#1, '"S PRINCETON, N. J. lUnr . H-h ^ BX5037 .LA7 1832 v. 7 Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722. The theological works of the Shelf..... Reverend Mr. Charles Leslie 1 i THEOLOGICAL WORKS OF THE REV. CHARLES LESLIE. THE THEOLOGICAL WORKS OF THE REV. CHARLES LESLIE. IN SEVEN VOLUMES. OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. MDCCCXXXII. A DISCOURSE ON WATER-BAPTISM. PREFACE. I. A SHORT proof for infant baptism P. 3 II. The several sorts of contemners of baptism amongst us 5 III. The Presbyterians in Scotland ibid. IV. In Ireland 7 V. In England ibid. VI. Too many of the communion of the church of Eng- land ibid. VII. Whence this Discourse useful to others besides Quak- ers 8 VIII. The particular occasion of writing this Discourse . . ibid. THE BOOK. Sect. I. That Matt, xxviii. 19. was meant of water-baptism 1 1 II. I. That Christ did practise water-baptism. II. That the apostles did it after him. III. That the catholic church have done it after them 14 III. That baptism must be outward and visible, because it is an ordinance appointed whereby to initiate men into an outward and visible society, which is the church . . 19 The arguments of the Quakers against the outward bap- tism. IV. I. That the baptism commanded Matt, xxviii. 19. was only the inward or spiritual baptism 24 V. 2. That water-baptism is John's baptism, and therefore ceased 26 VI. 3. That Christ and the apostles did baptize with John's baptism 28 VII. 4. That Paul was not sent to baptize, i Cor. i. 14, 17. 38 VIII. 5 . That baptism is not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience, i Pet. iii. 2 1 : therefore that it is not the outward, but the inward baptism, which the apostles preached 53 LESLIE, VOL. VII. a CONTENTS. IX. 6. That there is but one baptism, Eph. iv. 5; there- fore not both outward and inward 56 X. 7. That the outward baptism is to be left behind, and we to get beyond it, Heb. vi. i 60 XI. 8. That there are no signs under the gospel 69 XII. The conclusion ; shewing the necessity of water-bap- tism 87 THE QUALIFICATIONS REQUISITE TO AD.^IINIS- TER THE SACRAMENTS. Preface 97 Sect. I. The necessity of an outward commission to the ministers of the gospel 99 The case is stated as to those Quakers, for whose satisfac- tion this is intended ibid. 1 . Of personal qualifications requisite in the administra- tors of the sacraments 100 2. Of the sacerdotal qualifications, viz. an outward com- mission, as was given to Christ by God ibid. 3. By Christ to the apostles, &c loi 4. By the apostles to others ibid. 5. Those others empowered to give it to others after them ibid. II. The deduction of this commission is continued in the succession of bishops, and not of presbyters 102 1. Either way it operates against the Quakers ibid. 2. The continuance of every society is deduced in the succession of the chief governors of the society, and not of the inferior officers ibid. 3. This shewn, in matter of fact, as to the church and the succession of bishops from the apostles' times to our days, particularly here in England 103 4. The Presbyterian plea considered, that bishoprics were but single parishes, and consequently, that every presbyter was a bishop ; and their vain logomachy upon the words frrlaKorros and irpecr^vTepos 105 5. Argued from the type of the Levitical priesthood, which shewn to be the method of Christ, the apo- stles, and primitive fathers 108 CONTENTS. Ill 6. Whence the case of Korah and the presbyterians shewn to be the same ; and the episcopal supremacy as plainly and fully established as was that of Aaron and his successors 109 7. No succession of presbyters can be shewn from the apostles no 8. The pretence of extraordinary gifts no ground or ex- cuse for making of a schism 113 III. Objection from the times of poperj' in this kingdom ; as if that did unchurch, and consequently break the succession of our bishops 1 2 1 1 . This shewn to be a popish argument 122 2. That idolatry does not unchurch. Proved, (i.) Because a Christian may be an idolater ibid. (2.) From the type of the church under the law . . 124 3. Episcopacy the most opposite to popery 125 4. Maladministration does forfeit, but not vacate a com- mission, till it be recalled 128 5. Defects in succession no bar to the possessors, where there are none who claim a better right 130 IV. The assurance and consent in the episcopal commu- nion beyond that of any other 131 1. The episcopal communion of much greater extent, and more universal than all those who oppose it . . . ibid. 2. And than the church of Rome, if joined with them . . ibid. 3. The dissenters from episcopacy do all deny the ordi- nation or call of each other 132 4. If the Quakers receive baptism from any of these dis- senters, they have no reason to expect the same al- lowances as may be given to those of their own com- munions 133 5 . The episcopal ordinations, and consequently their right to baptize, is owned by both papists and presbyterians ibid. V. Tlie personal sanctity of the administrator of the sacra- ments, though highly requisite on his part, yet not of necessity as to the receivers, to convey to them the benefits of the sacraments : because, 1. The virtue comes not from the minister, but from God alone 134 2. For this cause (among others) Christ chose Judas to be an apostle 135 a 2 CONTENTS. 3. God's power is magnified in the meanness of his in- struments 135 4. St. Paul rejoiced at the preaching of evil men 136 5. This confirmed by daily experience ibid. 6. The argument stronger as to the sacraments 138 7. The fatal consequences of making the personal holi- ness of the administrator necessary towards the effi- cacy of the sacraments 139 (i.) It takes away all assurance in our receiving of the sacraments ibid. (2.) It renders the commands of Christ of none ef- fect ibid. (3.) It is contrary to the tenor of God's former insti- tutions, and puts us in a more uncertain condition than they were under the law ibid. (4.) It was the ancient error of the Donatists, and borders upon popery 140 8. As great sanctity to be found in the clergy of the church of England as among any of our dissenters . . 142 9. There is, at least, a doubt in receiving baptism from any of our dissenters ; which, in this case, is a sin : therefore security is only to be had in the episcopal communion ibid. 0. The advantage of the church of England, by her being the established constitution ever since the reform- ation . . . 143 1 . That therefore nothing can excuse schism from her, but her enjoining something, as a condition of com- munion, that is contrary to the holy scriptures, which cannot be shewn 144 2. Therefore to receive baptism from the church of Eng- land is the greatest security which the Quakers can have of receiving it from proper hands 145 3. An answer to the objection, that baptism has not such visible effects amongst us as the Quakers would de- sire ibid. The Supplement. Some authorities for episcopacy, as distinct from, and superior to, presbytery, taken out of the fathers and councils in the first four hundred and fifty years after Christ 147 CONTENTS. V If. That tlie whole reformation, even Calvin, Beza, and those of their communion, were zealous assertors of episcopacy 179 PRIMITIVE HERESY REVIVED. The seven errors, wherein the Quakers are compared with the ancient heretics. I. Their denial of the incarnation of Christ, that is, of the hypostatical or personal union of the divine and human natures, in his being made flesh 1 89 II. Their denial of the truth and reality of his death and sufferings 190 III. Their denial of the resurrection and future judgment 195 IV. Their abstaining from the sacraments and prayers of the church igj V. Their forbidding to marrj^ and preaching up of forni- cation 203 VI. Their contempt of magistracy and government 205 VII. Their stiffness, in not taking off their hats, or gi^'ing men their civil titles 210 The conclusion. Wherein, 1 . The Quakers are invited to view their errors in those primitive heresies 211 2. Their complaint of being misrepresented ibid. 3. Their modern representation of their principles leaves not difference enough betwixt us to justify their se- paration ; whence an invitation to them to return . . 212 A FRIENDLY EXPOSTULATION WITH MR. PENN. 1. Mr. Penn's notion of the light mthin 2 14 2. This not sufficient to justify his separation 226 3. For he owns that we are of one religion 227 4. His exposition of justification, in his Primitive Chris- tianity, most orthodox, and agreeing exactly with us ; and his whole ninth chapter of the inward or spiritual appearance of Christ in the soul ibid. Some objections of his solved, so far as not to be any justi- fiable causes of a separation, as concerning, 1. Forms of prayer 228 2. The spirituality of the ministry 229 vi CONTENTS. 3. Their being witnesses of Christ 229 4. Their receiving hire (as he calls it) for their preach- ing 230 5. Tithes ibid. 6. Swearing , ibid. 7. War • 231 8. Holydays ibid. A SOLEMN PROTESTATION AGAINST GEORGE KEITH'S ADVERTISEMENT, &c SOME REFLECTIONS UPON THE SOLEMN PRO- TESTATION AN ESSAY ON THE DIVINE RIGHT OF TITHES. PREFACE. The Quakers' excess against tithes 269 Milton against tithes 270 Selden his History of Tithes - 273 Dropping the sin of sacrilege 274 THE BOOK. Introduction . 277 Sect. I. Of trust in God '. . 278 II. Judgments upon distrust 289 III. Of trust in riches 290 IV. That some part of our substance is due to God, as an act of worship 292 V. Of the determinate quantum of a tenth 293 Under the law ibid. VI. Before the law in Abram 297 In Jacob ibid. VII. That this was the universal notion and tradition of the Gentile world 307 VIII. The original of tithe 327 IX. An answer to the objection, that tithes are not com- manded in the gospel 341 X. An answer to the objection, that no tithes were paid in the days of the apostles, and first ages of Christianity 347 The church of Rome first corrupted the doctrine of titlie 354 XI. The tithes in England are dedicated by particular vows 356 CONTENTS. vii XII. The benefit of paying our tithe 372 XIII. Remarkable judgments for not paying of our tithe . 375 XIV. Of what things tithe is to be paid 384 XV. The difference betuixt the tithe to the poor, and the tithe of worship 387 XVI. When tithes are to be paid 389 XVII. Of what part of our goods tithe is to be paid 391 XVIII. Who they are that ought to pay tithe 392 XIX. If tithes may be commuted or redeemed 395 XX. To whom tithes are to be paid 398 XXI. In what manner tithes ought to be offered 400 XXII. How priests are to pay their tithe 407 XXIII. A remedy proposed how the impropriate tithes, &c. may be restored 409 Without loss to the impropriators, and to the great bene- fit of the nation ; wherein of maintaining the poor, and taking off the charge of the poor-rates throughout England 412 Six other great advantages to the nation proposed by this method 415 The objection answered, that this would make the clergy too rich 417 ^^^lerein of the monastic life 420 Of the celibacy of the clergy 423 And their bearing secular employments 424 Conclusion 428 A form of prayer and thanksgiving upon the offering of our tithe to the priest ; with a blessing to be pro- nounced by the priest upon us, or by the bishop upon a priest that offers to him 43 2 THE HISTORY OF SIX AND HERESY. Preface 439 I. The benefit of contemplating the fall of the angels .... 443 II. This text is likewise applicable to the conflicts of the church upon earth ibid. III. Pride the first sin of the devil 444 IV. Which aspires, by consequence, to an equality with God ibid. viii CONTENTS. V. The incarnation of Christ shewn to be the ground of this contest in heaven 445 VI. The battle of the good and evil angels concerning it, proceeding upon the principles of love and pride 450 VII. God's determination of the cause 458 VIII. The same war carried on by the Devil upon earth... ibid. IX. Wliy Lucifer and his angels did not submit to the de- termination of God 459 X. The many heresies broached by the Devil against the truth of the incarnation of Christ 461 XI. And of his satisfaction 465 Wherein these objections are considered. 1. That the sufferings of Christ ought to have been eter- nal 474 2. That Christ ought to have had despair 476 3. That he took the pollution as well as the curse of our sin, as the Antinomians hold 478 4. The Quakers and Bourignonists oppose the satisfac- tion of Christ 480 5. Pride the mother of these and all heresies 482 XII. The dispute concerning grace 484 XIII. Of faith and works 486 Wherein, i . Of imputation 489 2. Of election and reprobation 493 3. Of foreknowledge and freewill 496 XIV. The various successes of this war upon earth before Christ came 5° 2 XV. The grand conflict betwixt Christ and the Devil 504 XVI. Apphcation of the whole 509 FIVE DISCOURSES FIVE DISCOURSES UPON THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS: WATER BAPTISM, EPISCOPACY, PRIMITIVE HERESY REVIVED, REFLECTIONS ON THE QUAKERS. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE SOCINIAN TRINITY. LESLIE, VOL. VII. b P 11 E F A C E FIVE DISCOURSES. The following treatises being out of print, it was thought best to reprint them in the same volume^ with the Snake and Defence, that that author's works upon this subject might be all alike, and more portable : so that if others of them should be reprinted, or new added, it will be no pre- judice to them who have this. There is one small thing added to this, which was wrote before that author did engage with the Quakers. It is a letter concerning the Sociiiian Trinity : but it is as proper for the Quaker as the Socinian controversy, for they are all one upon this point : and the Quakers have the same salvos as the Socinians to reconcile their Trinity, making it only three manifestations, or operations; and are answerable in the same manner as the Socinians for the many absurdities and blasphemies of this their notion of the Trinity, which they have taken up to avoid the far less difl&culties which they apprehended to be greater in the catholic doctrine of three Persons in one and the same pure essence and substance. This small thing, being only a letter to a private friend, (which he procured to be printed,) was not meant to com- prehend all that controversy, but to give, in short, a sum- " [This arrangement is necessarily altered in the present edi- tion : and though this preface speaks of Jive Discourses, the fifth was omitted in this place, having been already printed as the first letter in the Socinian controversy. It will be found in vol. ii. p. 27. of the present edition.] PREFACE TO THE FIVE DISCOURSES. mary view of it, to shew the unreasonableness of their ex- ceptions, and that they are divided into more and more contradictory and fundamentally material, different and opposite hypotheses, than what they object in the several explanations of the orthodox upon that unfathomable and glorious mystery. But if it please God to lend that author health and ability, he intends to consider of that controversy with greater care ; he not thinking it sufficient to have proved the Quakers to be Socinians, (though many of them know it not,) without likewise shewing the fallacy and weakness of those principles and prejudices upon which both of them do proceed: which was not the business of his works against the Quakers, they denying themselves to be So- cinians, and laying that imputation upon others with great contumely and contempt, as is shewed in the Snake, vol. iv. sect. XI. p. 153. It was enough upon that point to let them and the world see that they were real, though not nominal Socinians. But if God shall so bless his labours, as to speak to the heart of the Socinian heresy, then will not only they and the Quakers be detected for merely nominal Christians, but the truth of the Christian rehgion will be more and more vindicated, and we be still further confirmed and built up in our most holy faith : Quod fausUim faxit Dens I A DISCOURSE PROVING THE DIVINE INSTITUTION OF WATER-BAPTISM: WHEREIN THE QUAKER ARGUMENTS AGAINST IT ARE COLLECTED AND CONFUTED. With as much as is needful concerning THE LORD'S SUPPER. If ye love me, keep my commandments. John xiv. 15. I.ESLIK, VOL. VII. B PREFACE TO THE DISCOURSE ON WATER-BAPTISM. As baptism is putting on Christ, giving up our names to him, being admitted as his disciples, and a public profes- sion of his doctrine ; so the renouncing of our baptism is as public a disowning of him, and a formal apostasy from his religion. Therefore the Devil has been most busy in all ages (but has prevailed most in our latter corrupt times) to prejudice men, by many false pretences, against this divine institu- tion. Having been able to persuade some quite to throw- it off as pernicious and hurtful ; others to think it only lawful to be done, but to lay no great stress upon it, and so use it, where it is enjoined, as a thing indifferent : others deny it to infants upon this only ground, that they are not supposed capable of being admitted into the covenant of God, which he has made with men ; for if they are capable of being admitted into the covenant, there can be no rea- son to deny them the outward seal of it. But this being foreign to my present undertaking, which is to demonstrate to the Quakers the necessity of an out- ward or water-baptism in the general, (for as to persons capable of it, we have no controversy with those who deny it to all,) therefore I have not digressed into another sub- ject, which is that of infant-baptism, in the following Dis- course. I. Yet thus much I will say of it in this place, that in- fants are capable of being admitted into the covenant, and therefore that they cannot be excluded from the outward seal of it. The consequence the Baptists cannot deny. B 2 4 PREFACE TO THE And that they are capable, I thus prove : They were ca- pable under the law, and before the law, of being admitted as members of the covenant in Christ to come, made with Abraham by the seal of circumcision at the age of eight days : and therefore there can be no reason to exclude them fi-om the same privilege to the same covenant now that Christ is come, unless Christ had debarred them from it ; the law standing still as it was, where he has not al- tered or fulfilled it. But he has not debarred them ; nay, on the contrary, he has yet further confirmed their being within the covenant. He called a little child, (Matt, xviii. 2, 3, 5.) and set him in the midst of his apostles, and pro- posed him as a pattern to them and to all adult Christians, and said that none should etiter into the kingdom of hea- ven, except those who should become as little children; and that whoever did receive a little child in his name did receive Christ himself. And, (ver. 10.) In heaven their angels (saith Christ) do ahuays behold the face of my Fa- ther which is in heaven. And therefore he bids us take heed that ice despise not one of these little ones ; by which term, though adult persons are sometimes meant, yet in the text before quoted it is expressly applied to little chil- dren. And what greater despising of them can be, than to reject them as no members of Christ's body, and con- sequently unvA'orthy of the outward seal of his covenant? Christ was displeased with his disciples (Mark x. 14.) for hindering young children to be brought unto him : and will he be pleased with the Baptists for the same thing ? He took the little children up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Did he bless those who were not capable of being within his covenant ? He said. Of such is the kingdom of God, (which is a term our Sa- viour used to express the covenant of the gospel.) Are they not then within the covenant of the gospel? The apostle says, that where either of the parents is a Chris- tian (1 Cor. vii. 14.) the children are holy, that is, M'ithin the covenant of Christ : and pursuant to this, when any man was converted, his children were baptized with him- DISCOURSE ON WATER-BAPTISM. 5 self. This is the meaning of what we read so often in the Acts, that such a man was baptized with his household. And it was the custom before with the Jews, that when they admitted any man as a proselyte to their religion, they baptized his children with himself. Let this suffice for the present : and proceed. II. When rebellion had fully completed itself in the murder of the king, 1648, it soon spawned a multifarious schism of thirty or forty different religions in England at the same time, of which catalogues were then printed ; most of all these threw away baptism, and threatened an immediate and total overthrow of the Christian religion in this island : but, by the great mercy of God, the restora- tion of the church, with the king, 1660, has extinguished the very names and memory of these, all but four or five of the principal sects ; the Presbyterians, (mother of all the rest,) Independents, Anabaptists, Quakers, and Mug- gletonians. I am told of some Sweet-singers got up of late ; but they are yet inconsiderable : they may increase, and all the rest revive, if warmed by a plenitude of indulg- ence. The Socinians, or Unitarians, are already got very high, who make nothing of the sacraments but as inef- fectual forms. So think the Deists, who pretend to higher quality than these : and the Latitudinarians will quarrel with none of these. All Deists are Latitudinarians ; and though they despise baptism, and all revealed institutions, yet they can submit to them, because they are established by law, as they would to any thing else, rather than lose a penny or their ease. But the Quakers and Muggleton- ians have (more sincerely) rejected baptism as not allow- able, because they think so. III. The Presbyterians, Independents, &c. do indeed use baptism j but as a thing so indifferent, that many of them will suffer a child to die without it, rather than baptize it privately, or not upon a sermon or lecture-day, or before sermon, rather than after it : and an instance can be given since this late establishment of presbytery in Scotland, of a child who died in the church in sermon-time ; but the B 3 6 PREFACE TO THE minister suflfered that, and the repeated requests of the parents, rather than go out of his wonted method of bap- tizing after sermon ; he thought baptism so little mate- rial ! But the people being used to a greater veneration of baptism under the episcopal administration, and taking the Presbyterian contempt of it somewhat uneasily, the Pres- byterian ministers there, to instruct them better, had pub- lic preachments all over the nation, to shew the no-neces- sity of the outward or water-baptism. I will not say the English Presbyterians go so far ; they are one degree fur- ther from the league and covenant. I hear that they do now administer baptism privately in and about London : which the Independents do still refuse, (I have it from some of themselves,) let the case be never so urgent, even though the child should die without it, before one of their sermon or lecture-days. As for the other sacrament of the Lord's Supper, I hear that some Independent congrega- tions in London are come to use it monthly, and the Pres- byterians more frequently than they used to do, or than they do in other places ; the frequency of communion in the episcopal churches in some manner forcing them to it, that their people might not think themselves more neg- lected by them than others are. But their own inclination, and the value they have for this sacrament, will better ap- pear by their behaviour while they had the power in their own hands, and could dictate to others instead of following or complying with them. And during their government in the late revolution, though they did not downright (as the Quakers) declare war against it, and extirpate it at once, yet they plainly seemed to have had a design to have inched it by degrees out of the world, as far as it was in their power, by letting it fall into desuetude, that so it might be forgotten and die. And they had almost effected it among those unhappy people that were led by them ; for from the birth of their covenant, A.D. 1638, they had not this sacrament in many parishes in Scotland, some for ten, some for twelve, some for fifteen years, which was DISCOURSE ON WATER-BAPTISM. 7 almost their whole reign; and in the indulged and con- nived at parishes, to the year 1683, many persons, (who were not debarred for any exception against them,) some of fifty, sixty, seventy, and eighty years of age, never re- ceived this sacrament once in their lives. This 1 know from certain information. And since their present esta- blishment in this revolution their neglect of this sacrament is likewise notorious ; four years after which, viz. in the year 1693, it had not been administered in Edinburgh, and but once a year at the most since. We may imagine then how it has been observed in the country parishes. IV. The Presbyterians in the north of Ireland are a sprig of the Scotch covenant transplanted thither ; which in that change of soil has taken deep root, and spread intolerably. And the bishop of Derry, (now abp. of Dublin,) in his late clear and rational Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God, and two following admoni- tions, has made it fully appear that not one in ten of them do ever receive this sacrament in the whole course of their lives; and the rest very rarely, even now since this last revolution. And in the former revolution of forty-one he gives undeniable instances that in several churches, even in Dublin, after the turning out of the episcopal ministers, the Lord's Supper had not been administered till the restoration, 1660, that is, in some churches for ten, in some for twelve years together. V. These Presbyterians in Dublin, and in the south and west parts of Ireland, were sent from England, and had learned the contempt of this sacrament there ; where, even in Oxford, it was not administered in the whole university from the ejection of the episcopal clergy, in the year 1648, to the restoration, in 1660, as is observed in the Antiquit. Oxon. So that the Quakers have only taken that out of the way which the Presbyterians had worn into disuse. VI. And from all these enemies, and the subtle insinua- tions which they have broached in prejudice of Christ's holy institution of Baptism, and^likewise of the Lord's Supper, (for both are slighted by the same persons, and B 4 8 PREFACE TO THE upon the same grounds,) it is to be feared that several even of the church of England have been wrought, though not into a disuse, or downright slight, yet into a less es- teem, and greater indifFerency as to these holy sacraments than they ought, and consequently receive less benefit by them;, much less than if their knowledge and their faith were better rooted, and more sublime : nay, there is not any degree of indifferency but what is culpable in this case, and may bring a curse with it instead of a blessing ; for whatsoever, especially in religious worship, is not of faith, is sin; and according to our faith it is to us in all our per- formances of religion. VII. For all these reasons, though this Discourse was wrote wholly on behalf of the Quakers, yet I hope it will not be unuseful to many others, to see the strong founda- tion, great necessity, and inestimable benefits of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, when duly administered, and re- ceived with full faith and assurance in the power and love of God, that he will not fail to assist his own institutions, when we approach unto them with sincere repentance and undoubting dependance upon his promises. And many of the objections hereafter answered, though used by the Quakers to invalidate baptism, are likewise insisted on by several of the sects, which I have named above, to lessen and disparage it : in which sense the following Discourse, though it respects the Quakers chiefly, yet not them only, for it contains the joint arguments of all the several sizes of the opposers or contemners of baptism. VIII. But as to the immediate occasion which engaged me in this work, it was upon the account of a particular person, who had been educated from his childhood in the Quaker principles and communion. And the objections which are here considered against baptism are these, which at several conferences with other Quakers to whom that person brought me, were insisted upon. At length, after more than twelve months' consideration of this single point, and diligently reading over and weighing every par- ticular which Rob. Barclay had wrote in his Apology DISCOURSE ON WATER-BAPTISM. 9 against the outward or water-baptism, it pleased God so to open the eyes and persuade the heart of this gentleman, that, having informed himself in the true principles of the Christian religion as contained in our Church Catechism, he has lately with great joyfulness and satisfaction received the baptism of Christ as administered in the church of England : and it was his desire that this Discourse (though wrote for his private use) might be made public, in hopes that it may have the like effects upon others as it has had upon himself, by the great mercy of God. And I knowing several others who have of late been convinced and bap- tized in the same manner as this gentleman, I have not resisted his invitation to contribute my mite towards the recovery of so many thousand souls as now for forty-six years have thrown off the sacraments of Christ's institu- tion, and thereby, as one main cause, have lost the sub- stance, even faith in the blood of Christ outwardly shed for our salvation, as I have elsewhere shewn. The Lord accept my mean endeavours, and make them instrumental to his glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. HIV OF-' PROVING THE DIVINE INSTITUTION OF W A T E R-B A P T I S M. SECT. I. That Matt, xxviii. 19. was meant of xvater -baptism. The words of the text are these, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Quakers will not own that the baptism here mentioned was the outward or water-baptism ; which I will endeavour to make very plain that it was ; and that, in the first place. From the signification and etymology of the word baptize. 1. The word is a Greek word, and only made English by our constant usage of it ; it signifies to wash, and is applied to this sacrament of baptism, because that is an outward washing. To wash and to baptize are the very same ; and if the word baptize had been rendered into English, instead of Go and baptize, it must have been said. Go and wash men in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So that the outward baptism with water is as much here com- 12 A Discourse on Wafer-Baptism. manded as if it had been expressed in English words, or as we can now express it. But because the word baptize was grown a tech- nical term in other languages, whereby to express the holy sacrament of baptism, long before our Eng- lish translation, therefore our translators did rightly retain the word haptixe in this text. Matt, xxviii. 19, and in other texts which speak of that holy sacrament. But in other places they translate the word bap- tize, as Mark vii, 4, Whe7i they come from the mar- ket, lav fji)] jSaTTTi'atDVTai, except they are baptized; which we literally translate, except they wash. And in the same verse, (BanTLiJixovf mrripixv, &c. the bap- tisms of cups and pots ; which we translate, the washing of cups and pots. And Heb. ix. 10, speak- ing of these legal institutions, which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, &c., the word which we here translate washings is in the original ^ain-Kjfji.o'ig, baptisms; in meats and drinks, and divers baptisms. And in the Vulgar Latin the Greek word is retained in both these texts : Mark vii. 4, Nisi baptizentur, non comedunt ; " Except they are baptized," i. e. wash their hands, " they eat not :" and, Baptismata calicum, &c. ; the " baptisms of cups," &c. And Heb. ix. 10, In cibis et potibus, et variis baptis- matibus ; i. e. " in meats and drinks, and divers " baptisms." So that it is plain that the word baj)- tism and the word washing, though not the same word, have yet the selfsame meaning. 2. It is true that the word baptism is often taken, in a figurative and allegorical sense, to mean the inward baptism, the washing or cleansing of the A Discourse on IVater-Baptism. 13 heart ; but so is the word washing also as often, as Jer. iv. 14, &c. And there is scarce a word in the world but is capable of many figurative and allego- rical meanings. Thus circumcision is very often used for the inward circumcision or purity of the heart ; and fire is taken to express love, and like- wise anger, and many other things. But it is a received rule for the interpretation of scripture, and indeed of all other writings and words, that the plain literal meaning is always to be taken, where there is no manifest contradiction or absurdity in it ; as when a man is said to have a fire burning in his breast, it cannot be meant of the literal fire : so when we are commanded to wash or circumcise our hearts, and the like. But, on the other hand, if any man will take upon him to un- derstand words in a figurative sense at his own will and pleasure, without an apparent necessity from the scope and coherence, he sets up to banter, and leaves no certainty in any words or expressions in the world. Therefore I will conclude this point of the natural signification and etymology of the word haptixe: and vmless the Quakers can shew an ap- parent contradiction or absvu-dity to take it in the literal signification in this text. Matt, xxviii. 19, then it must be meant of the outward washing or baptism, because that is the only true and proper and literal signification of the word. And it will be further demonstrated in the next section, that there can be no contradiction or ab- surdity to take it in a literal sense, because the apo- stles, and others thereunto commissionated by them, did practise it in the literal sense. 14 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. SECT. II. I. That Christ did practise water -baptism. II. That the apostles did it after him. III. That the catholic church have done it after them. I. THAT Christ did practise water-baptism. It is written, John iii. 26, And tlieij came unto John, and said unto him. Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, be- hold, the same bapti%eth, and all men come to him. That this was water-baptism there can be no doubt, because, 1. The baptism with the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; for that was not given till the day of Pente- cost, fifty days after the resurrection of Christ, as it is recorded in the second of the Acts. This spiritual baptism was promised, John xiv. 16, 26 — xv. 26 — xvi. 7 : and the apostles were commanded to tarry in the city of Jerusalem till it should come upon them, Luke xxiv. 49. 2. The Quakers allow that John did baptize with water, and there is no other sort of baptism here mentioned with which Christ did baptize ; and therefore, these baptisms being spoke of both to- gether, there can be no reason to interpret the one to be with water, and the other not. It is said, John iv. 1, The Pharisees heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. How could the Pharisees hear of it, if it was not an outward and visible baptism ? for, as before is said, the out- ward and miraculous effects of the baptisms with the Holy Ghost were not then given : and since it was an outward, it must be the water-baptism, for there was then no other. A Discourse on Water-Baptism. 15 Ohj. But the Quakers start an objection here, that it is said, John iv. 2, Jesus himself baptised not, but his disciples. (1.) Answ. Though Jesus himself baptized not, yet it is said in the verse foregoing, that he made and baptized; i. e. those whom his disciples, by his order, baptized. For if it had not been done by his order, it could not be said that he had baptized those whom his disciples baptized ; but because " he " that doeth a thing by another" is said to " do it " himself," therefore Christ himself is said to have baptized those whom his disciples, by his order, did baptize. (2.) That baptizing which Christ is said to have administered himself, John iii. 26, might have been at another time than that which is mentioned in the fourth chapter ; and then the consequence will only be this, that at some times Christ did baptize him- self, and at other times he left it to his disciples : though, as to our argument, it is the same thing whether he did it himself, or commanded his disci- ples to do it ; for either way it is his baptism, his only ; his disciples did but administer what he com- manded. II. As Chi'ist himself did baptize with water, and his disciples by his commandment, while he was upon earth ; so did his apostles, and others thereunto by him commissionated, after his death and resurrection, by virtue of his command to them, Matt, xxviii. 19, after he was risen from the dead. What is said above of the etymology and true signification of the word baptize, is of itself suffi- cient to prove, that by baptism in this text the out- ward baptism with water is meant, especially till 16 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. the Quakers can shew any contradiction or absurdity in having the word taken in the proper and literal sense in this and the other texts which speak of it. And this will be very hard to do, since, as it is just now proved, that Christ did baptize with water as well as John. And what absurdity or contradic- tion can be alleged, that his apostles should admin- ister the same sort of baptism after his death as he had practised and commanded during his life ? Nay, rather, what reason can be given why they should not be the same, since the same word, i. e. baptize, is used in both ; and no new sense or acceptation of the word is so much as hinted ? and therefore to put any new sense or acceptation of the word must be wholly arbitrary and precarious. But, as I promised, I will demonstrate yet more fully and plainly that the apostles did practise the outward, i. e. water-baptism, after Christ's death. Acts X. 47. Ca?i amj man forbid water, that these should not be baptized ? Acts viii. 36. As they (Philip and the evmuch) went on their way, they came to a certain water: and the eunuch said. See, here is water ; what doth hinder me to be baptized^ — And (ver. 38.) they went both down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water. Sec. Acts xxii. 16. And now why tarriest thou P arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins. And, to save more quotations, the Quakers do own that the baptism of the Corinthians, mentioned 1 Cor. i. 14 and 17, was water-baptism. Therefore I will conclude this point as undeni- able, that the apostles did practise water-baptism. A Discourse on Watet^- Baptism. 17 And the argument from thence will lie thus : the apostles did practise the baptism which Christ com- manded, Matt, xxviii. 19 ; but the apostles did prac- tise water-baptism : therefore water-baptism was that baptism which Christ commanded, Matt, xxviii. 19. III. And as the practice of the apostles is a most sure rule whereby to understand the meaning of that command which they put in execution ; so the practice of those who immediately succeeded the apostles, who were cotemporaries with them, and learned the faith from their mouths, is as certain a rule to know what the practice and what the sense of the apostles were. And thus the practice of the present age, in the administration of water-baptism, is an undeniable evidence that this was the practice of the last age ; the same persons being many of them alive in both the last and the present age. For one age does not go off the world all at once, and another succeed all of perfect age together ; but there are old men of the last age, and young men and children growing uji to another age, all alive upon the earth at the same time : and mankind being dispersed into far distant countries and cli- mates, who know not of one another, nor hold any correspondence : it is by these means morally im- possible for any man or men to deceive us in what has been the universal and received practice of the last age, to which the present age is so linked, that it is even a part of it ; I say, it is impossible for all the fathers of the world to be supposed willing, or, if they were, to be capable, of imposing upon all younger than themselves, namely, that they had been all baptized, and that this was an universal LESLIE, VOL. VII. C 18 A Discourse oji Water-Baptism. received custom ; and of which registers were al- ways kept in every parish of all who had been from time to time baptized ; and that such registers were public, and to be recurred to by all that had a mind to it : every man's reason will tell him that it is utterly impossible for such a thing to pass upon mankind. And as certainly as the present age is thus as- sured of the practice of the last age, in a thing of so public and universal a natm-e; so certainly, and by the same rules, must the last age know the practice of the age before that ; and so backward all the way to the first institution, to the age of Christ and the apostles. The public nature of this water-baptism, as now practised, being an outward matter of fact, of which men's outward senses, their eyes and ears, are judges; not like matters of opinion, which sort of tares may be privately sown, and long time propagated, with- out any remarkable discovery : and to this so public matter of fact, adding the universal practice of it through all the far distant nations of Christianity ; I say, these two marks make it impossible for the world to be imposed upon ; nor was it ever, or ever can be, imposed upon in any such public matter of fact so universally practised. All this makes it un- deniably plain, that the last age did practise the same outward water-baptism which is practised in this age ; and that the same was as certainly prac- tised in the age before the last age ; and by the same rule in the age before that ; and so onward, as above said, to the age of the apostles. I have made more words of this than needed ; but I would render it exceeding plain, considering with whom I A Discourse on Water-Baptism. 19 have to do. And I beseech them to consider, that all the authority which they have to overbalance all these demonstrations is the mad enthusiasm of a lay-apostle, George Fox ; a mechanic so illiterate, that he was hardly master of common sense, nor could write English, or any other language ; and started up amongst us in the year 1650, (the age of schism and rebellion,) and damned as apostates all ages since the apostles. In all of which no one could be found (before G. Fox) to bear their testimony against this water- baptism, though it was constantly and universally practised ; and that Christians were then so zeal- ous as to contend against the least variation or cor- ruption of the faith, even unto death, and the most cruel sort of martyrdom. Can any man imagine, that if water-baptism were a human invention, or superstitiously either con- tinued or obtruded upon the church, no one should be found for 1650 years to open his mouth against it, when thousands sacrificed their lives for matters of much less importance ? But I have overlaboured this point to any man who will give himself leave to make use of his rea- son : therefore I will proceed to the next section. SECT. III. That baptism must be outward and visible, because it is an ordinance appointed whereby to initiate men into an ont- ward and visible societij, which is the chtirch. THERE goes no more towards the proving of this, than to shew, first, that the church is an out- ward and visible society. Secondly, that bajitism c 2 20 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. was appointed and used for initiating oi* admitting men into the church. First, That the church is an outward and visible society. Our Saviour calls it a city that is set on a hiU, Matth. v. 14. The Quakers themselves are an outward and visible society, and so ai-e all those who bear the name of churches upon earth : they could not otherwise be churches ; for that implies a society of people, and every society in the world is an outward and visible thing. And, as it is so, has an outward and visible form of admitting men into it; for otherwise it would not be known who are members of it. Every so- ciety is exclusive of all others who are not of that society, otherwise it could not be a society ; for that supposes the men of that society to be thereby dis- tinguished from other men ; and that supposes as much that there must be some outward and visible form whereby to initiate men, and entitle them to be members of such a society, otherwise it could not be known who were members of it, and who were not ; and it would thereby ipso facto cease to be a so- ciety ; for it could not then be distinguished from the rest of mankind ; as a river is lost in the sea, because it is no longer distinguished from it, but goes to make up a part of it. From hence it appears that the church, being an outward and visible society, must have some out- ward and visible form to initiate men, and make them members of that society. Secondly, That baptism was that outward form. All tlie several baptisms that were before Christ's, were all meant for initiating forms. The Jews had A Discourse on Water-JBaptism. 21 a custom long before Christ to initiate the prose- lytes or converts to their religion, not only by cir- cumcision, but by baptizing or washing them with water. The same was the meaning of John's bap- tism, to make men his disciples : and the same was the meaning of Christ's baptism, to initiate men into the Christian religion, and make them disciples of Christ. Hence baptizing men, and making them his dis- ciples, mean the same thing. Thus John iv. 1, it is said, that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John ; that is, he baptized them disciples, which was the form of making them such. If any will say that he baptized them to be disciples to John, that will be answered sect. vi. But as to the present point, it is the same thing whose disciples they were made ; for we are now only to shew that baptism in the general was an initiating form. And when Christ practised it as well as John, as this text does expressly declare, no reason can be given that he did not use it as an initiating form as well as John ; especially when the text does express that he did make them disciples by baptizing them, as above is shewn. And pursuant to this, when Christ sent his apo- stles to convert all nations, his commission of bap- tizing was as large as that of teaching, Matth. xxviii. 19, Go teach all nations, baptizing them. Sec. i. e. baptizing all who shall receive your word. And accordingly it is said. Acts ii. 41, Thei/ that re- ceived the word were baptized; pursuant to what the apostle had preached, ver. 28, Repent and he baptized. And accordingly we find it the constant custom c 3 22 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. to baptize all that were converted to the faith. Thus Paul, though miraculously converted from heaven, was commanded to be baptized, Acts xxii. 16. And he baptized Lydia, and the gaoler, and their households, as soon as he had converted them. Acts xvi. 15, 33 ; and the Corinthians, Acts xviii. 8; and the disciples of John who had not yet been made Christians, Acts xix, 5. Philip did baptize the eunuch as soon as he believed in Christ, Acts viii. 37, 38 : and Peter, immediately upon the con- version of Cornelius and those with him, said. Can any man Jbrhicl water, that these should not he hap- tizecl ? Acts x. 47. It would be endless to enumerate all the like in- stances of baptism in the New Testament ; and it was always used as an initiating form. Thirdly, Baptism was not only an initiating form, but it served for nothing else ; for it was never to be repeated. As a man can be born but once into this M^orld, so he can be but once regenerated, or born into the church, which is therefore in scrip- ture called the neiv birth. It is said of the other sacrament, (of the Lord's Supper,) As often as ye eat this bread, &c. 1 Cor. xi. 26. This was to be often repeated. Baptism is our admission, initiation, or birth, into the society of the church, and accordingly once only to be administered : the Lord's Supper is our nou- rishment and daily food in it, and therefore to be often repeated. And as of our Saviour's, so of other baptisms, of John's, and the Jews', they being only initiating forms, they were not repeated. The Jews did not baptize their proselytes more than once ; and John A Discourse on WaterSapfism. 23 did not baptize his disciples more than once. So neither were men twice baptized into the Christian faith, more than they were twice circimicised, or ad- mitted into the church before Christ. Thus having proved, first, that the church is an outward and visible society ; secondly, that bap- tism was the initiating form of admitting men into that society ; thirdly, that it was only an initiating form : I think the consequence is undeniable, that this baptism must be an outward and visible form ; because otherwise it could be no sign or badge of an admission into an outward and visible society ; for such a badge must be as outward as the society. Again, acts of an inward faith are and ought to be often repeated ; therefore this baptism, which could not be repeated, could not be the inward, but the outward baptism. And thus having proved that baptism commanded Matth. xxviii. 19. to be the outward, that is, water- baptism ; 1. from the true and proper etymology and signification of the word ; 2. from the practice of Christ and his apostles, and the whole Christian church after them ; and, 3. from the nature of the thing, bai)tism being an ordinance appointed only for initiating men into an outward and visible so- ciety, and therefore never to be repeated: having thus proved our conclusion from such plain, easy, and certain topics, I will now proceed to those ob- jections (such as they are) which the Quakers do set up against all these clear demonstrations; and shall accordingly, in the first place, take notice of their groundless pretence in making that baptism commanded in the holy gospel, and proved an ordi- nance external and visible, to be understood only of c 4 24 A Discourse on Water-Bcq^tism. the inward and spiritual baptism, not with water, but the Holy Ghost. SECT. IV. Quakers sat/, Jirst, that the baptism commanded, Matth. xxviii. 19, toas only meant of the inward and spiritual baptism with the Holy Ghost. THEY say this, and that is all : they neither pretend to answer the arguments brought against them, such as these before mentioned, nor give any proof of their own assertion : only they say so, and they will believe it, and there is an end of it. And truly there should be an end of it, if only disputation or victory were my design ; for to what nonplus can any adversary be reduced beyond that of neither answering nor proving ? But because the pains I have taken is only in charity for their souls, I will overlook all their im- pertinency, and deal with them as with wayward children, humour them, and follow them through all their windings and turnings, and submit to over- prove what is abundantly proved already. There- fore, since they can give no reason why that bap- tism commanded Matth. xxviii. 19, should be meant only of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, and would be content that we should leave them there as obstinate men, and pursue them no further ; but let them persuade those whom they can persuade: by which method (unhappily yielded to them) they have gained and secured most of their proselytes, by keeping them from disputing or reasoning, and by persuading them to hearken only to their own light within. To rescue them out of this snare, I will be content to undertake the negative, (though A Discourse on Water-Baptism. 25 against the rules of argument,) and to prove that the baptism commanded Matth, xxviii. 19- was not the baptism with the Holy Ghost. For, 1. To baptize with the Holy Ghost is peculiar to Christ alone : for none can baptize with the Holy Ghost but who can send and bestow the Holy Ghost ; which is blasphemy to ascribe to any crea- ture. Christ has indeed committed the administration of the outward baptism with water to his apostles, and to others by them thereunto ordained ; and has promised the inward baptism of the Holy Ghost to those who shall duly receive the outward baptism. But this cannot give the apostles, or any other ministers of Christ, the title of baptizing with the Holy Ghost, though the Holy Ghost may be given by their ministration ; for they are not the givers, that is blasphemy. And pursuant to this, it is observable, that none is ever said in scripture to baptize with the Holy Ghost but Christ alone ; T/ie same is he ivho bap- fixeth ivith the Hohj Ghost, John i. 33. And therefore, if that baptism commanded Matth. xxviii. 19. was the baptism with the Holy Ghost, it would follow that the apostles could baptize with the Holy Ghost, M^hich is blasphemy to assert. 2. It is written, John iv. 2, that Jesus himself haptixed not, hut his disciples. If this was not meant of, water-baptism, but of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, then it will follow that Christ did not baptize with the Holy Ghost, but that his dis- ciples did. This, in short, may suffice in return to a mere pretence, and proceed we next to consider if their 26 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. main argument also prove as unsupported and pre- carious. SECT. V. The great argument of the Quakers against water -baptism is this : John''s baptism is ceased ; but Johti's baptism zvas zoater -baptism; therefore water-baptism is ceased. This their learned Barclay makes use of. 1. IT is so extremely childish, that if it were not his, no reader would pardon me for answering to it : yet, since they do insist upon it, let them take this easy answer ; that John's water-baptism is ceased, but not Christ's water-baptism. All outward bap- tisms were water-baptisms, as the word haptism signifies, (see sect, i.) The Jews' baptism was water- baptism as well as John's ; and by this argument of Barclay's the Jews' and John's may be proved to be the same. Thus ; the Jews' baptism was water- baptism ; but John's baptism was water-baptism : therefore John's baptism was the Jews' baptism. And thus, Christ's baptism was John's, and John's was the Jews', and the Jews' was Christ's ; and they were all one and the selfsame baptism, because they were all water-baptisms. So without all foundation is this great rock of the Quakers, upon which they build their main battery against water-baptism. 2. It will be proper here to let them see (if they be not wilfully ignorant) what it is which makes the difference of baptisms ; not the outward matter in which they are administered, (for that may be the same in many baptisms, as is shewn ;) but bap- tisms do differ, (1.) in their authors ; (2.) in the different form in which they are administered ; A Discourse on Water-Baptism. 27 (3.) in the different ends for which they were in- stituted. And in all these the baptism of Christ does differ vastly from the baptisms both of John and the Jews. (1.) As to the author: the baptism of the Jews was an addition of their own to the law, and had no higher author that we know of ; but John was sent by God to baptize, John i. 33 : and it was Christ the Lord who was the author of the Christian baptism. (2.) As to the form : persons were baptized unto those whose disciples they were admitted by their baptism. Thus the proselytes to the Jewish religion were baptized unto Moses ; and men were made disciples to John by his baptism. But the Christian baptism alone is administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. This is the form of the Christian baptism, and which does distinguish it from all other baptisms whatever. (3.) The end of the Chris- tian baptism is as highly distant and different from the ends of other baptisms, as their authors differ. The end of the Jewish baptism was to give the baptized a title to the privileges of the law of Mo- ses ; and the end of John's baptism was to point to him who was to come, and to prepare men by re- pentance for the reception of the gospel. But the end of Christ's baptism was to instate us into all the unconceivable glories, and high eternal prero- gatives which belong to the members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, Eph. v. 30 ; that we might receive the adoj)tion of sons. Gal. iv. 5. Hence- forth no more servants, but sons of God, and heirs of heaven ! These are ends so far transcendent above the ends of all former baptisms, that, in comparison. 28 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. other baptisms are not only less, but none at all ; like the glory of the stars in presence of the sun; they not only are a lesser light, but when he ap- pears they become altogether invisible. And as a pledge or foretaste of these future and boundless joys, the gift of the Holy Ghost is given upon earth, and is promised as an effect of the bap- tism of Christ : as Peter preached, Acts ii. 38 ; Re- pent, and he haptixed every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, atid ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And Gal. iii. 27 ; As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. . This of the gift of the Holy Ghost was not added to any baptism before Christ's, and does remarkably distinguish it from all others. SECT. VI. That Christ and the apostles did not bajitize loith John's baptism. THIS is a pretence of the Quakers, when they find themselves distressed with the clear proofs of Christ and the apostles having administered water- baptism ; they say that this was J ohn's baptism, be- cause it was water-baptism : and, as before observed, sect. IV. they only say this, but can bring no proof : but they put us here again upon the negative, to prove it was not. As to their pretence that it was John's baptism, because it was water-baptism, that is answered in the last section. And now to gratify them in this (though unrea- sonable) demand, I will give these following reasons A Discourse on Water-Baj)tism. 29 why the baptism which Christ and his apostles did practise was not John's baptism. 1. If Christ did baptize with John's baptism, then he made disciples to John, and not to himself ; for it is before shewn, sect. iii. n. 2, 3, that baptism was an initiating form, and nothing else, whereby men were admitted to be disciples to him unto whom they were baptized. Thus the Jews who were bap- tized unto Moses said. We are Moses's disciples, John ix. 28 : and those whom John baptized were called the disciples of John. And there needs no more to shew that Christ did not baptize with the baptism of John, than to shew that the disciples of Christ and of John Avere not the same, which is made evident from John i. 35, 37, where it is told that two of John's disciples left him and followed Jesus. And Matth. xi. 2, John sent two of his dis- ciples to Jesus. And the disciples of Christ lived under a different economy, and other rules than either the disciples of John or of the Pharisees, to shew that they were imder another Master. And the disciples of John were scandalized at it, Matth. ix. 14; Then came to him (Jesus) the disciples of John, saying, Jf^ii/ do we and the Pharisees fast oft, hut thy disciples fast not'f Therefore the disciples of Christ and of John were not the same ; and therefore Christ did bap- tize men to be his own disciples, and not to be the disciples of J ohn ; and therefore the baptism of Christ was not the baptism of John. 2. If Christ did baptize with John's baptism, the more he baptized, it was the more to the honour and reputation of the baptism of John : but Christ's baptizing was urged by the disciples of John as a 30 A Discourse on Water-Baptism. lessening of John, John iii, 26 : therefore the bap- tism with which Christ did baptize could not be the baptism of John. Though it be said, John iv. 2, that Jesus himself haptixed not, hut his disciples, (for so the apostles and other ministers of Christ have baptized more into the faith of Christ, than Christ himself has done ;) yet here is no ground of jealousy or rivalship to Christ, because the admin- istration of Christ's baptism is all to the honour and glory of Christ; and therefore Christ's baptizing more disciples than John could be no lessening of John, but rather a magnifying of him so much the more, if Christ had baptized with John's bap- tism. 3. When John's disciples had told him of Christ's outrivalling him, by baptizing more than he ; John answered, He must increase, but I must decrease, John iii. 30, But if Christ did baptize with the baptism of John, then John still increased, and Christ decreased. For, 4. He is greater who institutes a baptism, than those who only administer a baptism of another's appointment : therefore if Christ did baptize with the baptism of John, it argues John to be greater than Christ, and Christ to be but a minister of John. 5. All the Jews who had been baptized with the baptism of John did not turn Christians ; therefore John's baptism was not the Christian baptism. 6. Those of John's disciples who turned Chris- tians were baptized over again in the name of Christ, of which there is a remarkable instance. Acts xix, 1 — 7. But the same baptism was never repeated ; (as is shewn above, sect. iii. n. 3;) therefore the A Discourse on Water-Baptism. 31 baptism which the apostles did administer was not John's baptism. 7. The form of the baptism which Christ com- manded, Matth. xxviii. 19, was, Iii the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; but that was not the form of John's baptism; there- fore that was not John's baptism. See what is be- fore said, sect. v. n. 2, of the difference of baptisms, as to the author, the form, and the end of each bap- tism : and in all these respects it is made apparent that the baptism which was practised by Christ and the apostles was not the baptism of John. To all these clear arguments, the Quakers, without answering to any of them, do still insist, that the water-baptism which the apostles did administer was no other than John's baptism ; that they had no command for it, only did it in compliance with the Jews, as Paul circumcised Timothy, (Acts xvi. 3,) and purified himself in the temple, (Acts xxi. 21 — 27.) But this is all gratis dictum ; here is not one word of proof : and they might as well say that the apostles' preaching was only in compliance with the Jews, and that it was the same with John's preach- ing ; for their commission to teach and to baptize were both given in the same breath, Matth. xxviii. 19, Go ye — teach all nations, baptizing them, &c. Now why the teaching here should be Christ's, and baptizing only John's, the Quakers are desired to give some other reason besides their own arbi- trary interpretations, before which no text in the Bible or any other writing can stand. Besides, I would inform them that the Greek word fjiaSrjTevaaTe in this text, which we translate teach, signifies to make disciples; so that the literal and 32 A Discourse on Water -Baptism. more proper reading of that text is. Go and disciple all nations, or make disciples of them, haptixing them, &c. If it be asked, why we should translate the word HAafiiyrevcraTe, Matth. xxviii. 19, by the word teach, if it mean to disciple a man, or make him a disciple ? I answer, that teaching was the method whereby to persuade a man, to convert him, so as to make a disciple of him : but the form of admitting him into the cluu'ch, and actually to make him a disciple, to give him the privileges and benefits of a disciple, was by baptism, Now the apostles being sent to teach men in order to make them disciples ; therefore, instead of Go disciple men, we translate it. Go teach, as being a more familiar word, and better understood in English. Though if both the Greek words ixaS'^Teva-are and (danTi^ovTeg in this text were translated literally, it would obviate these Quaker objections more plainly; for then the words would run thus, Go and admit all nations to be mij disciples, by washing them with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, lila.7j(pire(; TtXetay, (caTe'o-Tjjo-ay Toi/? upoetprnAtvovc, Ka) fAtTa^v, ivtvofArjv StSaKflWiv, OTTd)? iav KoiiMfiu; t£ Kvpla L 3 150 The Qualifications requisite " And to the presbyters, as to the ajjostles of " Christ Likewise the deacons also, being min- " isters of the mysteries of Christ, ought to please " in all things Without these there is no church " of the elect He is without who does any thing " without the bishop, and presbyters, and deacons ; " and such a one is defiled in his conscience." In his Epistle to the Magnesians, he tells them, "•that they ought not to despise their bishop for " his youth, but to pay him all manner of reverence, " according to the commandment of God the Fa- " ther ; and as I know that youi* holy presbyters " do" " ^ Therefore as Christ did nothing without the " Father, so neither do ye, whether presbyter, dea- " con, or laic, any thing without the bishop." " ^ Some indeed call him bishop, yet do all things " without him ; but these seem not to me to have a " good conscience, but rather to be hypocrites and " scorners." " exhort you to do all things in the same mind h Kai rS TzpetT^vTepto}, , i/vtoj ij/.'/jV @eov Ttarpo; ■naaav iyTpow/jV airS d.T!pic, 8e avTov •Ka.vTO, itoioZaiv Oi yap ToiovTOt oiiK eva-vvfl^-^TOi, aXX' e'lpojyfq tivc? Ka) iA.op(pov«; etyat fAOi ( to7<; ama-To- tTKOTZov T» irpaa-(TeTCi> tZv avriKOVTav e»{ tt/v tKKkiifflav' tKtlvfj ^t^ala e^^a- piffria rjytla-Qa, ^ Itto tov tvlvKmav oitra, ^ 2 dv airoi eTTiT^e'i/'T). "Oiroi/ dv (pocv^ 0 eiritr/coiro;, iKt7 to nMjQoi tina, Sxrittp tmv o XpicTTo; naira, ij oipdvioi; (TTpaTia, itapia-zfjKev . Ovk i^ov eVrt tov tTtia-Komv ovrt jSaTrr/^eiv, ovt€ hoxh" iirneXiiv' dXk' "o-cav e/ce/i'S) Sokji Koa tvapiaTtj- (71V 0eotJ, 'tva, da(pa.\(<; fi Kai ^e'jSaiov irav o dv updvariTf. * 'AffirajOftai tov d^toBeov i-nta-Komv, koI to flesTrpeTre; Ttpia^vTipm, Kal roii Sia/co'vou? Tot? awdavXovi;. to administer the Sacraments. 153 In his Epistle to St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and martyr, who, together with himself, was disci- ple to St. John the apostle and evangelist, he gives these directions : , " "If any can remain in chastity, to the glory of " the body of the Lord, let him remain without " boasting ; if he boast, he perishes ; and if he pre- " tends to know more than the bishop, he is cor- " nipted. It is the duty both of men and women " that marry to be joined together by the approba- " tion of the bishop, that the marriage may be in " the Lord, and not according to our own lusts. Let " all things be done to the glory of God." " ^ Give heed to your bishop, that God may " hearken unto you : my soul for theirs, who sub- " ject themselves under the obedience of their bi- " shop, presbyters, and deacons ; and let me take " my lot with them in the Lord." And he says to bishop Polycarp, '"'Let nothing " be done without thy sentence and approbation." A. D. 180. St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in France, who was disciple of St. Polycarp ; he flourished about the year of Christ 180. Advers. Hceres. lib. iii. c. 3. " y We can reckon 1 Et T(? ivvaTat iv a.yvuq. fxei/eiy, ei'? tjuvjv ryj; aapKo^ rov Kvp'iov, t> ivia-KO'Ttov, ecpOapTai. E^Jt'iiei 8e to?? yay.ovai Koi -rati; yaiAovaaii; fAtta, •yvufATji; Tov ii:i(7Kmov rvjv evcii<7iv troieTa-Bat, "va a ya/xo; fi kixtu Kvpiov, koi fi.7j Ka'i iTTtdviAiav' uMiia, tic, ti/aviv ©eoS yividBa. T3 ivKTKOTca irpotrexeTf, "va Kal 6 @iOi tu.iv' avTl-\l/vxov iyu ruv imo- TounrofAtvuv eVitr/co'irco, mpia^vKpla, ZiaKovoic,' /xtr' avTuv jMt to /Atpoi; yevono iyfiv Tiapa. ©eoS. " MTjSei/ aviv T^t, yvufA-tji crov ylvta-Ba. y Habemus nunierare qui ab apostolis instituti sunt episcopi in ecclesiis, et successores eoruni usque ad nos. Et si recondita 154 The (Qualifications requisite " those bishops who have been constituted by the " apostles and their successors all the way to our " times. And if the apostles knew hidden myste- " ries, they would certainly deliver them chiefly to " those to whom they committed the churches them- " selves, and whom they left their own successors, " and in the same place of government as them- " selves. We have the successions of the bishops, " to whom the ai^ostolic church in every place was " committed. All these (heretics) are much later " than the bishops, to whom the apostles did deliver " the churches." Lib. IV. c. 6. " -^The true knowledge is the doc- " trine of the apostles, and the ancient state of the " church through the whole world ; and the charac- " ter of the body of Christ according to the succes- " sion of the bishops, to whom they committed the " church that is in every place, and which has de- " scended even unto us." Tertullian, A. D. 203. c. 32 of the Prescription of Heretics, c. 34, " * Let them produce the original of niysteria scissent apostoli, vel liis niaxime traderent ea, quibus etiain ipsas ecclesias committebant ; qiios et successores relinqiie- bant, suum ipsoriim locum magisterii tradentes, lib. iv. c. 63. Habemus successiones episcoporiim quibus apostolicam quae in uiioquoque loco est ecclesiam tradiderunt, lib. v. c. 20. Omnes enim ii (haeretici) valde posteriores sunt qnam episcopi, quibus apostoli tradiderunt ecclesias. 2 Lib. IV. c. 6. Agnitio vera est apostolorum doctrina, et anti- (]uus ecclesiae status, in universo mundo, et character corporis Cliristi secundum successiones episcoporum, quibus illi earn quae in unoquoque loco est ecclesiam tradiderunt, quae pervenit usque ad nos. a Edant ergo origines ecclesiarum suarum ; evolvant ordinem episcoporum suoruni, ita ut per successiones ab initio decurren- to administer the Sacraments. 155 " their churches ; let them shew the order of their " bishops, that by their succession, deduced from " the beginning, we may see whether their first " bishop had any of the apostles or apostolical men, " who did likewise persevere with the apostles, for " his founder and predecessor : for thus the aposto- " lical churches do derive their succession ; as the " church of Smyrna from Polycarp, whom John " (the apostle) placed there; the church of Rome " from Clement, who was in like manner ordained " by Peter : and so the other churches can produce " those constituted in their bishoprics by the apo- " sties." C. 36. "''Reckon over the apostolical churches, " where the very chairs of the apostles do yet pre- " side in their own places ; at Corinth, Philippi, " Ephesus, Thessalonica," &c. Of baptism, c. 17. "*^The high priest, who is the " bishop, has the power of conferring baptism, and " under him the presbyters and deacons ; but not " without the authority of the bishop." tern, ut primus ille episcopus aliqiiem ex apostolis, vel apostolicis viris, qui tamen cum ajjostolis perseveraverit, habuerit auctorem et antecessorem. Hoc enim modo ecclesiae apostolicEe census suos deferunt : sicut Smyrnajorum ecclesia Polycarpum ab Jo- hanne conlocatum refert ; sicut Romanorum Clementem, a Petro ordinatum itidem ; perinde utique et caeterse exhibent quos ab apostolis ill episcopatum constitulos apostolici seminis traduces habeant. ^ Percurre ecclesias apostolicas, apud quas ipsae adhuc cathe- drae apostolorum suis locis praesident : habes Corinthum, Philip- pos, Ephesum, Thessalonicenses, &c. Dandi (baptismum) jus habet summus sacerdos, qui est epi- scopus, dehinc presbyteri et diacoiii, uoii tamen sine episcopi au- thoritate. 156 The QiiaUfications requisite A. D. 220. Origenis Comment, in Matt. Rotho- magi, 1688. Gr. Lat. p. 255, names the distinct or- der of bishop, presbyter, and deacon. " ^ Such a " bishop," says he, speaking of one who sought vain glory, &c. " doth not desire a good work — and the " same is to be said of presbyters and deacons " The bishops and presbyters who have the chief " place among the people The bishop is called " prince in the churches." And speaking of the irreligious clergy, he directs it to them, whether bi- shops, presbyters, or deacons. St. Cyprian, archbishop of Carthage, A. D. 240, edit. Oxon. Epist. xxxiii. Lapsis. " ^ Our Lord, " whose commands we ought to reverence and obey, " being about to constitute the episcopal honour, " and the frame of his church, said to Peter, Thou " art Peter, &c. From thence the order of bishops " and constitution of the church does descend, by " the line of succession, through all times and ages, " that the church should be built upon the bishops " It is established by the divine law, that every " act of the church should be governed by the " bishop." '1 'O joZv roioZids i-nliTKOTCOi; oi KaXoZ tpyov inSvfA.ii to 6e airo Ka\ ■ntfi Ttpea^vTipav koi liaKovav epe?;. Ibid. p. 443* 'T/'i<'To«a6- tiplaf •nfUKnmf/.evai tqZ "Kaov iitlcKQitoi Koi vpec^irtpai- p. 420. 0 8e 'fijovy-tvoi;, oina Se oi/Act< ovaiA,a.t,tiv tov KokoviA-tvov in laii; iKKXrjcriai; ivlaKO- TTOv. p. 442. fTiia-Koi:oic, rj irpea-^VTtpoii, ij Sja/coviii?. e Dominus noster, ciijus prsecepta metuere et observare debe- imis, episcopi honorem et ecclesiae suae ratiouem disponens, in evaiigelio loquitur et dicil Petro, Ego dico tibi, quia tu es Petrus, &c. Inde per teniporuni et successionum vices episcoporuni or- dinatio et ecclesiae ratio decurrit, ut ecclesia sujier episcopos con- stituatur Divina lege fundatum est, ut omnis actus ecclesiae per episcopum gubernetur. to administer the Sacraments. 157 Ep. XLV. Cornelio. " ^ We ought chiefly, my bro- " ther, to endeavour to keep that unity which was " enjoined by our Lord and his apostles to us their " successors to be carefully observed by us." Ep. III. Rogatiaiio. " & The deacons ought to re- " member, that it was the Lord who chose the apo- " sties, that is, the bishops." Ep. Lxvi. Florentio. " ^ Christ said to the apo- " sties, and by that to all bishops or governors of " his church, who succeed the apostles by vicarious " ordination, and are in their stead, He that hear- " eth you heareth meT Ibid. " ' For from hence do schisms and heresies " arise, and have arisen, while the bishop, who is " one, and governor of the church, by a proud pre- " sumption, is despised ; and that man Avho is ho- " noured as worthy by God, is accounted vmworthy " by man." Ep. Lix. Cornelio. " ^ Nor are heresies sprung f Hoc enim vel maxinie, frater, et laboramus et laborare debe- nms, lit unitatem a Domino et per apostolos nobis successoribiis traditam quantum possiimiis obtinere curemiis. ^ Meniinisse aiitem diaconi debent quoniam apostolos, id est, episcopos Dominus elegit. Dixit Christus ad aj)Ostolos, ac per hoc omnes praepositos, qui apostolis vicaria ordinatione succeduiit. Qui vos audit, me audit. ' Inde enim schismata et haereses ortie et oriuntur, dum epi- scopus qui unus est, et ecclesiae preeest, superba praesumptione contemnitur, et homo dignatione Dei honoratus, indignus honii- nibus judicatur. Neque enim aliunde haereses obortae sunt, aut nata sunt schismata, quam inde quod sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur ; nec unus in ecclesia ad t^mpus sacerdos, et ad tempus judex vice Christ! cogitatur : cui si secundum magisleria divina obtempe- 158 The Qualifications requisite " up, or schisms arisen from any other fountain than " from hence, that obedience is not paid to the priest " of God, and that there is not one priest at a time " in the church, and one judge for the time in the " place of Christ : to whom if the whole fraternity " did obey, according to the divine economy, none " would dare to move any thing against the sacer- " dotal college It is necessary that the bishops " should exert their authority with full vigour " But if it is so, that we are afraid of the boldness " of the most profligate, and that which these wicked " men cannot compass by the methods of truth and " equity, if they can accomplish by their rashness " and despair, then is there an end of the episcopal " authority, and of their sublime and divine power " in governing of the church. Nor can we remain " Christians any longer, if it is come to this, that " we should be afraid of the threats and snares of " the wicked " The adversary of Christ, and enemy of " his church, for this end strikes at the bishop or " ruler of the church with all his malice, that the " governor being taken away, he might ravage the raret fraternitas universa, nemo adversus sacerdotum collegium quicquam moveret vigore pleno episcopos agere oportet. Quod si ita res est, ut nequissimorum timeatur audacia, et quod mali vere atque eequitate non possunt, lenieritate et desperatioiie perficiant ; actum est de episcopatus vigore, et de ecclesi2e gu- bernandae sublimi ac divina potestate. Nec Christian] ultra aut durare aut esse jam possumus, si ad hoc ventum est, ut perdito- rum niinas atque insidias pertimescamus Christi adversarius ut ecclesiffi ejus inimicus, ad hoc ec- clesiae preepositum sua intestatione ])ersequitur, ut gubernatore sublato, atrociiis atque violentius circa ecclesise naufragia gras- setur. to administer the Sacraments. 159 " more violently and cruelly upon the shipwreck of " the church." " ' Is honour then given to God, when the divine " majesty and censure is so despised, that these sa- " crilegious persons say. Do not think of the wrath " of God, be not afraid of his judgment, do not " knock at the door of the church ; but without any " repentance or confession of their crime, despising " the authority of their bishops, and trampling it " under their feet, a false peace is preached to be " had from the presbyters," (viz.) in their taking upon them to admit those that were fallen into com- munion, or the peace of the church, without the al- lowance of the bishop. " They imitate the coming of antichrist now ap- " proaching." Ep. Lxxx. Successio. " " Valerian (the emperor) " wrote to the senate, that the bishops and the pres- " byters and the deacons should be prosecuted." FirmiUanus Cypriano. Ep. lxxv. p.225. "^The " power of remitting sins was given to the apostles, " and to the bishops, who have succeeded them by a " vicarious ordination." Ep. XVI. p. 36. Cyprianus Preshyteris et Dia- ' Honor ergo datur Deo quaiido sic Dei majestas et censiira contemnitur ut proponatur a sacrilegis atque dicatur, Ne ira cogitetur Dei, ne tinieatur judicium Domini, ne pulsetiir ad ec- clesiam Christi ; sed sublata pcenitentia, nee ulla exomologesi cririiinis fiicta, despectis episcopis atque calcatis, pax a presby- teris verbis fallacibus priedicetur ? Antichristi jam propinquantis adventum itnitantur. " Rescripsisse Valerianum ad senatum, ut episcopi, et presln- teri, et diaconi in continent! animadvertantur. " Potestas ergo peccatorum remittendorum apostolis data est et episcopis qui eis ordinatione vicaria successerunt. 160 The Qualifications requisite conibus. " p What danger ought we to fear from the " displeasure of God, when some presbyters, neither " mindful of the gospel, nor of their own station in " the chmrh, neither regarding the future judg- " ment of God, nor the bishop who is set over them, " which was never done under our predecessors, " with the contempt and neglect of their bishop, do " arrogate all unto themselves ? I could bear with " the contempt of our episcopal authority, but there " is now no room left for dissembling," &c. A.D. 365. Optatus Milevitanus, bishop of Mileve, or Mela, in Numidia in Africa. L. 2. Contra Parmenianum. " The church has " her several members, bishops, presbyters, deacons, " and the company of the faithful." " You found in the church deacons, presbyters, "• bishops ; you have made them laymen ; acknow- " ledge that you have subverted souls." A. D. 370. St. Ambrose bishop of Milan, upon Eph. iv. 11, speaking of the several orders of the church. And he gave some, apostles ; and some, pro- phets, and evangelists, &c. says, " That by the apo- 1' Quod enim pericuhmi nietiieie non debeiiuis de offensa Do- mini, cjiiando aliqui de presbyteris, nec evangelii, nec loci sui nieniores, sed neque futunim Domini judicium, neque sibi praepo- situm episcopum cogitantes, quod nunquam omnino, sub anteces- soribus factum est, cum contumelia et contemptu propositi toluni sibi vendicent? Contumeliam episcopatus nostri dissiniulare ct feire possum sed dissimulandi nunc locus non est. 1 Certa membra sua habet ecclesia, episcopos, presbyteros, diaconos, et turbani fidelium. Invenistis diaconos, presbyteros, episcopos ; fecistis laicos ; agnoscite vos aninias evertisse. ^ Quosdam dedit apostolos, quosdam prophetas, &c. Apostoli, episcopi sunt : prophetae exiilanatores sunt scripturarum sicut to administer the Sacraments. 161 " sties there were meant the bishops ; by prophets, " the expounders of the scriptures ; and by the evan- " gelists, the deacons. But says, that they all met " in the bishop ; for that he was the chief priest, " that is," says he, " the prince of the priests, and " both prophet and evangelist, to supply all the of- " fices of the church for the ministry of the faith- " ful." And upon 1 Cor, xii. 28, says, " * That Christ con- " stituted the apostles head in the church ; and that " these are the bishops." And upon ver. 29, Are all apostles f i. e. all are not apostles. " * This is true," says he, " because in " the church there is but one bishop. " And because all things are from one God the " Father, therefore hath he appointed that one bi- " shop should preside over each church." In his book of the Dignity of the Priesthood, c. 3, he says, " " That there is nothing in this world to " be found more excellent than the priests, nothing " more sublime than the bishops." And, speaking of what was incumbent upon the several orders of the church, he does plainly distin- guish them ; for, says he in the same place, Agabus Evangelists diaconi sunt, sicut fuit Philippus Nam in episcopo omnes ordines sunt, quia princeps sacerdos est, hoc est, princeps est sacerdotum, et propheta, et evangelista, et CiEtera ad implenda officia ecclesiae in mitiisterio fidelium. * Caput in ecclesia apostolos posuit ipsi sunt episcopi. ' Verum est, quia in ecclesia unus episcopus est. Quia ab uno Deo patre sunt omnia, singulos episcopos singulis ecclesiis praeesse decrevit. 11 Ut ostenderenius nihil esse in hoc seculo excellentius sacer- dotibus, nihil snblimius episcopis reperiri. LESLIE, VOL. Vir. M 162 The Qualifications requisite "^God does require one thing from a bishop, " another from a presbyter, another from a deacon, " another from a layman." St. Jerom, A. D. 380, in his Comment upon the Ep. to Titus. " ^ When it began to be said, I am of " Paul, I of Apollos, &c. and every one thought " that those whom he baptized belonged to himself, " and not to Christ ; it was decreed through the " whole earth, that one chosen from among the pres- " byters should be set over the rest, that the seeds " of schism might be taken away." In his Epist. to Evangelus, "yFrom Mark the " evangelist to Heraclas and Dionysius the bishops, " the presbyters of Alexandria have always chosen " out one from among themselves, whom having " placed in an higher degree than the rest, they " called their bishop." " He that is advanced, is advanced from less to " greater." " The greatness of riches, or the humility of po- ^ Aliud est enim quod ab episcopo requirit Deus, et allud quod a presbytero, et aliud quod a diacono, et aliud quod a laico. " Postquam unusquisque eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse, non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, ut uuus de presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris, ut schismatum semina tolleren- tur. y Alexandriae, a Marco evangelista usque ad Heraclam et Dio- nysium episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum in ex- celsiori gradu collocatum episcopum noniinabant. Qui provehitur, de minori ad majus provehitur. Potentia divitiarum, et paupertatis huniilitas, vel subliniioreni vel inferiorem episcopum non facit. Caeterum omnes apostolorum successores sunt. Ut sciamus traditiones apostolicas sumptas de Veteri Testa- mento : quod Aaron et filii ejus atque Levitae in templo fuerunt, hoc sibi episcopi, presbyteri, et diaconi vendicent in ecclesia. to administer the Sacraments. 163 *' verty, does not make a bishop greater or less, see- " ing all of them are the successors of the apostles. " That we may know the apostolical economy to " be taken from the pattern of the Old Testament, " the same that Aaron, and his sons, and the Le- " vites were in the temple, the bishops, presbyters, " and deacons are in the church of Christ." Ad Nepotianum. " ^ Be subject to your bishop " or chief priest, and receive him as the father of " your soul." Advers. Luciferianos. " * The safety of the " church depends upon the dignity of the high " priest, to whom unless a sort of absolute and emi- " nent power be given above all, there will be as " many schisms in the church as there are priests. " Thence it is, that without the command of the " bishop, neither a presbyter nor a deacon have " power to baptize And the bishop is to impose " his hands upon those who are baptized by pres- " byters or deacons, for the invocation of the Holy " Spirit." And comforting Heliodorus, a bishop, upon the death of Nepotian his presbyter and his nephew, he * Esto subjectus pontifici tiio ; et quasi animse parentem sus- cipe. " Ecclesiae salus in sunimi sacerdotis dignitate pendet, cui si non exors quaedam et ab omnibus eminens detur potestas, tot in eccle- sia efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes. Inde venit, ut sine epi- scopi jussione neque presbyter neque diaconus jus habeant bapti- zandi Ad eos qui per presbyteros et diaconos baptizati sunt, episcopus ad invocationem Sancti Spiritus manum impositunis ex- currat. Epitaphium Nepotiani ad Heliodoruni; — In publico episcopum, domi patrem noverat, inter presbyteros et co-aequales primus in opere, &c. M 2 164 The Qualifications requisite commends Nepotian in that he reverenced his bi- shop. " He honoured Heliodorus in public as his " bishop, at home as his father ; but among his " presbyters and co-equals he was the first in his " vocation," &c. Upon the sixtieth of Isaiah, he calls the future bishops, " princes of the church." In script. Ecclesiast. de Jacobo. " James, after " the passion of our Lord, was immediately by the " apostles ordained bishop of Jerusalem." The like he tells of the first bishops of other places. Ep.Liv. adMarcellam,contraMo7itamim. '"^With " us the bishops hold the place of the apostles." A. D. 420, St. Augustine bishop of Hippo in Africa, Epist. xlii. " ^ The root of the Christian so- " ciety is diffused throughout the world, in a sure " propagation, by the seats of the apostles, and the " succession of the bishops." QucEst. Veter. et Novi Test, f 97. There is " none but knows that our Saviour did constitute " bishops in the churches ; for before he ascended " into heaven he laid his hands upon the apostles, " and ordained them bishops." Lib. VII. c. 43. " " The sentence of our Lord Je- ^ Principes futuros ecclesiae episcopos nominavit. *^ Jacobus post passioiiem Domini statim ab apostolis Hieroso- lymorum episcopus est ordinatus. Apud nos apostoloruni locum episcopi tenent. ^ Radix Christianee societatis per sedes apostolorum et succes- siones episcoporum certa per orbem propagatione diffunditur. f Nemo ignorat episcopos Salvatorem ecclesiis instituisse : ipse enim priusquam in coelos ascenderet, iniponens manum apostolis, ordinavit eos episcopos. e Quod dixit Clarus a Mascula in concilio Carthag. repetit Au- gust, de Baptisnio contra Donatist. : Manifesta est sententia Do- to administer the Sacraments. 165 " sus Christ is clear, who sent his apostles, and " gave to them alone that power which he had re- " ceived from his father ; to whom we have suc- " ceeded, governing the church of God by the same " power." Ep. CLXii, speaking of the bishops being called angels. Rev. ii, he says, " By the voice of God the " governor of the church is praised, under the name " of an angeir He Verbis Domini, Serm. 24. " > If he said to the " apostles alone, He that despiseth you, despiseth " me, then despise us : but if those words of his " come down even unto us, and that he has called " us, and constituted us in their place, see that you " do not despise us." Contra Faust, lib. xxxiii. cap. ult. " ^ We em- " brace the holy scripture, which from the times of " the presence of Christ himself, by the disposition of " the apostles, and the successions of other bishops " from their seats, even to these times, has come " down to us, safely kept, commended and honoured " through the whole earth." Contra Literas Petiliani, lib. ii. c. 51. " ^ What mini nostri Jesu Christi apostolos suos mittentis, et ipsis solis potestatem a patre sibi datam permittentis ; quibus nos succes- simus, eadem potestate ecclesiam Domini gubernantes. Divina voce sub nomine angeli laudalur praepositus ecclesiae. ' Si solis apostolis dixit, Qui vos spernit, me spernit, spernite nos si autem sermo ejus pervenit ad nos, et vocavit nos, et in eorum loco constituit nos, videte ne spernatis nos. Scripturani amplectimur, quae ab ipsius praesentiae Christi tem- poribus per dispensationes apostolorum, et caeteras ab eorum se- dibus successiones episcoporum, usque ad haec tempora toto orbe terrarum custodita, commendata, clarificata pervenit. ' Cathedra tibi quid fecit ecclesiae Romanae in qua Petrus sedit, M 3 166 The Qualifications requisite " has the chair of the church of Rome done to thee, " in which Peter sat, and in which at this day Ana- " stasius sits ; or of the church of Jerusalem, in " which James did sit, and in which John does " now sit ?" Contra JuUanum, lib. ii. cap. ult. ""'Irenaeus, " Cyprian, Reticius, Olympius, Hilary, Gregory, " Basil, Ambrose, John, these were bishops, " grave, learned," &c. QiicEst. ex Vet. Test. qu. 35. " " The king bears " the image of God, as the bishop of Christ. There- " fore while he is in that station he is to be ho- " noured, if not for himself, yet for his order." Let this suffice as to the testimonies of particular fathers of the church, though many more may be produced in that compass of time to which I have confined our present inquiry. And now (that no conviction might be wanting) I will set down some of the canons of the councils in those times, to the same purpose ; whereby it will appear that episco- pacy, as distinct from and superior to presbytery, was not only the judgment of the first glorious saints and martyrs of Christ, but the current doc- trine and government of the church, both Greek and Latin, in those early ages of Christianity. In the canons of the apostles, the distinction of et in qua hodie Anastasius sedet ; aut ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae in qua Jacobus sedit, et in qua hodie Johannes sedet ? [Vid. con- tra Crescon. lib. ii. cap. 37.] " Irenaeus, Cyprianus, Reticius, Olympius, Hilarius, Gregorius, Basilius, Ambrosius, Joannes, isti erant episcopi docti, graves, &c. " Dei enim imaginem habet rex, sicut et episcopus Christi. Quamdiu ergo in ea traditione est, honorandus est, si non propter se, vel propter ordinem. to administer the Sacraments. 167 bishop, presbyter, and deacon is so frequent, that it is almost in vain to give citations. The first and second canon shew the difference to be observed in the ordaining of them. " " Let a bishop be consecrated by two or three " bishops." " P Let a presbyter and deacon be ordained by " one bishop." See the same distinction of these orders, can. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36, 42, 44, 45, 51, 52, 53, 63, 68, 69, 70, 83. Can. 15 shews the jurisdiction of the bishops over the presbyters and deacons. " *i If any presbyter or deacon, or any of the cle- " rical order, shall leave his own parish, and go to " another, without the bishop's leave, he shall offi- " ciate no longer, especially if he obey not the bi- " shop, when he exhorts him to return, persisting " in his insolence and disorderly behaviour, but he " shall be reduced there to communicate only as a " layman." And can. 31. '""If any presbyter, despising his " 'Eir/tr/coiro^ •jQ^ifOTOvtlaBoi tin eir(0"Koiraiv 8t/o rpiZv. 1 Tj? itpta-^irfpof, Tj hoKOVOf, i) oXw; tov KaToXoyov tZv K\vjptKuy, ai[o\(l\j/a(; T^y iavTov icapotKioLv, e/{ tTtpav uiteXB-g, Ka) TravreXS^ /MToa-Taf ZiaTpl^ei Iv aXk^ itapotKKf. irapa. yvufAijv tov tStov iwKJKomV tovtov Kikvuo- juev jU5j/ctT» \uTovpytlv, el jucaXioTos, ■npoo'KaMvi/.eyov avTov tov inKTKonov av- Tov, iirave'KBfTy ovk vnr^KOVtrev, eisinivoiy Trj ara^!^, Xaixo? juce'y rot eKU hoKpipovra, Kcti 5^€(poTO)/^oplcx.(; fKKktiiTtaa-TiKa.i; iOtXei KajA^dveiv, 1) lilovat efa> t^; eKKKi^vlai;, nsapa, ■yvw/Aiji' tov enKTKOTtov avoLSff^a, (o-tu. to administer the Sacraments. 171 The council of Antioch, A. D. 341, can. 3. ''Hi " any presbyter or deacon, leaving his own parish, " shall go to others, and refuse to return when his " own bishop shall summon him, let him be de- " posed." Can. 4. " ' If any bishop, being deposed by a " synod, or a presbyter or deacon, being deposed by " his own proper bishop, shall presume to exercise " his function, let no room be left them either for " restoration or apology." Can. 5. " ''If any presbyter or deacon, despising " his own bishop, shall separate himself from the " church, and gather a congregation of his own, and " set up a different altar, and shall refuse to submit " himself to his bishop, calling him the first and " second time, let him be absolutely deposed." Can. 12. " 'If any presbyter or deacon, being de- " posed by his own proper bishop, or a bishop by ^ El" T<; 'Ttpea^vrepof y) hiaKOHOi KarocKtucan tov iavTov irapoiKtav e»? ktipav aisiXB-^, tl [AaKta-Ta kciXoZvti rS iiciaKinif Ihta iitayfXdetv e<{ ttjv TrapoiKtccy Trjv tavroZ Ka\ ■KapaivciZvTi i^r) iisaMVif^^—ttavrtKui; avTov KaB- cctptla^Bai T^? Mtrcvpylccf. ' E? Ti; iitla-Kmof i-no a-vvo^ov KaOatptBfli;, rj irpea-^vrepof vj Sfcocovo; tiro TOV Itlov tiTiaKvitw, KtKfA/}ijSe x«/!ai' anoXoylaf exeiy, ^ijSe iXtrlia /AfX- Xovov(, (1 [Ai] apo, fAera, yvufjit]^ tov oiVe/su nriji; yfiipa^ iirt- " A tribus vicinis episcopis, si diaconus est, arguatur ; si pres- byter, a sex ; si episcopus, a duodecim consacerdotibus audiatur. " AlperiKovf 8e XtyofAtv tov^ re TraXai t^? f'/v-/''!«« Se fina-Koitovi;, upta-^vTepovf, Ka\ dioKO- yov(, a( Tcpenet oalotf iniaKOTcoK;, Ka\ Upevai &eov, Kot AewVaf?. to administer the Sacraments. 173 tioned, can. 4, i bishop, presbyter, and deacon; and their powers distinct. For, Can. 6. It is declared not to be lawful for presby- ters to consecrate churches, or reconcile penitents ; but if any be in great danger, and desirous to be reconciled in the absence of the bishop, " '■The presbyter ought to consult the bishop, and " receive his orders in it ;" as it is declared in the 7th can. Can. 10. " ^If any presbyter, being puffed up with " pride, shall make a schism against his own proper " bishop, let him be anathema." Can. 11. gives leave to a presbyter, who is con- demned by his bishop, to appeal to the neighbouring bishops ; but if, without this, he flies olf, and makes a schism from his bishop, it confirms the anathema upon him. Can. 12. orders what is before recited out of can. 11. of the council of Carthage, " 'That a bishop " who is accused shall be tried by twelve bishops, if " more may not be had ; a presbyter by six bishops, " with his own bishop ; and a deacon by three." Can. 14. orders, " "That in Tripoli, because of " the smaller number of bishops in those parts, a " presbyter shall be judged by five bishops, and a " deacon by three, his own proper bishop presiding." '0) '7:po(f)vXu(Ta'e!T6ai IfAO,^, jU,?; ifAiteiTtiii fli ra. ayKio'Tpa, t^? Ktvoho^taf, dXXa iceTtXripofjyoptTa-Bai in ytV7jtvjSei't vjAuy ykv- OtTS. 192 Primitive Heresy revived, &p. " our hope, from which let none of you be turned " away." " ^ Stop your ears therefore," (says he in his Epi- stle to the Trallians,) " when any shall speak to you " without Jesus Christ." What Christ was this ? The outward man Jesus, or the light within ? That Jesus, " who was of the " stock of David, who was of Mary, who was truly " born, did both eat and drink, was truly perse- " cuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified " and died, and who truly rose from the dead, his " Father raising of him ; and his Father will, after " the like fashion, raise us up in Jesus Christ, who " believe in him, without whom we cannot truly " live." " ^ But some atheists, that is, infidels, do say, that " he only appeared to be a man, but took not a " body in reality, and in appearance only seemed to " suffer and die," &c. And in the beginning of his Epistle to the Smyr- naeans, after having described that Christ, who is the object of our faith in the fullest manner, to ob- viate the deceit of applying it to an inward Christ, by calling him the Son of David, born of the Virgin, and baptized of John, truly crucified under Pontius Pilate, and Herod the Tetrarch ; none of which ^ KoKpud'/jTe oiv, orav ty-Xv X^fii \y\<7(tv X^«7ToS AaXJj' *^ ToC eV yivov^ ha,0li, tov eV Mapix^, 0$ aXijflS? tytvrf)Brj, ecpaytv re koI eTTjev, ak-^Ou^i tbiuiyfifi iirl [lavTlov IliXaTSu, aXriSSq ia-TavpcoBi], Kat ccTt- fOavev c; koI aXijAu? iyep6/i ano ViKpav, (yei'pavToq avriv toZ UaTpl^ airov, KaTx to oiMiafAa, oi? Kai 'fij^i; nv^ mcTtvavrai; avra ovru^ iytpeT 0 riaT/jp avTov iy Xpia-Tu 'IvjcoZ' ov %up''n; to aXij6*vov X^v ovk exofAe*. E( Se acmep Tive? adeoi ovre?, Tovreo-Tj ama-roi, Xeyovtri, SoK^o-e* ytytinja-Oai airly aydpamov, ovK a.Xrj9af aveikr^^voLi aZfMt, Koii rS ioKe7y Tedy/^Ktvat, -niwyBtvai ot rS oyri, &C. Primitive Heresy revived, <^c. 193 can be applied to the light within. He adds that we can only be saved by the faith in this outward Jesus ; " « By the fruits of whose divinely blessed " passion we are saved For he suffered all these " things for us, that we might be saved." And to obviate the two heretical pretences of making the meritorious suffering of Christ to be his suffering within us ; and that his outward sufferings were not real, but in appearance only, as not being really a man, but only residing in that man Jesus as in a veil or garment ; Ignatius adds in the next words : " ^ And he truly suffered, and truly raised " himself ; not as some unbelievers say, that he only " appeared to suffer, they but appearing to exist ; " and as they believe, so shall it be unto them when " they come to be out of the body, and in the state " of spirits :" that is, they shall justly forfeit the true and real benefits purchased for true believers by the death of Christ, since they will have it to be only in appearance or false show ; and take the me- rit from the outward death of Christ which he suffered upon the cross, and place it in a fancied suffering of the light within them. And as he asserts the faith in Christ's outward death, so does he in his resurrection ; not the in- ward rising of Christ in our hearts, but in his out- ward resurrection ; that which was proved by their handling of him, and feeling of his flesh, and his eat- ing and drinking with them, after his resurrection. * 'A' oS KapiraZ 'fljixe~; am toZ Beo/AaKaplav avioZ irdOovi; Tav-ra yap vdvrct titaSev 81' ^jwa? "va, (TuiBujAtv. f Kal aXijfiS? enaQev, Kai d'MfiZi dv€'€? 'K(yoviTiv TO '^OKftv aiiTov 'KfKCivBivai, aCroi to SoKeli/ ovre?, Koi ku6- 5«Tiy dixapTiZy, ov f/.)) icpocrhe^uvTai' d'AX' eccvTo7(; siVoSo/xv)- (701/ (71. 202 Primitive Heresxj revived, " P Consider," says he, " how he (God) has ap- " pointed the cross and the water to the same end. " For thus he saith. Blessed are they who, hoping " in the cross, have gone down into the water." And again, pursuing the same argument, he mag- nifies the great efficacy and power of baptism, when duly received, a few lines after what is above quoted, saying : "qFor we go down into the water fiill of sins " and filthiness, and come up again bearing fruit in " our hearts by the fear and hope which is in Jesus, " which we have in the Spirit." After the same manner, and in the like words, speaks St. Hermas, (whom St. Paul salutes, Rom. xvi. 14,) in that only remaining work of his, called, The Shepherd of St. Hermas: there, in the third book, and ninth similitude, he speaks thus : " Before a man receives the name of the Son of " God, he is designed unto death ; but when he re- " ceives that seal, he is delivered from death, and " given up to life. Now that seal is water, into " which men go down, liable to death, but come up " again, assigned over unto life." I have taken this out of the ancient Latin trans- lation, according to the Oxford edition, 1685. For P AiirBdvetrde 7r£; to v^cop, ko.) tov a^avpov in) to avTO apiTt. tovto yap Atyei' jJuiKapiot cl in) tov OTavplv eXiriVayTe?, KarejSijtrav eli to v^up. 1 'H/ne?? jji-iv KaTafJalvofJiev ei? to vtmp yei/.ovTt(; dfAapriZv ko.) pvnov, Kai ava^alvoiAtv Kapno(popovvT€i iv tt, Kaplla, Sia tov (po^ov ko.) tt^v iKmhcc e»? Toy 'Ii)o-otv ej^ovTe? iv t^ nv(v/AXTi. r Antequam enim accipiat homo nomen Filii Dei, niorti desti- natus est : at ubi accipit illud sigilluni, liberatur a morte, et tra- ditur vitiE. Illud autem sigiilum aqua est, in quam descendunt homines morti obligati, ascendunt vero vitae assignati. Primitive Heresy revived, S^c. 203 the Greek was in a great part lost, and came not down to us entire, as this old Latin version did. St. Clement, in his Second Epistle to the Corinth- ians, paragr. 8, calls baptism by the same name of our seal, and applies to it that text, Isa. Ixvi. 24, which he renders thus : " * They that have not kept , " their seal, their worm shall not die," &c. ; or, as he expresses it in paragr. 6, " * Unless we keep our " baptism pure and undefiled, with what assurance " can we enter the kingdom of God ?" V. The fifth point is their forbidding to marry, and preaching up fornication. I charge not all the Quakers with this ; no, nor the greatest num- ber of them ; only those called 7iew Quakers in America, of whom, and this their principle and practice, an account is given in the Snake in the Grass, sect. vi. parag. 11, p. 87, vol. iv. But the Quakers are thus far answerable, that all this wild extravagance is a natural consequence of their com- mon principle and notion of the light within, as such an absolute rule and judge that is not to be controlled by scripture, or any law or rule whatso- ever; which leaves every man in such an unlimited latitude, that there is no restraint to whatever the wildest imagination (so it be strong enough) can suggest ; nor any cure, (upon their foundation,) but to bid him follow it still on. Listen to that within you : that is all their advice, and all their rule. But besides, I would fain know what answer the old Quakers can give to the new ones upon their * TZv yap jAVj Ttip-fidavT Trjv a(\>pctyl^a, o (tkuX'^^ uvtZv oi T€'AtVT^- <7t., &C. ' 'Hftel? iay [Arj T/jpr^a-auev to ^dicTKTfAo. d/yvov koi afAlavTov, naia m- TToifivjo-e* datK&KTOfA^Oa tl( to j3ao-/Xeayf- povrai i) jvaat^ tav dy.apr'rjfAdTuv, uJveiy, ov /x^v 8t' a^T^? fifjuy ntaplx^rBai, "va mtp yyZft.tv mivjTfov, Ka) mirj(rat erj ju.»;v a-yonr/jtroi/Aev ku) la-^a-wfAey, dydOtfMi elij. " "Oo-Tj? SijirsTe e'tWof, hd toEto rrji' %ap«v i]fuy Trjq htKatoffvyrji; BeSotrSai, tya mtp voieTy ha tov ain€^ov?v tcSv aKpoQmicv, Heb. vii. 4, is literally " the tenth of the tithe ;" for aKpoOma, as before observed, signifies " tithe :" and so rarely does it signify " sjjoils," that, except in this text, (if it be so meant there,) Mr. Selden can find but one instance amongst the Greek authors where it is taken for " spoils ;" at least this must be granted, that " spoils" is but a strained and very unusual signification of the word. And Abram, supposing him a priest, paying tithe to Melchisedec, argues the superiority of the priesthood of Melchisedec ; after which order of priesthood, and not after the order either of Abraham or Aaron, our Lord Christ was consecrated. And this will infer all that the apostle argues from Abram's payment of tithes to Melchisedec, Heb. vii, as much as if Abram were then a layman. And he might then be a layman, though he were a priest afterwards ; for he was then only Abram ; it was before the covenant God made with him, and the alteration thereupon of his name into Abraham, Gen. xvii; whereby he was constituted the father of the many nations of the faithful to come. But these things concern not our present inquiry ; there- fore let us proceed. Geu.xxviii. IV. The second instance above mentioned for tithes is that of Jacob, against which it was ob- jected, that this was only a vow. Jacob. Answ. It was a vow ; but not therefore only a vow. Men often, and most commonly, vow that which is their duty to do, without respect to the Divine Right of Tithes. 307 vow ; as, to vow to serve God more faithfully tlian we have clone before. Thus, in this same vow of Jacob's, he vows that the Lord shall be his God. Will any say that the Lord was not his God be- fore? And, indeed, this of dedicating the tithe to God was no more than a further declaration that the Lord was his God; because offering of tithe was a part of the worship of God. And therefore Jacob did by this declare that the Lord only shall be his God, because he would offer his tithe only unto him. It was the custom of the nations among the hea- then to offer their tithes to the god whom they adored ; and therefore some offered their tithes to one, and some to another, of their false gods : but Jacob here vows to the only true God, that he only shall be his God, and that he will offer his tithes to none other God but to him alone. For to whom we dedicate the tithe, we acknow- ledge to have received the other nine parts from him ; of which the offering of the tenth is a so- lemn acknowledgment. And the vowing or dedicating them, though due before, was customary with the Jews as well as the heathen ; for so it is commanded, Ecclus. xxxv. 9, Dedicate thy tithes with gladness. And none will say that they were not due among the Jews, even before their dedication of them. SECT. VII. That the Gentiles did pay tithes to their gods. I. THE great opposer of tithes, the learned Mr. Selden, cannot deny this ; but, in his History of X 2 308 An Essay concerning the Tithes, cap. iii, he endeavours to lessen this as much as he can, by offering some of his conjectm'es: 1. that they were paid only by particular vows ; 2. not by any law enjoining them ; 3. not gene- rally ; 4. not yearly ; 5. only to some particular god, as, among the Romans, to Hercules, &c, ; 6. only of some particular things, not of all our increase, of every sort. In every one of which particulars he has been sufficiently confuted by several learned answers which have been made to that book of his. Dr. Comber, last of all, has collected these, and added to them; and put that matter, I think, past a reply. But I intend not to trouble the reader with a re- petition of any of these ; because what Mr. Selden himself allows is abundantly sufficient to my pre- sent purpose, and indeed to confute himself in every one of these heads, to which I have reduced all his pretences, whereby he endeavours to invalidate the practice of the Gentiles from being a testimony to the divine right of tithes. For however they paid their tithe, 1. whether of every thing, or only of some sorts of their increase ; 2. whether to one or to more of their gods ; 3. whe- ther annually or occasionally ; 4. whether generally, or only the devouter sort ; 5. whether thereunto re- quired by their municipal laws, or not ; or, 6. whe- ther with or without a particular vow : yet this remains uncontroverted, upon either side of these questions, that the notion of tithes, as being due unto some god or other, was received among the Gentiles, and that time out of mind ; which is all the use I have at present to make of this custom or tradition Divine Right of Tithes. 309 of the Gentiles : and of which I will shew the force in summing up the evidence. In the mean time let me enlarge so far as to shew the reader how far Selden himself does yield the cause in all these captious questions which he puts in prejudice to the divine right of tithes. II. But first I must obviate a mistake which may- arise from the use of the word ana^yai, " first-fruits." For though, in the Levitical sense of the word, it is distinguished from the tithes, because there were particular first-fruits, distinct from the tithe, re- served in the Levitical law ; yet, in the profane writings, first-fruits and tenths are generally un- derstood to mean the same thing ; because, as Mr. Selden confesses, (c. iii. n. 3,) the first-fruits were paid in the proportion of a tenth part ; and the tenths were paid out of the first-fruits or choicest of the whole : whence these terms oi first fruits and tenths became synonymous. And though not always, yet often, they are taken to mean the same thing, even in the sacred writings. And the reason is this ; there were two sorts of first-fruits vmder the law, of which the one was the tenth, and the other was not. The first sort we find, Levit. xxiii. 9, &c. where it is commanded, that at the reaping of their fields they should bring a sheaf or handful of the first of the harvest unto the priest, to be offered before the Lord ; and before this was done, they were prohibited so much as to taste even of the green ears, ver. 14. These are called the first of the first fruits, Exod. xxxiv. 26 : but when the full harvest was brought in, then the tenth i)art of the whole was taken out of the first or choicest parts ; and before this tenth 310 j4ti Essay concerning the was offered, it was not lawful for the owner to con- vert any of the nine parts to his own use. And therefore these tenths were the first-fruits of the harvest ; first offered to God before any of the re- mainder could be disposed of, and which likewise consisted of the first or principal parts of the har- vest. Thus the tenths were always first-fruits, but the first-fruits were not always tenths ; though this second sort of first-fruits were always tenths. The prtsmessum or iwccmetium of the Romans before harvest, and their jiori-festum after harvest, both dedicated to Ceres, do resemble these two sorts of first-fruits. But the first of the first-fruits were not paid out of all those things which were tithable ; and in those eases the word first-fruits did express only the tenth. Thus the tenth of the tenth, which the Levites were to pay to the high-priest, is called by the name of first-fruits; and the meaning of that name is explained in the Vulgar translation of Numb, xviii. 26, Primitias offerte Domino, id est, clecimam partem ; i. e. " Offer to the Lord yom* first-fruits, " that is, the tenth part." And this tenth is called first-fruits in the Greek, a-na^yai, ver. 29, 30. In both which last verses our English renders it tlie best; and likewise the Vulgar, optima et electa: and the LXX mean the same by a-na^yai, "fu'st- " fruits ;" for they being commanded to be given of the very best, hence the word first-fruits became likewise a term for the best and choicest things. And that the heathen had the same notion of tithes and first-fruits being the same, Mr. Selden'' does not conceal, but gives authority for it, and History of Tithes, c. iii. n. 3. Divine Right of Tithes. 311 shews that their offerings to their gods were called deKaTYj(f)opot a-napyai, that is, " fii'st-fruits ill tenths." A multitude of authorities for this might be given, but it will not be denied ; and I hasten, III. This being thus settled, I proceed to shew how far Mr. Selden has allowed the general notion of the Gentiles, (and not only of particular men, or some nations,) that the tithe was due unto their gods. In his History of Tithes, c. Ill, he confesses it to Tithes a be the custom of the Gentiles to offer the tithe to custom of their gods, and gives several instances for example ; Jnes^^"' of the Arabians and Phoenicians in Asia, among whom Melchisedec was both a king and a priest; the Carthaginians and Egyptians in Africa ; and the Grecians and Romans in Europe. And, chap, x, n. 1, he brings it as far west as England, and shews it to have been the custom here, even amongst those who had not yet received Christianity ; as of king Cedwalla, about the year 686, before he was a Christian, and others. Pliny, in his Natural History, lib. xii. c. 14, wit- nesses of the Arabians, who paid tithe to their god Sabis; and, c. 19, of the Ethiopians, who paid their tithe to their god Assabinus : and this they observed so strictly, that it was not lawful for the merchants to buy or sell any of their goods till the priests had first taken out the tenth for their gods. Plutarch, in the Life of Camillus, tells not only how religiously the Romans observed the payment of their tithes to their gods, but likewise that the same regard was had to them among the Liparians : for when, after Camillus's conquest of the city of Veies, the augurs had made report that the gods X 4 . 312 An Essmj concerning the were greatly offended, (though for what they knew not,) which they found by the marks and observa- tions they made of their sacrifices ; and Camillus having informed the senate, that in the sacking of Veies the soldiers had taken the spoil without giv- ing the tenth to the gods ; and whereas the soldiers had most of them spent or disposed of what they had taken, the senate ordered every man to give in upon oath what he had got of the booty, and to pay a tenth of it, or the value, if it was spent, to the gods ; and, besides this, a cup of gold of eight ta- lents, to be sent to the temple of Apollo at Delphos, as a trespass-offering : towards which the women brought in their jewels and gold of their own free- will so readily, that the senate, in honour to them, gave them a privilege which before had been denied them, of having orations in their praise made at their funerals, which formerly had been allowed only to great and eminent men. And they appointed three of the first quality in Rome to carry this present, with the tithes, in a triumphant manner to Delphos. In the way they were taken, and made prize by the Liparians : but when brought to their city, and the governor understanding that so great a booty was tithes due to the gods, he not only restored it all, and sent them away with it, but gave them a convoy of his own ships to secure them in their voyage, though he was then at war with them. The Greeks had the same notion of the divine right of tithes ; which Xenophon tells us, and gives a remarkable instance of it, {de Exped. Cyr. lib. v.) that the Grecian army, which he conducted in that memorable retreat after the death of Cyrus, reserved Divine Right of Titlies. 313 a tenth of the money they got upon their inarch by the sale of captives (notwithstanding their great distress) to be offered to Apollo and Diana ; but Xenophon reserved the tithe of his share to be offered at Delphi and Ephesus. With this he built a temple to Diana, and bought lands wherewith to endow it, of which he paid the tithe to her ; and near the temple set up a pillar, with this inscrip- tion ; " Ground sacred to Diana. Whosoever pos- *' sesseth it, let him pay the tithe of his yearly in- " crease ; and out of the remainder maintain the " temple. If he neglect this, the goddess vt^ill re- " quire it." Many more instances might be brought out of the Greek and Latin stories, but there is no need ; for Mr. Selden owns it, not only as to these, but the Gentiles in general, as before quoted, c. i. n. 1, where he says, that the " first-fruits and chiefest " parts were sacred to the gods among the Gen- " tiles." See what has been said, n. 2, of first-fruits and tenths being the same ; and that their offerings to their gods were called ^€KaTYi KOI Tag fi^^a? ava7refj1.7rc1ft.ev. Contr. Cels. lib. VIII. p. 400. By firstfruits he means tenths, as appears by his sixteenth Homily on Ge- 350 An Essay concertiing the nesis, where he says that the number ten is re- garded in the New Testament as well as the Old : and says, that because Christ is the author of all, therefore tithes are offered to the priests. He is large upon this subject, Hom. II. in Num., as trans- lated by St. Hierom, (for we want the Greek,) much of which Mr. Selden quotes, (c. 4, p. 40 and 41.) And particularly Origen applies the text before de- bated, 1 Cor. ix. 13, to the priests having tithes un- der the gospel ; and says, that tithes are due now as well as then, etiam secundum literam, according to the very letter of the law ; which in this case is still obligatory, and to Christians as well as Jews. He reckons them as having no remembrance of God, as not believing that God gave the fruits of the earth, who do not honour him with them, by giving part of them to the priests : and, as I before quoted this same Homily, he likewise cites our Sa- viour's conmiand to the Pharisees, telling them that they ought to pay tithe of mint, annise, cummin, &c., and shews how this is more strictly obligatory upon Christians ; and concludes with proving that the very letter of the law must stand for the pay- ment of the first-fruits of fruits and cattle: Heec dixi- mus asserentes mandatum de primitiis Jrugum vel pecorum dehere etiam secundum literam stare. And all that Mr. Selden has to say against this clear tes- timony is that though Origen does mention tithes in the premises, yet that in the conclusion before quoted he only names first-fruits. He makes Ori- gen a very bad reasoner by this : but there is no ground for it, because (as before often said) by the word first-fruits tithes were frequently meant. And ^ Histon,' of Tithes, c. 4. n. 3. p. 4 1 . Divine Right of Tithes. 351 in this same place Origen uses both these terms, where he tells that the Pharisees dui'st not taste of the fruits of the earth, priusquam primitias sacer- dotihus offerant, et Levitis decimce separentur; i. e. " before they offered hrst-fruits to the priests, and " the tithes were separated for the Levites :" where, as he uses the words priests and Levites, so the words first-fruits and tithes promiscuously. For the tithes were to be paid to the priests, who it is tnie were likewise Levites \ that was a general word, like the clergij among us, to comprehend all the or- ders of the church : but the tithes were not paid to the Levites as they were a distinct order from the priests ; nor were the first-fruits paid more particu- larly to the priests than the tenths were. Both first-fruits and tenths were offerings to the Lord, (as before has been shewn,) and all the offerings and sa- crifices were offered only by the priests, and not by the Levites. Yet Origen here uses these words in- differently, as likewise the words first-fruits and tenths. And to shew (contrary to Mr. Selden's pre- tence) that he meant to bring them both in their distinct senses into his conclusion, he draws his con- sequence, not from one, but both of them, speaking in the plural number, Et ego nihil horum faciens i. e. Neither offering my first-fruits nor tenths. These words immediately follow those above quoted, where he shews how strictly the Scribes and Pha- risees paid their first-fruits and tenths ; and then, speaking in the person of a profane and careless Christian, says, ego nihil horum do neither of these. This comprehends both first-fruits and tenths, to cut off Mr. Selden's vain distinction ; and Origen condemns such a Christian as much worse 352 An Essay concerning the than the Scribes and Pharisees. And his inferring from hence that the mandatum de primitUs, the " law for first-fruits," ought to stand, cannot exclude the tenths, which he expressly mentioned ; but shews plainly, that by this he meant the tenths : as St. Chrysostom % by the same word of first-fruits ex- presses the tithes which Abram gave to Melchise- dec, calling them Tag airapyai Twv avTf TreTrovYjfjievuv, i. e. " the first-fruits of his labours." And Clemens Alexandrinus, who was Origen's master, used both these words in the same sense, and taught the very same thing as Origen, viz. that the law of Moses concerning tithes was still obligatory, and of force among Christians, as being a moral duty and a part of God's worship. He says S that Moses's law did teach piety and worship towards God, " by giv- " ing him the tithes of our fruit and cattle — and of " these first-fruits," says he, " the priests were main- " tained." Here first-fruits and tithes mean the same thing : and so it is in the Apostolical Canons, where, can. 38, it is ordered how the amafyjxi, the " first-fruits" or " tithes" should be disposed, which is a full demon- stration that they were then paid. I will close my proof of those first ages with the great St. Cyprian, who flourished A. D. 240. He, reproving the cooling of the charity of some, and how far they had fallen short of the primitive zeal, says, {de Unit. Eccles. n. 23,) Domos tunc et fun- dos venu dahant, at nunc e patrimonio nec decimas ^ In Hebr. Hom.xii. torn. iv. p. 497. * Ai' Se/carai rZv KapirS>, Ka) tSv Bftf/.^aTav, ivere^fTi' re eli; to @e7ov iil^ci(TK€v. eK TOVTwy yap olfAott rZv a,i:apyfiv, Kai ol i€pe~< itttfl' other countries, upon the refonna- " tion, was religiously done,) than conferred with " such a prodigal dispensation, as it happened, on " those who stood ready to devour what was sancti- " fied ; and have (in no small number) since fovmd " inheritances thence derived to them but as Seja- " uus's horse, or the gold of Tholouse." 7. This observation of Selden's has beeu more particularly insisted upon by sir Henry Spelman, in his History of Sacrilege ; and his son Clem. Spel- man, in his preface to his father's book, De noii temerand. EccL, who has given many and remark- able instances of the ruin and destruction of those families who shared most of the chm'ch lands and tithes in the beginning of our reformation, and be- fore, from AMlliam the Conqueror : especially it was taken notice of, that the heirs of such families were taken off untimely, or that they had no heirs, and > Christoph. Pinder. de Bonis Ecclesias in Ducat. Wittenberg, p. 94, &c. 364 An Essay concerning the that their estates and honours went into other fa- milies. This was chiefly remarkable in Hen. VIII. himself; all of whose children died childless, and left his crown to another family and nation. And whereas the addition of the church lands and trea- sure which were annexed to the crown were thought so inexhaustible, that Hen. VIII. promised to his parliament, that if they would settle them upon the croMTi, he would free the nation for ever from taxes and subsidies ; would maintain ^ forty earls, sixty barons, three hundred knights, and forty thousand soldiers ; and that they should always be so main- tained upon the expense of the crown: yet when these church lands and tithes impropriated were ac- cordingly granted to the crown, together ^vith the plunder of all the church plate, and jewels offered at their shrines, which were inestimable, all that the king had promised in lieu of them was forgot ; and the nation never paid such heavy taxes as since that time; instead of being eased from taxes, as they expected, and was promised, from that day taxes seemed to be entailed upon them, and ever to increase. They have already (as above observed) brought us to a tenth, who have seized upon the tenth of God : and imless we repent And as for the crown, that vast accession of sacrilegious wealth and lands eat out themselves, and all the crown lands with them ; insomuch that at this day se- veral private gentlemen in England enjoy more to their own estates than all the lands which are left to the crown do now yield. And Hen. VIII. him- self, who thought never to be poor, lived to see that ' Howe's Preface to Stow's Annals. Coke's Jurisdiction of Courts, f. 44. Divine Right of Tithes. 365 incredible mass of wealth, which he had robbed from the churches, all melt away like ice before the sun, and his own vast treasure with it ; insomuch that he was at last reduced to coin base money. The fate of the great duke of Somerset is very observable: he was uncle to king Edward the Sixth, and protector of England ; he built Somerset-house with the stones of a church reformed to ruin, and was the great patron and promoter of impropria- tions : he was taken in the same net he had laid for others, an act of parliament he had procured for his own safety, and to crush his enemies, by which he was trapped himself, and lost his head for so poor a crime as felony ; and, which is more extraor- dinary, had not the power or presence of mind to demand the benefit of his clergy, which could not have been refused him : " As if," says an historian, " God would not suffer him, who had robbed his " church, to be saved by his clergy," Many are too rash in determining the judgments of God to be sent for this or that ; and the excess of this, especially of late times, even to superstition, among those who cried out most against it, and were most superstitious, but knew it not, has run others to the contrary extreme of irreligion, to think God wholly unconcerned in the affairs of the world, and that no notice at all is to be taken of any events, which they suppose to happen casually, and to have no relation to either the good or evil that we do. This is to deny all providence in God, which is atheism ; for it destroys the very notion of a God, which cannot be without his providence supposed, and an universal influence and inspection over all things. 366 An Essay C07icerning the And though it is hard to make an argument, and conclude positively for what particular sin such a judgment was sent, and we often mistake in this, and make applications according to humour or in- terest; yet sometimes judgments are so very legible, that we may read our sin in our punishment : and God frequently in scripture reproves the hardness of their hearts who shut their eyes against the observa- isai. V. 12. tion of this signal part of his providence : who re- gard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the Jer. V. 12. operation of his hands. They have belied the Lord, and said. It is not he ; neither shall evil come upon us. It is called a helying of God, to think that the evils which come upon us are not sent from him. isai. xiv. 7- For, says he, / make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Amos iii. 6. And, Shall there he evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it ? Psai. X. 12, The wicked blaspheme God, while they do say in their heart. Tush, thou God carest not for it; he hideth away his face, and he will never see it Surely thou hast seen it, for thou heholdest ungod- liness and wrong ; that thou may est take the matter into thine own hand. And the Jews are reprehended by our Saviour, Matt. xvi. for not discerning the signs of the times. ^' It is called a knowing of God, to observe the course of his judgments and his mercies ; for how otherwise can we know him upon earth ? Jer. xxii. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know mef saith the Lord. And the consequence is, that not to take notice of these things is not to know God ; it is to belie him. Divine Right of Tithes. 367 to blaspheme him, as in the texts before quoted, and many more that could be produced to the same purpose. Now to apply this to our present purpose : I do not pretend to draw an argument from the many instances of God's remarkable judgments upon both their persons and families who had robbed his church, as if those judgments must of necessity have been inflicted purely and solely for this sin. Yet if this be a sin, and of so deep a die, as it must be, if it be any sin at all ; (for it can be no other than sacrilege ;) and if that be the most open and noto- rious known sin of these persons, and likewise these judgments are observed to follow the lands, houses, and tithes impropriate, though often bought and sold, and changing owners : not in every case, for if God should punish wickedness in all, the world must soon be destroyed, and he does often suffer the wicked to prosper; it is one of the sharpest scourges he uses to chastise a sinful nation ; and having done his work, to burn the rod : I say, if we see judg- ments to follow such a sin, for the most part, and in such repeated and remarkable instances as sir Henry Spelman gives us in his History of Sacrilege; and many more of the same sort which we can ga- ther elsewhere, and some that our own experience can furnish us withal ; in such cases, it is far from superstition to take notice of the hand of God in them ; and not to do it, is that stupidity and blasphemy before reprehended ; it is a hardening ourselves against all the methods of divine Provi- dence, a denial of it, and living without God in the world. Who can (for example) avoid the observation of 368 An Essay concerning the the New Forest in Hampshire devouring so many of William the Conqueror's sons by strange deaths, he having destroyed twenty-six parish chui'ches to make room for his deer there, as you may see in Spelman's Hist. Sacril. p. 119, 120. Or what is observed in his preface to his De non temerand. Eccl. p. 42, that within twenty years after Henry the Eighth's seizing the revenues of the church by the advice and assistance of his nobility, and dividing her patrimony among them chiefly, more of them and their children were attainted, and died by the sword of justice, than from the Conquest to that time, which was about five hundred years. Sir Henry Spelman's Hist. Sacril. c. vii. computes that " the great increase of lands and wealth that " came to the king by the dissolution was qua- " druple to the crown lands ;" and takes notice (p. 226, 227) how the crown lands were dwindling away ; most of them being then gone, (when he wrote, in the reign of king Charles the First,) and only fee-farm rents reser^'ed out of the greatest part of them, viz. 40,000/. a year out of the crown lands, and 60,000/. out of the church lands ; and observes, as a continuance of the judgment upon them, that an infraction was then begun to be made upon the very fee-farm rents themselves, and that some of them had been alienated : but if he had lived an- other reign, he would have seen them every one sold, and the crown reduced to live from hand to mouth, upon the mere benevolence of those, whose care it is to keep it always so depending, and upon its good behaviour. So much has the crown gained by the access of sacrilegious wealth, as from imperial dignity and a Divine Right of Tithes. 369 propriety paramount in all the lands of England, to become an honourable beggar for its daily bread. I know not how far this has sunk with those who are concerned ; or whether another curse may not be added, that is, never to consider, but go on. However, sir Henry Spelman has told us of se- veral gentlemen in England, who, out of a due sense of the sin of this sacrilege, have freely given up and restored to the church, as far as the laws would permit them, all their impropriate tithes which had descended to them from their ancestors ; that in- stead of them, and the curses which attended them, they might entail the blessing of God upon the rest of their estates, and upon their posterities. The sense of this sunk so deep with the great earl of Strafford, that foreseeing a new sacrilegious deluge of usurpation upon the church then coming on, anno 1640, he made it his dying injunction to his son, under peril of his curse, and of the cm-se of God, never to meddle with any church lands, or what had been once dedicated to God. This legacy he sent him from the scaffold, where men are past dissem- bling or comting favour ; though this could have been no recommendation to him at that time. And how light soever some men make of the sin of sacrilege, while they gain by it, yet when they come to die, they may have the same sense of it which that noble lord then so religiously expressed. But there being no repentance accepted by God, without restitution as far as in our power, I pray God they may think of it while it is in their power to make that restitution, which alone can witness the sincerity of their repentance. 8. There can no pretence be made for the law- LESLIE, VOL. VJI. B b 370 An Essay concerning the fulness of impropriations, when those very acts of parliament which took them from the chm-ch, and gave them to laymen, do acknowledge that they are God's dues, and his right ; that they are due to God and holy church, as in 27 Hen. VIII. c. 20. nay, they were always so acknowledged, and no other- wise ; insomuch that there was no law or precedent for a layman to sue for tithes ; it was utterly hetero- geneous and abhorrent : for which reason, when tithes were given to laymen, they were forced to have a particular act of parliament, 32 Hen. VIII. c. 7, to enable laymen to sue for tithe, which before they could not do ; in which very act tithe is named as being due to Almighty God. And next to act of parliament, the great oracle of our law, sir Edward Coke, is to be heard, who in the bishop of ^Vin- chester's case plainly asserts that dismes sont choses spirituaU, due de jure divino, i. e. " that tithes " are spiritual things, and due of divine right." And if so, how can acts of parliament alter them ? Can they take away God's right ? This is plainly plead- ing guilty against themselves, and leaves all those self-condemned who have nothing but these acts of parliament to plead in arrest of judgment for the sacrilege of their impropriations at the day of doom. 9. In the next place, can an act of parliament dispense with vows made to God, or alter things Gen. 1. 25. dedicated to his service ? Did the oath which Jo- seph took of the children of Israel bind their poste- rities so many ages after, and that about a matter of no greater consequence than tlie removing his bones ? And shall not the repeated vows of our an- Exod. xiii. ccstors bind us, to give God the honour due unto his name, the worship of our tithes, which he from Divine Right of Tithes. 371 the beginning has reserved as sacred unto himself? Did that oath bind which the princes of the congre-josh.ix. 15. gation swore to the Gibeonites ; and shall not the vows and oaths of so many of our kings and parlia- ments bind us ? Did that oath bind which the Gibeonites obtained through fraud and deceit ? and shall not ours bind, which were voluntary and honest? Did God dis- pense so far with his own command of making no covenant with the Canaanites in favour of the Is- raelites' oath, though taken unawares? and will he give up that part of his worship Avhich he hath made standing and perpetual, the offering of our tithes, in favour of our breach of a lawful and reli- gious oath to perform this ? Did God punish the Is- 2 Sam. xxi. raelites with three years' famine for Saul's attempt- ing to break this oath four hundred and fifty years Acts xiu. after it was made? and is our crime forgotten, who"°' little more than one hundred and fifty years ago have dissolved the oaths of our ancestors ! Did God punish this sin of Saul's upon the Israelites after he was dead ? and may not we be punished, though Henry the Eighth be dead ' Were the people punished who did not consent to Saul's act? and shall they escape who joined with and assisted Henry the Eighth, shared the spoil with him, and keep it unto this day ! Did God refuse to answer, till Jonathan's ignorant 1 Sam.xiv. and unwilling breach of Saul's rash and hurtful oath'''' was purged ? and will he answer our prayers, till we are purged from our wilful and obstinate breach of the lawful and laudable vows of our progenitors ! Did Saul's oath bind without the consent of the people, and though Jonathan knew it not? and B b 2 372 An Essay concerning the shall not ours bind, made with the consent of the people, and which we all very well know ! Ezek. xvii. Was Zedekiah so severely cursed for despising ' ■ the oath of God, which the king- of Babj^lon forced ver. 14. him to swear, though it was, that the kingdom might be base, and that it might not lift itself np? and shall we be upholden, who have wilfully despised the oath of the Lord our God, to pay him his tithes; Mai. iii. 10, which, if we trust his promise, would make us great and blessed, and a delightsome land? SECT. XII. ' The benefit cf paying oiir tithe. 1, OUR services add nothing to God ; therefore it is our good which he seeks in all his institutions of religion. It is our good, our greatest good, that our whole trust should be in the Lord, always and upon all occasions, because he cannot fail us, and every thing else will ; and therefore we must be miserable if we place our trust in any thing else than God ; and our greatest happiness must consist in a full and absolute dependence upon him. Now this trust and dependence is produced more by our deeds than our words ; more by practising of it, than by speaking of it and praising it. And the payment of our tithe is a practice of it, a trusting in God, that he will not only accept it, and give us spi- ritual blessings for it ; but even that we shall gain by it as to this world, and grow the richer for it : for it is his blessing only that giveth increase; as to the fruits of the field, so to the labours of our hands, to all our endeavours in whatever vocation. And he has promised not only spiritual, but even tem- poral blessings, and increase of our store, if we will Divine Right of Tithes. 373 trust him so far, as duly and cheerfully, without grudging or despondency, to pay our tithes to him. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, thatyu\.m.io. there maij he meat in mine house, and jjrove me now herewith, saifh the Lord of hosts, if I will not open xjou the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not he room enough to re- ceive it. And I will rehulce the devour er for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit be- fore the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. The same blessing is promised, Prov. iii. 9, Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase : so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. And thus it was imderstood by the Jews in after-generations, as you find it expressed almost in the same words as these of Solomon, Give the LordEcdus. his honour with a good eye, and diminish not the ~ first fruits of thine hands : in all thy gifts sheiv a cheerful countenance, and dedicate thy tithes with gladness: give unto the most High according as he hath enriched thee, and as thou hast gotten, give with a cheerful eye ; for the Lord recompenseth, and will give thee seven times as much. Therefore it is our own advantage that we pay tithe. The Lord bids us prove him herein, try him, trust in him, and see how abundant he will be in his bless- ings to us, and whether he will not return to us ten- fold for the tenth we give to him. But if we dare not trust God so far as to make this small experi- ment, when he provokes us to it, and grudge to give B b 3 374 An Essay concerning the him the tenth who gave us all, it is but just with him to take that from us wherein we trusted, and not to leave us a tenth ; but to take the whole from those who durst not trust him and all his promises with a tenth. Whereas, on the other hand, those who do truly and sincerely believe and trust in God, and in what he has promised, will shew it in deeds as well as in words ; will pay him his tithe religiously, and with a good heart: and when he finds God performing his promise, and rewarding his faith in doubling of his stores, this increases his faith and trust in God : it is practice makes perfect; and it confirms our faith as to the future promises of heaven, when we find that God does make good his promises to us here. These are inestimable benefits, even the con- firming of our faith, without which we shall never come to heaven. And I will be bold to say, that whoever dare not trust God's promise as to his tithe, (supposing him convinced of it,) does not really believe it, nor trust to it, as to heaven, however he may flatter himself, or impose upon others. For he that will not trust God in a little, how will he in a great deal? If not for a penny, how can he for heaven ? Therefore we see how justly covetousness is called idolatry. A covetous man cannot trust in God ; nor can he that trusts sincerely in God ever be covetous : it is impossible ; for these are direct opposites. This is the reason that God has commanded we should worship him, not only with our minds, or with our tongues, but with our substance. This puts our faith in practice ; and practice confirms and enlarges it. And it is the least proportion of our substance Divine Right of Tithes. 375 which he has required, that is, the tenth ; something that may shew our trust and dependence upon him : the more zealous gave more, according to their faith. Christ commanded the rich young nobleman to sell Luke xviU. all. And the first Christians gave all : all, at the Acts iv. 34. beginning, gave more than a tenth, else were they esteemed worse than the Jews, who gave that pro- portion, as I have before shewn out of Irenaeus, &c. Now then the payment of our tithe being of itself productive of so great virtue and strength in our minds, to teach us and inure us how to trust in God, and having likewise the promise of so great temporal blessings, is not to be looked upon as a tax or imposition upon us, but as a high privilege, and a pledge by which God has obliged himself to pro- vide for us, and to return us ten times as much, even in this world, besides the end of our faith, which is heaven. Hence our tithe is called, the bread of our soul: and God threatens it as an heavy judgment, that we shall not be permitted to pay our tithe to him ; They shall not offer wine- offerings to the Lord their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord. By this they forfeited all the benefits and all the promises which were annexed to the payment of their tithe. How much more then have we forfeited, who, when we are not only permitted but invited to partake of this benefit, turn the deaf ear, and refuse to restore what we have sacrilegiously robbed out of the house of God ? SECT. XIII. Remarkable judgments for not paying (four tithe. TITHES being proved to be a part of God's wor- ship, and a blessing to attend the payment of them, B b 4 376 An Essay concerning the the consequence is implied, that a curse must be due to the non-payment of them, it being a contempt of God, and a neglect of his worship. As payment of tribute is an acknowledgment of his being king to whom we think it due, and the denial of tribute is a denial of his being king ; so tithe being the tribute which God hath reserved to himself, to deny that to him, is denying him to be our God : and though we acknowledge him with our mouths, yet that will no more be accepted, than an earthly king would think him to be a good subject, who only called him king, and gave him the knee or the hat, but yet denied him his tribute and more substantial honour. I. The heathens paid their worship, and conse- quently their tithe, as being part of it, to false gods, and thought that judgments did attend their neglect of it. And judgments might attend it : for though their worship was not pleasing to God, as to the manner of it, it being idolatrous ; yet it being ultimately re- ferred to and intended for the supreme Being, whom they ignorantly worshipped, (Acts xvii. 23,) it was consequently a dishonour meant to him, when they profaned what they thought sacred to him, and might justly be punished by God, as arguing a pra- vity in their wills, though they followed an erroneous judgment. I Kings xiii. Thus it became sin to Jeroboam and his house, 33>34- g^^^ ^^^^ ^-^ ^ ^^^^ destroy it from off the face of the earth, that he made priests of the lowest of the people, though it were to his idol calves that he had set up : for the worship being referred ulti- mately to God, whom he meant to worship by those calves, the dishonour did consequently redound to Divine Right of Tithes. 377 God to have the meanest of the people set up for his priests. And Jeroboam must sin herein more wilfully than the heathen, because he had more knowledge than they, that this manner of worship was forbidden by God. Which the heathens not knowing, their worship was less guilty, and consequently might be the more noticed by God, so as to punish their prevarications in it according to what they intended, though not according to the thing itself. For this reason, Joseph did not buy the lands of the priests in Egypt, (Gen. xlvii. 22,) because they were given to a religious, though idolatrous use. And though God ordered idols to be burned, and their priests sometimes to be slain, yet we find not that ever he permitted any of their dedicated things to be taken as a prey, or turned to common use, but to be burned and destroyed. For these reasons the heathens may be allowed among the instances of God's judgments upon sacri- lege, particularly that branch of it which is our pre- sent subject, the substraction of tithe : however, it confirms their opinion concerning the divine right of tithes ; for otherwise they could not have thought that the divine vengeance fell upon them for their substraction of their tithe. But because I lay the least stress upon these in- stances from the heathen, I will only name a few, that I might not wholly omit them. 1. It is told before, in the story of Camillus, how the Romans apprehended the displeasure of the gods, and what reparation they made for the sol- 378 An Essay concerning the diers not giving the tenth of the booty they got in the sacking of Veies. 2. Hesiod (as before mentioned) tells of the people Thoes, who were accounted wicked and atheistical, because they paid not their tithes to the gods ; and that they were utterly destroyed by the gods for that reason. 3. Diodor. Sic. tells likewise {Hist. lib. v.) of the Carthaginians, who constantly paid their tithe to Hercules : but when they were grown rich, they neglected it, till being reduced to great straits in their wars, they attributed these judgments to have come upon them for that neglect ; and in their dis- tress they returned to the payment of their tithes as formerly. 4. Pausan. Hist. Grcec. says, that the Siphnians, who used to pay the yearly tithe of their mines, lost them, by the justice of the gods, for having omitted that payment. 5. And, to name no more, Dionys. Halicar. lib. i. shews how the Pelasgi in Umbria were punished with a barren year for not paying of their tithe ; and that upon their afresh vowing the tithe of all their profits to the gods, that judgment was re- moved. This is sufficient (at least) to shew the notion of the heathen in this point. II. But it is more authentic to see how God pun- ished this neglect of tithe among the Jews. And we find this to have borne a great part in the most remarkable judgments that befell them. 1. The cap- tivity of the ten tribes was in the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah. And we find by the reformation Divine Right of Tithes. 379 which Hezekiah made after that, as well in Israel as Judah, 2 Chron. xxxi, that the payment of their tithes had been greatly neglected, the restoring- of the tithe being a main branch of that reformation : and therefore there is no doubt but that the neglect of paying their tithe had a main weight, as in the excision of the ten tribes, so in the captivity of Ju- dah, which soon after followed. This further appears in the reformation of Nehe- miah after the captivity ; wherein they promised amendment of those things which they had formerly neglected, and for which neglect that captivity was sent upon them. They particularly remember the neglect of the sabbatical year, and the year of re- lease, (before mentioned,) and promise the future observance of them. Neh. x. 31, and after, to the end of that chapter, there is large mention, and re- newed promises, as to the due and exact payment of their tithes ; which makes it plain, that as the sab- batical year and the year of release, so the tithes had been neglected ; and that for such neglect they had been punished with that long captivity. And as the land had rest for seventy years together, to fulfil so many sabbatical years as they had neglected, (which is shewn above, sect. i. p. 282 ;) so were they deprived of the whole profits of the land, who had neglected to pay the Lord his tenth part. III. But after their return from the captivity, they fell again into a new neglect of paying their tithe ; for which an heavier curse fell upon them than before ; a vile prostitution of their priesthood, and greater corruption in doctrine and manners than ever formerly, as appears in the history of the Mac- cabees, and afterwards, to the time of our blessed 380 Ati Essay concerning the Saviour, when they were totally subjected to the Romans, at whose pleasure their priesthood was changed, made annual and arbitrary, and their whole service rendered precarious. By their doctrines of corhan, and such like, they had made the commands of God of none effect, as our blessed Saviour repre- hended them : their Scribes and Pharisees were Man. xxVn. hi/pocr if es, Mind guides, serpents, and a generation of vipers. Their chief priests and elders took coun- sel against Jesus, mistook and murdered their Mes- siah. This was the heaviest of curses ! they entailed the guilt of his blood u])on them aiid their children, which lies upon them to this day, in a dispersion to the four winds, of now near one thousand seven hundred years standing ; a much greater judgment (if they would reflect upon it) than their seventy years' captivity in Babylon for their former idolatries and prevarications. But as to our present subject, was there any thing remarkable as to the non-payment of their tithes before our Saviour's coming, that might be reckoned to have its share in that hardness of heart which pz'oved their destruction ? Yes ; Godwyn shews from the Jewish authors, (in his Moses and Aaron, lib. vi. c. 3, p. 253,) that there had been a great neglect among them in the payment of their tithe ; and this increased more and more upon them, insomuch that, as they tell us, for about one hundred and thirty years before om* Saviour's incarnation, " this cor- " ruption so prevailed, that the people in a manner " neglected all tithe." But we have an higher au- thority than even these Jewish authors against them- selves, that is, the last of their prophets, after the captivity, who charges this of the non-payment of Divine Right of Tithes. 381 their tithe as the great curse which lay uiion them ; and therefore must have a principal weight in the forenamed dreadful judgments which fell upon them. Hear his own words ; Will a man roh God f Yet ye have rohhed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed theef In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed ivith a curse : for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation, Mai. iii. 8, 9. IV. Let us now descend to the times of Chris- tianity. It has been told before of the great devo- tion of the primitive Christians, in giving not only the tenth, but all of them much more, many even all that they had, to the service of God. But this wore away, and they began to grudge the very tenth. Soon after which, in the beginning of the fifth cen- tury, there came a dreadful revolution : the Goths and Vandals were let loose, like an impetuous tor- rent, which overran many nations, and ruined many Christian churches, that never found an after-settle- ment. Among the rest, the Vandals sacked Hippo in Africa, A. D. 429, immediately after the death of St. Augustine, who was bishop of that city ; he, as it were, standing in the gap, and keeping off the vengeance from them while he lived. And in his admonitions to them, he laid a particular stress upon their neglect of the payment of their tithe, as a main cause of the miseries which had overtaken them, especially of their poverty, occasioned by the hea^y taxes which were extorted from them to carry on that war in which they were engaged. And he ob- serves to them, that God by this was exacting double from them for those tithes which they had neglected to pay to him : Majores nostri {says he, Horn. 48.) ideo copiis omnibus abundabant, quia decimas da- 382 A?i Essay concerning the bant, et Ccesari censum reddehant: modo autem, quia discessit devotio Dei, accessit indictio fisci. Nolumus partiri cum Deo decirnas, modo autem to- tum tolUtur. Hoc tollit fiscus, quod 71011 accipit Christus ; i. e. " Our forefathers abounded in plenty, " because they gave to God and Caesar their due ; " that is, tithes to God, and tribute to their king. " But now, because our devotion towards God is " ceased, the imposition of taxes is increased. We " would not share with God in giving him the tenth ; " and now, behold, the whole is taken from us : the " exchequer has swallowed that which we refused " to give to Christ." V. How literally has this been our case ! I wish that we may reflect upon it. It is about one hun- dred and fifty years since we have seized upon the tithes of God ; and we have been of late paying the arrears of it by wholesale, disgorging by millions those sacrilegious usurpations which we have been sucking in all that time : and God has emptied them Hos. ii. 8. from us into foreign and popish nations ; JFor we knew not that he gave us corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied our silver and our gold, which we have prepared for Baal : therefore has he recovered it out of our hands. We thought it was our own skill and strength which got us all these riches, by Hab. i. 16. which our portioji was made fat, and our meat plenteous: therefore we sacrificed to our net; but thought it needless to acknowledge God in all this by giving him a tenth. Shall he not therefore empty our net ? We have emptied it with our own hands ; yet will not see this to be a judgment from God : but we shall see and consider, for he is stronger than we. We thought a tenth too much for God, Divine Right of Tithes. 383 and grudged the ordinary tribute of our kings ; but have paid ten times over by extraordinary ways and means. We robbed God of his tribute, the tithe, and thought it good husbandry to save it in our own pockets ; and he has taken the nine parts from us, and not left us a tenth of what but a few years ago we possessed. And what will be the end of these things ? Except ])e repent If any think that the seizing of the tithes in Henry VIII.'s time cannot be visited now, one hun- dred and eighty years after, let them reflect that God visits the sins of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation ; that he bore with the Jews in their continual breach of the sab- batical year for four hundred and ninety years ; yet forgot it not, but punished it afterwards with a fearful destruction, even the captivity and removal of the whole nation for seventy years together. Pray God we may not continue to provoke him to the same degree. VI. What shall I say more? We have the pro- mises of God, who cannot lie, that if we will shew our trust and dependence upon him, so far as to give him a tenth; if we will thereby acknowledge him to be our God, and that by his blessing we are made rich, he will return it to us an hundredfold, till there shall not be room enough to receive it. Again, if we will not trust to him, but to our own net, that he will empty it, and shew himself to be our God by manifold judgments, till he overcome us, and make us see and confess that it is he who hath done all these things unto us, and that there is not an evil in the city which he hath not sent upon us. We have seen the faith of Jews and heathens to 384 Ati Essay concerning the exceed ours. It was a proverb among the Jews, Pay tithes, and be rich : so much they acknowledged all that they had to come from God. And the hea- thens made the same observation, that they who paid most to God did receive most from him : they saw God's judgments upon them for not giving him his tenth ; they repented and restored the tithe, and were delivered ; but we Christians remain the only incurable infidels : we will not trust God, but pro- voke him to convince us by all his judgments ! which God avert, by opening our eyes and enlarging of our hearts, that with a sincere repentance for all our other sins, we may likewise restore his tithe, and learn to trust in him : that he may yet repent for all the evil he has brought upon us, and with which he still threatens us, and may leave a bless- ing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink- offering unto the Lord our God ; that there may be meat in his house, and thereby plenty in ours. May his judgments have this happy effect with us, to make us search and try our ways, to examine seri- ously this matter of tithe, and to turn again to the Loi'd, in this as well as in any other breach of God's commands ; of which we have many to reckon, and this not the least. Now is the time to search out all : for when God's judgmetits are upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn right- eousness, Isa. xxvi. 9. SECT. XIV. Of zchat things tithes are to be paid. I. Answ. Out of all your gifts. Num. xviii. 29. 'Ev TTciaiv ayaSo7$, Gal. vi. 6, of all our goods or good things ; of all things that God gives us ; of all things Divine Eight of Tithes. 385 wherein we expect the blessing of God : for all come under the same reason of paying tithe, as an acknow- ledgment and tribute to God for the nine parts which he has given to us ; and to shew our dependence and trust in him for all that we shall receive. All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord, Lev. xxvii. 30. Thou shall truly tithe all thy increase of thy seed, that the field hringeth forth year hy year, Deut. xiv. 22. The first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field ; and the tithe of all things: the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, 2 Chron. xxxi. 5, 6. Of all that thou shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Gen. xxviii. 22. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine in- crease, Prov. iii. 9- So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, &c. This is the reward God has pro- mised to it, (if we dare trust him.) And wherein- soever we expect God so to bless us, of all those things we must pay him the tenth ; else have we no title to this promise. And this was the notion of the Jews. / give tithes of all that I possess, said the Pharisee, Luke xviii. 12 ; and our Saviour determines. Matt, xxiii. 23, that we ought to pay tithes even of mint, anise, and cummin, i. e. of the smallest things. This was the sense of all the fathers in the pri- mitive ages of the church : they excepted nothing from tithe ; of which I have given some instances, and many more are to be produced. II. We are moreover bound to this by the so- LESLIE, VOL. VII. C C 386 An Essay concerning the lemn vows, dedications, and laws of our predeces- sors, kings and parliaments of England, before men- tioned. In the first great charter, or act of parlia- ment of king Ethelwolf, which I have already men- tioned, and which Selden recites, {ut supra,) p. 200, it is thus vowed, constituted, and ordained : Uiide etiam cum obtestatione preEcipimus, ut omn'es stu- deant, de omnibus qua; possident, decimas dare, quia speciale Domini Dei est ; i. e, " Wherefore " we command and abjure all to pay the tithe of all " things that they possess, because it is the peculiar " of the Lord God." And thus it is in all the following grants and de- dications of the kings and parliaments downwards. IMany of which are recited by Mr. Selden, and some of them descend to name all particulars that well could be thought of. As in the laws of Ed- ward the Confessor, set down at large by Mr. Sel- den, c. 8, n. 13, p. 224, 225, which names tithe de omni annona, of all sorts of provisions, victuals, wages, or any income : moreover of colts, calves, cheese, milk, lambs, fleeces, pigs, bees, wood, hay, mills, parks, warrens, fishing, orchards, gardens ; et negotiationibus, trading, merchandise, and all busi- ness ; et omnibus rehis quas dederit Dominus, " of " all things whatsoever that God gives us," decima pars ei reddenda est, " we must give the tenth to " him." Qui autem detinuerit, per justitiam epi- scopi et regis {si necesse fuerit) arguatur. Hcec enim B. Augustinus prcedicavit; et concessa sunt a rege, baronibus, et populo ; i.e. " And if any de- " tain his tithe, he is to be compelled to pay them " by the justice of the bishop and the king, (if there " be need for it ;) for so St. Augustine did preach : Divine Right of Tithes. 387 " and this is granted by the king, lords, and com- " mons." It were endless and needless to repeat all the rest of the like acts of parliament, which are all of the like strain and import. It is shewn before, that this was the universal notion of the heathens in all nations, that tithe was to be paid of all things, of all merchandise and trad- ing, of all manual labour, and of all spoils taken in war, as well as of all estates personal and real, of every thing that God gives. This was the concurrent notion of Heathens, Jews, and Christians, till popery of late has corrupted it, from whom we have licked it up. SECT. XV. If the payment of our tithe to the poor, or other charitable uses, be a due payment of our tithe. I. Ans. NO. It is shewn, sect, iv, that some part of our substance is due to God as an act of worship : and it is proved afterwards that that pro- portion is a tenth at least : therefore it must be paid as an act of worship, which is different from an act of charity. The Jews paid their tithe to the priests, not to the poor; they paid a second tithe to the poor : and this was purely an act of charity. But the tithe of God must be paid only to his priests, as other sacrifices and offerings were, of which the tithe was a part, as before is shewn. If we give to the poor out of God's tenth, we give what is none of our own ; we rob God to pay man, and commit sacrilege for charity : therefore we must give to the poor out of our own nine parts. And this was the current doctrine and practice, as of the Jews under the law, so of the Christians before that invasion (spoke to c c 2 388 An Essay concerning the above) of the pope and his emissaries upon this in- heritance of God : to which God's title had not been disputed, before that time, since the beginning of the world, no not by the heathen. II. Moreover we are under the indispensable and sacred obligation of the many vows of our ancestors, (the force of which I have urged before,) not to em- ploy the tithe of God to other charitable uses, but to perform them out of om* nine parts ; for this was the sense and meaning of all these dedications of tithes before mentioned. In the first of which, (con- firmed by all the rest,) the charter of king Ethel- wolf, of which I have recited some part already, it is expressly cautioned, (as set down by Selden, ubi supra, p. 199,) that nemo justam eleemosynam de his quce possidef facere valet, nisi pr his separaverit Domino, quod a primordio ipse sibi reddere dele- gavit; i. e. " None can justly give alms out of any " thing that he possesses, till he has first separated " out of it to the Lord that which from the begin- " ning he hath commanded to be rendered to him- " self." And this is ushered in with sicut Sapiens ait, " as the Wise Man said ;" which shews that it was an anciently received and approved doctrine at that time. And these words immediately following do con- tain the sanction or curse that attends the doing- otherwise : Ac per hoc, plerumque cotitigit ut qui decimam non tribuit, ad decimam revertitur ; i. e. " And by this it often comes to pass, that he who " does not pay his tenth is reduced to a tenth." Unde etiam, cum obtestatione, prcBcipimus ut omnes studeant, de omnibus quce possident decimas dare, quia sped ale Domini est; et de nor em partibus sibi Divine Right of Tithes. 389 vivat, et eleemosynas tribuat; i. e. " Therefore we " command, with obtesting, (i. e. before God,) that " all should take heed to pay the tithe of all that " they possess, because it does peculiarly belong unto " God ; and let him support himself, and give alms " out of the remaining nine parts." The same says St. Augustine, in his sermon de reddendis Decimis, (torn. x. 219, serm. de Tempore^ where he exhorts all that would obtain the remission of their sins, or prosperity in this world, to pay their tithe to God, and give alms to the poor out of the remaining nine parts. SECT. XVI. When tithes are to be paid. Answ. BEFORE any of the nine parts be touch- ed, that is, converted to our own use, God is to be first served ; and besides that, the whole being God's, the nine parts are not released to us but by offering the tenth to God. This has been a received notion, even among the Gentiles as well as Jews and Chris- tians ; insomuch that it grew into a proverb among the Greeks, a%Ta eaSi'eiv, " to eat of things that had " not been sacrificed," i. e. of which some part had not first been sacrificed or offered to God, viz. that part which they thought due to the gods, which I have above shewn to be the tenth. And this saying, aOvTa eaQieiv, was used to express the most wicked projiigafe, who had no sense of his duty to God or man ; such was he thought who durst be so profane and irreverent to God as to eat or make use of any thing which had not been hallowed by offering first the tenth of it to God. And, as among the Greeks, so Pliny tells, (Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. c. 2. p. 367,) c c 3 390 An Essay concerning the that the Romans never tasted of their fruits or wines till the priests had first taken the first-fruits or tithe out of them. So the Arabian law. See above, p. 316, &e. And this was correspondent to the law of God himself, who commanded. Lev. xxiii. 14, Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever. And Numb, xviii. 30, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then (and not be- fore) it shall be counted as the increase of the threshing floor, and of the winepress ; i. e. to be eaten and made use of. Again, ver. 32, And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it; i. e. that it would be a sin to eat of it without first offering to God his due, that is, the tenth, as it is expressed, ver. 26. And it was a sin, even unto death, in the Levites, if they ate of any of the tithes which the people gave to them before they had offered the tithe of their tithe to God ; which he gave to the high priest, and was called the heave-offering of the Le- vites : and their converting any part of the people's tithes to their own use, before they had made this heave-offering of a tenth of it, was called a polluting of the tithes of the people which they had received, and made them liable to death : ver. 32, And ye shall bear no sin by 7'eason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pol- lute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die. Thus our entering upon any part, before we have offered to God his tenth part, is a polluting of the whole as to us. For it is sanctified to us by Divine Right of Tithes. 391 our offering the tenth to God ; till when, the whole is hallowed to God, and it is sacrilege to invade it. Nor is any of it released to our use, till God's part be first taken from it. And you see how strictly this was enjoined by God, and how universally ; that as the people were not so much as to taste of any of the fruits of the earth, no not the green ears, till they had offered to the Lord his part out of it, by giving it unto the Levites ; so neither were the Levites to taste of any of the people's tithe till they had first offered the tenth of their tenth to God, by giving it to the high priest, and that under pain of death, and of render- ing the whole polluted to them. He that steals any of his goods to his own use, before he has given to God his tenth, steals it and all the rest from God's blessing, and tries if he can grow rich whether God will or not ; which if God permit, it is for his greater judgment : and God can exact it from him or his posterity, upon whom we entail God's curse when we deprive God of his due. SECT. XVII. Of what part of ozir goods the tithe is to be paid. OF the very best, no doubt ; for we _offer it to God: and in this we express the reverence due to the divine Majesty. And to offer any thing to him that is not the best we have, argues a slight and contempt of him, and preferring ourselves or some- thing else before him. Therefore, though we give the full proportion of a tenth, yet if we give it not of the very best, we fail as to the quality of our gift, though not as to the quantity : we forfeit the bless- ing upon the whole ; and instead of that, we bring c c 4 392 Ati Essay concern 'mg the a curse upon us, as seeking to deceive or blind the eyes of God, as if he took no notice, or did not re- gard it : which is a greater contempt of God, than if we did not offer to him at all. But cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen, Mai. i. 14. But I need not insist upon this ; the commands are numerous, and cannot escape the observation of any, that whatever was offered to the Lord was to be without blemish, Deut. xvii. 1 ; and the texts before quoted. Numb, xviii. 30 and 32, do, among many others, plainly express it. When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted as the increase of the threshing floor, &c. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: i. e. if you do not heave the best, it will be a sin, and you shall bear it. As to the same notion among the heathen, see above, p. 303, and p. 319. SECT. XVIII. Wlio they are that ought to pay tithe. Ans. ALL that worship God ; for tithe is a part of his worship. 2. All that expect his blessing upon the remaining nine parts, and upon their future la- bours and endeavours. Object. Though the rich may bear this, yet it seems very hard upon the poor. Aiis. It is no harder to the poor than to the rich, because they pay proportionably. So equal is this tax of God's imposing ! After the tithe of worship, the Jews were obliged to pay another tithe of charity to the Divine Right of Tithes. 393 poor, which was called the poor man's tithe. And this latter sort of tithe no man was obliged to pay- to any who was not poorer than himself: by which rule the very poorest sort are excused from this tithe. But none are excused from the tithe of wor- ship more than from their prayers, or any other l)art of God's worship : none must appear before the Lord empty; there is no exception from this rule. If it be said, what does such a modicum signify which a very poor man can give ? Answ. It is ac- cepted by God as much or more, if given with a better heart, than the great offerings of the rich. The poor widow's two mites were reckoned more than all that the rich had offered of their abundance, Luke xxi. 3. Observe, that those priests to whom this widow gave her two mites were rich, and covetous beside; they devoured widows' houses, Luke xx. 47. They were these to whom our blessed Saviour said, Matt, xxi serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation ofheW^ Yet he made it no objection against this religious widow, that she should throw in her mite to swell the wealth of those wicked men who were much more capable to have relieved her great necessities, than she was to add to their store ; for he knew, and has instructed us, that her offering was to God, and not to the priests, though the priests did receive it, and it was put into their treasury; yet Christ calls those gifts which were cast into it, the offerings of God, Luke xxi. 1, 4. Let us observe, in the second place, that this far- thing which the widow gave was only a freewill offering, which was of less obligation than the tithe ; for the tithe was positively required, and might be 394 An Essay concerning the exacted if not paid : how will this rise in judgment against those who have not the heart to give what is barely due, and think a tenth too much when it is commanded ! It has been before observed, how the primitive Christians gave, many of them, all that they had, as this widow had done, but none less than a tenth ; for that they thought themselves bound to give more than the Jews, because (as Irenseus said) they had a better hope. Now the first-fruits, the tithe to the Levites, the second tithe to the poor, the tithe for feasts, the corners of their fields, which they were forbid to reap, and the gleanings, which they were not to gather. Lev, xix. 19, are computed not to leave to the owner above a fourth or a fifth part clear to himself ; out of which their daily and multitude of occasional offerings for legal uncleannesses, be- sides their voluntary or freewill offerings, which cannot be reckoned, were to be taken. How far short then of the Jewish performance, and how much shorter of the primitive Christian devotion do we come, who will not pay the one tenth, even of worship, which is indispensably due to God himself, which he has reserved by an uni- versal decree, ever since Adam ! How will the hea- then rise up in the judgment, and condemn us, who have through all ages and nations made conscience of paying the tithe of God, though they worshipped God in this, as in other parts of their worship, after an unlawful and idolatrous manner ! How will this condemn us, who stand out against the light and universal tradition which they had, against the po- sitive commands of the Law and the Gospel, and Divine Right of Tithes. 395 against the current sense of the primitive and uni- versal chui'ch of Christ, and oppose to all these the modern corruptions of the church of Rome, which have made tithes eleemosynary and alienable. And we have alienated them in a much more scandalous manner, and upon less pretence, than Rome had done : she gave them from the secular to the regu- lar clergy ; we, from all clergy to the laity. This was a piece of popery whereby a penny was to be got; therefore we reformed it backwards into our own pockets ! Our Jehu destroyed Baal indeed out of the land, but he departed not fi'ora the sin of the golden calves, 2 Kings x. 28, 29- SECT. XIX. If tithes may be commuted or redeemed. 1. TITHES are a part of God's worship, insti- tuted by himself, and therefore cannot be altered or changed but by himself. No man might alter or change any part of the sacrifices under the law. He might not sacrifice a bullock for a sheep, where a sheep was commanded, though a bvUlock was of more value : we must keep close to the insti- tution of God. And tithe was one of the offerings under the law, it was an heave-offering, (as before is shewn,) and therefore could not be bought off or redeemed. And to prevent all svich redemption of tithe, it was ordered, Levit. xxvii. 31, that if any would redeem ought of his tithe, he should add thereto a Jiftli part thereof: and, ver. 33, hoth it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be re- deemed. And Ezek. xlviii. 14, They shall not sell 396 An Essay concerning the of it, neither exchange, neither alienate the first- fruits of the land : for it is holy unto the Lord. And so the Jews of after-ages understood it, as we may see in Judith xi. 13, 14, 15, where it is de- clared to be unlawful for the people, though in the greatest extremity, to meddle with the tithes, or so much as to touch them ivith their hands, and that it was not dispensable by the senate. And so the heathen thought, Gen. xlvii. 22, 26, that the lands of the priests were not to be sold upon any account, even when the people were forced to sell all, and themselves too, for the greatness of the famine. And if the lands given to the priests were held so sacred, as being dedicated to God, much more the tithe, which were dedicated likewise, but moreover were antecedently reserved by God himself, wliich the Gentile world did believe as well as the Jews, as before is shewn. II. Again, for another reason, tithes cannot be redeemed by us, because they have been so oft vowed and dedicated to God, as before has been said. And it is expressly commanded by God, Lev. xxvii. 28, That no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and heast, and of the field of his jwssession, shall be sold or redeetned: every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord. But the pope and a popish parliament first have dis- pensed with this, out of the plenitude of their power ! And their pardon is all that either of their impro- priators ^vill have to plead at the day of judgment. III. These had no other consideration of tithe but as a maintenance for the clergy ; and if they pro- vided for them another way, where was the harm ? Divine Right of Tithes. 397 But the folly of God is wiser than men : he knew well what would be the consequence of having the clergy depend upon any for their subsistence ; that the temptation was too strong for human nature, in our fallen condition ; that time-servers and men- pleasers would by this creep into church, and sow pillows under the arms of those who fed them ; that by this they must fall into contempt, and religion with them, as the effect has sadly shewn. Therefore God would not give the Levites tem- poral possessions among their brethren, for these would be liable to their municipal laws, like the rest ; and they might be voted out and in, be chopped and changed according to the caprice of those who would not abide their doctrine : but he settled upon them his own inheritance, as he calls it, Deut. xviii. 1, which none others might touch without sacrilege, and throwing off their homage and allegiance to God himself, i. e. rejecting him from being their king and their God ; (which now- adays is the slenderest sort of security:) that as the priesthood had its original and institution, so it should have its revenue and maintenance and de- pendence from God alone. And as they that served God at the altar were partakers with the altar, i. e. with the dues of God, which were offered upon the altar; even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel, i.e. of those things which are due to God under the gospel, (as tithes and free- will offerings still are,) and should be as free and independent on man in their office as the priests were under the law. 398 jin Essay concerning the SECT. XX. To laliom tithes are to be paid. 1. THE tithe of charity, or the poor man's tithe, being ahns, we may dispose of them to such objects of charity as we think best : and these are called sa- crifices in a large sense under the gospel, as well as under the law. See Heb, xiii. 16, Phil. iv. 18. 1. But there is a preference given. Gal. vi. 10, to that charity which is extended to the household of faith, that is, to our fellow-Christians rather than others : Christ reckons it as done to himself. Matt. XXV. 40. 2. The reason of this carries it likewise, to prefer the members of the true church before sectaries ; yet so as not to neglect even sectaries, Jews, or in- fidels ; for all that are in want are objects of our charity, whether good or bad ; all must be sup- ported : and while God grants to the most wicked person life, and time of repentance, we ought to contribute towards it, by preserving that life which God continues to them : for they are our brethren, and God has made of one blood all nations upon the earth : they are the image of God ; Christ has shed his blood for them, and may yet grant them re- pentance, and make them glorious saints of his king- dom. Therefore charity must extend to all with- out exception, though not without discrimination. II. That this charity must of necessity be a tenth, and not under, I do not contend. For though the Jews did pay a second tithe to the poor, yet that stands not upon the same foundation as the tithes of worship which were before the law, and univer- sally received from the beginning of the world. Divine Right of Tithes. 399 Yet since the Jews did pay a tenth to the poor, I think we ought not to pay less ; but rather more, because, as Irenaeus said, " we have a better hope." But I stint not the proportion ; only recommend St. Paul's advice to our consideration, that he who 2 Cor. ix. soweth sparinghj shall reap also sparingly; and he who soweth bountifuUy shall reap also bounti- fully. III. But now as to the tithe of worship, as that is determined to a tenth at least, so must it be paid only to the priests of the Lord : because it is part of God's worship, it is one of the offerings of the Lord ; and as other offerings and sacrifices, it cannot be offered but by the priests. And particu- larly as to the offering of our first-fruits and tithes, it is commanded to be done by the priests : it is in- Deut. xx\ vading of the priest's office for any other to offer it. 'z'cilron. The same sin for which God smote Uzziah, and re-^^g. jected Saul ; and declared it death for any but his '2- priests to offer upon his altar. And the sacrifices of such, who offer them by any other hands than those of his priests, are so far from being accepted, that they are sin, and, like the offerings of Korah, rebellion against God. IV. But how shall they do who live in foreign, infidel, or heretical countries, where they can have no priests, that is, none whom they own ? 1. Let them, if they can, imitate the zeal of To- bias, who being of the ten idolatrous and schismati- cal tribes that had cast off the priesthood of Levi, carried his tithes to Jerusalem, and offered them there by the hands of the priests the sons of Aaron, as you find, Tob. i. 6. 2. But if this cannot be done for the distance of 400 A?i Essay concei'nmg the the place, or other insuperable difficulties, then they ought to send their tithes to such priests whom they think to be true priests of God, and conse- quently by whose hands they believe God will ac- cept of them. There is no place too far for sending. We traffick for mammon to all parts of the world. It was common with the Gentiles to send their tithe ; of which several instances are before given. Mr. Selden shews this % that tithes {nk^iiovrai) were yearly sent to Delos, where Apollo was born, to be offered to him there. The Carthaginians'' used to send their tithe to Tyre (whence they had come) by one clothed in priestly purple robes, to be offered to Hercules. And if we cannot take so much pains, we have less zeal than they ; and less trust in our God, less faith in his promises, and fear of his threatenings, than they towards their idols ; and our reward will be accordingly. SECT. XXI. In what manner tithes ought to be offered. I. THE offering of our tithe to God being an act of worship, ought no doubt to be performed with prayers and adoration of God : and God himself did prescribe a form for it, Deut. xxvi. Out of which, and other scriptures, respecting Christians as different from the Jews, I have com- posed the form hereunto annexed : not that I would impose it upon any ; but the church not having pre- scribed such an office, leaves it to private Christians to exert their own devotion. And if what I have ••^ Hist, of Titlies, c. 3. p. 30. Justin. Hist. lib. 18. p. 186. Divine Right of Tithes. 401 done may be helpful to any others, I have the end for which I have published it. II. And as under the law a basket of the first- Dent. xxvi. fruits was to be brought to the altar, and there offered in name of all the rest, which were reposited in the storehouses belonging to the temple for that purpose ; so I conceive it ought to be with us. The reason is the same; and was before the law and without the law so practised by the Gentiles, pur- suant to the universal tradition received, and de- duced down all the way from Adam, as before has been discoursed. Nor can it otherwise, at least not so properly, be made an act of devotion ; that is, an actual tender and offering of the whole to God; which is not done by barely parting with our tithe, or suffering it to be drawn from us. The whole cannot be offered at the altar, but a basketful in the name of the whole is a dedication and offering of the whole. Accordingly it was ordered in the Apostolical Ca- nons, can. 4, that no more of the first-fruits should be brought to the altar than there was use for there, as the elements for the holy sacrament, &c. ; and the rest to be sent to the bishop's house, as the reposi- tory for them. For the church was not then di- vided into particular and distinct parishes, as now. III. And surely if the husbandman should at the end of his harvest bring a basket of his first-fruits and offer it at the altar, with thanksgivings to God for the increase he had given him that year, with supplications and prayers for God's future blessings upon his labours, upon himself, his family, and rela- tions, upon the church, and the king, and whole na- tion, &c., it would tend to a great increase of devo- LESLIE, VOL. VII. od 402 An Essay concerning the tion, and imprint very strongly upon our hearts our dependence and trust in God : for there is no time wherein men are more sensible of the immediate hand of God, than in the seasons of the year, and the M'eather, especially in harvest-time. This God hath kept in his own hand more imme- diately than any other part of the material creation. The courses of the heavens we know in a great measui'e ; and therefore can foretell eclipses, changes of the moon, rising and setting of the sun, &c. But all the rules of mechanism are at a loss for the change of the weather. If that depended wholly upon second causes, and were part of the clockwork (as the virtuosoes express it) of the creation, there would be the same necessity for the same weather on every such day of every year, as for the equinox, solstice, or other change of the seasons, jer.xiv . ia. Therefore says the prophet. Can the heavens give showers f And Job reckons this among the wonder- job y. 10. fill things of God, who giveth rain upon the earth : 26. ' to make the weight for the winds ; and he weigheth the waters hy measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thun- der. And David expresses the same almost in the same words, Psalm cxxxv. 7, He canseth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth ; he maheth lightnings for the rain ; he bringeth the winds out of his treasuries. The same is just so said Jer. x. 13 ; and Psalm cxlvii. 8, 15, &c. Who cover eth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth — He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth : his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like Divine Right of Tithes. 403 ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels : ivho can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to Mow, and the waters flow. These are kept out of the ordinary course of na- tural causes, in God's more immediate government. They are therefore called his treasures, and re- served against the day of trouble, against the day of battle and war. Job xxxviii. 22, 23. Then shall the right-aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well-drawn boiv, shall fly to the mark. And hailstones full of ivrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow — Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall drive them away, Wisd. v. 21, &c. These are God's armoury, and kept in his own hand ; and come not by certain rules, as the rising and setting of the sun, the solstices, eclipses, &c. ; and therefore are looked upon as the more imme- diate acts of God, and instances of his power : there- fore David says, His strength is in the clouds. Psalm Ixviii. 34. The thunder is called his voice. The storms at sea, and commotions of the waters, are said to be his act in his immediate governance : as it is said, Prov. xxi. 1, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water : he turn- eth it whithersoever he ivill. It is the Lord that commandeth the waters: it Psalm xxix. is the gloiious God that maketh the thunder : it is^'^' the Lord that ruleth the sea. The voice of the Lord is mighty i?i operation. They that go down to the sea ifi ships — these TsaUncvW. men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in^^' the deep. For at his word the stormy ivind ariseth, Dd2 404 An Essay concerning the and lifteth up the waves thereof— For he maketh the storm to cease, so that the waves thereof are still. Nothing that is fixed and certain, in the constant course of natui'al causes, is called a wonder of the Lo?'d; else every thing would be equally a wonder; nay, it would be a wonder if it were otherwise ; as, if the sun should stop or go back ; if the returns of day and night, summer and winter, should fail. These would be great miracles, which therefore God very seldom shews ; (else nothing would be left constant or certain in natm*e, but all return to their old chaos.) And then they would cease to be miracles, if they were done as oft as every body would call for them. But God hath reserved some things out of the ordinary course of nature ; and in these he shews daily wonders of his providence. Acts xiv. He calls this his witness among the Gentiles : that as by his works of creation he had demon- Rom, i. 20. strated his eternal power and Godhead ; so he had given them an equal proof of his providence, and of their continual dependence upon him, in his sending them rain and fruitful seasons, for which they could assign no natural causes. Psai.ixxvii. Thou art the God that doest wonders — The wa- te7'S saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water : the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heavens : the lightnings lighted the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. We can- Divine Right of Tithes. 405 not trace God, nor know his footsteps, in his dis- pensing of these things, as of others which are dis- posed in the common coui'se of natural causes. Therefore in these things God's power is chiefly- shewn ; and in these things we are commanded to wait and depend upon him. Lev. xxvi. 4 ; Deut. x. 14. And he tells us, that he will dispense them to one, and not to another, Amos iv. 7. But things that depend on natural causes are equal to all. We are commanded to pray for rain, Zech. x. 1 : but it is not permitted to us, it would be presumption and tempting of God, to ask for altering the course of nature, of sun, moon, or stars, or to break the cove- nant of day and night. And the weather, which God thus keeps in his own hand, is no less necessary to our life, in giving us the fruits of the earth, than the fixed course of nature, the influence of the sun, &c. ; to teach us that we must depend as much upon the immediate blessing of God, as upon all second causes. The heathen were sensible of this, and therefore they had, as their prcemessum, prayers before har- vest ; so their Jiori-festum after harvest, to express their thankfulness to the gods for the fruits of the earth. But this people, saith the prophet, (Jer. v. 23, 24,) hath a revolting and a rehellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their lieart. Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season : he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Thus we see that this acknowledgment and de- votion to God was commanded to the Jews, and ob- D d 3 406 An Essay concerning the served by the heathen from the dictates even of natural religion. And what is it that can exempt Christians from paying this, from rendering unto God the honour and tribute due unto his name? Sure they ought rather to exceed than come short of Jews and hea- thens in this ! It were much to be desired that a public office were appointed for this, and this made part of our solemn devotion. But, till that be done, I hope it will not be taken amiss by our superiors, to exhort both our priests to receive and the laity to pay this their bounden due to God, and at his altar to offer up his tithes. IV. The rest, which are not there offered at the altar, should by the owners be brought into store- houses appointed; the priest's drawing of them is scandalous, and more his farming of them : they are all, as well as the first-fruits which were offered, holy unto the Lord ; all are offered in the first- fruits : they are not to be commuted or redeemed for money, where they can be brought in kind ; they are a sacrifice unto God, and must not be changed ; and they who substract, or refuse to pay them, have denied the Lord to be their God, by de- nying him his tribute ; they ought to be cast out of the congregation, and not reputed as Christians : so it was decreed in a general parliament of clergy and laity at London, A. D. 940, in the reign of king Edmund, before mentioned : and this has been con- firmed by repeated vows and acts of parliament. We are to bring our tithes and offerings unto the Lord, and not leave him or his priests to draw them, or choose. Divine Right of Tithes. 407 And besides the affront to God, it engages the priest and his flock in many disputes and heart- burnings, and often into strifes and lawsuits ; which lessens his authority, and renders his labours in- effectual, by personal prejudices conceived against him. All this God foresaw, and by his law he pre- vented it ; but we are grown wiser than he ! Could the priests under the law set the sacrifices to farm ? Would it have been a reasonable proposal to have said to a priest. Your proportion of the sa- crifice is a shoulder or a leg ; come, I will give you the value of it in money, or next beast I kill I will send you a shoulder or a leg home to your house, and excuse me from the trouble of bringing my sa- crifice to the temple ? Would not the answer have been, I cannot excuse you from your sacrifice, for it is offered to God, and not to me ; my maintenance out of it is but a secondary and the least consider- ation ; I cannot commute or alter the nature or man- ner of your sacrifice, or take a bullock, if you would give it me, instead of a sheep or a barleycorn, where that is appointed ? No more could he commute, or change, or compound for the tithe ; for that was a sacrifice, and offered to God as well as the rest, and was to be brought by the owners to the temple, to be there offered to God, in their names, by the priests. The priests were no more to draw the tithes of the people thither than their other sa- crifices. SECT. XXII. How priests are to pay their tithe. I. Answ. TO the bishop, as the Levites to the high priest : they are to pay the tenth of their D d 4 408 An Essay concerning the tenth. And the Levites' tithe, which they paid to the high priest, was as much an offering and sacri- fice to the Lord as the tithe which the people paid to the Levites, and under the same limitations : they are called an heave-offering, and holy tmto the Lord. The Levites were not to taste of their tenths till they had first offered the tithe of them to the high priest, and of the very best of them; as you may see. Numb, xviii. from ver. 26. II. Tithes argued the superiority of those to Hell. vii. 4, whom they were paid ; whence the apostle inferred '° the superiority, as of Melchisedec above Abram, so of the priesthood of Melchisedec, and, in that, of the Christian priesthood, above the Levitical. And as the Levites tithing of the peojile, or put- ting them under that tribute, argued the superiority of the Levites above the people ; so the high priests tithing of the Levites shewed the superiority of his order above that of the other Levites. And this is as necessary to preserve the superi- ority of episcopacy above the order of presbyters in the Christian church. The reason holds the same ; and the Levitical priesthood was an exact type of the Christian : bi- shop, presbyter, and deacon being the same in the church, that Aaron, his sons the priests, and the Levites were in the temple ; as St. Hierom observes, Ep. ad Evagr. III. If it be asked, to whom the bishop should pay his tithe ? Answ. He having no superior, as Aaron had none, I conceive that he is not under the tithe of worship ; for it must end somewhere. But then, as the heaven returns the tribute of Divine Right of Tithes. 409 those exhalations which it draws from the earth in dew and fi-uitful showers ; so the bishop, being the most immediate representative of Christ, ought to distribute his tenths, and more, of charity, and to water his flock with his beneficence. Thus returning to the poor with increase their tithes, and dispensing the temporal as well as spi- ritual blessings of God to them. That the revenues of the church (whatever other abuses were in the administration of them) were applied more to this end than since they came into temporal hands, will be shewn in the next section. Let it be only observed in this place, that even since the reformation more acts of charity and pub- lic works are to be seen from what is left to the church, than from many many times the greater pro- portion of wealth that is amongst the laity. And this, notwithstanding that there are some thousands of parishes in England which exceed not twenty pounds a year ; and but very few of the bishoprics that can afford a decent subsistence with the best liusbandry. And notwithstanding that the church has been for many years (in the revolution of 1641) totally divested of all her revenues. SECT. XXIII. The remedy. HAVING thus far considered the divine obliga- tion of tithes, and the breaches of it that have been in this nation, we ought not to leave the subject till we can propose a remedy, if any such can be found. I. For the obligation of conscience. That lies 410 An Essay concerning the upon every man concerned to restore what has been robbed from God, in order to procure his blessing, instead of that cui'se which is entailed upon the sa- crilegious possession of the spoils of his church, into whatever hands they come. II. But because this has been a national sin, and these impropriations have been bought and sold upon the credit of acts of parliament, therefore there ought to be a national repentance and restitution ; which may be by a tax to piu'chase the tithes from the impropriators, and restore them to the church, that the whole burden may not lie upon those who have been ignorantly involved in this sin, as having descended to them from their fathers, and may be the whole or greatest part of their estates ; though that, nor any thing else, can be an excuse for con- tinuing in any sin. God is able to make amends, and has promised it to those who will trust in him : and, as said before, there are examples of it, even here in England, whose hearts God has touched. III. The house of commons have in their votes encouraged any to make proposals for the employ- ing and maintaining of the poor, who are now so great a burden upon the nation. I have no skill at proposals or projects, yet may offer some considerations, which others may happen to improve. 1. First then, let it be observed, there never was any tax laid upon England for maintaining of the poor, before the latter end of the reign of queen Eli- zabeth, as may be seen in our Book of Statutes. 2. That before the reformation the poor were maintained by the clergy, besides what was contri- buted by the voluntary charity of well-disposed Divine Right of Tithes. 411 people. But there was no such thing as poor-rates, or a tax for the poor ; the bishops and clergy, as well secular as regular, kept open hospitality for the benefit of strangers and travellers, and the poor of the neighbourhood ; and were so obliged to do by their foundations : they had amberies for the daily relief of the poor, and infirmaries for the sick, maim- ed, or superannuate, with officers appointed to at- tend them : they employed the poor in work, which is the most charitable way of maintaining them. It was they who built most of all the great cathedrals and churches of the nation ; besides the building and endowing of colleges, and other public works of charity and common good : they bound out to trades multitudes of youths who were left destitute ; bred others to learning, of whom some grew very eminent ; and gave portions to many orphan young women every year. They vied with one another in these things : what superstition or conceit of merit there was in it, we are not now to inquire ; I am only telling matter of fact. And God did bless these means to that degree, that the poor were no burden to the nation ; not a penny imposed upon any lay- man for the maintaining of them ; the clergy did that among themselves ; they looked upon the poor as their charge, as part of their family, and laid down rules and funds for their supjiort. 3. I doubt not but there were faults among the clergy then, and some of them might indulge them- selves even to excess ; which it is certain was ag- gravated beyond the due bounds, when commissions to visit churches and monasteries were given to those laymen who were to share the booty, if they could find reason sufficient (themselves being judges) to 412 An Essay concerning the have the revenues of the church divided amongst themselves ; who (modestly speaking) were not bet- ter men than those they dispossessed, nor have made better use of those revenues since they came into their hands. The monks were sinners, but their visitors were no saints. 4. The poor-rates in England come now (as I am informed) to about a million in the year. All this we pay to boot, betwixt having the clergy or the impropriators to our landlords : for the clergy (ill as they were) kept this charge from off us. And if their revenues were taken from them be- cause they did not make the best use of them, those to whom they were given should be obliged not to mend the matter from bad to worse. What benefit has the farmer for the tithes being taken from the clergy ? Do the people then pay no more tithe ? That would be an ease indeed ; but they are still paid, only with this difference, that the impropriator generally through England sets his tithes a shilling or eighteen pence in the acre dearer than the incumbent. 5. Would it then be an unreasonable proposal to put all the poor in the nation upon the church lands and tithes, which maintained them before, and let the clergy bear their share for as much of them as are left in their hands ? 6. If the impropriators will not be pleased with this, then let them have a valuable consideration given them for these lands and tithes by a tax raised for that purpose ; and retiu'n the poor to the clergy, together with their lands and tithes. 7. And that the tax may not be thought too griev- ous, let it be only three years of the present poor- Divine Right of Tithes. 413 rates through England ; and if that will not do, the clergy shall purchase the rest themselves. Three years purchase is a very good bargain to get off a rent charge which is perpetual, and more probability of its increasing than growing less. What man in England would not willingly give three years of his poor-rate at once, to be freed from it for ever ? And for the poorer sort, who may not be able, or if any be not willing, then let them have the same time to pay it in as now. Let the clergy have three years of the poor-rates, payable in three years, and a value put at which the impropriators should be obliged to sell, and after that the clergy shall be obliged to maintain the poor as formerly. And this will cost no more than to double the poor-rates for three years, and so be rid of them for ever. 8. But if those who have swallowed the patri- mony of the chui'ch will neither eat nor let eat, will neither maintain the poor themselves, nor let others do it who are willing, let them reflect, let the nation consider it, all who have any sense of God or reli- gion left, that since they have robbed God, the church, and the poor, by seizing upon their patri- mony, the poor are increased to that prodigious rate upon them, that they are forced to pay now yearly for their maintenance more than all their sacrilege amounts to. So little have they gained at God's hand by their invading of what was dedicated to his service ! And he will still prove stronger than they, and may increase the poor till they swallow up the rich wlio have devoured them. Besides many other ways his judgments have to meet with 414 An Essay concerning the us, we have paid the price of all our impropriations and arrears within these ten years past, and are pay- ing on still — — 9. I must besides tell our impropriators, that in truth, in reason, and in law too, as well of God as man, they have taken these lands and tithes of the church, cum onere, with that charge that was put upon them by the donors of the lands, and by God upon the tithes, that is, of maintaining and provid- ing for the poor. A lessee can forfeit no more than his lease ; he cannot alter the tenure : and whoever comes into that lease comes under all the covenants of the lease. Therefore the impropriators stand chargeable, even in law, to keep up that hospital- ity, the amberies and infirmaries for the poor, the sick, and the stranger, that the clergy were obliged to do while they had their possessions ; and in some some sort performed, at least so far as to keep the poor from being any tax upon the nation. And at the beginning of the reformation, when the laity were first put in possession of these lands and tithes, they understood it so to be, and were content to take them with all that followed them, (any thing to get them ;) and did for a while make a show of keeping up the former hospitality, &c. better than the clergy had done; that being the pretence why they took them from the clergy. But when the fish was caught, they soon laid aside the net. 10. There was another and a greater burden put upon these lands, &c. which is, the cure of souls ; and that too they undertook. The king turned the supreme ordinary of the church ; and the lord Crom- wel, as his vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters, sat Divine Right of Tithes. 415 upon the bishops' bench in the house of lords, and took place of the archbishop of Canterbury, as the more spiritual person of the two, and above him in the church economy. And the mean impropriators came in place of the forfeited rectors, and presented their vicars as they did ; but the superior cure was in the rectors, and is transferred to the impropria- tors. Who now stand doubly accountable; first, for invading the priest's office : and, secondly, for dis- charging it as they do ; selling their advowsons at market, and looking upon them as mere lay fees ; taking bonds of resignation, and other ways and means that are made to accord with lawyers' si- mony ; which I am afraid will not be pleadable at the day of judgment, nor satisfy a disturbed con- science upon our death-bed ; besides the scandalous allowances made by many impropriators to their vicars. Whether the proposal I have made, or any other to the like purpose, will take effect, I know not ; but I think it is evident that it would be to the ap- parent advantage of the nation (upon account) about a million a year ; besides many other benefits greater than that. As, I. The blessing of God ; if that is to be reckoned upon in these days. For if sacrilege be a sin, and if these things before spoke of be sacrilege, then, if there be a God, or truth in the holy scriptures, there lies a heavy curse upon this nation, which cannot be removed without restitution of what we have robbed from God. II. It would in a few years lessen the number of the poor ; they would grow less and less : for by 416 An Essay concerning the putting them to work, as the clergy did, they would be able to support their families, and not multiply beggars upon us without end ; and the clergy would find work for them. There are yet churches to be built or kept in repair, schools and other public works to be done. It is now a national charge to rebuild one church, and has taken so many years, that Paul's work is become a proverb. There would not have needed any tax for this more than for the first building of it, if the clergy had their own, who built most of all the churches in the kingdom with less noise. III. It would improve trade, by so many being- bound apprentice, as the clergy did when they had their revenues ; and so dispose of the vagrants and loose-livers (who for necessity take to the highway) into profitable employments useful for the common- wealth. IV. It would improve learning; (but that may be an objection with some:) many a noble genius is lost for want of education, which would then be much more liberal, as it was when the church en- joyed her possessions. And learning was in the dark ages preserved almost only among the clergy, when the bent and inclination of other men ran little that way, except such as were influenced, and many educated by the clergy. V. Let me add, that it would be more for the ad- vantage of the crown, and consequently of the king- dom. It is well known that these lands paid more in all public taxes, while they were in the hands of the church, than they have done since. And the convocations always taxed themselves mvich more in proportion than the laity : they paid tenths oftener Divine Right of Tithes. 417 than the laity paid fifteenths ; which made Charles V. say of Henry VIII, when he seized the lands of the church, that " he had killed the pullet which " laid the golden egg." VI. Money is the blood of the kingdom ; and the circulation of it diffuses life and vigour to every part. Now if, according to what has been said in this Essay, there were a perpetual circulation of the tenths of the kingdom from the people to the priests, from the priests to the bishops, and back again from the bishops to the poor, I submit it to consideration, whether this would not prove a greater advantage to the nation than any that our state projectors have yet found out. God requires nothing but for our good ; and his folly is wiser than men. Let me, lastly, obviate a prejudice I foresee may be taken against my proposal : for prejudices must be answered as well as arguments, and often sway men more. It may be thought by some, who have no good- will to the church or religion, that this would make the clergy too great and rich; and they bear no thought with more indignation than this. They had rather the nation should perish, than be saved by the church. It is not to gratify such men as these, but to satisfy others, and guard them against their clamours, that I offer the following considera- tions. I. That the number of our clergy is too few. They are not able to attend such vast charges as they ought, especially in London and other great towns, where it is impossible for some ministers, if they should do nothing else, to visit all the fami- lies, much less every particular person who is under LESLIE, VOL. VJI. E e 418 An Essay concerning the their cure ; and the like in many country parishes. This is one great cause of the increase of dissenters amongst us of all sorts. Then our bishoprics are too large, and the bi- shop's inspection would be much more effectual if he had no more priests under him than he could be personally acquainted with, both as to their learning and conversation. But these defects cannot, as things now stand, be amended, while there are, as I am informed, above two thousand parishes in England not worth above twenty pounds a year, and many not worth ten. This makes pliu'alities necessary, and reduces the poor clergy to such contempt, as to render their la- bours wholly ineffectual ; unless to those very few who can distinguish their character from their cir- cumstances : and withal betrays them unavoidably to such ignorance, having neither time to study nor money to buy a book, unless a Dutch System, nor opportunity for good conversation, that nothing less than the power of miracles, as the apostles had, can reconcile respect to them, or authority to their doc- trine. Then the bishoprics are so stript, that, except five or six, there must be the greatest husbandry in the world to make our bishops live in any sort propor- tionable to their character, besides leaving their children to the parish when they die. But if the church were restored to her right, then might there be twenty times as many clergy as we have, and their cures brought within a manageable compass ; which would keep them from the danger of being overgrown with wealth. Besides that, if the poor were laid upon the clergy, Divine Right of Tithes. 419 as we have been speaking, it would take some years before they would have much to spare ; before the number of the poor would be so lessened, by the methods before mentioned, as to allow them to aug- ment the number of the clergy. There were in the small kingdom of Israel at one time thirty-eight thousand Levites above the age of thirty, 1 Chron. xxiii. 3. England would require many more to perform their function as they ought, to the profit of the people. And all the patrimony that ever the church had in England would not overdo it, to be divided among so many as would be needful of the clergy, and for maintaining the poor besides, together with the building and repairs of churches, schools, colleges, libraries, and many other charges profitable to the nation. Add another consideration : if there were such a number of the clergy, there would be more provi- sion for many of our sons, whom we cannot now dispose of, at least not so well : and there would not be danger of weakening the strength or wealth of the nation, as in Spain, by so many idle monks as live upon the labours of others, and contribute no- thing to the support of the government. That ob- jection cannot lie against the secular clergy, and where there are none other ; none that are locked up from the world, and must be maintained only to think ; none but who are labourers in the harvest, and therefore worthy of their hire ; and whose hire goes not into a bed of sand, like what is given to the regulars, and never returns ; but it circulates, like any other money of the nation, and does as much good. And our clergy are, or may be, as useful as any E e 2 420 An Essay concerning the others in parliament, in council, and other great affairs of the nation ; and those of lower rank as justices of the peace, and other offices for the distri- bution of justice. It is a monkish humour (though some know it not) to think that the clergy ought not to inter- meddle in secular affairs, or live out of cells. Those who converse in the world, and mind their cures, are in the road certainly of doing most good : these are therefore called the secular clergy, because they live in the world, and use human conversation : but those who run themselves into holes, as if (forsooth!) their sanctity could not bear the common air, and put themselves under rules and models of their own devising, do therefore give themselves the name of Hegnlars, and would be angels before their time. But men are born into the world to serve their ge- neration ; and they who make too much haste out of it, either by taking away their own lives, (as some have done out of conscience,) or by making them useless to the world in retirement, are guilty of the same sin in different degrees. And the example of Elijah, who was persecuted into a wilderness to save his life, is a very imper- tinent precedent for them ; for he was so far from choosing it, that he thought it an affliction beyond death, and wished to die, 1 Kings xix. 4. As little will th6 case of John the Baptist avail them ; for his being in the wilderness was in order to his shewing or coming publicly abroad unto Is- rael. And they who retire for a time, in order to that end, are far from their predicament who put themselves under vows of abstraction for their whole lives. Divine Right of Tithes. 421 They may as well urge the example of our Sa- viour, who was forty days in the wilderness. But it is happy that they have not the least umbrage in the favour of monkery through the whole life of oui* blessed Lord : he came eating and drinking, and conversing with publicans and sinners. As little is there to countenance it in the Acts of the Apostles ; they, as their master, went about doing good. The first Christian monks were made so, not of choice, but necessity ; they fled in the heat of perse- cution to wildernesses and solitary places ; where, by custom, they contracted a liking of the lonely, that is, the monastic life ; which, as it is natural, they praised for the pleasure of its safety and free- dom of thought ; for this they could not find any where else, when nothing but racks and gibbets were to be seen for Christians out of the confines of their retirement. And others, when this necessity was over, out of a superstitious weakness, would imitate this manner of living, and set it up for a constant and the most perfect rule of life ; which should all men imitate, the world must perish in a moment. Men may, with as much reason, run themselves into gaols, in imitation of the Christian imprisonments, as into woods and privacies, to act their flights and abscond- ings: it looks very like what we fall children's play; but it I omes to too sad earnest when it is set up for a jH-inciple. Thus because the apostle, 1 Cor. vii. 26, gave ad- vice (for himself calls it no more, he said it was no commandment of the Lord) in the case of the pre- sent distress, the grievous persecution that then lay E e 3 422 An Essay concerning the upon the Christians, that it was good, i. e. conve- nient, and more for their ease and safety not to marry at that time ; and because many, for the same reason, did follow this advice, which even na- tural reason would suggest to any man; (for who would choose to marry, either under sentence of death, or when he was flying for his life?) From this, no ground at all, some have run into what the same apostle does positively call a doctrine of the Devil, 1 Tim. iv. 1, ^,forbidditig to marry; count- ing that a defilement, which God ordained and bless- ed in Paradise : and though they have made it a sacrament, yet think it so unworthy of a priest, that he shall incur deprivation for it ; whereas a slight penance shall satisfy for his fornication or adultery. Thus, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and setting them up higher and more sacred than the commandments of God, who has permitted every man to marry, 1 Cor. vii. 2 ; and has made it honourable in all, Heb. xiii. 4. And the reason given, 1 Cor. vii. 9, hetter to marry than hum, does include all, and is a general rule which obliges all. And therefore to prohibit any order or degree of men, without exception, from marriage, is an express contradiction to this rule, and a doctrine of devils ; unless we can be positively assured (which is impos- sible, without a miracle) that they have all the gift of continency to that degree as not to burn : but, on the contrary, we have infallible assurance that they do burn. They own this to be the greatest reason of their mortifications ; and they impose penances for their whoredoms and adulteries, though not so great as for their marriage. The examples of their incontinency are manifold and notorious; which yet Divine Right of Tithes. 423 cures not their burning : it mixes itself with their devotion ; for there are no such anatomies of lust to be found among the most openly debauched, as have proceeded from the heated imaginations of some of the celibate casuists upon chastity; where having the beloved sin before their eyes upon an honourable account, that is, to condemn it, they uncover it, as the judges did Susanna, and fill themselves with its beauty. How different is the style of the aged or the married pens upon that subject ! Which shews how far the remedies of God's pro- viding are preferable to those of our devising ; espe- cially when ours will run counter to his, and that we cry down his to establish our own. The fury of the first persecutions, from a tem- porary and prudent forbearance of marriage, run many into an excess in praise of celibacy, which was counted a curse, and a reproach among the most pious of former ages. But the enjoining of it, as it is contrary to the frame of the world, so to the com- mands of God, and placing a greater sanctity in it than in the state of marriage, is of pernicious conse- quence, as is seen among those where this principle is set up. But this is a digression, though not wholly foreign to our business : for such a number of priests as England would require, according to the rules be- fore spoke of, and to be excluded from all civil offices of profit to the commonwealth, and likewise prohi- bited from marriage, would be an unsupportable de- triment to the community and public good. There- fore, though these reasons might have been urged for dissolving the Regulars in the beginning of the E e 4 424 A?i Essay concerning the reformation, yet they can have no place against the restoring of our secular clergy to what these Regulars as well as others had robbed from them. As to the point of marriage, we need say no more of it ; for it is not grudged to oui- clergy by any but the Romanists. But there are many prejudiced against their being admitted to any share in the civil administration : they pretend that it is at least an impediment to the office of their calling, which they would have wholly abstracted from the world ; and to respect only heavenly things, and that they should be useless in all other respects. This, as I said, is a spice of the monkish super- stition. For I would pray these men to consider whether the practice be not as necessary to a clergy- man, as the preaching of good doctrine? and where- in he can shew his practice more, or so beneficially, as in assisting to the making good laws, and pre- venting wickedness from being established by law ? in directing the councils of princes to honourable, just, and pious resolutions, and checking the profane and debauched who are apt to creep in there, espe- cially into the councils of young princes, who are inclined to be most swayed by those who administer to their pleasm*es ? It is not thought unbecoming the gravity of a bishop to be tutor to a young prince ; but rather a thing desirable for the public good, to bring him up in the fear of God, and instil virtuous and honourable principles into him. And is it not as necessary as beneficial that he should stand by him, when he comes to the exercise of these principles in the administration of his govern- ment, and when he must encounter with many tentations, and is most liable to be circumvented by Divine Right of Tiihes. 425 wicked and designing men ? The young king Joasli 2 chron. did that which was right in the sight of the Lord^""'"" all the daijs of Jehoiada the priest, who had brought him up from a child. But after his death, the king fell into the hands of the princes, who cor-Ver. 17. rupted him, and brought wrath upon him from the Lord, and upon the whole kingdom, whom he and they likewise corrupted into idolatry. He also grew tyrannical in his government, and most ingrateful, killing Zechariah the son of Jehoiadah, who had saved his life, and set him upon his throne that had been usurped from him. God himself made the priests the chief judges, Oeut. xvii. even in secular affairs under the law : and does not^'*'*^' the reason hold the same under the gospel? viz. that they are supposed, and ought to be most con- scientious in the discharge of this duty ; and conse- quently, that it is best for the people that the clergy should have the discharge of it. Does not the apo- stle argue from the same topic, 1 Cor. vi, and think it fit that the church should judge of secular mat- ters ? But Christ said, who made me a judge ? that is, Luke xii. in secular matters ; and, My kingdom is not of thisY'o\m xviii. world. It is true : the office of judge in secular matters was then in the hands of the civil magi- strate ; which Christ came not to disturb or alter, or to set up a temporal kingdom. He gave no civil authority at all to his church : but he no where de- barred her from it, if given by the secular power. And the judging which St. Paul speaks of, 1 Cor. vi, is plainly that of voluntary arbitration among them- selves, and not encroaching in the least upon the office of the civil magistrate. 426 An Essay concerning the But this shews that it was no ways unfit for clergymen to concern themselves in secular affairs ; else it would be as unlawful for them to be arbi- trators as judges : for it takes up their time, and engages them in secular thoughts, different from their studies. Yet no man makes it an objection ; but thinks it very becoming the office of a clergy- man to be a peacemaker, and reconcile differences amongst his flock or neighbourhood, which is impos- sible for him to do, without understanding some- thing of worldly business. And might he not do this with more advantage, if he were clothed with the civil authority ? I have seen the experience of it, and the country very sensible of the benefit of a clergyman in the commission of the peace, where they had that despatch, and justice, and protection, which they bemoaned the want of when he was re- moved from them. Sure no relation of landlord and tenant, or neighbourhood, can create a concern and tenderness equal to that of a pastor to his flock. And if he be a good man, and understanding, no man can be a fitter magistrate among them, and thereby more recommend himself as to this spiritual office, when they see and taste, and feel his justice, prudence, beneficence, and charity, as well as hear him discourse of it from the pulpit : when he can contribute, and vote, and act for the support of the poor, and be their remembrancer and advocate every assizes and sessions, as well as recommend it in a sermon : when he can browbeat the audacious and profane, and if not convert them, yet keep them within decency, that their infection spread not among his flock : when a debauchee dare not swear two or three rappers in his face, biu-lesque the holy Divifie Right of Tithes. 427 scriptures, or speak some obscene beastly stuff, to put a jest upon the parson, without meeting with what he deserves, the correction of the stocks. This in an heathen country was part of their persecution, and they must bear it; but in a Christian nation sure it cannot be misbecoming the character of a clergyman, that he be enabled to preserve religion and morality from the insults and outrage of these sons of Belial, without being forced to sue for it where he may be more laughed at, and see what is sacred turned to ridicule. What witchcraft is it that has raised in us this contempt, jealousy, and disdain against the clergy ! Are they not our sons, brothers, and relations like other men? Do we not expend money for their edu- cation, to fit them for that profession ? And do we then grudge them the comfort of it, to live like other men ? If we bind a son to any the meanest trade, we wish his thriving. Are the clergy then more vicious than other men? I think we cannot with justice say so. But a small blot in a clergy- man is more scandalous (as it ought to be) than much more in another man. And this shews them to be, generally, of stricter lives than other men : whereas many liberties, which would give no offence at all in another, would be very ill taken in a clergy- man. They do not all live up to the sacredness of their character, (nor ever did ;) but we have put them under several disabilities, which have been spoke of, therefore we ought to bear the more with them : and let all the prudent means that can be contrived for their reformation be set on foot ; they cannot be too good. But however, as to the subject in hand, I think it 428 An Essmj concerning the would be no inconvenience for the public if there were provisions for several thousands of om* children (more than there are) among- the clergy : and this being- joined with other great advantages before mentioned, which would accrue to the whole nation by restoring the ancient patrimony of the church, ought to be no small encouragement towards it. 1 have now done with my politics, wherein I have no talent, and return to make a short conclusion from all that has been said. CONCLUSION. IF it be a truth, that we ought to honour the Lord with our substance ; if that be part of his worship, of the honour due unto his name; if the determinate quantum of a tenth part has been the received notion and practice of the whole earth, ever since the beginning, as far as we have any account of times; if God has promised great blessings, as well temporal as eternal, to our performance of this part of religious worship, the due payment of om* tithe to him, and threatened the neglect thereof with severe judgments, even to curse whole nations, accounting it as a robbing of himself; and if we have seen this made good in the heathen nations, as well as amongst Jews and Christians, and visited many years after it was committed, in following ge- nerations, to shew that he forgets not this sin, though he may bear long with it. If there be any thing sacred in vows, made in the most solemn manner by kings, parliaments, and people, with the dreadfulest imprecations and curses upon themselves and posterities, who should alienate or take back to common use what they had dedi- Divine Right of Tithes. 429 cated to God and his church : if it be the rule of our law, and determined now every day in Westminster- hall, that what is once mortified to the service of God can never revert to the donor ; and that if the particular uses for which he did mortify such lands, money, &c. be superstitious or unlawful, the use is to be amended, and the thing devoted turned to some other holy use, like the censers of Korah ; but can never revert to the donor, or his heirs, be- cause the grant is to God and his church, and must so remain, and cannot be desecrated or returned to common use. Nay, though the use should become impracticable, as in the late case of Mr. Snell, who gave a mortification for four Scots exhibitioners in Balliol college in Oxford, for the propagation of epi- scopacy in Scotland ; which being now abolished there by act of parliament, that use is for the pre- sent become impracticable ; and his heirs who sued for this here in Chancery, offered to give sufficient security, that whenever the use should become prac- ticable, the mortification should be applied to it ; but the court would not suffer that. There must be no compounding or jesting with God; what is once mor- tified to his service must not revert : and the exhi- bitioners are now maintained upon it in Balliol col- lege, though the use for which Mr. Snell did design it is at present impracticable. But if the thing mortified, vowed, or devoted, be not any thing of our own, but that which God has antecedently hallowed and reserved to himself, as the tithes, and consequently wherein we never had any property ; then the breach of such vows, made only in affirmation, and for the performance of what was our duty before, and though we had not added 430 An Essay concerning the the further sanction of an oath to God ; I say, the breach of such vows have an additional and great aggravation; as to substract our tithes (which are commanded) would be more heinous than not to make a freewill offering ; though when it is offered, it is hallowed as well as the other. And when we say to God, hallowed he thy name, if we must mean all that is hallowed to his name, as well things as words, that all such be paid to him, then, whenever we repeat the Lord's Prayer, we do again hallow all our dedicated things to God. It is a fresh vow, at least an acknowledgment and recog- nition of all our former vows ; and not only of our own, but of what has been vowed and dedicated by others ; especially if we are their successors ; for then the obligation descends upon us, and we are answerable for the performance. All I have to add is, that whereinsoever we find we have done amiss, we should not defer to return and amend, and put not off from day to day. Abra- ham rose early to sacrifice his only son, whom he loved. There must be a zeal to execute the com- mands of God, even when most adverse to flesh and blood, to shew the preference we give to God above all other things whatsoever. Without this, we shall never be able to overcome the strong temptations of the world : and when they cannot persuade us, they will retard and hinder us, and make us go heavily about our work ; and then they seldom fail to stop us altogether, and finally to disappoint us. For the longer we delay, after we are convinced, we are every day less apt to disengage ourselves from the world: our trust in God grows weaker, when we dare not venture upon it ; and by the same degrees Divine Right of Tithes. 431 our trust in the world grows stronger; and the longer it continues so, we grow weaker and weaker, and our faith dwindles into less than a grain of mus- tard seed. Whereas, if we would put on a noble and Christian courage, and but try the experiment, then if we found it answer beyond our expectations, it would increase our faith ; and we should rise from strength to strength, and find comforts beyond ex- pression; not only that peace of mind which the world cannot give, but it would be the surest means to attain even the riches of this world ; to prevail with God to bless and increase our store, as he has promised; and bid us prove him herewith, if he will not perform it, Mai. iii. 10. And if a modern example will be any encourage- ment, he that writes this does assure the reader, that he knows now at this present where tithes are, and have been for some time, punctually paid ac- cording to the rules before set down, and the effects have been wonderful, more than an hundredfold, and in manner extremely remarkable and surprising. Glory be to God. July 17, 1699. [ 432 ] A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving tqjon the offering our Tithe to the Priest. Deut. xxvi. A GENTILE ready to perish was my father, a Rom. xi. wild olive-tree growing out of the paradise of God, the pale of his church : but he sent forth his Son, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and hath shined even Deut. xxvi. unto us : and I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto his glorious gospel, which Gen.xxviii.the Lord swore unto our fathers to give us. And moreover that he hath been with me, and kept me in the way that I have gone ; and has given me Deut. xxvi. bread to eat, and raiment to put on : and now be- 12. hold I have brought the first-fruits, all the tithes of i.^ my increase ; I have brought away the hallowed 14- things out of mine house, neither have I taken away ought thereof ; but I have hearkened to the Prov. iii. 9. voice of the Lord my God, to honour the Lord with my substance, and with the first-fruits of all mine increase ; I have not transgressed his command- Deut. xvi. ments, to appear empty before the Lord ; neither 2Sam.xxiv. will I ofFcr uuto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. And, O Lord, that it may please thee graciously to accept this offering at my hands, and to make it well-pleasing in thy sight. Heb.vii.8. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Priest who ever liveth to receive tithe, and to make intercession for us, receive 1 Pet. ii. 25. this our tribute, our bounden duty and service, O thou Bishop of our souls, in thy goodness, and make Job. XX. 1 7. it acceptable to thy Father, and our Father; to thy Heb. vii. God, and our God. O thou, who art able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by thee, Chap.ii.i8- and to succour them that are tempted, in that thou the Offering of our Tithe. 433 thyself wast tempted ; O thou merciful and faithful Heb. ii. 1 7, High-Priest, in things pertaining to God, O do thou make powerful intercession for the sins of the people, who have robbed God in his tithes and Mai. iii. 8. offerings : O thou who didst open the eyes of the blind, open the eyes of this people, and smite, Lord, their hearts, that they may see and consider their horrid sacrilege, and repent and return ; and that thou mayest pardon all that is past, all their neglect of paying their tithe hitherto ; all mine, O God, who smite upon my breast this day, and, turning my- self, I mourn for this great offence, and bless thy name with the utmost powers of my soul, that thou hast graciously and wonderfully had mercy on me, and now, though late, hast shewn to me thy gloiy and thy truth. O preserve and bless me in it, and bring more and more into it, even this whole people, that this their bi-ead for their soul may never here- Hos. ix. 4. after cease to come into the house of the Lord, that there may be meat in thine house, and that thou Mai. iii. 10. mayest open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing, till there shall not be room enough to receive it, that thou mayest rebuke the destroyer Verse u. for our sakes, that he may not destroy the fruits of our ground, nor our corn cast her fruit before the time in the field, that all nations may call us blessed. Verse 12. that we may be a delightsome land unto the Lord of hosts. Look down from thy holy habitation from hea- Deut.xxvi. ven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which ^' thou hast given us. Bless thy holy catholic church, and every land and country where she dwells ; (this in an especial manner, O Lord our God ;) her go- vernors, the bishops, with the inferior priests and LESLIE, VOL. Vll. F f 434 A Form of Prayer, upon deacons, and all thy faithful committed to their charge, their kings, their princes, and temporal go- vernment. Make them faithful nourishers to thy isa. xiix. church, and to bow down their ear to her instruc- tion, and submit themselves to her discipline ; that thy worship may be set up amongst us in its pm-ity and fulness ; that thou mayest delight to bless us, Dent. viii. and to do us good at our latter end. ' ■ And now, O Lord and my God, let me return imto thee for a blessing upon myself, a most miser- able and wretched sinner, who am less than the least of all the mercies which thou dost daily renew unto me, and for my and whom thou hast graciously given unto thy servant ; and all my fa- mily, friends, relations, benefactors, and well-wishers. Gen. xxviii. Feed us, O Lord, with food convenient for us : and of all that thou givest us, grant that we may sui'ely Verse 21. give the tenth unto thee, that the Lord may be our Deut. God, and may bless the fruit of our body, and the &e. ' fruit of om- ground, the fruit of our cattle, and the increase of our kine, and the flocks of our sheep, that the Lord may command a blessing upon us in our storehouses, and in all that we set our hand unto, when we come in, and when we go out : that we may be blessed in our basket, and blessed in our store ; blessed in the city, and blessed in the field : that the Lord may open unto us his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto our land in his sea- son, and to bless all the work of our hand ; and that we may lend unto many, but not borrow ; that the Lord may make us the head, and not the tail ; and to be above only, and not to be beneath, when we shall hearken unto the commandments of the Lord our God. tlie Offering of our Tithe. 435 And therefore we do now honour and hallow, and worship thy holy name, in rendering our bounden tribute and service, thy tenth of all our increase, which we offer with thankful and joyful hearts ; adoring thy goodness, and praising thy mercy in giving us all that we have. Blessed be thou. Lord God of Israel, our father i Chron. for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty ; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine : thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what are we, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort ? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee : for we are strangers be- fore thee, and sojom-ners, as were all our fathers ; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord our God, all that we have cometh of thine hand, and all is thine own. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered the tenth unto thee. And pray God that I may yet see with joy all thy people offer the same willingly unto thee. And, O Lord God, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people. Lord pre-Psai. x. 17. pare their heart, and let thine ear hearken thereto. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. Ps.xsv. 22. Our Father, &c. F f 2 436 A Form of Prayer, 8^c. A Blessing to be pronouficed by the priest. Geu. xiv. Blessed be thou of the most high God, possessor '9. 20. heaven and earth : and blessed be the most high God, who hath given thee a heart to fear before him, I Sam. i. and to fulfil his law. And the God of Israel grant ' thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him, through Jesus Christ, who died for thee. To whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. THE HISTORY • OF SIN AND HERESY ATTEMPTED FROM THE FIRST WAR THAT THEY RAISED IN HEAVEN, THROUGH THEIR Various Successes and Progress upon Earth, to the final Victory over tlieni, and their eternal Condemnation in Hell : IN SOME MEDITATIONS UPON THE FEAST OF ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS. F f 3 I P K E F AC E TO THE HISTORY OF SIN AND HERESY, &c. It may be expected that I should make an apology for attempting a subject so seemingly abstruse, and out of the common road ; but excuses signify nothing, the per- formance must answer for itself. Readers are not to be bribed by petitionary writers ; and I must leave it, whe- ther I will or not, to their impartial judgment, whether I have walked safely and modestly in so untrod a path ; or have improved any thing useful and Christian from it. The gravity and seriousness with which this subject ought to be treated, has not been regarded in the ad- venturous flight of poets, who have dressed angels in ar- mour, and put swords and guns into their hands, to form romantic battles in the plains of heaven, a scene of licen- tious fancy ; but the truth has been greatly hurt thereby, and degraded at last even into a play, which was designed to have been acted upon the stage : and though once hap- pily prevented, yet it has passed the press, and become the entertainment of profane raillery. This was one reason why I have endeavoured to give a more serious representation of that war in heaven, and I hope I may say much better founded than Milton's groundless supposition, who, in the fifth book of his Para- dise Lost makes the cause of the revolt of Lucifer and his angels to have been, that God upon a certain day in hea- ven, before the creation of this lower world, did summon all the angels to attend, and then declared his Son to be their Lord and King ; and applies to that day the seventh F f 4 440 PREFACE TO THE HISTORY verse of the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. The folly of this contrivance ap- pears many ways : to make the angels ignorant of the blessed Trinity ; and to take it ill to acknowledge him for their King whom they had always adored as their God ; or as if the Son had not been their King, or had not been begotten till that day. This scheme of the angels' revolt cannot answer either to the eternal generation of the Son, which was before the angels had a being, or to his tem- poral generation of the blessed Virgin, that being long after the fall of the angels. But if Mr. Milton had made the cause of their discon- tent to have been the incarnation of Christ, then, at that time, revealed to the angels ; and their contesting in such manner as hereafter told for the dignity of the angelical above that of the human nature, his contexture had been nearer to the truth, and might have been much more poetical, in the severe and just measure of poetry, which ought not to exceed the bounds of probability, not to ex- patiate into effeminate romance, but to express truth in an exalted and manly improvement of thought. Milton, in the first book of his Paradise Lost, makes Lucifer suppose himself to be self-existing, and so with- out beginning ; which seems incongruous to the know- ledge of an angel, though he has deluded some foolish men into that blasphemous and vain opinion, as hereafter shewn. And philosophers of great name have held the eternity of the world, because they were ignorant of its beginning; so that there are more footsteps to warrant this conjecture of Milton's than the former which I have mentioned. In the repetition of the several heresies which Satan has broached in the world against the truth of the incarna- tion of Christ, I have but lightly named those of former and early ages, but insisted a little more particularly upon those of our own times, because we are more nearly con- cerned in them. And I have now added them to the rest of these sheets, OF SIN AND HERESY, &c. 441 which have lain hy me these several years, without any intention of making them public : but now at last I have adventured to let them run their fate, if perhaps they may provoke more sufficient pens to correct or improve these thoughts to the advantage of rehgion, and benefit to the souls of men. I have taken a text that I might keep closer to my sub- ject; for it is no objection against an Essay if the dis- course be as regular as that of a sermon. MICHAELMAS-DAY. Rev. XII. 7. There teas war in heaven. The subject of this day is a great mystery : but mysteries are to be inquired into ; why else were they revealed ? But oiu" inquiries must be with reverence and profound humility ; why else are they mysteries ? Our contemplation upon the fall of the angels 1^1, . Ml , The benefit may be of excellent use to us : it will lay our sin of coutem- more lively before our eyes ; because the angels fliV o/thr sinned first, and tempted us to follow their exam- ''"=^'^" pie ; and therefore it is to be supposed that our sin is like theirs, of the same nature, though differing in circumstances and qualities, as a river alters from its fountain. I will not deny but this history of the fall of the ii. angels may be applied by the apostle to illustrate likewise the conflicts and final victory of the church upon ^[,e" on. earth, against the malice of men and hell ; and may '''^ very fitly be understood so in this same chapter. upon earth. But this does in no ways derogate from the truth of the fall of the angels, and of their war in hea- ven ; no, but by supposing it, and applying it to the church, does more strongly confirm the truth of it ; or rather, indeed, does but continue the story ; for the war that is now upon earth betwixt the Devil and the church is but the continuance of the same 444 The Histonj of Sin and Heresy, &f. quarrel which he fought in heaven against St. Mi- chael and his angels. But the collect for this day api)lies the considera- tion of the epistle and gospel and proper lessons to the angels of heaven, to which they primarily be- long. And there being many daj's, indeed all the other holydays of the year, wherein we remember the conflict of the chui'ch against the Devil, let us employ this one day as set apart to consider the first and great battle that Lucifer fought in heaven, according to such light as the scriptures give of it, particularly those chosen for this day, especially from these words of my text. There was tear in heaven. ni. The sin of the Devil is generally agreed to be Pride the . . . first sin of pride, and that from good authority of Scripture, the Devil, J 2^ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, soti of the morning ! — For thou hast said in thine heart, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God — / will he like the most High. Again, Ezek. xxviii. 14, Thou art the anointed cheruh, and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God — Thine heart ivas lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy 2vis- dom by reason of thy brightness. Though this by the prophet was applied to men, yet it was by allusion to the pride of the Devil. Thus far in the general, that it was iwide. ^^^^.iv. And it is commonly said to be an aspiring to be aspires by equal witli God. But that cannot be directly, (for quence to wc cauuot suppose such absurdity in an angel,) but r^th^God'^ by consequence, if you please, and from consideration of the nature of pride, which sets no bounds to its ambition ; for he that desires to be high, would he The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. 445 not be higher, and highest ? which is, in consequence, to be God. But now as to the particular instance of his pride, the occasion, the contest, and the issue of this first discontent of the Devil, which raised a war in hea- ven, let us with humility inquire, bounding our thoughts within the rule of God's word, to infer no doctrine contrary to any express command in scrip- ture ; let us make a resignation of whatever we earn in this harvest, by dedicating the whole to glorify and exalt the doctrine of Christ, and vindi- cate his virtue from its sorest enemies. We know the incarnation of Christ was revealed V- to men (Gen. iii. 15.) four thousand years before it nation of came to pass. And we are not to suppose that so ^i|e".u to be glorious a mystery was concealed from the angels. We are told, 1 Tim. iii. 16, that it was declared test in hea- ven. unto the angels. And, Tit. i. 2, that it was pro- mised before the world begem, which could not be to man. And, 1 Pet. i. 12, that the angels desire to look into it. And the like might be inferred from many places of scripture, particularly from the verses immediately before my text, where the apo- stle in a vision seeing this war in heaven as it were present before his eyes, plainly tells the cause of it to be the incarnation of Christ, and the malice that the Devil thence conceived against Christ and against his church; The dragon stood before the woman, to devour her child when she had brought it forth. So she brought forth a man child, who should rule all nations: and her son was taken up unto God, and to his throne; as you have it in the fourth and fifth verse : and thereupon, ver. 7, he tells you, there was a battle in heaven betwixt Mi- 446 The History of Sin and Heresy , &^c. chael and the dragon, and their angels on both sides. You -will observe that in this, as in other prophe- cies and visions, things long past, and to come, are represented as present ; and therefore in this chap- ter the first ground of difference among the angels, the war which thereupon ensued in heaven, and which is still carried on to this day upon earth, and the final issue thereof at the consummation of the world, are all told in one breath, as all present toge- ther, as in a picture ; for such they were represented to St. J ohn, who in his vision saw all at one view ; and thence he speaks of the first reA^elation God gave of the incarnation to angels or to man, and of the fulfilling thereof in the fulness of time ; he speaks here of them without distinction, as of the self-same thing. But we who must frame our knowledge by steps, let us begin with the first revelation, and thence inquire into this war in heaven, and so descend by degrees till we see Christ actually incarnate, as had been revealed. Thus then we proceed: when the incarnation was first revealed, we reasonably sup- pose that the good angels looked upon this infinite condescension of God as an act of the greatest glory in God, and in raptures of love adored the divine goodness. But the other angels, who had their eyes full of their own glory, thought such condescension un- I worthy of God, and therefore were loath to believe i it, at least in that sense they could not understand it, (being blinded with pride ;) it was not jigreeable to that notion of God which they had, which con- sisted chiefly in power and greatness, as they belong 1 The History of Sin mid Heresij, ^c. 447 to haughtiness : they understood not the nature of love, which only is almighty, and conquers in its condescending; and therefore they argued against it, as St. Peter against Christ's passion. Matt. xvi. 22. He could not believe Christ meant it in earnest, but perhaps to try the zeal of his disciples, to see how much they would be concerned against it, and shew themselves not indifferent that their God should die and be crucified like a thief : therefore Peter would be the first to shew his love to his Master; and to shew it more zealously he took upon him to rebuke Christ for but speaking of such a thing, as if he had heard blasphemy ; it was not so much as to be named or imagined ; JBe it far from thee. Lord: this shall not he unto thee. So little did Peter then understand the true nature and greatness of love ! And to shew that this was the error of Lucifer, our Saviour there rebukes Peter in his name. Get thee behind me, Satan : thou art an offence unto me : as if he had been speaking to the Devil himself, who first had a wrong notion of love, and instilled the same principle into men. And this I shew you for the first sin of Lucifer and his an- gels, that it consisted in a wi'ong notion of God, (which is the great and mother heresy,) considering of hira falsely in his attributes of power and sove- reignty : and therefore they could not believe the incarnation could be meant literally by God, as being unworthy his greatness, and so vast a dimi- nution of his majesty, to empty himself into the basest of the order of spirits, and mingle infinite with flesh and blood : and therefore argued against it ; not knowing that true power and sovereignty are in the conquests of love, which delights to con- 448 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. descend itself, and advance others. But the desire to overpower others by force and violence, and de- base them under our power, is so far from almighti- ness, that it is an impotent vice, which arises from fear and want of strength in our minds : and the more we grow powerful in that sense, the more we fall from that which is true power, that is, to help or advance others ; which we may perceive from this experience. Those who overcome by love, ad- vance those they overcome into their love ; but who overcome by force, subjugate those they overcome : therefore the conquest of love is giving a greater freedom ; and that must be by loosing us from some former thraldom ; and that is truly power and great- ness : and therefore the conquest of force is taking from us some freedom we had before, but cannot be the giving of any freedom, (for then it would not be force ;) and therefore cannot help or free from thraldom ; and is therefore impotence, and shares nothing of greatness. But to subdue one may give freedom to another. Is it not noble to rescue a friend from his enemy ? It is : but in so far as it gives help or freedom, it proceeds from love. (And from this very pretence it may be argued, that the glories of pride are but an imitation of the power of love.) But it is more noble to overcome an enemy by love than by force ; for by force you only rescue your friend, but by love you convert his enemy, and so rescue him too. Love has for its object only the giving freedom to my friend ; to commit force upon his enemy is no part of its design ; for it would rather convert that enemy, and so make a friend of him too : and when it does force an enemy, it does it unwillingly, and The History of Sin and Heresy, Ssf. 449 thinks it no greater bravery than to remove a stone out of the way I am to go, or to tread through a dirty step. And this mire is all that pride delights in ; it delights in mischief, to do others hurt, and throw them down, and thinks that in that consists its own exaltation ; a glory to which the plague has a better title than a hero, for the plague destroys more : from which office the Devil, the king of the children of pride, takes his title of Apollyon, a De- stroyer ; but God delights to be known by the name of Jesus, a Saviour. And if you think that a wild beast has not more right to this honour than any man of arms, the best proof will be to see them grapple together, and, then you will easily judge of their strength and courage. If wrath were a more noble quality than love, Christ would not have chose the lamb and the dove for his emblem, and left the dragon and the serpent for the arms of the Devil. To destroy is the courage of a beast; / will deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, skil- ful to destroy, says Ezek. xxi. 31. Whereas the exaltation and force of love is in humbling itself to do others good ; and the higher it raises others, the greater is its delight and glory ; nor does it fear to raise others too high, too near itself, (which is the suspicion of pride,) because its delight does increase by doing good to others ; and therefore the higher others rise, its delight is the greater ; and when it brings others to be even, one with itself, then its joy is in perfection. From what we have considered of the nature of love and pride, this then is the result. To be con- quered by love is to be exalted, but to be conquered by pride is to be debased ; for love humbles itself to LESLIE, VOL, VII. G g 450 The History of Sin and Herestj, &f. advance others ; pride humbles others to advance itself : and which of these two is the most noble is the state of the case, the subject of our present con- templation, in the two greatest instances of either that ever was, or can possibly be, in heaven or on earth. Of the one, in the incarnation of Christ. Of the other, in the revolt of the angels. We have now gained the ground of quarrel which engaged the angels of heaven in a war. VI. Next let us bring their mighty armies into the of the good field, and examine the conduct of their chiefs, by angels cou- discussing their arguments on both sides, each in proceediD" ^^^'^'^ce of their principles : for different thoughts is upon the the contest of spirits. principles of love aud And may we not be allowed thus to inquire ? ^" ^' for we shall be their judges : Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? says the apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 3. The good angels, as we have heard, did believe the incarnation when it was revealed to them, as being agreeable to the notion of God which they had, which was all love, and wherein they understood the kingdom and the power and the glory of God to consist ; and therefore they did willingly submit to adore the humanity, joined in one person with the Godhead. Submit ! did I say ? they gloried in it with all their powers, it was their most natural service; for it was a more noble demonstration of the nature of love than ever they had known before ; which being a cleai-er revelation of the divinity was proportionably an increase of happiness to them, as being more nearly reconciled, or admitted to a nearer participation of the divine goodness, the sum, the completion, the fui'thest of created bliss ! having all Tlie History of Sin and Heresy, &)C. 451 their joy, their hopes, their exultation and wonders of love, their eternal security and confirmation, all their glory and delight, every thought of their capa- cious and enlarged understandings, all filled up, ga- thered together in one, in the contemplation of that stupendous, infinite excess of love, the incarnation of God ! the virt\ie of which wrought up from earth to the heavens, to the confirmation and perpetual increase of felicity, to the blessed angels, as we are taught from Ephes. i. 10, Col. i. 20. On the other side, the rebel angels could not be- lieve the incarnation when it was revealed unto them, at least in the plain and literal sense of it, as being contrary to that notion of God which they had, which was all haughtiness and pride, (or what they could suppose it is in God, which holds pro- portion to pride in creatures, for which we want a proper name ;) and in this they understood the king- dom, and the power, and the glory of God, to con- sist ; and therefore, as they could not believe, nei- ther could they submit to worship humanity in any condition, though joined in one person with the Godhead. Submit ! No, it provoked their contempt, their hatred, rage, and madness against man ; and this, carrying them still fui'ther from the sight and participation of love, consequently removed them far away from the sight of God, tcJio is love, (1 John iv. 8.) And that is the proper definition of sin and hell and misery; for sin and hell are in effect the same. There is hell, that is, misery, involved in the nature of every sin ; because all sin consists in our withdrawing ourselves from God, who is happiness essential, and in his absence only is any misery or unhappiness : and consequently the further we re- Gg2 452 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. move from him, the greater is our misery. This frees us from an objection, how God, who is all love, can be a consuming fire, and inflict hell : for hell is the natm-al product of sin : but that it proceeds from God is so untrue, that it can only be where he is not. But God is every where ; he is in hell. That is, he comprehends hell, and understands the uatm-e of it, for that is tlie seeing of a spirit, or the manner of its being present. But hell does not see him, that is, understand his nature aright, which is the original of pride, and is the being absent from God; and therein consists their misery. Can love be said properly to inflict those torments which proceed only from the want of love? or does the straightness of a rule cause the crookedness of that line which will not keep to the rule ? He that hides his adultery or his murder in a cave, may as justly curse the sun for the darkness and the damps which he endures, as the wicked blaspheme the God of love, for the envy and malice and vexation which attend upon their pride. Let us be judged by our- selves. Whence do the terrors of conscience proceed ? They proceed from the sense of good we have omit- ted : it is not then the good which causes those ter- ror, but, on the contrary, the omitting of that good. The nature of love, like that of fire, converts every thing into itself ; but a proud spirit even from thence will draw argiunents of envy, and afflict it- self ; but this proceeds not from the natiu*e of love, but from the natm-e of pride : therefore pride in its own nature is miserable ; and love is always vic- torious. If any say, how is it that love overcomes pride? after what manner? let him observe how light overpowers the darkness, without noise, but ir- The History of Sin and Heresy, <§c. 453 resistibly : and the grosser the darkness is, the greater does appear the power of the light, and its extent the greater : as death gives place to life, and truth prevails against error, with such arms does love fight against pride. Love is light, and life, and truth ; and by whatever degrees love does advance, by the same is its conquest secured ; and joy lifts up his head, and sorrow, and shame, and pride, fly before his face. Now the incarnation, being the greatest extent of love, is consequently the greatest shock and humiliation of pride that is possible to be imagined; and so most contrary to the Devil, the father of pride, the greatest destruction and i-uin of his principles : as it unites, gives peace and entire satisfaction to the angels of love, so it distracts and runs contrary to all the thoughts of proud spirits. Thus love, which is happiness in the abstract, be- comes a torment to those who understand it not, by being seen through a false prospect; and in their madness they blaspheme that love which is their only remedy ; and curse it because they have parted from it ; and the more it invites them to return, the more do they fret themselves, and in spite run fur- ther from it, which still does more incapacitate them to return ; and this is that makes hell immortal. And thus it is that the virtue of Christ's incarnation and death wrought down from earth to hell, to the confirmation and perpetual increase of misery to the damned spirits, who have stood out proof against the last remedy, the strongest charm of love that is possible, the incarnation of Christ, and have sepa- rated themselves from his love, and pine away a sad eternity in the ruins of their pride irreparable ; which grows more obdurate from its being over- Gg3 454 The History of Sin and Heresy, &^c. come, and from that triumph of love in the incarna- tion, so far beyond all that it looked for, or could believe ; and which therefore being fulfilled, it hates and reproaches with an impotent despair, which is the anguish of hell. This was the issue of the war, but let us now take a view of the battle. As Korah and his company were bold to appear before the Lord, and appeal to him, whether Moses or they were in the right, so both armies of angels being persuaded of the justice of their cause, went forth to battle, and were bold, both confident of the victory, to appear and plead before the Lord, for whose honour each party did pretend to fight, (as it is still with us,) which proceeded from the different notions they had of God. Satan argued the majesty, sovereignty, and omnipotence of God ; the poor, de- jected, worthless condition of man ; and hence how absurd and blasphemous it would be, that God should be a man, subject to infirmities and death. Against whom Michael fought from the same con- sideration of God's omnipotence, that therefore God might incarnate himself, and the more difficult it did appear to created minds, the greater glory did it bring to God ; that the ways were unsearchable by which God did communicate himself to his crea- tures, whose whole being was a participation of God ; and that it was inexcusable presumption for a finite power to determine how intensely an almighty love might bestow of itself, even to denominate what it loves to be one and the same person with itself. Satan, though dazzled with the refulgence of al- mighty power, yet still pursues his pride, and con- tests, that if God should choose a creature to make The History of Sin and Heresy, &^c. 455 one with himself, it sure must be the worthiest; that the nature so joined to the Divinity must be adorable ; and that it were against the justice of God to make noble spirits serve a baser than them- selves : that therefore, if any, it must be the nature of angels, and not the impure seed of man, that God will assume : and if an angel, who has pretensions beyond Lucifer, the hrightest son of the morning, the glory of God's first creation ? And in this sense he might be said to aspire to be equal with God, even literally, i. e. to be one and the same person with God : which cannot rationally be made up of any other scheme that we hear yet advanced con- cerning his rebellion ; for no otherwise is it possible for us to imagine how a thought so seemingly ab- surd, even to us, should arise in the mind of an angel, of being equal with God. But as we have here deduced it, why might he not think that God might be an angel as well or rather than a man? And this we may reasonably conjecture from what is revealed to us, Heb. ii. 16, in these words. He took not on him the nature of angels; hut he took on him the seed of Abraham: which argues, as if there had been some such contest, at least gives us leave to think whether it might not be ; and from such a suppose (you see not wholly unwarrantable) I have endeavoured to reconcile the common notion of Lu- cifer's aspiring to be equal with God, and brought him in arguing for himself as you have heard. Thus did he exalt himself in his pride, and thought his arms invincible ! which yet were not proof against the mighty argument of love wielded by St. Michael, who stood victorious in his constancy, on his con- templation of the vastness of the nature of love, G g 4 456 The History of Sin and Heresy, ^c. which can endure no limits, and when it gives, knows no reserves ; whose glory therefore is ex- tended by the greatness of its condescensions ; and therefore infinite love must find infinite condescen- sions to exert itself: and man being the lowest of rational beings, (which only are capable of union with God,) that must needs be the creature which infinite love will choose to exalt to the extremity of almighty power, to make it even one with God, that so love (which is God) may be all in all, may be the Jirst and the last. And (in man) spirit being joined in one person with a body composed of the four in- ferior elements, God does by this advance into an union with his own nature the very lowest of his creatures, gross matter itself, as far as possibly it can be made capable : that as all things spring from his love, and from thence do perpetually flow, so do they, in this mysterious incarnation, for ever return thither again : he is alpha and omega, the highest Epii. iv. 9, and the lowest ; for that he ascended, what is it but that he first descended into the lower parts of the earthf For descending and ascending being rela- tives, they must hold the same proportion, and there- fore none can ascend more than first he did descend. Now Jesus who descended even into hell, is the same also that ascended Jar above all heavens, that he might fill all things. But such glory of love could not arise from God's advancing the highest creature, because that would not be so great a con- descension ; and the supreme angel might perhaps attribute something of merit to himself, and despise all below ; who might think themselves left behind, or forgot by the eternal Providence ; who yet had the same original pretences, being all brought from out The Historij of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. 457 of the same mother, nothing. But in this wonderful economy of the incarnation, all disparity of creatures is taken away ; like that of stars in the presence of the sun ; eternal love having gathered together tn Eph. i. lo. one all things in Christ, both which are in the hea- vens, and which are on the earth ; even in him ; who by this has made heaven and earth into one iii. 15. family, and of whom they both are named : and Christ the head of both, from whom (both being made thus into one) the whole body fitly joined to- w. 16. gether and compacted by that which every joint suppUeth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, mah eth increase of the body unto the ed fying of itself in love. So that the glory of almighty love shines alone in the many members of this great body; that an angel cannot say to a man or to a worm, There is no need of you, more than the hand can despise the foot, or the eye reject the assistance of the ear : that therefore it is no dis- honour for the greatest creature to serve the least, since they are all members of one body, and united in the incarnation of God. Therefore Michael and his angels thought it not only indispensable to adore the manhood in God, but that it was the pitch of their glory, the sum of all possible bliss, to contem- plate such love as was unfathomable to the eternal increasing flight of abstracted and enlightened spi- rits. And not only this, but they rejoiced to be made ministering spirits to the meanest of Christ's members upon the earth, (Heb. i. 6, 7,) and to take their name of angels or messengers from that office assigned them, even to little children, as you are in- structed from the gospel for the day, (Matt, xviii. 2, 10 :) nay further, they were content to learn of 458 The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. their pupils, and to be taught hy the church the ma- nifold wisdom of God, Eph. iii. 10. But this hu- mility of love Satan despised, and, instead thereof, accused man before God, as unworthy of his union : and both parties appealed to God. yii. And what could be the event when love was tertnina- judge ? The accuser of our brethren was cast down, cause".^ accused them before God day and night, as you have heard in the epistle. And Michael was justi- fied, who maintained the cause of love, in that al- mighty condescension of it in the incarnation and death of Christ: They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, says the epistle; that is, that high instance of love, in defence of which Michael fought, did outshine all the pretended glories of pride, and left the Devil overthrown, astonished, and desperate ; and in this did appear the strength, and salvation, and kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, that is, love in its utmost condescension, which is its victory, and most noble glory, the riches and superabundance of its grace, its natural and be- loved conquest. And now rejoice, O ye heavens, ye angels of his who do his pleasure, who have overcome in this noble contest ; and, for your reward, feed eternally on that unexhaustible fountain of love, whose cause you have so truly maintained ! VIII. But woe to the inhabitants of the earth, for the war caiTied DcvH is come dowu unto you, having great wrath, De S upon decciveth the whole world, and is come to eartii- make war with the remnant which heep the com- mandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. You see the same war is carried on by him upon earth which he fought in heaven. The History of Sin and Heresy, &p. 459 But before we enter into this second part of the ix. battle, there is a preliminary to be adjusted, which fer and his will be necessary to the carrying on of this war, f^b^ft and that is, that we find a reason why the Devil did totbedeter- ' •' rnination of not acquiesce in the judgment which God gave, since ^od. we suppose that he appealed to it ; as Korah and his company appealed to God against Moses and Aaron, and appeared with censers in their hands before the Lord : which cause I have made instance of as a copy of the rebellion of Lucifer. Towards satisfaction in this difficulty, let us first consider the nature of that obstinacy, which is ge- nerally found in error : Non 'persuadehis, etiamsi jjersuaseris, is a true and common saying ; and we read in the gospel of those who seeing, see not, and who close their eijes lest they should see. We know that spite and malice will provoke that rage which it knows too strong for it, and which will torment it; and will oppose itself out of the excess of madness and folly ; of which even our pre- , sent case is not a plainer instance than what hap- pened in the matter of Korah, our parallel case : for we find, that the very next day after that terrible and unexampled destruction of Korah, Dathan, Abi- ram, and their confederates, the rest of the congre- gation mutinied against Moses and Aaron for that very reason, and ran themselves into the same sin, which they had but the day before frightfully be- moaned in the judgment of their brethren, and fled at the cry of them ; for they said, lest the earth swallow us up also : and yet they made that very swallowing up the argument of their rebellion, for which fourteen thousand seven hundred died by a new plague. Many the like examples are to be found 460 The History of Sin and Heresy, in the history of the Jews, and are daily experi- mented in ourselves, who remain unpersuaded by their judgments, and God's daily providences over ourselves ; nor want we our miracles too. And may not we allow as great perverseness in the Devil as we have learned from him, and improve daily by his instigation ? This, I think, is sufficient to clear the matter of fact of Lucifer's discontent and murmuring even against that sentence of God, to which he had at first appealed : and this we have learned from the experience of ourselves. And from the same we may likewise search out a further reason of this so seemingly an unreasonable a procedure, that should make one act contrary even to what appears to be his own reason : and that, as I conjecture, is this, that error does not beget truth, but increases to more error ; and some men will ob- stinately adhere to their principle ; and what seems to make against it, though never so reasonable, if they cannot satisfy it directly, they will frame dis- tinctions and subterfuges, to evade what they are not able absolutely to deny : and this temper is still to be supposed where the mind is not unprejudiced and equal to the truth, on what side soever it shall ap- pear ; for that is a preparative indispensable to the obtaining of any truth, and from the want of which alone (were there no other obstruction) all error maintains its ground against the most demonstrative truths. From hence it is I conclude, that pride being the principle of the rebel angels' contest, they could never from thence infer the incarnation of God, though enforced upon them with undeniable arguments, unless they should first abandon their The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. 461 principle, because it was the greatest contradiction to their principle that could possibly be ; and they would not suffer themselves to be persuaded into that docible temper which our Saviour requires, when he so often repeats that most material caution, Take heed how ye hear; for to him that hath, more shall be given, and he that hath not, from him shall he taken even that which he hath. Obstinacy will confirm itself into more obstinacy ; and a good dis- position will still take in more of truth, and still grow more and more capable : and the Devil not thinking of forsaking his principle, but to adapt to it the reasons which were offered against it, he could not understand the incarnation literally as it was revealed, but invented distinctions and salvos to re- concile it with his principle ; at least to make it mi- litate against his principle as little as he could : as that the person incarnated was some holy creature begotten by God in an extraordinary manner, and therefore called the Son of God; but that it was not very God himself : or, if it must be God himself, that it was not real flesh and blood which he as- sumed, but only in appearance and show. It is said indeed in scripture that the devils knew him, but not that they knew him to be God : they called him the Son of God, and the holy one of God, and they adjured him by God ; but I do not find that ever they owned him to be God, as his dis- ciples did ; they gave no such confession to him. Now as the former conclusions which I have made of this whole warfare of the devils are, I con- fess, chiefly drawn a posteriori, from consideration of the effects which it has produced, especially upon us here below, who are taken captive by him at his 462 The History of Sin and Heresy, S^c. will ; so in this present instance I am not a little confirmed from the prospect of those many-headed heresies which the Devil has sent into the Christian church, to the disparagement of her greatest funda- mental, the incarnation of God. Arius and his bas- tard Socinus are generals of the greatest name in this war ; they deny the divinity of Christ, though upon different and very contradictory pretences. Simon Magus was first in commission among those falsely called Unitarians; after him the Ebionites said that Christ was God, but not from everlasting ; the Nestorians, that he became God by merit, but was not the Son of God before the incarnation ; the Macedonians, that he was not of one substance with the Father ; the Alcoran calls him the Messiah, and the Word of God, but not the Son of God; and they allow not that he was crucified, as the Theopaschites, (not supposing it, forsooth, consistent with the justice and greatness of God,) but that an- other man suffered in his place; others said that Christ did not really hang upon the cross, but that his passion was only in show, such were the Cer- donites, the Eutychians, and Manicheeans ; that his whole passion is to be understood allegorically, and not according to the letter, which is maintained by the family of love, who likewise make an allegory of his incarnation ; the Manichees, Eutychians, Mar- cionites, and Saturnians, held that he had neither human body nor soul, but was man in ajapearance only ; the Eunomians, Arians, ApoUinarians, and Theopaschites, that he had a body without a human soul. And these ancient and pestilent heresies are still kept alive amongst us ; they are gathered to- gether, and improved by the Quakers, who deny the The History of Sin and Heresy , S^c. 463 humanity of Christ, and the divinity of Jesus. They will not allow the incarnation of Christ, that is, that he took the nature of man into his own person, only (as the Socinians speak) that he dwelt in or did in- spire the person of that man Jesus, as the prophets of old, and other good men now, though not in so high a degree as he did inspire Jesus. Thence they take the name of Christ to themselves, and say that it belongs to them as well as to Jesus, to every member as well as unto the head. And in this sense they allow Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, not properly, but in a large sense, as we are called the sons of God : they allow that the body of Jesus was that prepared body in which Christ (or the light within, as they call him) did for a time reside, and therefore that it might be called the hody of Christ, as a man's house, garment, or veil, is called his who owns or possesses it : but not as a man's body, which is part of himself ; for, say they, " *We " can never call the bodily garment Christ." They deny that Christ had properly any thing human, either soul or body. '* That the outward person which suffered" upon the cross " was properly the Son of God, we utterly " deny," says their Serious Apology, wrote by Will. Penn, p. 146. They dream that Christ had a spi- ritual body before the creation, and that he has the same now in heaven, but not that body of Jesus of Nazareth wliich he took of the blessed Virgin, and which suffered upon the cross. The Eutychians held that the humanity of Christ " Some Principles of the elect People of God, in scorn called Quakers, p. 126. 464 The History of Sin and Heresy, c^c. was absorbed or swallowed up in his divinity, so that there remained not now any human nature in Christ. Agreeable to this, the Quakers allow not Christ to have now any thing that is human about him : but to have divested himself of all that when he ascended into heaven, where they say he now is only as he was before the creation. In short, they make what they call their light within to be not only a ray, influence, or inspiration sent from Christ, but to be the very essential and personal Christ, as well body as spirit, and that he has no other body or spirit but what was within them : for a further account of these men, I refer the reader to a book called, the Snake in the Grass, and to another wrote by the same author, entitled, Satan Disrobed ; and so proceed to another less famous sect amongst us, called the Muggletonians. These, with the Quakers, deny any distinction of persons in the Godhead ; and consequently they run into the old heresy of the Patripassians, thence so called, because they held that it was God the Father who was incarnate, and did suffer upon the cross. To this the Quakers agree ; and George Fox, (the father and founder of them,) in his Great Mystery, p. 246, disputes against those who said that it was not God the Father who was incarnate. Lodowick Muggleton (who arose the same year with G. Fox, an. 1650) and his followers say, that the Godhead died upon the cross ; and that there was then no God : but that God, before he was in- carnate, deputed Elijah to govern in his absence ; that Elijah raised him again from the dead, and restored him to his throne : that Christ (who was God the Father) did not know himself to be God, or The History of' Sin and Heresy, S^c. 465 any more than Elijah pleased to let him know: that Elijah was the Father to whom he prayed upon the cross. They strike in likewise with the Anthropo- morphites, (as John Biddle, the late celebrated So- cinian,) and say that God from all eternity had a body, and of the same shape as man's body; and that being made after the image of God, referred to the shape of his body. They pretend to describe his shape, a middle-sized handsome man, and such like most vile and ridiculous stuff. These batteries the Devil has raised, of several shapes and sizes, against the truth of the incarnation of Christ. This he is not able to digest, or under- stand aright ; and seduces his weak but envied rival man, by such multiplicity of subterfuges as he has invented. This is the great and fundamental head of that war which the Devil now carries on upon earth. And there is another which is like unto it, and^ ^xi.^ depends upon it, namely, the doctrine of satisfaction, satisfac- which the Devil opposes upon the same foot with the incarnation ; for they are both so closely linked together, as that the doctrine of satisfaction supposes the incarnation and death of Christ, without which no adequate satisfaction, that is, no satisfaction, could have been made to justice for the sin of man : and, on the other hand, no rational account can be given for the incarnation and sufferings of our Sa- viour, but to satisfy the justice of God for our sin. For all other considerations of Christ, as a Prophet, a Teacher, a Mediator or Intercessor, might have been executed, either by an angel, or holy man thereunto commissionated by God ; and that with- out any necessity of the death of such a messenger. LESLIE, VOL. VII. H H 466 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. But to make adequate satisfaction to the utmost demand of infinite justice for all the sins of the world, to pay this infinite debt, exceeded all created sufficiency, and could be performed by none but God alone. And the doom of sin being death, without shed- ding of hlood there could he no remission. Which infers the necessity not only of Christ's incarnation, but of his death. And it was not possible the cup should pass from him, if he would redeem lost mankind. If it had been possible, sure his Father would not have re- fused what he so passionately, and in so bitter an agony, three times requested. His Father would not causelessly have so exposed his beloved Son, in ivhom he was well pleased. No, but as Christ Luke xxiv. himself has told us, // thus behoved him to suffer; Matt. xxvi. that he ought to have suffered these things; and that thus it must he. When God, in his all- wise providence, had so far permitted the spirit of pride and malice as to seduce mankind into disobedience, the Devil then thought he had in some sort even conquered, at least over- reached the Almighty: for thus he argued with himself : If God's justice be exact by which I suffer, then must man be eternally miserable with me ; for he is less able than I am to make any satisfaction for his sin. And thus have I ruined my hated and despised rival : and even by the necessity of God's nature, which is justice, I have forced him to damn that base human nature, which he would join into his own person, postponing the more noble angelic nature, which is thus revenged ! And the Devil thought himself secure and im- The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. 467 pregnable in this his pride and malice : for if the nature of justice (which is God) cannot acquit with- out full satisfaction ; and that the satisfaction for sin must be proportionable to the person against whom the sin is committed, which is infinite ; and that the penalty must be death ; and that God only is infinite ; and that God cannot die : and again, that the same nature which offended must make the satisfaction ; and that human nature was far from infinite, and so could make no satisfaction : I say, upon all these accounts, the Devil thought man's cause to be irremediable and desperate, and that in this he had prevailed against God for ever. But God thus far permitted his enemy, thereby to shew forth more gloriously the riches of his grace, and the inexhaustibility of his wisdom : for by the ever-adorable mystery of God manifest in the flesh, and suffering death for us upon the cross, all the above seemingly insuperable difficulties are dis- solved, like ice before the fire : for here is satisfac- tion made by the same nature which offended ; and the satisfaction is full and adequate, because the same Person is God ; and though the Godhead can- not die, yet the Person which is God may die ; as the soul of man does not die, but the man who has the soul dies. And in this is the great and absolute victory over all the devils and powers of hell. Here the Devil finds himself outwitted as well as overpowered ; and that love is superior to pride as much in wisdom as in strength. But his malice never fails him. He sets all his engines on work to prejudice men from receiving this doctrine of satisfaction ; and from believing in H h 2 468 The History of Sin and Heresy, ^c. Christ as their surety, or propitiation ; which only is the saving faith. The Mahometans believe Christ to be a Prophet ; the Alcoran calls him the Messiah, and the Word of God, and our Intercessor with God. Yet are they not Christians : which denomination properly be- longs to none who do not believe the divinity, in- carnation, and satisfaction of Christ for our sins. Who deny any of these, may flatter themselves with the name of Christians ; but they are really (though may be themselves perceive it not) enlisted under the Devil's banner, and fight his battles. And he has gained followers in nothing more than in this ; he has persuaded men to dispute against their own salvation ; he has put such arguments as these in the mouths of Socinians and Quakers : What need has God of any satisfaction ? may he not do what a man can ? to forgive a debt ? We call it mercy in a man ; and can it be injustice in God ? But when a man forgives a debt, do we call it mercy or justice in him ? you say it is mercy : in man, mercy and justice are mixed in proportions ; but in God they are both in their utmost ; God is not only a just Being, that is, who has a great deal of justice in him, but he is justice itself, the highest notion pos- sible of justice; and since justice cannot acquit with- out full satisfaction, no more can he. How then? Do his attributes fight against one another ? No, that is impossible ; but as the Vulgar renders Jam. ii. 13, Misericordia supcrexaltat ju- dicium, " Mercy does exalt justice." God's mercy in sending Christ does exalt his justice. Which could not be exact justice, if it did not require full satis- faction. God is all justice: he is all love and The History of Sin and Heresy ^ ^c. 469 mercy too. They are the same thing in God : they are the same in love ; for God is love. Every sin is a debt to love, or an offence against it, which is against God : now a debt of love is not to be reck- oned as a debt of money: a man may forgive his money as he pleases, but love cannot forgive an in- gratitude but upon repentance : love cannot allow hypocrisy, or envy, or malice, or any thing contrary to itself. Love is so much the essence, so the all of Christ's religion, that all other gifts and graces are valued only in so far as they administer to the ends and purposes of love. Without this, the gi-eatest excellencies and per- formances imaginable are reputed nothing in the sight of God, that is, of love ; faith even to remove i Cor. xiii. mountains, and zeal to give all my goods among^' the poor; and my very body to be burnt, and all prophecy, and all knowledge, all will signify no- thing, if they be not done out of a principle of love; if charity be wanting, all these, and all other things possible, all are nothing : love regards them not. Nothing can charm love but love. All the whole earth in one sacrifice, and all the pains of hell, can- not bribe love into a friendship or reconciliation with pride or ill-nature ; it must hate these by the same necessity that it is it's self : behold the justice and severity of love ! Behold the reason why our love can never be accepted with God ! because it is mixed with what God hates, by the necessity of his nature, with insincerity and affections to vice; we love not God for his own sake, for the native beauty of love, but to serve our own ends, pitiful selfish de- signs ! vain, foolish, wicked ! Hh 3 470 The History of Sin and Heresy, &/c. The heavens are not clean in his sight, and he chargeth his angels with folly ; and our righteous- ness is as filthy rags ; and that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination before God. Now what hopes of atoning for our faults, when our best performances are fresh provocations ? And this inexorable justice of love is the greatest mercy too, if we consider it ; for there being no hap- piness but in love, and no atonement to love but by returning to love again, consequently this seeming severity is really but an invitation to our happiness. But all our love is polluted, and therefore hateful to purity, which is God : so that we can never perform this condition, though the most merciful as well as just. And here Satan would stop all our hopes, by persuading us that our debt cannot be paid by an- other, that the most perfect love will not be accepted for that .which is deficient. And this is so far true, that where the imperfect love does not go as far as it can, it can receive no help from that which is more perfect : for being willing to remain insensible of any offence I have committed against love, is the greatest contempt of love, and love can hear nothing in its defence. But where I am as sensible as I can, and wish to be more, and do all that is in my power, and repent with my whole heart ; though all this be very un- proportionable to my offence, and full of imperfec- tions, there love will rejoice to accept the interced- ing of a perfect love, and its full satisfaction and atonement for the weak but willing love. And this manner of paying the debts of love is perfectly agreeable to the nature of love : it is agree- able to the common conversation of the world : was The History of Sin and Heresy, 471 it ever made an objection that the surety should pay the debt ? or that it was unjust to be a surety ? Yet this enemy of mankind would make us think it against reason that Christ should be our surety, or that he should pay our debt. And this being the main hinge, or indeed the whole of Christianity as to us, many batteries are raised against this, to destroy us all at once ; for if we lose this, what good can Christianity do us ? we are yet in our sins. There are several parties, and from several arts, which attack us in this most essential point : some say that Christ came into the world only as an ex- ample ; but then they are put to it to find a reason for his death : it will not bear an argument that his death was only intended as a confirmation of his doctrine ; for that shews it neither to be true nor false, but only that he was fully persuaded of the truth of it; yet this is all that cause can afford. Others say that he came to teach a new condition for the remission of sin, which was repentance. To this it is answered, that that was no new condition : What time soever a sinner repents he shall save his soul: this was in the Old Testament: Rend your hearts, and not your garments; and many other places to the same purpose. Secondly, re- pentance was the meaning of the sacrifices under the law : The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. So that repentance was no new condition; nor in- deed was any doctrine of Christ new, for he came to fulfil the law. And if we look into this, it will convince us be- yond all we could gather from our own reason : as much as a picture is beyond a description. H h 4 |- 472 The History of Sin and Heresy, &p. Behold therefore in the law the types of Christ ; how they were expiatory, and not merely for ex- I Coi. V. 7.ample: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; sacrifices were for expiation, and not for example. The sin of the party was laid upon the sacrifice, and Lev. xvi. it was said to die for his sin : which was confessed 21, 22. over the scape-goat, and put upon his head, and he was to bear it away to a land not inhabited. This was to shew that death was the wages of sin, and that Christ was to bear it for us, and escape with xvii. II. it, and carry it from us : The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, says the Old Testament, to make an atone- ment for your souls : for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. And this is the reason Heb.ix. 2 2, that almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remis- sion. It was therefore necessary, says the apostle ; and so goes on to infer the necessity of Christ's shed- ding his blood according to his types, which he did xiii. 12. to the least iota, even to his suffering without the gate. This sets before us, as in a picture, the whole economy of Christ's sufferings ; and from the first sentence of death pronounced against sin : In the day thou eatest thou shall surely die. We see this fulfilled in the legal sacrifices slain for the sin of man, which typified the shedding of that blood which could indeed take away sin, which it was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to do ; tieb. X. 4, and therefore says Clirist, a body hast thou ^we- ^ pared me : and lo I come. He was the true sacri- ( oi. i. 20. fice and expiation for our sin, having made peace Epb.i. 7. through the blood of his cross: in whom we have The History of Sin and Heresy, &^c. 473 redemption through his blood. To call all this only his being an example to us, is so wide both from reason and the matter of fact, that it shews the very- impotence of our enemy : " It was by the blood of *' the Lamb they overcome him," says the Epistle for this day. This expiation of Christ takes away our sin, pays all our debt, and leaves nothing to the spirit of pride but to feed on his own envy and ma- lice and mad despair. God has so guarded this last stake and great rock of our salvation, as to render it impregnable, but by our supine negligence. He who can turn all that scripture speaks of the expiation and atonement and ransom of sin, to a mere example, he must go against his own conviction, if ever we can determine it in any case : nay, I dare appeal to any such, whether, if he were dying, he would take greater comfort in considering Christ as his surety, who had paid his debt, as his sacrifice and expiation, who could plead to the justice of God full satisfaction for all his sins ; whether his heart would not lean more to Christ thus as a Saviour, than to look upon him merely as an example, which he has not followed ? Some would go further, and let Christ be an In- tercessor only, and as such a Redeemer, i. e. who redeems us by his interceding with God for us : that God appointed him for this work, but that it is against reason to talk of his answering to God's justice, for that God needed nobody to pay a debt to him: he might forgive without all that, if he pleased. This has been answered already : but I would fain ask one question. Whether God needs an Inter- cessor more than a Redeemer to save mankind? 474 The History of Sin and Heresy, ^c. How can people pretend reason for the one, and yet cry down the other as against all reason ? and again, to give divine worship to this Intercessor, and at the same time to deny his divinity ? as the Arians did, and the Polonian Socinians do at this day, which is reckoned no less than rank idolatry by the new-fashioned Socinians which are got up amongst us, who deny divine honour to be due to Christ ; and yet, when these Socinians are pleading for antiquity, they derive themselves from the Arians ; though the Arians allow Christ to have a being with God the Father before the creation of the world; and the Socinians say that he never was at all be- fore he was born of the Virgin : which is so wide a difference, besides that of divine worship above told, that nothing could make them of the same party but fighting under the same general ; and then their cause will gain great antiquity ; it came from the Prae- Adamites, the mighty hosts of heaven who fell in this quarrel, and manage it with greater success now on earth. 1. Others by their instigation argue in this form against the doctrine of the satisfaction, that if Christ pay the debt, and undergo the curse which was due to man for sin, he ought to suffer the same curse that was laid upon man, which was eternal death, else he does not pay the whole debt, or suffer that which man was to have suffered. A71S. Man suffers eternally, can never come out of prison, because he can never pay the uttermost farthing, which justice does require. Therefore Christ's sufferings were not eternal, be- cause they were sufficient, for the dignity of the per- son, to make full satisfaction. The Histonj of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. 475 And not only because of the dignity of the per- son, who was God, but from the nature of the thing : for sin being an offence against love or goodness, the nature of love does require that the person of- fending should have a sense of his fault : for while the offender remains obstinate, insensible, and per- sists in his ingratitude, even love cannot forgive : I say cannot, because though love were willing, (love is always willing,) yet the insensible offender is not capable; because the forgiveness of love is restoration, to restore those to the happiness and enjoyment of love who have fallen from it : and all happiness being centred in love, (as before has been said,) for God is love, consequently till we return to love we cannot return to our happiness : and an un- grateful man, and insensible of his ingratitude to his greatest benefactor, who still courts and invites him to return, is utterly uncapable, while he persists in his ingratitude, to know or enjoy the blessings of love, and consequently of the forgiveness of love ; which by its own nature must necessarily hate all baseness, envy, malice, and whatever is contrary to its own nature. Now as the nature of love does require that an offender should be sensible of his fault, so likewise that he should be sensible proportionable to his offence ; for to be but a little sensible of a great of- fence is a fresh provocation. And it being impossible that the capacity of all creatiires should ever reach to the full sense of an offence against infinite love and goodness, conse- quently their sufferings can never attain unto it; which makes their hell to be eternal. Besides that in hell they repent not to give glory Rey.xvi.g. 476 The History of Sin and Heresy, to God, but blaspheme the name of God, who hath power over their plagues. But, on the other hand, Christ being God, had a full and adequate sense of the offence against infi- nite love ; which is all the satisfaction that love does require; and, by the necessity of its own nature, cannot be satisfied with any thing less. Therefore Chz'ist's sufferings were not eternal, because he made full satisfaction : and if they were to have been eternal, then he could never have made satisfaction ; for therefore only are men's suflFerings eternal, because they can never make satisfaction. 2. There is yet another objection which, by the artifice of the enemy of mankind, some men do struggle with against the satisfaction of Christ, which is, that though in duration the sufferings of Christ do not last so long as those of the damned, yet that as to the greatness and intenseness of them, they should be at least equal, if not superior, to those of the damned : because if those of the damned are not great enough to make satisfaction, consequently his who does make the satisfaction ought to be greater. And despair being the saddest ingredient in hell, if Christ had it not, he did not suffer so great pain as they do : and if he had despair, then he distrust- ed the power or mercy of God, and consequently had sin, and so could not be our Redeemer. In answer to this, let us consider, first, what has been said above, that sin is an offence against love and goodness : that the satisfaction which love re- quires is a sense of the offence, such a sense as is fully proportionable to the offence. Then, secondly, let us reflect that all sense of an offence against love The History of Sin and Heresy, &p. 477 and goodness must carry with it a sorrow and agony proportionable to the offence ; without which it cannot be said that any man is truly sensible of his offence. This agony was borne by Christ to the full, when he bore the sins of the whole world, charged him- self with them, and stood answerable for them be- fore his Father : and this was far greater than any bodily pains which he endured ; and infinitely ex- ceeded what it was possible for all created minds to have sustained, or so much as to comprehend to all eternity. Yet was there no mixture of despair in all this : for despair does not proceed from the sense of our having offended God, (which sense is strongest in the most sincere penitents,) but from a defect of our apprehensions of God, and mistaking of his natm-e, which is all love and goodness ; which those who despair cannot believe. Hence we find that many lesser sinners do despair when greater do repent. Why ? Not because they have a stronger sense of their sin, (for the other may, and often have, much greater than they,) but because they have a weaker and fainter sense of the goodness of God, which is thinking amiss of the nature of God, as the apostate angels did, measuring it by greatness and power, not by love; and is the reason that they despair and cannot repent, or hope for mercy from that power which they have offended, and think inex- orable. We may read our punishment as well as our sin in their offence. And they who sin as they do, will be punished as they are, and have their share in that lake prepared for the Devil and his angels. 478 The History of Sin and Heresy, But though Christ did not despair, because he had the true, full, and adequate knowledge of God, and of his nature, yet for an example and comfort to our infirmity, which he took upon him, he suf- fered himself to fall under the greatest despondency that could be distinguished from sin, in his last agony and dereliction upon the cross, when he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me t Thereby supporting the weakness and faintings of our faith, that we should not despair when we find ourselves unequal to our pressures, and seem de- serted by God and man ! For even in that case, in the worst that can befall us, we have his great ex- ample to set before us, who complained as we do, yet committed his soul to God in the height of his displeasure, with strong cryings and tears, and was heard in that he feared, Heb. v. 7. Therefore let no man's fears cause him to despond ; For we have not an High Priest who cannot he touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need, Heb. iv. 15, 16. Let this suffice as to the difficulty whether Christ had despair or not, (which has perplexed some learn- ed men;) for though despair was wholly incom- patible to him, who had a true knowledge of the natiu-e of God ; yet, for that same reason, he had a sense of sin and of its demerit, infinitely exceeding all those in despair can have ; which answers all those objections that can be raised upon this head against the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ. 3. But then the Devil starts another objection. The History of Sin and Heresy, &^c. 479 that if Christ took upon him our sins, then he be- came the sinner, and we were discharged, and need heed no more what we do, for that all is paid, all satisfied for, &c. ; we may sin on, and no harm can come to us ; that if Christ took upon him our sin, he must take the filth and pollution of it, as well as the curse, else that he did not take it all : and if so, he was a sinner indeed ! exceeding all the sinners in the world, because he took upon him the sins of all the world, and made satisfaction for them all. With this bait the Devil has caught the Antino- mians now amongst us, who say, that they are not sinners, for that Christ was the sinner : that Christ took upon him the guilt, the pollution, the loath- someness, and filth of our sin, as well as the curse of it, and was therefore hated of God, and separated from him, till after his resurrection, that he had purged it off ; and particularly when he cried upon the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? that he was then odious to God as a toad ; and other such blasphemies, which are horrid to repeat. The foundation of this monster of a heresy, to make our blessed Lord the greatest of sinners, is easily discoverable to any judicious eye ; for to pay a debt for another out of mere love and charity to prevent his ruin, was never yet thought to infer that the surety who paid the debt did thereby make himself guilty of any ill arts which the principal might have used either in procuring or spending of the money : but very slender hooks will serve to catch the small fry. And the Devil has not used greater pains and skill in oppugning any article of our faith than in 480 The History of Sin arid Heresy, &p. this of the main end of the incarnation, sufferings, and death of Christ, as a sacrifice to make satisfac- tion for the sins of the world. Against this, Satan has spent his utmost force, as being the greatest overthrow of his kingdom among men. And this doctrine is so closely linked with that of the Trinity and Incarnation, they do so mutually suppose and depend upon each other, that those who deny any one of them are seldom sound in the other two ; and the surest means to corrupt men in the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, is to pre- judice them against the doctrine of satisfaction, which is the result of the other two, and cannot be without supposing of them both. 4. These are the doctrines which the Quakers call the sandy foundation, and dispute against them with the Socinian artillery. There is another squadron lately enlisted in this cause, led by the famous Mademoiselle Antonio Bou- rignon, who has been seduced herself, and has se- duced many others with the semblance of her own flights and devotion ; which shew from whose in- spiration they came, by that insuperable pride which runs through all that she and her disciples have wrote of her ; advancing her above all the prophets and apostles, above all born of women, not except- ing our Lord Jesus himself. I refer the reader for a full account of her and her doctrine to Bovu'ig- nonism Detected, by Dr. Cockburn, printed in the year 1698. But as to the particular subject we are now upon, she flatly denies and disputes against the doctrine of satisfaction, as shewn in the preface to the Snake in the Grass, vol. iv. p. 9. She says, The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. 481 p. 1,39, 140, 142, of her book there quoted, called. The Light of the World, that there was no need of God's becoming man in order to our redemption; that he took flesh, not to suffer or die, but only to converse with us ; that his sufferings and death happened by accident, that is, beyond his intention. And her arguments are the same which we have heard before from Lucifer ; that it was beneath the greatness and majesty of God ; and that his glory could not be advanced by being " crucified betwixt " two thieves," as she M^ords it. Here I must tell the reader, that the arguments which I put in the mouth of Lucifer were not bor- rowed from this of Bourignon, (with which they so exactly agree,) but were wrote many years before I saw any of her books, or had so much as heard of her name. But when I read them in her, it was a great con- firmation to me of the truth of my reasoning, when I found the same arguments made use of by one whom the Devil had deluded, and possessed to as high, and perhaps a greater degree of enthusiastical madness, blasphemous pride, and wild heretical no- tions, than any age can produce since Simon Magus, who boasted himself to be the mighty power of God; and in many things she exceeded him. I have mentioned her, because her infection has spread strangely in Holland (that soil fertile of re- ligions) and the adjacent countries, has lately taken root in Scotland, and at last has come to London, where her book before mentioned was printed, 1696, and too much recommended ; and has travelled into several parts of the country ; insomuch that the Bourignonists deserve now their class in the first LESLIE, VOL. VJI. I i 482 The History of Sin and Heresy, Sxp. form of the heretics. They have gained some learned men, who have drawn their pens in their cause, both here and abroad ; some translating the books of Mrs. Bourignon, and others writing in de- fence of her and them : but if seasonably and dili- gently attacked, it is to be hoped that they may not make great inroads upon Christianity, at least in our parts ; otherwise they will, in all appearance, become formidable, and, like the Quakers or the Saxons, grow upon us, till we must be forced to let them live with us, and compound at last for an act of toleration. 5. This is the war which the Devil manages here below, the same which he fought in heaven. I have shewn you some of his armies, they are discoverable by their colours ; the field is always pride, whatever other device is wrought upon it. And this misleads them into all error ; first, a wrong notion of God ; which leads them into a wrong notion of Christ, his nature and office ; and that is productive of all the hydra heresies we have mentioned, and of many more, which it would be tedious to examine in so short an Essay : but those I have named are the chief, and mother of all the rest ; and pride the grandmother of all. The first tentation of the Devil to man was, that they should be as gods : and he has persuaded some since that they really are gods, even equal to God, in equality itself, as piu'e and holy as he is, as harmless and innocent as Christ ; but preferable to all mortals, meeker than Moses, stronger than Sam- son, wiser than Solomon% &c. Nay, they go fur- ther, and make their soul a part of God, of the same Snake in the Grass, sect, ii, iii, and iv. vol. iv. JVie History of Sin and Heresy, c^c. 483 substance, person, and essence with God ; and there- fore to be infinite in itself, and without beginning as well as ending. This is copying after Lucifer, and even outdoing of him, in his blasphemous pride ! The Pharisees advanced themselves beyond all other men as to piety and holiness, but not to be quite free from sin, as the Quakers and Bourignon do pretend. The Gnostics gave themselves that gaudy name, from their supposed knowledge exceeding that of other Christians. And all the way down from them to Bourignon and the Quakers, all the heresiarchs set up upon pride and high value for themselves, with as great contempt of other men. Our Pharisees got the name of Puritans, from the high purity to which they pretended. And all our sects have arisen from those who called themselves gifted men, and boasted in their wonderful attainments, sufficient (as they gave out) to supersede all established constitutions, though at first instituted by God himself. Hence that spirit of pride which did inspire them gave some of them to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some teachers and preachers, without any outward com- mission ; disdaining the humility of succession, con- tinued by vicarious ordination from Christ and his apostles, upon which the church has been built and preserved to this day. And what vile contempt and despite they all have poured out against the church and their sujieriors has filled the world. To curb and subdue this spirit of pride was the end of Christ's coming in the flesh, who fought I i 2 484 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. against him with the arms of humility and love ; which is the inseparable badge of Christ and his disciples, by which they are known, and outshine all the false glories and pomp of hypocritical pride and ostentation. I have endeavoured to trace this pride from its first rise in heaven, and shewn its progress upon earth ; and that it is the mother and nurse of all the heresies in the church ; and as it was the first sin, so is it a principal ingredient in all our sins. The Jews had a saying, that there was a grain of the golden calf in all their after-judgments ; and we may truly say, that there is a spice of the first sin, that is, pride, in all our sins and delusions ; and if we search imjiartially we shall find it. This cor- rupts both our practice and our principles, and hin- ders us as much to work as to believe aright. The Devil is equally concerned against both. And let me here instance in two particulars, which have raised great contest in the world. XII. The first is the dispute about grace. The Devil, The dispute concerning kuowmg our wcakuess, and that we are not able of ourselves to help ourselves, has endeavoured to dis- arm us of the assistance of God's grace (without which we are not able so much as to think a good thought) by this suggestion of pride, that we have strength enough of our own to perform all that is required of us, and therefore need ask no assistance of extraordinary grace ; that there is no other grace given to man, but that reason with which God en- dows each man, and therefore which is natural to him ; that nothing supernatural is to be expected in this world ; that it is a tempting of God, to ask for or expect any such thing ; that it hinders our own The History of Sin and Heresy, &^c. 485 endeavours, while we look for supernatural assist- ance : and other such like arguments as these. Pelagius, our countryman, was a great general upon this head of the war; and he has not a few or inconsiderable part of this nation and elsewhere of his followers. The libertines every where are enlisted under his banner ; and they think them- selves no mean men : they command wit and rail- lery, and mighty numbers. They call it a reflection upon God, to say that he has not made man perfect, and with sufficient powers to perform what God has required of him. But they forget that man is fallen from that state in which God at first did create him ; and therefore, as a man who has lamed himself, he needs more help than his own legs. But, besides this, suppose man in his utmost per- fection ; is it any reflection upon the power, good- ness, or wisdom of God, to make him still depend- ent upon God, and to need the assistance of his grace? as the earth does the influence of the sun, and yet the earth is perfect in its kind. Man, in his fallen estate, has powers still left him, to beg and sue to God for his assistance, and to at- tend those means of grace which he has commanded, the prayers and sacraments of his church ; which whosoever does sincerely and diligently, God has given them his promise to bestow his grace upon them, sufficient for their need. And they who will not be at this pains, but trust to the plea of the unprofitable servant, that they serve a severe master, who reaps where he did not sow, and exacts more than he gave them abilities to perform, will, with him who hid his talent, be con- I i 3 486 The History of Sin and Heresy, demned out of their own mouths ; because that con- sideration, if it were true, should make them double their diligence, and not neglect those means which their Lord has appointed. They are loath to share with him the glory of their salvation ; they would do all themselves. But he will not share with them, he will have all the whole glory of it, for to him only it does appertain. And they whose pride will not suffer them to submit absolutely and without reserve to him, must have their portion with those who rebel against him. XIII. The other snare of the Devil which I mentioned and works, is the dispute about faith and works, which has made a great bustle in the world ; and this is near of kin to the last ; for some are persuaded to lean wholly upon their own works, and to esteem of faith only as an empty notion, and mere imagina- tion, of no virtue or efficacy at all : that there is no trust in any other, though in Christ himself: that we shall be reckoned with only according to the works that we have done, and not according to what we believe another has done for us, which can no ways be imputed unto us. Others again are tempted wholly to neglect works, and lean all upon faith. They think the doctrine of works to be great arrogance and pride, in assuming to ourselves the merit of our salvation, which is due only to God. That because he ought to have the whole glory, therefore we ought not to intermix any of our works at all, but to live only by faith in him. That our righteousness is filthy rags, and therefore cannot be accepted by him, nor are worthy to be accepted ; and therefore can add or help nothing, no, not in the least tittle, to our salvation : but, on The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. 487 the contrary, that we ought to renounce them, and divest ourselves wholly of thein, and trust to God's mercy without them ; which, they suppose, has no consideration at all of them, but justifies the elect without any respect to them ; and therefore loves the saints in all their sins : that they are not the less beloved while wallowing in their sins, because God's love is free, and without regard to our per- formances : that therefore there ought to be no sor- row for sin ; that this is contrary to a true godly frame. This the Antinomians (who are set up on high now in London) have preached, and printed in their books, particularly the famous Dr. Crisp. Nay, they go further ; they make neither faith nor works necessary ; for that, they say, would hinder the freedom of God's love, and make it conditional, (which they abhor to think,) and to depend upon any thing that is in us to do. They call faith therefore only an echo of the soul answering to the call of God, and saying, I come, without any change in the man : but that the soul which has not that echo is not the less safe : for they resolve all into the absolute decree of God, without respect either to faith or works on our part. This is the plea of Lucifer for himself, that he was overruled in heaven by absolute power, without respect to justice ; for that he had merit beyond many of those angels who stood, though he and others, better than they, fell. And the same argument is taken up by many of his followers at this day, who have bewildered their understandings in the intricate mazes of absolute decrees, unconditional election and reprobation ; so as to confound themselves, and stop their endea- vours from workiiig out their own salvation, as they I i 4 488 The History of Sin and Heresy, <^c. are commanded. The Antinomians say, that Christ has wrought all for us, so that we need not work ; and that to offer to add our works to his is pre- sumption, and an undervaluing of his, as if his were not sufficient. They say, that he bore not only the pollution and filth of sin, (as before has been mentioned,) but the sadness and sorrow for it too, all that was due to it ; and that therefore who- ever has any sadness or sorrow for sin is out of Christ, and in a false way. See the many snares of the Devil, to keep men from repentance, and harden them in their sins. Here he gilds his poison with a seeming trust in God, as when he tempted Christ to throw himself down from the pinnacle, that he might thereby tempt God. And this is the very case here; for to neglect those works which Christ has commanded, out of a seeming faith in him, and deference towards him, as if we would not presume to mix our works with his ; all this is a downright tempting of him, to ex- cuse ourselves from what he has commanded, on pretence of trusting to what he has promised or de- creed secretly from eternity ; as if these could inter- fere, and his decrees dissolve his commands. But, say these men, it is he who worketh all the good that is in us ; therefore what need we work ? I answer ; therefore we ought to work : there- fore he works in us, that we should work, that is, work with him. This is the very argument of the apostle, Phil. ii. 12, 13 ; Work out your own salva- tion with fear and trembling. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. The History of Sin and Heresy, S^c. 489 All the good in us God worketh it ; therefore all the glory is to him, and none to us at all. But when we work with God, our works are full of impei'fections, which come from ourselves, there- fore we trust not in them. Here then is our faith, viz. in the perfect work and obedience of Christ to the whole law, which all of us have many ways broken ; and his undergoing the curse of the law, which was due to our breaches of the law. And this being applied to us by a true lively faith, which worketh hy love, and a sincere repentance and sense of our sin, though not equal to the demerit, yet to our weak abilities ; and for what is defective, when we have done as much as we can do, and are sorry that we can do no more, it is supplied, and we ac- cepted, in the perfect obedience of Christ, and his sufferings of infinite value, for that wherein we have been deficient, when we fully trust in and believe the promises of God, that we shall have remission through Christ. This is our faith, by which we apply the merit of the sufferings of Christ to our- selves. 1. And then is his righteousness imputed unto us, as our sins were to him : not that he was a sin- ner, (as the Antinomians say,) though he bore our sins ; or that his righteousness, which is infinite, can be inherent in us, so as to make us as righteous as he is, (as the Quakers and some others speak;) but that he has given us a right to plead his right- eousness and sufferings on our behalf, as performed for us in our natm-e and in our stead. This wholesome and necessary doctrine of im- putation has been greatly strained, and turned into a cant, by many of our dissenters, since 1640, who 490 The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. would thereby have the whole righteousness of Christ, not only apijlied, but transferred, to us ; to become our righteousness, and inherent in us ; so as to supersede all our own righteousness, or any endea- vours on our side, not only from having any merit, (which is most true,) but from being any way neces- sary or beneficial towards our salvation. This has given occasion to others, in odium to this vile extravagance, quite to throw off the doc- trine, and ridicule the very name of imjmtation, which is as dangerous an error on the other side ; for it is, when rightly understood, a necessary con- sequence of the doctrine of satisfaction, and the means whereby the satisfaction which Christ made for our sins is applied and made profitable to us ; without Avhieh it could be of no advantage to us; for if it were not imputed to us, how would it con- cern us ? what benefit could we reap from it ? No benefit at all, say the Socinians and Quakers, more than as an example, like the sufferings of other good men, which are not imputed to any others. Solomon Eccles, a great prophet of the Quakers, says, in his Letter to one Rob. Porter, that the blood of Christ, which was shed upon the cross, was " ''no more than the blood of another saint ;" and adds, " God will overthrow your faith, and " your imputative righteousness too." " Such as " have Christ in them," (says George Fox, in his Great Mystery, p. 183,) "they have the righteous- " ness itself, without imputation." For they sup- pose their light within to be not only an illumina- tion or influence, sent into their hearts by Christ, but to be the very Christ itself, and that there is ^ SiKike in llie Grass, sect. x. vol. iv. p. 142. The History of Sin and Heresy, &f. 491 none other : and consequently that they have the whole righteousness of Christ inherent in them ; and that it thus becomes their own righteousness without imputation. William Penn, in his Serious Apology, p. 148, speaking of our justification by the righteousness which Christ has fulfilled in his own person for us, says, " And, indeed, this we deny, and boldly affirm " it, in the name of the Lord, to be the doctrine of " devils, and an arm of the sea of coiTuption, which " does now deluge the whole world." It is dread- fully astonishing to see the heart and foundation of the whole Christian religion thus called the doctrine of devils, and that boldly, " in the name of the " Lord !" These men throw off the righteousness of Christ, that they may establish their own righteous- ness, which they call Christ's. They may be named Suijidians, for making the righteousness of Christ their own, without imputation ; they trust wholly in themselves, and reject the imputation of the right- eousness of any other. And this they call their deep hiowledge in the mysteries of God; and by this expect to be saved : as Simon Magus, (the father of the Gnostics, Quakers, Solifidians, and Antinomians,) who taught that men might be saved by their knowledge, how- ever vicious their lives were ; or, which is the same, that nothing they do is vicious, as being the imme- diate dictates of the Holy Ghost, or light within them. Here we may see the dangerous error of both the extremes before mentioned ; of those who make a jest of faith, and place all in their ojms operatum, in their own performance ; and, on the other hand. 492 The History of Sin and Heresy, <|c. of those Solifidians, who throw off all works on pretence to magnify faith. These are the fiery darts of the Devil, by which he endeavours to ruin the souls of men, undermin- ing the foundation of our Christian faith with his false and pernicious glosses ; that where he cannot beat men from the belief of the incarnation and sa- tisfaction of Christ, he may by these means render them useless to us. He separates faith and works, and sets them up in opposition to each other ; and whatever side pre- vails, he is sure of both : because faith and works are not to be separated ; and whoever separates them has erred from the faith. Our blessed Saviour makes them both one ; for being asked. What shall we do that we might work the works of God f Jesus answered and said unto them. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent, John vi. 29. For there are works of our minds, and they are the chief works, and faith is one of these works. We must not con- fine the notion of works to the operations only of our hands or our feet: and if faith be a work, (as our Saviour says it is,) where then is the war that has been set up betwixt faith and works ? I will end all I have said of grace in the last sec- tion, and of faith and works in this, with the words of St. Paul, Eph. ii. 8 ; By grace are ye saved through faith ; a?id that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast : that is, not of our own works, which faith is not; for it is the gift of God; and therefore we have no pretence to boast in it. And if his gift, and his only, how careful ought we to be in attending The History of Sin and Heresy, 493 those means of grace, the prayers and sacraments in the church, which he has commanded, and to the due performance of which he has annexed his infal- lible promise of giving us that faith, which we can- not otherwise obtain of ourselves ! And we have no promise or grounds of expectance to receive it any otherwise ; and without it we shall never see God, Heb. xi. 6. 2. But all this is lost to some men, who think all means useless, because, as they suppose, there is an irreversible decree already gone forth upon every man, of happiness or misery, which no means that can be used will ever alter ; that this decree has been from eternity, though secret to us ; and there- fore that all oui' labour, all our means, are perfectly in vain ; that there is nothing to be done, but to fold our arms, and expect the issue of God's secret decree, which is already past, and therefore that it is no matter whether we obey the commands of God or not ; that they were given us to no end, as to our salvation, which does not depend upon them, but only upon the supposed decree. Thus has the arch- enemy blinded their eyes, and tied up their hands from working towards their own salvation ; and thrown them upon a fresh provocation of searching into God's secret councils, which he has forbidden : The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law, Deut. xxix. 29. What is revealed only is the rule of our duty : why then do we search into those decrees which we call secret f If God will have them secret, why will not we let them be secret ? 494 Tlie History of Sin and Heresy, c^c. He smote fifty thousand and seA^enty of the Beth- shemites with a great slaughter, because they looked into his ark : Who then is ahle to stand hefore this holy Lord God? and who dare pry into what lie has reserved as a secret from us ? But this we may be sure of, that his commands or his promises cannot contradict his decrees how secret soever ; and therefore we ought diligently to obey his commands, and cheerfully to trust in his promises, without confounding ourselves about sup- posed decrees, of which we know nothing at all, nor ought to inquire. I have read a story of a pious man, who was much troubled about his election or reprobation, prayed earnestly that God would let him know whe- ther he were predestinated to salvation ; and that a voice answered him, " What if you did know ?" To which he replied, that if he were sure to be saved in the end, how cheerfully could he despise all the allurements of flesh and blood, and with joy follow all the commands of Christ, even to the death ! " Would you do all this," said the voice, " if you " were sure to be saved ?" Which he having faith- fvilly promised, the voice answered once more, " Then " do so, and you shall be sure to be saved." Whether the story be true or not, it is no matter ; the mor^l of it does determine this question : this is the only way to make our calling and election sure: let us work and not dispute ; not perplex ourselves about hidden decrees, but see to follow that which is plainly commanded, and then we may safely trust to what is promised, and commit our souls to God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Let us look upon every thing which weakens our hands in The History of Sin and Heresy, 495 this to be (as it traly is) the suggestion of the Devil; and let us shake off that lethargy of glaring upon decrees which we understand not, till it transforms us into stone, that we have neither courage nor power to move hand or foot towards heaven, but stand dozing upon that earth which we find sinking, and, helpless, let it sink, and ourselves with it, even into hell, crying out, " What, can we help it ? for " we are decreed ;" yet never offer to move one foot from off it ! This is enchantment indeed, and a won- derful degree of it : it is like a man's head turning round upon a precipice, which makes him run to meet his death. It is said, that a squirrel having once fastened its eye upon that of a rattlesnake has no power to look off him, but dancing from bough to bough, with a fearful crying, leaps down at last upon the ground, and darts itself into his mouth. This is too like the condition of these men, whom nothing will detain, whom no argument can persuade from their own ruin ; the old serpent has caught them with the enchantment of his eye, and they are dancing themselves into his mouth. The eternal and secret decrees of God are a precipice enough to turn the head of an angel ; they veil their faces, and dare not pry into that infinite abyss ! yet poor man will not be content, unless he can fathom it, and will leap into that gulf, though he is sure it must swallow him. Is there any thing in God which we must not, cannot know ? Yes, sure ; for nothing but infinite can comprehend infinite. And what is that which is hidden and inaccessible in God, if not his eternal and secret decrees ? And what can follow our press- ing in upon these but confusion and destruction to ourselves ? especially when God has commanded that 496 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. we should not press upon these, threatened us se- verely if we do, and has, for an example to us, poured out his vengeance in a dreadful manner upon the heads of those who would not be restrained from this unwarrantable and presumptuous curiosity of prying into his secrets. 3. But, after all, what is the ground of these sup- posed hidden decrees of God, with which these men have so unmeasurably perplexed themselves ? They are all founded upon the very weak reason- ings of shortsighted men concerning the foreknow- ledge of God ; which being certain and infallible, consequently they argue, that whatever he foresaw from eternity must necessarily come to pass; that therefore it cannot be left to the liberty of our will to act otherwise than exactly according to what God has foreseen, else that it would be in our power to defeat God's foreknowledge, and render it fallible. Hence they throw off all freewill, and make it in- consistent with the foreknowledge of God. And then again, from the certainty of God's foreknow- ledge, they infer, that this is tantamount to a de- cree, or that God has from eternity decreed all those events which he foresaw. They say that God is the same from and to eter- nity ; that all things, past, present, and to come, are present with God, who beholds all things with one intuitive act, without succession of time, which mea- sures our actions here below ; and therefore that all God's decrees are from eternity : and since he has decreed the reprobation of the wicked, and the elec- tion of the just, it must follow, that he has decreed it from eternity. And thence they infer, that such decrees being already past, they are irreversible, and The History of Shi and Heresy, S^f. 497 cannot be altered by any thing that we can do ; and therefore that it signifies nothing what we do, whe- ther good or bad, for that our sentence is ah-eady pronounced, though we know it not. That God having decreed to love the elect, he loves them, though in their grossest sins ; and hates the reprobate, because he has so decreed, though in the most virtuous actions : that he loves them never the more for their good actions ; nor is any whit the more displeased with the elect for their sins. Now in answer to these fatal and diabolical sug- gestions, I would recall these men a little to consider of their own way of reasoning: for if there be no succession of time in God ; that eternity is but one enduring instant ; that therefore past, present, and to come, are all one with God ; that all things are present to him ; then it must follow that foreknow- ledge and predestination are words only fitted to our capacities, who cannot apprehend duration without succession of time, which measures all duration to us. And there being no past or future in God, con- sequently, though he knows all things, yet he fore- knows nothing ; and though he has decreed, yet not predecreed, and there is no such thing as predesti- nation in God, that is, not properly, and in the strictness of the thing, though the word is used in holy scripture, as many others are, only to comply with our weakness, who could understand nothing of God from words spoke of him strictly and pro- perly according to his incomprehensible nature. There are no such words among men, or intelligible to men ; and therefore we must not argue strictly and philosophically from such words, more than from God's coming down to see whether men's sins LESLIE, VOL. VII. K k 498 The History of Sin and Heresy, &p. were according to the cry of them which had gone up to him, and the like. Now there is no difficulty in God's knowledge or decrees, to say that he knows our sins, and decrees punishment to them, and happiness to those that are good ; for this is just, and what every one does allow: but all the objection is in the particle Jhre or pre, fore-knowledge or pre-destination, which being considered as before our actions, are supposed to lay a force upon them, and take away the free- dom of our will. But there being no such thing as fore or after in God, consequently our whole reasoning upon them is out of doors ; and all the dreadful consequences before mentioned are only chimeras of our own, pro- ceeding all upon a wrong notion of God, while we endeavour to measure him by our own skantling, and argue from properties which we must confess that we only suppose to be in him, but know at the same time that they do not belong to him. If it be said, that we cannot argue otherwise of these hidden things of God, which are not revealed to us : I grant it. But then the right consequence is, that we should let them alone; at least, since we cannot argue truly and properly of them, that we should not draw consequences as certain from pre- mises which are altogether uncertain : and whei-e we confess that we cannot argue right, the best way is not to argue at all ; especially where we are for- bidden, and the effigcts of it are of such terrible con- sequence. If any think that I have criticised too nicely upon foreknowledge and predestination, let them consider The History of Sin and Heresy, 499 that I have only repeated what the predestinarians do urge on their side ; they build upon that nicety, and thence infer God's eternal decrees : and I have shewn that from the same nicety all their super- structure falls to the ground, having, by their own confession, but an imaginary foundation. Come then, let us speak a little more plainly. Some cannot reconcile the certainty of God's know- ledge with the freedom of our wiU ; for, say they, his knowledge is determinate, else were it not cer- tain : and if he knows that I will determine my choice to such an action, then can I not choose any otherwise; which takes away the freedom of my choice. I answer, that if God sees that I will determine my choice so or so, and determine it freely, then I must determine it freely, and not necessarily, be- cause he sees that I will do it freely, and not neces- sarily. And his knowing what I do, does no more put any necessity upon me, than my seeing a man walk (supposing the utmost certainty of my senses) puts him under a necessity of walking. It is true, that if I see him walk, and my eyes do not deceive me, the consequence is certain that he does walk ; but none does infer from hence, that my seeing takes away the freedom of his will, or puts him under any necessity of walking. God sees every thing act according to the nature which he has given to it. Thus he sees the sun move, and a man walk ; but he sees the one move necessarily, and not by choice, and the other walk by his own choice: and the knowledge of God is equally certain in both cases ; therefore there is no K k 2 500 The History of Sin and Heresy, &,c. necessity arises from the certainty of his know- ledge. And now I would desire these men to consider the consequences of their hypothesis. They would put it out of the power of God to make a creature with freewill ; which would be to destroy the most glorious part of the creation, and the most signal and wonderful instances of the power and wisdom of God in governing the wills of men, even in their full freedom : withovit this, God could have no reasonable service paid to him. There could be no rewards or punishments, because no choice, more than in a stone falling down; no virtue, no sin, no wisdom or folly amongst men. Then all the promises of God, his threatenings and exhortations, even the coming of Christ in the flesh, his death and passion, were all to no purpose, were mere banters upon mankind, if man have no choice, no freewill Ezek. xviii. to go to the right hand or to the left : Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die'^ saith the Lord God : and not that he shoidd return from Ver. 31. his ways, and live ? And, IVliy will ye die, O house of Israeli Why? Because (they might say upon this scheme) you have decreed vis to die; and we have no choice, no power to do any otherwise than we do. It is as if I should bind a man hand and foot, lock him into a house, then set fire to it, and ask him, " Why will you stay there and be burnt ? As " I live I have no pleasure in your death," &c. This would be a mocking and insulting upon his miserj^ This would be making God the author of all the sin in the world ; for where there is no choice there can be no sin : therefore those creatures who have The History of Sin and Heresy, (|c. 501 no choice are incapable of sin, as trees, stones, beasts, &c. And as there could be no sin against God, so could there be no offence against man. No man ought to be punished for murder, theft, robbery, &c. if he be carried to it by a fatal necessity, which he cannot resist. Therefore men distracted, or in fe- vers, are not liable to law, because they are not sup- posed capable of the use of their reason, whereby they may govern their choice in their actions. I may add, that there is nothing more self-evi- dent, no not the perception of our outward senses, than freewill in man : who does not perceive that it is in his power to do this or that ? And all the repentance and regret in man for his follies arises from this consideration, that he might have done otherwise. Without this, there could be no such thing as repentance, no nor of counsel and advice, or indeed of any thinking at all ; without this, man could not be a reasonable creature ; for where there is no choice, there can be no reason, at least no use of our reason. It is liberty and freewill which confoimds all those atheists, who would reduce every thing, even God himself, to mere matter : for let matter be re- fined as far as imagination can stretch it, it can never come from under the laws of necessity ; all its motions are prescribed, and must proceed exactly according to its mechanism, and cannot vary in the least tittle. But the freedom of will to act this way, or the contrary, exceeds all rules of mechanism, and is an image of God, which cannot be impressed upon matter. And when the Devil or man (by his instigation) would shroud their sin under this seem- K k 3 502 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. ing necessity, it is to throw it upon God : but their own consciences fly in their faces, and tell them that they might have helped it, and therefore that their sin lies at their own door. XIV. How far any or all of the errors and heresies be- Ziclls^lTof^^^^ mentioned, or what others of the like nature on eanhbr prevail in the ancient ages of the world, of fore Christ which we have little account, and before the flood, ' " we cannot now determine : but this we may be as- sured of, that there were gross errors and heresies amongst them ; and that these, as well as those of which we have the account, were instigated and promoted by the arch-enemy, who first tempted man to sin after his own example, and has, and will to the end of the world seduce mankind, as far as in his power. And God has permitted him great power and great success, which will all turn, no doubt, to the greater glory of God in the end, and to the increase of endless happiness to those who are subjected to great trials and tentations, and shall continue faith- ful unto the end. God has had his city from the beginning, and the Devil his camp, laying siege to it, and often wasting and almost destroying it; whereby God shewed his almighty power and love to his church in his mi- raculous defence of it amidst so many and great dangers. Of which this attempt is designed, by way of a history, dedviced from the beginning of that first revolt in heaven, and the various successes of the same war carried on upon the earth ever since the fatal seduction of our first parents in paradise. And the low ebb to which the church was often The History of Sin and Heresy, ^c. 503 reduced, and yet still delivered, will strengthen our hearts in those afflictions and depressions of this city of God which we see in our times; and not - only keep us from despair, but give us a lively hope, increase our faith, and stir up our courage always to work, and never to despond, when we know that God is on our side, and that we must overcome in the end, if we faint not, and give up the cause, for want of trust in God, and lose both our labour and reward. Therefore, that we may see that nothing new has befallen us, let us look into the several ages of the world. Whom find we that walked with God, or fought on his side, but Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah, before the flood ? Then was the whole world destroyed for its wick- edness, except eight persons. After the flood, how soon did Nimrod and the builders of Babel declare their pride ! and the whole world received this prin- ciple of the Devil, and governed themselves by it ; and the army of God was confined within the small family of Abraham. And when God had rescued a nation to himself, and given them his law, they were the fewest of «/?Deut.Tjii. 7 people, a stubborn and stiff-necked generation, /^a^Ps. ixxviii. set not their heart aright, nor sought after God.^' They stoned their prophets, and killed those whom Matt, xjiii God sent to reclaim them; till at last God re-^*^* moved them too, and scattered them among the heathen. Then the Devil boasted in his conquests, and set up his banners for tokens ; he possessed all the temples and thrones in the world : none appeared against him but a few heathen philosophers, who K k 4 504 The History of Sin and Heresy, <^c. were themselves in half pay with him, had sucked many of his principles with their milk; but yet were assisted by God, and spoke noble things in defence of love, till by it, as by a clue, they disco- vered God himself, or found that love was almighty; and they made it the first former of all things. They battered pride with mighty arguments, and brought upon themselves the rage of the Devil, who kept tliem low and poor and despised, and armed kings and states against them, and raised many of them to a sort of martyrdom. Thus deplorable was the condition of the world then ; a few stifled embers only left, and all the torrents of the world, all their violence let loose upon them, to quench them. It was now time for God himself to appear in de- fence of his own cause, which in the hands of men had been betrayed, overpowered, conquered, and only not entirely lost. And lo he comes ! a body is prepared for him, and God was made flesh. XV. Now let us seriously attend this conflict ; for couflktbc- ^^'^^^ before, nor ever again, will two such com- ■luirtte"'^* batants enter the lists. Here is a creature so mighty, iJevii. that he dares contend with God ; and here is God humbled into a man, to subdue that spirit which had overthrown all mankind ; and Christ grapples with him as a man, without interposing his God- head, (for that had been no contest,) and to shew what man might have done, and may still do. I need not here again tell you of the quarrel upon which these two fought; it is the same we have been speaking of, the same that St. Michael fought before, that is, pride and love ; which of these is the most noble and most mighty. The History of Sin and Heresy, ^c. 505 Michael defended his cause well, and was victo- rious; but Christ acted what Michael could not. Since the Devil would not be persuaded by argu- ments, Christ here brings him to the test, to expe- riment the powers of love and of pride ; and that with all the disadvantages imaginable ; love in its lowest condescension exposed to pride enraged in its altitude. Christ came of poor parents, born in a stable, not room for him in a common inn ; he lived destitute and forlorn, without a place to lay his head in, worse provided for than foxes or birds : he chose poor men and unlearned for his followers ; he was despised, persecuted, slandered, called a glutton, and a drunh- ard, a madman, a very devil : he had neither Jbrtn : nor beauty ; a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs: we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and rejected of men ; and they esteem- ed him not. His virtue was omnibus ornamentis spoliata, void of all outward ornaments to recom- mend it, according to Plato's qualification, and may be called 2, prophecy of the Just One, and of his pas- sion. His arms were blessing and praying and in- structing ; he never used his power to hurt any, but to heal his very enemies ; he went about doing good to all, and loved his enemies more intensely than they could hate him : and though they requited him with mischief for his good-will, yet he always re- turned good to them for their evil. He came unto his own, and his own received him not: the only visible church he had upon the earth had taken arms with the enemy : the Scribes and Pharisees were his sorest persecutors ; the Sanhedrim bought him, pre- ferred a thief and a murderer before him, and pro- 506 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. cured his death with violent outcries ; one of his own disciples betrayed him, another forswore him ; all forsook him : he was left to tread the winepress alone, exposed single to all the malice and scorn of men and devils ; the agony of his soul forcing him into such an astonishment and exceeding sorrow as was never heard of since the world began ; a bloody sweat making its passage through skin and clothes, and falling down in great drops upon the ground. Lastly, his Father himself forsook him in his greatest extremity, hanging upon the cross, betwixt two thieves, and filled with the reproaches of all about him ; shaking their heads, and thrusting out their tongues at him. His Father forsook him ! That only could make him cry out; yet did not that itself overcome his love, for he entirely and willingly submitted himself. He howed his head in obedience, and gave up the ghost : he resigned his soul into the hands of his Father who had for- saken him, trusting in infinite love, that it can never fail ; and died praying for his murderers, shewing the transcendence of his love above their malice. And here behold the wisdom as well as goodness of love ' that same method which pride and malice suggest to destroy Christ, that was it which most advanced the glory of his love. And let us here adore the almighty power of love, that out of all the evils pride was able to invent, could bring such infi- nite good ! And by the rule of contraries, here we may see the folly as well as the impotence of pride ! When it is arrived at the full of its own wishes, that is always its destruction. For when love has borne all that pride can do, when it sees it can go The History of Sin and Heresy, &^c. 507 no further, it returns upon itself with impatience, and rage, and madness. When the Devil had nailed Christ to the cross, he thought himself a victor ; and had been so, if that could have moved Christ to impatience or dis- trust ; or if he had withdrawn himself from his suf- ferings, either for the shame or the pain ; for then his love had been conquered, it had fled the field, not being able to abide the shock. But Christ supported that trial with a godlike patience and constancy, and, his love unshaken, re- mained more than conqueror. That old serpent left his sting in the cross, and fled away disarmed, ashamed, confounded ! And the grave of Christ, which he thought to have kept shut for ever, was made the gate to open the triumphs of love into hell, where the spirits of pride did gnash their teeth with unextinguishable rage, to find that love was unconquerable, and that its lowest condescensions turn to its greatest glory: for what can conquer that, which has the virtue to bring good out of evil? Thus you see how Christ has spoiled the principal- ities and powers of pride by the arms of his love, and hath made a shew of them openly, triumphing Co\. \i.ie,, over them in his cross ; that is, in the humiliation which is the great power of love, and having loosed Acts a. 24. the pains of death ; because it was not jJossible that he should be holden of it. He arose gloriously to the astonishment of his wretched guards, and all the affrighted legions of hell ; whom he chained to his triumphal chariot, and when he ascended up on Eph. iv. 8. high, he led captivity captive, or a multitude of cap- tives, (as our margin reads it,) and gave gifts unto men, bestowed his royal donatives liberally among 508 The History of Sin and Heresy, &jC. his own soldiers, who had fought under his banner, and now attended on his triumph, and shared in the glory of it. Epb. iv. 9. Now that he ascended, what is it hut that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth f He that descended is the same also that ascended up Jar above all heavens, that he might fill all things. This shews that the glory of love consists in its condescensions ; and its glory rises proportionably high to the lowness of its condescension : thus the meanest condescension rises to the veiy highest glory ; and this fills or fulfils all things, includes all things ; for all things are contained between the highest and the lowest. And this is fulfilling all righteousness, all the demands of love towards our righteousness making us like itself : and this in- cludes in it the full goodness and power of God, that is, the utmost condescension of love. So that now we see in Christ all the fulness of the God- head dwelling bodily ; and we are complete in him. And from hence let me make the apostle's inference Eph. iii. i7.and prayer for you, That ye may be rooted and grounded in love, because so, and never otherwise, you will be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth know- ledge, that thus ye may be filled with all the fulness of God. Observe how the inspired apostle rejoices even to ecstacy upon this subject ! The fulness of God! that is, all we or any creature can hold of him, consists in what we understand of the nature of love : and tlien, to our eternal comfort, the love of Christ passes all knowledge, that is, no know- The Histm-y of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. 509 ledge can comprehend it all, and therefore it can afford still new matter of joy and rapture to all created understandings for ever and ever. And may not this contemplation raise us to the courag-e of an apostle ? It will certainly, if we let this good seed stay in our hearts till it take root ; if we do not choke it with the foolish principles of pride, or make it give place to the cares and riches and plea- sures of this life, it wiU bring our hearts to the firm- ness of an angel, and make us see nothing that can terrify us : we shall be ready to join with St. Paul in his holy exultation, and say, JVTio shall separate Rom. viii. us from the love of Christ shall trihulation, or^^' distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword f As it is written. For thy sake are we killed all the dmj long ; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter: nevertheless, in all these things ive are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And now, as a conclusion to all that has been xvi. said, we may learn this, that the best guard we can of*fhe'"**'° have against falling into heresy is to watch carefully against all the inroads and temptations of pride ; which I have shewn to lie at the bottom of all he- resies, as the soui'ce from whence they spring. It corrupts the will, and, by that, vitiates the under- standing, and inclines them by a strong bias to the side of error, and in prejudice of the truth ; which 510 The History of Sin and Heresy, 8^c. is always founded upon and accompanied with the opposite of pride, that is, love and goodness, which is naturally productive of a sweetness and humility of temper, that renders us docible and unprejudiced ; without which, truth cannot be duly discerned, but is clouded from perverse and obstinate minds. And as the humility of love is the best preserva- tive against error and heresy, so is it the surest de- fence against most sort of sins in our private con- versation ; especially it enables us most effectually to perseverance in the faith, against that fiery trial of persecution, which, in one sort or other, comes 2 Tim. iii, to most men's share that will live godly i?i Christ Jesus. But there is an higher pitch of perfection even than this. And that which I would raise men to, and desire to imitate myself, is that whereof the daily exercise and improvement is, by God's great mercy and goodness, afforded to every one of us, which is, not only to bear the persecution or the pride of others, which some may do even out of pride, obstinacy, or other vicious principle ; but chiefly to banish pride out of yourselves ; to look upon the meanest man in the world as a member of Christ, and so equal to yourself ; and therefore to condescend to the lowest offices that may do him good, to bear his infirmities and injuries with pa- tience, (which is the true magnanimity,) as Christ also did bear ours : and that you think this so far from being dishonourable, as that you may esteem it the greatest glory and praise of love, wherein the happiness of heaven does consist. And if angels were thrown out of heaven for despising man, and The History of Sin and Heresy, &p. 511 Christ died to redeem man, and is himself a man, and loves and values the meanest man, what is that man that despises another ? And if even in heaven there was war, and folly and blasphemy among the angels there, and misun- derstanding the nature of God, how should this make us patient to one another's infirmities ! How solicitous and careful to secure ourselves ! How rea- sonable will it hence appear to keep a watchful eye upon the least progress of pride or self-conceit, which was potent to disturb the seat of the blessed, and overthrow spirits which were heavenly-born ! That therefore you should justly abhor the pride of this world, to see a man despise not only his in- feriors, (which was the sin of angels,) but his equals and superiors ! to think himself beyond every man he meets ! and that it is below his greatness (for- sooth) to receive an injury from any ! This is the character of a hero, so much courted in romances and plays, (the gospel of this world's honour ;) a fool swelled with pride even to blasphemy ! Is it not nauseous to see him brave thunder, whose scull is not proof against the sliding of a tile from a house-top? a weak piece of flesh, whose foundation is in the dust, the food of worms, that is crushed before the moth ! A man that is not able to encoun- ter a disease, to hear him rally against God, and to think this either wit or courage ! That men of spirit (as they call themselves) should be fond of a vice which proceeds merely from want of sense ! and not rather to follow the advice and example of a God, which is, that you would think it your greatest ho- nour to become innocent and harmless, loving, and free from pride as little children are, (which is 512 The History of Sin and Heresy, ^c. taught in the gospel for this day,) and that with such corn-age, that you would rather choose to pluck out 7jour eyes, and cut off your hands, than to offend the least, the most inconsiderable of mankind, who are created by God after his own image, and are the price of the blood of Christ : that you would believe the argument of honour to be decided, which has been bandied by the angels of heaven, and deter- mined there by God himself, that it consists in love, and not in jjride ; but more sensibly by the incarna- tion and sufferings of Christ, which makes it, as it were, visible to our eyes. That you would therefore suffer yourselves to be persuaded by your own reason, which will shew you the restless miseries which attend upon pride, and the beauties and gi*eat glory of love, in the which if you can delight yourselves, you have already tasted of heaven, and are heirs of immortal honour. Amen. And let this comfort us in our faint longings, lan- guid attempts, and many failings in our spiritual warfare ; and let this silence all om* weak murmur- ings at the providence of God, which has, for infi- nitely wise ends, not fathomable by us, permitted the fall of man, and wars and divisions upon earth ; since for this end, no doubt, among many others, he has made known to us that there was war in hea- ven; and that as the conquest can only be by his strength and grace in us, so it will end in infinite and eternal victoiy and triumph to those who trust wholly in him by faith in Christ, hiunbled and cru- cified for us ; and who follow him manfully to the end of that race which he, our great Prophet and Guide, has not only pointed out to us, but, as our Captain, has led us, and run before us, and fought The History of Sin and Heresy, (§c. 513 the same fight which he would have us to fight, and wherein he will assist us, and protect us, that the gates of hell shall never prevail against us ; and has already, in our cause, and in our name and nature, triumphed over every power of the enemy, and taken possession of heaven for us, as our Head, the soul and life of that body whereof we are mem- bers. And as the soul does actuate all the members of the body, consequently it must raise all the mem- bers with the body : so that all who partake of the Spirit of Christ are sure that that Spirit must raise up their bodies, as certainly as it did raise up the body of Christ : Now if any man have not the Spi- Rom. rit of Christ, he is none of his Sut if the Spirit'^' ' of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Amen. END OF VOL. \ l.ESLIli, vol.. VII. I. 1 • 1 i