This Sermon was called by him, Intereft De pofed, and Truth Reftored, &c. and had this Remarkable Paragraph in it concerning the Teachers of thofe Days, viz. When fuch Men talk of Self'Denial, and Humility, I cannot but think of Sex neca, who praised Poverty, and that very fafely, in the midft of his Riches and Gardens, and ' even exhorted the World to throw away their

Gold, perhaps (as one well conjectures) that ' he might gather it up: So thefe defire Men to be 'humble, that they may domineer without oppo'fition. But it is an eafie Matter to commend Pa

tience, when there is no danger of any Tryals, to ' extoll Humility in the midst of Honours, to begin a Faft after Dinner.

In the Clofe of the faid Sermon, after having applied himself to the Judges, with proper Exhortations that bespoke his Intrepidity of Soul, he addrefs'd himself to the Audience in these words; If ever it was feasonable to preach Courage in the defpifed, abufed Caufe of Chrift, it is now, when his Truths! are Reformed into Nothing, when the Hands and Hearts of his faithful Minifters are weaken'd, and even broke, and his Worship extirpated in a Mock ery, that his Honour may be advanced, well to eftablish our Hearts in Duty, let us before hand propofe to our felves the worst that can happen: Should God in his Fudgment fuffer England to be transformed into a

Very credibly reported to have been done in an Indepen-. dent Congregation at Oxen.

MUNSTER

MUNSTER,hould the faithful be every where Maffacred, Should the Places of Learning be demolish'd, and our Colleges reduced not only (as One † in his Zeal would have it) to THREE, but to NONE: Tet affuredly Hell is worse than all this, and is the Portion of fuch as deny Chrift. Therefore let our Difcouragements be what they will, Lofs of Places, Lofs of Eftates, Lofs of Life and Relations, yet ftill this Sentence stands rati- › fied in the Decrees of Heaven. Curfed be the Man › that for any of these deserts the Truth, and denies his Lord.

To return to Mr. South, He was not made Uni-> verfity. Orator till the 10th of August, 1660. after he had Preached a moft Excellent Sermon to the > King's Commiffioners, on the 29th of July, in the fame Year, called, The Scribe Inftructed, from Matthew xiii. ver. 52. Therefore every Scribe which is inftructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven, is like unto a. Man that is an Houfholder,which bringeth forth out of his Treafure Things New and Old; for which he was highly applauded for many Excellent and Sarcaftical Expreffions against the Sectarists, late in Power. Among other Expreffions, nothing can be more beautiful and to the Purpose, than when he speaks of the Qualification of a SCRIBE in these words.

Qualification, fays he, which is an habitual Preparation, by Study, Exercife, and due Im

Unton Croke A Colonel in the Army, the perfidious Cause of Penruddock's Death; and fome time after High-Sheriff of Oxfordshire.

provement

provement of the fame. Powers act but weak-
ly and irregularly, till they are heightned, and
perfected by their Habits. A well radicated Ha-
bit, in a lively vegete Faculty, is like an Apple
of Gold in a Picture of Silver, 'tis Perfection upon
• Perfection; 'tis a Coat of Mail upon our Armour,
and in a word, it is the railing of the Soul, at
least one Story higher; for take off but the
Wheels, and the Powers in all their Operations
⚫ will drive but heavily. Now it is not enough to
have Books, or for a Man to have his Divinity in
his Pocket, or upon the Shelf, but he must have
Master'd his Notions, 'till they even incorporate
into his Mind, fo as to be able to produce and
wield them upón all Occafions; and not when a
Difficulty is proposed, and a Performance enjoyn-
ed, to fay, That he will confult fuch and fuch
Authors. For this is not to be a Divine, who is
rather to be a Walking Library, than a Walking
Index. As to go no farther than the Similitude
in the Text, we fhould not account him a good
and generous Housekeeper, who should not have
always fomething of ftanding Provifion by him,
fo as never to be furprized, but that he should
• ftill be found able to Treat his Friend, at leaft,
though perhaps not always prefently to Feaft
him. So the Scribe here fpoken of, fhould have
an inward, lafting Fulness and Sufficiency to
Support and bear him up, especially when pre-
• fent Performance urges, and actual Preparation

can be but fhort. Thus it is not the Oil in the
• Wick, but in the Veffel which must feed the Lamp.
The

The former indeed may caufe a prefent Blaze, but it is the latter which must give a lafting Light. It is not the fpending Money a Man has in his Pocket, but his Hoards in the Cheft, or in the Bank, which must make him Rich. A dying Man has his Breath in his Noftrils, but to have it in the Lungs, is that which muft preferve Life. Nor will it fuffice to have raked up a few Notions here and there, or to rally all one's little utmost into one Discourse, which can constitute a Divine, or give a Man Stock enough to fet up with; any more than a ⚫ Soldier who had filled his Snap-fack, fhould thereupon fet up for keeping House. No, a Man would then quickly be drained, his fhort Stock would ferve but for one Meeting in Ordinary • Converfe, and he would be in danger of meeting with the fame Company twice. And therefore there must be Store, Plenty, and a Treasure, left he turn Broker in Divinity, and having run the Round of a beaten, exhaufted Common-Place, be forced to ftand still, or go the fame Round over again; pretending to his Auditors, that it is profitable for them to hear the fame Truths ⚫ often inculcated to them; though I humbly conС ceive, that to inculcate the fame Truths, is not of neceffity to repeat the fame Words: And ⚫ therefore to avoid fuch beggerly Pretences, there must be habitual Preparation to the Work we are • now speaking of.

Again,

Again, fpeaking of the Malignants in the Times of the fame unnatural Rebellion, he fays, There was no faving of Life with thofe Men, without Purging away the Estate.

Then, defcribing the Teachers of those Days; he declares That, First of all they feize upon fome Text; from whence they draw fomething (which they call Doctrine) and well may it be faid to be drawn from the Words; for as much as 'it feldom naturally flows or refults from them. In ⚫ the next place,being thus provided, they Branch it • into feveral Heads, perhaps, Twenty, or Thirty, or upwards. Whereupon, for the Profecution of thefe, they repair to fome Trufty Concor♦ dance, which never fails them; and by the Help of that, they range fix or feven Scriptures under each Head: Which Scriptures they profecute one by one: First amplifying and enlarging upon one, for fome confiderable Time, till they have fpoiled it; and then, that being done, they pafs to another, which in its turn; fuffers accordingly. And these impertinent and unpremeditated En• largements they look upon as the Motions, Effects and Breathings of the Spirit, and therefore much beyond thofe Carnal Ordinances of Senfe and Rea" fon, fupported by Industry and Study; and this they call a faving way of Preaching, as it must be confefs'd to be a way to fave much Labour, and nothing elfe, that I know of, Ibid.

Some