Serin. CXCI. the aril/ionRevelation. boi Country, to be univerfally true without exception , as if every Country did nor yield finite braveSpirits, and excellent Perfons, whatever the general temper and difpofitionof the Inhabitantsmay be obferved to beg or as ifa man Could not be an infpired Prophet, unlefs he were bred in agood air ; nor be fent by God, unlefs men approved the Place from whence he came. TheBeeotians, among theGreeks, wire aheavy and dull people, even to a Proverb ; and yet Pindar a great Poet and Wit was born in that Country. The Scythianwere fo barbarous; that one would have thought furely.no good could come thence ; and yet 'theyyielded Anacharfis, none of the meaneft of the Philofophers. The Idumeans were aliens and Strangers from the Common wealth of Ifrael; and yet Job, one of the molt excellent Perfons that ever lived, 'wás born among them; God canbring forth eminentInftruments out ofanyPlace andNation he pleafes, out ofStones raifeupChildren unto Abraham; Our Conceits are no rule tohim, "nor does he govern theWorld byour foólifh Pro= verbs; His ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as Our thoughts. And thus fome.in our days have endeavoured to flur the Reformation, by calling it the Northern Herefae; asifthe light ofTruth were at as great a diftance from thefe Northern parts, as that of the Sun, and nothing but Error andHerefiecouldcome thence ; which is juft fuch a Conceit, and grounded upon as wife a Reafon as that of the DonatJs, who would needs have Truth and the CatholickChurch confin'd to Africk , becaufe that was the Southern part of the World, andbecaufe it is faid in the Song ofSolomon, concerning the Church, Tell me, 0 thou whom my foul Ld veth, where thoufeedefl, and where, thoumakeFt thy flocks to rest at Noon. Another mighty Prejudice againft our Saviour we find mentioned John y. 48. Have any of the Rulers or Pharifees believed on him ? For this there Teems to be fome better colour than for the other ; becaufe the Example ofSuperiours and of Perfons thought to be more knowing , is confiderable indeed in a doubtful cafe, and a good Rule of a&ion whenwe have no better ; but ought to be ofno force to fway our Judgment againft clear and convincing Evidence. Zedekiah and the Prin- ces ofJudah would not hearken toJeremiah: yet was he a true Prophet for all that, tho' it was not their pleafure to think fo. Sometimes there is a gtofs and palpable corruption in thofe who ought to be Guides toothers, and they have a vifible intereft in oppofing and rejecting the Truth. And this was the cafe of the Pharifees and Rulers among the ferns, in our Saviour's time. Any one that had known them, and judged impartially concerning them,. would 'rather have chofen to have followed any Example than theirs. Religion may fometimes be in greateft danger, from thole . who ought to underftand it belt , and to be the greateft Sup= ports ofit. So it was of old amongthe Jews, when the Prophet complains that their Leaders had exiledthem to err : andfo it hath been amongChriftians, inthe great degeneracy of the Roman Church ; their Popes and their general Councils, as they call them, have been the great Corrupters ofChriftianity, and Seducers of Chriftendom ; which made Lutler to fay, withTruth and fharpnefs enough ; Re- ligio nunquam magispericlitatur quam inter Reverendigmos, Religion is never ingrea- ter danger than amongil the moil Reverend, meaning the Pope and the Cardinals g when thofe who ought to teach and reform others, are guilty ofthe greateft Errors and Corruptions themfelves. , I will mention but one Prejudice more, which we findJohn 9.16. This man (fay the Jews concerning our Saviour) is not of God, becaufe he keepeth not 'the Sabbath-day. This indeed had been a confiderable Exception, if it had been trues and therefore our Saviour takes great care to vindicate himfelffrom this afperfion; he (hewsthat the Law of the Sabbath did not oblige in all cafes, and that being a pofitive Precept, it ought to give place to moral Duties, which are of perpetual obligation, and therefore he bids them go and learn what that meaneth, Twill have mercy andnot facrifice ; and the plain meaning of that faying was, that whenpofi- tive Inftitutions interferewith any moral Duty, they ceafe to oblige in that cafe; that the Sabbath was defigned for the cafe and benefit of men, and not for their grievance and burden; and therefore where the Life ofman is concern'd, the Law of the Sabbath ceafeth ; as in cafe ofnecellity, David dideat ofthe Shew-bread and was blamelefs, tho' by a pofitiveLaw it was forbidden for any man to eat of it, Hlihh but
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