days are not so few, but they are also as full of sorrow, full of unquietness and discontent; no hour is without, no estate is free; from him that sitteth upon the glorious throne unto him that is beneath in the earth and ashes, from him that is clothed in silk and wears a crown even unto him that is clothed in simple raiment. He that had attained the highest pitch of worldly felicity, King Solomon, who was great and increased above all that were before him in Jerusalem, whose eyes had whatsoever they desired, who withheld not his heart from any joy; yet when he had considered all, he could see no good thing under the Sun, nothing wherein he could find true hearts-content; but cried out, Vanity of vanities all is vanity and vexation of Spirit: All things are full of Labor, man cannot utter it. Yea Pleasure itself is linked with pain and sorrow, Extrema gaudii semper occupat luctus. In vain then do men take up their rest where they have not long to stay; in vain do they seek for comfort in those things where no true comfort can be found. There is but one thing in the world that can make this miserable life happy unto us, and that is so to demean ourselves while we live here, as that we may be assured of the Life to come: This is that will make us not to feel the sorrows and troubles of this life; This is that will make us with ease to swallow the bitter pills of Death itself; when we can say with Job, I know (or I am sure) that my Redeemer liveth, and that these eyes shall see him, though worms consume this body of mine.

But the greatest part of men think no such Assurance can be had, and therefore think it but labor lost to seek after it: Others on the contrary are too credulous, assuring themselves of God's savor and of eternal life, without any proof or trial of their Assurance whether it be true or no. That both these sorts of men may see what a dangerous Error they are in, let them peruse but this one Epistle of S. John, and out of the whole Epistle let them consider with me a while the Verse which I have read; let them hear what the Spirit saith by the beloved Apostle of the Lord, By this we do know (or come to be assured) that we know him, if we keep his Commandments.

The first part of these words tells us of an Assurance to be gotten; and lest we might deceive ourselves, the other part tells us what that is whereby we come to be assured, and whereby we may prove insallibly whether our Assurance which we have conceived be good or no, viz. If we keep his Commandments. By this we do know (or we are sure; so the former Translation, and it comes all to one) that we know him; if we keep his Commandments.

In the first part of these words all is plain, and there is nothing hard to be understood, but only what is meant by this Knowing of Christ; what manner of Knowledge this should be which is here spoken of. For there are diverse kinds of knowing Christ. There is a Knowledge which the very Devils have: the Devils (saith S. James ) believe also and tremble; and in Luke 4. 34. we read that the Devil said unto Christ, I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God; and in verse 41. that other Devils also came out of many whom they possessed, crying out and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God; but Christ rebuked them, and would not suffer them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to say that they knew him to be Christ. There is a Knowledge likewise which the wicked may have, but it is like unto the Knowledge which Devils have: For the wicked may know Christ to be the Son of God, they may know he died upon the Cross for the sins of men they may know that he is gone up into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of his Father in glory everlasting; but, alas! this Knowledge, if they have no more than it, will not profit them at all, it will never stand them instead, but rather make them more inexcusable at the Day of Judgment.

But the Knowledge which the Text speaks of, it is the Knowledge of the Faithful, yea it is the Knowledge of Faith, yea it is Faith itself: For this Knowledge of Christ is to know him to be our Christ, to know him to be our Redeemer, to know him to be the Propitiation for our sins as well as for the sins of other men. This you see is Faith itself, and this is the Knowledge here meant; as you may easily see further, if you do but read the words going next before my Text, where our Apostle saith, If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the Propitiation for our sins; and then come the words of my Text, And hereby we know (or we are sure) that we know him; that is, Hereby we know him to be (as was said before) our Advocate, our Propitiation; all this we are sure, we know, he is to us, if that we keep his Commandments.

[unspec 1] If therefore Faith be a Knowledge, If to believe in Christ to be know Christ; how then can Faith and Ignorance stand together? how can an ignorant man be a faithful man? or how can he have Faith who knoweth not the things of Faith?

Here is a Lesson to be learned of those that think it needless for a man to busy his head in the knowledge of the things belonging to his Salvation; that think it is enough if they have a good meaning, though they know nothing else. They are proud of their Ignorance, and will say they have as good Souls as the best of them all: but, alas! they know not that Light and Darkness cannot agree together; they know not that to walk in darkness is to walk in the shadow of death; they remember not that Light is come into the world, and that those that love darkness rather than light should be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and g • ashing of teeth. What will you answer at the great day of hearing, when Christ will not know you, because ye knew him no better? Will you say, as some do, That you were not Book-learned, and therefore could not read? Will you say you had no Learning, and therefore hope to be excused? These Fig-leaves will not serve to cover your nakedness withal.

I confess, there are many things which the Learned know, which you are not bound to know; Those who are expert in the Scriptures know many things both concerning God and his Works, which others may be ignorant of without endangering their Souls safety; yea matters of high Controversy, those who are simple are forbidden to meddle withal; for so saith S. Paul, Rom. 14. 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations.

But things which concern our Faith, things which are needful to our Salvation, things which concern our Obedience unto God; these things no man must be ignorant of that regards the safety of his Soul; these things God will require at the hands of everyone who shall be saved, whether they be learned or unlearned, whether they be of the wise or of the simple: whosoever knows not Christ and the means to come to Christ; whosoever knows not what it is to have a Redeemer, to have God to be his Father, what it is to be reconciled to God, to have Christ to be his Advocate and Mediator; whosoever knows not such things as these, must hear that heavy doom of Go ye cursed into everlasting fire.

For want of this knowledge of things needful to be known God had a controversy with his people Israel, Hos. 4. 1. The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no knowledge of God in the land. For want of this knowledge it was that God saith, Isaiah 5. 13. My people are gone into captivity, because they wanted knowledge. And our Savior in Luke 19. 42. wept over Jerusalem, and said, O that thou hadst known the things which belong unto thy peace, &c. As it befell the Jews, so will it fall out with everyone of us that knows not the things which belong unto our peace, that is, unto our reconciliation with God in Jesus Christ; God will have a controversy with us, he will send us into everlasting captivity, from whence we shall never return again.

Let me therefore beseech you (Brethren) in the bowels of Jesus Christ, If there be any among you that have not yet gotten this needful knowledge, that do not yet know the things belonging to their peace, that they would now look unto themselves, and use the means which God hath appointed. If you may have the best means, use the best: if not, yet make use of those which God hath given you; despise not the least and weakest means; despise not the bare reading of the Scriptures, for they are the Oracles of God, and God's Spirit may be in the mouth of the reader. Pray therefore unto the Lord that he would give you hearts to understand, that his Word may dwell in you plentifully in all wisdom, that he would open unto you the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, that you may relish the heavenly Manna, and that you may long after the sincere milk of the Gospel; that by this means your ways may prosper, your sorrows may be easy and your comforts may, your lives holy and your deaths comfortable.

And thus much I have spoken to those who are ignorant, and please themselves therein. Now let me speak a word or two also to those who covet and desire knowledge, and take delight in the understanding of rare and excellent things. Surely it is a commendable thing to be desirous of knowledge in anything which may lawfully be known; and this desire in Solomon pleased God so well, that because he asked wisdom and knowledge, God gave him riches also, and such honor that there was no King like unto him among the Kings that were before him, neither after him ever came the like. Art thou then desirous of knowledge? wouldst thou know rare and excellent things? wouldst thou know things secret, and foreknow things which are to come? Lo here is a Knowledge the best of all knowledges, the knowledge of Faith, to know Christ to be thy Redeemer. What more secret thing wouldst thou know than to know the Mystery which was hidden from the beginning of the world? What higher knowledge than to know thy name to be written in heaven? What more gainful knowledge than that knowledge that will bring thee a Kingdom whose glory shall never have end? What better knowledge of things to come than to know that thou shalt live in the life to come? If thou knewest the tongues of Men and Angels, if thou knewest all Arts and Sciences, if thou were wiser than Solomon, and couldst discourse of Trees and Herbs, of Beasts, of Fowl, and of Fishes, and yet wantest this Knowledge of Faith; all thy wisdom is folly, and thou art not worthy to wipe the shoes of those who are truly wise indeed. Nevertherefore count thyself wise, before thou art wise in the Lord; never think thou knowest anything, before thou knowest thou hast a part in Christ Jesus: For Faith is the Wisdom of wisdoms; he that knows Christ, knows all, though he knows nothing else. So that we may say with Solomon, Prov. 3. 13, &c. Blessed is the man that findeth this wisdom, and getteth this understanding: For the merchandise thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a Tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her.

There is yet a third sort of men to whom this which hath been spoken may give profitable instruction; I mean the nice and dainty hearers of the Word, who grow almost weary of hearing, because the Ministers sing nothing but this old song of Knowing and Believing in Christ; they always beat upon this one point, How men should get Faith, and know Christ to be their Redeemer: But they would have some new things taught them, these common things are tedious, the Minister must teach them something they never knew before: or, if they must have the old things still, their stomachs are so queasy, that they must needs have them dressed and set out with delicious words and gay shows of Learning, that so they may go down the better; that is, They would have Gold to be gilded, and find want of knowledge in the noblest piece of Learning in the world.

These men are like unto the Israelites, Num. 11. who, when God gave them Manna from heaven, and fed them with the food of Angels; after they had a while been used to it, they began to murmur, and said, Our souls loath this Manna; what, nothing but Manna? what, still Manna? every day Manna, Manna? O that we had the flesh-pots of Egypt, our onions and our cucumbers I As if they had said, What though this Manna be an heavenly Manna, we had rather have that which comes from the Earth, so it be rare and geason; we regard not the goodness of the meat, but the variety of fare.

But what befell these dainty-mouthed murmurers? Many they had their wish, they had flesh of the best, the flesh of Quails sent them; but while the meat was in their mouths, the wrath of the Lord came upon them, and they died; not because it was unlawful for them to eat flesh, but because they made more account of this gros •• r food because 'twas rare, then of the Manna which fell from heaven. Take heed therefore, you that are too-too choice in hearing, and had rather hear rare and new things, than profitable things, because you hear them often.

The Knowledge of Christ is this Manna which came from heaven. If the Minister of God feed you with this, it is the best food he can give you. What more sovereign Diet can be unto your souls than that which makes them live forever? What more pleasing News can you hear than Tidings that God will be at peace with men? This made the very Angels of heaven to sing for joy at the birth of Christ, Glory be to God on high, and peace amongst men. Account not that common which so few men taste of: account not that tedious which the best of you all have need of, and which if you could once but relish the sweetness of, you would think you never had enough of.

I speak not all this as quite disallowing a moderate show of Learning in Sermons, but because I would have you know that in respect of the Manna itself they are but leeks and cucumbers, the onions and garlic of Egypt.

AND so I come to the next thing I observe out of the First part of my Text, and that is from these words, we are sure, or we know, as in the Greek it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 but it comes all to one, for he that knows he knoweth Christ, is sure he knows; he that knows he hath a thing, is sure he hath it.

Mark then from hence, That a man may be sure he shall be saved, he may be sure that the Benefits of Christ's death belong unto him. For to know Christ, I told you, was to know him to be our Redeemer, that is, to have Faith in him or to believe him to be our Christ. If everyone therefore that knows him aright and believes in him truly, shall be saved; he that is sure he knows him, he that knows he believes truly in him, this man must needs know also and be assured of his Salvation. But you see the words of my Text do plainly imply that a man may be sure he knows Christ, or else in vain should the Apostle tell us of the means how to get that which was impossible to be gotten. But if the words of my Text be not sufficient to persuade you, then call to mind the firm Assurance of S. Paul, who was persuaded that neither life nor death, neither principalities nor powers, nor any thing else in the world, could sever him from the love of God. Call to mind again the words of Job, who saith he was sure that his Redeemer liveth, and that his eyes should see him.

But perhaps you will say that these were extraordinary men, Apostles and Prophets might know so much by special inspiration, but every man must not look for that which they had; All are not Apostles, all are not Prophets, and therefore all must not look to be like unto Apostles and Prophets.

But mark again the words of my Text, We are sure, or we know, that we know him: He says not, I John am or may be sure, or that the other Apostles might be sure; but we know, or we are sure, we know him: that is, I and you both; not I alone who am an Apostle, but all you also to whom I write, who have believed through the preaching of the Apostles and Disciples of the Lord Jesus; we all of us may be sure, or know, we know him, if we keep his Commandments. And surely if this be not so, why doth S. Peter 2 Ep. chap. 1. 10. bid us endeavor to make our calling and election sure? why is the Spirit of God called the Earnest and Seal of our Salvation? The Seal, we know, confirms and makes a thing sure; and he that hath given earnest, is bound to stand to his bargain: whosoever then doth feel the Spirit of God to be within him, as every one may, and must do before they shall be saved, this man hath God's promise sealed unto him, and God hath given him the Earnest of his Salvation: and certainly God useth not to break covenants, he will not break promise with us, if we keep promise with him; for he is not as the sons of men, that he should be changed; the Lord hath sworn, and it shall not repent him; the counsel of the Lord remains forever, and his decree from generation to generation.

Wouldest thou then have comfort in thy misery, wouldest thou have joy in all thy sorrows, wouldest thou find rest in the greatest troubles of thy life, wouldest thou entertain Death as a messenger of joy, wouldest thou welcome the Lord Jesus at his coming? O labor then to make thy election sure; never cease till thou hast gotten the seal and earnest of thy Salvation; renounce all kind of peace till thou hast found the peace of conscience; discard all joy till thou feelest the joy of the Holy Ghost. Do this, and there is no calamity so great but thou mayest undergo, no burden so heavy but thou mayest easily bear it: Do this, and thou shalt live in the fear, die in the favor, and rise in the power of God the Father, and help to make up the heavenly Confort, singing with the Saints and Angels, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, All glory and honor and praise be ascribed to the Lamb, and to him that sitteth upon the throne for evermore.

But now lest that which hath been spoken concerning Assurance of Salvation might disquiet the weak conscience of some who cannot feel this Assurance in themselves; let them know That this Assurance doth not always continue in like measure, but is often shaken with the assaults of mis-belief, and overcast with clouds of distrust. We know that though the Sun be risen upon the earth, she doth not always show herself in full brightness, but sometimes is overcast with clouds and shadowed from our sight; and yet she always giveth so much light as thereby we may discern the day from the night: Even so although the Sun of comfortable Assurance be risen in our hearts, yet it doth not always shine forth with brightness, or show itself in full strength and vigor, but is sometime overcast with fear and distrust; and yet when there is least, there is so much light that a man may discern day from night, and know the children of God from the sons of Darkness. Despair not therefore, though fear sometimes disquiets thee; Distrust not the Lord thy God, though he seems sometimes to hide his Countenance from thee: but when thou feelest a combat in thy soul, pray then and say with the Father of that child in the Gospel, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.

AND thus I come unto the second part of my Text, which contains the Means whereby we come to this Certainty of knowing Christ and this Assurance of Salvation; and that is, By keeping God's Commandments; for saith my Text, Hereby we know that we do know him, if we keep his Commandments. To know Christ (I told you) is to believe in him, to be assured we know him is to be assured our Faith is a right and a true Faith; which Faith whosoever knoweth he hath, cannot choose but know certainly he shall be saved: But hereby (saith my Text) may we know that we know Christ aright, and believe in him truly and savingly, if that we keep his Commandments.

From whence I observe First, That though it be true, That whatsoever good thing we have cometh from God, and that it is his Holy Spirit that worketh all heavenly graces in our hearts; yet he doth it not immediately, without means, but by blessing those helps and motives to us which he hath ordained for us to attain such graces and such favors by.

For it is true, That Assurance of Salvation is the work of God's Spirit; and yet S. John saith here, That it is the keeping of God's Commandments whereby we are assured we know Christ to be our Redeemer: that is, The Spirit of God by this keeping of the Commandments and by obedience to the will of God doth assure us, as by an argument or evidence, that our Faith is a true Faith, a living Faith; and that therefore we may assure ourselves that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us, and that we shall enjoy a Crown with Saints and Angels in the life to come. So likewise Faith is the work of the Spirit of God; and yet S. Paul saith, that Faith cometh by hearing, and how should men believe unless they hear the Word preached? It is God that saveth us, and Christ who purchased eternal life for us; and yet the use of the Sacraments must be as means to bring us to this happiness. So saith Christ, Everyone that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and S. Peter, 1 Ep. 3. 21. calleth Baptism the figure whereby we are saved.

And throughout the Scripture we shall find that God bestows his blessings and favors by the use of means, and to those who use the means which he hath appointed. If Abimelech will have God to heal him and to forgive his sin, he must have Abraham to pray unto God for him: so saith the Text, Gen. 20. 7. Restore the man his wife; for he is a Prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live. So if Job 's friends will have God to forgive their sin in censuring Job so uncharitably, they must use the means which God commanded them, Job 42. 8. Take unto you (saith God) seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, and I will accept him. If Cornelius will have the will of God revealed to him, he must send to Joppa for Peter to preach unto him, Acts 10. 5. If Naaman the Syrian will have the God of Israel to heal him of his Leprosy, he must use the means commanded, to wash himself seven times in the River Jordan, 2 Kings 5. 10, 14. Again, Though God had promised Jacob that he would be with him, that he would do him good, when he was to return unto the land of Canaan; and though Jacob depended only upon God to deliver him from the fury of his brother Esau; yet he knew that God would require of him the using of the means, and therefore he sent a Present to his brother, and when he came unto him, he used all humble and submiss behavior toward him. Lastly, Though Hezekiah in his sickness had received a Sign and a Promise from God that he should recover, I have heard thy prayer, (saith the Lord, 2 Kings 20. 5.) I have seen thy tears: behold I will heal thee, on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord; yet for all this he did not neglect the means, for according to the counsel of the Prophet Isaiah, he took a lump of figs (saith the Text, ver. 7.) and laid it upon the boil, and he recovered. Thus then you see the manner how God bestows his graces and favors upon the sons of men: He is the chief and principal worker in all things which are done, and yet he worketh not without the means, for so he should always do Miracles; (for Miracles are nothing else but the works of God without and against the ordinary means) but he worketh by blessing of the means to those who have and use them.

Here is therefore a Lesson worthy to be learned of those who, when you tell them of the perverseness and corruption of their hearts, and exhort them to seek to be at peace with God, to amend their lives, to eschew evil and do the works of righteousness; answer presently, That all the thoughts of man's heart are by nature evil, and that of ourselves we are not able so much as to think one good thought, much less to do any good deed; we have no free will in these things, but are dead in sin; we cannot turn to God, unless he turns us first unto him; we cannot mend, unless God first amend us; we cannot believe, unless he give us Faith; we cannot of our selves do any good, until it pleaseth God to enable us: And after this manner (as S. Peter saith) those who are unskillful and unstable wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. But do you not know also, that it is God that giveth us our daily bread, that he giveth us meat to eat and clothes to put on? and yet which of you all will not use the means to get these things, because else you cannot look that God should give you his blessing? Do you not know, when you are sick of a bodily disease, that if you be healed, God must heal you, God must restore you to your former health? and yet which of you all will not seek unto the Physician, and use all means that can be gotten? Do you not know, when you are in danger, that God must deliver you? and yet would you not laugh at him that in such a case should sit still and say, God help me, and never stir his finger to help himself? Are you thus wise in these outward things, and will you not be as wise in things spiritual? It is needful you should use the means to obtain God's blessing in things concerning your Body, and is it needless in things concerning the good of your Soul?

It is true indeed that of yourselves you are not able to turn from your evil ways unto the Lord your God; but you are able, I hope, to use the means whereby God's Spirit works the conversion of the heart. This Sun the Lord makes to shine both upon the evil and the good; this Rain he showers down upon the just and unjust. What though thou canst not believe of thyself? yet thou canst use the means of believing. What though thou canst not of thyself will or do the thing which is good? yet mayest thou use the means whereby God gives the grace of willing and doing good. Wouldest thou then have God to enable thee with the grace and power of his Spirit? use the means wherein the Spirit of God is lively and mighty in operation, sharper than any two-edged sword, and entereth through even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit: Meditate continually in the Law of God, be diligent to hear the Word both read and preached, attend to Exhortation, to Instruction: and as Joab said unto his army going against the Aramites, Be strong, and let us be valiant for our people and for the cities of our God, and let the Lord do that which is good in his eyes; so say thou unto thine own Soul, I will firmly resolve, and with all the power I have endeavor to use the means appointed by our God, and let the Lord do that which is good in his eyes. Nay then fear not, thou shalt see the salvation of the Lord: he will give thee a new heart, and put a new spirit within thee; he will take away thy heart of stone, and give thee an heart of flesh, that thou mayest walk in his statutes and keep his Commandments; and thou shalt be one of his people, and he will be thy God.

Observe in the second place, That a true and unfeigned Faith in Christ (which is the knowing him here mentioned) brings forth obedience to his Commandments. Christ, we must know, is not only a Priest to reconcile us, but also a King to be obeyed by us. These two, as they are inseparable in him, [a Priest, but a Kingly Priest; a King, but a Priestly King; ] so must the acknowledgment of them be in his servants. Whosoever therefore receives him as a Priest for atonement of his sin, must also submit unto him with loyal obedience as a King. We can never truly acknowledge him the one, but we must also yield him the other. For Christ will not be divided by us; we must, if we will have him, take him whole; otherwise we have no share in him at all. This is that Faith we say justifies, and no other but such a Faith as this, which adheres unto Christ Jesus both as a Priest and as our Lord and King. And therefore do our Adversaries most unworthily and wrongfully charge us, That we condemn Good works, or hold a man may be in Christ or in the state of grace, though his life be never so wicked; because we hold, as S. Paul does, we are justified by Faith, and not by the works of the Law, Gal. 2. 16.

Observe, thirdly, That the Act of Faith which justifies is the Receiving or Knowing of Christ; not (as some erroneously conceive) an Assurance or Knowing we know him. For Assurance of being justified is no way a Cause or Instrument, but a Consequent of Justification. A man must be first justified before he can know or be assured he is justified. For this Assurance or Certification you may see in my Text comes in the third place, not in the first; wherein you may observe these three things to have this order, 1. Knowing or owning Christ, which is Faith: 2. Keeping his Commandments, which is the Fruit and evidence of a true Faith: then in the third place comes Assurance, For by this we are sure we do know him, if we keep his Commandments. The Object must be before it can be known; the Sun must be risen before she can be seen: So hath everyone his interest in Christ before he can know he hath it. Nay he may have it long before, before he knows he hath it: For it is not only a consequent, but a separable consequent, neither presently gotten, and often interrupted. For though it be necessary the Sun should be risen before she can be seen; yet she may be long up before we see her, and often clouded after she hath shined. This I observe for the comfort of those who are troubled in mind and tempted to despair, because they see not the light of God's countenance shining in their hearts.

My fourth Observation, and the chief in the Text, is this, That he that walks in the ways of God, and makes conscience to keep his Commandments, may hereby in • allibly know he knows Christ, that his Faith is a true Faith, and that he shall be saved everlastingly. This is the main and principal Scope of the Text, and so plainly therein expressed, that it needs no other confirmation. But the Reason is plain; For Good works are the fruits of Faith, and a Godly conversation is the work of God's holy Spirit. Whomsoever Christ accepts as a Servant, he gives the token of his Spirit, the Grace which enlivens and quickens the Heart and Will to his Service in a new and reformed conversation. Even as the heat of the Fire warmeth whatsoever comes near unto it; so the Spirit of Christ kindles this Grace in every Heart that Faith links unto him: the Fruit whereof is that infallible Livery whereby everyone that wears it may know himself to be his Servant.

A Tree is known by its fruit, the workman is known by his work; whosoever them shows these works, and brings forth these fruits, hath an infallible argument that the Spirit of God, the earnest of his Salvation, dwells in his heart; that his Faith is a true and saving Faith; that his believing is no presumption, no false conceit, no delusion of the Devil, but the true and certain motion of God's own Spirit. The rising of the Sun is known by the shining beams, the Fire is known by its burning, the Life of the Body is known by its moving: Even so certainly is the presence of God's Spirit known by the shining light of an holy conversation; even so certainly the purging Fire of Grace is known by the burning Zeal against sin, and a servant desire to keep God's Commandments; even so certainly the Life and liveliness of Faith is known by the good motions of the Heart, by the bestirring of all the powers both of Soul and Body, to do whatsoever God wills us to be doing as soon as we once know he would have us do it. He that hath this Evidence, hath a bulwark against Despair, and may dare the Devil to his face: He that hath this, hath the Broad Seal of Eternal life, and such a man shall live forever.

But on the contrary, He that walks not in the ways of Obedience to God's Commandments; whatsoever conceit he hath of God's favor toward him, without all doubt he knows not Christ to be his Redeemer, he hath not nor cannot have any Assurance of Salvation; for how should a man be assured of that which is not? His Hope is Presumption, his Faith is nothing but Security, his Comfort (if he feels any) a mere imagination: His Hope, his Faith, his Comfort are all delusions of the Devil. For if we say (saith our Apostle chap. 1. ver. 6.) that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we are liars, yea and the Devil, the Father of lies, is in us.

Here therefore is a good Caveat for us all. Let us not deceive ourselves; without Holiness no man shall see God. Beware of Presumption, for Presumption sends more to Hell than Desperation. Let us never think we have Faith to be saved by, or acknowledge Christ thoroughly, till we may see and know it by keeping his Commandments. For hereby we know that we know him, &c.

But you may say, Alas! this is an hard saying: If none have true Faith or know Christ aright but those who keep the Law of God, who then can be saved? For what man is he who hath such a Faith? For there is no man living which sins not; and who can say his Heart is clean? the best of us all hath need to pray unto God daily and hourly, Lord, forgive our trespasses.

• 1. I answer, It is true, that an absolute and perfect Obedience to the Law of God is not attainable in this life: For the best that are, though not in a current and constant course, yet ever and anon offend, both in doing what they ought not, and omitting what they should do; yea some mixture of infirmity and imperfections will cleave unto the face of the fairest action. So incompatible is an uninterrupted and unstained purity with this unglorified state of mortality.
• 2. All this is true and cannot be denied; For our Apostle himself saith chap. 1. 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But the same Apostle in chap. 3. 8. of this Epistle saith also, That he which commits sin, is of the Devil. There is therefore some measure of holiness and obedience, and that more than ordinary, required of those who are the Sons of God. That ours may be such, we must know the requisites thereof are three, To be Cordial, Resolved, and Universal.

• 1. It must be Cordial, that is, Conscionable and Sincere: it must be internal, proceeding from the Heart, not external only, in the appearance of the outward work. God looks for fruit, and not for leaves; therefore the Fig-tree in the Gospel which had nothing but leaves, we know, was accursed. But blessed are they (saith David) that keep his Testimonies, and seek him with their whole heart. For true Faith not only restrains the actions of the outward man, (for that Human laws and other respects may do) but it purifies the Heart also from the reigning allowance of any lust or lewd course of sin. There is abhorring as well as abstaining, loathing as well as leaving; for else a chained Lion, though he abstain from devouring, hath his Lionish nature still.
• 2. It must be Resolved, that is, out of a full and settled purpose to conform ourselves to the Law of God; That howsoever we often fail in the execution, yet this Root may still keep life within us. For good actions which come only by fits and occasions, are no part of true Obedience: nor where such a Resolution is, are failings and slips more a sign of a disobedient child, than the missing of a mark argues he that shot never aimed to hit it; but only is a sign either of weakness, want of skill, or good heed, or some impediment.
• 3. It must be Universal; I say not absolute and perfect, for no man can keep the Law of God absolutely and perfectly; yet it must be Universal, that is, to one Commandment as well as to another. True Obedience knows no exception, no reservation, nor can any such stand with a true Faith and allegiance to Christ our Lord.

First therefore there must no darling, no bosom sin, no Herodias, be cherished: such a dead fly as this will mar the whole box of ointment: For how should he take himself for a faithful servant of Christ, who still holds correspondence with his Arch-enemy the Devil? It were treason in an earthly subject to do it, how serviceable soever he might otherwise be unto his Prince. One breach in the walls of a City exposeth it to the surprise of the Enemy; one leak in a Ship neglected will sink it at last into the bottom of the Sea; the stab of a Pen-knife to the Heart will as well speed a man as twenty Rapiers run through him: If thou hedge thy close as high as the middle region of the Air in all other places, and leave but one gap, all thy grass will be gone: If the Fowler catch the Bird either by the head or the foot or the wing, she is sure his own. So in the present case, If Satan keep possession but by one reigning sin, it will be thine everlasting ruin. If thou live and die with allowance and delight in any one known sin, without resolution to part with it; thou art none of Christ's servants, thou as yet carriest the Devil's brand, he hath thereby marked thee out for his own.

Secondly, An Universal obedience submits not only to Prohibitions of not doing evil, but puts in practice the Injunctions of doing good. Many think they keep the Commandments well, so they do nothing which they forbid: But the not doing good is a sin as well as the doing of evil. Dives fries in Hell, not for robbing, but for not relieving Lazarus. The unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness, not for spending, but for not bestowing his Master's talent. The five foolish Virgins were shut out of doors, not for wasting, but for not having oil in their Lamps. And the wicked shall be condemned at the last day, not for reaving the meat from the hungry, but for not seeding their poor brethren; not for stripping the naked out of his clothes, but for not clothing him. It will not be enough for thee that thou bringest forth no bad fruit, but thou must bring forth good fruit. Every Tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down and cast into the fire. What if thou steal not from thy brother? yet if thou open not thy hand to help and succor him, thou art a Robber. What if thou dost neither lie nor swear? yet if thou makest not thy mouth a glorious organ, and thy tongue a trumpet to sound forth and proclaim the love and mercy of God, thou art a deep and a round offender. What if no man can condemn thee for any evil? yet unless God and thine own conscience shall commend thee for some good thou hast done, thou art far from any Assurance of Faith, or Knowing thou knowest Christ to be thy Redeemer.

In the First Century.

THIS being premised, I proceed now (as I promised) to show, That there were such places as I have described appointed and set apart among Christians for their Religious Assemblies and Solemn address unto the Divine Majesty, through everyone of the first three Centuries particularly; and that therefore they assembled not promiscuously and at hap-hazard, but in appropriate places, unless Necessity sometimes forced them to do otherwise.

For the Times of the Apostles therefore, or First Century in particular, which [unspec 1] ends with the death of S. John the Evangelist, I prove it, first, from the Text I premised, where is a Place mentioned by the name of Ecclesia, not to be despised or profaned with common banquettings: at least from the authority of the Fathers, who by their so expounding it, give us to understand, they thought it not improbable that there were such Places in the Apostles times. For the further strengthening of this kind of argument, Know also that Eusebius, in that Discourse of his where he endeavors to prove that the Essenes, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which Philo describes, were the first Christian Society of the Jewish Nation at Alexandria, converted by S. Mark, amongst other Characteristical notes (as he calls them, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) or badges of Christianity, (however he were mistaken in his conclusion or inference) alleges this for one of the first, That they had sacred Houses called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Worshipping-Places, that is, Churches. His words are these,

Afterwards reciting some other customs and particular observances of their Discipline, as their frequent assemblies in their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to hear the Scriptures read and interpreted; the distinction of places for men and women; Their manner of singing Hymns and Psalms by a Precentor, the rest answering 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the extremes of the verses; The Degrees of their Hierarchy, like those of Deacons and Bishops, and some other the like, he concludes, Quod 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , That Philo wrote these things, as one having knowledge of the customs at the beginning delivered by the Apostles, is manifest to any one. But whether that be so manifest or not, this I am sure is, That Eusebius believed the Antiquity of Churches or Oratories of Christians to have been from the Apostles times, yea, to have been an Apostolical ordinance; or else he mightily forgot himself, to bring that for an argument or badge to prove Philo 's Essenes to be S. Marks Christians; than which otherwise there could not be a stronger argument to evince the contrary to what he intended. Now who could know this better than Eusebius, who had searched into and perused all the Writings and Monuments of Christian Antiquity then extant, for the compiling of his Ecclesiastical History, and his Commentaries of the Acts of Martyrs now perished?

Add to this, what • a little before observed out of Bede, De locis sanctis, of a Tradition, That the Church of Zion was founded by the Apostles. And so I leave my first Argument.

[unspec 2] My next Argument why may I not take from that singular Character given to someone above other in the Apostles Salutations, as their peculiar? Salute such a one, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and the Church at his house. As Colos. 4. 15. of Nymphas, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Salute Nymphas, and the Church at his house. To Philemon also ver. 1, 2. To Philemon our dear brother and fellow-laborer (to Apphia our beloved, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, ) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and to the Church at thy house. See, he forgets it not after a Parenthesis, neither attributes it to Archippus, but as proper to Philemon alone. The like he hath of Aquila and Priscilla two several times: once sending salutation to them, Rom. 16. 3, 5. Salute Priscilla and Aquila, and the Church at their house: again sending salutation from them, 1 Cor. 16. 19. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the Church at their house. Which I understand not to be spoken of their Families as it is commonly expounded, but of the Congregation of the Saints there wont to assemble for the performance of Divine duties; that is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Whence (if it be granted) it will follow, First, that the Churches then used to assemble not in mutable and promiscuous, but in definite and appropriate places. Secondly, That those who are here saluted with that Appendix, were such as in their several Cities had bestowed and dedicated some part or some place within their dwellings to be an Oratory for the Church to assemble in for the performance of Divine duties according to the rule of the Gospel; Nymphas at Colossae, Philemon at Laodicea, (for there Archippus, who is saluted with him, was Bishop, saith Author Constit. Apost. as Philemon himself was afterwards of the neighbouring City Colossae) Aquila and Priscilla first at Rome, till Claudius banished them with the rest of the Jews from thence, Acts 18. 2. afterwards at Ephesus, ver. 19. whence S. Paul wrote that first Epistle to the Corinthians.

I am not the first (I think) who have taken these words in such a sense. Cecumenius in two or three of these places (if I understand him) goes the same way, though he mention the other Exposition also. As to that of Aquila and Priscilla, Rom. 16. his note is,

He mentions as I said, both Interpretations. So upon that of Nymphas, Col. 4. his words are, And unless this be the meaning, why should this appendant be so singularly mentioned in the Salutations of some, and not of others, and that not once, but again, if the same names be again remembered, as of Aquila and Priscilla? Had none in those Catalogues of Salutation Christian families, but someone only who is thus remembered? It is very improbable; nay, if we peruse them well, we shall find they had, but otherwise expressed; as in that prolix Catalogue, Rom. 16. we find Aristobulus and Narcissus saluted with their household, v. 10, 11. Asyncritus, Phlegon, &c. with the brethren which are with them, v. 14. others, with the Saints which are with them, v. 15. 2 Tim. 4. 19. The household of Onesiphorus. This therefore so singular an Appendix must mean some singular thing, not common to them with the rest, but peculiar to them alone: And what should this be but what I have shown?

Now because this Exposition concludes chiefly for a Coenaculum devoted to be an House of Prayer; let us see if out of a Pagan writer, who lived about the end of this Century, we can learn what manner of ones they were. For Lucian in his Dialogue Philopatris, by way of derision ( sed ridentem dicere verum quid vetat? ) brings in one Critias telling how some Christians went about to persuade him to be of their Religion; and that they brought him to the place of their assembly, being at Hyperôon, which he describes thus;

My third proof is from a Tradition the Church hath had, of the Houses of some [unspec 3] devout and pious Christians, as afterwards, so even in the Apostles time, converted into Churches or Oratories; as the house of Theophilus, a potent man in Antioch, (the same, as is supposed, to whom S. Luke (who was also an Antiochian ) inscribes both his Gospel and Acts of the Apostles ) who, being converted unto the Faith by S. Peter, converted his house into a Church, where S. Peter had his first See or Episcopal Residence. This Tradition is derived out of the Recognitions of Clemens, where it is first found: Which, though it be an Apocryphal writing, yet is of no small antiquity; and this passage is of such a nature, as it cannot be well imagined to what end it should be devised or feigned.

The like is reported of the house of Pudens, a Roman Senator and Martyr, in the Acta Pudentis, That it was turned into a Church after his Martyrdom. This is that Pudens mentioned by the Apostle in the 2 Epist. to Timothy, 4. 21. and coupled with Linus; Pudens and Linus (saith he) salute you. All this comes not of nothing; but surely argues some such custom to have been in those times.

I will seal up all my proofs for this Century of the Apostles with one passage of [unspec 4] Clemens (a man of the Apostolical Age) in his genuine Epistle ad Corinthios:

Here Clemens saith expressly, That the Lord had ordained (even now in the Gospel) as well appropriate Places WHERE, as appropriate Times and Persons, (that is, Priests) When and WHEREBY he would be solemnly served, that so all things might be done religiously and in order. Who then can believe that in the Apostles times (when this Clemens lived) the Places were not distinct for holy Services as well as the Times and Persons were? or that Clemens would have spoken in this manner, unless he had known it so to have been? The Corinthians, it seems, in that their notorious sedition and discord, had violated this order; at the correction whereof this passage aimeth.

This one passage therefore makes all my former Proofs credible, and may supply their defect where they are not enough convictive. And it is the more precious, in regard of the penury of written Monuments by any Disciples of the Apostles remaining unto us of that Primitive Age.

If any man shall ask, where this Divine Ordinance which Clemens here mentioneth is to be found; I answer, in the Analogy of the Old Testament, whence this Principle is taught us, That as the Divine Majesty itself is most Sacred and Incommunicable, (the reason why the Worship and Service given unto him must be communicated with no other;) so is it likewise a part of that Honor we owe unto his most Sacred, Singular and Incommunicable Eminency, that the things wherewith he is served should not be promiscuous and common, but appropriate and set apart to that end and purpose. And thus I conclude the First Seculum.

In The Second Century.

NOW for the Second, and that too for the beginning thereof, we have a witness not to be rejected, the holy Martyr Ignatius, who suffered An. 107. and [unspec 1] wrote the most of his Epistles in his bonds. He in his confessed Epistle ad Magnesios speaks thus;

Lo here a Temple with an Altar in it, whether the Magnesians are exhorted to gather themselves together to pray; To come together in one Place, that so they might all join together in one common prayer, spirited with one intention, with one and the same Hope in the Charity and Faith they have to Christ-ward: Secondly, To come thither as One, that is, in Unity of affection and brotherly love one towards another, as if all were but One, and not many; even as the Altar before which they presented themselves was but One, and the High Priest and Mediator between them and the Father, Jesus Christ, but One.

For it is to be observed that in those primitive times they had but One Altar in a Church, as a Symbole both that they worshipped but One God through One Mediator Jesus Christ, and also of the Unity the Church ought to have in itself: whence Ignatius, not only here, but also in his Epistle to the Philadelphians, urges the Unity of the Altar for a monitive to the Congregation to agree together in one. For

This custom of One Altar is still retained by the Greek Church. The contrary use is a transgression of the Latins, not only symbolically implying, but really introducing, (as they handle it) a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or multiplying of God's and Mediators, instead of that One God, and One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Nay more than this: It should seem that in those first times (before Dioceses were divided into those lesser and subordinate Churches we now call Parishes, and Presbyters assigned to them) they had not only one Altar in one Church or Dominicum, but one Altar to a Church, taking Church for the Company or Corporation of the Faithful united under one Bishop or Pastor; and that was in the City and place where the Bishop had his See and Residence: like as the Jews had but one Altar and Temple for the whole Nation united under one High Priest. And yet, as the Jews had their Synagogues, so perhaps might they have more Oratories than one, though their Altar were but one; there namely where the Bishop was.

namely, as he there tells us, to celebrate and participate the holy Eucharist. Why was this, but because they had not many places to celebrate in? And unless this were so, whence came it else that a Schismatical Bishop was said constituere or collocare aliud Altare; and that a Bishop and an Altar are made correlatives? See S. Cyprian Ep. 40. 72, 73. de unitate Ecclesiae. And thus perhaps is Ignatius also to be understood in that forequoted passage of his, Howsoever, I here determine nothing, but refer it to the judgment of those who are better skilled in Antiquity: only adding this, that if it were so, yet now that Parishes are divided into several Presbyteries as their proper Cures, everyone of them being as it were a little Diocese, the reason and signification of Unity is the same, to have but One Altar in a Parish Church.

To this Testimony of Ignatius of the use in his time I will add another of his, in his Epistle ad Antiochenos, where in his Salutes he speaketh thus;

that is, the Doors the women entered in at. For so we may learn from the Compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions, Lib. 2. c. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . all. 61. describing a Church assembly; But if they had in Ignatius his time Holy Doors, (or, as some render it, sacra vestibula) who can believe also but they had Holy Houses?

This Epistle indeed is none of the confessed ones: The title is excepted against; as that Ignatius wrote no Epistle ad Antiochenos, because Eusebius, and after him S. Jerome, when they rehearse his Epistles, make no mention of any such. Yet were the Antiochians his flock, his pastoral charge. Who would not then think it unlikely that, amongst so many Epistles written to other Churches in his going that long journey from Antioch to Rome, to receive the crown of Martyrdom, (yea to Smirna, through which he had passed) he should not remember with one farewell Epistle that Church whereof he was Bishop and Pastor, as well as the rest? Thus much I dare say, That this is as strong an Argument every whit to persuade that he wrote such an Epistle, (especially there being one extant under that Title,) as Eusebius his silence (for S. Jerome did but follow his steps) is that he did not. For why should it be thought more necessary that Eusebius should have met with all the Epistles of Ignatius in the Library of AElia or Jerusalem, (whence he professeth to have collected the whole matter of his History,) then he did with all the Works and Commentaries of some other Ecclesiastical men whom he mentioneth; many of those Writings, besides those he rehearseth, he confesseth not to have come to his hands or knowledge either what or how many they were? See him Hist. Lib. 5. c. 26. & Lib. 6. c. 10. This will be yet more considerable, if we remember that some Books, even of the Canon of the New Testament, were not known to some Churches at the sames time with the rest, and therefore a while doubted of, after they had notice of them. Besides, it is to be noted that Eusebius in express terms undertakes only to recite those Epistles of Ignatius which he wrote as he passed through Asia: but after his coming into Europe (whence those Epistles are dated which he mentions not) whether anything were written by him or not he informs us nothing. Nay, which is yet more, Vedelius grants the words and sentences of this Epistle to be the most of them, by their style and character, the words and sentences of Ignatius; but he would have them therefore to be taken out of some of his other Epistles, to wit, according to a new and a strange conceit of his, that the genuine Epistles of Ignatius have been robbed and gelded of much of their contents, to make up more Epistles under new Titles. He excepts only in this Epistle against the Salutations at the end thereof; because there were not so many or no such Church-offices in Ignatius his time as are there mentioned. But what is this else but to beg the question? Till therefore somebody shall not only affirm, but prove there were no such, no not in the Church of Antioch, ( whence divers ecclesiastical customs had their first beginning, which were afterwards imitated by the rest of the Churches) I can see no just cause hitherto why I should not believe this passage, as well as the rest, and so the whole Epistle, to have had Ignatius for its Author. And so I leave it.

[unspec 2] For the middle of this Seculum, or thereabouts, there are extant two short Epistles of Pius the first, Bishop of Rome, to one Iustus Viennensis; none of the Decretals, (for they are indeed counterfeit,) but others diverse from them, which no man hath yet, that I know of, proved to be supposititious. In the first whereof there is mention made of one Euprepia, a pious and devout Matron, who consigned the Title of her House unto the Church for the use of Sacred assemblies.

He seems by paupers, the poor, to note the Clergy, which in his other Epistle he calls Senatus pauperum, Salutat te Senatus pauperum: Otherwise the whole Christian flock might be so called; according to that in the Gospel, Pauperes Evangelizantur. The poor have the Gospel preached to them, (Matt. 11. 5. Luke 7. 22.) and that of Esa. ch. 61. 1. applied by our Savior, Luke 4. 18. The Lord hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; and according to that in the Parable, Luke 14. 21. Introduc paupers, Bring in hither the poor. Perhaps in those perilous times they were wont to make their Donations of this kind under such covert names.

In the second Epistle to the same Iustus, he mentions certain Martyrs who had then newly (as he there speaks) triumphed over the world: amongst which he mentions one Pastor, by Office a Presbyter, who before his death had erected or created a Titulus, that is, a Church, as that name is vulgarly known to signify:

Why the Roman Church called such places by the name of Tituli, whether because of their dedication the the Name of Christ our Lord was as it were inscribed upon them, (as the manner then was to set the Names or Titles of the Owners upon their Houses and possessions,) and so it would concur in notion with those other names of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , & Basilica, The Lord's, and The King's; or whether because they gave a Title of Cure or denomination to the Presbyters to whom they were committed, (for the chief or Episcopal Church I doubt whether it were so called or not,) let others determine.

I shall not do amiss, I think, if I add to this testimony a passage of Theophilus Antiochenus, (who lived at the same time) which though, I grant, it be indifferent to be otherwise understood, yet seems very prone to be construed for our purpose. It is to be found in his second Book ad Autolicum, where having compared the World to the Sea, he follows the Allegory thus;

It is ambiguous what he means here by Ecclesiae, Churches: but if it were probable that Synagoga were here taken, as it is usually in the New Testament, for a Place, then might we determine that Ecclesia were so taken also, and not for a Company or Assembly only.

Well, howsoever Ecclesia be taken in this passage (which I reckon not upon,) yet thus much I am sure of, That toward the end of this Century it was used for a [unspec 3] Place of Sacred assembly; witness Clemens Alexander. (who then lived) Lib. 7. Strom. where speaking of the Church or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith he, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , I call not now the Place, but the congregation of the Elect, Ecclesia, the Church: whereby it appears, that in his time Ecclesiae was used for the Place of the assembly of the Elect, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as he calls them, that is, of the Saints, and not for the Congregation only; for otherwise this Caution needed not. And so himself uses it in that story of the young man whom S. John committed to a Bishop of Asia to be instructed and trained up in the Christian piety and discipline, and who afterwards was by ill company withdrawn to lewd and debauched courses, and became Captain of a band of robbers in the mountains: For there when S. John, after a time coming again to visit the Churches, demanded of the Bishop an account of the Charge he had committed to him; the Bishop answers,

To conclude, if the Name were in Clemens his time, undoubtedly the Thing was. And this is my proof for the latter end of this Century.

In the Third Century.

NOW are we arrived at the Third Seculum, and the last under the Ethnic and persecuting Emperors: wherein the Testimonies of the Christians Oratories do abound, and are such as will out-face any that shall dare contradict them.

For the beginning of this Century, Tertullian shall give in Evidence; first, in his Book De Idololatria: Where declaiming against some Christian Artificers, who because it was their occupation and trade, thought it lawful to make Idols for the Gentiles, so themselves worshipped them not, he speaks thus;

Mark here, DOMUS DEI THE HOUSE OF GOD, & ECCLESIA THE CHURCH expounded by it; In Ecclesiam venire, idest, In Domum Dei venire; To come into the Church, that is, To come into the house of God; and both of them set in opposition to an Idol-shop.

Of this Domus Dei or House of God, in his Book adversus Valentinianos, cap. 2. he describes unto us the form and posture upon this occasion. He compares the Valentinian heresy, in respect of their affected secrecy and reservedness in hiding the mysteries of their doctrine, to the Eleusinian Holies, whose Temple had many Curtains and doors, through which those that were to be initiated were five years in passing before they could be admitted unto the Adytum or Sacrarie where the Deity was: whereas contrariwise, he proveth out of Scripture the badge and genius of the Religion of Christ to consist in a Dove-like simplicity and openness, and accordingly had its Oratories or Houses of worship, not like that of the Eleusinian Holies, concealed with multiplicity of walls, veils, turnings and windings, but agreeable to and as it were figuring its disposition. For,

namely, as he said a little before, Christum Columba demonstrare solita est, serpens vero tentare; meaning, as I suppose, not so much Christ personal, as Christ mystical, that is, the Disciples or Religion of Christ. For it is the conclusion of his proofs brought out of Scripture, to show that Simplicity was the Livery of Christ's Disciples or Religion; And otherwise, that [ solita est, is wont] would scarcely be true; since Christ personal is but once pointed out by a Dove, namely, at his Baptism. This House, saith he, is simplex, that is, Also in edi • is & apertis, places which Doves delight in; & ad lucem, that is, toward the place whence light springeth, or the Sun rising: For Amat figuram Spiritûs sancti, that is, the Dove, as also Orientem Christi figuram; wherein be alludes to that Oriens ex alto or Day-spring from on high in Zechariah's Benedictus, and hath reference to the word, & ad lucem, i. ad locum vel plagam lucis. For, that the Churches of Christians anciently were turned toward the East, appears by the Author of the Apostolical Constitutions, which surely are as ancient as Tertullian: Domus sit oblonga, ad Orientem conversa, saith he. Besides, it appears out of Tertullian himself, that Christians then worshipped towards the East, and therefore more than probable their Houses were sited and accommodated accordingly. Thus I have done my best to clear this passage, because the Author is crabbed and obscure.

There are two or three more places in the same Father where the Christian Oratories are mentioned by the name of Ecclesia: but because the ambiguous and indifferent signification of this word, either for a Place or an Assembly, makes them not convictive, unless some circumstance be annexed which determines it, I will only produce that De corona Militis, Cap. 3. where concerning th • Sacrament of Baptism he speaks thus;

I say, Ecclesia here signifies the Place. For the clearing whereof, know that the Baptisteries, or places of water for Baptism, in those elder times were not, as now our Fonts are, within the Church, but without, and often in places very remote from it. When therefore Tertullian here saith, That those who were to be baptized first made their Abrenunciati • n in the Church sub manu Antistitis, (that is, as I suppose, the Bishop or Priest laying hands upon them, either in the mean time, or as soon as they had done) and afterward again at the Water; he must needs by Ecclesia mean the Place: otherwise if it were taken for the Assembly of the faithful, the Church in that sense was present also at the Water. But Ecclesia here and the Water are supposed to be two distinct places; in both of which (according to the rite of the African Churches.) Abrenunciation was to be performed; And thus much for the testimony of Tertullian.

My next witness is Hippolitus, who flourished between the twentieth and thirtieth year of this Century in the reign of Alexander Mammeae. He, in his Treatise De consummatione mundi seu de Antichrist, describing the signs and impieties which should precede the Persecution of Antichrist, (as he conceived thereof,) hath this passage concerning the irreligion and profaneness which should then reign;

And in his description of the Persecution itself, this; No man of reason can believe but that he that speaks thus knew and was well acquainted with such Places in his own time; though his description be of that which was to be in time to come: For it would be a marvelous conceit, to think he prophesied of them, having never seen them. Nay, a profane Testimony will further confirm us he needed not: For Lampridius reports of this Alexander Mammeae, (in whose time Hippolytus lived)

About the middle of this Century flourished that famous Gregory of Neocaesarea, surnamed Thaumaturgus. He in his Epistola Canonica (as the Greeks call it) describing the five degrees or admissions of Penitents, according to the discipline of his time, (which he calls

that Christians in his time had Oratories or Sacred Houses to worship in, and those accommodated with distinct places of remoter and nearer admission.

Nay, further, we find in this Gregory's life written by Gregory Nyssen, that he was himself a great Founder and erecter of these sacred Edifices; whereof the Church built by him at Neocaesarca in Pontus (where he was Bishop) was still standing in Gregory Nyssen's time. Hear his words, where he relates the speedy and wonderful success this Thaumaturgus had in the conversion of that City:

He adds besides, that whereas in his own time there had happened a most grievous Earthquake,

Nor is this all; He tells in the same place how that a little before the persecution of Decius (which was Anno Christi 252.) this Thaumaturgus, having converted not the City of Neocaesar • a only, but the whole territory adjoining, to the Faith of Christ,

Oratories in the name of Christ, stirred up the fury and indignation of the Emperor.

About the same time with this Gregory lived S. Cyprian at Carthage. In him I observe the Christian Oratories twice remembered; once by the name of Dominicum, i. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , another time of Ecclesia. The first in his Book De opere & eleemosynis, speaking against communicating the holy Eucharist without an Offering;

The other in his 55. Ep. or 3. ad Cornelium; where declaiming against some lapsed Christians, who having in time of persecution sacrificed unto Idols, would nevertheless without due penance and satisfaction be admitted again into the Church; If this be once permitted, (saith he) Note that Ecclesia here and Capitolium, Christ's House and Jupiter's Temple, stand in opposition one to the other; also that Capitolium by Antonomasia is put for a Gentile Temple in general; that in the one (to wit, Ecclesia ) was in the other, Idola & simulacra cum Aris Diaboli. Contemporary with S. Cyprian was that famed Dionysius Alexandrinus, made Bishop somewhat before him, but out-lived him some five years, namely until 265. There is an Epistle of his extant (which is part of the Canon-Law of the Greek Church) to one Basilides, resolving certain Quaere's of his; amongst the rest, Whether a woman, during the time of her separation, might enter into the Church or not: To which his answer is negative. This Quaere he expresseth thus; Gr. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . By which, and his answer thereunto, we learn not only that the Christians had then House • of Worship, but a religious respect also to difference them from common places.

And here, because the Time fitly presents it in our way, take notice, for some reason that we shall bear of ere we have done, That this of the Christians having such Houses for their devotions was a thing publicly known to the Gentiles themselves, together with the name whereby they called them: as appears by two Imperial Rescripts, the one of Galienus about the year 260. (recorded by Eusebius, Hist. lib. 7. c. 12. Gr. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .) which calls them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Worshipping Places; which, having been a little before, in the persecution of Valerianus his Father, taken from the Christians, and then in the hands of the Gentiles, Galienus graciously restored unto them, with liberty freely to exercise their Religion. The words of the Rescript, so much of them as is needful to our purpose are these;

The other is of Aurelianus, De Libris Sibyllinis inspiciendis, when the Marcomanni invaded the Empire, Anno Ch. 271. recorded by Vopiscus, in these words:

that is, in the Capitol, where the Senate used sometimes to sit.

Add to this, if you please, that which Eusebius relates of this Emperor, to wit, that when Paulus Samosatenus, being deposed by the Council from his Bishopric, and Domnus chosen in his room, would not yield up the possession of the Church, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the matter being brought before Aurelianus the Emperor, he decrees that it should be given to those of the Sect unto whom the Bishops of Rome and Italy should send Letters of communion:

For that by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is here meant the Christians Oratory or House of Sacred assembly at Antioch, (and not the Bishop's house, as some would have it,) appears, both because Eusebius elsewhere so uses it, as namely Lib. 8. c. ult. & Lib. 9. c. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . as also because he expounds himself presently by Ecclesia, when he saith, For surely he meant not that he was by the secular arm cast out of the Church, as Church is taken for the Company of the Faithful, but as it signifies the Place of Sacred assembly, where this Paulus kept possession after he was deposed for Heresy by the Council.

But what need we trouble ourselves thus to gather up Testimonies for the latter half of this Seculum? I have one Testimony behind which will dispatch it all at once, yea and, if need be, depose for the whole also. It is that of Eusebius in his eighth Book Hist. Eccl. in the beginning; where describing those peaceful and Halcyonian days which the Church enjoyed for many years, from the time of the Martyrdom of S. Cyprian unto that most direful persecution of Diocletian, and how wonderfully the number of Christians was advanced during that time, he speaketh on this manner:

Lo here how in those Halcyonian days Christians had not only Churches or Houses of worship, but such as might then be called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ancient Edifices; which how far it may reach let others judge: Secondly, That the number of Christians being grown so great that those ancient Fabrics were no longer sufficient to contain them, they erected new and more spacious ones in every City from the foundations: And all this testified by one that himself lived and saw part of those times. These sacred Edifices Diocletian and those other surrogated Emperors (which continued that direful ten-years Persecution begun by him) commanded by their Edicts to be everywhere demolished, as we may read in the same Eusebius at large. The like whereunto seems never to have happened in any of the former Persecutions, in which they were only taken from the Christians, but again, when the persecution ceased, for the most part restored unto them: as in the former Persecution they were by Galienus, under the name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Worshipping Places.

And thus I think I have proved by good and sufficient Testimonies, That Christians had Oratories or Churches, that is, appropriate Places for Christian worship, in every of the first three hundred years: I am well assured (whosoever be judge) long before the days of Constantine. I will add to these Authorities two or three Reasons why they must, in all likelihood, have had such Places. First, Because it is certain that in their Sacred assemblies they used then to worship and pray towards the East: which how it could be done with any order and conveniency, is not easy to be conceived, unless we suppose the Places wherein they worshipped to have been situated and accommodated accordingly, that is, chosen and appointed to that end. Secondly, Because of their Discipline, which required distinct and regular Places in their assemblies, for the Poenitentes, Auditores, Catechumen, and Fideles; and therefore argueth they met not in every place promiscuously, but in Places already fitted and accommodated for that purpose. Lastly, Because they had before their eyes an example and pattern in Proseucha's and Synagogues of the Jews, from whom their Religion had its beginning; which though as contrary to the Religion of the Empire as theirs, yet had places appropriate for the exercise thereof, wheresoever they lived dispersed among the Gentiles. Who can believe that such a pattern should not invite the Christians to an imitation of the same, though we should suppose there were no other reasons to induce them but that of ordinary convenience?

Answers to the OBIECTIONS.

I Come now to answer the Objections brought by such as maintain the contrary opinion, which are two. First, say they, It is not likely, no not possible, they should have any such Places, living under a Pagan and persecuting State and Empire.

I answer, This Objection is already confuted by matter of Fact: For it is to be noted that the greatest and most cruel Persecutions, and the five last of the Ten, fall within the third or last Century; in which that Christians had Oratories or Houses of Christian worship, we have before proved by most indubitate and irrefragable Testimonies: But if in this, why not as well in the former Ages, wherein the Persecutions were, as no more in number, so far less bitter? For it is to be taken notice of, That these Persecutions were not continual, but as it were by fits; and those of the two first Centuries of no long durance; so as the Churches enjoyed long times of peace and quietness between them.

Besides, why should it seem to any one less credible that Christians should have their Oratories or Houses of worship under the Roman Empire, whilst the State thereof was yet Gentile and opposite to the Faith of Christ, than that they had them in the Kingdom of Persia, which never was Christian? For that they had them there as old as the days of Constantine, Sozomen testifieth, Lib. 2. c. 8. The occasion of the demolishing whereof by King Isdigerdes, and of that most barbarous persecution of the Christians of those Countries for thirty years together, about the year 400. Theodoret relates Lib. 5. c. 38. namely, that one Audas, out of an indiscreet and unseasonable zeal, (though otherwise a virtuous and godly Bishop) having demolished the Persians Pyraeum or Temple where the Fire was worshipped, and refusing to build it up again as was enjoined him, the King thereupon mightily enraged, caused all the Christians Oratories or Churches in his dominions to be demolished likewise, and that horrible Persecution before mentioned to storm against them. Could the Christians find means and opportunity to erect Churches, that is, Houses for their Religion, under a Pagan government in Persia, and could they not under the Roman Empire?

The other Objection is from the Authors of Apologies against the Gentiles, Origen against Celsus, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius, who when the Gentiles object Atheism to the Christians, as having no Templa, no Arae, no Simulachra; these Authors are so far from pleading they had any such, that they answer by way of Concession, not only granting they had none, but (which is more,) affirming they ought not to have, and condemning the Gentiles which had.

Origen denies it not, but gives the reason;

Minutius Felix, when Caecilius objects,

brings in his Octavius answering thus,

Arnobius:

He denies none of this, but thus answers:

Lactantius condemns the Gentiles for having them: