: men" (Ps. cxv. 16); so hath the same Spirit, by the apostle St. Paul, divided every one of our persons into heaven and earth, into an outward and earthly man, and into an inward and heavenly man (1 Cor. xv. 44): this earth, that is this body of clay, hath he given to the sons of men, to the princes under whose government we live; but heaven, that is the inward and spiritual man, hath he reserved unto himself; they can restrain the outward man, and moderate our outward actions, by edicts and laws they can tie our hands and our tongues; thus far they can go, and when they are gone thus far, they can go no farther but to rule the inward man in our hearts and souls, to set up an imperial throne in our understandings and wills, this part of our government belongs to God and to Christ these are the subjects, this the government of his kingdom; men may be kings of earth and bodies, but Christ alone is the king of spirits and souls. Yet this inward government hath influence upon our outward actions; for the authority of kings over our outward man is not so absolute, but that it suffers a great restraint; it must stretch no farther than the prince of our inward man pleases for if secular princes stretch out the skirts of their authority to command aught by which our souls are prejudiced, the king of souls hath in this case given us a greater command, "That we rather obey God than men. Acts v. 29.-Sermon on Christ's Kingdom not of this World. : : Chancellor Gerson's noble Question. It is a question made by John Gerson, some time Chancellor of Paris, "Wherefore hath God given me the light of reason and conscience, if I must suffer myself to be led and governed by the reason and conscience of another man?" Will any of you befriend me so far as to assoil this question? For I must confess I cannot. It was the speech of a good husbandman, "It is but a folly to possess a piece of ground, except you till it." And how then can it stand with reason, that a man should be possessor of so goodly a piece of the Lord's pasture as is this light of understanding and reason, which he hath endued us with in the day of our creation, if he suffer it to lie untilled, or sow not in it the Lord's seed?-Sermon Of Private Judgment. OF THE LATE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE SIR MATTHEW HALE, OF THE NATURE OF TRUE RELIGION, THE CAUSES OF ITS CORRUPTION, AND THE CHURCH'S CALAMITY BY MEN'S ADDITIONS AND VIOLENCES: WITH THE DESIRED CURE. LONDON: EFFINGHAM WILSON, 18, BISHOPSGATE STREET; J. SMALLFIELD, 69, NEWGATE STREET. ADVERTISEMENT. SIR MATTHEW HALE, the author of the following Tract, was born at Alderly, in Gloucestershire, Nov. 1, 1609, and died at the same place, Dec. 25, 1676. Having chosen the Law for his profession, he devoted himself to the study of it with great diligence and perseverance; and hence on being called to the Bar he soon rose to eminence. He was raised to the Bench in the Common Pleas by the Protector Cromwell, was made Lord Chief Baron at the Restoration, and in 1671, was promoted to be Lord Chief Justice of England. He presided in this important station till a few months before his death, when, feeling himself unable to discharge its heavy duties to his own satisfaction, he surrendered his office, contrary to the importunities of his friends and patrons, thus setting the noble example of giving up emolument and honour as soon as he was incapacitated by age and infirmity for fulfilling the trust which they involved. Such was his virtue and steadfastness, that in times of great violence and sudden changes, he preserved the confidence and extorted the admiration of all parties. His biographer, Bishop Burnet, closes his instructive Life of him with this not extravagant encomium-"As he was honoured while he lived, so he was much lamented when he died; and this will still be acknowledged as a just inscription for his memory, though his modesty forbid any such to be put on his tomb-stone,―That he was one of the greatest patterns the age has afforded, whether in his private deportment as a Christian, or in his public employments, either at the bar or on the bench."* "He Giving an account of his studies, the Bishop says, seemed to have made the study of Divinity the chief of all others, to which he not only directed every thing else, but also arrived at that pitch in it, that those who have read *Life and Death of Sir Matthew Hale, Kt., &c., 8vo, 1700, pp. 100, 101. what he has written on these subjects, will think they must have had most of his time and thoughts."* The Lord Chief Justice was a member of the Church of England, but lived in peace and friendship with the Nonconformists, and shewed his desire of moderation and love of charity by drawing up the Bill, thrown out by the bigots constituting the majority of the House of Commons, "for a comprehension of the more moderate Dissenters," the Presbyterians, "and a limited indulgence towards such as could not be brought within the comprehension."† One of the Nonconformists alluded to, as amongst Sir Matthew Hale's friends, was the celebrated Richard Baxter, to whom he confided the MS. of the following Tract, which this active divine published some years after the writer's death, surmounting some scruples suggested by an injunction in Sir Matthew's will with regard to his papers. "The faithful Publisher," as Baxter styles himself, was induced to give the Lord Chief Justice's "Judgment" on True Religion to the world, by its accordance with his last sentiments, which, differing widely from those of his earlier and busier years, were all in favour of peace and charity. The "Judgment," indeed, of such a man on such a subject was well worthy of publication, and is deemed fit to be republished in the present season of religious animosity and ecclesiastical assumption. Baxter acknowledges some repetitions in the "Three Discourses." These are omitted in the present re-publication, as are also a few passages relating to extravagances of opinion and practice which no longer dishonour the sects in whom they were once seen. No other alteration whatever, besides omission, chiefly for the sake of brevity, has been made in the Lord Chief Justice's "Judgment," which is earnestly commended to the serious attention of professors of religion of all parties who are for " tithing the mint and anise and cummin." † Ib. pp. 36-39. * Life, &c., p. 15. |