Page images
PDF
EPUB

shall declare that it is living For he is like a tree set by the water-side, his leaf will be green, and he will not cease to bring forth his fruit."-Hoм. of Faith, first part. Here is no Antinomian salvo; no "winter state" allowed of, to bring forth the dire fruits of adultery and murder.

"There is one WORK in which are all good works; that is, 'faith which wORKETH by charity.' If you have it, you have the ground of all good works; for wisdom, temperance, and justice, are all referred unto this faith Without it we have not virtues, but only their names and shadows. Many have no fruit of their works, because faith, the chief work, lacketh. Our faith in Christ must go before, and after be nourished by good works. The thief did believe only, and the most merciful God justified him. If he had lived, and not regarded the WORKS of faith, [N. B.] he should have lost his salvation again.”—HOм. on Good Works, first part.

"The third thing to be declared unto you, is, what manner of works they are which spring out of true faith, and lead faithful men to everlasting life. This cannot be known so well as by our Saviour himself, who, being asked of a certain great man this question, 'What works shall I do to come to everlasting life?' answered him, 'If thou wilt come to everlasting life, keep the commandments: Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery,' &c. By which words Christ declared, that the laws of God are the very way which leads to everlasting life. So that this is to be taken for a most true lesson, taught by Christ's own mouth, that the works of the moral commandments of God are the very true works of faith, which lead to the blessed life to come. But the blindness and malice of men hath ever been ready to fall from God and his law, and to invent a new way to salvation by works of their own device. Therefore Christ said, 'You leave the commandments of God to keep your own traditions.' You must have an assured faith in God, love him, and dread to offend him evermore Then, for his sake, love ALL MEN, friends

and foes, because they are his creation and image, and redeemed by Christ as ye are. Kill not; commit re mauner of adultery, in will nor deed, &c. Thus in keeping the commandments of God (wherein standeth his pure honour, and which wrought in faith, he hath ordained to be the right trade and pathway to heaven` you shall not fail to come to everlasting life."—Hoм. on Good Works, third part.

"Whereas God hath shewed, to all that truly believe his gospel, his face of mercy in Jesus Christ, which does so enlighten their hearts, that, if they behold it as they ought, they are transformed to his image, and made partakers of the heavenly light and of his Holy Spirit; so, if they after do neglect the same, and order not their life according to his example and doctrine, he will take away from them his kingdom, because they bring not forth the fruit thereof.—And if this will not serve, but still we remain disobedient, behaving ourselves uncharitably, by disdain, envy, malice, or by committing murder, adultery, or such detestable works; then he threateneth us by terrible comminations, swearing in great anger, that whosoever does these works, shall never enter into his rest, which is the kingdom of heaven."-Hoм. of Falling from God, first part.

"We do call for mercy in vain, if we will not show mercy to our neighbour. For if we do not put wrath and displeasure forth out of our hearts to our brother, no more will God forgive the wrath that our sins have deserved before him. For under this condition doth God forgive us, if we forgive others. God commands us to forgive, if we will have any part of the pardon which Christ purchased by shedding his precious blood. Let us, then, be favourable one to another, &c. By these means shall we move God to be merciful to our sins. He that hateth his brother + is the child of damnation and of the devil, cursed and hated of God, so long as he

Did not David once hate Uriah, as much as Jezebel did Naboth? Was not innocent blood shed in both cases, by means of sanguinary letters? Is it to the honour of David, that he out-did Jezebel in kindly desiring Uriah to carry his own death-warrant to Joab?

so remaineth. For as peace and charity make us the blessed children of God, so do hatred and malice make us the cursed children of the devil."-HOM. for GoudFriday.

The Homily on DRESS brings to my mind what you say, p. 35, upon that head. If I am not mistaken, you quote Mr. Hervey, in support|| of finery, which surprises me so much the more, as the plainness of your dress is a practical answer to what can be advanced in support of that branch of Antinomianism. Permit me, however, to guard your ornamented quotation in the plain, nervous language of our church. After mentioning the round attires of the head,' exposed by Isaiah, she says: "No less truly is the vanity used among us. For the proud and haughty stomachs of the daughters of England are so maintained with divers disguised sorts of costly apparel, that, as Tertullian saith, there is left no difference of apparel between an honest matron and a common strumpet! Yea, many care not what they spend in disguising themselves, ever desiring new toys, and inventing new fashions. Therefore we must needs look for God's fearful vengeance from heaven, to overthrow our pride, as he overthrew Herod, who, in his royal apparel, forgetting God, was smitten of an angel, and eaten up with worms.

6

"But some vain women will object, All which we 'do, in decking ourselves with gay apparel, is to please our husbands.'-O most shameful answer, to the reproach of thy husband! What couldest thou say more to set out his foolishness, than to charge him to be pleased with the devil's attire? Nay, nay, this is but a vain excuse, of such as go about to please [themselves and] others, rather than their husbands.-She does but

I blame, in the Second Check, only such professors of godliness as "wear gold, pearls, and precious stones, when no distinction of office or state obliges them to do it." As you find fault with this guarded doctrine, and insinuate that I "dwindle the noble ideas of St. Paul into a meanness of sense befitting the superstitious and contracted spirit of a hermit;" it necessarily follows, that you plead for finery, or that you oppose me for opposition's sake, when you exactly mean the same thing with me.

deserve scorn, to set out all her commendation in Jew. Ish and Heathenish apparel, and yet brag of her Christianity; and sometimes she is the cause of much deceit in her husband's dealings, that she may be the more gorgeously set out to the sight of the vain world. 0 thon woman, not a Christian, but worse than a Pagan, thou settest out thy pride, and makest of thy indecent apparel the devil's net to catch souls. Howsoever thou perfumest thyself, yet cannot thy beastliness be hidden. ; The more thou garnishest thyself, with these outward blazings, the less thou carest for the inward garnishing of thy mind. Hear, hear what Christ's holy apostles do write."-Then follow those passages of St. Peter and St. Paul, which you suppose "I do not rightly understand."

To convince you, however, that our church has as much of "the superstitious and contracted spirit of a hermit" as myself, I shall plead a moment more against finery in her own words: "The wife of an Heathen being asked why she wore no gold?, she answered, that she thought her husband's virtues sufficient ornaments. How much more ought every Christian to think himself sufficiently garnished with our Saviour Christ's heavenly virtues! But perhaps some will answer, that they must do something to shew their birth and blood: As though these things [jewels and finery] were not common to those who are most vile; as though thy husband's riches could not be better bestowed than in such superfluities: As though, when thou wast christened, thou didst not renounce the pride of this world, and the pomp of the flesh. If thou sayest, that the custom is to be followed, I ask of thee, Whose custom should be followed? the wise, or of fools? If thou sayest, Of the wise; then I say, Follow them; for fools' customs, who should follow but fools? If any lewd custom be used, be thou the first to break it; labour to diminish it, and lay it down, and thou shalt have more praise before God by it, than by all the glory of such superfluity. I speak not against convenient apparel, for every state agreeable;

Of

but against the superfluity, whereby thou and thy husband are compelled to rob the poor, to maintain thy costliness. Hear how holy queen Esther setteth out these goodly crnaments, as they are called, when, in order to save God's people, she put them on; Thou knowest, O Lord, the necessity which I am driven to, to put on this apparel, and that I abhor this sign of pride, and that I defy it as a filthy cloth.'"-Hoм. against Excess of Apparel.

.

6

So far is our church from siding with Antinomian Solifidianism, which perpetually decries good works, that she rather leans to the other extreme. "If Popery is about half-way between Protestantism, and the Minutes," you will hardly think that the mass itself is a quarter of the way between Dr. Crisp's scheme, and the following propositions extracted from the HOMILY on Alms-Deeds.

"Most true is that saying of St. Augustin, Via cœli pauper est,relieving of the poor is the right way to heaven.' Christ promiseth a reward to those who give but a cup of cold water in his name to them that have need of it; and that reward is the kingdom of heaven. No doubt, therefore, God regardeth highly that which he rewardeth so liberally. He that hath been liberal to the poor, let him know, that his godly doings are accepted, and thankfully taken at God's hands, which he will requite with double and treble; for so says the wise man: 'He who sheweth mercy to the poor, doth lay his money in the bank to the Lord' for a large interest and gain; the gain being chiefly the possession of the life everlasting, through the merits of Christ."

When our church has given us this strong dose of legality, that she may by a desperate remedy remove a desperate disease, and kill or cure the Antinomian spirit in all her children; lest the violent medicine should hurt us, she, like a prudent mother, instantly administers the following balsamic corrective :

"Some will say, If charitable works are able to reconcile us to God, and deliver us from damnation, then

« PreviousContinue »