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<DATE>2011-03-23</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<HEAD>LXXX SERMONS PREACHED BY THAT LEAR|NED AND REVEREND DIVINE IOHN DONNE D^R IN DIVINITIE LATE DEANE OF Y^E CATHEDRALL CHVRCH OF S^T PAVLES LONDON.</HEAD>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="2">
<P>LXXX SERMONS PREACHED BY THAT LEARNED AND REVEREND DIVINE, IOHN DONNE, D^r IN DIVINITY, Late Deane of the Cathedrall Church of S. PAULS <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for RICHARD ROYSTON, in Ivie-lane, and RICHARD MARRIOT in S. <HI>Dun&s;tans</HI> Church-yard in Fleet&s;treet. <HI>MDCXL.</HI></P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="3">
<PB REF="3">
<HEAD>TO HIS MOST SACRED MAIESTIE, CHARLES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAINE, FRANCE AND IRELAND, Defender of the Faith, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Mo&s;t dread and gracious Soveraigne,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_IN this rumor of VVarre I am bold to pre&s;ent to your &s;acred Maje&s;tie the fruits of Peace, fir&s;t planted by the hand of your mo&s;t Royal Father, then ripened by the &s;ame gracious influence, and &s;ince no le&s;&s;e cheri&s;ht and protected by your Ma|je&s;ties e&s;peciall favour vouch&s;afed to the Author in &s;o many indulgent te&s;timonies of your good acceptance of his &s;er|vice: VVhich grace from your Maje&s;tie, as he was known to ac|knowledge with much comfort whil&s;t he lived, &s;o will it give now &s;ome excu&s;e to the pre&s;umption of this Dedication, &s;ince tho&s;e friends of his, who think any thing of his worthy to out-live him, could not pre&s;erve their piety to him, without taking leave to in|&s;cribe the &s;ame with your Maje&s;ties &s;acred Name, that &s;o they may at once give &s;o faire a hope of a long continuance both to the&s;e VVorks of his, and to his gratitude, of which they humbly de&s;ire this Book may la&s;t to be &s;ome Monument.</P>
<PB REF="4">
<P>I &s;hall not pre&s;ume in this place to &s;ay much of the&s;e Sermons; on|ly this, They who have been conver&s;ant in the VVorks of the holie&s;t men of all times, cannot but acknowledge in the&s;e the &s;ame &s;pirit with which they writ; rea&s;onable Demon&s;trations every where in the &s;ubjects comprehen&s;ible by rea&s;on: as for tho&s;e things which can|not be comprehended by our rea&s;on alone, they are no where made ea&s;ier to faith then here; and for the other part of our nature, which con&s;i&s;ts in our Pa&s;sions, and in our Affections, they are here rai&s;ed, and laid, and governed, and di&s;po&s;ed, in a manner, according to the Will of the Author. The Doctrine it &s;el&s;e which is taught here, is Primitively Chri&s;tian; The Fathers are every where here con&s;ul|ted, with reverence, but Apo&s;tolicall Writings onely appealed to as the la&s;t Rule of Faith. La&s;tly, &s;uch is the conjuncture here of zeal and di&s;cretion, that whil&s;t it is the main &s;cope of the Author in the&s;e Di&s;cour&s;es, that <HI>Glory be given to God,</HI> this is accompanied every where with a &s;crupulous care and endeavour, that <HI>Peace be like|wi&s;e &s;etled among&s;t men.</HI></P>
<P>The leave and encouragement I have had for the publi&s;hing the&s;e Sermons from the Per&s;on mo&s;t intru&s;ted by your Maje&s;tie in the go|vernment of the Church, and mo&s;t highly dignified in it, I think I ought in this place to mention for his honour, that they who receive any benefit from hence, may know in part to whom to acknowledge it; and that this, what ever it is, is owing to him to whom they &s;tand otherwi&s;e &s;o deeply engaged for his providence and care (next un|der your Maje&s;tie) over the Truth, and Peace, and Dignity of the Church of England, for which he will not want la&s;ting acknowledg|ments amongst Wi&s;e and Good Men.</P>
<P>And now having with all humblene&s;&s;e commended the&s;e Sermons to your &s;acred Maje&s;tie, from the memory of the Author, your Ser|vant, from the nature and piety of the Work it &s;elf, and la&s;tly, from the encouragement I have had to give it this light, did I not feare to adde to my pre&s;umption, I &s;hould in this place take leave to expre&s;&s;e the propriety betwixt your Maje&s;ties royall Vertues, and the tri|bute of &s;uch an Offering and acknowledgement as this; A Work of Devotion to the mo&s;t exemplarily pious Prince; a Work of modera|ted, and di&s;creet zeale, to the Per&s;on of the mo&s;t governed affecti|ons, in the mid&s;t of the greate&s;t power; a Work of deep-&s;ighted know|ledge,
<PB REF="4">to the mo&s;t di&s;cerning &s;pirit; a VVork of a &s;trict doctrine, to the mo&s;t &s;evere impo&s;er upon him&s;elfe; and a VVork of a charitable do|ctrine, to the mo&s;t indulgent Ma&s;ter of others: But I dare not enter into this Argument, the&s;e excellencies requiring rather tacite vene+ration, then admitting any po&s;sible equall expre&s;sion; and therefore with my prayer for your Maje&s;ties long and happy raigne over us, I humbly aske pardon for this pre&s;umption of</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Maje&s;ties mo&s;t humble and mo&s;t dutifull Subject, Jo: DONNE.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="biography">
<PB REF="5">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>THE LIFE AND DEATH OF D^r <HI>DONNE,</HI> LATE DEANE OF S^t PAULS LONDON.</HEAD>
<P>_IF that great Ma&s;ter of Language and Art, Sir <HI>Henry Wootton,</HI> Provo&s;t of Eaton Colledge, (lately decea&s;ed) had lived to &s;ee the publication of the&s;e Sermons, he had pre&s;ented the world with the Authors life exactly written. It was a Work worthy his undertaking, and he fit to undertake it; betwixt whom and our Author, there was &s;uch a friend&s;hip con|tracted in their youths, that nothing but death could force the &s;eparation. And though their bodies were divided, that learned Knights love followed his friends fame beyond the forgetfull grave, which he te&s;tified by intreating me (whom he acquainted with his de&s;igne) to inquire of certaine particulars that concerned it: Not doubting but my knowledge of the Author, and love to his memory, would make my diligence u&s;efull. I did prepare them in a readine&s;s to be augmented, and rectified by his powerfull pen; but then death prevented his intentions.</P>
<P>When I heard that &s;ad newes, and likewi&s;e that the&s;e Sermons were to be publi&s;ht without the Authors life, (which I thought was rare) indignation or griefe (I know not whether) tran&s;ported me &s;o far, that I re-viewed my for|&s;aken Collections, and re&s;olved the world &s;hould &s;ee the be&s;t picture of the Author that my artle&s;&s;e Pen&s;il (guided by the hand of Truth) could pre|&s;ent to it.</P>
<P>If I be demanded, as once <HI>Pompeys</HI> poore Bondman was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch.</NOTE> (while&s;t he was alone on the Sea &s;hore gathering the pieces of an old Boat to burne the body of his dead Ma&s;ter) What art thou that prepare&s;t the funeralls of <HI>Pompey</HI> the great? Who I am that &s;o officiou&s;ly &s;et the Authors memorie on fire? I hope the que&s;tion hath in it more of wonder then di&s;daine.</P>
<P>Wonder indeed the Reader may, that I (who profe&s;&s;e my &s;elfe artle&s;&s;e) &s;hould pre&s;ume with my faint light to &s;hew forth his life, who&s;e very name makes it illu&s;trious; but be this to the di&s;advantage of the per&s;on repre&s;ented, certaine I am, it is much to the advantage of the beholder; who &s;hall &s;ee the Authors picture in a naturall dre&s;&s;e, which ought to beget faith in what is &s;poken, for he that wants skill to deceive, may &s;afely be tru&s;ted.</P>
<P>And though it may be my fortune to fall under &s;ome cen&s;ures for this un|dertaking, yet I am plea&s;ed in a beliefe I have, that if the Authors glorious
<PB REF="6">&s;pirit (which is now in heaven) can have the lea&s;ure to look downe, and &s;ee his meane&s;t friend in the mid&s;t of his officious duty, he will not di&s;daine my well meaning &s;acrifice to his memory. For whil&s;t his conver&s;ation made me (and many others) happy below, I know his humility and gentlene&s;s was eminent: And I have heard Divines &s;ay, tho&s;e vertues that are but &s;parks on earth, become great and glorious flames in heaven.</P>
<P>He was borne in LONDON, of good and vertuous Parents; And though his own learning and other multiplied merits, may ju&s;tly &s;eeme &s;ufficient to dignifie both him&s;elfe and po&s;teritie; yet Reader be plea&s;ed to know, that his Father was ma&s;culinely and lineally de&s;cended from a very ancient Family in Wales, where many of his name now live, that have and de&s;erve great re|putation in that Countrey.</P>
<P>By his Mother he was de&s;cended from the Family of the famous Sir <HI>Tho|mas More,</HI> &s;ometimes Lord Chancellor of England; and al&s;o from that wor|thy and laborious Judge <HI>Ra&s;tall,</HI> who left behind him the va&s;t Statutes of the Lawes of this Kingdome, mo&s;t exactly abridged.</P>
<P>He had his fir&s;t breeding in his Fathers hou&s;e, where a private Tutor had the care of him, till he was nine yeares of age; he was then &s;ent to the Uni|ver&s;itie of Oxford, having at that time a command of the French and Latine Tongues, when others can &s;carce &s;peak their owne.</P>
<P>There he remained in Hart Hall, (having for the advancement of his &s;tu|dies, Tutors in &s;everall Sciences to in&s;truct him) till time made him capable, and his learning expre&s;t in many publique Exerci&s;es, declared him fit to re|ceive his fir&s;t Degree in the Schooles, which he forbore by advi&s;e from his friends, who being of the Romi&s;h per&s;wa&s;ion, were con&s;cionably aver&s;e to &s;ome parts of the Oath, alwayes tendred and taken at tho&s;e times.</P>
<P>About the fourteenth yeare of his age, he was tran&s;planted from Oxford to Cambridge, where (that he might receive nouri&s;hment from both &s;oiles) he &s;taid till his &s;eventeenth yeare. All which time he was a mo&s;t laborious Student, often changing his &s;tudies, but endeavouring to take no Degree for the rea&s;ons formerly mentioned.</P>
<P>About his &s;eventeenth yeare he was removed to London, and entred into Lincolnes Inne, with an intent to &s;tudy the Law, where he gave great te&s;ti|monies of wit, learning, and improvement in that profe&s;sion, which never &s;erved him for any u&s;e, but onely for ornament.</P>
<P>His Father died before his admi&s;sion into that Society, and (being a Mer|chant) left him his Portion in money (which was 3000. li.) His Mother, and tho&s;e to who&s;e care he was committed, were watchful to improve his know|ledge, and to that end appointed him there al&s;o Tutors in &s;everall Sciences, as the Mathematicks and others, to attend and in&s;truct him. But with the&s;e Arts they were advi&s;ed to in&s;till certaine particular principles of the Romi&s;h Church, of which tho&s;e Tutors (though &s;ecretly) profe&s;t them&s;elves to be members.</P>
<P>They had almo&s;t obliged him to their faith, having for their advantage, be&s;ides their opportunity, the example of his mo&s;t deare and pious Parents, which was a powerfull per&s;wa&s;ion, and did work upon him, as he profe&s;|&s;eth
<PB REF="6">in his PREFACE to his <HI>P&s;eudo-Martyr.</HI></P>
<P>He was now entred into the nineteenth yeare of his age, and being unre&s;ol|ved in his Religion, (though his youth and &s;trength promi&s;ed him a long life) yet he thought it nece&s;&s;ary to rectifie all &s;cruples which concerned that: And therefore waving the Law, and betrothing him&s;elfe to no art or profe&s;|&s;ion, that might ju&s;tly denominate him, he began to &s;urvey the body of Divi|nity, controverted between the Reformed and Roman Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Preface to <HI>P&s;eudo-Martyr.</HI></NOTE> And <HI>as Gods ble&s;&s;ed Spirit did then awaken him to the &s;earch, and in that indu&s;try did never for&s;ake him,</HI> (they be his owne words) <HI>So he calls the &s;ame Spirit to witne&s;s to his Prote&s;ta|tion, that in that &s;earch and di&s;qui&s;ition he proceeded with humility and diffidence in him|&s;elfe, by the &s;afe&s;t way of frequent Prayers, and indifferent affection to both parties.</HI> And indeed, Truth had too much light about her, to be hid from &s;o &s;harp an In|quirer; and he had too much ingenuity, not to acknowledge he had &s;een her.</P>
<P>Being to undertake this &s;earch, he beleeved the learned Cardinal <HI>Bellarmine</HI> to be the be&s;t defender of the Roman cau&s;e: and therefore undertook the exa|mination of his rea&s;ons. The cau&s;e was waighty, and wilfull delaies had been inexcu&s;able towards God and his own con&s;cience; he therfore proceeded with all moderate ha&s;te; And before he entred into the twentieth yeare of his age, did &s;hew the Deane of Glouce&s;ter all the Cardinalls Works marked with many waighty Ob&s;ervations under his own hand, which Works were be|queathed by him at his death as a Legacy to a mo&s;t deare friend.</P>
<P>About the twentieth yeare of his age, he re&s;olved to travell; And the Earle of E&s;&s;ex going to Cales, and after the Iland voyages, he took the advantage of tho&s;e opportunities, waited upon his Lord&s;hip, and &s;aw the expeditions of tho&s;e happy and unhappy imployments.</P>
<P>But he returned not into England, till he had &s;taid a convenient time, fir&s;t in <HI>Italy,</HI> and then in <HI>Spaine,</HI> where he made many u&s;efull Ob&s;ervations of tho&s;e Countries, their Lawes, and Government, and returned into England perfect in their Languages.</P>
<P>Not long after his returne, that exemplary pattern of gravity and wi&s;dome, the Lord <HI>El&s;more,</HI> Lord Keeper of the great Seale, and after Chancellor of Eng|land, taking notice of his Learning, Languages, and other abilities, and much affecting both his per&s;on and condition, received him to be his chiefe Secreta|rie, &s;uppo&s;ing it might be an Introduction to &s;ome more waighty imploy|ment in the State, for which his Lord&s;hip often prote&s;ted he thought him very fit.</P>
<P>Nor did his Lord&s;hip account him &s;o much to be his &s;ervant, as to forget hee had beene his friend; and to te&s;tifie it, hee u&s;ed him alwayes with much curte&s;ie, appointing him a place at his owne Table, unto which he e&s;teemed his company and di&s;cour&s;e a great ornament.</P>
<P>He continued that employment with much love and approbation, being daily u&s;efull (and not mercenary) to his friends, for the &s;pace of five yeares: In which time, he (I dare not &s;ay unfortunately) fell into &s;uch a liking, as (with her approbation) increa&s;ed into a love with a young Gentlewoman, who lived in that Family, Neece to the Lady <HI>El&s;more,</HI> Daughter to Sir <HI>George More,</HI> Chancellor of the Garter, and Lieutenant of the Tower.</P>
<PB REF="7">
<P>Sir <HI>George</HI> had &s;ome immation of their increa&s;ing love, and the better to prevent it, did remove his Daughter to his owne hou&s;e, but too late, by rea|&s;on of &s;ome faithfull promi&s;es interchangeably pa&s;t, and inviolably to be kept between them.</P>
<P>Their love (a pa&s;sion, which of all other Mankind is lea&s;t able to com|mand, and wherein mo&s;t errors are committed) was in them &s;o powerfull, that they re&s;olved, and did marry without the approbation of tho&s;e friends that might ju&s;tly claime an intere&s;t in the advi&s;ing and di&s;po&s;ing of them.</P>
<P>Being married, the newes was (in favour to M. <HI>Donne,</HI> and with his allow|ance) by the Right Honourable <HI>Henry</HI> then Earle of Northumberland, &s;ecretly and certainly intimated to Sir <HI>George More,</HI> to whom it was &s;o immea&s;urably unwelcome, that (as though his pa&s;sion of anger and incon&s;ideration &s;hould exceed theirs of love and error) he ingaged his &s;i&s;ter the Lady <HI>El&s;more</HI> to joyn with him to procure her Lord to di&s;charge M. <HI>Donne</HI> the place he held under his Lord&s;hip. And although Sir <HI>George</HI> were remembred that Errors might be over-puni&s;ht, and therefore was de&s;ired to forbeare, till &s;econd con&s;idera|tions had cleered &s;ome &s;cruples, yet he was re&s;tle&s;&s;e untill his &s;uit was gran|ted, and the puni&s;hment executed; The Lord Chancellor then (at M. <HI>Donnes</HI> di&s;mi&s;sion) prote&s;ting, he thought him a Secretary fitter for a King then a Subject.</P>
<P>But this phy&s;ick of M. <HI>Donnes</HI> di&s;mi&s;sion was not &s;trong enough to purge out all Sir <HI>George</HI> his choler, who was not &s;atisfied, till M. <HI>Donne,</HI> and his Com|pupill in Cambridge that married him, M. <HI>Samuel Brooke,</HI> (who was after D. in D. and Ma&s;ter of Trinity Colledge in that Univer&s;ity) and his brother M. <HI>Chri&s;topher Brook</HI> of Lincolns Inne, (who gave M. <HI>Donne</HI> his Wife, and witne&s;&s;ed the Mariage) were all committed to &s;everall Pri&s;ons.</P>
<P>M. <HI>Donne</HI> was fir&s;t inlarged, who neither gave re&s;t to his body, his braine, nor any friend, in whom he might hope to have any intere&s;t, untill he had procured the inlargement of his two impri&s;oned friends.</P>
<P>He was now at liberty, but his dayes were &s;till cloudie, and being pa&s;t this trouble, others did &s;till multiply, for his Wife (to her extreame &s;orrow) was detained from him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gene&s;. 29.</NOTE> And though with <HI>Iacob,</HI> he endured not a hard &s;ervice for her, yet he lo&s;t a good one, and was forced to get po&s;&s;e&s;sion of her by a long &s;uit in Law, which proved very chargeable, and more trouble&s;ome.</P>
<P>It was not long, but that Time and M. <HI>Donnes</HI> behaviour (which when it would intice, had a &s;trange kind of irre&s;i&s;tible art) had &s;o di&s;pa&s;sioned his Father in Law, That as the world had approved his Daughters choice, &s;o he al&s;o could not choo&s;e but &s;ee a more then ordinary merit in his new Sonne, which melted him into &s;o much remor&s;e, that he &s;ecretly laboured his &s;ons re&s;tauration into his place, u&s;ing his owne, and his &s;i&s;ters power, but with no &s;ucce&s;&s;e; The Lord Chancellor replying, That although he was unfainedly &s;orry for what he had done, yet it &s;tood not with his credit to di&s;charge and re-admit &s;ervants, at the reque&s;t of pa&s;sionate Petitioners.</P>
<P>Within a &s;hort time, Sir <HI>George</HI> appeared to be &s;o far reconciled, as to wi&s;h their happine&s;&s;e; (or &s;ay &s;o) And being asked for his paternal ble&s;sing, did not deny it; but refu&s;ed to contribute any meanes that might conduce to their livelyhood.</P>
<PB REF="7" MS="y">
<P>M. <HI>Donnes</HI> Portion was the greate&s;t part &s;pent in many and chargeable travels, the re&s;t disbur&s;t in &s;ome few Books, and deare bought experience; he out of all imployment, that might yeeld a &s;upport for him&s;elfe and Wife, who had been curiou&s;ly and plentifully educated; his nature generous, and he accu&s;tomed to confer, not to receive curte&s;ies. The&s;e and other con&s;i|derations, but chiefly that his deare Wife was to bear a part in his &s;ufferings, &s;urrounded him with many and &s;ad thoughts, and &s;ome apparent apprehen|&s;ions of want.</P>
<P>But his &s;orrow was le&s;&s;ened, and his wants prevented by the &s;ea&s;onable curte&s;ies of their noble Kin&s;man Sir <HI>Francis Wally</HI> of <HI>Pirford,</HI> who intreated them to a co-habitation with him; where they remained with very much freedome to them&s;elves, and equall content to him for many yeares. And as their charge increa&s;ed, (&s;he had yearly a child) &s;o did his love and bounty.</P>
<P>With him they continued till his death: a little before which time Sir <HI>Fran|cis</HI> was &s;o happy as to make a perfect reconciliation betwixt that good man Sir <HI>George More</HI> and his for&s;aken &s;onne and daughter, Sir <HI>George</HI> then giving Bond to pay M. <HI>Donne</HI> 800 l. at a certain day as a Portion with his wife, and to pay him for their maintenance 20. l. quarterly, (as the Intere&s;t of it) untill the &s;aid Portion were paid.</P>
<P>Mo&s;t of tho&s;e yeares that he lived with Sir <HI>Francis,</HI> he &s;tudied the Civil and Canon Lawes: In which he acquired &s;uch a perfection as was judged to hold &s;ome proportion with many, who had made that &s;tudy the imploy|ment of their whole life.</P>
<P>Sir <HI>Francis</HI> being dead, and that happy family di&s;&s;olved, M. <HI>Donne</HI> tooke a hou&s;e at Micham (neere unto Croydon in Surrey) where his wife and fami|ly remained con&s;tantly: and for him&s;elfe (having occa&s;ions to be often in London) he tooke lodgings neere unto White-hall, where he was frequently vi&s;ited by men of greate&s;t learning and judgement in this Kingdome; his company being loved, and much de&s;ired by many of the Nobility of this Nation, who u&s;ed him in their coun&s;els of greate&s;t con&s;iderations.</P>
<P>Nor did our owne Nobility onely favour him, but his acquaintance and friend&s;hip was u&s;ually &s;ought for by mo&s;t Amba&s;&s;adors of forraigne Nati|ons, and by many other &s;trangers, who&s;e learning or employment occa&s;ioned their &s;tay in this Kingdome.</P>
<P>He was much importuned by friends to make his re&s;idence in London, which he could not doe, having &s;etled his dear wife and children at Micham, whither he often retired him&s;elfe, and then &s;tudied ince&s;&s;antly &s;ome Points of Controver&s;ie. But at la&s;t the per&s;wa&s;ion of friends was &s;o powerfull, as to cau&s;e the removall of him&s;elfe and family to London; where that honoura|ble Gentleman Sir <HI>Robert Drury</HI> a&s;signed him a very convenient hou&s;e rent-free, next his own in Drury-lane, and was al&s;o a daily cheri&s;her of his &s;tudies, and &s;uch a friend as &s;ympathiz'd with him and his, in their joy and &s;orrow.</P>
<P>Divers of the Nobility were watchfull and &s;olicitous to the King for &s;ome preferment for him. His Maje&s;ty had formerly both knowne, and much va|lued him, and had given him &s;ome hopes of a State employment, being much plea&s;ed that M. <HI>Donne</HI> attended him, e&s;pecially at his meales, where there was
<PB REF="8">u&s;ually many deep di&s;cour&s;es of Learning, and often friendly di&s;putes of Re|ligion betwixt the King and tho&s;e Divines who&s;e places required their atten|dance on his Maje&s;tie: Particularly, the Right Reverend Bi&s;hop <HI>Montague,</HI> then Deane of the Chappel, (who was the publi&s;her of the eloquent and learned Works of his Maje&s;tie) and the mo&s;t learned Doctor <HI>Andrewes,</HI> then his Maje&s;ties Almoner, and at his death Bi&s;hop of Winche&s;ter.</P>
<P>About this time grew many di&s;putes in England, that concerned the Oath of Supremacy and Allegeance, in which the King had appeared and ingaged him&s;elfe by his publique writings now extant. And his Maje&s;tie occa&s;ionally talking with M. <HI>Donne</HI> concerning many of tho&s;e Arguments urged by the Romani&s;ts, apprehended &s;uch a validity and cleerene&s;&s;e in his an&s;wers, that he commanded him to &s;tate the Points, and bring his Rea&s;ons to him in writing; to which he pre&s;ently applyed him&s;elfe, and within &s;ixe weeks brought them to his Maje&s;tie fairely written under his owne hand, as they be now printed in his <HI>P&s;eudo-Martyr.</HI></P>
<P>When the King had read and con&s;idered that Book, he per&s;waded M. <HI>Donne</HI> to enter into the Mini&s;tery, to which he appeared (and was) un-inclina|ble, apprehending it (&s;uch was his mi&s;taking mode&s;ty) too weighty for his abilities. But from that time, though many friends mediated with his Ma|je&s;tie to prefer him to &s;ome civil employment, (to which his education had apted him) yet the King denied their reque&s;ts, and (having a di&s;cerning &s;pi|rit) replyed, <HI>I know M. Donne is a learned man, an excellent Divine, and will prove a powerfull Preacher.</HI> After that, as he profe&s;&s;eth<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">In his De|votions, Expo&s;t. 8.</NOTE>, the King de&s;cended almo&s;t to a &s;olicitation of him to enter into &s;acred Orders, which though he denied not, he deferred for the &s;pace of three yeares: All which time he applyed him|&s;elfe to an ince&s;&s;ant &s;tudy of Textuall Divinity, and attained a greater perfe|ction in the learned Languages, Greek and Hebrew.</P>
<P>Forwardne&s;&s;e and incon&s;ideration could not in him (as in many others) argue an in&s;ufficiencie; for he con&s;idered long, and had many &s;trifes within him&s;elfe concerning the &s;trictne&s;&s;e of life, and competencie of learning re|quired in &s;uch as enter into &s;acred Orders: And doubtle&s;&s;e (con&s;idering his owne demerits) did with meek <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> humbly aske God, <HI>Who am I?</HI> And if he had con&s;ulted with fle&s;h and bloud, he had not put his hand to that holy plough: But God who is able to prevaile, wra&s;tled with him, as the Angel did with <HI>Iacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.</NOTE> and marked him for his owne, marked him with a ble&s;sing, a ble&s;sing of obedience to the motions of his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit; And then as he had formerly asked God humbly with <HI>Mo&s;es, Who am I?</HI> So now (being in|&s;pired with the apprehen&s;ion of Gods mercies) he did ask King <HI>Davids</HI> thank|full que&s;tion, <HI>Lord who am I that thou art &s;o mindfull of me?</HI> So mindfull of me as to lead me for more then forty years through a wilderne&s;&s;e of the many temp|tations and various turnings of a dangerous life? So mindfull as to move the learned&s;t of Kings to de&s;cend to move me to &s;erve at thine Altar? So merciful to me as to move my heart to embrace this holy motion? Thy motions I will embrace, take the cup of &s;alvation, call upon thy Name, and preach thy Go|&s;pell.</P>
<P>Such &s;trifes as the&s;e S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> had when S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> indeavoured his con|ver&s;ion
<PB REF="8">to Chri&s;tianity, with which he confe&s;&s;eth he acquainted his deare friend <HI>Alippius.</HI> Our learned Author (a man fit to write after no meane Copy) did the like; and declaring his intentions to his deare friend D. <HI>King</HI> the then worthy Bi&s;hop of London, (who was Chaplaine to the Lord Chancellor in the time of his being his Lord&s;hips Secretary) That Reverend Bi&s;hop mo&s;t gladly received the newes, and with all convenient &s;peed ordained him Dea|con and Prie&s;t.</P>
<P>Now the Engli&s;h Church had gained a &s;econd S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> for I think none was &s;o like him before his conver&s;ion, none &s;o like S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> after it. And if his youth had the infirmities of the one Father, his age had the excellencies of the other, the learning and holine&s;&s;e of both.</P>
<P>Now all his &s;tudies (which were occa&s;ionally diffu&s;ed) were concentred in Divinity; Now he had a new calling, new thoughts, new imployment for his wit and eloquence. Now all his earthly affections were changed into di|vine love, and all the faculties of his &s;oule were ingaged in the conver&s;ion of others, in preaching glad tidings, remi&s;sion to repenting &s;inners, and peace to each troubled &s;oule: To this he applyed him&s;elfe with all care and diligence; and &s;uch a change was wrought in him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.</NOTE> that he was <HI>gladder to be a doore-keeper in the hou&s;e of God, then to enjoy any temporall employment.</HI></P>
<P>Pre&s;ently after he entred into his holy Profe&s;sion, the King made him his Chaplaine in Ordinary, and gave him other incouragements, promi&s;ing to take a particular care of him.</P>
<P>And though his long familiarity with per&s;ons of greate&s;t quality was &s;uch as might have given &s;ome men boldne&s;&s;e enough to have preached to any eminent Auditory; yet his mode&s;ty was &s;uch, that he could not be per&s;waded to it, but went u&s;ually to preach in &s;ome private Churches, in Villages neere London, till his Maje&s;tie appointed him a day to preach to him. And though his Maje&s;tie and others expected much from him, yet he was &s;o happy (which few are) as to &s;atisfie and exceed their expectations: preaching the Word &s;o, as &s;hewed he was po&s;&s;e&s;t with tho&s;e joyes that he laboured to di&s;till into others: A Preacher in earne&s;t, weeping &s;ometimes for his Auditory, &s;ome|times with them, alwayes preaching to him&s;elfe, like an Angel from a cloud, though in none: carrying &s;ome (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> was) to heaven, in holy raptures; enticing others, by a &s;acred art and court&s;hip, to amend their lives; and all this with a mo&s;t particular grace, and un-imitable fa&s;hion of &s;peaking.</P>
<P>That Summer, the &s;ame month in which he was ordained Prie&s;t, (and made the Kings Chaplaine) his Maje&s;tie (going his Progre&s;&s;e) was intreated to receive an entertainment in the Univer&s;ity of Cambridge, and M. <HI>Donne</HI> attending his Maje&s;tie there, his Maje&s;tie was plea&s;ed to recommend him to be made Doctor in Divinity, Doctor <HI>Har&s;net</HI> (after Archbi&s;hop of York) being then their Vice-Chancellour, who knowing him to be the Author of the <HI>P&s;eudo-Martyr,</HI> did propo&s;e it to the Univer&s;ity, and they pre&s;ently granted it, expre&s;sing a gladne&s;&s;e they had an occa&s;ion to entitle and write him Theits.</P>
<P>His abilities and indu&s;try in his profe&s;sion were &s;o eminent, and he &s;o much loved by many per&s;ons of quality, that within one yeare after his entrance
<PB REF="9">into Sacred Orders, he had fourteen Advow&s;ons of &s;everall Benefices &s;ent unto him; but they (being in the Countrey) could not draw him from his long loved friends and London, to which he had a naturall inclination, ha|ving received his birth and breeding in it: de&s;iring rather &s;ome preferment that might fixe him to an employment in that place.</P>
<P>Immediately after his returne from Cambridge, his wife died, leaving him a man of an un&s;etled e&s;tate: And (having buried five) the carefull father of &s;even children then living, to whom he made a voluntary promi&s;e (being then but forty two years of age) never to bring them under the &s;ubjection of a Step-mother: which promi&s;e he mo&s;t faithfully kept, burying with his teares all his &s;ublunary joyes in his mo&s;t deare and de&s;erving Wives grave, li|ving a mo&s;t retired and &s;olitary life.</P>
<P>In this retiredne&s;&s;e, he was importuned by the grave Benchers of Lincolns Inne, (once the friends of his youth) to accept of their Lecture, which (by rea&s;on of M. <HI>Gatakers</HI> removall) was then void; of which he accepted, being glad to renew his intermitted friend&s;hip with them, whom he &s;o much lo|ved, and where he had been a <HI>Saul,</HI> (not &s;o far as to per&s;ecute Chri&s;tianity, yet in his irregular youth to neglect the practi&s;e of it) to become a <HI>Paul,</HI> and preach &s;alvation to his brethren.</P>
<P>Nor did he preach onely, but as S. <HI>Paul</HI> advi&s;ed his <HI>Corinthians</HI> to be follow|ers of him as he was of Chri&s;t; &s;o he al&s;o was an ocular direction to them by a holy and harmle&s;&s;e conver&s;ation.</P>
<P>Their love to him was expre&s;t many wayes; for (be&s;ides the faire lodgings that were provided and furni&s;ht for him) other curte&s;ies were daily accumu|lated, &s;o many, and &s;o freely, as though they meant their gratitude (if po&s;sible) &s;hould exceed, or at lea&s;t equall his merit. In this love-&s;trife of de&s;ert and li|berality, they continued for the &s;pace of three yeares, he con&s;tantly and faith|fully preaching, they liberally requiting him. About which time the Empe|rour of <HI>Germany</HI> died, and the Pal&s;grave was elected and crowned King of Bohemia, the unhappy beginning of much trouble in tho&s;e Kingdomes.</P>
<P>King <HI>Iames,</HI> who&s;e Motto, <HI>Beati Pacifici,</HI> did truly characterize his di&s;po&s;iti|on, endeavoured to compo&s;e the differences of that di&s;compo&s;ed State, and to that end &s;ent the Earle of Carlile, (then Vicount Donca&s;ter) his Amba&s;&s;a|dour to tho&s;e un&s;etled Princes, and (by a &s;peciall command from his Ma|je&s;tie) D. <HI>Donne</HI> was appointed to attend the Emba&s;&s;age of the &s;aid Earle to the Prince of the Union: For which the Earle (that had long knowne and loved him) was mo&s;t glad: So were many of the Doctors friends, who fea|red his &s;tudies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 47.</NOTE> and &s;adne&s;&s;e for his wives death, would as <HI>Iacob</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>make his dayes few,</HI> and (re&s;pecting his bodily health) <HI>evill too.</HI></P>
<P>At his going, he left his friends of Lincolnes Inne, and they him with ma|ny reluctations; For though he could not &s;ay, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> to his Ephe&s;ians, <HI>Behold, you to whom I have preacht the kingdome of God, &s;hall henceforth &s;ee my face no more;</HI> yet he (being in a Con&s;umption) que&s;tioned it, and they feared it, con|&s;idering his troubled minde, which, with the helpe of his un-intermitted &s;tu|dies, ha&s;tned the decayes of his weake body; But God turned it to the be&s;t, for this imployment did not onely divert him from tho&s;e &s;erious &s;tudies and
<PB REF="9">&s;ad thoughts, but gave him a new and true occa&s;ion of joy, to be an eye-wit|ne&s;&s;e of the health of his honoured Mi&s;tris, the Queene of Bohemia, in a for|raigne Land, (who having formerly knowne him a Courtier) was mo&s;t glad to &s;ee him in a Canonicall habit, and more glad to be an eare-witne&s;&s;e of his mo&s;t excellent and powerfull preaching.</P>
<P>Within fourteen moneths he returned to his friends of Lincolnes Inne, with his &s;orrowes much moderated, and his health improved.</P>
<P>About a yeare after his returne from Germany, D^r <HI>Cary</HI> was made Bi&s;hop of Exeter, and by his removall, the Deanry of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> being vacant, the King appointed Doctor <HI>Donne</HI> to waite on him at dinner the next day; And his Maje&s;ty (being &s;et downe) before he eat any meat, &s;aid (after his plea&s;ant manner) <HI>Doctor Donne, I have invited you to dinner, And though you &s;it not downe with me, yet I will carve to you of a di&s;h that I know you love; you love London well, I doe there|fore make you Deane of Pauls, take your meate home to your &s;tudy, &s;ay grace, and much good may it doe you.</HI></P>
<P>Immediately after he came to his Deanry, he imployed workmen to re|paire the Chappel belonging to his hou&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 132.</NOTE> <HI>Suffering</HI> (as holy <HI>David</HI> once vow|ed) <HI>his eyes and temples to take no re&s;t, untill he had fir&s;t beautified the hou&s;e of God.</HI></P>
<P>The next quarter following, when his Father in Law Sir <HI>George More,</HI> who now admired and dearly loved him, came to pay him the conditioned &s;um of twenty pound, he denied to receive it, And &s;aid to his Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 45.</NOTE> (as good <HI>Ia|cob</HI> &s;aid when he beard <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> his &s;onne lived) <HI>It is enough,</HI> you have been kinde to me, and carefull of mine, I am, I thanke my God, provided for, and will receive this money no longer; And not long after freely gave up his bond of eight hundred pound.</P>
<P>Pre&s;ently after he was &s;etled in his Deanry, the Vicarage of S. Dun&s;tans in London fell to him by the death of Doctor <HI>White,</HI> The advow&s;on being for|merly given to him by the right Honorable <HI>Richard</HI> Earle of Dor&s;et a little be|fore his death, And confirmed to him by his Brother the right Honorable <HI>Edward</HI> Earle of Dor&s;et that now lives.</P>
<P>By the&s;e and another Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Endowment (which fell to him about the &s;ame time) he was inabled to be charitable to the poore, and to make &s;uch provi&s;ion for his Children, that at his death they were not left &s;candalous to his profe&s;sion and quality.</P>
<P>The next Parliament following he was cho&s;en Prolocutor to the Convo|cation, and about that time, by the appointment of his Maje&s;ty, (his gracious Ma&s;ter) did preach many occa&s;ionall Sermons: All which he performed not onely with the approbation, but to the admiration of the repre&s;entative body of the Clergy of this Kingdome.</P>
<P>He was once (and but once) clouded with the Kings di&s;plea&s;ure; It was about this time, occa&s;ioned by &s;ome malicious whi&s;perer, which a&s;&s;ured the King Doctor <HI>Donne</HI> had preacht a Sermon that implied a di&s;like of his go|vernment, particularly of his late Directions that the Evening Lectures on Sundaies, &s;hould be turned into Catechizing, expounding the Commande|ments, Beliefe, and Lords Prayer. His Maje&s;ty was the more inclinable to be|leeve this, for that about the &s;ame time a per&s;on of the Nobility of great note
<PB REF="10">in the Kingdome, and favour with the King (whom his Maje&s;ty knew Do|ctor <HI>Donne</HI> loved very much) was di&s;carded the Court, and pre&s;ently after committed to pri&s;on, which begot many rumors in the multitude.</P>
<P>The King &s;uffered not the Sunne to &s;et, till he had &s;earcht out the truth of this report, but &s;ent pre&s;ently for Doctor <HI>Donne,</HI> and required his an&s;wer to the accu&s;ation: which was &s;o &s;atisfactory, That the King &s;aid he was glad he re&s;ted not under that &s;u&s;pition. Doctor <HI>Donne</HI> prote&s;ted his an&s;wer was faith|full and free from all Collu&s;ion. And therefore begged of his Maje&s;ty, that he might not ri&s;e (being then kneeling) before he had (as in like ca&s;es he al|wayes had from God) &s;ome a&s;&s;urance that he &s;tood cleere and faire in his Ma|je&s;ties opinion. The King with his own hand, did, or offered to rai&s;e him from his knees, and prote&s;ted he was truly &s;atisfied, that he was an hone&s;t man, and loved him. Pre&s;ently his Maje&s;ty called &s;ome Lords of his Coun|cell into his Chamber, and &s;aid with much earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, <HI>My Doctor is an hone&s;t man;</HI> And my Lords, I was never more joyed in anything that I have done, then in making him a Divine.</P>
<P>He was made Deane in the fiftieth yeare of his age; And in the fifty fourth yeare, a dangerous &s;ickne&s;&s;e &s;ei&s;ed him, which turned to a &s;potted Feaver, and ended in a Cough, that inclined him to a Con&s;umption. But God (as <HI>Iob</HI> thankfully acknowledgeth) pre&s;erved his &s;pirit, keeping his intellectualls as cleere and perfect, as when that &s;ickne&s;&s;e fir&s;t &s;ei&s;ed his body. And as his health increa&s;ed, &s;o did his thankfulne&s;&s;e, te&s;tified in his booke of Devotions, A book that may not unfitly be called, <HI>A compo&s;ition of holy Exta&s;ies,</HI> occa&s;ioned, and appliable to the Emergencies of that &s;ickne&s;&s;e, which booke (being Me|ditations in his &s;ickne&s;&s;e) he writ on his &s;icke bed; herein imitating the holy Patriarchs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 12.7.8. Gen. 28.18.</NOTE> who were wont in that place to build their Altars where they had received their ble&s;sing.</P>
<P>This &s;ickne&s;&s;e brought him to the gates of death, and he &s;aw the grave &s;o ready to devoure him, that he calls his recovery &s;upernaturall. But God re&s;to|red his health, and continued it untill the fifty-ninth yeare of his life. And then in Augu&s;t 1630. being with his daughter Mi&s;tris <HI>Harvy</HI> at Abrey-Hatch in E&s;&s;ex, he fell into a Feaver, which with the helpe of his con&s;tant infirmity, <HI>vapours from the &s;pleene,</HI> ha&s;tened him into &s;o vi&s;ible a Con&s;umption, that his beholders might &s;ay (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> of him&s;elfe) <HI>he dyes daily,</HI> And he might &s;ay with <HI>Iob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 30.15. Job. 7.3.</NOTE> <HI>My welfare pa&s;&s;eth away as a cloud; The dayes of affliction have taken hold of me. And weary nights are appointed for me.</HI></P>
<P>This &s;ickne&s;&s;e continued long, not onely weakning, but wearing him &s;o much, that my de&s;ire is, he may now take &s;ome re&s;t: And that thou judge it no impertinent digre&s;sion (before I &s;peake of his death) to looke backe with me upon &s;ome ob&s;ervations of his life, which (while a gentle &s;lumber &s;ei&s;es him) may (I hope fitly) exerci&s;e thy Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>His marriage was the remarkable error of his life, which (though he had a wit apt enough, and very able to maintaine paradoxes; And though his wives competent yeares, and other rea&s;ons might be ju&s;tly urged to mode|rate a &s;evere cen&s;ure; yet) he never &s;eemed to ju&s;tifie, and doubtle&s;&s;e had repen|ted it, if God had not ble&s;t them with a mutuall, and &s;o cordiall an affection,
<PB REF="10">as in the mid&s;t of their &s;ufferings made their bread of &s;orrow ta&s;te more plea|&s;antly then the banquet of fooles.</P>
<P>The recreations of his youth were Poetry, in which he was &s;o happy, as if nature with all her varieties had been made to exerci&s;e his great wit, and high fancy. And in tho&s;e pieces which were carele&s;ly &s;cattered in his younger daies (mo&s;t of them being written before the twentieth yeare of his age) it may ap|peare by his choice Metaphors, that all the Arts joyned to a&s;si&s;t him with their utmo&s;t skill.</P>
<P>It is a truth, that in his penitentiall yeares, viewing &s;ome of tho&s;e pieces loo&s;ely &s;cattered in his youth, he wi&s;ht they had been abortive, or &s;o &s;hort-liv'd, that he had witne&s;&s;ed their funeralls: But though he was no friend to them, he was not &s;o falne out with heavenly Poetry, as to for&s;ake it, no not in his declining age, witne&s;&s;ed then by many divine Sonnets, and other high, holy, and harmonious compo&s;ures; yea even on his former &s;ick bed, he wrote this heavenly Hymne, expre&s;&s;ing the great joy he then had in the a&s;&s;u|rance of Gods mercy to him.</P>
<LG>
<HEAD>A Hymne to God the Father.</HEAD>
<L><HI>VVIlt thou forgive that &s;in where I begun,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Which was my &s;in, though it were done before?</HI></L>
<L><HI>Wilt thou forgive that &s;in through which I run;</HI></L>
<L><HI>And doe run &s;till, though &s;till I doe deplore?</HI></L>
<L><HI>When thou ha&s;t done, thou ha&s;t not done,</HI></L>
<L><HI>For I have more.</HI></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L><HI>Wilt thou forgive that &s;in which I have won</HI></L>
<L><HI>Others to &s;in, and made my &s;in their dore?</HI></L>
<L><HI>Wilt thou forgive that &s;in which I did &s;hun</HI></L>
<L><HI>A yeare or two, but wallowed in, a &s;core?</HI></L>
<L><HI>When thou ha&s;t done, thou ha&s;t not done,</HI></L>
<L><HI>For I have more.</HI></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L><HI>I have a &s;in of feare, that when I have &s;pun</HI></L>
<L><HI>My la&s;t thred, I &s;hall peri&s;h on the &s;hore;</HI></L>
<L><HI>But &s;weare by thy &s;elfe, that at my death thy Sonne</HI></L>
<L><HI>Shall &s;hine as he &s;hines now, and heretofore;</HI></L>
<L><HI>And, having done that, thou ha&s;t done,</HI></L>
<L><HI>I feare no more.</HI></L>
</LG>
<P>And on this (which was his Death-bed) writ another Hymne which bears this Title,
<Q>A Hymne to God my God in my &s;ickne&s;&s;e.</Q></P>
<P>If the&s;e fall under the cen&s;ure of a &s;oule who&s;e too much mixture with earth makes it unfit to judge of the&s;e high illuminations, let him know, that many devout and learned men have thought the &s;oule of
<PB REF="11">holy <HI>Prudentius</HI> was mo&s;t refined, when not many dayes before his death, he charged it to pre&s;ent his God each morning with a new and &s;pirituall Song; ju&s;tified by the examples of King <HI>David,</HI> and the good King <HI>Hezekias,</HI> who upon the renovation of his yeares, payed his gratefull vowes to God, in a roy|all hymne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.</NOTE> which he concludes in the&s;e words, <HI>The Lord was ready to &s;ave, there|fore we will &s;ing my &s;ongs to the &s;tringed in&s;truments, all the dayes of our life, in the Tem|ple of my God.</HI></P>
<P>The later part of his life was a continued &s;tudie, Saturdaies onely excepted, which he u&s;ually &s;pent in vi&s;iting friends, and re&s;ting him&s;elfe under the wea|ry burthen of his weeks Meditations; And he gave him&s;elfe this re&s;t, that thereby he might be refre&s;ht and inabled to doe the work of the day follow|ing, not negligently, but with courage and cheerfulne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>Nor was his age onely &s;o indu&s;trious, but in his mo&s;t un&s;etled youth he was (being in health) never knowne to be in bed after foure of the clock in the morning nor u&s;ually out of his chamber till ten; and imployed that time con&s;tantly (if not more) in his Studie. Which, if it &s;eeme &s;trange, may gain beliefe by the vi&s;ible fruits of his labours: &s;ome of which remaine to te&s;tifie what is here written: for he left the re&s;ultance of 1400. Authors, mo&s;t of them analyzed with his owne hand; He left &s;ix&s;core Sermons al&s;o, all writ with his owne hand; A large and laborious Treati&s;e concerning Self-murther, called <HI>Biathanato&s;e,</HI> wherein all the Lawes violated by that act, are diligently &s;urvayed, and judiciou&s;ly cen&s;ured; A Treati&s;e written in his youth, which alone might declare him then, not onely perfect in the Civil and Canon Law, but in many other &s;uch &s;tudies and arguments as enter not into the con&s;ide|ration of many profe&s;t Scholars, that labour to be thought learned Clerks, and to know all things.</P>
<P>Nor were the&s;e onely found in his Studie, but all bu&s;ine&s;&s;es that pa&s;t of any publique con&s;equence in this or any of our neighbour Kingdoms, he abbre|viated either in Latine, or in the Language of the Nation, and kept them by him for a memoriall. So he did the Copies of divers Letters and Ca&s;es of Con|&s;cience that had concerned his friends, (with his &s;olutions) and divers other bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of importance, all particularly and methodically dige&s;ted by him|&s;elfe.</P>
<P>He did prepare to leave the world before life left him, making his Will when no facultie of his &s;oule was dampt or defective by &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or he &s;ur|prized by &s;udden apprehen&s;ion of death; But with mature deliberation, ex|pre&s;&s;ing him&s;elfe an impartiall Father, by making his Childrens Portions equall; a con&s;tant lover of his friends, by particular Legacies, di&s;creetly cho|&s;en, and fitly bequeathed them; And full of charity to the poore, and many others, who by his long continued bounty might entitle them&s;elves <HI>His almes-people.</HI> For all the&s;e he made provi&s;ion, &s;o largely, as having &s;ix children, might to &s;ome appeare more then proportionable to his e&s;tate. The Reader may think the particulars tedious, but I hope not impertinent, that I pre&s;ent him with the beginning and conclu&s;ion of his la&s;t Will.</P>
<PB REF="11">
<P><HI>IN the name of the ble&s;&s;ed and glorious Trinitie, Amen. I Iohn Donne, by the mercy of Chri&s;t Ie&s;us, and the calling of the Church of England, Prie&s;t, being at this time in good and perfect under&s;tanding, (prai&s;ed be God therefore) doe hereby make my la&s;t Will and Te&s;tament in manner and forme following.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t, I give my gracious God an intire &s;acrifice of body and &s;oule, with my mo&s;t humble thanks for that a&s;&s;urance which his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit imprints in me now of the &s;alvation of the one, and of the re&s;urrection of the other; And for that con&s;tant and cheerfull re&s;olution which the &s;ame Spirit e&s;tabli&s;hed in me, to live and die in the Religion now profe&s;&s;ed in the Church of England: In expectation of that Re&s;urrection I de&s;ire my body may be buried (in the mo&s;t private manner that may be) in that place of S.</HI> Pauls <HI>Church London, that the now Re&s;i|dentiaries have at my reque&s;t a&s;signed for that purpo&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>And this my la&s;t Will and Te&s;tament made in the feare of God, (who&s;e merit I humbly beg, and con&s;tantly rely upon in Ie&s;us Chri&s;t) and in perfect love and charity with all the world, who&s;e pardon I aske from the lowe&s;t of my &s;ervants to the highe&s;t of my Superiours. Written all with mine owne hand, and my name &s;ub&s;cribed to every Page, being five in number.</HI></P>
<P>Nor was his charity expre&s;t onely at his death, but in his life, by a cheerfull and frequent vi&s;itation of friends, who&s;e minds were dejected, or fortunes nece&s;sitous. And he redeemed many out of Pri&s;on that lay for &s;mall debts, or for their fees; He was a continuall giver to poore Scholars, both of this, and forraigne Nations; (be&s;ides what he gave with his owne hand) he u&s;u|ally &s;ent a &s;ervant to all the Pri&s;ons in London, to di&s;tribute his charity, at all fe&s;tivall times in the yeare. He gave 100. l. at one time to a Gentleman that he had formerly knowne live plentifully, and was then decayed in his e&s;tate. He was a happy Reconciler of of differences in many Families of his friends and kindred, who had &s;uch faith in his judgement and impartiality, that he &s;carce ever advi&s;ed them to any thing in vaine. He was (even to her death) a mo&s;t dutifull &s;on to his Mother, carefull to provide for her &s;upportation, of which &s;he had been de&s;titute, but that God rai&s;ed him up to prevent her nece&s;sities; who having &s;uckt in the Religion of the Romane Church with her mothers milk, (or pre&s;ently after it) &s;pent her e&s;tate in forraigne Countries, to enjoy a liberty in it, and died in his hou&s;e but three moneths before him.</P>
<P>And to the end it may appeare how ju&s;t a Steward he was of his Lord and Ma&s;ters Revenue, I have thought fit to let the Reader know, that after his en|trance into his Deanry, as he numbred his yeares, and (at the foot of a private account, to which God and Angels onely were witne&s;&s;es with him) compu|ted fir&s;t his Revenue, then his expences, then what was given to the poore and pious u&s;es, la&s;tly, what re&s;ted for him and for his, he ble&s;t each yeares poore remainder with a thankfull Prayer; which for that they di&s;cover a more then common devotion, the Reader &s;hall partake &s;ome of them in his owne words.</P>
<P>1624. So all is that remains of the&s;e two years</P>
<P>1625. So all is that remains of the&s;e two years</P>
<P><HI>Deo Opt. Max. benigno Largitori, &agrave; me, &amp; ab iis quibus haec &agrave; me re&s;ervantur, glo|ria, &amp; gratia in aeternum. Amen.</HI></P>
<PB REF="12">
<P>1626. So that this yeare God hath ble&s;&s;ed me and mine with</P>
<P><HI>Multiplicatae &s;unt &s;uper nos mi&s;ericordiae tuae Domine.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Da Domine, ut quae ex immen&s;a bonitate tua nobis elargiri dignatus &s;is, in quorum|cunque manus devenerint, in tuam &s;emper cedant gloriam. Amen.</HI></P>
<P>1628. <HI>In fine horum &s;ex annorum manet</HI></P>
<P>1629.</P>
<P><HI>Quid habeo, quod non accepi &agrave; Domino? Largiatur etiam, ut quae largitus e&s;t, &s;ua ite|rum fiant bono eorum u&s;u, ut quemadmodum, nec officiis hujus mundi, nec loci, in quo me po&s;uit, dignitati, nec &s;ervis, nec egenis, in toto hujus anni curriculo, mihi con&s;cius &s;um, me defui&s;&s;e, ita ut libert, quibus quae &s;uper&s;unt, &s;uper&s;unt, grato ani|mo ea accipiant, &amp; beneficum Authorem recogno&s;cant. Amen.</HI></P>
<P>But I returne from my digre&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>We left the Author &s;ick in E&s;&s;ex, where he was forced to &s;pend mo&s;t of that Winter, by rea&s;on of his di&s;ability to remove from thence. And having never during almo&s;t twenty yeares, omitted his per&s;onall attendance on his Ma|je&s;tie, in his monthly &s;ervice. Nor being ever left out of the number of Lent Preachers. And in January following, there being a generall report that he was dead, that report occa&s;ioned this Letter to a familiar friend.</P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THis advantage you and my other friends have by my frequent feavers, that I am &s;o much the oftner at the gates of heaven; And this advantage by the &s;olitude and clo&s;e impri&s;onment that they reduce me to after, that I am &s;o much the oftner at my Prayers, in which I &s;hall never leave out your happine&s;&s;e; And I doubt not but amongst his other ble&s;|&s;ings, God will adde &s;ome one to you for my Prayers.</P>
<P>A man would be almo&s;t content to die, (if there were no other benefit in death) to heare of &s;o much &s;orrow, and &s;o much good te&s;timony from good men, as I (God be ble&s;&s;ed for it) did upon the report of my death: Yet I perceive it went not through all; For one writ to me, that &s;ome (and he &s;aid of my friends) conceived I was not &s;o ill as I pretended, but withdrew my &s;elfe to live at ea&s;e, di&s;charged of preaching. It is an unfriendly, and (God knowes) an ungrounded interpretation; for I have alwayes been &s;orrier when I could not preach, then any could be they could not hear me. It hath been my de&s;ire (and God may be plea&s;ed to grant it) that I might die in the Pulpit; If not that, yet that I might take my death in the Pulpit, that is, die the &s;ooner by occa&s;ion of tho&s;e labours. Sir, I hope to &s;ee you pre&s;ently after Candlemas, about which time will fall my Lent Sermon at Court, except my Lord Chamberlaine beleeve me to be dead, and leave me out: For as long as I live, and am not &s;peechle&s;&s;e, I would not willingly decline that &s;ervice. I have better lea&s;ure to write, then you to reade, yet I would not willingly oppre&s;&s;e you with too much Letter: God ble&s;&s;e you and your &s;on, as I wi&s;h</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>January 7. 1630.</HI></DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED><HI>Your poore friend and &s;ervant in Chri&s;t Je&s;us,</HI> Iohn Donne.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</LETTER>
<P>Before that month ended, he was appointed to preach upon his old con|&s;tant day, the fir&s;t Friday in Lent, he had notice of it; and having in his &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e
<PB REF="12">prepared for the employment as he had long thir&s;ted for it. So re&s;olving his weakne&s;&s;e &s;hould not hinder his journey, he came to London &s;ome few dayes before his day appointed. Being come, many of his friends (who with &s;orrow &s;aw his &s;ickne&s;&s;e had left him onely &s;o much fle&s;h as did cover his bones) doubted his &s;trength to performe that taske: And therefore per&s;wa|ded him from undertaking it, a&s;&s;uring him however, it was like to &s;horten his dayes: But he pa&s;sionately denyed their reque&s;ts, &s;aying, He would not doubt, that God who in many weakne&s;&s;es had a&s;si&s;ted him with an unexpe|cted &s;trength, would now withdraw it in his la&s;t employment, profe&s;sing a holy ambition to performe that &s;acred Work. And when (to the amazement of &s;ome beholders) he appeared in the Pulpit, many thought he pre&s;ented him&s;elfe, not to preach mortification by a living voice, but mortality by a de|cayed body, and dying face. And doubtle&s;&s;e many did &s;ecretly ask that que|&s;tion in <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> <Q><HI>Doe the&s;e bones live?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.3.</NOTE> Or can that &s;oule organi&s;e that tongue to &s;peak &s;o long time as the &s;and in that gla&s;&s;e will move towards its center, and mea&s;ure out an houre of this dying mans un&s;pent life?</Q> Doubtle&s;&s;e it cannot. Yet after &s;ome faint pau&s;es in his zealous Prayer, his &s;trong de&s;ires inabled his weak body to di&s;charge his memory of his pre conceived Medi|tations which were of dying; The Text being, <HI>To God the Lord belong the i&s;&s;ues from death.</HI> Many that &s;aw his teares, and heard his hollow voice, profe&s;sing they thought the Text Prophetically cho&s;en, and that D. <HI>Donne</HI> had preacht his owne Funerall Sermon.</P>
<P>Being full of joy that God had inabled him to performe this de&s;ired duty, he ha&s;tned to his hou&s;e, out of which he never moved, untill like S. <HI>Stephen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8.</NOTE> <HI>He was carried by devout men to his grave:</HI> And the next day after his Sermon, his &s;pirits being much &s;pent, and he indi&s;po&s;ed to di&s;cour&s;e, a friend asked him, Why are you &s;ad? To whom he replyed after this manner, <Q>I am not &s;ad; I am in a &s;erious contemplation of the mercies of my God to me; And now I plainly &s;ee, it was his hand that prevented me from all temporall employ|ment. And I &s;ee it was his will that I &s;hould never &s;ettle nor thrive untill I entred into the Mini&s;tery, in which I have now lived almo&s;t twenty yeares, (I hope to his glory) and by which (I mo&s;t humbly thank him) I have been enabled to requite mo&s;t of tho&s;e friends that &s;hewed me kindne&s;&s;e when my fortunes were low. And (as it hath occa&s;ioned the expre&s;&s;ion of my gratitude) I thank God, mo&s;t of them have &s;tood in need of my requitall. I have been u&s;efull and comfortable to my good Father in Law Sir <HI>George More,</HI> who&s;e patience God hath been plea&s;ed to exerci&s;e by many temporall cro&s;&s;es. I have maintained my owne Mother, whom it hath plea&s;ed God after a plentifull fortune in her former times, to bring to a great decay in her very old age. I have quieted the con&s;ciences of many that groaned under the burthen of a wounded &s;pirit, who&s;e Prayers I hope are availeable for me. I cannot plead innocencie of life, (e&s;pecially of my youth) but I am to be judged by a mercifull God, who hath given me (even at this time) &s;ome te&s;timonies by his holy Spirit, that I am of the number of his Elect. I am ful of joy, and &s;hall die in peace.</Q></P>
<P>Upon Munday following, he took his la&s;t leave of his beloved Studie, and
<PB REF="13">being hourely &s;en&s;ible of his decay, retired him&s;elfe into his bed-chamber: and that week &s;ent (at &s;everall times) for many of his mo&s;t con&s;iderable friends, of whom he tooke a &s;olemne and deliberate Farewell, commending to their con&s;iderations &s;ome &s;entences particularly u&s;efull for the regulation of their lives, and di&s;mi&s;t them (as<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Gen. 49.</NOTE> <HI>Iacob</HI> did his &s;ons) with a &s;pirituall bene|diction. The Sunday following, he appointed his &s;ervants, that if there were any worldly bu&s;ine&s;&s;e undone, that concerned them or him&s;elfe, it &s;hould be prepared again&s;t Saturday next; for after that day he would not mixe his thoughts with any thing that concerned the world. Nor ever did.</P>
<P>Now he had nothing to doe but die; To doe which, he &s;tood in need of no more time, for he had long &s;tudied it, and to &s;uch a perfection, that in a for|mer &s;ickne&s;&s;e he called God to witne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Devot. Prayer 23.</NOTE> he was that minute prepared to deli|ver his &s;oule into his hands, if that minute God would accept of his di&s;&s;oluti|on. In that &s;ickne&s;&s;e he begged of his God, (the God of con&s;tancy) to be pre|&s;erved in that e&s;tate for ever. And his patient expectation to have his immor|tall &s;oule di&s;robed from her garment of mortality, makes me confident he now had a mode&s;t a&s;&s;urance, that his prayers were then heard, and his pe|tition granted. He lay fifteene dayes earne&s;tly expecting his hourely change; And in the la&s;t houre of his la&s;t day, (as his body melted away, and vapoured into &s;pirit) his &s;oule having (I verily beleeve) &s;ome revelation of the Beatifical Vi&s;ion, he &s;aid, <HI>I were mi&s;erable, if I might not die:</HI> And after tho&s;e words, clo&s;ed many periods of his faint breath with the&s;e words, <HI>Thy kingdome come, Thy will be done.</HI> His &s;peech which had long been his faithfull &s;ervant, remained with him till his la&s;t minute; and then for&s;ook him, not to &s;erve another ma&s;ter, but died before him, for that it was u&s;ele&s;&s;e to him, who now conver&s;ed with God on earth, (as Angels are &s;aid to doe in heaven) onely by thoughts and looks. Being &s;peechle&s;&s;e, he did (as S. <HI>Stephen</HI>) <HI>look &s;tedfa&s;tly towards heaven,</HI> till he &s;aw the Sonne of God &s;tanding at the right hand of his Father; And being &s;atisfied with this ble&s;&s;ed &s;ight, (as his &s;oule a&s;cended, and his la&s;t breath de|parted from him) he clo&s;ed his owne eyes, and then di&s;po&s;ed his hands and body into &s;uch a po&s;ture, as required no alteration by tho&s;e that came to &s;hroud him.</P>
<P>Thus <HI>variable,</HI> thus <HI>vertuous</HI> was the <HI>life,</HI> thus <HI>memorable,</HI> thus <HI>exemplary</HI> was the <HI>death</HI> of this mo&s;t excellent man.</P>
<P>He was buried in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Church, in that place which he had appointed for that u&s;e, &s;ome yeares before his death, and by which he pa&s;&s;ed daily to his devotions. But not buried privately, though he de&s;ired it; For (be&s;ides an un|numbred number of others) many per&s;ons of Nobility and eminency, who did love and honour him in his life, did &s;hew it at his Funerall, by a volunta|ry and very &s;ad attendance of his body to the grave.</P>
<P>To which (after his buriall) &s;ome mournfull friends repaired: And as <HI>Alexander</HI> the Great did to the grave of the famous <HI>Achillis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch.</NOTE> &s;o they &s;trewed his with curious and co&s;tly flowers. Which cour&s;e they (who were never yet knowne) continued each morning and evening for divers dayes, not cea&s;ing till the &s;tones that were taken up in that Church to give his body admi&s;sion into the cold earth, (now his bed of re&s;t) were againe by the Ma&s;ons art level|led
<PB REF="13">and firmed, as they had been formerly, and his place of buriall undi&s;tin|gui&s;hable to common view.</P>
<P>Nor was this (though not u&s;uall) all the honour done to his reverend a&s;hes; for by &s;ome good body, (who, tis like thought his memory ought to be perpe|tuated) there was 100. marks &s;ent to his two faithfull friends<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>D.</HI> Henry King. <HI>D.</HI> Mount|fort.</NOTE> and Executors, (the per&s;on that &s;ent it, not yet known, they look not for a reward on earth) towards the making of a Monument for him, which I think is as lively a re|pre&s;entation, as in dead marble can be made of him.</P>
<P><HI>HE was of &s;tature moderately tall; of a &s;traight and equally proportioned body, to which all his words and actions gave an unexpre&s;sible addition of comeline&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P><HI>His a&s;pect was cheerfull, and &s;uch as gave a &s;ilent te&s;timony of a cleere knowing &s;oule, and of a con&s;cience at peace with it &s;elfe.</HI></P>
<P><HI>His melting eye &s;hewed he had a &s;oft heart, full of noble pity, of too brave a &s;pirit to offer injuries, and too much a Chri&s;tian, not to pardon them in others.</HI></P>
<P><HI>His fancie was un-imitable high, equalled by his great wit, both being made u&s;efull by a commanding judgement.</HI></P>
<P><HI>His mind was liberall, and unwearied in the &s;earch of knowledge, with which his vigo|rous &s;oule is now &s;atisfied, and employed in a continuall prai&s;e of that God that fir&s;t breathed it into his active body, which once was a Temple of the holy Gho&s;t, and is now become a &s;mall quantity of Chri&s;tian du&s;t. But I &s;hall &s;ee it re-inanimated.</HI></P>
<P>Iz: Wa:</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="approbation">
<PB REF="14">
<P>IOHANNES DONNE SAC: THEOL: PROFESSOR, POST VARIA STUDIA, QVIBUS AB ANNIS TENERRIMIS FIDELITER, NEC INFELICITER, INCUBUIT, INSTINCTU ET IMPULSU <HI>SPIR: S^t^i:</HI> MONITU ET HORTATU REGIS IACOBI, ORDINES SACROS AMPLEXUS A^o: SUI JESU 1614. ET SUAE AETATIS 42.</P>
<P>DECANATU HUJUS ECCLESIAE INDUTUS XXVII. <HI>NOVEMBRIS</HI> 1621.</P>
<P>EXUTUS MORTE ULTIMO DIE <HI>MARTII.</HI> 1631.</P>
<P>Hic licet in Occiduo Cinere A&s;picit Eum Cujus Nomen e&s;t <HI>ORIENS.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="14">
<HEAD>A Table directing to the &s;everall Texts of SCRIPTURE, handled by the Author in this BOOK.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. I.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>COLOS. 1.19, 20.</HI> For it plea&s;ed <HI>the Fa|ther,</HI> that in him &s;hould all fulne&s;&s;e dwell; And having made peace through the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e, by Him, to reconcile all things to him&s;elfe, by Him, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. <HI>page 1</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. II.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ESAIAH. 7.14.</HI> Therefore the Lord &s;hall give you a &s;igne; Behold, a Virgin &s;hall conceive, and beare a Son, and &s;hall call his name Immanuel. <HI>pa. 11</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. III.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>GALAT. 4.4, &amp; 5.</HI> But when the fulne&s;&s;e of time was come, God &s;ent forth his Sonne, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeeme them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of Sons. <HI>pa. 20</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. IV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>LUKE 2.29. &amp; 30.</HI> Lord now lette&s;t thou thy &s;ervant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have &s;eene thy &s;alvation. <HI>pa. 29.</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. V.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>EXOD. 4.13.</HI> O my Lord, &s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt &s;end. <HI>pa. 39</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. VI.</LABEL>
<ITEM>Lord, who hath beleeved our report? <HI>pa. 52</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. VII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 10.10.</HI> I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. <HI>pa. 62</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. VIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 5.16.</HI> Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in heaven. <HI>pa. 77</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. IX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ROM. 13.7.</HI> Render therefore to all men their dues. <HI>pa. 86</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. X.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ROM. 12.20.</HI> Therefore if thine enemie hunger feed him, if he thir&s;t give him drink; for in &s;o doing thou &s;halt heap coals of fire on his head. <HI>pa. 96</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 9.2.</HI> And Ie&s;us &s;eeing their faith, &s;aid unto the &s;ick of the pal&s;ie, My &s;on, be of good chear, thy &s;ins be forgiven thee. <HI>pa. 102</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 5.2.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God. <HI>pa. 112</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOB 16. ver. 17, 18, 19.</HI> Not for any inju|&s;tice in my hands: Al&s;o my prayer is pure. O earth, cover thou not my bloud; and let my cry have no place. Al&s;o now behold, my Witne&s;&s;e is in heaven, and my Record is on high. <HI>pa. 127</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>AMOS 5.18.</HI> Woe unto you, that de&s;ire the day of the Lord: what have ye to doe with it? the day of the Lord is darkne&s;&s;e, and not light. <HI>pa. 136</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 COR 15.26.</HI> The la&s;t Enemie that &s;hall be de&s;troyed, is Death. <HI>pa. 144</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XVI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 11.35.</HI> Ie&s;us wept. <HI>pa. 153</HI></ITEM>
<PB REF="15">
<LABEL>SERM. XVII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 19.17.</HI> And he &s;aid unto him, Why calle&s;t thou me Good? There is none Good but One; that is, God. <HI>pa. 163</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XVIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ACTS 2.36.</HI> Therefore let all the hou&s;e of I&s;rael know a&s;&s;uredly, That God hath made that &s;ame Ie&s;us, whom ye have cruci|fied, both Lord and Chri&s;t. <HI>pa. 175</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>APOC. 20.6.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection. <HI>pa. 183</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 5.28, 29.</HI> Marvell not at this; for the houre is comming, in the which, all that are in the graves, &s;hall heare his voice; And &s;hall come forth, they that have done good, unto the Re&s;urrection of life; And they that have done evill, unto the Re&s;urre|ction of damnation. <HI>pa. 192</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 COR. 15.29.</HI> El&s;e what &s;hall they do that are baptized for dead? If the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they then baptized for dead? <HI>pa. 120</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>HEB. 11.35.</HI> Women received their dead rai&s;ed to life againe: And others were tor|tured, not accepting a deliverance, that they might obtaine a better Re&s;urrection. <HI>pa. 213</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 COR. 13.12.</HI> For now we &s;ee through a gla&s;&s;e darkly, But then face to face; Now I know in part, But then I &s;hall know, even as al&s;o I am knowne. <HI>pa. 224</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOB 4.18.</HI> Behold, he put no tru&s;t in his Servants, and his Angels he charged with folly. <HI>pa. 233</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 28.6.</HI> He is not here, for he is ri&s;en, as he &s;aid; Come, See the place where the Lord lay. <HI>pa. 242</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXVI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 THES. 4.17.</HI> Then we which are alive, and remaine, &s;hall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the ayre; and &s;o &s;hall we be ever with the Lord. <HI>pa. 254</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXVII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 89.47.</HI> What man is he that liveth, and &s;hall not &s;ee death? <HI>pa. 267</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXVIII. &amp; XXIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 14.26.</HI> But the Comforter, which is the holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father will &s;end in my Name, He &s;hall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what&s;oever I have &s;aid unto you. <HI>pa. 277. &amp; 286</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 14.20.</HI> At that day &s;hall ye know, That I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. <HI>pa. 294</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>GEN. 1.2.</HI> And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. <HI>pa. 303</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 COR. 12.3.</HI> Al&s;o no man can &s;ay, that Ie|&s;us is the Lord, but by the holy Gho&s;t. <HI>p. 312</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ACTS. 10.44.</HI> While Peter yet &s;pake the&s;e words, the holy Gho&s;t fell on all them, which heard the Word. <HI>pa. 321</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ROM. 8.16.</HI> The Spirit it &s;elfe beareth wit|ne&s;&s;e with our &s;pirit, that we are the chil|dren of God. <HI>pa. 332</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 12.31.</HI> Wherefore I &s;ay unto you, All manner of &s;in and bla&s;phemy &s;hall be forgi|ven unto men; But the Bla&s;phemy again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall not be forgiven unto men. <HI>pa. 341</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXVI. &amp; XXXVII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 16.8, 9, 10, 11.</HI> And when he is come, he will reprove the world of &s;in, and of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and of judgement.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of &s;in, becau&s;e ye beleeve not on me.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, becau&s;e I goe to my Father, and ye &s;ee me no more.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of judgement, becau&s;e the Prince of this world is judged. <HI>pa. 351. &amp; 361</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXVIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2 COR. 1.3.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed be God, even the Fa|ther of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. <HI>pa. 375</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XXXIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 PET. 1.17.</HI> And if ye call on the Father, who without re&s;pect of per&s;ons judgeth ac|cording to every mans works, pa&s;&s;e the time of your &s;ojourning here in feare. <HI>pa. 384</HI></ITEM>
<PB REF="15">
<LABEL>SERM. XL.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 COR. 16.22.</HI> If any man love not the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, let him be Anathema, Ma|ranatha. <HI>pa. 393</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 2.12.</HI> Ki&s;&s;e the Son, le&s;t he be an|gry. <HI>pa. 403</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>GEN. 18.25.</HI> Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right? <HI>pa. 412</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 3.17.</HI> And lo, A voyce came from heaven, &s;aying, This is my beloved Sonne, in whom I am well plea&s;ed. <HI>pa. 423</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>REV. 4.8.</HI> And the foure Bea&s;ts had each of them &s;ix wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; And they re&s;t not day and night, &s;aying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. <HI>pa. 432</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>APOC. 7.2, 3.</HI> And I &s;aw another Angel a&s;cending from the Ea&s;t, which had the &s;eale of the living God, and he cryed with a loud voyce to the foure Angels, to whom power was given to hurt the Earth, and the Sea, &s;aying, Hurt yee not the Earth, neither the Sea, neither the Trees, till we have &s;ea|led the &s;ervants of our God in their fore|heads. <HI>pa. 445</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLVI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ACTS 9.4.</HI> And he fell to the earth, and heard a voyce, &s;aying, Saul, Saul, why per|&s;ecute&s;t thou me? <HI>pa. 459</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLVII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ACTS 20.25.</HI> And now, Behold, I know, that all yee among whom I have gone prea|ching the kingdome of God, &s;hall &s;ee my face no more. <HI>pa. 468</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. XLVIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ACTS 28.6.</HI> They changed their minds, and &s;aid, That he was a God. <HI>pa. 476</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. XLIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>ACTS 23.6, 7.</HI> But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadduces, and the other Phari&s;ees, he cryed out in the Councel, Men and Brethren, I am a Phari&s;ee, and the &s;on of a Phari&s;ee; Of the hope and re&s;urrection of the dead I am called in que&s;tion.</ITEM>
<ITEM>And when he had &s;o &s;aid, there aro&s;e a di&s;&s;en|tion between the Phari&s;ees and the Saddu|ces, and the multitude was divided. <HI>pa. 487</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. L.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 6.1.</HI> O Lord, Rebuke me not in thine anger, neither cha&s;ten me in thy hot di&s;|plea&s;ure. <HI>pa. 499</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 6.2, 3.</HI> Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weake; O Lord, heale me, for my bones are vexed: My &s;oule is al&s;o &s;ore vex|ed; But thou, O Lord, how long? <HI>pa. 209</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LII. &amp; LIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 6.4, 5.</HI> Returne, O Lord; Deliver my &s;oule; O Lord &s;ave me, for thy mercies &s;ake.</ITEM>
<ITEM>For in death there is no remembrance of thee; and in the grave, who &s;hall give thee thanks? <HI>pa. 522. &amp; pa. 530</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 6.6, 7.</HI> I am weary with my groan|ing; All the night make I my bed to &s;wim, I water my couch with my teares.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Mine eye is con&s;umed becau&s;e of griefe; It waxeth old, becau&s;e of all mine enemies. <HI>pa. 535</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 6.8, 9, 10.</HI> Depart from me, all yee workers of iniquitie; for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my weeping.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Lord hath heard my &s;upplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Let all mine enemies be a&s;hamed and &s;ore vex|ed: let them returne and be a&s;hamed &s;ud|denly. <HI>pa. 548</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LVI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.1, 2.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed is he who&s;e tran&s;|gre&s;sion is forgiven, who&s;e &s;in is covered; Ble&s;&s;ed is the man, unto whom the Lord im|puteth not iniquitie, and in who&s;e &s;pirit there is no guile. <HI>pa. 560</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LVII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.3, 4.</HI> When I kept &s;ilence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long.</ITEM>
<ITEM>For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moy&s;ture is turned into the drought of Summer. Selah. <HI>pa. 571</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LVIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.5.</HI> I acknowledged my &s;inne unto thee, and mine iniquitie have I not hid. I &s;aid, I will confe&s;&s;e my tran&s;gre&s;sions unto the Lord, and thou forgave&s;t the iniquitie of my &s;in. <HI>pa. 582</HI></ITEM>
<PB REF="16">
<LABEL>SERM. LIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.6.</HI> For this &s;hall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou maye&s;t be found; &s;urely in the floods of great waters they &s;hall not come nigh unto him. <HI>pa. 592</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.7.</HI> Thou art my hiding place; Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve me from trouble; Thou &s;halt compa&s;&s;e me about with &s;ongs of de|liverance. <HI>pa. 601</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.8.</HI> I will in&s;truct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou &s;halt goe, I will guide thee with mine eye. <HI>pa. 609</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.9.</HI> Be not as the Hor&s;e, or the Mule, which have no under&s;tanding; who&s;e mouth mu&s;t be held in with bit and bridle, le&s;t they come neere unto thee. <HI>p. 619</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LXIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 32.10, 11.</HI> Many &s;orrows &s;hall be to the wicked; But he that tru&s;teth in the Lord, Mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e him about.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Be glad in the Lord, and rejoyce ye righteous; And &s;hout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. <HI>pa. 629</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LXIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 51.7.</HI> Purge me with Hy&s;&s;ope, and I &s;hall be cleane; wa&s;h me, and I &s;hall be whi|ter then &s;now. <HI>pa. 639</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 62.9.</HI> Surely men of low degree are vanitie, and men of high degree are a lie; To be laid in the balance, they are altoge|ther lighter then vanity. <HI>pa. 643</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXVI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 63.7.</HI> Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t been my help, Therefore in the &s;hadow of thy wings will I rejoyce. <HI>pa. 663</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXVII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 64.10.</HI> And all the upright in heart &s;hall glory. <HI>pa. 673</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXVIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 65.5.</HI> By terrible things in righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e wilt thou an&s;wer us, O God of our &s;alvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are a far off upon the Sea. <HI>pa. 683</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 66.3.</HI> Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Through the great|ne&s;&s;e of thy Power &s;hall thine Enemies &s;ub|mit them&s;elves unto thee. <HI>pa. 695</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PROV. 25.16.</HI> Ha&s;t thou found Honey? eat &s;o much as is &s;ufficient for thee, le&s;t thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. <HI>709</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXI. &amp; LXXII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>MAT. 4.18, 19, 20.</HI> And Ie&s;us walking by the Sea of Galile, &s;aw two brethren, Si|mon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, ca&s;ting a net into the Sea, (for they were fi&s;hers.)</ITEM>
<ITEM>And he &s;aith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fi&s;hers of men.</ITEM>
<ITEM>And they &s;traightway left their nets and fol|lowed him. <HI>pa. 717. &amp; 726</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 14.2.</HI> In my Fathers hou&s;e are many Man&s;ions; If it were not &s;o, I would have told you. <HI>pa. 737</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXIV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 144.15.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed are the people that be &s;o; Yea ble&s;&s;ed are the people, who&s;e God is the Lord. <HI>pa. 749</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>ESAY 32.8.</HI> But the liberall devi&s;eth libe|rall things, and by liberall things he &s;hall &s;tand. <HI>pa. 758</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXVI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>MARK 16.16.</HI> He that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned. <HI>pa. 766</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXVII. &amp; LXXVIII.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1 COR. 15.29.</HI> El&s;e, what &s;hall they doe
<PB REF="16">which are baptized for the dead? if the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they then bap|tized for the dead? <HI>pa. 777. &amp; 790</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXIX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>PSAL. 90.14.</HI> O &s;atisfie us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes. <HI>pa. 803</HI></ITEM>
<LABEL>SERM. LXXX.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>JOHN 11.21.</HI> Lord, if thou had&s;t been here, my brother had not dyed. <HI>pa. 816</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="imprimatur">
<PB REF="17">
<P>NOVEMB. 29. 1639.</P>
<P>Imprimatur, THO: BROUN.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="Christmas" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="17">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon Chri&s;tmas-day.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="18">
<PB N="1" REF="18">
<HEAD>SERMON I. PREACHED AT S^t^. PAVLS, <HI>upon</HI> Chri&s;tmas <HI>day.</HI> 1622.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Colo&s;&s;. 1.19, 20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For, it plea&s;ed <HI>the Father,</HI> that in him &s;hould all fulne&s;&s;e dwell; And, having made peace through the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e, by Him, to reconcile all things to him&s;elfe, by Him, whether they be things in Earth, or things in heaven.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THE whole journey of a Chri&s;tian is in the&s;e words; and therefore we were better &s;et out early, then ride too fa&s;t; bet|ter enter pre&s;ently into the parts, then be forced to pa&s;&s;e tho|row them too ha&s;tily. Fir&s;t then wee con&s;ider the Collation and Reference of the Text, and then the Illation, and Infe|rence thereof. For, the Text looks back to all that was &s;aid from the twelfth ver&s;e. For, the fir&s;t word of the text, <HI>[For]</HI> which is a particle of connexion, as well as of argumentation, is a &s;eale of all that was &s;aid from that place. And then, the Text looks forward to the 23 <HI>ver.</HI> where all the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings are &s;ealed to us, with that Condition, <HI>If ye continue &s;etled in the Go&s;pell.</HI> This is the Colla|tion, the Reference of the text; for the Illation, and Inference, the fir&s;t clau&s;e thereof, <HI>[For, it plea&s;ed the Father, that in him &s;hould all fulne&s;&s;e dwell]</HI> pre&s;ents a double In&s;tru|ction; Fir&s;t, that we are not bound to accept matters of Religion, meerely without all rea&s;on, and probable inducements; And &s;econdly, with what mode&s;ty we are to pro|ceed, and in what bounds we are to limit that inqui&s;ition, that &s;earch of Rea&s;on in matters of that nature. When the Apo&s;tle pre&s;ents to us here, the great my&s;tery of our reconci|liation to God, he, in who&s;e power it was not to infu&s;e faith into every reader of his Epi|&s;tle, proceeds by rea&s;on. He tels us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 13.</NOTE> <HI>That the Father hath tran&s;lated us into the Kingdome of his deare Son, the Son of his love.</HI> That were well, if we were &s;ure of it; If our con&s;ci|ences did not accu&s;e us, and &s;ugge&s;t to us our owne unworthine&s;&s;e, and thereby an im|po&s;&s;ibility of being &s;o tran&s;lated. Why no, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 14.</NOTE> there is no &s;uch impo&s;&s;ibi|lity now, For, <HI>Now we have Redemption, and forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;innes.</HI> Who &s;hould procure us that? <HI>If a man &s;in again&s;t God, who &s;hall plead for him?</HI> What man is able to mediate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2.25.</NOTE> and &s;tand in the gap between God and man? You &s;ay true, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, no man is able to doe it; and therefore, <HI>He that is the Image of the invi&s;ible God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 15.</NOTE> <HI>he by whom all things were created, and by whom all things con&s;i&s;t, he hath done it.</HI> Hath God reconciled me to God; And reconciled me by way of &s;atisfaction? (for, that I know his ju&s;tice requires) What could God pay for me? What could God &s;uffer? God him&s;elfe could not;<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 18.</NOTE> and therefore God hath taken a body that could. <HI>And as he is the Head of that body,</HI> he is pa&s;|&s;ible, &s;o he may &s;uffer; And, as he is the fir&s;t born of the dead, he did &s;uffer; &s;o that he was
<PB N="2" REF="19">defective in nothing; not in Power, as God, not in pa&s;&s;ibility, as man; for, <HI>Complacuit; It plea&s;ed the Father, that in him, All fulne&s;&s;e</HI> (a full capacity to all purpo&s;es) <HI>&s;hould dwell.</HI> Thus farre we are to trace the rea&s;on of our redemption, intimated in that fir&s;t word, <HI>For.</HI> And then, we are to limit and determine our rea&s;on in the next, <HI>Quia complacuit,</HI> becau&s;e it was his will, his plea&s;ure to proceed &s;o, and no otherwi&s;e. Chri&s;t him&s;elfe goes no far|ther then &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.25.</NOTE> in a ca&s;e of much &s;trangene&s;&s;e, <HI>That God had hid his my&s;teries from the wi&s;e, and revealed them unto babes;</HI> This was a &s;trange cour&s;e, but <HI>Ita e&s;t, quia,</HI> Even &s;o, Father, for &s;o it &s;eemed good in thy &s;ight. I would faine be able to prove to my &s;elfe that my re|demption is accompli&s;hed; and therefore I &s;earch the Scriptures; and I grow &s;ure that Chri&s;t hath redeemed the world; and I &s;earch the Scriptures again, to finde what marks are upon them, that are of the participation of that Redemption, and I grow to a religi|ous, and mode&s;t a&s;&s;urance, that tho&s;e marks are upon me. I finde rea&s;ons to prove to me, that God does love my &s;oule; but why God &s;hould love men better then his own Son, or why God &s;hould love me better then other men, I mu&s;t end in the rea&s;on of the text, <HI>Quia complacuit,</HI> and in the rea&s;on of Chri&s;t him&s;elf, <HI>Ita e&s;t, quia,</HI> It is &s;o, O Father, becau&s;e thy good plea&s;ure was it &s;hould be &s;o.</P>
<P>To pa&s;&s;e then from the Collation and Reference,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> by which, the text hath his Cohae|rence with the precedent, and &s;ub&s;equent pa&s;&s;ages, and the Illation and Inference, by which you have &s;eene the generall doctrine, That rea&s;on is not to be excluded in religi|on, but yet to be tenderly and mode&s;tly pre&s;&s;ed, we have here the Per&s;on that redeemed us, and his Qualification for that great office, <HI>(That all fulne&s;&s;e &s;hould dwell in him.)</HI> And then we have the Pacification, and the Meanes thereof, <HI>(Peace was made through the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e)</HI> And then, the Effect, the application of all this, to them, for whom it was wrought, <HI>(That all things in earth and heaven, might be reconciled to God by him.)</HI> In the qualification of the per&s;on, we finde <HI>plenitudinem,</HI> fulne&s;&s;e, and <HI>omnem plenitudinem,</HI> all fulne&s;&s;e; and <HI>omnem plenitudinem inhabitantem,</HI> all fulne&s;&s;e dwelling, permanent. And yet, even this dwelling fulne&s;&s;e, even in this per&s;on Chri&s;t Je&s;us, by no title of merit in him&s;elfe, but onely <HI>quia complacuit,</HI> becau&s;e it plea&s;ed the Father it &s;hould be &s;o. In the pacification, (which is our &s;econd part) <HI>(Peace was made, by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e)</HI> we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, <HI>quod bellum,</HI> what the warre was, and then <HI>quae pax,</HI> what the peace is, and la&s;tly <HI>quis modus,</HI> how this peace was made, which was &s;trange; <HI>per &s;anguinem,</HI> by bloud; to &s;ave bloud, and yet by bloud. And <HI>per &s;anguinem ejus,</HI> by his bloud, his, who was victo|riou&s;ly to triumph in this peace; and <HI>per &s;anguinem Crucis ejus,</HI> by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e, that is his death; the bloud of his Circumci&s;ion, the bloud of his Agony, the bloud of his &s;courging was not enough; It mu&s;t be, and &s;o it was the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e; And the&s;e peeces con&s;titute our &s;econd part, the Pacification: And then in the third, the Ap|plication, <HI>(That all things might be reconciled to God,)</HI> we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, what this Re|conciliation is, and then how it extends to all things on earth, (which we might thinke were not capable of it;) and all things in heaven, (which we might think &s;tood in no need of it.) And in the&s;e three parts, The per&s;on and his qualification, The thing it &s;elfe, The Pacification, The effect of this, The Reconciliation, the Application, wee &s;hall deter|mine all.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. <HI>Plenitudo.</HI></NOTE> In the per&s;on that redeemes us we finde fulne&s;&s;e. And there had need be &s;o; for, he found our mea&s;ure full of &s;in towards God, and Gods mea&s;ure full of anger towards us; for our parts, as when a River &s;wels, at fir&s;t it will finde out all the channels, or low|er parts of the bank, and enter there, but after a while it covers, and overflowes the whole field, and all is water without di&s;tinction; &s;o, though we be naturally channels of concu|pi&s;cencies, (for there &s;in begins, and as water runs naturally in the veines and bowels of the earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.5.</NOTE> &s;o run concupi&s;cencies naturally in our bowels) yet, <HI>when every imagination of the thoughts of our heart, is onely evill continually;</HI> Then, (as it did there) it induces a flood, a deluge, our concupi&s;cence &s;wells above all channels, and actually overflowes all; It hath found an i&s;&s;ue at the eare, we delight in the defamation of others; and an i&s;&s;ue at the eye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50.18. P&s;al. 12.4.</NOTE> <HI>If we &s;ee a thiefe, we run with him;</HI> we concurre in the plots of &s;upplanting and de|&s;troying other men; It hath found an i&s;&s;ue in the tongue, <HI>Our lips are our owne, who is Lord over us?</HI> We &s;peak freely; &s;editious &s;peeches again&s;t &s;uperiours, ob&s;cene and &s;cur|rile &s;peeches again&s;t one another, prophane and bla&s;phemous &s;peeches again&s;t God him|&s;elfe, are growne to be good je&s;ts, and marks of wit, and arguments of &s;pirit. It findes an i&s;&s;ue at our hands, they give way to oppre&s;&s;ion, by giving bribes; and an i&s;&s;ue at our
<PB N="3" REF="19">feet, They are &s;wift to &s;hed bloud; and &s;o by cu&s;tome, &s;in overflowes all, <HI>Omnia pontus,</HI> all our wayes are &s;ea, all our works are &s;in. This is our fulne&s;&s;e, originall &s;in filled us, actu|all &s;in pre&s;&s;es down the mea&s;ure, and habituall &s;ins heap it up. And then Gods mea&s;ure of anger was full too; from the beginning he was a jealous God, and that &s;hould have made us carefull of our behaviour, that a jealous eye watched over us. But becau&s;e wee &s;ee in the world, that jealous per&s;ons are oftne&s;t deceived, becau&s;e that di&s;temper di&s;or|ders them, &s;o as that they &s;ee nothing clearely, and it puts the greater de&s;ire in the other, to deceive, becau&s;e it is &s;ome kinde of Victory, and Triumph to deceive a jealous, and watchfull per&s;on, therefore we have hoped to goe beyond God too, and his jealou&s;ie. But he is jealous of his honour, jealous of his jealou&s;ie, he will not have his jealou&s;ie de|&s;pi&s;ed, nor forgotten, for therefore he vi&s;its upon the children, to the third and fourth ge|neration; when therefore the &s;pirit of jealou&s;ie was come upon him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 5.14.</NOTE> and that he had prepared that water of bitterne&s;&s;e, which was to rot our bowels, that is, when God had bent all his bowes, drawne forth, and whetted all his &s;words, when he was ju&s;tly provo|ked, to execute all the Judgements denounced in all the Prophets, upon all mankinde, when mans mea&s;ure was full of &s;in, and Gods mea&s;ure full of wrath, then was <HI>the ful|ne&s;&s;e of time,</HI> and yet then <HI>Complacuit,</HI> It plea&s;ed the Father, that there &s;hould be another fulne&s;&s;e to overflow all the&s;e, in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>But what fulne&s;&s;e is that? <HI>Omnis plenitudo, all fulne&s;&s;e.</HI> And this was onely in Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Omnis pleni|tudo.</HI> 2 Reg. 2.9. Acts 6.5. Acts 9.36.</NOTE> <HI>Elias</HI> had a great portion of the &s;pirit: but, but a portion. <HI>Elizaeus</HI> &s;ees that that portion will not &s;erve him, and therefore he asks a double portion of that &s;pirit; but &s;till but por|tions. <HI>Stephen</HI> is full of faith; a ble&s;&s;ed fulne&s;&s;e, where there is no corner for Infidelity, nor for doubt, for &s;cruple, nor irre&s;olution. <HI>Dorcas</HI> is full of good works; a fulne&s;&s;e above faith; for there mu&s;t be faith, before there can be good works; &s;o that they are above faith, as the tree is above the roote, and as the fruit is above the tree. The Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> is full of Grace; and Grace is a fulne&s;&s;e above both; above faith and works too, for that is the meanes to pre&s;erve both; That we fall not from our faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 10.1.</NOTE> and that dead flyes corrupt not our ointment, that worldly mixtures doe not vitiate our be&s;t works, and the memory of pa&s;t &s;ins, dead &s;ins, doe not beget new &s;ins in us, is the operation of Grace. The &s;eaven Deacons were full of the Holy Gho&s;t, and of Wi&s;edome;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 6.3.</NOTE> full of Religion towards God, and full of &s;uch wi&s;edome as might advance it towards men; full of zeale, and full of knowledge; full of truth, and full of di&s;cretion too. And the&s;e were <HI>plenitu|dines,</HI> fulne&s;&s;es, but they were not <HI>all, Omnis plenitudo, all fulne&s;&s;e.</HI> I &s;hall bee as full as St. <HI>Paul,</HI> in heaven; I &s;hall have as full a ve&s;&s;ell, but not &s;o full a Cellar; I &s;hall be as full, but I &s;hall not have &s;o much to fill. Chri&s;t onely hath an infinite content, and capacity, an infinite roome and receipt, and then an infinite fulne&s;&s;e; <HI>omnem capacitatem,</HI> and <HI>omnem plenitudinem;</HI> He would receive as much as could be infu&s;ed, and there was as much in|fu&s;ed, as he could receive.</P>
<P>But what &s;hall we &s;ay? <HI>Deus adimplendus;</HI> was Chri&s;t God before, and are the&s;e ac|ce&s;&s;ory, &s;upplementary, additionall fulne&s;&s;es to be put to him? A fulne&s;&s;e to be added to God? To make him a competent per&s;on to redeeme man, &s;omething was to be added to Chri&s;t, though he were God; wherein we &s;ee to our inexpre&s;&s;ible confu&s;ion of face, and con&s;ternation of &s;pirit, the incomprehen&s;iblene&s;&s;e of mans &s;in, that even to God him&s;elfe, there was required &s;omething el&s;e then God, before we could be redeemed; there was a fulne&s;&s;e to be added to God, for this work, to make it <HI>omnem plenitudinem,</HI> for Chri&s;t was God before; there was that fulne&s;&s;e; but God was not Chri&s;t before; there lacked that fulne&s;&s;e. Not di&s;puting therefore, what other wayes God might have taken for our re|demption, but giving him all po&s;&s;ible thanks for that way which his goodne&s;&s;e hath cho|&s;en, by the way of &s;atisfying his ju&s;tice, (for, how&s;oever I would be glad to be di&s;charged of my debts any way, yet certainly, I &s;hould think my &s;elfe more beholden to that man, who would be content to pay my debt for me, then to him that &s;hould entreat my cre|ditor to forgive me my debt) for this work, to make Chri&s;t able to pay this debt, there was &s;omething to be added to him. Fir&s;t, he mu&s;t pay it in &s;uch money as was lent; in the nature and fle&s;h of man; for man had &s;inned, and man mu&s;t pay. And then it was lent in &s;uch money as was coyned even with the Image of God; man was made according to his Image: That Image being defaced, in a new Mint, in the wombe of the Ble&s;&s;ed Vir|gin, there was new money coyned; The Image of the invi&s;ible God, the &s;econd per&s;on in the Trinity, was imprinted into the humane nature. And then, that there might bee
<PB N="4" REF="20"><HI>omnis plenitudo,</HI> all fulne&s;&s;e, as God, for the paiment of this debt, &s;ent downe the Bullion, and the &s;tamp, that is, God to be conceived in man, and as he provided the Mint, the womb of the Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, &s;o hath he provided an Exchequer, where this mony is i&s;&s;u|ed; that is his Church, where his merits &s;hould be applied to the di&s;charge of particular con&s;ciences.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;&s;. 2.9.</NOTE> So that here is one fulne&s;&s;e, that in this per&s;on dwelleth all the fulne&s;&s;e of the Godhead bodily. Here is another fulne&s;&s;e, that this per&s;on fulfilled all righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and &s;atisfied the Ju&s;tice of God by his &s;uffering;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Thren. 1.12.</NOTE> <HI>non e&s;t dolor &s;icut,</HI> there was no &s;orrow like unto his &s;orrow; It was &s;o full that it exceeded all others. And then there is a third ful|ne&s;&s;e, the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1.23.</NOTE> (which is his body, the fulne&s;&s;e of him, that filleth all in all) perfit God, there is the fulne&s;&s;e of his dignity; perfit man, there is the fulne&s;&s;e of his pa&s;&s;ibility; and a perfit Church, there is the fulne&s;&s;e of the di&s;tribution of his mercies, and merits to us. And this is <HI>omnis plenitudo,</HI> all fulne&s;&s;e; which yet is farther extended in the next word, <HI>Inhabitavit, It plea&s;ed the Father, that all fulne&s;&s;e &s;hould dwell in him.</HI></P>
<P>The Holy Gho&s;t appeared in the Dove,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inhabitavit. <HI>Remigius.</HI></NOTE> but he did not dwell in it. The Holy Gho&s;t hath dwelt in holy men, but not thus; So, as that ancient Bi&s;hop expre&s;&s;es it, <HI>Habitavit in Salomone per &s;apientiam,</HI> He dwelt in <HI>Salomon,</HI> in the &s;pirit of wi&s;edome; in <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> in the &s;pirit of cha&s;tity; in <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in the &s;pirit of meekne&s;&s;e; but <HI>in Chri&s;to, in plenitudine,</HI> in Chri&s;t, in all fulne&s;&s;e. Now this fulne&s;&s;e is not fully expre&s;&s;ed in the Hypo&s;taticall union of the two natures; God and Man in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t. For, (concerning the divine Nature) here was not a dram of glory in this union. This was a &s;trange fulne&s;&s;e, for it was a fulne&s;&s;e of emptine&s;&s;e; It was all Humiliation, all exinanition, all evacuation of him|&s;elfe, by his obedience to the death of the Cro&s;&s;e. But when it was done, <HI>Ne evacuaretur Crux Chri&s;ti,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.17.</NOTE> (as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks in another ca&s;e) le&s;t the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t &s;hould be evacuated, and made of none effect, he came to make this fulne&s;&s;e perfit, by in&s;tituting and e&s;tabli&s;hing a Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1. ult.</NOTE> <HI>The &s;pirit of the Lord &s;hall re&s;t upon him,</HI> &s;aies the Prophet, of Chri&s;t. There is a fulne&s;&s;e in generall, for his qualification; The Spirit of the Lord; but what kinde of &s;pirit? It followes, the &s;pirit of wi&s;edome and under&s;tanding, the Spirit of Coun&s;ell, and Power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the feare of the Lord; we &s;ee, the &s;pirit that mu&s;t re&s;t upon Chri&s;t, is the Spirit in tho&s;e beames, in tho&s;e functions, in tho&s;e operations,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> as conduce to government, that is, Wi&s;edome, and Coun&s;ell, and Power. So that this is Chri&s;ts fulne&s;&s;e, that he is in a continuall admini&s;tration of his Church; in which he flowes over upon us his Mini&s;ters;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.16.</NOTE> (for, <HI>of his fulne&s;&s;e have all we received, and grace for grace:</HI> that is, power by his grace, to derive grace upon the Congregation;) And &s;o, of his fulne&s;&s;e, all the Congregation receives too; and receives in that full mea|&s;ure, <HI>That they are filled with all the fulne&s;&s;e of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 3.19.</NOTE> that is, all the fulne&s;&s;e that was in both his natures, united in one per&s;on, when the fulne&s;&s;e of the Deity dwelt in him bodily, all the merits of that per&s;on, are derived upon us, in his Word, Sacraments, in his Church; which Church being to continue to the end, it is mo&s;t properly &s;aid <HI>habitavit,</HI> in him, (in him, as head of the Church) all fulne&s;&s;e, all meanes of &s;alvation, dwell, and are to be had permanently, con&s;tantly, infallibly.</P>
<P>Now how came Chri&s;t by all this fulne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Complacuit.</NOTE> this &s;uperlative fulne&s;&s;e in him&s;elfe, this derivative fulne&s;&s;e upon us? That his merits &s;hould be able to build, and furni&s;h &s;uch a hou&s;e, to rai&s;e and rectifie &s;uch a Church, acceptable to God, in which all fulne&s;&s;e &s;hould dwell to the worlds end? It was onely becau&s;e <HI>complacuit,</HI> it plea&s;ed God (for this per|&s;onall name of the Father <HI>(It plea&s;ed the Father)</HI> is but added &s;uppletorily by our Tran&s;la|tors, and is not in the Originall) It plea&s;ed God to give him wherewithall, to enable him &s;o farre, for, this <HI>complacuit,</HI> is, (as we &s;ay in the Schoole,) <HI>vox beneplaciti,</HI> it expre&s;&s;es onely the good will and love of God, without contemplation or fore&s;ight of any good|ne&s;&s;e in man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Catharin.</NOTE> <HI>nam hac po&s;ita plenitudine exorta &s;unt merita:</HI> Fir&s;t, we are to con&s;ider this fulne&s;&s;e to have been in Chri&s;t, and then, from this fulne&s;&s;e aro&s;e his merits; we can con&s;ider no merit in Chri&s;t him&s;elfe before, whereby he &s;hould merit this fulne&s;&s;e; for, this fulne&s;&s;e was in him, before he merited any thing; and but for this fulne&s;&s;e, he had not &s;o merited.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Ille homo, ut in unitatem filii Dei a&s;&s;umeretur, unde meruit?</HI> How did that man, (&s;ayes St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaking of Chri&s;t, as of the &s;on of man) how did that man me|rit to be united in one per&s;on, with the eternall Son of God? <HI>Quid egit ante? Quid cre|didit?</HI> What had he done? nay, what had he beleeved? Had he eyther faith, or works, before that union of both natures? If then in Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, there were no <HI>praevi&s;a merita,</HI> That Gods fore-&s;ight, that he would u&s;e this fulne&s;&s;e well, did not work in
<PB N="5" REF="20">God, as a cau&s;e to give him this fulne&s;&s;e, but becau&s;e hee had it of the free gift of God, therefore he did u&s;e it well, and meritoriou&s;ly, &s;hall any of us be &s;o frivolous, in &s;o impor|tant a matter, as to think that God gave us our mea&s;ure of grace, or our mea&s;ure of Sancti|fication, becau&s;e he fore-&s;aw that we would heap up that mea&s;ure, and employ that ta|lent profitably? What can&s;t thou imagine, he could fore-&s;ee in thee? A propen&s;ne&s;&s;e, a di&s;po&s;ition to goodne&s;&s;e, when his grace &s;hould come? Eyther there is no &s;uch pro|pen&s;ne&s;&s;e, no &s;uch di&s;po&s;ition in thee, or, if there be, even that propen&s;ne&s;&s;e and di&s;po|&s;ition to the good u&s;e of grace, is grace, it is an effect of former grace, and his grace wrought, before he &s;aw any &s;uch propen&s;ne&s;&s;e, any &s;uch di&s;po&s;ition; Grace was fir&s;t, and his grace is his, it is none of thine. To end this point, and this part, <HI>non e&s;t di&s;cipulus &s;upra magi&s;trum;</HI> The fulne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe was rooted in the <HI>complacuit,</HI> It plea&s;ed the Father; (nothing el&s;e wrought in the nature of a Cau&s;e) and therefore that mea&s;ure of that fulne&s;&s;e, which is derived upon us, from him, (our vocation, our ju&s;tification, our &s;anctification) are much more &s;o; we have them, <HI>quia complacuit,</HI> becau&s;e it hath plea&s;ed him freely to give them; God him&s;elfe could &s;ee nothing in us, till he of his owne good|ne&s;&s;e, put it into us. And &s;o we have gone as farre, as our fir&s;t part carries us, in tho&s;e two branches, and the fruits which we have gathered from thence; Fir&s;t, tho&s;e generall do|ctrines, that rea&s;on is not to be excluded in matters of religion; and then, that rea&s;on in all tho&s;e ca&s;es, is to be limited, with the <HI>quia complacuit,</HI> meerly in the good plea&s;ure of God. In which fir&s;t part, you have al&s;o had, the qualification of the per&s;on, that came this day, to e&s;tabli&s;h Redemption for us, that in Him there was fulne&s;&s;e, (infinite capaci|ty, and infinite infu&s;ion,) and all fulne&s;&s;e, defective in nothing, (impa&s;&s;ible and yet pa&s;&s;ible, perfit God, and perfit man) and this fulne&s;&s;e dwelling in Him, in Him as he is Head of the Church, that is, vi&s;ible, &s;en&s;ible meanes of &s;alvation to every &s;oule in his Church; And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e to our &s;econd part, from this Qualification of the per&s;on, <HI>(It plea&s;ed the Father that in him all fulne&s;&s;e &s;hould dwell)</HI> to the Pacification it &s;elfe, for which it plea&s;ed the Father to doe all this, <HI>that Peace might be made through the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>In this Part, St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> hath made our &s;teps, our branches. It is much, &s;ayes he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> that God would admit any peace; <HI>magis, per &s;anguinem,</HI> more, that for peace he &s;hould require effu&s;ion of bloud; <HI>magis, quod per ejus,</HI> more, that it mu&s;t be His bloud, his that was injured, his that was to triumph; <HI>Et adhuc magis, quod per &s;anguinem Crucis ejus;</HI> That it mu&s;t be by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e, his heart bloud, his death; and yet this was the ca&s;e; <HI>He made Peace through the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e.</HI> There was then a warre before, and a heavy warre; for, the Lord of ho&s;ts was our enemy; and what can all our mu&s;ters come to,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellum ante.</NOTE> if the Lord of Ho&s;ts, of all Ho&s;ts have rai&s;ed his forces again&s;t us? There was a heavy war denounced in the <HI>Inimicitias ponam,</HI> when God rai&s;ed a warre betweene the Devill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15.</NOTE> and us. For, if we could con&s;ider God to &s;tand neutrall in that warre, and meddle with neither &s;ide, yet we were in a de&s;perate ca&s;e, to be put to fight again&s;t Powers and Principalities, again&s;t the Devill. How much more, when God, the Lord of Ho&s;ts, is the Lord even of that Ho&s;t too? when God pre&s;&s;es the Devill, and makes the Devill his Soldier, to fight his battles, and directs his arrowes, and his bullets, and makes his approaches, and his attempts effectuall upon us. That which is fallen upon the Jews now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> for their &s;inne again&s;t Chri&s;t, that there is not in all the world, a Soldier of their race, not a Jew in the world that beares armes, is true of all mankinde for their &s;in again&s;t God; there is not a Soldier among&s;t them, able to hurt his &s;pirituall enemy or defend him&s;elfe. It is a &s;trange warre, where there are not two &s;ides; and yet that is our ca&s;e; for, God u&s;es the Devill again&s;t us, and the Devill u&s;es us again&s;t one another; nay, he u&s;es every one of us, again&s;t our &s;elves; &s;o that God, and the Devill, and we, are all in one Army, and all for our de&s;truction; we have a warre, and yet there is but one Army, and we onely are the Countrey that is fed upon, and wa&s;ted; From God to the Devill we have not one friend, and yet, as though we lacked enemies, we fight with one another in inhumane Duels; <HI>Vbi morimur homicidae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad milites Templa: Ser. 1. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"></NOTE> (as St. <HI>Bernard</HI> expre&s;&s;es it powerfully and elegantly) that in tho&s;e Duels and Combats, he that is murdered dyes a murderer, becau&s;e he would have beene one; <HI>Occi&s;or laethaliter peccat, occi&s;us aeternaliter perit;</HI> He that comes alive out of the field comes a dead man, becau&s;e he comes a deadly &s;inner, and he that remaines dead in the field, is gone into an everla&s;ting death. So that by this inhumane effu&s;ion of one anothers bloud, we maintaine a warre again&s;t God him&s;elfe, and we provoke him to that which he expre&s;&s;es in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> My &s;word &s;hall be bathed in heaven; <HI>Inebriabitur &s;anguine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 34.5.</NOTE> The
<PB N="6" REF="21" MS="y">&s;word of the Lord &s;hall be made drunk with bloud; Their land &s;hall be &s;oaked with bloud, and their du&s;t made fat with fatne&s;&s;e. The &s;ame quarrell, which God hath again&s;t particular men, and particular Nations, for particular &s;innes, God hath again&s;t all Man|kinde, for <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in. And there is the warre. But what is the peace, and how are we included in that? That is our &s;econd and next di&s;qui&s;ition, <HI>That peace might be made.</HI></P>
<P>A man mu&s;t not pre&s;ently think him&s;elfe included in this peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pax.</NOTE> becau&s;e he feeles no effects of this warre. If God draw none of his &s;words of warre, or famine, or pe&s;tilence, upon thee, (no outward warre,) If God rai&s;e not a rebellion in thy &s;elfe, nor fight again&s;t thee with thine owne affections, in colluctations betweene the fle&s;h, and the &s;pirit; The warre may la&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gellius.</NOTE> for all this. <HI>Induciarum tempore, bellum manet, licet pugna ce&s;&s;et;</HI> Though there be no blow &s;triken, the warre remaines in the time of Truce. But thy ca&s;e is not &s;o good; here is no Truce, no ce&s;&s;ation, but a continuall preparation to a fiercer warre. All this while that thou enjoye&s;t this imaginary &s;ecurity, the Enemy digges in&s;en&s;ibly un|der ground, all this while he undermines thee, and will blow thee up at la&s;t more irreco|verably, then if he had battered thee with outward calamities all that time. So any State may be abu&s;ed with a fal&s;e peace pre&s;ent, or with a fruitle&s;&s;e expectation of a future peace. But in this text, there is true peace, and peace already made; pre&s;ent peace, and and &s;afe peace.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> <HI>Pax non promi&s;&s;a, &s;ed mi&s;&s;a,</HI> (&s;ayes St. <HI>Bernard,</HI> in his mu&s;icall and harmo|nious cadences,) not promi&s;ed, but already &s;ent; <HI>non dilata, &s;ed data,</HI> not treated, but con|cluded; <HI>Non prophetata, &s;ed prae&s;entata,</HI> not prophe&s;ied, but actually e&s;tabli&s;hed. There is the pre&s;entne&s;&s;e thereof; And then, made by him, who lacked nothing for the making of a &s;afe peace;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.6.</NOTE> For, after his Names of Coun&s;ellor, and of the Mighty God; he is called, for the con&s;ummation of all, <HI>princeps pacis;</HI> A Coun&s;ellor, There is his wi&s;dome, A mighty God, There is his Power: and this Coun&s;ellor, This Mighty God, this wi&s;e, and this pow|erfull Prince, hath undertaken to make our peace; But how, that is next, <HI>per &s;anguinem, Peace being made by bloud.</HI></P>
<P>Is effu&s;ion of bloud the way of peace?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Per &s;angui|nem.</NOTE> effu&s;ion of bloud may make them from whom bloud is &s;o abundantly drawne, glad of peace, becau&s;e they are thereby reduced to a weakne&s;&s;e. But in our warres, &s;uch a weakne&s;&s;e puts us farther off from peace, and puts more fiercene&s;&s;e in the Enemy. But here, mercy and truth are met together; God would be true to his owne Ju&s;tice, (bloud was forfeited, and he would have bloud) and God would be mercifull to us, he would make us the &s;tronger by drawing bloud, and by drawing our be&s;t bloud,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 34.</NOTE> the bloud of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. <HI>Simeon</HI> and <HI>Levi,</HI> when they medita|ted their revenge for the rape committed upon their &s;i&s;ter, when they pretended peace, yet they required a little bloud: They would have the <HI>Sichemites</HI> circumci&s;ed: but when they had opened a veyne, they made them bleed to death; when they were under the &s;orene&s;&s;e of Circumci&s;ion, they &s;lew them all. Gods ju&s;tice required bloud, but that bloud is not &s;pilt, but poured from that head to our hearts, into the veines, and wounds of our owne &s;oules: There was bloud &s;hed, but no bloud lo&s;t. Before the Law was thorowly e&s;tabli&s;hed, when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> came downe from God, and deprehended the people, in that Idolatry to the Calfe, before he would pre&s;ent him&s;elfe as a Mediator betweene God and them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.28. &amp; 32.</NOTE> for that &s;inne, he prepares a &s;acrifice of bloud, in the execution of three thou&s;and of tho&s;e Idolaters, and after that he came to his vehement prayer, in their be|halfe. And in the &s;trength of the Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9 22.</NOTE> all things were purged with bloud, and without bloud there is no remi&s;&s;ion. Whether we place the rea&s;on of this in Gods Ju&s;tice, which required bloud, or whether we place it in the conveniency, that bloud being ordinarily re|ceived to be <HI>&s;edes animae,</HI> the &s;eat and re&s;idence of the &s;oule; The &s;oule, for which, that expiation was to be, could not be better repre&s;ented, nor purified, then in the &s;tate, and &s;eat of the &s;oule, in bloud; or whether we &s;hut up our &s;elves in an humble &s;obriety, to in|quire into the rea&s;ons of Gods actions, thus we &s;ee it was, no peace, no remi&s;&s;ion, but in bloud. Nor is that &s;o &s;trange, as that which followes in the next place, <HI>per &s;anguinem ejus, by his bloud.</HI></P>
<P>Before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Per &s;angui|nem ejus. <HI>P&s;al. 50.10.</HI></NOTE> under the Law, it was in <HI>&s;anguine hircorum, &amp; vitulorum;</HI> In the bloud of Goats, and Bullocks; here it is in <HI>&s;anguine ejus,</HI> in his bloud. Not his, as he claims all the bea&s;ts of the forre&s;t, all the cattle upon a thou&s;and hils, and all the fowles of the moun|taines to be his; not his, as he &s;ayes of Gold and Silver, The Silver is mine, and the Gold is mine;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hag. 2.8.</NOTE> not his, as he is Lord, and proprietary of all, by Creation; &s;o all bloud is his; no nor his, as the bloud of all the Martyrs was his bloud, (which is a neare relation and con|&s;anguinity)
<PB N="7" REF="21" MS="y">but his &s;o, as it was the precious bloud of his body, the &s;eat of his &s;oule, the matter of his &s;pirits, the knot of his life, This bloud he &s;hed for me; and I have bloud to &s;hed for him too, though he call me not to the tryall, nor to the glory of Martyrdome. <HI>Sanguis animae meae voluntas mea,</HI> The bloud of my &s;oule is my will;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>Scindatur vena ferro compunctionis,</HI> open a veine with that knife, remorce, compunction, <HI>ut &s;i non &s;en&s;us, certe con&s;en&s;us peccati effluat,</HI> That though thou can&s;t not bleed out all motions to &s;inne, thou mai&s;t all con&s;ent thereunto. <HI>Noli e&s;&s;e nimium ju&s;tus; noli &s;apere plus quam oportet;</HI> St. <HI>Ber|nard</HI> makes this u&s;e of tho&s;e Coun&s;els, <HI>Be not righteous overmuch, nor be not overwi&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecce&s;. 7.16.</NOTE> <HI>Cui putas venae parcendum, &s;i ju&s;titia &amp; &s;apientia egent minutione,</HI> what veine mai&s;t thou &s;pare, if thou mu&s;t open tho&s;e two veines, righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and wi&s;edome? If they may be &s;uperfluou&s;ly abundant, if thou mu&s;t bleed out &s;ome of thy Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and &s;ome of thy wi&s;edome, <HI>cui venae parcendum,</HI> at what veine mu&s;t thou not bleed?<NOTE PLACE="marg">To&s;tat. in Le|vit. fo. 45. D.</NOTE> Now in all &s;acri|fices, where bloud was to be offerd, the fat was to be offerd to. If thou wilt &s;acrifice the bloud of thy &s;oule, (as St. <HI>Bernard</HI> cals the will) &s;acrifice the fat too; If thou give over thy purpo&s;e of continuing in thy &s;in, give over the memory of it, and give over all that thou po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e&s;t unju&s;tly, and corruptly got by that &s;inne; el&s;e thou keepe&s;t the fat from God, though thou give him the bloud. If God had given over at his &s;econd daies work, we had had no &s;unne, no &s;ea&s;ons; If at his fift, we had had no beeing; If at the &s;ixt, no Sabbath; but by proceeding to the &s;eventh, we are all, and we have all. <HI>Naaman,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 5.14.</NOTE> who was out of the covenant, yet, by wa&s;hing in Jordan &s;even times, was cured of his lepro|&s;ie; &s;eaven times did it even in him, but le&s;&s;e did not.<NOTE PLACE="marg">To&s;tat. in Le|vit. 4. q. 16.</NOTE> The Prie&s;t in the Law u&s;ed a &s;even-fold &s;prinkling of bloud upon the Altar; and we ob&s;erve a &s;even-fold &s;hedding of bloud in Chri&s;t; In his Circumci&s;ion, and in his Agony, in his fulfilling of that Prophe&s;ie; <HI>gen as vellicantibus,</HI> I gave my cheeks to them, that plucked off the haire, and in his &s;courging;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 50.6.</NOTE> in his crowning, and in his nayling, and la&s;tly, in the piercing of his &s;ide. The&s;e &s;even channels hath the bloud of thy Saviour found. Poure out the bloud of thy &s;oule, &s;acri|fice thy &s;tubborne and rebellious will &s;eaven times too; &s;eaven times, that is, every day; and &s;eaven times every day; for &s;o often a ju&s;t man falleth; And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 24.16.</NOTE> how low mu&s;t that man lie at la&s;t, if he fall &s;o often, and never ri&s;e upon any fall? and therefore rai&s;e thy &s;elf as often, and as &s;oone as thou falle&s;t. <HI>Iericho</HI> would not fall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;. 6.</NOTE> but by being compa&s;&s;ed &s;ea|ven dayes, and &s;eaven times in one day. Compa&s;&s;e thy &s;elfe, comprehend thy &s;elfe, &s;ea|ven times, many times, and thou &s;halt have thy lo&s;&s;e of bloud &s;upplied with better bloud, with a true &s;en&s;e of that peace, which he hath already made, and made by bloud, and by his owne bloud, and <HI>by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e,</HI> which is the la&s;t branch of this &s;econd part.</P>
<P>Greater love hath no man, then to lay downe his life for his friend, yet he that &s;aid &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Crux.</HI> Joh. 15.13.</NOTE> did more then &s;o, more then lay downe his life, (for he expo&s;ed it to violences, and tor|ments) and all that for his enemies. But doth not the nece&s;&s;ity dimini&s;h the love? where a te&s;tament is, there mu&s;t al&s;o of nece&s;&s;ity be the death of the te&s;tator:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.16.</NOTE> was there then a nece&s;&s;ity in Chri&s;ts dying? &s;imply a nece&s;&s;ity of coaction there was not; &s;uch as is in the death of other men, naturall, or violent by the hand of Ju&s;tice. There was nothing more arbitrary, more voluntary, more &s;pontaneous then all that Chri&s;t did for man. And if you could con&s;ider a time, before the contract between the Father, and him, had pa&s;&s;ed, for the redemption of man by his death, we might &s;ay, that then there was no nece&s;&s;ity upon Chri&s;t, that he mu&s;t dye; But becau&s;e that contract was from all eternity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 24.26.</NOTE> &s;uppo|&s;ing that contract, that this peace was to be made by his death, there entred the <HI>oportuit pati,</HI> That Chri&s;t ought to &s;uffer all the&s;e things, and to enter into his glory. And &s;o, as for his death, &s;o for the manner of his death, <HI>(by the Cro&s;&s;e)</HI> it was not of ab&s;olute nece&s;|&s;ity, and yet it was not by ca&s;ualty neither, not becau&s;e he was to &s;uffer in that Nation, which did ordinarily puni&s;h &s;uch Malefactors, (&s;uch as he was accu&s;ed to be) &s;editious per&s;ons, with that manner of death, but all this proceeded <HI>ex pacto,</HI> thus the contract led it, to this he was obedient, obedient unto death, and unto the death of the Cro&s;&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.8.</NOTE> By bloud, and not onely by comming into this world, and a&s;&s;uming our nature, (which hu|miliation was an act of infinite value) and not by the bloud of his Circumci&s;ion or Ago|ny, but bloud to death, and by no gentler, nor nobler death, then the death of the Cro&s;&s;e, was this peace to be made by him. Though then one drop of his bloud had beene enough to have redeemed infinite worlds, if it had beene &s;o contracted, and &s;o applyed, yet he gave us, a morning &s;howre of his bloud in his Circumci&s;ion, and an evening &s;howre
<PB N="8" REF="22">at his pa&s;&s;ion, and a &s;howre after Sun&s;et, in the piercing of his &s;ide. And though any death had beene an incomprehen&s;ible ran&s;ome, for the Lord of life to have given, for the chil|dren of death, yet he refu&s;ed not the death of the Cro&s;&s;e; The Cro&s;&s;e, to which a bitter cur&s;e was nayled by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 21 23.</NOTE> from the beginning, he that is hanged, is, (not onely accur&s;ed of God, as our Tran&s;lation hath it,) but he is the cur&s;e of God, (as it is in the Originall) not accur&s;ed, but a cur&s;e; not a &s;imple cur&s;e, but the cur&s;e of God. And by the Cro&s;&s;e, which be&s;ides the Infamy, was &s;o painfull a death, as that many men langui&s;hed many dayes upon it, before they dyed: And by his bloud of this torture, and this &s;hame, this painfull, and this ignominious death, was this peace made. In our great work of crucify|ing our &s;elves to the world too, it is not enough to bleed the drops of a Circumci&s;ion, that is, to cut off &s;ome exce&s;&s;ive, and notorious practice of &s;in; nor to bleed the drops of an Agony, to enter into a conflict and colluctation of the fle&s;h and the &s;pirit, whether we were not better tru&s;t in Gods mercy, for our continuance in that &s;in, then lo&s;e all that plea|&s;ure and profit, which that &s;in brings us; nor enough to bleed the drops of &s;courging, to be la&s;hed with viperous, and venemous tongues by contumelies, and &s;landers; nor to bleed the drops of Thornes, to have Thornes and &s;cruples enter into our con&s;ciences, with &s;pirituall afflictions; but we mu&s;t be content to bleed the &s;treames of naylings to tho&s;e Cro&s;&s;es, to continue in them all our lives, if God &s;ee that nece&s;&s;ary for our con|firmation; and, if men will pierce and wound us after our deaths in our good name, yea, if they will &s;lander our Re&s;urrection, (as they did Chri&s;ts) if they will &s;ay, that it is im|po&s;&s;ible God &s;hould have mercy upon &s;uch a man, impo&s;&s;ible that a man of &s;o bad life, and &s;o &s;ad and comfortle&s;&s;e a death, &s;hould have a joyfull Re&s;urrection, here is our com|fort, as that piercing of Chri&s;ts &s;ide was after the <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> after his pa&s;&s;ion en|ded, and therefore put him to no paine, as that &s;lander of his Re&s;urrection, was after that glorious triumph; He was ri&s;en and had &s;hewed him&s;elfe before, and therefore it di|mini&s;hed not his power: &s;o all the&s;e po&s;thume wounds, and &s;landers after my death, after my God and my Soule &s;hall have pa&s;&s;ed that Dialogue, <HI>Veni Domine Ie&s;u,</HI> and <HI>euge bone &s;erve,</HI> That I &s;hall have &s;aid upon my death-bed, Come Lord Je&s;u, come quick|ly, and he &s;hall have &s;aid, Well done good and faithfull &s;ervant, enter into thy Ma&s;ters joy, when I &s;hall have &s;aid to him, <HI>In manus tuas Domine,</HI> Into thy hands O Lord I com|mend my &s;pirit, And he to me, <HI>Hodie mecum eris in paradi&s;o,</HI> This day, this minute thou &s;halt be, now thou art with me in Paradi&s;e, when this &s;hall be my &s;tate, God &s;hall heare their &s;landers and maledictions, and write them all downe, but not in my booke, but in theirs, and there they &s;hall meet them at Judgement, among&s;t their owne &s;innes, to their everla&s;ting confu&s;ion, and finde me in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that peace, made by bloud, made by his bloud, made by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e, which were all the peeces laid out for this &s;econd part, with which we have done; and pa&s;&s;e from the qualification of the per&s;on, <HI>(It plea&s;ed the Father that in him all fulne&s;&s;e &s;hould dwell)</HI> which was our fir&s;t part, and the Pacification, and the way thereof, <HI>(by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e to make peace)</HI> which was our &s;econd, to the Reconciliation it &s;elfe, and the Application thereof to all to whom that Reconciliation appertaines, <HI>That all things, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven, might be reconciled unto him.</HI></P>
<P>All this was done;<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> He, in whom <HI>it plea&s;ed the Father, that this fulne&s;&s;e &s;hould dwell,</HI> had made this peace by the bloud of his Cro&s;&s;e, and yet, after all this, the Apo&s;tle comes upon that Amba&s;&s;age,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.20.</NOTE> We pray ye, in Chri&s;ts &s;tead, that ye be reconciled to God; So that this Reconciliation in the Text, is a &s;ub&s;equent thing to this peace. The generall peace is made by Chri&s;ts death, as a generall pardon is given at the Kings comming; The Application of this peace is in the Church, as the &s;uing out of the pardon, is in the Office. <HI>Ioab</HI> made <HI>Ab&s;aloms</HI> peace with his Father; <HI>Bring the young man againe,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> to <HI>Ioab;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 14.22.2.28.24.16.</NOTE> but yet he was not reconciled to him, &s;o as that he &s;aw his face in two yeare. God hath &s;ounded a Retreat to the Battle, <HI>As I live, &s;aith the Lord, I would not the death of a &s;inner;</HI> He hath &s;aid to the de&s;troyer, It is enough, &s;tay now thy hand; He is pacified in Chri&s;t; and he hath bound the enemy in chaines. Now let us labour for our Reconci|liation; for all things are reconciled to him, in Chri&s;t, that is, offered a way of reconcili|ation. All things in heaven and earth, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle. And that is &s;o large, as that <HI>Origen</HI> needed not to have extended it to Hell too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> and conceive out of this place, a po&s;|&s;ibility, that the Devils them&s;elves &s;hall come to a Reconciliation with God. But to all in Heaven and Earth it appertaines. Con&s;ider we how.</P>
<PB N="9" REF="22">
<P>Fir&s;t then, there is a reconciliation of them in heaven to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In coelis.</NOTE> and then of them on earth to God, and then of them in heaven, and them in earth, to one another, by the blood of his Cro&s;&s;e. If we con&s;ider them in heaven, to be tho&s;e who are gone up to hea|ven from this world by death, they had the &s;ame reconciliation as we;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Animae.</NOTE> either by reach|ing the hand of faith forward, to lay hold upon Chri&s;t before he came, (which was the ca&s;e of all under the Law;) or by reaching back that hand, to lay hold upon all that hee had done and &s;uffered, when he was come, (which is the ca&s;e of tho&s;e that are dead be|fore us in the profe&s;&s;ion of the Go&s;pell.) All that are in heaven, and were upon earth, are reconciled one way, by application of Chri&s;t in the Church; &s;o that, though they be now in heaven, yet they had their reconciliation here upon earth. But if we con&s;ider tho&s;e who are in heaven, and have been &s;o from the fir&s;t minute of their creation, An|gels, why have they, or how have they any reconciliation? How needed they any, and then, how is this of Chri&s;t applyed unto them? They needed a confirmation; for the Angels were created in ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, but not in perfect ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; They might fall, they did fall. To tho&s;e that fell, can appertaine no reconciliation; no more then to tho&s;e that die in their &s;ins; for <HI>Quod homini mors, Angelis ca&s;us;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> The fall of the Angels wrought upon them, as the death of a man does upon him; They are both equally inca|pable of change to better. But to tho&s;e Angels that &s;tood, their &s;tanding being of grace, and their confirmation being not one tran&s;ient act in God done at once, but a continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, and emanation of daily grace, belongs this reconciliation by Chri&s;t, becau&s;e all matter of grace, and where any deficiency is to be &s;upplyed, whether by way of re|paration, as in man, or by way of confirmation, as in Angels, proceeds from the Cro&s;&s;e, from the Merits of Chri&s;t. They are &s;o reconciled then, as that they are <HI>extra lap&s;us pe|riculum,</HI> out of the danger of falling; but yet this &s;tability, this infallibility is not yet in|delibly imprinted in their natures; yet the Angels might fall, if this reconciler did not &s;u&s;tain them; for, if tho&s;e words <HI>reperit in Angelis iniquitatem,</HI> that God found folly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 4.18.</NOTE>(weakne&s;&s;e, infirmity) in his Angels, be to be under&s;tood of the good Angels, that &s;tand confirmed, (as <HI>procul dubio de diabolo intelligi non pote&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> without all doubt they cannot be under&s;tood of the ill Angels) the be&s;t &s;ervice of the be&s;t Angels, deve&s;ted of that &s;ucce&s;|&s;ive grace, that &s;upports them, if God &s;hould exacta rigorous account of it, could not be acceptable in the &s;ight of God; So the Angels have a pacification, and a reconciliation, le&s;t they &s;hould fall.</P>
<P>Thus things in heaven are reconciled to God by Chri&s;t; and things on earth too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">In terra.</NOTE> Fir&s;t the creature, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peakes; that is, other creatures then men. For, at the ge|nerall re&s;urrection, (which is rooted in the re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, and &s;o hath relation to him) the creature &s;hall be delivered from the bondage of corruption,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.21.</NOTE> into the glorious liberty of the children of God; for which, the whole creation groanes, and travailes in paine yet. This deliverance then from this bondage, the whole creature hath by Chri&s;t, and that is their reconciliation. And then are we reconciled by the blood of his Cro&s;&s;e, when having crucified our &s;elves by a true repentance, we receive the &s;eale of reconcilia|tion, in his blood in the Sacrament. But the mo&s;t proper, and mo&s;t litterall &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, is, that all things in heaven and earth, be reconciled to God, (that is, to his glo|ry, to a fitter di&s;po&s;ition to glorifie him) by being reconciled to another, in Chri&s;t; that in him, as head of the Church, they in heaven, and we upon earth, be united together as one body in the Communion of Saints. For, this text hath a conformity, and a harmony with that to the <HI>Ephe&s;ians,</HI> and in &s;en&s;e, as well as in words, is the &s;ame,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.10.</NOTE> <HI>That God might gather together in one, all things in Chri&s;t, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him;</HI> where the word which we tran&s;late <HI>(to gather)</HI> doth properly &s;ignifie <HI>reca|pitulare,</HI> to bring all things to their fir&s;t head, to Gods fir&s;t purpo&s;e; which was, that Angels, and men, united in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, might glorifie him eternally in the Kingdome of heaven. Then are things in heaven re&s;tored and reconciled, (&s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>) <HI>Cum quod ex Angelis lap&s;um e&s;t, ex hominibus redditur,</HI> when good men have repaired the ru|ine of the bad Angels, and filled their places. And then are things on earth re&s;tored, and reconciled, <HI>Cum praede&s;tinati &agrave; corruptionis vetu&s;tate renovantur, when Gods elect children are delivered from the corruptions of this world, to which, even they are &s;ubject here.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>Cum hu|miliati homines redeunt, unde Apo&s;tatae &s;uperbiendo ceciderunt,</HI> when men by humility are exalted, to tho&s;e places from which Angels fell by pride, then are all things in heaven and earth reconciled in Chri&s;t.</P>
<PB N="10" REF="23" MS="y">
<P>The blood of the &s;acrifices was brought by the high prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">To&s;tat. in Le|vit. 16.</NOTE> <HI>in &s;anctum &s;anctorum,</HI> into the place of greate&s;t holine&s;&s;e; but it was brought but once, <HI>in fe&s;to expiationis,</HI> in the fea&s;t of expiation; but, in the other parts of the Temple, it was &s;prinkled every day. The blood of the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath had his effect <HI>in &s;ancto &s;anctorum,</HI> even in the highe&s;t heavens, in &s;upplying their places that fell, in confirming them that &s;tood, and in uniting us and them, in him&s;elfe, as Head of all. In the other parts of the Temple it is to be &s;prinkled daily. Here, in the militant Church upon earth, there is &s;till a recon|ciliation to be made; not only toward one another, in the band of charity, but in our &s;elves. In our &s;elves we may finde things in heaven, and things on earth to reconcile. There is a heavenly zeale, but if it be not reconciled to di&s;cretion, there is a heavenly pu|rity, but if it be not reconciled to the bearing of one anothers infirmities, there is a hea|venly liberty, but if it be not reconciled to a care, for the prevention of &s;candall, All things in our heaven, and our earth are not reconciled in Chri&s;t. In a word, till the fle&s;h and the &s;pirit be reconciled, this reconciliation is not accompli&s;hed. For, neither &s;pirit, nor fle&s;h mu&s;t be de&s;troyed in us; a &s;pirituall man is not all &s;pirit, he is a man &s;till. But then is fle&s;h and &s;pirit reconciled in Chri&s;t, when in all the faculties of the &s;oule, and all the organs of the body we glorifie him in this world; for then, in the next world wee &s;hall be glorified by him, and with him, in &s;oule, and in body too, where we &s;hall bee thoroughly reconciled to one another, no &s;uits, no controver&s;ies; and thoroughly to the Angels;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.30. Luc. 20.36.</NOTE> when we &s;hall not only be <HI>&s;ieut Angeli,</HI> as the Angels in &s;ome one property, but <HI>aequales Angelis,</HI> equall to the Angels in all, for, <HI>Non erunt duae &s;ocietates Angelorum &amp; hominum,</HI> Men and Angels &s;hall not make two companies, <HI>&s;ed omnium beatitudo erit, uni adhaerere Deo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> this &s;hall be the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of them both, to be united in one head, Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>And the&s;e reconcilings are reconcilings enow; for the&s;e are all that are in heaven and earth. If you will reconcile things in heaven, and earth, with things in hell, that is a reconciling out of this Text. If you will mingle the &s;ervice of God, and the &s;ervice of this world, there is no reconciling of God and Mammon in this Text. If you will min|gle a true religion, and a fal&s;e religion, there is no reconciling of God and Belial in this Text. For the adhering of per&s;ons born within the Church of Rome, to the Church of Rome, our law &s;ayes nothing to them if they come; But for reconciling to the Church of Rome, by per&s;ons born within the Allegeance of the King, or for per&s;wading of men to be &s;o reconciled, our law hath called by an infamous and Capitall name of Trea&s;on, and yet every Tavern, and Ordinary is full of &s;uch Traitors. Every place from je&s;t to earne&s;t is filled with them; from the very &s;tage to the death-bed; At a Comedy they will per&s;wade you, as you &s;it, as you laugh, And in your &s;ickne&s;&s;e they will per&s;wade you, as you lye, as you dye. And not only in the bed of &s;ickne&s;&s;e, but in the bed of wan|tonne&s;&s;e they per&s;wade too; and there may be examples of women, that have thought it a fit way to gain a &s;oul, by pro&s;tituting them&s;elves, and by entertaining unlawfull love, with a purpo&s;e to convert a &s;ervant, which is &s;omewhat a &s;trange Topique, to draw ar|guments of religion from. Let me &s;ee a Dominican and a Je&s;uit reconciled, in doctrinall papi&s;try, for freewill and prede&s;tination, Let me &s;ee a French papi&s;t and an Italian papi&s;t reconciled in State-papi&s;try, for the Popes juri&s;diction, Let me &s;ee the Je&s;uits, and the &s;ecular prie&s;ts reconciled in England, and when they are reconciled to one another, let them pre&s;&s;e reconciliation to their Church. To end all, Tho&s;e men have their bodies from the earth, and they have their &s;oules from heaven; and &s;o all things in earth and heaven are reconciled: but they have their Doctrine from the Devill; and for things in hell, there is no peace made, and with things in hell, there is no reconciliation to be had by the blood of his Cro&s;&s;e, except we will tread that blood under our feet, and make a mock of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and crucifie the Lord of Life againe.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="11" REF="23" MS="y">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON II.</HI> Preached at <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Chri&s;tmas Day, in the Evening. <HI>1624.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ESAIAH. 7.14.</HI></BIBL>
<P><HI>Part of the fir&s;t Le&s;&s;on, that Evening.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore the Lord &s;hall give you a &s;igne; Behold, a Virgin &s;hall conceive, and beare a Son, and &s;hall call his name Immanuel.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_SAint <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;pent his con&s;ideration upon three remarkable conjunctions, this Day. Fir&s;t, a Conjunction of God, and Man in one per&s;on, Chri&s;t Je&s;us; Then a conjunction of the incompatible Titles, Maid and Mother, in one ble&s;&s;ed woman, the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary:</HI> And thirdly a conjunction of Faith, and the Rea&s;on of man, that &s;o beleeves, and comprehends tho&s;e two conjunctions. Let us accompany the&s;e three with another &s;trange conjunction, in the fir&s;t word of this Text, <HI>Propterea, Therefore;</HI> for that joynes the anger of God, and his mercy together. God chides and rebukes the King <HI>Achaz</HI> by the Prophet, he is angry with him, and <HI>Therefore,</HI> &s;ayes the Text, becau&s;e he is angry he will give him a &s;igne, a &s;eale of mercy, <HI>Therefore the Lord &s;hall give you a &s;igne, Behold, a Virgin, &amp;c.</HI> This <HI>There|fore,</HI> &s;hall therefore be a fir&s;t part of this Exerci&s;e, That God takes any occa&s;ion to &s;hew mercy; And a &s;econd &s;hall be, The particular way of his mercy, declared here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord &s;hall give you a &s;igne;</HI> And then a third and la&s;t, what this &s;igne was, <HI>Behold, a Vir|gin, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e three parts, we &s;hall walk by the&s;e &s;teps; Having made our entrance into the fir&s;t, with that generall con&s;ideration, that Gods mercy is alwaies in &s;ea&s;on, upon that &s;tation, upon that height we &s;hall look into the particular occa&s;ions of Gods mercy here, what this King <HI>Achaz</HI> had done to alien God, and to avert his mercy, and in tho&s;e two branches we &s;hall determine that part. In the &s;econd, we &s;hall al&s;o fir&s;t make this generall entrance, That God per&s;i&s;ts in his own waies, goes forward with his own pur|po&s;es, And then what his way, and his purpo&s;e here was, he would give them a &s;igne: and farther we &s;hall not extend that &s;econd part. In the third we have more &s;teps to make; Fir&s;t, what this &s;ign is in generall, it is, that there is a Redeemer given. And then how, thus; Fir&s;t, <HI>Virgo concipiet, a Virgin &s;hall conceive,</HI> &s;he &s;hall be a Virgin then; And <HI>Virgo pariet, a Virgin &s;hall bring forth,</HI> &s;he &s;hall be a Virgin then; And <HI>Pariet filium, &s;he &s;hall beare a Son,</HI> and therefore he is of her &s;ub&s;tance, not only man, but man of her; And this Virgin &s;hall call this Son <HI>Immanuel, God with us,</HI> that is, God and Man in one per&s;on. Though the Angel at the Conception tell <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> That he &s;hall call his name Je|&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.21.</NOTE> and tell <HI>Mary</HI> her &s;elfe, that &s;he &s;hall call his name Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 1.31.</NOTE> yet the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin her &s;elfe &s;hall have a further reach, a clearer illu&s;tration, <HI>She &s;hall call his name Immanuel, God with us:</HI> Others were called <HI>Ie&s;us, Io&s;uah</HI> was &s;o, divers others were &s;o; but, in the Scriptures there was never any but Chri&s;t called <HI>Immanuel.</HI> Though <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> &s;ignifie a Sa|viour, <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> was able to call this childe <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> upon a more peculiar rea&s;on, and way of &s;alvation then others who had that name, becau&s;e they had &s;aved the people from pre|&s;ent calamities, and imminent dangers; for, the Angel told <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> that he &s;hould there|fore be called <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>he &s;hould &s;ave the people from their &s;ins;</HI> and &s;o, no <HI>Io&s;uah,</HI> no other <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> was a <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> But the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin &s;aw more then this; not only that he &s;hould be &s;uch a <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> as &s;hould &s;ave them from their &s;ins, but &s;he &s;aw the manner how, that he &s;hould be <HI>Immanuel, God with us,</HI> God and man in one per&s;on; That &s;o, being Man, he might &s;uffer, and being God, that &s;hould give an infinite value to his &s;ufferings, according to the contract pa&s;&s;ed between the Father and him; and &s;o he &s;hould be <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> a Saviour, a Saviour from &s;in, and this by this way and meanes. And then that all this &s;hould be e&s;tabli&s;hed, and declared by an infallible &s;igne, with this <HI>Ecce, Behold;</HI> That
<PB N="12" REF="24">who&s;oever can call upon God by that name <HI>Immanuel,</HI> that is, confe&s;&s;e Chri&s;t to bee come in the fle&s;h, that Man &s;hall have an <HI>Ecce,</HI> a light, a &s;ign, a token, an a&s;&s;urance that this <HI>Immanuel,</HI> this Je&s;us, this Saviour belongs unto him, and he &s;hall be able to &s;ay, <HI>Ecce, Behold, mine eyes have &s;een thy &s;alvation.</HI></P>
<P>We begin with that which is elder then our beginning,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. P&s;al. 101.1.</NOTE> and &s;hall over-live our end, The mercy of God. <HI>I will &s;ing of thy mercy and judgement,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> when we fixe our &s;elves upon the meditation and modulation of the mercy of God, even his judge|ments cannot put us out of tune, but we &s;hall &s;ing, and be chearefull, even in them. As God made gra&s;&s;e for bea&s;ts, before he made bea&s;ts, and bea&s;ts for man, before he made man: As in that fir&s;t generation, the Creation, &s;o in the regeneration, our re-creating, he begins with that which was nece&s;&s;ary for that which followes, Mercy before Judge|ment. Nay, to &s;ay that mercy was fir&s;t, is but to po&s;t-date mercy; to preferre mercy but &s;o, is to dimini&s;h mercy; The names of fir&s;t or la&s;t derogate from it, for fir&s;t and la&s;t are but ragges of time, and his mercy hath no relation to time, no limitation in time, it is not fir&s;t, nor la&s;t, but eternall, everla&s;ting; Let the Devill make me &s;o far de&s;perate as to conceive a time whe~ there was no mercy, and he hath made me &s;o far an Athei&s;t, as to conceive a time when there was no God; if I de&s;poile him of his mercy, any one mi|nute, and &s;ay, now God hath no mercy, for that minute I di&s;continue his very Godhead, and his beeing. Later Grammarians have wrung the name of mercy out of mi&s;ery; <HI>Mi|&s;ericordia prae&s;umit mi&s;eriam,</HI> &s;ay the&s;e, there could be no &s;ub&s;equent mercy, if there were no precedent mi&s;ery; But the true roote of the word mercy, through all the Prophets, is <HI>Racham,</HI> and <HI>Racham</HI> is <HI>diligere,</HI> to love; as long as there hath been love (and <HI>God is love</HI>) there hath been mercy: And mercy con&s;idered externally, and in the practi&s;e and in the effect, began not at the helping of man, when man was fallen and become mi&s;era|ble, but at the making of man, when man was nothing. So then, here we con&s;ider not mercy as it is radically in God, and an e&s;&s;entiall attribute of his, but productively in us, as it is an action, a working upon us, and that more e&s;pecially, as God takes all occa&s;i|ons to exerci&s;e that action, and to &s;hed that mercy upon us: for particular mercies are feathers of his wings, and that prayer, <HI>Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our tru&s;t is in thee,</HI> is our birdlime; particular mercies are that cloud of Quailes which hovered over the ho&s;t of I&s;rael, and that prayer, <HI>Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us,</HI> is our net to catch, our Gomer to fill of tho&s;e Quailes. The aire is not &s;o full of Moats, of Atomes, as the Church is of Mercies; and as we can &s;uck in no part of aire, but we take in tho&s;e Moats, tho&s;e Atomes; &s;o here in the Congregation we cannot &s;uck in a word from the preach|er, we cannot &s;peak, we cannot &s;igh a prayer to God, but that that whole breath and aire is made of mercy. But we call not upon you from this Text, to con&s;ider Gods ordi|nary mercy, that which he exhibites to all in the mini&s;tery of his Church; nor his mi|raculous mercy, his extraordinary deliverances of States and Churches; but we call up|on particular Con&s;ciences, by occa&s;ion of this Text, to call to minde Gods occa&s;ionall mercies to them; &s;uch mercies as a regenerate man will call mercies, though a naturall man would call them accidents, or occurrences, or contingencies; A man wakes at mid-night full of unclean thoughts, and he heares a pa&s;&s;ing Bell; this is an occa&s;ionall mer|cy, if he call that his own knell, and con&s;ider how unfit he was to be called out of the world then, how unready to receive that voice, <HI>Foole, this night they &s;hall fetch away thy &s;oule.</HI> The adulterer, who&s;e eye waites for the twy-light, goes forth, and ca&s;ts his eyes upon forbidden hou&s;es, and would enter, and &s;ees a <HI>Lord have mercy upon us</HI> upon the doore; this is an occa&s;ionall mercy, if this bring him to know that they who lie &s;ick of the plague within, pa&s;&s;e through a furnace, but by Gods grace, to heaven; and hee without, carries his own furnace to hell, his lu&s;tfull loines to everla&s;ting perdition. What an occa&s;ionall mercy had <HI>Balaam,</HI> when his A&s;&s;e Catechized him? What an occa&s;ionall mercy had one Theefe, when the other catechized him &s;o, <HI>Art not thou afraid being un|der the &s;ame condemnation?</HI> What an occa&s;ionall mercy had all they that &s;aw that, when the Devil him&s;elf fought for the name of Je&s;us, and wounded the &s;ons of <HI>Sceva</HI> for exor|ci&s;ing in the name of Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 19.14.</NOTE> with that indignation, with that increpation, <HI>Ie&s;us we know, and Paul we know, but who are ye?</HI> If I &s;hould declare what God hath done (done occa&s;ional|ly) for my &s;oule, where he in&s;tructed me for feare of falling, where he rai&s;ed me when I was fallen, perchance you would rather fixe your thoughts upon my illne&s;&s;e, and won|der at that, then at Gods goodne&s;&s;e, and glorifie him in that; rather wonder at my &s;ins,
<PB N="13" REF="24" MS="y">then at his mercies, rather con&s;ider how ill a man I was, then how good a God he is. If I &s;hould inquire upon what occa&s;ion God elected me, and writ my name in the book of Life, I &s;hould &s;ooner be afraid that it were not &s;o, then finde a rea&s;on why it &s;hould be &s;o. God made Sun and Moon to di&s;tingui&s;h &s;ea&s;ons, and day, and night, and we cannot have the fruits of the earth but in their &s;ea&s;ons: But God hath made no decree to di&s;tin|gui&s;h the &s;ea&s;ons of his mercies; In paradi&s;e, the fruits were ripe, the fir&s;t minute, and in heaven it is alwaies Autumne, his mercies are ever in their maturity. We ask <HI>panem quetidianum,</HI> our daily bread, and God never &s;ayes you &s;hould have come ye&s;terday, he never &s;ayes you mu&s;t againe to morrow, but <HI>to day if you will heare his voice,</HI> to day he will heare you. If &s;ome King of the earth have &s;o large an extent of Dominion, in North, and South, as that he hath Winter and Summer together in his Dominions, &s;o large an extent Ea&s;t and We&s;t, as that he hath day and night together in his Dominions, much more hath God mercy and judgement together: He brought light out of dark|ne&s;&s;e, not out of a le&s;&s;er light; he can bring thy Summer out of Winter, though thou have no Spring; though in the wayes of fortune, or under&s;tanding, or con&s;cience, thou have been benighted till now, wintred and frozen, clouded and eclyp&s;ed, damped and benummed, &s;mothered and &s;tupified till now, now God comes to thee, not as in the dawning of the day, not as in the bud of the &s;pring, but as the Sun at noon to illu&s;trate all &s;hadowes, as the &s;heaves in harve&s;t, to fill all penuries, all occa&s;ions invite his mercies, and all times are his &s;ea&s;ons.</P>
<P>If it were not thus in generall, it would never have been &s;o in this particular, in our ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Achaz ca&s;e.</NOTE> in the Text, in King <HI>Achaz;</HI> If God did not &s;eeke occa&s;ion to doe good to all, he would never have found occa&s;ion to doe good to King <HI>Achaz.</HI> Subjects are to look upon the faults of Princes, with the &s;pectacles of obedience, and reverence, to their place, and per&s;ons; little and dark &s;pectacles, and &s;o their faults, and errors are to appeare little, and excu&s;able to them; Gods per&s;pective gla&s;&s;e, his &s;pectacle is the whole world; he looks not upon the Sun, in his &s;pheare onely, but as he works upon the whole earth: And he looks upon Kings, not onely what harme they doe at home, but what harme they occa|&s;ion abroad; &amp; through that &s;pectacle, the faults of Princes, in Gods eye, are multiplyed, farre above tho&s;e of private men. <HI>Achaz</HI> had &s;uch faults, and yet God &s;ought occa&s;ion of Mercy. <HI>Iotham,</HI> his Father, is called <HI>a good King,</HI> and yet all Idolatry was not remo|ved in his time, and he was a good King, for all that. <HI>Achaz</HI> is called <HI>ill,</HI> both becau&s;e him&s;elfe &s;acrificed Idolatrou&s;ly, (And the King was a commanding per&s;on) And be|cau&s;e he made the Prie&s;t <HI>Vriah</HI> to doe &s;o, (And the Prie&s;t was an exemplar per&s;on) And becau&s;e he made his Son commit the abominations of the heathen; (And the acti|ons of the Kings Son pierce far in leading others.) <HI>Achaz</HI> had the&s;e faults, and yet God fought occa&s;ion of mercy. <HI>If the evening skie be red,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.2.</NOTE> <HI>you promi&s;e your &s;elves a faire day,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t; you would not doe &s;o if the evening were black and cloudy: when you <HI>&s;ee the fields white with corne, you &s;ay harve&s;t is ready;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.35. E&s;ay 1.19.</NOTE> you would not doe &s;o if they were white with fro&s;t. <HI>If ye con&s;ent, and obey, you &s;hall eat the good things of the Land,</HI> &s;ayes God in the Prophet; &s;hall ye doe &s;o if you refu&s;e, and rebell? <HI>Achaz</HI> did, and yet God &s;ought occa&s;ion of mercy. There ari&s;e di&s;ea&s;es for which there is no <HI>probatum e&s;t,</HI> in all the bookes of Phy&s;itians; There is &s;carce any &s;in of which we have not had expe|riments of Gods mercies; He concludes with no &s;in, excludes no occa&s;ion, precludes no per&s;on: And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t part, Gods generall di&s;po&s;ition, for the Rule, declared in <HI>Achaz</HI> ca&s;e for the example.</P>
<P>Our &s;econd part con&s;i&s;ts of a Rule, and an Example too:<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> The Rule, That God goes forward in his own wayes, proceeds, as he begun, in mercy; The Example, what his proceeding, what his &s;ub&s;equent mercy to <HI>Achaz</HI> was. One of the mo&s;t convenient Hie|roglyphicks of God, is a Circle; and a Circle is endle&s;&s;e; whom God loves, hee loves to the end: and not onely to their own end, to their death, but to his end, and his end is, that he might love them &s;till. His haile&s;tones, and his thunder-bolts, and his &s;howres of bloud (emblemes and in&s;truments of his Judgements) fall downe in a direct line, and affect and &s;trike &s;ome one per&s;on, or place: His Sun, and Moone, and Starres, (Emblemes and In&s;truments of his Ble&s;&s;ings) move circularly, and communicate them|&s;elves to all. His Church is his chariot; in that, he moves more gloriou&s;ly, then in the Sun; as much more, as his begotten Son exceeds his created Sun, and his Son of glory, and of his right hand, the Sun of the firmament; and this Church, his chariot, moves in
<PB N="14" REF="25" MS="y">that communicable motion, circularly; It began in the Ea&s;t, it came to us, and is pa&s;&s;ing now, &s;hining out now, in the farthe&s;t We&s;t. As the Sun does not &s;et to any Nation, but withdraw it &s;elfe, and returne againe; God, in the exerci&s;e of his mercy, does not &s;et to thy &s;oule, though he benight it with an affliction. Remember that our Saviour Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, in many actions and pa&s;&s;ions of our humane nature, and infirmities, &s;mothered that Divinity, and &s;uffered it not to worke, but yet it was alwayes in him, and wrought mo&s;t powerfully in the deepe&s;t danger; when he was ab&s;olutely dead, it rai&s;ed him again: If Chri&s;t &s;lumbred the God-head in him&s;elfe, The mercy of God may be &s;lumbred, it may be hidden from his &s;ervants, but it cannot be taken away, and in the greate&s;t nece&s;|&s;ities, it &s;hall break out. The Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin was over&s;hadowed, but it was with the Holy Gho&s;t that over&s;hadowed her: Thine under&s;tanding, thy con&s;cience may be &s;o too, and yet it may be the work of the Holy Gho&s;t, who moves in thy darkne&s;&s;e, and will bring light even out of that, knowledge out of thine ignorance, clearne&s;&s;e out of thy &s;cruples, and con&s;olation out of thy Dejection of Spirit. <HI>God is thy portion,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David; David</HI> does not &s;peak &s;o narrowly, &s;o penuriou&s;ly, as to &s;ay, God hath given thee thy portion, and thou mu&s;t look for no more; but, <HI>God is thy portion,</HI> and as long as he is God, he hath more to give, and as long as thou art his, thou ha&s;t more to receive. Thou can&s;t not have &s;o good a Title, to a &s;ub&s;equent ble&s;&s;ing, as a former ble&s;&s;ing; where thou art an ancient tenant, thou wilt look to be preferred before a &s;tranger; and that is thy title to Gods future mercies, if thou have been formerly accu&s;tomed to them. The Sun is not weary with &s;ixe thou&s;and yeares &s;hining; God cannot be weary of doing good; And therefore never &s;ay, God hath given me the&s;e and the&s;e temporall things, and I have &s;cat|tered them wa&s;tfully, &s;urely he will give me no more; The&s;e and the&s;e &s;pirituall graces, and I have neglected them, abu&s;ed them, &s;urely he will give me no more; For, for things created, we have in&s;truments to mea&s;ure them; we know the compa&s;&s;e of a Meridian, and the depth of a Diameter of the Earth, and we know this, even of the uppermo&s;t &s;pheare in the heavens: But when we come to the Throne of God him&s;elfe, the Orbe of the Saints, and Angels that &s;ee his face, and the vertues, and powers that flow from thence, we have no balance to weigh them, no in&s;truments to mea&s;ure them, no hearts to conceive them: So, for temporall things, we know the mo&s;t that man can have; for we know all the world; but for Gods mercy, and his &s;pirituall graces, as that language in which God &s;pake, the Hebrew, hath no &s;uperlative, &s;o, that which he promi&s;es, in all that he hath &s;poken, his mercy hath no &s;uperlative; he &s;hewes no mercy, which you can call his Greate&s;t Mercy, his Mercy is never at the highe&s;t; what&s;oever he hath done for thy &s;oule, or for any other, in applying him&s;elfe to it, he can exceed that. Onely he can rai&s;e a Tower, who&s;e top &s;hall reach to heaven: The Ba&s;is of the highe&s;t building is but the Earth; But though thou be but a Tabernacle of Earth, God &s;hall rai&s;e thee peece by peece, into a &s;pirituall building; And after one Story of Creation, and another of Voca|tion, and another of Sanctification, he &s;hall bring thee up, to meet thy &s;elfe, in the bo&s;ome of thy God, where thou wa&s;t at fir&s;t, in an eternall election: God is a circle him&s;elfe, and he will make thee one; Goe not thou about to &s;quare eyther circle, to bring that which is equall in it &s;elfe, to Angles, and Corners, into dark and &s;ad &s;u&s;picions of God, or of thy &s;elfe, that God can give, or that thou can&s;t receive no more Mercy, then thou ha&s;t had already.</P>
<P>This then is the cour&s;e of Gods mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Signum.</NOTE> He proceeds as he begun, which was the fir&s;t branch of this &s;econd part; It is alwayes in motion, and alwayes moving towards <HI>All,</HI> alwaies perpendicular, right over every one of us, and alwayes circular, alwayes commu|nicable to all; And then the particular beame of this Mercy, &s;hed upon <HI>Achaz</HI> here in our Text, is, <HI>Dabit &s;ignum, The Lord &s;hall give you a &s;igne.</HI> It is a great Degree of Mercy, that he affords us &s;ignes. A naturall man is not made of Rea&s;on alone, but of Rea&s;on, and Sen&s;e: A Regenerate man is not made of Faith alone, but of Faith and Rea&s;on; and Signes, externall things, a&s;&s;i&s;t us all.</P>
<P>In the Creation, it was part of the office of the Sunne and Moone, to be &s;ignificative; he created them for &s;ignes, as well as for &s;ea&s;ons: hee directed the Jews to Chri&s;t, by &s;ignes, by &s;acrifices, and Sacraments, and ceremonies; and he entertaines us with Chri&s;t, by the &s;ame meanes to; we know where to finde Chri&s;t; In his Hou&s;e, in his Church; And we know at what &s;igne he dwels; where the Word is rightly Preached, and the Sa|craments duly admini&s;tred.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> It is truly, and wi&s;ely &s;aid, <HI>Sic habenda fides verbo Dei, ut
<PB N="15" REF="25">&s;ub&s;idia minim&egrave; contemnamus;</HI> We mu&s;t &s;o farre &s;atisfie our &s;elves, with the word of God, as that we de&s;pi&s;e not tho&s;e other &s;ub&s;idiary helps, which God in his Church hath af|forded us: which is true (as of Sacraments e&s;pecially) &s;o of other Sacramentall, and Ri|tuall, and Ceremoniall things, which a&s;&s;i&s;t the working of the Sacraments, though they infu&s;e no power into the Sacraments. For, therefore does the Prophet &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 13.</NOTE> when <HI>Achaz</HI> refu&s;ed a &s;igne, <HI>Is it a &s;mall thing to weary</HI> (or di&s;obey) <HI>men, but that you will weary</HI> (di&s;o|bey) <HI>God him&s;elfe?</HI> He di&s;obeyes God, in the way of contumacy, who refu&s;es his &s;ignes, his outward a&s;&s;i&s;tances, his ceremonies which are induced by his authority, derived from him, upon men, in his Church, and &s;o made a part, or a help, of his ordinary &s;ervice, as Sacraments, and Sacramentall things are.</P>
<P>There are &s;ignes of another &s;ort, not fixed by Gods Ordinance, but &s;ignes which par|ticular men, have &s;ometimes de&s;ired at Gods hand, for a farther manife&s;tation of Gods will, in which, it is not, otherwi&s;e, already fully manife&s;ted, and revealed. For, to &s;eeke &s;uch &s;ignes, in things which are &s;ufficiently declared by God, or to &s;eeke them, with a re|&s;olution, That I will leave a duty undone, except I receive a &s;igne, this is to tempt God, and to &s;eeke a way to excu&s;e my &s;elfe, for not doing that, which I was bound to doe, by the &s;trength of an old commandement, and ought not to look for a new &s;igne. But the greate&s;t fault in this kinde, is, that if God, of his abundant goodne&s;&s;e, doe give me a &s;igne, for my clearer directions, and I re&s;i&s;t that &s;igne, I di&s;pute again&s;t that &s;igne, I turne it ano|ther way, upon nature, upon fortune, upon mi&s;taking, that &s;o I may goe mine owne way, and not be bound, by beleeving that &s;igne to be from God, to goe that way, to which God by that &s;igne calls me. And this was <HI>Achaz</HI> ca&s;e; God &s;poke unto him, and &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 11.</NOTE> <HI>Aske a &s;igne</HI> (that he would deliver him, from the enemy, that be&s;ieged Jeru&s;alem) and he &s;aid, <HI>I will not aske a &s;igne, nor tempt God;</HI> For, though St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and &s;ome with him, a&s;cribe this refu&s;all of <HI>Achaz,</HI> to a religious mode&s;ty, yet St. <HI>Hierome,</HI> and with him, the greate&s;t party, ju&s;tly impute this, for a fault to <HI>Achaz:</HI> both becau&s;e the &s;igne was offe|red him from God, and not &s;ought by him&s;elfe, (which is the ca&s;e that is mo&s;t &s;ubject to errour) And becau&s;e the Prophet, who under&s;tood Gods minde, and the Kings minde to, takes knowledge of it, as of a great fault, <HI>In this, thou ha&s;t contemned, and wearyed, not Man but God.</HI> For, though there be but a few ca&s;es, in which we may put God to give a &s;igne, (for Chri&s;t calls the Phari&s;ees <HI>an evill, and an adulterous generation,</HI> therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.39. Exod. 4.</NOTE> be|cau&s;e they <HI>&s;ought a &s;igne</HI>) yet God gave <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a &s;igne, of a Rod changed into a Serpent, and a &s;igne of good fle&s;h changed into leprous, and leprous into good, unasked: And af|ter, <HI>Abraham</HI> askes a &s;igne, whereby &s;hall I know, that I &s;hall inherit the land?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.8. Jud. 6.36.</NOTE> and God gave him a &s;igne. So <HI>Gideon,</HI> in a mode&s;t timorou&s;ne&s;&s;e askes a &s;igne, and pre&s;&s;es God to a &s;econd &s;igne: Fir&s;t, he would have all the dew upon the fleece, and then, none of the dew upon the fleece. God does give &s;ignes, and when he does &s;o, he gives al&s;o ir|radiations, illu&s;trations of the under&s;tanding, that they may be di&s;cerned to be his &s;ignes; and when they are &s;o, it is but a pretended mode&s;ty, to &s;ay, we will not tempt God to ask a &s;ign, we will not trouble God to tell us whether this be a &s;ign or no, but again&s;t all &s;ignifications from God, goe on, as though all were but naturall accidents.</P>
<P>God gives &s;ignes <HI>rect&egrave; petentibus,</HI> to them that aske them upon due grounds, (&s;o to <HI>Abraham,</HI> &s;o to <HI>Gideon</HI>) And it is too long for this time, to put ca&s;es, when a man may or may not put God to a &s;igne; He gives &s;ignes al&s;o <HI>Non petentibus,</HI> without being asked, to illu&s;trate the ca&s;e, and to confirme the per&s;on, and &s;o he did to <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> Both the&s;e are high expre&s;&s;ions of his mercy; for what binds God, to begin with man, and give him a &s;igne before he aske; or to waite upon man, and give it him, when he askes? But the high|e&s;t of all, is, to per&s;ever in his mercy &s;o far, as to give a &s;igne, though upon the offer thereof, it be refu&s;ed; And that is <HI>Achaz</HI> ca&s;e: <HI>Aske ye,</HI> &s;ays God, And, <HI>I will not,</HI> &s;ays <HI>Achaz,</HI> and then, It is not <HI>Quamvis,</HI> for all that, though thou refu&s;e, but it is <HI>Propterea, Therefore,</HI> becau&s;e thou refu&s;e&s;t, <HI>The Lord him&s;elfe &s;hall give thee a &s;igne.</HI> His fault is car|ried thus high: Becau&s;e he had trea&s;ure to pay an army, becau&s;e he had contracted with the A&s;&s;yrians to a&s;&s;i&s;t him with men, therefore he refu&s;es the a&s;&s;i&s;tance offerd by the Pro|phet from God, and would faine goe his owne wayes, and yet would have a religious pretext, <HI>He will not tempt God.</HI> Nay his fault is carried thus much higher, That which we read, <HI>Non tentabo, I will not tempt,</HI> is in the Originall, <HI>Na&s;as;</HI> and <HI>Na&s;as</HI> is <HI>non Extollam, non glorificabo,</HI> I will not glorifie God &s;o much, that is, I will not be beholden to God for this victory, I will not take him into the league for this action, I will do it of my &s;elfe:
<PB N="16" REF="26">And yet, (and then, who &s;hall doubt of the largene&s;&s;e of Gods mercy?) God proceeds in his purpo&s;e: <HI>Aske a &s;igne,</HI> will ye not? <HI>Therefore the Lord &s;hall give you a &s;igne:</HI> Becau&s;e you will doe nothing for your &s;elfe, the Lord &s;hall doe all; which is &s;o tran&s;cendent a mercy, as that, how&s;oever God afforded it to <HI>Achaz</HI> here, we can promi&s;e it to no man hereafter.</P>
<P>We are come to our third part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> which is more peculiar to this Day: It is, fir&s;t, what the &s;igne is in generall, And then, &s;ome more particular circum&s;tances, <HI>Behold a Virgin &s;hall conceive, &amp;c.</HI> In generall then, the &s;igne that God gives <HI>Achaz</HI> and his company, is, That there &s;hall bee a Me&s;&s;ias, a Redeemer given. Now, how is this future thing, (There &s;hall be a Me&s;&s;ias) a &s;igne of their pre&s;ent deliverance from that &s;iege? Fir&s;t, In the notion of the Prophet, it was not a future thing; for, as in Gods owne &s;ight, &s;o in their &s;ight,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 3.6.</NOTE> to whom he opens him&s;elfe, future things are pre&s;ent. So this Prophet &s;ays, <HI>Puer datus, filius natus, unto us a child is borne, unto us a Son is given:</HI> He was not given, he was not borne in &s;ix hundred yeares after that; but &s;uch is the clearene&s;&s;e of a Prophets &s;ight, &s;uch is the infallibility of Gods declared purpo&s;e. So then, if the Prophet could have made the King beleeve, with &s;uch an a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e, as if he had &s;eene it done, that God would give a deliverance, to all mankinde, by a Me&s;&s;ias, that had beene &s;igne enough, evidence enough to have argued thereupon, That God who had done &s;o much a greater worke, would al&s;o give him a deliverance from that enemy, that pre&s;&s;ed him then: If I can fixe my &s;elfe, with the &s;trength of faith, upon that which God hath done for man; I cannot doubt of his mercy, in any di&s;tre&s;&s;e: If I lacke a &s;igne, I &s;eeke no other but this, That God was made man for me; which the Church and Church-writers, have well expre&s;&s;ed by the word Incarnation, for that acknowledges, and denotes, that God was made my fle&s;h: It were not &s;o &s;trange, that he who is &s;pirit, &s;hould be made my &s;pirit, my &s;oule, but he was made my fle&s;h: Therefore have the Fathers delighted them&s;elves, in the variation of that word; &s;o far, as that <HI>Hilarie</HI> cals it <HI>Corporationem,</HI> That God a&s;&s;umed my Body; And <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> cals it <HI>Inhumanationem,</HI> That God became this man, &s;oule and body; And <HI>Irenaeus</HI> cals it <HI>Adunationem,</HI> and <HI>Ny&s;en Contemperationem,</HI> A mingling, &s;ays one, an uniting, &s;aies the other, of two, of God and man, in one per&s;on. Shall I aske, what needs all this? what needed God to have put him&s;elfe to this? I may &s;ay with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Alio modo poterat Deus nos liberare, &s;ed &s;i aliter faceret, &s;imiliter ve&s;trae &s;tul|titiae di&s;pliceret:</HI> What other way &s;oever God had taken for our &s;alvation, our curio&s;ity would no more have beene &s;atisfied in that way, than in this: But God having cho&s;en the way of Redemption, which was the way of Ju&s;tice, God could do no otherwi&s;e: <HI>Si homo non vici&s;&s;et inimicum hominis, non ju&s;t&egrave; victus e&s;&s;et inimicus,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Irenaeus;</HI> As, if a man &s;hould get a battaile by the power of the Devill, without fighting, this were not a ju&s;t victory; &s;o, if God, in mans behalfe, had conquered the devill, without man, without dying, it had not beene a ju&s;t conque&s;t. I mu&s;t not aske why God tooke this way, to In|carnate his Son; And &s;hall I aske how this was done? I doe not aske how <HI>Rheubarb,</HI> or how <HI>Aloes</HI> came by this, or this vertue, to purge this, or this humour in my body: <HI>In talibus rebus, tota ratio facti, e&s;t potentia facientis:</HI> Even in naturall things, all the rea&s;on of all that is done,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> is the power, and the will of him, who infu&s;ed that vertue into that crea|ture. And therefore much more, when we come to the&s;e &s;upernaturall points, &s;uch as this birth of Chri&s;t, we embrace S. <HI>Ba&s;ils</HI> mode&s;ty, and ab&s;tinence, <HI>Nativitas i&s;ta &s;ilentio honoretur,</HI> This my&s;terie is not &s;o well celebrated, with our words, and di&s;cour&s;e, as with a holy &s;ilence, and meditation: <HI>Immo potius ne cogitationibus permittatur,</HI> Nay, (&s;aies that Father) there may be danger in giving our &s;elves leave, to thinke or &s;tudy too much of it. <HI>Ne dixer is quando,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>praeteri hanc interrogationem:</HI> Aske not thy &s;elfe overcuriou&s;ly, when this my&s;tery was accompli&s;hed; be not over-vehement, over-peremptory, (&s;o far, as to the perplexing of thine owne rea&s;on and under&s;tanding, or &s;o far, as to the de&s;pi&s;ing of the rea&s;ons of other men) in calculating the time, the day or houre of this nativity: <HI>Praeteri hanc interrogationem,</HI> pa&s;&s;e over this que&s;tion, in good time, and with convenient &s;atisfaction, <HI>Quando,</HI> when Chri&s;t was borne; But <HI>noli inquirere Quomodo,</HI> (&s;aies S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;till) never come to that que&s;tion, how it was done, <HI>cum ad hoc nihil &s;it quod re&s;ponderi po&s;|&s;it,</HI> for God hath given us no faculties to comprehend it, no way to an&s;wer it. That's enough, which we have in S. <HI>Iohn, Every &s;pirit, that confe&s;&s;es, that Ie&s;us is come in the fle&s;h, is of God:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Ioh. 4.2.</NOTE> for, &s;ince it was a comming of Ie&s;us, Ie&s;us was before; &s;o he was God; and &s;ince he came in the fle&s;h, hee is now made man; And, that God and Man, are &s;o met, is a
<PB N="17" REF="26">&s;igne to mee, that God, and I, &s;hall never bee parted.</P>
<P>This is the &s;igne in generall; That God hath had &s;uch a care of all men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgo.</NOTE> is a &s;igne to me, That he hath a care of me: But then there are &s;ignes of this &s;igne; Divers; All the&s;e; <HI>A Virgin &s;hall conceive,</HI> A Virgin &s;hall <HI>bring forth,</HI> Bring forth <HI>a Son, And</HI> (what&s;oever have been prophe&s;ied before) <HI>&s;he &s;hall call his name Immanuel.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, a Virgin &s;hall be a mother, which is a very particular &s;igne, and was &s;eene but once. That which <HI>Gellius,</HI> and <HI>Plinie</HI> &s;ay, that a Virgin had a child, almo&s;t 200. yeares before Chri&s;t, that which <HI>Genebrard</HI> &s;aies, that the like fell out in France, in his time, are not within our faith, and they are without our rea&s;on; our faith &s;toopes not downe to them, and our Rea&s;on reaches not up to them; of this Virgin in our text, If that be true, which <HI>Aquinas</HI> cites out of the Roman &s;tory, that in the times of <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> and <HI>Irene,</HI> upon a dead body found in a &s;epulchre, there was found this in&s;cription, in a plate of gold, <HI>Chri&s;tus na&s;cetur ex Virgine, &amp; ego credo in eum,</HI> Chri&s;t &s;hall be borne of a Virgin, and I beleeve in that Chri&s;t, with this addition, in that in&s;cription, <HI>O Sol, &s;ub Irenae, &amp; Con|&s;tantini temporibus, iterum me videbis,</HI> Though I be now buried from the &s;ight of the &s;un, yet in <HI>Con&s;tantines</HI> time, the &s;un &s;hall &s;ee me againe; If this be true, yet our ground is not upon &s;uch te&s;timonie; If God had not &s;aid it, I would never have beleeved it. And there|fore I mu&s;t have leave to doubt of that which &s;ome of the Roman Ca&s;ui&s;ts have delive|red, That a Virgin may continue a virgin upon earth, and receive the particular dignity of a Virgin in Heaven, and yet have a child, by the in&s;inuation and practi&s;e of the Devill; &s;o that there &s;hall be a father, and a mother, and yet both they Virgins. That this Mo|ther, in our text, was a Virgin, is a peculiar, a &s;ingular &s;igne, given, as &s;uch, by God; never done but then; and it is a &s;ingular te&s;timony, how acceptable to God, that &s;tate of virgi|nity is; Hee does not di&s;honour phy&s;ick, that magnifies health; nor does hee di&s;honour marriage, that prai&s;es Virginity; let them embrace that &s;tate, that can; and certainly, many more might doe it, then do, if they would try whether they could, or no; and if they would follow S. <HI>Cyprians</HI> way, <HI>Virgo non tantum e&s;&s;e, &s;ed &amp; intelligi e&s;&s;e debet, &amp; credi:</HI> It is not enough for a virgin to bee a virgin in her owne knowledge, but &s;he mu&s;t governe her &s;elfe &s;o, as that others may &s;ee, that &s;he is one, and &s;ee, that &s;hee hath a de&s;ire, and a di&s;po&s;ition, to continue &s;o &s;till; <HI>Ita, ut nemo, cum virginem viderit, dubitet an &s;it virgo,</HI> &s;aies that Father, She mu&s;t appeare in &s;uch garments, in &s;uch language, and in &s;uch moti|ons, (for, as a wife may weare other clothes, &s;o &s;he may &s;peake other words, then a virgin may do) as they that &s;ee her, may not que&s;tion, nor di&s;pute, whether &s;he be a maid or no. The word in the Text, is derived <HI>&agrave; latendo,</HI> from retiring, from privatene&s;&s;e: And <HI>Tertul|lian,</HI> who makes the note, notes withall, that <HI>Ip&s;a concupi&s;centia non latendi, non e&s;t pudica,</HI> The very concupi&s;cence of conver&s;ation, and vi&s;its, is not cha&s;te: <HI>Studium placendi, pub|licatione &s;ui, periclitatur,</HI> &s;aies the &s;ame Author: Curious dre&s;&s;ings are for publique eyes; and the Virgin that de&s;ires to publi&s;h her &s;elfe, is weary of that &s;tate: It is u&s;efully ad|ded by him, <HI>Dum percutitur oculis alienis, frons duratur, &amp; pudor teritur,</HI> the eyes of others, that &s;trike upon her, (if &s;he be willing to &s;tand out that battery) dry up that blood, that &s;hould blu&s;h, and weare out that cha&s;tity, which &s;hould be pre&s;erved. So precious is vir|ginity in Gods eye, as that hee lookes upon that, with a more jealous eye, than upon other &s;tates.</P>
<P>This ble&s;&s;ed Mother of God, in our text, was a Virgin: when? <HI>Virgo concipiet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Contepit.</NOTE> &s;aies our Text, <HI>A Virgin &s;hall conceive,</HI> when &s;he conceived, &s;he was a Virgin. There are three Here&s;ies; all noted by S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> that impeach the virginity of this mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Wo|man: The Cerinthians &s;aid &s;he conceived by ordinary generation; <HI>Iovinian</HI> &s;aid, &s;he was delivered by ordinary meanes; And <HI>Helvidius</HI> &s;aid, &s;he had children after: All again&s;t all the world be&s;ides them&s;elves, and again&s;t one another. For the fir&s;t, that is enough which S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;ayes, that if the word Virgin in our text &s;ignified no more but <HI>adole&s;cen|tulam,</HI> a yong woman (as they pretend) it had been an impertinent, an ab&s;urd thing for the Prophet to have made that a &s;ign, and a wonder, that a yong woman &s;hould have a childe. This is enough, but that is abundantly enough, that S. <HI>Matthew,</HI> who &s;poke with the &s;ame &s;pirit that <HI>E&s;ay</HI> did, &s;ayes in a word, which can admit no mi&s;-interpretati|on, That that was fulfilled which <HI>E&s;ay</HI> had &s;aid, <HI>A Virgin &s;hall conceive;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.23.</NOTE> S. <HI>Matthews</HI> word without que&s;tion, is a Virgin, and not a yong woman, and S. <HI>Matthew</HI> took <HI>E&s;aies</HI> word to be &s;o too; and S. <HI>Matthew</HI> (at lea&s;t he that &s;pake in S. <HI>Matthew</HI>) did not, could not mi&s;take, and mi&s;take him&s;elf, for it was one and the &s;ame Holy Gho&s;t that &s;pake
<PB N="18" REF="27">both.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 21.</NOTE> Chri&s;t &s;ayes therefore of him&s;elf, <HI>vermis &s;um,</HI> I am a worm, but &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e, vermis de Manna,</HI> a worm out of a pure &s;ub&s;tance, a holy Man, from a ble&s;&s;ed Virgin; <HI>Virgo concepit,</HI> &s;he was a Virgin then, then when &s;he had conceived.</P>
<P>She was &s;o to,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In partu.</NOTE> <HI>In partu,</HI> then when &s;he was delivered; <HI>Iovinian</HI> denied that: A bet|ter then he <HI>(Tertullian)</HI> denied it: <HI>Virgo quantum &agrave; viro, non quantum &agrave; partu,</HI> &s;ays he, &s;he was &s;uch a Virgin as knew no man, not &s;uch a Virgin as needed no midwife: <HI>Virgo concepit,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>in partu nup&s;it,</HI> a Virgin in her conception, but a wife in the deliverance of her Son. Let that be wrapped up among&s;t <HI>Tertullians</HI> errors, he had many; The text cleares it, <HI>A virgin &s;hall conceive, a virgin &s;hall beare a Son:</HI> The Apo&s;tles Creed cleares it, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;t:</HI> when it &s;ayes, <HI>Born of the Virgin Mary;</HI> and S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> cleares it, when hee &s;ays, with &s;uch indignation, <HI>De via iniquitat is produntur dicere, virgo co~cepit, &s;ed non virgo generavit,</HI> It is &s;aid, that there are &s;ome men &s;o impious, as to deny that &s;he remained a Virgin at the birth of her Son: S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> wondred there &s;hould be, &s;carce beleeved it to be any other then a rumour, or a &s;lander, that there could be any &s;o impious, as to deny that:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cramerus.</NOTE> And yet there have beene &s;ome &s;o impious, as to charge <HI>Calvin,</HI> with that impiety, with denying her to be a Virgin then; It is true, he makes it not a matter of faith, to de|fend her perpetuall virginity; but that's not this ca&s;e, of her Virginity in her Deliverance: And even of that, (of her perpetuall virginity) he &s;aies thus, <HI>Nemo unquam quae&s;tionem mo|vebit, ni&s;i curiofus, nemo pertinaciter in&s;i&s;tet, ni&s;i contentio&s;us rixator;</HI> He is over-curious, that will make any doubt of it; but no man will per&s;i&s;t in the denyall of it, but a contentious wrangler; And in that very point, S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aies fully as much, as <HI>Calvin.</HI> But, at his birth, and after his birth, there is evidence enough in this text, <HI>A Virgin &s;hall conceive, A Vir|gin &s;hall bring forth, A Virgin &s;hall call him Immanuel,</HI> In all tho&s;e future, and &s;ub&s;equent Acts, &s;till it is the &s;ame per&s;on, and in the &s;ame condition.</P>
<P><HI>Pariet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Filium.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; pariet filium, She &s;hall bring forth a Son;</HI> If a Son, then of the &s;ub&s;tance of his Mother; that the Anabapti&s;ts deny; But had it not beene &s;o, Chri&s;t had not beene true Man, and then, man were yet unredeemed. He is her Son, but not her ward; his Father cannot dye: Her Son, but yet he asked her no leave, to &s;tay at Jeru&s;alem, nor to di&s;pute with the Doctors, nor to goe about his Fathers worke: His &s;etling of Religion, his go|verning the Church, his di&s;pen&s;ing of his graces, is not by warrant from her: They that call upon the Bi&s;hop of Rome, in that voyce, <HI>Impera Regibus,</HI> command Kings and Emperors, admit of that voyce, <HI>Imperafilio,</HI> to her, that &s;he &s;hould command her Sonno. The naturall obedience of children to Parents, holds not in &s;uch civill things, as are pub|lique; A woman may be a Queen-Dowager, and yet a &s;ubject; The ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> may be in a high ranke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.28.</NOTE> and yet no Soveraigne; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed art thou amongst women,</HI> &s;aies the Angell to her; Among&s;t women, above women; but not above any per&s;on of the Tri|nity, that &s;he &s;hould command her Son. <HI>Luther</HI> was awake, and ri&s;en, but he was not rea|die; Hee had &s;eene light, and looked toward it, but yet &s;aw not &s;o clearely by it, then, when he &s;aid, That the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin was of a middle condition, betweene Chri&s;t, and man; that man hath his conception, and his quickning (by the infu&s;ion of the &s;oule) in originall &s;in; that Chri&s;t had it in neither, no &s;in in his conception, none in his inanima|tion, in the infu&s;ion of his &s;oule; But, &s;aies <HI>Luther,</HI> how&s;oever it were at the conception, certainly at the inanimation, at the quickning, &s;he was pre&s;erved from originall &s;in. Now, what needs this? may I not &s;ay, that I had rather be redeemed by Chri&s;t Je&s;us then bee innocent? rather be beholden to Chri&s;ts death, for my &s;alvation, then to <HI>Adams</HI> &s;tanding in his innocencie. <HI>Epiphanius</HI> &s;aid enough, <HI>Par detrimentum afferunt religioni,</HI> they hurt Religion as much, that a&s;cribe too little, to the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, as they who a&s;cribe too much; much is due to her, and this among&s;t the re&s;t, That &s;he had &s;o cleare notions, above all others, what kind of per&s;on, her Son was, that as <HI>Adam</HI> gave names, according to natures, &s;o the Prophet here leaves it to her, to name her Son, according to his office, <HI>She &s;hall call his name Immanuel.</HI></P>
<P>Wee told you at fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Immanuel.</NOTE> that both <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Mary,</HI> were told by the Angel, that his name was to be Je&s;us, and we told you al&s;o, that others, be&s;ides him, had beene called by that name of Je&s;us: but, as, though others were called Je&s;us, (for <HI>Io&s;uah</HI> is called &s;o, <HI>Heb.</HI> 4.8. <HI>If Ie&s;us had given them re&s;t;</HI> that is, If <HI>Io&s;uah</HI> had &amp;c. And the &s;on of <HI>Io&s;edech</HI> is called &s;o, throughout the Prophet <HI>Aggai</HI>) yet there is ob&s;erved a difference in the pointing, and founding of tho&s;e names, from this our Je&s;us: &s;o though other women were called <HI>Mary,</HI> as well as the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, yet the Euangeli&s;ts, evermore make a difference, betweene
<PB N="19" REF="27">her name, and the other <HI>Maries;</HI> for Her they call <HI>Mariam,</HI> and the re&s;t <HI>Maria.</HI> Now this Je&s;us, in this per&s;on, is a reall, an actuall Saviour, he that hath already really, and actually accompli&s;hed our &s;alvation; But the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin had a clearer illu&s;tration, then all that; for &s;he onely knew, or &s;he knew be&s;t, the capacity, in which he could be a Saviour, that is, as he is <HI>Immanuel, God with us;</HI> for &s;he, and &s;he onely knew, that he was the Sonne of God, and not of naturall generation by man. How much is enwrapped in this name <HI>Immanuel,</HI> and how little time to unfold it? I am afraid none at all; A minute will &s;erve to repeate that which S. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;aies, and a day, a life will not &s;erve to comprehend it; (for to comprehend is not to know a thing, as far as I can know it, but to know it as far, as that thing can be knowne; and &s;o onely God, can comprehend God.) <HI>Immanuel e&s;t verbuminfans,</HI> &s;aies the Father; He is the ancient of daies, and yet in minority; he is the Word it &s;elfe, and yet &s;peechle&s;&s;e; he that is All, that all the Prophets &s;poke of, cannot &s;peake: He addes more, He is <HI>Puer &s;apiens,</HI> but a child, and yet wi&s;er then the elders, wi&s;er in the Cradle, then they in the Chaire: Hee is more, <HI>Deus lactens,</HI> God, at who&s;e brea&s;ts all creatures &s;uck, &s;ucking at his Mothers brea&s;t, and &s;uch a Mother, as is a maid. <HI>Immanuel</HI> is God with us; it is not we with God: God &s;eeks us, comes to us, before wee to him: And it is God with us, in that notion, in that termination, <HI>El,</HI> which is <HI>Deus for|tis, The powerfull God;</HI> not onely i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> infirmity, as when hee died in our nature, but as he is <HI>Deus fortis,</HI> able and ready to a&s;&s;i&s;t, and deliver us, in all encumbrances; &s;o he is with us; And with us, <HI>u&s;que ad con&s;ummationem,</HI> till the end of the world, in his Word, and in the Sacraments: for, though I may not &s;ay, as &s;ome have &s;aid, That by the word of Con&s;e|cration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cornelius.</NOTE> in the admini&s;tration of the Sacrament, Chri&s;t is &s;o infallibly produced, as that, if Chri&s;t had never been incarnate before, yet, at the pronouncing of tho&s;e words of con|&s;ecration, he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be incarnate then, yet I may &s;ay, that God is as effectually pre&s;ent, with every worthy receiver, as that hee is not more effectually pre&s;ent with the Saints in Heaven.</P>
<P>And this is that, which is intimated in that word, which we &s;epo&s;ed at fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecce.</NOTE> for the la&s;t of all, <HI>Ecce, Behold; Behold, a Virgin &s;hall conceive &amp;c.</HI> God does not furni&s;h a roome, and leave it darke; he &s;ets up lights in it; his fir&s;t care was, that his benefits &s;hould be &s;eene; he made light fir&s;t, and then creatures, to be &s;eene by that light: He &s;heds him&s;elfe from my mouth, upon the whole auditory here; he powres him&s;elfe from my hand, to all the Communicants at the table; I can &s;ay to you all here, <HI>The grace of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t be with you, and remaine with you all;</HI> I can &s;ay to them all there, <HI>The Body of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t which was given for you, pre&s;erve you to everla&s;ting life:</HI> I can bring it &s;o neare; but onely the worthy hearer, and the worthy receiver, can call this Lord, this Je&s;us, this Chri&s;t, <HI>Immanuel, God with us;</HI> onely that Virgin &s;oule, devirginated in the blood of <HI>Adam,</HI> but re&s;tored in the blood of the Lambe, hath this <HI>Ecce,</HI> this te&s;timony, this a&s;&s;u|rance, that God is with him; they that have this <HI>Ecce,</HI> this te&s;timony, in a rectified con|&s;cience, are Godfathers to this child Je&s;us, and may call him <HI>Immanuel, God with us;</HI> for, as no man can deceive God, &s;o God can deceive no man; God cannot live in the darke him&s;elfe, neither can he leave tho&s;e, who are his, in the darke: If he be with thee, he will make thee &s;ee, that he is with thee; and never goe out of thy &s;ight, till he have brought thee, where thou can&s;t never goe out of his.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="20" REF="28">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON III.</HI> Preached upon Chri&s;tmas day, at S. <HI>Pauls, 1625.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>GALAT. 4.4. &amp; 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But when the fulne&s;&s;e of time was come, God &s;ent forth his Son, made of a woman, made un|der the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of Sonnes.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WEE are met here to celebrate the generation of Chri&s;t Je&s;us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.8.</NOTE> but <HI>Generatio|nem ejus quis enarrabit,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet, <HI>who &s;hall declare his generation,</HI> his age? For, for his e&s;&s;entiall generation, be which he is the Son of God, the Angels, who are almo&s;t 6000. yeares elder then we, are no nearer to that ge|neration of his, then if they had been made but ye&s;terday: Eternity hath no &s;uch di&s;tinctions, no limits, no periods, no &s;ea&s;ons, no moneths, no yeares, no dayes; <HI>Methu&s;alem,</HI> who was &s;o long lived, was no elder in re&s;pect of eternity, then <HI>Davids</HI> &s;on by <HI>Ber&s;eba,</HI> that dyed the fir&s;t week. The fir&s;t <HI>Fiat</HI> in the Creation of <HI>Adam,</HI> and the la&s;t note of the blowing of the Trumpets to judgement, (though there be between the&s;e (as it is ordinarily received) 2000. yeares of nature, between the Creation, and the giving of the Law by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and 2000. yeares of the Law between that, and the comming of Chri&s;t, and 2000. yeares of Grace and Go&s;pell between Chri&s;t fir&s;t, and his &s;econd comming) yet this Creation and this Judgement are not a minute a&s;under in re&s;pect of eternity, which hath no minutes. Whence then ari&s;es all our vexation and labour, all our anxieties and angui&s;hes, all our &s;uits and pleadings, for long lea&s;es, for many lives, for many yeares purcha&s;e in this world, when, if we be in our way to the eternall King of the eternall kingdome, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, all we are not yet, all the world &s;hall never be a minute old; <HI>Generationem ejus quis enarrabit,</HI> what tongue can declare, what heart can conceive his generation which was &s;o long before any heart or tongue was made? But we come not now to con&s;ider that eternall generation, not Chri&s;t meerly as the Son of God, but the Son of <HI>Mary</HI> too: And that generation the Holy Gho&s;t hath told us, was in <HI>the fulne&s;&s;e of time: When the fulne&s;&s;e of time was come, God &s;ent forth, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In which words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> we have the&s;e three con&s;iderations; Fir&s;t, the time of Chri&s;ts com|ming, and that was <HI>the fulne&s;&s;e of time;</HI> And then, the maner of his comming, which is expre&s;&s;ed in two degrees of humiliation, one, that he was <HI>made of a woman,</HI> the other, that he was <HI>made under the Law;</HI> And then, the third part is the purpo&s;e of his com|ming, which al&s;o was twofold; for fir&s;t, he came <HI>to redeem them who were under the Law,</HI> All; And &s;econdly he came, that we (we the elect of God in him) might receive adopti|on; <HI>When the fulne&s;&s;e of time was come, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>For the full con&s;ideration of this <HI>fulne&s;&s;e of time,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word">.</NOTE> we &s;hall fir&s;t con&s;ider this fulne&s;&s;e in re&s;pect of the Jews, and then in re&s;pect of all Nations, and la&s;tly in re&s;pect of our &s;elves: The Jews might have &s;een <HI>the fulne&s;&s;e of time,</HI> the Gentiles did (in &s;ome mea&s;ure) &s;ee it, and we mu&s;t (if we will have any benefit by it) &s;ee it too. It is an ob&s;ervation of S. <HI>Cyril,</HI> That none of the Saints of God, nor &s;uch as were noted to be exemplarily religious, and &s;anctified men did ever celebrate with any fe&s;tivall &s;olemnity, their own birth-day. <HI>Pharaoh</HI> celebrated his own Nativity,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 40.22.</NOTE> but who would make <HI>Pharaoh</HI> his example? and be&s;ides, he polluted that fe&s;tivall with the bloud of one of his &s;ervants. <HI>Herod</HI> celebrated his Nativity, but who would think it an honor to be like <HI>Herod?</HI> and be&s;ides, he pollu|ted that fe&s;tivall with the blood of <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t.</HI> But the ju&s;t contemplation of the mi&s;e|ries and calamities of this life, into which our birth-day is the doore, and the entrance, is &s;o far from giving any ju&s;t occa&s;ion of a fe&s;tivall, as it hath often tran&s;ported the be&s;t di|&s;po&s;ed Saints and &s;ervants of God to a di&s;temper, to a malediction, and cur&s;ing of their birth-day.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> <HI>Cur&s;ed be the day wherein I was born, and let not that day wherein my mother bare
<PB N="21" REF="28">me be ble&s;&s;ed. Let the day peri&s;h wherein I was born, let that day be darkne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 3.</NOTE> <HI>and let not God regard it from above.</HI> How much mi&s;ery is pre&s;aged to us, when we come &s;o generally weeping into the world, that, perchance, in the whole body of hi&s;tory we reade but of one childe, <HI>Zoroa&s;ter,</HI> that laughed at his birth: What mi&s;erable revolutions and changes, what downfals, what break-necks, and precipitations may we ju&s;tly think our &s;elves or|dained to, if we con&s;ider, that in our comming into this world out of our mothers womb, we doe not make account that a childe comes right, except it come with the head forward, and thereby prefigure that headlong falling into calamities which it mu&s;t &s;uffer after? Though therefore the dayes of the Martyrs, which are for our example celebra|ted in the Chri&s;tian Church, be ordinarily called <HI>natalitia Martyrum,</HI> the birth-day of the Martyrs, yet that is not intended of their birth in this world, but of their birth in the next; when, by death their &s;oules were new delivered of their pri&s;ons here, and they newly born into the kingdome of heaven; that day, upon that rea&s;on, the day of their death was called their birth-day, and celebrated in the Church by that name. Onely to Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>the fulne&s;&s;e of time</HI> was at his birth; not becau&s;e he al&s;o had not a painfull life to pa&s;&s;e through, but becau&s;e the work of our redemption was an intire work, and all that Chri&s;t &s;aid, or did, or &s;uffered, concurred to our &s;alvation, as well his mothers &s;wathing him in little clouts, as <HI>Io&s;ephs</HI> &s;hrowding him in a funerall &s;heete; as well his cold lying in the Manger, as his cold dying upon the Cro&s;&s;e; as well the <HI>puer natus,</HI> as the <HI>con&s;ummatum e&s;t;</HI> as well his birth, as his death is &s;aid to have been <HI>the fulne&s;&s;e of time.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t we con&s;ider it to have been &s;o to the Jews; for this was <HI>that fulne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Indeic.</NOTE> in which all the prophecies concerning the Me&s;&s;ias, were exactly fulfilled;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2. Hagg. 2. Mich. 5. E&s;ay 7.</NOTE> That he mu&s;t come while&s;t the Monarchy of Rome flouri&s;hed; And before the Temple of Jeru&s;alem was de&s;troyed; That he mu&s;t be born in Bethlem; That he mu&s;t be born of a Virgin; His per&s;on, his actions, his pa&s;&s;ion &s;o di&s;tinctly prophecyed, &s;o exactly accompli&s;hed, as no word being left unfulfilled, this mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be a <HI>fulne&s;&s;e of time.</HI> So fully was the time of the Me&s;&s;ias comming, come, that though &s;ome of the Jews &s;ay now, that there is no certain time revealed in the Scriptures when the Me&s;&s;ias &s;hall come, and others of them &s;ay, that there was a time determined, and revealed, and that this time was the time, but by rea&s;on of their great &s;ins he did not come at his time, yet when they exa|mine their own &s;upputations, they are &s;o convinced with that evidence, that this was that <HI>fulne&s;&s;e of time,</HI> that now they expre&s;&s;e a kinde of conditionall acknowledgement of it, by this barbarous and inhumane cu&s;tome of theirs, that they alwayes keep in readi|ne&s;&s;e the blood of &s;ome Chri&s;tian, with which they anoint the body of any that dyes a|mong&s;t them, with the&s;e words, if Je&s;us Chri&s;t were the Me&s;&s;ias, then may the blood of this Chri&s;tian availe thee to &s;alvation: So that by their doubt, and their implyed con|&s;ent, in this action, this was <HI>the fulne&s;&s;e of time,</HI> when Chri&s;t Je&s;us did come, that the Me&s;|&s;ias &s;hould come.</P>
<P>It was &s;o to the Jews, and it was &s;o to the Gentiles too;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gontibus.</NOTE> It filled tho&s;e wi&s;e men which dwelt &s;o far in the Ea&s;t, that they followed the &s;tar from thence to Jeru&s;alem. <HI>Herod</HI> was &s;o full of it, that he filled the Countrey with &s;treames of innocent bloud, and le&s;t he &s;hould &s;pare that one innocent childe, killed all. The two Emperours of Rome, <HI>Ve|&s;pa&s;ian</HI> and <HI>Domitian</HI> were &s;o full of it, that in jealou&s;ie of a Me&s;&s;ias to come then, from that race, they took &s;peciall care for the de&s;truction of all, of the po&s;terity of <HI>David.</HI> All the whole people were &s;o full of it, that divers fal&s;e-Me&s;&s;iahs, <HI>Barcocab,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> of Crete, and others ro&s;e up, and drew, and deceived the people, as if they had been the Me&s;&s;iah, becau&s;e that was ordinarily knowne, and received to be the time of his com|ming. And the Devill him&s;elf was &s;o full of it, as that in his Oracles he gave that an|&s;wer, That an Hebrew childe &s;hould be God over all gods, and brought the Emperour to erect an Altar, to this Me&s;&s;iah Chri&s;t Je&s;us, though he knew not what he did. This was the fulne&s;&s;e that filled Jew and Gentile, Kings and Philo&s;ophers, &s;trangers and in|habitants, counterfaits and devils to the expectation of a Me&s;&s;iah; and when comes this <HI>fulne&s;&s;e of time</HI> to us, that we feele this Me&s;&s;iah born in our &s;elves?</P>
<P>In this fulne&s;&s;e, in this comming of our Saviour into us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nobis.</NOTE> we &s;hould finde a threefold fullne&s;&s;e in our &s;elves; we &s;hould finde a fulne&s;&s;e of nature (becau&s;e not only of &s;piritu|all, but of naturall and temporall things, all the right which we have in this world, is in, and for, and by Chri&s;t, for &s;o we end all our prayers of all &s;orts, with that clau&s;e, <HI>per Dominum no&s;trum Ie&s;um Chri&s;tum, Grant this O Lord, for our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Ie|&s;us
<PB N="22" REF="29" MS="y">&s;ake.</HI>) And we &s;hould finde a fulne&s;&s;e of grace, a daily &s;en&s;e of improvement growth in grace, a filling of all former vacuities, a &s;upplying of all emptine&s;&s;es in our &s;oules, till we came to <HI>Stephens</HI> fulne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 6.3. ver. 5. &amp; 8.</NOTE> <HI>Full of the holy Gho&s;t and wi&s;dome, and full of the holy Gho&s;t and Faith, and full of faith and power:</HI> And &s;o we &s;hould come to finde a fulne&s;&s;e of glo|ry, that is an apprehen&s;ion and inchoation of heaven in this life; for the glory of the next world, is not in the mea&s;ure of that glory, but in the mea&s;ure of my capacity; it is not that I &s;hall have as much as any &s;oule hath, but that I &s;hall have as much as my &s;oul can receive; it is not in an equality with the re&s;t, but in a fulne&s;&s;e in my &s;elf; And &s;o, as I &s;hall have a fulne&s;&s;e of nature, that is, &s;uch an ability and &s;uch a u&s;e of naturall faculties, and &s;uch a portion of the naturall things of this world as &s;hall &s;erve to fill up Gods pur|po&s;e in me: And as I &s;hall have a fulne&s;&s;e of grace, that is, &s;uch a mea&s;ure of grace as &s;hall make me di&s;cern a tentation, and re&s;i&s;t a tentation, or at lea&s;t repent it, if I have not effectually re&s;i&s;ted it, &s;o even here, I &s;hall have a fulne&s;&s;e of glory, that is, as much of that glory as a way-faring &s;oul is capable of in this world; All the&s;e fulne&s;&s;es I &s;hall have, if I can finde and feele in my &s;elfe this birth of Chri&s;t. His eternall birth in heaven is un|expre&s;&s;ible, where he was born without a mother; His birth on earth is unexpre&s;&s;ible too, where he was born without a father; but thou &s;halt feele the joy of his third birth in thy &s;oul, mo&s;t inexpre&s;&s;ible this day, where he is born this day (if thou wilt) without father or mother; that is, without any former, or any other rea&s;on then his own meere goodne&s;&s;e that &s;hould beget that love in him towards thee, and without any matter or merit in thee which &s;hould enable thee to conceive him. He had a heavenly birth, by which he was the eternall Son of God, and without that he had not been a per&s;on able to redeem thee; He had a humane birth, by which he was the Son of <HI>Mary,</HI> and with|out that he had not been &s;en&s;ible in him&s;elf of thine infirmities, and nece&s;&s;ities; but, this day (if thou wilt) he hath a &s;pirituall birth in thy &s;oul, without which, both his divine, and his humane birth are utterly unprofitable to thee, and thou art no better then if there had never been Son of God in heaven, nor Son of <HI>Mary</HI> upon earth. Even <HI>the Stork in the aire knoweth her appointed time,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 8.</NOTE> <HI>and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow ob&s;erve the time of their comming, but my people knoweth not the judgements of the Lord.</HI> For, if you doe know your time, you know that now is your <HI>fulne&s;&s;e of time;</HI> This is your particular Chri&s;tmas-day; when, if you be but as carefull to clean&s;e your &s;oules, as you are your hou&s;es, if you will but follow that coun&s;ell of S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Quicquid non vis inveniri in domo tua, non inveniat Deus in anima tua,</HI> That uncleanne&s;&s;e which you would be loth your neighbour &s;hould finde in your hou&s;es, let not God nor his Angels finde in your &s;oules, Chri&s;t Je&s;us is certainly born. and will as certainly grow up in your &s;oules.</P>
<P>We pa&s;&s;e from this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to our &s;econd part, The manner of his comming; where we pro|po&s;ed two degrees of Chri&s;ts humiliation, That he was <HI>made of a woman,</HI> and <HI>made under the Law.</HI> In the fir&s;t alone, are two degrees too, that he takes the name of the Son of a woman, and wanes the glorious name of the Son of God; And then, that he takes the name of the &s;on of a woman,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mulieris non Dei.</NOTE> and wanes the miraculous name of the &s;on of a Virgin. For the fir&s;t; Chri&s;t ever refers him&s;elf to his Father; As he &s;ayes, <HI>The Father which &s;ent me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 12.</NOTE> <HI>gave me a commandement what I &s;hould &s;ay, and what I &s;hould &s;peak,</HI> &s;o, for all that which he did or &s;uffered,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4. Joh. 16.</NOTE> he &s;ayes, <HI>My meate is to doe his will that &s;ent me, and to fini&s;h his work:</HI> And &s;o, though he &s;ay, <HI>I am come out from the Father, and am come into the world;</HI> yet, be where he will, &s;till, <HI>Ego &amp; pater unum &s;umus,</HI> He and his Father were all one. But deve&s;ting that glory, or &s;lumbring it in his fle&s;h, till the Father glorifie him againe with that glory, which he had with him from the beginning, in his A&s;cen&s;ion, he hum|bles him&s;elfe here to that addition, <HI>The Son of a woman, made of a woman.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;t waned the glorious Name of Son of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non Virgi|nis.</NOTE> and the miraculous Name of Son of a Virgin to; which is not omitted to draw into doubt, the perpetuall Virginity of the Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, the Mother of Chri&s;t; &s;he is not called a woman, as though &s;he were not a Maid; when it is &s;aid, Jo&s;eph <HI>knew her not, donec peperit, till &s;he brought forth her Son,</HI> this did not imply his knowledge of her after, no more, then when God &s;ayes to Chri&s;t, <HI>donec ponam,</HI> &s;it at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot&s;toole, that im|ports, that Chri&s;t &s;hould remove from his right hand after: For, here is a perpetuall <HI>donec</HI> in both places; for evermore the ancient Expo&s;itors have under&s;tood that place of <HI>Ezekiel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 44.2.</NOTE> to be intended of the perpetuall Virginitie of <HI>Mary, This gate &s;hall be &s;hut, and &s;hall not be opened, and no man &s;hall enter by it. Solomon</HI> hath an exclamation, <HI>Is there any
<PB N="23" REF="29">thing whereof a man may &s;ay, Behold this is new?</HI> and he an&s;wers him&s;elfe immediately before, <HI>There is no new thing under the Sun.</HI> But behold here is a greater then <HI>Solomon,</HI> and he &s;ayes now in action, by being borne of a Virgin, as he had &s;aid, long before, in Prophe&s;ie, <HI>The Lord hath created a new thing upon earth, a woman &s;hall compa&s;&s;e a man.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.</NOTE> If this had been &s;poken of &s;uch a woman, as were no Maid, this had been no new thing: As it was, it was without example, and without naturall rea&s;on; <HI>&s;i ratio reddi po&s;&s;et,</HI> (&s;ayes St. <HI>Bernard</HI>) <HI>non e&s;&s;et mirabile, &s;i exempla haberemus, non e&s;&s;et &s;ingulare;</HI> If there were rea|&s;on for it, it were no miracle, if there were precedents for it, it were not &s;ingular; and God intended both, that it &s;hould be a miracle, and that it &s;hould be done but once; we &s;ee in Nature, trees do bud out, and there is an emi&s;&s;ion, and emanation of flowers, and fruits, without any help of man, or any act done by him, to that tree; we reade in <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> That the earth had produced all plants and herbs, before eyther any raine fell upon it, or any man tilled it. And the&s;e are good helps, and illu&s;trations to us, after we have belee|ved that a Virgin brought forth a Son; but nothing deduced out of nature, could prove this at fir&s;t, to any man, except he beleeved it before. And therefore ble&s;&s;ed be God, that hath given us that &s;trength, which the Egyptian Mid-wives &s;aid the women of I&s;ra|el had, that they brought forth children, without the help of Mid-wives: That we can humbly beleeve the&s;e my&s;teries of our religion, by faith, without the hand, and help of Rea&s;on; <HI>Si nondum mens idonea, ab&s;tru&s;a inve&s;tigare, &s;ine hae&s;itatione credantur,</HI> &s;ayes St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> In things which are not &s;ubject to any faculty of ours, to be di&s;cerned by rea&s;on, there is a pre&s;ent exerci&s;e of our faith. As we know it to be true, that the bu&s;h, in which God &s;pake to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> was full of fire, and did burne, but not con&s;ume, becau&s;e God hath &s;aid &s;o, in his booke, but yet we doe not know, how that was done: &s;o we know, (by the &s;ame evidence) that the Mother of our Saviour, was a Virgin; but for the manner of this My&s;tery, we re&s;t upon <HI>Epiphanius</HI> Rule, <HI>Quaecunque dicit Deus, credamus qu&ograve;d &s;int; quo|modo, Soli Deo cognitum:</HI> what&s;oever God, in his word, &s;ayes, was done, let us beleeve it to be done; how it was done, as we know that God knowes, &s;o we are content not to inquire more then it hath been his plea&s;ure to communicate to us.</P>
<P>She was then, and &s;he was alwaies a Virgin; but becau&s;e this Text is of his Humiliation, he leaves that Name that proceeds from miracle, and de&s;cends to that lower name of na|ture, <HI>Made of a woman.</HI> The Spirit of God fore-&s;aw, that the i&s;&s;ue betweene the Church, and the Heretiques would not be <HI>Virgin or no Virgin,</HI> but whether Chri&s;t were <HI>made of a woman.</HI> Some Heretiques did que&s;tion the fir&s;t; The <HI>Helvidians</HI> denied her perpetuall Virginitie: But that Here&s;ie, and &s;ome others that oppo&s;ed her Virginitie, vani&s;hed in a &s;hort time. But the <HI>Manichees,</HI> that la&s;ted long, and &s;pred farre in the old times, and the <HI>Anabapti&s;ts,</HI> which abound yet, deny that Chri&s;t was made of a woman; They &s;ay, that Chri&s;t pa&s;&s;ed through her, as water through a Pipe, but tooke nothing of her &s;ub&s;tance; and then, if he took not the nature of mankinde, he hath not redeemed man|kinde. And therefore in that Prophe&s;ie of <HI>Ieremy,</HI> that Chri&s;t &s;hould be borne, and in this Go&s;pel, in our Text, that Chri&s;t was borne, the Holy Gho&s;t mainttaines and conti|nues that phra&s;e, <HI>Made of a woman:</HI> And where he begins to expre&s;&s;e his Divinitie in mi|racles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 2.</NOTE> at the marriage in <HI>Cana,</HI> there Chri&s;t him&s;elfe calls her, by no other name, <HI>Woman, what have I to doe with thee?</HI> And when he had drawne all his miracles to a glorious <HI>con|&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> upon the Cro&s;&s;e, he cals her there, by that name too, <HI>Woman, behold thy Son.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 19.</NOTE> Here then was no &s;uch curious in&s;i&s;ting upon Styles and Titles, and names of Dignities, no unkindne&s;&s;e, no di&s;plea&s;ure taken; if one &s;hould leave out a Right Honourable, or Right Wor&s;hipfull, or an addition of an Office or Dignity; The powerfulne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;ts birth, con&s;i&s;ts in this, That he is made of God; The miraculou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;ts birth, con&s;i&s;ted in this, that he was made of a Virgin, and yet the Prophet and the Apo&s;tle, two principall Secretaries of the Holy Gho&s;t, pre&s;ent him with this addition, <HI>made of a woman.</HI> Chri&s;t had one priviledge in his birth, which never any Prince had, or &s;hall have, that is, that he cho&s;e what Mother he would have, and might have been borne of what woman he would have cho&s;en. And in this large and univer&s;all chovce, though he cho&s;e a wo|man full of grace to be his Mother, yet that he might give &s;pirituall comfort to all &s;orts of women, fir&s;t to tho&s;e, who &s;hould be unju&s;tly &s;u&s;pected, and in&s;imulated of &s;in and incontinency, when indeed they were innocent, hee was content to come of a Mother, who &s;hould be &s;ubject to that &s;u&s;picion, and whom her husband &s;hould think to be with child, before he marryed her, and thereupon purpo&s;e to put her away; And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.</NOTE> to fill
<PB N="24" REF="30">tho&s;e women, who had been guilty of that &s;inne, with reliefe in their con&s;ciences again&s;t the wrath of God, and with reparation of their reputation and good name in the world, it was his un&s;earchable will and plea&s;ure, that in all that Genealogie, and pedigree, which he, and his &s;pirit hath in&s;pired the Euangeli&s;ts to record of his Ance&s;tors, there is not one woman named, of whom Chri&s;t is de&s;cended, who is not dangerou&s;ly noted in the Scriptures, to have had &s;ome a&s;per&s;ion of incontinence upon her; as both St. <HI>Hie|rome,</HI> and St. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> ob&s;erves, of <HI>Thamar,</HI> of <HI>Ber&s;eba,</HI> and of <HI>Ruth</HI> al&s;o.</P>
<P>So then, Chri&s;t Je&s;us who came onely for the reliefe of &s;inners, is content to be known to have come, not onely of poore parents, but of a &s;infull race; and though he exempted his Ble&s;&s;ed Mother, more then any, from &s;in, yet he is now content to be born again of &s;in|ful Mothers: In that &s;oul, that accu&s;es it &s;elf mo&s;t of &s;in; In that &s;oul, that cals now to mind, (with remorce, and not with delight) the &s;everall times, and places, and waies, wherein &s;he hath offended God; In that &s;oul that acknowledgeth it &s;elf to have bin a &s;ink of unclean|ne&s;&s;e, a Tabernacle, a Synagogue of Satan; In that &s;oul, that hath been as it were po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with <HI>Mary Magdalens</HI> &s;even Devils, yea with him, who&s;e name was Legion, with all De|vils; In that &s;inful &s;oul would Chri&s;t Je&s;us fain be born, this day, and make that &s;oul, his Mo|ther, that he might be a regeneration to that &s;oul. We cannot afford Chri&s;t, &s;uch a birth in us, as he had, to be born of a Virgin; for every one of us wel-nigh hath married him&s;elf to &s;ome particular &s;in, &s;ome beloved &s;in, that he can hardly divorce him&s;elfe from; nay, no man keepes his faith, to that one &s;in, that he hath marryed him&s;elfe to, but mingles him|&s;elfe with other &s;ins al&s;o. Though Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, whom he loves, as the wife of his bo|&s;ome, have made him rich, yet he will commit adultery with another &s;in, with Ambition; and he will part, even with tho&s;e riches, for Honour: Though Ambition be his wife, his marryed &s;in, yet he will commit adultery with another &s;in, with Licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and he will endanger his Honour, to fulfill his Lu&s;t; Ambition may be his wife, but Lu&s;t is his Concubine. We abandon all &s;pirituall cha&s;tity; all virginitie, we marry our particular &s;innes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 16.</NOTE> and then we divide our loves with other &s;ins too: <HI>Thou ha&s;t multiplyed thy fornicati|ons, and yet art not &s;atisfied,</HI> is a complaint, that reaches us all, in &s;pirituall fornications, and goes very farre, in carnall. And yet, for all this, we are capable of this Conception, Chri&s;t may be borne in us, for all this: As God &s;aid unto the Prophet, <HI>Take thee a wife of fornications, and children of fornications;</HI> &s;o is Chri&s;t Je&s;us content to take our &s;oules, though too often mothers of fornications: As long as we are united, and incorporated in his beloved Spou&s;e, the Church, conforme our &s;elves to her, grow up in her, hearken to his word in her, feed upon his Sacraments in her, acknowledge a &s;eale of reconcilia|tion, by the ab&s;olution of the Mini&s;ter in her, &s;o long, (how unclean &s;oever we have bin, if wee abhorre and for&s;ake our uncleanne&s;&s;e now) wee participate of the cha&s;tity of that Spou&s;e of his, the Church, and in her, are made capable of this conception of Chri&s;t Je|&s;us, and &s;o, it is as true this houre of us, as it was when the Apo&s;tle &s;poke the&s;e words, <HI>This is the fulne&s;&s;e of time, when God &s;ent his Son, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Now you remember,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sub lege.</NOTE> that in this &s;econd part, (the manner of Chri&s;ts comming) we propo&s;ed two degrees of humiliation; One which we have handled, in a double re&s;pect, as he is made, <HI>filius mulieris, non Dei,</HI> the &s;on of a woman, and not the Son of God; the other, as he is <HI>filius mulieris, non Virginis,</HI> The &s;on of a woman, and not called the &s;on of a Virgin.</P>
<P>The &s;econd remaines, that he was <HI>&s;ub lege, under the law;</HI> now, this phra&s;e, to be <HI>under the law,</HI> is not alwayes &s;o narrowly limited in the Scriptures, as to &s;ignifie onely the law of <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> for, &s;o, onely the Jews were under the law, and &s;o, Chri&s;ts comming for them, who were under the law, his Death, and Merits &s;hould belong onely to the Jews. But St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> ob&s;erves, that when Chri&s;t &s;ent the me&s;&s;age of his birth, to the wi&s;e men, in the Ea&s;t, by a &s;tarre, and to the &s;hepheards, about <HI>Bethlem,</HI> by an Angel, <HI>In pa&s;toribus, Iudaei; in magis, Gentes vocatae;</HI> The Jews had their calling in that manife&s;tation to the &s;hepheards, and the Gentiles in that, to the wi&s;e men in the Ea&s;t. But be&s;ides that Chri&s;t did &s;ubmit him&s;elfe, to all the waight even of the Ceremoniall law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> he was under a heavyer law, then that, under that <HI>lex decreti,</HI> the contract and covenant with God the Father, under that <HI>oportuit pati, This he ought to &s;uffer, before he could enter into glory.</HI> So that his being under the law, may be accounted not a part of his Humiliation, as his being made of a woman was, but rather the whole hi&s;tory, and frame of his humi|liation,
<PB N="25" REF="30">All that concernes his obedience, even to that law, which the Father had laid up|on him; for, the life and death of Chri&s;t, from the <HI>Ave Maria,</HI> to the <HI>con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> from his comming into this World, in his Conception, to his tran&s;migration upon the Cro&s;&s;e, was all under this law, heavier then any law, that any man is under, the law of the contract, and covenant between the Father, and him.</P>
<P>Though therefore we may think, judging by the law of rea&s;on, that &s;ince Chri&s;t came to gather a Church, and to draw the world to him, it would more have advanced that purpo&s;e of his, to have been borne at <HI>Rome,</HI> where the &s;eat of the Empire, and the conflu|ence of all Nations, was, then in <HI>Iury,</HI> and (if he would offer the Go&s;pel fir&s;t to the Jews) better to have been borne at <HI>Ieru&s;alem,</HI> where all the outward, publique, &s;olemne wor|&s;hip of the Jews was, then at ob&s;cure <HI>Bethlem,</HI> and in <HI>Bethlem,</HI> in &s;ome better place then in an Inne, in a Stable, in a Manger; though we may think thus, in the law of rea&s;on, yet, <HI>non cogitationes meae cogitationes ve&s;trae,</HI> &s;ayes God in the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 55.</NOTE> <HI>My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my lawes your lawes,</HI> for I am <HI>&s;ub lege decreti,</HI> under another manner of law, then falls within your reading, under an obedience to that covenant, which hath pa&s;&s;ed betweene my Father, and me, and by tho&s;e Degrees, and no other way, was my humili|ation, for your Redemption, to be expre&s;&s;ed. Though we may thinke in the law of Rea|&s;on, that his work of propagating the Go&s;pel, would have gone better forward, if he had taken for his Apo&s;tles, &s;ome <HI>Tullies,</HI> or <HI>Horten&s;ii,</HI> or <HI>Senecaes,</HI> great, and per&s;wading Orators, in &s;tead of his <HI>Peter,</HI> and <HI>Iohn,</HI> and <HI>Matthew,</HI> and tho&s;e Fi&s;hermen, and tent-ma|kers, and toll-gatherers; Though we might think in rea&s;on, and in piety too, that when he would humble him&s;elfe to take our &s;alvation into his care, it had beene enough, to have beene under the law of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> to live innocently, and righteou&s;ly, without &s;hedding of his bloud; If he would &s;hed bloud, it might have beene enough to have done &s;o in the Circumci&s;ion, and &s;courging, without dying; If he would die, it might have been enough to have dyed &s;ome le&s;&s;e accur&s;ed, and le&s;&s;e ignominious death, then the death of the Cro&s;&s;e; though we might rea&s;onably enough, and piou&s;ly enough, think thus, yet, <HI>non cogitationes ve&s;trae, cogitationes meae,</HI> &s;ayes the Lord, <HI>your way is not my way, your law is not my law;</HI> for, Chri&s;t was <HI>&s;ub lege decreti,</HI> and <HI>thus,</HI> as he did, and no other way, <HI>it became him to fulfill all righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> that is, all that Decree of God, which he had accepted, and acknowledged as Righteous. He was &s;o much under <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> law, as he would be: &s;o much under that law, as that he &s;uffered that law, to be wre&s;ted again&s;t him, and to bee pretended to be broken by him, and to be endited, and condemned by that law. The Jews pre&s;&s;ed that law, <HI>non &s;ines veneficu~ vivere, Thou &s;halt not &s;uffer a witch to live,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 22.</NOTE> when they at|tributed all his glorious miracles, to the power of the devil: and the Romans were incen&s;ed again&s;t him, for trea&s;on, and &s;edition, as though he aliened and withdrew the people from <HI>Cae&s;ar.</HI> But he was under a heavyer law, then Jews or Romanes, the Law of his Father, and his owne eternall Decree, &s;o farre, as that he came to that &s;en&s;e of the waight there|of, <HI>Eli, Eli, My God, My God, why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me?</HI> and was never delivered from the burden of this law, till he pleaded the performance of all conditions between his Father, and him, and delivered up all the evidence thereof, in tho&s;e words, <HI>In manus tuas, Into thy hands, O Lord I give my &s;pirit,</HI> and &s;o pre&s;ented both the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of his &s;oule, which had fulfilled the law, and the &s;oule it &s;elfe, which was under the law. He dyed in Execution, and &s;o di&s;charged all; And &s;o we have done with our &s;econd part, The man|ner of his comming.</P>
<P>We are come now, in our Order, to our third part, The purpo&s;e of Chri&s;ts comming;<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> and in that we con&s;ider two objects, that Chri&s;t had, and two &s;ubjects to work upon, two kindes of work, and two kindes of per&s;ons; Fir&s;t, to Redeeme, and then to Adopt; Tho&s;e are his works, his objects; And then, <HI>To redeeme tho&s;e that were under the law,</HI> that is, all, but to Adopt tho&s;e whom he had cho&s;en, us; And tho&s;e are the per&s;ons, the &s;ubjects, that he works upon, by his comming.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, (to begin with the per&s;ons) tho&s;e of the fir&s;t kinde,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sub lege.</NOTE> <HI>tho&s;e that were under the Law:</HI> for them, (as we told you before) the law mu&s;t not be &s;o narrowly re&s;trained here, as to be intended onely of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Law, for Chri&s;ts purpo&s;e was not onely upon the Jews; for el&s;e, <HI>Naaman</HI> the Syrian, by whom God fought great battailes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 5.</NOTE> before he was cured of his lepro&s;ie, and who, when he was cured, was &s;o zealous of the wor&s;hip of the true God, that he would needs carry holy earth, to make Altars of, from the place, where the Prophet dwelt: And el&s;e, <HI>Iob,</HI> who though he were of the land of Hus, hath
<PB N="26" REF="31" MS="y">good te&s;timony of being an upright and ju&s;t man, and one that feared God; And el&s;e, the Widow of Sarepta,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Reg. 17.</NOTE> who&s;e meale, and oyle God pre&s;erved unwa&s;ted, and who&s;e dead &s;onne, God rai&s;ed againe, at the prayer of <HI>Eliah;</HI> All the&s;e, and all others, whom the &s;earching Spirit of God, &s;eales to his &s;ervice, in all the corners of the earth, becau&s;e they are &s;trangers in the land of I&s;rael, &s;hould not be under the Law, and &s;o &s;hould have no profit by Chri&s;ts being made under the Law, if the Law &s;hould be under&s;tood, onely of the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> And therefore to be <HI>under the Law,</HI> &s;ignifies here, thus much, To be a debter to the law of nature, to have a te&s;timony in our hearts and con&s;ciences, that there lyes a law upon us, which we have no power in our &s;elves to performe; that to tho&s;e lawes, <HI>To love God with all our powers,</HI> and <HI>to love our neighbour as our &s;elves,</HI> and <HI>to doe, as we would be done to,</HI> we finde our &s;elves naturally bound, and yet wee finde our &s;elves na|turally unable to performe them, and &s;o to need the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of another, which mu&s;t be Chri&s;t Je&s;us, to performe them for us; And &s;o, all men, Jews and Gentiles are under the Law, becau&s;e naturally they feele a law upon them, which they breake. And therefore where&s;oever our power becomes defective, in the performance of this law, if our will be not defective too, if we come not to &s;ay, God hath given us an impo&s;&s;ible Law, and therefore it is lo&s;t labour, to goe about to performe it, or God hath given us another to performe this Law for us, and therefore nothing is required at our hands; If we ab&s;taine from the&s;e quarrels to the law, and the&s;e murmurings at our owne infirmity, wee &s;hall finde, that the fulne&s;&s;e of time is this day come, this day Chri&s;t is come to <HI>all that are under the Law,</HI> that is, to all mankinde; to all, becau&s;e all are unable to performe that Law, which they all &s;ee, by the light of nature to lye upon them.</P>
<P>The&s;e then be the per&s;ons of the fir&s;t kinde,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Redemit.</NOTE> All, all the world; <HI>Dilexit mundum, God &s;o loved the world, that he gave his Son for it,</HI> for all the world; And, accordingly, <HI>venit &s;alvare mundum,</HI> the obedience of the Son, was as large as the love of the Father, Hee came to &s;ave all the world, and he did &s;ave all the world; God would have all men, and Chri&s;t did &s;ave all men. It is therefore fearefully (and &s;carce allowably &s;aid) that Chri&s;t did contrary to his Fathers will, when he called tho&s;e to grace, of whom he knew his Fa|thers plea&s;ure to bee, that they &s;hould have no grace; It is fearefully and dangerou&s;ly &s;aid, <HI>Ab&s;urdum non e&s;&s;e, Deum interdum fal&s;a loqui, &amp; fal&s;um loquenti credendum,</HI> that it is not ab&s;urd to &s;ay, (that is, that it may truly be &s;aid) that God does &s;ometimes &s;peake untruly, and that we are bound to beleeve God, when he does &s;o: for, if we con&s;ider the &s;overaigne balme of our &s;oules, the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, there is enough for all the world, if we con&s;ider the application of this phy&s;ick, by the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in the Church, hee hath given us that &s;preading Commi&s;&s;ion, To goe and preach to every creature, we are bid to offer, to apply, to mini&s;ter this to all the world: Chri&s;t hath ex|communicated no Nation, no &s;hire, no hou&s;e, no man: Hee gives none of his Mini&s;ters leave to &s;ay to any man, thou art not Redeemed, he gives no wounded nor afflicted con|&s;cience leave, to &s;ay to it &s;elfe, I am not Redeemed. There may be meat enough brought into the hou&s;e, for all the hou&s;e, though &s;ome be &s;o weake, as they cannot, (which is the ca&s;e of the Gentiles) &s;ome &s;o &s;tubborne, as they will not eate, (which is the ca&s;e of the carnall man, though in the Chri&s;tian Church.)</P>
<P>He came to all, There are the per&s;ons, and <HI>to Redeeme all,</HI> there is his errand; but how to Redeeme? S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Gentes non Redimuntur, &s;ed emuntur:</HI> The Gentiles, &s;aies hee, are not properly Chri&s;ts, by way of Redeeming, but by an ab&s;olute purcha&s;e: To which purpo&s;e tho&s;e words are al&s;o applied, which the Apo&s;tle &s;aies to the Corinthi|ans,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.20.</NOTE> <HI>Ye are bought with a price,</HI> S. <HI>Hieroms</HI> meaning therein, is, that if we compare the Jews and the Gentiles, though God permitted the Jews, in puni&s;hment of their rebel|lions, to bee captivated by the devill in Idolatries, yet the Jews were but as in a mort|gage, for they had beene Gods peculiar people before; But the Gentiles were as the de|vils inheritance, for God had never claimed them, nor owned them for his; and there|fore God &s;ayes to Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 2.8.</NOTE> <HI>Po&s;tula &agrave; me, Aske of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance;</HI> as though they were not his yet, or not his by that title, as the Jews were. So that, in S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> con&s;truction, the Jewes, which were Gods people before, were properly Redeemed, the Gentiles, to whom God made no title before, are rather bought, then redeemed. But, <HI>Nullum tempus occurrit Regi,</HI> again&s;t the King of Kings there runnes no pre&s;cription; no man can deve&s;t his Allegeance to his Prince, and &s;ay he will be &s;ub|ject no longer; And therefore, &s;ince the Gentiles, were his by his fir&s;t title of Creation,
<PB N="27" REF="31" MS="y">(for, <HI>it is he that hath made us, and not we our &s;elves,</HI> nor the devill neither) when all we, by our generall revolt, and prevarication, (as we were all collectively in <HI>Adams</HI> loynes) came to be under that law, <HI>morte morieris, Thou &s;halt dye the death,</HI> when Chri&s;t came in the fulne&s;&s;e of time, and delivered us from the &s;harpe&s;t, and heavie&s;t clau&s;e of that Law, which is the &s;econd death, then he <HI>Redeemed</HI> us properly, becau&s;e, (though not by the &s;ame title of Covenant, as the Jews were) yet we were his, and &s;old over to his enemy. The&s;e then were the per&s;ons, All, (none can &s;ay that he did not need him, none can &s;ay, that he may not have him) And this was his fir&s;t worke, <HI>to Redeeme,</HI> to vindicate them from the u&s;urper, to deliver them from the intruder, to emancipate them from the tyran, to cancell the covenant betweene hell, and them, and re&s;tore them &s;o far to their liber|ty, as that they might come to their fir&s;t Ma&s;ter, if they would; this was <HI>Redeeming.</HI></P>
<P>But in his other worke, which is <HI>Adoption,</HI> and where the per&s;ons were more particu|lar,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Adoptio.</NOTE> not all, but wee, Chri&s;t hath taken us to him, in a &s;traiter and more peculiar title, then Redeeming. For, <HI>A &s;ervando Servi,</HI> men who were, by another mans valour, &s;aved and redeemed from the enemy, or from pre&s;ent death, they became thereby, &s;ervants to him that &s;aved and redeemed them: Redemption makes us (who were but &s;ubjects before, for all are &s;o, by creation) &s;ervants; but it is but &s;ervants; but Adoption makes us, who are thus made &s;ervants by Redemption, &s;ons <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> for, <HI>Adoption</HI> is <HI>verbum foren&s;e,</HI> though it be a word which the Holy Gho&s;t takes, yet he takes it from a civill u&s;e, and &s;ig|nification, in which, it expre&s;&s;es in divers circum&s;tances, our Adoption into the &s;tate of Gods children. Fir&s;t, he that adopted another, mu&s;t by that law, be a man, who had no children of his owne; And this was Gods ca&s;e towards us; Hee had no children of his owne, wee were all <HI>filii irae, The children of wrath,</HI> not one of us could be &s;aid to bee the child of God, by nature, if we had not had this <HI>Adoption</HI> in Chri&s;t. Secondly, he, who,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> by that law, might Adopt, mu&s;t be a Man, who had had, or naturally might have had children; for an Infant under yeares, or a man, who by nature was di&s;abled from having children, could not Adopt another; And this was Gods ca&s;e towards us too; for God had had children without Adoption; for by our creation in Innocence, we were the &s;ons of God till we died all in one tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, and lo&s;t all right, and all life, and all meanes of regaining it, but by this way of <HI>Adoption</HI> in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. Againe, no man might adopt an elder man then him&s;elfe; and &s;o, our Father by <HI>Adoption,</HI> is not onely <HI>Antiquus die|rum,</HI> The ancient of Daies, but <HI>Antiquior diebus</HI> ancienter then any Daies, before Time was; he is (as <HI>Dama&s;cene</HI> forces him&s;elfe to expre&s;&s;e it) <HI>Super-principale principium,</HI> the Beginning, and the fir&s;t Beginning, and before the fir&s;t beginning; He is, &s;aies he, <HI>aeter|nus,</HI> and <HI>prae-aeternus,</HI> Eternall, and elder then any eternity, that we can take into our ima|gination. So likewi&s;e no man might adopt a man of better quality then him&s;elfe, and here, we are &s;o far from comparing, as that we cannot comprehend his greatne&s;&s;e, and his goodne&s;&s;e, of whom, and to whom, S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> &s;aies well, <HI>Quid mihi es?</HI> If I &s;hall goe about to declare thy goodne&s;&s;e, not to the world in generall, but <HI>Quid mihi es,</HI> how good thou art to me, <HI>Mi&s;erere ut loquar,</HI> &s;aies he, I mu&s;t have more of thy goodne&s;&s;e, to be able to tell thy former goodne&s;&s;e, Be mercifull unto me againe, that I may bee thereby able to declare how mercifull thou wa&s;t to me before, except thou &s;peake in me, I cannot de|clare what thou ha&s;t done for me. La&s;tly, no man might be adopted, into any other degree of kindred, but into the name, and right of a &s;on; he could not be an adopted Bro|ther, nor co&s;in, nor nephew: And this is e&s;pecially our dignity; wee have <HI>the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.</HI> So that, as here is <HI>a fulne&s;&s;e of time</HI> in the text, &s;o there is a fulne&s;&s;e of per&s;ons, <HI>All,</HI> and a fulne&s;&s;e of the worke belonging to them, <HI>Re|deeming,</HI> Emancipation, delivering from the chaines of Satan, (we were his by Creation, we &s;old our &s;elves for nothing, and he redeemed us, without money, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 52.</NOTE> without any co&s;t of ours) but becau&s;e for all this generall Redemption, we may turne from him, and &s;ubmit our &s;elves to other &s;ervices, therefore he hath <HI>Adopted us,</HI> drawne into his family and into his more e&s;peciall care, tho&s;e who are cho&s;en by him, to be his. Now that Re|demption reached to all, there was enough for all; this di&s;pen&s;ation of that Redemption, this <HI>Adoption</HI> reaches onely to us, all this is done, <HI>That wee might receive the Adoption of Sonnes.</HI></P>
<P>But who are this <HI>Wee?</HI> why, they are the elect of God. But who are they,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nos.</NOTE> who are the&s;e elect? <HI>Qui timid&egrave; rogat, docet negare:</HI> If a man aske me with a diffidence, Can I be the adopted &s;on of God, that have rebelled again&s;t him, in all my affections, that have
<PB N="28" REF="32">troden upon his Commandements, in all mine actions, that have divorced my &s;elfe from him, in preferring the love of his creatures before him&s;elfe, that have murmured at his corrections, and thought them too much, that have undervalued his benefits, and thought them too little, that have abandoned, and pro&s;tituted my body, his Temple, to all uncleanne&s;&s;e, and my &s;pirit to indevotion, and contempt of his Ordinances; can I be the adopted &s;on of God, that have done this? <HI>Ne timid&egrave; roges,</HI> aske me not this, with a diffidence and di&s;tru&s;t in Gods mercy, as if thou thought&s;t with <HI>Cain</HI> thy iniquities were greater then could be forgiven; But aske me with that holy confidence, which belongs to a true convert, Am not I, who, though I am never without &s;inne, yet am never with|out hearty remorce and repentance for my &s;innes; though the weakne&s;&s;e of my fle&s;h &s;ometimes betray mee, the &s;trength of his Spirit &s;till recovers me; though my body be under the paw of that lion, that &s;eekes whom hee may devoure, yet the lion of Judah rai&s;es againe and upholds my &s;oule; though I wound my Saviour with many &s;innes, yet all the&s;e, bee they never &s;o many, I &s;trive again&s;t, I lament, confe&s;&s;e, and for&s;ake as farre as I am able. Am not I the child of God, and his adopted &s;on in this &s;tate? <HI>Roga fidenter,</HI> aske me with a holy confidence in thine and my God, <HI>&amp; doces affirmare,</HI> thy very que&s;tion gives me mine an&s;wer to thee, thou teache&s;t me to &s;ay, thou art; God him&s;elfe teaches me to &s;ay &s;o, by his Apo&s;tle, <HI>The foundation of God is &s;ure,</HI> and this is the Seale, <HI>God knoweth who are his,</HI> and let them that <HI>call upon his name, depart from all iniquity:</HI> He that departs &s;o far, as to repent former &s;innes, and &s;hut up the wayes, which he knows in his con&s;cience, doe lead him into tentations, he is of this <HI>quorum,</HI> one of us, one of them, who are adopted by Chri&s;t, to be the &s;onnes of God. I am of this <HI>quorum,</HI> if I preach the Go&s;pell &s;incerely, and live thereafter, (for hee preaches twice a day, that followes his owne doctrine, and does as he &s;aies) And you are of this <HI>quorum,</HI> if you preach over the Sermons which you heare, to your owne &s;oules in your meditation, to your fami|lies in your relation, to the world in your conver&s;ation. If you come to this place, to meet the Spirit of God, and not to meet one another, If you have &s;ate in this place, with a delight in the Word of God, and not in the words of any &s;peaker, If you goe out of this place, in &s;uch a di&s;po&s;ition, as that, if you &s;hould meet the la&s;t Trumpets at the gates, and Chri&s;t Je&s;us in the clouds, you would not intreat him to goe back, and &s;tay another yeare: To enwrap all in one, if you have a religious and &s;ober a&s;&s;urance, that you are his, and walke according to your beleefe, you are his, and, as the fulne&s;&s;e of time, &s;o the ful|ne&s;&s;e of grace is come upon you, and you are not onely within the fir&s;t commi&s;&s;ion, of tho&s;e who were under the Law, and &s;o Redeemed, but of this <HI>quorum</HI> who are &s;elected out of them, the adopted &s;ons of that God, who never di&s;inherits tho&s;e that for&s;ake not him.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="29" REF="32">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON IV.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls</HI> upon Chri&s;tmas day. <HI>1626.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>LUKE. 2.29, &amp; 30.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Lord now lette&s;t thou thy &s;ervant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have &s;een thy &s;alvation.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe whole life of Chri&s;t was a continuall Pa&s;&s;ion; others die Martyrs, but Chri&s;t was born a Martyr. He found a <HI>Golgatha,</HI> (where he was crucified) even in Bethlem, where he was born; For, to his tenderne&s;&s;e then, the &s;trawes were almo&s;t as &s;harp as the thornes after; and the Manger as un|ea&s;ie at fir&s;t, as his Cro&s;&s;e at la&s;t. His birth and his death were but one continuall act, and his Chri&s;tmas-day and his Good Friday, are but the evening and morning of one and the &s;ame day. And as even his birth, is his death, &s;o every action and pa&s;&s;age that manife&s;ts Chri&s;t to us, is his birth; for, <HI>Epiphany</HI> is <HI>manife&s;tation;</HI> And therefore, though the Church doe now call Twelf-day Epiphany, becau&s;e upon that day Chri&s;t was manife&s;ted to the Gentiles, in tho&s;e Wi&s;e men who came then to wor&s;hip him, yet the Ancient Church called this day, (the day of Chri&s;ts birth) the Epiphany, becau&s;e this day Chri&s;t was manife&s;ted to the world, by being born this day. Every manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t to the world, to the Church, to a particular &s;oule, is an Epipha|ny, a Chri&s;tmas-day. Now there is no where a more evident manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t, then in that which induced this text, <HI>Lord now lette&s;t thou thy &s;ervant, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>It had been revealed to <HI>Simeon</HI> (who&s;e words the&s;e are) that he &s;hould &s;ee Chri&s;t be|fore he dyed; And actually, and really, &s;ub&s;tantially, e&s;&s;entially, bodily, pre&s;entially, per&s;onally he does &s;ee him; &s;o it is <HI>Simeons</HI> Epiphany, <HI>Simeons</HI> Chri&s;tmas-day. So al|&s;o this day, in which we commemorate and celebrate the generall Epiphany, the mani|fe&s;tation of Chri&s;t to the whole world in his birth, all we, we, who be&s;ides our intere&s;t in the univer&s;all Epiphany and manife&s;tation implyed in the very day, have this day re|ceived the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t in his holy and ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament, have had ano|ther Epiphany, another Chri&s;tmas-day, another manife&s;tation and application of Chri&s;t to our &s;elves; And as the Church prepares our devotion before Chri&s;tmas-day, with foure Sundayes in Advent, which brings Chri&s;t nearer and nearer unto us, and remem|bers us that he is comming, and then continues that remembrance again, with the cele|bration of other fe&s;tivals with it, and after it, as S. <HI>Stephen,</HI> S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> and the re&s;t that fol|low; &s;o for this birth of Chri&s;t, in your particular &s;oules, for this Epiphany, this Chri&s;t|mas-day, this manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t which you have had in the mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Sacra|ment this day, as you were prepared before by that which was &s;aid before, &s;o it belongs to the through celebration of the day, and to the dignity of that my&s;terious act, and to the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of worthy, and the danger of unworthy Receivers, to pre&s;&s;e that evi|dence in your behalf, and to enable you by a farther examination of your &s;elves, to <HI>depart in peace,</HI> becau&s;e your <HI>eyes have &s;een his &s;alvation.</HI></P>
<P>To be able to conclude to you &s;elves, that becau&s;e you have had a Chri&s;tmas-day, a manife&s;tation of Chri&s;ts birth in your &s;oules, by the Sacrament, you &s;hall have a whole Good-Friday, a crucifying, and a <HI>con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> a mea&s;ure of corrections, and joy in tho&s;e corrections, tentations, and the i&s;&s;ue with the tentation; And that you &s;hall have a Re&s;urrection, and an A&s;cen&s;ion, an inchoation, and an unremoveable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of hea|ven it &s;elf in this world. Make good your Chri&s;tmas day, that Chri&s;t by a worthy re|ceiving of the Sacrament, be born in you, and he that dyed for you, will live with you all the yeare, and all the yeares of your lives, and in&s;pire into you, and receive from you at the la&s;t ga&s;p, this ble&s;&s;ed acclamation, <HI>Lord now lette&s;t thou thy &s;ervant, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<PB N="30" REF="33">
<P>The end of all dige&s;tions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and concoctions is a&s;&s;imilation, that that meate may become our body. The end of all con&s;ideration of all the actions of &s;uch leading and exemplar men, as <HI>Simeon</HI> was, is a&s;&s;imilation too; That we may be like that man. Therefore we &s;hall make it a fir&s;t part, to take a picture, to give a character of this man, to con&s;ider how <HI>Simeon</HI> was qualified and prepared, matured and di&s;po&s;ed to that confidence, that he could de&s;ire to depart in peace, intimated in that fir&s;t word, <HI>Now;</HI> now, that all that I look for is accompli&s;hed; And farther expre&s;&s;ed in the fir&s;t word of the other clau&s;e, <HI>For, for mine eyes have &s;een thy &s;alvation; Now,</HI> now the time is fulfilled; <HI>For, for mine eyes have &s;een.</HI> And then enters the &s;econd part, what is the greate&s;t happine&s;&s;e that can be well wi&s;hed in this world, by a man well prepared, is, that he may depart in peace; <HI>Lord now lette&s;t thou, &amp;c.</HI> And all the way, in every &s;tep that we make, in his light, (in <HI>Simeons</HI> light) we &s;hall &s;ee light; we &s;hall con&s;ider, that that preparation, and di&s;po&s;iti|on, and acquie&s;cence, which <HI>Simeon</HI> had in his Epiphany, in his vi&s;ible &s;eeing of Chri&s;t then, is offered to us in this Epiphany, in this manife&s;tation and application of Chri&s;t in the Sacrament; And that therefore every penitent, and devout, and reverent, and wor|thy receiver, hath had in that holy action his <HI>Now,</HI> there are all things accompli&s;hed to him, and his <HI>For, for his eyes have &s;een his &s;alvation;</HI> and &s;o may be content, nay glad <HI>to depart in peace.</HI></P>
<P>In the fir&s;t part then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> in which we collect &s;ome marks, and qualities in <HI>Simeon</HI> which prepared him to a quiet death, qualities appliable to us in that capacity, as we are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">tred for the Sacrament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prae&s;entatio.</NOTE> (for in that way only, we &s;hall walk throughout this exerci&s;e) wee con&s;ider fir&s;t, the action it &s;elf, what was done at this time. At this time our Saviour Chri&s;t, according to the Law, by which all the fir&s;t born were to be pre&s;ented to God in the Temple, at a certain time after their birth, was pre&s;ented to God in the Temple, and there acknowledged to be his; And then, bought of him again by his parents, at a certain price pre&s;cribed in the Law. A Lord could not exhibite his Son to his Tenants, and &s;ay, this is your Land-lord; nor a King his Son to his Subjects, and &s;ay, this is your Prince; but fir&s;t he was to be tendred to God; his they were all; He that is not Gods fir&s;t, is not truly his Kings, nor his own. And then God does not &s;ell him back againe to his parents, at a racked, at an improved price; He &s;els a Lord, or a King back againe to the world, as cheap as a Yeoman, he takes one and the &s;ame price for all; God made all Mankinde of one blood, and with one blood, the blood of his Son, he bought all Mankinde again: At one price, and upon the &s;ame conditions, he hath delivered over all into this world; <HI>Tantummodo crede,</HI> and then <HI>fac hoc, &amp; vives,</HI> is the price of all; Be|leeve, and live well: More he asks not, le&s;&s;e he takes not for any man, upon any pre|tence of any unconditioned decree.</P>
<P>At the time of this pre&s;entation, there were to be offered a paire of Turtles, or a paire of Pigeons.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Columbae.</NOTE> The Sacrifice was indifferent; Turtles that live &s;olitarily, and Pigeons, that live &s;ociably, were all one to God. God in Chri&s;t may be had in an active, and &s;o|ciable life, denoted in the Pigeon, and in the &s;olitary and contemplative life, denoted in the Turtle; Let not We&s;tmin&s;ter de&s;pi&s;e the Church, nor the Church the Exchange, nor the Exchange and trade de&s;pi&s;e Armes; God in Chri&s;t may be had in every lawfull calling. And then, the Pigeon was an embleme of fecundity, and fruitfulne&s;&s;e in marri|age; And the Turtle may be an Embleme of cha&s;te widowhood; for, I thinke we finde no Bigamy in the Turtle. But in the&s;e Sacrifices we finde no Embleme of a natu|rall, or of a vowed barrenne&s;&s;e: Nothing that countenances a vowed virginity, to the di&s;honour or undervaluing of marriage. Thus was our Saviour pre&s;ented to God; And in this e&s;pecially was that fulfilled,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Agg. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>The glory of the later hou&s;e &s;hall be greater then the glory of the former;</HI> The later Temple exceeded the former in this, that the Lord, the God of this hou&s;e, was in the hou&s;e bodily, as one of the congregation; And the little body of a &s;ucking childe, was a Chappell in that Temple, infinitely more glorious then the Temple it &s;elfe. How was the joy of <HI>Noah</HI> at the return of the Dove into the Ark, mul|tiplied upon <HI>Simeon</HI> at the bringing of this Dove into the Temple? At how cheape a price was Chri&s;t tumbled up and down in this world? It does almo&s;t take off our pious &s;corn of the low price, at which <HI>Iudas</HI> &s;old him, to con&s;ider that his Father &s;old him to the world for nothing; and then, when he had him again, by this new title of primo|geniture and pre&s;entation, he &s;old him to the world again, if not for a Turtle, or for a Pi|geon, yet at mo&s;t for 5. &s;hekels, which at mo&s;t is but 10. &s;hillings.</P>
<PB N="31" REF="33">
<P>And yet you have had him cheaper then that, to day in the Sacrament: whom hath Chri&s;t co&s;t 5. &s;hekels there? As Chri&s;t was pre&s;ented to God in the Temple, &s;o is hee pre&s;ented to God in the Sacrament; not &s;ucking, but bleeding. And God gives him back again to thee. And at what price? upon this exchange; Take his fir&s;t born, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and give him thine. Who is thine? <HI>Cor primogenitum,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;t:</HI> The heart is the fir&s;t part of the body that lives; Give him that; And then, as it is in nature, it &s;hall be in grace too, the la&s;t part that dyes; for it &s;hall never dye;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh, 6.50.</NOTE> <HI>If a man eat the bread that commeth down from heaven, he &s;hall not die,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t. If a man in exchange of his heart receive Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, he can no more die then Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe can die. That which <HI>E&s;chines</HI> &s;aid to <HI>Socrates,</HI> admits a faire accommodation here; He &s;aw every body give <HI>Socrates</HI> &s;ome pre&s;ent, and he &s;aid, Becau&s;e I have nothing el&s;e to give, I will give thee my &s;elfe. Do &s;o, &s;ayes <HI>Socrates,</HI> and I will give thee back again to thy &s;elf, better then when I received thee. If thou have truly given thy &s;elfe to him in the Sacrament, God hath given thee thy &s;elfe back, &s;o much mended, as that thou ha&s;t received thy &s;elf and him too; Thy &s;elfe, in a holy liberty, to walk in the world in a calling, and him&s;elf, in giving a ble&s;&s;ing upon all the works of thy calling, and imprinting in thee a holy de&s;ire to do all tho&s;e works to his glory. And &s;o having thus far made this profit of the&s;e circum&s;tances in the action it &s;elf, appliable to us as receivers of the Sacra|ment, that as the childe Je&s;us was fir&s;t pre&s;ented to God in the Temple, &s;o for your chil|dren, (the children of your bodies, and the children of your mindes, and the children of your hands, all your actions, and intentions) that you direct them fir&s;t upon God, and God in the Temple, that is, God manife&s;ted in the Church, before you a&s;&s;igne them, or determine them upon any other worldly cour&s;es, and then, that as God returned Chri&s;t as all other children, at a certain price, &s;o God delivers man upon certain, and upon the &s;ame conditions: He comes not into the world, nor he comes not to the Sacrament, as to a Lottery, where perchance he may draw Salvation, but it is ten to one he mi&s;&s;es, but upon the&s;e few and ea&s;ie conditions, Beleeve, &amp; Love, he may be &s;ure: And then al&s;o, that the Sacrifice, Pigeons, or Turtles was indifferent, &s;o it were offered to God, for any hone&s;t calling, is acceptable to God, if Gods glory be intended in it; That of marriage and of widowhood we have &s;ome typicall intimations in the Law, in the Pigeon, and in the Turtle, but of a vow of virginity, begun in the parents for their temporall ends, and forced upon their children, for tho&s;e ends, we have no &s;hadow at all; That Chri&s;t who was &s;old after by <HI>Iudas</HI> for a little money, was &s;old in this pre&s;entation by his Father, for le&s;&s;e, and yet for le&s;&s;e then that to us, this day in the Sacrament. Having made the&s;e u&s;es of the&s;e circum&s;tances in the action it &s;elfe, we pa&s;&s;eion now, to the con&s;ideration of &s;ome &s;uch qualities, and di&s;po&s;itions of this per&s;on, <HI>Simeon,</HI> as may be appliable to us in our having received the Sacrament.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, we receive it, though not literally, and expre&s;ly in the &s;tory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Senex.</NOTE> yet by con|venient implication there, and by generall tradition from all, that <HI>Simeon</HI> was now come to a great age, a very old Man. For &s;o S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> argues, That God rai&s;ed up two wit|ne&s;&s;es for Chri&s;t in the Temple; one of each Sex; and both of much reverence for age; <HI>Anna,</HI> who&s;e age is expre&s;&s;ed, and <HI>Simeon,</HI> who is recommended in the &s;ame re&s;pect, &s;aies that Father, for age too. And <HI>Nicephorus,</HI> and others with him, make him very old; as it is likely he was, if he were, as <HI>Pet: Galatinus</HI> makes him, the &s;on of Rabbi <HI>Hil|lel, Hillel</HI> the ma&s;ter of <HI>Gamaliel,</HI> the ma&s;ter of S. <HI>Paul.</HI> So then we accept him; A per&s;on in a reverend age. Even in nature Age was the center of reverence; the channell, the val|ley, to which all reverence flowed; temporall juri&s;diction, and &s;pirituall juri&s;diction, the Magi&s;tracy, and the Prie&s;thood were appropriated to the elde&s;t; almo&s;t in all vulgar lan|guages, the name of a Lord, or magi&s;trate, hath no other derivation then &s;o, an Elder; <HI>Senior no&s;ter,</HI> is a word that pa&s;&s;es freely, through the authors of the middle age, for our Lord, or our King; and the &s;ame derivation hath the name of Prie&s;t, in a holy language, <HI>Presbyter</HI> an Elder. So evermore in the cour&s;e of the Scripture all coun&s;ell, and all go|vernment is placed in the Elders; and all the &s;ervice of God is expre&s;&s;ed &s;o, even in hea|ven too, by the foure and twenty Elders.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 4.9.</NOTE> Thy Creator will be remembred in the dayes of thy youth; but God hath had longer experience of that man, and longer conver&s;ation with that man, who is come to a holy age. That wi&s;e King, who could carry nothing to a higher pitch in any compari&s;on, then to a Crowne, &s;aies, <HI>Age is a crowne of glory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.31.</NOTE> <HI>when it is found in the wayes of the righteous;</HI> but in the waies of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, no ble&s;&s;ing is a
<PB N="32" REF="34">ble&s;&s;ing; and in the waies of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, wealth may be a crowne of our labours, and health may be a crowne of our temperance, but age is the crowne of glory, of reverence; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">hat crowne, the crowne of reverence, the Lord the righteous Judge hath re&s;erved to that day, the day of our age, becau&s;e our age is the &s;eale of our con&s;tancy, and per&s;eve|rance. In this ble&s;&s;ed age, <HI>Simeon</HI> was thus dignified, admitted to this Epiphany, this ma|nife&s;tation of Chri&s;t. And, to be admitted to thy Epiphany, and manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t in the Sacrament, thou mu&s;t put off the yong man, and put on the old. God, to who&s;e Table thou art called, is repre&s;ented as <HI>Antiquus Dierum,</HI> the ancient of Daies; and his Gue&s;ts mu&s;t be of mortified affections; He mu&s;t be crucified to the world, that will receive him, that was crucified for the world; the lu&s;ts of youth, the voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e of youth, the revengefulne&s;&s;e of youth, mu&s;t have a holy damp, and a religious &s;tupidity &s;hed upon them, that come thither. Nay, it is not enough to bee &s;uddenly old, to have &s;ad, and mortified thoughts then; no, nor to be &s;uddenly dead, to renounce the world then, that houre, that morning, but <HI>quatriduani &s;itis,</HI> you &s;hould have been dead three daies, as <HI>Lazarus;</HI> you &s;hould have pa&s;&s;ed an Examination, an accu&s;ation, a condemna|tion of your &s;elves, divers daies before ye came to that Table. God was mo&s;t glorified in the rai&s;ing of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> when he was long dead, and putrified; God is mo&s;t glorified in giving a re&s;urrection to him, that hath been longe&s;t dead; that is, longe&s;t in the Con|templation of his owne &s;infull and &s;pirituall putrefaction. For, he that &s;tinks mo&s;t in his owne, by true contrition, is the be&s;t perfume to Gods no&s;trils, and a con&s;cience troubled in it &s;elfe, is <HI>Odor quietis,</HI> as <HI>Noahs</HI> &s;acrifice was, a &s;avor of re&s;t to God.</P>
<P>This a&s;&s;i&s;tance we have to the exaltation of our devotion, from that circum&s;tance, that <HI>Simeon</HI> was an old man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sacerdos.</NOTE> we have another from another, that he was a Prie&s;t, and in that notion and capacity, the better fitted for this Epiphany, this Chri&s;tmas, this Manife&s;ta|tion of Chri&s;t. We have not this neither in the letter of the &s;tory; no, nor &s;o con&s;tantly in Tradition, that he was a Prie&s;t, as that he was an old man: But it is rooted in Antiquity too; In <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> in St. <HI>Cyrill,</HI> in <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> in others, who argue, and inferre it fairly and conveniently, out of &s;ome Prie&s;tly acts, which <HI>Simeon</HI> &s;eemes to have done in the Temple, (as the taking of Chri&s;t in his armes, which belongs to the Prie&s;t, and the ble&s;|&s;ing of God, which is the Thank&s;-giving to God, in the behalfe of the congregation, and then the ble&s;&s;ing of the people, in the behalfe of God, which are acts peculiar to the Prie&s;t.) Accepting him in that quality, a Prie&s;t, we con&s;ider, that as the King takes it wor&s;e in his hou&s;hold &s;ervants, then in his Subjects at large, if they goe not his wayes, &s;o they who dwell in Gods hou&s;e, who&s;e livelihood growes out of the revenue of his Church, and who&s;e &s;ervice lies within the walls of his Church, are mo&s;t inexcu&s;able, if they have not a continuall Epiphany, a continuall Manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t: All men &s;hould looke towards God, but the Prie&s;t &s;hould never looke off from God. And, at the Sacrament every man is a Prie&s;t. I had rather that were not &s;aid, (which yet a very Reverend Divine &s;ayes) That this <HI>Simeon</HI> might be <HI>aliquis plebeius homo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> &s;ome ordinary common man, that was in the Temple at that time, when Chri&s;t was brought. He, who is of another &s;ub-divi&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chemnicius.</NOTE> (though in the reformed Church too) collects piou&s;ly, that God cho&s;e extraordinary men, to give te&s;timony of his Sonne; <HI>Nicodemus</HI> a great Ma|gi&s;trate, <HI>Gamaliel</HI> a great Doctor, <HI>Iairus</HI> a Ruler in the Synagogue, and this <HI>Simeon,</HI> in probability, pregnant enough, a Prie&s;t. But was that any great Addition to him, if hee were &s;o? For holine&s;&s;e, certainly it was; But for outward dignity, and re&s;pect, it was &s;o too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;ephus.</NOTE> among&s;t them. <HI>In omni Natione, certum aliquod Nobilitatis argumentum.</HI> Every Na|tion hath &s;ome particular way of ennobling, and &s;ome particular evidence, and declara|tion of Nobility: Armes for a great part, is that in <HI>Spaine;</HI> and Merchandize in &s;ome States in <HI>Italy;</HI> and learning in <HI>France,</HI> where be&s;ides the very many preferments by the Church, in which, &s;ome other Nation may be equall to them, there are more prefer|ments, by other wayes of learning, e&s;pecially of Judicature, then in any other Nation. All Nations, &s;ayes <HI>Io&s;ephus,</HI> had &s;ome peculiar way, and among&s;t the Jews, &s;ayes he, Prie&s;t|hood was that way; A Prie&s;t was, even for civill priviledges, a Gentleman. Therefore hath the Apo&s;tle, not knighted, nor ennobled, but crowned every good &s;oule, with that &s;tyle, <HI>Regale Sacerdotium, That they are a Royall Prie&s;thood;</HI> To be Royall without Prie&s;t|hood, &s;eemed not to him Dignity enough. Con&s;ider then, that to come to the Com|munion Table, is to take Orders; Every man &s;hould come to that Altar, as holy as the Prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Era&s;mus.</NOTE> for there he is a Prie&s;t: And, <HI>Sacer dotem nemo agit, qui libenter aliud e&s;t, quam Sa|cerdos:</HI>
<PB N="33" REF="34">No man is truly a Prie&s;t, which is any thing el&s;e be&s;ides a Prie&s;t; that is, that entangles him&s;elfe in any other bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, &s;o, as that that hinders his function in his Prie&s;thood. No man comes to the Sacrament well, that is &s;orry hee is there; that is, whom the penalty of the law, or ob&s;ervation of neighbours, or any colla|terall re&s;pect brings thither. There thou art a Prie&s;t, though thou bee&s;t but a lay-man at home; And then, no man that hath taken Orders, can deprive him&s;elfe, or deve&s;t his Orders, when he will: Thou art bound to continue in the &s;ame holine&s;&s;e after, in which thou pre&s;ente&s;t thy &s;elfe at that Table. As the &s;ailes of a &s;hip when they are &s;pread and &s;wolne, and the way that the &s;hip makes, &s;hewes me the winde, where it is, though the winde it &s;elfe be an invi&s;ible thing; &s;o thy actions to morrow, and the life that thou lead|e&s;t all the yeare, will &s;hew mee, with what minde thou came&s;t to the Sacrament, to day, though onely God, and not I, can &s;ee thy minde. Live in remembrance, that thou wa&s;t a Prie&s;t to day; (for no man hath received Chri&s;t, that hath not &s;acrificed him&s;elf.) And live, as though thou wert a Prie&s;t &s;till; and then I &s;ay, with <HI>Sidonius Apollinaris, Malo Sacerdotalem virum, quam Sacerdotem,</HI> I had rather have one man that lives as a Prie&s;t &s;hould doe, then a hundred Prie&s;ts that live not &s;o. A worthy Receiver &s;hall ri&s;e in Judgement again&s;t an unworthy Giver: Chri&s;t &s;hall be the Sacrifice &s;till, and thou the Prie&s;t, that came&s;t but to receive, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t &s;acrificed thy &s;elfe; and he the <HI>Iudas,</HI> that pretended to be the Prie&s;t, becau&s;e he hath betrald Chri&s;t to him&s;elfe, and as much as lay in him, evacuated the Sacrament, and made it of none effect to thee.</P>
<P>It is farther added for his honour, and for his competency, and fitne&s;&s;e for this Epi|phany,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Iu&s;tus.</HI> V 25.</NOTE> to &s;ee his Saviour, that he was <HI>Iu&s;tus, a ju&s;t,</HI> and <HI>righteous man.</HI> This is a legall Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; a Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, in which St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, he was unreproachable; that is, in the &s;ight of all the world. And this Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, even this outward righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, he mu&s;t bring with him that comes to this Epiphany, to this Manife&s;tation, and Application of his Saviour, to him, in the Sacrament: It mu&s;t &s;tand well betweene him, and all the world. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar, &s;ayes Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.23.</NOTE> (if thou bring thy &s;elfe to the Altar, &s;ayes our ca&s;e) and there remembre&s;t that thy brother hath ought again&s;t thee, (it was ill done, not to remember it before; but if thou remember it then) Goe thy way, &s;ayes Chri&s;t, fir&s;t be reconciled to thy brother, and then come, and offer thy gift; that is, offer thy &s;elfe for that &s;acrifice: Better come a month after, with a cleare, then kneele it out then with a perplexed con&s;cience. It is, If thy brother have ought again&s;t thee; how little &s;oever: If thou have but &s;candalized him, though thou have not injured him, yet venture not upon this holy action, till thou have &s;atisfied him. Thou mai&s;t be good; good &s;o, as that thou ha&s;t intended no ill to him: He may be good too; good &s;o, as that he wi&s;hes no ill to thee. And yet &s;ome negligence and remi&s;ne&s;&s;e in thee, may have &s;truck upon a weakne&s;&s;e and a tenderne&s;&s;e in him, &s;o as that he may be come, to think uncharitably of thee; and though this uncharitablene&s;&s;e be his fault, and not thine, yet the negligence that occa&s;ioned it, was thine: Satisfie him; and that rectifies both; it redeemes thy negligence, it recovers his weakne&s;&s;e. Till that be done, neither of you are fit for this holy action; God neither accepts that man, that is negligent of his actions, and cares not what others think, nor him that is over-ea&s;ie to be &s;candalized, and mi&s;-interpret actions, otherwi&s;e indifferent: For, to them who &s;tudy not this righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, to &s;tand upright in the good opinions of good men, as God &s;aies, Why take&s;t thou my word into thy mouth, &s;o Chri&s;t &s;hall &s;ay, to the &s;haking of that con&s;cience, why ta|ke&s;t thou my Body, and Bloud into thy hand?</P>
<P>This mu&s;t be done; He mu&s;t be ju&s;t, righteous in the eyes of men;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Timoratus.</NOTE> though more &s;eeme to be implyed in his other character, that he was <HI>Timoratus,</HI> which we tran&s;late Devout: In the former, his object was man, though godly men; here it is God him&s;elfe: Man mu&s;t be re&s;pected, but God e&s;pecially. And this devotion is well placed in feare; for <HI>Ba&s;is verbi e&s;t timor &s;anctus,</HI> &s;ayes St. <HI>Augu&s;tine;</HI> and it is excellently &s;aid, if this bee his meaning, That what&s;oever I promi&s;e my &s;elfe out of the word of God, yet the Ba&s;is up|on which that promi&s;e &s;tands, is my feare of God: If my feare of God fall, the word of God, &s;o farre as it is a promi&s;e to me, falls to. <HI>Tertullian</HI> intends the &s;ame thing, when he &s;ayes, <HI>fundamentum &s;alutis timor;</HI> Though I have a holy confidence of my &s;alvation, yet the foundation of this confidence is a mode&s;t, and a tender, and a reverentiall feare, that I am not diligent enough in the performance of tho&s;e conditions which are required to the e&s;tabli&s;hing of it; for this <HI>Eulabeia,</HI> which St. <HI>Hierome</HI> tran&s;lates <HI>Timoratum,</HI> and
<PB N="34" REF="35">we tran&s;late Devout, is a middle di&s;po&s;ition betweene a Phari&s;aicall &s;uper&s;tition, and a negligent irreverence, and profanation of Gods Ordinance. I come not with this <HI>Eula|beia,</HI> with <HI>Simeons</HI> di&s;po&s;ition, to my Epiphany, to my receiving of my Saviour; if I think that Bread, my God, and &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly adore it, for that is Phari&s;aicall, and carnall; neither doe I bring that di&s;po&s;ition thither, if I think God no otherwi&s;e pre&s;ent there, then in his own other Ordinances, and &s;o refu&s;e &s;uch po&s;tures, and actions of reverence, as are required to te&s;tifie outwardly mine inward devotion; for the&s;e may well con&s;i&s;t together, I am &s;ure I receive him effectually, when I looke upon his Mercy; I am af|fraid I doe not receive him worthily, when I look upon mine owne unworthine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>We cannot pur&s;ue this Anatomy of good old <HI>Simeon,</HI> this Ju&s;t, and Devout Prie&s;t, &s;o farre, as to &s;hew you all his parts, and the u&s;e of them all, in particular. His example, and the characters that are upon him, are our Alphabet. I &s;hall onely have time to name the re&s;t of tho&s;e characters; you mu&s;t &s;pell them, and put them into their &s;yllables; you mu&s;t forme them, and put them into their words; you mu&s;t compo&s;e them, and put them into their Syntaxis, and &s;entences; that is, you mu&s;t pur&s;ue the imitation, that when I have told you what he was, you may pre&s;ent your &s;elves to God, &s;uch as he was. He was one that had the Holy Gho&s;t upon him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spiritus Sancius.</NOTE> &s;aies that Story. The te&s;timony given before, that he was <HI>Iu&s;tus, &amp; Timoratus,</HI> righteous, and fearing God, was evidence enough, that the Holy Gho&s;t was upon him. This addition is a te&s;timony of a more particular pre|&s;ence, and operation of the Holy Gho&s;t, in &s;ome certaine way; and the way is agreed by all, to be, <HI>In dono Prophetiae,</HI> the Holy Gho&s;t was upon him, in the &s;pirit of Prophe&s;ie, &s;o, as that he made him, at that time, a Prophet. Thou art a Prophet upon thy &s;elfe, when thou comme&s;t to the Communion; Thou art able to foretell, and to pronounce upon thy &s;elfe, what thou &s;halt be for ever; Vpon thy di&s;po&s;ition then, thou mai&s;t conclude thine eternall &s;tate;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.9.</NOTE> then thou knowe&s;t which part of St. <HI>Pauls</HI> di&s;tribution falls upon thee; whether that tribulations and angui&s;h upon every &s;oule of man, that doth evill; Or that, But glory, and honour, and peace to every man, that worketh good. Thou art this Prophet; &s;ilence not this Prophet; doe not chide thy con&s;cience for chiding thee; Stone not this Prophet; doe not petrifie, and harden thy con&s;cience again&s;t the&s;e holy &s;ugge&s;tions: Say not with <HI>Ahab</HI> to the Prophet, Ha&s;t thou found me out, O mine ene|my? when an unrepented &s;inne comes to thy memory then, be not thou &s;orry that thou remembre&s;t it then, nor doe not &s;ay, I would this &s;in had not troubled me now, I would I had not remembred it till to morrow; For, in that action, fir&s;t, in <HI>The&s;i,</HI> for the Rule, thou art a Preacher to thy &s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.20.</NOTE> and thou ha&s;t thy. Text in St. <HI>Paul, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to him&s;elfe;</HI> And then in <HI>Hypothe&s;i,</HI> for the application to the particular ca&s;e, thou art a Prophet to thy &s;elfe; Thou that know|e&s;t in thy &s;elfe, what thou doe&s;t then, can&s;t &s;ay to thy &s;elfe, what thou &s;halt &s;uffer after, if thou doe ill.</P>
<P>There are more Elements in the making up of this man; many more. He waited, &s;aies his &s;tory;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Expectavit.</NOTE> He gave God his lei&s;ure. <HI>Simeon</HI> had informed him&s;elfe, out of <HI>Daniel,</HI> and the other Prophets, that the time of the Me&s;&s;ias comming was neare: As <HI>Daniel</HI> had in|formed him&s;elfe out of <HI>Ieremy,</HI> and the other Prophets, that the time of the Deliverance from Babylon, was neare: Both waited patiently, and yet both prayed for the accelera|ting of that, which they waited for; <HI>Daniel</HI> for the Deliverance, <HI>Simeon</HI> for the Epipha|ny. Tho&s;e con&s;i&s;t well enough, patiently to attend Gods time, and yet earne&s;tly to &s;oli|cite the ha&s;tning of that time; for that time is Gods time, to which, our prayers have brought God; as that price was Gods price for <HI>Sodome,</HI> to which <HI>Abrahams</HI> &s;olicitation brought God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 45.9.</NOTE> and not the fir&s;t fifty. That Prophet that &s;ayes, <HI>Woe unto him that &s;triveth with his Maker,</HI> that is, that pre&s;&s;es God before his time, &s;aies al&s;o, for all that, <HI>Oh that thou woulde&s;t rent the heavens,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 64.1.</NOTE> <HI>and come downe.</HI> When thou comme&s;t to this &s;eale of thy peace, the Sacrament, pray that God will give thee that light, that may direct and e&s;tabli&s;h thee, in nece&s;&s;ary and fundamentall things; that is, the light of faith to &s;ee, that the Body and Bloud of Chri&s;t, is applied to thee, in that action; But for the manner, how the Body and Bloud of Chri&s;t is there, wait his lei&s;ure, if he have not yet manife&s;ted that to thee: Grieve not at that, wonder not at that, pre&s;&s;e not for that; for hee hath not manife&s;ted that, not the way, not the manner of his pre&s;ence in the Sacrament, to the Church. A per|emptory prejudice upon other mens opinions, that no opinion but thine can be true, in the doctrine of the Sacrament, and an un charitable condemning of other men, or other
<PB N="35" REF="35">Churches that may be of another per&s;wa&s;ion then thou art, in the matter of the Sacra|ment, may fru&s;trate and di&s;appoint thee of all that benefit, which thou might&s;t have, by an humble receiving thereof, if thou woulde&s;t excerci&s;e thy faith onely, here, and leave thy pa&s;&s;ion at home, and referre thy rea&s;on, and di&s;putation to the Schoole.</P>
<P>He waited, &s;aies the &s;tory; And he waited for the con&s;olation of I&s;rael.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;rael.</NOTE> It is not an appropriating of hopes, or po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions of tho&s;e hopes, to him&s;elfe; but a charitable de|&s;ire, of a communication of this con&s;olation, upon all the I&s;rael of God. Therefore is the Sacrament a Communion; Therefore is the Church, which is built of us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Pet. 2.5. Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>Built of lively &s;tones:</HI> And in &s;uch buildings, as &s;tones doe, <HI>Vnusqui&s;que portat alterum, &amp; por|tatur ab altero:</HI> Every &s;tone is &s;upported by another, and &s;upports another. As thou woulde&s;t be well interpreted by others, interpret others well; and, as when thou com|me&s;t to heaven, the joy, and the glory of every &s;oule, &s;hall bee thy glory, and thy joy; &s;o when thou comme&s;t to the porch of the Triumphant Church, the doore of heaven, the Communion table, de&s;ire that that joy, which thou feele&s;t in thy &s;oule then, may then be communicated to every communicant there.</P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e, to te&s;tifie his devotion to the communion of Saints,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Templum.</NOTE> <HI>Simeon</HI> came into the Temple, &s;aies the &s;tory; to doe a holy worke, in a holy place. When we &s;ay, that God is no accepter of per&s;ons, we doe not meane, but that they which are within his Covenant, and they that have pre&s;erved the &s;eales of his grace, are more acceptable to him, then they which are not, or have not. When we &s;ay, that God is not tied to places, we mu&s;t not meane, but that God is otherwi&s;e pre&s;ent, and workes otherwi&s;e, in places con&s;ecrated to his &s;ervice, then in every prophane place. When I pray in my chamber, I build a Temple there, that houre; And, that minute, when I ca&s;t out a prayer, in the &s;treet, I build a Temple there; And when my &s;oule prayes without any voyce, my very body is then a Temple: And God, who knowes what I am doing in the&s;e actions, ere|cting the&s;e Temples, he comes to them and pro&s;pers, and ble&s;&s;es my devotions; and &s;hall not I come to his Temple, where he is alwaies re&s;ident? My chamber were no Temple, my body were no Temple, except God came to it; but whether I come hither, or no, this will be Gods Temple: I may lo&s;e by my ab&s;ence; He gaines nothing by my com|ming. He that hath a cau&s;e to be heard, will not goe to Smithfield, nor he that hath cat|taile to buy or &s;ell, to We&s;tmin&s;ter; He that hath bargaines to make, or newes to tell, &s;hould not come to doe that at Church; nor he that hath prayers to make, walke in the fields for his devotions. If I have a great friend, though in ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity, as &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or other re&s;traints, hee will vouch&s;afe to vi&s;it me, yet I mu&s;t make my fuits to him at home, at his owne hou&s;e. In ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity, Chri&s;t in the Sacrament, vouch&s;afes to come home to me; And the Court is where the King is; his ble&s;&s;ings are with his Or|dinances, where&s;oever: But the place to which he hath invited me, is his hou&s;e. Hee that made the great Supper in the Go&s;pel, called in new gue&s;ts; but he &s;ent out no meat to them, who had been invited, and might have come, and came not. Chamber-pray|ers, &s;ingle, or with your family, Chamber-Sermons, Sermons read over there, and Chamber-Sacraments, admini&s;tred in nece&s;&s;ity there, are ble&s;&s;ed a&s;&s;i&s;tants, and &s;upple|ments; they are as the almes at the gate, but the fea&s;t is within; they are as a cock of water without, but the Ci&s;tern is within; <HI>habenti dabitur;</HI> he that hath a handfull of devotion at home, &s;hall have his devotion multiplyed to a Gomer here; for when he is become a part of the Congregation, he is joynt-tenant with them, and the devotion of all the Congregation, and the ble&s;&s;ings upon all the Congregation, are his ble&s;&s;ings, and his devotions.</P>
<P>He came to a holy place, and he came by a holy motion, by the Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Spiritu.</NOTE> &s;aies his Evi|dence, without holine&s;&s;e, no man &s;hall &s;ee God; not &s;o well, without holine&s;&s;e of the place; but not there neither, if he tru&s;t onely to the holine&s;&s;e of the place, and bring no holine&s;&s;e with him. Betweene that fearefull occa&s;ion of comming to Church, which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> confe&s;&s;es and laments, That they came to make wanton bargaines with their eyes, and met there, becau&s;e they could meet no whereel&s;e; and that more fearfull occa|&s;ion of comming, when they came onely to elude the Law, and proceeding in their trea|cherous and traiterous religion in their heart, and yet communicating with us, draw God him&s;elfe into their con&s;piracies, and to mocke us, make a mocke of God, and his reli|gion too: betweene the&s;e two, this licencious comming, and this treacherous comming, there are many commings to Church, commings for company, for ob&s;ervation, for mu|&s;ique:
<PB N="36" REF="36">And all the&s;e indi&s;po&s;itions are ill at prayers; there they are unwhole&s;ome, but at the Sacrament, deadly: He that brings any collaterall re&s;pect to prayers, loo&s;es the be|nefit of the prayers of the Congregation; and he that brings that to a Sermon, loo&s;es the ble&s;&s;ing of Gods ordinance in that Sermon; hee heares but the Logique, or the Reto|rique, or the Ethique, or the poetry of the Sermon, but the Sermon of the Sermon he heares not; but he that brings this di&s;po&s;ition to the Sacrament, ends not in the lo&s;&s;e of a benefit, but he acquires, and procures his owne damnation.</P>
<P>All that we con&s;ider in <HI>Simeon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Viderunt oculi.</NOTE> and apply from <HI>Simeon,</HI> to a worthy receiver of the Sacrament, is how he was fitted to depart in peace. All tho&s;e peeces, which we have na|med, conduce to that: but all tho&s;e are collected into that one, which remaines yet, <HI>Vi|derunt oculi,</HI> that his eyes had &s;eene that &s;alvation; for that was the accompli&s;hment and fulfilling of Gods Word, <HI>According to thy word;</HI> All that God had &s;aid, &s;hould be done, was done; for, as it is &s;aid, <HI>v.</HI> 26. It was revealed unto him, by the holy Gho&s;t, that hee &s;hould not &s;ee death, before he had &s;eene the Lords Chri&s;t, and now his eyes had &s;eene that Salvation. <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;aw this before; but, but with the eye of faith; and yet rejoy|ced to &s;ee it &s;o, he was glad even of that. <HI>Simeon</HI> &s;aw it before this time; then, when he was illu&s;trated with that Revelation, he &s;aw it; but, but with the eye of hope; of &s;uch hope <HI>Abraham</HI> had no &s;uch ground; no particular hope, no promi&s;e, that hee &s;hould &s;ee the Me&s;&s;iah in his time; <HI>Simeon</HI> had, and yet he waited, he attended Gods lea&s;ure; But hope defer'd maketh the heart &s;ick,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 13.12.</NOTE> (&s;aies <HI>Solomon</HI>) but when the de&s;ire comes, it is a tree of life. His de&s;ire was come; he &s;aw his &s;alvation. Perchance not &s;o, as S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;eemes to take it, That till this time <HI>Simeon</HI> was blinde, and upon this pre&s;entation of Chri&s;t in the Temple, came to his &s;ight againe, and &s;o &s;aw this Salvation: for, I thinke, no one Author, but S. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> &s;aies &s;o, that <HI>Simeon</HI> was blinde till now, and now re&s;tored to &s;ight; And I may ea&s;e S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> too, of that &s;ingularity; for it is enough, and abundantly evident, that that book in which that is &s;aid (which is, <HI>Altercatio Ia&s;onis &amp; papi&s;ci de Me&s;|&s;ia</HI>) cannot po&s;&s;ibly be S. <HI>Cyprians.</HI> But with his bodily eyes, open to other objects before, he &s;aw the Lords Salvation, and his Salvation; the Lords, as it came from the Lord, and his, as it was appliable to him. He &s;aw it, according to his word; that is, &s;o far, as God had promi&s;ed, he &s;hould &s;ee it. He &s;aw not, how, that God, which was in this Child, &amp; which was this child, was the Son of God; The manner of that eternall Generation he &s;aw not. He &s;aw not how this Son of God became man in a Virgins womb, whom no man knew; The manner of this Incarnation he &s;aw not: for this eternall Generation, and this miracu|lous Incarnation, fell not within that <HI>Secund&ugrave;m verbum,</HI> according to thy Word; God had promi&s;ed <HI>Simeon</HI> nothing concerning tho&s;e my&s;teries: But <HI>Chri&s;tum Domini,</HI> the Lords Salvation, and his Salvation, that is, the per&s;on who was all that (which was all, that was within the word, and the promi&s;e) <HI>Simeon</HI> &s;aw, and &s;aw with bodily eyes. Be|loved, in the ble&s;&s;ed, and glorious, and my&s;terious Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, thou &s;ee&s;t <HI>Chri&s;tum Domini,</HI> the Lords Salvation, and thy Salvation, and that, thus far with bodily eyes; That Bread which thou &s;ee&s;t after the Con&s;ecration, is not the &s;ame bread, which was pre&s;ented before; not that it is Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated to ano|ther &s;ub&s;tance, for it is bread &s;till, (which is the hereticall Riddle of the Roman Church, and &s;atans &s;ophi&s;try, to di&s;honour miracles, by the a&s;&s;iduity and frequency, and multi|plicity of them) but that it is &s;evered, and appropriated by God, in that Ordinance to another u&s;e; It is other Bread, &s;o, as a Judge is another man, upon the bench, then he is at home, in his owne hou&s;e. In the Roman Church, they multiply, and extend miracles, til the miracle it &s;elfe crack, and become none, but vani&s;h into nothing, as boyes bubbles, (which were but bubbles before, at be&s;t) by an overblowing become nothing: Nay they con&s;titute &s;uch miracles, as do not onely de&s;troy the nature of the miracle, but de&s;troy him, that &s;hould doe that miracle, even God him&s;elfe: for, nothing proceeds farther to the de&s;troying of God, then to make God do contradictory things; for, contradictions have fal&s;ehood, and &s;o imply impotency, and infirmity in God. There cannot be a deeper Athei&s;me, then to impute contradictions to God; neither doth any one thing &s;o over|charge God with contradictions, as the Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation of the Roman Church. There mu&s;t be a Body there, and yet no where; In no place, and yet in every place, where there is a con&s;ecration. The Bread and the Wine mu&s;t nouri&s;h the body, nay, the bread and the wine may poy&s;on a body, and yet there is no bread, nor wine there. They multiply mi|racles, and they give not over, till they make God unable to doe a miracle, till they make
<PB N="37" REF="36">him a contradictory, that is, an impotent God. And therefore <HI>Luther</HI> inferres well, that &s;ince miracles are &s;o ea&s;ie and cheape, and obvious to them, as they have induced a mira|culous tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, they might have done well to have procured one miracle more, a tran&s;-accidentation, that &s;ince the &s;ub&s;tance is changed, the accidents might have beene changed too; and &s;ince there is no bread, there might be no demen&s;ions, no colour, no nouri&s;hing, no other qualities of bread neither; for, the&s;e remaining, there is rather an annihilation of God, in making him no God by being a contradictory God, then an annihilation of the Bread, by making that, which was formerly bread, God him&s;elfe, by that way of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.</P>
<P>But yet, though this bread be not &s;o tran&s;ub&s;tantiated, we refu&s;e not the words of the Fathers, in which they have expre&s;&s;ed them&s;elves in this My&s;tery: Not <HI>Irenaeus</HI> his <HI>e&s;t corpus,</HI> that that bread is his body now; Not <HI>Tertullians fecit corpus,</HI> that that bread is made his body, which was not &s;o before; Not S. <HI>Cyprians mutatus,</HI> that that bread is changed; Not <HI>Dama&s;cens &s;upernaturaliter mutatus,</HI> that that bread is not only changed &s;o in the u&s;e, as when at the Kings table certain portions of bread are made bread of E&s;|&s;ay, to pa&s;&s;e over every di&s;h, whether for &s;afety or for Maje&s;ty; not only &s;o civilly changed, but changed &s;upernaturally; no nor <HI>Theophylacts transformatus e&s;t;</HI> (which &s;eemes to be the word that goes farthe&s;t of all) for this transforming, cannot be intend|ed of the outward form and fa&s;hion, for that is not changed; but be it of that internall form, which is the very e&s;&s;ence and nature of the bread, &s;o it is transformed, &s;o the bread hath received a new form, a new e&s;&s;ence, a new nature, becau&s;e whereas the nature of bread is but to nouri&s;h the body, the nature of this bread now is to nouri&s;h the &s;oule. And therefore, <HI>Cum non dubitavit Dominus dicere, hoc e&s;t corpus meum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>cum &s;ignum daret corporis,</HI> Since Chri&s;t forbore not to &s;ay, This is my body, when he gave the &s;ign of his body, why &s;hould we forbeare to &s;ay of that bread, this is Chri&s;ts body, which is the Sacrament of his body. You would have &s;aid at noone, this light is the Sun, and you will &s;ay now, this light is the Candle; That light was not the Sun, this light is not the Candle, but it is that portion of aire which the Sun did then, and which the Candle doth now enlighten. We &s;ay the Sacramentall bread is the body of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e God hath &s;hed his Ordinance upon it, and made it of another nature in the u&s;e, though not in the &s;ub&s;tance; Almo&s;t 600. years agoe, the Romane Church made <HI>Berengarius</HI> &s;weare, <HI>&s;en&s;ualiter tangitur, frangitur, teritur corpus Chri&s;ts,</HI> That the body of Chri&s;t was &s;en&s;i|bly handled, and broken, and chewed. They are a&s;hamed of that now, and have molli|fied it with many modifications; and God knowes whether 100. yeares hence they will not bee as much a&s;hamed of their Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, and &s;ee as much unnatu|rall ab&s;urdity in their Trent Canon, or Lateran Cano<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">s they doe in <HI>Berengarius</HI> oath. As they that deny the body of Chri&s;t to be in the Sacrament, lo&s;e their footing in depart|ing from their ground, the expre&s;&s;e Scriptures; &s;o they that will a&s;&s;ign a particular man|ner, how that body is there, have no footing, no ground at all, no Scripture to Anchor upon: And &s;o, diving in a bottomle&s;&s;e &s;ea, they poppe &s;ometimes above water to take breath, to appeare to &s;ay &s;omething, and then &s;natch at a loo&s;e prepo&s;ition, that &s;wims upon the face of the waters; and &s;o the Roman Church hath catched a <HI>Trans,</HI> and others a <HI>Con,</HI> and a <HI>Sub,</HI> and an <HI>In,</HI> and varied their poetry into a Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, and a Con|&s;ub&s;tantiation, and the re&s;t, and rymed them&s;elves beyond rea&s;on, into ab&s;urdities, and here&s;ies, and by a young figure of <HI>&s;imiliter cadens,</HI> they are fallen alike into error, though the errors that they are fallen into, be not of a like nature, nor danger. We offer to goe no farther, then according to his Word; In the Sacrament our eyes &s;ee his &s;alvation, according to that, &s;o far, as that hath manife&s;ted unto us, and in that light wee depart in peace, without &s;cruple in our owne, without offence to other mens con&s;ciences.</P>
<P>Having thus &s;eene <HI>Simeon</HI> in the&s;e his Dimen&s;ions, with the&s;e holy impre&s;&s;ions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed characters upon him; fir&s;t, ^1 A man in a reverend age, &amp; then, ^2 In a holy function and calling, and with that, ^3 Righteous in the eyes of men, and withall, ^4 Devout in the eyes of God, ^5 And made a Prophet upon him&s;elfe by the holy Gho&s;t, ^6 &s;till wayting Gods time, and his lea&s;ure, ^7 And in that, de&s;iring that his joy might be &s;pread upon the whole I&s;rael of God, ^8 Frequenting holy places, the Temple, ^9 And that upon holy motions, and there, ^1^0 &s;eeing the &s;alvation of the Lord, that is, Di&s;cerning the applicati|on of &s;alvation in the Ordinances of the Church, ^1^1 And la&s;tly, contenting him&s;elfe with &s;o much therein, as was according to his word, and not inquiring farther then God
<PB N="38" REF="37">had beene plea&s;ed to reveale; and having reflected all the&s;e &s;everall beames upon every worthy Receiver of the Sacrament, the whole Quire of &s;uch worthy receivers may joyne with <HI>Simeon</HI> in this Antiphon, <HI>Nunc Dimittis, Lord now lette&s;t thou thy &s;ervant de|part in peace, &amp;c.</HI> S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> reades not this place as we doe, <HI>Nunc dimittis,</HI> but <HI>Nunc dimitte;</HI> not, Lord thou doe&s;t &s;o; but, Lord doe &s;o; and &s;o he gives it the forme of a pray|er; and implyes not only a patience, and a contentedne&s;&s;e, but a de&s;ire, and an ambition that he might die; at lea&s;t &s;uch an indifferency, and equanimity as <HI>I&s;rael</HI> had, when he had &s;een <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 46.30.</NOTE> Now let me die, &s;ince I have &s;een thy face; after he had &s;een his face, the next face that he de&s;ired to &s;ee, was the face of God. For, how&s;oever there may bee &s;ome di&s;order, &s;ome irregularity, in S. <HI>Pauls Anathema pro fratribus,</HI> that he de&s;ired to be &s;eparated from Chri&s;t, rather then his brethren &s;hould, (that may &s;carce be drawen into con&s;equence, or made a wi&s;h for us to imitate) yet to S. <HI>Pauls Cupio di&s;&s;olvi,</HI> to an expre&s;&s;e, and to a deliberate de&s;ire, to be di&s;&s;olved here, and to be united to Chri&s;t in heaven, (&s;till with a primary relation to the glory of God, and a re&s;ervation of the will of God) a godly, a rectified and a well-di&s;po&s;ed man may &s;afely come. And &s;o, (I know not upon what grounds) <HI>Nicephorus</HI> fayes, <HI>Simeon</HI> did wi&s;h, and had his wi&s;h; he pray|ed that he might die, and actually he did die then. Neither can a man at any time be fitter to make and obtain this wi&s;h, then when his eyes have &s;een his &s;alvation in the Sacra|ment. At lea&s;t, make this an argument of your having beene worthy receivers there|of, that you are in <HI>Aequilibri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">o,</HI> in an evenne&s;&s;e, in an indifferency, in an equanimi|ty, whether ye die this night or no. For, how&s;oever S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> &s;eem to make it a di|rect prayer, that he might die, he intends but &s;uch an equanimity, &s;uch an indiffe|rency; <HI>Qua&s;i &s;ervus nonrefugit vitae ob&s;equium, &amp; qua&s;i &s;apiem lucrum mortis amplectitur,</HI> &s;ayes that Father; <HI>Simeon</HI> is &s;o good a &s;ervant, as that he is content to &s;erve his old ma|&s;ter &s;till, in his old place, in this world, but yet, he is &s;o good a husband too, as that hee &s;ees what a gainer he might be, if he might be made free by death. If thou de&s;ire not death, (that is the ca&s;e of very few, to doe &s;o in a rectified con&s;cience, and without di|&s;temper) if thou bee&s;t not equally di&s;po&s;ed towards death (that &s;hould be the ca&s;e of all; and yet we are far from condemning all that are not come to that equanimity) yet if thou now feare death inordinately, I &s;hould feare that thine eyes have not &s;een thy &s;alvation to day; who can feare the darkne&s;&s;e of death, that hath had the light of this world, and of the next too? who can feare death this night, that hath had the Lord of life in his hand to day? It is a que&s;tion of con&s;ternation, a que&s;tion that &s;hould &s;trike him, that &s;hould an&s;wer it, dumb (as Chri&s;ts que&s;tion, <HI>Amice, quomodo intra&s;ti? Friend, how came&s;t in hither?</HI> did him to whom that was &s;aid) which <HI>Origen</HI> askes in this ca&s;e, When wilt thou dare to goe out of this world, if thou dare&s;t not goe now, when Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath taken thee by the hand to leade thee out?</P>
<P>This then is truly to depart in peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In pace.</NOTE> by the Go&s;pell of peace, to the God of peace. My body is my pri&s;on; and I would be &s;o obedient to the Law, as not to break pri&s;on; I would not ha&s;ten my death by &s;tarving, or macerating this body: But if this pri&s;on be burnt down by continuall feavers, or blowen down with continuall vapours, would any man be &s;o in love with that ground upon which that pri&s;on &s;tood, as to de&s;ire rather to &s;tay there, then to go home? Our pri&s;ons are fallen, our bodies are dead to many for|mer u&s;es; Our palate dead in a ta&s;tle&s;ne&s;&s;e; Our &s;tomach dead in an indige&s;tiblene&s;&s;e; our feete dead in a lamene&s;&s;e, and our invention in a dulne&s;&s;e, and our memory in a for|getfulne&s;&s;e; and yet, as a man that &s;hould love the ground, where his pri&s;on &s;tood, we love this clay, that was a body in the dayes of our youth, and but our pri&s;on then, when it was at be&s;t; wee abhorre the graves of our bodies; and the body, which, in the be&s;t vigour thereof,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 40.</NOTE> was but the grave of the &s;oule, we over-love. <HI>Pharaohs</HI> Butler, and his Baker went both out of pri&s;on in a day; and in both ca&s;es, <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> in the interpretati|on of their dreames, calls that, (their very di&s;charge out of pri&s;on) a lifting up of their heads, a kinde of preferment: Death rai&s;es every man alike, &s;o far, as that it delivers eve|ry man from his pri&s;on, from the incumbrances of this body: both Baker and Butler were delivered of their pri&s;on; but they pa&s;&s;ed into divers &s;tates after, one to the re&s;ti|tution of his place, the other to an ignominious execution. Of thy pri&s;on thou &s;halt be delivered whether thou wilt or no; thou mu&s;t die; Foole, this night thy &s;oule may be taken from thee; and then, what thou &s;halt be to morrow, prophecy upon thy &s;elfe, by that which thou ha&s;t done to day; If thou did&s;t depart from that Table in peace, thou
<PB N="39" REF="37">can&s;t depart from this world in peace. And the peace of that Table is, to come to it <HI>in pace de&s;iderii,</HI> with a contented minde, and with an enjoying of tho&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings which thou ha&s;t, without macerating thy &s;elf, without u&s;urping upon others, without murmuring at God; And to be at that Table, <HI>in pace cogitationum,</HI> in the peace of the Church, without the &s;pirit of contradiction, or inqui&s;ition, without uncharitablene&s;&s;e towards others, without curio&s;ity in thy &s;elfe: And then to come from that Table <HI>in pace dome&s;tica,</HI> with a bo&s;ome peace, in thine own Con&s;cience, in that &s;eale of thy recon|ciliation, in that Sacrament; that &s;o, riding at that Anchor, and in that calme whether God enlarge thy voyage, by enlarging thy life, or put thee into the harbour, by the breath, by the breathle&s;ne&s;&s;e of Death, either way, Ea&s;t or We&s;t, thou mai&s;t depart in peace, according to his word, that is, as he &s;hall be plea&s;ed to manife&s;t his plea&s;ure upon thee.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON V.</HI> Preached at <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Chri&s;tmas Day. <HI>1627.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>EXOD. 4.13.</HI></BIBL>
<P>O my Lord, &s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt &s;end.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IT hath been &s;u&s;pitiou&s;ly doubted, more then that, freely di&s;puted, more then that too, ab&s;olutely denied, that Chri&s;t was born the five and twen|tieth of December, that this is Chri&s;tmas-day: yet for all the&s;e doubts, and di&s;putations, and denials, we forbeare not, with the whole Church of God, con&s;tantly and confidently to celebrate this for his Day. It hath been doubted, and di&s;puted, and denied too, that this Text, <HI>O my Lord, &s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him, whom thou wilt &s;end,</HI> hath any relation to the &s;ending of the Me&s;&s;iah, to the comming of Chri&s;t, to Chri&s;tmas-day; yet we forbeare not to wait upon the ancient Fathers, and as they &s;aid, to &s;ay, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> having received a comman|dement from God, to undertake that great employment of delivering the children of I&s;|rael from the oppre&s;&s;ions of <HI>Pharaoh</HI> in Aegypt, and having excu&s;ed him&s;elfe by &s;ome o|ther mode&s;t and pious pretences, at la&s;t, when God pre&s;&s;ed the imployment &s;till upon him, he determines all in this, <HI>O my Lord, &s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him, whom thou wilt &s;end,</HI> or, (as it is in our Margin) <HI>when thou &s;houlde&s;t &s;end.</HI> It is a work, next to the great work of the redemption of the whole world, to redeem I&s;rael out of Aegypt; And therefore doe both workes at once, put both into one hand, and <HI>mitte quem mi&s;&s;urus es, &s;end him, whom</HI> I know, <HI>thou wilt &s;end,</HI> him, whom pur&s;uing thine own decree, <HI>thou &s;houlde&s;t &s;end,</HI> &s;end Chri&s;t, &s;end him now, to redeem I&s;rael from Aegypt.</P>
<P>The&s;e words then (though &s;ome have made that interpretation of them, and truly, not without a faire apparance, and probability, and veri&s;imilitude) doe not nece&s;&s;arily imply a &s;lackne&s;&s;e in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> zeale, that he de&s;ired not affectionately, and earne&s;tly the deliverance of his Nation from the pre&s;&s;ures of Aegypt; nor doe they imply any diffidence, or di|&s;tru&s;t, that God could not, or would not endow him with faculties fit for that imploy|ment; But, as a thoughtfull man, a pen&s;ive, a con&s;iderative man, that &s;tands &s;till for a while, with his eyes fixed upon the ground, before his feete, when he ca&s;ts up his head, hath pre&s;ently, in&s;tantly the Sun, or the heavens for his object, he &s;ees not a tree, nor a hou&s;e, nor a &s;teeple by the way, but as &s;oon as his eye is departed from the earth where it was long fixed, the next thing he &s;ees is the Sun or the heavens; &s;o when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had fix|ed him&s;elfe long upon the con&s;ideration of his own in&s;ufficiency for this &s;ervice, when he tooke his eye from that low peece of ground, Him&s;elfe, con&s;idered as he was then, he fell upon no tree, no hou&s;e, no &s;teeple, no &s;uch con&s;ideration as this, God may endow
<PB N="40" REF="38">me, improve me, exalt me, enable me, qualifie me with faculties fit for this &s;ervice, but his fir&s;t object was that which pre&s;ented an infallibility with it, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, the Me&s;&s;ias him&s;elfe, and the fir&s;t petition that he offers to God is this, <HI>O my Lord &s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt &s;end.</HI> For me, as I am, I am altogether unfit; when thou &s;halt be plea&s;ed to work upon me, thou wilt finde me but &s;tone, hard to receive thy holy impre&s;&s;ions, and then but &s;now, ea&s;ie to melt, and lo&s;e tho&s;e holy formes again: There mu&s;t be labour laid, and perchance labour lo&s;t upon me; but put the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e into a &s;afe had, and under an infallible in&s;trument, and <HI>Mitte quem mi&s;&s;urus es, &s;end him whom,</HI> I know, <HI>thou wilt &s;end,</HI> him, <HI>whom,</HI> pur&s;uing thine own decree, <HI>thou &s;houlde&s;t &s;end,</HI> &s;end him, &s;end Chri&s;t now.</P>
<P>As much as Paradi&s;e exceeded all the places of the earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> doe the Scriptures of God exceed Paradi&s;e. In the mid&s;t of Paradi&s;e grew the <HI>Tree of knowledge,</HI> and <HI>the tree of life:</HI> In this Paradi&s;e, the Scripture, every word is both tho&s;e Trees; there is Life and Know|ledge in every word of the Word of God. That <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> as the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> calls Chri&s;t, that Off-&s;pring of Jehova, that Bud, that Blo&s;&s;ome, that fruit of God him|&s;elfe, the Son of God, the Me&s;&s;iah, the Redeemer, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, growes upon every tree in this Paradi&s;e, the Scripture; for Chri&s;t was the occa&s;ion before, and is the con&s;umma|tion after,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.13.</NOTE> of all Scripture. <HI>This have I written</HI> (&s;ayes S. <HI>Iohn,</HI>) and &s;o &s;ay all the Pen-men of the holy Gho&s;t, in all that they have written, <HI>This have we written, that ye may know that ye have eternall life.</HI> Knowledge and life growes upon every tree in this Paradi&s;e, upon every word in this Booke, becau&s;e upon every Tree here, upon every word, grows Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, in &s;ome relation.</P>
<P>From this Branch, this Text, <HI>O my Lord &s;end, I pray thee by the hand of him, whom thou wilt &s;end,</HI> we &s;hall not &s;o much &s;tand, to gather here and there an Apple, that is, to con&s;i|der &s;ome particular words of the Text it &s;elfe, as endeavour to &s;hake the whole tree, that is, the Context, and coherence and dependance of the words: for, &s;ince all that pa&s;&s;ed between God and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in this affaire, and negotiation, Gods employing of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> pre&s;enting his excu&s;es to God, and Gods taking of all tho&s;e excu&s;es, determines in our Text, in our Text is the whole &s;tory, virtually and radically implyed; And there|fore, by ju&s;t occa&s;ion thereof, we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t, That though for the ordinary duties of our callings, ari&s;ing out of the evidence of expre&s;&s;e Scriptures, we are allowed no hae|&s;itation, no di&s;putation, whether we will doe them or no; but they require a pre&s;ent, and an exact execution thereof: yet in extraordinary ca&s;es, and in &s;uch actions as are not laid upon us, by any former and permanent notification thereof in Scripture, &s;uch as was <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> ca&s;e here, to undertake the deliverance of I&s;rael from Egypt; in &s;uch ca&s;es, not onely &s;ome hae&s;itation, &s;ome deliberation, &s;ome con&s;ultation in our &s;elves, but &s;ome ex|po&s;tulation with God him&s;elfe, may be excu&s;able in us. We &s;hall therefore &s;ee, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> did excu&s;e him&s;elf four wayes; And how God was plea&s;ed to joyn i&s;&s;ue with him in all foure, and to ca&s;t him, and overcome him in them all: And when we come to con&s;ider his fift, which is rather a Diver&s;ion upon another, then an Excu&s;e in him&s;elfe, and yet, is that, which is mo&s;t literally in our Text, <HI>O my Lord &s;end, I pray thee, by the hand of him, whom thou wilt &s;end,</HI> becau&s;e this was a thing which God had re&s;erved wholly to him|&s;elfe, The &s;ending of Chri&s;t: we &s;hall &s;ee, that God would not have been pre&s;&s;ed for that, but, (as it followes immediately, and is al&s;o a bough of this tree, that is, grows out of this Text) <HI>God was angry;</HI> But yet (as we &s;hall &s;ee in the due place) it was but &s;uch an anger, as ended in an In&s;truction, rather then in an Increpation; and in an Encourage|ment, rather then in a De&s;ertion, for he e&s;tabli&s;hed <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in a re&s;olution to undertake the worke, by joyning his brother <HI>Aaron</HI> in commi&s;&s;ion with him. So then, wee have &s;hak'd the tree, that is, re&s;olv'd and analyz'd the Context, of all which, the Text it &s;elfe is the root, and the &s;eale. And, as we have pre&s;ented to your &s;ight, we &s;hall farther offer to your ta&s;t, and dige&s;tion, and rumination, the&s;e particular fruits; Fir&s;t, that ordinary Du|ties require a pre&s;ent execution; Secondly, that in Extraordinary, God allowes a Deli|beration, and requires not an implicite, a blind obedience: And in a third place, wee &s;hall give you tho&s;e foure circum&s;tances, that accompanied, or con&s;tituted <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> delibe|ration, and Gods removing of tho&s;e foure impediments: And in a fourth <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">oome, that Con&s;ultation or Diver&s;ion, <HI>The &s;ending of Chri&s;t:</HI> And in that, How God was affected with it, <HI>He was angry:</HI> angry that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> would offer to looke into tho&s;e things, which he had lockt up in his &s;ecret coun&s;els, &s;uch as that &s;ending of Chri&s;t, which he intended:
<PB N="41" REF="38">But yet, not angry &s;o, as that he left <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> un&s;atisfied, or un-accommodated for the maine bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, but &s;etled him in a holy and chearfull readine&s;&s;e to obey his comman|dement. And through all the&s;e particulars, we &s;hall pa&s;&s;e, with as much clearne&s;&s;e, as the waight, and as much &s;hortne&s;&s;e, as the number will permit.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, our fir&s;t Con&s;ideration con&s;titutes that Propo&s;ition, <HI>Ordinary Duties,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ordinary Duties.</NOTE> ari|&s;ing out of the Evidence of Gods Word, require a pre&s;ent Execution. There are Duties that binde us <HI>&s;emper,</HI> and <HI>Ad&s;emper,</HI> as our Ca&s;ui&s;ts &s;peak; we are Alwayes bound to doe them, and bound to doe them Alwayes; that is, Alwayes to produce <HI>Actus elicitos,</HI> Determinate acts, Succe&s;&s;ive and Con&s;ecutive acts, conformable to tho&s;e Duties; whereas in &s;ome other Duties, we are onely bound to an Habituall di&s;po&s;ition, to doe them in &s;uch and &s;uch nece&s;&s;ary ca&s;es; And tho&s;e Actions of the later &s;ort, fall in <HI>Gene|re Deliberativo,</HI> we may con&s;ider Circum&s;tances, before we fall under a nece&s;&s;ity of do|ing them; that is, of doing them Then, or doing them Thus: Of which kind, even tho&s;e great duties of Praying, and Fa&s;ting are; for we are alwayes bound to Pray, and alwayes bound to Fa&s;t; but not bound to fa&s;t alwayes, nor alwayes to pray. But for Actions of the fir&s;t kind, &s;uch as are the wor&s;hipping of God, and the not wor&s;hipping of Images; &s;uch as are the &s;anctifying of Gods Sabbaths, and the not bla&s;pheming of his Name, which ari&s;e out of cleare and evident commands of God; they admit no Deliberation, but require a pre&s;ent Execution. Therefore as S. <HI>Stephen</HI> &s;aw Chri&s;t, &s;tanding at the right hand of his Father, (a po&s;ture that denotes fir&s;t a readine&s;&s;e to &s;urvay, and take know|ledge of our di&s;tre&s;&s;es, and then a readine&s;&s;e to proceed, and come forth to our a&s;&s;i&s;tance) &s;o in our Liturgie, in our Service, in the Congregation, we &s;tand up at the profe&s;&s;ion of the Creed, at the rehear&s;ing the Articles of our Faith, thereby to declare to God, and his Church, our readine&s;&s;e to &s;tand to, and our readine&s;&s;e to proceed in that Profe&s;&s;ion. The commendation which is given of <HI>Andrew,</HI> and <HI>Peter</HI> for obeying Chri&s;ts call,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 1.18.</NOTE> lyes not &s;o much in the <HI>Reliquerunt retia,</HI> that <HI>they left their nets,</HI> as in the <HI>Protinus reliquerunt,</HI> that <HI>forthwith,</HI> immediately, without farther deliberation, <HI>they left their nets,</HI> the meanes of their livelyhood, and followed Chri&s;t. <HI>The Lord and his Spirit hath anointed us to preach,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 61.1.</NOTE> &s;ayes the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay:</HI> To preach what? <HI>Acceptabilem annum,</HI> to preach <HI>the acceptable yeare of the Lord.</HI> All the yeare long the Lord &s;tands with his armes open to embrace you, and all the yeare long <HI>we pray you in Chri&s;ts &s;tead, that you would be reconciled to God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.20. P&s;al. 95.8.</NOTE> But yet, God would faine reduce it to a narrower compa&s;&s;e of time, <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">die &s;i vocem ejus audieritis,</HI> that you would <HI>heare his voyce to day,</HI> and not <HI>harden your hearts to day:</HI> And to a narrower compa&s;&s;e then that, <HI>Dabitur in illa hora,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.12.</NOTE> <HI>The holy Gho&s;t &s;hall teach you in that houre:</HI> In this houre the holy Gho&s;t offers him&s;elfe unto you: And to a narrower compa&s;&s;e then an houre, <HI>Beati qui nunc e&s;uritis, qui nunc fletis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 6.21.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are ye that hunger now, and that mourn now,</HI> that put not off years, nor dayes, nor hours, but come to a &s;en&s;e of your &s;ins, and of the meanes of reconciliation to God, now, this minute. And therefore, when ye reade, <HI>Iu&s;ta pondera,</HI> ju&s;t weights, and Ju&s;t balances,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 19.36.</NOTE> and ju&s;t mea|&s;ures, <HI>a ju&s;t Hin, and a ju&s;t Ephah &s;hall ye have, I am the Lord your God,</HI> Do not you &s;ay, &s;o I will hereafter, I will come to ju&s;t weights and mea&s;ures, and to deale uprightly in the world, as &s;oon as I have made a fortune, e&s;tabli&s;hed a &s;tate, rai&s;ed a competency for wife and children, but yet I mu&s;t doe as other men doe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 23.</NOTE> when you reade <HI>Remember that you keep holy the Sabbath day,</HI> (and by the way, remember that God hath called his other holy dayes, and holy convocations, <HI>Sabbaths</HI> too) remember that you celebrate his Sab|baths by your pre&s;ence here, doe not you &s;ay, &s;o I will if I can ri&s;e time enough, if I can dine &s;oon enough; when you reade, <HI>&s;weare not at all,</HI> doe not you &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 5.34.</NOTE> no more I would but that I live among&s;t men that will not beleeve me without &s;wearing, and laugh at me if I did not &s;weare; for duties of this kinde, permanent and con&s;tant duties ari&s;ing out of the evidence of Gods word, &s;uch as ju&s;t and true dealing with men, &s;uch as keeping Gods Sabbaths, &s;uch as not bla&s;pheming his name, have no latitude about them, no con|ditions in them; they have no circum&s;tance, but are all &s;ub&s;tance, no apparell, but are all body, no body, but are all &s;oule, no matter, but are all forme; They are not in <HI>Genere deliberativo,</HI> they admit no deliberation, but require an immediate, and an exact execution.</P>
<P>But then, for extraordinary things, things that have not their evidence in the word of <HI>God</HI> formerly revealed unto us, whether we con&s;ider matters of Doctrine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Extraordi|nary.</NOTE> and new opi|nions, or matter of Practi&s;e, and new commands, from what depth of learning &s;oever
<PB N="42" REF="39">that new opinion &s;eeme to us to ri&s;e, or from heighth of Power &s;oever that new-Com|mand &s;eeme to fall, it is &s;till <HI>in genere deliberativo,</HI> &s;till we are allowed, nay &s;till wee are commanded to deliberate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Melch. Canus.</NOTE> to doubt, to con&s;ider, before we execute. As a good Author in the Roman Church, &s;ayes, <HI>Pernicio&s;ius e&s;t Eccle&s;iae,</HI> It is more dangerous to the Church, to accept an Apocryphall book for Canonicall, then to reject a Canonicall booke for Apocryphall: &s;o may it be more dangerous, to doe &s;ome things, which to a di&s;tempered man may &s;eeme to be commanded by God, then to forbeare &s;ome things, which are truely commanded by him. God had rather that him&s;elfe &s;hould be &s;u&s;pected, then that a fal&s;e god &s;hould be admitted. The ea&s;ine&s;&s;e of admitting Revelations, and Vi&s;ions, and Apparitions of &s;pirits, and Purgatory &s;ouls in the Roman Church; And then, the over|bending, and &s;uper-exaltation of zeale, and the captivity to the private &s;pirit, which &s;ome have fallen into, that have not beene content to con&s;i&s;t in moderate, and middle wayes in the Reformed Church; this ea&s;ine&s;&s;e of admitting imaginary apparitions of &s;pirits in the Papi&s;t, and this ea&s;ine&s;&s;e of &s;ubmitting to the private &s;pirit, in the Schi&s;matike, hath produced effects equally mi&s;chievous: Melancholy being made the &s;eat of Religion on the one &s;ide,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> by the Papi&s;t, and Phrenzy on the other &s;ide, by the Schi&s;matick. <HI>Multi, prae &s;tudio immoderato intendi in contrarium aberrarunt &agrave; medio,</HI> was the ob&s;ervation and the complaint of that Father in his time, and his prophecy of ours; That many times, an over-vehement bending into &s;ome way of our owne choo&s;ing, does not onely with|draw us from the left hand way, the way of &s;uper&s;tition, and Idolatry, from which wee &s;hould all draw, but from the middle way too, in which we &s;hould &s;tand, and walk. And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo.</NOTE> the danger is thus great, <HI>facile in omnia flagitia impulit, quos religione decepit diabolus;</HI> As God doth, the devill al&s;o doth make Zeal and Religion his in&s;trument. And in other tentations, the devill is but a &s;erpent; but in this, when he makes zeale and religion his in&s;trument, he is a Lyon. As long as the devill doth but &s;ay, Doe this, or thou wilt live a foole, and dye a begger; Doe this, or thou can&s;t not live in this world, the devill is but a devill, he playes but a devils part, a lyer, a &s;educer; But when the devill comes to &s;ay, Doe this, or thou can&s;t not live in the next world, thou can&s;t not be &s;aved, here the de|vill pretends to be God, here he acts Gods part, and &s;o prevails the more powerfully up|on us. And then, when men are &s;o mi&s;-tran&s;ported, either in opinions, or in actions, with this private &s;pirit, and inordinate zeale, <HI>Quibus non pote&s;t auferre fidem, aufert charitatem,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father, Though the devill hath not quenched faith in that man him&s;elfe, yet he hath quenched that mans charity towards other men; Though that man might be &s;aved, in that opinion which he holds, becau&s;e (perchance) that opinion de&s;troyes no fundamentall point, yet his &s;alvation is &s;hrewdly &s;haked, and endangered, in his uncha|ritable thinking, that no body can be &s;aved that thinks otherwi&s;e. And as it works thus to an uncharitablene&s;&s;e in private, &s;o doth it to turbulency, and &s;edition in the publique. Of which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;ebius.</NOTE> we have a pregnant, and an aplyable example in the life of <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> the Em|perour; In his time, there aro&s;e &s;ome new que&s;tions, and new opinions in &s;ome points of Religion; the Emperor writ alike to both parties, thus: <HI>De rebus eju&s;modi, nec omnino rogetis, nec rogati re&s;pondeatis:</HI> Doe you move no que&s;tions, in &s;uch things, your &s;elves; and if any other doe, yet be not you too forward, to write, &s;o much as again&s;t them. What que&s;tions doth he meane? That is expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>Quas nulla lex, Canonve Eccle&s;ia&s;ticus ne|ce&s;&s;ario prae&s;cribit;</HI> Such que&s;tions, as are not evidently declared, and more then evidently declared, nece&s;&s;arily enjoyned by &s;ome law, &s;ome rule, &s;ome Canon of the Church: Di|&s;turbe not the peace of the Church, upon Inferences, and Con&s;equences, but deale onely upon tho&s;e things, which are evidently declared in the Articles, and nece&s;&s;arily en|joyned by the Church. And yet, though that Emperor declared him&s;elfe on neither &s;ide, nor did any act in favour of either &s;ide, yet becau&s;e he did not declare him&s;elfe on their &s;ide, tho&s;e promovers of the&s;e new opinions, <HI>Eo pervenere,</HI> (&s;ayes that Author) <HI>ut imagines Imperatoris violarint,</HI> They came as far as they could, to violate the per&s;on of the Emperour, for they violated and defac'd his &s;tatues, his images, his pictures, the en|&s;igns of his power and honour; And in this in&s;olency they continued (&s;ayes that Au|thor) even after the Emperour had &s;ilenced both parties; when he, by his expre&s;&s;e Edict, had forbidden both &s;ides to write, the promovers of the new opinions would write. Still &s;uch men think, that what&s;oeuer they think, is not onely true in it &s;elfe, but nece&s;&s;ary for &s;alvation to every man; whereas new opinions, that may vary from the Scriptures; new commands, that may vary from the Church, are &s;till in <HI>Genere deliberativo,</HI> they admit,
<PB N="43" REF="39">they require Deliberation. Blinde and implicite faith &s;hall not &s;ave us in matter of Do|ctrine, nor blinde and implicite obedience, in matter of practice; neither is there any faith &s;o blinde, and implicite, as to beleeve tho&s;e imaginary apparitions of &s;pirits, nor any obedience &s;o blinde and implicite, as to obey our owne private &s;pirit, and di&s;tempe|red zeale. Truly, I &s;hould hope better of their &s;alvation, who in the fir&s;t darker times, doubted of the Revelations of St. <HI>Iohn,</HI> then of theirs, who in the&s;e cleare and evident times, accept, and enjoyne, and magnifie, &s;o much as they doe in the Romane Church, the Revelations of St. <HI>Brigid:</HI> And I &s;hould rather accompany them, who out of their charitable moderation, doe beleeve, that &s;ome Chri&s;tians, though po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with &s;ome errours, may be &s;aved, then them, who out of their pa&s;&s;ionate &s;everity, fir&s;t call every difference from them&s;elves, an errour; and then every errour, damnable; and doe not onely pronounce, that none that holds any &s;uch errour, can bee &s;aved, but that no man, though he hold none of tho&s;e errours him&s;elfe, can be &s;aved, if he think any man can be &s;aved, that holds them. And &s;o we have done with tho&s;e two propofitions, which are the walls upon which our whole frame is to be laid; That ordinary duties require a pre|&s;ent execution, that was our fir&s;t: but extraordinary admit deliberation, that was our &s;e|cond Con&s;ideration; And now our third is, to confider <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> ca&s;e in particular, as it was an example of both.</P>
<P>As <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was an example of the pre&s;ent performance of an evident duty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mo&s;es ca&s;e.</NOTE> we carry you back, to the former chapter, where this roote, this Text is fir&s;t laid, that is, this employ|ment fir&s;t begun to be notified. There <HI>ver.</HI> 4. God calls <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and he calls him by name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 4.</NOTE> and by name twice, <HI>Mo&s;es, Mo&s;es.</HI> Of this, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> could not be ignorant; and therefore he comes to a pre&s;ent di&s;charge of this duty to a pre&s;ent an&s;wer, <HI>ecce ad&s;um,</HI> Lord, here I am. This is the advantage of innocence above guiltine&s;&s;e; God called <HI>Adam</HI> in Para|di&s;e, and he called him by name, and with a particular inqui&s;ition, <HI>Adam, ubies? Adam, where art thou?</HI> And <HI>Adam</HI> hid him&s;elfe; God calls <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> an&s;wers. Hee that is u&s;ed to heare God, at home, in his con&s;cience, and in his eares, at Church; and u&s;ed to an&s;wer God, in both places, at home in his private meditations, and in publique devo|tions at Church; he that is u&s;ed to heare, and u&s;ed to an&s;wer God thus, &s;hall be glad to heare him, in his la&s;t voice, in his Angels Trumpets, and to that voice, <HI>Surgite qui dor|mitis,</HI> Ari&s;e thou that &s;leepe&s;t in the du&s;t, and &s;tand up to Judgement, as he &s;hall have in|ve&s;ted the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, he &s;hall an&s;wer in the very words of Chri&s;t Je|&s;us; <HI>I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive, for evermore, Amen.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 1.18.</NOTE> In this evident duty then, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> permitted him&s;elfe no liberty; God called, and he an&s;wered in|&s;tantly; He an&s;wered in action, as well as in words; and, indeed, that is our loude&s;t, and mo&s;t mu&s;icall an&s;wer, to an&s;wer God, in deed, in action. So <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> did; He came,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 5.</NOTE> he ha&s;tned to the place, where God &s;pake. It is one good argument of piety, to love the place where God &s;peakes, the hou&s;e of his pre&s;ence. But yet <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> received an inhibiti|on from God there, a <HI>ne appropies,</HI> Come not too neare, too clo&s;e to this place. God loves that we &s;hould come to him here, in his hou&s;e; but God would not have us pre&s;&s;e too clo&s;e upon him here; we mu&s;t not be too familiar, too fellowly, too homely with God, here at home, in his hou&s;e, nor loath to uncover our head, or bow our knee at his name. When God proceeded farther with <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and comes to &s;ay, <HI>de&s;cendi ut liberem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 8.</NOTE> I am come downe to deliver I&s;rael from Egypt, (which was the fir&s;t intimation that God gave of that purpo&s;e) <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> likes that well enough, oppo&s;es nothing to that, that God would be plea&s;ed to thinke of &s;ome cour&s;e for delivering of I&s;rael, and enable &s;ome In&s;trument for that worke; for that is, for the mo&s;t part Gods de&s;cending, and his comming down, to put his power in&s;trumentally, mini&s;terially, into the hand of another; Generall things, and remote things doe not much affect us; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ayes nothing to Gods generall pro|po&s;ition; That he was come downe to deliver I&s;rael, but when God comes to that par|ticular, <HI>veni erg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> ut mittamte,</HI> Come therefore that I may &s;end thee, him into Egypt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 9, 10.</NOTE> <HI>Mo|&s;es</HI> to <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> this was a Rock in his Sea, and a Remora upon his Ship, a Hill in his way, and a Snake in his path. Some light, that this was about the time, when I&s;rael &s;hould be delivered, there was before. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> takes knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.16.</NOTE> that God had promi&s;ed <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> that after foure generations, they &s;hould come back; and the foure generations were come about. Some light, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hould be the man, by whom they &s;hould bee delivered, it &s;eemes there was before; for upon that hi&s;tory which is in the &s;econd chap|ter of this booke, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> flew an Egyptian who oppre&s;&s;ed one of his Countrymen,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 2.13.</NOTE>
<PB N="44" REF="40">St. <HI>Stephen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.25.</NOTE> in his owne Funerall Sermon, &s;ayes, That <HI>Mo&s;es, in that act &s;uppo&s;ed, his bre|thren would have under&s;tood, how that God, by his hand would deliver them, but they under|&s;tood it not.</HI> So that it &s;eemes &s;ome &s;uch thing had gone out in voyce, &s;ome revelation, &s;ome intimation, &s;ome emanation of &s;ome kinde of light there had beene, by which they might have under&s;tood it, though they did not. But when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> remembers now, that that &s;ucceeded not, that they apprehended not the offer of his &s;ervice then, and that he was now growne to be eighty yeares old, and that forty of that eighty had been &s;pent in an ob&s;cure, in a Shepherds life, and that he mu&s;t now be &s;ent, not onely to worke upon that people, who &s;hewed no forwardne&s;&s;e towards him then, and might ab&s;olute|ly have forgotten him now, but upon <HI>Pharaoh</HI> him&s;elfe, this created in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> this hae&s;ita|tion, this deliberation; perchance not without &s;ome tincture of infirmity, but farre from any degree of impiety; perchance not without &s;ome expo&s;tulation with God, but farre from any reluctation again&s;t God. Con&s;ider <HI>Abraham; Abraham the Father of the faithfull;</HI> of whom, as the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, that he <HI>hoped beyond hope,</HI> we may &s;ay, that he beleeved beyond faith, for, (as he &s;ayes) <HI>he followed God, not knowing whither he led him; Abraham</HI> came to another manner of expo&s;tulation with God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.22.</NOTE> in the behalfe of <HI>Sodome;</HI> He &s;ayes to God, <HI>wilt thou de&s;troy the righteous with the wicked? Ab&s;it, be that farre from thee;</HI> and he repeats it <HI>Ab&s;it, be that farre from thee;</HI> and he pleads it with God, <HI>Shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right?</HI> Now as St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of <HI>E&s;ay, E&s;ay</HI> was bold when he &s;aid thus and thus; &s;o we may &s;ay of <HI>Abraham, Abraham</HI> was bold, when he could con|ceive &s;uch an imagination, that God would de&s;troy the righteous with the wicked, or that the Judge of all the earth &s;hould not doe right; yet <HI>Abraham</HI> is not blamed for this. Con&s;ider St. <HI>Peters</HI> proceeding with Chri&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.23.</NOTE> he comes to a rebuking of Chri&s;t, and to a more vehement <HI>ab&s;it, Lord be this far from thee, this &s;hall not be unto thee,</HI> &s;peaking of his going up to Jeru&s;alem, upon which journey dependeth the whole work of our redemp|tion. And though S. <HI>Peter</HI> incurred an increpation from Chri&s;t, yet that which he did, was rooted in love, and piety, though it were mixt with incon&s;ideration. S. <HI>Peter</HI> went farther then <HI>Abraham,</HI> but <HI>Abraham</HI> farthen then <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> As therefore that fir&s;t Re|velation, which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> may &s;eeme to have received, when he was forty yeares before this, in Egypt, did not &s;o binde him, to a pre&s;ent pro&s;ecution of that work of their delive|rance, but that, upon occa&s;ion he did withdraw him&s;elfe from Egypt, and continue from thence, in a forty yeares ab&s;ence; &s;o neither did this intimation, which he received from God now, &s;o binde him up, but that hee might piou&s;ly pre&s;ent his owne unfitne&s;&s;e for that emploiment; for it does not &s;o much imply a deniall to undertake the &s;ervice, as a petition, that God would &s;uper-endow him, with parts, and faculties, fit for that &s;er|vice; It is farre from that &s;tubborne &s;onnes <HI>non ibo,</HI> I will not goe to work in that Vine|yard; But it is onely this, except God doe &s;omewhat for me before Lgoe, I &s;hall be ve|ry unfit to goe: And that any Amba&s;&s;adour may &s;ay to his Prince, any Mini&s;ter of State to his Ma&s;ter, any Me&s;&s;enger of God to God him&s;elfe. And therefore good occa&s;ion of doctrines of edification offering it &s;elfe from that con&s;ideration, wee &s;hall in&s;i&s;t a little, upon each of his excu&s;es, though they be foure.</P>
<P>His fir&s;t pro&s;pect that he looks upon in him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quis ego.</NOTE> his fir&s;t object, that by way of objecti|on he makes to God, is him&s;elf, and his owne unworthine&s;&s;e. To con&s;ider others, is but to travaile: to be at home, is to con&s;ider our &s;elves: upon others we can looke, but in oblique lines; onely upon our &s;elves, in direct. Man is but earth; Tis true; but earth is the center. That man who dwels upon him&s;elf, who is alwaies conver&s;ant in him&s;elf, re&s;ts in his true center. Man is a cele&s;tiall creature too, a heavenly creature; and that man that dwels upon him&s;elfe, that hath his conver&s;ation in him&s;elfe, hath his conver&s;ation in heaven, If you weigh any thing in a &s;cale, the greater it is, the lower it &s;inkes; as you grow greater and greater in the eyes of the world, &s;inke lower and lower in your owne. If thou ask thy &s;elf <HI>Quis ego,</HI> what am I? and bee&s;t able to an&s;wer thy &s;elfe, why now I am a man of title, of honour, of place, of power, of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, a man fit for a Chronicle, a man con&s;iderable in the Heralds Office, goe to the Heralds Office, the &s;pheare and element of Honour, and thou &s;halt finde tho&s;e men as bu&s;ie there, about the con&s;ideration of Funerals, as about the con&s;ideration of Creations; thou &s;halt finde that office to be as well the Grave, as the Cradle of Honour; And thou &s;halt finde in that Office as many Records of attain|ted families, and e&s;cheated families, and empoveri&s;hed and forgotten, and obliterate fa|milies, as of families newly erected and pre&s;ently celebrated. In what heighth &s;oever, any
<PB N="45" REF="40">of you that &s;it here, &s;tand at home, there is &s;ome other in &s;ome higher &s;tation then yours, that weighs you downe: And he that &s;tands in the highe&s;t of &s;ubordinate heighths, nay in the highe&s;t &s;upreme heighth in this world, is weighed downe, by that, which is no|thing; for what is any Monarch to the whole world? and the whole world is but that; but what? but nothing. What man among&s;t us lookes <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> way, fir&s;t upon him&s;elfe; perchance enow doe &s;o; but who lookes <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> way, and by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> light? fir&s;t upon him|&s;elfe, and in him&s;elfe, fir&s;t upon his owne in&s;ufficiencies; what man among&s;t us, that is named to any place, by the good opinion of others, or that cals upon others, and begs, and buyes their good opinion for that place, begins at <HI>Mo&s;es, Quis ego? What am I?</HI> where have I &s;tudied and practi&s;ed &s;ufficiently before, that I &s;hould fill &s;uch or &s;uch a place of Judicature? <HI>Quis ego? What am I?</HI> where have I &s;erved, and laboured, and preached in inferiour places of the Church, that I &s;hould fill fuch or a &s;uch a place of Dignity or prelacy there? <HI>Quis ego? What am I?</HI> where have I &s;eene and encountred, and di&s;com|fited the enemy, that I &s;hould fill &s;uch or &s;uch a place of Command in an army? There is not an <HI>Abraham</HI> left to &s;ay, <HI>Pulvis &amp; Cinis,</HI> O my Lord, I am but du&s;t and a&s;hes; not a <HI>Iacob</HI> left to &s;ay, <HI>Non &s;um dignus,</HI> O my Lord I am not worthy of the lea&s;t of the&s;e preferments; not a <HI>David</HI> left to &s;ay, <HI>Canis mortuies, &amp; pulex,</HI> O my Lord I am but a dead dog, and a flea; But every man is vapor'd up into ayre; and, as the ayre can, hee thinkes he can fill any place: Every man is under that complicated di&s;ea&s;e, and that ridling di&s;temper, not to be content with the mo&s;t, and yet to be proud of the lea&s;t thing hee hath; that when he lookes upon men, he di&s;pi&s;es them, becau&s;e he is &s;ome kind of Offi|cer, and when he looks upon God, hee murmures at him, becau&s;e he made him not a King. But if man will not come to his <HI>Quis ego?</HI> who am I? to a due con&s;ideration of him&s;elfe, God will come to his <HI>Quis tu?</HI> who art thou? and to his <HI>Amice quomodo intra&s;ti?</HI> friend how came you in? To every man that comes in by undue meanes, God &s;hall &s;ay, as fir&s;t to us, in our profe&s;&s;ion, what had&s;t thou to doe, to take my word into thy mouth? &s;o to others in theirs, what had&s;t thou to doe, to take my &s;word into thy hand? Onely to tho&s;e who are little in their owne eyes, &s;hall God &s;ay, as Chri&s;t &s;aid to his Church, <HI>Noli timere,</HI> feare not little flock, for it is your Fathers good plea&s;ure to give you the Kingdome. It is not called <HI>a Kingdome,</HI> but <HI>the Kingdome;</HI> that Kingdome, which alone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.32.</NOTE> is worth all the kingdomes that the devill &s;hewed Chri&s;t, The Kingdome of Heaven. Be but a worme and no man, as <HI>David</HI> &s;peakes even in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 22.7.</NOTE> finde thy &s;elfe troden under foot, and under thine owne foot, that is, depre&s;&s;ed in thine owne e&s;ti|mation, and God &s;hall rai&s;e thee with that &s;upportation, Feare not thou worme of <HI>Iacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 41.14.</NOTE> ye men of I&s;rael. Be but wormes and no more, in your owne eyes, and God &s;hall make you men, bee but men and no more in your owne eyes, and GOD &s;hall make you the men of his I&s;rael. This was <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> way; not a running away from God, but a tur|ning into him&s;elfe; not a reluctation again&s;t God, but a con&s;ideration of him&s;elfe. For, though the lazy mans <HI>Quis ego,</HI> &s;hall not profit him, when he &s;hall &s;ay, what am I? I am but one man, I can doe nothing alone, and &s;o leave all reformation un-attempted in his place, becau&s;e others will <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">orme nothing in theirs; (for, that which <HI>David</HI> &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 50.18.</NOTE> If thou &s;awe&s;t a thiefe, <HI>Currebas,</HI> thou did&s;t ri&s;e and run with him, is not much wor&s;e, then when thou &s;ee&s;t a lazy man, to lye downe and &s;leepe with him) Though this mans <HI>Quis ego,</HI> what am I? &s;hall not profit him, for it is but the voice of prevarication, in the ordinary du|ties of his calling, yet in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> ca&s;e, in every undertaking of a new action, this examinati|on, this exinanition of our &s;elves is acceptable in the fight of God. And therefore <HI>Cal|vin</HI> &s;aies ju&s;tly of this particular, in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> ca&s;e, <HI>Non modo culpa vacare, &s;ed laude dignum puto,</HI> that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in this his proceeding with God, was &s;o far from de&s;erving blame, that hee de&s;erved much prai&s;e. And &s;o it &s;eemes, God him&s;elfe interpreted it, and accepted it; for fir&s;t, for his way, he gives him that a&s;&s;urance, <HI>Certainely I will be with thee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 12.</NOTE> and then for the end, and the effect too, he directs him thus, <HI>when thou ha&s;t brought forth the people out of Egypt</HI> (as, certainely this people thou &s;halt bring from thence) <HI>then &s;hall they &s;erve God upon this Mountaine.</HI> And further we may not carry the con&s;ideration of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> fir&s;t excu&s;e, ari&s;ing out of the contemplation of his owne in&s;ufficiency, in generall.</P>
<P>The &s;econd doubt and difficulty that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> makes to him&s;elfe, and pre&s;ents to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Quod nomeu?</HI> V. 13. Eu&s;eb. l. 6. c. 3.</NOTE> is this, that hee was not able to tell them to whom he was &s;ent, his name that &s;ent him. <HI>When I am come to them,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to God, <HI>and &s;hall &s;ay, thou ha&s;t &s;ent me, and they &s;hall &s;ay, what is his Name, what &s;hall I &s;ay unto them?</HI> In <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> his hi&s;tory, A Tyran, a per&s;ecutor,
<PB N="46" REF="41">askes a martyr, <HI>Artalus,</HI> in the mid&s;t of his torments, in &s;corne and contempt, <HI>What is your Gods name?</HI> you pretende a nece&s;&s;ity of wor&s;hipping a new God, your God, but what &s;hall we call your God, what is your Gods name? And the Martyr an&s;wered, <HI>Qui plures &s;unt, nominibus decernuntur, qui unus e&s;t, nomine non indiget:</HI> You who wor&s;hip many Gods, need many names to di&s;tingui&s;h your Gods by; we, who know but one God, need no other name of God, but God; wee who wor&s;hip the onely true God, need not the &s;emi-gods, nor the &s;e&s;qui-gods of the Romane Church; not their &s;emi-gods, their halfe-gods, men beatified, but not &s;anctified; made private gods, but not pub|lique gods; chamber-gods, but not Church-gods; nor any &s;e&s;qui-god, any that mu&s;t be more then God, and receive appeales from God, and rever&s;e the decrees of God, which they make the office of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> whom no man can honour too much, that makes her not God, and they di&s;honour mo&s;t, that make her &s;o much more. But yet, &s;ome names, &s;ome notifications of God, no doubt the Jews had: <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ayes here, that he would tell them, that the God of their Fathers had &s;ent him; which was a name of &s;pecification, and di&s;tinction of this GOD, from all the gods of the Gentiles. But in this place, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> de&s;ires &s;uch a name of God, as might not onely intimate to them to whom he was &s;ent, a great power in that Prince that &s;ent him, but might al&s;o intimate a great privacy, and confidence in him that was &s;ent; A name, by which he might be knowne, to know more of that God, then other men knew; for, nothing advances a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e more, then when hee that is employed, is beleeved to know the mind, and to have the heart of him, that &s;ends him. Therefore God gives <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a cyphar; God declares to <HI>Mo|&s;es,</HI> his bo&s;ome name, his vi&s;cerall name, his radicall, his fundamentall name, the name of his E&s;&s;ence, <HI>Qui &s;um, I am; Goe, and tell them, that he who&s;e name is I am, hath &s;ent thee.</HI> It is true, that literally in the Originall, this name is conceived in the future; it is there, <HI>Qui ero, I that &s;hall be.</HI> But this pre&s;ent acceptation, <HI>I am,</HI> hath pa&s;&s;ed through all Tran&s;lators, and all Commentors, and Fathers, and Councels, and Schooles, and the whole Church of God re&s;ts in it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pi&s;cator.</NOTE> And I know but one, (who is of the Reformation, and of the mo&s;t rigid &s;ub-divi&s;ion in the Reformation, and who hath many other &s;ingularities be&s;ides this) that will needs tran&s;late this name, <HI>Qui eram, I was.</HI> How&s;oever, all intend, that this is a name that denotes E&s;&s;ence, Beeing: Beeing is the name of God, and of God onely: for, of every other creature, <HI>Plato</HI> &s;aies well, <HI>Ejus nomen e&s;t potius non e&s;&s;e;</HI> The name of the Creator is, <HI>I am,</HI> but of every creature rather, I am not, I am nothing. Hee con&s;iders it, and concludes it, in the be&s;t, and noble&s;t of creatures, Man; for, he, as well as the re&s;t, <HI>plus habet non entis, quam entis;</HI> Man hath more privatives, then po&s;itives in him; Man hath but his owne beeing; Man hath not the beeing of an Angel, nor the bee|ing of a lyon; God hath all in a kind of eminence more excellently then the kinds them|&s;elves, onely his name is <HI>I am. Plato</HI> pur&s;ues this con&s;ideration u&s;efully; <HI>Habuit ante aeter|num non e&s;&s;e,</HI> Man had an eternall not beeing before; that is, before the creation; for tho&s;e infinite millions of millions of generations before the Creation, there was a God, who&s;e name was <HI>I am;</HI> but till within the&s;e &s;ixe thou&s;and yeares, Man was not, there was no man. And &s;o &s;aies <HI>Plato, Haberet aeternum non e&s;&s;e,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> Man had an eternall not beeing before the Creation; &s;o he would have another eternall not-being after his di&s;|&s;olution by death, in &s;oule, as well as in body, if God did not pre&s;erve that beeing, which he hath imprinted in both, in both. And <HI>jam dum e&s;t,</HI> &s;aies he, As man had one eternall not beeing before, and would have another after, &s;o for that beeing which he &s;eemes to have here now, it is a continuall declination into a not being, becau&s;e he is in continuall change, and mutation, <HI>quae de&s;init in non e&s;&s;e,</HI> as he &s;aies well; Every change and muta|tion bends to a not beeing, becau&s;e in every change, it comes to a not being that which it was before; onely the name of God is <HI>I am.</HI></P>
<P>In which name, God gave <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and does give us who are al&s;o his Emba&s;&s;adors, &s;o much knowledge of him&s;elfe, as that we may tell you, though not what God is, yet, that God is; God, in the notification of this name, &s;ends us &s;ufficiently in&s;tructed, to e|&s;tabli&s;h you in the a&s;&s;urance of an everla&s;ting, and an ever-ready God, but not to &s;catter you with unnece&s;&s;ary &s;peculations, and impertinencies concerning this God. He is no fit me&s;&s;enger between God and his Church, that knowes not Gods name; that is, how God hath notified, and manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to man. God hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to man in Chri&s;t; and manife&s;ted Chri&s;t in the Scriptures; and manife&s;ted the Scriptures in the Church; the name of God is the notification of God; how God will be called
<PB N="47" REF="41">by man, and that is, the Father of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t; and how God will be called upon by man, that is, that all our prayers to God be directed in, and through, and by, and for Chri&s;t Je&s;us. If we know the name of God, <HI>Qui &s;um, I am,</HI> that is, beleeve Chri&s;t Je&s;us, whom we wor&s;hip to have been from all eternity, to be God; and then for more particular points, beleeve tho&s;e Doctrines, <HI>quae &s;unt,</HI> which are, that is, <HI>Quae &s;unt u|bique, &amp; &s;emper,</HI> as <HI>Lyrinen&s;is</HI> &s;ayes, which have been alwayes beleeved, and alwayes be|leeved to have been nece&s;&s;ary to be beleeved as articles of Faith, through the whole Ca|tholique Church, if we know the name of God thus, we have our Commi&s;&s;ion, and our qualification in that Go&s;pell, <HI>Goe, and teach all Nations,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.19.</NOTE> <HI>and baptize in the name of the Fa|ther, and of the Son, and of the holy Gho&s;t;</HI> that is the name of God to a Chri&s;tian, the Tri|nity. And lea&s;t that Commi&s;&s;ion &s;o delivered in the generall and fundamentall manner, profe&s;&s;ing the Trinity, &s;hould not &s;eem enough, it is repeated and paraphra&s;ed in the ver&s;e following, <HI>Teach them to ob&s;erve all things what&s;oever I have commanded you.</HI> Fir&s;t there is a <HI>Teaching;</HI> good life it &s;elf is but a commentary, an expo&s;ition upon our preach|ing; that which is fir&s;t laid upon us is preaching; and then teach them to ob&s;erve, that is, to practi&s;e; breed them not in an opinion that &s;uch a faith as is without workes is e|nough; and teach them to ob&s;erve All; For, for matter of practice, <HI>He that breakes one Law is guilty of all,</HI> and he that thinkes to &s;erve God by way of compen&s;ation, that is, to recompen&s;e God by doing one duty, for the omi&s;&s;ion of another, &s;ins even in that, in which he thinkes he &s;erves God; and for matter of beleefe, he that beleeves not all, <HI>&s;olvit Ie&s;um,</HI> as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;peakes, he takes Je&s;us in peeces, and after the Jews have crucified him, he di&s;&s;ects him, and makes him an Anatomy. We mu&s;t therefore teach all; but then it is but all, which Chri&s;t hath commanded us; additionall and traditionall do|ctrines of the Papi&s;t, &s;peculative and dazling, riddling and entangling perplexities of the Schoole, pa&s;&s;ionate, and uncharitable wranglings of Controverters, the&s;e fall not in <HI>Mo|&s;es</HI> Commi&s;&s;ion, nor ours, who participate of his; we are to deliver to you by the Or|dinance of God, Preaching, The name of God, that is, how God hath manife&s;ted him|&s;elf to man, and how God will be called upon by man, That God is your God in Chri&s;t, if you receive Chri&s;t in the Scriptures, applyed in the Church. And farther we carry not our con&s;ideration upon this &s;econd excu&s;e of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in which (as in the former, he con&s;idered his in&s;ufficiency in the generall) he con&s;iders it in this, that he had not &s;tudi|ed, he had not acquired, he had not &s;ought the knowledge of tho&s;e My&s;teries which ap|pertained to that calling, implyed in that, that he did not know Gods name.</P>
<P>His third excu&s;e, which induces a great di&s;couragement,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non elo|quens.</NOTE> ari&s;es out of a defect in na|ture, whereas the former is rather of art, and &s;tudy, and con&s;ideration; and to be natu|rally defective in tho&s;e faculties, which are e&s;&s;entiall and nece&s;&s;ary to that work, which is under our hand, is a great di&s;couragement. Lamene&s;&s;e is not alwayes an in&s;upporta|ble calamity; but for <HI>Mephibo&s;heth</HI> to have been hindred by lamene&s;&s;e then, when he &s;hould have received favour from the King, and &s;etled his inheritance, this was a heavy affliction. Lowne&s;&s;e of &s;tature is no in&s;upportable thing; but when <HI>Zacheus</HI> came with &s;uch a de&s;ire to &s;ee Chri&s;t, then to be di&s;appointed by rea&s;on of his lowne&s;&s;e, this might affect him. It is not alwayes in&s;upportable to lack the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of a &s;ervant, or a friend; But when the Angel hath troubled the water, and made it medicinall for him that is fir&s;t put in and no more, then to have lyen many yeares in expectation, and &s;till to lack a &s;er|vant, or a friend to do that office, this is a mi&s;ery. And this was <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> ca&s;e; God will &s;end him upon a &s;ervice, that con&s;i&s;ted much in per&s;wa&s;ion, and good &s;peech, and he &s;ayes, <HI>O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor &s;ince thou ha&s;t &s;poken to thy &s;ervant.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 10.</NOTE> Where we &s;ee, there is &s;ome degree of eloquence required in the delivery of Gods Me&s;|&s;ages. There are not &s;o eloquent Bookes in the world, as the Scriptures; neither &s;hould a man come to any kinde of handling of them with uncircumci&s;ed lips, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;peaks, or with an extemporall and irreverent, or over-homely and vulgar language.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.1.</NOTE> <HI>The prepa|ration of the heart is of the Lord,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon;</HI> but it is not only that; <HI>The preparation of the heart, and the an&s;wer of the tongue is of the Lord.</HI> To conceive good things for the glo|ry of God, and to expre&s;&s;e them to the edification of Gods people, is a double ble&s;&s;ing of God. Therefore does <HI>He&s;ter</HI> form and in&s;titute her prayer to God &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ter 14.12.</NOTE> <HI>Give me bold|ne&s;&s;e, O Lord of all power;</HI> but &s;he extends her prayer farther, <HI>And give me eloquent &s;peech in my mouth.</HI> And the want of this in a naturall defect, and unreadine&s;&s;e of &s;peech di&s;couraged <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> And when God recompen&s;es, and &s;upplyes this defect in <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> he
<PB N="48" REF="42">does it but thus, <HI>I will be with thy mouth, and I will teach thee what thou &s;halt &s;ay.</HI> Still it is <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> that mu&s;t &s;ay it; &s;till <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> mouth that mu&s;t utter it. Beloved, it is the generall Ordinance of God, of whom, <HI>as we have received mercy, we have received the Mini&s;tery,</HI> and it is the particular grace of God that inanimates our labours, and makes them effe|ctuall upon you; All that is not of our <HI>planting,</HI> nor <HI>watring,</HI> but of <HI>God that gives the increa&s;e;</HI> But yet we mu&s;t labour to get, and labour to improve &s;uch learning, and &s;uch language, and &s;uch other abilities as may be&s;t become that &s;ervice; for the naturall want of one of the&s;e, retarded <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> from a pre&s;ent acceptation of Gods imployment. And &s;o truly, &s;hould put any man, that puts him&s;elf, or puts his &s;on upon this profe&s;&s;ion, upon that con&s;ideration, whether he have &s;uch naturall parts as will admit acqui&s;itions, and &s;uperedifications fit for that calling. And farther we carry not <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> third excu&s;e, rai&s;ed out of a naturall defect, <HI>non &s;um eloquens,</HI> I am not eloquent enough.</P>
<P>The fourth is a &s;hrewd di&s;couragement:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non credent.</NOTE> In the fir&s;t ver&s;e of this Chapter, <HI>He an&s;wer|ed and &s;aid, but behold, they will not beleeve me;</HI> when I have told them thy name, how thou ha&s;t manife&s;ted thy &s;elfe to them, and in what name they mu&s;t call upon thee, <HI>Be|hold, they will not beleeve me;</HI> And this is the &s;adde&s;t di&s;couragement that can fall upon the Mini&s;ter and Me&s;&s;enger of God, <HI>not to be beleeved.</HI> God found this, and complained of it at fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 14.11. E&s;ay 53.1. John 12.38.</NOTE> <HI>Quou&s;&abque; non credent?</HI> how long will it be ere this people beleeve? they will never beleeve. The Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> fore&s;aw this; <HI>Quis credidit? Lord who hath beleeved our report?</HI> No man doth, no man will beleeve us. S. <HI>Iohn</HI> found this prophecy of <HI>E&s;ay</HI> fulfilled even then, when Chri&s;t in per&s;on was preaching, and working of Miracles; then &s;ayes that Euangeli&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.16.</NOTE> was that of <HI>E&s;ay</HI> fulfilled, <HI>They beleeved not his report.</HI> And S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aw it performed among&s;t the Gentiles, as well as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> among&s;t the Jews, <HI>Lord who hath beleeved our report?</HI> Chri&s;t hath &s;aid him&s;elfe, and Chri&s;t hath bidden us &s;ay, <HI>Qui non crediderit, damnabitur, He that beleeves not, &s;hall be damned:</HI> And yet, <HI>Lord who hath beleeved our report?</HI> There cannot fall a &s;adder di&s;couragement upon the Me&s;&s;enger of God, then not to be beleeved.</P>
<P>How loth we finde the ble&s;&s;ed Fathers of the Primitive Church, to lack company at their Sermons? How earne&s;tly <HI>Leo,</HI> in one of his Anniver&s;ary Sermons, complaines of multitudes, and thru&s;ts at Playes, and Masks, and of a thinne&s;&s;e, and &s;carcity, and &s;oli|tude at Church? How glad they were to draw men thither? And then how much they endevoured, to hold them in a di&s;po&s;ition of hearkning unto them, when they had them? Sometimes with ob&s;erving them with phra&s;es of humiliation; So <HI>Dama&s;cene</HI> profe&s;&s;es him&s;elfe <HI>Minimum &s;ervum Eccle&s;iae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;cen.</NOTE> the meane&s;t and unworthie&s;t &s;ervant to that Con|gregation. So <HI>Leo</HI> pre&s;ents him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Ad ve&s;tra paratus ob&s;equia,</HI> Ready to doe all ob&s;e|quious &s;ervice to that Congregation: And &s;o S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, In hoc vobis &s;ervimus,</HI> we &s;hall doe this congregation the be&s;t &s;ervice, in handling this point thus. Sometimes they did it &s;o, by &s;ubmitting them&s;elves to the Congregation, in phra&s;es of humiliation; and &s;ometimes, by taking knowledge of the pious, and devout behaviour of the congregati|on, even in their Sermons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo.</NOTE> and thanking them for it; As <HI>Leo</HI> does too, <HI>Quod non tacito honora&s;tis affectu,</HI> That they did countenance that which was &s;aid, with a holy murmur, with a religious whi&s;pering, and with an ocular applau&s;e, with fixing their eyes upon the Preacher, and with turning their eyes upon one another; for tho&s;e outward decla|rations were much, very much in u&s;e in tho&s;e times. And though in the exce&s;&s;e of &s;uch outward declarations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t:</HI> complain of them, <HI>Non Theatrum Eccle&s;ia,</HI> My ma&s;ters, what mean you, the Church is not a Theater, <HI>Quae mihi i&s;toru~ plau&s;uum utilitas?</HI> what get I by the&s;e plaudites, &amp; acclamations? I had rather have one &s;oul, then all the&s;e hands and eyes: yet it is ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve, in the generall proceeding of tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers, that they had a holy delight to be heard,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and to be heard with delight. For, <HI>Nemo flectitur, qui mole&s;t&egrave; audit;</HI> No man profits by a Sermon, that heares with paine, or wearine&s;&s;e. Therefore S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;lome</HI> awakes his drouzie Auditory with that alarme,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>His quae jam di|cuntur, &amp;c.</HI> Hearken, I pray you now, &s;ayes he; for, <HI>Non rem vulgarem pollicemur,</HI> It is no ordinary matter that I &s;hall tell you: and having &s;o awakened them, he keeps them awake, with &s;uch Doctrines as he thought fitte&s;t for their edification. And to the &s;ame purpo&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> does not onely profe&s;&s;e of him&s;elfe, <HI>Non praetermitto i&s;tos numeros clau&s;ularum,</HI> That he &s;tudied at home, to make his language &s;weet, and harmonious, and acceptable to Gods people, but he beleeves al&s;o, that S. <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe, and all the Apo|&s;tles, had a delight, and a complacency, and a holy melting of the bowels, when the con|gregation
<PB N="49" REF="42">liked their preaching: The Fathers were glad to be heard, glad to be lik'd, and glad to be under&s;tood too; for, therefore doth <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> repeat, almo&s;t <HI>verbatim,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;e.</NOTE> that great Sermon of his <HI>De Imaginibus,</HI> a &s;econd time, becau&s;e (as he a&s;&s;ignes the rea&s;on) he was not throughly under&s;tood, in the fir&s;t preaching thereof;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nehem. 8.</NOTE> And therefore doth <HI>Ezra</HI> extend him&s;elf &s;o far, as to preach from morning (as it is in the Originall, from the light) till noone, that by giving him&s;elfe that compa&s;&s;e, he might carry every point in a clear|ne&s;&s;e, as he went. Now if the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers, the&s;e Angels of the Church, the&s;e Arch|angels of the Primitive Church, were thus affected, if they were not frequented, but neglected for other entertainments; or if they were not hearkned to, when they were heard, but heard perfunctorily, fragmentarily, here and there a rag, a piece of a &s;entence; Or if they were not under&s;tood, becau&s;e they that heard were &s;cattered, and di&s;tracted with other thoughts, and &s;o withdrawne from their ob&s;ervation; or if they were not li|ked, becau&s;e the Auditory had &s;ome pre-contracts upon other Preachers, that they liked better; how may we think, that tho&s;e holy and ble&s;&s;ed &s;pirits were troubled, if they were not beleeved? This de&s;troyes and demoli&s;hes the whole body of our building; this evacuates the whole function of our Mini&s;tery, if we lo&s;e our credibility; if we may not be beleeved; if the Church conceive a jealou&s;ie, that we preach to &s;erve turnes; And therefore <HI>vae per quem,</HI> and <HI>vae per quos;</HI> woe unto that man (if any &s;uch man there &s;hould ever be) that gives ju&s;t occa&s;ion of &s;uch a jealou&s;ie, that he preaches to &s;erve turnes; And woe to them (who abound every where) who entertaine &s;uch jealou&s;ies, where no ju&s;t occa&s;ion is offered, but mi&s;-interpret the faithfull labours of Gods true &s;ervants, and think every thing done to &s;erve turns, that doth not agree with their di&s;temper, in the likene&s;&s;e of zeale. The Fathers were &s;orry if they were not heard, if they were not un|der&s;tood, if they were not lik'd; But the &s;adde&s;t di&s;couragement of all, is the <HI>Non cre|dent,</HI> if we be not beleeved. And farther we carry not our Con&s;ideration upon <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> four excu&s;es; of which the fir&s;t was, in Contemplation of his own in&s;ufficiency in generall; The &s;econd, in that particular, of not having furni&s;hed him&s;elfe with additions nece&s;&s;ary for that &s;ervice; The third, becau&s;e he had a defect in naturall faculties; and the la&s;t, for the indi&s;po&s;ition of them, to whom he was to goe.</P>
<P>But then the fift, which is not &s;o much an excu&s;e, as a petition, <HI>(O my Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mitte quem mi&s;&s;urus.</NOTE> <HI>&s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt &s;end)</HI> ta&s;ts of mo&s;t vehemence, and, as it may &s;eem, of &s;ome pa&s;&s;ion in <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> He &s;ayes fir&s;t, <HI>Quis ego?</HI> I am not worthy of this employ|ment; That's true; but thou art able to qualifie me for it; and that objection is taken away. <HI>Quod nomen?</HI> I know not thy name, how thou wilt be called, and how thou wilt be called upon by men; I have not &s;tudied that: But thou ha&s;t revealed unto me the knowledge of fundamentall doctrines, nece&s;&s;ary for &s;alvation, and that objection is re|moved. <HI>Non facundus,</HI> I am not eloquent, not of ready &s;peech, defective in tho&s;e natu|rall faculties; But the &s;pirit of eloquence, and the irre&s;i&s;tiblene&s;&s;e of per&s;wa&s;ion is in that mouth, in which thou &s;peake&s;t: and that excu&s;e is taken away too. <HI>Non credent;</HI> I know their &s;tubbornne&s;&s;e, to whom I goe, they will not beleeve me; But thou ha&s;t put the power of Miracles into my hands, as well as knowledge into my heart; God makes &s;ometimes a plaine and &s;imple mans good life, as powerfull, as the eloquente&s;t Sermon. All this I acknowledge, &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> But yet, O Lord, when thou &s;halt have done all this, in me, and in them, made me worthy by thy power, taught me thy Name by thy grace, infu&s;ed a per&s;wa&s;ibility into them, and a per&s;wa&s;ivene&s;&s;e into me, by thy Spirit, yet there is One who is to be &s;ent, One whom I know thou wilt &s;end, One, whom, pur&s;uing thine owne Decree, thou &s;hould&s;t &s;end, One, who&s;e &s;hooe-latchet I &s;hall not be worthy to untie then, when thou &s;halt have multiplyed all the&s;e qualifications upon me, and therefore, <HI>O my Lord, &s;end, I pray thee, by his hand,</HI> &s;end him, &s;end Chri&s;t now. So then, with the ancient Fathers, with <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr,</HI> with S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> with <HI>Tertullian,</HI> with more, many, very many more, we may &s;afely take this to be a &s;upplication, That God would be plea&s;ed to ha&s;ten the comming of the Me&s;&s;ias.</P>
<P>Of our later writers, <HI>Calvin</HI> departs from the Ancients herein, &s;o farre, as to &s;ay, <HI>nimis coacta,</HI> it &s;eemes &s;omewhat a forced, &s;omewhat an unnaturall &s;en&s;e, to interpret the&s;e words of the comming of Chri&s;t; but he proceeds no farther. But another, of the &s;ame &s;ub-divi&s;ion, is, (as he u&s;es to be) more a&s;&s;ured, more confident; and he &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pi&s;cator.</NOTE> <HI>e&s;t omni|moda &amp; praeci&s;a recu&s;atio;</HI> It is an ab&s;olute refu&s;all in <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> to obey the commandement of God: And that truly, needed not to have beene &s;aid. Now, when wee con&s;ider the
<PB N="50" REF="43">expo&s;ition in the Roman Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">To&s;tat.</NOTE> when their great <HI>Bi&s;hop,</HI> (I mean their great writing Bi|&s;hop) departs from the Ancients, &amp; does not under&s;tand the&s;e words of the comming of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pererius.</NOTE> a Je&s;uit is &s;o bold with that Bi&s;hop, (their order forbids them to be Bi&s;hops, but not to be Controllers over Bi&s;hops) as to tell him, <HI>levis objectio,</HI> that he departs from a good foundation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eugubinus.</NOTE> the Fathers, and that upon a light rea&s;on. And when another Author in that Church proceeds farther, to &s;o much vehemence, &s;o much violence, as to &s;ay, that it is not only an incommodious, but a &s;uper&s;titious &s;en&s;e, to interpret the&s;e words of the com|ming of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Peterius. Cornelius.</NOTE> two Je&s;uits correct him, almo&s;t in the &s;ame words, (for in the waies of contumely and defamation, they agree well) and &s;ay, <HI>audacter ob&s;trepit,</HI> he does but &s;aw|cily bark, and kick again&s;t the ancient Fathers, <HI>quibus ip&s;e,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Pererius,</HI> to whom him|&s;elfe is not to be compared, neither for learning in him&s;elfe, nor for place and dignity in the Church, nor for &s;anctity and holine&s;&s;e of life in the world. They may bee as bold with one another, as they plea&s;e; Indeed they are &s;o u&s;ed to uncharitable phra&s;es to|wards all others, as &s;ometimes they cannot &s;pare one another. For our part, wee lay no &s;uch imputations upon any of our later men, that accept not that &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, but yet, we cannot doubt of leave to accompany the Fathers in that Expo&s;ition, that the&s;e words, <HI>O my Lord, &s;end I pray thee, by the hand of him, whom thou wilt &s;end,</HI> are a petition, and not a reluctation again&s;t God. And that, not as <HI>Lyra</HI> takes them; <HI>Lyra</HI> takes them to be a petition, and not a reluctation; but a petition of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that hee would &s;end <HI>Aa|ron;</HI> That, if he would &s;end any, he &s;hould &s;end a man of better parts, and abilities, then him&s;elfe; and this is a rare mode&s;ty, when a man is named for any place, to become &s;u|ter for another to that place; <HI>Mo&s;es was the meeke&s;t man upon earth;</HI> but this was not his meaning here. Nor as <HI>Rabbi Solomon</HI> takes it; hee takes it for a Petition, and no re|luctation; but, a Petition, that God would &s;end <HI>Io&s;uah;</HI> For, (&s;ayes that <HI>Rabbi</HI>) <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had had a Revelation, that <HI>Io&s;uah,</HI> and not he, &s;hould be the man, that &s;hould bring that People into the Land of Promi&s;e; and therefore, &s;ince <HI>Io&s;uah</HI> was to have the honour of the action, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> would have laid the burden upon him too; but this makes <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a more fa&s;hionall, a more particular, a more &s;elfe-con&s;idering man, for his owne e&s;timation, then he was. But, with the Ancients, and later devout men, wee piou&s;ly beleeve <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in the&s;e words to have extended his Devotion towards his Nation, and the whole world together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ferus.</NOTE> as farre, as one of them hath extended the Expo&s;ition; <HI>quid prode&s;t ex Egypto exire, &amp; in peccatis manere,</HI> &s;aies he; what &s;hall they bee the better, for comming out of the pre&s;&s;ures of Egypt, if they mu&s;t remaine &s;till, under the oppre&s;&s;ion of a &s;infull con&s;ci|ence? And that mu&s;t be their ca&s;e, if thou &s;end but a <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and not a Chri&s;t to their &s;uc|cour. <HI>Quid Pharaonem e&s;&s;ugere, &amp; non Diabolum,</HI> &s;aies he; what &s;hall they get, in being delivered from <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> if they be not delivered from the Devill? <HI>Intrare in terram pro|mi&s;&s;am, &amp; non in coelum?</HI> What preferment is it, to dwell in a good Land, and to bee bani&s;hed out of heaven? And this will be their ca&s;e, if thou &s;end but a <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and not a Chri&s;t, for their deliverance. He carries it from them, to God him&s;elfe: <HI>Quid unum populum &egrave; &s;ervitute temporali liberare, &amp; totum genus humanum relinquere &s;ub pote&s;tate Dia|boli?</HI> What glory will it bee to thee, O God, who &s;tudie&s;t thine owne glory, to deliver one Nation from a temporall bondage, and leave all Mankinde under everla&s;ting con|demnation? And that mu&s;t be the ca&s;e of all, if thou &s;end but a <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and not a Chri&s;t; <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> may, by thine abundant goodne&s;&s;e, doe &s;ome good; but there is one, one appoin|ted to be &s;ent, that will doe all which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hould doe, better then <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and infinite|ly more then <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> can doe, or, of him&s;elfe, &s;o much as wi&s;h to bee done; and therefore &s;end him, &s;end him now, to doe all together: And &s;o the&s;e words are a Petition, and no Reluctation, though &s;ome men have taken them &s;o; and a Petition for the &s;ending of Chri&s;t, and no <HI>Aaron,</HI> no <HI>Io&s;uah,</HI> no other man; though &s;ome have taken &s;o too.</P>
<P>Yet we doe not deliver <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> from all infirmity herein;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iratus Deus. <HI>Exod. 32.32.</HI></NOTE> no nor from all errour, and mi&s;taking; no more then wee doe in that other prayer of his, <HI>dele me,</HI> pardon this people, or blot my name out of thy Booke, where <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> capitulated too narrrowly, and upon too &s;trict conditions with God. Therefore, in this place, it followes pre&s;ently upon this prayer, That <HI>God was angry with him.</HI> Un&s;ea&s;onable prayers, though becau&s;e they may be rooted in piety, they may be, in &s;ome &s;ort, excu&s;able in him that makes them, yet may be unacceptable to God. S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> prayed for a dead Mother, <HI>Monica;</HI> and S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> prayed for a dead Ma&s;ter, <HI>Theode&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">s;</HI> God forbid wee &s;hould condemne <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> or <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> of impiety in doing &s;o; But God forbid wee &s;hould make <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> or <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI>
<PB N="51" REF="43">his example, our rule to doe &s;o &s;till. This <HI>&s;ending of Chri&s;t,</HI> which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;olicites here, was <HI>de Arcanit Dei;</HI> It was one of the &s;ecrets of his State, and of his government; It was one of his bo&s;ome Coun&s;els, and Cabinet Decrees: One of tho&s;e re&s;erved ca&s;es, which he had communicated to no man; as the day of Chri&s;ts &s;econd comming, his comming to Judgement, is now; which God hath communicated to no man; as the cleare under&s;tanding of the &s;tate of the dead, who are departed this life, God hath impar|ted to no man; nor &s;ome circum&s;tances of time, and place, and per&s;on in Antichri&s;t; God hath revealed the&s;e to no man, not to his whole Church; The&s;e are acts of his Regality, and of his Prerogative; and as Princes &s;ay of their Prerogative, <HI>nolumus di&s;putari,</HI> wee will not have it di&s;puted, nor called into que&s;tion, &s;o for the&s;e Re&s;erved ca&s;es, and unre|vealed Coun&s;els of God, &s;uch as was the fir&s;t comming of Chri&s;t in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> time, and &s;uch as is the &s;econd comming of Chri&s;t, now in our time, God would not be importuned. God meant to give the children of I&s;rael a King, from the beginning; we pre&s;ume hee meant it, becau&s;e it is the be&s;t ble&s;&s;ing of all formes of government: And wee &s;ee hee meant it, becau&s;e long before, hee e&s;tabli&s;hed Lawes, by which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 17.</NOTE> they &s;hould governe them&s;elves, in their chu&s;ing their King, and by which, their King &s;hould governe them, when he was cho&s;en; yet God was angry, when they importuned him for a King, at &s;uch a time, and upon &s;uch termes, as he intended not to doe it. But now, becau&s;e in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> ca&s;e, though there were not a pre&s;ent obedience, yet there was no di&s;obedience, the fault being no greater, the anger was not great neither; and therefore we may &s;afely &s;ay with <HI>Rupertus,</HI> that the <HI>iratus fuit,</HI> was but <HI>non propitius fuit;</HI> God was &s;o angry, as that hee did not grant, nor accept <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> petition, nor entertaine any farther di&s;cour&s;e with him, concerning the &s;ending of Chri&s;t; In <HI>Abrahams</HI> &s;olicitation, in the behalfe of <HI>So|dome,</HI> it is &s;aid, that God went not away, as long as <HI>Abraham</HI> had any thing to &s;ay; But here, God was &s;o farre angry, as to break off <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> di&s;cour&s;e: But his anger was not &s;o much an Increpation, that he had &s;aid any thing, as an In&s;truction that hee &s;hould &s;ay no more of Gods unrevealed purpo&s;es.</P>
<P>Therefore God does not continue his anger, &s;o as to di&s;continue his worke.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tamen con|&s;olidat.</NOTE> It was but a Catechi&s;ticall anger, &s;uch an anger as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> begges at Gods hands, <HI>Ira&s;caris mihi Domine,</HI> O Lord, be angry with me, and leave mee not to my &s;elfe; thou ha&s;t an anger, that in&s;tructs in the way; but thou ha&s;t a heavy indignation, that confounds, and exterminates in the end. Therefore our prayer in the Litany, is not, O Lord bee never angry with us; but, <HI>O Lord, be not angry with us, for ever. David</HI> was a man according to Gods heart; yet, no doubt, but God was angry with <HI>David,</HI> for the matter of <HI>Vriah,</HI> as him&s;elfe calls it. God was not angry with <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;o, as that he gave over his purpo&s;e of delivering I&s;rael, or of delivering I&s;rael by him, and him e&s;tabli&s;hed in a cheerefull a&s;&s;urance to undertake it; for in the &s;ame breath, in the &s;ame words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 14.</NOTE> in the &s;ame ver&s;e, wherein his anger is expre&s;&s;ed, his Benignity, and his Benevolence is expre&s;&s;ed al&s;o; for there he &s;aies, <HI>Is not Aaron thy Brother; I know he can &s;peake well; and al&s;o, behold, he commeth forth to meet thee:</HI> God had laid it &s;o, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hould be &s;etled this way, by having &s;o able a man, and then, a man in whom he might be &s;o confident, as a brother, joyned in commi&s;&s;ion with him. Slide wee in this note by the way; God loves not &s;ingularity: God bindes us to nothing, that was never &s;aid but by one: As God loves Sympathy, God loves Symphony; God loves a compa&s;&s;ion and fellow-fee|ling of others mi&s;eries, that is Sympathy, and God loves Harmony, and fellow belee|ving of others Doctrines, that is Symphony: No one man alone makes a Church; no one Church alone makes a Catholique Church. Chri&s;t &s;ent his owne Di&s;ciples by couples, two and two: And <HI>Aquinas</HI> &s;ayes out of his ob&s;ervation, <HI>Monachus &s;olus e&s;t Daemon &s;olitarius:</HI> Though naturally a Monk mu&s;t love retiredne&s;&s;e, yet a &s;ingle Monk, a Monk alwaies alone, &s;aies he, is plotting &s;ome &s;ingular mi&s;chiefe. <HI>Deus qui habitat in no|bis, etiam nos cu&s;todiet ex nobis,</HI> is excellently &s;aid by that excellent Father:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> God that dwels in us, will &s;u&s;taine the building, and repaire the building out of our &s;elves; that is, he will make us Tutelar Angels to one another; and a holy, and reverentiall re&s;pect to one ano|ther, in good conver&s;ation, &s;hall keep us from many &s;infull actions, which we would com|mit if we were alone. So then, God was not &s;o angry, nor angry &s;o with <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> as that he did not pur&s;ue his fir&s;t purpo&s;e upon him, of &s;ending him, &amp; &s;ending him &s;o, as might be&s;t &s;peed, &amp; advance his Negotiation. And therfore, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> praying for Chri&s;ts fir&s;t co~ming, which was one of Gods re&s;erved ca&s;es, and an act of his regality, and Prerogative, though
<PB N="52" REF="44">he had not that prayer granted, yet was not left un&s;atisfied, nor unaccommodated by God, &s;o, (which is the end, that wee drive all to) when the calamities; and di&s;tre&s;&s;es of this life oppre&s;&s;e us, and we pray for the &s;econd comming of Chri&s;t, in the con&s;ummati|on of all, in glory, though, becau&s;e this &s;econd comming of Chri&s;t, is one of Gods Re|&s;erved ca&s;es, and an act of his Regality, and Prerogative, hee doe not grant that, that Chri&s;t doe not come &s;o; yet, in his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, he will come to us, in an a&s;&s;urance, that when he &s;hall come &s;o, in judgement, wee in his right, &s;hall &s;tand upright even in that Judgement: And, if in extraordinary di&s;tre&s;&s;es, wee pray for extraordinary reliefes, though extraordinary helps, and miracles bee Re&s;erved ca&s;es, and acts of his Regality, and Prerogative; yet, as he remembers his mercies, of old, hee will remember his mira|cles of old too, (and as his mercies are new every morning, his miracles &s;hall bee new every morning too; and all that he did in eighty eight, in the la&s;t Centutry, he &s;hall doe (if we need it) in twenty eight, in this Century;) And though he may be angry with our prayers, as they are but verball prayers, and not accompanied with actions of obedience, yet he will not be angry with us for ever, but re-e&s;tabli&s;h at home, zeale to our pre&s;ent Religion, and good corre&s;pondence, and affections of all parts to one another, and our power, and our honour, in forraign Nations. Amen.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON VI.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Chri&s;tmas Day. <HI>1628.</HI></HEAD>
<Q><L>Lord, who hath beleeved our report?</L>
<L><HI>Domine, quis credidit auditui no&s;tro?</HI></L></Q>
<P>_I Have named to you no booke, no chapter, no ver&s;e, where the&s;e words are written: But I forbore not out of forgetfulne&s;&s;e, nor out of &s;ingula|rity, but out of perplexity rather, becau&s;e the&s;e words are written, in more then one, in more then two places of the Bible. In your ordinary conver&s;ation, and communication with other men, I am &s;ure you have all ob&s;erved, that many men have certaine formes of &s;peech, certaine in|terjections, certaine &s;uppletory phra&s;es, which fall often upon their tongue, and which they repeat almo&s;t in every &s;entence; and; for the mo&s;t part, impertinently; and then, when that phra&s;e conduces nothing to that which they would &s;ay; but rather di&s;orders and di&s;compo&s;es the &s;entence, and confounds, or troubles the hearer. And this, which &s;ome doe out of &s;lackne&s;&s;e, and in-ob&s;ervance, and infirmity, many men, God knowes, do out of impiety; many men have certaine &s;uppletory Oathes, with which they fill up their Di&s;cour&s;e, then, when they are not onely not the better beleeved, but the wor&s;e under&s;tood for tho&s;e bla&s;phemous interjections. Now, this, which you may thus ob|&s;erve, in men, &s;ometimes out of infirmity, &s;ometimes out of impiety, out of an accom|modation and communicablene&s;&s;e of him&s;elfe to man, out of de&s;ire, and a &s;tudy, to &s;hed him&s;elfe the more familiarly, and to infu&s;e him&s;elfe the more powerfully into man, you may ob&s;erve even in the holy Gho&s;t in him&s;elfe, in the Scriptures, which are the di&s;|cour&s;e and communication of God with man; There are certaine idioms, certaine formes of &s;peech, certaine propo&s;itions, which the holy Gho&s;t repeats &s;everall times, upon &s;eve|rall occa&s;ions in the Scriptures. It is &s;o in the in&s;trumentall Authors of the particular Bookes of the Bible; There are certaine formes of &s;peech, certaine characters, upon which I would pronounce, That's <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and not <HI>David,</HI> that's <HI>Iob,</HI> and not <HI>Solomon,</HI> that's <HI>E&s;ay</HI> and not <HI>Ieremy.</HI> How often does <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> repeat his <HI>Vivit Dominus,</HI> and <HI>Ego vivo, As the Lord liveth,</HI> and <HI>As I live,</HI> &s;aith the Lord? How often does <HI>Solomon</HI> repeat his <HI>va|nitas vanitatum, All is vanity?</HI> How often does our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour repeat his <HI>Amen,
<PB N="53" REF="44">Amen?</HI> and, in another &s;en&s;e, then others had u&s;ed that word before him; &s;o often, as that you may reckon it thirtie times, in one Evangeli&s;t; &s;o often, as that that may not in|conveniently be thought &s;ome rea&s;on, why S. <HI>Iohn</HI> called Chri&s;t by that name, <HI>Amen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.14.</NOTE> <HI>Thus &s;aith Amen, He who&s;e name is Amen.</HI> How often does S. <HI>Paul,</HI> (e&s;peciallly in his E|pi&s;tles to <HI>Timothy,</HI> and to <HI>Titus</HI>) repeat that phra&s;e <HI>Fidelis Sermo, This is a true, and faith|full &s;aying?</HI> And how often, his juratory caution, <HI>Coram Domino, before the Lord; As God is my witne&s;&s;e?</HI> And as it is thus for particular per&s;ons, and particular phra&s;es, that they are often repeated; &s;o are there certaine whole &s;entences, certaine intire propo&s;itions, which the holy Gho&s;t does often repeat in the Scripture. And, except we except that propo&s;iti|on, of which S. <HI>Peick</HI> makes his u&s;e, <HI>That God is no accepter of per&s;ons,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 10.34.</NOTE> (for that is repeated in very many places, that every where, upo~ every occa&s;io~, every man might be remembred of that, that God is no accepter of per&s;ons; Take heed how you pre&s;ume upon your own knowledge, or your actions, for God is no accepter of per&s;ons; Take heed how you condemne another man for an Heretique, becau&s;e he beleeves not ju&s;t as you be|leeve; or for a Reprobate, becau&s;e he lives not ju&s;t as you live, for God is no accepter of per&s;ons; Take heed how you relie wholly upon the outward means, that you are wrap|ped in the covenant, that you are bred in a reformed Church, for God is no accepter of per&s;ons) except you will except this propo&s;ition, I &s;carce remember any other that is &s;o often repeated in the Scriptures, as this which is our Text, <HI>Lord, who hath beleeved our re|port?</HI> For, it is fir&s;t in the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay.</HI> There the Prophet is in holy throws, and pangs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.1.</NOTE> and agonies, till he be delivered of that prophecy, the comming of the Me&s;&s;iah; the in|carnation of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and yet is put to this exclamation, <HI>Domine, quis credidit? Lord who hath beleeved our report?</HI> And then you have the&s;e words in the Go&s;pell of S. <HI>Iohn;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 12.38.</NOTE> where we are not put upon the con&s;ideration of a future Chri&s;t in prophecy, but the E|vangeli&s;t exhibits Chri&s;t in per&s;on, actually, really, vi&s;ibly, evidently, doing great works, executing great judgements, multiplying great Miracles; and yet put to the application of this exclamation, <HI>Domine, quis credidit? Lord, who hath beleeved this report?</HI> And then you have the&s;e words al&s;o in S. <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.16.</NOTE> where we doe not con&s;ider a prophecy of a fu|ture Chri&s;t, nor a hi&s;tory of a pre&s;ent Chri&s;t, but an application of that whole Chri&s;t to every &s;oule, in the fetling of a Church, in that concatenation of meanes for the infu&s;ion of faith expre&s;&s;ed in that Chapter, <HI>&s;ending,</HI> and <HI>preaching,</HI> and <HI>hearing;</HI> and yet for all the&s;e powerfull and familiar a&s;&s;i&s;tances, <HI>Domine, quis crodidit? Lord, who hath beleeved that report?</HI> So that now beloved, you cannot &s;ay that you have a Text without a place; for you have three places for this Text: you have it in the great Prophet, in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> in the great Evangeli&s;t, in S. <HI>Iohn;</HI> and in the great Apo&s;tle, in S. <HI>Paul.</HI> And becau&s;e in all three places, the words mini&s;ter u&s;efull doctrine of edification, we &s;hall, by yours and the times leave, con&s;ider the words in all three places.</P>
<P>In all three, the words are a &s;ad and a &s;erious expo&s;tulation of the Mini&s;ter of God, with God him&s;elfe, that his Meanes and his Ordinances powerfully committed to him, being faithfully tran&s;mitted by him to the people, were neverthele&s;&s;e fruitle&s;&s;e, and in|effectuall. I doe Lord as thou bidde&s;t me, &s;ayes the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay;</HI> I prophecy, I fore|tell the comming of the Me&s;&s;iah, the incarnation of thy Son for the &s;alvation of the world, and I know that none of them that heare me, can imagine or conceive any other way for the redemption of the world, by fatisfaction to thy Ju&s;tice, but this, and yet, <HI>Domine quis credidit? Lord who hath beleeved my report?</HI> I doe Lord as thou bidde&s;t me, &s;ayes Chri&s;t him&s;elfe in S. <HI>Iohn;</HI> I come in per&s;on, I glorifie thy name, I doe thy will, I preach thy Go&s;pell, I confirm my doctrine with evident Miracles, and I &s;eale tho&s;e Seales, I confirm tho&s;e Miracles with my Blood; and yet, <HI>Quis credidit? Lord who hath beleeved my report?</HI> I doe Lord as thou bidde&s;t me, &s;ayes every one of us, who, as we have received mercy, have received the Mini&s;tery; I obey the inward calling of the Spirit, I accept the outward calling of the Church; furni&s;hed, and e&s;tabli&s;hed with both the&s;e, I come into the world, I preach ab&s;olution of &s;ins to every repentant Soule, I offer the &s;eales of reconciliation to every contrite &s;pirit; and yet, <HI>Domine quis credidit? Lord who hath beleeved my report?</HI> Indeed it is a &s;ad contemplation, and mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily produce a &s;erious and a vehement expo&s;tulation, when the predictions of Gods future judgements (&s;o we &s;hall finde the ca&s;e to have been in the words in <HI>E&s;ay</HI>) when the exe|cution of Gods pre&s;ent judgements, (&s;o we &s;hall finde the ca&s;e to have been in the words in S. <HI>Iohn</HI>) when the Ordinances of God, for the reliefe of any &s;oule, in any judgement,
<PB N="54" REF="45">in his Church, are not beleeved. To &s;ay I beleeve you not, amounts to a lye; Not to beleeve Gods warnings before, not to beleeve Gods pre&s;ent judgements, not to beleeve that God hath e&s;tabli&s;hed a way to come to him in all di&s;tre&s;&s;es, this is to give God the lye; and with this is the world charged in this Text, <HI>Lord who hath beleeved our report?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. E&s;ay 53.1.</NOTE> where we finde the&s;e words fir&s;t, the Prophet reproaches their unbeleefe, and hardne&s;&s;e of heart, in this, that they did not beleeve future things, future calamities, future judgements; for that is intended in that place. For, though this 53. of <HI>E&s;ay</HI> be the continuation, and the con&s;ummation of that doctrine which the Prophet began to propo&s;e in the Chapter immediatly preceding, which is, the comming of the Me&s;&s;iah (in generall, the comfortable&s;t doctrine that could be propo&s;ed) though this Chap|ter be e&s;pecially that place, upon which S. <HI>Hierome</HI> grounds that Eulogy of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> that <HI>E&s;ay</HI> was rather an Euangeli&s;t then a Prophet, becau&s;e of his particular declaration of Chri&s;t in this Chapter; though upon this Chapter our Expo&s;itors &s;ometimes &s;ay, that as we cite the Go&s;pell according to S. <HI>Matthew,</HI> and the Go&s;pell according to S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> &s;o here we may &s;ay, the Go&s;pell according to the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay;</HI> yet though this be a prophecy of the comming of Chri&s;t, and &s;o, the comfortable&s;t doctrine that can be pro|po&s;ed in the generall, and in the end, and fruit of that comming, yet it is a prophecy of the exinanition of Chri&s;t, of the evacuation of Chri&s;t, of the inglorious and ignomini|ous e&s;tate, the calamitous, and contumelious e&s;tate of Chri&s;t: Their Me&s;&s;ias they &s;hould have; but that Me&s;&s;ias &s;hould be reputed a Malefactor, and as a Malefactor crucified; Which mi&s;eries, and calamities being to fall upon him, for them, they ought to have been as &s;en&s;ible, and as much affected with tho&s;e mi&s;eries to be endured for them, as if they had been to have fallen upon them&s;elves. The later Jews and their Rabbins &s;ince the di&s;per&s;ion, doe not, will not beleeve this prophecy of mi&s;eries, and calamities to be|long to their Me&s;&s;ias.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> They do not, they wil not beleeve, that that which is &s;aid, <HI>That there is no form, no beauty, no comeline&s;&s;e in him,</HI> &s;o that men &s;hould long for him before, or de|&s;ire to look upon him after, &s;hould have any reference to their Me&s;&s;iah, whom they ex|pect in all outward &s;plendor and glory; Nor that that which is added there, <HI>That he &s;hould be de&s;pi&s;ed, and rejected of men, a man of &s;orrows, and acquainted with griefes,</HI> &s;hould be|long to him, in who&s;e proceedings in this world, they look for continuall Victories and Triumphs. But they will needs under&s;tand the&s;e mi&s;eries, and calamities prophecyed here, to be tho&s;e calamities, and tho&s;e mi&s;eries, which have fallen, and dwelt upon their Nation, ever &s;ince their di&s;per&s;ion after Chri&s;ts death. Now let it be but &s;uch a prophe|cy as that; take it either way; The Chri&s;tian way, a prophecy of calamities upon the Me&s;&s;iah for them; or the Jews way, of calamities upon them for the Me&s;&s;iah; &s;till it is a prophecy of future calamities, future judgements, of which they ought to have been &s;en|&s;ible, and with which they ought to have been affected, and were not: And &s;o that's their charge, they did not beleeve the Prophets report, they were not moved with Gods judg|ments denounced upon them, by tho&s;e Prophets. Now, was this &s;o hainous, not to be|leeve a Prophet?</P>
<P>The office and function of a Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Propheta.</NOTE> in the time of the Law, was not &s;o evident, nor &s;o ordinary an office, as the office of the Prie&s;t and Mini&s;ter in the Go&s;pel now is; There was not a con&s;tant, an ordinary, a vi&s;ible calling in the Church, to the office of a Prophet. Neither the high-prie&s;t, nor the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Con&s;i&s;tory, the <HI>Synedrium,</HI> did by any impo&s;ition of hands, or other Collation, or Declaration, give Orders to any man &s;o, as that thereby that man was made a Prophet. I know &s;ome men, of much indu&s;try, and per|&s;picacy too, in &s;earching into tho&s;e Scriptures, the &s;en&s;e whereof is not obvious to every man, have thought that the Prophets had an outward and a con&s;tant declaration of their Calling.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 19.15.</NOTE> And they think it proved, by that which is &s;aid to <HI>Eliah,</HI> when God commands him to anoint <HI>Hazael</HI> K. of Syria, &amp; to anoint <HI>Iehu</HI> K. of I&s;rael, &amp; to anoint <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> Prophet in his own room: Therefore, &s;ay they, the Prophet had as much evidence of his Calling, as the Mini&s;ter hath, for that unction was as evident a thing, as our Impo&s;ition of hands is. And it is true, it was &s;o, where it was actually, and really executed. But then, nothing is more evident, then that this word <HI>Me&s;hiach,</HI> which &s;ignifies <HI>Anointing,</HI> is not re&s;trained to that very action, a real unction, but frequently transferred, &amp; communicated in a Scripture u&s;e, to every kind of Declaration of any Election, any In&s;titution, any Inauguration, any In|ve&s;titure of any per&s;on to any place; And, le&s;&s;e then that, of any appropriation, any appli|catio~ of any thing to any particular u&s;e. Any appointing was an anointing; As in particular
<PB N="55" REF="45">(for many other places) where S. <HI>Hierome</HI> reades, <HI>Arripite clypeos, buckle your &s;hields;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 21.5.</NOTE> To you, which was an alarm to them, to arm, the originall hath it, and &s;o hath our tran&s;lation, <HI>Anoint your &s;hields;</HI> to apply them to their right u&s;e, was called an Anointing. And when God cals <HI>Cyrus,</HI> the King of <HI>Per&s;ia, Vnctum &s;uum, his Anointed;</HI> it were weakly, and improperly argued from that word, that <HI>Cyrus</HI> King of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> was literally, actually, anointed; for that unction was peculiar to the Kings of I&s;rael; but <HI>Cyrus</HI> was the anointed of the Lord, that is, declared and avowed by the Lord, to be his cho&s;en In&s;trument. Nei|ther could <HI>Eliah,</HI> literally execute this commandement, for anointing <HI>Ha&s;ael</HI> King of <HI>Syria;</HI> for <HI>Ha&s;ael</HI> the King of <HI>Syria</HI> could not be anointed by the Prophet of the Lord, for &s;uch unction was peculiar to the Kings of I&s;rael. And for the Kings of I&s;rael them|&s;elves, their owne Rabbins tell us, that they were not ordinarily anointed, but onely in tho&s;e ca&s;es, where there aro&s;e &s;ome que&s;tion, and difference, about the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion; as in <HI>Solomons</HI> ca&s;e; there, becau&s;e <HI>Adoniah</HI> pretended to the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 1.</NOTE> to make all the more &s;ure, <HI>David</HI> proceeded with a &s;olemnity, and appointed an anointing of <HI>Solomon,</HI> which, otherwi&s;e, &s;ay their Rabbins, had not been done. But how&s;oever it may have been for their Kings, there &s;eemes to be a plaine di&s;tinction betweene them, and the Prophets in the P&s;alme, for this evidence of unction; <HI>Touch not mine Anointed,</HI> &s;ayes God there:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 105.15.</NOTE> They, they that were Anointed, con&s;titute one rank, one cla&s;&s;is; and then followes, <HI>And doe my Prophets no harme:</HI> They, they who were not Anointed, the Prophets, con&s;titute another cla&s;&s;is, another rank. So that then an internall, a &s;pirituall unction the Prophets had, that is, an application, an appropriation to that office from God, but a con&s;tant, an evident calling to that function, by any externall act of the Church, they had not, but it was an ex|traordinary office, and impo&s;ed immediatly by God; and therfore the people might &s;eem the more excu&s;able, if they did not beleeve a Prophet pre&s;ently, becau&s;e the office of the Prophet did not carry with it, &s;uch a manife&s;tation by any thing evidently done upon him, and vi&s;ible to them, that by that, that man mu&s;t be a Prophet. But, as God clothes him&s;elfe with light, as with a garment; &s;o God clothes, and apparells his works with light too: for, <HI>fru&s;tra feci&s;&s;et,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> God had made creatures to no purpo&s;e, if he had not made light to &s;ee them by. Therefore when God does any extraordinary worke, he accompanies that work with anextraordinary light, by which, he for who&s;e in&s;truction God does that work, may know that work to be his. So when he &s;ent his Pro|phets to his people, he accompanied their mi&s;&s;ion, with an effectuall light, and evidence, by which, that people did acknowledge in their owne hearts, that that man was &s;ent by God to them. Therefore they called that man at fir&s;t, <HI>Roeh, videntem,</HI> a Seer, one whom they acknowledged to have beene admitted to the &s;ight of God, in the declaration of his will to them: for &s;o we have it in <HI>Samuel, He that is now called a Prophet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 9.9.</NOTE> <HI>was before time called a Seer.</HI> And then that addition of the name of a Prophet, gave them a farther qualifica|tion; for, <HI>Nabi,</HI> which is a Prophet, is from <HI>Niba;</HI> and <HI>Niba,</HI> is <HI>venire facio,</HI> to cau&s;e, to make a thing to come to pa&s;&s;e. So that a Prophet was not onely <HI>praefator,</HI> but <HI>praefactor;</HI> He did not only pre&s;age, but preordain; that is, there was &s;uch an infallibility, &s;uch an inevi|tablene&s;&s;e in that which he had &s;aid, as that his very &s;aying of it, &s;eemed to them &s;ome kind of cau&s;e of the accompli&s;hing thereof. For, hence it is, that we have that phra&s;e &s;o often in the new Te&s;tament, This and this was thus and thus done, that &s;uch and &s;uch a Prophecy might be fulfilled: They never went to that heighth, that &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;ecret purpo&s;e, or unrevealed Decree of God might be fulfilled; but they re&s;ted in the Decla|ration which God had made in his Church, and were &s;atisfied in the execution of his Decrees, in his vi&s;ible Ordinances. Therefore the increpation which the Prophet layes upon the people here, <HI>(Lord, who hath beleeved our report)</HI> is not, that they did not beleeve tho&s;e Prophets to be Prophets, (for though that were an extraordinary office, yet it was accompanied with an extraordinary light) neither was it, that they did not beleeve that tho&s;e things which were prophecyed by them, &s;hould come to pa&s;&s;e, (for they beleeved that man to be <HI>Roeh,</HI> a Seer, one that had &s;een the Coun&s;els of God concerning them; And they beleeved him to be <HI>Nabi, venire facientem,</HI> one upon who&s;e word they might as infallibly rely, as upon a cau&s;e, for an effect;) But this was the &s;inne of this people, this was the &s;orrow of this Prophet, that they did not beleeve the&s;e predictions to belong to them, they did not beleeve that the&s;e judgements would fall out in their time. In one word, pre&s;ent &s;ecurity was their &s;inne. And was that &s;o hainous?</P>
<P>So hainous, as that that is it, with which God was &s;o highly incen&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 28.14.</NOTE> and with which
<PB N="56" REF="46">he meant &s;o deeply to affect his people, in that con&s;iderable pa&s;&s;age, in that remarkeable, and vehement place, where he expo&s;tulates thus with them; <HI>Heare ye &s;cornfull men,</HI> (yee that make a je&s;t, a &s;corn of future judgements) <HI>Heare ye &s;cornfull men, that rule this people,</HI> (&s;ayes God there) (you that have a power over the affections of the people in the Pulpit, and can per&s;wade what you will, or a power over the wils of the people in your place, and can command what you will) <HI>you that tell them</HI> (&s;ayes the Prophet there) <HI>we have made a covenant with death, and are at an agreement with hell,</HI> (feare you nothing, let us alone; ambitious Princes &s;hall turn their forces another way, antichri&s;tian plots &s;hall be practi&s;ed in other nations) <HI>you that tell them</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>when the overflowing &s;courge &s;hall pa&s;&s;e through, it &s;hall not come to you,</HI> (how&s;oever &s;uper&s;tition be e&s;tabli&s;hed in other places, how&s;oever prevailing armies be multiplied el&s;e-where, yet you &s;hal have your religion, &amp; your peace &s;till; for we have made a covenant with death, &amp; with hell, we are at an agree|ment) <HI>Heare ye &s;cornfull men,</HI> (&s;ayes God) <HI>you that put this &s;corn upon my predictions, your covenant with death &s;hall be di&s;anulled,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 28.18.</NOTE> <HI>and your agreement with death &s;hall not &s;tand,</HI> (the faire promi&s;es of others to you, your own promi&s;es to your &s;elves &s;hall deceive you) <HI>and the overflowing &s;courge &s;hall pa&s;&s;e thorough,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 28.19.</NOTE> <HI>thorough you all, for, you,</HI> (you &s;cornfull men) <HI>&s;hall be trodden down by it; and,</HI> (as it followes there, in an elegant, and a vehement expre&s;&s;i|on) <HI>it &s;hall be a vexation, onely to under&s;tand the report:</HI> You that would not beleeve the report of the Prophet, that for the&s;e and the&s;e &s;ins, &s;uch and &s;uch Judgements &s;hould fall upon you, &s;hall be confounded even with the report, the noy&s;e, the newes, how this over|&s;lowing &s;courge hath pa&s;&s;ed thorough your neighbours round about you; how much more with the &s;en&s;e, when you your &s;elves &s;hall be trodden down by it? There is &s;carce any of the Prophets, in which, God does not drive home this increpation of their &s;ecuri|ty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 12.22.</NOTE> and in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of future calamities. As in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> &s;o in <HI>Ezechiel</HI> God &s;ayes, <HI>what is that Proverb which ye have in the Land of I&s;rael?</HI> (it was, it &s;eemes, in every mans mouth, proverbially &s;poken by all) what was it? This, <HI>The dayes are prolonged, and every vi&s;ion failes;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 27.</NOTE> <HI>The vi&s;ion which he &s;ayes, is for many dayes to come, and he prophe&s;ieth of the times afarre off.</HI> But, (&s;ayes God there) <HI>In your dayes, O rebellious hou&s;e, will I &s;ay the word, and per|forme it:</HI> Not &s;ay it in our dayes, and performe it upon our children; but God will &s;peake, and &s;trike together, we &s;hall heare him, and feele him at once, if wee be not &s;eri|ou&s;ly affected with his predictions.</P>
<P>The &s;ame way God goes in <HI>Ieremy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 7.23.</NOTE> as in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> and in <HI>Ezechiel. I have &s;ent unto you all my &s;ervants, the Prophets,</HI> (&s;ayes God there) God hath no other &s;ervants, to this purpo&s;e, but his Prophets: If your dangers have beene, by Gods appointment, preached to you, God hath done. You mu&s;t not, as <HI>Dives</HI> did, in the behalfe of his brethren, looke for. Me&s;&s;engers from the &s;tate of the dead; you mu&s;t not &s;tay for in&s;truction, nor for amend|ment, till you be <HI>Pro mortuis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.</NOTE> (as the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes) as good as dead, ready to dye; you mu&s;t not &s;tay till a Judgement fall, and then pre&s;ume of under&s;tanding by that vexation, or of repentance by that affliction; for, this is to hearken after Me&s;&s;engers, from the &s;tate of the dead, to think of nothing till we be ready to joyne with them; But as <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;ayes there to <HI>Dives, Thy brethren have the Law, and the Prophets,</HI> and that is enough, that is all, &s;o God &s;ayes here, <HI>I have &s;ent them all my &s;ervants, the Prophets;</HI> that is enough, that is all: e&s;pecially, when, (as God addes there) <HI>He hath ri&s;en early, and &s;ent his Prophets,</HI> that is, given us warning time enough, before the calamity come neare our owne gates. But when they rejected, and de&s;pi&s;ed all his Prophe&s;ies, and denunciations of future Judgements,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 29.</NOTE> then followes the &s;entence, the finall, and fearfull &s;entence. <HI>The Lord hath for&s;aken, and rejected them;</HI> Them; whom? as it followes in the &s;entence, <HI>The Lord hath for&s;aken, and rejected the generation of his wrath;</HI> The generation of his wrath? There is more horrour, more con&s;ternation in that manner of expre&s;&s;ing that rejection, then in the rejection it &s;elfe; There is an in&s;upportable waight, in that word. <HI>His wrath;</HI> but even that is infinitely aggravated in the other, <HI>The generation of his wrath.</HI> God hath for|got that <HI>I&s;rael is his Son,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.22.</NOTE> <HI>and his fir&s;t borne;</HI> So he avowed him to be in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> commi&s;|&s;ion to <HI>Pharaoh.</HI> God hath forgot that <HI>He rebuked Kings for his &s;ake;</HI> that he te&s;tifies to have done in his behalfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 105.15. Gal. 3.29.</NOTE> in <HI>David;</HI> God hath forgot that <HI>they were heires according to the promi&s;e;</HI> that is their dignification in the Apo&s;tle; forgot that they were <HI>the apple of his own eye,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.10. Agg. 2.23. Jer. 31.20.</NOTE> that they were <HI>as the &s;ignet upon his own hand;</HI> forgot that <HI>Ephraim is his deare Son,</HI> that he is <HI>a plea&s;ing child, a child for whom his bowels were troubled;</HI> God hath forgot all the&s;e paternities, all the&s;e filiations, all the&s;e incorporatings, all the&s;e invi&s;cerations of I&s;rael into
<PB N="57" REF="46">his owne bo&s;ome, and I&s;rael is become the <HI>generation of his wrath.</HI> Not the &s;ubject of his wrath; A people upon whom God would exerci&s;e &s;ome one act of indignation, in a temporall calamity, as captivity, or &s;o; or multiply acts of indignation, in one kinde, as adding of penury or &s;ickne&s;&s;e to their captivity; nor is it onely a multiplying of the kinds of calamity, as the aggravating of temporall calamities with &s;pirituall, oppre&s;&s;ion of bo|dy and &s;tate, with &s;adne&s;&s;e of heart, and dejection of &s;pirit; for all the&s;e, as many as they are, are determined in this life; but that which God threatens, is, that he will for their grievous &s;innes, multiply lifes upon them, and make them immortall for immortall tor|ments; They &s;hall bee <HI>a generation of his wrath;</HI> they &s;hall dye in this world, in his di&s;|plea&s;ure, and receive a new birth, a new generation in the world to come, in a new capa|city of new mi&s;eries; they &s;hall dye in the next world, every minute, in the privation of the &s;ight of God, and every minute receive a new generation, a new birth, a new capa|city of reall and &s;en&s;ible torments. When God hath &s;ent all his &s;ervants, the Prophets, and &s;o done all that is nece&s;&s;ary for premonition, and ri&s;en early to &s;end tho&s;e Prophets, warned them time enough, to avoid the danger, and they are not affected with the &s;en&s;e of the&s;e predictions, God &s;hall make them, us, any State, any Church, the generation of his wrath, God &s;hall forget his former paternities, and our former filiations; forget his mercies exhibited to us in the reformation of Religion, in the pre&s;ervation of our State, in the augmenting and adorning of our Church, and after all this, make us the <HI>generation of his wrath.</HI> And this may well be conceived to be the lamentable &s;tate deplored in this text, as the words are con&s;idered in their fir&s;t place, the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay, Lord, who hath be|leeved our report.</HI> But this is brought nearer to us, in the &s;econd place, as wee have the words in S. <HI>Iohn;</HI> where we doe not con&s;ider things in a remote di&s;tance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 12.38.</NOTE> but Chri&s;t was in a per&s;onall and actuall exerci&s;e of his works of power, and &s;overaignty, and yet the E|vangeli&s;t comes to this, <HI>Lord, who hath beleeved this report?</HI></P>
<P>That's true in a great part, which <HI>Irenaeus</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Prophetiae antequam effectum habent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> <HI>aenigmata &s;unt, &amp; ambiguitates hominibus,</HI> That prophecies till they come to be fulfilled, are but clouds in the eyes, and riddles in the under&s;tanding of men. So, many particulars, concerning the calling of the Jews, concerning the time, and place, and per&s;on, and dura|tion, and actions of Antichri&s;t, concerning the generall Judgement, and other things, that lye yet, as an Embryon, as a child in the mothers wombe, embowelled in the wombe of prophecie, are yet but as clouds in the eyes, as riddles in the under&s;tandings of the lear|ned&s;t men. <HI>Daniel</HI> him&s;elfe, found that which he found in the Prophet <HI>Ieremy,</HI> concer|ning the deliverance of I&s;rael from Babylon, to be wrapped up in &s;uch a cloud, as that it is fairely collected by &s;ome, that <HI>Daniel</HI> him&s;elfe at that time, did not clearly under&s;tand the Prophet <HI>Ieremy.</HI> But the&s;e clouds, for the mo&s;t part, ari&s;e in us, out of our curio&s;ity, that wee will needs know the time, when the&s;e prophecies &s;hall be fulfilled; when the Jews &s;hall be called, when Antichri&s;t &s;hall be fully manife&s;ted, when the day of Judge|ment &s;hall be: And &s;o, for &s;uch que&s;tions as the&s;e, Chri&s;t enwraps not onely his Apo|&s;tles, but him&s;elfe in a cloud; for, that cloud which he ca&s;ts upon them, <HI>Non e&s;t ve&s;trum,</HI> It belongs not to you, to know times, and &s;ea&s;ons, he &s;preads upon him&s;elfe al&s;o, <HI>Non e&s;t meum,</HI> It belongs not to me, not to me, as the Son of man, to know when the day of Judg|ment &s;hall be. But for that u&s;e of a prophecy, that the prediction of a future Judgement &s;hould induce a pre&s;ent repentance, that was never an enigmaticall, a cloudy doctrine, but manife&s;t to all, in all prophecies of that kinde. But this, this commination of future judgements, for pre&s;ent repentance, wrought not upon the&s;e men; but,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 55.19. Eccle&s;. 8.11.</NOTE> becau&s;e they have no changes, therefore they feare not God: And, becau&s;e &s;entence again&s;t an evill worke, is not executed &s;peedily, therefore their hearts are fully &s;et in them, to do evill. But now, in the manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t, they &s;aw evident changes; changes, and revolutions in the highe&s;t &s;pheare; they &s;aw a new King, and they heard &s;trangers proclaime him; forraigne Kings doe not &s;end Amba&s;&s;adors to congratulate, but come in per&s;on, to doe their ho|mage, and aske their audience in that &s;tyle, <HI>Where is he that is borne King of the Iews?</HI> not an elective, not an arbitrary, not a conditionall, a provi&s;ionall King, but an hereditary, a naturall King, <HI>Borne King of the Iews.</HI> They heare &s;trangers proclaime him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.2.</NOTE> and they pro|claime him them&s;elves, in that act of Recognition, in that acclamatory Ho&s;anna, in this Chapter, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is</HI> the King of I&s;rael, <HI>that commeth in the name of the Lord.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 13. Mat. 2.3.</NOTE> They &s;aw changes; changes with which <HI>Herod</HI> was troubled, and all Jeru&s;alem with him. And they &s;aw &s;entence executed; for, as &s;oone as Chri&s;t manife&s;ted him&s;elfe, <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> &s;aies,
<PB N="58" REF="47"><HI>Now,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.10. Mat. 3.12.</NOTE> now that Chri&s;t declares him&s;elfe, <HI>the axe is laid unto the roote of the tree,</HI> and now, &s;aies he, <HI>His fanne is in his hand, and he will purge his floore.</HI> And this &s;entence he executed, this regall power he exerci&s;ed, not onely after that Recognition of his &s;ubjects, in their <HI>Ho&s;annaes</HI> in this chapter, (for, upon that, he did go into the Temple, and ca&s;t out the buy|ers, and &s;ellers) but &s;ome yeares before that, at his fir&s;t manife&s;tation of him&s;elfe, and &s;oone after <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;ts Now,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 2.3.</NOTE> <HI>now is the axe laid to the roote of the Tree,</HI> did Chri&s;t execute this &s;entence, not onely to drive, but to &s;courge them out, that prophaned the Temple; which was the &s;econd miracle, that we a&s;cribe to Chri&s;t. Indeed all his miracles were &s;o many acts, not onely of his regall power over &s;ome men, but of his ab&s;olute prerogative, over the whole frame, and body of nature. Nor can we conceive how the beholders of tho&s;e miracles, could argue to them&s;elves, otherwi&s;e then thus; The winds and &s;eas obey this man, for when he &s;uffers them, the winds roare, and when hee whi&s;pers a &s;ilence to them, they are &s;ilenced; The Devils and uncleane &s;pirits obey him; for when he &s;uffers it, they preach his glory, and when he refu&s;es honour from &s;o di&s;honourable mouths, they are &s;ilent. Death it &s;elfe obeyes him; for, when he will, death withholds his hand from clo&s;ing that mans eye, that lyes upon his la&s;t ga&s;pe, and the la&s;t &s;troke of his bell, and hee does not die; and, when he will, death withdraws his hand from him, who had beene foure daies in his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and redelivers <HI>Lazarus</HI> to a new life. This they &s;aw; and could they choo&s;e but &s;ay, the wind, and the &s;ea, the devill, and uncleane &s;pirits, and death it &s;elfe obeyes this man, how &s;hall we &s;tand before this man, this King, this God? yet for all this voice, this loud voice of miracles, (for when S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Omni tuba clarior per opera demon&s;tratio,</HI> Every good worke hath the voyce of a trumpet, every miracle hath the voice of thunder,) for all this loud voice, (as it is &s;aid in the ver&s;e be|fore the text, <HI>Though he had done &s;o many miracles before them, yet they beleeved not on him</HI>) it is faine to come to that, <HI>Quis credidit, Lord who hath beleeved this report?</HI> The fir&s;t of tho&s;e great names which were given to Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.6.</NOTE> in the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> was <HI>Mirabilis, The wonderfull,</HI> The &s;upernaturall man, the man that workes miracles; for, of the Apo&s;tles it is &s;aid, by them, great miracles were wrought, but God wrought tho&s;e miracles, by them. Chri&s;t wrought his miracles him&s;elf; And his Birth, and his Life, and Death, and Refur|rection, and A&s;cen&s;ion, were all complicated, and elemented of miracles. If hee fa&s;ted him&s;elfe, he did that miraculou&s;ly; and it was with a miracle, when he fea&s;ted others. <HI>He healed many that were &s;ick of divers di&s;ea&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark. 1.34. Mat. 9.35.</NOTE> <HI>and ca&s;t out many Devils,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Marke;</HI> And S. <HI>Matthew</HI> carries it a great deale farther, <HI>Hee went about all the Cities, and villages, healing every &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and every di&s;ea&s;e among the people.</HI> Therefore Chri&s;t makes that, (the evidence of his miracles) the i&s;&s;ue betweene them, If the&s;e mighty works had beene done in Tyre and Sidon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.21. Iohn 15.22.</NOTE> Tyre and Sidon would have repented; And therefore he places their inexcu&s;ablene&s;&s;e in that, <HI>If I had not come, and &s;poken to them, they had had no &s;inne;</HI> Nay, if I had not &s;poken to them, in this loud voyce, the voyce of miracles, they might have had &s;ome cloake for their finne, but now they have none, &s;aies Chri&s;t in that place; And, beloved, are not we inexcu&s;able in that degree? Have not wee &s;eene changes, and &s;eene judgements executed, and &s;eene miraculous deliverances, and yet <HI>Domine quis cre|didit? Lord who hath beleeved the&s;e reports?</HI></P>
<P>I would wee could but take aright a mi&s;-taken tran&s;lation, and make that u&s;e that is offered us in others error. The vulgar Edition, the tran&s;lation of the Roman Church, reads that place, in the 77. P&s;alme and 11. ver&s;e thus, <HI>Nunc caepi,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David,</HI> Now I have taken out my le&s;&s;on the right way, now I have laid hold upon God by the right handle, <HI>Nunc caepi,</HI> Now I have all that I need to have; what is it? This; <HI>Haec mutatio dex|trae Dei,</HI> this is to take out my le&s;&s;on aright, to under&s;tand God truly, and to know, &amp; ac|knowledge, that this change which I &s;ee, is an act of the right hand of God, and that it is a judgement, and not an accident. O, beloved, that wee would not be afraid of giving God too much glory; not afraid of putting God into too much heart; or of making God too imperious over us, by acknowledging, that <HI>Haec mutatio dextrae Dei,</HI> that all our changes are acts of the right hand of God, and come from him. But we are not onely &s;ubject to the Prophets increpation, <HI>Quis credit,</HI> that we doe not beleeve Gods warnings of future judgements, but to the Euangeli&s;ts increpation, in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, <HI>Quis credidit?</HI> we do not beleeve pre&s;ent judgements to be judgements. An invincible navy hath beene &s;ent again&s;t us, and defeated, and we &s;acrifice to a ca&s;uall &s;torme for that; wee &s;ay the winds delivered us. A powder trea&s;on hath been plotted, and di&s;covered, and we &s;acrifice
<PB N="59" REF="47">to a ca&s;uall letter for that; we &s;ay, the letter delivered us. A devouring plague hath raig|ned, and gone out againe, and we &s;acrifice to an early fro&s;t for that; we &s;ay, the cold wea|ther delivered us. Dome&s;tique encumbrances, per&s;onall infirmities, &s;adne&s;&s;e of heart, dejection of &s;pirit oppre&s;&s;es us, and then weares out, and pa&s;&s;es over, and we &s;acrifice for that, to wine, and &s;trong drinke, to mu&s;ique, to Comedies, to conver&s;ation, and to all <HI>Iobs</HI> mi&s;erable comforters; wee &s;ay, it was but a melancholique fit, and good company hath delivered us of it. But when God him&s;elfe &s;aies, <HI>There is no evill done in the City, but I doe it,</HI> we may be bold to &s;ay, there is no good done in the world but hee does it. The very calamities are from him; the deliverance from tho&s;e calamities much more. All comes from Gods hand; and from his hand, by way of hand-writing, by way of letter, and in&s;truction to us. And therefore to a&s;cribe things wholy to nature, to fortune, to power, to &s;econd cau&s;es, this is to mi&s;take the hand, not to know Gods hand; But to acknowledge it to be Gods hand, and not to read it, to &s;ay that it is Gods doing, and not to con&s;ider, what God intends in it, is as much a &s;lighting of God, as the other. Now, in every &s;uch letter, in every judgement, God writes to the King; but it becomes not me to open the Kings letter, nor to pre&s;cribe the King his interpretation of that judgement. In every &s;uch letter, in every judgement God writes to the State; but I will not open their letter, nor pre&s;cribe them their interpretation of that judgement; God, who of his goodne&s;&s;e hath vouch&s;afed to write unto them in the&s;e letters, of his abundant good|ne&s;&s;e interprets him&s;elfe to their religious hearts. But then, in every &s;uch letter in every judgement, God writes to me too; and that letter I will open, and read that letter; I will take knowledge that it is Gods hand to me, and I will &s;tudy the will of God to me in that letter; and I will write back again to my God and return him an an&s;wer, in the amendment of my life, and give him my reformation for his information. El&s;e I am fallen lower then under the Prophets increpation, <HI>non credidi,</HI> I have not beleeved com|minations of future judgements, under Chri&s;ts increpation too, <HI>non credidi,</HI> I doe not beleeve judgements to be judgements, or (which is as dangerous an ignorance) not to be in&s;tructive judgements, medicinall and catechi&s;ticall judgements to me. And this may well be the explication, at lea&s;t, the application and accommodation of the&s;e words, <HI>Lord who hath beleeved our report,</HI> in tho&s;e places, the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> and the Euangeli&s;t S. <HI>Iohn.</HI> There remaines only the third place, where we have the&s;e words in the Apo|&s;tle S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and in them, there, doe not con&s;ider, a prophecy of a future Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.16.</NOTE> as in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> nor a hi&s;tory of a pre&s;ent Chri&s;t, as in S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> but we con&s;ider an application of all, prophecy, and hi&s;tory, all that was foretold of Chri&s;t, all that was done and &s;uffered by Chri&s;t, in this, that there is a Church in&s;tituted by Chri&s;t, endowed with meanes of reconciling us to God, what judgements &s;oever our &s;ins have drawen God to threaten a|gain&s;t us, or to inflict upon us; and yet for all the&s;e offers, of all the&s;e helps, the Mini&s;ter is put to this &s;ad expo&s;tulation, <HI>Domine, quis credidit? Lord, who hath beleeved our report?</HI></P>
<P>Here then the Apo&s;tles expo&s;tulation with God, and increpation upon the people, may u&s;efully be conceived to be thus carried; from the light and notification of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> which we have in nature, to a clearer light, which we have in the Law and Prophets, and then a clearer then that in the Go&s;pell, and a clearer, at lea&s;t a nearer then that, in the Church. Fir&s;t then, even the naturall man is inexcu&s;able (&s;ayes this Apo&s;tle) if he doe not &s;ee the invi&s;ible God in the vi&s;ible creature; inexcu&s;able, if he doe not reade the law written in his own heart. But then, <HI>Quis credidit auditui &s;uo?</HI> who hath beleeved his own report? who does reade the Law written in his own heart? who does come home to Church to him&s;elf, or hearken to the motions of his own &s;pirit, what he &s;hould doe, or what will become of him, if he doe &s;till as he hath done? or who reades the hi&s;tory of his own con&s;cience, what he hath done, and the judgements that belong to tho&s;e former actions? Therefore we have a clearer light then this; <HI>Firmiorem propheticum &s;ermonem,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Peter, We have a more &s;ure word of the Prophets;</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.19.</NOTE> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> reades that place, <HI>clariorem,</HI> a more manife&s;t, a more evident declaration in the Prophets, then in na|ture, of the will of God towards man, and his rewarding the obedient, and rejecting the di&s;obedient to that will. But then, <HI>Quis credidit auditui prophetico,</HI> who hath beleeved the report of the Prophet, &s;o far, as to be &s;o moved and affected with a prophecy, as to &s;u&s;pect him&s;elfe, and apply that prophecy to him&s;elfe, and to &s;ay this judgement of his belongs to this &s;in of mine? Therefore we have a clearer light then this; <HI>God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.1.</NOTE> <HI>who at &s;undry times, and in divers manners, &s;pake to the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in the&s;e la&s;t
<PB N="60" REF="48">dayes &s;poke to us by his Son,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; He &s;pake per&s;onally, and he &s;pake aloud, in the declaration of Miracles; But, <HI>Quis credidit auditui filii?</HI> who beleeved even his report? did they not call his preaching &s;edition, and call his Miracles conjuring? There|fore we have a clearer, that is, a nearer light then the written Go&s;pell, that is, the Church. For, the principall intention in Chri&s;ts Miracles, even in the purpo&s;e of God, was but thereby to create and con&s;titute, and e&s;tabli&s;h an a&s;&s;urance, that he that did tho&s;e Mira|cles, was the right man, the true Me&s;&s;ias, that Son of God, who was made man for the redemption and ran&s;ome of the whole world. But then, that which was to give them their be&s;t a&s;&s;i&s;tance, that that was to &s;upply all, by that way, to apply this generall re|demption to every particular &s;oule, that was the e&s;tabli&s;hing of a Church, of a vi&s;ible and con&s;tant, and permanent meanes of &s;alvation, by his Ordinances there, <HI>u&s;&abque; ad con&s;umma|tionem,</HI> till the end of the world. And this is done, &s;ayes this Apo&s;tle here; Chri&s;t is come, and gone, and come again; Born, and dead, and ri&s;en again; A&s;cended, and &s;ate at the right hand of his Father in our nature, and de&s;cended again in his Spirit, the Holy Gho&s;t; that Holy Gho&s;t hath &s;ent us, us the Apo&s;tles; we have made Bi&s;hops; they have made Prie&s;ts and Deacons; and &s;o that body, that family, that hou&s;hold of the faithfull,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 14.</NOTE> by their Mini&s;tery is made up. 'Tis true, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle here, Men can|not be &s;aved without calling upon God; nor call upon him acceptably without Faith; nor beleeve truly without Hearing; nor heare profitably without Preaching; nor preach avowably, and with a ble&s;&s;ing, without &s;ending; All this is true &s;ayes our Apo&s;tle in this place; but all this is done; &s;uch a &s;ending, &s;uch a preaching, &s;uch a hearing is e&s;ta|bli&s;hed; For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 19.</NOTE> I ask but this, &s;ayes he, <HI>Have they not heard? Yes verily, their &s;ound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world;</HI> And, for my &s;elfe, &s;ayes he, <HI>I have &s;trived to preach the Go&s;pell,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.20.</NOTE> <HI>where Chri&s;t was not named;</HI> that is, to carry the Church farther then the re&s;t had carried it, and now all is done, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle. So that here is the ca&s;e, if the naturall man &s;ay, alas they are but dark notions of God which I have in nature; if the Jew &s;ay, alas they are but remote and ambiguous things which I have of Chri&s;t in the Prophets; If the &s;lack and hi&s;toricall Chri&s;tian &s;ay, alas they are but ge|nerall things, done for the whole world indifferently, and not applyed to me, which I reade in the Go&s;pell, to this naturall man, to this Jew, to this &s;lack Chri&s;tian, we pre|&s;ent an e&s;tabli&s;hed Church, a Church endowed with a power, to open the wounds of Chri&s;t Je&s;us to receive every wounded &s;oule, to &s;pread the balme of his blood upon eve|ry bleeding heart; A Church that makes this generall Chri&s;t particular to every Chri|&s;tian, that makes the Saviour of the world, thy Saviour, and my Saviour; that offers the originall &s;inner Bapti&s;me for that; and the actuall &s;inner, the body and blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us for that; a Church that mollifies, and entenders, and &s;hivers the pre&s;umptu|ous &s;inner with denouncing the judgements of God, and then, con&s;olidates and e&s;tabli|&s;hes the diffident &s;oule with the promi&s;es of his Go&s;pell; a Church, in contemplation whereof, God may &s;ay, <HI>Quid potui Vineae,</HI> what could I doe more for my people then I have done? fir&s;t to &s;end mine only Son to die for the whole world, and then to &s;pread a Church over the whole world, by which that death of his might be life to every &s;oule. This we preach, this we propo&s;e, according to that commi&s;&s;ion put into our hands, <HI>Ite, praedicate, Goe, and preach the Go&s;pell to every creature,</HI> and yet, <HI>Domine, quis credidit? Lord, who hath beleeved our report?</HI></P>
<P>In this then, the Apo&s;tle and this Text, places the inflexible, the incorrigible &s;tiffe|ne&s;&s;e of mans di&s;obedience, in this he &s;eales up his inexcu&s;ablene&s;&s;e, his irrecoverable|ne&s;&s;e, fir&s;t, that he is not afraid of future judgements, becau&s;e they are remote; then, that he does not beleeve pre&s;ent judgements to be judgements, becau&s;e he can make &s;hift to call them by a milder name, accidents, and not judgements, and can a&s;&s;igne &s;ome natu|rall, or morall, or ca&s;uall rea&s;on for them. But e&s;pecially in this, that he does not be|leeve a perpetuall pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t in his Church, he does not beleeve an Ordinance of meanes, by which, all burdens of bodily infirmities, of cro&s;&s;es in fortune, of dejection of &s;pirit, and of the primary cau&s;e of all the&s;e, that is, &s;in it &s;elfe may be taken off, or made ea&s;ie unto him; he does not beleeve a Church.</P>
<P>Now, as in our former part we were bound to know Gods hand, and then bound to reade it, to acknowledge a judgement to be a judgement, and then to con&s;ider what God intended in that judgement, &s;o here we are bound to know the true Church, and then to know what the true Church propo&s;es to us. The true Church is that, where the word
<PB N="61" REF="48">is truely preached, and the Sacraments duly admini&s;tred. But it is the Word, the Word in|&s;pired by the holy Gho&s;t; not Apocryphall, not Decretall, not Traditionall, not Additio|nall &s;upplements; and it is the Sacraments, Sacraments in&s;tituted by Chri&s;t him&s;elf, and not tho&s;e &s;uper-numerary &s;acraments, tho&s;e po&s;thume, <HI>po&s;t-nati</HI> &s;acrame~ts, that have been multiplyed after: and then, that which the true Church propo&s;es, is, all that is truly nece&s;|&s;ary to &s;alvation, and nothing but that, in that quality, as nece&s;&s;ary. So that Problematical points, of which, either &s;ide may be true, &amp; in which, neither &s;ide is fundamentally nece&s;|&s;ary to &s;alvation, tho&s;e marginal &amp; interlineary notes, that are not of the body of the text, opinions rai&s;ed out of &s;ingularity, in &s;ome one man, and then maintained out of partiality, and affection to that man, the&s;e problematicall things &s;hould not be called the Doctrine of the Church, nor lay obligations upon mens con&s;ciences; They &s;hould not di&s;turb the general peace, they &s;hould not extingui&s;h particular charity towards one another.</P>
<P>The Act then, that God requires of us, is to beleeve: &s;o the words carry it in all the three places: The Object, the next, the neare&s;t Object of this Belief, is made the Church; that is, to beleeve that God hath e&s;tabli&s;hed means for the application of Chri&s;ts death, to all, in all Chri&s;tian Congregations. <HI>All things are po&s;sible to him that beleeveth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 9 23.</NOTE> &s;aith our Saviour; In the Word, and Sacraments, there is Salvation to every &s;oule, that be|leeves there is &s;o: As on the other &s;ide, we have from the &s;ame mouth, and the &s;ame pen, <HI>He that beleeveth not, is damned.</HI> Faith then being the root of all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 16.16.</NOTE> and God having vouch&s;afed to plant this root, this faith, here in his terre&s;triall paradi&s;e, and not in hea|ven; in the manife&s;t mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pell, and not in a &s;ecret and unrevealed pur|po&s;e, (for, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by preaching, which are things executed and tran&s;acted here in the Church) be thou content with tho&s;e meanes which God hath ordained, and take thy faith in tho&s;e meanes, and beleeve it to be <HI>influxus &s;ua&s;orius,</HI> that it is an influence from God, but an influence that works in thee by way of per&s;wa&s;ion, and not of compul&s;ion; It convinces thee, but it doth not con&s;traine thee: It is, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes excellently, <HI>Vocatio congrua,</HI> it is the voice of God to thee: but, his voice then, when thou art fit to heare, and an&s;wer that voice; not fitted by any exaltation of thine own naturall faculties, before the co~ming of grace; nor fitted by a good husbanding of Gods former grace, &s;o as in rigor of ju&s;tice to merit an increa&s;e of grace, but fitted by his preventing, his auxiliant, his concomitant grace, grace exhibited to thee, at that time when he calls thee: for, &s;o &s;aies that Father, <HI>Sic eum vocat, quo modo &s;eit ei congruere, ut vo|cante~ non re&s;puat:</HI> God calls him then, when he knows he wil not re&s;i&s;t his calling; But he doth not &s;ay, then, when he ca~not re&s;i&s;t; that needs not be &s;aid. But, as there is <HI>podus glcriae,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, <HI>an eternall weight of glory,</HI> which mans under&s;tanding cannot co~pre|hend; &s;o there is <HI>Pondus gratiae,</HI> a certain weight of grace, that God layes upon that &s;oule, which &s;hall be his, under which that &s;oule &s;hall not ea&s;ily bend it &s;elf any way from God.</P>
<P>This then is the &s;umme of this whole Catechi&s;me, which the&s;e words, in the&s;e three places doe con&s;titute: Fir&s;t, that we be truely affected with Gods fore-warnings, and &s;ay there, <HI>Domine credo,</HI> Lord I beleeve that report, I beleeve that judgement to be denoun+ced again&s;t my &s;in: And then, that we be duely affected with pre&s;ent changes, and &s;ay there, <HI>Domine credo,</HI> Lord I beleeve that report, I beleeve this judgement to come from thee, and to be a letter of thy hand; Lord enlighten others to interpret it aright, for thy more publique glory, and me, for my particular reformation. And then, la&s;tly, to be &s;incerely, and &s;eriou&s;ly affected with the Ordinances of his Church, and to re&s;t in them, for the means of our &s;alvation; and to &s;ay there, <HI>Domine credo,</HI> Lord I beleeve this report, I beleeve that I cannot be &s;aved without beleeving, nor beleeve without hearing. And therefore, what&s;oever thou ha&s;t decreed to thy &s;elfe above in heaven, give me a holy a&s;&s;i|duity of indevor, and peace of con&s;cience, in the execution of thy Decrees here; And let thy Spirit beare witne&s;&s;e with my &s;pirit, that I am of the number of thine elect, becau&s;e I love the beauty of thy hou&s;e, becau&s;e I captivate mine under&s;tanding to thine Ordinan|ces, becau&s;e I &s;ubdue my wil to obey thine, becau&s;e I find thy Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us made mine, in the preaching of thy word, and my &s;elfe made his, in the admini&s;tration of his Sacraments. And keep me ever in the armes, and bo&s;ome of that Church, which with|out any tincture, any mixture, any leaven of &s;uper&s;tition, or Idolatry, affords me all that is nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, and obtrudes nothing, enforces nothing to be beleeved, by any Determination, or Article of hers that is not &s;o. And be this enough for the Explication, and Application, and Complication of the&s;e words, in all the&s;e three places.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="62" REF="49">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON VII.</HI> Preached upon Chri&s;tmas day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 10.10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe Church celebrates this day, the Birth of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, ble&s;&s;ed for ever; And though it fall among&s;t the &s;horte&s;t dayes in the yeere, yet of all the Fe&s;tivals in the yeere, it is the longe&s;t: It is a day that con&s;i&s;ts of twelve dayes; A day not mea&s;ured by the naturall and or|dinary motion of the Sun, but by a &s;upernaturall and extraordinary Star, which appeared to the Wi&s;emen of the Ea&s;t, this day, and brought them to Chri&s;t, at Bethlem, upon Twelfe day. That day, Twelfe day, the Church now calls the Epiphany; The ancient Church called this day (Chri&s;tmas day) the Epiphany. Both dayes toge|ther, and all the dayes betweene, This day, when Chri&s;t was manife&s;ted to the Jews, in the Shepheards by the Angels, and Twelfe day, when Chri&s;t was manife&s;ted to the Gentiles in tho&s;e Wi&s;emen of the Ea&s;t, make up the Epiphany, that is, the manife&s;tation of God to man. And as this day is in &s;uch a re&s;pect a longer day then others, &s;o, if we make longer houres in this day, then in other dayes; if I extend this Sermon, if you ex|tend your Devotion, or your Patience, beyond the ordinary time, it is but a due, and a ju&s;t celebration of the Day, and &s;ome accommodation to the Text, for, I am come, as he, in who&s;e Name and Power I came, came; and he tels you, that <HI>He came that you might have life, and might have it more abundantly.</HI></P>
<P>God, who vouch&s;afed to be made Man for man, for man vouch&s;afes al&s;o to doe all the offices of man toward man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.10.</NOTE> He is our Father, for he made us: Of what? Of clay; So God is <HI>Figulus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 45.9. Rom. 9.21. Gen. 1.27. Gen. 3.21. Gen. 1.29.</NOTE> &s;o in the Prophet; &s;o in the Apo&s;tle, God is our Potter. God &s;tamp|ed his Image upon us, and &s;o God is <HI>Statuarius,</HI> our Minter, our Statuary. God clothed us, and &s;o is <HI>ve&s;tiarius;</HI> he hath opened his wardrobe unto us. God gave us all the fruits of the earth to eate, and &s;o is <HI>oeconomus,</HI> our Steward. God poures his oyle, and his wine in|to our wounds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10. 1 Cor. 3.6. Acts 20.32. P&s;al. 127.1. Mat. 4.19.</NOTE> and &s;o is <HI>Medicus,</HI> and <HI>Vicinus,</HI> that Phy&s;itian, that Neighbour, that Sa|maritan intended in the Parable. God plants us, and waters, and weeds us, and gives the increa&s;e; and &s;o God is <HI>Hortulanus,</HI> our Gardiner. God builds us up into a Church, and &s;o God is <HI>Architectus,</HI> our Architect, our Builder; God watches the City when it is built; and &s;o God is <HI>Speculator,</HI> our Sentinell. God fi&s;hes for men, (for all his <HI>Iohns,</HI> and his <HI>Andrews,</HI> and his <HI>Peters,</HI> are but the nets that he fi&s;hes withall) God is the fi&s;her of men; And here, in this Chapter, God in Chri&s;t is our Shepheard. The book of <HI>Iob</HI> is a repre&s;entation of God, in a Tragique-Comedy, lamentable beginnings comfortably ended: The book of the Canticles is a repre&s;entation of God in Chri&s;t, as a Bridegroom in a Marriage-&s;ong, in an Epithalamion: God in Chri&s;t is repre&s;ented to us, in divers formes, in divers places, and this Chapter is his Pa&s;torall. The Lord is our Shepheard, and &s;o called, in more places, then by any other name; and in this Chapter, exhibits &s;ome of the offices of a good Shepheard. Be plea&s;ed to ta&s;te a few of them. Fir&s;t, he &s;ayes, <HI>The good Shepheard comes in at the doore,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.1.</NOTE> the right way. If he come in at the window, that is, alwayes clamber after preferment; If he come in at vaults, and cellars, that is, by clande&s;tin, and &s;ecret contracts with his Patron, he comes not the right way: When he is in the right way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> <HI>His &s;heep heare his voyce:</HI> fir&s;t there is a voyce, He is heard; Ignorance doth not &s;ilence him, nor lazine&s;&s;e, nor abundance of preferment; nor indi&s;creet, and di&s;tempered zeale does not &s;ilence him; (for to induce, or occa&s;ion a &s;ilencing upon our &s;elves, is as ill as the ignorant, or the lazie &s;ilence) There is a voyce, and (&s;ayes that Text) is is his voyce, not alwayes another in his roome; for (as it is added in the next ver&s;e)
<PB N="63" REF="49"><HI>The &s;heep know his voyce,</HI> which they could not doe, if they heard it not often,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 4.</NOTE> if they were not u&s;ed to it. And then, for the be&s;t te&s;timony, and con&s;ummation of all, he &s;ayes, <HI>The good Shepheard gives his life for his &s;heep.</HI> Every good Shepheard gives his life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 11.</NOTE> that is, &s;pends his life, weares out his life for his &s;heep: of which this may be one good argu|ment, That there are not &s;o many crazie, &s;o many &s;ickly men; men that &s;o &s;oon grow old in any profe&s;&s;ion, as in ours. But in this, Chri&s;t is our Shepheard in a more peculiar, and more incommunicable way, that he is <HI>Pa&s;tor humani generis, &amp; e&s;ca;</HI> fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Maxinus.</NOTE> that he feeds not one Pari&s;h, nor one Dioce&s;&s;e, but <HI>humanum genus,</HI> all Mankinde, the whole world, and then feeds us &s;o, as that he is both our <HI>Pa&s;tor,</HI> and our <HI>Pa&s;ture,</HI> he feeds us, and feeds us with him&s;elfe, for, <HI>His fle&s;h is meat indeed, and his bloud is drink indeed.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 6. Lro.</NOTE> And therefore <HI>Honor telebratur totius gregis, per annua fe&s;ta pa&s;toris:</HI> As often as wecome to celebrate the comming of this Shepheard, in giving that honour, we receive an honour, becau&s;e that is a declaration, that we are the &s;heepe of that pa&s;ture, and the body of that head. And &s;o much being not impertinently &s;aid, for the connexion of the words, and their compli|cation with the day, pa&s;&s;e we now to the more particular di&s;tribution and explication thereof, <HI>I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e words, our parts will be three; for, fir&s;t we mu&s;t con&s;ider the Per&s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> The Shepheard and the &s;heep, God and Man, Him and Them, Them indefinitely, all them, all men, <HI>I came,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, I alone, <HI>that they,</HI> all they <HI>might have life:</HI> And &s;econdly we con|&s;ider the action it &s;elf; as it is wrapped up in this word, <HI>veni, I came;</HI> for, that is fir&s;t, that he who was alwaies omnipre&s;ent, every where before, did yet &s;tudy a new way of comming, &amp; communicating him&s;elf with man, <HI>veni, I came,</HI> that is, <HI>novo modo veni,</HI> I came by a new way; And then, that he, who fed his former &s;tock but with Prophe&s;ies, and promi&s;es, that he would come, feeds us now with actuall performances, with his reall pre&s;ence, and the exhibition of him&s;elf. And la&s;tly we &s;hall con&s;ider the end, the purpo&s;e, the benefit of his comming, which is <HI>life:</HI> And fir&s;t, <HI>ut daret,</HI> that he might give life, bring life, offer life to the world, (which is one mercy) and then, <HI>ut haberent,</HI> that we might have it, embrace it, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e it, (which is another) and, after both, a greater then both, that we might have this life <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> more abundantly; which is, fir&s;t, <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s illis,</HI> more abundantly then other men of this world, and then <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s ip&s;is,</HI> more abundantly then we our &s;elves had it in this world, in the world to come; for, therefore <HI>he came, that we might have life, and might have it more abundantly.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, in our fir&s;t part, we con&s;ider the Per&s;ons, The Shepheard and the Sheepe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Per&s;one.</HI></NOTE> Him and Them, God and Man; of which Per&s;ons, the one for his Greatne&s;&s;e, God, the other for his littlene&s;&s;e, man, can &s;carce fall under any con&s;ideration. What eye can fixe it &s;elf upon Ea&s;t and We&s;t at once? And he mu&s;t &s;ee more then Ea&s;t and We&s;t, that &s;ees God, for God &s;preads infinitely beyond both: God alone is all; not onely all that is, but all that is not, all that might be, if he would have it be. God is too large, too im|men&s;e, and then man is too narrow, too little to be con&s;idered; for, who can fixe his eye upon an Atome? and he mu&s;t &s;ee a le&s;&s;e thing then an Atome, that &s;ees man, for man is nothing. Fir&s;t, for the incomprehen&s;iblene&s;&s;e of God, the under&s;tanding of man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus.</NOTE> hath a limited, a determined latitude; it is an intelligence able to move that Spheare which it is fixed to, but could not move a greater: I can comprehend <HI>naturam naturatam,</HI> created nature, but for that <HI>natura naturans,</HI> God him&s;elfe, the under&s;tanding of man cannot comprehend. I can &s;ee the Sun in a looking-gla&s;&s;e, but the nature, and the whole working of the Sun I cannot &s;ee in that gla&s;&s;e. I can &s;ee God in the creature, but the nature, the e&s;&s;ence, the &s;ecret purpo&s;es of God, I cannot &s;ee there. There is <HI>defatigatio in intellectualibus,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;adde&s;t and &s;ounde&s;t of the Hebrew Rabbins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">R. Mo&s;es.</NOTE> the &s;oule may be tired, as well as the body, and the under&s;tanding dazeled, as well as the eye. It is a good note of the &s;ame Rabbi, upon tho&s;e words of <HI>Solomon, fill not thy &s;elfe with hony, le&s;t thou vomit it,</HI> that it is not &s;aid, that if thou bee&s;t cloyd with it, thou mai&s;t be di&s;ta&s;ted,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 25.16.</NOTE> di&s;af|fected towards it after, but thou mai&s;t vomit it, and a vomit works &s;o, as that it does not onely bring up that which was then, but that al&s;o which was formerly taken. Curious men bu&s;ie them&s;elves &s;o much upon &s;peculative &s;ubtilties, as that they de&s;ert, and aban|don the &s;olid foundations of Religion, and that is a dangerous vomit; To &s;earch &s;o farre into the nature, and unrevealed purpo&s;es of God, as to forget the nature, and du|ties of man, this is a &s;hrewd &s;urfet, though of hony, and a dangerous vomit. It is not need|full for thee, to &s;ee the things that are in &s;ecret, &s;ayes the wife man; <HI>nonindiges,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 3.23.</NOTE> thou nee|de&s;t
<PB N="64" REF="50">not that knowledge: Thou mai&s;t doe well enough in this world, and bee Gods good &s;ervant, and doe well enough in the next world, and bee a glorious Saint, and yet never &s;earch into Gods &s;ecrets.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 65.1.</NOTE> <HI>Te decet Hymnus,</HI> (&s;o the vulgar reades that place) To thee, O Lord, belong our Hymnes, our P&s;almes, our Pray&s;es, our cheerefull acclamations; and conformably to that, we tran&s;late it, <HI>Prai&s;e waiteth for thee, O God in Sion:</HI> But if we will take it according to the Originall, it mu&s;t be, <HI>Tibi &s;ilentium laus e&s;t,</HI> Thy prai&s;e, O Lord, con&s;i&s;ts in &s;ilence: That that man prai&s;es God be&s;t, that &s;ayes lea&s;t of him; of him, that is of his nature, of his e&s;&s;ence, of his unrevealed will, and &s;ecret purpo&s;es. <HI>O that men would prai&s;e the Lord,</HI> is <HI>Davids</HI> provocation to us all, but how? <HI>O that men would prai&s;e the Lord, and declare his wondrous works to the &s;ons of men!</HI> but not to goe about to declare his unrevealed Decrees, or &s;ecret purpo&s;es, is as good a way of prai&s;ing him, as the other. And therefore, O that men would prai&s;e the Lord, &s;o, forbeare his Maje&s;ty, when he is retired into him&s;elfe, in his Decrees, and magnifie his Maje&s;ty, as he manife&s;ts him&s;elfe to us, in the execution of tho&s;e Decrees; of which, this in our Text is a great one, that he that is infinitely more then all, de&s;cended to him, that is infinitely le&s;&s;e then nothing; which is the other per&s;on whom we are to con&s;ider in this part, <HI>ille illis,</HI> I to them, God to us.</P>
<P>The Hebrew Doctors almo&s;t every where repeat that adage of theirs, <HI>lex loquitur lin|guam filiorum hominum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis.</NOTE> God &s;peakes mens language, that is, the Holy Gho&s;t in the Scrip|tures de&s;cends to the capacity and under&s;tanding of man, and &s;o pre&s;ents God in the fa|culties of the minde of man, and in the lineaments of the body of man. But yet, &s;ay they, there is never braine, nor liver, nor &s;pleene; nor any other inward part a&s;cribed to God, but onely the heart. God is all heart, and that whole heart, that inexhau&s;tible fountaine of love, is directed wholly upon man. And then, though in the Scriptures, tho&s;e bodily lineaments, head and feet, and hands, and eyes, and eares be a&s;cribed to God, God is never &s;aid to have &s;houlders; for, &s;ay they, &s;houlders are the &s;ubjects of burdens, and therein the figures of patience, and &s;o God is all &s;houlder, all patience; he heares patient|ly, he &s;ees patiently, he &s;peakes patiently, he dyes patiently: And is there a patience be|yond that? In Chri&s;t there is, he &s;uffers patiently a quotidian Crucifying; we kill the Lord of Life every day, every day we make a mock of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and tread the blood of the Covenant under our feet every day: And as though all his pa&s;&s;ion, and blood, and wounds, and heart, were &s;pent by our former oathes, and bla&s;phemies, we crucifie him dayly by our dayly &s;ins, that we might have new blood, and heart, and wounds to &s;weare by; and all this hee &s;uffers patiently, and after all this, <HI>ille illis,</HI> to this man, this God comes.</P>
<P>He to us, God to man; all to nothing: for upon that we in&s;i&s;t fir&s;t, as the fir&s;t di&s;pro|portion betweene us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis, qui nihil. <HI>E&s;ay. 40.15.</HI></NOTE> and &s;o the fir&s;t exaltation of his mercy towards us. <HI>Man is,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay, Qua&s;i &s;tilla &s;itulae, As a drop upon the bucket.</HI> Man is not all that, not &s;o much as that, as a drop upon the bucket, but <HI>qua&s;i,</HI> &s;omething, &s;ome little thing towards it; and what is a drop upon the bucket, to a river, to a &s;ea, to the waters above the firma|ment? Man to God? <HI>Man is,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Prophet in the &s;ame place, <HI>Qua&s;i momenntum &s;taterae;</HI> we tran&s;late it, <HI>As &s;mall du&s;t upon the balance:</HI> Man is not all that, not that &s;mall graine of du&s;t; but <HI>qua&s;i,</HI> &s;ome little thing towards it: And what can a graine of du&s;t work in governing the balance? What is man that God &s;hould be mindfull of him? Va|nity &s;eemes to be the lighte&s;t thing, that the Holy Gho&s;t could name; and when he had named that, he &s;ayes, and &s;ayes, and &s;ayes, often, very, very often, <HI>All is vanity.</HI> But when he comes to waigh man with vanity it &s;elfe, he findes man lighter then vanity: <HI>Take,</HI> &s;ayes he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 62.9.</NOTE> <HI>great men, and meane men altogether, and altogether they are lighter then vanity.</HI> When that great Apo&s;tle &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, that he was in <HI>nothing behinde the very chiefe&s;t of the Apo&s;tles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.11.</NOTE> and yet, for all that, &s;ayes he was nothing; who can think him&s;elfe any thing, for being a Giant in proportion, a Magi&s;trate in power, a Rabbi in learning, an O|racle in Coun&s;ell? Let man be &s;omething; how poore, and incon&s;iderable a ragge of this world,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>L. 1.</HI> de rerum ge|neratione.</NOTE> is man? Man, whom <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> would have undertaken to have made, in a Limbeck, in a Furnace: Man, who, if they were altogether, all the men, that ever were, and are, and &s;hall be, would not have the power of one Angel in them all, whereas all the Angels, (who, in the Schoole are conceived to be more in number, then, not onely all the Species, but all the individualls of this lower world) have not in them all, the power of one finger of Gods hand: Man, of whom when <HI>David</HI> had &s;aid, (as the lowe&s;t dimi|nution
<PB N="65" REF="50">that he could put upon him) <HI>I am a worme and no man,</HI> He might have gone lower,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 22.6.</NOTE> and &s;aid, I am a man and no worm; for man is &s;o much le&s;&s;e then a worm, as that wormes of his own production, &s;hall feed upon his dead body in the grave, and an immortall worm gnaw his con&s;cience in the torments of hell. And then, if that which God, and God in the coun&s;aile and concurrence, and cooperation of the whole Trinity hath made thee, Man, be nothing, can&s;t thou be proud of that, or think that any thing which the King hath made thee, a Lord, or which thy wife hath made thee, Rich, or which thy riches have made thee, an Officer? As <HI>Iob</HI> &s;ayes of impertinent comforters, mi&s;erable comforters, &s;o I &s;ay of the&s;e Creations, mi&s;erable creations are they all. Only as thou mai&s;t be a new creature in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, thou mai&s;t be &s;omething; for that's a nobler, and a harder creation then the fir&s;t; when God had a clod of red earth in his hand, to make me in <HI>Adam,</HI> he had more towards his end, then when he hath me, an unregenerate, and rebellious &s;oule, to make a new creature in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. And yet <HI>Ille illis,</HI> to this man comes this God, God that is infinitely more then all, to man that is infinitely le&s;&s;e then nothing, which was our fir&s;t di&s;proportion, and the fir&s;t exaltation of his mercy; and the next is, <HI>Ille illis, Illis qui ho&s;tes,</HI> that this God came to this man, then when this man was a profe&s;&s;ed enemy to this God.</P>
<P><HI>Si contrarium Deo quaeras nihile&s;t,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine.</HI> If thou aske me what is contrary to God, I cannot &s;ay, that any thing is &s;o; for, what&s;oever is any thing, hath a beeing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis qui Ho&s;tes.</NOTE> and what&s;oever hath &s;o, hath in that very beeing &s;ome affinity with God, &s;ome a&s;&s;i|milation to God; &s;o that nothing is contrary to God. If thou aske mee, <HI>Quis ho&s;tis,</HI> who is an enemy to GOD, I cannot &s;ay that of any thing in this World, but man. That viper that flew at Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> was not therein an enemy to GOD;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 28.</NOTE> that viper did not direct it &s;elfe upon S. <HI>Paul,</HI> as S. <HI>Paul</HI> was a u&s;efull, and a nece&s;&s;ary in&s;tru|ment of Chri&s;t; But S. <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe was a direct enemy to Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, <HI>Tu me,</HI> thou per&s;ecute&s;t me, &s;aies Chri&s;t him&s;elfe unto him. And if we be not all enemies to God in &s;uch a direct oppo&s;ition, as that we &s;inne therefore becau&s;e that &s;inne violates the maje|&s;ty of God, (and yet truly every habituall, and deliberated &s;inne amounts to almo&s;t as much, becau&s;e in every &s;uch &s;inne, we &s;eeme to try conclu&s;ions, whether God can &s;ee a &s;inne, or be affected with a &s;inne, or can, or cares to puni&s;h a &s;inne, as though we doubted whether God were a pre&s;ent God, or a pure God, or a powerfull God, and &s;o con&s;e|quently whether there be any God or no) If we be not all enemies to God, in this kind, yet in adhering to the enemy we are enemies; In our prevarications, and ea&s;ie betrayings, and &s;urrendring of our &s;elves to the enemy of his kingdom, &s;atan, we are his enemies. For &s;mall wages, and ill paid pen&s;ions we &s;erve him; and le&s;t any man &s;hould flatter and delude him&s;elfe, in &s;aying, I have my wages, and my reward before hand, my plea&s;ures in this life, the puni&s;hment, (if ever) not till the next, The Apo&s;tle de&s;troyes that dreame, with that que&s;tion of confu&s;ion, <HI>What fruit had you then in tho&s;e things,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 6.21.</NOTE> <HI>of which you are now a&s;hamed?</HI> Certainly &s;in is not a gainfull way; without doubt more men are impoveri|&s;hed, and beggered by &s;inful cour&s;es, then enriched; what fruit had they? &s;ays the Apo&s;tle, and &s;in cannot be the way of honour, for we dare not avow our &s;ins, but are a&s;hamed of them, when they are done; fruitle&s;ne&s;s, unprofitablene&s;s before, &s;hame and di&s;honor after, and yet for the&s;e we are enemies to God; and yet for all this God comes to us; <HI>Ille illis,</HI> the Lord of Ho&s;ts, to naked and di&s;armed man, the God of peace to this enemy of God. Some men will continue kinde, where they finde a thankfull reciver,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.35.</NOTE> but <HI>God is kinde to the unthankfull,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t him&s;elfe. There may be found a man that will dye for his friend, &s;ayes he; but God dyed for his enemies: Then when ye were enemies, you were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. To come &s;o in-gloriou&s;ly, he that is infinitely more then all, to him that is infinitely le&s;&s;e then nothing, (that was our fir&s;t di&s;proportion, and the fir&s;t axaltatation of his mercy) to come, (&s;hall we venture to &s;ay &s;o) &s;o &s;elfe pro|ditoriou&s;ly, as to betray him&s;elfe and deliver him&s;elfe to his enemies, (that was our &s;e|cond) is equalled, at lea&s;t, in a third, <HI>ille illis,</HI> he to them, that is <HI>unus omnibus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.14.</NOTE> he alone for the &s;alvation of all men, as it is expre&s;ly &s;aid, for this word in our Text, <HI>they,</HI> hath no limitation, I came, I alone, that they, all they might be the better.</P>
<P>Some of the ancient Fathers, delivering the mercies of God, &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis omni|bus.</NOTE> as the articles of our Church enjoyne them to bee delivered, that is, generally, as they are delivered in the Scriptures, have delivered them &s;o over-generally, that they have &s;eemed loth to thinke the devill him&s;elfe excluded from all benefit of Chri&s;ts comming. Some of the later
<PB N="66" REF="51">Authors in the Roman Church, (who, as pious as they pretend to be towards the Fa|thers, are apter to di&s;cover the nakedne&s;&s;e of the Fathers, then we are) have noted in <HI>Iu|&s;tin Martyr,</HI> and in <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> and in <HI>Clement</HI> of Alexandria, and in <HI>Oecumenius,</HI> (and <HI>Oecumenius</HI> is no &s;ingle Father, but <HI>Pater patratus,</HI> a manifold Father, a complicated fa|ther, a Father that collected Fathers) and even in S. <HI>Ierome</HI> him&s;elfe, and S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> too, &s;ome inclinations towards that opinion, that the devill retaining &s;till his faculty of free will, is therefore capable of repentance, and &s;o of benefit by this comming of Chri&s;t; And tho&s;e Authors of the Roman Church, that modifie the matter, and excu&s;e the Fa|thers herein, excu&s;e them no other way but this, that though that opinion and doctrine of tho&s;e Fathers, bee not true in it &s;elfe, yet it was never condemned by any Councell, nor by any ancient Father. So very far, did very many goe in enlarging the mercies of God in Chri&s;t, to all. But waiving this over-large extention and profu&s;ion thereof, and directing it upon a more po&s;&s;ible, and a more credible object, that is, Man; S. <HI>Cyril</HI> of Alexandria, &s;peaking of the po&s;&s;ibility of the &s;alvation of all men, &s;aies, by way of ob|jection to him&s;elfe, <HI>Omnes non credunt,</HI> How can all be &s;aved &s;ince all doe not beleeve? but, &s;aies he, Becau&s;e actually they do not beleeve, is it therefore impo&s;&s;ible they &s;hould beleeve? And for actuall beleefe, &s;aies he, though all doe not, yet &s;o many doe, <HI>utfacil&egrave; qui pereant, &s;uperent,</HI> that, by Gods goodne&s;&s;e, more are &s;aved, then lo&s;t, &s;aies that Fa|ther of tender and large bowels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mo&s;es.</NOTE> S. <HI>Cyril.</HI> And how&s;oever he may &s;eeme too tender, and too large herein, yet it is a good peece of coun&s;aile, which that Rabbi whom I named before, gives, <HI>Ne redarguas ca fal&s;itatis, de quorum contrariis nulla e&s;t demon&s;tratio,</HI> Be not aptto call any opinion fal&s;e, or hereticall, or damnable, the contrary whereof cannot be evidently proved. And for this particular, the generall po&s;&s;ibility of &s;alvation, all agree that the merit of Chri&s;t Je&s;us is &s;ufficient for all. Whether this all-&s;ufficiency grow <HI>ex intrin&s;eca ratione formali,</HI> out of the very nature of the merit, the dignity of the per&s;on be|ing con&s;idered, or grow <HI>ex pacto, &amp; acceptatione,</HI> out of the acceptation of the Father, and the contract betweene him and the Son, for that, let the <HI>Thomi&s;ts,</HI> and the <HI>Scoti&s;ts,</HI> in the Roman Church wrangle. All agree, that there is enough done for all. And would God receive enough for all, and then, exclude &s;ome, of him&s;elfe, without any relation, any con&s;ideration of &s;inne? God forbid. Man is called by divers names, names of lowne&s;&s;e enough, in the Scriptures; But, by the name of <HI>Eno&s;h, Eno&s;h</HI> that &s;ignifies <HI>meere mi&s;ery,</HI> Man is never called in the Scriptures, till after the fall of <HI>Adam.</HI> Onely &s;inne after, and not any ill purpo&s;e in God before, made man mi&s;erable. The manner of expre&s;&s;ing the mercy of God, in the frame and cour&s;e of Scriptures, expre&s;&s;es evermore the largene&s;&s;e of that mercy. Very often, in the Scriptures, you &s;hall finde the per&s;on &s;uddenly changed; and when God &s;hall have &s;aid in the beginning of a &s;entence, I will &s;hew mercy unto them, them, as though he &s;poke of others, pre&s;ently, in the &s;ame &s;entence, he will &s;ay, my loving kindne&s;&s;e will I not draw from thee; not from thee, not from them, not from any; that &s;o when&s;oever thou heare&s;t of Gods mercy propo&s;ed to them, to others, thou mighte&s;t beleeve that mercy to bee meant to thee, and when&s;oever they, others heare that mercy propo&s;ed to thee, they might beleeve it to be meant to them. And &s;o much may, to good purpo&s;e, be ob&s;erved out of &s;ome other parts of this Chapter, in another tran&s;lation. In the third ver&s;e it is &s;aid, <HI>His &s;heepe heare his voice,</HI> In the Arabique tranfla|tion it is <HI>Oves audit, His &s;heepe</HI> in the plurall, <HI>does heare,</HI> in the &s;ingular. God is a plurall God, and offers him&s;elfe to all, collectively; God is a &s;ingular God, and offers him&s;elfe to every man, di&s;tributively. So al&s;o is it &s;aid there, <HI>Nominibus &s;uo, He cals his &s;heepe by their names;</HI> It is <HI>names</HI> in the plurall, and <HI>theirs,</HI> in the &s;ingular: what&s;oever God propo&s;es to any, he intends to all. In which contemplation, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> breaks out into that holy exclamation, <HI>O bone omnipotens qui &s;ic cur as unumquemque no&s;tr&ucirc;m, tanquam &s;olum cures, &amp; &s;ic omnes tamquam &s;ingulos,</HI> O good and mighty God, who art as loving to every man, as to all mankind, and meane&s;t as well to all mankind, as to any man. Be plea&s;ed to make your u&s;e of this note, for the better imprinting of this largene&s;&s;e of Gods mercy. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> de&s;ires of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 33.13. V. 18. V. 19.</NOTE> that he would &s;hew him <HI>Vias &s;uas, His waies,</HI> his proceedings, his dea|lings with men; that which he calls after, <HI>Gloriam &s;uam, His glory,</HI> how he glorifies him|&s;elfe upon man, God promi&s;es him in the next ver&s;e, that he will &s;hew him <HI>Omne bonum, All his goodne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 346.</NOTE> God hath no way towards man but goodne&s;&s;e, God glorifies him&s;elfe in nothing upon man, but in his owne goodne&s;&s;e. And therefore when God comes to the performance of this promi&s;e, in the next Chapter, he &s;howes him his way, and his
<PB N="67" REF="51">glory, and his goodne&s;&s;e, in &s;hewing him that he is a mercifull God, a gracious God, a long-&s;uffering God, a God that forgives &s;ins and iniquities, and (as the Hebrew Doctors note) there are thirteen attributes, thirteen denotations of God &s;pecified in that place, and of all tho&s;e thirteen, there is but one that ta&s;ts of judgement, (That he will puni&s;h the &s;ins of Fathers upon Children.) All the other twelve are meerly, wholly mercy; &s;uch a proportion hath his mercy above his ju&s;tice, &s;uch a proportion, as that there is no cau&s;e in him, if all men be not partakers of it. Shall we &s;ay, (&s;ayes S. <HI>Cyril</HI>) <HI>Melius agri|culturam non exerceri, &s;i quae nocent tolli non po&s;&s;unt,</HI> It were better there were no tillage, then that weeds &s;hould grow, <HI>Melius non crea&s;&s;e,</HI> better that God had made no men, then that &s;o many &s;hould be damned. God made none to be damned; And therefore though &s;ome would expunge out of our Litany, that Rogation, that Petition, That thou would&s;t have mercy upon all men; as though it were contrary to Gods purpo&s;e to have mercy upon all men; yet S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> enlarges his charity too far, <HI>Libera nos Domine, qui jam invocamus te,</HI> deliver us O Lord, who do now call upon thee, <HI>Et libera eos qui nondum invocant, ut invocent te, &amp; liberes eos,</HI> and deliver them who do not yet call upon thee, that they may call upon thee, and be farther delivered by thee. But it is time to pa&s;&s;e from this fir&s;t part, the con&s;ideration of the Per&s;ons, <HI>Ille Illis,</HI> that God who is infinitely more then All, would come to man who is infinitely le&s;&s;e then nothing; that God who is the God of peace, would come to man his profe&s;&s;ed enemy; that God, the only Son of God, would come to the reliefe of man, of all men, to our &s;econd generall part, the action it &s;elf, &s;o far as it is enwrapped in this word, <HI>Veni, I came; I came that they might have life.</HI></P>
<P>Through this &s;econd part, <HI>veni, I came,</HI> we mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e apace; becau&s;e, upon the third,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> the end of his comming, <HI>(that they might have life)</HI> we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily in&s;i&s;t &s;ometime. In this therefore, wee make but two &s;teps; And this the fir&s;t, that that God who is om|nipre&s;ent, alwayes every where, in love to man, &s;tudyed a new way of comming, of com|municating him&s;elfe to man; <HI>veni, I came, novo modo,</HI> &s;o as I was never with man before. The rule is worth the repeating, <HI>lex loquitur linguam filiorum hominum,</HI> God &s;peakes mans language, that is, &s;o, as that he would be under&s;tood by man. Therefore to God, who alwayes fills all places, are there divers Po&s;itions, and Motions, and Tran&s;itions a&s;cribed in Scriptures. In divers places is God &s;aid to &s;it; <HI>Sedet Rex, The Lord &s;itteth King for ever.</HI> How&s;oever the Kings of the earth be troubled, and ray&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 29.10.</NOTE> and throwne downe againe, and troubled, and rai&s;ed, and throwne downe by him, yet the Lord &s;itteth King for ever. <HI>Habitat in Coelis,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102.13.</NOTE> and yet <HI>&s;edet in circu|lis terrae,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>E&s;ay, The Lord dwelleth in the heavens,</HI> and yet hee <HI>&s;its upon the compa&s;&s;e of this earth:</HI> Where no earth-quake &s;hakes his &s;eat;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 40.22.</NOTE> for <HI>&s;edet in confu&s;ione</HI> (as one Tran&s;lation reads that place, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 29.10.) <HI>The Lord &s;itteth upon the flood,</HI> (&s;o wee reade it) what confu&s;ions &s;oever di&s;order the world, what floods &s;oever &s;urround and overflow the world, the Lord &s;its &s;afe. Other phra&s;es there are of like denotation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 26.21.</NOTE> <HI>Exit de loco, Behold the Lord commeth out of his place;</HI> that is, he produces, and brings to light, things which he kept &s;ecret before. And &s;o, <HI>Revertar ad locum, I will goe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;e. 5.15.</NOTE> <HI>and returne to my place;</HI> that is, I will withdraw the light of my countenance, my pre&s;ence, my pro|vidence from them. So that heaven is his place, and then is he &s;aid to come to us, when he manife&s;ts him&s;elf unto us in any new manner of working. In &s;uch a &s;en&s;e was God come to us, when he &s;aid, <HI>I lift up my hands to heaven, and &s;ay, I live for ever.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 52.40.</NOTE> Where was God when he lifted up his hands to heaven? Here, here upon earth, with us, in his Church, for our a&s;&s;urance, and our e&s;tabli&s;hment, making that prote&s;tation (denoted in the lifting up of his hands to heaven) that he lived for ever, that he was the everliving God, and that therefore we need feare nothing. God is &s;o omnipre&s;ent, as that the Ubi|quitary will needs have the body of God every where: &s;o omnipre&s;ent, as that the Stan|cari&s;t will needs have God not only to be in every thing, but to be every thing, that God is an Angelin an Angel, and a &s;tone in a &s;tone, and a &s;traw in a &s;traw. But God is truly &s;o omnipre&s;ent, as that he is with us before he comes to us: <HI>Q<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">id peto ut venias in me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>qui non e&s;&s;em, &s;i non e&s;&s;es in me?</HI> why doe I pray that thou would&s;t come into me, who could not only not pray, but could not bee, if thou wert not in me before? But his com|ming in this Text, is a new act of particular mercy, and therefore a new way of com|ming. What way? by a&s;&s;uming our nature in the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin. That that <HI>Paradoxa virgo,</HI> (as <HI>Amelberga</HI> the wife of one of the Earls of Flanders, who lived continently even in mariage, and is therfore called <HI>Paradoxa virgo,</HI> a Virgin beyond opinion) that this mo&s;t
<PB N="68" REF="52">ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> &s;hould not only have a Son, (for <HI>Manes,</HI> the Patriarch of that great Sect of Heretiques, the Manichees, boa&s;ted him&s;elfe to be the &s;on of a Virgin, and &s;ome ca&s;ui&s;ts in the Romane Church have ventured to &s;ay, that by the practice and interven|tion of the devill there may be a childe, and yet both parents, father and mother remain Virgins) But that this Son of this ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, &s;hould al&s;o be the Son of the eternall God, this is &s;uch a comming of him who was here before, as that if it had not ari&s;en in his own goodne&s;&s;e, no man would ever have thought of it, no man might ever have wi&s;h|ed, or prayed for &s;uch a comming, that the only Son of God &s;hould come to die for all the &s;ons of men.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> For <HI>Aliud e&s;t h&icirc;c e&s;&s;e, aliud h&icirc;c tibi e&s;&s;e;</HI> It is one thing for God to be here in the world, another thing to be come hither for thy &s;ake, born of a woman for thy &s;alvation. And this is the fir&s;t act of his mercy wrapped up in this word, <HI>Veni, I came,</HI> I who was alwayes pre&s;ent, &s;tudied a new way of comming, I who never went from thee, came again to thee.</P>
<P>The other act of his mercy enwrapped in this word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Veni actu.</NOTE> <HI>veni, I came,</HI> is this, that he that came to the old world but in promi&s;es, and prophecies, and figures, is actually, really, per&s;onally, and pre&s;entially come to us; of which difference, that man will have the be&s;t &s;en&s;e, who langui&s;hes under the heavy expectation of a rever&s;ion, in office, or inhe|ritance, or hath felt the joy of comming to the actuall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of &s;uch a rever&s;ion. Chri&s;t was the Lamb &s;lain from the beginning of the world; appointed for a Sacrifice from that fir&s;t promi&s;e of a Me&s;&s;ias in Paradi&s;e long before that; from all eternity. For, when&s;oever the election of the elect was, (date it when you will) Chri&s;t was at that ele|ction; and not only as the &s;econd per&s;on in the Trinity, as God, but Chri&s;t con&s;idered as man, and as the propitiation and &s;acrifice for man; for who&s;oever was elected, was elected in Chri&s;t. Chri&s;t was alwayes come in Gods purpo&s;e; and early come in Gods promi&s;e; and continually comming in the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of the Prophets; with &s;uch a con|fidence, as that one of them &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.6.</NOTE> <HI>Puer datus, filius natus, A childe is given unto us, a Son is born unto us;</HI> Born and given already; becau&s;e the purpo&s;e of God, in which he was born, cannot be di&s;appointed; the promi&s;e of God, by which he was given, cannot be fru&s;trated; the Prophets of God, by whom he was pre&s;ented, cannot be mi&s;taken. But yet, &s;till it was a future thing. Chri&s;t is often called <HI>the Expectation of the world;</HI> but it was all that while, but an Expectation, but a rever&s;ion of a future thing. So God fed that old world with expectation of future things, as that that very name by which God noti|fied him&s;elf mo&s;t to that people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.14.</NOTE> in his commi&s;&s;ion by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> was a future name; how&s;oever our Tran&s;lations and Expo&s;itions run upon the pre&s;ent, as though God had &s;aid <HI>Qui &s;um,</HI> my name is <HI>I am,</HI> yet in truth it is <HI>Qui ero, my name is I &s;hall be.</HI> They had evidences enow that God was; but God was plea&s;ed to e&s;tabli&s;h in them an a&s;&s;urance that he would be &s;o &s;till; and not only be &s;o &s;till as he was then; but that hee would be &s;o with them hereafter as he was never yet, he would be <HI>Immanuel, God with us</HI> &s;o, as that God and man &s;hould be one per&s;on. It was then a faire a&s;&s;urance, and a ble&s;&s;ed comfort which the children of I&s;rael had in that of <HI>Zechary,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 9.9.</NOTE> <HI>Ecce venit rex, Re|joyce ye daughters of Sion, and &s;hout ye daughters of Ieru&s;alem, Behold thy King commeth ri|ding unto thee, upon an A&s;&s;e.</HI> But yet this a&s;&s;urance, though delivered as in the pre&s;ent, produced not tho&s;e acclamations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21.9.</NOTE> and recognitions, and Ho&s;annaes, and Ho&s;anna in the highe&s;t, to the Son of <HI>David,</HI> as his per&s;onall, and actuall, and vi&s;ible riding into Jeru&s;a|lem upon Palme-Sunday did. Amoug&s;t the Jews there was light enough to di&s;cern this future ble&s;&s;ing, this comming of Chri&s;t; but they dur&s;t not open it, nor publi&s;h it to o|thers. We &s;ee the Jews would dye in defence of any part of their Law, were it but the Ceremoniall; were it but for the not eating of Swines fle&s;h; what un&s;ufferable torments &s;uffered the &s;even brothers in the <HI>Maccabees,</HI> for that? But yet we never finde that any of them dyed, or expo&s;ed them&s;elves to the danger, or to the dignity of Martyrdome for this Doctrine of the Me&s;&s;ias, this future comming of Chri&s;t. Nay, we finde that the Septuagint, who fir&s;t tran&s;lated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, for King <HI>Ptolome,</HI> di&s;|gui&s;ed divers places thereof, and departed from the Originall, rather then propo&s;e this future comming of the Son of God to the interpretation of the world. A little Candle they had for them&s;elves, but they dur&s;t not light anothers Candle at it. So al&s;o &s;ome of the more &s;peculative Philo&s;ophers had got &s;ome beames of this light, but becau&s;e they &s;aw it would not be beleeved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De verarelg. <HI>cap. 4.</HI></NOTE> they let it alone, they &s;aid little of it. Hence is it that S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>&s;i Platonici revivi&s;cerent,</HI> if <HI>Plato</HI> and his Di&s;ciples &s;hould ri&s;e from the
<PB N="69" REF="52">dead, and come now into our &s;treets, and &s;ee tho&s;e great Congregations, which thru&s;t and throng every Sabbath, and every day of holy convocation, to the wor&s;hip of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>Hoc forta&s;&s;e dicerent,</HI> This it is likely they would &s;ay, &s;ayes he, <HI>Haec &s;unt, quae populis per&s;uadere non au&s;i, con&s;aetudini ce&s;simus,</HI> This is that religion, which becau&s;e it con&s;i&s;ted &s;o much in future things, we dur&s;t not propo&s;e to the people, but were fain to leave them to tho&s;e pre&s;ent, and &s;en&s;ible, and vi&s;ible things, to which they had been accu&s;tomed before, le&s;t when we had &s;haked them in their old religion, we &s;hould not be able to &s;ettle, and e&s;tabli&s;h them in the new; And, as in civill government, a Tyranny is better then an Anarchy, a hard King better then none, &s;o when we con&s;i|der religions, Idolatry is better then Athei&s;me, and &s;uper&s;tition better then profanene&s;&s;e. Not that the Idolater &s;hall any more be &s;aved then the Athei&s;t; but that the Idolater having been accu&s;tomed to &s;ome &s;en&s;e and wor&s;hip of God (of God in his e&s;timation) is therefore apter to receive religious impre&s;&s;ions, then the Athei&s;t is. In this then con|&s;i&s;ts this &s;econd act of Chri&s;ts mercy to us in this word <HI>veni,</HI> I am actually, really, per|&s;onally, pre&s;entially come, that tho&s;e types and figures and &s;acrifices, which repre&s;ented Chri&s;t to the old world, were not more vi&s;ible to the eye, more palpable to the hand, more obvious to the very bodily &s;en&s;es, that Chri&s;t him&s;elf hath been &s;ince to us. There|fore S. <HI>Iohn</HI> does not only re&s;t in that, <HI>That which was from the beginning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 1.1.</NOTE> (Chri&s;t was al|wayes in purpo&s;e, in prophecy, in promi&s;e) nor in that, <HI>That which we have heard,</HI> (the world heard of Chri&s;t long before they &s;aw him) but he proceeds to that, <HI>That which we have &s;een, and looked upon with our eyes, and handled with our hands, that declare we unto you.</HI> So that we are now delivered from that jealou&s;ie that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed tho&s;e Septuagint, tho&s;e Tran&s;lators, that they dur&s;t not &s;peak plain, and delivered from that &s;u&s;pition that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed <HI>Plato,</HI> and his di&s;ciples, that the people were incapable of that doctrine. Wee know that Chri&s;t is come, and we avow it, and we preach it, and we affirm, that it is not onely as impious, and irreligious a thing, but as &s;en&s;le&s;&s;e, and as ab&s;urd a thing to deny that the Son of God hath redeemed the world, as to deny that God hath created the world; and that he is as formally, and as gloriou&s;ly a Martyr that dyes for this Article, The Son of God is come, as he that dyes for this, There is a God. And the&s;e two acts of his mer|cy, enwrapped in this one word, <HI>veni, I came,</HI> (fir&s;t, that he who is alwayes pre&s;ent, out of an abundant love to man, &s;tudied a new way of comming, and then, that he who was but betrothed to the old world by way of promi&s;e, is married to us by an actuall com|ming) will be farther explicated to us, in that, which only remaines and con&s;titutes our third, and la&s;t part, the end and purpo&s;e of his comming, <HI>That they might have life, and might have it more abundantly.</HI> And though this la&s;t part put forth many handles, wee can but take them by the hand, and &s;hake them by the hand, that is, open them, and &s;o leave them.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then in this la&s;t part, we con&s;ider the gift it &s;elf, the trea&s;ure, Life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part. <HI>Vita.</HI></NOTE> <HI>That they might have life.</HI> Now life is the character by which Chri&s;t &s;pecificates and denominates him|&s;elfe; Life is his very name, and that name by which he con&s;ummates all his other names, <HI>I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.6.</NOTE> And therefore does <HI>Peter</HI> ju&s;tly and bitter|ly upbraid the Jews with that, <HI>Ye de&s;ired a murderer,</HI> (an enemy to life) <HI>to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life.</HI> Acts 3.14. It is an honour to any thing that it may be &s;worn by; by vulgar and triviall things men might not &s;weare,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>How &s;hall I pardon them this?</HI> &s;ayes God, <HI>They have &s;worn by things that are not gods.</HI> And therefore God, who in &s;o many places profe&s;&s;es to &s;weare by him&s;elf, and of whom the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.13.</NOTE> <HI>That be|cau&s;e he could &s;weare by no greater, he &s;wore by him&s;elfe,</HI> becau&s;e he could propo&s;e no greater thing in him&s;elf, no clearer notion of him&s;elf then life, (for his life is his eternity, and his eternity is him&s;elfe) does therefore through all the Law and the Prophets &s;till &s;weare in that form, <HI>Vivo ego, vivit Dominus, As I live, &s;aith the Lord, and as the Lord liveth;</HI> &s;till he &s;weares by his own life; As that &s;olemne Oath which is mentioned in <HI>Daniel,</HI> is conceived in that form too, <HI>He lift up his right hand and his left hand to heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 12.7.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;wore by him that liveth for ever;</HI> that is, by God, and God in that notion as he is life. All that the Queen and the Councell could wi&s;h and apprecate to the King, was but that, Life, <HI>In &s;empiternum vive, vive in aeternum, O King live for ever.</HI> God is life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 5.</NOTE> and would not the death of any. We are not &s;ure that &s;tones have not life; &s;tones may have life; neither (to &s;peak humanely) is it unrea&s;onably thought by them, that thought the whole world to be inanimated by one &s;oule, and to be one intire living creature; and in that re&s;pect
<PB N="70" REF="53">does S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> prefer a fly before the Sun,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.6.</NOTE> becau&s;e a fly hath life, and the Sun hath not. This is the wor&s;t that the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes of the young wanton widow, That <HI>if &s;he live in plea&s;ure, &s;he is dead whil&s;t &s;he lives.</HI> So is that Magi&s;trate that &s;tudies nothing but his own honour, and dignity in his place, dead in his place; And that Prie&s;t that &s;tudies nothing but his owne ea&s;e, and profit, dead in his living; And that Judge that dares not condemne a guilty per&s;on, And (which is the bolder tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion) dares condemne the innocent, deader upon the Bench, then the Pri&s;oner at the Barre; God hath included all that is good,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dcut. 30.15.</NOTE> in the name of Life, and all that is ill in the name of Death, when he &s;ayes, <HI>See, I have &s;et before thee Vitam &amp; Bonum, Life and Good, Mortem &amp; Malum, Death and Evill.</HI> This is the reward propo&s;ed to our faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>Iu&s;tus fide &s;ua vivit,</HI> To live by our faith: And this is the reward propo&s;ed to our works, <HI>Fac hoc &amp; vives,</HI> to live by our works; All is life. And this fulne&s;&s;e, this con&s;ummation of happine&s;&s;e, Life, and the life of life, &s;piritu|all life, and the exaltation of &s;pirituall life, eternall life, is the end of Chri&s;ts comming, <HI>I came that they might have life.</HI></P>
<P>And fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vt daret.</NOTE> <HI>ut daret,</HI> that he might give life, bring life into the world, that there might be life to be had, that the world might be redeemed from that lo&s;&s;e, which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes it was falne into, <HI>Perdidimus po&s;sibilitatem boni,</HI> That we had all lo&s;t all po&s;&s;ibility of life. For, the heaven and the earth, and all that the Poet would call Chaos, was not a deader lump before the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, then Mankind was, before the influence of Chri&s;ts comming wrought upon it. But now that God &s;o loved the world, as that he gave his Son, now that the Son &s;o loved the world, as that he gave him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.6.</NOTE> as <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes of the Sun of the firmament, the father of nature, <HI>Nihit ab&s;conditum,</HI> there is nothing hid from the heat thereof; &s;o we &s;ay of this Son of God, the Father of the faithfull in a far higher &s;en&s;e, then <HI>Abraham</HI> was called &s;o, <HI>Nihilab&s;con|ditum,</HI> there is nothing hid from him, no place, no per&s;on excluded from the benefit of his comming. The Son hath paid, the Father hath received enough for all; not in fingle mo|ney, for the di&s;charge of thy le&s;&s;er debts, thy idle words, thy wanton thoughts, thy un|cha&s;t looks, but in ma&s;&s;ie talents, to di&s;charge thy crying debts, the clamors of tho&s;e poore whom thou ha&s;t oppre&s;&s;ed, and thy thundring debts, tho&s;e bla&s;phemies by which thou ha&s;t torne that Father that made thee, that Sonne that redeemed thee, that boly Gho&s;t that would comfort thee.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 5.</NOTE> There is enough given; but then, as <HI>Hiram</HI> &s;ent materi|als &s;ufficient for the building of the Temple, but there was &s;omething el&s;e to be done, for the fitting, and placing thereof; &s;o there is life enough brought into the world, for all the world, by the death of Chri&s;t, but then there is &s;omething el&s;e to be done for the appli|cation of this life to particular per&s;ons, intended in this word in our Text, <HI>ut haberent, I came that they might have life.</HI></P>
<P>There is Ayre enough in the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vt haberent.</NOTE> to give breath to every thing, though every thing doe not breath. If a tree, or a &s;tone doe not breathe, it is not becau&s;e it wants ayre, but becau&s;e it wants meanes to receive it, or to returne it. All egges are not hatched that the hen &s;its upon;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 23.37.</NOTE> neither could Chri&s;t him&s;elfe get all the chickens that were hatched, to come, and to &s;tay under his wings. That man that is blinde, or that will winke, &s;hall &s;ee no more &s;unne upon S. <HI>Barnabies</HI> day, then upon S. <HI>Lucies;</HI> no more in the &s;ummer, then in the winter &s;ol&s;tice.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 130.7.</NOTE> And therefore as there is <HI>copio&s;a redemptio,</HI> a plentifull redemption brought into the world by the death of Chri&s;t, &s;o (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> found it in his particular conver&s;ion) there is <HI>copio&s;a lux,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 22.6.</NOTE> a great &amp; a powerfull light exhibited to us, that we might &s;ee, and lay hold of this life, in the Ordinances of the Church, in the Confe&s;&s;ions, and Ab&s;olutions, and Services, and Sermons, and Sacraments of the Church: Chri&s;t came <HI>ut daret,</HI> that he might bring life into the world, by his death, and then he in&s;tituted his Church, <HI>ut haberent,</HI> that by the meanes thereof this life might be infu&s;ed into us, and in|fu&s;ed &s;o, as the la&s;t word of our Text delivers it, <HI>Abundanti&ugrave;s, I came, that they might have life more abundantly.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Dignaris Domine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Abu~danti&ugrave;s. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI></NOTE> <HI>ut eis, quibus debita dimittis, te, promi&s;sionibus tuis, debitorem facias;</HI> This, O Lord, is thine abundant proceeding; Fir&s;t thou forgive&s;t me my debt to thee, and then thou make&s;t thy &s;elfe a debter to me by thy large promi&s;es; and after all, per|forme&s;t tho&s;e promi&s;es more largely then thou made&s;t them. Indeed, God can doe no|thing &s;cantly, penuriou&s;ly, &s;ingly. Even his maledictions, (to which God is ever loth to come) his fir&s;t commination was plurall, it was death, and death upon death, <HI>Morte mo|rieris.</HI> Death may be plurall; but this benediction of life cannot admit a &s;ingular; <HI>Chajim,</HI>
<PB N="71" REF="53">which is the word for <HI>life,</HI> hath no &s;ingular number. This is the difference betweene Gods Mercy, and his Judgements, that &s;ometimes his Judgements may be plurall, com|plicated, enwrapped in one another, but his Mercies are alwayes &s;o, and cannot be other|wi&s;e; he gives them <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s, more abundantly.</HI></P>
<P>More abundantly then to whom?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis, genti|bus.</NOTE> The naturall man hath the Image of God imprin|ted in his &s;oule; eternity is God him&s;elfe, man hath not that, not eternity; but the Image of eternity, that is Immortality, a po&s;t eternity there is in the &s;oule of man. And then, man is all &s;oule in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> expre&s;&s;ion; For, hee does not &s;ay that <HI>man had,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.7.</NOTE> but that <HI>man was a living &s;oule.</HI> So that the naturall man hath life more abundantly then any other creature, (how&s;oever Oakes, and Crowes, and Harts may bee &s;aid to out-live him) becau&s;e he hath a life after this life. But Chri&s;t came to give life more abundantly then this.</P>
<P>That he did, when he came to the Jews in promi&s;es, in Types, and Figures, and Sa|crifices:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis, Iudaeis.</NOTE> He gave life more abundantly to the Jew, then to the Gentile, becau&s;e he gave him better meanes to pre&s;erve that life, better meanes to illu&s;trate that Image of God in his &s;oule, that is, to make his Immortality Immortall happine&s;&s;e, (for otherwi&s;e our Immortality were our greate&s;t cur&s;e) better meanes to conforme him&s;elfe to God, by having a particular Law for the direction of all his actions, which the Gentiles had not. For, therein e&s;pecially con&s;i&s;ted the abundant favour of God to the Jews, as it is expre&s;|&s;ed by <HI>Mo&s;es, Vnto what Nation are their gods come &s;o neare unto them, as the Lord our God is come unto us?</HI> And in what con&s;i&s;ted this nearne&s;&s;e? In this, <HI>What Nation hath Lawes and Statutes &s;o righteous as we have?</HI> God gave man life more abundantly then other creatures, becau&s;e he gave him Immortality; God gave the Jews life more abundantly then other men, by giving them a Law to make their Immortality Immortall happine&s;&s;e, and yet there is a further <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> Chri&s;t came to give us, us Chri&s;tians, life more abundantly then Gentile, or Jew.</P>
<P><HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr</HI> denies, that ever any under&s;tood the true God, till Chri&s;t came.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illis, Chri|&s;tianis.</NOTE> He goes upon the &s;ame ground that S. <HI>Paul</HI> does, <HI>Whil&s;t you were without Chri&s;t, you were without God;</HI> that is, without &s;uch an evidence, &s;uch a manife&s;tation, &s;uch an a&s;&s;urance of God, as faith requires, or as produces faith. For, the Ceremoniall Lawes of the Jewes ca&s;t as many &s;hadowes as it did lights, and burdened them in ea&s;ing them. Whereas the Chri|&s;tian Religion, is; as <HI>Greg. Nazianz.</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Simplex &amp; nuda, ni&s;i prav&egrave; in artem difficili|mam converteretur:</HI> It is a plaine, an ea&s;ie, a per&s;picuous truth, but that the perver&s;e and uncharitable wranglings of pa&s;&s;ionate and froward men, have made Religion a hard, an intricate, and a perplexed art; &s;o that now, that Religion, which carnall and worldly men, have, by an ill life, di&s;credited, and made hard to be beleeved, the pa&s;&s;ion, and per|ver&s;ne&s;&s;e of Schoole-men, by Controver&s;ies, hath made hard to bee under&s;tood. Whereas the Chri&s;tian Religion, is of it &s;elfe <HI>Iugum&s;uave,</HI> a &s;weet, and an ea&s;ie yoak, and <HI>verbum abbreviatum,</HI> an abridgement and a contracted doctrine; for, where the Jews had all abridged in <HI>decem verba</HI> (as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> calls the ten Commandements, <HI>ten words</HI>) the Chri|&s;tian hath all abridged in <HI>duo verba,</HI> into two words, <HI>love God, love thy neighbour.</HI> So Chri&s;t hath given us, us Chri&s;tians life <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> more abundantly then to the Gen tile, or to the Jew; but there is a farther abundance yet; all this is but <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s illis,</HI> more abundantly then to others, but Chri&s;t hath given us life <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s ip&s;is,</HI> more abundantly then to our &s;elves.</P>
<P>That is, in the Chri&s;tian Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Abundanti&ugrave;s ip&s;is.</NOTE> he hath given us meanes to be better to day then ye&s;terday, and to morrow then to day. That grace which God offers us in the Church, does not onely fill that capacity, which we have, but give us a greater capacity then we had: And it is an abu&s;e of Gods grace, not to emprove it, or not to procure &s;uch farther grace, as that pre&s;ent grace makes us capable of. As it is an improvident, and dangerous thing to &s;pend upon the &s;tock, &s;o is it to rely upon that portion of grace, which I thinke I had in my election, or that mea&s;ure of Sanctification, which I came to in my la&s;t &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e. Chri&s;t gives us life <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s illis,</HI> better meanes of eternall life then to Gentile or Jew, and <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s ip&s;is;</HI> better, that is, nearer a&s;&s;urance, in our growth of grace, and encrea&s;e of Sanctification every day, then in the con&s;ideration of any thing done by God, in our behalfe, heretofore.</P>
<P>Now, with the&s;e abundances (in which, we exceed <HI>illos,</HI> and <HI>ip&s;os,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;ta.</NOTE> others and our &s;elves) Chri&s;t comes to us, in this, that he hath con&s;tituted, and e&s;tabli&s;hed a Church;
<PB N="72" REF="54">and therefore wee con&s;ider his abundant proceeding in that work. From this day, in which, the fir&s;t &s;tone of that building, the Church, was laid, (for, though the foundati|ons of the Church were laid in Eternity, yet, that was under ground, the fir&s;t &s;tone above ground, that is, the manife&s;tation of Gods purpo&s;e to the world was laid this day, in Chri&s;ts birth) from this day, the Incarnation of Chri&s;t, (for, of all tho&s;e names, by which the ancients de&s;igne this day, <HI>Chri&s;tmas</HI> day, <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> calling it the Sub&s;tanti|ation of Chri&s;t; <HI>Tertullian,</HI> the Incorporation of Chri&s;t; <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI> the Humanation of Chri&s;t; Of all tho&s;e fifty names, which are collected out of the Fathers, for this day, mo&s;t concurre in that name, The Incarnation of Chri&s;t) from this day, God proceeded &s;o abundantly in enlarging his Church, as that, within two hundred yeares, <HI>Tertullian</HI> was able to &s;ay, <HI>Ip&s;a ho&s;pitalia aegrorum,</HI> The very ho&s;pitals of the Chri&s;tians are more and more &s;umptuou&s;ly built, and more richly endowed, then the very Temples of the Idols, or then the Palaces of Idolatrous Princes. And &s;till <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> not to compare onely with Idolaters, but with the Jews them&s;elves, and with them, in that wherein they mag|nified them&s;elves mo&s;t, their Temple. That Church, which <HI>Iu&s;tinian</HI> the Emperour built at <HI>Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and dedicated to <HI>Sophia,</HI> to the wi&s;edome of God, (and the wi&s;edome of God is Chri&s;t, <HI>Chri&s;t is the Power of God, and the Wi&s;edome of God,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1.24) is found by them, who have written that &s;tory, in bigne&s;&s;e, and in beauty, to have exceeded <HI>So|lomons</HI> Temple: Though in that, there were employed for many yeares, thirty thou&s;and Carpenters, and forty thou&s;and Ma&s;ons, and (other endowments of rich ve&s;&s;ell being proportionable to it) more then twenty thou&s;and Bowls, and Goblets of gold, and &s;ilver, yet <HI>Iu&s;tinians</HI> Church at <HI>Con&s;tantinople</HI> exceeded that: Unto the riches of this wi&s;edome of God, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, flowed all the trea&s;ure of the World, and upon this Wi&s;edome of God, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, waited all the wi&s;edome of the World. For, at that time, when Chri&s;t came into the world, was learning at that heighth, as that accounting from <HI>Cicero</HI> and <HI>Virgil,</HI> (two great Ma&s;ters in two great kindes) to the two <HI>Plinies,</HI> (which may &s;hut up one age) we may reckon in that one &s;tate, under who&s;e government Chri&s;t was born, <HI>Rome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.24.</NOTE> &s;eaven or eight &s;core Authors, more then ever they had before or after. <HI>This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoyce, and be glad in it.</HI> And as <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> or|dained, that upon this day, the Church &s;hould burne no Oyle, but Bal&s;amum in her Lamps, &s;o let us ever celebrate this day, with a thankfull acknowledgment, that Chri&s;t, who is <HI>unctus Domini,</HI> The Anointed of the Lord, hath anointed us with the Oyle of gladne&s;&s;e above our fellowes, and given us life more abundantly then others, in making us partakers of the&s;e meanes of &s;alvation in his Church.</P>
<P>But I bring it clo&s;er then &s;o; now, and here, within the&s;e wals, and at this houre, comes Chri&s;t unto you, in the offer of this abundance; and with what penuriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, penuri|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e of devotion, penuriou&s;ne&s;&s;e of reverence do you meet him here? <HI>Deus &s;tetit,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 82.1.</NOTE> <HI>God &s;tandeth in the Congregation;</HI> does God &s;tand there, and wilt thou &s;it? &s;it, and never kneele? I would &s;peake &s;o, as the congregation &s;hould not know whom I meane; but &s;o, as that they whom it concernes, might know I meane them; I would &s;peake: for, I mu&s;t &s;ay, that there come &s;ome per&s;ons to this Church, and per&s;ons of example to many that come with them, of whom, (excepting &s;ome few, who mu&s;t therefore have their prai&s;e from us, as, no doubt, they have their thanks and ble&s;&s;ings from God) I never &s;aw Ma&s;ter nor &s;ervant kneele, at his comming into this Church, or at any part of divine &s;ervice. <HI>David</HI> had &s;uch a zeale to Gods &s;ervice, as that he was con|tent to be thought a foole, for his humility towards the Arke. S. <HI>Paul</HI> was content to be thought mad; &s;o was our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour him&s;elfe, not onely by his enemies, but by his owne friends and kinsfolke.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 10.20. Mar. 3.21.</NOTE> Indeed, the roote of that word <HI>Tehillim,</HI> which is the name of the P&s;almes, and of all cheerefull and hearty &s;ervice of God, is <HI>Halal,</HI> and <HI>Halal</HI> is <HI>In&s;anire, To fall mad;</HI> And, if humility in the &s;ervice of God here, be madne&s;&s;e, I would more of us were more out of our wits, then we are; I would all our Churches were, to that purpo&s;e, Bedlams. S. <HI>Hieroms</HI> rule is not onely <HI>frequenter orandum,</HI> to come often to prayers, but <HI>Flexo corpore orandum,</HI> to declare an inward humiliation by an outward. As our comming to Church is a te&s;tification, a profe&s;&s;ion of our religion, to te&s;tifie our fall in <HI>Adam,</HI> the Church appoints us to fall upon our knees; and to te&s;tifie our Re&s;urre|ction in Chri&s;t Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Mar.</NOTE> the Church hath appointed certaine times, to &s;tand: But no man is &s;o left to his liberty, as never to kneele. <HI>Genuflexio e&s;t peccatorum,</HI> kneeling is the &s;inners po&s;ture; if thou come hither in the quality of a &s;inner, (and, if thou do not &s;o, what doe&s;t
<PB N="75" REF="54">thou here, the whole need not the Phy&s;itian) put thy &s;elfe into the po&s;ture of a &s;inner, kneele. We are very far from enjoyning any one con&s;tant forme to be alwaies ob&s;erved by all men; we onely direct you, by that good rule of S. <HI>Bernard, Habe reverentiam Deo, ut quod pluris e&s;t ei tribuas.</HI> Doe but remember, with what reverence thou came&s;t into thy Ma&s;ters pre&s;ence, when thou wa&s;t a &s;ervant, with what reverence thou came&s;t to the Councell table, or to the Kings pre&s;ence, if thou have beene called occa&s;ionally to tho&s;e high places; and <HI>Quod plur is e&s;t,</HI> &s;uch reverence, as thou gave&s;t to them there, be content to afford to God here. That Sacrifice that &s;truggled at the Altar, the Ancients would not accept for a Sacrifice; But Cae&s;ar would not forbeare a &s;acrifice for &s;truggling, but &s;acrificed it for all that. He that &s;truggles, and murmures at this in&s;truction, this increpa|tion, is the le&s;&s;e fit for a &s;acrifice to God, for that; But the zeale that I bear to Gods hou&s;e, puts &s;o much of Cae&s;ars courage into mee, as, for all that &s;truggling, to &s;ay now, and to repeat as often as I &s;ee that irreverence continued, to the mo&s;t impatient &s;truggler, <HI>Deus &s;tetit, God &s;tands in the Congregation,</HI> and wilt thou &s;it; &s;it, and never kneele? <HI>Venite,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David, Let us come</HI> hither, let us be here; what to doe? <HI>Venite adoremus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 95.6.</NOTE> <HI>Let us come and wor&s;hip;</HI> How? will not the heart &s;erve? no; <HI>Adoremus &amp; procidamus, Let us fall downe, and kneele before the Lord our Maker.</HI> Humiliation is the beginning of &s;anctification; and as without this, without holine&s;&s;e, no man &s;hall &s;ee God, though he pore whole nights upon the Bible; &s;o without that, without humility, no man &s;hall heare God &s;peake to his &s;oule, though hee heare three two-houres Sermons every day. But if God bring thee to that humiliation of &s;oule and body here, hee will emprove, and advance thy &s;anctifi|cation <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> more abundantly, and when he hath brought it to the be&s;t perfection, that this life is capable of, he will provide another <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> another maner of abun|dance in the life to come; which is the la&s;t beating of the pul&s;e of this text, the la&s;t panting of the breath thereof, our anhelation, and panting after the joyes, and glory, and eternity of the kingdome of Heaven; of which, though, for the mo&s;t part, I u&s;e to di&s;mi&s;&s;e you, with &s;aying &s;omething, yet it is alwaies little that I can &s;ay thereof; at this time, but this, that if all the joyes of all the Martyrs, from <HI>Abel</HI> t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> him that groanes now in the Inqui&s;ition, were conden&s;ed into one body of joy, (and certainly the joyes that the Mar|tyrs felt at their deaths, would make up a far greater body, then their &s;orrowes would doe,) (for though it bee &s;aid of our great Martyr, or great Witne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 1.5.</NOTE> (as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> calls Chri&s;t Je&s;us) to whom, all other Martyrs are but &s;ub-martyrs, witne&s;&s;es that te&s;tifie his te&s;timony, <HI>Non dolor &s;icut dolor ejus,</HI> there was never &s;orrow like unto his &s;orrow,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 3.12. Heb. 12.2.</NOTE> it is al&s;o true, <HI>Non gaudium &s;icut gaudium ejus,</HI> There was never joy like unto that joy which was &s;et before him, when he endured the cro&s;&s;e;) If I had all this joy of all the&s;e Mar|tyrs, (which would, no doubt, be &s;uch a joy, as would worke a liquefaction, a melting of my bowels) yet I &s;hall have it <HI>abundanti&ugrave;s,</HI> a joy more abundant, then even this &s;uperla|tive joy, in the world to come. What a dimme ve&s;pers of a glorious fe&s;tivall, what a poore halfe-holyday, is <HI>Methu&s;alems</HI> nine hundred yeares, to eternity? what a poore account hath that man made, that &s;aies, this land hath beene in my name, and in my An|ce&s;tors from the Conque&s;t? what a ye&s;terday is that? not &s;ix hundred yeares. If I could beleeve the tran&s;migration of &s;oules, and thinke that my &s;oule had beene &s;ucce&s;&s;ively in &s;ome creature or other, &s;ince the Creation, what a ye&s;terday is that? not &s;ix thou&s;and yeares. What a ye&s;terday for the pa&s;t, what a to morrow for the future, is any terme, that can be comprehendred in Cyphar or Counters? But as, how abundant a life &s;oever any man hath in this world for temporall abundances, I have life more abundantly then hee, if I have the &s;pirituall life of grace, &s;o what mea&s;ure &s;oever I have of this &s;piri|tuall life of grace, in this world, I &s;hall have that more abundantly in Heaven, for there, my terme &s;hall bee a terme for three lives; for tho&s;e three, that as long as the Father, and the Son, and the holy Gho&s;t live, I &s;hall not dye. And to this glorious Son of God, and the mo&s;t almighty Father, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="Candlemas" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="55">
<PB REF="55">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon Candlemas-day.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="56">
<PB N="77" REF="56">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON VIII.</HI> Preached upon Candlemas Day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 5.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Fa|ther which is in heaven.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_EIther of the names of this day, were Text enough for a Sermon, Purificati|on, or Candlemas. Joyne we them together, and rai&s;e we only this one note from both, that all true purification is in the light; corner purity, clan|de&s;tine purity, conventicle purity is not purity. <HI>Chri&s;t gave him&s;elf for us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 2.14.</NOTE> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>that he might purifie to him&s;elf a peculiar people.</HI> How &s;hall this purification appeare? It follows; <HI>They &s;hall be zealous of good works;</HI> They &s;hall not wrangle about faith and works, but be actually zealous of goods works. For, purifi|cation was accompanied with an oblation, &s;omething was to be given; A Lamb, a Dove,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 12.6.</NOTE> a Turtle; All, emblemes of mildne&s;&s;e; true purity is milde, meek, humble, and to de|&s;pi&s;e and undervalue others, is an in&s;eparable mark of fal&s;e purity. The oblation of this dayes purification is light: &s;o the day names it, Candlemas-day, &s;o your cu&s;tome cele|brates it, with many lights. Now, when God received lights into his Tabernacle, hee received none of Tallow, (the Oxe hath hornes) he received none of Waxe, (the Bee hath his &s;ting) but he received only lampes of oyle. And, though from many fruits and berries they pre&s;&s;ed oyle, yet God admitted no oyle into the &s;ervice of the Church, but only of the Olive; the Olive, the embleme of peace. Our purification is with an ob|lation, our oblation is light, our light is good works; our peace is rather to exhort you to them, then to in&s;titute any &s;olemne, or other then occa&s;ionall compari&s;on between faith and them. Every good work hath faith for the roote; but every faith hath not good works for the fruit thereof. And it is ob&s;ervable, that in all this great Sermon of our Saviours in the Mount, (which po&s;&s;e&s;&s;eth this, and the two next Chapters) there is no mention of faith, by way of per&s;wa&s;ion or exhortation thereunto, but the whole Sermon is &s;pent upon good works. For, good works pre&s;uppo&s;e faith;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.30.</NOTE> and therefore he concludes that they had but little faith, becau&s;e they were &s;o &s;olicitous about the things of this world, <HI>O ye of little faith.</HI> And as Chri&s;t concludes an un&s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e in their faith, out of their &s;olicitude for this world, &s;o may the world ju&s;tly conclude an e|&s;tabli&s;hment in their faith, if they &s;ee them exerci&s;e them&s;elves in the works of mercy, and &s;o <HI>let their light &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee their good works, and glorifie their Fa|ther which is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e are words &s;poken by our Saviour to his Di&s;ciples in the Mount;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> a trea&s;ure de|po&s;ited in tho&s;e di&s;ciples, but in tho&s;e di&s;ciples, as depo&s;itaries for us; an Oracle uttered to tho&s;e di&s;ciples, but through tho&s;e di&s;ciples to us; Paradi&s;e convayed to tho&s;e di&s;ci|ples, but to tho&s;e di&s;ciples, as feoffees in tru&s;t for us; to every one of us, in them (from
<PB N="78" REF="57">him, that rides with his hundreds of Torches, to him that crawles with his ru&s;h-candle) our Saviour &s;ayes, <HI>Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men, that they may &s;ee your good works, &amp;c.</HI> The words have two parts; &s;o mu&s;t our explication of them; fir&s;t a precept, <HI>Sic luce|at, (Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men)</HI> and then the rea&s;on, the purpo&s;e, the end, the effect, <HI>ut videant, (that men may &s;ee your good works, and &amp;c.)</HI> From the fir&s;t bough will divers branches &s;pring, and divers from the other; all of good ta&s;te and nouri&s;hment, if wee might &s;tay to pre&s;&s;e the fruits thereof. We cannot; yet, in the fir&s;t we &s;hall in&s;i&s;t a while upon each of the&s;e three; Fir&s;t, the light it &s;elf, what that is, <HI>Sic luceat lux, Let your light &s;o &s;hine;</HI> And then, &s;econdly, what this propriety is, <HI>lux ve&s;tra,</HI> (let <HI>your light</HI> &s;hine, <HI>yours;</HI>) And la&s;tly what this emanation of this light upon others is, <HI>coram homini|bus,</HI> (let your light &s;hine <HI>before men.</HI>) The &s;econd part, which is the rea&s;on, or the effect of this precept, <HI>ut videant, (that men may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in heaven)</HI> abounds in particular con&s;iderations; and I &s;hould weary you, if I &s;hould make you &s;tand all the while under &s;o heavy a load, as to charge your memories with all tho&s;e particulars, &s;o long before I come to handle them. Re&s;erving them therefore to their due time, anon, proceed we now to the three branches of our fir&s;t part, fir&s;t the light in it &s;elf, then the propriety in us, la&s;tly, the emanation upon others, <HI>Let your light &s;o &s;hine before men.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Lux.</HI> John 1.9.</NOTE> for the light it &s;elf, There is a light that lightneth every man that commeth into the world. And, even this univer&s;all light is Chri&s;t, &s;ayes S. <HI>Iohn, (He was that light that lighteth every man that commeth into the world.)</HI> And this univer&s;all enunciation, <HI>(He lightneth every man)</HI> moved S. <HI>Cyril</HI> to take this light for the light of nature, and naturall rea&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.3. Colo&s;. 1.16.</NOTE> For even nature and naturall rea&s;on is from Chri&s;t. <HI>All things were made by him,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> even nature it &s;elf. And, <HI>By him, and for him, all things vi&s;ible, and invi&s;i|ble were created,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle. And therefore our latter men of the Reformation, are not to be blamed, who for the mo&s;t part, pur&s;uing S. <HI>Cyrils</HI> interpretation, interpret this univer&s;all light, <HI>that lightneth every man,</HI> to be the light of nature. Divers others of the Fathers take this univer&s;all light (becau&s;e Chri&s;t is &s;aid to be this light) to be Bapti&s;me. For, in the primitive Church, as the Nativity of Chri&s;t was called the Epiphany, Mani|fe&s;tation, &s;o Bapti&s;me was called Illumination. And &s;o, Chri&s;t lightens every man that comes into the world, (that is, into the Chri&s;tian world) by that Sacrament of Illumina|tion, Bapti&s;me. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> brought the expo&s;ition of that univer&s;all propo&s;ition into a narrow roome; That he enlightned all that came into the world, that is, all that were enlightned in the world, were enlightned by him; there was no other light; and &s;o he makes this light to be the light of faith, and the light of effectuall grace, which all have not, but they that have, have it from Chri&s;t. Now which of the&s;e lights is intended in our Text, <HI>Let you light &s;hine out?</HI> is it of the light of nature, at our comming into the world, or the light of Bapti&s;me, and that generall grace that accompanies all Gods Or|dinances, at our comming into the Church, or the light of faith, and particular grace, &s;ealing our adoption, and &s;pirituall filiation there? Properly, our light is none of the&s;e three; and yet it is truly, all; for our light is the light of good works; and that light pro|ceeds from all the other three, and &s;o is all tho&s;e, and then it goes beyond all three, and &s;o is none of them. It proceeds from all; for, if we con&s;ider the fir&s;t light, the light of nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.10.</NOTE> in our creation, <HI>We are</HI> (&s;ayes the Apo&s;tle) <HI>his workman&s;hip, created in Chri&s;t Ie&s;us unto good works.</HI> So that we were all made for that, for good works; even the naturall man, by that fir&s;t light. Con&s;ider it in the &s;econd light, in bapti&s;me; there we dye in Chri&s;t, and are buried in Chri&s;t, and ri&s;e in Chri&s;t, and in him we are new creatures, and with him we make a covenant in bapti&s;me, for holine&s;&s;e of life, which is the body of good works. Con&s;ider the third, that of faith, and as every thing in nature is, &s;o faith is perfected by working;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 2.26.</NOTE> for, <HI>faith is dead,</HI> without breath, without &s;pirit, if it be <HI>without workes.</HI> So, this light is in all tho&s;e lights; we are created, we are baptized, we are ado|pted for good works; and it is beyond them all, even that of faith; for, though faith have a preheminence, becau&s;e works grow out of it, and &s;o faith (as the root) is fir&s;t, yet works have the preheminence thus, both that they include faith in them, and that they dilate, and diffu&s;e, and &s;pread them&s;elves more declaratorily, then faith doth. There|fore, as our Saviour &s;aid to &s;ome that asked him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.28.</NOTE> <HI>What &s;hall we do that we might work the work of God?</HI> (you &s;ee their minde was upon works, &s;omething they were &s;ure was to be done) <HI>This is the work of God, that ye beleeve in him whom he hath &s;ent,</HI> and &s;o refers them
<PB N="79" REF="57">to faith, &s;o to another that asks him, <HI>What &s;hall I do, that I may have eternall life?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.16.</NOTE> (all goe upon that, that &s;omething there mu&s;t be done, works there mu&s;t be) Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Keepe the Commandements,</HI> and &s;o refers him to works. <HI>He hath &s;hewed thee O man, what is good,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 6.8.</NOTE> <HI>and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do ju&s;tly, and to &s;hew mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?</HI> This then is the light that lighteth every man that goes out of the world, <HI>good works;</HI> for, <HI>their works follow them.</HI> Their works; they &s;hall be theirs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 14.13.</NOTE> even after their death; which is our &s;econd branch in this fir&s;t part, the propriety, <HI>lux ve&s;tra,</HI> let <HI>your light</HI> &s;hine.</P>
<P>I cannot alwaies call the works that I do, my works; for &s;ometimes God works them,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Proprietas ve&s;tra.</HI> E&s;ay 28.21.</NOTE> and &s;ometimes the devill: Sometimes God works his owne worke, <HI>The Lord will do his worke, his &s;trange worke, and bring to pa&s;&s;e his act, his &s;trange act.</HI> Sometimes he works my works, <HI>Thou Lord ha&s;t wrought all our workes in us.</HI> In us, and in all things el&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 26.12. 1 Cor. 12.6. Ephe&s;. 1.11. E&s;ay 43.13. Rom. 7.15.</NOTE> <HI>Operatur omnia in omnibus,</HI> he worketh all in all. And all this in all the&s;e, <HI>Secundum con&s;ilium vo|luntatis &s;uae,</HI> After the coun&s;aile of his owne will; for, I will worke, and who &s;hall let it? But for all this his generall working, his enemy works in us too. <HI>That which I doe, I allow not,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle; nay, <HI>I know it not;</HI> for, &s;aies he, <HI>what I hate, that I doe. And, if I doe that I would not doe, it is no more I that doe it, but &s;in that dwelleth in me.</HI> Yet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 20.</NOTE> for all this diver&s;e, this contrary working, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes of the faculty of the will, <HI>Nihil tam no&s;trum, quam voluntas,</HI> there is nothing &s;o much our owne, as our will before we worke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;o there is nothing &s;o much our owne, as our workes, after they are done. They &s;tick to us, they cleave to us; whether as fomentations to nouri&s;h us, or as corra&s;ives, to gnaw upon us, that lyes in the nature of the worke; but ours they are; and upon us our works work. Our good works are more ours, then our faith is &ocirc;urs. Our faith is ours as we have received it, our worke is ours, as we have done it. Faith is ours, as we are po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors of it, the work ours, as we are doers, actors in it. Faith is ours, as our goods are ours, works, as our children are ours. And therefore when the Prophet <HI>Habakkuk</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Fide &s;ua,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>The ju&s;t &s;hall live by his faith,</HI> that particle <HI>His,</HI> is a word of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, not a word of Acqui&s;ition; That God hath infu&s;ed that faith into him, and &s;o it is his, not that he hath produced that faith in him&s;elfe. His faith mu&s;t &s;ave him, his own, and not anothers, not his parents faith, though he be the &s;on of holy parents, not the Churches faith, (if he be of yeares) though he be within the covenant, but his own per&s;onall faith; yet not his &s;o, as that it grew in him, or was produced in him, by him, by any plantation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.17. Gal. 3.11. Heb. 10.36.</NOTE> or &s;emination of his own. And therefore S. <HI>Paul</HI> in citing that place of <HI>Habakkuk</HI> (as he doth cite it three &s;e|verall times) in all tho&s;e places leaves out that particle of propriety; and acqui&s;ition, <HI>his,</HI> and &s;till &s;ayes, <HI>The ju&s;t &s;hall live by faith,</HI> and he &s;ayes no more. And when our ble&s;&s;ed Sa|viour &s;ayes to the woman with the bloody i&s;&s;ue, <HI>Fides tua, Daughter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 5.34.</NOTE> <HI>thy faith hath made thee whole,</HI> it was &s;aid then, when he had &s;een that woman come trembling and fall down at his feet; he &s;aw outward declarations of her faith, he &s;aw works. And &s;o, in divers of tho&s;e places, where Chri&s;t repeats that, <HI>fides tua, thy faith,</HI> we finde it added, <HI>Ie&s;us videns fidem, Ie&s;us &s;eeing their faith.</HI> With what eyes? he looked upon them with his humane eyes, not his divine; he &s;aw not (that is, con&s;idered not at that time) their hearts, but their outward declarations, and proceeding as a good man would, out of their good works concludes faith. <HI>Velle &amp; nolle no&s;trum e&s;t,</HI> to a&s;&s;ent or to di&s;-a&s;&s;ent is our own;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> we may choo&s;e which we will doe; <HI>Ip&s;um&abque; quod no&s;trum e&s;t, &s;ine Dei mi&s;eratione no&s;trum non e&s;t;</HI> But though this faculty be ours, it is ours, but becau&s;e God hath imprinted it in us. So that &s;till to will, as well as to doe, to beleeve, as well as to work, is all from God; but yet they are from God in a diver&s;e manner, and a diver&s;e re&s;pect; and certainly our works are more ours then our faith is, and man concurres otherwi&s;e in the acting and per|petration of a good work, then he doth in the reception and admi&s;&s;ion of faith. <HI>Sed quae non fecimus ip&s;i,</HI> &s;ayes the Poet; and he was <HI>Vates,</HI> a Prophet in &s;aying &s;o, <HI>Vix ea no&s;tra voco;</HI> nothing is ours, but that which we have done our &s;elves; and all that is ours. And though Chri&s;t refer us often to beliefe, in this life, becau&s;e he would be &s;ure to plant, and fa&s;ten &s;afely that which is the only true root of all, that is, faith, yet when he comes to Judgement, in the next life, all his proceeding is grounded upon workes, and he judges us by our fruits. So then, God gives us faith, immediatly from him&s;elfe, and out of that faith, he produces good works, in&s;trumentally, by us, &s;o, as that tho&s;e works are other|wi&s;e ours, then that faith is. And this the propriety, <HI>lux ve&s;tra,</HI> let <HI>your light</HI> &s;hine, which we propo&s;ed for the &s;econd branch in this fir&s;t part, that God vouch&s;afes to afford us an
<PB N="80" REF="58" MS="y">intere&s;t, in the working of our &s;alvation; And then our third branch is, the emanation of this light, from us, to others, <HI>Coram hominibus,</HI> let your light &s;hine <HI>before men.</HI></P>
<P>There was a particular Holy-day among&s;t the heathen,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luceat, Emanatio.</NOTE> that bore the name of this day, <HI>Accen&s;io luminum, Candlemas day;</HI> A &s;uper&s;titious multiplying of Lamps, and Torches in Divine Service.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lactant.</NOTE> This &s;uper&s;tition <HI>Lactantius</HI> reproves, elegantly, and bitterly. <HI>Num mentis &s;uae compos putandus e&s;t?</HI> can we think that man in his wits, that offers to God, the Father, and Fountaine, the Author and Giver of all light, a Candle for an Oblation, for a Sacrifice, for a New-yeares gift? <HI>Solem contempletur,</HI> &s;ayes he; Let that man but con|&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly the Sun, and he will &s;ee, that that God who could &s;pare him &s;o glorious a light as the Sun,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> needs not his Candle. And therefore &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian,</HI> (reprehending the &s;ame &s;uper&s;tition) <HI>Lucernis diem non infringimus,</HI> we doe not cut off, we doe not &s;hor|ten our dayes, by &s;etting up lights at noone, nor induce, nor force, nor make night before it comes.</P>
<P>I would not be under&s;tood to condemne all u&s;e of candles by day, in Divine Service, nor all Churches that have or doe u&s;e them; For, &s;o, I might condemne even the Primi|tive Church, in her pure and innocent e&s;tate. And therefore, that which <HI>Lactantius,</HI> almo&s;t three hundred yeares after Chri&s;t, &s;ayes of tho&s;e Lights, and that which <HI>Tertulli|an,</HI> almo&s;t a hundred yeares before <HI>Lactantius,</HI> &s;ayes, in reprehen&s;ion thereof, mu&s;t nece&s;|&s;arily be under&s;tood of the abu&s;e, and imitation of the Gentiles therein; for, that the thing it &s;elfe, was in u&s;e, before eyther of their times, I thinke, admits little que&s;tion. About <HI>Lactantius</HI> time, fell the <HI>Eliberitan</HI> Councell; and then the u&s;e, and the abu&s;e was evident. For, in the thirty fourth Canon of that Councell, it is forbidden to &s;et up Candles in the Church-yard: And, the rea&s;on that is added, declares the abu&s;e, <HI>Non &s;unt enim inquietandi &s;piritus &s;idelium,</HI> That the &s;oules of the Saints departed &s;hould not be troubled. Now the &s;etting up of lights could not trouble them; but the&s;e lights were accompanied with &s;uper&s;titious Invocations, with magicall Incantations, and with how|lings and ejulations, which they had learnt from the Gentiles, and with the&s;e, the &s;oules of the dead, were, in tho&s;e times, thought to be affected, and di&s;quieted. It is in this Ce|remony of lights, as it is in other Ceremonies: They may be good in their In&s;titution, and grow ill in their practi&s;e. So did many things, which the Chri&s;tian Church recei|ved from the Gentiles, in a harmle&s;&s;e innocency, degenerate after, into as pe&s;tilent &s;u|per&s;tition there, as among&s;t the Gentiles them&s;elves. For, ceremonies, which were re|ceived, but for the in&s;truction, and edification of the weaker &s;ort of people, were made reall parts of the &s;ervice of God, and meritorious &s;acrifices. To tho&s;e ceremonies, which were received as <HI>&s;igna commonefacientia,</HI> helps to excite, and awaken devotion, was attri|buted an operation, and an effectuall power, even to the ceremony it &s;elfe; and they were not practi&s;ed, as they &s;hould, <HI>&s;ignificativ&egrave;,</HI> but <HI>effectiv&egrave;,</HI> not as things which &s;hould &s;ig|nifie to the people higher my&s;teries, but as things as powerfull, and effectuall in them|&s;elves, as the greate&s;t My&s;teries of all, the Sacraments them&s;elves. So lights were recei|ved in the Primitive Church, to &s;ignifie to the people, that God, the Father of lights, was otherwi&s;e pre&s;ent in that place, then in any other, and then, men came to offer lights by way of &s;acrifice to God; And &s;o, that which was providently intended for man, who indeed needed &s;uch helps, was turned upon God, as though he were to be &s;upplied by us. But what then? Becau&s;e things good in their in&s;titution, may be depraved in their pra|cti&s;e, <HI>Ergon&egrave; nihil ceremoniarum rudioribus dabitur,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Calv. In&s;tit. l. 4. c. 10. &sect; 14.</NOTE> <HI>ad juvandam eorum imperitiam?</HI> Shall therefore the people be denyed all ceremonies, for the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of their weak|ne&s;&s;e? <HI>Id ego non dico;</HI> I &s;ay not &s;o, &s;ayes he. <HI>Omnino illis utile e&s;&s;e &s;entio hoc genus admi|niculi;</HI> I think the&s;e kinds of helps to be very behoovefull for them; <HI>Tantum h&icirc;c contendo,</HI> all that I &s;trive for, is but Moderation; and that Moderation he places very di&s;creetly in this, That the&s;e ceremonies may be few in number; That they may be ea&s;ie for ob|&s;ervation; That they may be clearely under&s;tood in their &s;ignification; wee mu&s;t not therefore be ha&s;ty in condemning particular ceremonies: For, in &s;o doing, in this cere|mony of lights, we may condemne the Primitive Church, that did u&s;e them, and wee condemne a great and Noble part of the reformed Church, which doth u&s;e them at this day.</P>
<P>The&s;e &s;uper&s;titious lights, are not the lights we call for here, <HI>&s;ic luceat,</HI> let your light &s;hine out; but <HI>lux ve&s;tra,</HI> your light, the light of good works; let that &s;hine out. Truly, this carrying, and diffu&s;ing of light to others is &s;o ble&s;&s;ed a thing, as that though <HI>Lucifer,</HI>
<PB N="81" REF="58" MS="y">(who&s;e name &s;ignifies the carrying of light) be now an odious name, an infamous name, applyed onely to the Devill, yet a great Bi&s;hop in the Primitive Church ab&s;tained not from that name, forbore not that name, <HI>Lucifer Talaritanus;</HI> that he might carry about him, in his name, a remembrancer, <HI>ferre lucem,</HI> to carry light to others, he was content with that name, <HI>Lucifer.</HI> God had made light the fir&s;t day, and yet he made many lights after. One light of thine &s;hines out in our eyes, thy profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t; let us &s;ee more lights, works worthy of that profe&s;&s;ion. God calls the Sun, and the Moone too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.16.</NOTE> Great lights, becau&s;e though there be greater in the Firmament, they appeare greate&s;t to us; tho&s;e works of ours are greate&s;t in the &s;ight of God, that are greate&s;t in the &s;ight of men, that are mo&s;t beneficiall, mo&s;t exemplary, and conduce mo&s;t to the promoving of others to glorifie God. To &s;uch rich men, as produce no light at all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> (no works) that of S. <HI>Angu&s;tine</HI> is appliable, <HI>cimices &s;unt,</HI> they are as the&s;e wormes, or flies, the <HI>cimices, qui vivi mordent, mortui foetent,</HI> They bite, and &s;uck a man, whil&s;t they live, and they &s;tink pe&s;tilently, and offend &s;o, when they are dead. The actions of &s;uch rich men are mi&s;chievous whil&s;t they live, and their memory odious when they are dead. But all rich men are not &s;uch, to be ab&s;olutely without all light. But then they may have light, (a determined purpo&s;e to doe &s;ome good works) and yet this light not &s;hine out. No man can more properly be &s;aid to hide his light under a bu&s;hell, (which becau&s;e Chri&s;t &s;ayes, (in the ver&s;e before our Text) no man does, certainly no man &s;hould doe) then he, who hath di&s;po&s;ed &s;ome part of his e&s;tate to pious u&s;es, but hides it in his will, and locks up that will in his cabinet; For, in this ca&s;e, though there be light, yet it does not &s;hine out. <HI>Your gold, and your &s;ilver is cankered,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Iames, and the ru&s;t of them &s;hall be a wit|ne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 5.3.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;hall eate your fle&s;h, as it were fire.</HI> He does not &s;ay the gold and the &s;ilver it &s;elf, as reproving the ill getting of it, but the ru&s;t, the hiding, the concealing thereof, &s;hall be this witne&s;&s;e again&s;t thee, this executioner upon thee. That man dyes in an ill &s;tate, of who&s;e faith we have had no evidence, till, after his death, his executors meet, and open his Will, and then publi&s;h &s;ome Legacies to pious u&s;es: And we had no evidence be|fore, if he had done no good before. For, <HI>&s;hew me thy faith without thy works,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James. 2.18</NOTE> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; and he propo&s;es it, as an impo&s;&s;ible thing, impo&s;&s;ible to &s;hew it, impo&s;&s;ible to have it. And therefore, as good works are our owne, &s;o are they never &s;o properly our owne, as when they are done with our owne hands; for this is the true &s;hining of our light, the emanation from us, upon others. And &s;o have you the three peeces, which con&s;titute our fir&s;t part, the precept, <HI>Let your light &s;hine before men;</HI> The light it &s;elfe, not the light of nature, nor of Bapti&s;me, nor of Adoption, but the light of good works; And then the Appropriation of this light, how the&s;e workes are ours, though the good|ne&s;&s;e thereof be onely from God; And la&s;tly the emanation of this light upon others; which cannot well be &s;aid to be an emanation of our light, of light from us, except it be whil&s;t we are we, that is, alive. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e to tho&s;e many particulars, which frame our &s;econd part, the rea&s;on, and the end of this, <HI>That men may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>In this end, our beginning is, <HI>ut videant,</HI> that men may &s;ee it. The apparitions in old times, were evermore accompanied with lights; but they were private lights;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2. Part.</HI> Vt videant.</NOTE> &s;uch an old woman, or &s;uch a child &s;aw a light; but <HI>non videbant homines,</HI> it did not &s;hine out, &s;o that men might &s;ee this light. We have a &s;tory delivered by a very pious man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cantiprat. l. 1. c. 9.</NOTE> and of the truth whereof he &s;eemes to be very well a&s;&s;ured, that one <HI>Conradus</HI> a devout Prie&s;t, had &s;uch an illu&s;tration, &s;uch an irradiation, &s;uch a coru&s;cation, &s;uch a light at the tops of tho&s;e fingers, which he u&s;ed in the con&s;ecration of the Sacrament, as that by that light of his fingers ends, he could have reade in the night, as well as by &s;o many Candles; But this was but a private light, <HI>&amp; non viderunt homines,</HI> It did not &s;hine out,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 205. ad Cyrill: Jero|&s;olym.</NOTE> &s;o that men might &s;ee it. Ble&s;&s;ed S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> reports, (if that Epi&s;tle be S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI>) that when him&s;elfe was writing to S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> to know his opinion of the mea&s;ure and quality of the Joy, and Glory of Heaven, &s;uddenly in his Chamber there appeared <HI>ineffabile lu|men,</HI> &s;ayes he, an un&s;peakable, an unexpre&s;&s;ible light, <HI>no&s;tr is invi&s;um temporibus,</HI> &s;uch a light as our times never &s;aw, and out of that light i&s;&s;ued this voyce, <HI>Hieronymi anima &s;um,</HI> I am the &s;oule of that <HI>Hierome</HI> to whom thou art writing, who this houre dyed at <HI>Beth|lem,</HI> and am come from thence to thee, &amp;c. But this was but a private light, and what|&s;oever S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aw, (who was not ea&s;ily deceived, nor would deceive others) <HI>non videbant homines,</HI> this light did not &s;hine &s;o, as that men might &s;ee it. Here, in our Text,
<PB N="82" REF="59">there is a light required that men may &s;ee. Tho&s;e lights of their apparitions we cannot &s;ee; There is a light of ours, which our adver&s;aries may &s;ee, and will not; which is truly the light of this Text, the light of good works. Though our zeale to good works &s;hine out a&s;&s;iduou&s;ly, day by day in our Sermons, and &s;hine out powerfully in the Homilies of our Church, compo&s;ed expre&s;ly to that purpo&s;e, and &s;hine out actually in our many &s;umptuous buildings, and rich endowments, (in which works, we of this Kingdome, in this la&s;t Century, &s;ince the Reformation of Religion, have perhaps exceeded our Fa|thers, in any one hundred of yeares, whil&s;t they lived under the Romane per&s;wa&s;ion) yet &s;till they cry out, we are enemies of this light, and abhorre good works. As I have heard them, in &s;ome ob&s;cure places abroad, Preach, that here in England, we had not onely no true Church, no true Prie&s;thood, no true Sacraments, but that we have no ma|teriall Churches, no holy Convocations, no ob&s;erving of Sundayes, or Holy dayes, no places to &s;erve God in; &s;o I have heard them Preach, that we doe not onely not advance, but that we cry downe, and di&s;credit, and di&s;&s;wade, and di&s;countenance the doctrine of good works. It is enough to &s;ay to them, as the Angel &s;aid to the Devill, <HI>Increpet te Do|minus, The Lord rebuke thee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iude 9.</NOTE> And the Lord does rebuke them, in enabling us to proceed in the&s;e pious works, which, with &s;o notorious fal&s;hood they deny; And we doe rebuke them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.24.</NOTE> the be&s;t and mo&s;t powerfull way, in that, (as the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes) <HI>we con&s;ider one another,</HI> (con&s;ider the nece&s;&s;ities of others) <HI>and provoke one another to love, and good workes.</HI></P>
<P>But then, if this be Gods end in our good works, <HI>ut videant homines,</HI> that men may &s;ee them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.1.</NOTE> why is Chri&s;t &s;o earne&s;t, in this very &s;ermon as to &s;ay, <HI>Take heed you do not your almes before men, to be &s;eene of them?</HI> Is there no contradiction in the&s;e? far from it; The intent of both precepts together make up this doctrine, That we doe them not therefore, not to that end, that men may &s;ee them. So far we mu&s;t come, that men mu&s;t &s;ee them, but we mu&s;t not re&s;t there; for, it is but <HI>Sic luceat, Let your light &s;hine out &s;o,</HI> it is not, <HI>let it &s;hine out therefore;</HI> Our doing of good workes mu&s;t have a farther end, then the know|ledge of men, as we &s;hall &s;ee, towards our end, anon.</P>
<P>Men mu&s;t &s;ee them then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opera.</NOTE> and &s;ee them to be workes, <HI>Vt videant opera, That they may &s;ee your works:</HI> which is a word that implies difficulty, and paine, and labour, and is ac|companied with &s;ome loathne&s;&s;e, with &s;ome colluctation. Doe &s;uch workes, for Gods &s;ake, as are hard for thee to doe. In &s;uch a word does God deliver his Commandement of the Sabbath; not that word, which in that language &s;ignifies ordinary and eafie works, but &s;ervile and laborious workes, toyle&s;ome and gainefull workes, tho&s;e workes thou mai&s;t not doe upon the Sabbath. But tho&s;e workes, in the vertue of the precept of this text, thou mu&s;t doe in the &s;ight of men; tho&s;e that are hard for thee to doe. <HI>David</HI> would not con&s;ecrate nor offer unto God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 24.24.</NOTE> that which co&s;t him nothing; fir&s;t he would buy <HI>Araunahs</HI> thre&s;hing floare at a valuable price, and then he would dedicate it to God. To give old cloathes, pa&s;t wearing, to the poore, is not &s;o good a worke as to make new for them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 12.42.</NOTE> To give a little of your &s;uperfluities, not &s;o acceptable as the widows gift, that gave all. To give a poore &s;oule a farthing at that doore, where you give a Player a &s;hil|ling, is not equall dealing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 8.6.</NOTE> for, this is to give God <HI>qui&s;quilias frumenti, The refu&s;e of the wheat.</HI> But doe thou &s;ome &s;uch things, as are truly works in our &s;en&s;e, &s;uch as are again&s;t the nature, and ordinary practice of worldly men to doe; &s;ome things, by which they may &s;ee, that thou do&s;t prefer God before honour, and wife, and children, and had&s;t ra|ther build, and endow &s;ome place, for Gods &s;ervice, then poure out money to multiply titles of honour upon thy &s;elfe, or enlarge joyntures, and portions, to an unnece&s;&s;ary, and unmea&s;urable proportion, when there is enough done before.</P>
<P>Let men &s;ee that that thou doe&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opera Bona.</NOTE> to be a worke, qualified with &s;ome difficulty in the doing, and then tho&s;e workes, to be good workes, <HI>Videant opera bona, that they may &s;ee your good works.</HI> They are not good works how magnificent &s;oever, if they be not direct|ed to good ends. A &s;uper&s;titious end, or a &s;editious end vitiates the be&s;t worke. Great con|tributions have beene rai&s;ed, and great &s;ummes given, to build, and endow Seminaries, and &s;chooles, and Colledges in forraine parts; but that hath a &s;uper&s;titious end. Great contributions have beene rai&s;ed, and great &s;ummes given at home, for the maintenance of &s;uch refractary per&s;ons, as by oppo&s;ing the government and di&s;cipline of the Church, have drawne upon them&s;elves, &s;ilencings, and &s;u&s;pen&s;ions, and deprivations; but that hath a &s;editious end. But, give &s;o, as in a rectified con&s;cience, and not a di&s;tempered zeale,
<PB N="83" REF="59">(a rectified con&s;cience is that, that hath the re&s;timony and approbation of mo&s;t good men, in a &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of times, and not to rely occa&s;ionally upon one or a few men of the &s;eparation, for the pre&s;ent) give &s;o, as thou mai&s;t &s;incerely &s;ay, God gave me this, to give thus, and &s;o it is a good worke. So it mu&s;t be, <HI>A worke</HI> (&s;omething of &s;ome impor|tance) and a <HI>good worke,</HI> (not depraved with an ill end) and then <HI>your worke, Vt videant opera ve&s;tra, That they may &s;ee your good works.</HI></P>
<P>They are not your works, if that that you give be not your owne. Nor is it your own,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opera bona v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tra.</NOTE> if it were ill gotten at fir&s;t. How long &s;oever it have beene po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, or how often &s;oever it have beene transformed, from money to ware, from ware to land, from land to office, from office to honour, the money, the ware, the land, the office, the honour is none of thine, if, in thy knowlege, it were ill gotten at fir&s;t. <HI>Zacheus,</HI> in S. <HI>Luke,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.8.</NOTE> gives halfe his goods to the poore; but it is halfe of his, his owne; for there might be goods in his hou&s;e, which were none of his. Therefore in the &s;ame in&s;trument, he pa&s;&s;es that &s;crutiny, If I have taken any thing unju&s;tly, I re&s;tore him foure-fold. Fir&s;t let that that was ill gotten, be deducted, and re&s;tored, and then, of the re&s;t, which is truly thine owne, give cheere|fully. When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aies, that our yeares are three &s;core and ten,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 90.20.</NOTE> if we deduct from that terme, all the houres of our unnece&s;&s;ary &s;leep, of &s;uperfluous &s;ittings at fea&s;ts, of curio&s;ity in dre&s;&s;ing, of largene&s;&s;e in recreations, of plotting, and compa&s;&s;ing of vanities, or &s;innes, &s;carce any man of chree&s;core and ten, would be ten years old, when he dyes. If we &s;hould deale &s;o with worldly mens e&s;tates, (defal&s;e unju&s;t gettings) it would abridge and atte|nuate many a &s;welling Inventory. Till this defalcation, this &s;crutiny be made, that you know what's your owne, what's other mens, as your Tombe &s;hall be but a monument of your rotten bones, how much gold or marble &s;oever be be&s;towed upon it, &s;o that Ho|&s;pitall, that free-&s;choole, that Colledge that you &s;hall build, and endow, will bee but a monument of your bribery, your extortion, your oppre&s;&s;ion; and God, who will not be in debt, (though he owe you nothing that built it) may be plea&s;ed to give the reward of all that, to them, from whom that which was &s;pent upon it, was unju&s;tly taken; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 13.22.</NOTE> <HI>The wealth of the &s;inner is laid up for the righteous,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Solomon.</HI> The &s;inner may doe pious works, and the righteous may be rewarded for them; the world may thinke of one foun|der, and God knowes another. That which is enjoyn'd in the name of <HI>light</HI> here, is <HI>works,</HI> (not trifles) and <HI>good works,</HI> (made good by the good ends they are directed to) and then <HI>your workes</HI> (done out of that which is truly your owne) and <HI>by &s;eeing this light,</HI> men will be mov'd to <HI>glorifie your Father which is in Heaven;</HI> which is the true end of all; that men may &s;ee them, but &s;ee them therefore, <HI>To glori&s;ie your Father which is in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>He does not &s;ay, that by &s;eeing your good works,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Patrem, non Filios.</NOTE> men &s;hall glorifie your &s;onnes upon earth. And yet truly, even that part of the reward, and retribution is worth a great deale of your co&s;t, and your almes; that God &s;hall e&s;tabli&s;h your po&s;terity in the world, and in the good opinion of good men. As you have your e&s;tates, you have your children from God too. As it is <HI>Davids</HI> recognition, <HI>Dominus pars haereditatis meae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16.5. Gen. 4.1.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord is the por|tion of mine inheritance,</HI> &s;o the <HI>Po&s;&s;edi virum &agrave; Domino,</HI> was <HI>Eves</HI> Recognition upon the birth of her fir&s;t &s;on, <HI>Cain, I have gotten, I po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e a man from the Lord.</HI> Now that that man that thou po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e&s;t from the Lord, thy &s;on, may po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e that land that thou po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e&s;t from the Lord, it behooves thee to be righteous; for &s;o, (by that righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e) thou become&s;t a foundation for po&s;terity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 10.25. Prov. 13.9. Prov. 14.23.</NOTE> <HI>(The righteous is an everla&s;ting foundation)</HI> his light, (his good workes) &s;hall be a chearefull light unto him; (for, <HI>The light of the righ|teous reioyceth him.</HI>) They &s;hall be &s;o in this life, and, <HI>He &s;hall have hope in his death,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Solomon;</HI> that is, hope for him&s;elf in another world, &amp; hope of his po&s;terity in this world; for, &s;aies he, <HI>He leaveth an inheritance to his childrens children;</HI> that is, an inheritance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 23.22.</NOTE> out of which hee hath taken, and re&s;tored all that was unju&s;tly got from men, and taken a bountifull part, which he hath offered to God in pious u&s;es, that the re&s;t may de&s;cend free from all claimes, and encumbrances upon his childrens children.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 37.26.</NOTE> <HI>The righteous is merci|full, and lendeth,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David.</HI> Mercifull as his Father in Heaven is mercifull; that is, in perpetuall, not tran&s;itory endowments, (for, God did not &s;et up his lights, his Sun, and his Moone for a day, but for ever, and &s;uch &s;hould our light, or good works be too.) Hee is mercifull, and he lendeth; to whom? for to the poore he giveth; he looks for no returne from them, for they are <HI>the waters upon which he ca&s;ts his bread.</HI> Yet he lendeth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 11.1. Prov. 19.17.</NOTE> <HI>He that hath pity on the poore, lendeth to the Lord. The righteous is mercifull and lendeth,</HI> and then, (as <HI>David</HI> addes there) <HI>His &s;eed is ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed in this (which followes there)
<PB N="84" REF="60">that he <HI>&s;hall inherit the land,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 37.29. P&s;al. 112.4.</NOTE> <HI>and dwell therein for ever,</HI> (which he ratifies againe, <HI>Surely he &s;hall not be moved for ever;</HI> that is, he &s;hall never be moved, in his po&s;terity) And as he is ble&s;&s;ed that way, ble&s;&s;ed in the e&s;tabli&s;hment of his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion upon his childrens chil|dren, &s;o is he ble&s;&s;ed in this, that his honour, and good name &s;hall bee poured out as a fragrant oyle upon his po&s;terity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>The righteous &s;hall be had in everla&s;ting remembrance.</HI> Their memory &s;hall be alwaies alive,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 10.7. Prov. 11.30.</NOTE> and alwaies fre&s;h in their po&s;terity, when <HI>The name of the wicked &s;hall rot.</HI> So then, <HI>the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Solomon;</HI> that is, the righteous &s;hall produce plants, that &s;hall grow up, and flouri&s;h; &s;o his po&s;te|rity &s;hall be a tree of life to many generations;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 17.6.</NOTE> and then, <HI>The glory of children are their Fathers,</HI> &s;aies that wi&s;e King; As Fathers receive comfort from good children, &s;o chil|dren receive glory from good parents; in this are children glorified, that they had righteous Fathers, that lent unto the Lord. So that, (to recollect the&s;e peeces) it is no &s;mall reward that God affords you, if men, &s;eeing your good workes, glorifie, that is, e&s;teeme, and re&s;pect, and love, and honour your children upon earth. But it is not onely that; your good workes &s;hall bee an occa&s;ion of carrying glory upon the right object, They &s;hall <HI>glorifie your Father, which is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>It is not the Father which is in Heaven;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non Patrem.</NOTE> that they &s;hould glorifie God, as the common Father of all, by creation. For, for that they need not your light, your good works; <HI>The Heavens declare the glory of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.1.</NOTE> &s;aies <HI>David;</HI> that is, glorifie him in an acknowledgement, that he is the Father of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.6.</NOTE> and of all other things by creation. <HI>Is not hee thy Father? hath he not made thee?</HI> is an interrogatory mini&s;tred by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> to which all things mu&s;t an&s;wer with the Prophet <HI>Malachie,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Malac. 2.10.</NOTE> yes, <HI>He is our Father, for he hath made us.</HI> But that's not the paternity of this text, as God is Father of us all by creation. Nor as he is a Father of &s;ome in a more particular con&s;ideration, in giving them large portions, great patrimonies in this world; for, thus, he may be my Father and yet di&s;inherit me; hee may give me plenty of temporall ble&s;&s;ings, and withhold from me &s;pirituall, and eternall ble&s;&s;ings. Now, to &s;ee this, men need not your light, your good workes; for, they &s;ee dayly, That <HI>he maketh his &s;un to &s;hine on the evill,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.45.</NOTE> <HI>and on the good; and cau&s;eth it to raine on the ju&s;t, and the unju&s;t;</HI> He feeds Goates as well as Sheepe, he gives the wicked temporall ble&s;&s;ings, as well as the righteous. The&s;e then are not the paternities of our text, that men, by this occa&s;ion, glorifie God as the Father of all men by creation, nor as the Father of all rich men, by their large patrimonies, not as he is the Father, not as he is a Father, but as he is <HI>your Father,</HI> as he is made yours, as he is become yours, by that particular grace of u&s;ing the temporall ble&s;&s;ings which he hath given you, to his glory, in letting your light &s;hine before men. For, it were better God di&s;inherited us &s;o, as to give us nothing, then that he gave us not the grace to u&s;e that that he gave us, well: without this, all his bread were &s;tone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.9.</NOTE> and all his fi&s;hes &s;erpents, all his temporall liberality malediction. How much happier had that man beene, that hath wa&s;ted thou&s;ands in play, in riot, in wan|tonne&s;&s;e, in &s;infull exce&s;&s;es, if his parents had left him no more at fir&s;t, then he hath left him&s;elfe at la&s;t? How much nearer to a kingdome in Heaven had hee beene, if he had beene borne a begger here? Nay, though he have done no ill, (of &s;uch exce&s;&s;ive kinds) how much happier had he beene, if he had had nothing left him, if hee have done no good? There cannot be a more fearfull commination upon man, nor a more dangerous dereliction from God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;. 50.8. &amp; 12.</NOTE> then when God &s;aies, <HI>I will not reprove thee for thy &s;acrifices;</HI> Though thou offer none, I care not, Ile never tell thee of it, nor reprove thee for it, I will not reprove thee for thy &s;acrifices. And when he &s;aies, (as he does there) <HI>If I bee hungry I will not tell thee;</HI> I will not awake thy charity, I will not excite thee, not provoke thee, with any occa&s;ion of feeding me, in feeding the poore. When God &s;hall &s;ay to me, I care not whether you come to Church or no, whether you pray or no, repent or no, confe&s;&s;e, receive or no, this is a fearfull dereliction; &s;o is it, when he &s;aies to a rich man, I care not whether your light &s;hine out, or no; whether men &s;ee your good works or no; I can provide for my glory other waies. For, certainly God hath not determined his purpo&s;e, and his glory &s;o much in that, to make &s;ome men rich that the poore might be relieved, (for, that ends in bodily reliefe) as in this, that he hath made &s;ome men poore, whereby the rich might have occa&s;ion to exerci&s;e their charity; for, that reaches to &s;pi|rituall happine&s;&s;e; for which u&s;e, the poore doe not &s;o much need the rich, as the rich need the poore; the poore may better be &s;aved without the rich, then the rich without the poore. But when men &s;hall &s;ee, that that God, who is the Father of us all, by creating
<PB N="85" REF="60">us, and the father of all the rich, by enriching them, is al&s;o become your father, yours by adoption, yours by infu&s;ion of that particular grace, to doe good with your goods, then are you made ble&s;&s;ed in&s;truments of that which God &s;eeks here, his glory, They &s;hall <HI>glorifie your father which is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Glory is &s;o in&s;eparable to God, as that God him&s;elf is called <HI>Glory, They changed their Glory into the &s;imilitude of an Oxe;</HI> Their glory, their true God into an inglorious Idol.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gloria.</HI> P&s;al. 106.20. P&s;al. 85.10.</NOTE> <HI>That glory may dwell in our land,</HI> &s;ayes he; that is, that God may dwell therein. The fir&s;t end of letting our light to &s;hine before men, is, that they may know Gods proceedings; but, the la&s;t end to which all conduces, is, that God may have glory. What&s;oever God did fir&s;t in his own bo&s;ome, in his own decree, (what that was, contentious men will needs wrangle) what&s;oever that fir&s;t act was, Gods la&s;t end in that fir&s;t act of his was his own glory. And therefore to impute any inglorious or ignoble thing to God, comes too neare bla&s;phemy. And be any man who hath any &s;en&s;e or ta&s;te of noblene&s;&s;e, or honour, judge, whether there be any glory in the de&s;truction of tho&s;e creatures whom they have rai&s;ed, till tho&s;e per&s;ons have de&s;erved ill at their hands, and in &s;ome way have damnified them, or di&s;honoured them. Nor can God propo&s;e that for glory, to de&s;troy man till he finde cau&s;e in man. Now, this glory, to which Chri&s;t bends all in this Text, (that men by &s;eeing your good works, might glorifie your Father) con&s;i&s;ts e&s;pecially in the&s;e two declarations, Commemoration, and Imitation; a due celebration of former founders and benefactors, and a pious proceeding according to &s;uch precedents, is this glorifying of God.</P>
<P>When God calls him&s;elf &s;o often, <HI>The God of Abraham, of I&s;aac, and of Iacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gloria ex Commemo|ratione. <HI>Ezech. 14.14.</HI></NOTE> God would have the world remember, that <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Iacob</HI> were extraordinary men, memorable men. When God &s;ayes, <HI>Though the&s;e three men, Noah, Daniel, and Iob were here, they &s;hould not deliver this people,</HI> God would have it knowne, that <HI>Noah, Daniel,</HI> and <HI>Iob</HI> were memorable men, and able to doe much with him. When the Holy Gho&s;t is &s;o carefull to give men their additions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.20.</NOTE> <HI>That Iabal was the father of &s;uch as dwell in Tents, &amp; keep Cattell, &amp; Iubal the father of Harpers, and Organi&s;ts, and Tubal-Cain of all Gra|vers in Bra&s;&s;e and Iron.</HI> And when he pre&s;ents with &s;o many particularities every peece of worke, that <HI>Hiram</HI> of Tyre wrought in Bra&s;&s;e for the furni&s;hing of <HI>Solomons</HI> Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 7.13.</NOTE> God certainly is not afraid that his honour will be dimini&s;hed, in the honourable menti|oning of &s;uch men as have benefited the world by publique good works. The wi&s;e man &s;eemes to &s;ettle him&s;elfe upon that meditation; let us now prai&s;e famous men, &s;ayes he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 44.1.</NOTE> and our fathers that begot us; and &s;o he in&s;titutes a &s;olemne commemoration, and gives a catalogue of <HI>Enoch,</HI> and <HI>Abraham,</HI> and <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> and &s;o many more, as po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e &s;ix Chapters; nor doth he ever end the meditation till he end his booke; &s;o was he fixt upon the commemoration of good men;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.</NOTE> as S. <HI>Paul</HI> likewi&s;e feeds and delights him&s;elfe in the like meditation, even from <HI>Abel.</HI> It is therefore a wretched impotency, not to endure the commemoration, and honourable mentioning of our Founders and Benefactors. God hath delivered us, and our Church, from tho&s;e &s;traights, in which, &s;ome Churches of the Reformation have thought them&s;elves to be, when they have made Canons, That there &s;hould be no Bell rung, no dole given, no mention made of the dead at any Funerall, le&s;t that &s;hould &s;avour of &s;uper&s;tition. The Holy Gho&s;t hath taught us the difference between prai&s;ing the dead, and praying for the dead, betweene commemorating of Saints, and invocating of Saints. We under&s;tand what <HI>David</HI> meanes, when he &s;ayes, <HI>This honour have all his Saints,</HI> and what S. <HI>Paul</HI> meanes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 149.9. 1 Tim. 1.17.</NOTE> when he &s;ayes, <HI>Vnto the only wi&s;e God be honour, and glory, for ever and ever.</HI> God is honoured in due honour given to his Saints, and glorified in the commemoration of tho&s;e good men who&s;e light hath &s;o &s;hined out before men, that they have &s;een their good workes. But then he is glorified more, in our imitation, then in our commemoration.</P>
<P><HI>Herein is my Father glorified,</HI> (&s;ayes Chri&s;t) <HI>that ye beare much fruit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gloria ex Imitatione. <HI>Iohn 15.8. Mar. 4.20.</HI></NOTE> The &s;eed &s;owed in good ground, bore &s;ome an hundred fold, the lea&s;t thirty. The &s;eed (in this ca&s;e) is the example that is before you, of tho&s;e good men, who&s;e light hath &s;hined out &s;o, that you have &s;eene their good workes. Let this &s;eed, the&s;e good examples bring forth hundreds, and &s;ixties, and thirties in you, much fruit; for herein is your Father glorified, that you beare much fruit. Of which plentifull encrea&s;e, I am afraid there is one great hinderance that pa&s;&s;es through many of you, that is, that when your Will lyes by you, in which &s;ome little lamp of this light is &s;et up, &s;omething given to God in pious
<PB N="86" REF="61">u&s;es, if a Ship mi&s;carry, if a Debtor break, if your &s;tate be any way empaired, the fir&s;t that &s;uffers, the fir&s;t that is blotted out of the Will, is God and his Legacy; and if your e&s;tates encrea&s;e, portions encrea&s;e, and perchance other legacies, but Gods portion and legacy &s;tands at a &s;tay. Chri&s;t left two u&s;es of his pa&s;&s;ion; application and imitation. <HI>He &s;uf|fered for us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.22.</NOTE> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; for us, that is, that we might make his death ours, apply his death, and then (as it follows there) <HI>he left us an example.</HI> So Chri&s;t gives us two u&s;es of the Reformation of Religion; fir&s;t, the doctrine, how to doe good works without relying upon them, as meritorious; and then example, many, very many men (and more by much, in &s;ome kindes of charity &s;ince the Reformation of Religion, then before) even in this City, who&s;e light hath &s;hined out before you, and you have &s;een their good works. That as this noble City hath ju&s;tly acquired the reputation and the te&s;timony of all who have had occa&s;ion to con&s;ider their dealings in that kinde, that they deale mo&s;t faithful|ly, mo&s;t ju&s;tly, mo&s;t providently, in all things which are committed to their tru&s;t for pi|ous u&s;es, from others, not only in a full employment of that which was given, but in an improvement thereof, and then an employment of that emprovement to the &s;ame pious u&s;e, &s;o every man in his particular may propo&s;e to him&s;elfe, &s;ome of tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed exam|ples which have ri&s;en among&s;t your &s;elves, and follow that, and exceed that; That as your lights are Torches, and not petty Candles, and your Torches better then others Torches, &s;o he al&s;o may be a larger example to others, then others have been to him, for, <HI>Herein is your Father glorified, if you beare much fruit,</HI> and that is the end of all, that we all doe, <HI>That men &s;eeing it, may glorifie our Father which is in heaven.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON IX.</HI> Preached upon Candlemas day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>ROM. 13.7.</BIBL>
<P><HI>Render therefore to all men their dues.</HI></P>
<P>The Text being part of the Epi&s;tle of that day, that yeare.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe largene&s;&s;e of this &s;hort Text con&s;i&s;ts in that word, <HI>Therefore;</HI> therefore becau&s;e you have been &s;o particularly taught your particular duties, there|fore perform them, therefore practi&s;e them, <HI>Reddite omnibus debita, Ren|der therefore to every man his due.</HI> The Philo&s;opher might &s;eem to have con|tracted as large a law, into a few words, in his <HI>&s;uum cuique,</HI> as the Holy Gho&s;t had done in his <HI>Reddite omnibus,</HI> if it were not for this, <HI>Therefore;</HI> for that carries our con&s;ideration over the whole Epi&s;tle. This Epi&s;tle particularizing all duties, which appertaine <HI>ad pietatem erga Deum,</HI> to our religious wor&s;hip of God, <HI>ad charitatem erga proximum,</HI> to charitable offices towards one another, and <HI>ad &s;anctimoniam propriam,</HI> to a &s;anctification and holine&s;&s;e of life in our &s;elves. You have &s;een a li&s;t of your debts, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, (and that men deeply endebted are loath to doe) you have &s;een what you owe God, what you owe your &s;elves, and what you owe the world, <HI>Reddite ergo omnibus debita,</HI> be therefore behinde hand with none of the&s;e, but render unto all their dues: For, our debts here are not re&s;trained to tho&s;e that are mentioned in the following part of this ver&s;e, Tribute, and Cu&s;tome, and Feare, and Honour, but it is the knot that ties up all, and this Text in this ver&s;e, is the &s;ame that begins the next ver&s;e al&s;o; <HI>Reddite debita omni|bus, Render to all men their dues,</HI> and <HI>Nemini quicquam debeas, Owe nothing to any man,</HI> is all one: It is farther then many u&s;e to come, to know what they owe; &s;ince I have brought you &s;o far, &s;ayes our Apo&s;tle, <HI>Render to all men their dues.</HI></P>
<P>It is one degree of thrift,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> (but for the mo&s;t part it comes late) to bring our debts into as few hands as we can. Our debt here we cannot bring into fewer then the&s;e three, to God, to our Neighbour, to our &s;elves. Con&s;ider our debts to God, to be our &s;ins, and &s;o we dare not come to a reckoning with him, but we di&s;charge our &s;elves intirely upon
<PB N="87" REF="61">our &s;urety, our Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us: but yet of that debt we mu&s;t pay an acknowledge|ment, an intere&s;t (as it were) of prai&s;e, for all that we have, and of prayer for all that we would have, and the&s;e are our debts to God. Con&s;ider our debts to man, and our credi|tors are per&s;ons above us, and per&s;ons below us, &s;uperiours, and inferiours; and to &s;u|periours (who are the per&s;ons of whom this Text, or this ver&s;e, is mo&s;t literally intend|ed) we are debtors fir&s;t in matter of &s;ub&s;tance, expre&s;&s;ed here, in tho&s;e words Tribute, and Cu&s;tome; and in matter of ceremony, expre&s;&s;ed here, in tho&s;e words, Feare, and Honour. And to our inferiours, we are debtors for coun&s;ell to direct them, and for reliefe in com|pa&s;&s;ion of their &s;ufferings. And then to come to our third &s;ort of creditors, to our &s;elves, we owe our &s;elves &s;ome debts which are to be tendred at noone, which are to be paid in our be&s;t &s;trength and pro&s;perity, in the cour&s;e of our lives; and &s;ome which are to be tendred at night, at our Sun-&s;et, at our deaths: <HI>Reddite ergo omnibus, Render therefore to all their dues.</HI> For your fir&s;t debt, to God, we bring you to Church; this is no place to arre&s;t in; but yet the Spirit of God calls upon you for tho&s;e debts, prai&s;e him in his ho|ly place, and pray to him in his hou&s;e, which is the hou&s;e of prayer. For your debts of the &s;econd kinde, to other men, for tho&s;e to &s;uperiours, we &s;end you to Court; for tho&s;e to inferiours, we &s;end you to Ho&s;pitals, and pri&s;ons; and though Courts and pri&s;ons be ill paying places, yet pay you your debts of &s;ub&s;tance, and of ceremony, of tribute, and of honour, at Court; and your debt of coun&s;ell and relief to tho&s;e that need them, in the darke&s;t corners. And for you third kinde of debts, debts to your &s;elves, make eaven with your &s;elves all the way in your lives, le&s;t your payment prove too heavy, and you break, and your hearts breake, when you come to &s;ee that you cannot doe that upon your death-bed: <HI>Reddite omnibus, Render to all,</HI> to God, to man, to your &s;elves, <HI>their dues.</HI></P>
<P>To begin then with our beginning, our debts to God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Deo.</HI></NOTE> if we take that definition of of debts, which ari&s;es out of the &s;ound of the word, <HI>Debere e&s;t de alio habere,</HI> a man owes all that which he hath received of another, we are debtors of all that we have, and all that we are, to God; our well being, and our very being is from him. If we take that defini|tion of debt, <HI>Debere e&s;t Iure aliquo teneri ad dandum aut faciendum aliquid,</HI> To owe, is to be bound by &s;ome Law, to give &s;omething, or to doe &s;omething to &s;ome per&s;on; The Law of Nature in our hearts, the Law of the Creature in our eyes, the Law of the Word in our eares, provokes us to give and to doe &s;omething to that God, who hath given and done all to us; and more then giving or doing, hath &s;uffered &s;o much for us. What then is the paiment which we are to make? Fir&s;t, Glory, Prai&s;e: For, in all his works,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Laus.</NOTE> God &s;till propo&s;ed to him&s;elfe, his Glory. Tho&s;e men who will needs be of Gods Cabinet Coun&s;ell, and pronounce what God did fir&s;t, what was his fir&s;t Decree, and the fir&s;t clau&s;e in that Decree, tho&s;e men who will needs know, and then publi&s;h Gods &s;ecrets, (And, by the way, that, which &s;ometimes it may concerne us to know, yet it may be a Libell to publi&s;h it) Tho&s;e my&s;teries, which, for the oppo&s;ing and countermining &s;tub|borne, and perver&s;e Here&s;ies, it may concerne us, in Councels and Synods, and other fit places, to argue, and to cleare, it may be an injury to God, and again&s;t his Crowne, and Dignity, in breaking the peace of the Church, to publi&s;h and divulge to every popular auditory, and every itching eare, and thereby perplexe the con&s;ciences of weak men, or offer contentious men, that which is their food, and delight, di&s;putation; The&s;e men, I &s;ay, though they differ, in their order, whether Gods Decree of Reprobation and Sal|vation, were before his Decree of Creation, (for &s;ome place it before, and &s;ome after) yet all, on all &s;ides agree in this, That Gods fir&s;t purpo&s;e was his owne glory; that was his fir&s;t Decree, by what degrees &s;oever he proceeded to the execution of that Decree. And &s;o in the great and incomprehen&s;ible work of our Salvation, when that was uttered in the mouth of Angels to the Shepheards, that Amba&s;&s;age began with a <HI>Gloria in excel|&s;is,</HI> There was Peace upon earth, and there was good will towards men, but fir&s;t there was Glory to God on high. And though to correct Hereticall and Schi&s;maticall men, among&s;t whom, &s;ome would expre&s;&s;e them&s;elves in Gods &s;ervice, in one manner, and &s;ome in another, to the endangering of Doctrine, and to the confu&s;ion of Order, and thereupon &s;ome would &s;ay, in the Church-Service, <HI>Gloria Patri, in Filio, per Spiritum Sanctum,</HI> Glory be to the Father, in the Son, by the Holy Gho&s;t; And &s;ome <HI>Gloria Pa|tri per Filium,</HI> Glory be to the Father by the Son; And &s;ome <HI>Gloria Patri, &amp; Filio, per Spiritum Sanctum,</HI> Glory be to the Father, and the Son, by the Holy Gho&s;t; Though to prevent the danger of the&s;e divers formes of &s;ervice, the Church came to determine all,
<PB N="88" REF="62">in that one, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Gho&s;t, yet we &s;ee out of the formes of the Heretiques them&s;elves, &s;till &s;o farre as they conceived the God|head to extend, &s;o farre they extended Glory, in that holy acclamation; tho&s;e who be|leeved not the Son to be God, or the Holy Gho&s;t not to be God, left out Glory, when they came to their Per&s;ons; but to him that is God, in all confe&s;&s;ions, Glory appertains. Now Glory is, <HI>Clara cum laude notitia,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e:</HI> It is an evident knowledge, and acknowledgement of God, by which, others come to know him too; which ac|knowledgement is well called a recognition, for it is a &s;econd, a ruminated, a reflected knowledge: Bea&s;ts doe remember, but they doe not remember that they remember; they doe not reflect upon it, which is that that con&s;titutes memory: Every carnall and naturall man knowes God, but the acknowledgement, the recognition, the manife&s;tati|on of the greatne&s;&s;e and goodne&s;&s;e of God, accompanied with prai&s;e of him for that, this appertaines to the godly man, and this con&s;titutes glory. If God have delivered me from a &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and I doe not glorifie him for that, that is, make others know his goodne&s;&s;e to me, my &s;ickne&s;&s;e is but changed to a &s;pirituall apoplexy, to a lethargy, to a &s;tupefacti|on. If God have delivered us from de&s;truction in the bowels of the Sea, in an Inva&s;ion, and from de&s;truction in the bowels of the earth, in the Powder-trea&s;on, and we grow faint in the publication of our thanks for this deliverance, our puni&s;hment is but aggrava|ted, for we &s;hall be de&s;troyed both for tho&s;e old &s;ins which induced tho&s;e attempts of tho&s;e de&s;tructions, and for this later and greater &s;in, of forgetting tho&s;e deliverances; God requires nothing el&s;e; but he requires that, Glory and Prai&s;e. And that booke of the Scriptures, of which, S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;ayes, That if all the other parts of Scripture could pe|ri&s;h, yet out of that booke alone, we might have enough for all u&s;es, for Catechizing, for Preaching, for Di&s;puting; That whole Booke, which containes all &s;ubjects that ap|pertaine to Religion, is called altogether <HI>Sepher Tehillim, The Booke of prai&s;es,</HI> for all our Religion is Prai&s;e. And of that Book every particular P&s;alme is appointed by the Church, and continued at lea&s;t for a thou&s;and and two hundred yeares, to be &s;hut up with that humble and glorious acclamation. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Gho&s;t; <HI>O that men would therefore prai&s;e the Lord, and declare the wonderfull works that he doth for the &s;ons of men! Nil qui&s;quam debet ni&s;i quod turpe e&s;t, non reddere,</HI> &s;ayes the Law: It is <HI>Turpe,</HI> an infamous and ignominious thing, not to pay debt; And, infamous and ignominious, are heavy and reproachfull words in the Law; and the Go&s;|pell would adde to that <HI>Turpe, Impium:</HI> It is not onely an infamous but an impious, an irreligious thing, not to pay debts. As in debts, the State, and the Judge is my &s;ecurity, they undertake I &s;hall be paid, or they execute Judgement; &s;o, con&s;ider our &s;elves as Chri&s;tians, God is my &s;ecurity, and he will puni&s;h where I am defrauded. Either thou owe&s;t God nothing, (And then, if thou owe him nothing, from whom, or from what hath &s;he&s;tollen that face, that is faire; or he that e&s;tate, that is rich; or that office, that commands others; or that learning, and tho&s;e orders and commi&s;&s;ion, that preaches to others; or they their &s;oules, that under&s;tand me now? If you owe nothing, from whom had you all the&s;e, all this?) Or if thou do&s;t owe, <HI>Turpe e&s;t, Impium e&s;t,</HI> It is an unwor|thy, it is an unhone&s;t, it is an irreligious thing, not to pay him, in that money, which his owne Spirit mints, and coynes in thee, and of his owne bullion too, prai&s;e and thanks|giving. Not to pay him then, when he him&s;elfe gives thee the money that mu&s;t pay him, the Spirit of Thankfulne&s;&s;e, falls under all the reproaches, that Law or Go&s;pell can inflict in any names. How many men have we &s;eene molder and crumble away great e&s;tates, and yet pay no debts? It is all our ca&s;es: What Poems, and what Orati|ons we make, how indu&s;trious, and witty we are, to over-prai&s;e men, and never give God his due prai&s;e? Nay how often is the Pulpit it &s;elfe, made the &s;hop, and the Theatre of prai&s;e upon pre&s;ent men, and God left out? How often is that called a Ser|mon, that &s;peakes more of Great men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 148.2.</NOTE> then of our great God? <HI>Laudate eum omnes Au|geli ejus, laudate eum omnes virtutes ejus; David</HI> calls upon the Angels, and all the Ho&s;t of Heaven, to prai&s;e God, and in the Romane Church, they will employ willingly all their prai&s;e upon the Angels, and the Ho&s;t of Heaven it &s;elfe; and this is not <HI>reddere de|bitum;</HI> here is mony enough &s;pent, but no debt paid; prai&s;e enough given, but not to the true God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 10.</NOTE> <HI>Laudate eum ligna fructifera, &amp; univer&s;a pecora, &amp; volucres pennatae,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> there; <HI>David</HI> calls upon fruits, and fowle, and cattle to prai&s;e God, and we prai&s;e, and &s;et forth our lands, and fruits, and fowle, and cattle, with all Hyperbolicall
<PB N="89" REF="62">prai&s;es; and this is not <HI>reddere debitum,</HI> no paiment of a debt, where it is due. <HI>Laudate eum juvenes, &amp; &s;enes, &amp; virgines,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> too; He calls upon old men, and young men, and virgins, to prai&s;e the Lord, and we &s;pend all our prai&s;es, upon young men, which are growing up in favour, or upon old men, who have the government in their hands, or upon maidens, towards whom our affections have tran&s;ported us, and all this is no paiment of the debt of prai&s;e. <HI>Laudate eum Reges terrae, Principes &amp; omnes Iudices;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 11.</NOTE> He calls upon Kings, and Judges, and Magi&s;trates to prai&s;e God, and we employ all our prai&s;e upon the actions of tho&s;e per&s;ons them&s;elves. Beloved, God cannot be flattered, he cannot be over-prai&s;ed, we can &s;peake nothing Hyperbolically of God: But he can|not be mocked neither; He will not be told, I have prai&s;ed thee, in prai&s;ing thy creature, which is thine Image; would that di&s;charge any of my debt to a Merchant, to tell him, that I had be&s;towed as much, or more mony then my debt, upon his picture? Though Princes, and Judges, and Magi&s;trates be pictures, and Images of God, though beauty, and riches, and honour, and power, and favour, be, in a proportion, &s;o too, yet, as I bought not that Merchants picture, becau&s;e it was his, or for love of him, but becau&s;e it was a good peece, and of a good Ma&s;ters hand, and a good hou&s;e-ornament; &s;o though I &s;pend my nights, and dayes, and thoughts, and &s;pirits, and words, and preaching, and writing, upon Princes, and Judges, and Magi&s;trates, and per&s;ons of e&s;timation, and their prai&s;e, yet my intention determines in that u&s;e which I have of their favour, and re&s;pects not the glory of God in them; and when I have &s;pent my &s;elfe to the la&s;t farthing, my lungs to the la&s;t breath, my wit to the la&s;t Metaphore, my tongue to the la&s;t &s;yllable, I have not paid a farthing of my debt to God; I have not prai&s;ed him, but I have prai&s;ed them, till not only my &s;elfe, but even they, whom I have &s;o mi&s;prai&s;ed, are the wor&s;e in the &s;ight of God, for my over-prai&s;ing; I have flattered them, and they have taken occa&s;ion by that, to thinke that their faults are not di&s;cerned, and &s;o they have procee|ded in them.</P>
<P>This is then our fir&s;t debt to God, glory and prai&s;e, which is, (as we &s;aid out of S. <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI>) a manife&s;tation of Gods ble&s;&s;ing to us: for it is not towards God as it is towards great per&s;ons, under whom we have ri&s;en, that we &s;hould be afraid to let the world know, how rich we are, le&s;t they that rai&s;ed us, &s;hould borrow of us, or draw us into bands for them: God requires nothing but the glory, the manife&s;tation, that by knowing what he hath done for thee, others may know what to hope, and what to pray for, at his hands: In our debts to God, the <HI>noverint univer&s;i,</HI> is the <HI>quietus e&s;t,</HI> our publi&s;hing of them, to his prai&s;e and glory, is his acquittance and di&s;charge for them.</P>
<P>Our other debt to God is Prayer, for that al&s;o is due to him, and him onely; For,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Oratio.</HI> Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Si quod petendum e&s;t petis, &s;ed non &agrave; quo petendum e&s;t, impius es:</HI> If we direct our prayers to any, even for temporall things, as to the Authors of tho&s;e benefits, we may poure out as many prayers, as would have paid that debt, if they had been rightly placed, but yet by &s;uch a paiment, our debt is growne a debt of a higher nature, a &s;in. This is a circum|&s;tance, nay, an e&s;&s;entiall difference peculiar to our debts to God, that we doe not pay them, except we contract more; we grow be&s;t out of debt, by growing farther in debt; by praying for more, we pay our former debt. <HI>Domus med Domus Orationis,</HI> my hou&s;e, &s;aies God, is a hou&s;e of prayer; for this u&s;e, and purpo&s;e, he built him&s;elfe a hou&s;e upon earth; He had prai&s;e and glory in heaven before, but for Prayer he erected a hou&s;e here, his Church. All the world is his Exchequer, he gives in all; from every creature, from Heaven, and Sea, and Land, and all the inhabitants of all them, wereceive benefits; But the Church is his Court of Reque&s;ts, there he receives our petitions, there we receive his an&s;wers.</P>
<P>It is true that neither is that hou&s;e onely for prayer, nor prayer onely for that hou&s;e: Chri&s;t, in his per&s;on, con&s;ecrated that place, the Temple, by Preaching too: And for prayer el&s;ewhere, Chri&s;t did much accu&s;tome him&s;elfe to private prayer: But in him, who was truly Head of the Church, the whole Church was; Chri&s;t alone, was a Con|gregation, he was the Catholique Church. But when we meet in Gods hou&s;e, though, by occa&s;ion, there be no Sermon, yet if we meet to pray, we pay our debt, we doe our duty; &s;o doe we not, if we meet at a Sermon, without prayer. The Church is the hou&s;e of prayer, &s;o, as that upon occa&s;ion, preaching may be left out, but never a hou&s;e of preaching, &s;o, as that Prayer may be left out. And for the debt of prayer, God will not be paid, with money of our owne coyning, (with &s;udden, extemporall, incon&s;iderate
<PB N="90" REF="63">prayer) but with currant money, that beares the Kings Image, and in&s;cription; The Church of God, by his Ordinance, hath fet his &s;tampe, upon a Liturgie and Service, for his hou&s;e. <HI>Audit Deus in corde cogitantis, quod nec ip&s;e audit, qui cogitat,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard:</HI> God heares the very fir&s;t motions of a mans heart, which, that man, till he proceed to a farther con&s;ideration, doth not heare, not feele, not deprehend in him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>That &s;oule, that is accu&s;tomed to direct her &s;elfe to God, upon every occa&s;ion, that, as a flowre at Sun-ri&s;ing, conceives a &s;en&s;e of God, in every beame of his, and &s;preads and dilates it &s;elfe towards him, in a thankfulne&s;&s;e, in every &s;mall ble&s;&s;ing that he &s;heds upon her; that &s;oule, that as a flowre at the Suns declining, contracts and gathers in, and &s;huts up her &s;elfe, as though &s;he had received a blow, when &s;oever &s;he heares her Savi|our wounded by a oath, or bla&s;phemy, or execration; that &s;oule, who, what&s;oever &s;tring be &s;trucken in her, ba&s;e or treble, her high or her low e&s;tate, is ever tun'd toward God, that &s;oule prayes &s;ometimes when it does not know that it prayes. I heare that man name God, and aske him what &s;aid you, and perchance he cannot tell; but I remember, that he ca&s;ts forth &s;ome of tho&s;e <HI>ejaculationes animae,</HI> (as S. <HI>Augu&s;t:</HI> calls them) &s;ome of tho&s;e darts of a devout &s;oule, which, though they have not particular deliberations, and be not formall prayers, yet they are the <HI>indicia,</HI> pregnant evidences and ble&s;&s;ed fruits of a religious cu&s;tome; much more is it true, which S. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;aies there, of them, <HI>Deus audit,</HI> God heares that voice of the heart, which the heart it &s;elfe heares not, that is, at fir&s;t con&s;iders not. Tho&s;e occa&s;ionall and tran&s;itory prayers, and tho&s;e fixed and &s;tationa|ry prayers, for which, many times, we binde our &s;elves to private prayer at &s;uch a time, are payments of this debt, in &s;uch peeces, and in &s;uch &s;ummes, as God, no doubt, ac|cepts at our hands. But yet the &s;olemne dayes of payment, are the Sabbaths of the Lord, and the place of this payment, is the hou&s;e of the Lord, where, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> ex|pre&s;&s;es it, <HI>Agmine facto,</HI> we mu&s;ter our forces together, and be&s;iege God; that is, not taking up every tatter'd fellow, every &s;udden ragge or fragment of &s;peech, that ri&s;es from our tongue, or our affections, but mu&s;tering up tho&s;e words, which the Church hath levied for that &s;ervice, in the Confe&s;&s;ions, and Ab&s;olutions, and Collects, and Litanies of the Church, we pay this debt, and we receive our acquittance. Fir&s;t, we mu&s;t be &s;ure to pray, where we may be &s;ure to &s;peed, and onely God can give. It is a &s;trange thing, &s;aies <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr,</HI> to pray to <HI>E&s;culapius</HI> or to <HI>Apollo</HI> for health, as Gods thereof, <HI>Qui apud Chironem medicina~ didicerunt;</HI> when they who pray to them, may know, to whom tho&s;e gods were beholden for all their medicines, and of whom they learnt all their phy&s;ick: why &s;hould they not rather pray to their Ma&s;ters, then to them? why &s;hould <HI>Apollo, Chiroes</HI> &s;cholar, and not <HI>Chiro, Apollo's</HI> Ma&s;ter, be the god of phy&s;ick? why &s;hould I pray to S. <HI>George</HI> for victory, when I may goe to the Lord of Ho&s;ts, Almighty God him|&s;elfe; or con&s;ult with a Seargeant, or Corporall, when I may goe to the Generall? Or to another Saint for peace, when I may goe to the Prince of peace Chri&s;t Je&s;us? Why &s;hould I pray to Saint <HI>Nicolas</HI> for a faire pa&s;&s;age at Sea, when he that rebuked the &s;torme, is nearer me then S. <HI>Nicolas?</HI> why &s;hould I pray to S. <HI>Antony</HI> for my hoggs, when he that gave the devill leave to drowne the Gerge&s;ens whole heard of hoggs, did not do that by S. <HI>Antonies</HI> leave, nor by putting a caveat or prae-non-ob&s;tante in his monopoly of pre&s;er|ving hoggs? I know not where to finde S. <HI>Petronilla</HI> when I have an ague, nor S. <HI>Apollo|nia,</HI> when I have the tooth-ache, nor S. <HI>Liberius,</HI> when I have the &s;tone: I know not whether they can heare me in Heaven, or no; Our Adver&s;aries will not &s;ay, that all Saints in Heaven heare all that is &s;aid on earth: I know not whether they be in Heaven, or no: our Adver&s;aries will not &s;ay, that the Pope may not erre, in a matter of fact, and &s;o may canonize a Traytor for a Saint: I know not whether tho&s;e Saints were ever upon earth or no; our Adver&s;aries will not &s;ay, that all their Legends were really, hi&s;torically true, but that many of them, are holy, but yet &s;ymbolicall inventions, to figure out not what was truly done before, but what wee &s;hould endeavour to doe now. I know my Redeemer liveth, and I know where he is; and no man knowes, where he is not. He is our Creditor, to him we mu&s;t pray. But for what? we may finde in &s;ome re&s;pects a better modell of prayer in heathen, and unchri&s;tian Rome, then in &s;uper&s;titious Rome. There wee finde their prayer to have beene, <HI>Aut innocentiam des nobis, aut maturam poeni|tentiam;</HI> pre&s;erve us O Lord, in an innocencie, or afford us a &s;peedy repentance: And as we finde that there was in that State a publique Officer, <HI>Conditor precum,</HI> that made their Collects, and prayers for publique u&s;e, &s;o wee finde in their prayers, that which may
<PB N="91" REF="63">make us a&s;ham'd; At fir&s;t, for many yeares, their prayer was, <HI>Vt res populi Romani am|pliores facerent,</HI> that their Gods would enlarge their State; after that, it was, <HI>Vt res per|petu&ograve; incolumes &s;ervarent,</HI> that their Gods would pre&s;erve, and e&s;tabli&s;h them, in that State; And after, <HI>Vota nuncupata, &s;i res eo &s;teti&s;&s;ent &s;tatu;</HI> They vowed their &s;ervice, and their &s;acrifice to God, upon condition that he &s;hould keepe them alwaies in that State, and not otherwi&s;e. So far therefore they may be our example, that they contented them|&s;elves with a competency, but not, that they made them&s;elves Judges of that competen|cy. We come to Gods hou&s;e to pay a debt, and our debt is, to confe&s;&s;e that we can have from none but him, nor de&s;ire from him any more, then he is plea&s;ed to give.</P>
<P>We come now to our &s;econd &s;ort of Creditors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to whom wee are commanded to render their dues; to men: And of them, to our Superiors fir&s;t, and then to our Infe|riors. For, that with which, the Apo&s;tle enters into this Chapter, <HI>Omnis anima,</HI> Let every &s;oule be &s;ubject to the higher powers, S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> applies <HI>Ad Prophetam, &amp; Eu|angeli&s;tam,</HI> though he were a Prophet; or an Euangeli&s;t; S. <HI>Bernard, Ad Epi&s;copum, &amp; Archiepi&s;copum,</HI> though a Bi&s;hop, or Archbi&s;hop, (for, though they be as &s;pirituall me|teors betweene Heaven, and earth, and &s;tand betweene God and us, yet they are &s;ubject to that juri&s;diction, which God hath given man over man, though they were in an ex|traordinary calling, (the Prophets were &s;o) yet they were &s;ubject to an ordinary juri&s;|diction;) And <HI>Theophylact,</HI> and <HI>Theodoret</HI> both, apply it <HI>ad Monachum &amp; Fratrem,</HI> to Monks and Friers; though they &s;eeme to be gone out of the world, yet to this entend|ment, of being &s;ubject to higher powers, they are all within the world, no Cloy&s;ter, no Cathedrall Church, no profe&s;&s;ion, no dignity is a &s;anctuary, a priviledged place from the payment of this debt. Here is a <HI>Quo warranto</HI> to be brought again&s;t all, and what excep|tion can bee pleaded to this <HI>Omnis anima,</HI> let every &s;oule be &s;ubject? The Anabapti&s;t would not pay this debt, hee acknowledges no Magi&s;trate, and yet <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> did, who &s;ubmitted him&s;elfe to <HI>Herod;</HI> The Je&s;uit will not pay this debt, he acknowledges no &s;e|cular Magi&s;trate, and yet Chri&s;t Je&s;us did, who &s;ubmitted him&s;elfe to <HI>Pilate; Nemo &s;ecu|larior Pilato, cui ad&s;titit Dominus judicandus,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> there was never a more &s;ecular Judge then <HI>Pilate,</HI> and yet the Lord of life was judg'd to death by him.</P>
<P>We cannot enlarge this con&s;ideration to all our Creditors, in the&s;e debts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Princeps.</NOTE> not to all Superiors, naturall, as Parents, and civill, as Magi&s;trates, and Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall, as Prelates, and that which is mixt of all, matrimoniall, from the wife to the husband, and therefore we contract it to the roote of all, the Soveraigne; And to him we con&s;ider fir&s;t a Reall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Realis.</NOTE> and &s;ub&s;tantiall, and then a circum&s;tantiall and ceremoniall debt. The &s;ub&s;tantiall debt is paid in a faithfull, in a ready and chearfull paying of tho&s;e debts, tho&s;e Tributes, and Cu&s;tomes, (as the Apo&s;tle cals them here) which belong to the King, and he that makes no con&s;cience in defrauding the publique, he that withholds part of this debt, when&s;o|ever he can, he would pay that which he payes, in counterfait money, if he dur&s;t: hee that deceives, becau&s;e he &s;ees he can &s;cape with that deceit, he would coyne too, if he &s;aw too, that he could &s;cape for that coyning. A principall rea&s;on that makes coyning and adulterating of money capitall in all &s;tates, is not &s;o much becau&s;e hee that coynes u&s;urpes the Princes authority, (for every coyner is not a pretender to the Crowne) nor becau&s;e he dimini&s;hes the Princes maje&s;ty, (for what is the Prince the wor&s;e in that his face is &s;tamped by another in ba&s;e mettall, then when that is done by him&s;elfe, or when his face is graved in any &s;tone that is not precious?) as becau&s;e he that coynes, injuries the publique: and no man injuries the publique more, then he, who defrauds him, who is Gods &s;teward for the publique, the King. In matter of cloathes and apparell, God wrought a miracle in private mens ca&s;es, in continuing and enlarging the children of I&s;raels cloathes in the wilderne&s;&s;e: In matter of meat he wrought a miracle in private mens behalfe too, in feeding &s;o many, with &s;o few loafes, and fi&s;hes; and &s;o he did for drinke too, in a miraculous providing of wine at the Marriage; for, meat, and drink, and cloathes are things nece&s;&s;ary for every man: But becau&s;e money is not &s;o, if the&s;e other things may otherwi&s;e be had, (as &s;ome nations have lived, by permutation of commo|dities, without money) therefore God never wrought a miracle in matter of money, in any private mans ca&s;e; But becau&s;e money is the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary of all, to the publique, to the Prince, therefore he wrought a miracle for that; and for that, onely then, when that money was to be employed upon tribute to Cae&s;ar;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.27.</NOTE> no miracle in matter of money but for tribute. As it is a &s;igne of &s;ubjection to &s;ee a man &s;tand bare headed, &s;o it may be
<PB N="92" REF="64">a declination towards a wor&s;e condition, to &s;ee a State bare headed, to &s;ee the Prince, the Head, kept bare, by being either defrauded of that which is ordinarily due to him, or denied that which becomes al&s;o due in the payment, though it were extraordinarily gi|ven in the grant. But I am not here, to deale upon affections, but con&s;ciences, and but &s;o far upon them, in this point, as they finde them&s;elves in a rectified, and well examined con&s;cience, to have beene enemies to the publique, by having defrauded that, by any meanes, of that which was truly due to it. And to bring that into con&s;ideration, which is little con&s;idered, that as it is a greater &s;inne to defraud the publique, then to defraud any private per&s;on, &s;o doth the a&s;&s;i&s;ting of the publique lay a greater obligation upon us, then the a&s;&s;i&s;ting of any other, by private almes.</P>
<P>The other debt from us to men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ceremonia|lis.</NOTE> and of them to Superiours, and of them principally to the Soveraigne, we called ceremoniall; And the Apo&s;tle, in that which followes in this ver&s;e, referres chiefely to that, in tho&s;e words, Feare, and Honour, for it con&s;i&s;ts e&s;pe|cially in tho&s;e things, wherein, by outward reverence, we contribute to the maintenance, and upholding of the dignity of the Prince; and of the&s;e outward ceremoniall things hath God alwaies profe&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe to be mo&s;t jealous. And, (if I mi&s;take not, as I may ea&s;ily doe, in things &s;o far removed out of my way) when in your judiciall proceedings in criminall cau&s;es, you make the greate&s;t offences to be again&s;t the Crowne and Dig|nity, in the fir&s;t, (the Crowne) you intend the e&s;&s;entiall part, and in the other, (the Dig|nity) the ceremoniall, the Honour, and Reverence, and Reputation of the Prince. God gave his very E&s;&s;ence to his Son, he was very God of very God; But when this Son of his became man, that which God &s;ayes in generall, my Honour will I give to no man, reaches &s;o far to the Son of God him&s;elfe, as that the honour due to God, is not to be given to the body, not to the manhood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe. How very great a part of the Law of God was ceremoniall? and how very heavy puni&s;hments were ordained for the breakers even of tho&s;e Ceremonies?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 2.17. Melancton.</NOTE> The Sabbaths them&s;elves, S. <HI>Paul</HI> puts a|mong&s;t Ceremonies: And that man, who a&s;&s;i&s;ted the Reformation of Religion, with as much learning, and mode&s;ty, as any, defines the Commandment of the Sabbath well, to be <HI>Morale praeceptum, de Ceremoniali,</HI> That though the Commandment be morall, and binde all men for ever, yet that which is commanded in that morall Commandement, is in it &s;elfe Ceremoniall; for, indeed, all that which we call by the generall name of Re|ligion, as it is the outward wor&s;hip of God, is Ceremoniall, and there is nothing more morall, then that &s;ome ceremoniall things there mu&s;t be. Now, as the&s;e Ceremoniall things are due to God him&s;elfe, &s;o are they to them, to whom God hath imparted his name, in &s;aying they are Gods. Wee &s;hall not read in any &s;ecular or prophane &s;tory, of greater humility and reverence in &s;ubjects to their Princes, then in the booke of God, to the Kings there. What phra&s;es of abjecting them&s;elves, in re&s;pect of the Prince, can exceed <HI>Davids</HI> humble expre&s;&s;ing of him&s;elfe to <HI>Saul?</HI> Or <HI>Daniels</HI> magnifying the King, when he cals him King of Kings? And certainly &s;ome of the be&s;t, and mo&s;t reli|gious of Chri&s;tian Emperors tooke to them&s;elves &s;o great Titles, in their &s;tile, as can be excu&s;ed no other way, but becau&s;e their Predece&s;&s;ors had done &s;o, there lay a nece&s;&s;ity upon them, to keepe this ceremoniall re&s;pect and dignity, at the &s;ame heighth, becau&s;e upon the Ceremoniall, much of the E&s;&s;entiall depends too. And therefore God pierces to the roote, to the heart, when he forbids an irreverent, or unre&s;pective thought of the Prince,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 10.20.</NOTE> for, &s;aies he, <HI>Tho&s;e that have wings, &s;hall declare the matter;</HI> God imployes &s;o many Informers, as Angels; It is not an office unworthy of the Angels of Heaven, much le&s;&s;e of any other Angels of the Church, (no, not though it be delivered by way of con|fe&s;&s;ion) to di&s;cover any di&s;loyall purpo&s;es; though in other ca&s;es, by our owne Canons, that &s;eale of Confe&s;&s;ion lay ju&s;tly a &s;trong obligation upon us, and God gives Angels an ability, a faculty, which in their nature they have not, that is, to know thoughts, for this purpo&s;e, for the di&s;covery of &s;uch irreverent, and di&s;loyall hearts. Angels doe not know thoughts naturally, yet to this purpo&s;e they &s;hall know thoughts, &s;aies God. Mo|rall men &s;hould not di&s;cover the &s;ecrets of friends, we &s;hould not di&s;cover the things we receive in confe&s;&s;ion; but when it comes to matter of di&s;loyalty, all morall &s;eales, and all Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall &s;eales lo&s;e their obligation.</P>
<P>The foote of this account, the totall &s;umme of this Ceremoniall debt to Superiors, is, that due re&s;pect be given to every man, in his place; for when young men thinke it the onely argument of a good &s;pirit, to behave them&s;elves fellowly, and frowardly to great
<PB N="93" REF="64">per&s;ons, tho&s;e greater per&s;ons in time, take away their re&s;pect from Princes, and at la&s;t, (for in the chain of order, every link depends upon one another) God lo&s;es the re&s;pect and honour due to him; private men le&s;&s;en their re&s;pect of Magi&s;trates, and Magi&s;trates of Princes, and Princes and all, of God. And therefore, that which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes of the highe&s;t rank, <HI>Non putes Chri&s;tian a philo&s;ophiae dignitatem laedi,</HI> reaches to all &s;orts, Let no man think that he departs from the dignity of a Chri&s;tian, in attributing to every man that which appertains to the dignity of his place. I &s;peak not all this, as though a man &s;hould lo&s;e the &s;ub&s;tance for the ceremony, that that man, who&s;e place it is to advi&s;e and coun&s;ell, &s;hould be &s;o ceremonious with his &s;uperiour, as to concurre with him in the al|lowance of all his errors. <HI>Caput meum conqua&s;&s;atum e&s;t</HI> (it is an expo&s;tulation of S. <HI>Ber|nards</HI>) My head is brui&s;ed, corrupted, putrified, (he &s;peakes it of his head, his &s;uperiour, a Bi&s;hop) <HI>Et jam &s;anguine ebulliente, putaverim e&s;&s;e tegendum,</HI> now my head runs downe with blood, can I think to cover it? <HI>Quicquid appo&s;uero, cruentabitur,</HI> what&s;oever I lay to it will be bloody too; if I di&s;&s;emble, or cover his faults, his blood will fall upon me, and I &s;hall have part of his &s;ins. Every wife hath a &s;uperiour at home, &s;o hath every childe, and every &s;ervant, and every man a &s;uperjour &s;ome where, in &s;ome re&s;pect, that is, in a &s;pirituall re&s;pect: for &s;o, not only the King, but the highe&s;t &s;pirituall per&s;on hath a &s;uperiour for ab&s;olution. And to this &s;uperiour re&s;pectively, every man owes a cere|moniall re&s;pect, as a debt, though this debt be not &s;o far, as to accompany him, or to en|courage him in his ill purpo&s;es, for that is too high a ceremony, and too tran&s;cendent a complement, to be damned for his &s;ake, by concurring with my &s;uperiour in his &s;ins. And then, they who&s;e office it is to direct, even their &s;uperiours, by their coun&s;ell, (as that office may in ca&s;es belong to a wife, to a childe, to a &s;ervant, as <HI>Iob</HI> profe&s;&s;es it was in his family) have al&s;o a ceremoniall duty in that duty, which is, to doe even that, with &s;weetne&s;&s;e, with re&s;pect, with reverence. It was a better rule in &s;o high a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, then a man would look for at a Friars hands, which S. <HI>Bernard</HI> hath, <HI>Ab&s;&abque; prudentia &amp; bene|volentia, non &s;unt perfecta con&s;ilia:</HI> No man is a good Coun&s;ellor, for all his wi&s;dome, and for all his liberty of &s;peech, except he love the per&s;on whom he coun&s;els: If he do not wi&s;h him well, as well as tell him his faults, he is rather a Satyri&s;t, and a Calumnia|tor, and &s;eeks to vent his own wi&s;dome, and to exerci&s;e his authority, then a good Coun|&s;ellor. And therefore, &s;ayes that Father, before Chri&s;t took <HI>Peter</HI> into that high place, he asked him, and asked him thrice, <HI>Amas me? Love&s;t thou me?</HI> He would be &s;ure of his love to him fir&s;t, before he preferred him; <HI>Vix in multitudine hominum, unum reperio, in utra&abque; gratia con&s;ummatum,</HI> &s;ayes he &s;till: Not one man among&s;t a thou&s;and, that is both able to give coun&s;ell to great per&s;ons, and then doth that office out of love to that per&s;on, but rather to let others &s;ee his ability in him&s;elf, or his authority and power over that per|&s;on, and &s;o upon pretence of coun&s;elling, opens his weakne&s;&s;es to the knowledge, and to the contempt of other men; as <HI>Davids</HI> wife, when he had danced (as &s;he thought) un|decently before the Ark, &s;poke freely enough, with liberty enough, but it was with &s;corn, and contempt: And this is in no &s;ort any payment of this ceremoniall debt, which is, (that the foundations, and the &s;ub&s;tance being pre&s;erved, that is, the glory of God, and morall, and religious truths being kept inviolate) to think, and &s;ay, and doe, tho&s;e things which may conduce to the e&s;timation, and dignity of his &s;uperiour.</P>
<P>Now this hath led us to our other li&s;t of humane creditors, that is, our inferiours,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inferiores.</NOTE> and to render to them al&s;o their dues; for, to them we &s;aid at beginning, there was due, coun&s;ell, if they were weak in under&s;tanding; and there was due, reliefe, if they were weak in their fortunes. For the fir&s;t, there are &s;ome per&s;ons in &s;o high place in this world, as that they can owe nothing to any temporall &s;uperiour, for they have none: But there is none &s;o low in this world, but he hath &s;ome lower then he is, to pay this debt of coun&s;ell and advi&s;e to: at lea&s;t the debt of prayer for him, if he will not receive the debt of coun&s;ell to him. But in this place (for ha&s;te) we contract our &s;elves to the debt of reliefe to the poore: Among&s;t whom, we may con&s;ider one &s;ort of poore whom we our &s;elves have made poore, and damnified, and then our debt is Re&s;titution, and another &s;ort, whom God, for rea&s;ons unknowne to us hath made poore, and there our debt is Almes. For the fir&s;t of the&s;e (tho&s;e whom thou ha&s;t damnified and made poore) thou need&s;t not come to the Apo&s;tles que&s;tion of the blinde man, <HI>Did this man &s;in or his pa|rents, that he is born blinde?</HI> Did this man wa&s;te him&s;elfe in hou&s;e-keeping, or in play, or in wantonne&s;&s;e, that he is become poore? <HI>Neither he &s;inned, nor his parents,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t;
<PB N="94" REF="65">neither exce&s;&s;e, nor play, nor wantonne&s;&s;e hath undone this man, but thy prevarication in his cau&s;e, thy extortion, thy oppre&s;&s;ion: And now he &s;tarves, and thou hunte&s;t after a popular reputation of a good hou&s;e-keeper with his meate; now he freezes in naked|ne&s;&s;e, and thy train &s;hines in liveries out of his Wardrobe; every Con&s;table is ready to lay hold upon him for a rogue, and thy &s;on is Knighted with his mony. <HI>Sileat lic&egrave;t fama, non &s;ilet fames,</HI> &s;ayes good and holy <HI>Bernard,</HI> fame may be &s;ilent, but famine will not: perchance the world knowes not this, or is weary of &s;peaking of it, but tho&s;e poore wretches that &s;tarve by thy oppre&s;&s;ion, know it, and cry out in his hearing, where thine own con&s;cience accompanies them, and cryes out with them again&s;t thee. Pay this debt, this debt of re&s;titution, and pay it quickly; for nothing peri&s;hes, nothing decayes an e&s;tate more, nothing con&s;umes, nothing enfeebles a &s;oule more, then to let a great debt run on long.</P>
<P>But if they be poore of Gods making,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eleemo&s;yna.</NOTE> and not of thine (as they are to thee, if thou know not why, or how they are become poore) (for though God have inflicted poverty upon them for their &s;ins, that is a &s;ecret between God and them, that which God hath revealed to thee, is their poverty, and not their &s;ins) then thou owe&s;t them a debt of almes, though not re&s;titution: though thou have nothing in thy hands which was theirs, yet thou ha&s;t &s;omething which &s;hould be theirs; nothing perchance which thou ha&s;t taken from them, but &s;omething certainly which thou ha&s;t received from God for them; and in that &s;en&s;e S. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;ayes truly, in the behalfe, and in the per&s;on of the poore, to wa&s;tfull men, <HI>No&s;trum e&s;t quod effunditis,</HI> you are prodigall, there is one fault; but then you are prodigall of that which is not your own, but ours, and that is a greater; and then we who&s;e goods you wa&s;t, are poore and mi&s;erable, and that is the greate&s;t fault of all. <HI>Nobis crudeliter &s;ubtrahitur, quod inaniter expenditis,</HI> what&s;oever you &s;pend wantonly and vainly upon your &s;elves, or &s;infully upon others, is cruelly and bloodily drawen out of our bowels, and wor&s;e then &s;o, &s;acrilegiou&s;ly too, becau&s;e we are the Temples of the Holy Gho&s;t: If not properly taken away becau&s;e we had it not, yet unju&s;tly and cruelly with-held and kept away, becau&s;e we &s;hould have it, &s;ay tho&s;e poore &s;oules to the&s;e wa&s;tfull prodigalls in that devout and per&s;wa&s;ive mouth of S. <HI>Bernard.</HI> Here is a double mi&s;ery, of which you, you that are prodigals are authors, <HI>Vos vanitando peritis, nos &s;polian|do perimitis,</HI> In this prodigality you wa&s;te your &s;elves, even your &s;oules, and you rob us; you leave us naked in the cold, and you ca&s;t your &s;elves into dark and tormenting fire. So that whether they be poore of Gods making, or poore of your making, <HI>Reddite debi|tum,</HI> pay the debt you owe, to the one by almes, to the other by re&s;titution.</P>
<P>We de&s;cend now to our la&s;t creditors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part. <HI>Nos.</HI></NOTE> our &s;elves. It is a good rule of S. <HI>Bernard, Qui ad &s;ui men&s;uram proximum diligit, &s;eip&s;um diligere norit,</HI> &s;ince we are commanded to love our neighbour, as our &s;elves, we mu&s;t be &s;ure to love our &s;elves &s;o as we &s;hould doe, or el&s;e we proceed by a wrong, and a crooked rule. So to give &s;ome gue&s;&s;e of our ability, and of our willingne&s;&s;e, to pay our debts to God, and our debts to man, we mu&s;t con&s;i|der what we owe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.14.</NOTE> and how we pay our &s;elves. <HI>Thou art a debtor</HI> (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of him|&s;elfe) <HI>to the Greek, and to the Barbarian, to the wi&s;e, and to the unwi&s;e;</HI> And thou thy &s;elfe art among&s;t &s;ome of the&s;e; wi&s;e and learned in the be&s;t art, though thou know not a letter, rich and mighty in the be&s;t trea&s;ure, though thou po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e not a penny, if thou pay the&s;e debts duly, (for as God tels us we may buy without money, &s;o we may pay debts without money) and then ignorant and unlettered, in the mid&s;t of thy library and lan|guages, and poore and beggarly in the mid&s;t of thy coffers and rentals, if thou call not thy &s;elfe to this account, for his debt to him&s;elfe alone, is debt enough to oppre&s;&s;e any man. <HI>Solus mihi &s;ervandus,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> I am Bi&s;hop over no man but my &s;elfe, I have no larger Dioce&s;&s;e then mine own per&s;on, no mans debts to pay but mine own, nor any man to pay them to, but to my &s;elfe, <HI>Solus tamen mihi &s;um &s;candalo,</HI> yet I am &s;canda|lized in my &s;elfe, I have brought an ill name upon my &s;elfe, to be an ill pay ma&s;ter to mine own &s;oul; <HI>Solus taedio,</HI> though I have no creditor to di&s;appoint but my &s;elfe, yet I am growen a gedious, and dilatory man to my &s;elf, I have taken longer and longer daies with my &s;elfe, and &s;till put off my repentances, from &s;ickne&s;&s;e to &s;ickne&s;&s;e, <HI>Solus taedio; &s;olus oneri,</HI> I am a burden to my &s;elfe, I have over-burdened my &s;elf even with collaterall &s;ecurity, with entring into new bands, with new vows upon my repentances, new con|tracts, new &s;tipulations, new prote&s;tations to my God, which I have forfeited al&s;o, <HI>&s;o|lus oneri;</HI> and <HI>&s;olus periculo,</HI> I am become a dangerous man to my &s;elfe, I dare not tru&s;t
<PB N="95" REF="65" MS="y">my &s;elf alone, though I ab&s;tain from my former &s;infull company, yet cu&s;tome of &s;inne hath made me a tentation to my &s;elf, and I &s;in where no tentation offers it &s;elf: <HI>Solus mi|hi &s;ervandus,</HI> I have no body to &s;ave, &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard</HI> in his Cloi&s;ter, but my &s;elf, and I cannot doe that, but I damne my &s;elf alone.</P>
<P>Begin therefore to pay the&s;e debts to thy &s;elfe betimes; for, as we told you at begin|ning, &s;ome you are to tender at noone, &s;ome at evening. Even at your noon and warm|e&s;t Sun-&s;hine of pro&s;perity, you owe your &s;elves a true information, how you came by that pro&s;perity, who gave it you, and why he gave it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 9.7.</NOTE> Let not the Olive boa&s;t of her own fatne&s;&s;e, nor the Fig-tree of her own &s;weetne&s;&s;e, nor the Vine of her own fruitful|ne&s;&s;e, for we were all but Brambles. Let no man &s;ay, I could not mi&s;&s;e a fortune, for I have &s;tudied all my youth; How many men have &s;tudied more nights, then he hath done hours, and &s;tudied them&s;elves blinde, and mad in the Mathematiques, &amp; yet withers in beggery in a corner? Let him never adde, But I &s;tudied in a u&s;efull and gainfull profe&s;&s;ion; How many have done &s;o too, and yet never compa&s;&s;ed the favour of a Judge? And how ma|ny that have had all that, have &s;truck upon a Rock, even at full Sea, and peri&s;hed there? In their Grandfathers &amp; great Grandfathers, in a few generations, who&s;oever is greate&s;t now, mu&s;t &s;ay, With this &s;taffe came I over Jordan; nay, without any &s;taffe came I over Jordan, for he had in them at fir&s;t, a beginning of nothing. As for &s;piritual happine&s;&s;e, <HI>Non volentis, nec currentis, &s;ed mi&s;erentis Dei,</HI> It is not in him that would run, nor in him that doth, but only in God that pro&s;pers his cour&s;e; &s;o for the things of this world, it is in vain to ri&s;e early, and to lie down late, and to eat the bread of &s;orrow, for, <HI>ni&s;i Dominus aedifi|caverit, ni&s;i Dominus cu&s;todierit,</HI> except the Lord build the hou&s;e, they labour in vaine; except the Lord keep the City, the watchman waketh but in vain. Come not therefore to &s;ay, I &s;tudied more then my fellows, and therefore am richer then my fellows, but &s;ay, God that gave me my contemplations at fir&s;t, gave me my practice after, and hath given me his ble&s;&s;ing now. How many men have worn their braines upon other &s;tudies, and &s;pent their time and them&s;elves therein? how many men have &s;tudied more in thine own profe&s;&s;ion, and yet, for diffidence in them&s;elves, or &s;ome disfavour from others, have not had thy practice? How many men have been equall to thee, in &s;tudy, in practice, and in getting too, and yet upon a wanton confidence, that that world would alwayes la&s;t, or upon the burden of many children, and an expen&s;ive breeding of them, or for other rea|&s;ons, which God hath found in his wayes, are left upon the &s;and at la&s;t, in a low fortune? while&s;t the Sun &s;hines upon thee in all the&s;e, pay thy &s;elf the debt, of knowing whence, and why all this came, for el&s;e thou can&s;t not know how much, or how little is thine, nor thou can&s;t not come to re&s;tore that which is none of thine, but unju&s;tly wrung from others. Pay therefore this debt of &s;urveying thine e&s;tate, and then pay thy &s;elfe thine own too, by a chearfull enjoying and u&s;ing that which is truly thine, and doe not deny nor defraud thy &s;elfe of tho&s;e things which are thine, and &s;o become a wretched debtor, to thy back, or to thy belly, as though the world had not enough, or God knew not what were enough for thee.</P>
<P>Pay this debt to thy &s;elfe of looking into thy debts, of &s;urveying, of &s;evering, of &s;er|ving thy &s;elfe with that which is truly thine, at thy noone, in the be&s;t of thy fortune, and in the &s;trength of thine under&s;tanding; that when thou comme&s;t to pay thy other, thy la&s;t debt to thy &s;elf, which is, to open a doore out of this world, by the di&s;&s;olution of bo|dy and &s;oule, thou have not all thy money to tell over when the Sun is ready to &s;et, all the account to make of every bag of money, and of every quillet of land, who&s;e it is, and whether it be his that looks for it from thee, or his from whom it was taken by thee; whether it belong to thine heire, that weepes joyfull tears behinde the curtain, or belong to him that weeps true, and bloody teares, in the hole in a pri&s;on. There will come a time, when that land that thou leave&s;t &s;hall not be his land, when it &s;hall be no bodies land, when it &s;hall be no land, for the earth mu&s;t peri&s;h; there will be a time when there &s;hall be no Mannors; no Acres in the world, and yet there &s;hall lie Mannors and Acres upon thy &s;oul, when land &s;hall be no more, when time &s;hall be no more, and thou pa&s;&s;e away, not into the land of the living, but of eternall death. Then the Accu&s;er will be ready to interline the &s;chedules of thy debts, thy &s;ins, and infert fal&s;e debts, by abu&s;ing an over-tenderne&s;&s;e, which may be in thy con&s;cience then, in thy la&s;t &s;ickne&s;&s;e, in thy death|bed: Then he will be ready to adde a cyphar more to thy debts, and make hundreds thou&s;ands, and abu&s;e the faintne&s;&s;e which may be in thy con&s;cience then, in thy la&s;t &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e,
<PB N="96" REF="66">in thy death-bed. Then he will be ready to abu&s;e even thy confidence in God, and bring thee to think, that as a Pirate ventures boldly home, though all that he hath be &s;toln, if he be rich enough to bribe for a pardon; &s;o, how&s;oever tho&s;e families peri&s;h whom thou ha&s;t ruined, and tho&s;e whole pari&s;hes whom thou ha&s;t depopulated, thy &s;oule may goe confidently home too, if thou bribe God then, with an Ho&s;pitall or a Fellow&s;hip in a Colledge, or a Legacy to any pious u&s;e in apparance, and in the eye of the world.</P>
<P>Pay thy &s;elfe therefore this debt, that is, make up thine account all the way, for when that voyce comes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.2.</NOTE> <HI>Redde rationem, Give up an account of thy Steward&s;hip,</HI> it is not, goe home now, and make up thy account perfect; but now, now deliver up thine account; if it be perfect, it is well, if it be not, here is no longer day, for <HI>Iam non poteris villicare, now thou can&s;t be no lenger Steward,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.1.</NOTE> now thou ha&s;t no more to doe with thy &s;elfe. Here the voyce is not in the word to <HI>Ezekiah, Di&s;pone domui, put thy hou&s;e in order, for, morieris, thou &s;halt die;</HI> For, there God had a gracious purpo&s;e, to give him a longer terme, but here it is, <HI>foole, this night, repetunt,</HI> not <HI>they &s;hall,</HI> but <HI>they doe fetch away thy &s;oule,</HI> and then what is become of that To morrow, which thou had&s;t imagined and promi&s;ed to thy &s;elfe, for the paiment of this debt, of this repentance? Be ju&s;t therefore to thy &s;elfe all the way, pay thy &s;elfe, and take acquittances of thy &s;elfe, all the way, which is onely done under the &s;eale, and in the te&s;timony of a rectified con&s;cience. Let thine owne con|&s;cience be thine evidence, and thy Rolls, and not the opinion of others: <HI>Non tutum plan&egrave;, &s;ed &s;tultum, ibi the&s;aurum tuum recondere, ubi non vales re&s;umere, cum volueris,</HI> &s;ayes Saint <HI>Bernard.</HI> It is not providently done, to lock thy trea&s;ure in a che&s;t, of which thou ha&s;t no key, and to which thou ha&s;t no acce&s;&s;e: <HI>Si ponis in os meum jam non in tua, &s;ed mea pote|&s;tate e&s;t, ut te laudare, vel tibi derogare po&s;sim:</HI> If thou build thy reputation upon my report, it is now in my power, not in thine, whether thou &s;halt be good or bad, honourable or in|famous: <HI>Sanum vas, &amp; inconcu&s;&s;um, con&s;cientia,</HI> a good con&s;cience is a &s;weet ve&s;&s;ell, and a &s;trong; <HI>Quicquid in ea repo&s;ueris, &s;ervabit vivo, &amp; defuncto re&s;tituet:</HI> What&s;oever thou laie&s;t up in that, &s;hall &s;erve thee all thy life, and after; and that &s;hall be thine acquittance, and di&s;charge, atthy la&s;t paiment, <HI>in manustuas,</HI> when thou returne&s;t thy &s;pirit, into his hands that gave it: And then <HI>reddidi&s;ti debita omnibus,</HI> thou &s;halt have rendred to all their dues, when thou ha&s;t given the King, Honour; the poore, almes; thy &s;elfe, peace; and God thy &s;oule.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON X.</HI> Preached upon Candlemas Day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ROM. 12.20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him, if he thir&s;t give him drink; for, in &s;o doing thou &s;halt heap coales of fire on his head.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IT falls out, I know not how, but, I take it from the in&s;tinct of the Holy Gho&s;t, and from the Propheticall &s;pirit re&s;iding in the Church of God, that tho&s;e Scriptures which are appointed to be read in the Church, all the&s;e dayes, (for I take no other this Terme) doe evermore afford, and offer us Texts, that direct us to patience, as though the&s;e times had e&s;|pecial need of tho&s;e in&s;tructions. And truly &s;o they have; for though God have &s;o farre &s;pared us as yet, as to give us no exerci&s;e of patience in any afflictions, infli|cted upon our &s;elves, yet, as the heart akes if the head doe, nay, if the foote ake, the heart akes too; &s;o all that profe&s;&s;e the name of Chri&s;t Je&s;us aright, making up but one body, we are but dead members of that body, if we be not affected with the di&s;tempers
<PB N="97" REF="66">of the mo&s;t remote parts thereof. That man &s;ayes but faintly, that he is heart-whole, that is macerated with the Gout, or lacerated with the Stone; It is not a heart, but a &s;tone growne into that forme, that feeles no paine, till the paine &s;eize the very &s;ub|&s;tance thereof. How much and how often S. <HI>Paul</HI> delights him&s;elfe with that &s;ociable &s;yllable, <HI>Syn, Con, Conregnare,</HI> and <HI>Convificare,</HI> and <HI>Con&s;edere,</HI> of Raigning together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.12. Eph. 2.1, 6.</NOTE> and living, and quickning together: As much al&s;o doth God delight in it, from us, when we expre&s;&s;e it in a Conformity, and Compunction, and Compa&s;&s;ion, and Condolency, and (as it is but a little before the Text) <HI>in weeping with them that weepe.</HI> Our patience there|fore being actually exerci&s;ed in the mi&s;eries of our brethren round about us, and proba|bly threatned in the aimes and plots of our adver&s;aries upon us, though I hunt not after them, yet I decline not &s;uch Texts, as may direct our thoughts upon duties of that kinde.</P>
<P>This Text does &s;o; for the circle of this Epi&s;tle of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> this precious ring, being made of that golden Doctrine, That Ju&s;tification is by faith, and being enameled with that beautifull Doctrine of good works too, in which enameled Ring, as a precious &s;tone in the mid&s;t thereof, there is &s;et, the glorious Doctrine of our Election, by Gods eternall Prede&s;tination, our Text falls in that part, which concernes obedience, holy life, good works; which, when both the Doctrines, that of Ju&s;tification by faith, and that of Pre|de&s;tination have &s;uffered controver&s;ie, hath been by all &s;ides embraced, and accepted; that there is no faith, which the Angels in heaven, or the Church upon earth, or our own con&s;ciences can take knowledge of, without good works. Of which good works, and the degrees of obedience, of patience, it is a great one; and a hard one that is enjoyned in this Text; for whereas S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> ob&s;erves &s;ixe degrees, &s;ixe &s;teps in our behavi|our towards our enemies, whereof the fir&s;t is <HI>nolle laedere,</HI> to be loth to hurt any man by way of provocation, not to begin; And a &s;econd, <HI>nolle amplius quam lae&s;us laedere,</HI> That if another provoke him, yet what power &s;oever he have, he would returne no more upon his enemy, then his enemy had ca&s;t upon him, he would not exceed in his revenge; And a third, <HI>velle minus,</HI> not to doe &s;o much as he &s;uffered, but in a le&s;&s;e proportion, onely to &s;hew &s;ome &s;en&s;e of the injury; And then another is, <HI>nolle laedere licet lae&s;us,</HI> to returne no revenge at all, though he have been provoked by an injury; And a higher then that, <HI>par atum &s;e exhibere ut amplius laedatur,</HI> to turne the other cheeke, when he is &s;mitten, and open him&s;elfe to farther injuries; That which is in this Text, is the &s;ixt &s;tep, and the highe&s;t of all, <HI>laedenti benefacere,</HI> to doe good to him, of whom we have received evill, <HI>If thine enemy hunger, to feed him, if he thir&s;t, to give him drinke; for in &s;o, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The Text is a building of &s;tone, and that bound in with barres of Iron:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> fundamentall Doctrine, in point of manners, in it &s;elfe, and yet buttre&s;&s;ed, and e&s;tabli&s;hed with rea&s;ons too, <HI>therefore,</HI> and <HI>for;</HI> Therefore feed thine enemy; For, in &s;o doing, thou &s;halt heape coales. This <HI>therefore,</HI> confirmes the precedent Doctrine, and this <HI>For,</HI> confirmes that confirmation.</P>
<P>But all the words of God are Yea, and Amen, and therefore we need not in&s;i&s;t upon rea&s;ons, to ratifie or e&s;tabli&s;h them. Our parts &s;hall be but two; <HI>Mandatum,</HI> and <HI>Emolu|mentum;</HI> fir&s;t the Commandement, (for we dare not call it by &s;o indifferent a name, as an Euangelicall Coun&s;ell that we may choo&s;e whether we will doe or no; It is a Com|mandement, <HI>doe good to thine enemy</HI>) And &s;econdly, the benefit that we receive by that benefit, <HI>we heap coales upon his head.</HI> Each part will have divers branches: for, in the Commandement, we &s;hall fir&s;t looke upon the per&s;on, to which God directs us, <HI>inimi|cus,</HI> though he be an <HI>enemy,</HI> and <HI>inimicus tuus,</HI> though he be <HI>thine enemy;</HI> but yet it is but <HI>tuus,</HI> thine enemy; It is not &s;imply <HI>inimicus homo,</HI> the Devill, nor <HI>inimicus ve&s;ter,</HI> a &s;pread|ing enemy, an enemy to the State, nor <HI>inimicus Dei,</HI> an enemy to Religion; And from the per&s;on, we &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to the duty, <HI>Ciba,</HI> and <HI>Da aquam, feed,</HI> and <HI>give drink,</HI> in which, all kindes of reliefes are implyed: But that is, <HI>&s;i e&s;urierit, if he be hungry;</HI> There is no wanton nor &s;uperfluous pampering of our enemy required, but &s;o much as may pre&s;erve the man, and not nouri&s;h the enmity. In the&s;e con&s;iderations we &s;hall determine our fir&s;t part; and our &s;econd in the&s;e; Fir&s;t, that God takes nothing from us, without re|compence; nothing for nothing; he &s;eales his Commandement with a powerfull rea&s;on, promi&s;e of reward: And then, the reward &s;pecified here, ari&s;es from the enemy him|&s;elfe; And that reward is, That <HI>thou &s;halt ca&s;t coales of fire upon his head;</HI> and <HI>congeres, accu|mulabis, Thou &s;halt heap coales of fire upon him.</HI></P>
<P>It is not ill &s;aid by a Je&s;uit, of the&s;e words, <HI>Sententia magis Euangelica, qu&agrave;m Mo&s;aica;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. <HI>Mandatum.</HI> Peltanus.</NOTE>
<PB N="98" REF="67">This Text, that enjoynes benefits upon our enemies, is fitter for the Go&s;pel, then for the Law, fitter for the new, then for the old Te&s;tament; and yet it is <HI>tam Mo&s;aica, quam Euangelica,</HI> to &s;hew that it is Univer&s;all, Catholique, Morall Doctrine, appertaining to Jew,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 25.21.</NOTE> and Chri&s;tian, and all, this Text is in the old Te&s;tament, as well as in the new. In the mouth of two witne&s;&s;es is this truth e&s;tabli&s;hed, in the mouth of a Prophet, and in the mouth of an Apo&s;tle, <HI>Solomon</HI> had &s;aid it before, and S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes it here, <HI>If thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thir&s;t, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Your <HI>Senecaes</HI> and your <HI>Plutarchs</HI> have taught you an art, how to make profit of ene|mies, becau&s;e as flatterers dilate a man, and make him live the more negligently, becau&s;e he is &s;ure of good interpretations of his wor&s;t actions; So a mans enemies contract him, and &s;hut him up, and make him live the more watchfully, becau&s;e he is &s;ure to be calum|niated even in his be&s;t actions: But this is a le&s;&s;on above <HI>Seneca,</HI> and <HI>Plutarch,</HI> re&s;erved for <HI>Solomon,</HI> and Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> to make profit by conferring and placing benefits upon ene|mies: And that is our fir&s;t branch, <HI>Though he be an enemy.</HI></P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> cites,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Et &s;i inimieus.</NOTE> and approves that &s;aying of the morall Philo&s;opher, <HI>Omnes odit, qui malos odit,</HI> he that hates ill men, hates all men, for if a man will love none but hone&s;t men, where &s;hall he finde any exerci&s;e, any object of his love? So if a man will hold friend|&s;hip with none, nor doe offices of &s;ociety to none, but to good natur'd, and gentle, and &s;ouple, and &s;ociable men, he &s;hall leave very nece&s;&s;ary bu&s;ine&s;&s;es undone. The frowar|de&s;t and perver&s;e&s;t man may be good <HI>ad hoc,</HI> for &s;uch or &s;uch a particular u&s;e. By good company and good u&s;age, that is, by being mingled with other &s;imples, and ingredients, the very fle&s;h of a Viper, is made an Antidote: A Viper lo&s;es not his place in Phy&s;ick, becau&s;e he is poy&s;on; a Magi&s;trate cea&s;es not to be a Magi&s;trate, becau&s;e he is an ill man; much le&s;&s;e does a man cea&s;e to be a man, and &s;o to have a title to tho&s;e duties, which are rooted in nature, becau&s;e he is of an ill di&s;po&s;ition. <HI>God makes his Sun to &s;hine upon the good,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.45.</NOTE> <HI>and upon the bad, and &s;endeth raine upon the ju&s;t, and upon the unju&s;t.</HI> God hath made of one bloud all mankinde: how unkindly then, how unmanly is it to draw bloud? We come too &s;oone to the name of enemy, and we carry it too farre: Plaintife and Defendant in a matter of Tre&s;pa&s;&s;e, mu&s;t be enemies: Di&s;puters in a Problematicall matter of Controver&s;ie, that concernes not foundations, mu&s;t be enemies; And then all enmity mu&s;t imply an irreconcileablene&s;&s;e, once enemies may never be friends againe: we come too &s;oone to the name, and we &s;tand too long upon the thing; for there are offices and duties even to an enemy; and that, though an enemy in as high a Degree, as the word imports here, <HI>o&s;or,</HI> a hater, and <HI>o&s;or tuus,</HI> &s;uch an enemy as hates thee, which is our next Branch.</P>
<P>We u&s;e to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tuus.</NOTE> that tho&s;e benefits are longe&s;t remembred, which are publique, and common; and tho&s;e injuries, which are private, and per&s;onall: But truly in both, the private, and per&s;onall makes the greate&s;t impre&s;&s;ion. For, if a man have benefitted the publique, with a Colledge, with an Ho&s;pitall, with any perpetuall endowment, yet he that comes after to receive the benefit of any &s;uch place, for the mo&s;t part determines his thankfulne&s;&s;e upon that per&s;on, who brought him thither, and reflects little upon the founder, or tho&s;e that are de&s;cended from him. And &s;o it is in injuries, and violences too, we hate men more for per&s;onall, then for nationall injuries; more, if he have taken my Ship, then if he have attempted my Country. We &s;hould be more &s;en&s;ible of the publique, but becau&s;e private and per&s;onall things doe affect us mo&s;t, the Commande|ment here goes to the particular.; Though he be thine enemy, and hate thee. <HI>If you love them that love you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 6.34.</NOTE> <HI>and lend to them that pay you, what thanks have you?</HI> Truly not much: <HI>Publicans doe the &s;ame,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Matthew; Sinners doe the &s;ame,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Luke:</HI> But <HI>love you your enemies;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.22.</NOTE> For, in the &s;ame place, where Chri&s;t puts all tho&s;e ca&s;es, If a man have been <HI>angry with his Brother,</HI> If a man haue &s;aid <HI>Racha to his Brother,</HI> if he have called <HI>his Brother Foole,</HI> he ends all with that, <HI>Agree with thine adver&s;ary;</HI> Though he be thine adver&s;ary, yet he is thy Brother. If he have damnified thee, calumniated thee, pardon him. If he have done that to another, thou ha&s;t no power to pardon him; Herein onely thou ha&s;t exerci&s;e of greatne&s;&s;e and goodne&s;&s;e too, If he be thine enemy, thou and thou onely can&s;t pardon him; and herein onely thou ha&s;t a Supremacy, and a Prerogative to &s;hew.</P>
<P>So far then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non ve&s;ter.</NOTE> the text goes literally, do good to an enemy; to thine enemy; and lite|rally, no farther: It does not &s;ay to a State, <HI>Si Inimicus ve&s;ter,</HI> It does not binde us to
<PB N="99" REF="67">favour, or further a publique enemy; It does not binde the Magi&s;trate to favour Theeves and Murderers at land, nor Pirates at Sea, who are truly <HI>Inimici no&s;tri,</HI> our enemies even as we are men, enemies to mankinde. It does not binde Societies and Corporations Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall or Civill, to &s;inke under &s;uch enemies, as would di&s;&s;olve them or impaire them in their priviledges; for &s;uch are not onely <HI>Inimici ve&s;tri,</HI> but <HI>Ve&s;trorum,</HI> enemies of you, and yours, of tho&s;e that &s;ucceed you: And all men are bound to transferre their juri&s;dictions and priviledges, in the &s;ame integrity, in which they received them, without any prevarication. In &s;uch ca&s;es it is true, that Corporations have no &s;oules, that is, they are not bound to &s;uch a tenderne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience; for there are divers lawes in this do|ctrine of patience, that binde particular men, that doe not binde States and Societies, under tho&s;e penalties.</P>
<P>Much le&s;&s;e does the Commandment bind us to the <HI>Inimicus homo,</HI> which is the devill,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inimicus ho|mo.</NOTE> to farther him, by fuelling and advancing his tentations, by high dyet, wanton com|pany, or licencious di&s;cour&s;e; and &s;o, upon pretence of maintaining our health,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.19.</NOTE> or our cheerefulne&s;&s;e, invite occa&s;ions of &s;inne. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> tells us of one &s;en&s;e, in which wee &s;hould favour that enemy, the devill, and that in this text, we are commanded to doe &s;o: <HI>Benevolus e&s;t erga Diabolum,</HI> &s;aies he, he is the devils be&s;t friend, that re&s;i&s;ts him; for by our yeelding to the devils tentations, we&s;ubmit him to greater torments, then, if he mi&s;t of his purpo&s;e upon us, he &s;hould &s;uffer. But betweene this enemy and us, God him&s;elfe hath &s;et &s;uch an enmity, that, as no man may &s;eparate tho&s;e whom God hath joyned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15.</NOTE> &s;o no man may joyne tho&s;e whom God hath &s;eparated; God created not this enmity in the devill; he began it in him&s;elfe; but God created an enmity in us, again&s;t him; and, upon no collaterall conditions, may wee bee reconciled to him, in admitting any of his &s;uper&s;titions.</P>
<P>It is not then <HI>Inimicus ve&s;ter,</HI> the common enemy, the enemy of the State; le&s;&s;e, <HI>Inimicus homo,</HI> the &s;pirituall enemy of Mankinde, the devill; lea&s;t of all, <HI>Inimicus Dei,</HI> they who oppo&s;e God, (&s;o, as God can be oppo&s;ed) in his &s;ervants who profe&s;&s;e his truth. <HI>David</HI> dur&s;t not have put him&s;elfe upon that i&s;&s;ue with God, (<HI>Doe not I hate them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.21.</NOTE> <HI>that hate thee</HI>) if hee had beene &s;ubject to that increpation, which the Prophet <HI>Iehu</HI> laid upon <HI>Ieho&s;haphat, Should&s;t thou helpe the ungodly, and love them, that hate the Lord?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 19.2.</NOTE> But <HI>David</HI> had the te&s;timony of his con&s;cience, that <HI>hee hated them, with a perfect hatred:</HI> which, though it may admit that interpretation, that it is <HI>De perfectione virtutis,</HI> that his perfect hatred, was a hatred becomming a perfect man, a charitable hatred; yet it is <HI>De perfectione intentionis,</HI> a perfect hatred is a vehement hatred, and &s;o the Chalde para|phra&s;e expre&s;&s;es it, <HI>Odio con&s;ummato,</HI> a hatred to which nothing can be added;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar.</NOTE> <HI>Odio reli|gio&s;o,</HI> with a religious hatred; not onely that religion may con&s;i&s;t with it, but that Reli|gion cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t without it; a hatred that gives the tincture, and the &s;tampe to Religion it &s;elfe. The imputation that lyes upon them, who doe not hate tho&s;e that hate God, is &s;ufficiently expre&s;&s;ed in S. <HI>Gregory;</HI> He &s;aw how little tempori&s;ers and worldly men, were moved with the word Impiety, and ungodline&s;&s;e, and therefore he waves that; He &s;aw they preferred the e&s;timation of wi&s;dome before and above piety, and therefore hee &s;aies not <HI>Impium e&s;t,</HI> but <HI>&s;tultum e&s;t, &s;i illis placere quaerimus, quos non placere domino &s;cimus:</HI> It is a fooli&s;h thing, to endeavour to be acceptable to them, who, in our own knowledge, doe not endeavour to be acceptable to God.</P>
<P>But yet, Beloved, even in tho&s;e enemies, that thus hate God, <HI>Solomons</HI> rule hath place, <HI>There is a time to hate, and a time to love.</HI> Though the per&s;on be the &s;ame,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eccle&s;. 3.8.</HI> De &s;ingularit. Cleric.</NOTE> the affection may vary. As S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;aies, (if that booke be not rather <HI>Origens,</HI> then <HI>Cyprians,</HI> for it is at|tributed to both) <HI>Ama foeminas inter Sacra &s;olennia,</HI> Love a woman at Church, (that is, love her comming to Church,) (though, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his time did, we, in our times may complaine of wanton meetings there) But <HI>Odio habe in communione privata,</HI> Hate, that is, forbeare women in private conver&s;ation; &s;o, for tho&s;e that hate God in the truth of his Go&s;pell, and content them&s;elves with an Idolatrous Religion, we love them at Church, we would be glad to &s;ee them here, and though they come not hither, wee love them &s;o far, as that we pray for them; and we love them in our &s;tudies &s;o far, as we may rectifie them by our labours; But wee hate them in our Convocations, where wee oppo&s;e Canons again&s;t their Doctrines, and we hate them in our Con&s;ultations, where we make lawes to defend us from their malice, and we hate them in our bed-chambers, where they make children Idolaters, and perchance make the children them&s;elves. We
<PB N="100" REF="68">acknowledge with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Perfectio odii e&s;t in charitate,</HI> the perfect hatred con&s;i&s;ts with charity, <HI>Cum nec propter vitia homines oderimus, nec vitia propter homines amemut;</HI> when the greatne&s;&s;e of the men brings us not to love their religion, nor the illne&s;&s;e of their Religion, to hate the men. <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in that place, is S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> example, whom he propo&s;es, <HI>Orabat &amp; occidebat,</HI> he prayed for the Idolaters, and he &s;lew them; he hated, &s;aies he, <HI>Iniquitatem, quam puniebat,</HI> that &s;in which he puni&s;hed, and he loved <HI>Humanita|tem, pro qua or abat,</HI> that nature, as they were men, for whom he prayed: for, that, &s;aies he, is <HI>perfectum odium, quod facti &s;unt diligere, quod fecerunt, odii&s;&s;e,</HI> to love them as they are creatures, to hate them as they are Traytors. Thus much love is due to any enemy, that if God be plea&s;ed to advance him, <HI>De ejus profectu non dejiciamur,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> His advancement doe not deject us, to a murmuring again&s;t God, or to a diffidence in God; And that when God, in his time, &s;hall ca&s;t him downe againe, <HI>Congaudeamus ju&s;ti|tiae Iudicis, condoleamus mi&s;eriae pereuntis,</HI> Wee may both congratulate the ju&s;tice of God, and yet condole the mi&s;ery of that per&s;on, upon whom that judgement is ju&s;tly fallen: for, though <HI>Inimicus ve&s;ter,</HI> the enemy that malignes the State, and <HI>Inimicus Dei,</HI> the ene|my that oppo&s;es our religion, be not &s;o far within this text, as that we are bound to feed them, or to doe them good; yet there are &s;carce any enemies, with whom wee may not live peaceably, and to whom we may not wi&s;h charitably.</P>
<P>We have done with all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ciba.</NOTE> which was intended and propo&s;ed of the per&s;on; we come to the duty expre&s;&s;ed in this text, <HI>Ciba, feed him,</HI> and <HI>give him drinke.</HI> Here, there might be u&s;e in noting the largene&s;&s;e, the fulne&s;&s;e, the abundance of the Go&s;pell, above the law: Not onely in that the ble&s;&s;ings of God are pre&s;ented in the Old Te&s;tament, in the name of Milke and Hony, and Oyle, and Wine, (all temporall things) and in the New Te&s;ta|ment, in the name of Joy, and Glory, (things, in a manner &s;pirituall,) But that al&s;o, in the Old Te&s;tament, the be&s;t things are limited, and mea&s;ured unto them; a Gomer of Manna, and no more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.21. Heb. 12.2. Iohn 15.11. Iohn 16.21.</NOTE> for the be&s;t man, whereas for the joy of the Go&s;pell, we &s;hall enter <HI>In Gan|dium Domini, Into our Ma&s;ters Ioy,</HI> and be made partakers with Chri&s;t Je&s;us, of that <HI>Ioy, for which he endured the Cro&s;&s;e;</HI> And here, in this world, <HI>Gaudium meum erit,</HI> &s;aies Chri&s;t, <HI>My Ioy &s;hall be in you;</HI> in what mea&s;ure? <HI>Implebitar,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>Your Ioy &s;hall be full;</HI> How long? for ever; <HI>Nemo tollet, your Ioy &s;hall no man take from you.</HI> And &s;uch as the Joy is, &s;uch is the glory too:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1.18. 2 Cor. 4.17. 1 Pet. 5.4.</NOTE> How precious? <HI>Divitiae Gloria, The Riches of the Glory of his Inhe|ritance;</HI> How much? <HI>Pondus gloriae, A waight of glory;</HI> How long? <HI>Immarce&s;cibilis Corona, A crowne of Glory, that never fadeth:</HI> We might, I &s;ay, take occa&s;ion of making this com|pari&s;on, betweene the Old, and the New Te&s;tament, out of this Text, becau&s;e this charity, enjoyned here, in this text, to our enemy, in that place, from whence this text is taken, in the Proverbs, is but <HI>Lachem,</HI> and <HI>Maiim, Bread,</HI> and <HI>Water;</HI> But here, in S. <HI>Paul,</HI> it is in words of better &s;ignification, <HI>feed him, give him drinke.</HI> But indeed, the words, at the narrowe&s;t, (as it is but bread and water) &s;ignifie what&s;oever is nece&s;&s;ary for the reliefe of him, that &s;tands in need. And if we be enjoyn'd &s;o much to our enemy, how inexcu|&s;able are tho&s;e <HI>Datores cyminibiles</HI> (as the Canoni&s;ts call them) that give Mint, and Cum|min for almes, a roote that their Hogs will not, a broth that their Dogs will not eate. Re|member in thy charity, the times, and the proportions of thy Saviour; After his Death, in the wound in his &s;ide, he poured out water, and bloud, which repre&s;ented both Sa|craments, and &s;o was a bountifull Dole: provide in thy life, to doe good after thy death, and it &s;hall be welcome, even in the eyes of God, then: But remember too, that this dole at his death, was not the fir&s;t almes that he gave; his water was his white mony, and his blood was his gold, and he poured out both together in his agony, and &s;everal|ly in his weeping, and being &s;courged for thee. What proportion of reliefe is due to him, that is thy brother in Nature, thy brother in Nation, thy brother in Religion, if meate and drinke, and in that, what&s;oever is nece&s;&s;ary to his &s;u&s;tentation, bee due to thine enemy?</P>
<P>But all this bountifull charity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Si e&s;urierit.</NOTE> is <HI>Si e&s;urierit, &s;i &s;itit, If he be hungry, if he be thir&s;ty.</HI> To the King, who beares the care and the charge of the publique, wee are bound to give, <HI>Antequam e&s;uriat, Antequam &s;itias,</HI> before he be overtaken with dangerous, and di&s;ho|norable, and le&s;&s;e remediable nece&s;&s;ities: not onely &s;ub&s;tantiall wants, upon which our &s;afety depends, but circum&s;tantiall and ceremoniall wants, upon which his Dignity, and Maje&s;ty depends, are alwaies to bee, not onely &s;upplied, but prevented. But our enemy mu&s;t be in hunger, and thir&s;t, that is, reduced to the &s;tate, as hee may not become our
<PB N="101" REF="68">enemy againe, by that which we give, before wee are bound, by this text, to give any thing. No doubt but the Church of Rome hungers &s;till for the money of this land, upon which they fed &s;o luxuriantly heretofore: and no doubt but tho&s;e men, whom they &s;hall at any time animate, will thir&s;t for the blood of this land, which they have &s;ought before; but this is not the hunger, and the thir&s;t of the enemy, which we mu&s;t feed: The Commandement goes not &s;o far, as to feed that enemy, that may thereby be a more powerfull enemy; But yet, thus far, truly, it does goe, deny no office of civility, of peace, of commerce, of charity to any, onely therefore, becau&s;e hee hath beene heretofore an enemy.</P>
<P>There remaines nothing of tho&s;e two branches, which con&s;titute our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part.</NOTE> the per&s;on, that is, an en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters"> reduced to a better di&s;po&s;ition; and the duty, that is, to relieve him, with things nece&s;&s;ary for that &s;tate: And for the &s;econd part, we mu&s;t &s;top upon tho&s;e &s;teps laid downe at fir&s;t, of which the fir&s;t was, That God takes nothing for no|thing, he gives a Reward. When God tooke that great proportion of Sheep and Oxen out of his &s;ubjects goods in the State of I&s;rael, for Sacrifice, that proportion, which would have kept divers Kings hou&s;es, and would have victualed divers navies, perchance no man could &s;ay, I have this, or this benefit, for this, or this Sacrifice; but yet could any man &s;ay, God hath taken a Sacrifice for nothing? Where we have Peace, and Ju|&s;tice, and Protection, can any man &s;ay, he gives any thing for nothing? When God &s;aies, <HI>If I were hungry, I would not tell thee,</HI> that's not intended, which <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50.12.</NOTE> <HI>Scriptum e&s;t, Deus non e&s;uriet nec &s;itiet,</HI> It is written, God &s;hall neither hunger nor thir&s;t, (for, fir&s;t, <HI>Tertullians</HI> memory failed him, there is no &s;uch &s;entence in all the Scripture, as he cites there; And then God does hunger and thir&s;t, in this &s;en&s;e, in the members of his my&s;ticall body,) neither is that onely intended in that place of the P&s;alme (though <HI>Ca&s;siodore</HI> take it &s;o) That if God in his poore Saints, were hungry, he could provide them, without telling thee; but it is, If I were hungry, I need not tell thee; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 24.1.</NOTE> <HI>The earth is the Lords, and the fulne&s;&s;e thereof, and they that dwell therein.</HI> God does not alwaies binde him&s;elfe to declare his hunger, his thir&s;t, his pre&s;&s;ing occa&s;ions, to u&s;e the goods of his &s;ubjects, but as the Lord gives, &s;o the Lord takes, where and when he will: But yet, as God transfu&s;es a mea&s;ure of this Right and power of taking, into them, of whom he hath &s;aid, you are Gods, &s;o he transfu&s;es this goodne&s;&s;e too, which is in him&s;elfe, that he takes nothing for nothing; He promi&s;es here a reward, and a reward ari&s;ing from the enemy, which puts a greater encouragement upon us, to doe it; <HI>Super caput ejus, In &s;o doing, thou &s;halt heape coales of fire on his head.</HI></P>
<P>God is the Lord of Ho&s;ts, and in this Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ex Inimicis.</NOTE> he makes the &s;eate of the warre in the enemies Country, and enriches his &s;ervants <HI>Ex manubiis,</HI> out of the &s;poyle of the enemy; <HI>In caput ejus,</HI> It &s;hall fall upon his head. Though all men that go to the war, goe not upon tho&s;e ju&s;t rea&s;ons deliberated before in them&s;elves, which are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> defence of a ju&s;t cau&s;e, the obedience to a lawfull Commandment, yet of tho&s;e that do goe without tho&s;e con|&s;cientien&s;e deliberations, none goes therefore, becau&s;e he may have roome in an Ho&s;pi|tall, or reliefe by a pen&s;ion, when he comes home lame, but becau&s;e he may get &s;ome|thing, by going into a fat country, and again&s;t a rich enemy; Though honour may &s;eeme to feed upon blowes, and dangers, men goe cheerefully again&s;t an enemy, from whom &s;omething is to be got; for, profit is a good &s;alve to knocks, a good Cere-cloth to brui&s;es, and a good Bal&s;amum to wounds. God therefore here rai&s;es the reward out of the enemy, feed him, and thou &s;halt gaine by it. But yet the profit that God promi&s;es by the enemy here, is rather that we &s;hall gaine a &s;oule, then any temporall gaine; rather that we &s;hall make that enemy a better man, then that we &s;hall make him a weaker ene|my: God re&s;pects his &s;pirituall good, as we &s;hall &s;ee in that phra&s;e, which is our la&s;t branch, <HI>Congeres carbones, Thou &s;halt heape coales of fire upon his head.</HI></P>
<P>It is true that S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> (and not he alone) takes this phra&s;e to imply a Revenge:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Carbones.</NOTE> that Gods judgements &s;hall be the more vehement upon &s;uch ungratefull per&s;ons, <HI>Et ter|rebuntur beneficiis,</HI> the good turnes that thou ha&s;t done to them, &s;hall be a &s;courge and a terror to their con&s;ciences. This &s;en&s;e is not inconvenient; but it is too narrow: The Holy Gho&s;t hath taken &s;o large a Metaphor, as implyes more then that. It implyes the divers offices, and effects of fire; all this; That if he have any gold, any pure metall in him, this fire of this kindne&s;&s;e will purge out the dro&s;&s;e, &amp; there is a friend made. If he be nothing but &s;traw and &s;tubble, combu&s;tible &s;till, &s;till ready to take fire again&s;t thee,
<PB N="102" REF="69">this fire which Gods breath &s;hall blow, will con&s;ume him, and burn him out, and there is an enemy marred: If he have any tenderne&s;&s;e any way, this fire will mollifie him to|wards thee; <HI>Nimis durus animus,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> he is a very hard hearted man, <HI>Qui &s;i ultro dilectionem non vult impendere, etiam nolit rependere,</HI> Who, though he will not re|quite thy love, yet will not acknowledge it. If he be waxe, he melts with this fire; and if he be clay, he hardens with it, and then thou wilt arme thy &s;elfe again&s;t that pellet. Thus much good,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> God intends to the enemy, in this phra&s;e, that it is <HI>pia vindicta &s;i re&s;i|pi&s;cant,</HI> we have taken a ble&s;&s;ed revenge upon our enemies, if our charitable applying of our &s;elves to them, may bring them to apply them&s;elves to God, and to glorifie him: <HI>&s;i benefaciendo cicuremus,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> if we can tame a wilde bea&s;t by &s;itting up with him, and reduce an enemy by offices of friend&s;hip, it is well. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> much good God in|tends him in this phra&s;e, and &s;o much good he intends us, that, <HI>&s;i non incendant,</HI> if the&s;e coales do not purge him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aben Ezra. Levi Gher&s;on.</NOTE> <HI>&s;i non injiciant pudorem,</HI> if they do not kindle a &s;hame in him, to have offended one that hath de&s;erved &s;o well, yet this fire gives thee light to &s;ee him clearely, and to run away from him, and to a&s;&s;ure thee, that he, whom &s;o many bene|fits cannot reconcile, is irreconcileable.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XI.</HI> Preached upon Candlemas day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 9.2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And Ie&s;us &s;eeing their faith, &s;aid unto the &s;ick of the pal&s;ie, My &s;on, be of good cheare, thy &s;ins be forgiven thee.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and by occa&s;ion of them, we &s;hall pre&s;ent to you the&s;e two generall con&s;iderations; fir&s;t upon what occa&s;ion Chri&s;t did that which he did, and then what it was that he did. And in the fir&s;t, we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t &s;ome occa&s;ions that were remote, but yet conduce to the Miracle it &s;elfe; &s;ome circum&s;tances of time, and place, and &s;ome &s;uch di&s;po&s;itions, and then the more immediate occa&s;ion, the di&s;po&s;ition of tho&s;e per&s;ons who pre&s;ented this &s;ick man to Chri&s;t; and there we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, that Faith was the occa&s;ion of all, for <HI>without faith it is impo&s;sible to plea&s;e God,</HI> and without plea&s;ing of God, it is impo&s;&s;ible to have remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins. It was <HI>fides,</HI> and <HI>fides illorum, their faith,</HI> all their faith; for, though in the faith of others there be an a&s;&s;i&s;tance, yet without a per&s;onall faith in him&s;elfe, no man of ripe age comes &s;o far, as to the forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins; And then, this faith of them all, was <HI>fides vi&s;a,</HI> a faith that was &s;een; Chri&s;t &s;aw their faith, and he &s;aw it as man, it was a faith expre&s;&s;ed, and declared in actions: And yet, when all was done, it is but <HI>cum vidit,</HI> it is not <HI>quia vidit,</HI> Chri&s;t did it When he &s;aw, not Becau&s;e he &s;aw their faith, that was not the principle and primary cau&s;e of his mercy, for the mercy of God is all, and above all; it is the effect and it is the cau&s;e too, there is no cau&s;e of his mercy, but his mercy. And when we come in the &s;econd part, to con&s;ider what in his mercy he did, we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, that he e&s;tabli&s;hes him, and comforts him with a gracious acceptation, with that gracious appellation, <HI>Fili, Son:</HI> He doth not di&s;avow him, he doth not di&s;in|herite him; and then, he doth not wound him, whom God had &s;triken; he doth not flea him, whom God had &s;courged; he doth not &s;alt him, whom God had flead; he doth not adde affliction to affliction, he doth not &s;hake, but &s;ettle that faith which he had with more, <HI>Confide fili, My &s;on be of good cheare;</HI> and then he &s;eales all with that a&s;&s;urance, <HI>Dimittuntur peccata, Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee;</HI> In which, fir&s;t he catechi&s;es this patient, and gives him all the&s;e le&s;&s;ons, fir&s;t that he gives before we ask, for he that was brought, they who brought him had asked nothing in his behalfe, when Chri&s;t unasked, enlarged him&s;elf towards them, <HI>Dat prius,</HI> God gives before we ask, that is fir&s;t; And then <HI>Dat meliora,</HI> God gives better things then we ask, All that all they meant to ask, was but bo|dily
<PB N="103" REF="69">health, and Chri&s;t gave him &s;pirituall; and the third le&s;&s;on was, that &s;in was the cau&s;e of bodily &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and that therefore he ought to have &s;ought his &s;pirituall reco|very before his bodily health: and then, after he had thus rectified him, by this Cate|chi&s;me, implyed in tho&s;e few words, <HI>Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee,</HI> he takes occa&s;ion by this act, to rectifie the by-&s;tanders too, which were the Phari&s;ees, who did not beleeve Chri&s;t to be God: For, for proofe of that, fir&s;t he takes knowledge of their inward thoughts, not expre&s;&s;ed by any act or word, which none but God could doe; And then he re&s;tores the patient to bodily health, onely by his word, without any naturall meanes applyed, which none but God could doe neither. And into fewer particulars then the&s;e, this preg|nant and abundant Text is not ea&s;ily contracted.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then to begin with the Branches of the fir&s;t part, of which the fir&s;t was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> to con&s;i|der &s;ome, &s;omewhat more remote circum&s;tances, and occa&s;ions conducing to this mi|racle, we cannot avoid the making of &s;ome u&s;e of the Time, when it was done: It was done, when Chri&s;t had di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed tho&s;e two men of furious, and raging Devils, among&s;t the <HI>Gerge&s;ens;</HI> at what time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 8. ult.</NOTE> becau&s;e Chri&s;t had been an occa&s;ion of drowning their heard of &s;wine, the whole City came out to meet him, but not with a thankfull reve|rence, and acclamation, but their proce&s;&s;ion was, to be&s;eech him to depart out of their coa&s;ts: They had rather have had their Legion of Devils &s;till, then have lo&s;t their hogs; and &s;ince Chri&s;ts pre&s;ence was an occa&s;ion of impairing their temporall &s;ub&s;tance, they were glad to be rid of him.</P>
<P>We need not put on &s;pectacles to &s;earch Maps for this Land of the <HI>Gerge&s;ens;</HI> God knows we dwell in it; <HI>Non quaerimus Ie&s;um propter Ie&s;um,</HI> (which was a Propheticall com|plaint by S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI>) we love the profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t only &s;o far, as that profe&s;&s;ion condu|ces to our temporall ends. We &s;eek him not at the Cro&s;&s;e; there mo&s;t of his friends left him; but we are content to embrace him, where the Kings of the Ea&s;t bring him pre&s;ents of Gold, and Myrrh, and Frankincen&s;e, that we may participate of tho&s;e: we &s;eek him not in the hundred and thirtieth P&s;alme, where, though there be plenty, yet it is but <HI>copio&s;a re|demtio, plentifull redemption,</HI> plenty of that that comes not yet; but in the twenty fourth P&s;alm we are glad to meet him, where he proclaims <HI>Domini terra, &amp; plenitudo ejus, The earth is the Lords, and the fulne&s;&s;e thereof,</HI> that our portion therein may be plenteous: We care not for him in S. <HI>Peters</HI> Ho&s;pital, where he excu&s;es him&s;elfe, <HI>Aurum &amp; argentum non habeo, Silver and gold have I none;</HI> but in the Prophet <HI>Haggais</HI> Exchequer we doe, where he makes that claime, <HI>Aurum meum, All the gold and all the &s;ilver is mine.</HI> Scarce any Son is Prote&s;tant enough, to &s;tand out a rebuke of his Father, or any Servant of his Ma|&s;ter, or any Officer of his Prince, if that Father, or Ma&s;ter, or Prince would be, or would have him be a Papi&s;t; But, as though the different formes of Religion, were but the fa|&s;hions of the garment, and not the &s;tuffe, we put on, and we put off Religion, as we would doe a Livery, to te&s;tifie our re&s;pect to him, whom we &s;erve, and (mi&s;erable <HI>Gerge&s;ens</HI>) had rather take in that Devill againe, of which we have been di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed three or four|&s;core yeares &s;ince, then lo&s;e another hogge, in departing with any part of our plea&s;ures or profits; <HI>Non quaerimus Ie&s;um propter Ie&s;um,</HI> we profe&s;&s;e not Je&s;us, for his, but for our owne &s;akes.</P>
<P>But we pa&s;&s;e from the circum&s;tance of the time, to a &s;econd, that though Chri&s;t thus de|&s;pi&s;ed by the <HI>Gerge&s;ens,</HI> did, in his Ju&s;tice, depart from them; yet, as the Sea gaines in one place, what it lo&s;es in another, his abundant mercy builds up more in <HI>Capernaum,</HI> then his Ju&s;tice throwes downe among&s;t the <HI>Gerge&s;ens:</HI> Becau&s;e they drave him away, in Judgement he went from them, but in Mercy he went to the others, who had not in|treated him to come.</P>
<P>Apply this al&s;o; And, wretched <HI>Gerge&s;en,</HI> if thou have intreated Chri&s;t to goe from thee, for lo&s;&s;e of thy hogges, that when thou ha&s;t found the Preaching of Chri&s;t, or the &s;ting of thy con&s;cience whet thereby, to hinder thee in growing rich &s;o ha&s;tily as thou would&s;t, or trouble thee, in following thy plea&s;ures &s;o fully as thou would&s;t, thou ha&s;t made &s;hift to deve&s;t, and put off Chri&s;t, and &s;eare up thy con&s;cience, yet Chir&s;t comes into his <HI>Capernaum</HI> now, that &s;ent not for him; he comes into thy &s;oule now, who ca|me&s;t not hither to meet him, but to celebrate the day, by this ordinary, and fa&s;hionall meeting; to thee he comes, as into <HI>Capernaum,</HI> to preach his owne Go&s;pell, and to work his miracles upon thee. And it is a high mercy in Chri&s;t, that he will thus &s;ur|prize thy &s;oule, that he will thus way-lay thy con&s;cience, that what collaterall re&s;pect
<PB N="104" REF="70">&s;oever brought thee hither, yet when he hath thee here, he will make thee &s;ee that thou art in his hou&s;e, and he will &s;peake to thee, and he will be heard by thee, and he will be an&s;wered from thee; and though thou thoughte&s;t not of him, when thou came&s;t hither, yet he will &s;end thee away, full of the love of him, full of comforts from him.</P>
<P>But we pa&s;&s;e al&s;o from this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat 9.1.</NOTE> to a third circum&s;tance, that when he came to <HI>Capernaum,</HI> he is &s;aid to have come into <HI>his own City;</HI> not <HI>Nazareth,</HI> where he was borne, but <HI>Caper|naum</HI> where he dwelt, and preached, is called <HI>his own City.</HI> Thou art not a Chri&s;tian, be|cau&s;e thou wa&s;t borne in a Chri&s;tian Kingdome, and borne within the Covenant, and borne of Chri&s;tian Parents, but becau&s;e thou ha&s;t dwelt in the Chri&s;tian Church, and performed the duties pre&s;ented to thee there.</P>
<P>Againe, <HI>Capernaum</HI> was <HI>his owne City,</HI> but yet Chri&s;t went forth of <HI>Capernaum,</HI> to ma|ny other places. I take the application of this, from you, to our &s;elves; Chri&s;t fixes no man by his example &s;o to one Church, as that no occa&s;ion may make his ab&s;ence from thence excu&s;able. But yet when Chri&s;t did goe from <HI>Capernaum,</HI> he went to doe his Fathers will, and that, which he was &s;ent for. Nothing but preaching the Go&s;pell, and edifying Gods Church, is an excu&s;e for &s;uch an ab&s;ence; for, <HI>Vae&s;i non Euangelizaverit,</HI> if he neither preach at <HI>Capernaum,</HI> nor to the <HI>Gerge&s;ens,</HI> neither at home, nor abroad, woe be unto him: If I be at home, but to take my tithes; If I be abroad, but to take the aire, woe be unto me.</P>
<P>But we mu&s;t not &s;top long upon the&s;e circum&s;tances; we end all of this kinde, in this one, that when Chri&s;t had undertaken that great work of the Conver&s;ion of the world, by the Word, and Sacraments, to &s;hew that the word was at that time the more power|full meanes of tho&s;e two, (for Sacraments were in&s;tituted by Chri&s;t, as &s;ub&s;idiary things, in a great part, for our infirmity, who &s;tand in need of &s;uch vi&s;ible and &s;en&s;ible a&s;&s;i&s;tances) Chri&s;t preached the Chri&s;tian Doctrine, long before he in&s;tituted the Sacraments; But yet, though the&s;e two permanent Sacraments, Bapti&s;me, and the Supper were not &s;o &s;oon in&s;tituted, Chri&s;t alwayes de&s;cended &s;o much to mans infirmity, as to accompany the preaching of the Word, with certain tran&s;itory, and occa&s;ionall Sacraments; for mira|cles are tran&s;itory and occa&s;ionall Sacraments, as they are vi&s;ible &s;ignes of invi&s;ible grace, though not &s;eales thereof; Chri&s;ts purpo&s;e in every miracle was, that by that work, they &s;hould &s;ee Grace to be offered unto them. Now this hi&s;tory, from whence this Text is taken, begins, and ends with the principall meanes, with preaching; for, as S. <HI>Mark</HI> relates it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 2.2.</NOTE> he was in the act of preaching, when this cure was done; And in S. <HI>Matthew,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.35.</NOTE> after all was done, he went about the Cities, and Villages, preaching the Go&s;pell of the Kingdome: And then betweene, S. <HI>Matthew</HI> here, records five of his tran&s;itory and occa&s;ionall Sacraments, five miracles, of which every one, well con&s;ide|red, (as the petitions of <HI>Abraham</HI> did upon God) may ju&s;tly be thought to have gained more and more, upon his Auditory.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, this paralytique man in our Text, who is <HI>Sarcina&s;ibi,</HI> over-loaded with him&s;elf, he cannot &s;tand under his own burden, he is <HI>cadaver animatum;</HI> It is true, he hath a &s;oule, but a &s;oule in a &s;ack, it hath no Lims, no Organs to move, this Paralytique, this living dead man, this dead and buryed man, buryed in him&s;elfe, is in&s;tantly cured, and reco|vered. But the Pal&s;ie was a &s;udden &s;ickne&s;&s;e; what could he doe, upon an inveterate di&s;|ea&s;e? He cured the woman that had had the bloudy i&s;&s;ue twelve yeares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 20.</NOTE> by onely tou|ching the hem of his garment. After, he extends his miraculous power to two at once, he cures two blinde men.<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 27.</NOTE> But all the&s;e, though not by &s;uch meanes meerely, yet in na|ture, and in art might be po&s;&s;ible, Pal&s;ies, and I&s;&s;ues, and Blindne&s;&s;es have been cured: but he went farther then ever art pretended to goe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 24.</NOTE> He rai&s;ed the Rulers Daughter to life, then when he was laughed to &s;corne, for going about to doe it. And la&s;tly to &s;hew his Power, as over &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and over death, &s;o over hell it &s;elfe, he ca&s;t out the Devill out of the dumb man, in &s;ome &s;uch extraordinary manner, as that the multitude marvai|led,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 33.</NOTE> and &s;aid, <HI>It was never &s;o &s;eene in I&s;rael.</HI> This then was his way, and this mu&s;t be ours, and it mu&s;t be your way too. Chri&s;t preached, and he wrought great works, and he preached againe; It is not enough in us to preach, and in you to heare, except both doe and practice, that which is &s;aid, and heard; Neither may we, though we have done all this, give over, for every day produces new tentations, and therefore needs new a&s;&s;i|&s;tances. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e from the&s;e more remote, to that which is our &s;econd Branch
<PB N="105" REF="70">of this fir&s;t part, the immediate occa&s;ion of Chri&s;ts doing this miracle, <HI>When Ie&s;us &s;aw their faith.</HI></P>
<P>Here then, the occa&s;ion of all that en&s;ued, was <HI>faith;</HI> for, <HI>without faith,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Fides.</HI> Heb. 11.6.</NOTE> <HI>it is impo&s;sible to plea&s;e God;</HI> Where you may be plea&s;ed to admit &s;ome u&s;e of this note, (for it is not a meere Grammaticall curio&s;ity to note it) that it is not &s;aid in tho&s;e words of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> It is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e God, or impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e him, (which is with relation to God, as our Tran&s;lation hath it,) but it is meerely, &s;imply, onely, impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e, and no more, impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e any worth plea&s;ing; but if we take away our faith in God, God will take away the protection of Angels, the favour of Princes, the obedience of children, the re&s;pect of &s;ervants, the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of friends, the &s;ociety of neighbours; God &s;hall make us unplea&s;ing to all; without faith it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e any, but &s;uch, as we &s;hall repent to have made our &s;elves plea&s;ing companions unto. When our Savi|our Chri&s;t perfected the Apo&s;tles Commi&s;&s;ion, and &s;et his la&s;t &s;eale to it, after his Re&s;ur|rection, he never modifies, never mollifies their in&s;tructions, with any milder phra&s;e then this, <HI>He that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned.</HI> It is not, that <HI>he &s;hall be in danger of a Councell;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 16.16.</NOTE> no, nor <HI>in danger of hell fire:</HI> It is not, that <HI>it were better a Mill-&s;tone were tyed about his neck, and he ca&s;t into the Sea:</HI> It is not, that <HI>it will goe hard with him at the la&s;t day:</HI> It is not, that <HI>it &s;hall be ea&s;ier to Tyre, and Sidon, then to him;</HI> For he is not bound to beleeve, but that Tyre, and Sidon, and he too, may doe well enough: Here is no modification, no mollification, no re&s;ervation; roundly, and irrevocably, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, after his Re&s;urrection, &s;ayes, <HI>Qui non crediderit, he that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned.</HI></P>
<P>If the Judge mu&s;t come to a &s;entence of condemnation, upon any per&s;on of great qua|lity in the Kingdome, that Judge mu&s;t not &s;ay, Your Lord&s;hip mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e out of this world, nor, your Lord&s;hip mu&s;t be beheaded; but he mu&s;t tell them plainly, You mu&s;t be carryed to the place of execution and there hanged. Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath given us the Commi&s;&s;ion and the &s;entence there; <HI>Goe into all the world, preach the Go&s;pell to every crea|ture;</HI> And then, the &s;entence followes upon tho&s;e that will not receive it, <HI>He that belee|veth not, &s;hall be damned.</HI> The&s;e men then, who prevailed &s;o farre upon Chri&s;t, brought faith; though not an explicite faith of all tho&s;e articles, which we, who from the be|ginning have been Catechized in all tho&s;e points, are bound to have, yet a con&s;tant a&s;&s;urance that Chri&s;t could, and that he would relieve this di&s;tre&s;&s;ed per&s;on, in which a&s;&s;urance, there was enwrapped an implicite faith even of the Me&s;&s;ias, that could remove all occa&s;ions of &s;ickne&s;&s;e, even &s;in it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>There was faith in the ca&s;e; but in whom? Who&s;e faith was it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Illorum.</NOTE> that Chri&s;t had re|&s;pect to? To whom hath that <HI>Illorum</HI> in the Text, <HI>their faith,</HI> reference? There can be no que&s;tion, but that it hath reference to tho&s;e foure friends, that brought this &s;ick man in his bed, to Chri&s;t: For, el&s;e it could not have been &s;poken in the plurall, and called <HI>their faith.</HI> And certainly S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> does not inconveniently make that particular an argument of Gods greatne&s;&s;e and goodne&s;&s;e, of his magnificence, and munificence, <HI>Mag|nus Dominus, qui aliorum meritis, aliis igno&s;tit;</HI> This is the large and plentifull mercy of God, that for one mans &s;ake, he forgives another. This <HI>Ioa&s;h</HI> acknowledged in the per|&s;on of <HI>Eli&s;ha; when Eli&s;ha was &s;ick, the King came downe to him, and wept over his face,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 13.14.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;aid, O my Father, my Father, the Chariot of I&s;rael, and the hor&s;e men thereof.</HI> Here were all the forces of I&s;rael mu&s;tred upon one &s;ick bed, the whole &s;trength of I&s;rael con|&s;i&s;ted in the goodne&s;&s;e of that one man. The Angel &s;aid to <HI>Paul,</HI> when they were in an evident and imminent danger of &s;hipwrack,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 27.24.</NOTE> <HI>God hath given thee all them that &s;ayle with thee;</HI> He &s;pared them, not for their owne &s;akes, but for <HI>Pauls.</HI> God gave tho&s;e pa&s;&s;en|gers to <HI>Paul</HI> &s;o, as he had given <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe before to <HI>Stephen; Si Stephanus non &s;ic ora&s;|&s;et, Paulum hodi&egrave; Eccle&s;ia non haberet,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine;</HI> If <HI>Paul</HI> had not been enwrap|ped in tho&s;e prayers, which <HI>Stephen</HI> made for his per&s;ecutors, the Church had lo&s;t the benefit of all <HI>Pauls</HI> labours; and if God had not given <HI>Paul</HI> the lives of all tho&s;e pa&s;&s;en|gers in that Ship, they had all peri&s;hed. For the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of a few, (if tho&s;e few could have been found) God would have &s;pared the whole City of Sodome:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.</NOTE> And when Gods fury was kindled upon the Cities of that Country, <HI>God remembred Abraham,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.29.</NOTE> &s;ayes that &s;tory, and he delivered <HI>Lot:</HI> And when he delivered Jeru&s;alem from <HI>Senna|cherib,</HI> he takes his &s;ervant <HI>David</HI> by the hand, he puts his &s;ervant <HI>David</HI> into Com|mi&s;&s;ion with him&s;elfe, and he &s;ayes, <HI>I will defend this City, and &s;ave it, for mine own &s;ake,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 19.34.</NOTE>
<PB N="106" REF="71"><HI>and for my &s;ervant Davids &s;ake. Quantus murus Patriae vir ju&s;tus,</HI> is a holy exclamation of S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> What a Wall to any Towne, what a Sea to any Iland, what a Navy to any Sea, what an Admirall to any Navy, is a good man! Apply thy &s;elfe therefore, and make thy conver&s;ation with good men, and get their love, and that &s;hall be an armour of proofe to thee.</P>
<P>When Saint <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Mother lamented the ill cour&s;es that her &s;onne tooke in his youth, &s;till that Prie&s;t, to whom &s;he imparted her &s;orrowes, &s;aid, <HI>Filius i&s;tarum la|crymarum, non pote&s;t perire;</HI> That Son, for whom &s;o good a Mother hath &s;hed &s;o many teares, cannot peri&s;h: He put it not upon that i&s;&s;ue, <HI>filius Dci,</HI> the elect child of God, the &s;on of prede&s;tination cannot peri&s;h, for at that time, that name was either no name, or would &s;carce have &s;eemed to have belonged to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> but the child of the&s;e teares, of this devotion cannot be lo&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.13.</NOTE> Chri&s;t &s;aid to the Centurion, <HI>fiat &s;icut credidi&s;ti, Goe thy way, and as thou beleeve&s;t, &s;o be it done unto thee, and his &s;ervant was healed in the &s;elfe-&s;ame houre:</HI> The ma&s;ter beleeved, and the &s;ervant was healed. Little knowe&s;t thou, what thou ha&s;t received at Gods hands, by the prayers of the Saints in heaven, that enwrap thee in their generall prayers for the Militant Church. Little knowe&s;t thou, what the publique prayers of the Congregation, what the private prayers of particular devout friends, that lament thy carele&s;ne&s;&s;e, and negligence in praying for thy &s;elfe, have wrung and extorted out of Gods hands, in their charitable importunity for thee. And therfore, at la&s;t, make thy &s;elfe fit to doe for others, that which others, when thou wa&s;t unfit to doe thy &s;elfe that office, have done for thee, in a&s;&s;i&s;ting thee with their prayers. <HI>If thou meet thine enemies Oxe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 23 4, 5.</NOTE> <HI>or A&s;&s;e going a&s;tray,</HI> (&s;ayes the Law) <HI>thou &s;halt &s;urely bring it back to him again: If thou &s;ee the A&s;&s;e of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, and woulde&s;t forbeare to help him, thou &s;halt &s;urely help him. E&s;tn&egrave; Deo cura de Bobus,</HI> is the Apo&s;tles que&s;tion, <HI>Hath God care of Oxen?</HI> of other mens Oxen? How much more of his owne Sheep? And therefore if thon &s;ee one of his Sheep, one of thy fellow Chri&s;tians, &s;trayed into &s;ins of infirmity, and negligent of him&s;elfe, joyne him with thine owne &s;oule, in thy prayers to God. Relieve him, (if that be that which he needs) with thy prayers for him, and re|lieve him, (if his wants be of another kinde) according to his prayers to thee. <HI>Cur apud te homo Collega non valeat,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> why &s;hould not he that is thy Colleague, thy fellow-man, as good a man, that is as much a man as thou, made of the &s;ame bloud, and redeemed with the &s;ame bloud as thou art, why &s;hould not he prevaile with thee, &s;o farre as to the obtaining of an almes, <HI>Cum apud Deum, &s;ervus, &amp; interveniendi meritum, &amp; jus habe at impetrandi,</HI> when &s;ome fellow-&s;ervant of thine, hath had that intere&s;t in God, as by his interce&s;&s;ion, and prayers to advance thy &s;alvation? wilt not thou &s;ave the life of another man that prayes to thee, when perchance thy &s;oule hath been &s;aved by another man, that prayed for thee?</P>
<P>Well then;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ejus.</NOTE> Chri&s;t had re&s;pect to their faith, that brought this &s;ick man to him. <HI>Con|&s;uetudo e&s;t mi&s;erecordis Dei,</HI> It is Gods ordinary way, (&s;ayes S. <HI>Chy&s;o&s;t.</HI>) <HI>hunc honorem dare &s;ervis &s;uis, ut propter eos &s;alventur &amp; alii,</HI> to afford this honour to his &s;ervants, that for their &s;akes he &s;aves others. But neither this which we &s;ay now out of S.<HI>Crhy&s;o&s;tome,</HI> nor that which we &s;aid before out of S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> nor all that we might multiply out of the other Fathers, doth exclude the faith of that particular man, who is to be &s;aved. It is true, that in this particular ca&s;e, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Non vidit fidem ejus qui offer ebatur, &s;ed corum qui offerebant,</HI> That Chri&s;t did not re&s;pect his faith that was brought, but onely theirs that brought him; but except S. <HI>Hierome</HI> be to be under&s;tood &s;o, that Chri&s;t did not fir&s;t re|&s;pect his faith, but theirs, we mu&s;t depart from him, to S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome, Ne&abque; enim &s;e porta|ri &s;u&s;tinui&s;&s;et,</HI> He would neither have put him&s;elfe, nor them, to &s;o many difficulties, as he did, if he had not had a faith, that is, a con&s;tant a&s;&s;urance in this meanes of his recovery. And therefore the Rule may be be&s;t given thus; That God gives worldly ble&s;&s;ings, bo|dily health, deliverance from dangers, and the like, to &s;ome men, in contemplation of others, though them&s;elves never thought of it, all the examples which we have touched upon, convince abundantly.</P>
<P>That God gives &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings to Infants, pre&s;ented according to his Ordinance, in Bapti&s;me, in Contemplation of the faith of their Parents, or of the Church, or of their &s;ureties, without any actuall faith in the Infant, is probable enough, credible enough. But take it as our ca&s;e is, <HI>de adultis,</HI> in a man who is come to the u&s;e of his own rea&s;on, and di&s;cretion, &s;o God never &s;aves any man, for the faith of another, otherwi&s;e then thus,
<PB N="107" REF="71">that the faithfull man may pray for the conver&s;ion of an unfaithfull, who does not know, nor, if he did, would be content to be prayed for, and God, for his &s;ake that prayes, may be plea&s;ed to work upon the other; but before that man comes to the <HI>Dimittuntur pec|cata,</HI> that his &s;innes are forgiven, that man comes to have faith in him&s;elfe. <HI>Iu&s;tus in fide &s;ua vivit;</HI> there is no life without faith, nor <HI>In fide aliena,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Habak. 2.4.</NOTE> no &s;uch life as con&s;titutes Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, without a per&s;onall faith of our owne. So that this <HI>fides illorum,</HI> in our Text, this that is called their faith, hath reference to the &s;ick man him&s;elfe, as well as to them that brought him.</P>
<P>And then, in Him, and in Them, it was <HI>fides vi&s;a,</HI> faith, which, by an ouvert act,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vi&s;ae.</NOTE> was declared, and made evident. For, Chri&s;t, who was now to convay into that company the knowledge that he was the Me&s;&s;ias, which Me&s;&s;ias was to be God, and Man, as af|terwards for their conviction, who would not beleeve him to be God, he &s;hewed that he knew their inward thoughts, and did &s;ome other things, which none but God could doe; &s;o here, for the better edification of men, he required &s;uch a faith, as might be evi|dent to men. For, though Chri&s;t could have &s;eene their faith, by looking into their hearts, yet to think, that here he &s;aw it by that power of his Divinity, <HI>nimis coactum videtur,</HI> It is too narrow, and too forced an interpretation of the place, &s;ayes <HI>Calvin.</HI> They then, that is, all they declared their faith, their a&s;&s;urance, that Chri&s;t could, and would help him. It was good evidence of a &s;trength of faith in him, that in a di&s;ea&s;e, very little ca|pable of cure, then when he had &s;o farre re&s;olved, and &s;lackned his &s;inewes, that he could endure no po&s;ture but his bed, he &s;uffered him&s;elfe to be put to &s;o many incommodities. It was good evidence of a &s;trength of faith in them, that they could beleeve that Chri&s;t would not reject them for that importunity of troubling him, and the congregation, in the mid&s;t of a Sermon; That when they &s;aw, that they who came onely to heare, could not get neare the doore, they &s;hould thinke to get in, with that load, that offen&s;ive &s;pe|ctacle; That they &s;hould ever conceive, or goe about to execute, or be &s;uffered to exe|cute &s;uch a plot, as without the leave of Chri&s;t, (if Chri&s;t preached this Sermon in his owne hou&s;e, as &s;ome take it to have been done) or without the Ma&s;ters leave, in who&s;e hou&s;e &s;oever it was, they &s;hould fir&s;t untile or open, and then break through the floore, and &s;o let downe, their mi&s;erable burden: That they &s;hould have an apprehen&s;ion, that it was not fit for them to &s;tay, till the Sermon were done, and the company parted, but that it was likelie&s;t to conduce to the glory of God, that Preaching, and working might goe together, this was evidence, this was argument of &s;trength of faith in them. Take therefore their example, not to defer that a&s;&s;i&s;tance, which thou art able to give to ano|ther. <HI>Ne dic as a&s;si&s;tam cr as,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> doe not &s;ay, I will help thee to morrow; <HI>Ne quid inter propo&s;itum, &amp; beneficium intercedat;</HI> Perchance that poore &s;oule may not need thee to morrow, perchance thou mai&s;t have nothing to give to morrow, perchance there &s;hall be no &s;uch day, as to morrow, and &s;o thou ha&s;t lo&s;t that opportunity of thy chari|ty, which God offered thee, to day: <HI>Vnica beneficentia e&s;t, quae moram non admittit,</HI> onely that is charity, that is given pre&s;ently.</P>
<P>But yet, when all was done, when there was faith, and faith in them all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cum, non quiae.</NOTE> and faith de|clared in their outward works, yet Chri&s;t is not &s;aid to have done this miracle, <HI>quia &s;ides,</HI> but <HI>cum fides,</HI> not Becau&s;e he &s;aw, but onely When he &s;aw their faith. Let us transferre none of that, which belongs to God, to our &s;elves: when we doe our duties, (but when doe we goe about to begin to doe any part of any of them?) we are unprofitable &s;er|vants: When God does work in us, are we &s;aved by that work, as by the cau&s;e, when there is another cau&s;e of the work it &s;elfe? When the ground brings forth good corne, yet that ground becomes not fit for our food: When a man hath brought forth good fruits, yet that man is not thereby made worthy of heaven. Not faith it &s;elfe (and yet faith is of &s;omewhat a deeper dye, and tincture, then any works) is any &s;uch cau&s;e of our &s;alvation. A beggars beleeving that I will give him an almes, is no cau&s;e of my chari|ty: My beleeving that Chri&s;t will have mercy upon me, is no cau&s;e of Chri&s;ts mercy; for what proportion hath my temporary faith, with my everla&s;ting &s;alvation? But yet, though it work not as a cau&s;e, though it be not <HI>qui a vidit,</HI> becau&s;e he &s;aw it, yet <HI>cum vi|det,</HI> when Chri&s;t findes this faith, according to that gracious Covenant, and Contract which he hath made with us, that where&s;oever, and when&s;oever he findes faith, he will enlarge his mercy, finding that in this patient, he expre&s;&s;ed his mercy, in that which con&s;titutes our &s;econd part, <HI>Fili confide, my &s;on be of good cheare, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee.</HI></P>
<PB N="108" REF="72">
<P>Where we &s;ee fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> our Saviour. Chri&s;t opening the bowels of compa&s;&s;ion to him, and receiving him &s;o, as if he had i&s;&s;ued out of his bowels, and from his loynes, in that gra|cious appellation, <HI>Fili, my Son.</HI> He does not call him brother; for greater enmity can be no where, then is often expre&s;&s;ed to have beene betweene brethren; for in that degree, and di&s;tance, enmity among&s;t men began in <HI>Cain,</HI> and <HI>Abel,</HI> and was pur&s;ued in many paires of brethren after, in Sacred and in &s;ecular &s;tory. Hee does not call him friend; that name, even in Chri&s;ts owne mouth, is not alwaies accompanied with good enter|tainment: <HI>Amice,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.12.</NOTE> <HI>quomodo intra&s;ti,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>Friend, how came you in? and he bound him hand and foote, and ca&s;t him into outer darkne&s;&s;e.</HI> He does not call him &s;on of <HI>Abraham,</HI> which might give him an intere&s;t in all the promi&s;es, but he gives him a pre&s;ent Adop|tion, and &s;o a pre&s;ent fruition of all, <HI>Fili, my Son.</HI> His Son, and not his Son in law; he loads him not with the encumbrances, and halfe-impo&s;&s;ibilities of the Law, but he &s;eales to him the whole Go&s;pell, in the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes. His Son, and not his di&s;-inherited &s;on, as the Jewes were, but his Son, upon whom he &s;etled his ancient Inheritance, his eternall election, and his new purcha&s;e, which he came now into the world to make with his blood. His Son, and not his prodigall &s;on, to whom Chri&s;t imputes no wa&s;tful|ne&s;&s;e of his former graces, but gives him a generall relea&s;e, and <HI>Quietus e&s;t,</HI> in the for|givene&s;&s;e of &s;innes. All that Chri&s;t asks of his Sons, is, <HI>Fili da mihi cor, My Son give me thy heart;</HI> and till God give us that, we cannot give it him; and therefore in this Son he creates a new heart, he infu&s;es a new courage, he e&s;tabli&s;hes a new confidence, in the next word, <HI>Fili confide, My Son be of good cheere.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;t then does not &s;tay &s;o long wra&s;tling with this mans faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Confide.</NOTE> and &s;haking it, and trying whether it were fa&s;t rooted, as he did with that Woman in the Go&s;pell, who came after him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.22.</NOTE> in her daughters behalfe, crying, <HI>Have mercy upon me O Lord, thou Son of David,</HI> for Chri&s;t gave not that woman one word; when her importunity made his Di&s;ciples &s;peake to him, he &s;aid no more, but that he was not &s;ent to &s;uch as &s;he; This was far, very far from a <HI>Confide filia,</HI> Daughter be of good cheere: But yet, this put her not oft, but (as it followes) <HI>She followed, and wor&s;hipped him, and &s;aid, O Lord helpe me:</HI> And all this prevailed no farther with him, but to give &s;uch an an&s;wer, as was more di&s;|comfortable, then a &s;ilence, <HI>It is not fit to take the childrens bread, and ca&s;t it unto dogs.</HI> She denies not that, &s;he contradicts him not; &s;he &s;aies, <HI>Truth Lord,</HI> It is not fit to take the childrens bread, and to ca&s;t it unto dogs, and <HI>Truth Lord,</HI> I am one of tho&s;e dogs; but yet &s;he per&s;evers in her holy importunity, and in her good ill-manners, and &s;aies, <HI>Yet the Dogs eate of the crums which fall from the Ma&s;ters table:</HI> And then, and not till then comes Je&s;us to that, <HI>O Woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt; and her Daugh|ter was healed.</HI> But all this, at la&s;t, was but a bodily re&s;titution, here was no <HI>Dimittuntur peccata</HI> in the ca&s;e, no declaration of forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;innes: But with this man in our Text, Chri&s;t goes farther, and comes &s;ooner to an end; He exerci&s;es him with no di&s;|putation, he leaves no roome for any diffidence, but at fir&s;t word e&s;tabli&s;hes him, and then builds upon him. Now beloved, which way &s;oever of the&s;e two God have taken with thee, whether the longer, or the &s;horter way, ble&s;&s;e thou the Lord, prai&s;e him, and magnifie him for that. If God have &s;etled and &s;trengthned thy faith early, early in thy youth heretofore, early at the beginning of a Sermon now, A day is as a thou&s;and yeares with God, a minute is as &s;ixe thou&s;and yeares with God, that which God hath not done upon the Nations, upon the Gentiles, in &s;ix thou&s;and yeares, never &s;ince the Creation, which is, to reduce them to the knowlege, and application of the Me&s;&s;ias, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that he hath done upon thee, in an in&s;tant. If he have carried thee about the longer way, if he have expo&s;ed thee to &s;cruples, and perplexities, and &s;tormes in thine under&s;tanding, or con&s;cience, yet in the mid&s;t of the tempe&s;t, the &s;oft ayre, that he is &s;aid to come in, &s;hall breath into thee; in the mid&s;t of tho&s;e clouds, his Son &s;hall &s;hine upon thee; In the mid&s;t of that flood he &s;hall put out his Rainbow, his &s;eale that thou &s;halt not drowne, his Sacrament of faire weather to come, and as it was to the Thiefe, thy Cro&s;&s;e &s;hall be thine Altar, and thy Faith &s;hall be thy Sacrifice. Whether he accompli&s;h his worke-upon thee &s;oone or late, he &s;hall never leave thee all the way, without this <HI>Confide fili,</HI> a holy confidence, that thou art his, which &s;hall carry thee to the <HI>Dimittuntur pecca|ta,</HI> to the peace of con&s;cience, in the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins.</P>
<P>In which two words, we noted unto you, that Chri&s;t hath in&s;tituted a Catechi&s;me, an In&s;truction for this new Convertite, and adopted Son of his; in which, the fir&s;t le&s;&s;on
<PB N="109" REF="72">that is therein implyed, is, <HI>Antequam rogetur,</HI> That God is more forward to give,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Antequam rogetur.</NOTE> then man to aske: It is not &s;aid that the &s;ick man, or his company in his behalfe, &s;aid any thing to Chri&s;t, but Chri&s;t &s;peakes fir&s;t to them. If God have touched thee here, did&s;t thou aske that at his hands? Did&s;t thou pray before thou came&s;t hither, that he would touch thy heart here? perchance thou did&s;t: But when thou wa&s;t brought to thy Bapti&s;me, did&s;t thou ask any thing at Gods hands then? But tho&s;e that brought thee, that pre&s;ented thee, did; They did in thy Bapti&s;me; but at thine election, then when God writing downe the names of all the Elect, in the book of Life, how came&s;t thou in? who brought thee in then? Did&s;t thou aske any thing at Gods hands then, when thou thy &s;elfe wa&s;t not at all?</P>
<P><HI>Dat prius,</HI> that's the fir&s;t le&s;&s;on in this Catechi&s;me, God gives before we aske,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Meliora.</NOTE> and then <HI>Dat meliora rogatis,</HI> God gives better things, then we aske; They intended to aske but bodily health, and Chri&s;t gave &s;pirituall, he gave Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes. And what gain'd he by that? why, <HI>Beati quorum remi&s;&s;ae iniquitates, Ble&s;&s;ed are they, who&s;e &s;innes are forgiven.</HI> But what is Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e? Any more then a con&s;ident expectation of a good &s;tate in the next world? Yes; Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e includes all that can be asked or conceived in the next world, and in this too. Chri&s;t in his Sermon of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, &s;aies fir&s;t, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they, for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven;</HI> and after, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.3. &amp; 5.</NOTE> <HI>for they &s;hall in her it the earth;</HI> Againe, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed, for they &s;hall obtaine mercy;</HI> and, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed for they &s;hall be filled:</HI> Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins is ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, and as <HI>Godline&s;&s;e hath the promi&s;e of this world, and the next,</HI> &s;o ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e hath the performance of both: He that hath peace in the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, is ble&s;&s;ed already, and &s;hall have tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ings infinitely multiplied in the world to come. The farthe&s;t that Chri&s;t goes in the expre&s;&s;ing of the affections of a naturall Father here, is, That <HI>if his Son aske bread, he will not give him a &s;tone;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.12.</NOTE> <HI>and if he aske a Fi&s;h, he will not give him a Scorpion;</HI> He will not give him wor&s;e then he ask'd; But it is the peculiar bounty of this Father, who adopted this Sonne, to give more, and better, &s;pirituall for temporall.</P>
<P>Another le&s;&s;on, which Chri&s;t was plea&s;ed to propo&s;e to this new Convertite,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cau&s;a mor|borum.</NOTE> in this Catechi&s;me, was, to informe him, That &s;ins were the true cau&s;es of all bodily di&s;ea&s;es. Di&s;ea&s;es and bodily afflictions are &s;ometimes inflicted by God <HI>Ad poenam, non ad purga|tionem,</HI> Not to purge or purifie the &s;oule of that man, by that affliction, but to bring him by the rack to the gallowes, through temporary afflictions here, to everla&s;ting torments hereafter; As <HI>Iudas</HI> his hanging, and <HI>Herods</HI> being eaten with wormes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 12.</NOTE> was their entrance into that place, where they are yet. Sometimes di&s;ea&s;es and afflictions are inflicted onely, or principally to manife&s;t the glory of God, in the removing thereof; So Chri&s;t &s;aies of that man, that was borne blinde, that neither he him&s;elfe had &s;inned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.</NOTE> nor bore the &s;innes of his parents, but he was borne blinde to pre&s;ent an occa&s;ion of doing a mi|racle. Sometimes they are inflicted <HI>Ad humiliationem,</HI> for our future humiliation; So S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aies of him&s;elfe, <HI>That lea&s;t he &s;hould be exalted above mea&s;ure,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.7.</NOTE> <HI>by the abundance of Revelations, he had that</HI> Stimulum carnis, <HI>That vexation of the fle&s;h, that me&s;&s;enger of Satan, to humble him.</HI> And then, &s;ometimes they are inflicted for tryall, and farther de|claration of your conformity to Gods will, as upon <HI>Iob.</HI> But how&s;oever there be divers particular cau&s;es, for the di&s;ea&s;es and afflictions of particular men, the fir&s;t cau&s;e of death, and &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and all infirmities upon mankinde in generall, was &s;in; and it would not be hard for every particular man, almo&s;t, to finde it in his owne ca&s;e too, to a&s;&s;igne his fever to &s;uch a &s;urfet, or his con&s;umption to &s;uch an intemperance. And therefore to breake that circle, in which we compa&s;&s;e, and immure, and impri&s;on our &s;elves, That as &s;inne begot di&s;ea&s;es, &s;o di&s;ea&s;es begot more &s;innes, impatience and murmuring at Gods cor|rections, Chri&s;t begins to &s;hake this circle, in the right way to breake it, in the right linke, that is, fir&s;t to remove the &s;in, which occa&s;ioned the di&s;ea&s;e; for, till that be done, a man is in no better ca&s;e, then, (as the Prophet expre&s;&s;es it) <HI>If he &s;hould flie from a Lion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 5.19.</NOTE> <HI>and a Beare met him, or if he &s;hould leane upon a wall, and a Serpent bit him.</HI> What ea&s;e were it, to be delivered of a pal&s;ie, of &s;lack and di&s;&s;olv'd &s;inews, and remaine under the tyranny of a lu&s;tfull heart, of licentious eyes, of &s;lacke and di&s;&s;olute &s;peech and conver&s;ation? What ea&s;e to be delivered of the putrefaction of a wound in my body, and meet a murder in my con&s;cience, done, or intended, or de&s;ired upon my neighbour? To be delivered of a fever in my &s;pirits, and to have my &s;pirit troubled with the guiltine&s;&s;e of an adultery? To be delivered of Cramps, and Coliques, and Convul&s;ions in my joynts and &s;inewes, and
<PB N="110" REF="73">&s;uffer in my &s;oule all the&s;e, from my oppre&s;&s;ions, and extortions, by which I have ground the face of the poore. It is but lo&s;t labour, and co&s;t, to give a man a precious cordiall, when he hath a thorne in his foote, or an arrow in his fle&s;h; for, as long as the &s;inne, which is the cau&s;e of the &s;ickne&s;&s;e, remaines, <HI>Deterius &s;equetur,</HI> A wor&s;e thing will follow; we may be rid of a Fever, and the Pe&s;tilence will follow, rid of the Cramp, and a Gout will follow, rid of &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and Death, eternall death will follow. That which our Saviour pre&s;cribes is, <HI>Noli peccare ampli&ugrave;s, &s;inne no more;</HI> fir&s;t, <HI>non ampli&ugrave;s,</HI> &s;inne no more &s;ins, take heed of gravid &s;ins, of pregnant &s;innes, of &s;ins of concomitance, and con|catentation, that chaine and induce more &s;ins after, as <HI>Davids</HI> idlene&s;&s;e did adultery, and that murder, &amp; the lo&s;&s;e of the Lords Army, and Honor, in the bla&s;pheming of his name, <HI>Noli ampli&ugrave;s,</HI> &s;in no more, no &s;uch &s;in as induces more; And <HI>Noli ampli&ugrave;s, &s;inne no more,</HI> that is, &s;in thy owne &s;in, thy beloved &s;in, no more times over; And &s;till <HI>Noli ampli&ugrave;s,</HI> &s;in not that &s;in which thou ha&s;t given over in thy practi&s;e, in thy memory, by a &s;infull delight in remembring it; And againe, <HI>Noli ampli&ugrave;s,</HI> &s;in not over thy former &s;ins, by holding in thy po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; &s;uch things as were corruptly gotten, by any &s;uch former practi&s;es: for, <HI>Deterius &s;equetur,</HI> a wor&s;e thing will follow, A Tertian will be a Quartan, and a Quartan a Hectique, and a Hectique a Con&s;umption, and a Con&s;umption without a con&s;um|mation, that &s;hall never con&s;ume it &s;elfe, nor con&s;ume thee to an un&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of torment.</P>
<P>And then after the&s;e three le&s;&s;ons in this Catechi&s;me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sanitas &s;pi|ritualis.</NOTE> That God gives before we aske, That he gives better then we aske, That he informes us in the true cau&s;e of &s;ickne&s;&s;e, &s;inne, He involves a tacit, nay he expre&s;&s;es an expre&s;&s;e rebuke, and increpation, and in beginning at the <HI>Dimittuntur peccata,</HI> at the forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;innes, tels him in his eare, that his &s;pirituall health &s;hould have beene prefer'd before his bodily, and the cure of his &s;oule before his Pal&s;ie; that fir&s;t the Prie&s;t &s;hould have beene, and then the Phy&s;itian might bee con&s;ulted. That which Chri&s;t does to his new adopted Sonne here, the Wi&s;eman &s;aies to his Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 38.9.</NOTE> My Son, in thy &s;ickne&s;&s;e be not negligent; But wherein is his diligence required, or to be expre&s;&s;ed? in that, which followes, Pray unto the Lord, and he will make thee whole; But upon what conditions, or what preparations? Leave off from &s;in, order thy hands aright, and clean&s;e thy heart from all wickedne&s;&s;e. Is this all? needs there no declaration, no te&s;timony of this? Yes, Give a &s;weet &s;avour, and a me|moriall of fine floure, and make a fat offering, as not beeing; that is, as though thou wert dead: Give, and give that which thou give&s;t in thy life time, as not beeing. And when all this is piou&s;ly, and religiou&s;ly done, thou ha&s;t repented, re&s;tor'd, amended, and given to pious u&s;es, Then, &s;aies he there, give place to the Phy&s;itian, for the Lord hath created him. For if we proceed otherwi&s;e, if wee begin with the Phy&s;itian, Phy&s;ick is a cur&s;e; He that &s;inneth before his Maker,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 15.</NOTE> let him fall into the hands of the Phy&s;itian, &s;aies the Wi&s;eman there: It is not, Let him come into the hands of the Phy&s;itian, as though that were a cur&s;e, but let him fall, let him ca&s;t and throw him&s;elfe into his hands, and rely upon naturall meanes, and leave out all con&s;ideration of his other, and wor&s;e di&s;ea&s;e, and the &s;upernaturall Phy&s;ick for that.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Chron. 16.</NOTE> <HI>A&s;a</HI> had had a great deliverance from God, when the Prophet <HI>Hanani</HI> asked him, <HI>Were not the Ethiopians, and the Lubins a huge Ho&s;t?</HI> but be|cau&s;e after this deliverance, he relied upon the King of Syria, and not upon God, the Judgement is, <HI>From henceforth thou &s;halt have wars:</HI> That was a &s;ickne&s;&s;e upon the State, &amp; then he fell &s;ick in his own per&s;on, and in that &s;ickne&s;&s;e, &s;aies that &s;tory, <HI>He &s;ought not to the Lord, but to the Phy&s;itian,</HI> and then he dyed. To the Lord and then to the Phy&s;itian had beene the right way; If to the Phy&s;itian and then to the Lord, though this had beene out of the right way, yet hee might have returned to it: But it was to the Phy&s;itian, and not to the Lord, and then he died. <HI>Omnipotenti medico nullus languor in&s;anabilis,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> there is but one Almighty; and none but the Almighty can cure all di&s;ea&s;es, becau&s;e hee onely can cure di&s;ea&s;es in the roote, that is, in the forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins.</P>
<P>We are almo&s;t at an end; when we had thus Catechi&s;ed his Convertite, thus rectified his patient,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scribae &amp; Phari&s;ci.</NOTE> hee turnes upon them, who beheld all this, and were &s;candaliz'd with his words, the Scribes and Phari&s;ees; And becau&s;e they were &s;candaliz'd onely in this, that he being but man, undertooke the office of God, to forgive &s;ins, he declares him&s;elfe to them, to be God. Chri&s;t would not leave, even malice it &s;elfe un&s;atisfied; And therefore do not thou thinke thy &s;elfe Chri&s;tian enough, for having an innocence in thy &s;elfe, but be content to de&s;cend to the infirmities, and to the very malice of other men, and to give
<PB N="111" REF="73">the world &s;atisfaction; <HI>Nec paratum habeas illud &egrave;trivio,</HI> (&s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome</HI>) do not arm thy &s;elf with that vulgar, and triviall &s;aying, <HI>Sufficit mihi con&s;cientia mea, nec curo quid lo|quantur homines,</HI> It &s;uffices me, that mine own con&s;cience is cleare, and I care not what all the world &s;ayes; thou mu&s;t care what the world &s;ayes, and thinks; Chri&s;t him&s;elf had that re&s;pect even towards the Scribes, and Phari&s;ees. For, fir&s;t he declared him&s;elf to be God, in that he took knowledge of their thoughts; for they had &s;aid nothing, and he &s;ayes to them, why rea&s;on you thus in your hearts? and they them&s;elves did not, could not deny, but that tho&s;e words of <HI>Solomon</HI> appertained only to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 6.30.</NOTE> <HI>Thou only knowe&s;t the hearts of the children of men,</HI> And tho&s;e of <HI>Ieremy, The heart is deceitfull above all things,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 17.9.</NOTE> <HI>and de&s;perately wicked, who can know it? I the Lord &s;earch the heart, and I try the reines.</HI> Let the Schoole di&s;pute infinitely, (for he that will not content him&s;elf with means of &s;alvation, till all Schoole points be reconciled, will come too late) let <HI>Scotus</HI> and his Heard think, That Angels, and &s;eparate &s;oules have a naturall power to under&s;tand thoughts, though God for his particular glory re&s;traine the exerci&s;e of that power in them, (as in the Romane Church, Prie&s;ts have a power to forgive all &s;ins, though the Pope re&s;traine that power in re&s;erved ca&s;es; And the Cardinals by their Creation, have a voice in the Con&s;i&s;tory, but that the Pope for a certain time inhibites them to give voice) And let <HI>Aquinas</HI> pre&s;ent his arguments to the contrary, That tho&s;e &s;pirits have no naturall power to know thoughts; we &s;eek no farther, but that Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe thought it argument enough to convince the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, and prove him&s;elfe God, by knowing their thoughts. <HI>Eadem Maje&s;tate &amp; potentia,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> Since you &s;ee I proceed as God, in knowing your thoughts, why beleeve you not, that I may forgive his &s;ins as God too?</P>
<P>And then, in the la&s;t act he joynes both together; he &s;atisfies the patient,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dat &s;anita|tem.</NOTE> and he &s;a|tisfies the beholders too: he gives him his fir&s;t de&s;ire, bodily health; <HI>He bids him take up his bed and walk,</HI> and he doth it; and he &s;hewes them that he is God, by doing that, which (as it appears in the Story) was harder in their opinion, then remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, which was, to cure and recover a di&s;ea&s;ed man, only by his word, without any naturall, or &s;econd means. And therefore &s;ince all the world &s;hakes in a pal&s;ie of wars, and ru|mors of wars, &s;ince we are &s;ure, that Chri&s;ts Vicar in this ca&s;e will come to his <HI>Dimit|mittuntur peccata,</HI> to &s;end his Buls, and Indulgences, and Crociatars for the maintenance of his part, in that cau&s;e, let us al&s;o, who are to do the duties of private men, to obey and not to direct, by pre&s;enting our di&s;ea&s;ed and paralytique &s;ouls to Chri&s;t Je&s;us, now, when he in the Mini&s;tery of his unworthie&s;t &s;ervant is preaching unto you, by untiling the hou&s;e, by removing all di&s;gui&s;es, and palliations of our former &s;ins, by true confe&s;&s;ion, and hearty dete&s;tation, let us endeavour to bring him to his <HI>Dimittuntur peccata,</HI> to for|give us all tho&s;e &s;ins, which are the true cau&s;es of all our pal&s;ies, and &s;lackne&s;&s;es in his &s;ervice; and &s;o, without limiting him, or his great Vicegerents, and Lieutenants, the way, or the time to beg of him, that he will imprint in them, &s;uch coun&s;els and &s;uch re&s;oluti|ons, as his wi&s;dome knows be&s;t to conduce to his glory, and the maintenance of his Go&s;pell. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="112" REF="74">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XII.</HI> Preached upon Candlemas day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 5.2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe Church, which is the Daughter of God, and Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t, cele|brates this day, the Purification of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, the Mother of God: And &s;he celebrates this day by the name, vulgarly, of <HI>Candlemas day.</HI> It is <HI>dies luminarium,</HI> the day of lights; The Church took the occa&s;ion of do|ing &s;o, from the Gentiles; At this time of the yeare, about the beginning of February, they celebrated the fea&s;t of <HI>Februus,</HI> which is their <HI>Pluto;</HI> And, becau&s;e that was the God of darkne&s;&s;e, they &s;olemnized it, with a multiplicity of Lights. The Church of God, in the outward and ceremoniall part of his wor&s;hip, did not di&s;dain the ceremonies of the Gentiles; Men who are &s;o &s;evere, as to condemne, and to remove from the Church, what&s;oever was in u&s;e among&s;t the Gentiles before, may, before they are aware, become Surveyors, and Controllers upon Chri&s;t him&s;elf, in the in&s;titution of his greate&s;t &s;eales: for Bapti&s;me, which is the Sacrament of purification by wa&s;hing in water, and the very Sacrament of the Supper it &s;elf, religious eating, and drinking in the Temple, were in u&s;e among&s;t the Gentiles too. It is a perver&s;e way, rather to aboli&s;h Things and Names, (for vehement zeale will work upon Names as well as Things) be|cau&s;e they have been abu&s;ed, then to reduce them to their right u&s;e. We dealt in the re|formation of Religion, as Chri&s;t did in the in&s;titution thereof; He found ceremonies a|mong&s;t the Gentiles, and he took them in, not becau&s;e he found them there, but becau&s;e the Gentiles had received them from the Jews, as they had their wa&s;hings, and their reli|gious meetings to eat and drink in the Temple, from the Jews Pa&s;&s;eover. Chri&s;t borrow|ed nothing of the Gentiles, but he took his own where he found it: Tho&s;e ceremonies, which him&s;elf had in&s;tituted in the fir&s;t Church of the Jews, and the Gentiles had pur|loined, and prophaned, and corrupted after, he returned to a good u&s;e againe. And &s;o did we in the Reformation, in &s;ome ceremonies which had been of u&s;e in the Primitive Church, and depraved and corrupted in the Romane. For the &s;olemnizing of this Day, Candlemas-day, when the Church did admit Candles into the Church, as the Gentiles did, it was not upon the rea&s;on of the Gentiles, who wor&s;hipped therein the God of darkne&s;&s;e, <HI>Februus, Pluto;</HI> but becau&s;e he who was the light of the world, was this day pre&s;ented and brought into the Temple, the Church admitted lights. The Church would &s;ignifie, that as we are to walk in the light, &s;o we are to receive our light from the Church, and to receive Chri&s;t, and our knowledge of him, &s;o as Chri&s;t hath notified him&s;elf to us. So it is a day of purification to us, and a day of lights, and &s;o our Text fits the Day, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God.</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e words we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> <HI>Qui &s;int,</HI> who they are, that are brought into con&s;ideration, that are put into the balance, and they are <HI>mundi corde,</HI> &s;uch as are <HI>pure of heart;</HI> And &s;econdly, <HI>Quid &s;int,</HI> what they come to be, and it is <HI>Beati, ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart;</HI> And la&s;tly, <HI>Vnde,</HI> from whence this ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e accrews and ari&s;es unto them, and in what it con&s;i&s;ts, and that is, <HI>Videbunt Deum, ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.5.</NOTE> Ask me wherein the&s;e men differ from other men, and it is in this main diffe|rence, <HI>Mundi corde,</HI> that whereas <HI>every imagination of the thought of mans heart, is only evill continually,</HI> They are pure of heart. Ask me what they get by that, They get this main purcha&s;e, <HI>Beati,</HI> That which all the books of all the Philo&s;ophers could never teach them &s;o much as what it was, that is true Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; That their pocket book, their Ma|nuall, their bo&s;ome book, their con&s;cience, doth not only &s;hew them, but give them, not only declare it to them, but po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e them of it. Ask me how long this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e &s;hall
<PB N="113" REF="74">la&s;t, becau&s;e all tho&s;e Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;es which Philo&s;ophers have imagined, as honour, and health, and profit, and plea&s;ure, and the like, have evaporated and vani&s;hed away, this &s;hall la&s;t for ever; <HI>Videbunt Deum, they &s;hall &s;ee God,</HI> and they &s;hall no more &s;ee an end of their &s;eeing God, then an end of his being God: <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e then are our three parts; fir&s;t the Price, <HI>mundities cordis,</HI> cleanne&s;&s;e, and clean|ne&s;&s;e of heart; Secondly, the Purcha&s;e, <HI>Beati,</HI> Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, and pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they;</HI> And then thirdly, the <HI>Habendum,</HI> the term, Everla&s;ting|ne&s;&s;e, becau&s;e it con&s;i&s;ts in the enjoying of him who is everla&s;ting, <HI>They &s;hall &s;ee God.</HI> The&s;e ari&s;e out of the Text; but from whence ari&s;es the Text it &s;elfe? The Text it &s;elf is a piece of a Sermon, of that ble&s;&s;ed Sermon of our Saviours, which is called the Ser|mon of Beatitudes. So that we &s;hall make it a part apart, to con&s;ider the Sermon from which this Text is taken, before we dilate the Text it &s;elf into a Sermon: for there will ari&s;e &s;ome u&s;efull ob&s;ervations, out of the&s;e three doubts, fir&s;t <HI>Quae concio,</HI> what this Ser|mon it &s;elf was; and then <HI>Quibus,</HI> to what Auditory it was preached; And la&s;tly, <HI>Quo|modo,</HI> in what manner Chri&s;t preached this Sermon: And the&s;e three, the Sermon, the Auditory, the di&s;po&s;ition of the Preacher, will al&s;o be three branches of this, which we &s;hall make our fir&s;t part, before we come to the other three of the Text it &s;elf.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, there is this doubt made of this Sermon altogether,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> whether this Sermon which S. <HI>Matthew</HI> records here, be the &s;ame Sermon which S. <HI>Luke</HI> mentions in his &s;ixth Chapter, or whether they were preached at &s;everall times; The greater part of the an|cients (but yet not all) take them to be &s;everall Sermons; The greater part of the later men (and yet not all neither) take them to be but one and the &s;ame Sermon. If it be &s;o, if both be but one Sermon, this may be ju&s;tly con&s;idered, that &s;ince S. <HI>Luke</HI> remembers but a few pa&s;&s;ages, and a few parts of that Sermon, in re&s;pect of S. <HI>Matthew,</HI> (for S. <HI>Matthews</HI> relation is large and particular, and S. <HI>Lukes</HI> more briefe and &s;ummary) they that come to heare Sermons, and would make benefit by them, by a &s;ub&s;equent medi|tation, mu&s;t not think them&s;elves fru&s;trated of their purpo&s;es, if they do not under&s;tand all, or not remember all the Sermon. Scarce any Sermon is &s;o preached, or &s;o intended, as that all works upon all, or all belongs unto all. The Lord and his Spirit puts into the Preachers mouth, a judgement again&s;t oppre&s;&s;ion, again&s;t extortion, again&s;t u&s;ury, and he utters that judgement. But perchance thou ha&s;t no lands to rack tenants, no office to grinde &s;uitors, no mony to devoure a debtor by u&s;ury, and &s;o that pa&s;&s;age of the Sermon, bent again&s;t oppre&s;&s;ion, or extortion, or u&s;ury, concernes not thee, affects not thee. But next to thee there may &s;it an oppre&s;&s;or, or extortioner, or u&s;urer, and he needed that, and by Gods grace receives benefit by that, which found nothing to work upon in thee. And then thy turn comes after, and God &s;peaks to thy &s;oul, in a di&s;covery of tho&s;e &s;ins to which thou art enclined; and then he gives thy neighbour (who was pinched, and brought to a remor&s;e before) that refre&s;hing which thou had&s;t before, that is, a thank|full acknowledgement, that though he be &s;ubject to other &s;ins, yet God hath pre&s;erved him from that particular.</P>
<P>God directs the tongue of his Mini&s;ters, as he doth his &s;howres of rain: They fall up|on the face of a large compa&s;&s;e of earth, when as all that earth did not need that rain. The whole Congregation is, oftentimes, in common entendment, conformable, and well &s;etled in all matters of Doctrine, and all matters of Di&s;cipline. And yet God directs us &s;ometimes to extend our di&s;cour&s;e (perchance with a zeale and a vehemence, which may &s;eem unnece&s;&s;ary, and impertinent, becau&s;e all in the Church are pre&s;umed to be of one minde) in the proofe of our doctrine again&s;t Papi&s;ts, or of our di&s;cipline again&s;t Non|conformitans. For, Gods eye &s;ees, in what &s;eat there &s;its, or in what corner there &s;tands &s;ome one man that wavers in matters of Doctrine, and enclines to hearken after a Sedu|cer, a Je&s;uit, or a Semi-Je&s;uit, a practi&s;ing Papi&s;t, or a Se&s;qui-Je&s;uit, a Je&s;uited Lady; And Gods eye &s;ees in what &s;eat there &s;its, or in what corner there &s;tands &s;ome weak &s;oul that is &s;candalized, with &s;ome Ceremony, or part of our Di&s;cipline, and in danger of falling from the unity of the Church: And for the refre&s;hing of that one &s;pan of ground, God lets fall a whole &s;howre of rain; for the rectifying of that one &s;oul, God poures out the Meditations of the Preacher, into &s;uch a &s;ubject, as perchance doth little concern the re&s;t of the Congregation. S. <HI>Matthew</HI> relates Chri&s;ts Sermon at large, and S. <HI>Luke</HI> but briefly, and yet S. <HI>Luke</HI> remembers &s;ome things that S. <HI>Matthew</HI> had left out. If
<PB N="114" REF="75">thou remember not all that was pre&s;ented to thy faith, all the Citations of places of Scrip|tures, nor all that was pre&s;ented to thy rea&s;on, all the deducements, and inferences of the Schooles, nor all that was pre&s;ented to thy &s;pirituall delight, all the &s;entences of orna|ment produced out of the Fathers, yet if thou remember that which concerned thy &s;in, and thy &s;oul, if thou meditate upon that, apply that, thou ha&s;t brought away all the Ser|mon, all that was intended by the Holy Gho&s;t to be preached to thee. And if thou have done &s;o, as at a donative at a Coronation, or other &s;olemnity, when mony is throwne a|mong the people, though thou light but upon one &s;hilling of that money, thou can&s;t not think that all the re&s;t is lo&s;t, but that &s;ome others are the richer for it, though thou bee&s;t not; &s;o if thou remember, or apply, or under&s;tand but one part of the Sermon, doe not think all the re&s;t to have been idly, or unnece&s;&s;arily, or impertinently &s;poken, for thou broughte&s;t a feaver, and ha&s;t had thy Julips, another brought a fainting, and a diffident &s;pirit, and mu&s;t have his Cordials.</P>
<P>Thus then, if S. <HI>Lukes</HI> Sermon be the &s;ame that S. <HI>Matthews</HI> was, we &s;ee by S. <HI>Lukes</HI> manner of repeating it, That a Sermon may be well remembred, and well applyed, though all the parts thereof be not &s;o. And then, if the&s;e were divers Sermons, and &s;o preached by Chri&s;t, at &s;everall times, there ari&s;es al&s;o this con&s;ideration, That Chri&s;t did not, and therefore we need not forbeare to preach the &s;ame particular Doctrines, or to handle the &s;ame particular points, which we, or others, in that place, have handled be|fore: A preachers end is not a gathering of fame to him&s;elfe, but a gathering of &s;oules to God; and his way is not novelty, but edification. If we con&s;ider the Sermon in Saint <HI>Matthew,</HI> and the Sermon in S. <HI>Luke,</HI> the purpo&s;e and the &s;cope of both, the matter and the forme of both, the body and the parts of both, the phra&s;e and the language of both, is for the mo&s;t part the &s;ame, and yet Chri&s;t forbore not to preach it twice.</P>
<P>This excu&s;es no mans ignorance, that is not able to preach &s;ea&s;onably, and to break, and di&s;tribute the bread of life according to the emergent nece&s;&s;ities of that Congregati|on, at that time; Nor it excu&s;es no mans lazine&s;&s;e, that will not employ his whole time upon his calling; Nor any mans vain-glory, and o&s;tentation, who having made a Pye of Plums, without meat, offers it to &s;ale in every Market, and having made an Oration of Flowres, and Figures, and Phra&s;es without &s;trength, &s;ings it over in every Pulpit: It excu&s;es no mans ignorance, nor lazine&s;&s;e, nor vain-glory, but yet it reproaches their itch|ing and curious eares, to whom any repetition of the &s;ame things is irk &s;ome and fa&s;tidi|ous. You may have heard an an&s;wer of an Epigrammati&s;t applyable to this purpo&s;e; When he read his Epigrams in an Auditory, one of the hearers &s;topped him, and &s;aid, Did not I heare an Epigram to this purpo&s;e from you, la&s;t yeare? Yes, &s;ayes he, it is like you did; but is not that vice &s;till in you this yeare, which la&s;t yeares Epigram repre|hended? If your curio&s;ity bring you to &s;ay to any Preacher, Did not I heare this Point thus handled in your Sermon, la&s;t yeare? Yes, mu&s;t he &s;ay, and &s;o you mu&s;t next yeare againe, till it appeare in your amendment, that you did heare it. The Devill maintaines a Warre good cheap, if he may fight with the &s;ame &s;word, and we may not defend with the &s;ame buckler; If he can tempt a Son with his Fathers covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and a Daughter with her Mothers wantonne&s;&s;e, if he need not vary the &s;in, nor the tentation, mu&s;t wee vary our Doctrine? This is indeed to put new Wine into old ve&s;&s;els, new Doctrine into eares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 7.13.</NOTE> and hearts not disburdened of old &s;ins. We &s;ay, as the Spou&s;e &s;ayes, <HI>Vetera &amp; nova,</HI> we prepare old and new, all that may any way &s;erve your holy ta&s;te, and conduce to your &s;pirituall nouri&s;hment; And he is not a Preacher &s;ufficiently learned, that mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity preach the &s;ame things againe, but he is not a Preacher &s;ufficiently di&s;creet nei|ther, that for beares any thing therefore, becau&s;e him&s;elfe, or another in that place, hath handled that before. Chri&s;t him&s;elfe varied his Sermon very little, if this in S. <HI>Matthew,</HI> and that in S. <HI>Luke,</HI> were divers Sermons.</P>
<P>The &s;econd doubt which is made about this Sermon, and which mini&s;ters to us occa|&s;ion of another kinde of ob&s;ervations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quibus.</NOTE> is the Auditory, to whom Chri&s;t preached this Sermon. For fir&s;t, as this Euangeli&s;t reports it, it &s;eemes to have been <HI>Concio ad Clerum,</HI> a Sermon Preached to them who had taken Degrees in Chri&s;ts Schoole, and followed him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 1.</NOTE> and not <HI>ad populum,</HI> to the promi&s;cuous, and vulgar people; for he &s;ayes, That <HI>Chri&s;t &s;eeing the multitude, went up into a mountaine, and thither his Di&s;ciples came, and to them he Preached.</HI> And then, as S. <HI>Luke</HI> reports, though the Sermon &s;eeme principally to be di|rected to the Di&s;ciples, yet it was in the pre&s;ence and hearing of all; for he &s;ayes,
<PB N="115" REF="75"><HI>Chri&s;t came downe, and &s;tood in the plaine, and a great multitude of people about him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.17.</NOTE> Both mu&s;t be done; we mu&s;t preach in the Mountaine, and preach in the plaine too; preach to the learned, and preach to the &s;imple too; preach to the Court, and preach to the Country too. Onely when we preach in the mountaine, they in the plaine mu&s;t not ca|lumniate us, and &s;ay, This man goes up to Jeru&s;alem, he will be heard by none but Princes, and great per&s;ons, as though it were out of affectation, and not in di&s;charge of our duty, that we doe preach there: And when we preach on the plaine, they of the mountaine mu&s;t not &s;ay, This man may &s;erve for a meane Auditory, for a &s;imple Con|gregation, for a Country Church, as though the &s;itting of our &s;elves to the capacity, and the edification of &s;uch per&s;ons, were out of ignorance, or lazine&s;&s;e, and not a perfor|mance of our duties, as well as the other. Chri&s;t preached on the mountaine, and he preached in the plaine; he hath his Church in both; and they that preach in both, or either, for his glory, and not their owne vain-glory, have his Example for their Action.</P>
<P>To make the like u&s;e of the other difficulty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quomedo.</NOTE> ari&s;ing out of the &s;everall relation of this Sermon, which is <HI>Quomodo,</HI> in what manner, in what po&s;ition of body Chri&s;t preached this Sermon, by this Euangeli&s;t it &s;eemes that Chri&s;t preached &s;itting, and by the other,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 1. Luke 6.17.</NOTE> that he preached &s;tanding. Now, for the mo&s;t part, Chri&s;t did preach &s;itting. When he preached in the Synagogue of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> and took that Text, out of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 4.16.</NOTE> <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, &amp;c. He &s;tood up to reade,</HI> (&s;ayes the &s;tory) <HI>and then he clo&s;ed the Booke, and &s;ate downe to preach.</HI> So al&s;o when he came downe from the Mount of Olives into the Temple, <HI>he &s;ate downe there and taught them.</HI> And &s;o Chri&s;t him&s;elfe profe&s;&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8.2.</NOTE> that it was his ordinary cu&s;tome to doe; For, when they came to apprehend him, he &s;aid, <HI>Are ye come out, as again&s;t a Thiefe? I &s;ate dayly with you, teaching in the Temple,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.55.</NOTE> <HI>and ye laid no hold on me.</HI> And according to this cu&s;tome of his, they who came to great place, and dignity in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">e Church, did ordinarily preach &s;itting too; and therefore their Churches were called <HI>Cathedrall,</HI> becau&s;e they preached &s;itting in chaires.</P>
<P>Why then will &s;uch men, as in all actious of Divine Service, pretend to limit every thing preci&s;ely to the patterne of Chri&s;t him&s;elf, to doe ju&s;t as he did, and no otherwi&s;e, why will they admit any other po&s;ition of the body, in preaching, then &s;itting, &s;ince, <HI>ut plurim&ugrave;m,</HI> at lea&s;t, for the mo&s;t part, Chri&s;t did preach &s;itting? Or if Chri&s;t did both &s;it, and &s;tand, why will they not acknowledge, that all po&s;itions of the body, that are reverent, are indifferent in them&s;elves, in the &s;ervice of God; and being &s;o, why will they not admit that po&s;ition of the body, which being indifferent in it &s;elfe, is by the ju&s;t com|mand of lawfull authority, made nece&s;&s;ary to them, that is, kneeling at the Sacrament? They who re&s;u&s;e it, pretend but two Rea&s;ons; Fir&s;t, becau&s;e Chri&s;t at the in&s;titution thereof, did not u&s;e that po&s;ition of kneeling, but &s;itting; Secondly, becau&s;e they might &s;candalize others, or enter a fal&s;e beleefe into others, who &s;hould &s;ee them kneele, that they kneeled in &s;uch adoration thereof, as the Papi&s;ts doe.</P>
<P>But for the fir&s;t, who referre all (in their de&s;ire) to the practi&s;e of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe herein, it cannot be a cleare ca&s;e, In what po&s;ition of body Chri&s;t did in&s;titute this Sa|crament. There was at that time, a civill Supper, the ordinary hou&s;hold Supper, and there was a legall Supper, the eating of the Pa&s;&s;eover, and then this Sacramentall Sup|per, of a new in&s;titution; And it is cleare, that Chri&s;t did not continue one po&s;ition all this while, but he aro&s;e and did &s;ome actions between; Neither could that po&s;ition of body, which they u&s;ed at the Table, for their civill Supper, and naturall refection, be properly called a &s;itting, for it was rather a lying, a reclining, a leaning upon a bed; And let it be exactly a &s;itting, and let that &s;itting run through all the three Suppers, yet how will that po&s;ition of &s;itting, ju&s;tifie that Canon, which hath pa&s;&s;ed in a Synod among&s;t out neighbours, <HI>Liberum e&s;t &s;tando, &s;edendo, eundo, coenam celebrare, non autem geniculando?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Harmoma Sy|nod. Belg. de Coena. Art. 8.</NOTE> How will &s;tanding, or walking, be any more maintainable then kneeling, by Chri&s;ts ex|ample? and yet they &s;ay, &s;itting, or walking, or &s;tanding, they may receive, but kneeling they mu&s;t not: But this, I pre&s;ume that particular Synod did not declare by way of Do|ctrine, to binde other Churches, but enjoyned a Di&s;cipline for their owne.</P>
<P>Now, for the danger of &s;candalizing others, all that come to Church, and are of our profe&s;&s;ion in Religion, are &s;ufficiently catechized, and informed of the rea&s;on of our knee|ling, and that we are therein farre from the Adoration of the Romane Practi&s;e. It is a complaint often made, and often to be repeated, that one of the greate&s;t illu&s;ions, and
<PB N="116" REF="76">impo&s;tures of the Romane Church, is, That the Book-Doctrine, of their learned men, and the ordinary practice of their people agree not. They know the people doe commit Idolatry, in their manner of adoring the Bread in the Sacrament, and they never preach again&s;t this error of the people, nor tell them wherein that Idolatry lies; It is true, that in their Bookes of Controver&s;ies, which the people could not under&s;tand, if they might reade them, nor may reade them, if they could under&s;tand them, in tho&s;e bookes they proceed upon &s;afer grounds; There they &s;ay, that when a man adores the Sacrament, he mu&s;t be &s;ure, that he carry not his thoughts upon any thing that he &s;ees, not onely not upon Bread and Wine, (for, that they mu&s;t not beleeve to be there, what&s;oever they &s;ee or ta&s;te) but not upon tho&s;e &s;pecies and apparences of Bread and Wine, which they &s;eem to &s;ee, but he mu&s;t carry all his thoughts upon the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, who is there, though he &s;ee him not; for, otherwi&s;e, &s;ay they, if he &s;hould adore that which he &s;ees, he &s;hould commit Idolatry. Now, if the people were acquainted with this Doctrine, and could po&s;&s;ibly ob&s;erve it, the danger were not &s;o great, in that Adoration of the Sacrament. Much le&s;&s;e is there in our kneeling, who, as we acknowledge, that God is pre&s;ent every where, yet otherwi&s;e pre&s;ent to us, when we throw our &s;elves downe before him in de|votion, and prayer in our Chamber, then he is in the Market, or in the &s;treet, and other|wi&s;e in the Congregation, at Publike prayer, then at private prayer in our Chamber; &s;o weacknowledge, that he is otherwi&s;e pre&s;ent at the Sacrament, then at any other act of Divine Service. That which Chri&s;ts Example left indifferent, the Authority of that Church, in which God hath given thee thy &s;tation, may make nece&s;&s;ary to thee; Though not ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary, and <HI>Ratione medii,</HI> that none can be &s;aved that doe not kneele at the Sacrament, therefore becau&s;e they doe not kneele, yet nece&s;&s;ary <HI>Ratio|ne praecepti,</HI> as it is enjoyned by lawfull authority, and to re&s;i&s;t lawfull authority, is a di&s;o|bedience, that may endanger any mans &s;alvation.</P>
<P>Now from this Sermon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part.</NOTE> which gave us our Text, we pa&s;&s;e to the Text, which mu&s;t give us our Sermon, the particular Branches of the Text it &s;elfe, which we propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, for our &s;econd part. And there, our fir&s;t is, <HI>Qui &s;int,</HI> who they be, that are brought into con&s;ideration, <HI>Mundi corde, tho&s;e that are pure of heart;</HI> fir&s;t <HI>pure,</HI> and then, <HI>pure of heart.</HI> In the pure&s;t times of the Primitive Church, there crept in fal&s;e opinions of puri|ty; we finde two &s;orts of Puritanes then; The Cathari&s;ts, and the Cathari; the Catha|ri&s;ts were purifying Puritanes, and the Cathari were purified Puritanes: The fir&s;t thought no creatures pure for mans u&s;e, till they were &s;anctified by them; and thereup|on they induced certain charmes, and formes of Purification, too dete&s;table to be named among&s;t Chri&s;tians. And then the Cathari, the purified Puritanes thought no men pure but them&s;elves, and them&s;elves &s;o pure, as that they left out that petition out of the Lords prayer, <HI>Dimitte nobis, forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es,</HI> for they thought they had tre&s;pa&s;&s;ed in nothing.</P>
<P>They have a third &s;tate of Puritanes above the&s;e, in the Romane Church; where they &s;ay that a man come to &s;uch a &s;tate of purity in this life, as that he &s;hall be ab&s;tra|cted, not onely a <HI>pa&s;sionibus,</HI> from all inordinatene&s;&s;e of affections and pa&s;&s;ions, but a <HI>phanta&s;matibus,</HI> from apprehending any thing by tho&s;e lazy degrees of the &s;en&s;es, and the phanta&s;ie, and di&s;cour&s;e, and reading, and meditation, and conver&s;ation, but they &s;hall come to &s;uch a familiarity with God, as that they &s;hall know all by immediate Revelation; They meane, (and, indeed, &s;ome of them &s;ay) that a man come to that purity in this life, as that in this life, hee &s;hall bee in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that very Beatifi|call vi&s;ion, which is the &s;tate of glory in heaven; In which purity, they &s;ay al&s;o, that a man may not onely be empty of all &s;in, but he may be too full of Gods pre&s;ence, over|fraighted with his grace, &s;o farre, that (as they make <HI>Philip Nerius,</HI> the Founder of their la&s;t Order, their example) they &s;hall be put to that exclamation, <HI>Recede &agrave; me Domine,</HI> O Lord depart farther from me, and withdraw &s;ome of this grace, which thou poure&s;t upon me.</P>
<P>And then be&s;ides the&s;e three imaginary and illu&s;ory purities, The Cathari&s;ts that think no things pure, The Cathari that think no men pure but them&s;elves, and the Super-ca|thari, in the Romane Church, that think the&s;e men as pure, as the Saints, who are in po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion of the &s;ight of God in heaven, there is a true purity, which will not &s;erve our turns, which is a partiall purity, that purene&s;&s;e, that cleanne&s;&s;e, that innocency, to which <HI>David</HI> &s;o often referres him&s;elf, in his religious and humble expo&s;tulations with God, <HI>Iudge me,
<PB N="117" REF="76">and deale with me, according to my righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and mine innocency, and cleanne&s;&s;e of heart, and hands,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David;</HI> that is, as I am innocent, and guiltle&s;&s;e, in that particular, which <HI>Saul</HI> imputes to me, and per&s;ecutes me for. For, this purene&s;&s;e, which is this marke of the Saints of God, is not partiall, but univer&s;all; it is not a fig-leafe, that covers one &s;pot of nakedne&s;&s;e, but an intire garment, a cleanne&s;&s;e in all our actions.</P>
<P>We &s;ay &s;ometimes, and not altogether improperly, that a man walks cleane, if in a foule way, he contract but a few &s;pots of dirt; but yet this is not an ab&s;olute cleanne&s;&s;e. A hou&s;e is not cleane, except Cobwebs be &s;wept downe; A man is not cleane, except he remove the lighte&s;t and &s;lighte&s;t occa&s;ions of provocation. It is the &s;peech of the greate&s;t to the greate&s;t, of Chri&s;t to the Church, <HI>Capite vulpeculas, Take us the little Foxes, for they devoure the Vine.</HI> It is not a cropping, a pilling, a retarding of the growth of the Vine that is threatned, but a devouring, though but from little Foxes. It is not &s;o de&s;pe|rate a &s;tate, to have thy &s;oule attempted by that Lion, that &s;eekes whom he may de|voure, (for then, in great and apparant &s;innes, thou wilt be occa&s;ioned to call upon the Lion of the tribe of Juda, to thine a&s;&s;i&s;tance) as it is to have thy &s;oule eaten up by vermin, by the cu&s;tome and habit of &s;mall &s;innes. God puni&s;hed the Egyptians with little things, with Haile&s;tones, and Froggs, and Gra&s;hoppers; and <HI>Pharaohs</HI> Conjurers, that counter|faited all <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> greater workes, failed in the lea&s;t, in the making of lice. A man may &s;tand a great tentation, and &s;atisfie him&s;elfe in that, and thinke he hath done enough in the way of &s;pirituall valour, and then fall as irrecoverably under the cu&s;tome of &s;mall. I were as good lie under a mil&s;tone, as under a hill of &s;and; for how&s;oever I might have blowne away every graine of &s;and, if I had watched it, as it fell, yet when it is a hill, I cannot blow it, nor &s;hove it away: and when I &s;hall thinke to &s;ay to God, I have done no great &s;ins, God &s;hall not proceed with me, by waight, but by mea&s;ure, nor aske how much, but how long I have &s;inned.</P>
<P>And though I may have done thus much towards this purity, as that, for a good time, I have di&s;continued my &s;in, yet if my heart be &s;till &s;et upon the delight, and enjoying of that which was got by my former &s;ins, though I be not that dog that returnes to his vomit, yet I am &s;till that Sow, that wallowes in her mire; though I doe not thru&s;t my hands into new dirt, yet the old dirt is &s;till baked upon my hands; though mine owne cloathes doe not defile me againe, as <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peakes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 2.22.</NOTE> (though I do not relap&s;e to the practi&s;e of mine old &s;in) yet I have none of <HI>Ieremies Nitre,</HI> and <HI>Sope,</HI> none of <HI>Iobs Snow-water,</HI> to wa&s;h me cleane, except I come to Re&s;titution. As long as the heart is &s;et upon things &s;infully got, thou &s;inne&s;t over tho&s;e yeares &s;ins, every day: thou art not come to the purity of this text, for it is <HI>pure,</HI> and <HI>pure in heart.</HI></P>
<P>But can any man come to that purene&s;&s;e? to have a heart pure from all foulene&s;&s;e?<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Corde.</HI> Iob 14.4. Prov. 20.</NOTE> can a man be borne &s;o? <HI>Who can bring a cleane thing out of filthine&s;&s;e,</HI> is <HI>Iobs</HI> unan&s;werable que&s;tion? can any man make it cleane, of him&s;elfe? <HI>Who can &s;ay, I have made cleane my heart?</HI> is <HI>Solomons</HI> unan&s;werable que&s;tion. Beloved, when &s;uch que&s;tions as the&s;e, are asked in the Scriptures, <HI>How can? who can doe this?</HI> Sometimes they import an ab&s;olute impo&s;&s;ibility, It cannot be done by any meanes; And &s;ometimes they import but a dif|ficulty, It can hardly be done, it can be done but &s;ome one way. When the Prophet &s;aies, <HI>Quid proderit &s;culptile? What good can an Idoll, or an Idolatrous Religion do us?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Habak. 2.</NOTE> It &s;hall not helpe us in &s;oule, in reputation, in preferment, it will deceive us every way, it is ab|&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible, that an Idoll, or an Idolatrous Religion &s;hould doe us any good. But then when <HI>David</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Domine quis habitabit, Lord who &s;hall a&s;cend to thy Tabernacle,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 15.2.</NOTE> <HI>and dwell in thy holy hil? David</HI> does not mean that there is no po&s;&s;ibility of a&s;cending thither, or dwelling there, though it be hard clambring thither, &amp; hard holding there; And there|fore when the Prophet &s;aies, <HI>Quis &s;apiens, &amp; intelliget haec,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 14.8.</NOTE> <HI>Who is &s;o wi&s;e as to finde out this way,</HI> he places this cleanne&s;&s;e, which we inquire after, in Wi&s;dome. What is Wi&s;dome? we may content our &s;elves, with that old definition of Wi&s;dome, that it is <HI>Rerum humana|rum, &amp; divinarum &s;cientia;</HI> The Wi&s;dome that accompli&s;hes this cleanne&s;&s;e, is the knowledge, the right valuation of this world, and of the next; To be able to compare the joyes of heaven, and the plea&s;ures of this world, and the gaine of the one, with the lo&s;&s;e of the other, this is the way to this cleanene&s;&s;e of the heart; becau&s;e that heart that con|&s;iders, and examines, what it takes in, will take in no foule, no infectious thing.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.7.</NOTE> <HI>God hath not called us to uncleanne&s;&s;e, but to holine&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle. If we be in the waies of uncleanne&s;&s;e, God hath not called us thither: We may &s;lip into them, by the infirmity
<PB N="118" REF="77">of our nature; or we may run into them by a cu&s;tome of &s;in; wee may bee drawne into them, by the inordinatene&s;&s;e of our affections; or we may be driven into them, by feare of lo&s;ing the favour of tho&s;e great Per&s;ons, upon whom we depend, and &s;o accompany, or a&s;&s;i&s;t them in their &s;ins.</P>
<P>So we may &s;lip, and run, and be drawne, and be driven, but we are not called, not cal|led by God, into any &s;in; not called by any Decree of God; not by any profe&s;&s;ion or calling; not by any complexion, or con&s;titution, to a nece&s;&s;ity of committing any &s;in; All &s;in is from our &s;elves: But if we be in the waies of holine&s;&s;e, it is God that call'd us thi|ther, we have not brought our &s;elves. God calls us by his Ordinance, and Mini&s;tery in the Church; But when God hath call'd us thither, we may &s;ee, what he expects from us, by that which the Apo&s;tle &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.1.</NOTE> <HI>Let us clean&s;e our &s;elves from all filthine&s;&s;e;</HI> that is, let us employ that faculty, that is in our &s;elves, let us be appliable and &s;upple, ea&s;ie and ductile, in tho&s;e waies, to which God hath called us. Since God, by breeding us in the Chri&s;tian Church, and in the knowledge of his word, by putting that balance into our hand, to try heavenly, and earthly things, by which we may di&s;tingui&s;h <HI>Lepram &agrave; non lepra,</HI> what is a leprous and &s;infull, what is an indifferent, and cleane action, let us be content to put the ware, and the waights into the balance, that is, to bring all objects, and all actions to a con&s;ideration, and to an examination, by that tryall, before wee &s;et our hearts upon them: for God leaves no man, with whom he hath proceeded &s;o far, as to breed him in the Chri&s;tian Church, without a power to doe that, to di&s;cerne his owne actions, if he do not winke.</P>
<P>Upon tho&s;e word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 26.18.</NOTE> <HI>I&s;aac digged the Wels of water, which they had digged in the daies of Abraham,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Homil. 13. in Gen.</NOTE> <HI>and the Phili&s;tims had &s;topped, Origen</HI> extends this power far, though not very confidently; <HI>Fort&egrave; in uniu&s;cuiu&s;que no&s;tr&ucirc;m anima,</HI> &s;aies he; perchance in every one of our &s;oules, there is this Well of the water of Life, and this power to open it: whether <HI>Ori|gens No&s;tr&ucirc;m,</HI> our &s;oule, be intended by him of us, as we are men, or of us, as wee are Chri&s;tians, I pronounce not; but divide it; In all us, as we are naturall men, there is this Well of water of Life, <HI>Abraham</HI> digged it at fir&s;t, The Father of the faithfull our heavenly <HI>Abraham,</HI> infu&s;ed it into us all at fir&s;t in <HI>Adam,</HI> from whom, as wee have the Image of God, though defaced, &s;o we have this Well of water though &s;topped up; But then the Phili&s;tims having &s;topped this well, (Satan by &s;inne having barred it up) the power of opening it againe is not in the naturall man; but <HI>I&s;aac</HI> diggs them againe, <HI>I&s;aac</HI> who is <HI>Filius laetitiae,</HI> the Son of Joy, our <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> our Je&s;us, he opens them againe, to all that receive him according to his Ordinance in his Church, he hath given this power, of keeping open in them&s;elves, this Well of Life, the&s;e meanes of Salvation: <HI>Peccata tua alios inducunt colores,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Origen</HI> in the &s;ame place; Thy &s;innes cover the Image of God with other Images, Images of Beauty, of Honour, of Plea&s;ure, &s;o that &s;ometimes thou do&s;t not di&s;cerne the Image of God, in thy &s;oule, but yet there it is: &s;ometimes thou fille&s;t this Well with other waters, with teares of hypocri&s;ie, to deceive, or teares of lamentation for worldly cro&s;&s;es, but yet &s;uch a Well, &s;uch a power to a&s;&s;i&s;t thine owne &s;alvation, there is in thee: <HI>Mulier drachmam invenit, non extrin&s;ecus, &s;ed in dome;</HI> The Woman who had lo&s;t her peece of &s;ilver, found it not without doores, but within; It was <HI>In domo mundata,</HI> when her hou&s;e was made cleane, but it was within the hou&s;e, and within her owne hou&s;e. Make cleane thy hou&s;e, by the a&s;&s;i&s;tances, which Chri&s;t affords thee in his Church, and thou &s;halt never faile finding of that within thee, which &s;hall &s;ave thee: Not that it growes in thee naturally, or that thou can&s;t produce it of thy &s;elfe, but that God hath bound him&s;elfe by his holy Covenant, to perfect his work, in every man, that works with him. So then in repenting of former &s;ins, in breaking off the practi&s;e of tho&s;e &s;ins, in re&s;toring what&s;oever was gotten by tho&s;e &s;ins, in precluding all relap&s;es, by a diligent &s;urvay and examination of particular actions, this is this cleanne&s;&s;e, this purity of heart, which con&s;titutes our fir&s;t branch of this part; And the &s;econd is the Pur|cha&s;e, what we get by it, which is Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart.</HI></P>
<P>In this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beatue.</NOTE> we make two &s;teps, Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, and the pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e. Now, to this purpo&s;e, it is a good Rule that S. <HI>Bernard</HI> gives, and a good way that he goes: <HI>Cui quaeque res &s;apiunt prout &s;unt, is &s;apiens e&s;t,</HI> &s;aies he: He that ta&s;ts, and appre|hends all things in their proper and naturall ta&s;t, he that takes all things aright as they are, <HI>Is &s;apiens e&s;t,</HI> nothing di&s;ta&s;ts him, nothing alters him, he is wi&s;e. If he take the riches of this world to be in their nature, indifferent, neither good, nor bad in them&s;elves, but to
<PB N="119" REF="77">receive their denomination in their u&s;e, If he take long life to be naturally an effect of a good con&s;titution, and temperament of the body, and a good husbanding of that temper by temperance, If he take &s;ickne&s;&s;e to be a declination and di&s;order thereof, and &s;o other calamities to be the declination of their power, or their favour, in who&s;e protection hee tru&s;ted, then he takes all the&s;e things, <HI>prout &s;unt,</HI> as they are, in their right ta&s;t, and <HI>Is &s;a|piens e&s;t,</HI> he that takes things &s;o, is morally wi&s;e. But thus far, S. <HI>Bernard</HI> does but tell us, <HI>Quis &s;apiens,</HI> who is wi&s;e; but then, <HI>Cui ip&s;a &s;apientia &s;apit, prout e&s;t, is beatus,</HI> He that ta&s;ts this Wi&s;dome it &s;elfe aright, he onely is Ble&s;&s;ed. Now to ta&s;te this morall Wi&s;edome aright, to make the right u&s;e of that, is to direct all that knowledge upon heavenly things. To under&s;tand the wretchedne&s;&s;e of this world, is to be wi&s;e, but to make this wi&s;edome apprehend a happine&s;&s;e in the next world, that is to be ble&s;&s;ed. If I can dige&s;t the want of Riches, the want of Health, the want of Reputation, out of this con&s;ideration, that good men want the&s;e, as well as bad, this is morall Wi&s;edome, and a naturall man may be as wi&s;e, herein, as I. But if I can make this Wi&s;edome carry me to a higher contemplation, That God hath ca&s;t the&s;e wants upon me, to draw me the more ea&s;ily to him, and to &s;ee, that in all likelihood, my di&s;po&s;ition being con&s;idered, more wealth, more health, more preferment would have retarded me, and &s;lackned my pace in his &s;ervice, then this Wi&s;|dome, that is, this u&s;e of this morall Wi&s;dome, hath made me ble&s;&s;ed; and to this Ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e, a naturall man cannot come.</P>
<P>This Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e then, is <HI>Congeries bonorum,</HI> A concurrence, a confluence, an accumu|lation of all that is Good; And he that is <HI>Mundus corde,</HI> pure of heart, &s;afe in a rectified con&s;cience, hath that. Not that every thing, that hath <HI>Aliquam rationem boni,</HI> any tin|cture, or name of Good in it, (as Riches, and Health, and Honour) mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily fall upon every man, that is, good, and pure of heart; (for, for the mo&s;t part, &s;uch men want the&s;e more then any other men.) But becau&s;e even tho&s;e things, which have in them, <HI>Aliquam rationem mali,</HI> &s;ome tincture, and name of ill, (as &s;ickne&s;&s;e of body, or vexation of &s;pirit) &s;hall be good to them, becau&s;e they &s;hall advance them in their way to God; therefore are they ble&s;&s;ed, as Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is <HI>Congeries bonorum,</HI> the accumulation of all that is good, becau&s;e nothing can put on the nature of ill, to them. And though Ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e &s;eeme to be but an expectative, a rever&s;ion re&s;erved to the next life, yet &s;o ble&s;&s;ed are they in this te&s;timony of a rectified con&s;cience, which is this purity of heart, as that they have this ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in a pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart;</HI> they are now, they are already Ble&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>The farthe&s;t that any of the Philo&s;ophers went in the di&s;covery of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nunc.</NOTE> was but to come to that, <HI>Nemo ante obitum,</HI> to pronounce that no man could be called Ble&s;&s;ed before his death; not that they had found what kind of better Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e they went to after their death, but that &s;till till death they were &s;hure, every man was &s;ubject to new mi&s;eries, and interruptions of any thing which they could have called Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e. The Chri&s;tian Philo&s;ophy goes farther; It &s;howes us a perfecter Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e then they con|ceived for the next life, and it imparts that Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e to this life al&s;o: The pure in heart are ble&s;&s;ed already, not onely comparatively, that they are in a better way of Ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e, then others are, but actually in a pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of it: for this world and the next world, are not, to the pure in heart, two hou&s;es, but two roomes, a Gallery to pa&s;&s;e thorough, and a Lodging to re&s;t in, in the &s;ame Hou&s;e, which are both under one roofe, Chri&s;t Je&s;us; The Militant and the Triumphant, are not two Churches, but this the Porch, and that the Chancell of the &s;ame Church, which are under one Head, Chri&s;t Je&s;us; &s;o the Joy, and the &s;en&s;e of Salvation, which the pure in heart have here, is not a joy &s;evered from the Joy of Heaven, but a Joy that begins in us here, and continues, and accompanies us thither, and there flowes on, and dilates it &s;elfe to an infinite expan&s;ion, (&s;o, as if you &s;hould touch one corne of powder in a traine, and that traine &s;hould carry fire into a whole City, from the beginning it was one and the &s;ame fire) though the ful|ne&s;s of the glory therof be re&s;erved to that which is expre&s;&s;ed in the la&s;t branch, <HI>Videbunt Deum, They &s;hall &s;ee God;</HI> for, as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> notes, when the Church is highlie&s;t extol|led for her Beauty, yet it is but <HI>Pulcherrima inter mulieres, The faire&s;t amongst women,</HI> that is, &s;aies he, <HI>Inter animas terrenas, non autem inter Angelicas beatitudines,</HI> She is not compared with her owne &s;tate in Heaven, &s;he &s;hall have a better &s;tate in that State, then &s;he hath here; So when <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;ts</HI> Office is highlie&s;t extolled, that he is called <HI>The greate&s;t Prophet,</HI> it is but <HI>Inter natos mulierum, Among&s;t the &s;ons of women,</HI> he is not com|pared
<PB N="120" REF="78">with the Son of God. So this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e appropriated to the pure in heart, gives a pre&s;ent a&s;&s;urance of future joy, and a pre&s;ent inchoation of that <HI>now,</HI> though the plena|ry con&s;ummation thereof be re&s;pited, till we &s;ee God.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t <HI>videbunt &amp; non contremi&s;cent;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Videbunt Deum.</NOTE> This is a Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, they &s;hall &s;ee God, and be glad to &s;ee him; &s;ee him in Judgement, and be able to &s;tand in Judgement in his &s;ight; They &s;hall &s;ee him, and never trouble the hils to fall upon them, nor call the moun|tains to cover them; upon them he &s;hall not &s;teal as a thiefe in the night, but becau&s;e he hath u&s;ed to &s;tand at their doore, and knock, and enter, they &s;hall look for his comming, and be glad of it. Fir&s;t they come to a true valuation of this world, in S. <HI>Pauls Omnia &s;tercora,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.8.</NOTE> <HI>I count all things but Dung, but lo&s;&s;e, for the excellency of the knowledge of Chri&s;t Ie|&s;us my Lord;</HI> When they have found the true value of worldly things, they will come to &s;omething worth the getting, they will come to S. <HI>Pauls</HI> way of Gain, <HI>Mors lucrum, that to die is gain and advantage:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1.21.</NOTE> When they know that, they will conceive a religious covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e of that, and &s;o come to S. <HI>Pauls Cupio di&s;&s;olvi, to de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved, and to be with Chri&s;t:</HI> When they have entertained that De&s;ire, they will declare it, make a petition, a &s;uite for it, with a <HI>Veni Domine Ie&s;u, Come Lord Ie&s;u, come quickly;</HI> and they &s;hall have a holy and mode&s;t, but yet an infallible a&s;&s;urance of this an&s;wer to their peti|tion; <HI>Venite benedicti, Come ye ble&s;&s;ed of my Father, inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.34.</NOTE> So <HI>Videbunt &amp; non contremi&s;cent,</HI> by this acquainting them&s;elves, and accu&s;toming them&s;elves to his pre&s;ence, in all their actions, and medi|tations in this life, they &s;hall &s;ee him, and be glad to &s;ee him, even in Judgement, in the next.</P>
<P>But the &s;eeing of God principally intended in this place, is that <HI>Vi&s;io beatifica,</HI> to &s;ee God &s;o, as that that very &s;eeing makes the &s;eer Ble&s;&s;ed, They are Ble&s;&s;ed therefore, be|cau&s;e they &s;ee him; And that is <HI>videre E&s;&s;entiam,</HI> to &s;ee the very E&s;&s;ence and nature of God. For, that we &s;hall &s;ee God in his E&s;&s;ence, is evident enough by that place of the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>Now we are the Sons of God,</HI> (that is, now by this purity of heart, and te&s;timony of a rectified con&s;cience, we are &s;o) <HI>And it doth not yet appeare what we &s;hall be,</HI> (that is, there are degrees of glory re&s;erved for us, that yet do not appeare to our under&s;tanding, we cannot conceive them) <HI>But we know, that when he &s;hall appeare, we &s;hall be like him,</HI> (that is, receive incorruption and glory in our bodies, as he hath done) And then the rea|&s;on given there, of that, is, <HI>For we &s;hall &s;ee him, &s;icuti e&s;t, as he is,</HI> in his E&s;&s;ence; All our Beatification, and Glorification in our bodies con&s;i&s;ts in this, that we &s;hall &s;ee him <HI>&s;icuti e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.12.</NOTE> <HI>as he is,</HI> in his E&s;&s;ence. Then &s;ayes S. <HI>Paul, I &s;hall know, even as I am knowne,</HI> E&s;&s;enti|ally. But whether then, in the re&s;urrection, and glorification of the body, God in his E&s;|&s;ence be to be &s;een with tho&s;e eyes which the body &s;hall then have, is yet, and hath been long a que&s;tion. The Scripture goes no farther, then to S. <HI>Iohns Sicuti e&s;t, I &s;hall &s;ee him as he is,</HI> and to S. <HI>Pauls Cogno&s;cam, I &s;hall know him as I am knowne;</HI> but with what eyes I &s;hall &s;ee him, (without any perplexing curio&s;ities) we will look a little into the Fathers, and into the School, and conclude &s;o, as may be&s;t advance our edification.</P>
<P>For the Fathers, it may be &s;ufficient to in&s;i&s;t upon S. <HI>Augu&s;tine;</HI> not becau&s;e he is alwayes to be preferred before all, but becau&s;e in this point, he hath be&s;t collected all that were before him, and is be&s;t followed of all that come after. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> had writ|ten again&s;t a Bi&s;hop who was of the Sect of the Anthropomorphits, who&s;e Here&s;ie was that God had a Body; and in oppo&s;ition of him, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> had &s;aid, <HI>I&s;tius corporis oculos nec videre Deum, nec vi&s;uros,</HI> That God was &s;o far from having a Body, that our bodily eyes, how&s;oever glorified, &s;hould never &s;ee God. In that Treati&s;e S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> had been very bitter again&s;t that Bi&s;hop, and being warned of it, in another Epi&s;tle to another Bi&s;hop, <HI>Fortunatianus,</HI> he repents, and retracts his bitterne&s;&s;e, but his opinion, his doctrine, That our bodily eyes &s;hould never &s;ee God, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> never retracted. He profe&s;&s;es ingenuou&s;ly, <HI>Long&egrave; tolerabilius corpori arrogare, qu&agrave;m Deo derogare,</HI> That he could be more ea&s;ily brought to attribute &s;o much too much to the body of man, as to &s;ay that with the&s;e bodily eyes he &s;hould &s;ee God, then to derogate &s;o much from God, as to &s;ay that he had a body that might be &s;een; but becau&s;e he &s;aw that one might fol|low on the other, he denyed both, and did no more beleeve that mans eyes &s;hould &s;ee God, then that God had a body to be &s;een.</P>
<P>And this negative opinion of his, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> builds upon S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and upon S. <HI>Hierome</HI> too, who &s;eem to deny that the Angels them&s;elves &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God; and
<PB N="121" REF="78">upon <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> who, again&s;t the Arrians opinion, That God the Father only was in|vi&s;ible, but the Son, (who was not equall to the Father) and the Holy Gho&s;t, (who was not equall to the Son) might be &s;een, argues and maintains, that the whole Trinity is e|quall in it &s;elf, and equally invi&s;ible to us. So doth he al&s;o a&s;&s;i&s;t him&s;elf with that of <HI>Na|zianzen, Quando Deus vi&s;us, &s;alva &s;ua invi&s;ibilitate vi&s;us,</HI> how&s;oever God be &s;aid to have been &s;een, it is &s;aid in &s;ome &s;uch &s;en&s;e, as that even then when he was &s;een, he was invi&s;i|ble. He might have added <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> te&s;timony too, <HI>Ip&s;um quod Deus e&s;t, nec Angeli viderunt, nec Archangeli;</HI> Neither Angel nor Archangel did ever &s;ee that Nature, which is the very E&s;&s;ence of God: And he might have added <HI>Areopagita</HI> too, who ex|pre&s;&s;es it with equall elegancy and vehemency, <HI>Dei nec &s;ententia e&s;t, nec ratio, nec opinio, nec &s;en&s;us, nec phanta&s;ia:</HI> If we bring the very Nature and E&s;&s;ence of God into que&s;tion, we can give no judgement upon it, <HI>(non &s;ententia)</HI> we can make no probable di&s;cour&s;e of it, <HI>(non ratio)</HI> we can frame no likely opinion, or conjecture in it, <HI>(non opinio)</HI> we cannot prepare our &s;elves with any thing which hath fallen under our &s;en&s;es, <HI>(non &s;en&s;us)</HI> nor with any thing which we can bring &s;tudiou&s;ly, or which can fall ca&s;ually into our fancy, or imagination, <HI>(non phanta&s;ia.)</HI> And upon the whole matter, and all the evidence, he joynes in this verdict with S. <HI>Hierome, Tunc cernitur, cum invi&s;ibilis creditur;</HI> God is be&s;t &s;een by us, when we confe&s;&s;e that he cannot be &s;een of us. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> denies not, That our eyes &s;hall be &s;pirituall eyes, but in what proportion &s;pirituall, or to what parti|cular u&s;e &s;pirituall, he will not pretend to know: <HI>Vtrum in &s;implicitatem &s;piritus cedat, it a ut totus homo jam &s;it &s;piritus,</HI> whether the body of man &s;hall be &s;o attenuated and rarified, as that the whole man &s;hall become &s;pirit, <HI>Aut animam adjuvet corpus ad videndum,</HI> whe|ther the body &s;hall contribute and a&s;&s;i&s;t the faculties of the &s;oul, as in this life it doth, <HI>Fa|teor me non alicubi legi&s;&s;e, quod exi&s;timarem &s;ufficere, ad docendum, aut ad di&s;cendum,</HI> &s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed and &s;ober Father, I confe&s;&s;e I never read any thing that I thought &s;ufficient to rectifie mine own judgement, much le&s;&s;e to change anothers: But to all tho&s;e places of Scripture, which are to this purpo&s;e, <HI>That the Angels &s;ee the face of God, and that we &s;hall be like the Angels, and &s;ee God face to face,</HI> he an&s;wers well, <HI>Facies Dei ea e&s;t, qua Deus in|note&s;cit nobis,</HI> That is the face of God to us all, by which God is known and manife&s;ted to us; in which &s;en&s;e, Rea&s;on is the face of God to the naturall man, the Law to the Jew, and the Go&s;pell to us; and &s;uch a &s;ight of God, doth no more put &s;uch a power of &s;eeing in our bodily eyes, then it puts a face upon God: We &s;hall &s;ee God face to face, and yet God &s;hall have no face to be &s;een, nor we bodily eyes to &s;ee him by: For, <HI>Non legi,</HI> That, I have not read, &s;ayes he; This, &s;ayes he, I have read, <HI>Regi incorruptibili, &amp; invi&s;ibili, Vnto the King eternall, immortall, invi&s;ible, &amp;c.</HI> Neither dare I, &s;ayes S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.17.</NOTE> &s;ever tho&s;e things which the Spirit of God hath joyned, <HI>Vt dicam incorruptibi|lem quidem in &s;aecula &s;aeculorum, invi&s;ibilem autem in hoc &s;aeculo,</HI> I dare not &s;ay that God is immortall in this world, and in the next world too, but invi&s;ible in this world only, and vi&s;ible in the next, for the Holy Gho&s;t hath pronounced him invi&s;ible, as far as im|mortall.</P>
<P><HI>Si rogas,</HI> &s;ayes he, if you pre&s;&s;e me, Cannot God then be &s;een? Yes, I confe&s;&s;e he can. If you ask me, how? <HI>Cum vult, &amp; &s;icuti vult,</HI> He may be &s;een when he will, and how he will. If you pur&s;ue it, can he not be &s;een in his E&s;&s;ence? yes, he can; If you proceed farther, and ask me how again? I can &s;ay no more, &s;ayes he, then Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Erimus &s;icut Angeli, we &s;hall be like the Angels,</HI> and we &s;hall &s;ee God, &s;o as the Angels do, but they &s;ee him not with bodily eyes, nor as an object, which is that that S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and S. <HI>Hic|rome,</HI> and S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> intend, when they deny that the Angels &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God, that is, they &s;ee him not otherwi&s;e then by under&s;tanding him. All agree in this re&s;olu|tion, <HI>Solus Deus videt cor, &amp; &s;olum cor videt Deum,</HI> Only God can &s;ee the heart of man and only the heart of man can &s;ee God: For, in this world, our bodily eyes do not &s;ee bodies, they &s;ee but colours and dimen&s;ions, they &s;ee not bodies; much le&s;&s;e &s;hall our eyes, though &s;pirituall, &s;ee &s;pirits in heaven; lea&s;t of all, that Spirit, in compari&s;on of of whom, Angels, and our &s;pirits are but gro&s;&s;e bodies.</P>
<P>So far the Fathers leade us towards a determination herein; and thus far the School; <HI>Nulla vi&s;io naturalis in terris;</HI> Here, in this life, neither the eyes, nor the minde of the mo&s;t &s;ubtile, and mo&s;t &s;anctified man can &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God: <HI>Nulla vi&s;io corporalis in coelis,</HI> The bodily eyes of no man, in the highe&s;t &s;tare of glorification in heaven, can &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God: <HI>Nulla vi&s;io comprehen&s;iva omnino,</HI> That faculty of man, which
<PB N="122" REF="79">&s;hall &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God in heaven, yet &s;hall not comprehend that E&s;&s;ence; for to comprehend, is not to know a thing, as well as I can know it, but to know it as well as that thing can be knowen; and &s;o only God him&s;elf can &s;ee, and know, that is, com|prehend God.</P>
<P>To end all, in the whole body of the Scriptures we have no light, that our bodily eyes &s;hall be &s;o enlightned in the Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.26.</NOTE> as to &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God; For, when <HI>Iob</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>In carne mea, In my fle&s;h I &s;hall &s;ee God,</HI> and <HI>Oculi mei videbunt, Mine eyes &s;hall &s;ee God,</HI> (if the&s;e words mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be under&s;tood of the la&s;t Re&s;urrection, which &s;ome Expo&s;itors deny, and <HI>Calvin</HI> in particular, under&s;tands them of a particular re&s;urrection from that calamity which lay upon <HI>Iob</HI> at that time, and of his confidence that God would rai&s;e him again, even in this life) yet how&s;oever, and to which re&s;urrection &s;oever you refer them, the words mu&s;t be under&s;tood thus, <HI>In my fle&s;h,</HI> that is, when my &s;oule &s;hall re-a&s;&s;ume this fle&s;h in the Re&s;urrection, In that fle&s;h I &s;hall &s;ee God; he doth not &s;ay, That fle&s;h &s;hall, but Hee, in that fle&s;h, &s;hall. So when hee adds <HI>Oculi mei, Mine eyes</HI> &s;hall do it, he intends <HI>Oculos internos,</HI> of which the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, <HI>The eyes of your under&s;tanding being enlightned.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.18.</NOTE> So then, a faculty to &s;ee him &s;o, in his E&s;&s;ence, with bo|dily eyes, we finde not in Scripture; But yet in the Scriptures we do finde, that we &s;hall &s;ee him &s;o, <HI>Sicuti e&s;t, As he is,</HI> in his E&s;&s;ence; How? It is a &s;afe an&s;wer which S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> gives in all &s;uch que&s;tions, <HI>Meli&ugrave;s affirmamus, de quibus minim&egrave; dubitamus,</HI> Only tho&s;e things are &s;afely affirmed, and re&s;olved, which admit no doubt: This hath never admitted any doubt, but that our &s;oule, and her faculties &s;hall be &s;o exalted in that &s;tate of glory, as that in tho&s;e internall faculties of the &s;oul, &s;o exalted, we &s;hall &s;ee the very E&s;&s;ence of God, which no mea&s;ure of the light of grace, communicated to any, the mo&s;t fanctified man here, doth effect, but only the light of glory there &s;hall. And therefore this being cleare, that in the faculties of our &s;oules we &s;hall &s;ee him, <HI>Re&s;tat ut de illa vi&s;io|ne &s;ecundum interiorem hominem certi&s;simi &s;imus,</HI> &s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed and &s;ober Father, As our rea&s;on is &s;atisfied that the Saints in heaven &s;hall &s;ee God &s;o, &s;o let our con&s;ciences be &s;atisfied, that we have an intere&s;t in that &s;tate, and that we in particular &s;hall come to that &s;ight of God; <HI>Et cor mundum ad illam vi&s;ionem praeparemus,</HI> Let us not abu&s;e our &s;elves with fal&s;e a&s;&s;urances, nor re&s;t in any other, then this, that we have made clean, and pure our very hearts, for only &s;uch &s;hall &s;ee God. <HI>Omnis meridies diluculum habuit,</HI> (as the &s;ame Father continues this Meditation) The brighte&s;t non had a faint twi-light, and break of day; The &s;ight of God which we &s;hall have in heaven, mu&s;t have a <HI>Dilu|culum,</HI> a break of day here; If we will &s;ee his face there, we mu&s;t &s;ee it in &s;ome beames here: And to that purpo&s;e, <HI>Vi&s;us per omnes &s;en&s;us recurrit,</HI> (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> hath colle|cted out of &s;everall places of Scripture) Every &s;en&s;e is called &s;ight, for there is <HI>Odora &amp; vide,</HI> and <HI>Gu&s;ta &amp; vide,</HI> Ta&s;te and See how &s;weet, and Smell and See what a &s;avour of life the Lord is;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 1.12. Luke 24.39.</NOTE> So S. <HI>Iohn</HI> turned about, <HI>To &s;ee a voice,</HI> There Hearing was Sight; And &s;o our Saviour Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Palpate &amp; videte,</HI> and there Feeling is Seeing. All things con|cur to this Seeing, and therefore in all the works of your &s;en&s;es, and in all your other fa|culties, See ye the Lord; Heare him in his word, and &s;o &s;ee him; Speak to him in your prayers, and &s;o &s;ee him; Touch him in his Sacrament, and &s;o &s;ee him; Pre&s;ent holy and religious actions unto him, and &s;o &s;ee him.</P>
<P><HI>Davids heart was towards Ab&s;alon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 14.</NOTE> &s;ayes that Story: <HI>Ioab</HI> &s;aw that, and, as every man will be forward to further per&s;ons growing in favour, (for &s;o it &s;hould be done to him, whom the King will honour) <HI>Ioah</HI> plotted and effected <HI>Ab&s;alons</HI> return, but yet <HI>Ab&s;alon</HI> &s;aw not the Kings face in two yeares. Beloved in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, the heart of your graci|ous God is &s;et upon you; and we his &s;ervants have told you &s;o, and brought you thus neare him, into his Court, into his hou&s;e, into the Church, but yet we cannot get you to &s;ee his face, to come to that tenderne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience, as to remember and con&s;ider, that all your mo&s;t &s;ecret actions are done in his &s;ight and his pre&s;ence; <HI>Cae&s;ars</HI> face, and <HI>Cae&s;ars</HI> in&s;cription you can &s;ee; The face of the Prince in his coyne you can ri&s;e before the Sun to &s;ee, and &s;it up till mid-night to &s;ee; but if you do not &s;ee the face of God up|on every piece of that mony too, all that mony is counterfeit; If Chri&s;t have not brought that fi&s;h to the hook,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.25.</NOTE> that brings the mony in the mouth, (as he did to <HI>Peter</HI>) that mony is ill fi&s;hed for; If nouri&s;hing of &s;uits, and love of contention among&s;t others, for your own gain have brought it,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 12.14. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 24.3.</NOTE> it is out of the way of that coun&s;ell, <HI>Follow peace with all men, and holine&s;&s;e, without which no man &s;hall &s;ee God. This is the generation of them that
<PB N="123" REF="79">&s;eeke him, that &s;eek thy face, O Iacob; Innocens manibus, &amp; mundus corde,</HI> either &s;uch an in|nocence, as never fouled the hands, or &s;uch an innocency as hath wa&s;hed them cleane againe, &s;uch an innocency as hath kept you from corrupt getting, or &s;uch an innocency as hath re&s;tored us, by re&s;toring that, which was corruptly got. It is te&s;tified of <HI>Solomon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 10.24.</NOTE> <HI>That he exceeded all the Kings of the Earth, for Wi&s;edome, and for Riches, and all the Earth &s;ought the face of Solomon;</HI> A greater then <HI>Solomon</HI> is here, for Wi&s;edome, and Riches; your wi&s;edome is fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e, and your riches beggery, if you &s;ee not the face of this <HI>Solomon;</HI> If either you have &s;tudied, or practi&s;ed, or judged, when his back is towards you, that is, if you have not done all, as in his pre&s;ence. You are in his pre&s;ence now; goe not out of it, when you goe from hence. <HI>Amor rerum terrenarum, vi&s;cus pennarum &s;piritualium;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> God hath given you the wings of Doves, and the eyes of Eagles to &s;ee him now, in this place; If in returning from this place, you returne to your former wayes of plea&s;ure or profit, this is a breaking of tho&s;e Doves wings, and a cieling of tho&s;e Eagles eyes. <HI>Coge cor tu|um cogitare divina, compelle, urge,</HI> &s;ayes that Father; Here, in the Church, thou can&s;t not chu&s;e but &s;ee God, and rai&s;e thy heart towards him: But when thou art returned to thy &s;everall di&s;tractions, that vanities &s;hall pull thine eyes, and obtrectation, and libellous defamation of others &s;hall pull thine eares, and profit &s;hall pull thy hands, then <HI>Coge, compelle, urge.</HI> force and compell thy heart, and pre&s;&s;e, even in that thru&s;t of tentations, to &s;ee God. What God is in his E&s;&s;ence, or what our &s;ight of the E&s;&s;ence of God &s;hall be in the next world, di&s;pute not too curiou&s;ly, determine nor too peremptorily; <HI>Cogitans de Deo, &s;i finivi&s;ti, Deus non e&s;t,</HI> is excellently &s;aid by S. <HI>Augu&s;tine:</HI> If thou begin to think, what the E&s;&s;ence of God is, and can&s;t bring that thought to an end, thou ha&s;t mi&s;taken it; when&s;oever thou can&s;t &s;ay, <HI>Deus e&s;t,</HI> this is God, or God is this, <HI>non e&s;t Deus,</HI> that is not God, God is not that, for he is more, infinitely more then that. But, <HI>non potes dicere, Deus e&s;t,</HI> thou art not able to &s;ay, This is God, God is this; <HI>Saltem dicas, hoc Deus non e&s;t;</HI> Be able to &s;ay, This is not God, God is not this: The belly is not God; Mammon is not God; Mauzzim, the God of Forces, Oppre&s;&s;ion, is not God; Belphegor, Licentiou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, is not God: How&s;oever God &s;ees me, to my confu&s;ion, yet I doe not &s;ee God, when I am &s;acrificing to the&s;e, which are not Gods.</P>
<P>Let us begin at that which is neare&s;t us, within us, purene&s;&s;e of heart, and from thence receive the te&s;timony of Gods Privy Seale, the impre&s;&s;ion of his Spirit, that we are Ble&s;&s;ed; and that leads us to the Great Seale, the full fruition of all; we &s;hall &s;ee God, there, where he <HI>&s;hall make us drink of the Rivers of his plea&s;ures;</HI> There is fulne&s;&s;e, plenty;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 36.8.</NOTE> but le&s;t it &s;hould be a Fea&s;t of one day, or of a few, as it is &s;aid, <HI>they are rivers,</HI> &s;o it is ad|ded, <HI>with thee is the Fountaine of life;</HI> An abundant river, to convay, and a perpetuall &s;pring, to feed, and continue that river: And then, wherein appeares all this? In this, <HI>for in thy light we &s;hall &s;ee light;</HI> In &s;eeing God, we &s;hall &s;ee all that concernes us, and &s;ee it alwayes; No night to determine that day, no cloud to overca&s;t it. We end all, with S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> devout exclamation, <HI>Deus bone, qui erunt illi oculi!</HI> Glorious God, what kinde of eyes &s;hall they be! <HI>Quam decori! quam &s;ereni!</HI> How bright eyes, and how well &s;et! <HI>Quam valentes! quam con&s;tantes!</HI> How &s;trong eyes, and how durable! <HI>Quid arbitremur? quid ae&s;timemus? quid loquemur?</HI> What quality, what value, what name &s;hall we give to tho&s;e eyes? <HI>Occurrunt verba quotidiana &amp; &s;ordidata vili&s;simis rebus;</HI> I would &s;ay &s;omething of the beauty and glory of the&s;e eyes, and can finde no words, but &s;uch, as I my &s;elfe have mi&s;-u&s;ed in lower things. Our be&s;t expre&s;&s;ing of it, is to expre&s;&s;e a de&s;ire to come to it, for there onely we &s;hall learne what to call it. That &s;o, we may goe the Apo&s;tles way, to his end, <HI>That being made free from &s;inne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.22</NOTE> <HI>and become &s;ervants to God, wee may have our fruit unto holine&s;&s;e, and then, the End, life everla&s;ting.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="Lent" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="80">
<PB REF="80">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached in LENT.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="81">
<PB N="127" REF="81">
<HEAD>SERMON XIII. <HI>Preached in</HI> Lent, <HI>To the</HI> KING. April 20. 1630.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOB 16.</HI> v. <HI>17, 18, 19.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Not for any inju&s;tice in my hands: Al&s;o my prayer is pure. O earth cover not thou my blood; and let my cry have no place. Al&s;o now behold, my Witne&s;&s;e is in heaven, and my Record is on high.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_IObs</HI> friends (as, in civility we are faine to call them, becau&s;e they came upon a civill pretence, to vi&s;it him, and to comfort him) had now done &s;peaking. It was long before they would have done. <HI>Andivi frequenter talia,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Iob</HI> to them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 2.</NOTE> <HI>I have often heard &s;uch things as you &s;ay,</HI> they are not new to me; and therefore, <HI>Onero&s;i con&s;olatores, Mi&s;erable comforters, trouble&s;ome comforters are ye all,</HI> old and new. But, <HI>Numquid finem habebunt verba vento&s;a,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>Shall your windy words,</HI> your empty, your aery,<NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 3.</NOTE> your frothy words <HI>have any end?</HI> Now they have an end. <HI>Eliphas</HI> ends his charge in the la&s;t, and in this Chapter <HI>Iob</HI> begins to an&s;wer for him&s;elfe. But how? By a middle way. <HI>Iob</HI> does not ju&s;tifie him&s;elfe; but yet he does not prevaricate, he does not betray his Innocence neither. For there may be a pu&s;illanimity even towards God; A man may over-clog his owne con&s;cience, and belie him&s;elfe in his confe&s;&s;ions, out of a di&s;tempered jealou&s;ie, and &s;u&s;pition of Gods purpo&s;es upon him; <HI>Iob</HI> does not &s;o. Many men have troubled them&s;elves more, how the &s;oule comes into man, then how it goes out; They wrangle, whether it comes in by Infu&s;ion from God, or by Propagation from parents, and never con&s;ider, whether it &s;hall returne to Him that made it, or to him that marr'd it, to Him that gave it, or to him that corrupted it. So, many of our Expo&s;itors upon this Booke of <HI>Iob,</HI> have &s;pent them&s;elves upon the Per&s;on, and the Place, and the Time, who <HI>Iob</HI> was, when <HI>Iob</HI> was, where <HI>Iob</HI> was, and whether there were ever any &s;uch per&s;on as <HI>Iob,</HI> or no; and have pa&s;&s;ed over too &s;lightly the &s;en&s;es, and doctrines of the Booke. S. <HI>Gregory</HI> hath, (to good u&s;e) given us many Morals, (as he cals them) upon this Booke, but, truly, not many Literals, for, for the mo&s;t part, he bends all the &s;ufferings of <HI>Iob</HI> figuratively, my|&s;tically upon Chri&s;t. <HI>Origen,</HI> who (except S. <HI>Gregory</HI>) hath written mo&s;t of this Booke; and yet gone but a little way into the booke neither, doth never pretend much literal|ne&s;&s;e in his expo&s;itions, &s;o that we are not to looke for that at <HI>Origens</HI> hands. We mu&s;t not therefore refu&s;e the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of later men, in the expo&s;ition of this Text, <HI>Not for any Inju&s;tice in my hands, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In this Chapter, and before this text, we have <HI>Iobs</HI> Anatomy, <HI>Iobs</HI> Sceleton, the ruins to which he was reduced. In the eighth ver&s;e he takes knowledge, <HI>That God had filled him with leanne&s;&s;e and wrinckles, and that tho&s;e wrinckles, and that leanne&s;&s;e were witne&s;&s;es again&s;t him,</HI> and, <HI>That they that hated him, had torne him in peeces,</HI> in the ninth ver&s;e. In the eleventh ver&s;e, <HI>That God had delivered him over to the ungodly,</HI> and, <HI>That God him&s;elfe had
<PB N="128" REF="82">&s;haked him in peeces, and &s;et him up as a marke to &s;hoote at,</HI> in the twelfe ver&s;e, <HI>That God had cleft his reins, and poured out his gall upon the ground,</HI> in the thirteenth ver&s;e, and in the fourteenth, <HI>That he broke him, breach after breach, and run over him as a Gyant,</HI> and at la&s;t, in the &s;ixteenth ver&s;e, <HI>That foulene&s;&s;e was upon his face, and the &s;hadow of death upon his eye|lids.</HI> Now, let me aske in <HI>Iobs</HI> behalfe Gods que&s;tion to <HI>Ezekiel, Puta&s;n&egrave; vivent o&s;&s;ai&s;ta? Doe&s;t thou belceve that the&s;e bones can live?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.2.</NOTE> Can this Anatomy, this Sceleton, the&s;e ruines, this rubbidge of <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peake? It can, it does in this Text, <HI>Not for any Inju&s;tice in my hands, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And, in the&s;e words, it delivers us, fir&s;t, The confidence of a godly man; Doe God what he will, &s;ay ye what ye will, That becau&s;e I am more afflicted then other men, therefore I am guilty of more hainous &s;ins then other men, yet I know, that what&s;oever Gods end be in this proceeding, It is not for any Inju&s;tice in my hands, <HI>Al&s;o my prayer is pure.</HI> Secondly, it delivers us that kinde of infirme angui&s;h, and indignation, that halfe|di&s;temper, that expo&s;tulation with God, which &s;ometimes comes to an exce&s;&s;e even in good and godly men, <HI>O earth cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place;</HI> I de&s;ire not that any thing &s;hould be concealed or di&s;gui&s;ed, let all that ever I have done be writ|ten in my forehead, and read by all men. And then thirdly and la&s;tly, it delivers us the foundation of his confidence, and the recovery from this his infirmity, and from his exce&s;&s;e in the manner of expre&s;&s;ing it, if he have beene over-bold therein, <HI>My Witne&s;&s;e is in heaven, and my Record is on high;</HI> God is his Witne&s;&s;e, that that which they charge him with, is fal&s;e, That that which he &s;aies in his owne di&s;charge (in that &s;en&s;e that he &s;aies it) is true; And in the&s;e three, <HI>Iobs</HI> Prote&s;tation, Not guilty, <HI>Iobs</HI> Manife&s;t, I would all the world knew all, <HI>Iobs</HI> E&s;tabli&s;hment, and con&s;olidation, <HI>My Witne&s;&s;e is in Heaven;</HI> in the&s;e three branches, and in &s;ome fruits, which, in pa&s;&s;ing, we &s;hall gather from them, we &s;hall determine all that appertaines to the&s;e words.</P>
<P>I remember S. <HI>Gregory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> in handling one text, profe&s;&s;es, that he will endevour to handle it &s;o, <HI>Vt ejus altitudo non &s;ic fieret ne&s;cientibus cognita, ut e&s;&s;et &s;cientibus onero&s;a;</HI> So, as that the weake&s;t under&s;tanding might comprehend the highe&s;t points, and the highe&s;t un|der&s;tanding not be weary to heare ordinary doctrines &s;o delivered. Indeed it is a good art, to deliver deepe points in a holy plainne&s;&s;e, and plaine points in a holy delightful|ne&s;&s;e: for, many times, one part of our auditory under&s;tands us not, when we have done, and &s;o they are weary; and another part under&s;tands us before we begun, and &s;o they are weary. To day, my humble petition mu&s;t be, That you will be content to heare plaine things plainly delivered. Of which, be this the fir&s;t, That <HI>Iob</HI> found him&s;elfe un|der the oppre&s;&s;ion, and calumny of that mi&s;-interpretation, that Kings them&s;elves, and States, and Churches have not e&s;caped.</P>
<P>The towre of <HI>Siloe</HI> fell and &s;lew them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 13.4.</NOTE> therefore they were the greater &s;inners in Je|ru&s;alem; this man pro&s;pers not in the world, Therefore he proceeds not in the feare of God; the heire wa&s;tes the e&s;tate, therefore the e&s;tate was ill gotten, are ha&s;ty conclu|&s;ions in private affaires. Trea&s;ures are empty, therefore there are unnece&s;&s;ary wa&s;tes; Di&s;contented per&s;ons murmure, therefore things are ill carried; our neigbours pro&s;per by Action, therefore we peri&s;h by not appearing, are ha&s;tie conclu&s;ions in State affaires. This man is affected when he heares a bla&s;phemous oath; and when he lookes upon the generall liberty of &s;inning; therefore he is a Puritan; That man loves the ancient formes, and Doctrines, and Di&s;ciplines of the Church, and retaines, and delights in the reverend names of Prie&s;t, and Altar, and Sacrifice, therefore he is a Papi&s;t, are ha&s;tie conclu&s;ions in Church affaires. When we doe fall under the&s;e mi&s;-interpretations, and ill applicati|ons of Gods proceedings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 4.</NOTE> we may &s;ay with <HI>Iob, I al&s;o could &s;peake, as you doe; if your &s;oule were in my &s;oules &s;tead, I could heape up words again&s;t you, and &s;hake my head at you,</HI> conclude de&s;perately, &s;peake &s;cornefully of you. But I will not; yet I will not betray my &s;elfe, I will make my prote&s;tation, what end &s;oever God propo&s;e to him&s;elfe in this his pro|ceeding, <HI>It is not for any inju&s;tice in my hands, Al&s;o my prayer is pure.</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e two,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Manus.</NOTE> cleanne&s;&s;e of hands, purene&s;&s;e of Prayer, are all religious duties com|prehended: for cleane hands denote ju&s;tice and righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e towards men, and pure prayer Devotion, and the &s;ervice and wor&s;hip of God. <HI>Iob</HI> prote&s;ts for both. Therefore does <HI>Origen</HI> &s;ay of <HI>Iob, Cert&egrave; puto, quod &amp; audeo dicere,</HI> I doe verily beleeve, and therefore may be bold to &s;ay, that for con&s;tancy and fidelity towards God, <HI>Iob</HI> did exceed, <HI>Non &s;olum homines, &s;ed &amp; ip&s;os Angelos,</HI> Not onely men, but Angels them&s;elves; for, &s;aies
<PB N="129" REF="82"><HI>Origen, Iob</HI> did not only &s;uffer <HI>Ab&s;&abque; culpa,</HI> without being guilty of tho&s;e things to which his afflictions were imputed, but he &s;uffered <HI>Cum gratiarum actionibus,</HI> he &s;aid grace when he had no meat, when God gave him Stones for Bread, and Scorpions for Fi&s;h; he prai|&s;ed God as much for the affliction it &s;elf, as for his former, or his &s;ub&s;equent benefits and ble&s;&s;ings. Not that <HI>Iob</HI> was meerly innocent, but that he was guilty of no &s;uch things, as might confer tho&s;e conclu&s;ions, which, from his afflictions, his enemies rai&s;ed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.20.</NOTE> <HI>If I ju|&s;tifie my &s;elf,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Iob, Mine own mouth &s;hall condemn me;</HI> Every &s;elf-ju&s;tification is a &s;elf-condemnation; when I give judgement for my &s;elf, I am therein a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t my &s;elf. <HI>If I &s;ay I am perfect,</HI> &s;ayes he in the &s;ame place, <HI>even that proves me perver&s;e;</HI> If I &s;ay I never goe out of the way, I am out then, and therefore becau&s;e I &s;ay &s;o: <HI>I have &s;in|ned,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>What &s;hall I do unto thee O thou pre&s;erver of men?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 7.2.</NOTE> <HI>Iob</HI> felt the hand of de&s;tru|ction upon him, and he felt the hand of pre&s;ervation too; and it was all one hand; This is Gods Method, and his alone, to pre&s;erve by de&s;troying. Men of this world do &s;ome|times repaire, and recompence tho&s;e men whom they have oppre&s;&s;ed before, but this is an after recompence; Gods fir&s;t intention even when he de&s;troyes is to pre&s;erve, as a Phy&s;itians fir&s;t intention, in the mo&s;t di&s;ta&s;tfull phy&s;ick, is health; even Gods demoliti|ons are &s;uper-edifications, his Anatomies, his di&s;&s;ections are &s;o many re-compactings, &s;o many re&s;urrections; God windes us off the Skein, that he may weave us up into the whole peece, and he cuts us out of the whole peece into peeces, that he may make us up into a whole garment.</P>
<P>But for all the&s;e humiliations, and confe&s;&s;ions, <HI>Iob</HI> doth not wave his prote&s;tation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 27.6.</NOTE> <HI>My rightcou&s;ne&s;&s;e I hold fa&s;t, and my heart &s;hall not reproach me as long as I live.</HI> Not that I &s;hall never &s;in, but never leave any &s;in unrepented; And then, my heart cannot reproach me of a repented &s;in, without reproaching God him&s;elf. <HI>The Sun mu&s;t not &s;et upon my anger;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.24.</NOTE> much le&s;&s;e will I let the Sun &s;et upon the anger of God towards me, or &s;leep in an unrepeted &s;in. Every nights &s;leep is a <HI>Nunc dimittis;</HI> then the Lord lets his &s;ervant depart in peace. Thy lying down is a valediction, a parting, a taking leave, (&s;hall I &s;ay &s;o?) a &s;haking hands with God; and, when thou &s;hake&s;t hands with God, let tho&s;e hands be clean. Enter into thy grave, thy metaphoricall, thy quotidian grave, thy bed, as thou entred&s;tinto the Church at fir&s;t, by Water, by Bapti&s;me; Re-bapti&s;e thy &s;elf every night, in <HI>Iobs Snow water,</HI> in holy tears that may cool the inordinate lu&s;ts of thy heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.30.</NOTE> and with-hold uncleane abu&s;es of tho&s;e hands even in that thy grave, thy Bed; And evermore remember <HI>Iobs</HI> feare and jea|lou&s;te in that place, That <HI>when he had wa&s;hed him&s;elf in Snow water, Abominabuntur me ve|&s;timenta mea, Mine own clothes will make me foul again.</HI> Thy fle&s;h is thy clothes; and to this mi&s;chievous purpo&s;e of fouling thy hands with thine own clothes, thou ha&s;t mo&s;t clothes on when thou art naked; Then, in that nakedne&s;&s;e, thou art in mo&s;t danger of fouling thy hands with thine own clothes. Mi&s;erable man! that coulde&s;t have no u&s;e of hands, nor any other organ of &s;en&s;e, if there were no other creature but thy &s;elf, &amp; yet, if there were no other creature but thy &s;elf, coulde&s;t &s;in upon thy &s;elf, and foule thy hands with thine own hands. How much more then, if thou &s;trike with tho&s;e hands, by oppre&s;&s;ion in thy office, or &s;hut up tho&s;e hands, and that which is due to another, in them? Sleep with cleane hands, either kept cleane all day, by integrity; or wa&s;hed cleane, at night, by re|pentance; and when&s;oever thou wake&s;t, though all <HI>Iobs</HI> me&s;&s;engers thunder about thee, and all <HI>Iobs</HI> friends multiply mi&s;-interpretations again&s;t thee, yet <HI>Iobs</HI> prote&s;tation &s;hall be thy prote&s;tation, what end &s;oever God have in this proceeding, <HI>It is not for any inju&s;tice in my hands,</HI> and the other part of his prote&s;tation too, <HI>Al&s;o my prayer is pure.</HI></P>
<P>As cleane hands denote all righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e towards man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oratio.</NOTE> &s;o doe pure prayers all devo|tion, and wor&s;hip, and &s;ervice of God. For, we are of the hou&s;hold of the faithfull, and the &s;ervice which we are to doe, as his hou&s;hold &s;ervants, is <HI>prayer;</HI> for, <HI>his hou&s;e is the hou&s;e of prayer.</HI> And therein onely is it po&s;&s;ible to us, to fulfill that Commandement, <HI>pray continually,</HI> that continually, in all our familiar actions, we may &s;erve God, glorifie God, (whether we eate or drink, we may doe it to his glory) and every glorifying, every thank&s;giving, is prayer; there cannot be a more effectuall prayer for future, then a thank|full acknowledgement of former benefits. <HI>Petitc, &amp; dabitur;</HI> How often is that repea|ted in the Go&s;pell, and in the Epi&s;tles? <HI>Aske, and it &s;hall be given yee;</HI> no grant with|out prayer, no deniall upon prayer.</P>
<P>It mu&s;t be <HI>prayer,</HI> and <HI>my prayer; Al&s;o my prayer is pure.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Oratio mea.</NOTE> I mu&s;t not rely upon the prayers of others; not of Angels; Though they be Mini&s;teriall &s;pirits, and not onely to
<PB N="130" REF="83">God him&s;elfe, but between God and Man, and &s;o, as they pre&s;ent our prayers, no doubt poure out their owne for us too, yet we mu&s;t not rely upon the prayers of Angels. Nor of Saints; Though they have a more per&s;onall, and experimentall &s;en&s;e of our mi&s;eries then Angels have, we mu&s;t not relie upon the prayers of Saints. No, nor upon the pray|ers of the Congregation, though we &s;ee, and heare them pray, except we make our &s;elves parts of the Congregation, by true devotion, as well as by per&s;onall pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>It mu&s;t be mine own prayer, and no prayer is &s;o truly, or &s;o properly mine, as that that the Church hath delivered and recommended to me. In &s;udden and unpremeditate pray|er, I am not alwayes I; and when I am not my &s;elf, my prayer is not my prayer. Pa&s;|&s;ions and affections &s;ometimes, &s;ometimes bodily infirmities, and &s;ometimes a vain de|&s;ire of being eloquent in prayer, aliens me, withdraws me from my &s;elf, and then that prayer is not my prayer. Though that prayer which <HI>Luther</HI> is &s;aid to have &s;aid upon his death-bed, <HI>Oremus pro Domine Deo no&s;tro Ie&s;u Chri&s;to,</HI> Let us pray for our Lord and Savi|our Chri&s;t Je&s;us, may admit a good &s;en&s;e, becau&s;e Chri&s;t being (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes often) <HI>Caput &amp; Corpus,</HI> both the Head and the Body, as he is the Body, the Church, &s;ub|ject to &s;o many pre&s;&s;ures, he had need to be prayed for; yet, his &s;tate being con&s;idered at that time, almo&s;t at the la&s;t ga&s;p, he being &s;carce he, that prayer can &s;carce be called his prayer.</P>
<P>In that African Councell, in which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> was pre&s;ent, to remedy the abu&s;e of various formes of Prayers, which divers Churches a&s;&s;umed, it was decreed that no pray|ers &s;hould be received in the Church, but &s;uch as were compo&s;ed, or approved by the Councell. We have proceeded &s;o too; No prayers received for publique u&s;e, but tho&s;e that are delivered by publique authority; and &s;o, they become My prayers. As the Law of the Land is my Law, and I have an inheritance in it, &s;o the prayers of the Church are my prayers, and I have an intere&s;t in them, becau&s;e I am a Son of that fami|ly. My Bapti&s;me is mine, and my Ab&s;olution is mine, becau&s;e the Church hath given them to me, and &s;o are her prayers mine. You would &s;carce thank a man for an extem|porall Elegy, or Epigram, or Panegyrique in your prai&s;e, if it co&s;t the Poet, or the Ora|tor no paines. God will &s;carce hearken to &s;udden, incon&s;idered, irreverent prayers. Men will &s;tudy even for Complements; and Princes and Amba&s;&s;adors will not &s;peak to one another, without thinking what they will &s;ay. Let not us put God to &s;peak to us &s;o, (Preaching is Gods &s;peaking to us) Let not us &s;peak to God &s;o, (Praying is our &s;peaking to God) not extemporally, unadvi&s;edly, incon&s;iderately. Prayer mu&s;t be my prayer; and <HI>Quid habeo quod non accepi?</HI> Even in this kinde, what have I that I have not received? I have received my prayer altogether, as a bundle of Myrrhe, in that prayer which I have received from my Saviour, and then I have received it appropriated to me, and apportioned to my particular nece&s;&s;ities, and &s;acrifices, by the piety and wi&s;dome of the Church; &s;o it is my prayer, and, as <HI>Iobs</HI> prayer was, pure prayer, Al&s;o my prayer is pure.</P>
<P>The Holy Gho&s;t hath &s;o mar&s;halled and di&s;po&s;ed the qualifications of Prayer in this place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pura.</NOTE> as that there is no pure prayer without clean hands. The lifting up of hands was the ge&s;ture of prayer, even among the heathen, <HI>Manibus &s;upplex or are &s;upinis.</HI> Among&s;t the Jews, <HI>Prayer,</HI> and <HI>the lifting up of hands,</HI> was one and the &s;ame thing, <HI>Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening Sacrifice;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 141.2. Exed. 17.11.</NOTE> And, longer then <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hands were <HI>lifted up,</HI> his prayer had no effect. All this, perchance therefore e&s;pecially, that this lifting up of my hands, brings them into my &s;ight; then I can &s;ee them, and &s;ee whether they be clean, or no, and con&s;ider, that if I &s;ee impurity in my hands, God &s;ees impurity in my Prayer. Can I think to receive ea&s;e from God with that hand that oppre&s;&s;es another? Mercy from God with that hand that exerci&s;es cruelty upon another? Or Bounty from God with that hand that with-holds right from another? Prayer is our hand, but it mu&s;t be a cleane hand, pure prayer.</P>
<P>That Emperour whom no religion would lo&s;e, <HI>Con&s;tantine,</HI> (for, the heathen deified him, and the Chri&s;tians canonized him, They made him a god, and we came as neare as we could, we made him a Saint) that Emperour was coyned Praying. Other Emperours were coyned Triumphing, in Chariots, or preparing for Triumphs, in Battailes, and Vi|ctories, but he, <HI>Con&s;tantine,</HI> in that po&s;ture, Kneeling, Praying. He knew his coyn would pa&s;&s;e through every family; and to every family he de&s;ired to be an example of piety; Every peece of &s;ingle money was a Catechi&s;me, and te&s;tified to every Subject all this, &s;urely he will graciou&s;ly receive my Petition, and look graciou&s;ly upon me, when I
<PB N="131" REF="83">kneele, for, behold he kneels to, and he exhibits petitions to that God, from whom he acknowledges, that he needs as much as I can from him. And yet this Symbolicall, and Catechi&s;ticall coyn of <HI>Con&s;tantines,</HI> was not &s;o convincing, nor &s;o irrefragable a te&s;timo|ny of his piety, (for <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> might be coyned praying, and yet never pray) as when we &s;ee as great a Prince as he, actually, really, per&s;onally, daily, duly at prayer with us.</P>
<P>To end this branch, let not thy prayer be lucrative, nor vindicative, pray not for tempo|rall &s;uperfluities, pray not for the confu&s;ion of them that differ from thee in opinion, or in manners, but condition thy prayer, inanimate thy prayer with the glory of God, and thine own everla&s;ting happine&s;&s;e, and the edification of others, and this prayer is <HI>Iobs</HI> prayer, pure prayer. And farther we enlarge not his Prote&s;tation, <HI>My hands are cleane,</HI> I do no man wrong; my prayer is pure, I mock not God. But becau&s;e continuing under &s;o great afflictions, men would not beleeve this, he proceeds, perchance to &s;ome exce&s;&s;e, and incon&s;ideratene&s;&s;e, in de&s;iring a manife&s;tation of all his actions, <HI>O Earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.</HI></P>
<P>Difference of Expo&s;itions makes us &s;top here, upon this inqui&s;ition, in what affection <HI>Iob</HI> &s;pake this. Whether this were meerly an adjuration of the earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> not to cover his blood, but that his mi&s;eries, and the cry thereof might pa&s;&s;e, and be transferred over all the world; or whether it had the nature of an imprecation upon him&s;elf, That he wi&s;h|ed, or admitted again&s;t him&s;elf, that which is again&s;t the nature of every man to admit, that is, to have all that ever he had done, publi&s;hed, declared, manife&s;ted to all the world. S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> according to his manner, through all this book, which is, to apply all <HI>Iobs</HI> &s;ufferings to Chri&s;t, and to make <HI>Iob</HI> &s;ome kinde of type of Chri&s;t, makes no more of this, but that it is an adjuration of the earth, in the per&s;on and behalf of Chri&s;t, not to &s;uck in, or &s;moother his blood, but that it might be notified, and communicated to all the world. And truly, this is a good u&s;e, but it cannot be &s;aid to be a good &s;en&s;e of the place, becau&s;e it cannot con&s;i&s;t with the re&s;t of the words.</P>
<P>Among&s;t our later men, <HI>Cajetan,</HI> (and he, from a Rabbi of the Jews, <HI>Aben Ezra</HI>) takes this to be an adjuration of the Earth, as <HI>Gregory</HI> does, but not, as <HI>Gregory</HI> does, in the per|&s;on of Chri&s;t, but of <HI>Iob</HI> him&s;elfe; That <HI>Iob</HI> adjures the earth, not to cover his blood, that is, not to cover the &s;hedding of his blood, not to con&s;pire with the malice of his enemies &s;o much, as to deny him buriall when he was dead, that they which trod him downe alive, might not triumph over him after his death, or conclude that God did certainly for&s;ake him alive, &s;ince he continued the&s;e declarations again&s;t him, when he was dead. And this al&s;o may have good u&s;e, but yet it is too narrow, and too &s;hallow, to bee the &s;en&s;e of this phra&s;e, this elegancy, this vehemency of the Holy Gho&s;t, in the mouth of <HI>Iob.</HI></P>
<P>S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> I think, was the fir&s;t that gave light to the &s;en&s;e of this place. He &s;aies, that &s;uch men, as are (as they thinke) over-puni&s;hed, have naturally a de&s;ire, that the world knew their faults; that &s;o, by comparing their faults with their puni&s;hments, there might ari&s;e &s;ome pitty and commi&s;eration of their &s;tate. And, &s;urely, this, that <HI>Chry&s;o|&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes, is true, and naturall; for, if two men were to be executed together, by one kinde of death, the one for &s;tealing a Sheep, (perchance in hunger) the other for killing his Father, certainly, he that had but &s;tollen the Sheep, would be &s;orry the world &s;hould think their ca&s;es alike, or that he had killed a Father too. And in &s;uch an affection <HI>Iob</HI> &s;ayes, I am &s;o far from being guilty of tho&s;e things that are imputed to me, that I would be content, that all that ever I have done, were knowne to all the world.</P>
<P>This light, which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t.</HI> gave to this place, &s;hined not out, (I think) till the Re|formation; for, I have not ob&s;erved any Author, between <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> and the Reforma|tion, that hath taken knowledge of this interpretation; nor any of the Reformation, as from him, from <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome.</HI> But, &s;ince our Authors of the Reformation, have &s;ome|what generally pur&s;ued that &s;en&s;e, (<HI>Calvin</HI> hath done &s;o, and &s;o <HI>Tremellius,</HI> and &s;o <HI>Pi&s;|cator,</HI> and many, many more) now, one Author of the Romane Church, (one as curious and diligent in interpreting ob&s;cure places of Scripture, as any among&s;t them, and then more bold and confident in departing from their vulgar, and frivolous, and impertinent interpretations of Scriptures, then any among&s;t them) the Capuchin <HI>Bolduc,</HI> hath al&s;o pur&s;ued that &s;en&s;e. That &s;en&s;e is, that in this adjuration, or imprecation, <HI>O Earth cover not thou my blood;</HI> Blood is not literally bodily blood, but &s;pirituall blood, the blood of the &s;oule, exhau&s;ted by many, and hainous &s;ins, &s;uch as they in&s;imulated <HI>Iob</HI> of. For, in
<PB N="132" REF="84">this &s;ignification, is that word, <HI>Blood,</HI> often taken in the Scriptures. When God &s;ayes, <HI>when you &s;tretch forth your hands,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.15. P&s;al. 51.14.</NOTE> <HI>they are full of blood,</HI> there blood is all manner of rapine, of oppre&s;&s;ion, of concu&s;&s;ion, of violence. When <HI>David</HI> prayes <HI>to be delivered from blood|guiltine&s;&s;e,</HI> it is not intended onely, of an actuall &s;hedding of blood, for, it is in the Origi|nall, <HI>&agrave; &s;anguinibus,</HI> in the plurall; other crimes then the actuall &s;hedding of blood, are bloody crimes.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech 7.23.</NOTE> Therefore, &s;ayes one Prophet, <HI>the land is full of bloody crimes;</HI> And, ano|ther, <HI>blood toucheth blood,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 4.2.</NOTE> whom the Chalde Parapra&s;e expre&s;&s;es aright, <HI>Aggregant pec|cata peccatis,</HI> blood toucheth blood, when &s;in induces &s;in. Which place of <HI>Ho&s;ea,</HI> S. <HI>Gre|gory</HI> interprets too, then blood touches blood, <HI>cum ante oculos Dei, adjunctis peccatis cru|entatur anima;</HI> Then God &s;ees a &s;oule in her blood, when &s;he wounds and wounds her &s;elfe againe, with variation of divers, or iteration of the &s;ame &s;ins.</P>
<P>This then being thus e&s;tabli&s;hed, that <HI>blood</HI> in this Text, is the blood of the &s;oule, exhau&s;ted by &s;in, (for every &s;in is an inci&s;ion of the &s;oule, a Lancination, a Phlebotomy, a letting of the &s;oule blood, and then, a delight in &s;in, is a going with open veines into a warme bath, and bleeding to death) This will be the force of <HI>Iobs</HI> Admiration, or Impre|cation, <HI>O Earth cover not thou my blood,</HI> I am content to &s;tand as naked now, as I &s;hall doe at the day of Judgement, when all men &s;hall &s;ee all mens actions, I de&s;ire no di&s;gui&s;e, I deny, I excu&s;e, I extenuate nothing that ever I did, I would mine enemies knew my wor&s;t, that they might &s;tudy &s;ome other rea&s;on of Gods thus proceeding with me, then tho&s;e hainous &s;innes, which, from the&s;e afflictions, they will nece&s;&s;arily conclude again&s;t me.</P>
<P>But had <HI>Iob</HI> been able to have &s;tood out this triall? Was <HI>Iob</HI> &s;o innocent, as that he need not care, though all the world knew all? Perchance there may have been &s;ome exce&s;&s;e, &s;ome inordinatene&s;&s;e in his manner of his expre&s;&s;ing it; we cannot excu&s;e the vehemence of &s;ome holy men, in &s;uch expre&s;&s;ions. We cannot &s;ay, that there was no exce&s;&s;e in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his <HI>Dele me, Pardon this people, or blot my name out of thy booke;</HI> or that there was no exce&s;&s;e in S. <HI>Pauls Anathema pro fratribus, That he wi&s;hed to be accur&s;ed, to be &s;eparated from Chri&s;t for his brethren.</HI> But for <HI>Iob,</HI> we &s;hall not need this excu&s;e; for, either we may re&s;traine his words to tho&s;e &s;ins, which they imputed to him, and then they have but the nature of that prote&s;tation, which <HI>David</HI> made &s;o often to God, <HI>Iudge me, O Lord, according to my righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, according to mine innocency, according to the clean|ne&s;&s;e of my hands;</HI> which was not &s;poken by <HI>David</HI> &s;imply, but re&s;pectively, not of all his &s;ins, but of tho&s;e which <HI>Saul</HI> pur&s;ued him for: Or, if we enlarge <HI>Iobs</HI> words generally to all his &s;ins, we mu&s;t con&s;ider them to be &s;poken after his repentance, and reconciliation to God thereupon; If they knew, (may <HI>Iob</HI> have &s;aid) how it &s;tood between God and my &s;oule, how earne&s;tly I have repented, how fully he hath forgiven, they would never &s;ay, the&s;e afflictions proceeded from tho&s;e &s;ins.</P>
<P>And truly, &s;o may I, &s;o may every &s;oule &s;ay, that is rectified, refre&s;hed, re&s;tored, re|e&s;tabli&s;hed by the &s;eales of Gods pardon, and his mercy, &s;o the world would take know|ledge of the con&s;equences of my &s;ins, as well as of the &s;ins them&s;elves, and read my leafes on both &s;ides, and heare the &s;econd part of my &s;tory, as well as the fir&s;t; &s;o the world would look upon my temporall calamities, the bodily &s;ickne&s;&s;es, and the penuriou&s;ne&s;&s;e of my fortune contracted by my &s;ins, and upon my &s;pirituall calamities, dejections of &s;pi|rit, &s;adne&s;&s;e of heart, declinations towards a diffidence and di&s;tru&s;t in the mercy of God, and then, when the world &s;ees me in this agony and bloody &s;weat, in this agony and bloody &s;weat would al&s;o &s;ee the Angels of heaven mini&s;tring comforts unto me; &s;o they would con&s;ider me in my <HI>Peccavi,</HI> and God in his <HI>Tran&s;tulit,</HI> Me in my earne&s;t Confe&s;&s;i|ons, God in his powerfull Ab&s;olutions, Me drawne out of one Sea of blood, the blood of mine owne &s;oule, and ca&s;t into another Sea, the bottomele&s;&s;e Sea of the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; &s;o they would know as well what God hath done for my &s;oule, as what my &s;oule and body have done again&s;t my God; &s;o they would reade me throughout, and look upon me altogether, I would joyne with <HI>Iob,</HI> in his confident adjuration, <HI>O Earth cover not thou my blood;</HI> Let all the world know all the &s;ins of my youth, and of mine age too, and I would not doubt, but God &s;hould receive more glory, and the world more be|nefit, then if I had never &s;inned. This is that that exalts <HI>Iobs</HI> confidence, he was guilty of nothing, that is, no &s;uch thing as they concluded upon, of nothing ab&s;olutely, becau&s;e he had repented all. And from this, his confidence ri&s;es to a higher pitch then this, <HI>Nec clamor, O Earth cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.</HI></P>
<PB N="133" REF="84">
<P>What meanes <HI>Iob</HI> in this? Doubtfull Expo&s;itors make us doubt too. Some have &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clamor.</NOTE> that <HI>Iob</HI> de&s;ires his cry might have no place, that is, no termination, no re&s;ting place, but that his ju&s;t complaint might be heard over all the world; <HI>Stunnica</HI> the Augu&s;tinian in|terprets it &s;o. Some have &s;aid, that he intends by his <HI>cry,</HI> his crying &s;ins, that they might <HI>have no place,</HI> that is, no hiding place, but that his greate&s;t &s;ins, and &s;ecret &s;ins might be brought to light; <HI>Bolduc</HI> the <HI>Capuchin</HI> interprets it &s;o; according to that u&s;e of the word <HI>Clamor, God looked for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &amp; ecce clamorem, behold a cry;</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 5.7.</NOTE> &s;ins crying in the eares of God. But there is more then &s;o, in this phra&s;e, in this elegancy, in this ve|hemency of the Holy Gho&s;t in <HI>Iobs</HI> mouth, <HI>Let my cry have no place.</HI></P>
<P>In the former part, (<HI>Iobs</HI> Prote&s;tation) he con&s;idered God and man; righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e to|wards man in cleane hands, and, in pure prayers, devotion towards God. In this part, (his Manife&s;t) he pur&s;ues the &s;ame method, he con&s;iders man, and God; Though men knew all my &s;ins, that &s;hould not trouble me, &s;ayes he, (and that we have con&s;idered) yea, though my cry finde no place, no place with God, that &s;hould not trouble me; I &s;hould be content that God &s;hould &s;eeme not to heare my prayers, but that hee laid me open to that ill interpretation of wicked men, Tu&s;h, he prayes, but the Lord heares him not, he cries, but God relieves him not. And yet, when wilt thou relieve me, O thou reliever of men, if not upon my cries, upon my prayers? Yet, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> hath repea|ted that, more then once, more then twice, <HI>Non e&s;t magnum exaudiri ad voluntatem, non e&s;t magnum;</HI> Be not over-joyed when God grants thee thy prayer. <HI>Exauditi ad voluntatem Daemones,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, The Devill had his prayer granted, when he had leave to enter into the Heard of Swine; And &s;o he had (&s;ayes he, exemplifying in our pre&s;ent ex|ample) when he obtained power from God again&s;t <HI>Iob.</HI> But all this aggravated the De|vils puni&s;hment; &s;o may it doe thine, to have &s;ome prayers granted. And, as that mu&s;t not over-joy thee, if it be, &s;o if thy prayer be not granted, it mu&s;t not deject thee. God &s;uffe|red S. <HI>Paul</HI> to pray, and pray and pray, yet, after his thrice praying, granted him not that he prayed for. God &s;uffered that <HI>&s;i po&s;sibile, if it be po&s;siblle,</HI> and that <HI>Tran&s;eat calix, Let this Cup pa&s;&s;e,</HI> to pa&s;&s;e from Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, yet he granted it not.</P>
<P>But, in many of the&s;e ca&s;es, a man does ea&s;ilier &s;atisfie his owne minde, then other men. If God grant me not my prayer, I recover quickly, and I lay hold upon the hornes of that Altar, and ride &s;afely at that Anchor, God &s;aw that that which I prayed for, was not &s;o good for him, nor &s;o good for me. But when the world &s;hall come to &s;ay, Where is now your Religion, where is your Reformation? doe not all other Rivers, as well as the Tiber, or the Poe, does not the Seine, and the Rhene, and the Maene too, begin to ebbe back, and to empty it &s;elfe in the Sea of Rome? why &s;hould not your Thames doe &s;o, as well as the&s;e other Rivers? Where is now your Religion, your Reformation? Were not you as good run in the &s;ame channell as others doe? This is a &s;hrewd tenta|tion, and induces opprobrious conclu&s;ions from malicious enemies, when our cries have no place, our religious &s;ervice no pre&s;ent acceptation, our prayers no &s;peedy return from God. But yet becau&s;e even in this, God may propo&s;e farther glory to him&s;elfe, more be|nefit to me, and more edification even to them, at la&s;t, who, at fir&s;t, made ill con&s;tructi|ons of his proceedings, I admit, as <HI>Iob</HI> admits, <HI>O Earth cover not thou my blood,</HI> (let all the world &s;ee all my faults) <HI>and let my cry have no place,</HI> (let them imagine that God hath for&s;aken me, and does not heare my prayers;) my &s;atisfaction, my acquie&s;cence ari&s;es not out of their opinion, and interpretation, that mu&s;t not be my triall, but <HI>te&s;tis in coelis, My witne&s;&s;e is in heaven, and my record is on high,</HI> which is our third, and la&s;t Con&s;ide|ration.</P>
<P>We mu&s;t doe in this la&s;t, as we have done in our former two parts, crack a &s;hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> to ta&s;t the kernell, cleare the words, to gaine the Doctrine. I am ever willing to a&s;&s;i&s;t that ob|&s;ervation, That the books of Scripture are the eloquente&s;t books in the world, that eve|ry word in them hath his waight and value, his ta&s;te and verdure. And therefore mu&s;t not blame tho&s;e Tran&s;lators, nor tho&s;e Expo&s;itors, who have, with a particular elegancy, varied the words in this la&s;t clau&s;e of the Text, <HI>my witne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>my record.</HI> The olde&s;t Latine Tran&s;lation received this variation, and the la&s;t Latine, even <HI>Tremellius</HI> him&s;elfe, (as clo&s;e as he &s;ticks to the Hebrew) retaines this variation, <HI>Te&s;tis,</HI> and <HI>Con&s;cius.</HI> And that collection, which hath been made upon this variation, is not without u&s;e, that <HI>con&s;cius</HI> may be &s;poken <HI>de interno,</HI> that God will beare witne&s;&s;e to my inward con&s;cience; and <HI>te&s;tis, de externo,</HI> that God will, in his time, te&s;tifie to the world in my behalfe. But other
<PB N="134" REF="85">places of Scripture will more advance that ob&s;ervation of the elegancy thereof, then this; for in this, the two words &s;ignifie but one and the &s;ame thing, it is but <HI>witne&s;&s;e, and witne&s;&s;e,</HI> and no more. Not that it is ea&s;ie to finde in Hebrew (nor, perchance, in any lan|guage) two words &s;o ab&s;olutely Synonymous, as to &s;ignifie the &s;ame thing, without any difference, but that the two words in our Text are not both of one language, not both Hebrew. For, the fir&s;t word, <HI>Gned,</HI> is an Hebrew word, but the other, <HI>Sahad,</HI> is Syriaque; and both &s;ignifie alike,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 5.1.</NOTE> and equally, <HI>te&s;tem, a witne&s;&s;e. He that heares the voyce of &s;wea|ring, and is a witne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in the fir&s;t word of our Text; and then the <HI>Chalde</HI> Pa|raphra&s;e, intending the &s;ame thing, expre&s;&s;es it in the other word, <HI>Sahad.</HI> So in the con|tract between Laban and Jacob,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 31.47.</NOTE> Laban calls that heap of &s;tones, which he had erected, <HI>Iegar-Sehadutha,</HI> by an extraction from the la&s;t word of our Text, <HI>Sahad;</HI> Jacob calls it, by the fir&s;t word: And the rea&s;on is given in the body of the Text it &s;elfe, in the vulgat Edition, (though how it got thither, we know not, for, in the Originall it is not) <HI>Vter&abque; juxta proprietatem lingua &s;uae;</HI> Laban &s;pake in his language, Syriaque, Jacob &s;pake in his, Hebrew, and both called that heape of &s;tones, <HI>a witne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Now, our be&s;towing this little time upon the clearing of the words, hath &s;aved us much more time; for, by this meanes we have &s;hortned this clau&s;e of our Text, and all that we are to con&s;ider, is but this, <HI>My witne&s;&s;e is in heaven.</HI> And truly, that is enough; I care not though all the world knew all my faults, I care not what they conclude of Gods not granting my prayers, <HI>my witne&s;&s;e is in heaven.</HI> To be condemned unju&s;tly among&s;t men, to be ill interpreted in the acts of my Religion, is a heavy ca&s;e; but yet, I have a reliefe in all this, <HI>my witne&s;&s;e is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>The fir&s;t comfort is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quia in Coelis.</NOTE> <HI>Quia in Coelis,</HI> becau&s;e he, whom I rely upon, is in heaven. For, that is the foundation and Ba&s;is upon which our Saviour erects that prayer, which he hath recommended unto us, <HI>Qui es in coelis, Our Father, which art in heaven;</HI> when I lay hold upon him there, in heaven, I pur&s;ue cheerefully and confidently all the other petitions, for daily bread, for forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins, for deliverance from tentations; from, and for all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> Acts. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"></NOTE> <HI>E&s;t in coelis, he is in heaven,</HI> and then <HI>Sedet in coelis, be &s;its in heaven;</HI> That as I &s;ee him in that po&s;ture that <HI>Stephen</HI> &s;aw him, <HI>&s;tanding at the right hand of the Father,</HI> and &s;o, <HI>in procinctu,</HI> in a readine&s;&s;e, in a willingne&s;&s;e to come to my &s;uccour, &s;o I might contem|plate him in a judiciary po&s;ture, in a pote&s;tative, a &s;overaigne po&s;ture, &s;itting, and con&s;i|der him as able, as willing to relieve me. He is in heaven, and he &s;its in heaven, and then <HI>habitat in coelis, he dwels in heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 113.5.</NOTE> he is, and he is alwayes there. <HI>Baals</HI> Prie&s;ts could not alwaies finde him at home; <HI>Iobs</HI> God, and our God is never abroad. <HI>He dwels in the heavens,</HI> and, (as it is expre&s;&s;ed there) <HI>In excel&s;is, he dwels on high;</HI> &s;o high, that, (as it is there added) God humbles him&s;elfe, to behold the things that are in heaven. With what amazedne&s;&s;e mu&s;t we con&s;ider the humiliation of God, in de&s;cending to the earth, lower then &s;o, to hell, when even his de&s;cending unto heaven, is a humiliation? God humbles him&s;elfe, when he beholds any thing lower then him&s;elfe, though Cherubins, though Seraphins, though the humane nature, the body of his owne, and onely eternall Son; and yet he beholds, con&s;iders, &s;tudies us, wormes of the earth, and no men.</P>
<P>This then is <HI>Iobs,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Te&s;tis.</NOTE> and our fir&s;t comfort, <HI>Quia in coelis,</HI> becau&s;e he is in heaven, and &s;its in heaven, and dwels in heaven, in the highe&s;t heaven, and &s;o, &s;ees all things. But then, if God &s;ee, and &s;ay nothing, <HI>David</HI> apprehends that for a mo&s;t dangerous condition; and therefore he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 28.1. P&s;al. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.1.</NOTE> <HI>Be not &s;ilent, O Lord, le&s;t if thou be &s;ilent, I peri&s;h.</HI> And againe, <HI>Hold not thy peace, O God of my prai&s;e, for the mouth of the wicked is opened again&s;t me:</HI> And, Lord, let thy mercy be as forward as their malice. And therefore, as God, from that heighth, &s;ees all, (and the &s;tricte&s;t examination that we put upon any Witne&s;&s;e, is, that if he pre|tend to te&s;tifie any thing upon his knowledge, we aske, how he came by that knowledge, and if he be <HI>oculatus te&s;tis,</HI> a Witne&s;&s;e that &s;aw it, this is good evidence) as God is to this purpo&s;e, all eye, and &s;ees all, &s;o for our farther comfort, he de&s;cends to the office of be|ing a Witne&s;&s;e, There is a Witne&s;&s;e in heaven.</P>
<P>But then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Te&s;tis meus.</NOTE> God may be a Witne&s;&s;e, and yet not my Witne&s;&s;e, and in that, there is &s;mall comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 29.22.</NOTE> if God be a Witne&s;&s;e on my adver&s;aries &s;ide, a Witne&s;&s;e again&s;t me. <HI>Even I know, and am a Witne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;aith the Lord; that is, a Witne&s;&s;e of the &s;ins, which I know by thee.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 10.27.</NOTE> And that is that which <HI>Iob,</HI> with &s;o much tenderne&s;&s;e apprehended, <HI>Thou renewe&s;t thy witne&s;&s;es again&s;t me;</HI> Thou &s;ent'&s;t a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t me, in the Sabaeans, upon my &s;ervants; and then, thou renewed&s;t that witne&s;&s;e in the Caldaeans upon my cattell; and then, thou
<PB N="135" REF="85">renewed&s;t that, in thy &s;tormes and tempe&s;ts, upon my children. All this while God was a Witne&s;&s;e, but not his witne&s;&s;e, but a witne&s;&s;e on his adver&s;aries &s;ide. Now, if our own heart, our owne con&s;cience condemne us, this is &s;hrewd evidence, &s;aies S. <HI>Iohn;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 3.20</NOTE> for mine owne con&s;cience, &s;ingle, is a thou&s;and witne&s;&s;es again&s;t me. But then, (&s;aies the Apo&s;tle there) God is greater then the heart; for, (&s;aies he) he knowes all things; He knowes circum&s;tances of &s;inne, as well as &s;ub&s;tance; and, that, we &s;eldome know, &s;eldome take knowledge of. If then mine owne heart be a thou&s;and, God, that is greater, is ten thou|&s;and witne&s;&s;es, if he witne&s;&s;e again&s;t me. But if he be my Witne&s;&s;e, a Witne&s;&s;e for me, as he alwaies multiplies in his waies of mercy, he is thou&s;ands of thou&s;ands, millions of millions of witne&s;&s;es in my behalfe, for <HI>there is no condemation,</HI> no po&s;&s;ible condemnation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1.</NOTE> <HI>to them that are in him;</HI> not, if every graine of du&s;t upon the earth were an <HI>Achitophel,</HI> and gave coun&s;ell again&s;t me, not if every &s;and upon the &s;hoare were a <HI>Rab&s;hakeh,</HI> and railed again&s;t me, not if every atome in the ayre were a Satan, an Adver&s;ary, an Accu&s;er, not if every drop in the Sea, were an Abaddon, an Apollyon, a De&s;troyer, there could be no condemuation, if he be my Witne&s;&s;e. If he be my Witne&s;&s;e, he proceeds thus in my behalfe, his Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with my &s;pirit, for mine inward a&s;&s;urance, that I &s;tand e&s;tabli&s;hed in his favour, and, either by an actuall deliverance, or by &s;ome &s;uch declara|tion, as &s;hall pre&s;erve me from fainting, if I be not actually delivered, he gives a farther te&s;timony in my behalfe. For, he is in Heaven, and he &s;its in Heaven, and he dwels in Heaven, in the highe&s;t Heaven, and &s;ees all, and is a Witne&s;&s;e, and my Witne&s;&s;e; there is the largene&s;&s;e of our comfort.</P>
<P>But will all this come home to <HI>Iobs</HI> end and purpo&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iude<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> That he need not care though all men knew all his faults, he need not care though God pa&s;&s;ed over his prayers, becau&s;e God is his Witne&s;&s;e; what declarations &s;oever he had in him&s;elfe, would the world be|leeve, that God te&s;tified in his behalfe, when they &s;aw his calamities multiplied upon him, and his prayers neglected? If they will not, herein lyes his, and our finall comfort, That he that is my Witne&s;&s;e, is in the highe&s;t Heaven, there is no per&s;on above him, and therefore He that is my Witne&s;&s;e, is my Judge too. I &s;hall not be tried by an arbitrary Court, where it may be wi&s;dome enough, to follow a wi&s;e leader, and think as he thinks. I &s;hall not be tried by a Jury, that had rather I &s;uffered, then they fa&s;ted, rather I lo&s;t my life, then they lo&s;t a meale. Nor tryed by Peeres, where Honour &s;hall be the Bible. But I &s;hall be tryed by the King him&s;elfe, then which no man can propo&s;e a Nobler tryall, and that King &s;hall be the King of Kings too; for, He,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 5.</NOTE> who in the fir&s;t of the Revelati|on, is called <HI>The faithfull Witne&s;&s;e,</HI> is, in the &s;ame place, called <HI>The Prince of the Kings of the earth;</HI> and, as he is there produced as a <HI>Witne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 10 42. Iohn 5.22.</NOTE> He is ordained to be the <HI>Iudge of the quick and the dedd,</HI> and &s;o, <HI>All Iudgement is committed to him.</HI> He that is my Witne&s;&s;e, is my Judge, and the &s;ame per&s;on is my Je&s;us, my Saviour, my Redeemer; He that hath taken my nature, He that hath given me his blood. So that he is my Witne&s;&s;e, in his owne cau&s;e, and my Judge, but of his owne Title, and will, in me, pre&s;erve him&s;elfe; He will not let that nature, that he hath inve&s;ted, peri&s;h, nor that trea&s;ure, which he hath poured out for me, his blood, be ineffectuall. My Witne&s;&s;e is in Heaven, my Judge is in Heaven; my Redeemer is in Heaven, and in them, who are but One, I have not onely a con&s;tant hope, that I &s;hall be there too, but an evident a&s;&s;urance, that I am there already, in his Per&s;on.</P>
<P>Go then in this peace, That you alwaies &s;tudy to pre&s;erve this te&s;tification of the Spi|rit of God, by outward evidences of Sanctification. You are naturally compo&s;ed of foure Elements, and three of tho&s;e foure are evident, and unque&s;tioned; The fourth Ele|ment, the element of Fire, is a more litigious element, more problematicall, more di&s;pu|table. Every good man, every true Chri&s;tian, in his Metaphy&s;icks,(for, in a regenerate man, all is Metaphy&s;icall, &s;upernaturall) hath foure Elements al&s;o; and three of tho&s;e foure are declared in this text. Fir&s;t, a good Name, the good opinion of good men, for hone&s;t dealing in the world, and religious di&s;charge of duties towards God, That there be no inju&s;tice in our hands, Al&s;o that our prayer be pure. A &s;econd Element is a good con&s;cience in my &s;elfe, That either a holy warine&s;&s;e before, or a holy repentance after, &s;ettle me &s;o in God, as that I care not though all the world knew all my faults. And a third element is, my Hope in God, that my Witne&s;&s;e which is in Heaven, will te&s;tifie for me, as a witne&s;&s;e in my behalfe, here, or acquit me, as a mercifull Judge, hereafter. Now, there may be a fourth Element, an Infallibility of finall per&s;everance, grounded
<PB N="136" REF="86">upon the eternall knowledge of God; but this is, as the Element of fire, which may be, but is not, at lea&s;t, is not &s;o di&s;cernable, &s;o demon&s;trable as the re&s;t. And therefore, as men argue of the Element of fire, that whereas the other elements produce creatures in &s;uch abundance, The Earth &s;uch heards of Cattell, the Waters &s;uch &s;hoales of Fi&s;h, the Aire &s;uch flocks of Birds, it is no unrea&s;onable thing, to &s;top upon this con&s;ideration, whether there &s;hould be an element of fire, more &s;pacious, and comprehen&s;ive then all the re&s;t, and yet produce no Creatures; &s;o, if thy pretended Element of Infallibility pro|duce no creatures, no good works, no holy actions, thou mai&s;t ju&s;tly doubt there is no &s;uch element in thee. In all doubts that ari&s;e in thee, &s;till it will be a good rule, to choo&s;e that now, which thou would&s;t choo&s;e upon thy death-bed. If a tentation to Beauty, to Riches, to Honour, be propo&s;ed to thee, upon &s;uch, and &s;uch conditions, con&s;ider whe|ther thou would&s;t accept that, upon tho&s;e conditions, upon thy death-bed, when thou mu&s;t part with them, in a few minutes. So, when thou doubte&s;t, in what thou &s;hould&s;t place thy a&s;&s;urance in God, thinke &s;eriou&s;ly, whether thou &s;halt not have more com|fort then, upon thy death-bed, in being able to &s;ay, <HI>I have fini&s;hed my cour&s;e, I have fought a good fight, I have fulfilled the &s;ufferings of Chri&s;t in my fle&s;h,</HI> I have cloathed him when he was naked, and fed him when he was poore, then in any other thing, that thou maie&s;t conceive God to have done for thee; And doe all the way, as thou would&s;t do then; prove thy element of fire, by the creatures it produces, prove thine election by thy &s;anctification; for that is the right method, and &s;hall deliver thee over, infallibly, to ever|la&s;ting glory at la&s;t, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERMON XIV. <HI>Preached at</HI> VVhite-hall, <HI>March</HI> 3. 1619.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>AMOS 5.18.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Woe unto you, that de&s;ire the day of the Lord: what have yee to doe with it? the day of the Lord is darkne&s;&s;e and not light.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_FOr the pre&s;enting of the woes and judgements of God, denounced by the Prophets again&s;t Judah and I&s;rael, and the extending and applying them to others, involved in the &s;ame &s;ins as Judah and I&s;rael were, <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;eemes to have given us &s;omewhat a cleare direction;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 9.8.</NOTE> <HI>Reprove not a &s;cor|ner le&s;t he hate thee, Rebuke a wi&s;e man and he will love thee.</HI> But how if the wi&s;eman and this &s;corner bee all in one man, all one per&s;on? If the wi&s;eman of this world bee come to take S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;o literally at his word, as to thinke &s;cornefully that <HI>preaching</HI> is indeed but <HI>the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of preaching,</HI> and that as the Church is within the State, &s;o preaching is a part of State government, flexible to the pre&s;ent occa&s;ions of time, appliable to the pre&s;ent di&s;po&s;itions of men; This fell upon this Pro|phet in this prophecie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 7.10.</NOTE> <HI>Ama&s;ias the Prie&s;t of Bethel informed the King that Amos medled with matters of State, and that the Land was not able to beare his words,</HI> and to <HI>Amos him|&s;elfe he &s;aies, Eate thy bread in &s;omeother place, but prophecy here no more, for this is the Kings Chappell,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 23.</NOTE> <HI>and the Kings Court; Amos replies, I was no Prophet nor the &s;on of a Prophet, but in an other cour&s;e, and the Lord tooke me and &s;aid unto me, Goe and Prophecie to my People.</HI> Though we finde no <HI>Ama&s;iah</HI> no mi&s;-interpreting Prie&s;t here, (wee are farre from that, becau&s;e we are far from having a <HI>Ieroboam</HI> to our King as he had, ea&s;ie to give eare, ea&s;ie to give credit to fal&s;e informations) yet every man that comes with Gods Me&s;&s;age hi|ther, brings a little <HI>Ama&s;iah</HI> of his owne, in his owne bo&s;ome, a little wi&s;perer in his owne heart, that tels him, <HI>This is the Kings Chappell, and it is the Kings Court,</HI> and the&s;e woes and judgements, and the denouncers and proclaimers of them are not &s;o acceptable here. But we mu&s;t have our owne <HI>Amos,</HI> a&s;well as our <HI>Ama&s;ias,</HI> this an&s;wer to this &s;ugge&s;ti|on, <HI>I was no Prophet, and the Lord tooke me and bad me prophecy.</HI> What &s;hall I doe?</P>
<PB N="137" REF="86">
<P>And be&s;ides, &s;ince the woe in this Text is not S. <HI>Iohns wo?</HI> his iterated, his multiplied <HI>wo, Vae, vae, vae habitantibus terram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 8.13.</NOTE> a woe of de&s;olation upon the whole world (for God loves this world, as the worke of his owne hands, as the &s;ubject of his providence, as the Scene of his glory, as the Garden-plot that is watered by the Blood of his Son:) Since the <HI>Woe</HI> in this Text is not <HI>E&s;aies wo, Vae genti peccatrici,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.4.</NOTE> an increpation and commination upon our whole Nation (for God hath not come &s;o neare to any Nation, and dealt &s;o well with any Nation as with ours:) Since the <HI>Woe</HI> in this Text is not <HI>Ezekiels Woe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 24<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Vae Civitati &s;anguinum,</HI> an imputation of inju&s;tice or oppre&s;&s;ion, and con&s;equently of a male|diction laid upon the whole City (for God hath carried his woes upon other Cities, <HI>Vae Chora&s;in, vae Beth&s;aida;</HI> God hath laid his heavy hand of warre and other calamities upon other Cities, that this City might &s;ee her &s;elfe and her calamities long before in that gla&s;&s;e, and &s;o avoid them:) Since the <HI>Woe</HI> in this Text, is not the Prophets other <HI>woe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 44.6. Io&s;. 24.15.</NOTE> <HI>Vae domui,</HI> not a woe upon any family (for when any man in his family comes to <HI>Io&s;hua's</HI> prote&s;tation, <HI>Ego &amp; domus mea, As for me and my hou&s;e we will &s;erve the Lord,</HI> the Lord comes to his prote&s;tation, <HI>In mille generationes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 28.1.</NOTE> <HI>I will &s;hew mercy to thee and thy hou&s;e for a thou&s;and generations:</HI>) Since the Woe in this Text, is not <HI>E&s;aies</HI> woe againe, <HI>Vae Coronae,</HI> (for, the &s;ame Prophet tels us of what affection they are, that they are Idolaters, per&s;ons inclin'd to an idolatrous and &s;uper&s;titious Religion, and fret them&s;elves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 8.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> and cur&s;e the King and their God; we know that the Prophets <HI>Vae Coronae</HI> in that place is <HI>Vae Coronae &s;uperbiae,</HI> and the crowne and heighth of Pride is in him, who hath &s;et him&s;elfe above all that is called God. Chri&s;tian Princes know that if their Crownes were but &s;o as they &s;eeme (all gold) they &s;hould bee but &s;o much the heavier for being all gold; but they are but Crownes of thornes gilded, &s;pecious cares, glorious troubles, and therefore no &s;ub|ject of pride:) To contract this, &s;ince the <HI>Woe</HI> in this Text, is no State woe, nor Church woe, for it is not <HI>Ezechiels Vae Pa&s;toribus in&s;ipientibus,</HI> which cannot feed their flock,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 23.3. Ier. 23.1.</NOTE> nor <HI>Ieremies Vae Pa&s;toribus di&s;perdentibus,</HI> Woe unto tho&s;e lazie Shepheards, which doe not feed their flock but &s;uffer them to &s;catter: Snce the <HI>Woe</HI> in this Text is not a woe upon the whole World, nor upon the whole Nation, nor upon the whole City, nor upon any whole Family, nor upon any whole ranke or calling of men, when I have asked with <HI>Solomon, Cui vae?</HI> to whom belongs this woe? I mu&s;t an&s;wer with S. <HI>Paul, Vae mihi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 23.19. 1 Cor. 9.16.</NOTE> woe unto me if I doe not tell them to whom it belongs. And therefore &s;ince in &s;pirituall things e&s;pecially charity begins with it &s;elfe, I &s;hall transferre this <HI>Vae</HI> from my &s;elfe, by laying it upon them, whom your owne con&s;cience &s;hall find it to belong unto; <HI>Vae de&s;ide|rantibus diem Domini; Woe be unto them that de&s;ire the day of the Lord, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But yet if the&s;e words can be narrow in re&s;pect of per&s;ons, it is &s;trange, for in re&s;pect of the &s;ins that they are directed upon, they have a great compa&s;&s;e; they reach from that high fin of Pre&s;umption, and contempt, and deriding the day of the Lord, the judgements of God, and they pa&s;&s;e through the &s;in of Hypocri&s;ie, when we make &s;hift to make the world, and to make our &s;elves beleeve that we are in good ca&s;e towards God, and would be glad that the day of the Lord, the day of judgement would come now; and then they come downe to the deepe&s;t &s;in, the &s;in of De&s;peration, of an unnaturall valuing of this life, when overwhelmed with the burden of other &s;ins, or with Gods puni&s;hment for them; men grow to a murmuring wearine&s;&s;e of this life, and to an impatient de&s;ire, and perchance to a practi&s;e of their owne ends: In the fir&s;t acceptation, the day of the Lord is the day of his Judgements and afflictions in this life; In the &s;econd, the day of the Lord is the day of the generall judgement; And in the third, the day of the Lord, is that <HI>Cre|pu&s;culum</HI> that twilight betweene the two lives, or rather that <HI>Meridies noctis,</HI> as the Poet cals it, that noone of night, the houre of our death and tran&s;migration out of this world. And if any de&s;ire any of the&s;e daies of the Lord, out of any of the&s;e indi&s;po&s;itions, out of pre&s;umption, out of hypocri&s;ie, out of de&s;peration, he fals within the compa&s;&s;e of this Text, and from him we cannot take off this <HI>Vae de&s;iderantibus.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then the Prophet directs him&s;elf mo&s;t literally upon the fir&s;t &s;in of Pre&s;umpti|on. They were come to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> that in truth what&s;oever the Prophet declaimed in the &s;treets, there was no &s;uch thing as <HI>Dies Domini,</HI> any purpo&s;e in God to bring &s;uch hea|vy judgements upon them; to the Prophets them&s;elves they were come to &s;ay, You your &s;elves live parched and macerated in a &s;tarved and penurious fortune, and therefore you cry out that all we mu&s;t die of famine too, you your &s;elves have not a foot of land a mong all the Tribes, &amp; therfore you cry out that all the Tribes mu&s;t be carried into ano|ther
<PB N="138" REF="87">Land in Captivity. That which you call the Day of the Lord is come upon you, beggery, and nakedne&s;&s;e, and hunger, contempt, and affliction, and impri&s;onment is come upon you, and therefore you will needs extend this day upon the whole State, but <HI>de&s;ideramus,</HI> we would fain &s;ee any &s;uch thing come to pa&s;&s;e, we would fain &s;ee God goe about to do any &s;uch thing, as that the State &s;hould not be wi&s;e enough to prevent him. To &s;ee a Prophet neglected, becau&s;e he will not flatter, to &s;ee him de&s;pi&s;ed below, be|cau&s;e he is neglected above, to &s;ee him injured, in&s;ulted upon, and really damnified, be|cau&s;e he is de&s;pi&s;ed, All this is <HI>dies mundi,</HI> and not <HI>dies Domini,</HI> it is the ordinary cour&s;e of the world, and no extraordinary day of the Lord, but that there &s;hould be &s;uch a &s;tu|por and con&s;ternation of minde and con&s;cience as you talk of, and that that &s;hould be &s;o expre&s;&s;ed in the countenance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 4.7.</NOTE> that <HI>they which had been purer then &s;now, whiter then milk, redder then Rubies, &s;moother then Saphirs,</HI> &s;hould not only be, as in other ca&s;es, pale with a &s;udden feare, but <HI>blacker in face then a coale,</HI> as the Prophet &s;ayes there, that they &s;hould not be able to &s;et a good face upon their mi&s;eries, nor di&s;gui&s;e them with a confident countenance, that there &s;hould be &s;uch a con&s;ternation of countenance and con&s;cience, and then &s;uch an excommunication of Church and State, as that the whole body of the children of I&s;rael &s;hould be <HI>without King,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 3.4.</NOTE> <HI>without Sacrifice, without Ephod, without Tera|fim, De&s;ideramus,</HI> We would fain &s;ee &s;uch a time, we would fain &s;ee &s;uch a God as were &s;o much too hard for us.</P>
<P>They had &s;een &s;uch a God before, they had known that that God had formerly brought all the people upon the face of the earth &s;o neare to an annihilation, &s;o neare to a new creation, as to be but eight per&s;ons in the generall flood, they had &s;een that God to have brought their own numerous, and multitudinous Nation, their 600000. men that came out of Aegypt to that paucity, as that but two of them are recorded to enter into the land of promi&s;e, And could they doubt what that God could do, or would do upon them? Or as <HI>Ieremy</HI> &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 12.</NOTE> <HI>Could they belie the Lord, and &s;ay it is not he? neither &s;hall evill come up|on us, or &s;hall we &s;ee &s;word and famine?</HI> God expre&s;&s;ed his anger thrice upon this people, in their State, in their form of government, Fir&s;t he expre&s;t it in giving them a King, for though that be the be&s;t form of government in it &s;elf, yet for that people at that time, God &s;aw it not to be the fitte&s;t, and &s;o it was extorted from him, and he gave them their King in anger. Secondly, he expre&s;&s;ed his anger in giving them two Kings in the de|&s;ection of the ten Tribes, and divi&s;ion of the two Kingdomes. Thirdly, he expre&s;t his anger in leaving them without any King after this Captivity which was prophe&s;ied here.</P>
<P>Now of tho&s;e 6000. yeares, which are vulgarly e&s;teemed to be the age and terme of this world, 3000. were pa&s;t before the divi&s;ion of the Kingdome, and pre&s;ently upon the divi&s;ion, they argued <HI>&agrave; divi&s;ibili ad corruptibile,</HI> what&s;oever may be broken and divided may come to nothing. It is the devils way to come to de&s;truction by breaking of unions. There was a contract between God and <HI>Iob,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Iob</HI> loved and feared him, and there the devill attempts to draw away the head from the union, God from <HI>Iob,</HI> with that &s;ug|ge&s;tion, <HI>Doth Iob &s;erve thee for nothing?</HI> Doe&s;t thou get any thing by this union? or doth not <HI>Iob</HI> &s;erve him&s;elf upon thee? There was a naturall, an e&s;&s;entiall, an eternall union between the Father and the Son in the Trinity, and the devill &s;ought to break that. If he could break the union in the Godhead, he &s;aw not why he might not de&s;troy the God|head. The devill was Logician good enough, <HI>Omne divi&s;ibile corruptibile,</HI> what&s;oever may be broken, may be annihilated. And the devill was Papi&s;t good enough, <HI>Schi&s;ma aequipollet haere&s;i,</HI> Who&s;oever is a Schi&s;matick, departed from the obedience of the Ro|mane Church, is ea&s;ily brought within compa&s;&s;e of here&s;ie too, becau&s;e it is a matter of faith to affirm a nece&s;&s;ity of &s;uch an obedience. And therefore the devil attempts to make that Schi&s;me in the Trinity, with that, <HI>Si filius Deies, Make the&s;e &s;tones bread, If thou bee&s;t the Son of God, ca&s;t thy &s;elf down from this Pinnacle,</HI> that is, do &s;omething of thy &s;elf, exceed thy commi&s;&s;ion, and never attend &s;o punctually all thy directions from thy Fa|ther. In <HI>Iobs</HI> ca&s;e he would draw the head from the union; In Chri&s;ts ca&s;e he would alienate the Son from the Father, becau&s;e divi&s;ion is the fore runner (and alas, but a lit|tle way the fore-runner) of de&s;truction. And therefore a&s;&s;oon as that Kingdome was come to a divi&s;ion between ten and two Tribes, between a King of Judah, and a King of I&s;rael, pre&s;ently upon it, and in the compa&s;&s;e of a very &s;hort time aro&s;e all tho&s;e Prophets that prophe&s;ied of a de&s;truction; a&s;&s;oon as they &s;aw a divi&s;ion, they fore&s;aw a de&s;tructi|on. And therefore when God had &s;hewed before what he could doe, and declared by his
<PB N="139" REF="87">Prophets then what he would doe, <HI>Vae de&s;iderantibus, Woe unto them that &s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 5.18.</NOTE> <HI>Let him make &s;peed and ha&s;ten his work, that we may &s;ee it:</HI> That is, that are yet confident that no &s;uch thing &s;hall fall upon us, and confident with a &s;corn,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.4.</NOTE> and fulfill that which the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>There &s;hall come in the latter daies &s;coffers, &s;aying, Where is the promi&s;e of his comming? for &s;ince the fathers fell a&s;leep, all things continue as they were from the beginning at the Crea|tion.</HI> But God &s;hall an&s;wer their &s;corn with &s;corn, as in <HI>Ezekiel, Son of man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 12.22.</NOTE> <HI>What is that Proverb which you have in the Land of I&s;rael, &s;aying, The dayes are prolonged, and eve|ry vi&s;ion failes?</HI> That is, the Prophets talk of great calamities, but we are &s;afe enough, <HI>Tell them</HI> (&s;ayes the Lord) <HI>I will make their proverb to cea&s;e, I will &s;peak and it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e; in your dayes, O rebellious hou&s;e, will I &s;ay the word, and per-form it.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore <HI>ut quid vobis?</HI> what &s;hould you pretend to de&s;ire that day? what can ye get by that day? <HI>Becau&s;e you have made a covenant with death, and are at an agreement with hell, when that Invadens flagellum,</HI> (as the Prophet with an elegant horror, if they can con&s;i&s;t, expre&s;&s;es it) <HI>when that over-flowing &s;courge &s;hall pa&s;&s;e through, &s;hall it not come to you?</HI> Why?<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 20.15.</NOTE> who are you? have you thought of it before hand, con&s;idered it, dige&s;ted it, and re&s;ol|ved, that in the wor&s;t that can fall, your vocall con&s;tancy, and your humane valour &s;hall &s;u&s;taine you from all dejection of &s;pirit? what judgement of God &s;oever &s;hall fall upon you, when&s;oever this <HI>dies Domini</HI> &s;hall break out upon you, you have light in your &s;elves, and by that light you &s;hall &s;ee light, and pa&s;&s;e through all incommodities. Be not decei|ved, this day of the Lord is darkne&s;&s;e and not light, the fir&s;t bla&s;t, the fir&s;t breath of his indignation blowes out thy candle, extingui&s;hes all thy Wi&s;edome, all thy Coun&s;ells, all thy Philo&s;ophicall &s;entences, di&s;orders thy <HI>Seneca,</HI> thy <HI>Plutarch,</HI> thy <HI>Tacitus,</HI> and all thy premeditations; for the &s;word of the Lord is a two-edged &s;word, it cuts bodily, and it cuts gho&s;tly, it cuts temporally, and it cuts &s;piritually, it cuts off all worldly reliefe from others, and it cuts off all Chri&s;tian patience, and good interpretation of Gods correction in thine owne heart.</P>
<P><HI>Vt quid vobis?</HI> what can you get by that day? can you imagine that though you have beene benighted under your owne obduration and &s;ecurity before, yet when this day of the Lord, the day of affliction &s;hall come, <HI>afflictio dabit intellectum,</HI> the day will bring light of it &s;elfe, the affliction will give under&s;tanding, and it will be time enough to &s;ee the danger and the remedy both at once, and to turne to God by that light, which that affliction &s;hall give? Be not deceived, <HI>dies Domini tenebrae,</HI> this day of the Lord will be darkne&s;&s;e and not light. God hath made two great lights for man, the Sun, and the Moone; God doth manife&s;t him&s;elfe two waies to man, by pro&s;perity, and adver&s;ity; but if there were no Sun, there would be no light in the Moone neither; If there be no &s;en&s;e of God in thy greatne&s;&s;e, in thy abundance, it is a dark time to &s;eek him in the clouds of affliction, and heavine&s;&s;e of heart. Experience teacheth us, that if we be reading any book in the evening, if the twilight &s;urpri&s;e us, and it growes dark, yet we can reade lon|ger in that book which we were in before, then if we took a new book of another &s;ubject into our hands: If we have been accu&s;tomed to the contemplation of God in the Sun|&s;hine of pro&s;perity, we &s;hall &s;ee him better in the night of mi&s;ery, then if we began but then, <HI>Vae de&s;iderantibus.</HI> If you &s;eem to de&s;ire that day of the Lord, becau&s;e you doe not beleeve that that day will come, or becau&s;e you beleeve that when that day comes, it will be time enough to rectifie your &s;elves, then, <HI>Vi quod vobis?</HI> this day &s;hall be good for nothing to either of you, for to both you it &s;hall be darkne&s;&s;e, and not light.</P>
<P>The dayes which God made for man were darkne&s;&s;e, and then light, &s;till the evening and the morning made up the day. The day which the Lord &s;hall bring upon &s;ecure and carnall men, is darkne&s;&s;e without light, judgements without any beames of mercy &s;hine through them, &s;uch judgements, as if we will con&s;ider the vehemency of them, we &s;hall finde them expre&s;&s;ed in &s;uch an extraordinary heighth, as &s;carce anywhere el&s;e in <HI>Iercmy, Men &s;hall ask one of another if they be in labour, whether they travell with childe.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.7.</NOTE> <HI>Wherefore do I &s;ee every man with his hands on his loines, as a woman in travell? Alas, becau&s;e that day is great, and none is like it.</HI> This is the unexpected and uncon&s;idered &s;trangene&s;&s;e of that day, if we con&s;ider the vehemency, and if we con&s;ider the &s;uddenne&s;&s;e, the &s;peed of bringing that day upon &s;ecure man. That is intimated very &s;ufficiently in another &s;tory of the &s;ame Prophet, that when he had &s;aid to the Prophet <HI>Hananiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer 28.16.</NOTE> <HI>That he &s;hould die within a year,</HI> when God &s;aith, his judgements &s;hall come &s;hortly, if then we con&s;ider the vehemency, or the nearne&s;&s;e of the day of the Lord, the day of his vi&s;itation, we &s;hall be
<PB N="140" REF="88">glad to &s;ay with that Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 17.16.</NOTE> <HI>As for me I have not de&s;ired that wofull day thou knowe&s;t,</HI> that is, I have neither doubted but that there &s;hall be &s;uch a day, nor I have not put off my repentance to that day, for what can that do good to either of tho&s;e di&s;po&s;itions, when to them it &s;hall be darkne&s;&s;e, and not light?</P>
<P>Now this <HI>Woe</HI> of this Prophet thus denounced again&s;t contemptuous &s;corners of the <HI>day of the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> as that day &s;ignifies afflictions in this life, have had no &s;ubject to work up|on this congregation (as by Gods grace there is none of that di&s;temper here) it is a piece of a Sermon well lo&s;t; and God be ble&s;&s;ed that it hath had no u&s;e, that no body needed it. But as the <HI>Woe</HI> is denounced in the &s;econd acceptation again&s;t Hypocrites, &s;o it is a chain-&s;hot, and in every congregation takes whole rankes, and here <HI>Dies Domini</HI> is the la&s;t day of Judgement, and the de&s;ire in the Text is not, as before, a denying that any &s;uch day &s;hould be, but it is an hypocriticall pretence, that we have &s;o well performed our du|ties, as that we &s;hould be glad if that day would come, and then the darkne&s;&s;e of the Text is everla&s;ting condemnation.</P>
<P>For this day of the Lord then, the la&s;t day of judgement, con&s;ider only, or reflect on|ly upon the&s;e three circum&s;tances: Fir&s;t, there is <HI>Lex violata,</HI> a law given to thee and bro|ken by thee. Secondly, there is <HI>Te&s;tis prolatus,</HI> Evidence produced again&s;t thee, and con|fe&s;&s;ed by thee. And then there is <HI>Sententia lata,</HI> A judgement given again&s;t thee, and executed upon thee.</P>
<P>For the Law fir&s;t, when that Law is <HI>To love God with all thy power,</HI> not to &s;catter thy love upon any other creature, when the Law is <HI>not to do, not to covet any ill,</HI> wilt thou &s;ay this Law doth not concern me, becau&s;e it is impo&s;&s;ible in it &s;elf, for this coveting, this fir&s;t concupi&s;cence is not in a mans own power? Why, this Law was po&s;&s;ible to man, when it was given to man, for it was naturally imprinted in the heart of man, when man was in his &s;tate of innocency, and then it was po&s;&s;ible, and the impo&s;&s;ibility that is grown in|to it &s;ince, is by mans own fault. Man by breaking the Law, hath made the Law impo&s;|&s;ible, and him&s;elf inexcu&s;able; wilt thou &s;ay with that man in the Go&s;pell, <HI>Omnia haec &agrave; juventute,</HI> I have kept all this Law from my youth? From thy youth? remember thy youth well, and what Law thou kept&s;t then, and thou wilt finde it to be another Law, <HI>Lex in membris, A Law of the fle&s;h warring again&s;t the Law of the minde,</HI> nay thou wilt finde that thou did&s;t never maintain a war again&s;t that Law of the fle&s;h, but wa&s;t glad that thou came&s;t to the obedience of that Law &s;o &s;oon, and art &s;orry thou can&s;t follow that Law no longer.</P>
<P>This is the Law, and wilt thou put this to triall? Wilt thou &s;ay who can prove it? Who comes in to give evidence again&s;t me? All tho&s;e whom thy &s;ollicitations have o|vercome, and who have overcome thy &s;ollicitations, good and bad, friends and enemies, Wives and Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es, per&s;ons mo&s;t incompatible, and contrary, here &s;hall joyne toge|ther, and be of the Jury. If S. <HI>Pauls</HI> ca&s;e were &s;o far thy ca&s;e, as that thou wert in righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e unblameable, no man, no woman able to te&s;tifie again&s;t thee, yet when the records of all thoughts &s;hall be laid open, and a retired and ob&s;cure man &s;hall appeare to have been as ambitious in his Cloi&s;ter, as a pretending man at the Court, and a retired woman in her chamber, appeare to be as licentious as a pro&s;titute woman in the Stews, when the heart &s;hall be laid open, and this laid open too, that &s;ome &s;ins of the heart are the greate&s;t &s;ins of all (as Infidelity, the greate&s;t &s;in of all, is rooted in the heart) and &s;in produced to action, is but a dilatation of that &s;in, and all dilatation is &s;ome degree of ex|tenuation, (The body &s;ometimes grows weary of acting &s;ome &s;in, but the heart never grows weary of contriving of &s;in.)</P>
<P>When this &s;hall be that Law, and this the Evidence, what can be the Sentence, but that, <HI>Itemaledicti, Go ye accur&s;ed into ever la&s;ting fire?</HI> where it is not as in the form of our judgement here, You &s;hall be carried to the place of execution, but <HI>Ite, Goe,</HI> our own con|&s;ciences &s;hall be our executioners, and precipitate us into that condemnation. It is not a Captivity of Babylon for 70. yeares, (and yet 70. yeares is the time of mans life, and why might not &s;o many yeares puni&s;hment, expiate &s;o many yeares &s;infull plea&s;ure?) but it is 70. millions of millions of generations, for they &s;hall live &s;o long in hell, as God him&s;elf in heaven; It is not an impri&s;onment during the Kings plea&s;ure, but during the Kings di&s;plea&s;ure, whom nothing can plea&s;e nor reconcile, after he &s;hall have made up that account with his Son, and told him, The&s;e be all you dyed for, the&s;e be all you pur|cha&s;ed, the&s;e be all whom I am bound to &s;ave for your &s;ake, for the re&s;t, their portion is everla&s;ting de&s;truction.</P>
<PB N="141" REF="88">
<P>Under this law, under this evidence, under this &s;entence, <HI>vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> woe to them that pretend to de&s;ire this day of the Lord, as though by their owne outward righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e, they could &s;tand upright in this judgement. Woe to them that &s;ay, Let God come when he will, it &s;hall goe hard, but he &s;hall finde me at Church, I heare three or foure Sermons a week; he &s;hall finde me in my Di&s;cipline and Mortification, I fa&s;t twice a week; he &s;hall finde me in my Steward&s;hip and Di&s;pen&s;ation, I give tithes of all that I po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e. When <HI>Ezechias</HI> &s;hewed the Amba&s;&s;adors of Babylon all his Trea&s;ure and his Armour, the malediction of the Prophet fell upon it, that all that Trea&s;ure and Armour which he had &s;o gloriou&s;ly &s;hewed, &s;hould be tran&s;ported to them, to whom he had &s;hew|ed it, into Babylon. He that publi&s;hes his good works to the world, they are carried into the world, and that is his reward. Not that there is not a good u&s;e of letting our light &s;hine before men too; for when S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>If I yet plea&s;e men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.10.</NOTE> <HI>I &s;hould not be the &s;ervant of Chri&s;t;</HI> and when he &s;aith, <HI>I doe plea&s;e all men in all things:</HI> S. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> found no difficulty in reconciling tho&s;e two; <HI>Navem quaero,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>&s;ed &amp; patriam,</HI> When I goe to the Ha|ven to hire a Ship, it is for the love I have to my Country; When I declare my faith by my works to men, it is for the love I beare to the glory of God; but if I de&s;ire the Lords day upon confidence in the&s;e works, <HI>vae &s;cirpo,</HI> as <HI>Iob</HI> expre&s;&s;es it, <HI>woe unto me poore ru&s;h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 8.16.</NOTE> <HI>for</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>the ru&s;h is greene till the Sun come,</HI> that is, &s;ayes <HI>Gregory</HI> upon that place, <HI>donec divina di&s;trictio in judicio candeat,</HI> till the fire of the judgement examine our works, they may have &s;ome verdure, &s;ome colour, but <HI>vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> wo unto them that put them|&s;elves unto that judgement for their works &s;ake.</P>
<P>For <HI>ut quid vobis?</HI> to what end is it for you? If your hypocriticall &s;ecurity could hold out to the la&s;t, if you could delude the world at the la&s;t ga&s;p, if tho&s;e that &s;tand about you then could be brought to &s;ay, he went away like a Lambe, alas the Lambe of God went not away &s;o, the Lamb of God had his colluctations, di&s;putations, expo&s;tulations, appre|hen&s;ions of Gods indignation upon him then: This &s;ecurity, call it by a wor&s;e name, &s;tupidity, is not a lying down like a Lamb, but a lying down like <HI>I&s;&s;achers</HI> A&s;&s;e between two burdens, for two greater burdens cannot be, then &s;in, and the &s;en&s;le&s;ne&s;&s;e of &s;in. <HI>Vt quid vobis?</HI> what will ye doe at that day, which &s;hall be darkne&s;&s;e and not light? God dwels in <HI>luce inacce&s;sibili,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.16.</NOTE> in &s;uch light as no man by the light of nature can comprehend here, but when that light of grace which was &s;hed upon thee here, &s;hould have brought thee at la&s;t to that inacce&s;&s;ible light, then thou mu&s;t be ca&s;t <HI>in tenebras exteriores,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.12.</NOTE> into darkne&s;&s;e, and darkne&s;&s;e without the Kingdome of heaven. And if the darkne&s;&s;e of this world, which was but a darkne&s;&s;e of our making, could not comprehend the light, when Chri&s;t in his per&s;on, brought the light and offered repentance, certainly in that outward darkne&s;&s;e of the next world, the darkne&s;&s;e which God hath made for puni&s;hment, they &s;hall &s;ee nothing, neither <HI>intramittendo,</HI> nor <HI>extramittendo,</HI> neither by receiving offer of grace from heaven, nor in the di&s;po&s;ition to pray for grace in hell. For as at our inanimati|on in our Mothers womb, our immortall &s;oule when it comes, &s;wallowes up the other &s;oules of vegetation, and of &s;en&s;e, which were in us before; &s;o at this our regeneration in the next world, the light of glory &s;hall &s;wallow up the light of grace. To as many as &s;hall be within, there will need no grace to &s;upply defects, nor e&s;chew dangers, becau&s;e there we &s;hall have neither defects nor dangers. <HI>There &s;hall be no night, no need of candle,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 22.5.</NOTE> <HI>nor of Sun, for the Lord &s;hall give them light, and they &s;hall raigne for ever and ever.</HI> There &s;hall be no &s;uch light of grace, as &s;hall work repentance to them that are in the light of glory; neither could they that are in outward darkne&s;&s;e, comprehend the light of grace, if it could flow out upon them. Fir&s;t, you did the works of darkne&s;&s;e, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.12.</NOTE> and then that cu&s;tome, that practice brought you to love darkne&s;&s;e better then light; and then as the <HI>Prince of darkne&s;&s;e</HI> delights to transforme him&s;elfe <HI>into an Angell of light;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 3.</NOTE> &s;o by your hypocri&s;ie you pretend a light of grace, when you are darkne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, and therefore, <HI>at quid vobis?</HI> what will you get by that day which is darkne&s;&s;e and not light?</P>
<P>Now as this Woe and commination of our Prophet had one aime,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> to beat down their &s;corne which derided the judgements of God in this world, and a &s;econd aime to beat downe their confidence, that thought them&s;elves of them&s;elves able to &s;tand in Gods judgements in the next world; &s;o it hath a third mark better then the&s;e two, it hath an aime upon them in whom a wearine&s;&s;e of this life, when Gods corrections are upon them, or &s;ome other mi&s;taking of their owne e&s;tate and ca&s;e, works an over-ha&s;ty and impatient
<PB N="142" REF="89">de&s;ire of death, and in this &s;en&s;e and acceptation, the day of the Lord is the day of our death and tran&s;migration out of this world, and the darkne&s;&s;e is &s;till everla&s;ting darkne&s;&s;e. Now for this we take our le&s;&s;on in <HI>Iob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob. 7.1.</NOTE> <HI>Vita militia, mans life is a warfare;</HI> man might have lived at peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg.</NOTE> he him&s;elfe cho&s;e a rebellious warre, and now <HI>quod volens expetiit nolens portat,</HI> that warre which he willingly embarked him&s;elfe in at fir&s;t, though it be again&s;t his will now, he mu&s;t goe through with. In <HI>Iob</HI> we have our le&s;&s;on, and in S. <HI>Paul</HI> we have our Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph 63.</NOTE> <HI>Take ye the whole armour of God, that ye may be able having done all to &s;tand;</HI> that is, that having overcome one temptation, you may &s;tand in battle again&s;t the next, for it is not <HI>adolo&s;centia militia,</HI> but <HI>vita;</HI> that we &s;hould think to triumph if we had overcome the heat and intemperance of youth, but we mu&s;t fight it out to our lives end. And then we have the reward of this le&s;&s;on, and of this law limited, <HI>nemo coronatur, no man is crow|ned, except he fight according to this law</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.5.</NOTE> he per&s;ever to the end. And as we have our le&s;&s;on in <HI>Iob,</HI> our rule and reward in the Apo&s;tle, who were both great Commanders in the warfare;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.38.</NOTE> &s;o we have our example in our great Generall, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>Who though his &s;oul were heavy, and heavy unto death, though he had a bapti&s;me to be bapti&s;ed with, &amp; coarctaba|tur, he was &s;traightned, and in paine till it were accompli&s;hed, and though he had power to lay down his &s;oul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 10.18.</NOTE> <HI>and take it up againe, and no man el&s;e could take it from him, yet he &s;ought it out to the la&s;t houre, and till his houre came, he would not prevent it, nor lay downe his &s;oule. Vae de&s;i|derantibus,</HI> woe unto them that de&s;ire any other end of Gods correction, but what he hath ordained and appointed, for <HI>ut quid vobis?</HI> what &s;hall you get by choo&s;ing your owne wayes? <HI>Tenebrae &amp; non lux;</HI> They &s;hall pa&s;&s;e out of this world, in this inward darkne&s;&s;e of melancholy, and dejection of &s;pirit, into the outward darkne&s;&s;e, which is an everla&s;ting exclu&s;ion from the Father of lights, and from the Kingdome of joy; their ca&s;e is well expre&s;&s;ed in the next ver&s;e to our Text, <HI>they &s;hall flie from a Lyon, and a Beare &s;hall meet them, they &s;hall leane on a wall, and a Serpent &s;hall bite them;</HI> they &s;hall end this life by a mi&s;erable and ha&s;ty death, and out of that death &s;hall grow an immortall life in torments, which no wearine&s;&s;e, nor de&s;ire, nor practice can ever bring to an end.</P>
<P>And here in this acceptation of the&s;e words, this <HI>vae</HI> falls directly upon them who co|louring and apparelling trea&s;on in martyrdome, expo&s;e their lives to the danger of the Law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scribanius.</NOTE> &amp; embrace death; the&s;e of whom one of their own &s;ociety &s;aith, that the Scevolaes, the Caves, the Porciaes, the Cleopatraes of the old time, were nothing to the Je&s;uites, for &s;aith he, they could dye once, but they lacked courage <HI>ad multas mortes;</HI> perchance hee meanes, that after tho&s;e men were once in danger of the Law, and forfeited their lives by one comming, they could come again and again, as often as the plentifull mercy of their King would &s;end them away, <HI>Rapiunt mortem &s;pontanea irruptione,</HI> &s;ayes he to their glo|ry, they are voluntary and violent pur&s;uers of their own death, and as he expre&s;&s;es it, <HI>Cre|deres morbo ade&s;os,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Baron. Marty|r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">. 29. De|cemb.</NOTE> you would think that the de&s;ire of death is a di&s;ea&s;e in them; A graver man then he mi&s;takes their ca&s;e and cau&s;e of death as much, you are (&s;aith he, incouraging tho&s;e of our Nation to the pur&s;uit of death) <HI>in &s;acris &s;eptis ad martyrium &s;aginati,</HI> fed up and fatned here for martyrdome, <HI>&amp; Sacramento &s;anguinem &s;po&s;pondi&s;tis,</HI> they have taken an oath that they will be hanged, but that he in whom (as his great patterne God him&s;elfe) mercy is above all his works, out of his abundant &s;weetne&s;&s;e makes them perjured when they have &s;o Tworne and vowed their owne ruine. But tho&s;e that &s;end them, give not the lives of the&s;e men &s;o freely, &s;o cheaply as they pretend. But as in dry Pumps, men poure in a little water, that they may pump up more; &s;o they are content to drop in a little blood of imaginary, but traiterous Martyrs, that, by that at la&s;t they may draw up at la&s;t the royall blood of Princes, and the loyall blood of Subjects; <HI>vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> woe to them that are made thus ambitious of their owne ruine, <HI>ut quid vobis? Tenebrae &amp; non lux,</HI> you are kept in darkne&s;&s;e in this world, and &s;ent into darkne&s;&s;e from heaven into the next, and &s;o your ambition, <HI>ad multas mortes,</HI> &s;hall be &s;atisfied, you dye more then one death, <HI>morte moriemini,</HI> this death delivers you to another, from which you &s;hall never be delivered.</P>
<P>We have now pa&s;t through the&s;e three acceptations of the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;ion.</NOTE> which have falne into the contemplation, and meditation of the Ancients in their Expo&s;itions of this Text; as this dark day of the Lord, &s;ignifies his judgements upon Athei&s;ticall &s;corners in this world, as it &s;ignifies his la&s;t irrevocable, and irremediable judgements upon hypocriticall relyers upon their own righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the next world, and between both, as it &s;ignifies their uncomfortable pa&s;&s;age out of this life, who bring their death inordinately upon them&s;elves; and we &s;hall &s;hut up all with one &s;ignification more of the Lords day, That,
<PB N="143" REF="89">that is the Lords day, of which the whole Lent is the Vigil, and the Eve. All this time of mortification; and our often meeting in this place to heare of our mortality, and our im|mortality, which are the two reall Texts, and Subjects of all our Sermons; All this time is the Eve of the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t. That is the Lords day, when all our mortification, and dejection of &s;pirit, and humbling of our &s;oules, &s;hall be abundantly exalted in his re&s;urrection, and when all our fa&s;ts and ab&s;tinence &s;hall be abundantly recompenced in the participation of his body &amp; his bloud in the Sacrament; Gods Chancery is alwayes open, and his &s;eale works alwaies; at all times remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins may be &s;ealed to a penitent &s;oule in the Sacrament. That clau&s;e which the Chancel|lors had in their Patents under the Romane Emperours, <HI>Vt praerogativamgerat con&s;cientiae no&s;trae,</HI> is in our commi&s;&s;ion too, for God hath put his con&s;cience into his Church, &amp; who&s;e &s;ins are remitted there, are remitted in heaven at all times; but yet <HI>dies Domini,</HI> the Lords re&s;urrection is as the full Terme, a more generall application of this &s;eale of reconciliati|on: But <HI>vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> woe unto them that de&s;ire that day, only becau&s;e they would have the&s;e dayes of preaching, and prayer, and fa&s;ting, and trouble &s;ome preparation pa&s;t and gone. <HI>Vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> woe unto them who de&s;ire that day, onely, that by rece<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ing the Sacrament day, that they might delude the world, as though they were not of a contrary religion in their heart; <HI>vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> woe unto them who pre&s;ent them&s;elves that day without &s;uch a preparation as becomes &s;o fearful and my&s;te&s;ious an action, upon any carnall or collaterall re&s;pects. Before that day of the Lord comes, comes the day of his crucifying; before you come to that day, if you come not to a crucifying of your &s;elves to the world, and the world to you, <HI>ut quid vobis?</HI> what &s;hall you get by that day? you &s;hall prophane that day, and the Author of it, as to make that day of Chri&s;ts tri|umph, the triumph of Satan, and to make even that body and bloud of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>Vehi|culum Satanae,</HI> his Chariot to enter into you, as he did into <HI>Iudas.</HI> That day of the Lord will be darkne&s;&s;e and not light, and that darkne&s;&s;e will be, that you &s;hall not di&s;cerne the Lords body, you &s;hall &s;catter all your thoughts upon wrangling and controver&s;ies, <HI>de mo|do,</HI> how the Lords body can be there, and you &s;hall not di&s;cerne by the effects, nor in your owne con&s;cience, that the Lords body is there at all. But you &s;hall take it to be onely an obedience to civill or Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall con&s;titutions, or onely a te&s;timony of outward con|formity, which &s;hould be <HI>&s;ignaculum &amp; viaticum,</HI> a &s;eale of pardon for pa&s;t &s;ins, and a pro|vi&s;ion of grace again&s;t future. But he that is well prepared for this, &s;trips him&s;elfe of all the&s;e <HI>vae de&s;iderantibus,</HI> of all the&s;e comminations that belong to carnall de&s;ires, and he &s;hall be as <HI>Daniel</HI> was, <HI>vir de&s;ideriorum,</HI> a man of cha&s;t and heavenly de&s;ires onely; hee &s;hall de&s;ire that <HI>day of the Lord,</HI> as that day &s;ignifies <HI>affliction</HI> here, with <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.17.</NOTE> <HI>Bonum e&s;t mihi qu&ograve;d humilia&s;ti me,</HI> I am mended by my &s;ickne&s;&s;e, enriched by my poverty; and &s;trengthened by my weakne&s;&s;e; and with S. <HI>Bern.</HI> de&s;ire, <HI>Ira&s;car is mihi Domine,</HI> O Lord be angry with me, for if thou chide&s;t me not, thou con&s;idere&s;t me not, if I ta&s;te no bitter|ne&s;&s;e, I have no Phy&s;ick; If thou correct me not, I am not thy &s;on: And he &s;hall de&s;ire that <HI>day of the Lord,</HI> as that day &s;ignifies, <HI>the la&s;t judgement,</HI> with the de&s;ire of the Martyrs under the Altar, <HI>V&s;quequo Domine? How long, O Lord, ere thou execute judgement?</HI> And he &s;hall de&s;ire this <HI>day of the Lord,</HI> as this day is the <HI>day of his own death,</HI> with S. <HI>Pauls</HI> de&s;ire, <HI>Cupio di&s;&s;olvi, I de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved, and to be with Chri&s;t.</HI> And when this <HI>day of the Lord,</HI> as it is <HI>the day of the Lords re&s;urrection</HI> &s;hall come, his &s;oule &s;hall be &s;atified as with marrow, and with fatne&s;&s;e, in the body and bloud of his Saviour, and in the participation of all his merits, as intirely, as if all that Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath &s;aid, and done, and &s;uffered, had beene &s;aid, and done, and &s;uffered for his &s;oule alone. Enlarge our daies, O Lord, to that ble&s;&s;ed day, prepare us before that day, &s;eale to us at that day, ratifie to us after that day, all the daies of our life, an a&s;&s;urance in that Kingdome, which thy Son our Saviour hath purcha|&s;ed for us, with the ine&s;timable price of his incorruptible bloud, To which glorious Son of God, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="144" REF="90">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XV.</HI> Preached at <HI>VVhite-hall,</HI> March <HI>8. 1621.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 15.26.</HI></BIBL>
<P>The la&s;t Enemie that &s;hall be de&s;troyed, is Death.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis is a Text of the Re&s;urrection, and it is not Ea&s;ter yet; but it is Ea&s;ter Eve; All Lent, is but the Vigill, the Eve of Ea&s;ter: to &s;o long a Fe&s;tivall as never &s;hall end, the Re&s;urrection, wee may well begin the Eve betimes. Forty yeares long was God grieved for that Generation which he loved; let us be content to humble our &s;elves forty daies, to be fitter for that glory which we expect. In the Booke of God there are many <HI>Songs;</HI> there is but one <HI>Lamen|tation:</HI> And that one Song of <HI>Solomon,</HI> nay &s;ome one of <HI>Davids</HI> hundred and fiftie P&s;almes, is longer then the whole booke of Lamentations. Make way to an everla&s;ting Ea&s;ter by a &s;hort Lent, to an undeterminable glory, by a temporary humiliation. You mu&s;t weepe the&s;e teares, teares of contrition, teares of mortification, before God will wipe all teares from your eyes; You mu&s;t dye this death, this death of the righteous, the death to &s;in, before this <HI>la&s;t enemy, Death,</HI> &s;halbe de&s;troyed in you, and you made par|takers of everla&s;ting life in &s;oule and body too.</P>
<P>Our divi&s;ion &s;hall be but a &s;hort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and our whole exerci&s;e but a larger paraphra&s;e upon the words. The words imply fir&s;t, That the Kingdome of Chri&s;t, which mu&s;t be perfe|cted, mu&s;t be accompli&s;hed, (becau&s;e all things mu&s;t be &s;ubdued unto him) is not yet per|fected, not accompli&s;hed yet. Why? what lacks it? It lacks the bodies of Men, which yet lie under the dominion of another. When we &s;hall al&s;o &s;ee by that Metaphor which the Holy Gho&s;t choo&s;eth to expre&s;&s;e that in, which is that there is <HI>Ho&s;tis,</HI> and &s;o <HI>Militia,</HI> an enemie, and a warre, and therefore that Kingdome is not perfected, that he places perfect happine&s;&s;e, and perfect glory, in perfect peace. But then how far is any State con|&s;i&s;ting of many men, how far the &s;tate, and condition of any one man in particular, from this perfect peace? How truly a warfare is this life, if the Kingdome of Heaven it &s;elfe, have not this peace in perfection? And it hath it not, <HI>Quia ho&s;tis,</HI> becau&s;e there is an enemy: though that enemy &s;hall not overthrow it, yet becau&s;e it plots, and workes, and machinates, and would overthrow it, this is a defect in that peace.</P>
<P>Who then is this enemy? An enemy that may thus far thinke him&s;elfe equall to God, that as no man ever &s;aw God, and lived; &s;o no man ever &s;aw this enemy and lived, for it is Death; And in this may thinke him&s;elfe in number &s;uperiour to God, that many men live who &s;hall never &s;ee God; But <HI>Quis homo,</HI> is <HI>Davids</HI> que&s;tion, which was never an|&s;wered, <HI>Is there any man that lives, and &s;hall not &s;ee death?</HI> An enemie that is &s;o well victualled again&s;t man, as that he cannot want as long as there are men, for he feeds up|on man him&s;elfe. And &s;o well armed again&s;t Man, as that he cannot want Munition, while there are men, for he fights with our weapons, our owne faculties, nay our cala|mities, yea our owne plea&s;ures are our death. And therefore he is <HI>Novi&s;simus ho&s;tis,</HI> &s;aith the Text, <HI>The la&s;t enemy.</HI></P>
<P>We have other Enemies; Satan about us, &s;in within us; but the power of both tho&s;e, this enemie &s;hall de&s;troy; but when they are de&s;troyed, he &s;hall retaine a ho&s;tile, and tri|umphant dominion over us. But <HI>V&s;que quo Domine?</HI> How long O Lord? for ever? No, <HI>Abolebitur:</HI> wee &s;ee this Enemy all the way, and all the way we feele him; but we &s;hall &s;ee him de&s;troyed; <HI>Abolebitur.</HI> But how? or when? At, and by the re&s;urrection of our bodies: for as upon my expiration, my tran&s;migration from hence, as &s;oone as my &s;oule enters into Heaven, I &s;hall be able to &s;ay to the Angels, I am of the &s;ame &s;tuffe as you, &s;pirit, and &s;pirit, and therefore let me &s;tand with you, and looke upon the face of your God, and my God, &s;o at the Re&s;urrection of this body, I &s;hall be able to &s;ay to the Angel
<PB N="145" REF="90">of the great Councell, the Son of God, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, I am of the &s;ame &s;tuffe as you, Body and body, Fle&s;h and fle&s;h, and therefore let me &s;it downe with you, at the right hand of the Father in an everla&s;ting &s;ecurity from this la&s;t enemie, who is now de&s;troyed, death. And in the&s;e &s;even &s;teps we &s;hall pa&s;&s;e apace, and yet cleerely through this paraphra&s;e.</P>
<P>We begin with this;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ve&s;tig. <HI>1.</HI> Quia de&s;unt Corpora.</NOTE> That the Kingdome of Heaven hath not all that it mu&s;t have to a con&s;ummate perfection, till it have bodies too. In tho&s;e infinite millions of millions of generations, in which the holy, ble&s;&s;ed, and glorious Trinity enjoyed them&s;elves one another, and no more, they thought not their glory &s;o perfect, but that it might receive an addition from creatures; and therefore they made a world, a materiall world, a corpo|reall world, they would have bodies. In that noble part of that world which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> cals the Firmament, that great expan&s;ion from Gods chaire to his foot&s;toole, from Heaven to earth, there was a defect, which God did not &s;upply that day, nor the next, but the fourth day, he did; for that day he made tho&s;e bodies, tho&s;e great, and light&s;ome bodies, the Sunne, and Moone, and Starres, and placed them in the Firmament. So al&s;o the Hea|ven of Heavens, the Pre&s;ence Chamber of God him&s;elfe, expects the pre&s;ence of our bodies.</P>
<P>No State upon earth, can &s;ub&s;i&s;t without tho&s;e bodies, Men of their owne. For men that are &s;upplied from others, may either in nece&s;&s;ity, or in indignation, be withdrawne, and &s;o that State which &s;tood upon forraine legs, &s;inks. Let the head be gold,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.31.</NOTE> and the armes &s;ilver, and the belly bra&s;&s;e, if the feete be clay, Men that may &s;lip, and molder away, all is but an Image, all is but a dreame of an Image: for forraine helps are rather crutches then legs. There mu&s;t be bodies, Men, and able bodies, able men; Men that eate the good things of the land, their owne figges and olives; Men not macerated with extortions: They are glorified bodies that make up the kingdome of Heaven; bodies that partake of the good of the State, that make up the State. Bodies, able bodies, and la&s;tly, bodies inanimated with one &s;oule: one vegetative &s;oule, all mu&s;t be &s;en&s;ible and com|pa&s;&s;ionate of one anothers mi&s;erie; and e&s;pecially the Immortall &s;oule, one &s;upreame &s;oule, one Religion. For as God hath made us under good Princes, a great example of all that, Abundance of Men, Men that live like men, men united in one Religion, &s;o wee need not goe farre for an example of a &s;lippery, and uncertaine being, where they mu&s;t &s;tand upon others Mens men, and mu&s;t over-load all men with exactions, and di&s;tortions, and convul&s;ions, and earthquakes in the multiplicity of Religions.</P>
<P>The Kingdome of Heaven mu&s;t have bodies; Kingdomes of the earth mu&s;t have them; and if upon the earth thou bee&s;t in the way to Heaven, thou mu&s;t have a body too, a body of thine owne, a body in thy po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion: for thy body hath thee, and not thou it, if thy body tyrannize over thee. If thou can&s;t not withdraw thine eye from an object of tentation, or withhold thy hand from &s;ub&s;cribing again&s;t thy con&s;cience, nor turne thine eare from a popular, and &s;editious Libell, what ha&s;t thou towards a man? Thou ha&s;t no &s;oule, nay thou ha&s;t no body: There is a body, but thou ha&s;t it not, it is not thine, it is not in thy power. Thy body will rebell again&s;t thee even in a &s;in: It will not performe a &s;in, when, and where thou would&s;t have it. Much more will it rebell again&s;t any good worke, till thou have imprinted <HI>Stigmata Ie&s;u,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.17.</NOTE> <HI>The Markes of the Lord Ie&s;us,</HI> which were but exemplar in him, but are e&s;&s;entiall, and nece&s;&s;ary to thee, ab&s;ti|nencies, and &s;uch di&s;creete di&s;ciplines, and mortifications, as may &s;ubdue that body to thee, and make it thine: for till then it is but thine enemy, and maintaines a warre again&s;t thee; and war, and enemie is the Metaphore which the holy Gho&s;t hath taken here to expre&s;&s;e a want, a kind of imperfectne&s;&s;e even in Heaven it &s;elfe. <HI>Bellum Symbolum mali.</HI> As peace is of all goodne&s;&s;e, &s;o warre is an embleme, a Hieroglyphique, of all mi&s;ery; And that is our &s;econd &s;tep in this paraphra&s;e.</P>
<P>If the feete of them that preach peace, be beautifull, (And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ve&s;tig. 2. Pax &amp; bel|lum.</NOTE> <HI>O how beautifull are the feete of them that preach peace?</HI> The Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> askes the que&s;tion, 52.7. And the Pro|phet <HI>Nahum</HI> askes it, 1.15. and the Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Paul</HI> askes it, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.15. They all aske it, but none an&s;wers it) who &s;hall an&s;wer us, if we aske, How beautifull is his face, who is the Author of this peace, when we &s;hall &s;ee that in the glory of Heaven, the Center of all true peace? It was the inheritance of Chri&s;t Je&s;us upon the earth, he had it at his birth, he brought it with him, <HI>Glory be to God on high, peace upon earth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.14. Colo&s;. 1.20.</NOTE> It was his purcha&s;e upon earth, <HI>He made peace</HI> (indeed he bought peace) <HI>through the blood of his Cro&s;&s;e.</HI> It was his
<PB N="146" REF="91">Te&s;tament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 14.27.</NOTE> when he went from earth; <HI>Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.</HI> Divide with him in that ble&s;&s;ed Inheritance, partake with him in that ble&s;&s;ed Purcha&s;e, enrich thy &s;elfe with that ble&s;&s;ed Legacy, his Peace.</P>
<P>Let the whole world be in thy con&s;ideration as one hou&s;e; and then con&s;ider in that, in the peacefull harmony of creatures, in the peacefull &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, and connexion of cau&s;es, and effects, the peace of Nature. Let this Kingdome, where God hath ble&s;&s;ed thee with a being, be the Gallery, the be&s;t roome of that hou&s;e, and con&s;ider in the two walls of that Gallery, the Church and the State, the peace of a royall, and a religious Wi&s;edome; Let thine owne family be a Cabinet in this Gallery, and finde in all the boxes thereof, in the &s;everall duties of Wife, and Children, and &s;ervants, the peace of vertue, and of the father and mother of all vertues, active di&s;cretion, pa&s;&s;ive obedience; and then la&s;tly, let thine owne bo&s;ome be the &s;ecret box, and re&s;erve in this Cabinet, and then the be&s;t Jewell in the be&s;t Cabinet, and that in the be&s;t Gallery of the be&s;t hou&s;e that can be had, peace with the Creature, peace in the Church, peace in the State, peace in thy hou&s;e, peace in thy heart, is a faire Modell, and a lovely de&s;igne even of the hea|venly Jeru&s;alem which is <HI>Vi&s;io pacis,</HI> where there is no object but peace.</P>
<P>And therefore the holy Gho&s;t to intimate to us, that happy perfectne&s;&s;e, which wee &s;hall have at la&s;t, and not till then, choo&s;es the Metaphor of an enemy, and enmity, to avert us from looking for true peace from any thing that pre&s;ents it &s;elfe in the way. Neither truly could the holy Gho&s;t imprint more horror by any word, then that which intimates war, as the word <HI>enemy</HI> does. It is but a little way that the Poet hath got in de|&s;cription of war, <HI>Iam &s;eges e&s;t,</HI> that now, that place is ploughed where the great City &s;tood: for it is not &s;o great a depopulation to tran&s;late a City from Merchants to hu&s;|bandmen, from &s;hops to ploughes, as it is from many Husbandmen to one Shepheard, and yet that hath beene often done. And all that, at mo&s;t, is but a depopulation, it is not a deva&s;tation, that Troy was ploughed. But, when the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> comes to the deva|&s;tation, to the extermination of a war,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 7.23.</NOTE> he expre&s;&s;es it fir&s;t thus; <HI>Where there were a thou&s;and Vineyards at a cheape rate, all the land become briars and thornes:</HI> That is much; but there is more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 13.13.</NOTE> <HI>The earth &s;hall be removed out of her place; that Land, that Nation, &s;hall no more be called that Nation, nor that Land:</HI> But, yet more then that too; Not onely, not that people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 13.19.</NOTE> but no othe &s;hall ever inhabit it. <HI>It &s;hall never be inhabited from generation to ge|neration, neither &s;hall Shepheards be there; Not onely no Merchant, nor Husbandman, but no depopulator: none but Owles, and O&s;triches, and Satyres,</HI> Indeed God knowes what, <HI>Ochim,</HI> and <HI>Ziim,</HI> words which truly we cannot tran&s;late.</P>
<P>In a word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 24.13.</NOTE> the horror of War is be&s;t di&s;cerned in the company he keeps, in his a&s;&s;oci|ates. And when the Prophet <HI>God</HI> brought <HI>War</HI> into the pre&s;ence of <HI>David,</HI> there came with him <HI>Famine,</HI> and <HI>Pe&s;tilence.</HI> And when Famine entred, we &s;ee the effects; It brought Mothers to eat their Children of a &s;pan long; that is, as &s;ome Expo&s;itors take it, to take medicines to procure abortions, to ca&s;t their Children, that they might have Children to eate. And when War's other companion, the Pe&s;tilence entred, we &s;ee the effects of that too: In le&s;&s;e then half the time that it was threatned for, it devoured three&s;core and ten thou&s;and of <HI>Davids</HI> men; and yet for all the vehemence, the violence, the impetu|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e of this Pe&s;tilence, <HI>David</HI> cho&s;e this Pe&s;tilence rather then a War. <HI>Militia</HI> and <HI>Malitia,</HI> are words of &s;o neare a &s;ound, as that the vulgat Edition takes them as one. For where the Prophet &s;peaking of the mi&s;eries that Hieru&s;alem had &s;uffered, &s;ayes, <HI>Fi|nita militia ejus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 42.2.</NOTE> Let her <HI>warfare</HI> be at an end, they reade, <HI>Finita malitia ejus,</HI> Let her <HI>mi|&s;ery</HI> be at an end; War and Mi&s;ery is all one thing. But is there any of this in heaven? Even the Saints in heaven lack &s;omething of the con&s;ummation of their happine&s;&s;e, <HI>Quia ho&s;tis,</HI> becau&s;e they have an enemy. And that is our third and next &s;tep.</P>
<P><HI>Michael</HI> and his Angels fought again&s;t the devill and his Angels; though that war ended in victory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ve&s;t. <HI>3.</HI> Quia Ho&s;tis.</NOTE> yet (taking that war, as divers Expo&s;itors doe, for the fall of An|gels) that Kingdome lo&s;t &s;o many inhabitants, as that all the &s;oules of all that &s;hall be &s;a|ved, &s;hall but fill up the places of them that fell, and &s;o make that Kingdome but as well as it was before that war: So ill effects accompany even the mo&s;t victorious war. There is no war in heaven, yet all is not well, becau&s;e there is an enemy; for that enemy would kindle a war again, but that he remembers how ill he &s;ped la&s;t time he did &s;o. It is not an enemy that invades neither, but only detaines: he detaines the bodies of the Saints which are in heaven, and therefore is an enemy to the Kingdome of Chri&s;t; He that de|taines
<PB N="147" REF="91">the &s;oules of men in Super&s;tition, he that detaines the hearts and allegeance of Subjects in an hae&s;itation, a vacillation, an irre&s;olution, where they &s;hall fix them, whe|ther upon their Soveraign, or a forraigne power, he is in the notion, and acceptation of enemy in this Text; an enemy, though no ho&s;tile act be done. It is not a war, it is but an enemy; not an invading, but a detaining enemy; and then this enemy is but one enemy, and yet he troubles, and retards the con&s;ummation of that Kingdome.</P>
<P>Antichri&s;t alone is enemy enough; but never carry this con&s;ideration beyond thy &s;elf. As long as there remaines in thee one &s;in, or the &s;infull gain of that one &s;in, &s;o long there is one enemy, and where there is one enemy, there is no peace. Gardners that husband their ground to the be&s;t advantage, &s;ow all their &s;eeds in &s;uch order, one under another, that their Garden is alwayes full of that which is then in &s;ea&s;on. If thou &s;in with that providence, with that &s;ea&s;onablene&s;&s;e, that all thy &s;pring, thy youth be &s;pent in wantonne&s;&s;e, all thy Summer, thy middle-age in ambition, and the wayes of prefer|ment, and thy Autumne, thy Winter in indevotion and covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, though thou have no farther ta&s;te of licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, in thy middle-age, thou ha&s;t thy &s;atiety in that &s;in, nor of ambition in thy la&s;t yeares, thou ha&s;t accumulated titles of honour, yet all the way thou ha&s;t had one enemy, and therefore never any perfect peace. But who is this one enemy in this Text? As long as we put it off, and as loath as we are to look this ene|my in the face, yet we mu&s;t, though it be Death. And this is <HI>Ve&s;tigium quartum,</HI> The fourth and next &s;tep in this paraphra&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Surge &amp; de&s;cende in domum figuli,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet <HI>Ieremy,</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mors.</HI> Jer. 18.2.</NOTE> &s;ay the Expo&s;i|tors, to the con&s;ideration of thy Mortality. It is <HI>Surge, de&s;cende, Ari&s;e and go down:</HI> A de&s;cent with an a&s;cen&s;ion: Our grave is upward, and our heart is upon <HI>Iacobs</HI> Ladder, in the way, and nearer to heaven. Our daily Funerals are &s;ome Emblemes of that; for though we be laid down in the earth after, yet we are lifted up upon mens &s;houlders be|fore. We ri&s;e in the de&s;cent to death, and &s;o we do in the de&s;cent to the contemplation of it. In all the Potters hou&s;e, is there one ve&s;&s;ell made of better &s;tuffe then clay? There is his matter. And of all formes, a Circle is the perfecte&s;t, and art thou loath to make up that Circle, with returning to the earth again?</P>
<P>Thou mu&s;t, though thou be loath. <HI>Forta&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> That word of contin|gency, of ca&s;ualty, Perchance, <HI>In omnibus ferme rebus, praeterquam in morte locum habet:</HI> It hath roome in all humane actions excepting death. He makes his example thus: &s;uch a man is married; where he would, or at lea&s;t where he mu&s;t, where his parents, or his Gardian will have him; &s;hall he have Children? <HI>Forta&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes he, They are a yong couple, perchance they &s;hall: And &s;hall tho&s;e Children be &s;ons? <HI>Forta&s;&s;e,</HI> they are of a &s;trong con&s;titution, perchance they &s;hall: And &s;hall tho&s;e &s;ons live to be men? <HI>Forta&s;&s;e,</HI> they are from healthy parents, perchance they &s;hall: And when they have lived to be men, &s;hall they be good men? Such as good men may be glad they may live? <HI>Forta&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;till; They are of vertuous parents, it may be they &s;hall: But when they are come to that <HI>Morientur,</HI> &s;hall tho&s;e good men die? here, &s;ayes that Father, the <HI>Forta&s;&s;e</HI> vani&s;hes; here it is <HI>omnino, cert&egrave;, &s;ine dubitatione;</HI> infallibly, inevitably, irrecoverably they mu&s;t die. Doth not man die even in his birth? The breaking of pri&s;on is death, and what is our birth, but a breaking of pri&s;on? A&s;&s;oon as we were clothed by God, our very appa|rell was an Embleme of death. In the skins of dead bea&s;ts, he covered the skins of dying men. A&s;&s;oon as God &s;et us on work, our very occupation was an Embleme of death; It was to digge the earth; not to digge pitfals for other men, but graves for our &s;elves. Hath any man here forgot to day, that ye&s;terday is dead? And the Bell tolls for to day, and will ring out anon; and for as much of every one of us, as appertaines to this day. <HI>Quotidi&egrave; morimur, &amp; tamen nos e&s;&s;e aeternos putamus,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome;</HI> We die every day, and we die all the day long; and becau&s;e we are notab&s;olutely dead, we call that an eter|nity, an eternity of dying: And is there comfort in that &s;tate? why, that is the &s;tate of hell it &s;elf, Eternall dying, and not dead.</P>
<P>But for this there is enough &s;aid, by the Morall man; (that we may re&s;pite divine proofes, for divine points anon, for our &s;everall Re&s;urrections) for this death is meer|ly naturall, and it is enough that the morall man &s;ayes, <HI>Mors lex, tributum, officium mor|talium.</HI> Fir&s;t it is <HI>lex,</HI> you were born under that law, upon that condition to die:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sencea.</NOTE> &s;o it is a rebellious thing not to be content to die, it oppo&s;es the Law. Then it is <HI>Tributum,</HI> an impo&s;ition which nature the Queen of this world layes upon us, and which &s;he will take,
<PB N="148" REF="92">when and where &s;e lift; here a yong man, there an old man, herea happy, there a mi&s;e|rable man; And &s;o itis a &s;editious thing not to be content to die, it oppo&s;es the prero|gative. And la&s;tly, it is <HI>Officium,</HI> men are to have rheir turnes, to take their time, and then to give way by death to &s;ucce&s;&s;ors; and &s;o it is <HI>Incivile, inofficio&s;um,</HI> not to be con|tent to die, it oppo&s;es the frame and form of government. It comes equally to us all, and makes us all equall when it comes. The e&s;hes of an Oak in the Chimney, are no E|pitaph of that Oak, to tell me how high or how large that was; It tels me not what flocks it &s;heltered while it &s;tood, nor what men it hurt when it fell. The du&s;t of great per&s;ons graves is &s;peechle&s;&s;e too, it &s;ayes nothing, it di&s;tingui&s;hes nothing: As &s;oon the du&s;t of a wretch whom thou woulde&s;t not, as of a Prince whom thou coulde&s;t not look upon, will trouble thine eyes, if the winde blow it thither; and when a whirle-winde hath blowne the du&s;t of the Church-yard into the Church, and the man &s;weeps out the du&s;t of the Church into the Church-yard, who will undertake to &s;ift tho&s;e du&s;ts again, and to pronounce, This is the Patrician, this is the noble flowre, and this the yeomanly, this the Plebeian bran. Sois the death of <HI>Ie&s;abel (Ieabel</HI> was a Queen) expre&s;&s;ed; <HI>They &s;hall not &s;ay, this is Ie&s;abel;</HI> not only not wonder that it is, not pity that it &s;hould be, but they &s;hall not &s;ay, they &s;hall not know, This is <HI>Ie&s;abel.</HI> It comes to all, to all alike; but not alike welcome to all. To die too willingly, out ofimpatience to wi&s;h, or out of vio|lence to ha&s;ten death, or to die too unwillingly, to murmure at Gods purpo&s;e reveled by age, or by &s;ickne&s;&s;e, are equall di&s;tempers; and to harbour a di&s;obedient loathne&s;&s;e all the way, or to entertain it at la&s;t, argues but an irreligious ignorance; An ignorance, that death is in nature but <HI>Expiratio,</HI> a breathing out, and we do that every minute; An ignorance that God him&s;elf took a day to re&s;t in, and a good mans grave is his Sab|bath; An ignorance that <HI>Abel</HI> the be&s;t of tho&s;e whom we can compare with him, was the fir&s;t that dyed. How&s;oever, when&s;oever, all times are Gods times: <HI>Vocantur obni ne diuti&uacute;s vexentur &aacute; noxiis, mali ne diuti&uacute;s bonos per&s;equantur,</HI> God cals the good to take them from their dangers, and God takes the bad to take them from their trumph. And therefore neither grudge that thou goe&s;t, nor that wor&s;e &s;tay, for God can make his pro|fit of both; <HI>Aut ideo vivit ut corrigatur, aut utper allum bonus exerceatur;</HI> God re|prieves him to mend him, or to make another better by his exerci&s;e; and not to exult in the mi&s;ery of another, but to glorifie God in the wayes of his ju&s;tice, let him know, <HI>Quantumcun&abque; &s;er&oacute;, &s;ubit&oacute; ex hac &oacute;itatollitur, qui finem praevidere ne&s;civit:</HI> How long &s;oe|ver he live, how long &s;oever he lie &s;ick, that man dies a &s;udden death, who never thought of it, If we con&s;ider death in S. <HI>Pauls Statutum e&s;t, It is decr&eacute;ed that all men mu&s;t die,</HI> there death is indifferent; If we con&s;ider it in his <HI>Mori lucrum, that is an advantage to die,</HI> there death is good; and &s;o much the vulgat Edition &s;eemes to intimate, when (<HI>Deut.</HI> 30. 19) whereas we reade, I have &s;et before you life and death, that reades it, <HI>Vitam &amp; honum,</HI> Life and that which is good. If then death be at the wor&s;t indifferent, and to the good, good, how is it <HI>Ho&s;tis,</HI> an enemy to the Kingdome of Chri&s;t? for that al&s;o is <HI>Ve|&s;tigium quintum,</HI> the fift and next &s;tep in this paraphra&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t God did not make death, &s;aies the Wi&s;eman, And therefore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> makes a rea&s;onable prayer to God, <HI>Ne permittas Domine quod nonfeci&s;ti, dominari Creatur ae quam feci&s;ti;</HI> Suffer not O Lord, death, whom thou did&s;t not make, to have dominion over me whom thou did&s;t. Whence then came death? The &s;ame Wi&s;eman hath &s;hewed us the father, Through envy of the devill, came death into the world; and a wi&s;er then he, the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe hath &s;hewed us the Mother, <HI>By &s;in came death into the world.</HI> But yet if God have naturalized death, taken death into the number of his &s;ervants, and made Death his Commi&s;&s;ioner to puni&s;h &s;in, and he doe but that, how is Death an enemy? Fir&s;t, he was an enemy in invading Chri&s;t, who was not in his Commi&s;&s;ion, becau&s;e he had no &s;in; and &s;till he is an enemie, becau&s;e &s;till he adheres to the enemy. Death hangs upon the edge of every per&s;ecutors &s;word; and upon the &s;ting of every calumniators, and accu&s;ers tongue. In the Bull of Phalaris, in the Bulls of Ba&s;an, in the Buls of Baby|lon, the &s;hrewde&s;t Buls of all, in temporall, in &s;pirituall per&s;ecutions, ever &s;ince God put an enmity between Man, and the Serpent, from the time of <HI>Cain</HI> who began in a murther, to the time of Antichri&s;t, who proceeds in Ma&s;&s;acres, Death hath adhered to the enemy, and &s;o is an enemy.</P>
<P>Death hath a Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Stipendium peccati mors e&s;t, The reward of &s;in Death,</HI> but where God gives a Super&s;edeas, upon that Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Vivo Ego, nolo mortem, As I
<PB N="149" REF="92">live &s;aith the Lord, I would have no &s;inner dye,</HI> not dye the &s;econd death, yet Death pro|ceeds to that execution: And where as the enemy, whom he adheres to, Serpent him|&s;elfe, hath power but <HI>In calcaneo,</HI> upon the heele, the lower, the mortall part, the body of man, <HI>Death is come up into our windowes,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, into our be&s;t lights,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 9.21.</NOTE> our under&s;tandings, and benights us there, either with ignorance, before &s;in, or with &s;en&s;e|le&s;ne&s;&s;e after: And a Sheriffe that &s;hould burne him, who were condemned to be hanged, were a murderer, though that man mu&s;t have dyed: To come in by the doore, by the way of &s;ickne&s;&s;e upon the body, is, but to come in at the window by the way of &s;in, is not deaths Commi&s;&s;ion; God opens not that window.</P>
<P>So then he is an enemy, for they that adhere to the enemy are enemies: And adhering is not only a pre&s;ent &s;ubmini&s;tration of &s;upply to the enemy (for that death doth not) but it is al&s;o a di&s;po&s;ition to a&s;&s;i&s;t the enemy, then when he &s;hall be &s;trong enough to make benefit of that a&s;&s;i&s;tance. And &s;o death adheres; when &s;in and Satan have weakned bo|dy and minde, death enters upon both. And in that re&s;pect he is <HI>Vltimus ho&s;tis,</HI> the la&s;t enemy, and that is <HI>Sextum ve&s;tigium,</HI> our &s;ixth and next &s;tep in this paraphra&s;e.</P>
<P>Death is the la&s;t, and in that re&s;pect the wor&s;t enemy. In an enemy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Novi&s;&s;sns<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">s ho&s;tis.</NOTE> that appeares at fir&s;t, when we are or may be provided again&s;t him, there is &s;ome of that, which we call Honour: but in the enemie that re&s;erves him&s;elfe unto the la&s;t, and attends our weake e&s;tate, there is more danger. Keepe it, where I intend it, in that which is my &s;pheare, the Con&s;cience: If mine enemie meet me betimes in my youth, in an object of tentation, (&s;o <HI>Io&s;ephs</HI> enemie met him in <HI>Putifars</HI> Wife) yet if I doe not adhere to this enemy, dwell upon a delightfull meditation of that &s;in, if I doe not fuell, and foment that &s;in, a&s;&s;i&s;t and encourage that &s;in, by high diet, wanton di&s;cour&s;e, other provocation, I &s;hall have rea&s;on on my &s;ide, and I &s;hall have grace on my &s;ide, and I &s;hall have the Hi&s;tory of thou&s;and that have peri&s;hed by that &s;in, on my &s;ide; Even Spittles will give me &s;ouldiers to fight for me, by their mi&s;erable example again&s;t taht &s;in; nay perchance &s;ometimes the vertue of that woman, whom I &s;ollicite, will a&s;&s;i&s;t me. But when I lye under the hands of that enemie, that hath re&s;erved him&s;elfe to the la&s;t, to my la&s;t bed, then when I &s;hall be able to &s;tir no limbe in any other mea&s;ure then a Feaver or a Pal&s;ie &s;hall &s;hake them, when everla&s;ting darkne&s;&s;e &s;hal have an inchoation in the pre&s;ent dimne&s;&s;e of mine eyes, and the everla&s;ting gna&s;hing in the pre&s;ent chattering of my teeth, and the everla&s;ting worme in the pre&s;ent gnawing of the Agonies of my body, and angui&s;hes of my minde, when the la&s;t enemie &s;hall watch my remedil&s;&s;e body, and my de&s;con&s;olate &s;oule there, there, where not the Phy&s;itian, in his way, perchance not the Prii&s;t in hi, &s;hall be able to give any a&s;&s;i&s;tance, And when he hath &s;ported him&s;elfe with my mi&s;ery upon that &s;tage, my death-bed, &s;hall &s;hift the Scene, and throw me from that bed, into the grave, and there triumph over me, God knowes, how many generations, till the Redeemer, my Redee|mer, the Redeemer of all me, body, a&s;well as &s;oule, come againe; As death is <HI>Novi&s;|&s;imus ho&s;tis,</HI> the enemy which watches me, at my la&s;t weakne&s;&s;e, and &s;hall hold me, when I &s;hall be no more, till that Angel come, <HI>Who &s;hall &s;ay, and &s;weare that time &s;hall be no more,</HI> in that con&s;ideration, in that apprehen&s;ion, he is the powerfulle&s;t, the feareful|e&s;t enemy; and yet evern there this enemy <HI>Abolebitur,</HI> he &s;hall be de&s;troyed, which is, <HI>Septimum ve&s;tigium,</HI> our &s;eventh and la&s;t &s;tep in this paraphra&s;e.</P>
<P>This de&s;truction, this abolition of this la&s;t enemy, is by the Re&s;urrection;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Abolebieur.</NOTE> for the Text is part of an argument for the Re&s;urrection. And truly, it is a faire intimation, and te&s;timony of an everla&s;ting end in that &s;tate of the Re&s;urrection (that no time &s;hall end it) that we have it pre&s;ented to us in all the parts of time; in the pa&s;t, in the pre&s;ent, and in the future. We had a Re&s;urrection in prophecy; we have a Re&s;urrection in the pre&s;ent working of Gods Sprit; we &s;hall have a Re&s;urrection in the finall con&s;ummation. The Prophet &s;peaks in the furture, <HI>He will &s;wallow up death in victory,</HI> there it is <HI>Abolebit:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 25.8.</NOTE> All the Erangeli&s;ts &s;peak hi&s;torically, of matter of fact, in them it is <HI>Abolevit.</HI> And here in this Apo&s;tle, it is in the pre&s;ent, <HI>Aboletur,</HI> now he is de&s;troyed. And this exhibites un|to us a threefold occa&s;ion of advancing our devotion, in con&s;idering a threefold Re&s;ur|rection; Fir&s;t, a Re&s;urrection from dejections and calamities in this world, a Tempora|ry Re&s;urrection; Secondly, a Re&s;urrection from &s;in, a Spirituall Re&s;urrection; and then a Re&s;urrection; Secondly, a Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P><HI>A calamitate;</HI> When the Prophets &s;peak of a Re&s;urrection in the old Te&s;tament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. A calami|tate.</NOTE> for the mo&s;t part their principall intention is, upon a temporall re&s;titution from calamities
<PB N="150" REF="93">that oppre&s;&s;e them then. Neither doth <HI>Calvin</HI> carry tho&s;e emphaticall words, which are &s;o often cited for a proofe of the la&s;t Re&s;urrection:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.25.</NOTE> <HI>That he knows his Redeemer lives, that he knows he &s;hall &s;tand the la&s;t man upon earth, that though his body be de&s;troyed, yet in his fle&s;h and with his eyes he &s;hall &s;ee God,</HI> to any higher &s;en&s;e then &s;o, that how low &s;oeve he bee brought, to what de&s;perate &s;tate &s;oever he be reducedin the eyes of the world, yet he a&s;|&s;ures him&s;elf of a Re&s;urrection, a reparation, a re&s;titution to his former bodily health, and worldly fortune which he had before, And &s;uch a Re&s;urrection we all know <HI>Iob</HI> had.</P>
<P>In that famous, and mo&s;t con&s;iderable propheticall vi&s;ion which God exhibited to <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> where God &s;et the Prophet in a valley of very many, and very dry bones, and invites the &s;everall joynts to knit again, tyes them with their old &s;inews, and ligaments, clothes them in their old fle&s;t, wraps them in their old skin, and cals life into them again, Gods, principall intention in that vi&s;ion was thereby to give them an a&s;&s;urance of a Re&s;ur|rection from their pre&s;ent calamity, not but that there is al&s;o good evidence of the la&s;t Re&s;urrection in that vi&s;ion too; Thus far God argues with them <HI>&aacute;re nota;</HI> from that which they knew before, the finall Re&s;urrection, he a&s;&s;ures them that which they knew not till then, a pre&s;ent Re&s;urrection from tho&s;e pre&s;&s;ures: Remember by this vi&s;ion that which you all know already, that at la&s;t I &s;hall re-unite the dead, and dry bones of all men in a generall Re&s;urrection: And them if you remember, if you con&s;ider, if you look upon that, can you doubt, but that I who can do that, can al&s;o recollect you, from your pre&s;ent de&s;peration, and give you a Re&s;urrection to your former temporall happine&s;&s;e? And this truly ari&s;es pregnantly, nece&s;&s;arily out of the Prophets an&s;wer; God asks him there, <HI>Son of man, cna the&s;e bones live?</HI> And he an&s;wers, <HI>Domine tu n&oacute;&s;ti, O Lord God thou knowe&s;t.</HI> The Prophet an&s;wers according to Gods intention in the que&s;tion. If that had been for their living in the la&s;t Re&s;urrection, <HI>Ezekiel</HI> would have an&s;wered God as <HI>Martha</HI> an&s;wered Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.24.</NOTE> when he &s;aid, <HI>Thy brother Lazarus &s;hall ri&s;e again; I know that he &s;hall ri&s;e again at the Re&s;urrection at the la&s;t day;</HI> but when the que&s;tion was, whether men &s;o macerated, &s;o &s;eattered in this world, could have a Re&s;urrection to their former temprorall happine&s;&s;e, here, that puts the Prophet to his <HI>Domine tu n&oacute;&s;ti,</HI> It is in thy brea&s;t to propo&s;eit, itis in thy hand to execute it, whether thou do it, or do it not, thy name be glori&s;ied; It fals not within our conjecture, which way it &s;hall plea&s;e thee to take for this Re&s;urrection, <HI>Domine tu n&oacute;&s;ti,</HI> Thou Lord, and thou only knowe&s;t; Which is al&s;o the &s;en&s;e of tho&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.35.</NOTE> <HI>Others were tortured, and accepted not a deliverance, that they might obtain a better Re&s;urrection:</HI> A pre&s;ent deliverance had been a Re&s;urrection, but to be the more &s;ure of a better hereafter, they le&s;&s;e re&s;pected that; According to that of our Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.39.</NOTE> <HI>He that findes hi life, &s;hall lo&s;e it;</HI> He that fixeth him&s;elf too earne&s;tly upon this Re&s;urrection, &s;hall lo&s;e a better.</P>
<P>This is then the propheticall Re&s;urrection for the future, but a future in this world; That if Rulers take coun&s;ell again&s;t the Lord, the Lord &s;hall have their coun&s;ell in deri&s;i|on; If they take armes again&s;t the Lord, the Lord &s;hall break their Bows, and cut their Spears in &s;under;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.4.</NOTE> If they hi&s;&s;e, and gna&s;h their teeth, and &s;ay, we have &s;wallowed him up; If we be made their by-word, their parable, their proverb, their libell, the theame and burden of their &s;ongs, as <HI>Iob</HI> complaines, yet what&s;oever fall upon me, dmage, di|&s;tre&s;&s;e, &s;corn, or <HI>Ho&s;tis ultimus,</HI> death it &s;elf, that death which we con&s;ider here, death of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, death of e&s;timation, death of health, death of contentment, yet <HI>Abolebi|tur,</HI> it &s;ahll be de&s;troyed in a Re&s;urrection, in the return of the light of Gods countenance upon me even in this world. And this is the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>But this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Apeecatis.</NOTE> which is but from temporall calamities, doth &s;o little con|cerne a true and e&s;tabli&s;hed Chri&s;tian, whether it come or no, (for &s;till <HI>Iobs</HI> Ba&s;is is his Ba|&s;is, and his Centre, <HI>Etiam&s;i occiderit,</HI> though he kill me, kill me, kill me, in all the&s;e &s;eve|rall deaths, and give me no Re&s;urrection in this world, yet I will tru&s;t in him) as that, as though this fir&s;t re&s;urrection were no re&s;urrection, not to be numbred among the rer&s;ur|rections, S. <HI>Iohn</HI> calls that which we call the &s;econd, which is from &s;in, the fir&s;t re&s;urre|ction: <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is be, who hath part in the fir&s;tre&s;urrection:</HI> And this re&s;urrection, Chri&s;timplies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoe. 20.6. John 5.25.</NOTE> when he &s;aies, <HI>Verely, verely, I &s;ay unto you, the houre is comming, and now is, when the dead &s;hall heare the ovyce of the Son of God; and they that heare it &s;hall live:</HI> That is, by the voyce of the word of life, the Go&s;pell of repentance, they &s;hall have a &s;pirituall re&s;urrection to a new life.
<PB N="151" REF="93">S. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> and <HI>Lactantius</HI> both were &s;o hard in beleeving the roundne&s;&s;e of the earth, that they thought that tho&s;e <HI>homines pen&s;iles,</HI> as they call them, tho&s;e men that hang upon the other cheek of the face of the earth, tho&s;e Antipodes, who&s;e feet are directly again&s;t ours, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily fall from the earth, if the earth be round. But whither &s;hould they fall? If they fall, they mu&s;t fall upwards, for heaven is above them too as it is to us. So if the &s;pirituall Antipodes of this world, the Sons of God, that walk with feet oppo&s;ed in wayes contrary to the &s;ons of men, &s;hall be &s;aid to fall, when they fall to repentance, to mortification, to a religious negligence, and contempt of the plea&s;ures of this life, truly their fall is up wards, they fall towards heaven, <HI>God gives breath unto the peo|ple upon the earth,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet, <HI>Et &s;piritum his, qui calcant illam.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 45.5</NOTE> Our Tran&s;lation carries that no farther, but that <HI>God gives breath to people upon the earth, and &s;pirit to them that walk thereon;</HI> But <HI>Irenaeus</HI> makes a u&s;efull difference between <HI>afflatus</HI> and <HI>&s;piritus,</HI> that God gives breath to all upon earth, but his &s;pirit onely to them, who tread in a reli|gious &s;corne upon earthly things.</P>
<P>Is it not a &s;trange phra&s;e of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Mortifie your members; fornication, uncleane|ne&s;&s;e, inordinate affections?</HI> He does not &s;ay, mortifie your members again&s;t tho&s;e &s;ins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3.5.</NOTE> but he calls tho&s;e very &s;ins, the members of our bodies, as though we were elemented and compacted of nothing but &s;in, till we come to this re&s;urrection, this mortification, which is indeed our vivification; <HI>Till we beare in our body, the dying of our Lord Ie&s;us, that the life al&s;o of Ie&s;us may be made manife&s;t in our body.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4.10.</NOTE> God may give the other re&s;urrecti|on from worldly mi&s;ery, and not give this. A widow may be re&s;cued from the &s;orrow and &s;olitarine&s;&s;e of that &s;tate, by having a plentifull fortune; there &s;he hath one re&s;urre|ction; but <HI>the widow that liveth in plea&s;ure, is dead while &s;he lives;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.6.</NOTE> &s;hee hath no &s;econd re&s;urrection; and &s;o in that &s;en&s;e, even this Chappell may be a Church-yard, men may &s;tand, and &s;it, and kneele, and yet be dead; and any Chamber alone may be a <HI>Golgotha,</HI> a place of dead mens bones, of men not come to this re&s;urrection, which is the renunci|ation of their beloved &s;in.</P>
<P>It was inhumanely &s;aid by <HI>Vitellius,</HI> upon the death of <HI>Otho,</HI> when he walkedin the field of carca&s;&s;es, where the battle was fought; O how &s;weet a perfume is a dead ene|my! But it is a divine &s;aying to thy &s;oule, O what a &s;avor of life, unto life, is the death of a beloved &s;in! What an Angelicall comfort was that to <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Mary</HI> in Aegypt, after the death of <HI>Herod, Ari&s;e, for they are dead, that &s;ought the childes life!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.20.</NOTE> And even that comfort is multiplied upon thy &s;oul, when the Spirit of God &s;aies to thee, Ari&s;e come to this re&s;urrection: for that <HI>Herod,</HI> that &s;in, that &s;ought the life, the everla&s;ting life of this childe, the childe of God, thy &s;oule, is dead, dead by repentance, dead by mortification. The highe&s;t cruelty that &s;tory relates, or Poets imagine, is when a per&s;ecutor will not afford a mi&s;erable man death, not be &s;o mercifull to him, as to take his life. Thou ha&s;t made thy &s;in, thy &s;oule, thy life; inanimated all thy actions, all thy purpo&s;es with that &s;in. <HI>Mi&s;erere animatuae,</HI> be &s;o mercifull to thy &s;elfe, as to take away that life by morti|fication, by repentance, and thou art come to this Re&s;urrection: and thugh a man may have the former re&s;urrection, and not this, peace in his fortune, and yet not peace in his con&s;cience, yet who&s;oever hath this &s;econd, hath an infallible &s;eale of the third re&s;urre|ction too, to a fulne&s;&s;e of glory in body, as well as in &s;oule. For <HI>Spiritus maturam efficit carnem &amp; capacem incorruptelae;</HI> this re&s;urrection by the &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Irenaeus.</NOTE> mellowes the body of man, and makes that capable of everla&s;ting glory, which is the la&s;t weapon, by which the la&s;t enemy death, &s;hall be de&s;troyed; <HI>A morte.</HI></P>
<P>Upon that pious ground that all Scriptures were written for us, as we are Chri&s;tians, that all Scriptures conduce to the proofe of Chri&s;t, and of the Chri&s;tian &s;tate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. A morte.</NOTE> it is the or|dinary manner of the Fathers to make all that <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks hi&s;torically of him&s;elfe, and all that the Prophet &s;peaks futurely of the Jews, if tho&s;e place may be referred to Chri&s;t, to referre them to Chri&s;t primarily, and but by reflection, and in a &s;econd con&s;ideration upon <HI>David</HI> or upon the Jews, Thereupon doe the Father (truly I think more generally more unanimely then in any other place of Scripture) take that place of <HI>Ezekile</HI> which we &s;pake of before, to be primarily intended of the la&s;t re&s;urrection, &amp; but &s;ecundarily of the Jews re&s;titution. But <HI>Ga&s;per Sanctius</HI> a learned Je&s;uit, (that is not &s;o rare, but an ingenu|ous Je&s;uit too) though he be bound by the Councel Trent to interpret Scriptures accor|ding to the Fathers, yet he here ackowledges the whole truth, that Gods purpo&s;e was to prove, by that which they did know, which was the generall re&s;urrection, that which
<PB N="152" REF="94">they knew not, their temporall re&s;titution. <HI>Tertullian</HI> is vehement at fir&s;t, but after, more &s;upple, <HI>Allegoricae Scripturae,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>re&s;urrectionem &s;ubradiant aliae, aliae determinant:</HI> Some figurative places of Scripture, doe intimate a re&s;urrection, and &s;ome manife&s;t it; and of tho&s;e manife&s;t places he takes this vi&s;ion of <HI>Ezekiel</HI> to be one. But he comes after to this, <HI>Sit &amp; corporum, &amp; rerum, &amp; me&aacute;nihilintere&s;t;</HI> let it &s;ighnifie a temporall re&s;urrection, &s;o it may &s;ignifie the generall re&s;urrection of our bodies too, &s;aies he, and I am well &s;atisfied; and then the truth &s;atisfies him, for it doth &s;ignifie both. It is true that <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>De vacuo &s;imilitudo non competit;</HI> If the vi&s;ion be but a compari&s;on, if there were no &s;uch thing as a re&s;urrection, the compari&s;on did not hold. <HI>De nullo par abola non convenit,</HI> &s;aies he, and truly; If there were no re&s;urrection to which that Parable might have relation, it were no Parable. All that is true; but there was a re&s;urrection alwaies knowne to them, alwaies beleeved by them, and that made their pre&s;ent re&s;urrection from that ca|lamity, the more ea&s;ie, the more intelligible, the more credible, the more di&s;cernable to them.</P>
<P>Let therefore Gods method, be thy method; fixe thy &s;elf firmly upon that beliefe of the penerall re&s;urrection, and thou wilt never doubt of either of the particular re&s;urrecti|ons, either from &s;in, by Gods grace, or from worldly calamities, by Gods power. For that la&s;t re&s;urrection is the ground of all. By that <HI>Ver&eacute;victa mors,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Irenaeus,</HI> this La&s;t enemy, death, is truly de&s;troyed, becau&s;e his la&s;t &s;poile, the body, is taken out of his hands. The &s;ame body, <HI>eadem ovis,</HI> (as the &s;ame Father notes) Chri&s;t did not fetch another &s;heep to the flock, in the place of that which was lo&s;t, but the &s;ame &s;heep: God &s;hall not give me another, abetter body at the re&s;urrection, but the &s;ame body made better; for <HI>Sinon haberet caro &s;alvari, neutiquam verbum Dei caro factum fui&s;&s;et,</HI> If the fle&s;h of man were not to be &s;aved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> the Anchor of &s;alvation would never have taken the fle&s;h of man upon him.</P>
<P>The puni&s;hment that God laid upon <HI>Adam, In dolore &amp; in &s;udore, In &s;weat, and in &s;or|row &s;balt thou eate thy bread,</HI> is but <HI>Donecreverteris, till man returne to du&s;t:</HI> but when Man is returned to du&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.17.</NOTE> God returnes to the remembrance of that promi&s;e, <HI>Awake and &s;ing yethat dwell in the du&s;t.</HI> A mercy already exhibited to us, in the per&s;on of our Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 26.19.</NOTE> in whom, <HI>Per primitias benedixit campo,</HI> (&s;aies S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI>) as God by taking a handfull for the fir&s;t Fruits, gave able&s;&s;ing to the wholw field; &s;o he hath &s;ealed the bodies of all mankind to his glory, by pre-a&s;&s;uming the body of Chri&s;t to that glory. For by that there is now <HI>Commercium inter Coelum &amp; terram;</HI> there is a Trade driven, a Staple e&s;tabli&s;hed betweene Heaven and earth;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> <HI>Ibi carono&s;tra, hic Spiritus ejus;</HI> Thither have we &s;ent our fle&s;t, and hither hath he &s;ent his Spirti.</P>
<P>This is the la&s;t abolition of this enemy, Death; for after this, the bodies of the Saints he cannot touch, the bodes of the damned he cannot kill, and if he could, hee were not therein their enemy, but their friend. This is that ble&s;&s;ed and glorious State, of which, when all the Apo&s;tles met to make the Creed, they could &s;ay no more, but <HI>Credo Re|&s;urrectionem, I heleeve the Re&s;urrection of the body;</HI> and when tho&s;e two Reverend Fathers, to whom it belongs, &s;hall come to &s;peake of it, upon the day proper for it, in this place, and if all the Bi&s;hops, that ever met in Councels &s;hould meet them here, they could but &s;econd the Apo&s;tles <HI>Credo,</HI> with their <HI>Anathema,</HI> We beleeve, and woe be unto them that doe not beleeve the Re&s;urrection of the body; but in gong about to expre&s;&s;e it, the lips of an Angell would be uncircumci&s;ed lips, and the tongue of an Archangell would &s;tammer. I offer not therefore at it: but in re&s;pect of, and with relation to that ble&s;&s;ed State, according to the doctrine, and practi&s;e of our Church, we doe pray for the dead; for the militant Church upon earth, and the trimphant Church in Heaven, and the whole Catholique Church in Heaveen, and earth; we doe pray that God will be plea&s;ed to ha&s;ten that Kingdome, that we with all others departed in the true Faith of his holy Name, may have this perfect con&s;ummation, both of body and &s;oule, in his everla&s;ting glory, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="153" REF="94">
<HEAD>SERMON XVI. <HI>preached at</HI> VVhite-hall, <HI>the fir&s;t Friday in</HI> Lent. 1622.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 11.35.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ie&s;us wept.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_I Am now but upon the Compa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t. There is much difference between his Compa&s;&s;ion and his Pa&s;&s;ion, as much as between the men that are to handle them here. But <HI>Lacryma pa&s;s, ionis Chri&s;i e&s;t vicaria:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> A great per&s;onage may &s;peake of his Pa&s;&s;ion, of his blood; My vicargae is to &s;peake of his Compa&s;&s;ion and his teares. Let me chafe the wax, and melt your &s;oules in a bath of his Teares now, Let him &s;et to the great Seale of his effectuall pa&s;&s;ion, in his blood, then. It is a Common place I know to &s;peake of teares: I would you knew as well, it were a common practi&s;e, to &s;hed them. Though it be not &s;o, yet bring S. <HI>Bernards,</HI> patience, <HI>Libenter audiam, qui non &s;ibi plau&s;um, &s;ed mihi planctum moveat;</HI> be willing to heare him, that &s;eeks not your acclamation to him&s;elfe, but your humiliation to his and your God; not to make you prai&s;e with them that prai&s;e, but to make you weepe with them that weepe, <HI>And Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>The Ma&s;orites (the Ma&s;orites are the Critiques upon the Hebrew Bible, the Old Te|&s;tament) cnnot tell us, who divided the Chapters of the Old Te&s;tament into ver&s;es; Neither can any other tell us, who did it in the New Te&s;tament. Whoever did it &s;eemes to have &s;topped in an amazement in this Text, and by making an intire ver&s;e of the&s;e two words, <HI>Ie&s;us wept,</HI> and no more, to intimate that there needs no more for the exalting of our devotion to a competent heighth, then to con&s;ider, how, and where, and when, and why <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI> There is not a &s;horter ver&s;e in the Bible, not a larger Text. There is ano|ther as &s;hort; <HI>Semper gaudete, Rejoyce evermore,</HI> and of that holy Joy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.16.</NOTE> I may have leave to &s;peake here hereafter, more &s;ea&s;onably, in a more Fe&s;tivall time, by my ordinary &s;er|vice. This is the &s;ea&s;on of generall Compunction, of generall Mortification, and no man priviledged, for <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>In that Letter which <HI>Lentulus</HI> in &s;aid to have written to the Senate of Rome,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> in which he gives &s;ome Characters of Chri&s;t, he &s;aies, That Chri&s;t was never &s;eene to laugh, but to weepe often. Now in what number he limits his often, or upon what te&s;timony he grounds him number, we know not. We take knowledgethat he wept thrice. Hee wept here, when he mourned with them that mourned for <HI>Lazarus;</HI> He wept againe, when he drew neare to Jeru&s;alem, and looked upon that City; And he wept a third time in his Pa&s;&s;ion. There is but one Euangeli&s;t, but this, S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> that tells us of the&s;e fir&s;t teares, the re&s;t &s;ay nothing of them; There is but one Euangeli&s;t, S. <HI>Luke,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.41. Hcb. 5.7.</NOTE> that tells us of his &s;e|cond teares, the re&s;t &s;peake not of tho&s;e; There is no Euangeli&s;t, but there is an Apo&s;tle that tells us of his third teares, S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aies, <HI>That in the daies of his fle&s;h, be offered up pray|ers with &s;trong cries, and teares;</HI> And tho&s;e teares, Expo&s;itors of all &s;ides referre to his Pa&s;&s;ion, though &s;ome to his Agony in the Garden, &s;ome to his Pa&s;&s;ion on the Cor&s;&s;e; and the&s;e in my opinion mo&s;t fitly; becau&s;e tho&s;e words of S. <HI>Paul</HI> belong to the declara|tion of the Prie&s;thood, and of the Sacrifice of Chri&s;t; and for that function of his, the Cro&s;&s;e was the Altar; and therefore to the Cro&s;&s;e we fixe tho&s;e third teares. The fir&s;t were Humane teares, the &s;econd were Propheticall, the third were Pontificall, apper|taining to the Sarifice. The fir&s;t were &s;hed in a Condolency of a humane and naturall calamity fallen upon one family; <HI>Lazarus</HI> was dead: The &s;econd were &s;hed in Contem|plation of future calamitie upon a Nation; Jeru&s;alem was to be de&s;troyed: The third, in Contemplation of &s;in, and the everla&s;ting puni&s;hments due to &s;in, and to &s;uch &s;inners, as would make no benefit of that Sacrifice, which he offered in offering him&s;elfe. His friend was dead, and then Je&s;us wept; He ju&s;tified naturail affectins and &s;uch offices of piety:
<PB N="154" REF="95">Jeru&s;alem was tobe de&s;troyed, and then Je&s;us wept; He commi&s;erated publique and na|tionall calamities, though a private per&s;on: His very giving of him&s;elfe for &s;in, was to become to a great many ineffectuall; and then J&s;us wept; He declared how indelible the naturall &s;taine of &s;in is, that not &s;uch &s;weat as hi, &s;uch teares, &s;uch blood as his could ab&s;olutely wa&s;h it out of mans nature. The teares of the text are as a Spring, a Well. be|longing to onehou&s;hold the Si&s;ters of <HI>Lazarus:</HI> The teares over Jeru&s;alem, are as a Ri|ver belonging to a whole Country: The teares upon the Cro&s;&s;e, are as the Sea belonging to all the world; and though literally there fall no more into our text, then the Spring, yet becau&s;e the Spring flowes into the River, and the River into the Sea, and that where&s;o|ever we find that Je&s;us wept, we find our Text, (for our Text is but that, <HI>Ii&s;us wept</HI>) there|fore by the leave and light of his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, we &s;hall looke upon tho&s;e lovely, tho&s;e heavenly eye, through this gla&s;&s;e of his owne teares, in all the&s;e three lines, as he wept here over <HI>Lazarus,</HI> as he wept there over Jeru&s;alem, as he wept upon the Cro&s;&s;e over all us. For &s;o often Je&s;us wept.</P>
<P>Fit&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Humanitus.</HI></NOTE> Je&s;us wept <HI>Hum<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">nitus,</HI> he tooke a nece&s;&s;ary occa&s;ion to &s;hew that he was true Man. He was now in hand with the greate&s;t Miracle that ever he did, the rai&s;ing of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> &s;o long dead. Could we but do &s;o in our &s;pirituall rai&s;ing, what a ble&s;&s;ed harve&s;t were that? What a comfort to finde one man here to day, rai&s;ed from his &s;pirituall death, this day twelve-month? Chri&s;t did it every yeare, and every yeare he improved his Miracle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.25.</NOTE> In the fir&s;t yeare, he rai&s;ed the Governours Daughter: &s;e was newly dead, and as yetin the hou&s;e. In the beginning of &s;in, and whil&s;t in the hou&s;e, in the hou&s;e of God, in the Church, in a glad obedience to Gods Ordinances and In&s;titutions there, for the reparation and re&s;u&s;citation of dead &s;oules, the worke is not &s;o hard. In his &s;econd yeare,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.15.</NOTE> Chri&s;t rai&s;ed the Widows Son; and him he found without, ready to be buried. In a man growne cold and &s;tiffe in &s;in, impenetrable, inflexible by denouncing the Judge|ments of God, almo&s;t buried in a &s;tupidity, and in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of his being dead, there is more difficultie. But in his third yeare, Chri&s;t rai&s;ed this <HI>Lazarus;</HI> he had been long dead, and buried, and in probability, puttrified after foure daies.</P>
<P>This Miracle Chri&s;t meant to make a pregnant proofe of the Re&s;urrection, which was his principall intention therein. For, the greate&s;t arguments again&s;t the Re&s;urrection, being for the mo&s;t part of this kinde, when a Fi&s;h eates a man, and another man eates that fi&s;h, or when one man eates another, how &s;hall both the&s;e men ri&s;e againe? when a body is re&s;olv'd in the grave to the fir&s;t principles, or is pa&s;&s;ed into other &s;ub&s;tances, the ca&s;e is &s;omewhat neere the &s;ame; and therefore Chri&s;t would worke upon a body neare that &s;tate, abody putrified. And truly, in our &s;rirituall rai&s;ing of the dead, to rai&s;e a &s;inner pu|trified in his owne earth, re&s;olv'd in his owne dung, e&s;pecially that hath pa&s;&s;ed many transformations, from &s;hape to &s;hape, from &s;in to &s;in, (hi hath beene a Salamander and lived in the fire, in the fire &s;ucce&s;&s;vely, in the fire of lu&s;t in his youth, and in his age in the fire of Ambition; and then he hath beene a Serpent, a Fi&s;h, and lived in the waters. , in the water &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, in the troubled water of &s;edition in his youth, and in his age in the cold waters of indevotion) how &s;hall we rai&s;e this Salamander and this Serpent, when this Serpent and this Salamander is all one per&s;on, and mu&s;t have contrary mu&s;ique to charme him, contrary phy&s;ick to cure him? To rai&s;e a man re&s;olv'd into diver&s;e &s;ub|&s;tances, &s;cattered into diver&s;e formes of &s;everall &s;innes, is the greate&s;t worke. And there. fore this Miracle (which implied that) S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> calls <HI>Miraculum in Miraculo,</HI> a pregnant, a double Miracle. For here is <HI>Mortuus redivivus,</HI> A dead man lives; that had been done before; but <HI>Alligatus ambulat,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Ba&s;il;</HI> he that is &s;ettered, and manacled, and tyed with many difficulties, he walks.</P>
<P>And therfore as this Miracle rai&s;ed him mo&s;t e&s;tmation, &s;o (for they ever accompany one another) it rai&s;ed him mo&s;t envy: Envy that extended beyond him, to <HI>Lazarus</HI> him|&s;elfe, who had done nothing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 12.10</NOTE> and yet, <HI>The chiefe Prie&s;ts con&s;ulted how they might put Li|zarus to death, becau&s;e by rea&s;on of him, many beleeved in Ie&s;us.</HI> A di&s;ea&s;e, a di&s;temper, a danger which no time &s;hall ever be free from, that whereforer there is a coldne&s;&s;e, a di&s;|affection to Gods Cau&s;e, tho&s;e who are any way occa&s;ionally in&s;trumenta of Gods glory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">August.</NOTE> &s;ahll finde cold affection. If they killed <HI>Lazarus,</HI> had not Chri&s;t done enough to let them &s;ee that he could rai&s;e him againe? for <HI>Caeca &s;evitia, &s;ialiud videtur mertuus, aliud occi&s;us;</HI> It was a blinde malice, if they thought, that Chri&s;t could rai&s;e a man na|turally dead, and could not if he were violently killed. This then being his greate&s;t Mi|racle,
<PB N="155" REF="95">preparing the harde&s;t Article of the Creed, the Re&s;urrection of the body, as the Mirracle it &s;elfe declared &s;ufficiently his Divinity, that nature, &s;o in this declaration that he was God, he would declare that he was man too, and therefore <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>He wept as man doth weepe, and he wept as a man may weepe;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Noninor|dinat&eacute;.</HI> Bernard. Iob 10.4.</NOTE> for the&s;e teares were <HI>Te&s;tes naturae, non Indices diffidentiae,</HI> They declared him to be true man, but no di&s;tru&s;t|full, no inordinate man. In <HI>Iob</HI> there is a que&s;tion ask'd of God, <HI>Ha&s;t thou eyes of fle&s;h, and doe&s;t thou &s;ee, as man &s;ees?</HI> Let this que&s;tion be directed to God manife&s;ted in Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t will weepe out an an&s;wer to that que&s;tion, I have eyes of fle&s;h, and I do weep as man weepes. Not as &s;infull man, not as s man, that had het fall his bridle, by which he &s;hould trune his hor&s;e: Not as a man that were ca&s;t from the rudder, by which he &s;hould &s;teere his Ship: Not as a man that had lo&s;t his intere&s;t and power in his affections, and pa&s;&s;ions: Chri&s;t wept not &s;o. Chri&s;t mingt goe farther that way, then any other man: Chri&s;t might ungirt him&s;elfe, and give more &s;cope and liberty to his pa&s;&s;ions, then any other man: both becau&s;e he had no Originall &s;in within, to drive him, no inordinate love without to draw him, when his affections were moved; which all other men have.</P>
<P>God &s;ayes to the Jews, <HI>That they had wept in his eares;</HI> God had heard them weep:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.18.</NOTE> but for what, and how? <HI>they wept for fle&s;h.</HI> There was a tincture, there was a deep dye of murmuring in their tears. Chri&s;t goes as far in the pa&s;&s;ion, in his agony, and he comes to a pa&s;&s;ionate deprecation, in his <HI>Tri&s;tis anima,</HI> and in the <HI>Si po&s;sibile,</HI> and in the <HI>Tran&s;eat calix.</HI> But as all the&s;e pa&s;&s;ions were &s;anctified in the roote, from which no bitter leafe, no crooked twig could &s;pring, &s;o they were in&s;tantly wa&s;hed with his <HI>Veruntamen,</HI> a pre|&s;ent and a full &s;ubmitting of all to Gods plea&s;ure, <HI>Yet not my will O Father, but thine be done.</HI> It will not be &s;afe for any man to come &s;o neare an exce&s;&s;e of pa&s;&s;ions, as he may finde &s;ome good men in the Scriptures to have done: That becau&s;e he heares <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ay to God, <HI>Dele me, Blot my name out of the book of life,</HI> Therefore he may &s;ay, God damne me, or I renounce God. It is not &s;afe for a man to expo&s;e him&s;elf to a tentation, becau&s;e he hath &s;een another pa&s;&s;e through it. Every man may know his own Byas, and to what &s;in that diverts him: The beauty of the per&s;on, the opportunity of the place, the impor|tunity of the party, being his Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e, could not &s;hake <HI>Io&s;ephs</HI> con&s;tancy. There is one &s;uch example, of one that re&s;i&s;ted a &s;trong tentation: But then there are in one place, two men together, that &s;inned upon their own bodies, <HI>Her</HI> and <HI>Onan,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 46.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">2.</NOTE> then when no tentation was offered, nay when a remedy again&s;t tentation was mini&s;tred to them.</P>
<P>Some man may be cha&s;ter in the Stews, then another in the Church; and &s;ome man will &s;in more in his dreams, then another in his di&s;cour&s;e. Every man mu&s;t know how much water his own ve&s;&s;ell draws, and not to think to &s;aile over, where&s;oever he hath &s;een anothe (he knows not with how much labour) &s;hove over: No nor to adventure &s;o far, as he may have rea&s;on to be confident in his own &s;trength: For thugh he may be &s;afe in him&s;elf, yet he may &s;inin anogher, if by his indi&s;creete, and improvident example, another be &s;candalized. Chri&s;t was alwayes &s;afe; <HI>He was led ofthe Spirit:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 4.1.</NOTE> of what &s;pi|rit? his own Spirit: <HI>Led</HI> willingly <HI>into the wilderne&s;&s;e, to be tempted of the devill.</HI> No o|ther man might do that; but he who was able to &s;ay to the Sun, <HI>Si&s;te &s;ol,</HI> was able to &s;ay to Satan, <HI>Si&s;te Lucifer.</HI> Chri&s;t in another place gave &s;uch &s;cope to his affections, and to others interpretations of his actions, that his frineds and kinsfolds thught him mad, be|&s;ides him&s;elf: But all this while, Chri&s;t had his own actions, and pa&s;&s;ions, and their in|terpretations in his own power: he could do what he would. Here in our Text, Je&s;us was troubled, and he groaned; and vehemently, and often, his affections were &s;tirred: but as in a clan gla&s;&s;e, if water be &s;tirred and troubled, though it may conceive a little light froth, yet it contracts no foulene&s;&s;e in that clean gal&s;&s;e, the affections of Chri&s;t were moved, but &s;o: in that holy ve&s;&s;ell they would contract no foulene&s;&s;e, no declination to|wards inordinatene&s;&s;e. But then every Chri&s;tian is not a Chri&s;t; and therefore as he that would fa&s;t forty dayes, as Chri&s;t did, might &s;tarve; and he that would whip Merchants out of the Temple, as Chri&s;t did, might be knockt downe in the Temple; So he knowing his owne inclinations, or but the generall ill inclination of all mankind, as he is infected with Originall &s;in, &s;hould conver&s;e &s;o much with publicans and &s;inners, might participate of their &s;ins. The rule is, we mu&s;t avoid inordinatene&s;&s;e of affections; but when we come to examples of that rule, our &s;elves well under&s;tood by our &s;elves, mu&s;t be our owne exaples; for it is not alwaies good to go too far, as &s;ome good men have gone before.</P>
<PB N="156" REF="96">
<P>Now though Chri&s;t were farre from both,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non A|pathes.</NOTE> yet he came nearer to an exce&s;&s;e of pa&s;&s;i|on, then to an Indolencie, to a &s;en&s;ele&s;ne&s;&s;e, to a privation of naturall affections. Inordi|natene&s;&s;e of affections may &s;ometimes make &s;ome men like &s;ome bea&s;ts; but indolencie, ab&s;ence, emptine&s;&s;e, privation of affections, makes any man at all times, like &s;tones, like dirt. <HI>In novi&s;simis,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Peter,</HI> In the la&s;t, that is, in the wor&s;t dayes, in the dregs, and lees, and tartar of &s;in, then &s;hall come men, lovers of them&s;elves; and that is ill enough in man; for that is an affection peculiar to God, to love him&s;elfe. <HI>Non &s;peciale vitium, &s;ed radix omnium vitiorum,</HI> &s;aies the Schoole in the mouth of <HI>Aquinas:</HI> &s;elfe. love cannot be called a di&s;tinct &s;in, but the roote of all &s;ins. It is true that <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Philo&s;o|phanti finis e&s;t Deo a&s;similari,</HI> The end of Chri&s;tian Philo&s;ophy is to be wi&s;e like God; but not in this, to love our &s;elves; for the greate&s;t &s;in that ever was, and that upon which even the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath not wrought, the &s;in of Angels was that, <HI>Similis ero Alti&s;simo,</HI> to be like God. To love our &s;elves, to be &s;atisfied in our &s;elves, to finde an omni|&s;ufficiency in our &s;elves, is an intru&s;ion, an u&s;urpation upon God: And even God him|&s;elfe who had that omni-&s;ufficiency in him&s;elfe, conceived a conveniency for his glory, to draw a Circumference about that Center, Creatures about him&s;elfe, and to &s;hed forth lines of love upon all them, and not to love him&s;elfe alone. Selfe-love in man &s;inks deep: but yet you &s;ee, the Apo&s;tle in his order, ca&s;ts the other &s;in lower, that is, into a wor&s;e place, <HI>To be without naturall affections.</HI></P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> extends the&s;e naturall affections, to Religious affections, becau&s;e they are naturall to a &s;upernaturall man, to a regenerate man, who naturally loves tho&s;e, that are of the hou&s;hold of the faithfull, that profe&s;&s;e the &s;ame truth of Religion: and not to be affected with their di&s;tre&s;&s;es, when Religion it &s;elfe is di&s;tre&s;&s;ed, in them, is impietie. He extends the&s;e affections to Morall affections; the love of Eminent and Heroicall ver|tues in any man: we ought to be affected with the fall of &s;uch men. And he extends them to civill affections, the love of friends; not to be moved in their behalfe, is argu|ment enough that we doe not much love them.</P>
<P>For our ca&s;e in the Text, The&s;e men whom Je&s;us found weeping, and wept with them, were none of his kindred: They were Neighbours, and Chri&s;t had had a conver|&s;ation, and contracted a friend&s;hip in that Family;<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 5.</NOTE> <HI>He loved Martha, and her &s;i&s;ter, and La|zarus,</HI> &s;aies the Storie: and he would let the world &s;ee that he loved them: for &s;o the Jewes argued that &s;aw him weepe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 36.</NOTE> <HI>Behold how he loved them;</HI> without outward declarati|ons, who can conclude an inward love? to a&s;&s;ure that, <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>To an inordinatene&s;&s;e of affections it never came; to a naturall tenderne&s;&s;e it did; and &s;o far as to teares;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Laerymae.</NOTE> and then who needs be a&s;hamed of weeping? <HI>Look away far from me, for I will weep bitterly,</HI> &s;ayes Hieru&s;alem in <HI>E&s;ay.</HI> But <HI>look upon me,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t in the Lamentations, <HI>Behold and &s;ee if ever there were any &s;orrow, any teares like mine:</HI> Not like his in value, but in the roote as they proceeded from naturall affection, they were teares of imitation, and we may, we mu&s;t weepe teares like his teares. They &s;courged him, they crowned him, they nailed him, they pierced him, and then blood came; but he &s;hed teares voluntarily, and without violence: The blood came from their ill, but the teares from his owne good nature: The blood was drawne, the teares were given. We call it a childi&s;h thing to weepe, and a womani&s;h; and perchance we meane wor&s;e in that then in the childi&s;h; for therein we may meane fal&s;hood to be mingled with weakne&s;&s;e. Chri&s;t made it an argument of his being man, to weepe, for though the lineaments of mans bodie, eyes and eares, hands and feet, be a&s;cribed to God in the Scriptures, though the affections of mans mind be a&s;cribed to him, (even &s;orrow, nay Repentance it &s;elfe, is at|tributed to God) I doe not remember that ever God is &s;aid to have wept: It is for man. And when God &s;hall come to that la&s;t Act in the glorifying of Man, when he promi|&s;es, <HI>to wipe all teares from his eyes,</HI> what &s;hall God have to doe with that eye that never wept?</P>
<P>He wept out of a nuturall tenderne&s;&s;e in generall; and he wept now out of a particular occa&s;ion. What was that? <HI>Quia mortuus,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Lazarus</HI> was dead. We &s;tride over many &s;teps at once; waive many &s;uch con&s;iderable circum&s;tances as the&s;e; <HI>Lazarus</HI> his friend was dead, therefore he wept, <HI>Lazarus,</HI> the &s;taffe and &s;u&s;tentatio of that fa|mily was dead, he upon whom his Si&s;ters relied, was dead, therefore he wept. But I &s;top onely upon this one &s;tep, <HI>Quia mortuus,</HI> that he was dead. Now a good man is not the wor&s;e for dying, that is true and capable of a good &s;en&s;e, becau&s;e he is e&s;tabli&s;hed in a
<PB N="157" REF="96">better world: but yet when he is gone out of this world he is none of us, he is no longer a man. The &s;tronger opinion in the Schoole, is, That Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, when he lay dead in the grave, was no man. Though the God head never departed from the Carca&s;&s;e, (there was no divorce of that Hypo&s;taticall union) yet becau&s;e the Humane &s;oule was departed from it, he was no man. <HI>Hugo de S. Victor.</HI> who thinks otherwi&s;e, that Chri&s;t was a man then, thinkes &s;o upon a weak ground: He thinkes, that becau&s;e the &s;oule is the form of man, the &s;oul is man; and that therefore the &s;oul remaining, the man re|maines. But it is not the &s;oule, but the union of the &s;oul, that makes the man. The Ma|&s;ter of the Sentences, <HI>Peter Lombard,</HI> that thinks &s;o too, that Chri&s;t was then a man, thinkes &s;o upon as weak a ground: He thinkes that it is enough to con&s;titute a man, that there be a &s;oul and body, though that &s;oul and body be not united; but &s;till it is the uni|on that makes the man: And therefore when he is di&s;united, dead, he is none of us, he is no man; and therefore we weep how well &s;oever he be. <HI>Abraham</HI> was loath to let go his wife, though the King had her: A man hath a naturall lothne&s;&s;e to let go his friend, though God take him to him.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, that he knew well enough, that his mother was in heaven; and S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> that he knew wel enough that his ma&s;ter <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> the emperor was in heaven, but becau&s;e they &s;aw not in what &s;tate they were, they thought that &s;omething might be asked at Gods hands in their behalf; and &s;o out of a humane and pious officiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, in a devotion perchance indige&s;ted, uncocted, and retaining yet &s;ome crudities, &s;ome ir|re&s;olutions, they &s;trayed into prayers for them after they were dead. <HI>Lazarus</HI> his &s;i&s;ters made no doubt of their brothers &s;alvation; they beleeved his &s;oul to be in a good e&s;tate: And for his body, they told Chri&s;t, Lord we know that he &s;hall ri&s;e at the la&s;t day: And yet they wept.</P>
<P>Here, in this world, we who &s;tay, lack tho&s;e who are gone out of it: we know they &s;hall never come to us; and when we &s;hall go to them, whether we &s;hall know them or no, we di&s;pute. They who think that it conduces to the perfection of happine&s;&s;e in hea|ven, that we &s;hould know one another, think piou&s;ly if they think we &s;hall. For, as for the maintenance of publique peace, States, and Churches, may think diver&s;ly in points of Religion, that are not fundamentall, and yet both be true and Orthodoxall Churches; &s;o for the exaltation of private devotion in points that are not fundamentall, divers men may think diver&s;ly, and both be equally good Chri&s;tians. Whether we &s;hall know them there, or no, is problematicall and equall; that we &s;hall not till then, is dogmaticall and certain: Therefore we weep. I know there are Philo&s;ophers that will not let us weep, nor lament the death of any: And I know that in the Scriptures there are rules, and that there are in&s;tructions convayed in that example, that <HI>David</HI> left mourning as &s;oon as the childe was dead; And I know that there are Authors of a middle nature, a|bove the Philo&s;ophers, and below the Scriptures, the Apocryphall books, and I know it is &s;aid there, Comfort thy &s;elfe, for thou-&s;halt do him no good that is dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 38.6.</NOTE> <HI>Et teip&s;um pe&s;simabis</HI> (as the vulgat reads it) thou &s;halt make thy &s;elf wor&s;e and wor&s;e, in the wor&s;t degree. But yet all this is but of inordinate lamentation; for in the &s;ame place, the &s;ame Wi&s;e man &s;ayes, My Son, let thy tears fall down over the dead; weep bitterly and make great moane, as he is worthy. When our Saviour Chri&s;t had uttered his <HI>con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> all was fini&s;hed, and their rage could do him no more harm, when he had uttered his <HI>In manus tuas,</HI> he had delivered and God had received his &s;oul, yet how did the whole frame of nature mourn in Eclip&s;es, and tremble in earth-quakes, and di&s;&s;olve and &s;hed in pieces in the opening of the Temple, <HI>Quia mortuus,</HI> becau&s;e he was dead.</P>
<P>Truly, to &s;ee the hand of a great and mighty Monarch, that hand that hath govern|ed the civill &s;word, the &s;word of Ju&s;tice at home, and drawn and &s;heathed the forraigne &s;word, the &s;word of war abroad, to &s;ee that hand lie dead, and not be able to nip or fil|lip away one of his own wormes (and then <HI>Quis homo,</HI> what man, though he be one of tho&s;e men, of whom God hath &s;aid, <HI>Ye are gods,</HI> yet <HI>Quis homo, what man is there that lives, and &s;hall not &s;ee death?</HI>) To &s;ee the brain of a great and religious Coun&s;ellor (and God ble&s;&s;e all from making, all from calling any great that is not religious) to &s;ee that brain that produced means to becalme gu&s;ts at Councell tables, &s;tormes in Parliaments, tempe&s;ts in popular commotions, to &s;ee that brain produce nothing but &s;warmes of wormes and no Proclamation to di&s;per&s;e them; To &s;ee a reverend Prelate that hath re|&s;i&s;ted Heretiques &amp; Schi&s;matiques all his life, fall like one of them by death, &amp; perchance
<PB N="158" REF="97">be called one of them when he is dead. To re-collect all, to &s;ee great men made no men, to be &s;ure that they &s;hall never come to us, not to be &s;ure, that we &s;hall know them when we come to them, to &s;ee the Lieutenants and Images of God, Kings, the &s;inews of the State, religious Coun&s;ellors, the &s;pirit of the Church, zealous Prelates, And then to &s;ee vulgar, lgnorant, wicked, and facinorous men thrown all by one hand of death, into one Cart, into one common Tide-boate, one Ho&s;pitall, one Almeshou&s;e, one Pri&s;on, the grave, in who&s;e du&s;t no man can &s;ay, This is the King, this is the Slave, this is the Bi&s;hop, this is the Heretique, this is the Coun&s;ellor, this is the Foole, even this mi&s;erable equali|ty of &s;o unequall per&s;ons, by &s;o foule a hand, is the &s;ubject of this lamentation, even <HI>Quia mortuus,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Lazarus</HI> was dead, <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>He wept even in that re&s;pect,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quia non abhibita me|dia.</NOTE> <HI>Quia mortuus,</HI> and he wept in this re&s;pect too, <HI>Quia non adhibita media,</HI> becau&s;e tho&s;e means which in appearance might have &s;aved his life, by his default were not u&s;ed, for when he came to the hou&s;e, one &s;i&s;ter, <HI>Martha</HI> &s;ayes to him, <HI>Lord if thou had&s;t been here, my brother had not dyed;</HI> and then the other &s;i&s;ter, <HI>Mary</HI> &s;ayes &s;o too, <HI>Lord if thou had&s;t been here, my brother had not dyed:</HI> They all cry out, that he who only, only by comming, might have &s;aved his life, would not come. Our Saviour knew in him&s;elf that he ab&s;tained to better purpo&s;e, and to the farther glory of God: for when he heard of his death, he &s;aid to his Di&s;ciples, <HI>I am glad for your &s;akes that I was not there.</HI> Chri&s;t had certain re&s;erved purpo&s;es which conduced to a better e&s;tabli&s;hing of their faith, and to a better advancing of Gods Kingdome, the working of that miracle. But yet becau&s;e others were able to &s;ay to him, it was in you to have &s;aved him, and he did not, even this <HI>Quia non adhibita media,</HI> affected him; and <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>He wept, <HI>Et&s;i quatriduanus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Et&s;i quatri|duanus.</NOTE> though they &s;aid unto him, <HI>He hath been foure dayes dead, and &s;tinkes.</HI> Chri&s;t doth not &s;ay, there is no &s;uch matter, he doth not &s;tink; but though he do, my friend &s;hall not lack my help. Good friends, u&s;efull friends though they may commit &s;ome errors, and though for &s;ome misbehaviours they may &s;tink in our no&s;trils, mu&s;t not be derelicted, abandoned to them&s;elves. Many a &s;on, many a good heire, findes an ill ayre from his Father; his Fathers life &s;tinkes in the no&s;trils of all the world, and he heares every where exclamations upon his Fathers u&s;ury, and extortion, and oppre&s;&s;ion: yet it becomes him by a betterlife, and by all other means to rectifie and redeem his Fa|thers fame. <HI>Quatriduanus e&s;t,</HI> is no plea for my negligence in my family; to &s;ay, My &s;on, or my &s;ervant hath proceeded &s;o far in ill cour&s;es, that now it is to no purpo&s;e to go about to reform him, becau&s;e <HI>Quatriduanus e&s;t. Quatriduanus e&s;t,</HI> is no plea in my pa&s;torall charge, to &s;ay that &s;educers, and practi&s;ers, and per&s;waders, and &s;ollicitors for &s;uper&s;ti|tion, enter &s;o boldly into every family, that now it is to no purpo&s;e to preach religious warine&s;&s;e, religious di&s;cretion, religious con&s;tancy. <HI>Quatriduanus e&s;t,</HI> is no plea for my U&s;ury, for my Simony; to &s;ay, I do but as all the world doth, and hath u&s;ed to do a long time. To preach there where reprehen&s;ion of growing &s;in is acceptable, is to preach in &s;ea&s;on; where it is not acceptable, it is out of &s;ea&s;on; but yet we mu&s;t preach in &s;ea&s;on, and out of &s;ea&s;on too. And when men are &s;o refractary, as that they forbeare to heare, or heare and re&s;i&s;t our preaching, we mu&s;t pray; and where they di&s;pi&s;e or forbid our praying, we mu&s;t lament them, we mu&s;t weep: <HI>Quatriduanus erat, Lazarus</HI> was far &s;pent, yet <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>He wept,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Et&s;i&s;u&s;ci|tandus.</NOTE> Though he knew that <HI>Lazarus</HI> were to be re&s;tored, and rai&s;ed to life again. for as he meant to declare a great good will to him at la&s;t, &s;o he would utter &s;ome by the way; he would do a great miracle for him, as he was a mighty God; but he would weep for him too, as he was a good natured man. Truly it is no very charitable di&s;po&s;ition, if I give all at my death to others, if I keep all all my life to my &s;elf. For how many families have we &s;een &s;haked, ruined by this di&s;temper, that though the Fa|ther mean to alien nothing of the inheritance from the Son at his death, yet becau&s;e he affords him not a competent maintenance in his life, he &s;ubmits his Son to an encum|bring of his fame with ignominious &s;hiftings, and an encumbring of the e&s;tare with irre|coverable debts. I may mean to fea&s;t a man plentifully at Chri&s;tmas, and that man may &s;tarve before in Lent: Great per&s;ons may think it in their power to give life to per&s;ons and actions by their benefits, when they will, and before that will be up and ready, both may become incapable of their benefits. Je&s;us would not give this family, whom hee pretended to love, occa&s;ion of jealou&s;ie, of &s;u&s;pition, that he neglected them; and therefore though he came not pre&s;ently to that great worke, which hee in|tended
<PB N="159" REF="97">tended at la&s;t, yet hee left them not comfortle&s;&s;e by the way, <HI>Ie&s;us wept.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;o (that we may re&s;erve &s;ome minutes for the re&s;t) we end this part, applying to every man that ble&s;&s;ed exclamation of S. <HI>Ambro&s;e, Ad monumentum hoc digner is accede|re Domine Ie&s;u,</HI> Lord Je&s;us be plea&s;ed to come to this grave, to weep over this dead <HI>La|zarus,</HI> this &s;oule in this body: And though I come not to a pre&s;ent ri&s;ing, a pre&s;ent deli|verance from the power of all &s;in, yet if I can feele the dew of thy teares upon me, if I can di&s;cern the eye of the compa&s;&s;ion bent towards me, I have comfort all the way, and that comfort will flow into an infallibility in the end.</P>
<P>And be this the end of this part, to which we are come by the&s;e &s;teps. <HI>Ie&s;us wept,</HI> That as he &s;hewed him&s;elf to be God, he might appeare to be man too: he wept not in ordinately; but he came nearer exce&s;&s;e then indolency: He wept becau&s;e he was dead; and becau&s;e all means for life had not been u&s;ed; he wept, though he were far &s;pent; and he wept, though he meant to rai&s;e him again.</P>
<P>We pa&s;&s;e now from his humane to his propheticall teares, from Je&s;us weeping in con|templation of a naturall calamity fallen upon one family, <HI>Lazarus</HI> was dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to his weep|ing in contemplation of a Nationall calamity fore&s;een upon a whole people; Jeru&s;alem was to be de&s;troyed. His former teares had &s;Ome of the &s;pirit of prophecy in them; for therefore &s;ayes <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> Chri&s;t wept there, becau&s;e he fore&s;aw how little u&s;e the Jews would make of that miracle, his humane teares were propheticall, and his prophe|ticall teares are humane too, they ri&s;e from good affections to that people. And there|fore the &s;ame Author &s;ayes, That becau&s;e they thought it an uncomely thing for Chri&s;t to weep for any temporall thing, &s;ome men have expunged and removed that ver&s;e out of S. <HI>Lukes</HI> Go&s;pell, That Je&s;us when he &s;aw that City, wept: But he is willing to be propo&s;ed, and to &s;tand for ever for an example of weeping in contemplation of pub|lique calamities; Therefore <HI>Ie&s;uswept.</HI></P>
<P>He wept fir&s;t, <HI>Inter acclamationes,</HI> in the mid&s;t of the congratulations and acclamati|ons of the people, then when the whole multitude of his Di&s;ciples cried out, <HI>Vivat Rex,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Inter accla. mationes. <HI>Luke 19.38.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be the King, that comes in the name of the Lord,</HI> Je&s;us wept. When <HI>Herod</HI> tooke to him&s;elfe the name of the Lord, when he admitted that gro&s;&s;e flattery, <HI>It is a God and not a man that &s;peakes,</HI> It was no wonder that pre&s;ent occa&s;ion of lamentation fell upon him. But in the be&s;t times, and under the be&s;t Prince, (fir&s;t, &s;uch is the naturall mutability of all worldly things; and then (and that e&s;pecially) &s;uch is the infinitene&s;&s;e, and enormou&s;|ne&s;&s;e of our rebellious &s;in) then is ever ju&s;t occa&s;ion of feare of wor&s;e, and &s;o of teares. Every man is but a &s;punge, and but a &s;punge filled with teares: and whether you lay your right hand or your left upon a full &s;punge, it will weep. Whether God lay his left hand, temporall calamities, or his right hand, temporall pro&s;perity; even that temporall pro|&s;perity comes alwaies accompanied with &s;o much anxiety in our &s;elves, &s;o much uncer|tainty in it &s;elfe, and &s;o much envy in others, as that that man who abounds mo&s;t, that &s;punge &s;hall weep.</P>
<P>Je&s;us wept, <HI>Inter acclamationes,</HI> when all went wee enough with him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inter judicia.</NOTE> to &s;hew the &s;lipperine&s;&s;e of worldly happine&s;&s;e, and then he wept <HI>Inter judicia;</HI> then when him&s;elfe was in the act of denouncing judgements upon them, Je&s;us wept, To &s;hew with how ill a will he inflicted tho&s;e judgements, and that them&s;elves, and not he, had drawne tho&s;e judgements upon them. How often doe the Prophets repeat that phra&s;e, <HI>Onus vi&s;ionis,</HI> O the burden of the judgements that I have &s;eene upon this, and this people! It was a burden that pre&s;&s;ed teares from the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay, I will water thee with my teares,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 16.9.</NOTE> <HI>O He&s;hbon:</HI> when he mu&s;t pronounce judgements upon her, he could not but weep over her. No Prophet &s;o tender as Chri&s;t, nor &s;o compa&s;&s;ionate; and therefore he never takes rod into his hand, but with teares in his eyes. Alas, did God lack a foot&s;toole, that he &s;hould make man only to tread and trample upon? Did God lack glory, and could have it no other way, but by creating man therefore, to afflict him temporally here, and eter|nally hereafter? what&s;oever Chri&s;t weeps for in the way of his mercy, it is likely he was di&s;plea&s;ed with it in the way of his Ju&s;tice: If he weep for it, he had rather it were not &s;o. If then tho&s;e judgements upon Jeru&s;alem were only from his owne primary, and po&s;i|tive, and ab&s;olute Decree, without any re&s;pect to their &s;ins, could he be di&s;plea&s;ed with his owneact, or weep and lament that which onely him&s;elfe had done? would God ask rael? if God lay open to that an&s;wer, We die therefore, becau&s;e you have killed us; Jeru|&s;alem
<PB N="160" REF="98">&s;alem would not judge her &s;elfe, therefore Chri&s;t judged her; Jeru&s;alem would not weep for her &s;elf, and therefore Je&s;us wept; but in tho&s;e teares of his, he &s;hewed, that he had ra|ther her own teares had averted, and wa&s;hed away tho&s;e judgements.</P>
<P>He wept, <HI>cum appropinquavit,</HI> &s;ayes the Text there, <HI>when Ie&s;us came near the City and &s;aw it</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cum appro|pinquavit.</NOTE> <HI>then he wept;</HI> not till then. If we will not come neare the mi&s;eries of our brethren, if we will not &s;ee them, we will never weep over them, never be affected towards them. It was <HI>cum ille,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Non cumilli.</NOTE> not <HI>cumilli,</HI> when Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, not when his Di&s;ciples, his followers, who could doe Jeru&s;alem no good, tooke knowledge of it. It was not <HI>cum illi,</HI> nor it was not <HI>cum illa,</HI> not when tho&s;e judgements drew neare; It is not &s;aid &s;o; neither is there any time limited in the Text, when tho&s;e judgements were to fall upon Jeru&s;alem; it is onely &s;aid generally, indefinitely, the&s;e dayes &s;hall come upon her. And yet Chri&s;t did not ea&s;e him&s;elfe upon that, that tho&s;e calamities were remote and farre off, but though they were &s;o, and not to fall till after his death, yet he lamented future calamities then, then Je&s;us wept. Many &s;uch little Brookes as the&s;e fall into this River, the con&s;ideration of Chri&s;ts Propheticall teares; but let it be enough to have &s;prinkled the&s;e drops out of the River; That Je&s;us, though a private per&s;on, wept in contemplation of publique calami|ties; That he wept in the be&s;t times, fore-&s;eeing wor&s;e; That he wept in their mi&s;e|ries, becau&s;e he was no Author of them: That he wept not till he tooke their mi&s;eries into his con&s;ideration: And he did weep a good time, before tho&s;e mi&s;eries fell upon them. There remaine yet his third teares, his pontificall teares, which accompany his &s;a|crifice; Tho&s;e teares we called the Sea, but a Sea which mu&s;t now be bounded with a very little &s;and.</P>
<P>To &s;aile apace through this Sea;<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> the&s;e teares, the teares of his Cro&s;&s;e, were expre&s;&s;ed by that ine&s;timable waight, the &s;innes of all the world. If all the body were eye, argues the Apo&s;tle in another place; why, here all the body was eye; every pore of his body made an eye by teares of blood, and every inch of his body made an eye by their bloody &s;courges. And if Chri&s;ts looking upon <HI>Peter,</HI> made <HI>Peter</HI> weep, &s;hall not his looking upon us here, with teares in his eyes, &s;uch teares in &s;uch eyes, &s;prings of teares, rivers of teares, &s;eas of teares make us weep too? <HI>Peter</HI> who wept under the waight of his parti|cular &s;in, wept bitterly: how bitterly wept Chri&s;t under the waight of all the &s;ins of all the world? In the fir&s;t teares. Chri&s;t humane teares (tho&s;e we called a &s;pring) we fetched water at one hou&s;e, we condoled a private calamity in another; <HI>Lazarus</HI> was dead. In his &s;econd teares, his Propheticall teares, wee went to the condoling of a whole Nation; and tho&s;e we called a River. In the&s;e third teares, his pontificall teares, teares for &s;in, for all &s;ins (tho&s;e we call a Sea) here is <HI>Mare liberum,</HI> a Sea free and open to all; Every man may &s;aile home, home to him&s;elfe, and lament his own &s;ins there.</P>
<P>I am farre ftom concluding all to be impenitent, that doe not actually weep and &s;hed teares; I know there are con&s;titutions, complexions, that doe not afford them. And yet the wor&s;t Epithet, which the be&s;t Poet could fixe upon <HI>Pluto</HI> him&s;elfe, was to call him <HI>Illachrymabilis,</HI> a per&s;on that could not weep. But to weep for other things, and not to weep for &s;in, or if not to teares, yet not to come to that tenderne&s;&s;e, to that melting, to that thawing, that re&s;olving of the bowels which good &s;oules feele; this is a &s;punge (I &s;aid before, every man is a &s;punge) this is a &s;punge dried up into a Pumice &s;tone; the light|ne&s;&s;e, the hollowne&s;&s;e of a &s;punge is there &s;till, but (as the Pumice is) dried the Aet|naes of lu&s;t, of ambition, of other flames in this world.</P>
<P>I have but three words to &s;ay of the&s;e teares of this weeping. What it is, what it is for, what it does; the nature, the u&s;e, the benefit of the&s;e teares, is all. And in the fir&s;t, I forbeare to in&s;i&s;t upon S. <HI>Ba&s;ils</HI> Metaphor, <HI>Lachrymae &s;udor animi male &s;ani;</HI> Sin is my &s;ickne&s;&s;e, the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us is my Bezar, teares is the &s;weat that that produceth. I forbeare <HI>Greg. Ny&s;&s;ens</HI> metaphor too, <HI>Lachryma &s;anguis cordis defoecatus;</HI> Teares are out be&s;t blood, &s;o agitated, &s;o ventilated, &s;o purified, &s;o rarified into &s;pirits, as that thereby I become <HI>Idem &s;piritus,</HI> one &s;pirit with my God. That is large enough, and imbraces all, which S. <HI>Gregory</HI> &s;ayes, That man weeps truly, that &s;oul &s;heds true teares, that con&s;iders &s;eriou&s;ly, fir&s;t, <HI>ubi fuit in innocentia,</HI> the ble&s;&s;ed &s;tate which man was in, in his integrity at fir&s;t, <HI>ubifuit;</HI> and then con&s;iders, <HI>ubi e&s;t in tentationibus,</HI> the weak e&s;tate that man is in now, in the mid&s;t of tentations, where, if he had no more, him&s;elf were tentation too much, <HI>ubi e&s;t;</HI> and yet con&s;iders farther, <HI>ubi erit, in gehenna,</HI> the in&s;upportable, and for all that, the inevitable, theirreparable, and for all that, undeterminable torments of hell,
<PB N="161" REF="98"><HI>ubi erit;</HI> and la&s;tly, <HI>ubi non erit, in coelis,</HI> the unexpre&s;&s;ible joy and glory which he lo&s;es in heaven, <HI>ubi non erit,</HI> where he &s;hall never be. The&s;e foure to con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly, where man was, where he is, where he &s;hall be, where he &s;hall never be, are foure &s;uch Rivers, as con&s;titute a Paradi&s;e. And as a ground may be a weeping ground, though it have no running River, no con&s;tant &s;pring, no gathering of waters in it; &s;o a &s;oule that can poure out it &s;elf into the&s;e religious con&s;iderations, may be a weeping &s;oule, though it have a dry eye: This weeping then is but a true &s;orrow, (that was our fir&s;t) and then, what this true &s;orrow is given us for, and that is our next Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>As water is in nature a thing indifferent, in may give life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad quid.</NOTE> (&s;o the fir&s;t livin things that were, were in the water) and it may de&s;troy life, (&s;o all things living upon the earth, were de&s;troyed in the water) but yet though water may, though it have done good and bad, yet water does now one good office, which no ill quality that is in it can equall, it wa|&s;hes our &s;oules in Bap?i&s;me; &s;o though there be good teares and bad teares, teares that wa&s;h away &s;in, and teares that are &s;in, yet all teares have this degree of good in them, that they are all &s;ome kinde of argument of good nature, of a tender heart; and the Holy Gho&s;t loves to work in Waxe, and not in Marble. I hope that is but meerly Poeticall which the Poet &s;aies, <HI>Di&s;cunt lachrymare decenter;</HI> that &s;ome &s;tudy to weep with a good grace; <HI>Quo&abque; volunt plorant empore, quo&abque;mode,</HI> they make u&s;e and advantage of their teares, and weep when they will. But of tho&s;e who weep not when they would, but when they would not, do half imploy their teares upon thatfor which God hath given them that &s;acrifice upon &s;in. God made the Firmament, which he called Heaven, after it had divided the waters: After we have di&s;tingui&s;hed our teares, naturall from &s;pirituall, worldly from heavenly, then there is a Firmament e&s;tabli&s;hed in us, then there is a hea|ven opened to us: and truly, to ca&s;t Pearles before Swine, will &s;carce be better re&s;em|bled, then to &s;hed teares which re&s;emble pearles for worldly lo&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>Are there examples of menopa&s;&s;ionately enamored upon age? or if upon age, upon deformity? If there be example of that, are they not examples of &s;corn too? doe not all others laugh at their teares? and yet &s;uch is our pa&s;&s;ionate doting upon this world. <HI>Mun|di facies,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> (and even S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elfe hath &s;carce &s;aid any thing more pathetically) <HI>tanta rerani labe contrita, ut etiam &s;peciem &s;eductionis ami&s;erit:</HI> The face of the whold world is &s;o defaced, &s;o wrinkled, &s;o ruined, &s;o deformed, as that man might be tru&s;ted with this world, and there is no jealou&s;ie, no &s;u&s;pition that this world &s;hould be able to mini&s;ter any occa&s;ion of tentation to man: <HI>Speciem &s;eductionis ami&s;it.</HI> And yet, <HI>Qui in &s;eip&s;o aruit, in nobis floret,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> as wittily as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> (as it is ea&s;ie to be witty, ea&s;ie to extend an Epigram to a Satyre, and a Satyre to an Invective, in declaiming again&s;t this world) that world which findes it &s;elfe truly in an Autumne, in it &s;elfe, findes it &s;elfe in a &s;pring, in our imaginations. <HI>Labenti haeremus,</HI> &s;ayes that Father; <HI>Et cum labentem &s;i&s;tere non po&s;&s;umus, cum ip&s;o labimur;</HI> The world pa&s;&s;es away, and yet wee cleave to it; and when wee cannot &s;tay it from pa&s;&s;ing away, wee pa&s;&s;e away with it.</P>
<P>To mourne pa&s;&s;ionately for the love of this world, which is decrepit, and upon the deathbed, or imoderately for the death of any that is pa&s;&s;ed out of this world, is not the right u&s;e of teares. That hath good u&s;e which <HI>Chry&s;ologus</HI> notes, that when Chri&s;t was told of <HI>Lazarus</HI> death, he &s;aid he was glad; when he came to rai&s;e him to life, then hee wept: for though his Di&s;ciples gained by it, (they were confirmed by a Miracle) though the family gained by it, (they had their <HI>Lazarus</HI> againe) yet <HI>Lazarus</HI> him&s;elfe lo&s;t by it, by being re-impri&s;oned, re-committed, re-&s;ubmitted to the manifold incommodities of this world. When our Saviour Chri&s;t forbad the women to weepe for him, it was be|cau&s;ethere was nothing in him, for teares to worke upon; no &s;in: <HI>Ordinem flendi docuit,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> Chri&s;t did not ab&s;olutely forbid teares, but regulate and order their teares, that they might weepe in the right place; fir&s;t for &s;in. <HI>David</HI> wept for <HI>Ab&s;olon;</HI> He might imagine, that he died in &s;in, he wept not for the Child by <HI>Bath&s;heba,</HI> he could not &s;u&s;pect &s;o much danger in that. <HI>Exitus aquarum,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David, Rivers of waters ran downe from mine eyes,</HI> why? <HI>Quia illi, Becau&s;e they,</HI> who are they? not other men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.136.</NOTE> as it is ordi|narily taken; but <HI>Quia illi, Becau&s;e mine owne eyes</HI> (&s;o <HI>Hilary,</HI> and <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> take it) <HI>have not kept thy Lawes:</HI> As the calamities of others, &s;o the &s;ins of others may, but our owne &s;ins mu&s;t be the object of our &s;orrow. <HI>Thou &s;halt offer to me,</HI> &s;aies God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 22.19.</NOTE> <HI>the fir&s;t of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors,</HI> as our Tran&s;lation hath it: The word in the Ori|ginall
<PB N="162" REF="99">ginall is <HI>Vedingnacha, lachrymarum,</HI> and of thy teares: Thy fir&s;t teares mu&s;t be to God for &s;in: The &s;econd and third may be to nature and civility, and &s;uch &s;ecular offices. But <HI>Liquore ad lippitudinem apto qui&s;quamne ad pedes lavandos abutetur?</HI> It is S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> exclamation and admiration, will and wa&s;h his feet in water for &s;ore eyes? will any man embalme the Carca&s;&s;e of the world, which he treads under foote, with tho&s;e teares which &s;hould embalme his &s;oule? Did <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> of Arimathea be&s;tow any of his perfumes (though he brought a &s;uperfluous quantity, a hundred pound waight for one body) yet did he be&s;tow any upon the body of either of the Thieves? Teares are true &s;orrow, that you heard before; True &s;orrow is for &s;in, that you have heard now; All that remaines is how this &s;orrow works, what is does.</P>
<P>The Fathers have infinitely delighted them&s;elves in this de&s;cant, the ble&s;&s;ed effect of holy teares.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid ope|rantur.</NOTE> He among&s;t them that reemembers us, that in the old Law all Sacrifices were wa&s;hed, he meanes, That our be&s;t &s;acrifice, even prayer it &s;elfe, receives an improve|ment, a dignity, by being wa&s;hed in teares. He that remembers us, that if any roome of out hou&s;e be on fire, we run for water, meanes that in all tentations, we &s;hould have re|cour&s;e to teares. He that tels us, that money being put into a ba&s;on, is &s;eene at a farther di&s;tance, if there be water in the ba&s;on, then if it be emptie, meanes al&s;o, that our mo&s;t pretious devotions receive an addition, a multiplication by holy teares. S. <HI>Bernard</HI> meanes all that they all meane in that, <HI>Cor lachrymas ne&s;ciens durum, impurum,</HI> A hard heart is a foule heart. Would you &s;hut up the devill in his owne channell, his channell of brim|&s;tone, and make that wor&s;e? S. <HI>hierom</HI> tels the way, <HI>Plus tua lachryma, &amp;c.</HI> Thy teares tor|ment him more then the fires of hell; will you needs have holy water? truly, true teares are the holie&s;t water.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mend eza. in 1. Sam.</NOTE> And for Purgatory, it is liberally confe&s;&s;ed by a Je&s;uit, <HI>Non min&ugrave;s efficax, &amp;c.</HI> One teare will doe thee as much good, as all the flames of Purgatory. We have &s;aid more then once, that man is a &s;punge; And in <HI>Codice &s;cripta,</HI> all our &s;ins are written in Gods Booke, &s;aies S. <HI>Chry&s;O&s;tome:</HI> If there I can fill my &s;punge with teares, and &s;o wipe out all my &s;ins out of that Book, it is a ble&s;&s;ed u&s;e of the Spunge.</P>
<P>I might &s;tand upon this, the manifold benefits of godly teares, long: &s;o long, as till you wept, and wept for &s;in; and that might be very long. I contract all to this one, which is all: To how many ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;es mu&s;t the&s;e teares, this godly &s;orrow reach by the way, when as it reaches to the very extreme, to that which is oppo&s;ed to it, to Joy? for godlie &s;orrow is Joy.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 10.20.</NOTE> The words in <HI>Iob</HI> are in the Vulgat, <HI>Dimitte meut plang am dolorem meum: Lord &s;pare me a while that I may lament my lamentable e&s;tate:</HI> and &s;o ordinarily the Expo|&s;itors that follow that Tran&s;lation, make their u&s;e of them. But yet it is in the Originall, <HI>Lord &s;pare me a while, that I may take comfort:</HI> That which one cals <HI>lamenting,</HI> the other calls <HI>rejoycing:</HI> To conceive true &s;orrow and true joy, are things not onely contiguous, but continuall; they doe not onely touch and follow one another in a certaine &s;ucce&s;&s;ion, Joy a&s;&s;uredly after &s;orrow, but they con&s;i&s;t together, they are all one, Joy and Sorrow. <HI>My teares have beene my meat day and night,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 42.3.</NOTE> &s;aies <HI>David:</HI> not that he had no other meate, but that none reli&s;ht &s;o well.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mendoza.</NOTE> It is a Grammaticall note of a Je&s;uit, (I doe not tell you it is true; I have almo&s;t tole you that it is not true, by telling you who&s;e it is, but that it is but a Grammaticall note) That when it is &s;aid <HI>Tempus cantus, The time offinging is come,</HI> it might as well be rendred out of the Hebrew,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.12.</NOTE> <HI>Tempus plorationis, The time of weeping is come;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 22.50.</NOTE> And when it is &s;aid, <HI>Nomini tuo cantabo, Lord I will &s;ing unto thy Name,</HI> it might be as well rendred out of the Hebrew, <HI>Plorabo, I will weepe, I will &s;acrifice my teares unto thy Name.</HI> So equall, &s;o indifferent a thing is it, when we come to godly &s;orrow, whe|ther we call it &s;orrow or joy, weeping or &s;inging.</P>
<P>To end all, to weep for &s;in is not a damp of melancholy, to &s;igh for &s;in, is not a vapour of the &s;pleene, but as <HI>Monicaes</HI> Confe&s;&s;or &s;aid &s;till unto her, in the behalfe of her Son S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, filius i&s;tarum lachrymarum,</HI> the &s;on of the&s;e teares cnnot peri&s;h; &s;o wa&s;h thy &s;elfe in the&s;e three examplar bathes of Chri&s;ts teares, in his humane teares, and be tenderly affected with humane accidents, in his Propheticall teares, and avert as much as in thee lieth, the calamities imminent upon others, but e&s;pecially in his pontificall teares, teares for &s;in, and I am thy Confe&s;&s;or, <HI>non ego, &s;ed Dominus;</HI> not I, but the &s;pirit of God him&s;elf is thy Confe&s;&s;or, and he ab&s;olves thee, <HI>filius i&s;tarum lachrymarum,</HI> the &s;oule ba|thed in the&s;e teares cannot peri&s;h: for this is <HI>trina immer &s;io,</HI> that threefold dipping which was u&s;ed in the Primitive Church in bapti&s;me. And in this bapti&s;me, thou take&s;t a new Chri&s;tian name, thou who wa&s;t but a Chri&s;tian, art now a regenerate Chri&s;tian; and as
<PB N="163" REF="99"><HI>Naaman</HI> the Leper came cleaner out of Jordan, then he was before his lepro&s;ie, (for his fle&s;h came as the fle&s;h of a child) &s;o there &s;hall be better evidence in this bapti&s;me of thy repentance, then in thy fir&s;t bapti&s;me; better in thy &s;elf, for then thou had&s;t no &s;en&s;e of thy own e&s;tate, in this thou ha&s;t: And thou &s;halt have better evidence from others too; for how&s;oever &s;ome others will di&s;pute, whether all children which dye after Bap|ti&s;me, be certainly &s;aved or no, it never fell into doubt or di&s;putation, whether all that die truely repentant, be &s;aved or no. Weep the&s;e teares truly, and God &s;hall performe to thee, fir&s;t that promi&s;e which he makes in <HI>E&s;ay, The Lord &s;hall wipe all teares from thy face,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 25.</NOTE> all that are fallen by any occa&s;ion of calamity here, in the militant Church; and he &s;hall performe that promi&s;e which he makes in the Revelation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 7.17.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord &s;hall wipe all teares from thine eyes,</HI> that is, dry up the fountaine of teares; remove all occa&s;ion of teares here|after, in the triumphant Church.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XVII.</HI> Preached at <HI>VVhite-hall,</HI> March <HI>4. 1624.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 19.17.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he &s;aid unto him, Why calle&s;t thou me Good? There is none Good but One; that is, God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THat which God commanded by his Word, to be done at &s;ome times (that we &s;hould humble our &s;oules by fa&s;ting) the &s;ame God tommands by his Church, to be done now: In the Scriptures you have <HI>Praeceptum,</HI> The thing it &s;elf, What; In the Church, you have the <HI>Nunt,</HI> The time, When. The Scriptures are Gods Voyce; The Church is his Eccho; a redoubling, a repeating of &s;ome particular &s;yllables, and accents of the &s;ame voice. And as we harken with &s;ome earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, and &s;ome admiration at an Eccho, when perchance we doe not under&s;tand the voice that occa&s;ioned that Eccho; &s;o doe the obedient children of God apply them&s;elves to the Eccho of his Church, when perchance otherwi&s;e, they would le&s;&s;e under&s;tand the voice of God, in his Scriptures, if that voice were not &s;o redoubled unto them. This fa&s;ting then, thus enjoyned by God, for the generall, in his Word, and thus limited to this Time, for the particular, in his Church, is indeed but a continuation of a great Fea&s;t: Where, the fir&s;t cour&s;e (that which we begin to &s;erve in now) is Manna, food of Angels, plentifull, frequent preaching; but the &s;econd cour&s;e, is the very body and blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, &s;hed for us, and given to us, in that ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament, of which him&s;elfe makes us worthy receivers at that time. Now, as the end of all bodily eating, is A&s;&s;imilation, that after all other concoctions, that meat may be made <HI>Idem cor|pus,</HI> the &s;ame body that I am; &s;o the end of all &s;pirituall eating, is A&s;&s;imilation too, That after all Hearing, and all Receiving, I may be made <HI>Idem &s;piritus cum Domino,</HI> the &s;ame &s;pirit, that my God is: for, though it be good to Heare, good to Receive, good to Me|ditate, yet, (if we &s;peake effectually, and con&s;ummatively) why call we the&s;e good? there is nothing good but One, that is, A&s;&s;imilation to God; In which perfect and con|&s;ummative &s;en&s;e, Chri&s;t &s;aies to this Man, in this Text, <HI>Why calle&s;t thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God.</HI></P>
<P>The words are part of a Dialogue, of a Conference, betweene Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and a man who propo&s;ed a que&s;tion to him; to whom Chri&s;t makes an an&s;wer by way of another que|&s;tion, <HI>Why calle&s;t thou me good, &amp;c.</HI> In the words, and by occa&s;ion of them, we con&s;ider the Text, the Context, and the Pretext: Not as three equall parts of the Building; but the Context, as the &s;ituation and Pro&s;pect of the hou&s;e, The Pretext, as the Acce&s;&s;e and entrance to the hou&s;e, And then the Text it &s;elfe, as the Hou&s;e it &s;elfe, as the body of the building: In a word, In the Text, the Words; In the Context, the Occa&s;ion of the words; In the Pretext, the Pretence, the purpo&s;e, the di&s;po&s;ition of him who gave the occa&s;ion.</P>
<PB N="164" REF="100">
<P>We begin with the Context;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. Context.</NOTE> the &s;ituation, the pro&s;pect; how it &s;tands, how it is but|ted, how it is bounded; to what it relates, with what it is connected. And in that, we are no farther curious, but onely to note this, that the Text &s;tands in that Story, where a man comes to Chri&s;t, inquires the way to Heaven, beleeves him&s;elfe to be in that way already, and (when he heares of nothing, but keeping the Commandements) beleeves him&s;elfe to be fargone in that way; But when he is told al&s;o, that there belongs to it a departing with his Riches, his beloved Riches, he breakes off the conference, he &s;epa|rates him&s;elfe from Chri&s;t; for, (&s;aies the Story) <HI>This Man had great po&s;&s;e&s;sions.</HI> And to this purpo&s;e, (to &s;eparate us from Chri&s;t) the poore&s;t among&s;t us, hath great po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions. He corners of the &s;treets, as well as he that &s;its upon carpets, in the Region of perfumes, he that is ground and trod to durt, with obloquie, and contempt, as well as he that is built up every day, a &s;tory and &s;tory higher with additions of Honour, Every man hath &s;ome &s;uch po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions as po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e him, &s;ome &s;uch affections as weigh downe Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and &s;eparate him from Him, rather then from tho&s;e affections, tho&s;e po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions. Scarce any &s;inner but comes &s;ometimes to Chri&s;t, in the language of the man in this Text, <HI>Good Ma|&s;ter what good thing &s;hall I do, that I may have eternall life?</HI> And if Chri&s;t would go no far|ther with &s;uch men, but to &s;ay to the Adulterer, Do not thou give thy money to u&s;ury; no more to the penurious U&s;urer, but, Do not thou wa&s;t thy &s;elfe in &s;uperfluous and ex|pen&s;ive fea&s;ting; If Chri&s;t would proceed no farther, but to &s;ay to the needy per&s;on, that had no money, Do not thou buy preferment; or to the ambitious per&s;on that &s;oares up after all, Do not thou for&s;ake thy &s;elfe, deject thy &s;elfe, undervalue thy &s;elfe, In all the&s;e ca&s;es, the Adulterer and the U&s;urer, The needy and the ambitious man, would all &s;ay with the man in the Text, <HI>All the&s;e things have we done from our youth.</HI> But when Chri&s;t proceeds to a <HI>Vade, &amp; vende,</HI> to depart with their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, that which they po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e, that which po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es them, this changes the ca&s;e.</P>
<P>There are &s;ome &s;ins &s;o rooted, &s;o riveted in men, &s;o incorporated, &s;o con&s;ub&s;tantiated in the &s;oule, by habituall cu&s;tome, as that tho&s;e &s;ins have contracted the nature of An|cient po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions. As men call Manners by their names, &s;o &s;ins have taken names from men, and from places; <HI>Simon Magus</HI> gave the name to a &s;in, and &s;o did <HI>gehazi,</HI> and <HI>Sodom</HI> did &s;o: There are &s;ins that run in Names, in Families, in Blood; Hereditary &s;ins, entailed &s;ins; and men do almo&s;t prove their Gentry by tho&s;e &s;ins, and are &s;carce beleeved to be rightly borne, if they have not tho&s;e &s;ins; The&s;e are great po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, and men do much more ea&s;ily part with Chri&s;t, then with the&s;e &s;ins. But then there are le&s;&s;e &s;ins, light &s;ins, vanities; and yet even the&s;e come to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e us, and &s;eparate us from Chri&s;t. How many men negiect this ordinary meanes of their Salvation, the comming to the&s;e Exerci&s;es, not becau&s;e their undoing lyes on it, or their di&s;countenancing; but meerely out of levity, of vanity, of nothing; they know not what to do el&s;e, and yet do not this. You heare of one man that was drowned in a ve&s;&s;ell of Wine; but how many thou&s;ands in ordinary water? And he was no more drowned in that precious liquor, then they in that common water. A gad of &s;teele does no more choake a man, then a feather, then a haire; Men peri&s;h with whi&s;pering &s;ins, nay with &s;ilent &s;ins, &s;ins that never tell the con&s;cience they are &s;ins, as often as with crying &s;ins: And in hell there &s;hall meet as many men, that never thought what was &s;in, as that &s;pent all their thoughts in the compa&s;&s;ing of &s;in; as many, who in a &s;lack in con&s;ideration, never ca&s;t a thought upon that place, as that by &s;earing their con&s;cience, overcame the &s;en&s;e and feare of the place. Great &s;ins are great po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; but levities and vanities po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e us too; and men had rather part with Chri&s;t, then with any po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; which is all we will note out of this fir&s;t part, The Context, the &s;ituation, and pro&s;pect of the hou&s;e, the coherence and connexion of the Text.</P>
<P>The &s;econd part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. Pretext.</NOTE> is the pretext; that is the preten&s;e, the purpo&s;e, the di&s;po&s;ition of him that moved this que&s;tion to Chri&s;t, and occa&s;ioned this an&s;wer. Upon which we make this &s;top, becau&s;e it hath been variou&s;ly apprehended by the Expo&s;itors; for &s;ome think he came in an humble di&s;po&s;ition to learn of Chri&s;t, and others think he came in a Phari|&s;aicall confidence in him&s;elf, with which <HI>Epiphanius</HI> fir&s;t, and then S. <HI>Ierome</HI> charge him. But in &s;uch doubtful ca&s;es in other mens actions, when it appeares not evidently, whether it were well, or ill done, where the balance is eaven, alwayes put you in your charity, and that will turne the &s;cale the be&s;t way. Things which are in them&s;elves, but mi&s;-interpre|table, doe not you pre&s;ently mi&s;-interpret, you allow &s;ome graines to your gold, before
<PB N="165" REF="100">you call it light: allow &s;ome infirmities to any man, before you call him ill. For this man in the Text, <HI>venit,</HI> &s;ayes this Euangeli&s;t, he came to Chri&s;t, he came of him&s;elfe. S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elf came not &s;o. S. <HI>Peter</HI> came not, till his brother <HI>Andrew</HI> brought him: none of the twelve Apo&s;tles came to Chri&s;t &s;o, they came not, till Chri&s;t called them: Here, we heare of no calling, no inviting, no mention of any motion towards him, no intimati|on of any intimation to him, and yet he came. Ble&s;&s;ed are they that come to Chri&s;t Je&s;us, before any collaterall re&s;pects draw them, before the Laws compell them, before calamities drive them to him: He onely comes hither, that comes voluntarily, and is glad he is here; He that comes &s;o, as that he had rather he were away, is not here. <HI>Ve|nit,</HI> &s;ayes our Euangeli&s;t, of this man: And then, &s;ayes S. <HI>Mark,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark. 10.17.</NOTE> handling the &s;ame &s;to|ry, <HI>Venit procurrens, He came running. nicodemus</HI> came not &s;o, <HI>Nicodemus</HI> dur&s;t not avow his comming; and therefore he came creeping, and he came &s;oftly, and he came &s;eldome, and he came by night.</P>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed are they who make ha&s;te to Chri&s;t, and publi&s;h their zeale to the encourage|ment of others: For, let no man promi&s;e him&s;elf a religious con&s;tancy in the time of his triall, that doth not his part in e&s;tabli&s;hing the religious con&s;tancy of other men. Of all proofes, Demon&s;tration is the powerfulle&s;t: when I have ju&s;t rea&s;on to think my &s;uperi|ous would have it thus, this is Mu&s;ique to my &s;oul; When I heare them &s;ay they would have it thus, this is Rhetorique to my &s;oule; When I &s;ee their Laws enjoyne it to be thus, this is Logick to my &s;oul; but when I &s;ee them actually, really, clearely, con&s;tant|ly do thus, this is a Demon&s;tration to my &s;oule, and Demon&s;tration is the powerfulle&s;t proofe: The eloquence of inferiours is in words, the eloquence of &s;uperiours is in action.</P>
<P>He came to Chri&s;t; hee ran to him; and when he was come, as S. <HI>Mark</HI> relates it, <HI>He fell upon his knees to Chri&s;t.</HI> He &s;tood not then Phari&s;aically upon his own legs, his own merits, though he had been a diligent ob&s;erver of the Commandements before. Ble&s;&s;ed are they, who bring the te&s;timony of a forme zeale to Gods &s;ervice, and yet make that no excu&s;e for their pre&s;ent, or future &s;lackne&s;&s;t; The benefit of our former goodne&s;&s;e is, that that enables us to be the better &s;till: for, as all example is powerfull upon us, &s;o our own example mo&s;t of all; in this ca&s;e we are mo&s;t immediately bound by our&s;elves; &s;till to be &s;o good, as we our &s;elves have been before: There was a time when I was nothing; but there &s;hall never be any time, when I &s;hall be nothing; and therefore I am mo&s;t to re&s;pect the future. The good &s;ervices that a man hath done to God by pen, or &s;word, are wings, and they exalt him if he would go forward; but they are waights and depre&s;&s;e him, and aggravate his condemnation, if his pre&s;umption upon the merit of tho&s;e former &s;ervices, retard him for the future. This man had done well, but he &s;tood not upon that; he kneeled to Chri&s;t, and he &s;aid to him, <HI>Magi&s;ter bone, Good ma&s;ter.</HI> He was no ignorant man, and yet he acknowledged that he had &s;omewhat more to learn of Chri&s;t, then he knew yet. Ble&s;&s;ed are they that inanimate all their know|ledge, con&s;ummate all in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. The Univer&s;ity is a Paradi&s;e, Rivers of know|ledge are there, Arts and Sciences flow from thence. Coun&s;ell Tables are <HI>Horti conclu&s;i,</HI> (as it is &s;aid in the Canticles) <HI>Gardens that are walled in,</HI> and they are <HI>Fontes &s;ignati, Wells that are &s;ealed up;</HI> bottomle&s;&s;e depths of un&s;earchable Coun&s;els there. But tho&s;e <HI>Aquae quietudinum,</HI> which the Prophet &s;peaks of, <HI>The waters of re&s;t,</HI> they flow <HI>&agrave; magi&s;tro bono,</HI> from this good ma&s;ter, and flow into him again; All knowledge that begins not, and ends not with his glory, is but a giddy, but a vertiginous circle, but an elaborate and ex|qui&s;ite ignorance. He would learn of him, and what? <HI>Quid boni faciam,</HI> What good thing &s;hall I do? Ble&s;&s;ed are they that bring their knowledge into practi&s;e; and ble&s;&s;ed again, that crown their former practi&s;e with future per&s;everance.</P>
<P>This was his di&s;po&s;ition that came; His, though he were a youn man; (for &s;o he is &s;aid to be, in the 22. ver.) and yong men are not ofter &s;o forward in &s;uch wayes. I re|member one of the Panegyriques celebrates &amp; magnifies one of the Romane Emperors for? is, that he would marry when he was yong; that he would &s;o &s;oon confine and limit his plea&s;ures, &s;o &s;oon determine his affections in one per&s;on. When a young man comes to Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t receives him with an extraordinary welcome; well intimated though he were yong; and he came though he wre <HI>Vnus &egrave; principibus,</HI> (for &s;o he is qualified in S. <HI>Luke</HI>) A principall man, a great man; as we tran&s;late it, <HI>One of the Rulers:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.18.</NOTE>
<PB N="166" REF="101">for &s;o he is a reall and a per&s;onall an&s;wer and in&s;tance to that &s;cornfull que&s;tion of the Phari&s;ees, <HI>Nunquid &egrave; principibus, Do any of the Rulers,</HI> any great men, <HI>beleeve in Chri&s;t?</HI> It is true that the Holy Gho&s;t doth &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.26.</NOTE> <HI>Non multi nobiles,</HI> few noble men come to hea|ven. Not out of <HI>Panigorola,</HI> the Bi&s;hop of A&s;ti, his rea&s;on, <HI>Pauci quia pauci,</HI> There can|not come many noble men to heaven, becau&s;e there are not many upon earth; for many times there are many. In calme and peaceable times, the large favours of indulgent Princes, in active and &s;tirring times, the merit and the fortune of forward men, do often enlarge the number. But &s;uch is often the corrupt inordinatene&s;&s;e of greatne&s;&s;e, that it only carries them &s;o much beyond other men, but not &s;o much nearer to God; It only &s;ets men at a farther, not God at a nearer di&s;tance to them; but becau&s;e they are come to be called gods, they think they have no farther to go to God, but to them&s;elves. But <HI>God is the God of the Mountains,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 20.28. E&s;ay 40.12.</NOTE> <HI>as well as of the Valleyes:</HI> Great and &s;mall are equall, and equally nothing in his &s;ight: for, when all the world is <HI>In pugillo, in Gods fi&s;t,</HI> (as the Pro|phet &s;peaks) who can &s;ay then, This is the Ant, this is the Elephant? Our conver&s;ati|on &s;hould be in heaven; and if we look upon the men of this world, as from heaven, as if we looked upon this world it &s;elf, from thence, the hils would be no hils, but all one flat and equall plain; &s;o are all men, one kinde of du&s;t. Records of nobility are only from the book of Life, and your preferment is your intere&s;t in a place at the right hand of God. But yet, when tho&s;e men whom God hath rai&s;ed in this world, take him in their armes, and rai&s;e him too, though God cannot be exalted above him&s;elf, yet he is content to call this a rai&s;ing, and to thank them for it. Therefore when this man, a man of this rank came to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 10.21.</NOTE> <HI>Ie&s;us beheld him,</HI> &s;ayes the Go&s;pell, <HI>and he loved him, and he &s;aid, one thing thou lacke&s;t;</HI> God knows, he lacked many things; but becau&s;e he had that one, zeale to him, Chri&s;t doth not reproach to him his other defects: God pardons great men ma|ny errors, for that one good affection, a generall zeale to his glory, and his cau&s;e.</P>
<P>His di&s;po&s;ition then, (though it have &s;eemed &s;u&s;pitious, and que&s;tionable to &s;ome) was &s;o good, as that it hath afforded us the&s;e good con&s;iderations. If it were not &s;o good as the&s;e circum&s;tances promi&s;e, yet it affords us another as good con&s;ideration, That how bad &s;oever it were, Chri&s;t Je&s;us refu&s;ed him not, when he came to him. When he en|quired of Chri&s;t after &s;alvation, Chri&s;t doth not &s;ay, There is no &s;alvation for thee, thou Viper, thou Hypocrite, thou Phari&s;ee, I have locked an iron doore of prede&s;tination be|tween &s;alvation and thee; when he enquired of him, what he &s;hould do to be &s;ure of heaven, Chri&s;t doth not &s;ay, There is no &s;uch art, no &s;uch way, no &s;uch a&s;&s;urance here; but you mu&s;t look into the eternall decree of Election fir&s;t, and &s;ee whether that &s;tand for you or no: But Chri&s;t teaches him the true method of this art: for, when he &s;ayes to him, <HI>Why calle&s;t thou me good? There is none good but God,</HI> he only directs him in the way to that end, which he did indeed, or pretended to &s;eek. And this direction of his, this method is our third part; In which, (having already &s;een in the fir&s;t, the Context) the &s;ituation and pro&s;pect of the hou&s;e, that is, the coherence and occa&s;ion of the words, And in the &s;econd, (the Pretext) the acce&s;&s;e and entrance to the hou&s;e, that is, the pre|ten&s;e and purpo&s;e of him that occa&s;ioned the words, you may now be plea&s;ed to look farther into the hou&s;e it &s;elf, and to &s;ee how that is built; that is, by what method Chri&s;t builds up, and edifies this new di&s;ciple of his; which is the principall &s;cope and intenti|on of the Text, and that, to which all the re&s;t did &s;omewhat nece&s;&s;arily prepare the way.</P>
<P>Our Saviour Chri&s;t thus undertaking the farther rectifying of this thus di&s;po&s;ed di&s;ci|ple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> by a faire method leads him to the true end; Good ends, and by good wayes, con|&s;ummate goodne&s;&s;e. Now Chri&s;ts an&s;wer to this man is diver&s;ly read: We reade it, (as you have heard) <HI>why calle&s;t thou me good?</HI> The vulgat Edition in the Romane Church, reads it thus, <HI>Quid me interrogas de bono? Why do&s;t thou que&s;tion me concerning goodne&s;&s;e?</HI> Which is true? That which an&s;wers the Originall; and it can admit no que&s;tion, but that ours doth &s;o. But yet, <HI>Origen,</HI> to be &s;ure, in his eighth Tractate upon this Go&s;pell, reads it both wayes: And S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> in his 63. Chap. of the &s;econd book <HI>De con&s;en&s;u Evangeli&s;t arum,</HI> thinks it may very well be beleeved, that Chri&s;t did &s;ay both: That when this man called him <HI>good ma&s;ter,</HI> Chri&s;t &s;aid then, <HI>There was none good but God;</HI> and that when this man asked him, <HI>what good thing he &s;hould do,</HI> then Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Why do&s;t thou ask me, me whom thou thinke&s;t to be but a meere man, what is goodne&s;&s;e? There is none good but God;</HI> If thou look to under&s;tand goodne&s;&s;e from man, thou mu&s;t look out &s;uch a man as is God too. So that this was Chri&s;ts method, by the&s;e holy in|&s;inuations,
<PB N="167" REF="101">by the&s;e approaches, and degrees, to bring this man to a knowledge, that he was very God, and &s;o the Me&s;&s;ias that was expected. <HI>Nihil e&s;t fal&s;itas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>ni&s;i cum e&s;&s;e puta|tur, quod non e&s;t:</HI> All error con&s;i&s;ts in this, that we take things to be le&s;&s;e or more, other then they are. Chri&s;t was plea&s;ed to redeem this man from this error, and bring him to know truly what he was, that he was God. Chri&s;t therefore doth not rebuke this man, by any denying that he him&s;elf was good; for Chri&s;t doth a&s;&s;ume that addition to him|&s;elf, <HI>I am the good Shepheard.</HI> Neither doth God forbid, that tho&s;e good parts which are in men, &s;hould be celebrated with condigne prai&s;e. We &s;ee that God, as &s;oon as he &s;aw that any thing was good, he &s;aid &s;o, he uttered it, he declared it, fir&s;t of the Light, and then of other creatures: God would be no author, no example of &s;mothering the due prai&s;e of good actions. For, &s;urely that man hath no zeale to goodne&s;&s;e in him&s;elf, that affords no prai&s;e to goodne&s;&s;e in other men.</P>
<P>But Chri&s;ts purpo&s;e was al&s;o, that this prai&s;e, this recognition, this te&s;timony of his goodne&s;&s;e, might be carried higher, and referred to the only true author of it, to God. So the Prie&s;ts and the Elders come to <HI>Iudith,</HI> and they &s;ay to her,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judith 15.8.</NOTE> Thou art the exaltation of Jeru&s;alem, thou art the great glory of I&s;rael, thou art the rejoycing of our Nation, thou ha&s;t done all the&s;e things by thy hand; And all this was true of <HI>Iudith,</HI> and due to <HI>Iudith;</HI> and &s;uch recognitions, and &s;uch acclamations God requires of &s;uch people, as have received &s;uch benefits by &s;uch in&s;truments: For as there is Trea&s;on, and petty-trea|&s;on, &s;o there is Sacriledge, and petty-&s;acriledge; and petty-&s;acriledge is to rob Princes and great per&s;ons of their ju&s;t prai&s;e. But then, as we mu&s;t confer this upon them, &s;o mu&s;t they, and we, and all transfer all upon God: for &s;o <HI>Iudith</HI> proceeds there, with her Prie&s;ts and Elders, Begin unto my God, with Timbrels, &s;ing unto the Lord with Cym|bals, exalt him, and call upon his name. So likewi&s;e <HI>Elizabeth</HI> magnifies the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary, Ble&s;&s;ed art thou amongst women:</HI> And this was true of her, and due to her;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.42.</NOTE> and &s;he takes it to her &s;elf, when &s;he &s;ayes there, <HI>From henceforth all Generations &s;hall call me ble&s;&s;ed;</HI> but fir&s;t, &s;he had carried it higher, to the highe&s;t, <HI>My &s;oule doth magnifie the Lord, and my &s;pirit doth rejoyce in God my Saviour.</HI> In a word, Chri&s;t forbids not this man to call him good, but he directs him to know in what capacity that attribute of good|ne&s;&s;e belonged to him, as he was God: That when this man beleeved before that Chri&s;t was good, and learnt from him now, that none was good but God, he might by a farther concoction, a farther rumination, a farther meditation of this, come in due time to know that Chri&s;t was God; And this was his Method.</P>
<P>Now this leads us into two rich and fragrant fields; this &s;ets us upon the two Hemi|&s;pheares of the world; the We&s;tern Hemi&s;pheare, the land of Gold, and Trea&s;ure, and the Ea&s;tern Hemi&s;pheare, the land of Spices and Perfumes; for this puts us upon both the&s;e con&s;iderations, fir&s;t, That nothing is E&s;&s;entially good, but God, (and there is the land of Gold, centricall Gold, vi&s;cerall Gold, gremiall Gold, Gold in the Matrice and womb of God, that is, E&s;&s;entiall goodne&s;&s;e in God him&s;elf) and then upon this con&s;ide|ration too, That this E&s;&s;entiall goodne&s;&s;e of God is &s;o diffu&s;ive, &s;o &s;preading, as that there is nothing in the world, that doth not participate of that goodne&s;&s;e; and there is the land of Spices and Perfumes, the dilatation of Gods goodne&s;&s;e. So that now both the&s;e propo&s;itions are true, Fir&s;t, That there is nothing in this world good, and then this al&s;o, That there is nothing ill: As, among&s;t the Fathers, it is in a good &s;en&s;e, as truly &s;aid, <HI>De|us non e&s;t Ens, Deus non e&s;t &s;ub&s;tantia,</HI> God is no E&s;&s;ence, God is no &s;ub&s;tance, (for feare of impri&s;oning God in a predicament) as it is &s;aid by others of the Fathers, that there is no other E&s;&s;ence, no other Sub&s;tance but God.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, there is nothing good but God: neither can I conceive any thing in God, that concerns me &s;o much as his goodne&s;&s;e; for, by that I know him, and for that I love him. I know him by that, for, as <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>primarium Dei nomen, Bonitas;</HI> Gods fir&s;t name, that is, the fir&s;t way by which God notified him &s;elf to man, was Goodne&s;s; for out of his goodne&s;&s;e he made him. His name of Jehova we admire with a reverence; but we cannot expre&s;&s;e that name: not only not in the &s;ignification of it, but not con&s;idently, not a&s;&s;uredly in the &s;ound thereof; we are not &s;ure that we &s;hould call it Jehova; not &s;ure that any man did call it Jehova a hundred yeares agoe. But,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>ineffabili dulcedine teneor cum audio, Bonus Dominus;</HI> I am, not tran&s;ported with a&s;toni&s;hment, as at his name of Je|hova, but repleni&s;hed with all &s;weetne&s;&s;e, e&s;tabli&s;hed with all &s;oundne&s;&s;e, when I hear of my God in that name, my good God. By that I know him, and for that I love him: For,
<PB N="168" REF="102">the object of my under&s;tanding is truth; but the object of my love, my affection, my de|&s;ire, is goodne&s;&s;e. If my under&s;tanding be defective, in many ca&s;es, faith will &s;upply it; if I beleeve it, I am as well &s;atisfied, as if I knew it; but nothing &s;upplies, nor fills, nor &s;ati&s;|fies the de&s;ire of man, on this &s;ide of God; Every man hath &s;omething to love, and de|&s;ire, till he determine it in God; becau&s;e God only hath <HI>Imminuibi lem bonitatem,</HI> as they render <HI>Dyoni&s;ius</HI> the Areopagite, an inexhau&s;tible goodne&s;&s;e; a &s;ea that no land can &s;uck in, a land that no &s;ea can &s;wallow up, a forre&s;t that no fire can wa&s;te, a fire that no water can quench.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> He is &s;o good, goodne&s;&s;e &s;o, as that he is <HI>Cau&s;a bonorum, &amp; quae in nos, &amp; quae in nobis,</HI> the cau&s;e of all good either received by us, or conceived in us; of all, either pre|pared externally for us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> or produced internally in us. In a word, he is <HI>Bonum caetera bona colorans, &amp; amabilia reddens,</HI> it is his goodne&s;&s;e, that gilds and enamels all the good per|&s;ons, or good actions in this world. There is none good but God; and <HI>quale bonum ille,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, what kinde of goodne&s;&s;e God is, this doth &s;ufficiently declare, <HI>Qu&ograve;d nulli ab co recedenti bene &s;it,</HI> That no man that ever went from him, went by good way, or came to good end; There is none good but God; there is centricall, vi&s;cerall, gremiall gold, goodne&s;&s;e in the roote, in the tree of goodne&s;&s;e, God.</P>
<P>Now, <HI>Arbor bona, bonos fructus,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t; <HI>If the tree be good, the fruit is good too.</HI> The tree is God; What are the fruits of this tree? What are the off-&s;pring of God? S. <HI>Ambr.</HI> tells us, <HI>Angeli &amp; homines, &amp; virtutes eorum;</HI> Angels and men, and the good parts, and good actions of Angels and men, are the fruit of this tree, they grow from God. Angels, as they fell, <HI>Adam,</HI> as he fell, the &s;ins of Angels and men, are not fruits of this tree, they grow not radically, not primarily from God. <HI>Nihil in &s;e habet Deus &s;emi-plenum,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Da|ma&s;cen:</HI> God is no half-god, no fragmentary God; he is an intire God, and not made of remnants; not good only &s;o, as that he hath no roome for ill in him&s;elf, but good &s;o too, as that he hath no roome for any ill will towards any man; no mans damnation, no mans &s;in, growes radically from this tree. When God had made all, &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian,</HI> he ble&s;&s;ed all; <HI>Maledicere non norat, quia nec malefacere,</HI> &s;aies he: God could no more meane ill, then doe ill; God can no more make me &s;in, then &s;in him&s;elf. It is the foole that &s;aies, There is no God, &s;aies <HI>David;</HI> And it is the other foole, &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> that &s;aies, God pro|duces any ill; <HI>par precii &s;celus, quia negat Deum bonum;</HI> It is as impiou&s;ly done, to deny God to be intirely good, as to deny him to be God. For, we &s;ee the <HI>Manichees,</HI> and the <HI>Marcionites,</HI> and &s;uch other Heretiques in the Primitive Church, would rather admit, and con&s;titute two Gods, a good God, and a bad God, then be drawn to think, that he that was the good God indeed, could produce any ill of him&s;elf, or meane any ill to any man, that had done none.</P>
<P>And therefore even from <HI>Plato</HI> him&s;elf, &s;ome Chri&s;tians might learn more moderation in expre&s;&s;ing them&s;elves in this point; <HI>Plato</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Creavit quia bonus,</HI> therefore did God create us, that he might be good to us; and then he addes, <HI>Bono nunquam ine&s;t invidia,</HI> certainly that God, that made us out of his goodne&s;&s;e, does not now envy us that good|ne&s;&s;e which he hath communicated to us; certainly he does not wi&s;h us wor&s;e, that &s;o he might more ju&s;tly damne us, and therefore compell us, by any po&s;itive decree, to &s;in, to ju|&s;tifie his de&s;ire of damning us: Much le&s;&s;e did this good God hate us, or meane ill to us, before he made us, and made us only therefore, that he might have glory in our de&s;tru|ction. There is nothing good but God, there is nothing but goodne&s;&s;e in God.</P>
<P>How abu&s;ively then doe men call the things of this world, Goods? They may as well call them (&s;o they do in their hearts) Gods, as Goods; <HI>for there is none good but God.</HI> But how much more abu&s;ively do they force the world, that call them <HI>Bona quia beant,</HI> Goods be|cau&s;e they make us good, ble&s;&s;ed, happy? In which &s;en&s;e, <HI>Seneca</HI> u&s;es the word &s;hrewdly, <HI>In&s;olens malum beata uxor,</HI> a good wife, a ble&s;&s;ed wife, &s;ayes he, that is, a wife that brings a great e&s;tate, is an in&s;olent mi&s;chiefe. If we doe but ca&s;t our eye upon that title in the Law, <HI>Bonorum,</HI> and <HI>De bonis,</HI> of Goods, we &s;hall ea&s;ily &s;ee, what poor things they make &s;hift to cal Goods. And if we con&s;ider (if it de&s;erve a con&s;ideration) how great a difference their Lawyers make (<HI>Baldus</HI> makes that, and others with him) between <HI>Bonorum po&s;&s;e&s;sio,</HI> and <HI>po&s;&s;e&s;sio bonorum,</HI> that one &s;hould amount to a right and propriety in the goods, and the other but to a &s;eque&s;tration of &s;uch goods, we may ea&s;ily &s;ee, that they can &s;carce tell what to call, or where to place &s;uch Goods. Health, and &s;trength, and &s;tature, and comeline&s;&s;e, mu&s;t be called Goods, though but of the body; The body it &s;elf is in the &s;ub&s;tance it &s;elf, but du&s;t; the&s;e are but the accidents of that du&s;t, and yet they mu&s;t be Goods. Land, and
<PB N="169" REF="102">Money, &amp; honor mu&s;t be called Goods, though but of fortune; Fortune her &s;elf, is but &s;uch an Idol, as that S. <HI>Aug.</HI> was a&s;hamed ever to have named her in his works, and therefore repents it in his Retractations; her &s;elf is but an Idol, and an <HI>Idol is nothing</HI> the&s;e, but the ac|cidents of that nothing, and yet they mu&s;t be Goods. Are they &s;uch Goods, as make him nece&s;&s;arily good that hath them? Or &s;uch, as no man can be good, that is without them? How many men make them&s;elves mi&s;erable, becau&s;e they want the&s;e Goods? And how many men have been made mi&s;erable by others, becau&s;e they had them? Except thou &s;ee the face of God upon all thy money, as well as the face of the King, the hand of God to all thy Patents, as well as the hand of the King, Gods <HI>Amen,</HI> as well as the Kings <HI>fiat,</HI> to all thy creatio~s, all the&s;e reach not to the title of Goods, for <HI>there is none good but God.</HI></P>
<P>Nothing in this world; not if thou could&s;t have it all; carry it higher, to the highe&s;t, to heaven; heaven it &s;elf were not good, without God. For, in the Schoole, very many and very great men, have thought and taught, That the humane nature of Chri&s;t, though united Hypo&s;tatically to the Divine Nature, was not meerly by that Union, impeccable, but might have &s;inned, if be&s;ides that Union, God had not infu&s;ed, and &s;uper-induced other graces, of which other graces, the Beatificall vi&s;ion, the pre&s;ent &s;ight of the face and E&s;&s;ence of God, was one: Becau&s;e, (&s;ay they) Chri&s;t had from his Conception, in his Humane Nature, that Beatificall Vi&s;ion of God, which we &s;hall have in the &s;tate of Glo|ry, therefore he could not &s;in. This Beatificall Vi&s;ion, &s;ay they, which Chri&s;t had here, and which, (as they &s;uppo&s;e, and not improbably, in the problematicall way of the Schoole) God, of his ab&s;olute power, might have with-held, and yet the Hypo&s;taticall Union have remained perfect; (for, &s;ay they, the two Natures, Humane &amp; Divine, might have been &s;o united, and yet the Humane not have &s;o &s;een the Divine) This Beatificall Vi&s;ion, this &s;ight of God, was the Cau&s;e, or Seal, or Con&s;ummation of Chri&s;ts Perfecti|on, and impeccability in his Humane Nature. Much more is this Beatificall Vi&s;ion, this &s;ight of God in Heaven, the Cau&s;e or Con&s;ummation of all the joyes and glory which we &s;hall receive in that place: for how&s;oever they di&s;pute, whether that kinde of Ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;t in &s;eeing God, <HI>formaliter,</HI> or <HI>cau&s;aliter,</HI> that is, whether I &s;hall &s;ee all things in God, as in a gla&s;&s;e, in which the &s;pecies of all things are, or whether I &s;hall &s;ee all things, by God, as by the benefit of a light, which &s;hall di&s;cover all things to me, yet they all agree, (though they differ <HI>de modo,</HI> of the manner, how) that how&s;oever it be, the &s;ub|&s;tance of the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is in this, that I &s;hall &s;ee God: <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>for they &s;hall &s;ee God;</HI> If they &s;hould not &s;ee God, they were not ble&s;&s;ed. And there|fore they who place children that die unbapti&s;ed, in a roome, where though they feele no torment, yet they &s;hall never &s;ee God, dur&s;t never call that roome a part of heaven, but of hell rather; Though there be no torment, yet, if they &s;ee not God, it is hell. There is nothing good in this life, nothing in the next, without God, that is, without &s;ight and fruition of the face, and pre&s;ence of God; which is that, which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> intends, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Secutio Dei e&s;t appetitus Beatitatis, con&s;ecutio Beatitas;</HI> our looking towards God, is the way to Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, but Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e it &s;elf is only the &s;ight of God him&s;elf.</P>
<P>That therefore thou mai&s;t begin thy heaven here, put thy &s;elf in the &s;ight of God, put God in thy &s;ight, in every particular action. We cannot come to the body of the Sun, but we can u&s;e the light of the Sun many waies: we cannot come to God him&s;elf here, but yet here we can &s;ee him by many manife&s;tations: &s;o many, as that S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> in his 20. Chapt. <HI>De moribus Eccle&s;iae Catholicae,</HI> hath collected aright places of Scripture, where every one of our &s;en&s;es is called a Seeing; there is a <HI>Gu&s;tate &amp; videte,</HI> and <HI>audite,</HI> and <HI>palpate; ta&s;ting,</HI> and <HI>hearing,</HI> and <HI>feeling,</HI> and all, to this purpo&s;e, are called <HI>&s;eeing;</HI> In all our &s;en&s;es, in our faculties, we may &s;ee God if we will: God &s;ees us at midnight; he &s;ees us, then, when we had rather he looked off. If we &s;ee him &s;o, it is a ble&s;&s;ed interview. How would he that were come abroad at mid-night, to doe a mi&s;chiefe, &s;neak away, if he &s;aw the watch? what a damp mu&s;t it nece&s;&s;arily ca&s;t upon any &s;inner, in the neare&s;t approach to his &s;in, if he can &s;ee God? See him before thou &s;inne&s;t; then he looks lovingly: After the &s;in, remember how fain <HI>Adam</HI> would have hid him&s;elf from God: He that goes one &s;tep out of Gods &s;ight, is loath to come into it againe: If you will &s;it at the right hand of God hereafter, you mu&s;t walk with God here; So <HI>Abraham,</HI> &s;o <HI>Enoch walked with God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 5.25.</NOTE> <HI>and God took him.</HI> God knowes, God takes not every man that dies: God &s;ayes to the rich &s;ecure man, <HI>Foole, this night they &s;hall fetch away thy &s;oule;</HI> but he does not tell him who. That then you be no &s;trangers to God then, &s;ee him now; and remember, that his
<PB N="170" REF="103">la&s;t judgement is expre&s;&s;ed in that word, <HI>Ne&s;cio vos, I know you not;</HI> not to be known by God, is damnation; and God knows no man there, with whom he was not acquainted here. There is none good but God; the fruition of that God, is in &s;eeing him; The way to &s;ee him there, is to look towards him here. And &s;o we have gone as far as the fir&s;t of our two propo&s;itions carried us, That in this world there is nothing good.</P>
<P>The other that remains, is, That there is nothing ill; that this goodne&s;&s;e of God is &s;o &s;pread over all, (all actions, all per&s;ons) as that there is nothing ill. <HI>Seneca,</HI> whom <HI>Tertul|lian</HI> calls &s;till <HI>Senecam no&s;tram,</HI> our <HI>Seneca,</HI> that is, that Chri&s;tian <HI>Seneca,</HI> as though he had read that of S <HI>Paul,</HI> (between whom and him, it hath been thought, there pa&s;&s;ed Epi&s;tles) <HI>Quid habes, quod non accepi&s;ti? what ha&s;t thou, that thou ha&s;t not received from God?</HI> and meant to &s;ay more then that, &s;ayes <HI>quid non dedit?</HI> what is there, that were good for thee, that God hath not given thee? And he, whom they call &s;o often <HI>Platonem Hebraeorum,</HI> the Jews <HI>Plato,</HI> that is, <HI>Philo Iudaeus,</HI> &s;ayes well, <HI>Nihil boni &s;terile creavit Deus;</HI> God hath made nothing, in which he hath not imprinted, and from which he hath not produced &s;ome good: He follows it &s;o far, (and ju&s;tly) as to &s;ay, that God does good, where that good does no good: He takes his examples from Gods raining in the Sea; that rain does no good in the Sea: And from Gods producing fre&s;h &s;prings in the de&s;art Land, where, not only no bea&s;ts come to drink, but where the very &s;alt tide overflows the fre&s;h &s;pring. He might have added an example from Paradi&s;e, that God would plant &s;uch a garden, for &s;o few houres; that God would provide man &s;uch a dwelling, when he knew he would not dwell a day in it. And he might have added an example from the Light too; That God would create light, and &s;ay it was good, then when it could be good for no|thing, for there was nothing made to &s;ee it, nor to be &s;een by it: &s;o forward, &s;o early was God, in diffu&s;ing his goodne&s;&s;e. Of every particular thing. God &s;aid <HI>it was good,</HI> and of all together, that <HI>it was very good;</HI> there was, there is nothing ill. For, when it is ordinari|ly inquired in the Schoole, whether any thing be e&s;&s;entially good, it is &s;afely an&s;wered there, that if by e&s;&s;entially we mean independantly, &s;o good as that it can &s;ub&s;i&s;t of it &s;elf, without dependance upon, or relation to any other thing, &s;o there is nothing e&s;&s;entially good: But if by e&s;&s;entially good, we mean that who&s;e e&s;&s;ence, and beeing is good, &s;o every thing is e&s;&s;entially good. And therefore when the <HI>Manichees</HI> pre&s;&s;ed S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> with that, <HI>Vnde malum?</HI> If there be not an ill God, as wel as a good, <HI>unde malum,</HI> from whom, or from whence proceed all that ill that is in the world? S. <HI>Aug.</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Vnde malum? Quid malum?</HI> From whence comes evill? Why, what is there, that you can call evill? I know no &s;uch thing; &s;o that, if there be &s;uch a God, that God hath no creature. For, as poi&s;ons conduce to Phy&s;ick, and di&s;cord to Mu&s;ick, &s;o tho&s;e two kinds of evill, into which we contract all others, are of good u&s;e, that is, <HI>malum poenae,</HI> the evill of puni&s;hment, affliction, adver&s;ity, and <HI>malum culpae,</HI> even &s;in it &s;elfe, from which, the puni&s;hment flowes.</P>
<P>Be plea&s;ed to &s;top a little, upon each of the&s;e. Fir&s;t, <HI>malum poenae,</HI> affliction, poverty, &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e, impri&s;onment, bani&s;hment, and &s;uch, are not evill. The blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us only is my cordiall; that re&s;tores me, repaires me; but affliction is my Phy&s;ick; that purges, that clean&s;es me. <HI>Ho&s;tiliter &s;e opponit medicus,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Tertullian,</HI> The Phy&s;itian comes in like an enemy, with a knife to launce, with fire to cauterize, but <HI>opponit &s;e morbo,</HI> he is but an ene|my to the di&s;ea&s;e, he means the patient no harm; no more does God to me, in all his me|dicinall corrections. But how if the&s;e afflictions hang long upon me? If they do &s;o, that is <HI>Aegrotantium animarum diaeta;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alex.</NOTE> God enters into another cour&s;e of Phy&s;ick, and finds it bet|ter for me to &s;pend my di&s;ea&s;e by a diet; and long &s;ickne&s;&s;es are &s;uch diets: God will reco|ver my &s;oul by a con&s;umption of the body, and e&s;tabli&s;h everla&s;ting health, by long &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e. How&s;oever, let Gods corrections go as high as they can go in this world, <HI>Et&s;i novum videtur, quod dicere volo,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Origen, dicam tamen;</HI> Though it be &s;trange that I will &s;ay, I wil &s;ay it, <HI>Etiam bonitas Dei e&s;t, qui dicitur faror ejus;</HI> That which we cal the anger of God, the wrath of God, the fury of God, is the goodne&s;&s;e of God. <HI>Correct me not O Lord, in thy wrath,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David;</HI> but, rather then leave me uncorrected, correct me any way. We call God, Ju&s;t, and we call him Mercifull, according to our pre&s;ent ta&s;te of God, and u&s;e of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Civil. Alex.</NOTE> <HI>Cum unicam habeat affectionem Deus, nempe bonitatem,</HI> when as God hath but one af|fection in him&s;elf, that is, goodne&s;&s;e, nor but one purpo&s;e upon us, that is, to doe us good.</P>
<P>So then, this which we call <HI>Malum poenae,</HI> Affliction, Adver&s;ity, is not evill; That which occa&s;ions this, <HI>Malum culpae,</HI> &s;in it &s;elf, is not evill; not evill &s;o, as that it &s;hould make us incapable of this diffu&s;ive goodne&s;&s;e of God. You know, I pre&s;ume, in what
<PB N="171" REF="103">&s;en&s;e we &s;ay in the Schoole, <HI>Malum nihil,</HI> and <HI>Peccatum nihil,</HI> that evill is nothing, &s;in is nothing; that is, it hath no reality, it is no created &s;ub&s;tance, it is but a privation, as a &s;hadow is, as &s;ickne&s;&s;e is; &s;o it is nothing. It is wittily argued by <HI>Boethius,</HI> God can do all things; God cannot &s;in; Therefore &s;in is nothing. But it is &s;trongly argued by S. <HI>Augu&s;tin,</HI> If there be any thing naturally evill, it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be contrary to that which is natu|rally good; and that is God. Now, <HI>Contraria aequalia,</HI> &s;aies he; what&s;oever things are contrary to one another, are equall to one another; &s;o, if we make any thing naturally evill, we &s;hall &s;lide into the Manichees error, to make an Evill God. So farre doth the Schoole follow this, as that there, one Archbi&s;hop of Canterbury, out of another, that is, <HI>Bradwardin</HI> out of <HI>An&s;elme,</HI> pronounces it <HI>Haereticum e&s;&s;e dicere, Malum e&s;&s;e aliquid,</HI> To &s;ay that any thing is naturally evill, is an here&s;ie.</P>
<P>But if I cannot finde a foundation for my comfort, in this &s;ubtilty of the Schoole, That &s;in is nothing, (no &s;uch thing as was created or induced by God, much le&s;&s;e forced upon me by him, in any coactive Decree) yet I can rai&s;e a &s;econd &s;tep for my con&s;olation in this, that be &s;in what it will in the nature thereof, yet my &s;in &s;hall conduce and coope|rate to my good. So <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> &s;aies to his Brethren, <HI>You thought evill again&s;t me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 51.20.</NOTE> <HI>but God meant it unto good:</HI> which is not onely good to <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> who was no partaker in the evill, but good even to them, who meant nothing but evill. And therefore, as <HI>Origen</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Et&s;i novum,</HI> Though it be &s;trangely &s;aid, yet I &s;ay it, That Gods anger is good; &s;o &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Audeo dicere,</HI> Though it be boldly &s;aid, yet I mu&s;t &s;ay it, <HI>Vtile e&s;&s;e cadere in aliquod manife&s;tum peccatum,</HI> Many &s;inners would never have beene &s;aved, if they had not committed &s;ome greater &s;in at la&s;t, then before; for, the puni&s;hment of that &s;in, hath brought them to a remor&s;e of all their other &s;ins formerly neglected. If neither of the&s;e will &s;erve my turne, neither that &s;in is nothing in it &s;elfe, and therefore not put upon me by God, nor that my &s;in, having occa&s;ioned my repentance, hath done me good, and e&s;tabli&s;hed me in a better &s;tate with God, then I was in before that &s;in, yet this &s;hall fully rectifie me, and a&s;&s;ure my con&s;olation, that in a pious &s;en&s;e I may &s;ay, Chri&s;t Je&s;us is the &s;inner, and not I. For, though in the two and twentieth Se&s;&s;ion of the Councell of Ba&s;il, that propo&s;ition were condemned as &s;candalous, in the mouth of a Bi&s;hop of Nazareth, <HI>Augu&s;tinus de Roma, Chri&s;tus quotidie peccat,</HI> That Chri&s;t does &s;in every day, yet <HI>Gregory Nazianzen</HI> expre&s;&s;es the &s;ame intention, in equivalent termes, when he &s;aies, <HI>Quamdiu inobediens ego, tamdiu, quantum ad me attinet, inobediens Chri&s;tus:</HI> As long as I &s;in, for &s;o much as concernes me, me, who am incorporated in Chri&s;t, me, who by my true repen|tance have di&s;charged my &s;elfe upon Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t is the &s;inner, even in the &s;ight, and ju&s;tice of his Father, and not I.</P>
<P>And as this con&s;ideration, That the goodne&s;&s;e of God, in Chri&s;t, is thus &s;pread upon all per&s;ons, and all actions, takes me off from my aptne&s;&s;e to mi&s;-interpret other mens actions, not to be ha&s;ty to call indifferent things, &s;ins, not to call hardne&s;&s;e of acce&s;&s;e in great Per&s;ons, pride, not to call &s;ociablene&s;&s;e of conver&s;ation in women, pro&s;titution, not to call accommodation of Civill bu&s;ine&s;&s;es in States, prevarication, or dereliction and abandoning of God, and toleration of Religion; as it takes me off from this mi&s;-inter|preting of others; &s;o, for my &s;elfe, it puts me upon an ability, to chide, and yet to cheare my &s;oule, with tho&s;e words of <HI>David, O my Soule, why art thou &s;o &s;ad? why art thou &s;o di&s;|quieted within me?</HI> Since &s;in is nothing, no &s;uch thing as is forced upon thee by God, by which thy damnation &s;hould be inevitable, or thy reconciliation impo&s;&s;ible, &s;ince of what nature &s;oever &s;in be in it &s;elfe, thy &s;ins being truly repented, have advanced, and emproved thy &s;tate in the favour of God, &s;ince thy &s;in, being by that repentance di&s;|charged upon Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t is now the &s;inner, and not thou, <HI>O my Soule, why art thou &s;o &s;ad? why art thou di&s;quieted within me?</HI> And this con&s;ideration of Gods goodne&s;&s;e, thus derived upon me, and made mine in Chri&s;t, ratifies and e&s;tabli&s;hes &s;uch a holy confi|dence in me, as that all the morall con&s;tancy in the world, is but a bulru&s;h, to this bul|wark; and therefore, we end all, with that hi&s;toricall, but yet u&s;efull note, That that Duke of Burgundy, who was &s;irnamed <HI>Carolus Audax,</HI> Charles the Bold, was Son to that Duke, who was &s;irnamed <HI>Bonus,</HI> The Good Duke; A Good one produced a Bold one: True confidence proceeds onely out of true Goodne&s;&s;e: for, <HI>The wicked &s;hall flye,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.1.</NOTE> <HI>when no man pur&s;ueth, but the righteous are bold as a Lion.</HI> This con&s;tancy, and this confidence, and upon this ground, Holy courage in a holy feare of him, Almighty God infu&s;e and imprint in you all, for his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;ake. And to this glorious Son of God, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="Easter" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="104">
<PB REF="104">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon EASTER-DAY.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="105">
<PB N="175" REF="105">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XVIII.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> in the Evening, upon Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1623.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ACTS 2.36.</HI></BIBL>
<P><HI>Part of the &s;econd Le&s;&s;on of that Evening Prayer.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore let all the hou&s;e of I&s;rael know a&s;&s;uredly, That God hath made that &s;ame Ie&s;us, whom ye have crucified, both Lord, and Chri&s;t.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe fir&s;t word of the Text, mu&s;t be the la&s;t part of the Sermon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>Therefore;</HI> Therefore let all know it. Here is &s;omething nece&s;&s;ary to be knowne, And the Meanes by which we are to know it; And the&s;e will be our two parts; <HI>Scientia, &amp; Modus,</HI> Knowledge, and the way to it; For, <HI>Qui te&s;tatur de &s;cientia, te&s;tatur de modo &s;cientiae,</HI> is a good rule, in all Laws, He that will te&s;tifie any thing upon his knowledge, mu&s;t declare how he came by that knowledge. So then, what we mu&s;t conclude, and upon what premi&s;&s;es, what we mu&s;t re|&s;olve, and what mu&s;t lead us to that re&s;olution, are our two &s;tages, our two re&s;ting pla|ces: And to tho&s;e two, our &s;everall &s;teps are the&s;e; In the fir&s;t, <HI>Let all the hou&s;e of I&s;rael know, &amp;c.</HI> we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t, The Manner of S. <HI>Peter,</HI> (for the Text is part of a Ser|mon of S. <HI>Peters</HI>) in imprinting this Knowledge in his Auditory; which is, fir&s;t, in that Compellation of love and honour, <HI>Domus I&s;rael, The hou&s;e of I&s;rael:</HI> But yet, when hee hath rai&s;ed them to a &s;en&s;e of their dignity, in that attribute, he doth not pamper them with an over-value of them, he lets them know their wor&s;t, as well as their be&s;t, Though you be the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, yet it is you that have crucified Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>That Ie&s;us, whom ye have crucified;</HI> And from this his Manner of preparing them, we &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to the Matter that he propo&s;es to them: When he had remembred them what God had done for them <HI>(You are the hou&s;e of I&s;rael)</HI> and what they had done again&s;t God, <HI>(You have cru+cified that Ie&s;us)</HI> He imparts a ble&s;&s;ed me&s;&s;age to them all, <HI>Let all know it:</HI> Let them know it, and know it a&s;&s;uredly; He exhibits it to their rea&s;on, to their naturall under&s;tanding, And what? The greate&s;t my&s;tery, the entire my&s;tery of our &s;alvation, <HI>That that Ie&s;us is both Lord, and Chri&s;t;</HI> But he is made &s;o; Made &s;o by God; Made both; Made Chri&s;t, that is, anointed, embalmed, pre&s;erved from corruption, even in the grave, And made Lord by his triumph, and by being made Head of the Church, in the Re&s;urrection, and in the A&s;cen&s;ion: And &s;o, that which is the la&s;t &s;tep of our fir&s;t &s;tage, <HI>(That that Ie&s;us is made Lord, as well as he is made Chri&s;t)</HI> enters us upon our &s;econd &s;tage, The meanes by which we are to know, and prove all this to our &s;elves; <HI>Therefore,</HI> &s;ayes the Text, <HI>let all know it;</HI> wherefore? why, becau&s;e God hath rai&s;ed him, after you had crucified him; Becau&s;e <HI>God hath loo&s;ed the bands of death,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e it was impo&s;sible that he &s;hould be holden by death;</HI> Becau&s;e <HI>Davids</HI> prophecy of a deliverance from the grave is fulfilled in him, Therefore let all know this to be thus. So that the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t is argument enough to prove, that Chri&s;t is made Lord of all; And if he be Lord, he hath Subjects, that do as he does; And &s;o his Re&s;urrection is become an argument, and an a&s;&s;urance
<PB N="176" REF="106">of our Re&s;urrection too; and that is as far as we &s;hall go in our &s;econd part, That fir&s;t Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection is proofe enough to us of his Dominion, if he be ri&s;en, he is Lord, and then his Dominion is proofe enough to us of our Re&s;urrection, if he be Lord, Lord of us, we &s;hall ri&s;e too: And when we have paced, and pa&s;&s;ed through all the&s;e &s;teps, we &s;hall in &s;ome mea&s;ure have &s;olemnized this day of the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t; and in &s;ome mea&s;ure have made it the day of our Re&s;urrection too.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1. Part.</HI> Domus I&s;ra|el.</NOTE> the Apo&s;tle applies him&s;elf to his Auditory, in a faire, in a gentle manner; he gives them their Titles, <HI>Domus I&s;rael, The hou&s;e of I&s;rael.</HI> We have a word now deni|zened, and brought into familiar u&s;e among&s;t us, Complement; and for the mo&s;t part, in an ill &s;en&s;e; &s;o it is, when the heart of the &s;peaker doth not an&s;wer his tongue; but God forbid but a true heart, and a faire tongue might very well con&s;i&s;t together: As vertue it &s;elf receives an addition, by being in a faire body, &s;o do good intentions of the heart, by being expre&s;&s;ed in faire language. That man aggravates his condemnation, that gives me good words, and meanes ill; but he gives me a rich Jewell, and in a faire Cabinet, he gives me precious wine, and in a clean gla&s;&s;e, that intends well, and expre&s;&s;es his good intentions well too. If I beleeve a faire &s;peaker, I have comfort a little while, though he deceive me, but a froward and peremptory refu&s;er, un&s;addles me at fir&s;t. I re|member a vulgar Spani&s;h Author, who writes, the <HI>Io&s;ephina,</HI> the life of <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> the husband of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> who moving that que&s;tion, why that Virgin is never called by any &s;tyle of Maje&s;ty, or Honour in the Scriptures, he &s;ayes, That if after the declaring of her to be the Mother of God, he had added any other Title, the Holy Gho&s;t had not been a good Courtier, (as his very word is) nor exerci&s;ed in good language, and he thinks that had been a defect in the Holy Gho&s;t in him&s;elf. He meanes &s;urely the &s;ame that <HI>Epiphanius</HI> doth, That in naming the Saints of God, and e&s;pecially the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, we &s;hould alwayes give them the be&s;t Titles that are applyable to them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epiphan. Hae|re&s;. 78.</NOTE> <HI>Quis unquam au&s;us,</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>proferre nomen Mariae, &amp; non &s;tatim addidit virgo?</HI> Who ever dur&s;t utter the name of that <HI>Mary,</HI> without that addition of incomparable honour, <HI>The Virgin Mary?</HI></P>
<P>That Spani&s;h Author need not be &s;u&s;pitious of the Holy Gho&s;t in that kinde, that he is no good Courtier &s;o; for in all the books of the world, you &s;hall never reade &s;o civill language, nor &s;o faire expre&s;&s;ions of them&s;elves to one another, as in the Bible: When <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;hall call him&s;elf <HI>du&s;t, and a&s;hes,</HI> (and indeed if the Son of God were <HI>a worme and no man,</HI> what was <HI>Abraham?</HI>) If God &s;hall call this <HI>Abraham,</HI> this Du&s;t, this Worme of the du&s;t, <HI>The friend of God,</HI> (and all friend&s;hip implyes a parity, an equality in &s;omething;) when <HI>David</HI> &s;hall call him&s;elf <HI>a flea, and a dead dog,</HI> even in re&s;pect of <HI>Saul,</HI> and God &s;hall call <HI>David, A man according to his own heart,</HI> when God &s;hall call us, <HI>The Apple of his own eye, The Seale upon his own right hand,</HI> who would go farther for an Ex|ample, or farther then that example for a Rule, of faire acce&s;&s;es, of civill approaches, of &s;weet and honourable entrances into the affections of them with whom they were to deale? E&s;pecially is this manner nece&s;&s;ary in men of our profe&s;&s;ion; <HI>Not to break a brui|&s;ed reed, nor to quench &s;moaking flaxe,</HI> not to avert any, from a will to heare, by any fro|wardne&s;&s;e, any moro&s;ity, any defrauding them of their due prai&s;e, and due titles; but to accompany this ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tle, in this way of his di&s;creet, and religious in&s;inuation, to call them <HI>Men of Iudea,</HI> ver. 14. and <HI>Men of I&s;rael,</HI> ver. 22. and <HI>Men and Brethren,</HI> ver. 29. and here <HI>Domus I&s;rael,</HI> the anciente&s;t hou&s;e, the honourable&s;t hou&s;e, the la&s;tinge&s;t hou&s;e in the world, <HI>The hou&s;e of I&s;rael.</HI></P>
<P>He takes from them nothing that is due,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Accu&s;at ta|men.</NOTE> that would but exa&s;perate; He is civill, but his civility doth not amount to a flattery, as though the cau&s;e of God needed them, or God mu&s;t be beholding to them, or God mu&s;t pay for it, or &s;mart for it, if they were not plea&s;ed. And therefore, though he do give them their titles, <HI>Apert&egrave; illis imputat crucifixi|onem Chri&s;ti,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> Plainly and without di&s;gui&s;e he imputes and puts home to them, the crucifying of Chri&s;t; how honourably &s;oever they were de&s;cended, he layes that murder clo&s;e to their Con&s;ciences, <HI>You, you hou&s;e of I&s;rael have crucified the Lord Ie&s;us.</HI> There is a great deale of difference between <HI>Shimeis</HI> vociferations again&s;t <HI>David;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 16.5.</NOTE> <HI>Thou man of blood, thou man of Belial,</HI> And <HI>Nathans</HI> proceeding with <HI>David;</HI> and yet <HI>Nathan</HI> forbore not to tell him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.7.</NOTE> <HI>Thou art the man,</HI> Thou ha&s;t de&s;pi&s;ed the Lord, Thou ha&s;t killed <HI>Vriah,</HI> Thou ha&s;t taken his wife. It is one thing to &s;ow pillows under the elbows of Kings, (flatterers do &s;o) another thing to pull the chaire from under the King, and popular and &s;editious men do &s;o. Where Inferiours in&s;ult over their Superiours,
<PB N="177" REF="106">we tell them, <HI>Chri&s;ti Domini, they are the Lords anointed,</HI> and the Lord hath &s;aid, <HI>Touch not mine anointed;</HI> And when &s;uch Superiours in&s;ult over the Lord him&s;elfe, and think them&s;elves Gods without limitation, as the God of heaven is, when they doe &s;o, we mu&s;t tell them they doe &s;o, <HI>Et&s;i Chri&s;ti Domini,</HI> though you be the Lords anointed, yet you crucifie the anointed Lord: for this was S. <HI>Peters</HI> method, though his &s;ucce&s;&s;or will not be bound by it.</P>
<P>When he hath carried the matter thus evenly betweene them, (I doe not deny,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnes.</NOTE> but you are the Hou&s;e of I&s;rael, you cannot deny but you have crucified the Lord Je&s;us; you are heires of a great deale of honour, but you are guilty of a &s;hrewd fault too) &s;tand or fall to your Ma&s;ter, your Ma&s;ter hath dealt thus mercifully with you all, that to you all, all, he &s;ends a me&s;&s;age, <HI>Sciant omnes, Let all the hou&s;e of I&s;rael know this.</HI> Needs the hou&s;e of I&s;rael know any thing? Needs there any learning in per&s;ons of Honour? We know, this characterizes, this di&s;tingui&s;hes &s;ome whole Nations; In one Nation it is almo&s;t a &s;corn for a gentleman to be learned, in another almo&s;t every gentleman, is convenient|ly, and in &s;ome mea&s;ure, learned. But I enlarge not my &s;elf, I pretend not to comprehend Nationall vertues, or Nationall vices. For this knowledge, which is proclaimed here, which is, the knowledge that the true Me&s;&s;ias is come, and that there is no other to bee expected, is &s;uch a knowledge, as that even the hou&s;e of I&s;rael it &s;elf, is without a Foun|dation, if it be without this knowledge. Is there any hou&s;e, that needs no reparations? Is there a hou&s;e of I&s;rael, (let it be the Library, the depo&s;itary of the Oracles of God, a true Church, that hath the true word of the true God, let it be the hou&s;e fed with Manna, that hath the true admini&s;tration of the true Sacraments of Chri&s;t Je&s;us) is there any &s;uch hou&s;e, that needs not a farther knowledge, that there are alwaies thieves about that hou&s;e, that would rob us of that Word, and of tho&s;e Sacraments?</P>
<P>The Holy Gho&s;t is a Dove, and the Dove couples, paires, is not alone; Take heed of &s;ingular, of &s;chi&s;matical opinions; &amp; what is more &s;ingular, more &s;chi&s;maticall, then when all Religion is confined in one mans brea&s;t? The Dove is <HI>animal &s;ociale,</HI> a &s;ociable crea|ture, and not &s;ingular; and the Holy Gho&s;t is that; And Chri&s;t is a Sheep, <HI>animal gre|gale,</HI> they flock together: Embrace thou tho&s;e truths, which the whole flock of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, the whole Chri&s;tian Church, hath from the beginning acknowledged to be truths, and truths nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation; for, for other Traditionall, and Conditionall, and Oc|ca&s;ionall, and Collaterall, and Circum&s;tantiall points, for Almanack Divinity, that chan|ges with the &s;ea&s;on, with the time, and Meridionall Divinity, calculated to the heighth of &s;uch a place, and Lunary Divinity, that ebbes and flowes, and State Divinity, that obeyes affections of per&s;ons, <HI>Domus I&s;rael,</HI> the true Church of God, had need of a continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of light, a contiuall a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit of God, and of her own indu&s;try, to know tho&s;e things that belong to her peace.</P>
<P>And therefore let no Church, no man, think that he hath done enough, or knowes enough. If the Devill thought &s;o too, we might the better think &s;o: but &s;ince we &s;ee, that he is in continuall practi&s;e again&s;t us, let us be in a continuall diligence, and watchfulne&s;&s;e, to countermine him. We are <HI>domus I&s;rael,</HI> the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, and it is a great mea&s;ure of knowledge, that God hath afforded us; but if every Pa&s;tor look into his Pari&s;h, and every Ma&s;ter into his own Family, and &s;ee what is practi&s;ing there, <HI>&s;ciat domus I&s;rael,</HI> let all our I&s;rael know, that there is more knowledge, and more wi&s;dome nece&s;&s;ary; Be every man farre from calumniating his Superiours, for that mercy which is u&s;ed towards them that are fallen, but be every man as far from remitting, or &s;lackning his diligence, for the pre|&s;erving of them, that are not fallen.</P>
<P>The wi&s;e&s;t mu&s;t know more, though you be <HI>domus I&s;rael,</HI> the hou&s;e of I&s;rael already;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Crucifixi&s;tis.</NOTE> and then, <HI>Et&s;i Crucifixi&s;tis,</HI> though you have crucified the Lord Je&s;us, you may know it, <HI>&s;ciant omnes,</HI> let all know it. S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aies once, <HI>If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of life;</HI> but he never &s;aies, if they have crucified the Lord of life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.8.</NOTE> they are excluded from knowledge. I meane no more, but that the mercy of God in manife&s;ting and apply|ing him&s;elf to us, is above all our &s;ins. No man knowes enough; what mea&s;ure of ten|tations &s;oever he have now, he may have tentations, through which, this knowledge, and this grace, will not carry him; and therefore he mu&s;t proceed from grace to grace. So no man hath &s;inned &s;o deeply, but that God offers him&s;elf to him yet; <HI>Sciant omnes,</HI> the wi&s;e&s;t man hath ever &s;omething to learn, he mu&s;t not pre&s;ume; the &s;infulle&s;t man hath God ever ready to teach him, he mu&s;t not de&s;paire.</P>
<PB N="178" REF="107">
<P>Now the univer&s;ality of this mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sciant.</NOTE> hath God enlarged, and extended very farre, in that he propo&s;es it, even to our knowledge, <HI>Sciant,</HI> let all know it. It is not only <HI>credant,</HI> let all beleeve it; for the infu&s;ing of faith, is not in our power: but God hath put it in our power to &s;atisfie their rea&s;on, and to chafe that waxe, to which he him&s;elf vouch&s;afes to &s;et to the great &s;eale of faith. And that S. <HI>Hierome</HI> takes to be mo&s;t properly his Com|mi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Tentemus animas, quae deficiunt a fide, natur alibus rationibus adjuvare;</HI> Let us in|devour to a&s;&s;i&s;t them, who are weak in faith, with the &s;trength of rea&s;on. And truly it is very well worthy of a &s;erious con&s;ideration, that whereas all the Articles of our Creed, are objects of faith, &s;o, as that we are bound to receive them <HI>de fide,</HI> as matters of faith, yet God hath left that, out of which, all the&s;e Articles are to be deduced, and proved, (that is, the Scripture) to humane arguments; It is not an Article of the Creed, to be|leeve the&s;e, and the&s;e Books, to be, or not to be Canonicall Scripture; but our arguments for the Scripture are humane arguments, proportioned to the rea&s;on of a naturall man. God does not &s;eale in water, in the fluid and tran&s;itory imaginations, and opinions of men; we never &s;et the &s;eale of faith to them; But in Waxe, in the rectified rea&s;on of man, that rea&s;on that is ductile, and flexible, and pliant, to the impre&s;&s;ions that are natu|rally proportioned unto it, God &s;ets to his &s;eale of faith. They are not continuall, but they are contiguous, they flow not from one another, but they touch one another, they are not both of a peece, but they enwrap one another, Faith and Rea&s;on. Faith it &s;elf, by the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> is called knowledge;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.11.</NOTE> <HI>By his knowledge &s;hall my righteous &s;ervant ju&s;tifie many,</HI> &s;ayes God of Chri&s;t; that is, by that knowledge, that men &s;hall have of him. So <HI>Zechary</HI> expre&s;&s;es it at the Circumci&s;ion of <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t, That hee was to give knowledge of &s;alvation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.77.</NOTE> <HI>for the remi&s;sion of &s;ins.</HI></P>
<P>As therefore it is not enough for us, in our profe&s;&s;ion to tell you, <HI>Qui non crediderit, damnabitur,</HI> Except you beleeve all this, you &s;hall be damned, without we execute that Commi&s;&s;ion before, <HI>Ite praedicate,</HI> go and preach, work upon their affections, &s;atisfie their rea&s;on; &s;o it is not enough for you, to re&s;t in an imaginary faith, and ea&s;ine&s;&s;e in belee|ving, except you know al&s;o what, and why, and how you come to that beliefe. Implicite beleevers, ignorant beleevers, the adver&s;ary may &s;wallow; but the under&s;tanding belee|ver, he mu&s;t chaw, and pick bones, before he come to a&s;&s;imilate him, and make him like him&s;elf. The implicite beleever &s;tands in an open field, and the enemy will ride over him ea&s;ily; the under&s;tanding beleever, is in a fenced town, and he hath out-works to lo&s;e, before the town be pre&s;&s;ed; that is, rea&s;ons to be an&s;wered, before his faith be &s;haked, and he will &s;ell him&s;elf deare, and lo&s;e him&s;elf by inches, if he be &s;old or lo&s;t at la&s;t; and therefore <HI>&s;ciant omnes,</HI> let all men know, that is, endeavour to informe them&s;elves, to under&s;tand.</P>
<P>That particular,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ie&s;um.</NOTE> that generall particular, (if we may &s;o &s;ay, for it includes all) which all were to know, is, that the &s;ame Je&s;us, whom they Crucified, was exalted above them all.</P>
<P>Suppo&s;e an impo&s;&s;ibility; (S. <HI>Paul</HI> does &s;o, when he &s;ayes to the <HI>Galatians, If an An|gell from heaven &s;hould preach any other Go&s;pell;</HI> for that is impo&s;&s;ible;) If we could have been in Paradi&s;e, and &s;een God take a clod of red earth, and make that wretched clod of contemptible earth, &s;uch a body as &s;hould be fit to receive his breath, an immortall &s;oule, fit to be the hou&s;e of the &s;econd per&s;on in the Trinity, for God the Son to dwel in bodily; fit to be the Temple for the third per&s;on, for the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;hould we not have won|dred more, then at the production of all other creatures? It is more, that the &s;ame Je&s;us, whom they had crucified, is exalted thus, to &s;it in that de&s;pi&s;ed fle&s;h, at the right hand of our glorious God; that all their &s;pitting &s;hould but macerate him, and di&s;&s;olve him to a better mold, a better plai&s;ter; that all their buffetings &s;hould but knead him, and pre&s;&s;e him into a better forme; that all their &s;coffes, and contumelies &s;hould be prophe&s;ies; that that <HI>Ecce Rex, Behold your King;</HI> and that <HI>Rex Iudaeorum, This is the King of the Iews,</HI> which words, they who &s;poke them, thought to be lies, in their own mouthes, &s;hould become truths, and he be truly the King, not of the Jews only, but of all Nations too; that their nayling him upon the Cro&s;&s;e, &s;hould be a &s;etling of him upon an everla&s;ting Throne; and their lifting him up upon the Cro&s;&s;e, a waiting upon him, &s;o farre upon his way to heaven, that this Je&s;us, whom they had thus evacuated, thus crucified, &s;hould bee thus exalted, was a &s;ubject of infinite admiration, but mixt with infinite confu|&s;ion too.</P>
<PB N="179" REF="107">
<P>Wretched Bla&s;phemer of the name of Je&s;us, that Je&s;us, whom thou crucifie&s;t, and treade&s;t under thy feet, in that oath, is thus exalted. Uncleane Adulterer, that Je&s;us, whom thou crucifie&s;t, in &s;tretching out tho&s;e forbidden armes in a &s;trange bed, thou that beheade&s;t thy &s;elf, ca&s;te&s;t off thy Head; Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that thou might&s;t make thy body, the body of a Harlot, that Je&s;us, whom thou defile&s;t there, is exalted. Let &s;everall &s;inners pa&s;&s;e this through their &s;everall &s;ins, and remember with wonder, but with confu&s;ion too, that that Je&s;us, whom they haue crucified, is exalted above all.</P>
<P>How farre exalted? Three &s;teps, which carry him above S. <HI>Pauls</HI> third heaven:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Factus.</NOTE> He is Lord, and he is Chri&s;t, and he is made &s;o by God; God hath made him both Lord and Chri&s;t. We return up the&s;e &s;teps, as they lie, and take the lowe&s;t fir&s;t: <HI>Fecit Deus,</HI> God made him &s;o: Nature did not make him &s;o, no, not if we con&s;ider him in that Na|ture, wherein he con&s;i&s;ts of two Natures, God, and Man. We place in the Schoole, (for the mo&s;t part) the infinite Merit of Chri&s;t Je&s;us (that his one act of dying once, &s;hould be a &s;ufficient &s;atisfaction to God, in his Ju&s;tice, for all the &s;ins of all men) we place it, I &s;ay, rather <HI>in pacto,</HI> then <HI>in per&s;ona,</HI> rather that this contract was thus made between the Father, and the Son, then that, what&s;oever that per&s;on, thus con&s;i&s;ting of God and Man, &s;hould doe, &s;hould, onely in re&s;pect of the per&s;on, bee of an infinite value, and extention, to that purpo&s;e; for then, any act of his, his Incarnation, his Circumci&s;ion, any had been &s;ufficient for our Redemption, without his death. But <HI>fecit Deus,</HI> God made him that, that he is; The contract between the Father and him, that all that he did, &s;hould be done &s;o, and to that purpo&s;e, that way, and to that end, this is that, that hath exalted him, and us in him.</P>
<P>If then, not the &s;ubtilty, and curio&s;ity, but the wi&s;edome of the Schoole, and of the Church of God, have ju&s;tly found it mo&s;t commodious, to place all the my&s;teries of our Religion, <HI>in pacto,</HI> rather then <HI>in per&s;ona,</HI> in the Covenant, rather then in the per&s;on, though a per&s;on of incomprehen&s;ible value, let us al&s;o, in applying to our &s;elves tho&s;e my&s;teries of our Religion, &s;till <HI>adhaerere pactis,</HI> and not <HI>per&s;onis,</HI> &s;till rely upon the Cove|nant of God, with man, revealed in his word, and not upon the per&s;on of any man: Not upon the per&s;ons of Martyrs, as if they had done more then they needed for them&s;elves, and might relieve us, with their &s;upererogations; for, if they may work for us, they may beleeve for us; and <HI>Iu&s;tus fide &s;ua vivet,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Habak. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>The righteous &s;hall live by his owne faith.</HI> Not upon that per&s;on, who hath made him&s;elf &s;upernumerary, and a Con|troller upon the three per&s;ons in the Trinity, the Bi&s;hop of Rome; not upon the con&s;ide|ration of accidents upon per&s;ons, when God &s;uffers &s;ome to fall, who would have ad|vanced his cau&s;e, and &s;ome to be advanced, who would have throwne downe his cau&s;e, but let us ever dwell <HI>in pacto,</HI> and in the <HI>fecit Deus,</HI> this Covenant God hath made in his word, and in this we re&s;t.</P>
<P>It is God then, not nature, not his nature that made him; And what? <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chri&s;tus.</NOTE> Chri&s;t is anointed: And then <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> made him Chri&s;t, for &s;he anointed him before his death; And <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea</HI> made him Chri&s;t, for he anointed him, and em|balmed him, after his death. But her anointing before, kept him not from death, nor his anointing after, would not have kept him from putrefaction in the grave, if God had not in a farre other manner, made him Chri&s;t, anointed him <HI>praecon&s;ortibus,</HI> above his fellows. God hath anointed him, embalmed him, enwrapped him in the leaves of the Prophets, <HI>That his fle&s;h &s;hould not &s;ee corruption in the grave, That the flames of hell &s;hould not take hold of him,</HI> nor &s;indge him there; &s;o anointed him, as that, in his Humane nature, <HI>He is a&s;cended into heaven, and &s;et downe at the right hand of God;</HI> For, <HI>de eo quod ex Maria e&s;t, Petrus loquitur,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> That making of him Chri&s;t, that is, that anointing which S. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peakes of in this place, is the dignifying of his humane nature, that was anointed, that was con&s;ecrated, that was glorified in heaven.</P>
<P>But he had a higher &s;tep then that; <HI>God made this Ie&s;us, Chri&s;t,</HI> and he made him <HI>Lord;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dominus.</NOTE> He brought him to heaven, in his own per&s;on, in his humane nature; &s;o he &s;hall all us; but when we &s;hall be all there, he onely &s;hall be Lord of all. And if there &s;hould be no other bodies in heaven, then his, yet, yet now he is Lord of all, as he is Head of the Church. <HI>Aske of me,</HI> &s;ayes his Father, <HI>and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.8.</NOTE> <HI>and the ut|ter mo&s;t parts of the Earth for thy po&s;&s;e&s;sion.</HI> And, as it is added, ver. 6. <HI>I have &s;et my King upon my holy hill of Sion;</HI> So he hath made him Lord, Head of the Jews, and of the Gen|tiles too, of Sion, and of the Nations al&s;o; Hee hath con&s;ecrated his per&s;on, rai&s;ed his
<PB N="180" REF="108">humane nature, to the glorious region of ble&s;&s;ed Spirits, to Heaven, and he hath dignifi|ed him with an office, made him Lord, Head of the Church, not only of Jews, and Gen|tiles upon earth, but of the Militant and Triumphant Church too.</P>
<P>Our two generall parts were <HI>Scientia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; modus,</HI> what we mu&s;t all know, and by what we mu&s;t know it. Our knowledge is, this Exaltation of Je&s;us; and our meanes is implied, in the fir&s;t word of the Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Therefore.</NOTE> <HI>Therefore,</HI> Therefore becau&s;e he is rai&s;ed from the Dead; for to that Re&s;urrection, expre&s;&s;ed in three, or foure &s;everall phra&s;es before the Text, is this Text, and this Exaltation referred; Chri&s;t was delivered for our &s;ins, rai&s;ed for our ju&s;tification, and upon that depends all. Chri&s;ts de&s;cending into hell, and his Re&s;urrecti|on, in our Creed, make but one Article, and in our Creed we beleeve them both alike: <HI>Quis ni&s;i Infidelis negaverit, apud inferos fui&s;&s;e Chri&s;tum?</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine;</HI> Who but an Infidell, will deny Chri&s;ts de&s;cending into hell? And if he beleeve that to be a limme of the article of the Re&s;urrection, His de&s;cent into hell, mu&s;t rather be an inchoation of his triumph, then a con&s;ummation of his Exinanition, The fir&s;t &s;tep of his Exaltation there, rather then the la&s;t &s;tep of his Pa&s;&s;ion upon the Cro&s;&s;e: But the Declaration, the Manife&s;tation, that which admits no di&s;putation, was his Re&s;urrection. <HI>Factus, id e&s;t, de|claratus per Re&s;urrectionem,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Cyrill,</HI> He was made Chri&s;t, and Lord, that is, declared evidently to be &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.20.</NOTE> by his Re&s;urrection; As there is the like phra&s;e, in S. <HI>Paul, God hath made the wi&s;dome of this world, fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e,</HI> that is, declared it to be &s;o. And therefore it is imputed to be a crucifying of the Lord Je&s;us againe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.6.</NOTE> <HI>Non credere eum, po&s;t mortem, im|mortalem,</HI> Not to beleeve, that now after his having overcome death in his Re&s;urrecti|on, he is in an immortall, and in a glorious &s;tate in heaven. For when the Apo&s;tle argues thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.14.</NOTE> <HI>If Chri&s;t be not ri&s;en, then is our preaching in vaine, and your faith in vaine,</HI> he implies the contrary too, If you beleeve the Re&s;urrection, we have preached to good purpo&s;e: <HI>Mortuum e&s;&s;e Chri&s;tum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>pagani credunt; re&s;urrexi&s;&s;e propria fides Chri&s;tianorum:</HI> The Heathen confe&s;&s;e Chri&s;ts death; To beleeve his Re&s;urrection, is the proper character of a Chri&s;tian: for the fir&s;t &s;tone of the Chri&s;tian faith, was laid in this article of the Re&s;ur|rection; In the Re&s;urrection onely was the fir&s;t promi&s;e performed, <HI>Ip&s;e conteret, He &s;hall brui&s;e the Serpents head;</HI> for, in this, he triumphed over Death, and Hell; And the la&s;t &s;tone of our faith, is laid in the &s;ame article too, that is, the day of Judgement; of a day of Judgement God hath given an a&s;&s;urance unto all men (&s;aies S. <HI>Paul</HI> at Athens) <HI>In that he hath rai&s;ed Chri&s;t Ie&s;us from the dead.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.31.</NOTE> In this Chri&s;t makes up his circle; in this he is truly <HI>Alpha</HI> and <HI>Omega,</HI> His comming in Paradi&s;e in a promi&s;e, his comming to Judgement in the clouds, are tied together in the Re&s;urrection: And therefore all the Go&s;pell, all our preaching, is contracted to that one text, <HI>To beare witne&s;&s;e of the Re&s;urrection;</HI> onely for that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.22.</NOTE> was there need of a new Apo&s;tle, <HI>There was a nece&s;sity of one to be cho&s;en in Iudas roome, to be a witne&s;&s;e of the Re&s;urrection; Non ait caeterorum, &s;ed tant&ugrave;m Re&s;urrectionis,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> He does not &s;ay, to beare witne&s;&s;e of the other articles, but onely of the Re&s;urrection; he charges him with no more in&s;tructions, he needs no more, in his Com|mi&s;&s;ion, but to preach the Re&s;urrection:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Athan.</NOTE> for in that, <HI>Trophaeum de morte excitavit, &amp; in|dubitatum reddidit corruptionem deletam:</HI> Here is a retreat from the whole warfare, here is a Trophee erected upon the la&s;t enemy; <HI>The la&s;t enemy that &s;hall be de&s;troyed is death,</HI> and here is the death of that enemy, in the Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>And therefore, to all tho&s;e who importuned him for a &s;igne, Chri&s;t &s;till turnes upon the Re&s;urrection.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 2.38. Mat. 12.38.</NOTE> The Jewes pre&s;&s;ed him in generall, <HI>Quod &s;ignum, What &s;igne &s;howe&s;t thou unto us?</HI> and he an&s;wers, <HI>De&s;troy this Temple,</HI> (this body) <HI>and in three dayes I will rai&s;e it.</HI> In another place, the Scribes and the Phari&s;ees joyne, <HI>Ma&s;ter we would &s;ee a &s;igne from thee,</HI> and he tels them, <HI>There &s;hall be no &s;igne, but the &s;igne of the Prophet Ionas;</HI> who was a type of the Re&s;urrection. And then the Phari&s;ees, and Sadduces joyn; now they were bit|ter enemies to one another; but, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Semper inter duos latrones crucifixus Chri&s;tus,</HI> It was alwaies Chri&s;ts ca&s;e to be crucified betweene two Thieves; So the&s;e, though enemies joyne in this vexation, <HI>They aske a &s;igne,</HI> as the re&s;t, and, as to the re&s;t, Chri&s;t gives that an&s;wer of <HI>Ionas.</HI> So that Chri&s;t him&s;elfe determines all, &s;ummes up all in this one Article, the Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nos.</NOTE> if the Re&s;urrection of this Je&s;us, have made him, not onely <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> Anointed and con&s;ecrated in Heaven, in his owne per&s;on, but made him <HI>Lord,</HI> then he hath Subjects, upon whom that dominion, and that power works, and &s;o we have a&s;&s;urance of a re&s;ur|rection in him too. That he is made Lord of us by his Re&s;urrection, is rooted in prophe|cie;
<PB N="181" REF="108"><HI>It plea&s;ed the Lord to brui&s;e him,</HI> &s;aies the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay; But he &s;hall &s;ee his &s;eed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.10.</NOTE> <HI>and he &s;hall prolong his daies;</HI> that is, he &s;hall &s;ee tho&s;e that are regenerate in him, live with him, forever. It is rooted in prophecy, and it &s;preads forth in the Go&s;pell. <HI>To this end,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Chri&s;t died, and ro&s;e, that he might be Lord of the dead, and of the living.</HI> Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.9. Gregor.</NOTE> what kinde of Lord, if he had no &s;ubjects? <HI>Cum videmus caput &s;uper aquas,</HI> when the head is above water, will any imagine the body to be drowned? What a perver&s;e con&s;idera|tion were it, to imagine a live head, and dead members? Or, con&s;ider our bodies in our &s;elves, and <HI>Our bodies are Temples of the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> and &s;hall the Temples of the holy Gho&s;t lye for ever, for ever, buried in their rubbidge? They &s;hall not; for, the day of Judgement, is the day of Regeneration, as it is called in the Go&s;pell;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.28. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Quia caro no&s;tra ita generabitur per incorruptionem, &s;icut anima per fidem:</HI> Becau&s;e our bodie &s;hall be regene|rated by glory there, as our &s;oules are by faith here. Therefore, <HI>Tertul.</HI> cals the Re&s;urre|ction, <HI>Exemplum &s;pei no&s;trae,</HI> The Originall, out of which we copy out our hope; and <HI>Cla|vem &s;epulchroru~ no&s;trorum,</HI> How hard &s;oever my grave be locked, yet with that key, with the application of the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, it will open; And they are all names, which expre&s;&s;e this well, which <HI>Tertullian</HI> gives Chri&s;t, <HI>Vadem, ob&s;idem, fideju&s;&s;orem re&s;urrectionis no&s;trae,</HI> That he is the pledge, the ho&s;tage, the &s;urety of our Re&s;urrection: So doth that al&s;o which is &s;aid in the Schoole, <HI>Sicut Adam forma morientium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Theoph.</NOTE> <HI>it a Chri&s;tus forma re&s;urgentium;</HI> Without <HI>Adam,</HI> there had beene no &s;uch thing as death, without Chri&s;t, no &s;uch thing as a Re&s;urrection: But <HI>a&s;cendit ille effractor,</HI> (as the Prophet &s;peaks) <HI>The breaker is gone up before, and they have pa&s;&s;ed through the gate,</HI> that is, a&s;&s;uredly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mich. 2.13.</NOTE> infal|libly, they &s;hall pa&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>But what needs all this heat, all this animo&s;ity, all this vehemence, about the Re&s;ur|rection? May not man be happy enough in heaven, though his body never come thi|ther? upon what will ye ground the Re&s;urrection? upon the Omnipotence of God? <HI>A&s;ylum haereticorum e&s;t Omnipotentia Dei,</HI> (which was well &s;aid, and often repeated among&s;t the Ancients) The Omnipotence of God, hath alwaies been the Sanctuary of Heretiques, that is, alwaies their refuge, in all their incredible doctrines, God is able to do it, can do it. You confe&s;&s;e, the Re&s;urrection is a miracle; And miracles are not to be multiplied, nor imagined without nece&s;&s;ity; and what nece&s;&s;ity of bodies in Heaven?</P>
<P>Beloved, we make the ground and foundation of the Re&s;urrection, to be, not meerely the Omnipotency of God, for God will not doe all, that he can doe: but the ground is, <HI>Omnipotens voluntas Dei revelata,</HI> The Almighty will of God revealed by him, to us: And therefore Chri&s;t joynes both the&s;e together, <HI>Erratis, Ye erre,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 22.29.</NOTE> <HI>not knowing the Scrip|tures, nor the power of God;</HI> that is, not con&s;idering the power of God, as it is revealed in the Scriptures: for there is our foundation of this Doctrine: we know, out of the Om|nipotence of God, it may be; and we know out of the Scriptures it mu&s;t be: That works upon our faith, this upon our rea&s;on; That it is man that mu&s;t be &s;aved, man that mu&s;t be damned; and to con&s;titute a man, there mu&s;t be a body, as well as a &s;oule. Nay, the Immortality of the &s;oule, will not &s;o well lie in proofe, without a re&s;uming of the body. For, upon tho&s;e words of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>If there were no Re&s;urrection, we were the mi&s;erable&s;t of all men,</HI> the Schoole rea&s;ons rea&s;onably; Naturally the &s;oule and body are united, when they are &s;eparated by Death, it is contrary to nature, which nature &s;till affects this union; and con&s;equently the &s;oule is the le&s;&s;e perfect, for this &s;eparation; and it is not likely, that the perfect naturall &s;tate of the &s;oule, which is, to be united to the body, &s;hould la&s;t but three or foure &s;core yeares, and, in mo&s;t, much le&s;&s;e, and the unperfect &s;tate, that in the &s;eparation, &s;hould la&s;t eternally, for ever: &s;o that either the body mu&s;t be beleeved to live againe, or the &s;oule beleeved to die.</P>
<P>Never therefore di&s;pute again&s;t thine own happine&s;&s;e; never &s;ay, God asks the heart, that is, the &s;oule, and therefore rewards the &s;oule, or puni&s;hes the &s;oule, and hath no re|&s;pect to the body; <HI>Nec auferamus cogitationes a collegio carnis,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Tertullian,</HI> Never go about to &s;eparate the thoughts of the heart, from the colledge, from the fellow&s;hip of the body; <HI>Siquidem in carne, &amp; cum carne, &amp; per carnem agitur, quicquid ab anima agitur,</HI> All that the &s;oule does, it does in, and with, and by the body. And therefore, (&s;aies he al&s;o) <HI>Caro abluitur, ut anima emaculetur,</HI> The body is wa&s;hed in bapti&s;me, but it is that the &s;oule might be made cleane; <HI>Caro ungitur, ut anima con&s;ecretur,</HI> In all unctions, whether that which was then in u&s;e in Bapti&s;me, or that which was in u&s;e at our tran&s;migration, and pa&s;&s;age out of this world, the body was anointed, that the &s;oule might be con&s;ecrated;
<PB N="182" REF="109"><HI>Caro &s;ignatur,</HI> (&s;aies <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;till) <HI>ut anima muniatur;</HI> The body is &s;igned with the Cro&s;&s;e, that the &s;oule might be armed again&s;t tentations; And againe, <HI>Caro de Corpore Chri&s;ti ve&s;citur, ut anima de Deo &s;aginetur;</HI> My body received the body of Chri&s;t, that my &s;oule might partake of his merits. He extends it into many particulars, and &s;ummes up all thus, <HI>Non po&s;&s;unt in mercede &s;eparari, quae opera conjungunt,</HI> The&s;e two, Body, and Soule, cannot be &s;eparated for ever, which, whil&s;t they are together, concurre in all that either of them doe. Never thinke it pre&s;umption, &s;aies S. <HI>Gregory, Sperare in te, quod in &s;e exhibuit Deus homo,</HI> To hope for that in thy &s;elfe, which God admitted, when he tooke thy nature upon him. And God hath made it, &s;aies he, more ea&s;ie then &s;o, for thee, to be|leeve it, becau&s;e not onely Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, but &s;uch men, as thou art, did ri&s;e at the Re|&s;urrection of Chri&s;t. And therefore when our bodies are di&s;&s;olved and liquefied in the Sea, putrified in the earth, re&s;olv'd to a&s;hes in the fire, macerated in the ayre, <HI>Velut in va&s;a &s;ua transfunditur caro no&s;tra,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> make account that all the world is Gods cabinet, and water, and earth, and fire, and ayre, are the proper boxes, in which God laies up our bo|dies, for the Re&s;urrection. Curiou&s;ly to di&s;pute again&s;t our owne Re&s;urrection, is &s;editi|ou&s;ly to di&s;pute again&s;t the dominion of Je&s;us; who is not made Lord by the Re&s;ur|rection, if he have no &s;ubjects to follow him in the &s;ame way. Wee beleeve him to be Lord, therefore let us beleeve his, and our Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>This ble&s;&s;ed day,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ille.</HI> Iohn 2.19. Iohn 10.17.</NOTE> which we celebrate now, he ro&s;e: he ro&s;e &s;o, as none before did, none after, ever &s;hall ri&s;e; He ro&s;e; others are but rai&s;ed: <HI>De&s;troy this Temple,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>and I will rai&s;e it;</HI> I, without imploying any other Architect. <HI>I lay downe my life,</HI> &s;aies he: the Jewes could not have killed him, when he was alive; If he were alive here now, the Je&s;uits could not kill him here now; except his being made <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>Lord,</HI> an anointed King, have made him more open to them. <HI>I have a power to lay it downe,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>and I have a power to take it up againe.</HI></P>
<P>This day,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Nos.</HI> Iohn 2.3.</NOTE> we celebrate his Re&s;urrection; this day let us celebrate our owne: Our own, not our one Re&s;urrection, for we need many. Upon tho&s;e words of our Saviour to <HI>Nico|demus, Oportet denuo na&s;ci,</HI> &s;peaking of the nece&s;&s;ity of Bapti&s;me, <HI>Non &s;olum denuo, &s;ed ter|ti&ograve; na&s;ci oportet,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> He mu&s;t be born againe, and againe; againe by bapti&s;me, for Originall &s;in, and for actuall &s;in, againe by repentance; <HI>Infoelix homo ego, &amp; mi&s;er abilis ca&s;us,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>cui non &s;ufficit una regeneratio!</HI> Mi&s;erable man that I am, and mi&s;erable con|dition that I am fallen into, whom one regeneration will not &s;erve! So is it a mi&s;erable death that hath &s;wallowed us, whom one Re&s;urrection will &s;erve. We need three, but if we have not two, we were as good be without one. There is a Re&s;urrection from world|ly calamities, a re&s;urrection from &s;in, and a re&s;urrection from the grave.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 10.17. 1 Cor. 15.31. P&s;al. 41.8.</NOTE> from calamities; for, as dangers are called death, (<HI>Pharaoh</HI> cals the plague of Lo|cu&s;ts, a death, <HI>Intreat the Lord your God, that he may take from me, this death onely,</HI> And &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aies, in his dangers, <HI>I dye daily</HI>) So is the deliverance from danger called a Re|&s;urrection: It is the hope of the wicked upon the godly, <HI>Now that he lieth, he &s;hall ri&s;e no more;</HI> that is, Now that he is dead in mi&s;ery, he &s;hall have no re&s;urrection in this world. Now, this re&s;urrection God does not alwaies give to his &s;ervants, neither is this re&s;ur|rection the mea&s;ure of Gods love of man, whether he do rai&s;e him from worldly cala|mities or no.</P>
<P>The &s;econd is the re&s;urrection from &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apec. 20.5.</NOTE> and therefore, this S. <HI>Iohn</HI> calls <HI>The fir&s;t Re|&s;urrection,</HI> as though the other, whether we ri&s;e from worldly calamities, or no, were not to be reckoned. <HI>Anima &s;piritualiter cadit, &amp; &s;piritualiter re&s;urget,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> Since we are &s;ure, there is a &s;pirituall death of the &s;oule, let us make &s;ure a &s;pirituall re&s;urrection too. <HI>Audacter dicam,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> I &s;ay confidently, <HI>Cum omnia po&s;&s;et Deus, &s;u&s;citare Virginem po&s;t ruinam, non pote&s;t;</HI> How&s;oever God can do all things, he cannot re&s;tore a Virgin, that is fallen from it, to virginity againe. He cannot do this in the body, but God is a Spirit, and hath re&s;erved more power, upon the &s;pirit and &s;oule, then upon the body, and therefore <HI>Audacter dicam,</HI> I may &s;ay, with the &s;ame a&s;&s;urance, that S. <HI>Hierome</HI> does, No &s;oule hath &s;o pro&s;tituted her &s;elfe, &s;o multiplied her fornications; but that God can make her a virgin againe, and give her, even the cha&s;tity of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe. Fulfill therefore that which Chri&s;t &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 5.25.</NOTE> <HI>The houre is comming, and now is, when the dead &s;hall heare the voyce of the Son of God, and they that heare &s;hall live:</HI> Be this that houre, be this thy fir&s;t Re&s;urrection. Ble&s;&s;e Gods pre&s;ent goodne&s;&s;e, for this now; and attend Gods lea&s;ure, for the other Re&s;urrection hereafter.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.20.</NOTE> He that is <HI>the fir&s;t fruits of them that &s;lept,</HI> Chri&s;t
<PB N="183" REF="109">Je&s;us is awake; he dyes no more, he &s;leepes no more. <HI>Sacrificium pro te fuit, &s;ed &agrave; te accepit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>quod pro te obtulit:</HI> He offered a Sacrifice for thee, but he had that from thee, that he offered for thee: <HI>Primitiae fuit, &s;ed tuae primitiae;</HI> He was the fir&s;t fruits, but the fir&s;t fruits of thy Corne: <HI>Spera in te futurum, quod praece&s;s it in primitiis tuis:</HI> Doubt not of having that in the whole Croppe, which thou ha&s;t already in thy fir&s;t fruits; that is, to have that in thy &s;elf, which thou ha&s;t in thy Saviour. And what glory &s;oever thou ha&s;t had in this world, Glory inherited from noble Ance&s;tors, Glory acquired by merit and &s;ervice, Glory pur|cha&s;ed by money, and ob&s;ervation, what glory of beauty and proportion, what glory of health and &s;trength &s;oever thou ha&s;t had in this hou&s;e of clay, <HI>The glory of the later hou&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hag. 2.9.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall be greater then of the former.</HI> To this glory, the God of this glory, by glorious or in|glorious waies, &s;uch as may mo&s;t advance his own glory, bring us in his time, for his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;ake. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XIX.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Ea&s;ter-day, in the Evening. <HI>1624.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>APOC. 20.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN the fir&s;t book of the Scriptures, that of Gene&s;is, there is danger in de|parting from the letter; In this la&s;t book, this of the Revelation, there is as much danger in adhering too clo&s;e to the letter. The literall &s;en&s;e is alwayes to be pre&s;erved; but the literall &s;en&s;e is not alwayes to be di&s;cerned: for the literall &s;en&s;e is not alwayes that, which the very Let|ter and Grammer of the place pre&s;ents, as where it is literally &s;aid, <HI>That Chri&s;t is a Vine,</HI> and literally, <HI>That his fle&s;h is bread,</HI> and literally, <HI>That the new Ieru&s;alem is thus &s;ituated, thus built, thus furni&s;hed:</HI> But the literall &s;en&s;e of every place, is the prin|cipall intention of the Holy Gho&s;t, in that place: And his principall intention in many places, is to expre&s;&s;e things by allegories, by figures; &s;o that in many places of Scripture, a figurative &s;en&s;e is the literall &s;en&s;e, and more in this book then in any other. As then to depart from the literall &s;en&s;e, that &s;en&s;e which the very letter pre&s;ents, in the book of Gene&s;is, is dangerous, becau&s;e if we do &s;o there, we have no hi&s;tory of the Creation of the world in any other place to &s;tick to; &s;o to binde our &s;elves to &s;uch a literall &s;en&s;e in this book, will take from us the con&s;olation of many &s;pirituall happine&s;&s;es, and bury us in the carnall things of this world.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t error of being too allegoricall in Gene&s;is, tran&s;ported divers of the ancients beyond the certain evidence of truth, and the &s;econd error of being too literall in this book, fixed many, very many, very ancient, very learned, upon an evident fal&s;hood; which was, that becau&s;e here is mention <HI>of a fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, and of raigning with Chri&s;t a thou&s;and years after that fir&s;t Re&s;urrection,</HI> There &s;hould be to all the Saints of God, a &s;tate of happine&s;&s;e in this world, after Chri&s;ts comming, for a thou&s;and yeares; In which hap|py &s;tate, though &s;ome of them have limited them&s;elves in &s;pirituall things, that they &s;hould enjoy a kinde of conver&s;ation with Chri&s;t, and an impeccability, and a quiet &s;er|ving of God without any reluctations, or co~cupi&s;cences; or per&s;ecutions; yet others have dreamed on, and enlarged their dreames to an enjoying of all the&s;e worldly happine&s;&s;es, which they, being formerly per&s;ecuted, did formerly want in this world, and then &s;hould have them for a thou&s;and yeares together in recompence. And even this branch of that error, of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the things of this world, &s;o long, in this world, did very many, and very good, and very great men, who&s;e names are in honour, and ju&s;tly in the Church of God, in tho&s;e fir&s;t times &s;tray into; and flattered them&s;elves with an imaginary intima|tion
<PB N="184" REF="110">of &s;ome &s;uch thing, in the&s;e words, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he, that hath part in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>Thus far then the text is literall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> That this Re&s;urrection in the text, is different from the generall Re&s;urrection. The fir&s;t differs from the la&s;t: And thus far it is figurative, allegoricall, my&s;ticall, that it is a &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection, that is intended. But wherein &s;pirituall? or of what &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection? In the figurative expo&s;ition of tho&s;e places of Scripture, which require that way oft to be figuratively expounded, that Expo&s;itor is not to be blamed, who not de&s;troying the literall &s;en&s;e, propo&s;es &s;uch a figurative &s;en&s;e, as may exalt our devotion, and advance our edification; And as no one of tho&s;e Expo&s;i|tors did ill, in propo&s;ing one &s;uch &s;en&s;e, &s;o neither do tho&s;e Expo&s;itors ill, who with tho&s;e limitations, that it de&s;troy not the literall &s;en&s;e, that it violate not the analogy of faith, that it advance devotion, do propo&s;e another and another &s;uch &s;en&s;e. So doth that preacher well al&s;o, who to the &s;ame end, and within the &s;ame limit, makes his u&s;e of both, of all tho&s;e expo&s;itions; becau&s;e all may &s;tand, and it is not evident in &s;uch figurative &s;peeches, which is the literall, that is, the principall intention of the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>Of the&s;e words of this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection (which is not the la&s;t, of the body, but a &s;pi|rituall Re&s;urrection) there are three expo&s;itions authorized by per&s;ons of good note in the Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Alcazar.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, that this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, is a Re&s;urrection from that low e&s;tate, to which per&s;ecution had brought the Church; and &s;o it belongs to this whole State, and Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. &amp; no&s;tri.</NOTE> and <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are we who have our part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI> Secondly, that it is a Re&s;urrection from the death of &s;in, of actuall, and habituall &s;in; &s;o it belongs to every particular penitent &s;oul; and <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed art thou, ble&s;&s;ed am I, if we have part in this fir&s;t Re|&s;urrection.</HI> And then thirdly, becau&s;e after this Re&s;urrection, it is &s;aid, <HI>That we &s;hall raign with Chri&s;t a thou&s;and yeares,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ribera.</NOTE> (which is a certain for an uncertain, a limited, for a long time) it hath al&s;o been taken for the &s;tate of the &s;oul in heaven, after it is parted from the body by death; for though the &s;oul cannot be &s;aid properly to have a Re&s;urrection, be|cau&s;e properly it cannot die, yet to be thus delivered from the danger of a &s;econd death, by future &s;in, to be removed from the di&s;tance, and latitude, and po&s;&s;ibility of tentati|ons in this world, is by very good Expo&s;itors called a Re&s;urrection; and &s;o it belongs to all them who are departed in the Lord; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI> And then the occa&s;ion of the day, which we celebrate now, being the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, invites me to propo&s;e a fourth &s;en&s;e, or rather u&s;e of the words; not indeed as an expo&s;ition of the words, but as a conveni|ent exaltation of our devotion; which is, that this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection &s;hould be the fir&s;t fruits of the dead; The fir&s;t Ri&s;ing, is the fir&s;t Ri&s;er, Chri&s;t Je&s;us: for as Chri&s;t &s;ayes of him&s;elf, that <HI>He is the Re&s;urrection,</HI> &s;o he is the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, the root of the Re&s;urrection. He upon whom our Re&s;urrection, all ours, all our kindes of Re&s;urre|ctions are founded; and &s;o it belongs to State and Church, and particular per&s;ons, a|live, and dead; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>And the&s;e foure con&s;iderations of the words; A Re&s;urrection from per&s;ecution, by deliverance; a Re&s;urrection from &s;in, by grace; a Re&s;urrection from tentation to &s;in, by the way of death, to the glory of heaven; and all the&s;e, in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, in him that is the roote of all, in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, The&s;e foure &s;teps, the&s;e foure pa&s;&s;ages, the&s;e foure tran&s;itions will be our quarter Clock, for this houres exerci&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. From per&s;e|cution.</NOTE> we con&s;ider this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, to be a Re&s;urrection from a per&s;ecution for religion, for the profe&s;&s;ion of the Go&s;pell, to a forward glorious pa&s;&s;age of the Go|&s;pell. And &s;o a learned Expo&s;itor in the Romane Church carries the expo&s;ition of this whole place (though not indeed the ordinary way, yet truly not incommodiou&s;ly, not improperly) upon that deliverance, which God afforded his Church, from tho&s;e great per&s;ecutions, which had otherwi&s;e &s;upplanted her, in her fir&s;t planting, in the primitive times. Then &s;ayes he (and in part well towards the letter of the place) <HI>The devill was chained for a thou&s;and yeares,</HI> and then we began <HI>to raign with Chri&s;t for a thou&s;and yeares;</HI> reckoning the time from that time, when God de&s;troyed Idolatry more fully, and gave peace and re&s;t, and free exerci&s;e of the Chri&s;tian religion, under the Chri&s;tian Empe|rours, till Antichri&s;t in the height of his rage &s;hall come, and let this thou&s;and yeares pri&s;oner Satan loo&s;e, and &s;o interrupt our thou&s;and yeares raign with Chri&s;t, with new per&s;ecutions. In that per&s;ecution was the death of the Church, in the eye of the world;
<PB N="185" REF="110">In that deliverance by Chri&s;tian Emperours was the Re&s;urrection of the Church; And in Gods protecting her ever &s;ince is the chaining up of the devill, and our raigning with Chri&s;t for tho&s;e thou&s;and yeares.</P>
<P>And truly, beloved, if we con&s;ider the low, the very low e&s;tate of Chri&s;tians in tho&s;e per&s;ecutions, tryed ten times in the fire, ten &s;everall and di&s;tinct per&s;ecutions, in which ten per&s;ecutions, God may &s;eem to have had a minde to deale eavenly with the world, and to lay as much upon his people whom he would try then, as he had laid upon others, for his people before, and &s;o to equall the ten plagues of Aegypt, in ten per&s;ecutions, in the primitive Church; if we con&s;ider that low, that very low e&s;tate, we may ju&s;tly call their deliverance a Re&s;urrection. For as God &s;aid to Jeru&s;alem, <HI>I found thee in thy blood, and wa&s;hed thee,</HI> &s;o Chri&s;t Je&s;us found the Church, the Chri&s;tian Church in her blood, and wa&s;hed her, and wiped her; wa&s;hed her in his own blood, which wa&s;hes white, and wiped her with the garments of his own righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that &s;he might be acceptable in the &s;ight of God, and then wiped all teares from her eyes, took away all occa&s;ions of complaint, and lamentation, that &s;he might be glorious in the eyes of man, and chearefull in her own; &s;uch was her Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>We wonder, and ju&s;tly, at the effu&s;ion, at the pouring out of blood, in the &s;acrifices of the old Law; that that little countrey &s;carce bigger then &s;ome three of our Shires, &s;hould &s;pend more cattle in &s;ome few dayes &s;acrifice at &s;ome &s;olemnities, and every yeare in the &s;acrifices of the whole yeare, then perchance this kingdome could give to any u&s;e. Seas of blood, and yet but brooks, tuns of blood, and yet but ba&s;ons, compared with the &s;acrifices, the &s;acrifices of the blood of men, in the per&s;ecutions of the Primi|tive Church. For every Oxe of the Jew, the Chri&s;tian &s;pent a man, and for every Sheep and Lamb, a Mother and her childe; and for every heard of cattle, &s;ometimes a towne of Inhabitants, &s;ometimes a Legion of Souldiers, all martyred at once; &s;o that they did not &s;tand to fill their Martyrologies with names, but with numbers, they had not roome to &s;ay, &s;uch a day, &s;uch a Bi&s;hop, &s;uch a day, &s;uch a Generall, but the day of 500. the day of 5000. Martyrs, and the martyrdome of a City, or the Martyrdome of an Army; This was not a red Sea, &s;uch as the Jews pa&s;&s;ed, a Sinus, a Creek, an Arm, an Inlet, a gut of a Sea, but a red Ocean, that overflowed, and &s;urrounded all parts; and from the depth of this Sea God rai&s;ed them; and &s;uch was their Re&s;urrection. Such, as that they which &s;uffered, lay, and bled with more ea&s;e, then the executioner &s;tood and &s;weat; and em|braced the fire more fervently, then he blew it; and many times had this triumph in their death, that even the executioner him&s;elf, was in the act of execution converted to Chri&s;t, and executed with them; &s;uch was their Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>When the State of the Jews was in that depre&s;&s;ion, in that conculcation, in that con|&s;ternation, in that extermination in the captivity of Babylon, as that God pre&s;ents it to the Prophet in that Vi&s;ion, in the field of dry bones, &s;o, <HI>Fili hominis, Son of man, as thou art a rea&s;onable man, do&s;t thou think the&s;e bones can live, that the&s;e men can ever be re-colle|cted to make up a Nation?</HI> The Prophet &s;aith, <HI>Domine tu &s;cis, Lord thou knowe&s;t;</HI> which is, not only thou knowe&s;t whether they can, or no, but thou knowe&s;t clearly they can; thou can&s;t make them up of bones again, for thou made&s;t tho&s;e bones of earth before. If God had called in the Angels to the making of man at fir&s;t, and as he &s;aid to the Pro|phet, <HI>Fili hominis, Son of man, as thou art a rea&s;onable man,</HI> &s;o he had &s;aid to them, <HI>Filii Dei,</HI> as you are the Sons of God, illumined by his face, do you think, that this clod of red earth can make a man, a man that &s;hall be equall to you, in one of his parts, in his &s;oul, and yet then &s;hall have &s;uch another part, as that he, whom all you wor&s;hip, my e&s;|&s;entiall Son &s;hall a&s;&s;ume, and inve&s;t that part him&s;elf, can that man made of that body, and that &s;oul, be made of this clod of earth? Tho&s;e Angels would have &s;aid, <HI>Domine tu &s;cis,</HI> Lord thou mu&s;t needs know, how to make as good creatures as us of earth, who made&s;t us of that which is infinitely le&s;&s;e then earth, of nothing, before. To induce, to facilitate the&s;e apprehen&s;ions, there were &s;ome precedents, &s;ome &s;uch thing had been done before. But when the Church was newly conceived, and then lay like the egge of a Dove, and a Gyants foot over it, like a worm, like an ant, and hill upon hill whelmed upon it, nay, like a grain of corn between the upper and lower Mill-&s;tone, ground to du&s;t between Tyrans and Heretiques, when as &s;he bled in her Cradle, in tho&s;e children whom <HI>Herod</HI> &s;lew, &s;o &s;he bled upon her crutches, in tho&s;e decrepit men whom former per&s;ecu|tions and tortures had creepled before, when Ea&s;t and We&s;t joyned hands to cru&s;h her,
<PB N="186" REF="111">and hands, and brains, joyned execution to con&s;ultation to annihilate her; in this wane of the Moon, God gave her an in&s;tant fulne&s;&s;e; in this exinanition, in&s;tant glory; in this grave, an in&s;tant Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>But beloved, the expre&s;&s;ing the pre&s;&s;ing of their depre&s;&s;ions, does but chafe the Wax; the Printing of the &s;eale, is the reducing to your memory, your own ca&s;e: and not that point in your ca&s;e, as you were for a few yeares under a &s;en&s;ible per&s;ecution of fire, and pri&s;ons; that was the lea&s;t part of your per&s;ecution; for it is a cheap purcha&s;e of hea|ven, if we may have it for dying;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.44.</NOTE> To &s;ell all we have to buy that field where we know the trea&s;ure is, is not &s;o hard, as not to know it; To part with all, for the great Pearle, not &s;o hard a bargaine, as not to know that &s;uch a Pearle there might have beene had; we could not &s;ay heaven was kept from us, when we might have it for a Fagot, and when even our enemies helpt us to it: but your greater affliction was, as you were long before, in an in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e, you thought your &s;elves well enough, and yet were under a wor&s;e per&s;ecution of ignorance, and of &s;uper&s;tition, when you, in your Fathers, were &s;o farre from expecting a re&s;urrection, as that you did not know your low e&s;tate, or that you needed a Re&s;urrection; And yet God gave you a Re&s;urrection from it, a reforma|tion of it.</P>
<P>Now, <HI>who have their parts in this fir&s;t re&s;urrection?</HI> or upon what conditions have you it? We &s;ee in the fourth ver&s;e, <HI>They that are beheaded for the witne&s;&s;e of Ie&s;us;</HI> that is, that are ready to be &s;o, when the glory of Je&s;us &s;hall require that te&s;timony. In the meane time, as it followes there, <HI>They that have not wor&s;hipped the Bea&s;t;</HI> that is, not applied the Honour, and the Allegiance due to their Soveraign, to any forraign State; nor the Honor due to God, that is, infallibility, to another Prelate; <HI>That have not wor&s;hipped the Bea&s;t, nor his Image,</HI> &s;ayes the Text; that is, that have not been tran&s;ported with vain imagina|tions of his power, and his growth upon us here, which hath been &s;o diligently Painted, and Printed, and Preached, and &s;et out in the promi&s;es, and practi&s;es of his In&s;truments, to delude &s;lack, and ea&s;ie per&s;ons: And then, as it is added there, <HI>That have not received his mark upon their foreheads;</HI> That is, not declared them&s;elves Romani&s;ts apparently; <HI>nor in their hands,</HI> &s;ayes the Text; that is, which have not under-hand &s;old their &s;ecret endea|vours, though not their publique profe&s;&s;ion, to the advancement of his cau&s;e. The&s;e men, who are ready to be beheaded for Chri&s;t, and have not wor&s;hipped the Bea&s;t, nor the Image of the Bea&s;t, nor received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands, the&s;e have their parts in this fir&s;t re&s;urrection. The&s;e are <HI>ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> and <HI>holy,</HI> &s;ayes our Text; Ble&s;&s;ed, becau&s;e they have meanes to be holy, in this re&s;urrection; For the Lamb hath uncla&s;ped the book; the Scriptures are open; which way to holine&s;&s;e, our Fathers lack|ed; And then, our ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is, that we &s;hall raigne a thou&s;and yeares with Chri&s;t; Now &s;ince this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, &s;ince the reformation we have raigned &s;o with Chri&s;t, but 100. yeares: But if we per&s;i&s;t in a good u&s;e of it, our po&s;terity &s;hall adde the Cypher, and make that 100. 1000. even to the time, when Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hall come againe, and as he hath given us the fir&s;t, &s;o &s;hall give us the la&s;t re&s;urrection; and to that come Lord Je&s;us, come quickly; and till that, continue this.</P>
<P>This is the fir&s;t re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Apeccato.</HI></NOTE> in the fir&s;t acceptation, a re&s;urrection from per&s;ecution, and a peaceable enjoying of the Go&s;pell: And in a &s;econd, it is a re&s;urrection from &s;in; and &s;o it hath a more particular appropriation to every per&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> So S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> takes this place, and with him many of the Fathers, and with them, many of the &s;ons of the Fathers, better &s;ons of the Fathers, then the Romane Church will confe&s;&s;e them to be, or then they are them&s;elves, The Expo&s;itors of the Reformed Church. They, for the mo&s;t part, with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> take this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, to be a re&s;urrection from &s;in. <HI>Inter abjectos abjecti&s;simus peccator:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Grego:</NOTE> No man falls lower, then he that falls into a cour&s;e of &s;in; Sin is a fall; It is not onely a deviation, a turning out of the way, upon the right, or the left hand, but it is a &s;inking, a falling: In the other ca&s;e, of going out of the way, a man may &s;tand upon the way, and inquire, and then proceed in the way, if he be right, or to the way, if he be wrong; But when he is fallen, and lies &s;till, he proceeds no farther, inquires no farther. To be too apt to conceive &s;cruples in matters of religion, &s;tops, and retards a man in the way; to mi&s;take &s;ome points in the truth of religion, puts a man for that time in a wrong way; But to fall into a cour&s;e of &s;in, this makes him un&s;en&s;ible of any end, that he hath to goe to, of any way that he hath to goe by. God hath not re|moved man, not with-drawne man from this Earth; he hath not given him the Aire to
<PB N="187" REF="111">flie in, as to Birds, nor Spheares to move in, as to Sun and Moone; he hath left him upon the Earth; and not onely to tread upon it, as in contempt, or in meere Dominion, but to walk upon it, in the di&s;charge of the duties of his calling; and &s;o to be conver&s;ant with the Earth, is not a falling. But as when man was nothing but earth, nothing but a body, he lay flat upon the earth, his mouth ki&s;&s;ed the earth, his hands embraced the earth, his eyes re&s;pected the earth; And then God breathed the breath of life into him, and that rai&s;ed him &s;o farre from the earth, as that onely one part of his body, (the &s;oles of his feet) tou|ches it, And yet man, &s;o rai&s;ed by God, by &s;in fell lower to the earth againe, then before, from the face of the earth, to the womb, to the bowels, to the grave; So God, finding the whole man, as low as he found <HI>Adams</HI> body then, fallen in Originall &s;in, yet erects us by a new breath of life, in the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, and yet we fall lower then before we were rai&s;ed, from Originall into Actuall, into Habituall &s;ins; So low, as that we think not, that we need, know not, that there is a re&s;urrection; and that is the wonderfull, that is the fearfull fall.</P>
<P>Though tho&s;e words, <HI>Quomodo cecidi&s;ti de Coelo, Lucifer,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 14.12.</NOTE> <HI>How art thou fallen from hea|ven O Lucifer, the Son of the morning?</HI> be ordinarily applied to the fall of the Angels, yet it is evident, that they are literally &s;poken of the fall of a man: It de&s;erves wonder, more then pity, that man, whom God had rai&s;ed, to &s;o Noble a heighth in him, &s;hould fall &s;o low from him. Man was borne to love; he was made in the love of God; but then man falls in love; when he growes in love with the creature, he falls in love: As we are bid to honour the Phy&s;itian, and to u&s;e the Phy&s;itian, but yet it is &s;aid in the &s;ame Chapter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 38.1. V. 15.</NOTE> He that &s;inneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hands of the Phy&s;itian; It is a ble&s;&s;ing to u&s;e him, it is a cur&s;e to rely upon him, &s;o it is a ble&s;&s;ing to glorifie God, in the right u&s;e of his creatures, but to grow in love with them, is a fall: For we love nothing that is &s;o good as our &s;elves; Beauty, Riches, Honour, is not &s;o good as man; Man capa|ble of grace here, of glory hereafter. Nay as tho&s;e things, which we love, in their na|ture, are wor&s;e then we which love them, &s;o in our loving them, we endeavour to make them wor&s;e then they in their own nature are; by over-loving the beauty of the body, we corrupt the &s;oule, by overloving honour, and riches, we deflect, and detort the&s;e things, which are not in their nature ill, to ill u&s;es, and make them &s;erve our ill purpo|&s;es: Man falls, as a fall of waters, that throwes downe, and corrupts all that it embraces. Nay beloved, when a man hath u&s;ed tho&s;e wings, which God hath given him, and rai|&s;ed him&s;elfe to &s;ome heighth in religious knowledge, and religious practi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 29.9.</NOTE> as <HI>Euti|chus,</HI> out of a de&s;ire to hear <HI>Paul</HI> preach, was got up into a Chamber, and up into a window of that Chamber, and yet falling a&s;leep, fell downe dead; &s;o we may fall into a &s;ecurity of our pre&s;ent &s;tate, into a pride of our knowledge, or of our purity, and &s;o fall lower, then they, who never came to our heighth. So much need have we of a re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>So &s;in is a fall, and every man is affraid of falling, even from his temporall &s;tation;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">rs.</HI> Clem. Alex.</NOTE> more affraid of falling, then of not beeing rai&s;ed. And <HI>Qui peccat, quatenus peccat, fit &s;eip&s;o deterior:</HI> In every &s;in a man falls from that degree which him&s;elfe had before; In every &s;in, he is di&s;honoured, he is not &s;o good a man, as he was; impoveri&s;hed, he hath not &s;o great a portion of grace as hee had; Infatuated, hee hath not &s;o much of the true wi&s;e|dome of the feare of God, as he had; di&s;armed, he hath not that intere&s;t and confidence in the love of God, that he had: and deformed, he hath not &s;o lively a repre&s;entation of the Image of God as before. In every &s;in, we become prodigals, but in the habit of &s;in, we become bankrupts, affraid to come to an account. A fall is a fearfull thing, that needs a rai&s;ing, a help; but &s;in is a death, and that needs a re&s;urrection; and a re&s;urrection is as great a work, as the very Creation it &s;elfe. It is death <HI>in &s;emine,</HI> in the roote, it produces, it brings forth death; It is death <HI>in arbore,</HI> in the body, in it &s;elfe; death is a divorce, and &s;o is &s;in; and it is death <HI>in fructu,</HI> in the fruit thereof; &s;in plants &s;pirituall death, and this death produces more &s;in, Obduration, Impenitence, and the like.</P>
<P>Be plea&s;ed to returne, and ca&s;t one halfe thought upon each of the&s;e: Sin is the roote of death; <HI>Death by &s;in entred, and death pa&s;&s;ed upon all men, for all men have &s;inned.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.12.</NOTE> It is death becau&s;e we &s;hall dye for it. But it is death in it &s;elfe, We are dead already, dead in it; <HI>Thou ha&s;t a name, that thou live&s;t, and art dead,</HI> was &s;poken to a whole Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 3.1.</NOTE> It is not evidence enough, to prove that thou art alive, to &s;ay, I &s;aw thee at a Sermon; that &s;pirit, that knowes thy &s;pirit, he that knowes whether thou wert moved by a Sermon, mel|ted by a Sermon, mended by a Sermon, he knows whether thou be alive or no.</P>
<PB N="188" REF="112">
<P>That which had wont to be &s;aid, That dead men walked in Churches, is too true; Men walk out a Sermon, or walk out after a Sermon, as ill as they walked in; they have a name that they live,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 5.25.</NOTE> and are dead: <HI>But the houre is come, and now is, when the dead &s;hall heare the voyce of the Son of God:</HI> That is, at the&s;e houres they may heare, if they will, and till they doe heare, they are dead. Sin is the root of death, the body of death, and then it is the fruit of death.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> confe&s;&s;es of him&s;elfe, that he was <HI>Alli&s;us intra parietes in celebritate &s;olemnitatum tuarum,</HI> that in great meetings upon &s;olemne dayes, in the Church, there, within the walls of Gods hou&s;e, <HI>Egit negotium procurandi fructus mortis,</HI> he was not buying and &s;elling doves, but buying and &s;elling &s;oules, by wanton lookes, cheapning and making the bargaine of the fruits of death, as him&s;elfe expre&s;&s;es it. Sin is the root, and the tree, and the fruit of death; The mother of death, death it &s;elfe, and the daughter of death; and from this death, this threefold death, death pa&s;t in our pa&s;t &s;ins, pre&s;ent death in our pre&s;ent in &s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of &s;in, future death in tho&s;e &s;ins, with which &s;ins God will puni&s;h our former, and pre&s;ent &s;ins, (if he proceed meerly in ju&s;tice) God affords us this fir&s;t re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>How?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;urrectio.</NOTE> Thus. Death is the Divorce of body and &s;oule; Re&s;urrection is the Re-union of body and &s;oule: And in this &s;pirituall death, and re&s;urrection, which we con&s;ider now, and which is all determined in the &s;oule it &s;elfe, Grace is the &s;oule of the &s;oule, and &s;o the departing of grace, is the death, and the returning of grace is the re&s;urrection of this &s;infull &s;oule. But how? By what way, what meanes? Con&s;ider <HI>Adam; Adam</HI> was made to enjoy an immortality in his body; He induced death upon him&s;elfe: And then, as God having made Marriage for a remedy again&s;t uncleanne&s;&s;e, intemperate men make even Marriage it &s;elfe an occa&s;ion of more uncleanne&s;&s;e, then if they had never married; &s;o man having induced and created death, by &s;in, God takes death, and makes it a means of the glorifying of his body, in heaven. God did not induce death, death was not in his purpo&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyril. Alex.</NOTE> but <HI>veluti medium opportunum, quo vas confractum rur&s;us fingeretur,</HI> As a means, whereby a broken ve&s;&s;ell might be made up againe, God tooke death, and made it &s;erve for that purpo&s;e, That men by the grave might be tran&s;lated to heaven.</P>
<P>So then, to the re&s;urrection of the body, there is an ordinary way, The grave; To the re&s;urrection of the &s;oule, there is an ordinary way too, The Church. In the grave, the body that mu&s;t be there prepared for the la&s;t re&s;urrection, hath wormes that eat upon it: In the Church, the &s;oule that comes to this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, mu&s;t have wormes, The worme, the &s;ting, the remor&s;e, the compunction of Con&s;cience; In tho&s;e that have no part in this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, the worme of con&s;cience &s;hall never die, but gnaw on, to de&s;peration; but tho&s;e that have not this worme of con&s;cience, this remor&s;e, this com|punction, &s;hall never live. In the grave, which is the furnace, which ripens the body for the la&s;t re&s;urrection, there is a putrefaction of the body, and an ill &s;avour: In the Church, the wombe where my &s;oule mu&s;t be mellowed for this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, my &s;oul, which hath the &s;avour of death in it, as it is leavened throughout with &s;in, mu&s;t &s;tink in my no|&s;trils, and I come to a dete&s;tation of all tho&s;e &s;ins, which have putrified her. And I mu&s;t not be afraid to accu&s;e my &s;elfe, to condemne my &s;elfe, to humble my &s;elfe, le&s;t I become a &s;corne to men;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Nemo me derideat ab eo medico aegrum &s;anari, &agrave; quo &s;ibi prae&s;titum e&s;t ne aegrotaret,</HI> Let no man de&s;pi&s;e me, or wonder at me, that I am &s;o humbled under the hand of God, or that I fly to God as to my Phy&s;itian when I am &s;ick, &s;ince the &s;ame God that hath recovered me as my Phy&s;itian when I was &s;ick, hath been his Phy&s;itian too, and kept him from being &s;ick, who, but for that Phy&s;itian, had been as ill as I was: At lea&s;t he mu&s;t be his Phy&s;itian, if ever he come to be &s;ick, and come to know that he is &s;ick, and come to a right de&s;ire to be well. Spirituall death was before bodily; &s;inne before the wages of &s;in; God hath provided a re&s;urrection for both deaths, but fir&s;t for the fir&s;t; This is the fir&s;t re&s;urrection, Reconciliation to God, and the returning of the &s;oule of our &s;oule, Grace, in his Church, by his Word, and his &s;eales there.</P>
<P>Now every repentance is not a re&s;urrection; It is rather a waking out of a dreame, then a ri&s;ing to a new life: Nay it is rather a &s;tartling in our &s;leep, then any awaking at all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.14. E&s;ay <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">0.1.</NOTE> to have a &s;udden remor&s;e, a &s;udden fla&s;h, and no con&s;tant per&s;everance. <HI>Awake thou that &s;leepe&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, out of the Prophet: Fir&s;t <HI>awake,</HI> come to a &s;en&s;e of thy &s;tate; and then <HI>ari&s;e from the dead,</HI> &s;ayes he, from the practi&s;e of dead works; and then, <HI>Chri&s;t &s;hall give thee light:</HI> life, and &s;trength to walk in new wayes. It is a long work, and hath many &s;teps; <HI>Awake, ari&s;e,</HI> and <HI>walke,</HI> and therefore &s;et out betimes; At the la&s;t day, in
<PB N="189" REF="112">tho&s;e, which &s;hall be found alive upon the earth, we &s;ay there &s;hall be a &s;udden death, and a &s;udden re&s;urrection; <HI>In raptu, in tran&s;itu, in ictu oculi,</HI> In an in&s;tant, in the twinck|ling of an eye; but do not thou tru&s;t to have this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection <HI>In raptu, in tran&s;itu, in ictu oculi,</HI> In thy la&s;t pa&s;&s;age upon thy death-bed, when the twinckling of the eye, mu&s;t be the clo&s;ing of thine eyes: But as we a&s;&s;ign to glorified bodies after the la&s;t Re&s;urrecti|on, certaine <HI>Dotes,</HI> (as we call them in the Schoole) certaine Endowments, &s;o labour thou to finde tho&s;e endowments, in thy &s;oule here, if thou bee&s;t come to this fir&s;t Re&s;ur|rection.</P>
<P>Among&s;t tho&s;e Endowments we a&s;&s;igne <HI>Subtilitatem, Agilitatem;</HI> The glorified bodie is become more &s;ubtile, more nimble, not encumbred, not di&s;able for any motion, that it would make; So hath that &s;oule, which is come to this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, by grace, a &s;pirituall agility, a holy nimblene&s;&s;e in it, that it can &s;lide by tentations, and pa&s;&s;e through tentations, and never be polluted; follow a calling, without taking infection, by the ordinary tentations of that calling. So have tho&s;e glorified bodies <HI>Claritatem,</HI> a brightne&s;&s;e upon them, from the face of God; and &s;o have the&s;e &s;oules, which are come to this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, a &s;un in them&s;elves, an inherent light, by which they can pre|&s;ently di&s;tingui&s;h betweene action and action; what mu&s;t, what may, what mu&s;t not bee done. But of all the endowments of the glorified body, we con&s;ider mo&s;t, <HI>Impa&s;sibilita|tem,</HI> That that body &s;hall &s;uffer nothing; and is &s;ure that it &s;hall &s;uffer nothing. And that which an&s;wers that endowment of the body mo&s;t in this &s;oule, that is come to this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, is as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, <HI>That neither per&s;ecution, &s;ickne&s;&s;e, nor death,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall &s;epa|rate her from Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI> In Heaven we doe not &s;ay, that our bodies &s;hall deve&s;t their mortality, &s;o, as that naturally they could not dye; for they &s;hall have a compo&s;ition &s;till; and every compounded thing may peri&s;h: but they &s;hal be &s;o a&s;&s;ured, and with &s;uch a pre|&s;ervation, as they &s;hall alwaies know they &s;hall never dye. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aies well,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> <HI>A&s;sit motio, ab&s;it fatigatio, a&s;sit pote&s;tas ve&s;cendi, ab&s;it nece&s;sitas e&s;uriendi;</HI> They have in their nature a mortality, and yet be immortall; a po&s;&s;ibility and an impo&s;&s;ibility of dying, with tho&s;e two divers relations, one to nature, the other to pre&s;ervation, will con&s;i&s;t to|gether. So in this &s;oule, that hath this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection from &s;in, by grace, a con&s;cience of her owne infirmity, that &s;he may relap&s;e, and yet a te&s;timony of the powerfulne&s;&s;e of Gods Spirit, that ea&s;ily &s;he &s;hall not relap&s;e, may con&s;i&s;t well together. But the la&s;t &s;eale of this holy confidence is re&s;erved for that, which is the third acceptation of this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection; not from per&s;ecutions in this world, nor from &s;in in this world, but from all po&s;&s;ibility of falling back into &s;in, in the world to come; and to this, have divers Ex|po&s;itors referred the&s;e words, this fir&s;t re&s;urrection. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he, that hath part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>Now, a Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule, &s;eemes an improper, an impertinent, an improba|ble,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> an impo&s;&s;ible forme of &s;peech; for, Re&s;urrection implies death, and the &s;oule does not dye in her pa&s;&s;age to Heaven. And therefore <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> makes account,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De ortho. &s;id. l. 4. c. ult.</NOTE> that he hath &s;ufficiently proved the Re&s;urrection of the body (which &s;eems &s;o incredible) if he could prove any Re&s;urrection; if there be any Re&s;urrection at all, &s;aies he, it mu&s;t be of the body, for the &s;oule cannot dye, therefore not ri&s;e. Yet have not tho&s;e Fathers, nor tho&s;e Expo&s;itors, who have in this text, acknowledged a Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule, mi&s;taken nor mi&s;called the matter. Take <HI>Dama&s;cens</HI> owne definition of Re&s;urrection: <HI>Re&s;urrectio e&s;t ejus quod cecidit &s;ecunda &s;urrectio:</HI> A Re&s;urrection is a &s;econd ri&s;ing to that &s;tate, from which any thing is formerly fallen. Now though by death, the &s;oule do not fall into any &s;uch &s;tate, as that it can complaine, (for what can that lack, which God fils?) yet by death, the &s;oule fals from that, for which it was infu&s;ed, and poured into man at fir&s;t; that is, to be the forme of that body, the King of that Kingdome; and therefore, when in the generall Re&s;urrection, the &s;oule returnes to that &s;tate, for which it was created, and to which it hath had an affection, and a de&s;ire, even in the fulne&s;&s;e of the Joyes of Heaven, then, when the &s;oule returnes to her office, to make up the man, becau&s;e the whole man hath, therefore the &s;oule hath a Re&s;urrection; not from death, but from a deprivation of her former &s;tate; that &s;tate, which &s;he was made for, and is ever enclined to.</P>
<P>But that is the la&s;t Re&s;urrection; and &s;o the &s;oule hath part even in that la&s;t Re&s;urrecti|on; But we are in hand with the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule; and that is, when that &s;oule, which was at fir&s;t breath'd from God, and hath long &s;uffered a bani&s;hment, a clo&s;e impri&s;onment in this body, returnes to God againe; The returning of the &s;oule to him,
<PB N="190" REF="113">from whom it proceeded at fir&s;t, is a Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule. Here then e&s;pecially, I feele the &s;traitne&s;&s;e of time; two con&s;iderations open them&s;elves together, of &s;uch a largene&s;&s;e, as all the time from <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his <HI>In principio,</HI> when time began, to the Angels <HI>Affidavit,</HI> in this booke, <HI>That &s;hall &s;ay and &s;weare, that time &s;hall be no more,</HI> were too narrow to contemplate the&s;e two Hemi&s;pheares of Man, this Evening, and Morning of Mans everla&s;ting day; The mi&s;eries of man, in this bani&s;hment, in this empri&s;onment, in this grave of the &s;oule, the body, And the glory, and exaltation of that &s;oule in her Re|&s;urrection to Heaven. That &s;oule, which being borne free, is made a &s;lave to this body, by comming to it; It mu&s;t act, but what this body will give it leave to act, according to the Organs, which this body affords it; and if the body be lame in any limme, the &s;oule mu&s;t be lame in her operation, in that limme too; It mu&s;t doe, but what the body will have it doe, and then it mu&s;t &s;uffer, what&s;oever that body puts it to, or what&s;oever any others will put that body to: If the body oppre&s;&s;e it &s;elfe with Melancholy, the &s;oule mu&s;t be &s;ad; and if other men oppre&s;&s;e the body with injury, the &s;oule mu&s;t be &s;ad too; Con&s;ider, (it is too immen&s;e a thing to con&s;ider it) reflect but one thought, but upon this one thing in the &s;oule, here, and hereafter, In her grave, the body, and in her Re&s;ur|rection in Heaven; That is the knowledge of the &s;oule.</P>
<P>Here &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> when the &s;oule con&s;iders the things of this world, <HI>Non veri|tate certior, &s;ed con&s;uetudine &s;ecurior;</HI> She re&s;ts upon &s;uch things as &s;he is not &s;ure are true, but &s;uch as &s;he &s;ees, are ordinarily received and accepted for truths: &s;o that the end of her knowledge is not Truth, but opinion, and the way, not Inqui&s;ition, but ea&s;e: But &s;aies he, when &s;he proceeds in this life, to &s;earch into heavenly things, <HI>Verberatur luce veritatis,</HI> The beames of that light are too &s;trong for her, and they &s;ink her, and ca&s;t her downe, <HI>Et ad familiaritatem tenebrarum &s;uarum, non electione &s;ed fatigatione convertitur;</HI> and &s;o &s;he returnes to her owne darkne&s;&s;e, becau&s;e &s;he is mo&s;t familiar, and be&s;t acquainted with it; <HI>Non electione,</HI> not becau&s;e &s;he loves ignorance, but becau&s;e &s;he is weary of the trouble of &s;eeking out the truth, and &s;o &s;wallowes even any Religion to e&s;cape the paine of deba|ting, and di&s;puting; and in this lazine&s;&s;e &s;he &s;leeps out her lea&s;e, her terme of life, in this death, in this grave, in this body.</P>
<P>But then in her Re&s;urrection, her mea&s;ure is enlarged, and filled at once; There &s;he reads without &s;pelling, and knowes without thinking, and concludes without arguing; &s;he is at the end of her race, without running; In her triumph, without fighting; In her Haven, without &s;ayling: A free-man, without any prenti&s;hip; at full yeares, without any ward|&s;hip; and a Doctor, without any proceeding: She knowes truly, and ea&s;ily, and immediate|ly, and entirely, and everla&s;tingly; Nothing left out at fir&s;t, nothing worne out at la&s;t, that conduces to her happine&s;&s;e. What a death is this life? what a re&s;urrection is this death? For though this world be a &s;ea, yet (which is mo&s;t &s;trange) our Harbour is larger then the &s;ea; Heaven infinitely larger then this world. For, though that be not true, which <HI>Origen</HI> is &s;aid to &s;ay, That at la&s;t all &s;hall be &s;aved, nor that evident, which <HI>Cyril</HI> of A|lexandria &s;aies, That without doubt the number of them that are &s;aved, is far greater then of them that peri&s;h, yet &s;urely the number of them, with whom we &s;hall have com|munion in Heaven, is greater then ever lived at once upon the face of the earth: And of tho&s;e who lived in our time, how few did we know? and of tho&s;e whom we did know, how few did we care much for? In Heaven we &s;hall have Communion of Joy and Glory with all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> alwaies; <HI>Vbi non intrat inimicus, nec amicus exit,</HI> Where never any man &s;hall come in that loves us not, nor go from us that does.</P>
<P>Beloved, I thinke you could be content to heare, I could be content to &s;peake of this Re&s;urrection, our glorious &s;tate, by the low way of the grave, till God by that gate of earth, let us in at the other of precious Stones. And ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he, who in a re|ctified con&s;cience de&s;ires that re&s;urrection now. But we &s;hall not depart far from this con&s;ideration, by departing into our la&s;t branch, or conclu&s;ion, That this fir&s;t Re&s;urrecti|on may al&s;o be under&s;tood to be the fir&s;t ri&s;er Chri&s;t Je&s;us; and <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in that fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>This fir&s;t Re&s;urrection is then without any detorting,<NOTE PLACE="marg">4 Part.</NOTE> any violence, very appliable to Chri&s;t him&s;elf, who was <HI>Primitiae dormientium,</HI> in that, that action, <HI>That he ro&s;c again, he is become</HI> (&s;ayes the Apo&s;tle) <HI>the fir&s;t fruits of them that &s;leep:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.20. Hier. in Mat. 27.52.</NOTE> He did ri&s;e, and ri&s;e fir&s;t; o|thers ro&s;e with him, none before him: for S. <HI>Hierome</HI> taking the words as he finds them in that Euangeli&s;t, makes this note, That though the graves were opened, at the in&s;tant
<PB N="191" REF="113">of Chri&s;ts death, (death was overcome, the City opened the gates) yet the bodies did not ri&s;e till after Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection. For, for &s;uch Re&s;urrections as are &s;poken of, <HI>That women received their dead rai&s;ed to life again,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.35.</NOTE> and &s;uch as are recorded in the old and new Te&s;tament, they were all unperfect and temporary re&s;urrections, &s;uch, as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ayes of them all, <HI>Re&s;urgebant iterum morituri;</HI> They were but reprieved, not pardoned;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hier.</NOTE> They had a Re&s;urrection to life, but yet a Re&s;urrection to another death. Chri&s;t is the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection; others were rai&s;ed; but he only ro&s;e; they by a forraine, and ex|trin&s;ique, he by his owne power.</P>
<P>But we call him not the fir&s;t, in that re&s;pect onely; for &s;o he was not onely the fir&s;t, but the onely; he alone aro&s;e by his owne power; but with relation to all our future Re|&s;urrections, he is the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection. Fir&s;t, <HI>If Chri&s;t be not rai&s;ed, your faith is in vaine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.17.</NOTE> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle; You have a vaine faith if you beleeve in a dead man. He might be true Man, though he remained in death; but it concernes you to beleeve, that he was the Son of God too; <HI>And he was declared to be the Son of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.4.</NOTE> <HI>by the Re&s;urrection from the dead.</HI> That was the declaration of him&s;elfe, his Ju&s;tification; he was ju&s;tified by the Spi|rit, when he was proved to be God, by rai&s;ing him&s;elfe. But thus our Ju&s;tification is al&s;o in his Re&s;urrection. For, <HI>He was rai&s;ed from the dead, for our Iu&s;tification:</HI> how for ours?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4. ult.</NOTE> <HI>That we &s;hould be al&s;o in the likene&s;&s;e of his Re&s;urrection.</HI> What is that? that he hath told us before; <HI>Our Re&s;urrection in Chri&s;t is, that we &s;hould walke in newne&s;&s;e of life.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.4.</NOTE></P>
<P>So that then Chri&s;t is the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, fir&s;t, Efficiently, the onely cau&s;e of his owne Re&s;urrection; Fir&s;t, Meritoriou&s;ly, the onely cau&s;e of our Re&s;urrection; fir&s;t, Ex|emplarily, the onely patterne, how we &s;hould ri&s;e, and how we &s;hould walke, when we are up; and therefore, Ble&s;&s;ed and happy are we, if we referre all our re&s;urrections to this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection Chri&s;t Je&s;us. For as <HI>Iob</HI> &s;aid of Comforters, &s;o mi&s;erable Re&s;urrections are they all without him.</P>
<P>If therefore thou need and &s;eeke this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, in the fir&s;t acceptation, a Re|&s;urrection from per&s;ecutions, and calamities, as they oppre&s;&s;e thee here, have thy re|cour&s;e to him, to Chri&s;t. Remember that at the death of Chri&s;t, there were earthquakes; the whole earth trembled; There were rendings of the Temple; Schi&s;mes, Convul&s;ions, di&s;tractions in the Church will be: But then, the graves opened in the mid&s;t of tho&s;e commotions; Then when thou thinke&s;t thy &s;elfe &s;wallowed, and buried in affliction, as the Angell did his, Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hall remove thy grave &s;tone, and give thee a re&s;ur|rection; but if thou thinke to remove it by thine owne wit, thine owne power, or the favour of potent Friends, <HI>Digitus Dei non e&s;t hic,</HI> The hand of God is not in all this, and the &s;tone &s;hall lye &s;till upon thee, till thou putrifie into de&s;peration, and thou &s;halt have no part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>If thou need, and &s;eek this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, in the &s;econd acceptation, from the fearfull death of hainous &s;in, have thy recour&s;e to him, to Chri&s;t Je&s;us, &amp; remember the waight of the &s;ins that lay upon him: All thy &s;ins, and all thy Fathers, and all thy childrens &s;ins, all tho&s;e &s;ins that did induce the fir&s;t flood, and &s;hall induce the la&s;t fire upon this world; All tho&s;e &s;ins, which that we might take example by them to &s;cape them, are recorded, and which, le&s;t we &s;hould take example by them, to imitate them, are left unrecorded; all &s;ins, of all ages, all &s;exes, all places, al times, all callings, &s;ins heavy in their &s;ub&s;tance, &s;ins aggra|vated by their circum&s;tances, all kinds of &s;ins, and all particular &s;ins of every kind, were upon him, upon Chri&s;t Je&s;us; and yet he rai&s;ed his holy Head, his royall Head, though under thornes, yet crowned with tho&s;e thornes, and triumphed in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrecti|on: and his body was not left in the Grave, nor his &s;oule in Hell. Chri&s;ts fir&s;t tongue was a tongue that might be heard, He &s;poke to the Shepheards by Angels; His &s;econd tongue was a Star, a tongue which might be &s;eene; He &s;poke to the Wi&s;emen of the Ea&s;t by that. Hearken after him the&s;e two waies; As he &s;peakes to thine eare, (and to thy &s;oul, by it) in the preaching of his Word, as he &s;peakes to thine eye, (and &s;o to thy &s;oule by that) in the exhibiting of his Sacraments: And thou &s;halt have thy part in this fir&s;t Re&s;ur|rection. But if thou thinke to overcome this death, this &s;en&s;e of &s;in, by diver&s;ions, by worldly delights, by mirth, and mu&s;ique, and &s;ociety, or by good works, with a con|fidence of merit in them, or with a relation to God him&s;elfe, but not as God hath mani|fe&s;ted him&s;elfe to thee, not in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, The &s;tone &s;hall lye &s;till upon thee, till thou putrifie into de&s;peration, and then ha&s;t thou no part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>If thou de&s;ire this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection in the third acceptation, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> did, To be di&s;|&s;olved,
<PB N="192" REF="114">and to be with Chri&s;t, go Chri&s;ts way to that al&s;o. He de&s;ired that glory that thou doe&s;t; and he could have laid down his &s;oul when he would; but he &s;taid his houre, &s;ayes the Go&s;pel. He could have a&s;cended immediatly, immediatly in time, yet he &s;taid to de&s;cend into hell fir&s;t; and he could have a&s;cended immediatly of him&s;elf, by going up, yet he &s;taid till he was taken up. Thou ha&s;t no &s;uch power of thine own &s;oul and life, not for the time, not for the means of comming to this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection by death; Stay therefore patiently, &s;tay chearfully Gods lea&s;ure till he call; but not &s;o over-chearfully, as to be loath to go when he cals. Reliefe in per&s;ecution by power, reconciliation in &s;in by grace, di&s;&s;olution, and tran&s;migration to heaven by death, are all within this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection: But that which is before them all, is Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>And therefore, as all that the naturall man promi&s;es him&s;elf without God, is impious, &s;o all that we promi&s;e our &s;elves, though by God, without Chri&s;t, is frivolous. God, who hath &s;poken to us by his Son, works upon us by his Son too; He was our Creati|on, he was our Redemption, he is our Re&s;urrection. And that man trades in the world without money, and goes out of the world without recommendation, that leaves out Chri&s;t Je&s;us. To be a good Morall man, and refer all to the law of Nature in our hearts, is but <HI>Diluculum,</HI> The dawning of the day; To be a godly man, and refer all to God, is but <HI>Crepu&s;culum,</HI> A twylight; But the Meridionall brightne&s;&s;e, the glorious noon, and heighth, is to be a Chri&s;tian, to pretend to no &s;pirituall, no temporall ble&s;&s;ing, but for, and by, and through, and in our only Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us; for he is this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, and <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he, that hath part in this fir&s;t Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XX.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> in the Evening, upon Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1625.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 5.28, 29.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Marvell not at this; for the houre is comming, in the which, all that are in the graves, &s;hall heare his voice; And &s;hall come forth, They that have done good, unto the Re&s;urrection of Life; And they that have done evill, unto the Re&s;urrection of Damnation.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_AS the Sun works diver&s;ly, according to the diver&s;e di&s;po&s;ition of the &s;ubject, (for the Sun melts wax, and it hardens clay) &s;o do the good actions of good men: upon good men they work a vertuous emulation, a noble and a holy de&s;ire to imitate, upon bad men they work a vicious, and impotent envy, a de&s;ire to di&s;grace, and calumniate. And the more the good is that is done, and the more it works upon good men, the more it di&s;affects the bad: for &s;o the Phari|&s;ees expre&s;&s;e their rancor and malignity again&s;t Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">n 11.48.</NOTE> in this Go&s;pel, <HI>If we let him thus alone, all men will beleeve in him;</HI> And that they fore&s;aw would de&s;troy them in their re+putation. And therefore they enlarged their malice, beyond Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, to him, upon whom Chri&s;t had wrought a Miracle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 12.10.</NOTE> to <HI>Lazarus, They con&s;ulted to put him to death, becau&s;e by rea&s;on of him, many beleeved in Ie&s;us.</HI> Our Text leads us to another example of this impotency in envious men; Chri&s;t, in this Chapter had, by his only word, cured a man that had been eight and thirty yeares infirm; and he had done this work upon the Sabbath. They envyed the work in the &s;ub&s;tance, but they quarrell the circum&s;tance; And they envy Chri&s;t, but they turn upon the man, who was more obnoxious to them; and they tell him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> <HI>That it was not lawfull for him to carry his bed that day.</HI> He di&s;charges him&s;elf upon Chri&s;t; I di&s;pute not with you concerning the Law; This &s;atisfies me, <HI>He that made me whole,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>bad me take up my bed and walk.</HI> Thereupon they put him to finde out Je&s;us; And when he could not finde Je&s;us, Je&s;us found him, and in his behalf offers him&s;elf to the Phari&s;ees. Then they direct them&s;elves upon him, and (as the Go&s;pell
<PB N="193" REF="114">&s;ayes) <HI>They &s;ought to &s;lay him, becau&s;e he had done this upon the Sabbath:</HI> And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 16.</NOTE> as the pati|ent had di&s;charged him&s;elf upon Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t di&s;charges him&s;elf upon his Father; doth it di&s;plea&s;e you that I work upon the Sabbath? be angry with God, be angry with the Father, for the Father works when I work.<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 17. V. 18.</NOTE> And then this they take wor&s;e then his working of Miracles, or his working upon the Sabbath, <HI>That he would &s;ay, that God was his Father;</HI> And therfore in the averring of that, that &s;o important point, <HI>That God was his Father,</HI> Chri&s;t grows into a holy vehemence, and earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, and he repeats his u&s;uall oath, <HI>Verily, verily,</HI> three &s;everall times: Fir&s;t, ver. 19. <HI>That what&s;oever the Father doth, He, the Son, doth al&s;o,</HI> And then ver. 24. <HI>He that beleeveth on me, and him that &s;ent me, hath life everla&s;ting.</HI> And then again, ver. 25. <HI>The houre is comming, and now is, when the dead &s;hall heare the voice of the Son of God, and they that heare it &s;hall live.</HI> At this, that the dead &s;hould live, they marvelled; But becau&s;e he knew that they were men more affected with things concerning the body, then &s;pirituall things, as in another &s;tory, when they wondered that he would pretend to forgive &s;ins, becau&s;e he knew, that they thought it a greater matter to bid that man that had the Pal&s;ie, take up his bed and walk, then to for|give him his &s;ins, therefore he took that way which was harde&s;t in their opinion, he did bid him take up his bed and walk; So here, when they wondred at his &s;peaking of a &s;pi|rituall Re&s;urrection, to heare him &s;ay, that at his preaching, the dead (that is, men &s;piri|tually dead in their &s;ins) &s;hould ri&s;e again, to them who more re&s;pected the body, and did le&s;&s;e beleeve a reall Re&s;urrection of the body, then a figurative Re&s;urrection of the &s;oul, he proceeds to that which was, in their apprehen&s;ion, the more difficult, <HI>Marvell not at this,</HI> &s;ayes he, here in our Text; not at that &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection by preaching, <HI>for the houre is comming, in the which, all that are in the graves, &amp;c.</HI> and &s;o he e&s;tabli&s;hes the Re&s;urrection of the body.</P>
<P>That then which Chri&s;t affirmes and avows, is, That he is the Son of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and that is the fir&s;t thing, that ever was done in Heaven, The eternall generation of the Son: that, by which, he proves this, to the&s;e men, is, That by him, there &s;hall be a re&s;urrection of the body; and that is the la&s;t thing, that &s;hall be done in Heaven, for, after that, there is nothing, but an even continuance in equall glory. Before that, &s;aies he, that is, before the re&s;urrection of the body, there &s;hall be another re&s;urrection, a &s;pirituall re&s;urrection of the &s;oule from &s;in; but that &s;hall be, by ordinary meanes, by Preaching, and Sacraments, and it &s;hall be accompli&s;hed every day; but fix not upon that, determin not your thoughts upon that, marvaile not at that, make that no cau&s;e of extraordinary wonder, but make it ordinary to you, feele it, and finde the effect thereof in your &s;oules, as often as you heare, as often as you receive, and thereby provide for another re&s;urrection, <HI>For, the houre is comming, in which, all that are in their graves, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Where we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily make thus many &s;teps, though but &s;hort ones. Fir&s;t, the dignity of the Re&s;urrection, marvaile at nothing &s;o much, as at this, nothing is &s;o marvai|lous, &s;o wonderfull as this; And &s;econdly, the approach of the Re&s;urrection, <HI>The houre is comming;</HI> And thirdly, The generality, <HI>All that are in the graves;</HI> And then the in&s;tru|ment of the re&s;urrection, <HI>The voice of Chri&s;t, that &s;hall be heard;</HI> And la&s;tly, the diver&s;e end of the re&s;urrection, <HI>They &s;hall come forth, they that have done good, &amp;c.</HI> God hath a care of the Body of man, that is fir&s;t; And he defers it not, that is next; And he extends it to all, that is a third; And a fourth is, That he does that la&s;t act, by him, by whom he did the fir&s;t, The Creation, and all betweene, the Redemption, that is, by his Son, by Chri&s;t; And then the la&s;t is, that this is an everla&s;ting &s;eparation and divorce of the good and the bad, The bad &s;hall never be able to receive good from the Good, nor to doe harme to the Good, after that.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, Chri&s;t &s;aies, <HI>Ne miremini, Marvaile not at this,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ne mire|mini.</NOTE> not at your &s;pirituall re|&s;urrection, not that a Sermon &s;hould worke upon man, not that a Sacrament &s;hould com|fort a man, make it not a miracle, nor an extraordinary thing, by hearing to come to re|pentance, and &s;o to &s;uch a re&s;urrection. For though S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ay, That to convert a man from &s;in, is as great a miracle, as Creation, yet S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> &s;peaks that of a mans fir&s;t conver&s;ion, in which the man him&s;elfe does nothing, but God all; Then he is made of nothing; but after God hath renewed him, and propo&s;ed ordinary meanes in the Church &s;till to worke upon him, he mu&s;t not looke for miraculous working, but make Gods or|dinary meanes, ordinary to him. This is <HI>Panis quotidianus,</HI> The daily bread which God gives you, as often as you meet here, according to his Ordinances; <HI>Ne miremini,</HI> &s;tand
<PB N="194" REF="115">not to wonder, as though you were not &s;ure, but come to enjoy Gods goodne&s;&s;e, in his ordinary way here.</P>
<P>But it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hoc.</NOTE> <HI>Ne miremini hoc, Wonder not at this;</HI> but yet, there are things, which we may wonder at. <HI>Nil admirari,</HI> is but the Philo&s;ophers wi&s;dome; He thinks it a weakne&s;&s;e, to wonder at any thing, That any thing &s;hould be &s;trange to him: But Chri&s;tian Philo&s;ophy that is rooted in humility, tels us, in the mouth of <HI>Clement</HI> of Alexand. <HI>Principium veri|tatis e&s;t res admirari,</HI> The fir&s;t &s;tep to faith, is to wonder, to &s;tand, and con&s;ider with a holy admiration, the waies and proceedings of God with man: for, Admiration, wonder, &s;tands as in the mid&s;t, betweene knowledge and faith, and hath an eye towards both. If I know a thing, or beleeve a thing, I do no longer wonder: but when I finde that I have rea&s;on to &s;top upon the con&s;ideration of a thing, &s;o, as that I &s;ee enough to induce admi|ration, to make me wonder, I come by that &s;tep, and God leads me by that hand, to a knowledge, if it be of a naturall or civill thing, or to a faith, if it be of a &s;upernaturall, and &s;pirituall thing.</P>
<P>And therefore be content to wonder at this, That God would have &s;uch a care to dig|nifie, and to crown, and to a&s;&s;ociate to his own everla&s;ting pre&s;ence, the body of man. God him&s;elf is a Spirit, and heaven is his place; my &s;oul is a &s;pirit, and &s;o proportioned to that place; That God, or Angels, or our Soules, which are all Spirits, &s;hould be in heaven, <HI>Ne miremini,</HI> never wonder at that. But &s;ince we wonder, and ju&s;tly, that &s;ome late Philo&s;ophers have removed the whole earth from the Center, and carried it up, and placed it in one of the Spheares of heaven, That this clod of earth, this body of ours &s;hould be carried up to the highe&s;t heaven, placed in the eye of God, &s;et down at the right hand of God, <HI>Miremini hoc,</HI> wonder at this; That God, all Spirit, &s;erved with Spi|rits, a&s;&s;ociated to Spirits, &s;hould have &s;uch an affection, &s;uch a love to this body, this earth|ly body, this de&s;erves this wonder. The Father was plea&s;ed to breathe into this body, at fir&s;t, in the Creation; The Son was plea&s;ed to a&s;&s;ume this body him&s;elf, after, in the Redemption; The Holy Gho&s;t is plea&s;ed to con&s;ecrate this body, and make it his Temple, by his &s;ancti&s;ication; In that <HI>Faciamus hominem, Let us,</HI> all us, <HI>make man,</HI> that con&s;uitation of the whole Trinity in making man, is exerci&s;ed even upon this lower part of man, the dignifying of his body. So far, as that among&s;t the ancient Fathers, very many of them, are very various, and irre&s;olved, which way to pronounce, and very ma|ny of them cleare in the negative, in that point, That the &s;oule of man comes not to the pre&s;ence of God, but remaines in &s;ome out-places till the Re&s;urrection of the body: That ob&s;ervation, that con&s;ideration of the love of God, to the body of man, withdrew them into that error, That the &s;oul it &s;elf &s;hould lack the glory of heaven, till the body were become capable of that glory too.</P>
<P>They therefore oppo&s;e God in his purpo&s;e of dignifying the body of man, fir&s;t, who violate, and mangle this body, which is the Organ in which God breathes; And they al&s;o which pollute and defile this body, in which Chri&s;t Je&s;us is apparelled; and they likewi&s;e who prophane this body, which the Holy Gho&s;t, as the high Prie&s;t, inhabites, and con&s;ecrates.</P>
<P>Trangre&s;&s;ors in the fir&s;t kinde, that put Gods Organ out of tune, that di&s;compo&s;e, and teare the body of man with violence, are tho&s;e inhumane per&s;ecutors, who with racks, and tortures, and pri&s;ons, and fires, and exqui&s;ite inqui&s;itions, throw downe the bodies of the true Gods true &s;ervants, to the Idolatrous wor&s;hip of their imaginary Gods; that torture men into hell, and carry them through the inqui&s;ition into damnation. S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> moves a que&s;tion, and in&s;titutes a di&s;putation, and carries it &s;omewhat problema|tically, whether torture be to be admitted at all, or no. That pre&s;ents a faire probability, which he &s;ayes again&s;t it: we pre&s;ume, &s;ayes he, that an innocent man &s;hould be able to hold his tongue in torture; That is no part of our purpo&s;e in torture, &s;ayes he, that hee that is innocent, &s;hould accu&s;e him&s;elfe, by confe&s;&s;ion, in torture. And, if an innocent man be able to doe &s;o, why &s;hould we not thinke, that a guilty man, who &s;hall &s;ave his life, by holding his tongue in torture, &s;hould be able to doe &s;o? And then, where is the u&s;e of torture? <HI>Res fragilis, &amp; periculo&s;a quae&s;tio,</HI> &s;ayes that Lawyer, who is e&s;teemed the law, alone, <HI>Vlpian:</HI> It is a &s;lippery triall, and uncertaine, to convince by torture: For, many times, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> againe, <HI>Innocens luit pro incerto &s;celere certi&s;simas poenas,</HI> He that is yet but que&s;tioned, whether he be guilty or no, before that be knowne, is, without all que&s;tion, mi&s;erably tortured. And whereas, many times, the pa&s;&s;ion of the Judge,
<PB N="195" REF="115">and the covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the Judge, and the ambition of the Judge, are calamities heavy enough, upon a man, that is accu&s;ed, in this ca&s;e of torture, <HI>Ignorantia Iudicis e&s;t calami|tas plerumque innocentis,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, for the mo&s;t part, even the ignorance of the Judge, is the greate&s;t calamity of him that is accu&s;ed: If the Judge knew that he were innocent, he &s;hould &s;uffer nothing; If he knew he were guilty, he &s;hould not &s;uffer torture; but becau&s;e the Judge is ignorant, and knowes nothing, therefore the Pri&s;oner mu&s;t bee racked, and tortured, and mangled, &s;ayes that Father.</P>
<P>There is a whole Epi&s;tle in S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> full of heavenly meditation, and of curious ex|pre&s;&s;ions: It is his forty ninth Epi&s;tle, <HI>Ad Innocentium:</HI> where a young man tortured for &s;u&s;pition of adultery with a certaine woman, <HI>ut compendio cruciatus vitaret,</HI> &s;ayes he, for his ea&s;e, and to abridge his torment, and that he might thereby procure and com|pa&s;&s;e a pre&s;ent death, confe&s;&s;ed the adultery, though fal&s;e: His confe&s;&s;ion was made evidence again&s;t the woman: and &s;hee makes that prote&s;tation, <HI>Tu te&s;tis Domine Ie&s;u,</HI> Thou Lord Je&s;us be my Witne&s;&s;e, <HI>Non ideo me negare velle, ne peream, &s;ed ideo mentiri nolle, ne peccem:</HI> I doe not deny the fact for feare of death, but I dare not belie my &s;elfe, nor betray mine innocence, for feare of &s;inning, and offending the God of Truth; And, as it followes in that &s;tory, though no torture could draw any Confe&s;&s;ion, any accu&s;a|tion from her, &s;he was condemned; and one Executioner had three blowes at her with a Sword, and another foure, and yet &s;he could not be killed.</P>
<P>And therefore, becau&s;e Storie abounds with Examples of this kinde, how uncer|taine a way of tryall, and conviction, torture is, though S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> would not &s;ay, that torture was unlawfull, yet he &s;ayes, It behoves every Judge to make that prayer, <HI>Erue me Domine &agrave; nece&s;sitatibus meis,</HI> If there bee &s;ome ca&s;es, in which the Judge mu&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;arily proceed to torture; O Lord, deliver me, from having any &s;uch ca&s;e brought before me.</P>
<P>But what u&s;e &s;oever there may be for torture, for Confe&s;&s;ion, in the Inqui&s;ition they torture for a deniall, for the deniall of God, and for the renouncing of the truth of his Go&s;pell: As men of great place, think it concernes their honour, to doe above that which they &s;uffer, to make their revenges, not only equall, but greater then their injuries; &s;o the Romane Church thinks it nece&s;&s;ary to her greatne&s;&s;e, to inflict more tortures now, then were inflicted upon her in the Primitive Church; as though it were a ju&s;t revenge, for the tortures &s;he received then, for being Chri&s;tian, to torture better Chri&s;tians then her &s;elfe, for being &s;o. In which tortures, the Inqui&s;ition hath found one way, to e&s;cape the generall clamour of the world again&s;t them, which is to torture to that heighth, that few &s;urvive, or come abroad after, to publi&s;h, how they have been tortured. And the&s;e, fir&s;t, oppo&s;e Gods purpo&s;e, in the making, and pre&s;erving, and dignifying the body of man.</P>
<P>Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors herein, in the &s;econd kinde, are they, that defile the garment of Chri&s;t Je|&s;us, the body in which he hath vouch&s;afed to inve&s;t and enwrap him&s;elfe, and &s;o appa|rell a Harlot in Chri&s;ts cloathes, and make that body, which is his, hers. That Chri&s;t &s;hould take my body, though defiled with fornication, and make it his, is &s;trange; but that I, in fornication, &s;hould take Chri&s;ts body, and make it hers, is more. <HI>Know ye not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.15. V. 16.</NOTE> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>that your bodies are the members of Chri&s;t?</HI> And againe, <HI>Know you not, that he that is joyned to a harlot, is one body?</HI> Some of the Romane Emperours, made it trea&s;on, to carry a Ring, that had their picture engraved in it, to any place in the hou&s;e, of low Office. What Name can we give to that &s;in, to make the body of Chri&s;t, the body of a harlot? And yet, the Apo&s;tle there, as taking knowledge, that we loved our &s;elves better then Chri&s;t, changes the edge of his argument, and argues thus, ver. 18. <HI>He that committeth fornication, &s;inneth again&s;t his own body;</HI> If ye will be bold with Chri&s;ts body, yet favour your own: No man ever hated his own body; and yet, no outward ene|my is able &s;o to macerate our body, as our owne licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Chri&s;t, who tooke all our bodily infirmities upon him, Hunger, and Thir&s;t, and Sweat, and Cold, tooke no bodily deformities upon him, he tooke not a lame, a blinde, a crooked body; and we, by our intemperance, and licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, deforme that body which is his, all the&s;e wayes. The licentious man, mo&s;t of any, &s;tudies bodily hand&s;omene&s;&s;e, to be comely, and gra|cious, and acceptable, and yet, &s;oone&s;t of any, deformes, and de&s;troyes it, and makes that loath&s;ome to all, which all his care was to make amiable: And &s;o they oppo&s;e Gods purpo&s;e of dignifying the body.</P>
<PB N="196" REF="116">
<P>Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors in a third kinde are they, that &s;acrilegiou&s;ly prophane the Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t, by neglecting the re&s;pect and duties, belonging to the dead bodies of Gods Saints, in a decent and comely accompanying them to convenient Funerals. Heires and Executors are oftentimes defective in the&s;e offices, and pretend better employments of that, which would be, (&s;ay they) vainly &s;pent &s;o. But remember you, of whom (in much &s;uch a ca&s;e) that is &s;aid in S. <HI>Iohn,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 12.6.</NOTE> <HI>This he &s;aid, not becau&s;e he cared for the poore, but becau&s;e he was a Thiefe, and had the bagge, and bore that which was put therein:</HI> This Exe|cutors &s;ay, not becau&s;e they intend pious u&s;es, but becau&s;e they beare, and beare away the bagges. Generally, thy opinion mu&s;t be no rule for other mens actions; neither in the&s;e ca&s;es of Funerals, mu&s;t thou call all too much, which is more then enough; That womans Ointment poured upon Chri&s;ts feet, that hundred pound waight of perfumes to embalme his one body, was more then enough, nece&s;&s;arily enough; yet it was not too much, for the dignity of that per&s;on, nor for the te&s;timony of their zeale, who did it, in &s;o abundant manner.</P>
<P>Now, as in all the&s;e three waies, men may oppo&s;e the purpo&s;e of God, in dignifying the body, &s;o in concurring with Gods purpo&s;e, for the dignifying thereof, a man may exceed, and goe beyond Gods purpo&s;e, in all three. God would not have the body torne, and mangled with tortures, in tho&s;e ca&s;es; but then, hee would not have it pampered with wanton delicacies, nor varni&s;hed with forraigne complexion. It is ill, when it is not our own heart, that appeares in our words; it is ill too, when it is not our own blood, that ap|peares in our cheekes; It may doe &s;ome ill offices of blood, it may tempt, but it gives over, when it &s;hould doe a good office of blood, it cannot blu&s;h. If when they are filling the wrinkles, and graves of their face, they would remember, that there is another grave, that calls for a filling with the whole body, &s;o, even their pride would flow into a mortifi|cation. God would not have us put on a &s;ad countenance, nor disfigure our face, not in our fa&s;tings, and other di&s;ciplines; God would not have us marre his work; nor God would not have us goe about to doe his la&s;t work, which he hath re&s;erved to him&s;elfe in heaven, here upon earth, that is, to glorifie our bodies, with &s;uch additions here, as though we would need no glorification there.</P>
<P>So al&s;o in the &s;econd way of giving due re&s;pect to the body of man, a man may exceed Gods purpo&s;e. God would not have the body corrupted and attenuated, &s;hrunk and de|formed with incontinency, and licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e; But God would not have that &s;paring of the body, to di&s;honour, or undervalue, or forbeare mariage, nor to fru&s;trate that, which was one of Gods purpo&s;es, in the in&s;titution of mariage, procreation of children. Mari|age without po&s;&s;ibility of children, lacks one halfe of Gods purpo&s;e in the in&s;titution of mariage; for, the third rea&s;on of mariage, after the other two, (which two were, for a Helper, and for Children) which is, that mariage &s;hould be for a Remedy, that third came in after; for at the time of the in&s;titution of mariage, man was not fallen into any inor|dinate concupi&s;cencies, and &s;o, at that time, needed no remedy. Mariage without po&s;&s;ibi|lity of children, lacks one of Gods two rea&s;ons for children; but mariage with a contract again&s;t children, or a practice again&s;t children, is not (&s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>) a mariage, but a &s;olemne, an avowed, a dayly Adultery. To choo&s;e to be ill in the &s;ight of God, rather then to look ill, in the &s;ight of men, is a perver&s;e, and a poy&s;onous Phy&s;ick. The &s;in of <HI>Er,</HI> and <HI>Onan,</HI> in maried men; the &s;in of procured abortions, in maried women, doe, in many ca&s;es, equall, in &s;ome, exceed, the &s;in of Adultery; To rob a husband, or a wife, of a future child, may be in the wife, or husband, as great a &s;in, as to bring a &s;uppo&s;ititious, or a &s;purious child, into the Fathers inheritance. God would not have the comeline&s;&s;e, the hand&s;omene&s;&s;e of the body defaced by incontinency, and intemperance, but he would not have the care of that comeline&s;&s;e, and hand&s;omene&s;&s;e fru&s;trate his purpo&s;e of children in mariage.</P>
<P>And as in tho&s;e two, (God would not have the body tortured, nor mangled, God would not have the body deformed by licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e) &s;o, in his third re&s;pect to mans body, God would not have the bodies of his dead Saints neglected, Gods purpo&s;e may be exceeded too. Gods purpo&s;e therein is, that all men &s;hould be Decently; and Honou|rable per&s;ons, Honourably buried; but his purpo&s;e herein is exceeded, when any ragge of their skin, or chip of their bones, or lock of their haire, is kept for a Relique, and made an Univer&s;all balme, and Amulet, and Antidote, again&s;t all temporall, and all &s;pirituall di&s;ea&s;es, and calamities, not onely again&s;t the rage of a Feaver, but of hell it &s;elfe. What
<PB N="197" REF="116">their counterfait Reliques may doe, again&s;t their counterfait hell, again&s;t their Purgato|ry, I know not: That powerfull, and precious, and onely Relique, which is given to us, again&s;t hell it &s;elfe, is onely the Communion of the body, and blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, left to us by him, and pre&s;erved for us, in his Church, though his body be removed out of our &s;ight.</P>
<P>To end this, <HI>Miramini hoc,</HI> marvell at this, at the wonderfull love of God to the body of man, and thou wilt favour it &s;o, as not to macerate thine owne body, with uncomman|ded and inhumane flagellations, and whippings, nor afflict their bodies, who are in thy charge, with inordinate labour; thou wilt not di&s;honour this body, as it is Chri&s;ts body, nor deforme it, as it is thine owne, with intemperance, but thou wilt behave thy &s;elfe towards it &s;o, as towards one, whom it hath plea&s;ed the King to honour, with a re&s;urre|ction, (which was our fir&s;t) and not to deferre that re&s;urrection long, which is our next &s;tep, <HI>Venit hora, The houre is comming.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Non talem Deum tuum putes, qualis nec tu debes e&s;&s;e,</HI> is excellently &s;aid by S. <HI>Augu&s;tine:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Venit hora.</NOTE> Never pre&s;ume upon any other di&s;po&s;ition in God, then &s;uch as thou finde&s;t in thine own heart, that thou art bound to have in thy &s;elfe; for we finde in our hearts, a band of conformity, and a&s;&s;imilation to God, that is, to be as like God as we can. Therefore what&s;oever thou finde&s;t thy &s;elfe bound to doe to another, thou mai&s;t expect at Gods hand. Thou art bound to help up another that is fallen, therefore thou mai&s;t a&s;&s;ure thy &s;elfe, that God will give thee a Re&s;urrection: &s;o, thou finde&s;t in thy heart, that the &s;oul of an almes, the &s;oule of a benefit, that that gives it life, is the &s;peedy, the pre&s;ent doing of it; Therefore thou mai&s;t be &s;ure, that God will make &s;peed to &s;ave thee, that he will not long deferre this thy re&s;urrection, <HI>horavenit.</HI> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> comparing the former re&s;ur|rection, which is the &s;pirituall re&s;urrection of the &s;oule, ver. 25. with this in the Text, which is the re&s;urrection of the body, ob&s;erves, that there Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>hora venit, &amp; nunc e&s;t, the houre is comming, and now is;</HI> becau&s;e in every private in&s;piration of the Holy Gho&s;t, in every Sermon, in every meeting of the Congregation, the dead may heare, and live; <HI>nunc e&s;t,</HI> they may doe it now. But that in this re&s;urrection in the Text, the re&s;ur|rection of the body, it is not &s;aid, <HI>nunc e&s;t,</HI> that the houre is now; for, the Son of Man who &s;ayes it, (as hee is the Son of Man) knowes not when it &s;hall bee; But hee &s;ayes <HI>Hora venit, It is comming,</HI> and comming apace, and comming quickly, &s;hortly.</P>
<P>As &s;oone as God had made man, he gave him his patent, <HI>Dominamini,</HI> Dominion over the Creature; As &s;oone as Man was fallen, God gave him the promi&s;e of a Me&s;&s;ias; And of his &s;econd comming, him&s;elfe &s;ayes, <HI>Ecce, venio cit&ograve;, Behold, I come &s;peedily: Venit,</HI> he comes, he is upon the way; and <HI>Ecce, venit,</HI> Behold, he comes, he is within &s;ight, you may &s;ee him in his fore-running tokens; and <HI>Ecce cit&ograve;,</HI> as little way as he hath to goe, he makes ha&s;te, And there is a Je&s;uit that makes the ha&s;te &s;o great, as that he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Maldon.</NOTE> How|&s;oever S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> make u&s;e of that note, that it is not &s;aid in the Text, <HI>Nunc e&s;t,</HI> That the houre of the Re&s;urrection is now, yet he does beleeve, that Chri&s;t did &s;ay &s;o, though the Euangeli&s;t left it out. We need not &s;ay &s;o; we doe not; &s;o much le&s;&s;e liberty doe we take in departing from the Fathers, then the Romane Authors doe: But yet, &s;o as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;peaks, <HI>Hora novi&s;sima,</HI> This is the la&s;t time, <HI>(Now there are many Antichri&s;ts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.18.</NOTE> <HI>where|by we know that this is the la&s;t time)</HI> And &s;o, as S. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaks,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 3.8.</NOTE> <HI>Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thou&s;and yeares, and a thou&s;and yeares as one day:</HI> So as this <HI>Nunc</HI> may &s;ignifie <HI>Vltimum &s;tatum,</HI> The la&s;t cour&s;e of times, the time not of Na|ture, nor of Law, but of Grace; &s;o we admit that addition in this Re&s;urrection too, <HI>Hora venit, &amp; nunc e&s;t, The houre is comming, and now is,</HI> becau&s;e there are no other meanes to be hereafter in&s;tituted for the attaining of a happy Re&s;urrection, then tho&s;e that now are e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Church, e&s;pecially at a mans death, may we very properly &s;ay, <HI>Nunc e&s;t,</HI> Now is the Re&s;urrection come to him, not onely becau&s;e the la&s;t Judgement is in|volved in the fir&s;t, (for that Judgment which pa&s;&s;eth upon every man at his death, &s;tands for ever without Repeal, or Appeal, or Error) but becau&s;e after the death of the Body, there is no more to be done with the Body, till the Re&s;urrection; for as we &s;ay of an Arrow, that it is over &s;hot, it is gone, it is beyond the mark, though it be not come to the mark yet, becau&s;e there is no more to be done to it till it be; &s;o we may &s;ay, that he that is come to death, is come to his Re&s;urrection, becau&s;e he hath not another &s;tep to make, another foot to goe, another minute to count, till he be at the Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>The Re&s;urrection then, being the Coronation of man, his Death, and lying downe in
<PB N="198" REF="117">the grave, is his enthroning, his &s;itting downe in that chayre, where he is to receive that Crown. As then the Martyrs, under the Altar, though in heaven, yet doe cry out for the Re&s;urrection; &s;o let us, in this mi&s;erable life, &s;ubmit our &s;elves cheerfully to the hand of God, in death, &s;ince till that death we cannot have this Re&s;urrection, and the fir&s;t thing that we &s;hall doe after this death, is to ri&s;e againe. To the child that is now borne, we may &s;ay, <HI>Hora venit,</HI> The day of his Re&s;urrection is comming; To him that is old, we may &s;ay, The hour is come; but to him that is dead, The minute is come, becau&s;e to him there are no more minutes till it doe come.</P>
<P><HI>Miremini hoc,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnes.</NOTE> Marvail at this, at the de&s;cent of Gods love, He loves the Body of Man, And <HI>Miremini hoc,</HI> Mervaile at his &s;peed, He makes ha&s;te to expre&s;&s;e this love, <HI>Hora venit,</HI> And then <HI>Miremini hoc,</HI> Marvaile at the Generality, it reaches to all, all that are in the Grave; <HI>All that are in the graves &s;hall heare his voice, &amp;c.</HI> God hath made the Body as a Hou&s;e for the &s;oule, till he call her out, and he hath made the Grave as a Hou&s;e for the body, till he call it up. The mi&s;ery, and poore e&s;tate that Chri&s;t &s;ubmit|ted him&s;elfe unto for man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat 8.20.</NOTE> was not determined in that, <HI>That foxes had holes, but he no where to lay his head,</HI> while he lived; but he had no grave that he could claime, when he was dead. It is &s;ome di&s;continuance of the Communion of Saints, if I may not be bu|ried with the Saints of God. Every man that hath not deve&s;ted Humanity, hath a de|&s;ire to have his bones lie at re&s;t, and we cannot provide for that &s;o well, any way, as to bury them in Con&s;ecrated places, which are, in common entendment, &s;afe&s;t from pro|phane violences. Even that re&s;pect, that his bones might lye at re&s;t, &s;eems to have mov'd one Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 13.31.</NOTE> to enjoyne his Sons, to bury him, in the Sepulcher, where the other Pro|phet was buried. He knew that <HI>Io&s;iah</HI> would burne the bones of all the other graves, upon the Altar of <HI>Bethel,</HI> as was prophecied; and he pre&s;um'd that he would &s;pare the bones of that Prophet, and &s;o his bones &s;hould be &s;afe, if they were mingled with the other.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 34.6.</NOTE> God expre&s;&s;ed his love to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> in that particular, <HI>That he buried him;</HI> And, to deliver, and remove him, from the violence of any that lov'd him not, and &s;o might di&s;honor his memory, and from the &s;uper&s;tition of any that over-lov'd him, and &s;o might over-honour his memory, God buried him in &s;ecret. In more then one place doth <HI>David</HI> complaine, <HI>That there was none to bury Gods Saints;</HI> And the Dignity that is promi&s;ed here in the Text, is appropriated to them, <HI>who are in the graves,</HI> who are buried.</P>
<P>But then, was that generall? Is it &s;imply, plainly, literally of them, and them onely, who are in graves, who are buried? Shall none enjoy a Re&s;urrection, that have not en|joy'd a Grave? Still I &s;ay, it is a comfort to a dying man, it is an honour to his memory, it is a di&s;charge of a duty in his friends, it is a piece of the Communion of Saints, to have a con&s;ecrated grave: But the word here is, <HI>In monumentis,</HI> All that are in Monuments; that is, in Receptacles of Bodies, of what kind &s;oever they be: where&s;oever the hand of God layes up a dead Body,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.20.</NOTE> that place is the Receptacle, &s;o the monument, &s;o the grave of that Body. <HI>God keeps all the bones of the righteous, &s;o that none of them are broken:</HI> Though they be trod to du&s;t in our &s;ight, they are intire in his, becau&s;e he can bid them be whole againe in an in&s;tant. Some Nations burnt their dead, there the fire is the grave; &s;ome drowned their dead, there the &s;ea is the grave; and &s;ome hung them up upon trees, and there the ayre is their grave: Some Nations eat their dead them&s;elves, and &s;ome main|tained dogs to eat the dead;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Herod. Strabo.</NOTE> and as they called tho&s;e dogs, <HI>Canes Sepulchrales,</HI> Sepul|chrall dogs, &s;o tho&s;e men were &s;epulchrall men, tho&s;e men and tho&s;e dogs were graves. <HI>Death and hell &s;hall deliver up their dead,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">c. 20.13.</NOTE> &s;ayes S. <HI>Iohn:</HI> That is, the whole &s;tate, and man|&s;ion of the dead, &s;hall be emptied: The &s;tate of the dead is their grave, and upon all that are in this &s;tate, &s;hall the te&s;timony of Gods love, to the body of man, fall; And that is the Generality, <HI>All that are in the grave, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Our next &s;tep is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Audient.</NOTE> The In&s;trument, the Means, by which, this, fir&s;t &s;o &s;peedy, and then &s;o generall love of God, to man, to man in his lowe&s;t part, his body, is accompli&s;hed unto him; The&s;e, All the&s;e, All the&s;e that are in graves, in all the&s;e kinds of graves, <HI>&s;hall heare his voice,</HI> and that is the Meanes. Fir&s;t, who&s;e voice? That is expre&s;&s;ed immediately be|fore, <HI>The Son of man.</HI> In the other Re&s;urrection, in that of the dead &s;oule, <HI>ver.</HI> 25. there it is &s;aid, <HI>The dead &s;hall heare the voyce of the Son of God.</HI> In this, which is the Re&s;urrection to Judgement, it is <HI>The Son of man.</HI> The former Re&s;urrection (that of a &s;inner to repen|tance by preaching) is wrought by a plaine, and ordinary meanes here in the Church;
<PB N="199" REF="117">where you doe but heare a man in a Pew, read prayers, and pronounce Ab&s;olution, and a man in a Pulpit preach a Sermon, and a man at a Table con&s;ecrate, and admini&s;ter a Sacrament; And becau&s;e all this, though it be the power of life, and the meanes of your &s;pirituall re&s;urrection, is wrought by the Mini&s;tery of man, who might be contemptible in your eye, therefore the whole worke is referred to God, and not the &s;on of man, but <HI>the Son of God,</HI> is &s;aid to do it.</P>
<P>In this Re&s;urrection of the Text, which is a Re&s;urrection to Judgement, and to an ac|count with God, that God whom we have di&s;plea&s;ed, exa&s;perated, violated, wounded in the whole cour&s;e of our life, le&s;t we &s;hould be terrified, and dejected at the pre&s;ence of that God, the whole worke is referred to <HI>the Son of Man,</HI> which hath him&s;elfe formerly felt all our infirmities, and hath had as &s;ad a &s;oule at the approach of death, as bitter a Cup in the forme of Death, as heavy a feare of Gods for&s;aking him in the agony of death, as we can have: And for &s;in it &s;elf, I would not, I do not extenuate my &s;in, but let me have fallen, not &s;even times a day, but &s;eventy &s;even times a minute, yet what are my &s;ins, to all tho&s;e &s;ins that were upon Chri&s;t? The &s;ins of all men, and all women, and all children, the &s;ins of all Nations, all the Ea&s;t and We&s;t, and all the North and South, the &s;ins of all times and ages, of Nature, of Law, of Grace, the &s;ins of all natures, &s;ins of the body, and &s;ins of the mind, the &s;ins of all growth, and all extentions, thoughts, and words, and acts, and habits, and delight, and glory, and contempt, and the very &s;in of boa&s;ting, nay of our belying our &s;elves in &s;in; All the&s;e &s;ins, pa&s;t, pre&s;ent and future, were at once upon Chri&s;t, and in that depth of &s;in, mine are but a drop to his Ocean; In that trea&s;ure of &s;in, mine are but &s;ingle money to his Talent; And therefore, that I might come with a holy reverence to his Ordinance, in this place, though it be but in the Mini&s;tery of man, that fir&s;t Re&s;urrection is attributed to the Son of God, to give a digni|ty to that Mini&s;tery of man, which otherwi&s;e might have beene under-valued, that there|by we might have a con&s;olation, and a cheerefulne&s;&s;e towards it; It is He, that is, the Son of God, and the Son of man, Chri&s;t; which remembers us alfo, that all that be|longs to the expre&s;&s;ing of the Law of God to man, mu&s;t be received by us, who profe&s;&s;e our &s;elves Chri&s;tians, in, and by, and for, and through Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>We u&s;e to a&s;cribe the Creation to the Father, but the Father created by the Word, and his Word, is his Son, Chri&s;t; <HI>When he prepared the Heavens, I was there,</HI> (&s;aies Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8.27.</NOTE> of him&s;elfe in the per&s;on of Wi&s;dome) <HI>and when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then was I by him, as one brought up with him;</HI> It is not, as one brought in to him, or brought in by him, but with him; one as old, that is, as eternall, as much God as he. We u&s;e to a&s;cribe Sanctification to the Holy Gho&s;t; But the Holy Gho&s;t &s;anctifies in the Church, And the Church was purcha&s;ed by the blood of Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t remaines Head of the Church, <HI>u&s;que in con&s;ummationem,</HI> till the end of the world. I looke upon every ble&s;&s;ing that God affords me, and I con&s;ider whether it be temporall, or &s;piritu|all; and that di&s;tingui&s;hes the metall; the temporall is my &s;ilver, and the &s;pirituall is my Gold; but then I looke againe upon the In&s;cription, <HI>Cujus Imago,</HI> who&s;e Image, who&s;e in&s;cription it beares, and who&s;e Name; and except I have it, in, and for, and by Chri&s;t Je&s;us, Temporall, and Spirituall things too, are but imaginary, but illu&s;ory &s;ha|dows; for God convayes him&s;elfe to us, no other way, but in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>The benefit then in our Text, the Re&s;urrection, is by him; but it is limited thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chri&s;tum.</NOTE> It is by hearing him, <HI>They that are in their Graves &s;hall heare, &amp;c.</HI> So it is in the other Re&s;ur|rection too, the &s;pirituall re&s;urrection. <HI>v.</HI> 25. There, they mu&s;t <HI>heare</HI> him, that will <HI>live.</HI> In both re&s;urrections, That in the Church, now, by Grace, And that in the Grave here|after, by Power, it is &s;aid, <HI>They &s;hall heare him.</HI> They &s;hall, which &s;eemes to imply a ne|ce&s;&s;ity, though not a coaction; But that nece&s;&s;ity, not of equall force, not equally irre&s;i|&s;tible in both: In the Grave, <HI>They &s;hall;</HI> Though they be dead, and &s;en&s;le&s;&s;e as the du&s;t, (for they are du&s;t it &s;elfe) though they bring no concurrence, no cooperation, <HI>They &s;hall heare,</HI> that is, They &s;hall not chu&s;e but heare. In the other re&s;urrection, which is, in the Church, by Grace, in Gods Ordinance, <HI>They &s;hall heare too,</HI> that is, There &s;hall be a voice uttered &s;o, as that they may heare, if they will, but not whether they will or no, as in the other cafe, in the grave. Therefore when God expre&s;&s;es his gathering of his Church, in this world, it is <HI>Sibilabo &amp; congregabo, I will hi&s;&s;e, or chirpe for them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zecha. 10.8.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;o ga|ther them:</HI> He whi&s;pers in the voyce of the Spirit, and he &s;peaks a little louder, in the voice of a man; Let the man be a <HI>Boanerges,</HI> a Son of thunder, never &s;o powerfull a &s;peaker,
<PB N="200" REF="118">yet no thunder is heard over all the world.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.31.</NOTE> But for the voyce that &s;hall be heard at the Re&s;urrection, <HI>He &s;hall &s;end his Angels, with a great &s;ound of a Trumpet;</HI> A great &s;ound, &s;uch as may be made by a Trumpet, &s;uch as an Angell, all his Angels can make in a Trum|pet, and more then all that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.16.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord him&s;elfe &s;hall de&s;cend from Heaven,</HI> and that, <HI>with a &s;hout, and with the voice of an Archangel,</HI> that is, &s;aies S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, <HI>And in the Trumpet of God,</HI> that is al&s;o, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>So then, you have the Per&s;on, Chri&s;t; The meanes, A Voyce, And the powerfulne&s;&s;e of that voyce, in the Name of an Archangell, which is named but once more in all the Scriptures: And therefore, let no man, that hath an holy anhelation and panting after the Re&s;urrection, &s;u&s;pect that he &s;hall &s;leepe in the du&s;t, for ever; for, this is a voyce, that will be heard, he mu&s;t ri&s;e. Let no man, who becau&s;e he hath made his cour&s;e of life like a bea&s;t, would therefore be content his &s;tate in death might be like a bea&s;t too, hope that he &s;hall &s;leepe in the du&s;t, for ever, for this is a voice, that mu&s;t be heard, <HI>And all that heare &s;hall come forth, they that have done good, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>He &s;hall come forth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Procedent.</NOTE> even he that hath done ill, and would not, &s;hall come forth. You may have &s;eene morall men, you may have &s;een impious men, go in confidently enough: not afrighted with death, not terrified with a grave; but when you &s;hall &s;ee them come forth againe, you &s;hall &s;ee them in another complexion. That man that dyed &s;o, with that confidence, thought death his end; It ends his &s;eventy yeares, but it begins his &s;eventy millions of generations of torments, even to his body, and he never thought of that: Indeed, <HI>Iudicii, ni&s;i qui vitae aeternae praede&s;tinatus e&s;t, non pote&s;t remini&s;ci,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> No man can, no man dares thinke upon the la&s;t Judgement, but he that can thinke upon it with comfort, he that is prede&s;tinated to eternall life. Even the be&s;t, are &s;ometimes &s;haked with the con&s;ideration of the Re&s;urrection, becau&s;e it is impo&s;&s;ible to &s;eparate the con&s;ideration of the Re&s;urrection, from the con&s;ideration of the Judgement; and the terrors of that may abate the joy of the other: <HI>Sive comedo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ive bibo,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> Whe|ther I eate, or drink, &s;till me thinks I heare this &s;ound, <HI>Surgite mortui, &amp; venite ad Iudi|cium,</HI> Ari&s;e you dead, and come to Judgement: When it cals me up from death, I am glad, when it cals me to Judgement, that impaires my joy. Can I thinke that God will not take a &s;trict account; or, can I be without feare, if I thinke he will? <HI>Non expave&s;cere requi&s;iturum e&s;t dicere, non requiret,</HI> is excellently &s;aid by S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> If I can put off all feare of that Judgement, I have put off all imagination, that any &s;uch Judgement &s;hall be. But, when I begin this feare, in this life, here, I end this feare, in my death, and pa&s;&s;e away cheerefully: But the wicked begin this feare, when the Trumpet &s;ounds to the Re&s;ur|rection, and then &s;hall never end it; but, as a man condemned to be halfe hang'd, and then quartered, hath a fearfull addition in his quartering after, and yet had no ea&s;e in his hanging before; &s;o they that have done ill, when they have had their hanging, when they have &s;uffered in &s;oule, the torments of Hell, from the day of their death, to the day of Judgement, &s;hall come to that day with feare, as to an addition to that, which yet, was in&s;inite before. And therefore the vulgat Edition hath rendred this well, <HI>Procedent, They &s;hall proceed,</HI> they &s;hall go farther and farther in torment.</P>
<P>But this is not the object of our &s;peculation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">lu&s;io.</NOTE> the &s;ubject of our meditation, now: we propo&s;ed this Text, for the Contemplation of Gods love to man, and therefore we ra|ther comfort our &s;elves with that branch, and refre&s;h our &s;elves with the &s;hadow of that, <HI>That they who have done good, &s;hall come forth unto the Re&s;urrection of life.</HI> Alas, the others &s;hall live as long as they; <HI>Lucifer</HI> is as immortall as <HI>Michael,</HI> and <HI>Iudas</HI> as immortall as S. <HI>Peter:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> But <HI>Vita damnatorum, mors e&s;t,</HI> That which we call immortality in the damned, is but a continuall dying; how&s;oever it mu&s;t be called life, it hath all the qualities of death, &s;aving the ea&s;e, and the end, which death hath, and damnation hath not. They mu&s;t come forth; they that have done evill, mu&s;t do &s;o too: Neither can &s;tay in their hou&s;e, their grave; for, their hou&s;e (though that hou&s;e &s;hould be the &s;ea) &s;hall be burnt downe; all the world di&s;&s;olv'd with fire. But then, They who have done evill, &s;hall pa&s;&s;e from that fire, into a farther heat, without light, They who have done good, into a farther light, without heat.</P>
<P>But fix upon the Conditions, and performe them; They mu&s;t <HI>have done Good;</HI> To have knowne Good, to have beleeved it, to have intended it, nay to have preached it to others, will not &s;erve, They mu&s;t have done good. They mu&s;t be rooted in faith, and then bring forth fruit, and fruit in &s;ea&s;on; and then is the &s;ea&s;on of doing good, when another needs
<PB N="201" REF="118">that good at thy hands. God gives the evening raine, but he gave the morning rain be|fore; A good man gives at his death, but he gives in his life time too. To them belongs this Re&s;urrection of the body to life; upon which, &s;ince our Text inclines us to marvell rather then to di&s;cour&s;e, I will not venture to &s;ay with <HI>David, Narrabo omnia mirabilia tua, I will &s;hew all thy wondrous works,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 9.2. P&s;al. 105.5. P&s;al. 119 18.</NOTE> (an Angels tongue could not &s;hew them) but I will &s;ay with him, <HI>Mementote mirabilium, Remember the marvellous works he hath done,</HI> And by that, God will open your eyes, that you may behold the wondrous things that he will do: Remember with thankfulne&s;&s;e the &s;everall re&s;urrections that he hath given you; from &s;u|per&s;tition and ignorance, in which, you, in your Fathers lay dead; from &s;in, and a love of &s;in, in which, you, in the dayes of your youth, lay dead; from &s;adne&s;&s;e, and dejection of &s;pirit, in which, you, in your worldly cro&s;&s;es, or &s;pirituall tentations, lay dead; And a&s;&s;ure your &s;elf, that that God that loves to perfect his own works, when you &s;hall lye dead in your graves, will give you that Re&s;urrection to life, which he hath promi&s;ed to all them that do good, and will extend to all them, who having done evill, do yet truly repent the evill they have done.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXI.</HI> The fir&s;t Sermon upon this Text, Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> in the Even|ing, upon Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1626.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 15.29.</HI></BIBL>
<P>El&s;e what &s;hall they do that are baptized for dead? If the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they then baptized for dead?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_O Dit Dominus qui fe&s;tum Domini unum putat diem,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Origen;</HI> God hates that man that thinks any of his Holy dayes la&s;t but one day; That is, that ne|ver thinks of a Re&s;urrection, but upon Ea&s;ter-day. I have therefore propo|&s;ed words unto you, which will not be determined this day; That &s;o, when at any other time, we return to the handling of then, we may al&s;o return to the meditation of the Re&s;urrection. To which we may be&s;t give a beginning this day, in which we celebrate the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us: A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">d in his one Re&s;urrection, all tho&s;e &s;everall kinds of Re&s;urrections which appertain unto us, becau&s;e how&s;oever the&s;e words have received divers good expo&s;itions from divers good Expo&s;itors, and received one perver&s;e expo&s;ition from our adver&s;aries in the Romane Church, who have detorted and deflected them, to the maintenance of their Purgatory, yet all agree, that the&s;e words are an argument for the Re&s;urrection, and therefore pro|per to this day. And yet this day we &s;hall not &s;o much inquire, wherein, and in what &s;en&s;e the words are an argument of the Re&s;urrection, as enjoy the a&s;&s;urance that they are &s;o; not &s;o much di&s;tribute the Text into an explication of the particular words (which is, as the Mintage and Coyning of gold into &s;everall le&s;&s;er pieces) as to lay up the whole wedge, and ingot of Gold all at once in you, that is, the precious a&s;&s;urance of your glo|rious Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>In e&s;tabli&s;hing whereof, we &s;hall this day, make but this &s;hort pa&s;&s;age,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> by the&s;e two &s;teps: Glory in the end, And Grace in the way; The Glory of our bodies, in the la&s;t Re&s;urrection then, And the Grace upon our &s;ouls, in their pre&s;ent Re&s;urrection now. For as we do not dig for gold meerly and only for trea&s;ure, but to di&s;pen&s;e and i&s;&s;ue it al&s;o, for pre&s;ent provi&s;ion and u&s;e, not only for the future, but for the pre&s;ent too; So we doe not gather the doctrine of the Re&s;urrection only for that dignity which the body &s;hall receive in the Triumphant, but al&s;o for the con&s;olation which thereby our &s;oules may receive in the Militant Church. And therefore, as in our fir&s;t part, which will be, By what meanes the knowledge and a&s;&s;urance of the Re&s;urrection of the body accrues to
<PB N="202" REF="119">us, we &s;hall &s;ee, that though it be pre&s;ented by Rea&s;on before, and illu&s;trated by Rea&s;on after, yet the roote and foundation thereof is in Faith; though Rea&s;on may chafe the wax, yet Faith imprints the &s;eale, (for the Re&s;urrection is not a conclu&s;ion out of naturall Rea|&s;on, but it is an article of &s;upernaturall Faith; and though you a&s;&s;ent to me now, &s;peaking of the Re&s;urrection, yet that is not out of my Logick, nor out of my Rhetorique, but out of that Character, and Ordinance which God hath imprinted in me, in the power and efficacy whereof, I &s;peak unto you, as often as I &s;peak out of this place.) As, I &s;ay we determine our fir&s;t part in this, How the a&s;&s;urance of this Re&s;urrection accrues to us, &s;o when we de&s;cend to our &s;econd part, That is the con&s;olation which we receive while&s;t we are <HI>In via,</HI> here upon our way in this world, out of the contemplation of that Re&s;ur|rection to glory, which we &s;hall have <HI>In patria,</HI> at home in heaven, and how the&s;e two Re&s;urrections are arguments and evidences of one another, we &s;hall look upon &s;ome cor|re&s;pondencies, and re&s;emblances between naturall death, and &s;pirituall death by &s;in, and between the glorious Re&s;urrection of the body, and the gracious Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule, that &s;o having brought bodily death and bodily Re&s;urrection, and &s;pirituall death and &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection, by their compari&s;on into your con&s;ideration, you may anon depart &s;omewhat the better edified in both, and &s;o enjoy your pre&s;ent Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule, by Grace, with more certainty, and expect the future Re&s;urrection of the bo|dy to glory, with the more alacrity and chearfulne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>Though therefore we may hereafter take ju&s;t occa&s;ion of entring into a war,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> in vindi|cating and redeeming the&s;e words, &s;ea&s;ed and &s;educed by our adver&s;aries, to te&s;tifie for their Purgatory, yet this day being a day of peace and reconciliation with God and man, we begin with peace, with that wherein all agree, That the&s;e words <HI>(El&s;e what &s;hall they do that are baptized for dead? If the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they baptized for dead?)</HI> mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily receive &s;uch an Expo&s;ition, as mu&s;t be an argument for the Re&s;urrecti|on; This bapti&s;me <HI>pro mortuis,</HI> for dead, mu&s;t be &s;uch a bapti&s;me as mu&s;t prove that, the Re&s;urrection. For, that the Apo&s;tle repeats twice in the&s;e few words; <HI>El&s;e,</HI> (&s;ayes he) that is, if there be no Re&s;urrection, why are men thus baptized? And again, if the dead ri&s;e not, why are men thus baptized? Indeed the whole Chapter is a continuall argu|ment for the Re&s;urrection; from the beginning thereof to the 35. ver. he handles the <HI>An &s;it,</HI> whether there be a Re&s;urrection, or no; For, if that be denyed, or doubted in the roote, in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, whether he be ri&s;en or no, the whole frame of our re|ligion fals, and every man will be apt (and ju&s;tly apt) to ask that que&s;tion which the Indi|an King asked, when he had been catechized &s;o far in the articles of our Chri&s;tian religi|on, as to come to the &s;uffered, and crucified, and dead, and buried, impatient of proceed|ing any farther, and &s;o lo&s;ing the con&s;olation of the Re&s;urrection, he asked only, Is your God dead, and buried? then let me return to the wor&s;hip of the Sun, for I am &s;ure the Sun will not die; If Chri&s;t be dead and buried, that is, continue in the &s;tate of death, and of the grave, without a Re&s;urrection, where &s;hall a Chri&s;tian look for life? Therefore the Apo&s;tle handles, and e&s;tabli&s;hes that fir&s;t, that a&s;&s;urance, A Re&s;urrection there is.</P>
<P>From thence he rai&s;es and pur&s;ues a &s;econd que&s;tion <HI>De modo;</HI> But &s;ome man will &s;ay, &s;ayes he, How are the dead rai&s;ed up, and with what body come they forth? And in the&s;e que&s;tions, <HI>De modo,</HI> there is more exerci&s;e of rea&s;on and of di&s;cour&s;e: for, many times, The matter is matter of faith, when the manner is not &s;o, but con&s;iderable, and triable by rea&s;on; Many times, for the matter, we are all bound, and bound upon &s;al|vation, to think alike; But for the manner, we may think diver&s;ly, without forfeiture of &s;alvation, or impeachment of di&s;cretion; For, he is not pre&s;ently an indi&s;creet man, that differs in opinion from another man that is di&s;creet, in things that fall under opinion. <HI>Ab&s;it &s;uper&s;tito,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ge<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;on</NOTE> <HI>hoc e&s;t &s;uperflua religio,</HI> &s;ayes a moderate man of the Romane Church; This is truly &s;uper&s;tition, to bring more under the nece&s;&s;ity of being beleeved, then God hath brought in his Scriptures; &s;uperfluous religion, &s;ayes he, is &s;uper&s;tition; Remove that, and then (as he addes there) <HI>Contradictoria, quorum utrum&abque; probabile, credi po&s;&s;unt,</HI> Where two contrary opinions are both probable, they may be embraced, and beleeved by two men, and tho&s;e two be both learned, and di&s;creet, and pious, and zealous men. And this con&s;ideration &s;hould keep men from that precipitation, of imprinting the odi|ous and &s;candalous names of Sects, or Sectaries upon other men who may differ from them, and from others with them, in &s;ome opinions. Probability leads me in my a&s;&s;ent, and I think thus; Let me allow another man his probability too, and let him think his
<PB N="203" REF="119">way, in things that are not fundamentall. They that do not beleeve alike, in all circum|&s;tances of the manner of the Re&s;urrection, may all, by Gods goodne&s;&s;e, meet there, and have their parts in the glory thereof, if their own uncharitablene&s;&s;e do not hinder them: And he that may have been in the right opinion, may &s;ooner mi&s;&s;e heaven, then he that was in the wrong, if he come uncharitably to condemne or contemne the other: for, in &s;uch ca&s;es, humility, and love of peace, may, in the &s;ight of God, excu&s;e and recompence many errours, and mi&s;takings.</P>
<P>And after the&s;e, of the Matter, of the Manner of the Re&s;urrection, the Apo&s;tle pro|ceeds to a third que&s;tion, of their &s;tate and condition, whom Chri&s;t &s;hall finde alive upon Earth, at his &s;econd comming; and of them he &s;ayes onely this, <HI>Ecce, my&s;terium vobis dico, Behold, I tell you a my&s;tery,</HI> a &s;ecret, <HI>we &s;hall not all &s;leep,</HI> that is, not dye &s;o, as that we &s;hall re&s;t any time in the grave, <HI>but we &s;hall all be changed,</HI> that is, receive &s;uch an immuta|tion, as that we &s;hall have a &s;udden di&s;&s;olution of body and &s;oul, which is a true death, and a &s;udden re-union of body and &s;oule, which is a true re&s;urrection, <HI>in an in&s;tant, in the twinkling of an eye.</HI> Thus carefull, and thus particular is the Apo&s;tle, that the knowledge of the re&s;urrection might be derived unto us.</P>
<P>Now of the&s;e three que&s;tions, which he rai&s;es and pur&s;ues; fir&s;t, whether there be a Re&s;urrection, then what manner of Re&s;urrection, and then what kinde of Re&s;u rrection they &s;hall have that live to the day of Judgement, our Text enters into the fir&s;t; For, for the fir&s;t, That a re&s;urrection there is, the Apo&s;tle opens &s;everall Topiques, to prove it; One is, from our Head, and Patterne, and Example, Chri&s;t Je&s;us: For &s;o he argues fir&s;t, <HI>If the dead be not rai&s;ed, then Chri&s;t is not rai&s;ed;</HI> As &s;ure as the head is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 16.</NOTE> &s;o &s;ure the body is rai&s;ed. And then another Topique, from whence he produces arguments, is, the ab&s;urd con&s;equences, and illations, that would follow, if there were no re&s;urrection. Of that kinde one is, <HI>Nos mi&s;errimi, If in this life onely we have hops in Chri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 19.</NOTE> <HI>we are of all men the mo&s;t mi&s;erable;</HI> Why? becau&s;e in this life we &s;uffer per&s;ecution for this profe&s;&s;ion. And another is, <HI>Edamus &amp; bibamus, Let us eate and drinke, for to morrow wee &s;hall dye;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 32.</NOTE> What needs this ab&s;tinence, and this &s;evere denying our &s;elves, the conveniencies of this life, if all end in this life? And la&s;tly, in the &s;ame kinde, followes this Text, <HI>Si omnino mortui non excitentur, If the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they baptized for dead?</HI> And by all the&s;e wayes doth the Apo&s;tle convay this knowledge of the Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>But would all the&s;e wayes &s;erve?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;urrectio, my&s;terium.</NOTE> would all this &s;atisfie that Inqui&s;ition which wee have brought, how this a&s;&s;urance of the Re&s;urrection accrues to us? Would any of the&s;e rea&s;ons, or would all the&s;e rea&s;ons convince a man, who were not at all prepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, and preoccupated with a beliefe of the re&s;urrection, with an a&s;&s;urance thereof? The re&s;ur|rection was alwaies a my&s;tery in it &s;elfe; <HI>Sacrum &s;ecretum,</HI> a holy &s;ecret, and above the &s;earch of rea&s;on. For there are &s;ecrets and my&s;teries of two kindes, as the Schoole pre|&s;ents them; &s;ome things are &s;o, <HI>Quia quaedam interpo&s;ita,</HI> Becau&s;e, though the thing be near enough unto me, yet &s;omthing is interpo&s;ed between me, and it, and &s;o I cannot &s;ee it: And &s;omethings are &s;o, <HI>Quia long&egrave; &s;epo&s;ita,</HI> becau&s;e they are at &s;o remote a di&s;tance, as that, though nothing be interpo&s;ed, yet my &s;ight cannot extend to them. In the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e, the Sacraments are my&s;teries, becau&s;e though the grace therein bee neare mee, yet there is <HI>Velamen interpo&s;itum,</HI> there is vi&s;ible figure, a &s;en&s;ible &s;igne, and &s;eale, be|tween me, and that grace, which is exhibited to me in the Sacrament: In the &s;econd &s;en&s;e, the re&s;urrection is a my&s;tery, becau&s;e it is &s;o farre removed, as that it concernes our &s;tate and condition in the next world; <HI>For man &s;leepeth, and ri&s;eth not;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 14.12.</NOTE> <HI>hee &s;hall not wake againe, nor be rai&s;ed from his &s;leep, till the heavens be no more;</HI> that is, not till the di&s;&s;olution of all.</P>
<P>So then, the knowledge of the re&s;urrection in it &s;elfe, is a my&s;tery,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;urrectio Chri&s;ts, my|&s;terium.</NOTE> removed out of the Spheare, and latitude of rea&s;on; And, (to con&s;ider this remotene&s;&s;e farther) though the knowledge of Chri&s;t Re&s;urrection, be nearer us, then our owne, (for fir&s;t we know his, becau&s;e from his we argue and conclude our owne, as the Apo&s;tle in&s;titutes his argu|ment, <HI>If the dead ri&s;e not, Chri&s;t is not ri&s;en</HI>) yet even the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 16.</NOTE> was &s;o far from being cleare and obvious to the be&s;t, and the be&s;t illumined under&s;tandings, as that, though Chri&s;t him&s;elfe had &s;poken often of his Re&s;urrection, to his Di&s;ciples, and Apo&s;tles, yet they did not clearly, throughly, (&s;carce at all) under&s;tand his Re&s;urre|ction. When Chri&s;t &s;aid to the Jews promi&s;cuou&s;ly, <HI>Solvite Templum hoc,</HI> De&s;troy this Temple, and in three dayes I will rai&s;e it; I wonder not that they, blinded with their own
<PB N="204" REF="120">malice, di&s;cerned no re&s;urrection in that &s;aying, but applied it to that Temple, which was forty &s;ixe yeares in building; For, till the re&s;urrection was really accompli&s;hed, and actually performed, the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves under&s;tood not the Re&s;urrection. Then, when Chri&s;t was ri&s;en from the dead, and that tho&s;e two great Apo&s;tles, <HI>Peter,</HI> and <HI>Iohn,</HI> had been at the Sepulchre, and received from thence &s;o much evidence, as convinced them, and prevailed upon them, then, and not till then, they began to under&s;tand the re|&s;urrection; <HI>for,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 22.9.</NOTE> <HI>till then,</HI> (&s;ayes the Text expre&s;ly there) <HI>they knew not the Scriptures, that he mu&s;t ri&s;e from the dead.</HI></P>
<P>And truly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Etiam po&s;t Re&s;urrectio|nem.</NOTE> if we take a holy liberty, (as piou&s;ly we may) to con&s;ider Chri&s;ts bodily actions after his re&s;urrection, they were not &s;uch, as without admitting any oppo&s;ition, might induce a nece&s;&s;ity of confe&s;&s;ing a re&s;urrection. For, though he exhibited him&s;elf to their eyes to be &s;eene, and to their eares to be heard, and to their fingers to be felt, though he eate with them, and did many other actions of a living body, yet, as the Angels in the old Te&s;tament, did the like actions, in tho&s;e bodies which they had a&s;&s;umed; &s;o might Chri&s;t have done all the&s;e, in &s;uch a body, though that which was buried in the Sepulchre, had had no re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>It is true, that Chri&s;t confirmed his Re&s;urrection, <HI>Multis argumentis,</HI> as the vulgat reads that place;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>with many infallible tokens,</HI> &s;ayes our former Tran&s;lation, <HI>with many infallible proofes,</HI> &s;ayes our later; But &s;till all the&s;e arguments, and tokens, and proofes wrought by way of confirmation, &s;omething was otherwi&s;e imprinted in them, and e&s;tabli&s;hed by a former apprehen&s;ion of faith, and the&s;e arguments, and tokens, and proofes confirmed it. For, the rea&s;ons for the re&s;urrection, doe not convince a naturall man at all, neither doe they &s;o convince a Chri&s;tian, but that there is more left to his faith, and he beleeves &s;omething beyond and above his rea&s;on.</P>
<P>The re&s;urrection in it &s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;urrectio no&s;tra, my&s;te|rium.</NOTE> Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, though it be clearer then ours, Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, even after it was actually accompli&s;hed, was &s;till a my&s;tery, out of the com|pa&s;&s;e of rea&s;on; And then, as it was above our rea&s;on, &s;o, how&s;oever it be out proofe, and our patterne for our re&s;urrection, yet it is above our imitation. For our re&s;urrection &s;hall not be like his. <HI>Omnes alii &s;u&s;citati, Chri&s;tus &s;olus re&s;urrexit,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard;</HI> All we &s;hall be rai&s;ed from the dead, onely Chri&s;t aro&s;e from the dead. We &s;hall be rai&s;ed by a power working upon us, he ro&s;e by a power inherent, and re&s;ident in him&s;elfe. And yet, though in this re&s;pect, our re&s;urrection be more open to the proofe of rea&s;on, then the re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, (for that which hath lea&s;t miracle in it, is mo&s;t open to rea&s;on; and therefore a naturall man would ea&s;ilier beleeve that God might rai&s;e a dead man, then that a dead man &s;hould be God, and &s;o able to rai&s;e him&s;elfe, which was Chri&s;ts ca&s;e, for the God-head of Chri&s;t was as much united to his dead body in the grave, as it was to his &s;oule in Paradi&s;e, or to his whole per&s;on con&s;i&s;ting of body and &s;oule, before, or after his death and re&s;urrection) Though, in this re&s;pect, I &s;ay, our re&s;urrection be more open to rea&s;on, becau&s;e it hath le&s;&s;e of the miracle in it, yet when we come to a&s;|&s;igne rea&s;ons, even for our re&s;urrection, (as we &s;ee <HI>Athanagoras</HI> hath undertaken, with a great deale of wit, and learning, and confidence, in his Apology for the Chri&s;tians, to the Emperour, within 155. yeares after Chri&s;t; and the Schoole-men make account, that they have brought it nearer to the under&s;tanding, nay even to the very &s;en&s;e, by produ|cing &s;ome &s;uch things, as even in nature, doe not only re&s;emble, but (as they apprehend) evict a re&s;urrection) yet when all is done, and all the rea&s;ons of <HI>Athenogaras,</HI> and the Schoole, and of S. <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe, are waighed, they determine all in this, that they are faire, and pregnant, and convenient illu&s;trations of that which was beleeved before; and that they have force, and power to encline to an a&s;&s;ent, and to create and beget &s;uch a probability, as a di&s;creet, and &s;ad, and con&s;tant man might re&s;t in, and &s;ubmit to. But yet, we &s;hall finde al&s;o, that though no man may &s;peak a word, or conceive a thought again&s;t the re&s;urrection, becau&s;e for the matter, we are ab&s;olutely and expre&s;ly concluded by the Scriptures, yet a man may &s;peak probably, and dangerou&s;ly again&s;t any particulur argu|ment, that is produced for the re&s;urrection. We beleeve it immediately, intirely, chea|fully, undi&s;putably, becau&s;e we &s;ee it expre&s;ly delivered by the Holy Gho&s;t; And we embrace thankfully, that &s;weetne&s;&s;e, and that fulne&s;&s;e of that ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, that as he laies an obligation upon our faith, by delivering the article po&s;itively to us, &s;o he is al&s;o plea&s;ed to accompany that Article, with rea&s;ons and arguments proportionable to our rea&s;on and under&s;tanding: for though tho&s;e rea&s;ons do not &s;o conclude us, as that no|thing
<PB N="205" REF="120">might be &s;aid to the contrary, or nothing doubted after, yet the Holy Gho&s;t having fir&s;t begotten the faith of this Article, <HI>Per ea auge&s;cit fides, &amp; pingue&s;cit,</HI> (as <HI>Luther</HI> &s;peaks in another ca&s;e) By tho&s;e rea&s;ons and arguments, and illu&s;trations, that faith is nouri&s;hed and maintained in a good habitude and con&s;titution.</P>
<P>And of that kind are all the rea&s;ons brought by S. <HI>Paul</HI> here;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Argumentae Apo&s;tols.</NOTE> The matter is po&s;itively delivered by him, and &s;o apprehended by us, and his rea&s;ons (as we &s;aid before) i&s;&s;ue out of two Topiques; Be plea&s;ed to looke upon both. The fir&s;t is our patterne, Chri&s;t Je&s;us: He is ri&s;en, therefore we &s;hall. In which, though I have a faire illu&s;tration and con&s;olation in that, The Head is ri&s;en, therefore the Body &s;hall, yet this reaches not to make my Re|&s;urrection like his, for I &s;hall not ri&s;e as he did. And then from his other Topique, his rea&s;ons ri&s;e thus: If there be no Re&s;urrection, we that &s;uffer thus much for the prefe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, are the mi&s;erable&s;t men in the world. Why &s;o? have not all Philo&s;ophers had Scholars, and all Heretiques Di&s;ciples, and all great Men flatterers, and every private man affections? And hath there not been as much &s;uffered by occa&s;ion of the&s;e, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> argues upon here, and yet no imagination, no expectation of a re&s;urrection? Leave out the con&s;ideration of Philo&s;ophers, many of which &s;uffered more then the Turks doe, and yet the Turks &s;uffer infinitely more, in their Mortifications, then the Papi&s;ts doe; Leave out the Heretiques, which were &s;o hungry of &s;uffering, that if they could not pro|voke others to kill them, they would kill them&s;elves; Leave out the pre&s;&s;ures of our own affections, and concupi&s;cencies, and yet the covetous man is in a continuall &s;tarving, and the licentious man in a continuall Con&s;umption; Take onely into your con&s;iderati|on, the mi&s;erable vexation of the flatterer, and humourer, and dependant upon great per&s;ons, that their time is not their owne, nor their words their owne; their joyes are not their owne, nay their &s;orrowes are not their owne; they might not &s;mile if they would, nor they may not &s;igh when they would, they mu&s;t doe all according to anothers mind, and yet they mu&s;t not know his minde; con&s;ider this, and you cannot &s;ay, but that there is as much &s;uffered in the world, as this upon which S. <HI>Paul</HI> argues, by them who place not their con&s;olation, nor their retribution in the hope of a re&s;urrection. He argues farther, <HI>Edamus &amp; bibamus,</HI> If there be no re&s;urrection, let us di&s;&s;olve our &s;elves into the plea&s;ures of this world, and enjoy them; Why &s;o too? Have we not &s;tories full of ex|emplar men, that might be our patterns for &s;obriety, and continency, and denying them|&s;elves the &s;weetne&s;&s;es of this life, and yet never placed Con&s;olation, nor Retribution up|on a Re&s;urrection? Would not S. <HI>Pauls</HI> own <HI>Pondus gloriae,</HI> That there is an exceeding waight of eternall glory attending our afflictions, &s;erve our turne, though that were de|termined in the &s;alvation of the &s;oule, though there were no re&s;urrection of the body? It is &s;trongly and wi&s;ely &s;aid by <HI>Aquinas, Derogant fidei Chri&s;tianae rationes non cogentes;</HI> To offer rea&s;ons for any Article of faith, which will not convince a man therein, dero|gates from the dignity of that Article. Therefore we mu&s;t con&s;ider S. <HI>Pauls</HI> rea&s;ons as they were intended; to Chri&s;tians, that had received the Article of the Re&s;urrection in|to their faith before; And then, as God gave <HI>Adam</HI> a body immediately from him&s;elf, but then maintained and nouri&s;hed that body by other meanes; &s;o the holy Gho&s;t by S. <HI>Paul</HI> gives the article of the Re&s;urrection to our faith po&s;itively, and then enables us to declare to our own con&s;ciences, and to other mens under&s;tandings, that we beleeve no impo&s;&s;ible thing, in beleeving the Re&s;urrection: for as it is the candle that lights me, but yet I take a lanthorne to defend that candle from the wind; &s;o my faith a&s;&s;ures me of the Re&s;urrection, but the&s;e rea&s;ons and illu&s;trations a&s;&s;i&s;t that faith. And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t part, How this a&s;&s;urance accrues unto us, and pa&s;&s;e in order to the other, The con&s;olation which we have from this re&s;urrection of the body, not onely in it &s;elfe, but as it gives us a &s;en&s;e of the &s;pirituall re&s;urrection of our &s;oules from &s;inne, by Grace.</P>
<P>We are a&s;&s;ured then of a Re&s;urrection, and we &s;ee how that a&s;&s;urance growes.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part.</NOTE> But of what? Of all, Body and &s;oule too; For, <HI>Quod cadit, re&s;urgit,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> All that is falne, receives a re&s;urrection; and that is <HI>&s;uppo&s;itum,</HI> &s;ayes the Schoole, that is, The per|&s;on, the whole man, not taken in pieces, &s;oule alone, or body alone, but both. For as <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> expre&s;&s;es the &s;ame that S. <HI>Hierome</HI> intends, <HI>Re&s;urrectio e&s;t ejus quod cecidit ite|rata &s;urrectio,</HI> The Re&s;urrection is a new ri&s;ing of that which fell; and Man fell. A man is not &s;aved, a &s;inner is not redeemed, I am not received into heaven, if my body be left out; The &s;oule and the body concurred to the making of a &s;inner, and body and &s;oule
<PB N="206" REF="121">mu&s;t concur to the making of a Saint. So it is in the la&s;t Re&s;urrection, &s;o it is in the fir&s;t, which we con&s;ider now, by Grace from &s;in; And therefore we receive into compari|&s;on, <HI>Triplicem ca&s;um,</HI> a threefold fall, and a threefold re&s;urrection, as in the naturall and bodily death, &s;o in the &s;pirituall death of the &s;oule al&s;o: For fir&s;t, in naturall death, there is <HI>Ca&s;us in &s;eparationem,</HI> The man, the per&s;on falls into a &s;eparation, a divorce of body and &s;oul; and the re&s;urrection from this fall is by Re-union, the &s;oule and body are re-united at the la&s;t day. A &s;econd fall in naturall death, is <HI>Ca&s;us in di&s;&s;olutionem,</HI> The dead body falls by putrifaction into a di&s;&s;olution, into atoms and graines of du&s;t; and the re&s;urre|ction from this fall, is by Re-efformation: God &s;hall re-compact and re-compile tho&s;e atoms and graines of du&s;t, into that Body, which was before: And then a third fall in naturall death, is <HI>Ca&s;us in Di&s;per&s;ionem,</HI> This man being falne into a divorce of body and &s;oule, this body being falne into a di&s;&s;olution of du&s;t, this du&s;t falls into a di&s;per&s;ion, and is &s;cattered un&s;en&s;ibly, undi&s;cernibly upon the face of the earth; and the re&s;urrection from this death, is by way of Re-collection; God &s;hall recall and re-collect all the&s;e Atoms, and grains of du&s;t, and re-compact that body, and re-unite that &s;oule, and &s;o that re&s;urrection is accompli&s;hed: And the&s;e three falls, Into a Divorce, into a Separation, into a Di&s;per&s;ion; And the&s;e three Re&s;urrections, By Re-union, by Re-efformation, by Re-collecting, we &s;hall al&s;o finde in our pre&s;ent &s;tate, The &s;pirituall death of the &s;oule by &s;inne.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ca&s;us in &s;e|parationem.</NOTE> the fir&s;t fall in the &s;pirituall death, is the divorce of body and &s;oule; That whereas God hath made the body to be the Organ of the &s;oule, and the &s;oule to be the breath of that Organ, and bound them to a mutuall relation to one another, Man &s;ome|times withdrawes the &s;oule from the body, by neglecting the duties of this life, for ima|ginary &s;peculations; and oftner withdrawes the body from the &s;oule, which &s;hould be &s;ubject to the &s;oule, but does maintain a war; and &s;hould be a wife to the &s;oule, and does &s;tand out in a divorce.</P>
<P>Now the Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;urrectie a ca&s;u in &s;e|parationem.</NOTE> from this fir&s;t fall into a Divorce, is, &s;eriou&s;ly and wi&s;ely, that is, both piou&s;ly and civilly to con&s;ider, that Man is not a &s;oule alone, but a body too; That man is not placed in this world onely for &s;peculation; He is not &s;ent into this world to live out of it, but to live in it; <HI>Adam</HI> was not put into Paradi&s;e, onely in that Paradi&s;e to contemplate the future Paradi&s;e, but to dre&s;&s;e and to keep the pre&s;ent; God did not breathe a &s;oule towards him, but into him; Not in an ob&s;e&s;&s;ion, but a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; Not to travaile for knowledge abroad, but to direct him by coun&s;ell at home; Not for exta&s;ies, but for an inherence; for when it was come to that, in S. <HI>Paul,</HI> we &s;ee it is called a rapture, he was not in his proper &s;tation, nor his proper motion; <HI>He was tran&s;ported into the third heaven:</HI> but as long as we are in our dwelling upon earth, though we mu&s;t love God with all our &s;oule, yet it is not with our &s;oule alone; Our body al&s;o mu&s;t te&s;tifie and expre&s;&s;e our love, not onely in a reverentiall humiliation thereof, in the di&s;po&s;itions, and po&s;tures, and motions, and actions of the body, when we pre&s;ent our &s;elves at Gods Service, in his hou&s;e, but in the di&s;charge of our bodily duties, and the &s;ociable offices of our callings, towards one another: Not to run away from that Service of God, by hiding our &s;elves in a &s;uper&s;titious Mona&s;tery, or in a &s;ecular Mona&s;tery, in our owne hou&s;e, by an unprofitable retiredne&s;&s;e, and ab&s;enting our &s;elves from the nece&s;&s;ary bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;es of this world: Not to avoid a Calling, by taking none: Not to make void a Cal|ling, by neglecting the due offices thereof. In a word, To under&s;tand, and to performe in the be&s;t mea&s;ure we can, the duties of the body and of the &s;oule, this is the re&s;urrection from the fir&s;t fall, The fall into a divorce of body and &s;oule. And for the advancing of this knowledge, and the facilitating of this performance of the&s;e duties, be plea&s;ed a little to &s;top upon the con&s;ideration of both, both of Spirituall and Divine, and then of &s;ecu|lar and &s;ociable duties, &s;o far as concerns this &s;ubject in hand.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t for the duties of the &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Officium animae.</NOTE> God was never out of Chri&s;ts &s;ight; He was alwaies with him, alwaies within him, alwaies he him&s;elf; yet Chri&s;t, at &s;ome times, applyed him|&s;elf in a nearer di&s;tance, and &s;tricter way of prayer to God then at other times. Chri&s;ts whole life was a continuall ab&s;tinence, a perpetuall &s;obriety, yet Chri&s;t propo&s;ed, and proportioned a certaine time, and a certaine number of dayes for a particular fa&s;t, upon particular occa&s;ion. This is the harmony, this is the re&s;urrection of a Chri&s;tian, in this re&s;pect, That his &s;oule be alwayes &s;o fixed upon God, as that he doe nothing but with relation to his glory principally, and habitually; That he think of God, at all times, but
<PB N="207" REF="121">that, be&s;ides that, he &s;epo&s;e &s;ome times, to think of nothing but God: That he pray con|tinually, &s;o far, as to &s;ay nothing, to wi&s;h nothing, that he would not be content God &s;hould heare, but that, be&s;ides that, he &s;epo&s;e certaine fixed times for private prayer in his chamber, and for publique prayer in the Congregation. For, though it be no where expre&s;ly written, that Chri&s;t did pray in the Congregation, or in company, yet, all that Chri&s;t did, is not written; and it is written, that he went often into the Temples, and in|to the Synagogues; and it is written, that even the Phari&s;ee, and the Publican, that went to tho&s;e places, went thither to pray. But how&s;oever, Chri&s;t was never &s;o alone, but that if he were not in the Church, the Church was in him; All Chri&s;tians were in him, as all Men were in <HI>Adam.</HI></P>
<P>This then is our fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, for the duty that belongs to the &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Officium corporis.</NOTE> That the &s;oule doe at all times think upon God, and at &s;ome times think upon nothing but him; And for that, which in this re&s;pect belongs to the body, That we neither enlarge, and pamper it &s;o, nor &s;o adorne and paint it, as though the &s;oule required a &s;pacious, and &s;pe|cious palace to dwell in. Of that exce&s;&s;e, <HI>Porphyrie,</HI> who loved not Chri&s;t nor Chri&s;ti|ans, &s;aid well, out of meer Morality, That this enormous fatning and enlarging our bo|dies by exce&s;&s;ive diet, was but a &s;hoveling of more and more fat earth upon our &s;oules to bury them deeper: <HI>Dum corpus augemus, mortaliores efficimur,</HI> &s;ayes he, The more we grow, the more mortall we make our &s;elves, and the greater &s;acrifice we provide for death, when we gather &s;o much fle&s;h: with that elegancy &s;peaks he, &s;peaking out of Na|ture, and with this &s;implicity and homeline&s;&s;e &s;peaks S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> &s;peaking out of Grace, <HI>Qui Chri&s;tum de&s;iderat, &amp; illo pane ve&s;citur, de qu&agrave;m precie&s;is cibis &s;tercus conficiat, non quae|rit,</HI> He that can relli&s;h Chri&s;t, and feed upon that Bread of life, will not be &s;o diligent to make precious dung, and curious excrements, to &s;pend his pur&s;e, or his wit, in that, which being taken into him, mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e by &s;o ignoble a way from him.</P>
<P>The fle&s;h that God hath given us, is affliction enough; but the fle&s;h that the devill gives us, is affliction upon affliction; and to that, there belongs a woe. <HI>Per tenuitatem a&s;si|milamur Deo,</HI> &s;aies the &s;ame Author; The attenuation, the &s;lenderne&s;&s;e, the deliverance of the body from the encumbrance of much fle&s;h, gives us &s;ome a&s;&s;imilation, &s;ome con|formity to God, and his Angels; The le&s;&s;e fle&s;h we carry, the liker we are to them, who have none: That is &s;till, the le&s;&s;e fle&s;h of our owne making: for, for that fle&s;h, which God, and his in&s;trument, Nature, hath given us, in what mea&s;ure, or proportion &s;oever, that does not oppre&s;&s;e us, to this purpo&s;e, neither &s;hall that be laid to our charge; but the fle&s;h that we have built up by curious diet, by meats of provocation, and witty &s;aw|ces, or by a &s;lothfull and drow&s;ie negligence of the works of our calling. All fle&s;h is &s;in|full fle&s;h; &s;infull &s;o, as that it is the mother of &s;in, it occa&s;ions &s;in, naturall fle&s;h is &s;o; But this artificiall fle&s;h of our owne making, is &s;infull &s;o, as that it is al&s;o the daughter of &s;in; It is, indeed, the puni&s;hment of former &s;ins, and the occa&s;ion of future.</P>
<P>The &s;oule then requires not &s;o large, &s;o va&s;t a hou&s;e of &s;infull fle&s;h, to dwell in:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Maceratio|nes corporis.</NOTE> But yet on the other &s;ide, we may not by inordinate ab&s;tinencies, by indi&s;creet fa&s;tings, by in|humane flagellations, by unnaturall macerations, and &s;uch Di&s;ciplines, as God doth not command, nor authorize, &s;o wither, and &s;hrinke, and contract the body, as though the &s;oule were &s;ent into it, as into a pri&s;on, or into fetters, and manacles, to wring, and pinch, and torture it. <HI>Nihil intere&s;t,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> It is all one whether thou kill thy &s;elfe at one blow, or be long in doing it, if thou do it. All one, whether thou fall upon thine own &s;word, or &s;terve thy &s;elfe with &s;uch a fa&s;ting, as thou di&s;cerne&s;t to induce that effect: for, &s;aies he, <HI>De&s;cendit a dignitate viri, &amp; not as in&s;aniae incurrit.</HI> He departs from that dignity, which God hath imprinted in man, in giving him the u&s;e, and the dominion over his crea|tures, and he gives the world ju&s;t occa&s;ion to thinke him mad; And, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> adds; <HI>Re&s;puit datorem, qui datum de&s;erit,</HI> He that does not u&s;e a benefit, reproaches the Bene|factor, and he is ungratefull to God, that does not accept at his hands the u&s;e of his ble&s;|&s;ings. Therefore is it accepted as a good interpretation, which is made of Chri&s;ts deter|mining his fa&s;t in forty daies, <HI>Ne &s;ui homicida videretur,</HI> Le&s;t if he continued it longer, he might have &s;eemed to have killed him&s;elfe, by being the author of his owne death; And &s;o do they interpret aright his <HI>E&s;uriit,</HI> That then he began to be hungry, that he be|gan to langui&s;h, to faint, to finde a detriment in his body; for el&s;e, a fa&s;ting when a man is not hungry, is no fa&s;ting; but then he gave over fa&s;ting, when he found the &s;tate of his body empaired by fa&s;ting.</P>
<PB N="208" REF="122">
<P>And therefore tho&s;e mad doctrines, (&s;o S. <HI>Hierom</HI> cals them, <HI>Notas in&s;aniae habent</HI>) yea tho&s;e devili&s;h doctrines, (&s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> cals them) that forbid certaine meats, and that make un-commanded macerations of the body, meritorious, that upon a &s;uppo&s;ititious &s;tory, of an Ermit that lived 22. yeares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Abbasll &s;perg.</NOTE> without eating any thing at all, And upon an imperti|nent example of their S. <HI>Francis,</HI> that kept three Lents in the yeare, which they extoll, and magnifie in S. <HI>Francis,</HI> and S. <HI>Hierom</HI> condemned, and dete&s;ted in the Montani&s;ts, who did &s;o too, have built up tho&s;e Carthu&s;ian Rules, That though it appeare that that, and nothing but that, would &s;ave the patients life, yet he may not eat fle&s;h, that is a Car|thu&s;ian, And have brought into e&s;timation tho&s;e Apocryphall and ba&s;tardly Canons which they father upon the Apo&s;tles, That a man mu&s;t rather &s;terve, then receive food from the hand of a per&s;on excommunicate, or otherwi&s;e detected of any mortall &s;in; And that all that can be done with the almes of &s;uch a per&s;on, is, that it be &s;pent in wood and coales and other fuell, that &s;o, (as the &s;ubtile philo&s;ophy of their Canon is) it may be burnt, and con&s;umed by fire; for, to &s;ave a mans life, it mu&s;t not be &s;pent upon meat or drink, or &s;uch &s;u&s;tentation: The&s;e Doctrines are not the Doctrines of this Re&s;ur|rection, by which, man con&s;idered <HI>in Compo&s;ito,</HI> as he con&s;i&s;ts of &s;oule and body, by a &s;ober and temperate life, makes his body ob&s;equious, and &s;erviceable to his &s;oule, but yet leaves his &s;oule a body to worke in, and an Organ to prai&s;e God upon, both in a devout humiliation of his body, in Gods &s;ervice, and in a bodily performance of the duties of &s;ome calling; for this is our fir&s;t Re&s;urrection <HI>A ca&s;u &s;eparationis,</HI> from having falne into a &s;eparation of body and &s;oule, for they mu&s;t &s;erve God joyntly together, becau&s;e God having joyned them, man may not &s;eparate them, but as God &s;hall re-unite them at the la&s;t Re&s;urrection, &s;o mu&s;t we, in our Re&s;urrections in this life; And farther we extend not this Re&s;urrection, from this &s;eparation, this divorce.</P>
<P>The &s;econd fall of man in naturall death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ca&s;us in di&s;|&s;olutionem.</NOTE> is <HI>Ca&s;us in di&s;&s;olutionem,</HI> The man being fal|len into a divorce of &s;oule and body, the body fals by putrefaction into a di&s;&s;olution of du&s;t; and the Re&s;urrection from this fall, is, a re-efformation, when God &s;hall recom|pact that du&s;t into that body. This fall, and this re&s;urrection we have in our &s;pirituall death too: for we fall into daily cu&s;tomes, and continuall habits of tho&s;e &s;ins, and we become not onely as that <HI>Lazarus</HI> in the parable, to have &s;ores upon us, but as that <HI>La|zarus</HI> in the Go&s;pell, that was dead; <HI>Domine jam faetemus, &amp; quatriduani &s;umus,</HI> Lord we &s;tinke in thy no&s;trils, and we have beene buried foure dayes; All the foure changes of our life, Infancy, Youth, Middle Age, and Old, have beene &s;pent and worne out in a continuall, and uninterrupted cour&s;e of &s;in. In which, we &s;hall be&s;t con&s;ider our fall, and be&s;t prepare our Re&s;urrection, by looking from whence we are fallen, and by what &s;teps; and they are three.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nardus no&s;tra. <HI>Cant. 1.12.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Perdidimus nardum no&s;tra~,</HI> We have lo&s;t the &s;weet &s;avour of our own Spikenard; for &s;o the Spou&s;e &s;aies, <HI>Nardus mea dedit odorem &s;uum: My Spikenard hath given forth her &s;weet &s;avour.</HI> There was a time, when we had a Spikenard, and a &s;weet &s;avour of our own, when our own Naturall faculties, in that &s;tate as God infu&s;ed them, in <HI>Adam,</HI> had a pow|er to apprehend, and lay hold upon the graces of God. Man hath a rea&s;onable &s;oule capa|ble of Gods grace, &s;o hath no creature but man; man hath naturall faculties, which may be employed by God in his &s;ervice, &s;o hath no creature but man. Onely man was made &s;o, as that he might be better; whereas all other creatures were but to con&s;i&s;t in that de|gree of goodne&s;&s;e, in which they entred. Mi&s;erable fall! Only man was made to mend, and only man does grow wor&s;e; Only man was made capable of a &s;pirituall &s;overaignty, and only man hath enthralled, and mancipated him&s;elfe to a &s;pirituall &s;lavery. And <HI>Per|didimus po&s;sibilitatem boni,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> We have lo&s;t that good and all po&s;&s;ibility of recovering it, by our &s;elves, in lo&s;ing <HI>Nardum no&s;tram,</HI> The &s;avour of our Spikenard, the life, and vigour of our naturall faculties, to &s;upernaturall u&s;es. For though the &s;oule be <HI>Forma hominis,</HI> it is but <HI>Materia Dei;</HI> The &s;oule may be the forme of man, for without that, Man is but a carca&s;&s;e; But the &s;oule is but the matter upon which God works; for, except our &s;oule receive another &s;oule, and be inanimated with Grace, even the &s;oule it &s;elfe, is but a car|ca&s;&s;e. And for this, we have lo&s;t <HI>Nardum no&s;tram,</HI> The odour, the verdure, the vigour of tho&s;e powers, in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion whereof God put us into this world. But there is a &s;tep in our fall, lower then this.</P>
<P>We have not only lo&s;t <HI>Nardum no&s;tram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Vnguentum Domini.</NOTE> The u&s;e of our own faculties, in originall &s;in, But we have lo&s;t al&s;o <HI>Vnguentum Domini,</HI> The &s;weet &s;avour, and the holy perfume of that
<PB N="209" REF="122">oyntment which the Lord hath poured out upon us. For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.3.</NOTE> as the Spou&s;e &s;ayes in the &s;ame Chapter, <HI>Oleum effu&s;um nomen ejus, His name is an oyntment poured out upon us;</HI> The name of Chri&s;t hath been &s;hed upon us all in our bapti&s;me, and that hath made us Chri&s;tians; And the merits and promi&s;es of Chri&s;t have been &s;hed upon us all, in the preaching of his word, and that hath declared us to be Chri&s;tians; The oyntment is <HI>&s;uper caput, &s;u|per barbam, &s;uper oram ve&s;timenti,</HI> as <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks; It is fallen upon the <HI>Head,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 133.2.</NOTE> we have had, and have religious Princes; And upon the <HI>Beard,</HI> the Beard of <HI>Aaron,</HI> we have had, and have (no Time, no Church ever more, ever &s;o much) a religious Clergy, vigilancy in the Superiour, laboriou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the Inferiour Clergy; And it is fallen upon the <HI>Skirts of the garment,</HI> the love, the de&s;ire, the hunger of hearing is fallen upon the lowe&s;t, and upon all our Congregations, <HI>Oleum effu&s;um nomen ejus,</HI> his Name, and his Ordinance is poured out upon us all; but, as the Spou&s;e &s;ayes there, <HI>Adole&s;centulae dilexerunt te, Only the virgins have loved thee;</HI> And where are tho&s;e Virgins? which of us have pre&s;erved that virginity, that integrity? which of us hath not married him&s;elfe to &s;ome particular &s;in? which of us hath not multiplied his fornications, and yet is not &s;atisfied? we have all lo&s;t <HI>Nardum no&s;tram,</HI> that which we had at fir&s;t in <HI>Adam,</HI> and that which hath been offered us &s;ince in Chri&s;t. And this is our &s;econd &s;tep in this fall; But there is a lower then this.</P>
<P>We come to lo&s;e <HI>Odorem agri,</HI> The &s;weet &s;avour of the field it &s;elf.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oder agri. <HI>Gen. 27.27.</HI></NOTE> As <HI>I&s;aac</HI> &s;aid of his Son, <HI>The &s;mell of my Son is as the &s;mell of a field which the Lord hath ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> So the Lord of heaven, as he &s;melt a &s;avour of Re&s;t from the Sacrifice of <HI>Noah,</HI> may have &s;melt from us the &s;avour of medicinall hearbes, of Remor&s;e, and Repentance, and Contrition, and De|te&s;tation of former &s;ins, And the &s;avour of odoriferous, and fragrant, and aromaticall hearbes, works worthy of Repentance, amendment of life, edification of others, and zeale to his glory, and yet we may relap&s;e into former &s;ins, or fall into new, and come to &s;avour only of the earth, in a worldly covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or to &s;avour of the fle&s;h, in a licen|tious filthine&s;&s;e; We may have <HI>received the good &s;eed, and dured for a while,</HI> as S. <HI>Matthew</HI> expre&s;&s;es Chri&s;ts words; <HI>Received it, and Beleeved it for a while,</HI> as S. <HI>Luke</HI> expre&s;&s;es them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.18. Luke 8.13.</NOTE> and then depart from the goodne&s;&s;e which Gods grace had formerly wrought in us, and from the Grace of God it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>Now to this lamentable &s;tate, belong tho&s;e fearefull words of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>That for a man that &s;ins thus, there remaineth no more &s;acrifice;</HI> And tho&s;e al&s;o, in another place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.2. Heb. 6.4.</NOTE> <HI>That for &s;uch a man it is impo&s;sible, impo&s;sible to be renewed.</HI> Some of the Fathers, out of a holy tenderne&s;&s;e, and compa&s;&s;ion, have mollified this <HI>impo&s;sibile</HI> with a <HI>difficile;</HI> It is impo&s;|&s;ible, &s;ay they, that is, it is very hard; very hard for him that hath been in Gods &s;ervice, and is run away, to return to it again. For, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ayes elegantly in that ca&s;e, <HI>Iu|dicat&ograve; pronunciavit,</HI> That &s;inner, &s;ayes he, hath proceeded &s;olemnly, and judicially, and hath heard what both &s;ides could &s;ay, what grace could &s;ay, and what &s;in, what God could &s;ay, and what Satan, and now he hath decreed the cau&s;e again&s;t Grace and again&s;t God, and declared the other &s;ide to be in the right, becau&s;e he hath applyed him&s;elf to the other &s;ide. But there is more in this <HI>Impo&s;sibile,</HI> then <HI>Difficile:</HI> It is not only hard, but truly impo&s;&s;ible: So, as it is <HI>impo&s;sible for God to lie,</HI> (&s;o the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks) &s;o as it is <HI>impo&s;sible to take away &s;in by the blood of Buls and Goats,</HI> (&s;o he &s;peakes) &s;o as it is <HI>impo&s;sible to plea&s;e God without faith,</HI> (&s;o he &s;peaks) &s;o <HI>impo&s;sible is it for this man to be renewed.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 6. Cap. 10. Cap. 11.</NOTE> <HI>Im|po&s;sibile e&s;t, non &s;peres quod impo&s;sibile,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> It is impo&s;&s;ible, never hope for that which is impo&s;&s;ible. For (as that Father exalts this impo&s;&s;ibility) <HI>Non dixit, non de|cet, non prode&s;t, non licet;</HI> God hath not &s;aid, it becomes not the maje&s;ty, and the con|&s;tancy of my proceedings to renew &s;uch a man; he &s;ayes not &s;o, <HI>non decet;</HI> He doth not &s;ay, it conduces not to my ends, nor to my manner of government, it would not be good for the publique, for the Church, for the re&s;t of my &s;ervants, who might be &s;candalized if I &s;hould exact &s;o much as I doe at their hands, and renew &s;uch a man; He &s;ayes not &s;o, <HI>non prode&s;t;</HI> He doth not &s;ay, <HI>non licet;</HI> I cannot do it in ju&s;tice, it cannot con&s;i&s;t with my Laws, and my Edicts, by which I have proclaimed, That with the froward I will grow froward, and harden their hearts that oppo&s;e them&s;elves again&s;t me; He doth not &s;ay &s;o, <HI>non licet;</HI> for to all the&s;e (it &s;tands not with my wayes, <HI>non decet;</HI> or it con|duces not to my ends, <HI>non prode&s;t;</HI> or it con&s;i&s;ts not with my ju&s;tice, <HI>non licet</HI>) mercy would &s;till pre&s;ent di&s;pen&s;ations; but it is expre&s;ly, directly <HI>impo&s;sibile,</HI> impo&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>It is true, that the hardne&s;&s;e of this &s;aying, put the Fathers to hard Expo&s;itions. The
<PB N="210" REF="123">greater part by much, of them who finde them&s;elves put to a nece&s;&s;ity of admitting an impo&s;&s;ibility, (for as I told you before, &s;ome of them mollifie and &s;ouple the impo&s;&s;ibi|lity into a difficulty) place the impo&s;&s;ibility in this, That it is impo&s;&s;ible for &s;uch a man to be renewed by bapti&s;me, as he was renewed before: for in tho&s;e Primitive times, though they excluded not children, yet the greate&s;t part of them who were baptized, were &s;uch as under&s;tood their ca&s;e, per&s;ons of di&s;cretion, &s;uch as had &s;pent many months, many times many yeares, in &s;tudying and in practi&s;ing the Chri&s;tian religion, and then were baptized; and if the&s;e men (&s;ay tho&s;e Fathers) fell after this, it was impo&s;&s;ible to be renewed that way, impo&s;&s;ible that they &s;hould have a &s;econd bapti&s;me: And it is &s;carce mannerly, &s;carce &s;afe to depart from &s;o many as meet in this interpretation of this impo&s;&s;ibility; for they all intend that which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> expre&s;&s;es mo&s;t plainly, <HI>Di|xit impo&s;sibile, ut in de&s;perationem induceret;</HI> The Apo&s;tle &s;ayes it is impo&s;&s;ible, that he might bring us before hand into a kinde of de&s;peration; A de&s;peration of this kinde, That there was ab&s;olutely no hope of a po&s;&s;ibility of renewing, as they were renewed before, that is, by bapti&s;me.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e at this time when the Apo&s;tle writ, that que&s;tio~, which troubled the Church &s;o much after, in S. <HI>Cyprians</HI> time, of Rebaptization, was not moved at all, neither doth it appeare, nor is it likely, that any that fell &s;o, put his hopes upon renewing by a &s;econd bapti&s;me; there is &s;omething el&s;e in this Impo&s;&s;ibility then &s;o. And that in one word is, That the falling intended here, is not a falling <HI>&agrave; nardo no&s;tra,</HI> from the &s;avour of our own Spikenard, the good u&s;e of our owne faculties, lo&s;t in Originall &s;in, nor a falling <HI>Ab un|guento Domini,</HI> that though the perfume an Incen&s;e of the name of Chri&s;t, and the offer of his merits be &s;hed upon us here, that doth not re&s;train us from falling into &s;ome &s;ins, But this falling is, as it is expre&s;&s;ed, a falling away, away from Chri&s;t in all his Ordinan|ces; an undervaluing, a de&s;pi&s;ing of tho&s;e meanes which he hath e&s;tabli&s;hed for the re|newing of a broken &s;oule, which is the making a mock of the Son of God, and the tread|ing the blood of the Covenant under foot. When Chri&s;t hath ordained but one way for the renewing of a &s;oul, The conveyance of his merits, in preaching the word, and the &s;ealing thereof, in applying the Sacraments, to that man that is fallen &s;o, as to refu&s;e that, as it is impo&s;&s;ible to live, if a man refu&s;e to eat, Impo&s;&s;ible to recover, if a man re|fu&s;e Phy&s;ick, &s;o it is Impo&s;&s;ible for him to be renewed, becau&s;e God hath notified to us but one way, and he refu&s;es that. So this is a true Impo&s;&s;ibility, and yet limited too; for though it be impo&s;&s;ible to us, by any meanes imparted to us, or to our di&s;pen&s;ing, and &s;teward&s;hip, yet &s;hall any thing be impo&s;&s;ible to God? God forbid; For, even from this death, and this depth there is a Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>As from the lo&s;&s;e of our Spikenard,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ro&s;urrectio.</NOTE> our naturall faculties in originall &s;in, we have a re&s;urrection in bapti&s;ine, And from the lo&s;&s;e of the oyntment of the Lord, the offer of his Graces, in the&s;e meetings, and the falling into &s;ome actuall &s;ins, for all that a&s;&s;i&s;tance, we have a re&s;urrection in the other Sacrament; So when we have lo&s;t the &s;avour of the field, tho&s;e degrees of goodne&s;&s;e, and holine&s;&s;e which we had, and had declared before, when we are falle~ from all pre&s;ent &s;en&s;e of the means of a re&s;urrection, yet there may be a re&s;urrection wrapped up in the good purpo&s;es of God upon that man, which, unle&s;&s;e he will him&s;elfe, &s;hall not be fru&s;trated, not evacuated, not di&s;appointed. Though he have <HI>foetorem pro Odore,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 3.24.</NOTE> as the Prophet &s;peaks, That in &s;tead of the &s;weet &s;avour, which his former holy life exhaled and breathed up, he be come now to &s;tink in the &s;ight of the Church, (and how&s;oever God may have a good &s;avour from his own work, from tho&s;e holy purpo&s;es which he hath upon him, which lie in Gods bo&s;ome, yet from his pre&s;ent &s;ins, and from the pre&s;ent te&s;timony and evidence that the Church gives again&s;t him, as a pre&s;ent &s;inner, he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily &s;tink in the no&s;trils of God too) yet, as in the Re&s;ur|rection of the body, it &s;hall come, when we &s;hall not know of it, So when this poore dead, put rified &s;oule hath no &s;en&s;e of it, and perchance, little or no di&s;po&s;ition towards it, the efficacy of Gods purpo&s;e &s;hall break out, and work in him a re&s;urrection: And this S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> takes to be intended in that which is &s;aid in the &s;ame place to the Hebrews, <HI>That that earth which drinketh in the rain,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.</NOTE> <HI>and bringeth forth nothing but Bryers, is Maledi|cto proxima, neare&s;t to be accur&s;ed,</HI> That man is neare&s;t to be a Reprobate; But yet, &s;ayes he, <HI>Vides quantam habet con&s;olationem,</HI> We apprehend a ble&s;&s;ed con&s;olation in this, That it is &s;aid, <HI>neare a cur&s;e,</HI> neare reprobation, and no wor&s;e; for, <HI>Qui prop&egrave; e&s;t, procul e&s;&s;e po|tcrit,</HI> &s;ayes he, That &s;oule which is but neare de&s;truction, may weather that mi&s;chiefe, and grow to be far from it, and out of danger of it.</P>
<PB N="211" REF="123">
<P>It is true, this man hath lo&s;t his <HI>paratum cor meum;</HI> he cannot &s;ay, <HI>his heart is prepared;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 57.7.</NOTE> that he hath lo&s;t in originall &s;in; This man hath lo&s;t his <HI>Confirmatum cor meum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 112.7.</NOTE> he can|not &s;ay, <HI>his heart is e&s;t abli&s;hed;</HI> that hath been offered him in the&s;e exerci&s;es, but it hath not prevailed upon him. He hath lo&s;t his <HI>variis odoribus delectatum cor,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 27.9.</NOTE> the delight which his heart heretofore had in the &s;avour of the field, in tho&s;e good actions, in which former|ly he exerci&s;ed him&s;elf, and now is falne from: But yet there may be <HI>cor novum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.10.</NOTE> <HI>a new heart,</HI> a heart which is yet in Gods bo&s;ome, and &s;hall be tran&s;planted into his; A dupli|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ate, an exemplification of Gods &s;ecret purpo&s;e to be manife&s;ted, and revealed by the Spirit of God, in his good time, upon him. And this may work,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>In in&s;igni &amp; vehementi mutatione,</HI> in &s;uch an evidence, and demon&s;tration of it &s;elf, as he &s;hall know it to be that, becau&s;e it &s;hall not work as a Circumci&s;ion, but as an Exci&s;ion, not as a lopping off, but as a rooting up, not by mending him, but by making him a new creature; He &s;hall not grow le&s;&s;e riotous then before, for &s;o a &s;entence in the Star-Chamber, or any other Criminall Court for a riot, might be a re&s;urrection to him; nor le&s;&s;e voluptuous, for &s;o, poverty in his Fortune, or in&s;ipidne&s;&s;e and ta&s;tle&s;ne&s;&s;e in his palate might be a re&s;urre|ction to him; Nor le&s;&s;e licentious, for &s;o age or &s;ickne&s;&s;e, nor le&s;&s;e quarrel&s;ome, for &s;o blowes, and oppre&s;&s;ion might be a re&s;urrection to him. But when in a rectified under|&s;tanding he can but apprehend, that &s;uch a re&s;urrection there may be, nay there is for him; it &s;hall grow up to a holy confidence, e&s;tabli&s;hed by the &s;en&s;ible effects thereof, that he &s;hall not onely di&s;continue his former acts, and deve&s;t his former habits of &s;in, but produce acts, and build up habits, contrary to his former habits, and former acts, for this is the re&s;urrection from this &s;econd fall, <HI>In di&s;&s;olutionem,</HI> into the di&s;&s;olution of parti|cular &s;ins.</P>
<P>Now, after all this, there is in naturall death, a third fall, <HI>ca&s;us in di&s;per&s;ionem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In di&s;per&s;io|nem.</NOTE> the man is fallen <HI>in &s;eparationem,</HI> into a divorce of body and &s;oule, the body is fallen <HI>in di&s;&s;olutio|nem,</HI> to putrifaction, and di&s;&s;olution in du&s;t, and then this du&s;t is fallen <HI>in di&s;per&s;ionem,</HI> into a di&s;per&s;ion, and &s;cattering over the earth, as God threatens, <HI>Comminuam in pulve|rem, I will break the wicked as &s;mall as du&s;t, and &s;catter them with the winde;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.</NOTE> For after &s;uch a &s;cattering, no power, but of God onely can recollect tho&s;e grains of du&s;t, and re-com|pact them into a body, and re-inanimate them into a man. And &s;uch a &s;tate, &s;uch a di&s;per|&s;ion, doth the heart and &s;oule of an habituall &s;inner undergoe; For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 17.24.</NOTE> as <HI>the eyes of a foole are in the corners of the earth,</HI> &s;o is the heart and &s;oule of a &s;inner. The wanton and licen|tious man, &s;ighs out his &s;oule, weeps out his &s;oule, &s;weares out his &s;oule, in every place, where his lu&s;t, or his cu&s;tome, or the glory of victory, in overcomming, and deluding, puts him upon &s;uch &s;olicitations. In the corrupt taker, his &s;oul goes out, that it may leave him un&s;en&s;ible of his &s;in, and not trouble him in his corrupt bargaine; and in a corrupt giver, ambitious of preferment, his &s;oule goes out with his money, which he loves well, but not &s;o well as his preferment: This yeare his &s;oule and his money goes out upon one office, and next yeare, more &s;oul, and more money upon another; He knowes how his money will come in againe; for they will bring it, that have need of his corruptne&s;&s;e in his offices; But where will this man finde his &s;oule, thus &s;cattered upon every woman corruptly won, upon every office corruptly u&s;urped, upon every quillet corruptly bought, upon every fee corruptly taken?</P>
<P>Thus it is, when a &s;oule is &s;cattered upon the daily practi&s;e of any one predominant, and habituall &s;in; but when it is indifferently &s;cattered upon all, how much more is it &s;o? In him, that &s;wallowes &s;ins in the world, as he would doe meats at a fea&s;t; pa&s;&s;es through every di&s;h, and never askes Phy&s;itian the nature, the quality, the danger, the offence of any di&s;h: That baits at every &s;in that ri&s;es, and poures him&s;elfe into every &s;infull mold he meets: That knowes not when he began to &s;pend his &s;oule, nor where, nor upon what &s;in he laid it out; no, nor whether he have, whether ever he had any &s;oule, or no; but hath lo&s;t his &s;oule &s;o long agoe, in ru&s;ty, and in incoherent &s;ins, (not &s;ins that produ|ced one another, as in <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e (and yet that is a fearfull &s;tate, that concatenation of &s;ins, that pedegree of &s;ins) but in &s;ins which he embraces, meerely out of an ea&s;ine&s;&s;e to &s;in, and not out of a love, no, nor out of a tentation to that &s;in in particular) that in the&s;e incoherent &s;ins hath &s;o &s;cattered his &s;oule, as that he hath not &s;oule enough left, to &s;eek out the re&s;t. And therefore <HI>David</HI> makes it the Title of the whole P&s;alme, <HI>Domine ne di&s;perdas, O Lord doe not &s;catter us:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 58.</NOTE> And he begins to expre&s;&s;e his &s;en&s;e of Gods Judge|ments, in the next P&s;alme, &s;o, <HI>O Lord thou ha&s;t ca&s;t us out, thou ha&s;t &s;cattered us, turn again
<PB N="212" REF="124">unto us;</HI> for even from this aver&s;ion, there may be conver&s;ion, and from this la&s;t and low|e&s;t fall, a re&s;urrection. But how?</P>
<P>In the generall re&s;urrection upon naturall death, God &s;hall work upon this di&s;per&s;ion of our &s;cattered du&s;t, as in the fir&s;t fall, which is the Divorce, by way of Re-union, and in the &s;econd, which is Putrifaction, by way of Re-efformation; &s;o in this third, which is Di&s;per&s;ion, by way of Re-collection; where mans buried fle&s;h hath brought forth gra&s;&s;e, and that gra&s;&s;e fed bea&s;ts, and tho&s;e bea&s;ts fed men, and tho&s;e men fed other men, God that knowes in which Boxe of his Cabinet all this &s;eed Pearle lies, in what corner of the world every atome, every graine of every mans du&s;t &s;leeps, &s;hall recollect that du&s;t, and then recompact that body, and then re-inanimate that man, and that is the accompli&s;h|ment of all.</P>
<P>In this re&s;urrection, from this Dilper&s;ion and &s;cattering in &s;in, the way is by Recollecti|on too: That this &s;inner recollect him&s;elfe, and his own hi&s;tory, his own annalls, his own journalls, and call to minde where he lo&s;t his way, and with what tenderne&s;&s;e of con|&s;cience, and holy &s;tartling he entred into &s;ome &s;ins at fir&s;t, in which he is &s;eared up now, and whereas his triumph &s;hould have been, in a victory over the fle&s;h, he is come to a triumph in his victory over the &s;pirit of God, and glories in having overcome the Holy Gho&s;t, and brought his con&s;cience to an un&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of &s;in: If hee can recollect him&s;elfe thus, and ca&s;t up his account &s;o, If he can &s;ay to God, <HI>Lord, we have &s;old our &s;elves for nothing,</HI> he &s;hall heare God &s;ay to him, as he does there in the Prophet, <HI>You have &s;old your &s;elves for nothing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 52.3.</NOTE> <HI>and you &s;hall be redeemed without money.</HI> But how is this recol|lecting wrought?</P>
<P>God hath intimated the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.</NOTE> in that vi&s;ion to the Prophet <HI>Ezekiel:</HI> He brings the Prophet into a field of dead bones, and dry bones, <HI>&s;icca vehementer,</HI> (as it is &s;aid there) as dry as this du&s;t which we &s;peak of: And he asks him, <HI>fili hominis,</HI> thou that art but the &s;on of man, and mu&s;t judge humanely, <HI>Puta&s;ne vivent o&s;&s;a i&s;ta? Do&s;t thou think that the&s;e bones can live?</HI> The Prophet an&s;wers, <HI>Domine tu no&s;ti,</HI> thou Lord, who knowe&s;t who&s;e names are written in the Book of Life, and who&s;e are not; who&s;e bones are wrapped up in the Decree of thy Election, and who&s;e are not, knowe&s;t whether the&s;e bones can live, or no; for, but in the efficacy and power of that Decree, they cannot. Yes, they &s;hall, &s;ayes God Almighty; and they &s;hall live by this meanes, <HI>Dices eis, Thou &s;halt &s;ay unto them, O ye dry bones, heare the word of the Lord:</HI> As dry, as de&s;perate, as irremediable as they are in them&s;elves, God &s;hall &s;end his &s;ervants unto them, and they &s;hall heare them: And, as it is added in that place, <HI>Prophetante me, factus &s;onitus, &amp; commotio, As I Prophe&s;ied, there was a noy&s;e and a &s;haking;</HI> As whil&s;t <HI>Peter</HI> &s;pake, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t fell upon all them that heard the word;</HI> So whil&s;t the Me&s;&s;engers of God &s;peak in the pre&s;ence of &s;uch &s;inners, there &s;hall be a noy&s;e, and a commotion, a horrour of their former &s;ins, a wonder how they could provoke &s;o patient, and &s;o powerfull a God, a &s;inking down under the waight of Gods Judgements, a flying up to the apprehen&s;ion of his mercies, and this noy&s;e and commotion in their &s;oules, &s;hall be &s;etled with that Go&s;pell in that Prophet, <HI>Dabo &s;uper vos nervos, I will lay &s;inewes upon you, and will bring up fle&s;h upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath into you, and you &s;hall live, and ye &s;hall know that I am the Lord;</HI> God &s;hall re|&s;tore them to life, and more, to &s;trength, and more, to beauty, and comeline&s;&s;e, acceptable to him&s;elfe in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>Your way is Recollecting; gather your &s;elves into the Congregation, and Communi|on of Saints in the&s;e places; gather your &s;ins into your memory, and poure them out in humble confe&s;&s;ions, to that God, whom they have wounded; Gather the crummes un|der his Table, lay hold upon the gracious promi&s;es, which by our Mini&s;tery he lets fall upon the Congregation now; and gather the &s;eales of tho&s;e promi&s;es, when&s;oever, in a rectified con&s;cience, his Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with your &s;pirit, that you may be wor|thy receivers of him in his Sacrament; and this recollecting &s;hall be your re&s;urrection.</P>
<P><HI>Beatus qui habet partem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> 20.6</NOTE> &s;ayes S. <HI>Iohn, Ble&s;&s;ed is he that hath part in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, for on &s;uch the &s;econd death hath no power.</HI> He that ri&s;es to this Judgement of recollecting, and of judging him&s;elfe, &s;hall ri&s;e with a chearfulne&s;&s;e, and &s;tand with a confidence, when Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hall come in the &s;econd:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Au<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> And, <HI>Quando exacturus e&s;t in &s;ecundo, quod dedit in primo,</HI> when Chri&s;t &s;hall call for an account, in that &s;econd judgement, how he hath hu&s;|banded tho&s;e graces, which he gave him; for the fir&s;t, he &s;hall make his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of this fir&s;t re&s;urrection, his title, and his evidence to the &s;econd. When thy body, which hath
<PB N="213" REF="124">been &s;ubject to all kindes of de&s;truction here; to the de&s;truction of a Flood, in Catarrhs, and Rheums, and Drop&s;ies, and &s;uch di&s;tillations, to the de&s;truction of a fire, in Feavers, and Frenzies, and &s;uch conflagrations, &s;hall be removed &s;afely and gloriou&s;ly above all &s;uch di&s;tempers, and malignant impre&s;&s;ions, and body and &s;oule &s;o united, as if both were one &s;pirit in it &s;elfe, and God &s;o united to both, as that thou &s;halt be the &s;ame &s;pirit with God. God began the fir&s;t World, but upon two, <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Eve:</HI> The &s;econd world, after the Flood, he began upon a greater &s;tock, upon eight re&s;erved in the Arke; But when he e&s;tabli&s;hes the la&s;t and everla&s;ting world in the la&s;t Re&s;urrection, he &s;hall ad|mit &s;uch a number, as that none of us who are here now, none that is, or hath, or &s;hall be upon the face of the earth, &s;hall be denied in that Re&s;urrection, if he have truly felt this; for Grace accepted, is the infallible earne&s;t of Glory.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="22" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXII.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1627.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>HEB. 11.35.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Women received their dead rai&s;ed to life againe: And others were tortured, not accepting a deliverance, that they might obtaine a better Re&s;urrection.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_MErcy is Gods right hand, with that God gives all; Faith is mans right hand, with that man takes all. <HI>David, P&s;al.</HI> 136. opens, and enlarges this right hand of God, in pouring out his ble&s;&s;ings, plentifully, abundantly, mani|foldly there. And in this Chapter, the Apo&s;tle opens, and enlarges this right hand of man, by laying hold upon tho&s;e mercies of God, plentifully, abundantly, manifoldly, by faith here. There, <HI>David</HI> powres downe the mercies. of God, in repeating, and re-repeating that phra&s;e, <HI>For his mercy endureth for ever;</HI> And here, S. <HI>Paul</HI> carries up man to heaven, by repeating, and re-repeating the ble&s;&s;ings which man hath attained by faith; <HI>By faith Abel &s;acrificed, By faith Enoch walked with God, By faith Noah built an Arke, &amp;c.</HI> And as in that P&s;alme, Gods mercies are expre&s;t two waies, Fir&s;t in the good that God did for his &s;ervants, <HI>He remembred them in their low e&s;tate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver 23. Ver. 24.</NOTE> <HI>for his mercy endureth for ever:</HI> And then againe, <HI>He redeemed them from their enemies, for his mercy endureth for ever:</HI> And then al&s;o, in the evill that he brought upon their ene|mies, <HI>He &s;lew famous Kings, for his mercy endureth for ever:</HI> And then, <HI>He gave their land for an heritage, for his mercy endureth for ever.</HI> So in this Chapter, the Apo&s;tle declares the benefits of faith, two wayes al&s;o: Fir&s;t, how faith enriches us, and accommodates us in the wayes of pro&s;perity, <HI>By faith Abraham went to a place which he received for an in|heritance:</HI> And &s;o, <HI>By faith Sarah received &s;trength to conceive &s;eed:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8. Ver. 11. Ver. 34.</NOTE> And then, how faith &s;u&s;taines, and e&s;tabli&s;hes us in the wayes of adver&s;ity, <HI>By faith they &s;topt the mouthes of Lions, by faith they quencht the violence of fire, by faith they e&s;caped the edge of the &s;word,</HI> in the ver&s;e immediatly before the Text. And in this ver&s;e, which is our Text, the Apo|&s;tle hath collected both; The benefits which they received by faith, <HI>Women received their dead rai&s;ed to life againe,</HI> And then, the holy courage which was infu&s;ed by Faith, in their per&s;ecutions, <HI>Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might receive a better Re&s;urrection.</HI> And becau&s;e both the&s;e have relation, evidently, pregnantly to the Re&s;urrection, (for their benefit was, that the <HI>Women received their dead</HI> by a Re&s;urrecti|on, And their courage in their per&s;ecution was, <HI>That they &s;hould receive a better Re&s;urre|ction</HI>) therefore the whole meditation is proper to this day, in which wee celebrate all Re&s;urrections in the Root, in the Re&s;urrection of the <HI>Fir&s;t fruits of the dead, our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>Our Parts are two; How plentifully God gives to the faithfull,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>Women receive their dead rai&s;ed to life againe,</HI> And how patiently the faithfull &s;uffer Gods corrections, <HI>Others
<PB N="214" REF="125">were tortured not accepting, &amp;c.</HI> Though they be both large con&s;iderations, (Benefits by Faith, Patience in the Faithfull) yet we &s;hall containe our &s;elves in tho&s;e particulars which are expre&s;t, or nece&s;&s;arily implyed in the Text it &s;elfe. And &s;o in the fir&s;t place we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, The extraordinary con&s;olation in Gods extraordinary Mercies, in his miraculous Deliverances, &s;uch as this, <HI>Women received their dead rai&s;ed to life again,</HI> And &s;econdly we &s;hall &s;eethe examples, to which the Apo&s;tle refers here, What women had had their dead re&s;tored to life againe; And then, la&s;tly, in that part, That this affection of joy, in having their dead re&s;tored to life againe, being put in the weaker &s;exe, in wo|men onely, we may argue conveniently from thence, That the &s;trength of a true and ju&s;t joy lies not in that, but that our virility, our holy manhood, our religious &s;trength con&s;i&s;ts in a faithfull a&s;&s;urance, that we have already a ble&s;&s;ed communion with the&s;e Saints of God, though they be dead, and we alive; And that we &s;hall have hereafter a glorious A&s;&s;ociation with them in the Re&s;urrection, though we never receive our dead rai&s;ed to life again in this world. And in tho&s;e three con&s;iderations, we &s;hall determine that fir&s;t part. And then, in the other, The Patience of the Faithfull, <HI>Others were tortu|red, &amp;c.</HI> we &s;hall fir&s;t look into the examples which the Apo&s;tle refers to; who they were that were thus tortured: And &s;econdly, the heighth and exaltation of their pati|ence, <HI>They would not accept a deliverance:</HI> And la&s;tly, the ground upon which their An|chor was ca&s;t, what e&s;tabli&s;hed their patience, <HI>That they might obtaine a better Re|&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> for that Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, which we need not be afraid, nor ab&s;taine from cal|ling the Recompence, the Reward, the Retribution of the faithfull, (for as we con&s;ider Death to grow out of Di&s;obedience, and Life out of Obedience to the Law, as properly as Death is the wages of &s;in, Life is the wages of Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e) If I be asked, what it is wherein this Recompence, this Reward, this Retribution con&s;i&s;ts, if I mu&s;t be put to my Speciall Plea, I mu&s;t &s;ay it is, in that of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Omnia cooperantur in bonum,</HI> That nothing can befall the faithfull, that does not conduce to his good, and advance his hap|pine&s;&s;e: For he &s;hall not onely find S. <HI>Pauls Mori lucrum,</HI> That he &s;hall be the better for dying, if he mu&s;t dye; but he &s;hall find S. <HI>Augu&s;tines Vtile cadere,</HI> He &s;hall be the better for &s;inning, if he have &s;inned; So the better, as that by a repentance after that &s;in, hee &s;hall find him&s;elfe e&s;tabli&s;hed in a neerer, and &s;afer di&s;tance with God, then he was in that &s;ecurity, which he had before that &s;in. But the Title, and the Plea of the faithfull to this Recompence, extends farther then &s;o; It is not onely, that nothing, how evill &s;oever in the nature thereof, &s;hall be evill to them; but that all that is Good, is theirs; properly theirs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.9.</NOTE> theirs peculiarly. <HI>There is no want to them that fear the Lord,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David; The young Lions doe lack, and &s;uffer hunger, but they that &s;eeke the Lord, &s;hall not want any good thing.</HI></P>
<P>The Infidel hath no pretence upon the next world, none at all; No nor &s;o cleare a Title to any thing in this world, but that we di&s;pute in the Schoole, whether Infidels have any true dominion, any true proprietie in any thing which they po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e here; And whether there be not an inherent right in the Chri&s;tians, to plant Chri&s;tianity in any part of the Dominions of the Infidels, and con&s;equently, to de&s;poile them even of their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, if they oppo&s;e &s;uch Plantations, &s;o e&s;tabli&s;hed, and &s;uch propagations of the Chri&s;tian Religion. For though we may not begin at the di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing, and di&s;planting of the native and naturall Inhabitant, (for &s;o we proceed but as men again&s;t men, and upon &s;uch equall termes, we have no right to take any mens po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions from them) yet, when pur&s;uing that Right, which re&s;ides in the Chri&s;tian, we have e&s;tabli&s;hed &s;uch a Plantati|on, if they &s;upplant that, we may &s;upplant them, &s;ay our <HI>Schooles,</HI> and our <HI>Ca&s;ui&s;ts;</HI> For in that ca&s;e, we proceed not as men again&s;t men; not by Gods Common Law, which is equall to all men; that is, the Law of Nature; but we proceed by his higher Law, by his Prerogative, as Chri&s;tians again&s;t Infidels, and then, it is God that proceeds again&s;t them, by men, and not tho&s;e men, of them&s;elves, to &s;erve their owne Ambitions, or their o|ther &s;ecular ends.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.20.</NOTE> <HI>All things are yours,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle; By what Right? <HI>You are Chri&s;ts,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>And Chri&s;t is Gods;</HI> Thus is a Title convayed to us, All things are Gods, God hath put all things under Chri&s;ts feete; And he under ours, as we are Chri&s;tians. And then, as the generall profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, entitles us to a generall Title of the world, (for the World belongs to the Faithfull; and Chri&s;tians, as Chri&s;tians, and no more, are <HI>Fideles,</HI> Faithfull in re&s;pect of Infidels) &s;o tho&s;e Chri&s;tians that come to that more par|ticular,
<PB N="215" REF="125">more active, more operative faith, which the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of in all this Chap|ter, come al&s;o to a more particular reward, and recompence, and retribution at Gods hands; God does not onely give them the naturall ble&s;&s;ings of this World, to which they have an inherent right, as they are generall Chri&s;tians, but as they are thus faithfull Chri&s;tians, he gives them &s;upernaturall ble&s;&s;ings, he enlarges him&s;elfe even to Miracles, in their behalfe; Which is a &s;econd con&s;ideration; Fir&s;t God opens him&s;elfe in nature, and temporall ble&s;&s;ings, to the generall Chri&s;tian, but to the Faithfull, in Grace, exalted even to the height of Miracle.</P>
<P>In this, we con&s;ider fir&s;t, That there is nothing dearer to God then a Miracle.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Miracula.</NOTE> There is nothing that God hath e&s;tabli&s;hed in a con&s;tant cour&s;e of nature, and which therefore is done every day, but would &s;eeme a Miracle, and exerci&s;e our admiration, if it were done but once; Nay, the ordinary things in Nature, would be greater miracles, then the extraordinary, which we admire mo&s;t, if they were done but once; The &s;tanding &s;till of the Sun, for <HI>Io&s;uahs</HI> u&s;e, was not, in it &s;elfe, &s;o wonderfull a thing, as that &s;o va&s;t and im|men&s;e a body as the Sun, &s;hould run &s;o many miles, in a minute; The motion of the Sun were a greater wonder then the &s;tanding &s;till, if all were to begin againe; And onely the daily doing takes off the admiration. But then God having, as it were, concluded him&s;elf in a cour&s;e of nature, and written downe in the booke of Creatures, Thus and thus all things &s;hall be carried, though he glorifie him&s;elfe &s;ometimes, in doing a miracle, yet there is in every miracle, a &s;ilent chiding of the world, and a tacite reprehen&s;ion of them, who require, or who need miracles.</P>
<P>Therefore hath God re&s;erved to him&s;elfe the power of Miracles, as a Prerogative; For the devill does no miracles; the devill and his in&s;truments, doe but ha&s;ten Nature, or hinder nature, antedate Nature, or po&s;tdate Nature, bring things &s;ooner to pa&s;&s;e, or re|tarde them; And how&s;oever they pretend to oppo&s;e nature, yet &s;till it is but upon nature, and but by naturall meanes, that they worke; onely God &s;hakes the whole frame of Na|ture in pieces, and in a miracle, proceeds &s;o, as if there were no Creation yet accompli|&s;hed, no cour&s;e of Nature yet e&s;tabli&s;hed. <HI>Facit mirabilia magna&s;olus,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 136.4.</NOTE> There are <HI>Mirabilia parva,</HI> &s;ome le&s;&s;er wonders, that the devill and his In&s;truments, <HI>Pharaohs</HI> Sorcerers, can do; But when it comes to <HI>Mirabilia magna,</HI> Great wonders, &s;o great, as that they amount to the nature of a Miracle, <HI>Facit &s;olus,</HI> God, and God onely does them. And among&s;t the&s;e, and among&s;t the greate&s;t of the&s;e, is the rai&s;ing of the Dead, and therefore we make it a particular con&s;ideration, the extraordinary Joy in that ca&s;e, when <HI>Women received their dead rai&s;ed to life againe.</HI></P>
<P>Wee know the di&s;honour, and the infamy that lay upon barrenne&s;&s;e, among the Jews;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mortui.</NOTE> how wives deplored, and lamented that. When God is plea&s;ed to take away that impe|diment of barrenne&s;&s;e, and to give children, we know the mi&s;ery, and de&s;olation of orbity, when Parents are deprived of tho&s;e children, by death; And by the mea&s;ure of that &s;or|row, which follows barrenne&s;&s;e, or orbitie, we may proportion that joy, which accom|panies Gods miraculous ble&s;&s;ings, when <HI>Women receive their dead nai&s;ed to life againe.</HI> In all the &s;ecular, and prophane Writers in the world, in the whole bodie of Story, you &s;hall not finde &s;uch an expre&s;&s;ing of the mi&s;ery of a famine, as that of the Holy Gho&s;t in the Lamentations; <HI>That women eate Palmares &s;ilios;</HI> We tran&s;late it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 2.20.</NOTE> <HI>Their children of a &s;pan long;</HI> that is, that they procured abortions and untimely births of tho&s;e children, which were in their bodies, that they might have &s;o much fle&s;h to eate. As that is pro|po&s;ed for the greate&s;t mi&s;ery, that ever was, women to de&s;troy their children &s;o, &s;o is this for the highe&s;t accumulation of Joy, to have dead children brought to life a|gaine. When we heare S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his Confe&s;&s;ions, lament &s;o pa&s;&s;ionately the death of his Son, and in&s;i&s;t &s;o affectionately, upon the Pregnancie, and Forwardne&s;&s;e of that Son; though that Son if he had lived, mu&s;t have lived a continuall evidence, and monu|ment of his &s;in, (for, for all his Son, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> was no married man) yet what may we thinke, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> would have given, though it had been to have beene cut out of his own life, to have had that Son re&s;tored to life again? Mea&s;ure it but by the Joy, which we have, in recovering a &s;ick child, from the hands, and jawes, and gates of death; Mea&s;ure it but by that delight which we have, when we &s;ee our Garden recovered fro~ the death of Winter. Mens curio&s;ities have carried them to unlawfull de&s;ires of communication with the Dead; as in <HI>Sauls</HI> ca&s;e towards <HI>Samuel.</HI> But if with a good con&s;cience, and without that horror, which is likely to accompanie &s;uch a communication with the Dead, a man
<PB N="216" REF="126">might have the conver&s;ation of a friend, that had been dead, and had &s;eene the other World; As <HI>Dives</HI> thought no Preacher &s;o powerfull to worke upon his Brethren, as one &s;ent from the Dead, &s;o certainly all the Travailers in the World, if we could heare them all, all the Libraries in the world, if we could read them all, could not tell us &s;o much, as that friend, returned from the dead, which had &s;eene the other World.</P>
<P>But wayving that con&s;ideration, becau&s;e as we know not, what kind of remem|brance of this world, God leaves us in the next, when he tran&s;lates us thither, &s;o neither do we know, what kinde of remembrance of that world, God would leave in that man, whom he &s;hould re-tran&s;late into this, we fixe onely upon the examples entended in our Text, who the&s;e joyfull Women were, that receiv'd their Dead rai&s;ed to life againe, which is our &s;econd Branch of this fir&s;t part; for with tho&s;e three con&s;iderations, which con&s;tituted our fir&s;t Branch, we have done, That God gives us this World, as we are generall Chri&s;tians; And, as we are Faithfull Chri&s;tians, Miracles; And, the greate&s;t of Miracles, The rai&s;ing of the Dead.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd Branch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mulieres.</NOTE> we have two Con&s;iderations; fir&s;t, what kind of Women the&s;e were, and then, who they were; fir&s;t, their Qualities, and then, their Per&s;ons. We have occa&s;ion to &s;top upon the fir&s;t, becau&s;e <HI>Aquinas</HI> in his Expo&s;ition of this Text, tels us, there are &s;ome Expo&s;itors, who take this word, <HI>Women,</HI> in this place, to be entended, not of <HI>Mothers,</HI> but of <HI>Wives;</HI> And then, becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle &s;aies here, that <HI>Women received their dead,</HI> that is, &s;ay they, Wives received their dead Husbands, rai&s;ed to life again, and received them, as Husbands, that is, cohabited with them as Husbands, therefore they conclude, &s;aies <HI>Aquinas,</HI> that Death it &s;elfe does not di&s;&s;olve the band of Marriage; and con&s;equently, that all other Marriages, all &s;uper-inductions, even after Death, are unlaw|full. Let me &s;ay but one word, of the Word, and a word or two of the Matter it &s;elfe, and I &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to the other Con&s;ideration, The Women whom the Apo&s;tle propo&s;es for his examples.</P>
<P>The word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vxores.</NOTE> <HI>Women,</HI> taken alone, &s;ignifies the whole &s;ex, women in generall, When it is contracted to a particular &s;ignification, in any Author, it followes the circum&s;tances, and the coherence of that place, in that Author; and by tho&s;e a man &s;hall ea&s;ily di&s;cerne, of what kinde of Women, that word is entended in that place. In this place, the Apo&s;tle works upon his Brethren, the Hebrews, by &s;uch examples, as were within their owne knowledge, and their owne &s;tories, throughout all this Chapter. And in tho&s;e &s;tories of theirs, we have no example, of any Wife, that had her dead Husband re&s;tored to her; but of Mothers that had their Children rai&s;ed to life, we have. So that this word, <HI>Women,</HI> mu&s;t &s;ignifie here, <HI>Mothers,</HI> and not <HI>Wives,</HI> as <HI>Aquinas</HI> Expo&s;itors mi&s;-imagined.</P>
<P>And for the matter it &s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nuptiae ite|ratae.</NOTE> that is, &s;econd or oftner-iterated Marriages, the di&s;-ap|proving of them, entred very &s;oone into &s;ome Hereticks, in the Primitive Church. For the eighth Canon of that great Councell of Nice, (which is one of the indubitable Canons) forbids, by name, <HI>Catharos,</HI> The Puritanes of tho&s;e Times, to be received by the Church, except they would be content to receive the Sacrament with per&s;ons that had beene twice married; which, before they would not doe. It entred &s;oone into &s;ome Hereticks, and it entred &s;oone, and went far, in &s;ome holy and reverent Men, and &s;ome A&s;&s;emblies, that had, and had ju&s;tly, the name, and forme of Councels. For, in the Coun|cell of <HI>Neo-Cae&s;area,</HI> which was before the <HI>Nicen</HI> Councell, in the &s;eventh Canon, there are &s;omewhat &s;hrewd a&s;per&s;ions laid upon &s;econd Mariages. And certainly, the Roman Church cannot be denyed, to come too neere this di&s;-approving of &s;econd Mariages. For though they will not &s;peak plaine, (they love not that, becau&s;e they get more by keeping things in &s;u&s;pence) yet plainly they forbid the Benediction at &s;econd Mariages. <HI>Valeat quantnm valere pote&s;t;</HI> Let them doe as well as they can, with their &s;econd Marriage, Let them marrie <HI>De bene e&s;&s;e,</HI> At all adventures; but they will affoord no Ble&s;&s;ing to a &s;e|cond, as to a fir&s;t Marriage. And though they will not &s;hut the Church doores again&s;t all &s;uch, yet they will &s;hut up all Church functions again&s;t all &s;uch. No &s;uch Per&s;on as hath married twice, or married once, one that hath married twice, can be received to the dignity of Orders, in their Church.</P>
<P>And though &s;ome of the Fathers pared &s;omewhat too neare the quick in this point, yet it was not as in the Romane Church, to lay &s;nares, and &s;pread nets for gain, and pro|fit, and to forbid only therefore, that they might have market for their Di&s;pen&s;ations; neither was it to fixe, and appropriate &s;anctity, only in Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall per&s;ons, who only
<PB N="217" REF="126">mu&s;t not marry twice, but out of a tender &s;en&s;e, and earne&s;t love to Continency, and out of a holy indignation, that men tumbled and wallowed &s;o licentiou&s;ly, &s;o promi&s;cuou&s;|ly, &s;o indifferently, &s;o incon&s;iderately in all wayes of incontinency, tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers admitted in them&s;elves a &s;uper-zealous, an over-vehement animo&s;ity in this point. But yet S. <HI>Ierome</HI> him&s;elfe, though he remember with a holy &s;corn,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. ad Agers. chiam.</NOTE> that when he was at Rome in the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Pope <HI>Dama&s;us</HI> (as his word is, <HI>Cum juvarem</HI>) he &s;aw a man that had buried twenty wives, marry a wife, that buried twenty two husbands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apolog. ad Pam|nach.</NOTE> yet for the matter, and in &s;eriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, he &s;ayes plainly enough, <HI>Non damno Bigamos, imo nec Tri|gamos, nec &s;i dici pote&s;t octogamos,</HI> I condemne no man for marrying two, or three, or if he have a minde to it, eight wives. And &s;o al&s;o in his former Epi&s;tle, <HI>Abjicimus de Ec|cle&s;ia Digamos? ab&s;it;</HI> God forbid we &s;hould deny any Church a&s;&s;i&s;tance to any, for twice marrying; but yet, &s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed Father, <HI>Monogamos ad continentiam provo|camus;</HI> Let me have leave to per&s;wade them who have been married, and are at liberty, to continency, now at la&s;t.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e Fathers departed not from the Apo&s;tles <HI>Nubat in Domino, Let them marry in the Lord;</HI> but they would fain bring the Lord to the making of every marriage, and not only the world, and worldly re&s;pects. For the Lord him&s;elf, who honoured marriage, even with the fir&s;t fruits of his miracles, yet per&s;wades continency,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.22.</NOTE> <HI>He that is able to re|ceive it, let him receive it.</HI> The fault which tho&s;e Fathers did, and we may reprehend, is, that men do not try whether they be able to receive it or no; In all Treaties of marriage, in all Contracts for Portion, and Joynture, who ever ask their children, who ever aske them&s;elves, whether they can live continently or no? Or what triall, what experiment can have been made of this, in Cradle-marriages? Marriage was given for a remedy; but not before any apparance of a danger. And given for Phy&s;ick, but not before any appa|rance of a di&s;ea&s;e. And do any Parents lay up a medicine again&s;t the falling &s;ickne&s;&s;e, for their new-born children, becau&s;e tho&s;e children may have the falling &s;ickne&s;&s;e? The peace of neighbouring States, the uniting of great Families for good ends, may pre&s;ent ju&s;t occa&s;ions of departing from &s;evere rules. I only intend, as I take mo&s;t of tho&s;e Fa|thers to have done, to leave all per&s;ons to their Chri&s;tian liberty, as the Lord hath done; and yet, as the Lord hath done too, to per&s;wade them to con&s;ider them&s;elves, and tho&s;e who are theirs, how far they need the u&s;e of that Liberty, and not to exceed that. And thus much <HI>Aquinas</HI> Expo&s;itors, who would needs under&s;tand the Women in this Text, to be Wives, have occa&s;ioned us to &s;ay in this point. In our order propo&s;ed, we pa&s;&s;e now to the other con&s;ideration, who the&s;e women were whom the Apo&s;tle makes his Examples, for they are but two, and may &s;oon be con&s;idered.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is the Widow of Zareptha, in who&s;e hou&s;e <HI>Elias</HI> the Prophet &s;ojourned.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 17.</NOTE> She was a Widow, and a poore Widow, and might need the labour, or the providence of a husband in that re&s;pect: Yet &s;he &s;olicites not, nor <HI>Elias</HI> endeavours not the rai&s;ing of her dead husband to life againe. A Widow, that is, <HI>A Widow indeed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.3.</NOTE> (as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks) may have in that &s;tate of &s;uch a Widowhood, more a&s;&s;i&s;tances towards the next world, then &s;he &s;hould have for this, by taking another husband. For, for that Widow, <HI>Quae in tumulo mariti, &s;epeliit voluptates,</HI> Who hath buried all her affections towards this world, in her husbands grave, the Apo&s;tle in that place, ordaines honour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> <HI>Honour Widows, that are Widows indeed.</HI> And when he &s;ayes Honour, and &s;peaks of poore Wi|dows, he &s;peaks not of &s;uch honour as &s;uch poore &s;oules are incapable of, but of that Honour, which that word &s;ignifies ordinarily in the Scriptures, <HI>Qui non tam in &s;alutati|onibus, quam in elecmo&s;ynis,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> which rather con&s;i&s;ts in Almes, and Reliefe, then in Salutations, and Reverences, or &s;uch re&s;pects. For &s;o (as S. <HI>Ierome</HI> notes in particular) when we are commanded to honour our Parents, it is intended wee &s;hould relieve and maintain our Parents, if they be decayed. And &s;uch honour the Apo|&s;tle per&s;wades to be given, and &s;uch honour God will provide, that is, Peace in the po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion of their e&s;tate, if they have any e&s;tate; and reliefe from others, if they have none, for Widows, that are <HI>Widows indeed.</HI></P>
<P>In which qualification of theirs, that they be <HI>Widows indeed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> we may well take in that addition which the Apo&s;tle makes, <HI>That &s;he have been the wi&s;e of one man.</HI> For though we make not that an only, or an e&s;&s;entiall Character of a <HI>Widow indeed,</HI> to have had but one husband, yet we note, as <HI>Calvin</HI> doth, that the Church received Widows, in yeares, therefore, <HI>Quia timendum er at, ne ad novas nuptias a&s;pirarent,</HI> becau&s;e the Church feared
<PB N="218" REF="127">that they would marry again. And certainly, if the Church feared they would, the Church had rather they would not. It is (as <HI>Calvin</HI> adds there) <HI>Pignus continentiae, &amp; pudoris</HI> (though <HI>Calvin</HI> were no man to be &s;u&s;pected, to countenance the perver&s;ne&s;&s;e of the Romane Church, in defaming, or undervaluing marriage. yet he &s;ayes &s;o) it is a good Pawne, and Evidence of Continency, to have re&s;ted in one husband.</P>
<P>This Widow of <HI>Zareptha</HI> then, importunes not the Prophet to re&s;tore her dead hu&s;|band; Shee beares her widows e&s;tate well enough; but for her dead Son &s;he doth im|portune him; in the agony and vehemence of a Pa&s;&s;ion, &s;he &s;ayes, at her fir&s;t encounter with the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 18.</NOTE> <HI>Quid mihi, &amp; tibi? What have I to do with thee?</HI> Shee doth almo&s;t re|nounce the means; In irregular pa&s;&s;ion, a di&s;con&s;olate &s;oule comes to &s;ay, what have I to do with Prayers, with Sermons, with Sacraments, I &s;ee that God hath for&s;aken me: but yet &s;hee collects her &s;elf; <HI>What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?</HI> When &s;he confe&s;&s;es him to be the man of God, &s;he doth not renounce him; When we con&s;ider the meanes, to be means ordained by God, we finde comfort in them. Yet &s;he cannot con|tain the bitterne&s;&s;e of her pa&s;&s;ion; <HI>Art thou come unto me, to call my &s;in to remembrance, and to kill my Son?</HI> She implyes thus much; Shall my &s;oule never be at peace? Shall no re|pentance from my heart, no ab&s;olution from thy mouth, make me &s;ure that God hath forgiven and forgotten my &s;ins? But when I have received all Seales of Reconciliation, will God &s;till puni&s;h tho&s;e &s;ins which he pretends to have forgiven, and puni&s;h them with &s;o high a hand, as the taking away of my only Childe? And we may &s;ee an exal|tation of this womans pa&s;&s;ion, not only in the lo&s;&s;e, but in the recovery of her childe too. For when &s;he had received her childe alive, &s;he comes to that pa&s;&s;ionate acclamation, <HI>Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth, is truth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 14.</NOTE> As though, if this had not been done, &s;he would not have beleeved that.</P>
<P>How then &s;ayes our Apo&s;tle in this Text, That this woman received her dead Son by faith, when &s;he declares this inordinatene&s;&s;e, this di&s;-compo&s;edne&s;&s;e, and fluctuation of pa&s;&s;ion? This que&s;tion made S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> refer this faith that the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes of, to the Prophet that rai&s;ed the childe, and not to the mother; For &s;he &s;eemes to him to have had none. And &s;o the Syriack tran&s;lates this place, <HI>Reddiderunt,</HI> not <HI>Acceperunt; By faith, They,</HI> that is, the Prophets re&s;tored the dead, not <HI>By faith, They,</HI> that is, the mo|thers received their dead.</P>
<P>But God forbid that naturall affections, even in an exaltation, and vehement expre&s;|&s;ing thereof, &s;hould be thought to de&s;troy faith; God forbid that I &s;hould conclude an extermination of faith, in <HI>Mo&s;es Dele me,</HI> Pardon this people, or blot my name out of thy Book; or in S. <HI>Pauls Anathema pro fratribus,</HI> That he de&s;ired to be &s;eparated from Chri&s;t, rather then his brethren &s;hould; or in <HI>Iob,</HI> or in <HI>Ieremy,</HI> or in <HI>Ionas,</HI> when they expo&s;tu|late, and chide with God him&s;elf, out of a wearine&s;&s;e of their lives; or in the Lord of Life him&s;elf, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, when he came to an <HI>Vt quid dereliqui&s;ti?</HI> To an apprehen&s;ion that God had for&s;aken him upon the Cro&s;&s;e. God that could re&s;tore her cold childe, could keep his childe, her faith, alive in tho&s;e hot embers of Pa&s;&s;ion. So God did; But he did it thus; The childe was taken from the mothers warm and &s;oft bo&s;ome, and car|ried to the Prophets hard and cold bed.</P>
<P>Beloved, we die in our delicacies, and revive not, but in afflictions; In abundancies, the blow of death meets us, and the breath of life, in mi&s;ery, and tribulation. God puts him&s;elf to the co&s;t of one of his greate&s;t Miracles, for her Faith; He rai&s;es her childe to life; And then, he makes up his own work; he continues with that childe, and makes him a good man; There are men, whom, even Miracles will not improve; but this childe (we will not di&s;pute it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">m. in Io|nam.</NOTE> but accept it from S. <HI>Ierome,</HI> who relates it) became a Prophet. It was that very <HI>Ionas,</HI> whom God imployed to Ninive; in which Service, he gave &s;ome &s;ignes who&s;e Son he was, and how much of his mothers pa&s;&s;ion he inherit|ed in his vehement expo&s;tulations with God. Be this then our doctrinall in&s;truction for this fir&s;t example, the <HI>Widow of Zareptha;</HI> fir&s;t, that God thinks nothing too deare for his faithfull Children; not his great Trea&s;ure, not his Miracles; And then God pre|&s;erves this faith of theirs, in contemplation of which only, he be&s;tows this Trea&s;ure, this Miracle, in the mid&s;t of the &s;tormes of naturall affections, and the tempe&s;t of di&s;tem|pered pa&s;&s;ions; and then la&s;tly, that he proceeds, and goes on in his own goodne&s;&s;e; Here he makes a Carka&s;&s;e a Man, and then that man a Prophet; Every day he makes a dead &s;oul, a &s;oul again, and then that &s;oul, a Saint.</P>
<PB N="219" REF="127">
<P>The other example in this point, is that <HI>Shunamite,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Reg. 4.</NOTE> who&s;e dead &s;on <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> re&s;tored to life. In the beginning of that Chapter, you heare of another Widow; <HI>A certaine wo|man, of the wives of the &s;ons of the Prophets, cryed unto Eli&s;ha, Thy &s;ervant my husband is dead;</HI> And truly a Widow of one of the &s;ons of the Prophets, a Church-mans Widow, was like enough, to be poore enough; And yet, the Prophet doth not turne upon that way, either to re&s;tore her dead husband, or to provide her another husband; but onely enquires how &s;he was left; and finding her in poore e&s;tate, and in debt, provides her meanes to pay her debts, and to bring up her children, and to that purpo&s;e, procures a mi|racle from God, in the abundant increa&s;e of her oyle; but he troubles not God for her old, or for a new husband. But our example, to which the Apo&s;tle in our Text referres him&s;elfe, is not this Widow in the beginning, but that Mother, in the body of the Chap|ter, who having, by <HI>Eli&s;ha's</HI> prayers, obtained a Son of God, after &s;he was pa&s;t hope, and that Son being dead in her lap, in her al&s;o, (as in the former example) we may con&s;ider, how Pa&s;&s;ion and Faith may con&s;i&s;t together: She asks her husband leave,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 22.</NOTE> <HI>That &s;he might run to the Prophet;</HI> her zeale, her pa&s;&s;ionate zeale ha&s;tned her, &s;he would run, but not without her husbands leave.</P>
<P>As S. <HI>Ierome</HI> forbids a Lady, to &s;uffer her daughter, to goe to what Churches &s;he would, &s;o may there be indi&s;cretion at lea&s;t, to &s;uffer wives to goe to what meetings (though holy Convocations) they will; &s;he does not harbour in her hou&s;e, a per&s;on dan|gerous to the Publike State, or to her husbands private &s;tate, nor a per&s;on likely to &s;o|licite her cha&s;tity, though in a Prophets name; We may finde women, that may have occa&s;ion of going to Confe&s;&s;ion, for &s;omething that their Confe&s;&s;ors may have done to them. In this womans ca&s;e, there was no di&s;gui&s;e; She would faine goe, and run; but not without her husbands knowledge, and allowance.</P>
<P>Her husband asks her, <HI>Why &s;he would goe to the Prophet, then, being neither Sabbath,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">V. 23.</NOTE> <HI>nor new Moone?</HI> He acknowledges, that God is likelier to conferre ble&s;&s;ings upon Sabbaths, and new Moones, upon &s;ome dayes, rather then other; That all dayes are not alike with God, then, when he, by his ordinance, hath put a difference between them. And he ac|knowledges too, that though the Sabbath be the principall of tho&s;e dayes which God hath &s;epo&s;ed for his e&s;peciall working, yet there are new Moones too; there are other Holy-dayes, for holy Convocations, and for his Divine and Publique Wor&s;hip, be&s;ides the Sabbath. But this was neither Sabbath, nor new Moone, neither Sunday, nor Ho|ly-day; Why would &s;he goe upon that day? Beloved, though for publique meetings, in publique places, the Sabbaths, and Holy-dayes be the proper dayes, yet for confe|rence, and coun&s;ell, and other a&s;&s;i&s;tances from the Prophets, and Mini&s;ters of God, all times are &s;ea&s;onable, all dayes are Sabbaths.</P>
<P>She goes to the Prophet; &s;he pre&s;&s;es with &s;o much pa&s;&s;ion, and &s;o much faith too, and &s;o good &s;ucce&s;&s;e, (for &s;he had her dead &s;on re&s;tored unto her) that as from the other, &s;o from this example ari&s;es this, That in a heart ab&s;olutely &s;urrendred to God, vehement expo&s;tulation with God, and yet full &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to God, and a quiet acquie&s;cence in God; A &s;torme of affections in nature, and yet a &s;etled calme, and a fa&s;t anchorage in grace, a &s;u&s;pition, and a jealou&s;ie, and yet an a&s;&s;urance, and a confidence in God, may well con&s;i&s;t together: In the &s;ame in&s;tant that Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Si po&s;sibile,</HI> he &s;aid <HI>Verunta|men</HI> too; though he de&s;ired that that cup might pa&s;&s;e, yet he de&s;ired not, that his de&s;ire &s;hould be &s;atisfied. In the &s;ame in&s;tant that the Martyrs under the Altar &s;ay, <HI>V&s;que qu&ograve; Domine,</HI> How long Lord before thou execute judgement? they &s;ee, that he does exe|cute judgement every day, in their behalfe. All jealou&s;ie in God, does not de&s;troy our a&s;&s;urance in him; nor all diffidence, our confidence; nor all feare, our faith. The&s;e wo|men had the&s;e naturall weakne&s;&s;es, that is, this &s;trength of affections, and pa&s;&s;ions, and yet by this faith, the&s;e <HI>women received their dead, rai&s;ed to life againe.</HI></P>
<P>But yet, (which is a la&s;t con&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Foeminile.</NOTE> and our conclu&s;ion of this part) this being thus put onely in women, in the weaker &s;exe, that they de&s;ired, that they rejoyced in this re|&s;u&s;citation of the dead, may well intimate thus much unto us, that our virility, our holy manhood, our true and religious &s;trength, con&s;i&s;ts in the a&s;&s;urance, that though death have divided us, and though we never receive our dead rai&s;ed to life again in this world, yet we do live together already, in a holy Communion of Saints, and &s;hal live together for ever, hereafter, in a glorious Re&s;urrection of bodies. Little know we, how little a way a &s;oule hath to goe to heaven, when it departs from the body; Whether it mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e locally,
<PB N="220" REF="128">through Moone, and Sun, and Firmament, (and if all that mu&s;t be done, all that may be done, in le&s;&s;e time then I have propo&s;ed the doubt in) or whether that &s;oule finde new light in the &s;ame roome, and be not carried into any other, but that the glory of heaven be diffu&s;ed over all, I know not, I di&s;pute not, I inquire not. Without di&s;puting, or in|quiring, I know, that when Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>That God is not the God of the dead,</HI> he &s;aies that to a&s;&s;ure me, that tho&s;e whom I call dead, are alive. And when the Apo&s;tle tels me, <HI>That God is not a&s;hamed to be called the God of the dead,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.16.</NOTE> he tels me that to a&s;&s;ure me, That Gods &s;ervants lo&s;e nothing by dying.</P>
<P>He was but a Heathen that &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Menander. Thraces.</NOTE> If God love a man, <HI>Iuvenis tollitur,</HI> He takes him young out of this world; And they were but Heathens, that ob&s;erved that cu&s;tome, To put on mourning when their &s;ons were born, and to fea&s;t and triumph when they dyed. But thus much we may learne from the&s;e Heathens, That if the dead, and we, be not upon one floore, nor under one &s;tory, yet we are under one roofe. We think not a friend lo&s;t, becau&s;e he is gone into another roome, nor becau&s;e he is gone into another Land; And into ano|ther world, no man is gone; for that Heaven, which God created, and this world, is all one world. If I had fixt a Son in Court, or married a daughter into a plentifull Fortune, I were &s;atisfied for that &s;on and that daughter. Shall I not be &s;o, when the King of Hea|ven hath taken that &s;on to him&s;elfe, and maried him&s;elfe to that daughter, for ever? I &s;pend none of my Faith, I exerci&s;e none of my Hope, in this, that I &s;hall have my dead rai&s;ed to life againe.</P>
<P>This is the faith that &s;u&s;taines me, when I lo&s;e by the death of others, or when I &s;uffer by living in mi&s;ery my &s;elfe, That the dead, and we, are now all in one Church, and at the re&s;urrection, &s;hall be all in one Quire. But that is the re&s;urrection which belongs to our other part; That re&s;urrection which wee have handled, though it were a re&s;urre|ction from death, yet it was to death too; for tho&s;e that were rai&s;ed again, died again. But the Re&s;urrection which we are to &s;peak of, is forever; They that ri&s;e then, &s;hall &s;ee death no more, for it is (&s;ayes our Text) <HI>A better Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>That which we did in the other part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> in the la&s;t branch thereof, in this part we &s;hall doe in the fir&s;t; Fir&s;t we &s;hall con&s;ider the examples, from which the Apo&s;tle deduceth this encouragement, and faithfull con&s;tancy, upon tho&s;e Hebrewes, to whom he directs this Epi&s;tle. Though, as he &s;ayes in the beginning of the next Chapter, he were <HI>compa&s;&s;ed about with a Cloud of witne&s;&s;es,</HI> and &s;o might have propo&s;ed examples from the Authen|ticke Scriptures, and the Hi&s;tories of the Bible, yet we accept that direction, which our Tran&s;lators have given us, in the Marginall Concordance of their Tran&s;lation, That the Apo&s;tle, in this Text, intends, and &s;o referres to that Story, which is 2 <HI>Maccab.</HI> 7.7. To that Story al&s;o doth <HI>Aquinas</HI> referre this place; But <HI>Aquinas</HI> may have had a minde, to doe that &s;ervice to the Romane Church, to make the Apo&s;tle cite an Apocryphall Story, though the Apo&s;tle meant it not. It may be &s;o in <HI>Aquinas;</HI> He might have &s;uch a minde, &s;uch a meaning. But &s;urely <HI>Beza</HI> had no &s;uch meaning, <HI>Calvin</HI> had no &s;uch minde; and yet both <HI>Calvin,</HI> and <HI>Beza</HI> referre this Text to that Story. Though it be &s;aid, &s;ayes <HI>Calvin,</HI> that <HI>Ieremy</HI> was &s;toned to death, and <HI>E&s;ay</HI> &s;awed to death, <HI>Non dubito, quin illas per&s;ecutiones de&s;ignet, quae &s;ub Antiocho,</HI> I doubt not, &s;ayes he, but that the Apo&s;tle intends tho&s;e per&s;ecutions, which the <HI>Maccabees</HI> &s;uffered under <HI>Antiochus.</HI></P>
<P>So then, there may be good u&s;e made of an Apocryphall Booke. It alwayes was, and alwayes will be impo&s;&s;ible, for our adver&s;aries of the Romane Church, to e&s;tabli&s;h that, which they have &s;o long endeavoured, that is, to make the Apocryphall Bookes equall to the Canonicall. It is true, that before there was any occa&s;ion of jealou&s;ie, or &s;u&s;pition, that there would be new Articles of faith coyned, and tho&s;e new Articles au|thorized, and countenanced out of the Apocryphall Books, the ble&s;&s;ed Fathers in the Primitive Church, afforded honourable names, and made faire and noble mention of tho&s;e Books. So they have called them Sacred; and more then that, Divine; and more then that too, Canonicall Books; and more then all that, by the generall name of Scrip|ture, and Holy Writ. But the Holy Gho&s;t, who fore-&s;aw the danger, though tho&s;e ble&s;|&s;ed Fathers them&s;elves did not, hath &s;hed, and dropt, even in their writings, many eviden|ces, to prove, in what &s;en&s;e they called tho&s;e Books by tho&s;e names, and in what di&s;tance they alwayes held them, from tho&s;e Bookes, which are purely, and po&s;itively, and to all purpo&s;es, and in all &s;en&s;es, Sacred, and Divine, and Canonicall, and &s;imply Scripture, and &s;imply, Holy Writ.</P>
<PB N="221" REF="128">
<P>Of this there is no doubt in the Fathers before S. <HI>Augu&s;tine:</HI> For all they propo&s;ed the&s;e Bookes, as <HI>Canones morum, non &s;idei,</HI> Canonicall, that is, Regular, for applying our manners, and conver&s;ation to the Articles of Faith; but not Canonicall, for the e&s;tabli&s;h|ing tho&s;e Articles; Canonicall for edification, but not for foundation. And even in the later Roman Church, we have a good Author that gives us a good rule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Caje<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">an.</NOTE> <HI>Ne turberis Novi|tie,</HI> Let no young Student be troubled, when he heares the&s;e Bookes, by &s;ome of the Fa|thers, called Canonicall, for, they are &s;o, &s;aies he, in their &s;en&s;e, <HI>Regulares ad aedificatio|nem,</HI> Good Canons, good Rules for matter of manners, and conver&s;ation. And this di&s;tinction, &s;aies that Author, will &s;erve to rectifie, not onely what the Fathers afore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> (for they &s;peake cleerely enough) but what S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elfe, and &s;ome Councels have &s;aid of this matter. But yet, this difference gives no occa&s;ion to an elimination, to an extermination of the&s;e Books, which we call Apocryphall. And there|fore, when in a late forraine Synod, that Nation, where that Synod was gathered, would needs di&s;pute, whether the Apocryphall Bookes &s;hould not be utterly left out of the Bible; And, not effecting that, yet determined, that tho&s;e Bookes &s;hould be removed from their old place, where they had ever &s;tood, that is, after the Bookes of the Old Te&s;tament, <HI>Exteri &s;e excu&s;ari petierunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Se&s;&s;io 10.</NOTE> (&s;ay the Acts of that Synod) Tho&s;e that came to that Synod, from other places, de&s;ire to be excu&s;ed, from a&s;&s;enting to the di&s;placing of tho&s;e Apocryphall Books. For, in that place, (as we &s;ee by <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI>) they pre|&s;cribe; For, though they be not Canonicall, &s;aies he, yet they are <HI>Eju&s;dem veteris In|&s;trumenti libri,</HI> Books that belong to the Old Te&s;tament, that is, (at lea&s;t) to the elucida|tion, and cleering of many places in the Old Te&s;tament. And that the Ancient Fathers thought the&s;e Books worthy of their particular con&s;ideration, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be more then evident to him that reads S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> Homilie, or <HI>Leo</HI> his Sermon upon this ve|ry part of that Book of the <HI>Maccab:</HI> to which the Apo&s;tle refers in this Text; that is, to that which the &s;even Brethren there, &s;uffered for a better Re&s;urrection. And if we take in the te&s;timony of the Reformation, divers great and learned men, have interpreted the&s;e Books, by their particular Commentaries. <HI>O&s;yander</HI> hath done &s;o, and done it, with a prote&s;tation, that divers great Divines intreated him to do it. <HI>Conrad: Pellicanus</HI> hath done &s;o too; Who, le&s;t the&s;e Books &s;hould &s;eeme to be undervalued, in the name of A|pocryphall, &s;aies, that it is fitter to call them <HI>Libros Eccle&s;ia&s;ticos,</HI> rather Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall, then Apocryphall Books. And of the fir&s;t of the&s;e two books of the <HI>Maccab:</HI> he &s;aies freely, <HI>Rever&agrave;, Divini Spiritus in&s;tigatione,</HI> No doubt, but the holy Gho&s;t moved &s;ome holy man to write this Book; becau&s;e, &s;aies he, by it, many places of they Prophets are the better under&s;tood, and without that Booke, (which is a great addition of dignitie) <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tica eruditio perfecta non fui&s;&s;et,</HI> The Church had not been &s;o well enabled, to give perfect in&s;truction in the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story. Therefore he cals it <HI>Pii&s;simum Ca|tholicae Eccle&s;iae in&s;titutum,</HI> A mo&s;t holy In&s;titution of the Catholike Church, that tho&s;e Books were read in the Church; And, if that Cu&s;tome had been every where continued, <HI>Non tot errores increvi&s;&s;ent,</HI> So many errors had not growne in the Reformed Church, &s;aies that Author. And to de&s;cend to practi&s;e, at this day we &s;ee, that in many Churches of the Reformation, their Preachers never forbeare, to preach upon Texts taken out of the Apocryphall Books. We di&s;cerne cleerely, and as earne&s;tly we dete&s;t the mi&s;chie|vous purpo&s;es of our Adver&s;aries, in magnifying the&s;e Apocryphall Books; It is not, principally, that they would have the&s;e Books as good as Scriptures; but, becau&s;e they would have Scriptures, no better then the&s;e Books: That &s;o, when it &s;hould appeare, that the&s;e Books were weake books, and the Scriptures no better then they, their owne Tra|ditions might be as good as either. But, as their impiety is inexcu&s;able, that thus over|value them, &s;o is their &s;ingularity too, that depre&s;&s;e the&s;e books too farre; of which, the A|po&s;tle him&s;elfe makes this u&s;e, not to e&s;tabli&s;h Articles of Faith, but to e&s;tabli&s;h the He|brews in the Articles of Faith, by examples, deduced from this Booke.</P>
<P>The example then, to which the Apo&s;tle leads them, is that Story of a Mother, and her &s;even Sons, which in one day &s;uffered death, by exqui&s;ite torments, rather then break that Law of their God, which the King pre&s;t them to break, though but a Ceremoniall Law. Now, as <HI>Leo</HI> &s;aies, in his Sermon upon their day, (for the Chri&s;tian Church kept a day, in memory of the Martyredome of the&s;e &s;even Maccabees, though they were but Jewes) <HI>Gravant audita, ni&s;i &s;u&s;cipiantur imitanda;</HI> It is a paine to heare the good that o|thers have done, except we have &s;ome de&s;ire to imitate them, in doing the like. The
<PB N="222" REF="129">Panegyricke &s;aid well, <HI>Onero&s;um e&s;t, &s;uccederebono Principi;</HI> That King, that comes after a good Predece&s;&s;our, hath a &s;hrewd burthen upon him; becau&s;e all the World can com|pare him with the la&s;t King; and all the world will looke, that he &s;hould be as good a King, as his immediate Predece&s;&s;our, whom they all remember, was. So <HI>Gravant audita,</HI> It will trouble you to heare, what the&s;e Maccabees, which S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks of, &s;uffered for the Law of their God, but you are weary of it, and would be glad we would give over talking of them, except you have a de&s;ire to imitate them. And if you have that, you are glad to heare more, and more of them; and, from this Apo&s;tle here, you may. For he makes two u&s;es of their example; Fir&s;t, that though they were tortured, they would not accept a deliverance, And then, that they put on that re&s;olution, <HI>That they might obtaine a better Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>What they &s;uffered, hath exerci&s;ed all our Grammarians, and all our Philologers, and all our Antiquaries, that have enquired into the Racks, and Tortures of tho&s;e times. We tran&s;late it roundly, They were tortured. And S. <HI>Pauls</HI> word implies a torture of that kind, that their bodies were extended, and rackt, as upon a drumme, and then beaten with &s;taves. What the torture, intended in that word, was, we know not. But in the Story it &s;elfe, to which he refers, in the Maccab: you have all the&s;e divers tortures; Cutting out of tongues, and cutting off of hands, and feete, and macerating in hot Cauldrons, and pulling off the skin of their heads, with their haire; And yet they would not accept a deliverance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 24.</NOTE> Was it offered them? Expre&s;ly it was. The King promi&s;es, and &s;weares to one of them, that he would make him Rich, and Happie, and his Friend, and tru&s;t him with his affaires, if he would apply him&s;elfe to his de&s;ires; and yet he would not accept this deliverance. This is that which S. <HI>Augu&s;t:</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Sunt qui patienter moriuntur,</HI> There may be many found, that dye without any di&s;temper, without any impatience, that &s;uffer patiently enough; But then, <HI>Sunt qui patienter vivunt, &amp; delectabiliter moriuntur;</HI> There are others, who&s;e life exerci&s;es all their patience, &s;o that it is a paine to them (though they indure it patiently) to live. But they could dye, not only patiently, but cheerefully; They are not onely content, if they mu&s;t, but glad if they may dye, when they may dye &s;o, as that thereby, <HI>They may obtaine a better Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>And this was the ca&s;e of the&s;e Martyrs, whom the Apo&s;tle here propo&s;es to the imi|tation of the Hebrews. They put all upon that i&s;&s;ue, <HI>A better Re&s;urrection.</HI> So the &s;econd Brother &s;aies to the King,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> Thou, like a Fury, take&s;t us out of this life; but the King of the World, &s;hall rai&s;e us up, who have dyed for his Law, unto everla&s;ting life. Here lay his hope; That that which dyed, that which could dye, his body, &s;hould be rai&s;ed againe. So the third Brother proceeded;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 11.</NOTE> He held out his hands, and &s;aid, The&s;e I had from Hea|ven; and, for his Laws, I de&s;pi&s;e them; and from him, I hope to receive them again. There was his hope; a re&s;titution of the &s;ame hands, in the Re&s;urrection. And &s;o the fourth Brother;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 14.</NOTE> It is good, being put to death, by men, to looke for hope, from God. Hope of what? To be rai&s;ed up againe by him; There was his hope. And he thought he could not &s;peake more bitterly to that Tyran, then to tell him, As for thee, thou &s;halt have no Re&s;urrection unto life. And &s;o the Mother e&s;tabli&s;ht her &s;elfe too; To her Sons &s;he &s;aies, I gave you not life in my wombe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 22.</NOTE> but doubtle&s;&s;e the Creator that did, will, of his mercy, give you life againe. The &s;oule needed not life againe, for the &s;oule never dyed; the body that dyed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 29.</NOTE> did; Therefore her hope was in a Re&s;urrection. And to her younge&s;t Son &s;he &s;aid, Be worthy of thy Brethren, Take thy death, that I may receive thee againe, in mer|cy, with thy Brethren. All their e&s;tabli&s;hment, all their expectation, all their i&s;&s;ue was, <HI>That they might obtaine a better Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>Now what was this that they qualified and dignified by that addition, <HI>The better Re|&s;urrection?</HI> Is it called better, in that it is better then this life, and determined in that com|pari&s;on, and degree of betterne&s;&s;e, and no more? Is it better then tho&s;e honours, and preferments which that King offered them, and determined in that compari&s;on, and no more? Or better then other men &s;hall have at the la&s;t day, (for all men &s;hall have a Re|&s;urrection) and determined in that? Or, as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> takes it, is it but a better Re|&s;urrection then that in the former part of this Text, where dead children are re&s;tored to their mothers alive again? Is it but a better Re&s;urrection in &s;ome of the&s;e &s;en&s;es? Sure|ly better in a higher &s;en&s;e then any of the&s;e; It is a &s;upereminent degree of glory, a lar|ger mea&s;ure of glory, then every man, who in a generall happine&s;&s;e, is made partaker of the Re&s;urrection of the righteous, is made partaker of.</P>
<PB N="223" REF="129">
<P>Beloved, There is nothing &s;o little in heaven, as that we can expre&s;&s;e it; But if wee could tell you the fulne&s;&s;e of a &s;oul there, what that fulne&s;&s;e is; the infinitene&s;&s;e of that glory there, how far that infinitene&s;&s;e goes; the Eternity of that happine&s;&s;e there, how long that happine&s;&s;e la&s;ts; if we could make you know all this, yet this <HI>Better Re&s;urrection</HI> is a heaping, even of that Fulne&s;&s;e, and an enlarging, even of that Infinitene&s;&s;e, and an extention, even of that eternity of happine&s;&s;e; For, all the&s;e, this Fulne&s;&s;e, this In|finitene&s;&s;e, this Eternity are in all the Re&s;urrections of the Righteous, and this is a <HI>better Re&s;urrection;</HI> We may almo&s;t &s;ay, it is &s;omething more then Heaven; for, all that have any Re&s;urrection to life, have all heaven; And &s;omething more then God; for, all that have any Re&s;urrection to life, have all God; and yet the&s;e &s;hall have a better Re|&s;urrection. Amorous &s;oule, ambitious &s;oule, covetous &s;oule, voluptuous &s;oule, what woulde&s;t thou have in heaven? What doth thy holy amorou&s;ne&s;&s;e, thy holy covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, thy holy ambition, and voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e mo&s;t carry thy de&s;ire upon? Call it what thou wilt; think it what thou can&s;t; think it &s;omething that thou can&s;t not think; and all this thou &s;halt have, if thou have any Re&s;urrection unto life; and yet there is a <HI>Better Re&s;urrection.</HI> When I con&s;ider what I was in my parents loynes (a &s;ub&s;tance unworthy of a word, unworthy of a thought) when I con&s;ider what I am now, (a Volume of di&s;|ea&s;es bound up together, a dry cynder, if I look for naturall, for radicall moi&s;ture, and yet a Spunge, a bottle of overflowing Rheumes, if I con&s;ider accidentall; an aged childe, a gray-headed Infant, and but the gho&s;t of mine own youth) When I con&s;ider what I &s;hall be at la&s;t, by the hand of death, in my grave, (fir&s;t, but Putrifaction, and then, not &s;o much as Putrifaction, I &s;hall not be able to &s;end forth &s;o much as an ill ayre, not any ayre at all, but &s;hall be all in&s;ipid, ta&s;tle&s;&s;e, &s;avourle&s;&s;e du&s;t; for a while, all wormes, and after a while, not &s;o much as wormes, &s;ordid, &s;en&s;le&s;&s;e, namele&s;&s;e du&s;t) When I con&s;i|der the pa&s;t, and pre&s;ent, and &s;uture &s;tate of this body, in this world, I am able to con|ceive, able to expre&s;&s;e the wor&s;t that can befall it in nature, and the wor&s;t that can be in|flicted upon it by man, of fortune; But the lea&s;t degree of glory that God hath prepared for that body in heaven, I am not able to expre&s;&s;e, not able to conceive.</P>
<P>That man comes with a Barly corn in his hand, to mea&s;ure the compa&s;&s;e of the Fir|mament, (and when will he have done that work, by that way?) he comes with a grain of du&s;t in his &s;cales, to weigh the whole body of the world, (and when will he have done that work, that way?) that bids his heart imagine, or his language declare, or his wit compare the lea&s;t degree of the glory of any good mans Re&s;urrection; And yet, there is a <HI>Better Re&s;urrection.</HI> A <HI>Better Re&s;urrection</HI> re&s;erved for them, and appropriated to them <HI>That fulfill the &s;ufferings of Chri&s;t, in their fle&s;h,</HI> by Martyrdome, and &s;o become witne&s;&s;es to that Conveyance which he hath &s;ealed with his blood, by &s;hedding their blood; and glorifie him upon earth (as far as it is po&s;&s;ible for man) by the &s;ame way that he hath glo|rified them in heaven; and are admitted to &s;uch a conformity with Chri&s;t, as that (if we may have leave to expre&s;&s;e it &s;o) they have dyed for one another.</P>
<P>Neither is this <HI>Martyrdome,</HI> and &s;o this <HI>Better Re&s;urrection,</HI> appropriated to a reall, and actuall, and ab&s;olute dying for Chri&s;t; but every &s;uffering of ours, by which &s;uffering, he may be glorified, is a degree of Martyrdome, and &s;o a degree of improving, and bet|tering our Re&s;urrection. For as S. <HI>Ierome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>That cha&s;tity is a perpetuall Martyrdome,</HI> So every war maintained by us, again&s;t our own de&s;ires, is a Martyrdome too. In a word, to do good for Gods glory, brings us to a Good, but to &s;uffer for his glory, brings us to a <HI>Better Re&s;urrection;</HI> And, to &s;uffer patiently, brings us to a Good, but to &s;uffer cheare|fully, and more then that, thankfully, brings us to a <HI>Better Re&s;urrection.</HI> If all the tor|ments of all the afflicted men, from <HI>Abel,</HI> to that &s;oul that groanes in the Inqui&s;ition, or that ga&s;pes upon his death-bed, at this minute, were upon one man at once, all that had no proportion to the lea&s;t torment of hell; nay if all the torments which all the damned in hell have &s;uffered, from <HI>Cain</HI> to this minute, were at once upon one &s;oul, &s;o, as that &s;oul for all that might know that tho&s;e torments &s;hould have an end, though after a thou|&s;and millions of millions of Generations, all that would have no proportion to any of the torments of hell; becau&s;e, the extention of tho&s;e torments, and their everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e, hath more of the nature of torment, and of the nature of hell in it, then the inten&s;ne&s;&s;e, and the vehemency thereof can have. So, if all the joyes, of all the men that have had all their hearts de&s;ires, were con-centred in one heart, all that would not be as a &s;park in his Chimney, to the generall conflagration of the whole world, in re&s;pect of the lea&s;t
<PB N="224" REF="130">joy, that that &s;oule is made partaker of, that departs from this world, immediatly after a pardon received, and reconciliation &s;ealed to him, for all his &s;ins; No doubt but he &s;hall have a good Re&s;urrection; But then, we cannot doubt neither, but that to him that hath been carefull in all his wayes, and yet cro&s;t in all his wayes, to him who&s;e daily bread hath been affliction, and yet is &s;atisfied as with marrow, and with fatne&s;&s;e, with that bread of affliction, and not only contented in, but glad of that affliction, no doubt but to him is re&s;erved a <HI>Better Re&s;urrection;</HI> Every Re&s;urrection is more then we can think, but this is more then that more. Almighty God inform us, and reveale unto us, what this <HI>Better Re&s;urrection</HI> is, by po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing us of it; And make the ha&s;tening to it, one degree of addi|tion in it. Come Lord Je&s;us, come quickly to the con&s;ummation of that Kingdome which thou ha&s;t purcha&s;ed for us, with ine&s;timable price of thine incorruptible blood. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="23" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXIII.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> for Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1628.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 13.12.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For now we &s;ee through a Gla&s;&s;e darkly, But then face to &s;ace; Now I know in part, But then I &s;hall know, even as al&s;o I am knowne.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe&s;e two termes in our Text, <HI>Nunc</HI> and <HI>Tunc, Now</HI> and <HI>Then, Now in a gla&s;&s;e, Then face to face,</HI> Now in part, Then in perfection, the&s;e two &s;ecu|lar termes, of which, one de&s;ignes the whole Age of this world from the Creation, to the di&s;&s;olution thereof (for, all that is comprehended in this word, <HI>Now</HI>) And the other de&s;ignes the everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e of the next world, (for that incomprehen&s;iblene&s;&s;e is comprehended in the other word, <HI>Then</HI>) The&s;e two words, that de&s;ign two &s;uch Ages, are now met in one Day; in this Day, in which we celebrate all Re&s;urrections in the roote, in the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, ble&s;&s;ed for ever. For the fir&s;t Term, <HI>Now (Now in a gla&s;&s;e, now in part)</HI> is intended mo&s;t e&s;pecially of that very act, which we do now at this pre&s;ent, that is, of the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pell, of declaring God in his Ordinance, of Preaching his word; (<HI>Now,</HI> in this Mini&s;tery of his Go&s;pell, <HI>we &s;ee in a gla&s;&s;e, we know in part</HI>) And then the <HI>Then,</HI> the time of <HI>&s;eeing face to face,</HI> and <HI>knowing as we are knowne,</HI> is intended of that time, which we celebrate this day, the day of Re&s;urrection, the day of Judgement, the day of the actuall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the next life. So that this day, this whole Scripture is fulfilled in your eares; for now, (now in this Preaching) you have &s;ome &s;ight, and then, (Then when that day comes, which (in the fir&s;t roote thereof) we celebrate this day) you &s;hall have a perfect &s;ight of all; <HI>Now we &s;ee through a gla&s;&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>That therefore you may the better know him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> when you come <HI>to &s;ee him face to face, then,</HI> by having <HI>&s;een him in a gla&s;&s;e now,</HI> and that your &s;eeing him now in his Ordinance, may prepare you to &s;ee him then in his E&s;&s;ence, proceed we thus in the handling of the&s;e words. Fir&s;t, That there is nothing brought into compari&s;on, into con&s;ideration, no|thing put into the balance, but the &s;ight of God, the knowledge of God; It is not cal|led a better &s;ight, nor a better knowledge, but there is no other &s;ight, no other knowledge propo&s;ed, or mentioned, or intimated, or imagined but this; All other &s;ight is blindne&s;&s;e, all other knowledge is ignorance; And then we &s;hall &s;ee how there is a twofold &s;ight of God, and a twofold knowledge of God propo&s;ed to us here; A &s;ight, and a knowledge here in this life, and another manner of &s;ight, and another manner of knowledge in the life to come: For, here we &s;ee God <HI>In &s;peculo, in a gla&s;&s;e,</HI> that is, by reflexi|on, And here we know God <HI>In aenigmate,</HI> &s;ayes our Text, <HI>Darkly,</HI> (&s;o we tran&s;late it) that is, by ob&s;cure repre&s;entations, and therefore it is called a <HI>Knowledge but in part;</HI>
<PB N="225" REF="130">But in heaven, our &s;ight is <HI>face to face,</HI> And our knowledge is <HI>to know, as we are knowne.</HI></P>
<P>For our &s;ight of God here, our Theatre, the place where we &s;it and &s;ee him, is the whole world, the whole hou&s;e and frame of nature, and our <HI>medium,</HI> our <HI>gla&s;&s;e,</HI> is the Booke of Creatures, and our light, by which we &s;ee him, is the light of Naturall Rea&s;on. And then, for our knowledge of God here, our Place, our Academy, our Univer&s;ity is the Church, our <HI>medium,</HI> is the Ordinance of God in his Church, Preaching, and Sacraments; and our light is the light of faith. Thus we &s;hall finde it to be, for our &s;ight, and for our know|ledge of God here. But for our &s;ight of God in heaven, our place, our Spheare is hea|ven it &s;elfe, our <HI>medium</HI> is the Patefaction, the Manife&s;tation, the Revelation of God him|&s;elfe, and our light is the light of Glory. And then, for our knowledge of God there, God him&s;elf is All; God him&s;elf is the place, we &s;ee Him, in Him; God is our <HI>medium,</HI> we &s;ee Him, by him; God is our light; not a light which is His, but a light which is He; not a light which flowes from him, no, nor a light which is in him, but that light which is He him&s;elf. <HI>Lighten our darkne&s;&s;e, we be&s;eech thee, O Lord, O Father of lights, that in thy light we may &s;ee light,</HI> that now we &s;ee this through this thy <HI>gla&s;&s;e,</HI> thine Ordinance, and, by the good of this, hereafter <HI>face to face.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ight is &s;o much the Noble&s;t of all the &s;en&s;es, as that it is all the &s;en&s;es.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vi&s;io.</NOTE> As the rea|&s;onable &s;oul of man, when it enters, becomes all the &s;oul of man, and he hath no longer a vegetative, and a &s;en&s;itive &s;oul, but all is that one rea&s;onable &s;oul; &s;o, &s;ayes S. <HI>Aug.</HI> (and he exemplifies it, by &s;everall pregnant places of Scripture) <HI>Vi&s;us per omnes &s;en&s;us recurrit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> All the &s;en&s;es are called Seeing; as there is <HI>videre &amp; audire,</HI> S. <HI>Iohn turned to &s;ee the &s;ound;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 1. P&s;al. 34.9.</NOTE> and there is <HI>Gu&s;tate, &amp; videte, Ta&s;te, and &s;ee, how &s;weet the Lord is;</HI> And &s;o of the re&s;t of the &s;en&s;es, all is &s;ight. Employ then this noble&s;t &s;en&s;e upon the noble&s;t object, &s;ee God; &s;ee God in every thing, and then thou need&s;t not take off thine eye from Beauty, from Riches, from Honour, from any thing. S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks here of a diver&s;e &s;eeing of God. Of <HI>&s;eeing</HI> God <HI>in a gla&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>&s;eeing</HI> God <HI>face to face;</HI> but of not &s;eeing God at all, the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks not at all.</P>
<P>When Chri&s;t tooke the blinde man by the hand,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 8.23.</NOTE> though he had then begun his cure upon him, yet hee asked him, if hee &s;aw ought: Something he was &s;ure he &s;aw; but it was a que&s;tion whether it were to be called a &s;ight, for he &s;aw men but as trees. The naturall man &s;ees Beauty, and Riches, and Honour, but yet it is a que&s;tion whether he &s;ees them or no, becau&s;e he &s;ees them, but as a &s;nare. But he that &s;ees God in them, &s;ees them to be beames and evidences of that Beauty, that Wealth, that Honour, that is in God, that is God him&s;elfe. The other blinde man that importuned Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 10.46.</NOTE> <HI>Ie&s;us thou Son of David have mercy on me,</HI> when Chri&s;t asked him, <HI>What wilt thou, that I &s;hall doe unto thee?</HI> Had pre&s;ently that an&s;wer, <HI>Lord that I may receive my &s;ight;</HI> And we may ea&s;ily think, that if Chri&s;t had asked him a &s;econd que&s;tion, What would&s;t thou &s;ee, when thou ha&s;t received thy &s;ight, he would have an&s;wered, Lord I would &s;ee thee; For when he had his &s;ight, and Chri&s;t &s;aid to him, <HI>Goe thy way,</HI> he had no way to goe from Chri&s;t, but, as the Text &s;ayes there, <HI>He followed him.</HI> All that he cared for, was &s;eeing, all that he cared to &s;ee, was Chri&s;t. Whether he would &s;ee a Peace or a Warre, may be a States-mans Probleme; whether he would &s;ee plenty or &s;carcity of &s;ome commodity, may be a Merchants Probleme; whether he would &s;ee Rome, or Spaine grow in great|ne&s;&s;e, may be a Je&s;uits Probleme; But whether I had not rather &s;ee God then any thing, is no Problematicall matter. All &s;ight is blindne&s;&s;e, that was our fir&s;t; all knowledge is Ignorance, till we come to God, that is our next Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t act of the will, is love, &s;ayes the Schoole; for till the will love, till it would have &s;omething, it is not a will. But then, <HI>Amare ni&s;i nota non po&s;&s;umus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Scientia. <HI>Aug.</HI></NOTE> It is impo&s;&s;ible to love any thing till we know it: Fir&s;t our Under&s;tanding mu&s;t pre&s;ent it as <HI>Verum,</HI> as a Knowne truth, and then our Will imbraces it as <HI>Bonum,</HI> as Good, and worthy to be lo|ved. Therefore the Philo&s;opher concludes ea&s;ily, as a thing that admits no contradicti|on. That naturally, all men de&s;ire to know, that they may love. But then, as the addition of an hone&s;t man, varies the &s;ignification, with the profe&s;&s;ion, and calling of the man, (for he is a hone&s;t man at Court, that oppre&s;&s;es no man with his power; and at the Exchange he is the hone&s;t man, that keeps his word; and in an Army, the Valiant man is the hone&s;t man) &s;o the Addition of learned and under&s;tanding, varies with the man: The Divine, the Phy&s;itian, the Lawyer are not qualified, nor denominated by the &s;ame kinde of lear|ning. But yet, as it is for hone&s;ty, there is no hone&s;t man at Court, or Exchange, or Ar|my, if he beleeve not in God; &s;o there is no knowledge in the Phy&s;itian, nor Lawyer,
<PB N="226" REF="131">if he know not God. Neither does any man know God, except he know him &s;o, as God hath made him&s;elfe known, that is, <HI>In Chri&s;t.</HI> Therefore, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> de&s;ires to know no|thing el&s;e, &s;o let no man pretend to know any thing, but <HI>Chri&s;t Crucified;</HI> that is, Cruci|fied for him, made his. In the eighth ver&s;e of this Chapt. he &s;ayes, <HI>Prophe&s;ie &s;hall faile, and Tongues &s;hall faile, and Knowledge &s;hall vani&s;h;</HI> but this knowledge of God in Chri&s;t made mine, by being Crucified for me, &s;hall dwell with me for ever. And &s;o from this generall con&s;ideration, All &s;ight is blindne&s;&s;e, all knowledge is ignorance, but of God, we pa&s;&s;e to the particular Con&s;ideration of that twofold &s;ight and knowledge of God ex|pre&s;&s;ed in this Text, <HI>Now we &s;ee through a gla&s;&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then we con&s;ider,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part. <HI>Vi&s;io.</HI></NOTE> (before we come to our knowledge of God) our &s;ight of God in this world, and that is, &s;ayes our Apo&s;tle, <HI>In &s;peculo, we &s;ee as in a gla&s;&s;e.</HI> But how doe we &s;ee in a gla&s;&s;e? Truly, that is not ea&s;ily determined. The old Writers in the Optiques &s;aid, That when we &s;ee a thing in a gla&s;&s;e, we &s;ee not the thing it &s;elfe, but a repre&s;enta|tion onely; All the later men &s;ay, we doe &s;ee the thing it &s;elfe, but not by direct, but by reflected beames. It is a u&s;ele&s;&s;e labour for the pre&s;ent, to reconcile them. This may well con&s;i&s;t with both, That as that which we &s;ee in a gla&s;&s;e, a&s;&s;ures us, that &s;uch a thing there is, (for we cannot &s;ee a dreame in a gla&s;&s;e, nor a fancy, nor a Chimera) &s;o this &s;ight of God, which our Apo&s;tle &s;ayes we have <HI>in a gla&s;&s;e,</HI> is enough to a&s;&s;ure us, that a God there is.</P>
<P>This gla&s;&s;e is better then the water; The water gives a crookedne&s;&s;e, and fal&s;e dimen|&s;ions to things that it &s;hewes; as we &s;ee by an Oare when we row a Boat, and as the Poet de&s;cribes a wry and di&s;torted face, <HI>Qui faciem &s;ub aqua Phoebe natant is habes,</HI> That he loo|ked like a man that &s;womme under water. But in the gla&s;&s;e, which the Apo&s;tle intends, we may &s;ee God directly, that is, &s;ee directly that there is a God. And therefore S. <HI>Cyrils</HI> addition in this Text, is a Diminution; <HI>Videmus qua&s;i in fumo,</HI> &s;ayes he, we &s;ee God as in a &s;moak; we &s;ee him better then &s;o; for it is a true &s;ight of God, though it be not a perfect &s;ight, which we have this way. This way, our Theatre, where we &s;it to &s;ee God, is the whole frame of nature; our <HI>medium,</HI> our gla&s;&s;e in which we &s;ee him, is the Creature; and our light by which we &s;ee him, is Naturall Rea&s;on.</P>
<P><HI>Aquinas</HI> calls this Theatre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theatrum, Mundus.</NOTE> where we &s;it and &s;ee God, the whole world; And <HI>David</HI> compa&s;&s;es the world, and findes God every where, and &s;ayes at la&s;t, <HI>Whither &s;hall I flie from thy pre&s;ence?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 138.8.</NOTE> <HI>If I a&s;cend up into heaven, thou art there;</HI> At <HI>Babel</HI> they thought to build to heaven; but did any men ever pretend to get above heaven? above the power of winds, or the impre&s;&s;ion of other malignant Meteors, &s;ome high hils are got: But can any man get above the power of God? <HI>If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermo&s;t parts of the Sea, there thy right hand &s;hall hold me, and lead me.</HI> If we &s;aile to the waters above the Firmament, it is &s;o too. Nay, take a place, which God never made, a place which grew out of our &s;ins, that is Hell, yet, <HI>If we make our bed in hell, God is there too.</HI> It is a wofull Inne, to make our bed in, Hell; and &s;o much the more wofull, as it is more then an Inne; an everla&s;ting dwelling: But even there God is; and &s;o much more &s;trangely then in any other place, becau&s;e he is there, without any emanation of any beame of com|fort from him, who is the God of all con&s;olation, or any beame of light from him, who is the Father of all lights. In a word, whether we be in the Ea&s;terne parts of the world, from whom the truth of Religion is pa&s;&s;ed, or in the We&s;terne, to which it is not yet come; whether we be in the darkne&s;&s;e of ignorance, or darkne&s;&s;e of the works of dark|ne&s;&s;e, or darkne&s;&s;e of oppre&s;&s;ion of &s;pirit in &s;adne&s;&s;e, The world is the Theatre that repre|&s;ents God, and every where every man may, nay mu&s;t &s;ee him.</P>
<P>The whole frame of the world is the Theatre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Medium, Creatura.</NOTE> and every creature the &s;tage, the <HI>medium,</HI> the gla&s;&s;e in which we may &s;ee God. <HI>Mo&s;es made the Laver in the Tabernacle, of the loo|king gla&s;&s;es of women:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 38.8.</NOTE> Scarce can you imagine a vainer thing (except you will except the vaine lookers on, in that action) then the looking-gla&s;&s;es of women; and yet <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> brought the looking-gla&s;&s;es of women to a religious u&s;e, to &s;hew them that came in, the &s;pots of dirt, which they had taken by the way, that they might wa&s;h them&s;elves cleane before they pa&s;&s;ed any farther.</P>
<P>There is not &s;o poore a creature but may be thy gla&s;&s;e to &s;ee God in. The greate&s;t &s;lat gla&s;&s;e that can be made, cannot repre&s;ent any thing greater then it is: If every gnat that flies were an Arch-angell, all that could but tell me, that there is a God; and the poore&s;t worme that creeps, tells me that. If I &s;hould aske the Ba&s;ilisk, how came&s;t thou by tho&s;e
<PB N="227" REF="131">killing eyes, he would tell me, Thy God made me &s;o; And if I &s;hould aske the Slow|worme, how came&s;t thou to be without eyes, he would tell me, Thy God made me &s;o. The Cedar is no better a gla&s;&s;e to &s;ee God in, then the Hy&s;&s;ope upon the wall; all things that are, are equally removed from being nothing; and what&s;oever hath any beeing, is by that very beeing, a gla&s;&s;e in which we &s;ee God, who is the roote, and the fountaine of all beeing. The whole frame of nature is the Theatre, the whole Volume of crea|tures is the gla&s;&s;e, and the light of nature, rea&s;on, is our light, which is another Cir|cum&s;tance.</P>
<P>Of tho&s;e words, <HI>Iohn 1.9. That was the true light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lux rationi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>that lighteth every man that commeth into the World,</HI> the &s;lacke&s;t &s;en&s;e that they can admit, gives light enough to &s;ee God by. If we &s;pare S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> &s;en&s;e, That <HI>that light,</HI> is the light of the Go&s;pel, and of Grace, and that <HI>that light,</HI> con&s;idered in it &s;elf, and without oppo&s;ition in us, <HI>does enlighten,</HI> that is, would enlighten, <HI>every man,</HI> if that man did not wink at that light; If we forbear S. <HI>Augu|&s;tines</HI> &s;en&s;e, <HI>That light enlightens every man,</HI> that is, every man that is enlightned, is enlight|ned by that light; If we take but S. <HI>Cyrils</HI> &s;en&s;e, that this <HI>light</HI> is the light of naturall Rea|&s;on, <HI>which,</HI> without all que&s;tion, <HI>enlightneth every man that comes into the world,</HI> yet have we light enough to &s;ee God by that light, in the Theatre of Nature, and in the gla&s;&s;e of Creatures. God affords no man the comfort, the fal&s;e comfort of Athei&s;m: He will not al|low a pretending Athei&s;t the power to flatter him&s;elf, &s;o far, as &s;eriou&s;ly to thinke there is no God. He mu&s;t pull out his own eyes, and &s;ee no creature, before he can &s;ay, he &s;ees no God; He mu&s;t be no man, and quench his rea&s;onable &s;oule, before he can &s;ay to him|&s;elfe, there is no God. The difference betweene the Rea&s;on of man, and the In&s;tinct of the bea&s;t is this, That the bea&s;t does but know, but the man knows that he knows. The be&s;tiall Athei&s;t will pretend that he knows there is no God; but he cannot &s;ay, that hee knows, that he knows it; for, his knowledge will not &s;tand the battery of an argument from another, nor of a ratiocination from him&s;elfe. He dares not aske him&s;elfe, who is it that I pray to, in a &s;udden danger, if there be no God? Nay he dares not aske, who is it that I &s;weare by, in a &s;udden pa&s;&s;ion, if there be no God? Whom do I tremble at, and &s;weat under, at midnight, and whom do I cur&s;e by next morning, if there be no God? It is &s;afely &s;aid in the Schoole, <HI>Media perfecta ad quae ordinantur,</HI> How weak &s;oever tho&s;e meanes which are ordained by God, &s;eeme to be, and be indeed in them&s;elves, yet they are &s;trong enough to tho&s;e ends and purpo&s;es, for which God ordained them.</P>
<P>And &s;o, for &s;uch a &s;ight of God, as we take the Apo&s;tle to intend here, which is, to &s;ee that there is a God, The frame of Nature, the whole World is our Theatre, the book of Creatures is our Medium, our gla&s;&s;e, and naturall rea&s;on is light enough. But then, for the other degree, the other notification of God, which is, The knowing of God, though that al&s;o be fir&s;t to be con&s;idered in this world, the meanes is of a higher nature, then &s;erved for the &s;ight of God; and yet, whil&s;t we are in this World, it is but <HI>In aenig|mate,</HI> in an ob&s;cure Riddle, a repre&s;entation, <HI>darkly,</HI> and <HI>in part,</HI> as we tran&s;late it.</P>
<P>As the gla&s;&s;e which we &s;poke of before, was propo&s;ed to the &s;en&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scientia Dei.</NOTE> and &s;o we might &s;ee God, that is, &s;ee that there is a God, This <HI>anigma</HI> that is &s;poken of now, this darke &s;imilitude, and compari&s;on, is propo&s;ed to our faith, and &s;o far we <HI>know</HI> God, that is, Beleeve in God in this life, but by aenigmaes, by darke repre&s;entations, and allu&s;ions. Therefore &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aw God, in that conver&s;ation which he had with him in the Mount, <HI>Sevocatus ab omni corporis &s;en&s;u,</HI> Removed from all benefit and a&s;&s;i&s;tance of bodily &s;en&s;es, (He needed not that Gla&s;&s;e, the helpe of the Creature) And more then &s;o, <HI>Ab omni &s;ignificativo aenigmate Spiritus,</HI> Removed from all allu&s;ions, or &s;imilitudes, or repre&s;entations of God, which might bring God to the under&s;tanding, and &s;o to the beliefe; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> knew God by a more immediate working, then either &s;en&s;e, or under&s;tanding, or faith. Therefore &s;aies that Father, <HI>Per &s;peculum &amp; aenigma,</HI> by this which the Apo&s;tle cals <HI>a gla&s;&s;e,</HI> and this which he cals <HI>aenigma, a dark repre&s;entation Intel|liguntur omnia accommodata ad notificandum Deum,</HI> He under&s;tands all things by which God hath notified him&s;elfe to man: By the <HI>Gla&s;&s;e,</HI> to his Rea&s;on, by the <HI>aenigma</HI> to his faith. And &s;o, for this knowing of God, by way of Beleeving in him, (as for &s;eeing him, our Theatre was the world, the Creature was our gla&s;&s;e, and Rea&s;on was our light) Our Academy to learne this knowledge, is the Church, our Medium is the Ordinance and In&s;titution of Chri&s;t in his Church, and our light is the light of faith, in the application of tho&s;e Ordinances in that Church.</P>
<PB N="228" REF="132">
<P>This place then where we take our degrees in this knowledge of God, our Acade|my, our Univer&s;ity for that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Academia, Eccle&s;ia.</NOTE> is the Church; for, though, as there may be &s;ome few ex|amples given, of men that have growne learned, who never &s;tudied at Univer&s;ity; &s;o there may be &s;ome examples of men enlightned by God, and yet not within that cove|nant which con&s;titutes the Church; yet the ordinary place for Degrees is the Univer&s;ity, and the ordinary place for Illumination in the knowledge of God, is the Church. There fore did God, who ever intended to have his Kingdome of Heaven well peopled, &s;o powerfully, &s;o miraculou&s;ly enlarge his way to it, The Church, that it pro&s;pered as a wood, which no felling, no &s;tubbing, could de&s;troy. We finde in the Acts of the Church, five thou&s;and Martyrs executed in a day;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.4.</NOTE> And we finde in the Acts of the Apo&s;tles five thou&s;and brought to the Church, by one Sermon; &s;till our Chri&s;tnings were equall to our burials at lea&s;t.</P>
<P>Therefore when Chri&s;t &s;aies to the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.32.</NOTE> <HI>Feare not little flock,</HI> it was not <HI>Quia de magnominuitur, &s;ed quia de pu&s;illo cre&s;cit,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Chry&s;ologus,</HI> Not becau&s;e it &s;hould fall from great to little, but ri&s;e from little to great. Such care had Chri&s;t of the growth thereof; and then &s;uch care of the e&s;tabli&s;hment, and power thereof, as that the fir&s;t time, that ever he names the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.18.</NOTE> he inve&s;ts it with an a&s;&s;urance of perpetuity, <HI>Vpon this Rock will I build my Church, and the gates of Hell &s;hall not prevaile again&s;t it;</HI> Therein is denoted the &s;trength and &s;tability of the Church in it &s;elfe, and then the power and authority of the Church upon others, in tho&s;e often directions, <HI>Dic Eccle&s;iae,</HI> complaine to the Church, and con&s;ult with the Church, and then <HI>Audi Eccle&s;iam,</HI> Harken to the Church, be judged by the Church; heare not them, that heare not the Church; And then <HI>Ejice de Eccle&s;ia,</HI> let them that di&s;obey the Church, be ca&s;t out of the Church. In all which, we are forbidden private Conventicles, private Spirits, private Opinions. For, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aies well,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49.</NOTE> (and he cites it from another whom he names not, <HI>Quidam dixit</HI>) If a wall &s;tand &s;ingle, not joyned to any other wall, he that makes a doore through the wall, and pa&s;&s;es through that doore, <HI>Adhuc foris e&s;t,</HI> for all this is without &s;till, <HI>Nam domus none&s;t,</HI> One wall makes not a hou&s;e; One opinion makes not Catholique Doctrine, one man makes not a Church; for this knowledge of God, the Church is our Academy, there we mu&s;t be bred; and there we may be bred all our lives, and yet learne nothing. Therefore, as we mu&s;t be there, &s;o there we mu&s;t u&s;e the meanes; And the meanes in the Church, are the Ordinances, and In&s;titutions of the Church.</P>
<P>The mo&s;t powerfull meanes is the Scripture;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Medium, In&s;titutie.</NOTE> But the Scripture in the Church. Not that we are di&s;couraged from reading the Scripture at home: God forbid we &s;hould think any Chri&s;tian family to be out of the Church. At home, the holy Gho&s;t is with thee in the reading of the Scriptures; But there he is with thee as a Remembrancer, (<HI>The Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall bring to your remembrance what&s;oever I have &s;aid unto you,</HI> &s;aies our Saviour) Here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 14.26.</NOTE> in the Church, he is with thee, as a Doctor to teach thee; Fir&s;t learne at Church and then meditate at home, Receive the &s;eed by hearing the Scriptures interpreted here, and water it by returning to tho&s;e places at home. When Chri&s;t bids you <HI>Search the Scriptures,</HI> he meanes you &s;hould go to them, who have a warrant to &s;earch; A warrant in their Calling. To know which are Scriptures, To know what the holy Gho&s;t &s;aies in the Scriptures, apply thy &s;elfe to the Church. Not that the Church is a Judge above the Scriptures, (for the power, and the Commi&s;&s;ion which the Church hath, it hath from the Scriptures) but the Church is a Judge above thee, which are the Scriptures, and what is the &s;en&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t in them.</P>
<P>So then thy meanes are the Scriptures; That is thy evidence: but then this evidence mu&s;t be &s;ealed to thee in the Sacraments, and delivered to thee in Preaching, and &s;o &s;ealed and delivered to thee in the pre&s;ence of competent witne&s;&s;es, the Congregation. When S. <HI>Paul</HI> was carried up <HI>In raptu,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.4.</NOTE> in an exta&s;ie, <HI>into Paradi&s;e,</HI> that which he gained by this powerfull way of teaching, is not expre&s;&s;ed in a <HI>Vidit,</HI> but an <HI>Audivit,</HI> It is not &s;aid that he <HI>&s;aw,</HI> but that he <HI>heard un&s;peakeable things.</HI> The eye is the devils doore, before the eare: for, though he doe enter at the eare, by wanton di&s;cour&s;e, yet he was at the eye be fore; we &s;ee, before we talke dangerou&s;ly. But the eare is the Holy Gho&s;ts fir&s;t doore, He a&s;&s;i&s;ts us with Rituall and Ceremoniall things, which we &s;ee in the Church; but Ce|remonies have their right u&s;e, when their right u&s;e hath fir&s;t beene taught by preaching. Therefore to hearing does the Apo&s;tle apply faith; And, as the Church is our Academy, and our Medium the Ordinances of the Church, &s;o the light by which we &s;ee this, that
<PB N="229" REF="132">is, know God &s;o, as to make him our God, is faith; and that is our other Con&s;ideration in this part.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e Heretiques, again&s;t whom S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> and others of the Fathers writ,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lumen, fides.</NOTE> The Anomaei, were inexcu&s;able in this, that they &s;aid, They were able to know God in this life, as well as God knew him&s;elfe; But in this more e&s;pecially lay their impiety, that they &s;aid, They were able to doe all this by the light of Nature, without Faith. By the light of Nature, in the Theatre of the World, by the Medium of Creatures, we &s;ee God; but to know God, by beleeving, not only Him, but in Him, is only in the Academy of the Church, only through the Medium of the Ordinances there, and only by the light of Faith.</P>
<P>The Schooledoes ordinarily de&s;igne foure wayes of knowing God; and they make the fir&s;t of the&s;e foure waies, to be by faith; but then, by faith they meane no more but an a&s;&s;ent, that there is a God; which is but that, which in our former Con&s;iderations we called The &s;eeing of God; and which indeed needs not faith; for the light of Nature will &s;erve for that, to &s;ee God &s;o. They make their &s;econd way Contemplation, that is, An union of God in this life; which is truly the &s;ame thing that we meane by Faith: for we do not call an a&s;&s;ent to the Go&s;pell, faith, but faith is the application of the Go&s;pell to our &s;elves; not an a&s;&s;ent that Chri&s;t dyed, but an a&s;&s;urance that Chri&s;t dyed for all. Their third way of knowing God is by Apparition; as when God appeared to the Pa|triarchs and others in fire, in Angels, or otherwi&s;e; And their fourth way is <HI>per apertam vi&s;ionem,</HI> by his cleare manife&s;tation of him&s;elf in heaven.</P>
<P>Their fir&s;t way, by a&s;&s;enting only, and their third way of apparition, are weak and un|certain wayes. The other two, pre&s;ent Faith, and future Vi&s;ion, are &s;afe wayes, but ad|mit this difference, That that of future Vi&s;ion, is <HI>gratiae con&s;ummantis,</HI> &s;uch a knowledge of God, as when it is once had can never be lo&s;t nor dimini&s;hed, But knowledge by faith in this world, is <HI>Gratiae communis,</HI> it is an effect and fruit of that Grace which God &s;hed upon the whole communion of Saints, that is, upon all tho&s;e who in this Academy, the Church, do embrace the <HI>Medium,</HI> that is, the Ordinances of the Church; And this knowledge of God, by this faith, may be dimini&s;hed, and encrea&s;ed; for it is but <HI>In ae|nigmate,</HI> &s;ayes our Text, <HI>darkly,</HI> ob&s;curely; Clearly in re&s;pect of the naturall man, but yet but ob&s;curely in re&s;pect of that knowledge of God which we &s;hall have in heaven; for, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>As long as we walk by faith, and not by &s;ight, we are ab&s;ent from the Lord.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.6.</NOTE> Faith is a ble&s;&s;ed pre&s;ence, but compared with heavenly vi&s;ion, it is but an ab&s;ence; though it create and con&s;titute in us a po&s;&s;ibility, a probability, a kinde of certainty of &s;alvation, yet that faith, which the be&s;t Chri&s;tian hath, is not &s;o far beyond that &s;ight of God which the naturall man hath, as that &s;ight of God which I &s;hall have in heaven, is above that faith which we have now in the highe&s;t exaltation. Therefore there be|longs a con&s;ideration to that which is added by our Apo&s;tle here, That the knowledge which I have of God here (even by faith, through the ordinances of the Church) is but a knowledge in part. <HI>Now I know in part.</HI></P>
<P>That which we call <HI>in part,</HI> the Syriack tran&s;lates <HI>Modicum ex multis;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ex parte.</NOTE> Though we know by faith, yet, for all that faith, it is but a little of a great deale that we know yet, becau&s;e, though faith be good evidence, yet <HI>faith</HI> is but <HI>the evidence of things not &s;een;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.1.</NOTE> And there is better evidence of them, when they are &s;een. For, if we con&s;ider the ob|ject, we cannot beleeve &s;o much of God, nor of our happine&s;&s;e in him, as we &s;hall &s;ee then. For, when it is &s;aid, that the heart comprehends it not, certainly faith compre|hends it not neither: And if we con&s;ider the manner, faith it &s;elf is but darkne&s;&s;e in re|&s;pect of the vi&s;ion of God in heaven: For, tho&s;e words of the Prophet, <HI>I will &s;earch Ie|ru&s;alem with Candles,</HI> are &s;poken of the times of the Chri&s;tian Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zeph. 1.12.</NOTE> and of the be&s;t men in the Chri&s;tian Church; yet they &s;hall be &s;earched with Candles, &s;ome darkne&s;&s;e &s;hall be found in them. To the Galatians well in&s;tructed, and well e&s;tabli&s;hed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.9.</NOTE> the Apo|&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>Now, after ye have knowen God, or rather are knowen of God;</HI> The be&s;t know|ledge that we have of God here, even by faith, is rather that he knows us, then that we know him. And in this Text, it is in his own per&s;on, that the Apo&s;tle puts the in&s;tance, <HI>Now I,</HI> (I, an Apo&s;tle, taught by Chri&s;t him&s;elfe) <HI>know but in part.</HI> And therefore, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Sunt qua&s;i cunabula charitatis Dei, quibus diligimus proximum,</HI> The love which we beare to our neighbour is but as the Infancy, but as the Cradle of that love which we beare to God; &s;o that &s;ight of God which we have <HI>In &s;peculo, in the Gla&s;&s;e,</HI> that
<PB N="230" REF="133">is, in nature, is but <HI>Cunabula fidei,</HI> but the infancy, but the cradle of that knowledge which we have in faith, and yet that knowledge which we have in faith, is but <HI>Cunabula vi&s;ionis,</HI> the infancy and cradle of that knowledge which we &s;hall have when we come to &s;ee God <HI>face to face.</HI> Faith is infinitely above nature, infinitely above works, even above tho&s;e works which faith it &s;elf produces, as parents are to children, &amp; the tree to the fruit: But yet faith is as much below vi&s;ion, and &s;eeing God face to face. And therefore, though we a&s;cribe willingly to faith, more then we can expre&s;&s;e, yet let no man think him&s;elf &s;o infallibly &s;afe, becau&s;e he finds that he beleeves in God, as he &s;hall be when he &s;ees God; The faithfulle&s;t man in the Church mu&s;t &s;ay, <HI>Domine adauge, Lord increa&s;e my faith;</HI> He that is lea&s;t in the kingdome of heaven, &s;hal never be put to that. All the world is but <HI>Spe|culum,</HI> a gla&s;&s;e, in which we &s;ee God; The Church it &s;elf, and that which the Ordinance of the Church begets in us, faith it &s;elf, is but <HI>aenigma,</HI> a dark repre&s;entation of God to us, till we come to that &s;tate, <HI>To &s;ee God face to face, and to know, as al&s;o we are knowen.</HI></P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calum, Sphaera.</NOTE> as for the &s;ight of God here, our Theatre was the world, our <HI>Medium</HI> and gla&s;&s;e was the creature, and our light was rea&s;on, And then for our knowledge of God here, our Academy was the Church, our <HI>Medium</HI> the Ordinances of the Church, and our Light the light of faith, &s;o we con&s;ider the &s;ame Termes, fir&s;t, for the &s;ight of God, and then for the knowledge of God in the next life. Fir&s;t, the Sphear, the place where we &s;hall &s;ee him, is heaven; He that asks me what heaven is, meanes not to heare me, but to &s;ilence me; He knows I cannot tell him; When I meet him there, I &s;hall be able to tell him, and then he will be as able to tell me; yet then we &s;hall be but able to tell one another, This, this that we enjoy is heaven, but the tongues of Angels, the tongues of glorified Saints, &s;hall not be able to expre&s;&s;e what that heaven is; for, even in heaven our faculties &s;hall be finite. Heaven is not a place that was created; for, all place that was created, &s;hall be di&s;&s;olved. God did not plant a Paradi&s;e for him&s;elf, and remove to that, as he planted a Paradi&s;e for <HI>Adam,</HI> and removed him to that; But God is &s;till where he was before the world was made. And in that place, where there are more Suns then there are Stars in the Firmament, (for all the Saints are Suns) And more light in another Sun, The Sun of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, the Son of Glory, the Son of God, then in all them, in that illu&s;tration, that emanation, that effu&s;ion of beams of glory, which began not to &s;hine 6000. yeares ago, but 6000. millions of millions ago, had been 6000. millions of mil|lions before that, in tho&s;e eternall, in tho&s;e uncreated heavens, &s;hall we &s;ee God.</P>
<P>This is our Spheare,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Medium, Revelatio &s;ui.</NOTE> and that which we are fain to call our place; and then our <HI>Me|dium,</HI> our way to &s;ee him is <HI>Patefactio &s;ui,</HI> Gods laying him&s;elf open, his manife&s;tation, his revelation, his evi&s;ceration, and embowelling of him&s;elfe to us, there. Doth God never afford this patefaction, this manife&s;tation of him&s;elf in his E&s;&s;ence, to any in this life? We cannot an&s;wer yea, nor no, without offending a great part in the Schoole, &s;o many affirm, &s;o many deny, that God hath been &s;een in his E&s;&s;ence in this life. There are that &s;ay, That it is <HI>fere de fide,</HI> little le&s;&s;e then an article of faith, that it hath been done; And <HI>Aquinas</HI> denies it &s;o ab&s;olutely, as that his Followers interpret him <HI>de ab&s;olu|ta potentia,</HI> That God by his ab&s;olute power cannot make a man, remaining a mortall man, and under the definition of a mortall man, capable of &s;eeing his E&s;&s;ence; as we may truly &s;ay, that God cannot make a bea&s;t, remaining in that nature, capable of grace, or glory. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaking of di&s;cour&s;es that pa&s;&s;ed between his mother, and him, not long before her death, &s;ayes; <HI>Perambulavimus cuncta mortalia, &amp; ip&s;um coelum,</HI> We talked our &s;elves above this earth, and above all the heavens; <HI>Venimus in mentes no&s;tras, &amp; tran&s;cendimus eas,</HI> We came to the con&s;ideration of our owne mindes, and our owne &s;oules, and we got above our own &s;oules; that is, to the con&s;ideration of that place where our &s;oules &s;hould be for ever; and we could con&s;ider God then, but then wee could not &s;ee God in his E&s;&s;ence. As it may be fairely argued that Chri&s;t &s;uffered not the very torments of very hell, becau&s;e it is e&s;&s;entiall to the torments of hell, to be eter|nall, They were not torments of hell, if they received an end; So is it fairely argued too, That neither <HI>Adam</HI> in his exta&s;ie in Paradi&s;e, nor <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in his conver&s;ation in the Mount, nor the other Apo&s;tles in the Transfiguration of Chri&s;t, nor S. <HI>Paul</HI> in his ra|pture to the third heavens, &s;aw the E&s;&s;ence of God, becau&s;e he that is admitted to that &s;ight of God, can never look off, nor lo&s;e that &s;ight againe. Only in heaven &s;hall God proceed to this patefaction, this manife&s;tation, this revelation of him&s;elf; And that by the light of glory.</P>
<PB N="231" REF="133">
<P>The light of glory is &s;uch a light, as that our School-men dare not &s;ay confidently,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lux Cloris.</NOTE> That every beam of it, is not all of it. When &s;ome of them &s;ay, That &s;ome &s;oules &s;ee &s;ome things in God, and others, others, becau&s;e all have not the &s;ame mea&s;ure of the light of glory, the re&s;t cry down that opinion, and &s;ay, that as the E&s;&s;ence of God is in|divi&s;ible, and he that &s;ees any of it, &s;ees all of it, &s;o is the light of glory communicated intirely to every ble&s;&s;ed &s;oul. God made light fir&s;t, and three dayes after, that light be|came a Sun, a more glorious Light: God gave me the light of Nature, when I quickned in my mothers wombe by receiving a rea&s;onable &s;oule; and God gave me the light of faith, when I quickned in my &s;econd mothers womb, the Church, by receiving my bapti&s;me; but in my third day, when my mortality &s;hall put on immortality, he &s;hall give me the light of glory, by which I &s;hall &s;ee him&s;elf. To this light of glory, the light of honour is but a glow-worm; and maje&s;ty it &s;elf but a twilight; The Cherubims and Seraphims are but Candles; and that Go&s;pel it &s;elf, which the Apo&s;tle calls the glori|ous Go&s;pel, but a Star of the lea&s;t magnitude. And if I cannot tell, what to call this light, by which I &s;hall &s;ee it, what &s;hall I call that which I &s;hall &s;ee by it, The E&s;&s;ence of God him&s;elf? and yet there is &s;omething el&s;e then this &s;ight of God, intended in that which remaines, I &s;hall not only <HI>&s;ee God face to face,</HI> but I &s;hall <HI>know</HI> him, (which, as you have &s;een all the way, is above &s;ight) and <HI>know him, even as al&s;o I am knowne.</HI></P>
<P>In this Con&s;ideration, God alone is all; in all the former there was a place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus omnia &s;olus.</NOTE> and a meanes, and a light; here, for this perfect knowledge of God, God is all tho&s;e. <HI>Then,</HI> &s;ales the Apo&s;tle, <HI>God &s;hall be all in all. Hic agit omnia in omnibus,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.28.</NOTE> Here God does all in all; but here he does all by In&s;truments; even in the infu&s;ing of faith, he works by the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel: But there he &s;hall be all in all, doe all in all, immediately by him&s;elf; for, Chri&s;t &s;hall deliver up the Kingdome to God, even the Father.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 24.</NOTE> His King|dome is the admini&s;tration of his Church, by his Ordinances in the Church. At the re|&s;urrection there &s;hall be an end of that Kingdome; no more Church; no more working upon men, by preaching, but God him&s;elf &s;hall be all in all. <HI>Mini&s;tri qua&s;i larvae Dei,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Luther.</HI> It may be &s;omewhat too familiarly, too vulgarly &s;aid, but u&s;efully; The mini|&s;tery of the Go&s;pell is but as Gods Vizar; for, by &s;uch a liberty the Apo&s;tle here calls it <HI>aenigma,</HI> a riddle; or, (as <HI>Luther</HI> &s;ayes too) Gods picture; but in the Re&s;urrection, God &s;hall put of that Vizar, and turne away that picture, and &s;hew his own face. Therefore is it &s;aid, <HI>That in heaven there is no Temple, but God him&s;elfe is the Temple;</HI> God is Service,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 21.22. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and Mu&s;ique, and P&s;alme, and Sermon, and Sacrament, and all. <HI>Erit vita de verbo &s;ine ver|bo;</HI> We &s;hall live upon the word, and heare never a word; live upon him, who being the word, was made fle&s;h, the eternall Son of God. <HI>H&icirc;c none&s;t omnia in omnibus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ed pars in &s;ingulis:</HI> Here God is not all in all; where he is at all in any man, that man is well; <HI>In So|lomone &s;apientia,</HI> &s;aies that Father; It was well with <HI>Solomon,</HI> becau&s;e God was wi&s;dome with him, and patience in <HI>Iob,</HI> and faith in <HI>Peter,</HI> and zeale in <HI>Paul,</HI> but there was &s;omething in all the&s;e, which God was not. But in heaven he &s;hall be &s;o all in all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>Vt &s;inguli &s;anctorum omnes virtutes habeant,</HI> that every &s;oule &s;hall have every perfection in it &s;elf; and the per|fection of the&s;e perfections &s;hall be, that their &s;ight &s;hall be <HI>face to face,</HI> and their know|ledge <HI>as they are known.</HI></P>
<P>Since S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> calls it a debt, a double debt, a debt becau&s;e &s;he asked it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Facie ad fa|ciem.</NOTE> a debt be|cau&s;e he promi&s;ed it, to give, even a woman, <HI>Paulina,</HI> &s;atisfaction in that high point, and my&s;tery, <HI>how we &s;hould &s;ee God face to face in heaven,</HI> it cannot be unfit in this congregati|on, to aske and an&s;wer &s;ome &s;hort que&s;tions concerning that. Is it alwaies a declaration of favour when God &s;hewes his face? No. <HI>I will &s;et my face again&s;t that &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 17.10.</NOTE> that eateth blood, and cut him off.</HI> But when there is light joyned with it, it is a declaration of favour; This was the ble&s;&s;ing that God taught <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> for <HI>Aaron,</HI> to ble&s;&s;e the people with, <HI>The Lord make his face to &s;hine upon thee, and be gracious to thee.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 6.25.</NOTE> And there we &s;hall <HI>&s;ee him face to face,</HI> by the light of his countenance, which is the light of glory. What &s;hall we &s;ee, by &s;eeing him &s;o, <HI>face to face?</HI> not to inlarge our &s;elves into <HI>Gregories</HI> wild &s;peculation, <HI>Qui videt videntem omnia, oninia videt,</HI> becau&s;e we &s;hall &s;ee him that &s;ees all things, we &s;hall &s;ee all things in him, (for then we &s;hould &s;ee the thoughts of men) re&s;t we in the te|&s;timony of a &s;afer witne&s;&s;e, a Councell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Senon.</NOTE> <HI>In &s;peculo Divinit at is quicquid eorum inter&s;it illu|ce&s;cet;</HI> In that gla&s;&s;e we &s;hall &s;ee, what&s;oever we can be the better for &s;eeing. Fir&s;t, all things that they beleeved here, they &s;hall &s;ee there; and therefore, <HI>Di&s;camus in terris,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hicron.</NOTE> <HI>quorum &s;cicntia nobi&s;cum per&s;everet in Caelis,</HI> let us meditate upon no other things on earth,
<PB N="232" REF="134">then we would be glad to think on in heaven; and this con&s;ideration would put many frivolous, and many fond thoughts out of our minde, if men and women would love ano|ther but &s;o, as that love might la&s;t in heaven.</P>
<P>This then we &s;hall get, concerning our &s;elves, by &s;eeing God <HI>face to face;</HI> but what concerning God? nothing but the &s;ight of the humanity of Chri&s;t, which only is vi&s;ible to the eye. So <HI>Theodoret,</HI> &s;o &s;ome others have thought; but that an&s;wers not the <HI>&s;icutie&s;t;</HI> and we know we &s;hall &s;ee God, (not only the body of Chri&s;t) as he is in his E&s;&s;ence. Why? did all that are &s;aid <HI>to have &s;eene God face to face,</HI> fee his E&s;&s;ence? no. In earth God a&s;&s;umed &s;ome materiall things to appeare in, and is &s;aid <HI>to have been &s;eene face to face,</HI> when he was &s;een in tho&s;e a&s;&s;umed formes. But in heaven there is no materiall thing to be a&s;&s;u|med, and if God be &s;een face to face there, he is &s;een in his E&s;&s;ence. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ummes it up fully,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In P&s;al 36.10.</NOTE> upon tho&s;e words, <HI>In lumine tuo, In thy light we &s;hall &s;ee light, Te &s;cilicet in te,</HI> we &s;hall &s;ee thee in thee; that is, &s;ayes he, <HI>face to face.</HI></P>
<P>And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vt cognitus.</NOTE> what is it <HI>to know him, as we are knowne?</HI> Fir&s;t, is that it, which is intended here, <HI>That we &s;hall know God &s;o as we are known?</HI> It is not expre&s;&s;ed in the Text &s;o: It is only <HI>that we &s;hall know &s;o;</HI> not, <HI>that we &s;hall know God &s;o.</HI> But the frame, and context of the place, hath drawn that unanime expo&s;ition from all, that it is meant of our knowledge of God then. A comprehen&s;ive knowledge of God it cannot be; To comprehend is to know a thing as well as that thing can be known; and we can never know God &s;o, but that he will know him&s;elfe better: Our knowledge cannot be &s;o dilated, nor God con|den&s;ed, and contracted &s;o, as that we can know him that way, comprehen&s;ively. It can|not be &s;uch a knowledge of God, as God hath of him&s;elfe, nor as God hath of us; For God comprehends us, and all this world, and all the worlds that he could have made, and him&s;elfe. But it is <HI>Nota &s;imilitudinis, non aequalitatis;</HI> As God knowes me, so I &s;hall know God; but I &s;hall not know God &s;o, as God knowes me. It is not <HI>quantum,</HI> but <HI>&s;icut;</HI> not as much, but as truly; as the fire does as truly &s;hine, as the Sun &s;hines, though it &s;hine not out &s;o farre, nor to &s;o many purpo&s;es. So then, I &s;hall know God &s;o, as that there &s;hall be nothing in me, to hinder me from knowing God; which cannot be &s;aid of the nature of man, though regenerate, upon earth, no, nor of the nature of an Angell in heaven, left to it &s;elfe, till both have received a &s;uper-illu&s;tration from the light of Glory.</P>
<P>And &s;o it &s;hall be a knowledge &s;o like his knowledge, as it &s;hall produce a love, like his love, and we &s;hall love him, as he loves us. For, as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> and the re&s;t of the Fa|thers, whom <HI>Oecumenius</HI> hath compacted, interpret it, <HI>Cogno&s;cam practic&egrave;, ide&s;t, accurren|do,</HI> I &s;hall know him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> that is, imbrace him, adhere to him. <HI>Qualis &s;ine fine fe&s;tivitas!</HI> what a Holy-day &s;hall this be, which no working day &s;hall ever follow! By knowing, and lo|ving the unchangeable, the immutable God, <HI>Mutabimur in immutabilitatem,</HI> we &s;hall be changed into an unchangeablene&s;&s;e, &s;ayes that Father, that never &s;aid any thing but ex|traordinarily. He &s;ayes more,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>Dei prae&s;entia &s;i in inferno appareret,</HI> If God could be &s;eene, and known in hell, hell in an in&s;tant would be heaven.</P>
<P>How many heavens are there in heaven? how is heaven multiplied to every &s;oule in heaven, where infinite other happine&s;&s;es are crowned with this, this fight, and this know|ledge of God there? And how &s;hall all tho&s;e heavens be renewed to us every day, <HI>Qui non mir abimur hodi&egrave;,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> that &s;hall be as glad to &s;ee, and to know God, millions of ages after every daies &s;eeing and knowing, as the fir&s;t houre of looking upon his face. And as this &s;eeing, and this knowing of God crownes all other joyes, and glories, even in heaven, &s;o this very crown is crowned;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> There growes from this a higher glory, which is, <HI>participes erimus Divinae naturae,</HI> (words, of which <HI>Luther</HI> &s;ayes, that both Te&s;taments afford none equall to them) <HI>That we &s;hall be made partakers of the Divine nature;</HI> Immortall as the Fa|ther, righteous as the Son, and full of all comfort as the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>Let me di&s;mi&s;&s;e you, with an ea&s;ie reque&s;t of S. <HI>Augu&s;tine; Fieri non pote&s;t ut &s;eip&s;um non diligat, qui Deum diligit;</HI> That man does not love God, that loves not him&s;elf; doe but love your &s;elves: <HI>Imo &s;olus &s;e diligere novit, qui Deum diligit,</HI> Only that man that loves God, hath the art to love him&s;elf; doe but love your &s;elves; for if he love God, he would live eternally with him, and, if he de&s;ire that, and indeavour it earne&s;tly, he does truly love him&s;elf, and not otherwi&s;e. And he loves him&s;elf, who by &s;eeing God in the Theatre of the world, and in the gla&s;&s;e of the creature, by the light of rea&s;on, and knowing God in the Academy of the Church, by the Ordinances thereof, through the light of
<PB N="233" REF="134">faith, indeavours to &s;ee God in heaven, by the manife&s;tation of him&s;elfe, through the light of Glory, and to know God him&s;elf, in him&s;elf, and by him&s;elf, as he is all in all; Contemplatively, by knowing as he is known, and Practically, by loving, as he is loved.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="24" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXIV.</HI> Preached upon Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1629.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOB 4.18.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Rehold, he put no tru&s;t in his Servants, And his Angels he charged with folly.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE celebrate this day, the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, Ble&s;&s;ed for ever; and in His, all ours; All, that is, the Re&s;urrection of all Per|&s;ons; All, that is, the Re&s;urrection of all kinds, whether the Re&s;urrection from calamities in this world, <HI>Ezechiels</HI> Re&s;urrection, where God &s;aies to him, <HI>Puta&s;ne vivent?</HI> Son of man doe&s;t thou thinke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 8.6.</NOTE> the&s;e &s;cattered Bones can live againe? or the Re&s;urrection from &s;in, S. <HI>Iohns</HI> Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apo. 20.5. 1 Cor. 15.</NOTE> Ble&s;&s;ed is he that hath his part in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection: Or of the Re&s;urrection to Glory, S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Re&s;urrection, that is, more argued, and more particularly e&s;tabli&s;hed, by that Apo&s;tle, then by the re&s;t. This Re&s;urrection to glory, is the con&s;ummation of all the others; therefore we looke e&s;pecially at this; and in this, our qualification in this &s;tate of glory, is thus expre&s;&s;ed by our Saviour Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, <HI>Erimus &s;icut Angeli,</HI> In the Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 20.36.</NOTE> we &s;hall be as the Angels. And that we might not flatter our &s;elves in a dreame of a better e&s;tate, then the Angels have, in this text we have an intimation, what their &s;tate and condition is, <HI>Behold, he put no tru&s;t in his Servants, and his Angels he charged with folly.</HI></P>
<P>In our handling of the&s;e words, the&s;e &s;hall be our two parts; <HI>De quibus,</HI> and <HI>De quo;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> Of whom the&s;e words are &s;poken, and then of what; Fir&s;t, what is po&s;itively &s;aid, and then, what is con&s;equently inferred; what propo&s;ed, and what concluded; what of the Angels, and then, what of us, who &s;hall be like the Angels. In the fir&s;t, the Per&s;ons of whom the&s;e words are &s;poken, becau&s;e, though our Interpreters vary in opinions, yet even from their various opinions, there ari&s;e good in&s;tructions, we &s;hall rather Proble|matically inquire, then Dogmatically e&s;tabli&s;h, fir&s;t, whether the&s;e words were &s;poken of Angels, or no; whether this word Angell, in this text, be not (as it is in many other places of Scriptures, and in the nature of the Word it &s;elfe) communicable to other &s;er|vants, and other me&s;&s;engers then tho&s;e, whom ordinarily we intend, when we &s;ay An|gels; and then &s;econdly, if the words be &s;poken of Angels, then, whether of Good or Bad Angels, of tho&s;e which &s;tand now, or tho&s;e which fell at fir&s;t; and againe, if of tho&s;e that &s;tand, then what degree of perfection they have, and what that which we u&s;e to call their Confirmation, is, how it accrues to them, and how it works in them, if even of them it be &s;aid, <HI>Behold, he put no tru&s;t in his Servants, and his Angels he charged with folly.</HI> In our &s;econd part, what was inferd upon the&s;e premi&s;&s;es, what was concluded out of the&s;e propo&s;itions, what reflected upon us, by this a&s;&s;imilation of ours to the Angels, becau&s;e it is a matter of much weight, we &s;hall fir&s;t, in our entrance into that part, con&s;ider the weight of the te&s;timony, in the Per&s;on that gives it; for it is not <HI>Iob</HI> him&s;elfe that &s;peaks the&s;e words; It is but one of his friends; but <HI>Elephaz,</HI> but the Temanite, a Gentile, a &s;tranger from the Covenant and the Church of God, and yet his words are part of the Word of God. And then for the matter that is inferd, from our a&s;&s;imilation to the &s;tate of Angels, will be fairely collected, that if tho&s;e Angels &s;tand, but by the &s;upport of Grace, &amp; not by any thing in&s;eparably inhering in their nature, when we are at our be&s;t, in heaven, we &s;hall do but &s;o neither; much le&s;&s;e whil&s;t we are upon earth, have we in us any impo&s;&s;ibility of falling, by any thing already done for us; Our &s;tanding is meerely from the grace of God, and therefore let no man a&s;cribe any thing to him&s;elfe; and <HI>Let
<PB N="234" REF="135">him that &s;tandeth take heed le&s;t he fall;</HI> for, God hath done no more for the be&s;t of us, here nor hereafter, then for tho&s;e Angels, and of them we heare here, <HI>He put no tru&s;t in his Ser|vants, and his Angels he charged with folly.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> An Angeli.</NOTE> for our fir&s;t Di&s;qui&s;ition, in our fir&s;t part, <HI>De quibus,</HI> the per&s;ons of whom the&s;e words are &s;poken. Among&s;t all our Expo&s;itors of this book of <HI>Iob,</HI> (which are very many) and among&s;t all Authors, Ancient and Moderne, which have had occa&s;ion in their Sermons and Tractates to reflect upon this text, (which are many more, infinite) I have never ob&s;erved more then one, that denies the&s;e words to be &s;poken of Angels, or that there is any mention, any intention, any intimation of Angels, in the&s;e words. And, (which is the greater wonder) this one &s;ingle man, who thus departs from all, and prefers him&s;elfe above all, is no Je&s;uit neither; It is but a Capuccin, but <HI>Bolduc</HI> upon this Book of <HI>Iob,</HI> and yet he adventures to &s;ay, That that Per&s;on of whom it is &s;aid in this text, <HI>He put no tru&s;t in his Servants, and He charged his Angels with folly,</HI> is not God; and that they of whom it is &s;aid, <HI>He tru&s;ted not his Servants, and his Angels he charged with folly,</HI> are not Angels; But that all that <HI>Eliphaz</HI> intended in all this pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Iob,</HI> was no more but this, That no great Per&s;on mu&s;t tru&s;t in any kind of Greatne&s;&s;e, particularly not in great reti|nues, and dependances, of many &s;ervants, and powerfull in&s;truments, for that was <HI>Iobs</HI> owne ca&s;e, and yet he lo&s;t them all. The doctrine truly is good; neither &s;hould I &s;odainly condemne his &s;ingularity, if it were well grounded. For, though in the expo&s;ition of Scriptures, &s;ingularity alwaies carry a &s;u&s;pition with it, &s;ingularity is <HI>Indicium,</HI> (as we &s;ay in the Law) &s;ome kind of evidence, It is <HI>Semi-probatio,</HI> a kind of halfe-proofe again&s;t that man, that holds an opinion, or induces an interpretation different from all other men; yet as the&s;e which we call <HI>Indicia,</HI> in the Law, worke but &s;o, as that they may bring a man to his oath, or, in &s;ome ca&s;es, to the rack, and to torture, but are not, alone &s;uffici|ent to condemne him; So if we finde this &s;ingularity in any man, we take from thence ju&s;t occa&s;ion to que&s;tion and &s;ift him, and his Doctrine, the more narrowly, but not only upon that, pre&s;ently to condemne him. For this was S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> ca&s;e; S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> induced new Doctrines, in divers very important points, different from all that had writ|ten before him; but, upon due examination, for all his &s;ingularity, the Church hath found rea&s;on to adhere to him, in tho&s;e points, ever &s;ince his rea&s;ons prevailed. In our &s;ingle Capuccins ca&s;e here in our text, it is not &s;o.</P>
<P>And therefore here we mu&s;t continue that complaint, which we are often put to make, of the iniquity of the Roman Church to us; If the Fathers &s;eeme to agree in any point, wherein we differ from them, they cry out, we depart from the Fathers; If we adhere to the Fathers, in any point, in which they differ from them, then they cry out, we for&s;ake the Church; Still they pre&s;&s;e us with their Trent-Canon, You mu&s;t interpret Scriptures according to the unanime con&s;ent of the Fathers, and yet they &s;uffer a &s;ingle Capuccin of their owne, to depart from the Fathers, and Sons, from the Ancient and Moderne Ex|po&s;itors in their owne Church, And, I may adde, from the Holy Gho&s;t too, from the evident purpo&s;e and meaning of the place, in more places, then any Author, whom I have &s;eene, and in this, more then in any other place, when he &s;aies, with &s;uch a&s;&s;urance, that in the&s;e words, <HI>He put no tru&s;t in his Servants, and his Angels he charged with folly,</HI> there is no mennon, no intention of God, or Angels, but it is onely &s;poken of men, of the infidelity of &s;ervants, and of the in&s;ecurity of Ma&s;ters relying upon &s;uch depen|dancies.</P>
<P>We take this then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ande Ange|lis Bo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> as All do, All, (for this &s;ingle Capuccin makes no con&s;iderable ex|ception, more then a mole-hill to the roundne&s;&s;e of the earth) to be &s;poken of Angels, which was our fir&s;t probleme and di&s;qui&s;ition; And our &s;econd is, being &s;poken of An|gels, of what Angels they are &s;poken, Good or Bad, of tho&s;e that fell, or tho&s;e that &s;tood. Here we meet with the &s;ame rub as before, &s;ingularity. For, among&s;t all our Ex|po&s;itors upon this book, I have not ob&s;erved any other then <HI>Calvin,</HI> to interpret this place, of the good Angels, of tho&s;e that &s;tand confirmed in grace. Not that <HI>Calvin</HI> is to be left alone, in that opinion, as though he were the onely man, that thought that the good Angels, con&s;idered in them&s;elves, might be defective in the offices committed unto them by God; for, it is evident that <HI>Origen</HI> in divers of his Homilies upon the book of Numbers, in his twentieth, and twentie two, and foure, and twentie &s;ixt, and in his thir|teenth Homily upon S. <HI>Luke,</HI> And as evident that S. <HI>Hierom</HI> him&s;elfe upon the fir&s;t ver&s;e of the &s;ixt Chapter of <HI>Micheas,</HI> thought and taught, That tho&s;e good Angels whom
<PB N="235" REF="135">God appoints for the tuition of certaine men, and certaine places, in this world, &s;hall give an account at the day of Judgement, of the execution of their office, whether the men committed to them, have not fallen &s;ometimes by their fault, and their dereliction; for &s;o does he (and not he only) under&s;tand that place, <HI>That we &s;hall judge the Angels;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.3.</NOTE> As al|&s;o tho&s;e words in the beginning of the Revelation, which S. <HI>Iohn</HI> is commanded by Chri&s;t, <HI>to write to the Angels of certaine Churches,</HI> that Father, S. <HI>Hierom</HI> interprets not only of figurative, and Metaphoricall Angels, the Bi&s;hops of tho&s;e Churches, but literally of the Angels of Heaven.</P>
<P>So then <HI>Calvin</HI> is from any &s;ingularity in that, That the good Angels con&s;idered in them&s;elves, may be defective; but becau&s;e he may be &s;ingular in interpreting this Text, of good Angels, (as for ought I have ob&s;erved he is) this &s;ingularity of his, may be a ju&s;t rea&s;on of &s;u&s;pending our a&s;&s;ent, but not a ju&s;t rea&s;on pre&s;ently to condemne his expo&s;i|tion. The Church mu&s;t beas ju&s;t to him, as it was to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> that is, to examine his grounds. And truly, his ground is faire; his ground is firme. It is this, that though this &s;eeme to derogato from the honour of Angels, that being confirmed, they &s;hould be &s;ubject to weakne&s;&s;e, yet, &s;aies he, we mu&s;t not pervert, nor force any place of Scripture, for the honour of the Angels. For indeed, the perverting, and forcing of Scriptures, for the over-honouring of Saints, hath induced a chain of Here&s;ies in the Romane Church. And that this is a forcing of Scripture, to under&s;tand this Text of fallen Angels, <HI>Calvin</HI> argues rationally, That tho&s;e <HI>Angels</HI> which are &s;poken of here, are called the <HI>&s;ervants of God;</HI> And devils are but his &s;laves, not his &s;ervants; They execute his will, but again&s;t their will; Good Angels are the &s;ervants of God; Nor &s;hall we ea&s;ily finde that Ti|tle, <HI>The &s;ervant of God,</HI> applyed to ill per&s;ons in the Scriptures. Therefore, (as he notes u&s;efully) God doth not charge Angels in this Text, with rebellion, or ob&s;tination, or a|ny haynous crime, but only <HI>with folly,</HI> weakne&s;&s;e, infirmity, from which, in all degrees, none but God him&s;elf can be free. Though therefore there be no &s;uch nece&s;&s;ity of ac|cepting this expo&s;ition, as &s;hould produce that confident a&s;&s;everation which he comes to, <HI>Dubium non e&s;t,</HI> It can admit no doubt, but this place mu&s;t be thus under&s;tood, (for, by his favour, it may admit a doubt) yet neither is there any &s;uch newne&s;&s;e in it, (becau&s;e it is grounded upon Truth, and all Truth is ancient) but that it may very well be recei|ved; And therefore, as the &s;en&s;e that is mo&s;t fit to advance his purpo&s;e that &s;peakes it, (which is one principall thing to be con&s;idered in every place) as the &s;en&s;e that mo&s;t con|duces to <HI>Eliphaz</HI> his end, and to prove that which he intends to <HI>Iob,</HI> without laying ob|ligation upon any to think &s;o, or imputation upon any that doth not think &s;o, we accept this interpretation of the&s;e words; that they are &s;poken of Angels, (which was our fir&s;t) and of good Angels, (which was our &s;econd di&s;quifition) and now proceed to our third, what their confirmation is, and how it works, if for all that, <HI>God put no tru&s;t in tho&s;e &s;er|vants, but charged tho&s;e Angels with folly.</HI></P>
<P>That <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> did &s;peak nothing of the fall, or of the confirmation of Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Confirmati<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> may ju&s;t|ly &s;eem a convenient rea&s;on to think, that he meant to &s;peak nothing of the creation of Angels neither. If <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had intended to have told us of the creation of Angels, he would have told us of their fall, and confirmation too; as having told us &s;o particularly of the making of man, he tells us as particularly of the fall of man, and the re&s;titution of man, by the promi&s;e of a Me&s;&s;iah in Paradi&s;e.</P>
<P>And therefore, that the Angels are wrapped up in that word of <HI>Mo&s;es, The Heavens,</HI> and that they were made when the heavens were made, or that they are wrapped up in that word of <HI>Mo&s;es, The Light,</HI> and that they were made, when Light was made, is all but conjecturall, &amp; cloudy: Neither doth any article of that Creed, which we call the Apo|&s;tles, direct us upon any con&s;ideration of Angels. That they were created long before this world, all the Greek Fathers of the Ea&s;tern Church did con&s;tandy think; And in the We&s;terne Church, among&s;t the Latine Fathers, S. <HI>Ierome</HI> him&s;elf was &s;o cleare in it, as to &s;ay, <HI>Sex millia, no&s;tri orbis, nondum implentur anni,</HI> Our world is not yet &s;ix thou|&s;and yeares old, <HI>Et quantas aternitates, quantas &s;aeculorum origines,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, what infinite revolutions of ages, what infinite eternities, did the Powers, and Principalities, and Thrones, and Angels of God, &s;erve God in before? <HI>Theodoret</HI> that thinkes not &s;o, thinks it not again&s;t any article of Faith, to think that it was &s;o. <HI>Aquinas,</HI> that thinkes not &s;o, will not call it an errour, to think &s;o, out of a reverence to <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> and <HI>Nazi|anzen,</HI> who did think &s;o; for that is an indelible character, which S. <HI>Ierome</HI> hath im|printed
<PB N="236" REF="136">printed upon tho&s;e two Fathers, That no man ever dur&s;t impute errour to <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> or <HI>Nazianzen.</HI> Therefore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes moderately, and with that di&s;creet and cha|ritable temper which becomes every man, in matters that are not fundamentall, <HI>Vt volet, unu&s;qui&s;q accipiat;</HI> I forbid no man, &s;ayes he, either opinion, That the Angels were made before the world, or with it; <HI>Dum non Deo coaeternos, &amp; de vera foelicitate &s;ecuros non ambigat;</HI> Only this I forbid him, that he do not beleeve the Angels to be coeternall with God; For, if they were never made, but &s;ub&s;i&s;t of them&s;elves, then they are God, If they be not creatures, they are Creators; And then, this I forbid him too, &s;ayes he, That he do not think the Angels now in any danger of falling. So that S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> makes this, matter of faith, That the Angels cannot fall; Nor hath S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> any ad|ver&s;ary in that point; we only inquire how they acquired this Infallibility, and a&s;&s;urance in their &s;tation. For, if they were made &s;o long before this world, and fell when this world was made, &s;ince they that had &s;tood &s;o long, fell then, why may not they that &s;tand yet, fall now? They are &s;upported and e&s;tabli&s;hed by a confirmation, &s;ayes the Schoole; And that is our pre&s;ent and ordinary an&s;wer; and it is enough; But how, or when was this confirmation &s;ealed upon them, or how doth it work in them, if <HI>God doe not yet tru&s;t the&s;e &s;ervants, but charge the&s;e Angels with folly?</HI></P>
<P>That the Angels were created <HI>Viatores,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Viatores.</NOTE> and not <HI>Beati,</HI> in a po&s;&s;ibility of everla&s;ting ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, but not in actuall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of it, admits no doubt, becau&s;e &s;ome of them did actually fall. Of whom S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Beatae vitae dulcedinem nongu&s;taverunt, nec fa&s;tidiverunt acceptam;</HI> The Angels had not already fed upon Manna, and then were weary of that; <HI>Non ex eo quod acceperant, ceciderunt, &s;ed ex eo, quod, &s;i &s;ubdi Deo volui&s;|&s;ent, accepi&s;&s;ent,</HI> They fell not from that which they were come to, but from that, to which, if they had applyed them&s;elves to God, they &s;hould have come. So that then, they were not created in a &s;tate of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, but in a way to it; and there was in them <HI>Pinguedo &s;piritus</HI> (as S. <HI>Ierome</HI> &s;ayes elegantly) they were meere &s;pirits;<NOTE PLACE="marg">In O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">am.</NOTE> but if we com|pare them with God, there was a certain fle&s;hline&s;&s;e, &s;ayes he, a certain fatne&s;&s;e, a &s;lippri|ne&s;&s;e of falling into a wor&s;e &s;tate, for any thing that was in their nature; and the nature of tho&s;e that fell, and tho&s;e that &s;tood, is all one, neither is their nature that do &s;tand, changed by the benefit of their confirmation. Hence is it, that the Fathers are both &s;o evident, and &s;o concurrent in that a&s;&s;ertion, That an Angel is a &s;pirit, <HI>Grati&acirc;, &amp; non Na|tur&agrave; immortalitatem &s;u&s;cipiens,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;c. Ju&s;t. Mart.</NOTE> that is, Immortall, but Immortall by additionall Grace, and not by Nature. Take it in the elde&s;t; <HI>Immortalitas eorum ex aliena voluntate pendet,</HI> they have an Immortality, but dependant upon the will of another. And agreeably to the~ another,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyrill Alex.</NOTE> <HI>Quia ortum habuerunt, occidere po&s;&s;unt,</HI> Becau&s;e the Angels were produced of nothing, they may be reduced to nothing; for, <HI>Solus Deus naturaliter immortalis,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, Only God is immortall in him&s;elf, and by nature. And bring it from the el|der to later Fathers, &s;till we &s;hall meet that which was &s;aid before by them, and S. <HI>Ber|nard</HI> &s;ayes after, <HI>Non creati, &s;ed facti immortales,</HI> they were not created at fir&s;t, but made immortall after. Which S. <HI>Hierome</HI> carries even to a &s;pirituall death, the death of &s;in; <HI>Lic&egrave;t non peccent, peccati tamen &s;unt capaces,</HI> &s;ayes he; though Angels do not &s;in, if they were left to them&s;elves, they might fin; As S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> expre&s;&s;es the &s;ame thing elegant|ly, <HI>Non in praejudicium trahas,</HI> you mu&s;t not draw that into con&s;equence, nor conclude &s;o, <HI>Non moritur Gabriel, Vriel, Raphael non moritur,</HI> That the Angel <HI>Gabriel</HI> doth not die, <HI>Raphael, Vriel</HI> doth not die, therefore an Angel, and con&s;idered in his own nature, can|not die; for &s;uch an impo&s;&s;ibility of dying, as in the &s;oul of man, all agree to be in An|gels; for, <HI>We &s;hall be like the Angels,</HI> which cannot die, &s;ayes Chri&s;t. But how this Immortality, and Infallibility accrues to them, and works in them, is &s;till under our di&s;|qui&s;ition, &s;ince <HI>In the&s;e his &s;ervants God puts no tru&s;t, but charges the&s;e Angels with folly.</HI></P>
<P>We have in the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An. Chri&s;ti <HI>512.</HI></NOTE> a &s;tory of <HI>Alamandurus,</HI> a King of the Saracens, who having been converted, and baptized, and catechized in the true faith, was after at|tempted by &s;ome Bi&s;hops in his Court, of the Eutychian here&s;ie. The Eutychian here&s;ie was, That the divine nature in Chri&s;t, the Godhead, &s;uffered a&s;well as the Humane; and the good King, providing a Packet of Intelligence to be delivered him, or &s;omething to be whi&s;pered in his eare in the pre&s;ence of tho&s;e hereticall Bi&s;hops, upon reading thereof he told them, that he had received news, That <HI>Michael</HI> the Archangell was dead; And when tho&s;e Bi&s;hops rejected that with a &s;corn, Alas Sir, <HI>Gabriel</HI> cannot die, Angels can|not die, The King replyed, if an Angel cannot die, if an Angel be impa&s;&s;ible, why would
<PB N="237" REF="136">you make me beleeve, that the God-head it &s;elf, the Divine Nature &s;uffered in Chri&s;t? So we &s;ee, that the piety of a religious King was able to maintain his holy &s;tation, even again&s;t the reall practices of hereticall Court Bi&s;hops. A pious and religious King &s;hould not ea&s;ily be &s;u&s;pected of that levity, to hearken to impious and hereticall motions, though there were good evidence, that that were practi&s;ed upon him; much le&s;&s;e, when the feares in him&s;elf, and in tho&s;e which &s;hould practi&s;e upon him, are but imaginary, and proceed, (as by Gods grace they doe) rather out of zeale that it may not be &s;o, then out of evidence that it is &s;o. Zeale di&s;tempered, (and God knowes, zeale is not alwaies well tempered) will think an <HI>Alamandurus,</HI> a con&s;tant and impregnable King, ea&s;ily &s;haked; and zeale di&s;tempered will think an <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> a <HI>Nazianzen,</HI> an Eutychian Bi|&s;hop. Woe, when Gods &s;word is in the Devils hand! zeale is Gods &s;word; uncharita|blene&s;&s;e is the Devils. When God gave a flaming &s;word to the Cherubims in Paradi&s;e, they make good that place, but that &s;word killed no body, wounded no body. God gives good men zeale; zeale to make good their &s;tation, zeale to con&s;erve the integrity and the &s;incerity of Religion, but this zeale &s;hould not wound, not defame any man. <HI>Faith comes by hearing,</HI> by hearing Sermons, and God &s;ends us many of them; Charity goes out by hearing, by hearing rumours, and the Devill &s;ends many of them. God con|tinue our faith, and re&s;tore our charity.</P>
<P>That Angels are impa&s;&s;ible, that they cannot &s;in, that they cannot die, all &s;ay; but that, if they were left to them&s;elves, without the &s;upport of additionall grace, they might doe both; not only the Ancient Fathers, but, both the fir&s;t Schoole, from <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI> and the middle Schoole, from <HI>Lombard,</HI> and the later Schoole, (if we except only tho&s;e Authors that have writ &s;ince the Lateran Councell, I meane the later Lateran Councell, in our Fathers times, (under <HI>Leo</HI> the tenth) in which Councell, it was fir&s;t determined, that the &s;oul of man (and con&s;equently Angels) was immortall by nature) doe waigh down the &s;cale on that &s;ide, That God does not &s;o tru&s;t in tho&s;e &s;ervants, nor &s;o di&s;charge them, of all weakne&s;&s;e, but that they might fall, but for this &s;upport of grace, which is their Con|firmation. Now how is this conferd upon them?</P>
<P>In Chri&s;t certainly; In Chri&s;t the Father reconciled to him&s;elf all things in earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In Chri&s;to.</HI> Colo&s;&s;. 1.12.</NOTE> and in heaven. How? Not as a Redeemer; for tho&s;e that fell, and thereby needed a re|demption, never were, never &s;hall be redeemed; but as a Mediator, an Interce&s;&s;or in their behalf, that tho&s;e that doe &s;tand, may &s;tand for ever. For, therefore, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> doe the Angels refu&s;e &s;acrifice at our hands, <HI>Quia &amp; ip&s;is nohi&s;cum &s;acrificium norunt,</HI> Be|cau&s;e they know that there is one &s;acrifice offered to God, for them, and for us too, that is Chri&s;t Je&s;us, a propitiation for them, and us; For us, by way of redemption; for them, by way of Mediation, and Interce&s;&s;ion. In &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> confe&s;&s;es that God had forgiven him the &s;ins he never did, becau&s;e but for his grace he &s;hould have done them, the Angels are well &s;aid to have received a reconciliation in Chri&s;t, becau&s;e, but for his mediation, they might have fallen into Gods di&s;plea&s;ure. Upon tho&s;e words, that God &s;hewed <HI>Adam</HI> his judgements, <HI>Quae judicia?</HI> &s;aies that Bi&s;hop <HI>Catharinus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eech<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">. 27.12.</NOTE> what judge|ments did God &s;hew <HI>Adam? Iudicia pe&s;simorum &s;pirituum,</HI> &s;ayes he, the better to con|taine <HI>Adam</HI> in his duty, God declared to him, the judgement that he had executed upon tho&s;e di&s;obedient Angels. So that, as <HI>Adam,</HI> if he had made a right u&s;e of Gods grace, had been immortall in his body, and yet not immortall then, by nature, as our bodies in the &s;tate of glory in the re&s;urrection, &s;hall be immortall, and yet not immortall then by nature; &s;o no Angell, after this Confirmation, (that is, the mediation of Chri&s;t applied to him) &s;hall fall: For, <HI>Quis Catholicus ignorat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> <HI>nullum novum Diabolum ex bonis Angelis futurum?</HI> Who can pretend to be a Catholique, and beleeve, that ever there &s;hall be any new Devill from among&s;t the good Angels? And yet, by the way, many of the Ancient Fathers thought that tho&s;e words, <HI>That the &s;ons of God &s;aw the daughters of men to be faire, and fell in love with them,</HI> were meant of good Angels, who fell in love with tho&s;e wo|men, that were committed to their charge, and that they &s;inned in &s;o doing, and that they never returned to heaven, but fell to the fir&s;t fallen Angels: So that tho&s;e Fathers have more then implied a po&s;&s;ibility of falling into &s;in, and puni&s;hment for &s;in, in the good Angels.</P>
<P>But this none &s;ayes now; nor with any probability ever did. It is enough that they &s;tand confirmed, confirmed by the grace of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us; &s;o that now, being in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the &s;ight of God, and the light of G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ry, their under&s;tanding is perfectly il|lu&s;trated,
<PB N="238" REF="137">&s;o that they can apprehend nothing erroneou&s;ly, and therefore their will is per|fectly rectified, &s;o that they can de&s;ire nothing irregularly, and therefore they cannot &s;in, and therefore they cannot die; for all &s;in is from the perver&s;ene&s;&s;e of the will, and all di&s;|order in the will from errour in the under&s;tanding; In heaven they are, and we, by our a&s;&s;imilation to them, &s;hall be free from both, and impeccable, and impa&s;&s;ible, by the con|tinuall grace of God; Though if they, or we were left to our &s;elves, even there, God could put no tru&s;t in his &s;ervants, nor leave his Angels uncharged with folly. And &s;o we have done with the pieces, which con&s;titute our fir&s;t part, <HI>De quibus,</HI> of whom the&s;e words are &s;poken; Fir&s;t, that they were &s;poken of Angels, rejecting that &s;ingle Capuccin, who only denies it; and then, of good Angels, accepting <HI>Calvins</HI> interpretation, be|cau&s;e, though he be &s;ingular in applying this Text to that Doctrine, yet in the Doctrine it &s;elf, he hath authority enough, and faire rea&s;ons for the Text it &s;elfe; and la&s;tly, how that which we call Confirmation in tho&s;e Angels accrewes to them, and how it works in them. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e to our &s;econd Part, what is inferred upon the&s;e premi&s;&s;es, what concluded upon the&s;e propo&s;itions, what by our a&s;&s;imilation to Angels, reflects upon us.</P>
<P>And here,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2. Part.</HI> Te&s;tis Eli|phaz.</NOTE> becau&s;e the matter is of much con&s;ideration, we propo&s;ed fir&s;t to be con&s;i|dered, the waight and validity of the te&s;timony, in the per&s;on of him that gives it; for many times the credit of the re&s;timony depends much upon the credit of the witne&s;&s;e. And here, it is not <HI>Iob</HI> him&s;elf, it is but <HI>Eliphaz, Eliphaz</HI> the <HI>Temanite,</HI> an Alien, a &s;tran|ger to the Covenant, and Church of God. But &s;urely no greater a &s;tranger, then tho&s;e &s;ecular Poets, who&s;e &s;entences S. <HI>Paul</HI> cites not only in his Epi&s;tles, but in his Sermons too. Certainly not &s;o great a &s;tranger, as the Devill, and yet in how many places of Scripture, are words &s;poken by the Devill him&s;elf in&s;erted into the Scriptures, and there|by, &s;o farre made the word of God, as that the word of God, the Bible, were not perfect norintire to us, if we had not tho&s;e words of tho&s;e Poets, tho&s;e words of the Devill him|&s;elf in it? How can I doubt but that God can draw good out of ill, and make even &s;ome &s;in of mine, &s;ome occa&s;ion of my &s;alvation, when the God of truth can make the word of the father of lies, his word? There is but one place in all this Book of <HI>Iob</HI> cited in the New Te&s;tament;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 5.13.</NOTE> that is, <HI>He taketh the wi&s;e in their owne craft;</HI> and tho&s;e words are not &s;poken by <HI>Iob</HI> him&s;elf, but by this very friend of <HI>Iob,</HI> this <HI>Eliphaz,</HI> that &s;peaks in our Text;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.19.</NOTE> and yet they are cited, in the phra&s;e, and manner, in which holy Scripture is ordi|narily cited, <HI>It is written,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle there, and &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t, that &s;poke in S. <HI>Paul,</HI> hath canonized the words &s;poken by <HI>Eliphaz.</HI></P>
<P>But be&s;ides the credit which the&s;e words have,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vi&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>&agrave; po&s;teriori,</HI> that they are after in&s;erted into the word of God, (which is another manner of credit, and authentiquene&s;&s;e, then that which the Canoni&s;ts &s;peak of, that when any &s;entence of a Father is cited, and in&s;er|ted into a Decretall Epi&s;tle of a Pope, or any part of the Canon Law, that &s;entence is thereby made authenticall, and canonicall) the&s;e words have their credit <HI>&agrave; priori,</HI> for, be|fore be &s;pake them to <HI>Iob,</HI> he received them in a vi&s;ion from God. <HI>I had a vi&s;ion in the night,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 12.</NOTE> &s;ayes he, <HI>and feare, and trembling came upon me, and a &s;pirit &s;tood before me, and I heard this voyce.</HI></P>
<P>Neither is there any nece&s;&s;ity, no nor rea&s;on, to charge <HI>Eliphaz</HI> with a fal&s;e relation, or counterfaiting a revelation from God, which he had not had, as &s;ome Expo&s;itors have done. For, how&s;oever in &s;ome argumentations, and applyings of things to <HI>Iobs</HI> particu|lar ca&s;e, we may finde &s;ome errors in <HI>Eliphaz, in modo probandi,</HI> in the manner of his proceeding, yet we &s;hall not finde him to proceed upon fal&s;e grounds; and therefore, we beleeve <HI>Eliphaz</HI> to have received this that he &s;ayes, from God, in a vi&s;ion, and for the in|&s;truction of a man, more in Gods favour then him&s;elf, of <HI>Iob. Balaam</HI> had the reputation of a great Wizard, and yet God made his A&s;&s;e wi&s;er then he, and able to in&s;truct and catechize him. Generally we are to receive our in&s;tructions from Gods e&s;tabli&s;hed Or|dinances, from his ordinary meanes afforded to us, in his Church: And where tho&s;e meanes, &s;ufficient in them&s;elves, are duly exhibited to us, we are not to hearken after re|velations, nor to beleeve every thing, that may have &s;ome &s;uch apparance, to be a reve|lation.</P>
<P>But yet, we are not &s;o to conclude God in his Law, as that he &s;hould have no Preroga|tive, nor &s;o to binde him up in his Ordinances, as that he never can, or never does work by an extraordinary way of revelation. Neither mu&s;t the profu&s;ion of miracles, the pro|digality
<PB N="239" REF="137">and pro&s;titution of miracles in the Romane Church, (where miracles for every naturall di&s;ea&s;e may be had, at &s;ome Shrine, or miracle-&s;hop, better cheap, then a Me|dicine, a Drugge, a Simple at an Apothecaries) bring us to deny, or di&s;tru&s;t all miracles, done by God upon extraordinary cau&s;es, and to important purpo&s;es. <HI>Eliphaz</HI> was a prophane per&s;on, and yet received a Vi&s;ion from God, and for the in&s;truction of <HI>Iob</HI> him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>What was it? we &s;ee ver. 17. <HI>Shall mortall man be more ju&s;t then God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall a man be more pure then his Maker?</HI> Why? Did this Doctrine need this &s;olemnity, this preparation, that <HI>Eliphaz</HI> gives it, v. 8. <HI>That it was a thing told him in &s;ecret, and &s;uch a &s;ecret, that he was able to comprehend but a little at once of it?</HI> Is there any &s;uch incomprehen&s;iblene&s;&s;e, any &s;uch difficulty in this Doctrine, <HI>That no mortall man is more ju&s;t then God, no man more pure then his Maker,</HI> but that the &s;hallowe&s;t capacity may receive it, and the &s;horte&s;t memory retaine it? Needs this a Revelation, an extraordinary conveyance? For the generall knowledge it does not; Every man will &s;ay, he knowes mortall man cannot be more ju&s;t then God, nor any man purer then his Maker; But, for the particular con&s;ideration it does. Every ju&s;tifying a &s;in, is a making mortall man more ju&s;t then God; when I come to &s;ay, With what ju&s;tice can God puni&s;h a nights, or an houres &s;in, with everla&s;ting tor|ments? Every murmuring at Gods corrections is a making man purer then God; when I come to &s;ay, Does not God depart farther from the purity of his nature, when he is an an|gry, and a vindicative God, then I from mine, when I am an amorous, or wanton man? We that are but mortall men, mu&s;t not think, &s;ayes <HI>Eliphaz,</HI> to make our &s;elves purer then our Maker; for, they, who in their nature, are much purer then we, the Angels, are farre &s;hort of that, for, <HI>God put no tru&s;t in tho&s;e &s;ervants, and tho&s;e Angells he charged with folly.</HI></P>
<P>So then, though <HI>Eliphaz</HI> his premi&s;&s;es reach to the Angels, and their &s;tate, his infe|rence and his la&s;t purpo&s;e fals upon us, who, by Gods goodne&s;&s;e, become capable of &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ion into the place of the Angels that are fallen, and of an a&s;&s;ociation, and a&s;&s;imilation to tho&s;e Angels that &s;tand. And our a&s;&s;imilation is this, That as they have in their &s;tati|on, we al&s;o &s;hall have in ours, a faithfull certitude, that we &s;hall never fall out of the armes and bo&s;ome of our gracious God. But then, there ari&s;es to us a &s;weeter relli&s;h in con&s;idering this &s;tability, this perpetuity, this infallibility to con&s;i&s;t in the continuall &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ion, and &s;upply of grace, then in any one act, which God hath done for them, or us. I conceive a more effectual delight, when I con&s;ider God to have &s;o wrought the confir|mation of Angels, that he hath taken them into a &s;tate of glory, and a fruition of his &s;ight, and to perpetuate that &s;tate unto them, perpetually &s;uperinfu&s;es upon them more and more beames of that glory, then if I &s;hould con&s;ider God to have confirmed them, with &s;uch a mea&s;ure of grace, at once, as that he could not withdraw, or they could for|feit that grace. For, as there is no doubt made by the Fathers, nor by the Schoole, but that that light which the Apo&s;tles &s;aw at the Transfiguration of Chri&s;t, was that very light of glory, which they &s;ee now in Heaven, and yet they lo&s;t the &s;ight of that light againe; &s;o is there no violation of any Article of our Faith, if we concurre in opinion with them, who &s;ay, That S. <HI>Paul</HI> in his exta&s;ie, in his rapture into the third heaven, did &s;ee that very light of glory, which con&s;titutes the Beatificall Vi&s;ion, and yet did lo&s;e that light againe.</P>
<P>Truly to me, this con&s;ideration, That as his mercy is new every morning, &s;o his grace is renewed to me every minute, That it is not by ye&s;terdaies grace that I live now, but that I have <HI>Panem quotidianum,</HI> and <HI>Panem horarium,</HI> My daily bread, my hourely bread, in a continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of his grace, That the eye of God is open upon me, though I winke at his light, and watches over me, though I &s;leep, That God makes the&s;e returnes to my &s;oule, and &s;o &s;tudies me in every change, this con&s;ideration, infu&s;es a &s;weeter ver|dure, and imprints a more cheerefull tincture upon my &s;oule, then any ta&s;te of any one Act, done at once, can mini&s;ter unto me. God made the Angels all of one naturall con|dition, in nature all alike; and God gave them all &s;uch grace, as that thereby they might have &s;tood; and to them that u&s;ed that grace aright, he gave a farther, a continuall &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ion of grace, and that is their Confirmation; Not that they cannot, but that they &s;hall not fall; not that they are &s;afe in them&s;elves, but by Gods pre&s;ervation &s;afe; for, otherwi&s;e, <HI>He puts no tru&s;t in tho&s;e Servants, and tho&s;e Angels he charges with folly.</HI></P>
<P>This is our ca&s;e too; ours that are under the ble&s;&s;ed Election, and good purpo&s;e of God upon us; if we do not fall from him, it is not of our &s;elves; for left to our &s;elves, we &s;hould:
<PB N="240" REF="138">For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 5.</NOTE> &s;o S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> interprets tho&s;e words of our Saviour, <HI>Pater operatur, My Father worketh &s;till;</HI> God hath not accompli&s;hed his worke upon us, in one Act, though an Ele|ction; but he works in our Vocation, and he works in our Ju&s;tification, and in our San|ctification he works &s;till. And, if God him&s;elfe be not &s;o come to his Sabbath, and his re&s;t in us, but that he works upon us &s;till for all that Election, &s;hall any man thinke to have &s;uch a Sabbath, &s;uch a re&s;t, in that Election, as &s;hall &s;lacken our endeavour, to make &s;ure our Salvation, and not worke as God works, to his ends in us? Hence then we bani&s;h all &s;elf-&s;ub&s;i&s;tence, all attributing of any power, to any faculty of our own; either by preoperation, in any naturall or morall di&s;po&s;ing of our &s;elves, before Gods preventing grace di&s;po&s;e us, or by &s;uch a cooperation, as &s;hould put God and man in Commi&s;&s;ion together, or make grace and nature Collegues in the worke, or that God &s;hould do one halfe, and man the other; or any &s;uch po&s;t-operation, That I &s;hould thinke to proceed in the waies of godline&s;&s;e, by vertue of Gods former grace, without imploring, and ob|taining more, in a continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of his concomitant grace, for every particular action: In Chri&s;t I can do all things; I need no more but him; without Chri&s;t, I can doe nothing; not onely not have him, but not know that I need him; for I am not better then tho&s;e Angels, of whom it is &s;aid, <HI>He put no tru&s;t in tho&s;e Servants, and tho&s;e Angels hee charged with folly.</HI></P>
<P>And as we bani&s;h from hence all &s;elf-&s;ub&s;i&s;tence, all opinion of &s;tanding by our &s;elves, &s;o doe we al&s;o all impeccability, and all impo&s;&s;ibility of falling in our &s;elves, or in any thing, that God hath already done for us, if he &s;hould di&s;continue his future grace, and leave us to our former &s;tock. They that were rai&s;ed from death to life againe, <HI>Dorcas, Lazarus,</HI> and the re&s;t, were &s;ubject to &s;in, in that new life, which was given them. They that are quickned by the &s;oule of the &s;oule, Election it &s;elfe, are &s;ubject to &s;in, for all that. God &s;ees the &s;ins of the Elect, and &s;ees their &s;ins to be &s;ins; and in his Ephemerides, his journals, he writes them downe, under that Title, &s;ins, and he reads them every day, in that booke, as &s;uch; and they grow greater and greater in his &s;ight, till our repentance have wa&s;hed them out of his &s;ight. Ca&s;ui&s;ts will &s;ay, that though a dead man rai&s;ed to life againe, be not bound to his former marriage, yet he is bound to that Religion, that he had inve&s;ted in Bapti&s;me, and bound to his former religious vowes, and the &s;ame obedience to Superiours as before. We were all dead in <HI>Adam;</HI> and he that is rai&s;ed a|gaine, even by Election, though he be not &s;o married to the world, as others are, not &s;o in love with &s;in, not &s;o under the dominion of &s;in, yet he is as much bound to an obedi|ence to the Will of God declared in his Law, and may no more pre&s;ume of a liberty of &s;inning before, nor of an impunity of &s;in after, then he that pretends no &s;uch Election, to confide in.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro&s;pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> For, this is excellently &s;aid, to be the working of our election, by <HI>Pro&s;per,</HI> the Di&s;ciple of S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Doctrines, and the Eccho of his words, <HI>Vt fiat permanen|di voluntaria, foelixque nece&s;sitas,</HI> That our a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation by per&s;everance, is ne|ce&s;&s;ary, and yet voluntary; Con&s;ider it in Gods purpo&s;e, ea&s;ily it cannot, con&s;ider it in our &s;elves, it might be re&s;i&s;ted. For we are no better then tho&s;e Angels, and, <HI>In tho&s;e &s;er|vants he put no tru&s;t, and tho&s;e Angels he charged with folly.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;uch as they are,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Numerus.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters"> 130.7.</NOTE> we &s;hall be: And, &s;ince with the Lord there is <HI>Copio&s;a Redemptio, Plenteous Redemption,</HI> that overflowing mercy of our God, tho&s;e &s;uper-&s;uperlative Merits of our Saviour, that plenteous Redemption, may hold even in this particular ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e, in our a&s;&s;imilation to them, That as, though there fell great numbers of Angels, yet great, and greater then they that fell, &s;tood, So though <HI>The way to Heaven be narrow, and the gate &s;trait,</HI> (which is &s;aid by Chri&s;t, to excite our indu&s;try, and are rather an ex|pre&s;&s;ion ari&s;ing out of his mercy, le&s;t we &s;hould &s;lacken our holy endeavours, then any intimidation, or commination) (for though the way be narrow, and the gate &s;trait, yet the roome is &s;pacious enough within) why, by this plenteous redemption, may we not hope,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 12.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> that many more then are excluded, &s;hall enter there? Tho&s;e words, <HI>The dragons taile drew the third part of the &s;tars from Heaven,</HI> the Fathers generally interprete of the fall of Angels with Lucifer; and it was but a third part; And by Gods grace, who&s;e mer|cy is overflowing, who&s;e merits are &s;uper-abundant, with whom there is plenteous re|demption, the &s;erpent gets no farther upon us. I know &s;ome &s;ay, that this <HI>third part of the &s;tars,</HI> is meant of eminent per&s;ons, illu&s;trated and a&s;&s;i&s;ted with the be&s;t meanes of &s;alva|tion, and, if a third of them, how many meanlier furni&s;hed, fall? But, tho&s;e that we can con&s;ider to be be&s;t provided of meanes of &s;alvation, nextto the&s;e, are Chri&s;tians in ge|nerall;
<PB N="241" REF="138">and &s;o may this plenteous Redemption be well hoped to worke, that but a third part of them, of Chri&s;tians, &s;hall peri&s;h; and then the God of this plenteous Redemption having promi&s;ed us, that the Chri&s;tian Religion &s;hall be carried over all the world, &s;till the number of tho&s;e that &s;hall be &s;aved is enlarged.</P>
<P>Apply to thy &s;elfe that which S. <HI>Cyril</HI> &s;aies of the Angels, <HI>Tri&s;taris, quia aliqui vitam ami&s;erunt?</HI> Does it grieve thee, that any are fallen? <HI>At plures meliorem &s;tatum apud Deum obtinent,</HI> Let this comfort thee, even in the application thereof to thy &s;elfe, that more &s;tood then fell. As <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> &s;aid to his &s;ervant, in a danger of &s;urpri&s;all, <HI>Feare not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King 6.16.</NOTE> <HI>for they that be with us, are more then they that are with them,</HI> &s;o, if a &s;u&s;pition of the paucity of them that &s;hall be &s;aved, make thee afraid, looke up upon this overflowing mercy of thy God, this &s;uper-abundant merit of thy Saviour, this plenteous Redemption, and thou mai&s;t finde, finde in a faire credulity, and in a well regulated hope, more with thee, then with them that peri&s;h. Live &s;o, in &s;uch a warfare with tentations, in &s;uch a colluctation with thy concupi&s;cences, in &s;uch a jealou&s;ie, and &s;u&s;pition of thine indifferent, nay, of thy be&s;t actions, as though there were but one man to be &s;aved, and thou would&s;t be that one; But live and die in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e of this plenteous Redemption of thy God, as though neither thou, nor any could lo&s;e &s;alvation, except he doubted of it. I doubt not of mine own &s;alvation; and in whom can I have &s;o much occa&s;ion of doubt, as in my &s;elf? When I come to heaven, &s;hall I be able to &s;ay to any there, Lord! how got you hither? Was any man le&s;&s;e likely to come thither then I? There is not only an Onely God in heaven; But a Father, a Son, a Holy Gho&s;t in that God; which are names of a plurality, and &s;ociable relations, conver&s;able notions. There is not only one Angel, a <HI>Gabriel;</HI> But <HI>to thee all Angels cry alond;</HI> and Cherubim, and Seraphim, are plurall ter|minations; many Cherubs, many Seraphs in heaven. There is not only one Monarchall Apo&s;tle, a <HI>Peter,</HI> but <HI>The glorious company of the Apo&s;tles prai&s;e thee.</HI> There is not onely a Proto-Martyr, a <HI>Stephen,</HI> but <HI>The noble army of Martyrs prai&s;e thee.</HI> Who ever among&s;t our Fathers, thought of any other way to the Moluccaes, or to China, then by the Pro|montory of <HI>Good hope?</HI> Yet another way opened it &s;elf to <HI>Magellan;</HI> a Straite; it is true; but yet a way thither; and who knows yet, whether there may not be a North-Ea&s;t, and a North-We&s;t way thither, be&s;ides? Go thou to heaven, in an humble thankfulne&s;&s;e to God, and holy cheerfulne&s;&s;e, in that way that God hath manife&s;ted to thee; and do not pronounce too bitterly, too de&s;perately, that every man is in an errour, that thinkes not ju&s;t as thou thinke&s;t, or in no way, that is not in thy way. God found folly, weak|ne&s;&s;e in his Angels, yet more &s;tood then fell; God findes weakne&s;&s;e, wickedne&s;&s;e in us, yet hee <HI>came to call, not the righteous, but &s;inners to repentance;</HI> and who, that comes in that capacity, a Repentant &s;inner, can be &s;hut out, or denied his part in this Re&s;urrection?</P>
<P><HI>The key of David opens, and no man &s;huts.</HI> The Son of <HI>David,</HI> is the key of <HI>David,</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us; He hath opened heaven for us all; let no man &s;hut out him&s;elf, by diffi|dence in Gods mercy, nor &s;hut out any other man, by overvaluing his own purity, in re|&s;pect of others. But forbearing all lacerations, and tearings, and woundings of one ano|ther, with bitter invectives, all exa&s;perations by odious names of &s;ubdivi&s;ion, let us all &s;tudy, fir&s;t the redintegration of that body, of which Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath declared him&s;elfe to be the head, the whole Chri&s;tian Church, and pray that he would, and hope that he will enlarge the means of &s;alvation to tho&s;e, who have not yet been made partakers of it. That &s;o, he that called the <HI>gates</HI> of heaven <HI>&s;traite,</HI> may &s;ay to tho&s;e gates,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 24.7.</NOTE> <HI>Elevamini portae aeternales, Be ye lifted up, ye eternall gates,</HI> and be ye enlarged, that as the King of glo|ry him&s;elf is entred into you, for the farther glory of the King of glory, not only <HI>that hundred and foure and forty thou&s;and of the Tribes of the children of I&s;rael,</HI> but <HI>that multitude</HI> which is &s;poken or in that place, <HI>which no man can number, of all Nations, and Kindreds,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 7.19.</NOTE> <HI>and People, and friends,</HI> may enter with that acclamation, <HI>Salvation to our God, which &s;it|teth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb for ever.</HI> And <HI>unto this City of the living God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.22, 23, 24.</NOTE> <HI>the hea|venly Ieru&s;alem, and to the innumerable company of Angels, to the generall a&s;&s;embly, and Church of the fir&s;t b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">n, which are written in heaven, and to God the Iudge of all, and to the &s;pirits of ju&s;t men made perfect, and to Ie&s;us the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of &s;prinkling, that &s;peaks better things then that of Abel,</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed God bring us all, for thy Sons &s;ake, and by the operation of thy Spirit. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="25" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="242" REF="139">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXV.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Ea&s;ter-day. <HI>1630.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 28.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>He is not here, for he is ri&s;en, as he &s;aid; Come, See the place where the Lord lay.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe&s;e are words &s;poken by an Angel of heaven, to certain devout Women, who, not yet con&s;idering the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, came with a pious intention to do an office of re&s;pect, and civill honour to the body of their Ma&s;ter, which they meant to embalme in the Monument where they thought to finde it. How great a compa&s;&s;e God went in this act of the Re|&s;urrection? Here was God, the God of life, dead in a grave, And here was man, a dead man, ri&s;en out of the grave; Here are Angels of heaven imployed in &s;o low an office, as to catechize Women, and Women imployed in &s;o high an office, as to catechize the Apo&s;tles. I cho&s;e this ver&s;e out of the body of the Story of the Re&s;urrection, becau&s;e in this ver&s;e the act of Chri&s;ts ri&s;ing, (which we celebrate this day) is expre&s;ly mention|ed, <HI>Surrexit enim, for he is ri&s;en:</HI> Which word &s;tands as a Candle, that &s;hews it &s;elf, and all about it, and will mini&s;ter occa&s;ion of illu&s;trating your under&s;tanding, of e&s;tabli&s;hing your faith, of exalting your devotion in &s;ome other things about the Re&s;urrection, then fall literally within the words of this ver&s;e. For, from this ver&s;e we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily re|flect, both upon the per&s;ons (they to whom, and they by whom the words were &s;poken) and upon the occa&s;ion given. I &s;hall not therefore now &s;tand to divide the words into their parts and branches, at my fir&s;t entring into them, but handle them, as I &s;hall meet them again anon, &s;pringing out, and growing up from the body of the Story; for the Context is our Text, and the whole Re&s;urrection is the work of the day, though it be virtually, implicitely contracted into this ver&s;e, <HI>He is not here, for he is ri&s;en, as he &s;aid; Come, and &s;ee the place where the Lord lay.</HI></P>
<P>Our fir&s;t con&s;ideration is upon the per&s;ons;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mulieres.</NOTE> and tho&s;e we finde to be Angelicall wo|men, and Euangelicall Angels: Angels made Euangeli&s;ts, to preach the Go&s;pell of the Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.1. Apoc. 1.20.</NOTE> and Women made Angels, (&s;o as <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> is called an <HI>Angel,</HI> and &s;o as the &s;even Bi&s;hops are called <HI>Angels</HI>) that is, In&s;tructers of the Church; And to recom|pence that ob&s;ervation, that never good Angel appeared in the likene&s;&s;e of woman, here are good women made Angels, that is, Me&s;&s;engers, publi&s;hers of the greate&s;t my|&s;teries of our Religion. For, how&s;oever &s;ome men out of a petulancy and wantonne&s;&s;e of wit, and out of the extravagancy of Paradoxes, and &s;uch &s;ingularities, have called the faculties, and abilities of women in que&s;tion, even in the roote thereof, in the rea&s;onable and immortall &s;oul, yet that one thing alone hath been enough to create a doubt, (almo&s;t an a&s;&s;urance in the negative) whether S. <HI>Ambro&s;es</HI> Commentaries upon the Epi&s;tles of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> be truly his or no, that in that book there is a doubt made, whether the woman were created according to Gods Image; Therefore, becau&s;e that doubt is made in that book, the book it &s;elf is &s;u&s;pected not to have had &s;o great, &s;o grave, &s;o con&s;tant an au|thor as S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> was; No author of gravity, of piety, of conver&s;ation in the Scrip|tures could admit that doubt, whether woman were created in the Image of God, that is, in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a rea&s;onable and an immortall &s;oul.</P>
<P>The faculties and abilities of the &s;oul appeare be&s;t in affaires of State, and in Eccle&s;ia|&s;ticall affaires; in matter of government, and in matter of religion; and in neither of the&s;e are we without examples of able women. For, for State affaires, and matter of govern|ment, our age hath given us &s;uch a Queen, as &s;carce any former King hath equalled; And in the Venetian Story, I remember, that certain Matrons of that City were &s;ent by Commi&s;&s;ion, in quality of Amba&s;&s;adours, to an Empre&s;&s;e with whom that State had
<PB N="243" REF="139">occa&s;ion to treate; And in the Stories of the Ea&s;tern parts of the World, it is &s;aid to be in ordinary practi&s;e to &s;end women for Amba&s;&s;adours. And then, in matters of Religi|on, women have evermore had a great hand, though &s;ometimes on the left, as well as on the right hand. Sometimes their abundant wealth, &s;ometimes their per&s;onall affections to &s;ome Church-men, &s;ometimes their irregular and indi&s;creet zeale hath made them great a&s;&s;i&s;tants of great Heretiques; as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> tels us of <HI>Helena</HI> to <HI>Simon Magus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieror.</NOTE> and &s;o was <HI>Lucilia</HI> to <HI>Donatus,</HI> &s;o another to <HI>Mahomet,</HI> and others to others. But &s;o have they been al&s;o great in&s;truments for the advancing of true Religion, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> te&s;tifies in their behalf, at <HI>The&s;&s;olonica, Of the chiefe women, not a few;</HI> Great, and Many. For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.4.</NOTE> many times women have the proxies of greater per&s;ons then them&s;elves, in their bo|&s;omes; many times women have voices, where they &s;hould have none; many times the voices of great men, in the greate&s;t of Civill, or Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall A&s;&s;emblies, have been in the power and di&s;po&s;ition of women.</P>
<P>Hence is it, that in the old Epi&s;tles of the Bi&s;hops of Rome, when they needed the Court, (as, at fir&s;t they needed Courts as much, as they brought Courts to need them at la&s;t) we finde as many letters of tho&s;e Popes to the Emperours Wives, and the Emperours Mothers, and Si&s;ters, and women of other names, and intere&s;ts in the Emperours favours and affections, as to the Emperours them&s;elves. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> writ many letters to divers holy Ladies; for the mo&s;t part, all of one &s;tocke and kin|dred; and a &s;tock and kindred &s;o religious, as that I remember, the good old man &s;aies, That if <HI>Iupiter</HI> were their Cou&s;in, of their kindred, he beleeves <HI>Iupiter</HI> would be a Chri|&s;tian; he would leave being &s;uch a God as he was, to be their fellow-&s;ervant to the true God.</P>
<P>Now if women were brought up according to S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> in&s;tructions in tho&s;e let|ters, that by &s;eaven yeares of age, they &s;hould be able to &s;ay the P&s;almes without book; That as they grew in yeares, they &s;hould proceed in the knowledge of Scriptures, That they &s;hould love the Service of God at Church, but not <HI>&s;ine Matre,</HI> not goe to Church when they would, but when their Mother could goe with them, <HI>Nec quaererent celebrita|tem Eccle&s;iarum,</HI> They &s;hould not alwaies goe to the greate&s;t Churches, and where the mo&s;t famous Preachers drew mo&s;t company; If women have &s;ubmitted them&s;elves to as good an education as men, God forbid their &s;exe &s;hould prejudice them, for being ex|amples to others. Their &s;exe? no, nor their &s;ins neither: for, it is S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> note, That of all tho&s;e women, that are named in Chri&s;ts pedegree in the Go&s;pell, there is not one, (his onely Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin-Mother excepted) upon whom there is not &s;ome &s;u&s;pitious note of incontinency. Of &s;uch women did Chri&s;t vouch&s;afe to come; He came of wo|man &s;o, as that he came of nothing but woman; of woman, and not of man. Neither doe we reade of any woman in the Go&s;pel, that a&s;&s;i&s;ted the per&s;ecutors of Chri&s;t, or furthe|red his afflictions; Even <HI>Pilats</HI> wife di&s;&s;waded it. Woman, as well as man, was made after the Image of God, in the Creation; and in the Re&s;urrection, when we &s;hall ri&s;e &s;uch as we were here, her &s;exe &s;hall not dimini&s;h her glory: Of which, &s;he receives one faire beame, and inchoation in this Text, that the purpo&s;e of God, is, even by the mini|&s;tery of Angel s, communicated to women. But what women? for, their preparation, their di&s;po&s;ition is in this Text too; &s;uch women, as were not only devout, but &s;edulous, diligent, con&s;tant, per&s;everant in their devotion; To &s;uch women God communicated him&s;elf; which is another Con&s;ideration in the&s;e per&s;ons.</P>
<P>As our Saviour Chri&s;t was plea&s;ed, that one of the&s;e women &s;hould be celebrated by name, for another act upon him, <HI>Mary Magdalen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Maria.</NOTE> and that where&s;oever his Go&s;pell was preached, her act &s;hould be remembred, &s;o the re&s;t, with her, are worthy to be known and celebrated by their names; Therfore we con&s;ider, <HI>Quae,</HI> and <HI>quales;</HI> fir&s;t who they were, and then what they were; their names fir&s;t, and then their conditions.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bodin de re|pub. l. 6. c. 4.</NOTE> There is an Hi|&s;toricall relation, and ob&s;ervation, That though there be divers Kingdomes in Europe, in which the Crowns may fall upon women, yet, for &s;ome ages, they did not, and when they did, it was much at one time, and all upon women of one name, <HI>Mary.</HI> It was &s;o with us in <HI>England,</HI> and in <HI>Scotland</HI> it was &s;o; &s;o in <HI>Denmark,</HI> and in <HI>Hungary</HI> it was &s;o too; all foure, <HI>Maries.</HI> Though regularly women &s;hould not preach, yet when the&s;e <HI>Legati &agrave; latere,</HI> the&s;e Angels from heaven did give Orders to women, and made them Apo&s;tles to the Apo&s;tles, the Commi&s;&s;ion was to women of that name, <HI>Mary;</HI> for, though our Expo&s;itors di&s;pute whether the Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> were there then, when this pa&s;&s;ed at
<PB N="244" REF="140">the Sepulchre, yet of <HI>Mary Magdalen,</HI> and <HI>Mary</HI> the Mother of <HI>Iames,</HI> there can be no doubt. Indeed it is a Noble, and a Comprehen&s;ive name, <HI>Mary.</HI> It is the name of wo|man, in generall;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.23.</NOTE> For, when <HI>Adam</HI> &s;ayes of <HI>Eve, She &s;hall be called Woman,</HI> in the Ara|bique Tran&s;lation, there is this name, <HI>She &s;hall be called Mary;</HI> and the Arabique is, per|chance, a dialect of the Hebrew. But in pure, and Originall Hebrew, the word &s;ignifies <HI>Exaltation,</HI> and what&s;oever is be&s;t in the kinde thereof. This is the name of that &s;i&s;ter of <HI>Aaron,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 15.20.</NOTE> and <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that with her Quire of women a&s;&s;i&s;ted at that Euchari&s;ticall &s;acrifice, that Triumphant &s;ong of Thank&s;giving, upon the de&s;truction, the &s;ubver&s;ion, the &s;ub|mer&s;ion of Aegypt, in the Red Sea. Her name was <HI>Miriam;</HI> and <HI>Miriam</HI> and <HI>Mary</HI> is the &s;ame name in women, as <HI>Io&s;uah</HI> and <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> is the &s;ame name to men. The word denotes <HI>Greatne&s;&s;e,</HI> not only in Power, but in Wi&s;dome, and Learning too; and &s;o &s;ignifies often Prophets, and Doctors; and &s;o falls fitlie&s;t upon the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed women, who, in that &s;en&s;e, were all made <HI>Maries,</HI> Me&s;&s;engers, Apo&s;tles to the Apo&s;tles; in which &s;en&s;e, even tho&s;e women were made <HI>Maries,</HI> (that is, Me&s;&s;engers of the Re&s;urrection) who, no doubt, had other names of their own. There was among&s;t them, the wife of <HI>Chu&s;a,</HI> a great man in <HI>Herods</HI> Court,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.3. &amp; 24.10.</NOTE> his Steward; and her name was <HI>Ioanna, Ioane.</HI> So that here was truly a Pope <HI>Ioane,</HI> a woman of that name, above the greate&s;t men in the Church. For the dignity of the Papacy, they venture to &s;ay, that who&s;oever was S. <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;&s;or in the Bi&s;hoprick of Rome, was above any of the Apo&s;tles, that over-lived <HI>Peter;</HI> as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> did; Here was a woman, a Pope <HI>Ioane,</HI> Superiour to S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elf, and able to teach him. But though we found ju&s;t rea&s;on to celebrate the&s;e women by name, we meant not to &s;tay upon that circum&s;tance; we &s;hut it up with this prayer, That that ble&s;&s;ing which God gave to the&s;e <HI>Maries,</HI> which was, to know more of Chri&s;t, then their former teachers knew, he will al&s;o be plea&s;ed to give to the greate&s;t of that name among&s;t us, That &s;he may know more of Chri&s;t, then her fir&s;t teachers knew. And we pa&s;&s;e on, from the Names, to the Conditions of the&s;e women.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t we con&s;ider their &s;edulity; &s;edulity, that admits no intermi&s;&s;ion, no interrup|tion, no di&s;continuance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Saeduls.</NOTE> no tepidity, no indifferency in religious offices. Con&s;ider we therefore their &s;edulity if we can. I &s;ay, if we can; becau&s;e if a man &s;hould &s;it down at a Bee-hive, or at an Ant-hill, and determine to watch &s;uch an Ant, or &s;uch a Bee, in the working thereof, he would finde that Bee, or that Ant &s;o &s;edulous, &s;o &s;erious, &s;o various, &s;o concurrent with others, &s;o contributary to others, as that he would quickly lo&s;e his marks, and his &s;ight of that Ant, or that Bee; So if we fixe our con&s;ideration upon the&s;e devout women, and the &s;edulity of their devotion, &s;o as the &s;everall Euangeli&s;ts pre&s;ent it unto us, we may ea&s;ily lo&s;e our &s;ight, and hardly know which was which, or, at what time &s;he or &s;he came to the Sepulchre. <HI>They came in the end of the Sabbath, as it begun to dawne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.1.</NOTE> <HI>towards the fir&s;t day of the week,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Mathew; They came very early in the mor|ning, upon the fir&s;t day of the week,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 16.1. Luke 24.1. John 20.1.</NOTE> <HI>the Sun being then ri&s;en,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Mark; They prepared their Spices, and re&s;ted the Sabbath, and came early the next day,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Luke; They came the fir&s;t day, when it was yet dark,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Iohn.</HI> From Friday Evening, till Sunday mor|ning they were &s;edulous,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ath<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">na&s;.</NOTE> bu&s;ie upon this &s;ervice; &s;o &s;edulous, as that <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> thinks the&s;e women came foure &s;everall times to the Sepulchre, and that the foure Euangeli&s;ts have relation to their foure commings;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hierome.</NOTE> and S. <HI>Hierome</HI> argues upon this &s;eeming variety in the Euangeli&s;ts, thus, <HI>Non mendacii &s;ignum, &s;ed &s;edulae vi&s;itationis officium,</HI> This variety argues no uncertainty in the Euangeli&s;ts, but te&s;tifies the &s;edulity of tho&s;e women they &s;peak of; <HI>Dum crebr&ograve; abeunt &amp; recurrunt,</HI> &s;ayes he, whil&s;t they make many acce&s;&s;es, and returnes, <HI>Nec patiuntur &agrave; Sepulchro diu, aut longi&ugrave;s abe&s;&s;e,</HI> and cannot indure to be farre di&s;tant, or long ab&s;ent from their devout exerci&s;e.</P>
<P>Beloved, true devotion is a &s;erious, a &s;edulous, an impatient thing. He that &s;aid in the Go&s;pell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.11.</NOTE> <HI>I fa&s;t twice a week,</HI> was but a Phari&s;ee; He that can reckon his devout actions, is no better; He that can tell how often he hath thought upon God to day, hath not thought upon him often enough. It is S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> holy Circle, to pray, that we may heare Sermons profitably, and to heare Sermons that we learn to pray acceptably. Devotion is no Marginall note, no interlineary glo&s;&s;e, no Parenthe&s;is that may be left out; It is no occa&s;ionall thing, no conditionall thing; I will goe, if I like the Preacher, if the place, if the company, if the weather; but it is of the body of the Text, and layes upon us an Obligation of fervour and of continuance. This we have in this example of the&s;e, not only Euangelicall, but Euangeli&s;ticall (preaching) women; And thus much more, that
<PB N="245" REF="140">as they were &s;edulous and diligent after, &s;o they were early, and begun betimes; for, how&s;oever the Euangeli&s;ts may &s;eeme to vary, in the point of time, when they came, they all agree <HI>they came early,</HI> which is another exaltation of Devotion.</P>
<P>They were women of quality, and meanes. They came with Chri&s;t from Galilee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mant.</NOTE> and they came upon their owne charges; and more then &s;o; for, &s;aies the text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.3.</NOTE> <HI>They mini&s;tred to Chri&s;t of their &s;ub&s;tance.</HI> Women of quality may be up and ready early e|nough for Gods &s;ervice, if they will. If they be not, let them but &s;eriou&s;ly aske them|&s;elves that que&s;tion, whether upon no other occa&s;ion, no entertainment, no vi&s;it, no letter to or from another, they could have made more ha&s;te; And if they finde they could, I mu&s;t &s;ay in that ca&s;e, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;aid, They have put God and that man into the ba|lance, and waighed them together, and found God too light. That Mighty, that waighty, that ponderous God, that bla&s;ts a State with a breath, that melts a Church with a looke, that molders a world with a touch, that God is waighed downe with that man; That man, who&s;e errand, if it be but conver&s;ation, is vanity, but, if it be &s;in, is nothing, waighs downe God. The world will needs thinke one of the&s;e <HI>Maries, (Magdalen)</HI> to have been guilty of &s;uch entertainments as the&s;e, of Incontinency, and of that in the lowe&s;t (that is, the highe&s;t) kinde, Pro&s;titution; perchance &s;he was; But, I would there were that ne|ce&s;&s;ity of thinking &s;o, that becau&s;e &s;he was a Woman, and is called a &s;inner, therefore that mu&s;t be her &s;in, as though they were capable of no other &s;in; Alas, it is not &s;o. There may be women, whom even another &s;in, the &s;in of Pride, and over-valuation of them|&s;elves may have kept from that &s;in, and yet may well be called &s;inners too; There may be found women, whom only their &s;corne of others, hath kept hone&s;t, and yet are &s;in|ners, though not in that &s;in. But yet, even this woman; <HI>Mary Magdalen,</HI> be her &s;in what you will, <HI>came early</HI> to Chri&s;t; early, as &s;oone as he afforded her any light. Chri&s;t &s;aies, in the per&s;on of Wi&s;dome, <HI>I love them that love me, and they that &s;eeke me early,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8.17.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall finde me;</HI> And a good &s;oule will eccho back that returne of <HI>David, O God, thou art my God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 63.1.</NOTE> <HI>early will I &s;eeke thee; my &s;oule thir&s;teth for thee, my fle&s;h longeth for thee;</HI> and double that eccho with <HI>E&s;ay, With my &s;oule have I de&s;ired thee in the night, with my &s;pirit with in me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 26.9.</NOTE> <HI>will I &s;eeke thee early.</HI></P>
<P>Now, what is this early &s;eeking of God. Fir&s;t, there is a generall rule given by <HI>Salomon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth;</HI> &s;ubmit thy &s;elfe to a religious di&s;cipline betimes. But then, in that there is a <HI>Now</HI> in&s;erted into that rule of <HI>Solomons,</HI> (Remember <HI>Now</HI> thy Creator, in the dayes of thy youth,) there is an intimation, that there is a youth in our age, and an earline&s;&s;e acceptable to God, in every action; we &s;eeke him early, if we &s;eeke him at the beginning of every undertaking. If I awake at midnight, and embrace God in mine armes, that is, receive God into my thoughts, and pur&s;ue tho&s;e meditati|ons, by &s;uch a having had God in my company, I may have fru&s;trated many tentations that would have attempted me, and perchance prevailed upon me, if I had beene alone, for &s;olitude is one of the devils &s;cenes; and, I am afraid there are per&s;ons that &s;in oftner alone, then in company; but that man is not alone that hath God in his &s;ight, in his thought. <HI>Thou prevented&s;t me with the ble&s;sings of goodne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David</HI> to God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 21.3.</NOTE> I come not early enough to God, if I &s;tay till his ble&s;&s;ings in a pro&s;perous fortune prevent me, and lead me to God; I &s;hould come before that. <HI>The dayes of affliction have prevented me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 30.27.</NOTE> &s;aies <HI>Iob.</HI> I come not early enough to God, if I &s;tay till his Judgements prevent me, and whip me to him; I &s;hould come before that. But, if <HI>I prevent the night watches,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.147.</NOTE> <HI>and the dawning of the morning,</HI> If <HI>in the morning my prayer prevent thee O God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 88.13.</NOTE> (which is a high expre&s;&s;ion of <HI>Davids,</HI> That I &s;hould wake before God wakes, and even prevent his pre|venting grace, before it be declared in any outward act, that day) If before ble&s;&s;ing or cro&s;&s;e fall upon me, I &s;urrender my &s;elfe intirely unto thee, and &s;ay, Lord here I lye, make thou the&s;e &s;heets my &s;heets of penance, in inflicting a long &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or my winding &s;heete, in delivering me over to pre&s;ent death, Here I lye, make thou this bed mine Al|tar, and binde me to it in the cords of decrepitne&s;&s;e, and bedridne&s;&s;e, or throw me off of it into the grave and du&s;t of expectation, Here I lye, doe thou choo&s;e whether I &s;hall &s;ee any to morrow in this world, or begin my eternall day, this night, Thy Kingdome come, thy will be done; when I &s;eeke God, meerely for love of him, and his glory, with|out relation to his benefits or to his corrections, this is that early &s;eeking, which we con|&s;ider in tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Women, who&s;e &s;edulity and earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, when they were come, and acceleration and earline&s;&s;e, in their comming, having already con&s;idered, pa&s;&s;e we
<PB N="246" REF="141">now to the <HI>Ad quid,</HI> to what purpo&s;e, and with what intention they came, for in that a|lone, there are divers exaltations of their devotion.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t ver&s;e of this Chapter it is &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad quid.</NOTE> <HI>They came to &s;ee the Sepulchre;</HI> Even to &s;ee the Sepulchre was an act of love, and every act of love to Chri&s;t, is Devotion. There is a love that will make one ki&s;&s;e the ca&s;e of a picture, though it be &s;hut; There is a love that will melt ones bowels, if he do but pa&s;&s;e over, or pa&s;&s;e by the grave of his dead friend. But their end was not onely to &s;ee the Sepulchre, but to &s;ee whether the Sepulchre were in &s;uch &s;tate, as that they might come to their end, which was, <HI>To embalme their Ma&s;ters body.</HI> But this was done before; and done to their knowledge; for, that all the Euange|li&s;ts te&s;tifie;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 23.55.</NOTE> particularly, S. <HI>Luke, The women followed, and beheld the Sepulchre, and how the body was laid. How,</HI> that is, how abundantly it was embalmed by <HI>Nicodemus. How,</HI> that is, how decently and orderly it was wound and bound up, according to the manner of the Jews funerals. What then intended the&s;e women to doe more then was done already?</P>
<P>That cannot be well admitted,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theophy. Gen. 50.1.</NOTE> which <HI>Theophylact</HI> &s;aies, That as <HI>Iacobs</HI> body was em|balmed forty dayes in Egypt, &s;o they intended to re-embalme our Saviours body, former|ly embalmed by <HI>Nicodemus.</HI> For, that was onely done upon &s;uch bodies as were exen|terated and embowelled, and then filled up, and pla&s;tered about with &s;pices and gums, to pre&s;erve them from putrifaction, when they were to be carried into remote parts; But of the&s;e re-embalmings and po&s;t-unctions after the body had beene laid in the Se|pulchre, I know not, who may have read of them; I have not. Neither &s;eemes it to have beene po&s;&s;ible in this ca&s;e; not po&s;&s;ible for the&s;e women to have come to the body of Chrri&s;t. For, if that be the true winding &s;heet of Chri&s;t which is kept in Savoy, it ap|peares, that that &s;heet &s;tuck &s;o clo&s;e to his body, as that it did, and does &s;till retaine the dimen&s;ions of his body, and the impre&s;&s;ions and &s;ignatures of every wound that he had received in his body. So that it would have beene no ea&s;ie matter for tho&s;e women to have pulled off that &s;heet, if it had had no other glue, no other gumme, but his owne precious blood to hold it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chiffletius de Linters Sepul|chr. cap. 25.</NOTE> But, if (as their more wary Authors &s;ay) Chri&s;ts body were carried loo&s;e, in that &s;heet, which is &s;hewed in Savoy, from the Cro&s;&s;e to the Sepulchre, and then taken out of that &s;heet, and embalmed by <HI>Nicodemus,</HI> and wrapped up in other linnen, upon tho&s;e &s;pices and gummes which he be&s;towed upon it, and then buried ac|cording to the manner of the jews, who&s;e manner it was to &s;wathe the bodies of the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 11.44.</NOTE> ju&s;t as we &s;wathe the bodies of children, all over, (for, &s;o <HI>Lazarus came out bound hand and foote with grave-cloathes</HI>) how could it fall into the imagination of the&s;e women, that they could come to embalme the body of Chri&s;t, &s;o &s;wathed, &s;o wound, &s;o bound up, as that body was; for, certainly, it was the body, and not the grave-cloathes that they meant to embalme.</P>
<P>Truly I have often wondred, that among&s;t our very many Expo&s;itors of the Go&s;pels, (which I can pronounce of &s;ome &s;cores) no one hath touched upon this doubt. They all make good u&s;e of their piety, and devout officiou&s;ne&s;&s;e towards their dead Ma&s;ter, but of the impo&s;&s;ibility of comming to that body, and of the irregularity, and impertinency of undertaking that, and proceeding &s;o far in that, which could not po&s;&s;ibly be done, I find no mention.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;olog.</NOTE> What &s;hal be &s;aid of this? That may be &s;aid, which <HI>Chry&s;ologus</HI> &s;aies, (though not of this, for of this none &s;aies any thing) <HI>Saeva pa&s;sionis procella turbaverat,</HI> That a bitter &s;torme of pa&s;&s;ion and con&s;ternation, had &s;o di&s;ordered them, as that no faculty of theirs performed the right function;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin</NOTE> And that which <HI>Calvin</HI> &s;aies, of the &s;ame ca&s;e, which <HI>Chry&s;ologus</HI> intends, <HI>Prae fervore caecutiebant,</HI> Vehemence and earne&s;tne&s;&s;e had di&s;|compo&s;ed them, amazed them, amuzed them &s;o, as that they di&s;cerned nothing cleare|ly, did nothing orderly. This, the&s;e, and &s;ome other Authors &s;ay, of &s;ome other incon&s;i|derations in the&s;e Women, particularly, of the removing of the &s;tone of the Sepulchre. For, they had prepared their gumms, and they were come upon their way, before they ever thought of that.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 16.3.</NOTE> Then they &s;top, and &s;ay to one another, <HI>Who &s;hall roll us away the &s;tone from the doore of the Sepulchre;</HI> we never thought of that. So al&s;o did they fall under the rebuke and increpation of the Angell for another &s;upine incon&s;ideration;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.5. Mat 16.16. Acts 3.15. Iohn 5.26. Iohn 1.4. Iohn 6.35. Iohn 11.25.</NOTE> <HI>Quid quaeri|tis vivum? Why &s;eeke yee the living amongst the dead?</HI> Why him, who is <HI>The Son of the li|ving God?</HI> Why him, who is <HI>The Prince of life?</HI> Why him, <HI>Who hath life in him&s;elfe?</HI> Why him who is <HI>Life it &s;elfe?</HI> Why him, who is <HI>The Bread of life</HI> to us? Why him, who is this life and the next too, <HI>(I am the life, and the Re&s;urrection)</HI> Why him, who by his
<PB N="247" REF="141">death hath made you a path of life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 16.11.</NOTE> <HI>(Thou wilt &s;hew me the path of life) Why &s;eek ye the li|ving among the dead?</HI> What makes you think of arming him with your gummes again&s;t putrifaction, who had told you before, that he was not &s;ubject to putrifaction, but would ri&s;e again. So al&s;o in &s;uch another incon&s;ideratio~ we may deprehend one of the&s;e wome~, <HI>Mary Magdalen;</HI> whe~ the Angel had told her at the Sepulchre, <HI>He is not here, for he is ri&s;in, as he &s;aid,</HI> yet when &s;he came to <HI>Peter,</HI> &s;he &s;aid nothing of the Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.2</NOTE> never thought of that, but poured her &s;elf out in that lamentation, <HI>Tulerunt Dominu~, They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, &amp; we know not where they have laid him;</HI> Wheras if &s;he had co~|&s;idered it advi&s;edly, &s;he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily have knowen from the Angels words, that no man had taken away the Lord, that no man had laid him any where el&s;e, but that by his own power he was ri&s;en again. But as in this &s;torm of pa&s;&s;ion they left Chri&s;ts promi&s;e, That he would ri&s;e, uncon&s;idered, &amp; left the rolling of the &s;tone fro~ the doore of the Se|pulchre, uncon&s;idered, &s;o in this &s;torm they al&s;o left uncon&s;idered the impo&s;&s;ibility of comming to Chri&s;ts body to do that office; Their devotion was awake, their con&s;ide|ration was in a &s;lumber. But what though? Did they therefore lo&s;e all benefit of their plous and devout intention? That is another, and our next Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>As <HI>Luther</HI> &s;ayes, that if the marriage bed be kept undefiled, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fructus bu|jus pietatis.</NOTE> from &s;trange per|&s;ons, and from &s;uch &s;ins as are oppo&s;ed again&s;t the very purpo&s;e of marriage, God par|dons <HI>Maritales ineptias,</HI> &s;ome levities, and half-wantonne&s;&s;es in married folkes; &s;o <HI>Calvin</HI> &s;ayes of our pre&s;ent ca&s;e, <HI>Deus non impat at,</HI> Becau&s;e the&s;e good women were tran&s;ported with a zealous piety towards Chri&s;t, God did not impure this in con&s;ideration unto them. For, though zeal without di&s;cretion produce ill effects, yet not &s;o ill as di&s;cretion without zeal, worldly wi&s;dome without Religion, for that is an evident preferring of thy worldly &s;afety before the glory of God. When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> makes that prayer to God in a holy fury and exce&s;&s;e, <HI>Dele me, If thou wilt not forgive their &s;in, blot me I pray thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.32. Rom. 5.3.</NOTE> <HI>out of the book thou ha&s;t written,</HI> (which was the exce&s;&s;e of S. <HI>Paul</HI> too, in his <HI>Anathema; I could wi&s;h that my &s;elf were accur&s;ed from Chri&s;t, for my brethren</HI>) God proceeds not to any &s;harper rebuke to|ward <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> then this. Take heed what you &s;ay in your incon&s;iderate prayer, you may &s;in in a prayer, and, <HI>Who&s;oever hath &s;inned again&s;t me,</HI> (&s;ayes God there) <HI>him will I blot out of my book;</HI> yet it concernes but others, take heed you draw it not upon your &s;elves. And &s;uch a charitable interpretation it becomes us to give of tho&s;e prayers for the dead, which we finde in the ancient Fathers;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. Anrbro&s;.</NOTE> In S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> for his mother <HI>Monica,</HI> in S. <HI>An|bro&s;e</HI> for his Ma&s;ter <HI>Theodo&s;ius;</HI> They prayed incon&s;iderately, and upon con&s;ideration they retracted their prayers; at lea&s;t, gave &s;uch Expo&s;itions of them, as that then they were no prayers, but vehement, and indeed, exorbitant declarations of piety mixt with pa&s;&s;ion. And &s;o beloved, behooves it thee to do in thine own behalf, if at any time ha|ving ca&s;t thy &s;elf into the po&s;ture of prayer, upon thy knees, and entred into thy prayer thou have found thy &s;elf withdrawn, tran&s;ported, &s;trayed into &s;ome deviations, and by-thoughts; Thou mu&s;t not think all that devotion lo&s;t; much le&s;&s;e, that prayer to be turned into &s;in; for, God, who hath put all thy tears into his Bottle, all thy words into his Regi&s;ter, all thy &s;ighs into his bo&s;ome, will al&s;o &s;pread that zeale with which thou entred&s;t into thy prayer, over thy whole prayer, and where that (thine own zeale) is too &s;hort, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elf will &s;pread his prayer over thine, and &s;ay, Give him, O Fa|ther, that which he hath asked faithfully in my name, and, where he hath fallen into any deviations or negligences, Father forgive him, though he knew not what he &s;aid.</P>
<P>In our ca&s;e in hand, for all their incon&s;ideration, their mi&s;government, their mi&s;taking, the Angel doth not forbeare to comfort them; <HI>Nolite timere,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>Do not ye feare. In illis per&s;everet pavor, in quibus permanet incredulitas,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron,</NOTE> in the per&s;on of this Angel to the&s;e women; I cannot blame ye, if ye feare; &s;uch unexpected changes, &s;uch violent earthquakes, &s;uch unnaturall darkne&s;&s;es and eclip&s;es, &s;uch rentings of the Temple, &s;uch cleaving of grave-&s;tones may well occa&s;ion feare in you, but recollect your &s;elves, <HI>In illis per&s;everet,</HI> Let them continue in feare, who continue in unbeliefe, and have no God to comfort them&s;elves in. <HI>Cur vos pertime&s;citis, qui ve&s;tros concives videtis,</HI> (&s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory</HI> al&s;o, in, and to the &s;ame per&s;ons) Let tho&s;e mercenary &s;ouldiers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greger</NOTE> who are hired to watch the Sepulchre, feare, and never recover, <HI>Cur vos,</HI> why &s;hould you feare, who &s;ee none but us, <HI>Concives,</HI> your fellow-Citizens, in the City, and &s;ervice of God, if your conver&s;ation be in heaven, as it is, if ye do truly &s;eek that Je&s;us, who is ri&s;en from hence, that he might go thither? And as though this comfort from the An|gel
<PB N="248" REF="142">were not enough, he multiplies this comfort in per&s;on unto them; he meets them, and &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> <HI>Avete,</HI> fir&s;t &s;alutes them, and then inlarges him&s;elf unto them; as long as the roote of their actions was piety and zeale, he ca&s;ts no cloud of di&s;couragement upon them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> he occa&s;ions no jealou&s;ie or &s;u&s;pition of his good purpo&s;e towards them, in them, but he maintains and exalts their holy confidence. <HI>Peccata non nocent, ubi non placent;</HI> Even our &s;ins are forgiven, when we leave delighting in them; much more our incon&s;idera|tions, and mi&s;takings, when we recollect, and rectifie our &s;elves. For, all this with|holds not the Angel from proceeding to a farther e&s;tabli&s;hment of the&s;e devout, though weak women, in other particulars ari&s;ing out of the very words, <HI>Non e&s;t hic, He is not here, for he is ri&s;en.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Non hic per prae&s;entiam carnis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Non hic.</NOTE> <HI>qui, per prae&s;entiam Maje&s;tatis nu&s;quam abe&s;t;</HI> He is not here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> &s;o as you thought to have found him here; &s;o, as that you may anoint and em|balme his body, he is not here: But, &s;o as the &s;ecret &s;inner would wi&s;h him away, God is away no where.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 24.15. P&s;al. 11.2.</NOTE> No adulterer that hath <HI>waited for the twilight,</HI> no whi&s;pering Calumni|ator that hath <HI>&s;hot his arrow of &s;lander In occulto, and wounded the righteous in &s;ecret,</HI> can &s;ay, <HI>Non e&s;t hic,</HI> God is not here, God &s;ees not this. For even in the wayes of death and hell (in all thy &s;infull cour&s;es) though God be <HI>a God of pure eyes and cannot behold evill,</HI> he &s;ees thee.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.8.</NOTE> He &s;ees thee in thy way thither, and when <HI>thou &s;halt make thy bed in hell,</HI> that is, enter into that perpetuall pri&s;on, there will he be, felt though not &s;een. But could the Angel in|tend this for a comfort to the&s;e women, <HI>Non e&s;t hic, He is not here?</HI> Alas, might the&s;e poore &s;oules &s;ay, we &s;ee that well enough, He is not here, but, where is he? From this ari&s;es the occa&s;ion of theirs, and all our comfort, <HI>Surrexit enim, He is not here, for he is ri&s;en.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Enim.</NOTE> this <HI>For, (for he is ri&s;en)</HI> this particle of argumentation, the Angel oppo&s;es pro|phetically, and by way of prevention, both again&s;t that here&s;ie of Rome, That the bo|dy of Chri&s;t may be in divers places at once, by the way of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, and a|gain&s;t that dream of the Ubiquetaries, That the body of Chri&s;t mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be in all places at once, by communication of the divine Nature. For, if the Angel argue fairely, logically, &s;incerely, <HI>(He is not here, for he is ri&s;en)</HI> then there is no nece&s;&s;ity, there is no po&s;&s;ibility of this omni-pre&s;ence, or this multi-pre&s;ence, for then the Angels argument might have been denied, and they might have replyed, What though he be ri&s;en, he may be here too, for he may be in divers places; But the Angel concludes us in this <HI>for,</HI> He cannot be here, for he is ri&s;en; Becau&s;e he is ri&s;en, he cannot be here in the Sepulchre, &s;o, as that you may embalm his body, Becau&s;e he is a&s;cended, he cannot be here, here in the Sacrament, &s;o, as you may break or eat that body.</P>
<P>But is there &s;uch a comfort exhibited in this <HI>Surrexit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Surrexit.</NOTE> <HI>he is ri&s;en,</HI> as may recompence the di&s;comfort that ari&s;es from the <HI>Non e&s;t hic, That he is not here?</HI> Abundantly, &s;uper|abundantly there is; in the&s;e two channels and derivations of comfort; Fir&s;t, that hee in whom we had placed our comfort, and our hope, is, by this his ri&s;ing, declared to be the Son of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 13.33</NOTE> <HI>God hath fulfilled his promi&s;e, in that he hath rai&s;ed Ie&s;us from the dead, as it is written in the &s;econd P&s;alme,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Paul</HI> in his Sermon at Antioch. Now, what is written in that P&s;alme, which S. <HI>Paul</HI> cites there, to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e? This; <HI>Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.</HI> But is not this <HI>Hodie genui,</HI> This this dayes begetting intended rather of the eternall filiation &amp; generation of the Son of God, then of this daies work, the Re&s;urrection? Tho&s;e words of that P&s;alm may well admit that interpretati|on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar.</NOTE> and &s;o many have taken them. But, with S. <HI>Hilary,</HI> mo&s;t of the ancients have appli|ed them to the Re&s;urrection, as the application of S. <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf directly binds us to do, That the <HI>Hodie genui,</HI> This dayes generation, is this dayes manife&s;tation that Chri&s;t was the Son of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> <HI>Calvin</HI> enlarges it farther; That every declaration of the Son by the Father, is a generation of the Son: So his bapti&s;me, and the voice then, &s;o his Transfi|guration, and the voice then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.17. Mat. 17.3.</NOTE> were each of them, a <HI>Hodie genui,</HI> a generation of the Son that day. But e&s;pecially (&s;ayes <HI>Calvin)</HI> do tho&s;e words of the P&s;alm belong to this day, becau&s;e the Re&s;urrection was the mo&s;t evident actuall declaration that Chri&s;t was the Son of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.4.</NOTE> for, <HI>He was declared to be the Son of God by the Re&s;urrection from the dead,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle expre&s;ly. But how? wherein was he declared? There were others that were rai&s;ed from the dead by Prophets in the old Te&s;tament, by Chri&s;t and his Apo|&s;tles in the new, and yet not thereby declared to be &s;uch Sons of God, E&s;&s;entiall Sons; no nor any Sons of God, not Sons by adoption; for we are not &s;ure that all tho&s;e that
<PB N="249" REF="142">were miraculou&s;ly rai&s;ed from the dead, were effectually &s;aved at la&s;t. Therefore the comfort in our ca&s;e is in that word of the Angel, <HI>Surrexit, He is ri&s;en;</HI> For &s;o all our Tran&s;lators, and Expo&s;itors do con&s;tantly carry it, not in a <HI>Su&s;citatus</HI> (as all the re&s;t are) That <HI>he was rai&s;ed,</HI> but in this <HI>Surrexit, He is ri&s;en,</HI> ri&s;en of him&s;elf. For &s;o he te&s;tifies of him&s;elf, <HI>De&s;troy this Temple, and in three dayes Ego &s;u&s;citabo, I will rai&s;e it up again;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 2.19</NOTE> Not that the Father &s;hould, but that he would; &s;o al&s;o, <HI>Ego pono,</HI> and <HI>Ego &s;umo,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>I lay down, and I take again my &s;oul;</HI> Not that it is given, or taken by another.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 10.17. Ny&s;&s;en.</NOTE> And there|fore <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> &s;u&s;pects, that for the infirmity of the then hearers, the Apo&s;tles thought it &s;carce &s;afe, to expre&s;&s;e it often in that phra&s;e, <HI>He ro&s;e,</HI> or <HI>He rai&s;ed him&s;elf,</HI> and therefore, for the mo&s;t part, return to the <HI>Su&s;citatus e&s;t,</HI> that <HI>He was rai&s;ed,</HI> le&s;t weak hea|rers might be &s;candalized with that, that a dead man had rai&s;ed him&s;elf of his own pow|er. And therefore the Angel in this place enlarges the comfort to the&s;e devout women, in a full mea&s;ure, when he opens him&s;elfe in that word <HI>Surrexit, He is ri&s;en,</HI> ri&s;en of him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>This then is one piece of our evidence, and the foundation of all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nos.</NOTE> that we cannot be deceived, becau&s;e he, in whom we tru&s;t, is, by this his own ri&s;ing, declared to be the Son of God; And another, and a powerfull comfort is this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.25. 2 Cor. 4.14.</NOTE> That <HI>he being ri&s;en for our ju|&s;tification,</HI> we are al&s;o ri&s;en in him. <HI>He that rai&s;ed the Lord Ie&s;us, &s;hall rai&s;e us up al&s;o by the &s;ame Ie&s;us.</HI> He <HI>&s;hall;</HI> there is our a&s;&s;urance; but that is not all; for there is a <HI>con-re&s;u&s;citavit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.6.</NOTE> <HI>He hath quickned us together, and rai&s;ed us together, and made us to &s;it together in heavenly places;</HI> not together with one another, but together with Chri&s;t. There is our comfort collected from this <HI>&s;urrexit, He is ri&s;en,</HI> equivalent to the di&s;comfort of the <HI>non e&s;t h&icirc;c, he is not here;</HI> That this his ri&s;ing declares him to be the Son of God, who therefore can, and will, and to be that Je&s;us, an actuall Redeemer, and therefore hath already rai&s;ed us. To what? To that renovation, to that new creation, which is &s;o excellently expre&s;&s;ed by <HI>Severianus,</HI> as makes us &s;orry we have no more of his; <HI>Mutatur ordorerum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Severianus.</NOTE> The whole frame and cour&s;e of nature is changed; <HI>Sepulchrum non mortuum, &s;ed mortem devorat,</HI> The grave, (now, &s;ince Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, and ours in him) does not bury the dead man, but death him&s;elf; My Bell tolls for death, and my Bell rings out for death, and not for me that dye; for I live, even in death; but death dies in me, and hath no more power over me.</P>
<P>I was crucified with Chri&s;t upon Friday, &s;aies <HI>Chry&s;ologus, Et hodi&egrave; re&s;urgo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;ologus.</NOTE> to day I ro&s;e with him again; <HI>Et gloria re&s;urrection is &s;epelivit injuriam morientis,</HI> The ingloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e of having been buried in the du&s;t, is recompenced in the glory I ri&s;e to, <HI>Liber inter mor|tuos;</HI> that which <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes, and, (by S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> application) of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 88.5. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> is true of me too; Chri&s;t was, and I am <HI>Liber inter mortuos, free among&s;t the dead,</HI> undetaina|ble in the &s;tate of death. For, &s;ayes S. <HI>Peter, It was not po&s;sible he &s;hould be holden of it.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.24.</NOTE> Not po&s;&s;ible for Chri&s;t, becau&s;e of the prediction of &s;o many Prophets, who&s;e words had an infallibility in them; not po&s;&s;ible e&s;pecially, becau&s;e of the Union of the Divine Nature: Not po&s;&s;ible for me neither, becau&s;e God hath afforded me the marks of his Election, and thereby <HI>made me partaker of the Divine Nature too.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> But yet the&s;e things might, perchance, not fall into the con&s;ideration of the&s;e women; They did not; but they might, they &s;hould have done; for, as the Angell tels them here, Chri&s;t had told them of this before; <HI>Sicut dixit, he is ri&s;en, as he &s;aid.</HI></P>
<P>Even the Angell him&s;elf referres him&s;elf to the word; <HI>Sicut dixit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Sicut dixit.</NOTE> The Angell him|&s;elf de&s;ires not to be beleeved, but as he grounds him&s;elf upon the word, <HI>&s;icut dixit.</HI> Let therefore no Angell of the Church, not that &s;uper-Arch-angell of the Romane Church, proceed upon an <HI>ip&s;e dixit,</HI> upon his own pectorall word, and determination, for the An|gell here referres us to the <HI>&s;icut dixit,</HI> the former word. God will be content that we doubt, and &s;u&s;pend our a&s;&s;ent to any revelation, if it doe not concerne &s;ome duty delive|red in Scripture before; And to any miracle, if it doe not conduce to the proofe of &s;ome thing commanded in Scripture before. <HI>Sicut dixit,</HI> is an Angelicall i&s;&s;ue, <HI>As he &s;aid.</HI></P>
<P>But, how often &s;oever Chri&s;t had &s;poken of this Re&s;urrection to others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vobie.</NOTE> the&s;e women might be ignorant of it. For, all that is &s;aid, even by Chri&s;t him&s;elf, is not &s;aid to all; nor is all, written for all, that is written by the Holy Gho&s;t. No man mu&s;t &s;u&s;pect that he knowes not enough for &s;alvation, if he under&s;tand not all places of Scripture. But yet the&s;e women could not well be ignorant of this, becau&s;e being Di&s;ciples and followers of Chri&s;t, though Chri&s;t had never &s;poken of the Re&s;urrection to them, they were likely
<PB N="250" REF="143">to have heard of it from them, to whom Chri&s;t had &s;poken of it. It was <HI>Cleophas</HI> his que&s;tion to Chri&s;t, (though he knew him not then to be &s;o, when they went together to <HI>Emaus) Art thou onely a &s;tranger in Ieru&s;alem?</HI> that is, ha&s;t thou been at Jeru&s;alem, <HI>and is this,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.16.</NOTE> The death of Chri&s;t, <HI>&s;trange to thee?</HI> So may we &s;ay to any that profe&s;&s;es Chri&s;ti|anity; Art thou in the Chri&s;tian Church, and is this, The Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, &s;trange to thee? Are there any among&s;t us, that thru&s;t to Fore-noones, and After-noones Ser|mons, that pant after high, and un-under&s;tandable Doctrines, of the &s;ecret purpo&s;es of God, and know not this, the fundamentall points of Doctrine? Even the&s;e womens ig|norance, though they were in the number of the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t, makes us affraid, that &s;ome &s;uch there may be; and therefore ble&s;&s;ed be they that have &s;et on foote that ble&s;&s;ed way of Catechizing, that after great profe&s;&s;ions, we may not be ignorant of &s;mall things. The&s;e things the&s;e women might have learnt of others, who were to in|&s;truct them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> But for their better a&s;&s;urance, the Angell tells them here, that Chri&s;t him|&s;elf had told them of this before; <HI>Remember,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>how Chri&s;t &s;poke to you whil&s;t he was with you in Galile.</HI></P>
<P>We ob&s;erve, that Chri&s;t &s;poke to his Di&s;ciples, of his Re&s;urrection, five times in the Go&s;pell; Now, the&s;e women could not be pre&s;ent at any of the five but one, which was the third;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.22.</NOTE> And, before that, it is evident that they had applied them&s;elves to Chri&s;t, and mini&s;tred unto him. The Angell then remembers them, what Chri&s;t &s;aid to them there.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.6.</NOTE> It was this; <HI>The Sonne of man mu&s;t be delivered into the hands of &s;infull men, and Crucified, and the third day, ri&s;e againe; And they remembred his words,</HI> &s;ayes the Text there; Then they remembred them, when they heard of them again; but not till then.</P>
<P>Which gives me ju&s;t occa&s;ion to note fir&s;t the perver&s;e tenderne&s;&s;e, and the &s;upercili|ous, and fa&s;tidious delicacy of tho&s;e men, that can abide no repetitions, nor indure to heare any thing which they have heard before; when as even the&s;e things which Chri&s;t him&s;elf had preached to the&s;e women, in <HI>Galile,</HI> had been lo&s;t, if this Angel had not preached them over again to them at Jeru&s;alem; <HI>Remember how he &s;pake to you,</HI> &s;ayes he to them. And why &s;hould&s;t thou be loath to heare tho&s;e things which thou ha&s;t heard before, when, till thou heard&s;t them again, thou did&s;t not know, that is, not con&s;ider that ever thou had&s;t heard them? So have we here al&s;o ju&s;t occa&s;ion to note their imper|tinent curio&s;ity, who though the &s;en&s;e be never &s;o well ob&s;erved, call every thing a &s;alfi|fication, if the place be not rightly cyphard, or the word exactly cited; and magnifie one another for great Text men, though they under&s;tand no Text, becau&s;e they cite Book, and Chapter, and Ver&s;e, and Words aright; whereas in this place, the Angel referres the women to Chri&s;ts words, and they remember that Chri&s;t &s;pake tho&s;e words, and yet if we compare the places,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.22. Luke 24.6.</NOTE> (that where Chri&s;t &s;peaks the words, and that where the Angell repeats them) though the &s;en&s;e be intirely the &s;ame, yet the words are not altogether &s;o. Thus the Angell erects them in the con&s;ternation; Remember what was promi&s;ed, that in three dayes he would ri&s;e; The third day is come, and he is ri&s;en, as he &s;aid; and, that your &s;en&s;es may be exerci&s;ed as well as your faith, <HI>Come and &s;ee the place, where the Lord lay.</HI></P>
<P>Even the Angell calls Chri&s;t <HI>Lord;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dominus Angeli. <HI>Heb. 1.6.</HI></NOTE> and <HI>his Lord;</HI> for, <HI>the Lord,</HI> (and the Angell calls him &s;o) is Lord of all, of men, and Angels. <HI>When God brings his Soninto the world,</HI> (&s;ayes the Apo&s;tle) <HI>he &s;ayes, let all the Angels of God wor&s;hip him.</HI> And when God caries his Son out of the world, by the way of the Cro&s;&s;e, they have ju&s;t cau&s;e to wor&s;hip him too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">. 1.20.</NOTE> for, <HI>By the blood of his Cro&s;&s;e are all things reconciled to God, both things in earth, and things in heaven,</HI> Men and Angels. Therefore did an Angel mini&s;ter to Chri&s;t before he was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1. Mat. 1. Luke 2. Mat. 4. Luke 22. Acts 1.10.</NOTE> in the Annunciation to his ble&s;&s;ed Mother, that he &s;hould be; And an Angel to his imaginary Father <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> before he was born; And a Quire of Angels to the Shep|heards at his birth; An Angel after his tentation, And in his Agony, and Bloody-&s;weat, more Angels; Angels at his la&s;t &s;tep, at his A&s;cen&s;ion, and here, at his Re&s;urrection An|gels mini&s;ter unto him. The Angels of heaven acknowledged Chri&s;t to be their Lord. In the beginning &s;ome of the Angels would be <HI>Similes Alti&s;simo, like to the mo&s;t High;</HI> But what a tran&s;cendent, what a &s;uper-diabolicall, what a prae-Luciferian pride is his, that will be <HI>&s;upra Alti&s;simum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.4.</NOTE> &s;uperiour to God; That not only <HI>exalteth him&s;elfe above all that is called God,</HI> (Kings are called <HI>Gods,</HI> and this Arch-Monarch exalts him&s;elfe above all Kings) but above God literally, and in that wherein God hath e&s;pecially manife&s;ted him|&s;elf to be God, to us, that is in pre&s;cribing us a Law, how he will be obeyed; for, in di&s;|pen&s;ing
<PB N="251" REF="143">with this Law, and adding to, and withdrawing from this law, he exalts him&s;elf above God, as our Law-giver. And, (as it is al&s;o &s;aid there) <HI>He exalteth him&s;elf, and op|po&s;eth him&s;elfe again&s;t God.</HI> There is no tru&s;ting of &s;uch neighbours, as are got above us in power. This man of &s;in hath made him&s;elfe &s;uperiour to God, and then, an enemy to God; for God is Truth, and he oppo&s;es him in that, for he is here&s;ie and fal&s;hood; and God is Love, and he oppo&s;es him in that, for he is envy, and hatred, and malice, and &s;edition, and inva&s;ion, and rebellion.</P>
<P>The Angell confe&s;&s;es Chri&s;t to be <HI>The Lord, his Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dominus mortuus.</NOTE> and he confe&s;&s;es him to be &s;o then when he lay dead in the grave, <HI>Come, &s;eethe place where the Lord lay.</HI> A We&s;t Indian King having beene well wrought upon for his Conver&s;ion to the Chri&s;tian Religion, and having dige&s;ted the former Articles, when he came to that, <HI>He was crucified, dead, and buried,</HI> had no longer patience, but &s;aid, If your God be dead and buried, leave me to my old god, the Sunne, for the Sunne will not dye. But if he would have proceeded to the Article of the Re&s;urrection, hee &s;hould have &s;eene, that even then, when hee lay dead, hee was GOD &s;till; Then, when hee was no Man, hee was GOD &s;till; Nay, then when hee was no man, hee was God, and Man, in this true &s;en&s;e, That though the body and &s;oule were divorced from one another, and that during that di|vorce, he were no man, (for it is the union of body and &s;oule that makes a man) yet the Godhead was not divided from either of the&s;e con&s;titutive parts of man, body or &s;oule.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 22.7. 1 Cor. 4.13. Ier. 19.8.</NOTE> Even then, when a man is no man, he may be a Chri&s;tian; when I am <HI>a worme and no man,</HI> when I am <HI>the off-&s;couring of the world,</HI> when I am <HI>the reproach, the proverb, the hi&s;|&s;ing of men,</HI> yet, as my Saviour, when he lay in the grave, was the &s;ame Chri&s;t, &s;o in this grave of oppre&s;&s;ion and per&s;ecution, I am the &s;ame Chri&s;tian, as in my Bapti&s;me.</P>
<P>Let nothing therefore that can fall upon thee, di&s;poyle thee of the dignity and con|&s;tancy of a Chri&s;tian; how&s;oever thou be &s;evered from tho&s;e things, which thou make&s;t account do make thee up, &s;evered from a wife by divorce, from a child by death, from goods by fire, or water, from an office by ju&s;t, or by unju&s;t di&s;plea&s;ure, (which is the hea|vier but the happier ca&s;e) yet never think thy &s;elf &s;evered from thy Head Chri&s;t Je&s;us, nor from being a lively member of his body.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 30.29.</NOTE> Though thou be <HI>a brother of Dragons and a com|panion of Owles,</HI> Though thy <HI>Harpe be turned into mourning, and thine Organ into the voyce of them that weepe,</HI> nay, <HI>Though the Lord kill thee, yet tru&s;t in him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 13.15.</NOTE> Thy Saviour when he lay dead in the grave, was &s;till the &s;ame Lord, Thou, when thou art enwrapped, and en|terred in confu&s;ion, art &s;till the &s;ame Chri&s;tian. To this meditation the Angell carries us, in keeping up Chri&s;ts &s;tyle at the highe&s;t, then when he was at the lowe&s;t, And to &s;ome other particulars he carries the&s;e Women, in that which remaines, <HI>Come and &s;ee the place.</HI></P>
<P>It is not nothing, certainly not meerely nothing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Locus Sacer.</NOTE> that God does &s;o often direct us to frequent his Sanctuary, and his holy places. Not nothing, that <HI>Solomon,</HI> into that In&s;tru|ment which pa&s;&s;ed betweene God and him, for the Con&s;ecration of the Temple, in&s;erted that Covenant, <HI>That not onely they which came to that Temple, but they,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 8.</NOTE> <HI>who being nece&s;&s;arily ab&s;ent, prayed towards the Temple, might be heard;</HI> which is, (not inconveniently) a&s;&s;igned for a rea&s;on of <HI>Ezechias</HI> his turning to the wall to pray, in his &s;ick bed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.2. Dan. 6.12.</NOTE> and of <HI>Daniels</HI> opening of his windows, when he prayed in his private chamber, becau&s;e, in &s;o doing, they looked towards Jeru&s;alem, where the Temple was. When <HI>Naaman</HI> being recove|red from his bodily lepro&s;ie, recovered from his &s;pirituall lepro&s;ie too, and re&s;olved to wor&s;hip none but the true God, he was loath to wor&s;hip the true God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 5.17.</NOTE> in an unholy place, and therefore de&s;ired &s;ome of that earth to build an Altar upon. <HI>Pharaoh</HI> was come to be content that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and his people &s;hould &s;acrifice to their true God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 8.25.</NOTE> &s;o they would &s;acrifice in Egypt; But, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> dur&s;t not accept of tho&s;e conditions. <HI>Pharaoh</HI> grew con|tent that they &s;hould go out of Egypt to Sacrifice, &s;o they would not go far,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 28.</NOTE> but keepe within his limits; but Mo&s;es dur&s;t not accept tho&s;e conditions; nor any conditions le&s;&s;e then tho&s;e, in which God had determined him, which was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.18.</NOTE> <HI>To go three dayes iourney into the Wilderne&s;&s;e.</HI> We know that God is alike in all places, but he does not worke in all places alike; God works otherwi&s;e in the Church, then in an Army; and diver&s;ly in his divers Ordinances in the Church; God works otherwi&s;e in Prayer then in Preaching, and otherwi&s;e in the Sacraments then in either; and otherwi&s;e in the later, then in the fir&s;t Sacrament. The power is the &s;ame, and the end is the &s;ame, but the way is not &s;o. <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> &s;carce three hundred yeares after Chri&s;t, found the Church in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that Cu&s;tome (and he takes knowledge of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A hana&s;. 9.37.</NOTE> as of a precept from the Apo&s;tles them|&s;elves)
<PB N="252" REF="144">That the Congregation &s;hould pray towards the Ea&s;t, to te&s;tifie (&s;aies that Fa|ther) their de&s;ire of returning to the Country, which they had lo&s;t, Paradi&s;e. Places of prophane and &s;ecular u&s;e &s;hould not be made equall with holy places; nor &s;hould holy actions, and motions, and ge&s;tures, and po&s;itions of the body in divine &s;ervice, be &s;ub|mitted to &s;corne and deri&s;ion. They have their u&s;e; either in a reall exaltation of Devo|tion, or for a peaceable con&s;ervation of uniformity, and decency, or for a reverentiall o|bedience to lawfull Authority; and any of the&s;e is enough, to authorize things in their u&s;e, which in them&s;elves and in their owne nature are indifferent. And though the prin|cipall purpo&s;e of the Angell, in &s;hewing the&s;e women the place, were to a&s;&s;ure them, that Chri&s;t was ri&s;en, yet may there al&s;o be an intimation of the helpe and a&s;&s;i&s;tance that we receive from holy places, in this their <HI>Ecce locus, Come, and &s;ee the place.</HI></P>
<P>But this is farre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Perogrina|tiones.</NOTE> very very far from that &s;uper&s;titious fixing of God to the free-hold, which they have induced in the Roman Church, and upon which, they have &s;uper-induced their meritorious Pilgrimages to certaine places. Con&s;ider a little the Pilgri|mage of the&s;e Pilgrimages, how they have gone on. <HI>Innocent</HI> the third, in the Lateran Councell, about foure hundred yeares &s;ince, gave free pardon of all &s;ins to all men, that went or contributed to the recovery of the holy land. Now the&s;e expeditions were not with any hope of recovering that land, but principally to carry the powerfulle&s;t per|&s;ons, and the active&s;t &s;pirits into tho&s;e remote parts, that &s;o the&s;e parts might be left the more open to the Inundation of that Sea of Rome, and the inva&s;ions of that Bi&s;hop. After this, the&s;e Indulgences were enlarged, and communicated to all that went to Je|ru&s;alem, not onely as Soldiers, but as Pilgrims. And, after that by <HI>Boniface</HI> the eighths liberality the way was &s;hortned, and they had as much that came but to Rome, as they that went to Jeru&s;alem. As, a little before, by <HI>Clement</HI> the &s;ixt, there was a power gi|ven to every man, that went &s;uch a Pilgrimage, to deliver foure &s;oules out of Purgatory, which he would, and a commandment given to the Angels of Heaven, to carry their &s;oules that dyed in that Pilgrimage, immediately to Heaven, without touching upon Purgatory.</P>
<P>The&s;e abu&s;es made that learned and devout Man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ger&s;on.</NOTE> <HI>Ger&s;on,</HI> the Chancelor of Paris, in his time, (as, let them deny it with what &s;tifne&s;&s;e they will, nothing is more demon&s;trable, nor more evidently demon&s;trated, Then that in all times, &s;ome great men among&s;t them&s;elves have oppo&s;ed their Super&s;titions) This, I &s;ay, made <HI>Ger&s;on</HI> &s;ay, (though he dur&s;t &s;ay no more) <HI>Abnegare non po&s;&s;umus,</HI> None of us all can deny, but that many things are induced upon colour of Religion, <HI>quorum &s;anctior e&s;&s;et omi&s;sio,</HI> which he &s;hall be more holy that forbeares, then he that performes them. In dete&s;tation of this locall and &s;tatio|nary &s;alvation of the&s;e meritorious pilgrimages to certaine places, &s;ome of the ble&s;&s;ed Fathers &s;poke much, long before they were come to that enormous abu&s;e, in which the later times exceeded. S. <HI>Hierom</HI> had occa&s;ion to &s;ay much of it, by a &s;olicitation from <HI>Polinus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 13.</NOTE> and he &s;aies this, <HI>Quanti hodieportant funera &s;ua?</HI> How many men carry Sepul|chres to the Sepulchre, when they carry them&s;elves to Jeru&s;alem? <HI>Non Hiero&s;olymis vixi&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;aies he, To have lived well at Jeru&s;alem is prai&s;e-worthy, but not to have lived there. <HI>Non audeo concludere,</HI> I dare not &s;hut up that God, whom the Heavens cannot con|taine, in a corner of the earth; and Jeru&s;alem is but &s;o. <HI>Et de Britannia, &amp; de Hiero&s;olymis aequaliter patet aula coele&s;tis,</HI> Heaven is as neare England, (&s;aies S. <HI>Hierom</HI>) as it is to Jeru|&s;alem. And Chri&s;t, (&s;aies he) was then in Jeru&s;alem, in that holy place, when he &s;aid, <HI>Abeamus hinc,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 14.31.</NOTE> <HI>Let us go from hence;</HI> as holy as the place was, he made ha&s;te out of it; for, (as that Father adds) it is a place full of mutinous Souldiers, of licentious pro&s;titutes, of Players and Je&s;ters; and the&s;e are the elements of the holine&s;&s;e of that place.</P>
<P><HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> (in the &s;ame time with <HI>Hierom</HI>) had a particular occa&s;ion to deliver his opinion of the&s;e pilgrimages to Jeru&s;alem;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ny&s;&s;en.</NOTE> for he had beene there him&s;elfe, though not as a Pilgrim. <HI>Sunt aliqui,</HI> There are &s;ome that make it a part of Religion, to have beene at Jeru&s;alem, <HI>Sin praeter praeceptum Domini,</HI> But, &s;aies he, if Chri&s;t never com|manded it, (that is his Rule) I know not what can ju&s;tifie that man, that makes him&s;elfe the Rule of his Religion. Chri&s;t never called that, Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, &s;aies he, to have beene at Jeru&s;alem, nor ever called this Jeru&s;alem the way to Heaven; why any man &s;hould do &s;o, when Chri&s;t did not, <HI>Qui mentem habet, con&s;ideret,</HI> (&s;aies that Father) Let him that is not di&s;tracted, con&s;ider. Nay, &s;aies he, there is not only no certaine profit, but evident danger to a cha&s;te &s;oule, in the uncha&s;te conver&s;ation of tho&s;e Pilgrims, and he exem|plifies,
<PB N="253" REF="144">and particularizes wherein; but we forbeare that. Shall I be asked then, why I went to Jeru&s;alem? &s;ayes that Father; I went into tho&s;e parts out of nece&s;&s;ity, &s;ayes he, being called to a Councell held in tho&s;e parts; And, being &s;o neare, I was cho&s;en as an Arbitrator between &s;ome Churches, which were then at variance, which differences were to be compo&s;ed at Jeru&s;alem, and &s;o I went thither. How&s;oever, let no man be en|couraged to go thither for my being there, (for I was never the better Chri&s;tian for ha|ving been there) but let every man think and beleeve me to be the more competent wit|ne&s;&s;e, and judge of the dangers, becau&s;e I &s;aw them. I beleeved that Chri&s;t was ri&s;en, before I &s;aw the empty Sepulchre; And though (I thank God for it) I lo&s;t none of my faith at Jeru&s;alem, yet I encrea&s;ed it not there. <HI>Si perver&s;&egrave; vivas;</HI> live Chri&s;tianly, or thou art as far from Chri&s;t in the Sepulchre, and from all benefit of his Re&s;urrection, as they that were hired to watch the Sepulchre, and to &s;eale the Sepulchre to prevent the Re&s;urrection, or as if he that lay in the Sepulchre had never dyed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> When we have re|membred you of that which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> (of the &s;ame time with <HI>Ierome</HI> and <HI>Ny&s;&s;en</HI>) &s;ayes, That there were &s;ome &s;o vain, as to go to Arabia to ki&s;&s;e that dunghill where <HI>Iob</HI> &s;ate to be vi&s;ited by his impertinent friends, you have te&s;timony enough, concurrence enough for the dete&s;tation of the&s;e hypocriticall Pilgrimages, and the manifold &s;uper|&s;titions that grow from this tree; and grew to a far greater inexcu&s;ablene&s;&s;e, when all was transferred to Rome, where, both the Indulgences were larger, and the pe&s;tilent in|fections of the place more contagious then at Jeru&s;alem.</P>
<P>Now, to binde up our &s;heafe, and lay it &s;o upon you, that you may ea&s;ily carry it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;io.</NOTE> you have &s;een, That women, though weak, are capable of religious offices; <MILESTONE N="1"> No under&s;tand|ing &s;o weak, but it may beleeve, no body &s;o weak, but it may do &s;omething in &s;ome cal|ling. You have &s;een too, that the&s;e women were early in their religious work,<MILESTONE N="2"> they be|gun betimes; we have but one Parable that tels us, that they that came late to the labour were as well rewarded as the earlie&s;t. So have you al&s;o &s;een,<MILESTONE N="3"> that as they were early and forward, &s;o were they earne&s;t, and &s;edulous; <HI>Cur&s;ed be he that doth the work of God</HI> (that is, any godly work) <HI>negligently.</HI> You have likewi&s;e &s;een upon what their devotion was carried; upon things which could not intirely be done; <MILESTONE N="4"> yet God accepted their devoti|on; where the roote and &s;ub&s;tance of the work is piety, God pretermits many times er|rours in circum&s;tance. You have heard the Angels information to them,<MILESTONE N="5"> <HI>Non h&icirc;c,</HI> that Chri&s;t was not there, and yet comfort in that; God rai&s;es comfort out of all things, even out of di&s;comfort it &s;elf to the godly. You have heard the rea&s;on added, <HI>Quia &s;urrexit,</HI><MILESTONE N="6"> <HI>for he is ri&s;en;</HI> And if this be a good rea&s;on, there is no Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, no Ubiqui|ti&s;me, for then Chri&s;t might have been there, though he were ri&s;en. <HI>He is ri&s;en,</HI><MILESTONE N="7"> not only rai&s;ed, and therefore the Son of God; and <HI>ri&s;en for our In&s;tification,</HI> therefere we are ri&s;en in him. And this, <HI>Sicut dixit, As he had &s;aid before;</HI><MILESTONE N="8"> No word is certain, not in the mouth of an Angel, but as it is referred to the former word of God. And it is <HI>Sicut dixit vobis, As he had &s;aid to you;</HI> Though all Scriptures be not propo&s;ed to all,<MILESTONE N="9"> and Gods &s;ecret purpo&s;es propo&s;ed to none, yet the fundamentall doctrines of the Chri&s;tian faith are propo&s;ed to all, the weake&s;t of all, The&s;e women had heard Chri&s;t. Him,<MILESTONE N="10"> this Angel calls <HI>The Lord, His Lord;</HI> How rebellious is that man of &s;in, that makes Chri&s;t his &s;ervant, and pretence of religion his in&s;trument? He avows him to be the Lord,<MILESTONE N="11"> then when he lay dead in the grave; Be truly a Chri&s;tian, and in the grave of per&s;ecution, in the grave of putrifaction thou &s;halt retain the &s;ame name, and even thy du&s;t &s;hall be Chri|&s;tian du&s;t. And la&s;tly, for the e&s;tabli&s;hment of their comfort,<MILESTONE N="12"> the Angel directs them to con&s;ider the place, <HI>Ecce locus,</HI> not to incline them to &s;uper&s;titious pilgrimages, but yet to a holy reverence, and e&s;timation of places con&s;ecrated to Gods &s;ervice. And if the&s;e Meditations have rai&s;ed you from the bed of &s;in, in any holy purpo&s;e, this is one of your Re&s;urrections, and you have kept your Ea&s;ter-day well. To which, he, who&s;e name is <HI>Amen,</HI> &s;ay Amen, our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, in the power of his Father, and in the operation of his Spirit.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="26" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="254" REF="145">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXVI.</HI> Preached upon Ea&s;ter-day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 THES. 4.17.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Then we which are alive, and remain, &s;hall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the ayre; and &s;o &s;hall we be ever with the Lord.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN this Epi&s;tle, our Apo&s;tle (according to his manner in all his Epi&s;tles) fir&s;t e&s;tabli&s;hes tho&s;e to whom he writes, in tho&s;e matters of faith, in which he had formerly in&s;tructed them; and then, rectifies them in mat|ter of manners, of holine&s;&s;e of life, and the wayes and fruits of &s;anctifica|tion. In this la&s;t part of this Chapter, he involves, he wraps up both to|gether; a Fundamentall point, the Re&s;urrection of the dead, and then, an in&s;truction for manners ari&s;ing out of that, That they mourn not intemperately for the dead, as they do (&s;aith he) which have no hope of &s;eeing them again, who are gone. For we know, that they which are gone, are gone but into another room of the &s;ame hou&s;e, (this world, and the next, do but make up God a hou&s;e) they are gone but into another Pue of the &s;ame Church, (the Militant and the Triumphant do but make up God a Church.)<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 14.</NOTE> <HI>If we beleeve that Ie&s;us dyed, and ro&s;e again</HI> (&s;ayes our Apo&s;tle) <HI>even &s;o, them al|&s;o, which &s;leep in Ie&s;us, will God bring with him:</HI> with him; For, how&s;oever they have li|en ingloriou&s;ly in the du&s;t all this while, all this while they have been with God, and he &s;hall bring them with him. But the The&s;&s;alonians were not &s;o hard in beleeving the Re|&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.35.</NOTE> as curious in enquiring the order of the Re&s;urrection. And as among the Co|rinthians &s;ome inquired <HI>de modo, How are the dead rai&s;ed, and with what body do they come?</HI> So among the The&s;&s;alonians &s;ome inquired, <HI>de Ordine,</HI> in what order, for precedency, &s;hall the la&s;t &s;cean of this la&s;t act of man, be tran&s;acted? What difference between them that were dead thou&s;ands of yeares before, and them whom Chri&s;t &s;hall finde alive at his &s;econd comming? Them the Apo&s;tle &s;atisfies; <HI>We that are alive, &s;hall not prevent them that are a&s;leep,</HI> we &s;hall not enter into heaven before them; <HI>The dead in Chri&s;t &s;hall fir&s;t ri&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes he; and then, (then enters our Text) <HI>Then we which are alive, and remain, &s;hall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meete the Lord in the ayre, and &s;o &s;hall be e|ver with the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Then.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> When? This <HI>Then</HI> in our text, is an apprehen&s;ive, and a comprehen&s;ive word. It reaches to, and layes hold upon that which the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes before the text, in the fifteenth and &s;ixteenth ver&s;es. <HI>Then, when the dead in Chri&s;t are fir&s;t ri&s;en, and ri&s;en by Chri&s;ts comming down from heaven, in clamore, in a &s;hout, in the voice of the Archangel, and in the Trumpet of God, Then,</HI> when that is done, <HI>We that are alive, and remain,</HI> &s;hall bee wrought upon, and all being joyned in one body, <HI>They,</HI> and we together, <HI>&s;hall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the ayre, and &s;o &s;hall we be ever with the Lord.</HI> So that, in the&s;e words we &s;hall have three things to con&s;ider, which will con&s;titute three parts in this exerci&s;e. Fir&s;t, the rai&s;ing of tho&s;e that were dead before. Secondly, the changing of them who are alive then; And la&s;tly, our union in our exaltation, and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the kingdome of God, We, together with them, &s;hall be caught up.</P>
<P>Neither of the&s;e three parts will be &s;wallowed down in a generality; There mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e a Ma&s;tication, a re-divi&s;ion into more particular branches upon them all. For, in the fir&s;t, which the fir&s;t word of our Text, <HI>Then</HI> induces, which is the rai&s;ing of them who were dead before, we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t, That the dead are not forgotten, though they have dwelt long in the hou&s;e of forgetfulne&s;&s;e, nor lo&s;t, though they have lyen long in the du&s;t of di&s;per&s;ion, nor neglected, nor deferred, that others might be preferred before them, which &s;hall be alive then, for, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>We &s;hall not prevent them,</HI> but they
<PB N="255" REF="145">&s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t; How &s;hall they ri&s;e? For, that is al&s;o a &s;econd con&s;ideration, induced by our fir&s;t word. <HI>Then,</HI> Then when they &s;hal be rai&s;ed <HI>in virtute Chri&s;ti,</HI> in the power of Chri&s;t, for, &s;ayes the Text, <HI>The Lord him&s;elf &s;hall de&s;cend from heaven to rai&s;e them.</HI> And how &s;hall he exerci&s;e, how &s;hall he execute, and declare his power in their rai&s;ing? It &s;hall be <HI>In clamore, with a &s;hout, and in the voyce of the Arch-angel, and the Trumpet of God.</HI> And in the&s;e three Branches, That the dead &s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t, That they &s;hall ri&s;e in the power of Chri&s;t, That that power &s;hall be thus expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>In a &s;hout, in the voyce of the Arch-an|gell, in the Trumpet of God,</HI> we &s;hall determine that fir&s;t Part. When that is done, and done &s;o, we &s;hall be wrought upon, <HI>We that are alive and remain</HI> then; where we &s;hall fir&s;t &s;ee, that &s;ome &s;hall be alive, and remain then, when Chri&s;t comes, And then con&s;i|der their &s;tate and condition, how they being then cloathed with bodies of corruption &s;hall be capable of that pre&s;ent entrance into glory; and in that di&s;qui&s;ition we &s;hall end our &s;econd Part. And then, in our third and la&s;t part, The glorious Union of the&s;e two Armies, Tho&s;e which were dead, and tho&s;e which are alive, we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t, That here is no mention at all, of any Re&s;urrection of the wicked, but onely of them <HI>that &s;leep in Chri&s;t;</HI> They &s;hall ri&s;e; And then, tho&s;e that are to partake of this glory, are thus proceeded with; <HI>They are caught up, Rapiuntur; Caught up in the Clouds, In Nubibus;</HI> Exalted into <HI>the Ayre, In Aera;</HI> There <HI>to meet the Lord, Obviam Domino;</HI> And <HI>&s;o to be with the Lord for ever.</HI> We &s;hall be, and be with the Lord, and be with the Lord for ever; which are ble&s;&s;ed and glorious gradations, if we may have time to in&s;i&s;t upon them; which we may be&s;t hope for this day of all others; for, this day, we have two dayes in one. This day both Gods Sons aro&s;e; The Sun of his Firmament, and the Son of his bo&s;ome. And if one Sun doe &s;et upon us, the other will &s;tay, as long as our devotion la&s;t. God went not from <HI>Abraham,</HI> till <HI>Abraham</HI> had no more to &s;ay;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18. ult.</NOTE> No more will Chri&s;t from us.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, for our fir&s;t Branch of our fir&s;t part, the ri&s;ing of the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> the fir&s;t man that was laid in the du&s;t of the earth, <HI>Abel,</HI> lo&s;es nothing by lying &s;o long there; He lo&s;es nothing, that men of later ages gain; For, if we live to the comming of Chri&s;t to Judge|ment, we &s;hall not prevent them, we &s;hall have no precedency of them, that were dead ages before. No man is &s;uperannuated in the grave, that he is too old to enter into hea|ven, where the Ma&s;ter of the hou&s;e is <HI>The ancient of dayes.</HI> No man is bed-rid with age in the grave, that he cannot ri&s;e. It is not with God, as it is with man; we doe, but God does not forget the dead; and, as long as God is with them, they are with him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 56.9.</NOTE> <HI>As he puts all thy teares into his bottles,</HI> &s;o he puts all the graines of thy du&s;t into his Cabinet, and the windes that &s;catter, the waters that wa&s;h them away, carry them not out of his &s;ight. <HI>He remembers that we are but du&s;t;</HI> but du&s;t then when we lie in the grave;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 103.14.</NOTE> and yet he re|members us. But his memory goes farther then &s;o, He remembers that we were but du&s;t alive, at our be&s;t; <HI>They dye,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David, and they returne to their own du&s;t.</HI> It is not an en|tring into a new &s;tate, when they dye, but a returning to their old, <HI>They return to du&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104.29.</NOTE> And it is not to that du&s;t which is ca&s;t upon them, in the grave, (for that may be another mans du&s;t) but to that du&s;t which they carried about them in their bodies, <HI>They returne,</HI> and <HI>to du&s;t;</HI> and <HI>to their own du&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is du&s;t &s;o inglorious a thing, but that God gives a dignity to du&s;t, when he admits it into compari&s;on to expre&s;&s;e the multiplication, the accumulation of his ble&s;&s;ings upon <HI>Abraham, I will make thy &s;eed as the du&s;t of the earth;</HI> not for weakne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 13.16.</NOTE> but for infinite|ne&s;&s;e; And &s;o, to the &s;ame purpo&s;e of expre&s;&s;ing greatne&s;&s;e, <HI>Balaam</HI> u&s;es this Metaphore of du&s;t, <HI>Who can count the du&s;t of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of I&s;rael?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 23.10.</NOTE> Neither does <HI>Abraham</HI> think it any diminution to lie in the du&s;t of the earth, when he is dead, for he profe&s;&s;es that he walks in the du&s;t of the earth, in him&s;elf, whil&s;t he is aliye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.27.</NOTE> <HI>I have taken upon me to &s;peak to the Lord being but du&s;t.</HI> And when <HI>David</HI> &s;eemes to fear the du&s;t of death, <HI>(lighten mine eyes, le&s;t they &s;leep the &s;leep of death)</HI> it is not that he &s;u&s;pects any detri|ment to him&s;elf by death, that he &s;hall be the wor&s;e by dying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al, 13.1.</NOTE> but that God may lo&s;e of his glory, when (as he addes there) <HI>the enemy &s;hall &s;ay, we have prevailed again&s;t him.</HI> For, as in the Primitive Church, tho&s;e that &s;eeme prayers for the dead, at Funeralls, are, indeed, but thank&s;givings to God, in their behalf that are departed; &s;o, as often as <HI>David</HI> expre&s;&s;es him&s;elf in that Patheticall manner, <HI>Awake, O Lord, why &s;leepe&s;t thou? ari&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 44.23.</NOTE> <HI>and ca&s;t us not off for ever,</HI> it is a thank&s;giving that he hath not, and a prayer that he would not forget them. When he &s;ayes, <HI>Will God be favourable no more?</HI> he meanes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 77.7.</NOTE> I am &s;ure
<PB N="256" REF="146">he will. <HI>Is his mercy cleane gone for ever? Doth his promi&s;e faile for ever? Hath God forgot to be gracious? Hath he &s;hut up his mercy in anger?</HI> All the&s;e imply a kinde of confidence that he hath not.</P>
<P>And, as it is in that Re&s;urrection of which <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks mo&s;t literally in tho&s;e places, (that is, The Re&s;urrection from the calamities and oppre&s;&s;ions of this world) &s;o is it in the Re&s;urrection from the du&s;t of the grave too;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 22.15. &amp; 19.</NOTE> <HI>Thou ha&s;t brought me to the du&s;t of the grave; but, be not thou farre from me;</HI> That is, when thou &s;halt bring me to the du&s;t of the grave, thou wilt not be farre from me. And, when he &s;ayes, (in apparence) by way of expo&s;tulation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.10.</NOTE> and jealou&s;ie, and &s;u&s;pition, <HI>Will God &s;hew wonders to the dead? &s;hall the dead ari&s;e and prai&s;e him? &s;hall his loving kindne&s;&s;e be declared in the grave, or his faishfulne&s;&s;e in de&s;truction?</HI> All the&s;e pa&s;&s;ionate interrogatories, and vehement expo&s;tulations may &s;afe|ly be re&s;olved into the&s;e Doctrinall propo&s;itions, Yes, God will &s;hew wonders to the dead, The dead &s;hall ri&s;e and prai&s;e him, His loving kindne&s;&s;e &s;hall be declared in the grave,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 74.19.</NOTE> and his faithfulne&s;&s;e in de&s;truction. For, <HI>God will not forget the Congregation of his poore for ever.</HI> The poore of this world, are our poore; Gods poore are they that lie in the du&s;t, the du&s;t of the grave, the dead; of whom, God hath a greater Congregation under ground, then of the living upon the face of the earth; And, God will not forget the congregation of his poore for ever. <HI>Finitus e&s;t eorum pulvis;</HI> That which we tran&s;late, <HI>Their Extortioner is at an end,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 16.4.</NOTE> their Oppre&s;&s;or is at an end, is in S. <HI>Hierome, Their du&s;t is at an end;</HI> that is, there comes a time, when the du&s;t of the grave &s;hall oppre&s;&s;e them no longer. When? Truly, that time is virtually, and in an infallibility come already; as tho&s;e other words of the &s;ame Prophet, may admit an accommodation in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 26.19.</NOTE> <HI>Thy dead men &s;hall live;</HI> When? <HI>Together with my dead body they &s;hall ri&s;e.</HI> Con|&s;ider, by occa&s;ion of tho&s;e words, a promi&s;e, long before Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection, that all they which &s;lept in Chri&s;t &s;hould ri&s;e in him, <HI>with my dead body they &s;hall ri&s;e;</HI> And then con&s;ider the performance of this promi&s;e in the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.6.</NOTE> <HI>Con&s;urrexerunt, together with Chri&s;t, all that &s;lept in him,</HI> (nay, all that fell a&s;leep &s;ince he waked, all that dyed &s;ince he ro&s;e) <HI>did ari&s;e.</HI> Virtually, and infallibly they did. And, for the actuall accompli&s;h|ment of this Re&s;urrection in every individuall per&s;on, they that were laid in the grave in the fir&s;t ages, lo&s;e no time. For, there is no time of entring into heaven, till the Lord come to fetch us; And then, they that are dead, &s;hall be &s;o farre from being pretermit|ted, as that they &s;hall fir&s;t be rai&s;ed before any thing be done upon us. But how &s;hall they be rai&s;ed, by what power? (for that is a &s;econd Con&s;ideration induced al&s;o by this fir&s;t word of our Text, <HI>Then,</HI> when the Lord &s;hall have de&s;cended from heaven to rai&s;e them; Then when they are rai&s;ed, <HI>In virtute Chri&s;ti,</HI> in the vertue and power of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Then,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In virtute Chri&s;ti. <HI>Mat. 13.43.</HI></NOTE> (&s;ayes our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, &s;peaking of the Re&s;urrection) <HI>then, &s;hall the righte|ous &s;hine forth as the Sun;</HI> And where&s;oever we are called the Sun, compared, a&s;&s;imila|ted to the Sun, Chri&s;t is our Zodiake; In him we move, from the beginning to the end of our Circle. And therefore, as the la&s;t point of our Circle, our re&s;urrection determines in him, in Chri&s;t; &s;o, the fir&s;t point of our Circle, our fir&s;t adoption began in him, in Chri&s;t too. And, if I were adopted in Chri&s;t, (in Chri&s;t who is a Redeemer of &s;inners) I was adopted in the condition, and in the con&s;ideration of a &s;inner, and &s;uch a &s;inner as &s;hould, as would lay hold upon this Chri&s;t, this Redeemer. Chri&s;t is the Re&s;urrection; &s;o Chri&s;t is the Adoption; If there be a Re&s;urrection in him, there were &s;ome dead be|fore; If there bean Adoption in him, there are &s;ome &s;inners before. The fir&s;t look that God ca&s;ts upon us, is in Chri&s;t, and therefore the fir&s;t con&s;ideration that he takes of us, is, as we are &s;inners; He adopts none but penitent &s;inners, he reproves none but impeni|tent &s;inners. In him al&s;o the dead are rai&s;ed; that is, in that power, which he was rai|&s;ed by, The power of God. For, &s;till that phra&s;e is ingeminated, iterated, multiplied, <HI>Su&s;citavit Deus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.6.</NOTE> <HI>&s;u&s;citatus &agrave; Deo, God rai&s;ed Chri&s;t from the dead,</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;t was rai&s;ed from the dead by God.</HI> And when it is &s;aid by the Angell to the women, <HI>Surrexit, He is ri&s;en,</HI> (ri&s;en of him&s;elf, as the word &s;ounds) And when by tho&s;e two which went with Chri&s;t to <HI>Emaus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.34.</NOTE> it is &s;aid at their return to Jeru&s;alem, to the eleven Apo&s;tles, <HI>&s;urrex it ver&egrave;, Hee is ri&s;en indeed,</HI> (ri&s;en of him&s;elf, as the word &s;ounds) yet that phra&s;e and expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>He is ri&s;en,</HI> if there were no more in it, but that expre&s;&s;ion, and that phra&s;e, would not conclude Chri&s;ts ri&s;ing to have been <HI>in virtute propria,</HI> in his own power. For, of <HI>Dorcas</HI> who was rai&s;ed from the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> 9.4<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 11.</NOTE> it is &s;aid, <HI>Re&s;edit, &s;he &s;ate up,</HI> and of <HI>Lazarus, Prodiit, he came forth;</HI>
<PB N="257" REF="146">and yet, the&s;e actions thus a&s;cribed to them&s;elves, were done <HI>in virtute aliena,</HI> in the pow|er of another. Chri&s;ts Re&s;urrection was not &s;o, <HI>In virtute aliena,</HI> in the power of ano|ther, if you con&s;ider his whole per&s;on, God and Man, but it was <HI>aliena &agrave; filio Mariae;</HI> Chri&s;t as the Son of <HI>Mary</HI> ro&s;e not by his own power. It was by his own; but his own, becau&s;e he was God, as well as man. Nor could all the Magick in the world have rai&s;ed him &s;ooner, then by that his power, (his, as God) he (that is, that per&s;on, God and man) was plea&s;ed to ri&s;e. So &s;its he now at the right hand of his Father in heaven; nor can all the Con&s;ecrations of the Romane Prie&s;ts either remove him from thence, or multiply him to a bodily being any where el&s;e, till his time of comming to Judgment, come. Then, and not till then, <HI>The Lord him&s;elf &s;hall de&s;cend from heaven, in clamore,</HI> &s;ayes the Text, <HI>in a &s;hout, with the voyce of the Arch-angell, and with the Trumpet of God,</HI> which circum&s;tan|ces con&s;titute our third, and la&s;t Branch of this fir&s;t Part, The dead &s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t, They &s;hall ri&s;e in the power of Chri&s;t, (therefore Chri&s;t is God; for Chri&s;t him&s;elf ro&s;e in the power of God) and that power &s;hall be thus declared, <HI>In a &s;hout, in the voyce of the Arch-Angell, in the Trumpet of God.</HI></P>
<P>The dead heare not Thunder, nor feele they an Earth quake.<NOTE PLACE="marg">In clamore.</NOTE> If the Canon batter that Church walls, in which they lye buryed, it wakes not them, nor does it &s;hake or affect them, if that du&s;t, which they are, be thrown out, but yet there is a voyce, which the dead &s;hall heare; <HI>The dead &s;hall heare, the voyce of the Son of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 5.25.</NOTE> (&s;ayes the Son of God him&s;elf) <HI>and they that heare &s;hall live;</HI> And that is the voyce of our Text. It is here called a cla|mour, a vociferation, a &s;hout, and varied by our Tran&s;lators, and Expo&s;itors, according to the origination of the word, to be <HI>clamor hortatorius,</HI> and <HI>&s;ua&s;orius,</HI> and <HI>ju&s;&s;orins,</HI> A voyce that carries with it a penetration, (all &s;hall heare it) and a per&s;wa&s;ion, (all &s;hall be|leeve it, and be glad of it) and a power, a command, (all &s;hall obey it.) Since that voyce at the Creation, <HI>Fiat,</HI> Let there be a world, was never heard &s;uch a voyce as this, <HI>Surgite mortui,</HI> Ari&s;e ye dead. That was &s;poken to that that was meerely nothing, and this to them, who in them&s;elves &s;hall have no cooperation, no concurrence to the hearing or an&s;wering this voyce.</P>
<P>The power of this voyce is exalted in that it is &s;aid to be the <HI>voyce of the Archangel.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In voce Archangeli.</NOTE> Though legions of Angels, millions of Angels &s;hall be employed about the Re&s;urrecti|on, to recollect their &s;cattered du&s;t, and recompact their ruined bodies, yet tho&s;e bodies &s;o recompact, &s;hall not be able to heare a voyce. They &s;hall be then but &s;uch bodies, as they were when they were laid downe in the grave, when, though they were intire bo|dies, they could not heare the voice of the mourner. But this voyce of the Archangel &s;hall enable them to heare; The Archangel &s;hall re-infu&s;e the &s;everall &s;oules into their bodies, and &s;o they &s;hall heare that voyce, <HI>Surgite mortui,</HI> Ari&s;e ye that were dead, and they &s;hall ari&s;e. And here we are ea&s;ed of that di&s;putation, whether there be many Archangels, or no, for, if there be but one, yet this in our text, is he, for, it is not &s;aid, In the voyce of <HI>An Archangell,</HI> but of <HI>The Archangell;</HI> if not the Onely, yet he who comprehends them all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.16.</NOTE> and in whom they all con&s;i&s;t, Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>And then, the power of this voyce is exalted to the highe&s;t in the la&s;t word, that it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tuba Dei.</NOTE> <HI>Tuba Dei, The Trumpet of God.</HI> For, that is an Hebrai&s;me, and in that language, it con&s;ti|tutes a &s;uperlative, to adde the name of God to any thing. As in <HI>Sauls</HI> ca&s;e, when <HI>David</HI> &s;urpri&s;ed him, in his dead &s;leepe, it is &s;aid, that <HI>Sopor Domini,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 26.12.</NOTE> <HI>The &s;leepe of the Lord was upon him,</HI> that is, the heavie&s;t, the deade&s;t &s;leepe that could be imagined, &s;o here, <HI>The Trumpet of God</HI> is the loude&s;t voice that we conceive God to &s;peake in.</P>
<P>All the&s;e pieces, that it is <HI>In clamore, In a cry, in a &s;hout,</HI> that it is <HI>In the voyce of the Archangell,</HI> that it is <HI>In the Trumpet of God,</HI> make up this Conclu&s;ion, That all Re&s;urrecti|ons from the dead, mu&s;t be from the voice of God, and from his loud voice;<NOTE PLACE="marg">In clamore.</NOTE> It mu&s;t be &s;o, even in thy fir&s;t Re&s;urrection, thy re&s;urrection from &s;in, by grace here; here, thou neede&s;t the voice of God, and his loud voyce. And therefore, though thou thinke thou heare &s;ometimes Gods &s;ibilations, (as the Prophet <HI>Zechary</HI> &s;peaks) Gods &s;oft and whi&s;pe|ring voyce, (in ward remor&s;es of thine owne; and motions of the Spirit of God to thy &s;pirit) yet thinke not thy &s;pirituall re&s;urrection accompli&s;hed, till, in this place, thou heare his loud voyce; Till thou heare Chri&s;t de&s;cending from Heaven, (as the text &s;ayes) that is, working in his Church; Till thou heare him <HI>In clamore,</HI> in this cry, in this &s;hout, in this voyce of Penetration, of per&s;wa&s;ion, of power, that is, till thou feele in thy &s;elfe in this place a liquefaction, a colliquation, a melting of thy bowels under the commina|tion
<PB N="258" REF="147">of the Judgements of God upon thy &s;in, and the application of his mercy to thy Re|pentance.</P>
<P>And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In voce Archangeli.</NOTE> this thou mu&s;t heare <HI>In voce Archangeli,</HI> In the voice of the Archangel. S. <HI>Iohn</HI> in the beginning of the Revelation, cals every Governour of a Church an Angel. And much re&s;pect and reverence, much faith, and credit behoves it thee to give to thine Angell, to the Pa&s;tour of that Church, in which God hath given thee thy &s;tation; for, he is thine Angel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.7.</NOTE> thy Tutelar, thy guardian Angell. <HI>Men &s;hould &s;eeke the Law at the mouth of the Prie&s;t,</HI> &s;aies God in <HI>Malachi;</HI> (of that Prie&s;t that is &s;et over him) For, <HI>the lips of the Prie&s;t,</HI> (of every Prie&s;t, to whom the &s;oules of others are committed) <HI>&s;hould pre|&s;erve knowledge,</HI> &s;hould be able to in&s;truct and rectifie his flock, <HI>Quia Angelus Domini Exercituum,</HI> becau&s;e every &s;uch Prie&s;t is the Angell of the Lord of Ho&s;ts. Hearken thou therefore, to that Angel, thine Angel. But here thou art directed above thine Angell to the Archangell.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.28. Ephe&s;. 5.23.</NOTE> Now, not the governour of any particular Church, but he <HI>Who hath purcha&s;ed the whole Church with his blood,</HI> He <HI>who onely is head of the whole Church,</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us, is this <HI>Archangell;</HI> Heare him. It is the voyce of the Archangell, (that is, the trne and &s;incere word of God) that mu&s;t rai&s;e thee from the death of &s;in, to the life of grace. If therefore any Angell differ from the Archangell, and preach other then the true and &s;incere word of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>Anathema,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle, let that Angell be accur&s;ed. And take thou heed of over-affecting, overvaluing the gifts of any man &s;o, as that thou take the voice of an Angell, for the voyce of the Archangell, any thing that that man &s;aies, for the word of God.</P>
<P>Yet thou mu&s;t heare this voice of the Archangell in the Trumpet of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Tuba Dei.</NOTE> The Trum|pet of God is his loude&s;t In&s;trument; and his loude&s;t In&s;trument is his publique Ordi|nance in the Church; Prayer, Preaching, and Sacraments; Heare him in the&s;e, In all the&s;e; come not to heare him in the Sermon alone, but come to him in Prayer, and in the Sacrament too. For, except the voyce come in the Trumpet of God, (that is, in the publique Ordinance of his Church) thou can&s;t not know it to be the voyce of the Arch|angell. Pretended &s;ervices of God, in &s;chi&s;maticall Conventicles, are not in the Trumpet of God, and therefore not the voyce of the Archangell, and &s;o, not the meanes ordained for thy &s;pirituall re&s;urrection. And, as our la&s;t re&s;urrection from the grave, is rooted in the per&s;onall re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.17.</NOTE> (<HI>For, if Chri&s;t be not rai&s;ed from the dead, we are yet in our &s;ins,</HI> (&s;aies the Apo&s;tle) But why &s;o? Becau&s;e, to deliver us from &s;in, Chri&s;t was to de&s;troy all our enemies; Now, the la&s;t enemy is Death; and la&s;t time that Death and Chri&s;t met, (upon the Cro&s;&s;e) Death overcame him, and therefore, except he be ri&s;en from the power of Death, we are yet in our &s;ins) as we roote our la&s;t re&s;urrection in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, &s;o do we our fir&s;t re&s;urrection in him, in his word, exhibited in his Or|dinance, for, that is the voice of the Archangell in the Trumpet of God. And as the A|po&s;tle &s;aies here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> This we &s;ay unto you, by the word of the Lord, that thus the la&s;t re&s;ur|rection &s;hall be accompli&s;hed by Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, &s;o, this we &s;ay to you, by the Word of the Lord, (by the harmony of all the Scriptures) thus, and no other way, By the pure word of God, delivered and applied by his publique Ordinance, by Hearing, and Be|leeving, and Practi&s;ing, under the Seales of the Church, the Sacraments, is your fir&s;t re|&s;urrection from &s;in, by grace, accompli&s;hed. So have you then tho&s;e three branches, which con&s;titute our fir&s;t part; That they that are dead before us, &s;hall not be prevented by us, but they &s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t; That they &s;hall be rai&s;ed by the power of Chri&s;t, that is, the power of God in Chri&s;t; That that power, working to their re&s;urrection &s;hall be de|clared in a mighty voyce, the voyce of the Archangell, in the Trumpet of God. And then, then when they who were formerly dead, are fir&s;t rai&s;ed, and rai&s;ed by this Power, and this power thus declared, then &s;hall we, we who &s;hall be then alive and remaine, be wrought upon; which is our &s;econd, and our next generall part.</P>
<P>When the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part. <HI>Nos.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Nos qui vivimus, We that are alive, and remaine,</HI> would he not be thought to &s;peake this of him&s;elfe, and the The&s;&s;alonians to whom he writes? Doe not the words import that? That he, and they &s;hould live till Chri&s;ts comming to Judgement? Some certainly had taken him &s;o; But he complaines that he was mi&s;taken; <HI>We be&s;eech you brethren,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>be not &s;oone &s;haken in minde, nor troubled, by word or letter, as from us, that the day of the Lord is at hand;</HI> &s;o at hand, as that we determine it in our dayes, in our life. So that the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes here, but Hypothetically; he does but put a ca&s;e, That if it &s;hould be Gods plea&s;ure to continue them in the world, till the comming of his
<PB N="259" REF="147">Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us, thus and thus they &s;hould be proceeded withall; for, thus and thus &s;hall they be proceeded with, &s;ayes he, that &s;hall then be alive. Our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour hath &s;uch a manner of &s;peech, of an ambiguous &s;en&s;e, in S. <HI>Matthew,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.28.</NOTE> <HI>That there were &s;ome &s;tanding there, that &s;hould not ta&s;te of death, till they &s;aw the Son of man comming in his King|dome.</HI> And this might give them ju&s;t occa&s;ion to think, that that Kingdome into which the Judgement &s;hall enter us, was at hand; For, the words which Chri&s;t &s;poke immedi|atly before tho&s;e, were evidently, undeniably &s;poken of that la&s;t, and everla&s;ting king|dome of glory, <HI>The Son of man &s;hall come in the glory of his Father, with his Angels, &amp;c.</HI> Then follows, <HI>Some &s;tanding here &s;hall live to &s;ee this.</HI> And yet Chri&s;t did not &s;peak this of that la&s;t kingdome of glory; but either he &s;poke it of that manife&s;tation of that king|dome which was &s;hewed to &s;ome of them, (to <HI>Peter,</HI> and <HI>Iames,</HI> and <HI>Iohn</HI>) in the Transfi|guration of Chri&s;t, (for the Transfiguration was a repre&s;entation of the kingdome of glory) or el&s;e he &s;poke it of that inchoation of the kingdome of glory, which &s;hined out in the kingdome of grace, which all the Apo&s;tles lived to &s;ee, in the per&s;onall comming of the Holy Gho&s;t, and in his powerfull working in the conver&s;ion of Nations in their life time.</P>
<P>And this is an inexpre&s;&s;ible comfort to us, That our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour thus mingles his Kingdomes, that he makes the Kingdome of Grace, and the Kingdome of Glory, all one; the Church, and Heaven all one; and a&s;&s;ures us, That if we &s;ee him <HI>In hoc &s;peculo, in this his Gla&s;&s;e,</HI> in his Ordinance, in his Kingdome of Grace, we have already begun to &s;ee him <HI>facie ad faciem, face to face,</HI> in his Kingdome of Glory; If we &s;ee him <HI>Sicuti ma|nife&s;tatur,</HI> as he looks in his Word, and Sacraments, in his Kingdome of Grace, we have begun to &s;ee him, <HI>Sicuti e&s;t,</HI> As he is, in his E&s;&s;ence, in the Kingdome of Glory; And when we pray, <HI>Thy Kingdome come;</HI> and mean but the Kingdome of Grace, he gives us more then we ask, an inchoative comprehen&s;ion of the Kingdome of Glory, in this life. This is his inexpre&s;&s;ible mercy, that he mingles his Kingdomes, and where he gives one, gives both. So is there al&s;o a faire beam of comfort exhibited to us in this Text, That the number re&s;erved for that Kingdome of Glory, is no &s;mall number. For though <HI>Da|vid</HI> &s;aid, <HI>The Lord looked down from heaven, and &s;aw not one that did good, no not one,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 14.2.</NOTE> (there it is le&s;&s;e then a few) though when the times had better means to be better, when Chri&s;t preached per&s;onally upon the earth, when one Centurion had but replyed to Chri&s;t, Sir,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.10.</NOTE> you need not trouble your &s;elf to go to my hou&s;e, if you do but &s;ay the word here, my &s;ervant will be well, Chri&s;t &s;aid in his behalfe, <HI>Verily I have not found &s;o great faith, no not in I&s;rael;</HI> When Chri&s;t makes &s;o much of this &s;ingle grain of Mu&s;tard-&s;eed, this little faith, as to prefer it before all the faith of I&s;rael, &s;urely faith went very low in I&s;rael at that time, Nay, when Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;ayes, &s;peaking of his la&s;t comming, after &s;o many ages preaching of the Go&s;pell, <HI>When the Son of man comes, &s;hall he finde faith upon earth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.8.</NOTE> any faith? We have I &s;ay, a ble&s;&s;ed beam of comfort &s;hining out of this text, that it is no &s;mall number that is re&s;erved for that Kingdome; For, whether the Apo&s;tle &s;peak this of him&s;elf and the The&s;&s;alonians, or of others, he &s;peaks not as of a few, but that by Chri&s;ts having preached the narrowne&s;&s;e of the way, and the &s;traitne&s;&s;e of the gate, our holy indu&s;try and endeavour is &s;o much exalted, (which was Chri&s;ts principall end in taking tho&s;e Metaphors of narrow wayes, and &s;trait gates, not to make any man &s;u&s;pect an impo&s;&s;ibility of entring, but to be the more indu&s;trious and endeavorous in &s;eeking it) that as he hath &s;ent workmen in plenty, (abundant preaching) &s;o he &s;hall return a plen|tifull harve&s;t, a glorious addition to his Kingdome, both of tho&s;e which &s;lept in him be|fore, and of tho&s;e which &s;hall be then alive, fit, all together, to be caught up in the clouds to meet him, and be with him for ever; for the&s;e two armies imply no &s;mall number. Now, of the condition of the&s;e men, who &s;hall be then alive, and how being clothed in bodies of corruption, they become capable of the glory of this text, in our fir&s;t di&s;tribu|tion, we propo&s;ed that for a particular con&s;ideration, and the other branch of this &s;econd part, and to that, in that order, we are come now.</P>
<P>I &s;carce know a place of Scripture, more diver&s;ly read,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Immutabi|mur.</NOTE> and con&s;equently more vari|ou&s;ly interpreted then that place, which &s;hould mo&s;t enlighten us, in this con&s;ideration pre&s;ently under our hands; which is that place to the Corinthians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.51.</NOTE> <HI>Non omnes dormie|mus, We &s;hall not all &s;leep, but we &s;hall all be changed.</HI> The Apo&s;tle profe&s;&s;es there to deli|ver us a my&s;tery, <HI>(Behold, I &s;hew you a my&s;tery)</HI> but Tran&s;lators and Expo&s;itors have mul|tiplyed my&s;ticall clouds upon the words. S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> reads the&s;e words as we do,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE>
<PB N="260" REF="148"><HI>Non dormiemus, We &s;hall not all &s;leep,</HI> but thereupon he argues, and concludes, that wee &s;hall not all die. The common reading of the ancients is contrary to that, <HI>Omnes dormie|mus, &s;ed non, &amp;c. We &s;hall all &s;leep, but we &s;hall not all be changed.</HI> The vulgat Edition in the Romane Church differs from both, and as much from the originall, as from either, <HI>Omnes re&s;urgemus, We &s;hall all ri&s;e again, but we &s;hall not all be changed.</HI> S. <HI>Hierome</HI> examines the two readings, and then leaves the reader to his choice, as a thing indifferent. S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> doth &s;o too, and concludes <HI>aqu&egrave; Catholicos e&s;&s;e,</HI> That they are as good Catho|liques that reade it the one way, as the other. But how&s;oever, that which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> collects upon his reading, may not be maintained. He reads as we do; and without all doubt aright, <HI>We &s;hall not all &s;leep;</HI> But what then? Therefore &s;hall we not all die? To &s;leep there, is to re&s;t in the grave, to continue in the &s;tate of the dead, and &s;o we &s;hall not all &s;leep, not continue in the &s;tate of the dead. But yet, <HI>Statutum e&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo|&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9.27.</NOTE> as verily as Chri&s;t was once offered to beare our &s;innes, &s;o verily <HI>is it appointed to every man once to die;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.12.</NOTE> And, as verily <HI>as by one man, &s;inne entred into the world, and death by &s;inne, &s;o</HI> verily <HI>death pa&s;&s;ed upon all men, for that all men have &s;inned;</HI> So the Apo|&s;tle in&s;titutes the compari&s;on, &s;o he con&s;titutes the doctrine, in tho&s;e two places of Scrip|ture, As verily as Chri&s;t dyed for all, all &s;hall die, As verily as every man &s;ins, every man &s;hall die.</P>
<P>In that change then, which we who are then alive, &s;hall receive, (for though we &s;hall not all &s;leep, we &s;hall all be changed) we &s;hall have a pre&s;ent di&s;&s;olution of body and &s;oul, and that is truly a death, and a pre&s;ent redintegration of the &s;ame body and the &s;ame &s;oul, and that is truly a Re&s;urrection; we &s;hall die, and be alive again, before another could con&s;ider that we were dead; but yet this &s;hall not be done in an ab&s;olute in&s;tant; &s;ome &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of time, though undi&s;cernible there is. It &s;hall be done <HI>In raptu,</HI> in a ra|pture; but even in a rapture there is a motion, a tran&s;ition from one to another place. It &s;hall be done &s;ayes he, <HI>In ictuoculi, In the twinkling of an eye;</HI> But even in the twinkling of an eie, there is a &s;hutting of the eie-lids, and an opening of them again; Neither of the&s;e is done in an ab&s;olute in&s;tant, but requires &s;ome &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of time. The Apo&s;tle, in the Re&s;urrection in our text, con&s;titutes a <HI>Prius,</HI> &s;omething to be done fir&s;t, and &s;omething after; fir&s;t tho&s;e that were dead in Chri&s;t &s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t, and then, Then when that is done, after that, not all at once, we that are alive &s;hall be wrought upon, we &s;hall be changed, our change comes after their ri&s;ing; &s;o in our change there is a <HI>Prius</HI> too, fir&s;t we &s;hall be di&s;&s;olved, (&s;o we die) and then we &s;hall be re-compact, (&s;o we ri&s;e again) This is the dif|ference, they that &s;leep in the grave, put off, and depart with the very &s;ub&s;tance of the body, it is no longer fle&s;h, but du&s;t, they that are changed at the la&s;t day, put off, and de|part with, only the qualities of the body, as mortality and corruption; It is &s;till the &s;ame body, without re&s;olving into du&s;t, but the fir&s;t &s;tep that it makes, is into glory.</P>
<P>Now transfer this to the &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection of thy &s;oul by grace, here. Here, Grace works not that Re&s;urrection upon thy &s;oul, in an ab&s;olute in&s;tant. And therefore &s;u&s;pect not Gods gracious purpo&s;e upon thee, if thou bee&s;t not pre&s;ently, throughly re|covered. God could have made all the world in one day, and &s;o have come &s;ooner to his Sabbath, his re&s;t; but he wrought more, to give us an example of labour, and of pa|tience, in attending his lea&s;ure in our &s;econd Creation, this Re&s;urrection from &s;in, as we did in our fir&s;t Creation, when we were not made till the &s;ixt day. But remember too, that the la&s;t Re&s;urrection, from death, is to be tran&s;acted quickly, &s;peedily; And in thy fir&s;t, thy &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection from &s;in, make ha&s;te. The la&s;t is to be done <HI>In raptu,</HI> in a rapture; Let this rapture in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection be, to teare thy &s;elf from that company and conver&s;ation that leads thee into tentation. The la&s;t is to be done <HI>Inictu oculi,</HI> In the twinkling of an eye; Let that, in thy fir&s;t Re&s;urrection be, The &s;hutting of thine eyes from looking upon things in things, upon creatures in creatures, upon beauty in that face that mi&s;leads thee, or upon honour in that place that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es thee; And let the opening of thine eyes be, to look upon God in every object, to repre&s;ent to thy &s;elf the beauty of his holine&s;&s;e, and the honour of his &s;ervice in every action. And in this rapture, and in this twinkling of an eye, will thy Re&s;urrection &s;oon, though not &s;uddenly, &s;peedily, though not in&s;tantly be accompli&s;hed. And if God take thee out of the world, before thou think it throughly accompli&s;hed, yet he &s;hall call thine inchoation, con&s;ummation, thine endeavour, performance, and thy de&s;ire, effect. For all Gods works are intire, and done in him, at once, and perfect as &s;oon as begun; And this &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection is
<PB N="261" REF="148">his work, and therefore quickned even in the Conception, and borne even in the quick|ning, and grown up even in the birth, that is, perfected in the eyes of God, as &s;oone as it is &s;eriou&s;ly intended in our heart. And farther we carry not your con&s;ideration upon tho&s;e two Branches which con&s;titute our &s;econd Part, That &s;ome &s;hall be alive at Chri&s;ts comming, That they that are alive, &s;hall receive &s;uch a change, as &s;hall be a true death, and a true Re&s;urrection, And &s;o <HI>&s;hall be caught up into the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Aire, and &s;o be with the Lord for ever;</HI> which are the Circum&s;tances of our third, and la&s;t Part.</P>
<P>In this la&s;t part, we propo&s;ed it for the fir&s;t Con&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>3 Part.</HI> Re&s;urrectio ju&s;torum.</NOTE> that the Apo&s;tle deter|mines the Con&s;ideration of the Re&s;urrection in tho&s;e two, Them, and Us, <HI>They that &s;lept in Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>We that expect the comming of Chri&s;t.</HI> Of any Re&s;urrection of the wicked, here is no mention. Not that there is not one; but that the re&s;urrection of the wicked conduced not to the Apo&s;tles purpo&s;e, which was to mini&s;ter comfort in the lo&s;&s;e of the dead, becau&s;e they were to come again, and to meet the Lord, and to be with him for ever; whereas, in the Re&s;urrection of the wicked, who are only to ri&s;e, that they may fall lower, there is no argument of comfort. And therefore our Saviour Chri&s;t deter|mines his Commi&s;&s;ion in that, <HI>This is the Fathers will that &s;ent me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.39.</NOTE> <HI>that of all which he hath given me, I &s;hould lo&s;e nothing, but &s;hould rai&s;e it up again at the la&s;t day.</HI> This was his not lo&s;ing, if it were rai&s;ed again; but, he hath only them in charge to rai&s;e at the la&s;t day, whom the Father had given him; given him &s;o, as that they were to be with him for ever; for others he never mentions.</P>
<P>And upon this, much, very much depends. For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chilia&s;ts.</NOTE> this forbearing to mention the re&s;ur|rection of the wicked with the righteous, gave occa&s;ion to many in the Primitive Church, to imagine a two-fold, a former and a later Re&s;urrection; which was furthered by their mi&s;taking of tho&s;e words in S. <HI>Iohn,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 20.6.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in the fir&s;t Re&s;urrection;</HI> which words, being intended of the Re&s;urrection from &s;in, by grace, in this life, the <HI>Chilia&s;ts,</HI> the <HI>Millenarians,</HI> interpreted of this Re&s;urrection in our Text, That at Chri&s;ts comming, the righteous &s;hould ri&s;e, and live a thou&s;and yeares, (as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;ayes) in all temporall abundances, with Chri&s;t here, in recompence of tho&s;e temporall calamities, and oppre&s;&s;ions, which here they had &s;uffered; and then, after tho&s;e thou&s;and yeares, &s;o &s;pent with Chri&s;t, in temporall abundances, &s;hould follow the re&s;urrection of the wicked; and then the wicked, and the righteous &s;hould be di&s;po&s;ed and di&s;tributed and &s;etled in tho&s;e Man&s;ions, in which they &s;hould remain for ever. And of this errour, (as very many of the Fathers per&s;i&s;ted in it to the end) S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elf had a touch, and a tincture, at beginning. And this errour, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> al&s;o, (though truly, I think, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> was never touched with it him&s;elfe) out of a reverence to tho&s;e many, and great men, that were, (<HI>Irenaeus, Tertullian, Lactantius,</HI> and the re&s;t) would never call an Here&s;ie, nor an Errour, nor by any &s;harper name, then an opinion, which is no word of heavy dete&s;tation.</P>
<P>And as tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers of tender bowels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pagani.</NOTE> enlarged them&s;elves in this di&s;tributi|on, and apportioning the mercy of God, that it con&s;i&s;ted be&s;t with the nature of his mer|cy, that as his Saints had &s;uffered temporall calamities in this world, in this world they &s;hould be recompenced with temporall abundances, &s;o did they inlarge this mercy far|ther, and carry it even to the Gentiles, to the Pagans that had no knowledge of Chri&s;t in any e&s;tabli&s;hed Church. You &s;hall not finde a <HI>Trumegi&s;tus,</HI> a <HI>Numa Pompilius,</HI> a <HI>Plato, a Socrates,</HI> for who&s;e &s;alvation you &s;hall not finde &s;ome Father, or &s;ome Ancient and Reverend Author, an Advocate. In which liberality of Gods mercy, tho&s;e tender Fa|thers proceed partly upon that rule, That in <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> and in the re&s;t, they finde evi|dent impre&s;&s;ions, and te&s;timonies, that they knew the Son of God, and knew the Trini|ty; and then, &s;ay they, why &s;hould not the&s;e good men, beleeving a Trinity, be &s;aved? and partly they goe upon that rule, which goes through &s;o many of the Fathers, <HI>Facienti quod in &s;e e&s;t,</HI> That to that man who does as much as he can, by the light of nature, God never denies grace; and then, &s;ay they, why &s;hould not the&s;e men that doe &s;o be &s;aved? And, upon this ground, S. <HI>Diony&s;e,</HI> the Areopagite &s;ayes, That from the beginning of the world, God hath called &s;ome men of all Nations, and of all &s;orts, by the mini&s;try of Angels, though not by the mini&s;try of the Church. To me, to whom God hath revealed his Son, in a Go&s;pel, by a Church, there can be no way of &s;alvation, but by applying that Son of God, by that Go&s;pel, in that Church. Nor is there any other foundation for
<PB N="262" REF="149">any, nor other name by which any can be &s;aved, but the name of Je&s;us. But how this foundation is pre&s;ented, and how this name of Je&s;us is notified to them, among&s;t whom there is no Go&s;pel preached, no Church e&s;tabli&s;hed, I am not curious in inquiring. I know God can be as mercifull as tho&s;e tender Fathers pre&s;ent him to be; and I would be as charitable as they are. And therefore humbly imbracing that manife&s;tation of his Son, which he hath afforded me, I leave God, to his un&s;earchable waies of working upon others, without farther inqui&s;ition.</P>
<P>Neither did tho&s;e tender Fathers then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Angeli lop&s;i in Coelis.</NOTE> (much le&s;&s;e the School after) con&s;i&s;t in carying this overflowing, and inexhau&s;tible mercy of God, upon his Saints, after their Re&s;urre|ction, in temporall abundances, nor upon the Gentiles, who had no &s;olemne, nor cleare knowledge of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 138.2. P&s;al. 17.7.</NOTE> (which is <HI>Magnificare mi&s;ericordiam,</HI> to magnifie, to extend, to &s;tretch the mercy of God) but, <HI>Mirificant mi&s;ericordiam,</HI> (as <HI>David</HI> al&s;o &s;peaks) they &s;tretch this mercy miraculou&s;ly, for, they carry this mercy even to hell it &s;elf. For, fir&s;t, for the Angels that fell in heaven, from the time that they committed their fir&s;t &s;in, to the time that they were ca&s;t down into hell, they whom we call the more &s;ubtile part of the Schoole, &s;ay, That <HI>In illa mo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> la,</HI> during that &s;pace, between their falling into their &s;in, and their expul&s;ion from heaven, the Angels might have repented, and been re&s;tored, for, &s;o long, &s;ay they, tho&s;e Angels were but in <HI>&s;tatu viatorum,</HI> in the &s;tate and condition of per&s;ons, as yet upon their way, (as all men are, as long as they are alive) and not <HI>In termino,</HI> in their la&s;t, and determined &s;tation. And that which is &s;o often cited out of <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI> concerning the fall of Angels, <HI>Quod hominibus mors e&s;t, Angelis ca&s;us,</HI> That as death works upon man, and concludes him, and makes him impenitible for ever, &s;o works the fall upon the Angels, and concludes them for ever too, they interpret to have been intended by <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI> not of the Angels fall in heaven, but their fall from heaven; for, till then, they were not, &s;ay they, <HI>Intermino,</HI> in their la&s;t &s;tate, and, &s;o, not impeniti|ble.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 12.7.</NOTE> And tho&s;e Ancients, which expound that battle in heaven, between <HI>Michael</HI> and the Dragon, and their &s;everall Angels, to have been fought at that time, after their fall, and between Lucifers rebellion, and his expul&s;ion, (as the Ancients abound much in that &s;en&s;e of that place) argue rationally, That that battle, (what kinde of battle &s;oever it were) mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily have &s;pent &s;ome time. They conceive it to have been a battle of Di&s;putation, of Argumentation, of Per&s;wa&s;ion; and that tho&s;e good Angels which are &s;o glad of our Conver&s;ion, would have been infinitely glad to have reduced their rebel|lious brethren to their obedience. And, during that time, (which could not be a &s;udden in&s;tant) they were not <HI>Inadeptivi gratiae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hie&s;olom.</NOTE> incapable of repentance, and of mercy. S. <HI>Cy|ril</HI> comes towards it, comes neare it; nay, if it be well ob&s;erved, goes beyond it; Of Gods longanimity and patience toward man, (&s;ayes he) we have in part &s;poken; <HI>Quanta ille Angelis condonaverit, ne&s;cimus;</HI> how great tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions he hath forgiven in the Angels, we know not; only this we know, &s;ayes he, <HI>Solus qui peccdre non po&s;sit Ie&s;us e&s;t,</HI> There is none impeccable, none that cannot &s;in, Man nor Angel, but only Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>Nay after the expul&s;ion of the Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Angels lap&s;i in Infernum.</NOTE> not onely after their fall in Heaven, but their fall from Heaven, many of the Ancients &s;eeme loath to exclude all wayes of Gods mercy, even from hell it &s;elfe. <HI>De &s;tatu moti, &s;ed non irremediabiliter moti,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Origen,</HI> The Angels are fallen, fallen even into hell, but not &s;o irrecoverably fallen, <HI>Vt In&s;titutio|nibus bonorum Angelorum non po&s;sint re&s;titui,</HI> But that by the coun&s;aile and labour of the good Angels, they may be re&s;tored againe. <HI>Origen</HI> is thought to be &s;ingle, &s;ingular in this doctrine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 3.10.</NOTE> but he is not. Even S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> interpreting that place, That S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aies <HI>He was made a Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel, Vt innote&s;ceret, to the intent that the wi&s;dome of God, might by the Church, be made knowne to Powers and Principalities,</HI> interprets it of fallen Angels; That they, the fallen Angels might receive benefit by the preaching of the Go&s;pell in the Church. <HI>Prudentius</HI> &s;aies not &s;o, but this he does &s;ay, That upon this day, when our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour aro&s;e from hell, <HI>Poenarum celebres &s;ub Styge feriae,</HI> And, <HI>Suppliciis mitibus, Nee forvent &s;olito flumina &s;ulphure,</HI> Some relaxation, &s;ome ea&s;e in their torments, at &s;ome time, &s;ome very good men have imagined, even in hell. And more then that; they have not ab&s;olutely cryed downe (for, &s;o much it de&s;erves) that fable of <HI>Traian;</HI> That after that Emperour had beene &s;ome time in hell, yet, upon the prayers of Pope <HI>Gregory,</HI> he was removed to Heaven.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> Nay, more then that; (for, that was but of one man) But, an Author of our age, and much e&s;teemed in the Roman Church, delivers as his owne opi|nion, (and thinks he hath the &s;ubtiler part of the Schoole on his &s;ide) That that, which is
<PB N="263" REF="149">&s;o often &s;aid, (from hell there is no redemption) is only to be under&s;tood of them, whom God &s;ends to hell, as to their la&s;t place; to them, certainely there is no redemption. But, &s;aies he, God may &s;end &s;oules of the heathen, who had not the benefit of any Chri&s;tian Church, and yet were good morall men, to burne out certaine errors, or ignorances, or &s;ins in hell, and then remove them to Heaven; for, for &s;o long time, they are but <HI>Viatores,</HI> they are but in their way, and not concluded.</P>
<P>Beloved, that we might have &s;omething in the balance to weigh downe the curelty, and the petulancy, and the pertinacy of tho&s;e men, who in the&s;e later times have &s;o atte|nuated the mercy of God, as that they have almo&s;t brought it to nothing, (for there is no mercy where there is no mi&s;ery, and they place all mercy to have beene given at once, and that, before man was fallen into mi&s;ery by &s;in, or before man was made) and have pronounced, that God never meant to &s;hew mercy to all them, nor but to a very few of them, to whom he pretended to offer it, that we might have &s;omething in the balance to weigh again&s;t the&s;e unmercifull men, I have &s;taid thus long upon the&s;e over-mercifull men, that have carried mercy upon the Saints of God, in temporall abundances after the Re&s;urrection, and upon the Heathen who never heard Go&s;pell preached, and upon the Angels fallen in Heaven, and upon tho&s;e Angels fallen from Heaven into hell, and upon the &s;oules of men there, not onely in the ea&s;e of their torments, but in their tran&s;lation from thence to Heaven. That &s;o our later men might &s;ee, that the Ancients thought God &s;o far from beginning at Hate, (That God &s;hould fir&s;t, for his glory, hate &s;ome, and then make them that he might execute his hate upon them) as that they thought god impla|cable, inexorable, irreconciliable to none; therfore to the&s;e unmercifull, have we oppo&s;ed the&s;e overmercifull men.</P>
<P>But yet, to them wee mu&s;t &s;ay, <HI>Numquid Deus indiget mendacio ve&s;tro,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 13.7.</NOTE> <HI>ut pro eo Io|quamini dolos?</HI> Shall wee lye for God, or &s;peake deceitfully for him? deceive your &s;oules, with over-extending his mercy? wee may derive mercy from hell, though wee carry not mercy to hell. <HI>Gehenna non &s;olum eorum, qui puniendi, cau&s;a facta,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ed &amp; eo|rum, qui &s;alvandi;</HI> Hell was not onely made for their &s;akes, who were to &s;uffer in it, but for theirs, who were to be warned by it; and &s;o there is mercy in hell. <HI>Coope|ratur regno,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> elegantly, Hell hath a co-operation with Heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> It works upon us, in the advancement of our Salvation, as well as Heaven; <HI>Nec &s;aevitiaeres e&s;t, &s;ed mi&s;ericordiae,</HI> Hell is not a monument of Gods cruelty, but of his mercy, <HI>Et ni&s;i fui&s;&s;et intentata gehenna, in gehennam omnes cecidi&s;&s;emus,</HI> If we were not told of hell, we &s;hould all fall into hell; and, &s;o there is mercy in hell. And therefore, &s;aies the &s;ame Fa|ther, Out of an un&s;peakeable wi&s;dome, and Fatherly care, (as Fathers will &s;peak loude&s;t to their Children, and looke angerlie&s;t, and make the greate&s;t rods, when they intend not the &s;evere&s;t correction) <HI>Chri&s;tus &s;aepius gehennam comminatus e&s;t, quam regnum pollicitus,</HI> Chri&s;t in his Go&s;pell, hath oftner threatned us with hell, then promi&s;ed us Heaven. We are bound to prai&s;e God, &s;aies he, as much for driving <HI>Adam</HI> out of Paradi&s;e, as for pla|cing him there, <HI>Et agere gratias tam progehenna, quam pro regno,</HI> And to give him thanks, as well for hell, as for Heaven. For, whether he cauteri&s;e or foment, whether he draw blood, or apply Cordials, he is the &s;ame Phy&s;itian, and &s;eekes but one end, (our &s;pirituall health) by his divers wayes. For us, who by this notification of hell, e&s;cape hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.17.</NOTE> <HI>We &s;hall not dye, but live;</HI> that is, not dye &s;o, but that we &s;hall live againe; Therefore is death called a &s;leepe, (<HI>Lazarus &s;leepeth,</HI> &s;aies Chri&s;t.) And <HI>Coemiteria</HI> are <HI>Dormitoria,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 11.11.</NOTE> Churchyards are our beds. And in tho&s;e beds, (and in all other beds of death) (for, the dead have their beds in the Sea too, and &s;leepe even in the re&s;tle&s;&s;e motion thereof) the voyce of the Archangel, and the Trumpet of God &s;hall awake them that &s;lept in Chri&s;t before, and they and we &s;hall be united in one body; for, as our Apo&s;tle &s;ayes here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.39.</NOTE> <HI>We &s;hall not pre|vent them,</HI> &s;o he &s;ayes al&s;o, <HI>That they &s;hall not be made perfect without us.</HI> Though we live to &s;ee Chri&s;t, we &s;hall not prevent them, though they have attended Chri&s;t five thou&s;and yeares in the grave, they &s;hall not prevent us, but united in one body, <HI>Rapiemur,</HI> They and we <HI>&s;hall be caught, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Rapiemur, We &s;hall be caught up.</HI> This is a true Rapture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rapiemur.</NOTE> in which we doe nothing our &s;elves. Our la&s;t act towards Chri&s;t, is as our fir&s;t; In the fir&s;t act of our Conver&s;ion we do nothing; nothing in this la&s;t act, our Re&s;urrection, but <HI>Rapimur,</HI> we are caught. In everything, the more there is left to our &s;elves, the wor&s;e it is done; that that God does intirely, is intirely good. S. <HI>Paul</HI> had a Rapture too; <HI>He was caught up into Paradi&s;e;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.4.</NOTE> <HI>but
<PB N="264" REF="150">whether in the body, or out of the body, he cannot tell.</HI> We can tell, that this Rapture of ours, &s;hall be in body and &s;oule, in the whole man. Man is but a vapour; but a glorious, and a ble&s;&s;ed vapour, when he is attracted, and caught up by this Sun, the Son of Man, the Son of God. O what a ble&s;&s;ed alleviation po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es that man! and to what a ble&s;&s;ed levity, (if without levity we may &s;o &s;peake) to what a cheerefull lightne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit is he come, that comes newly from Confe&s;&s;ion, and with the &s;eale of Ab&s;olution upon him! Then, when nothing troubles his con&s;cience, then, when he hath disburdened his &s;oule of all that lay heavy upon it, then, when if his Confe&s;&s;or &s;hould unju&s;tly reveale it to any other, yet God will never &s;peake of it more to his con&s;cience, not upbraid him with it, not reproach him for it, what a ble&s;&s;ed alleviation, what a holy cheerefulne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit is that man come to? How much more in the endowments which we &s;hall receive in the Rapture of this text, where we do not onely deve&s;t all &s;ins pa&s;t, (as in Confe&s;&s;ion) but all po&s;&s;ibility of future &s;ins; and put on, not onely incorruption, but incorruptiblene&s;&s;e; not onely impeccancy, but impeccability. And, to be inve&s;ted with this endowment, <HI>Rapiemur, Wee &s;hall be caught up,</HI> and <HI>Rapiemur in Nubibus, Wee &s;hall be caught up in the Clouds.</HI></P>
<P>We take a Sar to be the thicke&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Nubibus.</NOTE> and &s;o the impure&s;t, and ignoble&s;t part of that &s;phear; and yet, by the illu&s;tration of the Sun, it becomes a glorious &s;tar. Clouds are but the beds, and wombs of di&s;tempered and malignant impre&s;&s;ions, of vapours, and exhalati|ons, and the furnaces of Lightnings and of Thunder; yet by the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t, and his employment, the&s;e clouds are made glorious Chariots to bring him and his Saints together.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 135.7.</NOTE> Tho&s;e Vapours and <HI>Clouds</HI> which <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks of, S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> interprets of the Mini&s;ters of the Church; that they are tho&s;e Clouds. Tho&s;e Mini&s;ters may have clouds in their under&s;tanding and knowledge, (&s;ome may be le&s;&s;e learned then others) and clouds in their elocution &amp; utterance, (&s;ome may have an unacceptable deliverance) and clouds in their a&s;pect, and countenance, (&s;ome may have an unplea&s;ing pre&s;ence) and clouds in their re&s;pect and maintenance, (&s;ome may be oppre&s;&s;ed in their fortunes) but &s;till they are &s;uch clouds as are &s;ent by Chri&s;t to bring thee up to him. And as the Children of I&s;rael received direction and benefit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 13.21.</NOTE> as well by the <HI>Pillar of Cloud,</HI> as by the <HI>Pillar of Fire,</HI> &s;o do the Children of God in the Church, as well by Preachers of inferi|our gifts, as by higher. <HI>In Nubibus;</HI> Chri&s;t does not come in a Chariot, and &s;end Carts for us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.11.</NOTE> He comes as he went; <HI>This &s;ame Ie&s;us, which is taken up from you into Heaven, &s;hall &s;o come, in like manner as ye have &s;eene him goe into Heaven,</HI> &s;ay the Angels at his A&s;cen&s;i|on.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.50.</NOTE> In what manner did they &s;ee him go? <HI>He was taken up, and a Cloud received him out of their &s;ight.</HI> So he went, &s;o he &s;hall returne, &s;o we &s;hall be taken up, <HI>In the Clouds, to meete him in the Ayre.</HI></P>
<P>The Transfiguration of Chri&s;t was not acted upon &s;o high a Scene,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In a&euml;ra.</NOTE> as this our acce&s;&s;e to Chri&s;t &s;hall be. That hill was not &s;o high, nor &s;o neare to the Heaven of Heavens, as this region of the ayre &s;hall be. Nor was the Transfiguration &s;o eminent a manife&s;tation of the glory of Chri&s;t, as this his comming in the ayre to Judgement &s;hall be. And yet <HI>Peter</HI> that &s;aw but that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.14.</NOTE> de&s;ired no more, but thought it happine&s;&s;e enough to be there, and there to fixe their Tabernacles. But in this our meeting of Chri&s;t in the ayre, we &s;hall &s;ee more then they &s;aw in the Transfiguration, and yet be but in the way of &s;eeing more, then we &s;ee in the ayre then; we &s;hall be pre&s;ently well, and yet improving. The Kings pre&s;ence makes a Village the Court; but he that hath &s;ervice to do at Court, would be glad to finde it in a lodgeable and convenient place. I can build a Church in my bo&s;ome; I can &s;erve God in my heart, and never cloath my prayer in words. God is often &s;aid to <HI>heare,</HI> and <HI>an&s;wer</HI> in the Scriptures, when they to whom he &s;peaks, have &s;aid nothing. I can build a Church at my beds &s;ide; when I pro&s;trate my &s;elfe in humble prayer there, I do &s;o. I can prai&s;e God cheerefully in my Chappell, cheerefully in my pari&s;h Church, as <HI>David</HI> &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 26.12.</NOTE> <HI>In Eccle&s;iis,</HI> plurally, <HI>In the Congregations,</HI> In every Congregation will I ble&s;&s;e the Lord; But yet, I finde the highe&s;t exaltations, and the noble&s;t elevations of my devotion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.18.</NOTE> when <HI>I give thanks in the great Congregation, and prai&s;e him among much people,</HI> for, &s;o me thinks, I come nearer and nearer to the Communion of Saints in Hea|ven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 21.22.</NOTE> Where it is therefore &s;aid that there is no Temple, <HI>(I &s;aw no Temple in Heaven)</HI> be|cau&s;e all Heaven is a Temple, And <HI>becau&s;e the Lord God Almighty, and the Lambe,</HI> (who fill all Heaven) <HI>are,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Obviam Domino.</NOTE> (as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;ayes there) <HI>the Temple thereof.</HI></P>
<P>So far towards that, as <HI>into the Ayre,</HI> this text carries us, <HI>Obviam Domino, To meet the
<PB N="265" REF="150">Lord.</HI> The Lord requires no more, not &s;o much at our hands, as he does for us. When he is come from the right hand of his Father in heaven, into the ayre to meet us, he is come farther then we are to go from the grave to meet him. But we have met the Lord in many a lower place; in many unclean actions have we met the Lord in our owne hearts, and &s;aid to our &s;elves, Surely the Lord is here, and &s;ees us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">9.9.</NOTE> and (with <HI>Io&s;eph</HI>) <HI>How then can I doe this great wickedne&s;&s;e, and &s;in again&s;t my God?</HI> and yet have proceeded, gone forward in the accompli&s;hment of that &s;in. But there it was <HI>Obviam Ie&s;u, Obviam Chri&s;to,</HI> We met a <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> We met a <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> a God of mercy, who forgave us tho&s;e &s;ins. Here in our text, it is <HI>Obviam Domino,</HI> We mu&s;t <HI>meet the Lord;</HI> He inve&s;ts here no other name but that; He hath laid a&s;ide his <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and his <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> names of Mercy, and Re|demption, and Salvation, and comes only in the name of power, <HI>The Lord,</HI> The Judge of quick and dead. In which Judgement he &s;hews no mercy; All his mercy is exerci&s;ed in this life; and he that hath not received his portion of that mercy before his death, &s;hall never receive any. There he judges only by our workes, Whom ha&s;t thou fed, whom ha&s;t thou clothed? Then in judgement we meet the Lord, the Lord of power, and the la&s;t time that ever we &s;hall meet <HI>a Ie&s;us, a Chri&s;t,</HI> a God of mercy, is upon our death-bed; but there we &s;hall meet him &s;o, as that when we meet him in another name, <HI>The Lord,</HI> in the ayre, yet by the benefit of the former mercy received from <HI>Ie&s;us, We &s;hall be with the Lord for ever.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t <HI>Erimus, We &s;hall Bee,</HI> we &s;hall have a Beeing.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Erimus.</NOTE> There is nothing more contrary to God, and his proceedings, then annihilation, to Bee nothing, Do nothing, Think no|thing. It is not &s;o high a &s;tep, to rai&s;e the poore out of the du&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 113.7.</NOTE> and to lift the needy from the dunghill, and &s;et him with Princes, To make a King of a Beggar is not &s;o much, as to make a Worm of nothing. What&s;oever God hath made thee &s;ince, yet his grea|te&s;t work upon thee, was, that he made thee; and how&s;oever he extend his bounty in preferring thee, yet his greate&s;t largene&s;&s;e, is, in pre&s;erving thee in thy Beeing And there|fore his own name of Maje&s;ty, is Jehovah, which denotes his E&s;&s;ence, his Beeing. And it is u&s;efully moved, and &s;afely re&s;olved in the School, that the devill him&s;elf cannot deliberately wi&s;h him&s;elfe nothing. Suddenly a man may wi&s;h him&s;elf nothing, becau&s;e that &s;eemes to deliver him from the &s;en&s;e of his pre&s;ent mi&s;ery; but deliberately he can|not; becau&s;e what&s;oever a man wi&s;hes, mu&s;t be &s;omething better then he hath yet; and what&s;oever is better, is not nothing. <HI>Nihil contrarium Deo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> There is nothing truly contrary to God; To do nothing, is contrary to his working; but contrary to his na|ture, contrary to his E&s;&s;ence there is nothing. For what&s;oever is any thing, even in that Beeing, and therefore becau&s;e it is, hath a conformity to God, and an affinity with God, who is Beeing, E&s;&s;ence it &s;elf. <HI>In him we have our Beeing,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.28.</NOTE> But here it is more then &s;o; not only <HI>In illo,</HI> but <HI>Cum illo,</HI> not only <HI>In him,</HI> but <HI>With him,</HI> not on|ly in his Providence, but in his Pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>The Hypocrite hath a Beeing, and, in God, but it is not with God,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cum illc.</HI> E&s;ay 29.13.</NOTE> <HI>Qua cor longe, With his lips he honours God, but removes his heart far from him.</HI> And God &s;ends him after his heart, that he may keep him at that di&s;tance, (as S. <HI>Gregory</HI> reads and interprets that place of <HI>E&s;ay</HI>) <HI>Redite praevaricatores ad cor,</HI> Return O &s;inners, follow your own heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 46.8.</NOTE> and then I am &s;ure you and I &s;hall never meet. Our Saviour Chri&s;t delivers this di&s;tance plainly, <HI>Di&s;cedite &agrave; me, Depart from me, ye cur&s;ed, into everla&s;ting fire.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.42.</NOTE> Where the fir&s;t part of the &s;entence is incomparably the heavie&s;t, the departing wor&s;e then the fire; the inten&s;ne&s;&s;e of that fire, the ayre of that brim&s;tone, the angui&s;h of that worm, the di&s;cord of that howling, and gna&s;hing of teeth, is no comparable, no con&s;iderable part of the tor|ment, in re&s;pect of the privation of the &s;ight of God, the bani&s;hment from the pre&s;ence of God, an ab&s;olute hopele&s;ne&s;&s;e, an utter impo&s;&s;ibility of ever comming to that, which &s;u&s;taines the mi&s;erable in this world, that though I &s;ee no Sun here, I &s;hall &s;ee the Son of God there. The Hypocrite &s;hall not do &s;o; we &s;hall Bee, and <HI>Bee with him,</HI> and <HI>Bee with him for ever;</HI> which is the la&s;t thing that doth fall under ours, or can fall under any con|&s;ideration.</P>
<P>Of S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Quae Hicronymus ne&s;eivit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Semper.</NOTE> <HI>nullus hominum unquam &s;eivit;</HI> That that S. <HI>Hierome</HI> knew not, no man ever knew. And S. <HI>Cyril,</HI> to whom S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid that, &s;aid al&s;o to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> in magnifying of S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> That when a Catholique Prie&s;t di&s;puted with an Heretique, and cited a pa&s;&s;age of S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> and the Heretique &s;aid <HI>Hierome</HI> lyed, in&s;tantly he was &s;truck dumb; yet of this la&s;t and everla&s;ting
<PB N="266" REF="151">joy and glory of heaven, in the fruition of God, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> would adventure to &s;ay no|thing, no not then, when he was deve&s;ted of his mortall body, dead; for, as &s;oon as he dyed at Bethlem, he came in&s;tantly to Hippo, S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Bi&s;hoprick, and though he told him, <HI>Hieronymi anima &s;um,</HI> I am the &s;oule of that <HI>Hierome,</HI> to whom thou art now writing about the joyes and glory of heaven, yet he &s;aid no more of that, but this, <HI>Quid quaeris brevi immittere va&s;culo totum mare?</HI> Can&s;t thou hope to poure the whole Sea into a thimble, or to take the whole world into thy hand? And yet, that is ea&s;ier, then to comprehend the joy and the glory of heaven in this life. Nor is there any thing, that makes this more incomprehen&s;ible, then this <HI>Semper</HI> in our text, the Eternity thereof, That <HI>we &s;hall be with him for ever.</HI> For, this Eternity, this Everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e is not only incomprehen&s;ible to us in this life, but even in heaven we can never know it experi|mentally; and all knowledge in heaven is experimentall; As all knowledge in this world is cau&s;all, (we know a thing, if we know the cau&s;e thereof) &s;o the knowledge in heaven, is effectuall, experimentall, we know it, becau&s;e we have found it to be &s;o.</P>
<P>The endowments of the ble&s;&s;ed, (tho&s;e which the School calls <HI>Dotes beatorum</HI>) are ordinarily delivered to be the&s;e three, <HI>Vi&s;io, Dilectio, Fruitio,</HI> The &s;ight of God, the love of God, and the fruition, the injoying, the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of God. Now, as no man can know what it is to &s;ee God in heaven, but by an experimentall and actuall &s;eeing of him there, nor what it is to love God there, but by &s;uch an actuall and experimentall love of him, nor what it is to enjoy and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e God, but by an actuall enjoying, and an ex|perimentall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of him, So can no man tell what the eternity, and everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e of all the&s;e, is, till he have pa&s;&s;ed through that eternity, and that everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e; and that he can never doe; for, if it could be pa&s;&s;ed through, then it were not eternity. How barren a thing is Arithmetique? (and yet Arithmetique will tell you, how many &s;ingle graines of &s;and, will fill this hollow Vault to the Firmament) How empty a thing is Rhe|torique? (and yet Rherorique will make ab&s;ent and remote things pre&s;ent to your un|der&s;tanding) How weak a thing is Poetry? (and yet Poetry is a counterfait Creation, and makes things that are not, as though they were) How infirme, how impotent are all a&s;&s;i&s;tances, if they be put to expre&s;&s;e this Eternity? The be&s;t help that I can a&s;&s;igne you, is, to u&s;e well <HI>Aeternum ve&s;trum,</HI> your owne Eternity; as S. <HI>Gregory</HI> calls our whole cour&s;e of this life, <HI>Aeternum no&s;trum,</HI> our Eternity; <HI>Aequum e&s;t, ut qui in aeterno &s;uo pecca|verit, in aeterno Dei puniatur,</HI> &s;ayes he; It is but ju&s;tice, that he that hath &s;inned out his owne Eternity, &s;hould &s;uffer out Gods Eternity. So, if you &s;uffer out your owne Eternity, in &s;ubmitting your &s;elves to God, in the whole cour&s;e of your life, in &s;ur|rendring your will intirely to his, and glorifying of him in a con&s;tant patience, under all your tribulations, <HI>It is a righteous thing with God,</HI> (&s;ayes our Apo&s;tle, in his other Epi&s;tle to the&s;e <HI>The&s;&s;alonians</HI>) <HI>To recompence tribulation to them that trouble you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;&s;. 1.6.</NOTE> <HI>and to you, that are troubled re&s;t with us,</HI> &s;ayes hee there; with us, <HI>who &s;hall be caught up in the Clouds, to meete the Lord in the Ayre, and &s;o &s;hall be with the Lord for ever. Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="27" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="267" REF="151">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXVII.</HI> Preached to the LL. upon Ea&s;ter-day, at the Communion, <HI>The KING being then dangerou&s;ly &s;ick at</HI> New-Market.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 89.47.</HI></BIBL>
<P>What man is he that liveth, and &s;hall not &s;ee death?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_AT fir&s;t, God gave the judgement of death upon man, when he &s;hould tran&s;|gre&s;&s;e, ab&s;olutely, <HI>Morte morieris,</HI> Thou &s;halt &s;urely dye: The woman in her Dialogue with the Serpent, &s;he mollifies it, <HI>Ne fort&egrave; moriamur,</HI> perchance, if we eate, we may die; and then the Devill is as peremptory on the other &s;ide, <HI>Nequaquam moriemini,</HI> do what you will, &s;urely you &s;hall not die; And now God in this Text comes to his reply, <HI>Quis e&s;t homo,</HI> &s;hall they not die? Give me but one in&s;tance, but one exception to this rule, <HI>What man is hee that liveth, and &s;hall not &s;ee death?</HI> Let no man, no woman, no devill offer a <HI>Ne fort&egrave;,</HI> (perchance we may dye) much le&s;&s;e a <HI>Nequaquam,</HI> (&s;urely we &s;hall not dye) except he be provided of an an&s;wer to this que&s;tion, except he can give an in&s;tance again&s;t this generall, except he can produce that mans name, and hi&s;tory, that hath lived, and &s;hall not &s;ee death. Wee are all con|ceived in clo&s;e Pri&s;on; in our Mothers wombes, we are clo&s;e Pri&s;oners all; when we are borne, we are borne but to the liberty of the hou&s;e; Pri&s;oners &s;till, though within larger walls; and then all our life is but a going out to the place of Execution, to death. Now was there ever any man &s;een to &s;leep in the Cart, between New-gate, and Ty|borne? between the Pri&s;on, and the place of Execution, does any man &s;leep? And we &s;leep all the way; from the womb to the grave we are never throughly awake; but pa&s;&s;e on with &s;uch dreames, and imaginations as the&s;e, I may live as well, as another, and why &s;hould I dye, rather then another? but awake, and tell me, &s;ayes this Text, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> who is that other that thou talke&s;t of? <HI>What man is he that liveth, and &s;hall not &s;ee death?</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e words, we &s;hall fir&s;t, for our generall humiliation, con&s;ider the unan&s;werable|ne&s;&s;e of this que&s;tion, There is no man that lives, and &s;hall not &s;ee death. Secondly, we &s;hall &s;ee, how that modification of Eve may &s;tand, <HI>fort&egrave; moriemur,</HI> how there may be a probable an&s;wer made to this que&s;tion, that it is like enough, that there are &s;ome men that live, and &s;hall not &s;ee death: And thirdly, we &s;hall finde that truly &s;poken, which the Devill &s;pake deceitfully then, we &s;hall finde the <HI>Nequaquam</HI> verified, we &s;hall finde a direct, and full an&s;wer to this que&s;tion; we &s;hall finde a man that lives, and &s;hall not &s;ee death, our Lord, and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, of whom both S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> doe take this que&s;tion to be principally asked, and this Text to be principally intended. Aske me this que&s;tion then, of all the &s;ons of men, generally guilty of originall &s;in, <HI>Quis homo,</HI> and I am &s;peechle&s;&s;e, I can make no an&s;wer; Aske me this que&s;tion of tho&s;e men, which &s;hall be alive upon earth at the la&s;t day, when Chri&s;t comes to judgement, <HI>Quis homo,</HI> and I can make a probable an&s;wer; <HI>forte moriemur,</HI> perchance they &s;hall die; It is a problematicall matter, and we &s;ay nothing too peremptorily. Aske me this que&s;tion without relation to originall &s;in, <HI>Quis homo,</HI> and then I will an&s;wer directly, fully, confi|dently, <HI>Ecce homo,</HI> there was a man that lived, and was not &s;ubject to death by the law, neither did he actually die &s;o, but that he fulfilled the re&s;t of this ver&s;e; <HI>Eruit animam de inferno,</HI> by his owne power, he delivered his &s;oule from the hand of the grave. From the fir&s;t, this le&s;&s;on ri&s;es, Generall doctrines mu&s;t be generally delivered, All men mu&s;t die: From the &s;econd, this le&s;&s;on, Collaterall, an unrevealed doctrines mu&s;t be &s;oberly delive|red, How we &s;hall be changed at the la&s;t day, we know not &s;o clearly: From the third, this le&s;&s;on ari&s;es, Conditionall Doctrines mu&s;t be conditionally delivered, If we be dead with him, we &s;hall be rai&s;ed with him.</P>
<PB N="268" REF="152">
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. <HI>Quis homo?</HI></NOTE> for the generality, Tho&s;e other degrees of puni&s;hment, which God inflicted upon <HI>Adam,</HI> and <HI>Eve,</HI> and in them upon us, were as ab&s;olutely, and illimitedly pronoun|ced, as this of death, and yet we &s;ee, they are many wayes extended, or contracted; To man it was &s;aid, <HI>In &s;udore vultus, In the &s;weat of thy browes, thou &s;halt eate thy bread,</HI> and how many men never &s;weat, till they &s;weat with eating? To the woman it was &s;aid, <HI>Thy de&s;ire &s;hall be to thy husband, and he &s;hall rule over thee:</HI> and how many women have no de|&s;ire to their husbands, how many over-rule them? Hunger, and thir&s;t, and wearine&s;&s;e, and &s;ickne&s;&s;e are denounced upon all, and yet if you ask me <HI>Quis homo?</HI> What is that man that hungers and thir&s;ts not, that labours not, that &s;ickens not? I can tell you of many, that never felt any of the&s;e; but contract the que&s;tion to that one of death, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> What man is he that &s;hall not ta&s;te death? And I know none. Whether we con&s;ider the Summer Sol&s;tice, when the day is &s;ixteen houres, and the night but eight, or the Winter Sol&s;tice, when the night is &s;ixteen houres, and the day but eight, &s;till all is but twenty foure houres, and &s;till the evening and morning make but a day: The Patriarchs in the old Te&s;tament had their Summer day, long lives; we are in the Winter, &s;hort lived; but <HI>Quis homo?</HI> Which of them, or us come not to our night in death? If we con&s;ider violent deaths, ca&s;uall deaths, it is almo&s;t a &s;cornfull thing to &s;ee, with what wantonne&s;&s;e, and &s;portfulne&s;&s;e, death playes with us; We have &s;een a man Canon proofe in the time of War, and &s;lain with his own Pi&s;toll in the time of peace: We have &s;een a man reco|vered after his drowning, and live to hang him&s;elfe. But for that one kinde of death, which is generall, (though nothing be in truth more again&s;t nature then di&s;&s;olution, and corruption, which is death) we are come to call that death, naturall death, then which, in|deed, nothing is more unnaturall; The generality makes it naturall; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ayes, that Mans age is &s;eventy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 90.10.</NOTE> and eighty is labour and pain; and yet him&s;elfe was more then eighty, and in a good &s;tate, and habitude when he &s;aid &s;o. No length, no &s;trength enables us to an&s;wer this <HI>Quis homo? What man? &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Take a flat Map, a Globe <HI>in plano,</HI> and here is Ea&s;t, and there is We&s;t, as far a&s;under as two points can be put: but reduce this flat Map to roundne&s;&s;e, which is the true form, and then Ea&s;t and We&s;t touch one another, and are all one: So con&s;ider mans life aright, to be a Circle, <HI>Pulvis es, &amp; in pulverem rever<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">eris, Du&s;t thou art, and to du&s;t thou mu&s;t return; Nudus egre&s;&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.</NOTE> <HI>Nudus revertar, Naked I came, and naked I mu&s;t go;</HI> In this, the circle, the two points meet, the womb and the grave are but one point, they make but one &s;tation, there is but a &s;tep from that to this. This brought in that cu&s;tome among&s;t the Greek Em|perours, that ever at the day of their Coronation, they were pre&s;ented with &s;everall &s;orts of Marble, that they might then be&s;peak their Tombe. And this brought in that Cu&s;tome into the Primitive Church, that they called the Martyrs dayes, wherein they &s;uffered, <HI>Natalitia Martyrum,</HI> their birth dayes; birth, and death is all one.</P>
<P>Their death was a birth to them into another life, into the glory of God; It ended one Circle, and created another; for immortality, and eternity is a Circle too; not a Cir|cle where two points meet, but a Circle made at once; This life is a Circle, made with a Compa&s;&s;e, that pa&s;&s;es from point to point; That life is a Circle &s;tamped with a print, an endle&s;&s;e, and perfect Circle, as &s;oone as it begins. Of this Circle, the Mathematician is our great and good God; The other Circle we make up our &s;elves; we bring the Cradle, and Grave together by a cour&s;e of nature. Every man does; <HI>Mi Gheber,</HI> &s;ayes the Originall; It is not <HI>I&s;he,</HI> which is the fir&s;t name of man, in the Scriptures, and &s;igni|fies nothing but a <HI>&s;ound;</HI> a voyce, a word, a Mu&s;icall ayre dyes, and evaporates, what wonder if man, that is but <HI>I&s;he,</HI> a <HI>&s;ound,</HI> dye too? It is not <HI>Adam,</HI> which is another name of man, and &s;ignifies nothing but <HI>red earth;</HI> Let it be earth red with blood, (with that murder which we have done upon our &s;elves) let it be earth red with blu&s;hing, (&s;o the word is u&s;ed in the Originall) with a con&s;cience of our own infirmity, what wonder if man, that is but <HI>Adam,</HI> guilty of this &s;elf-murder in him&s;elf, guilty of this in-borne frailty in him&s;elf, dye too? It is not <HI>Enos,</HI> which is al&s;o a third name of man, and &s;igni|fies nothing but a <HI>wretched and mi&s;erable creature;</HI> what wonder if man, that is but earth, that is a burden to his Neighbours, to his friends, to his kindred, to him&s;elfe, to whom all others, and to whom him&s;elf de&s;ires death, what wonder if he dye? But this que&s;ti|on is framed upon none of the&s;e names; Not <HI>I&s;he,</HI> not <HI>Adam,</HI> not <HI>Enos;</HI> but it is <HI>Mi Gheber, Quis vir;</HI> which is the word alwayes &s;ignifying a man accompli&s;hed in all ex|cellencies, a man accompanied with all advantages; fame, and good opinion ju&s;tly con|ceived,
<PB N="269" REF="152">keepes him from being <HI>I&s;he,</HI> a meere &s;ound, &s;tanding onely upon popular accla|mation; Innocency and integrity keepes him from being <HI>Adam,</HI> red earth, from blee|ding, or blu&s;hing at any thing hee hath done; That holy and Religious Art of Arts, which S. <HI>Paul</HI> profe&s;&s;ed, <HI>That he knew how to want, and how to abound,</HI> keepes him from being <HI>Enos,</HI> mi&s;erable or wretched in any fortune; Hee is <HI>Gheber,</HI> a great Man, and a good Man, a happy Man, and a holy Man, and yet <HI>Mi Gheber, Quis homo,</HI> this man mu&s;t &s;ee death.</P>
<P>And therefore we will carry this que&s;tion a little higher, from <HI>Quis homo,</HI> to <HI>Quis deo|rum,</HI> Which of the gods have not &s;eene death? Aske it of tho&s;e, who are Gods by par|ticipation of Gods power, of tho&s;e of whom God &s;aies, <HI>Ego dixi, dii e&s;t is,</HI> and God an|&s;wers for them, and of them, and to them, <HI>You &s;hall dye like men;</HI> Aske it of tho&s;e gods, who are gods by imputation, whom Creatures have created, whom Men have made gods, the gods of the Heathen, and do we not know, where all the&s;e gods dyed? Some|times divers places di&s;pute, who hath their tombes; but do not they deny their god|head in confe&s;&s;ing their tombes? doe they not all an&s;wer, that they cannot an&s;wer this text, <HI>Mi Gheber, Quis homo,</HI> What man, <HI>Quis deorum,</HI> What god of mans making hath not &s;een death? As <HI>Iu&s;tin martyr</HI> asks that que&s;tion, Why &s;hould I pray to <HI>Apollo</HI> or <HI>E&s;cu|lapius</HI> for health, <HI>Qui apud Chironem medicinam didicerunt,</HI> when I know who taught them all that they knew? &s;o why &s;hould I looke for Immortality from &s;uch or &s;uch a god, who&s;e grave I finde for a witne&s;&s;e, that he him&s;elfe is dead? Nay, carry this que&s;tion higher then &s;o, from this <HI>Quis homo,</HI> to <HI>quid homo,</HI> what is there in the nature and e&s;&s;ence of Man, free from death? The whole man is not, for the di&s;&s;olution of body and &s;oule is death. The body is not; I &s;hall as &s;oone finde an immortall Ro&s;e, an eternall Flower, as an immortall body. And for the Immortality of the Soule, It is &s;afelier &s;aid to be im|mortall, by pre&s;ervation, then immortall by nature; That God keepes it from dying, then, that it cannot dye. We magnifie God in an humble and faithfull acknowledgment of the immortality of our &s;oules, but if we aske, <HI>quid homo,</HI> what is there in the nature of Man, that &s;hould keepe him from death, even in that point, the que&s;tion is not ea&s;ily an&s;wered.</P>
<P>It is every mans ca&s;e then; every man dyes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Videbit.</NOTE> and though it may perchance be but a meere Hebrai&s;me to &s;ay, that every man &s;hall <HI>&s;ee death,</HI> perchance it amounts to no more, but to that phra&s;e, <HI>Gu&s;tare mortem, To ta&s;te death,</HI> yet thus much may be implied in it too, That as every man mu&s;t dye, &s;o every man may &s;ee, that he mu&s;t dye; as it cannot be avoided, &s;o it may be under&s;tood. A bea&s;t dyes, but he does not &s;ee death; S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;ayes, he &s;aw an Oxe weepe for the death of his yoke-fellow;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il orat. de Morte.</NOTE> but S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> might mi&s;take the occa&s;ion of that Oxes teares. Many men dye too, and yet doe not &s;ee death; The approaches of death amaze them, and &s;tupifie them; they feele no colluctation with Powers, and Principalities, upon their death bed; that is true; they feele no ter|rors in their con&s;ciences, no apprehen&s;ions of Judgement, upon their death bed; that is true; and this we call going away like a Lambe. But the Lambe of God had a &s;orrow|full &s;en&s;e of death; His &s;oule was heavy unto death, and he had an apprehen&s;ion, that his Father had for&s;aken him; And in this text, the Chalde Paraphra&s;e expre&s;&s;es it thus, <HI>Videbit Angelum mortis,</HI> he &s;hall &s;ee a Me&s;&s;enger, a forerunner, a power of Death, an executioner of Death, he &s;hall &s;ee &s;omething with horror, though not &s;uch as &s;hall &s;hake his morall, or his Chri&s;tian con&s;tancy.</P>
<P>So that this <HI>Videbunt, They &s;hall &s;ee,</HI> implies al&s;o a <HI>Viderunt,</HI> they have &s;eene, that is, they have u&s;ed to &s;ee death, to ob&s;erve a death in the decay of them&s;elves, and of every creature, and of the whole World. Almo&s;t fourteene hundred yeares agoe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian ad Demetrianum.</NOTE> S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> writing again&s;t <HI>Demetrianus,</HI> who imputed all the warres, and deaths, and un&s;ea&s;onable|ne&s;&s;es of that time, to the contempt, and irreligion of the Chri&s;tians, that they were the cau&s;e of all tho&s;e ils, becau&s;e they would not wor&s;hip their Gods, <HI>Cyprian</HI> imputes all tho&s;e di&s;tempers to the age of the whole World; <HI>Canos videmus in pueris,</HI> &s;aies hee, Wee &s;ee Children borne gray-headed; <HI>Capilli deficiunt, antequam cre&s;cant,</HI> Their haire is changed, before it be growne. <HI>Nec aetas in &s;enectute de&s;init, &s;ed incipit a&s;enectute,</HI> Wee doe not dye with age, but wee are borne old. Many of us have &s;eene Death in our par|ticular &s;elves; in many of tho&s;e &s;teps, in which the morall Man expre&s;&s;es it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> Wee have &s;eene <HI>Mortem infantiae, pueritiam,</HI> The death of infancy in youth; and <HI>Pueritiae, adole|&s;centiam,</HI> and the death of youth in our middle age; And at la&s;t we &s;hall &s;ee <HI>Mortem &s;ene|ctutis,
<PB N="270" REF="153">mortem ip&s;am,</HI> the death of age in death it &s;elfe. But yet after that, a &s;tep farther then that Morall man went, <HI>Mortem mortis in morte Ie&s;u,</HI> We &s;hall &s;ee the death of Death it &s;elf in the death of Chri&s;t. As we could not be cloathed at fir&s;t, in Paradi&s;e, till &s;ome Creatures were dead, (for we were cloathed in bea&s;ts skins) &s;o we cannot be cloathed in Heaven, but in his garment who dyed for us.</P>
<P>This <HI>Videbunt,</HI> this future &s;ight of Death implies a <HI>viderunt,</HI> they have &s;eene, they have &s;tudied Death in every Booke, in every Creature; and it implies a <HI>Vident,</HI> they doe pre&s;ently &s;ee death in every object, They &s;ee the houre-gla&s;&s;e running to the death of the houre; They &s;ee the death of &s;ome prophane thoughts in them&s;elves, by the en|trance of &s;ome Religious thought of compunction, and conver&s;ion to God; and then they &s;ee the death of that Religious thought, by an inundation of new prophane thoughts, that overflow tho&s;e. As Chri&s;t &s;ayes, that as often as wee eate the Sacra|mentall Bread, we &s;hould remember his Death, &s;o as often, as we eate ordinary bread, we may remember our death;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern. Aug.</NOTE> for even hunger and thir&s;t, are di&s;ea&s;es; they are <HI>Mors quo|tidiana,</HI> a daily death, and if they la&s;ted long, would kill us. In every object and &s;ubject, we all have, and doe, and &s;hall &s;ee death; not to our comfort as an end of mi&s;ery, not onely as &s;uch a mi&s;ery in it &s;elfe, as the Philo&s;opher takes it to be, <HI>Mors omnium mi&s;e|riarum,</HI> That Death is the death of all mi&s;erie, becau&s;e it de&s;troyes and di&s;&s;olves our beeing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.14.</NOTE> but as it is <HI>Stipendium peccati, The reward of &s;in;</HI> That as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Indigna|tio Regis nuncius mortis, The wrath of the King, is as a me&s;&s;enger of Death,</HI> &s;o <HI>Mors nun|cius indignationis Regis,</HI> We &s;ee in Death a te&s;timony, that our Heavenly King is angry; for, but for his indignation again&s;t our &s;innes, we &s;hould not dye. And this death, as it is <HI>Malum,</HI> ill, (for if ye weigh it in the Philo&s;ophers balance; it is an annihilation of our pre&s;ent beeing, and if ye weigh it in the Divine Balance, it is a &s;eale of Gods anger again&s;t &s;in) &s;o this death is generall; of this, this que&s;tion there is no an&s;wer, <HI>Quis homo,</HI> What man, &amp;c.</P>
<P>We pa&s;&s;e then from the <HI>Morte moriemini,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to the <HI>fort&egrave; moriemini,</HI> from the generality and the une&s;capablene&s;&s;e of death, from this que&s;tion, as it admits no an&s;wer, to the <HI>Fort&egrave; moriemini,</HI> perchance we &s;hall dye; that is, to the que&s;tion as it may admit a probable an&s;wer. Of which, we &s;aid at fir&s;t, that in &s;uch que&s;tions, nothing becomes a Chri&s;tian better then &s;obriety; to make a true difference betweene problematicall, and dogmati|call points, betweene upper buildings, and foundations, betweene collaterall doctrines, and Doctrines in the right line:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> for fundamentall things, <HI>Sine hae&s;itatione credantur,</HI> They mu&s;t be beleeved without di&s;puting; there is no more to be done for them, but belee|ving; for things that are not &s;o, we are to weigh them in two balances, in the balance of Analogy, and in the balance of &s;candall: we mu&s;t hold them &s;o, as may be analogall, proportionable, agreeable to the Articles of our Faith, and we mu&s;t hold them &s;o, as our brother be not ju&s;tly offended, nor &s;candalized by them; wee mu&s;t weigh them with faith, for our own &s;trength, and we mu&s;t weigh them with charity, for others weakne&s;&s;e. Certainly nothing endangers a Church more, then to draw indifferent things to be ne|ce&s;&s;ary; I meane of a primary nece&s;&s;ity, of a nece&s;&s;ity to be beleeved <HI>De fide,</HI> not a &s;e|condary nece&s;&s;ity, a nece&s;&s;ity to be performed and practi&s;ed for obedience: Without doubt, the Roman Church repents now, and &s;ees now that &s;he &s;hould better have pre&s;erved her &s;elfe, if they had not denied &s;o many particular things, which were in|differently and problematically di&s;puted before, to bee had nece&s;&s;arily <HI>De fide,</HI> in the Councell of Trent.</P>
<P>Taking then this Text for a probleme, <HI>Quis homo, What man lives, and &s;hall not &s;ee Death?</HI> we an&s;wer, It may be that tho&s;e Men, whom Chri&s;t &s;hal find upon the earth alive, at his returne to Judge the World, &s;hall dye then, and it may be they &s;hall but be chan|ged, and not dye. That Chri&s;t &s;hall judge quick and dead, is a fundamentall thing; we heare it in S. <HI>Peters</HI> Sermon,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 10.42.</NOTE> to <HI>Cornelius</HI> and his company, and we &s;ay it every day in the Creed, <HI>Hee &s;hall judge the quick and the dead.</HI> But though we doe not take the quick and the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. Chry&s;.</NOTE> as <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> and <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> doe, for the Righteous which lived in faith, and the unrighteous, which were dead in &s;inne, Though wee doe not take the quick and the dead, as <HI>Ruffinus</HI> and others doe, for the &s;oule and the body, (He &s;hall judge the &s;oule, which was alwaies alive, and he &s;hall the body, which was dead for a time) though we take the words (as becomes us be&s;t) literally, yet the letter does not con|clude, but that they, whom Chri&s;t &s;hall finde alive upon earth, &s;hall have a pre&s;ent
<PB N="271" REF="153">and &s;udden di&s;&s;olution, and a pre&s;ent and &s;udden re-union of body and &s;oul again. Saint <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Behold I &s;hew you a my&s;tery;</HI> Therefore it is not a cleare ca&s;e, and pre&s;ently,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.51.</NOTE> and peremptorily determined; but what is it? <HI>We &s;hall not all &s;leep, but we &s;hall all be chan|ged.</HI> But whether this &s;leeping be &s;poke of death it &s;elf, and exclude that, that we &s;hall not die, or whether this &s;leep be &s;poke of a re&s;t in the grave, and exclude that, we &s;hall not be buried, and remain in death, that may be a my&s;tery &s;till. S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.17.</NOTE> <HI>The dead in Chri&s;t &s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t; Then we which are alive, and remain, &s;hall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the ayre.</HI> But whether that may not &s;till be true, that S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, that there &s;hall be <HI>Mors in raptu,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> An in&s;tant and &s;udden di&s;-union, and re-union of body and &s;oul, which is death, who can tell? So on the o|ther &s;ide, when it is &s;aid to him, in whom all we were, to <HI>Adam, Pulvis es, Du&s;t thou art,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19. 1 Cor. 15.22. Rom. 5.12.</NOTE> <HI>and into du&s;t thou &s;halt return,</HI> when it is &s;aid, <HI>In Adam all die,</HI> when it is &s;aid, <HI>Death pa&s;&s;ed upon all men, for all have &s;inned,</HI> Why may not all tho&s;e &s;entences of Scripture, which imply a nece&s;&s;ity of dying, admit that re&s;triction, <HI>Ni&s;i dies judicii natur ae cur&s;um immutet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pet. Mar.</NOTE> We &s;hall all die, except tho&s;e, in whom the comming of Chri&s;t &s;hall change the cour&s;e of Nature.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider the Scriptures then, and we &s;hall be ab&s;olutely concluded neither way; Con&s;ider Authority, and we &s;hall finde the Fatherrs for the mo&s;t part one way, and the Schoole for the mo&s;t part another; Take later men, and all tho&s;e in the Romane Church; Then <HI>Cajetan</HI> thinks, that they &s;hall not die, and <HI>Catharin</HI> is &s;o peremptory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cajetan. Catharinus.</NOTE> that they &s;hall, as that he &s;ayes of the other opinion, <HI>Fal&s;am e&s;&s;e confidenter a&s;&s;erimus, &amp; contra Scripturas &s;at is manife&s;tas, &amp; omnino &s;ine ratione;</HI> It is fal&s;e, and again&s;t Scriptures, and rea&s;on, &s;aith he; Take later men, and all tho&s;e in the reformed Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> and <HI>Cal|vin</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Quia aboletur prior natura, cen&s;etur &s;pecies mortis, &s;ed non migrabit anima &agrave; cor|pore:</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> calls it death, becau&s;e it is a de&s;truction of the former Beeing; but it is not truly death, &s;aith <HI>Calvin;</HI> and <HI>Luther</HI> &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luther.</NOTE> That S. <HI>Pauls</HI> purpo&s;e in that place is only to &s;hew the &s;uddenne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;ts comming to Judgement, <HI>Non autem inficiatur omnes morituros; nam dormire, e&s;t &s;epeliri:</HI> But S. <HI>Paul</HI> doth not deny, but that all &s;hall die; for that &s;leeping which he &s;peaks of, is buriall; and all &s;hall die, though all &s;hall not be buried, &s;aith <HI>Luther.</HI></P>
<P>Take then that which is certain; It is certain, a judgement thou mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e: If thy clo&s;e and cautelous proceeding have &s;aved thee from all informations in the Exchequer, thy clearne&s;&s;e of thy title from all Courts at Common Law, thy moderation from the Chancery, and Star-Chamber, If heighth of thy place, and Authority, have &s;aved thee, even from the tongues of men, &s;o that ill men dare not &s;lander thy actions, nor good men dare not di&s;cover thy actions, no not to thy &s;elf, All tho&s;e judgements, and all the judgements of the world, are but interlocutory judgements; There is a finall judgement, <HI>In judicantes &amp; judicatos,</HI> again&s;t Pri&s;oners and Judges too, where all &s;halbe judged again; <HI>Datum e&s;t omne judicium,</HI> All judgement is given to the Son of man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.</NOTE> and upon all the &s;ons of men mu&s;t his judgement pa&s;&s;e. A judgement is certain, and the uncertainty of this judgement is certain too; perchance God will put off thy judgement; thou &s;halt not die yet; but who knows whether God in his mercy, do put off this judgement, till the&s;e good motions which his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit in&s;pires into thee now, may take roote, and receive growth, and bring forth fruit, or whether he put it off, for a heavier judgement, to let thee &s;ee, by thy departing from the&s;e good motions, and returning to thy former &s;ins, after a remor&s;e conceived again&s;t tho&s;e &s;ins, that thou art inexcu&s;able even to thy &s;elf, and thy condemnation is ju&s;t, even to thine own con&s;cience. So perchance God will bring this judgement upon thee now; now thou mai&s;t die; but whether God will bring that judgement upon thee now, in mercy, while&s;t his Graces, in his Ordinance of preaching, work &s;ome tenderne&s;&s;e in thee, and gives thee &s;ome preparation, &s;ome fitne&s;&s;e, &s;ome courage to &s;ay, <HI>Veni Domine Ie&s;u, Come Lord Ie&s;u,</HI> come quickly, come now, or whether he will come now in judgement, becau&s;e all this can work no tenderne&s;&s;e in thee, who can tell?</P>
<P>Thou heare&s;t the word of God preached, as thou heare&s;t an Oration, with &s;ome glad|ne&s;&s;e in thy &s;elf, if thou can&s;t heare him, and never be moved by his Oratory; thou thinke&s;t it a degree of wi&s;dome, to be above per&s;wa&s;ion; and when thou art told, that he that feares God, feares nothing el&s;e, thou thinke&s;t thy &s;elf more valiant then &s;o, if thou feare not God neither; Whether or why God defers, or ha&s;tens the judgement, we know
<PB N="272" REF="154">not; This is certain, this all S. <HI>Pauls</HI> places collineate to, this all the Fathers, and all the Schoole, all the <HI>Cajetans,</HI> and all the <HI>Catharins,</HI> all the <HI>Luthers,</HI> and all the <HI>Calvins</HI> agree in, <HI>A judgement mu&s;t be,</HI> and it mu&s;t be <HI>In ictu oculi, In the twinkling of an eye,</HI> and <HI>Fur in nocte, A thiefe in the night.</HI> Make the que&s;tion, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> What man is he that liveth, and &s;hall not pa&s;&s;e this judgement? or, what man is he that liveth, and knowes when this judgement &s;hall be? So it is a <HI>Nemo &s;cit,</HI> A que&s;tion without an an&s;wer; but ask it, as in the text, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> Who liveth, and &s;hall not die? &s;o it is a problematicall matter; and in &s;uch things as are problematicall, if thou love the peace of Sion, be not too inqui&s;itive to know, nor too vehement, when thou thinke&s;t thou doe&s;t know it.</P>
<P>Come then to ask this que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> not problematically, (as it is contracted to them that &s;hall live in the la&s;t dayes) nor peremptorily of man, (as he is &s;ubject to originall &s;in) but at large, &s;o, as the que&s;tion may include Chri&s;t him&s;elf, and then to that <HI>Quis homo? What man is he?</HI> We an&s;wer directly, here is the man that &s;hall not &s;ee death; And of him principally,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and literally, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> (as we &s;aid before) takes this que&s;tion to be framed; <HI>Vt quaeras, dictum, non ut de&s;peres,</HI> &s;aith he, this que&s;tion is moved, to move thee to &s;eek out, and to have thy recour&s;e to that man which is the Lord of Life, not to make thee de&s;paire, that there is no &s;uch man, in who&s;e &s;elf, and in whom, for all us, there is Redemption from death: For, &s;ayes he, this que&s;tion is an exception to that which was &s;aid before the text; which is, <HI>Wherefore ha&s;t thou made all men in vain?</HI> Con&s;ider it bet|ter, &s;ayes the Holy Gho&s;t, here, and it will not prove &s;o; Man is not made in vain at fir&s;t, though he do die now; for, <HI>Perditio tua ex te,</HI> This death proceeds from man him|&s;elf; and <HI>Quare moriemini domus I&s;rael? Why will ye die, &ocirc; hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> God made not death,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ap. 1.13.</NOTE> neither hath he plea&s;ure in the de&s;truction of the living; The Wi&s;e man &s;ayes it, and the true God &s;weares it, <HI>As I live &s;aith the Lord, I would not the death of a &s;inner.</HI> God did not create man in vain then, though he die; not in vain, for &s;ince he will needs die, God receives glory even by his death, in the execution of his ju&s;tice; not in vaine neither, becau&s;e though he be dead, God hath provided him a Redeemer from death, in his mercy; Man is not created in vain at all; nor all men, &s;o neare vanity as to die; for here is one man, God and Man Chri&s;t Je&s;us, which liveth, and &s;hall not &s;ee death. And conformable to S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> purpo&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"></NOTE> &s;peakes S. <HI>Hierome</HI> too, <HI>Scio qu&ograve;d nullus homo carneus evadet, &s;ed novi Deum &s;ub velamento carnis latentem;</HI> I know there is no man but &s;hall die; but I know where there is a God clothed in mans fle&s;h, and that per|&s;on cannot die.</P>
<P>But did not Chri&s;t die then? Shall we joyne with any of tho&s;e Heretiques, which brought Chri&s;t upon the &s;tage to play a part, and &s;ay he was born, or lived, or dyed, <HI>In phanta&s;mate,</HI> In apparance only, and repre&s;entation; God forbid; &s;o all men were crea|ted in vain indeed, if we had not a regeneration in his true death. Where is the contract between him, and his Father, that <HI>Oportuit pati, All this Chri&s;t ought to &s;uffer, and &s;o en|ter into glory:</HI> Is that contract void, and of none effect? Mu&s;t he not die? Where is the ratification of that contract in all the Prophets?<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 53.4.9.</NOTE> Where is <HI>E&s;ays Ver&egrave; languores no&s;tros tulit, Surely he hath born our &s;orrows; and, he made his grave with the wicked in his death;</HI> Is the ratification of the Prophets cancelled? Shall he not, mu&s;t he not die? Where is the con&s;ummation, and the te&s;tification of all this? Where is the Go&s;pell, <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t? And he bowed his head, and gave up the gho&s;t?</HI> Is that fabulous? Did he not die? How &s;tands the validity of that contract, Chri&s;t mu&s;t die; the dignity of tho&s;e Prophecies, Chri&s;t will die; the truth of the Go&s;pell, Chri&s;t did die, with this an&s;wer to this que&s;ti|on, Here is a man that liveth and &s;hall not &s;ee death? Very well; For though Chri&s;t Je|&s;us did truly die, &s;o as was contracted, &s;o as was prophecied, &s;o as was related, yet hee did not die &s;o, as was intended in this que&s;tion, &s;o as other naturall men do die.</P>
<P>For fir&s;t, Chri&s;t dyed becau&s;e he would dye; other men admitted to the dignity of Martyrdome, are willing to dye; but they dye by the torments of the Executioners, they cannot bid their &s;oules goe out, and &s;ay, now I will dye. And this was Chri&s;ts ca&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 10.15.</NOTE> It was not only, <HI>I lay down my life for my &s;heep,</HI> but he &s;ayes al&s;o, <HI>No man can take away my &s;oule;</HI> And, <HI>I have power to lay it down;</HI> And <HI>De facto,</HI> he did lay it down, he did dye, before the torments could have extorted his &s;oule from him; Many crucified men lived many dayes upon the Cro&s;&s;e; The thieves were alive, long after Chri&s;t was dead; and therefore Pilate wondred, that he was already dead. His &s;oule did not leave his body by force,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> but becau&s;e he would, and when he would, and how he would; Thus far then
<PB N="273" REF="154">fir&s;t, this is an an&s;wer to this que&s;tion, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> Chri&s;t did not die naturally, nor vio|lently, as all others doe, but only voluntarily.</P>
<P>Again, the penalty of death appertaining only to them, who were derived from <HI>Adam</HI> by carnall, and &s;infull generation, Chri&s;t Je&s;us being conceived miraculou&s;ly of a Vir|gin, by the over-&s;hadowing of the Holy Gho&s;t, was not &s;ubject to the Law of death; and therefore in his per&s;on, it is a true an&s;wer to this <HI>Quis homo?</HI> Here is a man, that &s;hall not &s;ee death, that is, he need not &s;ee death, he hath not incurred Gods di&s;plea&s;ure, he is not involved in a general rebellion, and therfore is not involved in the generall mor|tality, not included in the generall penalty. He needed not have dyed by the rigour of any Law, all we mu&s;t; he could not dye by the malice, or force of any Executioner, all we mu&s;t; at lea&s;t by natures generall Executioners, Age, and Sickne&s;&s;e; And then, when out of his own plea&s;ure, and to advance our &s;alvation, he would dye, yet he dyed &s;o, as that though there were a di&s;-union of body and &s;oule, (which is truly death) yet there remained a Nobler, and fa&s;ter union, then that of body and &s;oule, the Hypo&s;tati|call Union of the God-head, not onely to his &s;oule, but to his body too; &s;o that even in his death, both parts were &s;till, not onely inhabited by, but united to the God|head it &s;elfe; and in re&s;pect of that in&s;eparable Union, we may an&s;wer to this que|&s;tion, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> Here is a man that &s;hall not &s;ee death, that is, he &s;hall &s;ee no &s;eparation of that, which is incomparably, and incomprehen&s;ibly, a better &s;oul then his &s;oule, the God-head &s;hall not be &s;eparated from his body.</P>
<P>But, that which is indeed the mo&s;t direct, and literall an&s;wer, to this que&s;tion, is, That whereas the death in this Text, is intended of &s;uch a death, as hath Dominion over us, and from which we have no power to rai&s;e our &s;elves, we may truly, and fully an&s;wer to his <HI>Quis homo?</HI> here is a man, that &s;hall never &s;ee death &s;o, but that he &s;hall even in the jawes, and teeth of death, and in the bowels and wombe of the grave, and in the &s;ink, and furnace of hell it &s;elfe, retaine an Almighty power, and an effectuall pur|po&s;e, to deliver his &s;oule from death, by a glorious, a victorious, and a Triumphant Re&s;urrection: So it is true, Chri&s;t Jo&s;us dyed, el&s;e none of us could live; but yet hee dyed not &s;o, as is intended in this que&s;tion; Not by the nece&s;&s;ity of any Law, not by the violence of any Executioner, not by the &s;eparation of his be&s;t &s;oule, (if we may &s;o call it) the God-head, nor by &s;uch a &s;eparation of his naturall, and humane &s;oule, as that he would not, or could not, or did not re&s;ume it againe.</P>
<P>If then this que&s;tion had beene asked of Angels at fir&s;t, <HI>Quis Angelus?</HI> what An|gel is that, that &s;tands, and &s;hall not fall? though as many of tho&s;e Angels, as were di&s;|po&s;ed to that an&s;wer, <HI>Erimus &s;imiles Alti&s;simo,</HI> We will be like God, and &s;tand of our &s;elves, without any dependance upon him, did fall, yet otherwi&s;e they might have an|&s;wered the que&s;tion fairly, All we may &s;tand, if we will; If this que&s;tion had been asked of <HI>Adam</HI> in Paradi&s;e, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> though when he harkned to her, who had harkned to that voyce, <HI>Erit is &s;icut Dii, You &s;hall be as Gods,</HI> he fell too, yet otherwi&s;e, he might have an&s;wered the que&s;tion fairly &s;o, I may live, and not dye, if I will; &s;o, if this que&s;tion be asked of us now, as the que&s;tion implies the generall penalty, as it con|&s;iders us onely as the &s;ons of <HI>Adam,</HI> we have no other an&s;wer, but that by <HI>Adam</HI> &s;in entred upon all, and death by &s;in upon all; as it implies the &s;tate of them onely, whom Chri&s;t at his &s;econd comming &s;hall finde upon earth, wee have no other an|&s;wer but a mode&s;t, <HI>non liquet,</HI> we are not &s;ure, whether we &s;hall dye then, or no; wee are onely &s;ure, it &s;hall be &s;o, as mo&s;t conduces to our good, and Gods glory; but as the que&s;tion implies us to be members of our Head, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, as it was a true an|&s;wer in him, it is true in every one of us, adopted in him, Here is a man that liveth, and &s;hall not &s;ee death.</P>
<P><HI>Death and life are in the power of the tongue,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon,</HI> in another &s;en&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 18.21.</NOTE> and in this &s;en&s;e too, If my tongue, &s;ugge&s;ted by my heart, and by my heart rooted in faith, can &s;ay, <HI>Non moriar, non moriar;</HI> If I can &s;ay, (and my con&s;cience doe not tell me, that I belye mine owne &s;tate) if I can &s;ay, That the blood of my Saviour runs in my veines, That the breath of his Spirit quickens all my purpo&s;es, that all my deaths have their Re|&s;urrection, all my &s;ins their remor&s;es, all my rebellions their reconciliations, I will harken no more after this que&s;tion, as it is intended <HI>de morte naturali,</HI> of a naturall death, I know I mu&s;t die that death, what care I? nor <HI>de morte &s;pirituali,</HI> the death of &s;in, I know I doe, and &s;hall die &s;o; why de&s;paire I? but I will finde out another death, <HI>mortem raptus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.</NOTE>
<PB N="274" REF="155">a death of rapture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9. Greg.</NOTE> and of exta&s;ie, that death which S. <HI>Paul</HI> died more then once, The death which S. <HI>Gregory</HI> &s;peaks of, <HI>Divina contemplatio quoddam &s;epulchrum animae,</HI> The contem|plation of God, and heaven, is a kinde of buriall, and Sepulchre, and re&s;t of the &s;oule; and in this death of rapture, and exta&s;ie, in this death of the Contemplation of my inte|re&s;t in my Saviour, I &s;hall finde my &s;elf, and all my &s;ins enterred, and entombed in his wounds, and like a Lily in Paradi&s;e, out of red earth, I &s;hall &s;ee my &s;oule ri&s;e out of his blade, in a candor, and in an innocence, contracted there, acceptable in the &s;ight of his Father.</P>
<P>Though I have been dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.6.</NOTE> in the delight of &s;in, &s;o that that of S. <HI>Paul, That a Widow that liveth in plea&s;ure, is dead while &s;he liveth,</HI> be true of my &s;oule, that &s;o, <HI>viduatur, grati&acirc; mor|tu&acirc;,</HI> when Chri&s;t is dead, not for the &s;oule, but in the &s;oule, that the &s;oule hath no &s;en&s;e of Chri&s;t, <HI>Viduatur anima,</HI> the &s;oul is a Widow, and no Dowager, &s;he hath lo&s;t her husband, and hath nothing from him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 28.15.</NOTE> yea though <HI>I have made a Covenant with death, and have been at an agreement with hell,</HI> and in a vain confidence have &s;aid to my &s;elf, <HI>that when the over|flowing &s;courge &s;hall pa&s;&s;e through, it &s;hall not come to me,</HI> yet God &s;hall annull that covenant, he &s;hall bring that &s;courge, that is, &s;ome medicinall correction upon me, and &s;o give me a participation of all the &s;tripes of his &s;on; he &s;hall give me a &s;weat, that is, &s;ome horrour, and religious feare, and &s;o give me a participation of his Agony; he &s;hall give me a diet, perchance want, and penury, and &s;o a participation of his fa&s;ting; and if he draw blood, if he kill me, all this &s;hall be but <HI>Mors raptus,</HI> a death of rapture towards him, into a hea|venly, and a&s;&s;ured Contemplation, that I have a part in all his pa&s;&s;ion, yea &s;uch an intire intere&s;t in his whole pa&s;&s;ion, as though all that he did, or &s;uffered, had been done, and &s;uf|fered for my &s;oul alone;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>Qua&s;i moriens, &amp; ecce vivo:</HI> &s;ome &s;hew of death I &s;hall have, for I &s;hall &s;in; and &s;ome &s;hew of death again, for I &s;hall have a di&s;&s;olution of this Taber|nacle; <HI>Sed ecce vivo,</HI> &s;till the Lord of life will keep me alive, and that with an <HI>Ecce,</HI> Behold, I live; that is, he will declare, and manife&s;t my ble&s;&s;ed &s;tate to me; I &s;hall not &s;it in the &s;hadow of death; no nor I &s;hall not &s;it in darkne&s;&s;e; his gracious purpo&s;e &s;hall evermore be upon me, and I &s;hall ever di&s;cerne that gracious purpo&s;e of his; I &s;hall not die, nor I &s;hall not doubt that I &s;hall; If I be dead within doores, (If I have &s;inned in my heart) why, <HI>Su&s;citavit in domo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 9.23.</NOTE> Chri&s;t gave a Re&s;urrection to the Rulers daughter within doores, in the hou&s;e; If I be dead in the gate, (If I have &s;inned in the gates of my &s;oule) in mine Eies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.11.</NOTE> or Eares, or Hands, in actuall &s;ins, why, <HI>Su&s;citavit in porta,</HI> Chri&s;t gave a Re&s;urrection to the young man at the gate of <HI>Naim.</HI> If I be dead in the grave, (in cu&s;tomary, and ha|bituall &s;ins) why,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.</NOTE> <HI>Su&s;citavit in Sepulchro,</HI> Chri&s;t gave a Re&s;urrection to <HI>Lazarus</HI> in the grave too. If God give me <HI>mortem raptus,</HI> a death of rapture, of exta&s;ie, of fervent Con|templation of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, a Transfu&s;ion, a Tran&s;plantation, a Tran&s;migration, a Tran&s;|mutation into him, (for good dige&s;tion brings alwaies a&s;&s;imilation, certainly, if I come to a true meditation upon Chri&s;t, I come to a conformity with Chri&s;t) this is principally that <HI>Pretio&s;a mors Sanctorum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 116.15.</NOTE> <HI>Pretious in the &s;ight of the Lord, is the death of his Saints,</HI> by which they are dead and buryed, and ri&s;en again in Chri&s;t Je&s;us: pretious is that death, by which we apply that pretious blood to our &s;elves, and grow &s;trong enough by it, to meet <HI>Da|vids</HI> que&s;tion, <HI>Quis homo?</HI> what man? with Chri&s;ts an&s;wer, <HI>Ego homo,</HI> I am the man, in whom who&s;oever abideth, &s;hall not &s;ee death.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="Whitsunday" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="155">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon WHITSUNDAY.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="28" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="156">
<PB N="277" REF="156">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXVIII.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Whit&s;unday. <HI>1627.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 14.26.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But the Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father will &s;end in my Name, Hee &s;hall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what&s;oever I have &s;aid unto you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_THis day is this Scripture fulfilled in your cares,</HI> &s;aith our Saviour Chri&s;t, having read for his Text, that place of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 61.1.</NOTE> <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.</HI> And that day which we celebrate now, was another Scri|pture fulfilled in their eares, and in their eyes too; For all Chri&s;ts promi&s;es are Scripture; They have all the Infallibility of Scripture; And Chri&s;t had promi&s;ed, that that Spirit which was upon him, when he preached, &s;hould al&s;o be &s;hed upon all his Apo&s;tles. And upon this day he performed that promi&s;e, when,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.1.</NOTE> <HI>They being all with one accord, in one place, there came a &s;ound from heaven, as of a ru&s;hing mighty winde, and fil|led the hou&s;e, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it &s;ate upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> And this very particular day, in which we now commemorate, and celebrate that performance of Chri&s;ts promi&s;e, in that Mi&s;|&s;ion of the Holy Gho&s;t upon the Apo&s;tles, are all the&s;e Scriptures performed again, in our eares, and eyes, and in our hearts; For in all tho&s;e Congregations that meet this day, to this purpo&s;e, every Preacher hath &s;o much of this <HI>Vnction</HI> (which <HI>Vnction</HI> is <HI>Chri&s;t</HI>) upon him, as that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him, and hath anointed him to that &s;ervice; And every Congregation, and every good per&s;on in the Congregation, hath &s;o much of the Apo&s;tle upon him, as that he feeles <HI>This Spirit of the Lord, this Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> as he is <HI>this cloven tongue,</HI> that &s;ets one &s;temme in his eare, and the other in his heart, one &s;temme in his faith, and the other in his manners, one &s;temme in his pre&s;ent obedience, and another in his per&s;everance, one to rectifie him in the errours of life, another to e&s;ta|bli&s;h him in the agonies of death; For the Holy Gho&s;t, as he is a <HI>Cloven tongue,</HI> opens as a Compa&s;&s;e, that reaches over all our Map, over all our World, from our Ea&s;t to our We&s;t, from our birth to our death, from our cradle to our grave, and directs us for all things, to all per&s;ons, in all places, and at all times; <HI>The Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father will &s;end in my Name, he &s;hall teach you all things, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The ble&s;&s;ed Spirit of God then, the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> the third per&s;on in the Trinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> (and yet, not Third &s;o, as that either Second or Fir&s;t, Son or Father, were one minute before him in that Co-eternity, that enwraps them all alike) this <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> is here de&s;igned by Chri&s;t, in his Per&s;on, and in his Operation; Who he is, and what he does; From whence he comes, and why he comes; And the&s;e two, <HI>Hee,</HI> and <HI>His office,</HI> will con|&s;titute our two parts in this text. In the fir&s;t of which, (which will be the exerci&s;e of this day) we &s;hall direct you upon the&s;e &s;everall Con&s;iderations: Fir&s;t, that the Per&s;on de&s;ign|ed for this Mi&s;&s;ion, and true Con&s;olation, is the Holy Gho&s;t; You &s;hall not be without
<PB N="278" REF="157">comfort, &s;aies Chri&s;t; But mi&s;take not fal&s;e comforts for true, nor deceitfull comforters for faithfull; It is the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> or it is none; His Comfort, or no comfort, <HI>Him the Fa|ther will &s;end,</HI> &s;ais Chri&s;t, in a &s;econd branch; though the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> be God, equall to the Father, and &s;o have all Mi&s;&s;ions, and Commi&s;&s;ions in his owne hand, yet he applies him&s;elfe, accommodates him&s;elfe to order, and he comes when he hath a Mi&s;&s;ion from the Father: and <HI>this Father,</HI> &s;aies Chri&s;t, (which is a third branch in this part) <HI>&s;ends him in my name;</HI> Though he have as good intere&s;t in the name of <HI>Adonai,</HI> which is all our Powerfull name, and in the name of <HI>Ieh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">vah,</HI> which is all our E&s;&s;entiall name, as I, or my Father have, (the holy Gho&s;t is as much <HI>Adonai,</HI> and as much <HI>Ichovah,</HI> as we are) yet he <HI>is &s;ent in my Name,</HI> that is, to proceed in my way, to perfect my worke, and to ac|compli&s;h that Redemption, by way of Application, which I had wrought, by way of Satisfaction.</P>
<P>And then la&s;tly, that which qualifies him for this Mi&s;&s;ion, for this Imployment, is his Title, and Addition in this Text, That he is <HI>the Comforter;</HI> Di&s;comfortable doctrines (of a primary impo&s;&s;ibility of Salvation, to any man, And that impo&s;&s;ibility originally rooted in God, and in Gods hating of that man, and hating of that man, not onely before he was a &s;infull man, but before he was any man at all, not onely before an actuall ma|king, but before any intention to make him in Gods minde; That God cannot &s;ave that man, becau&s;e he meant to damne him, before he meant to make him) are not the way, in which the Holy Gho&s;t is &s;ent by the Father, in the Sons Name; For they that &s;ent him, and he that comes, intend all that is done, in that capacity, as he is a Comforter, as he is <HI>the Comforter.</HI> And this is the Per&s;on, and this will be the extent of our fir&s;t part; It is the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> No deceiving Spirit. He, though as high as the Highe&s;t, re&s;pects order, attends a Mi&s;&s;ion, &s;taies till he be &s;ent. And thirdly, he comes in anothers name, in anothers way, to perfect anothers worke. And he does all, in the quality and deno|mination of a Comforter, not e&s;tabli&s;hing, not countenancing any di&s;comfortable Doctrines.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1. Part.</HI> Spiritus &s;an|ctus.</NOTE> the Per&s;on into who&s;e hands this whole worke is here recommended, is the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t, The Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> The manife&s;tation of the my&s;terle of the Trinity was re&s;erved for Chri&s;t. Some intimations in the Old, but the publication on|ly in the New Te&s;tament; Some irradiations in the Law, but the illu&s;tration onely in the Go&s;pell; Some emanation of beames, as of the Sun before it is got above the Horizon, in the Prophets, but the glorious proceeding thereof, and the attaining to a Meridianall height, only in the Euangeli&s;ts. And then, the doctrine of the Trinity, thus re&s;erved for the time of the Go&s;pell, at that time was thus declared; So God loved the World, as that he &s;ent his Son; So the Son loved the World, as that he would come into it, and die for it; So the Holy Gho&s;t loved the World, as that he would dwell in it, and in|able men, in his Mini&s;tery, and by his gifts, to apply this mercy of the Father, and this merit of the Son, to particular &s;ouls, and to whole Congregations. The mercy of the Father, that he would &s;tudy &s;uch a way for the Redemption of our &s;ouls, as the death of his only Son, (a way which no man would ever have thought of, of him&s;elf, nor might have prayed for, if he could have imagined it) this Mercy of the Father is the object of our Thankfulne&s;s. The Merit of the Son, That into a man but of our nature, and equall to us in infirmities, there &s;hould be &s;uperinfu&s;ed &s;uch another nature, &s;uch a divinity, as that any act of that Per&s;on, &s;o compo&s;ed of tho&s;e two natures, &s;hould be even in the rigour of Ju&s;tice, a &s;ufficient ran&s;ome for all the &s;ins of all the Werld, is the object of our admi|ration. But the object of our con&s;olation (which is the &s;ubject of this Text) is this, That the Holy Gho&s;t, by his pre&s;ence, and by inanimating the Ordinances of Chri&s;t, in the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pell, applies this mercy, and this merit to me, to thee, to every &s;oul that an&s;wers his motions.</P>
<P>In that Contract that pa&s;t between <HI>Solomon</HI> and <HI>Hiram,</HI> for commerce and trade between their Nations,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 K<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">g. 5.</NOTE> That <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;hould &s;end him Corne and Oyle, and <HI>Hiram</HI> &s;hould &s;end him Cedar, and other rich materials for Building, that people of God received an honor, and an a&s;&s;urance, in that pre&s;ent Contract, for future trade and commerce. So did the World, in that Contract, which pa&s;t betweene the Father and the Son, That the Father &s;hould &s;end downe God, and the World &s;hould deliver up Man, The nature of Man to be a&s;&s;umed by that Son, and &s;o a Redemption &s;hould be wrought after, in the fulne&s;&s;e of Time. And then, in the performance of this Contract, when <HI>Hiram</HI> &s;ent downe
<PB N="279" REF="157">tho&s;e rich materials from <HI>Libanon</HI> to the Sea, and by Sea in Flotes, to the place a&s;&s;igned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 9.</NOTE> where <HI>Solomon</HI> received them, that people of God received a reall profit, in that actuall performance of that, which was but in contract before. So did the World too, when in the fulne&s;&s;e of Time, and in the place a&s;&s;igned by God in the Prophet <HI>Micah,</HI> which was Bethlem, the Son of God came in our fle&s;h, and after dyed for us; His Blood was the Sub&s;tance, the Materials of our ran&s;ome, and actually, and really delivered, and depo&s;i|ted for us; which was the performance of the former Contract between his Father, and him. But then was the dignity of that people of God accompli&s;ht, when tho&s;e rich Mate|rials, &s;o &s;ent, were really imploied in the building of the Temple; when the Altar, and the Oracle, were cloathed with that Gold; when the Cherubim, and the Olive-Trees, and the other Figures were made of that rich &s;tuffe, which was provided; when certaine chiefe Officers, and three thou&s;and three hundred under-Officers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15. Ver. 14.</NOTE> were appointed to over-&s;ee the Work, and ten thou&s;and that attended by monthly cour&s;es, and &s;eaven &s;core &amp; ten thou&s;and, that were alwaies re&s;ident upon the Work. And &s;o is our comfort accom|pli&s;ht to us, when the Holy Gho&s;t di&s;tributes the&s;e materials, the Blood, and the Merits of Chri&s;t, upon &s;everall Congregations, and that by his higher Officers, Reverend and Vigilant Bi&s;hops, and others that have part in the Government of the Church, and then, by tho&s;e, who like <HI>Solomons</HI> ten thou&s;and, performed the &s;ervice by monthly cour&s;es, and tho&s;e, who like his &s;eaven &s;core and ten thou&s;and, are alwayes re&s;ident upon fixt places, that &s;alvation of &s;oules, &s;o decreed at fir&s;t by the Father, and &s;o accompli&s;hed after by the Son, is, by the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;hed, and &s;pred upon particular men.</P>
<P>When, as the world began in a community, that every thing was every bodies, but improved it &s;elfe, to a propriety, and came to a <HI>Meum &amp; Tuum,</HI> that every man knew his owne; &s;o, that which is <HI>Salus Domini,</HI> The Salvation of the Lord, as it is in the fir&s;t Decree, and that which is <HI>Salus Mundi,</HI> The Salvation of the World, as it is in the ac|compli&s;hment of the Decree by Chri&s;t, may be <HI>Mea, &amp; Tua,</HI> My Salvation, and thy Sal|vation, as it is applyed by the Holy Gho&s;t, in the Mini&s;try of the Church. Salvation in the Decree, is as the Bezar &s;tone in the maw of that creature; there it growes. Salvation in Chri&s;ts death, is as that Bezar in the Merchants, or Apothecaries provi&s;ion; But &s;alvation in the Church, in the di&s;tribution, and application thereof, by the Holy Gho&s;t, is as that Bezar working in my veines, expelling my peccant humours, and rectifying my former defects.</P>
<P>The la&s;t work, the Seale, and Con&s;ummation of all, is of the Holy Gho&s;t. And there|fore, as the Manife&s;tation of the whole Trinity &s;eemes to have been re&s;erved for Chri&s;t, &s;o Chri&s;t &s;eemes to have re&s;erved the Manife&s;tation of the Holy Gho&s;t, for his la&s;t Do|ctrine. For this is the la&s;t Sermon that Chri&s;t preached; And this is a Sermon recorded only by that la&s;t Euangeli&s;t, who, as he con&s;idered the Divine Nature of Chri&s;t, more then the re&s;t did, and &s;o took it higher, &s;o did he al&s;o con&s;ider the future &s;tate, and &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ion of the Church, more then the re&s;t did, and &s;o carried it lower. For, S. <HI>Iohn</HI> was a Prophet, as well as an Euangeli&s;t. Therefore in this la&s;t, and la&s;ting Euangeli&s;t, and in this la&s;t Sermon, Chri&s;t declares this la&s;t work, in this world, that is, the Con&s;ummation of our Redemption, in the application of the Holy Gho&s;t. For herein con&s;i&s;ts our <HI>comfort,</HI> that it is <HI>He, the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> that mini&s;ters this comfort.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t had told them before, that there &s;hould be a <HI>Comforter</HI> &s;ent;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 16.</NOTE> But he did not tell them then, that that <HI>Comforter</HI> was the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> Here he does; at la&s;t he does; and he ends all in that; that we might end and determine our comfort in that too, This God gives me, by the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> For we mi&s;take fal&s;e comforts for true. We comfort our &s;elves in things, that come not at all from God; in things which are but vanities, and conduce not all to any true comfort. And we comfort our &s;elves in things, which, though they doe come from God, yet are not &s;igned, nor &s;ealed by the Holy Gho&s;t. For, Wealth, and Honour, and Power, and Favour, are of God; but we have but &s;tolne them from God, or received them by the hand of the Devil, if we be come to them by ill meanes. And if we have them from the hand of God, by having acquired them by good meanes, yet if we make them occa&s;ions of &s;in, in the ill u&s;e of them after, we lo&s;e the comfort of the Holy Gho&s;t, which requires the te&s;timony of a rectified con&s;cience, that all was well got, and is well u&s;ed. Therefore as Chri&s;t puts the Origination of our Redemption upon the Father, <HI>(I came but to doe my Fathers will)</HI> and as he takes the execution of that De|cree upon him&s;elfe, <HI>(I am the way, and the truth, and the life, and the Re&s;urrection; I am all)</HI>
<PB N="280" REF="158">&s;o he puts the comfort of all, upon the Holy Gho&s;t: Di&s;comfort, and Di&s;con&s;olation, Sadne&s;&s;e and Dejection, Damnation, and Damnation aggravated, and this aggravated Damnation multiplied upon that &s;oule, that findes no comfort in the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>If I have no Adventure in an Ea&s;t-Indian Returne, though I be not the richer, yet neither am I poorer then I was, for that. But if I have no comfort from the Holy Gho&s;t, I am wor&s;e, then if all mankinde had been left in the Putrifaction of <HI>Adams</HI> loynes, and in the condemnation of <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in. For then, I &s;hould have had but my equall part in the common mi&s;ery; But now having had that extraordinary favour, of an offer of the Holy Gho&s;t, if I feele no comfort in that, I mu&s;t have an extraordinary condemnation. The Father came neare me, when he breathed the breath of life into me, and gave me my fle&s;h. The Son came neare me, when he took my fle&s;h upon him, and laid downe his life for me. The Holy Gho&s;t is alwaies neare me, alwaies with me; with me now, if now I &s;hed any drops of his dew, his Manna upon you; With me anon, if anon I turne any thing that I &s;ay to you now, to good nouri&s;hment in my &s;elfe then, and doe then, as I &s;ay now; With me when I eate, or drink, to &s;ay Grace at my meale, and to ble&s;&s;e Gods Ble&s;&s;ings to me; With me in my &s;leep, to keep out the Tempter from the fancy, and imagination, which is his proper Sceane, and Spheare, That he triumph not in that, in &s;uch dreames as may be effects of &s;in, or cau&s;es of &s;in, or &s;ins them&s;elves. The Father is a Propitious Per&s;on; The Son is a Meritorious Per&s;on; The Holy Gho&s;t is a Familiar Per&s;on; The Heavens mu&s;t open, to &s;hew me the Son of Man at the right hand of the Father, as they did to <HI>Steven;</HI> But if I doe but open my heart to my &s;elfe, I may &s;ee the Holy Gho&s;t there, and in him, all that the Father hath Thought and Decreed, all that the Son hath Said and Done, and Suffered for the whole World, made mine. Ac|cu&s;tome your &s;elves therefore to the Contemplation, to the Meditation of this Ble&s;&s;ed Per&s;on of the glorious Trinity; Keep up that holy cheerefulne&s;&s;e, which Chri&s;t makes the Balla&s;t of a Chri&s;tian, and his Fraight too, to give him a rich Returne in the Heaven|ly Jeru&s;alem. Be alwayes comforted; and alwayes determine your comfort in the Ho|ly Gho&s;t; For that is Chri&s;ts promi&s;e here, in this fir&s;t Branch, <HI>A Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> And <HI>Him</HI> (&s;ayes our &s;econd Branch) <HI>the Father &s;hall &s;end.</HI></P>
<P>There was a Mi&s;&s;ion of the Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mi&s;&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>God &s;ent his Son.</HI> There was a Mi&s;&s;ion of the Holy Gho&s;t; This day <HI>God &s;ent the Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> But betweene the&s;e two Mi&s;&s;ions, that of the Son, and this of the holy Gho&s;t, we con&s;ider this difference, that the fir&s;t, the &s;ending of the Son, was without any merit preceding; There could be no|thing but the meere mercy of God, to move God to &s;end his Son. Man was &s;o far from meriting that, that (as we &s;aid before) he could not, nor might, if he could, have wi&s;ht it. But for this &s;econd Mi&s;&s;ion, the &s;ending of the holy Gho&s;t, there was a preceding merit. Chri&s;t, by his dying had merited, that mankinde, who by the fall of <HI>Adam,</HI> had lo&s;t, (as S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> &s;peaks) <HI>Po&s;sibilitatem boni,</HI> All po&s;&s;ibilitie of Redintegration, &s;hould, not only be re&s;tored to a po&s;&s;ibility of Salvation, but that actually, that that was done, &s;hould be pur&s;ued farther, and that by this Mi&s;&s;ion, and Operation of the holy Gho&s;t, actually, really, effectually, men &s;hould be &s;aved. So that, as the work of our Redemption fals un|der our con&s;ideration, that is, not in the Decree, but in the execution of the Decree, in this Mi&s;&s;ion of the holy Gho&s;t into the World, Man hath &s;o far an intere&s;t, (not any par|ticular man, but Man, as all Mankind was in Chri&s;t) as that we may truly &s;ay, The holy Gho&s;t was due to us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> 24.</NOTE> And as Chri&s;t &s;aid of him&s;elfe, <HI>Nonne haec oportuit pati?</HI> Ought not Chri&s;t to &s;uffer all this? Was not Chri&s;t bound to all this, by the Contract betweene him and his Father? to which Contract him&s;elfe had a Privity; it was his owne Act; He &s;igned it; He &s;ealed it; &s;o we may &s;ay, <HI>Nonne hunc oportuit mitti?</HI> Ought not the holy Gho&s;t to be &s;ent? Had not Chri&s;t merited that the holy Gho&s;t &s;hould be &s;ent, to perfect the worke of the Redemption? So that, in &s;uch a re&s;pect, and in &s;uch a holy and devout &s;en&s;e we may &s;ay, that the holy Gho&s;t is more ours, then either of the other Per&s;ons of the Trinity; Becau&s;e, though Chri&s;t be &s;o ours, as that he is our &s;elves, the &s;ame nature, and fle&s;h, and blood, The holy Gho&s;t is &s;o ours, as that we, we in Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t in our nature merited the holy Gho&s;t, purcha&s;ed the holy Gho&s;t, bought the holy Gho&s;t; Which is a &s;anctified Simony, and hath a faire, and a pious truth in it, We, we in Chri&s;t, Chri&s;t in our nature, bought the holy Gho&s;t, that is, merited the holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t then was &s;o &s;ent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A Patre.</NOTE> as that, till we con&s;ider the Contract, (which was his owne Act) there was no <HI>Oportuit pati,</HI> no obligation upon him, that he mu&s;t have been &s;ent. The
<PB N="281" REF="158"><HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> was &s;o &s;ent, as that the Merit of Chri&s;t, (of Chri&s;t, who was Man, as well as God) which was the Act of another, required, and de&s;erved that he &s;hould bee &s;ent. Therefore he was &s;ent <HI>A Patre,</HI> By the Father. Now, not &s;o by the Father, as not by the Son too; For, there is an <HI>Ego mittam, If I depart, I will &s;end him unto you.</HI> But,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 16.7.</NOTE> cleane thorough Chri&s;ts Hi&s;tory, in all his proceedings, &s;till you may ob&s;erve, that he a&s;cribes all that he does, as to his Superiour, to his Father; though in one Capacity, as he was God, he were equall to the Father, yet to declare the meekene&s;&s;e and the humility of his Soule, &s;till he makes his recour&s;e to his inferiour &s;tate, and to his lower nature, and &s;till a&s;cribes all to his Father: Thouh he might &s;ay, and doe &s;ay there, <HI>I will &s;end him,</HI> yet every where, the Father enters; <HI>I will &s;end him,</HI> &s;aies he; Whom?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 24.49.</NOTE> <HI>I will &s;end the Pro|mi&s;e of my Father.</HI> Still the Father hath all the glory, and Chri&s;t &s;inks downe to his in|feriour &s;tate, and lower nature.</P>
<P>In the World it is far otherwi&s;e; Here, men for the mo&s;t part, doe all things accor|ding to their greate&s;t capacity; If they be Bi&s;hops, if they be Coun&s;ellors, if they be Ju&s;tices, nay if they be but Con&s;tables, they will doe every thing according to that capacity; As though that authority, confined to certaine places, limited in certaine per&s;ons, and determined in certaine times, gave them alwaies the &s;ame power, in all acti|ons; And, becau&s;e to &s;ome purpo&s;es hee may be my &s;uperiour, he will be my equall no where in nothing. Chri&s;t &s;till withdrew him&s;elfe to his lower capacity; And, how|&s;oever worldly men engro&s;&s;e the thanks of the world to them&s;elves, Chri&s;t ca&s;t all the honour of all the benefits that he be&s;towed upon others, upon his Father; And in his <HI>Veruntamen, (Yet not my will, but thine O Father be done)</HI> He humbled him&s;elfe, as low as <HI>David</HI> in his <HI>Non nobis Dominc, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name be all glory given.</HI> They would have made him King; He would not; and Judge, to divide the Inheritance; and he would not. <HI>He &s;ent the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> And yet, he &s;aies, <HI>I will pray the Father to &s;end him.</HI> So the Holy Gho&s;t was &s;ent by them both; Father and Son; But not &s;o, as that he was &s;ubject to a joynt command of both, or to a diver&s;e command of either, or that he came unwillingly, or had not a hand even in his owne &s;ending. But, how&s;oever he were perfect God, and had alwales an ab&s;olute power in him&s;elfe, and had ever a de&s;ire to a&s;&s;i&s;t the &s;alvation of man, yet he &s;ubmitted him&s;elfe to the Order of the Decree; He di&s;ordered nothing, prevented nothing, anticipated nothing, but &s;taid, till all that which lay upon Chri&s;t, from his Incarnation, to his A&s;cen&s;ion, was execu|ted, and then in the due and appointed time, i&s;&s;ued his Mi&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>It is a ble&s;&s;ed Termination, <HI>Mi&s;sion;</HI> It determines and ends many words in our Lan|guage;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mi&s;&s;io.</NOTE> as <HI>Permi&s;sion, Commi&s;sion, Remi&s;sion,</HI> and others, which may afford good in|&s;truction, that as the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> did for his, &s;o we may be content to &s;tay Gods lea&s;ure, for all tho&s;e <HI>Mi&s;sions.</HI> A con&s;ideration, which, I pre&s;ume, S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> who evermore embraced all occa&s;ions of exalting devotion from the melodious fall of words, would not have let pa&s;&s;e; Nor S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> for all his holy and reverend gravity, would have thought <HI>Nimis juvenile,</HI> Too light a con&s;ideration to have in&s;i&s;ted upon. And therefore I may have leave, to &s;tay your meditations a little, upon this Termination, the&s;e Mi&s;&s;ions.</P>
<P>You may have a <HI>Permi&s;sion;</HI> Many things are with &s;ome circum&s;tances <HI>Permitted,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Permi&s;&s;io.</HI> Mat. 19.8.</NOTE> which yet in di&s;cretion are better forborne. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> permitted divorces, but that was for the hardne&s;&s;e of their hearts; and Chri&s;t withdrew that <HI>Permi&s;sion.</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aies, he had a <HI>Permi&s;sion;</HI> Liberty to forbeare working with his owne hands,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.6.</NOTE> and &s;o to live upon the Church; but yet he did not. What <HI>Permi&s;sion</HI> &s;oever thou have, by which thou mai&s;t lawfully ea&s;e thy &s;elfe, yet forbeare, till thou &s;ee, that the glory of God, and the good of other men, may be more advanced by the u&s;e, then by the forbearance of that indul|gence, and that <HI>Permi&s;sion,</HI> and afford not thy &s;elfe all the liberty that is afforded thee, but in &s;uch ca&s;es. The <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> &s;taid &s;o for his <HI>Mi&s;sion;</HI> &s;o &s;tay thou for the exerci&s;e of thy <HI>Permi&s;sion.</HI></P>
<P>Thou mai&s;t have a <HI>Commi&s;sion</HI> too; In that of the Peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Commi&s;&s;io.</NOTE> in that for Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall cau&s;es, thou mai&s;t have part. But be not ha&s;ty in the execution of the&s;e Commi&s;&s;ions; Come to an Inqui&s;ition upon another man; &s;o as thou would&s;t wi&s;h God to enquire into thee. Satan had a <HI>Commi&s;sion</HI> upon <HI>Iob;</HI> but he procured it &s;o indirectly, on his part, by fal&s;e &s;ugge&s;tions again&s;t him, and executed it &s;o uncharitably, as that he was as guilty of wrong and oppre&s;&s;ion, as if he had had no <HI>Commi&s;sion.</HI> Thou can&s;t not a&s;&s;i&s;t in the execu|tion
<PB N="282" REF="159">of tho&s;e <HI>Commi&s;sions,</HI> of which thou art, till thou have taken the oathes of <HI>Suprema|cie,</HI> and of <HI>Allegeance</HI> to thy <HI>Soveraigne.</HI> Do it not, till thou have &s;worne all that, to thy <HI>Super-&s;overaigne,</HI> to thy God, That in all thy proceedings, his glory, and his will, and not thine owne pa&s;&s;ion, or their purpo&s;es, upon whom thou depende&s;t, &s;hall be thy rule. The <HI>holy Gho&s;t</HI> &s;taid for his <HI>Mi&s;sion;</HI> &s;tay thou for thy <HI>Commi&s;sion,</HI> till it be &s;ealed over againe in thine owne bo&s;ome; &s;ealed on one &s;ide, with a cleerene&s;&s;e of under&s;tanding, and on the other, with a rectitude of con&s;cience; that thou know what thou &s;hould&s;t doe, and doe that.</P>
<P>There is al&s;o a <HI>Remi&s;sion;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Remi&s;&s;io.</NOTE> a <HI>Remi&s;sion of &s;ins.</HI> It is an Article of Faith, therefore be|leeve it. Beleeve it originally, and meritoriou&s;ly in Chri&s;t; and beleeve it in&s;trumental|ly, and mini&s;terially in the power, con&s;tituted by Chri&s;t, in the Church. But beleeve it not too ha&s;tily, in the execution and in the application thereof to thine owne ca&s;e. A tran&s;itory &s;in, a &s;in that &s;pent a few minutes in the doing thereof, was by the penitentiall Canons, (which were the rule of the Primitive Church) puni&s;hed with many yeares penance. And doe&s;t thou thinke, to have Remi&s;&s;ion of thy &s;eventy yeares &s;ins, for one &s;igh, one groane, then, when that &s;igh, and that groane may be more in contemplation of the torment due to that &s;in, then for the &s;in it &s;elfe; Nay more, that thou can&s;t &s;inne that &s;in no longer, then for that &s;in? Ha&s;t thou &s;ought thy <HI>Remi&s;sion</HI> at the Church, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> in Gods Ordinances e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Church? <HI>In qua remittuntur, extra quam non remittuntur peccata,</HI> In which Ordinances, there is an Infallibility of <HI>Remi&s;sion,</HI> upon true repentance, and in a contempt or neglect of which Ordinances, all Repentance is illu|&s;ory, and all Remi&s;&s;ion but imaginary.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> For, <HI>Quodammodo ante diem Iudicii, judicant,</HI> God refers cau&s;es to the Church, to be prepared, and mature there, before the great Hearing; and &s;o, hath given the Church a Power to judge, before the day of Judgement. And therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Nemo &s;ibi dicat, occult&egrave; ago, apud Deum ago,</HI> Let no man &s;ay, I repent in &s;ecret; God &s;ees that I repent; It was &s;carce in &s;ecret, that thou did&s;t &s;in; and wilt thou repent but in &s;ecret? At lea&s;t let us know thy repentance by the amendment of thy life, and wee &s;hall not much pre&s;&s;e the knowing of it any other way. Onely remember that the <HI>holy Gho&s;t</HI> &s;taid for his <HI>Mi&s;sion;</HI> Pre&s;ume not thou of thy <HI>Remi&s;sion,</HI> till thou have done, not onely &s;omething towards it, that might induce it from God, that is, Repentance, but &s;omething by it, that may te&s;tifie it to man, that is, amendment of life.</P>
<P>There is a <HI>Manumi&s;sion</HI> al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Manumi&s;&s;ion.</NOTE> an emancipation, an enfranchi&s;ement from the tyranny, from the thraldome of &s;in. That which &s;ome Saints of God, particularly S. <HI>Paul,</HI> have importuned at Gods hand, &s;o vehemently, &s;o impatiently, as he did, to be delivered from the me&s;&s;enger of Satan, and from the provocations of the fle&s;h, expre&s;t with that pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>O wretched man that I am,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.22.</NOTE> <HI>who &s;hall deliver me from the body of this death?</HI> He comes imme|diately there to a thank&s;giving, <HI>I thanke God, through Ie&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord;</HI> But his thank&s;giving was not for a Manumi&s;&s;ion; hee had not received a deliverance from the power, and oppre&s;&s;&s;ion of tentation; But he had here, as he had every where, an intima|tion from the Spirit of God, of that <HI>Gratia mea &s;ufficit,</HI> That God would be as watch|full over him with his grace, as the Devill could be with his tentations. And if thou come to no farther <HI>Manumi&s;sion</HI> then this, in this life, that is, to be delivered, though not from tentations by his power, yet in tentations, by his grace, or by his mercy, after tentations have prevailed upon thee, attend Gods lea&s;ure for thy farther <HI>Manumi&s;sion,</HI> for the <HI>holy Gho&s;t</HI> &s;taid for his <HI>Mi&s;sion.</HI></P>
<P>There fals la&s;tly into this harmonious con&s;ort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;mi&s;&s;io.</NOTE> occa&s;ioned by this <HI>Mi&s;sion</HI> of the Holy Gho&s;t, a <HI>Di&s;mi&s;sion;</HI> A di&s;mi&s;&s;ing out of this world; Not onely in <HI>Simeons Nunc dimittis,</HI> To be content that we might, but in S. <HI>Pauls Cupio di&s;&s;olvi,</HI> To have a de&s;ire that we might be di&s;&s;olved, and be with Chri&s;t. But, whether the incumbrances of this World,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 120.5.</NOTE> extort from thee <HI>Davids</HI> groane, <HI>Heu mihi!</HI> Woe is me, that I &s;o journe &s;o long here! Or a &s;lipperine&s;&s;e contracted by former habits of &s;in, make every thing a tenta|tion to thee, &s;o that thou can&s;t not performe <HI>Iobs</HI> covenant with thine eyes, of not look|ing upon a maid, nor &s;top at Chri&s;ts period, which is, Looke, but doe not lu&s;t, but that every thing is a tentation to thee, and to be out of this haile-&s;hot, this batrery of ten|tations, thou would&s;t faine come to a di&s;mi&s;&s;ion, to a di&s;&s;olution, to a tran&s;migration, Or whether a vehement de&s;ire of the fruition of the pre&s;ence and face of God in Heaven, con&s;titute this longing in thee, yet all the&s;e rea&s;ons ari&s;e in thy &s;elfe, and determine in thy &s;elfe, and are referred but to thine owne ea&s;e, and to thine owne happine&s;&s;e, and not pri|marily,
<PB N="283" REF="159">to the glory of God, and therefore, &s;ince the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> &s;taid for his <HI>Mi&s;sion,</HI> &s;tay thou for thy <HI>Di&s;mi&s;sion</HI> too.</P>
<P>Gather up the&s;e &s;cattered eares, and binde up this loo&s;e &s;heafe; Recollect the&s;e pieces of this branch. The Holy Gho&s;t was &s;ent by the Son, but the Son, in his exemplar hu|mility, a&s;cribes all to the Father. The Holy Gho&s;t had ab&s;olute power to come at his plea&s;ure, but he &s;taid the order of the Decree, and Gods lea&s;ure for his <HI>Mi&s;sion.</HI> Doe thou &s;o too, for thy <HI>Permi&s;sion,</HI> exerci&s;e not all thy liberty; And for thy <HI>Commi&s;sion,</HI> execute not all thy authority; And for thy <HI>Remi&s;sion,</HI> pre&s;ume not upon thy pardon too &s;oon; And for thy <HI>Manumi&s;sion,</HI> hope not for an exemption from tentations, till death; And for thy <HI>Di&s;mi&s;sion,</HI> practice not, nay wi&s;h not thy death, only in re&s;pect of thine own ea&s;e, no, nor only in re&s;pect of thine own &s;alvation. In this act of the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> That he &s;taid his <HI>Mi&s;sion,</HI> we have one in&s;truction, that we relie not upon our &s;elves, but accommodate our &s;elves to the di&s;po&s;ition of others; And then another in the next, That the Father &s;hould &s;end him in the Sons name, <HI>The Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father will &s;end in my Name.</HI></P>
<P>The Holy Gho&s;t comes not &s;o in anothers name, as that he hath not a full intere&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In nomine meo.</NOTE> in all the names of Power, and of Wi&s;dome, and of E&s;&s;ence it &s;elf, that are attributed to God. For (not to extend to the particular attributes) the Radicall name, the name of E&s;&s;ence, That name, The name, <HI>Iehovah,</HI> is given to the Holy Gho&s;t. <HI>Iehovah</HI> &s;ayes to <HI>E&s;ay, Go, and tell this people,</HI> this and this. And then S. <HI>Paul</HI> making u&s;e of tho&s;e words in the Acts, &s;ayes, <HI>Well &s;aid the Holy Gho&s;t by the Prophet E&s;ay;</HI> So that <HI>E&s;ayes Iehovah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.9. Acts 28.5.</NOTE> is S. <HI>Pauls Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> And yet, the Holy Gho&s;t being in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the highe&s;t names, and of the highe&s;t power implyed in tho&s;e names, comes in the name of another. How much more then may the powerfulle&s;t men upon earth, the greate&s;t Magi&s;trates, the greate&s;t Monarchs, (who though they be by God him&s;elf called gods, are but repre&s;entative gods, but metaphoricall gods, and God knows, &s;ometimes but ungodly gods) confe&s;&s;e, that they are &s;ent in anothers name, inanimated with anothers power, and lea&s;t of all, their own, or made that that they are, for them&s;elves? How much more are we, we con|&s;idered in nature, and not in office, men and not Magi&s;trates, Wormes and not men, Ser|pents and not Wormes, (For we are (as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;peaks) <HI>Spontanei daemones,</HI> Ser|pents in our own bo&s;omes, devils in our own loynes) bound to confe&s;&s;e, that all the fa|culties of our &s;oul, are in us, <HI>In nomine alieno,</HI> In the name of another?</P>
<P>That will, which we call Freewill, is &s;o far from being ours, as that not only that Free|dome, but that Will it &s;elf is from another, from God. Not only the rectitude of the faculty, but the faculty it &s;elf is his. Nay, though God have no part in the perver&s;ne&s;&s;e and the obliquity of my will, but that that perver&s;ne&s;&s;e, and that obliquity are intirely mine own, yet I could not have that perver&s;ne&s;&s;e, and that obliquity, but from him, &s;o far, as that that faculty, in which my perver&s;ne&s;&s;e works, is his, and I could not have that perver&s;e will from my &s;elf, if I had not that will it &s;elf from God fir&s;t. And that very perver&s;ne&s;&s;e, and obliquity of the will, is &s;o much his, as that, though it were not his, but mine, in the making, yet when it is made by me, he makes it his; that is, he makes it his in&s;trument, and makes his u&s;e of it, &s;o far, as to &s;uffer it to flow out into a greater &s;in, or to determine in a le&s;&s;er &s;in, then at fir&s;t I, in my perver&s;ne&s;&s;e, intended. When I intended but an approach to a &s;in, and meant to &s;top there, to puni&s;h that expo|&s;ing of my &s;elf to tentation, God &s;uffers me to proceed to the act of that &s;in; And when I intend the act it &s;elf, God interrupts me, and cuts me off, by &s;ome intervening occa&s;i|on, and determines me upon &s;ome approach to that &s;in, that by going &s;o far in the way of that &s;in, I might &s;ee mine own infirmity, and &s;ee the power of his mercy, that I went no farther. The faculties of my &s;oule are his, and the &s;ub&s;tance of my &s;oul is his too; And yet, as I pervert the faculties, I &s;ubvert the &s;ub&s;tance; I damnifie the faculties, but I damne the &s;ub&s;tance it &s;elf.</P>
<P>It would ta&s;te of uncharitablene&s;&s;e, to ca&s;t more coales of fire upon the devill him&s;elf, then are upon him in hell now; Or not to a&s;&s;i&s;t him with our prayers, if it were not de|clared to us, that he is incapable of mercy. If the devill were now but under the guilti|ne&s;&s;e of that &s;in which he committed at fir&s;t, and not under &s;uch an execution of judge|ment for that &s;in, as induced, or at lea&s;t declared an ob&s;tination, an obduration, a de&s;pe|ration, and impenitiblene&s;&s;e, if the devill were but as the wor&s;t &s;inner in this world can be, but <HI>In via,</HI> and not <HI>In exilio,</HI> In the way to de&s;truction, and not under de&s;truction it
<PB N="284" REF="160">&s;elf, we might pray for the devill him&s;elf. And the&s;e poore &s;ouls of ours, the&s;e glorious &s;ouls of ours, none of ours, but Gods own &s;ouls, which now at wor&s;t, God loves better then ever he did the devill when he was at be&s;t, when he was an Angell uncorrupted, and better then he doth tho&s;e Angels which &s;tand uncorrupted &s;til, (for he hath not taken the nature of Angels, but our nature upon him) we think tho&s;e &s;ouls our own, to do what we li&s;t with, and when we have u&s;urpt them, we damne them. As Pirates take other mens &s;ubjects, and then make them &s;laves, we u&s;urp the faculties of the &s;oul, and call the will ours, we u&s;urp the &s;oul it &s;elf, and call it ours, and then deliver all to everla&s;ting bondage. Would the King &s;uffer his picture to be u&s;ed, as we u&s;e the Image of God in our &s;oules? or his Hall to be u&s;ed, as we u&s;e the Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t, our Bodies? We have nothing but that which we have received; and when we come to think that our own, we have not that; For God will take all from that man, that &s;acrifices to his own nets. When thou comme&s;t to Church, come in anothers name: When thou give&s;t an Almes, give it in anothers name; that is, feele all thy devotion, and all thy charity to come from God; For, if it be not in his name, it will be in a wor&s;e; Thy devotion will contract the name of hypocri&s;ie, and thine Almes the name of Vain-glory.</P>
<P>The Holy Gho&s;t came in anothers name, in Chri&s;ts name; but not &s;o, as <HI>Montanus,</HI> the Father of the Montani&s;ts, came in the Holy Gho&s;ts name. <HI>Montanus</HI> &s;aid he was the Holy Gho&s;t; The Holy Gho&s;t did not pretend to be Chri&s;t. There is a man, the man of &s;in, at Rome, that pretends to be Chri&s;t, to all u&s;es. And I would he would be content with that, and &s;top there, and not be a <HI>Hyper-Chri&s;tus,</HI> Above Chri&s;t, more then Chri&s;t. I would he would no more trouble the peace of Chri&s;tendome, no more occa|&s;ion the a&s;&s;a&s;&s;inating of Chri&s;tian Princes, no more binde the Chri&s;tian liberty, in for|bidding Meats, and Marriage, no more &s;lacken and di&s;&s;olve Chri&s;tian bands, by Di&s;pen|&s;ations, and Indulgences, then Chri&s;t did. But if he will needs be more, if he will needs have an addition to the name of Chri&s;t, let him take heed of that addition, which &s;ome are apt enough to give him, however he de&s;erve it, that he is <HI>Antichri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Now in what &s;en&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t is &s;aid to have come in the name of Chri&s;t, S. <HI>Ba|&s;il</HI> gives us one interpretation; that is, that one principall name of Chri&s;t belongs to the Holy Gho&s;t. For Chri&s;t is <HI>Verbum,</HI> The Word, and &s;o is the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;ayes that Father, <HI>Quia interpres filii, &s;icut filius patris,</HI> Becau&s;e as the Son manife&s;ted the Father, &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t manife&s;ts the Son; S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> gives another &s;en&s;e; <HI>Societas Patris &amp; Filii, e&s;t Spiritus Sanctus,</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t is the union of the Father and the Son. As the body is not the man, nor the &s;oul is not the man, but the union of the &s;oul and body, by tho&s;e &s;pirits, through which, the &s;oul exerci&s;es her faculties in the Organs of the body, makes up the man; &s;o the union of the Father and Son to one another, and of both to us, by the Holy Gho&s;t, makes up the body of the Chri&s;tian Religion. And &s;o, this interpre|tation of S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> comes neare to the fulne&s;&s;e, in what &s;en&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t came in Chri&s;ts name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17.12.</NOTE> For when Chri&s;t &s;ayes, I am come in my Fathers name, that was, to ex|ecute his Decree, to fulfill his Will, for the &s;alvation of man, by dying; &s;o when Chri&s;t &s;ayes here, the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall come in my name, that is, to perfect my work, to collect and to govern that Church, in which my &s;alvation, by way of &s;atisfaction, may be ap|propriated to particular &s;oules by way of application. And for this purpo&s;e, to do this in Chri&s;ts name, his own name is <HI>Paracletus, The Comforter,</HI> which is our la&s;t circum|&s;tance, <HI>The Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></P>
<P><HI>The Comforter</HI> is an Euangelicall name.<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Com|forter.</NOTE> <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> notes, that the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> is never called <HI>Paracletus, The Comforter,</HI> in the old Te&s;tament. He is called <HI>Spiritus Dei, The Spi|rit of God,</HI> in the beginning of <HI>Gene&s;is;</HI> And he is called <HI>Spiritus &s;anctus, The holy Spirit,</HI> and <HI>Spiritus principalis, The principall Spirit,</HI> in divers places of the P&s;almes, but never <HI>Paracletus,</HI> never the <HI>Comforter.</HI> A rea&s;on of that may well be, fir&s;t, that the &s;tate of the Law needed not comfort; and then al&s;o, that the Law it &s;elf afforded not comfort, &s;o there was no Comforter. Their Law was not oppo&s;ed by any enemies, as enemies to their Law. If they had not (by that warrant which they had from God) invaded the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of their neighbours, or grown too great to continue good neighbours, their neighbours had not envyed them that Law. So that in the &s;tate of the Law, in that re|&s;pect, they were well enough, and needed no Comforter. Whereas the Go&s;pell, as it was &s;owed in our Saviours blood, &s;o it grew up in blood, for divers hundreds of yeares; and therefore needed the &s;u&s;tentation, and the a&s;&s;urance of a Comforter. And then, for
<PB N="285" REF="160">the &s;ub&s;tance of the Law, it was <HI>Lex interficiens, non perficiens,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> A Law that told them what was &s;in, and puni&s;ht them if they did &s;in, but could not conferre Re|mi&s;&s;ion for &s;in; which was a di&s;comfortable ca&s;e. Whereas the Go&s;pel, and the Di&s;pen|&s;ation of the Go&s;pel in the Church, by the Holy Gho&s;t, is Grace, Mercy, Comfort, all the way, and in the end. Therefore Chri&s;t, v. 17. cals the Holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Spiritum veritatis, The Spirit of truth;</HI> In which he oppo&s;es him, and preferres him, above all the remedies, and all the comforts of the Law. Not that the Holy Gho&s;t in the Law, did not &s;peak truth, but that he did not &s;peak all the truth, in the Law. <HI>Origen</HI> expre&s;&s;es it well, The Types and Figures of the Law, were true Figures, and true Types of Chri&s;t, in the Go&s;pel; but Chri&s;t, and his Go&s;pel is the truth it &s;elf, prefigured in tho&s;e Types. Therefore the <HI>Ho|ly Gho&s;t,</HI> is <HI>Paracletus, The Comforter,</HI> in the Go&s;pel, which he was not in the Law.</P>
<P>In the Records, and Stories, and &s;o in the Coynes, and Medals of the Romane Empe|rours, we &s;ee, that even then, when they had gotten the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the name of Empe|rours, yet they forbore not to adde to their &s;tyle, the name of <HI>Con&s;ul,</HI> and the name of <HI>Pontifex maximus;</HI> &s;till they would be called Con&s;uls, which was an acceptable name to the people, and High-Prie&s;ts, which carried a reverence towards all the world. Where Chri&s;t him&s;elfe is called by a name appliable to none but Chri&s;t, by a name implying the whole nature, and merit of Chri&s;t, that is, <HI>The Propitiation of the &s;ins of the whole world,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 2.2.</NOTE> yet there, in that place, he is called by the name of this Text too, <HI>Paracletus, the Comfor|ter.</HI> He would not forbeare that &s;weet, that acceptable, that appliable name, that name that concernes us mo&s;t, and e&s;tabli&s;hes us be&s;t, <HI>Paracletus, the Comforter.</HI> And yet, he does not take that name, in that full, and whole &s;en&s;e, in which him&s;elfe gives it to the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> here. For there it is &s;aid of Chri&s;t, <HI>If any man &s;in, we have an Advocate with the Father;</HI> There, <HI>Paracletus,</HI> though placed upon Chri&s;t, is but an <HI>Advocate;</HI> But here, Chri&s;t &s;ends <HI>Paracletum,</HI> in a more intire, and a more internall, and more vi&s;cerall &s;en&s;e, <HI>A Comforter.</HI> Upon which <HI>Comforter,</HI> Chri&s;t imprints the&s;e two marks of dignity, Fir&s;t, <HI>The Father &s;hall &s;end you another Comforter;</HI> Another, then my &s;elfe. For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 16.</NOTE> how&s;oever Chri&s;t were the Fountain of comfort, yet there were many drammes, many ounces, ma|ny talents of di&s;comfort mingled, in that their Comforter was fir&s;t to depart from them by death, and being re&s;tored to them again by a Re&s;urrection, was to depart againe, by another Tran&s;migration, by an A&s;cen&s;ion. And therefore the &s;econd mark by which Chri&s;t dignifies this Comforter, is, <HI>That he &s;hall abide with us for ever.</HI> And in the perfor|mance of that promi&s;e, he is here with you now.</P>
<P>And therefore, as we begun with tho&s;e words of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> which our Saviour applyed to him&s;elfe, <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, becau&s;e he hath anointed me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 61.1.</NOTE> <HI>to binde up the broken hearted, and to comfort all them that mourne;</HI> So the Spirit of the Lord is upon all us of his Mini&s;tery, in that Commandement of his, in the &s;ame Prophet, <HI>Con&s;olamini,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 40.1.</NOTE> <HI>con&s;olamini, Comfort ye, comfort yee my people, and &s;peak comfortably unto Ieru&s;alem.</HI> Receive the Holy Gho&s;t, all ye that are the I&s;rael of the Lord, in that Doctrine of comfort, that God is &s;o farre from having hated any of you, before he made you, as that he hates none of you now; not for the &s;ins of your Parents; not for the &s;ins of your per&s;ons; not for the &s;ins of your youth; not for your ye&s;ter-dayes, not for your ye&s;ter-nights &s;ins; not for that highe&s;t provocation of all, your unworthy receiving his Son this day. Onely con&s;ider, that Comfort pre&s;umes Sadne&s;&s;e. Sin does not make you incapable of com|fort; but in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of &s;in does. In great buildings, the Turrets are high in the Aire; but the Foundations are deep in the Earth. The Comforts of the Holy Gho&s;t work &s;o, as that only that &s;oule is exalted, which was dejected. As in this place, where you &s;tand, there bodies lie in the earth, who&s;e &s;oules are in heaven; &s;o from this place, you carry away &s;o much of the true comfort of the Holy Gho&s;t, as you have true &s;orrow, and &s;adne&s;&s;e for your &s;ins here. Almighty God erect this building upon this Founda|tion; Such a Comfort, as may not be Pre&s;umption, upon &s;uch a Sorrow, as may not be Diffidence in him. And to him alone, but in three Per&s;ons, Father, Son, and Holy Gho&s;t, be a&s;cribed all Honour, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="29" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="286" REF="161">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXIX.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls</HI> upon Whit&s;unday. <HI>1628.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 14.26.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But the Comforter, which is the Holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father will &s;end in my Name, Hee &s;hall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what&s;oever I have &s;aid unto you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE Eipa&s;&s;e from the Per&s;on to his working; we come from his comming, to his operation, from his Mi&s;&s;ion, and Commi&s;&s;ion, to his Executing thereof, from the Con&s;ideration, who he is, to what he does. His Specification, his Character, his Title, <HI>Paracletus, The Comforter,</HI> pa&s;&s;es through all. There|fore our fir&s;t comfort is, <HI>Docebimur,</HI> we &s;hall be Taught, <HI>He &s;hall teach you;</HI> As we con&s;ider our &s;elves, The Di&s;ciples of the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;o it is a meere teaching, for, we, in our &s;elves are meerly ignorant; But wen we con&s;ider the things we are to bee taught, &s;o it is but a remembring, a refre&s;hing of tho&s;e things, which Chri&s;t in the time of his conver&s;ation in this world, had taught before; <HI>He &s;hall bring all things to your re|membrance, what&s;oever I have &s;aid unto you.</HI> The&s;e two then, The comfort in the Action, (we &s;hall be Taught) and the comfort in the Way and Manner, (we &s;hall not be &s;ubject to new Doctrines, but taught by remembring, by e&s;tabli&s;hing us in things formerly Fun|damentally laid) will be our two parts at this time. And in each of the&s;e, the&s;e our &s;teps; Fir&s;t. in the fir&s;t we &s;hall con&s;ider the per&s;ons, that is, the Di&s;ciples, who were to learne; not onely they who were &s;o, when Chri&s;t &s;poke the words, but we, All, who to the end of the world, &s;hall &s;eek and receive knowledge from him; <HI>Vos, ye;</HI> fir&s;t <HI>Vos ignorantes,</HI> you who are naturally ignorant, and know nothing, &s;o as you &s;hould know it of your &s;elves, (which is one Di&s;comfort) And yet, <HI>Vos, ye, Vos appetentes,</HI> you that by nature have a de&s;ire to know, (which is another Di&s;comfort, To have a de&s;ire, and no meanes to performe it) <HI>Vos docebimini,</HI> ye, ye that are ignorant, and know nothing; ye, ye that are hungry of knowledge, and have nothing to &s;atisfie that hunger, ye &s;hall be fed, ye &s;hall be taught; (which is one comfort) And then <HI>Ille docebit, He &s;hall teach you,</HI> He, who can|not onely infu&s;e true, and full knowledge in every capacity that he findes, but dilate that capacity where he findes it, yea create it, where he findes none, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> who is not onely A Comforter, but The Comforter, and not onely &s;o, but Comfort it &s;elfe, <HI>He &s;hall teach you;</HI> And in the&s;e we &s;hall determine our fir&s;t Part.</P>
<P>In our &s;econd Part, The Way and Manner of this Teaching, (By bringing to our re|membrance all things what&s;oever Chri&s;t had &s;aid unto us) there is a great largene&s;&s;e, but yet there is a limitation of tho&s;e things which we are to learne of the Holy Gho&s;t; for they are <HI>Omnia,</HI> All things what&s;oever Chri&s;t hath taught before; But then, <HI>Sola ea,</HI> Only tho&s;e things which Chri&s;t had taught before, and not new Additaments in the name of the Holy Gho&s;t. Now this largene&s;&s;e extending it &s;elf to the whole body of the Chri&s;tian Religion, (for Chri&s;t taught all that) all that being not reducible to that part of an houre, which will be left for this exerci&s;e, as fitte&s;t for the celebration of the day in which we arenow, we &s;hall binde our &s;elves to that particular con&s;ideration, what the Holy Gho&s;t, being come from the Father, in Chri&s;ts Name, that is, Pur&s;uing Chri&s;ts Doctrine, hath taught us of Him&s;elfe, concerning Him&s;elfe; That &s;o ye may fir&s;t &s;ee &s;ome in&s;olencies and injuries offered to the Holy Gho&s;t by &s;ome ancient Heretiques, and &s;ome of later times, by the Church of Rome; For, truly, it is hard to name, or to imagine any one &s;in, nearer to that emphaticall &s;in, that &s;uperlative &s;in, The &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, then &s;ome offers of Doctrines, concerning the Holy Gho&s;t, that have been obtruded, though not e&s;tabli&s;hed, and &s;ome that have beene ab&s;olutely e&s;tabli&s;hed in that Church.
<PB N="287" REF="161">And when we &s;hall have delivered the Holy Gho&s;t out of their hands, we &s;hall al&s;o de|liver him into yours, &s;o as that you may feele him to &s;hed him&s;elfe upon you all here, and to accompany you all home, with a holy peace, and in a ble&s;&s;ed calme, in te&s;tifying to your &s;oules, that He, that Comforter, who is the holy Gho&s;t, whom the Father hath &s;ent in his Sons name, hath taught you all things, that is, awakened your memories, to the con&s;ideration of all that is nece&s;&s;ary to your pre&s;ent e&s;tabli&s;hment. And to the&s;e di|vers particulars, which thus con&s;titute our two generall parts, in their order thus propo|&s;ed, we &s;hall now proceed.</P>
<P>As when our Saviour Chri&s;t received that confe&s;&s;ion of all the Di&s;ciples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> in the mouth of S. <HI>Peter, Thou art Chri&s;t, the Son of the living God,</HI> Chri&s;t replied thereunto &s;ome things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.18.</NOTE> which had a more &s;peciall, and a more per&s;onall re&s;pect to <HI>Peter,</HI> then to the re&s;t, yet were intended of the re&s;t too; &s;o when Chri&s;t in this text, promi&s;es the Comforter, he does that mo&s;t immediately, and mo&s;t per&s;onally to them, to whom he then &s;poke, but he in|tends it to us al&s;o, and the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall teach us: us, that are in our &s;elves Ignorant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignorantes.</NOTE> which is our fir&s;t Di&s;comfort. The Schooles have made &s;o many Divi&s;ions, and &s;ub-di|vi&s;ions, and re-devi&s;ions, and po&s;t-divi&s;ions of Ignorance, that there goes as much learn|ing to under&s;tand ignorance, as knowleg. One, much elder then al they, &amp; elder (as &s;ome will have it) then any but &s;ome of the fir&s;t Secretaries of the Holy Gho&s;t in the Bible, that is <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> hath &s;aid as much as all, <HI>Nequitia animae Ignorantia,</HI> Ignorance is not onely the drou&s;ine&s;&s;e, the &s;illine&s;&s;e, but the wickedne&s;&s;e of the &s;oule: Not onely di&s;-e&s;ti|mation in this world, and damnification here, but damnation in the next world, proceeds from ignorance. And yet, here in this world, knowledge is but as the earth, and ignorance as the Sea; there is more &s;ea then earth, more ignorance then knowledge; and as if the &s;ea do gaine in one place, it lo&s;es in another, &s;o is it with knowledge too; if new things be found out, as many, and as good, that were knowne before, are forgotten and lo&s;t. What Anatomi&s;t knowes the body of man thorowly, or what Ca&s;ui&s;t the &s;oule? What Politician knowes the di&s;temper of the State thorowly; or what Ma&s;ter, the di&s;orders of his owne family? Princes glory <HI>in Arcanis,</HI> that they have &s;ecrets which no man &s;hall know, and, God knowes, they have hearts which they know not them&s;elves; Thoughts and purpo&s;es indige&s;ted fall upon them and &s;urpri&s;e them. It is &s;o in naturall, in morall, in civill things; we are ignorant of more things then we know; And it is &s;o in divine and &s;upernaturall things too; for, for them, the Scripture is our onely light, and of the Scripture, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> profe&s;&s;es, <HI>Plur a &s;e ne&s;cire quam &s;cire,</HI> That there are more places of Scripture, that he does not, then that he does under&s;tand.</P>
<P>Hell is darkne&s;&s;e; &amp; the way to it, is the cloud of Ignorance; hell it &s;elf is but conden&s;ed Ignorance, multiplied Ignorance. To that, <HI>David</HI> a&s;cribes all the di&s;tempers of the world, <HI>They doe not know, neither will they under&s;tand, they walke on in darkne&s;&s;e;</HI> and therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 82.5.</NOTE> (as he adds there) <HI>All the foundations of all the earth are out of cour&s;e.</HI> He that had made the mo&s;t ab&s;olute conque&s;t of Ignorance in this world, <HI>Solomon,</HI> is the be&s;t Judge of it, the be&s;t Coun&s;ellor again&s;t it; and he &s;aies, <HI>As thou knowe&s;t not how thy bones grew in thy Mo|ther,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 11.5.</NOTE> <HI>even &s;o thou knowe&s;t not the works of God, who worketh all.</HI> We are all equally Ignorant of all, of naturall, of &s;pirituall things. What though? This; <HI>That man knoweth not his time,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 9.12.</NOTE> <HI>but is &s;nared in an evill time,</HI> If he knew his time, no time would be evill unto him. Yet though he know not the pre&s;ent time, but let that pa&s;&s;e incon&s;iderately, yet if he con&s;i|der the future, he may recover. But he does not that, he cannot doe that;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 10.14.</NOTE> <HI>Man cannot tell what &s;hall be,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Solomon;</HI> But may he not learne? No. <HI>For, who can tell him?</HI> &s;aies he there. <HI>For, he knowes not how to goe to the City;</HI> In vulgar, in triviall things, he is ignorant of his end, and ignorant of his way. <HI>Bene facere ne&s;civerunt,</HI> &s;aies the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 4.22.</NOTE> <HI>They have no knowledge to doe good;</HI> and what followes? <HI>Erube&s;cere ne&s;cierunt, They are not a&s;hamed when they have done evill. Ne&s;ciunt cujus &s;piritus &s;unt;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.15.</NOTE> It was Chri&s;ts increpation upon his owne Di&s;ciples, <HI>They knew not of what &s;pirit they were,</HI> They di&s;cerned not betweene a zealous and a vindicative &s;pirit. <HI>Ne&s;citis quid petatis,</HI> was Chri&s;ts increpation upon his Di&s;ciples too, <HI>You know not what you aske.</HI> And yet this <HI>Nequitia animae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.22.</NOTE> this wickedne&s;&s;e of the &s;oule, this pe&s;tilence of the &s;oule, Ignorance, have men ventured to call The mother of devotion. But mi&s;erable Comforters are they, in re&s;pect of the Comforter, the Holy Gho&s;t: for, as that <HI>Cum perver &s;o perverteris,</HI> is &s;poken of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.27.</NOTE> That God will learne of the froward, to be froward, &s;o God will learne of the ignorant, to be ignorant; ignorant of us; and to tho&s;e that doe not &s;tudy him here, he will &s;ay hereafter, <HI>Ne&s;cio vos, I know
<PB N="288" REF="162">not you.</HI> This then is our fir&s;t di&s;comfort, of our &s;elves we are ignorant; and yet there is a greater vexation then this, that naturally we have a de&s;ire of knowledge, and naturally no meanes to attaine to it.</P>
<P>Ignorance may be &s;aid to worke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Appetentes.</NOTE> as an in-appetency in the &s;tomach, and as an in&s;ipid|ne&s;&s;e, a ta&s;tle&s;ne&s;&s;e in the palate; But the de&s;ire of knowledge, without meanes to attaine to it, is as a hunger in a dearth, or in a wilderne&s;&s;e. Ignorance is a kinde of &s;lumbering, or &s;tupidity, but this de&s;ire without meanes, is a continuall racking, a continuall pre&s;&s;ing; a far greater vexation, and torment; ignorance may work as a Lethargy, but this de&s;ire as a phren&s;ie.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 37.3.</NOTE> <HI>This is the day of trouble,</HI> (&s;aies <HI>Ezechias</HI> in the bitterne&s;&s;e and pa&s;&s;ion of his &s;oule) <HI>and of rebuke, and of bla&s;phemy, for the Children are come to the birth, and there is not &s;trength to bring them forth.</HI> To a barrenne&s;&s;e, that is, never to have conceived, there be|longed, among&s;t that people, a kind of &s;hame and contempt, (and that is our ca&s;e in igno|norance, which is the barrenne&s;s of the &s;oule) But to come to the throwes of Childbirth, and then not to have &s;trength, or not to have helpe to be delivered, that is the dangerous, that is the deadly torment; and that repre&s;ents our &s;oule, in this de&s;ire of knowledge, without means to attain to it. And yet, this vexation no man can deve&s;t; It is an heredita|ry, a naturall impre&s;&s;ion in man; every man naturally, &s;ayes the Philo&s;opher, de&s;ires to know, to learne. And yet, nature that imprinted that de&s;ire in every man, hath not given every man, not any man, in nature, meanes to &s;atisfie that de&s;ire; for, even by nature man hath a de&s;ire to know &s;upernaturall things. <HI>Solomon</HI> was extended with this de&s;ire of knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 3.11.</NOTE> but he found no &s;atisfaction, till upon petition, and contracting all his de&s;ires into that One,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9.23.</NOTE> he obtained it of God. <HI>Daniel</HI> was <HI>Vir de&s;ideriorum,</HI> A man compo&s;ed of de&s;ires,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 10.2.</NOTE> and of &s;olicitude: He profe&s;&s;es that he mourned three full weekes, He eate no plea&s;ant bread,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE> neither came fle&s;h or wine into his mouth, nor oyle upon his body; His comline&s;&s;e was turned into corruption, and he retained no &s;trength, till God by his An|gel &s;atisfied his de&s;ire of knowledge. Con&s;ider the anxiety and torture, under which that Eunuch was in the Chariot,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8.</NOTE> till he was taught the meaning of the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay.</HI> And con&s;ider the way that God tooke; God &s;ent an Angel, and that Angel &s;ent <HI>Philip</HI> to him. In&s;truction is from God, but yet by the Mini&s;tery of man, <HI>Philip</HI> askes him, <HI>Doe&s;t thou under&s;tand?</HI> He would have a confe&s;&s;ion of his impotency from him&s;elfe. Alas, <HI>How can I,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>except &s;ome man &s;houldguide me?</HI> And <HI>Philip</HI> guides him; and then how &s;oone he comes to that holy cheerefulne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 36.</NOTE> and dilatation of the &s;oule, <HI>I beleeve that Ie&s;us is the Son of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> and, <HI>See, here is water, what doth hinder me, that I be baptized? Nec &s;anctior &s;um hoc Eunucho, nec &s;tudio&s;ior,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Hierom</HI> of him&s;elfe; I cannot have more de&s;ire to learne then he had; yet, in my &s;elf, I have no more meanes neither; and there|fore mu&s;t be under the &s;ame paine, till the &s;ame hand, the hand of God relieve me. The &s;oule of man cannot bee con&s;idered under a thicker cloud, then Ignorance, nor under a heavier weight, then de&s;ire of knowledge. And therefore, for our deliverance in both, our Saviour Chri&s;t here comforts us with <HI>The Comforter;</HI> you, you that are in the darkne&s;&s;e of Ignorance, you, you that are under the oppre&s;&s;ion of a hunger of know|ledge, you &s;hall be &s;atisfied, for, He that comes from my Father, in my name, <HI>He &s;hall teach you.</HI></P>
<P>That which the Vulgat reads,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Doeebit.</NOTE> Eccle&s;. 6.9. <HI>De&s;ider are quod ne&s;cias, To de&s;ire to know that which thou knowe&s;t not yet,</HI> our Tran&s;lation cals, <HI>The wandring of the de&s;ire,</HI> and in the Originall it is, <HI>The walking, the pilgrimage of the Soule;</HI> the re&s;t le&s;ne&s;&s;e, and irre&s;olution of the Soule. And when man is taught that which he de&s;ired to know, then the Soule is brought home, and laid to re&s;t. De&s;ire is the travaile, knowledge is the Inne; de&s;ire is the wheele, knowledge is the bed of the Soule. Therefore we affect &s;ociety and conver|&s;ation to know pre&s;ent things; Therefore wee a&s;&s;i&s;t our &s;elves with Hi&s;tory, to know things pa&s;t, and with A&s;trology, and &s;ometimes with wor&s;e Arts, to know future things. The name of Ma&s;ter, of Teacher, that pa&s;&s;es through the Scripture, is <HI>Rabbi,</HI> and <HI>Rabbi</HI> in the roote thereof &s;ignifies, <HI>Magnum,</HI> and <HI>Multum;</HI> It is a word that denotes Great|ne&s;&s;e; And truly no man &s;hould be greater in our eyes, nor be thought to have laid grea|ter obligations upon us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 19.20.</NOTE> then he that hath taught us. When Chri&s;t is promi&s;ed thus, <HI>The Lord &s;hall &s;end them a Saviour, and a Great one,</HI> there is this word <HI>Rabbi:</HI> The Lord &s;hall &s;end them a Saviour, which &s;hall be <HI>Rabbi</HI> a great Teacher; Chri&s;t was a Saviour, as he paid God a ran&s;ome for all; As he made man capable of this Salvation, he was this <HI>Rabbi,</HI> this Teacher; and in this capacity, did tho&s;e two Di&s;ciples of <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> who fir&s;t ap|plied
<PB N="289" REF="162">them&s;elves to Chri&s;t, apply them&s;elves, <HI>Magi&s;ter ubi habitas? Ma&s;ter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.38.</NOTE> <HI>where dwelle&s;t thou?</HI> where may we come to School to thee? where may we be taught by thee? S. <HI>Paul</HI> hath &s;hewed us the duty of all true di&s;ciples, in the practi&s;e of the Galati|ans; <HI>You received me as an Angel of God, even as Chri&s;t Ie&s;us, and I beare you record,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.14.</NOTE> <HI>that if it had been po&s;sible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.</HI> I thank him that brings me a candle, when it grows dark, and him that a&s;&s;i&s;ts me with a &s;pectacle, when my &s;ight grows old; But to him that hath given the eyes of my &s;oul, light and &s;pectacles, how much a greater debtor am I? I will not di&s;pute again&s;t nature, nor naturall affections, nor di&s;pute again&s;t Allegeance, nor civill obligations, nor di&s;pute again&s;t gratitude, nor retribution of Benefits; But I willingly pronounce, that I cannot owe more to any Benefactor, to my Father, to my Prince, then I do to them that have taught me; nor can there be a deeper ingratitude, then to turn thy face from that man, or from his children, that hath taught thee. This Chri&s;t pre&s;ents for the fir&s;t Comfort, <HI>Doccbimini,</HI> You are ignorant, but that cloud &s;hall be di&s;per&s;ed, you would learne, but have no help, but that defect &s;hall be &s;upplyed, you &s;hall be taught: And then, this com|fort &s;hall be exalted to you, in the per&s;on of the Teacher, <HI>Ille docebit,</HI> He whom the Fa|ther will &s;end in my name, <HI>He &s;hall teach you.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Quintilian</HI> requires no more of a School-ma&s;ter, but that either he be learned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ille.</NOTE> or doe not think him&s;elf to be &s;o, if he be not: Becau&s;e if he over-value him&s;elf, he will admit no U&s;her, no a&s;&s;i&s;tant. Here we have a ma&s;ter that is both ab&s;olute in him&s;elf, and yet under|taken for by others too; The Father &s;ends him, and in the Sons name, that is, to perfect the Sons work. <HI>Tertullian</HI> (a man of adventurous language) calls him <HI>Tertium numen divi|nitatis, &amp; tertium nomen maje&s;tatis:</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t hath but a third place, but the &s;ame God-head, but a third name, yet the &s;ame Maje&s;ty, as the fir&s;t, The Father, or the &s;econd, The Son. <HI>Porphyry</HI> that denied the Trinity, is convinced by S. <HI>Cyril,</HI> to have e&s;tabli&s;hed a Trinity, becau&s;e he acknowledged fir&s;t <HI>Deum &s;ummum,</HI> and then, <HI>Conditorem omnium,</HI> and after them, <HI>Animam mundi;</HI> One that is a &s;upream God, One that was the Creator of all things, and One that quickens and inanimates all, and is the &s;oul of the whole world: And this &s;oul of the world is the Holy Gho&s;t, who doth that office to the &s;oule of every Chri&s;tian, which the &s;oul it &s;elf doth to every naturall man, informes him, di|rects him, in&s;tructs him, makes him be that he is, and do that he doth. And therefore as <HI>Tertullian</HI> cals Chri&s;t by the Holy Gho&s;ts name, (for he calls Chri&s;t <HI>Spiritum Dei,</HI> be|cau&s;e, as the office of our &s;pirits is to unite the body and the &s;oul, &s;o Chri&s;t hath united God and man in one <HI>Emanuel</HI>) S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> gives the Holy Gho&s;t Chri&s;ts name, for he calls the Holy Gho&s;t <HI>Verbum Dei,</HI> The word of God, becau&s;e he undertakes the Pedagogy of the &s;oul, to be the &s;oules School-ma&s;ter, and to teach it as much of God as concernes it, that is, Chri&s;t crucified. Therefore when the Holy Gho&s;t was fir&s;t &s;ent, he was &s;ent but to te&s;tifie of Chri&s;t; At Chri&s;ts Bapti&s;me (which was his fir&s;t &s;ending) he was &s;ent but to e&s;tabli&s;h an a&s;&s;urance, and a beliefe, that that Chri&s;t was the Son of God, in whom he was well plea&s;ed; And this he did but as a witne&s;&s;e, not as a Teacher; for the voice that wrought this, and taught this, came not from the Dove, not from the Holy Gho&s;t, but from above; The Holy Gho&s;t &s;aid nothing then. But when the Holy Gho&s;t in per|formance of Chri&s;ts promi&s;e in this Text, was &s;ent as a Teacher, then he came in the form of Tongues, and they that received him, were thereby pre&s;ently enabled to &s;peak to others.</P>
<P>This therefore is the comming, and this is the teaching of the Holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.3.</NOTE> promi&s;ed and intended in this Text, and performed upon this Day, that he by his power enables and authori&s;es other men to teach thee; That he e&s;tabli&s;hes a Church, and Ordinances, and a Mini&s;tery, by which thou mai&s;t be taught how to apply Chri&s;ts Merits to thy &s;oul. He needed not to have inve&s;ted, and taken the form of a Tongue, if he would have had thee think it enough to heare the Spirit at home, alone; but to let thee &s;ee, that his way of teaching &s;hould be the mini&s;tery of men, he came in that organ of &s;peech, the Tongue. And therefore learn thou by hearing, what he &s;ayes: And that that he &s;ayes, he &s;ayes here; here in his Ordinance. And therefore heare what he hath declared, inquire not what he hath decreed; Heare what he hath &s;aid, there, where he hath &s;poken, ask not what he meant in his unrevealed will, of things whereof he hath &s;aid nothing; For they that do &s;o, mi&s;take Gods minde often. God prote&s;ts, <HI>It never came into my minde, that they &s;hould &s;in thus;</HI> God never did it, God never meant it, that any &s;hould &s;in nece&s;&s;arily,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 32.35.</NOTE>
<PB N="290" REF="163">without a willing concurrence in them&s;elves, or be damned nece&s;&s;arily, without relation to &s;in willingly committed. Therefore is S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> vehement in that expo&s;tulation, <HI>Quis tam &s;tult&egrave; curio&s;us e&s;t, qui filium &s;uum mittat in &s;cholam, ut quid magi&s;ter cogitat, di&s;cat?</HI> Doth any man put his &s;on to &s;choole, to learn what his Ma&s;ter thinks? The Holy Gho&s;t is &s;ent to Teach; he teaches by &s;peaking; he &s;peaks by his Ordinance, and In&s;titution in his Church. All knowledge, and all zeale, that is not kindled by him, by the Holy Gho&s;t, and kindled here, at fir&s;t is all &s;moke, and then all flame; Zeale without the Ho|ly Gho&s;t, is at fir&s;t, cloudy ignorance, all &s;moke; and after, all crackling and clamber|ing flame, Schi&s;maticall rage, and di&s;temper. Here we, we that are naturally ignorant, we, we that are naturally hungry of knowledge, are taught, a free Schoole is opened un|to us, and taught by him, by the Holy Gho&s;t &s;peaking in his Delegates, in his Mini&s;ters; (which were the pieces that con&s;tituted our fir&s;t part) And the &s;econd, to which we are now come, is the manner of the Holy Gho&s;ts comming, and teaching in his Ordinance, that is, by remembring, <HI>He &s;hall bring to your remembrance, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>They had wont to call Pictures in the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Remini|&s;centia.</HI></NOTE> the lay-mans book, becau&s;e in them, he that could not reade at all, might reade much. The ignorante&s;t man that is, even he that cannot reade a Picture, even a blinde man, hath a better book in him&s;elf; In his own memory he may reade many a hi&s;tory of Gods goodne&s;&s;e to him. <HI>Quid ab initio,</HI> How it was in the beginning, is Chri&s;ts Method; To determine things according to former precedents; And truly the Memory is oftner the Holy Gho&s;ts Pulpit that he preaches in, then the Under&s;tanding. How many here would not under&s;tand me, or not re&s;t in that which they heard, if I &s;hould &s;pend the re&s;t of this houre in repeating, and reconci|ling that which divers authors have &s;poken diver&s;ly of the manner of Chri&s;ts pre&s;ence in the Sacrament, or the manner of Chri&s;ts de&s;cent into Hell, or the manner of the con|currence, and joynt-working of the grace of God, and the free-will of man, in mens acti|ons? But is there any man among&s;t us that is not capable of this Catechi&s;me, Remem|ber to morrow but tho&s;e good thoughts which you have had within this houre, &s;ince you came hither now: Remember at your la&s;t houre, to be but as good as you are this minute; I would &s;carce ask more in any mans behalf, then that he would alwayes be as good, as at &s;ome times he is; If he would never &s;ink below him&s;elf, I would le&s;&s;e care, though he did not exceed him&s;elf: If he would remember his own holy purpo&s;es at be&s;t, he would never forget God; If he would remember the comfort he had in having overcome &s;uch a tentation ye&s;terday, he would not be overcome by that tentation to day. The Memory is as the conclu&s;ion of a Syllogi&s;me, which being inferred upon true propo&s;itions, cannot be denied: He that remembers Gods former ble&s;&s;ings, concludes infallibly upon his future. Therefore Chri&s;t places the comfort of this Comforter, the Holy Gho&s;t, in this, that he &s;hall work upon that pregnant faculty, the Memory; <HI>He &s;hall bring things to your remembrance;</HI> And then, <HI>Omnia, All tho&s;e things which I have &s;aid unto you.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;t gave the Holy Gho&s;t to the Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Omnia.</HI> Mat. 18.18. John 20.22. John 15.15.</NOTE> when he gave them the power of ab&s;o|lution in his life time. He gave them the Holy Gho&s;t more powerfully, when after his Re&s;urrection,<HI>He breathed on them, and &s;aid, Receive ye the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> He opened him|&s;elf to them, in a large fulne&s;&s;e, when he &s;aid, <HI>All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made knowen unto you;</HI> But in a greater largene&s;&s;e then that, when upon this day, according to the promi&s;e of this Text, the holy Gho&s;t was &s;ent unto them; for this was in the behalf of others. And upon this fulne&s;&s;e, out of <HI>Tertullian</HI> it is argued, <HI>Nihiligno|rarunt, crgo nihil non docuerunt,</HI> As the Apo&s;tles were taught all things by Chri&s;t, &s;o they taught the Church all things. There is then the &s;pheare, and the compa&s;&s;e, and the date of our knowledge; not what was thought or taught in the tenth, or fourteenth Century: but what was taught in Chri&s;t, and in the Apo&s;tles time. Chri&s;t taught all things to his Apo&s;tles, and the Holy Gho&s;t brought all things to their remembrance that he had taught them, that they might teach them to others, and &s;o it is derived to us.</P>
<P>But it is <HI>Omnia &amp; Sola;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sola.</HI> John 15.26.</NOTE> It is All, but it is Only tho&s;e things. <HI>He &s;hall te&s;tifie of me,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t concerning the Holy Gho&s;t; Now the office of him that te&s;tifies, of a wit|ne&s;&s;e, is to &s;ay all the truth, but nothing but the truth. When the Romane Church charges us, not that all is not truth, which we teach, but that we do not teach all the truth, And we charge them, not that they do not teach all the truth, but that all is not truth that they teach, &s;o that they charge us with a defective, we them with a &s;uperfluous
<PB N="291" REF="163">religion, our ca&s;e is the &s;afer, becau&s;e all that we affirm, is by confe&s;&s;ion of all parts true, but that which they have added, requires proofe, and the proofe lies on their &s;ide; and it re&s;ts yet unproved. And certainly many an Indian, who is begun to be catechized, and dies, is &s;aved, before he come to beleeve all that we beleeve; But whether any be &s;aved that beleeve more then we beleeve, and beleeve it as equally fundamentall, and equally nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, with that which we from the expre&s;&s;e word of God do beleeve, is a Probleme, not ea&s;ily an&s;wered, not &s;afely affirmed. Truly I had rather put my &s;al|vation upon &s;ome of tho&s;e ancient Creeds, which want &s;ome of the Articles of our Creed, (as the <HI>Nicene</HI> Creed doth, and &s;o doth <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI>) then upon the <HI>Trent</HI> Creed, that hath as many more Articles as ours hath. The office of the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elf, the Spirit of all comfort, is but to bring tho&s;e things to remembrance, which Chri&s;t taught, and no more.</P>
<P>They are many; too many, for many revolutions of an houre-gla&s;&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spiritus Sanctus.</NOTE> Therefore wee propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, That when we &s;hould come to this Branch, for the proper celebration of the day, we would only touch &s;ome things, which the Holy Gho&s;t had taught of him|&s;elf, that &s;o we might detect, and dete&s;t &s;uch things, as &s;ome ancient, and &s;ome later He|retiques had &s;aid of the Holy Gho&s;t. Now tho&s;e things which the ancient Heretiques have &s;aid, are &s;ufficiently gain-&s;aid by the ancient Fathers. The Montani&s;ts &s;aid the Holy Gho&s;t was in Chri&s;t, and in the Apo&s;tles, but in a farre higher exaltation in <HI>Montanus,</HI> then in either; but <HI>Tertullian</HI> oppo&s;ed that. <HI>Manes</HI> was more in&s;olent then the <HI>Monta|ni&s;t,</HI> for he avowed him&s;elfe to be the Holy Gho&s;t, and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> overthrew that. <HI>Hierarchas</HI> was more mode&s;t then &s;o, and did but &s;ay, That <HI>Melchi&s;edech</HI> was the Holy Gho&s;t, and S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> would not indure that. The <HI>Arrians</HI> &s;aid the Holy Gho&s;t was but <HI>Creatura Creaturae,</HI> made by the Son, which Son him&s;elfe was but made in time, and not eternally begotten by the Father; but <HI>Liberius,</HI> and many of the Fathers oppo&s;ed that; as a whole generall Councell did <HI>Macedonius,</HI> when he refre&s;hed many Errours formerly condemned, concerning the Holy Gho&s;t; and few of the&s;e have had any Re|&s;urrection, any repulullation, or appeared again in the&s;e later daies. But in the&s;e later times, two new Herefies have ari&s;en concerning the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>About foure hundred yeares &s;ince,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Euangelium Spiritus Sancti.</NOTE> came out that famous infamous Booke in the Ro|man Church, which they called <HI>Euangelium Spiritus Sancti, The Go&s;pel of the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> in which, was pretended, That as God the Father had had his time in the government of the Church, in the Law, And God the Son his time, in the Go&s;pel, &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t was to have his time; and his time was to begin within fifty yeares after the publi&s;hing of that Go&s;pel, and to la&s;t to the end of the world; and therefore it was called <HI>Euangeli|um aeternum,</HI> The everla&s;ting Go&s;pel. By this Go&s;pel, the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t was ab&s;o|lutely abrogated, and the power of governing the Church, according to the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, utterly evacuated; for, it was therein taught, that onely the literall &s;en&s;e of the Go&s;pel had been committed to them, who had thus long governed in the name of the Church, but the &s;pirituall and my&s;ticall &s;en&s;e was re&s;erved to the Holy Gho&s;t, and that now the Holy Gho&s;t would &s;et that on foot: And &s;o, (which was the principall inten|tion in that plot) they would have brought all Doctrine, and all Di&s;cipline, all Govern|ment into the Cloy&s;ter, into their religious Orders, and overthrown the Hierarchy of the Church, of Bi&s;hops, and Prie&s;ts, and Deacons, and Cathedrall and Collegiate Churches, and brought all into Mona&s;teries. He that fir&s;t oppo&s;ed this Book was <HI>Waldo,</HI> hee that gave the name to that great Body, that great power of Men, who attempted the Reforma|tion of the Church, and were called the <HI>Walden&s;es,</HI> who were e&s;pecially defamed, and e&s;pecially per&s;ecuted for this, that they put them&s;elves in the gap, and made them&s;elves a Bank, again&s;t this torrent, this inundation, this impetuou&s;ne&s;&s;e, this multiplicy of Fry|ars, and Monks, that &s;urrounded the world in tho&s;e times. And when this Book could not be di&s;&s;embled, and being full of bla&s;phemy again&s;t Chri&s;t, was nece&s;&s;arily brought into agitation, yet all that was done by them, who had the government of the Church in their hands then, was but this, That this Book, this Go&s;pel of the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hould be &s;uppre&s;&s;ed and &s;mothered, but without any noy&s;e, or di&s;credit; and the Booke which was writ again&s;t it, &s;hould be &s;olemnly, publiquely, infamou&s;ly burnt. And &s;o they kindled a Warre in Heaven, greater then that in the <HI>Revelation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.7.</NOTE> where <HI>Michael</HI> and his Angels fought again&s;t the Dragon, and his Angels; For, here they brought God the Son into the field, again&s;t God the Holy Gho&s;t, and made the Holy Gho&s;t deve&s;t, de|throne,
<PB N="292" REF="164">di&s;&s;ei&s;e, and di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the Sonne of his Government.</P>
<P>Now when they could not advance that Here&s;ie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Scrinium pectoris.</NOTE> when they could not bring the Holy Gho&s;t to that greatne&s;&s;e, when they could not make him King to their purpo&s;es, that is, King over Chri&s;t, They are come to an Here&s;ie cleane contrary to that Here&s;ie, that is, to impri&s;on the Holy Gho&s;t, And &s;ince they could not make him King over Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, they have made him a Pri&s;oner, and a flave to Chri&s;ts Vicar, and &s;hut him up there, <HI>In &s;crinio pectoris,</HI> (as they call it) in that clo&s;e impri&s;onment, in the brea&s;t and bo|&s;ome of one man, that Bi&s;hop: And &s;o, the Holy Gho&s;t is no longer a Dove, a Dove in the Ark, a Dove with an Olive-Branch, a Me&s;&s;enger of peace, but now the Holy Gho&s;t is in a Bull, in Buls wor&s;e then <HI>Phalaris</HI> his Bull, Buls of Excommunication, Buls of Re|bellion, and Depo&s;ition, and A&s;&s;a&s;&s;inates of Chri&s;tian Princes. The Holy Gho&s;t is no lon|ger Omni-pre&s;ent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.7.</NOTE> as in <HI>Davids</HI> time, <HI>(Whither &s;hall I goefrom thy Spirit?)</HI> but he is onely there, whither he &s;hall be &s;ent from Rome in a Cloak-bagge, and upon a Po&s;t-hor&s;e, as it was often complained in the Councell of Trent. The Holy Gho&s;t is no longer Omni|&s;cient, to know all at once,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.10..</NOTE> as in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> time, when <HI>the Spirit of God &s;earched all things, yea the deep things of God,</HI> but as a Sea-Captaine receives a Ticket, to be opened when he comes to &s;uch a height, and thereby to direct his future cour&s;e, &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t is ap|pointed to aske the Popes <HI>Nuntio,</HI> his Legate, what he &s;hall declare to be truth. So the Holy Gho&s;t was &s;ent into this Kingdome, by <HI>Leo</HI> the tenth, with his Legate, that brought the Bull of Declaration for <HI>Hcnry</HI> the eights Divorce; but the Holy Gho&s;t might not know of it, that is, not take knowledge of it, not declare it to be a Divorce, till &s;ome other conditions were performed by the King, which being never performed, the Holy Gho&s;t remained in the ca&s;e of a new created Cardinall, <HI>Ore clau&s;o,</HI> he had novoyce; and &s;o the Divorce, though pa&s;t all debatements, and all con&s;ents, and all determinati|ons at <HI>Rome,</HI> was no Divorce, becau&s;e he that &s;ent the Holy Gho&s;t from <HI>Rome,</HI> forbad him to publi&s;h and declare it. So that the &s;tyle of the Court is altered from the Apo&s;tles time;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 15.28.</NOTE> Then it was, <HI>Vi&s;um e&s;t Spiritui Sancto, &amp; nobis, It &s;eemed good to the Holy Gho&s;t, and to us;</HI> Fir&s;t to the Holy Gho&s;t, before others; and when it is brought to others, it is to us, to others in the plurall, to many others. But now it is <HI>Vi&s;um e&s;t mihi, &amp; Spiritui Sancto,</HI> It &s;eemes good unto me, to one man alone; and when it does &s;o, it &s;hall &s;eeme good to the Holy Gho&s;t too. And of the&s;e two Hereticall violences to the Holy Gho&s;t, we complaine again&s;t that Church, fir&s;t, that they put the Holy Gho&s;t in a Rebellion again&s;t the Son of God, from whom he proceeds; And then, (as for the mo&s;t part, the end of them, who pretend right to a Kingdome, and cannot prove it, is to lie in Pri&s;on) That they have impri&s;oned the Holy Gho&s;t in one mans brea&s;t, and not &s;uffered that winde to breathe where it will, as Chri&s;t promi&s;ed the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hould doe: For nei|ther did the Holy Gho&s;t bring any &s;uch thing to their remembrance, as though Chri&s;t had taught any &s;uch Doctrine, neither can they that teach it, come nearer the &s;in, The unpardonable &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, then thus to make him a &s;upplanter of Chri&s;t, or &s;upplanted by Antichri&s;t.</P>
<P>But we hold you no longer in this ill Aire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chari&s;mata Spiritus.</NOTE> bla&s;phemous and irk&s;ome contumelies again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t: we promi&s;ed at fir&s;t, to di&s;mi&s;&s;e you at la&s;t, in a perfume, with the breath of the Holy Gho&s;t upon you; and that is, to excite you to a rectified &s;en&s;e, and knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> that he offers him&s;elfe unto you, and is received by you. <HI>Facies Dei e&s;t, qua nobis innote&s;cit;</HI> That is alwaies the face of God to us, by which God vouch&s;afes to manife&s;t him&s;elfe to us: So, his Ordinance in the Church, is his face. And <HI>Lux Dei, qua nobis illuce&s;cit,</HI> The light of God to us, is that light by which he &s;hines upon us; <HI>Lex Dei, Lux Dei,</HI> his word, in his Church. And then, the Evidence, the Seale, the Witne&s;&s;e of all, that this face which I &s;ee by this light, is directed upon me for my comfort, is, The Te&s;timony of the Holy Gho&s;t, when that Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with our &s;pirit, that he is in us. And therefore in his ble&s;&s;ed Name, and in the participation of his power, I &s;ay to you all, <HI>Accipite Spiritum &s;anctum,</HI> Receive ye the holy Gho&s;t. Not that I can give it you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 3.5.</NOTE> but I can tell you, that he offers to give him&s;elfe to you all. <HI>Our &s;ufficiency is of God,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; Acknowledge you a &s;ufficiency in us, a &s;ufficient power to be in the Mini&s;tery; for, (as the Apo&s;tle addes) <HI>He hath made us able Mini&s;ters of the New Te&s;ta|ment:</HI> Not able onely in faculties and gifts requi&s;ite for that function, (tho&s;e faculties and gifts, whether of nature, or of acqui&s;ition, be, in as great mea&s;ure, in &s;ome that have not that function) but able, by his powerfull Ordinance, (as it is al&s;o added there) to mini&s;ter,
<PB N="293" REF="164">not <HI>the letter,</HI> (not the letter onely) but <HI>The Spirit,</HI> the Spirit of the New Te&s;tament, that is, the holy Gho&s;t to you. Therefore as God &s;aid to <HI>Mo&s;es, I will come downe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.17</NOTE> <HI>and talk with thee, and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and put it upon them,</HI> God, in his Spirit does come downe to us in his Mini&s;tery, and talke with us, his Mini&s;ters at home, that is, a&s;&s;i&s;t us in our Meditations, and lucubrations, and preparations, for this &s;ervice here, and then, here, in this place, he takes of that Spirit from us, and &s;heds upon you, imparts the gifts of the holy Gho&s;t to you al&s;o, and makes the holy Gho&s;t as much yours, by your hearing, as he made him ours, by our &s;tudy: Be not deceived by the letter, by the phra&s;e of that place; God does not &s;ay there, that he will take of the Spirit from us, and give it you, that is, fill you with it, and leave us without it; but he will take of that Spirit, that is, impart that Spirit &s;o to you, as that by us, and our pre&s;ent Mini&s;tery, he will give you that that &s;hall be &s;ufficient for you, to day, and yet call you to us againe in his Ordinance, another day. Learne as much as you can every day, and never thinke that you have learnt &s;o much, as that you have no more need of a Teacher; for though you need no more of that man, (you may be perchance as learned as he) yet you need more of that Ordinance: We give you the holy Gho&s;t then, when we open your eyes to &s;ee his offers.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e words of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Our &s;elves have the fir&s;t fruits of the Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.23.</NOTE> S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> interprets &s;o, <HI>Our &s;elves,</HI> we the Mini&s;ters of God, <HI>have the fir&s;t fruits of the Spirit,</HI> the pre-po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, the pre-inhabitation, but not the &s;ole po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, nor &s;ole inhabitation of the Holy Gho&s;t; but we have grace for grace, the Spirit therefore, to &s;hed the Spirit upon you; that <HI>that precious Oyntment,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 133.2.</NOTE> (the Holy Gho&s;t is this Unction) which was poured upon the <HI>Head,</HI> upon Chri&s;t, may run downe, upon <HI>Aarons beard,</HI> and from tho&s;e gray, and grave, and reverend haires of his Mini&s;ters, may al&s;o go downe to the <HI>skirts of his garments,</HI> to every one of you, who doe not onely make up the garment, that is, the vi&s;ible, but the my&s;ticall body it &s;elfe of Chri&s;t Je&s;us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> The dew of Hermon de&s;cends upon the mountaines of Sion; But the waters that fall upon the mountaines, fall into the valleyes too from thence; The Holy Gho&s;t fals, through us, upon you al&s;o, &s;o, as that you may, &s;o, as that you mu&s;t finde it in your &s;elves. The Holy Gho&s;t was the fir&s;t Per&s;on, that was declared in the Creation, <HI>The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.2.</NOTE> that was the fir&s;t motion. <HI>This is eternall life, to know God, and him whom he &s;ent, Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI> But this you cannot doe, but by him whom they both &s;ent, the Holy Gho&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>No man can &s;ay, that Ie&s;us is the Lord, but by the Holy Gho&s;t. Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> who was to baptize Chri&s;t, was filled with the holy Gho&s;t from the wombe. You, who were baptized in Chri&s;t, were filled, (in your mea&s;ure) with the holy Gho&s;t, from that wombe, from the time that the Church conceived you in Bapti&s;me.</P>
<P>And therefore, as the Twelve &s;aid to the multitude,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 6.3.</NOTE> <HI>Looke yee among ye &s;even men full of the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> So we &s;ay to the whole Congregation, Looke every man to him&s;elfe, that he be one of the &s;even, one of that infinite number, which the holy Gho&s;t offers to fall upon; That as ye were baptized in the holy Gho&s;t, and as your bodies are Temples of the holy Gho&s;t, &s;o your &s;oules may be Prie&s;ts of the holy Gho&s;t, and you, altogether a lively and rea&s;onable &s;acrifice to God, in the holy Gho&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1.13.</NOTE> That as you have beene <HI>&s;ealed with the holy Spirit of promi&s;e,</HI> you may finde in your &s;elves the performance of that pro|mi&s;e, finde the &s;eale of that promi&s;e, in your love to the Scriptures; for, (as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> argues u&s;efully) Chri&s;t gave the Apo&s;tles no Scriptures, but he gave them the holy Gho&s;t in &s;tead of Scriptures; But to us, who are weaker, hee hath given both, The holy Gho&s;t in the Scriptures; and, if we neglect either, we have neither; If we tru&s;t to a pri|vate &s;pirit, and call that the holy Gho&s;t, without Scripture, or to the Scriptures without the holy Gho&s;t, that is, without him, there, where he hath promi&s;ed to be, in his Ordi|nance, in his Church, we have not the &s;eale of that Promi&s;e, the holy Gho&s;t. Finde then that promi&s;e in your holy love, and &s;ober &s;tudie of the Scriptures, and finde the perfor|mance, the fruits thereof in your conver&s;ation, and then you have an Autumne better then any worldly Spring, A vintage, a gathering of tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed fruits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.22.</NOTE> <HI>The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-&s;uffering, gentlene&s;&s;e, goodne&s;&s;e, faith, meckene&s;&s;e, temperance;</HI> where (by the way) the&s;e are not called &s;everally <HI>the fruits of the Spirit,</HI> as though they were &s;o many &s;everall fruits, which might be had one without another, but collectively, all together, they are called <HI>the fruit;</HI> It is not Love alone, nor Joy alone, no nor Faith alone, that is the fruit of the holy Gho&s;t; Love; but not love alone, but that love, when
<PB N="294" REF="165">betweene the holy Gho&s;t and you, you can joy in that love, and not repent it; Joy, but not joy alone, but that joy, when betweene the holy Gho&s;t and you, you can finde peace in that joy, that you be not the &s;adder after, for having beene &s;o merry before, this, the&s;e, the&s;e and all the re&s;t together are the fruit of the holy Gho&s;t; and therefore labour to have them all, or you lacke all.</P>
<P>And then la&s;tly, as we pur&s;uing Gods Ordinance, have beene able to &s;ay to you <HI>Ac|cipite Spiritum &s;anctum,</HI> Behold the holy Gho&s;t in your &s;elves, behold he appeared to you, when he moved you to come hither, behold he appeared to you, as often as he hath opened the window of the Arke, your hearts, to take in this Dove, this houre, &s;o we may &s;ay unto you, as we &s;ay in the Schoole, There is an infu&s;ion of the holy Gho&s;t; liquor is infu&s;ed into a ve&s;&s;ell, if that ve&s;&s;ell hold it, though it doe but cover the bottome and no more: The holy Gho&s;t is infu&s;ed into you, if he have made any entry, if he cover any part, if he have taken hold of any corrupt affection. There is al&s;o a diffu&s;ion of the holy Gho&s;t; Liquor is diffu&s;ed into a ve&s;&s;ell, when it fils all the parts of the ve&s;&s;ell, and leaves no emp|tine&s;&s;e, no drine&s;s: The holy Gho&s;t is diffu&s;ed into you, if he over&s;pread you, and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e you all, and rectifie all your perver&s;ne&s;&s;es. But then, in the Schoole, we have al&s;o an ef|fu&s;ion of the holy Gho&s;t; And liquor is effu&s;ed then, when it &s;o fils the ve&s;&s;ell, as that that overflowes, to the benefit of them, who will participate thereof. Receive therefore the holy Gho&s;t, &s;o, as that the holy Gho&s;t may overflow, flow from your example, to the edification of others; That you may go home, and &s;ay to your children, receive ye the holy Gho&s;t, in the Spirit of contentment, and acquie&s;cence, and thankfulne&s;&s;e to God, and me, in that portion that I can leave you, And &s;ay to your &s;ervants, receive ye the holy Gho&s;t, in the &s;pirit of obedience, and fidelity, And &s;ay to your neigh bours, receive ye the holy Gho&s;t, in the &s;pirit of peace and quieme&s;&s;e, And &s;ay to your Credi|tors, receive ye the holy Gho&s;t in the &s;pirit of patience, and tenderne&s;&s;e, and compa&s;&s;ion, and for bearing, And to your debtors, receive ye the holy Gho&s;t in the &s;pirit of indu&s;try, and labour in your calling. You &s;ee, Preaching it &s;elfe, even the Preaching of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, had beene lo&s;t, if the holy Gho&s;t had not brought all tho&s;e things to their re|membrance. And if the holy Gho&s;t do bring the&s;e things, which we preach to your re|membrance, you are al&s;o made fi&s;hers of men, and Apo&s;tles, and (as the Prophet &s;peaks) <HI>Salvatores mundi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Obad. 1.21.</NOTE> men that a&s;&s;i&s;t the &s;alvation of the world, by the be&s;t way of preaching, an exemplar life, and holy conve&s;ation. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="30" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERMON XXX. <HI>Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HI> Part of the Go&s;pell of the Day.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 14.20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>At that day &s;hall ye know, That I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe two Volumes of the Scriptures are ju&s;tly, and properly called two Te|&s;taments, for they are <HI>Te&s;tatio Mentis,</HI> The atte&s;tation, the declaration of the will and plea&s;ure of God, how it plea&s;ed him to be &s;erved under the Law, and how in the &s;tate of the Go&s;pell. But to &s;peake according to the ordinary acceptation of the word, the Te&s;tament, that is, The la&s;t Will of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, is this &s;peech, this declaration of his, to his Apo&s;tles, of which this text is a part. For, it was &s;poken, as at his Death-bed, his la&s;t Supper: And it was before his A|gony in the garden, &s;o that (if we &s;hould con&s;ider him as a meere man) there was no in|ordinatene&s;&s;e, no irregularity in his affection; It was te&s;tified with &s;ufficient witne&s;&s;es, and it was &s;ealed in blood, in the In&s;titution of the Sacrament. By this Wil then, as a rich, and abundant,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> and liberall Te&s;tator, having given them &s;o great a Legacy, as <HI>a place in
<PB N="295" REF="165">the kingdome of heaven,</HI> yet he adds a codicill, he gives more, he gives them the evidence by which they &s;hould maintain their right to that kingdome, that is, the te&s;timony of the Spirit, <HI>The Comforter, the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> whom he promi&s;es to &s;end to them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 16.</NOTE> And &s;till more and more abundant, he promi&s;es them, that that a&s;&s;urance of their right &s;hall not be taken from them, till he him&s;elf return again to give them an everla&s;ting po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, <HI>That he may receive us unto him&s;elf, and that where he is, we may al&s;o be.</HI> The main Legacy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> the body of the gift is before: That which is given in this Text, is part of that evidence by which it appeares to us that we have right, and by which that right is maintained, and that is knowledge, that knowledge which we have of our intere&s;t in God, and his king|dome here; <HI>At that day ye &s;hall know, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And in the giving of this, we &s;hall con&s;ider, fir&s;t, the Legacy it &s;elf, this knowledge, <HI>Cogno&s;cetis, Ye &s;hall know;</HI> And &s;econdly, the time when this Legacy grows due to us, <HI>In illo die, At that day ye &s;hall know;</HI> And thirdly, how much of this trea&s;ure is devi&s;ed to us, what portion of this heavenly knowledge is bequeathed to us, and that is in three great &s;ummes, in three great my&s;teries; Fir&s;t, ye &s;hall know the my&s;tery of the Trinity, of di&s;tinct per&s;ons in the Godhead; <HI>Ego in patre, That I am in my Father;</HI> And then the my&s;tery of the Incarnation of God, who took our fle&s;h, <HI>Vos in me, That you are in me;</HI> And la&s;tly, the my&s;tery and working of our Redemption, in our Sanctification, <HI>Ego in vobis, That Chri&s;t</HI> (by his Spirit, the Holy Gho&s;t) <HI>is in us.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Nequitia animae ignoratio,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. <HI>Cogno&s;cetis.</HI></NOTE> He doth not &s;ay it is the infirmity of the &s;oule, or the impotency of the &s;oule, but the iniquity, the wickedne&s;&s;e of the &s;oule con|&s;i&s;ts in this, that we are ignorant of tho&s;e wayes, and tho&s;e ends, upon which we &s;hould direct, and by which we &s;hould govern our purpo&s;es: And if ignorance be the corrupti|on, and di&s;&s;olution, certainly knowledge is the redintegration, and con&s;olidation of the &s;oule. From this corruption, from this ignorance God delivered his people at fir&s;t, in &s;ome mea&s;ure, by the Law; that is, he gave them thereby a way to get out of this igno|rance; he put them to Schoole; <HI>Lex Paedagogus,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>The Law was their School-ma&s;ter.</HI> But in the &s;tate of the Go&s;pell, in the &s;hedding of the beames, of the &s;treames of his grace in the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us we are graduats, and have proceeded &s;o far, as to a manife&s;tation of things already done, and &s;o our faith is brought in a great part, to con&s;i&s;t in matter of fact, and that which was but matter of prophecy to them (in the old Te&s;tament, they knew not when it &s;hould be done) to us in the New, is matter of Hi&s;tory, and we know when it was done: In the old times God led his people, &s;ome|times with clouds, &s;ometimes with fire, &s;ome lights they had, but &s;ome hidings, &s;ome withdrawings of tho&s;e lights too, the my&s;teries of their &s;alvation were not fully reveal|ed unto them: To us, all is holy fire, all is evident light, all is in the Epiphany, in the ma|nife&s;tation of Chri&s;t, and in the pre&s;ence of the Holy Gho&s;t, who is delivered over to us, to remain with us, <HI>V&s;&abque; ad con&s;ummationem,</HI> Till the end of the world. God hath buried &amp; hidden from us the body of <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> he hath removed that cloud, that vaile, the ceremo|ny, the letter of the Law. Yea he hath hidden that which benighted us more, and kept us in more ignorance of him, our infinite &s;ins, which are clouds of witne&s;&s;es to our Con|&s;ciences, he hath hidden them in the wounds of his Son our Saviour, &s;o that there re|maines nothing but clearne&s;&s;e, evident clearne&s;&s;e; The Go&s;pell being brought to us all, in that Chri&s;t is actually and really come, and Chri&s;t being brought to me, in that he is appliable in the Church to every particular &s;oule; &s;o that this Legacy that is given in this text, is not only in a po&s;&s;ibility, and in a probability, and in a veri&s;imilitude, but in an a&s;&s;urance, and in an infallibility, in a knowledge, we know it is thus, and thus.</P>
<P>We &s;hall therefore con&s;ider this knowledge, fir&s;t, as it is oppo&s;ed to ignorance, &s;econd|ly, as it is oppo&s;ed to incon&s;ideration, and thirdly, as it is oppo&s;ed to conclealing, to &s;mothering: Fir&s;t, we mu&s;t have it, and then we mu&s;t know that we have it, and after that we mu&s;t publi&s;h it, and declare it, &s;o that others may know that we know it. Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignorantia.</NOTE> as there is a profitable, a whole&s;ome, a learned ignorance, which is a mode&s;t, and a re|verent ab&s;tinence from &s;earching into tho&s;e &s;ecrets which God hath not revealed in his word, (whereupon S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes u&s;efully, <HI>Libenter ignoremus, quae ignorare nos vult Deus,</HI> Let not us de&s;ire to know that which God hath no will to reveale) So al&s;o there is an unprofitable, an infectious, indeed an ignorant knowledge, which puffes, and &s;wels us up: that, of which the Prophet &s;ayes, <HI>Stultus factus e&s;t omnis homo, &agrave; &s;cientia;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 12.</NOTE> Every mans knowledge makes him a foole, when it makes him undervalue, and de&s;pi&s;e
<PB N="296" REF="166">another. And this is one &s;trange and incurable effect of this opinion of wit and know|ledge, that whereas every man murmurs, and &s;ayes to him&s;elf, &s;uch a man hath more land then I, more money then I, more cu&s;tome, more practi&s;e then I, (when perchance, in truth it is not &s;o) yet every man thinks, that he hath more wit, more knowledge then all the world be&s;ide, when, God knows, it is very far from being &s;o. When the Prophet in that place, cals this confident beleever in his own wi&s;dome, <HI>Foole,</HI> he hath therein fa&s;t|ned upon him a name of the greate&s;t reproach to man, which the Holy Gho&s;t, in the mouth of a Prophet, could choo&s;e; As it appeares be&s;t in tho&s;e gradations which Chri&s;t makes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.22.</NOTE> where, <HI>Who&s;oever is angry, is made culpable of judgement, who&s;oever &s;ayes Racha,</HI> (that is, expre&s;&s;es his anger in any contumelious &s;peech) <HI>is &s;ubject to a Councell, but who&s;o|ever &s;hall &s;ay, Foole, &s;hall be worthy to be puni&s;hed in hell fire.</HI> For, by calling him <HI>Foole,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> there, he takes from him that under&s;tanding, by which he is a man, and &s;o, &s;ayes he, de&s;poiles him of all intere&s;t in the creature, in this life, and all intere&s;t in God, in the life to come. It is the deepe&s;t indignation, the highe&s;t abomination that <HI>Iob</HI> in his angui&s;h conceived,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 19.</NOTE> <HI>Stulti de&s;piciebant me,</HI> They that are but <HI>fooles</HI> them&s;elves, <HI>de&s;pi|&s;ed me;</HI> And after that again, <HI>They are the children of fooles, and yet I am their &s;ong, and their talk:</HI> And in that compari&s;on which God him&s;elf in&s;tituted, and propo&s;ed in <HI>Deute|ronomie, They have moved me to jealou&s;ie,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 30.</NOTE> <HI>with that which is not God, and I will move them to jealou&s;ie, with tho&s;e who are no people, I will provoke them to anger with a fooli&s;h Nation,</HI> God intimates &s;o much, That a Foole is no more a man, then an Idoll is a God.</P>
<P>Now this fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e which we &s;peak of, again&s;t which God gives us this Legacy of knowledge, is not that bluntne&s;&s;e, that dulne&s;&s;e, that narrowne&s;&s;e of under&s;tanding, which is oppo&s;ed to &s;harpne&s;&s;e of wit, or readine&s;&s;e of expre&s;&s;ing, and delivering any matter, for very many very devout and godly men, lack that &s;harpne&s;&s;e, and that readi|ne&s;&s;e, and yet have a good portion of &s;pirituall wi&s;dome, and knowledge. Neither is this fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e, that weakne&s;&s;e, or inability, to ama&s;&s;e and gather together particu|lars, as they have fallen out in former times, and in our times, and thereby to judge of future occurrences by former precedents, (which is the wi&s;dome of States-men, and of civill contemplation, to build up a body of knowledge, from reading &s;tories, or ob&s;er|ving actions) for this wi&s;dome <HI>Solomon</HI> cals vanity, and vexation; Nor is this fooli&s;h|ne&s;&s;e, that precipitation, that over-earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, that animo&s;ity, that heat which &s;ome men have, and which is oppo&s;ed to di&s;cretion; for &s;ometimes zeale it &s;elf hath &s;uch a heat, and &s;uch a precipitation in it, and yet that zeale may not be ab&s;olutely condemned, but may be &s;ometimes of &s;ome u&s;e; The dull man, the weak man, the ha&s;ty man is not this foole,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.</NOTE> but (as the <HI>Wi&s;eman,</HI> who knew be&s;t, hath told us,) <HI>The foole is he that tru&s;teth in his own heart.</HI> And therefore, again&s;t this fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of tru&s;ting in our own hearts, of confiding, and relying upon our own plots and devices, and from &s;acrificing to our own nets, (as the Prophet <HI>Habakkuk</HI> &s;peaks) from this attributing of all to our own indu&s;try, from this ignorance, that all ble&s;&s;ings, &s;pirituall and temporall too, proceed from God, and from God only, and from God manife&s;ted in Chri&s;t, and from Chri&s;t explicated in the Scriptures, and from the Scriptures applyed in the Church, (which is the &s;umme of all religion) God hath given us this Legacy of knowledge, <HI>Cogno&s;cetis, At that day you &s;hall know,</HI> as knowledge is oppo&s;ed to ignorance.</P>
<P>As it is oppo&s;ed to incon&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Incon&s;idera|tio.</NOTE> it is a great work that it doth too: for, as God hath made him&s;elf like man in many things, in taking upon him, in Scriptures, our linea|ments and proportion, our affections and pa&s;&s;ions, our apparell and garments, &s;o hath God made him&s;elf like man, in this al&s;o, that as man doth, &s;o he al&s;o takes it wor&s;e to be neglected, then to be really injured; Some of our &s;ins do not offend God &s;o much, as our incon&s;ideration, a &s;tupid pa&s;&s;ing him over, as though that we did, that which we had, that which we were, appertained not to him, had no emanation from him, no depen|dance upon him. As God &s;ayes in the Prophet, of lame, and blemi&s;hed, and unperfect Sacrifices, <HI>Offer it unto any of your Princes, and &s;ee if they will accept it at your hands;</HI> So I &s;ay to them that pa&s;&s;e their lives thus incon&s;iderately, Offer that to any of your Princes, any of your Superiours; Dares an officer that receives in&s;tructions from his Prince, when he leaves his commandements unperformed, &s;ay, I never thought of it? Dares a Subject, a Servant, a Son &s;ay &s;o?</P>
<P>Now beloved, this knowledge, as it is oppo&s;ed to incon&s;ideration, is in this, that God by breeding us in the vi&s;ible Church, multiplies unto us &s;o many helps and a&s;&s;i&s;tances in
<PB N="297" REF="166">the word preached, in the Sacraments, in other Sacramentall, and Rituall, and Ceremo|niall things, which are auxiliary, &s;ub&s;idiary reliefes, and refre&s;hings to our con&s;iderati|on, as that it is almo&s;t impo&s;&s;ible to fall into this incon&s;ideration. Here God &s;hewes this incon&s;iderate man, his book of creatures, which he may run and reade; that is, he may go forward in his vocation, and yet &s;ee that every creature calls him to a con&s;ideration of God. Every Ant that he &s;ees, askes him, Where had I this providence, and indu&s;try? Every flowre that he &s;ees, asks him, Where had I this beauty, this fragrancy, this medi|cinall vertue in me? Every creature calls him to con&s;ider, what great things God hath done in little &s;ubjects. But God opens to him al&s;o, here in his Church, his Booke of Scriptures, and in that Book, every word cries out to him; every mercifull promi&s;e cries to him, Why am I here, to meet thee, to wait upon thee, to performe Gods purpo&s;e to|wards thee, if thou never con&s;ider me, never apply me to thy &s;elfe? Every judgement of his anger cryes out, Why am I here, if thou re&s;pect me not. if thou make not thy pro|fit, of performing tho&s;e conditions, which are annexed to tho&s;e judgements, and which thou mighte&s;t performe, if thou woulde&s;t con&s;ider it? Yea, here God opens another book to him, his manuall, his bo&s;ome, his pocket book, his <HI>Vade Mecum,</HI> the Abridge|ment of all Nature, and all Law, his owne heart, and con&s;cience: And this booke, though he &s;hut it up, and cla&s;p it never &s;o hard, yet it will &s;ometimes bur&s;t open of it &s;elfe; though he interline it with other &s;tudies, and knowledges, yet the Text it &s;elfe, in the book it &s;elfe, the te&s;timonies of the con&s;cience, will &s;hine through and appeare: Though he load it, and choak it with Commentaries and que&s;tions, that is, perplexe it with Circum&s;tances, and Di&s;putations, yet the matter it &s;elfe, which is imprinted there, will pre&s;ent it &s;elfe: yea, though he teare &s;ome leaves out of the Book, that is, wilfully, yea &s;tudiou&s;ly forget &s;ome &s;ins that he hath done, and di&s;continue the reading of this book, the &s;urvay and con&s;ideration of his con&s;cience, for &s;ome time, yet he cannot lo&s;e, he cannot ca&s;t away this book, that is &s;o in him, as that it is him&s;elfe, and evermore calls upon him, to deliver him from this incon&s;ideration, by this open and plentifull Library, which he carries about him. Con&s;ider, beloved, the great danger of this incon&s;ideration, by remembring, That even that onely perfect man, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who had that great way of making him a perfect man, as that he was perfect God too, even in that act of deepe&s;t devotion, in his prayer in the garden, by permitting him&s;elfe, out of that humane infir|mity, which he was plea&s;ed to admit in him&s;elfe, (though farre from &s;in) to pa&s;&s;e one petition in that prayer, without a debated and con&s;idered will, in his <HI>Tran&s;eat Calix, If it be po&s;sible, let this Cup pa&s;&s;e,</HI> hee was put to a re-con&s;ideration, and to correct his Prayer, <HI>Veruntamen, Yet not my will, but thine bee done.</HI> And if then our be&s;t acts of praying, and hearing, need &s;uch an exact con&s;ideration, con&s;ider the richne&s;&s;e, and benefit of this Legacy, knowledge, as this knowledge is oppo&s;ed to incon&s;ideration.</P>
<P>It is al&s;o oppo&s;ed to concealing and &s;mothering;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Occultatio.</NOTE> It mu&s;t be publi&s;hed to the benefit of others. <HI>Paul&ugrave;m &s;epultae di&s;tat inertiae celata virtus,</HI> &s;ayes the Poet; Vertue that is never produced into action, is &s;carce worthy of that name. For that is it, which the Apo&s;tle, in his Epi&s;tle to that Church, which was in <HI>Philemons</HI> hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philem. 6.</NOTE> doth &s;o much prai&s;e God for, <HI>That the fellow&s;hip of thy faith may be made fruitfull, and that what&s;oever good thing is in you through Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, may be knowne:</HI> That according to the nature of goodne&s;&s;e, and to the roote of goodne&s;&s;e, God him&s;elfe, this knowledge of God may be communi|cated, and transfu&s;ed, and &s;hed, and &s;pred, and derived, and dige&s;ted upon others. And therefore certainly, as the Philo&s;opher &s;aid of civill actions, <HI>Etiam &s;imulare Philo&s;ophiam, Philo&s;ophia e&s;t,</HI> That it was &s;ome degree of wi&s;edome, to be able to &s;eeme wi&s;e; &s;o, though it be no degree of religion, to &s;eeme religious, yet even that may be a way of re|ducing others, and perchance them&s;elves: when a man makes a publique, an outward &s;hew of being religious, by comming ordinarily to Church, and doing tho&s;e outward duties, though this be hypocri&s;ie in him, yet &s;ometimes other men receive profit by his example, and are religious in earne&s;t, and, &s;ometimes, <HI>Appropinquat &amp; ne&s;cit,</HI> (as S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> confe&s;&s;es that it was his ca&s;e, when he came out of curio&s;ity, and not out of devotion, to heare S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> preach) what re&s;pect &s;oever brought that man hither, yet when God findes him here, in his hou&s;e, he takes hold of his con&s;cience, and &s;hewes him&s;elfe to him, though he came not to &s;ee him. And if God doe thus produce good out of the hypocrite, and work good in him, much more will he provide a plentifull harve&s;t, by their labours, who having received this knowledge from God, a&s;&s;i&s;t their weaker bre|thren,
<PB N="298" REF="167">both by the Example of their lives, and the comfort of their Doctrine.</P>
<P>This knowledge then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2. Part.</HI> In die.</NOTE> which to work the intended effect in us, is thus oppo&s;ed to ig|norance, and to incon&s;ideration, and to concealing, (which were the pieces that con&s;ti|tute our fir&s;t Part) in the &s;econd Part, which is the time when this Legacy accrues to us, is to be given us, <HI>In die illo,</HI> at that day, <HI>At that day &s;hall yee know, &amp;c.</HI> It is the illumi|nation, the illu&s;tration of our hearts, and therefore well referred to the <HI>Day;</HI> The word it &s;elfe affords cheerefulne&s;&s;e. For when God inflicted that great plague, to kill all the fir&s;t-borne in Aegypt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 12. Luke 20.</NOTE> that was done at <HI>Midnight:</HI> And when God would intimate both deaths at once, &s;pirituall, and temporall, he &s;ayes, <HI>O foole, this night they will fetch away thy &s;oule.</HI> Again&s;t all &s;upply of knowledge, he cals him <HI>foole;</HI> and again&s;t all &s;en&s;e of comfort in the day, he threatens <HI>night.</HI></P>
<P>It was <HI>In die,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Illo.</NOTE> and <HI>In die illo,</HI> in the day, and at a certaine day, and at a &s;hort day. For, after Chri&s;t had made his Will at this &s;upper, &amp; given &s;trength to his Will, by his death, and proved his Will by his Re&s;urrection, and left the Church po&s;&s;e&s;t of his e&s;tate, by his A&s;cen&s;ion, within ten dayes after that, he poured out this Legacy of knowledge. For, though &s;ome take <HI>this day</HI> mentioned in the Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> to be <HI>Tanqnam unius diei tenor, &agrave; dato Spiritu, ad Re&s;urrectionem;</HI> from the fir&s;t giving of the Holy Gho&s;t, to the Re&s;urrecti|on; And others take <HI>this day,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;iand.</NOTE> to bee from his Re&s;urrection, to the end of his &s;econd Conver&s;ation upon earth, till his A&s;cen&s;ion; and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> referre it, <HI>Ad perfectam vi&s;ionem in Coelis,</HI> to the perfect fruition of the &s;ight of God in Heaven, yet the mo&s;t u&s;e|full, and be&s;t followed acceptation is, This Day of the comming of the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>That day</HI> we celebrate this day; and we can never finde the Chri&s;tian Church (&s;o farre as we can judge by the evidence of Story) to have been without this fe&s;tivall day. The rea&s;on of all Fe&s;tivals in the Church, was, and is, <HI>Ne volumine temporum, ingrata &s;ubrepat oblivio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Le&s;t after many ages involved, and wrapped up in one another, Gods parti|cular benefits &s;hould bee involved, and wrapped up in unthankfulne&s;&s;e. And the benefits received this day, were &s;uch, as &s;hould never be forgotten: for, without this day, all the re&s;t had been evacuated, and uneffectuall: If the Apo&s;tles by the comming of the Holy Gho&s;t had not been e&s;tabli&s;hed in an infallibility in them&s;elves, and in an ability, to deale with all Nations, by the benefit of tongues, the benefit of Chri&s;ts pa&s;&s;i|on had not been derived upon all Nations. And therefore, to This day, and to <HI>Ea&s;ter|day,</HI> all publike Bapti&s;mes, in the Primitive Church, were re&s;erved; None were bapti|zed (except in ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity) but upon one of the&s;e two dayes: for, as there is an Exaltation, a Re&s;urrection given us in Bapti&s;me, repre&s;ented by <HI>Ea&s;ter;</HI> &s;o there belongs to us a confirmation, an e&s;tabli&s;hing of grace, and the increa&s;e thereof, repre&s;ented in <HI>Penteco&s;t,</HI> in the comming of the Holy Gho&s;t. As the Jews had an <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> in the memory of their deliverance from Aegypt, and a <HI>Penteco&s;t</HI> in the memory of the Law given at Mout Sinai; So at <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> we celebrate the memory of that glorious Pa&s;&s;eover, when Chri&s;t pa&s;&s;ed from the grave, and hell, in his Re&s;urrection, and at this Fea&s;t of <HI>Penteco&s;t</HI> we celebrate his giving of the Law to all Nations, and his inve&s;ting and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing him|&s;elfe of his Kingdome, the Church: for this is <HI>Fe&s;tum Adoptionis,</HI> as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> cals it; The cheerefull fea&s;t of our Adoption, in which, the Holy Gho&s;t convaying the Son of God to us, enables us to be the Sons of God, and to cry Abba, Father.</P>
<P>This then is that day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.</NOTE> when the Apo&s;tles being <HI>with one accord, and in one place,</HI> (that is, in one faith, and in one profe&s;&s;ion of that faith, not onely without Here&s;ie, but without Schi&s;me too) <HI>the Holy Gho&s;t as a mighty winde, filled them all, and gave them utterance;</HI> As a <HI>winde,</HI> to note a powerfull working; And he <HI>filled</HI> them, to note the abundance; And he <HI>gave them utterance,</HI> to inferre that which we &s;poke of before, The Communi|cation of that knowledge, which they had received, to others. This was that Spirit, whom it concerned the Apo&s;tles &s;o much to have, as that Chri&s;t him&s;elfe mu&s;t goe from them, to &s;end him to them; <HI>If I goe not away,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>the Comforter will not come to you.</HI> How great a comfort mu&s;t this nece&s;&s;arily be, which mu&s;t &s;o abundantly recompence the lo&s;&s;e of &s;uch a comfort; as the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t was? This is that Spirit, who though hee were to be &s;ent by the Father, and &s;ent by the Son, yet he comes not as a Me&s;&s;enger from a Superiour, for hee was alwaies equall to Father and Son: But the Father &s;ent him, and the Son &s;ent him, as a tree &s;ends forth blo&s;&s;omes, and as tho&s;e blo&s;&s;omes &s;end forth a &s;weet &s;mell, and as the Sun &s;ends forth beames, by an emanation from it &s;elfe; He is <HI>Spiritus quem nemo interpretari pote&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome;</HI> hee hath him not, that
<PB N="299" REF="167">doth not &s;ee he hath him, nor is any man without him, who, in a rectified con&s;cience, thinks he hath him: <HI>Illo Prophetae illu&s;trantur, Illo idiotae condiuntur,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father, The Prophets, as high as their calling was, &s;aw nothing without this Spirit, and with this Spirit, a &s;imple man under&s;tands the Prophets. And therefore doth S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> attribute that to the Holy Gho&s;t, which &s;eemes to be peculiar to the Son; he cals him <HI>Verbum Dei,</HI> be|cau&s;e &s;ayes he, <HI>Spiritus interpres Filii, &s;icut Filius Patris,</HI> As the Son hath revealed to us the will of the Father, and &s;o is the Word of God to us, &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t applies the promi&s;es, and the merits of the Son to us, and &s;o is the Word of God to us too, and en|ables us to come to God, in that voyce of his ble&s;&s;ed Servant, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, O Deus, &s;ecre|ti&s;sime, &amp; patenti&s;sime,</HI> Though nothing be more my&s;terious then the knowledge of God in the Trinity, yet nothing is more manife&s;t unto us, then, by the light of this per|&s;on, the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;o much of both the other Per&s;ons, as is nece&s;&s;ary for our Salvati|on, is.</P>
<P>Now, it is not onely to the Apo&s;tles, that the Holy Gho&s;t is de&s;cended this day, but, as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> &s;aies of the Annunciation, <HI>Non ad unam tant&ugrave;m animam,</HI> It is not onely to one Per&s;on, that the Angel &s;aid then, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall come upon thee, and over&s;hadow thee,</HI> but, &s;ayes he, that Holy Gho&s;t hath &s;aid, <HI>Super omnem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioel 2.</NOTE> <HI>I will poure out my &s;elfe upon all men,</HI> &s;o I &s;ay of this day, This day, if you be all in this place, (concentred, united here in one Faith, and one Religion) If you be of one accord, (that is, in perfect charity) The Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall fill you all (according to your mea&s;ure, and his purpo&s;e) and give you utterance, in your lives and conver&s;ations. <HI>Qui ita vacat orationibus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> <HI>ut dignus fiat illo vehementi Spiritu, &s;emper habet diem Penteco&s;tes:</HI> He that-loves the exerci&s;e of prayer &s;o earne&s;tly, as that in prayer he feeles this vehemence of the Holy Gho&s;t, that man dwels in an everla&s;ting Whit&s;unday: for &s;o he does, he hath it alwayes, that ever had it aright: <HI>Oditeos Deus, qui unam putant diem, fe&s;tum Domini;</HI> God hates that man, &s;aies <HI>Origen</HI> al&s;o, that celebrates any Holy-day of his, but one day: that never thinks of the Incarnation of Chri&s;t, but upon Chri&s;tmas-day, nor upon his Pa&s;&s;ion, and Re&s;urrection, but upon Ea&s;ter, and Good-friday. If you deale &s;o with your &s;oules, as with your bodies, and as you cloath your &s;elves with your be&s;t habits to day, but returne againe to your ordinary apparell to morrow: &s;o for this day, or this houre, you deve&s;t the thought of your &s;ins, but returne after to your vomit, you have not celebrated this day of Penteco&s;t; you have not beene truly in this place, for your hearts have beene vi&s;iting your profits, or plea&s;ures; you have not beene here with one accord, you have not truly and &s;incerely joyned with the Communion of Saints; Chri&s;t hath &s;ent no Comforter to you this day, neither will he &s;end any, till you be better prepared for him. But if you have brought your &s;ins hither in your memory, and leave them here in the blood of your Saviour, alwaies flowing in his Church, and ready to receive them, if you be come to that heavenly know|ledge, that there is no comfort but in him, and in him abundant con&s;olation, then you are this day capable of this great Legacy, this knowledge, which is all the Chri&s;tian Religi|on, <HI>That Chri&s;t is in the Father, and you in him, and he in you.</HI></P>
<P>We are now come to our third part, Our portion in this Legacy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> the mea&s;ure of the knowledge of the&s;e my&s;teries, which we are to receive: of which, S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes well, <HI>Scientiae magnum argumentum e&s;t, nolle omnia &s;cire,</HI> It is a good argument, that that man knowes much, who de&s;ires not to know all; In pur&s;uing true knowledge, he is gone a good way, that knowes where to give over. When that great Manichean <HI>Felix</HI> would needs prove to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> that <HI>Manes</HI> was the holy Gho&s;t, becau&s;e it was &s;aid that the holy Gho&s;t &s;hould teach all truths, and that <HI>Manes</HI> did &s;o, becau&s;e he taught many things that they were ignorant of before, concerning the frame, and motion, and na|ture of the heavens and their &s;tars, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> an&s;wered, <HI>Spiritus &s;anctus facit Chri&s;tia|nos, non Mathematicos,</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t makes us Chri&s;tians, not Mathematicians. If any man thinke, by having his &s;tation at Court, that it is enough for him to have &s;tudied that one booke, and that if in that booke, The knowledge of the Court, he be come to an apprehen&s;ion, by what meanes and per&s;ons bu&s;ine&s;&s;es are likelie&s;t to be carried, If he by his fore&s;ight have provided per&s;pective gla&s;&s;es, to &s;ee objects a far off, and can make Almanacks for next yeare, and tell how matters will fall out then, and thinke that &s;o he hath received his portion, as much knowledge as he needs, <HI>Spiritus &s;anctus facit Chri&s;ti|anos, non Politicos,</HI> He mu&s;t remember that the Holy Gho&s;t makes Chri&s;tians, and not Politians. So if a man have a good foundation of a fortune from his Parents, and
<PB N="300" REF="168">thinke that all his &s;tudy mu&s;t be, to proceed in that, and &s;till to adde a Cyphar more to his accounts, to make tens, hundreds, and hundreds, thou&s;ands, <HI>Spiritus &s;anctus facit Chri&s;tianos, non Arithmeticos,</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t makes Chri&s;tians, and not &s;uch Arith|meticians. If men who de&s;ire a change in Religion, and yet thinke it a great wi&s;dome, to di&s;gui&s;e that de&s;ire, and to tempori&s;e, le&s;t they &s;hould be made le&s;&s;e able to effect their purpo&s;es, if they &s;hould manife&s;t them&s;elves; but yet hope to &s;ee that tran&s;mutati|on of Religion, from that copper, which they e&s;teeme ours to be, to that gold, which, (perchance for the venality thereof) they e&s;teeme theirs: If others, who are al&s;o working in the fire, (though not in the fire of envy and of powder, yet in the fire of an indi&s;creet zeale, and though they pretend not to change the &s;ub&s;tance of the metall, the body of our Religion, yet they labour to blow away much of the ceremony, and circum&s;tances, which are <HI>Vehicula,</HI> and <HI>Adminicula,</HI> if not <HI>Habitacula Religionis,</HI> They are, though not the very fuell, yet the bellowes of Religion) If the&s;e men, I &s;ay, of either kinde, They who call all differing from them&s;elves, Error, and all error damnable; or they, who, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> expre&s;&s;es their humour, and indi&s;po&s;ition prophetically, <HI>Qui vocant pro&s;tratio|nem Di&s;ciplinae, &s;implicitatem,</HI> which call the aboli&s;hing and extermination of all Di&s;ci|pline and Ceremony, purene&s;&s;e and holine&s;&s;e; If they thinke they have received their portion of this legacie, their mea&s;ure of true knowledge, in labouring onely to accu&s;e, and reforme, and refine others, <HI>Spiritus &s;anctus facit Chri&s;tianos, non Chymi&s;tas,</HI> The holy Gho&s;t makes men Chri&s;tians, and not Alchymi&s;ts. To contract this, If a man know wayes enow to di&s;gui&s;e all his &s;ins, If no Exchequer take hold of his u&s;urious contracts, no High Commi&s;&s;ion of his licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, no Star-chamber of his mi&s;demeanors, If he will not to &s;leepe, till he can hold up his eyes no longer, for feare his &s;ins &s;hould meet him in his bed, and vexe his con&s;cience there, If he will not come to the Sacrament, but at that time of the yeare, when Laws compel him, or good company invite him, or other civill re&s;pects and rea&s;ons provoke him, If he have avoydances, to hide his &s;ins from others, and from him&s;elf too, by &s;uch di&s;gui&s;ings, This is all but <HI>Deceptio vi&s;us,</HI> a blinding of his owne internall eyes, and <HI>Spirtus &s;anctus facit Chri&s;tianos, non Circulatores,</HI> The Ho|ly Gho&s;t makes men Chri&s;tians, and not Jugglers.</P>
<P>This knowledge then which we &s;peake of, is to know the end and the way, Heaven and Chri&s;t, The Kingdome to which he is gone, and the meanes which he hath taught us to follow. Now, in all our wayes, in all our journies, a moderate pace brings a man mo&s;t &s;urely to his journies end, and &s;o doth a &s;ober knowledge in matters of Divinity, and in the my&s;teries of Religion. And therefore the Fathers &s;ay, that this comming of the Holy Gho&s;t upon the Apo&s;tles, this day, though it were a vehement comming, did not give them all kinde of knowledge, a knowledge of particular Arts, and Sciences; But he gave them knowledge enough for their pre&s;ent worke, and withall a faithfull confidence, that if at any time, they &s;hould have to doe, with learned Heathens, with Philo&s;ophers, the Holy Gho&s;t would either in&s;tantly furni&s;h them, with &s;uch know|ledge, as they had not before, (as wee &s;ee in many relations in the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story, That men &s;poke upon the &s;udden, in divers ca&s;es, otherwi&s;e, then in any rea&s;on their education could promi&s;e or afford) or el&s;e he would blunt the &s;harpne&s;&s;e of the Adver|&s;aries weapons, and ca&s;t a damp upon their under&s;tandings, as wee &s;ee he did in the Councell of Nice, when after many di&s;putations, among&s;t the great Men of great e&s;ti|mation, the weake&s;t Man in the Councell ro&s;e up, and he, o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> whom his owne party were afraid, le&s;t his di&s;cour&s;e &s;hould di&s;advantage the cau&s;e, overthrew, and converted, that great Advocate, and defender of <HI>Arius,</HI> whom all the re&s;t could never &s;hake; for though this man &s;aid no more then other men had &s;aid, yet God at this time di&s;po&s;ed the under|&s;tanding, and the abilities of the Adver&s;aries, otherwi&s;e then before; &s;ometimes God will have glory, in arming his friends, &s;ometimes in di&s;arming his enemies, &s;ometimes in exalting our abilities, and &s;ometimes in evacuating or enfeebling theirs.</P>
<P>And &s;o, as the Apo&s;tles were, as many of us, as celebrate this day, as they did, are <HI>filled with the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> that is, with &s;o much knowledge, as is nece&s;&s;ary to Gods pur|po&s;e in us. Enough for our &s;elves, if we be private men, and enough for others, if wee have charge of others: private men &s;hall have knowledge enough where to &s;eeke for more, and the Prie&s;t &s;hall have enough to communicate his knowledge to others. And though this knowledge were delivered to the Apo&s;tles, as from a print, from a &s;tampe, all at once, and to us, but as by writing, letter after letter, &s;yllable after &s;yllable, by Cate|chi&s;mes,
<PB N="301" REF="168">chi&s;mes, and Sermons, yet both are &s;uch knowledges, as are &s;ufficient for each. As the glory of heaven &s;hall fall upon us all, and though we be not all of equall mea&s;ure, and capacity, yet we &s;hall be equally full of that glory; &s;o the way to that glory, this know|ledge, &s;hall be manife&s;t to us all, and infallible to us all, though we do not all know alike; The &s;imple&s;t &s;oul that heares me, &s;hall know the way of his &s;alvation, as well as the grea|te&s;t of tho&s;e Fathers, whom he heares me cite; And upon us all (&s;o di&s;po&s;ed) the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall fall, as he did here, <HI>in fire,</HI> and <HI>In tongues;</HI> In fire, to inflame us in a religious zeal, and in Tongues, to utter that in confe&s;&s;ion, and in profe&s;&s;ion, that is, to glorifie God, both in our words, and in our actions. This then is our portion in this Legacy, A &s;ober &s;eeking after tho&s;e points of knowledge which are nece&s;&s;ary for our &s;alvation, and the&s;e, in this text, Chri&s;t derived into the&s;e three, <HI>That I am in my Father, That you are in me, That I am in you.</HI></P>
<P>The fir&s;t of the&s;e is the knowledge of di&s;tinction of per&s;ons, and &s;o of the Trinity.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ego in Pae|tre. Trinitas.</NOTE> <HI>Prin|cipale munus &s;cientiae e&s;t, cogno&s;cere Trinitatem,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Origen:</HI> The principall u&s;e and office of my knowledge, is to know the Trinity; for, to know an unity in the Godhead, that there is but one God, naturall rea&s;on &s;erves our turn: &amp; to know a creation of the world of no|thing, rea&s;on &s;erves us too; we know by rea&s;on, that either neither of them is infinite, if there be two Gods, (and then neither of them can be God) or if both be infinite, (which is an impo&s;&s;ibility) one of them is &s;uperfluous, becau&s;e what&s;oever is infinite, can alone ex|tend to all. So al&s;o we can collect infallibly, that if the world were not made of nothing, yet that of which the world &s;hall be pretended to have been made of, mu&s;t have been made of nothing, or el&s;e it mu&s;t be &s;omething eternall, and untreated; &amp; what&s;oever is &s;o, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be God it &s;elf. To be &s;ure of tho&s;e two, an unity in the Godhead, and a creation of the world, I need no Scriptures; but to know this di&s;tinction of Per&s;ons, That the Son is in the Father, I need the Scriptures, and I need more then the Scriptures, I need this Penteco&s;t, this comming, this illu&s;tration of the holy Gho&s;t, to in&s;pire a right under|&s;tanding of the&s;e Scriptures into me. For, if this knowledge might be had without Scri|ptures, why &s;hould not the heathen beleeve the Trinity, as well as I, &s;ince they lack no na|turall faculties which Chri&s;tians have? And if the Scriptures them&s;elves, without the o|peration of the holy Gho&s;t, &s;hould bring this clearne&s;&s;e, why &s;hould not the Jews and the Arians conform them&s;elves to this doctrine of the Trinity, as well as I, &s;ince they accept tho&s;e Scriptures, out of which I provethe Trinity to mine own co~&s;cience? We mu&s;t then attend his working in us; we mu&s;t not admit &s;uch a vexation of &s;pirit, as either to vex our &s;pirit, or the Spirit of God; by inquiring farther then he hath been plea&s;ed to reveale.</P>
<P>If you con&s;ider that Chri&s;t &s;ayes here, <HI>You &s;hall know That I am in the Father,</HI> and doth not &s;ay, <HI>You &s;hall know How I am in the Father,</HI> and this to his Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, and to the Apo&s;tles after they were to be filled with the holy Gho&s;t, which &s;hould teach them all truth, it will out off many perplexing que&s;tions, and impertinent an&s;wers which have been produced for the expre&s;&s;ing of the manner of this generation, and of the di&s;tinction of the per&s;ons in the Trinity; you &s;hall know That it is, you &s;hall not ask How it is. It is enough for a happy &s;ubject to enjoy the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of a peaceable government, though he know not <HI>Arcana Imperii,</HI> The wayes by which the Prince governes; So is it for a Chri&s;tian to enjoy the working of Gods grace, in a faithfull beleeving the my&s;teries of Religion, though he inquire not into Gods bed-chamber, nor &s;eek into his unrevealed Decrees. It is <HI>Odio&s;a &amp; exitialis vocula, Quomodo,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Luther,</HI> A hatefull, a damnable Mono&s;yllable, How, How God doth this or that: for, if a man come to the boldne&s;&s;e of propo&s;ing &s;uch a que&s;tion to him&s;elf, he will not give over till he finde &s;ome an&s;wer: and then, others will not be content with his an&s;wer, but every man will have a &s;everall one. When the Church fell upon the <HI>Quomodo</HI> in the Sacrament, How, in what manner the body of Chri&s;t was there, we &s;ee what an inconvenient an&s;wer it fell upon, That it was done by Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation; That &s;atisfied not, (as there was no rea&s;on it &s;hould) And then they fell upon others, <HI>In, Sub,</HI> and <HI>Cum,</HI> and none could, none can give &s;atisfa|ction. And &s;o al&s;o have our times, by asking <HI>Quomodo,</HI> How Chri&s;t de&s;cended into Hell, produced &s;o many an&s;wers, as that &s;ome have thought it no Article at all, &s;ome have thought that it is all one thing to have de&s;cended into hell, and to have a&s;cended into heaven, and that it amounts to no more, then a departing into the &s;tate of the dead. But <HI>Servate depo&s;itum,</HI> Make much of that knowledge which the holy Gho&s;t hath tru&s;ted you withall, and beleeve the re&s;t. No man knows how his &s;oul came into him; whe|ther
<PB N="302" REF="169">ther by infu&s;ion from God, or by generation from Parents, no man knows &s;o, but that &s;trong arguments will be produced on the other &s;ide; And yet no man doubts but he hath a &s;oul. No man knows &s;o, as that &s;trong arguments may not be brought on the o|ther &s;ide, how he &s;ees, whether by reception of &s;pecies from without, or by emi&s;&s;ion of beames from within; And yet no man doubts whether he &s;ee or no. The holy Gho&s;t &s;hall tell you, when he tels you the mo&s;t that ever he &s;hall tell you, in that behalf, That the Son is in the Father, but he will not tell you how.</P>
<P>Our &s;econd portion in this Legacy of knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Incarnatio.</NOTE> is, <HI>That we are in Chri&s;t;</HI> And this is the my&s;tery of the Incarnation. For &s;ince the devill had &s;o &s;urprized us all, as to take mankinde all in one lump, in a corner, in <HI>Adams</HI> loynes, and poy&s;oned us all there in the fountain, in the roote, Chri&s;t, to deliver us as intirely, took all mankinde upon him, and &s;o took every one of us, and the nature, and the infirmities, and the &s;ins, and the puni&s;h|ment of every &s;ingular man. So that the &s;ame pretence which the devill hath again&s;t every one of us, you are mine, for you &s;inned in <HI>Adam,</HI> we have al&s;o for our di&s;charge, we are delivered, for we paid our debt in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. In all his tentations, &s;end him to look upon the Records of that proce&s;&s;e, of Chri&s;ts pa&s;&s;ion, and he &s;hall finde there, the names of all the faithfull recorded: That &s;uch a day, that day when Chri&s;t dyed, I, and you, and all that &s;hall be &s;aved, &s;uffered, dyed, and were crucified, and in Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;atisfied God the Father, for tho&s;e infinite &s;ins which we had committed: And now, Se|cond death, which is damnation, hath no more title to any of the true members of his my&s;ticall body, then corruption upon naturall, or violent death, could have upon the members of his naturall body.</P>
<P>The a&s;&s;urance of this grows from the third part of this knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Redemptio.</NOTE> <HI>That Chri&s;t is in us;</HI> for that is &s;uch a knowledge of Chri&s;ts generall Redemption of mankinde, as that it is al&s;o an application of it to us in particular. For, for his Incarnation, by which we are in him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyril.</NOTE> that may have given a dignity to our humane nature; But <HI>Quae beneficiorum magni|tudo fui&s;&s;et erganos, &s;i hominem &s;olummodo, quem a&s;&s;ump&s;erat, &s;alvaret?</HI> What great bene|fit (how ever the dignity had been great to all mankinde) had mankinde had, if Chri&s;t had &s;aved no more then that one per&s;on whom he a&s;&s;umed? The largene&s;&s;e and bounty of Chri&s;t is, to give us of his be&s;t trea&s;ure, knowledge, and to give us mo&s;t at la&s;t, To know Chri&s;t in me. For, to know that he is in his Father, this may &s;erve me to convince another, that denies the Trinity; To know that we are in Chri&s;t, &s;o as that he took our nature, this may &s;hew me an honour done to us, more then the Angels; But what gets a lame wretch at the poole, how &s;overaign &s;oever the water be, if no body put him in? What gets a naked beggar by knowing that a dead man hath left much to pious u&s;es, if the Executors take no knowledge of him? What get I by my knowledge of Chri&s;t in the Father, and of us in Chri&s;t &s;o, if I finde not Chri&s;t in me?</P>
<P>How then is Chri&s;t in us? Here the que&s;tion <HI>De modo,</HI> How it is, is lawfull: for, he hath revealed it to us. It is, by our obedience to his in&s;piration, and by our reverent u&s;e of tho&s;e vi&s;ible meanes, which he hath ordained in his Church, his Word and Sacra|ments: As our fle&s;h is in him, by his participation thereof, &s;o his fle&s;h is in us, by our communication thereof; And &s;o is his divinity in us, by making us partakers of his di|vine nature, and by making us one &s;pirit with him&s;elf, which he doth at this Penteco&s;t, that is, when&s;oever the holy Gho&s;t vi&s;its us with his effectuall grace: for this is an uni|on, in which, Chri&s;t in his purpo&s;e hath married him&s;elf to our &s;ouls, in&s;eparably, and <HI>Sine &s;olutione vinculi,</HI> Without any intention of divorce on his part: But if we will &s;epa|rate him <HI>&agrave; men&s;a &amp; toro,</HI> If either we take the bed of licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or the board of vo|luptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or if when we eat or drink, or &s;leep or wake, we do not all to the glory of God, if we &s;eparate, he will divorce.</P>
<P>If then we be thus come to this knowledge, let us make <HI>Ex &s;cientia con&s;cientiam,</HI> En|large &s;cience into con&s;cience: for, <HI>Con&s;cientia e&s;t Syllogi&s;mus practicus,</HI> Con&s;cience is a Syllogi&s;me that comes to a conclu&s;ion; Then only hath a man true knowledge, when he can conclude in his own con&s;cience, that his practi&s;e, and conver&s;ation hath expre&s;&s;ed it. Who will beleeve that we know there is a ditch, and know the danger of falling into it, and drowning in it, if he &s;ee us run headlong towards it, and fall into it, and continue in it? Who can beleeve, that he that &s;eparates him&s;elf from Chri&s;t, by continuing in his &s;in, hath any knowledge, or &s;en&s;e, or evidence, or te&s;timony of Chri&s;ts being in him? As Chri&s;t proceeds by enlarging thy knowledge, and making thee wi&s;er and wi&s;er, &s;o
<PB N="303" REF="169">enlarge thy te&s;timony of it, by growing better and better, and let him that is holy, bee more holy. If thou have pa&s;&s;ed over the fir&s;t heats of the day, the wantonne&s;&s;es of youth, and the &s;econd heat, the fire of ambition, if the&s;e be quenched in thee, by pre|venting venting grace, or by repenting grace, be more and more holy, for thine age will meet another &s;in of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or of indevotion, that needs as much re&s;i&s;tance. God &s;taid not in any le&s;&s;e degree of knowledge towards thee, then in bringing him&s;elfe to thee; Doe not thou &s;tay by the way neither; not in the con&s;ideration of God alone, for that <HI>Coeli enarrant,</HI> all creatures declare it; &s;tay not at the Trinity; Every comming to Church, nay thy fir&s;t being brought to Church, at thy Bapti&s;me, is, and was a profe&s;&s;i|on of that; &s;tay not at the Incarnation; That the Devill knowes, and te&s;tifies; But come to know that Chri&s;t is in thee, and expre&s;&s;e that knowledge in a &s;anctified life: For though he be in us all, in the work of his Redemption, &s;o as that he hath poured out balme enough in his blood, to &s;pread over all mankinde, yet onely he can enjoy the chearfulne&s;&s;e of this unction, and the in&s;eparablene&s;&s;e of this union, who, (as S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> pur&s;ues this contemplation) <HI>Habet in memoria, &amp; &s;ervat in vita,</HI> who alwayes re|members that he &s;tands in the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t, and behaves him&s;elfe worthy of that glorious pre&s;ence; <HI>Qui habet in Sermonibus, &amp; &s;ervat in operibus,</HI> That hath Chri&s;t alwaies at his tongues end, and alwaies at his fingers ends, that loves to di&s;cour&s;e of him, and to act his di&s;cour&s;es; <HI>Que habet audiendo, &amp; &s;ervat faciendo,</HI> That heares Gods will here in his hou&s;e, and does his will at home in his owne hou&s;e; <HI>Qui habet faciendo, &amp; &s;ervat per|&s;everando,</HI> who having done well from the beginning, per&s;evers in well doing to the end, he, and he onely &s;hall finde Chri&s;t in him.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="31" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERMON XXXI.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> upon Whit&s;unday. <HI>1629.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>GEN. 1.2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe Church of God celebrates this day the third Per&s;on of the Holy, Ble&s;&s;ed, and Glorious Trinity, The Holy Gho&s;t. The Holy Gho&s;t is the God, the Spirit of Comfort; A Comforter; not one among&s;t others, but the Comforter; not the principall, but the intire, the onely Comforter; and more then all that, The Comfort it &s;elfe. That is an attribute of the Holy Gho&s;t, Comfort; And then the office of the Holy Gho&s;t is to gather, to e&s;tabli&s;h, to illumine, to governe that Church which the Son of God, from whom together with the Father, the Holy Gho&s;t proceeds, hath purcha&s;ed with his blood. So that, as the Holy Gho&s;t is the Comforter, &s;o is this Comfort exhi|bited by him to us, and exerci&s;ed by him upon us, in this e&s;pecially, that he hath gathe|red us, e&s;tabli&s;hed us, illumined us, and does governe us, as members of that body, of which Chri&s;t Je&s;us is the Head; that he hath brought us, and bred us, and fed us with the meanes of &s;alvation, in his application of the merits of Chri&s;t to our &s;oules, in the Or|dinances of the Church.</P>
<P>In this Text is the fir&s;t mention of this Third Per&s;on of the Trinity; And it is the fir&s;t mention of any di&s;tinct Per&s;on in the God-head; In the fir&s;t ver&s;e, there is an intima|tion of the Trinity, in that <HI>Bara Elohim,</HI> That <HI>Gods,</HI> Gods in the plurall are &s;aid to have made heaven, and earth; And then, as the Church after having celebrated the memory of All Saints, together in that one day, which we call <HI>All Saints day,</HI> begins in the ce|lebration of particular Saints, fir&s;t with Saint <HI>Andrew,</HI> who fir&s;t of any applied him&s;elf to Chri&s;t out of Saint <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;ts</HI> Schoole after Chri&s;ts Bapti&s;me; &s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> having given us an intimation of God, and the three Per&s;ons altogether in that <HI>Bara Eloim,</HI> before,
<PB N="304" REF="170">gives us fir&s;t notice of this Per&s;on, the Holy Gho&s;t, in particular, becau&s;e he applies to us the Mercies of the Father, and the Merits of the Son, and <HI>moves upon the face of the waters,</HI> and actuates, and fecundates our &s;oules, and generates that knowledge, and that comfort, which we have in the knowledge of God. Now <HI>the moving of the Holy Gho&s;t up|on the face of the waters</HI> in this Text, cannot be literally under&s;tood of his working upon man; for man was not yet made; but when man is made, that is, made the man of God in Chri&s;t; there, in that new Creation the Holy Gho&s;t begins again, with a new moving upon the face of the waters in the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, which is the Conception of a Chri&s;tian in the wombe of the Church.</P>
<P>Therefore we &s;hall con&s;ider the&s;e words, <HI>And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters;</HI> fir&s;t, literally in the fir&s;t, and then &s;piritually in the &s;econd Creation; fir&s;t how the Holy Gho&s;t moved upon the face of the Waters in making this world for us, And then how he moves upon the face of the Waters againe, in making us for the other world. In which two &s;everall parts we &s;hall con&s;ider the&s;e three termes in our Text, both in the <HI>Macroco&s;me,</HI> and <HI>Microco&s;me,</HI> the Great and the Le&s;&s;er world, man extended in the world, and the world contracted, and abridged into man; fir&s;t, <HI>Quid Spiritus Dei?</HI> what this Power, or this Per&s;on, which is here called <HI>the Spirit of God,</HI> is, for whether it be a Power, or a Per&s;on, hath been diver&s;ly di&s;puted; And &s;econdly, <HI>Quid ferebatur?</HI> what this Action, which is here called a <HI>Moving,</HI> was; for whether a Motion, or a Re&s;t, an Agitation, or an Incubation, of that Power, or that Per&s;on, hath been di&s;puted too; And la&s;tly, <HI>Quid &s;uper faciem aquarum?</HI> what the &s;ubject of this Action, <HI>the face of the waters,</HI> was; for, whether it were a &s;tirring, and an awakening of a power that was naturally in tho&s;e waters, to produce creatures, or whether it were an infu&s;ing a new power, which till then tho&s;e waters had not, hath likewi&s;e beene di&s;puted. And in the&s;e three, the Per&s;on, the Action, the Subject, con&s;idered twice over, in the Creation fir&s;t, and in our regeneration in the Chri&s;tian Church after, we &s;hall determine all that is nece&s;&s;a|ry for the literall, and for the &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, <HI>And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. Aug Con. 11.2</NOTE> undertaking the con&s;ideration of the literall &s;en&s;e, and after, of the &s;piri|tuall, we joyne with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Sint ca&s;tae deliciae meae Scripturae tuae;</HI> Lord I love to be conver&s;ant in thy Scriptures, let my conver&s;ation with thy Scriptures be a cha&s;t con|ver&s;ation; that I di&s;cover no nakedne&s;&s;e therein; offer not to touch any thing in thy Scriptures, but that, that thou ha&s;t vouch&s;afed to unmask, and manife&s;t unto me: <HI>Nec fallar in eis, nec fallam ex eis;</HI> Lord, let not me mi&s;take the meaning of thy Scriptures, nor mi&s;-lead others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> by imputing a fal&s;e &s;en&s;e to them. <HI>Non fru&s;tra &s;cribuntur,</HI> &s;ayes he; Lord, thou ha&s;t writ nothing to no purpo&s;e; thou would&s;t be under&s;tood in all: But not in all, by all men, at all times; <HI>Confiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis;</HI> Lord, I acknow|ledge that I receive from thee, what&s;oever I under&s;tand in thy word; for el&s;e I doe not under&s;tand it. This that ble&s;&s;ed Father meditates upon the word of God; he &s;peakes of this beginning of the Book of <HI>Gene&s;is;</HI> and he &s;peaks lamenting, <HI>Scrip&s;it Mo&s;es &amp; abiit,</HI> a little <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hath &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">C. 3.</NOTE> and alas he is gone; <HI>Si hic e&s;&s;et, tonerem eum, &amp; per te rogarem,</HI> If <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> were here, I would hold him here, and begge of him, for thy &s;ake to tell me thy meaning in his words, of this Creation. But &s;ayes he, &s;ince I cannot &s;peake with <HI>Mo&s;es, Te, quo plenus vera dixit, Veritas, rogo,</HI> I begge of thee who art Truth it &s;elfe, as thou enabled&s;t him to utter it, enable me to under&s;tand what he hath &s;aid. So difficult a thing &s;eemed it to that intelligent Father, to under&s;tand this hi&s;tory, this my&s;tery of the Creation. But yet though he found; that divers &s;en&s;es offered them&s;elves, he did not doubt of finding the Truth:<NOTE PLACE="marg">C. 18.</NOTE> For, <HI>Deus meus lumen oculorum meorum in occulto,</HI> &s;ayes he, O my God, the light of mine eyes, in this dark inqui&s;ition, &s;ince divers &s;en&s;es, ari&s;e out of the&s;e words, and all true, <HI>Quid mihi obe&s;t, &s;i alindego &s;en&s;ero, quam &s;en&s;it alius, eum &s;en|&s;i&s;&s;e, qui &s;crip&s;it?</HI> What hurt followes, though I follow another &s;en&s;e, then &s;ome other man takes to be <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;en&s;e? for his may be a true fen&s;e, and &s;o may mine, and neither be <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his.<NOTE PLACE="marg">C. 30.</NOTE> Hee pa&s;&s;es from prayer, and prote&s;tation, to coun&s;ell, and direction; <HI>In diver&s;itate &s;ententiarum verarum, concordiam pariat ip&s;a veritas,</HI> Where divers &s;en&s;es ari&s;e, and all true, (that is, that none of them oppo&s;e the truth) let truth agree them. But what is Truth? God; And what is God? Charity; Therefore let Charity reconcile &s;uch differences.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1.12. C. 30.</NOTE> <HI>Legitim&egrave; lege ut amur,</HI> &s;ayes he, let us u&s;e the Law lawfully; Let us u&s;e our liberty of reading Scriptures according to the Law of liberty; that is, charitably to leave
<PB N="305" REF="170">others to their liberty, if they but differ from us, and not differ from Fundamentall Truths.</P>
<P><HI>Si quis quaerat ex me, quid horum Mo&s;es &s;en&s;erit,</HI> If any man ask me, which of the&s;e, which may be all true, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> meant, <HI>Non &s;um &s;ermones i&s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">onfe&s;siones,</HI> Lord, &s;ayes hee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> This that I &s;ay is not &s;aid by way of Confe&s;&s;ion, as I intend it &s;hould, if I doe not freely confe&s;&s;e, that I cannot tell, which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> meant; But yet I can tell, that this that I take to be his meaning is true; and that is enough. Let him that findes a true &s;en&s;e of any place, rejoyce in it, Let him that does not beg it of thee, <HI>Vtquid mihi mole&s;t us e&s;t?</HI> Why &s;hould any man pre&s;&s;e me, to give him the true &s;en&s;e of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> here, or of the holy Gho&s;t, in any darke place of Scripture? <HI>Ego illuminem ullum hominen, venientem in mundum?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1.13. C. 10.</NOTE> &s;aies he; Is that &s;aid of me, that I am the light, that enlightned every man, any man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 1.9.</NOTE> that comes into this world? So far I will goe, &s;aies he, &s;o far will we, in his mode&s;ty and humility accompany him, as &s;till to propo&s;e, <HI>Quod luce veritatis, quod fruge utilitatis ex|cellit,</HI> &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as agrees with other Truths, that are evident in other places of Scrip|ture, and &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as may conduce mo&s;t to edi&s;ication. For to tho&s;e two, does that heavenly Father reduce the foure Elements, that make up a right expo&s;ition of Scripture; which are, fir&s;t, the glory of God, &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as may mo&s;t advance it; &s;econdly, the analogie of faith, &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as may violate no confe&s;&s;ed Article of Religion; and third|ly, exaltation of devotion, &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as may carry us mo&s;t powerfully upon the ap|prehen&s;ion of the next life; and la&s;tly, exten&s;ion of charity, &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as may be&s;t hold us in peace, or reconcile us, if we differ from one another. And within the&s;e limits wee &s;hall containe our &s;elves, The glory of God, the analogie of faith, the exaltation of de|votion, the exten&s;ion of charity. In all the re&s;t, that belongs to the explication or appli|cation, to the literall, or &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, <HI>And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,</HI> to which, having &s;topped a little upon this generall con&s;ideration, the expo&s;ition of darke places, we pa&s;&s;e now.</P>
<P>Within the&s;e rules we proceed to enquire, who this <HI>Spirit of God</HI> is, or what it is;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spiritus.</NOTE> whe|ther a Power, or a Per&s;on. The Jews who are afraid of the Truth, le&s;t they &s;hould meete evidences of the doctrine of the Trinity, and &s;o of the Me&s;&s;ias, the Son of God, if they &s;hould admit any &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e, admit none, but cleave &s;o clo&s;e to the letter, as that to them the Scripture becomes <HI>Liter a occidens, A killing Letter, and the &s;avour of death unto death.</HI> They therefore, in this <HI>Spirit of God</HI> are &s;o far from admitting any Per&s;on, that is, God, as they admit no extraordinary operation, or vertue proceeding from God in this place; but they take the word here (as in many other places of Scripture it does) to &s;igni|fie onely a <HI>winde,</HI> and then that that addition of the name of <HI>God (The Spirit of God)</HI> which is in their Language a denotation of a vehemency, of a high degree, of a &s;uperlative, (as when it is &s;aid of <HI>Saul, Sopor Domini, A &s;leepe of God</HI> was upon him, it is intended of a deepe, a dead &s;leepe) inforces, induces no more but that a very &s;trong winde blew upon the face of the waters, and &s;o in a great part dryed them up. And this opinion I &s;hould let flye away with the winde, if onely the Jews had &s;aid it. But <HI>Theodoret</HI> hath &s;aid it too, and therefore we afford it &s;o much an&s;wer, That it is a &s;trange anticipation, that Winde, which is a mixt Meteor, to the making whereof, divers occa&s;ions concurre with ex|halations, &s;hould be thus imagined, before any of the&s;e cau&s;es of Winds were created, or produced, and that there &s;hould be an effect before a cau&s;e, is &s;omewhat irregular. In Lapland, the Witches are &s;aid to &s;ell winds to all pa&s;&s;engers; but that is but to turne tho&s;e windes that Nature does produce, which way they will; but in our ca&s;e, the Jews, and they that follow them, dreame winds, before any winds, or cau&s;e of winds was crea|ted; <HI>The Spirit of God</HI> here cannot be the <HI>Wind.</HI></P>
<P>It cannot be that neither, which &s;ome great men in the Chri&s;tian Church have ima|gined it to be; <HI>Operatio Dei, The power of God working upon the waters,</HI> (&s;o &s;ome) or, <HI>Effici|entia Dei, A power by God infu&s;ed into the waters;</HI> &s;o others.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> And to that S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> comes &s;o neare, as to &s;ay once in the negative, <HI>Spiritus Dei hic, res dei e&s;t, &s;ed non ip&s;e Deut e&s;t,</HI> The Spirit of God in this place is &s;omething proceeding from God, but it is not God him&s;elfe; And once in the affirmative, <HI>Po&s;&s;e e&s;&s;e vitalem creaturam, qu&acirc; univer&s;us mundus movetur;</HI> That this Spirit of God may be that univer&s;all power, which &s;u&s;taines, and in|animates the whole world, which the Platoniques have called <HI>the Soule of the world,</HI> and others intend by the name of <HI>Nature,</HI> and we doe well, if we call <HI>The providence of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Spiritus Sanctus.</NOTE></P>
<P>But there is more of God, in this Action, then the In&s;trument of God, <HI>Nature,</HI> or the
<PB N="306" REF="171">Vice-roy of God, <HI>Providence;</HI> for as the per&s;on of God, the Son was in the Incarna|tion, &s;o the per&s;on of God, the Holy Gho&s;t was in this Action; though far from that manner of becomming one and the &s;ame thing with the waters, which was done in the Incarnation of Chri&s;t, who became therein perfect man. That this word <HI>the Spirit of God,</HI> is intended of <HI>the Per&s;on of the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> in other places of Scripture, is evident, undeniable, unque&s;tionable, and that therefore it may be &s;o taken here. Where it is &s;aid, <HI>The Spirit of God &s;hall re&s;t upon him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 11.2.</NOTE> (upon the Me&s;&s;iah) where it is &s;aid by him&s;elfe, <HI>The Lord and his Spirit is upon me,</HI> And, <HI>the Lord and his Spirit hath anointed me,</HI> there it is cer|tainly, and therefore here it may be probably &s;poken of the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> per&s;onally. It is no impo&s;&s;ible &s;en&s;e, it implies no contradiction; It is no inconvenient &s;en&s;e, it offends no other article; it is no new &s;en&s;e; nor can we a&s;&s;igne any time, when it was a new &s;en&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> The elde&s;t Fathers adhere to it, as the anciente&s;t interpretation. Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aies not onely, <HI>Con&s;tanti&s;sim&egrave; a&s;&s;everandum e&s;t,</HI> We mu&s;t con&s;tantly maintaine that inter|pretation, (for all that might be his owne opinion) not onely therefore, <HI>Quia verius e&s;t,</HI> (for that might be, but becau&s;e he found it to be the common opinion of tho&s;e times) but <HI>Quia &agrave; majoribus no&s;tris approbatum,</HI> becau&s;e it is accepted for the true &s;en&s;e, by the Ancients; The Ancients, &s;aies that ancient Father <HI>Ba&s;il;</HI> which rea&s;on prevailes upon S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> <HI>Nos cum &s;anctorum, &amp; fidelium &s;ententia congruentes,</HI> We beleeve, and beleeve it, becau&s;e the Ancients beleeved it to be &s;o, that this is &s;poken generally of the Holy Gho&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> and S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> a&s;&s;ume it, as granted, S. <HI>Hierom</HI> di&s;putes it, argues, concludes it, <HI>Vivificator, ergo Conditor, ergo Deus;</HI> This Spirit of God gave life, there|fore this Spirit was a Creator; therefore God. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> prints his &s;eale deepe; <HI>Secun|d&ugrave;m quod ego intelligere po&s;&s;um, ita e&s;t,</HI> as far as my under&s;tanding can reach, it is &s;o; and his under&s;tanding reached far. But he addes, <HI>Nec ullomodo, &amp;c.</HI> Neither can it po&s;&s;ibly be otherwi&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertui. Cypt.</NOTE> We cannot tell, whether that Poem which is called <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> be <HI>Tertullians,</HI> or <HI>Cyprians;</HI> It hath beene thought an honour to the learnede&s;t of the Fathers, to have beene the Author of a good Poem; In that Poem this text is paraphra&s;ed thus, <HI>Immen|&s;u&s;que Deus &s;uper aequora va&s;tameabat;</HI> God, God per&s;onally moved upon the waters. Tru|ly the later Schoole is (as they have u&s;ed it) a more Poeticall part of divinity, then any of the Poems of the Fathers are, (take in <HI>Lactantius</HI> his Poem of the Phenix, and all the re&s;t) and for the Schoole, there <HI>Aquinas</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Secund&ugrave;m Sanctos, intelligimus Spiritum &s;anctum,</HI> As the holy Fathers have done, we al&s;o under&s;tand this per&s;onally of the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>To end this, the&s;e words doe not afford &s;uch an argument for the Trinity, or the third Per&s;on thereof, the Holy Gho&s;t, as is &s;trong enough to convert, or convince a Jew, be|cau&s;e it may have another &s;en&s;e; but we, who by Gods abundant goodne&s;&s;e have o|therwi&s;e an a&s;&s;urance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104.30. Iob 26.13.</NOTE> and faith in this doctrine, acknowledge all tho&s;e other places, <HI>Thou &s;ende&s;t forth thy Spirit, and they are created, By his spirit he hath garni&s;hed the Heavens,</HI> and the re&s;t of that kinde, to be all but ecchoes from this voyce, returnes from <HI>Iob,</HI> and from <HI>David,</HI> and the re&s;t, of this doctrine of all comfort, fir&s;t, and betimes delivered from <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that there is a di&s;tinct per&s;on in the Godhead, who&s;e attribute is goodne&s;&s;e, who&s;e office is application, who&s;e way is comfort. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e from our fir&s;t, That it is not onely the Power of God, but the Per&s;on of God, To the &s;econd, in this branch, His Action, <HI>Ferebatur.</HI></P>
<P>The Action of the Spirit of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ferebatur.</NOTE> the Holy Gho&s;t, in this place, is expre&s;&s;ed in a word, of a double, and very diver&s;e &s;ignification; for it &s;ignifies <HI>motion,</HI> and it &s;ignifies <HI>re&s;t.</HI> And therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.2.</NOTE> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> argues upon tho&s;e words of <HI>David, Thou knowe&s;t my downe &s;itting, and my upri&s;ing,</HI> That God knew all that he did, betweene his downe &s;itting and his upri&s;ing; So in this word which &s;ignifies the Holy Gho&s;ts fir&s;t motion, and his la&s;t re&s;t, we comprehend all that was done in the production, and creation of the Crea|tures.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.11. Hier.</NOTE> This word, we tran&s;late, <HI>As the Eagle fluttereth over her young ones,</HI> &s;o it is a word of Motion; And S. <HI>Hierom</HI> upon our Text expre&s;&s;es it by <HI>Incubabat, to &s;it upon her young ones, to hatch them, or to pre&s;erve them,</HI> &s;o it is a word of re&s;t. And &s;o, the Jews take this word to &s;ignifie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE> properly the birds hatching of eggs. S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> unites the two &s;ignifi|cations well, <HI>Spiritus &s;anctus dabat aquis motum, &amp; limitem;</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t enabled the waters to move, and appointed how, and how far they &s;hould move. The beginnings, and the waies, and the ends, mu&s;t proceed from God, and from God the Holy Gho&s;t: That is, by tho&s;e meanes, and tho&s;e declarations, by which God doth manife&s;t him&s;elfe
<PB N="307" REF="171">to us, for that is the office of the holy Gho&s;t, to manife&s;t and apply God to us. Now the word in our Text is not truly <HI>Ferebatur,</HI> The Spirit <HI>moved,</HI> which denotes a thing pa&s;t; but the word is <HI>Movens, Moving,</HI> a Participle of the pre&s;ent; So that we a&s;cribe fir&s;t Gods manife&s;tation of him&s;elf in the creation, and then the continuall manife&s;tation of him&s;elf in his providence, to the holy Gho&s;t; for God had two purpo&s;es in the cre|ation, <HI>Vt &s;int, ut maneant,</HI> That the creature &s;hould be, and be &s;till;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> That it &s;hould exi&s;t at fir&s;t, and &s;ub&s;i&s;t after; Be made, and made permanent. God did not mean that Para|di&s;e &s;hould have been of &s;o &s;mall u&s;e when he made it; he made it for a perpetuall habi|tation for man. God did not mean that man &s;hould be the &s;ubject of his wrath when he made him; he made him to take plea&s;ure in, and to &s;hed glory upon him. The holy Gho&s;t moves, he is the fir&s;t author; the holy Gho&s;t perpetuates, &s;ettles, e&s;tabli&s;hes, he is our re&s;t, and acquie&s;cence, and center; Beginning, Way, End, all is in this word, <HI>Recaph; The Spirit of God moved, and re&s;ted.</HI> And upon what? <HI>And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.</HI></P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> ob&s;erving aright, That at this time, of which this Text is &s;poken,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Facies aqua|rum.</NOTE> The waters enwrapped all the whole &s;ub&s;tance, the whole matter, of which all things were to be created, all was &s;urrounded with the waters, all was embowelled, and enwombed in the waters; And &s;o the holy Gho&s;t moving, and re&s;ting upon the face of the waters, moved, and re&s;ted, did his office upon the whole Ma&s;&s;e of the world, and &s;o produced all that was produced; and this admits no contradiction, no doubt, but that thus the thing was done, and that this, this word implies. But whether the holy Gho&s;t wrought this production of the &s;everall creatures, by him&s;elf, or whether he infu&s;ed, and imprint|ed a naturall power in the waters, and all the &s;ub&s;tance under the waters, to produce creatures naturally of them&s;elves, hath received &s;ome doubt. It need not: for the worke a&s;cribed to the holy Gho&s;t here, is not the working by nature, but the creating of nature; Not what nature did after, but how nature her &s;elf was created at fir&s;t. In this action, this moving, and re&s;ting upon the face of the waters, (that is, all involved in the waters) the Spirit of God, the holy Gho&s;t, hatched, produced then all tho&s;e creatures; For no power infu&s;ed into the waters, or earth then, could have enabled that earth, then to have produced Trees with ripe fruits, in an in&s;tant, nor the waters to have brought forth Whales, in their growth, in an in&s;tant. The Spirit of God produced them then, and e|&s;tabli&s;hed and con&s;erves ever &s;ince, that &s;eminall power which we call nature, to produce all creatures (then fir&s;t made by him&s;elfe) in a perpetuall Succe&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>And &s;o have you the&s;e words, <HI>And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,</HI> literally, hi&s;torically: And now the&s;e three termes, <HI>The Spirit of God, Moved, Vpon the face of the waters,</HI> You are al&s;o to receive in a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e, in the &s;econd world, the Chri&s;tian Church: The Per&s;on, the Action, the Subject, the holy Gho&s;t, and him mo|ving, and moving upon the waters, in our regeneration.</P>
<P>Here, as before, our fir&s;t Terme, and Con&s;ideration, is the name, <HI>The Spirit of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2. Part.</HI> Spiritus &s;an|ctus.</NOTE> And here God knows, we know too many, even among&s;t the outward profe&s;&s;ors of the Chri&s;tian religion, that in this name, <HI>The Spirit of God,</HI> take knowledge only of a power of God, and not of a per&s;on of God; They &s;ay it is the working of God, but not God working. <HI>Mira profunditas eloquiorum tuorum;</HI> The waters in the creation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. Confe&s;&s;. 12. c. 14.</NOTE> were not &s;o deep as the word of God, that delivers that creation. <HI>Ecce, ante nos &s;uperficies blandi|ens pueris,</HI> &s;ayes that Father; We, we that are but babes in under&s;tanding, as long as we are but naturall men, &s;ee the &s;uperficies, the top, the face, the out&s;ide of the&s;e waters, <HI>Sed mira profunditas, Deus meus, mira profunditas,</HI> But it is an infinite depth, Lord my God, an infinite depth to come to the bottome. The bottome is, to profe&s;&s;e, and to feele the di&s;tinct working of the three di&s;tinct per&s;ons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t. <HI>Rara anima, quae cum de illa loquitur, &s;ciat quid loquatur,</HI> Not one man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">C. 30.</NOTE> not one Chri&s;tian among&s;t a thou&s;and, who when he &s;peaks of the Trinity, knows what he him|&s;elf meanes. Naturall men will write of lands of Pygmies, and of lands of giants; and write of Phoenixes, and of Unicornes; But yet advi&s;edly they do not beleeve, (at lea&s;t confidently they do not know) that there are &s;uch Giants, or &s;uch Pygmies, &s;uch Unicorns or Phoenixes in the world. Chri&s;tians &s;peak continually of the Trinity, and the holy Gho&s;t, but alas, advi&s;edly, they know not what they mean in tho&s;e names. The mo&s;t know nothing, for want of con&s;ideration; They that have con&s;idered it enough, and &s;pent thoughts enough upon the Trinity, to know as much as needs be knowen thereof,
<PB N="308" REF="172"><HI>Contendunt &amp; dimicant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">C. 11.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; nemo &s;ine pace vidit i&s;tam vi&s;ionem,</HI> They di&s;pute, and they wrangle, and they &s;cratch, and wound one anothers reputations, and they a&s;&s;i&s;t the com|mon enemy of Chri&s;tianity by their uncharitable differences, <HI>Et &s;ine pace,</HI> And without peace, and mildne&s;&s;e, and love, and charity, no man comes to know the holy Gho&s;t, who is the God of peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Id. l. 11.2. &amp; 22.</NOTE> and the God of love. <HI>Da quod amo; amo enim, nam &amp; hoc tu dedi&s;ti;</HI> I am loath to part from this father, and he is loath to be parted from, for he &s;ayes this in more then one place; Lord thou ha&s;t enamoured mee, made me in love; let me enjoy that that I love; That is, the holy Gho&s;t: That as I feele the power of God (which &s;en&s;e, is a gift of the holy Gho&s;t) I may without di&s;puting re&s;t in the beliefe of that per&s;on of the Trinity, that that Spirit of God, that moves upon the&s;e waters, is not only the power, but a per&s;on in the Godhead.</P>
<P>This is the per&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ferebatur.</NOTE> without whom there is no Father, no Son of God to me, the holy Gho&s;t. And his action, his operation is expre&s;&s;ed in this word, <HI>Ferebatur, The Spirit of God moved;</HI> Which word, as before, is here al&s;o a comprehen&s;ive word, and denotes both motion, and re&s;t; beginnings, and wayes, and ends. We may be&s;t con&s;ider the mo|tion, the &s;tirring of the holy Gho&s;t in zeale, and the re&s;t of the holy Gho&s;t in moderati|on; If we be without zeale, we have not the motion; If we be without moderation, we have not the re&s;t, the peace of the holy Gho&s;t. The moving of the holy Gho&s;t upon me, is, as the moving of the minde of an Artificer, upon that piece of work that is then under his hand. A Jeweller, if he would make a jewell to an&s;wer the form of any flower, or any other figure, his minde goes along with his hand, nay prevents his hand, and he thinks in him&s;elf, a Ruby will conduce be&s;t to the expre&s;&s;ing of this, and an Emeraud of this. The holy Gho&s;t undertakes every man among&s;t us, and would make every man fit for Gods &s;ervice, in &s;ome way, in &s;ome profe&s;&s;ion; and the holy Gho&s;t &s;ees, that one man profits mo&s;t by one way, another by another, and moves their zeal to pur&s;ue tho&s;e wayes, and tho&s;e meanes, by which, in a rectified con&s;cience, they finde mo&s;t profit. And except a man have this &s;en&s;e, what doth him mo&s;t good, and a de&s;ire to pur&s;ue that, the holy Gho&s;t doth not move, nor &s;tir up a zeale in him.</P>
<P>But then if God do afford him the benefit of the&s;e his Ordinances, in a competent mea&s;ure for him, and he will not be &s;atisfied with Manna, but will needs have Quailes, that is, cannot make one meale of Prayers, except he have a Sermon, nor &s;atisfied with his Gomer of Manna, (with tho&s;e Prayers which are appointed in the Church) nor &s;ati&s;|fied with tho&s;e Quailes which God &s;ends, (the preaching of &s;olid and fundamentall do|ctrines) but mu&s;t have birds of Paradi&s;e, unrevealed my&s;teries out of Gods own bo&s;ome preached unto him, how&s;oever the holy Gho&s;t may &s;eem to have moved, yet he doth not re&s;t upon him; and from the beginning, the office and operation of the holy Gho&s;t was double; He moved, and re&s;ted upon the waters in the creation; he came, and tar|ried &s;till upon Chri&s;t in his Bapti&s;me: He moves us to a zeale of laying hold upon the meanes of &s;alvation which God offers us in the Church; and he &s;ettles us in a peacefull con&s;cience, that by having well u&s;ed tho&s;e meanes, we are made his. A holy hunger and thir&s;t of the Word and Sacraments, a remor&s;e, and compunction for former &s;ins, a zeale to promove the cau&s;e, and glory of God, by word, and deed, this is the motion of the holy Gho&s;t: And then, to content my &s;elf with Gods mea&s;ure of temporall ble&s;|&s;ings, and for &s;pirituall, that I do &s;erve God faithfully in that calling which I lawfully profe&s;&s;e, as far as that calling will admit, (for he, upon who&s;e hand-labour the &s;u&s;tenta|tion of his family depends, may offend God in running after many working dayes Ser|mons) This peace of con&s;cience, this acquie&s;cence of having done that that belongs to me, this is the re&s;t of the Spirit of God. And this motion, and this re&s;t is &s;aid to be done <HI>Super faciem, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,</HI> which is our la&s;t con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>In the moving of the Spirit of God upon the waters,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Facies aqua|rum.</NOTE> we told you before, it was di&s;pu|ted, whether the Holy Gho&s;t did immediatly produce tho&s;e creatures of him&s;elfe, or whether he did fecundate, and inanimate, and inable tho&s;e &s;ub&s;tances, (the water, and all contained under the waters) to produce creatures in their divers &s;pecifications. In this moving of the Spirit of God upon the waters, in our regeneration, it hath al&s;o been much di&s;puted, How the Holy Gho&s;t works, in producing mans &s;upernaturall actions; whe|ther &s;o immediately, as that it be altogether without dependance, or relation to any fa|culty in man, or man him&s;elfe have &s;ome concurrence, and co-operation therein. There
<PB N="309" REF="172">we found, that in the fir&s;t creation, God wrought otherwi&s;e for the production of crea|tures, then he does now; At fir&s;t he did it immediatly, intirely, by him&s;elfe; Now, he hath delegated, and &s;ub&s;tituted nature, and imprinted a naturall power in every thing to produce the like. So in the fir&s;t act of mans Conver&s;ion, God may be conceived to work otherwi&s;e, then in his &s;ub&s;equent holy actions; for in the fir&s;t, man cannot be conceived to doe any thing, in the re&s;t he may: not that in the re&s;t God does not all; but that God findes a better di&s;po&s;ition, and &s;ouplene&s;&s;e, and maturity, and mellowing, to concurre with his motion in that man, who hath formerly been accu&s;tomed to a &s;en&s;e, and good u&s;e of his former graces, then in him, who in his fir&s;t conver&s;ion, receives, but then, the fir&s;t motions of his grace.</P>
<P>But yet, even in the fir&s;t creation, the Spirit of God did not move upon that nothing, which was before God made heaven and earth: But he moved upon the waters; though tho&s;e waters had nothing in them&s;elves, to an&s;wer his motion, yet he had waters to move upon: Though our faculties have nothing in them&s;elves to an&s;wer the motions of the Spirit of God, yet upon our faculties the Spirit of God works; And as out of tho&s;e waters, tho&s;e creatures did proceed, though not from tho&s;e waters, &s;o out of our faculties, though not from our faculties, doe our good actions proceed too. All in all, is from the love of God; but there is &s;omething for God to love; There is a man, there is a &s;oul in that man, there is a will in that &s;oul; and God is in love with this man, and this &s;oul, and this will,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> &amp; would have it. <HI>Non amor ita egenus &amp; indigus, ut rebus quas diligit &s;ubjiciatur,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Aug.</HI> excellently: The love of God to us is not &s;o poore a love, as our love to one another; that his love to us &s;hould make him &s;ubject to us, as ours does to them whom we love; but <HI>Superfertur,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, and our Text, he moves above us; He loves us, but with a Powerfull, a Maje&s;ticall, an Imperiall, a Commanding love; He offers tho&s;e, whom he makes his, his grace; but &s;o, as he &s;ometimes will not be denyed. So the Spirit moves &s;piritually upon the waters; He comes to the waters, to our naturall faculties; but he moves above tho&s;e waters, He inclines, he governes, he commands tho&s;e faculties; And this his motion, upon tho&s;e waters, we may u&s;efully con&s;ider, in &s;ome divers applications and a&s;&s;imilations of water, to man, and the divers u&s;es thereof towards man. We will name but a few; <HI>Bapti&s;me,</HI> and <HI>Sin,</HI> and <HI>Tribulation,</HI> and <HI>Death,</HI> are called in the Scripture, by that name, <HI>Waters;</HI> and we &s;hall onely illu&s;trate that con&s;ideration, how this Spirit of God, moves upon the&s;e Waters, Bapti&s;me, Sin, Tribulation, and Death, and we have done.</P>
<P>The water of Bapti&s;me, is the water that runs through all the Fathers;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bapti&s;mus.</NOTE> All the Fa|thers that had occa&s;ion to dive, or dip in the&s;e waters (to &s;ay any thing of them) make the&s;e fir&s;t waters, in the Creation, the figure of bapti&s;me.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> There <HI>Tertullian</HI> makes the water, <HI>Primam &s;edem Spiritus Sancti,</HI> The progre&s;&s;e, and the &s;etled hou&s;e, The voyage, and the harbour, The circumference, and the centre of the Holy Gho&s;t: And therefore S. <HI>Hierome</HI> calls the&s;e waters, <HI>Matrem Mundi,</HI> The Mother of the World;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> and this in the figure of Bapti&s;me. <HI>Na&s;centem Mundum in figura Bapti&s;mi parturiebat,</HI> The waters brought forth the whole World, were delivered of the whole World, as a Mother is delivered of a childe; and this, <HI>In figura Bapti&s;mi,</HI> To fore-&s;hew, that the waters al&s;o &s;hould bring forth the Church; That the Church of God &s;hould be borne of the Sa|crament of Bapti&s;me: So &s;ayes <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;e. Ba&s;il.</NOTE> And he e&s;tabli&s;hes it with better authority then his owne, <HI>Hoc Divinus a&s;&s;eruit Ba&s;ilius,</HI> &s;ayes he, This Divine <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Hoc factum, quia per Spiritum Sanctum, &amp; aquam voluit renovare hominem;</HI> The Spirit of God wrought upon the waters in the Creation, becau&s;e he meant to doe &s;o after, in the rege|neration of man. And therefore <HI>Pri&s;tinam &s;edem recogno&s;cens conquie&s;cit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Terrul.</NOTE> Till the Holy Gho&s;t have moved upon our children in Bapti&s;me, let us not think all done, that belongs to tho&s;e children; And when the Holy Gho&s;t hath moved upon tho&s;e waters, &s;o, in Bapti&s;me, let us not doubt of his power and effect upon all tho&s;e children that dye &s;o. We know no meanes how tho&s;e waters could have produced a Menow, a Shrimp, with|out the Spirit of God had moved upon them; and by this motion of the Spirit of God, we know they produce Whales, and Leviathans. We know no ordinary meanes of any &s;aving grace for a child, but Bapti&s;me; neither are we to doubt of the fulne&s;&s;e of &s;alvati|on, in them that have received it. And for our &s;elves, <HI>Mergimur, &amp; emergimus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> In Bapti&s;me we are &s;unk under water, and then rai&s;ed above the water againe; which was the manner of baptizing in the Chri&s;tian Church, by immer&s;ion, and not by a&s;per&s;ion, till of late times: <HI>Affectus, &amp; ameres,</HI> &s;ayes he, our corrupt affections,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> and our inor|dinate
<PB N="310" REF="173">love of this world is that, that is to be drowned in us; <HI>Amor &s;ecuritatis,</HI> A love of peace, and holy a&s;&s;urance, and acquie&s;cence in Gods Ordinance, is that that lifts us above water.</P>
<P>Therefore that Father puts all upon the due con&s;ideration of our Bapti&s;me: And as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hier.</NOTE> Certainly he that thinks upon the la&s;t Judgement advi&s;edly, cannot &s;in then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> So he that &s;ayes with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Procede in confe&s;sionc, fides mea,</HI> Let me make every day to God, this confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Domine Deus meus, Sancte, Sancte, Sancte Domine Deus meus,</HI> O Lord my God, O Holy, Holy, Holy Lord my God; <HI>In nomine tuo Baptizatus &s;um,</HI> I con&s;ider that I was baptized in thy name, and what thou promi&s;ed&s;t me, and what I promi&s;ed thee then, and can I &s;in this &s;in? can this &s;in &s;tand with tho&s;e conditions, tho&s;e &s;tipulations which pa&s;&s;ed between us then? The Spirit of God is motion, the Spirit of God is re&s;t too; And in the due con&s;ideration of Bapti&s;me, a true Chri&s;tian is moved, and &s;etled too; moved to a &s;en&s;e of the breach of his conditions, &s;etled in the &s;en&s;e of the Mercy of his God, in the Merits of his Chri&s;t, upon his godly &s;orrow. So the&s;e waters are the waters of Bapti&s;me.</P>
<P>Sin al&s;o is called by that name in the Scriptures,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquae pecca|tum.</NOTE> Water. <HI>The great whore &s;itteth upon many waters;</HI> &s;he &s;its upon them, as upon Egges, and hatches Cockatrices, venomous and &s;tinging &s;ins;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 17. Aqum.</NOTE> and yet plea&s;ing, though venomous; which is the wor&s;t of &s;in, that it de&s;troyes, and yet delights; for though they be called <HI>waters,</HI> yet that is &s;aid al&s;o, <HI>That the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> Sin is <HI>wine</HI> at fir&s;t, &s;o farre as to allure, to intoxicate: It is <HI>water</HI> at la&s;t, &s;o farre as to &s;uffocate, to &s;trangle. Chri&s;t Je&s;us way is to change water into wine; &s;orrow into joy: The Devils way is to change wine into water; plea&s;ure, and but fal&s;e plea&s;ure neither, into true bitterne&s;&s;e. The watri&s;h wine, which is &s;poken of there, and called fornication, is idolatry, and the like. And in &s;uch a re&s;pect,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2.18.</NOTE> God &s;ayes to his people, <HI>What ha&s;t thou to doe in the way of Egypt?</HI> In the way of Egypt we cannot chu&s;e but have &s;omething to doe; &s;ome conver&s;ation with men of an Idolatrous religion, we mu&s;t needs have. But yet, <HI>What ha&s;t thou to doe in the way of Egypt, to drinke of the waters of Sihor? Or what ha&s;t thou to doe in the wayes of A&s;&s;yria, to drink the waters of the River?</HI> Though we be bound to a peaceable conver&s;ation with men of an Idolatrous per&s;wa&s;ion, we are not bound to take in, to drink, to ta&s;te their errours. For this facility, and this indifferency to accompany men of divers religions, in the acts of their religion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 13.</NOTE> this multiplicity will end in a nullity, and <HI>we &s;hall hew to our &s;elves Ci&s;ternes, broken Ci&s;ternes, that can hold no water;</HI> We &s;hall &s;catter one religion into many, and tho&s;e many &s;hall vani&s;h into none. Prai&s;e we God therefore, that the Spirit of God hath &s;o moved upon the&s;e waters; the&s;e &s;infull waters of &s;uper&s;tition and ido|latry, wherein our fore-Fathers were overwhelmed; that they have not &s;welled over us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 43.20.</NOTE> For, then the cold North-winde blowes, and the water is congealed into Ice; Af|fliction overtakes us, damps us, &s;tupifies us, and we finde no Religion to comfort us.</P>
<P>Affliction is as often expre&s;&s;ed in this word,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tribulatio.</HI> E&s;ay 43.2.</NOTE> Waters, as &s;in. <HI>When thou pa&s;&s;e&s;t through waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they &s;hall not overflow thee.</HI> But then, the Spirit of God moves upon the&s;e waters too; and grace again&s;t &s;in, and deliverance from affliction, is as often expre&s;&s;ed in waters, as either. Where God takes another Metaphore for judgement,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 36.5. Ver. 25.</NOTE> yet he continues that of water for his mercy; <HI>In the fire of my jealou&s;ie have I &s;poken again&s;t them,</HI> (&s;peaking of enemies; but then &s;peaking of I&s;rael) <HI>I will &s;prinkle cleane water upon you, and you &s;hall be cleane.</HI> This is his way, and this is his mea&s;ure; He &s;prinkles enough at fir&s;t to make us cleane; even the &s;prinkling of Bapti&s;me clean&s;es us from originall &s;in; but then he &s;ets open the windowes of heaven, and he inlarges his Flood-gates,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 44.3.</NOTE> <HI>I will poure out water upon the thir&s;ty, and floods upon the dry ground:</HI> To them that thir&s;t after him, he gives grace for grace; that is, pre&s;ent grace for an earne&s;t of future grace; of &s;ub&s;equent grace, and concomitant grace, and auxiliant grace, and effe|ctuall grace; grace in more formes, more notions, and in more operations, then the Schoole it &s;elfe can tell how to name.</P>
<P>Thus the Spirit of God moves upon our waters.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 14.</NOTE> By faith <HI>Peter</HI> walked upon the waters; &s;o we prevent occa&s;ions of tentation to &s;in, and &s;inke not in them, but walke above them. By godly exerci&s;es we &s;wim through waters; &s;o the Centurion commanded that they that could &s;wim,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 27.43.</NOTE> &s;hould ca&s;t them&s;elves into the &s;ea; Men exerci&s;ed in holine&s;&s;e, can meet a tentation, or tribulation in the face, and not be &s;haked with it; weaker men, men that cannot &s;wim, mu&s;t be more wary of expo&s;ing them&s;elves to dangers of tentation;
<PB N="311" REF="173">A Court does &s;ome man no harme, when another finds tentation in a Hermitage. By repentance we &s;aile through waters; by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Gods ordinances in his Church, (which Church is the Arke) we attaine the harbour, peace of con&s;cience, after a &s;in; But this Arke, this helpe of the Church we mu&s;t have. God can &s;ave from dangers, though a man went to Sea without art, <HI>Sine rate,</HI> &s;aies the Vulgat, without a Ship.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 14.4.</NOTE> But God would not that the worke of his Wi&s;edome &s;hould be idle; God hath given man <HI>Pru|dentiam navifactivam,</HI> &s;aies our <HI>Holkot</HI> upon that place, and he would have that wi&s;dome exerci&s;ed. God can &s;ave without Preaching, and Ab&s;olution, and Sacraments, but he would not have his Ordinance neglected.</P>
<P>To end all with the end of all, Death comes to us in the name,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mors.</HI> 2 Sam. 14.14.</NOTE> and notion of waters too, in the Scriptures. The Widow of Tekoah &s;aid to <HI>David</HI> in the behalfe of <HI>Ab&s;alon,</HI> by the Coun&s;aile of <HI>Ioab,</HI> The water of death over&s;lowes all; <HI>We mu&s;t needs dye,</HI> &s;aies &s;he, <HI>and are as water &s;pilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up againe: yet God devi&s;es meanes, that his bani&s;hed, be not expelled from him.</HI> So the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the&s;e waters, the Spirit of life upon the danger of death. Con&s;ider the love, more then love, the &s;tudy, more then &s;tudy, the diligence of God; he devi&s;es meanes, that his bani&s;hed, tho&s;e whom &s;ins, or death had bani&s;hed, be not expelled from him. I &s;inned upon the &s;trength of my youth, and God devi&s;ed a meanes to reclaime me, an enfeebling &s;ickne&s;&s;e. I relap&s;ed after my recovery, and God devi&s;ed a meanes, an irrecoverable, a helple&s;s Con&s;umption to reclaime me; That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weigh|ed me down even to a diffidence in Gods mercy, and God devi&s;ed a meanes, the comfort of the Angel of his Church, his Mini&s;ter, The comfort of the Angel of the great Coun|&s;ell, the body and blood of his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us, at my tran&s;migration. Yet he lets his correction proceed to death; I doe dye of that &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and God devi&s;es a meanes, that I, though bani&s;hed, bani&s;hed into the grave, &s;hall not be expelled from him, a glorious Re&s;urrection. <HI>We mu&s;t needs dye and be as water &s;pilt upon the ground, but yet God devi&s;es meanes, that his bani&s;hed &s;hall not be expelled from him.</HI></P>
<P>And this is the motion, and this is the Re&s;t of the Spirit of God upon tho&s;e waters in this &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, He brings us to a de&s;ire of Bapti&s;me, he &s;ettles us in the &s;en&s;e of the obligation fir&s;t, and then of the benefits of Bapti&s;me. He &s;uffers us to goe into the way of tentations, (for <HI>Coluber in via,</HI> and every calling hath particular tentations) and then he &s;ettles us, by his preventing, or his &s;ub&s;equent grace. He moves, in &s;ubmitting us to tribulation, he &s;ettles us in finding, that our tribulations, do be&s;t of all conforme us to his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us. He moves in removing us by the hand of Death, and he &s;ettles us in an a&s;&s;urance, That it is he that now lets his Servants depart in peace; And he, who as he doth pre&s;ently lay our &s;oules in that &s;afe Cabinet, the Bo&s;ome of <HI>Abraham,</HI> &s;o he keepes an eye upon every graine, and atome of our du&s;t, whither &s;oe|ver it be blowne, and keepes a roome at his owne right hand for that body, when that &s;hall be re-united in a ble&s;&s;ed Re&s;urrection; And &s;o <HI>The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="32" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="312" REF="174">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXII.</HI> Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 12.3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Al&s;o no man can &s;ay, that Ie&s;us is the Lord, but by the Holy Gho&s;t.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE read that in the Tribe of <HI>Benjamin,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg. 20.16.</NOTE> which is, by interpretation <HI>Filius dextrae, The Son of the right hand,</HI> there were &s;even hundred left-handed Men, that could &s;ling &s;tones at a haires breadth, and not faile. S. <HI>Paul</HI> was of that Tribe; and though he were from the beginning, in the purpo&s;e of God, <HI>Filius dex|trae,</HI> A man ordained to be a dextrous In&s;trument of his glory, yet he was for a time a left-handed man, and tooke &s;ini&s;ter wayes, and in tho&s;e wayes, a good mark|man, a laborious and exqui&s;ite per&s;ecutor of Gods Church; And therefore it is, that <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ayes of him, <HI>Paulum mihi etiam Gene&s;is olim repromi&s;it,</HI> I had a promi&s;e of <HI>Paul</HI> in <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 49.</NOTE> Then, when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Iacob ble&s;&s;ed Benjamin thus, Benjamin &s;hall ravin as a Wolfe, In the morning he &s;hall devoure the prey, and at night he &s;hall divide the &s;poilc,</HI> that is, At the beginning <HI>Paul</HI> &s;hall &s;catter the flocke of Chri&s;t, but at la&s;t, he &s;hall gather, and re-unite the Nations to his &s;ervice:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.1. Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> As he had <HI>breathed threatnings, and &s;laughter again&s;t the Di&s;ciples of the Lord,</HI> &s;o he became <HI>Os orbi &s;ufficiens,</HI> A mouth loud enough for all the world to heare: And as he had drawne and &s;ucked the blood of Chri&s;ts my&s;ticall body, the Church, &s;o, in that proportion that God enabled him to, he recompen&s;ed that damage,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.14.</NOTE> by effu&s;ion of his owne blood, <HI>He fulfilled the &s;ufferings of Chri&s;t, in his fle&s;h,</HI> as him&s;elfe &s;aies, to the <HI>Colo&s;sians;</HI> And then he bequeathed to all po&s;terity the&s;e Epi&s;tles, which are, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> cals them, <HI>Vbera Eccle&s;ia,</HI> The Paps, the Brea&s;ts, the Udders of the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 13.24.</NOTE> And which are, as that clu&s;ter of Grapes of the Land of Canaan, which was borne by two; for here, every couple, every paire, may have their load, Jew and Gentile, Learned and Ignorant, Man and Wife, Ma&s;ter and Servant, Father and Chil|dren, Prince and People, Coun&s;aile and Client, how di&s;tinct &s;oever they thinke their callings to be towards the world, yet here every paire mu&s;t equally &s;ubmit their necks to this &s;weet and ea&s;ie yoake, of confe&s;&s;ing Je&s;us to be the Lord, and acknowledging that Confe&s;&s;ion to proceed from the working of the Holy Gho&s;t, for <HI>No man can &s;ay, that Ie&s;us is the Lord, without the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>In which words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> the&s;e &s;hall be the three things, that we will con&s;ider now; fir&s;t, The generall impotency of man, in &s;pirituall duties, <HI>Nemo pote&s;t,</HI> no man can do this, no man can doe any thing; &s;econdly, How, and what tho&s;e &s;pirituall duties are expre&s;&s;ed to be, It is a profe&s;&s;ion of Je&s;us to be the Lord, to &s;ay it, to declare it; And thirdly, the meanes of repairing this naturall impotency, and rectifying this naturall obliquity in man, That man by the Holy Gho&s;t may be enabled to do this &s;pirituall duty, to profe&s;&s;e &s;incerely Je&s;us to be the Lord. In the fir&s;t we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, the univer&s;ality of this flood, the ge|nerality of our lo&s;&s;e in <HI>Adam, Nemo,</HI> none, not one, hath any, any power; which notes their bla&s;phemy, that exempt any per&s;on from the infection of &s;in: And &s;econdly, we &s;hall &s;ee the impotency, the infirmity where it lies, It is <HI>in homine,</HI> no man; which notes their bla&s;phemy, that &s;ay, Man may be &s;aved by his naturall faculties, as he is man: And thirdly, by ju&s;t occa&s;ion of that word, <HI>Pote&s;t,</HI> he can, he is able, we &s;hall &s;ee al&s;o the lazi|ne&s;&s;e of man, which, though he can doe nothing effectually and primarily, yet he does not &s;o much as he might doe; And in tho&s;e three, we &s;hall determine our fir&s;t part. In the &s;econd, what this &s;pirituall duty, wherein we are all &s;o impotent, is, It is fir&s;t, an outward act, a profe&s;&s;ion; not that an outward act is enough, but that the inward affection alone is not enough neither; To thinke it, to beleeve it, is not enough, but we mu&s;t &s;ay it, pro|fe&s;&s;e it: And what? why, fir&s;t, That Je&s;us is; not only a&s;&s;ent to the hi&s;tory, and matter
<PB N="313" REF="174">of fact, that Je&s;us was, and did all that is reported, and recorded of him, but that he is &s;till that which he pretended to be; <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> is not <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> &s;till, nor <HI>Alexander, Alexander;</HI> But Je&s;us is Je&s;us &s;till, and &s;hall be for ever. This we mu&s;t profe&s;&s;e, That he is; And then, That he is the Lord; He was not &s;ent hither as the greate&s;t of the Prophets, nor as the greate&s;t of the Prie&s;ts; His worke con&s;i&s;ts not only in having preached to us, and in&s;tructed us, nor in having &s;acrificed him&s;elfe, thereby to be an example to us, to walk in tho&s;e wayes after him; but he is Lord, he purcha&s;ed a Dominion, he bought us with his Blood, He is Lord; And la&s;tly, he is The Lord, not only the Lord Paramount, the highe&s;t Lord, but The Lord, the only Lord, no other hath a Lord&s;hip in our &s;oules, no other hath any part in the &s;aving of them, but he: And &s;o far we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily enlarge our &s;econd con&s;ideration. And in the third part, which is, That this cannot be done but by the holy Gho&s;t, we &s;hall &s;ee, that in that <HI>But,</HI> is fir&s;t implyed an exclu&s;ion of all means but one; And therefore that one mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be hard to be compa&s;&s;ed, The know|ledge and di&s;cerning of the holy Gho&s;t, is a difficult thing; And yet, as this <HI>But</HI> hath an exclu&s;ion of all meanes but one, &s;o it hath an inclu&s;ion, an admi&s;&s;ion, an allowance of that one, It is a nece&s;&s;ary duty; nothing can effect it, but the having of the holy Gho&s;t, and therefore the holy Gho&s;t may be had: And in tho&s;e two points, The hardne&s;&s;e of it, And the po&s;&s;ibility of it, will our la&s;t con&s;ideration be employed.</P>
<P>For the fir&s;t branch of the fir&s;t part, The generality, that reaches to us all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. <HI>Generalitas.</HI></NOTE> and to us all over; to all our per&s;ons, and to all our faculties; <HI>Perdidimus per peccatum, bonum po&s;sibilitatis,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> We have lo&s;t our po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and our po&s;&s;ibility of reco|vering, by <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in. <HI>Adam</HI> at his be&s;t had but a po&s;&s;ibility of &s;tanding; we are fallen from that, and from all po&s;&s;ibility of ri&s;ing by any power derived from him: We have not only by this fall broke our armes, or our legs, but our necks; not our &s;elves, not a|ny other man can rai&s;e us; Every thing hath in it, as Phy&s;itians u&s;e to call it, <HI>Naturale Bal&s;amum,</HI> A naturall Bal&s;amum, which, if any wound or hurt which that creature hath received, be kept clean from extrin&s;ique putrefaction, will heale of it &s;elf. We are &s;o far from that naturall Bal&s;amum, as that we have a naturall poy&s;on in us, Originall &s;in: for that, originall &s;in, (as it hath relation to God, as all &s;in is a violating of God) God being the God of mercy, and the God of life, becau&s;e it deprives us of both tho&s;e, of mercy, and of life, in oppo&s;ition to mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.3. Rom. 5.12.</NOTE> it is called anger and wrath <HI>(We are all by nature the children of wrath)</HI> And in oppo&s;ition to life, it is called death, <HI>Death enters by &s;in, and death is gone over all men;</HI> And as originall &s;in hath relation to our &s;ouls, It is called that inde|leble foulne&s;&s;e, and uncleanne&s;&s;e which God di&s;covers in us all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 2.22.</NOTE> <HI>(Though thou wa&s;h thee with nitre, and take thee much &s;ope, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, &s;aith the Lord)</HI> And which every man findes in him&s;elf, as <HI>Iob</HI> did, <HI>If I wa&s;h my &s;elf in Snow-water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.</NOTE> <HI>and purge my hands never &s;o cleane, yet mine own clothes &s;hall make me filthy.</HI> As it hath relation to our bodies, &s;o it is not only called <HI>Lex carnis,</HI> A law which the fle&s;h cannot di&s;obey, And <HI>Lex in membris,</HI> A law written and imprinted naturally in our bodies, and in&s;eparably in|herent there, but it is a law that hath got <HI>Po&s;&s;e comitatus,</HI> All our &s;trength, and munition into her own hands, all our powers, and faculties to execute her purpo&s;es again&s;t us, and (as the Apo&s;tle expre&s;&s;es it fully) <HI>Hath force in our members, to bring forth fruits unto death.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.5.</NOTE></P>
<P>Con&s;ider our originall weakne&s;&s;e, as God lookes upon it, &s;o it is inexcu&s;able &s;in; con|&s;ider it, as our &s;oules &s;uffer by it, &s;o it is an indeleble foulne&s;&s;e; con&s;ider it as our bodies contribute to it, and harbour it, and retain it, and &s;o it is an unquenchable fire, and a brand of hell it &s;elf; It hath bani&s;hed me out of my &s;elf, <HI>It is no more I that do any thing, but &s;in that dwelleth in me:</HI> It doth not only <HI>dwell,</HI> but <HI>reign in the&s;e mortall bodies;</HI> not only <HI>reign,</HI> but <HI>tyrannize,</HI> and <HI>lead us captives under the law of &s;in, which is in our members.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 23.</NOTE> So that we have utterly lo&s;t <HI>Bonum po&s;sibilitatis,</HI> for as men, we are out of all po&s;&s;ibility, not only of that victorious, and triumphant gratulation and acclamation to our &s;elves, as for a delivery, <HI>I thank God through Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> but we cannot come to that &s;en&s;e of our mi&s;e|ry,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. ult.</NOTE> as to cry out in the Apo&s;tles words, immediately preceding, <HI>O wretched man that I am, who &s;hall deliver me from the body of this death?</HI></P>
<P>Now as this death hath invaded every part and faculty of man, under&s;tanding, and will, and all, (for though originall &s;in &s;eem to be contracted without our will, yet <HI>Sicut omnium natura, ita omnium voluntates fuere originaliter in Adam,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> As the whole nature of mankinde, and &s;o of every particular man, was in <HI>Adam,</HI> &s;o al&s;o were the faculties, and &s;o the will of every particular man in him) &s;o this death hath invaded
<PB N="314" REF="175">every particular man; Death went over all men, for as much as all men had &s;inned. And therefore they that do bla&s;phemou&s;ly exempt &s;ome per&s;ons from &s;in, they &s;et them not above the Law, but without the Law: They out-law them, in taking from them the be|nefit of the new Law, the Go&s;pel, and of the author of that Law, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who came a Phy&s;itian to the &s;ick, and was &s;ent only to &s;ave &s;inners; for them that are none, it is well that they need no Redeemer, for if they did, they could have no part in ours, for he came only to redeem &s;inners, and they are none. God brought his Son out of Aegypt, not out of Go&s;hen in Aegypt; not out of a priviledged place in Aegypt, but out of Aegypt; God brought his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us out of the Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> without &s;in, but he brought not her &s;o, out of her mother. If they might be beleeved that the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, and <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> and the Prophet <HI>Ieremy</HI> were without all &s;in, they would goe about at la&s;t to make us be|leeve, that <HI>Ignatius</HI> were &s;o too. For us, in the highe&s;t of our &s;anctification, &s;till let us pre&s;&s;e with that, <HI>Dimitte nobis debita no&s;tra, O Lord forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es,</HI> and confe&s;&s;e that we needed forgivene&s;&s;e, even for the &s;ins which we have not done; <HI>Dimi&s;&s;a fateor, &amp; quae mea &s;ponte feci, &amp; quae te duce, non feci,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> I confe&s;&s;e I need thy mercy, both for the &s;ins which I have done, and for tho&s;e, which if thy grace had not re&s;trained me, I &s;hould have done. And therefore if another think he hath &s;caped tho&s;e &s;ins that I have committed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Non me derideat ab eo medico aegrum &s;anari, &agrave; quoei prae&s;titum ne aegrotaret;</HI> Let him not de&s;pi&s;e me, who am recovered, &s;ince it is the &s;ame phy&s;itian who hath wrought upon us both, though by a diver&s;e method, for he hath pre&s;erved him, and he hath recovered me: for, for him&s;elfe, we &s;ay &s;till with the &s;ame Father, <HI>Perdiderat bonum po&s;sibilitatis,</HI> As well he as I, had lo&s;t all po&s;&s;ibility of &s;tanding, or ri&s;ing after our fall.</P>
<P>This was our fir&s;t branch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid homo pote&s;t.</NOTE> The univer&s;all impotency; And our &s;econd is, That this is <HI>In homine,</HI> In man, no man (as man) can make this profe&s;&s;ion, <HI>That Ie&s;us is the Lord:</HI> and therefore, we con&s;ider fir&s;t, wherein, and how far man is di&s;abled. In every Age, &s;ome men have attributed to the power of nature, more then a naturall man can doe, and yet no man doth &s;o much as a naturall man might doe. For the over-valuing of nature, and her power, there are impre&s;&s;ions in the Fathers them&s;elves, which (whether mi&s;-under|&s;tood by the Readers, or by the Authors) have led and prevailed much. When <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Ratio pro fide Graecis &amp; Barbaris,</HI> That rectified rea&s;on did the &s;ame office in the Gentiles, as faith did in the Chri&s;tians; when <HI>Clement</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Philo&s;ophia per &s;e&s;e ju&s;ti. ficavit Graecos,</HI> That the Gentiles to whom the Law and Go&s;pell was not communica|ted, were ju&s;tified by their Philo&s;ophy; when <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Satis fuit Gentibus ab&s;ti|nui&s;&s;e ab Idololatria,</HI> It was &s;ufficient for the Gentiles, if they did not wor&s;hip fal&s;e gods, though they under&s;tood not the true; when S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Rect&egrave; facis, nihil quaerere ampli&ugrave;s, qu&agrave;m quod docet ratio,</HI> He doth well that &s;eeks no farther, then his rea&s;on leads them, the&s;e impre&s;&s;ions in the Fathers have tran&s;ported later men farther; &s;o far, as that <HI>Andradius</HI> in the Romane Church, &s;aves all hone&s;t Philo&s;ophers, that lived morally well without Chri&s;t: And <HI>To&s;tatus</HI> takes all impediments out of their way, That origi|nall &s;in is ab&s;olutely remitted to them, <HI>In prima bona operatione in charitate,</HI> In their fir&s;t good morall work that they do. So that they are in an ea&s;ier way then we, who are but Chri&s;tians; for in the opinion of <HI>To&s;tatus</HI> him&s;elfe, and that whole Church, we cannot be delivered from originall &s;in, but by bapti&s;me; nothing le&s;&s;e then a Sacrament would deliver us from originall &s;in, and any good worke &s;hall deliver any of the Gentiles &s;o di&s;po&s;ed.</P>
<P>In all ages, in all Churches, there have been men, who have been <HI>Ingrati gratiae,</HI> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> calls them, that have been unthanfull to the grace of God, and attributed that to nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 17.26.</NOTE> which belonged to grace. But we have an univer&s;all conclu&s;ion, <HI>God hath made of one blood all mankinde,</HI> And no man can adopt him&s;elfe into the family of God; man is excluded, and all power in man, and all a&s;&s;i&s;tance from man; neither your owne rea&s;on, nor the rea&s;on of your Ma&s;ters, whom you relie upon, can rai&s;e you to this know|ledge: for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 31.3.</NOTE> <HI>Aegyptus homo, non Deus, The Egyptians are men, and not Gods, and their hor&s;es are fle&s;h, and not &s;pirit; and when the Lord &s;hall &s;tretch out his hand, the helper &s;hall fall, and he that is holpen &s;hall fall, and they &s;hall fall together.</HI> The Athei&s;t and all his Philo&s;ophy, Helper and hee that is Holpen, Hor&s;e and Man, Nature and Art, Rea&s;on mounted and advanced upon Learning, &s;hall never be able to leap over, or breake thorough this wall, No man, no naturall man can doe any thing towards a &s;upernaturall work.</P>
<P>This was our &s;econd Branch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid homo facit.</NOTE> That too much is ordinarily attributed by man to man,
<PB N="315" REF="175">And our third is, That too little is done by any man, and that is wor&s;e then the other. When <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> had made his Image of gold of &s;ixtie Cubits, it had been a mad|ne&s;&s;e in him, not to have celebrated the Dedication thereof, with all the pomp, and &s;o|lemnity that he did: To have gone &s;o farre, and not to have made it &s;erve his farther u&s;es, had been a &s;trange impertinence. So is it a &s;trange contemplation, to &s;ee a man &s;et up a golden Image, to attribute even Divinity to our nature, and to imagine it to be able to doe, what&s;oever the grace of God can doe, and yet with this Angelicall nature, with this cele&s;tiall &s;oule, to contribute le&s;&s;e to the glory of God, then an Ant, or a plant, or a &s;tone. As the coun&s;ell of the Philo&s;opher <HI>Epictetus</HI> directs thee, if thou take any new action in hand, con&s;ider what <HI>Socrates</HI> would doe in that ca&s;e; that is, di&s;po&s;e thy &s;elfe therein, according to the example, and precedent of &s;ome wi&s;e man: So if thou wilt take this new action in hand, (that which is new, but &s;hould be ordinary unto thee) if thou wilt take a view of thy &s;ins that are pa&s;t, doe but con&s;ider, if ever thou did&s;t any &s;in, which <HI>Socrates,</HI> or <HI>Seneca</HI> would not have forborne. And what&s;oever thou &s;ee&s;t another can doe, by the power of that rea&s;on, and that per&s;wa&s;ion which thou art able to mini|&s;ter, who art not able to infu&s;e faith, nor in&s;pire grace into him, but mu&s;t work by thy rea&s;on, and upon his rea&s;on, why &s;houlde&s;t not thou be as powerfull upon thy &s;elfe, and as &s;trong in thine owne behalfe, and obey that coun&s;ell from thy &s;elfe, which thou thinke&s;t another man mad, if he doe not obey, when thou give&s;t it? Why &s;houlde&s;t thou pre|tend Rea&s;on, why another &s;hould forbeare any particular &s;in, and not pre&s;ent that Rea|&s;on to thy &s;elfe, or not obey it? To love the Scriptures of God better then any other booke; to love the hou&s;e of God better then any other Court; to love the Communion of Saints better then any other Conver&s;ation; to &s;tudy to know the revealed will of God, rather then the &s;ecrets of any Princes; to con&s;ider the direct purpo&s;es of God again&s;t his enemies, rather then the &s;ini&s;ter &s;upplantations of pretenders to places in Court; briefly to Reade, to Heare, to Beleeve the Bible, is a worke within the ability of nature, within the power of a morall man.</P>
<P>He that attributes more to nature, he that allowes her any ability of di&s;po&s;ing her &s;elfe before hand, without prevention of grace, or concurrence and co-operation after, with|out continuall a&s;&s;i&s;tance of particular graces, he &s;ets up an Idoll, and magnifies nature be|yond that which appertaines unto her. But he that goes not &s;o farre as this, That the rea&s;on of man, and his naturall faculties, are the In&s;truments and Organs that God works in by his grace, how&s;oever he may in di&s;cour&s;e and in argument exalt nature, how&s;oever he may &s;o give too much to her, yet he does not &s;o much with her, as he might doe: He hath made her a Giant, and then, as though he were afraid of her, hee runs away from her: He will not doe that which is in his power, and yet he thinks it is in his power to repent when he li&s;ts, and when he li&s;ts to apply the merits of Chri&s;t to him&s;elfe, and to doe all tho&s;e duties which are implyed in our next Part, <HI>To &s;ay that Ie&s;us is the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>In this, our fir&s;t duty is an outward act, <HI>Dicere,</HI> to profe&s;&s;e Chri&s;t Je&s;us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part. <HI>Dicere.</HI> Rom. 1.16. Luke 9.26.</NOTE> <HI>Non erube&s;co,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Paul, I am not a&s;hamed of the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Ie&s;us, for it is the power of God unto &s;alvation:</HI> And, <HI>Qui erubuerit,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>Who&s;oever &s;hall be a&s;hamed of me, and of my word, of him &s;hall the Son of Man be a&s;hamed, when he &s;hall come in glory.</HI> This is a nece&s;&s;ary duty, but is it the duty of this place? for here it is not <HI>non vult,</HI> but <HI>non pote&s;t;</HI> not that he is loath to profe&s;&s;e Je&s;us, but that he is not able to doe it. We &s;ee that &s;ome could &s;ay that, and &s;ay it aloud, preach it, and yet without the Holy Gho&s;t; <HI>Some</HI> (&s;ayes the Apo&s;tle) <HI>preach Chri&s;t through envy and &s;trife,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Philem. 15.</NOTE> <HI>&s;uppo&s;ing to adde more afflictions unto my bands.</HI> Which may well be, that &s;ome Jews and Gentiles, to exa&s;perate the State again&s;t <HI>Paul,</HI> fained them&s;elves al&s;o to be converted to his religion, becau&s;e when they had made him odious by drawing off others, they who pretended to have been drawen by him, could alwayes &s;ave them&s;elves with recanting, and renouncing their new profe&s;&s;ion: So they could &s;ay <HI>Dominum Ie&s;um, That Ie&s;us was the Lord,</HI> and never meane it. And of tho&s;e twelve whom Chri&s;t cho&s;e to preach, <HI>Iudas</HI> was one, of whom Chri&s;t &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6.70.</NOTE> <HI>Have I not cho&s;en you twelve, and one of you is a devill?</HI> So that this devill <HI>Iudas,</HI> and that devill that made him a devill, the devill him&s;elf, could &s;ay as much as this, <HI>Ie&s;us I know,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.15. Luke 4.41.</NOTE> <HI>and Paul I know;</HI> They &s;aid it, they cryed it, <HI>Thou art the Chri&s;t, the Son of God,</HI> and that in|ce&s;&s;antly, <HI>Till Ie&s;us rebuked them, and &s;uffered them not to &s;ay, That they knew him to be The Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>But be&s;ides that, even this confe&s;&s;ing of Chri&s;t, is not <HI>Sine omni impul&s;u Spiritus &s;ancti,</HI>
<PB N="316" REF="176">Altogether without any motion of the holy Gho&s;t (for the holy Gho&s;t, even in the&s;e ca&s;es, had a purpo&s;e to draw te&s;timonies for Chri&s;t, out of the mouthes of his adver&s;a|ries) this is not the profe&s;&s;ing required here; When <HI>Tiberius</HI> had a purpo&s;e to canonize Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and to admit him into the number of the Romane Gods, and to make him beholden to him for that honour, he therefore propo&s;ed it to the Senate, that &s;o that honour, which Je&s;us &s;hould have, might bee derived from him, And when the Senate had an inclination of them&s;elves to have done Chri&s;t that honour, but yet for|bore it, becau&s;e the intimation came not from them&s;elves, but from the Emperour, who &s;till wrought and gained upon their priviledges, neither of the&s;e, though they meant col|laterally and obliquely to doe Chri&s;t an honour, neither of them did &s;ay <HI>Ie&s;um Dominum,</HI> that is, profe&s;&s;e Je&s;us, &s;o as is intended here, for they had their owne ends, and their own honors principally in Contemplation.</P>
<P>There is fir&s;t an open profe&s;&s;ion of the tongue required; And therefore the Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cended in fiery tongues, <HI>Et lingua propria Spiritui Sancto,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> The tongue is the fitte&s;t In&s;trument for the Holy Gho&s;t to worke upon, and to worke by; <HI>Qui magnam habet cognationem cum Verbo,</HI> &s;ayes he, The Son of God is the Word, and the Holy Gho&s;t proceeds from him, And becau&s;e that faith that unites us to God, is expre&s;&s;ed in the tongue, how&s;oever the heart be the center in which the Holy Gho&s;t re&s;ts, the tongue is the Spheare, in which he moves: And therefore, &s;ayes S. <HI>Cyril,</HI> as God &s;et the Cherubim with a fiery &s;word, to keep us out of Paradi&s;e, &s;o he hath &s;et the Holy Gho&s;t in fiery tongues to let us in againe. As long as <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> was unborne, <HI>Zachary</HI> was dumbe; when hee was borne, <HI>Zachary</HI> &s;poke; Chri&s;t is not borne in us, we are not regenerate in him, if we delight not to &s;peake of his wondrous mercyes, and infinite goodne&s;&s;e to the &s;ons of men; as &s;oone as he is borne in us, his Spirit &s;peakes in us, and by us; in which, our fir&s;t profe&s;&s;ion is <HI>Ie&s;um e&s;&s;e,</HI> That Je&s;us is, That there is a Je&s;us.</P>
<P>This is to profe&s;&s;e with <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> E&s;ay 4.2.</NOTE> That he is <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> The Bud of the Lord, The Blo&s;&s;ome of God him&s;elfe; for this Profe&s;&s;ion is a two-edged &s;word; for it wounds the Arians on one &s;ide, That Je&s;us is Jehovah, (becau&s;e that is the name that &s;ignifies the very E&s;&s;ence of God) And then it wounds the Jews on the other &s;ide, becau&s;e if Je|&s;us be <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> The Bud, the Blo&s;&s;ome, the Off-&s;pring of God, then there is a plu|rality of Per&s;ons, Father and Son in the God-head. So that it is a Compendiary and Sum|mary Abridgement, and Catechi&s;me of all our Religion, to profe&s;&s;e that Je&s;us is, for that is a profe&s;&s;ion of his everla&s;ting E&s;&s;ence, that is, his God-head. It hath been de|nyed that he was &s;uch as he was pretended to be, that is, borne of a Virgin; for the fir&s;t Heretiques of all, <HI>Gerinthus,</HI> and <HI>Ebion,</HI> who occa&s;ioned S. <HI>Iohns</HI> Go&s;pel, affirmed him to be a meere man, made by ordinary generation, between <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> and <HI>Mary.</HI> It hath been denyed, that he was &s;uch a man, as tho&s;e Heretiques allowed him to bee, for <HI>Apelles</HI> his Here&s;ie was, That he made him&s;elfe a Body out of the Elements, as hee came downe from Heaven, through them. It hath been denyed, that he had any Body at all; <HI>Cerdon</HI> and <HI>Marcion</HI> &s;aid, That he lived and dyed, but in <HI>Phanta&s;mate,</HI> in appa|rance, and onely in a forme and &s;hape of a Body a&s;&s;umed; but, in truth, no Body, that did live or dye, but did onely appeare, and vani&s;h. It hath beene denyed that that Body which hee had, though a true and a naturall Body did &s;uffer, for <HI>Ba&s;ilides</HI> &s;aid, That when he was led to Execution, and that on the way, the Cro&s;&s;e was laid upon <HI>Simon</HI> of <HI>Cyren,</HI> Chri&s;t ca&s;t a mi&s;t before their eyes, by which they tooke <HI>Simon</HI> for him, and crucified <HI>Simon,</HI> Chri&s;t having withdrawne him&s;elfe invi&s;ibly from them, as at other times he had done. It hath been denyed, (though he had a true Body, and &s;uffered truly therein) that he hath any Body now in Heaven, or &s;hall returne with any, for hee that &s;aid hee made his Body of the Elements as hee came downe from Heaven, &s;ayes al&s;o that hee re&s;olved that Body into tho&s;e Elements againe, at his returne. It hath beene denyed, That hee was, That he is, That he &s;hall be; but this Profe&s;&s;ion, that Je&s;us is, includes all, for, He of whom that is alwayes true, <HI>E&s;t,</HI> He is, He is Eternall, and He that is Eternall, is God: This is therefore a Profe&s;&s;ion of the God-head of Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dominus;</HI> A Lord.</NOTE> in the next, as we profe&s;&s;e him to be <HI>Dominus, A Lord,</HI> we profe&s;&s;e him to be God and man, we behold him as he is a mixt per&s;on, and &s;o made fit to be the Me&s;&s;ias, the Anointed high Prie&s;t, King of that Church, which he hath purcha&s;ed with his blood, And the anointed King of that Kingdome which he hath conquered with his Cro&s;&s;e.
<PB N="317" REF="176">As he is <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> The off-&s;pring of Jehovah, &s;o he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be Jehovah; &amp; that is the name, which is evermore tran&s;lated The Lord; So al&s;o as he is Jehovah, which is the fountaine of all E&s;&s;ence and of all Beeing, &s;o he is Lord, by his intere&s;t, and his con|currence, in our Creation; It is a devoute exerci&s;e of the &s;oule, to con&s;ider, how ab&s;olute a Lord he is, by this Title of Creation; If the King give a man a Creation by a new Title, the King found before in that man, &s;ome vertuous and fit di&s;po&s;ition, &s;ome prepa|ration, &s;ome object, &s;ome &s;ubject of his favour. The King gives Creations to men, whom the Univer&s;ities, or other Societies had prepared; They Created per&s;ons whom other lower Schooles had prepared; At lowe&s;t, he that deales upon him fir&s;t, finds a man, be|gotten and prepared by Parents, upon whom he may worke. But remember thy Crea|tor, that called thee, when thou wa&s;t not, as though thou had&s;t beene, and brought thee out of nothing; which is a condition (if we may call it a condition, to be nothing, not to be) farther removed from Heaven, then hell it &s;elfe: Who is the Lord of life, and breathed this life into thee, and &s;weares by that eternall life, which he is, that he would have this life of thine immortall, <HI>As I live, &s;aith the Lord, I would not the death of a &s;inner.</HI></P>
<P>This Contemplation of Je&s;us, as a Lord, by Creating us, is a devout, and an humble Contemplation; but to contemplate him as Lord by Redeeming us, and breeding us in a Church, where that Redemption is applied to us, this is a devout, and a glorious Con|templation. As he is Lord over that which his Father gave him, (his Father gave him all power in Heaven and in earth, and <HI>Omne Iudicium,</HI> His Father put all Judgement into his hands, all judiciary and all military power was his; He was Lord Judge, and Lord of Ho&s;ts) As he is Lord over his owne purcha&s;e, <HI>Quod acqui&s;ivit &s;anguine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>That Church which he purcha&s;ed with his owne blood:</HI> So he is more then the Heretiques of our time have made him, That he was but &s;ent as a principall Prophet to explaine the Law, and make that cleare to us in a Go&s;pel; Or as a Prie&s;t, to &s;acrifice him&s;elfe, but not for a Ran|&s;ome, not for a Satisfaction, but onely for a lively example, thereby to incline us to &s;uf|fer for Gods glory, and for the edification of one another. If we call him <HI>Dominum,</HI> A Lord, we call him <HI>Me&s;siam, Vnctum, Regem,</HI> anointed with the oyle of gladne&s;&s;e by the Holy Gho&s;t, to bee a cheerefull conquerour of the world, and the grave, and &s;in, and hell, and anointed in his owne blood, to be a Lord in the admini&s;tration of that Church, which he hath &s;o purcha&s;ed. This is to &s;ay that Je&s;us is a Lord; To profe&s;&s;e that he is a per&s;on &s;o qualified, in his being compo&s;ed of God and Man, that he was able to give &s;uf|ficient for the whole world, and did give it, and &s;o is Lord of it.</P>
<P>When we &s;ay <HI>Ie&s;us e&s;t,</HI> That Je&s;us is, There we confe&s;&s;e his eternity, and therein,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dominus.</HI> The Lord.</NOTE> his Godhead: when we &s;ay <HI>Ie&s;us Dominus,</HI> that he is a Lord, therein we confe&s;&s;e a dominion which he hath purcha&s;ed; And when we &s;ay <HI>Ie&s;um Dominum,</HI> &s;o, as that we profe&s;&s;e him to be the Lord, Then we confe&s;&s;e a vigilancy, a &s;uperintendency, a re&s;idence, and a per|manency of Chri&s;t, in his Dominion, in his Church, to the worlds end. If he be the Lord, in his Church, there is no other that rules with him, there is no other that rules for him. The temporall Magi&s;trate is not &s;o Lord, as that Chri&s;t and he are Collegues, or fellow-Con&s;uls, that if he command again&s;t Chri&s;t, he &s;hould be as &s;oone obeyed as Chri&s;t; for a Magi&s;trate is a Lord, and Chri&s;t is the Lord, a Magi&s;trate is a Lord to us, but Chri&s;t is the Lord to him, and to us, and to all, None rules with him, none rules for him; Chri&s;t needs no Vicar, he is no non-re&s;ident; He is nearer to all particular Churches at Gods right hand; then the Bi&s;hop of Rome, at his left. Direct lines, direct beames does alwaies warme better, and produce their effects more powerfully, then oblique beames doe; The influence of Chri&s;t Je&s;us directly from Heaven upon the Church, hath a truer operation, then the oblique and collaterall reflections from Rome: Chri&s;t is not &s;o far off, by being above the Clouds, as the Bi&s;hop of Rome is, by being beyond the Hils. <HI>Dicimus Dominum Ie&s;um,</HI> we &s;ay that Je&s;us is the Lord, and we refu&s;e all power upon earth, that will be Lord with him, as though he needed a Coadjutor, or Lord for him, as though he were ab&s;ent from us.</P>
<P>To conclude this &s;econd part, <HI>To &s;ay that Ie&s;us is the Lord,</HI> is to confe&s;&s;e him to bee God from everla&s;ting, and to have beene made man in the fulne&s;&s;e of time, and to go|verne &s;till that Church, which he hath purcha&s;ed with his blood, and that therefore hee lookes that we direct all our particular actions to his glory. For this voice, wherein thou &s;aie&s;t <HI>Dominus Ie&s;us, The Lord Ie&s;us,</HI> mu&s;t be, as the voyce of the Seraphim in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.2.</NOTE> thrice
<PB N="318" REF="177">repeated, <HI>Sanctus, &s;anctus, &s;anctus, Holy, holy, holy;</HI> our hearts mu&s;t &s;ay it, and our tongue, and our hands too, or el&s;e we have not &s;aid it. For when a man will make Je&s;us his com|panion, and be &s;ometimes with him, and &s;ometimes with the world, and not direct all things principally towards him; when he will make Je&s;us his &s;ervant, that is, proceed in all things, upon the &s;trength of his outward profe&s;&s;ion, upon the colour, and pretence, and advantage of Religion, and devotion, would this man be thought to have &s;aid <HI>Ie&s;um Dominum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.46.</NOTE> <HI>That Ie&s;us is the Lord? Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and doe not the things I &s;peake to you?</HI> &s;aies Chri&s;t; Chri&s;t places a tongue in the hands; Actions &s;peake; and <HI>Omni tuba clarior per opera Demon&s;tratio,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> There is not onely a tongue, but a Trumpet, in every good worke. When Chri&s;t &s;ees a di&s;po&s;ition in his hearers, to doe according unto their profe&s;&s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 13.14.</NOTE> then only he gives allowance to that that they &s;ay, <HI>Dici|tis me Dominum, &amp; bene dicitis,</HI> You call me Lord, and you doe well in doing &s;o, doe ye therefore, as I have done to you. To call him Lord, is to contemplate his Kingdome of power, to feele his Kingdome of grace, to wi&s;h his Kingdome of glory. It is not a <HI>Domi|ne u&s;que qu&ograve;,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 11.21.</NOTE> Lord how long before the Con&s;ummation come, as though we were weary of our warfare: It not a <HI>Domine &s;i fui&s;&s;es, Lord if thou had&s;t beene here, our brother had not died,</HI> as <HI>Martha</HI> &s;aid of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> as though, as &s;oon as we &s;uffer any worldly calamity, we &s;hould thinke Chri&s;t to be ab&s;ent from us, in his power, or in his care of us; It is not a <HI>Do|mine vis mandemus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.54.</NOTE> <HI>Lord wilt thou that we command fire from Heaven to con&s;ume the&s;e Sama|ritans,</HI> as though we would &s;erve the Lord no longer, then he would revenge his owne and our quarrel; for, (that we may come to our la&s;t part) to that fiery que&s;tion of the Apo&s;tles, Chri&s;t an&s;wered, <HI>You know not of what &s;pirit you are;</HI> It is not the Spirit of God, it is not the Holy Gho&s;t, which makes you call Je&s;us the Lord onely to &s;erve your own ends, and purpo&s;es; and <HI>No man can &s;ay, that Ie&s;us is the Lord, but by the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>For this Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>3 Part.</HI> Difficultas.</NOTE> we propo&s;ed onely two Con&s;iderations, fir&s;t that this <HI>But,</HI> excluding all meanes but one, that one mu&s;t therefore nece&s;&s;arily be difficult, and &s;econdly that that <HI>But,</HI> admitting one meanes, that one mu&s;t therefore nece&s;&s;arily be po&s;&s;ible; &s;o that there is a difficulty, but yet a po&s;&s;ibility in having this working by the Holy Gho&s;t. For the fir&s;t, of tho&s;e hereticall words of <HI>Fan&s;tus</HI> the <HI>Manichaean,</HI> That in the Trinity, the Father dwelt <HI>In illa luce inacce&s;sibili,</HI> In that light which none can attaine to, And the Son of God dwelt in this created light, who&s;e fountaine and roote is the Planet of the Sun, And the Holy Gho&s;t dwelt in the Aire, and other parts illumined by the Sun, we may make this good u&s;e, that for the knowledge of the Holy Gho&s;t, wee have not &s;o pre&s;ent, &s;o evident light in rea&s;on, as for the knowledge of the other ble&s;&s;ed Per&s;ons of the glorious Trinity. For, for the Son, becau&s;e he a&s;&s;umed our nature, and lived and dyed with us, we conceive certaine bodily impre&s;&s;ions, and notions of him; and then naturally, and nece&s;&s;arily, as &s;oon as we heare of a Son, we conceive a Father too. But the knowledge of the Holy Gho&s;t is not &s;o evident, neither doe we bend our thoughts upon the con&s;ideration of the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;o much as we ought to doe. The Arians en|wrapped him in double clouds of darkne&s;&s;e, when they called him <HI>Creaturam Creaturae;</HI> That Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, from whom (&s;ay they) the Holy Gho&s;t had his Creation, was but a Creature, and not God, and &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t, the Creature of a Creature. And <HI>Maximus ille Gigas,</HI> (as Saint <HI>Bernard</HI> cals <HI>Plato</HI>) That Giant in all kinde of Learning, <HI>Plato,</HI> never &s;topped at any knowledge, till he came to con&s;ider the holy Gho&s;t: <HI>Vnum inveni, quod cuncta operatur,</HI> I have (&s;aies <HI>Plato</HI>) found One, who made all things; <HI>Et unum per quod cuncta efficiuntur,</HI> And I have found another, by whom all things were made; <HI>Tertium autem non potui invenire,</HI> A Third, be&s;ides tho&s;e two, I could never finde.</P>
<P>Though all the my&s;teries of the Trinity be things equally ea&s;ie to faith, when God infu&s;es that, yet to our rea&s;on, (even as rea&s;on &s;erves faith, and pre&s;ents things to that) things are not &s;o equall, but that S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> him&s;elfe &s;aw, that the eternall generation of the Son, was too hard for Rea&s;on; but yet it is in the proceeding of the Holy Gho&s;t, that he clearely profe&s;&s;es his ignorance: <HI>Si cuncta putarem no&s;tra cogitatione po&s;&s;e comprehendi, vererer fort&egrave; ignorantiam profiteri,</HI> If I thought that all things might bee knowne by man, I &s;hould bee as much afraid, and a&s;hamed, as another man, to be ignorant; but, &s;aies he, &s;ince we all &s;ee, that there are many things whereof we are ignorant, <HI>Cur non de Spiritu &s;ancto, ab&s;&abque; rubore, ignorantiam faterer?</HI> Why &s;hould I be a&s;hamed to confe&s;&s;e mine ignorance in many things concerning the Holy Gho&s;t?</P>
<PB N="319" REF="177">
<P>There is then a difficulty, no le&s;&s;e then an impo&s;&s;ibility,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Po&s;&s;ibilitas.</NOTE> in &s;earching after the Holy Gho&s;t, but it is in tho&s;e things which appertain not to us; But in others, there is a po&s;|&s;ibility, a facility and ea&s;ine&s;&s;e. For, there are two proce&s;&s;ions of the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Aeter|na,</HI> and <HI>Temporaria,</HI> his proceeding from the Father, and the Son, and his proceeding into us. The fir&s;t we &s;hall never under&s;tand, if we reade all the books of the world, The other we &s;hall not choo&s;e but under&s;tand, if we &s;tudy our own con&s;ciences. In the fir&s;t, the darkne&s;&s;e, and difficulty is recompenced in this, That though it be hard to finde any thing, yet it is but little that we are to &s;eek; It is only to finde that there is a holy Gho&s;t, proceeding from Father, and Son; for in &s;earching farther, the danger is noted by S. <HI>Ba|&s;il,</HI> to be thus great, <HI>Qui quomodo interrogas, &amp; ubi ut in loco, &amp; quando ut in tempore, in|terrogabis;</HI> If thou give thy curio&s;ity the liberty to ask How the holy Gho&s;t proceeded, thou wilt ask where it was done, as though there were &s;everall roomes, and di&s;tinct places, in that which is infinite, And thou wilt ask when it was done, as though there were pieces of time, in that which is eternall: <HI>Et quaeres, non ut fidem, &s;ed ut infidelitatem invenias,</HI> (which is excellently added by that Father) The end of thy enquiring will not be, that thou mighte&s;t finde any thing to e&s;tabli&s;h thy beliefe, but to finde &s;omething that might excu&s;e thine unbeliefe; All thy curious que&s;tions are not in hope that thou &s;halt receive &s;atisfaction, but in hope that the weakne&s;&s;e of the an&s;wer may ju&s;tifie thy infidelity.</P>
<P>Thus it is, if we will be over curious in the fir&s;t, the eternall proceeding of the Holy Gho&s;t. In the other, the proceeding of the holy Gho&s;t into us, we are to con&s;ider, that as in our naturall per&s;ons, the body and &s;oul do not make a perfect man, except they be united, except our &s;pirits (which are the active part of the blood) do fit this body, and &s;oule for one anothers working;; So, though the body of our religion may &s;eem to be determined in the&s;e two, our Creation, which is commonly attributed to the Father, <HI>Tanquam fonti Deitatis,</HI> As the fountaine of the Godhead, (for Chri&s;t is God of God) And our Redemption, which belongs to the Son, yet for this body there is a &s;pirit, that is, the holy Gho&s;t, that takes this man, upon whom the Father hath wrought by Creati|on, and the Son included within his Redemption, and he works in him a Vocation, a Ju|&s;tification, and a &s;anctification, and leads him from that <HI>E&s;&s;e,</HI> which the Father gave him in the Creation, And that <HI>Bene e&s;&s;e</HI> which he hath in being admitted into the body of his Son, the vi&s;ible Church, and Congregation, to an <HI>Optim&egrave; e&s;&s;e,</HI> to that perfection, which is an a&s;&s;urance of the inhabitation of this Spirit in him, and an inchoation of eternall ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e here, by a heavenly and &s;anctified conver&s;ation, without which Spirit <HI>No man can &s;ay, that Ie&s;us is the Lord,</HI> becau&s;e he is not otherwi&s;e in a perfect obedience to him, if he embrace not the means ordained by him in his Church.</P>
<P>So that this Spirit di&s;po&s;es, and di&s;pen&s;es, di&s;tributes, and di&s;per&s;es, and orders all the power of the Father, and all the wi&s;dome of the Son, and all the graces of God. It is a Center to all; So S. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;ayes upon tho&s;e words of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>We approve our &s;elves as the Mini&s;ters of God;</HI> But by what? <HI>By watching, by fa&s;ting, by &s;uffering, by the holy Gho&s;t, by love unfained. Vide, tanquam omnia ordinantem, quomodo in medio virtutum, &s;icut cor in medio corporis, con&s;tituit Spiritum Sanctum:</HI> As the heart is in the mid&s;t of the body, &s;o between the&s;e vertues of fa&s;ting and &s;uffering before, and love unfained after, the Apo&s;tle places the holy Gho&s;t, who only gives life and &s;oule to all Morall, and all Theologicall vertues. And as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> ob&s;erves that in particular men, &s;o doth S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> of the whole Church; <HI>Quod in corpore no&s;tro anima, id in corpore Chri&s;ti, Eccle&s;ia, Spiritus Sanctus;</HI> That office which the &s;oule performes to our body, the holy Gho&s;t performes in the body of Chri&s;t, which is the Church.</P>
<P>And therefore &s;ince the holy Gho&s;t is thus nece&s;&s;ary, and thus neare, as at the Creati|on the whole Trinity was intimated in that plurall word, <HI>Elohim, creavit Dii,</HI> but no per|&s;on of the Trinity is di&s;tinctly named in the Creation, but the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>The Spirit of God moved upon the waters,</HI> As the holy Gho&s;t was fir&s;t conveyed to our knowledge in the Creation, &s;o in our Regeneration, by which we are new creatures, though our Cre|ation, and our Redemption be religious &s;ubjects of our continuall meditation, yet let us be &s;ure to hold this that is neare&s;t us, to keep a neare, a familiar, and daily acquaintance, and conver&s;ation with the holy Gho&s;t, and to be watchfull to cheri&s;h his light, and work|ing in us. <HI>Homines docent quaerere, &s;olus ip&s;e, qui docet invenire, habere, frui;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> Men can teach us wayes how to finde &s;omethings; The Pilot how to finde a Land, The A&s;tro|nomer
<PB N="320" REF="178">how to finde a Star; Men can teach us wayes how to finde God, The naturall man in the book of creatures, The Morall man in an exemplar life, The Jew in the Law, The Chri&s;tian in generall in the Go&s;pell, But <HI>Solus ip&s;e, qui docet invenire, habere, frui,</HI> Only the holy Gho&s;t enables us to finde God &s;o, as to make him ours, and to enjoy him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.14.</NOTE> Fir&s;t you mu&s;t get more light then nature gives, for, <HI>The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit:</HI> When that light is &s;o mended, that you have &s;ome &s;parkes of faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iud. 19.</NOTE> you mu&s;t al&s;o leave the works of the fle&s;h, For, <HI>Fle&s;hly men have not the Spirit:</HI> When the Spirit offers it &s;elf in approaches, <HI>Re&s;i&s;t it not,</HI> as <HI>Stephen</HI> accu&s;es them to have done,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.32.</NOTE> <HI>Act.</HI> 7. When it hath prevailed, and &s;ealed you to God, <HI>Grieve not the holy Spirit, by whom ye are &s;ealed unto Redemption.</HI> For this preventing the Spirit, by tru&s;ting to na|ture, and morality, this infecting the Spirit, by living ill in a good profe&s;&s;ion, this grieving of the Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.</NOTE> by neglecting his operations, induces the la&s;t de&s;perate work of <HI>Quenching the Spirit,</HI> which is a &s;mothering, a &s;uffocating of that light, by a finall obduration.</P>
<P><HI>Spiritus ubi vult &s;pirat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 3.8.</NOTE> &s;ayes our Saviour Chri&s;t; which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> (and indeed mo&s;t of the Fathers) interpret of the holy Gho&s;t, and not of the winde, though it may al&s;o properly enough admit that interpretation too. But <HI>The holy Gho&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>breathes where it plea&s;es him; Et vocem ejus audis,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>You heare the voice of the holy Gho&s;t;</HI> for, (&s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> upon tho&s;e words of Chri&s;t) <HI>Sonat p&s;almus, vox e&s;t Spiritus &s;ancti,</HI> When you heare a P&s;alme &s;ung, you heare the voice of the holy Gho&s;t; <HI>Sonat Euange|lium, &s;onat &s;ermo Divinus,</HI> You heare the Go&s;pell read, you heare a Sermon preached, &s;till you heare the voice of the holy Gho&s;t; And yet, as Chri&s;t &s;ayes in that place, <HI>Ne&s;cis unde venit, Thou knowe&s;t not from whence that voice comes,</HI> Thou can&s;t finde nothing in thy &s;elf, why the holy Gho&s;t &s;hould delight to entertain thee, and hold di&s;cour&s;e with thee, in &s;o familiar, and &s;o frequent, and &s;o importunate a &s;peaking to thee; <HI>Ne&s;cis unde venit,</HI> Thou knowe&s;t not from whence all this goodne&s;&s;e comes, but meerly from his goodne&s;s; So al&s;o, as Chri&s;t adds there, <HI>Ne&s;cis qu&ograve; vadat, Thou knowe&s;t not whither it goes,</HI> how long it will la&s;t and goe with thee. If thou carry him to darke and foule corners, if thou carry him back to tho&s;e &s;ins, of which, &s;ince he began to &s;peake to thee, at this time, thou ha&s;t felt &s;ome remor&s;e, &s;ome dete&s;tation, he will not goe with thee, he will give thee over. But as long as he, The Spirit of God, by your cheri&s;hing of him, &s;taies with you, when Je&s;us &s;hall &s;ay to you, (in your con&s;ciences) <HI>Quid vos dicitis? Whom doe you &s;ay that I am?</HI> You can &s;ay <HI>Ie&s;us Dominus,</HI> We &s;ay, we profe&s;&s;e, <HI>That thou art Ie&s;us, and that Ie&s;us is the Lord:</HI> If he proceed, <HI>Si Dominus, ubi timor? If I be Lord, where is my feare?</HI> You &s;hall &s;hew your feare of him, even in your confidence in him, <HI>In timore Do|mini, fiducia fortitudinis, In the feare of the Lord, is an a&s;&s;ured &s;trength:</HI> You &s;hall not on|ly &s;ay <HI>Ie&s;um Dominum,</HI> profe&s;&s;e Je&s;us to be the Lord, but <HI>Veni Domine Ie&s;u,</HI> You &s;hall invite, and &s;olicite Je&s;us to a &s;peedy judgement, and be able, in his right, to &s;tand up|right in that judgement. This you have, if you have this Spirit; and you may have this Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 10.</NOTE> if you re&s;i&s;t it not, now; For, <HI>As when Peter &s;pake, the holy Gho&s;t fell upon all that heard,</HI> So in the Mini&s;tery of his weaker in&s;truments, he conveyes, and diffu&s;es, and &s;eales his gifts upon all, which come well di&s;po&s;ed to the receiving of him, in his Or|dinance.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="33" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="321" REF="178">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXIII.</HI> Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ACTS 10.44.</HI></BIBL>
<P>While Peter yet &s;pake the&s;e words, the Holy Gho&s;t fell on all them, which heard the word. <HI>Part of the &s;econd Le&s;&s;on of that day.</HI></P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THat which &s;erved for an argument among&s;t the Jews, to dimini&s;h, and under-value Chri&s;t, <HI>Have any of the Rulers beleeved in him?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 7.48.</NOTE> had no force among&s;t the Gentiles, for among&s;t them, the fir&s;t per&s;ons that are re|corded to have applied them&s;elves to the profe&s;&s;ion of the Chri&s;tian Religion, were Rulers, Per&s;ons of place, and quality: <HI>Sun&egrave; propter hoc Dignitates po&s;itae &s;unt, ut major pietas o&s;tendatur,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> This is the true rea&s;on why men are Ennobled, why men are rai&s;ed, why men are in|riched, that they might glorifie God the more, by that eminency; This is truly to be a good Student, <HI>Scrutari Scripturas,</HI> To &s;earch the Scriptures, in which is eternall life: This is truly to be called to the Barre, to be Crucified with Chri&s;t Je&s;us: And to be cal|led to the Bench, to have part in his Re&s;urrection, and raigne in glory with him: and to be a Judge, to judge thy &s;elfe, that thou bee&s;t not judged to condemnation, by Chri&s;t Je|&s;us: Offices and Titles, and Dignities, make thee, in the eye, and tongue of the world, a better man; be truly a better man, between God and thee, for them, and they are well placed. Tho&s;e Pyramides and Obeli&s;ces, which were rai&s;ed up on high, in the Aire, but &s;upported nothing, were vaine te&s;timonies of the frivolou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and impertinency of tho&s;e men that rai&s;ed them; But when we &s;ee Pillars &s;tand, we pre&s;ume that &s;omething is to be placed upon them. They, who by their rank and place, are pillars of the State, and pillars of the Church, if Chri&s;t and his glory be not rai&s;ed higher by them, then by other men, put Gods building mo&s;t out of frame, and mo&s;t di&s;compo&s;e Gods purpo&s;es, of any others. And therefore S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> hath noted u&s;efully, That the fir&s;t of the Gentiles, which was converted to Chri&s;tianity, was that Eunuch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8.27.</NOTE> which was Trea&s;urer to the Queen of Aethiopia; And the &s;econd was this Centurion, in who&s;e hou&s;e S. <HI>Peter</HI> preached this fruitfull Sermon, at which, <HI>While Peter yet &s;pake the&s;e words, the Holy Gho&s;t fell upon all them that heard the word.</HI></P>
<P>Our Parts will be two; fir&s;t &s;ome Circum&s;tances that preceded this act,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> this miracu|lous de&s;cent and infu&s;ion of the Holy Gho&s;t, And then the Act, the De&s;cent it &s;elfe. In the fir&s;t, we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t, the time, it was <HI>when Peter was &s;peaking,</HI> when Gods Or|dinance was then in executing, preaching; And &s;econdly, what made way to this de|&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t, that is, what <HI>Peter</HI> was &s;peaking, and preaching, <HI>The&s;e words,</HI> true and nece&s;&s;ary Doctrine; And here al&s;o we &s;hall touch a little, the place, and the Auditory, <HI>Cornelius,</HI> and his family. When from hence we &s;hall de&s;cend to the &s;econd Part, The de&s;cent of the Holy Gho&s;t, we &s;hall looke fir&s;t, (&s;o as it may become us) upon the Per&s;on, (the third Per&s;on in the holy, ble&s;&s;ed, and glotions Trinity) And then upon his action, as it is expre&s;&s;ed here, <HI>Cecidit, He fell;</HI> As of Chri&s;t it is &s;aid, <HI>Deliciae ejus cum filiis hominum, His delight is to be with the &s;ons of men,</HI> And, (to &s;peak humanely, a per|ver&s;e delight, for it was to be with the wor&s;t men, with Publicans &amp; &s;inners) &s;o, (to &s;peak humanely) the Holy Gho&s;t had an extraordinary, a perver&s;e ambition, to goe downe|wards, to inlarge him&s;elfe, in his working, by falling; <HI>He fell:</HI> And then, he fell &s;o, as a &s;howre of rain falls, that does not lie in tho&s;e round drops in which it falls, but diffu&s;es, and &s;preads and inlarges it &s;elfe, <HI>He fell upon all;</HI> But then, it was becau&s;e <HI>all heard,</HI> They came not to &s;ee a new action, preaching, not a new Preacher, <HI>Peter,</HI> nor to &s;ee one ano|ther at a Sermon, <HI>He fell upon all that heard;</HI> where al&s;o, I think, it will not be imperti|nent,
<PB N="322" REF="179">to make this note, That <HI>Peter</HI> is &s;aid to have &s;poke <HI>the&s;e words,</HI> but they, on whom the holy Gho&s;t fell, are &s;aid to have heard <HI>The word;</HI> It is not Many words, long Sermons, nor good words, witty and eloquent Sermons that induce the holy Gho&s;t, for all the&s;e are words of men; and how&s;oever the whole Sermon is the Ordinance of God, the whole Sermon is not the word of God: But when all the good gifts of men are mode&s;tly employ'd, and humbly received, as <HI>vehicuia Spiritus,</HI> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> calls them, The cha|riots of the holy Gho&s;t, as meanes afforded by God, to convey the word of life into us, in Tho&s;e words we heare The word, and there the word and the Spirit goe together, as in our ca&s;e in the Text, <HI>While Peter yet &s;pake tho&s;e words, the holy Gho&s;t fell upon all them that heard The word.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Tempus.</HI></NOTE></P>
<P>When we come then to con&s;ider in the fir&s;t place, the Time of this miracle, we may ea&s;ily &s;ee that verified in S. <HI>Peters</HI> proceeding, which S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Ne&s;cit tarda moli|mina Spiritus &s;ancti gratia,</HI> The holy Gho&s;t cannot goe a &s;low pace; It is the devill in the &s;erpent that creeps, but the holy Gho&s;t in the Dove flyes: And then, in the proceeding with the Centurion, we may &s;ee that verified which <HI>Leo</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Vbi Deus Magi&s;ter, qu&agrave;m cit&ograve; di&s;citur?</HI> Where God teaches, how fa&s;t a godly man learnes? Chri&s;t did almo&s;t all his miracles in an in&s;tant, without dilatory circum&s;tances; Chri&s;t &s;ayes to the man &s;ick of the pal&s;ey,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>Tolle grabatum, Take up thy bed and walk,</HI> and immediately he did &s;o: To the deafe man he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 7.34.</NOTE> <HI>Ephphatha, Be thine eares opened,</HI> and in&s;tantly they were opened: He &s;ayes to the woman with the i&s;&s;ue of bloud,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 5.34.</NOTE> <HI>E&s;to &s;ana &agrave; plagatua,</HI> and &s;he was not one|ly well immediately upon that, but &s;he was well before, when &s;he had but touched the hem of his garment. Upon him who had lyen in his infirmity thirty eight yeares, at the poole, Chri&s;t makes a little &s;top; but it was no longer then to try his di&s;po&s;ition with that que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.5. Mark 8.</NOTE> <HI>Vis &s;anus fieri?</HI> Chri&s;t was &s;ure what his an&s;wer would be; and as &s;oone as he gives that an&s;wer, immediately he recovered. Where Chri&s;t &s;eems to have &s;tayed longe&s;t, which was upon the blind man, yet at his fir&s;t touch, that man &s;aw men walke, though not di&s;tinctly, but at the &s;econd touch he &s;aw perfectly. As Chri&s;t proceeds in his miracles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> &s;o doth the holy Gho&s;t in his powerfull in&s;tructions. It is true, <HI>Scientiae &s;unt profectus,</HI> There is a growth in knowledge, and we overcome ignorances by degrees, and by &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of more and more light: Chri&s;t him&s;elfe grew in knowledge, as well as in &s;tature: But this is in the way of experimentall knowledge, by &s;tudy, by conver&s;ation, by other acqui&s;itions. But when the holy Gho&s;t takes a man into his &s;choole, he deales not with him, as a Painter, which makes an eye, and an eare, and a lip, and pa&s;&s;es his pencill an hundred times over every mu&s;cle, and every haire, and &s;o in many &s;ittings makes up one man, but he deales as a Printer, that in one &s;traine delivers a whole &s;tory.</P>
<P>We &s;ee that in this example of S. <HI>Peter,</HI> S. <HI>Peter</HI> had conceived a doubt, whether it were lawfull for him to preach the Go&s;pell to any of the Gentiles, becau&s;e they were not within the Covenant; This was the <HI>&s;anus fieri,</HI> This very &s;cruple was the voyce and que&s;tion of God in him: to come to a doubt, and to a debatement in any religious duty, is the voyce of God in our con&s;cience: Would you know the truth? Doubt, and then you will inquire: And <HI>facile &s;olutionem accipit anima, quae prius dubitavit,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t.</HI> As no man re&s;olves of any thing wi&s;ely, firmely, &s;afely, of which he never doubted, never debated, &s;o neither doth God withdraw a re&s;olution from any man, that doubts with an humble purpo&s;e to &s;ettle his owne faith, and not with a wrangling purpo&s;e to &s;hake ano|ther mans.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 11.</NOTE> God rectifies <HI>Peters</HI> doubt immediately, and he rectifies it fully; he pre&s;ents him a Book, and a Commentary, the Text, and the Expo&s;ition: He lets downe a &s;heet from heaven with all kinde of bea&s;ts and fowles, and tels him, that <HI>Nothing is uncleane,</HI> and he tells him by the &s;ame &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 19.</NOTE> that there were three men below to aske for him, who were &s;ent by God to apply that vi&s;ible Parable, and that God meant, in &s;aying <HI>No|thing was uncleane,</HI> that the Gentiles generally, and in particular, this Centurion <HI>Cor|nelius,</HI> were not incapable of the Go&s;pell, nor unfit for his Mini&s;tery. And though <HI>Pe|ter</HI> had beene very hungry; and would faine have eaten, as appeares in the tenth ver&s;e, yet after he received this in&s;truction, we heare no more mention of his de&s;ire to eat; but, as his Ma&s;ter had &s;aid, <HI>Cibus meus e&s;t, My meat is to doe my Fathers will that &s;ent me,</HI> &s;o his meat was to doe him good that &s;ent for him, and &s;o he made ha&s;te to goe with tho&s;e Me&s;&s;engers.</P>
<P>The time then was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cum locutus</NOTE> when <HI>Peter</HI> thus prepared by the Holy Gho&s;t, was to prepare o|thers for the Holy Gho&s;t, and therefore it was, <HI>Cum locutus, When he &s;poke,</HI> that is, prea|ched
<PB N="323" REF="179">to them. For, <HI>Si ad&s;it palatum fidei, cui &s;apiat mel Dei,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> To him who hath a &s;pirituall ta&s;te, no hony is &s;o &s;weet, as the word of God preached according to his Ordinance. If a man ta&s;te a little of this honey at his rods end, as <HI>Ionathan</HI> did,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 14.27.</NOTE> though he thinke his eyes enlightned, as <HI>Ionathan</HI> did, he may be in <HI>Ionathans</HI> ca&s;e, <HI>I did but ta&s;te a little honey with my rod, Et ecce, morior, and behold, I dye.</HI> If a man read the Scriptures a little, &s;uperficially, perfunctorily, his eyes &s;eeme &s;traight-waies enlightned, and he thinks he &s;ees every thing that he had pre-conceived, and fore-imagined in him&s;elfe, as cleare as the Sun, in the Scriptures: He can finde fle&s;h in the Sacrament, without bread, becau&s;e he findes <HI>Hoc e&s;t Corpus meum, This is my Body,</HI> and he will take no more of that hony, no more of tho&s;e places of Scripture, where Chri&s;t &s;aies, <HI>Ego vitis,</HI> and <HI>Ego porta,</HI> that he is <HI>a Vine,</HI> and that he is <HI>a Gate,</HI> as literally as he &s;eemes to &s;ay, that <HI>that is his Body.</HI> So al&s;o he can finde wormewood in this honey, becau&s;e he finds in this Scripture, <HI>Stipendi|um peccati mors e&s;t,</HI> that <HI>The reward of &s;in is death,</HI> and he will take no more of that hony, not the <HI>Quandocunque,</HI> That at what time &s;oever a &s;inner repents, he &s;hall have mercy. As the E&s;&s;entiall word of God, the Son of God, is Light of light, So the written Word of God is light of light too, one place of Scripture takes light of another: and if thou wilt read &s;o, and heare &s;o, as thine owne affections tran&s;port, and mi&s;-lead thee; If when a corrupt confidence in thine owne &s;trength po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es thee, thou read onely tho&s;e pa&s;&s;a|ges, <HI>Quare moriemini, domus I&s;rael? Why will ye dye, O hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI> and conclude out of that, that thou ha&s;t &s;uch a free will of thine owne, as that thou can&s;t give life to thy &s;elfe, when thou wilt; If when a vicious dejection of &s;pirit, and a helli&s;h melancholy, and declination towards de&s;peration po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es thee, thou read only tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages, <HI>Impo&s;sibile e&s;t, That it is impo&s;sible, that he that fals, after he hath beene enlightned, &s;hould be renewed a|gaine;</HI> And if thou heare Sermons &s;o, as that thou art glad, when tho&s;e &s;ins are declamed again&s;t, which thou art free from, but would&s;t heare no more, would&s;t not have thine owne &s;in touched upon, though all reading, and all hearing be honey, yet if thou take &s;o little of this honey, <HI>Ionathans</HI> ca&s;e will be thy ca&s;e, <HI>Ecce, morieris,</HI> thou wilt dye of that hony; for the Scriptures are made to agree with one another, but not to agree to thy par|ticular ta&s;t and humour.</P>
<P>But yet, the coun&s;ell is good, on the other &s;ide too, <HI>Ha&s;t thou found honey?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 25.16.</NOTE> <HI>eate &s;o much thereof as is &s;ufficient for thee, le&s;t thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.</HI> Content thy &s;elfe with reading tho&s;e parts of Scriptures, which are cleare, and edifie, and perplex not thy &s;elfe with Prophe&s;ies not yet performed; and content thy &s;elfe with hearing tho&s;e Ser|mons, which rectifie thee <HI>In credendis,</HI> and <HI>Inagendis,</HI> in all tho&s;e things, which thou art bound to beleeve, and bound to practi&s;e, and run not after tho&s;e Men, who pretend to know tho&s;e things, which God hath not revealed to his Church. Too little, or too much of this honey, of this reading, and of this hearing, may be unwhole&s;ome: God hath cho|&s;en waies of mediocrity; He Redeemed us not, by God alone, nor by man alone, but by him, who was both. He in&s;tructs us not, by the Holy Gho&s;t alone, without the Mini|&s;tery of man, nor by the Mini&s;ter alone, without the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy Gho&s;t. An Angel appeared to <HI>Cornelius,</HI> but that Angel bid him <HI>&s;end for Peter:</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t vi&s;its us, and di&s;po&s;es us, but yet the Holy Gho&s;t &s;ends us to the Mini&s;tery of man: <HI>Non dedignatur docere per hominem, qui dignatus e&s;t e&s;&s;e homo,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine;</HI> He that came to us, as Man, is content that we go to men, for our in&s;truction. Preaching is the ordinary meanes; that which S. <HI>Peter</HI> wrought upon them, was, <HI>Cum locutus,</HI> when he had, and be|cau&s;e he had preached unto them.</P>
<P>And it was al&s;o <HI>Dum locutus e&s;t, Whil&s;t he yet &s;pake tho&s;e words;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dum locu|tus.</NOTE> <HI>Non permittit Spiritus ab&s;olvi Sermonem,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome;</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t did not leave them to future meditations, to future conferences, he did not &s;tay till they told one another after the Sermon, That it was a learned Sermon, a con&s;ciencious Sermon, a u&s;efull Sermon, but whil&s;t the Preacher yet &s;poke, the Holy Gho&s;t &s;poke to their particular con&s;ciences. And as a Gardiner takes every bough of a young tree, or of a Vine, and leads them, and places them again&s;t a wall, where they may have mo&s;t advantage, and &s;o produce, mo&s;t, and be&s;t fruit: So the Holy Gho&s;t leads and places the words, and &s;entences of the Prea|cher, one upon an U&s;urer, another upon an Adulterer, another upon an ambitious per|&s;on, another upon an active or pa&s;&s;ive Briber, when the Preacher knowes of no U&s;urer, no Adulterer, no ambitious per&s;on, no Briber active or pa&s;&s;ive, in the Congregation. Nay, it is not onely <HI>whil&s;t he was yet &s;peaking,</HI> but, as S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe reports the &s;ame Story,
<PB N="324" REF="180">in the next Chapter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> <HI>As I began to &s;peake, the Holy Gho&s;t fell upon them.</HI></P>
<P>Perchance in the beginning of a Sermon, the reprehen&s;ion of the Preacher fals not upon me, it is not come to me; But, when as the duties of the Preacher are expre&s;&s;ed by the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.2.</NOTE> to be the&s;e three, <HI>To reprove,</HI> or <HI>convince</HI> by argument, to &s;ettle truths, to overthrow errors; And <HI>to exhort,</HI> to rectifie our manners; And <HI>to rebuke,</HI> to denounce Gods Judgements upon the refractary; what&s;oever he &s;ayes the two fir&s;t wayes, by <HI>Con|vincing,</HI> and by <HI>Exhorting,</HI> all that belongs to all, from the beginning; And for that which he &s;hall &s;ay, the third way, by way of <HI>Rebuking,</HI> As I know at midnight, that the Sun will breake out upon me to morrow, though I know not how it works upon tho&s;e pla|ces, where it &s;hines then, So, though I know not how the rebukes of the Preacher worke upon their con&s;ciences, who&s;e &s;ins he rebukes at the beginning; yet I mu&s;t make account that he wil meet with my &s;in too; &amp; if he do not meet with my pre&s;ent &s;in; that &s;in which is my &s;econd wife, that &s;in which I have married now, (not after a divorce fro~ my former &s;in, &s;o, as that I have put away that &s;in, but after the death of that &s;in, which &s;ickne&s;s or po|verty hath made me unable to continue in) yet if he bend him&s;elfe upon that &s;in, which hath been my &s;in, or may be my &s;in, I mu&s;t be &s;en&s;ible that the Holy Gho&s;t hath offered him&s;elfe to me, whil&s;t he yet &s;peaks, and ever &s;ince he began to &s;peake; And, <HI>Cum locu|tus,</HI> Becau&s;e Preaching is the ordinary meanes, and, <HI>Dum locutus,</HI> Becau&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t intends all for my edification, I mu&s;t embrace and entertaine the Holy Gho&s;t, who exhibits him&s;elfe to me, from the beginning, and not &s;ay, This concernes not me; for what&s;oever the Preacher can &s;ay of Gods mercy in Chri&s;t Je&s;us to any man, all that belongs to me, for no man hath received more of that, then I may doe; And what&s;oever the Preacher can &s;ay of &s;inne, all the way, all that belongs to me, for no man hath ever done any &s;in, which I &s;hould not have done, if God had left me to my &s;elfe, and to mine own perver&s;ne&s;&s;e towards &s;in, and to mine own in&s;atiablene&s;&s;e in &s;in.</P>
<P>It was then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hac verba.</NOTE> when he preached, and whil&s;t he preached, and as &s;oone as he preached, but when, and whil&s;t, and as &s;oon as he preached Thus, thus as is expre&s;&s;ed here, <HI>While&s;t hee &s;pake the&s;e words:</HI> In which, we &s;hall onely touch, but not much in&s;i&s;t upon, his manner fir&s;t, and then his matter; And for his manner, we con&s;ider onely here, his pre|paration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 29.</NOTE> and no other circum&s;tance. Though S. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;ay to them, when he came, <HI>I aske therefore, for what intent you have &s;ent for me,</HI> yet God had intimated to him before, That it was to Preach the Go&s;pell to the Gentiles; And therefore &s;ome time of meditation he had; Though in &s;uch a per&s;on as S. <HI>Peter,</HI> &s;o filled with all gifts nece&s;&s;ary for his fun|ction, and to &s;uch per&s;ons as <HI>Cornelius</HI> was, who needed but Catechizing in the rudi|ments of the Go&s;pell, much preparation needed not. The ca&s;e was often of the &s;ame &s;ort, after, in the Primitive Church; The per&s;ons were very able, and the people very igno|rant; and therefore it is ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve a far greater frequency of Preaching among&s;t the Ancient Fathers, then ordinarily, men that love ea&s;e, will apprehend. We &s;ee evident|ly in S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> hundred forty fourth Sermon <HI>De Tempore,</HI> And in S. <HI>Ambro&s;es</HI> forty fourth Sermon <HI>De &s;ancto Latrone,</HI> And in S. <HI>Bernards</HI> twelve Sermons upon one P&s;alme, that all the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed and Reverend Fathers, preached more then one day, divers dayes together, without intermi&s;&s;ion: And we may &s;ee in S. <HI>Ba&s;ils</HI> &s;econd Homilie upon the &s;ix dayes worke, that he preached in the after-noone; And &s;o, by occa&s;ion of his often preaching, it &s;eemes by his &s;econd Homilie <HI>De Bapti&s;mo,</HI> that he preached &s;ometimes extemporally. But of all this, the rea&s;on is as evident as the fact, The Preachers were able to &s;ay much, The people were capable but of little: And where it was not &s;o, the Clergy often a&s;&s;i&s;ted them&s;elves with one anothers labours; as S. <HI>Cyrils</HI> Sermons were &s;tudied without book, and preached over againe to their &s;everall Congregations, by al|mo&s;t all the Bi&s;hops of the Ea&s;terne Church. Sometimes we may &s;ee Texts extended to very many Sermons, and &s;ometimes Texts taken of that extent and largene&s;&s;e, as onely a paraphra&s;e upon the Text would make the Sermon; for we may &s;ee by S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> tenth Sermon <HI>De verbis Apo&s;toli,</HI> that they tooke &s;ometimes the Epi&s;tle and Go&s;pell of the day, and the P&s;alme before the Sermon for their text.</P>
<P>But in the&s;e our times, when the curio&s;ity, (allow it a better name, for truly, God be ble&s;&s;ed for it, it de&s;erves a better name) when the capacity of the people requires matter of more labour, as there is not the &s;ame nece&s;&s;ity, &s;o there is not the &s;ame po&s;&s;ibility of that a&s;&s;iduous, and that &s;udden preaching. No man will think that we have abler Preach|ers then the Primitive Church had; no man will doubt, but that we have learneder, and
<PB N="325" REF="180">more capable auditories, and congregations then their were. The Apo&s;tles were not negligent, when they mended their nets: A preacher is not negligent, if he prepare for another Sermon, after he hath made one; nor a hearer is not negligent, if he meditate up|on one Sermon, though he heare not another within three houres after. S. <HI>Peters</HI> Ser|mon was not extemporall; neither if it had (his per&s;on, and the quality of the hearers, being compared with our times) had that been any precedent, or patterne for our times, to do the like. But yet, Beloved, &s;ince our times are &s;uch, as are overtaken with another nece&s;&s;ity, that our adver&s;aries dare come, <HI>Cum locutus e&s;t,</HI> As &s;oon as the Preacher hath done, and meet the people comming out of the Church, and deride the Preacher, and offer an an&s;wer to any thing that hath been &s;aid; &s;ince they are come to come to Church with us, and <HI>Dum locutus e&s;t,</HI> Then when the Preacher is &s;peaking, to &s;ay to him, that &s;its next him, That is fal&s;e, that is heretical; &s;ince they are come to joyn with us at the Com|munion, &s;o that it is hard to finde out the <HI>Iudas,</HI> and if you do finde him, he dares an&s;wer, Your Mini&s;ter is no Prie&s;t, and &s;o your Bread and Wine no Sacrament, and therefore I care not how much of it I take; &s;ince they are come to boa&s;t, that with all our a&s;&s;iduity of preaching, we cannot keep men from them; &s;ince it is thus, as we were alwayes bound by Chri&s;ts example, <HI>To gather you as a hen gathers her chickens,</HI> (to call you often to this a&s;&s;embling of your &s;elves) &s;o are we now much more bound to hide and cover you, as a hen doth her chickens, and becau&s;e there is a Kite hovering in every corner, (a &s;educer lurking in every company) to defend and arme you, with more and more in&s;tructions again&s;t their in&s;inuations. And if they deride us, for often preaching, and call us fooles for that, as <HI>David</HI> &s;aid, <HI>He would be more vile,</HI> he would Dance more, So let us be more fooles, in this fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of preaching, and preach more. If they think us mad, &s;ince we are mad for our &s;oules, (as the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes) let us be more mad; Let him that hath preached once, do it twice, and him that hath preached twice, do it thrice. But yet, not this, by comming to a negligent, and extemporall manner of preaching, but we will bee content to take &s;o many hours from our re&s;t, that we, with you, may re&s;t the &s;afelyer in <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;ome, and &s;o many more houres from our meat, that we, with you, may the more &s;urely eat, and drink with the Lamb, in the kingdome of heaven. Chri&s;t hath under|taken, that his word &s;hall not pa&s;&s;e away, but he hath not undertaken that it &s;hall not pa&s;&s;e from us: There is a <HI>Ne exeas munaum</HI> &s;erved upon the world, The Go&s;pell can|not goe, nor be driven out of the world, till the end of the world; but there is not a <HI>Ne exeas regnum,</HI> The Go&s;pell may go out of this, or any Kingdome, if they flacken in the doing of tho&s;e things which God hath ordained for the meanes of keeping it, that is, a zealous, and yet a di&s;creet; a &s;ober, and yet a learned a&s;&s;iduity in preaching.</P>
<P>Thus far then we have been ju&s;tly carried, in con&s;ideration of this circum&s;tance in the manner of his preaching, his preparation; In de&s;cending to the next, which is the mat|ter of his Sermon, we &s;ee much of that in his Text. S. <HI>Peter</HI> tooke his Text here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Res.</NOTE> <HI>ver.</HI> 34. out of <HI>Deuteronomy, of a truth I perceive, that God is no re&s;pecter of per&s;ons.</HI> Where,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 10.17.</NOTE> becau&s;e the words are not preci&s;ely the &s;ame in <HI>Deuteronomy,</HI> as they are in this Text, we finde ju&s;t occa&s;ion to note, That neither Chri&s;t in his preaching, nor the holy Gho&s;t in penning the Scriptures of the new Te&s;tament, were &s;o curious as our times, in citing Chapters and Ver&s;es, or &s;uch di&s;tinctions, no nor in citing the very, very words of the places. <HI>Heb.</HI> 4.4. There is a &s;entence cited thus indefinitely, <HI>It is written in a certaine place,</HI> without more particular note: And, to pa&s;&s;e over many, conducing to that pur|po&s;e, if we con&s;ider that one place in the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay, (Make the heart of this people fat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.20.</NOTE> <HI>make their eyes heavy, and &s;hut them, le&s;t they &s;ee with their eyes, and heare with their eares, and under&s;tand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed)</HI> and con&s;ider the &s;ame place, as it is cited &s;ix &s;everall times in the new Te&s;tament, we &s;hall &s;ee, that they &s;tood not upon &s;uch exact quotations, and citing of the very words. But to that purpo&s;e, for which S. <HI>Peter</HI> had taken that text, he follows his text. Now, Beloved, I doe not goe about to include S. <HI>Peters</HI> whole Sermon into one branch, of one part, of one of mine: Only I refre&s;h to your memories, that which I pre&s;ume you have often read in this Story, and this Chapter, that though S. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;ay, <HI>That God is no &s;uch accepter of per&s;ons,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 35.36.</NOTE> <HI>but that in eve|ry Nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, is accepted with him,</HI> yet it is upon this ground, Chri&s;t Je&s;us is Lord of all; And, (as it is, <HI>ver.</HI> 42.) <HI>He hath commanded us to preach;</HI> that is, he hath e&s;tabli&s;hed a Church, and therein, vi&s;ible meanes of &s;alvation; And then, this is our generall text, the &s;ubject of all our Sermons, <HI>That through his name,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 43</NOTE>
<PB N="326" REF="181"><HI>who&s;oever beleeveth in him &s;hall have remi&s;sion of &s;ins.</HI> So that this is all that we dare a|vow concerning &s;alvation, that how&s;oever God may afford &s;alvation to &s;ome in all nati|ons, yet he hath manife&s;ted to us no way of conveying &s;alvation to them, but by the ma|nifeltation of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in his Ordinance of preaching.</P>
<P>And &s;uch a manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t, had God here ordained for this Centurion <HI>Corne|lius.</HI> But why for him? I doe not ask rea&s;ons of Gods mercy to particular men, for if I would do &s;o, when &s;hould I finde a rea&s;on, why he hath &s;hewed mercy to me? But yet, <HI>Audite omnes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;oft.</NOTE> <HI>qui in Militia e&s;tis, &amp; Regibus a&s;si&s;titis,</HI> All that &s;erve in Wars, or Courts, may finde &s;omething to imitate in this Centurion: <HI>He was a devout man;</HI> A Souldier, and yet devout; God forbid they were &s;o incompatible, as that courage, and devotion might not con&s;i&s;t: <HI>A man that feared God;</HI> A Souldiers profe&s;&s;ion is fearle&s;ne&s;&s;e; And only he that feares God, feares nothing el&s;e: <HI>He and all his hou&s;e;</HI> A Souldier, yet kept a hou&s;e, and did not alwayes wander; He kept his hou&s;e in good order, and with good meanes: <HI>He gave much almes;</HI> Though Armes be an expen&s;ive profe&s;&s;ion for outward &s;plendor, yet here&s;erved for almes, much almes: <HI>And he prayed to God alwayes;</HI> Though Armes require much time for the duties thereof, yet he could pray at tho&s;e times; In his Trenches, at the A&s;&s;ault, or at the defence of a Breach, he could pray: All this the holy Gho&s;t te&s;tifies of him together, <HI>ver.</HI> 2. And this was his generall di&s;po&s;ition; and then, tho&s;e who came from him to <HI>Peter,</HI> adde this, <HI>That he had a good report amongst all the Nation of the Iews,</HI> ver. 22. And this to a &s;tranger, (for the Jews loved not &s;trangers) and one that &s;erved the State, in &s;uch a place, as that he could not choo&s;e but be heavy to the Jews, was hard to have. And then, him&s;elf, when <HI>Peter</HI> comes to him, addes thus much more, That this fir&s;t mercy of God in having &s;ent his Angel, and that farther mer|cy, that that Angel named a man, and then that man came, was exhibited to him, then, when he was fa&s;ting.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 30</NOTE> And then, this man, thus humbled and macerated by fa&s;ting, thus &s;oupled and entendered with the feare of God, thus burnt up and calcined with zeal and devotion, thus united to God by continuall prayer, thus tributary to God by giving almes, thus exemplar in him&s;elf at home, to lead all his hou&s;e, and thus diffu&s;ive of him|&s;elfe to others abroad, to gain the love of good men, this man pro&s;trates him&s;elfe to <HI>Pe|ter</HI> at his comming, in &s;uch an over-reverentiall manner, as <HI>Peter</HI> dur&s;t not accept, but took him up,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 26.</NOTE> and &s;aid, <HI>I my &s;elfe am al&s;o a man;</HI> Sudden devotion comes quickly neare &s;uper&s;tition.</P>
<P>This is a mi&s;ery, which our time hath been well acquainted with, and had much expe|rience of, and which grows upon us &s;till, That when men have been mellowed with the feare of God, and by heavy corrections, and calamities, brought to a greater renderne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience then before, in that di&s;temper of melancholy, and inordinate &s;adne&s;&s;e, they have been ea&s;ilie&s;t &s;educed and withdrawne to a &s;uper&s;titious and Idolatrous religion. I &s;peak this, becau&s;e from the highe&s;t to the lowe&s;t place, there are Sentinels planted in e|very corner, to watch all advantages, and if a man lo&s;e his preferment at Court, or lo&s;e his childe at home, or lo&s;e any &s;uch thing as affects him much, and imprints a deep &s;ad|ne&s;&s;e for the lo&s;&s;e thereof, they work upon that &s;adne&s;&s;e, to make him a Papi&s;t. When men have lived long from God, they never think they come neare enough to him, ex|cept they go beyond him; becau&s;e they have never offered to come to him before, now when they would come, they imagine God to be &s;o hard of acce&s;&s;e, that there is no comming to him, but by the intervention, and interce&s;&s;ion of Saints; and they thinke that that Church, in which they have lived ill, cannot be a good Church; whereas, if they would accu&s;tome them&s;elves in a daily performing of Chri&s;tian duties, to an ordi|nary pre&s;ence of God, Religion would not be &s;uch a &s;tranger, nor devotion &s;uch an Ague unto them. But when <HI>Peter</HI> had rectified <HI>Cornelius,</HI> in this mi&s;taking, in this over-valu|ing of any per&s;on, and then &s;aw <HI>Cornclius</HI> his di&s;po&s;ition, who had brought materials to erect a Church in his hou&s;e, by calling his kin&s;men, and his friends together to heare <HI>Pe|ter, Peter</HI> &s;poke tho&s;e words, <HI>Which while&s;t he yet &s;pake, the holy Gho&s;t fell upon all them that heard the word.</HI> And &s;o we are fallen into our &s;econd part.</P>
<P>In this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part.</NOTE> the fir&s;t Con&s;ideration falls upon the per&s;on that fell: And as the Trinity is the mo&s;t my&s;terious piece of our Religion, and harde&s;t to be comprehended, So in the Trinity, the Holy Gho&s;t is the mo&s;t my&s;terious per&s;on, and harde&s;t to be expre&s;&s;ed. We are called the hou&s;hold of God, and the family of the faithfull; and therefore out of a contemplation, and ordinary acquaintance with the parts of families, we are apter to
<PB N="327" REF="181">conceive any &s;uch thing in God him&s;elf, as we &s;ee in a family. We &s;eeme not to goe &s;o farre out of our way of rea&s;on, to beleeve a father, and a &s;on, becau&s;e father and &s;on are pieces of families: nor in beleeving Chri&s;t and his Church, becau&s;e husband and wife are pieces of families. We goe not &s;o farre in beleeving Gods working upon us, either by mini&s;tring &s;pirits from above, or by his &s;pirituall mini&s;ters here upon earth, for ma&s;ter and &s;ervants are pieces of families. But does there ari&s;e any &s;uch thing, out of any of the&s;e couples, Father and Son, Husband and Wife, Ma&s;ter and Servant, as &s;hould come from them, and they be no whit before neither? Is there any thing in naturall or civill families, that &s;hould a&s;&s;i&s;t our under&s;tanding to apprehend this, That in heaven there &s;hould be a Holy Spirit, &s;o, as that the Father, and the Son, being all Spirit, and all Holy, and all Holine&s;&s;e, there &s;hould be another Holy Spirit, which had all their E&s;&s;entiall holi|ne&s;&s;e in him, and another holine&s;&s;e too, <HI>Sanctitatem Sanctificantem,</HI> a holine&s;&s;e, that &s;hould make us holy?</P>
<P>It was a hard work for the Apo&s;tles, and their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, at fir&s;t, to draw the God|head, into one, into an unity: when the Gentiles had been long accu&s;tomed to make every power and attribute of God, and to make every remarkable creature of God a &s;e|verall God, and &s;o to wor&s;hip God in a multiplicity of Gods, it was a great work to limit, and determine their &s;uper&s;titious, and &s;uperfluous devotion in one God. But when all the&s;e lines were brought into one center, not to let that center re&s;t, but to draw lines out of that againe, and bring more per&s;ons into that one centricall God-head, this was hard forrea&s;on to dige&s;t: But yet to have extended that from that unity, to a duality, was not &s;o much, as to a triplicity. And thereupon, though the Arians would never be brought to confe&s;&s;e an equality between the Son and the Father, they were much farther from confe&s;&s;ing it in the Holy Gho&s;t: They made, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Filium creaturam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Haere&s;. 49.</NOTE> The Son, they accounted to be but a creature; but they made the Holy Gho&s;t <HI>Creatu|ram Creaturae,</HI> not onely a Creature, and no God, but not a Creature of Gods, but a Creature, a Me&s;&s;enger of the son, who was him&s;elfe (with them) but a Creature. But the&s;e my&s;teries are not to be chawed by rea&s;on, but to be &s;wallowed by faith; we pro|fe&s;&s;ed three per&s;ons in one God, in the &s;implicity of our infancy, at our bapti&s;me, and we have &s;ealed that contract, in the other Sacrament often &s;ince; and this is eternall life to die in that beliefe. <HI>There are three that beare witne&s;&s;e in heaven, The Father, the Word,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>and the Holy Gho&s;t, and the&s;e three are one;</HI> And in that te&s;timony we re&s;t, that there is a Holy Gho&s;t, and in the te&s;timony of this text, that this Holy Gho&s;t falls down upon all that heare the word of God.</P>
<P>Now, it is as wonderfull that this Holy Gho&s;t &s;hould fall down from heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cecidit.</HI> E&s;ay 14.12.</NOTE> as that he &s;hould be in heaven. <HI>Quomodo cecidi&s;ti? How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, thou &s;on of the morning?</HI> was a que&s;tion asked by the Propher, of him, who was &s;o fallen, as that he &s;hall never returne againe. But the Holy Gho&s;t, (as my&s;terious in his actions, as in his E&s;&s;entiall, or in his Per&s;onall beeing) fell &s;o from heaven, as that he remained in heaven, even then when he was fallen. This Dove &s;ent from heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 8.7.</NOTE> did more then that Dove, which was &s;ent out of the Arke; That went and came, but was not in both places at once; <HI>Noah</HI> could not have &s;hewed that Dove to his &s;ons and daughters, in the Arke, then, when the Dove was flowne out: But now, when this Dove, the Holy Gho&s;t, fell upon the&s;e men, at <HI>Peters</HI> Sermon, <HI>Stephen,</HI> who was then come up to hea|ven, &s;aw the &s;ame Dove, the &s;ame Holy Gho&s;t, whom they, whom he had left upon the earth, felt upon the earth then: As if the Holy Gho&s;t fall upon any in this Congrega|tion now, now the Saints of God &s;ee that Holy Gho&s;t in heaven, whom they that are here, feele falling upon them here. In all his workings, the Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cends, for there is nothing above him. There is a third heaven; but no &s;uch third heaven, as is above the heaven of heavens, above the &s;eat and re&s;idence of the Holy Gho&s;t: &s;o that what&s;oever he doth, is a de&s;cent, a diminution, a humiliation, and an act of mercy, becau&s;e it is a Communication of him&s;elfe, to a per&s;on inferiour to him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>But there is more in this Text, then a de&s;cent. When the Holy Gho&s;t came upon Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, after his Bapti&s;me, there it is &s;aid, <HI>He de&s;cended:</HI> Though Chri&s;t as the Son of God, were equall to him, and &s;o it was no de&s;cent for the Holy Gho&s;t to come to him, yet becau&s;e Chri&s;t had a nature upon him, in which he was not equall to the Holy Gho&s;t, here was a double de&s;cent in the Holy Gho&s;t, That he who dwells with the Fa|ther and the Son, <HI>In luce inacce&s;sibili,</HI> In light inacce&s;&s;ible, and too bright to be &s;eene,
<PB N="328" REF="182">would de&s;cend in a vi&s;ible form, to be &s;eene by men, And that he de&s;cended and wrought upon a mortall man, though that man were Chri&s;t. Chri&s;t al&s;o had a double de&s;cending too; He de&s;cended to be a man, and he de&s;cended to be no man; He de&s;cended to live among&s;t us, and he de&s;cended to die among&s;t us; He de&s;cended to the earth, and he de|&s;cended to hell: Every operation of every per&s;on of the holy, and ble&s;&s;ed, and glorious Trinity, is a De&s;cending; But here the Holy Gho&s;t is &s;aid to have fallen, which denotes a more earne&s;t communicating of him&s;elfe, a throwing, a pouring out of him&s;elfe, upon tho&s;e, upon whom he falls: He falls as a fall of waters, that covers that it falls upon; as a Hawk upon a prey, it de&s;ires and it will po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e that it falls upon; as an Army into a Countrey, it Conquers, and it Governes where it fals. The Holy Gho&s;t fals, but farre otherwi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 21.44.</NOTE> upon the ungodly. <HI>Who&s;oever &s;hall fall upon this &s;tone, &s;hall be broken, but upon whom&s;ocver this &s;tone &s;hall fall, it will grinde him to powder.</HI> Indeed, he fals upon him &s;o, as haile fals upon him; he fals upon him &s;o, as he fals from him, and leaves him in an ob|duration, and impenitiblene&s;&s;e, and in an irrecoverable ruine of him, that hath formorly de&s;pi&s;ed, and de&s;pighted the Holy Gho&s;t. But when the Holy Gho&s;t fals not thus in the nature of a &s;tone, but puts on the nature of a Dove, and a Dove with an Olive|branch, and that in the Ark, that is, te&s;timonies of our peace, and reconciliation to God, in his Church, he fals as that kinde of lightning, which melts &s;words, and hurts not &s;cabbards; the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall melt thy &s;oule, and not hurt thy body; he &s;hall give thee &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings, and &s;aving graces, under the temporall &s;eales of bodily health, and pro&s;perity in this world: He &s;hall let thee &s;ee, that thou art the childe of God, in the obedience of thy children to thee, And that thou art the &s;ervant of God, in the faith|fulne&s;&s;e of thy &s;ervants to thee, And that thou &s;tande&s;t in the favour of God, bythe favor of thy &s;uperiours to thee; he &s;hall fall upon thy &s;oul, and not wound thy body, give thee &s;pirituall pro&s;perity, and yet not by worldly adver&s;ity, and evermore over-&s;hadow and re|fre&s;h thy &s;oul, &amp; yet evermore keep thee in his Sun&s;hine, and the light of his countenance.</P>
<P>But there is more then this, in this falling of the Holy Gho&s;t, in this Text. For, it was not &s;uch a particular in&s;inuation of the Holy Gho&s;t, as that he convaied him&s;elfe in|to tho&s;e particular men, for their particular good, and &s;alvation, and determined there; but &s;uch a powerfull, and diffu&s;ive falling, as made his pre&s;ence, and his power in them, to work upon others al&s;o. So when he came upon Chri&s;t, it was not to adde any thing to Chri&s;t, but to informe others, that that was Chri&s;t: So when Chri&s;t breathed his &s;pirit into the Apo&s;tles, it was not meerly to infu&s;e &s;alvation into them, but it was e&s;peci|ally to &s;eale to them that Patent, that Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Quorum remi&s;eritis,</HI> That others might receive remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, by their power. So the Holy Gho&s;t fell upon the&s;e men here, for the benefit of others, that thereby a great doubt might be removed, a great &s;cruple deve&s;ted, a great di&s;putation extingui&s;hed, whether it were lawfull to preach the Go&s;pel to the Gentiles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> or no; for, as we &s;ee in the next Chapter, <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe was reproved of the Jews, for this that he had done: and therefore, God ratified, and gave te&s;timony to this &s;ervice of his, by this miraculous falling of the Holy Gho&s;t, as S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> makes the rea&s;on of this falling, very ju&s;tly to have been; &s;o then, this falling of the Holy Gho&s;t, was not properly, or not meerly an infu&s;ing of ju&s;tifying grace, but an infu&s;ing of &s;uch gifts, as might edifie others: for, S. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaking of this very action, in the next Chapter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> fayes, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t fell on them, as on us, in the beginning;</HI> Which was, when he fell upon them, as this day. This doth not imply <HI>Graduum aequalitatem,</HI> an equall mea&s;ure of the &s;ame gifts, as the Apo&s;tles had, who were to pa&s;&s;e over the whole world, and work upon all men, But it implies <HI>Doni identitatem,</HI> it was the &s;ame miracu|lous expre&s;&s;ing of the pre&s;ence, and working of the Holy Gho&s;t, for the confirmation of <HI>Peter,</HI> that the Gentiles might be preached unto, and for the con&s;olation of the Gentiles, that they might be enabled to preach to one another: for &s;o it is expre&s;ly &s;aid in this Chapter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 46.</NOTE> <HI>That they heard the&s;e men &s;peake with divers tongues;</HI> they that heard the Preacher, were made partakers of the &s;ame gifts that the Preacher had; A good hearer becomes a good Preacher, that is, able to edifie others.</P>
<P>It it true, that the&s;e men were not to be literally Preachers, as the Apo&s;tles (upon whom the Holy Gho&s;t fell, as upon them) were, and therefore the gift of tongues may &s;eeme not to have beene &s;o nece&s;&s;ary to them. But it is not onely the Preacher, that hath u&s;e of the tongue, for the edification of Gods people, but in all our di&s;cour&s;es, and con|ferences with one another, we &s;nould preach his glory, his goodne&s;&s;e, his power, that
<PB N="329" REF="182">every man might &s;peake one anothers language, and preach to one anothers con&s;cience; that when I accu&s;e my &s;elfe, and confe&s;&s;e mine infirmities to another man, that man may under&s;tand, that there is, in that confe&s;&s;ion of mine, a Sermon, and a rebuke, and a reprehen&s;ion to him, if he be guilty of the &s;ame &s;in; Nay, if he be guilty of a &s;in contrary to mine. For, as in that language in which God &s;poke, the Hebrew, the &s;ame roote will take in words of a contrary &s;ignification, (as the word of <HI>Iobs</HI> wife &s;ignifies ble&s;&s;ing and cur&s;ing too) &s;o the covetous man that heares me confe&s;&s;e my prodigality, &s;hould argue to him&s;elf, If prodigality, which how&s;oever it hurt a particular per&s;on, yet &s;preads mony abroad, which is the right and naturall u&s;e of money, be &s;o heavy a &s;in, how heavy is my covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, which, be&s;ides that it keepes me all the way in as much penuriou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, as the prodigall man brings him&s;elfe to at la&s;t, is al&s;o a publique &s;in, becau&s;e it empri&s;ons that money which &s;hould be at liberty, and employed in a free cour&s;e abroad? And &s;o al&s;o when I declare to another, the &s;pirituall and temporall ble&s;&s;ings which God hath be&s;towed upon me, he may be rai&s;ed to a thankfull remembrance, that he hath received all that from God al&s;o. This is not the u&s;e of having learnt divers tongues, to be able to talke of the wars with Durch Captains, or of trade with a French Merchant, or of State with a Spani&s;h Agent, or of plea&s;ure with an Italian Epicure; It is not to en|tertaine di&s;cour&s;e with &s;trangers, but to bring &s;trangers to a better knowledge of God, in that way, wherein we, by his Ordinance, do wor&s;hip and ferve him.</P>
<P>Now this place is ill detorted by the Roman Church, for the confirmation of their Sacrament of Confirmation: That becau&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t fell upon men, at another time then at Bapti&s;me, therefore there is a le&s;&s;e perfect giving of the Holy Gho&s;t, in Bap|ti&s;me. It is too forward a triumph in him, who &s;ayes of this place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pamclius An|not. in Cypr. Epi&s;t. 72.</NOTE> <HI>Locus in&s;ignis ad a&s;|&s;ertionem Sacramenti manus impo&s;itionis:</HI> That is an evident place for Confirmation of the Sacrament of Confirmation: It is true, that S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;ayes there, That a man is not truly &s;anctified, <HI>Ni&s;i utroque Sacramento na&s;catur,</HI> Except he be regenerate by both Sacra|ments: And he tels us what tho&s;e two Sacraments are, <HI>Aqua &amp; Spiritus,</HI> Water and the Spirit, That except a man have both the&s;e &s;eales, inward and outward, he is not &s;afe: And S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> requires (and u&s;efully truly) an outward declaration of this inward &s;eale, of this giving of the Holy Gho&s;t: For, he in&s;tances expre&s;ly in this, which was done in this Text, That there was both Bapti&s;me, and a giving of the Holy Gho&s;t. Neither would S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> forbeare the u&s;e of Confirmation, becau&s;e it was al&s;o in u&s;e among&s;t &s;ome Heretiques, <HI>Quia Novatianus facere audet, non putabimus nos e&s;&s;e faciendum?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cypr. Epi&s;t. 72.</NOTE> Shall we give over a good cu&s;tome, becau&s;e the Novatians doe the like? <HI>Quia Novatianus extra Eccle&s;iam, vendicat &s;ibi veritatis imaginem, relinquemus Eccle&s;iae veritatem?</HI> Shall the Church forbeare any of tho&s;e cu&s;tomes, which were induced to good purpo&s;es, becau&s;e &s;ome Heretiques, in a fal&s;e Church, have counterfaited them, or corrupted them? And therefore, &s;ayes that Father, It was &s;o in the Apo&s;tles time, <HI>Et nunc quoque apud nos ge|ritur,</HI> We continue it &s;o in our time, That they who are Baptized, <HI>Signaculo Dominico con&s;ummentur,</HI> That they may have a ratification, a con&s;ummation in this &s;eale of the Holy Gho&s;t: Which was not in the Primitive Church (as in the later Roman Church) a confirmation of Bapti&s;me, &s;o, as that that Sacrament &s;hould be but a halfe-Sacrament, but it was a Confirmation of Chri&s;tians, with an encrea&s;e of grace, when they came to &s;uch yeares, as they were naturally expo&s;ed to &s;ome tentations.</P>
<P>Our Church acknowledges the trueu&s;e of this Confirmation; for, in the fir&s;t Collect in the office of Confirmation, it confe&s;&s;es, that that child is already regenerated by water and the holy Gho&s;t; and prayes onely for farther &s;trength: And having like a good mother, taught us the right u&s;e of it, then our Church, like a &s;upreme Commander too, enjoyns expre&s;ly, that none be admitted to the Communion, till they have received their Confirmation. And though this injunction be not in rigour and exactne&s;&s;e pur&s;ued and executed, yet it is very nece&s;&s;ary that the purpo&s;e thereof &s;hould be maintained; That is, that none &s;hould be received to the Communion, till they had given an account of their faith and proficiencie. For, he is but an interpretative, but a pre&s;umptive Chri&s;tian, who, becau&s;e he is &s;o old, ventures upon the Sacrament. A beard does not make a man fit for the Sacrament, nor a Husband, a woman: a man may be a great officer in the State, and a woman may be a grandmother in the family, and yet not be fit for that Sacrament, if they have never con&s;idered more in it, but onely to doe as others doe. The Church enjoynes a precedent Confirmation; where that is not, wee require yet a precedent Examination,
<PB N="330" REF="183">before any bee admitted, at fir&s;t, to the Sacrament.</P>
<P>This was then the effectuall working of the Holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Super omnes.</NOTE> <HI>Non &s;piravit,</HI> He did not on|ly breathe upon them, and try whether they would receive the &s;avour of life unto life, or no: <HI>Non &s;ibilavit,</HI> He did not onely whi&s;per unto them, and try whether they had a di&s;|po&s;ition to heare, and an&s;wer; <HI>Non incubabat,</HI> He did not onely hover over them, and &s;it upon them, to try what he could hatch, and produce out of them; <HI>Non de&s;cendit,</HI> He did not onely de&s;cend towards them, and try whether they would reach out their hand to receive him; But <HI>Cecidit,</HI> He fell, &s;o, as that he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed them, enwrapped them, inve|&s;ted them with a penetrating, with a powerfull force; And &s;o, he fell upon them All. As we have read of &s;ome Generals, in &s;ecular &s;tory, that in great Services have knighted their whole Army, So the Holy Gho&s;t Sanctifies, and Canonizes whole Congregations.</P>
<P>They are too good husbands, and too thrifty of Gods grace, too &s;paring of the Holy Gho&s;t; that re&s;traine Gods generall propo&s;itions, <HI>Venite omnes,</HI> Let all come, and <HI>Vult omnes &s;alvos,</HI> God would have all men &s;aved, &s;o particularly, as to &s;ay, that when God layes <HI>All,</HI> he meanes &s;ome of all &s;orts, &s;ome Men, &s;ome Women, &s;ome Jews, &s;ome Gentiles, &s;ome rich, &s;ome poore, but he does not meane, as he &s;eemes to &s;ay, &s;imply All. Yes; God does meane, &s;imply All, &s;o as that no man can &s;ay to another, God meanes not thee, no man can &s;ay to him&s;elfe, God meanes not me. <HI>Nefas e&s;t dicere, Deum ali|quid, ni&s;i bonum praede&s;tinare;</HI> It is mode&s;tly &s;aid by S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and more were immo|de&s;ty; There is no prede&s;tination in God, but to good. And therefore it is <HI>Durus &s;ermo,</HI> They are hard words, to &s;ay, That God prede&s;tinated &s;ome, not onely <HI>Ad damnationem,</HI> but <HI>Ad cau&s;as damnationis,</HI> Not onely to damnation becau&s;e they &s;inned, but to a nece&s;&s;i|ty of &s;inning, that they might the more ju&s;tly be damned; And to &s;ay, That God reje|cted &s;ome <HI>Odio libero,</HI> Out of a hate, that aro&s;e primarily in him&s;elfe, again&s;t tho&s;e per|&s;ons, before tho&s;e per&s;ons were created, (&s;o much as in Gods intention) and not out of any hate of their &s;ins, which he fore&s;aw.</P>
<P>Beloved, we are to take in no other knowledge of Gods Decrees, but by the execu|tion thereof; How &s;hould we know any Decree in God, of the creation of Man, accor|ding to his Image, but by the execution? Becau&s;e I &s;ee that Man is created &s;o, as I con|ceive to be intended in this phra&s;e, <HI>After his Image,</HI> I beleeve that he Decreed to Create him &s;o: becau&s;e God does nothing extemporally, but according to his owne mo&s;t holy, and eternall preconceptions, and Ideas, and Decrees. So, we know his Decree of Ele|ction, and Reprobation, by the execution; And how is that? Does God ever &s;ay, that any &s;hall be &s;aved or damned, without relation, without condition, without doing, (in the Old Te&s;tament) and, in the New Te&s;tament, without beleeving in Chri&s;t Je&s;us? If faith in Chri&s;t Je&s;us be in the Execution of the Decree, faith in Chri&s;t Je&s;us was in the Decree it &s;elfe too. Chri&s;t wept for the imminent calamities, temporall, and &s;pirituall, which hung over Jeru&s;alem; And <HI>Lacrymae Legati doloris,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> Teares are the Am|ba&s;&s;adours of &s;orrow; And they are <HI>Sanguis animi vulnerati,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> Teares are the bloud of a wounded &s;oule; And would Chri&s;t bleed out of a wounded &s;oule, and weepe out of a &s;ad heart, for that, which him&s;elfe, and onely him&s;elfe, by an ab&s;olute Decree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.32.</NOTE> had made nece&s;&s;ary and inevitable? <HI>The Scribes and Phari&s;ees rejected the Coun|&s;ell of God,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Luke:</HI> In this new language we mu&s;t &s;ay, They fulfilled the Coun&s;ell of God, if po&s;itively, and primarily, and ab&s;olutely, Gods determinate Coun&s;ell were, that they &s;hould do &s;o. But this is not Gods Coun&s;aile upon any, to be &s;o far the Author of &s;in, as to impo&s;e &s;uch a nece&s;&s;ity of &s;inning, as ari&s;es not out of his owne will. <HI>Perditio no&s;tra ex nobis,</HI> Our de&s;truction is from our owne &s;in, and the Devill that infu&s;es it; not from God, or any ill purpo&s;e in him that enforces us. The blood of Chri&s;t was &s;hed for all that will apply it, And the Holy Gho&s;t is willing to fall, with the &s;prinkling of that blood, upon all that do not re&s;i&s;t him; And that is, as follows in our text, <HI>Qui audiunt,</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t fell upon all that heard.</P>
<P>Faith in Chri&s;t is in the Execution of Gods Decree,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qui audiunt.</NOTE> and Hearing is the meanes of this faith: And the propo&s;ition is not the le&s;&s;e generall, if it except them, who will not be included in it, if the Holy Gho&s;t fall not on them, who will not come to heare. Let no man thinke that he hath heard enough, and needs no more; why did the Holy Gho&s;t furni&s;h his Church with foure Euangeli&s;ts, if it were enough to reade one? And yet eve|ry one of the foure, hath enough for &s;alvation, if Gods abundant care had not enriched the Church with more: Tho&s;e Nations which never heard of Chri&s;t, or of Euangeli&s;t,
<PB N="331" REF="183">&s;hall ri&s;e up in judgement again&s;t us, and though they peri&s;h them&s;elves, thus far aggra|vate our condemnation, as to &s;ay, you had foure Euangeli&s;ts, and have not beleeved, if we had had any one of them, we would have been &s;aved. It is the glory of Gods Word, not that it is come, but that it &s;hall remain for ever: It is the glory of a Chri&s;tian, not that he hath heard, but that he de&s;ires to heare &s;till. Are the Angels weary of looking upon that face of God, which they looked upon ye&s;terday? Or are Saints weary of &s;ing|ing that &s;ong, which they &s;ung to Gods glory ye&s;terday? And is not that <HI>Alleluiah,</HI> that &s;ong which is their morning and evening &s;acrifice, and which &s;hall be their &s;ong, world without end, called &s;till <HI>A new &s;ong?</HI></P>
<P>Be not you weary of hearing tho&s;e things which you have heard from others before: Do not &s;ay, if I had knowne this, I would not have come, for I have heard all this be|fore; &s;ince thou never thoughte&s;t of it &s;ince that former hearing, till thou heard&s;t it a|gain now, thou did&s;t not know that thou had&s;t heard it before. <HI>Gideons</HI> Fleece,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iud. 6.35.</NOTE> that had all the dew of heaven in it &s;elf alone, and all about it dry, one day, next day was all dry in it &s;elf, though all about it had received the dew: He that hath heard, and beleeved, may lo&s;e his knowledge, and his faith too, if he will heare no more. They &s;ay there is a way of ca&s;tration, in cutting off the eares: There are certain veines behinde the eares, which, if they be cut, di&s;able a man from generation. The Eares are the Aqueducts of the water of life; and if we cut off tho&s;e, that is, intermit our ordinary cour&s;e of hearing, this is a ca&s;tration of the &s;oul, the &s;oul becomes an Eunuch, and we grow to a ru&s;t, to a mo&s;&s;e, to a barrenne&s;&s;e, without fruit, without propagation. If then God have placed thee under &s;uch a Pa&s;tor, as pre&s;ents thee variety, ble&s;&s;e God, who enlarges him&s;elfe, to afford thee that &s;pirituall delight, in that variety; even for the &s;atisfaction of that holy curio&s;ity of thine. If he have placed thee under one, who often repeates, and often re|members thee of the &s;ame things, ble&s;&s;e God even for that, that in that he hath let thee &s;ee, that the Chri&s;tian Religion is <HI>Verbum abbreviatum,</HI> A contracted doctrine, and that they are but a few things which are nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, and therefore be not loath to heare them often.</P>
<P>Our errand hither then, is not to &s;ee; but much le&s;&s;e not to be able to &s;ee, to &s;leep:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Verbum.</NOTE> It is not to talk, but much le&s;&s;e to &s;nort: It is to heare, and to heare all the words of the Preacher, but, to heare in tho&s;e words, the Word, that Word which is the &s;oule of all that is &s;aid, and is the true Phy&s;ick of all their &s;oules that heare. <HI>The Word was made fle&s;h;</HI> that is, a&s;&s;umed fle&s;h; but yet the Godhead was not that fle&s;h. The Word of God is made a Sermon, that is, a Text is dilated, diffu&s;ed into a Sermon; but that whole Ser|mon is not the word of God. But yet all the Sermon is the Ordinance of God. <HI>Delight thy &s;elf in the Lord, and he will give thee thy hearts de&s;ire;</HI> Take a delight in Gods Ordi|nance, in mans preaching, and thou wilt finde Gods Word in that. To end all in that Metaphor which we mentioned at beginning, As the word of God is as hony, &s;o &s;ayes <HI>Solomon, Plea&s;ant words are as the hony combe:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.24.</NOTE> And when the plea&s;ant words of Gods &s;er|vants have conveyed the &s;aving word of God him&s;elfe into thy &s;oule, then mai&s;t thou &s;ay with Chri&s;t to the Spou&s;e, <HI>I have caten my hony combe with my hony,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.1.</NOTE> mine under&s;tand|ing is enlightned with the words of the Preacher, and my faith is &s;trengthned with the word of God; I glorifie God much in the gifts of the man, but I glorifie God much more in the gifts of his grace; I am glad I have heard him, but I am gladder I have heard God in him; I am happy that I have heard tho&s;e words, but thrice happy, that in tho&s;e words, I have heard the Word; Ble&s;&s;ed be thou that came&s;t in the name of the Lord, but ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord, that is come to me in thee; Let me remember how the Preacher &s;aid it, but let me remember rather what he &s;aid. And beloved, all the be&s;t of us all, all that all together, all the dayes of our life &s;hall be able to &s;ay unto you, is but this, That if ye will heare the &s;ame Je&s;us, in the &s;ame Go&s;pell, by the &s;ame Ordinance, and not &s;eeke an imaginary Je&s;us, in an illu&s;ory &s;acrifice, in another Church, If you will heare &s;o, as you have contracted with God in your Bapti&s;me, The holy Gho&s;t &s;hall fall upon you, while&s;t you heare, here in the hou&s;e of God, and the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall accompany you home to your own hou&s;es, and make your dome&s;tique peace there, a type of your union with God in heaven; and make your eating and drinking there, a type of the abundance, and fulne&s;&s;e of heaven; and make every dayes ri&s;ing to you there, a type of your joyfull Re&s;urrection to heaven; and every nights re&s;t, a type of your eternall Sabbath; and your very dreames, prayers, and meditations, and &s;acrifices to Almighty God.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="34" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="332" REF="184">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXIV.</HI> Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ROM. 8.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>The Spirit it &s;elfe beareth witne&s;&s;e with our &s;pirit, that we are the children of God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_I Take the&s;e words, to take occa&s;ion by them, to &s;ay &s;omething of the holy Gho&s;t: Our order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, requires it, and our Text affords it. Since we &s;peak by Him, let us love to &s;peak of Him, and to &s;peak for Him: but in both, to &s;peak with Him, that is, &s;o, as he hath &s;poken of him&s;elfe to us in the Scriptures. God will be vi&s;ited, but he will not be importuned; He will be looked upon, but he will not be pryed into. A man may flatter the be&s;t man; If he do not beleeve him&s;elf, when he &s;peaks well of another, and when he prai&s;es him, though that which he &s;ayes of him be true, yet he flatters; So an Athei&s;t, that tempori|&s;es, and &s;erves the company, and &s;eemes to a&s;&s;ent, flatters. A man may flatter the Saints in heaven, if he attribute to them that which is not theirs; and &s;o a Papi&s;t flatters. A man may flatter God him&s;elf; If upon pretence of magnifying Gods mercy, he will &s;ay with <HI>Origen,</HI> That God at la&s;t will have mercy upon the devill, he flatters. So, though God be our bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, we may be too bu&s;ie with God; and though God be infi|nite, we may go beyond God, when we conceive, or &s;peak otherwi&s;e of God, then God hath revealed unto us. By his own light therefore we &s;hall look upon him; and with that reverence, and mode&s;ty, that <HI>That Spirit may beare witne&s;&s;e to our &s;pirit, that we are the children of God.</HI></P>
<P>That which we &s;hall &s;ay of the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> will be&s;t be conceived, and retained be&s;t, if we handle them thus; That whereas Chri&s;t hath bidden us to judge our &s;elves, that we be not judged, to admit a triall here, le&s;t we incurre a condemnation hereafter, This text is a good part of that triall, of that judiciall proceeding. For, here are fir&s;t, two per&s;ons that are able to &s;ay much, <HI>The Spirit it &s;elf,</HI> and <HI>Our &s;pirit;</HI> And &s;econdly, their office, their &s;ervice, <HI>They beare witne&s;&s;e;</HI> And thirdly, their te&s;timony, <HI>That we are the children of God;</HI> And the&s;e will be our three parts. The fir&s;t will have two branches, becau&s;e there are two per&s;ons, <HI>The Spirit,</HI> and <HI>Our &s;pirit;</HI> And the &s;econd, two branches, <HI>They witne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>They witne&s;&s;e together,</HI> for &s;o the word is; And the third al&s;o two branches, They te&s;tifie of us, their te&s;timony concernes us, and they te&s;tifie well of us, <HI>That we are the children of God.</HI> The per&s;ons are withour exception, the Spirit of God cannot be de|ceived, and the &s;pirit of man will not deceive him&s;elf: Their proceeding is Legall, and faire, they do not libell, they do not whi&s;per, they do not calumniate; They te&s;tifie, and they agree in their te&s;timony: And la&s;tly, the ca&s;e is not argued &s;o, as among&s;t practi|&s;ers at the Law, that thereby, by the light of that they may after give Coun&s;ell to ano|ther in the like, but the te&s;timony concernes our &s;elves, it is our own ca&s;e, The verdict upon the te&s;timony of the Spirit, and our &s;pirit, is upon our &s;elves, what&s;oever it bee; And, ble&s;&s;ed be the Father, in the Son, by the Holy Gho&s;t, The verdict is, <HI>That we are the children of God. The Spirit beareth, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> a &s;lackne&s;&s;e, a &s;upinene&s;&s;e, in con&s;ideration of the divers &s;ignifications of this word <HI>Spirit,</HI> hath occa&s;ioned divers errours, when the word hath been intend|ed in one &s;en&s;e, and taken in another. All the &s;ignifications will fall into the&s;e foure, for the&s;e foure are very large; It is &s;poken of God, or of Angels, or of men, or of inferiour creatures. And fir&s;t, of God, it is &s;poken &s;ometimes E&s;&s;entially, &s;ometimes Per&s;onally. <HI>God is a Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 4.24. E&s;ay 31.3.</NOTE> <HI>and they that wor&s;hip him, mu&s;t wor&s;hip him in &s;pirit and truth.</HI> So al&s;o, <HI>The Aegyptians are men, and not God, and their hor&s;es fle&s;h, and not &s;pirit;</HI> For, if they were God, they were Spirit. So, God altogether, and con&s;idered in his E&s;&s;ence, is a Spirit:
<PB N="333" REF="184">but when the word <HI>Spir it</HI> is &s;poken, not e&s;&s;entially of all, but per&s;onally of one, then that word de&s;igneth <HI>Spiritum &s;onctum,</HI> The holy Gho&s;t: <HI>Goe and baptize,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 28.19.</NOTE> <HI>In the name of the Father, and Sonne, &amp; Spiritus &s;ancti, and the holy Gho&s;t.</HI> And as of God, &s;o of Angels al&s;o it is &s;poken in two re&s;pects; of good Angels, <HI>Sent farth to mini&s;ter for them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.14. 1 King 22.22. Ho&s;ea 4.12. E&s;ay 19.3.</NOTE> <HI>that &s;hall be heires of &s;alvation,</HI> And evill Angels, <HI>The lying Spirit,</HI> that would deceive the King by the Prophet; <HI>The Spirit of Whoredome,</HI> &s;pirituall whoredome, when the people ask coun|&s;ell of their &s;tocks, And <HI>Spiritus vertiginis, The &s;pirit of giddine&s;&s;e, of perver&s;ities,</HI> (as we tran&s;late it) which the Lord doth mingle among&s;t the people, in his judgement. Of man al&s;o, is this word Spirit, &s;poken two wayes; The Spirit is &s;ometimes the &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 31.5.</NOTE> <HI>Into thy hands I commend my Spirit,</HI> &s;ometimes it &s;ignifies tho&s;e animall &s;pirits, which con&s;erve us in &s;trength, and vigour, <HI>The poy&s;on of Gods arrowes drinketh up my &s;pirit;</HI> And al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 6.4. Luke 1.47.</NOTE> the &s;uperiour faculties of the &s;oule in a regenerate man, as there, <HI>My &s;oule doth magnifie the Lord, and my &s;pirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour,</HI> And then la&s;tly, of inferiour creatures it is taken two wayes too, of living creatures, <HI>The God of the &s;pirits of all fle&s;h;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 16.22. Ezek. 1.21.</NOTE> and of crea|tures without life, (other then a metaphoricall life) as of the winde often, and of <HI>Ezcki|els</HI> wheeles, <HI>The Spirit of life was in the wheeles.</HI> Now in this fir&s;t Branch of this fir&s;t Part of our Text, it is not of Angels, nor of men, nor of other creatures, but of God, and not of God E&s;&s;entially, but Per&s;onally, that is, of the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Origen</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Antece&s;&s;ores no&s;tri,</HI> The Ancients before him had made this note, That where we finde the word <HI>Spirit</HI> without any addition, it is alwayes intended of the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> Before him, and after him, they &s;tuck much to that note; for S. <HI>Hierome</HI> makes it too, and produces many examples thereof; but yet it will not hold in all. <HI>Didymus</HI> of <HI>Alexandria,</HI> though borne blinde, in this light &s;aw light, and writ &s;o of the Holy Gho&s;t, as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> thought that work worthy of his Tran&s;lation; And hee gives this note, That where&s;oever the Apo&s;tles intend the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> they adde to the word <HI>Spirit, Sanctus, Holy Spirit,</HI> or at lea&s;t the Article <HI>The, The Spirit.</HI> And this note hath good u&s;e too, but yet it is not univer&s;ally true. If we &s;upply the&s;e notes with this, That when&s;oever any &s;uch thing is &s;aid of the <HI>Spirit,</HI> as cannot con&s;i&s;t with the Divine nature, there it is not meant of the Holy Gho&s;t, but of his gifts, or of his working; (as, when it is &s;aid, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t was not yet,</HI> (for his per&s;on was alwayes) And where it is &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 7.39. 1 The fl. 5.19.</NOTE> <HI>Quench not the Holy Gho&s;t</HI> (for the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe cannot be quenched) we have enough for our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e. Here, it is <HI>Spirit</HI> without any addition, and therefore fitte&s;t to bee taken for the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> And it is <HI>Spirit,</HI> with that emphaticall article, <HI>The, The Spirit,</HI> and in that re&s;pect al&s;o fitte&s;t to be &s;o taken. And though it be fitte&s;t to under&s;tand the Holy Gho&s;t here, not of his per&s;on, but his operation, yet it gives ju&s;t occa&s;ion to looke piou&s;ly, and to con&s;ider mode&s;tly, who, and what this per&s;on is, that doth thus worke upon us. And to that purpo&s;e, we &s;hall touch upon foure things: Fir&s;t, His Univer&s;ality, He is All, He is God; Secondly, His Singularity, He is One, One Per&s;on; Thirdly, His roote from whence he proceeded, Father and Son; And fourthly, His growth; his emanation, his manner of proceeding; for our order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, leading us now to &s;peak of this third per&s;on of the Trinity, it will be almo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary, to &s;top a little upon each of the&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, the Spirit mentioned here, the Holy Gho&s;t is God, and if &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus.</NOTE> equall to Fa|ther and Son, and all that is God. He is God, becau&s;e the E&s;&s;entiall name of God is at|tributed to him; He is called Jehovah; <HI>Iebovah &s;ayes to E&s;ay, Goe and tell this people,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.9. Acts 28.29.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And S. <HI>Paul</HI> making u&s;e of the&s;e words, in the <HI>Acts,</HI> he &s;ayes, <HI>Well &s;pake the Holy Gho&s;t, by the Prophet E&s;ay.</HI> The E&s;&s;entiall name of God is attributed to him, and the E&s;&s;entiall Attributes of God. He is Eternall; &s;o is none but God; where we heare of the making of every thing el&s;e, in the generall Creation, we heare that <HI>the Spirit of God moved,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.2.</NOTE> but never that the Spirit was made. He is every where; &s;o is none but God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.7. 1 Cor. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>whither &s;hall Igoe from thy Spirit?</HI> He knowes all things; &s;o doth none but God; <HI>The Spirit &s;earcheth all things, yca the deep things of God.</HI> He hath the name of God, the Attributes of God, and he does the works of God. Is our Creator, our Maker, God?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 33.4.</NOTE> <HI>The Spirit of God hath mademe.</HI> Is he that can change the whole Creation, and frame of nature, in doing miracles, God? <HI>The Spirit lead the I&s;raelites miraculou&s;ly through the wilderne&s;&s;e.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 63.14. E&s;ay 48.16.</NOTE> Will the calling and the &s;ending of the Prophets, &s;hew him to be God? <HI>The Lord God, and his Spirit hath &s;ent me.</HI> Is it argument enough for his God-head,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 61.1. Luke 4.18.</NOTE> that he &s;ent Chri&s;t him|&s;elfe? Chri&s;t him&s;elfe applies to him&s;elfe that, <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and hath
<PB N="334" REF="185">anointed me to preach.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1.16. Iohn 16.13.</NOTE> He foretold future things, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t by the mouth of David &s;poke before,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Peter.</HI> He e&s;tabli&s;hes pre&s;ent things, <HI>The Spirit of truth guides into all truth.</HI> And he does this, by wayes proper onely to God; for, our illumination is his, <HI>He &s;hall receive of me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 14. 1 Cor. 6.11. Iohn 3.5. Iohn 16.8.</NOTE> (&s;ayes Chri&s;t) <HI>and &s;hew it you.</HI> Our Ju&s;tification is his; <HI>Ye are ju&s;ti|fied, in the name of the Lord Ie&s;us, by the Spirit of God.</HI> Our regeneration is his; There is a nece&s;&s;ity of being <HI>borne againe of Water, and the Spirit.</HI> The holy &s;en&s;e of our naturall wretchedne&s;&s;e is his; For, <HI>It is he, that reproves the world of Sin, of Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, of Iudge|ment.</HI> The &s;en&s;e oftrue comfort is his;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.31.</NOTE> <HI>The Churches were multiplied in the comforts of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> All from the Creation to the Re&s;urrection, and the Re&s;urrection it &s;elfe, is his;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.11.</NOTE> <HI>The Spirit of him that rai&s;ed Ie&s;us from the dead, &s;hall quicken your mortall bodies, by the &s;ame Spirit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.22. Eph. 1.13. Iohn 4.14. Mat. 3.11. Zach. 12.10. Heb. 1.9. Rom. 8.26.</NOTE> He is <HI>Arrha,</HI> The earne&s;t that God gives to them now, to whom he will give all hereafter. He is <HI>Sigillum,</HI> that &s;eale of our evidence, <HI>You are &s;ealed with that holy Spirit of promi&s;e.</HI> He is <HI>the water, which who&s;oever drinks, &s;hall never thir&s;t, when Chri&s;t hath given it;</HI> And he is that fire, with which Chri&s;t baptizes, <HI>who baptizes with fire, and with the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> He is <HI>Spiritus precum,</HI> The Spirit of grace, and &s;upplication; And he is <HI>Oleum laetitiae,</HI> The oyle of gladne&s;&s;e, that anoints us, when we have prayed. He is our Advocate, <HI>He maketh interce&s;sion for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered;</HI> And when our groanings under the calamities of this world, are uttered without remedy, he is that <HI>Paracletus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 16.7.</NOTE> The Comforter, who when Chri&s;t him&s;elfe &s;eemes to be gone from us, comes to us; who is, (as <HI>Tertullian</HI> expre&s;&s;es it, elegantly enough, but not largely enough) <HI>Dei Villicus, &amp; Vicaria vis Chri&s;ti,</HI> The Vice-gerent of Chri&s;t, and the Steward of God; but he is more, much more, infinitely more, for he is God him&s;elfe. All that which S. <HI>Iohn</HI> intends, in the <HI>&s;eaven Spirits,</HI> which are about the Throne, is in this <HI>One,</HI> in this onely Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. 1 Cor. 12.4.</NOTE> who is <HI>Vnicus &amp; &s;eptiformis, &s;olus &amp; multiplex;</HI> One and yet &s;eaven, that is infinite; for, <HI>Though there be diver&s;ity of gifts, yet there is but one Spirit.</HI> He is God, becau&s;e the e&s;&s;entiall name of God is his; Therefore let us call upon his name: And be|cau&s;e the Attributes of God are his; Therefore let us attribute to him, All Might, Ma|je&s;ty, Dominion, Power, and Glory: And he is God, becau&s;e the Works of God are his;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.17.</NOTE> Therefore let us co-operate, and work with this Spirit, and we &s;hall be the &s;ame Spirit with him.</P>
<P>He is God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Per&s;ona.</NOTE> That was our fir&s;t &s;tep, and our &s;econd is, that he is a di&s;tinct Per&s;on in the God-head. He is not <HI>Virtus &agrave; Deo in homine exaltata,</HI> Not the highe&s;t and powerfulle&s;t working of God in man; Not <HI>Afflatus Divinus,</HI> The breathing of God into the &s;oule of man; The&s;e are low expre&s;&s;ions; for they are all but <HI>Dona, Chari&s;mata,</HI> The gifts of the Holy Gho&s;t, not the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe: But he is a di&s;tinct per&s;on, as the taking of the &s;hape of a Dove, and the &s;hape of fiery tongues doe declare, which are acts of a di&s;tinct per&s;on. It is not the Power of the King, that &s;ignes a pardon, but his Per&s;on. When the power of the Government was in two Per&s;ons, in the two Con&s;uls at <HI>Rome,</HI> yet the &s;everall acts were done by their &s;everall Per&s;ons. Wilt thou ask me, What needs the&s;e three Per&s;ons? Is there any thing in the three Per&s;ons, that is not in the one God? Yes, The Father, the Son, the Holy Gho&s;t, fals not in the bare con&s;ideration of that one God. Wilt thou &s;ay, What if they doe not? What lack we if we have one Almighty God? Though that God had no Son, nor they two, no Holy Gho&s;t? We lacked our redemption; we lacked all our direction; wee lacked the revealed will of God, the Scriptures; we have not God, if we have him not, as he hath delivered him&s;elfe; and he hath done that in the Scriptures; and we imbrace him, as we finde him there; and we finde him there, to be one God in three Per&s;ons, and the Holy Gho&s;t to bee one of tho&s;e three; and in them we re&s;t.</P>
<P>He is one;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ex filio.</NOTE> but one that proceeds from two, from the Father, and from the Son. Some in the Greek Church, in later times, denied the proceeding of the Holy Gho&s;t from the Son; but this was e&s;pecially a jealou&s;ie in termes; They thought that to make him proceed from two, were to make <HI>duo principia,</HI> two roots, two beginnings from whence the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hould proceed, and that might not be admitted, for the Father, and the Son are but one cau&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, (if we may u&s;e that word, Cau&s;e, in this my &s;tery.) And therefore it is as &s;u&s;piciou&s;ly, and as dangerou&s;ly &s;aid by the Ma&s;ter of the Sentences, and by the later Schoole, That the Holy Gho&s;t proceeds <HI>Min&ugrave;s Prin|cipaliter,</HI> Not &s;o radically from the Son, as from the Father; for, in this action, The Fa|ther and the Son are but one roote, and the Holy Gho&s;t equally from both: In the gene|ration
<PB N="335" REF="185">of the Son, the Father is in order before the Son, but in the proce&s;&s;ion of the holy Gho&s;t, he is not &s;o. He is from both; for where he is fir&s;t named, he is called <HI>Spiritus Elohim, The Spirit of Gods,</HI> in the plurall. In this Chapter, in the ninth ver&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.2.</NOTE> he is the Spi|rit of the Son, <HI>If any man have not the Spirit of Chri&s;t, he is none of his;</HI> And &s;o in the Apo|&s;tle, <HI>God hath &s;ent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.</HI> God &s;ent him, and Chri&s;t &s;ent him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.6. Iohn 16.17. Iohn 20.22.</NOTE> <HI>If I depart, I will &s;end the Comforter unto you.</HI> He &s;ent him after he went, and he gave him when he was here, <HI>He breathed upon his Apo&s;tles, and &s;aid, Receive ye the holy Gho&s;t.</HI> So he is of both.</P>
<P>But by what manner comes he from them? By proceeding.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Proce&s;&s;io.</NOTE> That is a very generall word; for, Creation is proceeding, and &s;o is Generation too: Creatures proceed from God, and &s;o doth God the Son proceed from God the Father; what is this proceeding of the holy Gho&s;t, that is not Creation, nor Generation?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianz.</NOTE> <HI>Exponant cur &amp; quomodo Spi|ritus pul&s;at in arteriis, &amp; tum in proce&s;sionem Spiritus &s;ancti inquirant:</HI> When they are able clearly, and with full &s;atisfaction to tell them&s;elves how and from whence that &s;pi|rit proceeds, which beats in their pul&s;e, let them inquire how this Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Sonne. And let them think till they be mad, and &s;peak till they be|hoarce, and reade till they be blind, and write till they be lame, they mu&s;t end with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Di&s;tinguere inter Proce&s;sioncm, &amp; Generationem, ne&s;cio, non valeo, non &s;ufficio,</HI> I cannot di&s;tingui&s;h, I cannot a&s;&s;igne a difference between this Generation, and this Pro|ceeding. We u&s;e to &s;ay, they differ <HI>principio,</HI> That the Son is from the Father alone, the holy Gho&s;t from both: but when this is &s;aid, that mu&s;t be &s;aid too, That both Father and Son are but one beginning. We u&s;e to &s;ay, They differ <HI>ordine,</HI> becau&s;e the Son is the &s;econd, and the holy Gho&s;t the third per&s;on; but the &s;econd was not before the third in time, nor is above him in dignity.</P>
<P>There is <HI>proce&s;sio corporalis,</HI> &s;uch a bodily proceeding, as that that which proceeds is utterly another thing then that from which it proceeds: frogs proceed (perchance) of ayre, and mi&s;e of du&s;t, and worms of carka&s;&s;es; and they re&s;emble not that ayre, that du&s;t, tho&s;e carka&s;&s;es that produced them. There is al&s;o <HI>proce&s;sio Metaphy&s;ica,</HI> when thoughts proceed out of the minde; but tho&s;e thoughts remaine &s;till in the mind within, and have no &s;eparate &s;ub&s;i&s;tence in them&s;elves: And then there is <HI>proce&s;sio Hyperphy&s;ica,</HI> which is this which we &s;eek and finde in our &s;oules, but not in our tongues, a proceeding of the holy Gho&s;t &s;o from Father and Son, as that he remaines a &s;ub&s;i&s;tence alone, a di&s;tinct per&s;on of him&s;elfe. This is as far as the Schoole can reach, <HI>Ortu, qui relationis e&s;t, non e&s;t &agrave;&s;e; Actu, qui per&s;onae e&s;t, per &s;e &s;ub&s;i&s;tit:</HI> Con&s;ider him in his proceeding, &s;o he mu&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;arily have a relation to another, Con&s;ider him actually in his per&s;on, &s;o he &s;ub&s;i&s;ts of him&s;elfe. And <HI>De modo,</HI> for the manner of his proceeding, we need, we can &s;ay but this, As the Son proceeds <HI>per modu intellectus,</HI> (&s;o as the mind of man conceives a thought) &s;o the holy Gho&s;t proceeds <HI>per modum voluntatis;</HI> when the mind hath produced a thought, that mind, and that di&s;cour&s;e and ratiocination produce a will; fir&s;t our under&s;tanding is &s;etled, and that under&s;tanding leads our will. And nearer then this (though God knows this be far off) we cannot goe, to the proceeding of the holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>This then is <HI>The Spirit,</HI> The third per&s;on in the Trinity, but the fir&s;t per&s;on in our Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spiritus no&s;ter.</NOTE> The other is our &s;pirit, <HI>The Spirit beareth witne&s;&s;e with our &s;pirit.</HI> I told you before, that among&s;t the manifold acceptations of the word <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> as it hath relation particularly to man, it is either the &s;oul it &s;elf, or the vitall &s;pirits, (the thin and active parts of the bloud) or the &s;uperiour faculties of the &s;oul, in a regenerate man; &amp; that is <HI>our &s;pirit</HI> in this place. So S. <HI>Paul</HI> di&s;tingui&s;hes &s;oul and &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12.</NOTE> <HI>The word of God pierces to the dividing a&s;under &s;oule and &s;pirit;</HI> where The &s;oule is that which inanimates the body, and enables the organs of the &s;en&s;es to &s;ee and heare; The &s;pirit is that which enables the &s;oule to &s;ee God, and to heare his Go&s;pel. The &s;amephra&s;e hath the &s;ame u&s;e in another place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.25. Calvin.</NOTE> <HI>I pray God your &s;pi|rit, and &s;oule, and body may be pre&s;erved blamele&s;&s;e:</HI> Where it is not &s;o ab&s;urdly &s;aid, (though a very great man call it an ab&s;urd expo&s;ition) That the &s;oule, <HI>Anima,</HI> is that, <HI>qua animales homines,</HI> (as the Apo&s;tle calls them) that by which men are men, naturall men, carnall men, And the &s;pirit is the &s;pirit of Regeneration, by which man is a new creature, a &s;piri|tuall man, But that, that Expo&s;itor him&s;elfe hath &s;aid enough to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, The &s;oule is the &s;eat of Affections, The &s;pirit is rectified Rea&s;on. It is true, this Rea&s;on is the Soveraigne, the&s;e Affections are the Officers, this Body is the Executioner: Rea&s;on au|thorizes, Affections command, the Body executes: And when we conceive in our mind,
<PB N="336" REF="186">de&s;ire in our heart, performe in our body nothing that di&s;plea&s;es God, then have we had benefit of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> prayer, <HI>That in body, and &s;oule, and &s;pirit we may be blamele&s;&s;e.</HI> In &s;umme, we need &s;eek no farther for a word to expre&s;&s;e this <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> but that which is familiar to us, <HI>The Con&s;cience:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rem. 9.1.</NOTE> A rectified con&s;cience is this &s;pirit; <HI>My con&s;cience bearing me witne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle: And &s;o we have both the per&s;ons in this judiciall proceeding; <HI>The Spirit</HI> is the holy Gho&s;t; <HI>Our &s;pirit</HI> is our Con&s;cience: And now their office is to te&s;ti|fie, to beare witne&s;&s;e, which is our &s;econd generall part, <HI>The Spirit bears witne&s;&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>To be a witne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> is not an unworthy office for the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe: Heretiques in their pe&s;tilent doctrines, Tyrans in their bloody per&s;ecutions, call God him&s;elfe &s;o often, &s;o far into que&s;tion, as that he needs &s;trong and pregnant te&s;timony to acquit him. Fir&s;t, again&s;t Heretiques, we &s;ee the whole Scripture is but a Te&s;tament; and <HI>Te&s;tamen|tum</HI> is <HI>Te&s;tatio ment is,</HI> it is but an atte&s;tation, a proofe what the will of God is: And there|fore when <HI>Tertullian</HI> deprehended him&s;elfe to have &s;lipped into another word, and to have called the Bible <HI>In&s;trumentum,</HI> he retracts and corrects him&s;elfe thus, <HI>Mag&igrave;s u&s;ui e&s;t dicere Te&s;tamentum qu&agrave;m In&s;trumentum,</HI> It is more proper to call the Scripture a Te|&s;tament, then a Conveyance or Covenant: All the Bible is Te&s;tament, Atte&s;tation, De|claration, Proofe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 11.2.</NOTE> Evidence of the will of God to man. And tho&s;e <HI>two witne&s;&s;es</HI> &s;poken of in the Revelation, are very conveniently, very probably interpreted to be the two Te|&s;taments; And to the Scriptures Chri&s;t him&s;elfe refers the Jews,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 5.39.</NOTE> <HI>Search them, for they beare witne&s;&s;e of me.</HI> The word of God written by the holy Gho&s;t is a witne&s;&s;e, and &s;o the holy Gho&s;t is a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t Heretiques. Again&s;t Tyrans and Per&s;ecuters, the office of a witne&s;&s;e is an honourable office too; for that which we call more pa&s;&s;ionate|ly, and more gloriou&s;ly Martyrdome, is but Te&s;timony; A Martyr is nothing but a Wit|ne&s;&s;e. He that pledges Chri&s;t in his own wine, in his own cup, in bloud; He that wa&s;hes away his &s;ins in a &s;econd Bapti&s;me, and hath found a lawfull way of Re-baptizing, even in bloud; He that waters the Prophets ploughing, and the Apo&s;tles &s;owing with bloud; He that can be content to bleed as long as a Tyran can foame, or an Executioner &s;weat; He that is pickled, nay embalmed in bloud, &s;alted with fire, and pre&s;erved in his owne a&s;hes; He that (to contract all, nay to enlarge beyond all) &s;uffers in the Inqui&s;ition, when his body is upon the rack, when the rags are in his throat, when the boots are upon his legs, when the &s;plinters are under his nailes, if in tho&s;e agonies he have the vigour to &s;ay, I &s;uffer this to &s;hew what my Saviour &s;uffered, mu&s;t yet make this difference, He &s;uffered as a Saviour, I &s;uffer but as a witne&s;&s;e. But yet to him that &s;uffers as a Martyr, as a witne&s;&s;e, a crowne is re&s;erved; It is a happy and a harmonious meeting in <HI>Stephens</HI> martyrdome; <HI>Proto-martyr,</HI> and <HI>Stephanus;</HI> that the fir&s;t Martyr for Chri&s;t &s;hould have a Crown in his name. Such a ble&s;&s;ed meeting there is in <HI>Ioa&s;h</HI> his Coronation, <HI>Po&s;uit &s;u|per eum Diadema &amp; Te&s;timonium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 11.12.</NOTE> <HI>They put the Crowne upon his head, and the Te&s;timony;</HI> that is, The Law, which te&s;tified, That as he had the Crowne from God, &s;o he had it with a witne&s;&s;e, with an obligation, that his Government, his life, and (if need were) his death &s;hould te&s;tifie his zeale to him that gave him that Crowne.</P>
<P>Thus the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe is a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t Heretiques in the word; and tho&s;e men who are full of the holy Gho&s;t, (as <HI>Stephen</HI> was) are witne&s;&s;es again&s;t per&s;ecution, in action, in pa&s;&s;ion. At this time, and by occa&s;ion of the&s;e words, we con&s;ider principal|ly the fir&s;t, The te&s;tification of the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe; and therein we con&s;ider thus much more, That a witne&s;&s;e ever te&s;tifies of &s;ome matter of fact, of &s;omething done be|fore; The holy Gho&s;t, the Spirit here, (as we &s;hall &s;ee anon) witne&s;&s;es that we are the children of God. Now if a Witne&s;&s;e prove that I am a Tenant to &s;uch Land, or Lord of it, I doe not become Lord nor Tenant by this Witne&s;&s;e, but his te&s;timony proves that I was &s;o before. I have therefore a former right to be the child of God, that is, The eter|nall Election of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. Chri&s;t Je&s;us could as well have di&s;obeyed his Fa|ther, and &s;aid, I will not goe, or di&s;appointed his Father, and &s;aid, I will not goe yet, as he could have di&s;-furni&s;hed his Father, and &s;aid, He would not redeem me. The holy Gho&s;t bears witne&s;&s;e, that is, he pleads, he produces that eternall Decree for my Election. And upon &s;uch Evidence &s;hall I give &s;entence again&s;t my &s;elfe?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Si te&s;taretur Angelus, vel Archangelus, po&s;&s;et qui&s;quam addubitare?</HI> I &s;hould not doubt the te&s;timony of an Angel, or Archangel, and yet Angels and Archangels, all &s;orts of Angels were deceivers in the Serpent. And therefore the Apo&s;tle pre&s;ents it (though impo&s;&s;ible in it &s;elfe) as a thing that might fall into our mi&s;-apprehen&s;ion:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>If we,</HI> (that is, the Apo&s;tles) <HI>or if an Angel
<PB N="337" REF="186">from heaven preach any other Go&s;pel, Anathema &s;it, let him be accur&s;ed.</HI> But <HI>Quando Deus te|&s;tatur, quis locus relinquitur dubitationi?</HI> when God te&s;tifies to me, it is a rebellious &s;in to doubt: And therefore how hyperbolically &s;oever S. <HI>Paul</HI> argue there, If Apo&s;tles, If Angels teach the contrary, teach fal&s;e Doctrine, it never entred into his argument (though an argument <HI>ab Impo&s;sibili</HI>) to &s;ay, If God &s;hould teach, or te&s;tifie fal&s;e doctrine. Though then there be a former evidence for my being the child of God, a Decree in heaven, yet it is not enough that there is &s;uch a Record, but it mu&s;t be produced, it mu&s;t be pleaded, it mu&s;t be te&s;tified to be that, it mu&s;t have the witne&s;&s;e of the Spirit, and by that, <HI>Innote|&s;cit,</HI> though it doe not become my Election then, it makes my election appeare then, and though it be not Introductory, it is Declaratory. The Root is in the Decree, the fir&s;t fruits are in the te&s;timony of the Spirit; but even that &s;pirit will not be <HI>te&s;tis &s;ingularis,</HI> he will not be heard alone, and &s;ingle, but it is <HI>Cum &s;piritu no&s;tro, The Spirit te&s;tifies with our &s;pirit, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The holy Gho&s;t will fulfill his owne law, <HI>In ore duorum, In the mouth of two witne&s;&s;es.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cum &s;piriou no&s;tro.</NOTE> Sometimes our &s;pirit bears witne&s;&s;e of &s;omethings appertaining to the next world, with|out the te&s;timony of the holy Gho&s;t. <HI>Tertullian</HI> in that excellent Book of his, <HI>De te&s;timo|nio Animae.</HI> Of the te&s;timony which the &s;oule of man gives of it &s;elfe to it &s;elfe, where he &s;peaks of the &s;oule of a naturall, an unregenerate man, gives us ju&s;t occa&s;ion to &s;top a little upon that con&s;ideration. If, &s;ayes he, we for our Religion produce your own Au|thors again&s;t you, (he &s;peaks to naturall men, &s;ecular Philo&s;ophers) and &s;hew you out of them, what Pa&s;&s;ions, what Vices even they impute to tho&s;e whom you have made your Gods, then you &s;ay, they were but <HI>Poetae vani,</HI> Tho&s;e Authors were but vaine, and frivolous Poets: But when tho&s;e Authors &s;peake any thing which &s;ound again&s;t our Re|ligion, then they are Philo&s;ophers, and reverend and cla&s;&s;ique Authors. And therefore, &s;ayes he, I will draw no witne&s;&s;e from them, <HI>Perver&s;ae foelicitatis, quibus in fal&s;o poti&ugrave;s cre|ditur, qu&agrave;m in vero,</HI> Becau&s;e they have this perver&s;e, this left-handed happine&s;&s;e, to be beleeved when they lye, better then when they &s;ay true. <HI>Novum te&s;timonium adduco,</HI> &s;aies he; I wayve all them, and I call upon a new witne&s;&s;e: A witne&s;&s;e, <HI>Omni literaturi notius,</HI> More legible then any Character, then any text hand, for it is the intimation of mine owne &s;oule, and con&s;cience; and <HI>Omni Editione vulgatius,</HI> More publique, more con&s;pi|cuous then any Edition, any impre&s;&s;ion of any Author, for Editions may be called in, but who can call in the te&s;timony of his owne &s;oule? He proceeds, <HI>Te &s;implicem, &amp; Idioticum compello,</HI> I require but a &s;imple, an unlearned &s;oule, <HI>Qualem te habent, qui te &s;olam habent,</HI> Such a &s;oule, as that man hath, who hath nothing but a &s;oule, no learning; <HI>Imperitia tua mibiopus e&s;t, quoniam aliquantulae peritiae tuae nemo credit;</HI> I &s;hall have the more u&s;e of thy te&s;timony, the more ignorant thou art, for, in &s;uch ca&s;es, Art is &s;u&s;picious, and from them who are able to prove any thing, we beleeve nothing; And therefore, &s;aies he, <HI>Nolo Aca|demiis, bibliothecis in&s;tructam,</HI> I call not a &s;oule made in an Univer&s;ity, or nur&s;ed in a Library, but let this &s;oule come now, as it came to me in my Mothers wombe, an inartifi|ciall, an unexperienced &s;oule; And then, (to contract <HI>Tertullians</HI> Contemplation) he pro|ceeds to &s;hew the notions of the Chri&s;tian Religion, which are in &s;uch a &s;oule naturally, and which his &s;pirit, that is, his rectified rea&s;on, rectified but by nature, is able to infu&s;e into him. And certainly, &s;ome of that, which is proved by the te&s;timony mentioned in this text, is proved by the te&s;timony of our owne naturall &s;oule, in that Poet whom the Apo&s;tle cites, that &s;aid, <HI>Genus ejus, We are the off-&s;pring of God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.28.</NOTE></P>
<P>So then our &s;pirit beares witne&s;&s;e &s;ometimes when the Spirit does not; that is, Na|ture te&s;tifies &s;ome things, without addition of particular grace: And then the Spirit, the Holy Gho&s;t oftentimes te&s;tifies, when ours does not: How often &s;tands he at the doore, and knocks? How often &s;preads he his wings, to gather us, as a Hen her chickens? How often pre&s;ents he to us the power of God in the mouth of the Preacher, and we beare witne&s;&s;e to one another of the wit and of the eloquence of the Preacher, and no more? How often he bears witne&s;&s;e, that &s;uch an action is odious in the &s;ight of God, and our &s;pirit beares witne&s;&s;e, that it is acceptable, profitable, honourable in the &s;ight of man? How often he beares witne&s;&s;e, for Gods Judgements, and our &s;pirit depo&s;es for mercy, by pre&s;umption, and how often he te&s;tifies for mercy, and our &s;pirit &s;weares for Judge|ment, in de&s;peration? But when the Spirit, and our &s;pirit agree in their te&s;timony, That he hath &s;poke comfortably to my &s;oule, and my &s;oule hath apprehended comfort by that &s;peech, That, (to u&s;e Chri&s;ts &s;imilitude) <HI>He hath piped, and we have danced,</HI> He hath
<PB N="338" REF="187">&s;hewed me my Saviour, and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour, He depo&s;es for the Decree of my Election, and I depo&s;e for the &s;eales and marks of that Decree, The&s;e two witne&s;&s;es, <HI>The Spirit,</HI> and <HI>My &s;pirit,</HI> induce a third witne&s;&s;e, the world it &s;elfe, to te&s;tifie that which is the te&s;timony of this text, <HI>That I am the child of God.</HI> And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e from the two former parts, The per&s;ons, The Spirit, and our &s;pirit, And their office, to witne&s;&s;e, and to agree in their witne&s;&s;e, and we are fallen into our third part, The Te&s;timony it &s;elfe, <HI>That we are the Children of God.</HI></P>
<P>This part hath al&s;o two branches;<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, That the Te&s;timony concernes our &s;elves, <HI>We are;</HI> And then, That that which we are is this, <HI>We are the Children of God.</HI> And in the fir&s;t branch, there will be two twiggs, two &s;ub-con&s;iderations; ^1 <HI>Wee,</HI> A per&s;onall appro|priation of the grace of God to our &s;elves, ^2 <HI>We are,</HI> we are now, a pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of tho&s;e Graces. Fir&s;t, con&s;ider we the Con&s;olation in the particle of appropriation, <HI>Wee.</HI> In the great Ant-hill of the whole world, I am an Ant; I have my part in the Creation, I am a Creature; But there are ignoble Creatures. God comes nearer; In the great field of clay, of red earth, that man was made of, &amp; mankind, I am a clod; I am a man, I have my part in the Humanity; But Man was wor&s;e then annihilated again. When &s;atan in that &s;er|pent was come, as <HI>Hercules</HI> with his club into a potters &s;hop, and had broke all the ve&s;|&s;els, de&s;troyed all mankind, And the gracious promi&s;e of a Me&s;&s;ias to redeeme all man|kind, was &s;hed and &s;pread upon all, I had my drop of that dew of Heaven, my &s;parke of that fire of heaven, in the univer&s;all promi&s;e, in which I was involved; But this promi&s;e was appropriated after, in a particular Covenant, to one people, to the Jewes, to the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham.</HI> But for all that I have my portion there; for all that profe&s;&s;e Chri&s;t Je&s;us are by a &s;pirituall engrafting, and tran&s;migration, and tran&s;plantation, in and of that &s;tock, and that &s;eed of <HI>Abraham;</HI> and I am one of tho&s;e. But then, of tho&s;e who doe profe&s;&s;e Chri&s;t Je&s;us, &s;ome grovell &s;till in the &s;uper&s;titions they were fallen into, and &s;ome are rai&s;ed, by Gods good grace, out of them; and I am one of tho&s;e; God hath afforded me my &s;tation, in that Church, which is departed from Babylon.</P>
<P>Now, all this while, my &s;oule is in a cheerefull progre&s;&s;e; when I con&s;ider what God did for Go&s;hen in Egypt, for a little parke in the mid&s;t of a fore&s;t; what he did for Jury, in the mid&s;t of enemies, as a &s;hire that &s;hould &s;tand out again&s;t a Kingdome round about it: How many Sancerraes he hath delivered from famins, how many Genevaes from plots, and machinations again&s;t her; all this while my &s;oule is in a progre&s;&s;e: But I am at home, when I con&s;ider Buls of excommunications, and &s;olicitations of Rebellions, and pi&s;tols, and poy&s;ons, and the di&s;coveries of tho&s;e; There is our <HI>Nos, We,</HI> te&s;timonies that we are in the favour, and care of God; We, our Nation, we, our Church; There I am at home; but I am in my Cabinet at home, when I con&s;ider, what God hath done for me, and my &s;oule; There is the <HI>Ego,</HI> the particular, the individuall, I. This appropriation is the con&s;olation, <HI>We are;</HI> But who are they? or how are we of them? <HI>Te&s;timonium e&s;t cla|mor ip&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> to our great advantage, Even this, that we are able <HI>to cry Abba,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> <HI>Father, by the Spirit of Adoption,</HI> is this te&s;timony, <HI>that we are his Children;</HI> if we can truly do that, that te&s;tifies for us. The Spirit te&s;tifies two wayes; Directly, expre&s;ly, per&s;onally,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 5.20.</NOTE> as in that, <HI>Man, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee,</HI> And &s;o to <HI>David</HI> by <HI>Nathan, Tran&s;|tulit, The Lord hath taken away thy &s;in;</HI> And then he te&s;tifies, <HI>Per indicia,</HI> by con&s;tant marks, and infallible evidences. We are not to looke for the fir&s;t, for it is a kind of Reve|lation, nor are we to doubt of the &s;econd, for the marks are infallible. And therefore, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid of the Maniches, concerning the Scriptures, <HI>In&s;ani &s;unt adver&s;us Antidotum, quo &s;ani e&s;&s;e po&s;&s;unt,</HI> They are enraged again&s;t that, which onely can cure them of their rage, that was, the Scriptures; &s;o there are men, which will &s;till be in ignorance of that which might cure them of their ignorance, becau&s;e they will not labour to finde in them&s;elves, the marks and &s;eales of tho&s;e who are ordained to &s;alvation, they will needs thinke, that no man can have any &s;uch te&s;timony.</P>
<P>They &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sumus.</NOTE> It is true, there is a ble&s;&s;ed comfort, in this appropriation, if we could be &s;ure of it; They may; we are; we are already in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of it. The marks of our &s;pirituall filiation, are le&s;&s;e &s;ubject to error, then of temporall. Shall the Mothers hone&s;ty be the Evidence? Alas, we have &s;ome &s;uch examples of their fal&s;hood, as will di&s;credit any argument, built meerely upon their truth. He is like the Father; Is that the evidence? Imagination may imprint tho&s;e Characters: He hath his land; A &s;uppo&s;ititious child may have that. Spirituall marks are not &s;o fallible as the&s;e: They have &s;o much in them,
<PB N="339" REF="187">as creates even a knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 3.2. Iohn 5.19.</NOTE> <HI>Now we are the Sons of God, and we know that we &s;hall be like him; And we know, that we are of God.</HI> Is all this but a conjecturall knowledge, but a morall certitude? No tincture of faith in it? Can I acquire, and mu&s;t I bring <HI>Certitudi|nem fidei,</HI> an a&s;&s;urance out of faith, That a Councell cannot erre; And then, &s;uch another faithfull a&s;&s;urance, That the Councell of Trent was a true councell; And then another, That the Councell of Trent did truly and duly proceed in all wayes e&s;&s;entiall to the truth of a Councell, in con&s;tituting their Decree again&s;t this doctrine? And may I not bring this a&s;&s;urance of faith to S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and S. <HI>Iohn</HI> when they &s;ay the contrary? Is not S. <HI>Pauls &s;umus,</HI> and S. <HI>Iohns &s;cimus,</HI> as good a ground for our faith, as the &s;ervile and mercenary voices of a herd of new pen&s;ionary Bi&s;hops, &s;hovelled together at Trent for that purpo&s;e, are for the contrary?</P>
<P>A particular Bi&s;hop in the Romane Church, cites an univer&s;all Bi&s;hop,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Catarinus.</NOTE> a Pope him|&s;elfe in this point, and he &s;ayes well, <HI>Legem credendi &s;tatuit lex &s;upplicandi,</HI> What&s;oever we may pray for, we may, we mu&s;t beleeve <HI>Certitudine fidei,</HI> With an a&s;&s;urance of faith; If I may pray, and &s;ay <HI>Pater no&s;ter,</HI> if I may call God Father, I may beleeve with a faith|full a&s;&s;urance, that I am the childe of God. <HI>Stet invicta Pauli &s;ententia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> Let the Apo&s;tles doctrine, &s;ayes that Bi&s;hop, remain un&s;haked; <HI>Et velut &s;agitta,</HI> &s;ayes he, This doctrine, as an arrow &s;hot at them, will put out their eyes that think to &s;ee beyond S. <HI>Paul.</HI> It is true, &s;ayes that Bi&s;hop, there are differences, <HI>Inter Catholicos,</HI> Among&s;t Catholiques them&s;elves in this point; And then, why do they charge us, whom they defame, by the name of Heretiques, with beginning this doctrine, which was among&s;t them&s;elves before we were at all, if they did date us aright? <HI>Atte&s;tatur &s;piritus, &amp; ei damus fidem, &amp; inde certi &s;umus,</HI> &s;ayes that Bi&s;hop: The holy Gho&s;t beares witne&s;&s;e, and our &s;pirit with him, and thereby we are &s;ure: but, &s;ayes he, they will needs make a doubt whether this be a knowledge out of faith; which doubt, &s;ayes he, <HI>Secum fert ab&s;urditatem,</HI> There is an ab&s;urdity, a contradiction in the very doubt: <HI>Ex Spiritu &s;ancto, &amp; humana?</HI> Is it a know|ledge from the holy Gho&s;t, and is it not a divine knowledge then? But, &s;ay they, (as that Bi&s;hop pre&s;&s;es their objections) The holy Gho&s;t doth not make them know, that it is the holy Gho&s;t that a&s;&s;ures them; This is, &s;ayes he, as ab&s;urd as the other; For, <HI>Ni&s;i &s;e te&s;tantem in&s;inuet, non te&s;tatur,</HI> Except he make them di&s;cern, that he is a witne&s;&s;e, he is no witne&s;&s;e to them: He ends it thus, <HI>Su&s;tinere coguntur quod excidit;</HI> and that is indeed their ca&s;e, in very many things controverted; Then when it conduced to their advan|tage in argument, or to their profit in pur&s;e, &s;uch and &s;uch things fell from them, and now that oppo&s;ition is made again&s;t &s;uch &s;ayings of theirs, their profit lyes at &s;take, and their reputation too, to make good, and to maintain that which they have once, how un|di&s;creetly &s;oever, &s;aid. Some of their &s;evere&s;t later men, even of their Je&s;uits, acknow|ledges that we may know our&s;elves to be the children of God, with as good a know|ledge, as that there is a Rome, or a Con&s;tantinople, And &s;uch an a&s;&s;urance as delivers them from all feare that they &s;hall fall away;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vegas, Pererius.</NOTE> and is not this more then that a&s;&s;urance which we take to our &s;elves? We give no &s;uch a&s;&s;urance as may occa&s;ion &s;ecurity, or &s;lackne&s;&s;e in the &s;ervice of God, and they give &s;uch an a&s;&s;urance as may remove all feare and &s;u&s;pition of falling from God.</P>
<P>It was truly good coun&s;ell in S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> when, writing to one of the Empre&s;&s;es bed|chamber, a religious Lady of his own name, who had written to him, that &s;he &s;hould ne|ver leave importuning him, till he &s;ent her word, that he had received a revelation from God that &s;he was &s;aved: for, &s;ayes he, <HI>Rem difficilem po&s;tulas, &amp; inutilem,</HI> It is a hard matter you require, and an impertinent, and u&s;ele&s;&s;e matter: for I am not a man worthy to receive revelations, and be&s;ides, &s;uch a revelation as you require, might make you too &s;ecure: And <HI>Mater negligentiae &s;olet e&s;&s;e &s;ecuritas,</HI> (&s;ayes he) Such a &s;ecurity might make you negligent in tho&s;e duties which &s;hould make &s;ure your &s;alvation. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> felt the witne&s;&s;e of <HI>The Spirit,</HI> but not of <HI>his &s;pirit,</HI> when he &s;tood out &s;o many &s;olicitati|ons of the holy Gho&s;t, and deferred, and put off the outward meanes, his Bapti&s;me. In that &s;tate, when he had a di&s;po&s;ition to Bapti&s;me, he &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, <HI>Inferbui exultan|do, &s;ed inhorrui timendo;</HI> Still I had a fervent joy in me, becau&s;e I &s;aw the way to thee, and intended to put my &s;elfe into that way, but yet, becau&s;e I was not yet in it, I had a trembling, a jealou&s;ie, a &s;u&s;pition of my &s;elf. <HI>In&s;inuati &s;unt mihi in profundo nutus tui,</HI> In that halfe darkne&s;&s;e, in that twi-light I di&s;cerned thine eye to be upon me; <HI>Et gaudens in fide, laudavi nomen tuum,</HI> And this, &s;ayes he, created a kinde of faith, a confidence in me,
<PB N="340" REF="188">and this induced an inward joy, and that produced a prai&s;ing of thy goodne&s;&s;e, <HI>Sed ea fi|des &s;ecurum me non e&s;&s;e &s;inebat,</HI> But all this did not imprint, and e&s;tabli&s;h that &s;ecurity, that a&s;&s;urance which I found as &s;oon as I came to the outward &s;eales, and marks, and te&s;timo|nies of thine in&s;eparable pre&s;ence with me, in thy Bapti&s;me, and other Ordinances. S. <HI>Bernard</HI> puts the marks of as much a&s;&s;urance, as we teach, in the&s;e words of our Saviour, <HI>Surge, tolle grabatum, &amp; ambula, Ari&s;e, Take up thy bed, and walk. Surge ad divina,</HI> Rai&s;e thy thoughts upon the next world; <HI>Tolle corpus, ut non te ferat, &s;ed tu illud,</HI> Take up thy body, bring thy body into thy power, that thou govern it, and not it thee; And then, <HI>Ambula, non retro&s;picias,</HI> Walk on, proceed forward, and looke not backe with a delight upon thy former &s;ins:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Remigius.</NOTE> And a great deale an elder man then <HI>Bernard,</HI> expre&s;&s;es it well, <HI>Bene viventibus perhibet te&s;timonium, qu&ograve;d jam &s;umus filii Dei,</HI> To him that lives accord|ing to a right faith, the Spirit te&s;tifies that he is now the childe of God, <HI>Et qu&ograve;d talia fa|ciendo, per&s;everabimus in ea filiatione,</HI> He carries this te&s;timony thus much farther, That if we endeavour to continue in that cour&s;e, we &s;hall continue in that &s;tate, of being the children of God, and never be ca&s;t off, never di&s;inherited. Herein is our a&s;&s;urance, an election there is; The Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e to our &s;pirit, that it is ours; We te&s;tifie this in a holy life; and the Church of God, and the whole world joynes in this te&s;timo|ny, <HI>That we are the children of God;</HI> which is our la&s;t branch, and conclu&s;ion of all.</P>
<P>The holy Gho&s;t could not expre&s;&s;e more danger to a man, then when he calls him <HI>Filium &s;aeculi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 16.18. Ephe&s;. 5.6. Acts 13.10.</NOTE> <HI>The childe of this world;</HI> Nor a wor&s;e di&s;po&s;ition, then when he cals him, <HI>Filium diffidentiae, The childe of diffidence, and di&s;tru&s;t in God;</HI> Nor a wor&s;e pur&s;uer of that ill di&s;po&s;ition, then when he calls him <HI>Filium diaboli,</HI> (as S. <HI>Peter</HI> calls <HI>Elymas</HI>) <HI>The childe of the devill;</HI> Nor a wor&s;e po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of the devill, then when he calls him <HI>Filium perditionis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17. Mat. 23.15.</NOTE> <HI>The childe of perdition;</HI> Nor a wor&s;e execution of all this, then when he calls him <HI>Filium gehennae, The childe of hell:</HI> The childe of this world, The childe of de&s;pera|tion, The childe of the devill, The childe of perdition, The childe of hell, is a high ex|pre&s;&s;ing, a deep aggravating of his damnation; That his damation is not only his pur|cha&s;e, as he hath acquired it, but it is his inheritance, he is the childe of damnation. So is it al&s;o a high exaltation, when the holy Gho&s;t draws our Pedegree from any good thing, and calls us the children of that:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 12.36. Mat. 9.15.</NOTE> As, when he cals us <HI>Filios lucis, The children of light,</HI> that we have &s;een the day-&s;tar ari&s;e, when he cals us <HI>Filios &s;pon&s;i, The children of the bride-chamber,</HI> begot in lawfull marriage upon the true Church, the&s;e are faire approaches to the highe&s;t title of all, to be <HI>Filii Dei, The children of God;</HI> And not children of God, <HI>Per filiationem ve&s;tigii,</HI> (&s;o every creature is a childe of God) by having an Image, and im|pre&s;&s;ion of God, in the very Beeing thereof, but <HI>children</HI> &s;o, as that we are <HI>heires,</HI> and <HI>heires</HI> &s;o, as that we are <HI>Co-heires with Chri&s;t,</HI> as it follows in the next ver&s;e, and is imply|ed in this name, <HI>Children of God.</HI></P>
<P>Heires of heaven, which is not a Gavel-kinde, every &s;on, every man alike; but it is an univer&s;all primogeniture, every man full, &s;o full, as that every man hath all, in &s;uch mea|&s;ure, as that there is nothing in heaven, which any man in heaven wants. Heires of the joyes of heaven; Joy in a continuall dilatation of thy heart, to receive augmentation of that which is infinite, in the accumulation of e&s;&s;entiall and accidentall joy. Joy in a con|tinuall melting of indi&s;&s;oluble bowels, in joyfull, and yet compa&s;&s;ionate beholding thy Saviour; Rejoycing at thy being there, and almo&s;t lamenting (in a kinde of affection, which we can call by no name) that thou could&s;t not come thither, but by tho&s;e wounds, which are &s;till wounds, though wounds glorified. Heires of the joy, and heires of the glory of heaven; where if thou look down, and &s;ee Kings fighting for Crownes, thou can&s;t look off as ea&s;ily, as from boyes at &s;tool-ball for points here; And from Kings tri|umphing after victories, as ea&s;ily, as a Philo&s;opher from a Pageant of children here. Where thou &s;halt not be &s;ubject to any other title of Dominion in others, but <HI>Ie&s;us of Nazareth King of the Iews,</HI> nor ambitious of any other title in thy &s;elfe, but that which thou po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e&s;t, <HI>To be the childe of God.</HI> Heires of joy, heires of glory, and heires of the eternity of heaven; Where, in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of this joy, and this glory, The Angels which were there almo&s;t 6000. yeares before thee, and &s;o pre&s;cribe, and tho&s;e &s;oules which &s;hall come at Chri&s;ts la&s;t comming, and &s;o enter but then, &s;hall not &s;urvive thee, but they, and thou, and all, &s;hall live as long as he that gives you all that life, as God him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>Heires to heaven, and co-heires with Chri&s;t: There is much to be &s;aid of that circum|&s;tance;
<PB N="341" REF="188">but who &s;hall &s;ay it? I that &s;hould &s;ay it, have &s;aid ill of it already, in calling it a Circum&s;tance. To be co-heires with Chri&s;t, is that E&s;&s;entiall &s;alvation it &s;elfe; and to that he intitled us, when after his Re&s;urrection he &s;aid of us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 20.17.</NOTE> <HI>Goe tell my brethren that I am gone.</HI> When he was but borne of a woman, and &s;ubmitted to the law, when in his minority, he was but a Carpenter, and at full age, but a Preacher, when they accu&s;ed him in generall, that he was a Malefactor, or el&s;e they would not have delivered him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 18.30.</NOTE> but they knew not the name of his fault, when a fault of &s;ecular cognizance was objected to him, that he moved &s;edition, that he denied tribute, And then a fault of Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall cognizance, that he &s;poke again&s;t the Law, and again&s;t the Temple, when <HI>Barrabas</HI> a &s;e|ditious murderer was preferred before him, and &s;aved, and yet two theeves left to accom|pany him, in his torment and death, in the&s;e diminutions of Chri&s;t, there was no great honour, no great cau&s;e why any man &s;hould have any great de&s;ire to be of his kindred; to be brother, or co-heire to his Cro&s;&s;e. But if to be his brethren, when he had begun his triumph in his Re&s;urrection, were a high dignity, what is it to be co-heires with him in heaven, after his A&s;cen&s;ion? But the&s;e are inexpre&s;&s;ible, unconceivable things; bring it backe to that which is neare&s;t us; to tho&s;e &s;eales and marks which wee have in this life; That by a holy, a &s;anctified pa&s;&s;age through this life, and out of this life, from our fir&s;t &s;eale in Bapti&s;me, to our la&s;t &s;eale upon our death-bed, <HI>The Spirit may beare witne&s;&s;e to our &s;pirit, that we are the children of God. Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="35" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXV.</HI> Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 12.31.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Wherefore I &s;ay unto you, All manner of &s;in and bla&s;phemy &s;hall be forgiven unto men; But the bla&s;phemy again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall not be forgiven unto men.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_AS when a Merchant hath a faire and large, a deep and open Sea, into that Har|bour to which hee is bound with his Merchandize, it were an impertinent thing for him, to &s;ound, and &s;earch for lands, and rocks, and clifts, which threaten irreparable &s;hipwrack; &s;o we being bound to the heavenly City, the new Jeru&s;alem, by the &s;pacious and bottomele&s;&s;e Sea, the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, having that large Sea opened unto us, in the beginning of this Text, <HI>All manner of &s;in, and bla&s;phemy &s;hall be forgiven unto men,</HI> It may &s;eeme an impertinent di|ver&s;ion, to turne into that little Creek, nay upon that de&s;perate, and irrecoverable rock, <HI>The bla&s;phemy again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall not be forgiven to men.</HI> But there mu&s;t be Di&s;co|verers, as well as Merchants; for the &s;ecurity of Merchants, who by &s;torme and tem|pe&s;t, or other accidents, may be ca&s;t upon tho&s;e &s;ands, and rocks, if they be not knowne, they mu&s;t be knowne. So though we faile on, with a merry gale and full &s;ailes, with the breath of the holy Gho&s;t in the fir&s;t Part, <HI>All manner of &s;in, and bla&s;phemy &s;hall be forgiven unto men,</HI> yet we &s;hall not leave out the di&s;covery of that fearfull and ruinating rock too, <HI>But the bla&s;phemy again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall not be forgiven unto men.</HI></P>
<P>I would divide the Text, and fewer Parts then two, we cannot make, and this Text hath &s;carce two Parts: The whole Text is a conveiance; it is true; but there is a little Provi&s;o at the end: The whole Text is a rule; it is true; but there is an exception at the end; The whole text is a Royall Palace; it is true; but there is a Sewar, a Vault behinde it; Chri&s;t had &s;aid all, that of him&s;elfe he would have &s;aid, when he &s;aid the fir&s;t part, <HI>All manner of &s;in and bla&s;phemy &s;hall be forgiven to men,</HI> But the iniquity of the Phari&s;ees extorted thus much more, <HI>But the bla&s;phemy again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall not be forgiven unto men:</HI> The fir&s;t part is the &s;entence, the propo&s;ition, and the &s;en&s;e is perfect in that, <HI>All manner of &s;in, &amp;c.</HI> The la&s;t part is but a <HI>Parenthe&s;is,</HI> which Chri&s;t had rather might have
<PB N="342" REF="189">been left out, but the Phari&s;ees, and their perver&s;ene&s;&s;e in&s;erted, <HI>But the bla&s;phemy, &amp;c.</HI> But &s;ince it de&s;erves, and requires our con&s;ideration, as well, that the mercy of God can have any &s;top, any rub, determine any where, as that it can extend, and &s;pread it &s;elfe &s;o farre, as it doth in this text, let us make them two parts: And in the fir&s;t con&s;ider with comfort, the largene&s;&s;e, the expan&s;ion of Gods mercy, that there is but one &s;in, that it reacheth not to; And in the &s;econd let us con&s;ider with feare, and trembling, that there is one &s;in, &s;o &s;welling, &s;o high, as that even the mercy of God does not reach to it. And in the fir&s;t we &s;hall proceed thus, in the magnifying Gods mercy, fir&s;t, in the fir&s;t terme, <HI>Sin,</HI> we &s;hall &s;ee that &s;in is even a wound, a violence upon God; and then <HI>Omne peccatum,</HI> Every &s;in is &s;o; and nothing is &s;o various, &s;o divers as &s;in; and even that &s;in, that amounts to <HI>Bla&s;phemy,</HI> a &s;in not onely conceived in the thought, but expre&s;&s;ed in contumelious words; and tho&s;e contumelious and bla&s;phemous words uttered again&s;t <HI>the Son,</HI> (for &s;o it is expre&s;&s;ed in the very next ver&s;e) All this <HI>&s;hall be forgiven:</HI> But yet it is <HI>in futuro, They &s;hall be:</HI> No mans &s;ins are forgiven him, then when he &s;ins them; but by repentance they &s;hall be forgiven; <HI>forgiven unto men;</HI> that is, fir&s;t, unto any man, and then, unto none but men; for the &s;in of the Angels &s;hall never be forgiven: And the&s;e will be the Bran|ches of the fir&s;t Part. And in the &s;econd Part, we &s;hall looke as farre as this text occa&s;i|ons it, upon that debated &s;in, <HI>the &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> and <HI>the irremi&s;siblene&s;&s;e of that;</HI> of which Part, we &s;hall derive and rai&s;e the particular Branches anon, when we come to handle them.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Peccatum.</HI></NOTE> for the fir&s;t terme, <HI>Sin,</HI> we u&s;e to ask in the Schoole, whether any action of mans can have <HI>rationem demeriti,</HI> whether it can be &s;aid to offend God, or to de&s;erve ill of God: for what&s;oever does &s;o, mu&s;t have &s;ome proportion with God. With things which are inanimate, things that have no will, and &s;o no good nor bad purpo&s;e, as du&s;t, or the winde, or &s;uch, a man cannot properly be &s;o offended, as to &s;ay that they de&s;erve ill of him. With tho&s;e things which have no u&s;e, no command of their will, as chil|dren, and fooles, and mad men, it is &s;o too; And then, there is no creature &s;o poore, &s;o childi&s;h, &s;o impotent in re&s;pect of man, as the be&s;t man is in re&s;pect of God: How then can he &s;in, that is, offend, that is, de&s;erve ill of him? The que&s;tion begun not in the Schoole;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 35.6.</NOTE> It was asked before of <HI>Iob: If thou &s;inne&s;t, what doe&s;t thou again&s;t him? or if thy tran&s;gre&s;sions be multiplied, what doe&s;t thou unto him? Thy wickedne&s;&s;e may hurt a man as thou art;</HI> but what is it to God? for, as <HI>Gregory</HI> &s;ayes upon that place, <HI>Humana impie|tas ci nocet, quem pervertendo inquinat,</HI> Our &s;ins hurt them, whom our example leads into tentation; but our &s;ins cannot draw God to be acce&s;&s;ory to our &s;ins, or to make him &s;in with us. Our &s;in cannot hurt him &s;o; nor hurt him directly any way; not his per&s;on: But his Subjects, whom he hath taken into his protection, it may; His Law, which he hath given for direction, it may; His Honour, of which he is jealous, which Honour con&s;i&s;ts much in our honouring of him, it may. Wherein is a Kings Per&s;on violated, by coyning a fal&s;e peny, or counterfaiting a &s;eale? and yet this is Trea&s;on. God cannot be robbed, he cannot be damnified; what&s;oever is taken from him (and there is a &s;acriledge in all unju&s;t takings) where&s;oever it be laid, he &s;ees it, and it is &s;till in his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and in his hou&s;e, and in his hands. God cannot be robbed, nor God cannot be violated, he cannot be wounded, for he hath no limmes. But God is <HI>Vltimis fin is,</HI> The end to which we all goe, and his Law is the way to that end; And <HI>tran&s;ilire lineam,</HI> to tran&s;gre&s;&s;e that Law, to leave that way, is a neglecting of him: and even negligences, and pretermi&s;&s;ions, and &s;lightings, are as great offences, as actuall injuries. So God is <HI>communis Pater,</HI> the Father of all creatures; and &s;o the abu&s;e of the creature reflects upon God, as the injuries done to the children, doe upon the Parents.</P>
<P>If then we can &s;in &s;o again&s;t God, as we can again&s;t the King, and again&s;t the Law, and again&s;t Propriety, and again&s;t Parents; wee have wayes enow of &s;inning again&s;t God. Sin is not therefore &s;o ab&s;olutely nothing, as that it is (in no con&s;ideration) other then a privation, onely <HI>Ab&s;entia recti,</HI> and nothing at all in it &s;elfe: but, not to enter far|ther into that inextricable point, we re&s;t in this, that &s;in is <HI>Actus inordinatus,</HI> It is not only an obliquity, a privation, but it is an action deprived of that rectitude, which it &s;hould have; It does not onely want that rectitude, but it &s;hould have that rectitude, and there|fore hath a &s;infull want. We &s;hall not dare to call &s;in meerly, ab&s;olutely nothing, if we con&s;ider either the puni&s;hment due to &s;in, or the pardon of that puni&s;hment, or the price of that pardon. The puni&s;hment is everla&s;ting; why &s;hould I beleeve it to be &s;o? <HI>Os
<PB N="343" REF="189">domini locutum,</HI> The mouth of the Lord hath &s;aid it. But why &s;hould it be &s;o?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>Iu&s;tum e&s;t ut qui in &s;uo aeter no peccavit contra Deum, in Dei aeterno puniatur,</HI> It is but ju&s;tice, that he that &s;ins in his eternity, &s;hould be puni&s;hed in Gods eternity: Now to &s;in in our eterni|ty, is to &s;in as long as we live, and if we could live eternally, to de&s;ire to &s;in eternally. God can cut off our eternity, he can &s;horten our life; If wee could cut off his eternity, and quench hell, our puni&s;hment were not eternall. We con&s;ider &s;in to be <HI>Quoddam infini|tum;</HI> as it is an aver&s;ion from God, who is infinite goodne&s;&s;e, it is an infinite thing: and as it is a turning upon the Creature, it is finite, and determined; for all plea&s;ure taken in the creature, is &s;o: and accordingly &s;in hath a finite, and an infinite puni&s;hment: That which we call <HI>Poenam &s;en&s;us,</HI> The torment which we feele, is not infinite; (otherwi&s;e, then by duration) for that torment is not equall in all the damned, and that which is in|finite mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be equall; but that which we call <HI>Poenam damni,</HI> The everla&s;ting lo&s;&s;e of the &s;ight of the everliving God, that is infinite, and alike, and equall in all the damned. Sin is &s;omething then, if we con&s;ider the puni&s;hment; and &s;o it is, if we con&s;ider our deliverance from this puni&s;hment: That which God could not pardon in the way of ju&s;tice without &s;atisfaction, that for which nothing could be a &s;atisfaction, but the life of all men, or of one man worth all, the Sonne of God, that that tore the Son out of the armes of his Father, in the <HI>Quid dereliqui&s;ti,</HI> when he cryed out, why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me? That which imprinted in him, who was anointed with the Oyle of gladne&s;&s;e above his fellowes, a deadly heavine&s;&s;e, in his <HI>Tri&s;tis anima,</HI> when his &s;oule was heavy unto death, That which had power to open Heaven in his de&s;cent hither, and to open hell, in his de&s;cent thither, to open the wombe of the Virgin in his Incarnation, and the wombe of the Earth in his Re&s;urrection, that which could change the frame of Nature in Mi|racles, and the God of Nature in becomming Man, that that de&s;erved that puni&s;hment, that that needed that ran&s;ome (&s;ay the Schoole men what they will of privations) can|not be meerely, ab&s;olutely nothing, but the greate&s;t thing that can be conceived, and yet that &s;hall be forgiven.</P>
<P>That, and all that; <HI>Sin,</HI> and <HI>all &s;in:</HI> And there is not &s;o much of any thing in the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omne.</NOTE> as of &s;in. Every vertue hath two extreames, two vices oppo&s;ed to it; there is two to one; But <HI>Abrahams</HI> taske was an ea&s;ie taske to tell the &s;tars of Heaven; &s;o it were to tell the &s;ands, or haires, or atomes, in re&s;pect of telling but our owne &s;ins. And will God &s;ay to me, <HI>Confide Fili, My Son, be of good cheere, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.2.</NOTE> Does he meane all my &s;ins? He knowes what originall &s;in is, and I doe not; and will he forgive me &s;in in that roote, and &s;in in the branches, originall &s;in, and actuall &s;in too? He knowes my &s;e|cret &s;ins, and I doe not; will he forgive my manife&s;t &s;ins, and tho&s;e &s;ins too? He knowes my relap&s;es into &s;ins repented; and will he forgive my faint repentances, and my rebel|lious relap&s;es after them? will his mercy dive into my heart, and forgive my &s;infull thoughts there, and &s;hed upon my lips, and forgive my bla&s;phemous words there, and bathe the members of this body, and forgive mine uncleane actions there? will he con|tract him&s;elfe into him&s;elfe, and meet me there, and forgive my &s;ins again&s;t him&s;elfe, And &s;catter him&s;elfe upon the world, and forgive my &s;ins again&s;t my neighbour, and empri&s;on him&s;elfe in me, and forgive my &s;ins again&s;t my &s;elfe? Will he forgive tho&s;e &s;ins, wherein my practi&s;e hath exceeded my Parents, and tho&s;e wherein my example hath mi&s;-led my children? Will he forgive that dim &s;ight which I have of &s;in now, when &s;ins &s;carce appeare to be &s;ins unto me, and will he forgive that over-quick &s;ight, when I &s;hall &s;ee my &s;ins through Satans multiplying gla&s;&s;e of de&s;peration, when I &s;hall thinke them greater then his mercy, upon my death bed? <HI>In that he &s;aid all, he left out nothing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.8.</NOTE> is the Apo&s;tles argument: and, he is not almighty, if he cannot; his mercy endures not for ever, if he doe not forgive all.</P>
<P><HI>Sin,</HI> and <HI>all &s;in,</HI> even <HI>bla&s;phemy:</HI> now bla&s;phemy is not re&s;trained to God alone;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bla&s;phemia.</NOTE> other per&s;ons be&s;ides God, other things, be&s;ides per&s;ons, may be bla&s;phemed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.1. Iude 8, 10.</NOTE> The word of God, the Doctrine, Religion may be bla&s;phemed. Magi&s;tracy and Dignities may be bla&s;phemed. Nay, <HI>Omnia quae ignorant,</HI> &s;aies that Apo&s;tle, <HI>They bla&s;pheme all things which they know not.</HI> And for per&s;ons, the Apo&s;tle takes it to his owne per&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.13.</NOTE> <HI>Being bla&s;phemed, yet we intreat;</HI> and he communicates it to all men, <HI>Neminem bla&s;phemate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>Bla&s;pheme no man.</HI> Bla&s;phemy, as it is a contumelious &s;peech, derogating from any man, that good that is in him, or attributing to any man, that ill that is not in him, may be fa&s;tned upon any man. For the mo&s;t part it is under&s;tood a &s;in again&s;t God, and that directly; and here,
<PB N="344" REF="190">by the manner of Chri&s;t expre&s;&s;ing him&s;elfe, it is made the greate&s;t &s;in; <HI>All &s;in,</HI> even <HI>bla&s;phemy.</HI> And yet, a drunkard that cannot name God, will &s;pue out a bla&s;phemy again&s;t God: A child that cannot &s;pell God, will &s;tammer out a bla&s;phemy again&s;t God: If we &s;mart, we bla&s;pheme God, and we bla&s;pheme him if we be tickled; If I lo&s;e at play, I bla&s;pheme, and if my fellow lo&s;e, he bla&s;phemes, &s;o that God is alwayes &s;ure to be a lo&s;er. An U&s;urer can &s;hew me his bags, and an Extortioner his hou&s;es, the fruits, the revenues of his &s;inne; but where will the bla&s;phemer &s;hew mee his bla&s;phemy, or what hee hath got by it? The licentious man hath had his love in his armes, and the envious man hath had his enemy in the du&s;t, but wherein hath the bla&s;phemer hurt God?</P>
<P>In the Schoole we put it for the con&s;ummation of the torment of the damned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquin. 221. q. 13. ar. 4.</NOTE> that at the Re&s;urrection, they &s;hall have bodies, and &s;o be able, even verbally, to bla&s;pheme God; herein we exceed the Devill already, that we can &s;peake bla&s;pemou&s;ly. There is a rebellious part of the body, that <HI>Adam</HI> covered with figge leaves, that hath damned many a wretched &s;oule; but yet, I thinke, not more then the tongue; And therefore the whole torment that <HI>Dives</HI> &s;uffered in hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.24.</NOTE> is expre&s;&s;ed in that part, <HI>Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and &s;end Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and coole my tongue.</HI> The Jews that crucified God, will not &s;ound the name of God, and we for whom he was Crucified, belch him out in our &s;urfets, and foame him out in our fury: An Im|pertinent &s;in, without occa&s;ion before, and an unprofitable &s;in, without recompence af|ter, and an incorrigible &s;in too; for, almo&s;t what Father dares chide his &s;on for bla&s;phe|my, that may not tell him, Sir I learnt it of you? or what Ma&s;ter his &s;ervant, that can|not lay the &s;ame recrimination upon him? How much then do we need this extent of Gods mercy, that he will forgive <HI>&s;in,</HI> and <HI>all &s;in,</HI> and even this &s;in of <HI>bla&s;phemy,</HI> and (which is al&s;o another addition) <HI>bla&s;phemy again&s;t the Son.</HI></P>
<P>This emphaticall addition ari&s;es out of the connexion in the next ver&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In filium.</NOTE> <HI>A word,</HI> (that is, a bla&s;phemous word) <HI>again&s;t the Son, &s;hall be forgiven.</HI> And here wee carry not the word <HI>Son</HI> &s;o high, as that the Son &s;hould be the eternall Son of God, Though words &s;poken again&s;t the eternall Son of God by many bitter and bla&s;phemous Heretiques have beene forgiven: God forbid that all the Photinians who thought that Chri&s;t was not at all, till he was borne of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> That all the Nativitarians, that thought he was from all eternity with God, but yet was not the Son of God, That all the Arians, that thought him the Son of God, but yet not e&s;&s;entially, not by nature, but by grace and adoption, God forbid that all the&s;e &s;hould be damned, and becau&s;e they once &s;poke a|gain&s;t the Son, therefore they never repented, or were not received upon repentance. We carry not the word, Son, &s;o high, as to be the eternall Son of God, for it is in the text, <HI>Filius hominis, The Son of Man;</HI> And, in that acceptation, we doe not meane it, of all bla&s;phemies that have beene &s;poken of Chri&s;t, as <HI>the Son of man,</HI> that is, of Chri&s;t inve|&s;ted in the humane nature; though bla&s;phemies in that kind have beene forgiven too: God forbid that all the Arians, that thought Chri&s;t &s;o much the Son of Man as that he tooke a humane body, but not &s;o much, as that he tooke a humane &s;oule, but that the Godhead it &s;elfe (&s;uch a Godhead as they allowed him) was his &s;oule; God forbid that all the Anabapti&s;ts that confe&s;&s;e he tooke a body, but not a body of the &s;ub&s;tance of the Virgin; That all the Carpocratians, that thought onely his &s;oule, and not his body a|&s;cended into Heaven, God forbid all the&s;e &s;hould be damned, and never called to repen|tance, or not admitted upon it: There were fearfull bla&s;phemies again&s;t the Son, as the Son of God, and as the Son of Man, again&s;t his Divine, and again&s;t his Humane Nature, and tho&s;e, in &s;ome of them, by Gods grace forgiven too. But here we con&s;ider him one|ly as the Son of Man, meerely as Man; but as &s;uch a Man, &s;o good a Man, as to calum|niate him, to bla&s;pheme him, was an inexcu&s;able &s;in. To &s;ay of him, who had fa&s;ted forty dayes and forty nights,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.19. Mar. 12.14.</NOTE> <HI>Ecce homo vorax, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber,</HI> To &s;ay of him, of whom them&s;elves had &s;aid el&s;ewhere, <HI>Ma&s;ter, we know that thou art true, and care&s;t for no man,</HI> that he was <HI>a friend of Publicans and &s;inners,</HI> That this man who was <HI>The Prince of Peace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.3.</NOTE> &s;hould <HI>indure &s;uch contradiction,</HI> This was an inexcu&s;able &s;in. If any man therefore have had his good intentions mi&s;-con&s;trued, his zeale to a&s;&s;i&s;t Gods bleeding and fainting cau&s;e, called Innovation, his proceeding by wayes good in them&s;elves, to ends good in them&s;elves, called Indi&s;cretion, let him be content to forgive them, any Calumniator, again&s;t him&s;elfe, who is but <HI>a worme and no man,</HI> &s;ince God him|&s;elfe
<PB N="345" REF="190">forgave them again&s;t Chri&s;t, who was &s;o <HI>Filius hominis, The Son of Man,</HI> as that he was <HI>the Son of God</HI> too.</P>
<P>There is then forgivene&s;&s;e for <HI>&s;in,</HI> for <HI>all &s;in,</HI> even for <HI>bla&s;phemy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Infuturo.</NOTE> for <HI>bla&s;phemy again&s;t the Son,</HI> but it is <HI>Infuturo remittetur, It &s;hall be forgiven.</HI> It is not <HI>Remittebatur,</HI> It was for|given; Let no man antidate his pardon, and &s;ay, His &s;ins were forgiven in an Eternall Decree, and that no man that hath his name in the book of life, hath the addition, &s;inner; that if he were there from the beginning, from the beginning he was no &s;inner. It is not, in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, <HI>Remittebatur,</HI> It was forgiven; nor it is not <HI>Remittitur,</HI> that even then, when the &s;in is committed, it is forgiven, whether the &s;inner think of it or no, That God &s;ees not the &s;ins of his Children, That God was no more affected with <HI>Davids</HI> adultery, or his murder, then an indulgent Father is to &s;ee his child do &s;ome witty waggi&s;h thing, or &s;ome &s;portfull &s;hrewd turne. It is but <HI>Remittetur,</HI> Any &s;in <HI>&s;hall be,</HI> that is, may be <HI>forgiven,</HI> if the meanes required by God, and ordained by him, be entertained. If I take into my con|templation, the Maje&s;ty of God, and the ugline&s;&s;e of &s;in, If I deve&s;t my &s;elfe of all that was &s;infully got, and inve&s;t my &s;elf in the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, (for el&s;e I am ill &s;uted, and if I clothe my&s;elf in Mammon, the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t is no Cloke for that doublet) If I come to Gods Church for my ab&s;olution, and the &s;eale of that reconci|liation, the ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament, <HI>Remittetur,</HI> by tho&s;e meanes ordained by God any &s;in &s;hall be forgiven me. But if I relie upon the <HI>Remittebatur,</HI> That I had my <HI>Quietus e&s;t</HI> be|fore hand, in the eternall Decree, or in the <HI>Remittuntur,</HI> and &s;o &s;hut mine eyes, in an opi|nion that God hath &s;hut his, and &s;ees not the &s;ins of his children, I change Gods Gram|mer, and I induce a dangerous &s;oleci&s;me, for, it is not They were forgiven before they were committed, nor They are forgiven in the committing, but, They &s;hall be, by u&s;ing the meanes ordained by God, they may be; And &s;o, <HI>They &s;hall be forgiven unto men,</HI> &s;aies the Text, and that is, fir&s;t, unto every man.</P>
<P>The Kings of the earth are faire and glorious re&s;emblances of the King of heaven;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omni homini</NOTE> they are beames of that Sun, Tapers of that Torch, they are like gods, they are gods: <HI>The Lord killeth and maketh alive, He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2.6.</NOTE> This is the Lord of heaven; The Lords anointed, Kings of the earth do &s;o too; They have the di&s;pen&s;ation of judgement, and of mercy, they execute, and they pardon: But yet, with this difference among&s;t many other, that Kings of the earth (for the mo&s;t part, and the be&s;t, mo&s;t) binde them&s;elves with an oath, not to pardon &s;ome offences; The King of heaven &s;weares, and &s;weares by him&s;elfe, That there is no &s;inner but he can, and would pardon. At fir&s;t, <HI>Illuminat omnem hominem, He is the true light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.9.</NOTE> <HI>which lightneth every man that commeth into the world;</HI> Let that light (becau&s;e many do interpret that place &s;o) let that be but that naturall light, which only man, and every man hath; yet that light makes him capable of the &s;uper-naturall light of grace; for if he had not that rea|&s;onable &s;oule, he could not have grace; and even by this naturall light, he is able to &s;ee the invi&s;ible God, in the vi&s;ible creature, and is inexcu&s;able if he do not &s;o. But becau&s;e this light is (though not put out) brought to a dimne&s;&s;e, by mans fir&s;t fall, Therefore <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> came to <HI>beare witne&s;&s;e of that light, that all men, through him, might beleeve:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 7.</NOTE> God rai&s;es up a <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> in every man; every man findes a te&s;timony in him&s;elfe, that he draws curtaines between the light and him; that he runs into corners from that light; that he doth not make that u&s;e of tho&s;e helpes which God hath afforded him, as he might.</P>
<P>Thus God hath mercy upon all before, by way of prevention; thus he enlightneth every man that commeth into the world: but, becau&s;e for all this men do &s;tumble, even at noon, God hath given <HI>Collyrium,</HI> an <HI>Eye-&s;alve</HI> to all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 3.18.</NOTE> by which they may mend their eye-&s;ight; He hath opened a poole of Bethe&s;da to all, where not only he that comes at fir&s;t, but he that comes even at la&s;t, he that comes wa&s;hed with the water of Bapti&s;me in his infancy, and he that comes wa&s;hed with the teares of Repentance in his age, may re|ceive health and cleanne&s;&s;e; For, the Font at fir&s;t, and the death-bed at la&s;t, are Ci&s;terns from this poole, and all men, and at all times, may wa&s;h therein: And from this power, and this love of God, is derived both that Catholique promi&s;e, <HI>Quandocun&abque;, At what time &s;oever a &s;inner repents,</HI> And that Catholique and exten&s;ive Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Quorum re|mi&s;eritis, Who&s;e &s;ins &s;oever you remit, &s;hall be remitted.</HI> All men were in <HI>Adam;</HI> becau&s;e the whole nature, mankinde, was in him; and then, can any be without &s;in? All men were in Chri&s;t too, becau&s;e the whole nature, mankinde, was in him; and then, can any man
<PB N="346" REF="191">be excluded from a po&s;&s;ibility of mercy? There were whole Sects, whole bodies of Heretiques, that denied the communication of Gods grace to others; The Cathari de|nied that any man had it but them&s;elves: The Novatians denied that any man could have it again, after he had once lo&s;t it, by any deadly &s;in committed after Bapti&s;me, But there was never any Sect that denied it to them&s;elves, no Sect of de&s;pairing men. We have &s;ome &s;omewhere &s;prinkled; One in the old Te&s;tament, <HI>Cain,</HI> and one in the new, <HI>Iudas,</HI> and one in the Eccle&s;ia&s;tique Story, <HI>Iulian;</HI> but no body, no Sect of de&s;pairing men. And therefore he that abandons him&s;elf to this &s;in of de&s;peration, &s;ins with the lea&s;t rea&s;on of any, for he prefers his &s;in above Gods mercy, and he &s;ins with the fewe&s;t examples of any, for God hath diffu&s;ed this light, with an evidence to all, That all &s;ins may be forgiven unto men, that is, unto all men; and then, herein al&s;o is Gods mercy to man magnified, that it is to man, that is, only to man.</P>
<P>Nothing can fall into this compari&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non Angelis</NOTE> but Angels; and Angels &s;hall not be forgiven: We &s;hall be like the Angels, we &s;hall participate of their glory which &s;tand; But the Angels &s;hall never be like us; never return to mercy, after they are fallen. They were <HI>Primogeniti Dei,</HI> Gods fir&s;t born, and yet di&s;inherited; and di&s;inherited without any power, at lea&s;t, without purpo&s;e of revocation, without annuities, without pen&s;ions, with|out any pre&s;ent &s;upply, without any future hope. When the Angels were made, and when they fell, we di&s;pute; but when they &s;hall return, falls not into que&s;tion. How|&s;oever <HI>Origen</HI> vary in him&s;elfe, or how&s;oever he fell under that jealou&s;ie, or mi&s;interpre|tation, that he thought the devill &s;hould be &s;aved at la&s;t, I am &s;ure his books that are ex|tant, have pregnant and abundant te&s;timony of their everla&s;ting, and irreparable con|demnation. To judge by our evidence, the evidence of Scriptures, for their &s;in, and the evidence of our con&s;cience, for ours, there is none of us that hath not &s;inned more then any of them at fir&s;t; and yet Chri&s;t hath not taken the nature of Angels, but of man, and redeemed us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iude 6.</NOTE> having <HI>re&s;erved them in everla&s;ting chaines, under darkne&s;&s;e:</HI> How long? <HI>Vnto the judgement of the great day,</HI> &s;ayes that Apo&s;tle; And is it but till then, then to have an end? Alas no; It is not <HI>untill</HI> that day, but <HI>unto</HI> that day; not that that day &s;hall end or ea&s;e their torments which they have, but inflict accidentall torments, which they have not yet; That is, an utter evacuation of that power of &s;educing, which, till that day come, they &s;hall have leave to exerci&s;e upon the &s;ons of men: To that are they re&s;erved, and we to that glory, which they have lo&s;t, and lo&s;t for ever; and upon us, is that prayer of the Apo&s;tle fallen effectually,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Mercy, and peace, and love is multiplied unto us;</HI> for, <HI>&s;in,</HI> and <HI>all &s;in, bla&s;phemy,</HI> and <HI>bla&s;phemy again&s;t the Son, &s;hall be,</HI> that is, is not, nor was not, but may be <HI>forgiven to men,</HI> to all men, to none but men; And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e to our &s;econd part.</P>
<P>In this &s;econd part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part. <HI>Divi&s;io.</HI></NOTE> which &s;eemes to pre&s;ent a banke even to this Sea, this infinite Sea of the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; And an Horizon even to this heaven of heavens, to the mercy of God, we &s;hall proceed thus: Fir&s;t, we &s;hall inquire, but mode&s;tly, what that <HI>bla&s;phemy,</HI> which is commonly called <HI>The &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> is: And &s;econdly, how, and wherein it is irremi&s;&s;ible, that it &s;hall never be forgiven: And then thirdly, up|on what places of Scripture it is grounded; among&s;t which, if this text do not con&s;ti|tute and e&s;tabli&s;h that &s;in, <HI>The &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> yet we &s;hall finde, that that &s;in which is directly intended in this text, is a branch of that &s;in, <HI>The &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t:</HI> And therefore we &s;hall take ju&s;t occa&s;ion from thence, to arme you with &s;ome in&s;tructi|ons again&s;t tho&s;e wayes which leade into that irrecoverable de&s;truction, into that irremi&s;|&s;ible &s;in: for though the &s;in it &s;elf be not &s;o evident, yet the limmes of the &s;in, and the wayes to the &s;in, are plain enough.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid.</NOTE> There is no que&s;tion in the Scripture harder then this, what this &s;in is: And S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> gives &s;ome rea&s;on of the difficulty in this, <HI>Sicut una divinitas, una offen&s;a:</HI> As there is but one Godhead, &s;o there is no &s;in again&s;t God (and all &s;in is &s;o) but it is again&s;t the whole Trinity: and that is true; but as there are certain attributes proper to every &s;everall per&s;on of the Trinity, &s;o there are certaine &s;ins, more directly again&s;t the &s;everall attributes and properties of tho&s;e per&s;ons, and in &s;uch a con&s;ideration, again&s;t the per&s;ons them&s;elves. Of which there are divers &s;ins again&s;t <HI>power,</HI> and they are principally again&s;t the <HI>Father;</HI> for to the <HI>Father</HI> we attribute <HI>power;</HI> and divers &s;ins again&s;t <HI>wi&s;dome,</HI> and <HI>wi&s;dome</HI> we attribute to the <HI>Son;</HI> and divers again&s;t <HI>goodne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>love,</HI> and the&s;e we attribute to the <HI>holy Gho&s;t.</HI> Of tho&s;e again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t, con&s;ider|ed
<PB N="347" REF="191">in that attribute of goodne&s;&s;e, and of love, the place to &s;peak, will be in our conclu&s;i|on. But for this particular &s;in, <HI>The &s;in again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> as hard as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> makes it, and ju&s;tly, yet he &s;ayes too, <HI>Exercere nos voluit difficultate quae&s;tionis, non decipe|re fal&s;itate &s;ententiae,</HI> God would exerci&s;e us with a hard que&s;tion, but he would not de|ceive us with a fal&s;e opinion: <HI>Quid &s;it quaeri voluit, non negari;</HI> God would have us mode&s;tly inquire what it is, not peremptorily deny that there is any &s;uch &s;in.</P>
<P><Q>It is (for the mo&s;t part) agreed, that it is a totall falling away from the Go&s;pell of Chri&s;t Je&s;us formerly acknowledged and profe&s;&s;ed, into a verball calumniating, and a reall per&s;ecuting of that Go&s;pel, with a deliberate purpo&s;e to continue &s;o to the end, and actually to do &s;o, to per&s;evere till then, and then to pa&s;&s;e away in that di&s;po&s;ition.</Q> It fals only upon the profe&s;&s;ors of the Go&s;pell, and it is totall, and it is practicall, and it is deliberate, and it is finall. Here we have that &s;in, but, by Gods grace, that &s;inner no where.</P>
<P>It is therefore &s;omewhat early, &s;omewhat forwardly pronounced, though by a reve|rend man, <HI>Certum reprobationis &s;ignum, in &s;piritum bla&s;phemia,</HI> That it is an infallible a&s;&s;u|rance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> that that man is a Reprobate that bla&s;phemes the holy Gho&s;t. For, what&s;oever is an infallible &s;igne, mu&s;t be notorious to us; If we mu&s;t know another thing by that, as a &s;igne, we mu&s;t know that thing which is our &s;igne, in it &s;elfe: And can we know what this bla&s;pheming of the holy Gho&s;t is? Did we ever heare any man &s;ay, or &s;ee any man doe any thing again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t, of whom we might &s;ay upon that word, or upon that action, This man can never repent, never be received to mercy? And yet, &s;ayes he, <HI>Tenendum e&s;t, quod qui exciderint, nunquam re&s;urgent;</HI> We are bound to hold, that they who fall &s;o, &s;hall never ri&s;e again. I pre&s;ume, he grounded him&s;elfe in that &s;e|vere judgement of his, upon &s;uch places, as that to the Romanes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>When they did not like to retaine God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate minde:</HI> That that is the ordinary way of Gods ju&s;tice, to withdraw his Spirit from that man that bla&s;phemes his Spirit; but S. <HI>Paul</HI> bla&s;phemed, and S. <HI>Peter</HI> bla&s;phemed, and yet were not divorced from God.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> rule is good; not to judge of this &s;in, and this &s;inner e&s;pecially, but <HI>&agrave; po&s;teriori,</HI> from his end, from his departing out of this world. Neither though I doe &s;ee an ill life, &s;ealed with an ill death, dare I be too forward in this judgement. He was not a Chri&s;tian in profe&s;&s;ion, but wor&s;e then he are called Chri&s;tians, that &s;aid, <HI>Qui pius e&s;t, &s;umm&egrave; Philo&s;ophatur;</HI> The charitable man is the great Philo&s;opher;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tri&s;meg.</NOTE> and it is charity not to &s;u&s;pect the &s;tate of a dead man. Con&s;ider in how &s;udden a minute the holy Gho&s;t hath &s;ometimes wrought upon thee; and hope that he hath done &s;o upon another. It is a moderation to be imbraced, that <HI>Peter Martyr</HI> leads us to: The Primitive Church had the &s;pirit of di&s;cerning &s;pirits; we have not; And therefore, though by way of definition, we may &s;ay, This is that &s;in, yet by way of demon&s;tration, let us &s;ay of no man, This is that &s;inner: I may &s;ay of no man, This &s;in in thee is irremi&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>Now, in con&s;idering this word, Irremi&s;&s;ible, That it cannot be forgiven, wee finde it to be a word, rather u&s;urped by the Schoole, then expre&s;&s;ed in the Scriptures:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Irremi&s;sibi|litas.</NOTE> for in all tho&s;e three Euangeli&s;ts, where this fearfull denunciation is interminated, &s;till it is in a phra&s;e, of &s;omewhat more mildne&s;&s;e, then &s;o; It is, <HI>It &s;hall not be forgiven,</HI> It is not, it cannot be forgiven: It is an irremi&s;&s;ion, it is not an irremi&s;&s;iblene&s;&s;e. Ab&s;olutely there is not an impo&s;&s;ibility, and irremi&s;&s;iblene&s;&s;e on Gods part: but yet &s;ome kinde of impo&s;|&s;ibility there is on his part, and on ours too. For, if he could forgive this &s;in, he would; or el&s;e, his power were above his mercy; and his mercy is above all his works. But God can doe nothing that implies contradiction; and God having declared, by what meanes onely his mercy and forgivene&s;&s;e &s;hall be conveyed to man, God &s;hould contra|dict him&s;elfe, if he &s;hould give forgivene&s;&s;e to them, who will fully exclude tho&s;e meanes of mercy. And therefore it were not boldly, nor irreverently &s;aid, That God could not give grace to a bea&s;t, nor mercy to the Devill, becau&s;e either they are naturally de&s;titute, or have wilfully de&s;poiled them&s;elves of the capacity of grace, and mercy. When we con&s;ider, that God the Father, whom, as the roote of all, we con&s;ider princi|pally in the Creation, created man in a po&s;&s;ibility, and ability, to per&s;i&s;t in that goodne&s;&s;e, in which he created him, And con&s;ider that God the Son came, and wrought a recon|ciliation for man to God, and &s;o brought in a trea&s;ure, in the nature thereof, a &s;ufficient ran&s;ome for all the world, but then a man knowes not this, or beleeves not this, other|wi&s;e
<PB N="348" REF="192">then Hi&s;torically, Morally, Civilly, and &s;o evacuates, and &s;hakes off God the Son, And then con&s;ider that the holy Gho&s;t comes, and pre&s;ents meanes of applying all this, and making the generall &s;atisfaction of Chri&s;t, reach and &s;pread it &s;elfe upon my &s;oule, in particular, in the preaching of the Word, in the &s;eales of the Sacraments, in the ab&s;o|lution of the Church, and I preclude the wayes, and &s;hut up my &s;elfe again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t, and &s;o evacuate him, and &s;hake him off, when I have re&s;i&s;ted Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t, is there a fourth per&s;on in the God-head to work upon me? If I bla&s;|pheme, that is, deliberately pronounce again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t, my &s;in is irremi&s;&s;ible therefore, becau&s;e there is no body left to forgive it, nor way left, wherein forgive|ne&s;&s;e &s;hould work upon me; So farre it is irremi&s;&s;ible on Gods part, and on mine too.</P>
<P>And then, take it there, in that &s;tate of irremi&s;&s;iblene&s;&s;e, and con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly the feare|fulne&s;&s;e of it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.22.</NOTE> I have been <HI>angry;</HI> and then, (as Chri&s;t tells me) I have been <HI>in danger of a judgement;</HI> but in judgement, I may have coun&s;ell, I may be heard; I have &s;aid <HI>Racha,</HI> expre&s;&s;ed my anger and &s;o been <HI>in danger of a Councell;</HI> but a Councell does but con&s;ult, what puni&s;hment is fit to be inflicted; and &s;o long there is hope of mitigation, and com|mutation of penance; But I have &s;aid <HI>fatue,</HI> I have called my brother <HI>foole,</HI> and &s;o am <HI>in danger of hell fire.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t. Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> In the fir&s;t, there is <HI>Ira,</HI> an inward commotion, an irregular di|&s;temper; In the &s;econd, there is <HI>Ira &amp; vox;</HI> In the fir&s;t it is but <HI>Ira carnis, non animi,</HI> It is but my pa&s;&s;ion, it is not I that am angry, but in the &s;econd I have &s;uffered my pa&s;&s;ion to vent and utter it &s;elfe; but in the third, there is <HI>Ira, vox &amp; vituperatio,</HI> A di&s;temper within, a declaration to evill example without, and an injury and defamation to a third per&s;on, and this exalts the offence to the height: But then when this third Per&s;on comes to be the third Per&s;on in the Trinity, the Holy Gho&s;t, in all the other ca&s;es, there is dan|ger, danger of judgement, danger of a Councell, danger of hell, but here is irremi&s;&s;ible|ne&s;&s;e, hell it &s;elfe, and no avoiding of hell, no cooling in hell, no deliverance from hell; Irremi&s;&s;ible; Tho&s;e hands that reached to the ends of the world, in creating it, &amp; &s;pan the world in pre&s;erving it, and &s;tretched over all in redeeming it, tho&s;e hands have I mana|cled, that they cannot open unto me: That tenderne&s;&s;e that is affected to all, have I damped, retarded that pronene&s;&s;e, &s;tupified that alacrity, confounded that voyce, diver|ted tho&s;e eyes, that are naturally di&s;po&s;ed to all: And all this, Irremi&s;&s;ibly, for ever; not, though he would, but becau&s;e he will not &s;hew mercy; not, though I would, but becau&s;e I cannot ask mercy: And therefore beware all approaches towards that &s;in, from which there is no returning, no redemption.</P>
<P>We are come now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In quibus Script.</NOTE> in our order, to our third and la&s;t Branch of this la&s;t Part, That this Doctrine of a <HI>&s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> is not a dreame of the Schoole-men, though they have &s;poken many things frivolou&s;ly of it, but grounded in evident places of Scriptures: Among&s;t which, we looke e&s;pecially, how farre this Text conduces to that Doctrine. There are two places ordinarily cited, which &s;eeme directly to concerne this &s;in; and two others, which to me &s;eeme not to doe &s;o. Tho&s;e of the fir&s;t kinde, are both in the Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Hebrewes:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.4.</NOTE> There the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>For tho&s;e who were once inlightned, and have ta&s;ted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Gho&s;t, If they fall away, it is impo&s;sible to renew them by repentance.</HI> Now, if finall impenitence had been added, there could have been no que&s;tion, but that this mu&s;t be The &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t; And becau&s;e the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of &s;uch a totall falling away, as precludes all way of repentance, it includes finall impenitence, and &s;o makes up that &s;in. The other place from which it ri&s;es mo&s;t pregnantly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.29.</NOTE> is, <HI>Of how &s;ore a puni&s;hment &s;hall they be thought wor|thy, who have trodden under foot the Son of God, and have done de&s;pite unto the Spirit of grace?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 26.</NOTE> As he had &s;aid before, <HI>If we &s;in wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more &s;acrifice for &s;ins, but a certain fearfull looking for of judgement, and fiery indignation.</HI> But yet, though from the&s;e places, there ari&s;es evidence, that &s;uch a &s;in there is, as naturally &s;huts out repentance, and &s;o is thereby irremi&s;&s;ible, yet there ari&s;e no markes, by which I can &s;ay, This man is &s;uch a &s;inner; not though hee him|&s;elfe would &s;weare to me, that he were &s;o now, and that he would continue &s;o, till death.</P>
<P>The other places that doe not &s;o directly concerne this &s;in, and yet are &s;ometimes u&s;ed in this affaire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.16.</NOTE> are, one in S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> and this text another. That in S. <HI>Iohn</HI> is, <HI>There is a &s;in unto death, I doe not &s;ay, that he &s;hall pray for it.</HI> It is true, that the Ma&s;ter of the Sen|tences, and from him, many of the Schoole, and many of our later Interpreters too, doe
<PB N="349" REF="192">under&s;tand this, of the &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, becau&s;e we are (almo&s;t) forbidden to pray for it; but yet we are not ab&s;olutely forbidden, in that we are not bidden. And if we were forbidden, when God &s;ayes to <HI>Ieremy, Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 7.16.</NOTE> <HI>nor prayer for them, neither make interce&s;sion to me, for I will not heare thee,</HI> And againe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 11.14.</NOTE> <HI>Pray not for them, for I will not heare them,</HI> Not them, though they &s;hould come to pray for them&s;elves, God forbid that we &s;hould therefore &s;ay, that all that people had committed the &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t. And for this particular place of S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> that an&s;wer may &s;uffice, which very good Divines have given, Pray not for them, is indeed pray not with them, admit them to no part in the publique prayers of the Congregation, but if they &s;in a &s;in unto death, a notorious, an inexcu&s;able &s;in, let them be per&s;ons excommunicated to thee.</P>
<P>For the words in this text, which &s;eeme to many appliable to that great &s;in, it is not cleare, it is not much probable, that they can be &s;o applied. Take the words inve&s;ted in their circum&s;tance, in the context and coherence, and it will appeare evident. Chri&s;t &s;peaks this to the Phari&s;ees, upon occa&s;ion of that which they had &s;aid to him, and of him before, and he carries it, intends it no farther. That appeares by the fir&s;t word of out text, <HI>Propterea, Therefore I &s;ay unto you;</HI> Therefore, that is, Becau&s;e you have u&s;ed &s;uch words unto me. And S. <HI>Marke</HI> makes it more cleare, <HI>He &s;aid this to them, becau&s;e they &s;aid,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 3.30.</NOTE> <HI>He had an uncleane &s;pirit;</HI> becau&s;e they &s;aid he did his Miracles by the power of the De|vill. Now, this was certainely a &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, &s;o far, as that it was di&s;tin|gui&s;hed from the &s;ins again&s;t the Son of Man; But it was not the &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t; for, Chri&s;t being a mixt per&s;on, God and Man, did &s;ome things, in which his Di|vinity had nothing to doe, but were onely actions of a meere naturall man, and when they &s;landered him in the&s;e, they bla&s;phemed the Son of Man. Some things he did in the power of his God head, in which his humanity contributed nothing; as all his Miracles; and when they attributed the&s;e works to the Devill, they bla&s;phemed the Holy Gho&s;t. And therefore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, That Chri&s;t in this place, did not &s;o much accu&s;e the Phari&s;ees, that they had already incurred the &s;in of the Holy Gho&s;t, they might at la&s;t fall into The &s;in, that impenitible, and therfore irremi&s;&s;ible &s;in. But that &s;in, this could not be, becau&s;e the Phari&s;ees had not embraced the Go&s;pel before, and &s;o this could not be a falling from the Go&s;pel, in them: Neither does it appeare to have continued to a finall impenitence; &s;o far from it, as that S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;t.</HI> makes no doubt, but that &s;ome of the&s;e Phari&s;ees did repent upon Chri&s;ts admonition.</P>
<P>Now, beloved, &s;ince we &s;ee by this collation of places, that it is not &s;afe to &s;ay of any man, he is this &s;inner, nor very con&s;tantly agreed upon, what is this &s;in, but yet we are &s;ure, that &s;uch a &s;in there is, that captivates even God him&s;elf, and takes from him the ex|erci&s;e of his mercy, and ca&s;ts a dumne&s;&s;e, a &s;peechle&s;ne&s;&s;e upon the Church it &s;elfe, that &s;he may not pray for &s;uch a &s;inner; and &s;ince we &s;ee, that Chri&s;t, with &s;o much earne&s;t|ne&s;&s;e, rebukes the Phari&s;ees for this &s;in in the text, becau&s;e it was a limbe of that &s;in, and conduced to it, let us u&s;e all religious diligence, to keep our &s;elves in a &s;afe di&s;tance from it. To which purpo&s;e, be plea&s;ed to ca&s;t a particular, but &s;hort and tran&s;itory glaunce, upon &s;ome &s;uch &s;ins, as therefore, becau&s;e they conduce to that, are &s;ometimes called &s;ins again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t. Sins again&s;t <HI>Power,</HI> (that is the <HI>Fathers</HI> Attribute) &s;ins of infir|mity are ea&s;ily forgiven; &s;ins again&s;t <HI>Wi&s;dome,</HI> (that is the <HI>Sons</HI> Attribute) &s;ins of Igno|rance are ea&s;ily forgiven; but &s;ins again&s;t <HI>Goodne&s;&s;e,</HI> (that is the <HI>Holy Gho&s;ts</HI> Attribute,) &s;ins of an hard and ill nature are hardly forgiven: Not at all, when it comes to be The &s;in; not ea&s;ily, when they are Tho&s;e &s;ins, tho&s;e that conduce to it, and are branches of it.</P>
<P>For branches, the Schoolemen have named three couples, which they have called <HI>&s;ins again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> becau&s;e naturally they &s;hut out tho&s;e meanes by which the Holy Gho&s;t might work upon us. The fir&s;t couple is, <HI>pre&s;umption</HI> and <HI>de&s;peration;</HI> for pre&s;ump|tion takes away the feare of God, and de&s;peration the love of God. And then, they name <HI>Impenitence,</HI> and <HI>hardne&s;&s;e of heart;</HI> for Impenitence removes all &s;orrow for &s;ins pa&s;t, and hardne&s;&s;e of heart all tenderne&s;&s;e towards future tentations. And la&s;tly, they name <HI>The re&s;i&s;ting of a truth acknowledged before,</HI> and <HI>the envying of other men, who have made better u&s;e of Gods grace then we have done;</HI> for this re&s;i&s;ting of a Truth, is a &s;hutting up of our &s;elves again&s;t it, and this envying of others, is a &s;orrow, that that Truth &s;hould prevaile upon them. And truly (to reflect a very little upon the&s;e three couples again) To pre&s;ume
<PB N="350" REF="193">upon God, that God cannot damne me eternally in the next world, for a few half-houres in this; what is a fornication, or what is an Idolatay to God? what is a je&s;t, or a ballad, or a libel to a King? Or to de&s;paire, that God will not &s;ave me, how well &s;oever I live, after a &s;in? what is a teare, what is a &s;igh, what is a prayer to God? what is a petition to a King? To be impenitent, &s;en&s;le&s;&s;e of &s;ins pa&s;t; I pa&s;t ye&s;terday in riot, and ye&s;ternight in wanton|ne&s;&s;e, and yet I heare of &s;ome place, &s;ome office, &s;ome good fortune fallen to me to day; To be hardned again&s;t future &s;ins; &s;hall I forbeare &s;ome company, becau&s;e that company leads me into tentation? Why, that very tentation wil lead me to preferment; To for&s;ake the truth formerly profe&s;&s;ed, becau&s;e the times are changed, and wi&s;er men then I change with them; To envy and hate another, another State, another Church, another man, be|cau&s;e they &s;tand out in defence of the truth, (for, if they would change, I might have the better colour, the better excu&s;e of changing too) al the&s;e are &s;hrewd and &s;lippery approa|ches towards the &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, and therefore the Schoolemen have called all the&s;e &s;ix, (not without ju&s;t rea&s;on, and good u&s;e) by that heavy name.</P>
<P>And &s;ome of the Fathers have extended it farther, then to the&s;e &s;ix. S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> in parti|cular, &s;ayes, <HI>Nolle obedire,</HI> To re&s;i&s;t lawfull Authority; And another, <HI>Simulata poenitentia,</HI> To delude God with relap&s;es, &amp; counterfait repentances; and another al&s;o, <HI>Omne &s;chi&s;ma,</HI> All &s;chi&s;maticall renting of the peace of the Church, All the&s;e they call in that &s;en&s;e, <HI>Sins again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> Now, all &s;ins again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, are not irremi&s;&s;ible. <HI>Ste|phen</HI> told his per&s;ecutors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.51.60.</NOTE> <HI>They re&s;i&s;ted the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> and yet he prayed for them. But be|cau&s;e the&s;e &s;ins may, and ordinarily doe come to that &s;in, &s;top betimes. <HI>David</HI> was far from the murder of <HI>Vriah,</HI> when he did but looke upon his Wife, as &s;he was bathing. A man is far from defying the holy Gho&s;t, when he does but neglect him; and yet <HI>David</HI> did come, and he will come to the bottome quickly. It may make &s;ome impre&s;&s;ion in you, to tell, and to apply a &s;hort &s;tory. In a great Schi&s;me at Rome, <HI>Ladi&s;laus</HI> tooke that occa&s;ion to debauch and corrupt &s;ome of the Nobility; It was di&s;cerned; and then, to tho&s;e &s;even Governors, whom they had before, whom they called <HI>Sapientes,</HI> Wi&s;e men, they added &s;even more, and called them <HI>Bonos,</HI> Good men, hone&s;t men, and relied, and confided in them. Goodne&s;&s;e is the Attribute of the Holy Gho&s;t; If you have Greatne&s;s, you may &s;eeme to have &s;ome of the Father, for Power is his: If you have Wi&s;dome, you may &s;eeme to have &s;ome of the Son, for that is his: If you have Goodne&s;&s;e, you have the Holy Gho&s;t, who &s;hall lead you into all truth. And Goodne&s;&s;e is, To be good and ea&s;ie in receiving his impre&s;&s;ions, and good and con&s;tant in retaining them, and good and dif|fu&s;ive in deriving them upon others: To embrace the Go&s;pel, to hold fa&s;t the Go&s;pel, to propagate the Go&s;pel, this is the goodne&s;&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t. And to re&s;i&s;t the en|trance of the Go&s;pel, to abandon it after we have profe&s;&s;ed it, to for&s;ake them, whom we &s;hould a&s;&s;i&s;t and &s;uccour in the maintenance of it, This is to depart from the goodne&s;&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t: and by the&s;e &s;ins again&s;t him, to come too neare the &s;in, the irremi&s;&s;i|ble &s;in, in which the calamities of this world &s;hall enwrap us, and deliver us over to the everla&s;ting condemnation of the next. This is as much as the&s;e words do ju&s;tly occa&s;ion us to &s;ay of that &s;in; and into a more curious &s;earch thereof, it is not holy &s;obriety to pierce.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="36" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="351" REF="193">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXVI.</HI> Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 16.8, 9, 10, 11.</HI></BIBL>
<L>And when he is come, he will reprove the world of &s;in, and of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and of judge|ment.</L>
<L>Of &s;in, becau&s;e ye belceve not on me.</L>
<L>Of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, becau&s;e I goe to my Father, and ye &s;ee me no more.</L>
<L>Of judgement, becau&s;e the Prince of this world is judged.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_OUr <HI>Panis quotidianus,</HI> Our daily bread, is that <HI>Iuge &s;acrificium,</HI> That daily &s;a|crifice of meditating upon God; Our <HI>Panis hodiernus,</HI> This dayes bread, is to meditate upon the holy Gho&s;t. To day if ye will heare his voice, to day ye are with him in Paradi&s;e; For, where&s;oever the holy Gho&s;t is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 23.43.</NOTE> he creates a Paradi&s;e. The day is not pa&s;t yet; As our Saviour &s;aid to <HI>Peter, Hodie, in nocte hac,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 14.10.</NOTE> This day, even in this night thou &s;halt deny me, &s;o, <HI>Hodie in nocte hac,</HI> Even now, though evening, the day-&s;pring from on high vi&s;its you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.8.</NOTE> God carries back the &s;hadow of your Sun-dyall, as to <HI>Hezechias;</HI> And now God brings you to the beginning of this day, if now you take knowledge, that he is come, who, when he comes, <HI>Reproves the world of &s;in, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;olemnity of the day requires,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and the method of the words offers for our fir&s;t con&s;ideration, the Per&s;on; who is not named in our text, but de&s;igned by a mo&s;t em|phaticall denotation, <HI>Ille, He,</HI> He who is all, and doth all. But the word hath relation to a name, proper to the holy Gho&s;t: for, in the ver&s;e immediatly preceding, our Saviour tels his di&s;ciples, <HI>That he will &s;end them the Comforter.</HI> So, forbearing all other my&s;teri|ous con&s;iderations of the holy Gho&s;t, we receive him in that notion, and function in which Chri&s;t &s;ends him, <HI>The Comforter.</HI> And therefore, in this capacity, as <HI>The Com|forter,</HI> we mu&s;t con&s;ider his action, <HI>Arguet, He &s;hall reprove;</HI> Reprove, and yet Comfort; nay, therefore comfort, becau&s;e reprove: And then the &s;ubject of his action, <HI>Mundum, The world,</HI> the whole world; no part left unreproved, yet no part left without comfort: And after that, what he reproves the world of; That multiplies; <HI>Of &s;in, of righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, of judgement.</HI> Can there be comfort in reproofe for &s;in? Or can there lie a re|proofe upon righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or upon judgement? Very ju&s;tly; Though the evidence &s;eem at fir&s;t, as &s;trange as the crime; for, though that be good evidence again&s;t the &s;in of the world, That they beleeve not in Chri&s;t, <HI>(Of &s;in, becau&s;e ye beleeve not on me)</HI> yet to be <HI>Reproved of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, becau&s;e Chri&s;t goes to his Father, and they &s;ee him no more,</HI> And to be <HI>Reproved of judgement, becau&s;e the Prince of this world is judged,</HI> this &s;eemes &s;trange, and yet this mu&s;t be done, and done to our comfort; For, this mu&s;t be done, <HI>Cum vene|rit,</HI> Then when the holy Gho&s;t, and he in that function, as the Comforter, <HI>is come,</HI> is pre&s;ent, is working.</P>
<P>Beloved, Reproofes upon others without charity, rather to defame them, then amend them, Reproofes upon thy &s;elfe, without &s;hewing mercy to thine own &s;oule, diffidences, and jealou&s;ies, and &s;u&s;pitions of God, either that he hated thee before thy &s;in, or hates thee irremediably, irreconciliably, irrecoverably, irreparably for thy &s;in, The&s;e are Re|proofes, but they are <HI>Ab&s;ente &s;piritu,</HI> In the ab&s;ence of the holy Gho&s;t, before he comes, or when he is gone; <HI>When he comes,</HI> and &s;tayes, <HI>He &s;hall reprove,</HI> and <HI>reprove all the world,</HI> and all the world of tho&s;e errours, <HI>&s;in, and righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and judgement,</HI> and tho&s;e errours upon tho&s;e evidences, <HI>Of &s;in, becau&s;e ye beleeve not on me, &amp;c.</HI> But, in all this proceeding he &s;hall never deve&s;t the nature of a Comforter; In that capacity he is &s;ent, in that he comes, and works. I doubt I &s;hall &s;ee an end of my houre, and your patience,
<PB N="352" REF="194">before I &s;hall have pa&s;&s;ed tho&s;e branches, which appertaine mo&s;t properly to the cele|bration of this day, the Per&s;on, the Comforter, his action, Reproofe, the &s;ubject thereof, the world, and the Time, <HI>Cum venerit,</HI> When he comes. The inditement, of what the accu&s;ation is, and the evidence, how it is proved, may exerci&s;e your devotion at other times.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.2.</NOTE> This day, the holy Gho&s;t is &s;aid to have come &s;uddenly, and therefore in that pace we proceed, and make ha&s;te to the con&s;ideration of the Per&s;on, <HI>Ille, When he,</HI> He the holy Gho&s;t, the Comforter, <HI>is come.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Ille,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Spiritus &s;anctus.</HI> Gen. 3.15.</NOTE> <HI>Ille</HI> alone, <HI>He,</HI> is an emphaticall denotation; for to this purpo&s;e <HI>Ille</HI> and <HI>Ip&s;e</HI> is all one; And then, you know the Empha&s;is of that <HI>Ip&s;e; Ip&s;e conteret, He</HI> or <HI>It &s;hall brui&s;e the Serpents head,</HI> denotes the Me&s;&s;ias, though there be no Me&s;&s;ias named: This <HI>Ip&s;e</HI> is &s;o emphaticall a denotation, as that the Church of Rome, and the Church of God &s;trives for it; for they will needs reade it <HI>Ip&s;a,</HI> and &s;o refer our &s;alvation, in the brui&s;ing of the Serpents head, to the Virgin <HI>Mary;</HI> we refer it according to the truth of the doctrine, and of the letter, to Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, and therefore reade it <HI>Ip&s;e, He.</HI> If there were no more but that in <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 100.3. Rom. 8.16.</NOTE> <HI>It is He that hath made us,</HI> every man would conclude, that that He is God. And if S. <HI>Paul</HI> had &s;aid <HI>Ip&s;e</HI> alone, and not <HI>Ip&s;e &s;piritus,</HI> That <HI>He,</HI> and not <HI>He the Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with our &s;pirit,</HI> every &s;pirit would have under&s;tood this to be the holy Spirit, the holy Gho&s;t. If in our text there had been no more, but &s;uch a deno|tation of a per&s;on that &s;hould &s;peak to the hearts of all the world, that that <HI>Ille,</HI> that <HI>He</HI> would proceed thus, we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily have &s;een an Almighty power in that denotati|on; But becau&s;e that denotation might have carried terrour in it, being taken alone, therefore we are not left to that, but have a relation to a former name, and &s;pecification of the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>The Comforter.</HI></P>
<P>For the e&s;tabli&s;hment of Chri&s;ts divinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.6.</NOTE> Chri&s;t is called <HI>The mighty God;</HI> for his relation to us, he hath divers names. As we were all <HI>In ma&s;&s;a damnata,</HI> Forfeited, lo&s;t, he is <HI>Redemptor,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 59.20.</NOTE> A Redeemer, for that that is pa&s;t, <HI>The Redeemer &s;hall come to Sion,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 19.2.</NOTE> and &s;o <HI>Iob</HI> &s;aw <HI>His Redeemer,</HI> one that &s;hould redeem him from tho&s;e mi&s;e|ries that oppre&s;&s;ed him. As Chri&s;t was plea&s;ed to provide for the future, &s;o he is, <HI>Salva|tor,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.21.</NOTE> A Saviour, Therefore the Angel gave him that name <HI>Ie&s;us, For he &s;hall &s;ave his people from their &s;ins.</HI> So, becau&s;e to this purpo&s;e Chri&s;t con&s;i&s;ts of two natures, God and man, he is called our Mediator,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI> Becau&s;e he pre&s;ents tho&s;e merits which are his, as ours, and in our behalfe, he is called an Advocate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 2.1. Rom. 2.6. Acts 10.42. 1 Cor. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>If any man &s;in, we have an Advocate with the Father, Ie&s;us Chri&s;t the righte|ous.</HI> And becau&s;e every man is to expect according to his actions, he is called the Judge, <HI>We te&s;tifie that it is he, that is ordained of God to bee the Iudge of quick and dead.</HI> Now, for Chri&s;ts fir&s;t name, which is the roote of all, which is, <HI>The mighty God, No man can &s;ay that Ie&s;us is the Lord, but by the holy Gho&s;t;</HI> And there is our fir&s;t comfort, in knowing that Chri&s;t is God; for, he were an Intruder for that which is pa&s;t, no Redeemer, he were a weak Saviour for the future, an in&s;ufficient Mediator, a &s;ilenced Advocate, and a Judge that might be mi&s;informed, if he were not God. And though he were God, he might be all the&s;e to my di&s;comfort, if there were not a holy Gho&s;t to make all the&s;e offices comfortable unto me. To be a Redeemer and not a Saviour, is but to pay my debts, and leave me nothing to live on. To be a Mediator, a per&s;on capable by his com|po&s;ition of two natures, to intercede between God and man, and not to be my Advocate, is but to be a good Coun&s;ellor, but not of coun&s;ell with me; To be a Judge of quick and dead, and to proceed out of outward evidence, and not out of his bo&s;ome mercy, is but an acceleration of my conviction; I were better lie in Pri&s;on &s;till, then appeare at that A&s;&s;ize; better lye in the du&s;t of the grave for ever, then come to that judgement. But, as there is <HI>Mens in anima,</HI> There is a minde in the &s;oule, and every man hath a &s;oule, but every man hath not a minde, that is, a Con&s;ideration, an Actuation, an Ap|plication of the faculties of the &s;oule to particulars; &s;o there is <HI>Spiritus in Spiritu,</HI> a Holy Gho&s;t in all the holy offices of Chri&s;t, which offices, being, in a great part, directed upon the whole world, are made comfortable to me, by being, by this holy Spirit, turned upon me, and appropriated to me; for &s;o, even that name of Chri&s;t, which might mo&s;t make me afraid,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word">.</NOTE> The name of Judge, becomes a comfort to me. To this purpo&s;e does S. <HI>Bae&s;il</HI> call the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Verbum Dei, quia interpres filii:</HI> The Son of God is the word of God, becau&s;e he manife&s;ts the Father, and the Holy Gho&s;t is the word of God, becau&s;e he applies the Son.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 62.11.</NOTE> Chri&s;t comes with that loud Proclamation, <HI>Ecce auditum fecit,</HI> Behold
<PB N="353" REF="194">the Lord hath proclaimed it, to the end of the world, <HI>Ecce Salvator,</HI> and <HI>Ecce Merces,</HI> Behold his Salvation, Behold thy Reward, (This is his publication in the manife&s;t Ordi|nances of the Church) And then the Holy Gho&s;t whi&s;pers to thy &s;oule, as thou &s;tande&s;t in the Congregation, in that voyce that he promi&s;es, <HI>Sibilabo populum meum,</HI> I will hi&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 10.8.</NOTE> I will whi&s;per to my people by &s;oft and inward in&s;pirations. Chri&s;t came to tell us all, <HI>That to as many as received him, he gave power to become the Sons of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 1.12.</NOTE> The Holy Gho&s;t comes to tell thee, that thou art one of them. The Holy Gho&s;t is therefore <HI>Legatus,</HI> and <HI>Legatum Chri&s;ti,</HI> He is Chri&s;ts Amba&s;&s;adour &s;ent unto us, and he is his Legacy bequea|thed unto us by his Will; his Will made of force by his death, and proved by his A&s;cen&s;ion.</P>
<P>Now, when tho&s;e dayes were come, that the <HI>Bridegroome was to bee taken from them,</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us to be removed from their per&s;onall &s;ight, and conver&s;ation, and therefore even the <HI>children of the mariage Chamber were to mourne, and fa&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.15. Cant.</NOTE> when that Church that mourned, and lamented his ab&s;ence, when &s;he was but his <HI>Spou&s;e,</HI> mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily mourn now in a more vehement manner, when &s;he was to be, (in &s;ome &s;en&s;e) his <HI>Widow;</HI> when that <HI>Shepheard</HI> was not onely to be <HI>&s;mitten,</HI> and &s;o <HI>the flock di&s;per&s;ed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.21.</NOTE> (this was done in his pa&s;&s;ion) but he was to be taken away, in his A&s;cen&s;ion; what a powerfull Comforter had that need to be, that &s;hould be able to recompence the ab&s;ence of Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, and to infu&s;e comfort into his Orphans, the children of his mariage Chamber, into his Widow, the de&s;olate, and di&s;con&s;olate Church, into his flock, his amazed, his di&s;tre&s;&s;ed, and, (as we may, properly enough, &s;ay in this ca&s;e) his beheaded Apo&s;tles and Di&s;ci|ples? <HI>Quantus ergo Deus, qui dat Deum?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug.</NOTE> Le&s;&s;e then God could not mini&s;ter this com|fort; How great a God is he, that &s;ends a God to comfort us? and how powerfull a Comforter hee, who is not onely &s;ent by God, but is God? Therefore does the Apo|&s;tle inlarge, and dilate, and delight his &s;oule upon this comfort, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>even the Father of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comfor|teth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any affliction, by that comfort, wherewith our &s;elves are comforted of God.</HI> The Apo&s;tle was loath to de|part from the word, <HI>Comfort;</HI> And therefore, as <HI>God, becau&s;e he could &s;weare by no greater,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.13.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ware by him&s;elfe,</HI> So, becau&s;e there is no &s;tronger adjuration, then the comfort it &s;elfe, to move you to accept this comfort, as the Apo&s;tle did, &s;o we intreat you by that, <HI>If there be any con&s;olation in Chri&s;t, if any comfort of love, if any fellow &s;hip of the Spirit, if any bowels,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.1.</NOTE> <HI>and mercie,</HI> Lay hold upon this true comfort, the comming of the Holy Gho&s;t, and &s;ay to all the deceitfull comforts of this world, not onely <HI>Van&egrave; con&s;olati e&s;t is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 10.2. Job 16.2.</NOTE> Your comforts are frivolous, but <HI>Onero&s;i con&s;olatores,</HI> Your comforts are burden&s;ome; there is not onely a di&s;appointing of hopes, but an aggravating of &s;in, in entertaining the comforts of this world. As <HI>Barnabas,</HI> that is, <HI>Filius con&s;olationis, The &s;on of con&s;olation,</HI> that he might bee capable of this comfort, deve&s;ted him&s;elfe of all worldly po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, &s;o, as &s;uch &s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.36.</NOTE> <HI>Suck and be &s;atisfied, at the brea&s;ts of this con&s;olation, that you may milke out,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 66.11. Ver. 13.</NOTE> <HI>and be deligh|ted with the abundance of his glory; And as one whom his mother comforteth, &s;o will I comfort you, and you &s;hall be comforted in Ieru&s;alem.</HI> Heaven is Glory, and heaven is Joy; we cannot tell which mo&s;t; we cannot &s;eparate them; and this comfort is joy in the Holy Gho&s;t. This makes all <HI>Iobs</HI> &s;tates alike; as rich in the fir&s;t Chapter of his Booke, where all is &s;uddenly lo&s;t, as in the la&s;t, where all is abundantly re&s;tored. This Con&s;o|lation from the Holy Gho&s;t makes my mid-night noone, mine Executionera Phy&s;itian, a &s;take and pile of Fagots, a Bone-fire of triumph; this con&s;olation makes a Satyr, and Slander, and Libell again&s;t me, a Panegyrique, and an Elogy in my prai&s;e; It makes a <HI>Tolle</HI> an <HI>Ave,</HI> a <HI>Va</HI> an <HI>Euge,</HI> a <HI>Crucifige</HI> an <HI>Ho&s;anna;</HI> It makes my death-bed, a mariage|bed, And my Pa&s;&s;ing-Bell, an Epithalamion. In this notion therefore we receive this Per&s;on, and in this notion we con&s;ider his proceeding, <HI>Ille, He,</HI> He the Comforter, <HI>&s;hall reprove.</HI></P>
<P>This word, that is here tran&s;lated <HI>To reprove, Arguere,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Arguet.</NOTE> hath a double u&s;e and &s;ignifi|cation in the Scriptures. Fir&s;t to reprehend, to rebuke, to correct, with Authority, with Severity; So <HI>David, Ne in furore arguas me, O Lord rebuke me not in thine dnger:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 6.1.</NOTE> And &s;e|condly, to convince, to prove, to make a thing evident, by undeniable inferences, and nece&s;&s;ary con&s;equences; So, in the in&s;tructions of Gods Mini&s;ters, the fir&s;t is <HI>To reprove,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> and then <HI>To rebuke;</HI> So that reproving is an act of a milder &s;en&s;e, then rebuking is.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"></NOTE> S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> interprets the&s;e words twice in his Works; and in the fir&s;t place he followes the
<PB N="354" REF="195">fir&s;t &s;ignification of the word, That the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hould proceed, when he came, by power, by &s;everity again&s;t the world. But though that &s;en&s;e will &s;tand well with the fir&s;t act of this Reproofe, (That he &s;hall <HI>Reprove,</HI> that is, reprehend <HI>the world of &s;in</HI>) yet it will not &s;eeme &s;o properly &s;aid, To reprehend the world of Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or of Judge|ment; for how is Righteon&s;ne&s;&s;e, and Judgement the &s;ubject of reprehen&s;ion? There|fore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elfe in the other place, where he handles the&s;e words, imbraces the &s;econd &s;en&s;e, <HI>Hoc e&s;t arguere mundum, o&s;tendere vera e&s;&s;e, quae non credidit;</HI> This is to reprove the world, to convince the world of her errours, and mi&s;takings; And &s;o (&s;carce any excepted) doe all the Ancient Expo&s;itors take it, according to that, <HI>All things are reproved of the light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.13.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;o made manife&s;t;</HI> The light does not reprehend them, not rebuke them, not chide, not upbraid them; but to declare them, to manife&s;t them, to make the world &s;ee clearely what they are, this is to reprove.</P>
<P>That reproving then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Elenchus.</NOTE> which is warrantable by the Holy Gho&s;t, is not a &s;harp increpa|tion, a bitter proceeding, proceeding onely out of power, and authority, but by inlight|ning, and informing, and convincing the under&s;tanding. The &s;ignification of this word, which the Holy Gho&s;t u&s;es here for reproofe, <HI>Elenchos,</HI> is be&s;t deduced, and manife&s;ted to us, by the Philo&s;opher who had &s;o much u&s;e of the word, who expre&s;&s;es it thus, <HI>Elen|chus e&s;t Syllogi&s;mus contra contraria opinantem;</HI> A reproofe, is a proofe, a proofe by way of argument, again&s;t another man, who holds a contrary opinion. All the pieces mu&s;t be laid together: For, fir&s;t it mu&s;t be again&s;t an opinion, and then an opinion contrary to truth, and then &s;uch an opinion held, in&s;i&s;ted upon, maintained, and after all this, the reproofe mu&s;t lie in argument, not in force, not in violence.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t it mu&s;t come &s;o farre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opinio.</NOTE> as to be an opinion; which is a middle &s;tation, betweene ignorance, and knowledge; for knowledge excludes all doubting, all he&s;itation; opinion does not &s;o; but opinion excludes indifferency, and equanimity; I am rather inclined to one &s;ide then another,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lactant. Bernard.</NOTE> when I am of either opinion. <HI>Id opinatur qui&s;que quod ne&s;cit:</HI> A man may have an opinion that a thing is &s;o, and yet not know it. S. <HI>Bernard</HI> propo&s;es three wayes for our apprehending Divine things; fir&s;t, under&s;tanding, which relies upon rea&s;on; faith, which relies upon &s;upreme Authority; and opinion, which relies upon probability, and veri&s;imilitude. Now there may ari&s;e in &s;ome man, &s;ome mi&s;takings, &s;ome mi&s;-apprehen&s;ions of the &s;en&s;e of a place of Scripture, there may ari&s;e &s;ome &s;cruple in a ca&s;e of con&s;cience, there may ari&s;e &s;ome inclinations to &s;ome per&s;on, of who&s;e in|tegrity and ability I have otherwi&s;e had experience, there may ari&s;e &s;ome Paradoxicall imaginations in my &s;elfe, and yet the&s;e never attaine to the &s;etledne&s;&s;e of an opinion, but they float in the fancy, and are but waking dreames; and &s;uch imaginations, and fancies, and dreames, receive too much honour in the things, and too much favour in the per|&s;ons, if they be reproved, or que&s;tioned, or condemned, or di&s;puted again&s;t. For, often times, even a condemnation nouri&s;hes the pride of the author of an opinion; and be&s;ides, begets a dangerous compa&s;&s;ion, in &s;pectators and hearers; and then, from pitying his pre&s;&s;ures and &s;ufferings, who is condemned, men come out of that pity, to excu&s;e his opinions; and from excu&s;ing them, to incline towards them; And &s;o that which was but &s;traw at fir&s;t, by being thus blown by vehement di&s;putation, &s;ets fire upon timber, and drawes men of more learning and authority to &s;ide, and mingle them&s;elves in the&s;e impertinencies. Every fancy &s;hould not be &s;o much as reproved, di&s;puted again&s;t, or cal|led in que&s;tion.</P>
<P>As it mu&s;t not be only a fancy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Contra.</NOTE> an imagination, but an opinion, (in which, though there be not a <HI>Cert&ograve;,</HI> yet there is a <HI>Poti&ugrave;s,</HI> Though I be not &s;ure, yet I doe rather thinke it) &s;o we con&s;ider <HI>Contraria opinantem,</HI> That it mu&s;t be an opinion contrary to &s;omething that we are &s;ure of; that is, to &s;ome received article, or to &s;ome evident religious duty; con|trary to religion, as religion is matter of faith, or as religion is matter of obedience, to lawfull Authority. Though fancies grow to be opinions, that men come to thinke they have rea&s;ons for their opinions, and to know they have other men on their &s;ide, in tho&s;e opinions; yet, as long as the&s;e are but opinions of a little too much, or a little too little, in matter of Ceremony and Circum&s;tance, as long as they are but deflectings, and deviati|ons upon collaterall matters, no foundation &s;haked, no corner-&s;tone di&s;placed, as long as they are but preteritions, not contradictions, but omi&s;&s;ions, not u&s;urpations, they are not worthy of a reproofe, of a conviction, and there may be more danger then profit in bringing them into an over-vehement agitation. Tho&s;e men who&s;e end is &s;chi&s;me, and
<PB N="355" REF="195">&s;edition, and di&s;traction, are brought &s;o neare their owne ends, and the accompli&s;h|ment of their owne de&s;ires, if they can draw other men together by the eares: As &s;ome have all they de&s;ire, if they can make other men drunke, &s;o have the&s;e if they can make &s;ober men wrangle.</P>
<P>They mu&s;t be Opinions, not fancies, and they mu&s;t have a contrariety,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tenenda.</NOTE> an oppo&s;ition to certaine truths, and then they mu&s;t be held, per&s;i&s;ted in, before it be fit to give a re|proofe, either by calling in que&s;tion, or by confutation. As &s;ome men are &s;aid to have told a lye &s;o often, as that at la&s;t, they beleeve it them&s;elves, &s;o a man admits &s;ometimes an opinion to lodge &s;o long, as that <HI>Tran&s;it in intellectum,</HI> It fa&s;tens upon his under&s;tanding,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> and that that he did but think before, now he &s;eems to him&s;elf to know it, and he beleeves it. And then, <HI>Fides &s;i habet hae&s;itationem, infirma e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> As that faith that admits a &s;cruple is weake, and &s;o, without &s;cruple he comes peremptorily to beleeve it. But &s;o, <HI>Opinio &s;i ha|bet a&s;&s;ertionem, temeraria e&s;t,</HI> When that which is but an opinion comes to be publi&s;hed and avowed for a certaine, and a nece&s;&s;ary truth, then it becomes dangerous; And that growes apace; for &s;carcely does any man beleeve an opinion to be true, but he hath a cer|taine appetite and itch to infu&s;e it into others too.</P>
<P>Now when the&s;e pieces meet, when the&s;e atomes make up a body, a body of Error,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Syllogi&s;mus.</NOTE> that it come to an Opinion, a halfe-a&s;&s;urance, and that in &s;ome thing contrary to founda|tions, and that it be held &s;tiffely, publiquely per&s;i&s;ted in, then enters this reproofe; but yet even then reproofe is but <HI>Syllogi&s;mus,</HI> it is but an argument, it is but convincing, it is not de&s;troying; it is not an Inqui&s;ition, a pri&s;on, a &s;word, an axe, a halter, a fire; It is a &s;yl|logi&s;me, not a &s;yllogi&s;me, who&s;e <HI>major</HI> is this, Others, your Ance&s;tors beleeved it, and the <HI>minor</HI> this, We that are your Superiours beleeve it, <HI>Ergo</HI> you mu&s;t, or el&s;e be bani&s;ht or burnt. With &s;uch &s;yllogi&s;mes the Arians abounded, where they prevailed in the Pri|mitive Church, and this is the Logique of the Inqui&s;ition of Rome. But our &s;yllogi&s;me mu&s;t be a &s;yllogi&s;me within our Authors definition, when out of &s;ome things which are agreed on all &s;ides, other things that are controverted, are made evident and manife&s;t. Hell is pre&s;ented to us by fire, but fire without light: Heaven by light, and light with|out any ill effect of fire in it. Where there is nothing but an Accu&s;er, (perchance not that) and fire, citation and excommunication, here is Satan, (who is an Accu&s;er, but an invi|&s;ible one) and here is Hell it &s;elfe, a devili&s;h and a darke proceeding. But when they, to whom this reproofe belongs, take Chri&s;ts way, not to <HI>tread out &s;moaking flaxe,</HI> that a poore &s;oule, mi&s;-led by ignorant zeale, and &s;o ea&s;ily combu&s;tible and apt to take fire, be not troden downe with too much power, and pa&s;&s;ion, when they doe not <HI>breake a brui|&s;ed reed,</HI> that is, not terrifie a di&s;tracted con&s;cience, which perchance a long ill conver&s;ati|on with &s;chi&s;maticall company, and a &s;pirituall melancholy, and over-tender &s;en&s;e of &s;in hath ca&s;t too low before, then does this reproofe worke aright, when it is brought in with light before fire, with convenient in&s;truction, and not ha&s;ty condemnation.</P>
<P>We may well call this <HI>Viam Chri&s;ti,</HI> and <HI>Viam Spiritus &s;ancti,</HI> Chri&s;ts way, and the Holy Gho&s;ts way, for he had need be a very good Chri&s;tian, and a very &s;anctified man, that can walke in that way; <HI>Perfectorum e&s;t, nihil in peccatore odi&s;&s;e praeter peccata:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> He that hates nothing in an Heretique, or in a Schi&s;matique, but the Schi&s;me, or the Here&s;ie, He that &s;ets bounds to that &s;ea, and hath &s;aid to his affections, and humane pa&s;&s;ions, Stay there, go no farther, hath got far in the &s;teps of Chri&s;tian perfection. The &s;lipperine&s;&s;e, the precipitation is &s;o great on the other &s;ide, that commonly we begin to hate the per|&s;on fir&s;t, and then grow glad, when he growes guilty of any thing worthy our hate; and we make God him&s;elfe the Devils in&s;trument, when we pretend zeale to his &s;ervice, in the&s;e reproofes and corrections, and &s;erve onely our owne impotent pa&s;&s;ion, and inor|dinate ambition. For therein <HI>Plerumque cum tibi videris odi&s;&s;e inimicum, fratrem odi&s;ti,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; ne&s;cis;</HI> Thou thinke&s;t or pretend<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">t to hate an enemy, and hate&s;t thine owne brother, and knowe&s;t it not; Thou knowe&s;t not, con&s;idere&s;t not, that he, by good u&s;age and in|&s;truction, might have beene made thy Brother, a fellow-member in the Vi&s;ible Church, by outward conformity, and in the Invi&s;ible too, by inward.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE> <HI>Etiam fictilia va&s;a con|fringere, Domino &s;oli conce&s;&s;um,</HI> If thou be a ve&s;&s;ell of gold or &s;ilver, and that other of clay, thou of a cleere, and rectified, he of a darke and perverted under&s;tanding, yet even ve&s;&s;els of clay are onely in the power of that Potters hand that made them, or bought them, to breake, and no bodies el&s;e: Still, as long as it is po&s;&s;ible, proceed we with the moderation of that ble&s;&s;ed Father, <HI>Sic peccata Haereticorum compe&s;ce, ut &s;int quos poeniteat pecca&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE>
<PB N="356" REF="196">Take not away the &s;ubject of the error, (the perver&s;ene&s;&s;e of the man) &s;o, as that thou take away the &s;ubject of repentance, the man him&s;elfe; If thou require fruit, leave a tree; If thou would&s;t have him repent, take not away his life, &s;ayes he. We &s;ee the lea|&s;urely pace that Gods Ju&s;tice walks in:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan 4.24.</NOTE> When <HI>Daniel</HI> had told <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> his dan|ger, yea <HI>the Decree of God upon him,</HI> (as hee cals it) yet he told him a way how to re|voke it; <HI>by workes of mercy to the poore, and breaking off his &s;innes;</HI> And after all this, hee had a yeares &s;pace to con&s;ider him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan 26.</NOTE> before the judgement was executed upon him.</P>
<P>But now beloved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Voluntas perver&s;a.</NOTE> all that we have &s;aid, or can be &s;aid to this purpo&s;e, conduces but to this, That though this reproof, which the Holy Gho&s;t leads us to, be rather in convincing the under&s;tanding by argument, and other per&s;wa&s;ions then by extending our power to the de&s;truction of the per&s;on, yet this hath a modification, how it mu&s;t be, and a determi|nation where it mu&s;t end, for, there are ca&s;es in which we may, we mu&s;t go farther. For, for the under&s;tanding, we know how to worke upon that; we know what arguments have prevayled upon us, with what arguments we have prevailed upon others, and tho&s;e we can u&s;e: &s;o far, <HI>Vt nihil habeant contra, &amp; &s;i non a&s;&s;entiantur,</HI> That though they will not be of our minde, yet they &s;hall have nothing to &s;ay again&s;t it. So far we can go upon that faculty, the under&s;tanding. But the will of man is &s;o irregular, &s;o unlimited a thing, as that no man hath a bridle upon anothers will, no man can undertake nor promi&s;e for that; no Creature hath that faculty but man, yet no man under&s;tands that faculty. It hath beene the exerci&s;e of a thou&s;and wits, it hath beene the &s;ubject, yea the knot and perplexity of a thou&s;and di&s;putations, to find out, what it is that determines, that concludes the will of man &s;o, as that it a&s;&s;ents thereunto. For, if that were ab&s;olutely true which &s;ome have &s;aid, (and yet perchance that is as far as any have gone) that <HI>Vltimus actus intellectus e&s;t voluntas,</HI> That the la&s;t act of the Under&s;tanding is the Will, then all our labour were &s;till to worke upon the Under&s;tanding, and when that were rectified, the Will mu&s;t follow. But it is not &s;o; As we feele in our &s;elves that we doe many &s;ins, which our under&s;tan|ding, and the &s;oule of our under&s;tanding, our con&s;cience, tels us we &s;hould not doe, &s;o we &s;ee many others per&s;i&s;t in errors, after manife&s;t convincing, after all reproofe which can be directed upon the under&s;tanding.</P>
<P>When therefore tho&s;e errors which are to be reproved, are in that faculty, which is not &s;ubject to this reproofe by argument, in a perverted will, becau&s;e this wilfull &s;tub|bornne&s;&s;e is alwaies accompanied with pride, with &s;ingularity, with faction, with &s;chi&s;me, with &s;edition, we mu&s;t remember the way which the Holy Gho&s;t hath directed us in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 10.16.</NOTE> <HI>If the iron be blunt, we mu&s;t either put to more &s;trength, or whet the edge.</HI> Now, when the fault is in the perver&s;ene&s;&s;e of the will, we can put to no more &s;trength, no argument &s;erves to overcome that; And therefore the holy Gho&s;t hath admitted another way, <HI>To whet the iron;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.12.</NOTE> And in that way does the Apo&s;tle &s;ay, <HI>Vtinam ab&s;cindantur, I would they were even cut off which trouble you.</HI> There is an incorrigibility, in which, when the reproofe cannot lead the will, it mu&s;t draw blood; which is, where pretences of Religion are made, and Trea&s;ons, and Rebellions, and Inva&s;ions, and Ma&s;&s;acres of people, and A&s;&s;a|&s;inates of Princes practi&s;ed. And this is a reproofe (which, as we &s;hall &s;ee of the re&s;t in the following branches is) from the Holy Gho&s;t, in his function in this text, as he is a Com|forter; This therefore is our comfort, That our Church was never negligent in repro|ving the Adver&s;ary, but hath from time to time &s;trenuou&s;ly and confidently maintained her truths again&s;t all oppo&s;itions, to the &s;atisfying of any under&s;tanding, though not to the reducing of &s;ome perver&s;e wils. So <HI>Gregor: de Valentia</HI> profe&s;&s;es of our arguments, I confe&s;&s;e the&s;e rea&s;ons would conclude my under&s;tanding, <HI>Ni&s;i didici&s;&s;em captivare in|tellectum meum ad intellectum Eccle&s;iae,</HI> But that I have learnt to captivate my under&s;tan|ding to the under&s;tanding of the Church, and, &s;ay what they will, to beleeve as the Church of Rome beleeves; which is <HI>Maldonats</HI> profe&s;&s;ion too, upon divers of <HI>Calvins</HI> arguments, This argument would prevaile upon me, but that he was an Heretique that found it. So that here is our comfort, we have gone &s;o far in this way of Reproofe, <HI>Vt nihil habeant contra, et&s;i nobi&s;cum non &s;entiant.</HI> This is our comfort, that as &s;ome of the greate&s;t Divines in forraine parts, &s;o al&s;o, in our Church at home, &s;ome of the greate&s;t Prelates, who have beene traduced to favour Rome, have written the mo&s;t &s;olidly and effectually again&s;t the here&s;ies of Rome of any other. But it mu&s;t be a comfort upon them that are reproved. And this is their comfort, that the State never drew drop of
<PB N="357" REF="196">blood for Religion; But then, this is our comfort &s;till, that where their perver&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;hall endanger either Church or State, both the State and Church may, by the holy Gho&s;ts direction, and will return to tho&s;e means which God allows them for their pre&s;ervation, that is, <HI>To whet the edge of the Iron,</HI> in execution of the laws. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e from our &s;econd con&s;ideration, The Action, Reproofe, to the &s;ubject of Reproofe, The world, <HI>He &s;hall reprove the world.</HI></P>
<P>It is no wonder that this word <HI>Mundus</HI> &s;hould have a larger &s;ignification then other words, for it containes all, embraces, comprehends all: But there is no word in Scrip|ture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mundus.</NOTE> that hath not only not &s;o large, but &s;o diver&s;e a &s;ignification, for it &s;ignifies things contrary to one another. It &s;ignifies commonly, and primarily, the whole frame of the world; and more particularly all mankinde; and oftentimes only wicked men; and &s;ometimes only good men, As <HI>Dilexit mundum, God loved the world,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.16. John 4.42. Rom. 11.15.</NOTE> And <HI>Hic e&s;t ver&egrave; &s;alvator mundi, This is the Chri&s;t, the Saviour of the world;</HI> And <HI>Reconciliatio mundi, The ca&s;ting away of the Iews, is the reconciliation of the world:</HI> The Jews were a part of the world, but not of this world. Now in every &s;en&s;e, the world may well be &s;aid to bee &s;ubject to the reproofe of God, as reproof is a rebuke: for <HI>He rebuked the winde,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 8.14. P&s;al. 106.17. Gen. 3.17. P&s;al. 105.14.</NOTE> <HI>and it was quiet;</HI> And, <HI>He rebuked the red Sea, and it was dryed up;</HI> He rebuked the earth bit|terly in that <HI>Maledicta terra,</HI> for <HI>Adams</HI> puni&s;hment, <HI>Cur&s;ed be the ground for thy &s;ake;</HI> And for the noble&s;t part of earth, man, and the noble&s;t part of men, Kings, <HI>He rebuked even Kings for their &s;akes, and &s;aid, Touch not mine anointed.</HI> But this is not the rebuke of our Text; for ours is a rebuke of comfort, even to them that are rebuked; Whereas the angry rebuke of God carries heavy effects with it. <HI>Increpat, &amp; fugiunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 17.13.</NOTE> <HI>God &s;hall re|buke them, and they &s;hall flie far off;</HI> He &s;hall chide them out of his pre&s;ence, and they &s;hall never return to it. <HI>Increpa&s;ti &s;uperbos, &amp; maledicti i&s;ti: Thou ha&s;t rebuked the proud,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.21.</NOTE> and thy rebuke hath wrought upon them as a <HI>Malediction,</HI> not phy&s;ick, but poy&s;on; As it is in another P&s;alme, <HI>Increpa&s;ti, &amp; periit, Thou ha&s;t rebuked them, and they peri&s;hed.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 9.6.</NOTE> In the&s;e ca&s;es, there is a working of the holy Gho&s;t; and that, as the holy Gho&s;t is a Com|forter; for it is a comfort to them, for who&s;e deliverances God executes the&s;e judge|ments upon others, that they are executed; but we con&s;ider a rebuke, a reproofe that mini&s;ters comfort even to them upon whom it fals; and &s;o in that &s;en&s;e, we &s;hall &s;ee that <HI>this Comforter reproves the world,</HI> in all tho&s;e &s;ignifications of the world which wee named before.</P>
<P>As the world is the whole frame of the world, God hath put into it a reproofe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mundus magnus.</NOTE> a re|buke, le&s;t it &s;hould &s;eem eternall, which is, a &s;en&s;ible decay and age in the whole frame of the world, and every piece thereof. The &s;ea&s;ons of the yeare irregular and di&s;temper|ed; the Sun fainter, and langui&s;hing; men le&s;&s;e in &s;tature, and &s;horter-lived. No addi|tion, but only every yeare, new &s;orts, new &s;pecies of wormes, and flies, and &s;ickne&s;&s;es, which argue more and more putrefaction of which they are engendred. And the An|gels of heaven, which did &s;o familiarly conver&s;e with men in the beginning of the world, though they may not be doubted to perform to us &s;till their mini&s;teriall a&s;&s;i&s;tances, yet they &s;eem &s;o far to have de&s;erted this world, as that they do not appeare to us, as they did to tho&s;e our Fathers. S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> ob&s;erved this in his time, when writing to <HI>Demetri|anus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE> who imputed all tho&s;e calamities which afflicted the world then, to the impiety of the Chri&s;tians who would not joyne with them in the wor&s;hip of their gods, <HI>Cyprian</HI> went no farther for the cau&s;e of the&s;e calamities, but <HI>Ad &s;ene&s;centem mundum,</HI> To the age and impotency of the whole world; And therefore, &s;ayes he, <HI>Imputent &s;enes Chri|&s;tianis, qu&ograve;d min&ugrave;s valeant in &s;enectutem;</HI> Old men were be&s;t accu&s;e Chri&s;tians, that they are more &s;ickly in their age, then they were in their youth; Is the fault in our religion, or in their decay? <HI>Canos in pueris videmus, nec aetas in &s;enectute de&s;init, &s;ed incipit &agrave; &s;ene|ctute;</HI> We &s;ee gray haires in children, and we do not die old, and yet we are borne old. Le&s;t the world (as the world &s;ignifies the whole frame of the world) &s;hould glorifie it &s;elfe, or flatter, and abu&s;e us with an opinion of eternity, we may admit u&s;efully (though we do not conclude peremptorily) this ob&s;ervation to be true, that there is a reproofe, a rebuke born in it, a &s;en&s;ible decay and mortality of the whole world.</P>
<P>But is this a reproofe agreeable to our Text? A reproofe that carries comfort with it?<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Con&s;olatio.</HI> Rom. 8.19.</NOTE> Comfort to the world it &s;elfe, that it is not eternall? Truly it is; As S. <HI>Paul</HI> hath mo&s;t pathetically expre&s;&s;ed it; <HI>The creature</HI> (that is, the world) <HI>is in anearne&s;t expectation, The creature waiteth, The whole creation groaneth, and travelleth in pain.</HI> Therefore the crea|ture
<PB N="358" REF="197">(that is, the world) receives a perfect comfort, in being delivered at la&s;t, and an in|choative comfort, in knowing now, that <HI>it &s;hall be delivered;</HI> From what? <HI>From &s;ubje|ction to vanity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 20. &amp; 21.</NOTE> <HI>from the bondage of corruption;</HI> That whereas the world is now &s;ubject to mutability and corruption, at the Re&s;urrection it &s;hall no longer be &s;o, but in that mea|&s;ure, and in that degree which it is capable of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 21.</NOTE> <HI>It &s;hall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God,</HI> that is, be as free from corruption, or change in that &s;tate, wherein it &s;hall be glorified,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.26. 2 Pet. 3.13.</NOTE> as the Saints &s;hall be in the glory of their &s;tate; for, <HI>The light of the Moon &s;hall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun &s;hall be &s;evenfold; And there &s;hall be new heavens, and new earth;</HI> Which is a &s;tate, that this world could not attaine to, if it were eternally to la&s;t, in that condition, in which it is now, a condition &s;ubject to va|nity, impotency, corruption, and therefore there is a comfort in this reproofe, even to this world, That it is not eternall; This world is the happier for that.</P>
<P>As the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mundus, homines.</HI> Mat. 18.7.</NOTE> in a &s;econd &s;en&s;e, &s;ignifies all the men of the world, (&s;o it is, Wo unto the world, becau&s;e of offences) There is a reproofe born in every man; which reproofe is an uncontrollable &s;en&s;e, and an unre&s;i&s;tible remor&s;e, and chiding of him&s;elfe inward|ly, when he is about to &s;in, and a horrour of the Maje&s;ty of God, whom, when he is a|lone, he is forced (and forced by him&s;elfe) to feare, and to beleeve, though he would fain make the world beleeve, that he did not beleeve in God, but lived at peace, and &s;ub&s;i&s;ted of him&s;elfe, without being beholding to God. For, as in nature, heavy things will a&s;cend, and light de&s;cend rather then admit a vacuity, &s;o in religion, the devill will get into Gods roome, rather then the heart of man &s;hall be without the opinion of God; There is no Athei&s;t; They that oppo&s;e the true, do yet wor&s;hip a fal&s;e god; and hee that &s;ayes there is no God, doth for all that, &s;et up &s;ome God to him&s;elfe. Every man hath this reproofe borne in him, that he doth ill, that he offends a God, that he breaks a law when he &s;ins.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;olatio.</NOTE> And this reproofe is a reproofe within our Text, for it hath this com|fort with it, That how&s;oever &s;ome men labour to overcome the naturall tenderne&s;&s;e of the con&s;cience, and &s;o triumph over their own ruine, and rejoyce when they can &s;leep, and wake again without any noi&s;e in their con&s;cience, or &s;en&s;e of &s;in, yet, in truth this candle cannot be blowne out, this remor&s;e cannot be overcome; But were it not a greater comfort to me if I could overcome it? No. For though this remor&s;e (which is but a naturall impre&s;&s;ion, and common to all men) be not grace, yet this remor&s;e, which is the naturall reproofe of the &s;oule, is that, that grace works upon. Grace doth not or|dinarily work upon the &s;tifne&s;&s;e of the &s;oule, upon the &s;ilence, upon the frowardne&s;&s;e, upon the aver&s;ne&s;&s;e of the &s;oule, but when the &s;oule is &s;oupled and mellowed, and feels this reproofe, this remor&s;e in it &s;elf, that reproofe, that remor&s;e becomes as the matter, and grace enters as the form, that becomes the body, and grace becomes the &s;oule; and that is the comfort of this naturall reproofe of the world, that is, of every man: Fir&s;t, that it will not be quenched in it &s;elfe, and then, that ordinarily it induces a nobler light then it &s;elfe, which is effectuall and true Repentance.</P>
<P>As the world, in a third &s;en&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mundus, mali.</HI> Heb. 11.7. 2 Pet. 2.5.</NOTE> &s;ignifies only the wicked world (&s;o it is, <HI>Noah in preparing an Ark, condemned the world;</HI> And &s;o, <HI>God &s;pared not the old world</HI>) That world, the world of the wicked &s;uffer many reproofes, many rebukes in their hearts, which they will not di&s;cover, becau&s;e they envy God that glory. We reade of divers great actors in the fir&s;t per&s;ecutions of the Chri&s;tians, who being fearefully tormented in body and &s;oule, at their deaths, took care only, that the Chri&s;tians might not know what they &s;uf|fered, le&s;t they &s;hould receive comfort, and their God glory therein. Certainly <HI>Herod</HI> would have been more affected, if he had thought that we &s;hould have knowne how his pride was puni&s;hed with tho&s;e &s;udden wormes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 12.23.</NOTE> then with the puni&s;hment it &s;elfe. This is a &s;elf-reproofe; even in this, though he will not &s;uffer it to break out to the edificati|on of others, there is &s;ome kinde of chiding him&s;elf for &s;ome thing mi&s;-done. But is there any comfort in this reproofe?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;olatio.</NOTE> Truly, beloved, I can hardly &s;peak comfortably of &s;uch a man, after he is dead, that dyes in &s;uch a di&s;-affection, loath that God &s;hould receive glory, or his &s;ervants edification by the&s;e judgements. But even with &s;uch a man, if I a&s;|&s;i&s;ted at his death-bed, I would proceed with a hope to infu&s;e comfort, even from that di&s;-affection of his: As long as I &s;aw him in any acknowledgement (though a negligent, nay though a malignant, a de&s;pitefull acknowledgement) of God, as long as I found him loath that God &s;hould receive glory, even from that loathne&s;&s;e, from that reproofe, from that acknowledgement, That there is a God to whom glory is due, I would hope
<PB N="359" REF="197">to draw him to glorifie that God before his la&s;t ga&s;p; My zeale &s;hould la&s;t as long as his wives officiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or his childrens, or friends, or &s;ervants ob&s;equiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or the &s;olici|tude of his Phy&s;itians &s;hould; as long as there were breath, they would mini&s;ter &s;ome help; as long as there were any &s;en&s;e of God, I would hope to do &s;ome good. And &s;o much comfort may ari&s;e even out of this reproofe of the world, as the world is only the wicked world.</P>
<P>In the la&s;t &s;en&s;e, the world &s;ignifies the Saints, the Elect, the good men of the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mundus, &s;ancti.</HI> John 14.31. John 17.21.</NOTE> beleeving and per&s;evering men. Of tho&s;e Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>The world &s;hall know that I love the Father;</HI> And, <HI>That the world may beleeve that thou ha&s;t &s;ent me.</HI> And this world, that is, the godlie&s;t of this world, have many reproofes, many corrections upon them. That outwardly they are the prey of the wicked, and inwardly have that <HI>Stimulum carnis,</HI> which is the devils Solicitor, and round about them they &s;ee nothing but profanation of his word, mi&s;-imployment of his works, his creatures, mi&s;-con&s;tructions of his actions, his judgements, bla&s;phemy of his name, negligence and under-valuation of his Sacra|ments, violation of his Sabbaths, and holy convocations. O what a bitter reproofe, what a manife&s;t evidence of the infirmity, nay of the malignity of man, is this, (if it be put home, and throughly con&s;idered) That even the goodne&s;&s;e of man gets to no higher a degree, but to have been the occa&s;ion of the greate&s;t ill, the greate&s;t cruelty that ever was done, the crucifying of the Lord of life! The better a man is, the more he concurred towards being the cau&s;e of Chri&s;ts death; which is a &s;trange, but a true and a pious con&s;i|deration. <HI>Dilexit mundum, He loved the world, and he came to &s;ave the world;</HI> That is, mo&s;t e&s;pecially, and effectually, tho&s;e that &s;hould beleeve in him, in the world, and live accor|ding to that beliefe, and die according to that life. If there had been no &s;uch, Chri&s;t had not died, never been crucified. So that impenitent men, mi&s;-beleeving men have not put Chri&s;t to death, but it is we, we whom he loves, we that love him, that have crucified him.</P>
<P>In what rank then, of oppo&s;ition again&s;t Chri&s;t, &s;hall we place our &s;ins, &s;ince even our faith and good works have been &s;o farre the cau&s;e why Chri&s;t died, that, but for the &s;alvation of &s;uch men, Beleevers, Workers, Per&s;everers, Chri&s;t had not died? This then is the reproofe of the world, that is, of the Saints of God in the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.10.</NOTE> that though <HI>I had rather be a doore-keeper in the hou&s;e of my God,</HI> I mu&s;t <HI>dwell in the tents of wickedne&s;&s;e,</HI> That though <HI>my zeale con&s;ume me, becau&s;e mine enemies have forgotten thy words,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.138.</NOTE> I mu&s;t &s;tay among&s;t them that have forgotten thy words; But this, and all other reproofes, that ari&s;e in the godly, (that we may &s;till keep up that con&s;ideration, that he that reproves us, is <HI>The Comforter</HI>) have this comfort in them, that the&s;e faults that I indure in others, God hath either pardoned in me, or kept from me: and that though this world be wicked, yet when I &s;hall come to the next world, I &s;hall finde <HI>Noah,</HI> that had been drunk; and <HI>Lot,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 9.21. Gen. 19.33. Numb. 11.11.</NOTE> that had been ince&s;tuous; and <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that murmured at Gods proceedings; and <HI>Iob,</HI> and <HI>Ieremy,</HI> and <HI>Ionas,</HI> impatient, even to imprecations again&s;t them&s;elves; Chri&s;ts owne Di&s;ciples ambitious of worldly preferment; his Apo&s;tles for&s;aking him, his great Apo|&s;tle for&s;wearing him; And <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> that had been, I know not what &s;inner; and <HI>David</HI> that had been all; I leave none &s;o ill in this world, but I may carry one that was, or finde &s;ome that had been as ill as they, in heaven; and that blood of Chri&s;t Je|&s;us, which hath brought them thither, is offered to them that are here, who may be &s;uc|ce&s;&s;ors in their repentance, as they are in their &s;ins. And &s;o have you all intended for the Per&s;on, the Comforter, and the Action, Reproofe, and the Subject, the World; remaines only (that for which there remaines but a little time) the Time, <HI>Cum venerit, When the Comforter comes he will proceed thus.</HI></P>
<P>We u&s;e to note three Advents, three commings of Chri&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cum venerit</NOTE> An Advent of Humiliati|on, when he came in the fle&s;h; an Advent of glory, when he &s;hall come to judgement; and between the&s;e an Advent of grace, in his gracious working in us, in this life; and this middlemo&s;t Advent of Chri&s;t, is the Advent of the Holy Gho&s;t, in this text; when Chri&s;t works in us, the Holy Gho&s;t comes to us. And &s;o powerfull is his comming, that where|as he that &s;ent him, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elf, <HI>Came unto his own, and his own received him not;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.11.</NOTE> The Holy Gho&s;t never comes to his owne but they receive him; for, onely by receiving him, they are his owne; for, be&s;ides his title of Creation, by which we are all his, with the Father, and the Son, as there is a particular title accrewed to the Son by Redemption, &s;o is there to the Holy Gho&s;t, of certaine per&s;ons, upon whom he &s;heds the comfort of his application. The Holy Gho&s;t picks out and choo&s;es whom he will; <HI>Spirat ubi vult;</HI>
<PB N="360" REF="198">perchance me that &s;peake; perchance him that heares; perchance him that &s;hut his eyes ye&s;ter-night, and opened them this morning in the guiltine&s;&s;e of &s;in, and repents it now: perchance him that hath been in the meditation of an u&s;urious contract, of an ambitious &s;upplantation, of a licentious &s;olicitation, &s;ince he came hither into Gods hou&s;e, and de|prehends him&s;elfe in that &s;infull purpo&s;e now. This is his Advent, this is his Penteco&s;t. As he came this day with a Manife&s;tation, &s;o, if he come into thee this evening, he comes with a Declaration, a Declaration in operation. <HI>Pater meus u&s;que modo operatur, &amp; ego operor,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.17.</NOTE> <HI>My Father works even now, and I work,</HI> was Chri&s;ts an&s;wer, when he was accu&s;ed to have broken the Sabbath day; that the Father wrought that day as well as he. So al&s;o Chri&s;t a&s;&s;ignes other rea&s;ons of working upon the Sabbath;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 14.5.</NOTE> <HI>Cujus Bos,</HI> Who&s;e Oxe is in danger,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12.3, 5.</NOTE> and the owner will not relieve him? <HI>Nonne legi&s;tis,</HI> Have ye not read how <HI>David</HI> ate the Shew-bread? And <HI>Annon legi&s;tis,</HI> Did not the Prie&s;ts breake the Sab|bath, in their &s;ervice in the Temple? But the Sabbath is the Holy Gho&s;ts greate&s;t wor|king day: The Holy Gho&s;t works more upon the Sunday, then all the week. In other dayes, he picks and choo&s;es; but upon the&s;e dayes of holy Convocation, I am &s;urer that God &s;peakes to me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> then at home, in any private in&s;piration. For, as the Congre|gation be&s;ieges God in publique prayers, <HI>Agmine facto,</HI> &s;o the Holy Gho&s;t ca&s;ts a net over the whole Congregation, in this Ordinance of preaching, and catches all that break not out.</P>
<P>If he be come into thee, he is come to reprove thee; to make thee reprove thy &s;elfe; But doe that, <HI>Cum vencrit, when the Holy Gho&s;t is come.</HI> If thou have beene &s;lack in the outward acts of Religion, and finde&s;t that thou art the wor&s;e thought of among&s;t men, for that re&s;pect, &amp; the more open to &s;ome penall Laws, for tho&s;e omi&s;&s;ions, and for the&s;e rea&s;ons onely beginne&s;t to correct, and reprove thy &s;elfe, this is a reproofe, <HI>Antequam Spiritus vener it,</HI> before the Holy Gho&s;t is come into thee, or hath breathed upon thee, and inanimated thine actions. If the powerfulne&s;&s;e, and the piercing of the mercies of thy Saviour, have &s;ometimes, in the preaching thereof, entendered and melted thy heart, and yet upon the confidence of the readine&s;&s;e, and ea&s;ine&s;&s;e of that mercy, thou returne to thy vomit, to the re-pur&s;uite of tho&s;e halfe-repented &s;ins, and thinke&s;t it time enough to goe forward upon thy death-bed, this is a reproofe <HI>Po&s;tquam abierit Spiritus,</HI> After the Holy Gho&s;t is departed from thee. If the burden of thy &s;ins oppre&s;&s;e thee, if thou bee&s;t ready to ca&s;t thy &s;elfe from the Pinacle of the Temple, from the participation of the comforts afforded thee in the Ab&s;olution, and Sacraments of the Church, If this appeare to thee in a kinde of humility, and reverence to the Maje&s;ty of God, That thou dare&s;t not come into his &s;ight, not to his table, not to &s;peake to him in prayer, whom thou ha&s;t &s;o infinitely offended, this is a reproofe, <HI>Cum Spiritus Sanctus &s;imulatur,</HI> when the Holy Gho&s;t is counterfaited, when Satan is transformed into an Angel of light, and makes thy di&s;mayed con&s;cience beleeve, that that affection, which is truly a higher Trea&s;on again&s;t God, then all thy other &s;ins, (which is, a diffident &s;u&s;pecting of Gods mercy) is &s;uch a reverend feare, and trembling as he looks for.</P>
<P>Reprove thy &s;elfe; but doe it by convincing, not by a downe-right &s;tupefaction of the con&s;cience; but by a con&s;ideration of the nature of thy &s;in, and a contemplation of the infinite proportion between God and thee, and &s;o between that &s;in and the mercy of God; for, thou can&s;t not be &s;o ab&s;olutely, &s;o intirely, &s;o e&s;&s;entially &s;infull, as God is ab&s;olutely, and intirely, and e&s;&s;entially mercifull. Doe what thou can&s;t, there is &s;till &s;ome goodne&s;&s;e in thee; that nature that God made, is good &s;till: Doe God what hee will, hee cannot &s;trip him&s;elfe, not deve&s;t him&s;elfe of mercy. If thou could&s;t doe as much as God can pardon, thou wert a Manichaean God, a God of evill, as infinite as the God of goodne&s;&s;e is. Doe it, <HI>Cum venerit Spiritus,</HI> when the Holy Gho&s;t pleads on thy &s;ide; not <HI>cum venerit homo,</HI> not when mans rea&s;on argues for thee, and &s;ayes, It were inju&s;tice in God, to puni&s;h one for another, the &s;oule for the body: Much le&s;&s;e <HI>Cum ve|nerit inimicus homo,</HI> when the Devill pleads, and pleads again&s;t thee, that thy &s;ins are greater then God can forgive. Reprove any over-bold pre&s;umption, that God cannot for&s;ake thee, with remembring who it was that &s;aid, <HI>My God, my God, why ha&s;t thou for|&s;aken me?</HI> Even Chri&s;t him&s;elfe could apprehend a dereliction. Reprove any di&s;tru&s;t in God, with remembring to whom it was &s;aid, <HI>Hodi&egrave; mecum eris in Paradi&s;o;</HI> Even the thiefe him&s;elfe, who never &s;aw him, never met him, but at both their executions, was carryed up with him, the fir&s;t day of his acquaintance. If either thy cheerefulne&s;&s;e, or
<PB N="361" REF="198" MS="y">thy &s;adne&s;&s;e bee conceived of the Holy Gho&s;t, there is a good ground of thy <HI>Noli timere,</HI> feare neither. So the Angel proceeded with <HI>Io&s;eph, Feare not to take Mary, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> Feare not thou, that a chearefulne&s;&s;e and alacrity in u&s;ing Gods ble&s;&s;ings, feare not that a moderate delight in mu&s;ique, in conver|&s;ation, in recreations, &s;hall be imputed to thee for a fault, for, it is conceived by the Holy Gho&s;t, and is the off-&s;pring of a peacefull con&s;cience. Embrace therefore his working, <HI>Qui omnia opera no&s;tra operatus e&s;t nobis, Thou, O Lord, ha&s;t wrought all our works in us;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 26.12.</NOTE> And who&s;e working none &s;hall be able to fru&s;trate in us; <HI>Operabitur, &amp; quis avertit?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 43.13.</NOTE> <HI>I will worke, and who &s;hall let it?</HI> And as the Son concurred with the Father, and the Holy Gho&s;t with the Son, in working in our behalfe, &s;o <HI>Operemur &amp; nos,</HI> let us al&s;o <HI>worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling,</HI> by reproving the errors in our under&s;tanding, and the perver&s;ene&s;&s;es of our conver&s;ation, that way, in which the Holy Gho&s;t is our guide, by reproving, that is, chiding and convincing the con&s;cience, but &s;till with comfort, that is, &s;tedfa&s;t application of the merits of Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="37" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXVII.</HI> Preached upon Whit&s;unday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOHN 16.8, 9, 10, 11.</HI></BIBL>
<L>And when he is come, he will reprove the world of &s;in, and of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and of judge|ment.</L>
<L>Of &s;in, becau&s;e ye beleeve not on me.</L>
<L>Of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, becau&s;e I goe to my Father, and ye &s;ee me no more.</L>
<L>Of judgement, becau&s;e the Prince of this world is judged.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN a former Sermon upon the&s;e words, we have e&s;tabli&s;hed this, That the Per&s;on whom our Saviour promi&s;es here, being by him&s;elfe promi&s;ed, in the ver&s;e before the text, in the name and quality of <HI>The Comforter,</HI> All that this Per&s;on is to do in this text, is to be done &s;o, as the <HI>World,</HI> upon which it is to be done, may receive comfort in it. Therfore this word, Reproof ad|mitting a double &s;ignification, one by way of authority, as it is a rebuke, an increpation, the other as it is a convincing by argument, by way of in&s;truction, and information, be|cau&s;e the fir&s;t way cannot be applied to all the parts of this text, and to all that the Holy Gho&s;t is to do upon the world, (for, how&s;oever he may rebuke the world of &s;in, he can|not be &s;aid to rebuke it of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and of judgement) according to S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> later interpretation of the&s;e words, (for in one place of his workes, he takes this word, Re|proofe, in the harder &s;en&s;e, for rebuke, but in another, in the milder) we have and mu&s;t pur&s;ue the &s;econd &s;ignification of the word, <HI>That the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall reprove the world of &s;in, of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, of judgement,</HI> by convincing the world, by making the world con|fe&s;&s;e and acknowledge all that that the Holy Gho&s;t intends in all the&s;e. And this mani|fe&s;tation, and this conviction in the&s;e three, will be our parts. In the fir&s;t of which, <HI>That the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall Reprove,</HI> that is, convince, <HI>the world of &s;in,</HI> we &s;hall fir&s;t looke how all the world is under &s;in; and then, whether the Holy Gho&s;t, being come, have convinced all the world, made all the world &s;ee that it is &s;o; and in the&s;e two inqui&s;itions, we &s;hall determine that fir&s;t branch.</P>
<P>For the fir&s;t, (for, of the other two we &s;hall reach you the boughes anon,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Mundus &s;ub peccato.</NOTE> when you come to gather the fruit, and lay open the particulars, then when we come to handle them) That all the world is under &s;in, and knowes it not, (for this Reproofe, <HI>Elenchus,</HI> is, (&s;ayes the Philo&s;opher) <HI>Syllogi&s;mus contra contraria opinantem,</HI> An argument again&s;t him that is of a contrary opinion) we condole fir&s;t the mi&s;ery of this Ignorance, for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Quid mi&s;erius mi&s;ero, non mi&s;er ante &s;eip&s;um?</HI> What mi&s;ery can be &s;o great, as to be ignorant,
<PB N="362" REF="199">in&s;en&s;ible of our owne mi&s;ery? Every act done in &s;uch an ignorance as we might over|come, is a new &s;in; And it is not onely a new practi&s;e from the Devill, but it is a new puni&s;hment from God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Iu&s;si&s;ti Domine, &amp; &s;ic e&s;t, ut poena &s;it &s;ibi omnis inordinatus ani|mus,</HI> Every &s;inner is an Executioner upon him&s;elfe; and he is &s;o by Gods appointment, who puni&s;hes former &s;ins with future. This then is the mi&s;erable &s;tate of the world, It might know, and does not, that it is wholly under an inundation, a deluge of &s;in. For, &s;in is a tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion of &s;ome Law, which, he that &s;ins may know him&s;elfe to be bound by: For, if any man could be exempt from all Law, he were impeccable, he could not &s;in; And if he could not po&s;&s;ibly have any knowledge of the Law, it were no Law to him.</P>
<P>Now under the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion of what Law lyes all the World?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lex Huma|na.</NOTE> For the po&s;itive Laws of the States in which we live, a man may keepe them, according to the intention of them that made tho&s;e Laws; which is all that is required in any humane Law; (to keepe it, if not according to the letter, yet according to the intention of the Law-maker) Nay it is not onely po&s;&s;ible,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> but ea&s;ie to do &s;o; <HI>Angu&s;ta innocentia ad legem bonum e&s;&s;e,</HI> (&s;ayes the morall mans holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Seneca</HI>) It is but a narrow and a &s;hallow hone&s;ty, to be no hone&s;ter then the Law forces him to be. Thus then, in violating the Laws of the State, all the World is not under &s;in.</P>
<P>If we pa&s;&s;e from Laws meerely humane,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ceremonia|lia.</NOTE> (though, in truth, &s;carce any ju&s;t Law is &s;o, meerely humane, for God, that commands obedience to humane Laws, hath a hand in the making of them) to tho&s;e ceremoniall, and judiciall Laws, which the Jews received immediately from God, (in which re&s;pect they may be called divine Laws, though they were but locall and but temporary) which were in &s;uch a number, as that, though penall Laws in &s;ome States be &s;o many, and &s;o heavy, as that they &s;erve onely for &s;nares, and &s;pringes upon the people, yet they are no where equall to the ceremoniall and judiciall Laws,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.6.</NOTE> which lay upon the Jews; yet even for the&s;e Laws S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, <HI>That touching that righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e which is in the Law, he was blamele&s;&s;e.</HI> Thus therefore (in viola|ting ceremoniall or judiciall Laws) all the World is not under &s;in, both becau&s;e all the World was not bound by that Law, and &s;ome in the World did keepe it.</P>
<P>But in two other re&s;pects it is;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lex Natu|rae.</NOTE> fir&s;t, That there is a Law of Nature that pa&s;&s;es through all the World, a Law in the heart; and of the breach of this, no man can be alwayes ig|norant. As every man hath a devill in him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Spontaneum Daemonem,</HI> A Devill of his owne making, &s;ome particular &s;in that tran&s;ports him, &s;o every man hath a kinde of God in him&s;elfe, &s;uch a con&s;cience, as &s;ometimes reproves him. Carry we this con&s;ide|ration a little higher, and we may &s;ee herein, &s;ome verification, at lea&s;t, &s;ome u&s;efull ap|plication of <HI>Origens</HI> extreme error.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> He thought, that at la&s;t, after infinite revolutions, (as all other &s;ub&s;tances &s;hould be) even the Devill him&s;elfe &s;hould be (as it were) &s;ucked and &s;wallowed into God, and there &s;hould remaine nothing at la&s;t, (as there was nothing el&s;e at fir&s;t) but onely God; (not by an annihilation of the Creature, that any thing &s;hould come to nothing, but by this ab&s;orption, by a tran&s;migration of all Creatures into God, that God &s;hould be all, and all &s;hould be God) So in our ca&s;e, That which is the &s;inners devill, becomes his God; That very &s;in which hath po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed him, by the exce&s;&s;e of that &s;in, or, by &s;ome lo&s;&s;e, or paine, or &s;hame following that &s;in, occa&s;ions that reproofe and remor&s;e, that withdraws him from that &s;in. So all the world is under &s;in, becau&s;e they have a Law in them&s;elves, and a light in them&s;elves.</P>
<P>And it is &s;o in a &s;econd re&s;pect,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Originale peecatum.</HI> E&s;ay 1.4. Wi&s;d. 2.23.</NOTE> That all being derived from <HI>Adam, Adams</HI> &s;in is de|rived upon all. Onely that one man, that was not naturally deduced from <HI>Adam,</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us, was guilty of no &s;in; All others are &s;ubject to that malediction, <HI>Vae genti peccatrici,</HI> Wo to this &s;infull World. God made man <HI>Inexterminabilem,</HI> &s;ayes the Wi&s;eman, undi&s;|&s;ei&s;ible, unexpellible; &s;uch, as he could not be thru&s;t out of his Immortality, whether he would or no:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> for, that was mans fir&s;t immortality, <HI>Po&s;&s;e non mori,</HI> That he needed not have dyed. When man killed him&s;elfe, and threw upon all his po&s;terity the <HI>morte mo|rieris,</HI> that we mu&s;t dye, and that <HI>Death</HI> is <HI>Stipendium peccati, The wages of &s;in,</HI> and that <HI>Anima quae peccaverit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezech. 18.4.</NOTE> <HI>ip&s;a morietur,</HI> that <HI>That &s;oule, and onely that &s;oule that &s;ins, &s;hall dye,</HI> Since we &s;ee the puni&s;hment fall upon all, we are &s;ure the fault cleaves to all too; all do dye, therefore all do &s;in. And though this Originall &s;in that over-flowes us all, may in &s;ome &s;en&s;e be called <HI>peccatum involuntarium,</HI> a &s;in without any elicite act of the Will, (for &s;o it mu&s;t needs be in Children) and &s;o properly no &s;in, yet as all our other faculties were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>omnium voluntates in Adam,</HI> all our wils were in <HI>Adam,</HI> and we &s;inned wilfully,
<PB N="363" REF="199">when he did &s;o, and &s;o Originall &s;in is a voluntary &s;in: Our will is poy&s;oned in the foun|taine; and, as &s;oone as our will is able to exerci&s;e any election, we are willing to &s;in, as &s;oone as we can, and &s;orry we can &s;in no &s;ooner, and &s;orry no longer: we are willing be|fore the Devill is willing, and willing after the Devill is weary, and &s;eek occa&s;ions of tentation, when he pre&s;ents none. And &s;o, as the breach of the Law of Nature, and as the deluge of Originall &s;in hath &s;urrounded the whole world, the whole world is under &s;inne.</P>
<P>That all the world is &s;o, requires not much proofe: But then, does the Holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An arguat. Spiritus &s;an|ctus?</NOTE> by his comming, reprove, that is, convince the whole world, that it is &s;o? The Holy Gho&s;t is able to doe it, and he hath good cau&s;e to doe it; But does he doe it? Is this <HI>Cum venerit, when he comes,</HI> come? Is he come to this purpo&s;e, to make all the world know their &s;infull condition? God knowes they know it not. How&s;oever they may have &s;ome knowledge of the breach of the Law of Nature, yet they have no knowledge of any remedy after, and &s;o lack all comfort; and therefore this is no knowledge from the Holy Gho&s;t, from the Comforter. And for the knowledge of Originall &s;in, which lies more heavy upon them then upon us, (who have the ea&s;e of Bapti&s;me, which &s;lack|ens, and weakens Originall &s;in in us) they are &s;o farre from knowing, that that &s;in is de|rived from <HI>Adam,</HI> as that they doe not know, that they them&s;elves are derived from <HI>Adam;</HI> not that there is &s;uch a &s;in, not that there was &s;uch an <HI>Adam.</HI> How then doth the Holy Gho&s;t, who is come according to Chri&s;ts promi&s;e, according to his promi&s;e, <HI>Reprove,</HI> that is, Convince <HI>the world of &s;inne,</HI> &s;ince this (being to bee done by the Holy Gho&s;t) implies a knowledge of Chri&s;t, and a way of comfort in the doing thereof?</P>
<P>This one word <HI>Arguet, He &s;hall reprove,</HI> convince, admits three acceptations. Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Antequam abierit.</NOTE> in the future, as it is here pre&s;ented, <HI>He &s;hall;</HI> and &s;o the <HI>Cum venerit, When he comes,</HI> &s;igni|fies <HI>Antequam abierit,</HI> Before he departs. He came at Penteco&s;t, and pre&s;ently &s;et on foot his Commi&s;&s;ion, by the Apo&s;tles, to reprove, convince the world of &s;in, and hath proceeded ever &s;ince, by their &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, in reducing Nation after Nation; and, before the con&s;ummation of the world, before he retire, to re&s;t eternally in the bo&s;ome of the Father and the Son, from whom he proceeded, he &s;hall reprove the whole world of &s;in, that is, bring them to a knowledge, That in the breach of the law of nature, and in the guiltine&s;&s;e of originall &s;in, they are all under a burthen, which none of them all, of them|&s;elves, can di&s;charge. This work S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;eemes to ha&s;ten &s;ooner:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.18.</NOTE> To convince the Jews of their infidelity, he argues thus, <HI>Have not they heard the Go&s;pell?</HI> They, that is, the Gentiles; and if They, much more You; And that They had heard it, he proves by the application of tho&s;e words, <HI>In omnem terram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.3.</NOTE> <HI>Their voice is gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world,</HI> That is, the voice of the Apo&s;tles, in the preaching of the Go&s;pell.</P>
<P>Hence grew that di&s;traction, and perplexity which we finde in the Fathers, Whether it could be truly &s;aid, that the Go&s;pell had been preached over all the world in tho&s;e times. If we number the Fathers, mo&s;t are of that opinion, That before the de&s;truction of the Temple of Jeru&s;alem, this was fulfilled. Of tho&s;e that think the contrary, &s;ome proceed upon rea&s;ons ill grounded; particularly <HI>Origen; Quid de Britannis &amp; Germanis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> <HI>qui nec adhuc audierunt verbum Euangelii?</HI> What &s;hall we &s;ay of Britanny, and Germany, who have not heard of the Go&s;pell yet? For, before <HI>Origens</HI> time, (though <HI>Origen</HI> were 1400. yeares &s;ince) in what darkne&s;&s;e &s;oever he mi&s;took us to be, we had a ble&s;&s;ed and a glorious di&s;covery of the Go&s;pell of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in this Iland. S. <HI>Hierome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hierom.</NOTE> who denies this univer&s;all preaching of the Go&s;pell before the de&s;truction of the Temple, yet doubts not but that the fulfilling of that prophecy was then in action, and in a great forward|ne&s;&s;e; <HI>I am completum, aut brevi ternimus complendum;</HI> Already we &s;ee it performed, &s;ayes he; Or, at lea&s;t &s;o earne&s;tly pur&s;ued, as that it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily, very &s;oon be per|formed: <HI>Nec puto aliquam remanere gentem, quae Chri&s;ti nomen ignor at;</HI> I do not think, (&s;ayes that Father, more then 1200. yeares &s;ince) that there is any nation that hath not heard of Chri&s;t; <HI>Et quanquam non habuerit praedicatorem, ex viciais, &amp;c.</HI> If they have not had expre&s;&s;e Preachers them&s;elves, yet from their neighbours they have had &s;ome Echoes of this voice, &s;ome reflexions of this light.</P>
<P>The later Divines, and the School, that finde not this early, and generall preaching over the world, to lye in proofe, proceed to a more &s;afe way, That there was then <HI>Odor Euangelii,</HI> A &s;weet &s;avour of the Go&s;pell i&s;&s;ued, though it were not yet arrived to all
<PB N="364" REF="200">parts: As if a plentifull and diffu&s;ive perfume were &s;et up in a hou&s;e, we would &s;ay The hou&s;e were perfumed, though that perfume were not yet come to every corner of the hou&s;e. But not to thru&s;t the world into &s;o narrow a &s;traite, as it is, when a <HI>Decree</HI> is &s;aid to have gone out from <HI>Augu&s;tus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.1. Acts 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>to taxe all the world,</HI> (for this was but the Romane world) Nor, <HI>That there were men dwelling at Ieru&s;alem, devout men, of every nation under heaven,</HI> (for, this was but of nations di&s;covered, and traded withall then) nor, when S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.18. Mat. 24.14.</NOTE> <HI>That the faith of the Romanes was publi&s;hed to the world,</HI> (for that was as far as he had gone) tho&s;e words of our Saviour, <HI>This Go&s;pell of the kingdome &s;hall be preached in all the world, for a witne&s;&s;e to all nations, and then &s;hall the end come,</HI> have evermore, by all, Ancient and Modern, Fathers and School, Preachers and Writers, Expo&s;itors and Controverters, been literally under&s;tood, that before the end of the world, the Go&s;pell &s;hall be actually, really, evidently, efectually preached to all nations; and &s;o, <HI>Cum vene|rit, When the holy Gho&s;t comes,</HI> that is, <HI>Antequam abierit,</HI> Before he go, he &s;hall reprove, convince the whole world of &s;in, and this, as he is a Comforter, by accompanying their knowledge of &s;in, with the knowledge of the Go&s;pell, for the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins.</P>
<P>It agrees with the nature of goodne&s;&s;e to be &s;o diffu&s;ive, communicable to all. It agrees with the nature of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 7.11.</NOTE> who is goodne&s;&s;e, That as all the fountaines of the great Deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and &s;o came the flood over all, &s;o there &s;hould be <HI>Diluvium Spiritus,</HI> A flowing out of the holy Gho&s;t upon all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel. 2.28. E&s;ay 2.2. Joh. 3.8.</NOTE> as he promi&s;es, <HI>Effundam,</HI> I will poure it out upon all, and <HI>Diluvium gentium,</HI> That all nations &s;hould flow up unto him. For, this Spirit, <HI>Spirat ubi vult,</HI> Breathes where it plea&s;es him; and though a naturall winde cannot blow Ea&s;t and We&s;t, North and South together, this Spirit at once breathes upon the mo&s;t contrary di&s;po&s;itions, upon the pre&s;uming, and upon the de&s;pairing &s;inner; and, in an in&s;tant can denizen and natu|ralize that &s;oule that was an alien to the Covenant, Empale and inlay that &s;oule that was bred upon the Common, among&s;t the Gentiles, transform that &s;oul, which was a Goate, into a Sheep, unite that &s;oul which was a lo&s;t &s;heep to the fold again, &s;hine upon that &s;oul that &s;its in darkne&s;&s;e, and in the &s;hadow of death, and &s;o melt and poure out that &s;oul that yet under&s;tands nothing of the Divine nature, nor of the Spirit of God, that it &s;hall be|come partaker of the Divine nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4. 1 Cor. 6.17.</NOTE> and be the &s;ame Spirit with the Lord. When Chri&s;t took our fle&s;h, he had not all his Ance&s;tors of the Covenant; he was plea&s;ed to come of <HI>Ruth,</HI> a Moabite, a poore &s;tranger; As he came, &s;o will the holy Gho&s;t go to &s;tran|gers al&s;o. Shall any man murmur, or draw into di&s;putation, why this Spirit doth not breath in all nations at once? or why not &s;ooner then it doth in &s;ome? Doth this Spi|rit fall and re&s;t upon every &s;oul in this Congregation now? May not one man finde that he receives him now, and &s;uffer him to go away again? May not another who felt no mo|tion of him now, recollect him&s;elf at home, and remember &s;omething then, which hath been &s;aid now, to the quickning of this Spirit in him there? Since the holy Gho&s;t vi&s;its us &s;o, &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, not all at once, not all with an equall e&s;tabli&s;hment, we may &s;afely im|brace that acceptation of this word <HI>Arguet,</HI> He &s;hall, he will, <HI>Antequam abierit,</HI> Before the end come, <HI>Reprove,</HI> convince the whole world of &s;in, by this his way, the way of comfort, the preaching of the Go&s;pell. And that is the fir&s;t acceptation thereof.</P>
<P>The &s;econd acceptation of the word is in the pre&s;ent;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Arguit.</NOTE> not <HI>Arguet, He &s;hall,</HI> but <HI>Arguit, He doth,</HI> now he doth reprove all the world. As when the Devill confe&s;&s;ed Chri&s;t in the Go&s;pel, as when Judas, (who was the Devils Devill, for, he had &s;old Chri&s;t to the Chiefe-Prie&s;ts, <HI>Mat.</HI> 26.14. before Satan entred into him after the Sop, <HI>Iohn</HI> 13.27.) profe&s;&s;ed this Go&s;pel, this was not <HI>Sine omni impul&s;u Spiritus Sancti,</HI> Altogether without the motion of the Holy Gho&s;t, who had his ends, and his purpo&s;es therein, to draw te|&s;timonies for Chri&s;t out of the mouths of his adver&s;aries; &s;o when a naturall man comes to be di&s;plea&s;ed with his owne actions, and to di&s;cerne &s;in in them, though his naturall faculties be the In&s;truments in the&s;e actions, yet the Holy Gho&s;t &s;ets this In&s;trument in tune, and makes all that is mu&s;ique and harmony in the faculties of this naturall man. At <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> found certaine Di&s;ciples which were baptized, and when he asked them, <HI>Whether they had received the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.2.</NOTE> they &s;aid, <HI>That they had not &s;o much as heard that there was a Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> So certainly, infinite numbers of men, in tho&s;e unconverted Na|tions have the Holy Gho&s;t working in them, though they have never &s;o much as heard that there is a Holy Gho&s;t. When we &s;ee any man doe any work well, that belongs to the hand, to write, to carve, to play, to doe any mechanique office well, doe we deter|mine
<PB N="365" REF="200">mine our con&s;ideration onely upon the In&s;trument, the hand, doe we onely &s;ay, he hath a good, a fit, a well di&s;po&s;ed hand for &s;uch a work, or doe we not rather rai&s;e our contem|plation to the &s;oule, and her faculties, which enable that hand to do that work? So cer|tainly when a morall man hath any reproofe, any &s;en&s;e of &s;in in him&s;elfe, the holy Gho&s;t is the intelligence that moves in that &s;pheare, and becomes the &s;oule of his &s;oule, and works that in him primarily, of which, naturall faculties, or philo&s;ophicall in&s;tructions, are but mini&s;teriall in&s;truments and &s;uppletory a&s;&s;i&s;tances after. And not only in the be|ginning of good actions, but in the pro&s;ecution of &s;ome evill, the holy Gho&s;t hath an in|tere&s;t, though we di&s;cern him not: In the di&s;po&s;ing of our &s;ins, the holy Gho&s;t hath a working thus, That when we intended &s;ome mi&s;chievous &s;in to morrow, a le&s;&s;e &s;in, &s;ome &s;in of plea&s;ure meets us, and takes hold of us, and diverts us from our fir&s;t purpo&s;e, and &s;o the holy Gho&s;t re&s;cues us from one &s;in, by &s;uffering us to fall into another. What action &s;oever hath any degree of good, what action &s;oever hath any le&s;&s;e evill in it then otherwi&s;e it would have had, hath received a working of the holy Gho&s;t, though that man upon whom he hath wrought, knew not his working, nor his name. As we thinke that we have the differences of &s;ea&s;ons, of Winter and Summer, by the naturall motion of the Sun, but yet it is not truly by that naturall motion, but by a contrary motion of a higher &s;pheare, which drawes the Sun again&s;t his naturall cour&s;e; (for, if the Sun were left to him&s;elfe, we &s;hould not have the&s;e &s;ea&s;ons) &s;o if the &s;oul and con&s;cience of a meere naturall man have any of the&s;e reproofes, and remor&s;es, though perchance fear, or &s;hame, or &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or penalties of law, yea though a wearine&s;&s;e, and exce&s;&s;e of the &s;in it &s;elfe, may &s;eem to him to be the thing that reproves him, and that occa&s;ions this remor&s;e, be|cau&s;e it is the mo&s;t immediate, and therefore mo&s;t di&s;cernible; yet there is <HI>Digitus Dei,</HI> The hand of God, and <HI>&s;piritus Spiritus &s;ancti,</HI> The breath of the holy Gho&s;t, in all this, who, as a liberall almes-giver &s;ends to per&s;ons, that never know who &s;ends, works up|on per&s;ons, who never know who works. So the holy Gho&s;t reproves all the world of &s;in; that is, all the reproofe, which even the naturall man hath, (and every man hath &s;ome at &s;ometimes) is from the holy Gho&s;t; and, as in the former &s;en&s;e, the <HI>Cum vene|rit, When he eomes,</HI> was <HI>Antequam abierit,</HI> before he goes, &s;o here the <HI>Cum venerit,</HI> is <HI>Quia ade&s;t,</HI> becau&s;e he is alwayes pre&s;ent, and alwayes working.</P>
<P>And then there is a third acceptation, where the <HI>Arguet</HI> is not in the future,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Operatus e&s;t.</NOTE> That he &s;hall do it, nor in the pre&s;ent, <HI>Arguit,</HI> That he doth it now in every naturall man, but it is in the time pa&s;t, <HI>Arguit.</HI> He hath done it, done it already. And here in this &s;en&s;e, it is not that the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall bring the Go&s;pell before the end, to all Nations, that is, <HI>Antequam abierit,</HI> Nor that the holy Gho&s;t doth exalt the naturall faculties of every man in all his good actions, that is, <HI>Quia &s;emper ade&s;t,</HI> but it is, that he hath infu&s;ed and imprinted in all their hearts, whom hee hath called effectually to the participation of the meanes of &s;alvation in the true Church, a con&s;tant and infallible a&s;&s;urance, that all the world, that is, all the re&s;t of the world which hath not imbraced tho&s;e helps, lies unrecoverably (by any other meanes then the&s;e which we have imbra|ced) under &s;in, under the waight, the condemnation of &s;in. So that the comfort of this reproofe (as all the reproofes of the holy Gho&s;t in this Text, are given by him in that quality, as he is <HI>The Comforter</HI>) is not directly, and &s;imply, and pre&s;ently upon all the world indeed, but upon tho&s;e whom the holy Gho&s;t hath taken out of this world, to his world in this world, that is, to the Chri&s;tian Church, them he <HI>Reproves,</HI> that is Con|vinces them, e&s;tabli&s;hes, delivers them from all &s;cruples, that they have taken the right way, that they, and onely they, are delivered, and all the world be&s;ide are &s;till under &s;in.</P>
<P>When the Holy Gho&s;t hath brought us into the Ark from whence we may &s;ee all the world without, &s;prawling and ga&s;ping in the flood, (the flood of &s;infull cour&s;es in the world, and of the anger of God) when we can &s;ee this violent flood, (the anger of God) break in at windowes, and there devoure the licentious man in his &s;infull embracements, and make his bed of wantonne&s;&s;e his death-bed; when we can &s;ee this flood (the anger of God) &s;well as fa&s;t as the ambitious man &s;wels, and pur&s;ue him through all his titles, and and at la&s;t &s;uddenly, and violently wa&s;h him away in his owne blood, not alwayes in a vulgar, but &s;ometimes in an ignominious death; when we &s;hall &s;ee this flood (the flood of the anger of God) over-flow the valley of the voluptuous mans gardens, and orchards, and follow him into his Arbours, and Mounts, and Tera&s;&s;es, and carry him from thence into a bottomle&s;&s;e Sea, which no Plummet can &s;ound, (no heavy &s;adne&s;&s;e relieve him) no
<PB N="366" REF="201">anchor take hold of, (no repentance &s;tay his tempe&s;ted and weather-beaten con&s;cience) when wee finde our &s;elves in this Ark, where we have fir&s;t taken in the fre&s;h water of Bapti&s;me, and then the Bread, and Wine, and Fle&s;h, of the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, Then are we reproved, forbidden all &s;cruple, then are we convinced, That as <HI>the twelve Apo&s;tles &s;hall &s;it upon twelve &s;eats, and judge the twelve Tribes at the la&s;t day;</HI> So doth the Holy Gho&s;t make us Judges of all the world now, and inables us to pronounce that &s;entence, That all but they, who have &s;incerely accepted the Chri&s;tian Religion, are &s;till <HI>&s;ub peccato,</HI> under &s;in, and without remedy. For we mu&s;t not waigh God with leaden, or iron, or &s;tone waights, how much land, or metall, or riches he gives one man more then another, but how much grace in the u&s;e of the&s;e, or how much patience in the want, or in the lo&s;&s;e of the&s;e, we have above others. When we come to &s;ay, <HI>Hi in curribus, Hi in equis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 20.7.</NOTE> <HI>nos autem in nomine Domini Dei no&s;tri invocabimus, Some tru&s;t in chariots, and &s;ome in hor&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE> <HI>but we will remember the name of the Lord our God; Ip&s;i obligati &s;unt, &amp; cecide|runt, nos autem &s;urreximus, &amp; erecti &s;umus, They are brought downe and fallen, but we are ri&s;en, and &s;tand upright. Obligati &s;unt, &amp; ceciderunt,</HI> They are pinion'd and falle<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">, fettered, and manacled, and &s;o fallen; fallen and there mu&s;t lie: <HI>Nos autem erecti,</HI> Wee are ri&s;en, and enabled to &s;tand, now we are up. When we need not feare the mighty, nor envy the rich, <HI>Quia &s;ignatum &s;uper nos lumen vultus tui Domine,</HI> Becau&s;e <HI>the light of thy countenance O Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 7.</NOTE> <HI>is</HI> (not onely &s;hed, but) <HI>lifted up upon us, Quia dedi&s;ti laetitiam in corde no&s;tro,</HI> Be|cau&s;e <HI>thou ha&s;t put gladne&s;&s;e in our heart, more then in the time that their corne and their wine increa&s;ed;</HI> when we can thus compare the Chri&s;tian Church with other States, and &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings with temporall, then hath the Holy Gho&s;t throughly reproved us, that is, ab&s;olutely convinced us, that there is no other foundation but Chri&s;t, no other name for &s;alvation but Je&s;us, and that all the world but the true profe&s;&s;ors of that name, are &s;till under &s;in, under the guiltine&s;&s;e of &s;in. And the&s;e be the three acceptations of this word, <HI>Arguet,</HI> He &s;hall carry the Go&s;pel to all before the end, <HI>Arguit,</HI> Hee does worke upon the faculties of the naturall man every minute, and <HI>Arguit</HI> againe, Hee hath manife&s;ted to us, that that they who goe not the &s;ame way, peri&s;h. And &s;o wee pa&s;&s;e to the &s;econd Reproofe and Conviction, <HI>He &s;hall reprove the world, De Iu&s;titia, Of Rightcou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>This word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Deju&s;titia.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Iu&s;tificare, To ju&s;tifie,</HI> may be well con&s;idered three wayes; Fir&s;t as it is <HI>verbum vulgare,</HI> as it hath an ordinary and common u&s;e; And then as it is <HI>verbum fo|ren&s;e,</HI> as it hath a civill and a legall u&s;e; And la&s;tly, as it is <HI>verbum Eccle&s;ia&s;ticum,</HI> as it hath a Church u&s;e, as it hath been u&s;ed among&s;t Divines. The fir&s;t way, To ju&s;tifie, is to averre, and maintaine any thing to be true, as wee ordinarily &s;ay to that purpo&s;e, I will ju&s;tifie it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.9.</NOTE> and in that &s;en&s;e the P&s;almi&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Iu&s;tificata judicia Domini in &s;emetip&s;o, The judgements of the Lord ju&s;tifie them&s;elves,</HI> prove them&s;elves to be ju&s;t: And in this &s;en&s;e men are &s;aid to ju&s;tifie God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.29.</NOTE> <HI>The Phari&s;ees and Lawyers rejected the coun&s;ell of God, but all the people, and the Publicans ju&s;tified God,</HI> that is, te&s;tified for him. In the &s;econd way, as it is a judiciall word, To ju&s;tifie is only a verdict of Not guilty, and a Judgement entred upon that, That there is not evidence enough again&s;t him, and therefore he is ju&s;tified, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 17.14.</NOTE> acquited. In this &s;en&s;e is the word in the <HI>Proverbs, He that ju&s;tifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the ju&s;t, even they both are an abomination to the Lord.</HI> Now neither of the&s;e two wayes are we ju&s;tified; we cannot be averred to be ju&s;t; God him&s;elfe can|not &s;ay &s;o of us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 23.7.</NOTE> of us, as we are we: <HI>Non ju&s;tificabo impium, I will not ju&s;tifie the wicked.</HI> God will not &s;ay it, God cannot doe it; A wicked man cannot be, he cannot, by God, be &s;aid to be ju&s;t; they are incompatible, contradictory things. Nor the &s;econd way neither; con&s;ider us &s;tanding in judgement before God, no man can be acquited for want of evidence;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 143.2.</NOTE> <HI>Enter not into Iudgement with thy &s;ervant, for, in thy &s;ight &s;hall none that liveth be ju&s;tified.</HI> For, if we had another &s;oule to give the Devill, to bribe him, to give no evi|dence again&s;t this, if we had another iron to &s;eare up our con&s;ciences again&s;t giving of evidence again&s;t our &s;elves then, yet who can take out of Gods hands tho&s;e examinati|ons, and tho&s;e evidences, which he hath regi&s;tred exactly, as often as we have thought, or &s;aid, or done any thing offen&s;ive to him?</P>
<P>It is therefore onely in the third &s;en&s;e of this word, as it is <HI>Verbum Eccle&s;ia&s;ticum,</HI> A word which S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and the other Scriptures, and the Church, and Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Wri|ters have u&s;ed to expre&s;&s;e our Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, our Ju&s;tification by: And that is onely by the way of pardon, and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, &s;ealed to us in the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; that
<PB N="367" REF="201">what kinde of &s;inners &s;oever we were before, yet that is applied to us, Such and &s;uch you were before, <HI>But ye are ju&s;tified by the name of the Lord Ie&s;us, and by the Spirit of our God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6 11.</NOTE> Now the reproofe of the World, the convincing of the World, the bringing of the World to the knowledg, that as they are all <HI>&s;ub peccato,</HI> under &s;in, by the &s;in of another, &s;o there is a righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of another, that mu&s;t prevaile for all their Pardons, this reproof, this convincing, this in&s;truction of the World is thus wrought: That the whole World con&s;i&s;ting of Jews and Gentiles, when the Holy Gho&s;t had done enough for the convin|cing of both the&s;e, enough for the overthrowing of all arguments, which could either be brought by the Jew for the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the Law, or by the Gentile for the righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Works, (all which is abundantly done by the Holy Gho&s;t, in the Epi&s;tles of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and other Scriptures) when the Holy Gho&s;t had po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed the Church of God, of the&s;e all-&s;ufficient Scriptures, Then the promi&s;e of Chri&s;t was performed, and then, though all the world were not pre&s;ently converted, yet it was pre&s;ently convinced by the Holy Gho&s;t, becau&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t had provided in tho&s;e Scriptures, of which he is the Author, that nothing could be &s;aid in the Worlds behalfe, for any other Righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, then by way of pardon in the blood of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Thus much the Holy Gho&s;t tels us; And if we will &s;earch after more then hee is plea|&s;ed to tell us, that is to rack the Holy Gho&s;t, to over-labour him, to examine him upon &s;uch Intergatories, as belongs not to us, to mini&s;ter unto him. Curious men are not con|tent to know, That our debt is paid by Chri&s;t, but they will know farther, whether Chri&s;t have paid it with his owne hands, or given us money to pay it our &s;elves; whe|ther his Righteou&s;ne&s;s, before it do us any good, be not fir&s;t made ours by Imputation, or by Inhe&s;ion; They mu&s;t know who&s;e money, and then what money, Gold or Silver, whether his active obedience in fulfilling the Law, or his pa&s;&s;ive obedience in &s;hedding his blood. But all the Commi&s;&s;ion of the Holy Gho&s;t here, is, <HI>To reprove the World of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> To convince all Sects in the World, that &s;hall con&s;titute any other righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, then a free pardon by the incorruptible, and invaluable, and inexhau&s;tible blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. By that pardon, his Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is ours: How it is made &s;o, or by what name we &s;hall call our title, or e&s;tate, or intere&s;t in his Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, let us not en|quire. The termes of &s;atisfaction in Chri&s;t, of acceptation in the Father, of imputation to us, or inhe&s;ion in us, are all pious and religious phra&s;es, and &s;omething they expre&s;&s;e; but yet none of the&s;e, Satisfaction, Acceptation, Imputation, Inhe&s;ion, will reach home to &s;atisfie them, that will needs inquire, <HI>Quo modo,</HI> by what meanes Chri&s;ts Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is made ours. This is as far as we need go, <HI>Ad eundem modum ju&s;ti &s;umus coram Deo, quo cor am eo Chri&s;tus fuit peccator,</HI> So as <HI>God made Chri&s;t &s;in for us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.21.</NOTE> <HI>we are made the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of God in him:</HI> &s;o; but how was that? He that can finde no comfort in this Doctrine, till he finde How Chri&s;t was made &s;in, and we righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, till he can expre&s;&s;e <HI>Quo modo,</HI> robs him&s;elf of a great deale of peacefull refre&s;hing, which his con&s;cience might receive, in ta&s;ting the thing it &s;elfe in a holy and humble &s;implicity, without vexing his owne, or other mens con&s;ciences, or troubling the peace of the Church with impertinent and in|extricable curio&s;ities.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e que&s;tions are not &s;o impertinent, but they are in a great part unnece&s;&s;ary, which are moved about the cau&s;e of our righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, our ju&s;tification. Alas, let us be content that God is the cau&s;e, and &s;eeke no other. We mu&s;t never &s;lacken that prote&s;ta|tion, That good works are no cau&s;e of our ju&s;tification. But we mu&s;t alwaies keepe up a right &s;ignification of that word, Cau&s;e. For, Faith it &s;elfe is no cau&s;e; no &s;uch cau&s;e, as that I can merit Heaven, by faith. What doe I merit of the King, by beleeving that he is the undoubted Heire to all his Dominions, or by beleeving that he governes well, if I live not in obedience to his Laws. If it were po&s;&s;ible to beleeve aright, and yet live ill, my faith &s;hould doe me no good. The be&s;t faith is not worth Heaven; The value of it grows <HI>Ex pacto,</HI> That God hath made that Covenant, that Contract, <HI>Crede &amp; vives,</HI> onely be|leeve and thou &s;halt be &s;afe. Faith is but one of tho&s;e things, which in &s;everall &s;en&s;es are &s;aid to ju&s;tifie us. It is truly &s;a&icirc;d of God, <HI>Deus &s;olus ju&s;tificat,</HI> God only ju&s;tifies us; <HI>Effici|enter,</HI> nothing can effect it, nothing can worke towards it, but onely the meere goodne&s;&s;e of God. And it is truly &s;aid of Chri&s;t, <HI>Chri&s;tus &s;olus ju&s;tificat,</HI> Chri&s;t onely ju&s;tifies us; <HI>Materialiter,</HI> nothing enters into the &s;ub&s;tance and body of the ran&s;ome for our &s;ins, but the obedience of Chri&s;t. It is al&s;o truly &s;aid, <HI>Sola fides ju&s;tificat,</HI> Onely faith ju&s;tifies us; <HI>In&s;trumentaliter,</HI> nothing apprehends, nothing applies the merit of Chri&s;t to thee, but
<PB N="368" REF="202">thy faith. And la&s;tly it is as truly &s;aid, <HI>Sola opera ju&s;tificant,</HI> Onely our works ju&s;tifie us; <HI>Declaratori&egrave;,</HI> Only thy good life can a&s;&s;ure thy con&s;cience, and the World, that thou art ju&s;tified. As the efficient ju&s;tification, the gracious purpo&s;e of God had done us no good, without the materiall &s;atisfaction, the death of Chri&s;t had followed; And as that materiall &s;atisfaction, the death of Chri&s;t would do me no good, without the in&s;trumen|tall ju&s;tification, the apprehen&s;ion by faith; &s;o neither would this profit without the de|claratory ju&s;tification, by which all is pleaded and e&s;tabli&s;hed. God enters not into our materiall ju&s;tification, that is onely Chri&s;ts; Chri&s;t enters not into our in&s;trumentall ju|&s;tification, that is onely faiths; Faith enters not into our declaratory ju&s;tification, (for faith is &s;ecret) and declaration belongs to workes. Neither of the&s;e can be &s;aid to ju&s;tifie us alone, &s;o, as that we may take the chaine in pieces, and thinke to be ju&s;tified by any one link thereof; by God without Chri&s;t, by Chri&s;t without faith, or by faith without works; And yet every one of the&s;e ju&s;tifies us alone, &s;o, as that none of the re&s;t enter into that way and that meanes, by which any of the&s;e are &s;aid to ju&s;tifie us.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider we then our &s;elves, as men fallen downe into a darke and deepe pit; and ju&s;ti|fication as a chaine, con&s;i&s;ting of the&s;e foure links, to be let downe to us, and let us take hold of that linke that is next us, A good life, and keepe a fa&s;t and in&s;eparable hold upon that; for though in that &s;en&s;e of which we &s;poke, <HI>Fides ju&s;tificat &s;ola,</HI> Only faith do ju|&s;tifie, yet it is not true in any &s;en&s;e, <HI>Fides e&s;t &s;ola,</HI> that there is any faith, where there is nothing but faith. God comes downeward to us; but we mu&s;t go upward to God; not to get above him in his unrevealed Decrees, but to go up towards him, in laying hold up|on that lowe&s;t linke; that as the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall reprove, that is, convince the world, that there is no other righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e but that of Chri&s;t, &s;o he may enable you to pa&s;&s;e a judgement upon your &s;elves, and to te&s;tifie to the world that you have apprehended that righteou&s;ne&s;s; Which is that that is principally intended in the third and la&s;t part, <HI>That the holy Gho&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> <HI>when he comes, &s;hall reprove the World,</HI> as <HI>of &s;in,</HI> &amp; <HI>of rightcou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> &s;o <HI>of judgment.</HI></P>
<P>After tho&s;e two convictions of the World, that is, Jew, and Gentile, fir&s;t, that they are all under &s;in, and &s;o in a &s;tate of condemnation; And &s;econdly, that there is no righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, no ju&s;tification to be had to the Jew by the Law, nor to the Gentile in Nature, but that there is Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and Ju&s;tification enough for all the world, Jew, and Gen|tile in Chri&s;t; In the third place, the Holy Gho&s;t is to reprove, that is, &s;till to convince the world, to acquaint the world with this my&s;tery, That there is a means &s;ettled to convey this Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t upon the World, and then an account to be taken of them, who do not lay hold upon this meanes; for, both the&s;e are intended in this word <HI>Iudge|ment,</HI> He &s;hall reprove them, prove to them this double &s;ignification of judgement; fir&s;t, that there is a judgement of order, of rectitude, of government, to which purpo&s;e he hath e&s;tabli&s;hed the Church; And then a judgement of account, and of &s;entence, and beatifica|tion upon them, who did; and malediction upon them who did not apply them&s;elves to the fir&s;t judgement, that is, to tho&s;e orderly wayes and meanes of embracing Chri&s;ts righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">d. 11.20.</NOTE> which were offered them in the Church. God hath ordered all things in mea&s;ure,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.42.</NOTE> and number, and waight; <HI>Let all things be done decently and in order for, God is the God of order, and not of confu&s;ion.</HI> And this order, is this judgement; The Court, the Tribu|nall, the Judgment &s;eat, in which all mens con&s;ciences and actions mu&s;t be regulated and ordered, the Church. The perfecte&s;t order was Innocency; that fir&s;t integrity in which God made all. All was di&s;ordered by &s;in: For, in &s;in, and the author of &s;in, Satan, there is no order, no conformity; nothing but di&s;order, and confu&s;ion. Though the Schoole doe generally acknowledge a di&s;tinction of orders in the mini&s;tring Spirits of Heaven, now, Angels and Archangels, and others, yet they di&s;pute, and doubt, and (in a great part) deny that this di&s;tinction of orders was before the fall of tho&s;e Angels; for, they confe&s;&s;e this di&s;tribution into orders, to have been upon their &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, and recognition of Gods go|vernment, which recognition was their very confirmation, and after that they could not fall. And though tho&s;e fallen Angels, the Devils, concurre in an unan me con&s;ent to ruin us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ron.</NOTE> (for, <HI>Bellum Daemonum, &s;umma pax hominum</HI>) we &s;hould agree better, if devils did fall out, yet this is not &s;uch a peace, &s;uch an unity, as gives them any peace, or relaxation, or in|termi&s;&s;ion of angui&s;h, but, as they are the Authors of our confu&s;ion, &s;o they are in a conti|nuall confu&s;ion them&s;elves.</P>
<P>There is no order in the Author of &s;in; and therfore the God of order cannot, directly nor indirectly, po&s;itively nor con&s;ecutively, be the Author of &s;in. There is no order in &s;in
<PB N="369" REF="202">it &s;elfe. The nature, the definition of &s;in, is di&s;order. <HI>Dectum, factum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>concupitum contra le|gem;</HI> God hath ordered a law, and &s;in is an act; if we cannot do that, it is a word; if we dare not do that, it is a de&s;ire again&s;t that law. <HI>Forma peccati, deformitas;</HI> we can a&s;&s;igne &s;in no other form, but deformity. So that our affecting of any thing, as our end, which God hath not propo&s;ed for our end; or our affecting of true ends, by any other wayes then he hath propo&s;ed, this is a di&s;ordering of Gods providence, as much as we can, and &s;o a &s;in. For the Schoole re&s;olves conveniently, probably, that that fir&s;t &s;in that ever was committed, (that <HI>peccatum praegnans, peccatum prolificum,</HI> That womb and matrice of all &s;ins that have been committed &s;ince) The &s;in of the Angels, it was a di&s;order, an obliquity, a deformity, not in not going to the right end, (for, <HI>Illud quae&s;iverunt, ad quod perveni&s;&s;ent, &s;i &s;teti&s;&s;ent,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Aquinas</HI> out of S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> They de&s;ired no more then they were made for, and &s;hould have come to, if they had &s;tood) but their &s;in was in affecting a right end a wrong way, in de&s;i|ring to come to their appointed perfection by them&s;elves, to &s;ub&s;i&s;t of them&s;elves, &amp; to be independent, without any farther need of God, for that was their de&s;ire, <HI>To be like the mo&s;t High,</HI> To depend upon nothing, but be all-&s;ufficient to them&s;elves. So they di&s;ordered Gods purpo&s;e; and when they had once broke that chaine, when they had once put that harmony out of tune, then came in di&s;order, di&s;cord, confu&s;ion, and that is &s;in.</P>
<P><HI>Gods work is perfect;</HI> How appeares that? <HI>For all his wayes are Iudgement,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.4.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>Mo|&s;es</HI> in his victorious &s;ong. This is Perfection, That he hath e&s;tabli&s;hed an order, a judge|ment. Which is not only that order which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> defines, <HI>Ordo e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>per quem omnia aguntur, quae Deus con&s;tituit,</HI> The order and the judgement by which God governs the world, according to his purpo&s;e, (which judgement is Providence) But (as the &s;ame Father &s;ayes in the &s;ame book) it is <HI>Ordo, quem &s;i tenueris in vita, perdacet ad Deum,</HI> It is an order and a judgement which he hath manife&s;ted to thee, (for the order and judge|ment of his providence, he doth not alwayes manife&s;t) by obedience to which order and judgement, thou mai&s;t be &s;aved. The &s;ame Father &s;peaking of this order and judgement of providence, &s;ayes, <HI>Nihil ordini contrarium,</HI> Nothing can be contrary to that order; He is in a holy rapture tran&s;ported with that con&s;ideration, That even di&s;orders are with|in Gods order; There is in the order and judgement of his providence an admi&s;&s;ion, a permi&s;&s;ion of di&s;orders: This un&s;earchable proceeding of God, carries him to that pa&s;|&s;ionate exclamation, <HI>O &s;ipo&s;&s;em dicere quod vellem!</HI> O that I were able to expre&s;&s;e my &s;elf! <HI>Roge, ubi ubi e&s;tis verba, &s;uecurrite;</HI> Where, where are tho&s;e words which I had wont to have at command? why do ye not &s;erve me, help me now? Now, when I would declare this, <HI>Bona &amp; mala &s;unt in ordine,</HI> That even di&s;orders are done in order, that even our &s;ins &s;ome way or other fall within the providence of God. But that is not the order, nor judgement which the holy Gho&s;t is &s;ent to manife&s;t to the world. The holy Gho&s;t works be&s;t upon them, which &s;earch lea&s;t into Gods &s;ecret judgements and proceedings. But the order and judgement we &s;peak of, is an order, a judgement-&s;eate e&s;tabli&s;hed, by which, every man, how&s;oever oppre&s;&s;ed with the burden of &s;in, may, in the application of the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel by the Ordinance of preaching, and in the &s;eales thereof in the participation of the Sacraments, be a&s;&s;ured, that he hath received his Ab&s;olution, his Remi&s;&s;ion, his Pardon, and is re&s;tored to the innocency of his Bap|ti&s;me, nay to the integrity which <HI>Adam</HI> had before the fall, nay to the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe. In the creation God took red earth, and then breathed a &s;oule in|to it: When Chri&s;t came to a &s;econd creation, to make a Church, he took earth, men, red earth, men made partakers of his blood; (for, <HI>Eccle&s;iam quae&s;ivit, &amp; acqui&s;ivit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> Hee de&s;ired a Church, and he purcha&s;ed a Church; but by a ble&s;&s;ed way of Simony; <HI>Adde medium acqui&s;itionis, Sanguine acqui&s;ivit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>He purcha&s;ed a Church with his own blood</HI>) And when he had made this body, in calling his Apo&s;tles, then he breathed the &s;oule into them, his Spirit, and that made up all: <HI>Quod in&s;ufflavit Dominus Apo&s;tolis, &amp; dixit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Acci|pite Spiritum &s;anctum, Eccle&s;iae pote&s;tas collata e&s;t,</HI> Then when Chri&s;t breathed that Spirit into them, he con&s;tituted the Church. And this power of Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, is that or|der, and that judgement which Chri&s;t him&s;elfe calls by the name of the mo&s;t orderly frame in this, or the next world, A Kingdome, <HI>Di&s;pono vobis regnum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.29.</NOTE> <HI>I appoint unto you a Kingdome, as my Father hath appointed unto me.</HI></P>
<P>Now, <HI>Faciunt favos &amp; ve&s;pa, faciunt Eccle&s;ias &amp; Marcionitae,</HI> As Wa&s;pes make combs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> but empty ones, &s;o do Heretiques Churches, but frivolous ones, ineffectuall ones. And, as we told you before, That errors and di&s;orders are as well in wayes, as inends, &s;o may
<PB N="370" REF="203">we deprive our &s;elves of the benefit of this judgement, The Church, as well in circum|&s;tances, as in &s;ub&s;tances, as well in oppo&s;ing di&s;cipline, as doctrine. The holy Gho&s;t <HI>reprovc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">thee,</HI> convinces thee, <HI>of judgement,</HI> that is, offers thee the knowledge that &s;uch a Church there is; A Jordan to wa&s;h thine originall lepro&s;ie in Bapti&s;me; A City upon a mountaine, to enlighten thee in the works of darkne&s;&s;e; a continuall application of all that Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;aid, and did, and &s;uffered, to thee. Let no &s;oule &s;ay, &s;he can have all this at Gods hands immediatly, and never trouble the Church; That &s;he can pa&s;&s;e her pardon between God and her, without all the&s;e formalities, by a &s;ecret repentance. It is true, beloved, a true repentance is never fru&s;trate: But yet, if thou wilt think thy &s;elfe a little Church, a Church to thy &s;elfe, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t heard it &s;aid, That thou art a little world, a world in thy &s;elfe, that figurative, that metaphoricall repre&s;entation &s;hall not &s;ave thee. Though thou bee&s;t a world to thy &s;elf, yet if thou have no more corn, nor oyle, nor milk, then growes in thy &s;elf, or flowes from thy &s;elf, thou wilt &s;tarve; Though thou be a Church in thy fancy, if thou have no more &s;eales of grace, no more ab&s;olution of &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Grego.</NOTE> then thou can&s;t give thy &s;elf, thou wilt peri&s;h. <HI>Per &s;olam Eccle&s;iam &s;a|crificium libenter accipit Deus:</HI> Thou mai&s;t be a Sacrifice in thy chamber, but God re|ceives a Sacrifice more cheerefully at Church. <HI>Sola, quae pro errantibus fiducialiter inter|cedit,</HI> Only the Church hath the nature of a &s;urety; How&s;oever God may take thine own word at home, yet he accepts the Church in thy behalfe, as better &s;ecurity. Joyne therefore ever with the Communion of Saints;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Et cum membrum &s;is ejus corporis, quod loquitur omnibus linguis, crede te omnibus linguis loqui,</HI> Whil&s;t thou art a member of that Congregation, that &s;peaks to God with a thou&s;and tongues, beleeve that thou &s;peake&s;t to God with all tho&s;e tongues. And though thou know thine own prayers unworthy to come up to God, becau&s;e thou lifte&s;t up to him an eye, which is but now withdrawne from a licentious glancing, and hands which are guilty yet of unrepented uncleanne&s;&s;es, a tongue that hath but lately bla&s;phemed God, a heart which even now breaks the walls of this hou&s;e of God, and &s;teps home, or runs abroad upon the memory, or upon the new plotting of plea&s;urable or profitable purpo&s;es, though this make thee thinke thine own prayers uneffectuall, yet beleeve that &s;ome hone&s;ter man then thy &s;elfe &s;tands by thee, and that when he prayes with thee, he prayes for thee; and that, if there be one righteous man in the Congregation, thou art made the more acceptable to God by his prayers; and make that benefit of this reproofe, this conviction of the holy Gho&s;t, That he convinces thee <HI>De judicio,</HI> a&s;&s;ures thee of an orderly Church e&s;tabli&s;hed for thy re|liefe, and that the application of thy &s;elf to this judgement, The Church, &s;hall enable thee to &s;tand upright in that other judgement, the la&s;t judgement, which is al&s;o enwrapped in the &s;ignification of this word of our Text, <HI>Iudgement,</HI> and is the conclu&s;ion for this day.</P>
<P>As God begun all with judgement,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudicium finale. <HI>Sap. 11.</HI></NOTE> (for he made all things in mea&s;ure, number, and waight) as he proceeded with judgement, in erecting a judiciall &s;eat for our direction, and correction, the Church, &s;o he &s;hall end all with judgement, The finall, and generall judgement, at the Re&s;urrection; which he that beleeves not, beleeves nothing; not God; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.6.</NOTE> <HI>He that commeth to God</HI> (that makes any &s;tep towards him) <HI>mu&s;t beleeve, Deum remu|ner atorem,</HI> God, and God in that notion, as he is a Rewarder; Therefore there is judge|ment. But was this work left for the Holy Gho&s;t? Did not the naturall man that knew no Holy Gho&s;t, know this? Truly, all their fabulous Divinity, all their Mythology, their Minos, and their Rhadamanthus, ta&s;ted of &s;uch a notion, as a judgement. And yet the fir&s;t planters of the Chri&s;tian Religion found it harde&s;t to fixe this roote of all other articles, <HI>That Chri&s;t &s;hould come againe to judgement.</HI> Mi&s;erable and froward men! They would beleeve it in their fables, and would not beleeve it in the Scriptures; They would beleeve it in the nine Mu&s;es, and would not beleeve it in the twelve Apo&s;tles; They would beleeve it by Apollo, and they would not beleeve it by the Holy Gho&s;t; They would be &s;aved Poetically, and fanta&s;tically, and would not rea&s;onably, and &s;piritually; By Copies, and not by Originals; by counterfeit things at fir&s;t deduced by their Authors, out of our Scriptures,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> and yet not by the word of God him&s;elf. Which <HI>Tertullian</HI> ap|prehends and reprehends in his time, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Prae&s;cribimus adulteris no&s;tris,</HI> Wee pre&s;cribe above them, which counterfeit our doctrine, for we had it before them, and they have but rags, and tho&s;e torn from us. <HI>Fabulae immi&s;&s;ae, quae fidem infirmarent veri|tatis;</HI> They have brought part of our Scriptures into their Fables, that all the re&s;t might &s;eem but Fables too. <HI>Gehennam praedicantes &amp; iudicium, ridemur, decachinnamur,</HI> They
<PB N="371" REF="203">laugh at us when we preach of hell, and judgement, <HI>Et tamen Ely&s;ii campi fidem praeoc|cupaverunt,</HI> And yet they will needs be beleeved when they talk of their Ely&s;ian fields. <HI>Fideliora no&s;tra, quorum imagines fidem inveniunt,</HI> Is it not &s;afer tru&s;ting to our &s;ub&s;tance, then their &s;hadows; To our doctrine of the judgement, in the Scriptures, then their al|lu&s;ions in their Poets?</P>
<P>So far <HI>Tertullian</HI> con&s;iders this; But to &s;ay the truth, and all the truth, How&s;oever the Gentiles had &s;ome glimmering of a judgement, that is, an account to be made of our acti+ons after this life, yet of this judgement which we &s;peak of now, which is a generall Judgement of all together, And that judgement to be executed by Chri&s;t, and to be ac|companied with a Re&s;urrection of the body, of this, the Gentiles had no intimation, this was left wholly for the holy Gho&s;t to manife&s;t. And of this, all the world hath received a full convincing from him, becau&s;e he hath delivered to the world tho&s;e Scriptures, which do &s;o abundantly, &s;o irrefragably e&s;tabli&s;h it. And therfore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 7.36. Bernard.</NOTE> <HI>Memorare novi&s;sima &amp; non peccabis;</HI> Remember the end, and thou &s;halt never do ami&s;&s;e. <HI>Non dicitur memorare pri|mordia, aut media;</HI> If thou remember the fir&s;t reproofe, that all are under &s;in, that may give occa&s;ion of excu&s;ing, or extenuating, How could I avoid that, that all men do? If thou remember the &s;econd reproofe, That there is a righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e communicable to all that &s;in, that may occa&s;ion &s;o bold a confidence, Since I may have &s;o ea&s;ie a pardon, what ha&s;te of giving over yet? But <HI>Memorare novi&s;sima,</HI> con&s;ider that there is a judge|ment, and that that judgement is the la&s;t thing that God hath to doe with man, con&s;ider this, and thou wilt not &s;in, not love &s;in, not doe the &s;ame &s;ins to morrow thou did&s;t ye&s;ter-day, as though this judgement were never the nearer, but that as a thou&s;and yeares are as one day with God, &s;o thy three&s;core yeares &s;hould be as one night with thee, one continuall &s;leep in the practi&s;e of thy beloved &s;in. Thou wilt not think &s;o, if thou re|member this judgement.</P>
<P>Now, in re&s;pect of the time after this judgement, (which is Eternity) the time between this and it cannot be a minute; and therefore think thy &s;elf at that Tribunall, that judge|ment now: Where thou &s;halt not onely <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">are all thy &s;infull workes, and words, and thoughts repeated, which thou thy &s;elfe had&s;t utterly forgot, but thou &s;halt heare thy good works, thine almes, thy comming to Church, thy hearing of Sermons given in evi|dence again&s;t thee, becau&s;e they had hypocri&s;ie mingled in them; yea thou &s;halt finde even thy repentance to condemne thee, becau&s;e thou made&s;t that but a doore to a relap&s;e. There thou &s;halt &s;ee, to thine inexpre&s;&s;ible terror, &s;ome others ca&s;t downe into hell, for thy &s;ins; for tho&s;e &s;ins which they would not have done, but upon thy provocation. There thou &s;halt &s;ee &s;ome that occa&s;ioned thy &s;ins, and accompanied thee in them, and &s;in|ned them in a greater mea&s;ure then thou did&s;t, taken up into heaven, becau&s;e in the way, they remembred the end, and thou &s;halt &s;ink under a le&s;&s;e waight, becau&s;e thou never looked&s;t towards him that would have ea&s;ed thee of it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> <HI>Quis non cogitans haec in de&s;peratio|nis rotetur aby&s;&s;um?</HI> Who can once thinke of this and not be tumbled into de&s;peration? But who can think of it twice, maturely, and by the Holy Gho&s;t, and not finde comfort in it, when the &s;ame light that &s;hewes mee the judgement, &s;hewes me the Judge too? Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord, we per&s;wade men;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.15.</NOTE> but knowing the com|forts too, we importune men to this con&s;ideration, That as God preceeds with judge|ment in this world, to give the i&s;&s;ue with the tentation, and competent &s;trength with the affliction, as the Wi&s;eman expre&s;&s;es it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 12.21.</NOTE> That God puni&s;hes his enemies with delibe|ration, and reque&s;ting, (as our former Tran&s;lation had it) and then with how great cir|cum&s;pection will he judge his children? So he gives us a holy hope, That as he hath ac|cepted us in this fir&s;t judgement, the Church, and made us partakers of the Word and Sacraments there, So he will bring us with comfort to that place, which no tongue but the tongue of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and that moved by the Holy Gho&s;t, could de&s;cribe, and which he does de&s;cribe &s;o gloriou&s;ly, and &s;o pathetically, <HI>You are come unto Mount Sion,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.22.</NOTE> <HI>and to the City of the living God, The heavenly Ieru&s;alem, And to an innumerable company of An|gels, To the generall A&s;&s;embly and Church of the fir&s;t borne, which are written in heaven, and to God the Iudge of all, and to Ie&s;us the Mediator of the new Covenant, and to the blood of &s;prink|ling, that &s;peaks better things then the blood of Abel.</HI> And into this ble&s;&s;ed and in&s;eparable &s;ociety, The Father of lights, and God of all comfort, give you an admi&s;&s;ion now, and an irremoveable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion hereafter, for his onely Sons onely &s;ake, and by the working of his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, whom he &s;ends to work in you, <HI>This reproofe of Sin, of Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and of Iudgement.</HI> Amen.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="Trinity Sunday" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="204">
<PB REF="204">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon Trinity-Sunday.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="38" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="205">
<PB N="375" REF="205">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXVIII.</HI> Preached upon Trinity-Sunday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>2 COR. 1.3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed be God, even the Father of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THere was never Army compo&s;ed of &s;o many &s;everall Nations, the Towre of Babel it &s;elf, in the confu&s;ion of tongues, gave not &s;o ma|ny &s;everall &s;ounds as are uttered and mu&s;tered again&s;t God, and his Religion. The Athei&s;t denies God; for, though <HI>David</HI> call it a fooli&s;h thing to do &s;o, <HI>(The foole hath &s;aid it in his heart)</HI> And though <HI>David</HI> &s;peake it in the &s;ingular number, <HI>The foole,</HI> as though there were not many &s;o very fooles, as <HI>to &s;ay,</HI> and <HI>to &s;ay in their heart, There is no God,</HI> yet &s;ome &s;uch fooles there are, that &s;ay it in their very heart, and have made &s;hift to think &s;o indeed; But for &s;uch fools as &s;ay it in their actions, that is, that live as though there were no God, <HI>Stultorum plena &s;unt omnia;</HI> We have &s;een fooles in the Court, and fooles in the Cloi&s;ter, fooles that take no calling, and fooles in all callings that can be taken, fooles that heare, and fooles that preach, fooles at generall Councells, and fooles at Councell-tables, <HI>Stultorum plena &s;unt omnia,</HI> &s;uch fooles as de|ny God, &s;o far, as to leave him out, are not in <HI>Davids</HI> &s;ingular number, but &s;uper-abound in every profe&s;&s;ion: So that <HI>Davids</HI> manner of expre&s;&s;ing it, is not &s;o much &s;ingular, as though there were but one, or few &s;uch fooles, but emphaticall, becau&s;e that foole, that any way denies God, is the foole, the verye&s;t foole of all kinds of fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>Now, as God him&s;elfe, &s;o his religion among&s;t us hath many enemies; Enemies that deny God, as Athei&s;ts; And enemies that multiply gods, that make many gods, as Ido|laters; And enemies that deny tho&s;e divers per&s;ons in the Godhead, which they &s;hould confe&s;&s;e, The Trinity, as Jews and Turks: So in his Religion, and outward wor&s;hip, we have enemies that deny God his Hou&s;e, that deny us any Church, any Sacrament, any Prie&s;thood, any Salvation, as Papi&s;ts; And enemies that deny Gods hou&s;e any furni|ture, any &s;tuffe, any beauty, any ornament, any order, as non-Conformitans; And ene|mies that are glad to &s;ee Gods hou&s;e richly furni&s;hed for a while, that they may come to the &s;poile thereof, as &s;acrilegious u&s;urpers of Gods part. But for Athei&s;ticall enemies, I call not upon them here, to an&s;wer me; Let them an&s;wer their own terrors, and hor|rors alone at mid-night, and tell them&s;elves whence that proceeds, if there be no God. For Papi&s;ticall enemies, I call not upon them to an&s;wer me; Let them an&s;wer our Laws as well as our Preaching, becau&s;e theirs is a religion mixt as well of Trea&s;on, as of Ido|latry. For our refractary, and &s;chi&s;maticall enemies, I call not upon them to an&s;wer me neither; Let them an&s;wer the Church of God, in what nation, in what age was there ever &s;een a Church, of that form, that they have dreamt, and beleeve their own dream? And for our &s;acrilegious enemies, let them an&s;wer out of the body of Story, and give one example of pro&s;perity upon &s;acriledge.</P>
<PB N="376" REF="206">
<P>But leaving all the&s;e to that which hath heretofore, or may hereafter be &s;aid of them, I have bent my meditations, for tho&s;e dayes, which this Terme will afford, upon that, which is the character and mark of all Chri&s;tians in generall, The Trinity, the three Per&s;ons in one God; not by way of &s;ubtile di&s;putation, as to per&s;ons that doubted, but by way of godly declaration, as to per&s;ons di&s;po&s;ed to make u&s;e of it; not as though I feared your faith needed it, nor as though I hoped I could make your rea&s;on compre|hend it, but becau&s;e I pre&s;ume, that the con&s;ideration of God the Father, and his Power, and the &s;ins directed again&s;t God, in that notion, as the Father; and the con&s;ideration of God the Son, and his Wi&s;edome, and the &s;ins again&s;t God, in that apprehen&s;ion, the Son; and the con&s;ideration of God the Holy Gho&s;t, and his Goodne&s;&s;e, and the &s;ins again&s;t God, in that acceptation, may conduce, as much, at lea&s;t, to our edification, as any Doctrine, more controverted. And of the fir&s;t glorious per&s;on of this ble&s;&s;ed Trinity, the Almighty Father, is this Text, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be God, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> the Apo&s;tle having ta&s;ted, having been fed with the &s;en&s;e of the pow|er, and of the mercies of God, in his gracious deliverance, delivers a &s;hort Catechi&s;me of all our duties: So &s;hort, as that there is but one action, <HI>Benedicamus, Let us ble&s;&s;e;</HI> Nor but one object to direct that ble&s;&s;ing upon, <HI>Benedicamus Deum, Let us ble&s;&s;e God.</HI> It is but one God, to exclude an Idolatrous multiplicity of Gods, But it is one God notified and manife&s;ted to us, in a triplicity of per&s;ons; of which, the fir&s;t is literally expre&s;&s;ed here, That he is a <HI>Father.</HI> And him we con&s;ider <HI>In Paternitate aeterna,</HI> As he is the eternall Father, <HI>Even the Father of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes our Text; And then <HI>In Paterni|tate interna,</HI> as we have <HI>the Spirit of Adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father;</HI> As he is <HI>Pa|ter mi&s;erationum, The Father of mercies;</HI> And as he expre&s;&s;es the&s;e mercies, by the &s;eale and demon&s;tration of comfort, as he is <HI>the God of comfort,</HI> and <HI>Totius con&s;olationis, Of all comfort.</HI> Receive the &s;umme of this, and all that ari&s;es from it, in this &s;hort Paraphra&s;e; The duty required of a Chri&s;tian, is <HI>Ble&s;sing,</HI> Prai&s;e, Thank&s;giving; To whom? To <HI>God,</HI> to God onely, to the onely God. There is but one; But this one God is &s;uch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> tree, as hath divers boughs to &s;hadow and refre&s;h thee, divers branches to &s;hed fruit upon thee, divers armes to &s;pread out, and reach, and imbrace thee. And here hee vi&s;its thee as a <HI>Father:</HI> From all eternity a <HI>Father of Chri&s;t Ie&s;us,</HI> and now thy Father in him in that which thou neede&s;t mo&s;t, <HI>A Father of mercy,</HI> when thou wa&s;t in mi&s;ery; And a <HI>God of comfort,</HI> when thou founde&s;t no comfort in this world, And <HI>a God of all comfort,</HI> even of &s;pirituall comfort, in the angui&s;hes, and di&s;tre&s;&s;es of thy con&s;cience. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed bee God, even the Father, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Benedictus.</HI></NOTE> the duty which God, by this Apo&s;tle, requires of man, is a duty ari&s;ing out of that, which God hath wrought upon him: It is not a con&s;ideration, a contemplati|on of God &s;itting in heaven, but of God working upon the earth; not in the making of his eternall Decree there, but in the execution of tho&s;e Decrees here; not in &s;aying, God knowes who are his, and therefore they cannot faile, but in &s;aying in a rectified con&s;ci|ence, God, by his ordinary marks, hath let me know that I am his, and therefore I look to my wayes, that I doe not fall. S. <HI>Paul</HI> out of a religious &s;en&s;e what God had done for him, comes to this duty, to ble&s;&s;e him.</P>
<P>There is not a better Grammar to learne, then to learne how to ble&s;&s;e God, and there|fore it may be no levity, to u&s;e &s;ome Grammar termes herein. God ble&s;&s;es man <HI>Dativ&egrave;,</HI> He gives good to him; man ble&s;&s;es God <HI>Optativ&egrave;,</HI> He wi&s;hes well to him; and he ble&s;|&s;es him <HI>Vocativ&egrave;,</HI> He &s;peaks well of him. For, though towards God, as well as towards man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25.27. 2 King 5.15.</NOTE> reall actions are called ble&s;&s;ings, (&s;o <HI>Abigail</HI> called the pre&s;ent which &s;he brought to <HI>David, A ble&s;sing,</HI> and &s;o <HI>Naaman</HI> called that which he offered to <HI>Eli&s;ha, A ble&s;sing</HI>) though reall &s;acrifices to God, and his cau&s;e, &s;acrifices of Almes, &s;acrifices of Armes, &s;acrifices of Money, &s;acrifices of Sermons, advancing a good publique cau&s;e, may come under the name of ble&s;&s;ing, yet the word here, <GAP DESC="foreign">, is properly a ble&s;&s;ing in &s;peech, in di&s;cour&s;e, in conference, in words, in prai&s;e, in thanks. <HI>The dead doe not prai&s;e thee,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> The dead (men civilly dead, allegorically dead, dead and buryed in an u&s;e|le&s;&s;e &s;ilence, in a Cloy&s;ter, or Colledge, may prai&s;e God, but not in words of edificati|on, as it is required here, and they are but dead, and doe not prai&s;e God &s;o; and <HI>God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,</HI> of tho&s;e that delight to prai&s;e and ble&s;&s;e God, and to declare his goodne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>We repre&s;ent the Angels to our &s;elves, and to the world with wings, they are able to
<PB N="377" REF="206">flie; and yet when <HI>Iacob</HI> &s;aw them a&s;eending and de&s;cending,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 28.12.</NOTE> even tho&s;e winged Angels had a Ladder, they went by degrees: There is an immediate ble&s;&s;ing of God, by the heart, but God requires the tongue too, becau&s;e that &s;preads and diffu&s;es his glory upon others too. <HI>Calici benedictionis benedicimus,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>The cup which we ble&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.16.</NOTE> <HI>is a cup of ble&s;sing;</HI> When we have ble&s;&s;ed it, according to Chri&s;ts holy in&s;titution, then it derives holy ble&s;&s;ings upon us; and when we ble&s;&s;e God according to his Commande|ment, he ble&s;&s;es us according to his promi&s;e, and our de&s;ire.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 6.12. Ier. 1.6.</NOTE> When God imployed <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and when he imployed <HI>Ieremy, Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Ieremy</HI> had no excu&s;e, but the unreadi|ne&s;&s;e of their tongues; he that hath a tongue di&s;po&s;ed to Gods &s;ervice, that will &s;peak all he can, and dares &s;peake all he &s;hould to the glory of God, is fit for all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iames 3.5.</NOTE> As S. <HI>Iames</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>The tongue is but a little member, but bea&s;teth great things;</HI> &s;o truly, as little as it is, it does great things towards our &s;alvation. The Son of God, is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>verbum, The word;</HI> God made us with his word, and with our words we make God &s;o farre, as that we make up the my&s;ticall body of Chri&s;t Je&s;us with our prayers, with our whole liturgie, and we make the naturall body of Chri&s;t Je&s;us appliable to our &s;oules, by the words of Con&s;ecration in the Sacrament, and our &s;oules apprehen&s;ive, and capable of that body, by the word Preached. Ble&s;&s;e him therefore in &s;peaking to him, in your prayers: Ble&s;&s;e him in &s;peaking with him, in a&s;&s;enting, in an&s;wering that which he &s;ayes to you in his word: And ble&s;&s;e him in &s;peaking of him, in telling one another the good things that he hath done abundantly for you. <HI>I will ble&s;&s;e the Lord at all times,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.2.</NOTE> Is it at all times, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Cum circumfluunt omnia,</HI> at all times, when God ble&s;&s;es mee with temporall pro&s;perity? <HI>Cum minus na&s;cuntur, cum nata dilabuntur,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, when thy gaine cea&s;es for the pre&s;ent, when that that thou had&s;t formerly got, wa&s;ts and peri&s;hes, and threatens penury for the future, &s;till ble&s;&s;e thou the Lord, <HI>Quia ille dat, ille tollit, &s;ed &s;eip&s;um &agrave; benedicente &s;e non tollit;</HI> The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, but the Lord never takes away him&s;elfe from him that delights in ble&s;&s;ing his name. Ble&s;&s;e, prai&s;e, &s;peake; there is the duty, and we have done with that which was our fir&s;t Part: And ble&s;&s;e thou God, which is our &s;econd Part, and a Part derived into many Branches. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be God, even, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Here fir&s;t we &s;ee the object of our prai&s;es, whom we mu&s;t ble&s;&s;e, <HI>Benedict us &s;it Deus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2 Part.</HI> Deum &s;o|lum.</NOTE> <HI>God.</HI> Fir&s;t, <HI>Solus Deus,</HI> God onely, that is, God and not man, and then <HI>Deus &s;olus,</HI> the onely God, that is God, and not many Gods. God onely, and not man; not that we may not ble&s;&s;e, and wi&s;h well to one another, for there is a ble&s;&s;ing from God, belongs to that, <HI>Benedicam benedicentibus tibi,</HI> &s;ayes God to <HI>Abraham,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>I will ble&s;&s;e them that ble&s;&s;e thee:</HI> Neither is it that we may not ble&s;&s;e, that is, give due prai&s;e to one another; for as the vices and &s;ins of great per&s;ons are not &s;mothered in the Scriptures, &s;o their ver|tues, and good deeds are publi&s;hed with prai&s;e. <HI>Noahs</HI> drunkenne&s;&s;e, and <HI>Lots</HI> ince&s;t is not di&s;gui&s;ed, <HI>Iobs</HI> righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and holy patience is not concealed neither;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 13.3.</NOTE> <HI>Doe that which is good,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>and thou &s;halt have prai&s;e for the &s;ame.</HI> Neither is it that we may not ble&s;&s;e, that is, pray for one another, of what &s;ort &s;oever; for we are comman|ded to doe that, for our &s;uperiours; inferiours may ble&s;&s;e &s;uperiours too; Nor that wee &s;hould not ble&s;&s;e, that is, pray to one another, in petitioning and &s;upplicating our &s;upe|riours for tho&s;e things which are committed to their di&s;pen&s;ation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.5.</NOTE> for the importunate &s;utor, the widow, is not blamed in the Go&s;pel for her importunity to the Judge; It is true, the Judge is blamed, for with-holding Ju&s;tice, till importunity extorted it. But to ble&s;&s;e, by prai&s;e, or prayer, the man without relation to God, that is, the man, and not God in the man, to determine the glory in the per&s;on, without contributing thereby to the glory of God, this is a manner of ble&s;&s;ing accur&s;ed here, becau&s;e ble&s;&s;ing is radi|cally, fundamentally, originally, here re&s;erved to God, to God onely, <HI>Benedictus &s;it Deus, God be ble&s;&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>For, properly, truly none is to be thus ble&s;&s;ed by us, but he upon whom we may de|pend and rely: and can we depend and rely upon man? upon what man? upon Princes? As far as we can looke for examples, round about us, in our next neighbours, and in France, and in Spaine, and farther, we have &s;eene in our age Kings di&s;carded, and wee have &s;eene in &s;ome of them, the di&s;carded cards taken in againe, and win the game. Upon what man wilt thou rely? upon great per&s;ons in favour with Princes? Have we not &s;een often, that the bed-chambers of Kings have back-doores into pri&s;ons, and that the end of that greatne&s;&s;e hath beene, but to have a greater Jury to condemne them? wilt thou
<PB N="378" REF="207">rely upon the Prophet, he can teach thee; or upon thy Brother, he does love thee; or up|on thy Son, he &s;hould love thee; or the Wife of thy bo&s;ome, &s;he will &s;ay &s;he loves thee; or upon thy Friend,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 13.</NOTE> he is as thine owne &s;oule? yet <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> puts a ca&s;e when thou mu&s;t de|part from all the&s;e, not con&s;ent, no not conceale, not pardon, no not reprieve, <HI>Thou &s;halt &s;urely kill him,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> even this <HI>Prophet,</HI> this <HI>Brother,</HI> this <HI>Son,</HI> this <HI>Wife</HI> may en|cline thee <HI>to the &s;ervice of other Gods;</HI> Thou can&s;t not rely, and therefore doe not ble&s;&s;e, not with prai&s;e, not with prayer and dependance upon him, That Prophet, by what name or title &s;oever he be called; that Brother, how willingly &s;oever he divide the inheritance with thee; that Son, how dutifull &s;oever in civill things; that Wife, how carefull &s;oever of her owne honour, and thy children; that Friend, how free &s;oever of his favours, and of his &s;ecrets, that enclines thee to other Gods, or to other &s;ervice of the true God, then is true. Greatne&s;&s;e is not the object of this ble&s;&s;ing, for Greatne&s;&s;e is often eclip&s;ed by the way, and at la&s;t certainely extingui&s;hed in death, and &s;wallowed in the grave. Good|ne&s;&s;e, as it is morall, is not the object of this ble&s;&s;ing; but ble&s;&s;e God onely; God in the roote, in him&s;elfe, or God exemplified, and manife&s;ted in godly men; ble&s;&s;e God in them, in whom he appeares, and in them who appeare for him, and &s;o thou doe&s;t ble&s;&s;e <HI>&s;olum Deum,</HI> God onely.</P>
<P>This thou mu&s;t doe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus &s;olus.</NOTE> Ble&s;&s;e God onely, not man, and then the onely God, not other gods. For, this was the wretched and penurious narrowne&s;&s;e to which the Gentiles were reduced, that being unable to confider God intirely, they broke God in pieces, and crumbled, and &s;cattered God into as many &s;everall gods, as there are Powers in God, nay almo&s;t into as many &s;everall gods, as there are Creatures from God; and more then that, as many gods as they could fancie or imagine in making Chimera's of their owne, for not onely that which was not God, but that which was not at all, was made a God. And then, as in narrow channels that cannot containe the water, the water over-flowes, and yet that water that does &s;o over flow, flies out and &s;preads to &s;uch a &s;hallowne&s;&s;e, as will not beare a Boat to any u&s;e; &s;o when by this narrowne&s;&s;e in the Gentiles, God had over-flowne this bank, this limitation of God in an unity, all the re&s;t was too &s;hallow to beare any &s;uch notion, any &s;uch con&s;ideration of God, as appertained to him: They could not think him an Omnipotent God, when if one God would not, another would, nor an Infinite God, when they had appeales from one God to another; and without Omnipotence, and without Infinitene&s;&s;e they could not truly conceive a God. They had cantoned a glorious Monarchy into petty States, that could not &s;ub&s;i&s;t of them&s;elves, nor a&s;&s;i&s;t another, and &s;o imagined a God for every &s;tate and every action, that a man mu&s;t have applied him&s;elfe to one God when he &s;hipped, and when he landed to another, and if he travailed farther, change his God by the way, as often as he changed coynes, or po&s;t-hor&s;es.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.4.</NOTE> But, <HI>Heare O I&s;rael, the Lord thy God is one God.</HI> As though this were all that were to be heard, all that were to be learned, they are called to <HI>heare,</HI> and then there is no more &s;aid but that, <HI>The Lord thy God is one God.</HI></P>
<P>There are men that will &s;ay and &s;weare, they do not meane to make God the Author of &s;in; but yet when they &s;ay, That God made man therefore, that he might have &s;ome|thing to damne, and that he made him &s;in therefore, that he might have &s;omething to damne him for, truly they come too neare making God the Author of &s;in, for all their mode&s;t prote&s;tation of ab&s;taining. So there are men that will &s;ay and &s;weare, they do not meane to make Saints Gods; but yet when they will aske the &s;ame things at Saints hands, which they do at Gods, and in the &s;ame phra&s;e and manner of expre&s;&s;ion, when they will pray the Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> to a&s;&s;i&s;t her Son, nay to command her Son, and make her a Chancellor to mitigate his common Law, truly they come too neare making more Gods then one. And &s;o do we too, when we give particular &s;ins dominion over us; <HI>Quot vitia, tot Deos recentes,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Hierom:</HI> As the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes <HI>Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e is Idolatry,</HI> &s;o, &s;ayes that Father, is voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and every habituall &s;in. <HI>Non alienum</HI> &s;ayes God, <HI>Thou &s;halt have no other God but me,</HI> But, <HI>Quis &s;imilis,</HI> &s;ayes God too, <HI>Who is like me?</HI> Hee will have nothing made like him, not made &s;o like a God as they make their Saints, nor made &s;o like a God, as we make our &s;ins. Wee thinke one King Soveraigne enough, and one friend coun&s;ellor enough, and one Wife helper enough, and he is &s;trangely in&s;atiable, that thinks not one God, God enough: e&s;pecially, &s;ince when thou ha&s;t called this God what thou can&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">r.</NOTE> he is more then thou ha&s;t &s;aid of him. <HI>Cum definitur, ip&s;e &s;ua definitione cre&s;cit;</HI> When thou ha&s;t defined him to be the God of ju&s;tice,
<PB N="379" REF="207">and tremble&s;t, he is more then that, he is the God of mercy too, and gives thee comfort. When thou ha&s;t defined him to be all eye, He &s;ees all thy &s;ins, he is more then that, he is all patience, and covers all thy &s;ins. And though he be in his nature incomprehen&s;ible, and inacce&s;&s;ible in his light, yet this is his infinite largene&s;&s;e, that being thus infinitely One, he hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to us in three Per&s;ons, to be the more ea&s;ily di&s;cerned by us, and the more clo&s;ely and effectually applied to us.</P>
<P>Now the&s;e notions that we have of God, as a Father, as a Son, as a Holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Trinitas.</NOTE> as a Spirit working in us, are &s;o many handles by which we may take hold of God, and &s;o many brea&s;ts, by which we may &s;uck &s;uch a knowledge of God, as that by it wee may grow up into him. And as wee cannot take hold of a torch by the light, but by the &s;taffe we may; &s;o though we cannot take hold of God, as God, who is incomprehen&s;i|ble, and inapprehen&s;ible, yet as a Father, as a Son, as a Spirit, dwelling in us, we can. There is nothing in Nature that can fully repre&s;ent and bring home the notion of the Trinity to us. There is an elder booke in the World then the Scriptures; It is not well &s;aid, in the World, for it is the World it &s;elfe, the whole booke of Creatures; And indeed the Scriptures are but a paraphra&s;e, but a comment, but an illu&s;tration of that booke of Creatures. And therefore, though the Scriptures onely deliver us the doctrine of the Trinity, clearely, yet there are &s;ome impre&s;&s;ions, &s;ome obumbrations of it, in Nature too. Take but one in our &s;elves, in the &s;oule. The under&s;tanding of man (that is as the Father) begets di&s;cour&s;e, ratiocination, and that is as the Son; and out of the&s;e two pro|ceed conclu&s;ions, and that is as the Holy Gho&s;t. Such as the&s;e there are many, many &s;prinkled in the Schoole, many &s;cattered in the Fathers, but, God knowes, poore and faint expre&s;&s;ions of the Trinity. But yet, <HI>Praemi&s;it Deus naturam magi&s;tram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ubmi&s;&s;urus &amp; pro|phetiam,</HI> Though God meant to give us degrees in the Univer&s;ity, that is, increa&s;e of knowledge in his Scriptures after, yet he gave us a pedagogy, he &s;ent us to Schoole in Nature before; <HI>Vt facili&ugrave;s credas prophetiae di&s;cipulus naturae,</HI> That comming out of that Schoole, thou mighte&s;t profit the better in that Univer&s;ity, having well con&s;idered Na|ture, thou mighte&s;t be e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Scriptures.</P>
<P>He is therefore inexcu&s;able, that con&s;iders not God in the Creature, that comming into a faire Garden, &s;ayes onely, Here is a good Gardiner, and not, Here is a good God; and when he &s;ees any great change, &s;ayes onely, This is a &s;trange accident, and not, a &s;trange Judgement. Hence is it, that in the books of the Platonique Philo&s;ophers, and in others, much ancienter then they, (if the books of <HI>Hermes Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> and others, be as ancient as is pretended in their behalfe) we finde as cleare expre&s;&s;ing of the Trinity, as in the Old Te&s;tament, at lea&s;t; And hence is it, that in the Talmud of the Jews, and in the Alcoran of the Turks, though they both oppo&s;e the Trinity, yet when they handle not that point, there fall often from them, as cleare confe&s;&s;ions of the three Per&s;ons, as from any of the elder of tho&s;e Philo&s;ophers, who were altogether di&s;-intere&s;ted in that Con|trover&s;ie.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e God is &s;eene <HI>Per creaturas, ut per &s;peculum, per verbum ut per lucem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aleu&s;.</NOTE> In the creature, and in nature, but by reflection, In the Word, and in the Scriptures, directly, we re&s;t in the knowledge which we have of the plurality of the per&s;ons, in the Scriptures; And becau&s;e we are not now in a Congregation that doubts it, nor in a place to multiply te&s;timonies, we content our &s;elves (being already po&s;&s;e&s;t with the beliefe thereof) with this illu&s;tration from the old Te&s;tament, That the name of our one God, is expre&s;&s;ed in the plurall number, in that place, which we mentioned before, where it is &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 6.4.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord thy God is one God,</HI> that is, <HI>Elohim, unus Dii,</HI> one Gods. And though as much as that &s;eem to be &s;aid by God to <HI>Mo&s;es, Eris Aaroni in Elohim, Thou &s;halt be as Gods to Aaron;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.16.</NOTE> Yet that was becau&s;e <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was to repre&s;ent God, all God, all the Per&s;ons in God, and there|fore it might as well be &s;poken plurally of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> &s;o, as of God. But becau&s;e it is &s;aid, <HI>Gods appeared unto Iacob;</HI> And againe, <HI>Dii Sancti ip&s;e e&s;t, Hee is the Holy Gods;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 35.7. Io&s;. 24.19. Iob 35.10. Gen. 1.26. Gen. 3 22.</NOTE> And &s;o al&s;o, <HI>Vbi Deus factores mei? Where is God my Makers?</HI> And God &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, <HI>Fa|ciamus hominem,</HI> and <HI>Factus e&s;t &s;icut unus ex nobis, God &s;ayes, Let us make man,</HI> and <HI>he &s;ayes, Man is become as one of us,</HI> We imbrace humbly, and thankfully, and profitably, this, &s;hall we call it <HI>Effigiationem an&s;arum,</HI> This making out of handles? Or <HI>Protuberationem mam|marum,</HI> This &s;welling out of brea&s;ts? Or <HI>Germinationem gemmarum,</HI> This putting forth of buds, and blo&s;&s;omes, and fruits, by which we may apprehend, and &s;ee, and ta&s;te God him&s;elf, &s;o as his wi&s;edome hath cho&s;en to communicate him&s;elf to us, in the notion and
<PB N="380" REF="208">manife&s;tation of divers per&s;ons? Of which in this Text, we lay hold on him, by the fir&s;t handle, by the name of Father. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be God, even the Father, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Now we con&s;ider in God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pater E&s;&s;entialiter.</NOTE> a two-fold Paternity, a two-fold Father-hood: One, as he is Father to others, another as to us. And the fir&s;t is two-fold too: One e&s;&s;entially, by which he is a Father by Creation, and &s;o the name of <HI>Father</HI> belongs to all the three Per|&s;ons in the Trinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4.6.</NOTE> for, <HI>There is one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,</HI> Which is &s;poken of God gathered into his E&s;&s;ence, and not diffu&s;ed into per&s;ons.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.6.</NOTE> In which &s;en&s;e, the Son of God, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, is called Father, <HI>Vnto us a Son is given, and his name &s;hall be The Everla&s;ting Father:</HI> And to this Father, even to the Son of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.2.</NOTE> in this &s;en&s;e, are the faithfull made &s;ons, <HI>Son, be of good cheare, thy &s;ins are forgi|ven thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 5.34.</NOTE> &s;ayes Chri&s;t to the Paralytique, And <HI>Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole,</HI> &s;ayes he to the woman with the bloody i&s;&s;ue; Thus Chri&s;t is a Father; And thus <HI>Per filiationem ve&s;tigii,</HI> By that impre&s;&s;ion of God, which is in the very beeing of every creature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 38.28.</NOTE> God, that is, the whole Trinity, is the Father of every creature, as in <HI>Iob, Quis pluviae Pater? Hath the raine a Father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?</HI> And &s;o in the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?</HI> But the &s;econd Pa|ternity is more my&s;terious in it &s;elfe, and more precious to us, as he is a Father, not by Creation, but by Generation, <HI>Even the Father of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Per&s;ona|liter.</NOTE> <HI>Generationem i&s;tam quis enarrabit?</HI> who &s;hall declare this generation? who &s;hall tell us how it was? who was there to fee it? Since the fir&s;t-borne of all creatures, the Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.8.</NOTE> who are almo&s;t &s;ixe thou&s;and yeares old, (and much elder in the opinion of many of the Fathers, who think the Angels to have been created long before the ge|nerall Creation) &s;ince, I &s;ay, the&s;e Angels are but in their &s;wathing clouts, but in their cradle, in re&s;pect of this eternall generation, who was pre&s;ent? <HI>Quis enarrabit?</HI> who &s;hall tell us how it was? who &s;hall tell us when it was, when it was &s;o long before any time was, as that, when time &s;hall be no more, and that, after an end of time, wee &s;hall have lived infinite millions of millions of generations in heaven, yet this generation of the Son of God, was as long before that immortall life, as that Immortality, and Everla&s;ting|ne&s;&s;e &s;hall be after this life? It cannot be expre&s;&s;ed, nor conceived how long our life &s;hall be after, nor how long this generation was before.</P>
<P>This is that Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> that hath a Son, and yet is no elder then that Son, for he is <HI>&agrave; Patre,</HI> but not <HI>Po&s;t Patrem,</HI> but &s;o from the Father, as he is not after the Father: He hath from him <HI>Principium Originale,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Biel.</NOTE> but not <HI>Initiale,</HI> A root from whence he &s;prung, but no &s;pring|time, when he &s;prung out of that root. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be God even the Father of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> Wherefore ble&s;&s;ed? <HI>Quia potuit?</HI> Becau&s;e he could have a Son? <HI>Non genera|vit potentia, &s;ed natura;</HI> God did not beget this Son becau&s;e he had alwayes a power to doe &s;o; for then, if this Son had ever been but <HI>in Potentia,</HI> onely in &s;uch a condition, as that he might have been, then this had not been an eternall generation, for if there were a time, when only he might have been, at that time he was not. He is not ble&s;&s;ed then be|cau&s;e cau&s;e he could, is he ble&s;&s;ed (that is, to be ble&s;&s;ed by us) becau&s;e he would beget this Son? <HI>Non generavit voluntate, &s;ed natura:</HI> God did not beget this Son, then when he would, that is, had a will to doe &s;o, for, if his will determined it, now I will doe it, then till that, there had been no Son, and &s;o this generation had not been eternall neither. But when it was, or how it was, <HI>Turatiocinare, ego mirer,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> Let others di&s;cour&s;e it, let me admire it; <HI>Tu di&s;puta, ego credam,</HI> Let others di&s;pute it, let me beleeve it. And when all is done, you have done di&s;puting, and I have done wondring, that that brings it nearer then either, is this, That there is a Paternity, notby Creation, by which Chri&s;t and the Holy Gho&s;t are Fathers too, nor by generation, by which God is, though inexpre&s;&s;ibly, the Father even of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, but by Adoption, as in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, he is Father of us all, notified in the next appellation, <HI>Pater mi&s;erationum, The Fa|ther of mercies.</HI></P>
<P>In this alone,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pater.</NOTE> we di&s;cerne the whole Trinity; here is the <HI>Father,</HI> and here is <HI>Mercy,</HI> which mercy is in the Son; And the effect of this mercy, is <HI>the Spirit of Adoption, by which al&s;o we cry,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rem. 8.15.</NOTE> <HI>Abba, Father</HI> too. When Chri&s;t would pierce into his Father, and melt tho&s;e bowels of compa&s;&s;ion, he enters with that word, <HI>Abba, Father, All things are po&s;si|ble to thee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 14.36.</NOTE> <HI>take away this Cup from me.</HI> When Chri&s;t apprehended an ab&s;ence, a derelicti|on on Gods part, he cals not upon him by this name, not <HI>My Father,</HI> but <HI>My God, my God, why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.37.</NOTE> But when he would incline him to mercy, mercy to others,
<PB N="381" REF="208">mercy to enemies, he comes in that name, wherein he could be denied nothing, Father; <HI>Father forgive them, they know not what they doe.</HI> He is <HI>the Lord of Ho&s;ts;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 23.24.</NOTE> There hee &s;cat|ters us in thunder, tran&s;ports us in tempe&s;ts, enwraps us in confu&s;ion, a&s;toni&s;hes us with &s;tupefaction, and con&s;ternation; <HI>The Lord of Ho&s;ts,</HI> but yet <HI>the Father of mercies,</HI> There he receives us into his own bowels, fills our emptine&s;&s;e, with the blood of his own Son, and incorporates us in him; <HI>The Lord of Ho&s;ts,</HI> but <HI>the Father of mercy.</HI> Sometimes our naturall Fathers die, before they can gather any &s;tate to leave us, but he is the immortall Father, and all things that are, as &s;oone as they were, were his. Sometimes our naturall Fathers live to wa&s;te, and di&s;&s;ipate that &s;tate which was left them, to be left us: but this is the Father, out of who&s;e hands, and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion nothing can be removed, and who gives ine&s;timably, and yet remaines inexhau&s;tible. Sometimes our naturall Fathers live to need us, and to live upon us: but this is that Father whom we need every minute, and requires nothing of us, but that poore rent of <HI>Benedictus &s;it,</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed, prai&s;ed, glorified be this Father.</P>
<P>This Father of mercies, of <HI>mercies</HI> in the plurall; <HI>David</HI> calls God,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mi&s;erati|onum.</HI> P&s;al. 59.17. Numb. 14.19. P&s;al. 51.1.</NOTE> <HI>Mi&s;ericordiam &s;uam,</HI> His mercy; all at once: <HI>God is the God of my mercy:</HI> God is all ours, and all mercy. <HI>Pardon this people,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es, Secund&ugrave;m magnitudinem mi&s;ericordiae, According to the greatne&s;&s;e of thy mercy.</HI> Pardon me, &s;ayes <HI>David, Have mercy upon me, Sec&ugrave;ndum multitu|dinem mi&s;ericordiarum, According to the multitude of thy mercies:</HI> His mercy, in largene&s;&s;e, in number, extends over all; It was his mercy that we were made, and it is his mercy that we are not con&s;umed. <HI>David</HI> calls his mercy, <HI>Multiplicatam,</HI> and <HI>Mirificatam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 17.7. P&s;al. 31.22.</NOTE> It is manifold, and it is marvellous, miraculous: <HI>Shew thy marvellous loving kindne&s;&s;e;</HI> and therefore <HI>David</HI> in &s;everall places, carries it <HI>Super judicium,</HI> above his judgements, <HI>Super Coelos,</HI> above the heavens, <HI>Super omnia opera,</HI> above all his works. And for the multitude of his mercies, (for we are now upon the con&s;ideration of the plurality thereof, <HI>Pater mi&s;erationum, Father of mercies</HI>) put together that which <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 89.50.</NOTE> <HI>Vbi mi&s;ericordiae tuae antiquae? Where are thy ancient mercies?</HI> His mercy is as Ancient, as <HI>the Ancient of dayes,</HI> who is God him&s;elfe, And that which another Prophet &s;ayes, <HI>Omni mane, His mercies are new every morning,</HI> And put betweene the&s;e two, betweene Gods former, and his future mercies, his pre&s;ent mercy, in bringing thee this minute to the con&s;idera|tion of them, and thou ha&s;t found <HI>Multiplicatam,</HI> and <HI>Mirificatam,</HI> manifold, and won|drous mercy.</P>
<P>But carry thy thoughts upon the&s;e three Branches of his mercy, and it will be enough. Fir&s;t, that upon <HI>Adams</HI> fall, and all ours in him, he him&s;elfe would think of &s;uch a way of mercy, as from <HI>Adam,</HI> to that man whom Chri&s;t &s;hall finde alive at the la&s;t day, no man would ever have thought of, that is, that to &s;hew mercy to his enemies, he would deliver his owne, his onely, his beloved Son, to &s;hame, to torments, to death: That hee would plant <HI>Germen Iehovae in &s;emine mulieris,</HI> The blo&s;&s;ome, the branch of God, in the &s;eed of the woman: This mercy, in that fir&s;t promi&s;e of that Me&s;&s;ias, was &s;uch a mercy, as not onely none could have undertaken, but none could have imagined but God him|&s;elfe: And in this promi&s;e, we were conceived <HI>In vi&s;ceribus Patris,</HI> In the bowels of this Father of mercies. In the&s;e bowels, in the womb of this promi&s;e we lay foure thou&s;and yeares; The blood with which we were fed then, was the blood of the Sacrifices, and the quickning which we had there, was an inanimation, by the often refre&s;hing of this promi&s;e of that Me&s;&s;ias in the Prophets. But <HI>in the fulne&s;&s;e of time,</HI> that infallible pro|mi&s;e came to an actuall performance, <HI>Chri&s;t came in the fle&s;h,</HI> and &s;o, <HI>Venimus ad partum,</HI> In his birth we were borne; and that was the &s;econd mercy; in the promi&s;e, in the performance, he is <HI>Pater mi&s;erationum, Father of mercies.</HI> And then there is a third mercy, as great, That he having &s;ent his Son, and having re-a&s;&s;umed him into heaven againe, he hath &s;ent his Holy Spirit to governe his Church, and &s;o becomes a Father to us, in that Adoption, in the application of Chri&s;t to us, by the Holy Gho&s;t; and this as that which is intended in the la&s;t word, <HI>Deus totius Con&s;olationis, The God of all Comfort.</HI></P>
<P>I may know that there is a Me&s;&s;ias promi&s;ed, and yet be without comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;olatio.</NOTE> in a fruitle&s;&s;e expectation; The Jews are &s;o in their di&s;per&s;ion. When the Jews will &s;till po&s;t-date the commings of Chri&s;t, when &s;ome of them &s;ay, There was no certaine time of his com|ming de&s;igned by the Prophets; And others, There was a time, but God for their &s;ins pro|rogued it; And others againe, God kept his word, the Me&s;&s;iah did come when it was
<PB N="382" REF="209">promi&s;ed he &s;hould come, but for their &s;ins, he conceales him&s;elfe from Manife&s;tation; when the Jews will po&s;tdate his fir&s;t comming, and the Papi&s;ts will antidate his &s;econd comming, in a comming that cannot become him, That he comes, even to his Saints in torment, before he comes in glory, That when he comes to them at their di&s;&s;olution, at their death, he comes not to take them to Heaven, but to ca&s;t them into one part of hell, That the be&s;t comfort which a good man can have at his death, is but Purgatory, <HI>Mi&s;e|rable comforters are they all.</HI> How faire a beame of the joyes of Heaven is true comfort in this life? If I know the mercies of God exhibited to others, and feele them not in my &s;elf, I am not of <HI>Davids</HI> Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 59.1.</NOTE> not of his Quire, <HI>I cannot &s;ing of the mercies of God:</HI> I may &s;ee them, and I may &s;igh to &s;ee the mercies of God determined in others, and not extended to me; but I cannot &s;ing of the mercies of God, if I find no mercy. But when I come to that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 94.19.</NOTE> <HI>Con&s;olationes tuae laetificaverunt, In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my &s;oule,</HI> then the true Comforter is de&s;cended upon me, and the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> hath <HI>over-&s;hadowed</HI> me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.4.</NOTE> and all that &s;hall be <HI>borne</HI> of me, and <HI>proceed</HI> from me, &s;hall be <HI>holy. Ble&s;|&s;ed are they that mourne,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t: But the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is not in the mourning, but be|cau&s;e <HI>they &s;hall be comforted.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed am I in the &s;en&s;e of my &s;ins, and in the &s;orrow for them, but ble&s;&s;ed therefore, becau&s;e this &s;orrow leads me to my reconciliation to God, and the con&s;olation of his Spirit. Whereas, if I &s;inke in this &s;orrow, in this dejection of &s;pirit, though it were Wine in the beginning, it is lees, and tartar in the end; Inordinate &s;orrow growes into &s;infull melancholy, and that melancholy, into an irrecoverable de|&s;peration. The Wi&s;e-men of the Ea&s;t, by a le&s;&s;e light, found a greater, by a Star, they found the Son of glory, Chri&s;t Je&s;us: But by darkne&s;&s;e, nothing: By the beames of com|fort in this life, we come to the body of the Sun, by the Rivers, to the Ocean, by the cheerefulne&s;&s;e of heart here, to the brightne&s;&s;e, to the fulne&s;&s;e of joy hereafter. For, be|loved, Salvation it &s;elfe being &s;o often pre&s;ented to us in the names of Glory, and of Joy, we cannot thinke that the way to that glory is a &s;ordid life affected here, an ob&s;cure, a beggarly, a negligent abandoning of all wayes of preferment, or riches, or e&s;timation in this World, for the glory of Heaven &s;hines downe in the&s;e beames hither; Neither can men thinke, that the way to the joyes of Heaven, is a joyle&s;&s;e &s;everene&s;&s;e, a rigid au&s;te|rity; for as God loves a cheerefull giver, &s;o he loves a cheerefull taker, that takes hold of his mercies and his comforts with a cheerefull heart, not onely without grudging, that they are no more, but without jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition that they are not &s;o much, or not enough.</P>
<P>But they mu&s;t be his comforts that we take in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus.</NOTE> Gods comforts. For, to this purpo&s;e, the Apo&s;tle varies the phra&s;e; It was <HI>The Father of mercies;</HI> To repre&s;ent to us gentle|ne&s;&s;e, kindne&s;&s;e, favour, it was enough to bring it in the name of <HI>Father;</HI> But this <HI>Comfort,</HI> a power to erect and &s;ettle a tottering, a dejected &s;oule, an overthrowne, a brui&s;ed, a broken, a troden, a ground, a battered, an evaporated, an annihilated &s;pirit, this is an act of &s;uch might, as requires the a&s;&s;urance, the pre&s;ence of God. God knows, all men receive not comforts, when other men think they do, nor are all things comforts to them, which we pre&s;ent, and meane &s;hould be &s;o. Your Father may leave you his inheritance, and little knowes he the little comfort you have in this, becau&s;e it is not left to you, but to tho&s;e Creditors to whom you have engaged it. Your Wife is officious to you in your &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and little knowes &s;he, that even that officiou&s;ne&s;&s;e of hers then, and that kind|ne&s;&s;e, aggravates that di&s;comfort, which lyes upon thy &s;oul, for tho&s;e injuries which thou had&s;t formerly multiplied again&s;t her, in the bo&s;ome of &s;trange women. Except the God of comfort give it, in that &s;eale, in peace of con&s;cience, <HI>Nec intus, nec &s;ubtus, nec circa te oc|currit con&s;olatio,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard; Non &s;ubtus,</HI> not from below thee, from the reverence and acclamation of thy inferiours; <HI>Non circa,</HI> not from about thee, when all places, all prefer|ments are within thy reach, &s;o that thou mai&s;t lay thy hand, and &s;et thy foote where thou wilt; <HI>Non intus,</HI> not from within thee, though thou have an inward te&s;timony of a morall con&s;tancy, in all afflictions that can fall, yet not from below thee, not from about thee, not from within thee, but from above mu&s;t come thy comfort, or it is mi&s;taken. S. <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;tome</HI> notes, and <HI>Areopagita</HI> had noted it before him, <HI>Ex beneficiis acceptis nomina Deo affingimus,</HI> We give God names according to the nature of the benefits which he hath given us: So when God had given <HI>David</HI> victory in the wars, by the exerci&s;e of his pow|er, then <HI>Fortitudo mea,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.2. P&s;al. 27.1.</NOTE> and <HI>firmamentum, The Lord is my Rock, and my Ca&s;tle:</HI> When God di&s;covered the plots and practi&s;es of his enemies to him, then <HI>Dominus illuminatio, The
<PB N="383" REF="209" MS="y">Lord is my light, and my &s;alvation.</HI> So when&s;oever thou take&s;t in any comfort, be &s;ure that thou have it from him that can give it; for this God is <HI>Deus totius con&s;olationis, The God of all comfort.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Precio&s;a divina con&s;olatio, nec omnino tribuitur admittentibus alienam:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Totius.</HI> Bernard<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> The comforts of God are of a precious nature, and they lo&s;e their value, by being mingled with ba&s;er com|forts, as gold does with allay. Sometimes we make up a &s;umme of gold, with &s;ilver, but does any man binde up farthing tokens, with a bag of gold? Spirituall comforts which have alwayes Gods &s;tampe upon them, are his gold, and temporall comforts, when they have his &s;tampe upon them, are his &s;ilver, but comforts of our owne coyning, are coun|terfait, are copper. Becau&s;e I am weary of &s;olitarine&s;&s;e, I will &s;eeke company, and my company &s;hall be, to make my body the body of a harlot: Becau&s;e I am drou&s;ie, I will be kept awake, with the ob&s;cenities and &s;currilities of a Comedy, or the drums and ejulati|ons of a Tragedy: I will &s;mother and &s;uffocate &s;orrow, with hill upon hill, cour&s;e after cour&s;e at a voluptuous fea&s;t, and drown &s;orrow in exce&s;&s;e of Wine, and call that &s;ickne&s;s, health; and all this is no comfort, for <HI>God is the God of all comfort,</HI> and this is not of God. We cannot &s;ay with any colour, as <HI>E&s;au</HI> &s;aid to <HI>Iacob, Ha&s;t thou but one ble&s;sing, my Father?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.38.</NOTE> for he is the God of all ble&s;&s;ings, and hath given every one of us, many more then one. But yet Chri&s;t hath given us an abridgement, <HI>Vnum e&s;t nece&s;&s;arium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.42.</NOTE> there is but one onely thing nece&s;&s;ary, And <HI>David,</HI> in Chri&s;t, tooke knowledge of that before, when he &s;aid, <HI>Vnum petii, One thing have I de&s;ired of the Lord,</HI> What is that one thing? All in one;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 27.4.</NOTE> <HI>That I may dwell in the hou&s;e ef the Lord</HI> (not be a &s;tranger from his Covenant) <HI>all the dayes of my life,</HI> (not di&s;&s;ei&s;ed, not excommunicate out of that hou&s;e) <HI>To behold the beauty of the Lord,</HI> (not the beauty of the place only) but to <HI>inquire in his Temple,</HI> (by the advancement and advantage of outward things, to finde out him) And &s;o I &s;hall have true comforts, outward, and inward, becau&s;e in both, I &s;hall finde him, who is the God of all comfort.</P>
<P><HI>Iacob</HI> thought he had lo&s;t <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> his Son, <HI>And all his Sons,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 37.35.</NOTE> <HI>and all his Daughters ro&s;e up to comfort him, Et noluit con&s;olationem,</HI> &s;ayes the Text, <HI>He would not be comforted,</HI> be|cau&s;e he thought him dead. <HI>Rachel wept for her children and would not be comforted,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.18.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e they were not.</HI> But what ayle&s;t thou? Is there any thing of which thou can&s;t &s;ay, It is not? perchance it is, but thou ha&s;t it not: If thou ha&s;t him, that hath it, thou ha&s;t it. Ha&s;t thou not wealth, but poverty rather, not honour, but contempt rather, not health, but daily &s;ummons of Death rather yet? <HI>Non omnia po&s;sidet, cui omnia cooperantur in bonum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> If thy poverty, thy di&s;grace, thy &s;ickne&s;&s;e have brought thee the nearer to God, thou ha&s;t all tho&s;e things, which thou thinke&s;t thou wante&s;t, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t the be&s;t u&s;e of them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.23.</NOTE> <HI>All things are yours,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; why? by what title? <HI>For you are Chri&s;ts, and Chri&s;t is Gods.</HI> Carry back your comfort to the root, and bring that comfort to the fruit, and con|fe&s;&s;e, that God who is both, is <HI>the God of all comfort.</HI> Follow God in the execution of this good purpo&s;e upon thee, to thy Vocation, and heare him, who hath left Ea&s;t, and We&s;t, and North, and South, in their dimne&s;&s;e, and dumne&s;&s;e, and deafne&s;&s;e, and hath called thee to a participation of him&s;elfe in his Church. Go on with him to thy ju&s;tification, That when in the congregation one &s;its at thy right hand, and beleeves but hi&s;torically (It may be as true which is &s;aid of Chri&s;t, as of <HI>William</HI> the Conquerour, and as of <HI>Iulius Cae&s;ar</HI>) and another at thy left hand, and beleeves Chri&s;t but civilly, (It was a Religion well in|vented, and keeps people well in order) and thou betweene them beleeve&s;t it to &s;alvation in an applying faith; proceed a &s;tep farther, to feele this fire burning out, thy faith decla|red in works, thy ju&s;tification growne into &s;anctification, And then thou wilt be upon the la&s;t &s;taire of all, That great day of thy glorification will breake out even in this life, and either in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of the good things of this world, thou &s;halt &s;ee the glory, and in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the comforts of this World, &s;ee the joy of Heaven, or el&s;e, (which is another of his wayes) in the want of all the&s;e, thou &s;halt have more comfort then others have, or perchance, then thou &s;houlde&s;t have in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of them: for he is <HI>the God of all com|fort,</HI> and of all the wayes of comfort; And therefore, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed be God, even the Father, &amp;c.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="39" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="384" REF="210">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XXXIX.</HI> Preached upon Trinity-Sunday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 PET. 1.17.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And if ye call on the Father, who without re&s;pect of per&s;ons judgeth according to every mans works, pa&s;&s;e the time of your &s;ojourning here in feare.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_YOu may remember, that I propo&s;ed to exerci&s;e your devotions and religious meditations in the&s;e exerci&s;es, with words which might pre&s;ent to you, fir&s;t the &s;everall per&s;ons in the Trinity, and the benefits which we receive, in re|ceiving God in tho&s;e di&s;tinct notions of Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t; And then with other words which might pre&s;ent tho&s;e &s;ins, and the danger of tho&s;e &s;ins which are mo&s;t particularly oppo&s;ed again&s;t tho&s;e &s;everall per&s;ons. Of the fir&s;t, concerning the per&s;on of the Father, we &s;poke la&s;t, and of the other, concerning &s;ins again&s;t the Father, the&s;e words will occa&s;ion us to &s;peak now.</P>
<P>It is well noted upon tho&s;e words of <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.1.</NOTE> <HI>Have mercy upon me, O God,</HI> that the word is <HI>Elohim,</HI> which is <HI>Gods</HI> in the plurall, <HI>Have mercy upon me, O Gods:</HI> for <HI>David,</HI> though he conceived not divers Gods, yet he knew three divers per&s;ons in that one God, and he knew that by that &s;in which he lamented in that P&s;alme, that <HI>peccatum complicatum,</HI> that manifold &s;in, that &s;in that enwrapped &s;o many &s;ins, he had offended all tho&s;e three per&s;ons. For whereas we con&s;ider principally in the Father, <HI>Pote&s;tatem,</HI> Power, and in the Son <HI>Sapientiam,</HI> Wi&s;dome, and in the holy Gho&s;t <HI>Bonitatem,</HI> Goodne&s;&s;e, <HI>David</HI> had &s;inned again&s;t the Father, in his notion, <HI>In pote&s;tate,</HI> in abu&s;ing his power, and kingly au|thority, to a mi&s;chievous and bloody end in the murder of <HI>Vriah:</HI> And he had &s;inned again&s;t the Son, in his notion, <HI>In &s;apientia,</HI> in depraving and detorting true wi&s;dome into craft and treachery: And he had &s;inned again&s;t the holy Gho&s;t in his notion, <HI>In bonitate,</HI> when he would not be content with the goodne&s;&s;e and piety of <HI>Vriah,</HI> who refu&s;ed to take the ea&s;es of his owne hou&s;e, and the plea&s;ure of his wifes bo&s;ome, as long as God him&s;elfe in his army lodged in Tents, and &s;tood in the face of the Enemy. Sins again&s;t the Father then, we con&s;ider e&s;pecially to be &s;uch as are <HI>In pote&s;tate,</HI> Either in a neglect of Gods Power over us, or in an abu&s;e of that power which we have from God over others; and of one branch of that power, particularly of Judgement, is this Text princi|pally intended, <HI>If ye call on the Father, who without re&s;pect of per&s;ons judgeth, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the words we &s;hall in&s;i&s;t but upon two parts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, A Coun&s;aile, which in the Apo|&s;tles mouth is a commandement; And then a Rea&s;on, an inducement, which in the Apo&s;tles mouth is a forcible, an unre&s;i&s;tible argument. The Coun&s;ell, that is, The com|mandement, is, <HI>If ye call on the Father, feare him,</HI> &s;tand in feare of him; And the rea&s;on, that is, the Argument, is, The name of <HI>Father</HI> implyes a great power over you, therefore feare him; And among&s;t other powers, a power of <HI>judging</HI> you, of calling you to an ac|count, therefore feare him: In which Judgement, this Judge <HI>accepts no per&s;ons,</HI> but judges his &s;ons as his &s;ervants, and therefore feare him: And then, he judges, not upon words, outward profe&s;&s;ions, but upon <HI>works,</HI> actions, <HI>according to every mans works,</HI> and therefore feare him: And then as on his part he &s;hall certainly call you to judgement when you goe hence, &s;o on your part, certainly it cannot be long before you goe hence, for your time is but a <HI>&s;ojourning here,</HI> it is not a dwelling, And yet it is a <HI>&s;ojourning here,</HI> it is not a po&s;ting, a gliding through the world, but &s;uch a &s;tay, as upon it our everla&s;ting dwelling depends; And therefore that we may make up this circle, and end as we begun, with the feare of God, <HI>pa&s;&s;e that time,</HI> that is, all that time, <HI>in fear;</HI> In fear of neglecting and un|dervaluing, or of over-tempting that great power which is in the Father, And in feare of abu&s;ing tho&s;e limnes, and branches, and beames of that power which he hath communi|cated
<PB N="385" REF="210">to thee, in giving thee power and authority any way over others; for the&s;e, To neglect the power of the Father, or To abu&s;e that power which the Father hath given thee over others, are &s;innes again&s;t the Father, who is power. <HI>If ye call on the Fa|ther, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, for the fir&s;t part, the Coun&s;ell, <HI>Si invocatis, If ye call on the Father, In timore,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> Doe it <HI>in feare,</HI> The Coun&s;ell hath not a voluntary Condition, and arbitrary in our &s;elves annexed to it; If you call, then feare, does not import, If you doe not call, you need not feare; It does not import, That if you profe&s;&s;e a particular forme of Religion, you are bound to obey that Church, but if you doe not, but have fancied a religion to your &s;elfe without precedent, Or a way to &s;alvation without any particular religion, Or a way out of the world without any &s;alvation or damnation, but a going out like a candle, if you can think thus you need not feare, This is not the meaning of this <HI>If</HI> in this place, <HI>If you call on the Father, &amp;c.</HI> But this <HI>If</HI> implyes a wonder, an impo&s;&s;ibility, that any man &s;hould deny God to be the Father: If the author, the inventer of any thing u&s;efull for this life be cal|led the father of that invention, by the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.20.</NOTE> <HI>Iabal was the father of &s;uch as dwell in Tents, and Tubal his brother the father of Mu&s;ique,</HI> And &s;o <HI>Horace</HI> calls <HI>Ennius</HI> the <HI>father</HI> of one kind of Poeme: how ab&s;olutely is God our Father, who (may I &s;ay?) in|vented us, made us, found us out in the depth, and darkne&s;&s;e of nothing at all? He is <HI>Pa|ter,</HI> and <HI>Pater luminum, Father,</HI> and <HI>Father of lights,</HI> of all kinds of lights. <HI>Lux lucifica,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 1.17.</NOTE> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> expre&s;&s;es it, The light from which all the lights which we have, whether of nature, or grace, or glory, have their emanation. Take the&s;e <HI>Lights</HI> of which God is &s;aid to be <HI>the Father,</HI> to be the Angels, (&s;o &s;ome of the Fathers take it, and &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> calls them <HI>Angels of light;</HI> And &s;o <HI>Nazianzen</HI> calls them <HI>Secundos &s;plendores primi &s;plendoris ad|mini&s;tros,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.14.</NOTE> &s;econd lights that &s;erve the fir&s;t light) Or take the&s;e <HI>Lights</HI> of which God is &s;aid to be <HI>the Father</HI> to be the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel, the Angels of the Church, (&s;o &s;ome Fathers take them too, and &s;o Chri&s;t &s;ayes to them, in the Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.14.</NOTE> <HI>You are the light of the world</HI>) Or take the&s;e <HI>Lights</HI> to be tho&s;e faithfull &s;ervants of God, who have received an illu&s;tration in them&s;elves, and a coru&s;cation towards others, who by having lived in the pre&s;ence of God, in the hou&s;hold of his faithfull, in the true Church, are be|come, as <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> was, <HI>burning and &s;hining lamps,</HI> (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of the faithfull,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.15.</NOTE> <HI>You &s;hine as lights in this world,</HI> And as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had contracted a glorious &s;hining in his face, by his conver&s;ation with God) Or take this <HI>light</HI> to be a fainter light then that, (and yet that which S. <HI>Iames</HI> doth mo&s;t literally intend in that place) The light of naturall under&s;tan|ding, That which <HI>Plinie</HI> calls <HI>&s;erenitatem animi,</HI> when the mind of man, di&s;-encumbred of all Eclip&s;es, and all clouds of pa&s;&s;ion, or inordinate love of earthly things, is enlightned &s;o far, as to di&s;cerne God in nature; Or take this <HI>light</HI> to be but the light of a &s;hadow, (for <HI>umbrae non &s;unt tenebrae, &s;ed den&s;ior lux,</HI> &s;hadows are not darkne&s;&s;es, &s;hadows are but a gro&s;&s;er kind of light) Take it to be that &s;hadow, that de&s;igne, that delineation, that ob|umbration of God, which the creatures of God exhibit to us, that which <HI>Plinie</HI> calls <HI>Coelilaetitiam,</HI> when the heavens, and all that they imbrace, in an openne&s;&s;e and cheere|fulne&s;&s;e of countenance, manife&s;t God unto us; Take the&s;e <HI>Lights</HI> of which S. <HI>Iames</HI> &s;peaks, in any apprehen&s;ion, any way, Angels of heaven who are mini&s;tring &s;pirits, An|gels of the Church, who are &s;pirituall Mini&s;ters, Take it for the light of faith from hea|ring, the light of rea&s;on from di&s;cour&s;ing, or the light flowing from the creature to us, by contemplation, and ob&s;ervation of nature, Every way, by every light we &s;ee, that he is <HI>Pater luminum, the Father of lights;</HI> all the&s;e lights are from him, and by all the&s;e lights we &s;ee that he is A Father, and Our Father.</P>
<P>So that as the Apo&s;tle u&s;es this phra&s;e in another place, <HI>Si opertum Euangelium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4.3.</NOTE> <HI>If the Go&s;pel be hid,</HI> with wonder and admiration, Is it po&s;&s;ible, can it be that this Go&s;pel &s;hould be hid? So it is here, <HI>Si invocatis, If ye call God Father,</HI> that is, as it is certaine you doe, as it is impo&s;&s;ible but you &s;hould, becau&s;e you cannot a&s;cribe to any but him, your Being, your pre&s;ervation in that Being, your exaltation in that Being to a well-Being, in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all temporall, and &s;pirituall conveniencies, And then there is thus much more force in this particle <HI>Si, If,</HI> which is (as you have &s;eene) <HI>Si conce&s;sionis, non dubitati|onis,</HI> an <HI>If</HI> that implyes a confe&s;&s;ion and acknowledgement, not a he&s;itation or a doubt, That it is al&s;o <HI>Si progre&s;sionis, Si conclu&s;ionis,</HI> an <HI>If</HI> that carryes you farther, and that con|cludes you at la&s;t, <HI>If</HI> you doe it, that is, <HI>Since</HI> you do it, <HI>Since you do call God Father,</HI> &s;ince you have pa&s;&s;ed that act of Recognition, &s;ince not onely by having been produced by
<PB N="386" REF="211">nature, but by having beene regenerated by the Go&s;pel, you confe&s;&s;e God to bee your Father, and your Father in his Son, in Chri&s;t Je&s;us: Since you make that profe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Of his owne will begate he us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iames 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>with the word of Truth,</HI> If you call him Father, &s;ince you call him Father, thus, goe on farther, <HI>Timete,</HI> Feare him; <HI>If yee call him Father, feare him, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Timete.</NOTE> for this <HI>feare of God,</HI> which is <HI>the beginning of wi&s;edome,</HI> and the end of wi&s;e|dome too, we are a little too wi&s;e, at lea&s;t, too &s;ubtile, &s;ometimes in di&s;tingui&s;hing too narrowly between a filiall feare, and a &s;ervile feare, as though this filiall feare were no|thing but a reverend love of God, as he is good, and not a doubt and &s;u&s;pition of incur|ring tho&s;e evils,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8.13.</NOTE> that are puni&s;hments, or that produce puni&s;hments. <HI>The feare of the Lord is to hate evill,</HI> It is a holy dete&s;tation of that evill which is <HI>Malum culpae,</HI> The evill of &s;in, and it is a holy trembling under a tender apprehen&s;ion of that other evill, which we call <HI>Malum poenae,</HI> The evill of puni&s;hment for &s;in. God pre&s;ents to us the joyes of heaven often to draw us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> and as often the torments of hell to avert us. <HI>Origen</HI> &s;ayes aright, As <HI>Abraham</HI> had two &s;ons, one of a Bond-woman, another of a Free, but yet both &s;ons of <HI>Abraham;</HI> &s;o God is &s;erved by two feares, and the later feare, the feare of future torment, is not the perfect feare, but yet even that feare is the &s;ervant, and in&s;trument of God too. <HI>Quis tam in&s;en&s;atus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> Who can &s;o ab&s;olutely deve&s;t all &s;en&s;e, <HI>Qui non fluctuante Civitate, imminente naufragio,</HI> But that when the whole City is in a combu&s;tion and commotion, or when the Ship that he is in, &s;trikes de&s;perately and irrecoverably upon a rock, hee is otherwi&s;e affected toward God then, then when every day, in a quietne&s;&s;e and calme of holy affections, he heares a Sermon? <HI>Gehennae timor</HI> (&s;ayes the &s;ame Father) <HI>regni nos affert coronam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.12. Exod. 3.6.</NOTE> Even the feare of hell gets us heaven. Upon <HI>Abraham</HI> there fell <HI>A hor|rour of great darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> And <HI>Mo&s;es hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.</HI> And that way, towards that dejected look, does God bend his countenance; <HI>Vpon this man will I look,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 66.12.</NOTE> <HI>even to him that is poore, and of a contrite &s;pirit, and trembleth at my word.</HI> As there are both impre&s;&s;ions in &s;ecurity, vitious and vertuous, good and bad, &s;o there are both in feare al&s;o. There is a wicked &s;ecurity in the wicked, by which they make &s;hift to put off all Providence in God, and to think God like them&s;elves, indifferent what becomes of this world; There is an ill &s;ecurity in the godly, when for the time, in their pro&s;perity, they grow ill husbands of Gods graces, and negligent of his mercies; <HI>In my pro&s;perity</HI> (&s;ayes <HI>David</HI> him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 30.6.</NOTE> of him&s;elf) <HI>I &s;aid, I &s;hall not be moved.</HI> And there is a &s;ecurity of the faithfull, a con&s;tant per&s;wa&s;ion, grounded upon tho&s;e marks, which God, in his Word, hath &s;et upon that &s;tate, <HI>That neither height, nor depth, nor any creature &s;hall &s;e|parate us from God:</HI> But yet this &s;ecurity is never di&s;charged of that feare, which he that &s;aid that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.27. Phil. 2.12. 1 Cor. 10.12.</NOTE> had in him&s;elf, <HI>I keep under my body, le&s;t when I have preached to others, I my &s;elf &s;hould be a ca&s;t-away;</HI> And which he per&s;wades other, how &s;afe &s;oever they were, <HI>Work out your &s;alvation with feare and trembling,</HI> And <HI>Let him that thinketh he &s;tandeth, take heed le&s;t he fall.</HI></P>
<P>As then there is a vitious, an evill &s;ecurity; and that holy &s;ecurity which is good, is not without feare: &s;o there is no feare of God, though it have &s;ome &s;ervility, (&s;o farre, as &s;ervility imports but a feare of puni&s;hment) but it is good.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> For, <HI>Timor e&s;t amor inchoati|vus,</HI> The love of God begins in feare, and then <HI>Amor e&s;t timor con&s;ummatus,</HI> The feare of God ends in love;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">l. 2.11.</NOTE> which <HI>David</HI> intends when he &s;ayes, <HI>Rejoyce with trembling;</HI> Conceive no &s;uch feare as excludes &s;pirituall joy, conceive no &s;uch a&s;&s;urance, as excludes an humble and reverentiall feare. There is feare of God too narrow, when we thinke every naturall cro&s;&s;e, every worldly accident to be a judgement of God, and a te&s;timo|ny of his indignation, which the Poet (not altogether in an ill &s;en&s;e) calls a di&s;ea&s;e of the &s;oule, <HI>Quo morbo mentem concu&s;&s;e? timore deorum;</HI> He imagines a man may be &s;ick of the feare of God, that is, not di&s;tingui&s;h between naturall accidents, and immediate judge|ments of God; between ordinary declarations of his power, and extraordinary decla|rations of his anger. There is al&s;o a feare of God too large, too farre extended, when for a fal&s;e feare of offending God, I dare not offend tho&s;e men, who pretend to come in his name, and &s;o captivate my con&s;cience to the traditions and inventions of men, as to the word, and law of God. And there is a feare of God conceived, which never quickens, but putrifies in the womb before inanimation; the feare and trembling of the Devill, and men whom he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es, de&s;perate of the mercies of God. But there is a feare accep|table to God, and yet hath in it, a trembling, a horrour, a con&s;ternation, an a&s;toni&s;hment,
<PB N="387" REF="211">an apprehen&s;ion of Gods dereliction for a time. The Law was given in thundring,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 20.20.</NOTE> and lightning, and the people were afraid. How proceeds <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> with them? <HI>Feare not,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>for God is come to prove you, that his feare might be before your faces.</HI> Here is a <HI>feare not,</HI> that is, feare not with de&s;paire, nor with diffidence, but yet therefore, That you may feare the Law; for, in this place, the very <HI>Law</HI> it &s;elfe (which is given to direct them) is called <HI>feare;</HI> As in another place, God him&s;elfe is called <HI>feare,</HI> (as he is in other places called <HI>love</HI> too) <HI>Iacob &s;wore by the Feare of his Father I&s;aac;</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.53.</NOTE> by him whom his Father <HI>I&s;aac</HI> feared, as the Chalde Paraphra&s;e rightly expre&s;&s;es it.</P>
<P>Briefly, this is the difference between Fearfulne&s;&s;e, and Feare, (for &s;owe are fain to call <HI>Timiditatem</HI> and <HI>Timorem</HI>) Timidity, Fearfulne&s;&s;e, is a fear, where no cau&s;e of fear is; and there is no cau&s;e of feare, where man and man onely threatens on one &s;ide, and God commands on the other: <HI>Feare not, thou worme of Iacob, I will help thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">y 41.14. Heb. 11.23.</NOTE> <HI>&s;aith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy one of I&s;rael. Mo&s;es</HI> Parents had overcome this fearfulne&s;&s;e: <HI>They hid him,</HI> &s;ayes the Text, <HI>Et non metucrunt Edictum Regis, They feared not the Proclamation of the King,</HI> Becau&s;e it was directly, and evidently, and undi&s;putably again&s;t the manife&s;t will of God. Queen <HI>E&s;ther</HI> had overcome this fearfulne&s;&s;e; &s;he had fa&s;ted, and prayed, and u&s;ed all pre&s;cribed and all po&s;&s;ible meanes, and then &s;he entred the Kings Chamber, again&s;t the Proclamation, with that nece&s;&s;ary re&s;olution, <HI>Si peream, peream, If I peri&s;h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ther 4.16.</NOTE> <HI>I peri&s;h;</HI> Not upon a di&s;obedient, not upon a de&s;perate undertaking, but in a rectified con|&s;cience, and well e&s;tabli&s;hed opinion, that either that Law was not intended to forbid her, who was his Wife, or that the King was not rightly informed, in that bloody com|mand, which he had given for the execution of all her Countrymen. And for tho&s;e who doe not overcome this fearfulne&s;&s;e, that is, that feare where no cau&s;e of feare is, (and there is no cau&s;e of feare, where Gods cau&s;e is by godly wayes promoved, though we doe not alwayes di&s;cern the wayes, by which this is done) for tho&s;e men that frame imaginary feares to them&s;elves, to the with-drawing or di&s;couraging of other in the &s;ervice of God, we &s;ee where &s;uch men are ranked by the Holy Gho&s;t, when S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>The unbeleeving, the murderer, the whore-monger, the &s;orcerer, the idolater,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 21.8;</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall have their portion in the lake of brim&s;tone, which is the &s;econd death:</HI> We fee who leads them all into this irrecoverable precipitation, The fearfull, that is, he that beleeves not God in his promi&s;es, that di&s;tru&s;ts God in his owne cau&s;e, as &s;oone as he &s;eemes to open us to any danger; or di&s;tru&s;ts Gods in&s;truments, as &s;oone as they goe another way, then he would have them goe. To end this, there is no love of God without feare, no Law of God, no God him&s;elfe without feare; And here, as in very many other places of Scripture, the feare of God is our whole Religion, the whole &s;ervice of God; for here, Feare him, in|cludes Wor&s;hip him, reverence him, obey him. Which Coun&s;ell or Commandement, though it need no rea&s;on, no argument, yet the Apo&s;tle does pur&s;ue with an argument, and that con&s;titutes our &s;econd Part.</P>
<P>Now the Apo&s;tles arguments grow out of a double root;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> One argument is drawne from God, another from man. From God, thus implied, If God be a Father, feare him, for naturally we acknowledge the power of a Father to be great over his children, and con&s;equently the reverent feare of the children great towards him. The Father had <HI>Po|te&s;tatem vitae &amp; necis,</HI> A power over the life of his child, he might have killed his childe; but that the child &s;hould kill his Father, it never entred into the provi&s;ion of any Law, and it was long before it fell into the &s;u&s;pition of any Law-maker. <HI>Romulus</HI> in his Laws, called every man-&s;laughter <HI>Parricidium,</HI> becau&s;e it was <HI>Paris occi&s;io,</HI> He had killed a man, a Peere, a creature equall to him&s;elfe; but for <HI>Parricide</HI> in the later &s;en&s;e, when <HI>Parricide</HI> is <HI>Patricide,</HI> the killing of a Father, it came not into the jealou&s;ie of <HI>Romulus</HI> Law, nor into the heart or hand of any man there, in &s;ixe hundred yeares after: <HI>Cum lege coeperunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; facinus poena mon&s;travit,</HI> &s;ayes their Morall man: That &s;in began not, till the Law for|bad it, and only the puni&s;hment ordained for it, &s;hewed that there might be &s;uch a thing. <HI>He that cur&s;eth Father or Mother, &s;hall &s;urely dye,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 21.17. Deut. 21.18.</NOTE> And he that is but <HI>&s;tub|borne</HI> towards them, &s;hall <HI>dye</HI> too. The dutifull love of children to Parents is &s;o rooted in nature, that <HI>Demo&s;thenes</HI> &s;ayes, it is again&s;t the impre&s;&s;ions and again&s;t the Law of nature, for any child ever to love that man, that hath done execution upon his Father, though by way of Ju&s;tice: And this naturall Obligation is not conditioned with the li|mitations of a good or a bad Father, <HI>Natura te non bono patri, &s;ed patri conciliavit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Epictetus.</NOTE> &s;ayes that little great Philo&s;opher, Nature hath not bound thee to thy father, as hee is a
<PB N="388" REF="212">good Father, but meerely as he is thy Father.</P>
<P>Now for the power of Fathers over their children, by the Law of Nations, that is, the generall practi&s;e of Civill States, the Father had power upon the life of his child; It fell away by di&s;continuance, in a great part, and after was abrogated by particular Laws, but yet, by a connivence admitted in &s;ome ca&s;es too. For, as in Nature man is <HI>Microco&s;|mus,</HI> a little World, &s;o in nature, a family is a little State, a little Commonwealth, and what power the Magi&s;trate hath in that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;tor.</NOTE> the Father hath in this. <HI>Ip&s;um regnu~ &s;uaptenatura imperium e&s;t paternum,</HI> The power of a King, if it be kept within the bounds of the na|ture of that Office,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> is onely to be a Father to his people: And, <HI>Gratius e&s;t nomen pietatis, quam pote&s;tatis,</HI> Authority is pre&s;ented in a more acceptable name, when I am called a Father, then when I am called a Ma&s;ter; and therefore, &s;ayes <HI>Seneca,</HI> our Ance&s;tors mollified it thus, <HI>Vt invidiam Dominis, contumcliam &s;ervis detraherent,</HI> That there might accrue no envy to the Ma&s;ter for &s;o great a title, nor contempt upon the &s;ervant for &s;o low a title, they called the Ma&s;ter <HI>Patremfamilias,</HI> The Father of a hou&s;hould, and they called the &s;ervants, <HI>familiares,</HI> parts and pieces of the family. So that in the name of <HI>Fa|ther</HI> they under&s;tand all power; and the fir&s;t Law that pa&s;&s;ed among&s;t the Romans a|gain&s;t Parricides,<NOTE PLACE="marg">L. Pompeia.</NOTE> was <HI>Contra interfectores Patrum &amp; Dominorum;</HI> They were made equall, Fathers and Soveraignes: And in the Law of God it &s;elfe, <HI>Honour thy Father,</HI> wee &s;ee all the honour, and feare, and reverence that belongs to the Magi&s;trate, is conveyed in that name, in that per&s;on, the Father is all; as in the State of that people, before they came to be &s;ettled, both the Civill part of the Government, and the Spirituall part, was all in the Father, that Father was King and Prie&s;t over all that family.</P>
<P>Pre&s;ent God to thy &s;elf then as a Father, and thou wilt feare him; and take knowledg, that the Son might not &s;ue the Father; Enter no actio~ again&s;t God why he made thee not richer, nor wi&s;er, nor fairer; no nor why he elects, or refu&s;es, without re&s;pect of good or bad works; But take knowledge too, that when by the Law, the Father might puni&s;h the Son with death, he might not kill his Son before he was pa&s;&s;ed three yeares in age, before hee was come to &s;ome demon&s;tration of an ill, and rebellious nature, and di&s;po&s;ition: What&s;oever God may doe of his ab&s;olute Power, beleeve that he will not execute that power upon thee to thy condemnation, till thine actuall &s;ins have made thee incapable of his love: What he may do, di&s;pute not, but be &s;ure he will do thee no harme if thou feare him, as a Father.</P>
<P>Now to bring that nearer to you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sacerdotalis.</NOTE> which principally we intended, which is, the con|&s;ideration and precaution of tho&s;e &s;ins, which violate this Power of God, notified in this name of <HI>Father,</HI> we con&s;ider a threefold emanation or exerci&s;e of Power in this Fa|ther, by occa&s;ion of a threefold repeating of this part of the Text, in the Scripture. The words are waighty, alwayes at the bottome; for we have the&s;e words in the la&s;t of the Prophets, in <HI>Malachie,</HI> and in the la&s;t of the Euangeli&s;ts, in <HI>Iohn,</HI> And here in this A|po&s;tle, we have them of the la&s;t Judgement.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 1.6.</NOTE> In <HI>Malachi</HI> he &s;ayes, <HI>A Son honoureth his Father, if then I be a Father, where is my honour?</HI> This God &s;peaks there to the Prie&s;t, to the Levite;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.29.</NOTE> for, the Tribe of <HI>Levi,</HI> had before, (as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> bade them) con&s;ecrated their hands to God, and puni&s;hed by a zealous execution, the Idolatry of the golden Calfe; and for this &s;ervice, God fa&s;tned the Prie&s;thood upon them. But when they came in <HI>Malachies</HI> time, to connive at Idolatry it &s;elfe, God, who was him&s;elfe the roote of the Prie&s;thood, and had tru&s;ted them with it, and they had abu&s;ed that tru&s;t, and the Prie&s;t|hood, Then when the <HI>Prophet</HI> was become a <HI>foole,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;e. 9.7.</NOTE> and the <HI>&s;pirituall Man, mad,</HI> or (as S. <HI>Hierom</HI> reads it) <HI>Arreptitius,</HI> that is, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by others, God fir&s;t of all turnes upon the Prie&s;t him&s;elfe, rebukes the Prie&s;t, interminates his judgement upon the Prie&s;t, for God is our high Prie&s;t. And therefore feare this Father in that notion, in that apprehen&s;i|on, as a Prie&s;t, as thy high Prie&s;t, that refu&s;es or receives thy &s;acrifices, as he finds them conditioned; and if he looke narrowly, is able to finde &s;ome &s;pot in thy pure&s;t Lambe, &s;ome &s;in in thy holie&s;t action, &s;ome deviation in thy prayer, &s;ome o&s;tentation in thine almes, &s;ome vaine glory in thy Preaching, &s;ome hypocri&s;ie in thy hearing, &s;ome conceal|ing in thy confe&s;&s;ions, &s;ome re&s;ervation in thy re&s;titutions, &s;ome relap&s;es in thy reconci|liations: &s;ince thou calle&s;t him Father, feare him as thy high Prie&s;t: So the words have their force in <HI>Malachie,</HI> and they appertaine <HI>Ad pote&s;tatem Sacerdotalem,</HI> To the power of the Prie&s;t, de&s;pi&s;e not that.</P>
<P>And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Civilis.</HI> Iohn 8.42.</NOTE> in the &s;econd place, which is in S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>If God were your Fa|ther,
<PB N="389" REF="212">you would love me:</HI> And this Chri&s;t &s;peakes to the Phari&s;ees, and to them, not as Sectaries in Religion, but as to per&s;ons in Authority, and command in the State, as to Rulers, to Governours, to Magi&s;trates: So Chri&s;t &s;ayes to <HI>Pilate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 19.11. Rom. 13.11.</NOTE> <HI>Thou could&s;t have no power at all again&s;t me, except it were given thee from above:</HI> And &s;o S. <HI>Paul, There is no power but of God, The powers that be, be ordained of God.</HI> Chri&s;t then charges the Phari&s;ees, that they having the &s;ecular Power in their hands, they went about to kill him, when he was doing the will of his Father, who is the roote, as of Prie&s;thood, &s;o of all Civill pow|er, and Magi&s;tracy al&s;o. Feare this Father then, as the Civill Sword, the Sword of Ju|&s;tice is in his hand. He can open thee to the malicious pro&s;ecutions of adver&s;aries, and &s;ubmit thee to the penalties of tho&s;e Lawes, which, in truth, thou ha&s;t never tran&s;gre&s;|&s;ed: Thy Fathers, thy Grandfathers have &s;inned again&s;t him, and thou ha&s;t been but re|prieved for two &s;e&s;&s;ions, for two generations, and now maie&s;t come to execution. Thou ha&s;t &s;inned thy &s;elfe, and ha&s;t repented, and ha&s;t had thy pardon &s;ealed in the Sacrament; but thy pardon was clogged with an <HI>Ita qu&ograve;d &s;e bene gerat,</HI> Thou wa&s;t bound to the peace by that pardon, and ha&s;t broken that peace &s;ince, in a relap&s;e, and &s;o falle&s;t under execu|tion for thine old &s;ins: God cuts off men by un&s;earchable wayes and meanes; and there|fore feare this Father as a Soveraigne, as a Magi&s;trate, for that u&s;e this word in S. <HI>Iohn</HI> may have.</P>
<P>In <HI>Malachie</HI> we con&s;ider him in his &s;upreme &s;pirituall power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudiciaria.</NOTE> and in S. <HI>Iohn</HI> in his &s;u|preme temporall power; And in this Text, this Father is pre&s;ented in a power, which includes both, in a judiciary power, as a Judge, as our Judge, our Judge at the la&s;t day, beyond all Appeale; And (as this Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Peter,</HI> is &s;aid by <HI>Clement,</HI> who is &s;aid to have beene his &s;ucce&s;&s;or at Rome, to have &s;aid) <HI>Quis peccare poterit, &amp;c.</HI> Who could commit any &s;in at any time, if at all times he had his eye fixed upon this la&s;t Judgement? We have &s;eene pur&s;es cut at the Se&s;&s;ions, and at Executions, but the Cutpur&s;e did not &s;ee the Judge looke upon him: we &s;ee men &s;in over tho&s;e &s;ins to day, for which Judgement was inflicted but ye&s;terday, but &s;urely they doe not &s;ee then that the Judge &s;ees them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>Thou trea&s;ure&s;t up wrath,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>again&s;t the day of wrath, and revelation of the judge|ment of God:</HI> There is no Revelation of the day of Judgement, no &s;en&s;e of any &s;uch day, till the very day it &s;elfe overtake him, and &s;wallow him. Repre&s;ent God to thy &s;elfe as &s;uch a Judge, as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes, That who&s;oever con&s;iders him &s;o, as that Judge, and that day, as a day of irrevocable judgement, <HI>Gehennae poenam tolerare malit, qu&agrave;m ad|ver&s;o Deo &s;tare,</HI> He will even think it an ea&s;e to be thrown down into hell out of the pre|&s;ence of God, rather then to &s;tand long in the pre&s;ence, and &s;tand under the indignation of that incen&s;ed Judge: The <HI>Ite maledicti</HI> will be le&s;&s;e then the <HI>Surgite qui dormitis.</HI> And there is the mi&s;erable perplexity, <HI>Latere impo&s;sibils, Apparere intolerabile,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> To be hid from this Judge is impo&s;&s;ible, and to appeare before him, intolerable: for he comes inve&s;ted with tho&s;e two flames of confu&s;ion, (which are our two next branches in the Text) fir&s;t, He re&s;pects no per&s;ons, Then, He judges according to workes: <HI>Without re&s;pect of per|&s;ons, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Nine or ten &s;everall times it is repeated in the Scriptures, and, I thinke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acceptor per&s;onarum.</NOTE> no one intire propo&s;ition &s;o often, <HI>That God is no accepter of per&s;ons.</HI> It is &s;poken by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that they who are conver&s;ant in the Law might &s;ee it, and &s;poken in the Chronicles, that they might &s;ee it who are conver&s;ant in State-affaires, and &s;poken in <HI>Iob,</HI> that men in afflicti|ons might not mi&s;-imagine a partiality in God: It is &s;poken to the Gentiles, by the Apo|&s;tle of the Gentiles, S. <HI>Paul,</HI> &s;everally; To the Romanes, to the Galatians, to the Ephe|&s;ians, to the Colo&s;&s;ians: And &s;poken by the chiefe Apo&s;tle, S. <HI>Peter,</HI> both in a private Sermon in <HI>Cornelius</HI> his hou&s;e, and now in this Catholique Epi&s;tle written to all the world, that all the world, and all the inhabitants thereof might know, <HI>That God is no ac|cepter of per&s;ons:</HI> And le&s;t all this &s;hould not be all, it is &s;poken twice in the Apocryphall books; and though we know not a&s;&s;uredly by whom, yet we know to whom, To all that exerci&s;e any judiciary power under God, it belongs to know, <HI>That God is no accepter of per&s;ons.</HI> In divers of tho&s;e places, this al&s;o is added, <HI>Nor receiver of Rewards;</HI> whether that be added as an equall thing, That it is as great a &s;in to accept per&s;ons, as to accept re|wards, Or as a concomitancy, they goe together, He that will accept per&s;ons, will accept rewards, Or as an Identity, It is the &s;ame thing to accept per&s;ons, and to accept rewards, becau&s;e the preferment which I looke for from a per&s;on in place, is as much a reward, as money from a per&s;on rich in trea&s;ure; whether of the&s;e it be, I di&s;pute not: Clearly
<PB N="390" REF="213">there is a Bribery in my love to another, and in my feare of another there is a Bribery too: There is a bribery in a poore mans teares, if that decline me from ju&s;tice, as well as in the rich mans Plate, and Hangings, and Coach, and Hor&s;es.</P>
<P>Let no man therefore think to pre&s;ent his complexion to God for an excu&s;e, and &s;ay, My choler with which my con&s;titution abounded, and which I could not remedy, en|clined me to wrath, and &s;o to bloud; My Melancholy enclined me to &s;adne&s;&s;e, and &s;o to De&s;peration, as though thy &s;ins were medicinall &s;ins, &s;ins to vent humors. Let no man &s;ay, I am continent enough all the yeare, but the &s;pring works upon me, and inflames my concupi&s;cencies, as though thy &s;ins were &s;ea&s;onable and anniver&s;ary &s;ins. Make not thy Calling the occa&s;ion of thy &s;in, as though thy &s;in were a My&s;terie, and an Occupation; Nor thy place, thy &s;tation, thy office the occa&s;ion of thy &s;in, as though thy &s;in were an Heir-loome, or furniture, or fixed to the freehold of that place: for this one propo&s;ition, <HI>God is no accepter of per&s;ons,</HI> is &s;o often repeated, that all circum&s;tances of Di&s;po&s;itions, and Callings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;.</NOTE> and time, and place might be involved in it. <HI>Nulla de&s;cretio per&s;onarum, &s;ed mo|rum;</HI> God di&s;cernes not, that is, di&s;tingui&s;hes not Per&s;ons, but Actions, for, <HI>He judgeth according to every mans works,</HI> which is our next Branch.</P>
<P>Now this judging according to works,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opera.</NOTE> excludes not the heart, nor the heart of the heart, the &s;oule of the &s;oule, Faith. God requires the heart, <HI>My &s;onne give me thy heart;</HI> He will have it, but he will have it by gift; and tho&s;e Deeds of Gift mu&s;t be te&s;tified; and the te&s;timony of the heart is in the hand, the te&s;timony of faith is in works. If one give me a timber tree for my hou&s;e, I know not whether the root be mine or no, whe|ther I may &s;tub it by that gift: but if he give me a fruit tree for mine Orchard, he intends me the root too; for el&s;e I cannot tran&s;plant it, nor receive fruit by it: God judges ac|cording to <HI>the worke,</HI> that is, Root and fruit, faith and worke; That is the worke; And then he judges according unto <HI>Thy worke;</HI> The works of Other men, the Actions and the Pa&s;&s;ions of the ble&s;&s;ed Martyrs, and Saints in the Primitive Church, works of Super|erogation are not thy works. It were a &s;trange pretence to health, that when thy Phy&s;itian had pre&s;cribed thee a bitter potion, and came for an account how it had wrought upon thee, thou &s;hould&s;t &s;ay, My brother hath taken twice as much as you pre&s;cribed for me, but I tooke none, Or if he ordained &s;ixe ounces of bloud to be taken from thee, to &s;ay, My Grandfather bled twelve. God &s;hall judge according to <HI>The worke,</HI> that is, The na|ture of the worke, and according to <HI>Thy worke,</HI> The propriety of the worke: Thee, who art a Prote&s;tant, he &s;hall judge by thine owne worke, and not by S. <HI>Stephens,</HI> or S. <HI>Peters;</HI> and thee, who art a Papi&s;t, he &s;hall judge by thine owne worke, and not by S. <HI>Campians,</HI> or S. <HI>Garnets,</HI> as meritorious as thou thinke&s;t them. And therefore if God be thy Father, and in that title have &s;overaigne power over thee, A power &s;pirituall, as High-prie&s;t of thy &s;oule, that di&s;cernes thy &s;acrifices; A power Civill, and drawes the &s;word of Ju&s;tice again&s;t thee, when he will; A power judiciary, and judges without accepting per&s;ons, and without error in apprehending thy works, If he be a Father thus, feare him, for the&s;e are the rea&s;ons of feare, on his part, and then feare him, for this rea&s;on on thy part, That this time which thou art to &s;tay here, fir&s;t, is But a &s;ojourning, it is no more, but yet it is a &s;ojourning, it is no le&s;&s;e, <HI>Pa&s;&s;e the time of your &s;ojourning here, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>When there is a long time to the A&s;&s;i&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Incolatus.</NOTE> there may be &s;ome hope of taking off, or of &s;mothering Evidence, or working upon the Judge, or preparing for a pardon: Or if it were a great booty, a great po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion which we had gotten, even that might buy out our peace. But this world is no &s;uch thing, neither for the extent that we have in it, It is but little that the greate&s;t hath, nor for the time that we have in it; In both re&s;pects it is but a <HI>&s;ojourning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 47.6. Heb. 13.14.</NOTE> it is but a <HI>pilgrimage,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Iacob,</HI> And <HI>But the dayes of my pilgrimage;</HI> Every one of them quickly at an end, and all of them quickly reckoned. <HI>Here we have no conti|nuing City;</HI> fir&s;t, no City, no &s;uch large being, and then no continuing at all, it is but a &s;ojourning. The word in the Text is <GAP DESC="foreign">, we have but a pari&s;h, we are but pari&s;hio|ners in this world, and they that labour to purcha&s;e whole &s;hires, u&s;urp more then their portion; and yet what is a great Shire in a little Map? Here we are but <HI>Viatores,</HI> Pa&s;&s;engers, way-faring men; This life is but the high-way, and thou can&s;t not build thy hopes here; Nay, to be buried in the high way is no good marke; and therefore bury not thy &s;elfe, thy labours, thy affections upon this world. What the Prophet &s;ayes to thy Saviour, <HI>(O the hope of I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word">. 14.7.</NOTE> <HI>the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why &s;houlde&s;t thou be a &s;tranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man, that turnes a&s;ide to tarry for a night?)</HI> &s;ay thou to thy
<PB N="391" REF="213">&s;oule, Sincethou art a &s;tranger in the land, a wayfaring man, turned a&s;ide to tarry for a night, &s;ince the night is pa&s;t, <HI>Ari&s;e and depart, for here is not thy re&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 2.10.</NOTE> prepare for ano|ther place, and <HI>feare</HI> him whom thou calle&s;t <HI>Father,</HI> and who is &s;hortly to be thy <HI>Iudge;</HI> for here thou art no more then a <HI>&s;ojourner;</HI> but yet remember withall that thou art &s;o much, Thou art a <HI>&s;ojourner.</HI></P>
<P>This life is not a Parenthe&s;is, a Parenthe&s;is that belongs not to the &s;en&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Incolatus.</NOTE> a Parenthe&s;is that might be left out, as well as put in. More depends upon this life then &s;o: upon eve|ry minute of this life, depend millions of yeares in the next, and I &s;hall be glorified eter|nally, or eternally lo&s;t, for my good or ill u&s;e of Gods grace offered to me this houre. Therefore where the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes of this life, <HI>Peregrinamur &agrave; Domino,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.6.</NOTE> <HI>We are ab&s;ent from the Lord,</HI> yet he &s;ayes, <HI>We are at home in the body:</HI> This world is &s;o much our home, as that he that is not at home now, he that hath not his conver&s;ation in heaven here, &s;hall never get home. And therefore even in this Text, our former Tran&s;lation calls it <HI>Dwel|ling;</HI> That which we reade now, <HI>pa&s;&s;e the time of your &s;ojourning,</HI> we did reade then, <HI>pa&s;&s;e the time of your dwelling;</HI> for this, where we are now, is the &s;uburb of the great Ci|ty, the porch of the triumphant Church, and the Grange, or Country hou&s;e of the &s;ame Landlord, belonging to his heavenly Palace, in the heavenly Jeru&s;alem. Be it but a &s;o|journing, yet thou mu&s;t pay God &s;omething for thy &s;ojourning, pay God his rent of prai&s;e and prayer; And be it but a &s;ojourning, yet thou art bound to it for a time; Though thou &s;igh with <HI>David, Heu mihi, quia prolongatus incolatus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 120.5.</NOTE> woe is me that I &s;ojourne &s;o long here, Though the mi&s;eries of thy life make thy life &s;eeme long, yet thou mu&s;t &s;tay out that time, which he, who tooke thee in, appointed, and by no practice, no not &s;o much as by a deliberate wi&s;h, or unconditioned prayer, &s;eeke to be delivered of it: Be|cau&s;e thy time here is &s;uch a &s;ojourning as is quickly atan end, and yet &s;uch a &s;ojourning as is never at an end, (for our endle&s;&s;e &s;tate depends upon this) fear him, who &s;hall &s;o certainly, and &s;o &s;oone be a ju&s;t Judge of it; feare him, in ab&s;taining from tho&s;e &s;innes which are directed upon his power; which are, principally, (as we intimated at the begin|ning, and with which we &s;hall make an end) fir&s;t, The negligence of his power upon thee, And then, the abu&s;e of his power communicated to thee over others.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, the &s;in directed again&s;t the Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Negligentia.</NOTE> whom wee con&s;ider to be the roote and center of all power, is, when as &s;ome men have thought the &s;oule of man to be nothing but a re&s;ultance of the temperament and con&s;titution of the body of man, and no infu&s;ion from God, &s;o they thinke that power, by which the world is governed, is but a re&s;ultance of the con&s;ent, and the tacite voice of the people, who are content, for their ea&s;e to bee &s;o governed, and no particular Ordinance of God: It is an undervaluing, a fal&s;e concep|tion, a mi&s;-apprehen&s;ion of tho&s;e beames of power, which God from him&s;elf &s;heds upon tho&s;e, whom him&s;elfe cals Gods in this World. We &s;in then again&s;t the Father, when we undervalue God in his Prie&s;t. God hath made no &s;tep in that perver&s;e way of the Ro|man Church, to prefer, &s;o as they doe, the Prie&s;t before the King; yet, &s;peaking in two &s;everall places, of the dignity of his people, fir&s;t, as Jews, then as Chri&s;tians, he &s;ayes in one place, They &s;hall be <HI>a Kingdome,</HI> and <HI>a Kingdome of Prie&s;ts;</HI> and he &s;ayes in the other,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 19.6. 1 Pet. 2.9.</NOTE> They &s;hall be <HI>Sacerdotium,</HI> and <HI>Regale Sacerdotium, Prie&s;ts,</HI> and <HI>royall Prie&s;ts:</HI> In one place, <HI>the King,</HI> in the other, <HI>the Prie&s;t</HI> mentioned fir&s;t, and in both places, both involved in one another: The ble&s;&s;ings from both are &s;o great, as that the Holy Gho&s;t expre&s;&s;es them by one another mutually.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 1. <HI>Olea&s;ter.</HI></NOTE> When God commands his people to bee numbred in every Tribe, one moves this que&s;tion, Why in all other Tribes he numbred but from twenty yeares upward, and in the Tribe of <HI>Levi</HI> from a moneth upward? <HI>Agno&s;ce &s;acer|dos,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>quanti te Deus tuus fecerit,</HI> Take knowledge, thou who art the Prie&s;t of the high God, what a value God hath &s;et upon thee, that whereas he takes other &s;ervants for other affaires, when they are men, fit to doe him &s;ervice, he took thee to the Prie&s;t|hood in thy cradle, in thine infancie. How much more then, when the Prie&s;t is not <HI>Sa|cerdos infans,</HI> A Prie&s;t that cannot or does not &s;peake; but continues watchfull in medi|tating, and a&s;&s;iduous in uttering, powerfully, and yet mode&s;tly, the things that concerne your &s;alvation, ought you to ab&s;taine from violating the power of God the Father, in di&s;-e&s;teeming his power thus planted in the Prie&s;t?</P>
<P>So al&s;o doe we &s;in again&s;t the Father, the roote of power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Civilis.</NOTE> in conceiving ami&s;&s;e of the power of the Civill Magi&s;trate: Whether where God is plea&s;ed to repre&s;ent his unity, in one Per&s;on, in a King; or to expre&s;&s;e it in a plurality of per&s;ons, in divers Governours,
<PB N="392" REF="214">When God &s;ayes, <HI>Per me Reges regnant, By me Kings raigne;</HI> There the <HI>Per,</HI> is not a Per|mi&s;&s;ion, but a Commi&s;&s;ion, It is not, That they raigne by my Sufferance, but they raigne by mine Ordinance. A King is not a King, becau&s;e he is a good King, nor leaves being a King,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.5.</NOTE> as &s;oone as he leaves being good. All is well &s;ummed by the Apo&s;tle, <HI>You mu&s;t needs be &s;ubject, not only for wrath, but al&s;o for con&s;cience &s;ake.</HI></P>
<P>But then the greate&s;t danger of &s;inning again&s;t the Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudiciaria.</NOTE> in this notion of power, is, if you conceive not aright of his Judiciary power, of that judgement, which he executes, not by Prie&s;ts, nor by Kings upon earth, but by his owne Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us in heaven. For, not to be a&s;toni&s;hed at the Contemplation of that judgement, where there &s;hall be Information, Examination, Publication, Hearing, Judgement, and Execution in a minute; where they that never beleeved, till they heard me, may be taken in, and I that Preached and wrought their &s;alvation, may be left out; where tho&s;e wounds which my Saviour received upon earth, for me, &s;hall be &s;hut up again&s;t me, and tho&s;e wounds which my bla&s;phemies have made in his glorified body, &s;hall bleed out indignation, upon &s;ight of me, the murtherer, not to think upon, not to tremble at this judgement, is the highe&s;t &s;in again&s;t the Father, and his power, in the undervaluing of it.</P>
<P>But there is a &s;in again&s;t this power too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Abu&s;us.</NOTE> in abu&s;ing that portion of that power, which God hath depo&s;ited in thee. Art thou a Prie&s;t, and expecte&s;t the reverence due to that holy calling?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambr Ep. 6. ad Iren.</NOTE> Be holy in in that calling. <HI>Quomodo pote&s;t ob&s;ervari &agrave; populo, qui nihil ha|bet &s;ecretum &agrave; populo?</HI> How can the people reverence him, whom they &s;ee to be but ju&s;t one of them? <HI>Quid in te miretur, &s;i &s;ua in te recogno&s;cit?</HI> If they finde no more in thee, then in one another, what &s;hould they admire in thee? <HI>Si quae in &s;e erube&s;cit, in te, quem reverendum arbitratur, offendit?</HI> If they di&s;cerne tho&s;e infirmities in thee, which they are a&s;hamed of in them&s;elves, where is there any object, any &s;ubject, any exerci&s;e of their reverence?<NOTE PLACE="marg">p&s;al. 52.1.</NOTE> Art thou great in Civill Power? <HI>Quid gloriaris in malo, quiae potens es? Why boa&s;te&s;t thou thy &s;elfe in mi&s;chiefe, O mighty man?</HI> Ha&s;t thou a great body therefore, be|cau&s;e thou &s;houlde&s;t &s;tand heavy upon thine own feet, and make them ake? Or a great power therefore, becau&s;e thou &s;houlde&s;t oppre&s;&s;e them that are under thee? u&s;e thy pow|er ju&s;tly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Je&s;. 1.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> and call it the voyce of allegeance when the people &s;ay to thee, as to <HI>Io&s;ua, All that thou commande&s;t us, we will doc, and whither &s;oever thou &s;ende&s;t us, we will goe:</HI> Abu&s;e that power to oppre&s;&s;ion, and thou can&s;t not call that the voyce of &s;edition, in which, <HI>Peter</HI> and the other Apo&s;tles joyned together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5.29.</NOTE> <HI>We ought to obey God rather then man.</HI> Ha&s;t thou any judiciall place in this world? here there belongs more feare then in the re&s;t: Some things God hath done in Chri&s;t as a Prie&s;t in this world, &s;ome things as a King, But when Chri&s;t &s;hould have been a Judge in civill cau&s;es, he declined that, he would not divide the Inheritance, and in criminall cau&s;es he did &s;o too, he would not condemne the Adulte|re&s;&s;e. So that for thy example in judgement, thou art referred to that which is not come yet, to that, to which thou mu&s;t come, The la&s;t, the everla&s;ting judgement. Waigh thine affections there, and then, and think there &s;tands before thee now, a pri&s;oner &s;o affected, as thou &s;halt be then. Waigh the mercy of thy Judge then, and think there is &s;uch mercy required in thy judgement now. Be but able to &s;ay, God be &s;uch to me at the la&s;t day, as I am to his people this day, and for that dayes ju&s;tice in thy publique calling, God may be plea&s;ed to cover many &s;ins of infirmity. And &s;o you have all that we intended in this exerci&s;e to pre&s;ent unto you, The fir&s;t per&s;on of the Trinity, God the Father, in his Attri|bute of power, Almighty, and tho&s;e &s;ins, which, as farre as this Text leads us, are directed upon him in that notion of <HI>Father.</HI> The next day the Son will ri&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="40" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="393" REF="214">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XL.</HI> Preached upon Trinity-Sunday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 16.22.</HI></BIBL>
<P>If any man love not the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, let him be Anathema, Maranatha.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_CHri&s;t is not defined, not de&s;igned by any name, by any word &s;o often, as by that very word, <HI>The Word, Sermo,</HI> Speech. In man there are three kinds of &s;peech; <HI>Sermo innatus,</HI> That inward &s;peech, which the thought of man reflecting upon it &s;elfe produces within, He thinks &s;omething; And then <HI>Sermo illatus,</HI> A &s;peech of inference, that &s;peech which is occa&s;ioned in him by outward things, from which he drawes conclu&s;ions, and determins; And la&s;tly, <HI>Sermo prolatus,</HI> That &s;peech by which he manife&s;ts him&s;elfe to other men. We con&s;ider al&s;o three kindes of &s;peech in God; and Chri&s;t is all three. There is <HI>Sermo innatus;</HI> His eternall, his naturall word, which God produced out of him&s;elfe, which is the generati|of the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity; And then there is <HI>Sermo illatus,</HI> His word occa&s;io|ned by the fall of <HI>Adam,</HI> which is his Decree of &s;ending Chri&s;t, as a Redeemer; And there is al&s;o <HI>Sermo prolatus,</HI> His &s;peech of manife&s;tation and application of Chri&s;t, which are his Scriptures. The fir&s;t word is Chri&s;t, the &s;econd, the Decree, is for Chri&s;t, the third, the Scripture, is of Chri&s;t. Let the word be Chri&s;t, &s;o he is God; Let the word be for Chri&s;t, for his comming hither, &s;o he is man; Let the word be of Chri&s;t, &s;o the Scriptures make this God and man ours. Now <HI>If</HI> in all the&s;e, if in any of the&s;e appre|hen&s;ions, <HI>any man love not the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, let him be Anathema, Maranatha.</HI></P>
<P>By mo&s;t of tho&s;e, who, from the perver&s;ene&s;&s;e of Heretiques,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> have taken occa&s;ion to prove the Deity of Chri&s;t, this text hath been cited; and therefore I take it now, when in my cour&s;e propo&s;ed, I am to &s;peak of the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity; but, (as I &s;aid of the fir&s;t Per&s;on, the Father) not as in the Schoole, but in the Church, not in a Chaire, but in a Pulpit, not to a Congregation that required proofe, in a thing doubted, but edifi|cation, upon a foundation received; not as though any of us would di&s;pute, whether Je|&s;us Chri&s;t were the Lord, but that all of us would joyne in that Excommunication, <HI>If any man love not the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, let him be, &amp;c.</HI> Let this then be the frame that this ex|erci&s;e &s;hall &s;tand upon. We have three parts; The per&s;on upon whom our Religious wor&s;hip is to be directed, <HI>The Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> And &s;econdly, we have the expre&s;&s;ion and the limitation of that wor&s;hip, as farre as it is expre&s;&s;ed here, <HI>Love the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> And la&s;tly, we have the imprecation upon them that doe not, If any man doe not, let him be <HI>Anathema, Maranatha.</HI> In the fir&s;t we have <HI>Verbum naturale, verbum in|natum,</HI> As he is the e&s;&s;entiall word, <HI>The Lord,</HI> a name proper only to God; And then <HI>Ver|bum conceptum, verbum illatum,</HI> Gods Decree upon con&s;ideration of mans mi&s;ery, that Chri&s;t &s;hould be a Redeemer, for to that intent he is <HI>Chri&s;tus,</HI> Anointed to that pur|po&s;e; And la&s;tly, <HI>Verbum prolatum, verbum manife&s;tatum,</HI> That this <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> becomes <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> That this Decree is executed, that this per&s;on thus anointed for this office, is become an actuall Saviour; So the <HI>Lord</HI> is made <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is made <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> In the &s;econd Part we &s;hall finde another argument for his Deity, for there is &s;uch a <HI>love</HI> required towards the <HI>Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> as appertaines to God onely; And la&s;tly, we &s;hall have the indeter|minable, and indi&s;pen&s;able excommunication of them, who though they pretend to <HI>love the Lord,</HI> (God in an univer&s;all notion) yet doe not <HI>love the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> God, in this apprehen&s;ion of a Saviour; and, <HI>If any man love not, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, in the fir&s;t branch of the fir&s;t part, in that name of our Saviour, <HI>The Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Dominus.</HI></NOTE> we apprehend the eternall Word of God, the Son of God, the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Tri|nity: for, He is <HI>Per&s;ona producta,</HI> Begotten by another, and therefore cannot be the fir&s;t;
<PB N="394" REF="215" MS="y">And he is <HI>Per&s;ona &s;pirans,</HI> a Per&s;on out of whom, with the Father, another Per&s;on, that is, the Holy Gho&s;t proceeds, and therefore cannot be the la&s;t Per&s;on, and there are but three,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> and &s;o he nece&s;&s;arily the &s;econd. Shall we hope to comprehend this by rea&s;on? <HI>Quid magni haberet Dei generatio, &s;i angu&s;ti is intellectus tui comprehenderetur?</HI> How &s;mall a thing were this my&s;tery of Heaven, if it could be &s;hut in, in &s;o narrow a piece of the earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> as thy heart? <HI>Qui tuam ip&s;ius generatione~ vel in totum ne&s;cis, vel dicere &s;it pudor,</HI> Thou that knowe&s;t nothing of thine owne begetting, or art a&s;hamed to &s;peake that little that thou doe&s;t know of it, wilt not thou be a&s;hamed to offer to expre&s;&s;e the eternall gene|ration of the Son of God? It is true, <HI>De modo,</HI> How it was done, our rea&s;on cannot, but <HI>De facto,</HI> that it was done, our rea&s;on may be &s;atisfied. We beleeve nothing with a morall faith, till &s;omething have wrought upon our rea&s;on, and vanqui&s;hed that, and made it a&s;&s;ent and &s;ub&s;cribe. Our divine faith requires evidence too, and hath it abundantly; for, the works of God are not &s;o good evidence to my rea&s;on, as the Word of God is to my faith; The Sun &s;hining is not &s;o good a proofe that it is day, as the Word of God, the Scripture is, that that which is commanded there, is a duty. The roote of our beliefe that Chri&s;t is God, is in the Scriptures, but wee con&s;ider it &s;pread into three branches, ^1 The evident Word it &s;elfe, that Chri&s;t is God; ^2 The reall declaration thereof in his manifold Miracles; ^3 The conclu&s;ions that ari&s;e to our under&s;tanding; thus illumined by the Scriptures, thus e&s;tabli&s;hed by his miracles.</P>
<P>In every mouth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ex Scriptu|ris.</NOTE> in every pen of the Scriptures, that delivers any truth, the Holy Gho&s;t &s;peaks, and therefore what&s;oever is &s;aid by any there, is the te&s;timony of the Holy Gho&s;t, for the Deity of Chri&s;t. And from the Father we have this te&s;timony, that he is his Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3. ult. Heb. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>This is my beloved Son,</HI> And this te&s;timony that his Son is God, <HI>Vnto his Son he &s;aith, Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever.</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t te&s;tifies, and his Father, and him&s;elfe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 1.8.</NOTE> and his te&s;timony is true, <HI>I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the ending, &s;aith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.</HI> Hee te|&s;tifies with his Father;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 22.16.</NOTE> and then, their Angels and his Apo&s;tles te&s;tifie with him, <HI>I Ie&s;us have &s;ent mine Angels, to te&s;tifie unto you the&s;e things in the Church, That I am the Roote, and the Off-&s;pring of David,</HI> not the off-&s;pring onely, but the roote too, and therefore was before <HI>David.</HI> God and his Angels in Heaven te&s;tifie it, And vi&s;ible Angels upon earth, his Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>God hath purcha&s;ed his Church, with his owne blood,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Paul;</HI> He who &s;hed his blood for his Church, was God; and no fal&s;e God, no mortall God, as the gods of the Nations were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.20. Tit. 2.13.</NOTE> but, <HI>This is the true God, and cternall life;</HI> and then, no &s;mall God, no particular God, as the Gods of the Nations were too, but, <HI>We looke for the glorious ap|pearing of our great God, our Saviour Chri&s;t Ie&s;us:</HI> God, that is, God in all the Per&s;ons, Angels, that is, Angels in all their acceptations, Angels of Heaven, Angels of the Church, Angels excommunicate from both, the fallen Angels, Devils them&s;elves, te|&s;tifie his Godhead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 3.11.</NOTE> <HI>Vncleane Spirits fell downe before him, and cryed, Thou art the Sonne of God.</HI></P>
<P>This is the te&s;timony of his Word;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Miracula.</NOTE> the te&s;timony of his Works, are his Miracles. That his Apo&s;tles did Miracles in his name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 3.16.</NOTE> was a te&s;timony of his Deity. <HI>His name, through faith in his Name, hath made this man &s;trong,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Peter,</HI> at the ray&s;ing of the Creeple. But that he did Miracles in his own Name, by his own Power, is a nearer te&s;timony; <HI>Bel&s;|&s;ed be the Lord God of I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 72.18.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>David, Qui facit Mirabilia &s;olus, Which doth his Miracles alone,</HI> without deriving power from any other, or without u&s;ing an other in&s;trument for his Power.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epipha.</NOTE> For, <HI>Mutare naturam, ni&s;i qui Dominus naturae e&s;t, non pote&s;t:</HI> Who&s;oever is able to change the cour&s;e of nature, is the Lord of nature; And he that is &s;o, made it; &amp; he that made it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> that created it, is God. Nay, <HI>Plus e&s;t,</HI> it is more to change the cour&s;e of Nature, then to make it; for, in the Creation, there was no reluctation of the Creature, for there was no Creature, but to divert Nature out of her &s;etled cour&s;e, is a conque&s;t upon a re|&s;i&s;ting adver&s;ary, and powerfull in a pre&s;cription. The <HI>Recedat Mare, Let the Sea go back,</HI> and the <HI>Si&s;tat Sol, Let the Sun &s;tand &s;till,</HI> met with &s;ome kinde of oppo&s;ition in Nature, but in the <HI>Fiat Mare,</HI> and <HI>Fiat Sol, Let there be a Sea, and a Sun,</HI> God met with no oppo|&s;ition, no Nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> he met with nothing. And therefore, <HI>Interrogemus Miracula, quid nobis de Chri&s;to loquantur,</HI> Let us aske his Miracles, and they will make us under&s;tand Chri&s;t; <HI>Habent enim &s;i intelligantur, linguam &s;uam,</HI> If wee under&s;tand them, that is, If wee would under&s;tand them, they &s;peake loud enough, and plaine enough. In his Miraculous birth of a Virgin, In his Miraculous di&s;putation with Doctors at twelve yeares of age, in his
<PB N="395" REF="215">fa&s;ting, in his invi&s;ibility, in his walking upon the Sea, in his re-a&s;&s;uming his body in the Re&s;urrection, Chri&s;t &s;poke, in him&s;elfe, in the language of Miracles. So al&s;o had they a loud and a plaine voyce, in other men; In his Miraculous curing the &s;ick, rai&s;ing the dead, di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the Devill, Chri&s;t &s;poke, in other men, in the language of Miracles. And he did &s;o al&s;o, as in him&s;elfe, and in other men, &s;o in other things; In the miraculous change of Water into Wine, in the drying up of the Fig-tree, In feeding five thou&s;and with five loaves, in &s;hutting up the Sun in darkne&s;&s;e, and opening the graves of the Dead to light, in bringing plenty of Fi&s;h to the Net, and in putting money into the mouth of a Fi&s;h at the Angle, Chri&s;t &s;poke in all the&s;e Creatures, in the language of Mi|racles. So the Scriptures te&s;tifie of his Deity, and &s;o doe his Miracles, and &s;o doe tho&s;e Conclu&s;ions which ari&s;e from thence, though we con&s;ider but that one, which is expre&s;|&s;ed in this part of the Text, that he is <HI>the Lord, If any love not the Lord, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>We rea&s;on thus, God gives not his glory to others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dominus.</NOTE> and his glory is in his E&s;&s;entiall Name, and in his Attributes; and to whom&s;oever he gives them, becau&s;e they cannot be given from God, he who hath them, is God. Of the&s;e, none is &s;o peculiar to him, as the name of <HI>Iehova;</HI> the name, which for reverence, the Jews forbore to &s;ound, and in the room therof ever &s;ounded, <HI>Adonai,</HI> and <HI>Adonai,</HI> is <HI>Dominus,</HI> the name of this Text, <HI>The Lord;</HI> Chri&s;t by being the Lord thus, is Jehovah, and if Jehovah, God. It is <HI>Tertullians</HI> ob&s;ervation, <HI>Et &s;s Pater &s;it, &amp; dicatur Dominus, &amp; Filius &s;it, &amp; dicatur Deus,</HI> That though the Father be the Lord, and be called the Lord, and though the Son be God, and be cal|led God, yet, &s;ayes he, the manner of the Holy Gho&s;t in the New Te&s;tament, is, to call <HI>the Father God,</HI> and <HI>the Son the Lord.</HI> He is Lord with the Father, as he was Con-creator, his Collegue in the Creation; But for that Dominion and Lord&s;hip which he hath by his Purcha&s;e, by his Pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>Calcavit &s;olus, Ple trod the Wine-pre&s;&s;e alone,</HI> not onely no man, but no Per&s;on of the Trinity, redeemed us, by &s;uffering for us, but he. For the or|dinary appellation of <HI>Lord</HI> in the New Te&s;tament, which is <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is but a name of Civility, not onely no name implying Divine wor&s;hip, but not implying any di&s;tinction of ranke or degree among&s;t men. <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> &s;peaks of Chri&s;t, and &s;peakes to the Gardiner, (as &s;he thought) and both in one and the &s;ame word; it is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Dominus, Lord,</HI> to both: when &s;he &s;ayes, <HI>They have taken away my Lord,</HI> meaning Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 20.15.</NOTE> and when &s;he &s;aies to the Gardiner, <HI>Sir, if thou ha&s;t borne him hence,</HI> it is the &s;ame word too. But all that reaches not to the &s;tyle of this Text, <HI>The Lord,</HI> for here <HI>The Lord,</HI> is God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.3.</NOTE> And <HI>no man can &s;ay, that Ie&s;us is the Lord, but by the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> All that was written in the Scrip|tures, all that was e&s;tabli&s;hed by Miracles, all that is deduced by rea&s;on, conduces to this, determines in this, <HI>That every tongue &s;hould confe&s;&s;e, that Ie&s;us Chri&s;t is the Lord;</HI> in which e&s;&s;entiall name, the name of his nature, he is fir&s;t propo&s;ed, as the object of our love.</P>
<P>Now this <HI>Lord,</HI> Lord for ever, is become that which he was not for ever,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chri&s;tus.</NOTE> (otherwi&s;e then in a &s;econdary con&s;ideration) that is, <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> which implies a per&s;on prepared, and &s;itted, and anointed to a peculiar Office in this World. And can the Lord, the ever-living Lord, the Son of God, the onely Son of God, God him&s;elfe have any preferment? pre|ferment by an Office in this World? Was it a preferment to <HI>Diony&s;ius,</HI> who was before in that height over men, to become a &s;choole-ma&s;ter over boyes? Were it a preferment to the Kings Son, to be made governour over a Bee-hive, or over-&s;eer over an Ant-hill? And men, nay Mankinde is no more, not that, not a Bee-hive, not an Ant-hill, compared to this Per&s;on, who being <HI>the Lord,</HI> would become <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> As he was <HI>the Lord,</HI> we con|&s;idered him as God, and that there is a God, naturall rea&s;on can comprehend; As he is <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> we con&s;ider him God and Man, and &s;uch a Per&s;on, naturall rea&s;on (not rooted in the Scriptures, not illu&s;trated by the Scriptures) cannot comprehend; Man will much ea&s;ilier beleeve <HI>the Lord,</HI> that is, God, then <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> that is, God and Man in one Per&s;on.</P>
<P><HI>Chri&s;t</HI> then is the &s;tyle, the title of his Office; <HI>Non Nomen, &s;ed Appellatio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is not his Name, but his Addition. <HI>Vnctus &s;ignificatur,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>&amp; unctus non magis nomen, quam ve&s;titus, calceatus; Chri&s;t</HI> &s;ignifies but anointed, and anointed is no more a Name, then apparelled, or &s;hod, is a name: So, as hee was apparelled in our fle&s;h, and his apparell dyed red in his owne blood, &s;o as he was &s;hod to tread the Wine-pre&s;&s;e for us, So he was <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> That it is <HI>Nomen Sacramenti,</HI> as S. <HI>Aug.</HI> cals it, A my&s;tery, is ea&s;ily agreed to: for all the my&s;teries of all the Religions in the World, are but Milke in re|&s;pect of this Bone, but Catechi&s;mes in re&s;pect of this Schoole-point, but Alphabets in
<PB N="396" REF="216">re&s;pect of this hard Style, God and Man in one per&s;on. That it is <HI>Nomen Sacramenti,</HI> as <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ays, is ea&s;ie; but that it is <HI>Nuncupatio pote&s;tatis,</HI> as <HI>Lactantius</HI> cals it, is &s;ome|what &s;trange, that it is an office of power, a title of honour: for the Creator to become a Creature, and the Lord of life the object of death, nay the &s;eat of death, in whom death did &s;ojourn three dayes, can <HI>Lactantius</HI> call this a declaration of power? is this <HI>Nuncupa|tio pote&s;tatis,</HI> a title of honour? Beloved, he does, and he may; for it was &s;o: for, it was an Annointing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 29.7.</NOTE> <HI>Chri&s;tas</HI> is <HI>unctus;</HI> and unction was the Con&s;ecration of Prie&s;ts, <HI>Thou &s;halt take the annointing Oyle, and powre it upon his head.</HI> The Mitre (as you may &s;ee there) was upon his head then; but then there was a Crowne upon the Mitre; There is a power above the Prie&s;t, the regall power; not above the function of the Prie&s;t, but a|bove the per&s;on of the Prie&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 10.1. &amp; 24.</NOTE> But Unction was the Con&s;ecration of Kings too; <HI>Sa|muel &s;aluted Saul with a ki&s;&s;e, and all the people &s;houted, and &s;ayd, God &s;ave the King;</HI> but, <HI>Is it not,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Samuel, becau&s;e the Lord hath annointed thee, to be captaine over his inheri|tance?</HI> Kings were above Prie&s;ts; and in extraordinary ca&s;es, God ray&s;ed Prophets a|bove Kings; for there is no ordinary power above them: But Unction was the Con&s;e|cration of the&s;e Prophets too; <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> was <HI>annointed</HI> to be <HI>Prophet</HI> in <HI>Elias</HI> roome; and &s;uch a Prophet as &s;hould have u&s;e of the Sword:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 19.16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>Him that &s;capes the Sword of Hazael, (Hazael</HI> was King of Syria) <HI>&s;hall the Sword of Iehu &s;lay, and him that &s;capes the Sword of Iehu (Iehu</HI> was King of I&s;rael) <HI>&s;hall the Sword of Eli&s;ha &s;lay.</HI> In all the&s;e, in Prie&s;ts who were above the people, in Kings, who (in matter of Government) were above the Prie&s;ts, in Prophets, who (in tho&s;e limited ca&s;es expre&s;&s;ed by God, and for that time, wherein God gave them that extraordinary employment) were above Kings, The Un|ction imprinted their Con&s;ecration, they were all <HI>Chri&s;ts,</HI> and in them all, thereby, was that <HI>Nuncupatio pote&s;tatis,</HI> which <HI>Lactantius</HI> mentions; Unction, Annointing was an ad|dition and title of honour:<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 109. P&s;al. 2.6. Deut. 18.</NOTE> Much more in our <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who alone was all three; <HI>A Prie&s;t after the Order of Melchizedek; A King &s;et upon the holy hill of Sion;</HI> And a <HI>Prophet, The Lord thy God will ray&s;e up a Prophet, unto him &s;hall yee harken:</HI> And be&s;ides all this threefold Unction, <HI>Humanitas uncta Divinitate;</HI> He had all the unctions that all the other had, and this, which none other had; In him the Humanity was Con&s;ecrated, anointed with the Divinity it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>So then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian: Cyrill. P&s;al. 95.7.</NOTE> <HI>unio unctio,</HI> The hypo&s;taticall union of the Godhead to the humane nature, is his Conception, made him <HI>Chri&s;t:</HI> for, <HI>oleo laetitia perfu&s;us in unione,</HI> Then, in that uni|on of the two natures, <HI>did God annoint him with the oyle of gladnes above his fellows.</HI> There was an addition, &s;omething gained, &s;omething to be glad of; and, to him, as he was God, <HI>The Lord,</HI> &s;o nothing could be added; If he were glad above his fellows, it was in that re|&s;pect wherein he had fellows, and as God, as <HI>The Lord,</HI> he had none; &s;o that &s;till, as he was made Man, he became this <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> In which his being made Man, if we &s;hould not con&s;ider the la&s;t and principall purpo&s;e, which was to redeem man, if we leave out his part, yet it were object inough for our wonder, and &s;ubject inough for our prai&s;e and thanke&s;giving, to con&s;ider the dignity, that the nature of man received in that union, wherin this <HI>Lord</HI> was thus made this <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> for, the Godhead did not &s;wallow up the manhood; but man, that nature remained &s;till; The greater kingdom did not &s;wallow the le&s;&s;e, but the le&s;&s;e had that great addition, which it had not before, and retained the dig|nities and priviledges which it had before too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;c.</NOTE> <HI>Chri&s;tus e&s;t nomen per&s;onae, non naturae,</HI> The name of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> denotes one per&s;on, but not one nature: neither is Chri&s;t &s;o compo&s;ed of tho&s;e two natures, as a man is compo&s;ed of Elements; for man is thereby made a third thing, and is not now any of tho&s;e Elements; you cannot call mans body fire or ayre, or earth or water, though all foure be in his compo&s;ition: But Chri&s;t is &s;o made of God and Man, as that he is Man &s;till, for all the glory of the Deity, and God &s;till, for all the infir|mity of the manhood:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>Divinum miraculis lucet, humanum contumeliis afficitur:</HI> In this one Chri&s;t, both appear; The Godhead bur&s;ts out, as the Sun out of a cloud, and &s;hines forth gloriou&s;ly in miracles, even the ray&s;ing of the dead, and the humane nature is &s;ub|mitted to contempt and to torment, even to the admitting of death in his own bo&s;ome; <HI>&s;ed tamen ip&s;ius &s;unt tum miraculae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>tum &s;upplicia,</HI> but &s;till, both he that ray&s;es the dead, and he that dyes him&s;elf, is one Chri&s;t, his is the glory of the Miracles, and the contempt and torment is his too. This is that my&s;terious per&s;on, who is <HI>&s;ingularis,</HI> and yet not <HI>in|dividuus; &s;ingularis,</HI> There never was, never &s;hall be any &s;uch, but we cannot call him Individuall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> as every other particular man is, becau&s;e <HI>Chri&s;titatis non e&s;t Genus,</HI> there is no
<PB N="397" REF="216">genus nor &s;pecies of Chri&s;ts; it is not a name, which, &s;o (as the name belongs to our Chri&s;t, that is, by being annointed with the divine nature) can be communicated to any other, as the name of Man, may to every Individuall Man. Chri&s;t is not that <HI>Spectrum,</HI> that <HI>Dama&s;cene</HI> &s;peaks of, nor that <HI>Electrum</HI> that <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;peakes of; not <HI>Spectrum,</HI> &s;o as that the two natures &s;hould but imaginarily be united, and only to amaze and a&s;toni&s;h us, that we could not tell what to call it, what to make of it, a &s;pectre, an apparition, a phanta&s;ma, for he was a Reall per&s;on. Neither was he <HI>Tertullians Electrum,</HI> a third me|tall made of two other metals, but a per&s;on &s;o made of God and Man, as that, in that per|&s;on, God and Man, are in their natures &s;till di&s;tingui&s;hed. He is <HI>Germen Davidis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iere. 23.5. I&s;a. 4.2.</NOTE> in one Prophet, The branch, the Off-&s;pring of <HI>David;</HI> And he is <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> The Branch, the Off-&s;pring of God, of the Lord, in another: When this <HI>Germen Davidis,</HI> the Sonne of Man would do miracles, then he was <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> he reflected to that &s;tock into which the Humanity was engrafted, to his Godhead; And when this <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> the Son of God, would indure humane mi&s;eries, he reflected to that &s;tock, to that humanity, in which he had inve&s;ted, and incorporated him&s;elf. This per&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.3. Tertul.</NOTE> this <HI>Chri&s;t dyed for our &s;ins,</HI> &s;ays S. <HI>Paul;</HI> but &s;ays he, He dyed <HI>according to the Scriptures; Non &s;ine onere pronun|ciat Chri&s;tum mortuum;</HI> The Apo&s;tle thought it a hard, a heavy, an incredible thing to &s;ay that this per&s;on, this Chri&s;t, this Man and God, was dead, And therefore, <HI>Vt duritiam molliret, &amp; &s;candalum auditoris everteret,</HI> That he might mollifie the hardnes of that &s;ay|ing, and defend the hearer from being &s;candalized with that &s;aying, <HI>Adjecit, &s;ecund&ugrave;m &s;cripturas,</HI> He adds this, Chri&s;t is dead, <HI>according to the Scriptures:</HI> If the Scriptures had not told us that Chri&s;t &s;hould die, and told us againe, that Chri&s;t did die, it were hard to conceive, how this per&s;on, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily, &s;hould be &s;ubmitted to death. But therein principally is he <HI>Chri&s;tus,</HI> as he was capable of dying. As he was <HI>Verbum naturale,</HI> and <HI>innatum,</HI> The naturall and e&s;&s;entiall word of God, He hath his fir&s;t name in the text, He is <HI>the Lord:</HI> As he is <HI>verbum illatum,</HI> and <HI>Conceptum,</HI> A per&s;on upon whom there is a Decree and a Commi&s;&s;ion, that he &s;hall be a per&s;on capable to redeem Man by death, he hath this &s;econd name in the text, He is <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> As he is <HI>The Lord,</HI> he cannot die; As he is <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> (under the Decree) he cannot chu&s;e but die; But as he is <HI>Ie|&s;us,</HI> He is dead already, and that is his other, his third, his la&s;t name in this Text, <HI>If any man love not &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>We have inverted a little, the order of the&s;e names, or titles in the Text;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ie&s;us.</NOTE> becau&s;e the Name of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> is in the order of nature, before the name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> as the Commi&s;&s;ion is before the Execution of the Commi&s;&s;ion. And, in other places of Scripture, to let us &s;ee, how both the capacity of doing it, and the actuall doing of it, belongs onely to this per|&s;on, the Holy Gho&s;t &s;eems to convey a &s;pirituall delight to us, in turning and tran&s;po|&s;ing the Names every way; &s;ometimes <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> alone, and <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> alone, &s;ometimes <HI>Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> and &s;ometimes <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us,</HI> that every way we might be &s;ure of him. Now we con&s;ider him, as <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> a reall, an actuall Saviour. And this was his Name; The Angel &s;aid to his Mother, <HI>Thou &s;halt call his name Ie&s;us, for he &s;hall &s;ave his people;</HI> And we &s;ay to you, Call upon this name <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> for he hath &s;aved his people; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.1.</NOTE> <HI>Now there is no condem|nation to them that are in Chri&s;t Ie&s;us:</HI> As he was <HI>verbum conceptum,</HI> and <HI>illatum,</HI> The word which the Trinity uttered among&s;t them&s;elves, &s;o he was decreed to come in that place, <HI>The Lord of the vineyard</HI> (that is, Almighty God &s;eeing the mi&s;ery of Man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 20.13.</NOTE> to be other|wi&s;e irremediable) <HI>The Lord of the vineyard &s;aid, what &s;hall I doe? I will &s;end my beloved Sonne; it may be, they will reverence him when they &s;ee him.</HI> But did they reverence him, when they &s;aw him? This &s;ending made him <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> a per&s;on, whom, though the Sonne of God, they might &s;ee: They did &s;ee him; but then, &s;ays that Go&s;pell, <HI>they drew him out and killed him.</HI> And this he knew before he came, and yet came, and herein was <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> a reall, an actuall, a zealous Saviour, even of them that &s;lew him: And in this (with piety and reverence) we may be bold to &s;ay, that even the Son of God, was <HI>filius prodigus,</HI> that powred out his blood even for his Enemies; but rather in that acclamation of the prodi|gall childs Father, <HI>This my &s;onne was dead, and is alive againe, he was lo&s;t, and is found.</HI> For, but for this de&s;ire of our &s;alvation, why &s;hould he who was <HI>the Lord,</HI> be ambitious of that Name, the name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> which was not <HI>Tam expectabile apud Iudaeos nomen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> no &s;uch name as was in any e&s;peciall e&s;timation among&s;t the <HI>Iews:</HI> for, we &s;ee in <HI>Io&s;cphus,</HI> divers men of that name, of no great honour, of no good conver&s;ation. But becau&s;e the name im|plyes &s;alvation, <HI>Io&s;ua,</HI> who had another name before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>Cum in hujus &s;acramenti imagine
<PB N="398" REF="217">parabatur,</HI> when he was prepared as a Type of this <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> to be a Saviour, a Deliverer of the people, <HI>Etiam nominis Dominici inaugur atus e&s;t figurae, &amp; Ie&s;us cognominatus,</HI> then he was canonized with that name of &s;alvation, and called <HI>Io&s;uae,</HI> which is <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>The Lord then, the Son of God, had a <HI>Sitio</HI> in heaven, as well as upon the Cro&s;&s;e; He thir&s;ted our &s;alvation there; and in the mid&s;t of the fellow&s;hip of the Father from whom he came, and of the Holy Gho&s;t, who came from him and the Father, and all the Angels, who came (by a lower way) from them all, he de&s;ired the conver&s;ation of Man, for Mans &s;ake; He that was God <HI>The Lord,</HI> became <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> a man, and he that was <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> became <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> no man, a dead man, to &s;ave man: To &s;ave man, all wayes, in all his parts, And to &s;ave all men, in all parts of the world: To &s;ave his &s;oule from hell, where we &s;hould have felt pains, and yet been dead, then when we felt them; and &s;een horrid &s;pectacles, and yet been in darknes and blindnes, then when we &s;aw them; And &s;uffered un&s;ufferable torments, &amp; yet have told over innumerable ages in &s;uffering them: To &s;ave this &s;oule from that hell, and to fill that capacity which it hath, and give it a ca|pacity which it hath not, to comprehend the joyes and glory of Heaven, this <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> be|came <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> To &s;ave this body from the condemnation of everla&s;ting corruption, where the wormes that we breed are our betters, becau&s;e they have a life, where the du&s;t of dead Kings is blowne into the &s;treet, and the du&s;t of the &s;treet blowne into the River, and the muddy River tumbled into the Sea, and the Sea remaunded into all the veynes and channels of the earth; to &s;ave this body from everla&s;ting di&s;&s;olution, di&s;per&s;ion, di&s;|&s;ipation, and to make it in a glorious Re&s;urrection, not onely a Temple of the holy Gho&s;t, but a Companion of the holy Gho&s;t in the kingdome of heaven, This <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> became this <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> To &s;ave this man, body and &s;oule together, from the puni&s;hments due to his former &s;innes, and to &s;ave him from falling into future &s;innes by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of his Word preached, and his Sacrrments admini&s;tred in the Church, which he purcha&s;ed by his bloud, is this per&s;on, The <HI>Lord,</HI> the <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> become this <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> this Saviour. To &s;ave &s;o, All wayes, In &s;oule, in body, in both; And al&s;o to &s;ave all men. For, to exclude others from that Kingdome, is a tyrannie, an u&s;urpation; and to exclude thy &s;elfe, is a &s;infull, and a rebellious melancholy. But as melancholy in the body is the harde&s;t hu|mour to be purged, &s;o is the melancholy in the &s;oule, the di&s;tru&s;t of thy &s;alvation too. Fla&s;hes of pre&s;umption a calamity will quench, but clouds of de&s;peration calamities thicken upon us; But even in this inordinate dejection thou exalte&s;t thy &s;elf above God, and make&s;t thy wor&s;t better then his be&s;t, thy &s;ins larger then his mercy. Chri&s;t hath a Greek name, and an Hebrew name; <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is Greeke, <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> is Hebrew; He had com|mi&s;&s;ion to &s;ave all nations, and he hath &s;aved all; Thou give&s;t him another Hebrew name, and another Greek,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 9.11.</NOTE> when thou make&s;t his name <HI>Abaddon,</HI> and <HI>Apollyon,</HI> a De&s;troyer; when thou wilt not apprehend him as a Saviour, and love him &s;o; which is our &s;econd Part, in our order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, <HI>If any man love not, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the former part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> we found it to be one argument for the Deitie of Chri&s;t, That he was <HI>Iehovah, The Lord;</HI> we have another here, That this great branch, nay this very root of all divine wor&s;hip due to God, is required to be exhibited to this per&s;on, That is, <HI>Love,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero.</NOTE> <HI>If any man love not, &amp;c.</HI> If any man could &s;ee Vertue with his eye, he would be in love with her: Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath beene &s;een &s;o: <HI>Quod vidimus,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>That which we have &s;eene with our eyes, we preach to you,</HI> and therefore <HI>If any man love not, &amp;c.</HI> If he love him not with that love which implyes a Confe&s;&s;ion, that the Lord Je&s;us is God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 10.12.</NOTE> That is, if he love him not with all his heart, and all his power: <HI>What doth the Lord thy God require of thee? To love him with all thy heart, and all thy &s;oule.</HI> God forbids us not a love of the Creature, proportionable to the good that that creature can doe us: To love fire as it warms me, and meat as it feeds me, and a wife as &s;he helps me; But becau&s;e God does all this, in all the&s;e &s;everall in&s;truments, God alone is centrically, radically, direct|ly to be loved, and the creature with a love reflected, and derived from him; And Chri&s;t to be loved with the love due to God him&s;elfe:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.37.</NOTE> <HI>He that loveth father or mother, &s;on or daughter more then me, is not worthy of me,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t him&s;elfe. If then we love him &s;o, as we love God, intirely, we confe&s;&s;e him to be the <HI>Lord;</HI> And if we love him &s;o, as he hath loved us, we confe&s;&s;e him to be <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us:</HI> And we con&s;ider his love to us (for the pre&s;ent) in the&s;e two demon&s;trations of it, fir&s;t <HI>Dilexit in finem,</HI> As he <HI>loved,</HI> &s;o he <HI>loved to the end;</HI> And then <HI>Po&s;uit animam, Greater love there is not, then to die for one,</HI> and he did that.</P>
<PB N="399" REF="217">
<P>Our Saviour Chri&s;t for&s;ooke not <HI>Peter,</HI> when <HI>Peter</HI> for&s;ooke him:<NOTE PLACE="marg">In finem.</NOTE> becau&s;e he loved him, he loved him to the end. Love thou Chri&s;t to the end; To His end, and to Thy end. <HI>Finem Domini vidi&s;tis,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Iames, You have &s;eene the end of the Lord;</HI> That is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 5.11.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> to what end the Lord came; His way was contempt and mi&s;ery, and his end was &s;hame and death: Love him there. Thy love is not required onely in the <HI>Ho&s;anna's</HI> of Chri&s;t, when Chri&s;t is magnified, and his Go&s;pel advanced, and men preferred for lo|ving it: No, nor onely in the <HI>Transfiguration</HI> of Chri&s;t, when Chri&s;t appeares to thee in &s;ome particular beames, and manife&s;tation of his glory; but love him in his <HI>Crucifigatur,</HI> then when it is a &s;cornfull thing to love him, And love him in the <HI>Nunquid &amp; tu?</HI> when thou mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e that examination, <HI>Wert not thou one of them?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 18.25, 26.</NOTE> And in the <HI>Nonne ego te vidi?</HI> if witne&s;&s;es come in again&s;t thee for the love of Chri&s;t, love him when it is a &s;u&s;picious thing, a dangerous thing to love him; And love him not onely in &s;pirituall transfigurations, when he vi&s;its thy &s;oule with glorious con&s;olations, but even in his in|ward eclip&s;es, when he withholds his comforts, and withdrawes his cheerfulne&s;&s;e, even when he makes as though he loved not thee, love him. Love him, all the way, to his end, and to thy end too, to the laying downe of thy life for him.</P>
<P>Love him then in the laying downe of the plea&s;ures of this life for him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mortificatio.</NOTE> and love him in the laying downe of the life it &s;elfe, if his love need that te&s;timony. Of the fir&s;t ca&s;e, of crucifying him&s;elfe to the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. 39.</NOTE> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> had occa&s;ion to &s;ay much to a young Gentleman, young, and noble, and rich, and (which is not, in &s;uch per&s;ons, an ordinary tentation, but where it is, it is a &s;hrewd one) as he was young, and noble, and rich, &s;o he was learned in other learnings, and upon that &s;trength withdrew, and kept off from Chri&s;t. It was <HI>Licentius,</HI> to whom S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> writes his 39. Epi&s;tle. He had &s;ent to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> a hand&s;ome Elegie of his making, in which <HI>Poeme</HI> he had &s;aid as much of the vanity and deceivablene&s;&s;e of this world, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> could have looked for, or, perchance, have &s;aid in a Homily; And he ends his Elegy thus, <HI>Hoc opus, ut jubeas,</HI> All this concerning this world I know already, Do you but tell me, doe you command me, what I &s;hall doe. <HI>Iubebit Augu&s;tinus con&s;ervo &s;uo?</HI> &s;ayes that &s;en&s;ible and ble&s;&s;ed Father: Shall I, &s;hall <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> command his fellow-&s;ervant? <HI>Et non plang at poti&ugrave;s fru&s;tra juberc Do|minum?</HI> Mu&s;t not <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> rather lament that the Lord hath commanded thee, and is not obeyed? Would&s;t thou heare me? Can&s;t thou pretend that? <HI>Exaudi teip&s;um, Du|ri&s;sime, Immani&s;sime, Surdi&s;sime;</HI> Thou that art inoxorable again&s;t the per&s;wa&s;ions of thine owne &s;oule, Hard again&s;t the tenderne&s;&s;e of thine owne heart, Deafe again&s;t the charmes of thine owne Ver&s;es, can&s;t thou pretend a willingne&s;&s;e to be led by me? <HI>Quam animam, quod ingenium non licet immolare Deo no&s;tro?</HI> How well di&s;po&s;ed a &s;oule, how high pitched a wit is taken out of my hands, that I may not &s;acrifice that &s;oule, that I may not direct that wit upon our God, becau&s;e, with all the&s;e good parts, thou turne&s;t upon the plea&s;ures of this world? <HI>Mentiuntur, moriuntur, in mortem trahunt:</HI> Doe not &s;peake out of wit, nor out of a love to elegant expre&s;&s;ions, nor doe not &s;peake in je&s;t of the dangerous vanities of this world; <HI>Mentiuntur,</HI> they are fal&s;e, they performe not their promi&s;es; <HI>Moriuntur,</HI> they are tran&s;itory, they &s;tay not with thee; and <HI>In mortem trahunt,</HI> they dye, and they dye of the infection, and they transfu&s;e the venome into thee, and thou dye&s;t with them: <HI>Non dicit verum, ni&s;i veritas, &amp; Chri&s;tus veritas,</HI> Nothing will deale truely with thee but the Truth it &s;elfe, and onely Chri&s;t Je&s;us is this Truth. He followes it thus much farther, <HI>Si calicem aureum inveni&s;&s;es in terrae,</HI> If thou founde&s;t a chalice of gold in the earth, &s;o good a heart as thine would &s;ay, Surely this belongs to the Church, and &s;urely thou would&s;t give it to the Church: <HI>Accepi&s;ti &agrave; Deo ingenium &s;piritualiter aureum,</HI> God hath given thee a wit, an under&s;tanding, not of the gold of Ophir, but of the gold of the heavenly Jeru&s;alem, <HI>Et in illo, Satanae propinas teip&s;um?</HI> In that chalice once con&s;ecrated to God, wilt thou drink a health to the devill, and drink a health to him in thine owne bloud, in making thy wit, thy learning, thy good parts ad|vance his kingdome? He ends all thus, <HI>Mi&s;erearis jam mei, &s;i tibi vilui&s;ti,</HI> If thou under|value thy &s;elfe, if thou thinke not thy &s;elfe worth hearing, if thou follow not thine owne coun&s;els, yet <HI>mi&s;erearis mei,</HI> Have mercy upon me, me, who&s;e charge it is to bring others to heaven, me, who &s;hall not bee received there, if I bring no body with mee; bee con|tent to goe with me, that way, which by the in&s;piration of the holy Gho&s;t I do &s;hew, and that way, which by the conduct of the holy Gho&s;t I would fain goe. All bends to this, Fir&s;t, love Chri&s;t &s;o far as to lay down the plea&s;ures of this life for him, and &s;o far, as to lay down the life it &s;elf for him.</P>
<PB N="400" REF="218">
<P>Chri&s;t did &s;o for thee:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Martyrium.</NOTE> and his ble&s;&s;ed Servants the Martyrs, in the Primitive Church, did &s;o for him, and thee; for his glory, for thy example. Can there be any ill, any lo&s;&s;e, in giving thy life for him? Is it not a part of the reward it &s;elfe, the honour to &s;uffer for him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Muk 10.30.</NOTE> When Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Who&s;oever lo&s;es any thing for my &s;ake, and the Go&s;pels, he &s;hall have a hundred fold in hou&s;es, and lands, with per&s;ecutions,</HI> wee need not limit that clau&s;e of the Promi&s;e, <HI>(with per&s;ecutions)</HI> to be, That in the mid&s;t of per&s;ecutions, God will give us temporall ble&s;&s;ings, but that in the mid&s;t of temporall ble&s;&s;ings, God will give us per&s;e|cutions; that it &s;hall be a part of his mercy, to be delivered from the danger of being puf|fed up by tho&s;e temporall abundances, by having a mixture of adver&s;ity and per&s;ecuti|ons; and then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> what ill, what lo&s;&s;e, is there in laying downe this life for him? <HI>Quid hoc mali e&s;t, quod martyrialis mali, non habet timorem, pudorem, tergiver&s;ationem, poenitentiam, deplorationem?</HI> What kinde of evill is this, which when it came to the highe&s;t, <HI>Ad ma|lum martyriale,</HI> to martyrdome, to death, did neither imprint in our holy predece&s;&s;ors in the Primitive Church, <HI>Timorem,</HI> any feare that it would come; not <HI>Tergiver&s;ationem,</HI> any recanting le&s;t it &s;hould come; nor <HI>Pudorem,</HI> any &s;hame when it was come; nor <HI>Poe|nitentiam,</HI> any repentance that they would &s;uffer it to come; nor <HI>Deplorationem,</HI> any la|mentation by their heires, and Executors, becau&s;e they lo&s;t all, when it was come? <HI>Quid mali?</HI> What kinde of evill can I call this, in laying down my life, for this Lord of life, <HI>Cujus reus gaudet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> when tho&s;e Martyrs called that guiltine&s;&s;e a joy, <HI>Cujus accu&s;atio votum,</HI> and the accu&s;ation a &s;atisfaction, <HI>Cujus poena foelicitas,</HI> and the &s;uffering perfect happi|ne&s;&s;e? Love thy neighbour as thy &s;elfe, is the farthe&s;t of that Commandement; but love God above thy &s;elfe; for, indeed, in doing &s;o thou do&s;t but love thy &s;elfe &s;till: Remember that thy &s;oule is thy &s;elfe; and as if that be lo&s;t, nothing is gained, &s;o if that be gained, nothing is lo&s;t, what&s;oever become of this life.</P>
<P>Love him then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dominus.</NOTE> as he is pre&s;ented to thee here; Love the <HI>Lord,</HI> love <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> love <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> If when thou looke&s;t upon him as the <HI>Lord,</HI> thou finde&s;t frowns and wrinkles in his face, apprehen&s;ions of him, as of a Judge, and occa&s;ions of feare, doe not run away from him, in that apprehen&s;ion; look upon him in that angle, in that line awhile, and that feare &s;hall bring thee to love; and as he is <HI>Lord,</HI> thou &s;halt &s;ee him in the beauty and loveline&s;&s;e of his creatures, in the order and &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of cau&s;es, and effects, and in that harmony and mu&s;ique of the peace between him, and thy foule: As he is <HI>the Lord,</HI> thou wilt feare him, but no man feares God truly, but that that feare ends in love.</P>
<P>Love him as he is the <HI>Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chri&s;tus.</NOTE> that would have nothing peri&s;h, that he hath made; And love him as he is <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> that hath made him&s;elfe man too, that thou mighte&s;t not peri&s;h: Love him as the <HI>Lord</HI> that could &s;hew mercy; and love him as <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> who is that way of mercy, which the Lord hath cho&s;en. Returne againe, and againe to that my&s;terious per&s;on, <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> And let me tell you, that though the Fathers never forbore to call the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary, Deiparam,</HI> the Mother of God, yet in <HI>Dama&s;cens</HI> time, they would not admit that name, <HI>Chri&s;tiparam,</HI> that &s;he was the Mother of Chri&s;t: Not that there is any rea&s;on to deny her that name now; but becau&s;e then, that great Heretique, <HI>Ne&s;torius,</HI> to avoid that name, in which the re&s;t agreed, <HI>Deiparam,</HI> (for he thought not Chri&s;t to be God) invented a new name, <HI>Chri&s;tiparam:</HI> Though it be true in it &s;elf, that that ble&s;&s;ed Virgin is <HI>Chri&s;tipara,</HI> yet becau&s;e it was the invention of an Heretique, and a fundamen|tall Heretique, who though he thought Chri&s;t to be anointed by the Holy Gho&s;t above his fellowes, yet did not beleeve him to be God, <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI> and his Age, refu&s;ed that ad|dition to the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin; So reverently were they affected, &s;o jealou&s;ly were they enamoured of that name, <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> the name which implyed his Unction, his Commi&s;&s;ion, the Decree, by which he was made a Per&s;on, able to redeeme thy &s;oule: And in that contemplation, &s;ay with <HI>Andrew,</HI> to his brother <HI>Peter, Invenimus Me&s;siam; I have found the Me&s;sias;</HI> I could finde no meanes of &s;alvation in my &s;elfe, nay, no &s;uch meanes to direct God upon, by my prayer, or by a wi&s;h, as hee hath taken; but God him&s;elfe hath found a way, a <HI>Me&s;sias;</HI> His Son &s;hall bee made man; And <HI>Inveni Me&s;siam,</HI> I have found him, and found, that he, who by his Inearnation, was made able to &s;ave me, (&s;o he was <HI>Chri&s;t</HI>) by his actuall pa&s;&s;ion, hath &s;aved me, and &s;o I love him as <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>Chri&s;t loved <HI>Stephen</HI> all the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ie&s;us.</NOTE> for all the way <HI>Stephen</HI> was di&s;po&s;ed to Chri&s;ts glo|ry, but in the agony of death (death &s;uffered for him) Chri&s;t expre&s;&s;ed his love mo&s;t, in opening the windowes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.56.</NOTE> the curtaines of heaven it &s;elfe, to &s;ee <HI>Stephen</HI> dye, and to &s;hew him&s;elfe to <HI>Stephen.</HI> I love my Saviour as he is <HI>The Lord,</HI> He that &s;tudies my &s;alvation;
<PB N="401" REF="218">And as <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> made a per&s;on able to work my &s;alvation; but when I &s;ee him in the third notion, <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> accompli&s;hing my &s;alvation, by an actuall death, I &s;ee tho&s;e hands &s;tretched out, that &s;tretched out the heavens, and tho&s;e feet racked, to which they that racked them are foot-&s;tooles; I heare him, from whom his neare&s;t friends fled, pray for his enemies, and him, whom his Father for&s;ooke, not for&s;ake his brethren; I &s;ee him that cloathes this body with his creatures, or el&s;e it would wither, and cloathes this &s;oule with his Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or el&s;e it would peri&s;h, hang naked upon the Cro&s;&s;e; And him that hath, him that is, <HI>the Fountaine of the water of life,</HI> cry out, <HI>He thir&s;ts,</HI> when that voyce overtakes me, in my cro&s;&s;e wayes in the world, <HI>Is it nothing to you, all you that pa&s;&s;e by?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 1.12.</NOTE> <HI>Behold, and &s;ee, if there by any &s;orrow, like unto my &s;orrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger;</HI> When I conceit, when I contem|plate my Saviour thus, I love the <HI>Lord,</HI> and there is a reverent adoration in that love, I love <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and there is a my&s;terious admiration in that love, but I love <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> and there is a tender compa&s;&s;ion in that love, and I am content to &s;uffer with him, and to &s;uffer for him, rather then &s;ee any diminution of his glory, by my prevarication. And he that loves not thus, that loves not the Lord God, and God manife&s;ted in Chri&s;t, <HI>Anathema, Maranatha,</HI> which is our next, and our la&s;t Part.</P>
<P>Whether this <HI>Anathema</HI> be denounced by the Apo&s;tle, by way of Imprecation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part. <HI>Imprecatio.</HI></NOTE> that he wi&s;hed it &s;o, or pronounced by way of excommunication, That others &s;hould e&s;teem them &s;o, and avoid them, as &s;uch per&s;ons, is &s;ometimes debated among&s;t us in our books. If the Apo&s;tle &s;ay it by way of Imprecation, if it &s;ound &s;o, you are to remember fir&s;t, That many things are &s;poken by the Prophets in the Scriptures, which &s;ound as imprecations, as execrations, which are indeed but prophe&s;ies; They &s;eeme to be &s;po|ken in the &s;pirit of anger, when they are in truth, but in the &s;pirit of prophe&s;ie. So, in very many places of the P&s;almes, <HI>David</HI> &s;eemes to wi&s;h heavy calamities upon his and Gods enemies, when it is but a declaration of tho&s;e judgements of God, which hee propheti|cally fore&s;ees to be imminent upon them: They &s;eeme Imprecations, and are but Pro|phe&s;ies; and &s;uch, wee, who have not this Spirit of Prophe&s;ie, nor fore&s;ight of Gods wayes, may not venture upon. If they be truly Imprecations, you are to remember al&s;o, that the Prophets and Apo&s;tles had in them a power extraordinary, and in execution of that power, might doe that, which every private man may not doe: So the Prophets re|buked, &s;o they puni&s;hed Kings. So<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">2 King. 2.24.</NOTE> <HI>Elizeus</HI> called in the Beares to devoure the boyes; And &s;o<NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">2 Kings 1.</NOTE> <HI>Elias</HI> called downe fire to devoure the Captaines; So S. <HI>Peter</HI> killed<NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Acts 5.</NOTE> <HI>Ananias,</HI> and <HI>Sapphira</HI> with his word; And<NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Acts 13.8.</NOTE> &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;troke <HI>Elymas</HI> the Sorcerer with blindne&s;&s;e. But upon Imprecations of this kinde, wee as private men, or as publique per&s;ons, but li|mited by our Commi&s;&s;ion, may not adventure neither. But take the Prophets or the A|po&s;tles in their highe&s;t Authority, yet in an over-vehement zeale, they may have done &s;ome things &s;ome times not warrantable in them&s;elves, many times many things, not to be imitated by us. In <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his pa&s;&s;ionate vehemency, <HI>Dele me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.32.</NOTE> <HI>If thou wilt not forgive them, blot me out of thy booke,</HI> And in the Apo&s;tles inconfiderate zeale to his brethren, <HI>Op|tabam Anathema e&s;&s;e, I could wi&s;h that my &s;elfe were accur&s;ed from Chri&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9.3.</NOTE> In <HI>Iames</HI> and <HI>Iohns</HI> impatience of their Ma&s;ters being neglected by the Samaritans, when they drew from Chri&s;t that rebuke, <HI>You know not of what &s;pirit you are;</HI> In the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 9.55.</NOTE> and &s;uch as the&s;e, there may be &s;omething, wherein even the&s;e men cannot be excu&s;ed, but very much wherein we may not follow them, nor doe as they did, nor &s;ay as they &s;aid. Since there is a po&s;&s;ibility, a facility, a proclivity of erring herein, and &s;o many conditions and cir|cum&s;tances required, to make an Imprecation ju&s;t and lawfull, the be&s;t way is to forbeare them, or to be very &s;paring in them.</P>
<P>But we rather take this in the Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Excommu|nicatio.</NOTE> to be an Excommunication denounced by the A|po&s;tle, then an Imprecation: So Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, <HI>If he will not heare the Chruch, let him be to thee as a Heathen, or a Publican;</HI> That is, Have no conver&s;ation with him. So &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, &s;peaking of an Angel, <HI>Anathema, If any man, if we our &s;elves,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.9.</NOTE> if an Angel from <HI>heaven, preach any other Go&s;pel, let him be accur&s;ed.</HI> Now the Excommunication is in the <HI>Anathema,</HI> and the aggravating thereof in the other words, <HI>Maranatha.</HI> The word <HI>Ana|thema</HI> had two &s;ignifications; They are expre&s;&s;ed thus, <HI>Quod Deo dicatum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Mart.</NOTE> <HI>Quod &agrave; Deo per vitium alienatum;</HI> That which for &s;ome excellency in it, was &s;eparated from the u&s;e of man, to the &s;ervice of God, or that which for &s;ome great fault in it, was &s;eparated from God and man too. <HI>Ab illo ab&s;tinebant tanquam Deo dicatum, Ab hoc recedebant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>tan|quam
<PB N="402" REF="219">&agrave; Deo abalienatum:</HI> From the fir&s;t kinde, men ab&s;tained, becau&s;e they were con&s;e|crated to God, and from the other, becau&s;e they were aliened from God; and in that la&s;t &s;en&s;e, irreligious men, &s;uch as love not the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, are <HI>Anathema,</HI> aliened from God. Among&s;t the Druides, with the Heathen, they excommunicated Malefa|ctors, and no man might relieve him in any nece&s;&s;ity, no man might an&s;wer him in any action: And &s;o among&s;t the Jews, the <HI>E&s;&s;eni,</HI> who were in &s;peciall e&s;timation for &s;ancti|ty, excommunicated irreligious per&s;ons, and the per&s;ons &s;o excommunicated &s;tarved in the &s;treets and fields. By the light of nature, by the light of grace, we &s;hould &s;eparate our &s;elves from irreligious, and from idolatrous per&s;ons; and that with that earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, which the Apo&s;tle expre&s;&s;es in the la&s;t words, <HI>Maran Atha.</HI></P>
<P>In the practi&s;e of the Primitive Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Maran Atha.</NOTE> by tho&s;e Canons, which we call The Apo&s;tles Canons, and tho&s;e which we call The penitentiall Canons, we &s;ee there were different penances inflicted upon different faults, and there were, very early, relaxations of penan|ces, Indulgences; and there were re&s;ervations of ca&s;es; in &s;ome any Prie&s;t, in &s;ome a Bi|&s;hop onely might di&s;pen&s;e. It is &s;o in our Church &s;till; Impugners of the Supremacy are excommunicated, and not re&s;tored but by the Archbi&s;hop: Impugners of the Common prayer Booke excommunicated too, but may bee re&s;tored by the Bi&s;hop of the place: Impugners of our Religion declared in the Articles, re&s;erved to the Archbi&s;hop: Impug|ners of Ceremonies re&s;tored when they repent, and no Bi&s;hop named: Authors of Schi&s;me re&s;erved to the Archbi&s;hop; maintainers of Schi&s;matiques, referred but to re|pentance; And &s;o maintainers of Conventicles, to the Archbi&s;hop; maintainers of Con|&s;titutions made in Conventicles, to their repentance. There was ever, there is yet a re|&s;erving of certaine ca&s;es, and a relaxation or aggravating of Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall cen&s;ures, for their waight, and for their time: and, becau&s;e <HI>Not to love the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> was the greate&s;t, the Apo&s;tle inflicts this heavie&s;t Excommunication, <HI>Maran Atha.</HI></P>
<P>The word &s;eemes to be a Proverbiall word among&s;t the Jews after their returne, and vulgarly &s;poken by them, and &s;o the Apo&s;tle takes it, out of common u&s;e of &s;peech: <HI>Maran,</HI> is <HI>Dominus, The Lord,</HI> and <HI>Athan</HI> is <HI>Venit, He comes:</HI> Not &s;o truly, in the ve|ry exactne&s;&s;e of Hebrew rules, and terminations, but &s;o among&s;t them then, when their language was much depraved:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 4.16. Deut. 33.2.</NOTE> but, in ancienter times, we have the word <HI>Mara</HI> for <HI>Do|minus,</HI> and the word <HI>Atha</HI> for <HI>Venit;</HI> And &s;o <HI>Anathema, Maran Atha</HI> will be, <HI>Let him that loveth not the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, be as an accur&s;ed per&s;on to you, even till the Lord come.</HI> S. <HI>Hierom</HI> &s;eems to under&s;tand this, <HI>Dominus venit,</HI> That the Lord is come; come already, come in the fle&s;h; <HI>Superfluum,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>odiis pertinacibus contendere adver&s;us eum, qui jam venit;</HI> It is &s;uperabundant perver&s;ne&s;&s;e, to re&s;i&s;t Chri&s;t now; Now that he hath appeared already, and e&s;tabli&s;hed to him&s;elfe a Kingdome in this world. And &s;o S. <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;eemes to take it too; Chri&s;t is come already, &s;ayes he, <HI>Et jam nulla pote&s;t excu|&s;atio non diligentibus eum;</HI> If any excu&s;e could be pretended before, yet &s;ince Chri&s;t is come, none can be: <HI>Si opertum,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>If our Go&s;pel be hid now, it is hid from them who are lo&s;t;</HI> that is, they are lo&s;t from whom it is hid. But that is not all, that is intended by the Apo&s;tle, in this place. It is not onely a cen&s;orious &s;peech, It is a &s;hame for them, and an inexcu&s;able thing in them, if they doe not love the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, but it is a judiciary &s;peech, thus much more, &s;ince they doe not love the Lord, <HI>The Lord judge them when he comes;</HI> I, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, take away none of his mercy, when he comes, but I will have nothing to doe with them, till he comes; to me, he &s;hall be <HI>Ana|thema, Maran Atha,</HI> &s;eparated from me, till then; then, the Lord who &s;hews mercy in minutes, do his will upon him. Our former Tran&s;lation had it thus, <HI>Let him be had in exe|cration,</HI> and <HI>excommunicated till death;</HI> In death, Lord have mercy upon him; till death, I will not live with him.</P>
<P>To end all, If a man love not the Lord, if he love not God, which is, which was, and which is to come, what will plea&s;e him? whom will he love? If hee love the <HI>Lord,</HI> and love not <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and &s;o love a God in generall, but lay no hold upon a particular way of his &s;alvation, <HI>Sine Chri&s;to, &s;ine Deo,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle to the Ephe&s;ians, when ye were <HI>without Chri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.12.</NOTE> ye were <HI>without God;</HI> A non-Chri&s;tian, is an Athei&s;t in that &s;en&s;e of the Apo&s;tle. If any man finde a <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> a Saviour of the World, but finde not a <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> an actuall Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 2.22.</NOTE> that this Je&s;us hath &s;aved him, <HI>Who is a lyar,</HI> &s;ayes another Apo&s;tle, <HI>but he that denieth that Ie&s;us is the Chri&s;t?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.1.</NOTE> And (as he &s;ayes after) <HI>Who&s;oever beleeveth that Ie&s;us is the Chri&s;t, is borne of God.</HI> From the pre&s;umptuous Athei&s;t, that beleeves no God, from the
<PB N="403" REF="219">re&s;erved Athei&s;t, that beleeves no God manife&s;ted in Chri&s;t, from the melancholique A|thei&s;t that beleeves no Je&s;us applied to him, from him of no Religion, from him of no Chri&s;tian Religion, from him that erres fundamentally in the Chri&s;tian Religion, the Apo&s;tle enjoynes a &s;eparation, not till clouds of per&s;ecution come, and then joyne, not till beames of preferment come, and then joyne, not till Lawes may have beene &s;lumbred &s;ome yeares, and then joyne, not till the parties grow &s;omewhat neare an equality, and then joyne, but <HI>Maran Atha, donec Dominus venit,</HI> till the Lord come to his declaration in judgement, <HI>If any man love not the Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, let him be accur&s;ed. Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="41" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLI.</HI> Preached upon Trinity-Sunday.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 2.12.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ki&s;&s;e the Son, le&s;t he be angry.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WHether we &s;hall call it a repeating againe in us, of that which God had done before to I&s;rael, or call it a performing of that in us, which God promi&s;ed by way of Prophe&s;ie to I&s;rael, that is certainely afforded to us by God, which is &s;poken by the Prophet of I&s;rael,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 11.4.</NOTE> <HI>God doth draw us with the cords of a man, and with bands of love: with the cords of a man,</HI> the man Chri&s;t Je&s;us, the Son of God, and <HI>with the bands of love,</HI> the band and &s;eale of love, a holy ki&s;&s;e, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son, le&s;t he be angry.</HI> No man comes to God, except the Father draw him; The Fa|ther draws no man, but by the Son; and the Son receives none, but by love, and this cement and glue, of a zealous and a reverentiall love, a holy ki&s;&s;e; <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The parts upon which, for the enlightning of your under&s;tandings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and a&s;&s;i&s;tance of your memories, we &s;hall in&s;i&s;t, are two: fir&s;t our duty, then our danger; The fir&s;t is an expre&s;&s;ion of love, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son;</HI> the &s;econd is an impre&s;&s;ion of feare, <HI>le&s;t he be angry.</HI> In the fir&s;t we &s;hall proceed thus: we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t The object of this love, the Per|&s;on, the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity, <HI>The Son;</HI> The rather, becau&s;e that con&s;ideration will cleare the Tran&s;lation; for, in no one place of Scripture, do Tran&s;lations differ more, then in this Text; and the Roman Tran&s;lation and ours differ &s;o much, as that they have but <HI>Apprehendite di&s;ciplinam, Embrace knowledge,</HI> where we have, (as you heard) <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son.</HI> From the Per&s;on, <HI>The Son,</HI> we &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to the act, <HI>O&s;culamini, Ki&s;&s;e the Son;</HI> In which we &s;hall &s;ee, That &s;ince this is an act, which licentious men have depraved, (carnal men doe it, and treacherous men doe it; <HI>Iudas</HI> (and not onely <HI>Iudas</HI>) have <HI>betrayed</HI> by a <HI>ki&s;&s;e</HI>) and yet God commands this, and expre&s;&s;es love in this, Every thing that hath, or may be abu&s;ed, mu&s;t not therefore be abandoned; the turning of a thing out of the way, is not a taking of that thing away, but good things deflected to ill u&s;es, by &s;ome, may be by others reduced to their fir&s;t goodne&s;&s;e. And then in a third branch of this fir&s;t part, we &s;hall con&s;ider, and magnifie the goodne&s;&s;e of God, that hath brought us into this di|&s;tance, that we may <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son,</HI> that the expre&s;&s;ing of this love lies in our hands, and that, whereas the love of the Church, in the Old Te&s;tament, even in the Canticle, went no farther but to the <HI>O&s;culetur me, O that he would ki&s;&s;e me with the ki&s;&s;es of his mouth!</HI> now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.1.</NOTE> in the Chri&s;tian Church, and in the vi&s;itation of a Chri&s;tian &s;oule, he hath invited us, en|abled us to ki&s;&s;e him, for he is pre&s;entially among&s;t us: And this will lead us to conclude that fir&s;t part, with an earne&s;t per&s;wa&s;ion, and exhortation <HI>to ki&s;&s;e the Son,</HI> with all tho&s;e affections, which we &s;hall there finde to be expre&s;&s;ed in the Scriptures, in that te&s;timo|ny of true love, <HI>a holy ki&s;&s;e.</HI> But then, le&s;t that per&s;wa&s;ion by love &s;hould not be effe|ctuall, and powerfull enough to us, we &s;hall de&s;cend from that duty, to the danger, from love, to feare, <HI>Le&s;t he be angry;</HI> And therein &s;ee fir&s;t, that God, who is love, can be an|gry; And then, that this God who is angry here, is the Son of God, He that hath done
<PB N="404" REF="220">&s;o much for us, and therefore in Ju&s;tice may be angry; He that is our Judge, and therefore in rea&s;on, we are to feare his anger: And then, in a third branch, we &s;hall &s;ee, how ea&s;ily this anger departs, a ki&s;&s;e removes it, Do it, le&s;t he be angry; And then la&s;tly, we &s;hall inquire, what does anger him; and there con&s;ider, That as we attribute power to the Father, and &s;o, &s;ins again&s;t power (the undervaluing of Gods power in the Magi&s;trate over us, or the abu&s;ing of Gods power, in our &s;elves, over others) were &s;ins again&s;t the Father; &s;o wi&s;edome being the attribute of the Sonne, ignorance, which is &s;o far under wi&s;edome, and curio&s;ity, which carries us beyond wi&s;edome, will be &s;innes again&s;t the Sonne.</P>
<P>Our fir&s;t branch in our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Per&s;ona, Filius.</NOTE> directs us upon him, who is fir&s;t and la&s;t, and ye&s;ter|day and to day, and the &s;ame for ever; The Son of God, <HI>O&s;culamini filium, Ki&s;&s;e the Sonne.</HI> Where the Tran&s;lations differ as much, as in any one pa&s;&s;age. The Chalde pa|raphra&s;e (which is, for the mo&s;t part, good evidence) and the tran&s;lation of the Septua|gint, (which adds much weight) and the currant of the Fathers (which is of importance too) doe all reade this place, <HI>Apprehendite di&s;ciplinam, Embrace knowledge,</HI> and not <HI>O|&s;culamini filium, Ki&s;&s;e the &s;onne.</HI> Of the later men in the Roman Church, divers read it as we do, <HI>O&s;culamini,</HI> and &s;ome farther, <HI>Amplectimini, Embrace the &s;onne.</HI> Among&s;t the Jews, <HI>Rab. Solomon</HI> reads it, <HI>Armanini di&s;ciplina, Arme your &s;elves with knowledge;</HI> And another moderne man, reads it, <HI>O&s;culamini pactum, Ki&s;&s;e the Covenant;</HI> And, <HI>Adorate frumentum, Adore the Corne,</HI> and thereby carries it from the pacification of Chri&s;t in hea|ven, to the adoration of the bread in the Sacrament. Clearly, and without exception, even from <HI>Bellarmine</HI> him&s;elfe, according to the Originall Hebrew, it ought to be read, as we reade it, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Sonne.</HI> Now very many, very learned, and very zealous men of our times, have been very vehement again&s;t that Tran&s;lation of the Roman Church, though it be &s;trengthned, by the Chalde, by the Septuagint, and by the Fathers, in this place. The rea&s;on of the vehemence in this place, is not becau&s;e that &s;en&s;e, which that tran&s;lation pre&s;ents, may not be admitted; no, nor that it does not reach home, to that which is intended in ours, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Sonne:</HI> for, &s;ince the doctrine of the Sonne of God, had been e&s;tabli&s;hed in the ver&s;es before, to &s;ay now, <HI>Apprehendite di&s;ciplinam,</HI> lay hold upon that Doctrine; That doctrine which was delivered before, is, in effect the &s;ame thing, as, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Sonne.</HI> So <HI>Luther,</HI> when he takes, and follows that tran&s;lation of that Church, &s;ayes, <HI>No&s;tra tran&s;latio, ad verbum, nihil e&s;t, ad &s;en&s;um proprii&s;sima;</HI> That tran|&s;lation, if we con&s;ider the very words only, is far from the Originall, but if we regard the &s;en&s;e, it is mo&s;t proper. And &s;o al&s;o <HI>Calvin</HI> admits; Take it which way you will, <HI>Idem manet &s;en&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pellican.</NOTE> the &s;en&s;e is all one. And therefore another Author in the Reformation &s;ays, <HI>In re dubia, malim vetu&s;ti&s;simo interpreti crederc,</HI> &s;ince upon the whole matter it is doubt|full, or indifferent, I would not depart, &s;ayes he, from that Tran&s;lation, which is mo&s;t ancient.</P>
<P>The ca&s;e then being thus, that that &s;en&s;e may be admitted, and admitted &s;o as that it e&s;tabli&s;h the &s;ame doctrine that ours does, why are our late men &s;o very vehement a|gain&s;t it? Truly, upon very ju&s;t rea&s;on: for, when tho&s;e former reverent men were &s;o moderate as to admit that tran&s;lation in this place; The Church of Rome, had not then put &s;uch a &s;anctity, &s;uch a reverence, &s;uch a &s;ingularity, and preheminence, and &s;uprema|cy, &s;uch a <HI>Noli me tangere,</HI> upon that Tran&s;lation; It had the e&s;timation then of a very re|verend Tran&s;lation, and compared with any other Tran&s;lations, then the be&s;t. But when in the Councell of Trent they came to make it as Authenticall, to prefer it before the O|riginals them&s;elves, to decide all matters of Controver&s;ie by it alone, and to make the do|ing &s;o, matter of faith, and here&s;ie, in any thing to depart from that Tran&s;lation, then came the&s;e later men ju&s;tly to charge it with tho&s;e errors, wherein, by their own confe&s;&s;ions, it hath departed from the Originall; Not that the&s;e men meant to di&s;credit that Tran&s;la|tion &s;o, as that it &s;hould not &s;till retain the e&s;timation of a good and u&s;efull Tran&s;lation, but to avoyd that danger, that it &s;hould be made matter of faith, to be bound to one Tran&s;lation; or that any Tran&s;lation &s;hould be preferred before the Originall. And &s;o tru|ly it is, in many other things, be&s;ides the tran&s;lation. They &s;ay S. <HI>Peter</HI> was at Rome; and all moderate men went along with them; S. <HI>Peter</HI> was at Rome. But when upon S. <HI>Pe|ters</HI> per&s;onall being at Rome, they came to build their univer&s;all &s;upremacy over all the Church, and &s;o to erect matter of faith upon matter of fact, then later men came to de|ny, that it could be proved out of Scripture, that <HI>Peter</HI> was at Rome; So the Ancients
<PB N="405" REF="220">&s;poke of many Sacraments, &s;o they did of Purgatory, &s;o they did of many things con|troverted now; when as they, then, never &s;u&s;pected that &s;o impious a fen&s;e would have been put upon their words, nor tho&s;e opinions and doctrines &s;o mi&s;chievou&s;ly advanced, as they have been &s;ince. If they would have let their tran&s;lation have remained &s;uch a tran&s;lation, we would not have declined it; &s;ince they will have all tryals made by it, we rather accept the Originall; and that is in this place, <HI>O&s;culamini filium, Ki&s;&s;e the Son.</HI></P>
<P>The per&s;on then (which was our fir&s;t Con&s;ideration) is the <HI>Sonne;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;culamini.</NOTE> The te&s;timony of our love to this per&s;on, is this <HI>Ki&s;&s;e, O&s;culamini:</HI> where we &s;ee, that God cals upon us, and enjoyns unto us, &s;uch an outward act, as hath been diver&s;ly depraved, and vitiated before among&s;t men. God gives no countenance to that di&s;tempered humor, to that di|&s;torted rule; It hath been ill u&s;ed, and therefore it may not be u&s;ed. Sacred and &s;ecular Stories abound with examples of the treacherous <HI>Ki&s;&s;e;</HI> Let the Scriptures be our limits. <HI>Ioabs</HI> complement with <HI>Ama&s;a; Art thou in health, my brother?</HI> ended in this;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 20.9.</NOTE> <HI>He took him with the right hand, as to ki&s;&s;e him, and killed him.</HI> Enlarge your thoughts a little upon <HI>Iu|das</HI> ca&s;e; <HI>Iudas</HI> was of tho&s;e, who had ta&s;ted of the word of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 6.5.</NOTE> and the powers of the world to come; He had lived in the Conver&s;ation, in the Paedagogy, in the Di&s;cipline of Chri&s;t; yet he &s;old Chri&s;t; and &s;old him at a low price, as every man that is &s;o unprovi|dent, as to offer a thing to &s;ale, &s;hall do; and he &s;tayed not till they came to him, with, What will you take for your Ma&s;ter? but he went to them, with, What will you give me for Chri&s;t? yet Chri&s;t admits him, admits him to &s;upper, and after all this, cals him <HI>friend;</HI> for, after all this, Chri&s;t had done two, perchance three offices of a friend to <HI>Iu|das;</HI> He wa&s;hed his feet; and, perchance, he gave him the Sacrament with the re&s;t; and by a&s;&s;igning the &s;op for a particular mark, he let him &s;ee, that he knew he was a traytor, which might have been inough to have reclaimed him, It did not; but he proceeded in his trea&s;on, and in the mo&s;t mi&s;chievous and treacherous performing of it, tobetray him with a ki&s;&s;e; <HI>He gave them a &s;igne, whom&s;oever I &s;hall ki&s;&s;e, the &s;ame is he:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.48.</NOTE> <HI>Dat &s;ignum o|&s;culi, cum veneno Diaboli,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Hierome,</HI> He ki&s;&s;es with a biting ki&s;&s;e, and conveys trea|&s;on in a te&s;timony of love. It is an Apophthegme of <HI>Luthers, Mali tyranni, haeretiei pejo|res, fal&s;i fratres pe&s;simi:</HI> A per&s;ecutor is ill; but he that per&s;wades me to any thing, which might &s;ubmit me to the per&s;ecutors rage, is wor&s;e; but he that hath per&s;waded me, and then betrays me, is wor&s;t of all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 7.6. Act. 20.30.</NOTE> When all that happens, when <HI>a mans enemies are the men of his own hou&s;e,</HI> when <HI>among&s;t our &s;elves men ari&s;e, and draw away the Di&s;ciples,</HI> re|member that <HI>Iudas</HI> defamed this ki&s;&s;e before, he ki&s;&s;ed his Ma&s;ter, and &s;o betrayed him. <HI>Homo &s;um, &amp; inter homines vivo,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> I am but a man my &s;elfe, and I look but for men to live among&s;t; <HI>Nec mihi arrogare audeo, meliorem domum meam, quam Arca Noah,</HI> I cannot hope to have my hou&s;e clearer than <HI>Noahs</HI> Arke, and there, in eight, there was one ill; nor then <HI>Iacobs</HI> hou&s;e, and there the Sonne went up to the Fathers bed; nor then <HI>Davids,</HI> and there the brother forced the &s;i&s;ter; nor then Chri&s;ts, and there <HI>Iudas</HI> betrayed his Ma&s;ter, and with a ki&s;&s;e: which alone does &s;o aggravate the fact, as that for the atrocity and hainou&s;ne&s;&s;e thereof, three of the Evangeli&s;ts remember that circum|&s;tance, <HI>That he betrayed him with a ki&s;&s;e;</HI> and as though it might &s;eeme impo&s;&s;ible, incre|dible to man, that it could be &s;o, S. <HI>Iohn</HI> pretermits that circum&s;tance, That it was done with a ki&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>In <HI>Ioabs</HI> treachery, in <HI>Iudas</HI> trea&s;on, is the ki&s;&s;e defamed, and in the carnall and licenti|ous abu&s;e of it, it is every day depraved. They mi&s;take the matter much, that thinke all adultery is below the girdle: A man darrs out an adultery with his eye, in a wanton look; and he wraps up adultery with his fingers, in a wanton letter; and he breaths in an adul|tery with his lips, in a wanton ki&s;&s;e. But though this act of love, be &s;o defamed both wayes, by treachery, by licentiou&s;nes, yet God choo&s;es this Metaphore, he bids us <HI>ki&s;&s;e the Sonne.</HI> It is a true, and an u&s;efull Rule, That ill men have been Types of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. Ep. 131. G. Sanctius. 2 Sam. 11. n. 29.</NOTE> and ill actions figures of good: Much more, may things not ill in them&s;elves, though deflected and detorted to ill, be re&s;tored to good againe; and therfore doth God, in more then this one place, expect our love in a ki&s;&s;e; for, if we be truly in love with him, it will be a holy and an acceptable Metaphore unto us, els it will have a carnall and a fa&s;tidious ta&s;te. <HI>Fru&s;tra ad legendum amoris carmen, qui non amat, accedit:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> He that comes to read <HI>Solomons</HI> Love &s;ong, and loves not him upon whom that Song is directed, will rather endanger, then profit him&s;elfe by that reading: <HI>Non capit ignitum eloquium frigidum pectus:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> A heart frozen and congealed with the love of this world, is not capable, not &s;en&s;ible of the fires
<PB N="406" REF="221">of the holy Gho&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>Graec&egrave; loquentes non intelligit, qui Graec&egrave; non novit, &amp; lingua amoris ei, qui non amat, barbara;</HI> As Greek it &s;elfe is barbarous to him that under&s;tands not Greek, &s;o is the language of love, and the ki&s;&s;e which the holy Gho&s;t &s;peaks of here, to him that alwayes groveleth, and holds his face upon the earth.</P>
<P>Treachery often, but licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e more, hath depraved this &s;eale of love; and yet, <HI>Vt nos ad amplexus &s;acri amoris accendat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>u&s;que ad turpis amoris no&s;tri verba &s;e inclinat;</HI> God &s;toops even to the words of our foule and uncha&s;t love, that thereby he might rai&s;e us to the heavenly love of him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> and his Son. <HI>Cavendum, ne machina quae ponitur ut le|vet, ip&s;a aggrevet:</HI> Take thou heed, that that ladder, or that engine which God hath gi|ven to rai&s;e thee, doe not load thee, oppre&s;&s;e thee, ca&s;t thee downe: Take heed le&s;t tho&s;e phra&s;es of love and ki&s;&s;es which &s;hould rai&s;e thee to him, do not bury thee in the memo|ry and contemplation of &s;infull love,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> and of licentious ki&s;&s;es. <HI>Palea tegit frumentum; pa|lea jumentorum, frumentum hominum:</HI> There is corne under the chaffe; and though the chaffe and &s;traw be for cattell, there is corne for men too: There is a heavenly love, un|der the&s;e ordinary phra&s;es; the ordinary phra&s;e belongs to ordinary men; the heavenly love and the &s;pirituall ki&s;&s;e, to them who affect an union to God, and him whom he &s;ent, his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us. S. <HI>Paul</HI> abhors not good and applyable &s;entences, becau&s;e &s;ome &s;ecular Poets had &s;aid them before; nor hath the Chri&s;tian Church abhorred the Tem|ples of the Gentiles, becau&s;e they were profaned before with idolatrous &s;acrifices. I do not conceive how that Je&s;uit <HI>Serarius</HI> &s;hould conceive any &s;uch great joy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Jo&s;. 6. q. 40.</NOTE> as he &s;ayes he did, when he came to a Church-porch, and &s;aw an old &s;tatue of <HI>Iupiter,</HI> and another of <HI>Hercules,</HI> holding two ba&s;ins of holy water; when <HI>Iupiter</HI> and <HI>Hercules</HI> were made to doe Chri&s;tians &s;uch &s;ervices, the Je&s;uit is over-joyed. His <HI>Iupiter</HI> and his <HI>Hercules</HI> might well enough have been &s;pared in the Chri&s;tian Church, but why &s;ome &s;uch things as have beene abu&s;ed in the Roman Church, may not be pre&s;erved in, or reduced to their right u&s;e here, I conceive not; as well as (in a proportion) this outward te&s;timony of in|ward love, though defamed by treachery, though depraved by licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, is exacted at our hands by God him&s;elfe, towards his Son, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son, le&s;t he be angry.</HI></P>
<P>For all <HI>Ioabs</HI> and <HI>Iudas</HI> trea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Propinqui|tas.</NOTE> and carnall lovers licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, ki&s;&s;e thou the Sonne, and be glad that the Sonne hath brought thee, in the Chri&s;tian Church, within that di|&s;tance, as that thou maye&s;t ki&s;&s;e him. The neare&s;t that the Synagogue, or that the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t not yet married came to,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 11.1.</NOTE> was, <HI>O&s;culetur me, Let him ki&s;&s;e me with the ki&s;&s;es of his mouth.</HI> It was but a ki&s;&s;ing of his hand, when he reached them out their &s;pirituall food by others; It was a mariage, but a mariage by a proxie; The per&s;onall mariage, the con|&s;ummation of the mariage was in the comming of Chri&s;t, in e&s;tabli&s;hing a reall pre&s;ence of him&s;elfe in the Church. <HI>Praecepta Dei o&s;cula &s;unt,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Gregory;</HI> In every thing that God &s;ayes to us, he ki&s;&s;es us; <HI>Sed per Prophetas &amp; Mini&s;tros, alieno ore nos o&s;culatur,</HI> He ki&s;&s;ed us by another mans mouth, when he &s;poke by the mouth of the Prophets; but now that he &s;peaks by his owne Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 6.12.</NOTE> it is by him&s;elfe. Even his &s;ervant <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him&s;elf was <HI>of uncircumci&s;ed lips,</HI> and with the uncircumci&s;ed there was no mariage. Even his &s;er|vant <HI>E&s;ay</HI> was <HI>of uncleane lips,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.5. Jer. 1.6.</NOTE> and with the uncleane there was no mariage: Even his &s;er|vant <HI>Ieremie</HI> was <HI>oris infantilis,</HI> he was <HI>a child and could not &s;peake,</HI> and with children, in in|fancie, there is no mariage: But in Chri&s;t, God hath abundantly performed that &s;upply promi&s;ed to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> there, <HI>Aaron thy brother &s;hall be thy Prophet;</HI> Chri&s;t him&s;elfe &s;hall come and &s;peake to thee, and returne and &s;peak for thee: In Chri&s;t, the <HI>Seraphim</HI> hath brought that <HI>live coale</HI> from the <HI>Altar,</HI> and <HI>touched E&s;ayes lips,</HI> and &s;o &s;poken lively, and clearly to our &s;oules; In Chri&s;t, God hath done that which he &s;aid to <HI>Ieremy, Feare not, I am with thee;</HI> for in this <HI>Immanuel,</HI> God and man, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, God is with us.</P>
<P>In <HI>E&s;chines</HI> mouth, when he repeated them, they &s;ay, even <HI>Demo&s;thenes</HI> Orations were flat, and ta&s;tle&s;&s;e things; Compare the Prophets with the Son, and even the pro|mi&s;es of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 4.34.</NOTE> in them, are faint and dilute things. <HI>Eli&s;haes</HI> &s;taffe in the hand of <HI>Gehazi</HI> his &s;ervant, would not recover the Shunamites dead child; but when <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> him&s;elfe came, and put his mouth upon the childs mouth, that did: In the mouth of Chri&s;ts for|mer &s;ervants there was a preparation, but effect, and con&s;ummation in his owne mouth. In the Old Te&s;tament. at fir&s;t, God ki&s;&s;ed man, and &s;o breathed the breath of life, and made him a man; In the New Te&s;tament Chri&s;t ki&s;&s;ed man, he breathed the breath of everla&s;ting life, the holy Gho&s;t, into his Apo&s;tles, and &s;o made the man a ble&s;&s;ed man. <HI>Love is as &s;trong as death;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.6.</NOTE> As in death there is a tran&s;migration of the &s;oule, &s;o in this &s;pi|rituall
<PB N="407" REF="221">love, and this expre&s;&s;ing of it, by this ki&s;&s;e, there is a transfu&s;ion of the &s;oule too: And as we find in <HI>Gellius</HI> a Po&euml;m of <HI>Platoes,</HI> where he &s;ayes, he knew one &s;o extremely pa&s;&s;ionate, <HI>Vt par&ugrave;m affuit quin moreretur in o&s;culo,</HI> much more is it true in this heavenly union, expre&s;&s;ed in this ki&s;&s;e, as S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> delivers it, <HI>Per o&s;culum adhaeret anima Deo, et transfunditur &s;piritus o&s;culantis,</HI> In this ki&s;&s;e, where <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and peace have ki&s;&s;ed each other,</HI> In this per&s;on, where the Divine and the humane nature have ki&s;&s;ed each other,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 85.10.</NOTE> In this Chri&s;tian Church, where Grace and Sacraments, vi&s;ible and invi&s;ible meanes of &s;alvation, have ki&s;&s;ed each other, <HI>Love is as &s;trong as death;</HI> my &s;oule is united to my Sa|viour, now in my life, as in death, and I am already made <HI>one &s;pirit with him:</HI> and what|&s;oever death can doe, this ki&s;&s;e, this union can doe, that is, give me a pre&s;ent, an imme|diate po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the kingdome of heaven: And as the mo&s;t mountainous parts of this kingdome are as well within the kingdome as a garden, &s;o in the mid&s;t of the calamities and incommodities of this life, I am &s;till in the kingdome of heaven. In the Old Te&s;ta|ment, it was but a contract, but <HI>per verba de futuro, Spon&s;abo, I will marry thee;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.19. Mat. 9.15.</NOTE> but now that Chri&s;t is come, the <HI>Bride-groome</HI> is with us for ever, and the <HI>children of the Bride|chamber</HI> cannot <HI>mourne.</HI></P>
<P>Now, by this, we are &s;lid into our fourth and la&s;t branch of our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exhortatic.</NOTE> The per&s;wa|&s;ion to come to this holy ki&s;&s;e, though defamed by treachery, though depraved by li|centiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, &s;ince God invites us to it, by &s;o many good u&s;es thereof in his Word. It is an imputation laid upon <HI>Nero,</HI> That <HI>Neque adveniens, neq&ugrave;e profi&s;ci&s;cens,</HI> That whether comming or going he never ki&s;&s;ed any: And Chri&s;t him&s;elfe imputes it to <HI>Simon,</HI> as a neglect of him, That when he <HI>came into his hou&s;e,</HI> he did not <HI>ki&s;&s;e</HI> him.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.45. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> This then was in u&s;e, fir&s;t among kinsfolks; <HI>In illa &s;implicitate antiquorum, propinqui propinquos o&s;culaban|tur:</HI> In tho&s;e innocent and harmle&s;&s;e times, per&s;ons neare in bloud did ki&s;&s;e one another: And in that right, and not onely as a &s;tranger, <HI>Iacob ki&s;&s;ed Rachel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 29.12.</NOTE> and told her how near of <HI>kin</HI> he was to her. There is no per&s;on &s;o neare of kin to thee, as Chri&s;t Je&s;us: Chri&s;t Je&s;us thy Father as he created thee, and thy brother as he took thy nature: Thy Father as he provided an inheritance for thee, and thy brother as he divided this inheritance with thee, and as he dyed to give thee po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that inheritance: He that is <HI>Nutritius,</HI> thy Fo&s;ter-father who hath nur&s;ed thee in his hou&s;e, in the Chri&s;tian Church, and thy Twin-brother, &s;o like thee, as that his Father, and thine in him, &s;hall not know you from one another, but mingle your conditions &s;o, as that he &s;hall find thy &s;ins in him, and his righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in thee; <HI>O&s;culamini Filium,</HI> Ki&s;&s;e this Son as thy kin&s;man.</P>
<P>This ki&s;&s;e was al&s;o in u&s;e, as <HI>Symbolum &s;ubjectionis,</HI> A recognition of &s;overaignty or power; <HI>Pharaoh &s;ayes to Io&s;eph, Thou &s;halt be over my hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 41.40.</NOTE> and according to thy word &s;hall all my people be ruled;</HI> there the Originall is, <HI>All my people &s;hall ki&s;&s;e thy face.</HI> This is the Lord Paramount, the Soveraigne Lord of all; The Lord Je&s;us; <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.10. Mat. 28.18.</NOTE> <HI>at who&s;e name eve|ry knee mu&s;t bow, in heaven, in earth, and in hell; Ie&s;us, into who&s;e hands all power in heaven and in earth is given; Ie&s;us,</HI> who hath opened a way to our Appeal; from all powers upon earth, <HI>Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the &s;oule; Ie&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.28.</NOTE> who is the <HI>Lion</HI> and the <HI>Lambe</HI> too, powerfull upon others, acce&s;&s;ible unto thee; <HI>O&s;culamini Filium,</HI> Ki&s;&s;e this Son, as he is thy Soveraigne.</P>
<P>It was in u&s;e likewi&s;e <HI>In di&s;ce&s;&s;u,</HI> friends parting ki&s;&s;ed;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 31.15. Act. 20.37.</NOTE> <HI>Laban ro&s;e up early in the mor|ning, and ki&s;&s;ed his &s;ons and his daughters, and departed:</HI> And <HI>at Pauls departing, they fell on his neck, and wept, and ki&s;&s;ed him.</HI> When thou departe&s;t to thy worldly bu&s;ine&s;&s;es, to thy &s;ix dayes labour, ki&s;&s;e him, take leave of him, and remember that all that while thou art gone upon his errand, and though thou worke for thy family, and for thy po&s;terity, yet thou worke&s;t in his vineyard, and do&s;t his worke.</P>
<P>They ki&s;&s;ed too <HI>In reditu; E&s;au ran to meet his brother, and fell on his neck and ki&s;&s;ed him.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 33.4.</NOTE> When thou returne&s;t to his hou&s;e, after thy &s;ix dayes labour, to celebrate his Sabbath, ki&s;&s;e him there, and be able to give him &s;ome good account, from Sabbath to Sabbath, from week to week, of thy &s;teward&s;hip, and thou wilt never be bankrupt.</P>
<P>They ki&s;&s;ed in reconciliation; <HI>David ki&s;&s;ed Ab&s;alon.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 14.33.</NOTE> If thou have not di&s;charged thy &s;teward&s;hip well, Re&s;tore to man who is damnified therein, Confe&s;&s;e to God who hath &s;uffered in that &s;in, Reconcile thy &s;elfe to him, and ki&s;&s;e him in the Sacrament, in the &s;eale of Reconciliation.</P>
<P>They ki&s;&s;ed in a religious reverence even of fal&s;e gods; <HI>I have, &s;ayes God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 19 18.</NOTE> <HI>&s;eaven thou|&s;and knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and mouths that have not ki&s;&s;ed him.</HI> Let every
<PB N="408" REF="222">one of us ki&s;&s;e the true God, in keeping his knees from bowing to a fal&s;e, his lips from a&s;&s;enting, his hands from &s;ub&s;cribing to an Idolatrous wor&s;hip. And, as they ki&s;&s;ed <HI>In Symbolum concordiae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 16.16.</NOTE> (which was another u&s;e thereof; <HI>Salute one another with a holy ki&s;&s;e</HI>) upon which cu&s;tome, <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>O&s;culum ante Euchari&s;tiam,</HI> before the Com|munion, the Congregation ki&s;&s;ed, to te&s;tifie their unity in faith in him, to whom they were then Sacramentally to be united, as well as Spiritually, And <HI>Tertullian</HI> calls it <HI>O&s;cu|lum &s;ignaculum Orationis,</HI> Becau&s;e they ended their publique Prayers with that &s;eale of unity and concord, Let every Congregation ki&s;&s;e him &s;o; at every meeting to &s;eale to him a new band, a new vow that they will never break, in departing from any part of his true wor&s;hip.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 7.38.</NOTE> And to that purpo&s;e ki&s;&s;e his feet, as <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> did: <HI>Specio&s;i pedes Euangelizantium;</HI> Let his feet, his Mini&s;ters, in whom he comes, be acceptable unto you; and love that, upon which him&s;elfe &s;tands, The Ordinance which he hath e&s;ta|bli&s;hed for your &s;alvation.</P>
<P><HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son,</HI> that is, imbrace him, depend upon him all the&s;e wayes; As thy kin&s;|man, As thy Soveraigne, At thy going, At thy comming; At thy Reconciliation, in the truth of religion in thy &s;elfe, in a peaceable unity with the Church, in a reverent e&s;timati|on of tho&s;e men, and tho&s;e meanes, whom he &s;ends. Ki&s;&s;e him, and be not a&s;hamed of ki&s;&s;ing him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.1.</NOTE> It is that, which the Spou&s;e de&s;ired, <HI>I would ki&s;&s;e thee, &amp; not be de&s;pi&s;ed.</HI> If thou be de&s;pi&s;ed for loving Chri&s;t in his Go&s;pel, remember that when <HI>David</HI> was thought ba&s;e, for dancing before the Arke, his way was to be more ba&s;e. If thou be thought frivolous for thru&s;ting in at Service, in the fore-noone, bee more frivolous, and come againe in the after-noone:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>Tanto major requies, quanto ab amore Ie&s;u nulla requies:</HI> The more thou trouble&s;t thy &s;elfe, or art troubled by others for Chri&s;t, the more peace thou ha&s;t in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>We de&s;cend now to our &s;econd Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> from the duty to the danger, from the expre&s;&s;ing of love to the impre&s;&s;ion of feare, <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son, le&s;t he be angry:</HI> And fir&s;t that anger and love, are not incompatible, that anger con&s;i&s;ts with love: God is immutable, and, God is love, and yet God can be angry. God &s;tops a little upon &s;corne, in the fourth ver&s;e of this P&s;alme, <HI>When the Kings of the earth take coun&s;ell again&s;t his anointed, he laughs them to &s;corne, he hath them in diri&s;ion.</HI> But it ends not in a je&s;t; <HI>He &s;hall &s;peake to them in his wrath, and vexe them in his &s;ore di&s;plea&s;ure;</HI> And that is not all; <HI>He &s;hall breake them with a rod of iron, and da&s;h them in pieces like a Potters ve&s;&s;ell.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Lactantius</HI> reprehends ju&s;tly two errors, and propo&s;es a godly middle way in the Do|ctrine of the anger of God. Some &s;ay, &s;ayes he, that onely favour, and gentlene&s;&s;e can be attributed to God, <HI>Quia illae&s;ibilis,</HI> He him&s;elfe cannot be hurt, and then why &s;hould he be angry? And this is, &s;ayes he, <HI>Favorabilis &amp; popularis oratio,</HI> It is a popular and an acceptable propo&s;ition, God cannot be angry, doe what you will, you cannot anger him, for he is all gentlene&s;&s;e. Others, &s;ayes <HI>Lactantius,</HI> take both anger, and gentle|ne&s;&s;e from God, and &s;ay he is affected neither way: And this is, &s;ayes he well, <HI>Con&s;tan|tior error,</HI> An error that will better hold together, better con&s;i&s;t in it &s;elfe, and be better &s;tood to; for they are in&s;eparable things; who&s;oever does love the good, does hate the bad: and therefore if there be no anger, there is no love in God; but that cannot be &s;aid. And therefore, &s;ayes he, we mu&s;t not argue thus, Becau&s;e there is no anger in God, there|fore there is no love; for that indeed would follow, if the fir&s;t were true; But becau&s;e there is love in God, therefore there is anger: And &s;o he concludes thus, This is <HI>Cardo Religionis,</HI> This is the hinge upon which all Religion, all the Wor&s;hip of God turnes and moves, <HI>Si nihil prae&s;tat colenti non debetur cultus, nec metus &s;i non ira&s;citur non cobenti;</HI> If God gave me nothing for my love, I &s;hould not love him, nor feare him if he were not angry at my di&s;plea&s;ing him. It is argument enough again&s;t the Epicures, (again&s;t whom principally hee argues) <HI>Si non curat, non habet pote&s;tatem:</HI> If God take no care of humane actions, he hath no power; for it is impo&s;&s;ible to thinke, that hee hath power, and u&s;es it not; An idle God is as impo&s;&s;ible an imagination, as an impo|tent God, or an ignorant God. Anger, as it is a pa&s;&s;ion that troubles, and di&s;orders, and di&s;compo&s;es a man, &s;o it is not in God, but anger as it is a &s;en&s;ible di&s;cerning of foes from friends, and of things that conduce, or di&s;conduce to his glory, &s;o it is in God. In a word, <HI>Hilarie</HI> hath expre&s;&s;ed it well, <HI>Poena patientis, ir a decernentis,</HI> Mans &s;uffering is God anger; when God inflicts &s;uch puni&s;hments, as a King ju&s;tly incen&s;ed would doe, then God is thus angry.</P>
<PB N="409" REF="222">
<P>Now here, our ca&s;e is heavier; It is not this Great, and Almighty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Filius.</NOTE> and Maje&s;ticall God, that may be angry; that is like enough; But even the <HI>Son,</HI> whom we mu&s;t <HI>ki&s;&s;e,</HI> may be <HI>angry:</HI> It is not a per&s;on whom we con&s;ider meerly as God, but as man; Nay, not as man neither, but <HI>a worme, and no man,</HI> and he may be angry, and angry to our ru|ine. But is it he? Is it the Son, that is intended here? Ask the Romane Tran&s;lation, and it is not he: There it is, <HI>Ne ira&s;catur Dominus, Le&s;t the Lord be angry;</HI> But the Record, the Originall will be again&s;t them: Though it were &s;o, <HI>The Lord,</HI> it might be <HI>He, the Sonne,</HI> but it is not <HI>the Lord,</HI> but mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily bee <HI>the Sonne;</HI> The Son may, the Son will be angry with us. If he could be angry, why did he not &s;hew it to the Devill that tempted him, to the Jews that crucified him? God ble&s;&s;e us from &s;uch an anger, as works upon the Devill, in a de&s;perate un&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of any mercy, from any trade in that Sea, which environs the whole world, and makes all that, one Iland, where onely the Devill can be no Merchant, The bottomele&s;&s;e Sea of his blood; And God ble&s;&s;e us from &s;uch an anger, as works upon the Jews, in an obduration, and the puni&s;hment of it, a di&s;per&s;ion: Are ye &s;ure <HI>David</HI> was not angry with <HI>Shimei,</HI> becau&s;e he reprieved him for a time? Are ye &s;ure the Son is not angry now, becau&s;e ye peri&s;h not yet? Doe you not &s;ay, A fruit is peri&s;hed, if it be brui&s;ed in one place? Is not your Religion peri&s;hed, if Locu&s;ts and Eare-wigges have eaten into it, though they have not eaten it up? Is not your Religion peri&s;hed, if irreligion and prophanene&s;&s;e be entred into your manners, into your lives, though Religion have &s;ome motion in our ordinary meetings, and publique exerci&s;es here?</P>
<P>The Son is <HI>Caput,</HI> and <HI>Corpus,</HI> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes often, Chri&s;t, and the Church of Chri&s;t, are Chri&s;t; And, <HI>Quis enumeret omnia, quibus corpus Chri&s;ti ira&s;citur?</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father; Who can reckon how many wayes, this Chri&s;t, this body of Chri&s;t, the Church, is con&s;trained to expre&s;&s;e anger? How many Excommunications, how many Cen&s;ures, how many Su&s;pen&s;ions, how many Irregularities, how many Penances, and Commutations of Penances, is the body of Chri&s;t, the Church, forced to inflict upon &s;inners? And how heavy would the&s;e be to us, if we did not waigh them with the waights of fle&s;h in the Shambles, or of Iron in the Shop; if we did not con&s;ider them on|ly in their temporall damage, how little an excommunication took from us of our goods, or worldly &s;ub&s;tance, and not how much it &s;hut up the ordinary and outward meanes of our &s;alvation. When the anger of the Body, the Church, is thus heavy, what is the anger of the Head, of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, who is Judge in his owne cau&s;e? When an unju&s;t judgement was executed upon him, how was the frame of nature &s;haked in Eclip|&s;es, in Earth-quakes, in renting of the Temple, and cleaving the Monuments of the dead: When his plea&s;ure is to execute a ju&s;t judgement upon a Nation, upon a Church, upon a Man, in the infatuation of Princes, in the recidivation of the Clergy, in the con|&s;ternation of particular con&s;ciences, <HI>Quis &s;tabit?</HI> who &s;hall be able to &s;tand in that Judgement? <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son le&s;t he be angry;</HI> But when he is angry, he will not ki&s;&s;e you, nor be ki&s;&s;ed by you, but <HI>throw you into unquenchable fire,</HI> if you be <HI>cold,</HI> and if you be <HI>luke-warme, &s;pit you out of his mouth,</HI> remove you from the benefit and comfort of his Word.</P>
<P>This is the anger of God, that reaches to all the world; and the anger of the Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;culum amovet.</NOTE> that comes home to us; and all this is removed with this holy and &s;pirituall ki&s;&s;e: <HI>O&s;cu|lamini Filium, Ki&s;&s;e the Son le&s;t he be angry,</HI> implies this, If ye ki&s;&s;e him, he will not bee angry. What this ki&s;&s;e is, we have &s;eene all the way; It is to hang at his lips, for the Rule of our life, To depend upon his Word for our Religion, and to &s;uccour our &s;elves, by the promi&s;es of his Go&s;pel, in all our calamities, and not to provoke him to farther judgements, by a perver&s;e and froward u&s;e of tho&s;e judgements which he hath laid upon us: As it is, in this point towards man, it is towards God too; <HI>Nihil man&s;uetudine vio|lentius,</HI> There is not &s;o violent a thing as gentlene&s;&s;e, &s;o forcible, &s;o powerfull upon man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> or upon God. This is &s;uch a &s;aying, as one would think he that &s;aid it, &s;hould be ready to retract, by the multiplicity of examples to the contrary every day. Such Rules as this, He that puts up one wrong invites and calls for another, will &s;hake <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> Rule &s;hrewdly, <HI>Nihil man&s;uetudine violentius,</HI> That no battery is &s;o &s;trong again&s;t an enemy, as gentlene&s;&s;e. Say, if you will, <HI>Nihilmelius,</HI> There is no better thing then gentlene&s;&s;e, and we can make up that with a Comment, that is, nothing better for &s;ome purpo&s;es; Say, if you will, <HI>Nihil frugalius,</HI> There is not a thriftier thing then gentlene&s;&s;e, It &s;aves
<PB N="410" REF="223">charges, to &s;uffer, It is a more expen&s;ive thing to revenge then to &s;uffer, whether we con|&s;ider expen&s;e of &s;oule, or body, or fortune; And, (by the way) that, which we u&s;e to adde in this account, opinion, reputation, that which we call Honour, is none of the Ele|ments of which man is made; It may be the ayre, that the Bird flies in, It may be the water, that the Fi&s;h &s;wimmes in, but it is none of the Elements that man is made of, for tho&s;e are onely &s;oule, and body, and fortune. Say al&s;o, if you will, <HI>Nihil accommodatius,</HI> Nothing conformes us more to our great patterne Chri&s;t Je&s;us, then mildne&s;&s;e, then gentlene&s;&s;e, for that is our le&s;&s;on from him, <HI>Di&s;cite &agrave; me, quiamitis, Learne of me, for I am meeke.</HI></P>
<P>All this <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> might &s;ay; but will he &s;ay, <HI>Nihil violentius,</HI> There is not &s;o violent, &s;o forcible a thing as mildne&s;&s;e? That there is no &s;uch Bullet, as a Pillow, no &s;uch Action, as Pa&s;&s;ion, no &s;uch revenge, as &s;uffering an injury? Yet, even this is true; Nothing defeats an anger &s;o much as patience; nothing reproaches a chiding &s;o much as &s;ilence. <HI>Reprehendis iratum? accu&s;as indignationem?</HI> &s;ayes that Father: Art thou &s;or|ry to &s;ee a man angry? <HI>Cur magis ira&s;ci vis?</HI> Why do&s;t thou adde thy anger to his? Why do&s;t thou fuell his anger with thine? <HI>Quodigni aqua, hoc irae man&s;uetudo,</HI> As water works upon fire, &s;o would thy patience upon his anger. S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> hath expre&s;&s;ed it well too, <HI>Haec &s;unt armaju&s;ti, ut cedendo vincat;</HI> This is the warre of the righteous man, to conquer by yeelding.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 36.21.</NOTE> It was <HI>Ezechiahs</HI> way; when <HI>Rab&s;hakeh</HI> reviled, They held their peace, (where, the very phra&s;e affords us this note, That <HI>&s;ilence</HI> is called <HI>holding of our peace,</HI> we continue our peace be&s;t by &s;ilence) <HI>They held their peace,</HI> &s;ayes that text, <HI>and an|&s;wered him not a word, for the King had commanded them not to an&s;wer.</HI> Why? S. <HI>Hierom</HI> tels us why; <HI>Ne ad majores bla&s;phemias provocaret;</HI> Le&s;t the multiplying of cholerique words among&s;t men, &s;hould have occa&s;ioned more bla&s;phemies again&s;t God. And as it is thus with man, with God it is thus too; Nothing &s;pends his judgements, and his cor|rections &s;o &s;oone, as our patience, nothing kindles them, exa&s;perates them &s;o much, as our frowardne&s;&s;e, and murmuring. <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son,</HI> and he will not be <HI>angry;</HI> If he be, ki&s;&s;e the rod, and he will be angry no longer; love him le&s;t hee be, feare him when hee is angry: The pre&s;ervative is ea&s;ie, and &s;o is the re&s;torative too: The Bal&s;amum of this ki&s;&s;e is all; To &s;uck &s;pirituall milke out of the left brea&s;t, as well as out of the right, To finde mercy in his judgements, reparation in his ruines, fea&s;ts in his Lents, joy in his anger. But yet we have re&s;erved it for our la&s;t Con&s;ideration, what will make him angry: what &s;ins are e&s;pecially directed upon the &s;econd Per&s;on, the Sonne of God, and then wee have done all.</P>
<P>Though tho&s;e three Attributes of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sapientia.</NOTE> Power, and Wi&s;dome, and Goodne&s;&s;e, he all three in all the three Per&s;ons of the Trinity, (for they are all (as we &s;ay in the Schoole) <HI>Co|omnipotentes,</HI> they have all a joynt-Almightine&s;&s;e, a joynt-Wi&s;dome, and a joynt-Good|ne&s;&s;e) yet, becau&s;e the Father is <HI>Principium,</HI> The roote of all, Independent, not proceeding from any other, as both the other Per&s;ons do, and Power, and Soveraignty be&s;t re&s;em|bles that Independency, therefore we attribute Power to the Father: And becau&s;e the Son proceeds <HI>Per modum intellectus,</HI> (which is the phra&s;e that pa&s;&s;es through the Fathers, and the Schoole) That as our under&s;tanding proceeds from our rea&s;onable &s;oule, &s;o the &s;econd Per&s;on, the Son, proceeds from the Father, therefore we attribute Wi&s;dome to the Son: And then, becau&s;e the Holy Gho&s;t is &s;aid to proceed <HI>Per modum voluntatis,</HI> That as our &s;oule (as the roote) and our under&s;tanding, proceeding from that &s;oule, pro|duce our will, and the object of our will, is evermore <HI>Bonum,</HI> that which is good in our apprehen&s;ion, therefore we attribute to the Holy Gho&s;t, Goodne&s;&s;e. And therefore <HI>Da|vid</HI> formes his prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 51.</NOTE> in that manner, plurally, <HI>Mi&s;erere mei Elohim,</HI> Be mercifull unto me all, becau&s;e in his &s;in upon <HI>Vriah,</HI> (which he laments in that P&s;alme) he had tran&s;gre&s;|&s;ed again&s;t all the three Per&s;ons, in all their Attributes, again&s;t the Power, and the Wi&s;|dome, and the Goodne&s;&s;e of God.</P>
<P>That then which we con&s;ider principally in the Son, is Wi&s;dome. And truly tho&s;e very many things, which are &s;poken of Wi&s;dome, in the Proverbs of <HI>Solomon,</HI> do, for the mo&s;t part, hold in Chri&s;t: Chri&s;t is, for the mo&s;t part, the Wi&s;dome of that book. And for that book which is called altogether, The book of Wi&s;dome, <HI>I&s;idore</HI> &s;ayes, that a Rabbi of the Jews told him, That that book was heretofore in the Canonicall Scripture, and &s;o received by the Jews; till after Chri&s;ts Crucifying, when they ob&s;erved, what evident te&s;timonies there were in that book for Chri&s;t, they removed it from the Canon. This I
<PB N="411" REF="223">know, is not true; but I remember it therefore, becau&s;e all a&s;&s;i&s;ts us, to con&s;ider Wi&s;dome in Chri&s;t, as that does al&s;o, That the greate&s;t Temple of the Chri&s;tians in Con&s;tantino|ple, was dedicated in that name, <HI>Sophia,</HI> to Wi&s;dome; by implication to Chri&s;t. And in &s;ome apparitions, where the Son of God is &s;aid to have appeared, he cals him&s;elf by that name, <HI>Sapientiam Dei.</HI> He is Wi&s;dome, therefore, becau&s;e he reveales the Will of the Fa|ther to us; and therefore is no man wi&s;e, but he that knowes the Father in him. <HI>I&s;idore</HI> makes this difference <HI>Inter &s;apientem &amp; prudentem,</HI> that the fir&s;t, The wi&s;e man, attends the next world, the la&s;t, The prudent man, but this world: But wi&s;dome, even heavenly wi&s;dome, does not exclude that prudence, though the principall, or rather the ordinary object thereof, be this world. And therefore &s;ins again&s;t the &s;econd Per&s;on, are &s;ins a|gain&s;t Wi&s;dome, in either extreame, either in affected and gro&s;&s;e ignorance, or in over|refined and &s;ublimed curio&s;ity.</P>
<P>As we place this Ignorance in Practicall things of this world, &s;o it is Stupidity; and as we place it in Doctrinall things, of the next world, &s;o Ignorance is Implicite Beliefe: And Curio&s;ity, as we place it upon Practical things, is Craft, and upon Doctrinal things, Subtilty; And this Stupidity and this Implicite faith, and then this Craft, and this Subtil|ty, are &s;ins directed again&s;t the Son, who is true and onely Wi&s;dome.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, A &s;tupid and negligent pa&s;&s;age through this world, as though thou wert no part of it, without embarking thy &s;elfe in any calling; To cro&s;&s;e Gods purpo&s;e &s;o much,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Stupiditas.</NOTE> as that, whereas he produced every thing out of nothing, to be &s;omething, thou wilt go &s;o far back, towards nothing againe, as to be good for nothing, that when as our Lawes call a Calling, an Addition, thou wilt have no Addition, And when (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aies) <HI>Mu&s;ca Soli praeferenda, quia vivit,</HI> A Fly is a nobler Creature then the Sun, in this re|&s;pect, becau&s;e a Fly hath life in it &s;elfe, and the Sun hath none, &s;o any Artificer is a better part of a State, then any retired or contemplative man that embraces no Calling, The&s;e chippings of the world, the&s;e fragmentary and incoherent men, tre&s;pa&s;&s;e again&s;t the Son, again&s;t the &s;econd Per&s;on, as he is Wi&s;dome. And &s;o doe they in doctrinall things, that &s;wallow any particular religion, upon an implicite faith. When Chri&s;t declared a very forward knowledge, in the Temple, at twelve yeares, with the Doctors, yet he was there, <HI>Audiens &amp; interrogans,</HI> He heard what they would &s;ay, and he moved que&s;tions, to heare what they could &s;ay; for, <HI>Eju&s;dem &s;cientiae e&s;t, &s;cire quid interroges, quidve re&s;pondeas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.46. Origen.</NOTE> It is a te&s;timony of as much knowledge to aske a pertinent que&s;tion, as to give a pertinent an&s;wer. But never to have beene able to give an&s;wer, never to have asked que&s;tion in mat|ter of Religion, this is &s;uch an Implicitene&s;&s;e, and indifferency, as tran&s;gre&s;&s;es again&s;t the Son of God, who is Wi&s;dome.</P>
<P>It is &s;o too, in the other extreame, Curio&s;ity; And this in Practicall things, is Craft,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Curio&s;itas.</NOTE> in Doctrinall, Subtilty. Craft, is properly and narrowly, To go towards good ends, by ill wayes: And though this be not &s;o ill, as when neither ends, nor wayes be good, yet this is ill too. The Civilians u&s;e to &s;ay of the Canoni&s;ts, and Ca&s;ui&s;ts, That they con&s;ider no|thing but <HI>Cra&s;&s;am aequitatem,</HI> fat Equity, downe-right Truths, things obvious and appre|hen&s;ible by every naturall man: and to doe but &s;o, to be but hone&s;t men, and no more, they thinke a diminution. To &s;tay within the limits of a profe&s;&s;ion, within the limits of precedents, within the limits of time, is to over-active men contemptible; nothing is wi&s;dome, till it be exalted to Craft, and got above other men. And &s;o it is, with &s;ome, with many, in Doctrinall things too. To re&s;t in Po&s;itive Divinity, and Articles confe&s;&s;ed by all Churches, To be content with Salvation at la&s;t, and rai&s;e no e&s;timation, no emulation, no opinion of &s;ingularity by the way, only to edifie an Auditory, and not to amaze them, onely to bring them to an a&s;&s;ent, and to a practi&s;e, and not to an admiration, This is but home-&s;pun Divinity, but Country-learning, but Catechi&s;ticall doctrine. Let me know (&s;ay the&s;e high-flying men) what God meant to doe with man, before ever God meant to make man: I care not for that Law that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hath written; That every man can read; That he might have received from God, in one day; Let me know the Cabal, that which pa&s;&s;ed betweene God and him, in all the re&s;t of the forty dayes. I care not for Gods revealed Will, his Acts of Parliament, his publique Proclamations, Let me know his Cabinet Coun&s;ailes, his bo&s;ome, his pocket di&s;patches. Is there not another kinde of Prede&s;tination, then that which is revealed in Scriptures, which &s;eemes to be onely of tho&s;e that beleeve in Chri&s;t? May not a man be &s;aved, though he doe not, and may not a man bee damned, though he doe performe tho&s;e Conditions, which &s;eeme to make
<PB N="412" REF="224">&s;ure his &s;alvation in the Scriptures? Beloved, our Countrey man <HI>Holkot,</HI> upon the booke of Wi&s;dome, &s;ayes well of this Wi&s;dome, which we mu&s;t &s;eeke in the Booke of God: After he hath magnified it in his harmonious manner, (which was the &s;tyle of that time) after he had &s;aid, <HI>Cujus authore nihil &s;ublimius,</HI> That the Author of the Scripture was the highe&s;t Author, for that was God, <HI>Cujus tenore nihil &s;olidius,</HI> That the a&s;&s;urance of the Scripture was the &s;afe&s;t foundation, for it was a Rock, <HI>Cujus valore nihil locupletius,</HI> That the riches of the Scripture was the be&s;t trea&s;ure, for it defrayed us in the next World, After he had pur&s;ued his way of Elegancy, and called it <HI>Munimentum Maje&s;tatis,</HI> That Maje&s;ty and Soveraignty it &s;elfe was e&s;tabli&s;hed by the Scriptures, and <HI>Fundamentum firmitatis,</HI> That all true con&s;tancy was built upon that, and <HI>Complementum pote&s;tatis,</HI> That the exerci&s;e of all power, was to be directed by that, he re&s;erves the force of all to the la&s;t, and contracts all to that, <HI>Emolumentum proprietatis,</HI> The profit which I have, in appro|priating the power and the wi&s;dome of the Scriptures to my &s;elfe: All wi&s;dome is no|thing to me, if it be not mine: and I have title to nothing, that is not conveyed to me, by God, in his Scriptures; and in the wi&s;dome manife&s;ted to me there, I re&s;t. I looke upon Gods Decrees, in the execution of tho&s;e Decrees, and I try whether I be within that De|cree of Election, or no, by examining my &s;elfe, whether the marks of the Elect be upon me, or no, and &s;o I appropriate the wi&s;dome of the Scripture to my &s;elfe. A &s;tupid neg|ligence in the practicall things of this World, To do nothing; and an implicite credulity in doctrinall things, To beleeve all; and &s;o al&s;o, a crafty preventing, and circumventing in the Practicall part; and a &s;ubtile, and perplexing intricacy, in the Doctrinall part; The fir&s;t on this &s;ide, The other beyond, do both tran&s;gre&s;&s;e from that Wi&s;dome of God, which is the Sonne, and, in &s;uch a re&s;pect, are &s;ins, e&s;pecially again&s;t the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="42" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLII.</HI> Preached at Lincolns Inne upon Trinity-Sunday. <HI>1620.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>GEN. 18.25.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe&s;e words are the entrance into that prayer and expo&s;tulation, which <HI>A|braham</HI> made to and with God, in the behalfe of Sodome, and the other Cities. He that is, before <HI>Abraham</HI> was, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, in that prayer, which he hath propo&s;ed to us, hath laid &s;uch a foundation, as this is, &s;uch a religious in&s;inuation into him, to whom we make that prayer; Before we aske any thing, we &s;ay. <HI>Our Father, which art in heaven:</HI> If he be our Father, A <HI>Father when his &s;onne asks bread will not give him a &s;tone;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 11.12.</NOTE> God hath a fatherly di&s;po&s;i|tion towards us; And if he be our Father in Heaven, <HI>If evill fathers know how to give good things unto their children, how much more &s;hall your heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that aske him? Shall your Father, which is in heaven, deny you any good thing?</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t there; It is impo&s;&s;ible: <HI>Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right?</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Abraham</HI> here; It is as impo&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>The hi&s;tory which occa&s;ioned and induced the&s;e words, I know you know. The Ho|ly Gho&s;t by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hath expre&s;&s;ed plainly, and your meditations have paraphra&s;ed to your&s;elves this hi&s;tory, That God appeared to <HI>Abraham,</HI> in the plaine of Mamre, in the per&s;ons of three men; three men &s;o glorious, as that <HI>Abraham</HI> gave them a great re&s;pect: That <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;poke to tho&s;e three, as to one per&s;on: That he exhibited all offices of humanity and ho&s;pitality unto them: That after they had executed the fir&s;t part of their Commi&s;&s;ion, which was to ratifie, and to reduce to a more certainty of time, the promi&s;e of <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> and con&s;equently of the Me&s;&s;ias, though <HI>Abraham</HI> and <HI>Sara</HI> were pa&s;t hope in
<PB N="413" REF="224">one another; that they imparted to <HI>Abraham,</HI> upon their departure, the indignation that God had conceived again&s;t the &s;ins of Sodome, and con&s;equently the imminent de&s;tru|ction of that City; That this awakened <HI>Abrahams</HI> compa&s;&s;ion, and put him into a zeale, and vehemence; for, all the while, he is &s;aid, <HI>to have been with him that &s;poke to him,</HI> and yet, now it is &s;aid, <HI>Abraham drew near,</HI> he came up clo&s;e to God, and he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 23.24.</NOTE> Peradven|ture, (I am not &s;ure of it) but peradventure, there may be &s;ome righteous in the City, and if there &s;hould be &s;o, it &s;hould be ab&s;olutely unju&s;t to de&s;troy them; but, &s;ince it may be &s;o, it is too &s;oone to come to a pre&s;ent execution; <HI>Ab&s;it a te,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Abraham, Be that far from thee;</HI> And he repeats it twice; And upon the rea&s;on in our text, <HI>Shall not the iudge of all the Earth do right?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, The per&s;on who is <HI>the Iudge of all the Earth,</HI> &s;ubmits us to a nece&s;&s;ity of &s;eek|ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;is.</NOTE> who it is that <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;peaks to; and &s;o, who they were that appeared to him: whether they were three men, or three Angels, or two Angels, and the third, to whom <HI>Abraham</HI> e&s;pecially addre&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe, were Chri&s;t: Or whether in the&s;e three per|&s;ons, what&s;oever they were, there were any intimation, any in&s;inuation given, or any ap|prehen&s;ion taken by <HI>Abraham,</HI> of the three ble&s;&s;ed Per&s;ons of the glorious Trinity. And then, in the &s;econd part, in the expo&s;tulation it &s;elfe, we &s;hall &s;ee, fir&s;t, The de&s;cent, and ea&s;ine&s;&s;e of God, that he vouchfafes to admit an expo&s;tulation, an admonition from his &s;ervant, He is content that <HI>Abraham</HI> remember him, of his office: And the Expo&s;tulati|on lyes in this, That he is a <HI>Iudge,</HI> And <HI>&s;hall not a Iudge do right?</HI> But more in this, That he is <HI>Iudge of all the Earth,</HI> and, if he do wrong, there is no Appeal from him, And <HI>&s;hall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right?</HI> And from thence we &s;hall fall upon this con&s;idera|tion, What was that <HI>Right,</HI> which <HI>Abraham</HI> pre&s;&s;es upon God here: And we &s;hall finde it twofold: for, fir&s;t, he thinks it unju&s;t, that God &s;hould wrap up ju&s;t and unju&s;t, righ|teous and unrighteous, all in one condemnation, in one de&s;truction, <HI>Ab&s;it, be this far from God:</HI> And then, he hath a farther ayme then that, That God for the righteous &s;ake, &s;hould &s;pare the unrighteous, and &s;o forbeare the whole City. And though this Judge of the whole Earth, might have done right, though he had de&s;troyed the mo&s;t righteous per&s;ons among&s;t them, much more, though he had not &s;pared the unrighteous, for the righteous &s;ake, yet we &s;hall &s;ee at la&s;t, the abundant mea&s;ure of Gods overflowing mer|cy to have declared it &s;elfe &s;o far, as if there had been any righteous, he had &s;pared the whole City. Our parts then are but two: but two &s;uch, as are high parts, and yet grow|ing rich, and yet emproving, &s;o far, as that the fir&s;t is above Man, and the extent of his Rea&s;on, The my&s;tery of the Trinity; And the other is above God &s;o, as that it is above all his works, The infinitenes of his Mercy.</P>
<P>To come to the &s;everall branches of the&s;e two maine parts, fir&s;t, in the fir&s;t, we aske,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1. Part.</HI> An viri.</NOTE> <HI>An viri,</HI> whether the&s;e three that appeared to <HI>Abraham,</HI> were men or no. Now, be|tween <HI>Abrahams</HI> apprehen&s;ion, who &s;aw this done, and ours, who know it was done, becau&s;e we read it here in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> relation, there is a great difference. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> who in|formes us now, what was done then, &s;ayes expre&s;ly, <HI>Apparuit Dominus, The Lord ap|peared,</HI> and therefore we know they were more then ordinary men; But when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> tels us how <HI>Abraham</HI> apprehended it, <HI>Ecce tres viri, He lift up his eyes, and he &s;aw three men,</HI> he took them to be but men, and therefore exhibited to them all offices of humanity and curte&s;ie: Where we note al&s;o, that even by the Saints of God, civill behaviour, and faire language is conveniently exerci&s;ed: A man does not therefore meane ill, becau&s;e he &s;peaks well: A man mu&s;t not therefore be &s;u&s;pected to performe nothing, becau&s;e he promi&s;es much: Such phra&s;es of humilitie, and diminution, and undervaluing of him|&s;elfe, as <HI>David</HI> utters to <HI>Saul;</HI> &s;uch phra&s;es of magnifying, and glorifying the Prince, as <HI>Daniel</HI> u&s;es to the King, perchance no &s;ecular &s;tory, perchance no moderne Court will afford; Neither &s;hall you finde in tho&s;e places, more of that which we call Comple|ment,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 25.</NOTE> then in <HI>Abigails</HI> acce&s;&s;e to <HI>David,</HI> in the behalfe of her fooli&s;h husband, when &s;he comes to intercede for him, and to deprecate his fault. Har&s;hne&s;&s;e, and moro&s;ity in behaviour, ru&s;ticity, and coor&s;ene&s;&s;e of language, are no arguments in them&s;elves, of a plaine, and a direct meaning, and of a &s;imple heart. <HI>Abraham</HI> was an hundred yeares old, and that might, in the generall, indi&s;po&s;e him; And it was &s;oone after his Circum|ci&s;ion, which al&s;o might be a particular di&s;abling; He was <HI>&s;itting</HI> &s;till, and &s;o not onely enjoying his bodily ea&s;e, but his Meditation, (for his eyes were ca&s;t downe) But as &s;oon as <HI>he lift up his eyes;</HI> and had occa&s;ion pre&s;ented him to doe a curte&s;ie, for all his age, and
<PB N="414" REF="225">infirmity, and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of re&s;t, he <HI>runs</HI> to them, and he <HI>bowes</HI> him&s;elfe to them, and <HI>&s;a|lutes</HI> them, with words not onely of curte&s;ie, but of reverence: <HI>Explorat itinera,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> he &s;earches and inquires into their journey, that he might direct them, or ac|company, or accommodate them; <HI>A de&s;t non quaerentibus,</HI> He prevents them, and offers before they aske; <HI>Rapit praetergre&s;&s;uros,</HI> when they pretended to goe farther, he forced them, by the irre&s;i&s;tible violence of curte&s;ie, to &s;tay with him, and he calls them, (or one among&s;t them) <HI>Dominum, Lord,</HI> and profe&s;&s;es him&s;elfe their <HI>&s;ervant.</HI> But <HI>Abraham</HI> did not determine his curte&s;ie in words, and no more: We mu&s;t not think, that becau&s;e one|ly man of all creatures can &s;peak, that therefore the onely duty of man is to &s;peake; faire Apparell makes &s;ome &s;hew in a wardrobe, but not halfe &s;o good as when it is upon a bo|dy: faire language does ever well, but never &s;o well as when it apparels a reall curte&s;ie: <HI>Abraham</HI> entreated them faire, and entertained them well: he &s;poke kindly, and kindly performed all offices of ea&s;e, and refocillation to the&s;e way-faring &s;trangers.</P>
<P>Now here is our copie, but who writes after this copie? <HI>Abraham</HI> is <HI>pater multitudi|nis,</HI> A father of large po&s;terity, but he is dead without i&s;&s;ue, or his race is failed; for, who hath this ho&s;pitall care of relieving di&s;tre&s;&s;ed per&s;ons now? Thou &s;ee&s;t a needy per&s;on, and thou turne&s;t away thine eye; but it is the Prince of Darkne&s;&s;e that ca&s;ts this mi&s;t up|on thee; Thou &s;toppe&s;t thy no&s;e at his &s;ores, but they are thine owne incompa&s;&s;ionate bowels that &s;tinke within thee; Thou telle&s;t him, he troubles thee, and thinke&s;t thou ha&s;t chidden him into a &s;ilence; but he whi&s;pers &s;till to God, and he &s;hall trouble thee wor&s;e at la&s;t, when he &s;hall tell thee, in the mouth of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>I was hungry and ye fed me not:</HI> Still thou &s;aye&s;t to the poore, I have not for you, when God knowes, a great part of that which thou ha&s;t, thou ha&s;t for them, if thou would&s;t execute Gods commi&s;|&s;ion, and di&s;pen&s;e it accordingly, as God hath made thee his &s;teward for the poore. Give really, and give gently; Doe kindly, and &s;peake kindly too, for that is Bread, and Hony.</P>
<P><HI>Abraham</HI> then tooke the&s;e for men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An Angeli.</NOTE> and offered curte&s;ies proper for men: for though hee called him, to whom hee &s;poke, <HI>Dominum, Lord,</HI> yet it is not that name of the <HI>Lord,</HI> which implyes his Divinity, it is not <HI>Iehovah,</HI> but <HI>Adonai;</HI> it is the &s;ame name, and the &s;ame word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 20.</NOTE> which his wife <HI>Sara,</HI> after, gives him. And <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> when &s;he was at Chri&s;ts Sepulchre, &s;peaks of Chri&s;t, and &s;peaks to the Gardiner (as &s;he thought) in one and the &s;ame word: <HI>Tulerunt Dominum,</HI> &s;he &s;ayes of Chri&s;t, <HI>They have taken away my Lord,</HI> And to the Gardiner &s;he &s;ayes, <HI>Domine, &s;i &s;u&s;tuli&s;ti:</HI> for <GAP DESC="foreign">, which is the word in both places, was but a name of civill curte&s;ie, and is well enough tran&s;lated by our men, in that later place, <HI>Sir, Sir if you have taken him away, &amp;c. Abraham</HI> then, at their fir&s;t appearing, had no evidence that they were other then men; but we have; for that place of the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.2.</NOTE> <HI>Be not forgetfull to entertaine &s;trangers, for thereby &s;ome have en|tertained Angels unawares,</HI> hath evermore, by all Expo&s;itors, had reference to this action of <HI>Abrahams;</HI> which proves both the&s;e fir&s;t branches, That he knew it not, and That they were Angels. The Apo&s;tles principall purpo&s;e there is, to recommend to us Ho&s;pi|tality, but limited to &s;uch ho&s;pitality as might in likelihood, or in po&s;&s;ibility, be an occa|&s;ion of entertaining Angels, that is, of Angelicall men, good and holy men. Ho&s;pitality is a vertue, more recommended by the Writers in the Primitive Church, then any other vertue: but upon this rea&s;on, That the poore flock of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, being by per&s;ecu|tion then &s;cattered upon the face of the earth, men were nece&s;&s;arily to be excited, with much vehemence, to &s;uccour and relieve them, and to receive them into their hou&s;es, as they travailed.</P>
<P><HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ayes well, That the whole Church of God is one hou&s;hold: He &s;ayes, eve|ry particular Church is <HI>Eccle&s;ia Apo&s;tolica, quia &s;oboles Apo&s;tolicarum,</HI> An Apo&s;tolicall Church, if it be an off-&s;pring of the Apo&s;tolicall Churches: He does not &s;ay, <HI>quia &s;oboles Apo&s;tolicae,</HI> becau&s;e that Church is the off-&s;pring of the Apo&s;tolicall Church, as though there were but one &s;uch, which mu&s;t be the mother of all: for, &s;ayes he, <HI>Omnes primae, &amp; omnes Apo&s;tolicae,</HI> Every Church is a &s;upreme Church, and every Church is an Apo&s;toli|call Church, <HI>dum omnes unam probant unitatem,</HI> as long as they agree in the unity of that doctrine which the Apo&s;tles taught, and adhere to the &s;upreme head of the whole Church, Chri&s;t Je&s;us. Which S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> expre&s;&s;es more clearly, <HI>Epi&s;copatus unus e&s;t,</HI> The whole Church is but one Bi&s;hoprick, <HI>Cujus, &agrave; &s;ingulis, in &s;olidum pars tenetur,</HI> Every Bi&s;hop is Bi&s;hop of the whole Church, and no one more then another. The Church then
<PB N="415" REF="225">was, and &s;hould be, as one hou&s;hold; And in this hou&s;hold, &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian</HI> there, there was fir&s;t <HI>Communicatio pacis,</HI> a peaceable di&s;po&s;ition, a charitable interpretation of one anothers actions: And then there was <HI>Appellatio fraternitatis,</HI> &s;ayes he; That if they did differ in &s;ome things, yet they e&s;teemed them&s;elves &s;ons of one Father, of God, and by one Mother, the Catholique Church, and did not break the band of Brotherhood, nor &s;eparate from one another for every difference in opinion; And la&s;tly, &s;ayes he, There was <HI>Conte&s;&s;eratio Ho&s;pitalitatis,</HI> A warrant for their reception and entertainment in one anothers hou&s;es, where&s;oever they travailed. Now, becau&s;e for the benefit and advan|tage of this ea&s;e, and accommodation in travailing, men conterfeited them&s;elves to be Chri&s;tians that were not, the Councel of Nice made &s;uch provi&s;ion as was po&s;&s;ible; (though that al&s;o were deluded after) which was, That there &s;hould be <HI>literae formatae,</HI> (as they called them) certaine te&s;timoniall letters, &s;ub&s;cribed with foure characters, de|noting Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t; and tho&s;e letters &s;hould be <HI>conte&s;&s;eratio ho&s;pitalitatis,</HI> a warrant for their entertainment where&s;oever they came. Still there was a care of ho&s;pi|tality, but &s;uch, as Angels, that is, Angelicall, good and religious men, and truly Chri|&s;tians, might be received.</P>
<P>Beloved, Bapti&s;me in the name of the Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t, is this Conte&s;&s;e|ration; all that are truly baptized are of this hou&s;hold, and &s;hould be relieved and recei|ved: But certainly, there is a race that have not this Conte&s;&s;eration, not the&s;e te&s;timoni|all letters, not this outward Bapti&s;me: Among&s;t tho&s;e herds of vagabonds, and incorri|gible rogues, that fill porches, and barnes in the Countrey, a very great part of them was never baptized: people of a promi&s;cuous generation, and of a mi&s;chievous education; ill brought into the world, and never brought into the Church. No man receives an Angel unawares, for receiving or harbouring any of the&s;e; neither have the&s;e any inte|re&s;t in the hou&s;hold of God, for they have not their fir&s;t Conte&s;&s;eration: And as there are <HI>&s;ins</HI> which we are not bid <HI>to pray for,</HI> &s;o there are beggers which we are not bid to give to. God appeared by Angels in the Old Te&s;tament, and he appeares by Angels in the New, in his Me&s;&s;engers, in his Mini&s;ters, in his Servants: And that Ho&s;pitality, and tho&s;e fea&s;ts which cannot receive &s;uch Angels, tho&s;e Mini&s;ters and Me&s;&s;engers of God, where by rea&s;on of exce&s;&s;e and drunkenne&s;&s;e, by rea&s;on of &s;curril and licentious di&s;|cour&s;e, by rea&s;on of wanton and uncha&s;t provocations, by rea&s;on of execrable and bla&s;|phemous oathes the&s;e Angels of God cannot be pre&s;ent, but they mu&s;t either offend the company by reprehen&s;ion, or prevaricate and betray the cau&s;e of God by their &s;i|lence, this is not <HI>Abrahams</HI> ho&s;pitality, who&s;e commendation was, <HI>that he received Angels.</HI></P>
<P>Tho&s;e Angels came, and <HI>&s;tood before Abraham,</HI> but till he <HI>lift up his eyes,</HI> and <HI>ran forth to them,</HI> they came not to him: The Angels of the Go&s;pel come within their di&s;tance, but if you will not receive them, they can break open no doores, nor &s;ave you again&s;t your will: The Angel does, as he that &s;ends him, <HI>Stand at the doore, and knock,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 3.20.</NOTE> <HI>if the doore be opened, he comes in, and &s;ups with him;</HI> What gets he by that? This; <HI>He &s;ups with me</HI> too, &s;ayes Chri&s;t there; He brings his di&s;h with him; he feeds his Ho&s;t, more then his Ho&s;t him. This is true Ho&s;pitality, and entertainment of Angels, both when thou feede&s;t Chri&s;t, in his poore members abroad, or when thou feede&s;t thine owne &s;oule at home, with the company and conver&s;ation of true and religious Chri&s;tians at thy table, for the&s;e are Angels.</P>
<P><HI>Abraham</HI> then, took the&s;e three for men, and no more, when as they were Angels:<NOTE PLACE="marg">An Chri&s;tus.</NOTE> But were they all Angels, and no more? was not that one, to whom more particular|ly <HI>Abraham</HI> addre&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe, and called him <HI>Lord,</HI> The Son of God, Chri&s;t Je&s;us? This very many, very learned among&s;t the Ancients, did not onely aske by way of Pro|bleme, and di&s;putation, but affirme Doctrinally, by way of re&s;olution. <HI>Irenaeus</HI> thought it, and expre&s;&s;ed it &s;o elegantly, as it is almo&s;t pity, if it be not true; <HI>In&s;eminatus e&s;t ubi|que in Scriptur is, Filius Dei,</HI> &s;ayes he: The Son of God is &s;owed in every furrow, in every place of the Scripture, you may &s;ee him grow up; and he gives an example out of this place, <HI>Cum Abraham loquens, cum Abraham come&s;urus,</HI> Chri&s;t talked with <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> and he dined with him. And they will &s;ay, that whereas it is &s;aid in that place to the <HI>Hebrewes, That Abraham received Angels,</HI> the word <HI>Angel</HI> mu&s;t not be too preci&s;ely taken: For &s;ometimes, <HI>Angel</HI> in the Scriptures, &s;ignifies le&s;&s;e then Angel, (as <HI>Iohn,</HI> and <HI>Malachy</HI> are called <HI>Angels</HI>) and &s;ometimes <HI>Angel</HI> &s;ignifies more then Angel, as Chri&s;t
<PB N="416" REF="226">him&s;elfe is called <HI>The Angel of the great Councell,</HI> according to the <HI>Septuagint:</HI> So therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.</NOTE> they will &s;ay, That though Chri&s;t were there, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe might be called &s;o, <HI>An Angel;</HI> Or it may be ju&s;tly &s;aid by S. <HI>Paul, That Abraham did receive An|gels,</HI> becau&s;e there were two, that were, without que&s;tion, Angels. This led <HI>Hilary</HI> to a direct, and a pre&s;ent re&s;olution, that <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;aw Chri&s;t, and to exclaime gratulatorily in his behalfe, <HI>Quanta fidei vis, ut in indi&s;creta a&s;si&s;tentium &s;pecie, Chri&s;tum interno&s;ceret!</HI> What a per&s;picacy had <HI>Abrahams</HI> faith, who, where they were all alike, could di&s;cerne one to be above them all!</P>
<P>Make this then the que&s;tion, whether Chri&s;t ever appeared to men upon earth, before his Incarnation; and the Scriptures not determining this que&s;tion at all, if the Fathers &s;hall be called to judge it, it will &s;till be a perplexed ca&s;e, for they will be equall in num|ber, and in waight. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> (who is one of them that deny it) &s;ayes fir&s;t, for the generall, the greate&s;t worke of all, the promulgation of the Law, was done by Angels alone, without concurrence of the Son; and for this particular, &s;ayes he, concerning <HI>Abraham,</HI> they who thinke that Chri&s;t appeared to <HI>Abraham,</HI> ground them&s;elves but upon this rea&s;on, That <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;peakes to all, in the &s;ingular number, as to one per&s;on; And then, &s;ayes that Father, they may al&s;o ob&s;erve, that when this one Per&s;on, whom they conclude to be Chri&s;t, was departed from the other two, and that the other two went up to <HI>Sodome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 19.18.</NOTE> there <HI>Lot</HI> &s;peakes to tho&s;e two, in the &s;ingular number, as to one per&s;on, as <HI>Abraham</HI> did before. From this argumentation of S. <HI>Augu&s;tines,</HI> this may well be rai&s;ed, That when the Scriptures may be interpreted, and Gods actions well un|der&s;tood, by an ordinary way, it is never nece&s;&s;ary, &s;eldome &s;afe to induce an extraor|dinary. It was then an ordinary, and familiar way for God, to proceed with tho&s;e his &s;ervants by Angels; but by his Son, &s;o extraordinary, as that it is not cleare, that ever it was done; and therefore it needs not be &s;aid, nor admitted in this place.</P>
<P>In this place, this falls properly to be noted, that even in the&s;e three glorious Angels of God, there was an eminent difference; One of them &s;eemed to <HI>Abraham,</HI> to bee the principall man in the Commi&s;&s;ion, and to that one, he addre&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe. Among&s;t the other Angels, which are the Mini&s;ters in Gods Church, one may have better abili|ties, better faculties then another, and it is no errour, no weakne&s;&s;e in a man to de&s;ire to conferre with one rather then with another, or to heare one rather then another. But <HI>Abraham</HI> did not &s;o apply him&s;elfe to one of the three, that he neglected the other two: No man mu&s;t be &s;o cheri&s;hed, &s;o followed, as that any other be thereby either defrau|ded of their due maintenance, or di&s;-heartened for want of due incouragement. Wee have not the greate&s;t u&s;e of the greate&s;t Starres; but wee have more benefit of the Moone, which is le&s;&s;e then they, becau&s;e &s;he is nearer to us. It is not the depth, nor the wit, nor the eloquence of the Preacher that pierces us, but his nearene&s;&s;e; that hee &s;peaks to my con&s;cience, as though he had been behinde the hangings when I &s;inned, and as though he had read the book of the day of Judgement already. Something <HI>A|braham</HI> &s;aw in this Angels above the re&s;t, which drew him, which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> does not ex|pre&s;&s;e; Something a man finds in one Preacher above another, which he cannot expre&s;&s;e, and he may very lawfully make his &s;pirituall benefit of that, &s;o that that be no occa&s;ion of neglecting due re&s;pects to others.</P>
<P>This being then thus fixed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An Trinitas.</NOTE> that <HI>Abraham</HI> received them as men, that they were in truth no other then Angels, there remaines, for the &s;hutting up of this Part, this Con&s;i|deration, whether after <HI>Abraham</HI> came to the knowledge that they were Angels, he ap|prehended not an intimation of the three Per&s;ons of the Trinity, by the&s;e three Angels. Whether Gods appearing to <HI>Abraham</HI> (which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;peaks of in the fir&s;t ver&s;e) were ma|nife&s;ted to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 13. Ver. 17.</NOTE> when <HI>Sarah</HI> laughed in her &s;elfe, and yet they knew that &s;he laughed; Or whether it were manife&s;ted, when they imparted their purpo&s;e, concerning <HI>Sodome;</HI> (for, in both the&s;e places, they are called neither men nor Angels, but by that name, <HI>The Lord,</HI> and that Lord which is Jehovah) whether, I &s;ay, when <HI>Abraham</HI> di&s;cerned them to be &s;uch Angels, as God appeared in them, and &s;poke and wrought by them, whether then, as he di&s;cerned the Divinity, he di&s;cerned the Trinity in them too, is the que&s;tion. I know the explicite Doctrine of the Trinity was not ea&s;ie to be apprehended then; as it is not ea&s;ie to be expre&s;&s;ed now. It is a bold thing in &s;ervants, to inquire curiou&s;ly into their Ma&s;ters Pedigree, whether he be well de&s;cended, or well allied: It is a bold thing too, to inquire too curiou&s;ly into the eternall generation of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, or the
<PB N="417" REF="226">eternall proce&s;&s;ion of the Holy Gho&s;t. When <HI>Gregory Nazianzen</HI> was pre&s;&s;ed by one, to a&s;&s;igne a difference between tho&s;e words, <HI>Begotten,</HI> and <HI>Proceeding, Dic tu mihi,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>quid &s;it Generatie, &amp; ego dicam tibi, quid &s;it Proce&s;sio, ut ambo in&s;aniamus:</HI> Doe thou tell me, what this <HI>Begetting</HI> is, and then I will tell thee, what this <HI>Proceeding</HI> is; and all the world will finde us both mad, for going about to expre&s;&s;e inexpre&s;&s;ible things.</P>
<P>And as every manner of phra&s;e in expre&s;&s;ing, or every compari&s;on, does not manife&s;t the Trinity; &s;o every place of Scripture, which the Fathers, and later men have applied to that purpo&s;e, does not prove the Trinity. And therefore, tho&s;e men in the Church, who have cryed downe that way of proceeding, to goe about to prove the Trinty, out of the fir&s;t words of <HI>Gene&s;is, Creavit Dii,</HI> That becau&s;e God in the plurall is there joy|ned to a Verb in the &s;ingular, therefore there is a Trinity in Unity; or to prove the Tri|nity out of this place, that becau&s;e God, who is but one, appeared to <HI>Abraham</HI> in three Per&s;ons, therefore there are three Per&s;ons in the God-head; tho&s;e men, I &s;ay, who have cryed downe &s;uch manner of arguments, have rea&s;on on their &s;ide, when the&s;e argu|ments are imployed again&s;t the Jews, for, for the mo&s;t part, the Jews have pertinent, and &s;ufficient an&s;wers to tho&s;e arguments. But yet, betweene them, who make this place, a di&s;tinct, and a literall, and a concluding argument, to prove the Trinity, and them who cry out again&s;t it, that it hath no relation to the Trinity, our Church hath gone a middle, and a moderate way, when by appointing this Scripture for this day, when we celebrate the Trinity, it declares that to us, who have been baptized, and catechi&s;ed in the name and faith of the Trinity, it is a refre&s;hing, it is a cheri&s;hing, it is an awakening of that former knowledge which we had of the Trinity, to heare that our onely God thus manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to <HI>Abraham</HI> in three Per&s;ons.</P>
<P><HI>Luther</HI> &s;ayes well upon this text, If there were no other proofe of the Trinity but this, I &s;hould not believe the Trinity; but yet &s;ayes he, This is <HI>Singulare te&s;timonium de articule Trinitatis,</HI> Though it be not a concluding argument, yet it is a great te&s;timony of the Tri|nity. <HI>Fateor,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>hi&s;torico &s;en&s;u nihil concludi praeter ho&s;pitalitatem,</HI> I confe&s;&s;e, in the lite|rall &s;en&s;e, there is nothing but a recommendation of ho&s;pitality, and therefore, to the Jews, I would urge no more out of this place: <HI>Sed non &s;ic agendum cum auditoribus, ac cum adver&s;ariis,</HI> We mu&s;t not proceed alike with friends and with enemies. There are places of Scriptures for direct proofes, and there are places to exerci&s;e our meditation, and de|votion in things, for which we need not, nor aske not any new proofe. And for exerci&s;e, &s;ayes <HI>Luther, Rudi ligne ad formam gladii utimur,</HI> We content our &s;elves with a foyle, or with a &s;tick, and we require not a &s;harpe &s;word. To cut off the enemies of the Trinity, we have two-edged &s;words, that is, undeniable arguments: but to exerci&s;e our owne devoti|ons, we are content with &s;imilitudinary, and comparative rea&s;ons. He pur&s;ues it farther, to good u&s;e: The &s;tory doth not teach us, That <HI>Sarah</HI> is the <HI>Chri&s;tian Church,</HI> and <HI>Hagar</HI> the <HI>Synagogue;</HI> But S. <HI>Paul</HI> proves that, from that &s;tory; he proves it from thence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.24.</NOTE> though he call it but an <HI>Allegory.</HI> It is true that S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Figuranihil probat,</HI> A figure, an Allegory proves nothing; yet, &s;ayes he, <HI>addit lucem, &amp; ornat,</HI> It makes that which is true in it &s;elfe, more evident and more acceptable.</P>
<P>And therefore it is a lovely and a religious thing, to finde out <HI>Ve&s;tigia Trinitatis,</HI> Im|pre&s;&s;ions of the Trinity, in as many things as we can; and it is a reverent obedience to embrace the wi&s;dome of our Church, in renewing the Trinity to our Contemplation, by the reading of this Scripture, this day, for, even out of this Scripture, <HI>Philo Iudaeus,</HI> (al|though hee knew not the true Trinity aright) found a threefold manife&s;tation of God to man, in this appearing of God to <HI>Abraham:</HI> for, as he is called in this Story, <HI>Iehova,</HI> he con&s;iders him, <HI>Fontem E&s;&s;entiae,</HI> To be the fountaine of all Being; As hee is called <HI>Deus, God,</HI> he con&s;iders him, in the admini&s;tration of his Creatures, in his providence; As he is called <HI>Dominus, Lord,</HI> and <HI>King,</HI> he con&s;iders him in the judgement, glorifying, and rejecting according to their merits: So, though hee found not a Trinity of Per&s;ons, he found a Trinity of Actions in the Text, Creation, Providence, and Judgement. If he, who knew no Trinity, could finde one, &s;hall not we, who know the true one, meditate the more effectually upon that, by occa&s;ion of this &s;tory? Let us therefore, with S. <HI>Ber|nard,</HI> con&s;ider <HI>Trinitatem Creatricem,</HI> and <HI>Trinitatem Creatam,</HI> A Creating, and a Created Trinity; A Trinity, which the Trinity in Heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Gho&s;t, hath created in our &s;oules, Rea&s;on, Memory, and Will; and that we have &s;uper-created, ad|ded another Trinity, Sugge&s;tion, and Con&s;ent, and Delight in &s;in; And that God, after
<PB N="418" REF="227">all this infu&s;es another Trinity, Faith, Hope, and Charity, by which we returne to our fir&s;t; for &s;o far, that Father of Meditation, S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> carries this con&s;ideration of the Trinity. Since therefore the confe&s;&s;ion of a Trinity is that which di&s;tingui&s;hes us from Jews, and Turks, and al other profe&s;&s;ions, let us di&s;cerne that beame of the Trinity, which the Church hath &s;hewed us, in this text, and with the words of the Church, conclude this part, <HI>O holy, ble&s;&s;ed, and glorious Trinity, three Per&s;ons, and one God, have mercy upon us mi&s;erable &s;inners.</HI></P>
<P>We are de&s;cended now to our &s;econd part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Expo&s;tula|tio.</HI> Iob 31.13.</NOTE> what pa&s;t between God and <HI>Abraham,</HI> af|ter he had thus manife&s;ted him&s;elfe unto him; Where we noted fir&s;t, That God admits, even expo&s;tulation, from his &s;ervants; almo&s;t rebukes and chidings from his &s;ervants. We need not wonder at <HI>Iobs</HI> humility, that he did not de&s;pi&s;e his man, nor his mayd, when they contended with him, for God does not de&s;pi&s;e that in us. God would have gone from <HI>Iacob</HI> when he <HI>wre&s;tled,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.26.</NOTE> and <HI>Iacob would not let him go,</HI> and that prevailed with God. If we have an apprehen&s;ion when we beginne to pray, that God doth not heare us, not regard us, God is content that in the fervor of that prayer, we &s;ay with <HI>David, Evigila Domine,</HI> and <HI>Surge Domine, Awake O Lord,</HI> and <HI>Ari&s;e O Lord;</HI> God is content to be told, that he was in bed, and a&s;leepe, when he &s;hould heare us. If we have not a pre&s;ent deliverance from our enemies, God is content that we proceed with <HI>David, Eri|pe manum de &s;inu, Pluck out thy hand out of thy bo&s;ome;</HI> God is content to be told, that he is &s;lack and dilatory when he &s;hould deliver us. If we have not the &s;ame e&s;timation in the world, that the children of this world have, God is content that we &s;ay with <HI>Amos, Pauperem pro calceamentis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 2.6.</NOTE> that <HI>we are &s;old for a paire of &s;hooes;</HI> And with S. <HI>Paul,</HI> that <HI>we are the off-&s;couring of the world:</HI> God is content to be told, that he is unthrifty, and pro|digall of his &s;ervants lives, and honours, and fortunes. Now, <HI>Offer this to one of your Prin|ces,</HI> &s;ays the Prophet, <HI>and &s;ee whether he will take it.</HI> Bring a petition to any earthly Prince, and &s;ay to him, <HI>Evigila,</HI> and <HI>Surge,</HI> would your Maje&s;ty would awake, and reade this pe|tition, and &s;o in&s;imulate him of a former drow&s;ine&s;&s;e in his government; &s;ay unto him, <HI>Eripe manum,</HI> pull thy hand out of thy bo&s;ome, and execute Ju&s;tice, and &s;o in&s;imulate him of a former manacling and &s;lumbring of the Lawes; &s;ay unto him, we are become as old &s;hooes, and as off-&s;courings, and &s;o in&s;imulate him of a diminution, and di&s;-e&s;ti|mation faln upon the Nation by him, what Prince would not (and ju&s;tly) conceive an indignation again&s;t &s;uch a petitioner? which of us that heard him, would not pronounce him to be mad, to ea&s;e him of a heavier imputation? And yet our long-&s;uffering, and our patient God, (mu&s;t we &s;ay, our humble and obedient God?) endures all this: He endures more; for, when <HI>Abraham</HI> came to this expo&s;tulation, <HI>Shall not the Iudge of all the earth do right?</HI> God had &s;aid never a word, of any purpo&s;e to de&s;troy Sodom, but he &s;aid only, <HI>He would go &s;ee, whether they had done altogether, according to that cry, which was come up again&s;t them;</HI> and <HI>Abraham</HI> comes pre&s;ently to this vehemency: And might not the Supreme Or|dinary, God him&s;elfe, goe this vi&s;itation? might not the &s;upreme Judge, God him&s;elfe, go this Circuit? But as long as <HI>Abraham</HI> kept him&s;elfe upon this foundation, <HI>It is impo&s;|&s;ible, that the Iudge of all the earth &s;hould not do right,</HI> God mi&s;-interpreted nothing at <HI>A|brahams</HI> hand, but received even his Expo&s;tulations, &amp; heard him out, to the &s;ixt petition.</P>
<P>Almo&s;t &s;uch an Expo&s;tulation as this, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> u&s;es towards God; He asks God a rea|&s;on of his anger,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Iudex.</HI> Exod. 32.11.</NOTE> <HI>Lord, why doth thy wrath waxe hot again&s;t thy people?</HI> He tels him a rea&s;on, why he &s;hould not doe &s;o, <HI>For thou ha&s;t brought them forth with a great power, and with a mighty hand:</HI> And he tels him the inconveniences that might follow, <HI>The Egyptians will &s;ay, He brought them out for mi&s;chiefe, to &s;lay them in the mountaine:</HI> He imputes even per|jury to God him&s;elfe, and breach of Covenant, to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Iacob,</HI> which were Feffees in tru&s;t, betweene God and his people, and he &s;ayes, <HI>Thou &s;ware'&s;t to them, by thine owne &s;elfe, that thou would&s;t not deale thus with them;</HI> And therefore he concludes all with that vehemence, <HI>Turne from thy fierce wrath, and repent this evill purpo&s;e again&s;t them.</HI> But we finde a prayer, or expo&s;tulation, of much more exorbitant vehemence, in the &s;tories of the Roman Church, towards the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, (towards whom, they u&s;e to bee more mannerly and re&s;pective then towards her Son, or his Father) when at a &s;iege of Con&s;tantinople, they came to her &s;tatue, with this prote&s;tation, Looke you to the drow|ning of our Enemies &s;hips, or we will drowne you: <HI>Si vis ut imaginem tuam non mergamus in mari, merge illos.</HI> The farthe&s;t that <HI>Abraham</HI> goes in this place, is, That God is a <HI>Iudge,</HI> and therefore mu&s;t <HI>doe right:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 32.10.</NOTE> for, <HI>Far be wickedne&s;&s;e from God, and iniquity from the Al|mighty;
<PB N="419" REF="227">&s;urely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgement.</HI> An U&s;urer, an Extortioner, an Oppre&s;&s;or, a Libeller, a Thiefe, and Adulterer, yea a Tray|tor, makes &s;hift to finde &s;ome excu&s;e, &s;ome flattery to his Con&s;cience; they &s;ay to them|&s;elves; the Law is open, and if any be grieved, they may take their remedy, and I mu&s;t endure it, and there is an end. But, &s;ince nothing holds of this oppre&s;&s;or, and manifold malefactor, but the &s;entence of the Judge, &s;hall not the Judge doe right? how mu&s;t this nece&s;&s;arily &s;hake the frame of all? An Arbitrator or a Chancellor, that judges by &s;ub|mi&s;&s;ion of parties, or according to the Dictates of his owne under&s;tanding, may have &s;ome excu&s;e, He did as his Con&s;cience led him: But &s;hall not a <HI>Iudge,</HI> that hath a certaine Law to judge by, <HI>do right?</HI> E&s;pecially if he be &s;uch a Judge, as is <HI>Iudge of the whole earth?</HI> which is the next &s;tep in <HI>Abrahams</HI> expo&s;tulation.</P>
<P>Now, as long as there lies a Certiorari from a higher Court,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnem ter|ram.</NOTE> or an Appeale to a higher Court, the ca&s;e is not &s;o de&s;perate, if the Judge doe not right, for there is a future remedy to be hoped: If the whole State be incen&s;ed again&s;t me, yet I can finde an e&s;cape to ano|ther Country; If all the World per&s;ecute me, yet, if I be an hone&s;t man, I have a &s;u|preame Court in my &s;elfe, and I am at peace, in being acquitted in mine owne Con&s;ci|ence. But God is the Judge of all the earth; of this which I tread, and this earth which I carry about me; and when he judges me, my Con&s;cience turnes on his &s;ide, and con|fe&s;&s;es his judgement to be right. And therefore S. <HI>Pauls</HI> argument, &s;econds, and ratifies <HI>Abrahams</HI> expo&s;tulation; <HI>Is God unrighteous? God forbid;</HI> for then, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.6.</NOTE> <HI>how &s;hall God judge the World?</HI> The Pope may erre, but then a Councell may rectifie him: The King may erre; but then, God, in who&s;e hands the Kings heart is, can rectifie him. But if God, that judges all the earth, judge thee, there is no error to be a&s;&s;igned in his judge|ment, no appeale from God not throughly informed, to God better informed, for hee alwaies knowes all evidence, before it be given. And therefore the larger the juri&s;diction, and the higher the Court is, the more carefull ought the Judge to be of wrong judge|ment; for <HI>Abrahams</HI> expo&s;tulation reaches in a mea&s;ure to them, <HI>Shall not the Iudge of all</HI> (or of a great part of the earth) <HI>do right?</HI></P>
<P>Now what is the wrong, which <HI>Abraham</HI> di&s;&s;waded, and deprecated here? fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iu&s;ti cum impiis.</NOTE> <HI>Ne ju&s;ti cum impiis,</HI> That God would not de&s;troy the Ju&s;t with the unju&s;t, not make both their ca&s;es alike. This is an inju&s;tice, which never any bloody men upon earth, but tho&s;e, who exceeded all, in their infamous purpo&s;es, the Authors, and Actors in the Powder trea&s;on, did ever deliberately and advi&s;edly, upon debate whether it &s;hould be &s;o, or no, re&s;olve, that all of both Religions &s;hould peri&s;h promi&s;cuou&s;ly in the blowing up of that hou&s;e. Here the Devill would be Gods Ape; and as God had pre&s;ented to S. <HI>Peter,</HI> a &s;heete of all &s;orts of Creatures, cleane and uncleane, and bad him take his choice, kill and eate; So the Devill would make S. <HI>Peter,</HI> in his imaginary Succe&s;&s;or, or his in&s;tru|ments, pre&s;ent God a &s;acrifice of cleane and uncleane, Catholiques and Heretiques, (in their denomination) and bid him take his choyce: which action, who&s;oever forgets &s;o, as that he forgets what was intended in it, forgets his Religion, and who&s;oever forgets it &s;o, as that he forgets what they would doe againe, if they had power, forgets his rea&s;on. But this is not the way of Gods ju&s;tice; God is a God of harmony, and con&s;ent, and in a mu&s;icall in&s;trument, if &s;ome &s;trings be out of tune, wee doe not pre&s;ently breake all the &s;trings, but reduce and tune tho&s;e, which are out of tune.</P>
<P>As gold while&s;t it is in the mine, in the bowels of the earth, is good for nothing, and when it is out, and beaten to the thinne&s;&s;e of leaf-gold, it is wa&s;ted, and blown away, and quickly comes to nothing; But when it is tempered with &s;uch allay, as it may receive a &s;tamp and impre&s;&s;ion, then it is currant and u&s;efull: So while&s;t Gods Ju&s;tice lyes in the bowels of his own decree and purpo&s;e, and is not executed at all, we take no knowledge that there is any &s;uch thing; And when Gods Ju&s;tice is dilated to &s;uch an expan&s;ion, as it overflowes all alike, whole Armies with the &s;word, whole Cities with the plague, whole Countryes with famine, oftentimes we lo&s;e the con&s;ideration of Gods Ju&s;tice, and fall upon &s;ome naturall cau&s;es, becau&s;e the calamity is faln &s;o indifferently upon ju&s;t and unju&s;t, as that, we thinke, it could not be the act of God: but when Gods Ju&s;tice is &s;o allayd with his wi&s;edome, as that we &s;ee he keeps a Go&s;hen in Aegypt, and &s;aves his &s;er|vants in the de&s;truction of his enemies, then we come to a rich and profitable u&s;e of his Ju&s;tice. And therefore <HI>Abraham</HI> pre&s;&s;es this, with that vehement word, <HI>Chalilah, Ab&s;it: Abraham</HI> &s;erves a Prohibition upon God, as S. <HI>Peter</HI> would have done upon Chri&s;t,
<PB N="420" REF="228">when he was going up to Jeru&s;alem to &s;uffer, <HI>Ab&s;it,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>Thou &s;halt not do this.</HI> But the word &s;ignifies more properly <HI>prophanationem, pollutionem: Abraham</HI> intends, that God &s;hould know, that it would be a prophaning of his holy honour, and an occa&s;ion of having his Name bla&s;phemed among&s;t the Nations, if God &s;hould proceed &s;o, as to wrap up ju&s;t and unju&s;t, righteous and unrighteous, all in one condemnation, and one execution; <HI>Ab&s;it, Be this far from thee.</HI></P>
<P>But <HI>Abrahams</HI> zeale extended farther then this;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vt parcat Impiis.</NOTE> his de&s;ire and his hope was, That for the righteous &s;ake, the unrighteous might be &s;pared, and re&s;erved to a time of repentance. This therefore mini&s;ters a provocation to every man, to be as good as he can, not onely for his own &s;ake, but for others too. This made S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> &s;ay, <HI>Quantus murus patriae, vir bonus?</HI> An hone&s;t and religious man, is a wall to a whole City, a &s;ea to a whole I|land. When our Saviour Chri&s;t ob&s;erved, that they would pre&s;&s;e him with that Pro|verb, <HI>Medice, cura teip&s;um, Phy&s;itian, heal thy &s;elfe,</HI> we &s;ee there, that him&s;elfe was not his per&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 4.23.</NOTE> but his Country was him&s;elfe; for that is it that they intend by that Pro|verb, <HI>Heal thy &s;elfe,</HI> take care of them that are near thee, do that which thou doe&s;t here in Capernaum, at home; Preach the&s;e Sermons there; do the&s;e miracles there: cure thy Country, and that is curing thy &s;elfe. Live &s;o, that thy example may be a precedent to others; live &s;o, that for thy &s;ake, God may &s;pare others; and then, and not till then, thou ha&s;t done thy duty. God &s;pares &s;ometimes, <HI>ob commixtionem &s;anguinis,</HI> for kind|reds &s;ake, and for alliance; and therefore it behoves us to take care of our allyances, and planting our children in religious families. How many judgements do we e&s;cape, becau&s;e we are of the &s;eed of <HI>Abraham,</HI> and made partakers of the Covenant, which the Gentils, who are not &s;o, are overwhelmed under? God &s;pares &s;ometimes, <HI>Ob cohabita|tionem,</HI> for good neighbourhood; he will not bring the fire near a good mans hou&s;e: As here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 27.</NOTE> in our Text, he would have done in Sodome, and as he did &s;ave many, onely be|cau&s;e they were in the &s;ame Ship with S. <HI>Paul.</HI> And therefore, as in the other Religion, the Jews have &s;treets of their own, and the Stews have &s;treets of their own; &s;o let us choo&s;e to make our dwellings, and our conver&s;ation of our own, and not affect the neighbourhood, nor the commerce of them who are of evill communication. Be good then, that thou maye&s;t communicate thy goodne&s;&s;e to others; and con&s;ort with the good, that thou maye&s;t participate of their goodne&s;&s;e. <HI>Omnis &s;apiens &s;tulti e&s;t redemptio,</HI> is excellently &s;aid by <HI>Philo,</HI> A wi&s;e mad is the &s;aviour and redeemer of a foole: And, (as the &s;ame man &s;ays) though a Phy&s;itian when he is called, di&s;cerne that the patient cannot be recovered, yet he will pre&s;cribe &s;omething, <HI>Ne ob ejus negligentiam perii&s;&s;e videatur,</HI> le&s;t the world &s;hould think he dyed by his negligence; How incurable, how incorrigible &s;oever the world be, be thou a religious hone&s;t man, le&s;t &s;ome childe in thy hou&s;e, or &s;ome &s;ervant of thine be damned, which might have been &s;aved, if thou had&s;t given good example. Gods ordinary way is to &s;ave man by man; and <HI>Abraham</HI> thought it not out of Gods way, to &s;ave man for man, to &s;ave the unju&s;t for the ju&s;t, the unrighteous for the righteous &s;ake.</P>
<P>But if God do not take this way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Si nolit De|us. <HI>Eccle&s;. 9.2.</HI></NOTE> if he do wrap up the ju&s;t and the unju&s;t in the &s;ame Judgement, is God therefore unju&s;t? God forbid. <HI>All things come alike to all,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solo|mon; One event to the righteous, and to the wicked, to the cleane, and to the uncleane, to him that &s;acrificeth, and to him that &s;acrificeth not; as is the good, &s;o is the &s;inner, and he that &s;wea|reth, as he that feareth an Oath. There is one event of all,</HI> &s;ayes he; but, &s;ayes he, <HI>This is an evill,</HI> that it is &s;o: But what kinde of evill? An evill of vexation; becau&s;e the weake are &s;ometimes &s;candalized that it is &s;o, and the glory of God &s;eems for a time to be ob&s;cu|red, when it is &s;o, becau&s;e the good are not di&s;cerned from the evill. But yet God, who knowes be&s;t how to repayre his own honour, &s;uffers it, nay appoints it to be &s;o, that ju&s;t and unju&s;t are wrapped up in the &s;ame Judgement. The Corne is as much beaten in the thre&s;hing, as the &s;traw is; The ju&s;t are as much puni&s;hed here as the unju&s;t. Becau&s;e God of his infinite goodne&s;&s;e, hath elected me from the beginning, therefore mu&s;t he provide that I have another manner of birth, or another manner of death, then the Reprobate have? Mu&s;t he provide, that I be borne into the world, without originall &s;in, of a Virgin, as his Son was, or that I go out of the world, by being taken away, as <HI>Enoch</HI> was, or as <HI>Elias?</HI> And though we have that one example of &s;uch a comming into the world, and a few examples of &s;uch a going out of the world, yet we have no example (not in the Son of God him&s;elfe) of pa&s;&s;ing through this world, without taking part of the mi|&s;eries
<PB N="421" REF="228">and calamities of the world, common to ju&s;t and unju&s;t, to the righteous and un|righteous. If <HI>Abraham</HI> therefore &s;hould have intended onely temporall de&s;truction, his argument might have been defective: for <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> and <HI>Daniel,</HI> and other ju&s;t men, were carried into Captivity, as well as the unju&s;t, and yet God not unrighteous: God does it, and avowes it, and profe&s;&s;es that he will do it, and do it ju&s;tly; <HI>Occidam in te ju&s;tum &amp; inju&s;tum, I will cut off the righteous and unrighteous together.</HI> There is no man &s;o righteous,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 21.3.</NOTE> upon whom God might not ju&s;tly inflict as heavy judgements, in this world, as upon the mo&s;t unrighteous; Though he have wrapped him up in the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, for the next world, yet he may ju&s;tly wrap him up in any common cala|mity falling upon the unrighteous here. But the difference is onely in &s;pirituall de&s;tru|ction. <HI>Abraham</HI> might ju&s;tly apprehend a feare, that a &s;udden and unprepared death might endanger them for their future &s;tate; And therefore he does not pray, that they might be &s;evered from that judgement, becau&s;e, if they dyed with the unrighteous, they dyed as the unrighteous, if they pa&s;&s;ed the &s;ame way as they, out of this world, they therefore pa&s;&s;ed into the &s;ame &s;tate as they, in the next world, <HI>Abraham</HI> could not con|clude &s;o, but becau&s;e the be&s;t men do alwayes need all meanes of making them better, <HI>Abraham</HI> prayes, that God would not cut them off, by a &s;udden de&s;truction, from a con|&s;idering, and contemplating the wayes of his proceeding, and &s;o a preparing them&s;elves to a willing and to a thankfull embracing of any way, which they &s;hould &s;o di&s;cerne to be his way. The wicked are &s;uddenly de&s;troyed; and do not &s;ee what hand is upon them, till that hand bury them in hell; The godly may die as &s;uddenly, but yet he &s;ees and knows it to be the hand of God, and takes hold of that hand, and by it is carried up to heaven.</P>
<P>Now, if God be &s;till ju&s;t, though he puni&s;h the ju&s;t with the unju&s;t, in this life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sinon par|cat.</NOTE> much more may he be &s;o, though he do not &s;pare the unju&s;t for the righteous &s;ake, which is the principall drift of <HI>Abrahams</HI> expo&s;tulation, or deprecation. God can pre&s;erve &s;till, &s;o as he did in Aegypt. God hath the &s;ame Receipts, and the &s;ame Antidotes which he had, to repell the flames of burning furnaces, to binde or &s;tupifie the jawes of hungry Lyons, to blunt the edge of Swords, and overflowing. Armyes, as he had heretofore.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 8.59.18.6.</NOTE> Chri&s;t was invi&s;ible to his enemies, when he would &s;cape away; And he was impregnable to his enemies, when in his manife&s;tation of him&s;elfe, <HI>(I am he)</HI> they fell downe before him; And he was invulnerable, and immortall to his enemies, as long as he would be &s;o, for if he had not opened him&s;elfe to their violence, no man could have taken away his &s;oule; And where God &s;ees &s;uch deliverances conduce more to his honour then our &s;uffering does, he will deliver us &s;o in the times of per&s;ecution. So that God hath ano|ther way, and he had another an&s;wer for <HI>Abrahams</HI> petition; he might have &s;aid, There is no ill con&s;truction, no hard conclu&s;ion to be made, if I &s;hould take away the ju&s;t with the unju&s;t, neither is there any nece&s;&s;ity, that I &s;hould &s;pare the wicked for the righte|ous: I can de&s;troy Sodome, and yet &s;ave the righteous; I can de&s;troy the righteous, and yet make death an advantage to them; which way &s;oever I take, I can do nothing unju&s;tly.</P>
<P>But yet, though God do not binde him&s;elfe to &s;pare the wicked for the righteons yet he de&s;cends to do &s;o at <HI>Abrahams</HI> reque&s;t. The jaw-bone of an A&s;&s;e, in the hand of <HI>Sam|&s;on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tainen id fa|cit.</NOTE> was a devouring &s;word. The words of man, in the mouth of a faithfull man, of <HI>A|braham,</HI> are a Canon again&s;t God him&s;elfe, and batter down all his &s;evere and heavy pur|po&s;es for Judgements. Yet, this comes not, God knows, out of the weight or force of our words, but out of the ea&s;ine&s;&s;e of God. God puts him&s;elfe into the way of a &s;hot, he meets a weak prayer, and is graciou&s;ly plea&s;ed to be wounded by that: God &s;ets up a light, that we direct the &s;hot upon him, he enlightens us with a knowledge, how, and when, and what to pray for; yea, God charges, and di&s;charges the Canon him&s;elf upon him&s;elfe; He fils us with good and religious thoughts, and appoints and leaves the Ho|ly Gho&s;t, to di&s;charge them upon him, in prayer, for it is the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe that prayes in us. <HI>Mauz zim,</HI> whch is, <HI>The God of forces,</HI> is not the name of our God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 11.38.</NOTE> but of an Idoll; Our God is the God of peace, and of &s;weetne&s;&s;e; &s;pirituall peace, &s;pirituall honey to our &s;ouls; His name is <HI>Deus optimus maximus;</HI> He is both; He is All Great|ne&s;&s;e, but he is All Goodne&s;&s;e fir&s;t: He comes to &s;hew his Greatne&s;&s;e at la&s;t, but yet his Goodne&s;&s;e begins his Name, and can never be worne out in his Nature. He made the whole world in &s;ix dayes, but he was &s;eaven in de&s;troying one City, Jericho. God
<PB N="422" REF="229">threatens <HI>Adam, If thou eate that fruit, in that day, Morte morieris, Thou &s;halt dye the death;</HI> Here is a double Death interminated in one Day: Now, one of the&s;e Deaths is &s;pirituall Death, and <HI>Adam</HI> never dyed that Death; And for the other Death, the bo|dily Death, which might have been executed that day, <HI>Adam</HI> was reprieved above nine hundred yeares. To lead all to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, Gods de&s;cending to <HI>Abrahams</HI> petition, to &s;pare the wicked for a few ju&s;t, is fir&s;t and principally to advance his mercy, That &s;ometimes in abundant mercy, he does &s;o; but it is al&s;o to declare, that there is none ju&s;t and righteous.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 5.1.</NOTE> <HI>Run to and fro through the &s;treets of Ieru&s;alem,</HI> (&s;ayes God in the Prophet) <HI>and &s;eeke in the broad places, If yee can finde a man, if there be any that executeth Iudgement, that &s;eeketh Truth, and I will pardon it.</HI> Where God does not intimate, that he were unju&s;t, if he did not &s;pare tho&s;e that were unju&s;t, but he declares the generall flood and inundation of unrighteou&s;ne&s;&s;e upon Earth, That upon Earth there is not a righteous man to be found. If God had gone no farther in his promi&s;e to man, then that, if there were one righteous man, he would &s;ave all, this, in effect, had been nothing, for there was never any man righteous, in that &s;en&s;e and acceptation; He promi&s;ed and &s;ent one who was ab&s;olutely righteous, and for his &s;ake hath &s;aved us.</P>
<P>To collect all,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;io.</NOTE> and bind up all in one bundle, and bring it home to your own bo&s;omes, remember, That though he appeared in men, it was God that appeared to <HI>Abraham;</HI> Though men preach, though men remit &s;ins, though men ab&s;olve, God him&s;elf &s;peakes, and God works, and God &s;eales in tho&s;e men. Remember that nothing appeared to <HI>Abrahams</HI> apprehen&s;ion but men, yet Angels were in his pre&s;ence; Though we binde you not to a nece&s;&s;ity of beleeving that every man hath a particular Angel to a&s;&s;i&s;t him, (enjoy your Chri&s;tian liberty in that, and think in that point &s;o as you &s;hall find your de|votion mo&s;t exalted, by thinking that it is, or is not &s;o) yet know, that you do all that you doe, in the pre&s;ence of Gods Angels; And though it be in it &s;elfe, and &s;hould be &s;o to us, a &s;tronger bridle, to con&s;ider that we doe all in the pre&s;ence of God; (who &s;ees clearer then they, for he &s;ees &s;ecret thoughts, and can &s;trike immediately, which they cannot do, without commi&s;&s;ion from him) yet &s;ince the pre&s;ence of a Magi&s;trate, or a Preacher, or a father, or a husband, keeps men often from ill actions, let this prevaile &s;omething with thee, to that purpo&s;e, That the Angels of God are alwayes pre&s;ent, though thou di&s;cerne them not. Remember, that though Chri&s;t him&s;elf were not among&s;t the three Angels, yet <HI>Abraham</HI> apprehended a greater dignity, and gave a greater re&s;pect to one then to the re&s;t; but yet without neglecting the re&s;t too: Apply thy &s;elfe to &s;uch Mini&s;ters of God, and &s;uch Phy&s;itians of thy &s;oule, as thine owne con&s;cience tels thee doe mo&s;t good up|on thee; but yet let no particular affection to one, defraud another in his duties, nor em|paire another in his e&s;timation. And remember too, That though Gods appearing thus in three per&s;ons, be no irrefragable argument to prove the Trinity again&s;t the Jews, yet it is a convenient illu&s;tration of the Trinity to thee that art a Chri&s;tian: And therefore be not too curious in &s;earching rea&s;ons, and demon&s;trations of the Trinity, but yet accu|&s;tome thy &s;elfe to meditations upon the Trinity, in all occa&s;ions, and finde impre&s;&s;ions of the Trinity, in the three faculties of thine owne &s;oule, Thy Rea&s;on, thy Will, and thy Memory; and &s;eeke a reparation of that thy Trinity, by a new Trinity, by faith in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, by hope of him, and by a charitable delivering him to others, in a holy and exemplar life.</P>
<P>De&s;cend thou into thy &s;elfe, as <HI>Abraham</HI> a&s;cended to God, and admit thine owne ex|po&s;tulations, as God did his. Let thine own con&s;cience tell thee not onely thy open and evident rebellions again&s;t God, but even the immoralities, and incivilities that thou do&s;t towards men, in &s;candalizing them, by thy &s;ins; And the ab&s;urdities that thou commit|te&s;t again&s;t thy &s;elfe, in &s;inning again&s;t thine owne rea&s;on; And the uncleanne&s;&s;es, and con&s;equently the treachery that thou committe&s;t again&s;t thine owne body; and thou &s;halt &s;ee, that thou had&s;t been not onely in better peace, but in better &s;tate, and better health, and in better reputation, a better friend, and better company, if thou had&s;t finned le&s;&s;e; becau&s;e &s;ome of thy &s;ins have been &s;uch as have violated the band of friend&s;hip; and &s;ome &s;uch as have made thy company and conver&s;ation dangerous, either for tenta|tion, or at lea&s;t for defamation. Tell thy &s;elfe that thou art the Judge, as <HI>Abraham</HI> told God that he was, and that if thou wilt judge thy &s;elfe, thou &s;halt &s;cape a &s;everer judge|ment. He told God that he was Judge of all the earth; Judge all that earth that thou art, Judge both thy kingdomes, thy &s;oule and thy body; Judge all the Provinces of both
<PB N="423" REF="229">kingdomes, all the &s;en&s;es of thy body, and all the faculties of thy &s;oule, and thou &s;halt leave nothing for the la&s;t Judgement. Mingle not the ju&s;t and the unju&s;t together; God did not &s;o; Doe not thinke good and bad all one; Doe not think alike of thy &s;ins, and of thy good deeds, as though when Gods grace had quickned them, &s;till thy good works were nothing, thy prayers nothing, thine almes nothing in the &s;ight and acceptation of God: But yet &s;pare not the wicked for the ju&s;t, continue not in thy beloved &s;in, becau&s;e thou make&s;t God amends &s;ome other way. And when all is done, as in God towards <HI>Abraham,</HI> his mercy was above all, &s;o after all, <HI>Mi&s;erere animae tuae,</HI> Be inercifull to thine owne &s;oule; And when the effectuall Spirit of God hath &s;poken peace and comfort, and &s;ealed a reconciliation to God, to thy &s;oule, re&s;t in that ble&s;&s;ed peace, and enter into no &s;uch new judgement with thy &s;elfe againe, as &s;hould overcome thine own Mercy, with new di&s;tractions, or new &s;u&s;pitions that thy Repentance was not accepted, or God not fully reconciled unto thee. God, becau&s;e he judges all the earth, cannot doe wrong; If thou judge thy earth and earthly affections &s;o, as that thou examine clearly, and judge truly, thou do&s;t not doe right, if thou extend not Mercy to thy &s;elfe, if thou receive not, and apply not cheerfully and confidently to thy &s;oul, that pardon and remi&s;&s;ion of all thy &s;ins, which the holy Gho&s;t, in that ble&s;&s;ed &s;tate, hath given thee commi&s;&s;ion to pro|nounce to thine owne &s;oul, and to &s;eale with his &s;eale.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="43" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLIII.</HI> Preached at S. Dun&s;tans upon Trinity-Sunday. <HI>1624.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 3.17.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And lo, A voyce came from heaven, &s;aying, This is my beloved Sonne, in whom I am well plea&s;ed.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IT hath been the cu&s;tome of the Chri&s;tian Church to appropriate certaine Scriptures to certaine Dayes, for the celebrating of certaine My&s;teries of God, or the commemorating of certaine benefits from God: They who con&s;ider the age of the Chri&s;tian Church, too high or too low, too &s;oone or too late, either in the cradle, as it is exhibited in the Acts of the Apo&s;tles, or bed-rid in the corruptions of Rome, either before it was come to any growth, when Per&s;ecutions nipped it, or when it was &s;o over-growne, as that pro&s;perity and outward &s;plendor &s;welled it, They that con&s;ider the Church &s;o, will never finde a good mea&s;ure to direct our religious wor&s;hip of God by, for the outward Liturgies, and Ceremonies of the Church. But as &s;oon as the Chri&s;tian Church had a con&s;tant e&s;tabli&s;hment under Chri&s;tian Emperours, and before the Church had her tympany of worldly pro&s;perity under u&s;urping Bi&s;hops, in this outward &s;ervice of God, there were particular Scriptures appropriated to particular dayes. Particular men have not liked this that it &s;hould be &s;o: And yet that Church which they u&s;e to take for their patterne, (I meane Geneva) as &s;oone as it came to have any convenient e&s;tabli&s;hment by the labours of that Reverend man, who did &s;o much in the rectifying thereof, admitted this cu&s;tome of celebrating certaine times, by the reading of certaine Scriptures. So that in the pure times of the Church, without any que&s;tion, and in the corrupter times of the Church, without any infection, and in the Reformed times of the Church, without any &s;u&s;pition of back-&s;li|ding, this cu&s;tome hath beene retained, which our Church hath retained; and according to which cu&s;tome, the&s;e words have been appropriated to this day, for the celebrating thereof, <HI>And lo, A voice came, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In which words we have pregnant and ju&s;t occa&s;ion to con&s;ider, fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> the nece&s;&s;ity of the Doctrine of the Trinity; Secondly, the way and meanes by which we are to receive our knowledge and under&s;tannding of this my&s;tery; And thirdly, the mea&s;ure of this
<PB N="424" REF="230">knowledge, How much we are to know, or to inquire, in that un&s;earchable my&s;tery: The <HI>Quid,</HI> what it is; the <HI>Quomodo,</HI> How we are to learne it; and the <HI>Quantum,</HI> How farre we are to &s;earch into it, will be our three Parts. We con&s;ider the fir&s;t of the&s;e, the nece&s;&s;ity of that knowledge to a Chri&s;tian, by occa&s;ion of the fir&s;t Particle, in the Text, <HI>And;</HI> A Particle of Connexion, and Dependance; and we &s;ee by this Connexion, and Dependance, that this revealing, this manife&s;tation of the Trinity, in the text, was made pre&s;ently after the Bapti&s;me of Chri&s;t; and that intimates, and inferres, That the fir&s;t, and principall duty of him, who hath ingrafted him&s;elf into the body of the Chri|&s;tian Church, by Bapti&s;me, is to informe him&s;elfe of the Trinity, in who&s;e name he is Baptized. Secondly, in the meanes, by which this knowledge of the Trinity is to be de|rived to us, in tho&s;e words, <HI>(Lo, a voyce came from heaven, &s;aying)</HI> we note the fir&s;t word, to be a word of Correction, and of Direction; <HI>Ecce, Behold,</HI> leave your blindne&s;&s;e, look up, &s;hake off your &s;tupidity, look one way or other; A Chri&s;tian mu&s;t not goe on implicite|ly, incon&s;iderately, indifferently, he mu&s;t look up, he mu&s;t intend a calling: And then, <HI>Ecce</HI> againe, <HI>Behold,</HI> that is, Behold the true way; A Chri&s;tian mu&s;t not thinke he hath done enough, if he have been &s;tudious, and diligent in finding the my&s;teries of Religion, if he have not &s;ought them the right way: Fir&s;t, there is an <HI>Ecce corrigentis,</HI> we are chid|den, if we be lazy; And then, there is an <HI>Ecce dirigentis,</HI> we are guided if we be doubt|full. And from this, we fall into the way it &s;elfe; which is, fir&s;t, <HI>A voyce,</HI> There mu&s;t be &s;omething heard; for, take the large&s;t Spheare, and compa&s;&s;e of all other kinds of proofes, for the my&s;teries of Religion, which can be propo&s;ed, Take it fir&s;t, at the fir&s;t, and weake&s;t kinde of proofe, at the book of creatures, (which is but a faint knowledge of God, in re&s;pect of that knowledge, with which we mu&s;t know him) And then, conti|nue this fir&s;t way of knowledge, to the la&s;t, and powerfulle&s;t proofe of all, which is the power of miracles, not this weake beginning, not this powerfull end, not this <HI>Alpha</HI> of Creatures, not this <HI>Omega</HI> of miracles, can imprint in us that knowledge, which is our &s;a|ving knowledge, nor any other meanes then a voyce; for this knowing is beleeving, And, <HI>how &s;hould they beleeve, except they heare?</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle. It mu&s;t be <HI>Vox, A voyce,</HI> And <HI>Vox de coelis, A voyce from heaven:</HI> For, we have have had <HI>voces de terra,</HI> voyces of men, who have indeed but dimini&s;hed the dignity of the Doctrine of the Tri|nity, by going about to prove it by humane rea&s;on, or to illu&s;trate it by weak and low compari&s;ons; And we have had <HI>voces de Inferis,</HI> voyces from the Devill him&s;elfe, in the mouthes of many Heretiques, bla&s;phemou&s;ly impugning this Doctrine; Wee have had <HI>voces de profundis,</HI> voyces fetched from the depth of the malice of the Devill, Here|tiques; And <HI>voces de medio,</HI> voyces taken from the ordinary &s;trength of Morall men, Philo&s;ophers; But this is <HI>vox de Excel&s;is,</HI> onely that voyce that comes from Heaven, belongs to us in this my&s;tery: And then la&s;tly, it is <HI>vox dicens, a voyce &s;aying,</HI> &s;peaking, which is proper to man, for nothing &s;peaks but man; It is Gods voyce, but pre&s;ented to us in the mini&s;tery of man; And this is our way; To behold, that is, to depart from our own blindne&s;&s;e, and to behold a way, that is &s;hewed us; but &s;hewed us in the word, and in the word of God, and in that word of God, preached by man. And after all this, we &s;hall con&s;ider the mea&s;ure of this knowledge, in tho&s;e la&s;t words, <HI>This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well plea&s;ed;</HI> For, in that word, <HI>Meus, My,</HI> there is the Per&s;on of the Father; In the <HI>Filius,</HI> there is the Per&s;on of the Son; and in the <HI>Hic e&s;t, This is,</HI> there is the Per&s;on of the Holy Gho&s;t, for that is the action of the Holy Gho&s;t, in that word, He is pointed at, who was newly baptized, and upon whom the Holy Gho&s;t, in the Dove, was de&s;cended, and had tarried. But we &s;hall take tho&s;e words in their order, when we come to them.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> we noted the nece&s;&s;ity of knowing the Trinity, to be pregnantly intimated in the fir&s;t word, <HI>Et, And:</HI> This connects it to the former part of the hi&s;tory, which is Chri&s;ts Bapti&s;me, and pre&s;ently upon that Bapti&s;me, this manife&s;tation of the holy Trinity. Con&s;ider a man, as a Chri&s;tian, his fir&s;t Element is Bapti&s;me, and his next is Catechi&s;me; and in his Catechi&s;me, the fir&s;t is, to beleeve a Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t. There are in this man, this Chri&s;tian, <HI>Tres nativitates,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> three births; one, <HI>Per generationem,</HI> &s;o we are borne of our naturall mother; one <HI>Per regenera|tionem,</HI> &s;o we are borne of our &s;pirituall Mother, the Church, by Bapti&s;me; and a third, <HI>Per Re&s;urrectionem,</HI> and &s;o we are borne of the generall Mother of us all, when the earth &s;hall be delivered, not of twins, but of millions, when &s;he &s;hall empty her &s;elfe of all her
<PB N="425" REF="230">children, in the Re&s;urrection. And the&s;e three Nativities our Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us had; Of which three, <HI>Hodie alter &s;alvator is natalis,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> This day is the day of Chri&s;ts &s;econd birth, that is, of his Bapti&s;me. Not that Chri&s;t needed any Regenerati|on; but that it was his abundant goodne&s;&s;e, to &s;anctifie in his per&s;on, and in his exem|plar action, that Element, which &s;hould be an in&s;trument of our Regeneration in Bap|ti&s;me, the water, for ever. Even in Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, <HI>Honoratior &s;ecunda,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, The &s;econd birth, which he had at his Bapti&s;me, was the more honourable birth; for, <HI>Ab illa &s;e, Pater qui putabatur, Io&s;eph excu&s;at,</HI> At his fir&s;t birth, <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> his reputed Father, did not avow him for his Son; <HI>In hac &s;e, Pater qui non putabatur, in&s;inuat,</HI> At this his &s;e|cond birth, God, who was not known to be his Father before, declares that now: <HI>Ibi labor at &s;u&s;picionibus Mater, quia profe&s;sioni deerat Pater,</HI> There the Mothers honour was in que&s;tion, becau&s;e <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> could not profe&s;&s;e him&s;elfe the Father of the childe; <HI>Hic ho|noratur genetrix, quia filium Divinitas prote&s;tatur,</HI> Here her honour is repaired, and mag|nified, becau&s;e the God-head it &s;elfe, proclaimes it &s;elfe to be the Father.</P>
<P>If then, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe cho&s;e to admit an addition of dignity at his Bapti&s;me, who had an eternall generation in heaven, and an innocent conception without &s;in, upon earth, let not us undervalue that dignity, which is afforded us by Bapti&s;me, though our children be borne within the Covenant, by being borne of Chri&s;tian Parents; for the Covenant gives them <HI>Ius ad rem,</HI> a right to Bapti&s;me; children of Chri&s;tian Parents may claime Bapti&s;me, which aliens to Chri&s;t cannot doe; but yet they may not leave out Bapti&s;me: A man may be within a generall pardon, and yet have no benefit by it, if he &s;ue it not out, if he plead it not; a childe may have right to Bapti&s;me, and yet be with|out the benefit of it, if it be neglected.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t began at Bapti&s;me; Naturall things he did before; He fled into Aegypt, to pre&s;erve his life from <HI>Herods</HI> Per&s;ecution, before: And a miraculous thing he did before; He overcame in di&s;putation, the Doctors in the Temple, at twelve yeares old; but yet, neither of the&s;e neither, before his Circumci&s;ion, which was equivalent to Bapti&s;me, to this purpo&s;e; but before he accepted, or in&s;tituted Bapti&s;me, he did &s;ome naturall, and &s;ome miraculous things. But his ordinary work which he came for, his preaching the Go&s;pel, and thereby rai&s;ing the frame for our &s;alvation, in his Church, he began not, but after his Bapti&s;me: And then, after that, it is expre&s;ly and immediatly recorded, That when he came out of the waters, <HI>he prayed;</HI> and then, the next thing in the hi&s;tory is, that he <HI>fa&s;ted,</HI> and upon that, <HI>his tentation in the wilderne&s;&s;e.</HI> I meane no more in this, but this, That no man hath any intere&s;t in God, to direct a prayer unto him, how de|voutly &s;oever, no man hath any a&s;&s;urance of any effect of his endeavours in a good life, how morally holy &s;oever, but in relation to his Bapti&s;me, in that &s;eale of the Covenant, by which he is a Chri&s;tian: Chri&s;t took this Sacrament, his Bapti&s;me, before he did any other thing; and he took this, three yeares before the in&s;titution of the other Sacra|ment of his body and blood: So that the Anabapti&s;ts obtrude a fal&s;e nece&s;&s;ity upon us, that we may not take the fir&s;t Sacrament, Bapti&s;me, till we be capable of the other Sa|crament too; for, fir&s;t in nature, <HI>Pri&ugrave;s na&s;cimur, qu&agrave;m pa&s;cimur,</HI> we are borne before we are fed; and &s;o, in Religion, we are fir&s;t borne into the Church, (which is done by Bap|ti&s;me) before we are ready for that other food, which is not indeed milk for babes, but &s;olid meat for &s;tronger dige&s;tions.</P>
<P>They that have told us, that the Bapti&s;me, that Chri&s;t took of <HI>Iohn,</HI> was not the &s;ame Bapti&s;me, which we Chri&s;tians take in the Church, &s;peak impertinently;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 1.6.</NOTE> for <HI>Iohn</HI> was &s;ent by God to baptize; and there is but one Bapti&s;me in him. It is true, that S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> calls <HI>Iohns</HI> Bapti&s;me, <HI>Praecur&s;orium mini&s;terium,</HI> as he was a fore-runner of Chri&s;t, his Bapti&s;me was a fore-running Bapti&s;me; It is true, that <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr</HI> calls <HI>Iohns</HI> Bapti&s;me, <HI>Euangelicae gratiae praeludium,</HI> A Prologue to the grace of the Go&s;pel; It is true, that more of the Fathers have more phra&s;es of expre&s;&s;ing a difference between the Bapti&s;me of <HI>Iohn,</HI> and the Bapti&s;me of Chri&s;t: But all this is not <HI>De e&s;&s;entia,</HI> but <HI>De modo,</HI> Not of the &s;ub&s;tance of the Sacrament, which is the wa&s;hing of our &s;oules in the blood of Chri&s;t, but the difference was in the relation; <HI>Iohn</HI> baptized <HI>In Chri&s;tum moritu|turum,</HI> Into Chri&s;t, who was to dye, and we are baptized <HI>In Chri&s;tum mortuum,</HI> Into Chri&s;t who is already dead for us. <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> expre&s;&s;es it fully, <HI>Chri&s;tus baptizatur &s;uo Bapti&s;mo:</HI> Chri&s;t was baptized with his own Bapti&s;me; It was <HI>Iohns</HI> Bapti&s;me, and yet it was Chri&s;ts too. And &s;o we are baptized with his Bapti&s;me, and there neither is, nor
<PB N="426" REF="231">was any other; And that Bapti&s;me is to us, <HI>Ianua Eccle&s;iae,</HI> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> cals it, The Doore of the Church, at that we enter, And <HI>Inve&s;titura Chri&s;tiani&s;mi,</HI> The inve&s;ting of Chri&s;tianity, as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> cals it, There we put on Chri&s;t Je&s;us; And, (as he, whom wee may be bold to match with the&s;e two floods of &s;pirituall eloquence, for his Eloquence, that is <HI>Luther</HI> expre&s;&s;es it) <HI>Puerpera regni Coelorum,</HI> The Church in Bapti&s;me, is as a Wo|man delivered of child, and her child is the Kingdome of Heaven, and that kingdome &s;he delivers into his armes who is truly Baptized. This Sacrament makes us Chri&s;tians; this denominates us, both Civilly, and Spiritually; there we receive our particular names, which di&s;tingui&s;h us from one another, and there we receive that name, which &s;hall di|&s;tingui&s;h us from the Nations, in the next World; at Bapti&s;me wee receive the name of Chri&s;tians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 11.26.</NOTE> and there we receive our Chri&s;tian names.</P>
<P>When the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t, in generall, came to be called <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> wee finde. It was a name given upon great deliberation, <HI>Barnabas</HI> had Preached there; who was a good Man, and full of the Holy Gho&s;t, and of faith, him&s;elfe. But he went to fetch <HI>Paul</HI> too, a Man of great gifts, and power in Preaching; and both they continued a yeare Prea|ching in <HI>Antioch,</HI> and there, fir&s;t of all, <HI>the Di&s;ciples were called Chri&s;tians:</HI> Before they were called <HI>Fideles,</HI> and <HI>Fratres,</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cipuli;</HI> The Faithfull, and the Brethren, and the Di&s;ciples, and (as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes) <HI>De via,</HI> Men that were in the way; for, all the World be&s;ides, were be&s;ide him, who was <HI>The Way, the Truth, and the Life.</HI> But, (by the way) we may wonder, what gave S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> occa&s;ion of that opinion or that con|jecture, &s;ince in the Eccle&s;ia&s;tique Story (I thinke) there is no mention of that name, at|tributed to the Chri&s;tians: And in the Acts of the Apo&s;tles, it is named but once; when <HI>Saul</HI> de&s;ired Letters to Dama&s;cus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.2.</NOTE> to puni&s;h them, whom he found to be of <HI>That way.</HI> Where we may note al&s;o, the zeale of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> (though then, in a wrong cau&s;e) again&s;t them, who were of <HI>That way,</HI> that is, That way inclined; And our &s;tupidity, who &s;tartle not at tho&s;e men, who are not onely inclined another way, a cro&s;&s;e way, but labour pe|&s;tilently to incline others, and hope confidently to &s;ee all incline that way againe. Here then at Antioch, they began to be called Chri&s;tians; not onely out of Cu&s;tome, but, as it may &s;eeme, out of decree. For, if there belong any credit to that Councell, which the Apo&s;tles are &s;aid to have held at Antioch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">nus in Act 11.20.</NOTE> (of which Councell there was a Copy, whe|ther true or fal&s;e, in <HI>Origens</HI> Library, within two hundred yeares after Chri&s;t) one Canon in that Councell is, <HI>Vt credentes in Ie&s;um, quos tunc vocabant Galilaeos, vocarentur Chri&s;ti|ani,</HI> That the followers of Chri&s;t, who, till then, were called Galileans, &s;hould then be called Chri&s;tians. There, in generall, we were all called Chri&s;tians; but, in particular, I am called a Chri&s;tian, becau&s;e I have put on Chri&s;t, in Bapti&s;me.</P>
<P>Now, in con&s;idering the infinite trea&s;ure which we receive in Bapti&s;me, in&s;inuated be|fore the text, <HI>That the Heavens opened,</HI> that is, The my&s;teries of Religion are made acce&s;|&s;ible to us, we may attaine to them; And then, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t de&s;cends,</HI> (And he is a Com|forter, while&s;t we are in Ignorance, and he is a Schoolema&s;ter to teach us all truths) And he comes as a <HI>Dove,</HI> that is, Brings peace of con&s;cience with him, and he re&s;ts upon us as a <HI>Dove,</HI> that is, Requires &s;implicity, and an humble di&s;po&s;ition in us, That not onely as <HI>Elias</HI> opened and &s;hut Heaven, <HI>Vt pluviam aut emitteret, aut teneret,</HI> That he might poure out or withhold the raine; but (as that Father, S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> pur&s;ues it) <HI>Ita apertum, ut ip&s;e con&s;cendas, &amp; alios, &s;i velles, tecum levares,</HI> Heaven is &s;o opened to us in bapti&s;me, as that we our &s;elves may enter into it, and by our good life, lead others into it too; As we con&s;ider, I &s;ay, what we have received in Bapti&s;me, &s;o, if we be not onely <HI>Dealbati Chri&s;tiani,</HI> (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaks) White-lim'd Chri&s;tians, Chri&s;tians on the out-&s;ide, we mu&s;t con&s;ider what we are to doe upon all this. We are baptized, <HI>In plena &amp; adulta Trinitate,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> not in a Father without a Son, nor in either, or both, without a Holy Gho&s;t, but in the fulne&s;&s;e of the Trinity: And this my&s;tery of the Trinity, is <HI>Re|gula fidei,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> It is the Rule of our faith, this onely regulates our faith, That we beleeve aright of the Trinity; It is <HI>Dogma no&s;trae Religionis,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> As though there were but this one Article; It is, &s;ayes he, the foundation, the &s;umme, it is all the Chri&s;tian Religion, to beleeve aright of the Trinity. By this wee are di&s;tingui&s;hed from the Jews, who accept no plurality of Per&s;ons; And by this we are di&s;tingui&s;hed from the Gentiles, who make as many &s;everall per&s;ons, as there are &s;everall powers, and attributes belonging to God. Our Religion, our holy Philo&s;ophy, our learning, as it is rooted in Chri&s;t, &s;o it is not limited, not determined in Chri&s;t alone; wee are not baptized in his
<PB N="427" REF="231">name alone, but our &s;tudy mu&s;t be the whole Trinity; for, he that beleeves not in the Holy Gho&s;t, as well as in Chri&s;t, is no Chri&s;tian: And, as that is true which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Nec laborio&s;ius aliquid quaeritur, nec periculo&s;ius alicubi erratur,</HI> As there is not &s;o &s;teepy a place to clamber up, nor &s;o &s;lippery a place to fall upon, as the doctrine of the Trinity; &s;o is that al&s;o true which he addes, <HI>Nec fructuo&s;ius invenitur,</HI> There is not &s;o ful|filling, &s;o accompli&s;hing, &s;o abundant an Article as that of the Trinity, for it is all Chri|&s;tianity. And therefore let us keepe our &s;elves to that way, of the manife&s;tation of the Trinity, which is revealed in this text; and that way is our &s;econd part.</P>
<P>We mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily pa&s;&s;e fa&s;ter through the branches of this part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> then the Dignity of the &s;ubject, or the fecundity of the words will well admit; but the clearene&s;&s;e of the order mu&s;t recompence the &s;peed and di&s;patch. Fir&s;t then, in this way here is an <HI>Ecce,</HI> An awaking, an Alarum, a calling us up, <HI>Ecce, Behold.</HI> Fir&s;t, an <HI>Ecce correctionis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecce Corre|ctionis.</NOTE> A voyce of chiding, of rebuking. If thou lye &s;till in thy fir&s;t bed, as thou art meerely a Creature, and thinke&s;t with thy &s;elfe, that &s;ince the Lilly labours not, nor &s;pins, and yet is gloriou&s;ly cloathed, &s;ince the Fowles of the Heavens &s;ow not, nor reape, and yet are plentifully fed, thou maye&s;t do &s;o, and thou &s;halt bee &s;o; <HI>Ecce animam,</HI> Behold thou ha&s;t an immortall &s;oule, which mu&s;t have &s;pirituall food, the Bread of life, and a more durable garment, the garment of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and cannot be empri&s;oned and captivated to the com|pari&s;on of a Lilly that &s;pins not, or of a Bird that &s;owes not. If thou thinke thy &s;oule &s;uf|ficiently fed, and &s;ufficiently cloathed at fir&s;t, in thy bapti&s;me, That that Manna, and tho&s;e cloathes &s;hall la&s;t thee all thy pilgrimage, all thy life, That &s;ince thou art once Baptized, thou art well enough, <HI>Ecce fermentum,</HI> take heed of that <HI>leaven of the Phari&s;ees,</HI> Take heed of them that put their confidence in the very act and character of the Sacra|ment, and tru&s;t to that: for there is a Confirmation belongs to every mans Bapti&s;me; not any &s;uch Confirmation as &s;hould intimate an impotency, or in&s;ufficiency in the Sacra|ment, but out of an obligation, that that Sacrament layes upon thee, That thou art bound to live according to that &s;tipulation and contract, made in thy behalfe, at thy receiving of that Sacrament, there belongs a Confirmation to that Sacrament, a holy life, to make &s;ure that &s;alvation, &s;ealed to thee at fir&s;t. So al&s;o, if thou thinke thy &s;elfe &s;afe, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t left that leaven, that is, Traditions of men, and live&s;t in a Reformed, and Or|thodox Church, yet, <HI>Ecce Paradi&s;um,</HI> Behold Paradi&s;e it &s;elfe, even in Paradi&s;e, the bed of all ea&s;e, yet there was labour required; &s;o is there required diligence, and a laborious holine&s;&s;e, in the right Church, and in the true Religion. If thou thinke thou knowe&s;t all, becau&s;e thou under&s;tande&s;t all the Articles of faith already, and all the duties of a Chri|&s;tian life already, yet <HI>Ecce &s;calam,</HI> Behold the life of a Chri&s;tian is a <HI>Iacobs</HI> Ladder, and till we come up to God, &s;till there are more &s;teps to be made, more way to bee gone. Briefly, to the mo&s;t learned, to him that knowes mo&s;t, To the mo&s;t &s;anctified, to him that lives be&s;t, here is an <HI>Ecce correctionis,</HI> there is a farther degree of knowledge, a farther degree of goodne&s;&s;e, propo&s;ed to him, then he is yet attained unto.</P>
<P>So it is an <HI>Ecce correctionis,</HI> an <HI>Ecce in&s;tar &s;timuli,</HI> God by calling us up to Behold, re|bukes us becau&s;e wee did not &s;o, and provokes us to doe &s;o now: It is al&s;o an <HI>Ecce di|rectionis,</HI> an <HI>Ecce in&s;tar lucernae,</HI> God by calling us up to Behold, gives us a light where|by wee may doe &s;o, and may di&s;cerne our way: whom&s;oever God cals, to him hee af|fords &s;o much light, as that, if he proceed not by that light, hee him&s;elfe hath wink|ed at that light, or blow out that light, or &s;uffered that light to wa&s;t, and goe out, by his long negligence. God does not call man with an <HI>Ecce,</HI> To behold him, and then hide him&s;elfe from him; he does not bid him looke, and then &s;trike him blinde. We are all borne blinde at fir&s;t; In Bapti&s;me God gives us that <HI>Collyrium,</HI> that eye-&s;alve, by which we may &s;ee, and actually by the power of that medicine, we do all &s;ee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> more then the Gentiles do. But yet, <HI>Ecce trabs in oculis,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> Behold there is <HI>a beame</HI> in our <HI>eye,</HI> that is, Naturall infirmities. But for all this beame, when Chri&s;t bids us behold, we are able to &s;ee, by Chri&s;ts light, our owne imperfections; though we have that beame, yet we are able to &s;ee that we have it. And when this light which Chri&s;t gives us, (which is his fir&s;t grace) brings us to that, then Chri&s;t proceeds &s;o that which followes there, <HI>Projice trabem, Ca&s;t out the beame that is in thine eye,</HI> and &s;o we become able by that &s;uc|ceeding grace, to overcome our former impediments: If Chri&s;t bid us behold, he gives us light; if he bid us ca&s;t out the beame, he gives us &s;trength. There is an <HI>Ecce neutus,</HI> ca&s;t upon <HI>Zachary, Behold thou &s;halt be dumbe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.20.</NOTE> God puni&s;hed <HI>Zacharies</HI> incredulity with
<PB N="428" REF="232">dumbne&s;&s;e; But there is never an <HI>Ecce caecus,</HI> Behold thou &s;halt be blinde, That God &s;hould call man to &s;ee, and then blow out the candle, or not &s;hew him a candle, if he were in utter darkne&s;&s;e; for this is an <HI>Ecce directionis,</HI> an <HI>Ecce lucernae,</HI> God cals, and he directs, and lightens our paths; never reproach God &s;o impiou&s;ly as to &s;u&s;pect, that when he cals, he does not meane that we &s;hould come.</P>
<P>Well then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vox.</NOTE> with what doth he enlighten thee? Why, <HI>Ecce vox, Behold a voyce, &s;ay|ing.</HI> Now, for this <HI>voyce</HI> in the Text, by whom it was heard, as al&s;o by whom the <HI>Dove</HI> that de&s;cended was &s;een, is &s;ometimes di&s;puted, and with &s;ome perplexity among&s;t the Fathers. Some thinke it was to Chri&s;t alone, becau&s;e two of the Euangeli&s;ts, <HI>Mark</HI> and <HI>Luke,</HI> record the words in that phra&s;e, <HI>Tu es filius,</HI> not as we reade it in our Text, <HI>This is,</HI> but, <HI>Thou art my beloved Sonne:</HI> But &s;o, there had been no u&s;e, neither of the <HI>Dove,</HI> nor of the <HI>voyce;</HI> for Chri&s;t him&s;elfe lacked no te&s;timony, that he was that Sonne. Some thinke it was to Chri&s;t, and <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> and not to the company; Becau&s;e, &s;ay they, The my&s;terie of the Trinity was not to be pre&s;ented to them, till a farther and maturer preparation; And therefore they ob&s;erve, that the next manife&s;tation of Chri&s;t, and &s;o of the Trinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.</NOTE> by a like voyce, was almo&s;t three years after this, in his Transfiguration, af|ter he had manife&s;ted this doctrine by a long preaching among&s;t them; And yet, even then, it was but to his Apo&s;tles, and but to a few of them neither, and tho&s;e few forbid|den to publi&s;h too; and how long? Till his re&s;urrection; when by that re&s;urrection he had confirmed them, then it was time to acquaint them with the Doctrine of the Trini|ty. But for the Doctrine of the Trinity, as my&s;terious as it is, it is in&s;inuated and con|veyed unto us, even in the fir&s;t ver&s;e of the Bible, in that extraordinary phra&s;e, <HI>Creavit Dii, Gods,</HI> Gods in the plurall, <HI>created heaven and earth;</HI> There is an unity in the action, it is but <HI>Creavit,</HI> in the &s;ingular, and yet there is a plurality in the per&s;ons, it is not <HI>Deus, God,</HI> but <HI>Dij, Gods:</HI> The Doctrine of the Trinity, is the fir&s;t foundation of our Religion, and no time is too early for our faith, The &s;imple&s;t may beleeve it; and all time is too early for our rea&s;on, The wi&s;e&s;t cannot under&s;tand it. And therefore, as <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> is well followed in his opinion, &s;o he is well worthy to be followed, That both the <HI>Dove</HI> was &s;een, and the <HI>voyce</HI> was heard by all the company: for, neither was nece&s;&s;ary to Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; And the voyce was not nece&s;&s;ary to <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> becau&s;e the &s;igne which was to governe him, was the <HI>Dove; He that &s;ent me, &s;aid, upon whom thou &s;halt &s;ee the Spirit come down, and tarry &s;till, it is he that baptizeth with the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> But to the company, both voyce and Dove were nece&s;&s;ary: for, if the voyce had come alone, they might have thought, that that te&s;timony had been given of <HI>Iohn,</HI> of whom they had, as yet, a far more reverend opinion, then of Chri&s;t; And therefore, God fir&s;t points out the per&s;on, and by the Dove declares him to all, which was He, and then, by that voyce declares farther to them all, what He was. This benefit they had by being in that com|pany, they &s;aw, and they heard things conducing to their &s;alvation; for, though God worke more effectually upon tho&s;e particular per&s;ons in the Congregation, who, by a good u&s;e of his former graces, are better di&s;po&s;ed then others, yet to the mo&s;t grace|le&s;&s;e man that is, if he be in the Congregation, God vouch&s;afes to &s;peake, and would be heard.</P>
<P>They that differ in the per&s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Via Creatu|rae.</NOTE> who heard it, agree in the Rea&s;on; All they heard it, in all their opinions, to whom it was nece&s;&s;ary to heare it; And it is nece&s;&s;ary to all us, to have this meanes of under&s;tanding and beleeving, to heare. Therefore God gives to all that &s;hall be &s;aved, <HI>vocem,</HI> his voyce. We con&s;ider two other wayes of imprinting the knowledge of God in man; fir&s;t in a darke and weake way, the way of Nature, and the book of Creatures; and &s;econdly, in that powerfull way, the way of Miracles. But the&s;e, and all between the&s;e, are uneffectuall without the Word. When <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes of the Creatures,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.3. Rom. 10.17.</NOTE> <HI>There is no &s;peech nor language, where their voyce is not heard,</HI> (the voyce of the Creature is heard over all) S. <HI>Paul</HI> commenting upon tho&s;e words, &s;ays, <HI>They have heard, All the world hath heard;</HI> but what? The voyce of the Creature; now that is true, &s;o much all the world had heard then, and does heare &s;till: But the <HI>hearing</HI> that S. <HI>Paul</HI> intends there, is &s;uch a hearing as begets <HI>faith,</HI> and that the voyce of Creature rea|ches not to. The voyce of the Creature alone, is but a faint voyce, a low voyce; nor any voyce, till the voyce of the Word inanimate it; for then when the Word of God hath taught us any my&s;tery of our Religion, then the booke of Creatures illu&s;trates, and e&s;ta|bli&s;hes, and cheri&s;hes that which we have received by faith, in hearing the Word: As a
<PB N="429" REF="232">&s;tick bears up, and &s;uccours a vine, or any plant, more precious then it &s;elfe, but yet gave it not life at fir&s;t, nor gives any nouri&s;hment to the root now: &s;o the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of rea&s;on, and the voyce of the Creature, in the preaching of Nature, works upon our faith, but the roote, and the life is in the faith it &s;elfe; The light of nature gives a glimmering before, and it gives a reflexion after faith, but the meridianall noone is in faith.</P>
<P>Now, if we con&s;ider the other way, the way of power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Via miracu|lorum.</NOTE> Miracles, no man may ground his beliefe upon that, which &s;eems a Miracle to him. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> wrought Miracles, and <HI>Pha|raohs</HI> in&s;truments wrought the like: we know, theirs were no true Miracles, and we know <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> were; but how do we know this? By another voyce, by the Word of God, who cannot lie: for, for tho&s;e upon whom tho&s;e Miracles were to worke on both &s;ides, <HI>Mo|&s;es,</HI> and they too, &s;eemed to the beholders, diver&s;ly di&s;po&s;ed to do Miracles. One Rule in di&s;cerning, and judging a Miracle, is, to con&s;ider whether it be done in confirmation of a nece&s;&s;ary Truth: otherwi&s;e it is rather to be &s;u&s;pected for an Illu&s;ion, then accepted for a Miracle. The Rule is intimated in <HI>Deuteronomy,</HI> where,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 13.</NOTE> though a Prophets prophecy do come to pa&s;&s;e, yet, if his end be, to draw to other gods, he mu&s;t be &s;laine. What Mira|cles &s;oever are pretended, in confirmation of the inventions of Men, are to be neglected. God hath not carried us &s;o low for our knowledge, as to Creatures, to Nature, nor &s;o high, as to Miracles, but by a middle way, By a <HI>voyce.</HI></P>
<P>But it is <HI>Vox de Coelis, A voyce from heaven.</HI> S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> applying (indeed with &s;ome wre|&s;ting and derorting) tho&s;e words in the 29 P&s;alme, ver&s;. 3.<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Coelis.</NOTE> <HI>(The voyce of the Lord is up|on the waters, the God of glory maketh it to thunder)</HI> to this Bapti&s;me of Chri&s;t, he &s;ayes, <HI>Vox &s;uper aquas Ioannes,</HI> The words of <HI>Iohn</HI> at Chri&s;ts Bapti&s;me, were this voyce that <HI>David</HI> intends; And then that manife&s;tation which God gave of the Trinity, (what&s;oe|ver it were) altogether, that was the Thunder of his Maje&s;ty: &s;o this Thunder then, was <HI>vox de Coelis,</HI> A voyce from heaven; And in this voyce the per&s;on of the Father was manife&s;ted, as he was in the &s;ame voyce at his Transfiguration. Since this voyce then is from Heaven, and is the Fathers voyce, we mu&s;t looke for all our knowledge of the Tri|nity from thence. For, (to &s;peake of one of tho&s;e per&s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.27.</NOTE> of Chri&s;t) <HI>no man knoweth the Sonne, but the Father;</HI> Who then, but he, can make us know him? If any knew it, yet it is an unexpre&s;&s;ible my&s;tery, no man could reveale it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16.17.</NOTE> <HI>Fle&s;h and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven;</HI> If any could reveale it to us, yet none could draw us to beleeve it; <HI>No man can come to me, except the Father draw him:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 6.44.</NOTE> So that all our voyce of Direction mu&s;t be from thence, <HI>De Coelis, from Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>We have had <HI>Voces de Inferis,</HI> voyces from Hell, in the bla&s;phemies of Heretiques;<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Inferis.</NOTE> That the Trinity was but <HI>Cera exten&s;a,</HI> but as a Rolle of Wax &s;pread, or a Dough Cake rolled out, and &s;o divided unto per&s;ons: That the Trinity was but a ne&s;t of Boxes, a le&s;&s;er in a greater, and not equall to one another; And then, that the Trinity was not onely three per&s;ons, but three Gods too; So far from the truth, and &s;o far from one another have Heretiques gone, in the matter of the Trinity; and <HI>Cerinthus</HI> &s;o far, in that one per|&s;on, in Chri&s;t, as to &s;ay, That Je&s;us, and Chri&s;t, were two di&s;tinct per&s;ons; and that into Je&s;us, who, &s;ayes he, was the &s;onne of <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> Chri&s;t, who was the Spirit of God, de&s;cen|ded here at his Bapti&s;me, and was not in him before, and withdrew him&s;elfe from him againe, at the time of his Pa&s;&s;ion, and was not in him then; &s;o that he was not borne Chri&s;t, nor &s;uffered not being Chri&s;t; but was onely Chri&s;t in his preaching, and in his Miracles; and in all the re&s;t, he was but Je&s;us, &s;ayes <HI>Cerinthus.</HI></P>
<P>We have had <HI>Voces de Inferis, de profundis,</HI> from the depth of hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Medio.</NOTE> in the malice of He|retiques, And we have had <HI>Voces de medio,</HI> voyces from among&s;t us, Inventions of men, to expre&s;&s;e, and to make us under&s;tand the Trinity, in pictures, and in Compari&s;ons: All which (to contract this point) are apt to fall into that abu&s;e, which we will onely note in one; At fir&s;t, they u&s;ed ordinarily to expre&s;&s;e the Trinity in foure letters, which had no ill purpo&s;e in it at fir&s;t, but was a religious ea&s;e for their memories, in Catechi&s;mes: The letters were <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <GAP DESC="foreign">; The <GAP DESC="foreign"> was <GAP DESC="foreign">, and the <GAP DESC="foreign"> was <GAP DESC="foreign">, and the two la&s;t belonged to the la&s;t per&s;on, for <GAP DESC="foreign"> was <GAP DESC="foreign">, and <GAP DESC="foreign"> was <GAP DESC="foreign">, and &s;o there was Father, Sonne, and Holy Gho&s;t, as if we &s;hould expre&s;&s;e it in <HI>F,</HI> and <HI>S,</HI> and <HI>H,</HI> and <HI>G.</HI> But this came quickly thus far into abu&s;e, as that they thought, there could belong but three letters, in that picture, to the three per&s;ons; and therefore allowing &s;o many to Father, Sonne, and Holy Gho&s;t, they tooke the la&s;t letter <HI>P,</HI> for <HI>Petrus,</HI> and &s;o made <HI>Peter</HI> head of the Church, and equall to the Trinity. So that for our knowledge, in this my&s;teri|ous
<PB N="430" REF="233">doctrine of the Trinity, let us evermore re&s;t, <HI>in voce de coelis,</HI> in that voice which came from heaven.</P>
<P>But yet it is <HI>Vox dicens,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dicens.</NOTE> <HI>A voice &s;aying,</HI> &s;peaking, A voice that man is capable of, and may be benefited by. It is not &s;uch a voice as that was, (which came from heaven too) when Chri&s;t prayed to God <HI>to glorifie his name,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 12.28.</NOTE> That the people &s;hould &s;ay, &s;ome, that it was a <HI>Thunder,</HI> &s;ome that it was an <HI>Angel that &s;pake.</HI> They are the &s;ons of Thunder, and they are the Mini&s;teriall Angels of the Church, from whom we mu&s;t heare this voice of heaven: Nothing can &s;peak, but man: No voice is under&s;tood by man, but the voice of man; It is not <HI>Vox dicens,</HI> That voyce &s;ayes nothing to me, that &s;peaks not; And there|fore how&s;oever the voice in the Text were miraculou&s;ly formed by God, to give this glory, and dignity to this fir&s;t manife&s;tation of the Trinity in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, yet becau&s;e he hath left it for a permanent Doctrine nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation, he hath left ordi|nary means for the conveying of it; that is, The &s;ame voice from heaven, the &s;ame word of God, but &s;peaking in the mini&s;tery of man. And therefore for our mea&s;ure of this knowledge, (which is our third and la&s;t Part) we are to &s;ee, how Chri&s;tian men, who&s;e office it hath been to interpret Scriptures, that is, how the Catholike Church hath under|&s;tood the&s;e words, <HI>Hic e&s;t Filius, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well plea&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>How we are to receive the knowledge of the Trinity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> hath expre&s;&s;ed as far as we can goe; Who&s;oever will be &s;aved, hee mu&s;t beleeve it; but the manner of it is not expo&s;ed &s;o far as to his beliefe. That que&s;tion of the Prophet, <HI>Quis enarrabit?</HI> who &s;hall declare this? carries the an&s;wer with it, <HI>Nemo enarrabit,</HI> No man &s;hall declare it. But a manife&s;tation of the Beeing of the Trinity, they have alwayes apprehended in the&s;e words, <HI>Hic e&s;t Filius, This is my beloved Son.</HI> To that purpo&s;e therefore, we take, fir&s;t, the words to be expre&s;&s;ed by this Euangeli&s;t S. <HI>Matthew,</HI> as the voyce delivered them, ra|ther then as they are expre&s;&s;ed by S. <HI>Marke,</HI> and S. <HI>Luke;</HI> both which have it thus, <HI>Tu es, Thou art my beloved Son,</HI> and not <HI>Hic e&s;t, This is;</HI> They two being onely carefull of the &s;en&s;e, and not of the words, as it fals out often among&s;t the Euangeli&s;ts, who differ often|times in recording the words of Chri&s;t, and of other per&s;ons. But where the &s;ame voice &s;pake the &s;ame words againe, in the Transfiguration, there all the Euangeli&s;ts expre&s;&s;e it &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.17.</NOTE> <HI>Hic e&s;t, This is,</HI> and not <HI>Tu es, Thou art my beloved Son;</HI> And &s;o it is, where S. <HI>Peter</HI> makes u&s;e by application of that hi&s;tory, it is <HI>Hic e&s;t,</HI> and not <HI>Tu es.</HI> So that this <HI>Hic e&s;t,</HI> This man, de&s;igns him who hath that marke upon him, that the holy Gho&s;t was de&s;cen|ded upon him, and tarried upon him; for &s;o far went the &s;igne of di&s;tinction given to <HI>Iohn,</HI> The holy Gho&s;t was to de&s;cend and tarry: <HI>Manet,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> The holy Gho&s;t tarryes upon him, becau&s;e he never departs from him, <HI>&s;ed operatur quando Chri&s;tus vult, &amp; quomodo vult,</HI> The holy Gho&s;t works in Chri&s;t, when Chri&s;t will, and as Chri&s;t will; and &s;o the holy Gho&s;t tarryed not upon any of the Prophets; They &s;poke what hee would, but he wrought not when they would. S. <HI>Gregory</HI> objects to him&s;elfe, that there was a perpetuall re&s;idence of the holy Gho&s;t upon the faithfull, out of tho&s;e words of Chri&s;t, <HI>The Comforter &s;hall abide with you for ever;</HI> But as S. <HI>Gregory</HI> an&s;wers him&s;elfe, This is not a plenary abiding, and <HI>&s;ecund&ugrave;m omnia dona,</HI> in a full operation, according to all his gifts, as he tarried upon Chri&s;t: Neither indeed is that promi&s;e of Chri&s;ts to par|ticular per&s;ons, but to the whole body of the Church.</P>
<P>Now this re&s;idence of the holy Gho&s;t upon Chri&s;t, was his unction; properly it was that, by which he was the Me&s;&s;ias, That he was anointed above his fellowes; And therefore S. <HI>Hierome</HI> makes account, that Chri&s;t received his unction, and &s;o his office of Me&s;&s;ias, at this his Bapti&s;me, and this de&s;cending of the holy Gho&s;t upon him: And he thinks it therefore, becau&s;e pre&s;ently after Bapti&s;me, he went to preach in the Synagogue, and he took for his Text tho&s;e words of the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 61.1.</NOTE> <HI>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, becau&s;e he hath anointed me, that I &s;hould preach the Go&s;pel to the poore.</HI> And when he had read the Text, he began his Sermon thus, <HI>This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares.</HI> But we may be bold to &s;ay, that this is mi&s;taken by S. <HI>Hierome;</HI> for the unction of Chri&s;t by the holy Gho&s;t, by which he was anointed, and &s;ealed into the office of Me&s;&s;i|as, was in the over-&s;hadowing of the holy Gho&s;t in his conception, in his a&s;&s;uming our nature: This De&s;cending now at his bapti&s;me, and this Re&s;idence, were onely to declare, That there was a holy Gho&s;t, and that holy Gho&s;t dwelt upon this per&s;on.</P>
<P>It is <HI>Hic,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;t.</NOTE> This per&s;on; And it is <HI>Hic e&s;t,</HI> This is my Son; It is not onely <HI>Fuit,</HI> He was my Son, when he was in my bo&s;ome, Nor onely <HI>Erit,</HI> He &s;hall be &s;o, when he &s;hall return
<PB N="431" REF="233">to my right hand againe; God does not onely take knowledge of him in Glory; But <HI>E&s;t,</HI> He is &s;o now; now in the exinanition of his per&s;on, now in the evacuation of his Glory, now that he is preparing him&s;elfe to &s;uffer &s;corne, and &s;courges, and thornes, and nailes, in the ignominious death of the Cro&s;&s;e, now he is the Son of the glorious God; Chri&s;t is not the le&s;&s;e the Son of God for this eclip&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Hic e&s;t,</HI> This is he, who for all this lowne&s;&s;e is &s;till as high as ever he was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Filius.</NOTE> and that height is, <HI>E&s;t Filius,</HI> He is the Son. He is not <HI>Servus,</HI> The Servant of God; or not that onely, for he is that al&s;o. <HI>Behold my &s;ervant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 41.1.</NOTE> (&s;ayes God of him, in the Prophet) <HI>I will &s;tay upon him, mine elect, in whom my &s;oule delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him, and he &s;hall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles.</HI> But Chri&s;t is this Servant, and a Son too: And not a Son onely; for &s;o we ob&s;erve divers filiations in the Schoole; <HI>Filiationem ve&s;tigii,</HI> That by which all creatures, even in their very being, are the &s;ons of God, as <HI>Iob</HI> cals God <HI>Pluviae patrem, The father of the raine;</HI> And &s;o there are other filiations, other wayes of being the &s;ons of God. But <HI>Hic e&s;t,</HI> This per&s;on is, as the force of the Article expre&s;&s;es it, and pre&s;&s;es it, <HI>Ille Filius,</HI> The Son, That Son, which no &s;on el&s;e is, neither can any el&s;e de|clare how he is that which he is.</P>
<P>This per&s;on then is &s;till The Son, And <HI>Meus Filius,</HI> &s;ayes God, <HI>My Son.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Meus.</NOTE> He is the &s;onne of <HI>Abraham,</HI> and &s;o within the Covenant; as well provided by that inheritance, as the &s;on of man can be naturally. He is the Son of a Virgin, conceived without generati|on, and therefore ordained for &s;ome great u&s;e. He is the &s;on of <HI>David,</HI> and therefore roy|ally de&s;cended; But his dignity is in the <HI>Filius meus,</HI> that God avows him to be his Son; for, <HI>Vnto which of the Angels &s;aid he at any time, Thou art my &s;onne?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.5.</NOTE> But to Chri&s;t he &s;ayes in the Prophet, <HI>I have called thee by thy name:</HI> And what is his name? <HI>Meus es tu, Thou art mine. Quem &agrave; me non &s;eparat Deitas,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Leo, non dividit pote&s;tas, non di&s;cernit aeterni|tas:</HI> Mine &s;o, as that mine infinitene&s;&s;e gives me no roome nor &s;pace beyond him, hee reaches as far as I, though I be infinite; My Almightine&s;&s;e gives me no power above him, he hath as much power as I, though I have all; My eternity gives me no being before him, though I were before all: In mine Omnipotence, in mine Omnipre&s;ence, in mine Omnie&s;&s;ence, he is equall partner with me, and hath all that is mine, or that is my &s;elfe, and &s;o he is <HI>mine.</HI></P>
<P><HI>My Son,</HI> And <HI>My beloved Son;</HI> but &s;o we are all, who are his &s;ons, <HI>Deliciae ejus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dilectus.</HI> Prov. 8.31.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon,</HI> His delight, and his contentment is to be with the &s;ons of men. But here the Article is extraordinarily repeated againe, <HI>Ille dilectus,</HI> That beloved Son, by whom, tho&s;e, who were neither beloved, nor Sons, became the beloved Sons of God; For, there is &s;o much more added, in the la&s;t phra&s;e, <HI>In quo complacui, In whom I am well plea&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>Now, the&s;e words are diver&s;ly read. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In quo.</NOTE> &s;ome Copies that he had &s;een, read them thus, <HI>Ego hodie genui te, This is my beloved Son, this day have I begotten him:</HI> And with &s;uch Copies, it &s;eemes, both <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr,</HI> and <HI>Irenaeus</HI> met, for they reade the&s;e words &s;o, and interpret them accordingly: But the&s;e words are mi&s;placed, and mi&s;-transferred out of the &s;econd P&s;alme, where they are. And as they change the words, and in &s;tead of <HI>In quo complacui, In whom I am well plea&s;ed,</HI> reade, <HI>This day have I begotten thee;</HI> S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> addes other words, to the end of the&s;e, which are, <HI>Hunc audite, Heare him:</HI> Which words, when the&s;e words were repeated at the Transfiguration, were &s;poken, but here, at the Bapti&s;me, they were not, what Copy &s;oever mi&s;led S. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> or whether it were the failing of his own memory. But S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> gives an expre&s;&s;e rea|&s;on, why tho&s;e words were &s;poken at the Transfiguration, and not here: Becau&s;e, &s;aies he, Here was onely a purpo&s;e of a Manife&s;tation of the Trinity, &s;o farre, as to declare their per&s;ons, who they were, and no more: At the Tran&s;-figuration, where <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> appeared with Chri&s;t, there God had a purpo&s;e to preferre the Go&s;pel above the Law, and the Prophets, and therefore in that place he addes that, <HI>Hunc audite, Heare him,</HI> who fir&s;t fulfills all the Law, and the Prophets, and then preaches the Go&s;pel. He was &s;o well plea&s;ed in him, as that he was content <HI>to give all them, that received him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1.6.</NOTE> <HI>po|wer to become the Sons of God,</HI> too; as the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>By his grace, he hath made us accep|ted in his beloved.</HI></P>
<P>Beloved, That you may be &s;o, Come up from your Bapti&s;me, as it is &s;aid that Chri&s;t did; Ri&s;e, and a&s;cend to that growth, which your Bapti&s;me prepared you to: And the hea|vens &s;hall open, as then, even <HI>Cataractae coeli,</HI> All the windowes of heaven &s;hall open,
<PB N="432" REF="234">and raine downe ble&s;&s;ings of all kindes, in abundance; And the Holy Gho&s;t &s;hall de|&s;cend upon you, as a Dove, in his peacefull comming, in your &s;imple, and &s;incere re|ceiving him; And he &s;hall re&s;t upon you, to effect and accompli&s;h his purpo&s;es in you. If he rebuke you, (as Chri&s;t, when he promi&s;es the Holy Gho&s;t, though he call him <HI>a Comforter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 16.7.</NOTE> &s;ayes, That <HI>he &s;hall rebuke the world</HI> of divers things) yet he &s;hall dwell upon you as a Dove, <HI>Quae &s;i mordet, o&s;culando mordet,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine:</HI> If the Dove bite, it bites with ki&s;&s;ing, if the Holy Gho&s;t rebuke, he rebukes with comforting. And &s;o baptized, and &s;o pur&s;uing the contract of your Bapti&s;me, and &s;o crowned with the re|&s;idence of his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, in your holy conver&s;ation, hee &s;hall breathe a &s;oule into your &s;oule, by that voyce of eternall life, <HI>You are my beloved Sonnes, in whom I am well plea&s;ed.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="44" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLIV.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Dun&s;tanes</HI> upon Trinity-Sunday. <HI>1627.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>REV. 4.8.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And the foure Bea&s;ts had each of them &s;ixe wings about him, and they were full of eyes with|in; And they re&s;t not day and night, &s;aying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe&s;e words are part of that Scripture, which our Church hath appointed to be read for the Epi&s;tle of this day. This day, which be&s;ides that it is the Lords day, the Sabbath day, is al&s;o e&s;pecially con&s;ecrated to the me|mory, and honour of the whole Trinity. The Fea&s;t of the Nativity of Chri&s;t, <HI>Chri&s;tmas</HI> day, which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> calls <HI>Metropolin omnium fe&s;to|rum,</HI> The Metropolitane fe&s;tivall of the Church, is intended principally to the honour of the <HI>Father,</HI> who was glorified in that humiliation of that Son, that day, becau&s;e in that, was laid the foundation, and fir&s;t &s;tone of that hou&s;e and Kingdome, in which God intended to glorifie him&s;elfe in this world, that is, the Chri&s;tian Church. The Fea&s;t of <HI>Ea&s;ter</HI> is intended principally to the honour of the <HI>Son</HI> him&s;elfe, who upon that day, began to lift up his head above all tho&s;e waters which had &s;urrounded him, and to &s;hake off the chaines of death, and the grave, and hell, in a glorious Re&s;errection. And then, the Fea&s;t of <HI>Penteco&s;t</HI> was appropriated to the honour of the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> who by a per|&s;onall falling upon the Apo&s;tles, that day, inabled them to propagate this Glory of the Father, and this death, and Re&s;urrection of the Son, to the ends of the world, to the ends in Extention, to all places, to the ends in Duration, to all times.</P>
<P>Now, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Nullus eorum extra quemlibet eorum e&s;t,</HI> Every Per&s;on of the Trinity is &s;o in every other per&s;on, as that you cannot think of a Father, (as a Fa|ther) but that there falls a Son into the &s;ame thought, nor think of a per&s;on that pro|ceeds from others, but that they, from whom he, whom ye think of, proceeds, falls in|to the &s;ame thought, as every per&s;on is in every per&s;on; And as the&s;e three per&s;ons are contracted in their e&s;&s;ence into one God-head, &s;o the Church hath al&s;o contracted the honour belonging to them, in this kinde of Wor&s;hip, to one day, in which, the Father, and Son, and Holy Gho&s;t, as they are &s;everally, in tho&s;e three &s;everall dayes, might bee celebrated joyntly, and altogether. It was long before the Church did in&s;titute a parti|cular Fe&s;tivall, to this purpo&s;e. For, before, they made account, that that ver&s;e, which was upon &s;o many occa&s;ions repeated in the Liturgy, and Church Service, <HI>(Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Gho&s;t)</HI> had a convenient &s;ufficiency in it, to keep men in a continuall remembrance of the Trinity. But when by that extreame inun|dation, and increa&s;e of Arians, the&s;e notions of di&s;tinct Per&s;ons in the Trinity, came to be obliterated, and di&s;continued, the Church began to refre&s;h her &s;elfe, in admitting in|to
<PB N="433" REF="234">to the formes of Common Prayer, &s;ome more particular notifications, and remembran|ces of the Trnity; And at la&s;t, (though it were very long fir&s;t, for this Fe&s;tivall of this <HI>Trinity-Sunday,</HI> was not in&s;tituted above foure hundred yeares &s;ince) they came to or|daine this day. Which day, our Church, according to that peacefull wi&s;edome, where|withall the God of Peace, of Unity, and Concord, had in&s;pired her, did, in the Refor|mation, retaine, and continue, out of her generall religious tenderne&s;&s;e, and holy loath|ne&s;&s;e, to innovate any thing in tho&s;e matters which might bee &s;afely, and without &s;u|per&s;tition continued and entertained. For our Church, in the Reformation, propo&s;ed not that for her end, how &s;hee might goe from Rome, but how &s;he might come to the Truth; nor to ca&s;t away all &s;uch things as Rome had depraved, but to purge away tho&s;e depravations, and con&s;erve the things them&s;elves, &s;o re&s;tored to their fir&s;t good u&s;e.</P>
<P>For this day then, were the&s;e words appointed by our Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ic.</NOTE> And therefore we are &s;ure, that in the notion, and apprehen&s;ion, and con&s;truction of our Church, the&s;e words appertaine to the Trinity. In them therefore we &s;hall con&s;ider, fir&s;t what, the&s;e foure creatures were, which are notified, and de&s;igned to us, in the names, and figures of <HI>foure Bea&s;ts;</HI> And then, what the&s;e foure creatures did; Their Per&s;ons, and their Action will be our two Parts of this Text. In each of which we &s;hall have three Bran|ches; In the fir&s;t the&s;e, fir&s;t, &s;imply who they were; And then, their qualification as they are furni&s;hed with wings, <HI>Each of them had &s;ixe wings;</HI> And then la&s;tly, in that fir&s;t Part, what is intended in their eyes, for, <HI>They were full of eyes within;</HI> And in the&s;e three, we &s;hall determine that fir&s;t Part, The Per&s;ons. And then in the &s;econd, our fir&s;t Branch will be, Their Alacrity, their ingenuity, their free and open profe&s;&s;ion of their zeale to Gods Service; They did it, &s;ayes the Text, <HI>Dicentes, Saying,</HI> Publi|&s;hing, Declaring; without di&s;gui&s;es or modifications. And our &s;econd Branch, Their A&s;&s;iduity, That which they did, they did ince&s;&s;antly, <HI>They cea&s;ed not day nor night,</HI> &s;ayes our Text; No occa&s;ionall emergencies, no lo&s;&s;e, no trouble interrupted their zeale to Gods &s;ervice. And then the la&s;t is, that that which they did, fir&s;t with &s;o much ingenuity, and then with &s;o much a&s;&s;iduity, fir&s;t &s;o openly, and then &s;o con&s;tantly, was the celebra|tion of the Trinity, <HI>Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come;</HI> Which is the intire body of the Chri&s;tan Religion? That they profe&s;t openly, and con|&s;tantly, all the parts of their Religion, are al&s;o the three Branches, in which we &s;hall de|termine our &s;econd Part, Their Action.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, for our fir&s;t Branch, in our fir&s;t Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. Per&s;ons. Rom. 15.4.</NOTE> the Per&s;ons intended in the&s;e foure creatures, the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>What&s;oever things are written afore time, are written for our learning;</HI> But yet, not &s;o for our learning, as that we &s;hould think alwaies to learne, or alwaies to have a cleare under&s;tanding of all that is written; for it is added there, <HI>That we, through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope;</HI> Which may well ad|mit this Expo&s;ition, that tho&s;e things which we under&s;tand not yet, we may hope that we &s;hall, and we mu&s;t have patience till we doe. For there may be many places in Scripture, (e&s;pecially in Propheticall Scripture) which, perchance, the Church of God her &s;elfe, &s;hall not under&s;tand, till tho&s;e Prophe&s;ies be fulfilled, and accompli&s;hed. In the under|&s;tanding of this place, what, or who the&s;e foure creatures are, there is &s;o much difficulty, &s;o much perplexity, as that among&s;t the interpretations of very Learned, and very Reve|rend, and very pertinent Expo&s;itors, it is ea&s;ie to collect thirty &s;everall opinions, thirty &s;e|verall &s;ignifications of the&s;e foure creatures.</P>
<P>The multiplicity of the&s;e Interpretations intimates thus much, that that man that be|lieves the Trinity, can &s;carce turne upon any thing, but it a&s;&s;i&s;ts, and advances, and illu|&s;trates that beliefe; As diver&s;e from one another as their thirty Expo&s;itions are, they all agree, that be our foure creatures what they will, that which they doe, is to celebrate the Trinity; He that &s;eeks proofe for every my&s;tery of Religion, &s;hall meet with much darkne&s;&s;e; but he that beleeves fir&s;t, &s;hall finde every thing to illu&s;trate his faith. And then, this multiplicity of Interpretations intimates thus much more, That &s;ince wee cannot give <HI>Son&s;um adaequatum,</HI> Any &s;uch Interpretation of the&s;e foure creatures, but that another, as probable as it, may be given, it may be &s;ufficient, and it is be&s;t, (as in all ca&s;es of like intricacy) to choo&s;e &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as may mo&s;t advance the gene|rall purpo&s;e, and intention of the place; which is, in this place, The celebration of the Trinity.</P>
<PB N="434" REF="235">
<P>So therefore we &s;hall doe. And con&s;idering that among&s;t the&s;e manifold Expo&s;itors, &s;ome binde them&s;elves exactly, rigidly, &s;uperciliou&s;ly, yea &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly to the number of <HI>foure,</HI> and that therefore the&s;e <HI>foure Creatures</HI> mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily &s;ignifie &s;omething, that is limited in the number of <HI>foure,</HI> no more, no le&s;&s;e, (either the foure Monarchies, or the foure Patriarchs, or the foure Doctors of the Church, or the foure Cardinall Vertues, or the foure Elements, or the foure Quarters of the World, into all which, and many more &s;uch, rather Allu&s;ions, then Interpretations, the&s;e various Expo&s;itors have &s;catte|red them&s;elves) And then con&s;idering al&s;o that divers others of the&s;e Expo&s;itors out of a ju&s;t ob&s;ervation, That nothing is more ordinary in this Book of the Revelation, then by a certaine and finite number, to de&s;igne and &s;ignifie an uncertaine and infinite, (for, other|wi&s;e when we are told, <HI>that there were twelve thou&s;and &s;ealed of every Tribe,</HI> wee &s;hould know the certaine number of all the Jews that were &s;aved, which certainly is not S. <HI>Iohns</HI> purpo&s;e in that place; but in the greatne&s;&s;e of that number, to declare the largene&s;&s;e of Gods goodne&s;&s;e to that people) con&s;idering I &s;ay, that divers of the&s;e Expo&s;itors, have extended their interpretation beyond the number of <HI>foure,</HI> we make accompt that we do be&s;t, if we do both; if we &s;top upon the number of <HI>foure,</HI> and yet pa&s;&s;e on to a greater num|ber too. And &s;o wee &s;hall well do, if we interpret the&s;e <HI>foure Creatures,</HI> to bee fir&s;t and principally the foure Euangeli&s;ts, (and that is the mo&s;t common Interpretation of the Ancients) and then enlarge it to all the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pell, which is (for the mo&s;t part) the Interpretation of the Later men. So then, the action being an open and a con|tinuall profe&s;&s;ion of the whole Chri&s;tian Religion, in the celebration of the Trinity, which is the di&s;tinctive Character of a Chri&s;tian, the per&s;ons that doe this, are all they that con&s;titute the Hierarchy, and order of the Church; All they that execute the Mini&s;te|ry, and di&s;pen&s;ation of the Go&s;pell; which Go&s;pel is laid downe, and &s;ettled and e&s;tabli|&s;hed radically in the foure Euangeli&s;ts; All they are the&s;e foure Creatures. And farther we need not carry this fir&s;t branch, which is the Notification of the&s;e per&s;ons; for, their Qualification is the larger con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>And before we come to their Qualification, in the text, fir&s;t, as they are &s;aid <HI>to have &s;ix wings,</HI> and then as they are &s;aid <HI>to be full of eyes,</HI> we look upon them, as they are formed, and de&s;igned to us, in the ver&s;e immediately before the text; where, the <HI>fir&s;t</HI> of the&s;e <HI>foure Creatures</HI> hath the face of a <HI>Lion,</HI> the <HI>&s;econd</HI> of a <HI>Calfe,</HI> or an <HI>Oxe,</HI> the <HI>third</HI> of a <HI>Man,</HI> and the <HI>fourth</HI> of an <HI>Eagle.</HI> Now, <HI>Quatuor animalia &s;unt Eccle&s;iae Doctores,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e;</HI> The&s;e foure Creatures are the Preachers of the Go&s;pell; that we had e&s;tabli&s;hed afore; But then, we adde with S. <HI>Ambro&s;e, Eandem &s;ignificationem habet primum animal, quod &s;ecundum, quod tertium, quod quartum;</HI> All the&s;e foure Creatures make up but one Crea|ture; all their qualities concurre to the Qualification of a Mini&s;ter; every Mini&s;ter of God is to have all, that all foure had; the courage of a <HI>Lion,</HI> the laboriou&s;ne&s;&s;e of an <HI>Oxe,</HI> the per&s;picuity and cleare &s;ight of the <HI>Eagle,</HI> and the humanity, the di&s;cour&s;e, the rea&s;on, the affability, the appliablene&s;&s;e of a <HI>Man.</HI> S. <HI>Dionys</HI> the <HI>Areopagite</HI> had the &s;ame con|&s;ideration as S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> had, before him. He imprints it, he expre&s;&s;es it, and extends it thus; <HI>In Leone vis indomabilis;</HI> In every Mini&s;ter, I looke for &s;uch an invincible courage, as &s;hould be of proofe, again&s;t Per&s;ecution, (which is a great) and again&s;t Preferment, which is a greater temptation; that neither Feares, nor Hopes &s;hake his con&s;tancy; nei|ther his Chri&s;tian con&s;tancy, to &s;tagger him, nor his Mini&s;teriall con&s;tancy, to &s;ilence him; For this is <HI>Vis indomabilis,</HI> the courage required in the Mini&s;ter as he is a <HI>Lion.</HI> And then &s;aies that Father; <HI>In Bove vis &s;alutaris,</HI> In every Mini&s;ter, as he is &s;aid to be an <HI>Oxe,</HI> I looke for labour; that he be not &s;o over-growne, nor &s;tall-fed, that he be thereby lazie; He mu&s;t labour; And then, as the labour of the Oxe is, his labour mu&s;t be imployed up|on u&s;efull and profitable things, things that conduce to the cleering, not the perplexing of the under&s;tanding; and to the collecting, the uniting, the fixing, and not the &s;cattering, the di&s;&s;olving, the pouring out of a fluid, an un&s;table, an irre&s;olved con&s;cience; things of edification, not &s;peculation; For this is that <HI>Vis &s;alutaris,</HI> which we require in every Mi|ni&s;ter; that he labour at the Plough, and plough the right ground; that he Preach for the &s;aving of &s;oules, and not for the &s;harpning of wits. And then againe, <HI>In Aquila vis &s;pe|culatrix;</HI> As the Mini&s;ter is pre&s;ented in the notion and quality of an <HI>Eagle,</HI> we require both an Open eye, and a Piercing eye; Fir&s;t, that he date looke upon other mens &s;ins, and be not faine to winke at their faults, becau&s;e he is guilty of the &s;ame him&s;elfe, and &s;o, for feare of a recrimination, incurre a prevarication; And then, that he be not &s;o dim-&s;ighted,
<PB N="435" REF="235">that he mu&s;t be faine to &s;ee all through other mens &s;pectacles, and &s;o preach the purpo|&s;es of great men, in a factious popularity, or the fancies of new men, in a Schi&s;maticall &s;ingularity; but, with the Eagle, be able to looke to the Sun; to looke upon the con&s;tant truth of God in his Scriptures, through his Church; For this is <HI>Vis &s;peculatrix,</HI> the open and the piercing eye of the Eagle. And then la&s;tly, <HI>In homine vis ratiocinatrix;</HI> As the Mini&s;ter is repre&s;ented in the notion and quality of a <HI>Man,</HI> we require a gentle, a &s;upple, an appliable di&s;po&s;ition, a rea&s;oning, a per&s;wa&s;ive di&s;po&s;ition; That he doe not alwaies, pre&s;&s;e all things with Authority, with Cen&s;ures, with Excommunications; That he put not all points of Religion, alwaies upon that one i&s;&s;ue, <HI>Quicunque vult &s;alvus e&s;&s;e,</HI> If you wil be &s;aved, you mu&s;t beleeve this, all this, &amp; <HI>Qui non credider it, damnabitur,</HI> If you doubt of this, any of this, you are infallibly, nece&s;&s;arily damned; But, that he be al&s;o content to de&s;cend to mens rea&s;on, and to worke upon their under&s;tanding, and their naturall fa|culties, as well as their faith, and to give them &s;atisfaction, and rea&s;on (as far as it may be had) in that which they are to beleeve; that &s;o as the Apo&s;tle, though he had authority to command, yet did <HI>Pray them in Chri&s;ts &s;tead to be reconciled to God,</HI> So the Mini&s;ter of God, though (as he is bound to doe) he doe tell them what they are bound to beleeve, yet he al&s;o tels them, why they are to beleeve it; for this is <HI>Vis ratiocinatrix,</HI> The holy gentlene&s;&s;e and appliablene&s;&s;e, implied in that forme of a Man.</P>
<P>And &s;o you have this Man compo&s;ed of his foure Elements; this Creature made of the&s;e foure Creatures; this Mini&s;ter made of a Lion, an Oxe, an Eagle, and a Man; For, no one of the&s;e, nor all the&s;e, but one, will &s;erve; the Lion alone, without the Eagle, is not enough; it is not enough to have courage and zeale, without cleare &s;ight and know|ledge; Nor enough to labour, except we apply our &s;elves to the capacity of the hearer; All mu&s;t have all, or el&s;e all is di&s;ordered; Zeale, Labour, Knowledge, Gentlene&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>Now be&s;ides the&s;e generall qualifications, laid downe as the foundation of the text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Alae.</NOTE> in the ver&s;e before it, in the text it &s;elfe the&s;e foure Creatures, being fir&s;t the foure Euange|li&s;ts, and con&s;equently, or by a ju&s;t and faire accommodation, all the Preachers of the Go&s;pell, which limit them&s;elves in the doctrine laid downe in the foure Euangeli&s;ts, have al&s;o <HI>wings</HI> added unto them; Wings, fir&s;t for their owne behoofe and benefit, and then, wings for the benefit and behoofe of others. They have wings to rai&s;e them&s;elves from the earth; that they doe not entangle them&s;elves in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of this World; but &s;till to keepe them&s;elves upon the wing, in a Heavenly conver&s;ation, ever remembring that they have another Element, then Sea or Land, as men whom Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath &s;et apart, and in &s;ome mea&s;ure made mediatours betweene him, and other men, as his in&s;truments of their &s;alvation. And then as for them&s;elves, &s;o have they wings for others too, that they may be alwaies ready to &s;uccour all, in all their &s;pirituall nece&s;&s;ities. For as tho&s;e words are well under&s;tood by many of the Ancients,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 12.14.</NOTE> <HI>To the Woman were given two wings of an Eagle,</HI> that is, to the Church were given able and &s;ufficient Mini&s;ters, to carry and convey her over the Nations: So are tho&s;e words which are &s;poken of God him&s;elf, ap|pliable to his Mini&s;ters, that fir&s;t, <HI>The Eagle &s;tirreth up her ne&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.11.</NOTE> The Preacher &s;tirres and moves, and agitates the holy affections of the Congregation, that they &s;lumber not in a &s;en&s;ele&s;ne&s;&s;e of that which is &s;aid, <HI>The Eagle &s;tirreth up her ne&s;t,</HI> and then as it is added there, <HI>She fluttereth over her young;</HI> The Preacher makes a holy noi&s;e in the con&s;cience of the Congregation, and when hee hath awakened them, by &s;tirring the ne&s;t, hee ca&s;ts &s;ome claps of thunder, &s;ome intimidations, in denouncing the judgements of God, and he flings open the gates of Heaven, that they may heare, and look up, and &s;ee a man &s;ent by God, with power to infu&s;e his feare upon them; <HI>So &s;he fluttereth over her young;</HI> but then, as it followes there, <HI>She &s;preadeth abroad her wings;</HI> &s;he over-&s;hadowes them, &s;he enwraps them, &s;he armes them with her wings, &s;o as that no other terror, no other flut|tering but that which comes from her, can come upon them; The Preacher doth &s;o in|fu&s;e the feare of God into his Auditory, that fir&s;t, they &s;hall feare nothing but God, and then they &s;hall feare God, but &s;o, as he is God; And God is Mercy; God is Love; and his Mini&s;ter &s;hall &s;o &s;pread his wings over his people, as to defend them from all inor|dinate feare, from all &s;u&s;pition and jealou&s;ie, from all diffidence and di&s;tru&s;t in the mer|cie of God; which is farther expre&s;t in that clau&s;e, which followes in the &s;ame place, <HI>She taketh them and beareth them upon her wings;</HI> when the Mini&s;ter hath awakened his flocke by the &s;tirring of the ne&s;t, and put them in this holy feare, by this which the Holy Gho&s;t cals a Fluttering; and then provided, by &s;preading his wings, that upon this feare there
<PB N="436" REF="236">follow not a de&s;peration; then he &s;ets them upon the top of his be&s;t wings, and &s;hewes them the be&s;t trea&s;ure that is committed to his Steward&s;hip, hee &s;hewes them Heaven, and God in Heaven, &s;anctifying all their cro&s;&s;es in this World, inanimating all their worldly ble&s;&s;ings, rayning downe his blood into their emptine&s;&s;e, and his balme into their wounds, making their bed in all their &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and preparing their &s;eate, where he &s;tands &s;oliciting their cau&s;e, at the right hand of his Father. And &s;o the Mini&s;ter hath the wings of an Eagle, that every &s;oule in the Congregation may &s;ee as much as hee &s;ees, that is, a particular intere&s;t in all the mercies of God, and the merits of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>So then, the&s;e Mini&s;ters of God have that double u&s;e of their Eagles wings; fir&s;t, <HI>Vt volent ad e&s;cam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.26.</NOTE> (as it is in <HI>Iob</HI>) that they may flie up to receive their own food, their in|&s;tructions at the mouth and word of God; And then, <HI>Vt ubi cadaver &s;it, ibi &s;tatim ad&s;it,</HI> (as it is in <HI>Iob</HI> al&s;o) where the dead are,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 39.33.</NOTE> they al&s;o may be; That where any lie, <HI>Pro mor|tuis,</HI> (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks) <HI>for dead,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.29.</NOTE> as good as dead, ready to die, upon their death-bed, they may be ready to a&s;&s;i&s;t them, and to mini&s;ter &s;pirituall Phy&s;ick, opportunely, &s;ea&s;o|nably, proportionably to their &s;pirituall nece&s;&s;ities; That they may powre out upon &s;uch &s;ick &s;oules, that name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> which is <HI>Oleum effu&s;um,</HI> An oyle, and a balme, alwaies powring, and alwaies &s;preading it &s;elfe upon all greene wounds, and upon all old &s;ores; That they may mini&s;ter to one in his hot and pe&s;tilent pre&s;umptions, an Opiat, of Chri&s;ts <HI>Tri&s;tis anima,</HI> A remembrance, that even Chri&s;t him&s;elf had a &s;ad &s;oule towards his death, and a <HI>Quare dereliqui&s;ti,</HI> &s;ome apprehen&s;ion, that God, though his God, had for&s;aken him. And that therefore, no man, how righteous &s;oever, may pre&s;ume, or pa&s;&s;e away without feare and trembling; And then, to mini&s;ter to another, in his Lethargies, and Apoplexies, and damps, and inordinate dejections of &s;pirit, Chri&s;ts cordials, and re|&s;toratives, in his <HI>Clarifica me Pater,</HI> In an a&s;&s;urance, that his Father, though he have laid him downe here, whether in an inglorious fortune, or in a di&s;con&s;olate bed of &s;ickne&s;&s;e, will rai&s;e him, in his time, to everla&s;ting glory. So the&s;e Eagles are to have wings, to flie <HI>Ad cadaver,</HI> to the dead, to tho&s;e that are &s;o dying a bodily death, and al&s;o, where any lie dead in the practi&s;e and cu&s;tome of &s;inne, to be indu&s;trious and earne&s;t in calling them to life againe, &s;o as Chri&s;t did <HI>Lazarus,</HI> by calling aloud; Not aloud in the eares of other men, &s;o to expo&s;e a &s;inner to &s;hame, and confu&s;ion of face, but aloud in his own eares, to put home the judgments of God, thereby to plough and harrow that &s;tubborn heart, which will not be kneaded, nor otherwi&s;e reduced to an uprightne&s;&s;e. For the&s;e u&s;es, to rai&s;e them&s;elves to heavenly contemplations, and to make ha&s;te to them that need their a&s;&s;i&s;tance, the Mini&s;ters of God have wings; wings of great u&s;e; e&s;pecially now, when there is <HI>Coluber in via,</HI> A &s;nake in every path, a Seducer in every hou&s;e; When as the De|vill is bu&s;ie, becau&s;e he knows his time is &s;hort, &s;o his in&s;truments are bu&s;ie, becau&s;e they thinke their time is beginning againe; therefore the Mini&s;ter of God hath wings.</P>
<P>And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sex alae.</NOTE> their wings are numbred in our Text; They have <HI>&s;ix wings.</HI> For by the con&s;ent of mo&s;t Expo&s;itors, tho&s;e whom S. <HI>Iohn</HI> pre&s;ents in the figure of the&s;e <HI>foure Crea|tures</HI> here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 6.3.</NOTE> and tho&s;e whom the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> cals <HI>Seraphim,</HI> are the &s;ame per&s;ons; The &s;ame Office, and the &s;ame Voice is attributed unto tho&s;e <HI>Seraphim</HI> there, as unto the&s;e <HI>foure Creatures</HI> here; Tho&s;e as well as the&s;e, &s;pend their time in celebrating the Trinity, an in crying <HI>Holy, Holy, Holy.</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t &s;ometimes pre&s;ents the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel, as <HI>Seraphim</HI> in glory, that they might be knowne to be the Mini&s;ters and di&s;pen|&s;ers of the my&s;teries and &s;ecrets of God, and to come <HI>A latere,</HI> From his Councell, his Cabinet, his Bo&s;ome. And then on the other &s;ide, that you might know, that the di&s;pen|&s;ation of the&s;e my&s;teries of your &s;alvation, is by the hand and means of men, taken from among&s;t your &s;elves, and that therefore you are not to looke for Revelations, nor Exta|&s;ies, nor Vi&s;ions, nor Tran&s;portations, but to re&s;t in Gods ordinary meanes, he brings tho&s;e per&s;ons down againe from that glorious repre&s;entation, as the <HI>Seraphim,</HI> to crea|tures of an inferiour, of an earthly nature. For, though it be by the &s;ight, and in the qua|lity and capacity of tho&s;e glorious <HI>Seraphim,</HI> that the Mini&s;ter of God receives his com|mi&s;&s;ion, and in&s;tructions, his orders, and his faculties, yet the execution of his commi&s;&s;i|on, and the pur&s;uing of his in&s;tructions towards you, and in your behalfe, is in that na|ture, and in that capacity, as they have the courage of the <HI>Lyon,</HI> the laboriou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the <HI>Oxe,</HI> the per&s;picuity of the <HI>Eagle,</HI> and the affability of <HI>Man.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e winged per&s;ons then, (winged for their own &s;akes, and winged for yours) the&s;e Mini&s;ters of God, (thus de&s;igned by <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> as heavenly <HI>Seraphim,</HI> to procure them reve|rence
<PB N="437" REF="236">from you, and by S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> as earthly Creatures, to teach you, how neere to your &s;elves, God hath brought the meanes of your Salvation, in his vi&s;ible, and &s;en&s;ible, in his appliable, and apprehen&s;ible Ordinances) are, in both places, (that of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> and this in our Text) &s;aid <HI>to have &s;ix wings;</HI> And <HI>&s;ix,</HI> to this u&s;e, in <HI>E&s;ay, with two they cover their face, with two their feete, and with two they flie.</HI> They cover their face; Not all over; for then, neither the Prophet there, nor the Euangeli&s;t here, could have knowne them to have had the&s;e likene&s;&s;es, and the&s;e proportions. The Mini&s;ters of God are not &s;o cove|red, &s;o removed from us, as that we have not meanes to know them. We know them by their face; that is, by that declaration which the Church hath given of them to us, in giving them their orders, and their power over us; and we know them by their voyce; that is, by their preaching of &s;uch doctrine, as is agreeable to tho&s;e Articles which we have &s;uckt in from our infancy. The Mini&s;ters face is not &s;o covered with the&s;e wings, as that the people have no meanes to know him; For his calling is manife&s;t, and his doctrine is open to proofe and tryall: But they are &s;aid to cover their face, becau&s;e they dare not looke confidently, they cannot looke fully upon the maje&s;ty of the my&s;teries of God. The Euangeli&s;ts them&s;elves, and they that ground their doctrine upon them, (all which together, as we have often &s;aid, make up the&s;e foure per&s;ons, whom <HI>E&s;ay</HI> cals <HI>Seraphim,</HI> and S. <HI>Iohn</HI> inferiour Creatures) have not &s;eene all that belongs to the nature and e&s;&s;ence of God, not all in the attributes and properties of God, not all in the decrees and purpo&s;es of God, no, not all in the execution of tho&s;e purpo&s;es and decrees; we do not know all that God intends to do; we do not know all that God intends in that which he hath done. Our faces are covered from having &s;eene the manner of the eter|nall generation of the Sonne, or of the eternall proceeding of the Holy Gho&s;t, or the manner of the pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t in the Sacrament. The Mini&s;ters of God are &s;o far o|pen-faced towards you, as that you may know them, and try them by due meanes to be &s;uch; and &s;o far open-faced towards God, as that they have &s;eene in him and received from him, all things nece&s;&s;ary for the &s;alvation of your &s;oules; But yet, their faces are covered too; &s;omethings concerning God, they have not &s;eene them&s;elves, nor &s;hould goe about to reveale, or teach to you.</P>
<P>And it is not onely their faces that are covered, but their feet too. Their covered fa|ces are e&s;pecially directed to God; denoting their mode&s;ty in forbearing unrevealed my|&s;teries: Their covered feet are e&s;pecially directed to you; They &s;hould not be curious in &s;earching into all Gods actions, nor you in &s;earching into all theirs; Their waies, their actions, their lives, their conver&s;ations &s;hould not be too curiou&s;ly &s;earched, too narrow|ly pryed into, too &s;everely interpreted by private men, as they are but &s;uch, becau&s;e, in &s;o doing, the danger and the detriment is thus far likely to fall upon your &s;elves, that when the infirmities of the Mini&s;ter, and your infirmities, that is, their faults, and your uncha|ritable cen&s;ures of their faults, meet together, that may produce this ill effect, that per|&s;onall matters may be ca&s;t upon the mini&s;teriall function, and &s;o the faults of a Mini&s;ter be imputed to the Mini&s;tery; and by &s;uch a prejudice, and conceit of one mans ill life, you may lo&s;e the ta&s;te and comfort of his, and perchance of others good Doctrine too. <HI>All that is covered &s;hall be made manife&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t; You &s;hall know all their faults, and you &s;hal know them then, when it &s;hall mo&s;t confound them, and lea&s;t indanger you, when it &s;hall aggravate their torment, and do you no harme; that is, at the day of Judge|ment. In the meane time, becau&s;e it might hurt you to know their faults, God hath co|vered their feet &s;o far, as that he would not have your looking upon their feet, divert you from depending upon their mouths, as long as by his permi&s;&s;ion they &s;it in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> chaire, and execute Gods Commi&s;&s;ion. If they imploy their middle wings, which were ordai|ned for them to flie withall, if they do their duties in breaking the bread of life, and di|&s;pen&s;ing the Word and Sacraments, and a&s;&s;i&s;ting the &s;icke in body, and &s;icke in &s;oule, though God have, in part, covered their faces, that is, not imparted to them &s;uch gifts, or &s;uch an open &s;ight into deep points, as perchance you de&s;ire, yet he hath covered their feet too; he hath for your &s;akes removed their faults from your &s;urvey, as you are but private men. Take the benefit of their two middle wings, their willingne&s;&s;e to a&s;&s;i&s;t you with their labours, and in their other foure wings, be not too curious, too cen&s;orious, too &s;evere, either their face-wings, that is, the depth of their learning, or their feet-wings, that is, the holine&s;&s;e of their lives.</P>
<P>They have &s;ix wings to the&s;e &s;everall purpo&s;es;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Singuli &s;enas</NOTE> and <HI>&s;inguli &s;enas,</HI> &s;ayes our Text,
<PB N="438" REF="237"><HI>every one of them hath &s;ix wings.</HI> For, for the fir&s;t couple, the face-wings, how&s;oever &s;ome of the Mini&s;ters of God have gifts above their fellowes, how&s;oever they have gai|ned the names of <HI>Doctores Seraphici,</HI> and <HI>Doctores illuminati,</HI> (with which titles they a|bound in the Roman Church) yet their faces are in part covered, they mu&s;t not think they &s;ee all, under&s;tand all; The learned&s;t of all hath defects, even in matter of learning. And for the &s;econd couple, the feet-wings, how&s;oever &s;ome may make &s;hift for the re|putation of being more pure, more &s;anctified then their fellowes, yet the be&s;t of them all need a covering for their feet too; All their &s;teps, all their actions will not endure exami|nation. But for the la&s;t couple, however there may be &s;ome intimation given of a great degree of perfection in matter of knowledge, and in matter of manners, (for in tho&s;e creatures which are mentioned in the fir&s;t of <HI>Ezek.</HI> (which al&s;o &s;ignifie the Mini&s;ters of God) there are but foure wings &s;poken of, &s;o that there are no face-wings, they have an abundant mea&s;ure of learning and knowledge, And the Cherubim (which may al&s;o &s;ig|nifie the &s;ame per&s;ons) have but two wings, no covering upon face or feet; to denote, that &s;ome may be without any remarkable exception in their doctrine, and in their man|ners too) yet for the la&s;t couple, the two middle wings, by which they fly, and addre&s;&s;e them&s;elves to every particular &s;oule that needs their &s;pirituall a&s;&s;i&s;tance, the Mini&s;ters of God are never in any figure but repre&s;ented. Better they wanted face-wings, and feet-wings, (di&s;cretion to cover either their in&s;ufficiency in knowledge, or their infirmity in manners) then that they &s;hould want their middle-wings, that is, a di&s;po&s;ition to apply them&s;elves to their flock, and to be alwayes ready to di&s;tribute the promi&s;es of God, and the &s;eals of his promi&s;es, the Word and Sacraments, among&s;t them. And this may be conveniently intended in their <HI>wings.</HI></P>
<P>Now as they were <HI>Alati,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Oculi.</NOTE> they were <HI>Oculati</HI> in our Text; They have <HI>eyes</HI> as well as <HI>wings;</HI> They fly, but they know whither they fly. In the doctrine of Implicite Obedi|ence in the Roman Church, To beleeve as the Church beleeves, or as that Confe&s;&s;or which under&s;tands not what the Church beleeves, makes you beleeve the Church be|leeves, In their doctrine of that which they call Blind Obedience, that is, to pur&s;ue and execute any commandement of any &s;uperiour, without any con&s;ideration; In both the&s;e there are wings enow, but there are no eyes: They fly from hence to Rome, and Roman Juri&s;dictions, and they fly over hither againe, after Statutes, after Proclamations, after Bani&s;hments iterated upon them; So that here are wings enow, but they lack tho&s;e eyes by which they &s;hould di&s;cerne betweene Religion and Rebellion, betweene a Traytor and a Martyr. And to take our con&s;ideration from them, and reflect upon our &s;elves, They that fly high at matter of my&s;terie, and leave out matter of edification, They that fly over Sea for plat-formes of di&s;cipline, and leave out that Church that bred them, They that fly clo&s;e to the &s;ervice of great mens affections and purpo&s;es, and doe the work of God coldly, and faintly, They may be <HI>Alati,</HI> but they are not <HI>Oculati,</HI> They may fly high, and fly fa&s;t, and fly far, and fly clo&s;e in the wayes of preferment, but they &s;ee not their end; Not onely not the end that they &s;hall come to, but not the end that they are put upon; not onely not their owne ends, but not their ends who&s;e in&s;truments they are. Tho&s;e birds who&s;e eyes are cieled, and &s;owed up, fly highe&s;t; but they are made a prey: God expo&s;es not his &s;ervants to &s;uch dangers; He gives them wings, that is, meanes to doe their office; but eyes too, that is, di&s;cretion and religious wi&s;dome how to doe it.</P>
<P>And this is that which they &s;eeme to need mo&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pleni.</NOTE> for their wings are limited, but their eyes are not; <HI>Six wings,</HI> but <HI>full of eies,</HI> &s;ayes our Text. They mu&s;t have eyes in their tongues; They mu&s;t &s;ee, that they apply not blindly and incon&s;iderately Gods gracious promi&s;es to the pre&s;umptuous, nor his heavy judgements to the broken hearted. They mu&s;t have eyes in their eares; They mu&s;t &s;ee that they harken neither to a &s;uper&s;titious &s;en&s;e from Rome, nor to a &s;editious &s;en&s;e of Scriptures from the Separation. They mu&s;t have eyes in their hands; They mu&s;t &s;ee that they touch not upon any &s;uch benefits or rewards, as might bind them to any other ma&s;ter then to God him&s;elfe. They mu&s;t have eyes in their eyes; &s;pirituall eyes in their bodily eyes; They mu&s;t &s;ee that they make a charitable con&s;truction of &s;uch things as they &s;ee other men do, and this is that fulne&s;&s;e of eyes which our Text &s;peaks of.</P>
<P>But then e&s;pecially,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Intus.</NOTE> &s;ayes our Text, <HI>They were full of eyes Within:</HI> The fulne&s;&s;e, the a|bundance of eyes, that is, of providence and di&s;cretion in the Mini&s;ters of God, was inti|mated
<PB N="439" REF="237">before: In the 6. ver&s;e it was &s;aid, <HI>That they were full of eyes before and behind:</HI> that is, circum&s;pect and provident for all that were about them, and committed to them. But all is determined and &s;ummed up in this, that <HI>They were full of eyes within.</HI> For as there is no profit at all (none to me, none to God) if I get all the world and lo&s;e mine own &s;oul, &s;o there is no profit to me, if I win other mens &s;oules to God, and lo&s;e mine owne. All my wings &s;hall doe me no good, all mine eyes before and behind &s;hall doe me no good, if I have no pro&s;pect inward, no eyes within, no care of my particular and per&s;onall &s;afety.</P>
<P>And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t generall part, the Per&s;ons denoted in the&s;e foure creatures, and the duties of their mini&s;tery; in which we have therefore in&s;i&s;ted thus long, that having &s;o declared and notified to you our duties, you al&s;o might be the more willing to heare of your owne duties, as well as ours, and to joyne with us in this Open, and Ince&s;&s;ant, and Totall profe&s;&s;ion of your Religion, which is the celebration of the Trinity in this acclamation, <HI>Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is, which was, and which is to come.</HI></P>
<P>To come therefore now to the &s;econd Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> and taking the foure Euangeli&s;ts to be principally intended here, but &s;ecundarily the Preachers of the Go&s;pel too, and not one|ly they, but in a faire exten&s;ion and accommodation the whole Church of God, fir&s;t we noted their Ingenuitie and openne&s;&s;e in the profe&s;&s;ion of their Religion, they did it <HI>Dicen|tes,</HI> Saying, declaring, publi&s;hing, manife&s;ting their devotion, without any di&s;gui&s;e, any modification.</P>
<P>In that &s;ong of the three Children in the Fornace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dicentes.</NOTE> <HI>O all ye works of the Lord, &amp;c.</HI> there is nothing pre&s;ented &s;peechle&s;&s;e: To every thing that is there, there is given a tongue; Not onely all tho&s;e creatures which have all a Beeing, but even Privations, Pri|vations that have no Beeing, that are nothing in them&s;elves, (as the <HI>Night,</HI> and <HI>Darkne&s;&s;e</HI>) are there called upon <HI>to ble&s;&s;e the Lord, to prai&s;e him, and magnifie him for ever.</HI> But to|wards the end of that &s;ong, you may &s;ee that &s;ervice drawne into a narrower compa&s;&s;e; You may &s;ee to whom this &s;peech, and declaration doth principally appertaine; For af|ter he had called upon <HI>Sun,</HI> and <HI>Moone,</HI> and <HI>Earth,</HI> and <HI>Sea,</HI> and <HI>Fowles,</HI> and <HI>Fi&s;hes,</HI> and <HI>Plants,</HI> and <HI>Night,</HI> and <HI>Darkne&s;&s;e, to prai&s;e the Lord, to ble&s;&s;e him, and magnifie him for ever,</HI> Then he comes to <HI>O ye children of men, Primogeniti Dei,</HI> Gods beloved creatures, his el|de&s;t &s;ons, and fir&s;t-borne, in his intention; And then, <HI>Domus I&s;rael, O ye hou&s;e of I&s;rael,</HI> you whom God hath not onely made men, but Chri&s;tian men, not onely planted in the World, but in the Church, not onely indued with Rea&s;on, but in&s;pired with Religion: And then again, <HI>O ye Prie&s;ts of the Lord, O ye Servants of the Lord,</HI> tho&s;e of Gods portion, not onely in the Church, but of the Church, and appointed by him to deale between him and other men: And then al&s;o, <HI>O ye &s;pirits and &s;oules of the righteous,</HI> tho&s;e whom tho&s;e in&s;truments of God had powerfully and effectually wrought upon, upon tho&s;e e&s;peci|ally, tho&s;e men, tho&s;e Chri&s;tian men, tho&s;e Prie&s;ts, tho&s;e &s;anctified men, upon tho&s;e he calls <HI>to ble&s;&s;e the Lord, to prai&s;e him, and magnifie him for ever.</HI> This obligation the holy Gho&s;t laies upon us all, that the more God does for us, the more we &s;hould declare it to other men; God would have us tell him our &s;ins; God would have us tell other men his mercies; It was no excu&s;e for <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> that he was of <HI>uncircumci&s;ed lips;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 5.12. Ier. 1.6.</NOTE> No excu&s;e for <HI>Ieremy,</HI> to &s;ay, <HI>O Lord God, behold I cannot &s;peak, for I am a child. Credidi, propterea locutus &s;um,</HI> is <HI>Davids</HI> forme of argument, <HI>I beleeved, and therefore I &s;pake.</HI> If thou do&s;t not love to &s;peak of God, and of his benefits, thou do&s;t not beleeve in God, nor that tho&s;e bene|fits came from him.</P>
<P>Remember that when thou wa&s;t a child, and pre&s;ented to God in Bapti&s;me, God gave thee a tongue in other mens mouthes, and inabled thee, by them, to e&s;tabli&s;h a co|venant, a contract between thy &s;oule, and him then. And therefore &s;ince God &s;pake to thee, when thou could&s;t not heare him, in the faith of the Church; &s;ince God heard thee when thou could&s;t not &s;peak to him, in the mouth of thy &s;ureties; Since that God that created thee was <HI>Verbum,</HI> The Word, (for, <HI>Dixit, &amp; facta &s;unt,</HI> God &s;pake, and all things were made) Since that God that redeemed thee was <HI>Verbum,</HI> The Word, (for <HI>The Word was made fle&s;h</HI>) Since that God that &s;anctified thee is <HI>Verbum,</HI> The Word, (for therefore S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> calls the holy Gho&s;t <HI>Verbum Dei, quia interpres Filii,</HI> He calls the holy Gho&s;t the Word of God, becau&s;e as the Son is the Word, becau&s;e he manife&s;ts the Father unto us, &s;o the holy Gho&s;t is the Word, becau&s;e he manife&s;ts the Son unto us, and enables us to
<PB N="440" REF="238">apprehend, and apply to our &s;elves, the promi&s;es of God in him) &s;ince God, in all the three Per&s;ons, is <HI>Verbum,</HI> The Word to thee, all of them working upon thee, by &s;peaking to thee, Be thou <HI>Verbum</HI> too, A Word, as God was; A Speaking, and a Doing Word, to his glory, and the edification of others. If the Lord open thy lips, (and except the Lord open them, it were better they were luted with the clay of the grave) let it be to &s;hew forth his prai&s;e, and not in bla&s;phemous, not in &s;currile, not in prophane language. If the Lord open thy hand, (and if the Lord open it not, better it were manacled with thy winding &s;heet) let it be, as well to di&s;tribute his ble&s;&s;ings, as to receive them. Let thy mouth, let thy hand, let all the Organs of thy body, all the faculties of thy &s;oule, concurre in the performance of this duty, intimated here, and required of all Gods Saints, <HI>Vt dicant,</HI> That they &s;peak, utter, declare, publi&s;h the glory of God. For this is that Ingenuity, that Alacrity, which con&s;titutes our fir&s;t Branch. And then the &s;econd is the A&s;&s;iduity, the con&s;tancy, the in|ce&s;&s;antne&s;&s;e, <HI>They re&s;t not day nor night.</HI></P>
<P>But have the Saints of God no Vacation?<NOTE PLACE="marg">A&s;siduitas.</NOTE> doe they never cea&s;e? nay, as the word imports, <HI>Requiem non habent,</HI> They have no <HI>Re&s;t.</HI> Beloved, God him&s;elfe re&s;ted not, till the &s;eventh day; be thou content to &s;tay for thy Sabbath, till thou mai&s;t have an eternall one. If we under&s;tand this, of re&s;t meerly, of bodily re&s;t, the Saints of God are lea&s;t like|ly to have it, in this life; For, this life, is (to them e&s;pecially, above others) a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and a perplext bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, a warfare, and a bloody warfare, a voyage, and a tempe&s;tuous voyage. If we under&s;tand this re&s;t to be Ce&s;&s;ation, Intermi&s;&s;ion, the Saints in heaven have none of that, in this &s;ervice. It is a labour that never wearies, to &s;erve God there. As the Sun is no wearier now, then when he fir&s;t &s;et out, &s;ix thou&s;and yeares &s;ince; As that An|gel, which God hath given to protect thee, is not weary of his office, for all thy perver&s;e|ne&s;&s;es, &s;o, how&s;oever God deale with thee, be not thou weary of bearing thy part, in his Quire here in the Militant Church. God will have low voyces, as well as high; God will be glorified <HI>De profundis,</HI> as well as <HI>In excel&s;is;</HI> God will have his tribute of prai&s;e, out of our adver&s;ity, as well as out of our pro&s;perity. And that is it which is intimated, and e&s;pecially intended in the phra&s;e which followes, <HI>Day and night.</HI> For, it is not onely that tho&s;e Saints of God who have their Heaven upon earth, doe prai&s;e him in the night; according to that of S. <HI>Ierome, Sanctis ip&s;e &s;omnus, oratio;</HI> and that of S. <HI>Ba&s;il, Etiam &s;omnia Sanctorum preces &s;unt;</HI> That holy men doe prai&s;e God, and pray to God in their &s;leep, and in their dreames; nor only that which <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks of, of ri&s;ing in the night, and fixing &s;tationary houres for prayer; But even in the depth of any &s;pirituall night, in the &s;hadow of death, in the midnight of afflictions and tribulations, God brings light out of darkne&s;&s;e, and gives his Saints occa&s;ion of glorifying him, not only in the dark, (though it be dark) but from the dark, (becau&s;e it is dark.) This is a way unconceiveable by any, unexpre&s;&s;ible to any, but tho&s;e that have felt that manner of Gods proceeding in them&s;elves, That be the night what night it will, be the oppre&s;&s;ion of what Extention, or of what Duration it can, all this retards not their zeal to Gods &s;ervice; Nay, they &s;ee God better in the dark, then they did in the light; Their tribulation hath brought them to a nearer di&s;tance to God, and God to a clearer manife&s;tation to them. And &s;o, to their Ingenuity, that they profe&s;&s;e God, and their Religion openly, is added an A&s;&s;iduity, that they do it ince&s;&s;antly; And then al&s;o, an Integrity, a Totality, that they doe not depart with, nor modifie in any Article of their Religion; which is intirely, and totally enwrapt in this acclamation of the Trinity, (which is our third, and la&s;t Branch in this la&s;t Part) <HI>Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.</HI></P>
<P>For the Trinity it &s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Trinitas.</NOTE> it is <HI>Lux,</HI> but <HI>Lux inacce&s;sibilis;</HI> It is light, for a child at Bap|ti&s;me profe&s;&s;es to &s;ee it; but then, it is &s;o inacce&s;&s;ible a light, as that if we will make natu|rall rea&s;on our <HI>Medium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.11.</NOTE> to di&s;cerne it by, it will fall within that of <HI>David, Po&s;uit tenebras latibulum &s;uum,</HI> God hath made darkne&s;&s;e his &s;ecret places; God, as God, will be &s;een in the creature; There, in the creature he is light; light acce&s;&s;ible to our rea&s;on; but God, in the Trinity, is open to no other light, then the light of faith. To make repre&s;entations of men, or of other creatures, we finde two wayes; Statuaries have one way, and Painters have another: Statuaries doe it by Sub&s;traction; They take away, they pare off &s;ome parts of that &s;tone, or that timber, which they work upon, and then that which they leave, becomes like that man, whom they would repre&s;ent: Painters doe it by Addition; Whereas the cloth, or table pre&s;ented nothing before, they adde colours, and lights, and &s;hadowes, and &s;o there ari&s;es a repre&s;entation. Sometimes we repre&s;ent God by Sub&s;tra|ction,
<PB N="441" REF="238">by Negation, by &s;aying, God is that, which is not mortall, not pa&s;&s;ible, not move|able: Sometimes we pre&s;ent him by Addition; by adding our bodily lineaments to him, and &s;aying, that God hath hands, and feet, and eares, and eyes; and adding our affecti|ons, and pa&s;&s;ions to him, and &s;aying, that God is glad, or &s;orry, angry, or reconciled, as we are. Some &s;uch things may be done towards the repre&s;enting of God, as God; But towards the expre&s;&s;ing of the di&s;tinction of the Per&s;ons in the Trinity, nothing.</P>
<P>Then when <HI>Abraham</HI> went up to the great &s;acrifice of his &s;on, he left his &s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 22.5.</NOTE> and his A&s;&s;e below: Though our naturall rea&s;on, and humane Arts, &s;erve to carry us to the hill, to the entrance of the my&s;teries of Religion, yet to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e us of the hill it &s;elfe, and to come to &s;uch a knowledge of the my&s;teries of Religion, as mu&s;t &s;ave us, we mu&s;t leave our naturall rea&s;on, and humane Arts at the bottome of the hill, and climb up only by the light, and &s;trength of faith. <HI>Dimitte me quia luce&s;cit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.26.</NOTE> &s;ayes that Angel that wra&s;tled with <HI>Iacob; Let me go, for it growes light.</HI> If thou think to &s;ee me by day-light, &s;ayes that Angel, thou wilt be deceived; If we think to &s;ee this my&s;tery of the Trinity, by the light of rea|&s;on, <HI>Dimittemus,</HI> we &s;hall lo&s;e that hold which we had before, our naturall faculties, our rea&s;on will be perplext, and infeebled, and our &s;upernaturall, our faith not &s;trengthened that way.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e te&s;timonies, and proofes of the Trinity, which are in the old Te&s;tament, are ma|ny, and powerfull in their direct line; But they are truly, for the mo&s;t part, of that nature, as that they are rather Illu&s;trations, and Confirmations to him that believed the Trinity before, then Arguments of them&s;elves, able to convince him that hath no &s;uch Precon|ception. We that have been catechized, and brought up in the knowledge of the Trini|ty, finde much &s;trength, and much comfort, in that we finde, in the fir&s;t line of the Bible, that <HI>Bara Elohim, Creavit Dii, Gods created heaven and earth;</HI> In this, that there is the name of God in the plurall, joyned to a Verb of the &s;ingular number, we apprehend an intima|tion of divers per&s;ons in one God; We that believe the Trinity before, finde this, in that phra&s;e, and form of &s;peech; The Jews, which believe not the Trinity, find no &s;uch thing. So when we finde that plurall phra&s;e, <HI>Faciamus hominem,</HI> That God &s;ayes, <HI>Let us,</HI> us in the plurall, <HI>make man,</HI> we are glad to finde &s;uch a plurall manner of expre&s;&s;ing God, by the Holy Gho&s;t, as may concurre with that, which we believed before; that is, divers per&s;ons in one God. To the &s;ame purpo&s;e al&s;o is that of the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> where God &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 6.8.</NOTE> <HI>Whom &s;hall I &s;end, or who &s;hall goe for us?</HI> There we di&s;cerne a &s;ingularity, one God, <HI>(Whom &s;hall I &s;end?)</HI> and a plurality of per&s;ons too, <HI>(Who &s;hal go for us?)</HI> But what man, that had not been catachized in that Doctrine before, would have conceived an opinion, or e&s;tabli&s;hed a faith in the Trinity, upon tho&s;e phra&s;es in <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> or in <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> without other evidence? Certainly, it was the Divine purpo&s;e of God, to re&s;erve and keep this my&s;tery of the Tri|nity, unrevealed for a long time, even from tho&s;e, who were, generally, to have their light, and in&s;truction from his word; They had the Law, and the Prophets, and yet they had no very clear notions of the Trinity. For, this is evident, that in <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> and in <HI>Zoroa&s;ter,</HI> and in <HI>Plato,</HI> and &s;ome other Authors of that Ayre, there &s;eeme to be clearer, and more li|terall expre&s;&s;ings of the Trinity, then are in all the Prophets of the old Te&s;tament. We take the rea&s;on to be, that God re&s;erved the full Manife&s;tation of this my&s;tery, for the dignifying, and glorifying of his Go&s;pel. And therefore it is enough that we know, that they of the old Te&s;tament, were &s;aved by the &s;ame faith in the Trinity, that we are; How God wrought that faith in them, among&s;t whom he had e&s;tabli&s;hed no outward meanes for the imprinting of &s;uch a faith, let us not too curiou&s;ly inquire. Let us be content, to receive our light there, where God hath been plea&s;ed to give it; that is, in tho&s;e places of the new Te&s;tament, which admit no contradiction, nor di&s;putation. As where Chri&s;t &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.19.</NOTE> <HI>Goe, and teach all Nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Gho&s;t.</HI> And where it is &s;aid, <HI>There are three that beare witne&s;&s;e in heaven; The Father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>the Word, and the Holy Gho&s;t; and the&s;e three are one.</HI> There are Obumbrations of the Trinity, in Nature, and Illu&s;trations of the Trinity, in the old Te&s;tament; but the Declaration, the Manife&s;tation thereof, was re&s;erved for the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>Now, this place, this Text, is in both, It is in the old, and it is in the new Te&s;tament; here, and in <HI>E&s;ay;</HI> And in both places, agreed by all Expo&s;itors, to be a confe&s;&s;ion of the Trinity, in that three-fold repetition, <HI>Holy, holy, holy.</HI> Where (by the way) you may have u&s;e of this note; that in the fir&s;t place, (in the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI>) we have a faire intimation, that that u&s;e of Subalternation in the &s;ervice of God, of that, which we have called Anti|phones,
<PB N="442" REF="239">and Re&s;pon&s;aries in the Church of God, (when in that &s;ervice, &s;ome things are &s;aid or &s;ung by one &s;ide of the Congregation, and then an&s;wered by the other, or &s;aid by one man, and then an&s;wered by the whole Congregation) that this manner of &s;erving God, hath a pattern from the practi&s;e of the Triumphant Church. For there, the <HI>Seraphim cryed to one another,</HI> or (as it is in the Originall) <HI>this Seraphim to this, Holy, Holy, Holy;</HI> &s;o that there was a voice given, and an an&s;wer made, and a reply returned in this &s;ervice of God. And as the patterne is in the Triumphant Church for this holy manner of prai&s;ing God, &s;o in the practi&s;e therof, the Militant pre&s;cribes; for it hath been alwaies in u&s;e. And there|fore, that religious vehemence of <HI>Dama&s;cen,</HI> (&s;peaking of this kind of &s;ervice in the Church in his time) may be allowed us, <HI>Hymnum dicemus, et&s;i Daemones di&s;rumpantur;</HI> How much &s;oever it anger the devil, or his devili&s;h in&s;truments of &s;chi&s;me and &s;edition, we wil &s;erve God in this manner, with holy cheerefulne&s;s, with mu&s;ique, with Antiphones, with Re|&s;pon&s;aries, of which we have the patterne from the Triumphant, and the practi&s;e from the Primitive Church.</P>
<P>Now as this Totality, and Integrity of their Religion which they profe&s;&s;e, fir&s;t, with an Ingenuity (openly) &amp; then, with an A&s;&s;iduity, (ince&s;&s;antly) hath (as it were) this dilatation, this extention of God into three Per&s;ons, (which is the character and &s;pecification of the Chri&s;tian Religion; for no Religion, but the Chri&s;tian, ever inclined to a plurality of Per|&s;ons in one God) &s;o hath it al&s;o &s;uch a contracting of this infinite Power into that one God, as could not agree with any other Religion then the Chri&s;tian, in either of tho&s;e two e&s;&s;entiall circum&s;tances; fir&s;t, that that God &s;hould be Omnipotent, and then, that he &s;hould be Eternall; <HI>The Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.</HI></P>
<P>All the Heathen gods were ever &s;ubordinate to one another;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnipotens.</NOTE> That which one god could not, or would not do, another would, and could; And this oftentimes, rather to an|ger another god, then to plea&s;e the party. And then there was a Surveyor, a Controller over them all, which none of them could re&s;i&s;t, nor intreat, which was their <HI>Fatum,</HI> their De&s;tiny. And &s;o, in the&s;e &s;ub&s;idiary gods, the&s;e occa&s;ional gods, there could be no Omni|potence, no Almightine&s;&s;e. Our God is &s;o Omnipotent, Almighty &s;o, as that his Power hath no limitation but his owne Will.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>Nihil impo&s;sibile ni&s;i quod non vult,</HI> He can do what|&s;oever he will do; And he can do more then that; For he could have rai&s;ed &s;ons to <HI>Abra|ham,</HI> out of &s;tones in the &s;treet.</P>
<P>And as their gods were not Omnipotent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aeternus.</NOTE> &s;o neither were they Eternall. They knew the hi&s;tory, the generation, the pedegree of all their gods; They knew where they were born, and where they went to &s;choole, (as <HI>Iu&s;tin Martyr</HI> &s;ayes, that <HI>E&s;culapius,</HI> and <HI>Apollo</HI> their gods of Phy&s;ick, learnt their Phy&s;ick of <HI>Chiron;</HI> &s;o that the Scholars were gods, and their Ma&s;ters none) and they knew where their gods were buried; They knew their Parents, and their Uncles, their Wives and their Children, yea their Ba&s;tards, and their Concu|bines; &s;o far were they from being eternall gods; But if we remit and &s;lacken this con&s;i|deration of Eternity (which is never to have had beginning) &amp; con&s;ider only Perpetuity (which is never to have end) the&s;e gods were not capable of a perpetuall Honour, an Ho|nour that &s;hould never end. For, we &s;ee that of tho&s;e three hundred &s;everal <HI>Iupiters,</HI> which were wor&s;hiped in the World, before Chri&s;t came, though the World abound at this day with Idolatry, yet there is not one of tho&s;e Idols, not one of tho&s;e three hundred <HI>Iupiters</HI> celebrated with any &s;olemnity, no, not knowne in any ob&s;cure corner of the World. They were mortall before they were Gods; They are dead in their Per&s;ons: and they were mortall when they were Gods; They are dead in their Wor&s;hip. In re&s;pect of Eternity (which is nece&s;&s;ary in a God) Perpetuity is but <HI>Mobilis Imago</HI> (as <HI>Plato</HI> cals it) a faint and tran&s;itory &s;hadow of Eternity; and <HI>Pindarus</HI> makes it le&s;&s;e; <HI>Idolum Aeternitatis;</HI> Perpetuity is but an Idol compared to eternity; And, <HI>an Idol is nothing,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle. Our &s;oules have a ble&s;&s;ed perpetuity, our &s;oules &s;hall no more &s;ee an end, then God, that hath no Be|ginning; and yet our &s;oules are very far from being eternal. But tho&s;e gods are &s;o far from being eternall, as that, con&s;idered as Gods (that is, celebrated with Divine wor&s;hip) they are not perpetual.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 48.14. P&s;al 102.11.</NOTE> But <HI>God is our God for ever and ever;</HI> ever, without beginning; and ever, without end. <HI>My dayes are like a &s;hadow that fadeth, and I am withered like gra&s;&s;e; but thou O Lord do&s;t remaine for ever, and thy remembrance from generation to generation;</HI> It is a <HI>remai|ning,</HI> and it is a <HI>remembrance;</HI> which words denote a former being. So that God, our God, and onely he, is eternall.</P>
<P>To conclude all, with that which mu&s;t be the conclu&s;ion of all at la&s;t, this Eternity of
<PB N="443" REF="239">our God is expre&s;&s;ed here in a phra&s;e which de&s;ignes and pre&s;ents the la&s;t Judgement, that is, <HI>which was, and is, and is to come.</HI> For, though it be <HI>Qui fuit, Which was,</HI> and <HI>Qui e&s;t, Which is,</HI> yet it is not <HI>Qui futurus, Which is to be;</HI> but <HI>Qui venturus, Which is to come;</HI> that is, to come to Judgement; as it is in divers other places of this Book, <HI>Qui venturus, Which is to come.</HI> For, though the la&s;t judiciary Power, the finall Judgement of the World, be to be executed by Chri&s;t, as he is the Son of Man, vi&s;ibly, apparantly in that nature, yet Chri&s;t is therein as a Delegate of the Trinity; It is in the vertue and power of that Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Data e&s;t mihi omnis pote&s;tas;</HI> He hath all Power, but that Power that he hath as the Son of man, is given him. For, as the Creation of the World was, &s;o the Judgement of the World &s;hal be the Act of the whole Trinity. For if we con&s;ider the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity, in both his Natures, as he redeemed us, God and Man, &s;o it cannot be &s;aid of him, that <HI>He was;</HI> that is, that he was eternally; for there was a time, when that God, was not that man; when that Per&s;on, Chri&s;t, was not con&s;tituted. And therefore this word, in our Text, <HI>which was,</HI> (which is al&s;o true of the re&s;t) is not appropriated to Chri&s;t, but intended of the whole Trinity. So that it is the whole Trinity that is to come, To come to Judgement.</P>
<P>And therefore, let us reverently embrace &s;uch provi&s;ions, and &s;uch a&s;&s;i&s;tances as the Church of God hath ordained, for retaining and celebrating the Trinity, in this particu|lar contemplation, as they are to come to Judgement. And let us at lea&s;t provide &s;o far, to &s;tand upright in that Judgement, as not to deny, nor to di&s;pute the Power, or the Per|&s;ons of tho&s;e Judges. A man may make a pety larceny high trea&s;on &s;o; If being called in que&s;tion for that le&s;&s;er offence, he will deny that there is any &s;uch Power, any &s;uch So|veraigne, any &s;uch King, as can call him in que&s;tion for it, he may turne his whipping into a quartering. At that la&s;t Judgement, we &s;hall be arraigned for not cloathing, not vi&s;iting, not harbouring the poore; For, our not giving is a taking away; our withholding, is a withdrawing; our keeping to our &s;elves, is a &s;tealing from them. But yet, all this is but a pety larceny, in re&s;pect of that high trea&s;on, of infidelity, of denying or doubting of the di&s;tinct Per&s;ons of the holy, ble&s;&s;ed, and glorious Trinity. To beleeve in God, one great, one univer&s;all, one infinite power, does but di&s;tingui&s;h us from bea&s;ts; For there are no men that do not acknowledge &s;uch a Power, or that do not believe in it, if they acknow|ledge it; Even they that acknowledge the devill to be God, beleeve in the devill. But that which di&s;tingui&s;hes man from man, that which onely makes his Immortality a ble&s;&s;ing, (for, even Immortality is part of their damnation that are damned, becau&s;e it were an ea&s;e, it were a kind of pardon to them to be mortall, to be capable of death, though after millions of generations) is, to conceive aright of the Power of the Father, of the Wi&s;|dome of the Son, of the Goodne&s;&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t; Of the Mercie of the Father, of the Merits of the Son, of the Application of the Holy Gho&s;t; Of the Creation of the Fa|ther, of the Redemption of the Son, of the Sanctification of the Holy Gho&s;t. Without this, all notions of God are but confu&s;ed, all wor&s;hip of God is but Idolatry, all confe&s;&s;i|on of God is but Athei&s;me; For &s;o the Apo&s;tle argues, <HI>When you were without Chri&s;t, you were without God.</HI> Without this, all morall vertues are but di&s;ea&s;es; Liberality is but a po|pular baite, and not a benefit, not an almes; Cha&s;tity is but a ca&s;tration, and an impoten|cy, not a temperance, not mortification; Active valour is but a fury, what&s;oever we do, and pa&s;&s;ive valour is but a &s;tupidity, what&s;oever we &s;uffer. Naturall apprehen&s;ions of God, though tho&s;e naturall apprehen&s;ions may have much &s;ubtilty, Voluntary elections of a Religion, though tho&s;e voluntary elections may have much &s;ingularity, Morall directions for life, though tho&s;e morall directions may have much &s;everity, are all frivolous and lo&s;t, if all determine not in Chri&s;tianity, in the Notion of God, &s;o as God hath manife&s;ted and conveyed him&s;elf to us; in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Gho&s;t, whom this day we celebrate, in the Ingenuity, and in the A&s;&s;iduity, and in the Totality, recommended in this text, and in this acclamation of the text, <HI>Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="45" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="240">
<PB N="445" REF="240">
<HEAD>SERM. XLV. PREACHED VPON ALL-SAINTS DAY.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>APOC. 7.2, 3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And I &s;aw another Angel a&s;cending from the Ea&s;t, which had the &s;eale of the living God, and he cryed with a loud voyce to the foure Angels, to whom power was given to hurt the Earth, and the Sea, &s;aying, Hurt yee not the Earth, neither the Sea, neither the Trees, till we have &s;ealed the &s;ervants of our God in their foreheads.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe &s;olemnity and fe&s;tivall with which the &s;onnes of the Catholique Church of God celebrate this day, is much mi&s;taken, even by them who thinke them&s;elves the onely Catholiques, and celebrate this day, with a devotion, at lea&s;t near to &s;uper&s;tition in the Church of Rome. For, they take it (for the mo&s;t part) to be a fe&s;tivall in&s;ti|tuted by the Church, in contemplation of the Saints in heaven one|ly; and &s;o carry and employ all their devotions this day, upon con|&s;ideration of tho&s;e Saints, and invocation of them onely. But the in&s;titution of this day, had this occa&s;ion. The heathen Romans, who could not po&s;&s;ibly hou&s;e all their gods in &s;everall Temples, they were &s;o over-many, according to their Law, <HI>Deos frugi colunto,</HI> to &s;erve God as cheape as they could, made one Temple for them all, which they called <HI>Pantheon,</HI> To all the Gods. This Temple <HI>Boniface</HI> the Pope begd of the Emperour <HI>Phocas;</HI> (And yet, (by the way) this was &s;ome hundreds of years after the Donation of the Emperour <HI>Con&s;tantine,</HI> by which the Bi&s;hops of Rome pre|tend all that to be theirs; &s;urely they could not finde this Patent, this Record, this Do|nation of <HI>Con&s;tantine,</HI> then when <HI>Boniface</HI> begd this Temple in Rome, this <HI>Pantheon</HI> of the Emperour) And this Temple, formerly the Temple of all their gods, that Bi&s;hop con&s;ecrated to the honour of all the Martyrs, of all the Saints of that kinde. But after him, another Bi&s;hop of the &s;ame &s;ea, enlarged the con&s;ecration, and accompanied it with this fe&s;tivall, which we celebrate to day, in honour of the Trinity, and Angels, and Apo|&s;tles, and Martyrs, and Confe&s;&s;ors, and Saints, and all the elect children of God. So that it is truly a fe&s;tivall, grounded upon that Article of the Creed, <HI>The Communion of Saints,</HI> and unites in our devout contemplation, The Head of the Church, God him&s;elfe, and tho&s;e two noble con&s;titutive parts thereof, The Triumphant, and the Militant. And, ac|cordingly, hath the Church applied this part of Scripture, to be read for the Epi&s;tle of this day, to &s;hew, that <HI>All-Saints day</HI> hath relation to all Saints, both living and dead; for tho&s;e <HI>&s;ervants of God,</HI> which are here in this text, <HI>&s;ealed in their foreheads,</HI> are &s;uch (without all que&s;tion) as receive that <HI>Seale</HI> here, here in the militant Church. And there|fore, as the&s;e words, &s;o this fe&s;tivall, in their intendiment, that applied the&s;e words to this fe&s;tivall, is al&s;o of Saints upon Earth.</P>
<PB N="446" REF="241">
<P>This day being then the day of the Communion of Saints, and this Scripture being received for the Epi&s;tle of this univer&s;all day, that expo&s;ition will be&s;t befit it, which makes it mo&s;t univer&s;all. And therefore, with very good authority, &s;uch as the expo&s;i|tions of this booke of the <HI>Revelation</HI> can receive, (of which booke, no man will under|take to the Church, that he hath found the certaine, and the literall &s;en&s;e as yet, nor is &s;ure to do it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Irenaeus.</NOTE> till the prophecies of this booke be accompli&s;hed) (for <HI>prophetiae ingenium, ut in ob&s;curo delite&s;cat, donec impleatur,</HI> It is the nature of prophecy to be &s;ecret, till it be fulfilled,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 12.4.</NOTE> And therefore <HI>Daniel</HI> was bid <HI>to &s;hut up the words, and to &s;eale the booke even to the time of the end,</HI> that is, to the end of the prophecy) with good authority, I &s;ay, we take that number of <HI>the &s;ervants of God,</HI> which are &s;aid to be <HI>&s;ealed</HI> in the fourth ver&s;e of this Chapter, which is <HI>one hundred forty foure thou&s;and,</HI> and that <HI>multitude which none could number, of all Nations,</HI> which are mentioned in the ninth ver&s;e, to be intended of one and the &s;ame company; both the&s;e expre&s;&s;ions denote the &s;ame per&s;ons. In the fourth ver&s;e of the fourteenth Chapter, this number of <HI>one hundred forty foure thou&s;and</HI> is applied to <HI>Virgins,</HI> but is intended of all Gods Saints; for every holy &s;oule is a virgin. And then this name of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> which is mentioned in the fourth ver&s;e of this Chapter, <HI>(That there were &s;o many &s;ealed of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael)</HI> is often in Scriptures applied to &s;pirituall I&s;rae|lites, to Beleevers, (for every faithfull &s;oule is an I&s;raelite) &s;o that this number of <HI>one hundred forty foure thou&s;and Virgins,</HI> and <HI>one hundred forty foure thou&s;and I&s;raelites,</HI> which is not a certaine number, but a number expre&s;&s;ing a numberle&s;&s;e multitude, this number, and that numberle&s;&s;e multitude &s;poken of after, of all Nations, which none could num|ber, is all one; and both making up the great and glorious body of all Saints, import and pre&s;ent thus much in generall, That how&s;oever God inflict great and heavy calamities in this world, to the &s;haking of the be&s;t morall and Chri&s;tianly con&s;tancies and con&s;cien|ces, yet all his Saints being eternally knowne by him, &s;hall be &s;ealed by him, that is, &s;o a&s;&s;ured of his a&s;&s;i&s;tance, by a good u&s;ing of tho&s;e helps which he &s;hall afford them, in the Chri&s;tian Church, intended in this &s;ealing on the forehead, that tho&s;e afflictions &s;hall never &s;eparate them from him, nor fru&s;trate his determination, nor di&s;appoint his graci|ous purpo&s;e upon them, all them, this multitude, which no man could number.</P>
<P>To come then to the words them&s;elves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> we &s;ee the &s;afety, and protection of the Saints of God, and his children, in the per&s;on and proceeding of our Protector, in that it is in the hands of an Angel, <HI>(I &s;aw another Angel)</HI> And an Angel of that place, that came from the Ea&s;t; The Ea&s;t, that is the fountaine of all light and glory, <HI>(I &s;aw another Angel come from the Ea&s;t)</HI> And as the Word doth naturally &s;ignifie, (and is &s;o rendred in this la&s;t Tran&s;lation) <HI>A&s;cending from the Ea&s;t,</HI> that is, growing and encrea&s;ing in &s;trength; After that we &s;hall con&s;ider our a&s;&s;urance in the commi&s;&s;ion and power of this Angel, <HI>He had the &s;eaele of the living God;</HI> And then in the execution of this Commi&s;&s;ion; In which we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, who our enemies were; They were al&s;o Angels, <HI>(This Angel cryed to other Angels)</HI> able to do much by nature, becau&s;e Angels; Then we &s;hall &s;ee their number, they were foure Angels, made &s;tronger by joyning <HI>(This Angel cryed to tho&s;e foure An|gels.)</HI> And be&s;ides their malignant nature, and united concord, (two &s;hrewd di&s;advanta|ges, mi&s;chievous and many) They had a power, a particular, an extraordinary power gi|ven them, at that time, to do hurt, <HI>(foure Angels, to whom power was given to hurt)</HI> And to do generall, univer&s;all hurt, <HI>(power to hurt the Earth, and the Sea.)</HI> After all this we &s;hall &s;ee this Protector, again&s;t the&s;e enemies, and their Commi&s;&s;ion, execute his, fir&s;t by de|claring and publi&s;hing it, <HI>(He cryed with a loud voyce)</HI> And then la&s;tly, what his Com|mi&s;&s;ion was; It was, to &s;tay tho&s;e foure Angels, for all their Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>from hurting the Earth, and the Sea, and the Trees.</HI> But yet, this is not for ever; It is but <HI>till the &s;ervants of God were &s;ealed in the forehead;</HI> that is, till God had afforded them &s;uch helpes, as that by a good u&s;e of them they might &s;ub&s;i&s;t; which, if they did not, for all their &s;ealing in the forehead, this Angel will deliver them over to the other foure de&s;troying Angels. Of which &s;ealing, that is, conferring of Grace and helps again&s;t tho&s;e &s;pirituall enemies, there is a pregnant intimation, that it is done by the benefit of the Church, &amp; in the power of the Church, which is no &s;ingular per&s;on, in that, upon the &s;udden, the per&s;on and the number is varied in our text; and this Angel, which when he is &s;aid to <HI>a&s;cend from the Ea&s;t, and to cry with a loud voyce,</HI> is &s;till a &s;ingular Angel, one Angel, yet when he comes to the act of <HI>&s;ealing in the forehead,</HI> to the di&s;pen&s;ing of Sacraments, and &s;acramentall a&s;&s;i|&s;tances, he does that as a plurall per&s;on, he repre&s;ents more, the whole Church, and there|fore
<PB N="457" REF="241">&s;ayes here, Stay, hurt nothing, <HI>Till we,</HI> we <HI>have &s;ealed the &s;ervants of our,</HI> our <HI>God in their foreheads.</HI> And by all the&s;e &s;teps mu&s;t we pa&s;&s;e through this garden of flowers, this orchard of fruits, this abundant Text.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, Man being compa&s;&s;ed with a cloud of witne&s;&s;es of his own infirmities,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Angelus.</NOTE> and the manifold afflictions of this life, (for, <HI>Dies diei eructat verbum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.2.</NOTE> <HI>Day unto day uttereth the &s;ame, and night unto night teacheth knowledge,</HI> The bells tell him in the night, and fame tels him in the day, that he him&s;elfe melts and drops away piece-meal in the departing of pa|rents, and wife, and children out of this world, yea he heares daily of a wor&s;e departing, he hears of the defection, and back-&s;liding of &s;ome of his particular acquaintance in mat|ter of religion, or of their &s;tifne&s;&s;e and obduration in &s;ome cour&s;e of &s;in (which is the wor&s;e con&s;umption) <HI>Dies diei eructat,</HI> every day makes him learneder then other in this &s;ad knowledge, And he knowes withall, <HI>Quod cuiquam accidere pote&s;t, cuivis pote&s;t,</HI> that any of their ca&s;es may be his ca&s;e too) Man that is compa&s;&s;ed with &s;uch a cloud of &s;uch witne&s;&s;es, had need of &s;ome light to &s;hew him the right way, and &s;ome &s;trength to enable him to walk &s;afely in it. And this light and &s;trength is here propo&s;ed in the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of an Angel. Which being fir&s;t under&s;tood of Angels in generall, affords a great mea&s;ure of comfort to us, becau&s;e the Angels are <HI>&s;eduli animae pedi&s;&s;equae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> faithfull and diligent attendants upon all our &s;teps. They doe &s;o, they doe attend the &s;ervice and good of man, becau&s;e it is <HI>illorum optimum,</HI> It is the be&s;t thing that Angels (as Angels) can doe, to doe &s;o: For evermore it is be&s;t for every thing to doe that for which it was ordained and made; and they were made Angels for the &s;ervice and a&s;&s;i&s;tance of man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>Vnum tui &amp; Angeli optimum e&s;t;</HI> Man and Angels have one and the &s;ame thing in them, which is bet|ter then any thing el&s;e that they have; Nothing hath it but they, and both they have it. <HI>Deus nihil &s;ui optimum habet; unum optimum totus;</HI> It is not &s;o with God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Id<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"></NOTE> God hath no|thing in him that is Be&s;t; but he is altogether one intire Be&s;t. But Man and Angels have one thing common to them both, which is the be&s;t thing that naturally either of them hath, that is, Rea&s;on, under&s;tanding, knowledge, di&s;cour&s;e, con&s;ideration. Angels and Men have grace too, that is infinitely better then their Rea&s;on; but though Grace be the principall in the nature and dignity thereof, yet it is but acce&s;&s;ory to an Angel, or to man; Grace is not in their nature at fir&s;t, but infu&s;ed by God, not to make them Angels and Men, but to make them good Angels, and good men. This very rea&s;on then, which is <HI>Illorum optimum,</HI> The be&s;t thing that Angels, as Angels, naturally have, teaches them, that the be&s;t thing that they can doe, is the performance of that for which they were made. And then how&s;oever they were made &s;pirits for a more glorious u&s;e, to &s;tand in the pre&s;ence of God, and to enjoy the fulne&s;&s;e of that contemplation, yet he made his &s;pirits Angels, for the love which he had to be with the &s;ons of men. <HI>Sufficit illis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> <HI>et pro magno habeant,</HI> Let this content the Angels, and let them magnifie God for this, <HI>Qu&ograve;d cum &s;piritus &s;int conditione, ex gratia facti &s;unt Angeli,</HI> That whereas by nature they are but &s;pirits, (and the devill is &s;o) by favour and by office they are made Angels, me&s;&s;engers from God to man.</P>
<P>Now as the Angels are not defective in their be&s;t part, their Rea&s;on, and therefore do their office in a&s;&s;i&s;ting us, &s;o al&s;o let us exalt our be&s;t part, our Rea&s;on too, to reverence them with a care of doing &s;uch actions onely as might not be unfit for their pre&s;ence. Both Angels and we have the Image of God imprinted in us; the Angels have it not <HI>in &s;ummo,</HI> though they have it <HI>in tuto;</HI> They have it not in the highe&s;t degree, (for &s;o Chri&s;t onely is <HI>the Image of the invi&s;ible God</HI>) but they have it in a deep impre&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.15.</NOTE> &s;o as they can neither lo&s;e it, nor deface it. We have this Image of God &s;o as that we cannot lo&s;e it, but we may, and doe deface it; <HI>Vri pote&s;t, non exuri;</HI> The Devil hath this Image in him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bern.</NOTE> and it cannot be burnt out in hell; for it is imprinted in the very naturall faculties of the &s;oule. But if we con&s;ider how many waters beat upon us in this world to wa&s;h off this Image, how many ru&s;ty and habituall &s;ins gnaw upon us, to eat out this Image, how ma|ny files pa&s;&s;e over our &s;ouls in calamities, and afflictions, in which though God have a purpo&s;e, <HI>Re&s;culpere imaginem,</HI> to re-engrave, to refre&s;h, to poli&s;h this Image in us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> by tho&s;e corrections, yet the devill hath a har&s;h file too, that works a murmuring, a compa|ring of our &s;innes with other mens &s;innes, and our puni&s;hments with other mens pu|ni&s;hments, and at la&s;t, either a denying of Providence, (That things &s;o unequal|ly carried cannot be governed by God) or a wilfull renouncing of it in De&s;peration, That his Providence cannot bee re&s;i&s;ted, and therefore it is all one what wee
<PB N="448" REF="242">doe, If wee con&s;ider this, wee had need looke for A&s;&s;i&s;tants.</P>
<P>Let us therefore looke fir&s;t to that which is be&s;t in us naturally, that is, Rea&s;on; For if we lo&s;e that, our Rea&s;on, our Di&s;cour&s;e, our Con&s;ideration, and &s;inke into an incapa|ble and barren &s;tupidity, there is no footing, no &s;ub&s;i&s;tence for grace. All the vertue of Corne is in the &s;eed; but that will not grow in water, but onely in the earth: All the good of man, con&s;idered &s;upernaturally, is in grace; but that will not grow in a wa&s;hy &s;oule, in a liquid, in a watery, and di&s;&s;olute, and &s;cattered man. Grace growes in rea&s;on; In that man, and in that minde, that con&s;iders the great trea&s;ure, what it is to have the Image of God in him, naturally; for even that is our earne&s;t of &s;upernaturall perfection. And this Image of God, even in the Angels, being Rea&s;on, and the be&s;t act of rectified Rea&s;on, The doing of that for which they were made, It is that which the Angels are naturally inclined to doe, to be alwayes pre&s;ent for the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of man; for therefore they are Angels. And &s;ince they have a joy at the Conver&s;ion of a &s;in|ner, and every thing affects joy, and therefore they indeavour our Conver&s;ion, yea, &s;ince they have an increa&s;e of their knowledge by being about us, (for, S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>That he was made a Preacher of the Go&s;pel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 3.10.</NOTE> <HI>to the intent that Angels might know, by the Church, the manifold wi&s;edome of God</HI>) And every thing affects knowledge, the&s;e Saints of God upon earth, intended in our Text, might ju&s;tly promi&s;e them&s;elves a &s;trong and a ble&s;&s;ed comfort, and a happy i&s;&s;ue in all tribulations, by this Scripture, if there were no more intended in it, but onely the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Angels; <HI>I &s;aw an Angel.</HI></P>
<P>But our &s;ecurity of deliverance is in a &s;afer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Angelus, Chri&s;tus.</NOTE> and a &s;tronger hand then this; not in the&s;e Mini&s;teriall, and Mi&s;&s;ive Angels onely; but in his that &s;ends them, yea in his that made them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.16, 17.</NOTE> <HI>By whom, and for whom, they, and the Thrones, and Dominions, and Principa|lities, and Powers, and all things were created, and in whom they con&s;i&s;t.</HI> For, as the name of Angel is attributed to Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.1.</NOTE> <HI>Angelus Te&s;tamenti, The Angel of the Covenant;</HI> And many of tho&s;e miraculous pa&s;&s;ages in the deliverances of I&s;rael out of Egypt, which were done by the &s;econd Per&s;on of the Trinity, by Chri&s;t, in <HI>Exodus,</HI> are by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> there, and in the abridgement of that &s;tory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.</NOTE> by <HI>Stephen</HI> after, attributed to <HI>Angels,</HI> So in this Text, this <HI>Angel,</HI> which doth &s;o much for Gods Saints, is, not inconveniently, by many Expo&s;itors, taken to be our Saviour Chri&s;t him&s;elfe. And will any man doubt of per|formance of conditions in him? Will any man looke for better &s;ecurity then him, who puts two, and two &s;uch into the band, <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>Ie&s;us;</HI> An anointed King, able, an actuall Saviour, willing to di&s;charge, not his, but our debt? He is a double Per&s;on, God and Man; He ingages a double pawn, the old, and the new Te&s;tament, the Law, and the Go&s;pel; and you may be bold to tru&s;t him, that hath paid &s;o well before; &s;ince you &s;ee a performance of the Prophe&s;ies of the old Te&s;tament, in the free and glorious preaching of the Go&s;pel, tru&s;t al&s;o in a performance of the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel, in timely deli|verances in this life, and an infallible, and eternall repo&s;edne&s;&s;e, in the life to come. Hee tooke our nature, that he might know our infirmities experimentally; He brought down a better nature, that he might recover us, re&s;tore us powerfully, effectually; and that hee might be &s;ure to accompli&s;h his work, he brought more to our reparation, then to our fir&s;t building, The God-head wrought as much in our Redemption, as in our Creation, and the Man-hood more; for it began but then. And to take from us all doubt of his power, or of his will in our deliverance, he hath taken the &s;ure&s;t way of giving &s;atisfa|ction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.4.</NOTE> He hath payed beforehand; <HI>Ver&egrave; tulit, He hath truly born all our infirmities,</HI> He hath, already; <HI>And with his &s;tripes are we healed;</HI> we that are here now, are healed by his &s;tripes received &s;ixteen hundred yeares &s;ince.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 13.8.</NOTE> Nay, he was <HI>Occi&s;us ab origine, The Lamb &s;laine from the beginning of the world;</HI> That day that the frame of the world was fully &s;et up in the making of man, That day that the faire&s;t piece of that frame fell down again, in the fall of <HI>Adam,</HI> That day that God repaired this ruine again, in the promi&s;e of a Me&s;&s;ias, (all which we take ordinarily to have fallen in one day, the &s;ixt day) that day, in that pro|mi&s;e, was this Lamb &s;lain, and all the debts not only of our fore-fathers, and ours, but of the la&s;t man, that &s;hall be found alive at the la&s;t day, were then payed, &s;o long before|hand.</P>
<P>This &s;ecurity then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Angelus Ec|cle&s;iae.</NOTE> for our deliverance and protection, we have in this Angel in our Text, <HI>(I &s;aw an Angel)</HI> as this Angel is Chri&s;t; but yet we have al&s;o another &s;ecurity, more immediate, and more appliable to us. As men that lend money in the cour&s;e of the world, have a de&s;ire to have a &s;ervant in the band with the Ma&s;ter, not that they hope
<PB N="449" REF="242">for the money from him, but that they know better how to call upon him, and how to take hold of him: &s;o be&s;ides this generall a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Angels, and be&s;ides this all-&s;uffi|ciency of the Angel of the Covenant, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, we have, for our &s;ecurity, in this Text, <HI>(I &s;aw an Angel)</HI> the &s;ervants of Chri&s;t too; This Angel is the Mini&s;ter of his Word, the Admini&s;trer of his Sacraments, the Mediator betweene Chri&s;t and Man, He is this Angel, as S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> &s;o often in the <HI>Revelation,</HI> and the Holy Gho&s;t in other places of Scripture, &s;tyles them; This Angel is indeed, the whole frame, and Hierarchy of the Chri&s;tian Church. For though this Angel be called in this text <HI>The Angel,</HI> in the &s;ingular, yet, (to make u&s;e of one note by Anticipation now, though in our di&s;tribution of the Branches, we re&s;erved it to the end, becau&s;e it fits properly our pre&s;ent con&s;ideration) though this Angel be named in the &s;ingular, and &s;o may &s;eeme to be re&s;trained to Chri&s;t alone, yet, we &s;ee, the Office, when it comes to execution after, is diffu&s;ed, and there are more in the Commi&s;&s;ion; for tho&s;e phra&s;es, that <HI>Wee,</HI> Wee may &s;eale, the &s;ervants of <HI>Our,</HI> Our God, have a plurality in them, a con&s;ent, a harmony, and imply a Congrega|tion, and doe better agree with the Mini&s;tery of the Church, then with the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t alone.</P>
<P>So then, to let go none of our a&s;&s;i&s;tants, our &s;ureties, our &s;afety is in the Angel of the Covenant, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, radically, fundamentally, meritoriou&s;ly; It is in the mini&s;tery of the Angels of heaven invi&s;ibly; but it is in the Church of God, and in the power of his Mini&s;ters there, manife&s;tly, &s;en&s;ibly, di&s;cernibly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>They &s;hould &s;eek the Law at the Prie&s;ts mouth,</HI> (They &s;hould, and therefore they are to blame that do not, but fly to private ex|po&s;itions.) But why &s;hould they? <HI>Quia angelus domini exercituum,</HI> (as it follows there) <HI>Becau&s;e the Prie&s;t is the Angel of the Lord of Ho&s;ts.</HI> Yea, the Go&s;pell which they preach, is above all me&s;&s;ages, which an Angel can bring of him&s;elfe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>If an Angel from heaven preach otherwi&s;e unto you, then we have preached, let him be accur&s;ed.</HI> The mini&s;tery of cele|&s;tiall Angels is inferiour to the mini&s;tery of the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall; The Go&s;pel (which be|longs to us) is truly <HI>Euangelium,</HI> the good Mini&s;tery of good Angels, the be&s;t mini&s;tery of the be&s;t Angels; for though we compare not with tho&s;e Angels in nature, we com|pare with them in office; though our offices tend to the &s;ame end (to draw you to God) yet they differ in the way; and though the &s;ervice of tho&s;e Angels, enlighten your un|der&s;tanding, and a&s;&s;i&s;t your belief too, yet in the mini&s;tery of the&s;e Angels in the Church, there is a ble&s;&s;ed fulfilling, and verification of tho&s;e words, <HI>Now is &s;alvation nearer,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 13.11.</NOTE> <HI>then when we beleeved.</HI> You beleeve, becau&s;e tho&s;e cele&s;tiall Angels have wrought invi&s;ibly upon you, and di&s;per&s;t your clouds, and removed impediments. You beleeve, becau&s;e the great Angel Chri&s;t Je&s;us, hath left his hi&s;tory, his action, and pa&s;&s;ion written for you; and that is a hi&s;toricall faith. But yet &s;alvation is nearer to you, in having all this appli|ed to you, by them, who are like you, men, and there, where you know how to fetch it, the Church; That as you beleeve by reading the Go&s;pels at home, that Chri&s;t died for the world, So you may beleeve, by hearing here, that he dyed for you. This is Gods plenteous Redemption, <HI>Qu&ograve;d linguam meam a&s;&s;um&s;it in opus &s;uum;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> That having &s;o great a work to doe, as the &s;alvation of &s;oules, he would make u&s;e of my tongue; And being to &s;ave the world by his word, that I &s;hould &s;peak that word. <HI>Docendo vos, quod per &s;e faci|li&ugrave;s &amp; &s;uavi&ugrave;s po&s;&s;et,</HI> That he calls me up hither, to teach you that which he could teach you better, and &s;ooner, at home, by his Spirit; <HI>Indulgentia ejus e&s;t, non indigentia,</HI> It is the largene&s;&s;e of his mercy towards you, not any narrowne&s;&s;e in his power that he needs me. And &s;o have you this Angel in our text, in all the acceptations, in which our Expo&s;itors have delivered him; It is Chri&s;t, It is the Angels of heaven, It is the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel; And this Angell, who&s;oever, what&s;oever, S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;aw come from the Ea&s;t, <HI>(I &s;aw an Angel come from the Ea&s;t)</HI> which was our &s;econd Branch, and fals next into con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>This addition is intended for a particular addition to our comfort;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ab oriente.</NOTE> it is a particular en|dowment, or inlargement of &s;trength and power in this Angel, <HI>that he comes from the Ea&s;t.</HI> If we take it, (to goe the &s;ame way that we went before) fir&s;t of naturall Angels, even the We&s;terne Angels, <HI>Qui habuere occa&s;um,</HI> Tho&s;e Angels which have had their Sun-&s;et, their fall, they came from the Ea&s;t too; <HI>Quomodo cecidi&s;ti decoelo, Lucifer, filius orientis?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 14 12.</NOTE> <HI>How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, the Son of the morning?</HI> He had his begetting, his Creation in the Ea&s;t, in the light, and there might have &s;tayed, for any nece&s;&s;ity of falling, that God laid upon him. Take the Angel of the text to be the Angel of the
<PB N="450" REF="243">Covenant Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and his name is The Ea&s;t; he cannot be knowne, he cannot bee &s;aid to have any We&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 6.12.</NOTE> <HI>Ecce vir, Oriens nomen ejus,</HI> (&s;o the vulgat reads that place) <HI>Behold the Man, who&s;e name is the Ea&s;t;</HI> you can call him nothing el&s;e; for &s;o, the other <HI>Zachary,</HI> the <HI>Zachary</HI> of the New Te&s;tament cals him too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.78.</NOTE> <HI>Per vi&s;cera mi&s;ericordiae, Through the tender bowels of his mercy, Vi&s;itavit nos Oriens, The Ea&s;t, the day &s;pring from on high hath vi&s;ited us;</HI> And he was derived <HI>&agrave; Patre luminum,</HI> He came from the Ea&s;t, begotten from all eternity of the Father of lights,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 16.28.</NOTE> <HI>I came out from the Father, and came into the world.</HI> Take this Angel to be the Preacher of the Go&s;pel, literally, really, the Go&s;pell came out of the Ea&s;t, where Chri&s;t lived and dyed; and Typically, figuratively, Paradi&s;e, which al&s;o figured the place, to which the Go&s;pel is to carry us, Heaven, that al&s;o was planted in the Ea&s;t; and therefore S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> a&s;&s;ignes that for the rea&s;on, why in the Church &s;ervice we turne to the Ea&s;t when we pray, <HI>Quia antiquam requirimus patriam,</HI> Wee looke to|wards our ancient country, where the Go&s;pel of our &s;alvation was literally acted, and ac|compli&s;hed, and where Heaven, the end of the Go&s;pel, was repre&s;ented in Paradi&s;e. Eve|ry way the Go&s;pel is an Angel of the Ea&s;t.</P>
<P>But this is that which we take to be principally intended in it, That as the Ea&s;t is the fountaine of light, &s;o all our illumination is to be taken from the Go&s;pell. Spread we this a little thinner, and we &s;hall better &s;ee through it. If the calamities of the world, or the heavy con&s;ideration of thine own &s;ins, have benummed and benighted thy &s;oule in the vale of darkne&s;&s;e, and in the &s;hadow of death; If thou thinke to wra&s;tle and bu&s;tle through the&s;e &s;trong &s;tormes, and thick clouds, with a &s;trong hand; If thou thinke thy money, thy bribes &s;hall conjure thee up &s;tronger &s;pirits then tho&s;e that oppo&s;e thee; If thou &s;eek ea&s;e in thy calamities, that way to &s;hake and &s;hipwrack thine enemies; In the&s;e cro&s;&s;e winds, in the&s;e countermines, (to oppre&s;&s;e as thou art oppre&s;&s;ed) all this is but a turning to the North, to blow away and &s;catter the&s;e &s;adne&s;&s;es, with a fal&s;e, an illu&s;ory, and a &s;infull comfort. If thou thinke to ea&s;e thy &s;elfe in the contemplation of thine ho|nour, thine offices; thy favour, thy riches, thy health, this is but a turning to the South, the Sun-&s;hine of worldly pro&s;perity. If thou &s;inke under thy afflictions, and can&s;t not finde nouri&s;hment (but poy&s;on) in Gods corrections, nor ju&s;tice (but cruelty) in his judgements, nor mercy (but &s;lackne&s;&s;e) in his forbearance till now; If thou &s;uffer thy &s;oule to &s;et in a cloud, a dark cloud of ignorance of Gods providence and proceedings, or in a darker, of diffidence of his performance towards thee, this is a turning to the We&s;t, and all the&s;e are perver&s;e and awry. But turne to the Ea&s;t, and to the Angel that comes from thence, The Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in his Church; It is true, thou may&s;t find &s;ome darke places in the Scriptures;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> and, <HI>E&s;t &s;ilentii &s;pecies ob&s;curitas,</HI> To &s;peake dark|ly and ob&s;curely is a kinde of &s;ilence, I were as good not be &s;poken to, as not be made to under&s;tand that which is &s;poken, yet fixe thy &s;elfe upon this Angel of the Ea&s;t, the prea|ching of the Word, the Ordinance of God, and thine under&s;tanding &s;hall be enlightned, and thy beliefe e&s;tabli&s;hed, and thy con&s;cience thus far unburthened, that though the &s;ins which thou ha&s;t done, cannot be undone, yet neither &s;halt thou bee undone by them; There, where thou art afraid of them, in judgement, they &s;hall never meet thee; but as in the round frame of the World, the farthe&s;t We&s;t is Ea&s;t, where the We&s;t ends, the Ea&s;t begins, So in thee, (who art a World too) thy We&s;t and thy Ea&s;t &s;hall joyne, and when thy Sun, thy &s;oule comes to &s;et in thy death-bed, the Son of Grace &s;hall &s;uck it up into glory.</P>
<P>Our Angel comes from the Ea&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Angelus A&s;cendens.</NOTE> (a denotation of &s;plendor, and illu&s;tration of under|&s;tanding, and con&s;cience) and there is more, he comes A&s;cending, <HI>(I &s;aw an Angel a&s;cend from the Ea&s;t)</HI> that is, &s;till growing more cleare, and more powerfull upon us. Take the Angel here of naturall Angels;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 28.13.</NOTE> and then, when the Witch of Endor (though an evill Spi|rit appeared to her) yet &s;aw him appeare &s;o, A&s;cending, &s;he attributes that glory to it, <HI>I &s;ee gods A&s;cending out of the earth.</HI> Take the Angel to be Chri&s;t, and then, his A&s;cen&s;ion was <HI>Foelix clau&s;ula totius itinerarii,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> The glorious &s;hutting up of all his progre&s;&s;e; and though his de&s;cending from Heaven to earth, and his de&s;cending from earth to hell gave us our title, his A&s;cending, by which he carried up our fle&s;h to the right hand of his Father, gave us our po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; His De&s;cent, his humiliation gave us <HI>Ius ad rem,</HI> but his A&s;cen&s;ion <HI>Ius in re.</HI> But as this Angel is the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel, God gave it a glorious a&s;cent in the Primitive Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.6.</NOTE> when as this Sun <HI>Exultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam,</HI> a&s;cended quickly beyond the reach of Heretiques wits, and Per&s;ecutors &s;words, and as glorious an
<PB N="451" REF="243">a&s;cent in the Reformation, when in no long time, the number of them that had for&s;aken Rome was as great, as of them that &s;taid with her.</P>
<P>Now to give way to this a&s;cent of this Angel in thy &s;elfe, make the way &s;mooth, and make thy &s;oule &s;ouple; finde thou a growth of the Go&s;pel in thy faith, and let us finde it in thy life. It is not in thy power to &s;ay to this Angel, as <HI>Io&s;hua</HI> &s;aid to the Sun, <HI>Si&s;te,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h. 10.12.</NOTE> <HI>&s;tand &s;till;</HI> It will not &s;tand &s;till; If thou finde it not a&s;cending, it de&s;cends; If thy comforts in the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us grow not, they decay; If thou profit not by the Go&s;pel, thou lo&s;e&s;t by it; If thou live not by it, (nothing can redeeme thee) thou dye&s;t by it. Wee &s;peake of going up and downe a &s;taire; it is all one &s;taire; of going to, and from the City; it is all one way; of comming in, and going out of a hou&s;e; it is all one doore: So is there <HI>a &s;avour of life unto life,</HI> and <HI>a &s;avour of death unto death</HI> in the Go&s;pel; but it is all one Go|&s;pel. If this Angel of the Ea&s;t have appeared unto thee, (the light of the Go&s;pel have &s;hi|ned upon thee) and it have not a&s;cended in thee, if it have not made thee wi&s;er and wi&s;er, and better and better too, thou ha&s;t &s;topped that light, vexed, grieved, quenched that Spi|rit; for the naturall progre&s;&s;e of this Angel of the Ea&s;t is to a&s;cend; the naturall motion and working of the Go&s;pel is, to make thee more and more confident in Gods delive|rance, le&s;&s;e and le&s;&s;e &s;ubject to rely upon the weake helps, and mi&s;erable comforts of this world. To this purpo&s;e this Angel a&s;cends, that is, proceeds in the manife&s;tation of his Power, and of his readine&s;&s;e to &s;uccour us. Of his Power in this, That he hath the &s;eales of the living God; <HI>(I &s;aw an Angel a&s;cending from the Ea&s;t, which had the &s;eale of the living God)</HI> which is our next Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P><HI>Of the living God.</HI> The gods of the Nations are all dead gods;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sigillum Dei viventis.</NOTE> either &s;uch Gods as ne|ver had life, (&s;tones, and gold and &s;ilver) or &s;uch gods at be&s;t, as were never gods till they were dead; for men that had benefited the world, in any publique and generall invention, or otherwi&s;e, were made gods after their deaths; which was a mi&s;erable deification, a mi&s;erable godhead that grew out of corruption, a mi&s;erable eternity that begun at all, but e&s;pecially that begun in death; and they were not gods till they dyed. But our Angel had the Seale of the living God, that is, Power to give life to others. Now, if we &s;eeke for this &s;eale in the naturall Angels, they have it not; for this Seale is &s;ome vi&s;ible thing whereby we are a&s;&s;i&s;ted to &s;alvation, and the Angels have no &s;uch. They are made kee|pers of this &s;eale &s;ometimes, but permanently they have it not. This Seale of comfort was put into an Angels hand,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 9.4.</NOTE> when he was <HI>to &s;et a marke upon the foreheads of all them that mourned;</HI> He had a vi&s;ible thing, <HI>Inke,</HI> to marke them withall. But it was not &s;aid to him, <HI>Vade &amp; &s;igna omnes Creaturas,</HI> Go, and &s;et this marke upon every Creature, as it was to the Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel, <HI>Go, and preach to every Creature.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 16.15.</NOTE> If wee &s;eeke this &s;eale in the great Angel, the Angel of the Covenant, Chri&s;t Je&s;us: It is true he hath it, for, <HI>Omnis po|te&s;tas d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ta, All power is given unto me, in Heaven, and in earth;</HI> and, <HI>Omne judicium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.18. Iohn 5.22.</NOTE> <HI>The Father hath committed all judgement to the Son;</HI> Chri&s;t, as the Son of man executes a Judgement, and hath a Power, which he hath not but by gift, by Commi&s;&s;ion, by vertue of this Seale, from his Father. But, becau&s;e it is not onely &s;o in him, That he hath the Seale of the living God, but, He is this Seale him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.15. Heb. 1.3. Iohn 6.27.</NOTE> <HI>(Hee is the Image of the invi&s;ible God; He is the brightne&s;&s;e of his glory, and the expre&s;&s;e Image of his Per&s;on)</HI> It is not onely his Commi&s;&s;ion that is &s;ealed, but his Nature, He him&s;elfe is &s;ealed, <HI>(Him hath God the Father &s;ealed)</HI> &s;ince, I &s;ay, naturall Angels though they have &s;ometimes this &s;eale, they have it not alwaies, they have not a Commi&s;&s;ion from God, to apply his mercies to man, by any ordinary and vi&s;ible meanes, &s;ince the Angel of the Covenant, Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath it, but hath it &s;o, as that he is it too, the third &s;ort of Angels, the Church-Angels, the Mini|&s;ters of the Go&s;pell, are they, who mo&s;t properly can be &s;aid to have this Seale by a fixed and permanent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and a power to apply it to particular men, in all emergent ne|ce&s;&s;ities, according to the in&s;titution of that living God, who&s;e &s;eale it is.</P>
<P>Now the great power which is given by God, in giving this &s;eale to the&s;e Angels, hath a lively repre&s;entation (&s;uch as a &s;hadow can give) in the hi&s;tory of <HI>Io&s;eph. Pharaoh</HI> &s;ayes to him, <HI>Thou &s;halt be over my hou&s;e, and over all the land of Egypt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 41.40.</NOTE> (&s;teward of the Kings hou&s;e, and &s;teward of the Kingdome) <HI>And at thy word &s;hall all my people be armed,</HI> (Con&s;table and Mar&s;hall too) and to inve&s;t him in all the&s;e, and more, <HI>Pharaoh</HI> gave him his <HI>ring,</HI> his &s;eale; not his &s;eale onely to tho&s;e &s;everall patents to him&s;elfe, but the keep|ing of that &s;eale for the good of others; This temporall &s;eale of <HI>Pharoh</HI> was a repre&s;enta|tion of the &s;eale of the living God. But there is a more expre&s;&s;e type of it in Exodus:
<PB N="452" REF="244"><HI>Thou &s;halt grave</HI> (&s;ayes God to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>) <HI>upon a plate of pure gold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lxod. 28.36.</NOTE> <HI>as Signets are graved, Ho|line&s;&s;e to the Lord; and it &s;hall be upon the forehead of Aaron;</HI> What to do? <HI>That the people may be accepted of him.</HI> There mu&s;t be a holine&s;&s;e to the Lord, and that pre&s;ented by <HI>Aaron</HI> the Prie&s;t to God, that the people may be <HI>acceptable to the Lord;</HI> So that this &s;eale of the living God, in the&s;e Angels of our text, is, The Sacraments of the New Te&s;ta|ment, and the Ab&s;olution of &s;innes, by which (when Gods people come to a Holi|ne&s;&s;e to the Lord, in a true repentance, and that that holine&s;&s;e, that is, that repentance, is made knowne to <HI>Aaron,</HI> to the Prie&s;t, and he pre&s;ents it to the Lord) that Prie&s;t, his Mini&s;ter &s;eals to them, in tho&s;e his Ordinances, Gods acceptation of this degree of holi|ne&s;&s;e, he &s;eals this Reconciliation between God and his people. And a contract of future concurrence, with his &s;ub&s;equent grace. This is the power given by God to this a&s;cen|ding Angel; and we extend that no farther, but ha&s;ten to his ha&s;te, his readine&s;&s;e to &s;uc|cour us; in which, we propo&s;ed for the fir&s;t con&s;ideration, That this Angel of light ma|nife&s;ted and di&s;covered to us, who our enemies were: (<HI>He cryed out</HI> to them who were ready to do mi&s;chiefe, <HI>with a loud voyce</HI>) &s;o that we might heare him, and know them.</P>
<P>Though in all Court-ca&s;es it be not good to take knowledge of enemies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Manife&s;tat inimicos.</NOTE> (many times that is better forborne) yet in all ca&s;es, it is good to know them. E&s;pecially in our ca&s;e in the Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 6.12.</NOTE> becau&s;e our enemies intended here, are of them&s;elves, <HI>Princes of darkne&s;&s;e;</HI> They can multiply clouds, and di&s;gui&s;ings, their kingdome is in the darkne&s;&s;e, <HI>Sagittant in ob&s;curo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 11.2: P&s;al. 143.3.</NOTE> <HI>They &s;hoot in the darke,</HI> (I am wounded with a tentation, as with the plague, and I know not whence the arrow came) <HI>Collocavit me in ob&s;curis, The enemy hath made my dwelling darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> I have no window that lets in light, but then this Angel of light &s;hews me who they are.</P>
<P>But then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inimici, Angeli.</NOTE> if we were left to our &s;elves, it were but a little advantage to know who our enemies were, when we knew tho&s;e enemies to be Angels, per&s;ons &s;o far above our re|&s;i&s;tance.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 6.12.</NOTE> For, but that S. <HI>Paul</HI> mollifies and ea&s;es it with a milder word, <HI>E&s;t nobis collu|ctatio,</HI> That we <HI>wre&s;tle</HI> with enemies, (that thereby we might &s;ee our danger is but to take a fall, not a deadly wound, if we look &s;eriou&s;ly to our worke; we cannot avoyd fal|ling into &s;ins of infirmity, but the death of habituall &s;in we may: <HI>Quare moriemini domus I&s;rael?</HI> He does not &s;ay, why would ye fall? but <HI>why will ye die, ye hou&s;e of I&s;rael?</HI>) it were a con&s;ideration inough to make us de&s;perate of victory, to heare him &s;ay, that this (though it be but a wre&s;tling) is <HI>not again&s;t fle&s;h and blood, but again&s;t principalities, and powers, and &s;pirituall wickedne&s;&s;es in high places.</HI> None of us hath got the victory over fle&s;h and blood, and yet we have greater enemies then fle&s;h and blood are. Some di&s;ciplines, &s;ome mor|tifications we have again&s;t fle&s;h and blood; we have S. <HI>Pauls probatum e&s;t,</HI> his medicine, (if we will u&s;e it) <HI>Ca&s;tigo corpus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.27.</NOTE> <HI>I keep under my body, and bring it into &s;ubjection;</HI> for that we have &s;ome a&s;&s;i&s;tance; Even our enemies become our friends; poverty or &s;ickne&s;&s;e will fight for us again&s;t fle&s;h and blood, again&s;t our carnall lu&s;ts; but for the&s;e powers and principalities, I know not where to watch them, how to encounter them. I pa&s;&s;e my time &s;ociably and merrily in cheerful conver&s;ation, in mu&s;ique, in fea&s;ting, in Come|dies, in wantonne&s;&s;e; and I never heare all this while of any power or principality, my Con&s;cience &s;pies no &s;uch enemy in all this. And then alone, between God and me at midnight, &s;ome beam of his grace &s;hines out upon me, and by that light I &s;ee this Prince of darkne&s;&s;e, and then I finde that I have been the &s;ubject, the &s;lave of the&s;e powers and principalities, when I thought not of them. Well, I &s;ee them, and I try then to di&s;po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e my &s;elfe of them, and I make my recour&s;e to the powerfulle&s;t exorci&s;me that is, I turne to hearty and earne&s;t prayer to God, and I fix my thoughts &s;trongly (as I thinke) upon him, and before I have perfected one petition, one period of my prayer, a power and principality is got into me againe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 29.10.</NOTE> <HI>Spiritus &s;oporis,</HI> The &s;pirit of &s;lumber clo&s;es mine eyes, and I pray drou&s;ily;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 19.14.</NOTE> Or <HI>&s;piritus vertiginis,</HI> the &s;pirit of deviation, and vaine repetition, and I pray giddily, and circularly, and returne againe and againe to that I have &s;aid be|fore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 9.55.</NOTE> and perceive not that I do &s;o; and <HI>ne&s;cio cujus &s;piritus &s;im,</HI> (as our Saviour &s;aid, re|buking his Di&s;ciples, who were &s;o vehement for the burning of the Samaritans, <HI>you know not of what &s;pirit you are</HI>) I pray, and know not of what &s;pirit I am, I con&s;ider not mine own purpo&s;e in prayer; And by this advantage, this doore of incon&s;ideration, enters <HI>&s;pi|ritus erroris,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.1.</NOTE> The &s;educing &s;pirit, the &s;pirit of error, and I pray not onely negligently, but erroniou&s;ly, dangerou&s;ly, for &s;uch things as di&s;conduce to the glory of God, and my true happine&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 4.12.5.4.</NOTE> if they were granted. Nay, even the Prophet <HI>Ho&s;ea's &s;piritus fornicationum,</HI> en|ters
<PB N="453" REF="244">into me, <HI>The &s;pirit of fornication,</HI> that is, &s;ome remembrance of the wantonne&s;&s;e of my youth, &s;ome mi&s;-interpretation of a word in my prayer, that may beare an ill &s;en&s;e, &s;ome unclean &s;pirit, &s;ome power or principality hath depraved my prayer, and &s;lackned my zeale. And this is my greate&s;t mi&s;ery of all, that when that which fights for me, and fights again&s;t me too, &s;ickne&s;&s;e, hath laid me upon my la&s;t bed, then in my weake&s;t e|&s;tate, the&s;e powers and principalities &s;hall be in their full practi&s;e again&s;t me. And there|fore it is one great advancement of thy deliverance, to be brought by this Angel, that is, by the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, to know that thou ha&s;t Angels to thine ene|mies; And then another is to know their number, and &s;o the &s;trength of their confe|deracy; for, in the ver&s;e before the Text, they are expre&s;&s;ed to be foure, <HI>(I &s;aw foure An|gels &amp;c.)</HI></P>
<P>Foure legions of Angels, foure millions, nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quatuor Angeli.</NOTE> foure Creations of Angels could do no more harme, then is intended in the&s;e foure; for, (as it is &s;aid in the former ver&s;e) <HI>They &s;tood upon the foure corners of the earth,</HI> they be&s;trid, they cantoned the whole world. Thou ha&s;t oppo&s;ite Angels enow to batter thee every where, and to cut off and defeat all &s;uc|cours, all &s;upplies, that thou can&s;t procure, or propo&s;e to thy &s;elfe; ab&s;olute enemies to one another will meet and joyne to thy ruine, and even pre&s;umption will induce de&s;pera|tion. We need not be &s;o literall in this, as S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> (who indeed in that followed <HI>O|rigen</HI>) to thinke that there is a particular evill Angel over every &s;in; That becau&s;e we finde that mention of <HI>the &s;pirit of error,</HI> and <HI>the &s;pirit of &s;lumber,</HI> and <HI>the &s;pirit of fornica|tion,</HI> we &s;hould therefore thinke that Chri&s;t meant by <HI>Mammon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.24.</NOTE> a particular &s;pirit of Co|vetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and that there be &s;everall princes over &s;everall &s;ins. This needs not; when thou art tempted, never aske that Spirits name; his name is <HI>legio,</HI> for he is many.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 5.9.</NOTE> Take thy &s;elfe at the large&s;t, as thou art a world, there are foure Angels at thy foure corners; Let thy foure corners be thy worldly profe&s;&s;ion, thy calling, and another thy bodily re|fection, thy eating, and drinking, and &s;leeping, and a third thy hone&s;t and allowable re|creations, and a fourth thy religious &s;ervice of God in this place, (which two la&s;t, that is, recreation, and religion, God hath been plea&s;ed to joyn together in the Sabbath, in which he intended his own glory in our &s;ervice of him, and then the re&s;t of the Creature too) let the&s;e foure, thy calling, thy &s;leeping, thy recreation, thy religion be the foure corners of thy world, and thou &s;halt find an Angel of tentation at every corner; even in thy &s;leep, even in this hou&s;e of God thou ha&s;t met them. The Devill is no Recu&s;ant; he will come to Church, and he will lay his &s;nares there; <HI>When that day comes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.6.</NOTE> <HI>that the Sonnes of God pre&s;ent them&s;elves before the Lord, Satan comes al&s;o among them.</HI> Not onely &s;o, as S. <HI>Augu|&s;tin</HI> confe&s;&s;es he met him at Church, to carry wanton glances between men and women, but he is here, &s;ometimes to work a mi&s;-interpretation in the hearer, &s;ometimes to work an affectation in the &s;peaker, and many times doth more harme by a good Sermon then by a weake, by po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the hearers with an admiration of the Preachers gifts, and neg|lecting Gods Ordinance. And then it is not onely their naturall power, as they are An|gels, nor their united power, as they are many, nor their politique power, that in the mid&s;t of that confu&s;ion which is among&s;t them, yet they agree together to ruine us, but (as it follows in our text) it is <HI>pote&s;tas data,</HI> a particular power, which, be&s;ides their natu|rall power, God, at this time, put into their hands; <HI>(He cryed to the foure Angels, to whom power was given to hurt)</HI> All other Angels had it not, nor had the&s;e foure that power at all times, which, in our di&s;tribution at fir&s;t we made a particular Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>It was <HI>pote&s;tas data,</HI> a &s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion that laid <HI>Iob</HI> open to Satans malice;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pote&s;tas da|ta.</NOTE> It was <HI>pote&s;tas data,</HI> a &s;peciall Commi&s;&s;ion, that laid the herd of &s;wine open to the Devils tran|portation: Much more, no doubt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.32.</NOTE> have the particular Saints of God in the a&s;&s;i&s;tances of the Chri&s;tian Church, (for <HI>Iob</HI> had not that a&s;&s;i&s;tance, being not within the Covenant) and mo&s;t of all hath the Church of God her &s;elfe, an ability, in &s;ome mea&s;ure, to defend it &s;elfe again&s;t many machinations and practi&s;es of the Devill, if it were not for this <HI>Po|te&s;tas data,</HI> That God, for his farther glory, in the tryall of his Saints, and his Church, doth enable the Devill to rai&s;e whole armies of per&s;ecutors, whole &s;warmes of here|tiques, to &s;ting and wound the Church, beyond that ordinary power, which, the Devill in nature hath. That place, <HI>Cur&s;e not the King, no, not in thought,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 10.20.</NOTE> <HI>for that which hath wings &s;hall tell the matter,</HI> is ordinarily under&s;tood of Angels; that Angels &s;hall reveale di&s;loy|all thoughts; now, naturally Angels do not under&s;tand thoughts; but, in &s;uch ca&s;es, there is <HI>Pote&s;tas data,</HI> a particular power given them to do it; and &s;o to evill Angels, for
<PB N="454" REF="245">the accompli&s;hment of Gods purpo&s;es, there is <HI>Pote&s;tas data,</HI> a new power given, a new Commi&s;&s;ion, (that is beyond permi&s;&s;ion; for, though by Gods permi&s;&s;ion mine eye &s;ee, and mine eare heare, yet my hand could not &s;ee nor heare by Gods permi&s;&s;ion; for per|mi&s;&s;ion is but the leaving of a thing to the doing of that, which by nature, (if there be no hindrance interpo&s;ed) it could, and would do.)</P>
<P>This comfort then, and this hope of deliverance ha&s;t thou here, that this Angel in our text, that is, the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel, tels thee, that that rage which the Devill u&s;es again&s;t thee now, is but <HI>Pote&s;tas data,</HI> a temporary power given him for the pre&s;ent; for, if thy afflictions were altogether from the naturall malice and power of the Devill, inhe|rent in him, that malice would never end, nor thy affliction neither, if God &s;hould leave all to him. And therefore though tho&s;e our afflictions be heavier, which proceed <HI>ex po|te&s;tate data,</HI> when God exalts that power of the Devill, which naturally he hath, with new Commi&s;&s;ions, be&s;ides his Permi&s;&s;ion to u&s;e his naturall &s;trength, and naturall ma|lice, yet our deliverance is the nearer too, becau&s;e all the&s;e acce&s;&s;ory and occa&s;ionall Commi&s;&s;ions are for particular ends, and are limited, how far they &s;hall extend, how long they &s;hall endure. Here, the <HI>pote&s;tas data,</HI> the power which was given to the&s;e An|gels was large, it was generall, for, (as it is in the former ver&s;e) it was a power <HI>to hold the foure winds of the earth, that the winde &s;hould not blow on the earth, nor on the &s;ea, nor on any tree.</HI> What this withholding of the winde &s;ignifies, and the damnification of that, is our next Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>By the Land,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Venti.</NOTE> is commonly under&s;tood all the Inhabitants of the Land; by the Sea Ilanders, and Sea-faring men, halfe inhabitants of the Sea; and by the Trees, all tho&s;e whom Per&s;ecution had driven away, and planted in the wilderne&s;&s;e. The hinderance of the u&s;e of the wind, being taken by our Expo&s;itors to be a generall impediment of the in|crea&s;e of the earth, and of commerce at Sea. But this Book of the Revelation mu&s;t not be &s;o literally under&s;tood, as that the Winds here &s;hould &s;ignifie meerly naturall winds; there is more in this then &s;o; Thus much more, That this withholding of the winds, is a withholding of the preaching and pa&s;&s;age of the Go&s;pel; which is the heavie&s;t mi&s;ery that can fall upon a Nation, or upon a man, becau&s;e thereby, by the mi&s;ery of not hea|ring, he lo&s;es all light, and meanes of di&s;cerning his owne mi&s;ery. Now as all the parts, and the &s;tyle and phra&s;e of this Book is figurative and Metaphoricall, &s;o is it no unu&s;uall Metaphor, even in other Bookes of the Scripture too, to call the Mini&s;ters, and Prea|chers of Gods Word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.16.</NOTE> by the name of winds. <HI>Ari&s;e O North, and come O South, and blow on my Garden, that the &s;pices thereof may flow out,</HI> hath alwayes been under&s;tood to be an invitation, a compellation from Chri&s;t to his Mini&s;ters, to di&s;pen&s;e and convey &s;alvati|on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 135.7.</NOTE> by his Go&s;pel, to all Nations. And upon tho&s;e words, <HI>Producit ventos, He bringeth winds out of his trea&s;uries,</HI> and <HI>Educit nubes, He bringeth clouds from the ends of the earth, Puto Praedicatores &amp; nubes &amp; ventos,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> I think that the holy Gho&s;t means both by his <HI>clouds,</HI> and by his <HI>winds,</HI> the Preachers of his Word, the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel; <HI>Nubes propter carnem, ventos propter &s;piritum,</HI> Clouds becau&s;e their bodies are &s;een, winds becau&s;e their working is felt; <HI>Nubes cernuntur, venti &s;entiuntur;</HI> as clouds they embrace the whole vi&s;ible Church, and are vi&s;ible to it; as winds they pierce into the invi&s;ible Church, the &s;oules of the true Saints of God, and work, though invi&s;ibly, upon them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 18.10.</NOTE> So al&s;o tho&s;e words, <HI>God rode upon a Cherub, and did fly, He did fly upon the wings of the wind,</HI> have been well interpreted of Gods being plea&s;ed to be carryed from Nation to Nation, by the &s;ervice of his Mini&s;ters.</P>
<P>Now this is the nature of this wind, (of the Spirit of God breathing in his Mini&s;ters) <HI>Spirat ubi vult,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.8.</NOTE> that it blowes where it li&s;ts; and this is the malice of the&s;e evill Angels, that it &s;hall not doe &s;o. But this <HI>Angel, which hath the &s;eale of the living God,</HI> that is, the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel e&s;tabli&s;hed by him, &s;hall keep the winds at their liberty; And how&s;oever waking dreamers think of alterations and tolerations, how&s;oever men that di&s;gui&s;e their expectations with an outward conformity to us, may think the time of de|claring them&s;elves growes on apace; how&s;oever the &s;lumbring of capitall laws, and rea|&s;onof State may &s;uffer &s;uch mi&s;takers to flatter them&s;elves, yet God hath made this Angel of the Ea&s;t, this Go&s;pel of his to a&s;cend &s;o far now, and to take &s;o deep root, as that now this one Angel is &s;trong enough for the other foure, that is, The &s;incere preach|ing of the Go&s;pel, in our &s;etled and well di&s;ciplined Church, &s;hall prevaile again&s;t tho&s;e foure pe&s;tilent oppo&s;ites, Athei&s;ts, and Papi&s;ts, and Sectaries, and Carnall indifferent
<PB N="455" REF="245">men, who all would hinder the blowing of this wind, the effect of this Go&s;pel. And to this purpo&s;e our Angel in the Text is &s;aid to have cryed with a loud voice, <HI>(He cryed with a loud voice to the foure Angels.)</HI></P>
<P>For our &s;ecurity therefore that this wind &s;hall blow &s;till,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clamavit.</NOTE> that this preaching of the Go&s;pel which we enjoy &s;hall be transferred upon our po&s;terity in the &s;ame &s;incerity, and the &s;ame integrity, there is required an a&s;&s;iduity, and an earne&s;tne&s;&s;e in us, who are in that &s;ervice now, in which this Angel was then, in our preaching. <HI>Clamavit,</HI> our Angel <HI>cryed,</HI> (it was his fir&s;t act, nothing mu&s;t retard our preaching) and <HI>voce magna, he cryed with a loud voice;</HI> (he gave not over with one calling) What is this crying aloud in our Angel? <HI>Vocis modum, audientium nece&s;sitas definit;</HI> The voice mu&s;t be &s;o loud, as they,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> to whom we &s;peak, are quick or thick of hearing. <HI>Submi&s;&s;a, quae ad &s;u&s;urrum propri&egrave; accedit, dam|nanda.</HI> A whi&s;pering voice was not the voice of this Angel, nor mu&s;t it be of tho&s;e An|gels that are figured in him; for that is the voice of a Conventicle, not a Church voice. That is a loud voice that is heard by them whom it concernes. So the catechizing of children, though in a familiar manner, is a loud voice, though it be not a Sermon: So wri|ting in defence of our Religion, is a loud voice, though in the meane time a man intermit his preaching: So the &s;peaking by another, when &s;ickne&s;&s;e or other &s;ervices withhold him that &s;hould, and would &s;peak, is a loud voice even from him.</P>
<P>And therefore though there be no evident, no imminent danger of withholding the&s;e winds, of inhibiting or &s;canting the liberty of the Go&s;pel, yet becau&s;e it is wi&s;hed by too many, and becau&s;e we can imagine no puni&s;hment too great for our neglecting the Go|&s;pel, it becomes us, the Mini&s;ters of God, by all the&s;e loud voices, of catechizing, of prea|ching, of writing, to cry, and to cry, (though not with vociferations, or &s;editious jealou|&s;ies and &s;u&s;pitions of the pre&s;ent government) yet to cry &s;o loud, &s;o a&s;&s;iduou&s;ly, &s;o ear|ne&s;tly, as all whom it concernes (and it concernes all) may heare it: Hurt not the earth, withhold not the winds, be you no occa&s;ions, by your neglecting the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that he &s;uffer it to be removed from you; and know withall, that you doe neglect this Go&s;pel, (how often &s;oever you heare it preached) if you doe not practice it. Nor is that a &s;ufficient practice of hearing, to de&s;ire to heare more, except thy hearing bring thee to leave thy &s;innes; without that, at the la&s;t day thou &s;halt meet thy Sermons among&s;t thy &s;innes; And when Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hall charge thee with fal&s;e weights and mea|&s;ures in thy &s;hop all the week, with prevarication in judgement, with extortion in thy practice, and in thine office, he &s;hall adde to that, And be&s;ides this, thou wa&s;t at Church twice that Sunday; when he &s;hall have told thee, Thou did&s;t not feed me, thou did&s;t not clothe me, he &s;hall aggravate all with that, Yet thou heard&s;t two Sermons that Sun|day, be&s;ides thine interlineary week Lectures. The means to keep this wind awake, (to continue the liberty of the Go&s;pel) is this loud voice, (a&s;&s;iduous and pertinent preach|ing) but Sermons unpracti&s;ed are threepiled &s;ins, and God &s;hall turne, as their prayers, &s;o their preaching into &s;in. For this injunction, this inhibition which this Angel &s;erves up|on the four Angels, That they &s;hould not hurt the world by withholding the winds, that is, not hinder the propagation &amp; pa&s;&s;age of the Go&s;pel, was not perpetuall; it was limited with a <HI>Donec,</HI> Till &s;omething were done in the behalfe and favour of the world, and that was, <HI>Till the &s;ervants of God were &s;ealed in their foreheads,</HI> which is our la&s;t Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>The &s;ervants of God being &s;ealed in their foreheads in the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Donec &s;ig|nentur.</NOTE> when they are received into the care of the Church, all tho&s;e meanes which God hath provided for his &s;ervants, in his Church, to refi&s;t afflictions and tentations, are intended to be conferred upon them in that &s;eale; This &s;ealing of them is a communicating to them all tho&s;e a&s;&s;i&s;tances of the Chri&s;tian Church: Then they have a way of prevention of &s;in, by hearing; a way to Ab&s;olution, by Confe&s;&s;ion; a way to Reconciliation, by a worthy receiving the body and bloud of Chri&s;t Je&s;us: And the&s;e helps of the Chri&s;tian Church, thus conferred in Bapti&s;me, keep open &s;till, (if the&s;e be rightly u&s;ed) that other &s;eale, the &s;eale of the Spirit; <HI>After ye heard the Go&s;pel, and beleeved,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.13. 2 Cor. 1.22.</NOTE> <HI>ye were &s;ealed with the holy &s;pirit of promi&s;e:</HI> and &s;o al&s;o, <HI>God hath anointed us, and &s;ealed us, and given us the earne&s;t of his Spirit in our hearts.</HI> So that be&s;ides the &s;eal in the forehead, which is an intere&s;t and title to all the a&s;&s;i&s;tances and benefits of the Church, publique prayer, preaching, Sacra|ments and &s;acramentall helps, there is a &s;eale of the Spirit of God, that that Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with my &s;pirit, that I performe the conditions pa&s;&s;ed between God and me, un|der the fir&s;t &s;eale, my Bapti&s;me. But becau&s;e this &s;econd &s;eale, (the ob&s;ignation and
<PB N="456" REF="246">te&s;tification of the inward Spirit) depends upon the good u&s;e of the fir&s;t &s;eale, (the parti|cipation of the helps of the Church, given me in Bapti&s;me) therefore the <HI>Donec</HI> in our Text, <HI>(Hurt them not till they be &s;ealed)</HI> reaches but to to the fir&s;t &s;eale, the &s;eale of Bap|ti&s;me, and in that, of all Gods ordinary graces, ordinarily exhibited in his Ordinances.</P>
<P>So then, this Angel takes care of us, till he have delivered us over to the &s;weet and powerfull helps of that Church, which God hath purcha&s;ed with his blood; when hee hath placed us there, he looks that we &s;hould doe &s;omething for our &s;elves, which, be|fore we were there, and made partakers of Gods graces in his Church by Bapti&s;me, we could not doe; for in this, this Angels Commi&s;&s;ion determines, That we be &s;ealed in the fore-heads, That we be taken from the Common, into Gods inclo&s;ures, impayled in his Park, received into his Church, where our &s;alvation depends upon the good u&s;e of tho&s;e meanes. U&s;e therefore tho&s;e meanes well; and put not God to &s;ave thee by a miracle, without meanes. Tru&s;t not to an irre&s;i&s;tible grace, that at one time or other God will have thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> whether thou wilt or no. <HI>Tolle voluntatem, &amp; non e&s;t infernus;</HI> If thou could&s;t quench thine owne will, thou had&s;t quenched hell; If thou could&s;t be content, willing to be in hell, hell were not hell. So, if God &s;ave a man again&s;t his will, heaven is not hea|ven; If he be loath to come thither, &s;orry that he &s;hall be there, he hath not the joy of heaven, and then heaven is not heaven. Put not God to &s;ave thee by miracle; God can &s;ave an Image by miracle; by miracle he can make an Image a man; If man can make God of bread, certainly God can make a man of an Image, and &s;o &s;ave him; but God hath made thee his own Image, and afforded thee meanes of &s;alvation: U&s;e them. God com|pels no man.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 14.23.</NOTE> The Ma&s;ter of the fea&s;t invited many; &s;olemnly, before hand; they came not: He &s;ent his &s;ervants to call in the poore, upon the &s;udden; and they came; &s;o he re|ceives late commers. And there is a <HI>Compelle intrare,</HI> He &s;ends a &s;ervant to compell &s;ome to come in. But that was but a &s;ervants work, The Ma&s;ter onely invited; he compelled none. We the &s;ervants of God, have certaine compul&s;ories, to bring men hither; The denouncing of Gods Judgements, the cen&s;ures of the Church, Excommunications, and the re&s;t, are compul&s;ories. The State hath compul&s;ories too, in the penall Laws. But all this is but to bring them into the hou&s;e, to Church; <HI>Compelle intrare.</HI> We can compell them to come to the fir&s;t &s;eale, to Bapti&s;me; we can compell men, to bring their chil|dren to that Sacrament; But to &s;alvation, onely the Ma&s;ter brings; and (in that Para|ble) the Ma&s;ter does onely invite; he compells none: Though his corrections may &s;eeme to be compul&s;ories, yet even his corrections are &s;weet invitations; His correcti|ons are &s;o farre from compelling men to come to heaven, as that they put many men farther out of their way, and worke an obduration, rather then an ob&s;equiou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>With tho&s;e therefore that neglect the meanes, that he hath brought them to, in &s;ealing them in the fore-head, this Angel hath no more to doe, but gives them over to the power of the foure de&s;troying Angels. With tho&s;e that attend tho&s;e meanns, he proceeds; and, in their behalfe, his <HI>Donec,</HI> (Spare them till I have &s;ealed them) becomes the ble&s;&s;ed Vir|gins <HI>Donec,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 1.25. P&s;al. 110.1.</NOTE> &s;he was a Virgin till &s;he had her Child, and a Virgin after too; And it be|comes our ble&s;&s;ed Saviours <HI>Donec,</HI> He &s;its at his Fathers right hand, till his enemies bee made his foot-&s;toole, and after too; So the&s;e de&s;troying Angels, that had no power over them till they were &s;ealed, &s;hall have no power over them after they are &s;ealed, but they &s;hall pa&s;&s;e from &s;eale to &s;eale; after that &s;eale on the fore-head, <HI>Ne erube&s;eant Euangeli|um,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>(We &s;igne him with the &s;igne of the Cro&s;&s;e, in token, that hereafter he &s;hall not be a&s;hamed, to confe&s;&s;e the faith of Chri&s;t Crucified)</HI> He &s;hall come al&s;o to tho&s;e &s;eales, which our Savi|our recommends to his Spou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.6.</NOTE> <HI>Set me as a &s;eale on thy heart, and as a &s;eale on thine arme;</HI> S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> collects them, and connects them together, <HI>Signaculum Chri&s;ti in corde, ut dili|gamus, in fronte, ut confiteamur, in brachio, ut operemur;</HI> God &s;eales us in the heart, that we might love him, and in the fore-head, that we might profe&s;&s;e it, and in the hand, that we might declare and practi&s;e it; and then the whole purpo&s;e of this ble&s;&s;ed Angel in our Text, is perfected in us, and we our &s;elves are made partakers of the &s;olemnity of this day, which we celebrate, for we our &s;elves enter in the Communion of Saints, by the&s;e three &s;eales, Of Beliefe, Of Profe&s;&s;ion, Of Works and Practi&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="St. Paul" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="246">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon THE CONVERSION OF S. PAVL.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="46" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="247">
<PB N="459" REF="247">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLVI.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> The Sunday after the Conver&s;ion of S. <HI>PAUL. 1624.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ACTS 9.4.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he fell to the earth, and heard a voyce, &s;aying, Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_LEt us now prai&s;e famous Men, and our Fathers that begat us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 44.1.</NOTE> (&s;aies the Wi&s;eman) that is, that a&s;&s;i&s;ted our &s;econd generation, our &s;pirituall Regeneration; Let us prai&s;e them, commemorate them. <HI>The Lord hath wrought great glory by them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> <HI>through his power from the beginning,</HI> &s;aies he there, that is, It hath alwaies beene the Lords way to glorifie him&s;elfe in the conver&s;ion of Men, by the mini&s;tery of Men. For he adds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 4.</NOTE> <HI>They were leaders of the people by their coun&s;aile, and by their knowledge and learning meet for the peo|ple, wi&s;e and eloquent men in their in&s;tructions;</HI> and that is, That God who gives the&s;e gifts for this purpo&s;e, looks for the employment of the&s;e gifts, to the edification of others, to his glory. <HI>There be of them, that have left a name behinde them.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE>(as it is al&s;o added in that place) that is, That though God can amply reward his &s;ervants in the next world, yet he does it &s;ometimes in this world; and, though not with temporall happine&s;&s;es, in their life, yet with honor, and commemorations, and celebrations of them, after they are gone out of this life, they leave a name behind them. And among&s;t them, in a high place, &s;hines our ble&s;&s;ed and glorious Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Paul,</HI> who&s;e Conver&s;ion the Church celebrates now, and for the celebration thereof, hath appointed this part of Scripture from whence this text ari&s;es, to be the Epi&s;tle of the Day, <HI>And he fell to the earth, and heard a voyce, &s;aying, Saul, Saul, why per&s;ccute&s;t thou me?</HI></P>
<P>There are words in the text, that will reach to all the Story of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Conver&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> embrace all, involve and enwrap all; we mu&s;t contract them; into le&s;&s;e then three parts, we cannot well; tho&s;e will be the&s;e; fir&s;t, The Per&s;on, <HI>Saul,</HI> He, <HI>He fell to the earth;</HI> and then, his humiliation, his exinanition of him&s;elfe, his deve&s;ting, putting off of him|&s;elfe, <HI>He fell to the earth;</HI> and la&s;tly, his inve&s;ting of Chri&s;t, his putting on of Chri&s;t, his ri&s;ing againe by the power of a new inanimation, a new &s;oule breathed into him from Chri&s;t, <HI>He heard a voyce, &s;aying, Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI> Now, a re-di&s;tributi|on, a &s;ub-divi&s;ion of the&s;e parts, into their branches, we &s;hall pre&s;ent to you anon, more opportunely, as we &s;hall come in due order to the handling of the parts them&s;elves. In the fir&s;t, the branches will be but the&s;e; <HI>Sauls</HI> indi&s;po&s;ition when Chri&s;t tooke him in hand, and Chri&s;ts worke upon him; what he found him, what he left him, will determine our fir&s;t part, The per&s;on.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, what he was at that time,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1. Part.</HI> Quid ante.</NOTE> the Holy Gho&s;t gives evidence enough again&s;t him, and he gives enough again&s;t him&s;elfe. Of that which the Holy Gho&s;t gives, you may &s;ee a great many heavy pieces, a great many appliable circum&s;tances, if at any time, at home, you do but paraphra&s;e, and &s;pread to your &s;elves the former part of this Chap|ter,
<PB N="460" REF="248">to this text. Take a little preparation from me; <HI>Adhuc &s;pirans,</HI> &s;aies the fir&s;t ver&s;e, <HI>Saul yet breathing threatnings and &s;laughter,</HI> Then when he was in the height of his fury, Chri&s;t laid hold upon him. It was, for the mo&s;t part, Chri&s;ts method of curing. Then when the Sea was in a tempe&s;tuous rage,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.24.</NOTE> when the waters covered the &s;hip, and the &s;torme &s;haked even that which could remove mountaines, the faith of the Di&s;ciples, then Chri&s;t rebukes the winde, and commands a calme. Then when the Sun was gone out to run his race as a Giant, (as <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks) then God by the mouth of another, of <HI>Io&s;huah,</HI> bids the Sun &s;tand &s;till. Then when that uncleane &s;pirit foam'd, and fum'd, and tore, and rent the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed per&s;ons, then Chri&s;t commanded them to go out. Let the fe|ver alone, &s;ay our Phy&s;itians, till &s;ome fits be pa&s;&s;ed, and then we &s;hall &s;ee farther, and di&s;cerne better. The note is S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes,</HI> and he applies it to Chri&s;ts proceeding with <HI>Saul; Non expectavit ut fatigatus debacchando man&s;ue&s;ceret,</HI> &s;ayes he, Chri&s;t &s;taid not till <HI>Saul</HI> being made drunke with blood, were ca&s;t into a &s;lumber, as &s;atisfied with the blood of Chri&s;tians; <HI>Sed in media in&s;ania &s;uperavit,</HI> but in the mid&s;t of his fit, he gave him phy|&s;ick, in the mid&s;t of his madne&s;&s;e, he reclaimes him. So is it al&s;o part of the evidence that the Holy Gho&s;t gives again&s;t him, <HI>Quod petiit Epi&s;tolas,</HI> that he &s;ued to the State for a Commi&s;&s;ion to per&s;ecute Chri&s;tians. When the State will put men to &s;ome kinde of ne|ce&s;&s;ity of concurring to the endamaging or endangering of the cau&s;e of Chri&s;t, and will be di&s;plea&s;ed with them, if they doe not, men make to them&s;elves, and to their con|&s;ciences &s;ome faint colour of excu&s;e: But when they them&s;elves &s;et actions on foote, which are not required at their hands, where is their eva&s;ion? Then when <HI>Saul</HI> &s;ued out this Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>That if he found any of that way,</HI> (that is, Chri&s;tians) (for he had &s;o &s;cat|tered them before, that he was not &s;ure to finde any, They did not appeare in any whole body, dangerous, or &s;u&s;picious to the State) but, If hee found any, <HI>Any man or woman,</HI> That he might have the Power of the State, &s;o as that he need not feare men, That hee might have the impartiality, and the inflexibility of the State, &s;o as that he need not pity women, Then when his glory was <HI>to bring them bound to Ieru&s;alem,</HI> that he might mag|nifie his triumph and greatne&s;&s;e in the eye of the world, Then, then &s;ayes Chri&s;t, to this tempe&s;t, Be calme, to this uncleane &s;pirit, Come out, to this Sun, in his own e&s;timation, Go no farther.</P>
<P>Thus much evidence the Holy Gho&s;t gives again&s;t him; and thus much more him|&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 22.4.</NOTE> <HI>I per&s;ecuted this way unto the death; I bound and delivered into pri&s;on, both men and women;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 26.11.</NOTE> And after, more then this, <HI>I puni&s;hed them,</HI> and that oft, and, <HI>in every Synagogue,</HI> and, <HI>compelled them to bla&s;pheme,</HI> and, <HI>was exceedingly mad again&s;t them, and per&s;ecuted them even unto &s;trange Cities.</HI> What could he &s;ay more again&s;t him&s;elfe? And then, &s;ayes Chri&s;t, to this tempe&s;t, <HI>Quie&s;ce,</HI> Be &s;till, to this glaring Sunne, <HI>Si&s;te,</HI> &s;tand &s;till, to this uncleane &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.2.</NOTE> <HI>Veni foras,</HI> come forth. In this &s;en&s;e e&s;pecially doth S. <HI>Paul</HI> call him&s;elfe <HI>Abertivum,</HI> a per&s;on borne out of &s;ea&s;on, That whereas Chri&s;ts other Di&s;ciples and A|po&s;tles, had a breeding under him, and came fir&s;t <HI>ad Di&s;cipulatum,</HI> and then <HI>ad Apo&s;tola|tum,</HI> fir&s;t to be Di&s;ciples, and after to be Apo&s;tles; S. <HI>Paul</HI> was borne a man, an Apo&s;tle, not carved out, as the re&s;t in time; but a fu&s;il Apo&s;tle, an Apo&s;tle powred out, and ca&s;t in a Mold; As <HI>Adam</HI> was a perfect man in an in&s;tant, &s;o was S. <HI>Paul</HI> an Apo&s;tle, as &s;oone as Chri&s;t tooke him in hand.</P>
<P>Now, Beloved, wilt thou make this perver&s;e u&s;e of this proceeding, God is rich in Mercy, Therefore I cannot mi&s;&s;e Mercy? Woulde&s;t thou &s;ay, and not be thought mad for &s;aying &s;o, God hath created a We&s;t Indies, therefore I cannot want Gold? Wilt thou be &s;o ill a Logician to thy &s;elfe, and to thine own damnation, as to conclude &s;o, God is alwayes the &s;ame in him&s;elfe, therefore he mu&s;t be alwayes the &s;ame to me? So ill a Mu&s;ician as to &s;ay, God is all Concord, therefore He and I can never di&s;agree? So ill a Hi&s;torian as to &s;ay, God hath called <HI>Saul,</HI> a Per&s;ecutor, then when he breathed threat|nings and &s;laughter, then when he &s;ued to the State for a Commi&s;&s;ion to per&s;ecute Chri&s;t, God hath called a theife, then when he was at the la&s;t ga&s;pe; And therefore if he have a minde to me, he will deale &s;o with me too, and, if he have no &s;uch minde, no man can imprint, or infu&s;e a new minde in God? God forbid. It is not &s;afe concluding out of &s;ingle In&s;tances. It is true, that if a &s;oure, and heavy, and &s;evere man, will adde to the di&s;comforts of a di&s;con&s;olate &s;oule, and in that &s;ouls &s;adne&s;&s;e, and dejection of &s;pirit, will heap up examples, that God hath &s;till &s;uffered high-minded &s;inners to proceed and to peri&s;h in their irreligious wayes, and tell that poore &s;oule, (as <HI>Iobs</HI> company did
<PB N="461" REF="248">him) It is true, you take God aright, God never pardons &s;uch as you, in the&s;e ca&s;es, the&s;e &s;ingular, the&s;e individuall examples, That God hath done otherwi&s;e once, have their u&s;e. One in&s;tance to the contrary de&s;troys any peremptory Rule, no man mu&s;t &s;ay, God never doth it; He did it to <HI>Saul</HI> here, He did it to the Theife upon the Cro&s;&s;e. But to that pre&s;umptuous &s;inner, who &s;ins on, becau&s;e God &s;hewed mercy to One at la&s;t, we mu&s;t &s;ay, a mi&s;erable Comforter is that Rule, that affords but one example. Nay, is there one example? The Conver&s;ion of <HI>Saul</HI> a Per&s;ecutor, and of the Theife upon the Cro&s;&s;e, is become <HI>Proverbium peccatorum,</HI> The &s;inners proverb, and &s;erves him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> and &s;a|tisfies him in all ca&s;es. But is there any &s;uch thing? Such a &s;tory there is, and it is as true as Go&s;pel, it is the truth of Go&s;pel it &s;elfe; But was this a late Repentance? An&s;wer S. <HI>Cyril, Rogo te frater,</HI> Tell me, Beloved, Thou that deferre&s;t thy Repentance, doe&s;t thou do it upon confidence of the&s;e examples? <HI>Non in fine, &s;ed in principio conver&s;us latro;</HI> Thou delude&s;t thine own &s;oule; The Theife was not converted at la&s;t, but at fir&s;t; As &s;oone as God afforded him any Call, he came; And at how many lights ha&s;t thou winked? And to how many Cals ha&s;t thou &s;topped thine eares, that deferre&s;t thy repentance? Chri&s;t &s;aid to him, <HI>Hodie mecum eris, This day thou &s;halt be with me in paradi&s;e;</HI> when thou can&s;t finde &s;uch another day, looke for &s;uch another mercy; A day that cleft the grave-&s;tones of dead men; A day that cleft the Temple it &s;elfe; A day that the Sunne dur&s;t not &s;ee; A day that &s;aw the &s;oule of God (may we not &s;ay &s;o, &s;ince that Man was God too) depart from Man; There &s;hall be no more &s;uch dayes; and therefore pre&s;ume not of that voyce, <HI>Hodie,</HI> This day thou &s;halt be with me, if thou make thy la&s;t minute that day, though Chri&s;t, to magnifie his mercy, and his glory, and to take away all occa&s;ion of ab&s;olute de&s;peration, did here, under &s;o many di&s;advantages call, and draw S. <HI>Paul</HI> to him.</P>
<P>But we &s;ay no more of that, of the danger of &s;inning by precedent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid factus</NOTE> and pre&s;uming of mercy by example; we pa&s;&s;e from our fir&s;t Con&s;ideration, From what, to the other, To what, Chri&s;t brought this per&s;ecutor, this <HI>Saul.</HI> He brought him to that remarkable height, as that the Church celebrates the Conver&s;ion of no man but this. Many bloody Executioners were converted to Chri&s;t, even in the act of that bloody Execution; Then when they tooke a delight in tearing the bowels of Chri&s;tians, they were received into the bowels of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and became Chri&s;tians. Man that road to Market, and &s;aw an Execution upon the way; Men that opened a window to take ayre, and &s;aw an Exe|cution in the &s;treet; The Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story abounds with examples of occa&s;ionall Convertits, and upon &s;trange occa&s;ions; but yet the Church celebrates no Conver&s;ion, but this. The Church doth not con&s;ider the Martyrs as borne till they die; till the world &s;ee how they per&s;evered to the end, &s;hee takes no knowledge of them; Therefore &s;hee cals the dayes of their deaths, <HI>Natalitia,</HI> their birth-dayes; Then &s;he makes account they are borne, when they die. But of S. <HI>Paul</HI> the Church makes her &s;elfe a&s;&s;ured the fir&s;t minute; and therefore celebrates his Conver&s;ion, and none but his. Here was a true Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, and a new Sacrament. The&s;e few words, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me,</HI> are words of Con&s;ecration; After the&s;e words, <HI>Saul</HI> was no longer <HI>Saul,</HI> but he was Chri&s;t: <HI>Vivit in me Chri&s;tus,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>It is not I that live,</HI> not I that do any thing, <HI>but Chri&s;t in me.</HI> It is but a little way that S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> goes, when he &s;peaks of an in|ferior Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, of a change of affections, and &s;ayes <HI>Agnus ex Lupo,</HI> that here is another manner of Lycanthropy, then when a man is made a Wolfe; for here a Wolfe is made a Lambe, <HI>Ex lupo Agnus. Ex vepribus racemus,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, A bramble is made a vine; <HI>Ex zizaniis frumentum,</HI> Cockle and tares become wheat; <HI>Ex pirata guber|nator,</HI> A Pirat becomes a &s;afe Pilot; <HI>Ex novi&s;simo primus,</HI> The lees are come to &s;wim on the top, and the la&s;t is growne fir&s;t; and <HI>ex abortivo perfectus,</HI> He that was borne out of time, hath not onely the perfection, but the excellency of all his lineaments. S. <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;tome</HI> goes farther then this, <HI>Ex bla&s;phemo, Os Chri&s;ti, &amp; lyra&s;piritus,</HI> He that was the mouth of bla&s;phemy, is become the mouth of Chri&s;t, He that was the in&s;trument of Sa|tan, is now the organ of the Holy Gho&s;t. He goes very far, when he &s;ayes, <HI>In Coelis ho|mo, in terris Angelus,</HI> Being yet but upon earth, he is an Angel, and being yet but a man, he is already in Heaven. Yet S. <HI>Paul</HI> was another manner of Sacrament, and had another manner of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, then all this; As he was made <HI>Idem &s;piritus cum Domino,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.17.</NOTE> The &s;ame &s;pirit with the Lord, &s;o in his very body, he had <HI>Stigmata,</HI> the very marks of the Lord Je&s;us. From &s;uch a lowne&s;&s;e, ray&s;ed to &s;uch a height, as that <HI>Origen</HI> &s;ayes, ma|ny did beleeve, that S. <HI>Paul</HI> had been that Holy Gho&s;t, which Chri&s;t had promi&s;ed to the world, after his departing from it.</P>
<PB N="462" REF="249">
<P>It is but a little way that S. <HI>Ierome</HI> hath carried his commendation neither, when he cals him <HI>Rugitum leonis,</HI> The roaring of a Lion, if we con&s;ider in how little a fore&s;t the roaring of a Lion is determined; but that he calls him <HI>Rugitum Leonis no&s;tri,</HI> The roaring of our Lion, of the Lion of the Tribe of <HI>Iuda,</HI> That as far as Chri&s;t is heard, S. <HI>Paul</HI> is heard too; <HI>Quem quoties lego,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> <HI>non verba mihi videor audire, &s;ed tonitrua,</HI> Where&s;oever I open S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Epi&s;tles, I meet not words, but thunder, and univer&s;all thunder, thunder that pa&s;&s;es through all the world.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theoder.</NOTE> For, <HI>Ejus excaecatio totius or bis illuminatio,</HI> That that was done upon him, wrought upon all the world; he was &s;truck blind, and all the world &s;aw the better for that. So univer&s;all a Prie&s;t, (&s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> who loves to be &s;peaking of S. <HI>Paul</HI>) as that he &s;acrificed, not &s;heep and goats, <HI>&s;ed &s;eip&s;um,</HI> but him&s;elfe; and not one|ly that, <HI>&s;ed totum mundum,</HI> He prepared the whole world, as a &s;acrifice to God. He built an Arke, that is, e&s;tabli&s;hed a Church; and to this day, receives, not eight, but all into that Arke: And whereas in <HI>Noahs</HI> Ark, <HI>Quem corvum recepit, corvum emi&s;it,</HI> If he came in a Raven, he went out a Raven; S. <HI>Paul,</HI> in his Arke, <HI>Ex milvis facit columbas,</HI> as him&s;elf was, &s;o he tran&s;ub&s;tantiates all them, and makes them Doves of Ravens. Nay, &s;o over|ab&s;olutely did he &s;acrifice him&s;elfe, and his &s;tate in this world, for this world, as that he &s;acrificed his rever&s;ion, his future &s;tate, the glory and joy of heaven, for his brethren, and cho&s;e rather to be <HI>Anathema,</HI> &s;eparated from Chri&s;t, then they &s;hould. I love thee, &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> to Rome, for many excellencies, many greatne&s;&s;es; But I love thee &s;o well, &s;ayes he, therefore becau&s;e S. <HI>Paul</HI> loved thee &s;o well. <HI>Qualem Ro&s;am Roma Chri&s;to,</HI> (as he pur&s;ues this contemplation) What a fragrant ro&s;e &s;hall Rome pre&s;ent Chri&s;t with, when he comes to Judgement, in re-delivering to him the body of S. <HI>Paul?</HI> And though he joyne them both together, <HI>Iugati boves Eccle&s;iae,</HI> That S. <HI>Peter</HI> and S. <HI>Paul</HI> were that yoak of oxen that ploughed the whole Church, Though he &s;ay of both, <HI>Quot carceres &s;anctifica&s;tis?</HI> How many Pri&s;ons have you two con&s;ecrated, and made Pri&s;ons Churches? <HI>Quot catenas illu&s;tra&s;tis?</HI> How many fetters and chains of iron have you two changed into chaines of gold? Yet we may ob&s;erve a difference in S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> expre&s;&s;ing of per|&s;ons &s;o equall to one another, <HI>Quid Petro majus?</HI> &s;ayes he, But, <HI>Quid Paulo par fuit?</HI> What can exceed <HI>Peter,</HI> or what can equall <HI>Paul?</HI> Still be all this far from occa&s;ioning any man to pre&s;ume upon God, becau&s;e he afforded &s;o abundant mercy to a Per&s;ecuter: but &s;till from this, let every faint &s;oule e&s;tabli&s;h it &s;elfe in a confidence in God; God that would find nothing to except, nothing to quarrell at, in S. <HI>Paul,</HI> will not lie heavy upon thy &s;oule, though thou mu&s;t &s;ay, as he did, <HI>Quorum ego maximus,</HI> That thou art a greater &s;inner then thou knowe&s;t any other man to be.</P>
<P>We are,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> in our order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, devolved now to our &s;econd Part; from the per&s;on, and in that, what he was found, A vehement per&s;ecuter, And then, what he was made, A laborious Apo&s;tle, To the Manner, to his Humiliation, <HI>Cecidit &s;uper terram, He fell,</HI> and <HI>he fell to the ground,</HI> and <HI>he fell blind,</HI> as by the hi&s;tory, and context appeares. We u&s;e to call every declination, of any kind, and in any &s;ubject, a falling; for, for our bodies, we &s;ay a man is falne &s;ick, And for his &s;tate, falne poore, And for his mind, falne mad, And for his con&s;cience, falne de&s;perate; we are borne low, and yet we fall every way lower, &s;o univer&s;all is our falling &s;ickne&s;&s;e. Sin it &s;elfe is but a falling; The irreme|diable &s;in of the Angels, The undeterminable &s;inne of <HI>Adam,</HI> is called but &s;o, <HI>The fall of Adam, The fall of Angels.</HI> And therefore the effectuall vi&s;itation of the holy Gho&s;t to man, is called a falling too; we are fallen &s;o low, as that when the holy Gho&s;t is plea&s;ed to fetch us againe, and to infu&s;e his grace, he is &s;till &s;aid <HI>to fall upon us.</HI> But the fall which we con&s;ider in the Text, is not a figurative falling, not into a decay of e&s;tate, nor decay of health, nor a &s;pirituall falling into &s;in, a decay of grace; but it is a medicinall falling, a falling under Gods hand, but &s;uch a falling under his hand, as that he takes not off his hand from him that is falne, but throwes him downe therefore that he may rai&s;e him. To this po&s;ture he brings <HI>Paul,</HI> now, when he was to re-inanimate him with his &s;pirit; rather, to pre-inanimate him; for, indeed, no man hath a &s;oule till he have grace.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t, who in his humane nature hath received from the Father all Judgement, and power, and dominion over this world, hath received all this, upon that condition that he &s;hall governe in this manner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.8.</NOTE> <HI>Aske of me, and I &s;hall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance,</HI> &s;ayes the Father; How is he to u&s;e them, when he hath them? Thus, <HI>Thou &s;halt breake them with a rod of iron, and da&s;h them in pieces like a potters ve&s;&s;ell.</HI> Now, God meant well to the Nations, in this brui&s;ing and breaking of them; God intended not
<PB N="463" REF="249">an annihilation of the Nations, but a reformarion; for Chri&s;t askes the Nations for an Inheritance, not for a triumph; therefore it is intended of his way of governing them; and his way is to brui&s;e and beat them; that is, fir&s;t to ca&s;t them downe, before he can rai&s;e them up, fir&s;t to breake them before he can make them in his fa&s;hion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Novit Do|minus vulnerare ad amorem;</HI> The Lord, and onely the Lord knowes how to wound us, out of love; more then that, how to wound us into love; more then all that, to wound us into love, not onely with him that wounds us, but into love with the wound it &s;elfe, with the very affliction that he inflicts upon us; The Lord knowes how to &s;trike us &s;o, as that we &s;hall lay hold upon that hand that &s;trikes us, and ki&s;&s;e that hand that wounds us. <HI>Ad vitam interficit, ad exaltationem pro&s;ternit,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father; No man kills his enemy therefore, that his enemy might have a better life in heaven; that is not his end in killing him: It is Gods end; Therefore he brings us to death, that by that gate he might lead us into life everla&s;ting; And he hath not di&s;covered, but made that Nor|therne pa&s;&s;age, to pa&s;&s;e by the frozen Sea of calamity, and tribulation, to Paradi&s;e, to the heavenly Jeru&s;alem. There are fruits that ripen not, but by fro&s;t; There are na|tures, (there are &s;carce any other) that di&s;po&s;e not them&s;elves to God, but by afflicti|on. And as Nature lookes for the &s;ea&s;on for ripening, and does not all before, &s;o Grace lookes for the a&s;&s;ent of the &s;oule, and does not perfect the whole worke, till that come. It is Nature that brings the &s;ea&s;on, and it is Grace that brings the a&s;&s;ent; but till the &s;ea&s;on for the fruit, till the a&s;&s;ent of the &s;oule come, all is not done.</P>
<P>Therefore God begun in this way with <HI>Saul,</HI> and in this way he led him all his life. <HI>Tot pertulit mortes, quot vixit dies,</HI> He dyed as many deaths, as he lived dayes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> for &s;o him|&s;elfe &s;ayes, <HI>Quotidie morior, I die daily;</HI> God gave him &s;ucke in blood, and his owne blood was his daily drink; He catechized him with calamities at fir&s;t, and calamities were his daily Sermons, and meditations after; and to authorize the hands of others upon him, and to accu&s;tome him to &s;ubmit him&s;elf to the hands of others without mur|muring, Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;trikes the fir&s;t blow, and with that, <HI>Cecidit, he fell,</HI> (which was our fir&s;t con&s;ideration, in his humiliation) and then, <HI>Cecidit in terram, He fell to the ground,</HI> which is our next.</P>
<P>I take no farther occa&s;ion from this Circum&s;tance, but to arme you with con&s;olation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In terram.</NOTE> how low &s;oever God be plea&s;ed to ca&s;t you, Though it be to the earth, yet he does not &s;o much ca&s;t you downe, in doing that, as bring you home. Death is not a bani&s;hing of you out of this world; but it is a vi&s;itation of your kindred that lie in the earth; neither are any nearer of kin to you, then the earth it &s;elfe, and the wormes of the earth. You heap earth upon your &s;oules, and encumber them with more and more fle&s;h, by a &s;uper|fluous and luxuriant diet; You adde earth to earth in new purcha&s;es, and mea&s;ure not by Acres, but by Manors, nor by Manors, but by Shires; And there is a little Quil|let, a little Clo&s;e, worth all the&s;e, A quiet Grave. And therefore, when thou reade&s;t, That God makes thy bed in thy &s;ickne&s;&s;e, rejoyce in this, not onely that he makes that bed, where thou do&s;t lie, but that bed where thou &s;halt lie; That that God, that made the whole earth, is now making thy bed in the earth, a quiet grave, where thou &s;halt &s;leep in peace, till the Angels Trumpet wake thee at the Re&s;urrection, to that Judge|ment where thy peace &s;hall be made before thou comme&s;t, and writ, and &s;ealed, in the blood of the Lamb.</P>
<P><HI>Saul</HI> falls to the earth; So farre; But he falls no lower. God brings his &s;ervants to a great lowne&s;&s;e here; but he brings upon no man a perver&s;e &s;en&s;e, or a di&s;tru&s;tfull &s;u&s;piti|on of falling lower hereafter; His hand &s;trikes us to the earth, by way of humiliation; But it is not his hand, that &s;trikes us into hell, by way of de&s;peration. Will you tell me, that you have ob&s;erved and &s;tudied Gods way upon you all your life, and out of that can conclude what God meanes to doe with you after this life? That God took away your Parents in your infancy, and left you Orphanes then, That he hath cro&s;&s;ed you in all your labours in your calling, ever &s;ince, That he hath opened you to di&s;honours, and ca|lumnies, and mi&s;-interpretations, in things well intended by you, That he hath multi|plied fickne&s;&s;es upon you, and given you thereby an a&s;&s;urance of a mi&s;erable, and a &s;hort life, of few, and evill dayes, nay, That he hath &s;uffered you to fall into &s;ins, that you your &s;elves have hated, To continue in &s;ins, that you your &s;elves have been weary of, To re|lap&s;e into &s;ins, that you your &s;elves have repented; And will you conclude out of this, that God had no good purpo&s;e upon you, that if ever he had meant to doe you good, he
<PB N="464" REF="250">would never have gone thus farre, in heaping of evills upon you? Upon what doe&s;t thou ground this? upon thy &s;elfe? Becau&s;e thou &s;houlde&s;t not deal thus with any man, whom thou mean'&s;t well to? How poore, how narrow, how impious a mea&s;ure of God, is this, that he mu&s;t doe, as thou woulde&s;t doe, if thou wert God! God hath not made a week without a Sabbath; no tentation, without an i&s;&s;ue; God inflicts no calamity, no cloud, no eclip&s;e, without light, to &s;ee ea&s;e in it, if the patient will look upon that which God hath done to him, in other ca&s;es, or to that which God hath done to others, at other times. <HI>Saul fell to the ground,</HI> but he fell no lower; God brings us to humiliation, but not to de&s;peration.</P>
<P><HI>He fell;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Caecus.</HI> Iohn 9.39.</NOTE> <HI>he fell to the ground,</HI> And <HI>he fell blinde;</HI> for &s;o it is evident in the &s;tory. Chri&s;t had &s;aid to the Phari&s;ees, <HI>I came into the world, that they which &s;ee, might be made blinde;</HI> And the Phari&s;ees ask him, <HI>Have you been able to doe &s;o upon us? Are we blinde?</HI> Here Chri&s;t gives them an example; a reall, a literall, an actuall example; <HI>Saul,</HI> a Phari&s;ee, is made blinde. He that will fill a ve&s;&s;ell with wine, mu&s;t take out the water; He that will fill a covetous mans hand with gold, mu&s;t take out the &s;ilver that was there before, &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome.</HI> Chri&s;t, who is about to infu&s;e new light into <HI>Saul,</HI> withdrawes that light that was in him before; That light, by which <HI>Saul</HI> thought he &s;aw all before, and thought him&s;elfe a competent Judge, which was the onely true Religion, and that all others were to be per&s;ecuted,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 51.17.</NOTE> even to death, that were not of his way. <HI>Stultus factus e&s;t omnis homo &agrave; &s;cientia,</HI> &s;ayes God in the Prophet, Every man that tru&s;ts in his owne wit, is a foole.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.18.</NOTE> But <HI>let him become a foole, that he may be wi&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; Let him be &s;o, in his own eyes, and God will give him better eyes, better light, better under&s;tanding. <HI>Saul</HI> was &s;truck blinde, but it was a blindne&s;&s;e contracted from light; It was a light that &s;truck him blinde, as you &s;ee in his &s;tory. This blindne&s;&s;e which we &s;peak of, which is a &s;ober and temperate ab&s;tinence from the immoderate &s;tudy, and curious knowledges of this world, this holy &s;implicity of the &s;oule, is not a darkne&s;&s;e, a dimne&s;&s;e, a &s;tupidity in the un|der&s;tanding, contracted by living in a corner, it is not an idle retiring into a Mona&s;tery, or into a Village, or a Country &s;olitude, it is not a lazy affectation of ignorance; not dark|ne&s;&s;e, but a greater light, mu&s;t make us blinde.</P>
<P>The &s;ight, and the Contemplation of God, and our pre&s;ent benefits by him, and our future intere&s;t in him, mu&s;t make us blinde to the world &s;o, as that we look upon no face, no plea&s;ure, no knowledge, with &s;uch an Affection, &s;uch an Ambition, &s;uch a Devotion, as upon God, and the wayes to him. <HI>Saul</HI> had &s;uch a blindne&s;&s;e, as came from light; we mu&s;t affect no other &s;implicity, then ari&s;es from the knowledge of God, and his Religi|on. And then, <HI>Saul</HI> had &s;uch a blindne&s;&s;e, as that he fell with it. There are birds, that when their eyes are cieled, &s;till &s;oare up, and up, till they have &s;pent all their &s;trength. Men blinded with the lights of this world, &s;oare &s;till into higher places, or higher know|ledges, or higher opinions; but the light of heaven humbles us, and layes flat that &s;oule, which the leaven of this world had puffed and &s;welled up. That powerfull light felled <HI>Saul;</HI> but after he was fallen, his owne &s;ight was re&s;tored to him againe; <HI>Ananias</HI> &s;aies to him, <HI>Brother Saul, receive thy &s;ight.</HI> To tho&s;e men, who imploy their naturall facul|ties to the glory of God, and their owne, and others edification, God &s;hall afford an ex|altation of tho&s;e naturall faculties; In tho&s;e, who u&s;e their learning, or their wealth, or their power, well, God &s;hall increa&s;e that power, and that wealth, and that learning, even in this world.</P>
<P>You have &s;eene <HI>Sauls</HI> &s;ickne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> and the exaltation of the di&s;ea&s;e, Then when he brea|thed threatnings, and &s;laughter, Then when he went in his triumph; And you have &s;een his death, The death of the righteous, His humiliation, <HI>He fell to the earth;</HI> And there remaines yet his Re&s;urrection; The Angel of the great Coun&s;ell, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, with the Trumpet of his owne mouth, ray&s;es him, with that, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou mee?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vox.</NOTE> he affords him a call, <HI>A voyce. Saul</HI> could not &s;ee; Therefore he deales not upon him by vi&s;ions. He gives a voyce; and a voyce that he might heare; God &s;peaks often, when we doe not heare; He <HI>heard it,</HI> and <HI>heard it &s;aying;</HI> Not a voyce only, but a di&s;tinct, and intelligible voyce; and <HI>&s;aying unto him,</HI> that is, appliable to him&s;elfe; and then, that that the voyce &s;aid to him, was, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI> We are unequall ene|mies, Thou &s;ee&s;t I am too hard for thee, <HI>Curtu me?</HI> why wilt thou, thou in this weake|ne&s;&s;e oppo&s;e me? And then, we might be good friends, Thou &s;ee&s;t I offer parly, I offer
<PB N="465" REF="250">treaty, <HI>Cur tu me?</HI> Why wilt thou oppo&s;e me, me that declare &s;uch a di&s;po&s;ition to be re|conciled unto thee? In this &s;o great a di&s;advantage on thy part, why wilt thou &s;tirre at all? In this &s;o great a peaceablene&s;&s;e on my part, why wilt thou &s;tirre again&s;t me? <HI>Cur tu me? Why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, God &s;peakes: For, beloved, we are to con&s;ider God, not as he is in him|&s;elfe, but as he works upon us: The fir&s;t thing that we can con&s;ider in our way to God, is his Word. Our Regeneration is by his Word; that is, by faith, which comes by hea|ring; <HI>The &s;eed is the word of God,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; Even the &s;eed of faith.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 8.11.</NOTE> Carry it higher, the Creation was by the word of God; <HI>Dixit, &amp; facta &s;unt,</HI> God &s;poke, and all things were made. Carry it to the highe&s;t of all, to Eternity, the eternall Generation, the eternall Production, the eternall Proce&s;&s;ion of the &s;econd Per&s;on in the Trinity, was &s;o much by the Word, as that he is the Word; <HI>Verbum caro,</HI> It was that <HI>Word,</HI> that was made <HI>Fle&s;h.</HI> So that God, who cannot enter into bands to us, hath given us &s;ecurity enough; He hath given us his Word; His written Word, his Scriptures; His E&s;&s;entiall Word, his Son. Our Principall, and Radicall, and Fundamentall &s;ecurity, is his E&s;&s;enti|all Word, his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us. But how many millions of generations was this Word in heaven, and never &s;poke? The Word, Chri&s;t him&s;elf, hath been as long as God hath been: But the uttering of this Word, &s;peaking hath been but &s;ince the Creation. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;ayes to Chri&s;t, <HI>To whom &s;hall we goe? Thou ha&s;t the words of eternall life.</HI> It is not onely,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 6.68.</NOTE> Thou art the word of eternall life; (Chri&s;t is &s;o) But thou ha&s;t it; Thou ha&s;t it, where we may come to thee for it; In thy Trea&s;ury, in thine Ordinance, in thy Church; Thou ha&s;t it, to derive it, to convey it upon us. Here then is the fir&s;t &s;tep of <HI>Sauls</HI> cure, and of ours, That there was not onely a word, the Word, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, a Son of God in heaven, but a Voyce, the word uttered, and preached; Chri&s;t manife&s;ted in his Ordinance: <HI>He heard a voyce.</HI></P>
<P>He heard it. How often does God &s;peake, and no body heares the voyce?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Audivit.</NOTE> He &s;peaks in his Canon, in Thunder, and he &s;peaks in our Canon, in the rumour of warres. He &s;peaks in his mu&s;ique, in the harmonious promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel, and in our mu&s;ique, in the tem|porall ble&s;&s;ings of peace, and plenty; And we heare a noy&s;e in his Judgements, and wee heare a &s;ound in his mercies; but we heare no voyce, we doe not di&s;cern that this noy&s;e, or this &s;ound comes from any certain per&s;on; we do not feele them to be mercies, nor to be judgements uttered from God, but naturall accidents, ca&s;uall occurrencies, emergent contingencies, which as an Athei&s;t might think, would fall out though there were no God, or no commerce, no dealing, no &s;peaking between God and Man. Though <HI>Saul</HI> came not in&s;tantly to a perfect di&s;cerning who &s;poke, yet he &s;aw in&s;tantly, it was a Per|&s;on above nature, and therefore &s;peakes to him in that phra&s;e of &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Quis es Do|mine? Lord who art thou?</HI> And after, with trembling and a&s;toni&s;hment, (as the Text &s;ayes) <HI>Domine quid me vis facere? Lord what wilt thou have me to do?</HI> Then we are truli|e&s;t &s;aid to hear, when we know from whence the voyce comes. Princes are Gods Trum|pet, and the Church is Gods Organ, but Chri&s;t Je&s;us is his voyce. When he &s;peaks in the Prince, when he &s;peaks in the Church, there we are bound to heare, and happy if we doe hear. Man hath a natural way to come to God, by the eie, by the creature;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 2.</NOTE> So <HI>Vi&s;ible things</HI> &s;hew the <HI>Invi&s;ible God:</HI> But then, God hath &s;uper-induced a &s;upernaturall way, by the eare. For, though hearing be naturall, yet that faith in God &s;hould come by hearing a man preach, is &s;upernatural. God &s;hut up the naturall way, in <HI>Saul,</HI> Seeing; He &s;truck him blind; But he opened the &s;uper-naturall way, he inabled him to heare, and to heare him. God would have us beholden to grace, and not to nature, and to come for our &s;alvation, to his Ordinances, to the preaching of his Word, and not to any other meanes. Though hee were blinde, even that blindne&s;&s;e, as it was a humiliation, and a diverting of his former glaring lights, was a degree of mercy, of preparative mercy; yet there was a voyce, which was another degree; And a voyce that he heard, which was a degree above that; and &s;o farre we are gone; And he heard it, <HI>&s;aying,</HI> that is di&s;tinctly, and intelligibly, which is our next Circum&s;tance.</P>
<P>He heares him <HI>&s;aying,</HI> that is, He heares him &s;o, as that he knowes what he &s;ayes, &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dicentem.</NOTE> as that he under&s;tands him; for, he that heares the word, and under&s;tands it not, is &s;ubject to that which Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>That the wicked one comes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.19.</NOTE> <HI>and catches away that that was &s;owne.</HI> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> puts him&s;elfe earne&s;tly upon the contemplation of the Creation, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> hath delivered it; he findes it hard to conceive, and he &s;ayes, <HI>Si e&s;&s;et ante me Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Confe&s;. l. 1. c. 3.</NOTE>
<PB N="466" REF="251">If <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> who writ this were here, <HI>Tenerem eum, &amp; per te ob&s;ecrarem,</HI> I would hold him fa&s;t, and beg of him, for thy &s;ake, O my God, that he would declare this worke of the Creation more plainly unto me. But then, &s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed Father, <HI>Si Hebraea voce loque|retur,</HI> If <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hould &s;peake Hebrew to mee, mine eares might heare the &s;ound, but my minde would not heare the voyce; I might heare him, but I &s;hould not heare what he &s;aid. This was that that di&s;tingui&s;hed betweene S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and tho&s;e who were in his company at this time;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 7. Acts 22.9.</NOTE> S. <HI>Luke</HI> &s;ayes in this Chapter, <HI>That they heard the voyce,</HI> and S. <HI>Paul</HI> relating the &s;tory againe, after &s;ayes, <HI>They heard not the voyce of him that &s;poke to me;</HI> they heard a confu&s;ed &s;ound, but they di&s;tingui&s;hed it not to be the voyce of God, nor di&s;cerned Gods purpo&s;e in it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 28.</NOTE> In the twelfth of <HI>Iohn, there came a voyce from Heaven,</HI> from God him&s;elfe, <HI>and the people &s;aid, It thundred.</HI> So apt is naturall man to a&s;cribe even Gods immediate and miraculous actions to naturall cau&s;es; apt to re&s;t and determine in Nature, and leave out God. The Poet chides that weakne&s;&s;e, (as he cals it) to be afraid of Gods judgements, or to call naturall accidents judgements; <HI>Quo morbo mentem concu&s;&s;e? timore Deorum,</HI> &s;ayes he; he &s;ayes The Con&s;cience may be over-tender, and that &s;uch timerous men, are &s;ick of the feare of God; But it is a ble&s;&s;ed di&s;ea&s;e The feare of God, and the true way to true health. And though there be a morall con&s;tancy that becomes a Chri&s;tian well, not to bee ea&s;ily &s;haked with the variations and revolutions of this world, yet it becomes him to e&s;tabli&s;h his con&s;tancy in this, That God hath a good pur|po&s;e in that action, not that God hath no hand in that action; That God will produce good out of it, not that God hath nothing to doe in it. The Magicians them&s;elves were forced to confe&s;&s;e <HI>Digitum Dei,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 6.16.</NOTE> The finger of God, in a &s;mall matter. Never thinke it a weakene&s;&s;e, to call that a judgement of God, which others determine in Nature; Doe &s;o, &s;o far as works to thy edification, who &s;ee&s;t that judgement, though not &s;o far, as to argue, and conclude the finall condemnation of that man upon whom that judgement is fallen. Certainely, we were better call twenty naturall accidents judgements of God, then fru&s;trate Gods purpo&s;e in any of his powerfull deliverances, by calling it a naturall accident, and &s;uffer the thing to vani&s;h &s;o, and God be left unglorified in it, or his Church unedified by it. Then we heare God, when we under&s;tand what he &s;ayes; And therefore, as we are bound to ble&s;&s;e God, that he &s;peakes to us, and heares us &s;peake to him, in a language which wee under&s;tand, and not in &s;uch a &s;trange language, as that a &s;tranger who &s;hould come in and heare it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.23.</NOTE> would thinke the Congregation mad; So al&s;o let us ble&s;&s;e him for that holy tenderne&s;&s;e, to be apt to feele his hand in every accident, and to di&s;cerne his pre&s;ence in every thing that befals us. <HI>Saul heard the voyce, &s;aying;</HI> He under|&s;tood what it &s;aid, and by that, found that it was directed <HI>to him,</HI> which is al&s;o another &s;tep in this la&s;t part.</P>
<P>This is an impropriation without &s;acriledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sibi.</NOTE> and an enclo&s;ure of a Common without damage, to make God mine owne, to finde that all that God &s;ayes is &s;poken to me, and all that Chri&s;t &s;uffered was &s;uffered for me. And as <HI>Saul</HI> found this voyce at fir&s;t, to be di|rected to him, &s;o ever after he bends his eye the &s;ame way, and ob&s;erves the working of God e&s;pecially upon him&s;elfe; As at the beginning, &s;o in the way too: particularly there, <HI>By the grace of God I am that I am;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.</NOTE> and then, <HI>His grace was be&s;towed on me, And not in vaine;</HI> and againe, <HI>I have laboured more abundantly then all;</HI> And after all, &s;till he con&s;iders him|&s;elfe, and findes him&s;elfe to be the greate&s;t &s;inner, <HI>Quorum ego maximus.</HI> It is called a greatne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit, or con&s;tancy, but it is indeed an incorrigible height of pride, when a man will not beleeve that he is meant in a libel, if he be not named in that libel. It is a fearfull obduration, to be Sermon-proofe, or not to take knowledge, that a judgement is denounced again&s;t him, becau&s;e he is not named in the denouncing of that judgement. Is not thy name <HI>Simon Magus,</HI> if thou buy and &s;ell &s;pirituall things thy &s;elfe? and is not thy &s;ervants name <HI>Gehazi,</HI> if he exact after? Is not thy name <HI>Cain,</HI> if thou ri&s;e up again&s;t thy brother? And is not thy name <HI>Zacheus,</HI> if thou multiply thy wealth by oppre&s;&s;ion? Is not thy name <HI>Dinah,</HI> if thou gad abroad, to &s;ee who will &s;olicite thee? And is not the name of <HI>Putiphars</HI> Wife upon thee, if thou &s;tay at home and &s;olicite thy &s;ervants? Po&s;t|date the whole Bible, and what&s;oever thou heare&s;t &s;poken of &s;uch, as thou art, before, beleeve all that to be &s;poken but now, and &s;poken to thee. This was one happine&s;&s;e here, that <HI>Saul</HI> found this voyce to be directed to him; And another (which is our la&s;t Con&s;ide|ration) is what this voyce &s;aid; it &s;aid, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI></P>
<P>Here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Saul.</NOTE> to make &s;ure of him, God cals him by his name, that hee &s;hould not be able to
<PB N="467" REF="251">transfer the &s;ummons upon any other, or &s;ay it was not he. They &s;ay that our <HI>Noctam|bulones,</HI> men that walke in their &s;leepe, will wake if they be called by their names. To wake <HI>Saul</HI> out of this dreame, (for, to thinke to oppo&s;e Chri&s;t and his cau&s;e, is, in the highe&s;t per&s;on of the world, of what power or of what coun&s;el &s;oever, but a vertiginous dreame, and a giddy vapour) to wake him, he cals him by his name, to let him know he meanes him; and to wake him throughly, he cals him twice, <HI>Saul,</HI> and <HI>Saul</HI> againe.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Saul, Saul.</HI> Ier. 22.29.</NOTE> The great de&s;olation which was to fall upon that land, God intimates, God interminates, God intonates with &s;uch a vehemency, <HI>Terra, terra, terra, Earth, earth, earth heare the word of the Lord.</HI> God &s;hould be heard at fir&s;t, beleeved at fir&s;t; but &s;uch is his abundant good|ne&s;&s;e, as that he ingeminates, multiplies his warnings; And to this whole land he hath &s;aid, <HI>Terra, terra, terra,</HI> Earth, earth, earth heare the Word of the Lord; Once in an In|va&s;ion, once in a Powder-trea&s;on; and againe, and againe in pe&s;tilentiall contagions; And to every one of us, he hath &s;aid oftner then &s;o, Du&s;t, du&s;t, du&s;t why doe&s;t thou lift up thy &s;elf again&s;t thy Maker? <HI>Saul, Saul why per&s;ecute&s;t thou mee?</HI></P>
<P>Here Chri&s;t cals the afflictions of tho&s;e that are his, in his purpo&s;e, his afflictions.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Me.</NOTE> Chri&s;t will not ab&s;olutely verifie his owne words, to his owne ea&s;e; He had &s;aid before this, upon the Cro&s;&s;e, <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t, All is fini&s;hed;</HI> But though all were fini&s;hed in his Per&s;on, he hath a daily pa&s;&s;ion in his Saints &s;till. This language which the Apo&s;tle learnt of Chri&s;t here, him&s;elfe practi&s;ed, and &s;pake after, <HI>Who is weake, and I am not weake?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.29.</NOTE> <HI>who is offended, and I burne not?</HI> Since Chri&s;t does &s;uffer in our &s;ufferings, be this our con&s;ola|tion, Till he be weary, we &s;hould not be weary, nor faint, nor murmur under our burdens; and this too, That when he is weary, he will deliver us even for his owne &s;ake; for he, though he cannot &s;uffer paine, may &s;uffer di&s;honour in our &s;ufferings; therefore attend his lei&s;ure.</P>
<P>We end all in this, <HI>Cur tu me? Why doe&s;t Thou per&s;ecute Me?</HI> Why <HI>Saul</HI> Chri&s;t?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tume.</NOTE> Put it up|on a Nation, (what is any <HI>Saul,</HI> any one man to a Nation?) Put it upon all the Nations of the World, and you &s;hall heare God aske with an indignation, <HI>Quare fremuerunt Gen|tes? Why doe the heathen rage, why do the people imagine a vaine thing?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.1. Ver. 4.</NOTE> why will they doe it? what can they get? <HI>He that &s;itteth in the Heavens &s;hall laugh; The Lord &s;hall have them in deri&s;ion.</HI> Chri&s;t came into the Temple and di&s;puted with the Doctors; but hee did not de&s;pi&s;e them, he did not laugh at them. When all the Midianites, and all the Amale|kites, and all the Children of the Ea&s;t, were in a body again&s;t I&s;rael,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg. 6.33.</NOTE> God did not laugh at them. <HI>Gideon</HI> his Generall, mu&s;tered two and thirty thou&s;and again&s;t them. God would not imploy &s;o many in the day of Battaile, yet he did not laugh at them, hee did not whip them out of the field, he made the face of an Army, though it were but three hundred. But when God can chu&s;e his way, Hee can call in Nation again&s;t Nation, he can ca&s;t a dampe upon any Nation, and make them afraid of one another, He can doe an execution upon them by them&s;elves, (I pre&s;ume you remember tho&s;e &s;tories in the Bible, where God did proceed by &s;uch wayes) or he can &s;it &s;till in a &s;corne, and let them melt away of them&s;elves; when he can ca&s;t downe <HI>Saul</HI> to the earth, and never appeare in the cau&s;e, benight his noone, fru&s;trate his purpo&s;es, evacuate his hopes, annihilate him in the height of his glory, <HI>Cur tu me?</HI> why will any <HI>Saul,</HI> any Nation, any World of <HI>Sauls</HI> per&s;ecute Chri&s;t, any &s;inner tempt him, who is &s;o much too hard for him?</P>
<P><HI>Cur me?</HI> Why doe&s;t thou offer this to me, who being thus much too hard for thee, would yet faine be friends with thee? and therefore came to a parley, to a treaty? for, <HI>verba haec, non tam arguentis, quam defendentis,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome:</HI> The&s;e are not &s;o much offen&s;ive as defen&s;ive words; He would not confound <HI>Saul,</HI> but he would not be|tray his own honour. To many Nations God hath never &s;poken; To the Jews he &s;poke, but &s;uffered them to mi&s;take him; To &s;ome whole Chri&s;tian Churches he &s;peaks, but he lets them &s;peake too; he lets them make their word equall to his; To many of us he hath &s;poken, and chidden, but given over before we are cured; As he &s;ayes of I&s;rael, in a manner, That &s;he is not worth his anger, not worth his puni&s;hing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.4.</NOTE> <HI>A people laden with &s;innes, why &s;hould they any more be &s;mitten?</HI> Why &s;hould I go about to recover them? But if God &s;peake to thee &s;till, and &s;peake in a mixt voyce, of Correction, and Con&s;ola|tion too, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI> Him that receives &s;o little benefit by thee, and yet is &s;o loath to lo&s;e thee, Him that can &s;o ea&s;ily &s;pare thee, and yet makes thy &s;oule more precious then his own life, Him that can re&s;olve thee, &s;catter thee, annihilate thee with a word, and yet afford &s;o many words, &s;o many houres conferences, &s;o many Ser|mons
<PB N="468" REF="252">to reclaime thee, why per&s;ecute&s;t Thou Him? An&s;wer this que&s;tion, with <HI>Sauls</HI> an|&s;wer to this que&s;tion, by another que&s;tion, <HI>Domine quid me vis facere? Lord what wilt thou have me do?</HI> Deliver thy &s;elfe over to the will of God, and God &s;hall deliver thee over, as he did <HI>Saul</HI> to <HI>Ananias;</HI> provide thee by his Mini&s;tery in his Ordinance, means to rectifie thee, in all dejection of &s;pirit, light to cleare thee in all perplexities of con&s;ci|ence, in the wayes of thy pilgrimage, and more and more effectuall &s;eals thereof, at the houre of thy tran&s;migration into his joy, and thine eternall re&s;t.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="47" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLVII.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> The Sunday after the Conver&s;ion of S. <HI>PAUL. 27.</HI> Ian. <HI>1627.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ACT. 20.25.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And now, Behold, I know, that all yee among whom I have gone preaching the kingdome of God, &s;hall &s;ee my face no more.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WHen S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> calls Chri&s;tmas day, <HI>Metropolin omnium fe&s;torum,</HI> The Metropolitan Holyday, the principall fe&s;tivall of the Church, he is likely to intend onely tho&s;e fe&s;tivalls which were of the Churches later in&s;tituti|on, and means not to enwrap the Sabbath in that compari&s;on. As S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes of the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, that it is <HI>Limen Eccle&s;iae,</HI> The thre|&s;hold over which we &s;tep into the Church; &s;o is Chri&s;tmas day, <HI>Limen fe&s;torum,</HI> The thre&s;hold over which we &s;tep into the fe&s;tivall celebration of &s;ome other of Chri&s;ts a|ctions, and pa&s;&s;ions, and victorious overcommings of all the Acts of his Pa&s;&s;ion, &s;uch as his Re&s;urrection, and A&s;cen&s;ion; for, but for Chri&s;tmas day, we could celebrate none of the&s;e dayes; And &s;o, that day is <HI>Limen fe&s;torum,</HI> The thre&s;hold over which we pa&s;&s;e to the re&s;t. But the Sabbath is not onely <HI>Limen,</HI> or <HI>Ianua Eccle&s;iae,</HI> The doore by which we enter into the Church, and into the con&s;ideration what the Church hath done, but <HI>Limen mundi,</HI> The doore by which we enter into the con&s;ideration of the World, how, and when the World was made of nothing, at the Creation, without which, we had been &s;o far from knowing that there had been a Church, or that there had been a God, as that we our &s;elves had had no being at all. And therefore, as our very being is before all de|grees of well-being, &s;o is the Sabbath, which remembers us of our being, before all other fe&s;tivalls, that pre&s;ent and refre&s;h to us the memory of our well-being: E&s;pecially to us, to whom it is not onely a Sabbath, as the Sabbath is a day of Re&s;t, in re&s;pect of the Creation, but <HI>Dies Dominicus,</HI> The Lords day, in re&s;pect of the Redemption of the world, becau&s;e the con&s;ummation of that worke of Redemption, for all that was to be done in this world, which was the Re&s;urrection of our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us, was accompli&s;hed upon that day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 23.</NOTE> which is our Sabbath. But yet, as it did plea&s;e God, to accompany the Great day, the Sabbath, with other &s;olemne dayes too, The Pa&s;&s;eo|ver, and Penteco&s;t, Trumpets, and Tabernacles, and others, and to call tho&s;e other dayes Sabbaths, as well as the Sabbath it &s;elfe; &s;o, &s;ince he is plea&s;ed that in the Chri&s;tian Church, other dayes of Holy Convocations &s;hould al&s;o be in&s;tituted, I make account, that in &s;ome mea&s;ure, I do both offices, both for ob&s;erving tho&s;e particular fe&s;tivalls that fall in the weeke, and al&s;o for the making of tho&s;e particular fe&s;tivalls to &s;erve the Sab|bath, when upon the Sabbath en&s;uing, or preceding &s;uch or &s;uch a fe&s;tivall in the weeke, I take occa&s;ion to &s;peake of that fe&s;tivall, which fell into the compa&s;&s;e of that weeke; for, by this cour&s;e, that fe&s;tivall is not pretermitted, nor neglected, the particular fe&s;tivall is remembred: And then, as God receives honour in the honour of his Saints, &s;o the Sabbath hath an honour, when the fe&s;tivalls, and commemorations of tho&s;e Saints, are re&s;erved to waite upon the Sabbath.</P>
<PB N="469" REF="252">
<P>Hence is it, that as el&s;ewhere, I often do &s;o, that is, Celebrate &s;ome fe&s;tivall that fals in the weeke, upon the Sabbath: &s;o, in this place, upon this very day, I have done the like, and returne now, to do &s;o againe, that is, to celebrate the memory of our Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Paul</HI> to day, though there be a day pa&s;t, &s;ince his day was, in the ordinary cour&s;e, to have been celebrated. The la&s;t time that I did &s;o, I did it in handling tho&s;e words, <HI>And he fell to the earth, and heard a voyce, &s;aying, Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI> which was the very act of his Conver&s;ion; A period, and a pa&s;&s;age, which the Church cele|brates in none but in S. <HI>Paul;</HI> though many others were &s;trangely converted too, &s;he cele|brates none but his. In the words cho&s;en for this day, <HI>And now behold I know &amp;c.</HI> wee &s;hall reduce to your memories, fir&s;t, His proceeding in the Church after he was called, <HI>(I have gone preaching the kingdome of God among you)</HI> And then the ea&s;e, the repo&s;ednes, the acquie&s;cence that he had in that knowledge, which God by his Spirit had given him, of the approach of his di&s;&s;olution, and departure out of this life; <HI>(I know that all you &s;hall &s;ee my face no more.)</HI> As tho&s;e things which we &s;ee in a gla&s;&s;e, for the mo&s;t part, mu&s;t be behinde us, &s;o that that makes our tran&s;migration in death comfortable unto us, mu&s;t be behinde us, in the te&s;timony of a good Con&s;cience, for things formerly done; <HI>Now be|hold, I know, that all yee, among whom I have gone &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In handling of which words, our Method &s;hall be this; Our generall parts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> being (as we have already intimated) the&s;e two, His way, and his End, His painfull cour&s;e, and his cheerfull fini&s;hing of his cour&s;e; His laborious battaile, and his victorious tri|umph: In the fir&s;t, <HI>(I have gone preaching the kingdome of God among you)</HI> wee &s;hall &s;ee, fir&s;t, That there is a <HI>Tran&s;ivi,</HI> as well as a <HI>Requievi</HI> acceptable to God; A di&s;charge of a Duty, as well in going from one place to another, as in a perpetuall Re&s;idence upon one; <HI>Tran&s;ivi,</HI> &s;ayes our Apo&s;tle, <HI>I have gone among you.</HI> But then, in a &s;econd con&s;ideration, in that fir&s;t part, That that makes his going acceptable to God, is, becau&s;e he goes to preach, <HI>Tran&s;ivi praedicans, I have gone preaching;</HI> And then la&s;tly in that fir&s;t part, That that, that makes his Preaching acceptable, is, that he preached the kingdome of God, <HI>Tran&s;ivi praedicans regnum Dei, I have gone amongst you, preaching the kingdome of God.</HI> And in the&s;e three characters of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Mini&s;tery, fir&s;t, Labour and A&s;&s;iduity; And then, Labour be&s;towed upon the right means, Preaching; And la&s;tly, Preaching to the right end, to edification, &amp; advancing the kingdome of God, we &s;hall determine our fir&s;t part.</P>
<P>In our &s;econd part, we pa&s;&s;e from his Tran&s;ition, to his Tran&s;migration; from his go|ing up and downe in the world, to his departing out of the world, <HI>And now, behold, I know, that yee &s;hall &s;ee my face no more.</HI> In which, we &s;hall look fir&s;t, how S. <HI>Paul</HI> contracted this knowledge, how he knew it; And &s;econdly, that the knowledge of it, did not di&s;quiet him, not di&s;order him; he takes knowledge of it, with a confidence, and a cheerfulne&s;&s;e. When he &s;ayes, <HI>I know it,</HI> he &s;eemes to &s;ay, I am glad of it, or at lea&s;t not troubled with it. And la&s;tly, that S. <HI>Paul</HI> continues here, that way, and method, which he alwayes u&s;es; That is, to proceed by the under&s;tanding, to the affections, and &s;o to the con&s;cience of tho&s;e that hear him, by &s;uch means of per&s;wa&s;ion, as are mo&s;t appliable to them, to whom he then &s;peaks; And therefore knowing the power and efficacy of a dying, a departing mans words, he makes that impre&s;&s;ion in them, Ob&s;erve, recollect, remember, practi&s;e that which I have delivered unto you, for, <HI>I know, that all yee &s;hall &s;ee my face no more.</HI> And &s;o we &s;hall bring up that circle, which was begun in heaven, in our la&s;t exerci&s;e, upon this occa&s;ion, in this place, when Chri&s;t &s;aid from thence, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI> up into heaven againe, in that <HI>Euge bone &s;erve,</HI> which Chri&s;t hath &s;aid &s;ince unto him, <HI>Well done good and faithfull &s;ervant, enter into thy Ma&s;ters joy;</HI> And our Apo&s;tle, whom, in our former Exerci&s;e, for example of our humiliation, we found faln to the Earth, in this, to the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of our Exaltation, in his, we &s;hall find, and leave, upon the la&s;t &s;tep of <HI>Ia|cobs</HI> ladder, that is, entring into Heaven, by the gate of death.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, in our fir&s;t Part, our fir&s;t Branch is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> That there is a <HI>Tran&s;ivi</HI> as acceptable to God, as a <HI>Requievi;</HI> That God was &s;erved in S. <HI>Paul,</HI> by applying his labours to many places, as well as if he had re&s;ided, and be&s;towed him&s;elfe intirely upon any one. When Chri&s;t manife&s;ted him&s;elfe at fir&s;t unto him, trembling and a&s;toni&s;hed, he &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.6.</NOTE> <HI>Lord what wilt thou have me to doe?</HI> And when Chri&s;t had told him, That in Dama&s;cus, from <HI>Ana|nias,</HI> he &s;hould receive his In&s;tructions, which were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> <HI>That he &s;hould beare his name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and the children of I&s;rael,</HI> After this commi&s;&s;ion was exhibited by <HI>Ananias,</HI> and accepted by S. <HI>Paul,</HI> that Propheticall Scripture laid hold upon him, by way
<PB N="470" REF="253">of acclamation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.6.</NOTE> <HI>Exultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam,</HI> He rejoyced as a &s;trong man to run a race,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.10. Rom. 15.19.</NOTE> <HI>He laboured more abundantly then they all, He carried the Go&s;pel from Ieru&s;alem to Illyricum,</HI> That is, as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;urvayes it, <HI>&agrave; mari rubro ad oceanum,</HI> from the Red Sea (a Sea within land) to the Ocean without, from all within, to all without the Covenant, Gentiles as well as Jews, <HI>Deficiente eum prius terra, qu&agrave;m &s;tudio praedicandi,</HI> He found an end of the world, but he found no end of his zeale, but preached as long as he found any to preach to. And as he exceeded in Action, &s;o did he in Pa&s;&s;ion too; He joynes both together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.23.</NOTE> <HI>In labours more abundant,</HI> (There was his continuall preaching) <HI>In &s;tripes above mea&s;ure,</HI> And then, <HI>In pri&s;ons more frequent, In deaths often.</HI> Who dyes more then once? Yet he dyes often. How often? Death that is every other mans everla&s;ting fa&s;t, and fils him his mouth with earth, was S. <HI>Pauls Panis quotidianus,</HI> His daily bread, <HI>I prote&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>by your rejoycing, which I have in Chri&s;t, I die daily.</HI></P>
<P>Though therefore we cannot give S. <HI>Paul</HI> a greater name then an Apo&s;tle, (except there be &s;ome extraordinary height of Apo&s;tle&s;hip enwrapped in that which he &s;ayes of him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1.1.</NOTE> <HI>Paul an Apo&s;tle, not of men, neither by men, but by Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> That in that place he glory in a holy exultation, that he was made an Apo&s;tle by Je&s;us Chri&s;t, then when Je&s;us Chri&s;t was nothing but Je&s;us Chri&s;t, then when he was glorified in heaven, and not a mortall man upon earth, as he was when he made his other Apo&s;tles; And that in his being an Apo&s;tle, there entred no &s;uch act of men, as did in the election of <HI>Matthias</HI> to that office, (though <HI>Matthias</HI> were made after the A&s;cen&s;ion as well as he) in who&s;e election tho&s;e men pre&s;ented God two names, and God directed that lot upon him, and &s;o <HI>Matthias</HI> was reckoned among&s;t the eleven Apo&s;tles) Though we need not procure to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 1. ult.</NOTE> nor imagine for him, any other name then an Apo&s;tle, yet S. <HI>Paul</HI> was otherwi&s;e an univer&s;all &s;oule to the whole Church, then many of the other Apo&s;tles were, and had a larger liberty to communicate him&s;elfe to all places, then any of them had. That is it which S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> intends, when he extends S. <HI>Pauls</HI> dignity, <HI>Angelis diver&s;ae Gentes commi&s;&s;ae,</HI> To particular Angels particular Nations are committed; <HI>&s;ed nullus Angelorum,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, No Angel governed his particular Nation better then S. <HI>Paul</HI> did the whole Church. S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> carryes it &s;o high; <HI>I&s;idore</HI> modifies it thus; He brings it from the Angels of heaven, to the Angels of the Church, Indeed the Archangels of the Church, the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, And he &s;ayes, <HI>Apo&s;tolorum qui&s;que regionem nactus unicam,</HI> Every Apo&s;tle was de&s;igned to &s;ome particular and certaine compa&s;&s;e, and did but that, in that, which S. <HI>Paul</HI> did in the whole world. But S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> and <HI>I&s;idore</HI> both take their ground for that which they &s;ay, from that which S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, <HI>Be&s;ides the&s;e things which are without,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.28.</NOTE> <HI>that which commeth upon me daily, The care of all the Churches; for,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>who is weak, and I am not weak?</HI> That is, who lacks any thing, but I am ready to doe it for him? who &s;uffers any thing, but I have compa&s;&s;ion for him? We receive by faire Tradition, and we entertaine with a faire credulity, the other Apo|&s;tles to have been Bi&s;hops, and thereby to have had a more certaine center, to which, na|turally, that is, by the nature of their office, they were to encline. Not that nothing may excu&s;e a Bi&s;hops ab&s;ence from his Sea; for naturall things, even naturally, doe depart from tho&s;e places to which they are naturally de&s;igned, and naturally affected, for the con&s;ervation of the whole frame and cour&s;e of nature; for, in &s;uch ca&s;es, water will a|&s;cend, and ayre will de&s;cend; which motion is done naturally, though it be a motion from that place, to which they are naturally affected; And &s;o may Bi&s;hops from their particular Churches;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE> for, <HI>Epi&s;copus in Eccle&s;ia, &amp; Eccle&s;ia in Epi&s;copo,</HI> Every Bi&s;hop hath a &s;uperintendency, and a re&s;idence in the whole Church, and the whole Church a re&s;i|dence, and a confidence in him. Therefore it is, that in &s;ome Decretall, and &s;ome Sy|nodall Letters, Bi&s;hops are called <HI>Monarchae,</HI> Monarchs, not onely with relation to one Dioce&s;&s;e, but to the whole Church; not onely Regall, but Imperiall Monarchs.</P>
<P>The Church of Rome makes Bi&s;hops every day, of Dioce&s;&s;es, to which they know tho&s;e Bi&s;hops can never come; Not onely in the Dominions of Princes of the Reformed Religion, (which are not likely to admit them) but in the Dominions of the Turk him|&s;elfe. And into the Councel of Trent, they threw and thru&s;t, they &s;hov'd and &s;hoveld in &s;uch Bi&s;hops in abundance: They created (that their numbers might carry all) new Ti|tular Bi&s;hops of every place, in the Ea&s;tern, the Greek Church, where there had ever been Bi&s;hops before, though tho&s;e very places were now no Cities; Not onely not with|in his Juri&s;diction, but not at all, upon the face of the earth. But in better times then the&s;e,
<PB N="471" REF="253">(though times, in which the Church was much afflicted too) S. <HI>Cyril</HI> of <HI>Alexandria</HI> men|tions &s;ix thou&s;and Bi&s;hops at once, again&s;t <HI>Ne&s;torius.</HI> Now if the Church had &s;ix thou|&s;and Bi&s;hops at once, certainly all of them had not Dioce&s;&s;es to re&s;ide upon; &s;ometimes collaterall nece&s;&s;ities enforce a departing from exact regularity, in matter of government. So it did, when S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> was cho&s;en Bi&s;hop of Milan in the We&s;t, and <HI>Nectarius</HI> Bi|&s;hop of Con&s;tantinople in the Ea&s;t, when they were both not onely Lay-men, but un|baptized. But yet, though there be divers ca&s;es in which Bi&s;hops may ju&s;tly be excu&s;ed from re&s;idence, (for they are &s;till re&s;ident upon the Church of God, if not upon the Church of that City) yet naturally, and regularly an obligation falling upon them, of Re&s;idence, the Apo&s;tles were more bound to certaine limits, by being Bi&s;hops, then S. <HI>Paul</HI> was, of whom it does not appeare that he was ever &s;o. I know &s;ome later men have thought S. <HI>Paul</HI> a Bi&s;hop: And they have found &s;ome &s;atisfaction in that, That <HI>Niger,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 13.3.</NOTE> and <HI>Lucius,</HI> and <HI>Manaen</HI> laid their hands upon <HI>Barnabas</HI> and <HI>Paul;</HI> and that Impo&s;ition of hands, &s;ay they, was a Con&s;ecration; And this rea&s;on &s;upplyes them too, That <HI>Paul</HI> did con&s;e|crate other Bi&s;hops, as <HI>Timothy</HI> of Ephe&s;us, and <HI>Titus</HI> of Crete. But &s;ince <HI>Niger,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. 1.5.</NOTE> and <HI>Lucius,</HI> and <HI>Manaen</HI> that laid their hands upon <HI>Paul,</HI> were not Bi&s;hops them&s;elves, <HI>Paul</HI> cannot therefore be concluded to be a Bi&s;hop, becau&s;e he laid his hands upon others. Nei|ther hath any of tho&s;e few Authors, which have imagined him to be a Bi&s;hop, ever a&s;|&s;igned or named any place of which he &s;hould be Bi&s;hop; So that S. <HI>Paul</HI> had &s;till ano|ther manner of liberty, and univer&s;ality over the Church, then the re&s;t had, and therefore &s;till avowes his <HI>Tran&s;ivi,</HI> his peregrination, <HI>I have gone among you.</HI></P>
<P>So then our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour having declared this to be his way for the propagation of the Go&s;pel, that be&s;ides the men that re&s;ide con&s;tantly upon certaine places, there &s;hould be Bi&s;hops that &s;hould &s;pread farther then to a Pari&s;h, and Apo&s;tles farther then to a Di|oce&s;&s;e, and a <HI>Paul</HI> farther then to a Nation; As in the fir&s;t Plantation Chri&s;t found this nece&s;&s;ary, &s;o may it be &s;till convenient, that in &s;ome ca&s;es, &s;ome per&s;ons, at &s;ome times, may be admitted to forbeare their &s;ervice, in &s;ome particular place, &s;o they doe not de|fraud the whole Church of God by that forbearance. For &s;o S. <HI>Paul,</HI> though he accu&s;e him&s;elfe, That he robbed other Churches, taking wages of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.11.</NOTE> and yet &s;erved the Corinthians, thinks him&s;elfe excu&s;able in this, That he did this &s;ervice in &s;ome part of the Church of Chri&s;t, though not alwayes to them in particular, from whom he recei|ved that recompence.</P>
<P>Now as this condemnes our Browni&s;ts abroad, that have publi&s;hed their opinion to be, That no particular Church, given to one mans cure, may con&s;i&s;t of more per&s;ons then may alwayes heare that man, all together, &s;o neither doth this afford any favour to tho&s;e men, who ab&s;ent them&s;elves from their charge, unnece&s;&s;arily; and every thing is unne|ce&s;&s;ary in a Church-man, that is not done for the farther advancement of the Church of God in generall, and doth prejudice, or defraud a particular Church. Therefore is S. <HI>Pauls Tran&s;ivi</HI> in this Text, accompanied with a <HI>Praedicavi,</HI> I have not re&s;ided in one place, <HI>I have gone among you,</HI> but I have gone among you <HI>preaching.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> in his Epi&s;tle to <HI>Dracontius,</HI> who refu&s;ed to be Bi&s;hop, &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Praedicando.</NOTE> If all men had been of your mind, who &s;hould have made you a Chri&s;tian? who &s;hould have been ena|bled to have mini&s;tred Sacraments unto you, if there had been no Bi&s;hop? But when he &s;aw that he refu&s;ed it therefore, becau&s;e men when they come to that &s;tate, give them|&s;elves more liberty then &s;uch as laboured in inferiour places did, and <HI>Dracontius</HI> &s;eemed loath to open him&s;elfe to the danger of that tentation, <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Licebit tibi in Epi|&s;copatu e&s;urire, &s;itire,</HI> Feare not, I warrant you, you may be poore enough in a Bi&s;hoprick; or if you be rich, no man will hinder you from living &s;oberly in a plentifull fortune; <HI>No|vimus Epi&s;copos jejunantes,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>&amp; Monachos comedentes,</HI> I have knowne a Bi&s;hop fa&s;t, when a Monke, or an Hermit hath made a good meale; <HI>Nec corona pro locis, &s;ed pro factis redditur,</HI> God doth not crowne every man that comes to the place, but him onely that doth the duties of the place, when he is in it. And here one of the Duties that induce our crowne, is Preaching, <HI>I have gone among you preaching.</HI></P>
<P>How&s;oever it be in practi&s;e in the Church of Rome, that Church dur&s;t not appeare to the world, but in that Declaration, <HI>Praecipuum Epi&s;coporum munus e&s;t praedicatio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Conc. Trid. Se&s;&s;. 5. c. 2.</NOTE> The prin|cipall office of the Bi&s;hop is to preach. And as there is no Church in Chri&s;tendome, (nay, let us magnifie God in the fulne&s;&s;e of an evident truth) not all the Churches of God in Chri&s;tendome, have more, or more u&s;efull preaching, then ours hath, from tho&s;e to
<PB N="472" REF="254">whom the Cure of Soules belongs: &s;o neither were there ever any times, in which more men were preferred for former preaching, nor that continued it more, after their preferments, then in the&s;e our times. There may bee, there &s;hould be a <HI>Tran&s;i|verunt,</HI> A pa&s;&s;ing from place to place, but &s;till it is as it &s;hould bee, <HI>Praedicando,</HI> A pa&s;&s;ing for Preaching, and a pa&s;&s;ing to Preaching; And then, a Preaching conditioned &s;o, as S. <HI>Pauls</HI> was, <HI>I have gone among you, preaching the Kingdome of God.</HI></P>
<P>The Kingdome of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Regnum Dei.</NOTE> is the Go&s;pel of God; that Go&s;pel which the Apo&s;tle calls <HI>the glorious Go&s;pel of God.</HI> A Kingdome con&s;i&s;ts not of &s;laves; &s;laves that have no will of their owne. The children of the Kingdome have &s;o a will of their own, as that no man is damned, but for that, which he would not avoid, nor &s;aved again&s;t his will; So wee preach a Kingdome. A Kingdome acknowledges all their happine&s;&s;e from the King; So doe we all the good u&s;e of all our faculties, will and all from the grace of the King of heaven; &s;o we preach a Kingdome. A Kingdome is able to &s;ub&s;i&s;t of it &s;elfe, without calling in Forrainers; The Go&s;pel is &s;o too, without calling in Traditions; and &s;o we preach a Kingdome. A Kingdome requires, be&s;ides fundamentall &s;ub&s;i&s;tence, grounded e&s;pecially in offen&s;ive, and defen&s;ive power, a &s;upport al&s;o of honour, and dignity, and outward &s;plendor; The Church of God requires al&s;o, be&s;ides unanimity in fundamen|tall Doctrines, an equanimity, and a mildne&s;&s;e, and a charity, in handling problematicall points, and al&s;o requires order, and comeline&s;&s;e in the outward face, and habit thereof; And &s;o we preach a Kingdome. So we preach a Kingdome, as that we bani&s;h from thence, all imaginary fatality, and all decretory impo&s;&s;ibility of concurrence, and co|operation to our owne &s;alvation, And yet we bani&s;h all pride, and confidence, that any naturall faculties in us, though quickned by former grace, can lead us to &s;alvation, with|out a continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of more and more grace; And &s;o we preach a Kingdome; So, as that we bani&s;h all &s;pirituall trea&s;on, in &s;etting up new titles, or making any thing equall to God, or his Word, And we bani&s;h all &s;pirituall felony or robbery, in de&s;poyling the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.13.</NOTE> either of Di&s;cipline, or of Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, either of Order, or of Ornaments. <HI>Be the Kings Daughter all glorious within;</HI> Yet, all her glory is not within; For, <HI>Her cloathing is of wrought gold,</HI> &s;ayes that text. Still may &s;he glory in her internall glory, in the &s;inceri|ty, and in the integrity of Doctrinall truths, and glory too in her outward comeline&s;&s;e, and beauty. So pray we, and &s;o preach we the Kingdome of God. And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t Part.</P>
<P>Our &s;econd Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to which in our order we are now come, is a pa&s;&s;ionate valediction, <HI>Now I know, that all you &s;hall &s;ee my face no more;</HI> where fir&s;t we inquire how he knew it. But why doe we inquire that? They that heard him did not &s;o: They heard it, and be|leeved it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.10.</NOTE> and lamented it. When S. <HI>Paul</HI> preached at <HI>Berea,</HI> his &s;tory &s;ayes, that he was better beleeved there, then at <HI>The&s;&s;alonica;</HI> And the rea&s;on is given, <HI>That there were No|bler per&s;ons there;</HI> Per&s;ons of better quality, of better natures, and di&s;po&s;itions, and of more ingenuity; and &s;o, as it is added, <HI>They received the word with all readine&s;&s;e of minde.</HI> Prejudices, and di&s;affections, and under-valuations of the abilities of the Preacher, in the hearer, di&s;appoint the purpo&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, fru&s;trate the labours of the man, and injure and defraud the re&s;t of the Congregation, who would, and would ju&s;tly, like that which is &s;aid, if they were not mi&s;-led, and &s;haked by tho&s;e hearers: And &s;o worke al&s;o &s;uch jealou&s;ies and &s;u&s;pitions, that though his abilities be good, yet his end upon his Auditory, is not their edification, but to work upon them, to other purpo&s;es. Though we require not an implicite faith in you, that you beleeve, becau&s;e we &s;ay it, yet we require a holy Noblene&s;&s;e in you, A religious good nature, a con&s;cientious ingenuity, that you remember from whom we come, from the King of heaven, and in what quality, as his Amba&s;&s;adors; And &s;o be apt to beleeve, that &s;ince we mu&s;t returne to him that &s;ent us, and give him a relation of our negotiation, we dare not tran&s;gre&s;&s;e our Commi&s;&s;ion. The <HI>Bereans</HI> are prai&s;ed for this, <HI>That they &s;earched the Scriptures daily, whether tho&s;e things that Paul &s;aid were &s;o;</HI> But this begun not at a jealou&s;ie, or &s;u&s;pition in them, that they doubted, that that which he &s;aid, was not &s;o, nor proceeded not to a gladne&s;&s;e, or to a de&s;ire, that they might have taken him in a lie, or might have found, that that which he &s;aid, was not &s;o; But <HI>they &s;earched the Scriptures, whether tho&s;e things were &s;o,</HI> that &s;o, having formerly beleeved him when he preached, they might e&s;tabli&s;h that beliefe, which they had received, by that, which was the infallible rocke, and foundation of all, <HI>The Scriptures;</HI> They &s;earched; but they &s;earched for confirmation, and not upon &s;u&s;pition.</P>
<PB N="473" REF="254">
<P>In our pre&s;ent ca&s;e, they to whom S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid this, doe not aske S. <HI>Paul</HI> how hee knew, that they &s;hould &s;ee his face no more; they beleeved as we doe, that he had it by revelation from God; and &s;uch knowledge is faith. <HI>Tricubitalis er at, &amp; coelum attingit,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome;</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> was a man of low &s;tature; but foure foot and a halfe high, &s;ayes he; and yet his head reached to the highe&s;t heaven, and his eyes &s;aw, and his eares heard the coun&s;els of God. Scarce any Amba&s;&s;adour can &s;hew &s;o many Letters of his Ma&s;ters owne hand, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> could produce Revelations; His King came to him, as often as other Kings write to their Amba&s;&s;adours.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.4. Gal. 1.1. Gal. 2. Acts 13. Acts 16. Acts 18. Acts 17.</NOTE> He had his fir&s;t calling by Revela|tion; He had his Commi&s;&s;ion, his Apo&s;tle-&s;hip by Revelation; So hee was directed to Jeru&s;alem, And &s;o to Rome; to both by Revelation; and &s;o to <HI>Macedonia</HI> al&s;o. So hee was confirmed, and comforted in the night, by Vi&s;ion, by Revelation; And &s;o he was a&s;&s;ured of the lives of all them, that &s;uffered &s;hipwrack with him at <HI>Malta.</HI> All his Cate chi&s;mes in the beginning, all his Dictats in his proceeding, all his incouragements at his departing, were all Revelation.</P>
<P>Every good man hath his conver&s;ation in heaven, and heaven it &s;elf had a conver&s;a|tion in S. <HI>Paul;</HI> And &s;o, even the book of the Acts of the Apo&s;tles, is, as it were, a fir&s;t Part of the book of Revelation; Revelations to S. <HI>Paul,</HI> as the other was to S. <HI>Iohn.</HI> This is the way that Chri&s;t promi&s;ed to take with him, <HI>I will &s;hew him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.16. Acts 20.11.</NOTE> <HI>how great things he mu&s;t &s;uffer for my &s;ake.</HI> And this way Chri&s;t pur&s;ued, <HI>At Cae&s;area, Agabus a Prophet came from Iudaea to Paul, and took Pauls girdle, and bound his own hands, and feet, and &s;aid, Thus &s;aith the Holy Gho&s;t, So &s;hall the Iews binde the man that owes the girdle, and &s;hall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.</HI> This then was his ca&s;e in our text, (for, that revelation, by <HI>Agabus</HI> his Prophe&s;ie, of his &s;uffering was after this) he had a revelation that he &s;hould never be &s;een by them more; but when, or how, or where he &s;hould dye, he had not had a particular revelation then. He &s;ayes, a little before our text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 12.</NOTE> <HI>I goe bound in the Spirit to Ieru&s;alem:</HI> That is, &s;o bound by the Spirit, that if I &s;hould not goe, I &s;hould re|&s;i&s;t the Spirit; But, &s;ayes he, I know not the things that &s;hall befall me there; not at Je|ru&s;alem; much le&s;&s;e the la&s;t, and bittere&s;t things, which were farther off; the things that &s;hould befall him at Rome, where he died. But from the very fir&s;t, he knew enough of his death, to &s;hake any &s;oule, that were not &s;u&s;tained by the Spirit of God; which is ano|ther Branch in this Part, That no revelations, no apprehen&s;ions of death removed him from his holy intrepidne&s;&s;e, and religious con&s;tancy.</P>
<P>We have a &s;tory in an Author of S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> time, <HI>Palladius,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Non perter|ritus.</NOTE> that in a Mona&s;tery of S. <HI>I&s;idors,</HI> every Monk that dyed in that hou&s;e, was able, and ever did tell all the &s;ociety, that at &s;uch a time he &s;hould die. God does extraordinary things, for extraordinary ends; but &s;ince we &s;ee no &s;uch ends, nor u&s;e of this, we are at our liberty, to doubt of the thing it &s;elfe. God told <HI>Simeon, that he &s;hould not die, till he had &s;een Chri&s;t;</HI> but he did not tell him, that he &s;hould die as &s;oone as he had &s;een him; But &s;o much as was told him, was enough to make him content to die, when he had &s;een him, and to come to his <HI>Nunc dimittis,</HI> to that chearfulne&s;&s;e, as to &s;ing his owne <HI>Requiem.</HI> God accu&s;tomed S. <HI>Paul,</HI> no doubt, to &s;uch notifications from him, and &s;uch apprehen&s;ions in him&s;elfe of death, as, becau&s;e it was not new, it could not be terrible. When S. <HI>Paul</HI> was able to make that pro|te&s;tation, <HI>I prote&s;t by your rejoycing, which I have in Chri&s;t Ie&s;us our Lord, I die dayly;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.31. 2 Cor. 11.23.</NOTE> And againe, <HI>I am in pri&s;ons oft, and often in deaths, I die often;</HI> No Executioner could have told him, you mu&s;t die to morrow, but he could have &s;aid, Alas I died ye&s;terday, and ye|&s;terday was twelve-month, and &s;eaven yeare, and every yeare, and month, and weeke, and day, and houre before that. There is nothing &s;o neare Immortality, as to die dai|ly; for not to feele death, is Immortality; and onely hee &s;hall never feele death, that is exerci&s;ed in the continuall Meditation thereof; Continuall Mortification is Immor|tality.</P>
<P>As Cordials lo&s;e their vertue and become no Cordials, if they be taken every day, &s;o poy&s;ons do their venome too; If a man u&s;e him&s;elfe to them, in &s;mall proportions at fir&s;t, he may grow to take any quantity: He that takes a dram of Death to day, may take an ounce to morrow, and a pound after; He that begins with that mortification of deny|ing him&s;elfe his delights, (which is a dram of Death) &s;hall be able to &s;uffer the tribulati|ons of this world, (which is a greater mea&s;ure of death) and then Death it &s;elfe, not onely patiently, but cheerefully; And to &s;uch a man, death is not a di&s;&s;olution, but a redintegration; not a divorce of body and &s;oule, but a &s;ending of both divers wayes,
<PB N="474" REF="255">(the &s;oule upward to Heaven, the body downeward to the earth) to an indi&s;&s;oluble mar|riage to him, who, for the &s;alvation of both, a&s;&s;umed both, our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.17.</NOTE> Therefore does S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ay of him&s;elfe, <HI>If I be offered upon the &s;acrifice, and &s;ervice of your faith, I joy, and rejoyce with you all,</HI> that is, It is a ju&s;t occa&s;ion of our common joy, on your part, and on mine too; And therefore does S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ay in his behalfe, what&s;oever can be threatned him, <HI>Si pote&s;t vivere, tolerabile e&s;t,</HI> What&s;oever does not take away life, may be endured; for, if it could not be endured, it would take away life; and, <HI>Si non pote&s;t vivere,</HI> &s;ayes he, If it doe take away life, what &s;hall he feele, when hee is dead? He adds the rea&s;on of all, <HI>Opus cum fine, merces &s;ine fine;</HI> Death hath an end, but their reward that dye for Chri&s;t, and their peace, that dye in Chri&s;t, hath no end. There|fore was not S. <HI>Paul</HI> afraid of melancholique apprehen&s;ions, by drawing his death into contemplation, and into di&s;cour&s;e; he was not afraid to thinke, nor to talke of his death; But then S. <HI>Paul</HI> had another end in doing &s;o here, (which is our la&s;t con&s;ideration) To make the deeper impre&s;&s;ion in them, to whom he preached then, by telling them, <HI>that he knew they &s;hould &s;ee his face no more.</HI></P>
<P>This that S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Moriturus.</NOTE> he &s;ayes to the Ephe&s;ians; but not at Ephe&s;us: He was departed from thence the yeare before: for, upon the newes that <HI>Claudius</HI> the Emperour, who per&s;ecuted the Chri&s;tians, was dead, he purpo&s;ed to goe by Jeru&s;alem to Rome. In that peregrination and vi&s;itation of his, his way fell out after to be by Miletus, a place not far from Ephe&s;us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 22.</NOTE> <HI>He was bound in the Spirit,</HI> as he &s;ayes here, <HI>to go to Ieru&s;alem;</HI> and therefore he could not vi&s;it them at Ephe&s;us. A man may have &s;uch obligations, even for the &s;ervice of God upon him, as that it &s;hall not be in his power, to doe that &s;ervice which he may owe, and de&s;ire to pay in &s;ome particular Church. It was in part S. <HI>Pauls</HI> ca&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s; 17.</NOTE> But yet he did what he could; from Miletus he &s;ent to Ephe&s;us, to call the Elders of that Church thither; And then he preached this &s;hort, but powerfull Sermon. And, as his manner ever was, (though &s;till without prevaricating or forbearing to denounce the judgements of God upon them, in ca&s;es nece&s;&s;ary) to make tho&s;e whom he preached or writ to, as benevolent, and well-affected to him as he could, (for he was <HI>Omnia omni|bus, Made all things to all men</HI>) to which purpo&s;e it is that he &s;peakes, and poures out him|&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal 4.14.</NOTE> with &s;uch a loving thankfulne&s;&s;e to the Galatians, <HI>Ye received me as an Angel of God, even as Chri&s;t Ie&s;us him&s;elfe;</HI> pur&s;uing, I &s;ay, this manner of a mutuall endearing, and a reciprocall embowelling of him&s;elfe in the Congregation, and the Congregation in him, (as, certainely, if we con&s;ider all unions, (the naturall union of Parents and children, the matrimoniall union of Husband and Wife) no union is &s;o &s;pirituall, nor &s;o neare to that, by which we are made <HI>Idem &s;piritus cum Domino,</HI> The &s;ame Spirit with the Lord, as when a good Pa&s;tor, and a good flock meete, and are united in holy affections to one another) to unite him&s;elfe to his Ephe&s;ians in&s;eparably, even after his &s;eparation, to be &s;till pre&s;ent with them, in his everla&s;ting ab&s;ence, and to live with them even after death, to make the deeper impre&s;&s;ions of all his pa&s;t, and pre&s;ent in&s;tructions, he &s;peaks to them as a dying man, <HI>I know you &s;hall &s;ee my face no more.</HI></P>
<P>Why did he &s;o? S. <HI>Paul</HI> did not dye in eleven yeares after this: But he dyed to them, for bodily pre&s;ence, now; They were to &s;ee him no more. As the day of my death is the day of Judgement to me, &s;o this day of his departing was the day of his death to them. And for him&s;elfe, from this time, when he gave this judgement of death upon him&s;elfe, all the re&s;t of his life was but a leading far off, to the place of execution. For fir&s;t, very &s;oone after this, <HI>Agabus</HI> gave him notice of manifold afflictions, in that Girdle which we &s;pake of before. There he was bound, and empri&s;oned at Jeru&s;alem; from thence &s;ent bound to Cae&s;area; practi&s;ed upon to be killed by the way; forced to appeale to Cae&s;ar; upon that Appeale &s;ent pri&s;oner to Rome; &s;hip-wracked upon the way at Malta; Em|pri&s;oned under guard, though not clo&s;e pri&s;oner, two yeares after his comming thither; and, though di&s;mi&s;&s;ed, and &s;o enabled to vi&s;it &s;ome Churches, yet laid hold upon a|gaine by <HI>Nero,</HI> and executed. So that as it was literally true, that the Ephe&s;ians never &s;aw his face, after this valediction, &s;o he may be &s;aid to have dyed then, in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as him&s;elfe &s;ayes to the Corinthians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.</NOTE> <HI>That &s;ome men were baptized, Pro mortuis, for dead,</HI> that is, as good as dead, pa&s;t all hope of recovery. So he dyed then.</P>
<P>Now beloved, who hath &s;eene a Father, or a friend, or a neighbour, or a malefactor dye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.30.</NOTE> and hath not beene affected with his dying words? <HI>Nay Father Abraham,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Dives,</HI> that will not &s;erve, <HI>That they have Mo&s;es and the Prophets;</HI> Sermons will not &s;erve
<PB N="475" REF="255">their turnes; <HI>But if one went to them from the Dead, they would repent.</HI> And the neare&s;t to this is, if one &s;peake to them that is going to the dead. If he had beene a minute in Hea|ven thou would&s;t beleeve him; and wilt thou not beleeve him a minute before? Did not <HI>Iacob</HI> ob&s;erve the Angels a&s;cending, as well as de&s;cending upon that ladder? Tru&s;t a good &s;oule going to God, as well as comming from God? And then, as our Ca&s;ui&s;ts &s;ay, That what&s;oever a man is bound to do, <HI>In articulo mortis,</HI> at the point of death, by way of Confe&s;&s;ion or otherwi&s;e, he is bound to doe, when he comes to the Sacrament, or when he undertakes any action of danger, becau&s;e then he &s;hould prepare him&s;elfe as if he were dying: &s;o, when you come to heare us here, who are come from God, heare us with &s;uch an affection, as if we were going to God, as if you heard us upon our death-beds. The Pulpit is more then our death-bed; for, we are bound to the &s;ame truth, and &s;incerity here, as if we were upon our death-bed, and then Gods Ordinance is more ex|pre&s;ly executed here, then there. He that mingles fal&s;hood with his la&s;t dying words, deceives the world inexcu&s;ably, becau&s;e he &s;peakes in the per&s;on of an hone&s;t man, but he that mingles fal&s;e informations in his preaching, does &s;o much more, becau&s;e he &s;peaks in the per&s;on of God him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>They to whom S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;pake there, are &s;aid all <HI>to have wept, and to have fallen on Pauls necke, and to have ki&s;&s;ed him;</HI> But it is added, <HI>they &s;orrowed mo&s;t of all for tho&s;e words, That they &s;hould &s;ee his face no more.</HI> When any of tho&s;e men, to whom for their holy calling, and their religious paines in their calling, you owe and pay a reverence, are taken from you by death, or otherwi&s;e, there is a godly &s;orrow due to that, and in a great proporti|on. In the death of one <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI> King <HI>Ioa&s;h</HI> apprehended a ruine of all; <HI>He wept over his face,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 13.14.</NOTE> <HI>and &s;aid, O my father, my father, the Charet of I&s;rael, and the hor&s;emen thereof;</HI> He lo&s;t the &s;o|licitude of a father, he lo&s;t the power and &s;trength of the Kingdome, in the lo&s;&s;e of one &s;uch Prophet. But when you have &s;o &s;orrowed for men, upon whom your devotion hath put, and ju&s;tly put &s;uch a valuation, remember that a greater lo&s;&s;e, then the lo&s;&s;e of a thou&s;and &s;uch men may fall upon you. Con&s;ider the difference betweene the Candle and the Candle&s;tick, betweene the Preacher of the Go&s;pel, and the Go&s;pel it &s;elfe; be|tweene a religious man, and Religion it &s;elfe: The removing of the Candle&s;tick, and the withdrawing of the Go&s;pel, and the prophaning of Religion, is infinitely a greaten lo&s;&s;e, then if hundreds of the pre&s;ent labourers &s;hould be taken away from us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.12.21.43. Apoc. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>The children of the kingdome may be ca&s;t into utter darkne&s;&s;e;</HI> and <HI>That kingdome may be given to others which &s;hall bring forth the fruits thereof;</HI> and, <HI>The Lord may come, and come quickly and remove our Candle&s;tick out of his place;</HI> pray we that in our dayes he may not. And truly where God threatens to doe &s;o in the Revelation, it is upon a Church, of which God him&s;elfe gives good te&s;timony, The Church of Ephe&s;us; of her <HI>Labours,</HI> that is, Preaching;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> of her <HI>Pati|ence,</HI> that is, &s;uffering; of her <HI>Impatience,</HI> her not &s;uffering the evill, that is, her integrity and impartiality, without connivence or toleration; And of her <HI>not fainting,</HI> that is, per|&s;everance; and of her <HI>having the Nicolaitans,</HI> that is, &s;incerity in the truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 6.</NOTE> and a holy animo&s;ity again&s;t all fal&s;e Doctrines: And yet, &s;ayes he, <HI>I have &s;omething to &s;ay again&s;t thee.</HI></P>
<P>When thou ha&s;t te&s;tified their a&s;&s;iduity in Preaching, their con&s;tancy in &s;uffering, their &s;incerity in beleeving, their integrity in profe&s;&s;ing, their per&s;everance in continuing, their zeale in hating of all error in others, when thou thy &s;elfe ha&s;t given this evidence in their behalfe, can&s;t thou Lord Je&s;u have any thing to &s;ay again&s;t them? what then &s;hall we, we that faile in all the&s;e, look to heare from thee? what was their crime? <HI>Becau&s;e they had left their fir&s;t love;</HI> Left the fulne&s;&s;e of their former zeale to Gods cau&s;e. Now, if our ca&s;e be &s;o much wor&s;e then theirs, as that we are not onely guilty of all tho&s;e &s;ins, of which Chri&s;t di&s;charges them, and have not onely left our fir&s;t love, but in a manner lo&s;t all our love, all our zeale to his glory, and be come to a luke warmne&s;&s;e in his &s;ervice, and a generall neglect of the meanes of grace, how ju&s;tly may we feare, not onely that he will come, and come quickly, but that he may po&s;&s;ibly be upon his way already, to re|move our Candle&s;tick, and withdraw the Go&s;pel from us? And if it be a &s;ad thing to you, to heare a <HI>Paul,</HI> a holy man &s;ay, <HI>You &s;hall &s;ee my face no more,</HI> on this &s;ide the <HI>Ite male|dicti, Go ye accur&s;ed into hell fire,</HI> there cannot be &s;o &s;ad a voyce, as to heare Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;ay, <HI>You &s;hall &s;ee my face no more. Facies Dei e&s;t, qua Deus nobis innote&s;cit,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tin,</HI> That is the face of God to us, by which God manife&s;ts him&s;elfe to us. God manife&s;ts him&s;elfe to us in the Word, and in the Sacraments. If we &s;ee not them in their true lines
<PB N="476" REF="256">and colours, (the Word and Sacraments &s;incerely and religiou&s;ly preached and admi|ni&s;tred) we doe not &s;ee them, but masks upon them; And, if we do not &s;ee them, we do not &s;ee the face of Chri&s;t; And I could as well &s;tand under his <HI>Ne&s;cio vos,</HI> which he &s;aid to the negligent Virgins, <HI>I know you not,</HI> or his <HI>Ne&s;civi vos,</HI> which he &s;aid to tho&s;e that boa&s;t of their works,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.22.</NOTE> <HI>I never knew you,</HI> as under this fearfull thunder from his mouth, <HI>You &s;hall &s;ee my face no more,</HI> I will ab&s;olutely withdraw, or I will &s;uffer prophanene&s;&s;e to enter into tho&s;e meanes of your &s;alvation, Word, and Sacraments, which I have &s;o long continued in their &s;incerity towards you, and you have &s;o long abu&s;ed.</P>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed God &s;ay not &s;o to us yet; yet let the tree grow another yeare, before thou cut it downe; And as thou ha&s;t digged about it, by bringing judgements upon our neigh|bours, &s;o water it with thy former raine, the dew of thy grace, and with thy later raine, the teares of our contrition, that we may &s;till &s;eethy face; here and hereafter; here, in thy kingdome of Grace; hereafter in thy kingdome of Glory, which thou ha&s;t purcha&s;ed for us, with the ine&s;timable price of thine incorruptible blood. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="48" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLVIII.</HI> Preached at S. <HI>Pauls</HI> in the Evening, Vpon the day of S. <HI>PAULS</HI> Conver&s;ion. <HI>1628.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ACTS 28.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>They changed their minds, and &s;aid, That he was a God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe &s;cene, where this canonization, this &s;uper-canonization, (for, it was not of a Saint, but of a God) was tran&s;acted, was the Ile of Malta: The per|&s;on canonized, and proclaimed for a God, was S. <HI>Paul,</HI> at that time by &s;hip|wrack ca&s;t upon that Iland. And having for &s;ome yeares heretofore con|tinued that cu&s;tome in this place, at this time of the year, when the Church celebrates the Conver&s;ion of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> (as it doth this day) to handle &s;ome part of his Story, pur&s;uing that cu&s;tome now, I cho&s;e that part, which is knit and wound up in this Text, Then <HI>they changed their minds, and &s;aid, He is a God.</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> found him&s;elfe in dan|ger of being oppre&s;&s;ed in judgement, and thereby was put to a nece&s;&s;ity of Appealing to <HI>Cae&s;ar:</HI> By vertue of that Appeale being &s;ent to Rome, by Sea, he was &s;urprized with &s;uch &s;tormes, as threatned inevitable ruine; But the Angel of God &s;tood by him, and a&s;&s;ured him, that none of tho&s;e two hundred &s;eaventy &s;ix per&s;ons, which were in the &s;hip with him, &s;hould peri&s;h; According to this a&s;&s;urance, though the &s;hip peri&s;hed, all the pa&s;&s;en|gers were &s;aved, and recovered this land, Malta. Where being courteou&s;ly received by the Inhabitants, though otherwi&s;e <HI>Barbarians,</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> doing &s;o much for him&s;elfe and for his company, as to gather a bundle of &s;ticks to mend the fire, there flew a Viper from the heat, and fa&s;tned on his hand. They thereupon &s;aid among them&s;elves, <HI>No doubt, this man is a murderer, whom, though he have e&s;caped the Sea, yet Vengeance &s;uffereth not to live.</HI> But when he &s;haked off the Viper into the fire, and received no harme, and they had looked, that he &s;hould have &s;woln, and faln down dead &s;uddenly, after they had looked a great while, and &s;aw no harme come to him, <HI>Then</HI> (and then enters our Text) <HI>They changed their minds, and &s;aid, He is a God.</HI> Almighty God had bred up S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;o; &s;o he had catechized him all the way, with vici&s;&s;itudes, and revolutions from extreme to extreme. He had taught him how to want, and how to abound; how to beare honour, and di&s;honour: He permitted an Angel of Satan to buffet him, (&s;o he gave him &s;ome &s;en&s;e of Hell) He gave him a Rapture, an Exta&s;ie; and in that, an appropinquation, an approximation to him&s;elfe, and &s;o &s;ome po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of Heaven in this life. So God pro|ceeded with him here in Malta too; He pa&s;&s;ed him in their mouths from extreme to ex|treme; A Viper &s;er&s;es him, and they condemne him for a <HI>murderer;</HI> He &s;hakes off the Vi|per; and they change their minds, and &s;ay, <HI>He is a God.</HI></P>
<PB N="477" REF="256">
<P>The fir&s;t words of our Text carry us nece&s;&s;arily &s;o far back,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> as to &s;ee from what they changed; And their periods are ea&s;ily &s;eene; Their <HI>Terminus &agrave; quo,</HI> and their <HI>Terminus ad quem,</HI> were the&s;e; fir&s;t, that he was a <HI>Murderer,</HI> Then that he was a <HI>God.</HI> An error in Morality; They cen&s;ure deeply upon light evidence: An error in Divinity; They tran&s;|fer the Name and e&s;timation of a God, upon an unknowne Man. Place both the errors in Divinity; (&s;o you may ju&s;tly do) And then there is an error in Charity, a ha&s;ty and incon&s;iderate condemning; And an error in faith, a &s;uper&s;titious creating of an imagina|ry God. Now, upon the&s;e two generall Con&s;iderations will this Exerci&s;e con&s;i&s;t; fir&s;t, that it is naturall Logique, an argumentation naturally imprinted in Man, to argue, and conclude thus, Great calamities are inflicted, therefore God is greatly provoked; The&s;e men of Malta were but naturall men, but <HI>Barbarians,</HI> (as S. <HI>Luke</HI> cals them) and yet they argue, and conclude &s;o; Here is a judgement executed, therefore here is evidence, that God is di&s;plea&s;ed. And &s;o far they kept within the limits of humanity and piety too; But when they de&s;cended ha&s;tily and incon&s;iderately, to particular, and per&s;onall appli|cations, This judgement upon this man is an evidence of his guiltine&s;&s;e in this offence, then they tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed the bounds of charity; That becau&s;e a Viper had &s;ei&s;ed <HI>Pauls</HI> hand, <HI>Paul</HI> mu&s;t needs be a murderer.</P>
<P>And then when we &s;hall have pa&s;&s;ed thorough tho&s;e things, which belong to that fir&s;t Con&s;ideration, which con&s;i&s;ts of the&s;e two Propo&s;itions, That to conclude &s;o, God &s;trikes, therefore he is angry, is naturall, but ha&s;tily to apply this to the condemnation of particular per&s;ons, is uncharitable, we &s;hall de&s;cend to our &s;econd Con&s;ideration, to &s;ee what they did, when they changed their minds, <HI>They &s;aid, He is a God.</HI> And, as in the former part, we &s;hall have &s;een, That there is in man a naturall Logique, but that &s;trays into uncharitablene&s;&s;e; So in this we &s;hall &s;ee, That there is in man a naturall Re|ligion, but that &s;trayes into &s;uper&s;tition and idolatry; Naturally man is &s;o far from be|ing deve&s;ted of the knowledge and &s;en&s;e of God, from thinking that there is no God, as that he is apt to make more Gods then he &s;hould, and to wor&s;hip them for Gods, whom he &s;hould not. The&s;e men of Malta were but Naturall men, but <HI>Barbarians,</HI> (&s;ayes S. <HI>Luke</HI>) yet they were &s;o far from denying God, as that they multiplied Gods, and becau&s;e the Viper did <HI>Paul</HI> no harme, they change their minds, and &s;ay, <HI>He is a God.</HI></P>
<P>And from the&s;e two generall con&s;iderations, and the&s;e two branches in each, That there is in man a Naturall Logique, but that &s;trayes into Fallacies; And a Naturall Reli|gion, but that &s;trayes into Idolatry, and Super&s;tition, we &s;hall derive, and deduce unto you, &s;uch things as we conceive mo&s;t to conduce to your edification, from this knot, and &s;ummary abridgement of this Story, <HI>Then they changed their minds, and &s;aid, He is a God.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then for the fir&s;t Propo&s;ition of our fir&s;t part, That this is naturall Logique,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> an argumentation imprinted in every man, God &s;trikes, therefore God is angry, He, whom they that even hate his name, (our Adver&s;aries of the Roman per&s;wa&s;ion) doe yet &s;o far tacitely reverence, as that, though they will not name him, they will transfer, and in&s;ert his expo&s;itions of Scriptures, into their works, and pa&s;&s;e them as their owne, that as <HI>Cal|vin,</HI> He, <HI>Calvin,</HI> collects this propo&s;ition from this &s;tory, <HI>Pa&s;sim receptum omnibus &s;aeculis,</HI> In all ages, and in all places this hath ever been acknowledged by all men, That when God &s;trikes, God is angry, And when God is angry, God &s;trikes; and therefore, &s;ayes he, <HI>Quoties occurrit memorabilis aliqua calamitas, &s;imul in mentem veniat,</HI> as often as you &s;ee any extraordinary calamity, conclude that God hath been extraordinarily provoked, and ha&s;ten to tho&s;e meanes, by which the anger and indignation of God may be appea|&s;ed againe. So that for this Doctrine, a man needs not be preached unto, a man needs not be catechized; A man needs not reade the Fathers, nor the Councels, nor the Schoolmen, nor the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall &s;tory, nor Summi&s;ts, nor Ca&s;ui&s;ts, nor Canoni&s;ts, no nor the Bi|ble it &s;elfe for this Doctrine; for this Doctrine, That when God &s;trikes he is angry, and when he is angry he &s;trikes, the naturall man hath as full a Library in his bo&s;ome, as the Chri&s;tian.</P>
<P>We, we that are Chri&s;tians have one Author of ours, that tells us, <HI>Vindicta mihi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.35.</NOTE> <HI>Re|venge is mine, &s;aith the Lord; Mo&s;es</HI> tells us &s;o; And in that, we have a fir&s;t and a &s;econd Le&s;&s;on; Fir&s;t, that &s;ince Revenge is in Gods hands, it will certainly fall upon the Male|factor, God does not mi&s;take his marke; And then, &s;ince Revenge is in his hands, no man mu&s;t take Revenge out of his hands, or make him&s;elfe his owne Magi&s;trate, or re|venge
<PB N="478" REF="257">his owne quarrel. And as we, we that are Chri&s;tians, have our Author, <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that tells us this, the naturall man hath his &s;ecular Author, <HI>Theocritus,</HI> that tels him as much, <HI>Reperit Deus nocentes,</HI> God alwayes finds out the guilty man. In which, the naturall man hath al&s;o a fir&s;t, and a &s;econd Le&s;&s;on too; Fir&s;t, that &s;ince God finds out the Malefactor, he never &s;capes; And then, &s;ince God does find him at la&s;t, God &s;ought him all the while; Though God &s;trike late, yet he pur&s;ued him long before; and many a man feels the &s;ting in his con&s;cience, long before he feels the blow in his body. That God finds, and therefore &s;eeks, That God overtakes, and therefore pur&s;ues, That God overthrows, and therefore re&s;i&s;ts the wicked, is a Naturall conclu&s;ion as well as a Divine.</P>
<P>The &s;ame Author of ours,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 10.17.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> tels us, <HI>The Lord our God is Lord of Lords, and God of gods, and regardeth no mans per&s;on.</HI> The naturall man hath his Author too, that tels him, <HI>Semper Virgines Furiae,</HI> The Furies, (they whom they conceive to execute Revenge up|on Malefactors) are alwayes Virgins, that is, not to be corrupted by any &s;olicitations. That no dignity &s;helters a man from the ju&s;tice of God, is a naturall conclu&s;ion, as well as a Divine.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 55.23.</NOTE> We have a &s;weet Singer of I&s;rael that tels us, <HI>Non dimidiabit dies, The bloudy and deceitfull man &s;hall not live out halfe his dayes:</HI> And the naturall man hath his &s;weet &s;inger too, a learned Poet that tels him, that &s;eldome any enormous Malefactor enjoyes <HI>&s;iccam mortem,</HI> (as he calls it) a dry, an un-bloody death. That blood requires blood, is a naturall conclu&s;ion, as well as a Divine. Our &s;weet Singer tels us againe, <HI>That if he fly to the farthe&s;t ends of the earth, or to the &s;ea, or to heaven, or to hell, he &s;hall find God there;</HI> And the naturall man hath his Author, that tels him, <HI>Qui fugit, non effugit,</HI> He that runs away from God, does not &s;cape God. That there is no &s;anctuary, no priviledged place again&s;t which Gods <HI>Quo Warranto</HI> does not lie, is a naturall conclu&s;ion, as well as a divine; <HI>Sanguis Abel,</HI> is our Proverb, <HI>That Abels blood cryes for revenge,</HI> And <HI>&s;anguis Ae&s;opi</HI> is the naturall mans Proverb, That <HI>E&s;ops</HI> blood cryes for revenge; for <HI>E&s;ops</HI> blood was &s;hed upon an indignation taken at &s;acrifice, as <HI>Abels</HI> was. S. <HI>Pauls Deus Remunerator,</HI> That there is <HI>a God,</HI> and that that God <HI>is a ju&s;t rewarder of mens actions,</HI> is a naturall con|clu&s;ion, as well as a Divine.</P>
<P>When God &s;peaks to us, us that are Chri&s;tians, in the Scriptures, he &s;peaks as in a Pri|mitive, and Originall language; when he &s;peaks to the naturall man, by the light of na|ture, though &s;peak as in a tran&s;lation into another language, yet he &s;peaks the &s;ame thing; Every where he offers us this knowledge, That where he &s;trikes, he is angry, and where he is angry, he does &s;trike. Therefore <HI>Calvin</HI> might, as he doth, &s;afely and piou&s;ly e&s;ta|bli&s;h his <HI>Quoties occurrit,</HI> As often as you &s;ee an extraordinary calamity, conclude that God is extraordinarily provoked: And he might as &s;afely have e&s;tabli&s;hed more then that, That where&s;oever God is angry, and in that anger &s;trikes, God &s;ees &s;inne before; No puni&s;hment from God, where there is no &s;in. God may have glory in the condem|nation of man; but except that man were a &s;infull man, God could have no glory in his condemnation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9.23.</NOTE> <HI>At the beginning of thy prayer, the commandment went out,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Ga|briel</HI> to <HI>Daniel;</HI> But till <HI>Danicl</HI> prayed, there went out no commandment. At the begin|ning of the &s;inners &s;in, God bends his bow, and whets his arrows, and at la&s;t he &s;hoots; But if there were no &s;in in me, God had no mark to &s;hoot at; for God hates not me, nor any thing that he hath made.</P>
<P>And farther we carry not your con&s;ideration upon this fir&s;t branch of our fir&s;t Part, Naturally man hath this Logique, to conclude, where God &s;trikes, God is angry; when God is angry, he will &s;trike: But God never &s;trikes in &s;uch anger, but with relation to &s;in. The&s;e men of Malta, naturall men, did &s;o, and erred not in &s;o doing; They erred when they came to particulars, to ha&s;ty and incon&s;iderate applications, for that is uncharitable|ne&s;&s;e, and con&s;titutes our &s;econd branch of this part.</P>
<P>When one of the Con&s;uls of Rome,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Charitas.</NOTE> <HI>Caninius,</HI> dyed the &s;ame day that he was made Con&s;ul, <HI>Cicero</HI> would needs pa&s;&s;e a je&s;t upon that accident, and &s;ay, The State had had a vigilant Conful of <HI>Caninius,</HI> a watchfull Con&s;ul, becau&s;e he never &s;lept in all his Con&s;ul|&s;hip; for he dyed before he went to bed. But this was ju&s;tly thought a fault in <HI>Cicero,</HI> for calamities are not the &s;ubject of je&s;ts; They are not &s;o ca&s;uall things. But yet, though they come from a &s;ure hand, they are not alwayes evidences of Gods di&s;plea&s;ure upon that man upon whom they fall. That was the i&s;&s;ue between <HI>Iob</HI> and his friends; They relied upon that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 4.7.</NOTE> pur&s;ued that which they had laid downe, <HI>Remember, who ever peri&s;hed be|ing innocent, or where were the righteous cut off? Iob</HI> relyed upon that, pur&s;ued that which
<PB N="479" REF="257">he had laid downe; <HI>If I ju&s;tifie my &s;elfe, mine owne words &s;hall condemne me;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 9.20.</NOTE> (&s;elfe-ju&s;tifi|cation is a &s;elfe-condemnation) <HI>If I &s;ay I am perfect, that al&s;o &s;hall prove me perver&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Iob.</HI> (No man is &s;o far from purity and perfection, as he that thinks him&s;elfe perfect and pure) But yet, &s;ayes he there, <HI>Though I were perfect, this is one thing, and therefore I &s;ay it, God de&s;troyeth the perfect and the wicked.</HI> Gods outward proceeding with a man in this world, is no evidence to another, what he intends him in the next. In no ca&s;e? In no ca&s;e, (on this &s;ide of Revelation) for the world to come. Till I be a Judge of that mans per|&s;on and actions, and being his Judge have cleare evidence, and be not mi&s;-led by ru|mours from others, by pa&s;&s;ion, and prejudices in my &s;elfe, I mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e no judgement up|on him, in this world, nor &s;ay, This fell upon him for this crime. But what&s;oever my capacity be, or what&s;oever the Evidence, I mu&s;t &s;u&s;pend my judgement for the world to come. Therefore &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Iudge nothing before the time:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.5.</NOTE> When is the time? When I am made Judge, and when I have cleare evidence, then is the time to pa&s;&s;e my judgement for this world; But for a finall condemnation in the world to come, the Apo&s;tle expre&s;&s;es him&s;elfe fully in that place, <HI>Iudge nothing before the time, untill the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkne&s;&s;e, and manife&s;t the coun&s;els of the heart.</HI></P>
<P>It was a wi&s;e and a pious coun&s;el that <HI>Gamaliel</HI> gave that State, <HI>Ab&s;tinete,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5.33.</NOTE> forbeare a while, give God &s;ea-roome, give him his latitude, and you may finde, that you mi&s;took at fir&s;t; for God hath divers ends in inflicting calamities, and he that judges ha&s;tily, may &s;oone mi&s;take Gods purpo&s;e. It is a remarkeable expre&s;&s;ing which the holy Gho&s;t hath put into the mouth of <HI>Naomi, Call not me Naomi,</HI> &s;ayes &s;he there; <HI>Naomi</HI> is lovely,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ruth 1.10.</NOTE> and loving, and beloved; <HI>But call me Mara,</HI> &s;ayes &s;he, <HI>Mara</HI> is bitterne&s;&s;e: But why &s;o? <HI>For,</HI> &s;ayes &s;he, <HI>The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me:</HI> Bitterly, and very bitterly. But yet &s;o he hath with many that he loves full well. It is true, &s;ayes <HI>Naomi,</HI> but there is more in my ca&s;e then &s;o; <HI>The Almighty hath afflicted me, and the Lord hath te&s;tified again&s;t me;</HI> Te&s;tified, there is my mi&s;ery; that is, done enough, given evidence enough for others to beleeve, and to ground a judgement upon it, that he hath abandoned me utterly, for|&s;aken me for ever. Yet God meant well to <HI>Naomi</HI> for all this Te&s;tification, and how&s;oe|ver others might mi&s;-interpret Gods proceeding with her.</P>
<P>That <HI>O&s;traci&s;me</HI> which was practi&s;ed among&s;t the <HI>Athenians,</HI> and that <HI>Petali&s;me</HI> which was practi&s;ed among&s;t the <HI>Syracu&s;ians,</HI> by which Laws, the mo&s;t eminent, and excellent per&s;ons in tho&s;e States were bani&s;hed, not for any crime imputed to them, nor for any popular practi&s;es &s;et on foot by them, but to con&s;erve a parity, and equality in that State, this <HI>O&s;traci&s;me,</HI> this <HI>Petali&s;me</HI> was not without good u&s;e in tho&s;e governments. If God will lay heavie&s;t calamities upon the be&s;t men, If God will exerci&s;e an <HI>O&s;traci&s;me,</HI> a <HI>Peta|li&s;me</HI> in his &s;tate, who &s;hall &s;earch into his <HI>Arcana imperii,</HI> into the &s;ecrets of his govern|ment? who &s;hall aske a rea&s;on of his actions? who &s;hall doubt of a good end in all his waies? Our Saviour Chri&s;t hath &s;hut up that way of ra&s;h judgement upon &s;uch occa&s;ions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 13.2.</NOTE> when he &s;ayes, <HI>Suppo&s;e ye, that tho&s;e Galileans whom Herod &s;lew, or tho&s;e eighteen whom the fall of the Towre of Siloe &s;lew, were greater &s;inners then the re&s;t?</HI> It is not &s;afely, it is not charitably concluded. And therefore he carries their thoughts, as far on the other &s;ide, That he that &s;uffered a calamity, was not only not the greate&s;t, but no &s;inner; for &s;o Chri&s;t &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 9.3.</NOTE> <HI>Nei|ther hath this man &s;inned, nor his parents;</HI> (&s;peaking of the man that was born blinde.) Not that he, or his Parents had not &s;inned; but that that calamity was not laid upon him, in con|templation of any &s;in, but onely for an occa&s;ion of the manife&s;tation of Chri&s;ts Divini|ty, in the miraculous recovery of that blinde man. Therefore &s;ayes <HI>Luther</HI> excellent|ly, and elegantly, <HI>Non judicandum de cruce, &s;ecund&ugrave;m praedicamentum Quantitatis, &s;ed Relationis;</HI> We mu&s;t not judge of a calamity, by the predicament of Quantity, How great that calamity is, but by the predicament of Relation, to what God referres that calamity, and what he intends in it; For, <HI>Deus ultionum Deus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 93.1.</NOTE> (as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> reades that place) <HI>God is the God of revenge,</HI> And, <HI>Deus ultionum liber&egrave; agit,</HI> This God of revenge, revenges at his owne liberty, when, and where, and how it plea&s;es him.</P>
<P>And therefore, as we are bound to make good con&s;tructions of tho&s;e corrections that God layes upon us, &s;o are we to make good interpretations of tho&s;e judgements which he ca&s;ts upon others. Fir&s;t, for our &s;elves, that which is &s;aid in S. <HI>Matthew,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.30.</NOTE> <HI>That at the day of judgement &s;hall appeare in heaven, the &s;igne of the Son of Man,</HI> is frequently, ordina|rily received by the Fathers, to be intended of the Cro&s;&s;e; That before Chri&s;t him&s;elfe
<PB N="480" REF="258">appeare, his &s;igne, the Cro&s;&s;e &s;hall appeare in the clouds. Now, this is not literally &s;o, in the Text, nor is it nece&s;&s;arily deduced, but ordinarily by the Ancients it is &s;o accepted, and though the &s;igne of the Son of Man, may be &s;ome other thing, yet of this &s;igne, the Cro&s;&s;e, there may be this good application, That when God affords thee, this manife|&s;tation of his Cro&s;&s;e, in the participation of tho&s;e cro&s;&s;es and calamities that he &s;uffered here, when thou ha&s;t this &s;igne of the Son of Man upon thee, conclude to thy &s;elfe that the Son of Man Chri&s;t Je&s;us is comming towards thee; and as thou ha&s;t the &s;igne; thou &s;halt have the &s;ub&s;tance, as thou ha&s;t his Cro&s;&s;e, thou &s;halt have his Glory. For, this is that which the Apo&s;tle intends;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 1.29.</NOTE> <HI>Vnto you it is given,</HI> (not laid upon you as a puni&s;hment, but given you as a benefit) <HI>not onely to beleeve in Chri&s;t, but to &s;uffer for Chri&s;t.</HI> Where, the Apo&s;tle &s;eemes to make our cro&s;&s;es a kinde of a&s;&s;urance, as well as our faith; for &s;o he argues, <HI>Not onely to beleeve, but to &s;uffer;</HI> for, how&s;oever faith be a full evidence, yet our &s;uffering is a new &s;eale even upon that faith. And an evident &s;eale, a con&s;picuous, a glorious &s;eale.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE> <HI>Quid glorio&s;ius, quam Collegam Chri&s;ti in pa&s;sione factum fui&s;&s;e?</HI> What can be more glorious, then to have been made a Collegue, a partner with Chri&s;t in his &s;ufferings, and to have fulfilled his &s;ufferings in my fle&s;h. For that is the highe&s;t degree, which we can take in Chri&s;ts &s;choole, as S. <HI>Denys</HI> the <HI>Areopagite</HI> expre&s;&s;es it, <HI>A Deo do|ctus, non &s;ol&ugrave;m divina di&s;cit, &s;ed divina patitur,</HI> (which we may well tran&s;late, or accom|modate thus) He that is throughly taught by Chri&s;t, does not onely beleeve all that Chri&s;t &s;ayes, but conformes him to all that Chri&s;t did, and is ready to &s;uffer as Chri&s;t &s;uffered. Truly, if it were po&s;&s;ible to feare any defect of joy in heaven, all that could fall into my feare would be but this, that in heaven I can no longer expre&s;&s;e my love by &s;uffering for my God, for my Saviour. A greater joy cannot enter into my heart then this, To &s;uffer for him that &s;uffered for me. As God &s;aw that way pro&s;per in the hands of <HI>Ab&s;alom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 14.30.</NOTE> he &s;ent for <HI>Ioab,</HI> and <HI>Ioab</HI> came not, he came not when he &s;ent a &s;econd time, but when he &s;ent Me&s;&s;engers to burne up his corne, then <HI>Ioab</HI> came, and then hee time, but when he &s;ent Me&s;&s;engers to burne up his corne, then <HI>Ioab</HI> came, and then hee complied with <HI>Ab&s;alom,</HI> and &s;econded and accompli&s;hed his de&s;ires: So God cals us in his own outward Ordinances, and, a &s;econd time in his temporall ble&s;&s;ings, and we come not; but we come the &s;ooner, if he burne our Corne, if he draw us by afflicting us.</P>
<P>Now, as we are able to argue thus in our owne ca&s;es, and in our owne behalfes, as when a vehement calamity lies upon me, I can plead out of Gods precedents, and out of his method be able to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 5.4.</NOTE> This will not la&s;t: <HI>David</HI> was not ten yeares in bani&s;hment, but he enjoyed the Kingdome forty: God will recompence my houres of &s;orrow, with daies of joy; If the calamity be both vehement and long, yet I can &s;ay with his ble&s;&s;ed &s;ervant <HI>Augu&s;tine; Et cum blandiris pater es, &amp; pater es cum caedis,</HI> I feele the hand of a father upon me when thou &s;troke&s;t me, and when thou &s;trike&s;t me I feele the hand of a father too, <HI>Blandiris ne deficiam, caedis ne peream,</HI> I know thy meaning when thou &s;troke&s;t me, it is, le&s;t I &s;hould faint under thy hand, and I know thy meaning when thou &s;trike&s;t me, it is, le&s;t I &s;hould not know thy hand; If the waight, and continuation of this cala|mity te&s;tifie again&s;t me, (as <HI>Naomi</HI> &s;aid) that is, give others occa&s;ion to think, and to &s;peak ill of me, as of a man, for &s;ome &s;ecret &s;ins, for&s;aken of God, &s;till <HI>Nazianzens</HI> refuge is my refuge, <HI>Hoc mihi commentor,</HI> This is my meditation, <HI>Si fal&s;a objicit convitiator, non me attingit,</HI> If that which mine enemy &s;ayes of me, be fal&s;e, it concernes not me, hee cannot meane me, It is not I that he &s;peakes of, I am no &s;uch man; And then, <HI>Si vera dicit,</HI> If that which he &s;ayes betrue, it begun not to be true, then when he &s;aid it, but was true when I did it; and therefore I mu&s;t blame my &s;elfe for doing, not him for &s;peaking it; If I can argue thus in mine owne ca&s;e, and in mine owne behalfe, and not &s;u&s;pect Gods ab&s;ence from me, becau&s;e he laies calamities upon me, let me be al&s;o as charita|ble towards another, and not conclude ill, upon ill accidents; for there is nothing &s;o ill, out of which, God, and a godly man cannot draw good. When <HI>Iohn Hus</HI> was at the &s;take to be burnt, his eye fixed upon a poore plaine Country-fellow, whom he ob&s;er|ved to be bu&s;ier then the re&s;t, and to run oftner, to fetch more and more fagots, to burne him, and he &s;aid thereupon no more but this, <HI>O &s;ancta &s;implicitas!</HI> O holy &s;implicity! He meant that that man, being then under an invincible ignorance, mi&s;-led by that zeale, thought he did God &s;ervice in burning him. But &s;uch an interpretation will hardly bee appliable to any of the&s;e ha&s;ty and incon&s;iderate Judges of other men, that give way to their owne pa&s;&s;ion; for zeale, and uncharitablene&s;&s;e are incompatible things; zeale and uncharitablene&s;&s;e cannot con&s;i&s;t together: and there was evident uncharitablene&s;&s;e in
<PB N="481" REF="258">the&s;e men of <HI>Maltas</HI> proceeding, when, becau&s;e the Viper &s;eized his hand, they condem|ned him for <HI>a murderer.</HI></P>
<P>It is true, they &s;aw a concurrence of circum&s;tances, and that is alwaies more waigh|ty, then &s;ingle evidence. They &s;aw a man who had been neare drowning; yet he &s;ca|ped that. They &s;aw he had gathered a bundle of &s;ticks, in which the Viper was enwrap|ped, and yet did him no harme when it was in his hand; He &s;caped that. And then they &s;aw that Viper dart it &s;elfe out of the fire againe, and of all the company fa&s;ten upon that man. What &s;hould they think of that man? In Gods Name, what they would, to the advancement of Gods glory. They might ju&s;tly have thought that God was working upon that man, and had &s;ome great worke to doe upon that man. Wee put no &s;top to zeale; we onely tell you, where zeale determines; where uncharitablene&s;&s;e enters, zeale goes out, and pa&s;&s;ion counterfeits that zeale. God &s;eeks no glory out of the uncha|ritable condemning of another man. And then, in this proceeding of the&s;e men, wee ju&s;tly note the &s;lipperine&s;&s;e, the precipitation, the bottomele&s;ne&s;&s;e of uncharitablene&s;&s;e, in judgement; they could con&s;i&s;t no where, till they charged him with murder, <HI>Surely he is a murderer.</HI> Many crimes there were, and tho&s;e capitall, and &s;uch as would have in|dueed death, on this &s;ide of murder, but they &s;topped at none, till they came to the wor&s;t. And truly it is ea&s;ie to bee ob&s;erved, in the wayes of this world, that when men have once conceived an uncharitable opinion again&s;t another man, they are apt to beleeve from others, apt to imagine in them&s;elves any kinde of ill, of that man; Sometimes &s;o much, and &s;o fal&s;ly, as makes even that which is true, the le&s;&s;e credible. For, when pa&s;&s;ionate men will load a man with all, &s;ad and equitable men begin to doubt whether any bee true; and a Malefactor &s;capes &s;ometimes by being over|charged.</P>
<P>But I move not out of mine owne &s;pheare; my &s;pheare is your edification, upon this centre, The proceeding of the&s;e men of <HI>Malta</HI> with S. <HI>Paul;</HI> upon them, and upon you I look directly, and I look onely, without any glance, any reflection upon any other ob|ject. And therefore having &s;aid enough of tho&s;e two Branches which con&s;titute our fir&s;t Part, That to argue out of Gods judgements, his di&s;plea&s;ure is naturall, but then that naturall Logique &s;hould determine in the zeale of advancing Gods glory, and not &s;tray into an uncharitable condemning of particular per&s;ons, becau&s;e in this uncharitablene&s;&s;e there is &s;uch a &s;lipperine&s;&s;e, &s;uch a precipitation, &s;uch a bottomele&s;ne&s;&s;e, as that the&s;e ha&s;ty cen&s;urers could &s;top no where till they came to the highe&s;t charge; having &s;aid enough of this, wee pa&s;&s;e, in our order, to our &s;econd Part, to that which they did, when they changed their mindes, <HI>They changed their mindes, and &s;aid he was a God.</HI></P>
<P>In this &s;econd part we con&s;ider fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> the incongruity of depending upon any thing in this world; for, all will change. Men have con&s;idered u&s;efully the incongruity of buil|ding the towre of Babel, in this, That to have erected a Towre that &s;hould have carried that height that they intended in that, the whole body of the earth, the whole Globe, and &s;ub&s;tance thereof would not have &s;erved for a ba&s;is, for a foundation to that Towre. If all the timber of all the fore&s;ts in the world, all the quarries of &s;tones, all the mines of Lead and Iron had beene laid together, nay if all the earth and &s;ea had beene petrified, and made one &s;tone, all would not have &s;erved for a ba&s;is, for a foundation of that Towre; from whence then mu&s;t they have had their materials for all the &s;uperedificati|ons? So to e&s;tabli&s;h a tru&s;t, a confidence, &s;uch an acquie&s;cence as a man may rely upon, all this world affords not a ba&s;is, a foundation; for every thing in this world is fluid, and tran&s;itory, and &s;andy, and all dependance, all a&s;&s;urance built upon this world, is but a building upon &s;and; all will change. It is true, that a faire reputation, a good opi|nion of men, is, though not a foundation to build upon, yet a faire &s;tone in the building, and &s;uch a &s;tone, as every man is bound to provide him&s;elfe of. For, for the mo&s;t part, mo&s;t men are &s;uch, as mo&s;t men take them to be; <HI>Neminem omnes, nemo omnes fefellit;</HI> All the world never joyned to deceive one man, nor was ever any one man able to de|ceive all the world. <HI>Contemptu famae contemnuntur &amp; virtutes,</HI> was &s;o well &s;aid by <HI>Tacitus,</HI> as it is pity S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid it not, They that neglect the good opinion of others, neglect tho&s;e vertues that &s;hould produce that good opinion. Therefore S. <HI>Hierom</HI> prote&s;ts to abhor that <HI>Paratum de trivio,</HI> as he cals it, that vulgar, that &s;treet, that dunghill language, <HI>Satis mihi,</HI> as long as mine owne con&s;cience reproaches me of nothing, I care not what all the world &s;ayes. We mu&s;t care what the world &s;ayes, and &s;tudy that they may &s;ay
<PB N="482" REF="259">well of us. But when they doe, though this be a faire &s;tone in the wall, it is no foundation to build upon, for, <HI>They change their minds.</HI></P>
<P>Who do?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Populus.</NOTE> our text does not tell us who; The &s;tory does not tell us, of what quality and condition the&s;e men of Malta were, who are here &s;aid <HI>to have changed their minds.</HI> Likelie&s;t they are to have beene of the vulgar, the ordinary, the inferiour &s;ort of people, becau&s;e they are likelie&s;t to have flocked and gathered together upon this occa&s;ion of <HI>Pauls</HI> &s;hipwrack upon that Iland. And that kinde of people are alwaies ju&s;tly thought to be mo&s;t &s;ubject to this levity, <HI>To change their minds.</HI> The greate&s;t Poet layes the greate&s;t levity and change that can be laid, to this kinde of people; that is, <HI>In contraria,</HI> That they change even from one extreame to another; <HI>Scinditur incertum &s;tudia in contraria vulgus</HI> Where that Poet does not onely meane, that the people will be of divers opinions from one another, for, for the mo&s;t part they are not &s;o; for the mo&s;t part they think, and wi&s;h, and love, and hate together; and they doe all by example, as others doe, and upon no o|ther rea&s;on, but therefore, becau&s;e others doe. Neither was that Poet ever bound up by his words, that hee &s;hould &s;ay <HI>In contraria,</HI> becau&s;e a milder, or more modified word would not &s;tand in his ver&s;e; but hee &s;aid it, becau&s;e it is really true, The people will change into contrary opinions; And whereas an Angel it &s;elfe cannot pa&s;&s;e from Ea&s;t to We&s;t, from extreame to extreame, without touching upon the way betweene, the people will pa&s;&s;e from extreame to extreame, without any middle opinion; la&s;t minutes murderer, is this minutes God, and in an in&s;tant, <HI>Paul,</HI> whom they &s;ent to be judged in hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 14.28.</NOTE> is made a judge in heaven. The people will change. <HI>In the multitude of people is the Kings honour;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 24.3.</NOTE> And therefore <HI>Ioab</HI> made that prayer in the behalfe of <HI>David, The Lord thy God adde unto thy people, how many &s;oever they be, a hundred fold.</HI> But when <HI>David</HI> came to number his people with a confidence in their number, God tooke away the ground of that confidence, and le&s;&s;ened their number &s;eventy thou&s;and in three dayes. Therefore as <HI>David</HI> could &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 3.6.</NOTE> <HI>I will not be afraid of ten thou&s;and men,</HI> &s;o he &s;hould &s;ay, I will not confide in ten thou&s;and men, though multiplied by millions; for they will change, and at &s;uch an ebbe, the popular man will lye, as a Whale upon the &s;ands de&s;erted by the tide. We finde in the Roman &s;tory, many examples (particularly in <HI>Commodus</HI> his time, upon <HI>Cleander,</HI> principall Gentleman of his Chamber) of &s;evere executions upon men that have courted the people, though in a way of charity, and giving them corne in a time of dearth, or upon like occa&s;ions. There is danger in getting them, occa&s;ioned by jealou&s;ie of others, there is difficulty in holding them, by occa&s;ion of levity in them&s;elves; There|fore we mu&s;t &s;ay with the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 17.5.</NOTE> <HI>Cur&s;ed be the man, that tru&s;teth in man, and maketh fle&s;h his arme, and who&s;e heart departeth from the Lord.</HI> For, <HI>They,</HI> the people, <HI>will change their minds.</HI></P>
<P>But yet there is nothing in our text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Principes.</NOTE> that binds us to fixe this levity upon the people onely. The text does not &s;ay, That there was none of the Princes of the People, no Commanders, no Magi&s;trates pre&s;ent at this accident, and partners in this levity. Nei|ther is it likely, but that in &s;uch a place as Malta, an Iland, &s;ome per&s;ons of quality and command re&s;ided about the coa&s;t, to receive and to give intelligence, and directions up|on all emergent occa&s;ions of danger, and that &s;ome &s;uch were pre&s;ent at this accident, and gave their voyce both wayes, in the exclamation, and in the acclamation, That hee was <HI>a murderer,</HI> and that he was <HI>a God.</HI> For, <HI>They will change their minds;</HI> All, High as well as low, will change. A good State&s;man <HI>Polybius</HI> &s;ayes, That the people are naturally as the Sea; naturally &s;mooth, and calme, and &s;till, and even; but then naturally apt to be moved by influences of Superiour bodies; and &s;o the people apt to change by them who have a power over their affections, or a power over their wils. So &s;ayes he, the Sea is apt to be moved by &s;tormes and tempe&s;ts; and &s;o, the people apt to change with rumors and windy reports. So, the Sea is moved, So the people are changed, &s;ayes <HI>Polybius.</HI> But <HI>Polybius</HI> might have carried his politique con&s;ideration higher then the Sea, to the Aire too; and applied it higher then to the people, to greater per&s;ons; for the Aire is &s;haked and tran&s;ported with vapours and exhalations, as much as the &s;ea with winds and &s;tormes; and great men as much changed with ambitions in them&s;elves, and flatteries from others, as inferiour people with influences, and impre&s;&s;ions from them. All change their minds;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.6.</NOTE> High, as well as low will change. But <HI>I am the Lord; I change not.</HI> I, and one|ly I have that immunity, Immutability; And therefore, &s;ayes God there, <HI>ye &s;ons of Iacob are not con&s;umed;</HI> Therefore, becau&s;e I, I who cannot change have loved you; for they,
<PB N="483" REF="259">who depend upon their love, who can change, are in a wofull condition. And that in|volves all; all can, all will, all do change, high and low.</P>
<P>Therefore, <HI>It is better to tru&s;t in the Lord, then to put confidence in man.</HI> What man?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 118.8. Ver. 9. P&s;al. 146.3.</NOTE> Any man. <HI>It is better to tru&s;t in the Lord, then to put confidence in Princes.</HI> Which <HI>David</HI> thought worth the repeating; for he &s;ayes it againe, <HI>Put not your tru&s;t in Princes.</HI> Not that you may not tru&s;t their royall words, and gracious promi&s;es to you; not that you may not tru&s;t their Coun&s;ailes, and executions of tho&s;e Coun&s;ailes, and the di&s;tribution of your contributions for tho&s;e executions; not that you may not tru&s;t the managing of affaires of State in their hands, without jealous inquifitions, or &s;u&s;pitious mi&s;-interpretations of their actions. In the&s;e you mu&s;t tru&s;t Princes, and tho&s;e great per&s;ons whom Princes tru&s;t; But when the&s;e great per&s;ons are in the balance with God, there they weigh as little, as le&s;&s;e men. Nay, as <HI>David</HI> hath ranked and di&s;po&s;ed them, le&s;&s;e; for thus he con|veyes that con&s;ideration, <HI>Surely men of low degree are vanity;</HI> that is &s;ure enough;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 62.5.</NOTE> there is little doubt of that; men of low degree can profit us nothing; they cannot pretend or promi&s;e to doe us good; But then &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> there, <HI>Men of high degree are a lye;</HI> They pretend a power, and a purpo&s;e to do us good, and then di&s;appoint us. Many times men cannot, many times men will not; neither can we finde in any but God him&s;elfe, a con|&s;tant power, and a con&s;tant will, upon which we may relie: The men of Malta, of what ranke &s;oever they were, did; all men, low and high, will change their minds.</P>
<P>Neither have the&s;e men of Malta (con&s;ider them in what quality you will) &s;o much honour afforded them, in the Originall, as our tran&s;lation hath given them. We &s;ay, <HI>they changed their minds;</HI> the Original &s;ays only this, <HI>they changed,</HI> and no more. Alas, they, we, men of this world, wormes of this dunghil, whether Ba&s;ilisks or blind wormes, whether Scarabs or Silkworms, whether high or low in the world, have no minds to change. The Platonique Philo&s;ophers did not only acknowledge <HI>Anima~ in homine,</HI> a &s;oule in man, but <HI>Mentem in anima,</HI> a minde in the &s;oul of man. They meant by the minde, the &s;uperiour fa|culties of the &s;oule, and we never come to exerci&s;e them. Men and women call one ano|ther incon&s;tant, and accu&s;e one another of having changed their minds, when, God knowes, they have but changed the object of their eye, and &s;eene a better white or red. An old man loves not the &s;ame &s;ports that he did when he was young, nor a &s;icke man the &s;ame meats that hee did when hee was well: But the&s;e men have not changed their mindes; The old man hath changed his fancy, and the &s;ick man his ta&s;te; neither his minde.</P>
<P>The Mind implies con&s;ideration, deliberation, conclu&s;ion upon premi&s;&s;es; and wee never come to that; wee never put the &s;oule home; wee never bend the &s;oule up to her height; we never put her to a tryall what &s;he is able to doe towards di&s;cerning a tenta|tion, what towards re&s;i&s;ting a tentation, what towards repenting a tentation; we never put her to tryall what &s;he is able to doe by her naturall faculties, whether by them &s;hee cannot be as good as a <HI>Plato,</HI> or a <HI>Socrates,</HI> who had no more but tho&s;e naturall faculties; what by vertue of Gods generall grace, which is that providence, in which he inwraps all his creatures, whether by that &s;he cannot know her God, as well as the Oxe knowes his Crib, and the Stork her ne&s;t; what by vertue of tho&s;e particular graces, which God offers her in his private in&s;pirations at home, and in his publique Ordinances here, whe|ther by tho&s;e &s;he cannot be as good an houre hence, as &s;he is now; and as good a day after, as that day that &s;he receives the Sacrament; we never put the &s;oule home, we never bend the &s;oule up to her height; and the extent of the &s;oule is this mind. When <HI>Da|vid</HI> &s;peaks of the people, he &s;ayes, <HI>They imagine a vaine thing;</HI> It goes no farther,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.2.</NOTE> then to the fancy, to the imagination; it never comes &s;o neare the minde, as Con&s;ideration, Reflection, Examination, they onely imagine, fancy a vain thing, which is but a waking dreame, for the fancy is the &s;eat, the &s;cene, the theatre of dreames. When <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks there of greater per&s;ons, he carries it farther then &s;o, but yet not to the minde; <HI>The Ru|lers take coun&s;ell,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> but not of the minde, not of rectified and religious rea&s;on; but, <HI>They take coun&s;ell together,</HI> &s;ayes he; that is, of one another; They &s;it &s;till and har|ken what the re&s;t will doe, and they will doe accordingly. Now, this is but a Herd|ing, it is not an Union; This is for the mo&s;t part, a following of affections, and pa&s;|&s;ions, which are the inferiour &s;ervants of the &s;oule, and not of that, which we under|&s;tand here by the Minde, The deliberate re&s;olutions, and executions of the &s;uperiour fa|culties thereof.</P>
<PB N="484" REF="260">
<P><HI>They changed,</HI> &s;ayes our Text; not their mindes; there is no evidence, no apparance, that they exerci&s;ed any, that they had any; but they changed their pa&s;&s;ions. Nay, they have not &s;o much honour, as that afforded them, in the Originall; for it is not <HI>They chan|ged,</HI> but <HI>They were changed,</HI> pa&s;&s;ively; Men &s;ubject to the tran&s;portation of pa&s;&s;ion, doe nothing of them&s;elves, but are meerely pa&s;&s;ive; And being po&s;&s;e&s;t with a &s;pirit of feare, or a &s;pirit of ambition, as tho&s;e &s;pirits move them, in a minute their yea is nay, their &s;mile is a frowne, their light is darkne&s;&s;e, their good is evill, their Murderer is a God. The&s;e men of <HI>Malta</HI> changed, not their mindes, but their pa&s;&s;ions, and &s;o did not change advi&s;edly, but pa&s;&s;ionately were changed, and in that di&s;temper, they &s;aid, <HI>He is a God.</HI></P>
<P>In this ha&s;ty acclamation of theirs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus.</NOTE> <HI>He is a God,</HI> we are come to that which was our principall intention in this part, That as man hath in him a naturall Logique, but that &s;trayes into Fallacies, in uncharitable judgements, &s;o man hath in him a naturall Religi|on, but that &s;trayes into idolatry, and &s;uper&s;tition. The men of Malta were but meere naturall men, and yet were &s;o far from denying God, as that they multiplied Gods to them&s;elves. The &s;oule of man brings with it, into the body, a &s;en&s;e and an acknowledg|ment of God; neither can all the abu&s;es that the body puts upon the &s;oule, while&s;t they dwell together, (which are infinite) deve&s;t that acknowledgement, or extingui&s;h that &s;en&s;e of God in the &s;oule. And therefore by what &s;everall names &s;oever the old heathen Philo&s;ophers called their gods, &s;till they meant all the &s;ame God. <HI>Chry&s;ippus</HI> pre&s;ented God to the world, in the notion and apprehen&s;ion of <HI>Divina Nece&s;sitas,</HI> That a certaine divine nece&s;&s;itie which lay upon every thing, that every thing mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be thus and thus done, that that Nece&s;&s;ity was God; and this, others have called by another name, De&s;tiny. <HI>Zeno</HI> pre&s;ented God to the world, in the notion and apprehen&s;ion of <HI>Di|vina lex;</HI> That it was not a con&s;traint, a nece&s;&s;ity, but a Divine law, an ordinance, and &s;ettled cour&s;e for the admini&s;tration of all things; And this law was <HI>Zenoes</HI> God; and this, others have called by another name, Nature. The Brachmans, which are the Prie&s;ts in the Ea&s;t, they pre&s;ent God, in the notion and apprehen&s;ion of <HI>Divina lux,</HI> That light is God; in which, they expre&s;&s;e them&s;elves, not to meane the fire, (which &s;ome natu|rall men wor&s;hipped for God) nor the Sunne, (which was wor&s;hipped by more) but by their light, they meane that light, by which man is enabled to &s;ee into the next world; and this we may well call by a better Name, for it is Grace. But &s;till <HI>Chry&s;ippus</HI> by his Divine Nece&s;&s;ity, which is De&s;tiny, and <HI>Zeno</HI> by his Divine law, which is Nature, and the Brachmans by their Divine light, which is Grace, (though they make the operati|ons of God, God) yet they all intend in tho&s;e divers names, the &s;ame power.</P>
<P>The naturall man knowes God. But then, to the naturall man, who is not onely fi|nite, and determined in a compa&s;&s;e, but narrow in his compa&s;&s;e, not onely not bottom|le&s;&s;e, but &s;hallow in his comprehen&s;ions, to this naturall, this &s;mite, and narrow, and &s;hal|low man, no burden is &s;o in&s;upportable, no con&s;ideration &s;o inextrieable, no &s;ecret &s;o in|&s;crutable, no conception &s;o incredible, as to conceive One infinite God, that &s;hould do all things alone, without any more Gods. That that power that e&s;tabli&s;hes coun&s;ails, that things may be carried in a con&s;tancy, and yet permits Contingencies, that things &s;hall fall out ca&s;ually, That the God of Certainty, and the God of Contingency &s;hould be all one God, That that God that &s;ettles peace, &s;hould yet make warres, and in the day of battaile, &s;hould be both upon that &s;ide that does, and that &s;ide that is overcome, That the conquered God, and the victorious God, &s;hould be both one God, That that God who is all goodne&s;&s;e in him&s;elfe, &s;hould yet have his hand in every ill action, this the na|turall man cannot dige&s;t, not comprehend. And therefore the naturall man ea&s;es him|&s;elfe, and thinkes he ca&s;es God, by diuiding the burden, and laying his particular nece&s;|&s;ities upon particular Gods. Hence came tho&s;e enormous multiplications of Gods; <HI>He|&s;iods</HI> thirty thou&s;and Gods; and three hundred <HI>Iupiters.</HI> Hence came it that they brought their children into the world under one God, and then put them to nur&s;e, and then to &s;choole, and then to occupations and profe&s;&s;ions under other &s;everall Gods. Hence came their <HI>Vagitanus,</HI> a God that mu&s;t take care that children doe not bur&s;t with crying; and their <HI>Fabulanus,</HI> a God that mu&s;t take care, that children doe not &s;tammer in &s;peak|ing; Hence came their <HI>Statelinus,</HI> and their <HI>Potinus,</HI> a God that mu&s;t teach them to goe, and a God that mu&s;t teach them to drinke. So far, as that they came to make <HI>Febrem Deam,</HI> To erect Temples and Altars to di&s;ea&s;es, to age, to death it &s;elfe; and &s;o, all
<PB N="485" REF="260">tho&s;e puni&s;hments, which our true God laid upon man for &s;in, all our infirmities they made Gods. So far is the naturall man from denying God, as that he thus multiplies them.</P>
<P>But yet never did the&s;e naturall men, the Gentiles a&s;cribe &s;o much to their Gods, (except &s;ome very few of them) as they of the Romane per&s;wa&s;ion may &s;eeme to doe to their Saints. For they limited their devotions, and &s;acrifices, and &s;upplications, in &s;ome certaine and determined things, and tho&s;e, for the mo&s;t part, in this world; but in the Romane Church, they all aske all of all, for they aske even things pertaining to the next world. And as they make their Saints verier Gods then the Gentils doe theirs, in ask|ing greater things at their hands, &s;o have they more of them. For, if there be not yet more Saints celebrated by Name, then will make up <HI>He&s;iods</HI> thirty thou&s;and, yet they have more, in this re&s;pect, that of <HI>He&s;iods</HI> thirty thou&s;and, one Nation wor&s;hiped one, another another thou&s;and; In the Romane Church, all wor&s;hip all. And how&s;oever it be for the number, yet, &s;aith one, we may live to &s;ee the number of <HI>He&s;iods</HI> thirty thou|&s;and equalled, and exceeded; for, if the Je&s;uit, who have got two of their Order into the Con&s;i&s;tory, (they have had two Cardinalls) and two of their Order into heaven, (they have had two Saints Canonized) if they could get one of their Order into the Chayre, one Pope; As we reade of one Generall that knighted his whole Army at once; &s;o &s;uch a Pope may Canonize his whole Order, and then <HI>He&s;iods</HI> thirty thou&s;and would be literally fulfilled.</P>
<P>And, that, as we have done, in the multiplication of their gods, &s;o, in their &s;uper&s;ti|tion to their created gods, we may al&s;o ob&s;erve a congruity, a conformity, a concurrence between the Heathen and the Romane Religion; As the Heathen ea&s;t &s;uch an intimida|tion, &s;uch an infatuation, not onely upon the people, but upon the Princes too, as that in the Story of the Aegyptian Kings we finde, that when&s;oever any of their Prie&s;ts &s;ignifi|ed unto any of their Kings, that it was the plea&s;ure of his God, that he &s;hould leave that kingdome, and come up to him, that King did alwayes without any contradiction, any he&s;itation, kill him&s;elfe; &s;o are they come &s;o neare to this in the Romane Church, as that, though they cannot infatuate &s;uch Princes, as they are weary of to kill them&s;elves, yet when they are weary of Princes, they can infatuate other men, to tho&s;e a&s;&s;a&s;&s;inats, of which our neighbour kingdome hath felt the blow more then once, and we the offer, and the plotting more then many times.</P>
<P>That that I drive to, in this con&s;ideration, is this, That &s;ince man is naturally apt to multiply Gods to him&s;elfe, we doe with all Chri&s;tian diligence &s;hut up our &s;elves in the beliefe and wor&s;hip of our one and onely God; without admitting any more Medi|ators, or Interce&s;&s;ors, or Advocates, in any of tho&s;e Modifications or Di&s;tinctions, with which the later men have painted and di&s;guized the Religion of Rome, to make them the more pa&s;&s;able, and without making any one &s;tep towards meeting them, in their &s;u|per&s;titious errors, but adhere intirely to our onely Advocate, and Mediator, and Inter|ce&s;&s;or Chri&s;t Je&s;us; for he does no more need an A&s;&s;i&s;tant, in any of tho&s;e offices, then in his office of Redeemer, or Saviour; and therefore, as they require no fellow Redee|mer, no fellow-Saviour, &s;o neither let us admit any fellow-Advocate, fellow-Mediator, fellow-Interce&s;&s;or in heaven. For why may not that rea&s;on hold all the yeare, which they a&s;&s;igne in the Romane Church, for their forbearance of prayers to any Saint, upon certaine dayes? Upon <HI>Good-Fryday,</HI> and <HI>Ea&s;ter-day,</HI> and <HI>Whit &s;unday,</HI> &s;ay they, we mu&s;t not pray to any Saint, no not to the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, <HI>Quia Chri&s;tus, &amp; Spiritus Sanctus, &s;unt tune temporis, &s;upremi, &amp; unici Advocati.</HI> Becau&s;e upon tho&s;e dayes, Chri&s;t, and the Holy Gho&s;t, are our principall, nay upon tho&s;e dayes, our onely Advocares.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Garantus in Rubr. Mi&s;&s;al. par. 1. Tit. 9. &sect;. 8.</NOTE> And are Chri&s;t, and the Holy Gho&s;t out of office a weeke after <HI>Ea&s;ter,</HI> or after <HI>Whit&s;ontide?</HI> Since man is naturally apt to multiply Gods, let us be Chri&s;tianly diligent, to conclude our &s;elves in One.</P>
<P>And then, &s;ince man is al&s;o naturally apt to &s;tray into a &s;uper&s;titious wor&s;hip of God, let us be Chri&s;tianly diligent, to preclude all waies, that may lead us into that tentation, or incline us towards &s;uper&s;tition. In which, I doe not intend, that we &s;hould decline all &s;uch things, as had been &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly abu&s;ed, in a &s;uper&s;titious Church; But, in all &s;uch things, as being in their own nature indifferent, are, by a ju&s;t commandment of lawfull authority, become more then indifferent (nece&s;&s;ary) to us, though not <HI>Nece&s;sitate medii,</HI> yet <HI>Nece&s;sitate praecepti,</HI> (for, though &s;alvation con&s;i&s;t not in Ceremonies, Obedience
<PB N="486" REF="261">doth, and &s;alvation con&s;i&s;ts much in Obedience) That in all &s;uch things, we alwayes informe our &s;elves, of the right u&s;e of tho&s;e things in their fir&s;t in&s;titution, of their abu&s;e with which they have been depraved in the Roman Church, and of the good u&s;e which is made of them in ours. That becau&s;e pictures have been adored, we do not abhor a picture; Nor &s;it at the Sacrament, becau&s;e Idolatry hath been committed in kneeling. That Church, which they call Lutheran, hath retained more of the&s;e Ceremonies, then ours hath done; And ours more then that which they call Calvini&s;t; But both the Lu|theran, and ours, without danger, becau&s;e, in both places, we are diligent to preach to the people the right u&s;e of the&s;e indifferent things. For this is a true way of &s;hutting out &s;uper&s;tition, Not alwayes to aboli&s;h the thing it &s;elfe, becau&s;e in the right u&s;e thereof, the &s;pirituall profit, and edification may exceed the danger, but by preaching, and all convenient wayes of in&s;truction, to deliver people out of that ignorance, which po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es people in the Roman captivity.</P>
<P>From which naturall inclination of man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Athei&s;ta.</NOTE> we rai&s;e this, by way of conclu&s;ion of all, That &s;ince man is naturally apt to multiply Gods to him&s;elfe, and naturally apt to wor|&s;hip his Gods &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly, &s;ince there is a pronene&s;&s;e to many Gods, and to &s;uper&s;titi|on, in nature, There cannot be &s;o unnaturall a thing, no &s;uch Mon&s;ter in nature, or again&s;t nature, as an Athei&s;t, that beleeves no God. For, when we, we that are Chri|&s;tians, have reproached this Athei&s;t, thus farre, our way, Can&s;t not thou beleeve one God? &s;uch a debility, &s;uch a nullity in thy faith, as not to beleeve one God? we re|quire no more, and can&s;t thou not doe that, not one? when we, we that are Chri&s;ti|ans, have reproached him &s;o farre, The naturall man of who&s;e company hee will pretend to be, will reproach him &s;o much farther, as to &s;ay, Can&s;t not thou beleeve one God? We, we who proceed by the &s;ame light that thou doe&s;t, beleeve a thou|&s;and. So that the naturall man is as ready, readier then the Chri&s;tian, to excom|municate the Athei&s;t; For, the Athei&s;t that denies all Gods, does much more op|po&s;e the naturall man, that beleeves a thou&s;and, then the Chri&s;tian, that beleeves but one.</P>
<P>Poore intricated &s;oule! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthicall &s;oule! Thou coulde&s;t not &s;ay, that thou beleeve&s;t not in God, if there were no God; Thou coulde&s;t not be|leeve in God, if there were no God; If there were no God, thou coulde&s;t not &s;peake, thou coulde&s;t not thinke, not a word, not a thought, no not again&s;t God; Thou coul|de&s;t not bla&s;pheme the Name of God, thou coulde&s;t not &s;weare, if there were no God: For, all thy faculties, how ever depraved, and perverted by thee, are from him; and except thou can&s;t &s;eriou&s;ly beleeve, that thou art nothing, thou can&s;t not beleeve that there is no God. If I &s;hould aske thee at a Tragedy, where thou &s;houlde&s;t &s;ee him that had drawne blood, lie weltring, and &s;urrounded in his owne blood, Is there a God now? If thou could&s;t an&s;wer me, No, The&s;e are but Inventions, and Repre&s;entations of men, and I beleeve a God never the more for this; If I &s;hould ask thee at a Sermon, where thou &s;houlde&s;t heare the Judgements of God formerly denounced, and execu|ted, re-denounced, and applied to pre&s;ent occa&s;ions, Is there a God now? If thou coul|de&s;t an&s;wer me, No, The&s;e are but Inventions of State, to &s;ouple and regulate Con|gregations, and keep people in order, and I beleeve a God never the more for this; Bee as confident as thou can&s;t, in company; for company is the Athei&s;ts Sanctuary; I re&s;pit thee not till the day of Judgement, when I may &s;ee thee upon thy knees, upon thy face, begging of the hills, that they would fall downe and cover thee from the fierce wrath of God, to aske thee then, Is there a God now? I re&s;pit thee not till the day of thine own death, when thou &s;halt have evidence enough, that there is a God, though no other evidence, but to finde a Devill, and evidence enough, that there is a Heaven, though no other evidence, but to feele Hell; To aske thee then, Is there a God now? I re&s;pit thee but a few houres, but &s;ix houres, but till midnight. Wake then; and then darke, and alone, Heare God aske thee then, remember that I asked thee now, Is there a God? and if thou dare&s;t, &s;ay No.</P>
<P>And then, as there is an univer&s;all Athei&s;t, an Athie&s;t over all the world, that beleeves no God, &s;o is he al&s;o an Athei&s;t, over all the Chri&s;tian world, that beleeves not Chri&s;t. That which the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes to the <HI>Ephe&s;ians; Ab&s;que Chri&s;to, ab&s;que Deo,</HI> As long as you were <HI>without Chri&s;t,</HI> you were <HI>without God,</HI> is &s;poken (at lea&s;t) to all that have heard Chri&s;t preached; not to beleeve God, &s;o, as God hath exhibited, and manife&s;ted him|&s;elfe,
<PB N="487" REF="261">in his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us, is, in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> acceptation of that word, Athei&s;me: and S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and he that &s;peaks in S. <HI>Paul,</HI> is too good a Grammarian, too great a Critique for thee to di&s;pute again&s;t.</P>
<P>And then, as there is an univer&s;all Athei&s;t, he that denies God, And a more particular Athei&s;t, he that denies Chri&s;t; &s;o in a narrower, and yet large &s;en&s;e of the word, there is an actuall Athei&s;t, a practicall Athei&s;t, who though he doe pretend to make God, and God in Chri&s;t the object of his faith, yet does not make Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;t in the holy Gho&s;t, that is, Chri&s;t working in the Ordinances of his Church, the rule and patterne of his actions, but lives &s;o, as no man can beleeve that he beleeves in God.</P>
<P>This univer&s;all Athei&s;t, that beleeves no God, the heavens, and all the powers there|in, &s;hall condemne at the la&s;t day; The particular Athei&s;t, that beleeves no Chri&s;t, the glorious company of the Apo&s;tles, that e&s;tabli&s;hed the Church of Chri&s;t, &s;hall condemn at that day; And the practicall Athei&s;t, the ungodly liver, the noble army of Martyrs, that did, and &s;uffered &s;o much for Chri&s;t, &s;hall then condemne. And condemne him, not onely as the mo&s;t impious thing, but as the mo&s;t inhumane; Not onely as the mo&s;t un|godly, but as the mo&s;t unnaturall thing: for an Athei&s;t is not onely a Devil in Religion, but a mon&s;ter in nature; not onely elemented and compo&s;ed of Here&s;ies in the Church, but of paradoxes, and ab&s;urdities in the world; Naturall men, the men of Malta, even Barbarians, though &s;ubject to levity and changing their minds, yet make this their fir&s;t act after their change, to con&s;titute a God, though in another extreme, yet in an evident and ab&s;olute aver&s;ene&s;&s;e from Athei&s;me; <HI>They changed their minds, and &s;aid, he was a God.</HI> And be this enough for the Explication of the words, and their Application, and Com|plication to the celebration of the day.</P>
<P>The God of heaven rectifie in us our naturall Logique; That in all his Judgements we glorifie God, without uncharitable condemning other men. The God of heaven &s;ancti|fie to us our naturall Religion, That it be never quenched nor damped in us, never blown out by Athei&s;me, nor blowne up by an Idolatrous multiplying of fal&s;e, or a &s;uper&s;titious wor&s;hip of our true God. The God of heaven pre&s;erve us in &s;afety, by the power of the Father; In &s;aving knowledge, by the wi&s;dome of the Son; And in a peacefull unity of affections, by the love and goodne&s;&s;e of the holy Gho&s;t. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="49" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. XLIX.</HI> Preached on the Conver&s;ion of S. <HI>PAUL. 1629.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ACTS 23.6, 7.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadduces, and the other Phari&s;ees, he cryed out in the Councel, Men and Brethren, I am a Phari&s;ee, and the &s;on of a Phari&s;ee; Of the hope and re&s;urrection of the dead I am called in que&s;tion.</P>
<P>And when he had &s;o &s;aid, there aro&s;e a di&s;&s;ention between the Phari&s;ees and the Sadduces, and the multitude was divided.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE con&s;ider ordinarily in the old Te&s;tament, God the Father; And in the Go&s;pels, God the Son; And in this Book, the Acts, and in the Epi&s;tles, and the re&s;t, God the Holy Gho&s;t, that is, God in the Government and Admi|ni&s;tration of his Church, as well in the ordinary Mini&s;tery and con&s;tant cal|lings therein, as in the extraordinary u&s;e of generall Councells; of which, we have the Modell, and Platforme, and precedent in the fifteenth Chapter of this Booke. The Book is noted to have above twenty Sermons of the Apo&s;tles; and yet the Book is not called The Sermons, The Preaching of the Apo&s;tles, but the Practi&s;e, the Acts of the Apo&s;tles. Our actions, if they be good, &s;peak louder then our Sermons; Our preaching is our &s;peech, our good life is our eloquence. Preaching celebrates the Sabbath, but a good life makes the whole week a Sabbath, that is, A &s;avor of re&s;t in the
<PB N="488" REF="262">no&s;trils of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 8. Chry&s;o&s;t. Hieron.</NOTE> as it is &s;aid of <HI>Noahs</HI> Sacrifice, when he came out of the Ark. The Book is called The Acts of the Apo&s;tles; But &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> and S. <HI>Hierome</HI> too, it might be called the Acts of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> &s;o much more is it conver&s;ant about him, then all the re&s;t. In which re&s;pect, at this time of the yeare, and in the&s;e dayes, when the Church commemorates the Conver&s;ion of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> I have, for divers yeares &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, in this place, determined my &s;elfe upon this Book. Once upon the very act of his Conver&s;ion, in tho&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.4. Acts 20.25.</NOTE> <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me?</HI> Once upon his valediction to his Ephe&s;ians at Miletus, in tho&s;e words, <HI>Now I know that all ye &s;hall &s;ee my face no more;</HI> And once upon the e&s;cape from the Vipers teeth, and the viperous tongues of tho&s;e incon|&s;tant and clamorous beholders,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 28.6.</NOTE> who fir&s;t ra&s;hly cried out, <HI>He is a murderer,</HI> and <HI>then chan|ged their mindes, and &s;aid, He is a God.</HI> And now, for the &s;ervice of your devotions, and the advancement of your edification, I have laid my meditations upon this his Stratagem, and ju&s;t avoiding of an unju&s;t Judgement, <HI>When Paul percived that one part were Sadduces, and the other Phari&s;ees, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In handling of which words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> becau&s;e they have occa&s;ioned a Di&s;putation, and a Pro|bleme, whether this that <HI>Paul</HI> did, were well done, To rai&s;e a di&s;&s;ention among&s;t his Judges, we &s;hall &s;top fir&s;t upon that Con&s;ideration, That all the actions of holy men, of Apo&s;tles in the new Te&s;tament, of Patriarchs in the old, are not to be drawne into ex|ample and con&s;equence for others, no nor alwayes to be excu&s;ed and ju&s;tified in them that did them; All actions of holy men, are not holy; that is fir&s;t. And &s;econdly, we &s;hall con&s;ider this action of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> in &s;ome circum&s;tances that inve&s;t it, and in &s;ome ef|fects that it produced in our Text, as di&s;&s;ention among&s;t his Judges, and &s;o a reprieving, or rather a putting off of the triall for that time; and the&s;e will determine our &s;econd Con&s;ideration. And in a third, we &s;hall lodge all the&s;e in our &s;elves, and make it our owne ca&s;e, and finde that we have all <HI>Sadduces</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> in our own bo&s;omes, (con|trary affections in our own hearts) and finde an advantage in putting the&s;e home-<HI>Saddu|ces,</HI> and home-<HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> the&s;e contrary affections in our owne bo&s;omes, in colluctation, and oppo&s;ition again&s;t one another, that they doe not combine, and unite them&s;elves to our farther di&s;advantage; A Civill warre, is, in this ca&s;e, our way to peace; when one &s;infull affection cro&s;&s;es another, we &s;cape better, then when all joyne, without any re&s;i&s;tance. And in the&s;e three, fir&s;t the Generall, How wee are to e&s;timate all actions, And then the Particular, what wee are to thinke of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Action, And la&s;tly, the Individuall, How wee are to direct and regulate our owne Actions, wee &s;hall deter|mine all.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> though it be a &s;afer way, to &s;u&s;pect an action to be &s;in that is not, then to pre&s;ome an action to be no &s;in, that is &s;o, yet that rule holds better in our &s;elves, then in other men; for, in judging the actions of other men, our &s;u&s;pition may &s;oone &s;tray into an uncharitable mi&s;-interpretation, and wee may &s;in in condemning that in another, which was no &s;in in him that did it. But, in truth, <HI>Tran&s;ilire lineam,</HI> To depart from the direct and &s;traight line, is &s;in, as well on the right hand, as on the left; And the Devill makes his advantages upon the over-tender, and &s;crupulous con&s;cience, as well as upon the over-confident, and obdurate; and many men have erred as much, in ju&s;tifying &s;ome actions of holy men, as in calumniating, or mi&s;-condemning of others. If we had not evidence in Scripture, that <HI>Abraham</HI> received that Commandement from God, who could ju&s;tifie <HI>Abrahams</HI> proceeding with his &s;on <HI>I&s;aac?</HI> And therefore who &s;hall be afraid to call <HI>Noahs</HI> Drunkenne&s;&s;e, and his undecent lying in his Tent, Or <HI>Lots</HI> Drun|kenne&s;&s;e, and his iterated Ince&s;t with his Daughters, or his incon&s;iderate offer to pro&s;ti|tute his Daughters to the Sodomites, Or to call <HI>Davids</HI> complicated and multiplied &s;in, a &s;in? When the Church celebrates <HI>Sam&s;ons</HI> death, though he killed him&s;elf, it is upon a tender &amp; holy &s;uppo&s;ition, that he might do this not without &s;ome in&s;tinct and in&s;piration from the Spirit of God. But how&s;oever the Church interprets &s;uch actions, it is a dange|rous and a fallacious way, for any private man to argue &s;o, The Spirit of God directed this man in many actions, therefore in all; And dangerous to conclude an action to be good, either becau&s;e he that did it, had a good purpo&s;e in doing it, or becau&s;e &s;ome good effects proceeded from it. <HI>Bonum bene,</HI> are the two hor&s;es that mu&s;t carry us to heaven; To do good things, and to doe them well; To propo&s;e good ends, and to goe by good waies to tho&s;e good ends. The Mid-wives lie, in the behalfe of the I&s;raelites children, was a lie, and a &s;in, how&s;oever God, out of his own goodne&s;&s;e, found &s;omething in their piety,
<PB N="489" REF="262">to reward. I &s;hould not venture to &s;ay, as he &s;aid, nor to &s;ay that hee &s;aid well, when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Dele me, Forgive their finne, or blot mee out of thy Booke;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.32. Rom. 9 3.</NOTE> Nor when S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Anathema pro fratribus, I could wi&s;h that my &s;elfe were &s;eparated from Chri&s;t for my Brethren.</HI> I would not, I could not without &s;in, be content that my name &s;hould be blotted out of the Booke of Life, or that I &s;hould bee &s;eparated from Chri&s;t, though all the world be&s;ide were to be blotted out, and &s;eparated, if I &s;taid in.</P>
<P>The benefit that we are to make of the errors of holy men, is not that, That man did this, therefore I may doe it: but this, God &s;uffered that holy man to fall, and yet loved that good &s;oule well, God hath not therefore ca&s;t me away, though he have &s;uffered me to fall too. Bread is mans be&s;t &s;u&s;tenance, yet there may be a dangerous &s;urfet of bread: Charity is the bread that the &s;oule lives by; yet there may be a &s;urfet of charity; I may mi&s;-lead my &s;elfe &s;hrewdly, if I &s;ay, &s;urely my Father is a good man, my Ma&s;ter a good man, my Pa&s;tor a good man, men that have the te&s;timony of Gods love, by his mani|fold ble&s;&s;ings upon them; and therefore I may be bold to doe what&s;oever I &s;ee them doe. <HI>Be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven, is perfect,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.48. 1 Cor. 11.1.</NOTE> is the example that Chri&s;t gives you. <HI>Be yee followers of mee, as I am of Chri&s;t,</HI> is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">he example that the Apo&s;tle gives you. Good Examples are good A&s;&s;i&s;tances; but no Example of man is &s;ufficient to con&s;titute a certaine and con&s;tant rule; All the actions of the holie&s;t man are not holy.</P>
<P>Hence appeares the vanity and impertinency of that calumny, with which our adver|&s;aries of the Roman per&s;wa&s;ion labour to oppre&s;&s;e us, That tho&s;e points in which we depart from them, cannot be well e&s;tabli&s;hed, becau&s;e therein we depart from the Fa|thers; As though there were no condemnation to them, that pretended a perpetuall ad|hering to the Fathers, nor &s;alvation to them, who &s;u&s;pected any Father of any mi&s;taking. And they have thought that one thing enough, to di&s;credit, and bla&s;t, and annihilate that great and u&s;efull labour, which the Centuriators, the Magdeburgen&s;es tooke in compi|ling the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story, that in every age as they pa&s;&s;e, tho&s;e Authors have laid out a particular &s;ection, a particular Chapter <HI>De navis Patrum,</HI> to note the mi&s;takings of the Fathers in every age; This they thinke a criminall and a hainous thing, inough to di&s;credit the whole worke; As though there were ever in any age, any Father, that mi&s;|took nothing, or that it were bla&s;phemy again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t, to note &s;uch a mi&s;ta|king. And yet, if tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers, now in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of heaven, be well affected with our celebrating, or ill, with our neglecting their works, certainly they finde much more cau&s;e to complaine of our adver&s;aries, then of us. Never any in the Reformation hath &s;poken &s;o lightly, nay, &s;o heavily; &s;o negligently, nay, &s;o diligently, &s;o &s;tudiou&s;ly in diminution of the Fathers, as they have done. One of the fir&s;t Je&s;uits proceeds with mode&s;ty and ingenuity, and yet &s;ayes, <HI>Quaelibet aetas antiquitati detulit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Salmeron.</NOTE> Every age hath been apt to a&s;cribe much to the Ancient Fathers; <HI>Hoc autem a&s;&s;erimus,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>Iuniores Doctores per&s;picaciores,</HI> This we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily acknowledge, that our later Men have &s;een farther then the elder Fathers did. His fellow Je&s;uit goes farther; <HI>Hoc omnes dicunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Maldon.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ed non probant,</HI> &s;ayes he, &s;peaking of one per&s;on in the Genealogy of Chri&s;t, This the Fathers &s;ay, &s;ayes he, and later men too; Catholiques, and Heretiques; All: But none of them prove it; He will not take their words, not the whole Churches, though they all agree. But a Bi&s;hop of as much e&s;timation and authority in the Council of Trent, as any,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cornel. Mu&s;&s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> goes much farther; Being pre&s;&s;ed with S. <HI>Augu&s;tins</HI> opinion, he &s;ayes, <HI>Nec nos tantillum moveat Augu&s;tinus,</HI> Let it never trouble us, which way S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> goes; <HI>Hoc enim illi peculiare,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>ut alium errorem expugnans, alteri an&s;am praebeat,</HI> for this is in&s;eparable from S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> That out of an earne&s;tne&s;&s;e to de&s;troy one error, he will e&s;tabli&s;h an|other. Nor doth that Bi&s;hop impute that di&s;temper onely to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> but to S. <HI>Hie|rome</HI> too; Of him he &s;ayes, <HI>In medio po&s;itus certamine, ar dore feriendi adver&s;arios, premit &amp; &s;ocios,</HI> S. <HI>Hierome</HI> laies about him, and rather then mi&s;&s;e his enemy, he wounds his friends al&s;o. But all that might better be borne then this, <HI>Turpiter errarunt Patres,</HI> The Fathers fell foully into errors; And this, better then that, <HI>Eorum opinio, opinio Haeretico|rum,</HI> The Fathers differ not from the Heretiques, concurre with the Heretiques. Who in the Reformation hath charged the Fathers &s;o farre? and yet <HI>Baronius</HI> hath.</P>
<P>If they did not oppre&s;&s;e us with this calumny of neglecting, or undervaluing the Fa|thers, we &s;hould not make our recour&s;e to this way of recrimination; for, God knowes, if it be mode&s;tly done. and with the reverence, in many re&s;pects, due to them, it is no
<PB N="490" REF="263">fault to &s;ay the Fathers fell into &s;ome faults. Yet, it is rather our Adver&s;aries ob&s;ervation then ours, That all the Ancient Fathers were Chilia&s;ts, Millenarians, and maintained that error of a thou&s;and yeares temporall happine&s;&s;e upon this earth, betweene the Re|&s;urrection, and our actuall and eternall po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of Heaven; It is their ob&s;ervation ra|ther then ours, That all the Ancient Fathers denied the dead a fruition of the &s;ight of God, till the day of Judgement; It is theirs rather then ours, That all the Greek Fathers, and &s;ome of the Latin, a&s;&s;igned Gods foreknowledge of mans works, to be the cau&s;e of his prede&s;tination. It is their note, That for the fir&s;t &s;ix hundred yeares, the generall opi|nion, and generall practi&s;e of the Church was, To give the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, to Infants newly baptized, as a thing nece&s;&s;ary to their &s;alvation. They have noted, That the opinion of the Ancient Fathers was contrary to the pre&s;ent opinion in the Church of Rome, concerning the conception of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin without Origi|nall &s;in. The&s;e notes and imputations ari&s;e from their Authors, and not from ours, and they have told it us, rather then we them.</P>
<P>Indeed neither we nor they can di&s;&s;emble the mi&s;takings of the Fathers. The Fathers them&s;elves would not have them di&s;&s;embled.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> <HI>De me,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierom, ubicunque de meo &s;en&s;u loquor, arguat me quilibet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> For my part, where&s;oever I deliver but mine owne opini|on, every man hath his liberty to correct me. It is true, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> does call <HI>Iulian</HI> the Pelagian to the Fathers; but it is to vindicate and redeeme the Fathers from tho&s;e ca|lumnies which <HI>Iulian</HI> had laid upon them, that they were <HI>Multitudo caecorum,</HI> a herd, a &s;warme of blinde guides, and followers of one another, And that they were <HI>Con&s;piratio perditorum,</HI> Damned Con&s;pirators again&s;t the truth. To &s;et the Fathers in their true light, and to re&s;tore them to their lu&s;tre and dignity, and to make <HI>Iulian</HI> confe&s;&s;e what reve|rend per&s;ons they were, S. <HI>Aug.</HI> cals him to the con&s;ideration of the Fathers, but not to try matters of faith by them alone.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lactant.</NOTE> For, <HI>Sapientiam &s;ibi adimit, qui &s;ine judicio majorum inventa probat,</HI> That man deve&s;ts him&s;elfe of all di&s;cretion, who, without examination, captivates his under&s;tanding to the Fathers.</P>
<P>It is ingenuou&s;ly &s;aid by one of their later Writers, (if hee would but give us leave to &s;ay &s;o too) <HI>Sequamur Patres,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cajetan.</NOTE> <HI>tanquam Duces, non tanquam Dominos,</HI> Let us follow the Fa|thers as Guides, not as Lords over our under&s;tandings, as Coun&s;ellors, not as Comman|ders.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nicephor. Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> It is too much to &s;ay of any Father that which <HI>Nicephorus</HI> &s;ayes of S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome, In illius perinde at que in Dei verbis quie&s;co,</HI> I am as &s;afe in <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> words, as in the Word of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sophron. Leo.</NOTE> That is too much. It is too much to &s;ay of any Father that which <HI>Sophro|nius</HI> &s;ayes of <HI>Leo,</HI> That his Epi&s;tles were <HI>Divina Scriptura, tanquam ex ore Petri prolata, &amp; fundamentum fidei,</HI> That he received the Epi&s;tles that <HI>Leo</HI> writ, as holy writ, as written by S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe, and as the foundation of his faith; that is too much. It is too much to &s;ay of S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe that which <HI>Chry&s;ologus</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;olog.</NOTE> That he is <HI>Immobile fundamentum &s;alutis,</HI> The immoveable foundation of our &s;alvation, <HI>&amp; Mediator no&s;ter apud Deum,</HI> The Mediator of man to God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Azorius.</NOTE> Their Je&s;uit <HI>Azorius</HI> gives us a good Caution herein; Hee &s;ayes it is a good and &s;afe way, in all emergent doubts, to governe our &s;elves <HI>Per commu|nem opinionem,</HI> by the the common opinion, by that, in which mo&s;t Authors agree; But &s;ayes he, how &s;hall we know which is the common opinion? Since, not onely that is the common opinion in one Age, that is not &s;o in another, (The common opinion was in the Primitive Church, that the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin was conceived in Original &s;in, The com|mon opinion now, is that &s;he was not) But if we confider the &s;ame Age, that is the com|mon opinion in one place, in one countrey, which is not &s;o in another place, at the &s;ame time; That Je&s;uit puts his example in the wor&s;hip of the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t, and &s;ayes, That, at this day, in Germany and in France it is the common opinion, and Catholique Divi|nity, That <GAP DESC="foreign">, Divine wor&s;hip is not due to the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t; In Italy and in Spain it is the common opinion, and Catholique Divinity, that it is due. Now, how &s;hall hee governe him&s;elfe, that is unlearned, and not able to try, which is the common opinion? Or how &s;hall the learnede&s;t of all governe him&s;elfe if he have occa&s;ion to travaile, but to change his Divinity, as often as he changes his Coine, and when he turnes his Dutch Dollers into Pi&s;tolets, to go out of Germany, into Spain, turn his Devotion, and his religi|ous wor&s;hip according to the Clime? To end this Con&s;ideration, The holy Patriarchs in the Old Te&s;tament, were holy men, though they &s;traid into &s;ome &s;infull actions; the holy Fathers in the Primitive Church, were holy men, though they &s;traied into &s;ome erronious opinions; But neither are the holie&s;t mens actions alwaies holy, nor the &s;ounde&s;t Fathers
<PB N="491" REF="263">opinions alwaies &s;ound. And therefore the que&s;tion hath beene not impertinently mo|ved, whether this that S. <HI>Paul</HI> did here, were ju&s;tifiably done, <HI>Who, when he perceived that one part were Sadduces, and the other Phari&s;ees, &amp;c.</HI> And &s;o wee are come to our &s;econd part, from the con&s;ideration of Actions in generall, to this particular action of S. <HI>Paul.</HI></P>
<P>In this &s;econd part we make three &s;teps. Fir&s;t we &s;hall con&s;ider, what Councell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> what Court this was, before whom S. <HI>Paul</HI> was convented, (<HI>He cryed out in the Councell,</HI> &s;ayes the text) whether they were his competent Judges, and &s;o he bound to a cleare, and di|rect proceeding with them; And &s;econdly, what his end and purpo&s;e was, that he pro|po&s;ed to him&s;elfe; which was to divide the Judges, and &s;o to put off his tryall to another day; for, when he had &s;aid that, (&s;ayes the text) that that he had to &s;ay, <HI>there aro&s;e a Di&s;&s;ention, and the multitude,</HI> All, both Judges, and &s;pectators, and witne&s;&s;es, <HI>were divi|ded;</HI> And then la&s;tly, by what way he went to this end; which was by a double pro|te&s;tation; fir&s;t that, <HI>Men and brethren, I am a Phari&s;ee;</HI> And then that, <HI>Of the hope and Re|&s;urrection of the dead, I am called in que&s;tion.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, for the competency of his Judges, Whether a man be examined before a competent Judge or no, he may not lye: we can put no ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudex Com|petens.</NOTE> in which it may be lawfull for any man to lye to any man; not to a midnight, nor to a noone thiefe, that breaks my hou&s;e, or a&s;&s;aults my per&s;on, I may not lye. And though many have put names of di&s;|gui&s;e, as Equivocations, and Re&s;ervations, yet they are all children of the &s;ame father, the father of lies, the devill, and of the &s;ame brood of vipers, they are lyes. To an Incompe|tent Judge, if I be interrogated, I mu&s;t &s;peake truth, if I &s;peake; but to a Competent Judge, I mu&s;t &s;peak: With the Incompetent I may not be fal&s;e, but with the Competent, I may not be &s;ilent. Certainely, that &s;tanding mute at the Bar, which, of late times hath prevailed upon many di&s;tempered wretches, is, in it &s;elfe, &s;o particularly a &s;in, as that I &s;hould not venture to ab&s;olve any &s;uch per&s;on, nor to admini&s;ter the Sacrament to him, how earne&s;tly &s;oever he de&s;ired it at his death, how penitently &s;oever he confe&s;&s;ed all his other &s;ins, except he repented in particular, that &s;in, of having &s;tood mute and re|fu&s;ed a ju&s;t triall, and would be then content to &s;ubmit him&s;elf to it, if that favour might po&s;&s;ibly at that time be afforded him. To an incompetent Judge I mu&s;t not lie, but I may be &s;ilent, to a competent I mu&s;t an&s;wer.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider we then the competency of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Judges, what this Councel, this Court was. It was that Councel, which is &s;o often in the New Te&s;tament called <GAP DESC="foreign">, and in our Tran&s;lation, the Councel. The Jews &s;peake much of their <HI>Lex Oralis,</HI> their Oral, their Traditionall Law; that is, That Expo&s;ition of the Law, which, &s;ay they, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> received from the mouth of God, without writing, in that forty dayes conver&s;ation which he had with God, in the Mount; for, it is not probable, &s;ay they, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;hould &s;pend forty dayes in that, which another man would have done in one or two, that is, in receiving onely that Law which is written: But he received an expo&s;ition too, and delivered that to <HI>Io&s;huah,</HI> and he to the principal men, and according to that expo&s;iti|on, they proceeded in Judgement, in this Councel, in this their <HI>Synedrion.</HI> Which Councell having had the fir&s;t in&s;titution thereof, <HI>Numb.</HI> 11.16. where God &s;aid to <HI>Mo|&s;es, Gather me &s;eventy men of the Elders of I&s;rael, Officers over the people,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 11.16.</NOTE> <HI>and I will take of the Spirit that is upon thee, and put it upon them, and they &s;hall beare the burden;</HI> that is, I will impart to them that expo&s;ition of the Law, which I have imparted to thee, and by that they &s;hall proceed in Judgement, in this Councel, this <HI>Synedrion</HI> of Seventy, had conti|nued (though with &s;ome variations) to this time, when S. <HI>Paul</HI> was now called before them. Of this Councel of Seventy, this <HI>Synedrion,</HI> our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour &s;peaks, when he &s;ayes, <HI>He that &s;aies Raca,</HI> (that is, declares his anger by any opprobrious words of defa|mation,) <HI>&s;hall be &s;ubject to the Councel.</HI> Of this Councel he &s;peakes, when he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.22. Iohn 10.17.</NOTE> <HI>for my &s;ake, they will deliver you up to the Councel;</HI> And from this Councel it is, not inconveni|ently, thought, that tho&s;e me&s;&s;engers were &s;ent, which were &s;ent to examine <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 1.19.</NOTE> whether he were the Me&s;&s;ias or no; for there it is &s;aid, <HI>That Prie&s;ts and Levites were &s;ent;</HI> and this Councell, &s;ayes <HI>Io&s;ephus,</HI> at fir&s;t, (and for a long time) con&s;i&s;ted of &s;uch per&s;ons, though, after, a third Order was taken in, that is, &s;ome principall men of the other Tribes. To this Councel belonged the Conu&s;ance of all cau&s;es, Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall and Civill, and of all per&s;ons; no Magi&s;trate, no Prophet was exempt from this Court. Before this Coun|cel was <HI>Herod</HI> him&s;elfe called, for an execution done by his command, which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;eph. l 14. c. 17.</NOTE> though it were done upon a notorious malefactor, yet was done without due proceedings in law,
<PB N="492" REF="264">and therefore <HI>Herod</HI> called before this Councell for it.</P>
<P>But (by the way) this was not done when <HI>Herod</HI> was King, as <HI>Baronius</HI> doth mi&s;|chievou&s;ly and &s;editiou&s;ly infer and argue, as though this Councel were above the King. <HI>Herod</HI> at that time, was very far from any imagination of being King; His Father, <HI>Anti|pater,</HI> who then was alive, having, at that time, no preten&s;e to the Kingdome. But <HI>He|rod,</HI> though young, was then in a great place of Government, and for a mi&s;demeanor there, was called before this Councel, which had juri&s;diction over all but the King. For &s;o, in the Talmud it &s;elfe, the difference is expre&s;ly put; <HI>Sacerdos magnus judicat &amp; judi|catur,</HI> The High Prie&s;t, the greate&s;t Prelate in the Clergy, may have place in this Coun|cel, and may be called in que&s;tion by this Councel, <HI>Iudicat &amp; judicatur;</HI> So, <HI>Te&s;timonium dicit, &amp; de eo dicitur,</HI> He may goe from the Bench, and be a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t any man, and he may be put from the Bench, and any mans witne&s;&s;e be received again&s;t him. But then of the King, it is as expre&s;ly &s;aid, of this Councel, in that Talmud, <HI>Nec judicat, nec judicatur,</HI> The King &s;its in Judgement upon no man, le&s;t his pre&s;ence &s;hould intimidate an accu&s;ed per&s;on, or draw the other Judges from their own opinion to his; Much le&s;&s;e can the King be judged by any; <HI>Nec te&s;timonium dicit, nec de eo dicitur,</HI> The King de|&s;cends not to be a witnes again&s;t any man, neither can any man be a witnes again&s;t him. It was therefore mi&s;chievou&s;ly, and &s;editiou&s;ly, and treacherou&s;ly, and trayterou&s;ly, and (in one comprehen&s;ive word) Papi&s;tically argued by <HI>Baronius,</HI> That this Councel was above the King.</P>
<P>But above all other per&s;ons it was; In &s;ome ca&s;es, in the whole body of the Councel; for, Matters of Religion, Innovations in poynts of doctrine, Imputations upon great per|&s;ons in the Church, were not to be judged by any &s;elected Committee, but by the whole Councel, the intire body, the Seaventy; Pecuniary matters, and matters of defamation, might be determined by a Committee of any three; Matters that induced bodily puni&s;h|ments, though it were but flagellation, but a whipping matter, not under a Committee of twenty three. But &s;o were all per&s;ons, and all cau&s;es di&s;tributed, as that that Court, that Councel had conu&s;ance of all. So that then S. <HI>Paul</HI> was before a competent and a proper Judge, and therefore bound to an&s;wer; Did he that? That is our next di&s;qui&s;ition, and our &s;econd Con&s;ideration in this part, His end, his purpo&s;e in proceeding as he did.</P>
<P>His End was to di&s;&s;olve the Councel for the pre&s;ent. He &s;aw a tumultuary proceed|ing; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Finis.</NOTE> as the Text &s;ayes, he was fain <HI>to cry out in the Councel,</HI> before he could be heard. He &s;aw the Pre&s;ident of the Councel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Ananias</HI> the high Prie&s;t, &s;o ill-affected towards him, as that he commanded him extrajudicially to be &s;mitten. He &s;aw a great part of his Judges, and &s;pectators, among&s;t whom were the witne&s;&s;es, to be his declared enemies. He &s;aw that if he proceeded to a tryall then, he peri&s;hed infallibly, irrecoverably, and therefore de&s;ired to put off the tryall for that time. He did not deny nor decline the ju|ri&s;diction of that Court; He had no eye to any forraigne Prince, nor Prelate: There are among&s;t us that doe &s;o; that deny that they can be traytors, though they commit trea|&s;on, becau&s;e they are &s;ubjects to a forraine Bi&s;hop, and not to their naturall King; S. <HI>Paul</HI> did not &s;o. He did not calumniate nor traduce the proceedings of that Court, nor put into the people ill opinions of their &s;uperiors, by laying a&s;per&s;ions upon them; There are that doe &s;o; S. <HI>Paul</HI> did not. But his end and purpo&s;e was onely to put off the tryall for that time, till he might be received to a more &s;ober, and calme, and equitable hea|ring. And this certainly was no ill end, &s;o his way were good. What was that? That is our next, our third and la&s;t Con&s;ideration in this part.</P>
<P>His way was by a twofold Prote&s;tation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Viae. Phari&s;aei.</NOTE> The fir&s;t this, <HI>Men and brethren, I am a Pha|ri&s;ee.</HI> The Phari&s;ees were a &s;ect among&s;t the Jews, who are ordinarily conceived to have received their Name from Divi&s;ion, from Separation, from departing from that li|berty, which other men did take, to a &s;tricter forme of life. Of which, among&s;t many o|thers, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> gives us this evidence, that the Phari&s;ees would fringe their long robes with thornes, that &s;o they might cut, and teare, and mangle their heels and legs as they went, in the &s;ight of the people. Outward mortification and au&s;terity was a &s;pecious thing, and of great e&s;timation among&s;t the Jews: you may &s;ee that in <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t;</HI> who was as much followed, and admired for that, as Chri&s;t for his Miracles, though <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> did no Miracles. For, extraordinary au&s;terity is a continuall Miracle. As S. <HI>Hie|rome</HI> &s;ayes of Cha&s;tity, <HI>Habet &s;ervata pudicitia martyrium &s;uum,</HI> Cha&s;tity is a continuall Martyrdome; So to &s;urrender a mans &s;elfe to a continuall hunger, and thir&s;t, and cold,
<PB N="493" REF="264">and watching, and forbearing all which all others enjoy, a continuall mortification is a continuall Miracle. This made the Phari&s;ees gracious and acceptable to the people:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.5. Act. 26.5.</NOTE> Therefore S. <HI>Paul</HI> doth not make his Prote&s;tation here onely &s;o, <HI>That he had been as touch|ing the Law, a Phari&s;ee,</HI> nor as he makes it in this book, <HI>After the &s;tricte&s;t &s;ect of our reli|gion, I lived a Phari&s;ee,</HI> that is, heretofore I did, but now, after his Conver&s;ion, and after his Apo&s;tolicall Commi&s;&s;ion, he makes it, <HI>Men and brethren, I am a Phari&s;ee.</HI></P>
<P>Beloved, there are &s;ome things in which all Religions agree; The wor&s;hip of God, The holine&s;&s;e of life; And therefore, if when I &s;tudy this holine&s;&s;e of life, and fa&s;t, and pray, and &s;ubmit my &s;elfe to di&s;creet, and medicinall mortifications, for the &s;ubduing of my body, any man will &s;ay, this is Papi&s;ticall, Papi&s;ts doe this, it is a ble&s;&s;ed Prote&s;tati|on, and no man is the le&s;&s;e a Prote&s;tant, nor the wor&s;e a Prote&s;tant for making it, Men and brethren, I am a Papi&s;t, that is, I will fa&s;t and pray as much as any Papi&s;t, and ena|ble my &s;elfe for the &s;ervice of my God, as &s;eriou&s;ly, as &s;edulou&s;ly, as laboriou&s;ly as any Papi&s;t. So, if when I &s;tartle and am affected at a bla&s;phemous oath, as at a wound upon my Saviour, if when I avoyd the conver&s;ation of tho&s;e men, that prophane the Lords day, any other will &s;ay to me, This is Puritanicall, Puritans do this, It is a ble&s;&s;ed Pro|te&s;tation, and no man is the le&s;&s;e a Prote&s;tant, nor the wor&s;e a Prote&s;tant for making it, Men and Brethren, I am a Puritan, that is, I wil endeavour to be pure, as my Father in hea|ven is pure, as far as any Puritan.</P>
<P>Now of the&s;e Phari&s;ees, who were by the&s;e means &s;o popular,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sadducaei.</NOTE> the numbers were ve|ry great. The Sadduces, who al&s;o were of an exemplary holine&s;&s;e in &s;ome things, but in many and important things of different opinions, even in matter of Religion, from all other men, were not &s;o many in number, but they were men of better quality and place in the State, then, for the mo&s;t part, the Phari&s;ees were. And as they were more potent, and able to do more mi&s;chiefe, &s;o had they more declared them&s;elves to be bent again&s;t the Apo&s;tles, then the Phari&s;ees had done. In the fourth Chapter of this Booke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 1.</NOTE> <HI>The Prie&s;ts, and the Sadduces,</HI> (no mention of Phari&s;ees) <HI>came upon Peter and Iohn, being grie|ved, that they preached, thorough Ie&s;us, the re&s;urrection of the dead.</HI> And &s;o againe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 5.17.</NOTE> <HI>The high Prie&s;t ro&s;e up, and all they that were with him, which is</HI> (&s;ayes that Text expre&s;ly) <HI>the &s;ect of the Sadduces, and were filled with indignation.</HI> And &s;ome collect out of a place in <HI>Eu&s;e|bius,</HI> that this <HI>Ananias,</HI> who was high Prie&s;t at this time, and had declared his ill affection to S. <HI>Paul,</HI> (as you heard before) was a Sadduce: But, I thinke tho&s;e words of <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> will not beare, at lea&s;t, not enforce that, nor be well applied to this <HI>Ananias.</HI> How&s;oever, S. <HI>Paul</HI> had ju&s;t cau&s;e to come to this prote&s;tation, <HI>I am a Phari&s;ee,</HI> and in &s;o doing he can be obnoxious to nothing; if he be as &s;afe in his other prote&s;tation, all is well, <HI>for the hope and re&s;urrection of the dead, am I called in que&s;tion;</HI> con&s;ider we that.</P>
<P>It is true, that he was not, at this time, called in que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Re&s;urrectio.</HI> Act. 21.23.</NOTE> directly and expre&s;ly <HI>for the Re&s;urrection;</HI> you may &s;ee, where he was apprehended, that it was <HI>for teaching again&s;t that people, and again&s;t that law, and again&s;t that Temple.</HI> So that, he was endited upon pre|ten&s;e of &s;edition, and prophanation of the Temple. And therefore, when S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes here, <HI>I am called in que&s;tion for preaching the Re&s;urrection,</HI> he means this, If I had not prea|ched the Re&s;urrection, I &s;hould never have been called in que&s;tion, nor &s;hould be, if I would forbeare preaching the Re&s;urrection; No man per&s;ecutes me, no man appeares again&s;t me, but onely they that deny the Re&s;urrection; The Sadduces did deny it; The Phari&s;ees did beleeve it; and therefore this was a likely and a lawfull way to divide them, and to gaine time, with &s;uch a purpo&s;e, (&s;o far) as <HI>David</HI> had, when he prayed, <HI>O Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 55.9.</NOTE> <HI>divide their tongues.</HI> For it is not alwayes unlawfull to &s;owe di&s;cord, and to kindle di&s;|&s;ention among&s;t men; for men may agree too well, to ill purpo&s;es. So have yee then &s;een, That though it be not &s;afe to conclude, S. <HI>Paul,</HI> or any holy man did this, there|fore I may do it, (which was our fir&s;t part) yet in this which S. <HI>Paul</HI> did here, there was nothing that may not be ju&s;tified in him, and imitated by us, (which was our &s;econd part) Remains onely the third, which is the accommodation of this to our pre&s;ent times, and the appropriation thereof to our &s;elves, and making it our own ca&s;e.</P>
<P>The world is full of Sadduces, and Phari&s;ees, and the true Church of God arraigned by both. The Sadduces were the greater men, the Phari&s;ees were the greater number;<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part. <HI>Sadducaei.</HI></NOTE> &s;o they are &s;till. <HI>The Sadduces denied the Re&s;urrection, and Angels, and Spirits;</HI> So they do &s;till. For, tho&s;e Sadduces, whom we con&s;ider now, in this part, are meere carnall men; men that have not onely no Spirit of God in them, but no &s;oule, no &s;pirit of their
<PB N="494" REF="265">owne; meere Athei&s;ts. And this Carnality, this Athei&s;me, this Sadduci&s;me is &s;eene in &s;ome Countries to prevaile mo&s;t upon great per&s;ons, (the Sadduces were great per&s;ons) upon per&s;ons that abound in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, and offices, and honours of this world; for they that have mo&s;t of this world, for the mo&s;t part, think lea&s;t of the next.</P>
<P>The&s;e are our pre&s;ent Sadduces;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phari&s;aei.</NOTE> and then the Phari&s;ee hath his name from <HI>Pharas,</HI> which is Divi&s;ion, Separation; But <HI>Calvin</HI> derives the name (not inconveniently) from <HI>Phara&s;h,</HI> which is Expo&s;ition, Explication. We embrace both extractions, and accepta|tions of the word, both <HI>Separation,</HI> and <HI>Expo&s;ition;</HI> for the Phari&s;ee whom we con&s;ider now, in this part, is he that is &s;eparated from us, (there it is <HI>Pharas,</HI> &s;eparation) and &s;epa|rated by following private Expo&s;itions, (there it is <HI>Phara&s;h,</HI> Expo&s;ition) with a contempt of all Antiquity; and not only an undervaluation, but a dete&s;tation of all opinions but his owne, and his, whom he hath &s;et up for his Idol. And as the Sadduce (our great and worldly man) is all carnall, all body, and beleeves no &s;pirit: &s;o our Phari&s;ee is &s;o &s;uper|&s;pirituall, as that he beleeves, that is, con&s;iders no body; He imagines &s;uch a Purification, &s;uch an Angelification, &s;uch a Deification in this life, as though the heavenly Jeru&s;alem were de&s;cended already, or that God had given man but that one commandement, <HI>Love God above all,</HI> and not a &s;econd too, <HI>Love thy neighbour as thy &s;elfe.</HI> Our Sadduces will have all body, our Phari&s;ees all &s;oule, and God hath made us of both, and given us offi|ces proper to each.</P>
<P>Now of both the&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Duplex Sad|ducaus.</NOTE> the pre&s;ent Sadduce, the carnall Athei&s;t, and the pre&s;ent Phari&s;ee, the Separati&s;t, that overvalues him&s;elf, and bids us &s;tand farther off, there are two kinds. For, for the Athei&s;t, there is <HI>Davids</HI> Athei&s;t, and S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Athei&s;t; <HI>Davids,</HI> that a&s;cribes all to nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 14.2.</NOTE> and <HI>&s;ayes in his heart, There is no God;</HI> That will call no &s;udden death, nor extraordinary puni&s;hment upon any enormous &s;inner, a judgement of God, nor any &s;uch deliverance of his &s;ervants, a miracle from God, but all is Nature, or all is Accident, and would have been &s;o, though there had been no God: This is Natures Sadduce, <HI>Davids</HI> Athei&s;t; And then S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Athei&s;t is he, who though he doe beleeve in God, yet doth not beleeve God in Chri&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.12.</NOTE> for &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes to the Ephe&s;ians, <HI>Ab&s;que Chri&s;to, ab&s;que Deo,</HI> If ye be <HI>without Chri&s;t,</HI> ye are <HI>without God.</HI> For as it is the &s;ame ab&s;urdity in nature, to &s;ay, There is no Sun, and to &s;ay, This that you call the Sun is not the Sun, this that &s;hines out upon you, this that produces your fruits, and di&s;tingui&s;hes your &s;ea&s;ons is not the Sun: &s;o is it the &s;ame Athei&s;me, in the&s;e dayes of light, to &s;ay, There is no God, and to &s;ay, This Chri&s;t whom you call the Son of God, is not God, That he in whom God hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe, He whom God hath made Head of the Church, and Judge of the world, is not God. This then is our double Sadduce, <HI>Davids</HI> Athei&s;t that beleeves not God, S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Athei&s;t that beleeves not Chri&s;t. And as our Sadduce is, &s;o is our Pha|ri&s;ee twofold al&s;o.</P>
<P>There is a Phari&s;ee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Duplex Pha|ri&s;aeus.</NOTE> that by following private expo&s;itions, &s;eparates him&s;elfe from our Church, principally for matter of Government and Di&s;cipline, and imagines a Church that &s;hall be defective in nothing, and does not onely think him&s;elf to be of that Church, but &s;ometimes to be that Church, for none but him&s;elfe is of that per&s;wa&s;ion. And there is a Phari&s;ee that dreames of &s;uch an union, &s;uch an identification with God in this life, as that he under&s;tands all things, not by benefit of the &s;en&s;es, and impre&s;&s;ions in the fancy and imagination, or by di&s;cour&s;e and ratiocination, as we poore &s;oules doe, but by imme|diate, and continuall infu&s;ions and in&s;pirations from God him&s;elfe; That he loves God, not by participation of his &s;ucce&s;&s;ive Grace, more and more, as he receives more and more grace, but by a communication of God him&s;elfe to him, intirely and irrevocably; That he &s;hall be without any need, and above all u&s;e of Scriptures, and that the Scriptures &s;hall be no more to him, then a Catechi&s;me to our greate&s;t Doctors; That all that God commands him to doe in this world, is but as an ea&s;ie walk downe a hill; That he can doe all that ea&s;ily, and as much more, as &s;hall make God beholden to him, and bring God into his debt, and that he may a&s;&s;igne any man to whom God &s;hall pay the arrera|ges due to him, that is, appoint God upon-what man he &s;hall confer the benefit of his works of Supererogation; For in &s;uch Propo&s;itions as the&s;e, and in &s;uch Paradoxes as the&s;e, doe the Authors in the Roman Church delight to expre&s;&s;e and celebrate their Phari&s;aicall purity, as we find it frequently, abundantly in them.</P>
<P>In a word, &s;ome of our home-Phari&s;ees will &s;ay, That there are &s;ome, who by benefit of a certaine Election, cannot &s;in; That the Adulteries and Bla&s;phemies of the Elect, are
<PB N="495" REF="265">not &s;ins: But the Rome-Phari&s;ee will &s;ay, that &s;ome of them are not onely without &s;in in them&s;elves, but that they can &s;ave others from &s;in, or the puni&s;hment of &s;in, by their works of Supererogation; and that they are &s;o united, &s;o identified with God already, as that they are in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the beatificall Vi&s;ion of God, and &s;ee him e&s;&s;entially, and as he is, in this life: (for, that <HI>Ignatius</HI> the father of the Je&s;uits did &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sandaeus The|olog. p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">r. 1. fo. 760.</NOTE> &s;ome of his Di&s;ci|ples &s;ay, it is, at lea&s;t probable, if not certaine) And that they have done all that they had to doe for their owne &s;alvation, long agoe, and &s;tay in the world now, onely to gather trea&s;ure for others, and to worke out their &s;alvation. So that the&s;e men are in better &s;tate in this life, then the Saints are in heaven; There, the Saints may pray for others, but they cannot merit for others; The&s;e men here can merit for other men, and work out the &s;alvation of others. Nay, they may be &s;aid in &s;ome re&s;pect to exceed Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; for Chri&s;t did &s;ave no man here, but by dying for him; The&s;e men &s;ave other men, with living well for them, and working out their &s;alvation.</P>
<P>The&s;e are our double Sadduces, &amp; our double Phari&s;ees; &amp; now, beloved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;&s;entio.</NOTE> if we would goe &s;o far in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> way, as to &s;et this two-fold Sadduce, <HI>Davids</HI> Athei&s;t, without God, and S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Athei&s;t, without Chri&s;t, again&s;t our twofold Phari&s;ee, our home-Cathari&s;t, and our Rome-Cathari&s;t, If we would &s;pend all our wit, and all our time, all our Inke, and our gall, in &s;hewing them the deformities and iniquities of one another, by our preaching and writing again&s;t them, The truth, and the true Church might (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> did in our Text) &s;cape the better. But when we (we that differ in no &s;uch points) tear, and wound, and mangle one another with opprobrious contumelies, and odious names of &s;ub-divi&s;i|on in Religion, our Home-Phari&s;ee, and our Rome-Phari&s;ee, maligners of our Di&s;cipline, and maligners of our Doctrine, gaine upon ns, and make their advantages of our conten|tions, and both the Sadduces, <HI>Davids</HI> Athei&s;t that denies God, and S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Athei&s;t that denies Chri&s;t, joyne in a &s;cornfull asking us, <HI>Where is now your God?</HI> Are not we as well that deny him ab&s;olutely, as you that profe&s;&s;e him with wrangling?</P>
<P>But &s;top we the floodgates of this con&s;ideration; it would melt us into teares.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sadducaei &amp; Phari&s;aei in|terni.</NOTE> End we all with this, That we have all, all the&s;e, Sadduces and Phari&s;ees in our owne bo|&s;omes: Sadduces that deny &s;pirits; carnall apprehen&s;ions that are apt to &s;ay, Is your God all Spirit, and hath bodily eyes to &s;ee &s;in? All Spirit, and hath bodily hands to &s;trike for a &s;inne? Is your &s;oule all &s;pirit, and hath a fle&s;hly heart to feare? All &s;pirit, and hath &s;en&s;ible &s;inews to feele a materiall fire? Was your God, who is all Spirit, wounded when you quarrelled? or did your &s;oule, which is all &s;pirit, drink when you were drunk? Sins of pre&s;umption, and carnall confidence are our Sadduces; and then our Phari&s;ees are our &s;ins of &s;eparation, of divi&s;ion, of diffidence and di&s;tru&s;t in the mer|cies of our God; when we are apt to &s;ay, after a &s;in, Cares God, who is all Spirit, for my eloquent prayers, or for my pa&s;&s;ionate teares? Is the giving of my goods to the poore, or of my body to the fire, any thing to God who is all Spirit? My &s;pirit, and nothing but my &s;pirit, my &s;oule, and nothing but my &s;oule, mu&s;t &s;atisfie the ju&s;tice, the anger of God, and be &s;eparated from him for ever. My Sadduce, my Pre&s;umption &s;ugge&s;ts, that there is no &s;pirit, no &s;oule to &s;uffer for &s;in; and my Phari&s;ee, my De&s;peration &s;ug|ge&s;ts, That my &s;oule mu&s;t peri&s;h irremediably, irrecoverably, for every &s;inne that my body commits.</P>
<P>Now if I go S. <HI>Pauls</HI> way, to put a di&s;&s;ention between the&s;e my <HI>Sadduces,</HI> and my <HI>Phari|&s;ees,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Via Pauli.</NOTE> to put a jealou&s;ie between my pre&s;umption &amp; my de&s;peration, to make my pre&s;ump|tion &s;ee, that my de&s;peration lies in wait for her; and to con&s;ider &s;eriou&s;ly, that my pre|&s;umption will end in de&s;peration, I may, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> did in the Text, &s;cape the better for that. But if, without farther troubling the&s;e <HI>Sadduces</HI> and the&s;e <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> I be content to let them agree, and to divide my life between them, &s;o as that my pre&s;umption &s;hall po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e all my youth, and de&s;peration mine age, I have heard my &s;entence already, <HI>The end of this man will be wor&s;e then his beginning,</HI> How much &s;oever God be incen&s;ed with me, for my pre&s;umption at fir&s;t, he will be much more inexorable for my de&s;peration at la&s;t. And therefore interrupt the pre&s;cription of &s;in; break off the corre&s;pondence of &s;in; unjoynt the dependency of &s;in upon &s;in. Bring every &s;ingle &s;in, as &s;oon as thou commit|te&s;t it, into the pre&s;ence of thy God, upon tho&s;e two legs, Confe&s;&s;ion, and Dete&s;tation, and thou &s;halt &s;ee, that, as, though an intire Iland &s;tand firme in the Sea, yet a &s;ingle clod of earth ca&s;t into the Sea, is quickly wa&s;ht into nothing; &s;o, how&s;oever thine habituall, and cu&s;tomary, and concatenated &s;ins, &s;in enwrapped and complicated in &s;in, &s;in entren|ched
<PB N="496" REF="266">and barricadoed in &s;in, &s;in &s;crewed up, and riveted with &s;in, may &s;tand out, and wra|&s;tle even with the mercies of God, in the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; yet if thou bring every &s;ingle &s;in into the &s;ight of God, it will be but as a clod of earth, but as a graine of du&s;t in the Ocean. Keep thy &s;ins then from mutuall intelligence; That they doe not &s;econd one another, induce occa&s;ion, and then &s;upport and di&s;gui&s;e one another, and then, nei|ther &s;hall the body of &s;in ever oppre&s;&s;e thee, nor the exhalations, and damps, and vapors of thy &s;ad &s;oule, hang between thee, and the mercies of thy God; But thou &s;halt live in the light and &s;erenity of a peaceable con&s;cience here, and die in a faire po&s;&s;ibility of a pre&s;ent melioration and improvement of that light. All thy life thou &s;halt be pre&s;erved, in an Orientall light, an Ea&s;terne light, a ri&s;ing and a growing light, the light of grace; and at thy death thou &s;halt be &s;uper-illu&s;trated, with a Meridionall light, a South light, the light of glory. And be this enough for the explication, and application of the&s;e words, and their complication with the day; for the ju&s;tifying of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Stratagem in him&s;elfe, and the exemplifying, and imitation thereof in us. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
<P>That God that is the God of peace, grant us his peace, and one minde towards one another; That God that is the Lord of Ho&s;ts, maintaine in us that warre, which him&s;elf hath proclaimed, an enmity between the &s;eed of the Woman, and the &s;eed of the Ser|pent, between the truth of God, and the inventions of men; That we may fight his bat|tels again&s;t his enemies without, and fight his battels again&s;t our enemies within, our own corrupt affections; That we may be victorious here, in our &s;elves, and over our &s;elves, and triumph with him hereafter, in eternall glory.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="penitential psalms" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="266">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached upon the PENITENTIALL PSALMES.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="50" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="267">
<PB N="499" REF="267">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. L.</HI> Preached upon the Penitentiall <HI>P&s;almes.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 6.1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>O Lord, Rebuke me not in thine Anger, neither cha&s;ten me in thy het Di&s;plea&s;ure.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_GOD imputes but one thing to <HI>David,</HI> but one &s;in; <HI>The matter of Vriah the Hittite:</HI> nor that neither, but by way of exception, not till he had fir&s;t e&s;tabli&s;hed an a&s;&s;urance, that <HI>David</HI> &s;tood well with him. Fir&s;t he had &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 25.5.</NOTE> <HI>David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not a&s;ide from any thing, that he had commanded him all the dayes of his life:</HI> Here was rectitude, <HI>He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord;</HI> no obliquity, no de|parting into by-wayes, upon collaterall re&s;pects; Here was in|tegrity to Gods &s;ervice, no &s;erving of God and Mammon, <HI>Hee turned not from any thing that God commanded him;</HI> And here was perpetuity, per&s;eve|rance, con&s;tancy, <HI>All the dayes of his life:</HI> And then, and not till then, God makes that one, and but that one exception, <HI>Except the matter of Vriah the Hittite.</HI> When God was reconciled to him, he would not &s;o much as name that &s;in; that had offended him:</P>
<P>And herein is the mercy of God, in the merits of Chri&s;t, a &s;ea of mercie, that as the Sea retaines no impre&s;&s;ion of the Ships that pa&s;&s;e in it, (for Navies make no path in the Sea) &s;o when we put out into the boundle&s;&s;e Sea of the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, by which onely wee have reconciliation to God, there remaines no record again&s;t us; for God hath cancelled that record which he kept, and that which Satan kept God hath nailed to the Cro&s;&s;e of his Son. That man which hath &s;eene me at the &s;ealing of my Pardon, and the &s;eale of my Reconciliation, at the Sacrament, many times &s;ince, will yet in his pa&s;&s;i|on, or in his ill nature, or in his uncharitablene&s;&s;e, object to me the fins of my youth; whereas God him&s;elfe, if I have repented to day, knowes not the &s;ins that I did ye&s;ter|day. God hath ra&s;ed the Record of my &s;in, in Heaven; it offends not him, it grieves not his Saints nor Angels there; and he hath ra&s;ed the Record in hell; it advances not their intere&s;t in me there, nor their triumph over me. And yet here, the uncharitable man will know more, and &s;ee more, and remember more, then my God, or his devill remembers, or knowes, or &s;ees: He will &s;ee a path in the Sea; he will &s;ee my &s;in, when it is drowned in the blood of my Saviour. After the Kings pardon, perchance it will beare an action, to call a man by that infamous name, which that crime, which is pardoned, did ju&s;tly ca&s;t up|on him before the pardon: After Gods reconciliation to <HI>David,</HI> he would not name <HI>Da|vids</HI> &s;in in the particular.</P>
<P>But yet for all this, though God will be no example, of upbraiding or reproaching re|pented &s;innes, when God hath &s;o far expre&s;t his love, as to bring that &s;inner to that re|pentance, and &s;o to mercy, yet, that he may perfect his owne care, he exerci&s;es that re|pentant &s;inner with &s;uch medicinall corrections, as may inable him to &s;tand upright for the future. And to that purpo&s;e, was no man evermore exerci&s;ed then <HI>David. David</HI>
<PB N="500" REF="268">broke into anothers family; he built upon anothers ground; he planted in anothers Se|minary; and God broke into his family, his ground, his Seminary. In no &s;tory, can wee finde &s;o much Dome&s;tick affliction, &s;uch rapes, and ince&s;ts, and murders, and rebel|lions, from their owne children, as in <HI>Davids</HI> &s;torie. Under the heavy waight and oppre&s;|&s;ion of &s;ome of tho&s;e, is <HI>David,</HI> by all Expo&s;itors, conceived to have conceived, and ut|tered this P&s;alme. Some take it to have beene occa&s;ioned by &s;ome of his temporall af|flictions; either his per&s;ecution from <HI>Saul,</HI> or bodily &s;ickne&s;&s;e in him&s;elfe, of which tra|ditionally the Rabbins &s;peake much, or <HI>Ab&s;oloms</HI> unnaturall rebellion. Some others, with whom wee finde more rea&s;on to joyne, finde more rea&s;on to interpret it, of a &s;piri|tuall affliction; that <HI>David,</HI> in the apprehen&s;ion, and under the &s;en&s;e of the wrath and in|dignation of God, came to this vehement exclamation, or deprecation, <HI>O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger, neither cha&s;ten me in thy hot di&s;plea&s;ure.</HI></P>
<P>In which words we &s;hall con&s;ider,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> fir&s;t the per&s;on, upon whom <HI>David</HI> turned for his &s;uccour, and then what &s;uccour he &s;eeks at his hands. Fir&s;t his word, and then his end; fir&s;t to whom, and then for what he &s;upplicates. And in the fir&s;t of the&s;e, the Per&s;on, we &s;hall make the&s;e three &s;teps; fir&s;t that he makes his fir&s;t acce&s;&s;e to God onely, <HI>O Lord rebuke me not;</HI> doe not thou, and though I will not &s;ay, I care not, yet I care the le&s;&s;e who doe. And &s;econdly, that it is to God by Name, not to any univer&s;all God, in generall notions; &s;o naturall men come to God; but to God whom he con&s;iders in a particular name, in particular notions, and attributes, and manife&s;tations of him&s;elfe; a God whom he knowes, by his former workes done upon him. And then, that name in which hee comes to him here, is the name of <HI>Iehovah;</HI> his radicall, his fundamentall, his primarie, his e&s;&s;entiall name, the name of <HI>being, Iehovah.</HI> For, he that deliberately, and con&s;iderate|ly beleeves him&s;elfe to have his very being from God, beleeves certainely that he hath his well being from him too; He that acknowledges, that it is by Gods providence that he breathes, beleeves that it is by his providence that he eates too. So his acce&s;&s;e is to God, and to God by name, that is by particular con&s;iderations, and then, to God in the name of <HI>Iehovah,</HI> to that God that hath done all, from his fir&s;t beginning, from his Being. And in the&s;e three we &s;hall determine our fir&s;t part.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. To God.</NOTE> in this fir&s;t branch of this part, <HI>David</HI> comes to God, but without any confi|dence in him&s;elfe. Here is <HI>Reus ad ro&s;tra &s;ine patrono,</HI> here is the pri&s;oner at the Barre, and no Coun&s;ell allowed him. He confe&s;&s;es Indictments, fa&s;ter then they can be read: If he heare him&s;elfe indicted, that he looked upon <HI>Bath&s;heba,</HI> that he lu&s;ted after <HI>Bath&s;heba,</HI> he cryes, Alas, I have done that, and more; di&s;honored her, and my &s;elfe, and our God; and more then that, I have continued the act into a habit; and more then that, I have drowned that &s;inne in bloud, le&s;t it &s;hould ri&s;e up to my &s;ight; and more then all that, I have cau&s;ed the Name of God to be bla&s;phemed; and le&s;t his Maje&s;ty, and his great|ne&s;&s;e &s;hould be a terrour to me, I have occa&s;ioned the enemy to undervalue him, and &s;peake de&s;pightfully of God him&s;elfe. And when he hath confe&s;t all, all that he remem|bers, he mu&s;t come to his <HI>Ab occultis meis, Lord clean&s;e me from my &s;ecret &s;innes;</HI> for there are &s;ins, which we have laboured &s;o long to hide from the world, that at la&s;t, they are hidden from our &s;elves, from our own memories, our own con&s;ciences. As much as <HI>David</HI> &s;tands in feare of this Judge, he mu&s;t intreat this Judge, to remember his &s;innes; Remember them, O Lord, for els they will not fall into my pardon; but remember them in mercy, and not in anger; for &s;o they will not fall into my pardon neither.</P>
<P>What&s;oever the affliction then was, temporall, or &s;pirituall, (we take it rather to be &s;pirituall) <HI>Davids</HI> recour&s;e is pre&s;ently to God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 16.14.</NOTE> He doth not, as his predece&s;&s;our <HI>Saul</HI> did, when he was afflicted, &s;end for one that was cunning upon the Harp, to divert &s;or|row &s;o. If his Subjects rebell, he doth not &s;ay, Let them alone, let them goe on, I &s;hall have the ju&s;ter cau&s;e, by their rebellion, of confi&s;cations upon their E&s;tates, of executi|ons upon their per&s;ons, of revocations of their lawes, and cu&s;tomes, and priviledges, which they carry them&s;elves &s;o high upon. If his &s;onne lift up his hand again&s;t him, he doth not place his hope in that, that that occa&s;ion will cut off his &s;onne, and that then the peoples hearts which were bent upon his &s;onne, will returne to him againe. <HI>David</HI> knew he could not retyre him&s;elfe from God in his bedchamber; Guards and U&s;hers could not keepe him out. He knew he could not defend him&s;elfe from God in his Ar|my; for <HI>the Lord of Ho&s;ts is Lord of his Ho&s;ts.</HI> If he <HI>fled to Sea, to Heaven, to Hell,</HI> he was &s;ure to meet <HI>God there;</HI> and there thou &s;halt meet him too, if thou fly from God, to the
<PB N="501" REF="268">reliefe of outward comforts, of mu&s;icke, of mirth, of drinke, of cordialls, of Comedies, of conver&s;ation. Not that &s;uch recreations are unlawfull; the minde hath her phy&s;ick as well as the body; but when thy &s;adne&s;&s;e proceeds from a &s;en&s;e of thy &s;innes, (which is Gods key to the doore of his mercy, put into thy hand) it is a new, and a greater &s;in, to goe about to overcome that holy &s;adne&s;&s;e, with the&s;e prophane diver&s;ions; to fly <HI>Ad con&s;olatiunculas creaturulae</HI> (as that elegant man <HI>Luther</HI> expre&s;&s;es it, according to his na|turall delight in that elegancy of Diminutives, with which he abounds above all Au|thors) to the little and contemptible comforts of little and contemptible creatures. And as <HI>Luther</HI> u&s;es the phy&s;ick, <HI>Iob</HI> u&s;eth the Phy&s;itian; <HI>Luther</HI> calls the comforts, Mi&s;erable comforts; and <HI>Iob</HI> calls them that mini&s;ter them, <HI>Onero&s;os con&s;olatores, Mi&s;erable comfor|ters are you all. David</HI> could not drowne his adultery in blood; never thinke thou to drowne thine in wine. The Mini&s;ters of God are Sonnes of Thunder, they are falls of waters, trampling of hor&s;es, and runnings of Chariots; and if the&s;e voyces of the&s;e Mi|ni&s;ters, cannot overcome thy mu&s;ick, thy &s;ecurity, yet the Angels trumpet will; That <HI>Surgite qui dermitis, Ari&s;e yee that &s;leepe in the du&s;t, in the du&s;t of the grave,</HI> is a Treble that over-reaches all; That <HI>Ite maledicti, Goe yee accur&s;ed into Hell fire,</HI> is a Ba&s;e that drowns all. There is no recour&s;e but to God, no reliefe but in God; and therefore <HI>David</HI> ap|plied him&s;elfe to the right method, to make his fir&s;t acce&s;&s;e to God.</P>
<P>It is to God onely, and to God by name, and not in generall notions;<NOTE PLACE="marg">To God by Name.</NOTE> for it implies a nearer, a more familiar, and more pre&s;entiall knowledge of God, a more cheerfull ac|quaintance, and a more a&s;&s;iduous conver&s;ation with God, when we know how to call God by a Name, a Creator, a Redeemer, a Comforter, then when we con&s;ider him onely as a diffu&s;ed power, that &s;preads it &s;elfe over all creatures; when we come to him in Affirmatives, and Confe&s;&s;ions, This thou ha&s;t done for me, then when we come to him onely in Negatives, and &s;ay, That that is God, which is nothing els. God is come nearer to us then to others, when we know his Name. For though it be truly &s;aid in the Schoole, that no name can be given to God, <HI>Ejus e&s;&s;entiam adaequat&egrave; reprae&s;entans,</HI> No one name can reach to the expre&s;&s;ing of all that God is; And though <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> doe humbly, and mode&s;tly, and reverently &s;ay, <HI>Non &s;pere,</HI> it never fell into my thought, nor into my hope, that the maker and founder of all Maje&s;ty, could be circum&s;cribed, or impri&s;oned by any one name, though a name compounded and complicated of many names, as the Rabbins have made one name of God, of all his names in the Scriptures;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.29.</NOTE> Though <HI>Iacob</HI> &s;eeme to have been rebuked <HI>for asking Gods name,</HI> when he wra&s;tled with him; And &s;o al&s;o the Angel which was to doe a miraculous worke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 13.18.</NOTE> a worke appertaining onely to God, to give a Childe to the barren, becau&s;e he repre&s;ented God, and had the per&s;on of God upon him, would not permit <HI>Manoah</HI> to enquire after his name, <HI>Becau&s;e,</HI> as he &s;ayes there, <HI>that name was &s;ecret and wonderfull;</HI> And though God him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 23.20.</NOTE> to dignifie and authorize that <HI>Angel,</HI> which he made his Commi&s;&s;ioner, and the Tutelar and Natio|nall Guide of his people, &s;ayes of that <HI>Angel,</HI> to that people, <HI>Feare him, provoke him not, for my Name is in him,</HI> and yet did not tell them, what that name was; Yet certainly, we could not &s;o much as &s;ay, God cannot be named, except we could name God by &s;ome name; we could not &s;ay, God hath no name, except God had a name; for that ve|ry word, <HI>God,</HI> is his name. God calls upon us often in the Scriptures, <HI>To call upon his Name;</HI> and in the Scriptures, he hath manife&s;ted to us divers names, by which we may call upon him. Doe&s;t thou know what name to call him by, when thou calle&s;t him to beare fal&s;e witne&s;&s;e, to averre a fal&s;hood? Hath God a name to &s;weare by? Doe&s;t thou know what name to call him by, when thou woulde&s;t make him thy &s;ervant, thy in&s;tru|ment, thy executioner, to plague others, upon thy bitter cur&s;es and imprecations? Hath God a name to cur&s;e by? Can&s;t thou wound his body, exhau&s;t his bloud, teare off his fle&s;h, breake his bones, excruciate his &s;oule; and all this by his right name? Hath God a name to bla&s;pheme by? and hath God no name to pray by? is he &s;uch a &s;tranger to thee? Do&s;t thou know every faire hou&s;e in thy way, as thou travelle&s;t, who&s;e that is; and do&s;t thou not know, in who&s;e hou&s;e thou &s;tande&s;t now?</P>
<P>Beloved, to know God by name, and to come to him by name, is to con&s;ider his par|ticular ble&s;&s;ings to thee; to con&s;ider him in his power, and how he hath protected thee there; and in his wi&s;edome, and how he hath directed thee there; and in his love, and how he hath affected thee there; and expre&s;t all, in particular mercies. He is but a darke, but a narrow, a &s;hallow, a lazy man in nature, that knows no more, but that there is a
<PB N="502" REF="269">heaven, and an earth, and a &s;ea; He that will be of u&s;e in this world, comes to know the influences of the heavens, the vertue of the plants, and mines of the earth, the cour&s;e and divi&s;ions of the Sea. To the naturall man, God gives generall notions of him&s;elfe; a God that &s;preads over all as the heavens; a God that &s;u&s;taines all as the earth; a God that tran&s;ports, and communicates all to all as the &s;ea: But to the Chri&s;tian Church, God applies him&s;elfe in more particular notions; as a Father, as a Son, as a holy Gho&s;t; And to every Chri&s;tian &s;oule, as a Creator, a Redeemer, a Benefactor; that I may &s;ay, This I was not born to, and yet this I have from my God; this a potent adver&s;ary &s;ought to evict from me, but this I have recovered by my God; &s;ickne&s;&s;e had enfeebled my bo|dy, but I have a convale&s;cence; calumnie had defamed my reputation, but I have a re|paration; malice in other men, or improvidence in my &s;elfe, had ruined my fortune, but I have a redintegration from my God. And then by the&s;e, which are indeed but <HI>Cog|nomina Dei,</HI> his &s;ir-names, names of di&s;tinction, names of the exerci&s;e of &s;ome particular properties, and attributes of his, to come to the root of all, to my very Being, that my pre&s;ent Being in this world, and my eternall Being in the next, is made knowne to me by his name of <HI>Iehovah,</HI> which is his E&s;&s;entiall name, to which <HI>David</HI> had recour&s;e in this exinanition; when his affliction had even annihilated, and brought him to nothing, he fled to <HI>Iehovah,</HI> the God of all Being, which is the foundation of all his other Attri|butes, and includes all his other names, and is our next and la&s;t branch in this fir&s;t Part.</P>
<P>This name then of <HI>Iehovah</HI> that is here tran&s;lated <HI>Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iehovah.</NOTE> is agreed by all to be the greate&s;t name by which God hath declared and manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to man. This is that name which the Jews fal&s;ly, but peremptorily, (for fal&s;hood lives by peremptori|ne&s;&s;e, and feeds and armes it &s;elfe with peremptorine&s;&s;e) deny ever to have been attribu|ted to the <HI>Me&s;sias,</HI> in the Scriptures. This is that name, in the vertue and u&s;e whereof, tho&s;e Calumniators of our Saviours miracles doe &s;ay, that he did his miracles, accor|ding to a direction, and &s;chedule, for the true and right pronouncing of that name, which <HI>Solomon</HI> in his time had made, and Chri&s;t in his time had found, and by which, &s;ay they, any other man might have done tho&s;e miracles, if he had had <HI>Solomons</HI> directions for the right &s;ounding of this name, <HI>Iehovah.</HI> This is that name, which out of a &s;uper&s;titious re|verence the Jews alwayes forbore to found, or utter, but ever pronounced &s;ome other name, either <HI>Adonai,</HI> or <HI>Elohim,</HI> in the place thereof, where&s;oever they found <HI>Iehovah.</HI> But now their Rabbins will not &s;o much as write that name, but &s;till expre&s;&s;e it in foure other letters. So that they dare not, not onely not &s;ound it, not &s;ay it, but not &s;ee it.</P>
<P>How this name which we call <HI>Iehovah,</HI> is truly to be &s;ounded, becau&s;e in that language it is expre&s;t in foure Con&s;onants onely, without Vowels, is a perplext que&s;tion; we may well be content to be ignorant therein, &s;ince our Saviour Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, in all tho&s;e places which he cited out of the Old Te&s;tament, never &s;ounded it; he never &s;aid, <HI>Iehovah.</HI> Nor the Apo&s;tles after him, nor <HI>Origen,</HI> nor <HI>Ierome;</HI> all per&s;ons very intelligent in the propriety of language; they never &s;ounded this name <HI>Iehovah.</HI> For though in S. <HI>Ieromes</HI> Expo&s;ition upon the 8. P&s;alme, we finde that word <HI>Iehovah,</HI> in &s;ome Editions which we have now, yet it is a cleare ca&s;e, that in the old Copies it is not &s;o; in <HI>Ieroms</HI> mouth it was not &s;o; from <HI>Ieroms</HI> hand it came not &s;o. Neither doth it appeare to me, that ever the name of <HI>Iehovah</HI> was &s;o pronounced, till &s;o late, as in our Fathers time; for I think <HI>Petrus Gallatinus</HI> was the fir&s;t that ever called it &s;o. But how&s;oever this name be to be &s;ounded, that which falls in our con&s;ideration at this time, is, That <HI>David</HI> in his di&s;tre&s;&s;es fled pre&s;ently to God, and to God by name, that is, in con&s;ideration and commemoration of his particular ble&s;&s;ings; and to a God that had that name, the name of <HI>Iehovah,</HI> the name of E&s;&s;ence, and Being, which name carryed a confe&s;&s;ion, that all our wel-being, and the very fir&s;t being it &s;elfe, was, and was to be derived from him.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> therefore comes to God <HI>In nomine totali; in nomine integrali;</HI> He con&s;iders God totally, entirely, altogether; Not altogether, that is, confu&s;edly; but altogether, that is, in &s;uch a Name as comprehends all his Attributes, all his Power upon the world, and all his benefits upon him. The Gentiles were not able to con&s;ider God &s;o; not &s;o entirely, not altogether; but broke God in pieces, and changed God into &s;ingle money, and made a fragmentarie God of every Power, and Attribute in God, of every ble&s;&s;ing from God, nay of every malediction, and judgement of God. A clap of thunder made a <HI>Iupiter,</HI> a tempe&s;t at &s;ea made a <HI>Neptune,</HI> an earthquake made a <HI>Pluto; Feare</HI> came to be a God, and a <HI>Fever</HI> came to be a God; Every thing that they were in love with, or afraid of, came
<PB N="503" REF="269">to be canonized, and made a God among&s;t them. <HI>David</HI> con&s;idered God as a center, into which &amp; from which all lines flowed. Neither as the Gentiles did, nor as &s;ome ignorants of the Roman Church do, that there mu&s;t be a &s;tormie god, S. <HI>Nicholas,</HI> and a plaguie god, S. <HI>Rook,</HI> and a &s;heep&s;hearing god, &amp; a &s;wineherd god, a god for every Pari&s;h, a god for eve|ry occupation, God forbid. Acknowledg God to be the Author of thy Being; find him &s;o at the &s;pring-head, &amp; then thou &s;halt ea&s;ily trace him, by the branches, to all that belongs to thy well-being. The Lord of Ho&s;ts, and the God of peace, the God of the moun|taines, and the God of the valleyes, the God of noone, and of midnight, of all times, the God of Ea&s;t &amp; We&s;t, of all places, the God of Princes, and of Subjects, of all per&s;ons, is all one and the &s;ame God; and that which we intend, when we &s;ay <HI>Iehovah,</HI> is all Hee.</P>
<P>And therefore hath S. <HI>Bernard</HI> a patheticall and u&s;efull meditation to this purpo&s;e: Every thing in the world, &s;ayes he, can &s;ay, <HI>Creator meus es tu,</HI> Lord thou ha&s;t made me; All things that have life, and growth, can &s;ay, <HI>Pa&s;tor meus es tu,</HI> Lord thou ha&s;t fed me, increa&s;t me; All men can &s;ay, <HI>Redemptor meus es tu,</HI> Lord I was &s;old to death through originall &s;in, by one <HI>Adam,</HI> and thou ha&s;t redeemed me by another; All that have falne by infirmity, and ri&s;en againe by grace, can &s;ay, <HI>Su&s;ceptor meus es tu,</HI> Lord I was falne, but thou ha&s;t undertaken me, and do&s;t &s;u&s;taine me; But he that comes to God in the name of <HI>Iehovah,</HI> he meanes all this, and all other things, in this one Petition, Let me have a Being, and then I am &s;afe, for <HI>In him we live, and move, and have our Being.</HI> If we &s;olicite God as the Lord of Ho&s;ts, that he would deliver us from our enemies, perchance he may &s;ee it fitter for us to be delivered to our enemies: If we &s;olicite him as Proprie|tarie of all the world, as the bea&s;ts upon a thou&s;and mountaines are his, as all the gold and &s;ilver in the earth is his, perchance he &s;ees that poverty is fitter for us: If we &s;olicite him for health, or long life, he gives life, but he kills too, he heales, but he wounds too; and we may be ignorant which of the&s;e, life or death, &s;ickne&s;&s;e or health, is for our ad|vantage. But &s;olicite him as <HI>Iehovah,</HI> for a Being, that Being which flowes from his pur|po&s;e, that Being which he knowes fitte&s;t for us, and then we follow his owne In&s;tructi|ons, <HI>Fiat voluntas tua,</HI> thy will be done upon us, and we are &s;afe.</P>
<P>Now that which <HI>Iehovah</HI> was to <HI>David, Ie&s;us</HI> is to us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ie&s;us.</NOTE> Man in generall hath relation to God, as he is <HI>Iehovah,</HI> Being; We have relation to Chri&s;t, as he is <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> our Salvation; Sal|vation is our Being, <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> is our <HI>Iehovah.</HI> And therfore as <HI>David</HI> delights him&s;elf with that name <HI>Iehovah,</HI> for he repeats it eight or nine times in this one &s;hort P&s;alm, and though he ask things of a diver&s;e nature at Gods hands, though he &s;uffer afflictions, of a diver&s;e na|ture, from Gods hands, yet &s;till he retains that one name, he &s;peaks to God in no other name in all this P&s;alm but in the name of <HI>Iehovah:</HI> So in the New Te&s;tament, he which may be compared with <HI>David,</HI> becau&s;e he was under great &s;ins, and yet in great favour with God, S. <HI>Paul,</HI> he delights him&s;elf with that name of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> &s;o much, as that S. <HI>Ierome</HI> &s;ays, <HI>Que~ &s;uperflu&egrave; diligebat, extraordinari&egrave; nominavit,</HI> As he loved him exce&s;&s;ively, &s;o he named him &s;uperabundantly. It is the name that co&s;t God mo&s;t, and therefore he loves it be&s;t; it co&s;t him his life to be a <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> a Saviour. The name of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> which is Anointed, he had by office; he was anointed as King, as Prie&s;t, as Prophet. All tho&s;e names which he had in <HI>I&s;aiah, The Coun&s;ellor, The Wonderfull, The Prince of Peace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.</NOTE> and the name of <HI>Iehovah</HI> it &s;elf, which the Jews deny ever to be given to him, and is evidently given to him in that place, Chri&s;t had by nature; But his name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> a Saviour, he had by purcha&s;e, &amp; that purcha&s;e co&s;t him his bloud. And therefore, as <HI>Iacob</HI> preferred his name of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.28.</NOTE> before his former name of <HI>Iacob,</HI> becau&s;e he had that name upon his wra&s;tling with God, and it co&s;t him a lamene&s;&s;e; &s;o is the name of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> &s;o precious to him who bought it &s;o dearly, that not only every knee bows at the name of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> here, but Je&s;us him&s;elf, and the whole Trinity, bow down towards us, to give us all tho&s;e things which we ask in that name. For even of a devout u&s;e of that veryname, do &s;ome of the Fathers interpret that, <HI>Oleu~ effu&s;um Nomen tuu,</HI> That the name of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> &s;hould be &s;pread as an ointment, breathed as perfume, diffu&s;ed as a &s;oul over all the petitions of our prayers; As the Church concludes for the mo&s;t part, all her Collects &s;o, <HI>Grant this O Lord, for our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Ie&s;us &s;ake.</HI> And &s;o much does S. <HI>Paul</HI> abound in the u&s;e of this name, as that he repeats it thrice, in the &s;uper&s;cription of one of his Letters the title of one of his Epi&s;tles, his fir&s;t to <HI>Timothy.</HI> And with the &s;ame devotion, S. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> &s;ayes, even of the name, <HI>Melius e&s;t mihi non e&s;&s;e, qua~ &s;ine Ie&s;u e&s;&s;e,</HI> I were better have no being, then be without Je&s;us; <HI>Melius e&s;t non vivere, quam vivere &s;ine vita,</HI> I were better have no life, then any life without him. For as <HI>Da|vid</HI>
<PB N="504" REF="270">could finde no beeing without <HI>Iehovah,</HI> a Chri&s;tian findes no life without <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> Both the&s;e names imply that which is in this Text, in our Tran&s;lation, <HI>The Lord, Dominus;</HI> to whom only, and intirely we appertaine; his we are. And therefore whether we take <HI>Dominus,</HI> to be <HI>Do minas,</HI> to threaten, to afflict us, or to be <HI>Do manus,</HI> to &s;uccour, and re|lieve us, (as &s;ome have plea&s;ed them&s;elves with tho&s;e obvious derivations) as <HI>David</HI> did &s;till, we mu&s;t make our recour&s;e to him, from whom, as he is <HI>Iehovah,</HI> Beeing, or being our wel-beeing, our eternall beeing, our Creation, Pre&s;ervation, and Salvation is derived; all is from him.</P>
<P>Now when he hath his acce&s;&s;e to the Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to this Lord, the Lord that hath all, and gives all, and is all, the fir&s;t part of <HI>Davids</HI> prayer, and all his prayer which falls into our Text, is but Deprecatory; he does but pray that God would forbeare him. He pretends no error, he enterpri&s;es no Rever&s;ing of Judgement; no at fir&s;t, he dares not &s;ue for par|don; he onely de&s;ires a Reprieve, a re&s;pit of execution, and that not ab&s;olutely neither; but he would not be executed in hot blood; <HI>Ne in ira, ne in furore,</HI> not in Gods anger, not in his hot di&s;plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deprecation.</NOTE> <HI>Deprecari,</HI> is not <HI>Refragari,</HI> to Deprecate, is not to Contend again&s;t a Judge, nor to defend ones &s;elfe again&s;t an Officer, but it is onely in the quality, and in the humi|lity of a Petitioner, and Suppliant, to begge a forbearance. The Martyrs in the Primi|tive Church would not doe that. <HI>Nihil de cau&s;a &s;ua deprecatur, qui nihil de conditione &s;ua miratur,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian;</HI> and in that he de&s;cribes a patience of Steele, and an invincible temper. He meanes that the Chri&s;tians in tho&s;e times of Per&s;ecution, did never intreat the Judge for favour, becau&s;e it was not &s;trange to them, to &s;ee them&s;elves, who&s;e con|ver&s;ation was in heaven, de&s;pi&s;ed, and contemned, and condemned upon earth: <HI>Nihil mirantur de conditione,</HI> They wondred not at their mi&s;ery, they thought it a part of their Profe&s;&s;ion, a part of the Chri&s;tian Religion, to &s;uffer, and therefore, <HI>Nihil deprecati de cau&s;a,</HI> They never &s;olicited the Judge for favour. They had learnt by experience of daily tribulation, the Apo&s;tles Le&s;&s;on, <HI>Think it not &s;trange, when tentations and tribulati|ons fall;</HI> That is, make that your daily bread, and you &s;hall never &s;terve, u&s;e your &s;elves to &s;uffering, at lea&s;t to the expectation, the contemplation of &s;uffering, acquaint your &s;elves with that, accu&s;tome your &s;elves to that before it come, and it will not be a &s;tranger to you when it comes. <HI>Tertullians</HI> Method may be right, and it may work that effect in very great afflictions; a man may be &s;o u&s;ed to them, as that he will not de&s;cend to any low deprecation, or &s;ute to be delivered of them. But <HI>Davids</HI> affliction was &s;pirituall; and how&s;oever, as a naturall man, nay; as a devout and religious man, (for even in recti|fied men there are affections of a middle nature, that participate of nature, and of grace too, and in which the Spirit of God moves, and naturall affections move too; for na|ture and grace doe not &s;o de&s;troy one another, as that we &s;hould conclude, Hee hath &s;trong naturall affections, therefore he hath no grace) <HI>David</HI> I &s;ay, that might ju&s;tly wonder at his own condition, and think it &s;trange, that he that put his tru&s;t &s;o intirely in God, &s;hould &s;o intirely be delivered over to &s;uch afflictions, might al&s;o ju&s;tly deprecate, and boldly &s;ay, <HI>Ne facias,</HI> O Lord deale not thus with thy &s;ervant.</P>
<P>Our Saviour Chri&s;ts <HI>Tran&s;eat calix, Let this cup pa&s;&s;e from me,</HI> was a deprecation in his owne behalfe; And his <HI>Pater dimitte illis, Father, forgivethem, they know not what they doe,</HI> was a deprecation in the behalfe of his enemies; And &s;o was <HI>Stephens, Ne &s;ta|tuas illis, O Lord, lay not this &s;in to their charge,</HI> A deprecation in the behalfe of his Execu|tioners. And the&s;e Deprecations for others, for our &s;elves, are propo&s;ed for our imitati|on. But for <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his <HI>Dele me,</HI> Pardon this people, or blot my name out of thy Booke, and for S. <HI>Pauls Anathema,</HI> rather then his brethren &s;hould not be &s;aved, let him&s;elfe be condemned, for &s;uch Deprecations for others, as were upon the matter, Imprecations upon them&s;elves, tho&s;e may not well be drawne into con&s;equence, or practi&s;e; for in <HI>Mo|&s;es</HI> and S. <HI>Paul</HI> them&s;elves, there was, if not an irregularity, and an inordinatene&s;&s;e, at lea&s;t an incon&s;ideration, not to be imitated by us now, not to be excu&s;ed in them then; but for the Prayer that is meerly deprecatory, though &s;ome have thought it le&s;&s;e lawfull then the po&s;tulatory prayer, becau&s;e when God is come to the act of afflicting us, he hath then revealed, and declared, and manife&s;ted his will to be &s;uch, and again&s;t the revealed and manife&s;ted will of God we may not pray, yet becau&s;e his afflictions are not peremp|tory, but we have ever day to &s;hew cau&s;e, why that affliction &s;hould be taken off, and becau&s;e all his judgements are conditionall, and the condition of every particular judge|ment
<PB N="505" REF="270">is not alwaies revealed to us, and this is alwaies revealed to us, <HI>Mi&s;erationes ejus &s;uper omnia opera ejus,</HI> That his mercy is above all his judgements, therefore we may come to that Deprecation, that God will make his hand lighter upon us, and his corre|ctions ea&s;ier unto us.</P>
<P>As the Saints in heaven have their <HI>V&s;qucquo,</HI> How long Lord, holy and true, before thou begin to execute judgement? So the Saints on earth have their <HI>V&s;quequo,</HI> How long Lord, before thou take off the execution of this judgement upon us? For, our Depre|catory prayers, are not Mandatory, they are not Directory, they appoint not God his waies, nor his times; but as our Po&s;tulatory prayers are, they al&s;o are &s;ubmitted to the will of God, and have all in them, that ingredient, that herb of grace, which Chri&s;t put into his owne prayer, that <HI>Veruntamen, Yet not my will, but thy will be fulfilled;</HI> And they have that ingredient, which Chri&s;t put into our prayer, <HI>Fiat volunt as, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven;</HI> In heaven there is no re&s;i&s;ting of his will; yet in heaven there is a&s;oliciting, a ha&s;tning, an accelerating of the judgement, and the glory of the Re&s;urre|ction; So though we re&s;i&s;t not his corrections here upon earth, we may humbly pre&s;ent to God, the &s;en&s;e which we have of his di&s;plea&s;ure; for this &s;en&s;e, and apprehen&s;ion of his corrections, is one of the principall rea&s;ons, why he &s;ends them; he corrects us therefore, that we might be &s;en&s;ible of his corrections; that when we, being humbled under his hand, have &s;aid with his Prophet, <HI>I will beare the wrath of the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 7.9.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e I have &s;inned again&s;t him,</HI> He may be plea&s;ed to &s;ay to his Correcting Angell, as he did to his De&s;troying Angell, <HI>This is enough,</HI> and &s;o burne his rod now, as he put up his &s;word then.</P>
<P>For though <HI>David</HI> doe, well for him&s;elfe, and well for our example, deprecate the an|ger of God, expre&s;t in tho&s;e Judgements, yet we &s;ee he &s;pends but one ver&s;e of the P&s;alme in that Deprecation. In all the re&s;t he leaves God wholly to his plea&s;ure, how farre he will extend, or aggravate that Judgement; and he turns wholly upon the Po&s;tu|latory part, <HI>That God would have mercy upon him, and &s;ave him, and deliver his &s;oule.</HI> And in that one ver&s;e, hee does not deprecate all afflictions, all corrections. <HI>David</HI> knowes what moves God to correct us; It is not onely our ilne&s;&s;e that moves him; for he corrects us when we are not ill in his &s;ight, but made good by his pardon: But his goodne&s;&s;e, as well as our ilne&s;&s;e, moves him to correct us; If he were not good, not on|ly good in him&s;elfe, but good to us, he would let us alone, and never correct us. But,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 12.1.</NOTE> <HI>Ideo cos qui errant corripis, quia bonus &amp; &s;uavis es Domine,</HI> as the Vulgate reades that place, The Lord corrects us, not onely as he is good, but as he is gentle; he were more cruell, more unmercifull, if he did alwayes &s;hew mercy; That <HI>David</HI> intends, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Propitius fui&s;ti,</HI> Thou wa&s;t a Mercifull God, becau&s;e thou did&s;t puni&s;h all their inventions.</P>
<P>So then, our fir&s;t worke is to con&s;ider, that that in the Prophet, is a promi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 30.11.</NOTE> and hath the nature of a mercy, <HI>I will correct thee in mea&s;ure;</HI> where the promi&s;e does not fall only upon the mea&s;ure, but upon the correction it &s;elfe; and then, &s;ince this is a promi&s;e, a mercy, a part of our daily bread, we may pray as the &s;ame Prophet directs us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 10.24.</NOTE> <HI>O Lord correct me, but with judgement, not in thine anger;</HI> Where al&s;o the petition &s;eems to fall, not onely upon the mea&s;ure, but upon the correction it &s;elfe; and then, when I have found &s;ome correction fit to be prayed for and afforded me by God upon my praier, if that cor|rection at any time grow heavy, or weari&s;ome unto me, I mu&s;t relieve my &s;elf upon that con&s;ideration, <HI>Whether God have &s;mitten me, as he &s;mote them that &s;mote me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 27.7.</NOTE> Whether it be not another manner of execution, which God hath laid upon mine enemies then that which he hath laid upon me, in having &s;uffered them to be &s;mitten with the &s;pirit of &s;in|full glory, and triumph in their &s;in, and my mi&s;ery, and with excecation, and obdurate|ne&s;&s;e, with impenitence, and in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of their owne ca&s;e. Or at lea&s;t, let me con|&s;ider, as it is in the &s;ame place, <HI>Whether I be &s;lain according to the &s;laughter of them that were &s;laine by me;</HI> That is, whether my oppre&s;&s;ion, my extortion, my prevarication have not brought other men to more mi&s;ery, then God hath yet brought me unto. And if we con|&s;ider this, as no doubt <HI>David</HI> did, and finde that correction is one loafe of our daily bread, and finde in our heavie&s;t corrections, that God hath been heavier upon our ene|mies, then upon us, and we heavier upon others, then God upon us too, we &s;hall be content with any <HI>Rebuke,</HI> and any <HI>Cha&s;ti&s;ement,</HI> &s;o it be not <HI>in anger,</HI> and <HI>in hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> which are the words that remaine to be con&s;idered.</P>
<PB N="506" REF="271">
<P>Now the&s;e two phra&s;es, <HI>Argui in furore,</HI> and <HI>Corripi in ira,</HI> which we tran&s;late, <HI>To re|buke inanger,</HI> and <HI>to cha&s;ten in hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> are by &s;ome thought, to &s;ignifie one and the &s;ame thing, that <HI>David</HI> intends the &s;ame thing, and though in divers words, yet words of one and the &s;ame &s;ignification. But with reverence to tho&s;e men, (for &s;ome of them are men to whom much reverence is due) they doe not well agree with one another, nor very con&s;tantly with them&s;elves. S. <HI>Ierome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Furor &amp; ira maxime unum &s;unt,</HI> That this <HI>anger,</HI> and <HI>hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> are meerly, ab&s;olutely, intirely, one and the &s;ame thing, and yet he &s;ayes, that this Anger is executed in this world, and this hot Di&s;plea&s;ure re|&s;erved for the world to come. And this makes a great difference; no waight of Gods whole hand here, can be &s;o heavy, as any finger of his in hell; the highe&s;t exaltation of Gods anger in this world, can have no proportion to the lea&s;t &s;park of that in hell; nor a furnace &s;eaven times heat here, to the embers there. So al&s;o S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> thinks, that the&s;e two words, to <HI>Rebuke,</HI> and to <HI>Cha&s;ten,</HI> doe not differ at all; or if they doe, that the latter is the le&s;&s;er. But this is not likely to be <HI>Davids</HI> method, fir&s;t to make a praier for the greater, and that being granted, to make a &s;econd praier for the le&s;&s;er, included in that which was askt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ayguanus.</NOTE> and granted before. A later man in the Roman Church, allowes the words to differ, and the later to be the heavier, but then he refers both to the next life; that <HI>to Rebuke in anger,</HI> &s;hould be intended of Purgatorie, and of a &s;hort continuance there, and to be <HI>Cha&s;tened in hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> &s;hould be intended of hell, and of everla&s;ting con|demnation there. And &s;o <HI>David</HI> mu&s;t make his fir&s;t petition, <HI>Rebuke me not in thine anger,</HI> to this purpo&s;e, Let me pa&s;&s;e at my death immediately to Heaven, without touching at any fire, and his &s;econd petition, <HI>Cha&s;ten me not in thy hot di&s;plea&s;ure</HI> to this purpo&s;e, If I mu&s;t touch at any fire, let it be but Purgatory, and not Hell.</P>
<P>But by the nature, and propriety, and the u&s;e of all the&s;e words in the Scriptures, it appeares, that the words are of a different &s;ignification, which S. <HI>Ierome</HI> it &s;eemes did not thinke; and that the la&s;t is the heavie&s;t, which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> it &s;eemes did not thinke; and then, that they are to be referred to this life, which <HI>Ayguanus</HI> did not think. For the words them&s;elves, all our three Tran&s;lations retaine the two fir&s;t words, to <HI>Rebuke</HI> and to <HI>Cha|&s;ten;</HI> neither that which we call the <HI>Bi&s;hops Bible,</HI> nor that which we call the <HI>Geneva Bible,</HI> and that which wee may call the <HI>Kings,</HI> depart from tho&s;e two fir&s;t words. But then for the other two, <HI>Anger</HI> and <HI>Hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> in them all three Tran&s;lations differ. The fir&s;t cals them <HI>Indignation</HI> and <HI>Di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> the &s;econd <HI>Anger</HI> and <HI>Wrath,</HI> and the la&s;t <HI>Anger</HI> and <HI>Hot di&s;plea&s;ure.</HI></P>
<P>To begin with the fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rebuke.</NOTE> to be <HI>Rebuked</HI> was but to be chidden, but to be <HI>Cha&s;tened,</HI> was to be beaten; and yet <HI>David</HI> was heartily afraid of the fir&s;t, of the lea&s;t of them, when it was to be done in anger: This word that is here to Rebuke, <HI>Iacach,</HI> is for the mo&s;t part, to Reprove,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.18.</NOTE> to Convince by way of argument, and di&s;putation. So it is in <HI>E&s;ay, Come now, and let us rea&s;on together,</HI> &s;aies God. The naturall man is confident in his Rea&s;on, in his Philo&s;ophy; and yet God is content to joyne in that i&s;&s;ue, If he doe not make it ap|peare, even to your rea&s;on, that he is God, <HI>Chu&s;e whom ye will &s;erve,</HI> as <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> &s;peakes; If he doe not make it appeare, that he is a good God, change him for any other God that your rea&s;on can pre&s;ent to be better.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah 6.2.</NOTE> In <HI>Micah,</HI> the word hath &s;omewhat more vehe|mence; <HI>The Lord hath a quarrell again&s;t his people, and he will plead with I&s;rael.</HI> This is more then a Di&s;putation; it is a Suite. God can maintaine his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion other waies; without Suite; but he will recover us, by matter of Record, openly, and in the face of the Coun|ty; he will put us to a &s;hame, and to an acknowledgement, of having di&s;loially deve&s;ted our Allegeance. Yea, the word hath &s;ometimes &s;omewhat more &s;harpne&s;&s;e then this; for in the book of Proverbs, it comes to Correction, <HI>The Lord correcteth him whom he lo|veth, even as the father doth the child, in whom he delighteth.</HI> Though it be a fatherly cor|rection, yet it is a correction; and that is more then the Rea&s;oning or Di&s;puting, more then the Suing or Impleading.</P>
<P>Now though all this, Di&s;puting, Impleading, Correcting, in S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> interpre|tation, amount but to an In&s;truction, and an Amendment, yet &s;aies he of <HI>David, In ira emendari non vult, erudiri non vult,</HI> He is loath to fall into Gods hands, loath to come in|to Gods fingers at all, when God is angry; he would not be di&s;puted withall, not Im|pleaded, not Corrected, no, not In&s;tructed, not Amended by God in his Anger. The Anger of God is &s;uch a Pedagogie, &s;uch a Catechi&s;me, &s;uch a way of teaching, as the Law was. <HI>Lex paedagogus;</HI> the Law is a Schoolma&s;ter, &s;aies the Apo&s;tle; but <HI>Litera occidi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI>
<PB N="507" REF="271">the Law is &s;uch a Schoolema&s;ter, as brings not a rod, but a &s;word. Gods Anger &s;hould in&s;truct us, but if we u&s;e it not aright, it hardens us. And therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Ki&s;&s;e the Son le&s;t he be angry,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> And what is the danger if he be? that which followes, <HI>Le&s;t yee peri&s;h in the way;</HI> Though his Anger be one of his wayes, yet it is &s;uch a way, as you may ea&s;ily &s;tumble in; and, as you would certainely peri&s;h without that way, &s;o you may ea&s;i|ly peri&s;h in that way. For when a &s;inner con&s;iders him&s;elf to be under the Anger of God, naturally he conceives &s;uch a horror, as puts him farther off. As &s;oone as <HI>Adam</HI> heard the voice of God, and in an accent of Anger, or as he tuned it in his guilty con&s;cience, to an accent of Anger, (for as a malicious man will turne a Sermon to a Satyre, and a Pa|negyricke to a Libel, &s;o a de&s;pairing &s;oule will &s;et Gods comfortable&s;t words, to a&s;ad tune, and force a <HI>Vae</HI> even in Gods <HI>Euge,</HI> and find Anger, and everla&s;ting Anger in every Acce&s;&s;e, in every Action of God) when <HI>Adam</HI> heard God but walking in the Garden, but the noi&s;e of his going, and approaching towards him, (for God had then &s;aid nothing to him, not &s;o much as called him) <HI>Adam</HI> fled from his pre&s;ence and hid him&s;elfe a|mong&s;t the trees. When the guilty man was but &s;poken to, and &s;poken to mildly, by the Ma&s;ter of the Marriage fea&s;t, <HI>Amice quomodo intra&s;ti? Friend how came you in?</HI> we &s;ee he was pre&s;ently <HI>&s;peechle&s;&s;e,</HI> and being &s;o, not able to &s;peake, to come to any confe&s;&s;in, any excu&s;e, he fell farther and farther into di&s;plea&s;ure, till he was bound hand and foote,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 9.12.</NOTE> and ca&s;t irrecoverably away. For <HI>Si repente interroget, quis re&s;pondebit ei?</HI> If God &s;ur|prize a Con&s;cience with a &s;udden que&s;tion, if God deprehend a man in the Act of his &s;in, and while he accompli&s;hes and con&s;ummates that &s;in, &s;ay to his &s;oul, Why do&s;t thou this, upon which mine anger hangs? there God &s;peaks to that &s;inner, but he confounds him with the que&s;tion; It is not a leading Intergatorie, it gives him no light to an&s;wer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.14.</NOTE> till Gods anger be out of his contemplation, he cannot &s;o much as &s;ay <HI>Domine vim pati|or, re&s;ponde pro me,</HI> O Lord I am oppre&s;&s;ed, doe thou an&s;wer for me; do thou &s;ay to thy &s;elfe for me, <HI>My Spirit &s;hall not alwaies &s;trive with man, becau&s;e he is but fle&s;h.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.3.</NOTE> If the Lord come in anger, if he &s;peake in Anger, if he doe but looke in Anger, a &s;inner peri&s;hes; <HI>A&s;pexit &amp; di&s;&s;olvit Gentes;</HI> He did but looke, and he di&s;&s;olved, he melted the Nations;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 3.6.</NOTE> he powred them out as water upon the du&s;t, and he blew them away as du&s;t into the Sea, <HI>The everla&s;ting mountaines were broken, and the ancient hils did bow.</HI></P>
<P>It is not then the di&s;puting, not the impleading, not the correcting, which this word <HI>Iacach</HI> imports, that <HI>David</HI> declines, or deprecates here, but that Anger, which might change the nature of all, and make all the Phy&s;ick poi&s;on, all that was intended for our mollifying, to advance our obduration. For when there was no anger in the ca&s;e, <HI>David</HI> is a forward Scholar, to hearken to Gods Rea&s;oning, and Di&s;puting, and a tractable Client, and ea&s;ie Defendant, to an&s;wer to Gods Suite, and Impleading,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 26.1.</NOTE> and an ob&s;equi|ous Patient, to take any Phy&s;ick at his hands, if there were no Anger in the cup. <HI>Vre renes &amp; cor meum,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David,</HI> he provokes God with all tho&s;e emphaticall words, <HI>Iudge me, Prove me, Trie me, Examine me,</HI> and more, <HI>Vre renes,</HI> bring not onely a candle to &s;earch, but even fire, to melt me; But upon what confidence all this? <HI>For thy loving kindne&s;&s;e is ever before mine eyes.</HI> If Gods Anger, and not his loving kindne&s;&s;e had beene before his eyes, it had beene a fearfull apparition, and a dangerous i&s;&s;ue to have gone upon. So al&s;o he &s;urrenders him&s;elfe entirely to God in another P&s;alme,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.23.</NOTE> <HI>Trie me O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts, and con&s;ider, if there be any way of wickedne&s;&s;e in me.</HI> But how concludes he? <HI>And lead me in the right way for ever.</HI> As long as I have God by the hand, and feele his loving care of me, I can admit any waight of his hand; any for|nace of his heating. Let God mould me, and then melt me againe, let God make mee, and then breake me againe, as long as he e&s;tabli&s;hes and maintaines a rectified a&s;&s;urance in my &s;oule, that at la&s;t he meanes to make me a Ve&s;&s;ell of honour, to his Glory, how|&s;oever he Rebuke or Cha&s;ti&s;e me, yet he will not <HI>Rebuke me in Anger,</HI> much le&s;&s;e <HI>Cha|&s;ten me in hot Di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> which is the la&s;t, and the heavie&s;t thing, that <HI>David</HI> deprecates in this Prayer.</P>
<P>Both the&s;e words, which we tran&s;late to <HI>Cha&s;ten,</HI> and <HI>Hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> are words of a heavie, and of a vehement &s;ignification. They extend both, to expre&s;&s;e the eternity of Gods indignation, even to the binding of the &s;oule and bodie in eternall chaines of dark|ne&s;&s;e. For the fir&s;t, <HI>Ia&s;ar,</HI> &s;ignifies oftentimes in the Scriptures, <HI>Vincire,</HI> to binde, often with ropes, often with chaines; to fetter, or manacle, or pinion men, that are to be exe|cuted; &s;o that it imports a &s;laverie, a bondage all the way, and a de&s;truction at la&s;t. And
<PB N="508" REF="272">&s;o the word is u&s;ed by <HI>Rehoboam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Reg. 12.11.</NOTE> <HI>My Father cha&s;ti&s;ed you with whips, but I will cha&s;ti&s;e you with Scorpions.</HI> And then, the other word, <HI>Camath,</HI> doth not onely &s;ignifie <HI>Hot di&s;|plea&s;ure,</HI> but that effect of <HI>Gods hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> which is intended by the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay, Therefore hath he powred forth his fieree wrath,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 42. ult.</NOTE> <HI>and the &s;trength of battel, and that &s;et him on fire round about, and he knew it not, and it burnt him up, and he con&s;idered it not;</HI> The&s;e be the fearfully conditions of Gods hot di&s;plea&s;ure, to be in a fornace, and not to feele it; to be in a habit of &s;in, and not know what leads us into temptation; to be burnt to a&s;hes, and &s;o not onely without all moi&s;ture, all holy teares, but, as a&s;hes, without any po&s;&s;ibility, that any good thing can grow in us. And yet this word, <HI>Camath,</HI> hath a heavier &s;ignifica|tion then this; for it &s;ignifies Poi&s;on it &s;elfe, De&s;truction it &s;elfe, for &s;o is it twice taken in one ver&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 58.4.</NOTE> <HI>Their poi&s;on is like the poi&s;on of a Serpent;</HI> &s;o that this <HI>Hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> is that poi&s;on of the &s;oule, obduration here, and that extention of this obduration, a finall im|penitence in this life, and an infinite impenitiblene&s;&s;e in the next, to dye without any actuall penitence here, and live without all po&s;&s;ibility of future penitence for ever here|after.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> therefore fore&s;ees, that if God <HI>Rebuke in anger,</HI> it will come to a <HI>Cha&s;tening in hot di&s;plea&s;ure.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2.25.</NOTE> For what &s;hould &s;top him? For, <HI>If a man &s;inne again&s;t the Lord, who will plead for him?</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Eli; Plead thou my cau&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> It is onely the Lord, that can be of coun&s;ell with him, and plead for him; and that Lord, is both the Judge, and angry too. So <HI>Davids</HI> prayer hath this force, <HI>Rebuke me not in anger,</HI> for though I were able to &s;tand under that, yet thou wilt al&s;o <HI>Cha&s;ten mee in thine hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> and that no &s;oule can beare; for as long as Gods anger la&s;ts, &s;o long he is going on towards our utter de|&s;truction. In that State, (it is not a State) in that Exinanition, in that annihilation of the &s;oule, (it is not an annihilation, the &s;oule is not &s;o happy as to come to nothing) but in that mi&s;ery, which can no more receive a name, then an end, all Gods corrections are borne with grudging, with murmuring, with comparing our righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e with others righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 7.20.</NOTE> In <HI>Iobs</HI> impatience, <HI>Quare po&s;ui&s;ti me contrarium tibi? Why ha&s;t thou &s;et me up as a marke again&s;t thee, O Thou pre&s;erver of men?</HI> Thou that pre&s;erve&s;t other men, <HI>ha&s;t bent thy bow,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I. am. 3.12.</NOTE> <HI>and made me a mark for thine arrowes,</HI> &s;ayes the Lamentation: In that &s;tate we cannot cry to him, that he might an&s;wer us; If we doe cry, and he an&s;wer, we can|not heare;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.16.</NOTE> if we doe heare, we cannot beleeve that it is he. <HI>Cum invocantem exaudierit,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Iob, If I cry, and he an&s;wer, yet I doe not beleeve that he heard my voyce.</HI> We had rather peri&s;h utterly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 23.</NOTE> then &s;tay his lei&s;ure in recovering us. <HI>Si flagellat, occidat &s;emel,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Iob</HI> in the Vulgat, <HI>If God have a minde to de&s;troy me, let him doe it at one blow; Et non de poenis rideat, Let him not &s;port him&s;elfe with my mi&s;ery.</HI> What&s;oever come after, we would be content to be out of this world, &s;o we might but change our torment, whether it be a temporall calamity that oppre&s;&s;es our &s;tate or body, or a &s;pirituall burthen, a perplexity that &s;inks our under&s;tanding, or a guiltine&s;&s;e that depre&s;&s;es our con&s;cience. <HI>Vt in inferno protegas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14.13.</NOTE> as <HI>Iob</HI> al&s;o &s;peaks, <HI>O that thou woulde&s;t hide me, In inferno, In the grave,</HI> &s;ayes the afflicted &s;oule, but <HI>in Inferno, In hell</HI> it &s;elfe, &s;ayes the di&s;pairing &s;oule, rather then keepe me in this torment, in this world!</P>
<P>This is the mi&s;erable condition, or danger, that <HI>David</HI> abhors, and deprecates in this Text, <HI>To be rebuked in anger,</HI> without any purpo&s;e in God to amend him; and <HI>to be cha&s;tned in his hot di&s;plea&s;ure;</HI> &s;o, as that we can finde no intere&s;t in the gracious promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel, no conditions, no power of revocation in the &s;evere threatnings of the Law; no difference between tho&s;e torments which have attached us here, and the everla&s;ting tor|ments of Hell it &s;elfe. That we have lo&s;t all our joy in this life, and all our hope of the next; That we would faine die, though it were by our own hands, and though that death doe but unlock us a doore, to pa&s;&s;e from one Hell into another. This is <HI>Ira tua Domine, &amp; faror tuus, Thy anger, O Lord,</HI> and, <HI>Thy hot di&s;plea&s;ure.</HI> For as long as it is but <HI>Ira pa|tris,</HI> the anger of my Father, which hath di&s;-inherited me, Gold is thine, and &s;ilver is thine, and thou can&s;t provide me. As long as it is but <HI>Ira Regis,</HI> &s;ome mi&s;-information to the King, &s;ome mi&s;-apprehen&s;ion in the King, <HI>Cor Regis in manu tua, The Kings heart is in thy hand,</HI> and thou can&s;t rectifie it againe. As long as it is but <HI>Furor febris,</HI> The rage and di&s;temper of a pe&s;tilent Fever, or <HI>Furor furoris,</HI> The rage of madne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, thou wilt con&s;ider me, and accept me, and reckon with me according to tho&s;e better times, before tho&s;e di&s;tempers overtooke me, and overthrew me. But when it comes to be <HI>Ira tua, furor tuus, Thy anger,</HI> and, <HI>Thy di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> as <HI>David</HI> did, &s;o let every Chri&s;tian finde com|fort,
<PB N="509" REF="272" MS="y">if he be able to &s;ay faithfully this Ver&s;e, this Text, <HI>O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither cha&s;ten me in thy hot di&s;plea&s;ure;</HI> for as long as he can pray again&s;t it, he is not yet &s;o fallen under it, but that he hath yet his part in all Gods ble&s;&s;ings, which we &s;hed upon the Congregation in our Sermons, and which we &s;eale to every &s;oule in the Sacrament of Reconcilation.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="51" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LI. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 6.2, 3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weake; O Lord, heale me, for my bones are vexed: My &s;oule is al&s;o &s;ore vexed; But thou, O Lord, how long?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis whole P&s;alme is prayer; And the whole prayer is either Deprecato|ry, as in the fir&s;t ver&s;e, or Po&s;tulatory. Something <HI>David</HI> would have forborne, and &s;omething done. And in that Po&s;tulatory part of <HI>Davids</HI> prayer, which goes through &s;ix ver&s;es of this P&s;alme, we con&s;ider the Pe|titions, and the Inducements; What <HI>David</HI> asks, And why: of both which, there are &s;ome mingled, in the&s;e two ver&s;es, which con&s;titute our Text. And therefore, in them, we &s;hall nece&s;&s;arily take knowledge of &s;ome of the Petitions, and &s;ome of the Rea&s;ons. For, in the Prayer, there are five petitions; Fir&s;t, <HI>Mi&s;erere, Have mercy upon me,</HI> Thinke of me, looke graciou&s;ly towards me, prevent me with thy mercy; And then <HI>Sana me, O Lord, heale me,</HI> Thou did&s;t create me in health, but my parents begot me in &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and I have complicated other &s;ickne&s;&s;es with that, Actuall with Originall &s;in, O Lord, heale me, give me phy&s;ick for them; And thirdly, <HI>Convertere, Returne, O Lord,</HI> Thou did&s;t vi&s;it me in nature, returne in grace, Thou did&s;t vi&s;it me in Bapti&s;me, returne in the other Sacrament, Thou doe&s;t vi&s;it me now, returne at the houre of my death; And, in a fourth petition, <HI>Eripe, O Lord, deliver my &s;oule,</HI> Every ble&s;&s;ing of thine becau&s;e a &s;nare unto me, and thy benefits I make occa&s;ions of &s;inne, In all conver&s;ation, and even in my &s;olitude, I admit &s;uch tentations from others, or I produce &s;uch tentations in my &s;elfe, as that, when&s;oever thou art plea&s;ed to returne to me, thou finde&s;t me at the brinke of &s;ome &s;inne, and therefore <HI>Eripe me,</HI> O Lord, take hold of me, and deliver me; And la&s;tly, <HI>Salvum me fac, O Lord, &s;ave me,</HI> Manife&s;t thy good purpo&s;e upon me &s;o, that I may never be &s;haken, or never overthrown in the faithfull hope of that &s;alvation, which thou ha&s;t preordained for me. The&s;e are the five petitions of the Prayer, and two of the five, The <HI>Mi&s;erere, Have mercy upon me,</HI> and the <HI>Sana, O Lord, heale me,</HI> are in the&s;e two ver&s;es. And then, the Rea&s;ons of the prayer, ari&s;ing partly out of him&s;elfe, and partly out of God; and &s;ome being mixt, and growing out of both roots together, &s;ome of the Rea|&s;ons of the fir&s;t nature, that is, of tho&s;e that ari&s;e out of him&s;elfe, are al&s;o in this Text.</P>
<P>Therefore in this Text, we &s;hall con&s;ider, fir&s;t the extent of tho&s;e two petitions that are in it, <HI>Quid mi&s;erere,</HI> what <HI>David</HI> intends by this prayer, <HI>Have mercy upon me,</HI> And then, <HI>Quid &s;ana me,</HI> what he intends by that, <HI>O Lord, heale me.</HI> And &s;econdly, we &s;hall con&s;ider the &s;trength of tho&s;e Rea&s;ons, which are in our text, <HI>Quia infirmus,</HI> why God &s;hould be moved to mercy with that, Becau&s;e <HI>David</HI> was weake, And then <HI>Quia turbata o&s;&s;a,</HI> why, Becau&s;e his bones were vexed; And againe, <HI>Quia turbata anima valde,</HI> Be|cau&s;e his &s;oule was &s;ore vexed. And in a third Con&s;ideration, we &s;hall al&s;o &s;ee, that for all our petitions, for mercy, and for &s;pirituall health, and for all our Rea&s;ons, weakne&s;&s;e, vexation of bones, And &s;ore vexation of the &s;oule it &s;elfe, God doth not alwayes come to a &s;peedy remedy, but puts us to our <HI>V&s;quequ&ograve;, But thou, O Lord, how long? How long wilt thou delay?</HI> And then la&s;tly, That how long &s;oever that be, yet we are &s;till to attend his time, &s;till to rely upon him; which is intimated in this, That <HI>David</HI> changes not his Ma&s;ter, but &s;till applies him&s;elfe to the Lord; with that Name, that he begun with in
<PB N="510" REF="273">the fir&s;t ver&s;e, he proceeds; and thrice in the&s;e few words he calls upon him by this name of E&s;&s;ence, <HI>Iehova, O Lord have mercy upon me, O Lord heale me, O Lord how long wilt thou delay?</HI> He is not weary of attending the Lord, he is not inclinable to turn upon any other then the Lord; <HI>Have mercy upon me O Lord, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then in our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Quid mi&s;e|reri.</NOTE> that part of <HI>Davids</HI> po&s;tulatory prayer in this Text, <HI>Have mercy upon me,</HI> This mercy that <HI>David</HI> begs here, is not that mercy of God which is above all his works; for tho&s;e works which follow it, are above it; <HI>To heale him,</HI> in this Text, <HI>To returne to him, To deliver his &s;oule, To &s;ave him,</HI> in the next ver&s;es, are greater works then this, which he calls here in that generall name of Mercy. For this word <HI>Chanan</HI> u&s;ed in this place, is not <HI>Dele iniquitates,</HI> Have mercy upon me &s;o, as to blot out all mine ini|quities; It is not <HI>Dimitte debita,</HI> Have mercy upon me &s;o, as to forgive all my &s;ins; but it is onely <HI>Des mihi gratiam,</HI> Lord &s;hed &s;ome drops of grace upon me, or as <HI>Tremellius</HI> hath it, <HI>Gratio&s;us &s;is mihi,</HI> Be a gracious Lord unto me. For this word is u&s;ed, where <HI>Noah</HI> is &s;aid <HI>to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.8.</NOTE> which grace was, that God had provi|ded for his bodily pre&s;ervation in the Arke. And this word is u&s;ed, not onely of God towards men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102.14.</NOTE> but al&s;o of men towards God; when they expre&s;&s;e their zeale towards Gods hou&s;e, and the compa&s;&s;ion, and holy indignation which they had of the ruines thereof, they expre&s;&s;e it in this word, <HI>Thy &s;ervants delight in the &s;tones of Sion, &amp; mi&s;erti &s;unt pulveris ejus, They had mercy, they had compa&s;sion upon the du&s;t and rubbi&s;h thereof.</HI> So that here this <HI>Mi&s;erere mei,</HI> which is the fir&s;t grone of a &s;ick &s;oule, the fir&s;t glance of the &s;oule directed towards God, imports onely this, Lord turne thy countenance towards me, Lord bring me to a &s;en&s;e that thou art turned towards me, Lord bring me within &s;uch a di&s;tance, as my &s;oule may feele warmth and comfort in the ri&s;ing of that Sunne; <HI>Mi&s;erere mei,</HI> Look graciou&s;ly upon me.</P>
<P>At the fir&s;t meeting of <HI>I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Rebecca,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 24.63.</NOTE> he was gone out to meditate in the fields, and &s;he came riding that way, with his fathers man, who was imployed in making that ma|riage; and when upon asking &s;he knew that it was he who was to be her husband, <HI>&s;he tooke a vaile and covered her face,</HI> &s;ayes that &s;tory. What freedome, and nearne&s;&s;e &s;oever they were to come to after, yet there was a mode&s;ty, and a ba&s;hfulne&s;&s;e, and a re&s;erved|ne&s;&s;e required before; and her fir&s;t kindne&s;&s;e &s;hould be but to be &s;een. A man would be glad of a good countenance from her that &s;hall be his, before he asked her whether &s;hee will be his or no; A man would be glad of a good countenance from his Prince, before he intend to pre&s;&s;e him with any particular &s;uit: And a &s;inner may be come to this <HI>Mi|&s;erere mei Domine,</HI> to de&s;ire that the Lord would think upon him, that the Lord would look graciou&s;ly towards him, that the Lord would refre&s;h him with the beams of his fa|vour, before he have dige&s;ted his devotion into a formall prayer, or entred into a particu|lar con&s;ideration, what his nece&s;&s;ities are.</P>
<P>Upon tho&s;e words of the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 2.1. Bern. De 4. modis orandi.</NOTE> <HI>I exhort you that &s;upplications, and prayers, and In|terce&s;sions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,</HI> S. <HI>Bernard</HI> makes certaine gradations, and &s;teps, and a&s;cen&s;ions of the &s;oule in prayer, and intimates thus much, That by the grace of Gods Spirit inanimating and quickning him, (without which grace he can have no motion at all) a &s;inner may come <HI>Ad &s;upplicationes,</HI> which is S. <HI>Pauls</HI> fir&s;t &s;tep, To &s;up|plications, which are <HI>&agrave; &s;uppliciis,</HI> That out of a &s;en&s;e of &s;ome Judgement, &s;ome puni&s;h|ment, he may make his recour&s;e to God; And then, by a farther growth in that grace, he may come <HI>Adorationes,</HI> which are <HI>Oris rationes,</HI> The particular expre&s;&s;ing of his nece&s;|&s;ities, with his mouth; and a faithfull a&s;&s;urance of obtaining them, in his prayer; And after, he may come farther, <HI>Ad Interce&s;siones,</HI> to an Interce&s;&s;ion, to &s;uch an intere&s;t in Gods favour, as that he dur&s;t put him&s;elfe betwixt God and other men, as <HI>Abraham</HI> in the behalfe of Sodome, to intercede for them, with a holy confidence that God would doe good to them, for his &s;ake; And to a farther &s;tep then the&s;e, which the Apo|&s;tle may intend in that la&s;t, <HI>Ad gratiarum actiones,</HI> to a continuall Thank&s;giving, That by rea&s;on of Gods benefits multiplyed upon him, he finde nothing to aske, but his Thank&s;|givings, and his acknowledgements, for former ble&s;&s;ings, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e and fill all his pray|ers; Though he be growne up to this &s;trength of devotion, To Supplications, to Pray|ers, to Interce&s;&s;ions, to Thank&s;givings, yet, &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> at fir&s;t, when he comes fir&s;t to deprehend him&s;elfe in a particular &s;in, or in a cour&s;e of &s;in, he comes <HI>Verecunde affectu,</HI> Ba&s;hfully, &s;hamefa&s;tly, tremblingly; he knows not what to aske, he dares ask no particular thing at Gods hand; But though he be not come yet, to particular reque&s;ts,
<PB N="511" REF="273">for pardon of pa&s;t &s;ins, nor for &s;trength again&s;t future, not to a particular con&s;ideration of the waight of his &s;ins, nor to a compari&s;on betwixt his &s;in, and the mercy of God, yet he comes to a <HI>Mi&s;erere mei Domine,</HI> To a &s;udden ejaculation, O Lord be mercifull unto me, how dare I doe this in the &s;ight of my God?</P>
<P>It is much &s;uch an affection as is &s;ometimes in a Felon taken in the manner, or in a condemned per&s;on brought to execution: One de&s;ires the Ju&s;tice to be good to him, and yet he &s;ees not how he can Baile him; the other de&s;ires the Sherife to be good to him, and yet he knowes he mu&s;t doe his Office. A &s;inner de&s;ires God to have mercy upon him, and yet he hath not de&s;cended to particular con&s;iderations requi&s;ite in that bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e. But yet this &s;pirituall Malefactor is in better ca&s;e, then the temporall are; They de&s;ire them to be good to them, who can doe them no good; but God is &s;till able, and &s;till ready to reprieve them, and to put off the execution of his Judgements, which exe|cution were to take them out of this world under the guiltine&s;&s;e, and condemnation of unrepented &s;ins. And therefore, as S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>In &s;cala, prima a&s;cen&s;io e&s;t ab humo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;al.</NOTE> He that makes but one &s;tep up a &s;taire, though he be not got much nearer to the top of the hou&s;e, yet he is got from the ground, and delivered from the foulne&s;&s;e, and dampne&s;&s;e of that; &s;o in this fir&s;t &s;tep of prayer, <HI>Mi&s;crere mei,</HI> O Lord be mercifull unto me, though a man be not e&s;tabli&s;hed in heaven, yet he is &s;tept from the world, and the mi&s;erable com|forters thereof; <HI>He that committeth &s;in, is of the Devill:</HI> Yea, he is of him, in a direct line,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 3.8.</NOTE> and in the neare&s;t degree; he is the Off-&s;pring, the &s;on of the Devill;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 8.44.</NOTE> <HI>Ex patre ve&s;tro e&s;tis,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>You are of your father the Devill.</HI></P>
<P>Now, <HI>Qui &s;e &agrave; maligni patris affinitate &s;ubmoverit,</HI> He that withdraws him&s;elf from &s;uch a Fathers hou&s;e, though he be not pre&s;ently come to meanes to live of him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> <HI>Quam fe|liciter patre &s;uo orbatus!</HI> How ble&s;&s;ed, how happy an Orphan is he become! How much better &s;hall he finde it, to be fatherle&s;&s;e in re&s;pect of &s;uch a father, then ma&s;terle&s;&s;e in re|&s;pect of &s;uch a Lord, as he turnes towards in this fir&s;t ejaculation, and generall applica|tion of the &s;oule, <HI>Mi&s;erere mei, Have mercy upon me, O Lord,</HI> &s;o much mercy, as to looke graciou&s;ly towards me! And therefore, as it was, by infinite degrees, a greater work, to make earth of nothing, then to make the be&s;t creatures of earth; So in the regeneration of a &s;inner, when he is to be made up a new creature, his fir&s;t beginning, his fir&s;t applica|tion of him&s;elfe to God, is the harde&s;t matter. But though he come not pre&s;ently to looke God fully in the face, nor conceive not pre&s;ently an a&s;&s;urance of an e&s;ta|bli&s;hed reconciliation, a fulne&s;&s;e of pardon, a cancelling of all former debts, in an in&s;tant, Though hee dare not come to touch God, and lay hold of him&s;elfe, by receiving his Body and Blood in the Sacrament, yet the Euangeli&s;t calls thee to a contemplation of much comfort to thy &s;oule, in certaine preparatory acce&s;&s;es, and ap|proaches. <HI>Behold,</HI> &s;ayes he; that is, Look up, and con&s;ider thy patterne: <HI>Behold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.20.</NOTE> <HI>a wo|man di&s;ea&s;ed came behinde Chri&s;t, and touched the hem of his garment; for &s;he &s;aid in her &s;elf, If I may but touch the hem of his garment onely, I &s;hall be whole.</HI> She knew there was ver|tue to come out of his Body, and &s;he came as neare that, as &s;he dur&s;t: &s;he had a de&s;ire to &s;peake; but &s;he went no farther, but to &s;peak to her &s;elfe; <HI>&s;he &s;aid to her &s;elfe,</HI> &s;ayes that Go&s;pel, <HI>if I may but touch, &amp;c.</HI> But Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;upplied all, performed all on his part, abundantly. <HI>Pre&s;ently he turned about,</HI> &s;ayes the Text: And this was not a tran&s;itory glance, but a full &s;ight, and exhibiting of him&s;elfe to the fruition of her eye, that &s;he might &s;ee him. <HI>He &s;aw her,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Matthew:</HI> Her; he did not direct him&s;elfe upon others, and leave out her; And then, hee &s;pake to her, to overcome her ba&s;hfulne&s;&s;e; he called her <HI>Daughter,</HI> to overcome her diffidence; He bids her <HI>be of comfort,</HI> for &s;he had met a more powerfull Phy&s;itian, then tho&s;e, upon whom &s;he had &s;pent her time, and her e&s;tate; one that could cure her; one that would; one that had already; for &s;o he &s;ayes pre&s;ently, <HI>Thy faith hath made thee whole.</HI> From how little a &s;park, how great a fire? From how little a beginning, how great a proceeding? She de&s;ired but the hem of his garment, and had all him.</P>
<P>Beloved in him, his power, and his goodne&s;&s;e ended not in her;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 14.36.</NOTE> <HI>All that were &s;ick were brought, that they might but touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched it, were made whole.</HI> It was farre from a perfect faith, that made them whole; To have a de&s;ire to touch his garment, &s;eemes not, was not much: Neither was that de&s;ire that was, al|wayes in them&s;elves, but in them that brought them. But yet, come thou &s;o farre: Come, or be content to be brought, to be brought by example, to be brought by a &s;ta|tute,
<PB N="512" REF="274">to be brought by curio&s;ity, come any way to touch the hem of his garment, yea the hem of his &s;ervant, of <HI>Aarons</HI> garment, and thou &s;halt participate of the &s;weet oint|ment, which flowes from the head to the hem of the garment. Come to the hou&s;e of God, his Church; Joyne with the Congregation of the Saints; Love the body, and love the garments too, that is, The Order, the Di&s;cipline, the Decency, the Unity of the Church; Love even the hem of the garment, that that almo&s;t touches the ground; that is, Such Ceremonies, as had a good u&s;e in their fir&s;t in&s;titution, for rai&s;ing devo|tion, and are freed and purged from that &s;uper&s;tition, which, as a ru&s;t, was growne upon them, though they may &s;eeme to touch the earth, that is, to have been induced by earthly men, and not immediate in&s;titutions from God, yet love that hem of that gar|ment, tho&s;e outward a&s;&s;i&s;tances of devotion in the Church.</P>
<P>Bring with thee a di&s;po&s;ition to incorporate thy &s;elfe with Gods people here; and though thou bee&s;t not yet come to a particular con&s;ideration of thy &s;ins, and of the reme|dies, Though that &s;pirit that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es thee, that &s;in that governes thee, lie &s;till a while, and &s;leepe under all the thunders, which wee denounce from this place, &s;o that for a while thou bee&s;t not moved nor affected with all that is &s;aid, yet <HI>Appropinquas, &amp; ne|&s;cis,</HI> (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid, when he came onely out of curio&s;ity to heare S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> preach at Milan) Thou doe&s;t come nearer and nearer to God, though thou di&s;cerne it not, and at one time or other, this ble&s;&s;ed exorci&s;me, this holy Charme, this Ordinance of God, the word of God in the mouth of his &s;ervant, &s;hall provoke and awaken that &s;pirit of &s;ecurity in thee, and thou &s;halt feele him begin to &s;torme, and at fir&s;t that &s;pirit, thy &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 18.</NOTE> will &s;ay to the &s;pirit of the Preacher, <HI>Tune qui conturbas? Art thou he that trouble&s;t I&s;rael?</HI> (as <HI>Ahab</HI> &s;aid to <HI>Eliah</HI>) Art thou he that trouble&s;t the peace of my con&s;cience, and the &s;ecurity of my wayes? And, when the Spirit of God &s;hall &s;earch farther and farther, even <HI>ad occulta,</HI> to thy &s;ecrete&s;t &s;ins, and touch upon them, and that that &s;pirit of di&s;obe|dience,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King 21.20.</NOTE> when he feeles this powerfull Exorci&s;me, &s;hall &s;ay in thee, and cry as <HI>Ahab</HI> al&s;o did, <HI>Inveni&s;ti me? Ha&s;t thou found me, O mine enemy?</HI> God &s;hall an&s;wer, <HI>Inveni te, I have found thee,</HI> and found that thou had&s;t <HI>&s;old thy &s;elfe to worke wickedne&s;&s;e in the &s;ight of the Lord,</HI> And &s;o &s;hall bring thee to a more particular con&s;ideration of thine e&s;tate, and from thy having joyned with the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">2.13.</NOTE> in a <HI>Dominus mi&s;erebitur Sion,</HI> In an a&s;&s;urance, and acknowledgement, <HI>that the Lord will ari&s;e, and have mercy upon Sion,</HI> that is, of his whole Catholique Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 67.1.</NOTE> And then come to a <HI>Dominus mi&s;ereatur no&s;tri, God be mercifull unto us, and ble&s;&s;e us, and cau&s;e his face to &s;hine upon us,</HI> upon us that are met here, according to his Ordinance, and in confidence of his promi&s;e, upon this Congregation, of which thou make&s;t thy &s;elfe a part, thou wilt al&s;o come to this of <HI>David</HI> here, <HI>Domine mi&s;erere mei, Have mercy upon me,</HI> me in particular, and thou &s;halt heare God an&s;wer thee, <HI>Mi&s;erans mi&s;erebor tibi,</HI> With great mercy will I have mercy upon thee; upon thee; <HI>For, with him is plentifull Redemption;</HI> Mercy for his whole Church, mercy for this whole Con|gregation, mercy for every particular &s;oule, that makes her &s;elfe a part of the Congrega|tion. Accu&s;tome thy &s;elfe therefore to a generall devotion, to a generall application, to generall ejaculations towards God, upon every occa&s;ion, and then, as a wedge of gold, that comes to be coyned into particular pieces of currant money, the Lord &s;hall &s;tamp his Image upon all thy devotions, and bring thee to particular confe&s;&s;ions of thy &s;ins, and to particular prayers, for thy particular nece&s;&s;ities. And this we may well conceive and admit, to be the nature of <HI>Davids</HI> fir&s;t prayer, <HI>Mi&s;erere mei, Have mercy upon me;</HI> And then, the rea&s;on, upon which this fir&s;t petition is grounded, (for &s;o it will be fitte&s;t to han|dle the parts, fir&s;t the prayer, and then the rea&s;on) is, <HI>Quia infirmus, Have mercy upon me, for I am weak.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quia.</NOTE> how imperfect, how weak &s;oever our prayers be, yet &s;till if it be a prayer, it hath a <HI>Quia,</HI> a Rea&s;on, upon which it is grounded. It hath in it, &s;ome implied, &s;ome interpretative con&s;ideration of our&s;elves, how it becomes us to aske that, which wee doe ask at Gods hand, and it hath &s;ome implied, and interpretative con&s;ideration of God, how it conduces to Gods glory to grant it: for, that prayer is very farre from faith, which is not made &s;o much as with rea&s;on; with a con&s;ideration of &s;ome po&s;&s;ibility, and &s;ome conveniency in it. <HI>Every man that &s;ayes Lord, Lord, enters not into heaven;</HI> Every <HI>Lord, Lord,</HI> that is &s;aid, enters not into heaven, but vani&s;hes in the ayre. A prayer mu&s;t be with a &s;erious purpo&s;e to pray; for el&s;e, tho&s;e fa&s;hionall and cu&s;tomary prayers, are but fal&s;e fires without &s;hot, they batter not heaven; It is but an Interjection, that &s;lips in;
<PB N="513" REF="274">It is but a Parenthe&s;is, that might be left out, what&s;oever is uttered in the manner of a prayer, if it have not a <HI>Quia,</HI> a Rea&s;on, a ground for it. And therefore, when our Savi|our Chri&s;t gave us that forme of prayer, which includes all, he gave us in it a forme of the rea&s;on too, <HI>Quia tuum, For thine is the Kingdome, &amp;c.</HI> It were not a prayer, to &s;ay <HI>Adveniat Regnum, Thy Kingdome come,</HI> if it were not grounded upon that faithfull a&s;&s;u|rance, that God hath a Kingdomehere; Nor to &s;ay <HI>Sanctificetur nomen, Hallowed be thy name,</HI> If he de&s;ired not to be glorified by us; Nor to aske <HI>daily bread,</HI> nor <HI>forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins,</HI> but for the <HI>Quia pote&s;tas,</HI> Becau&s;e he hath all the&s;e in his power. We con&s;ider this fir&s;t acce&s;&s;e to God, <HI>Mi&s;erere mei, Have mercy upon me,</HI> to be but a kind of imperfect pray|er, but the fir&s;t &s;tep; but it were none at all, if it had no rea&s;on, and therefore it hath this, <HI>Quia infirmus, Becau&s;e I am weake.</HI></P>
<P>This rea&s;on of our own weakne&s;&s;e is a good motive for mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Quia infir|mus.</HI> Iohn 11.3.</NOTE> if in a de&s;ire of farther &s;trength we come to that of <HI>La<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">arus</HI> &s;i&s;ters, to Chri&s;t, <HI>Ecce, quam amas, infirmatur,</HI> Be|hold Lord, that &s;oule that thou love&s;t, and ha&s;t dyed for, is weak, and langui&s;hes. Chri&s;t an&s;wered then, <HI>Non e&s;t infirmitas ad mortem, This weakne&s;&s;e is not unto death, but that the Son of God might be glorified.</HI> He will &s;ay &s;o to thee too; if thou pre&s;ent thy weakne&s;&s;e with a de&s;ire of &s;trength from him, he will &s;ay, <HI>Quare moriemini, domus I&s;rael?</HI> why will ye die of this di&s;ea&s;e? <HI>Gratia mea &s;ufficit;</HI> you may recover for all this; you may repent, you may ab&s;taine from this &s;in, you may take this &s;pirituall phy&s;ick, the Word, the Sacraments, if you will; <HI>Tantummodo robu&s;tus e&s;to,</HI> (as God &s;ayes to <HI>Io&s;huah</HI>) Only be valiant, and fight again&s;t it, and thou &s;halt finde &s;trength grow in the u&s;e thereof. But for the mo&s;t part, <HI>De infirmitate blandimur,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">De gradibus humilitatis.</NOTE> we flatter our &s;elves with an opinion of weakne&s;&s;e; <HI>&amp; ut liberi&ugrave;s peccemus, libenter infirmamur,</HI> we are glad of this na|turall and corrupt weakne&s;&s;e, that we may impute all our licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e to our weak|ne&s;&s;e, and naturall infirmity. But did that excu&s;e <HI>Adam,</HI> (&s;ayes that Father) <HI>Qu&ograve;d per uxorem tanquam per carnis infirmitatem peceavit,</HI> That he took his occa&s;ion of &s;inning from his weaker part, from his wife? <HI>Quia infirmus,</HI> That thou art weak of thy &s;elfe, is a ju&s;t motive to induce God to bring thee to him&s;elfe; <HI>Qui ver&egrave; portavit languores tuos,</HI> who hath &s;urely borne all thine infirmities;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.4.</NOTE> But to leave him againe when he hath brought thee, to refu&s;e &s;o light and ea&s;ie yoake as his is, not to make u&s;e of that &s;trength which he by his grace offers thee, this is not the affection of the Spou&s;e, <HI>Languor amantis,</HI> when the per&s;on langui&s;hes for the love of Chri&s;t, but it is <HI>Languor amoris,</HI> when the love of Chri&s;t langui&s;hes in that per&s;on. And therefore if you be come &s;o far with <HI>David,</HI> as to this <HI>Mi&s;erere quia infirmus,</HI> that an apprehen&s;ion of your owne weakne&s;&s;e have brought you to him, in a prayer for mercy, and more &s;trength, goe forward with him &s;till, to his next Petition, <HI>Sana me, O Lord heale me,</HI> for God is alwayes ready to build upon his owne foundations, and accompli&s;h his owne beginnings.</P>
<P><HI>Acceptus in gratiam, hilariter veni ad po&s;tulationes:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Sanae.</NOTE> When thou art e&s;tabli&s;hed in fa|vour, thou mai&s;t make any &s;uit; when thou art po&s;&s;e&s;t of God by one prayer, thou may&s;t offer more. This is an encouragement which that Father S. <HI>Bernard</HI> gives, in ob&s;erving the diver&s;e degrees of praying, That though <HI>&s;ervandae humilitatis gratia, divina pietas or|dinavit,</HI> To make his humility the more profitable to him, God imprints in an humble and penitent &s;inner, this apprehen&s;ion, <HI>Vt quanto plus profecit, eo minus &s;e reputet profeci&s;&s;e,</HI> That the more he is in Gods favour, the more he feares he is not &s;o, or the more he fears to lo&s;e that favour, becau&s;e it is a part, and a &s;ymptome of the working of the grace of God, to make him &s;ee his owne unworthine&s;&s;e, the more manife&s;tly, the more &s;en&s;ibly, yet, it is a religious in&s;inuation, and a circumvention that God loves, when a &s;inner hu&s;|bands his graces &s;o well, as to grow rich under him, and to make his thanks for one ble&s;&s;ing, a rea&s;on, and an occa&s;ion of another; &s;o to gather upon God by a rolling Trench, and by a winding &s;taire, as <HI>Abraham</HI> gained upon God, in the behalfe of So|dome; for this is an act of the wi&s;edome of the Serpent, which our Saviour recommends unto us, in &s;uch a Serpentine line, (as the Arti&s;ts call it) to get up to God, and get into God by &s;uch degrees, as <HI>David</HI> does here, from his <HI>Mi&s;erere,</HI> to a <HI>Sana,</HI> from a gracious looke, to a perfect recovery;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.</NOTE> from the act of the Levite that looked upon the wounded man, to the act of the Samaritane that undertooke his cure; from de&s;iring God to vi&s;it him as a friend, (as <HI>Abraham was called the friend of God</HI>) to &s;tudy him as a Phy&s;itian.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iames 2.23. E&s;ay 55.1. E&s;ay 53.4.</NOTE> Be|cau&s;e the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> makes a Proclamation in Chri&s;ts name, <HI>Ho, every one that thir&s;t|eth, &amp;c.</HI> And becau&s;e the &s;ame Prophet &s;ayes of him, <HI>Ver&egrave; portavit, He hath truly born
<PB N="514" REF="275">upon him&s;elfe</HI> (and therefore taken away from us) <HI>all our di&s;ea&s;es, Tertullian</HI> &s;ayes elegant|ly, that <HI>E&s;ay</HI> pre&s;ents Chri&s;t, <HI>Praedicatorem, &amp; Medicatorem,</HI> as a Preacher, and as a Phy&s;itian; Indeed he is a Phy&s;itian both wayes; in his Word, and in his Power, and there|fore in that notion onely, as a Phy&s;itian, <HI>David</HI> pre&s;ents him here.</P>
<P>Now Phy&s;itians &s;ay, That man hath in his Con&s;titution, in his Complexion, a naturall vertue, which they call <HI>Bal&s;amum &s;uum,</HI> his owne Bal&s;amum, by which, any wound which a man could receive in his body, would cure it &s;elfe, if it could be kept cleane from the anoiances of the aire, and all extrin&s;ique encumbrances. Something that hath &s;ome proportion and analogy to this Bal&s;amum of the body, there is in the &s;oule of man too: The &s;oule hath <HI>Nardum &s;uam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.12.</NOTE> her Spikenard, as the Spou&s;e &s;ayes, <HI>Nardus meadedit odo|rem &s;uum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il:</NOTE> &s;he had a &s;pikenard, a perfume, a fragrancy, a &s;weet &s;avour in her &s;elfe. For, <HI>Virtutes germani&ugrave;s attingunt animam, qu&agrave;m corpus &s;anitas,</HI> Vertuous inclinations, and a di&s;po&s;ition to morall goodne&s;&s;e, is more naturall to the &s;oule of man, and nearer of kin to the &s;oule of man, then health is to the body. And then, if we con&s;ider bodily health, <HI>Nulla oratio, nulla doctrinae formula nos docet morbum odii&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes that Father: There needs no Art, there needs no outward Eloquence, to per&s;wade a man, to be loath to be &s;ick: <HI>Ita in anima ine&s;t naturalis, &amp; citra doctrinam mali evitatio,</HI> &s;ayes he; So the &s;oule hath a na|turall and untaught hatred, and dete&s;tation of that which is evill. The Church at thy Bapti&s;me doth not require Sureties at thy hands, for this: Thy Sureties undertake to the Church in thy behalfe, That thou &s;halt for&s;ake the fle&s;h, the world, and the devill, That thou &s;halt beleeve all the Articles of our Religion, That thou &s;halt keepe all the Com|mandements of God; But for this knowledge and dete&s;tation of evill, they are not put to undertake them then, neither doth the Church Catechize thee, in that after: for, the &s;umme of all tho&s;e duties which concerne the dete&s;tation of evill, con&s;i&s;ts in that unwrit|ten law of thy con&s;cience which thou knowe&s;t naturally. <HI>Scis quod boni proximo facien|dum,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, Naturally thou knowe&s;t what good thou art bound to doe to another man; <HI>Idem enim e&s;t, quod ab aliis tute tibi fieri velis;</HI> for, it is but asking thy &s;elfe, What thou woulde&s;t that that other man &s;hould do unto thee: <HI>Non ignoras quid &s;it ip&s;um malum,</HI> Thou can&s;t not be ignorant, what evill thou &s;houlde&s;t ab&s;taine from offering to another, <HI>E&s;t enim quod ab alio fieri nolis,</HI> It is but the &s;ame, which thou thinke&s;t another &s;hould not put upon thee. So that the &s;oule of man hath in it <HI>Bal&s;amum &s;uum, Nardum &s;uam,</HI> A medicinall Bal&s;amum, a fragrant Spikenard in her &s;elfe, a naturall di&s;po&s;ition to Morall goodne&s;&s;e, as the body hath to health. But therein lyes the &s;ouls di&s;advantage, that whereas the cau&s;es that hinder the cure of a bodily wound, are extrin&s;ique offences of the Ayre, and putrefaction from thence, the cau&s;es in the wounds of the &s;oule, are in|trin&s;ique, &s;o as no other man can apply phy&s;ick to them; Nay, they are hereditary, and there was no time early inough for our &s;elves to apply any thing by way of prevention, for the wounds were as &s;oone as we were, and &s;ooner; Here was a new &s;oule, but an old &s;ore; a yong childe, but an inveterate di&s;ea&s;e. As S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> cannot conceive any inte|rim, any di&s;tance, between the creating of the &s;oule, and the infu&s;ing of the &s;oule into the body, but ea&s;es him&s;elfe upon that, <HI>Creando infundit,</HI> and <HI>infundendo creat,</HI> The Creati|on is the Infu&s;ion, and the Infu&s;ion is the Creation, &s;o we cannot conceive any Interim, any di&s;tance, betweene the infu&s;ing and the &s;ickning, betweene the comming and the &s;inning of the &s;oule. So that there was no meanes of prevention; I could not &s;o much as wi&s;h, that I might be no &s;inner, for I could not wi&s;h that I might be no Child. Neither is there any meanes of &s;eparation now; our concupi&s;cencies dwell in us, and pre&s;cribe in us, and will gnaw upon us, as wormes, till they deliver our bodies to the wormes of the grave, and our con&s;ciences to the worme that never dyes.</P>
<P>From the dangerous effects then of this &s;ickne&s;&s;e, <HI>David</HI> de&s;ires to be healed, and by God him&s;elfe, <HI>Sana me Domine, O Lord heale me;</HI> for that phy&s;ick that Man gives, is all but drugs of the earth; Morall and Civill coun&s;ailes, rather to cover then recover, rather to di&s;gui&s;e then to avoid: They put a clove in the mouth, but they do not mend the lungs. To cover his nakedne&s;&s;e <HI>Adam</HI> tooke but <HI>fig-leaves;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.11.</NOTE> but to recover <HI>Ezechias,</HI> God tooke <HI>figs them&s;elves.</HI> Man deales upon leaves, that cover, and &s;hadow, God upon fruit|full and effectuall meanes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 20.7.</NOTE> that cure, and nouri&s;h. And then, God tooke <HI>a lumpe of figs;</HI> God is liberall of his graces, and gives not over a cure, at one dre&s;&s;ing: And they were <HI>dry figs too,</HI> &s;ayes that &s;tory; you mu&s;t not looke for figs from the Tree, for immediate Revelations, for private in&s;pirations from God; but the medicinall preaching of the
<PB N="515" REF="275">Word, medicinall Sacraments, medicinall Ab&s;olution, are &s;uch dry figs as God hath pre&s;erved in his Church for all our di&s;ea&s;es. S. <HI>Paul</HI> had a &s;trong de&s;ire, and he expre&s;&s;ed it in often prayer to God, to have this peccant humour, this malignity cleane purged out, to have that <HI>Stimulus carnis,</HI> that concupi&s;cence ab&s;olutely taken away. God would not do &s;o; but yet he applied his effectuall phy&s;ick, <HI>&s;ufficient Grace.</HI></P>
<P>This then is the &s;oules <HI>Panacaea,</HI> The <HI>Pharmacum Catholicum,</HI> the <HI>Medicina omnimorbia,</HI> The phy&s;ick that cures all, the &s;ufficient Grace, the &s;ea&s;onable mercy of God, in the merits of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and in the love of the Holy Gho&s;t. This is the phy&s;ick; but then, there are ever <HI>Vehicula medicinae,</HI> certaine &s;yrups, and liquors, to convey the phy&s;ick; water, and wine in the Sacraments; And certaine Phy&s;itians to ordaine and pre&s;cribe, The Mini&s;ters of the Word and Sacraments; The Father &s;ends, The Son makes, The Holy Gho&s;t brings, The Mini&s;ter laies on the plai&s;ter. For, <HI>Medicinae ars &agrave; Deo data,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il;</NOTE> <HI>ut inde rationem animae curandae di&s;ceremus,</HI> Gods purpo&s;e in giving us the &s;cience of bodily health, was not determined in the body: but his large and gracious purpo&s;e was, by that re&s;titution of the body, to rai&s;e us to the con&s;ideration of &s;pirituall health. When Chri&s;t had &s;aid to him, who was brought &s;ick of the pal&s;ie, <HI>Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 2.</NOTE> and that the Scribes and Phari&s;ees were &s;candalized with that, as though he, being but man, had u&s;urped upon the power of God, Chri&s;t proves to them, by an actuall re&s;toring of his bodily health, that he could re&s;tore his &s;oule too, in the forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins: He asks them there, <HI>Whether is it ea&s;ier to &s;ay, Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee, or to &s;ay, Ari&s;e, take up thy bed, and walke. Chri&s;tus facit &s;anitatem corporalem argumentum &s;piritualis;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> Chri&s;t did not determine his doctrine in the declaration of a miraculous power exerci&s;ed upon his bo|dy, but by that, e&s;tabli&s;hed their beliefe of his &s;pirituall power, in doing that, which in their opinion was the greater worke. Pur&s;ue therefore his method of Curing; And if God have re&s;tored thee in any &s;ickne&s;&s;e, by &s;uch meanes, as he of his goodne&s;&s;e hath imprinted in naturall herbs, and Simples, thinke not that that was done onely or &s;imply for thy bodies &s;ake, but that, as it is as ea&s;ie for God to &s;ay, Thy &s;ins are forgiven thee, as Take up thy bed and walke, &s;o it is as ea&s;ie for thee, to have &s;pirituall phy&s;ick, as bodi|ly; becau&s;e, as God hath planted all tho&s;e medicinall Simples in the open fields, for all, though &s;ome do tread them under their feet, &s;o hath God depo&s;ited and prepared &s;piri|tuall helps for all, though all do not make benefit of tho&s;e helps which are offered. It is true, that God &s;ayes of his Church, <HI>Hortus conclu&s;us &s;oror mea, My &s;i&s;ter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.12.</NOTE> <HI>my Spou&s;e is a Garden enclo&s;ed, as a &s;pring &s;hut in, and a fountaine &s;eal&eogon;d up;</HI> But therein is our advantage, who, by being enwrapped in the Covenant, as the &s;eed of the faithfull, as the children of Chri&s;tian Parents, are borne if not within this walled Garden, yet with a key in our hand to open the doore, that is, with a right and title, to the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me. The Church is a Garden walled in, for their better defence and &s;ecurity that are in it; but not walled in to keepe any out, who, either by being borne within the Covenant, inherit a right to it, or by accepting the grace which is offered them, acquire, and profe&s;&s;e a de&s;ire to enter thereinto. For, as it is a Garden, full of <HI>Spikenard,</HI> and of <HI>Incen&s;e,</HI> and of <HI>all &s;pices,</HI> (as the Text &s;ayes there) &s;o that they who are in this Garden, in the Church, are in po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion of all the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed meanes of &s;pirituall health; So are the&s;e &s;pices, and Incen&s;e, and Spikenard, of a diffu&s;ive and &s;preading nature, and breath even over the wals of the Garden: <HI>Oleum effu&s;um nomen ejus;</HI> The name of Chri&s;t is unction, Oyntment;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.3. 4.16.</NOTE> but it is an Oyntment powred out, an Oyntment that communicates the fragrancy thereof, to per&s;ons at a good di&s;tance; And, as it is &s;aid there, Chri&s;t cals up the <HI>North</HI> and the <HI>South</HI> to <HI>blow upon his Garden,</HI> he rai&s;es up men to tran&s;port and propagate the&s;e meanes of &s;al|vation to all Nations, &s;o that, in every Nation, they that feare him are acceptable to him; not that that feare of God in generall, as one univer&s;all power, is &s;ufficient in it &s;elfe, to bring any man to God immediately, but that God directs the Spikenard, and Incen&s;e of this Garden upon that man, and &s;econds his former feare of God, with a love of God, and brings him to a knowledg, and to a de&s;ire, and to a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and fruition of our more a&s;&s;ured meanes of &s;alvation. When he does &s;o, this is his method, as in re&s;toring bodily health, he &s;aid, <HI>Surge, Tolle, Ambula,</HI> Ari&s;e, Take up thy bed, and Walke: So to every &s;ick &s;oule, who&s;e cure he undertakes, he &s;ayes &s;o too, <HI>Surge, Tolle, Ambula.</HI> Our beds are our naturall affections; The&s;e he does not bid us ca&s;t away, nor burne, nor de&s;troy; &s;ince Chri&s;t vouch&s;afed <HI>Induere hominem,</HI> wee mu&s;t not <HI>Exuere hominem;</HI> Since Chri&s;t inve|&s;ted the nature of man, and became man, we mu&s;t not pretend to deve&s;t it, and become
<PB N="516" REF="276">Angels, or flatter our &s;elves in the merit of Mortifications, not enjoyned, or of a retired|ne&s;&s;e, and departing out of the world, in the world, by the withdrawing of our &s;elves from the offices of mutuall &s;ociety, or an extingui&s;hing of naturall affections. But, <HI>Surge,</HI> &s;ayes our Saviour, Ari&s;e from this bed, &s;leepe not lazily in an over-indulgency to the&s;e affections; but, <HI>Ambula,</HI> walke &s;incerely in thy Calling, and thou &s;halt heare thy Sa|viour &s;ay, <HI>Non e&s;t infirmitas haec ad mortem,</HI> The&s;e affections, nay, the&s;e concupi&s;cencies &s;hall not de&s;troy thee.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> then doth not pray for &s;uch an exact and exqui&s;ite &s;tate of health, as that he &s;hould have no infirmity; Phy&s;itians for our bodies tell us, that there is no &s;uch &s;tate; The be&s;t degree of health is but <HI>Neutralitas;</HI> He is well (that is, as well as Man can be) that is not dangerou&s;ly &s;ick; for, ab&s;olutely well no man can be. Spirituall Phy&s;itians will tell you &s;o too; He that &s;ayes you have no &s;inne, or that God &s;ees not your &s;inne, if you be of the Elect, deceives you. It is not for an Innocency that <HI>David</HI> prayes; but it is again&s;t deadly di&s;ea&s;es, and again&s;t violent accidents of tho&s;e di&s;ea&s;es. He doth not beg, he cannot hope for an ab&s;olute peace: Nature hath put awarre upon us; True hap|pine&s;&s;e, and apparant happine&s;&s;e fight again&s;t one another: &s;in hath put a war upon us; The fle&s;h and the Spirit fight again&s;t one another: Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe came to put a war upon us; The zeale of his glory, and the cour&s;e of this world, fight again&s;t one ano|ther. It is not again&s;t all warre; nay, it is not again&s;t all victory that <HI>David</HI> prayes; He cannot hope that he &s;hould be overcome by no Tentations; but again&s;t &s;uch a war, and &s;uch a victory, as &s;hould bring him to &s;ervility, and bondage to &s;inne, That &s;in entring by Conque&s;t upon him, &s;hould governe as a tyran over him, again&s;t &s;uch a &s;ickne&s;&s;e as &s;hould induce a con&s;umption, it is that he directs this prayer, <HI>Sana me Domine,</HI> Not, Lord make me impeccable, but Lord make me penitent, and then heale me. And he comes not to take phy&s;ick upon wantonne&s;&s;e; but becau&s;e the di&s;ea&s;e is violent, becau&s;e the ac|cidents are vehement; &s;o vehement, &s;o violent, as that it hath pierced <HI>Ad o&s;&s;a,</HI> and <HI>Ad animam, My bones are vexed, and my &s;oule is &s;ore troubled,</HI> Therefore <HI>heale me;</HI> which is the Rea&s;on upon which he grounds this &s;econd petition, <HI>Heale me, becau&s;e. my bones are vexed &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>We mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily in&s;i&s;t a little upon the&s;e termes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;&s;a.</NOTE> <HI>The Bones, The Soule, The Trou|ble,</HI> or <HI>Vexation.</HI> Fir&s;t, <HI>O&s;&s;a, Bones,</HI> We know in the naturall and ordinary acceptation, what they are; They are the&s;e Beames, and Timbers, and Rafters of the&s;e Taberna|cles, the&s;e Temples of the Holy Gho&s;t, the&s;e bodies of ours. But <HI>Immanebimus nativae &s;ignificationi?</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> Shall we dwell upon the native and naturall &s;ignification of the&s;e <HI>Bones? Et intelligentia pa&s;sim obvia contenti erimus?</HI> Shall we who have our conver|&s;ation in heaven, finde no more in the&s;e <HI>Bones,</HI> then an earthly, a worldly, a naturall man would doe? By S. <HI>Ba&s;ils</HI> example, we may boldly proceed farther: <HI>Membra etiam ani|mae &s;unt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 42.</NOTE> &s;ayes he: The &s;oule hath her limbs as well as the body. <HI>Surdi audite, caeci a&s;pi|cite,</HI> &s;ayes God in <HI>E&s;ay;</HI> If their &s;oules had not eares and eyes, the blinde could not &s;ee, the deafe could not heare, and yet God cals upon the deafe and blinde, to heare and &s;ee. As S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes to the Ephe&s;ians, <HI>The eyes of your under&s;tanding being enlightned;</HI> &s;o <HI>Da|vid</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 3.7.</NOTE> <HI>Dentes peccatorum contrivi&s;ti, Thou ha&s;t broken the teeth;</HI> That is, the pride and the power, the venom and malignity of the wicked: <HI>Membra etiam animae &s;unt,</HI> The &s;oule hath her Bones too; and here <HI>Davids Bones</HI> were the &s;tronge&s;t powers and faculties of his &s;oule, and the be&s;t actions and operations of tho&s;e faculties, and yet they were &s;ha|ken. For this hereditary &s;ickne&s;&s;e, Originall &s;inne, prevayles &s;o far upon us, that upon our good dayes we have &s;ome grudgings of that Fever; Even in our be&s;t actions, we have &s;ome of the leaven of that &s;inne. So that if we goe about to comfort our &s;elves, with &s;ome di&s;po&s;itions to Gods glory, which we finde in our &s;elves, with &s;ome &s;parks of love to his precepts, and his commandements, with &s;ome good &s;trength of faith, with &s;ome mea&s;ure of good works, yea, with having &s;omething for the Name, and glory of Chri&s;t Je&s;us: yet if we con&s;ider what humane and corrupt affections have been mingled in all the&s;e, <HI>Conturbabuntur o&s;&s;a,</HI> our Bones will be troubled, even tho&s;e that appeared to be &s;trong works, and likely to hold out, will need a reparation, an exclamation, <HI>Sana me Domine,</HI> O Lord heale the&s;e too, or els the&s;e are as weake as the wor&s;t: <HI>O&s;&s;a non do|lent;</HI> The Bones them&s;elves have no &s;en&s;e, they feele no paine. We need not &s;ay, That tho&s;e good works them&s;elves, which we doe, have in their nature, the nature of &s;inne; That every good worke con&s;idered alone, and in the &s;ub&s;tance of the act it &s;elfe is &s;inne;
<PB N="517" REF="276">But <HI>membranae dolent;</HI> Tho&s;e little membrans, tho&s;e filmes, tho&s;e thin skins, that cover, and that line &s;ome bones, are very &s;en&s;ible of paine, and of any vexation. Though in the nature of the worke it &s;elfe, the worke be not &s;inne, yet in tho&s;e circum&s;tances that in|ve&s;t, and involve the worke, in tho&s;e things which we mingle with the worke, whether de&s;ire of glory towards men, or opinion of merit towards God; When&s;oever tho&s;e bones, tho&s;e be&s;t actions come to the examination of a tender and a diligent Con&s;cience, <HI>Si o&s;&s;a non dolent, membranae dolent,</HI> If the worke be not &s;infull, the circum&s;tances are, and how&s;oever they may be conceived to be &s;trong, as they are <HI>O&s;&s;a,</HI> Bones, works, in a mo|rall con&s;ideration, good, yet, as they are <HI>O&s;&s;a mea,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> as they are <HI>My bones,</HI> &s;uch good works as ta&s;te of my ill corruptions, &s;o long they are vexed, and troubled, and cannot &s;tand upright, nor appeare with any confidence in the &s;ight of God.</P>
<P>Thus far then fir&s;t <HI>David</HI> needed this &s;anation, this health that he prayes for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Anima.</NOTE> that his be&s;t actions were corrupt; But the corruption went farther, to the very roote and foun|taine of tho&s;e actions, <HI>Ad ip&s;am animam,</HI> His very <HI>&s;oule</HI> was <HI>&s;ore vexed.</HI> It is true, that as this word <HI>Anima, the &s;oule,</HI> is &s;ometimes taken in the Scriptures, this may &s;eeme to goe no farther then the former, no more that his &s;oule was vexed, then that his bones were &s;o: for, <HI>Anima,</HI> in many places, is but <HI>Animalis Homo,</HI> The &s;oule &s;ignifies but the naturall man: And &s;o <HI>opponitur &s;piritui,</HI> The <HI>&s;oule</HI> is not onely &s;aid to be a diver&s;e thing, but a con|trary thing to the <HI>Spirit.</HI> When the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes to the The&s;&s;alonians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. ult. 23.</NOTE> <HI>Now the very God of peace &s;anctifie you throughout, that your whole &s;pirit, and &s;oule, and body, may be kept blame|le&s;&s;e unto the comming of our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> And where the &s;ame Apo&s;tle &s;ayes to the Hebrews, <HI>The word of God divideth a&s;under the &s;oule and the &s;pirit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12.</NOTE> here is a difference put between corrupt nature, and the working of the Spirit of God, the Holy Gho&s;t in man: for here, the <HI>&s;oule</HI> is taken for <HI>Animalis home,</HI> The naturall man, and the <HI>Spirit</HI> is taken for the Spirit of God. But be&s;ides this, the&s;e two words, <HI>Soule</HI> and <HI>Spirit,</HI> are &s;ometimes u&s;ed by the Fathers, in a &s;en&s;e diver&s;e from one another, and as different things, and yet &s;till as parts of one and the &s;ame man; Man is &s;aid by them, not onely to have a body, and a &s;oule, but to have a &s;oule, and a &s;pirit; not as Spirit is the Spirit of God, and &s;o an extrin&s;ecall thing, but as Spirit is a con&s;titutive part of the naturall man. So, in particular, among&s;t many, <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> takes the Body to be &s;poken <HI>De nutribili,</HI> The fle&s;h and bloud of man, And the &s;oule <HI>De &s;en&s;ibili,</HI> The operation of the &s;en&s;es, And the Spirit <HI>De Intellectuali,</HI> The Intellectuall, the rea&s;onable faculties of man; That in the body, Man is conformed to Plants that have no &s;en&s;e, In the &s;oule, to Bea&s;ts, that have no rea&s;on, In the &s;pirit, to Angels. But &s;o, The Spirit is but the &s;ame thing with that, which now we doe ordinarily account the &s;oule to be; for we make account, that the Image of God is imprinted in the &s;oule, and that gives him his conformity to Angels: But divers others of the Ancients have taken <HI>Soule</HI> and <HI>Spirit,</HI> for different things, even in the Intellectuall part of man, &s;omewhat ob&s;curely, I confe&s;&s;e, and, as &s;ome venture to &s;ay, unnece&s;&s;arily, if not dangerou&s;ly. It troubled S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ometimes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad Hedibiam. l. 12. Epi&s;t. 150</NOTE> how to under&s;tand the word <HI>Spirit</HI> in man: but he takes the ea&s;ie&s;t way, he di&s;patches him&s;elfe of it, as fa&s;t as he could, that is, to &s;peake of it onely as it was u&s;ed in the Scriptures: <HI>Famo&s;a quae&s;tio,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>&s;ed brevi &s;ermone tractanda;</HI> It is a que&s;tion often di&s;puted, but may be &s;hortly determined, <HI>Idem &s;piritus hic, ac in iis verbis, Nolite extinguere &s;piritum;</HI> When we heare of the Spirit in a Man, in Scriptures, we mu&s;t under&s;tand it of the gifts of the Spirit; for &s;o, fully to the &s;ame purpo&s;e, &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome, Spiritus e&s;t chari&s;ma &s;piritus,</HI> The Spirit is the work|ing of the Spirit, The gifts of the Spirit: and &s;o when we heare, <HI>The Spirit was vexed, The Spirit was quenched,</HI> &s;till it is to be under&s;tood, The gifts of the Spirit. And &s;o, as they re&s;traine the &s;ignification of <HI>Spirit,</HI> to tho&s;e gifts onely, (though the word do indeed, in many places, require a larger exten&s;ion) &s;o do many re&s;traine this word in our text, <HI>The Soule,</HI> onely <HI>Ad &s;en&s;um,</HI> to the &s;en&s;itive faculties of the &s;oule, that is, onely to the paine and angui&s;h that his body &s;uffered; But &s;o far, at lea&s;t, <HI>David</HI> had gone, in that which he &s;aid before, <HI>My bones are vexed.</HI></P>
<P>Now, <HI>Ingrave&s;cit morbus,</HI> The di&s;ea&s;e fe&s;ters beyond the bone, even into the marrow it &s;elfe. His Bones were tho&s;e be&s;t actions that he had produced, and he &s;aw in that Contemplation, that for all that he had done, he was &s;till, at be&s;t, but an unprofitable &s;ervant, if not a rebellious enemy; But then, when he con&s;iders his whole &s;oule, and all that ever it can do, he &s;ees all the re&s;t will be no better; The poy&s;on, he &s;ees, is in the fountaine, the Canker in the roote, the rancor, the venom in the &s;oule it &s;elfe. <HI>Corpus in|&s;trumentum,
<PB N="518" REF="277">anima ars ip&s;a,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il:</HI> The body, and the &s;en&s;es are but the tooles, and in&s;truments, that the &s;oule works with. But the &s;oule is the art, the &s;cience that di|rects tho&s;e In&s;truments; The faculties of the &s;oule are the boughs that produce the fruits; and the operations, and particular acts of tho&s;e faculties are the fruits, but the &s;oule is the roote of all. And <HI>David</HI> &s;ees, that this art, this &s;cience, this &s;oule can direct him, or e|&s;tabli&s;h him in no good way; That not onely the fruits, his particular acts, nor onely the boughs, and armes, his &s;everall faculties, but the roote it &s;elfe, the &s;oule it &s;elfe, was infected. His bones are &s;haken, he dares not &s;tand upon the good he hath done, his &s;oule is &s;o too, he cannot hope for any good he &s;hall do: He hath no merit for the pa&s;t, he hath no free-will for the future; that is his ca&s;e.</P>
<P>This <HI>troubles</HI> his <HI>bones,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Turbata.</NOTE> this <HI>troubles</HI> his <HI>&s;oule,</HI> this <HI>vexes</HI> them both; for, the word is all one, in both places, as our la&s;t Tran&s;lators have ob&s;erved, and rendred it aright; not <HI>vexed</HI> in one place, and <HI>troubled</HI> in the other, as our former Tran&s;lators had it; But in both places it is <HI>Bahal,</HI> and <HI>Bahal</HI> imports a vehemence, both in the inten&s;ne&s;&s;e of it, and in the &s;uddenne&s;&s;e, and inevitablene&s;&s;e of it: And therefore it &s;ignifies often, <HI>Praecipitan|tiam,</HI> A headlong downfall and irrecoverablene&s;&s;e; And often, <HI>Evane&s;centiam,</HI> an utter vani&s;hing away, and annihilation. <HI>David,</HI> (whom we alwayes con&s;ider in the P&s;almes, not onely to &s;peake literally of tho&s;e mi&s;eries which were actually upon him&s;elfe, but prophetically too, of &s;uch mea&s;ures, and exaltations of tho&s;e mi&s;eries, as would certainly fall upon them, as did not &s;eeke their &s;anation, their recovery from the God of all health) looking into all his actions, (they are the fruits) and into all his faculties, (they are the boughs) and into the root of all, the &s;oule it &s;elfe, con&s;idering what he had done, what he could do, he &s;ees that as yet he had done no good, he &s;ees he &s;hould never be able to doe any; <HI>His bones are troubled,</HI> He hath no comfort in that which is growne up, and pa&s;t, And <HI>his &s;oule is &s;ore troubled,</HI> (for to the trouble of the &s;oule, there is added in the Text, that particle, <HI>Valde,</HI> It is a &s;ore trouble that falls upon the &s;oule, <HI>A troubled &s;pirit who can beare?</HI>) becau&s;e he hath no hope in the future; He was no &s;urer for that which was to come, then for that which was pa&s;t; But he, (that is, all, con&s;idered in that ca&s;e which he propo&s;es) he comes (as the word &s;ignifies) <HI>ad praecipitantiam,</HI> That all his &s;trength can &s;carce keepe him from precipitation into de&s;paire, And he comes (as the word &s;ig|nifies too) <HI>ad Evane&s;centiam,</HI> to an evaporating, and a vani&s;hing of his &s;oule, that is, even to a renouncing, and a dete&s;tation of his immortality, and to a willingne&s;&s;e, to a de&s;ire, that he might die the death of other Creatures, which peri&s;h altogether, and goe out as a Candle. This is the trouble, the &s;ore trouble of his &s;oule, who is brought to an appre|hen&s;ion of Gods indignation for not performing Conditions required at his hands, and of his inability to performe them, and is not come to the contemplation of his mercy, in &s;upply thereof.</P>
<P>There is <HI>Turbatio Timoris,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.3. P&s;al. 107.27.</NOTE> A trouble out of feare of danger in this world, <HI>Herods</HI> trou|ble; <HI>When the Magi brought word of another King, Herod was troubled, and all Ieru&s;alem with him.</HI> There is <HI>Turbatio confu&s;ionis,</HI> The Mariners trouble in a tempe&s;t; <HI>Their &s;oule melteth for trouble,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.41. Luk. 1.29.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>David.</HI> There is <HI>Turbatio occupationis; Martha's</HI> trouble; <HI>Mar|tha thou art troubled about many things,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t. There is <HI>Turbatio admirationis,</HI> The ble&s;&s;ed Virgins trouble, <HI>When &s;he &s;aw the Angel, &s;he was troubled at his &s;aying.</HI> To contract this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.33.</NOTE> There is <HI>Turbatio compa&s;sionis,</HI> Chri&s;ts own trouble, <HI>When he &s;aw Mary weepe for her brother Lazarus, he groaned in the &s;pirit, and was troubled in him&s;elfe.</HI> But in all the&s;e trou|bles, <HI>Herods</HI> feare, The Mariners irre&s;olution, <HI>Martha's</HI> multiplicity of bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, The ble&s;&s;ed Virgins &s;udden amazement, Our Saviours compa&s;&s;ionate &s;orrow, as they are in us, worldly troubles, &s;o the world admini&s;ters &s;ome means to extemiate, and alleviate the&s;e troubles; for, feares are overcome, and &s;tormes are appea&s;ed, and bu&s;ine&s;&s;es are ended, and wonders are under&s;tood, and &s;orrows weare out; But in this trouble of the bones, and the &s;oule, in &s;o deepe and &s;en&s;ible impre&s;&s;ions of the anger of God, looking at once upon the pravity, the obliquity, the malignity of all that I have done, of all that I &s;hall doe, Man hath but one &s;tep between that &s;tate, and de&s;paire, to &s;top upon, to turne to the Author of all temporall, and all &s;pirituall health, the Lord of life, with <HI>Davids</HI> prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.10.</NOTE> <HI>Cor mundum crea, Create a cleane heart within me;</HI> Begin with me againe, as thou begun&s;t with <HI>Adam,</HI> in innocency; and &s;ee, if I &s;hall husband and governe that innocen|cy better then <HI>Adam</HI> did; for, for this heart which I have from him, I have it in corrup|tion; and,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 4.</NOTE> <HI>who can bring a cleane thing out of uncleanne&s;&s;e?</HI> Therefore <HI>Davids</HI> prayer goes
<PB N="519" REF="277">farther in the &s;ame place, <HI>Renew a con&s;tant &s;pirit in me;</HI> Pre&s;ent cleanne&s;&s;e cannot be had from my &s;elfe; but if I have that from God, <HI>mine owne cloathes will make me foule againe,</HI> and therefore doe not onely create a cleane &s;pirit, but renew a &s;pirit of con&s;tan|cy and per&s;everance. Therefore I have al&s;o another Prayer in the &s;ame P&s;alme,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.12.</NOTE> <HI>Spiri|tu principali confirma me,</HI> Su&s;taine me, uphold me with thy free &s;pirit, thy large, thy mu|nificent &s;pirit: for thy ordinary graces will not defray me, nor carry me through this valley of tentations; not thy &s;ingle money, but thy Talents; not as thou art thine owne Almoner, but thine owne Trea&s;urer; It is not the dew, but thy former and later raine that mu&s;t water, though it be thy hand that hath planted; Not any of the Rivers, though of Paradi&s;e, but the Ocean it &s;elfe, that mu&s;t bring me to thy Jeru&s;alem. Create a clean heart; Thou did&s;t &s;o in <HI>Adam,</HI> and in him I defiled it. Renew that heart; Thou did&s;t &s;o in Bapti&s;me; And thy upholding me with thy con&s;tant &s;pirit, is thy affording me means, which are con&s;tant, in thy Church; But thy confirming me with thy principall &s;pirit, is thy making of tho&s;e meanes, in&s;tituted in thy Church, effectuall upon me, by the &s;pirit of Application, the &s;pirit of Appropriation, by which the merits of the Son, depo|&s;ited in the Church, are delivered over unto me.</P>
<P>This then is the force of <HI>Davids</HI> rea&s;on in this Petition, <HI>O&s;&s;a implentur vitiis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 20.11.</NOTE> as one of <HI>Iobs</HI> friends &s;peaks, <HI>My bones are full of the &s;ins of my youth,</HI> That is, my be&s;t actions, now in mine age, have &s;ome ta&s;te, &s;ome tincture from the habit, or &s;ome &s;infull memory of the acts of &s;in in my youth; <HI>Adhaeret os meum carni,</HI> as <HI>David</HI> al&s;o &s;peaks,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102.5. Lam. 4.8.</NOTE> <HI>My bones cleave to my fle&s;h,</HI> my be&s;t actions ta&s;te of my wor&s;t; And <HI>My skin cleaves to my bones,</HI> as <HI>Ieremy</HI> laments, That is, My be&s;t actions call for a skin, for &s;omething to cover them: And Therefore, not Therefore becau&s;e I have brought my &s;elfe into this &s;tate, but becau&s;e by thy grace I have power to bring this my &s;tate into thy &s;ight, by this humble confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Sana me Domine, O Lord heale me;</HI> Thou that art my Me&s;&s;ias, be my <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 13.19.</NOTE> and carry the&s;e bones of thy <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> out of Egypt; Deliver me, in this con&s;ideration of mine actions, from the terror of a &s;elf-accu&s;ing, and a jealous, and &s;u&s;picious con&s;cience:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 13.31.</NOTE> <HI>Bury my bones be&s;ide the bones of the man of God;</HI> Be&s;ide the bones of the Son of God: Look upon my bones as they are coffind, and &s;hrowded in that &s;heet, the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. <HI>Accedant o&s;&s;a ad o&s;&s;a,</HI> as in <HI>Ezekiels</HI> vi&s;ion, Let our bones come together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 37.7.</NOTE> bone to bone, mine to his, and looke upon them <HI>uno intuitu,</HI> all together, and there &s;hall come &s;inews, and fle&s;h, and skin upon them, and breathe upon them, and in Him, in Chri&s;t Je|&s;us, I &s;hall live; My bones being laid by his, though but gri&s;tles in them&s;elves, my acti|ons being con&s;idered in his, though imperfect in them&s;elves, &s;hall bear me up in the &s;ight of God. And this may be the purpo&s;e of this prayer, this &s;anation, grounded upon this rea&s;on, <HI>O Lord heale me, for my bones are vexed, &amp;c.</HI> But yet <HI>David</HI> mu&s;t, and doth &s;top upon this &s;tep, he &s;tayes Gods lei&s;ure, and is put to his <HI>V&s;quequo? But thou, O Lord, how long?</HI></P>
<P><HI>David</HI> had cryed <HI>Mi&s;erere,</HI> he had begged of God to look towards him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">V&s;quequo.</NOTE> and con&s;ider him; He had revealed to him his weak and trouble&s;ome e&s;tate, and he had entreated re|liefe; but yet God gave not that reliefe pre&s;ently, nor &s;eemed to have heard his prayer, nor to have accepted his rea&s;ons. <HI>David</HI> comes to &s;ome degrees of expo&s;tulation with God; but he dares not proceed far; it is but <HI>u&s;quequo Domine?</HI> which if we con&s;ider it in the Originall, and &s;o al&s;o in our la&s;t Tran&s;lation, requires a &s;erious con&s;ideration. For it is not there as it is in the fir&s;t Tran&s;lation, <HI>How long wilt thou delay? David</HI> charges God with no delay: But it is onely, <HI>Et tu Domine, u&s;quequo? But thou O Lord, how long?</HI> And there he ends in a holy abruptne&s;&s;e, as though he had taken him&s;elfe in a fault, to enter|pri&s;e any expo&s;tulation with God. He doth not &s;ay, How long ere thou heare me? If thou heare me, how long ere thou regard me? If thou regard me, how long ere thou heale me? How long &s;hall my bones, how long &s;hall my &s;oule be troubled? He &s;ayes not &s;o; but leaving all to his lei&s;ure, he corrects his pa&s;&s;ion, he breaks off his expo&s;tula|tion. As long as I have that commi&s;&s;ion from God, <HI>Dic animae tuae, Salus tua &s;um,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.3.</NOTE> Say un|to thy &s;oule, I am thy &s;alvation, my &s;oule &s;hall keep &s;ilence unto God, of whom com|meth my &s;alvation: Silence from murmuring, how long &s;oever he be in recovering me; not &s;ilence from prayer, that he would come; for that is our la&s;t Con&s;ideration; <HI>David</HI> propo&s;ed his De&s;ire, <HI>Mi&s;erere,</HI> and <HI>Sana,</HI> Looke towards me, and Heale me, that was our fir&s;t; And then his Rea&s;ons, <HI>O&s;&s;a, Anima, My bones, my &s;oule is troubled,</HI> that was our &s;e|cond; And then he grew &s;en&s;ible of Gods ab&s;ence, for all that, which was our third Pro|po&s;ition;
<PB N="520" REF="278">for yet, for all this, he continues patient, and &s;olieites the &s;ame God in the &s;ame name, The Lord, <HI>But thou O Lord, how long?</HI></P>
<P>Need we then any other example of &s;uch a patience then God him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Domine.</NOTE> who &s;tayes &s;o long in expectation of our conver&s;ion? But we have <HI>Davids</HI> example too, who having fir&s;t made his Deprecation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 1.</NOTE> That God would not reprove him in anger, having prayed God to forbeare him, he is al&s;o well content to forbeare God, for tho&s;e other things which he asks, till it be his plea&s;ure to give them. But yet he neither gives over praying, nor doth he encline to pray to any body el&s;e, but &s;till <HI>Domine mi&s;erere, Have mercy upon me O Lord,</HI> and <HI>Domine fana, O Lord heale mee:</HI> Indu&s;try in a lawfull calling, favour of great per&s;ons, a thankfull acknowledgement of the mini&s;tery and protection of Angels, and of the prayers of the Saints in heaven for us, all the&s;e concur to our a&s;&s;i&s;tance; But the root of all, all temporall, all &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings, is he, to whom <HI>David</HI> leads us here, <HI>Dominus, The Lord;</HI> Lord, as he is Proprietary of all creatures; He made All, and there|fore is Lord of All; as he is <HI>Iehovah,</HI> which is the name of E&s;&s;ence, of Being, as all things have all their being from him, their very being, and their well-being, their Creation, and their Con&s;ervation; And in that Name of Recognition and acknowledgement, that all that can be had, is to be asked of him, and him onely, Him, as he is <HI>Iehovah, The Lord,</HI> does <HI>David</HI> &s;olicite him here;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.12.</NOTE> for, <HI>as there is no other Name under heaven, given amongst men, whereby we mu&s;t be &s;aved, but the Name of Ie&s;us Chri&s;t;</HI> So is there no other Name above in heaven propo&s;ed to men, whereby they &s;hould receive the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings, but the Name of <HI>Iehovah;</HI> for <HI>Iehovah</HI> is the name of the whole Trinity, and there are no more, no Queen-mother in heaven, no Coun&s;aylors in heaven in Commi&s;&s;ion with the Trinity.</P>
<P>In this Name therefore <HI>David</HI> pur&s;ues his Prayer: for, from a River, from a Ci&s;terne, a man may take more water at once, then he can from the fir&s;t &s;pring and fountaine head; But he cannot take the water &s;o &s;incerely, &s;o purely, &s;o intemerately from the channell as from the fountaine head. Princes and great per&s;ons may ray&s;e their Dependants fa|&s;ter then God does his; But &s;udden riches come like a land-water, and bring much foul|ne&s;&s;e with them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 5.7.</NOTE> We are Gods vineyard; <HI>The vineyard of the Lord of Ho&s;ts, is the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, and the men of Iudah are his plea&s;ant plant,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet. And God delights to &s;ee his plants pro&s;per, and grow up &s;ea&s;onably. More then once Chri&s;t makes that pro|fe&s;&s;ion, <HI>That he goes downe into the Garden of Nuts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 6.10. Cant. 7.12.</NOTE> <HI>to &s;ee the fruits of the valley, And to &s;ee whether the Vine flouri&s;hed, and whether the Pomegranet budded; And he goes up early into the vineyard, to &s;ee whether the tender grape appeared.</HI> He had a plea&s;ure in the growth and &s;ucce&s;&s;ive encrea&s;e of his plants, and did not looke they &s;hould come ha&s;tily to their height and maturity. If worldly ble&s;&s;ings, by a good indu&s;try, grow up in us, it is natu|rall; But if they fall upon us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 11.6. Exod. 9.23. Rev. 16.21.</NOTE> <HI>Pluit laqueos,</HI> God rains downe &s;pringes and &s;nares, occa&s;i|ons of &s;inne in tho&s;e abundances, and <HI>Pluit grandinem,</HI> He will raine downe Hail&s;tones; Hail&s;tones as big as Talents, as in the Revelation; as big as Mil&s;tones; He will make our riches occa&s;ions of ray&s;ing enemies, and make tho&s;e enemies Grind&s;tones to grinde our fortunes to powder. Make not too much ha&s;te to be rich: Even in &s;pirituall riches, in &s;pirituall health make not too much ha&s;te. Pray for it; for there is no other way to get it. Pray to the Lord for it: For, Saints and Angels have but enough for them&s;elves. Make ha&s;te to begin to have the&s;e &s;pirituall graces; To de&s;ire them, is to begin to have them: But make not too much ha&s;te in the way; Doe not thinke thy &s;elfe purer then thou art, becau&s;e thou &s;ee&s;t another doe &s;ome &s;uch &s;ins, as thou ha&s;t forborne.</P>
<P>Beloved, at la&s;t, when Chri&s;t Je&s;us comes with his &s;cales, thou &s;halt not be waighed with that man, but every man &s;hall be waighed with God: <HI>Be pure as your Father in hea|ven is pure,</HI> is the waight that mu&s;t try us all; and then, the pure&s;t of us all, that tru&s;ts to his owne purity, mu&s;t heare that fearfull <HI>Mene Tekel Vphar&s;in,</HI> Thou art waighed, Thou art found too light, Thou art divided, &s;eparated from the face of God, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t not taken the purity of that Son upon thee, who not onely in him&s;elfe, but tho&s;e al&s;o who are in him, in him are pure, as his, and their Father in heaven is pure. Neither make &s;o much ha&s;te to this &s;pirituall riches, and health, as to think thy &s;elf whole before thou art: Neither murmure, nor de&s;paire of thy recovery, if thou bee&s;t not whole &s;o &s;oone as thou de&s;ired&s;t. If thou wra&s;tle with tentations, and can&s;t not overcome them, If thou purpo&s;e to pray earne&s;tly, and finde thy minde pre&s;ently &s;trayed from that pur|po&s;e, If thou intend a good cour&s;e, and meet with &s;tops in the way, If thou &s;eeke peace
<PB N="521" REF="278" MS="y">of con&s;cience, and &s;cruples out of zeale interrupt that, yet di&s;comfort not thy &s;elfe. God <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 span"> in the Creation, before he came to make thee; yet all that while he wrought for thee. Thy Regeneration, to make thee a new creature, is a greater worke then that, and it cannot be done in an in&s;tant. God hath purpo&s;ed a buil|ding in thee; he hath &s;at down, and con&s;idered,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 14.28.</NOTE> that he hath &s;ufficient to accompli&s;h that building, as it is in the Go&s;pel, and therefore leave him to his lei&s;ure.</P>
<P>When thou ha&s;t begun with <HI>David,</HI> with a <HI>Domine ne arguas,</HI> O Lord rebuke me not, and followed that, with a <HI>Domine mi&s;erere,</HI> O Lord looke graciou&s;ly towards me, and pur&s;ued that, with a <HI>Domine &s;ana me,</HI> O Lord heale me, If thou finde a <HI>Domine u&s;qucquo?</HI> Any degree of wearine&s;&s;e of attending the Lords lei&s;ure, ari&s;ing in thee, &s;uppre&s;&s;e it, over|come it, with more and more petitions, and that which God did by way of Comman|dement, in the fir&s;t Creation, doe thou by way of prayer, in this thy &s;econd Creation; Fir&s;t he &s;aid, <HI>Piat lux, Let there be light:</HI> Pray thou, that he would enlighten thy dark|ne&s;&s;e. God was &s;atisfied with that light for three daies, and then he &s;aid, <HI>Fiant luminaria, Let there be great lights;</HI> Ble&s;&s;e God for his pre&s;ent light, but yet pray that hee will in|large that light which he hath given thee; And turne all tho&s;e his Commandments into prayers, till thou come to his <HI>Faciamus hominem, Let us make man according to our own Image;</HI> Pray that he will re&s;tore his Image in thee, and conforme thee to him, who is <HI>the Image of the invi&s;ible God,</HI> our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;&s;. 1.15.</NOTE> He did his greate&s;t work upon thee, before time was, thine Election; And he hath re&s;erved the confumma|tion of that work, till time &s;hall be no more, thy Glorification: And as forthy Vocati|on he hath taken his own time, (He did not call thee into the world in the time of the Primitive Church, nor, perchance, call thee effectually, though in the Church, in the dayes of thy youth) So &s;tay his time for thy Sanctification, and, if the day-&s;pring from on high have vi&s;ited thee, but this morning, If thou bee&s;t come to a <HI>fiat lux</HI> but now, that now God have kindled &s;ome light in thee, hee may come this day &s;eaven-night to a <HI>&s;iant luminaria,</HI> to multiply this light by a more powerfull meanes. If not &s;o &s;oone, yet &s;till remember, that it was God that made the Sun &s;tand &s;till to <HI>Io&s;haah,</HI> as well as to run his race as a Giant to <HI>David;</HI> And God was as much glorified in the &s;tanding &s;till of the Sun, as in the motion thereof; And &s;hall be &s;o in thy Sanctification, though it &s;eeme to &s;tand at a &s;tay for a time, when his time &s;hall be to perfect it, in a mea&s;ure acceptable to thee. Nothing is acceptable to him, but that which is &s;ea&s;onable; nor &s;ea&s;onable, except it come in the time proper to it: And, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Natura rei e&s;t, quam indidit Deus,</HI> That is the nature of every thing, which God hath imprinted in it, So that is the time for every thing, which God hath appointed for it. <HI>Pray,</HI> and <HI>Stay,</HI> are two ble&s;&s;ed Mono&s;y lables; To a&s;cend to God, To attend Gods de&s;cent to us, is the Motion, and the Re&s;t of a Chri&s;tian; And as all Motion is for Re&s;t, &s;o let all the Moti|ons of our &s;oule in our prayers to God be, that our wills may re&s;t in his, and that all that plea&s;es him, may plea&s;e us, therefore becau&s;e it plea&s;es him; for therefore, becau&s;e it plea&s;es him, it becomes good for us, and then, when it plea&s;es him, it becomes &s;ea&s;ona|ble unto us, and expedient for us.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="52" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="522" REF="279">
<HEAD>SERM. LII. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 6.4, 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Returne, O Lord; Deliver my &s;oule; O Lord &s;ave me, for thy mercies &s;ake.</P>
<P>For in Death there is no Remembrance of thee; and in the Grave, who &s;hall give thee thanks?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe whole P&s;alme is Prayer; and Prayer is our whole &s;ervice to God. Ear|ne&s;t Prayer hath the nature of Importunity; Wee pre&s;&s;e, wee importune God in Prayer; Yet that puts not God to a moro&s;ity, to a frowardne&s;&s;e; God flings not away from that; God &s;uffers that importunity, and more. Prayer hath the nature of Impudency; Wee threaten God in Prayer; as <HI>Gregor: Nazi:</HI> adventures to expre&s;&s;e it; He &s;aies, his Si&s;ter, in the vehemence of her Prayer, would threaten God, <HI>Et hone&s;ta quadam impudentiae, egit impudentem;</HI> She came, &s;aies he, to a religious impudency with God, and to threaten him, that &s;he would never depart from his Altar, till &s;he had her Petition granted; And God &s;uffers this Impudency, and more. Prayer hath the nature of Violence; In the publique Prayers of the Congre|gation, we be&s;iege God, &s;aies <HI>Tertul:</HI> and we take God Pri&s;oner, and bring God to our Conditions; and God is glad to be &s;traitned by us in that &s;iege. This Prophet here executes before, what the Apo&s;tle coun&s;ailes after, <HI>Pray ince&s;&s;antly;</HI> Even in his &s;inging he prayes; And as S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Etiam &s;omniaju&s;torum preces &s;unt,</HI> A Good mans dreames are Prayers, he prayes, and not &s;leepily, in his &s;leepe, &s;o <HI>Davids</HI> Songs are Prayers. Now in this his be&s;ieging of God, he brings up his works from a far off, clo&s;er; He begins in this P&s;alme, at a deprecatory Prayer; He asks nothing, but that God would doe nothing, that he would forbeare him; <HI>Rebuke me not, Correct me not.</HI> Now, it co&s;ts the King le&s;&s;e, to give a Pardon, then to give a Pen&s;ion; and le&s;&s;e to give a Reprieve, then to give a Pardon; and le&s;&s;e to Connive, not to call in Que&s;tion, then either Reprieve, Pardon or Pen&s;ion; To forbeare, is not much. But then, as the Mathematician &s;aid, That he could make an Engin, a Screw, that &s;hould move the whole frame of the World, if he could have a place a&s;&s;igned him, to fix that Engin, that Screw upon, that &s;o it might worke upon the World: &s;o Prayer, when one Petition hath taken hold upon God, works upon God, moves God, prevailes with God, entirely for all. <HI>David</HI> then having got this ground, this footing in God, he brings his works clo&s;er; he comes from the Depreca|tory, to a Po&s;tulatory Prayer; not onely that God would doe nothing again&s;t him, but that he would doe &s;omething for him. God hath &s;uffered man to &s;ee <HI>Arcana imperii,</HI> The &s;ecrets of his State, how he governs; He governs by Precedent; by precedents of his Predece&s;&s;ors, he cannot; He hath none; by precedents of other Gods, he cannot; There are none; And yet he proceeds by precedents; by his owne Precedents; He does as he did before; <HI>Habenti dat,</HI> To him that hath received, hee gives more, and is willing to bee wrought, and prevailed upon, and pre&s;t with his owne example. And, as though his do|ing good, were but to learne how to do good better, &s;till he writes after his owne copy; And <HI>Nulla dies &s;ine linea,</HI> He writes &s;omething to us, that is, hee doth &s;omething for us, every day. And then, that which is not often &s;eene, in other Ma&s;ters, his Copies are better then the Originals; his later mercies larger then his former: And in this Po&s;tula|tory Prayer, larger then the Deprecatory, enters our Text, <HI>Returne O Lord; Deliver my &s;oule; O &s;ave me,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> who every where remembers God of his Covenant, as he was the <HI>God of A|braham,</HI> remembers al&s;o, how <HI>Abraham</HI> proceeded with God, in the behalfe of Sodom; And he remembers, that when <HI>Abraham</HI> had gained upon God, and brought him from a greater, to a le&s;&s;e number of righteous men, for who&s;e &s;akes God would have &s;pared
<PB N="523" REF="279">that City, yet <HI>Abraham</HI> gave over asking, before God gave over granting; And &s;o So|dom was lo&s;t. A little more of S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Importunity, of <HI>Nazi:</HI> Impudence, of <HI>Tertul:</HI> violence in Prayer, would have done well in <HI>Abraham;</HI> If <HI>Abraham</HI> had come to a le&s;&s;e price, to le&s;&s;e then ten, God knowes what God would have done; for <HI>God went not away,</HI> &s;aies the text there, <HI>till he had left communing with Abraham;</HI> that is, till <HI>Abraham</HI> had no more to &s;ay to him. In memory and contemplation of that, <HI>David</HI> gives not over in this text, till he come to the utter mo&s;t of all, as far as man can aske, as far as God can give; He begins at fir&s;t, with a <HI>Revertere Domine, Returne O Lord,</HI> and higher then that, no man can begin; no man can begin at a <HI>Veni Domine;</HI> no man can pray to God, to come, till God be come into him; <HI>Quid peto, ut venias in me,</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Augu&s;t: Qui non e&s;&s;em, &s;i none&s;&s;es in me?</HI> How &s;hould I pray, that God would come into me, who not onely could not have the Spirit of praying, but not the Spirit of being, not life it &s;elfe, if God were not in me already? But then, this prayer is, that when God had been with him, and for his &s;ins, or his coldne&s;&s;e, and &s;lackne&s;&s;e in prayer, was departed a&s;ide from him, yet he would vouch&s;afe to returne to him againe, and re&s;tore to him that light of his countenance which he had before, <HI>Revertere Domine, O Lord returne.</HI> And then he pa&s;|&s;es to his &s;econd petition, <HI>Eripe animam, Deliver my &s;oule;</HI> That when God in his re|turne &s;aw tho&s;e many and &s;trong &s;nares which entangled him, tho&s;e many and deepe tentations and tribulations which &s;urrounded him, God, being in his mercy thus Re|turned, and in his Providence &s;eing this danger, would not now &s;tand neutrall, betweene them, and &s;ee him, and the&s;e tentations fight it our, but fight on his &s;ide and deli|ver him; <HI>Eripe animam, Deliver my &s;oule.</HI> And then, by the&s;e two petitions, hee makes way for the third and la&s;t, which is the perfection and con&s;ummation of all, as far as he can carry a Prayer or a De&s;ire, <HI>Salvum me fac, O Lord &s;ave me;</HI> that is, Imprint in me a &s;trong hope of Salvation in this life, and inve&s;t me in an irremoveable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, in the life to come. Lord I acknowledge that thou ha&s;t vi&s;ited me heretofore, and for my &s;ins ha&s;t ab&s;ented thy &s;elfe, <HI>O Lord returne;</HI> Lord, now thou art returned, and &s;ee&s;t me unable to &s;tand in the&s;e tentations and tribulations, <HI>Deliver thou my &s;oule;</HI> Lord thou ha&s;t delivered me againe and againe, and againe and againe I fall back to my former danger, and therefore, <HI>O Lord &s;ave me,</HI> place me where I may be &s;afe; &s;afe in a con&s;tant hope, that the Saviour of the World intended that &s;alvation to me; And the&s;e three Pe|titions con&s;titute our fir&s;t part in <HI>Davids</HI> po&s;tulatory Prayer.</P>
<P>And then the &s;econd part, which is al&s;o within the words of this text, and con&s;i&s;ts of tho&s;e rea&s;ons, by which <HI>David</HI> inclines God to grant his three Petitions, which are two, fir&s;t, <HI>Propter mi&s;ericordiam tuam,</HI> Do this O Lord, <HI>for thine own mercy &s;ake,</HI> And then, <HI>Quia non in morte,</HI> Doe it O Lord, for thine owne honours &s;ake, <HI>Becau&s;e in death there is no remembrance of thee,</HI> that &s;econd part will be the &s;ubject of another exerci&s;e, for, that which belongs to the three Petitions, will imploy the time allowed for this.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, the fir&s;t &s;tep in this Prayer, <HI>Revertere, O Lord return,</HI> implies fir&s;t a former pre|&s;ence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revertere.</NOTE> and then a pre&s;ent ab&s;ence, and al&s;o a confidence for the future; Who&s;oever &s;aies, <HI>O Lord returne,</HI> &s;ayes all this, Lord thou wa&s;t here, Lord thou art departed hence, but yet, Lord thou maie&s;t returne hither againe. God was with us all, before we were any thing at all; And ever &s;ince our making, hath beene with us, in his generall providence; And &s;o, we cannot &s;ay, <HI>O Lord Returne,</HI> becau&s;e, &s;o, he was never gone from us. But as God made the earth, and the fruits thereof, before he made the Sun, who&s;e force was to work upon that earth, and upon the naturall fruits of that earth, but before he made Paradi&s;e, which was to have the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge, he made the Sun to doe tho&s;e offices, of &s;hining upon it, and returning daily to it: So God makes this earth of ours, that is our &s;elves, by naturall wayes, and &s;u&s;taines us by generall providence, be|fore any Son of particular grace be &s;eene to &s;hine upon us. But before man can be a Pa|radi&s;e, po&s;&s;e&s;t of the Tree of life, and of Knowledge, this Sun is made and produced, the particular graces of God ri&s;e to him, and worke upon him, and awaken, and &s;olicite, and exalt tho&s;e naturall faculties which were in him; This Son fils him, and fits him, com|pa&s;&s;es him, and di&s;po&s;es him, and does all the offices of the Sun, &s;ea&s;onably, opportune|ly, maturely, for the nouri&s;hing of his &s;oule, according to the &s;everall nece&s;&s;ities thereof. And this is Gods returning to us, in a generall apprehen&s;ion; After he hath made us, and ble&s;t us in our nature, and by his naturall meanes, he returnes to make us againe, to make us better, fir&s;t by his fir&s;t preventing grace, and then by a &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of his particular
<PB N="524" REF="280">graces. And therefore we mu&s;t returne to this Returning, in &s;ome more particular con|&s;iderations.</P>
<P>There are be&s;ide others, three &s;ignifications in the Scripture, of this word <HI>Shubah,</HI> which is here tran&s;lated, to <HI>Returne,</HI> appliable to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e. The fir&s;t is the naturall and native, the primary and radicall &s;ignification of the word. And &s;o, <HI>Shubah, To Returne,</HI> is <HI>Redire ad locum &s;uum,</HI> To returne to that place, to which a thing is natural|ly affected; So heavy things returne to the Center, and light things returne to the Ex|pan&s;ion; So <HI>Mans breath departeth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 146.4.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>David, Et redit in terr am &s;uam, He returnes into his Earth;</HI> That earth, which is &s;o much his, as that it is he him&s;elfe; Of earth he was, and therefore to earth he returnes. But can God returne in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as this? Can we finde an <HI>Vbi</HI> for God? A place that is his place? Yes; And an Earth which is his earth; <HI>Surely the vineyard of the Lord of Ho&s;ts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 5.</NOTE> <HI>is the hou&s;e of I&s;rael, and the men of Iudah are his plea&s;ant plant.</HI> So the Church, which is his Vineyard, is his <HI>Vbi,</HI> his place, his Center, to which he is naturally affected. And when he calls us hither, and meets us here, upon his Sabbaths, and &s;heds the promi&s;es of his Go&s;pel upon the Congregation in his Ordi|nance, he returnes to us here, as in his <HI>Vbi,</HI> as in his own place. And as he hath a place of his owne here, &s;o he hath an Earth of his owne in this place. Our fle&s;h is Earth, and God hath inve&s;ted our fle&s;h, and in that fle&s;h of ours, which &s;uffered death for us, he re|turnes to us in this place, as often as he maketh us partakers of his fle&s;h, and his bloud, in the ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament. So then, though in my dayes of &s;inne, God have ab&s;ented him&s;elfe from me, (for God is ab&s;ent when I doe not di&s;cerne his pre&s;ence) yet if to day I can heare his voyce, as God is returned to day to this place, as to his <HI>Vbi,</HI> as to his own place; &s;o in his entring into me, in his fle&s;h and bloud, he returnes to me as to his Earth, that Earth which he hath made his by a&s;&s;uming my nature, I am become his <HI>Vbi,</HI> his place; <HI>Delitiae ejus, His delight is to be with the &s;onnes of men,</HI> and &s;o with me; and &s;o in the Church, in the Sermon, in the Sacrament he returnes to us, in the fir&s;t &s;ignification of this word <HI>Shubah,</HI> as to that place to which he is naturally affected and di&s;po&s;ed.</P>
<P>In a &s;econd &s;ignification, this word is referred, not to the place of God, not to the per&s;on of God, but (if we may &s;o &s;peake) to the Pa&s;&s;ion of God, to the Anger of God; And &s;o, the Returning of God, that is, of Gods Anger, is the allaying, the becalming, the departing of his Anger; and &s;o when God returnes, God &s;tayes; his Anger is retur|ned from us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 5.25.</NOTE> but God is &s;till with us. <HI>The wrath of the Lord was kindled,</HI> &s;ayes the Pro|phet <HI>E&s;ay;</HI> and <HI>He &s;mote his people, &s;o that the mountaines trembled, and their carka&s;&s;es were torne in the mid&s;t of the &s;treets.</HI> Here is the tempe&s;t, here is the vi&s;itation, here is Gods comming to them; He comes, but in anger, and we heare of no returne; nay, we heare the contrary, <HI>Et non redibat furor,</HI> For all this, his wrath, his fury did not returne, that is, did not depart from them; for, as God never comes in this manner, till our multiplied &s;innes call him, and importune him, &s;o God never returnes in this &s;en&s;e, in withdrawing his anger and judgements from us, till both our words and our works, our prayers and our amendment of life, joyne in a <HI>Revertere Domine, O Lord Returne,</HI> withdraw this judgement from us, for it hath effected thy purpo&s;e upon us. And &s;o the Originall, which expre&s;&s;es neither &s;ignification of the word, for it is neither Returne to me, nor Returne from me, but plainely and onely Returne, leaves the &s;en&s;e indifferent; Lord, thou ha&s;t withdrawne thy &s;elfe from me, therefore in mercy returne to me, or el&s;e, Lord, thy Judgements are heavy upon me, and therefore returne, withdraw the&s;e Judgements from me; which &s;hewes the ductilene&s;&s;e, the appliablene&s;&s;e of Gods mercy, that yeelds almo&s;t to any forme of words, any words &s;eeme to fit it.</P>
<P>But then, the comfort of Gods returning to us, comes neare&s;t us, in the third &s;ignifi|cation of this word <HI>Shubah;</HI> not &s;o much in Gods returning to us, nor in his anger re|turning from us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 80.3.</NOTE> as in our returning to him, <HI>Turne us againe, O Lord,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David, Et &s;alvi erimus, and we &s;hall be &s;aved;</HI> There goes no more to &s;alvation, but &s;uch a Turning. So that this Returning of the Lord, is an Operative, an Effectuall returning, that turnes our hearts, and eyes, and hands, and feet to the wayes of God, and produces in us Repen|tance, and Obedience. For the&s;e be the two legges, which our conver&s;ion to God &s;tands upon;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.2.</NOTE> For &s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> u&s;es this very word, <HI>Returne unto the Lord and heare his voyce;</HI> There is no returning, without hearing, nor hearing without beleeving, nor beleeving, to be beleeved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 11.21.</NOTE> without doing; Returning is all the&s;e. Therefore where Chri&s;t &s;aies, <HI>That if tho&s;e works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, Tyre and Sidon would have repented in &s;ack|cloth
<PB N="525" REF="280">and a&s;hes;</HI> In the Syriack Tran&s;lation of S. <HI>Matthew,</HI> we have this very word <HI>Shu|bah,</HI> They would have <HI>Returned in &s;ack-cloth and a&s;hes.</HI> So that the word which <HI>David</HI> receives from the Holy Gho&s;t in this Text, being onely <HI>Returned,</HI> and no more, applies it &s;elfe to all three &s;en&s;es, Returne thy &s;elfe, that is, Bring backe thy Mercy; Returne thy Wrath, that is, Call backe thy Judgements, or Returne us to thee, that is, make thy meanes, and offers of grace, in thine Ordinance, powerfull, and effectuall upon us.</P>
<P>Now when the Lord comes to us, by any way, though he come in corrections, in cha&s;ti&s;ements, not to turne to him, is an irreverent, and unre&s;pective negligence. If a Pur&s;evant, if a Serjeant come to thee from the King, in any Court of Ju&s;tice, though hee come to put thee in trouble, to call thee to an account, yet thou receive&s;t him, thou en|tertaine&s;t him, thou paie&s;t him fees. If any Me&s;&s;enger of the Lord come to attach thee, whether &s;ickne&s;&s;e in thy body, by thine own di&s;order, decay in thy e&s;tate, by the op|pre&s;&s;ion of others, or terrour in thy Con&s;cience, by the preaching of his Mini&s;ters, turne thou to the Lord, in the la&s;t &s;en&s;e of the word, and his mercy &s;hall returne to thee, and his anger &s;hall returne from thee, and thou &s;halt have fulne&s;&s;e of Con&s;olation in all the three &s;ignifications of the word. If a Worme be trodden upon, it turnes againe; We may thinke, that is done in anger, and to revenge; But we know not; The Worme hath no &s;ting, and it may &s;eeme as well to embrace, and licke his foote that treads upon him. When God treads upon thee, in any calamity, &s;pirituall or temporall, if thou turne with murmuring, this is the turning of a Serpent, to &s;ting God, to bla&s;pheme him; This is a turning upon him, not a turning to him; But if thou turne like a Worme, then thou turne&s;t humbly to ki&s;&s;e the rod, to licke and embrace his foot that treads upon thee, that is, to love his Mini&s;ters, which denounce his judgements upon thy &s;innes, yea, to love them, from whom thou receive&s;t defamation in thy credit, or detriment in thy &s;tate.</P>
<P>We &s;ee how it was imputed to <HI>A&s;a,</HI> when God trod upon him, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chro. 16.12.</NOTE> di&s;ea&s;ed him in his feete, and exalted his di&s;ea&s;e into extremity, <HI>Yet in his di&s;ea&s;e he &s;ought not to the Lord, but to the Phy&s;itians.</HI> He turned a by-way; at lea&s;t, though a right way, too &s;oone, to the Phy&s;itian before the Lord. This is that, that exa&s;perated God &s;o vehemently,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 9.13.</NOTE> <HI>Be|cau&s;e the people turneth not to him that &s;miteth them; neither do they &s;eeke the Lord of Ho&s;ts;</HI> when the Lord of Ho&s;ts lies with a heavy Army upon them. <HI>Therefore,</HI> &s;ayes the Pro|phet there, <HI>The Lord will cut off from I&s;rael, head and tayle, branch and ru&s;h in one day.</HI> God is not &s;o vehement, when they neglected him in their pro&s;perity, as when, though he afflicted them, yet they turned not to him. Mea&s;ure God by earthly Princes; (for we may mea&s;ure the world by a Barly corne) If the King come to thy hou&s;e, thou wilt pro|fe&s;&s;e to take it for an honour, and thou wilt entertaine him; and yet his comming cannot be without removes, and troubles, and charges to thee. So when God comes to thee, in his word, or in his actions, in a Sermon, or in a &s;ickne&s;&s;e, though his comming di&s;|lodge thee, remove thee, put thee to &s;ome inconvenience, in leaving thy bed of &s;inne, where thou did&s;t &s;leepe &s;ecurely before, yet here is the progre&s;&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, in|tended to thy &s;oule, that fir&s;t he comes thus to thee, and then if thou turne to him, he returnes to thee, and &s;ettles him&s;elfe, and dwels in thee.</P>
<P>This is too lovely a Pro&s;pect, to depart &s;o &s;oone from; therefore looke we by S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tines</HI> gla&s;&s;e, upon Gods comming and returning to man. God hath imprinted his I|mage in our &s;oules; and God comes, &s;ayes that Father, <HI>Vt videat imaginem;</HI> Where I have given my Picture, I would &s;ee how it is re&s;pected: God comes to &s;ee in what ca&s;e his Image is in us; If we &s;hut doores, if we draw Curtaines between him and his Image, that is, cover our &s;oules, and di&s;gui&s;e and palliate our &s;innes, he goes away, and returnes in none of tho&s;e former &s;en&s;es. But if we lay them open, by our free confe&s;&s;ions, he re|turnes againe; that &s;o, in how ill ca&s;e &s;oever he finde his Image, he may wa&s;h it over with our teares, and renew it with his own bloud, and, <HI>Vt re&s;culpat imaginem,</HI> that he may refre&s;h and re-engrave his Image in us againe, and put it in a richer and &s;afer Tablet. And as the Angel which came to <HI>Abraham</HI> at the promi&s;e and conception of <HI>I&s;aac,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.10.</NOTE> gave <HI>Abraham</HI> a farther a&s;&s;urance of his Returne at <HI>I&s;aaes</HI> birth, <HI>I will certainly returne unto thee, and thy wife &s;hall have a Sonne;</HI> So the Lord, which was with thee in the fir&s;t conception of any good purpo&s;e, Returnes to thee againe, to give thee a quickning of that ble&s;&s;ed childe of his, and againe, and againe, to bring it forth, and to bring it up, to accompli&s;h and perfect tho&s;e good intentions, which his Spirit, by over-&s;hadowing thy &s;oule, hath formerly begotten in it. So then, he comes in Nature, and he returnes in
<PB N="526" REF="281">Grace; He comes in preventing, and returnes in &s;ub&s;equent graces; He comes in thine under&s;tanding, and returnes in thy will; He comes in rectifying thine actions, and returns in e&s;tabli&s;hing habits; He comes to thee in zeale, and returnes in di&s;cretion; He comes to thee in fervour, and returnes in per&s;everance; He comes to thee in thy peregrination, all the way, and he returns in thy tran&s;migration, at thy la&s;t ga&s;pe. So God comes, and &s;o God returnes.</P>
<P>Yet I am loath to depart my &s;elfe, loath to di&s;mi&s;&s;e you from this ayre of Paradi&s;e, of Gods comming, and returning to us. Therefore we con&s;ider againe, that as God came long agoe, &s;ix thou&s;and years agoe, in nature, when we were created in <HI>Adam,</HI> and then in nature returned to us, in the generation of our Parents: &s;o our Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us came to us long agoe, &s;ixteene hundred yeares agoe, in grace, and yet in grace returnes to us, as often as he a&s;&s;embles us, in the&s;e holy Convocations. He came to us then, as the Wi&s;emen came to him, with trea&s;ure, and gifts, and gold, and incen&s;e, and myrrhe; As having an ambition upon the &s;oules of men, he came with that abundant trea&s;ure to pur|cha&s;e us. And as to them who live upon the Kings Pen&s;ion, it is &s;ome comfort to heare that the Exchequer is full, that the Kings moneyes are come in: &s;o is it to us, to know that there is enough in Gods hands, paid by his Son, for the di&s;charge of all our debts; He gave enough for us all at that comming; But it is his returning to us, that applyes to us, and derives upon us in particular, the benefit of this generall &s;atisfaction. When he re|turns to us in the di&s;pen&s;ation and di&s;tribution of his graces, in his Word and Sacraments; When he calls upon us to come to the receipt; When the greater the &s;umme is, the gladder he is of our comming, that where &s;inne abounds, grace might abound too; When we can pur&s;ue this Prayer, <HI>Revertere Domine,</HI> Returne O Lord in grace, in more and more grace, and when we are in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a good mea&s;ure of that grace, we can pray againe, <HI>Revertere Domine,</HI> Returne O Lord in glory, Come Lord Je&s;us, come quick|ly; When we are &s;o rectified by his Ordinances here, that in a &s;incerity of &s;oule, we are not onely contented, but de&s;irous to depart from hence, then have we religiou&s;ly follow|ed our example, that man according to Gods heart, <HI>David,</HI> in this prayer of his. If Chri&s;t have not beene thus fully in thine heart, before, this is his comming; entertaine him now: If he have been there, and gone againe, this is his returning; ble&s;&s;e him for that: And meet him, and love him, and embrace him, as often as he offers him&s;elfe to thy &s;oule, in the&s;e his Ordinances: Wi&s;h every day a Sunday, and every meale a Sa|crament, and every di&s;cour&s;e a Homily, and he &s;hall &s;hine upon thee in all dark wayes, and rectifie thee in all ragged wayes, and direct thee in all cro&s;&s;e wayes, and &s;top thee in all doubtfull wayes, and returne to thee in every corner, and relieve thee in every danger, and arme thee even again&s;t him&s;elfe, by advancing thy worke, in which thou be&s;iege&s;t him, that is, this Prayer, and enabling thee to prevaile upon him, as in this fir&s;t Peti|tion, <HI>Revertere Domine, O Lord returne,</HI> &s;o in that which followes next, <HI>Eripe animam, Deliver my &s;oule.</HI></P>
<P>In this Prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eripo anima~.</NOTE> we may either con&s;ider <HI>David</HI> in that affection which S. <HI>Paul</HI> had when he de&s;ired to be delivered <HI>ab angelo Satanae,</HI> from the me&s;&s;enger of Satan that buffeted him, that &s;o that <HI>Stimulus carnis</HI> which he &s;peaks of, that vexation, and provocation of the fle&s;h, might have been utterly removed from him, whereby he might have pa&s;t his life in Gods &s;ervice in a religious calme, without any &s;torme, or oppo&s;ition, or contra|diction ari&s;ing in his fle&s;h: Or we may con&s;ider it as a Prayer agreeable to that Petition in our Lords Prayer, <HI>Libera nos &agrave; malo, Deliver us from evill;</HI> which is not from being at|tempted by evill, but by being &s;wallowed up by it. <HI>Eripe me,</HI> may be, Deliver me from rebellions, or Deliver me in rebellions; Either that they come not, or that they over|come not.</P>
<P>In that prayer of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> that God would remove <HI>Angelum Satanae,</HI> and take away <HI>Stimulum carnis,</HI> fir&s;t, S. <HI>Paul</HI> is not ea&s;ily under&s;tood, and then, it may be, not &s;afely imi|tated. It is hard to know what S. <HI>Paul</HI> means in his Prayer, and it may be dangerous to pray as he prayed. For the actions of no man, how holy &s;oever, till we come to Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, lay &s;uch an obligation upon us, as that we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily doe as t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">y did. Nay the actions of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe lay not that obligation upon us, to fa&s;t as he fa&s;ted; no nor to pray as he prayed. A man is not bound in an Affliction, or Per&s;ecution, at lea&s;t at all times, to that Prayer, <HI>Si po&s;sibile,</HI> or <HI>Tran&s;eat calix,</HI> If it be po&s;&s;ible let this cup pa&s;&s;e; But if God vouch&s;afe him a holy con&s;tancy, to goe through with his Mar|tyrdome,
<PB N="527" REF="281">he may proceed in it without any &s;uch Deprecation to God, or Petition to the Judge.</P>
<P>But fir&s;t, before we con&s;ider whether he might be imitated, if we under&s;tood him, we find it hard to under&s;tand him. S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> free confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Se ne&s;cire quid &s;it angelus Sa|tanae,</HI> That he never under&s;tood what S. <HI>Paul</HI> meant by that <HI>Me&s;&s;enger of Satan,</HI> is more ingenuous then their interpretation, who, I know not upon what Tradition, referre it to an extreame paine in the head, that S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;hould have, as <HI>Theophylact</HI> &s;ayes; or refer it <HI>Ad morbum Iliacum,</HI> which <HI>Aquinas</HI> &s;peaks of, or to the Gout, or pains in the Stomach, as <HI>Nazianzen,</HI> and <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> interpret it. <HI>Oecumenius</HI> under&s;tands this <HI>Angel,</HI> this <HI>Me&s;&s;enger of Satan,</HI> to be tho&s;e Heretiques, which were his Adver&s;aries, in his preaching of the Go|&s;pel; according to that &s;ignification of the word <HI>Satan,</HI> in which <HI>Solomon</HI> u&s;es it to <HI>Hi|ram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 5.4.</NOTE> <HI>Non e&s;t mihi Satan, I have no Adver&s;ary.</HI> Others, even among&s;t the Fathers, under|&s;tand it particularly, and literally, of that concupi&s;cence, and tho&s;e lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h, which even the mo&s;t &s;anctified men may have &s;ome &s;en&s;e of, and &s;ome attempts by. Others under&s;tand it generally of all calamities, &s;pirituall, and temporall, incident to us in this life. But <HI>Cajetan</HI> goes farthe&s;t, who reads it not as we do, <HI>Angelum Satanae,</HI> but <HI>Angelum Sata|nam;</HI> not that Angel which comes from Satan, but that Angel that is Satan him&s;elfe. So that he conceives it to be a prayer again&s;t all tentations and tribulations here, and hereaf|ter, which the Devill or the Devils In&s;truments can frame again&s;t us.</P>
<P>Now, if we think we under&s;tand it aright, in under&s;tanding it &s;o generally, then enters our &s;econd doubt, whether we may imitate S. <HI>Paul</HI> in &s;o generall a prayer. We di|&s;pute in the Schoole, whether, if it were in his powerto doe it, man might lawfully de|&s;troy any intire &s;pecies of creatures in the world, though offen&s;ive, and venerhous, as Vi|pers, or Scorpions. For every &s;pecies being a link of Gods great chaine, and a limb of his great creature, the whole world, it &s;eemes not to be put into our power, to break his chaine, and take out a link, to maime his great creature, and cut off a limb, by de&s;troy|ing any intire &s;pecies, if we could. So neither does it &s;oeme conduceable to Gods pur|po&s;es in us, (which is the rule of all our prayers) to pray utterly again&s;t all tentations, as vehemently as again&s;t &s;ins. God &s;hould lo&s;e by it, and we &s;hould lo&s;e by it, if we had no tentations; for God is glorified in tho&s;e victories, which we, by his grace, gaine over the Devill. <HI>Ne&s;cit Diabolus, quant a bona de illo fiunt, etiam cum &s;aevit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Little knowes the Devill, how much good he does us, when he tempts us; for by that we are excited to have our pre&s;ent recour&s;e to that God, whom in our former &s;ecurity, we neglected, who gives us the i&s;&s;ue with the tentation. <HI>Ego novi quid appo&s;uerim,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> I know what infirmities I I have &s;ubmitted thee to, and what I have laid and applied to thee. <HI>Ego novi unde aegro|tes, ego novi unde &s;aneris;</HI> I know thy &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and I know thy phy&s;ick. <HI>Sufficit tibi gratiamea;</HI> What&s;oever the di&s;ea&s;e be, my grace &s;hall be &s;ufficient to cure it. For whe|ther we under&s;tand that, as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> does, <HI>De gratia miraculorum,</HI> That it is &s;uffi|cient for any mans a&s;&s;urance, in any tentation, or tribulation, to con&s;ider Gods miracu|lous deliverances of other men, in the like ca&s;es; or whether we under&s;tand it according to the generall voyce of the Interpreters, that is, Be content that there remaine in thy fle&s;h, Matter and Subject for me to produce glory from thy weakne&s;&s;e, and Matter and Subject for thee to exerci&s;e thy faith and allegeance to me, &s;till the&s;e words will carry an argument again&s;t the expedience of ab&s;olute praying again&s;t all tentations; for &s;till, this <HI>Gratiamea &s;ufficit,</HI> will import this, amount to this, I have as many Antidotes, as the Devill hath poi&s;ons, I have as much mercy as the Devill hath malice; There mu&s;t be Scorpions in the world; but the Scorpion &s;hall cure the Scorpion; there mu&s;t be ten|tations; but tentations &s;hall adde to mine, and to thy glory, and, <HI>Eripiam,</HI> I will deli|ver thee.</P>
<P>This word is in the Originall, <HI>Chalatz;</HI> which &s;ignifies <HI>Eripere</HI> in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as our language does not fully reach in any one word. So there is &s;ome defectivene&s;&s;e, &s;ome &s;lackne&s;&s;e in this word of our Tran&s;lation, <HI>Delivering.</HI> For it is &s;uch a Delivering, as is a &s;udden catching hold, and &s;natching at the &s;oule of a man, then, when it is at the brink, and edge of a &s;in. So that if thy facility, and that which thou wilt make &s;hift to call Good Nature, or Good Manners, have put thee into the hands of that &s;ubtile woman, that <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peaks of, <HI>That is come forth to mect thee, and &s;eek thy face;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 7.10.15.</NOTE> If thou have fol|lowed her, <HI>As an Oxe goeth to the &s;laughter, and as a foole to the correction of the &s;tocks;</HI> Even then, when the Axe is over thy head, then when thou ha&s;t approacht &s;o neare to
<PB N="528" REF="282">de&s;truction, then is the &s;ea&s;on of this prayer, <HI>Eripe me Domine,</HI> Catch hold of me now O Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 39.10.</NOTE> and <HI>Deliver my &s;oule.</HI> When <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> had re&s;i&s;ted the tentations of his Ma&s;ters Wife, and re&s;i&s;ted them the onely &s;afe way, not onely not to yeeld, but as the Text &s;ayes, not to come in her company, and yet &s;he had found her opportunity when there was none in the hou&s;e but they, he came to an inward <HI>Eripe me Domine,</HI> O Lord take hold of me now, and &s;he caught, and God caught; She caught his garment, and God his &s;oule; She delivered him, and God delivered him; She to Pri&s;on, and God from thence. If thy curio&s;ity, or thy con&s;idence in thine owne &s;pirituall &s;trength, carry thee into the hou&s;e of Rimmon, to Idolatry, to a Ma&s;&s;e, tru&s;t not thou to <HI>Naamans</HI> reque&s;t, <HI>Igno&s;cat Dominus &s;ervo in bacre,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 5.</NOTE> That God will pardon thee, as often as thou doe&s;t &s;o; but &s;ince thou ha&s;t done &s;o now, now come to this <HI>Eripe animam, O Lord deliver my &s;oule</HI> now, from taking harme now, and hereafter, from expo&s;ing my &s;elfe to the like harme. For this is the purpo&s;e of <HI>Davids</HI> prayer in this &s;ignification of this word, that how&s;oe|ver infirmity, or company, or curio&s;ity, or confidence, bring us within the di&s;tance, and danger, within the Spheare, and Latitude of a tentation, that though we be not lodged in Sodome, yet we are in the Suburbs, though we be not impailed in a &s;in, yet we are within the purlues, (which is not &s;afely done; no more then it is in a State, to tru&s;t al|waies to a Defen&s;ive Warre) yet when we are ingaged, and enthralled in &s;uch a tentati|on, then, though God be not delighted with our danger, yet then is God mo&s;t delighted to help us, when we are in danger; and then, he comes not only to deliver us from that imminent, and particular danger, according to that &s;ignification of this word, but accor|ding to that Interpretation of this word, which the Septuagint have given it, in the Pro|phet <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 58.11.</NOTE> <HI>Iachalitz, Pinguefaciet;</HI> He &s;hall proceed in his worke, and <HI>make fat thy &s;oule;</HI> That is, Deliver thee now, and pre&s;erve, and e&s;tabli&s;h thee after, to the fulfilling of all, that belongs to the la&s;t Petition of this prayer, <HI>Salvum me fac, O Lord &s;ave me;</HI> Though he have been ab&s;ent, he &s;hall <HI>Returne;</HI> and being <HI>Returned,</HI> &s;hall not &s;tand &s;till, nor &s;tand Neutrall, but <HI>deliver</HI> thee; and having delivered thee, &s;hall not determine his love in that one act of mercy, but &s;hall <HI>Save thee,</HI> that is, Imprint in thee a holy confidence, that his &s;alvation is thine.</P>
<P>So then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Salvum me fac. <HI>E&s;ay 19.20.</HI></NOTE> in that manner is Gods Deliverance expre&s;t, <HI>They &s;hall cry unto him,</HI> (till wee cry, he takes no knowledge at all) <HI>and then he &s;ends to them,</HI> (there is his returning upon their cry) and then, <HI>He &s;hall deliver them,</HI> &s;ayes that Prophet; and &s;o, the two former Petitions of this prayer are an&s;wered; but the Con&s;ummation, and E&s;tabli&s;hment of all, is in the third, which followes in the &s;ame place, <HI>He &s;hall &s;end them a Saviour, and a great one.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 62.11.</NOTE> But who is that? what Saviour? Doubtle&s;&s;e he that is proclaimed by God, in the &s;ame Prophet, <HI>Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Behold thy &s;alvation commeth.</HI> For, that word which that Prophet u&s;es there, and this word, in which <HI>David</HI> pre&s;ents this la&s;t Petition here, is in both places, <HI>Ia&s;hang,</HI> and <HI>Ia&s;hang</HI> is the very word, from which the name of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> is derived; &s;o that <HI>David</HI> de&s;ires here, that &s;alvation which <HI>E&s;ay</HI> proclaimed there, &s;alvation in the Saviour of the world, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and an intere&s;t in the a&s;&s;urance of his merits.</P>
<P>We finde this name of <HI>Saviour</HI> attributed to other men in the Scriptures, then to <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> In particular di&s;tre&s;&s;es, when God rai&s;ed up men, to deliver his people &s;ometimes, tho&s;e men were &s;o called, <HI>Saviours.</HI> And &s;o S. <HI>Ierome</HI> interprets tho&s;e words of the Pro|phet, <HI>A&s;cendent &s;alvatores,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Obad. 1.21.</NOTE> <HI>Saviours &s;hall come up, on Mount Sion,</HI> of Prophets, and Preach|ers, and &s;uch other In&s;truments, as God &s;hould rai&s;e for the &s;alvation of &s;oules. Tho&s;e, whom in other places, he calls <HI>Angels of the Church,</HI> here he calls by that higher name, <HI>Saviours.</HI> But &s;uch a Saviour as is proclaimed to the ends of the world, to all the world, a Saviour in the Mountaines, in the height of pre&s;umptuous &s;ins, and a Saviour in the val|lies, in the dejection of inordinate melancholy too, A Saviour of the Ea&s;t, of ri&s;ing, and growing men, and a Saviour of the We&s;t, of withering, declining, langui&s;hing fortunes too, A Saviour in the &s;tate of nature, by having infu&s;ed the knowledge of him&s;elfe, into &s;ome men then, before the light, and help of the Law was afforded to the world, A Sa|viour in the &s;tate of the Law, by having made to &s;ome men then, even Types Accom|pli&s;hments, and Prophe&s;ies Hi&s;tories, And, as him&s;elf <HI>Cals things that are not, as though they were,</HI> So he made tho&s;e men &s;ee things that were not, as though they were, (for &s;o <HI>Abra|ham &s;aw his day and rejoyced</HI>) A Saviour in the &s;tate of the Go&s;pel, and &s;o, as that he &s;aves &s;ome there, for the fundamentall Go&s;pels &s;ake, that is, for &s;tanding fa&s;t in the funda|mentall
<PB N="529" REF="282">Articles thereof, though they may have been darkned with &s;ome ignorances, or may have &s;trayed into &s;ome errors, in &s;ome Circum&s;tantiall points, A Saviour of all the world, of all the conditions in the world, of all times through the world, of all places of the world, &s;uch a Saviour is no man called, but Chri&s;t Je&s;us only. For when it is &s;aid that <HI>Pharaoh</HI> called <HI>Io&s;eph, Salvatorem mundi,</HI> A Saviour of the world, (be&s;ides,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 41.45.</NOTE> that if it were &s;o, that which is called all the world, can be referred but to that part of the world which was then under <HI>Pharaoh;</HI> as when it is &s;aid, that <HI>Augu&s;tus taxed the world,</HI> that is in|tended <HI>De orbe Romano,</HI> &s;o much of the world, as was under the <HI>Romanes</HI>) there is a mani|fe&s;t error in that Tran&s;lation, which cals <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> &s;o, for that name which was given to <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> there, in that language in which it was given, doth truly &s;ignifie <HI>Revelatorem Secretorum,</HI> and no more, a Revealer, a Di&s;coverer, a Decypherer of &s;ecret and my&s;terious things; according to the occa&s;ion, upon which that name was then given, which was the De|cyphering, the Interpreting of <HI>Pharaohs</HI> Dreame.</P>
<P>Be this then thus e&s;tabli&s;ht, that <HI>David</HI> for our example con&s;iders, and referres all &s;al|vation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 98.2.</NOTE> to &s;alvation in Chri&s;t. As he does al&s;o where he &s;ayes after, <HI>Notum fecit &s;alutare tuum, The Lord hath made known his &s;alvation. Quid e&s;t &s;alutare tuum?</HI> &s;aies S. <HI>Ba&s;il;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.</NOTE> What is the Lords &s;alvation? And he makes a &s;afe an&s;wer out <HI>Simeons</HI> mouth, <HI>Mine eyes have &s;eene thy &s;alvation,</HI> when he had &s;een <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI> This then is he, which is not only <HI>Sat|vator populi &s;ui,</HI> The Saviour of his people, the Jews, to whom he hath betrothed him|&s;elfe, <HI>In Pacto &s;alis,</HI> A Covenant of &s;alt, an everla&s;ting Covenant: Nor onely <HI>Salvator corporis &s;ui,</HI> The Saviour of his own body, as the Apo&s;tle calls him; of that body which he hath gathered from the Gentiles, in the Chri&s;tian Church: Nor only <HI>Salvator mundi,</HI> A Saviour of the world, &s;o, as that which he did, and &s;uffered, was &s;ufficient in it &s;elfe, and was accepted by the Father, for the &s;alvation of the world; but, as <HI>Tertullian,</HI> for the mo&s;t part reads the word, he was <HI>Salutificator;</HI> not only a Saviour, becau&s;e God made him an in&s;trument of &s;alvation, as though he had no intere&s;t in our &s;alvation, till in his fle&s;h he died for us; but he is <HI>Salutificator,</HI> &s;o the Author of this &s;alvation, as that from all eternity, he was at the making of the Decree, as well as in the fulne&s;&s;e of time he was at the executing thereof. In the work of our &s;alvation, if we con&s;ider the merit, Chri&s;t was &s;ole and alone, no Father, no Holy Gho&s;t trod the Wine-pre&s;&s;e with him; And if in the work of our &s;alvation we con&s;ider the mercy, there, though Chri&s;t were not &s;ole, and alone, (for that mercy in the Decree was the joynt-act of the whole Trinity) yet even in that, Chri&s;t was equall to the Father, and the Holy Gho&s;t. So he is <HI>Salutificator,</HI> the very Author of this &s;alvation, as that when it came to the act, he, and not they, died for us; and when it was in Councell, he, as well as they, and as &s;oone as they, decreed it for us.</P>
<P>As therefore the Church of God &s;carce pre&s;ents any petition, any prayer to God, but it is &s;ub&s;cribed by Chri&s;t; the Name of Chri&s;t, is for the mo&s;t part the end, and the &s;eale of all our Collects; all our prayers in the Liturgy, (though they be but for temporall things, for Plenty, or Peace, or Faire-weather) are &s;hut up &s;o, <HI>Grant this O Lord, for our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Ie&s;us &s;ake:</HI> So <HI>David</HI> for our example, drives all his petitions in this Text, to this Conclu&s;ion, <HI>Salvum me fac, O Lord &s;ave me;</HI> that is, apply that &s;alvation, Chri&s;t Je&s;us to me. Now beloved, you may know, that your &s;elves have a part in tho&s;e means, which God u&s;es to that purpo&s;e, your &s;elves are in&s;truments, though not cau&s;es of your own &s;alvation. <HI>Salvus factus es pro nihilo, non de nihilo tamen;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> Thou bringe&s;t nothing for thy &s;alvation, yet &s;omething to thy &s;alvation; nothing worth it, but yet &s;omthing with it; Thy new Creation, by which thou art a new creature, that is, thy Regeneration, is wrought as the fir&s;t Creation was wrought. God made heaven and earth of nothing; but hee produced the other creatures, out of that matter, which he had made. Thou had&s;t nothing to doe in the fir&s;t work of thy Regeneration; Thou could&s;t not &s;o much as wi&s;h it; But in all the re&s;t, thou art a fellow-worker with God; becau&s;e, before that, there are &s;eeds of former grace &s;hed in thee. And therefore when thou comme&s;t to this la&s;t Petition, <HI>Salvum me fac, O Lord &s;ave me,</HI> remember &s;till, that thou ha&s;t &s;omething to doe, as well as to &s;ay; that &s;o thou mai&s;t have a comfortable an&s;wer in thy &s;oule, to the whole prayer, <HI>Returne O Lord, Deliver my &s;oule, and Save me.</HI> And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t Part, which was the Prayer it &s;elfe; and the &s;econd, which is the Rea&s;ons of the Prayer, we mu&s;t re&s;erve for a &s;econd exerci&s;e.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="53" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="530" REF="283">
<HEAD>SERM. LIII. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 6.4, 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Returne, O Lord; Deliver my &s;oule; O Lord &s;ave me, for thy mercie &s;ake.</P>
<P>For in Death there is no Remembrance of thee; and in the Grave, who &s;hall give thee thanks?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WEE come now to the Rea&s;ons of the&s;e Petitions, in <HI>Davids</HI> Prayer; For, as every Prayer mu&s;t bee made with faith, (I mu&s;t beleeve that God will grant my Prayer, if it conduce to his glory, and my good to doe &s;o, that is the limit of my faith) &s;o I mu&s;t have rea&s;on to ground a likelyhood, and a faire probability that that particular which I pray for, doth conduce to his glory and my good, and that therefore God is likely to grant it. <HI>Davids</HI> fir&s;t Rea&s;on here is grounded on God him&s;elfe, <HI>Propter mi&s;ericordiam,</HI> Doe it <HI>for thy mercy &s;ake;</HI> and in his &s;econd Rea&s;on, though <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe, and all men with him, &s;eeme to have a part, yet at la&s;t we &s;hall &s;ee, the Rea&s;on it &s;elfe to determine wholly and entirely in God too, and in his glory, <HI>Quoniam non in morte,</HI> Do it O Lord, <HI>For in Death there is no remem|brance of thee, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In &s;ome other places,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Propter mi|&s;ericordiam. <HI>P&s;al. 40.11.</HI></NOTE> <HI>David</HI> comes to God with two rea&s;ons, and both grounded meerely in God; <HI>Mi&s;ericordia, &amp; veritas, Let thy Mercy and thy Truth alwaies pre&s;erve me.</HI> In this place he puts him&s;elfe wholly upon his mercy, for mercy is all, or at lea&s;t, the foundation that &s;u&s;taines all, or the wall that imbraces all. That mercy, which the word of this text, <HI>Ca&s;ad</HI> imports, is <HI>Benignitas in non promeritum;</HI> Mercy is a good di&s;po&s;ition towards him, who hath de&s;erved nothing of him&s;elfe; For, where there is merit, there is no mercy. Nay, it imports more then &s;o, For mercy, as mercy, pre&s;umes not onely no merit in man, but it takes knowledge of no promi&s;e in God, properly; For that is the difference betweene Mercy and Truth, that by Mercy at fir&s;t, God would make promi&s;es to man, in generall; and then by Truth, he would performe tho&s;e promi&s;es: but Mercy goeth fir&s;t; and there <HI>David</HI> begins and grounds his Prayer, at Mercy; Mercy that can have no pre-mover, no pre-relation, but begins in it &s;elfe. For if we con&s;ider the mercy of God to mankinde &s;ub&s;equently, I meane, after the Death of Chri&s;t, &s;o it cannot bee properly called mercy. Mercy thus con&s;idered, hath a ground; And God thus con&s;ide|red, hath received a plentifull, and an abundant &s;atisfaction in the merits of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; And that which hath a ground in man, that which hath a &s;atisfaction from man, (Chri&s;t was truly Man) fals not properly, preci&s;ely, rigidly, under the name of mercy. But con|&s;ider God in his fir&s;t di&s;po&s;ition to man, after his fall, That he would vouch&s;afe to &s;tudy our Recovery, and that he would turne upon no other way, but the &s;hedding of the blood of his owne and innocent and glorious Son, <HI>Quid e&s;t homo, aut filius hominis?</HI> What was man, or all mankinde, that God &s;hould be mindfull of him &s;o, or &s;o mercifull to him? When God promi&s;es that he will be mercifull and gracious to me, if I doe his Will, when in &s;ome mea&s;ure I doe that Will of his, God begins not then to be mercifull; but his mercy was awake and at worke before, when he excited me, by that promi&s;e, to doe his Will. And after, in my performance of tho&s;e duties, his Spirit &s;eales to me a decla|ration, that his Truth is exerci&s;ed upon mee now, as his mercy was before. Still, his Truth is in the effect, in the fruit, in the execution, but the Decree, and the Roote is onely Mercy.</P>
<P>God is plea&s;ed al&s;o when we come to him with other Rea&s;ons; When we remember him of his Covenant; When we remember him of his holy &s;ervants, <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Iacob;</HI> yea when we remember him of our owne innocencie, in that particular, for
<PB N="531" REF="283">which wee may be then unju&s;tly pur&s;ued; God was glad to heare of a Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and of an Innocencie, and of cleane and pure hands in <HI>David,</HI> when hee was unju&s;tly pur&s;ued by <HI>Saul.</HI> But the roote of all is in this, <HI>Propter mi&s;ericordiam,</HI> Doe it for thy mer|cie &s;ake. For when we &s;peake of Gods Covenant, it may be mi&s;taken, who is, and who is not within that Covenant; What know I? Of Nations, and of Churches, which have received the outward profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, we may be able to &s;ay, They are within the Covenant, generally taken; But when we come to particular men in the Congregation, there I may call a Hypocrite, a Saint, and thinke an excomunicate &s;oule, to be within the Covenant; I may mi&s;take the Covenant, and I may mi&s;take Gods &s;ervants, who did, and who did not dye in his favour, What know I? We &s;ee at Executions, when men pretend to dye cheerefully for the glory of God, halfe the company will call them Traitors, and halfe Martyrs. So if we &s;peake of our owne innocency, we may have a pride in that, or &s;ome other vicious and defective re&s;pect (as uncharitablene&s;&s;e towards our malicious Per&s;ecutors, or laying &s;editious a&s;per&s;ions upon the ju&s;tice of the State) that may make us guilty towards God, though wee be truly innocent to the World, in that particular. But let mee make my recour&s;e to the mercy of God, and there can bee no errour, no mi&s;taking.</P>
<P>And therefore if that, and nothing but that be my ground, God will <HI>Returne</HI> to me, God will <HI>Deliver</HI> my &s;oule, God will <HI>Save</HI> me, <HI>For his mercy &s;ake;</HI> that is, becau&s;e his mercy is engaged in it. And if God were to &s;ell me this <HI>Returning,</HI> this <HI>Delivering,</HI> this <HI>Saving,</HI> and all that I pray for; what could I offer God for that, &s;o great as his owne mercy, in which I offer him the Innocencie, the Obedience, the Blood of his onely Son. If I buy of the Kings land, I mu&s;t pay for it in the Kings money; I have no Myne, nor Mint of mine owne; If I would have any thing from God, I mu&s;t give him that which is his owne for it, that is, his mercy; And this is to give God his mercy, To give God thanks for his mercy, To give all to his mercy, And to acknowledge, that if my works be acceptable to him, nay if my very faith be acceptable to him, it is not becau&s;e my works, no nor my faith hath any proportion of equivalencie in it, or is worth the lea&s;t fla&s;h of joy, or the lea&s;t &s;pangle of glory in Heaven, in it &s;elfe, but becau&s;e God in his mercy, onely of his mercy, meerely for the glory of his mercy, hath pa&s;t &s;uch a Co|venant, <HI>Crede, &amp; fac hoc,</HI> Beleeve this, and doe this, and thou &s;halt live, not for thy deed &s;ake, not nor for thy faith &s;ake, but for my mercy &s;ake. And farther we carry not this fir&s;t rea&s;on of the Prayer, ari&s;ing onely from God.</P>
<P>There remaines in the&s;e words another Rea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In morte.</NOTE> in which <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe, and all men &s;eeme to have part, <HI>Quia non in morte, For in death there is no remembrance of thee, &amp;c.</HI> Upon occa&s;ion of which words, becau&s;e they &s;eeme to imply a lothne&s;&s;e in <HI>David</HI> to dye, it may well be inquired, why Death &s;eemed &s;o terrible to the good and godly men of tho&s;e times, as that evermore we &s;ee them complaine of &s;hortne&s;&s;e of life, and of the neerene&s;&s;e of death. Certainely the rule is true, in naturall, and in civill, and in divine things, as long as wee are in this World, <HI>Nolle meliorem, e&s;t corruptio primae habitudinis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Picus Heptapl. l. 7. proem.</NOTE> That man is not well, who de&s;ires not to be better; It is but our corruption here, that makes us loth to ha&s;ten to our incorruption there. And be&s;ides, many of the Ancients, and all the later Ca&s;ui&s;ts of the other &s;ide, and among&s;t our owne men, <HI>Peter Martyr,</HI> and <HI>Calvin,</HI> a&s;&s;igne certaine ca&s;es, in which it hath <HI>Rationem boni,</HI> The nature of Good, and therefore is to be embraced, to wi&s;h our di&s;&s;olution and departure out of this World; and yet, many good and godly men have declared this lothne&s;&s;e to dye. Beloved, waigh Life and Death one again&s;t another, and the balance will be even; Throw the glory of God into either balance, and that turnes the &s;cale. S. <HI>Paul</HI> could not tell which to wi&s;h, Life, or Death; There the balance was even; Then comes in the glory of God, the addition of his &s;oule to that Quire, that &s;pend all their time, eternity it &s;elfe, only in glo|rifying God, and that turnes the &s;cale, and then, he comes to his <HI>Cupio di&s;&s;olvi,</HI> To <HI>de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved, and to be with Chri&s;t.</HI> But then, he puts in more of the &s;ame waight in the other &s;cale, he &s;ees that it advances Gods glory more, for him to &s;tay, and labour in the building of Gods Kingdome here, and &s;o adde more &s;oules then his owne to that &s;tate, then only to enjoy that Kingdome in him&s;elf, and that turnes the &s;cale againe, and &s;o he is content <HI>to live.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Saints of God then when they deprecate death, and complain of the approaches of death, they are, at that time, in a charitable exta&s;ie, ab&s;tracted and withdrawne from
<PB N="532" REF="284">the con&s;ideration of that particular happine&s;&s;e, which they, in them&s;elves, might haye in heaven; and they are tran&s;ported and &s;wallowed up with this &s;orrow, that the Church here, and gods kingdome upon earth, &s;hould lack tho&s;e meanes of advancement, or a&s;&s;i|&s;tance, which God, by their &s;ervice, was plea&s;ed to afford to his Church. Whether they were good Kings, good Prie&s;ts, or good Prophets, the Church lo&s;t by their death; and therefore they deprecated that death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.18.</NOTE> and de&s;ired to live. <HI>The grave cannot prai&s;e thee, death cannot celebrate thee; But the living, the living, he &s;hall prai&s;e thee, as I doe this day,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Hezekias;</HI> He was affected with an apprehen&s;ion of a future barrenne&s;&s;e after his death, and a want of propagation of Gods truth; <HI>I &s;hall not &s;ee the Lord, even the Lord,</HI> &s;ayes he. He had a&s;&s;urance, that he &s;hould &s;ee the Lord in Heaven, when by death he was come thither; But, &s;ayes he, <HI>I &s;hall not &s;ee him in the land of the living;</HI> Well, even in the land of the living, even in the land of life it &s;elfe, he was to &s;ee him, if by death he were to &s;ee him in Heaven; But this is the lo&s;&s;e that he laments, this is the mi&s;ery that he deplores with &s;o much holy pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>I &s;hall behold man no more, with the Inhabitants of the world;</HI> How&s;oever, I &s;hall enjoy God my &s;elfe, yet I &s;hall be no longer a meanes, an in&s;trument of the propagation of Gods truth among&s;t others; And, till we come to that joy, which the heart cannot conceive, it is, I thinke, the greate&s;t joy that the &s;oule of man is capable of in this life, (e&s;pecially where a man hath been any occa&s;ion of &s;inne to others) to a&s;&s;i&s;t the &s;alvation of others. And even that con&s;ideration, that he &s;hall be able to doe Gods cau&s;e no more good here, may make a good man loath to die. <HI>Quid fa|cies magno nomini tuo?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;. 7.9.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> in his prayer to God; if the Canaanites come in, and de&s;troy us, and bla&s;pheme thee, <HI>What wilt thou do unto thy mighty Name?</HI> What wilt thou doe unto thy glorious Church, &s;aid the Saints of God in tho&s;e Deprecations, if thou take tho&s;e men out of the world, whom thou had&s;t cho&s;en, enabled, qualified for the edifica|tion, &s;u&s;tentation, propagation of that Church. In a word, <HI>David</HI> con&s;iders not here, what men doe, or doe not in the next world; but he con&s;iders onely, that in this world he was bound to propagate Gods Truth, and that that he could not doe, if God tooke him away by death.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider then this horrour, and dete&s;tation, and deprecation of death, in tho&s;e Saints of the old Te&s;tament, with relation to their particular, and then it mu&s;t be, <HI>Quia promi&s;|&s;iones ob&s;curae,</HI> Becau&s;e <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had conveyed to tho&s;e men, all Gods future ble&s;&s;ings, all the joy and glory of Heaven, onely in the types of earthly things, and &s;aid little of the &s;tate of the &s;oule after this life. And therefore the promi&s;es belonging to the godly after this life, were not &s;o cleere then, not &s;o well manife&s;ted to them, not &s;o well fixt in them, as that they could, in contemplation of them, &s;tep ea&s;ily, or deliver them&s;elves confidently into the jawes of death; he that is not fully &s;atisfied of the next world, makes &s;hift to be content with this; and he that cannot reach, or does not feele that, will be glad to keepe his hold upon this. Con&s;ider their horrour, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ete&s;tation, and deprecation of death, not with relation to them&s;elves, but to Gods Church, and then it will be, <HI>Quia operarii pauci,</HI> Becau&s;e God had a great harve&s;t in hand, and few labourers in it, they were loath to be taken from the worke.</P>
<P>And the&s;e Rea&s;ons might, at lea&s;t, by way of excu&s;e and extenuation, in tho&s;e times of darkne&s;&s;e, prevaile &s;omewhat in their behalfe; They &s;aw not whither they went, and therefore were loath to goe; and they were loath to goe, becau&s;e they &s;aw not how Gods Church would &s;ub&s;i&s;t, when they were gone. But in the&s;e times of ours, when Al|mighty God hath given an abundant remedy to both the&s;e, their excu&s;es will not be ap|pliable to us. We have a full cleerne&s;&s;e of the &s;tate of the &s;oule after this life, not onely above tho&s;e of the old Law, but above tho&s;e of the Primitive Chri&s;tian Church, which, in &s;ome hundreds of yeares, came not to a cleere under&s;tanding in that point, whether the &s;oule were immortall by nature, or but by pre&s;ervation, whether the &s;oule could not die, or onely &s;hould not die. Or (becau&s;e that perchance may be without any con&s;tant cleerne&s;&s;e yet) that was not cleere to them, (which concernes our ca&s;e neerer) whether the &s;oule came to a pre&s;ent fruition of the &s;ight of God after death or no. But God ha|ving afforded us cleerne&s;&s;e in that, and then ble&s;t our times with an e&s;tabli&s;hed Church, and plenty of able work-men for the pre&s;ent, and plenty of Schooles, and competency of endowments in Univer&s;ities, for the e&s;tabli&s;hing of our hopes, and a&s;&s;urances for the future, &s;ince we have both the promi&s;e of Heaven after, and the promi&s;e that the gates of Hell &s;hall not prevaile again&s;t the Church here; Since we can neither &s;ay, <HI>Promi&s;sio|nes
<PB N="533" REF="284">ob&s;eurae,</HI> That Heaven hangs in a Cloud, nor &s;ay, <HI>Operarii pauci,</HI> That dangers hang over the Church, it is much more inexcu&s;able in us now, then it was in any of them then, to be loath to die, or to be too pa&s;&s;ionate in that rea&s;on of the deprecation, <HI>Quia non in morte, Becau&s;e in death there is no remembrance of thee &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Which words, being taken literally, may fill our meditation, and exalt our devotion thus; If in death there be no remembrance of God, if this remembrance peri&s;h in death, certainly it decayes in the neerne&s;&s;e to death; If there be a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion in death, there is an approach in age; And therefore, <HI>Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.1.</NOTE> There are &s;pirituall Lethargies, that make a man forget his name; forget that he was a Chri&s;tian, and what belongs to that duty. God knows what forgetfulne&s;&s;e may po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e thee upon thy death-bed, and freeze thee there; God knows what rage, what di|&s;temper, what madne&s;&s;e may &s;catter thee then; And though in &s;uch ca&s;es, God reckon with his &s;ervants, according to that di&s;po&s;ition which they u&s;e to have towards him be|fore, and not according to tho&s;e declinations from him, which they &s;hew in &s;uch di|&s;tempered &s;ickne&s;&s;es, yet Gods mercy towards them can worke but &s;o, that he returnes to tho&s;e times, when tho&s;e men did remember him before. But if God can finde no &s;uch time, that they never remembred him, then he &s;eales their former negligence with a pre&s;ent Lethargy; they neglected God all their lives, and now in death there is no re|membrance of him, nor there is no remembrance in him; God &s;hall forget him eternal|ly; and when he thinkes he is come to his <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> The bell tolls, and will ring out, and there is an end of all in death, by death he comes but to his <HI>Secula Seculorum,</HI> to the beginning of that mi&s;ery, which &s;hall never end.</P>
<P>This then which we have &s;poken, ari&s;es out of that &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, which &s;eems the mo&s;t literall; that is, of a naturall death. But as it is well noted by divers Expo&s;itors upon this P&s;alme, this whole P&s;alme is intended of a &s;pirituall agonie, and combat of <HI>David,</HI> wra&s;tling with the apprehen&s;ion of hell, and of the indignation of God, even in this world, whil&s;t he was alive here. And therefore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> upon the la&s;t words of this ver&s;e, in that Tran&s;lation which he followed, <HI>In inferno quis con&s;itchitur tibi?</HI> Not, <HI>In the grave,</HI> but <HI>In hell, who &s;hall confe&s;&s;e unto thee?</HI> puts him&s;elfe upon this, <HI>In Inferne Dives confe&s;&s;us Domino, &amp; oravit pro fratribus,</HI> In hell <HI>Dives</HI> did confe&s;&s;e the name of the Lord, and prayed there for his brethren in the world. And therefore he under&s;tands not the&s;e words of a literall, and naturall, a bodily death, a departing out of this world; but he calls <HI>Peccatum Mortem,</HI> and then, <HI>Caecitatem animae Infernum;</HI> He makes the ea&s;i|ne&s;&s;e of &s;inning to be Death, and then, blindne&s;&s;e, and obduration, and remor&s;le&s;ne&s;&s;e, and impenitence, to be this Hell. And &s;o al&s;o doth S. <HI>Ierome</HI> under&s;tand all that pa&s;&s;io|nate deploring of <HI>Hezekias,</HI> (which &s;eems literally to be &s;poken of naturall death) of this &s;pirituall death, of the habit of &s;in, and that he con&s;idered, and lamented e&s;pecially his danger of that death, of a departing from God in this world, rather then of a departing out of this world. And truely many pieces and pa&s;&s;ages of <HI>Hezekias</HI> his lamentation there, will fall naturally enough into that &s;pirituall interpretation; though perchance all will not, though S. <HI>Ierome</HI> with a holy purpo&s;e drive them, and draw them that way. But whether that of <HI>Hezekias</HI> be of naturall, or of a &s;pirituall death, we have another Au|thor ancienter then S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and S. <HI>Ierome,</HI> and &s;o much e&s;teemed by S. <HI>Iereme,</HI> as that he tran&s;lated &s;ome of his Works, which is <HI>Didymus</HI> of Alexandria, who &s;ayes, it is <HI>Impia opinio,</HI> not an inconvenient, or unnaturall, but an impious and irreligious opinion, to under&s;tand this ver&s;e of naturall death; becau&s;e, &s;ayes he, The dead doe much more remember God then the living doe. And he makes u&s;e of that place, <HI>Deus non confundi|tur,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.16.</NOTE> <HI>God is not a&s;hamed to be called the God of the dead, for he hath prepared them a City.</HI> And therefore reading the&s;e words of our Text, according to that Tran&s;lation which prevai|led in the Ea&s;terne Church, which was the Septuagint, he argues thus, he collects thus, that all that <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes here, is onely this, <HI>Non e&s;t in morte qui memor e&s;t Dei,</HI> Not that he that is dead remembers not God, but that he that remembers God, is not dead; not in an irreparable, and irrecoverable &s;tate of death; not under &s;uch a burthen of &s;in as deva&s;tates and exterminates the con&s;cience, and evacuates the whole power and work of grace, but that if he can remember God, confe&s;&s;e God, though he be falne under the hand of a &s;pirituall death, by &s;ome &s;in, yet he &s;hall have his re&s;urrection in this life; for, <HI>Non e&s;t in morte,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Didymus,</HI> He that remembers God, is not dead, in a perpetuall death.</P>
<PB N="534" REF="285">
<P>And then this rea&s;on of <HI>Davids</HI> Prayer here, (Doe this and this, <HI>for in death there is no remembrance of thee</HI>) will have this force, That God would <HI>returne</HI> to him in his effectu|all grace, That God would <HI>deliver</HI> his &s;oule in dangerous tentations, That God would <HI>&s;ave</HI> him in applying to him, and imprinting in him a &s;ober, but yet confident a&s;&s;urance that the &s;alvation of Chri&s;t Je&s;us belongs to him; Becau&s;e if God did not <HI>return</HI> to him, but &s;uffer him to wither in a long ab&s;ence, If God did not <HI>deliver</HI> him, by taking hold of him when he was ready to fall into &s;uch &s;ins as his &s;ociablene&s;&s;e, his confidence, his in|con&s;ideration, his infirmity, his curio&s;ity brought him to the brinke of, If God did not <HI>&s;ave</HI> him, by a faithfull a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation after a &s;in committed and re&s;ented, This ab&s;ence, this &s;lipperine&s;&s;e, this pretermitting, might bring him to &s;uch a deadly, and &s;uch a helli&s;h &s;tate in this world, as that <HI>In death,</HI> that is, In that death, he &s;hould have no remembrance of God, <HI>In hell, In the grave,</HI> that is, In that hell, In that grave, he &s;hould not confe&s;&s;e, nor prai&s;e God at all. There was his danger, he &s;hould forget God utterly, and God forget him eternally, if God &s;uffered him to proceed &s;o far in &s;in, that is, <HI>Death,</HI> and &s;o far in an obduration and remor&s;le&s;ne&s;&s;e, in &s;in, that is, <HI>Hell,</HI> The Death and the Hell of this world, to which tho&s;e Fathers refer this Text.</P>
<P>In this lamentable &s;tate, we will onely note the force, and the empha&s;is of this <HI>Tui,</HI> and <HI>Tibi,</HI> in this ver&s;e; no remembrance of <HI>Thee,</HI> no prai&s;e to <HI>Thee;</HI> For this is not &s;po|ken of God in generall, but of that God, to which <HI>David</HI> directs the la&s;t and principall part of his Prayer, which is, <HI>To &s;ave him;</HI> It is to God, as God is Je&s;us, a Saviour; and the wretchedne&s;&s;e of this &s;tate is, that God &s;hall not be remembred in that notion, as he is <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> a Saviour. No man is &s;o &s;wallowed up in the death of &s;in, nor in the grave of im|penitence, No man &s;o dead, and buried in the cu&s;tome or &s;en&s;ele&s;ne&s;&s;e of &s;in, but that he remembers a God, he confe&s;&s;es a God; If an Athei&s;t &s;weare the contrary, beleeve him not; His inward terrors, his midnight &s;tartlings remember him of that, and bring him to confe&s;&s;ions of that. But here is the depth, and de&s;peratene&s;&s;e of this death, and this grave, habituall &s;in, and impenitence in &s;in, that he cannot remember, he cannot confe&s;&s;e that God which &s;hould &s;ave him, Chri&s;t Je&s;us his Redeemer; he &s;hall come, he &s;hall not chu&s;e but come to remember a God that &s;hall damne him, but not a &s;aving God, a <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI></P>
<P>Beloved in the bowels of that Je&s;us, not onely the riches, and honours, and plea&s;ures of this world, and the favour of Princes, are, as <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peaks, <HI>Onero&s;i con&s;olatores, Mi&s;erable comforters are they all,</HI> all this world, but even of God him&s;elfe (be it &s;poken with piety and reverence, and far from mi&s;con&s;truction) we may &s;ay, <HI>Onero&s;a con&s;olatio,</HI> It is but a mi&s;erable comfort which we can have in God him&s;elfe, It is but a faint remembrance which we retaine of God him&s;elfe, It is but a lame confe&s;&s;ion which we make to God him&s;elfe, <HI>Si non Tui, Si non Tibi,</HI> If we remember not <HI>Thee,</HI> If we confe&s;&s;e not <HI>Thee,</HI> our onely Lord and Saviour <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI> It is not halfe our worke to be godly men, to con|fe&s;&s;e a God in generall; we mu&s;t be Chri&s;tians too; to confe&s;&s;e God &s;o, as God hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to us. I, to whom God hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe in the Chri&s;tian Church, am as much an Athei&s;t, if I deny Chri&s;t, as if I deny God; And I deny Chri&s;t, as much, if I deny him in the truth of his Wor&s;hip, in my Religion, as if I denyed him in his Per&s;on. And therefore, <HI>Si non Tui, Si non Tibi,</HI> If I doe not remember <HI>Thee,</HI> If I doe not profe&s;&s;e <HI>Thee</HI> in thy Truth, I am falne into this <HI>Death,</HI> and buried in this <HI>Grave</HI> which <HI>David</HI> deprecates in this Text, <HI>For in death there is no remembrance of thee, &amp;c.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="54" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="535" REF="285">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. LIV.</HI> Preached to the <HI>KING</HI> at <HI>White-hall,</HI> upon the occa&s;ion of the Fa&s;t, <HI>April 5. 1628.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 6.6, 7.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I am weary with my groaning; All the night make I my bed to &s;win, I water my couch with my teares.</P>
<P>Mine eye is con&s;umed becau&s;e of griefe; It waxeth old, becau&s;e of all mine-enemies.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis is <HI>Davids</HI> humiliation; and comming after his repentance and reconci|liation, <HI>Davids</HI> penance: And yet here is no Fa&s;t; It is true; No Fa&s;t named; <HI>David</HI> had had experience, that as the wi&s;e&s;t actions of Kings, (of Kings as Kings over Subjects) &s;o the devoute&s;t actions of Kings, (of Kings, as humble Subjects to the King of Kings, the God of Heaven) had been mi&s;|interpreted. Of &s;ighing, and groaning, and weeping, and langui&s;hing, (as in this Text) <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks often, very, very often in the P&s;almes; and they let him &s;igh, and groane, and weepe, and langui&s;h; they neglect his Pa&s;&s;ion, and are not affected with that; but that is all; they afflict him no farther: But when he comes to fa&s;ting, they deride him, they reproach him; Cares God whether you eat, or fa&s;t? But thrice in all the P&s;almes does <HI>David</HI> &s;peake of his fa&s;ting, and in all three places, it was mi&s;-interpreted, and re|proachfully mi&s;-interpreted; <HI>I humbled my &s;oule with fa&s;ting,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.13.</NOTE> and my prayer returned into mine own bo&s;ome;</HI> He did this (as he &s;ayes there) for others, that needed it, and they would not thanke him for it, but reproached him. <HI>When I wept, and cha&s;tned my &s;oule with fa|&s;ting,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 69.10. P&s;al. 109.24.</NOTE> <HI>that was to my reproach.</HI> So al&s;o <HI>my bones are weake through fa&s;ting, and I became a reproach unto them.</HI> And therefore no wonder that <HI>David</HI> does not &s;o often mention and publi&s;h his fa&s;ting, as his other mortifications; No wonder that in all his &s;eaven pene|tentiall P&s;almes, (which are the Churches Tropicks for mortification and humiliation,) there is no mention of his fa&s;ting. But for his practi&s;e, (though he &s;peak not &s;o much of it in the P&s;almes) in his hi&s;tory where others, not him&s;elfe, &s;peake of him, we know that when he mourned, and prayed for his &s;ick childe, he fa&s;ted too. And we doubt not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 2.15.</NOTE> but that, when he was thus wearied, <HI>(I am weary with my groaning; All the night make I my bed to &s;wim, I water my Couch with my teares; Mine eye is con&s;umed becau&s;e of griefe; It waxeth old becau&s;e of all mine enemies)</HI> he fa&s;ted too; He fa&s;ted oftner, then he tells us of it. As S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Iejunium non perfecta virtus, &s;ed caeterarum virtutum fundamen|tum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> If we mu&s;t not call fa&s;ting (as fa&s;ting is but a bodily ab&s;tinence) a religious act, an act of Gods wor&s;hip, yet it is a Ba&s;is, and a foundation, upon which other religious acts, and acts of Gods wor&s;hip are the better advanced. It is &s;o at all times; but it is &s;o e&s;pe|cially when it is enjoyned by Soveraigne authority, and upon manife&s;t occa&s;ion, as now to us. <HI>Semper virtutis Cibus Iejunium fuit,</HI> It is elegantly, and u&s;efully &s;aid: At all times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo.</NOTE> Religion feeds upon fa&s;ting, and fea&s;ts upon fa&s;ting, and grows the &s;tronger for fa&s;ting. But, <HI>Quod pium e&s;t agere non indictum, impium e&s;t negligere praedicatum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> It is a godly thing to fa&s;t uncommanded, but to neglect it being commanded, is an ungodly, an impious, a refractary perver&s;ne&s;&s;e, &s;ayes the &s;ame Father. But then another carries it to a higher expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>De&s;perationis genus e&s;t, tunc manducare, cum ab&s;tinere debeas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Maximus de jejunio Nine|vitarum.</NOTE> Not to fa&s;t when the times require it, and when Authority enjoynes it, or not to beleeve, that God will be affected and moved with that fa&s;ting, and be the better enclined for it, is <HI>de&s;perationis ge|nus,</HI> a de&s;pairing of the State, a de&s;pairing of the Church, a de&s;pairing of the grace of God to both, or of his mercy upon both. And truly there cannot be a more di&s;loyall affection then that, <HI>de&s;per are rem publicam,</HI> to fore&s;peak great Councels, to be witch great actions, to de&s;paire of good ends in things well intended: And in our di&s;tre&s;|&s;es,
<PB N="536" REF="286">where can we hope, but in God? and how &s;hall we have acce&s;&s;e to God, but in humi|liation? We doubt not therefore but that this act of humiliation, his fa&s;ting was &s;pread over <HI>Davids</HI> other acts in this Text, and that as a &s;inner in his private per&s;on, and as a King in his publique and exemplar office, he fa&s;ted al&s;o, (though he &s;ayes not &s;o) when he &s;aid he was wearied, <HI>I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to &s;wim, I water my couch with my teares; mine eye is con&s;umed becau&s;e of griefe; It waxeth old becau&s;e of all mine enemies.</HI></P>
<P>But though this fa&s;ting, and the&s;e other penall acts of humiliation, be the body that carries, and declares, yet the &s;oule that inanimates, and quickens all, is prayer; and therefore this whole P&s;alme is a prayer; And the prayer is partly Deprecatory, In &s;ome things <HI>David</HI> de&s;ires that God would forbeare him, as v. 1. <HI>Correct me not,</HI> for if thou correct me, others will trample upon me; <HI>Rebuke me not,</HI> for if thou rebuke me, others will calumniate me; And partly Po&s;tulatory, that &s;ome things God would give him, as <HI>Health,</HI> and <HI>Deliverance,</HI> and that which is all, <HI>Salvation,</HI> in the other ver&s;es. Both parts of the prayer are (as all prayer mu&s;t be) grounded upon rea&s;ons; and the rea&s;ons are from divers rootes; &s;ome from the con&s;ideration of him&s;elfe, and they argue his humi|liation; &s;ome from the contemplation of God, and they te&s;tifie his devotion, and pre|&s;ent recour&s;e to him; &s;ome from both together, God, and him&s;elfe joyntly, which is an acknowledgement, that God works not alone in heaven, nor man lives not alone upon earth, but there is a Conver&s;ation, and a Corre&s;pondence, and a Commerce betweene God and Man, and Conditions, and Contracts, and Covenants, and Stipulations be|tweene them, and &s;o a mutuall intere&s;t in one another. From God him&s;elfe alone, <HI>Da|vid</HI> rai&s;es a rea&s;on, v. 4. <HI>Propter mi&s;ericordiam, O &s;ave me for thy mercies &s;ake;</HI> for of the mercy of God, there is no precedent, there is no concurrent rea&s;on, there is no rea&s;on of the mercy of God, but the mercy of God: from God, and him&s;elf together, he rai&s;es a rea|&s;on, v. 5. <HI>Quia non in morte, For in death there is no remembrance of thee;</HI> De&s;troy me not, for if I die, <HI>Quid facies magno nomini tuo?</HI> (as <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> &s;peaks) what will become of thy glory? of that glory which thou &s;houlde&s;t receive from my &s;ervice in this world, if thou take me out of this world? But then, as he begun in rea&s;ons ari&s;ing from him&s;elf, and out of the &s;en&s;e of his owne humiliation under the hand of God, (for &s;o hee does) v. 2. <HI>Quia infirmus, Have mercy upon me, becau&s;e I am weake,</HI> and cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t without that mercy. And <HI>Quiatur|bata o&s;&s;a,</HI> his <HI>bones</HI> were <HI>vexed; Habet anima o&s;&s;a &s;ua,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> The &s;oule hath bones as well as the body; The bones of the &s;oule are the &s;tronge&s;t faculties, and be&s;t opera|tions of the &s;oule, and his be&s;t, and &s;tronge&s;t actions, were but que&s;tionable actions, di&s;|putable, and &s;u&s;pitious actions; And <HI>Turbata anima,</HI> all his faculties, even in their very roote, his very <HI>&s;oul,</HI> was <HI>&s;ore vexed,</HI> v. 3. As, I &s;ay, hee began with rea&s;ons of that kinde, ari&s;ing from him&s;elfe, &s;o he returnes and ends with the &s;ame humiliation, in the rea&s;ons ari&s;ing from him&s;elfe too, <HI>Quia laboravi in gemitu, I am weary with my groaning, all the night make I my bed to &s;wimme, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>As our Saviour Chri&s;t entred into the hou&s;e to his Di&s;ciples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 20.28.</NOTE> <HI>Ianuis clau&s;is,</HI> when the doores were &s;hut: &s;o God enters into us too, <HI>Ianuis clau&s;is,</HI> when our eyes have not ope|ned their doores, in any reall penitent teares, when our mouthes have not opened their doores, in any verball prayers; God &s;ees, and he heares the inclinations of the heart. S. <HI>Bernard</HI> notes well upon tho&s;e words of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.</NOTE> at the rai&s;ing of <HI>Lazarus, Father I thank thee, that thou ha&s;t heard me,</HI> That at that time, when Chri&s;t gave thanks to God, for having heard him, he had &s;aid nothing to his Father; but God had heard his heart. Since God does &s;o even to us, he will much more heare us, as <HI>David,</HI> when we make outward declarations too, becau&s;e that outward declaration conduces more to his glory, in the edification of his &s;ervants, therefore <HI>David</HI> comes to that declaratory prote&s;tation, <HI>Quia labor avi in gemitu, I am weary with my groaning, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In which words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> we &s;hall con&s;ider, <HI>Quid factum,</HI> and <HI>Quid faciendum,</HI> What <HI>David</HI> did, and what we are to doe: for <HI>David,</HI> after he had thrown him&s;elfe upon the mercy of God, after he had confe&s;&s;ed, and prayed, and done the &s;pirituall parts of repentance, he afflicts his body be&s;ides; And &s;o ought we likewi&s;e to doe, if we will be partakers of <HI>Davids</HI> example. And therefore we may doe well to con&s;ider <HI>Quid faciendum,</HI> How this Example of <HI>David</HI> bindes us, how the&s;e groanings and waterings of his bed with teares, and other Mortifications a&s;&s;umed after repentance, and reconciliation to God, lay an obligation upon us.</P>
<PB N="537" REF="286">
<P>But this is our part, <HI>Quid faciendum,</HI> what is to be done by us; Fir&s;t, <HI>Quid factum,</HI> what <HI>David</HI> did; and truly he did much: fir&s;t <HI>gemuit,</HI> he came to <HI>greane,</HI> to &s;igh, to out|ward declarations of inward heavine&s;&s;e. And <HI>Laberauit in gemits,</HI> He laboured, he tra|velled in that pa&s;&s;ion, and (as the word imports, and as our later Tran&s;lation hath it) he was <HI>wearied,</HI> tired with it; &s;o farre, that (as it is in the fir&s;t Tran&s;lation) he <HI>faimed,</HI> he lan|gui&s;hed with it. Fir&s;t he &s;ighed, and &s;ighed &s;o; and groaned, and groaned &s;o; pa&s;&s;io|nately, vehemently, and then openly, exemplarily; and he was not a&s;hamed of it, for he came to weeping, though he knew it would be thought childi&s;h: And that in that abundance, <HI>Natare feci,</HI> and <HI>Lique&s;eci lectum,</HI> He <HI>watred</HI> his <HI>bed,</HI> di&s;&s;olved his bed, made his bed to &s;wimme, &s;urrounded his bed with <HI>teares;</HI> And more, he macerated his bed with that brine: And then he continued this affliction; It was not a &s;udden pa&s;&s;ion, a fla&s;h of remor&s;e; but he continued it, till his <HI>eye</HI> was <HI>con&s;umed</HI> by rea&s;on of that <HI>angui&s;h,</HI> and <HI>de|&s;pite,</HI> and <HI>indignation;</HI> as our diver&s;e Tran&s;lations vary the expre&s;&s;ing thereof; &s;o long, as night and day la&s;ted, &s;o long, as that he was waxen old under it; and when this great af|fliction &s;hould have brought him &s;afely into harbour, that he might have re&s;ted &s;ecurely at la&s;t, his enemies that triumphed over him, gave him new occa&s;ions of mi&s;erie, his eyes were <HI>con&s;umed,</HI> and <HI>waxed old becau&s;e of his enemies;</HI> that is, becau&s;e he was &s;till among&s;t enemies that triumphed over him.</P>
<P>Be plea&s;ed to take another Edition, another Impre&s;&s;ion of the&s;e particulars; A natu|rall mans Morall con&s;tancy will hold out again&s;t outward declarations of griefe; yet <HI>David</HI> came to that, he groaned: A groane, a &s;igh may breake out, and the heart be at the more ea&s;e for that; But <HI>Laboravit,</HI> they grew upon him, and the more he groaned, and the more he &s;ighed, the more he had an inclination, and not onely that, but cau&s;e to doe &s;o, for he found that his &s;orrow was to be &s;orrowed for, and his repentance to be re|pented, there were &s;uch imperfections in all. Therefore he &s;uffered thus till he was weari|ed, till he fainted with groaning, and &s;ighing. And then this winde does not blow over the raine, he weeps; and weeps the more violently, and the more continually; extreames that &s;eldome meet, violence, and la&s;ting, but in his ca&s;e they did. All this, all night, and all this, all this while, not among&s;t friends to pity him, and condole with him, but among&s;t enemies to affront him, and deride him: So that here are all the ingredients, all the elements of mi&s;ery; Sorrow of heart, that admits no di&s;gui&s;e, but flowes into outward declarations; and &s;uch declarations as create no compa&s;&s;ion, but triumph in the enemy. <HI>I am weary with my groaning, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>To proceed then to the particulars in our fir&s;t Part, <HI>Quid factum,</HI> What <HI>David</HI> did,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Gemit.</HI></NOTE> fir&s;t <HI>Gemit,</HI> He comes to &s;igh, to groane, to an outward declaration of a &s;en&s;e of Gods indignation upon him, till he had perfected his repentance. <HI>She &s;ighed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament.</NOTE> <HI>and turned back|ward,</HI> was Jeru&s;alems mi&s;ery. To &s;igh, and turne backward, to repent, and relap&s;e, is a wofull Condition: But to &s;igh, and turne forward, to turne upon God, and to pur&s;ue this &s;orrow for our &s;ins, then, in &s;uch &s;ighes, <HI>The Spirit of man returnes to God that gave it;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.7.</NOTE> As God breathed into man, &s;o man breathes unto the no&s;trils of God <HI>a &s;avour of re&s;t,</HI> as it is &s;aid of <HI>Noah,</HI> an acceptable &s;acrifice, when he &s;ighes for his &s;ins. This fighing, this groaning, expre&s;&s;ed in this word, <HI>Anach, Gemitus,</HI> is <HI>Vox Turturis. Turtur gemit;</HI> It is that voyce, that &s;ound which the Turtle gives;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. li. 18. c. 28.</NOTE> And we learne by Authors of Naturall Story, and by experience, <HI>Turturis gemitus indicium veris,</HI> The voyce of the Turtle is an evidence of the Spring; When a &s;inner comes to this voyce, to this &s;ighing, there is a Spring of grace begun in him; Then <HI>Vox Turturis audita in terra no&s;tra,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t to his Spou&s;e, <HI>The voyce of the Turtle is heard in our Land;</HI> And &s;o he &s;ayes to thy &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gan. 2.12.</NOTE> This voyce of the Turtle, the&s;e &s;ighs of thy penitent &s;oul, are heard <HI>interra no&s;tra,</HI> in our Land, in the Kingdome of heaven.</P>
<P>And when he heares this voyce of this Turtle, the&s;e &s;ighs of thy &s;oule, then he puts thy name al&s;o into that Li&s;t, which he gave to his Me&s;&s;enger, (in which Commi&s;&s;ion this very word of our Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 9.4.</NOTE> <HI>Anach,</HI> is u&s;ed) <HI>Signabis &s;ignum &s;uper frontibus virorum &s;u&s;pirantium &amp; gementium,</HI> Upon all their fore heads, that &s;igh and groane, imprint my mark; Which is ordinarily conceived by the Ancients to have been the letter <HI>Tau;</HI> of which though <HI>Calvin</HI> a&s;&s;igne a u&s;efull, and a convenient rea&s;on, that they were marked with this letter <HI>Tau,</HI> which is the la&s;t letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, in &s;igne, that though they were in e&s;timation of the world, the mo&s;t abject, and the out-ca&s;ts thereof, yet God &s;et his mark upon them, with a purpo&s;e to rai&s;e them; yet S. <HI>Hierome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> and the An|cients
<PB N="538" REF="287">for the mo&s;t part a&s;&s;igne that for the rea&s;on, why they were marked with that let|ter, becau&s;e that letter had the forme of the Cro&s;&s;e; Not for any &s;uch u&s;e, or power, as the Roman Church hath a&s;cribed to that &s;ign, but as in the Per&s;ecutions of the Primitive Church, the Martyrs at the &s;take, when a cry was rai&s;ed, that they dyed for Trea&s;on, for Rebellion, for Sedition, and could not be heard, for the clamour, to cleare them|&s;elves, u&s;ed then in the &s;ight of all, who, though they could not heare them, could &s;ee them, to &s;igne them&s;elves with the Cro&s;&s;e, not to drive away devils, or to &s;trengthen them&s;elves again&s;t tentations by that &s;igne, but by that &s;igne to declare the cau&s;e of their death to be the profe&s;&s;ion of the Chri&s;tian Religion, and not Trea&s;on, nor Sedition. And as we in our Bapti&s;me have that Cro&s;&s;e imprinted upon us, not as a part of the Sacra|ment, or any piece of that armour, which we put on of &s;pirituall &s;trength, but as a prote|&s;tation, who&s;e Souldiers wee became: &s;o God imprinted upon them, that &s;ighed, and mourned, that <HI>Tau,</HI> that letter, which had the forme of the Cro&s;&s;e, that it might be an evidence, that all their cro&s;&s;es &s;hall be &s;wallowed in his Cro&s;&s;e, their &s;ighs in his &s;ighs, and their agonies in his. And therefore, Beloved, the&s;e &s;ighs are too &s;pirituall a &s;ub&s;tance, to be be&s;towed upon worldly matters; All the love, all the ambitions, all the lo&s;&s;es of this world, are not worth a &s;igh; If they were, yet thou ha&s;t none to &s;pare, for all thy &s;ighs are due to thy &s;ins; be&s;tow them there.</P>
<P><HI>Gemit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Laboravit.</NOTE> he &s;ighs, he groanes; And then, <HI>Laboravit in gemitu,</HI> he laboured, he travailed, he grew weary, he fainted with &s;ighing. Not to be curious, we meet with a threefold Labour in Scriptures. Fir&s;t there is <HI>Labor communis,</HI> the Labour which no man may avoid;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>Man is borne unto travailt, as the &s;parks fly upward;</HI> Where wee may note in the Compari&s;on, that it is not a dejection, a diminution, a depre&s;&s;ing downward, but a flying upward, the true exaltation of a Man, that he labours duly in a lawfull calling; and this is <HI>Labor communis;</HI> Secondly there is <HI>Labor impii,</HI> The labour of the wicked, for, They have taught their tongues to &s;peake lyes, &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> and take great paines to deale wickedly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 15.20.</NOTE> As it is al&s;o in <HI>Iob, The wicked man travaileth with paine all his dayes,</HI> And (as our former Tran&s;lation had it) <HI>he is continually as one travailing with Child;</HI> Indeed the labour is greater, to doe ill, then well; to get hell, then Heaven; Heaven might be had with le&s;&s;e paines, then men doe be&s;tow upon hell; and this is <HI>Labor impiorum.</HI> And la&s;tly, there is <HI>Labor ju&s;torum,</HI> The labour of the Righteous, which is, <HI>To ri&s;e early, to lie downe late, and to eate the bread of &s;orrow;</HI> for, though in that place, this &s;eemes to be &s;aid to bee done in vaine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 127.2.</NOTE> <HI>It is in vaine to ri&s;e early, in vaine to lye downe late, in vaine to eate the bread of &s;orrow,</HI> yet it is with the &s;ame exception, which is there &s;pecified, that is, <HI>Except the Lord build, it is in vaine to labour, Except the Lord keepe the City, it is in vaine to watch;</HI> So <HI>except the Lord give re&s;t to his beloved, it is in vaine tori&s;e early:</HI> In vaine to travaile, except God give a ble&s;&s;ing. But when the Lord hath given thee re&s;t, in the remi&s;&s;ion of thy &s;ins, then comes this <HI>Labor ju&s;torum,</HI> the labour that a righteous man is bound to, that as God hath given him a good nights re&s;t, &s;o he gives God a good dayes worke, as God hath given him re&s;t and peace of con&s;cience, for that which is pa&s;t, &s;o hee take &s;ome paines for that which is to come, for &s;uch was <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e, and <HI>Davids</HI> care, and <HI>Davids</HI> labour.</P>
<P><HI>Ephrem,</HI> an ancient Deacon, and Expo&s;itor in the Chri&s;tian Church, takes this labour of <HI>David, Laboravi in gemitu,</HI> to have beene <HI>in gemitu,</HI> but <HI>in comprimendo gemitu,</HI> that he laboured to conceale his penance and mortification, from the &s;ight and knowledge of others; Beloved, this concealing of tho&s;e things, which we put our &s;elves to in the waies of godline&s;&s;e, hath alwaies a good u&s;e, when it is done, to avoid o&s;tentation, and vaine glory, and prai&s;e of men; And it hath otherwi&s;e, &s;ometimes a good u&s;e, to conceale our tribulations and mi&s;eries from others, becau&s;e the wicked often take occa&s;ion, from the calamities and pre&s;&s;ures of the godly, to in&s;ult and triumph over them, and to di&s;honour and bla&s;pheme their God, and to &s;ay, <HI>Where is now your God?</HI> and therefore it may &s;ome|times concerne us to labour to hide our mi&s;eries, <HI>to &s;wallow our owne &s;pittle,</HI> as <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peaks, and to &s;punge up our teares in our braines, and to eate, and &s;mother our &s;ighs in our own bo&s;omes. But this was not <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e now; But as he had opened him&s;elfe to God, he opened him&s;elfe to the world too; and as he &s;ayes in another place, <HI>Come and I will tell you, what God hath done for my &s;oule,</HI> So here he &s;ayes, Come, and I will tell you, what I have done again&s;t my God. So he &s;ighed, and &s;o he groaned; he laboured, he was affe|cted bitterly with it him&s;elfe; And he declated it, he made it exemplar, and catechi&s;ti|call,
<PB N="539" REF="287">that his dejection in him&s;elfe, might be an exaltation to others; And then hee was not a&s;hamed of it, but as he &s;aid of his dancing before the Arke, <HI>If this be to be vile, I will be more vile,</HI> So here, if this pa&s;&s;ion be weakne&s;&s;e, I will yet be more weake; for this winde brought raine, The&s;e &s;ighs brought teares, <HI>All the night make I my bed to &s;wim, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The concupi&s;cencies of man, are naturally dry powder, combu&s;tible ea&s;ily,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lacrymae.</NOTE> ea&s;ily apt to take fire; but teares dampe them, and give them a little more lea&s;ure, and us intermi&s;&s;ion and con&s;ideration. <HI>David</HI> had laboured hard; fir&s;t <HI>Ad ruborem,</HI> as Phy&s;itians advi&s;e, to a redne&s;&s;e, to a blu&s;hing, to a &s;hame of his &s;in; And now <HI>Ad &s;udorem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar.</NOTE> he had laboured to a &s;weat: for <HI>Lacrymae &s;udor animae moerentis,</HI> Teares are the &s;weat of a labouring &s;oule, and that &s;oule that labours as <HI>David</HI> did, will &s;weat, as <HI>David</HI> did, in the teares of contrition; Till then, till teares breake out, and find a vent in outward declaration, wee pant and &s;truggle in mi&s;erable convul&s;ions, and di&s;tortions, and di&s;tractions, and earthquakes, and irre&s;olutions of the &s;oule; I can beleeve, that God will have mercy upon me, if I repent, but I cannot beleeve that is repentance, if I cannot weepe, or come to outward decla|rations. This is the laborious irre&s;olution of the &s;oule; But <HI>Lacrymae diluvium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> <HI>&amp; evehunt animam,</HI> The&s;e teares carry up our &s;oule, as the flood carried up the Arke, higher then any hils; whether hils of power, and &s;o above the oppre&s;&s;ion of potent adver&s;aries, or hils of our owne pride, and ambition; True holy teares carry us above all. And there|fore, when the Angel rebuked the people, for not de&s;troying Idolatry, <HI>They wept,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg. 2.5.</NOTE> &s;ayes the text, there was their pre&s;ent remedy; and they called the name of the place <HI>Bochim,</HI> Teares, that there might be a permanent te&s;timony of that expre&s;&s;ing of their repen|tance; that that way they went to God, and in that way God received them; and that their Children might &s;ay to one another, Where did God &s;hew that great mercy to our Fathers? Here; here, in <HI>Bochim,</HI> that is, Here in teares. And &s;o when at <HI>Samuels</HI> motions, and increpation, the people would te&s;tifie their repentance, <HI>They drew water,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 7.6.</NOTE> &s;ayes the &s;tory, <HI>and poured it out before the Lord, and fa&s;ted, and &s;aid, We have &s;inned again&s;t the Lord.</HI> They poured water, <HI>Vt e&s;&s;et &s;ymbolum lacrymarum,</HI> That that might be a type, and figure,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nab. Oziel.</NOTE> in what proportion of teares, they de&s;ired to expre&s;&s;e their repentance. For, &s;uch an effu|&s;ion of teares, <HI>David</HI> may be well thought to intend, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Effundite coram Deo animam ve&s;tram, Poure out your &s;oules before God,</HI> poure them out in &s;uch an effu&s;ion, in a continuall, and a contrite weeping. Still the Prophets cry out upon Idols and Idolaters, <HI>Vlulate Sculptilia; Howle ye Idols,</HI> and <HI>Howle ye Idolaters;</HI> He hath no hope of their weep|ing. And &s;o the devil, and the damned are &s;aid to howle, but not to weepe; or when they are &s;aid to weepe, it is with a gna&s;hing of teeth, which is a voyce of Indignation, even to|wards God, and not of humiliation under his hand: So al&s;o &s;ayes the Propher of an im|penitent &s;inner, <HI>Induratae &s;uper petram facies, They have made their faces harder then &s;tone;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 5.3.</NOTE> wherein? <HI>Thou ha&s;t &s;tricken them, but they have not wept; not &s;orrowed.</HI> Out of a &s;tone water cannot be drawne, but by miracle, though it be twice &s;tricken;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 20.11.</NOTE> as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;troke the Rock twice, yet the water came by the miraculous power of God, and not by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;econd &s;troke. Though God &s;trike this &s;inner twice, thrice, he will not weepe: though inward terrors &s;trike his con&s;cience, and outward di&s;ea&s;es &s;trike his body, and calamities and ruine &s;trike his e&s;tate, yet he will not confe&s;&s;e by one teare, that the&s;e are judgements of God, but naturall accidents; or if judgements, that they proceeded not from his &s;in, but from &s;ome decree in God, or &s;ome purpo&s;e in God, to glorifie him&s;elfe, by thus af|flicting him, and that if he had beene better, he &s;hould have fared never the better, for Gods purpo&s;e mu&s;t &s;tand. Therefore &s;ayes God of &s;uch in that place, <HI>Surely they are poore,</HI> that was plaine enough, and <HI>they are fooli&s;h</HI> too, &s;ayes God there: And God gives the rea&s;on of it, <HI>for they know not the judgements of God;</HI> They know not his judgements to be judgements; They a&s;cribe all calamities to other cau&s;es, and &s;o they turne upon other wayes, and other plots, and other mi&s;erable comforters. But attribute all to the Lord; never &s;ay of any thing, This fals upon me, but of all, This is laid upon me by the hand of God, and thou wilt come to him in teares. Raine water is better then River wa|ter; The water of Heaven, teares for offending thy God, are better then teares for world|ly lo&s;&s;es; But yet come to teares of any kinde, and what&s;oever occa&s;ion thy teares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 25.8.</NOTE> <HI>Deus ab&s;terget omnem lacrymam,</HI> there is the largene&s;&s;e of his bounty, <HI>He will wipe all teares from thine eyes;</HI> But thou mu&s;t have teares fir&s;t: fir&s;t thou mu&s;t come to this weeping, or el&s;e God cannot come to this wiping; God hath not that errand to thee, to wipe teares from
<PB N="540" REF="288">thine eyes, if there be none there; If thou doe nothing for thy &s;elfe, God finds nothing to doe for thee.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> wept thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nocte.</NOTE> thus vehemently, and he wept thus, thus continually; In the <HI>Night,</HI> &s;ayes our Text;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 42.3.</NOTE> Not that he wept not in the day: He &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, <HI>My teares have been my meate, both day and night,</HI> where though he name no fa&s;t, you &s;ee his diet, how that was attenuated.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 1.2.</NOTE> And &s;o when it is &s;aid of Jeru&s;alem, <HI>Shee weepeth continually in the night,</HI> it is not that &s;he put off her weeping till night, but that &s;he continued her dayes weeping to the night, and in the night: <HI>Plorando plorabit,</HI> &s;ayes the Originall in the place; &s;hee does weepe already, and &s;hee will weepe &s;till; &s;hee puts it not off dilatorily, (I will weepe, but not yet) nor &s;hee puts it not over ea&s;ily, &s;uddenly, (I have wept, and I neede no more) but as God promi&s;es to his children,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joel 1.23.</NOTE> the <HI>fir&s;t</HI> and <HI>later raine,</HI> &s;o mu&s;t his chil|dren give to him againe both raines, teares of the day, and teares of the night, by wa&s;h|ing the &s;innes of the day in the evening, and the &s;innes of the night in the morning. But this was an addition to <HI>Davids</HI> affliction in this night weeping, that whereas the night was made for man to re&s;t in, <HI>David</HI> could not make that u&s;e of the night. When he had propo&s;ed &s;o great a part of his happine&s;&s;e to con&s;i&s;t in this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 4. ult.</NOTE> <HI>That he would lay him downe and &s;leepe in peace;</HI> we &s;ee in the next P&s;alme but one, he that thought to &s;leepe out the night, come to weepe out the night. When the Saints of God have that &s;ecurity, which S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;peaks of, <HI>Vt &s;anctis ip&s;e &s;omnus &s;it oratio,</HI> They &s;leepe &s;ecurely, for their very &s;leepe is a glorifying of God, who giveth his beloved &s;leepe, yet <HI>David</HI> could have none of this.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb.</NOTE> But why not he? <HI>Noctem letiferam nocte compen&s;at;</HI> Fir&s;t, for the place, the &s;inne came in at tho&s;e windowes, at his eyes, and came in, in fire, in lu&s;t, And it mu&s;t goe out at tho&s;e windowes too, and goe out in water, in the water of repentant teares; And then, for the time, as the night defiled his &s;oule, &s;o the &s;inne mu&s;t be expiated, and the &s;oule wa&s;hed in the night too.</P>
<P>And this may be &s;ome Embleme, &s;ome u&s;efull intimation, how ha&s;tily Repentance follows &s;inne; <HI>Davids</HI> &s;inne is placed, but in the beginning of the night, in the Evening, <HI>(In the evening he ro&s;e, and walked upon the Tera&s;e, and &s;aw Bath&s;heba)</HI> and in the next part of time, in the night, he falls a weeping: no more between the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of &s;inne, and the bitterne&s;&s;e of repentance, then between evening, and night; no morning to either of them, till the Sunne of grace ari&s;e, and &s;hine out, and proceed to a Meridionall height, and make the repentance upon circum&s;tance, to be a repentance upon the &s;ub&s;tance, and bring it to be a repentance for the &s;inne it &s;elfe, which at fir&s;t was but a repentance upon &s;ome calamity, that that &s;inne induced.</P>
<P>He wept then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omni nocte.</NOTE> and wept in the night; in a time, when he could neither receive re&s;t in him&s;elfe, which all men had, nor receive prai&s;e from others, which all men affect. And he wept <HI>Omni nocte;</HI> which is not onely <HI>Omnibus noctibus,</HI> &s;ometime every night, but it is <HI>Tota nocte,</HI> cleane through the night; And he wept in that abundance, as hath put the Holy Gho&s;t to that Hyperbole in <HI>Davids</HI> pen to expre&s;&s;e it, <HI>Liquefecit &s;tratum, natare fecit &s;tratum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> it drowned his bed, &s;urrounded his bed, it di&s;&s;olved, it macerated, it melted his bed with that brine. Well; <HI>Qui rigat &s;tratum,</HI> he that wa&s;hes his bed &s;o with repen|tant teares, <HI>Non pote&s;t in cogitationem ejus libidinum pompa &s;ubrepere:</HI> Tentations take hold of us &s;ometimes after our teares, after our repentance, but &s;eldome or never in the act of our repentance, and in the very &s;hedding of our teares; At lea&s;t <HI>Libidinum pompa,</HI> The victory, the triumph of lu&s;t breaks not in upon us, in a bed, &s;o di&s;&s;olved, &s;o &s;ur|rounded, &s;o macerated with &s;uch teares. Thy bed is a figure of thy grave; Such as thy grave receives thee at death, it &s;hall deliver thee up to Judgement at la&s;t; Such as thy bed receives thee at night, it &s;hall deliver thee in the morning: If thou &s;leepe without calling thy &s;elfe to an account, thou wilt wake &s;o, and walke &s;o, and proceed &s;o, without ever calling thy &s;elfe to an account, till Chri&s;t Je&s;us call thee in the Clouds. It is not inten|ded, that thou &s;houlde&s;t afflict thy &s;elfe &s;o grievou&s;ly, as &s;ome over-doing Penitents, to put chips, and &s;hels, and &s;plints, and flints, and nayles, and rowels of &s;purres in thy bed, to wound and macerate thy body &s;o. The inventions of men, are not intended here; But here is a precept of God, implied in this precedent and practi&s;e of <HI>David,</HI> That as long as the &s;en&s;e of a former &s;inne, or the inclination to a future oppre&s;&s;es thee, thou mu&s;t not clo&s;e thine eyes, thou mu&s;t not take thy re&s;t, till, as God married thy body and &s;oule together in the Creation, and &s;hall at la&s;t crowne thy body and &s;oule together in the Re|&s;urrection, &s;o they may al&s;o re&s;t together here, that as thy body re&s;ts in thy bed, thy
<PB N="541" REF="288">&s;oule may re&s;t in the peace of thy Con&s;cience, and that thou never &s;ay to thy head, Re&s;t upon this pillow, till thou can&s;t &s;ay to thy &s;oule, Re&s;t in this repentance, in this peace.</P>
<P>Now as this &s;orrow of <HI>Davids</HI> continued day and night,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oculus.</NOTE> (in the day for the better e|dification of men, and in the night for his better capitulation with God) &s;o there is a farther continuation thereof without any wearine&s;&s;e, expre&s;&s;ed in the next clau&s;e, <HI>Turba|tus &agrave; furore oculus meus,</HI> as the Vulgat reads it, and <HI>Mine eye is dimmed, for de&s;pight</HI> or <HI>indi|gnation,</HI> as our former, or as this la&s;t Tran&s;lation hath it, <HI>Mine eye is con&s;umed becau&s;e of griefe;</HI> and to &s;peake neere&s;t to the Originall, <HI>Ero&s;us e&s;t oculus, Mine eye is eaten out with Indignation.</HI> A word or two &s;hall be inough of each of the&s;e words, the&s;e three Termes, What the <HI>eye,</HI> which is the &s;ubject, what this <HI>con&s;uming,</HI> or <HI>dimming,</HI> which is the effect, and what this <HI>Griefe,</HI> or <HI>Indignation,</HI> which is the affection, imports and offers to our ap|plication. Fir&s;t, <HI>Oculus,</HI> the <HI>Eye,</HI> is ordinarily taken in the Scriptures, <HI>Pro a&s;pectu,</HI> for the whole face, the looks, the countenance, the ayre of a man; and this ayre, and looks, and countenance, declares the whole habitude, and con&s;titution of the man; As he looks, &s;o he is: So that the <HI>Eye</HI> here, is the whole per&s;on; and &s;o this griefe had wrought upon the whole frame and con&s;titution of <HI>David,</HI> and decayed that; though he place it in the eye, yet it had growne over all the body. Since thou wa&s;t not able to &s;ay to thy &s;inne, The &s;inne &s;hall come to mine eyes, but no farther, I will looke, but not lu&s;t, I will &s;ee, but not covet, thou mu&s;t not &s;ay, My repentance &s;hall come to mine eyes, and no farther, I will &s;hed a few teares, and no more; but (with this Prophet <HI>David,</HI> and with the Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Paul</HI>) thou mu&s;t beat downe thy body to that particular purpo&s;e, and in that proportion, as thou finde&s;t the rebellions thereof to require: Thou coulde&s;t not &s;top the &s;in at thine eyes; &s;top not thy repentance there neither, but pur&s;ue it in whole&s;ome mortification, through all tho&s;e parts, in which the &s;inne hath advanced his dominion over thee; and that is our u&s;e of the fir&s;t word, the <HI>Eye,</HI> the whole frame.</P>
<P>For the &s;econd word, which in our Tran&s;lations, is, in one <HI>dimmed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Turbatus. <HI>Reuchlin.</HI></NOTE> in the other <HI>con|&s;umed,</HI> and in the Vulgat <HI>troubled,</HI> a great Ma&s;ter in the Originall, renders it well, elegant|ly, and naturally out of the Originall, <HI>Verminavit, Tineavit,</HI> which is &s;uch a deformitie, as wormes make in wood, or in books; If <HI>Davids</HI> &s;orrow for his &s;innes brought him to this deformitie, what &s;orrow doe they owe to their &s;innes, who being come to a deformi|tie by their own licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and intemperance, di&s;gui&s;e all that by unnaturall helpes, to the drawing in of others, and the continuation of their former &s;innes? The &s;inne it &s;elfe was the Devils act in thee; But in the deformity and debility, though it follow up|on the &s;inne, God hath a hand; And they that &s;mother and &s;uppre&s;&s;e the&s;e by paint|ings, and pamperings, unnaturall helps to unlawfull ends, doe not deliver them&s;elves of the plague, but they hide the marks, and infect others, and wra&s;tle again&s;t Gods notifi|cations of their former &s;innes.</P>
<P>And then the la&s;t of the&s;e three words, which is here rendred <HI>Griefe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Indignatio.</NOTE> does properly &s;ignifie, <HI>Indignation,</HI> and <HI>Anger:</HI> And therefore S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> upon this place, puts him|&s;elfe to that que&s;tion, If <HI>Davids</HI> con&s;titution be &s;haken, if his complexion and counte|nance be decayed, and withered, <HI>Prae indignatione,</HI> for Indignation, for Anger, from whom proceeds this Indignation, and this Anger? &s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed Father. If it pro|ceede from God, &s;ayes he, it is well that he is but <HI>Turbatus,</HI> and not <HI>Extinctus,</HI> that he is but troubled, and not di&s;tracted, but &s;haken, and not overthrowne; but overthrowne, and not ground to powder, not trodden as flat as durt in the &s;treets, as the Prophet &s;peaks. For <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe had told us but a few P&s;almes before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2. ult.</NOTE> That when the <HI>Sonne</HI> is <HI>angry,</HI> (and when we &s;peake of the Sonne, we intend a per&s;on more &s;en&s;ible, and &s;o more compa&s;&s;ionate of our mi&s;eries, then when we &s;peake of God, of God con&s;idered in the height of his Maje&s;ty) and <HI>but a little angry,</HI> (which amounts not to this provoca|tion of God, which <HI>David</HI> had falne into here) we may <HI>peri&s;h;</HI> and <HI>peri&s;h in the way;</HI> peri&s;h in a halfe repentance, before we perfect our Reconciliation: In the way &s;o, be|fore we come to our end; or in the way, in the&s;e outward actions of repentance, if they be hypocritically, or occa&s;ionally, or fa&s;hionally, or perfunctorily performed, and not with a right heart towards God. Though this be the way, we may peri&s;h in the way.</P>
<P>Now <HI>Aquinas</HI> places this fury (as the Vulgat calls it, this <HI>indignation</HI>) in <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> and not in <HI>David;</HI> He takes <HI>Davids</HI> &s;orrow to ri&s;e out of his &s;ons rebellion, and furious pro&s;ecution thereof; That <HI>David</HI> was thus vehemently affected for the fault of another: And truly it is a holy tenderne&s;&s;e, and an exemplar di&s;po&s;ition to be &s;o &s;en&s;ible, and com|pa&s;&s;ionate
<PB N="542" REF="289">for the &s;ins of other men; Though <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> could not have hurt <HI>David, David</HI> would have grieved for his unnaturall attempt to doe it. So in <HI>Aquinas</HI> &s;en&s;e, it is <HI>Excan|de&s;centia pro inimicis,</HI> a &s;orrow for his enemies; Not for his owne danger from them, but for their &s;in in them&s;elves; But <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> takes it, <HI>de excande&s;centia in inimicos,</HI> for an indignation again&s;t his enemies: And that <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks this by way of confe&s;&s;ion, and accu&s;ation of him&s;elfe, as of a fault, that he was too &s;oone tran&s;ported to an impati|ence, and indignation again&s;t them, though enemies; And taking that &s;en&s;e, we &s;ee, how quickly even the Saints of God put them&s;elves beyond the hability of making that Pe|tition &s;incerely, <HI>Forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es, as we forgive them that tre&s;pa&s;&s;e again&s;t us;</HI> How hard it is even for a good man to forgive an enemy;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heg.</NOTE> And how hard it is, <HI>Nihil in pecca|tore odi&s;&s;e ni&s;i peccatum,</HI> to &s;ever the &s;in from the &s;inner, and to hate the fault, and not the man.</P>
<P>But leaving <HI>Thomas</HI> and <HI>Gregory, Aquinas</HI> and <HI>Ny&s;&s;en</HI> to that Expo&s;ition, in which (I think) they are &s;ingularly &s;ingular, either that this &s;orrow in <HI>David</HI> was a charitable and compa&s;&s;ionate &s;en&s;e of others faults, which is <HI>Aquinas</HI> way, or that it was a confe&s;&s;ion of uncharitablene&s;&s;e in him&s;elf towards others, which is <HI>Gregories</HI> way, the whole &s;tream (for the mo&s;t part) of ancient Expo&s;itors divide them&s;elves into the&s;e two channels; Either that this indignation conceived by <HI>David,</HI> which withered and decayed him, was a holy &s;corn and indignation again&s;t his owne &s;ins, that &s;uch wretched things as tho&s;e &s;hould &s;eparate him from his God, and from his inheritance, according to that chaine of Affections which the Apo&s;tle makes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.</NOTE> That godly &s;orrow brings a &s;inner to a care; He is no longer carele&s;&s;e, negligent of his wayes; and that care to a clearing of him&s;elfe, not to cleare him&s;elfe by way of excu&s;e, or di&s;gui&s;e, but to cleare him&s;elfe by way of phy&s;ick, by humble confe&s;&s;ion; and then that clearing brings him to an indignation, to a kind of holy &s;corne, and wonder, how that tentation could worke &s;o; Such an affection as we conceive to have been in the Spou&s;e, when &s;he &s;aid, <HI>Lavi pedes, I have wa&s;hed my feet, how &s;hall I defile them?</HI> I have emptied my &s;oul by Confe&s;&s;ion, is it po&s;&s;ible I &s;hould charge it with new tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions? Or el&s;e they place this affection, this indignation in God; And then they &s;ay, it was an apprehen&s;ion of the anger of God, to be expre&s;&s;ed upon him in the day of Judgement; And again&s;t this Vermination, (as the Originall de|notes) again&s;t this gnawing of the worme, that may bore through, and &s;ink the &s;tronge&s;t ve&s;&s;ell that &s;ailes in the &s;eas of this world, there is no other varni&s;h, no other liniment, no other medicament, no other pitch nor ro&s;in again&s;t this worme, but the bloud of Chri&s;t Je&s;us: And therefore when&s;oever this worme, this apprehen&s;ion of Gods future indignation, re&s;erved for the Judgement, bites upon thee, be &s;ure to pre&s;ent to it the bloud of thy Saviour: Never con&s;ider the judgement of God for &s;in alone, but in the company of the mercies of Chri&s;t. It is but the hi&s;&s;ing of the Serpent, and the whi&s;pe|ring of Satan, when he &s;urpri&s;es thee in a melancholy midnight of dejection of &s;pirit, and layes thy &s;ins before thee then; Looke not upon thy &s;ins &s;o in&s;eparably, that thou can&s;t not &s;ee Chri&s;t too: Come not to a confe&s;&s;ion to God, without con&s;ideration of the promi&s;es of his Go&s;pel; Even the &s;en&s;e and remor&s;e of &s;in is a dangerous con&s;ideration, but when the cup of &s;alvation &s;tands by me, to keep me from fainting. <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe could not get off when he would; but (as he complaines there, which is the la&s;t act of his &s;orrow to be con&s;idered in this, which is all his part, and all our fir&s;t part) <HI>Inveteravit, He waxed old becau&s;e of all his enemies.</HI></P>
<P>The difference is not of much importance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inveteravit.</NOTE> whether it be <HI>Inveteravi,</HI> or <HI>Inveteravit;</HI> in the fir&s;t, or in the third per&s;on. Whether <HI>Davids</HI> eyes, or <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe be thus de|cayed, and waxen old, imports little. But yet that which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> collects, upon this difference, imports much. For, becau&s;e the Vulgat Edition, and the Septuagint, (&s;uch a Septuagint as we have now) reade this in the fir&s;t per&s;on of <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe, <HI>Inveteravi,</HI> and the Hebrew hath it in the third, <HI>Inveteravit, Bellarmine</HI> will needs think, that the He|brew, the Originall, is fal&s;ified and corrupted; &s;till in advancement of that dangerous Po&s;ition of theirs, That their Tran&s;lation is to be preferred before the Originall; and that is an un&s;ufferable tyrannie, and an Idolatrous &s;ervility. The Tran&s;lation is a reve|rend Tran&s;lation; A Tran&s;lation to which the Church of God owes much; but gold will make an Idol as well as wood, and to make any Tran&s;lation equall, or better then the Originall, is an Idolatrous &s;ervility. It is true, that that which is &s;aid here in the third per&s;on, implyes the fir&s;t; And it is <HI>David,</HI> that after his &s;ighing, and fainting with that,
<PB N="543" REF="289">After his weeping, and di&s;&s;olving with that, After his con&s;uming, and withering with that, fore&s;ees no re&s;cue, no e&s;cape, <HI>Inveteravit,</HI> he waxes old among&s;t his enemies. Who were his enemies, and what was this age that he &s;peaks of? It is of be&s;t u&s;e to pur&s;ue the &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e of this P&s;alme, and &s;o his enemies were his &s;ins; And <HI>David</HI> found that he had not got the victory over any one enemy, any one &s;in; Anothers bloud did not extingui&s;h the lu&s;tfull heat of his owne, nor the murther of the husband, the adultery with the wife: Change of &s;in is not an overcomming of &s;in; He that pa&s;&s;es from &s;in to &s;in, without repentance, (which was <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e for a time) &s;till leaves an enemy behind him; and though he have no pre&s;ent a&s;&s;ault from his former enemie, no tentation to any act of his former &s;in, yet he is &s;till in the mid&s;t of his enemies; under condemnation of his pa&s;t, as well as of his pre&s;ent &s;ins; as unworthy a receiver of the Sacrament, for the &s;ins of his youth done forty yeares agoe, if tho&s;e &s;ins were never repented, though &s;o long di&s;continued, as for his ambition, or covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or indevotion of this pre&s;ent day. The&s;e are his enemies; and then this is the age that growes upon him, the age that <HI>Da|vid</HI> complaines of, <HI>I am waxenold;</HI> that is, growne into habits of the&s;e &s;ins. There is an old age of our naturall condition, <HI>We &s;hall waxe old as doth a garment;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102.26.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> would not complaine of that which all men de&s;ire; To wi&s;h to be old, and then grudge to be old, when we are come to it, cannot con&s;i&s;t with morall con&s;tancy. There is an old age ex|pre&s;&s;ed in that phra&s;e, <HI>The old man,</HI> which the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of, which is that naturall corruption and di&s;po&s;ition to &s;in, ca&s;t upon us by <HI>Adam;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.6.</NOTE> But <HI>that old man was crucified in Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; and was not &s;o onely from that time when Chri&s;t was actu|ally crucified, one thou&s;and &s;ix hundred yeares agoe, but from that time that a &s;econd <HI>Adam</HI> was promi&s;ed to the fir&s;t, in Paradi&s;e; And &s;o that Lambe &s;laine from the begin|ning of the world, from the beginning delivered all them, to whom the means ordained by God, (as Circumci&s;ion to them, Bapti&s;me to us) were afforded; and in that re&s;pect, <HI>David</HI> was not under that old age, but was become a new creature. Nor as the Law was called the old Law, which is another age al&s;o; for to them who under&s;tood that Law aright, the New Law, the Go&s;pel, was enwrapped in the Old; And &s;o <HI>David</HI> as well as we, might be &s;aid <HI>to &s;erve God in the newne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit, and not in the oldne&s;&s;e of the Letter;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.6.</NOTE> &s;o that this was not the age that oppre&s;t him.</P>
<P>The Age that oppre&s;&s;es the &s;inner, is that when he is growne old in &s;in, he is growne weak in &s;trength, and become le&s;&s;e able to overcome that &s;in then, then he was at begin|ning. Blindne&s;&s;e contracted by Age, doth not deliver him from objects of tentations; He &s;ees them, though he be blind; Deafne&s;&s;e doth not deliver him from di&s;cour&s;es of tentation; he heares them, though he be deafe: Nor lamene&s;&s;e doth not deliver him from pur&s;uit of tentation; for in his owne memory he &s;ees, and heares, and pur&s;ues all his former &s;infull plea&s;ures, and every night, every houre &s;ins over all the &s;ins of many yeares that are pa&s;&s;ed. <HI>That which waxeth old, is ready to vani&s;h,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 8.13.</NOTE> If we would let them goe, they would goe; and whether we will or no, they leave us for the ability of practi&s;e; But <HI>The&s;aurizamus,</HI> we trea&s;ure them up in our memories,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.5.</NOTE> and we trea&s;ure up the wrath of God with them, again&s;t the day of wrath; And whereas one calling of our &s;ins to our memories by way of confe&s;&s;ion, would doe us good, and &s;erve our turnes, this often calling them in a &s;infull delight, in the memory of them, ex|ceeds the &s;in it &s;elfe, when it was committed, becau&s;e it is more unnaturall now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 23.19.</NOTE> then it was then, and fru&s;trates the pardon of that &s;in, when it was repented. To end this branch, and this part, So humble was this holy Prophet, and &s;o apprehen&s;ive of his own debility, and &s;o far from an imaginary infallibility of falling no more, as that after all his agonies, and exerci&s;es, and mortifications, and prayer, and &s;ighs, and weeping, &s;till he finds him|&s;elfe in the mid&s;t of enemies, and of his old enemies; for not onely tentations to new &s;ins, but even the memory of old, though formerly repented, ari&s;e again&s;t us, ari&s;e in us, and ruine us. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e from the&s;e pieces which con&s;titute our fir&s;t Part, <HI>Quid factum,</HI> what <HI>David</HI> upon the &s;en&s;e of his ca&s;e did, to the other, <HI>Quid faciendum,</HI> what by his example we are to doe, and what is required of us, after we have repented, and God hath remitted the &s;in.</P>
<P>Out of this pa&s;&s;age here in this P&s;alme, and out of that hi&s;tory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> where <HI>Nathan</HI> &s;ayes to <HI>David, The Lord hath put away thy &s;in,</HI> and yet &s;ayes after,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Sam. 12.13.</NOTE> <HI>The child that is borne to thee &s;hall &s;urely dye,</HI> and out of that &s;tory, where <HI>David</HI> repents earne&s;tly his &s;in, com|mitted in the numbring of his people, and &s;ayes; Now, now that I have repented,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 24.10.</NOTE> <HI>Now
<PB N="544" REF="290">I be&s;eech thee O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy &s;ervant, for I have done very fooli&s;hly,</HI> yet <HI>David</HI> was to indure one of tho&s;e three Calamities, of <HI>Famine, Warre,</HI> or <HI>Pe&s;tilence;</HI> And out of &s;ome other &s;uch places as the&s;e, &s;ome men have imagined a Doctrine, that after our repentance, and after God hath thereupon pardoned our &s;in, yet he leaves the puni&s;hment belonging to that &s;in unpardoned; though not all the puni&s;hment, not the eternall, yet &s;ay they, there belongs a temporary puni&s;hment too, and that God does not pardon, but exacts, and exacts in the nature of a puni&s;hment, and more, by way of &s;ati&s;|faction to his Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P>Now, <HI>Stipendium peccati mors e&s;t,</HI> There is the puni&s;hment for &s;in, <HI>The reward of &s;in is death.</HI> If there remaine no death, there remaines no puni&s;hment: <HI>For the reward of &s;in is death,</HI> And death complicated in it &s;elfe, death wrapped in death; and what is &s;o intri|cate, &s;o intangling as death? Who ever got out of a winding &s;heet? It is death aggra|vated by it &s;elfe, death waighed downe by death: And what is &s;o heavy as death? Who ever threw off his grave &s;tone? It is death multiplied by it &s;elfe; And what is &s;o infinite as death? Who ever told over the dayes of death? It is <HI>Morte morieris,</HI> A Dou|ble death, Eternall, and Temporary. Temporall, and Spirituall death. Now, the Tem|porary, the Naturall death, God never takes away from us, he never pardons that pu|ni&s;hment, becau&s;e he never takes away that &s;in that occa&s;ioned it, which is Originall &s;in; To what Sanctification &s;oever a man comes, Originall &s;in lives to his la&s;t breath. And therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb 9.27.</NOTE> <HI>Statutum e&s;t,</HI> That Decree &s;tands, <HI>Semel mori,</HI> that every man mu&s;t dye once; but for any <HI>Bis mori,</HI> for twice dying, for eternall death upon any man, as man, if God con&s;ider him not as an impotent &s;inner, there is no &s;uch invariable Decree; for, that death being al&s;o the puni&s;hment for actuall &s;in, if he take away the cau&s;e, the &s;in, he takes away that effect, that death al&s;o; for this death it &s;elfe, eternall death, we all agree that it is taken away with the &s;in; And then for other calamities in this life, which we call <HI>Mor|ticulas,</HI> Little deaths, the children, the i&s;&s;ue, the off-&s;pring, the propagation of death, if we would &s;peak properly, no Affliction, no Judgement of God in this life, hath in it exactly the nature of a puni&s;hment; not onely not the nature of &s;atisfaction, but not the nature of a puni&s;hment. We call not Coyn, ba&s;e Coyne, till the Allay be more then the pure Metall: Gods Judgements are not puni&s;hments, except there be more anger then love, more Ju&s;tice then Mercy in them; and that is never; for <HI>Mi&s;erationes ejus &s;uper omnia opera,</HI> His mercies are above all his works: In his fir&s;t work, in the Creation, his <HI>Spirit,</HI> the Holy Gho&s;t, <HI>moved upon the face of the waters;</HI> and &s;till upon the face of all our waters, (as wa|ters are emblemes of tribulation in all the Scriptures) his Spirit, the Spirit of comfort, moves too; and as the waters produced the fir&s;t creatures in the Creation, &s;o tribulations offer us the fir&s;t comforts; &s;ooner then pro&s;perity does. God executes no judgement upon man in this life, but in mercy; either in mercy to that per&s;on, in his &s;en&s;e thereof, if he be &s;en&s;ible, or at lea&s;t in mercy to his Church, in the example thereof, if he be not: There is no per&s;on to whom we can &s;ay, that Gods Corrections are Puni&s;hments, any otherwi&s;e then Medicinall, and &s;uch, as he may receive amendment by, that receives them; Neither does it become us in any ca&s;e, to &s;ay God layes this upon him, becau&s;e he is &s;o ill, but becau&s;e he may be better.</P>
<P>But here our con&s;ideration is onely upon the godly, and &s;uch as by repentance &s;tand upright in his favour; and even in them, our Adver&s;aries &s;ay, that after the remi&s;&s;ion of their &s;ins, there remaines a puni&s;hment, and a puni&s;hment by way of Satisfaction, to be borne for that &s;in, which is remitted. But &s;ince they them&s;elves tell us, that in Bapti&s;me God proceeds otherwi&s;e, and pardons there all &s;in, and all puni&s;hment of &s;inne, which &s;hould be inflicted in the next world, (for children newly baptized, doe not &s;uffer any thing in Purgatory) And that this holds not onely <HI>in Bapti&s;mo fluminis,</HI> in the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, but <HI>in Bapti&s;mo &s;anguinis,</HI> in the Bapti&s;me of blood too; (for in Martyrdome, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Injuriam facit Martyri,</HI> He wrongs a Martyr that praies for a Mar|tyr, as though he were not already in Heaven; &s;o he &s;u&s;pects a Martyr, that thinkes that Martyr goes to Purgatory) And &s;ince they &s;ay, that he can doe &s;o in the other Sacra|ment too, and in Repentance, which they call, and ju&s;tly, <HI>Secundam po&s;t naufragium ta|bulam,</HI> That whereas Bapti&s;me hath once delivered us from &s;hipwrack, in Originall &s;in, this Repentance delivers us after Bapti&s;me, from actuall &s;inne; Since God can pardon, without re&s;erving any puni&s;hment, &s;ince God does &s;o in Bapti&s;me and Martyrdome, &s;ince out of Bapti&s;me or Martyrdome, it appeares often, that <HI>De facto,</HI> he hath done &s;o,
<PB N="545" REF="290">(for he enjoyned no penance to the man &s;icke of the Pal&s;ie, when he &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat 9.</NOTE> <HI>Son be of good comfort, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee,</HI> Sins, and puni&s;hments too. He intimated no &s;uch after reckoning to her, of whom he &s;aid, <HI>Many &s;ins are forgiven her;</HI> Sins, and puni&s;hments too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 17.</NOTE> He left no &s;uch future Satisfaction in that Parable upon the Publican,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.</NOTE> that <HI>departed to his hou&s;e ju&s;tified;</HI> Ju&s;tified from &s;ins, and puni&s;hments too. And when he declared <HI>Zacheus</HI> to be the &s;on of <HI>Abraham,</HI> and &s;aid, <HI>This day is Salvation come unto thy hou&s;e.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 19.</NOTE> He did not charge this ble&s;&s;ed inheritance with any &s;uch encumbrance, that he &s;hould &s;till be &s;ub|ject to old debts, to make &s;atisfaction by bodily afflictions for former &s;ins) &s;ince God can doe this, and does &s;o in Bapti&s;me, and Martyrdome, and hath done this very often, out of Bapti&s;me, or Martyrdome, in Repentance, we had need of clearer evidence then they have offered to preduce yet, that God does otherwi&s;e at any time; that at any time he pardons the &s;in, and retaines the puni&s;hment, by way of &s;atisfaction. If their Market &s;hould faile, that no man would buy Indulgences (as of late yeares it was brought low, when they vented ten Indulgencies in America for one in Europe; If the fire of Purga|tory were quenched, or &s;lackned, that men would not be &s;o prodigall to buy out Fathers or friends &s;oules, from thence; If commutation of penance, were &s;o moderated among&s;t them, that tho&s;e penances, and &s;atisfactions, which they make &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, were not com|muted to money, and brought them in no profit, they would not be perhaps &s;o vehement in maintenance of this Doctrine.</P>
<P>To leave &s;uch imaginations with their Authors; We &s;ee <HI>David</HI> did enjoyne him&s;elf penance, and impo&s;e upon him&s;elfe heavy afflictions after he had asked, and no doubt, received a&s;&s;urance of the mercy of God, in the remi&s;&s;ion of his &s;ins. Why did he &s;o? S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> ob&s;erves out of the words of this Text, that becau&s;e &s;ome of <HI>Davids</HI> af|flictions are expre&s;&s;ed in the Preter ten&s;e, as things already pa&s;t, and &s;ome in the Future, as things to come, (for it is <HI>Laboravi,</HI> I have mourned, and it is <HI>Natare faciam,</HI> I will wa&s;h my bed with teares) &s;o that &s;omething <HI>David</HI> confe&s;&s;es he had done, and &s;omething he profe&s;&s;es that he will doe, therefore <HI>David</HI> hath a &s;peciall regard to his future &s;tate, and he proceeds with God, not onely by that way of holy wor&s;hip, by way of confe&s;&s;ion, what he had done, but by another religious wor&s;hip of God too, by way of vow, what he would doe. <HI>David</HI> under&s;tood his own con&s;cience well; and was willing to husband it, to manure, and cultivate it well; He knew what ploughing, what harrowing, what weeding, and watring, and pruning it needed, and &s;o perhaps might be tru&s;ted with him|&s;elfe, and hee his owne &s;pirituall Phy&s;itian. This is not every ones ca&s;e. Tho&s;e that are not &s;o perfect in the knowledge of their owne e&s;tate, (as it is certaine the mo&s;t are not) the Church ever tooke into her care; and therefore it is true, that in the Primitive Church, there were heavy penitentiall Canons, and there were publique penances en|joyned to &s;inners: Either <HI>Ad explorationem,</HI> when the Church had cau&s;e to be jealous, and to &s;u&s;pect the hearty repentance of the party, They made this triall of their obedi|ence, to &s;ubmit them to that heavy penance; Or el&s;e <HI>Ad aedificationem,</HI> to &s;atisfie the Church which was &s;candalized by their &s;ins before; Or <HI>Ad Exercitationem,</HI> to keepe them in continuall practi&s;e, the better to re&s;i&s;t future tentations, and relap&s;es; for to them this penance was an Unction, as to one that was to wra&s;tle with him&s;elfe, and as the buckling on of an Armour upon one that was to fight Gods Battells, in his owne bowells.</P>
<P>If from &s;ome of the Fathers, there have faine &s;ometimes, &s;ome phra&s;es which may have &s;eemed to &s;ome, to attribute &s;omething more to mans works, to his after-afflictions, and po&s;t-penances, &s;ome power of &s;atisfaction to the Ju&s;tice of God, <HI>Bellarmine</HI> him&s;elfe hath given us one good Caution, That we mu&s;t be very wary in under&s;tanding tho&s;e phra&s;es; for he findes it very inconvenient, to accept all that the Fathers have &s;aid, in their manner of expre&s;&s;ing them&s;elves in that point. We will adde thus much more, for the better under&s;tanding of repentance in the roote, and the fruits of repentance, that there is &s;uch an indi&s;&s;oluble knot, &s;uch an individuall marriage between tho&s;e parts of repentance, which we call <HI>Partes con&s;titutivas,</HI> E&s;&s;entiall parts of repentance, and tho&s;e parts, which we call <HI>Con&s;ecutivas,</HI> which doe infallibly concurre, or immediately follow upon repentance, the&s;e two are &s;o in&s;eparable; There is not onely &s;uch a contiguity, but &s;uch a continuity in them, not onely &s;uch a vicinity, but &s;uch an identity, betweene re|pentance, and the fruits of repentance, that many reverend per&s;ons, in their Expo&s;iti|ons, and Meditations have pre&s;ented, and named one for the other, and have called
<PB N="546" REF="291">tho&s;e &s;ub&s;equent, and &s;ub&s;idiary things, by the name of Repentance it &s;elfe. Hence it comes, that whereas repentance is onely <HI>Cogver&s;io,</HI> a turning, and this conver&s;ion, this turning hath onely <HI>Terminum &agrave; quo,</HI> Something to turne from, and that is &s;in, and <HI>Ter|minum ad quem,</HI> Something to turne to, and that is God, Tho&s;e things which are indeed but helps to hold us in that &s;tation, and in that po&s;ture when we are turned from &s;in upon God, they have called by the names of Repentance it &s;elfe, as parts of it; And &s;o the&s;e bodily afflictions, which we &s;peak of, being indeed to be imbraced for that u&s;e, to maintaine us in that good di&s;po&s;ition, to which our repentance hath brought us, have &s;ometimes been called parts of repentance, even by godly, and learned Expo&s;itors; and by occa&s;ion of that ea&s;ine&s;&s;e in them, in calling the&s;e things thus, in after-times, &s;alvation it &s;elfe, which God gives upon repentance, hath been attributed to the&s;e po&s;t-penances, and after-afflictions, which becau&s;e they doe alwaies accompany repentance, have &s;ome|times been called repentance.</P>
<P>The meaning of ancient and later men too therein, hath beene to impo&s;e a nece&s;&s;ity of taking the&s;e medicinall Phy&s;icks, the&s;e after-afflictions, for that u&s;e of holding us in that &s;tate, to which we are brought; but their meaning hath ever beene too, to exclude &s;atisfaction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> properly &s;o termed. <HI>Poenitentia e&s;t, mala praeterita plaengere,</HI> This is repentance &s;ayes that Father, to lament and bewaile our former &s;ins; But, this is not all that he re|quires, but he addes, <HI>Plangenda iterum non committere,</HI> This belongs to repentance too, not to returne to tho&s;e &s;ins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> which we have bewailed. For, Repentance is <HI>Vindicta &s;em|per puniens, quod dolet &s;e commi&s;i&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes another al&s;o; a man truly penitent is a daily executioner upon him&s;elfe, and puni&s;hes after, the &s;ins which he hath committed before. Here we &s;ee that both the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> attribute the&s;e after-afflictions, and po&s;t-penances to Repentance, and call them by that name, Repen|tance. But yet, not to leave the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers, under the danger of mi&s;-interpretation, and ill application of words well intended, We confider the &s;ame Fathers in other places too;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> <HI>Lacrymas Petri lego, &s;atisfactionem non lego,</HI> I read of <HI>Peters</HI> teares, not of his &s;atisfa|ction. So if the&s;e po&s;t-penances had the nature of puni&s;hments, yet the&s;e puni&s;hments had not the nature of &s;atisfaction.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> But <HI>Calamitates ante remi&s;sionem &s;unt &s;upplicia, po&s;t remi&s;sionem exercitationes,</HI> &s;ayes the other of tho&s;e Fathers: Till God be pacified by our Repentance, his corrections have more of the nature of puni&s;hments, becau&s;e con&s;idered &s;o, we are in the &s;tate of enemies, and he may ju&s;tly puni&s;h; But after God hath remitted the &s;in, the after-afflictions are but from a Phy&s;itian, not from an executioner, and inten|ded to keepe us in our &s;tation, and not to throw us lower; So that they are neither pro|perly &s;atisfactions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> nor puni&s;hments. For, for &s;atisfaction to the ju&s;tice of God, <HI>Nec &s;i te excories, &s;atis facere po&s;sis,</HI> If thou flea thy &s;elfe with haire-cloathes, and whips, it is no|thing towards &s;atisfaction of that infinite Maje&s;ty, which thou ha&s;t violated, and woun|ded by thy &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> And then for the other, that is, puni&s;hment after remi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Vbi mi&s;ericor|dia, poenae locus non e&s;t,</HI> They are incompatible things, If God have re&s;erved a di&s;po&s;ition and purpo&s;e to puni&s;h, he hath not pardoned.</P>
<P>So that how&s;oever &s;omething &s;aid by them, may &s;eeme to make the&s;e after-afflictions to be nece&s;&s;ary to repentance, and, in a large &s;en&s;e, parts of repentance, yet neither did they put that value upon mans act, That man &s;hould be able to &s;atisfie God, nor that de|lu&s;ion upon Gods act, That God &s;hould pretend to pardon, and yet puni&s;h. Wee are not di&s;po&s;ed to wrangle about words, and names; The Schoole may admit that exerci&s;e, but not the Pulpit. If upon admittance, that the&s;e after-afflictions might be called puni&s;h|ments, they had not inferred a &s;atisfaction, and thereupon &s;uper-induced a &s;atisfaction after this life, and &s;o a Purgatory, and &s;o Indulgencies, and carried their Babel &s;o many &s;tories high, We to advance the doctrine of a nece&s;&s;ity of the&s;e di&s;ciplines, and mortifi|cations, even after God hath &s;ealed to our con&s;ciences the remi&s;&s;ion of our &s;in, would not abhor, nor decline the name, we would not be afraid to call them Penances, nor Puni&s;hments,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> nor Satisfactions; for when S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> in his time, had no occa&s;ion to be afraid of &s;uch a mi&s;-interpretation, he was not afraid to call them &s;o; <HI>Non remi&s;it &s;uppli|cium,</HI> &s;ayes he; God hath not forgiven the puni&s;hment; And <HI>imponit poenam,</HI> God exacts a puni&s;hment at thy hands: But yet, though S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;u&s;pected no &s;uch mi&s;-inter|pretations, the Holy Gho&s;t who fore&s;aw that they would come, prevents all dangerous mi&s;-con&s;tructions, and directs S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> pen, thus, God does all this, &s;ayes he, <HI>Non exigens &s;upplicium de peccatis, &s;ed corrigens ad futurum;</HI> what&s;oever I have &s;aid of puni&s;h|ments;
<PB N="547" REF="291">it is not, that in that puni&s;hment, God hath any relation to the former, but to the future &s;in, not to our lap&s;e, but to our relap&s;e, not to that which he hath &s;eene, but to that which he fore&s;ees would fall upon us, if he did not, if we did not prevent it with the&s;e medicinall a&s;&s;i&s;tances: And, as long as it is but &s;o, call them what ye will, yet here is no foundation laid, no materials, no &s;tone brought to the building of the Roman Sati&s;|faction, or Purgatory, or Indulgencies.</P>
<P>How&s;oever therefore you exclude dangerous names, doe not upon colour of that, ex|clude nece&s;&s;ary things: How&s;oever you have delivered your &s;elves to the mercy of God, and he hath delivered a &s;eale of his mercy to you, inwardly in his Spirit, outwardly in his Sacrament, yet there are <HI>Amarae &s;agittae ex dulci manu Dei,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazian.</NOTE> (as <HI>Nazianzen</HI> calls afflictions after repentance) Sharp arrowes out of the &s;weet hand of God; Corrections, by which God intends to e&s;tabli&s;h us in that &s;pirituall health, to which our repentance, by his grace, hath brought us: Remember &s;till, that this which <HI>David</HI> did for the pre&s;ent, and that which he promi&s;ed be would doe for the future, both together made up the rea&s;on of his prayer to God, by which he de&s;ired God in the former ver&s;es, to <HI>returne</HI> to him, to <HI>deliver</HI> his &s;oule, and to <HI>&s;ave</HI> him; He had had no rea&s;on, no ground of his prayer, though he had done &s;omething already, if he had not propo&s;ed to him&s;elfe &s;omething more to be done: There is a preparation before, and there is a pre&s;ervation after requi|red at our hands, if wee &s;tudie a perfect recovery, and cure of our &s;oules.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> And as S. <HI>Gre|gory</HI> notes well, there is a great deale of force in <HI>Davids</HI> Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ive, in his word of appro|priation, <HI>Meus, lectus meus,</HI> and <HI>Oculus meus,</HI> It is his bed that he wa&s;hed, and they are his eyes that wa&s;hed it: He bore the affliction him&s;elfe, and tru&s;ted not to that which others had &s;uffered by way of Supererogation. Sometimes, when the children of great per&s;ons offend at Schoole, another per&s;on is whipped for them, and that affects them, and works upon a good nature; but if that per&s;on &s;hould take Phy&s;ick for them in a &s;ickne&s;&s;e, it would doe them no good: Gods corrections upon others, may worke by way of exam|ple upon thee; but becau&s;e thou art &s;ick for phy&s;icke, take it thy &s;elfe. Tru&s;t not to the trea&s;ure of the Church; neither the imaginary trea&s;ure of the Church of Rome, which pretends an inexhau&s;tible mine of the works of other men, to di&s;tribute and be|&s;tow; No, nor to the true trea&s;ure of the true Church, that is, Ab&s;olution, upon Con|fe&s;&s;ion, and Repentance; No, tru&s;t not to the merits of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, in their applica|tion to thee, without a <HI>Lectus tuus,</HI> and an <HI>Oculus tuus,</HI> except thou remember thy &s;ins in thy bed, and poure out thy teares from thine eyes, and fulfill the &s;ufferings of Chri&s;t in thy &s;elfe. Nothing can be added to Chri&s;ts merits; that is true: but &s;omething mu&s;t be added to thee; a di&s;po&s;ition in thee, for the application of that which is his: Not, that thou can&s;t begin this di&s;po&s;ition in thy &s;elfe, till God offer it, but that thou mai&s;t re&s;i&s;t it, now it is offered, and reject it againe, after it is received. Tru&s;t not in others, not in the Church, nor in Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, &s;o, as to doe nothing for thy &s;elfe; Nor tru&s;t not in that, which thou doe&s;t for thy &s;elfe, &s;o, as at any time to thinke, thou ha&s;t done enough and neede&s;t do no more: But when thou ha&s;t pa&s;t the &s;ignet, that thou ha&s;t found the &s;ignature of Gods hand and &s;eale, in a manife&s;tation, that the marks of his Grace are up|on thee, when thou ha&s;t pa&s;t his privy Seale, That his Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with thy &s;pirit, that thy repentance hath beene accepted by him, When thou ha&s;t pa&s;t the great Seale, in the holy and ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament publiquely admini&s;tred, doe not &s;u&s;pect the goodne&s;&s;e of God, as though all were not done that were nece&s;&s;ary for thy &s;alvation, if thou wert to have thy tran&s;migration out of this world this houre; but yet, as long as thou continue&s;t in the vale of tentations, continue in the vale of teares too; and though thou have the &s;eale of Reconciliation, plead that &s;eale to the Church, (which is Gods Tribunall, and judgement &s;eat upon earth) in a holy life, and works of example to others, and looke daylie, looke hourely upon the <HI>Ita quod</HI> of that pardon, upon the Covenants and Conditions, with which it is given, That if by neglecting tho&s;e medicinall helps, tho&s;e auxiliary forces, tho&s;e &s;ub&s;idies of the kingdome of Heaven, tho&s;e after-afflictions, (chu&s;e whether you will call them by the name of Penance, or no) you relap&s;e into for|mer &s;ins, your pre&s;ent repentance, and your pre&s;ent &s;eale of that Repentance, the Sacra|ment, &s;hall ri&s;e up again&s;t you at the la&s;t day, and to that &s;entence (you did not feed, you did not cloathe, you did not harbour me in the poore) &s;hall this be added, as the aggra|vation of all, you did Repent, and you did receive the Seale, but you did not pur&s;ue that repentance, nor performe the conditions required at your hands.</P>
<PB N="548" REF="292" MS="y">
<P>But we are here met, by Gods gracious goodne&s;&s;e, in a better di&s;po&s;ition; with a &s;in|cere repentance of all our former &s;innes, and with a deliberate purpo&s;e, as tho&s;e I&s;rae|lites made their powring out of water, a te&s;timony of di&s;&s;olving them&s;elves into holy teares, to make this fa&s;t from bodily &s;u&s;tenance, an inchoation of a &s;pirituall fa&s;t, in ab|&s;tinence from all that may exa&s;perate our God again&s;t us; That &s;o, though not for that, yet thereby our prayers may be the more acceptable to our glorious God, in our graci|ous Saviour, To him that &s;its upon the throne, and to the Lambe, fir&s;t, that as he is the King of Kings, he will e&s;tabli&s;h, and pro&s;per that Crowne, which he hath &s;et upon the head of his Anointed over us here, and hereafter Crowne that Crowne with another Crowne, a better Crowne, a Crowne of immarce&s;cible glory in the Kingdome of Hea|ven, and in the meane time, make him his Bulwarke, and his Rampart, again&s;t all tho&s;e powers, which &s;eeke to multiply Miters, or Crownes, to the di&s;quiet and prejudice of Chri&s;tendome: And then, That as he is the Lord of Lords, he will in&s;pire them, to whom he hath given Lord&s;hip over others in this world, with a due con&s;ideration, that they al&s;o have a Lord over them, even in this world; and that he, and they, and we have one Lord over us all, in the other world: That as he is the Bi&s;hop and high Prie&s;t over our Souls, he vouch&s;afe to continue in our Bi&s;hops, a holy will, and a competent power to &s;uper-intend faithfully over his Church, that they for their parts, when they depart from hence, may deliver it back into his hands, in the &s;ame forme, and frame, in which his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit delivered it into their hands, in their predece&s;&s;ors, in the Primitive in|&s;titution thereof: That as he is the Angel of the great Coun&s;ayle, he vouch&s;afe to direct the great Coun&s;ayle of this Kingdome, to con&s;ider &s;till, that as he works in this world, by meanes, So it concernes his glory, that they expedite the &s;upply of &s;uch meanes as may doe his worke, and may carry home the te&s;timony of good Con&s;ciences now, and in their po&s;terity have the thanks of po&s;terity, for their behaviour in this Parliament: That as he is the God of peace, he will re&s;tore peace to Chri&s;tendome; That as he is the Lord of Ho&s;ts, he will fight our battayls, who have no other end in our warres, but his peace; and that after this fa&s;t, which in the bodily and gho&s;tly part too, we performe to day, and vow and promi&s;e for our whole lives, he will bring us to the Marriage Sup|per of the Lambe, in that Kingdome which our Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath purcha&s;ed for us, with the ine&s;timable price of his incorruptible bloud. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="55" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. LV.</HI> Preached upon the <HI>Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 6.8, 9, 10.</HI></BIBL>
<L>Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquitie; for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my weeping.</L>
<L>The Lord hath heard my &s;upplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.</L>
<L>Let all mine enemies be a&s;hamed and &s;ore vexed: let them returne and be a&s;hamed &s;uddenly.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis is <HI>Davids</HI> profligation and di&s;comfiture of his enemies; this is an act of true honour, a true victory, a true triumph, to keepe the field, to make good one &s;tation, and yet put the enemy to flight. A man may perchance be &s;afe in a Retrait, but the honour, the victory, the triumph lies in enfor|cing the enemy to fly. To that is <HI>David</HI> come here, to &s;uch a thankfull &s;en&s;e of a victory; in which we &s;hall fir&s;t confider <HI>Davids</HI> thankfulne&s;&s;e, that is, his man|ner of declaring Gods mercy, and his &s;ecurity in that mercy; which manner is, that he dur&s;t come to an open defiance, and prote&s;tation, and ho&s;tility, without modifications, or di&s;gui&s;es, <HI>Depart from me all yee workers of iniquity.</HI> And then, &s;econdly, we &s;hall &s;ee his rea&s;on, upon which he grounded this confidence, and this &s;pirituall exultation, which was a pregnant rea&s;on, a rea&s;on that produced another rea&s;on; <HI>The Lord hath heard my &s;upplication, the Lord will heare my prayer;</HI> upon no premi&s;es doth any conclu&s;ion follow,
<PB N="549" REF="292">&s;o Logically, &s;o &s;incerely, &s;o powerfully, &s;o imperiou&s;ly, &s;o undeniably, as upon this, <HI>The Lord hath, and therefore the Lord will.</HI> But then what was this prayer? that wee may know, whether it were a prayer to be drawne into practi&s;e, and imitation, or no. It is not argument enough, that it was &s;o, becau&s;e God heard it then; for we are not bound, nay, we are not allowed to pray all &s;uch prayers, as good men have prayed, and as God hath heard. But here the prayer was this, <HI>Let all mine enemies be a&s;hamed, and &s;ore vexed, let them returne, and be a&s;hamed &s;uddenly.</HI> But this is a malediction, an imprecation of mi&s;chiefe upon others; and will good men pray &s;o? or will God heare that? Becau&s;e that is an holy probleme, and an u&s;efull intergatory, we &s;hall make it a third part, or a con|clu&s;ion rather, to enquire into the nature, and into the avowablene&s;&s;e, and exemplari|ne&s;&s;e of this, in which <HI>David</HI> &s;eemes to have been tran&s;ported with &s;ome pa&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>So that our parts will be three, the building it &s;elfe, <HI>Davids</HI> thanke&s;giving in his ex|ultation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> and declaration, <HI>Depart from mee all yee workers of iniquitie;</HI> and then the foun|dation of this building, <HI>For God hath heard, and therefore God will heare;</HI> and la&s;tly, the pro&s;pect of this building, <HI>David</HI> contemplates and lookes over againe the prayer that he had made, and in a cleare under&s;tanding, and in a rectified Con&s;cience, he finds that he may per&s;i&s;t in that prayer, and he doth &s;o: <HI>Let all mine enemies be a&s;hamed, and &s;ore vexed, let them returne, and be a&s;hamed &s;uddenly.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then we con&s;ider <HI>Davids</HI> thankfulne&s;&s;e: But why is it &s;o long before <HI>David</HI> leads us to that con&s;ideration? Why hath he deferred &s;o primary a duty, to &s;o late a place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> to &s;o low a roome, to the end of the P&s;alme? The P&s;alme hath a Deprecatory part, that God would forbeare him, and a Po&s;tulatory part, that God would heare him, and grant &s;ome things to him, and a Gratulatory part, a &s;acrifice of thanke&s;giving. Now the Depre|catory part is placed in the fir&s;t place, <HI>Ver&s;.</HI> 1. For if it were not &s;o, if we &s;hould not fir&s;t ground that, <HI>That God &s;hould not rebuke us in his anger, nor cha&s;ten us in his hot di&s;plea&s;ure,</HI> but leave our &s;elves open to his indignation, and his judgements, wee could not live to come to a &s;econd petition; our &s;innes, and judgements due to our &s;innes, require our fir&s;t con&s;ideration; therefore <HI>David</HI> begins with the deprecatory prayer, That fir&s;t Gods anger may be removed: but then, that deprecatory prayer, wherein he de&s;ired God to for|beare him, &s;pends but one ver&s;e of the P&s;alme; <HI>David</HI> would not in&s;i&s;t upon that long: When I have penitently confe&s;t my &s;innes, I may &s;ay with <HI>Iob, My fle&s;h is not bra&s;&s;e, nor my bones &s;tones, that I can beare the wrath of the Lord;</HI> but yet I mu&s;t &s;ay with <HI>Iob</HI> too, <HI>If the Lord kill me, yet will I tru&s;t in him.</HI> God hath not asked me, What &s;hall I doe for thee, but of him&s;elfe he hath done more, then I could have propo&s;ed to my &s;elfe in a wi&s;h, or to him in a prayer. Nor will I aske God, <HI>Quou&s;que,</HI> how long &s;hall my foes in|crea&s;e? how long wilt thou fight on their &s;ide again&s;t me? but &s;urrender my &s;elfe entire|ly, in an <HI>adveniat regnum,</HI> and a <HI>fiat voluntas, thy kingdome come,</HI> and <HI>thy will be done. David</HI> makes it his fir&s;t worke, to &s;tay Gods anger in a deprecatory prayer, but he &s;tayes not upon that long, he will not pre&s;cribe his Phy&s;itian, what he &s;hall pre&s;cribe to him, but leaves God to his own medicines, and to his own methode. But then the Po&s;tulatory prayer, what he begs of God, employes &s;ix ver&s;es: as well to &s;hew us, that our nece&s;|&s;ities are many; as al&s;o that if God doe not an&s;wer us, at the beginning of our prayer, our duty is &s;till to pur&s;ue that way, to continue in prayer. And then the third part of the P&s;alme, which is the Gratulatory part, his giving of thanks, is, &s;hall we &s;ay deferred, or rather re&s;erved to the end of the P&s;alme, and exerci&s;es onely tho&s;e three ver&s;es which are our Text. Not that the duty of thanke&s;giving is le&s;&s;e then that of prayer; for if we could compare them, it is rather greater; becau&s;e it contributes more to Gods glory, to acknowledge by thanks, that God hath given, then to acknowledge by prayer, that God can give. But therefore might <HI>David</HI> be later and &s;horter here, in expre&s;&s;ing that duty of thanks, fir&s;t, becau&s;e being re&s;erved to the end, and clo&s;e of the P&s;alme, it leaves the be&s;t impre&s;&s;ion in the memory. And therefore it is ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve, that in all Metricall compo&s;itions, of which kinde the booke of P&s;almes is, the force of the whole piece, is for the mo&s;t part left to the &s;hutting up; the whole frame of the Poem is a beat|ing out of a piece of gold, but the la&s;t clau&s;e is as the impre&s;&s;ion of the &s;tamp, and that is it that makes it currant. And then al&s;o, becau&s;e out of his abundant manner of expre&s;|&s;ing his thankfulne&s;&s;e to God, in every other place thereof, his whole booke of P&s;almes is called, <HI>Sepher tehillim,</HI> a booke of prai&s;e and thanke&s;giving, he might re&s;erve his thanks here to the la&s;t place; And la&s;tly, becau&s;e naturall and morall men are better acquain|ted
<PB N="550" REF="293">with the duty of gratitude, of thanke&s;giving, before they come to the Scriptures, then they are with the other duty of repentance, which belongs to Prayer; for in all <HI>So|lomons</HI> bookes, you &s;hall not finde halfe &s;o much of the duty of thankfulne&s;&s;e, as you &s;hall in <HI>Seneca</HI> and in <HI>Plutarch.</HI> No book of Ethicks, of morall doctrine, is come to us, wherein there is not, almo&s;t in every leafe, &s;ome dete&s;tation, &s;ome Anathema again&s;t in|gratitude; but of repentance, not a word among&s;t them all. And therefore in that dutie of prayer, which pre&s;umes repentance, (for he mu&s;t &s;tand <HI>Rectus in curia</HI> that will pray) <HI>David</HI> hath in&s;i&s;ted longe&s;t; and becau&s;e he would enter, and e&s;tabli&s;h a man, upon a con|fidence in God, he begins with a deprecation of his anger; for but upon that ground, no man can &s;tand; and becau&s;e he would di&s;mi&s;&s;e him with that which concerns him mo&s;t, he choo&s;eth to end in a Thank&s;giving.</P>
<P>Therefore at la&s;t he comes to his thanks.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gratiae actae.</NOTE> Now this is &s;o poore a duty, if we proportion it to the infinitene&s;&s;e of Gods love unto us, our thanks, as we may ju&s;tly call it nothing at all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> But <HI>Amor Dei affectus, non contractus,</HI> The love of God is not a contract, a bar|gaine, he looks for nothing againe, and yet he looks for thanks, for that is nothing, be|cau&s;e there is nothing done in it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> it is but &s;peaking; <HI>Gratias dicere, e&s;t gratias agere,</HI> To utter our thanks to God, is all our performance of thankfulne&s;&s;e. It is not &s;o among&s;t us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philo Iudae.</NOTE> <HI>Vix, aut nunquam apud nos purum, &amp; merum beneficium;</HI> Every man that gives, gives out of de&s;igne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Martial.</NOTE> and as it conduces to his ends: <HI>Donat in hamo,</HI> There is a hook in every benefit, that &s;ticks in his jawes that takes that benefit, and drawes him whither the Be|nefactor will. God looks for nothing, nothing to be done in the way of exact recom|pence, but yet, as he that makes a Clock, be&s;towes all that labour upon the &s;everall wheeles, that thereby the Bell might give a &s;ound, and that thereby the hand might give knowledge to others how the time pa&s;&s;es; &s;o this is the principall part of that thankful|ne&s;&s;e, which God requires from us, that we make open declarations of his mercies, to the winning and confirming of others.</P>
<P>This <HI>David</HI> does in this noble and ingenuous publication,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;cedite.</NOTE> and prote&s;tation, I have &s;trength enough, and company enough, power enough, and plea&s;ure enough, joy enough, and trea&s;ure enough, honour enough, and recompence enough in my God alone, in him I &s;hall &s;urely have all which all you can pretend to give, and therefore <HI>Di&s;cedite &agrave; me, Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity;</HI> Here is then fir&s;t, a valediction, a parting with his old company, but it is a valediction, with a malediction, with an imprecation of Gods Ju&s;tice, upon their contempts and injuries. There was in the mouth of Chri&s;t, &s;ometimes, &s;uch a <HI>Di&s;cede,</HI> &s;uch an <HI>Abito,</HI> as that farewell was a welcome; as when he &s;aid to the Ruler,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 4.46. Luke 7.50.</NOTE> <HI>Abito, Goe thy way, thy &s;on liveth;</HI> And when he &s;aid to the woman, <HI>Goe in peace, thy &s;aith hath &s;aved thee.</HI> This going was a &s;taying with him &s;till; Here the <HI>Abite,</HI> and <HI>Venite</HI> was all one. He that goes about his worldly bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and goes about them in Gods name, in the feare and favour of God, remaines in Gods pre&s;ence &s;till. When the Angels of God are &s;ent to vi&s;it his children, in the midde&s;t of Sodome, or where they lie, and langui&s;h in &s;ordid and na&s;ty corners, and in the loath&s;omene&s;&s;e of corrupt and infectious di&s;ea&s;es, or where they faint in mi&s;erable dungeons, this Com|mi&s;&s;ion, this <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> goe to that Sodome, to that Spittle, to that Dungeon, puts not tho&s;e Angels out of the pre&s;ence of God. No de&s;cent into hell, of what kinde &s;oever you conceive that de&s;cent into hell to have been, put the Son of God out of heaven, by de|&s;cending into hell; no <HI>Di&s;cede,</HI> no Leave, no Commandement that God gives us, to doe the works of our calling here, excludes us from him; but as the Saints of God &s;hall follow the Lamb, where&s;oever he goes in heaven, &s;o the Lamb of God &s;hall follow his Saints, where&s;oever they goe upon earth, if they walk &s;incerely. Chri&s;t u&s;es not then as yet, as long as we are in this world, this <HI>Di&s;cede</HI> of <HI>David,</HI> to bid any man, any &s;inner to depart from him: But there &s;hall come a time, when Chri&s;t &s;hall take <HI>Davids Di&s;cede,</HI> the words of this Text into his mouth, with as much and more bitterne&s;&s;e then <HI>David</HI> does here, <HI>Ne&s;civi nos,</HI> I never knew yee, and therefore <HI>Depart from me yee workers of iniquity.</HI></P>
<P>So have you his Prote&s;tation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Servi &s;ui.</NOTE> his Proclamation, They mu&s;t avoid; but who? Who be the&s;e that <HI>David</HI> di&s;mi&s;&s;es here? Take them to be tho&s;e of his owne hou&s;e, his Ser|vants, and Officers in neare places, who&s;e &s;ervice he had u&s;ed to ill purpo&s;es, (as <HI>Davids</HI> Per&s;on, and Rank, and Hi&s;tory directs us upon that Con&s;ideration) and we &s;hall finde all &s;uch per&s;ons, wrapt up in this danger, that they dare not di&s;charge them&s;elves, they dare
<PB N="551" REF="293">not di&s;place, nor di&s;grace tho&s;e men, to whom by &s;uch imployments, they have given that advantage over them&s;elves, as that it is not &s;afe to them, to offend &s;uch a &s;ervant. <HI>Na|tur&acirc; nec ho&s;tem habet, nec amicum rex,</HI> &s;ayes a wi&s;e State&s;man; In nature, (that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Polybius.</NOTE> in the nature of greatne&s;&s;e, and, as great) great per&s;ons con&s;ider no man to be &s;o much a friend, nor to be &s;o much an enemy, but that they will fall out with that friend, and be recon|ciled to that enemy, to &s;erve their own turne, &s;ayes that State&s;man. But yet when great Per&s;ons tru&s;t &s;ervants with &s;uch &s;ecret actions, as may bring them into contempt at home, or danger abroad, by tho&s;e vices, if they &s;hould be publi&s;hed, they cannot come when they would, to this <HI>Di&s;cedite, Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity.</HI></P>
<P>We have this evidently, and unavoidably, we cannot but &s;ee it, and &s;ay it, in this ex|ample which is before us, even in King <HI>David.</HI> He had imployed <HI>Ioab</HI> in &s;uch &s;ervices, as that he &s;tood in feare of him, and indured at his hands that behaviour, and that lan|guage, <HI>Thou ha&s;t &s;hamed this day the faces of all thy &s;ervants that have &s;aved thy life,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 19.</NOTE> <HI>and thy &s;ons, and daughters, and wives, and concubines, thou regarde&s;t neither thy Princes, nor &s;er|vants; but come out, and &s;peak comfortably unto them, for I &s;weare by the Lord, except thou doe come out, there will not tarry one man with thee this night. David</HI> indured all this, for he knew that <HI>Ioab</HI> had that letter in his Cabbinet, which he writ to him for the murther of <HI>Vriah,</HI> and he never came to this <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> to remove <HI>Ioab</HI> from him in his life, but gave it in Commandement to his Son,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Kings 2.</NOTE> <HI>Let not Ioabs hoary head goe downe to the grave in peace:</HI> Here is the mi&s;ery of <HI>David,</HI> he cannot di&s;charge him&s;elfe of that &s;ervant when he will, and here the mi&s;ery of that &s;ervant, that at one time or other he will; and he is a &s;hort liv'd man, who&s;e ruine a jealous Prince &s;tudies. Becau&s;e the Text invited us, com|manded, and con&s;trained us to do &s;o, we put this example in a Court, but we need not dazle our &s;elves with that height; every man in his own hou&s;e may finde it, that to tho&s;e &s;ervants, which have &s;erved him in ill actions, he dares not &s;ay, <HI>Di&s;cedite, Depart from me ye workers of iniquity.</HI></P>
<P>Thus then it is; if tho&s;e whom <HI>David</HI> di&s;mi&s;&s;es here, were his owne &s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tentatores.</NOTE> it was an expre&s;&s;ing of his thankfulne&s;&s;e to God, and a duty that lay upon him, to deliver him|&s;elfe of &s;uch &s;ervants. But other Expo&s;itors take the&s;e men, to be men of another &s;ort, men that came to triumph over him in his mi&s;ery,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 69.26.</NOTE> men that <HI>Per&s;ecuted him whom God had &s;mitten, and added to the &s;orrow of him whom God had wounded,</HI> as him&s;elfe complaines; men that pretended to vi&s;it him, yet when they came, <HI>They &s;poke lies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 41.7.</NOTE> <HI>their hearts gathe|red iniquity to them&s;elves, and when they went abroad they told it;</HI> Men that &s;aid to one ano|ther, <HI>When &s;hall he dye, and his name peri&s;h?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 6.</NOTE> Here al&s;o was a Declaration of the power|fulne&s;&s;e of Gods Spirit in him, that he could triumph over the Triumpher, and exorci&s;e tho&s;e evill &s;pirits, and command them away, who&s;e comming was to di&s;honour God, in his di&s;honour; and to argue and conclude out of his ruine, that either his God was a weake God, or a cruell God, that he could not, or would not deliver his &s;ervants from de&s;truction.</P>
<P>That <HI>David</HI> could command them away, who&s;e errand was to bla&s;pheme God, and who&s;e &s;taying in a longer conver&s;ation, might have given him occa&s;ion of new &s;ins, ei|ther in di&s;tru&s;ting Gods mercy towards him&s;elfe, or in murmuring at Gods patience to|wards them, or perchance in being uncharitably offended with them, and expre&s;&s;ing it with &s;ome bitterne&s;&s;e, but that in re&s;pect of him&s;elfe, and not of Gods glory only, this <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> Depart from me all &s;uch men as do &s;in in your&s;elves, and may make me &s;in too, was an act of an heavenly courage, and a thankfull te&s;timony of Gods gracious vi&s;iting his &s;oule, inabling him &s;o re&s;olutely to teare him&s;elfe from &s;uch per&s;ons, as might lead him into tentation.</P>
<P>Neither is this &s;eparation of <HI>David,</HI> and this company, partiall;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnes.</NOTE> he does not bani&s;h tho&s;e that incline him to one &s;in, a &s;in that perchance he is a weary of, or growne unable to proceed in, and retained them that concurre with him in &s;ome fre&s;h &s;in, to which he hath a new appetite. <HI>David</HI> doth not bani&s;h them that &s;uckt his Subjects blood, or their money, and retained them that &s;olicite, and corrupt their wives, and daughters; he doth not di&s;place them, who &s;erved the vices of his predece&s;&s;or, and &s;upply tho&s;e places with in&s;truments of new vices of his owne, but it is <HI>Di&s;cedite omnes, Depart all yee workers of iniquity.</HI> Now beloved, when God begins &s;o high as in Kings, he makes this duty the ea&s;ier to thee; to bani&s;h from thee, <HI>All the workers of iniquity.</HI> It is not a <HI>Di&s;cede,</HI> that will &s;erve to bani&s;h one, and retaine the re&s;t, Nor a <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> to bani&s;h the
<PB N="552" REF="294">re&s;t, and retaine one, but <HI>Di&s;cedite omnes, Depart all,</HI> for that &s;inne &s;taies in &s;tate, that &s;taies alone, and hath the venome, and the malignity of all the re&s;t contracted in it. It is nothing for a &s;ick man that hath lo&s;t his ta&s;te, to &s;ay, <HI>Di&s;cedat gula,</HI> Depart voluptuou&s;|ne&s;&s;e; nothing in a con&s;umption to &s;ay, <HI>Di&s;cedat luxuria,</HI> Depart wantonne&s;&s;e; nothing for a Client <HI>in Formapauperis,</HI> to &s;ay, <HI>Di&s;cedat corruptio,</HI> I will not bribe; but <HI>Di&s;cedant omnes,</HI> Depart all, and all together ye workers of iniquity.</P>
<P>But yet <HI>Davids</HI> generall di&s;charge had,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Operantes.</NOTE> and ours mu&s;t have, a re&s;triction, a limitati|on; it is not (as S. <HI>Ierom</HI> notes upon this place) <HI>Omnes qui operati,</HI> but <HI>Omnes operantes,</HI> not all that have wrought iniquity, but all that continue in doing &s;o &s;till. <HI>David</HI> was not inexorable towards tho&s;e that had offended; what an example &s;hould he have given God again&s;t him&s;elfe, if he had beene &s;o? wee mu&s;t not de&s;pi&s;e, nor defame men, be|cau&s;e they have committed &s;ome &s;in. When the mercie of God hath wrought upon their &s;in in the remi&s;&s;ion thereof, that lepro&s;ie of <HI>Naaman</HI> cleaves to us, their &s;inne is but transferred to us, if we will not forgive that which God hath forgiven, for it is but <HI>Omnes operantes,</HI> all they that continue in their evill wayes. All the&s;e mu&s;t depart: how far? fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 16.17.</NOTE> they mu&s;t be avoided, <HI>Declinate,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Paul, I be&s;eech you brethren, marke them di|ligently which cau&s;e divi&s;ion and offences, and avoid them.</HI> And this corrects our de&s;ire in running after &s;uch men, as come with their owne inventions, Schi&s;maticall Separati&s;ts, <HI>Declinate,</HI> avoid them; if hee be no &s;uch, but among&s;t our &s;elves, a brother, but yet a worker of iniquity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.11.</NOTE> <HI>If any one that is called a brother, be a Fornicator, or covetous, with &s;uch a one eate not.</HI> If we cannot &s;tarve him out, wee mu&s;t thru&s;t him out; Put away from among you, that wicked man. No conver&s;ation at all is allowed to us, with &s;uch a man, as is ob&s;tinate in his &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Iohn 1.10.</NOTE> and incorrigible; no not to bid him God &s;peed, <HI>For he that bid. deth him God &s;peed, is partaker of his evill deeds.</HI> In this divorce, both the generality, and the di&s;tance is be&s;t expre&s;t by Chri&s;t him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.28.</NOTE> <HI>If thine eye, thine hand, thy foote offend thee, amputandi &amp; projiciendi,</HI> with what angui&s;h or remor&s;e &s;oever it be done, they mu&s;t bee <HI>cut off,</HI> and being cut off, <HI>ca&s;t away;</HI> it is a divorce and no &s;uper-induction, it is a &s;eparating, and no redintegration. Though thou coulde&s;t be content to goe to Heaven with both eyes, (thy &s;elfe, and thy companion) yet better to goe into Heaven with one, thy &s;elfe alone, then to endanger thy &s;elfe to be left out for thy companions &s;ake.</P>
<P>To conclude this fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;cedite.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> does not &s;ay, <HI>Di&s;cedam,</HI> but <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> he does not &s;ay, that he will depart from them, but he commands them to depart from him. Wee mu&s;t not thinke to depart from the offices of &s;ociety, and duties of a calling, and hide our &s;elves in Mona&s;teries, or in retired lives, for feare of tentations; but when a tentation attempts us, to come with that authority, and that powerfull exorci&s;me of <HI>Nazianzen, Fuge, recede, ne te cruce Chri&s;ti, ad quam omnia contremi&s;cunt, feriam,</HI> Depart from me, le&s;t the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t, in my hand, overthrow you. For a &s;ober life, and a Chri&s;tian mortification, and di&s;creet di&s;cipline, are cro&s;&s;es derived from the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and animated by it, and may be alwaies in a readine&s;&s;e to cro&s;&s;e &s;uch tentations. In the former de&s;criptions of the manner of our behaviour towards workers of iniquity, there is one <HI>Declinate,</HI> one word that implies a withdrawing of our &s;elves; for that mu&s;t be done, not out of the world, but out of that ill ayre, we mu&s;t not put our &s;elves in danger, nor in di&s;tance of a tentation; but all the other words, are words of a more active vehemence, <HI>Amputate,</HI> and <HI>Projicite;</HI> it is <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> and not <HI>Di&s;cedam,</HI> a driving away, and not a run|ning away.</P>
<P>Wee proceed now in our &s;econd part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> to the rea&s;ons of <HI>Davids</HI> confidence, and his openne&s;&s;e, and his publique declaration; why <HI>David</HI> was content to be rid of all his com|pany; and it was, becau&s;e he had better; he &s;ayes, <HI>The Lord had heard him;</HI> and fir&s;t, <HI>He had heard, vocem fletus, the voice of his weeping.</HI> Here is an admirable readine&s;&s;e in God, that heares a voyce in that, which hath none. They have de&s;cribed God by &s;aying he is all eye, an univer&s;all eye, that pierceth into every darke corner; but in darke corners, there is &s;omething for him to &s;ee; but he is all eare too, and heares even the &s;ilent, and &s;peechle&s;&s;e man, and heares that in that man, that makes no &s;ound, histeares. When <HI>Hezekias</HI> wept,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.</NOTE> he was turned to the wall, (perchance, becau&s;e he would not be &s;eene) and yet God bad the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> tell him, <HI>Vidi lacrymam;</HI> though the text &s;ay, <HI>Heze|kias wept&s;ore,</HI> yet <HI>Vidit lacrymam,</HI> God &s;aw every &s;ingle teare, his fir&s;t teare, and was af|fected with that. But yet this is more &s;trange; God heard his teares. And therefore the weeping of a penitent &s;inner,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> is not improperly called, <HI>Legatio lacrymarum,</HI> An emba&s;&s;age
<PB N="553" REF="294">of teares; To Emba&s;&s;adours belongs an audience, and to the&s;e Emba&s;&s;ages God gives a gracious audience; <HI>Aby&s;&s;us aby&s;&s;um invocat, One depth cals upon another;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al 43.7.</NOTE> And &s;o doth one kinde of teares call upon one another. Teares of &s;orrow call upon teares of joy, and all call upon God, and bring him to that ready hearing which is implied in the words of this text, <HI>Shamang;</HI> a word of that largene&s;&s;e in the Scriptures, that &s;ometimes in the Tran&s;lation of the Septuagint, it &s;ignifies hearing, <HI>Shamang,</HI> is <HI>audit,</HI> God gives eare to our teares; &s;ometimes it is beleeving, <HI>Shamang,</HI> is <HI>Credit,</HI> God gives faith, and credit to our teares; &s;ometimes it is Affecting, <HI>Shamang,</HI> is <HI>Mi&s;eretur,</HI> God hath mercy upon us for our teares; &s;ometimes it is Effecting, <HI>Shamang,</HI> is <HI>Re&s;pondet,</HI> God an&s;wers the petiti|on of our teares; and &s;ometimes it is Publication, <HI>Shamang,</HI> is <HI>Divulgat,</HI> God declares and manife&s;ts to others, by his ble&s;&s;ings upon us, the plea&s;ure that he takes in our holy and repentant teares. And therefore <HI>Lacrymae foenus,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> Teares are that u&s;ury, by which the joyes of Heaven are multiplied unto us; the preventing Grace, and the free mercy of God, is our &s;tock, and principall; but the Acts of obedience, and mortification, fa&s;ting, and praying, and weeping, are <HI>Foenus,</HI> (&s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed Father) the intere&s;t, and the increa&s;e of our holy joy.</P>
<P>That which we intend in all this, is, that when our heart is well di&s;po&s;ed toward God, God &s;ees our prayers, as they are comming in the way, before they have any voyce, in our words. When Chri&s;t came to <HI>Lazarus</HI> hou&s;e, before <HI>Mary</HI> had asked any thing at his hands, as &s;oone as &s;he had wept, Chri&s;t was affected, <HI>He groaned in the &s;pirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 11.</NOTE> <HI>he was troubled,</HI> and <HI>he wept</HI> too; and he proceeded to the ray&s;ing of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> before &s;hee asked him; her eyes were his gla&s;&s;e, and he &s;aw her de&s;ire in her tears. There is a kind of &s;impli|city in teares, which God harkens to, and beleeves.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.26.</NOTE> <HI>We know not what we &s;hould pray for as we ought. Quid? ne&s;cimus orationem dominicam?</HI> Can we not &s;ay the Lords Prayer, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tin?</HI> Yes, we can &s;ay that; but <HI>Ne&s;cimus tribulationem prode&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes he, we doe not know the benefit, that is to be made of tribulation, and tentation, <HI>Et petimus liberari ab omni malo,</HI> we pray to be delivered from all evill, and we meane all tribulation, and all tentation, as though all they were alwaies evill; but in that there may be much error: The &s;ons of <HI>Zebedee</HI> prayed, but ambition&s;ly, and were not heard;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.22. 2 Cor. 12.8.</NOTE> S. <HI>Paul</HI> prayed for the taking away of the provocation of the fle&s;h, but incon&s;iderately, and mi&s;t; the A|po&s;tles made a reque&s;t, for fire again&s;t the Samaritans, but uncharitably, and were re|proved. But when <HI>Ieho&s;aphat</HI> was come to that perplexity by the Moabites,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chro. 20.12.</NOTE> that he knew not what to doe, nor what to &s;ay, <HI>Hoc &s;olum re&s;idui habemus,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>ut oculos no&s;tros dirigamus ad te,</HI> This we can doe, and we need doe no more, wee can turne our eyes to thee. Now whether he directed tho&s;e eyes in looking to him, or in weeping to him, God heares the voyce of our looks, God heares the voyce of our teares, &s;ometimes better then the voyce of our words, for it is the <HI>Spirit it &s;elfe that makes interce&s;sion for us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.26.</NOTE> <HI>Gemi|tibus inenarrabilibus,</HI> In tho&s;e <HI>groanes,</HI> and &s;o in tho&s;e teares, which we <HI>cannot utter; In|eloquacibus,</HI> as <HI>Tertullian</HI> reads that place, devout, and &s;imple teares, which cannot &s;peak, &s;peake aloud in the eares of God; nay, teares which we cannot utter; not onely not utter the force of the teares, but not utter the very teares them&s;elves. As God &s;ees the water in the &s;pring in the veines of the earth, before it bubble upon the face of the earth; &s;o God &s;ees teares in the heart of a man, before they blubber his face; God heares the teares of that &s;orrowfull &s;oule, which for &s;orrow cannot &s;hed teares.</P>
<P>From this ca&s;ting up of the eyes, and powring out the &s;orrow of the heart at the eyes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Supplicatio.</NOTE> at lea&s;t, opening God a window, through which he may &s;ee a wet heart through a dry eye; from the&s;e overtures of repentance, which are as tho&s;e unperfect &s;ounds of words, which Parents delight in, in their Children, before they &s;peake plaine, a penitent &s;inner comes to a verball, and a more expre&s;&s;e prayer. To the&s;e prayers, the&s;e vocall and ver|ball prayers from <HI>David,</HI> God had given eare, and from this hearing of tho&s;e prayers was <HI>David</HI> come to this thankfull confidence, <HI>The Lord hath heard, the Lord will heare.</HI> Now, Beloved, this prayer which <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks of here, which our fir&s;t tran&s;lation calls a <HI>Petition,</HI> is very properly rendred in our &s;econd tran&s;lation, a <HI>Supplication;</HI> for Suppli|cations were <HI>&agrave; Suppliciis;</HI> Supplications among&s;t the Gentiles were &s;uch &s;acrifices, as were made to the gods, out of confi&s;cations, out of the goods of tho&s;e men, upon whom the State had inflicted any pecuniary or capitall puni&s;hment. <HI>Supplicationes, &agrave; Suppliciis;</HI> and therefore this prayer which <HI>David</HI> made to God, when his hand was upon him, in that heavy correction, and calamitie, which occa&s;ioned this P&s;alme, is truly and proper|ly
<PB N="554" REF="295">called a <HI>Supplication,</HI> that is, a Prayer, or Petition, that proceeds from &s;uffering.</P>
<P>And if God have heard his &s;upplication, if God have regarded him then, when he was in his di&s;plea&s;ure, if God have turned to him, when he was turned from him, and &s;troakt him with the &s;ame hand that &s;truck him, God will much more perfect his own worke, and grant his prayer after; if God would endure to looke upon him in his deformitie, he will delight to looke upon him then, when he hath &s;hed the light and the loveline&s;&s;e of his owne countenance upon him: It is the Apo&s;tles argument, as well as <HI>Davids, If when we were enemies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.10.</NOTE> <HI>we were reconeiled to God, by the death of his Sonne, much more be|ing reconciled, we &s;hall be &s;aved by his life.</HI> When <HI>David</HI> found, that God had heard his <HI>Supplications,</HI> the voyce of his &s;uffering, of his puni&s;hment, he was &s;ure he would heare his <HI>Prayer,</HI> the voyce of his thankfulne&s;&s;e too.</P>
<P>And this was <HI>Davids</HI> &s;econd rea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Oratio.</NOTE> for his alacrity, and confidence, that God would never be weary of hearing, he had heard him, and he would heare him &s;till, he had heard the <HI>Supplication,</HI> and he would heare his <HI>Prayer;</HI> for this word, which &s;ignifies <HI>Prayer</HI> here, is derived from <HI>Palal,</HI> which &s;ignifies properly <HI>Separare:</HI> As his <HI>Supplication</HI> was acceptable, which proceeded <HI>&agrave; Suppliciis,</HI> from a &s;en&s;e of his afflictions; &s;o this <HI>Prayer,</HI> which came <HI>Po&s;t &s;eparationem,</HI> after he had &s;eparated, and divorced him&s;elfe from his for|mer company, after his <HI>Di&s;cedite,</HI> his di&s;charging of all the workers of iniquitie, mu&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;arily be better accepted at Gods hand. He that heares a Suppliant, that is, a man in mi&s;ery, and does &s;ome &s;mall matter for the pre&s;ent ea&s;e of that man, and proceeds no farther, <HI>Ip&s;um quod dedit, perit,</HI> That which he gave is lo&s;t, it is drowned by that floud of mi&s;ery that overflows and &s;urrounds that wretched man, he is not the better to morrow for to dayes almes, <HI>Et vitam producit ad mi&s;eriam,</HI> that very almes prolongs his mi&s;erable life &s;till; without to dayes almes, he &s;hould not have had a to morrow to be mi&s;erable in. Now, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> onely is the <HI>Samaritane</HI> which perfected his cure upon the wounded man: <HI>He &s;aw him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.33.</NOTE> &s;ayes the text, &s;o did the re&s;t that pa&s;&s;ed by him; but, <HI>He had compa&s;sion on him;</HI> &s;o he might, and yet actually have done him no good; but, <HI>He went to him;</HI> &s;o he might too, and then out of a delicatene&s;&s;e or fa&s;tidiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, have gone from him againe; but (to contract) he bound up his wounds, he powred in oyle and wine, he put him up|on his own bea&s;t, he brought him to an Inne, made provi&s;ion for him, gave the Ho&s;t mo|ney before-hand, gave him charge to have a care of him, and (which is the perfection of all, the greate&s;t te&s;timony of our <HI>Samaritans</HI> love to us) he promi&s;ed to come againe, and at that comming, he does not &s;ay, <HI>He will pay,</HI> but <HI>He will recompence,</HI> which is a more abundant expre&s;&s;ing of his bountie. Chri&s;t loves not but in the way of marriage; if he begin to love thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 2.19.</NOTE> he tells thee, <HI>Spon&s;abo te mihi, I will marry thee unto me,</HI> and <HI>Spon&s;abo in aeternum, I will marry thee for ever.</HI> For it is a marriage that prevents all mi&s;takings, and excludes all impediments, <HI>I will marry thee in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and in judgement, and in loving kindne&s;&s;e, and in mercies, and in faithfulne&s;&s;e;</HI> many, and great a&s;&s;urances. And as it is added, <HI>Seminabo te mihi,</HI> which is a &s;trange expre&s;&s;ing of Gods love to us, <HI>I will &s;ow thee unto me in the carth;</HI> when I have taken thee into my husbandry, thou &s;halt increa&s;e, and multiply, <HI>Seminabo te,</HI> and all that thou doe&s;t produce, &s;hall be directed upon me, <HI>Seminabo te mihi, I will &s;owe thee to my &s;elfe:</HI> therefore thy &s;oule may be bold to joyne with <HI>David</HI> in that thankfull confidence, <HI>He hath heard my &s;upplication,</HI> and therefore <HI>He will heare my prayer;</HI> He lookt upon me in the du&s;t of the earth, much more will he doe &s;o, having now laid me upon Carpets; he lookt upon me in my &s;ores, &s;ores of mine e|nemies malice, and &s;ores of mine own &s;innes, much more will he doe &s;o now, when he hath imprinted in me the wounds of his own Sonne; for tho&s;e that were &s;o many wounds upon him, are &s;o many &s;tarres upon me; He lookt upon me, may <HI>David</HI> &s;ay, when I followed the Ewes great with young, much more will he doe &s;o now, now when by his directions, I lead out his people, great with enterprizes, and victories again&s;t his enemies. Fir&s;t <HI>David</HI> comes to that holy noblene&s;&s;e, he dares ca&s;t off ill in&s;truments, and is not a|fraid of con&s;piracy; he dares divorce him&s;elfe from dangerous company, and is not a|fraid of melancholy; he dares love God, and is not afraid of that jealou&s;ie, that he is too religious to be imployed, too tender con&s;cienced to be put upon bu&s;ine&s;&s;e; he dares re|prehend them that are under his charge, and is not afraid of a recrimination; he dares ob&s;erve a Sabbath, he dares &s;tartle at a bla&s;phemy, he dares forbeare countenancing a prophane or a &s;currill je&s;t with his prai&s;e, he dares be an hone&s;t man; which holy confi|dence con&s;tituted our fir&s;t part, <HI>Depart from mee all yee workers of iniquity;</HI> And then he
<PB N="555" REF="295">grounds this confidence upon an undeceivable Rocke, upon Gods &s;eale, <HI>God hath heard me, therefore God will heare mee.</HI> And when God heares, God &s;peaks too, and when God &s;peaks, God does too, and therefore I may &s;afely proceede as I doe, which was our &s;e|cond Con&s;ideration. And then the third, which remains, is, that upon this, he returnes to the con&s;ideration, what that was, that he had done; he had either imprecated, or de|nounced, at lea&s;t, heavy judgements upon his enemies; and he finds it avowable, and ju|&s;tifiable to have done &s;o; and therefore per&s;i&s;ts in it, <HI>Let all mine enemies be a&s;hamed, and &s;ore vexed; let them returne, and be a&s;hamed &s;uddenly.</HI></P>
<P>All cleane bea&s;ts had both the&s;e marks, they divided the hoofe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> and they chewed the cud: All good re&s;olutions, which pa&s;&s;e our prayer, mu&s;t have the&s;e two marks too, they mu&s;t divide the hoofe, they mu&s;t make a double impre&s;&s;ion, they mu&s;t be directed upon Gods glory, and upon our good, and they mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e a rumination, a chawing of the cud, a &s;econd examination, whether that prayer were &s;o conditioned or no. We pray &s;ome|times out of &s;udden and indige&s;ted apprehen&s;ions; we pray &s;ometimes out of cu&s;tome, and communion with others; we pray &s;ometimes out of a pre&s;ent &s;en&s;e of paine, or im|minent danger; and this prayer may divide the hoofe; It may looke towards Gods glo|ry, and towards our good; but it does not chew the cud too; that is, if I have not con|&s;idered, not examined, whether it doe &s;o or no, it is not a prayer that God will call a &s;acrifice. You &s;ee Chri&s;t brought his own Prayer, <HI>Si po&s;sibile, If it be po&s;sible &amp;c.</HI> through &s;uch a rumination, <HI>Veruntamen, yet not my will &amp;c.</HI> As many a man &s;weares, and if he be &s;urprized, and askt, what did you &s;ay, he does not remember his owne oath, not what he &s;wore; &s;o many a man prayes, and does not remember his own prayer. As a Clock gives a warning before it &s;trikes, and then there remains a &s;ound, and a tingling of the bell after it hath &s;tricken: &s;o a precedent meditation, and a &s;ub&s;equent rumination, make the prayer a prayer; I mu&s;t think before, what I will aske, and con&s;ider againe, what I have askt; and upon this dividing the hoofe, and chewing the cud, <HI>David</HI> avowes to his own con&s;cience his whole action, even to this con&s;ummation thereof, <HI>Let mine enemies be a&s;hamed &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Now the&s;e words, whether we con&s;ider the naturall &s;ignification of the words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Impreeatoria</NOTE> or the authority of tho&s;e men, who have been Expo&s;itors upon them, may be under&s;tood either way, either to be <HI>Imprecatoria,</HI> words of Imprecation, that <HI>David</HI> in the Spirit of angui&s;h wi&s;hes that the&s;e things might fall upon his enemies, or els <HI>Praedictoria,</HI> words of Prediction, that <HI>David</HI> in the &s;pirit of Prophecy pronounces that the&s;e things &s;hall fall upon them.</P>
<P>If they be <HI>Imprecatoria,</HI> words &s;poken out of his wi&s;h, and de&s;ire, then they have in them the nature of a cur&s;e: And becau&s;e <HI>Lyra</HI> takes them to be &s;o, a cur&s;e, he referres the words <HI>Ad Daemones,</HI> To the Devill: That herein <HI>David</HI> &s;econds Gods malediction upon the Serpent, and cur&s;es the Devill, as the occa&s;ioner and fir&s;t mover of all the&s;e calamities; and &s;ayes of them, <HI>Let all our enemies be a&s;hamed, and &s;ore vexed &amp;c.</HI> Others referre the&s;e words to the fir&s;t Chri&s;tian times, and the per&s;ecutions then, and &s;o to be a malediction, a cur&s;e upon the Jewes, and upon the Romans, who per&s;ecuted the Primi|tive Church then, <HI>Let them be a&s;hamed &amp;c.</HI> And then <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> referres the&s;e words to more dome&s;ticall and intrin&s;icke enemies, to <HI>Davids</HI> owne concupi&s;cences, and the rebellions of his owne lu&s;ts, <HI>Let tho&s;e enemies be a&s;hamed &amp;c.</HI> For all tho&s;e who under|&s;tand the&s;e words to be a cur&s;e, a malediction, are loath to admit that <HI>David</HI> did cur&s;e his enemies, meerly out of a re&s;pect of tho&s;e calamities which they had inflicted upon him. And that is a &s;afe ground; no man may cur&s;e another, in contemplation of him|&s;elfe onely, if onely him&s;elfe be concerned in the ca&s;e. And when it concernes the glo|ry of God, our imprecations, our maledictions upon the per&s;ons, mu&s;t not have their principall relation, as to Gods enemies, but as to Gods glory; our end mu&s;t be, that God may have his glory, not that they may have their puni&s;hment. And therefore how vehement &s;oever <HI>David</HI> &s;eeme in this Imprecation, and though he be more vehement in another place, <HI>Let them be confounded, and troubled for ever, yea, let them be put to &s;hame,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 83.17.</NOTE> <HI>and peri&s;h,</HI> yet that peri&s;hing is but a peri&s;hing of their purpo&s;es, let their plots peri&s;h, let their malignity again&s;t thy Church be fru&s;trated; for &s;o he expre&s;&s;es him&s;elfe in the ver&s;e immediately before, <HI>Fill their faces with &s;hame;</HI> but why? and how? <HI>That they may &s;eeke thy Name, O Lord;</HI> that was <HI>Davids</HI> end, even in the cur&s;e; <HI>David</HI> wi&s;hes them no ill, but for their good; no wor&s;e to Gods enemies, but that they might become his friends.
<PB N="556" REF="296">The rule is good, which out of his moderation S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> gives, that in all Inqui&s;i|tions, and Executions in matters of Religion, (when it is meerly for Religion without &s;e|dition) <HI>Sint qui poeniteant,</HI> Let the men remaine alive, or el&s;e how can they repent? So in all Imprecations, in all hard wi&s;hes, even upon Gods enemies, <HI>Sint qui convertantur,</HI> Let the men remaine, that they may be capable of conver&s;ion; wi&s;h them not &s;o ill, as that God can &s;hew no mercy to them; for &s;o the ill wi&s;h falls upon God him&s;elfe, if it preclude his way of mercy upon that ill man. In no ca&s;e mu&s;t the cur&s;e be directed upon the per&s;on; for when in the next P&s;alme to this, <HI>David</HI> &s;eemes pa&s;&s;ionate, when hee asks that of God there, which he de&s;ires God to forbear in the beginning of this P&s;alme, when his <HI>Ne arguas in ira, O Lord rebuke not in thine anger,</HI> is turned to a <HI>Surge Domine in ira, Ari&s;e O Lord in thine anger;</HI> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> begins to wonder, <HI>Quid? illum, quem perfectum dicimus, ad iram provocat Deum?</HI> Would <HI>David</HI> provoke God, who is all &s;weetne&s;&s;e, and mildne&s;&s;e, to anger again&s;t any man? No, not again&s;t any man; but <HI>Diaboli po&s;&s;e&s;sio peccator,</HI> Every &s;inner is a &s;lave to his beloved &s;in; and therefore, <HI>Mi&s;e|ricors or at, adver &s;us cum, quitanque or at,</HI> How bitterly &s;oever I cur&s;e that &s;in, yet I pray for that &s;inner. <HI>David</HI> would have God angry with the Tyran, not with the Slave that is oppre&s;&s;ed; with the &s;in, not with the &s;oule that is inthralled to it. And &s;o, as the words may be a cur&s;e, a malediction in <HI>Davids</HI> mouth, we may take them into our mouth too, and &s;ay, <HI>Let tho&s;e enemies be a&s;hamed, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>If this then were an Imprecation, a malediction, yet it was Medicinall, and had <HI>Ratio|nem boni,</HI> a charitable tincture, and nature in it; he wi&s;hed the men no harm, as men. But it is rather <HI>Pradictorium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Praedictoria.</NOTE> a Propheticall vehemence, that if they will take no knowledge of Gods declaring him&s;elfe in the protection of his &s;ervants, if they would not con&s;ider that God had heard, and would heare, had re&s;cued, and would re&s;cue his children, but would continue their oppo&s;ition again&s;t him, heavy judgements would certainly fall up|on them; Their puni&s;hment &s;hould be certaine, but the effect &s;hould be uncertaine; for God only knowes, whether his correction &s;hall work upon his enemies, to their mollify|ing, or to their obduration. Tho&s;e bitter, and waighty imprecations which <HI>David</HI> hath heaped together again&s;t <HI>Iudas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al.109. Acts 1.16.</NOTE> &s;eeme to be direct imprecations; and yet S. <HI>Peter</HI> him|&s;elfe calls them Prophe&s;ies; <HI>Oportet impleri Scripturam; They were done,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>that the Scripture might be fulfilled;</HI> Not that <HI>David</HI> in his owne heart did wi&s;h all that upon <HI>Iudas;</HI> but only &s;o, as fore-&s;eeing in the Spirit of Prophe&s;ying, that tho&s;e things &s;hould fall upon him, he concurred with the purpo&s;e of God therein, and &s;o farre as he &s;aw it to be the will of God, he made it his will, and his wi&s;h. And &s;o have all tho&s;e judgements, which we denounce upon &s;inners, the nature of Prophe&s;ies in them; when we reade in the Church, that Commination, <HI>Cur&s;ed is the Idolater,</HI> This may fall upon &s;ome of our owne kindred; and <HI>Cur&s;ed is he that cur&s;eth Father or Mother,</HI> This may fall upon &s;ome of our owne children; and <HI>Cur&s;ed is he that perverteth judgement,</HI> This may fall upon &s;ome powerfull Per&s;ons, that we may have a dependance upon; and upon the&s;e we doe not wi&s;h that Gods vengeance &s;hould fall; yet we Prophe&s;ie, and denounce ju&s;tly, that upon &s;uch, &s;uch vengeances will fall; and then, all Prophe&s;ies of that kinde are alwaies conditionall; they are conditionall, if we con&s;ider any Decree in God; they mu&s;t be conditionall in all our denunciations; if you repent, they &s;hall not fall upon you, if not, <HI>Oportet impleri Scripturam, The Scripture mu&s;t be fulfilled;</HI> We doe not wi&s;h them, we do but Prophe&s;ie them; no, nor we doe not prophe&s;ie them; but the Scriptures have pre|prophe&s;ied them before; they will fall upon you, as upon <HI>Iudas,</HI> in condemnation, and perchance, as upon <HI>Iudas,</HI> in de&s;peration too.</P>
<P><HI>Davids</HI> purpo&s;e then being in the&s;e words to work to their amendment,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mollior &s;en|&s;us.</NOTE> and not their finall de&s;truction, we may ea&s;ily and u&s;efully di&s;cerne in the particular words, a milder &s;en&s;e then the words &s;eeme at fir&s;t to pre&s;ent. And fir&s;t give me leave by the way, only in pa&s;&s;ing, by occa&s;ion of tho&s;e words which are here rendred, <HI>Convertentur, &amp; Eru|be&s;cent,</HI> and which in the Originall are <HI>Ia&s;habu,</HI> and <HI>Iebo&s;hu,</HI> which have a mu&s;icall, and harmonious &s;ound, and agnomination in them, let me note thus much, even in that, that the Holy Gho&s;t in penning the Scriptures delights him&s;elf, not only with a propriety, but with a delicacy, and harmony, and melody of language; with height of Metaphors, and other figures, which may work greater impre&s;&s;ions upon the Readers, and not with bar|barous, or triviall, or market, or homely language: It is true, that when the Grecians, and the Romanes, and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elfe, undervalued and de&s;pi&s;ed the Scriptures, be|cau&s;e
<PB N="557" REF="296">of the poore and beggerly phra&s;e, that they &s;eemed to be written in, the Chri&s;tians could &s;ay little again&s;t it, but turned &s;till upon the other &s;afer way, wee con&s;ider the matter, and not the phra&s;e, becau&s;e for the mo&s;t part, they had read the Scriptures only in Tran&s;lations, which could not maintaine the Maje&s;ty, nor pre&s;erve the elegancies of the Originall.</P>
<P>Their ca&s;e was &s;omewhat like ours, at the beginning of the Reformation; when, be|cau&s;e mo&s;t of tho&s;e men who laboured in that Reformation, came out of the Romane Church, and there had never read the body of the Fathers at large; but only &s;uch ragges and fragments of tho&s;e Fathers, as were patcht together in their Decretat's, and Decre|tals, and other &s;uch Common placers, for their purpo&s;e, and to &s;erve their turne, there|fore they were loath at fir&s;t to come to that i&s;&s;ue, to try controver&s;ies by the Fathers. But as &s;oon as our men that in braced the Reformation, had had time to reade the Fathers, they were ready enough to joyne with the Adver&s;ary in that i&s;&s;ue: and &s;till we prote&s;t, that we accept that evidence, the te&s;timony of the Fathers, and re&s;u&s;e nothing, which the Fathers unanimly delivered, for matter of faith; and how&s;oever at the beginning &s;ome men were a little ombrageous, and &s;tartling at the name of the Fathers, yet &s;ince the Fathers have been well &s;tudied, for more then three&s;core yeares, we have behaved our &s;elves with more reverence to wards the Fathers, and more confidence in the Fathers, then they of the Romane per&s;wa&s;ion have done, and been le&s;&s;e apt to &s;u&s;pect or quarrell their Books, or to reprove their Doctrines, then our Adver&s;aries have been. So, how&s;o|ever the Chri&s;tians at fir&s;t were fain to &s;ink a little under that imputation, that their Scrip|tures have no Maje&s;ty, no eloquence, becau&s;e the&s;e embelli&s;hments could not appeare in Tran&s;lations, nor they then read Originalls, yet now, that a perfect knowledge of tho&s;e languages hath brought us to &s;ee the beauty and the glory of tho&s;e Books, we are able to reply to them, that there are not in all the world &s;o eloquent Books as the Scriptures; and that nothing is more demon&s;trable, then that if we would take all tho&s;e Figures, and Tropes, which are collected out of &s;ecular Poets, and Orators, we may give higher, and livelier examples, of every one of tho&s;e Figures, out of the Scriptures, then out of all the Greek and Latine Poets, and Orators; and they mi&s;take it much, that thinke, that the Holy Gho&s;t hath rather cho&s;en a low, and barbarous, and homely &s;tyle, then an eloquent, and powerfull manner of expre&s;&s;ing him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>To returne and to ca&s;t a glance upon the&s;e words in <HI>Davids</HI> prediction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Erube&s;cent.</NOTE> upon his ene|mies, what hardne&s;&s;e is in the fir&s;t, <HI>Erube&s;cent, Let them be a&s;hamed:</HI> for the word im|ports no more, our la&s;t Tran&s;lation &s;ayes no more, neither did our fir&s;t Tran&s;lators in|tend any more, by their word, <HI>Confounded;</HI> for that is, confounded with &s;hame in them|&s;elves. This is <HI>Virga de&s;oiplinae,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Bernard;</HI> as long as we are a&s;hamed of &s;in, we are not growne up, and hardned in it; we are under correction; the correction of a re|mor&s;e. As &s;oone as <HI>Adam</HI> came to be a&s;hamed of his nakedne&s;&s;e, he pre&s;ently thought of &s;ome remedy; if one &s;hould come and tell thee, that he looked through the doore, that he &s;tood in a window over again&s;t thine, and &s;aw thee doe &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;in, this would put thee to a &s;hame, and thou woulde&s;t not doe that &s;in, till thou wert fure he could not &s;ee thee. O, if thou woulde&s;t not &s;in, till thou could&s;t think that God &s;aw thee not, this &s;hame had wrought well upon thee. There are complexions that cannot blu&s;h; there growes a blackne&s;&s;e, a &s;ootine&s;&s;e upon the &s;oule, by cu&s;tome in &s;in, which over|comes all blu&s;hing, all tend erne&s;&s;e. White alone is palene&s;&s;e, and God loves not a pale &s;oule, a &s;oule po&s;&s;e&s;t with a horror, affrighted with a diffidence, and di&s;tru&s;ting his mer|cy. Redne&s;&s;e alone is anger, and vehemency, and di&s;temper, and God loves not &s;uch a red &s;oule, a &s;oule that &s;weats in &s;in, that quarrels for &s;in, that revenges in &s;in. But that whitene&s;&s;e that pre&s;erves it &s;elfe, not onely from being died all over in any foule colour, from contracting the name of any habituall &s;in, and &s;o to be called &s;uch or &s;uch a &s;inner, but from taking any &s;pot, from comming within di&s;tance of a tentation, or of a &s;u&s;pition, is that whitene&s;&s;e, which God meanes, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Thou art all faire my Love,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.7.</NOTE> <HI>and there is no &s;pot in thee.</HI> Indifferent looking, equall and ea&s;ie conver&s;ation, appliablene&s;&s;e to wanton di&s;cour&s;es, and notions, and motions, are the Devils &s;ingle money, and many pieces of the&s;e make up an Adultery. As light a thing as a Spangle is, a Spangle is &s;ilver; and Leafe gold, that is blowne away, is gold; and &s;and that hath no &s;trength, no cohe|rence, yet knits the building; &s;o doe approaches to &s;in, become &s;in, and fixe &s;in. To avoid the&s;e &s;pots, is that whitene&s;&s;e that God loves in the &s;oule. But there is a redne&s;&s;e
<PB N="558" REF="297">that God loves too; which is this Erube&s;cence that we &s;peak of; an aptne&s;&s;e in the &s;oule to blu&s;h, when any of the&s;e &s;pots doe fall upon it.</P>
<P>God is the univer&s;all Confe&s;&s;or, the generall Penitentiary of all the world, and all dye in the guilt of their &s;in, that goe not to Confe&s;&s;ion to him. And there are &s;ins of &s;uch waight to the &s;oule, and &s;uch intangling, and perplexity to the con&s;cience, in &s;ome cir|cum&s;tances of the &s;in, as that certainly a &s;oule may receive much ea&s;e in &s;uch ca&s;es, by confe&s;&s;ing it &s;elfe to man. In this holy &s;hamefa&s;tne&s;&s;e, which we intend in this outward blu&s;hing of the face, the &s;oule goes to confe&s;&s;ion too. And it is one of the principall ar|guments again&s;t Confe&s;&s;ions by Letter, (which &s;ome went about to &s;et up in the Ro|mane Church) that that took away one of the greate&s;t evidences, and te&s;timonies of their repentance, which is this Erube&s;cence, this blu&s;hing, this &s;hame after &s;in; if they &s;hould not be put to &s;peak it face to face, but to write it, that would remove the &s;hame, which is a part of the repentance. But that &s;oule that goes not to confe&s;&s;ion to it &s;elfe, that hath not an internall blu&s;hing after a &s;in committed, is a pale &s;oule, even in the palene&s;&s;e of death, and &s;en&s;le&s;ne&s;&s;e, and a red &s;oule, red in the defiance of God. And that whitene&s;&s;e, to avoid approaches to &s;in, and that redne&s;&s;e, to blu&s;h upon a &s;in, which does attempt us, is the complexion of the &s;oule, which God loves, and which the Holy Gho&s;t te&s;tifies, when he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.12.</NOTE> <HI>My Beloved is white and ruddy.</HI> And when the&s;e men that <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks of here, had lo&s;t that whitene&s;&s;e, their innocency, for <HI>David</HI> to wi&s;h that they might come to a redne&s;&s;e, a &s;hame, a blu&s;hing, a remor&s;e, a &s;en&s;e of &s;in, may have been no &s;uch great malediction, or imprecation in the mouth of <HI>David,</HI> but that a man may wi&s;h it to his be&s;t friend, which &s;hould be his own &s;oule, and &s;ay, <HI>Erube&s;cam,</HI> not let mine enemies, but let me be a&s;hamed with &s;uch a &s;hame.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conturben|tur.</NOTE> <HI>Let them be &s;ore vexed,</HI> he wi&s;hes his enemies no wor&s;e then him|&s;elfe had been: For he had u&s;ed the &s;ame word of him&s;elfe before, <HI>O&s;&s;a turbata, My bones are vexed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2. &amp; 3.</NOTE> and <HI>Anima turbata, My &s;oule is vexed;</HI> and con&s;idering, that <HI>David</HI> had found this vexation to be his way to God, it was no malicious imprecation, to wi&s;h that enemy the &s;ame Phy&s;ick that he had taken, who was more &s;ick of the &s;ame di&s;ea&s;e then he was. For this is like a troubled Sea after a tempe&s;t; the danger is pa&s;t, but yet the billow is great &s;till: The danger was in the calme, in the &s;ecurity, or in the tempe&s;t, by mi&s;-interpreting Gods corrections to our obduration, and to a remor&s;ele&s;&s;e &s;tupefa|ction; but when a man is come to this holy vexation, to be troubled, to be &s;haken with a &s;en&s;e of the indignation of God, the &s;torme is pa&s;t, and the indignation of God is blowne over. That &s;oule is in a faire and neare way, of being re&s;tored to a calmne&s;&s;e, and to repo&s;ed &s;ecurity of con&s;cience, that is come to this holy vexation.</P>
<P>In a flat Map, there goes no more, to make We&s;t Ea&s;t, though they be di&s;tant in an extremity, but to pa&s;te that flat Map upon a round body, and then We&s;t and Ea&s;t are all one. In a flat &s;oule, in a dejected con&s;cience, in a troubled &s;pirit, there goes no more to the making of that trouble, peace, then to apply that trouble to the body of the Merits, to the body of the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and conforme thee to him, and thy We&s;t is Ea&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zoch. 6.12.</NOTE> thy Trouble of &s;pirit is Tranquillity of &s;pirit. The name of Chri&s;t is <HI>Oriens, The Ea&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 14.12.</NOTE> And yet Lucifer him&s;elfe is called <HI>Filius Orientis, The Son of the Ea&s;t.</HI> If thou bee&s;t fallen by <HI>Lucifer,</HI> fallen to <HI>Lucifer,</HI> and not fallen as <HI>Lucifer,</HI> to a &s;en&s;le&s;ne&s;&s;e of thy fall, and an impenitiblene&s;&s;e therein, but to a troubled &s;pirit, &s;till thy Pro&s;pect is the Ea&s;t, &s;till thy Climate is heaven, &s;till thy Haven is Jeru&s;alem; for, in our lowe&s;t dejection of all, even in the du&s;t of the grave, we are &s;o compo&s;ed, &s;o layed down, as that we look to the Ea&s;t; If I could beleeve that Trajan, or Tecla, could look Ea&s;t-ward, that is, to|wards Chri&s;t, in hell, I could beleeve with them of Rome, that Trajan and Tecla were redeemed by prayer out of hell. God had accepted &s;acrifices before; but no &s;acrifice is call <HI>Odor quiet is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 8.21.</NOTE> It is not &s;aid, <HI>That God &s;melt a &s;avor of re&s;t,</HI> in any &s;acrifice, but that which <HI>Noah</HI> offered, after hee had beene variou&s;ly to&s;&s;ed and tumbled, in the long hul|ling of the Arke upon the waters. A trouble&s;ome &s;pirit, and a quiet &s;pirit, are farre a&s;under; But a troubled &s;pirit, and a quiet &s;pirit, are neare neighbours. And there|fore <HI>David</HI> meanes them no great harme, when hee &s;ayes, <HI>Let them be troubled;</HI> For, Let the winde be as high as it will, &s;o I &s;ayle before the winde, Let the trouble of my &s;oule be as great as it will, &s;o it direct me upon God, and I have calme enough.</P>
<P>And this peace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Convertan|tur.</NOTE> this calme is implyed in the next word, <HI>Convertantur,</HI> which is not, <HI>Let them be overthrowne,</HI> but <HI>Let them returne,</HI> let them be forced to returne; he prayes,
<PB N="559" REF="297">that God would do &s;omething to cro&s;&s;e their purpo&s;es; becau&s;e as they are again&s;t God, &s;o they are again&s;t their owne &s;oules. In that way where they are, he &s;ees there is no re|medy; and therefore he de&s;ires that they might be <HI>Turned</HI> into another way; What is that way? This. <HI>Turne us O Lord, and we &s;hall be turned;</HI> That is, turned the right way; To|wards God. And as there was a promi&s;e from God, to heare his people, not onely when they came to him in the Temple, but when they turned towards that Temple, in what di&s;tance &s;oever they were, &s;o it is alwaies accompanied with a ble&s;sing, occa&s;ionally to turne towards God; But this prayer, <HI>Turne us, that we may be turned,</HI> is, that we may be, that is, remaine turned, that we may continue fixed in that po&s;ture. <HI>Lots</HI> Wife turned her &s;elfe, and remained an everla&s;ting monument of Gods anger; God &s;o turne us alwaies into right wayes, as that we be not able to turne our &s;elves out of them. For God hath <HI>Viam rectam, &amp; bonam,</HI> as him&s;elfe &s;peakes in the Prophet, A right way, and then a good way, which yet is not the right way, that is, not the way which God of him&s;elfe would go. For his right way is, that we &s;hould &s;till keepe in his way; His good way is, to beat us into his right way againe, by his medicinall corrections, when we put our &s;elves out of his right way. And that, and that onely <HI>David</HI> wi&s;hes, and we wi&s;h, That you may <HI>Turne,</HI> and <HI>Be turned;</HI> &s;tand in that holy po&s;ture, all the yeare, all the yeares of your lives, That your Chri&s;tmas may be as holy as your Ea&s;ter, even your Recreations as innocent as your Devotions, and every roome in the hou&s;e as free free from prophanene&s;&s;e as the Sanctuary. And this he ends as he begun, with another <HI>Erube&s;cant,</HI> Let them be a&s;hamed, and that <HI>Valde volociter, Suddenly:</HI> for <HI>David</HI> &s;aw, that if a &s;inner came not to a &s;hame of &s;in quickly, he would quickly come to a &s;hamele&s;ne&s;&s;e, to an impudence, to a &s;earedne&s;&s;e, to an obduration in it.</P>
<P>Now beloved, this is the wor&s;t cur&s;e that comes out of a holy mans mouth, even to|wards his enemie, that God would correct him to his amendment. And this is the wor&s;t harme that we meane to you, when we denounce the judgements of God again&s;t &s;in and &s;inners, <HI>Vt erube&s;catis,</HI> that we might &s;ee blood in your faces, the blood of your Saviour working in that &s;hame for &s;in. That that que&s;tion of the Prophet might not confound you, <HI>Were they a&s;hamed when they committed abomination? nay, they were not a&s;hamed;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 6.15.</NOTE> <HI>Eru|be&s;cere ne&s;cieba~t,</HI> they were never u&s;ed to &s;hame, they knew not how to be a&s;hamed. <HI>There|fore,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>they &s;hall fall amongst them that fall,</HI> they &s;hall do as the world does, &s;in as their neighbours &s;in, and fall as they fall, irrepentantly here, and hereafter irrecoverably. And then, <HI>Vt conturbati &s;itis,</HI> that you may be troubled in your hearts, and not cry Peace, Peace, where there is no peace, and flatter your &s;elves, becau&s;e you are in a true Religion, and in the right way; for a Child may drowne in a Font, and a Man may be poy&s;oned in the Sacrament, much more peri&s;h, though in a true Church. And al&s;o <HI>Vt revertamini,</HI> that you may returne againe to the Lord, returne to that &s;tate of purene&s;&s;e, which God gave you in Bapti&s;me, to that &s;tate, which God gave you the la&s;t time you received his body and blood &s;o as became you. And then la&s;tly, <HI>Vt erube&s;catis velociter,</HI> that you may come to the beginning of this, and to all this quickly, and not to defer it, becau&s;e God defers the judgement. For to end this with S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> words, upon this word <HI>Velociter, Quan|docun&abque; venit, celerrim&egrave; venit, quod de&s;peratur e&s;&s;e venturum:</HI> How late &s;oever it come, that comes quickly, if it come at all, which we beleeved would never come. How long &s;oever it be, before that judgement come, yet it comes quickly, if it come before thou looke for it, or be ready for it. Who&s;oever labours to &s;leepe out the thought of that day, <HI>His dam|nation &s;leepeth not,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle. It is not onely, that his damnation is not dead, that there &s;hall never be any &s;uch day, but that it is no day a&s;leepe: every midnight &s;hall be a day of judgement to him, and keepe him awake; and when con&s;ternation, and la&s;&s;itude lend him, or conterfait to him a &s;leep, as S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;ayes of the righteous, <HI>Etiam &s;omnia ju&s;to|rum preces &s;unt,</HI> That even their Dreames are prayers, &s;o this incorrigible &s;inners Dreames &s;hall be, not onely pre&s;ages of his future, but acts of his pre&s;ent condemnation.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="56" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="560" REF="298">
<HEAD>SERM. LVI. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.1, 2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed is he who&s;e trangre&s;sion is forgiven, who&s;e &s;inne is covered; Ble&s;&s;ed is the man, unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquitie, and in who&s;e &s;pirit there is no guile.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis that I have read to you, can &s;carce be called all the Text; I propo&s;ed for the Text, the fir&s;t and &s;econd ver&s;es, and there belongs more to the fir&s;t, then I have delivered in it; for, in all tho&s;e Tran&s;lators, and Expo&s;i|tors, who apply them&s;elves exactly to the Originall, to the Hebrew, the Title of the P&s;alme, is part of the fir&s;t ver&s;e of the P&s;alme. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> gives &s;omewhat a &s;trange rea&s;on, why the Booke of <HI>Enoch,</HI> cited by S. <HI>Iude</HI> in his Epi|&s;tle, and &s;ome other &s;uch ancient Books, as that, were never received into the body of Canonicall Scriptures, <HI>Vt in Authoritate apud nos non e&s;&s;ent, nimia fecit eorum Antiquitas,</HI> The Church &s;u&s;pected them, becau&s;e they were too Ancient, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine.</HI> But that rea&s;on alone, is &s;o far from being enough to exclude any thing from being part of the Scriptures, as that we make it ju&s;tly an argument, for the receiving the Titles of the P&s;almes into the Body of Canonicall Scriptures, that they are as ancient as the P&s;almes them&s;elves. So then the Title of this P&s;alme enters into our Text, as a part of the fir&s;t ver&s;e. And the Title is <HI>Davidis Erudiens;</HI> where we need not in&s;ert (as our Tran&s;lators in all languages and Editions have conceived a nece&s;&s;ity to do) any word, for the cleer|ing of the Text, more then is in the Text it &s;elfe, (And therefore <HI>Tremellius</HI> hath in&s;er|ted that word, <HI>An Ode of David,</HI> we, <HI>A P&s;alme of David,</HI> others, others) for the words them&s;elves yeeld a perfect &s;en&s;e in them&s;elves, <HI>Le David Ma&s;chil,</HI> is <HI>Davidis Erudiens,</HI> that is, <HI>Davidis Eruditio, Davids</HI> In&s;titution, <HI>Davids</HI> Catechi&s;me; And &s;o our Text, which is the fir&s;t and &s;econd ver&s;e, taking in all the fir&s;t ver&s;e, in all accounts, is now <HI>Da|vids</HI> Catechi&s;me; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is he who&s;e tran&s;gre&s;sion is forgiven &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> our parts &s;hall be the&s;e; fir&s;t, That &s;o great a Ma&s;ter as <HI>David,</HI> pro|ceeded by way of Catechi&s;me, of in&s;truction in fundamentall things, and Doctrines of edification. Secondly, That the foundation of this Building, the fir&s;t le&s;&s;on in this Art, the fir&s;t letter in this Alphabet, is <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e;</HI> for, <HI>Primus actus voluntatis e&s;t Amor;</HI> Man is not man, till he have produced &s;ome acts of the faculties of that &s;oule, that makes him man; till he under&s;tand &s;omething, and will &s;omething, Till he know, and till he would have &s;omething, he is no man; Now, The fir&s;t Act of the will is love; and no man can love any thing, but in the likene&s;&s;e, and in the notion of <HI>Happine&s;&s;e,</HI> of <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e,</HI> or of &s;ome degree thereof; and therefore <HI>David</HI> propo&s;es that for the foundation of his Cate|chi&s;me, <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e;</HI> The Catechi&s;me of <HI>David, Ble&s;&s;ed is the Man.</HI> But then, in a third Con&s;ideration, we lay hold upon S. <HI>Augu&s;tins</HI> Aphori&s;me, <HI>Amare ni&s;i nota non po&s;&s;u|mus,</HI> We cannot truly love any thing, but that we know; And therefore <HI>David</HI> being to proceede Catechi&s;tically, and for In&s;truction, propo&s;es this <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e,</HI> which as it is in Heaven, and re&s;erved for our po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion there, is in-intelligible, (as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;peaks) unconceivable, he purpo&s;es it in &s;uch notions, and by &s;uch lights, as may enable us to &s;ee it, and know it in this life. And tho&s;e lights are in this Text, Three; for, <HI>The forgivene&s;&s;e of Tran&s;gre&s;sions,</HI> And then, <HI>The Covering of &s;innes,</HI> And la&s;tly, <HI>The not imputing of Iniqui|ty,</HI> which three <HI>David</HI> propo&s;es here, are not a threefold repeating of one and the &s;ame thing; But this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;ting in our Reconciliation to God, (for we were crea|ted in a &s;tate of friend&s;hip with God, our rebellion put us into a &s;tate of ho&s;tility, and now we need a Reconciliation, becau&s;e we are not able to maintaine a war again&s;t God, no, nor again&s;t any other enemy of man, without God) this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e <HI>David</HI> doth not deliver us all at once, in three expre&s;&s;ings of the &s;ame thing, but he gives us one light
<PB N="561" REF="298">thereof, in the knowledge that there is a Forgiving of Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, another, in the Covering of &s;innes, and a third, in the not Imputing of Iniquity. But then, (that which will con&s;titute a fourth Con&s;ideration) when God hath pre&s;ented him&s;elfe, and offered his peace, in all the&s;e, there is al&s;o &s;omething to be done on our part; for though the For|giving of Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, The Covering of &s;inne, The not Imputing of Iniquity, proceed onely from God, yet God affords the&s;e to none but him, <HI>In who&s;e &s;pirit there is no guile.</HI> And &s;o you have all that belongs to the Ma&s;ter, and his manner of teaching, <HI>David</HI> Cate|chi&s;ing; And all that belongs to the Doctrine and the Catechi&s;me, <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e,</HI> That is Reconciliation to God, notified in tho&s;e three acts of his mercy; And all that belongs to the Di&s;ciple, that is to be Catechized, A docile, an humble, a &s;incere heart, <HI>In who&s;e &s;pirit there is no guile;</HI> And to the&s;e particulars, in their order thus propo&s;ed, we &s;hall now pa&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>That then which con&s;titutes our fir&s;t part, is this, That <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1. Part.</HI> Catechi&s;mus</NOTE> then whom this world never had a greater Ma&s;ter for the next, among&s;t the &s;onnes of men, delivers him&s;elfe, by way of Catechi&s;ing, of fundamentall and ea&s;ie teaching. As we &s;ay ju&s;tly, and con|fidently, That of all Rhetoricall and Poeticall figures, that fall into any Art, we are able to produce higher &s;traines, and livelier examples, out of the Scriptures, then out of all the Orators, and Poets in the world, yet we reade not, we preach not the Scriptures for that u&s;e, to magnifie their Eloquence; So in <HI>Davids</HI> P&s;almes we finde abundant impre&s;|&s;ions, and te&s;timonies of his knowledge in all arts, and all kinds of learning, but that is not it which he propo&s;es to us. <HI>Davids</HI> la&s;t words are, and in that <HI>Davids</HI> holy glory was placed, That he was not onely <HI>the &s;weet P&s;almi&s;t,</HI> That he had an harmonious, a me|lodious,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 23.1.</NOTE> a charming, a powerfull way of entring into the &s;oule, and working upon the affections of men, but he was <HI>the &s;weet P&s;almi&s;t of I&s;rael,</HI> He employed his faculties for the conveying of the God of I&s;rael, into the I&s;rael of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2.</NOTE> <HI>The &s;pirit of the Lord &s;pake by me, and his word was in my tongue;</HI> Not the &s;pirit of Rhetorique, nor the &s;pirit of Poe|try,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 3.</NOTE> nor the &s;pirit of Mathematiques, and Demon&s;tration, But, <HI>The &s;pirit of the Lord, the Rock of I&s;rael &s;pake by me,</HI> &s;ayes he; He boa&s;ts not that he had delivered him&s;elfe in &s;trong, or deepe, or my&s;terious Arts, that was not his Rock; but his Rock was the Rock of I&s;rael, His way was to e&s;tabli&s;h the Church of God upon fundamentall Doctrines. <HI>Mo&s;es was learned in all the wi&s;edome of the Egyptians,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Stephen.</HI> Likely to be &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 7.22.</NOTE> becau&s;e being adopted by the Kings daughter, he had an extraordinary education;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 2.10.</NOTE> And likely al&s;o, becau&s;e he brought &s;o good naturall faculties, for his Ma&s;ters to worke upon, <HI>Vt Remini&s;ci poti&ugrave;s videretur, qu&agrave;m di&s;cere,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Philo.</NOTE> That what&s;oever any Ma&s;ter propo&s;ed unto him, he rather &s;eemed to remember it then, then to learne it but then; And yet in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> books, we meet no great te&s;timonies, or deepe impre&s;&s;ions of the&s;e learnings in <HI>Mo&s;es:</HI> He had (as S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> notes well) more occa&s;ions to &s;peak of Naturall philo&s;ophy, in the Creation of the world, and of the more &s;ecret, and re&s;erved, and remote corners of Nature, in tho&s;e counterfeitings of Miracles in <HI>Pharaohs</HI> Court, then he hath laid hold of. So <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> appointed his Officers, that they &s;hould furni&s;h his Court,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 1.4.</NOTE> with &s;ome young Gentlemen, of good bloud and families of the Jews; And (as it is ad|ded there) <HI>well favoured youths, in whom there was no blemi&s;h, skilfull in all wi&s;edome, and cunning in knowledge, and under&s;tanding &s;cience;</HI> And then farther, <HI>To be taught the tongue, and the learning of the Chaldeans.</HI> And <HI>Daniel</HI> was one of the&s;e, and, no doubt, a great Proficient in all the&s;e; and yet <HI>Daniel</HI> &s;eemes not to make any great &s;hew of the&s;e learn|ings in his writings. S. <HI>Paul</HI> was in a higher Pedagogy, and another manner of Uni|ver&s;ity then all this; <HI>Caught up into the third heavens, into Paradi&s;e,</HI> as he &s;ayes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.2.</NOTE> and there he learnt much; but (as he &s;ayes too) <HI>&s;uch things as it was not lawfull to utter;</HI> That is, It fell not within the lawes of preaching to publi&s;h them. So that not onely &s;ome learn|ing in humanity, (as in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Daniels</HI> ca&s;e) but &s;ome points of Divinity, (as in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> ca&s;e) may be unfit to be preached. Not that a Divine &s;hould be ignorant of either; either ornaments of humane, or my&s;teries of divine knowledge. For, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> Every man that comes from Egypt, mu&s;t bring &s;ome of the Egyptians goods with him. <HI>Quanto auro exivit &s;uffarcinatus Cyprianus,</HI> &s;ayes he, How much of the Egyptian gold and goods brought <HI>Cyprian,</HI> and <HI>Lactantius,</HI> and <HI>Optatus,</HI> and <HI>Hilary</HI> out of Egypt? That is, what a trea&s;ure of learning, gathered when they were of the Gentils, brought they from thence, to the advancing of Chri&s;tianity, when they applied them&s;elves to it? S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> confe&s;&s;es, that the reading of <HI>Cicero's Horten&s;ius, Mutavit affectum meum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">L. 3. c. 4.</NOTE> began in
<PB N="562" REF="299">him a Conver&s;ion from the world, <HI>Et ad teip&s;um, Domine, mutavit preces meas,</HI> That booke, &s;ayes he, converted me to more fervent prayers to thee, my God; <HI>Et &s;urgere jam coeperam ut ad te redirem,</HI> By that help I ro&s;e, and came towards thee. And &s;o <HI>Iu&s;tin Mar|tyr</HI> had his Initiation, and beginning of his Conver&s;ion, from reading &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages in <HI>Plato.</HI> S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> expre&s;&s;es it well; They that will dye a perfect colour, dip it in &s;ome le&s;&s;e perfect colour before. To be a good Divine, requires humane knowledge; and &s;o does it of all the My&s;teries of Divinity too; becau&s;e, as there are Devils that will not be ca&s;t out but by Fa&s;ting and Prayer, &s;o there are humours that undervalue men, that lacke the&s;e helps. But our Congregations are not made of &s;uch per&s;ons; not of meere natu|rall men, that mu&s;t be converted out of <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> and by <HI>Cicero's</HI> words, nor of Arians that require new proofes for the Trinity, nor Pelagians that mu&s;t be pre&s;&s;ed with new di&s;coveries of Gods Prede&s;tination; but per&s;ons imbracing, with a thankfull acquie|&s;cence therein, Doctrines nece&s;&s;ary for the &s;alvation of their &s;oules in the world to come, and the exaltation of their Devotion in this. This way <HI>David</HI> calls his, a Catechi&s;me. And let not the greate&s;t Doctor think it unworthy of him to Catechize thus, nor the lear|nede&s;t hearer to be thus catechized; Chri&s;t enwraps the greate&s;t Doctors in his Per&s;on, and in his practi&s;e, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Sinite parvulos, Suffer little children to come unto me;</HI> and we do not &s;uffer them to come unto us, if when they come, we doe not &s;peak to their under&s;tanding, and to their edification, for that is but an ab&s;ent pre&s;ence, when they heare, and profit not; And Chri&s;t enwraps the learnede&s;t hearers, in the per&s;ons of his owne Di&s;ciples, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Except yee become as the&s;e little children, yee cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven;</HI> Except you nouri&s;h your &s;elves with Catechi&s;ticall, and Fundamentall Doctrines, you are not in a whole&s;ome diet. Now in this Catechi&s;me, the fir&s;t &s;tone that <HI>David</HI> layes, (and that that &s;upports all) the fir&s;t object that <HI>David</HI> pre&s;ents, (and that that directs to all) is Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; <HI>Davids</HI> Catechi&s;me; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is the man.</HI></P>
<P>Philo&s;ophers could never bring us to the knowledge,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2 Part.</HI> Beatitudo.</NOTE> what this <HI>Summum bonum,</HI> this Happine&s;&s;e, this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e was. For they con&s;idered only &s;ome particular fruits there|of; and it is much ea&s;ier, how high &s;oever a tree be, to come to a ta&s;te of &s;ome of the fruits, then to digge to the root of that tree: They &s;atisfied them&s;elves with a little ta&s;te of Health, and Plea&s;ure, and Riches, and Honour, and never con&s;idered that all the&s;e mu&s;t have their root in heaven, and mu&s;t have a relation to Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who is the root of all. And as the&s;e Philo&s;ophers could never tell us, what this ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e was, &s;o Di|vines them&s;elves, and tho&s;e who are be&s;t exerci&s;ed in the language of the Holy Gho&s;t, the Originall tongue of this Text, cannot give us a cleare Grammaticall under&s;tanding, of this fir&s;t word, in which <HI>David</HI> expre&s;&s;es this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>A&s;hrei,</HI> which is here Tran&s;lated <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed.</HI> They cannot tell, whether it be an Adverb, (And then it is <HI>Bene vi|ro,</HI> Well is it for that man, A pathetique, a vehement acclamation, Happily, Ble&s;&s;edly is that man provided for) Or whether it be a Plurall Noune, (and then it is <HI>Beatitudines,</HI> &s;uch a Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e as includes many, all ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;es in it) And one of the&s;e two it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be in the Rules of their Con&s;truction; That either <HI>David</HI> enters with an Ad|miration, O how happily is that man provided for! Or with a Prote&s;tation, That there is no particular Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, which that man wants, that hath this, This Reconciliation to God.</P>
<P><HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> ob&s;erves out of <HI>Plato,</HI> that he enjoyned the Poets, and the Writers in his State, to de&s;cribe no man to be happy, but the good men; none to be mi&s;erable, but the wick|ed. And his Scholar <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> enters into his Book of Ethiques, and Morall Doctrine, with that Contemplation fir&s;t of all, That every man hath naturally a di&s;po&s;ition to af|fect, and de&s;ire happine&s;&s;e. <HI>David</HI> who is elder then they, begins his Book of P&s;almes &s;o; The fir&s;t word of the fir&s;t P&s;alme, is the fir&s;t word of this Text, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is the man.</HI> He comprehends all that belongs to mans knowledge, and all that belongs to mans pra|cti&s;e, in tho&s;e two, fir&s;t in under&s;tanding true Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, and then, in prai&s;ing God for it: <HI>Davids Alpha</HI> is <HI>Beatus vir,</HI> O the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of righteous men! And <HI>Davids Omega</HI> is <HI>Laudate Dominum,</HI> O that men would therefore ble&s;&s;e the Lord! And there|fore, as he begins this Book with Gods ble&s;&s;ing of man, &s;o he ends it with mans prai&s;ing of God: For, where the la&s;t &s;troak upon this P&s;altery, the la&s;t ver&s;e of the la&s;t P&s;alme, is, <HI>Let every thing that hath breath prai&s;e the Lord,</HI> Yet he addes one note more to us in particular, <HI>Prai&s;e ye the Lord;</HI> and there is the end of all. And &s;o al&s;o our Saviour Chri&s;t
<PB N="563" REF="299">him&s;elfe, in his owne preaching, ob&s;erved that Method;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.3.</NOTE> He begun his great Sermon in the Mount with that, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the poore in&s;pirit, Ble&s;&s;ed are they that mourne, Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart;</HI> Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e alone was an abundant recompence for all. And &s;o the &s;ubject of <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;ts</HI> Commi&s;&s;ion before, and of his Di&s;ciples Commi&s;&s;ion after,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.2.</NOTE> was &s;till the &s;ame, to preach this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>That the Kingdome of God,</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.7.</NOTE> Re|conciliation to God in his Vi&s;ible Church, <HI>was at hand,</HI> was forthwith to be e&s;tabli&s;hed among&s;t them.</P>
<P>Though then the Con&s;ummation of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e be that <HI>Vi&s;io Dei,</HI> That &s;ight of God, which in our glorified &s;tate we &s;hall have in heaven, yet, becau&s;e there is an incho|ation thereof in this world, which is that which we call Reconciliation, it behooves us to con&s;ider the di&s;po&s;ition requi&s;ite for that. It is a lamentable perver&s;ene&s;&s;e in us, that we are &s;o contentiou&s;ly bu&s;ie, in inquiring into the Nature, and E&s;&s;ence, and Attributes of God, things which are re&s;erved to our end, when we &s;hall know at once, and without &s;tudy, all that, of which all our lives &s;tudy can teach us nothing; And that here, where we are upon the way, we are &s;o negligent and lazy, in inquiring of things, which belong to the way. Tho&s;e things we learne in no Schoole &s;o well as in adver&s;ity. As the body of man, and con&s;equently health, is be&s;t under&s;tood, and be&s;t advanced by Di&s;&s;ections, and Anatomies, when the hand and knife of the Surgeon hath pa&s;&s;ed upon every part of the body, and laid it open: &s;o when the hand and &s;word of God hath pierced our &s;oul, we are brought to a better knowledge of our &s;elves, then any degree of pro&s;perity would have rai&s;ed us to.</P>
<P>All creatures were brought to <HI>Adam,</HI> and, becau&s;e he under&s;tood the natures of all tho&s;e creatures, he gave them names accordingly. In that he gave no name to him&s;elfe, it may be by &s;ome perhaps argued, that he under&s;tood him&s;elfe le&s;&s;e then he did other creatures. If <HI>Adam</HI> be our example, in the time and Schoole of nature, how hard a thing the knowledge of our &s;elves is, till we feele the direction of adver&s;ity, <HI>David</HI> is al&s;o ano|ther example in the time of the Law, who fir&s;t &s;aid <HI>in his pro&s;perity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 30.6.</NOTE> <HI>He &s;hould never bee moved;</HI> But, <HI>When,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>Thou hide&s;t thy face from me, I was troubled, and then I cryed un|to thee O Lord, and I prayed unto my God;</HI> Then; but not till then. The &s;ame Art, the &s;ame Grammar la&s;ts &s;till; and <HI>Peter</HI> is an example of the &s;ame Rule, in the time of grace, who was at fir&s;t &s;o confident, as to come to that, <HI>Si omnes &s;candalizati,</HI> if all for|&s;ook him, <HI>Si mori oportuit,</HI> If he mu&s;t die with him, or dye for him, he was ready, and yet without any terror from an armed Magi&s;trate, without any &s;urprizall of a &s;ubtile Examiner, upon the que&s;tion of a poore Maid he denied his Ma&s;ter: But then, the bit|terne&s;&s;e of his &s;oule taught him another temper, and moderation; when Chri&s;t asked him after, <HI>Amas me?</HI> Love&s;t thou me? not to pronounce upon an infallible confidence, I have loved, and I doe, and I will doe till death, but, <HI>Domine tu &s;cis, Lord thou knowe&s;t that I love thee;</HI> My love to thee is but the effect of thy love to me, and there|fore Lord continue thine, that mine may continue. No &s;tudy is &s;o nece&s;&s;ary as to know our &s;elves; no Schoole-ma&s;ter is &s;o diligent, &s;o vigilant, &s;o a&s;&s;iduous, as Adver&s;ity: And the end of knowing our &s;elves, is to know how we are di&s;po&s;ed for that which is our end, that is this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; which, though it be well collected and &s;ummed by S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine, Beatus qui habet quicquid vult, &amp; nihil mali vult,</HI> He onely is ble&s;&s;ed, that de&s;ires nothing but that which is good for him, and hath all that, we mu&s;t pur&s;ue, in tho&s;e par|ticulars, which here, in <HI>Davids</HI> Catechi&s;me, con&s;titute this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, and con&s;ti|tute our third Part, and are delivered in three Branches, fir&s;t, <HI>The forgiving of our tran&s;|gre&s;sions,</HI> And then, <HI>The covering of our &s;innes,</HI> And thirdly, <HI>The not imputing of our ini|quities.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, that in this third Part, we may &s;ee in the fir&s;t Branch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part. Tran&s;gre&s;&s;i|on.</NOTE> the fir&s;t notification of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, we con&s;ider the two termes, in which it is expre&s;&s;ed, what this is, which is tran&s;lated <HI>Tran&s;gre&s;sion,</HI> and then what this <HI>Forgiving</HI> imports. The Originall word is <HI>Pa&s;hang,</HI> and that &s;ignifies &s;in in all exten&s;ions, The highe&s;t, the deepe&s;t, the waightie&s;t &s;in; It is a malicious, and a forcible oppo&s;ition to God: It is when this <HI>He|rod,</HI> and this <HI>Pilat</HI> (this Body, and this &s;oule of ours) are made friends and agreed, that they may concurre to the Crucifying of Chri&s;t. When not onely the members of our bodies, but the faculties of our &s;oul, our will and under&s;tanding are bent upon &s;in: when we doe not only &s;in &s;trongly, and hungerly, and thir&s;tily, (which appertain to the body) but we &s;in rationally, we finde rea&s;ons, (and tho&s;e rea&s;ons, even in Gods long patience)
<PB N="564" REF="300">why we &s;hould &s;in: We &s;in wittily, we invent new &s;ins, and we thinke it an ignorant, a dull, and an un&s;ociable thing, not to &s;in; yea we &s;in wi&s;ely, and make our &s;in, our way to preferment. Then is this word u&s;ed by the Holy Gho&s;t, when he expre&s;&s;es both the vehemence, and the waight, and the largene&s;&s;e, and the continuance, all exten&s;ions, all dimen&s;ions of the &s;ins of Dama&s;cus;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>Thus &s;aith the Lord, for three tran&s;gre&s;sions of Da|ma&s;cus, and for foure, I will not turne to it, becau&s;e they have thre&s;hed Gilead with thre&s;hing in&s;truments of Iron;</HI> So then, we con&s;ider &s;in here, not as a &s;taine, &s;uch as Originall &s;in may be, nor as a wound, &s;uch as every actuall &s;in may be, but as a burden, a complication, a packing up of many &s;ins, in an habituall practi&s;e thereof. This is that waight that &s;unke the whole world under water, in the fir&s;t floud, and &s;hall pre&s;&s;e downe the fire it &s;elfe, to con&s;ume it a &s;econd time. It is a waight that &s;tupifies and benums him that beares it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;o, as that the &s;inner feeles not the oppre&s;&s;ion of his owne &s;ins; <HI>Et quid mi&s;erius mi&s;cro non mi&s;erante &s;eip&s;um?</HI> What mi&s;ery can be greater, then when a mi&s;erable man hath not &s;en&s;e to commi&s;erate his owne mi&s;ery? Our fir&s;t errors are out of Levity, and S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> hath taught us a proper balla&s;t and waight for that, <HI>Amor Dei pondus animae,</HI> The love of God would carry us evenly, and &s;teadily, if we would embarke that: But as in great tradings, they come to balla&s;t with Merchandi&s;e, balla&s;t and fraight is al one, &s;o in this habituall &s;inner, all is &s;in, plots and preparations before the act, gladne&s;&s;e and glory in the act, &s;ometimes di&s;gui&s;es, &s;ometimes ju&s;tifications after the act, make up one body, one fraight of &s;in. So then <HI>Tran&s;gre&s;sion</HI> in this place, in the naturall &s;ignification of the word, is a waight, a burden, and carrying it, as the word requires, to the greate&s;t exten|&s;ion, it is the &s;in of the whole World; And that &s;inne is <HI>forgiven;</HI> which is the &s;econd Terme.</P>
<P>The Prophet does not &s;ay here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Forgiven.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is that man that hath no tran&s;gre&s;sion,</HI> for that were to &s;ay, Ble&s;&s;ed is that man that is no man. All people, all Nations, did ever in Na|ture acknowledge not onely a guiltine&s;&s;e of &s;in, but &s;ome meanes of reconciliation to their Gods in the Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins: for they had all &s;ome formall, and Ceremoniall Sacrifices, and Expiations, and Lu&s;trations, by which they thought their &s;ins to be pur|ged, and wa&s;hed away. Who&s;oever acknowledges a God, acknowledges a Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, and who&s;oever acknowledges a Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, acknowledges a God. And there|fore in this fir&s;t place, <HI>David</HI> does not mention God at all; he does not &s;ay, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is he who&s;e tran&s;gre&s;sion the Lord hath forgiven;</HI> for he pre&s;umes it to be an impo&s;&s;ible tentati|on to take hold of any man, that there can be any Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in, from any other per|&s;on, or by any other meanes, then from and by God him&s;elfe; and therefore Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins includes an Act of God; But what kinde of Act, is more particularly de&s;igned in the Originall word, which is <HI>Na&s;a,</HI> then our word, <HI>forgiving,</HI> reaches to; for the word does not onely &s;ignifie <HI>Auferre,</HI> but <HI>ferre;</HI> not onely to take away &s;in, by way of pardon, but to take the &s;in upon him&s;elfe, and &s;o to beare the &s;in, and the puni&s;hment of the &s;in, in his owne per&s;on. And &s;o Chri&s;t is the Lambe of God, <HI>Qui tollit,</HI> not onely that <HI>takes away,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.4.</NOTE> but that <HI>takes upon him&s;elfe,</HI> the &s;ins of the world. <HI>Tulit, portavit, Surely he hath borne our griefes, and carried our &s;orrowes;</HI> Tho&s;e griefes, tho&s;e &s;orrowes which we &s;hould, he hath borne, and carried in his owne per&s;on. So that, as it is all one, never to have come in debt, and to have di&s;charged the debt; So the whole world, all mankinde, con&s;idered in Chri&s;t, is as innocent as if <HI>Adam</HI> had never &s;inned. And &s;o this is the fir&s;t beame of Ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e that &s;hines upon my &s;oule, That I beleeve that the ju&s;tice of God is fully &s;ati&s;|fied in the death of Chri&s;t, and that there is enough given, and accepted in the trea&s;ure of his blood, for the Remi&s;&s;ion of all Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions. And then the &s;econd beame of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, is in <HI>The covering of &s;ins.</HI></P>
<P>Now to benefit our &s;elves by this part of <HI>Davids</HI> Catechi&s;me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sinne.</NOTE> we mu&s;t (as we did be|fore) con&s;ider the two termes, of which this part of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;ts, <HI>&s;in,</HI> and <HI>covering. Sin</HI> in this place is not &s;o heavy a word, as <HI>Tran&s;gre&s;sion</HI> was in the former; for that was &s;in in all exten&s;ions, &s;inne in all formes, all &s;in of all men, of all times, of all pla|ces, the &s;in of all the world upon the &s;houlders of the Saviour of the world. In this place, (the word is <HI>Catah,</HI> and by the derivation thereof from <HI>Nata,</HI> which is to Decline, to &s;tep a&s;ide, or to be withdrawne, and <HI>Kut,</HI> which is <HI>filum,</HI> a thread, or a line) that which we call &s;in here, &s;ignifies <HI>Tran&s;ilire lineam,</HI> To depart, or by any tentation to be with|drawne from the direct duties, and the exact &s;traightne&s;&s;e which is required of us in this world, for the attaining of the next: So that the word imports &s;ins of infirmity, &s;uch &s;ins
<PB N="565" REF="300">as doe fall upon Gods be&s;t &s;ervants, &s;uch &s;ins as rather induce a cofe&s;&s;ion of our weak|ne&s;&s;e, and an acknowledgement of our continuall need of pardon for &s;ome thing pa&s;&s;ed, and &s;trength again&s;t future inva&s;ions, then that induce any deva&s;tation, or obduration of the con&s;cience, which, <HI>Tran&s;gre&s;sion,</HI> in the former branch implied. For &s;o this word, <HI>Catah,</HI> hath that &s;ignification (as in many other places) there, where it is &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.16.</NOTE> <HI>That there were &s;even hundred left-handed Benjamits, which would &s;ling &s;tones at a haires breadth, and not faile;</HI> that is, not mi&s;&s;e the marke a haires breadth. And therefore when this word <HI>Catah, &s;in,</HI> is u&s;ed in Scripture, to expre&s;&s;e any weighty, hainous, enormous &s;in, it hath an addition, <HI>Peccatum magnum peccaverunt,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.31.</NOTE> when the people were become Idolaters, <HI>The&s;e people have &s;inned a great &s;in;</HI> otherwi&s;e it &s;ignifies &s;uch &s;in, as de&s;troyes not the foundation, &s;uch as in the nature thereof, does not wholly extingui&s;h Grace, nor grieve the Spirit of God in us. And &s;uch <HI>&s;innes</HI> God <HI>covers,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David</HI> here. Now what is his way of covering the&s;e &s;ins?</P>
<P>As <HI>Sin</HI> in this notion, is not &s;o deepe a wound upon God, as <HI>Tran&s;gre&s;sion</HI> in the other,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Covering.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>Covering</HI> here extends not &s;o far, as <HI>Forgiving</HI> did there. There <HI>forgiving</HI> was a taking away of &s;in, by taking that way, That Chri&s;t &s;hould beare all our &s;ins, it was a &s;uffering, a dying, it was a penall part, and a part of Gods ju&s;tice, executed upon his one and onely Son; here it is a part of Gods mercy, in &s;preading, and applying the merits and &s;atisfacti|on of Chri&s;t, upon all them, whom God by the Holy Gho&s;t hath gathered in the pro|fe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, and &s;o called to the apprehending and embracing of this mantle, this garment, this covering, the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t in the Chri&s;tian Chri&s;t; In which Church, and by his vi&s;ible Ordinances therein, the Word, and Sacraments, God covers, hides, conceales, even from the inqui&s;ition of his owne ju&s;tice, tho&s;e &s;maller &s;ins, which his &s;ervants commit, and does not turne them out of his &s;ervice, for tho&s;e &s;ins. So the word (the word is <HI>Ca&s;ah,</HI> which we tran&s;late <HI>Covering</HI>) is u&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 12.23.</NOTE> <HI>A wi&s;e man concealeth knowledge;</HI> that is, Does not pretend to know &s;o much as indeed he does: So, our mer|cifull God, when he &s;ees us under this mantle, this covering, Chri&s;t &s;pread upon his Church, conceales his knowledge of our &s;ins, and &s;uffers them not to reflect upon our con&s;ciences, in a con&s;ternation thereof. So then, as the <HI>Forgiving</HI> was <HI>Auferre ferendo,</HI> a taking away of &s;in, by taking all &s;in upon his owne per&s;on, So this <HI>Covering</HI> is <HI>Tegere attingendo,</HI> To cover &s;in, by comming to it, by applying him&s;elfe to our &s;infull con&s;ci|ences, in the meanes in&s;tituted by him in his Church: for they have in that language another word, <HI>Sacac,</HI> which &s;ignifies <HI>Tegere obumbrando,</HI> To cover by over&s;hadowing, by refre&s;hing. This is <HI>Tegere obumbrando,</HI> To cover by &s;hadowing, when I defend mine eye from the offence of the Sun, by interpo&s;ing my hand betweene the Sun and mine eye, at this di&s;tance, a far off: But <HI>Tegere attingendo,</HI> is when thus I lay my hand upon mine eye, and cover it clo&s;e, by that touching. In the knowledge that Chri&s;t hath taken all the &s;ins of all the world upon him&s;elfe, that there is enough done for the &s;alvation of all man|kinde, I have a &s;hadowing, a refre&s;hing; But becau&s;e I can have no te&s;timony, that this generall redemption belongs to me, who am &s;till a &s;inner, except there pa&s;&s;e &s;ome act be|tweene God and me, &s;ome &s;eale, &s;ome inve&s;titure, &s;ome acquittance of my debts, my &s;ins, therefore this &s;econd beame of <HI>Davids</HI> Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, in this his Catechi&s;me, &s;hines upon me in this, That God hath not onely &s;owed and planted herbs, and Simples in the world, medicinall for all di&s;ea&s;es of the world, but God hath gathered, and prepared tho&s;e Simples, and pre&s;ented them, &s;o prepared, to me, for my recovery from my di&s;ea&s;e: God hath not onely received a full &s;atisfaction for all &s;inne in Chri&s;t, but Chri&s;t, in his Ordinances in his Church, offers me an application of all that for my &s;elfe, and covers my &s;in, from the eye of his Father, not onely <HI>obumbrando,</HI> as hee hath &s;pread him&s;elfe as a Cloud refre&s;hing the whole World, in the value of the &s;atisfaction, but <HI>Attingendo,</HI> by comming to me, by &s;preading him&s;elf upon me, as the Prophet did upon the dead Child, Mouth to mouth, Hand to hand; In the mouth of his Mini&s;ter, he &s;peaks to me; In the hand of the Mini&s;ter, he delivers him&s;elfe to me; and &s;o by the&s;e vi&s;ible acts, and &s;eales of my Reconciliation, <HI>Tegit attingendo,</HI> He covers me by touching me; He touches my con&s;cience, with a &s;en&s;e and remor&s;e of my &s;ins, in his Word; and he touches my &s;oule, with a faith of having received him, and all the benefit of his Death, in the Sacrament. And &s;o he <HI>covers &s;in;</HI> that is, keepes our &s;ins of infirmity, and all &s;uch &s;ins, as do not in their nature quench the light of his grace, from comming into his Fathers pre&s;ence, or calling for vengeance there. Forgiving of tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions is the generall &s;atisfaction for all the
<PB N="566" REF="301">world, and re&s;toring the world to a po&s;&s;ibility of &s;alvation in the Death of Chri&s;t; Cove|ring of &s;in, is the benefit of di&s;charging and ea&s;ing the con&s;cience, by tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed helps which God hath afforded to tho&s;e, whom he hath gathered in the bo&s;ome, and quickned in the wombe of the Chri&s;tian Church. And this is the &s;econd beame of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, ca&s;t out by <HI>David</HI> here; and then the third is, The not imputing of iniquity, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.</HI></P>
<P>In this al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Impute.</NOTE> (as in the two former we did) we con&s;ider this <HI>Imputing,</HI> and then this <HI>Iniquity,</HI> in the roote and Original &s;ignification of the two words. When in this place the Lord is &s;aid, <HI>not to impute &s;inne,</HI> it is meant, That the Lord &s;hall not &s;uffer me to im|pute &s;inne to my &s;elfe. The word is <HI>Ca&s;hab,</HI> and <HI>Ca&s;hab</HI> imports &s;uch a thinking, &s;uch a &s;urmi&s;ing, as may be &s;ubject to error, and mi&s;taking. To that purpo&s;e we finde the word, where <HI>Hannah</HI> was praying,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 1.12.</NOTE> and <HI>Eli</HI> the Prie&s;t, who &s;aw her lips move, and heard no prayer come from her, thought &s;he had been drunke, <HI>Imputed</HI> drunkenne&s;&s;e unto her, and &s;aid, <HI>How long wilt thou be drunke? put away thy wine:</HI> So that this <HI>Imputing,</HI> is &s;uch an Imputing of ours as may be erronious, that is, an Imputing from our &s;elves, in a diffi|dence, and jealou&s;ie, and &s;u&s;pition of Gods goodne&s;&s;e towards us. To which purpo&s;e, we con&s;ider al&s;o, that this word, which we tran&s;late here <HI>Iniquity, Gnavah,</HI> is oftentimes in the Scripture u&s;ed for puni&s;hment, as well as for &s;inne: and &s;o indifferently for both, as that if we will compare Tran&s;lation with Tran&s;lation, and Expo&s;ition with Expo&s;iti|on, it will be hard for us to &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.13.</NOTE> whether <HI>Cain</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Mine iniquity is greater then can be par|doned,</HI> or, <HI>My puni&s;hment is greater then I can beare;</HI> and our la&s;t Tran&s;lation, which &s;eems to have been mo&s;t carefull of the Originall, takes it rather &s;o, <HI>My puni&s;hment,</HI> in the Text, and lays the other, <HI>My &s;inne,</HI> a&s;ide in the Margin. So then, this Imputing, being an Im|puting which ari&s;es from our &s;elves, and &s;o may be accompanied with error, and mi&s;ta|king, that we Impute that to our &s;elves, which God doth not impute, And this mi&s;-im|puting of Gods anger to our &s;elves, ari&s;ing out of his puni&s;hments, and his corrections inflicted upon us, That becau&s;e we have cro&s;&s;es in the world, we cannot beleeve, that we &s;tand well in the &s;ight of God, or that the forgiving of Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, or Covering of &s;innes appertains unto us, we ju&s;tly conceive, that this not Imputing of Iniquity, is that <HI>Serenitas Con&s;cientiae,</HI> That brightne&s;&s;e, that clearne&s;&s;e, that peace, and tranquillity, that calme and &s;erenity, that acquie&s;cence, and &s;ecurity of the Con&s;cience, in which I am de|livered from all &s;cruples, and all timorou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that my Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions are not forgiven, or my &s;ins not covered. In the fir&s;t Act, we con&s;ider God the Father to have wrought; He propo&s;ed, he decreed, he accepted too a &s;acrifice for all mankind in the death of Chri&s;t. In the &s;econd, The Covering of &s;innes, we con&s;ider God the Sonne to worke, <HI>Incubare Eccle&s;iae,</HI> He &s;its upon his Church, as a Hen upon her Eggs, He covers all our &s;innes, whom he hath gathered into that body, with &s;preading him&s;elfe and his merits upon us all there. In this third, The not Imputing of Iniquity, we con&s;ider God the Holy Gho&s;t to worke, and, as the Spirit of Con&s;olation, to blow away all &s;cruples, all diffidences, and to e&s;tabli&s;h an a&s;&s;urance in the Con&s;cience. The Lord imputes not, that is, the Spi|rit of the Lord, The Lord the Spirit, The Holy Gho&s;t, &s;uffers not me to impute to my &s;elfe tho&s;e &s;innes, which I have truly repented. The over-tenderne&s;&s;e of a brui&s;ed and a faint con&s;cience may impute &s;inne to it &s;elfe, when it is di&s;charged; And a &s;eared and obdurate Con&s;cience may impute none, when it abounds; If the Holy Gho&s;t work, he rectifies both; and, if God doe inflict puni&s;hments, (according to the &s;ignification of this word <HI>Gnavah</HI>) after our Repentance, and the &s;eals of our Reconciliation, yet he &s;uf|fers us not to impute tho&s;e &s;innes to our &s;elves, or to repute tho&s;e corrections, puni&s;h|ments, as though he had not forgiven them, or, as though he came to an execution after a pardon, but that they are laid upon us medicinally, and by way of prevention, and pre|caution again&s;t his future di&s;plea&s;ure. This is that <HI>Pax Con&s;cientiae,</HI> The peace of Con&s;ci|ence, when there is not one &s;word drawne: This is that <HI>Serenitas Con&s;cientiae,</HI> The Me|ridionall brightne&s;&s;e of the Con&s;cience, when there is not one Cloud in our sky. I &s;hall not hope, that Originall &s;in &s;hall not be imputed, but feare, that Actuall &s;in may: not hope that my dumbe &s;ins &s;hall not, but my crying &s;ins may; not hope that my apparant &s;ins, which have therefore induced in me a particular &s;en&s;e of them, &s;hall not, but my &s;e|cret &s;ins, &s;ins that I am not able to returne and repre&s;ent to mine owne memory, may: for this <HI>Non Imputabit,</HI> hath no limitation; God &s;hall &s;uffer the Con&s;cience thus recti|fied, to terrifie it &s;elfe with nothing; which is al&s;o farther extended in the Originall,
<PB N="567" REF="301">where it is not <HI>Non Imputat,</HI> but <HI>Non Imputabit;</HI> Though after all this we doe fall into the &s;ame, or other &s;ins, yet we &s;hall know our way, and evermore have our Con&s;olation in this, That as God hath forgiven our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, in taking the &s;ins of all mankinde upon him&s;elfe, for he hath redeemed us, and left out Angels, And as he hath covered our &s;in, that is, provided us the Word, and Sacraments, and ca&s;t off the Jews, and left out the Heathen, So he will never Impute mine Iniquity, never &s;uffer it to terrifie my Con&s;cience; Not now, when his Judgements, denounced by his Mini&s;ter, call me to him here; Nor hereafter, when the la&s;t bell &s;hall call me to him, into the grave; Nor at la&s;t, when the Angels Trumpets &s;hall call me to him, from the du&s;t, in the Re&s;urrection. But that, as all mankinde hath a Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, in Chri&s;ts taking our &s;ins, (which was the fir&s;t Article in this Catechi&s;me) And all the Chri&s;tian Church a Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, in cove|ring our &s;ins, (which was the &s;econd) So I may finde this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, in this worke of the Holy Gho&s;t, not to Impute, that is, not to &s;u&s;pect, that God imputes any repented &s;in unto me, or re&s;erves any thing to lay to my charge at the la&s;t day, which I have pray|ed may be, and therefore hoped hath been forgiven before. But then, after the&s;e three parts, which we have now, in our Order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, pa&s;&s;ed through, That <HI>David</HI> applies him&s;elfe to us, in the mo&s;t convenient way, by the way of Catechi&s;me, and in|&s;truction in fundamentall things; And then, that he lays for his foundation of all Beati|tude, Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, Happine&s;&s;e, which cannot be had, in the con&s;ummation, and perfecti|on thereof, but in the next world; But yet, in the third place, gives us an inchoation, an earne&s;t, an evidence of this future and con&s;ummate Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, in bringing us faithful|ly to beleeve, That Chri&s;t dyed &s;ufficiently for all the world, That Chri&s;t offers the ap|plication of all this, to all the Chri&s;tian Church, That the Holy Gho&s;t &s;eals an a&s;&s;urance thereof, to every particular Con&s;cience well rectified; After all this done thus largely on Gods part, there remains &s;omething to be done on ours, that may make all this effe|ctuall upon us, <HI>Vt non &s;it dolus in &s;piritu, That there be no guile in our &s;pirit,</HI> which is our fourth part, and Conclu&s;ion of all.</P>
<P>Of all the&s;e fruits of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, there is no other root but the goodne&s;&s;e of God him&s;elfe; but yet they grow in no other ground, then in that man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">4. Part. <HI>Dolus.</HI></NOTE> <HI>In cujus &s;piritu non e&s;t dolus.</HI> The Comment and interpretation of S. <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.5.</NOTE> hath made the &s;en&s;e and meaning of this place cleare: <HI>To him that worketh, the reward is of debt, but to him that beleeveth, and worketh not, his faith is counted for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, Even as David de&s;cribeth the ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e of Man,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle there, and &s;o proceeds with the very words of this Text. Doth the Apo&s;tle then, in this Text, exclude the Co-operation of Man? Differs this propo&s;ition, That the man in whom God imprints the&s;e beames of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, mu&s;t be without guile in his &s;pirit, from tho&s;e other propo&s;itions, <HI>Si vis ingredi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.17.</NOTE> <HI>If thou wilt enter into life, keepe the Commandements;</HI> And, <HI>Maledictus qui non, Cur&s;ed is he that performes not all?</HI> Grows not the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of this Text, from the &s;ame roote, as the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in the 119. P&s;al. ver. 1. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they, who walke in the way of the Lord?</HI> Or doth Saint <HI>Paul</HI> take <HI>David</HI> to &s;peake of any other Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in our Text, then him&s;elfe &s;peaks of, <HI>If through the Spirit yee mortifie the deeds of the body, yee &s;hall live?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.13.</NOTE> Doth S. <HI>Paul</HI> require nothing, nothing out of this Text, to be done by man? Surely he does; And the&s;e pro|po&s;itions are truly all one, <HI>Tant&ugrave;m credideris,</HI> Onely beleeve, and you &s;hall be &s;aved; And, <HI>Fac hoc &amp; vives,</HI> Doe this, and you &s;hall be &s;aved; As it is truly all one purpo&s;e, to &s;ay, If you live you may walke, and to &s;ay, If you &s;tretch out your legges, you may walke. To &s;ay, Eat of this Tree, and you &s;hall recover, and to &s;ay, Eat of this fruit, and you &s;hall recover, is all one; To attribute an action to the next Cau&s;e, or to the Cau&s;e of that Cau&s;e, is, to this purpo&s;e, all one. And therefore, as God gave a Reformation to his Church, in pro&s;pering that Doctrine, That Ju&s;tification was by faith onely: &s;o God give an unity to his Church, in this Doctrine, That no man is ju&s;tified, that works not; for, without works, how much &s;oever he magnifie his faith, there is <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu, Guile in his &s;pirit.</HI></P>
<P>As then the Prophet <HI>Davids</HI> principall purpo&s;e in this Text, is, according to the In|terpretation of S. <HI>Paul,</HI> to derive all the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of man from God: &s;o is it al&s;o to put &s;ome conditions in man, comprehended in this, <HI>That there be no guile in his &s;pirit.</HI> For, in this repentant &s;inner, that &s;hall be partaker of the&s;e degrees of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, of this <HI>For|giving,</HI> of this <HI>Covering,</HI> of this <HI>Not Imputing,</HI> there is required <HI>Integrapoenitentia,</HI> A per|fect, and intire repentance; And to the making up of that, how&s;oever the words and
<PB N="568" REF="302">termes may have been mi&s;-u&s;ed, and defamed, we acknowledge, that there belongs a Contrition, a Confe&s;&s;ion, and a Satisfaction; And all the&s;e (how&s;oever our Adver&s;a|ries &s;lander us, with a Doctrine of ea&s;e, and a Religion of liberty) we require with more exactne&s;&s;e, and &s;everity, then they doe. For, for Contrition, we doe not, we dare not &s;ay, as &s;ome of them, That Attrition is &s;ufficient; that it is &s;ufficient to have &s;uch a &s;or|row for &s;in, as a naturall &s;en&s;e, and fear of torment doth imprint in us, without any motion of the feare of God: We know no mea&s;ure of &s;orrow great enough for the violating of the infinite Maje&s;ty of God, by our tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion. And then for Confe&s;&s;ion, we deny not a nece&s;&s;ity to confe&s;&s;e to man; There may be many ca&s;es of &s;cruple, of perplex|ity, where it were an expo&s;ing our &s;elves to farther occa&s;ions of &s;in, not to confe&s;&s;e to man; And in Confe&s;&s;ion, we require a particular dete&s;tation of that &s;in which we con|fe&s;&s;e, which they require not. And la&s;tly, for Satisfaction, we imbrace that Rule, <HI>Con|digna &s;atisfactio mal&egrave; facta corrigere,</HI> Our be&s;t Satisfaction is, to be better in the amend|ment of our lives: And di&s;po&s;itions to particular &s;ins, we correct in our bodies by Di&s;ci|pline, and Mortifications; And we teach, that no man hath done truly that part of Re|pentance, which he is bound to doe, if he have not given Satisfaction, that is, Re&s;tituti|on, to every per&s;on damnified by him. If that which we teach, for this intirene&s;&s;e of Repentance, be practi&s;ed, in Contrition, and Confe&s;&s;ion, and Satisfaction, they cannot calumniate our Doctrine, nor our practi&s;e herein; And if it be not practi&s;ed, there is <HI>Do|lus in &s;piritu, Guile in their &s;pirit,</HI> that pretend to any part of this Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>Forgiving,</HI> or <HI>Covering,</HI> or <HI>Not imputing,</HI> without this. For, he that is &s;orry for &s;in, onely in Con|templation of hell, and not of the joyes of heaven, that would not give over his &s;in, though there were no hell, rather then he would lo&s;e heaven, (which is that which &s;ome of them call Attrition) He that confe&s;&s;es his &s;in, but hath no purpo&s;e to leave it, He that does leave the &s;in, but being growne rich by that &s;in, retaines, and enjoyes tho&s;e riches, this man is not intire in his Repentanne, but there is guile in his &s;pirit.</P>
<P><HI>He that is &s;lothfull in his work,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 18.9.</NOTE> <HI>is brother to him that is a great wa&s;ter;</HI> He that makes half-repentances, makes none. Men run out of their e&s;tates, as well by a negligence, and a not taking account of their Officers, as by their own prodigality: Our &s;alvation is as much indangered, if we call not our con&s;cience to an examination, as if we repent not tho&s;e &s;ins, which offer them&s;elves to our knowledge, and memory. And therefore <HI>Da|vid</HI> places the con&s;ummation of his victory in that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.37.</NOTE> <HI>I have pur&s;ued mine enemies, and over|taken them, neither did I turne againe, till they were con&s;umed:</HI> We require a pur&s;uing of the enemy, a &s;earch for the &s;in, and not to &s;tay till an Officer, that is, a &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or any other calamity light upon that &s;in, and &s;o bring it before us; We require an overtaking of the enemy, That we be not weary, in the &s;earch of our con&s;ciences; And we require a con|&s;uming of the enemy, not a weakning only; a di&s;lodging, a di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of the &s;in, and the profit of the &s;in; All the profit, and all the plea&s;ure of all the body of &s;in; for he that is &s;or|ry with a godly &s;orrow, he that confe&s;&s;es with a deliberate dete&s;tation, he that &s;atisfies with a full re&s;titution for all his &s;ins but one, <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu,</HI> There is guile in his &s;pirit, &amp; he is in no better ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Berna<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> then if at Sea he &s;hould &s;top all leaks but one, and peri&s;h by that. <HI>Si vis &s;olvi, &s;olve omnes catenas;</HI> If thou wilt be di&s;charged, cancel all thy Bonds; one chain till that be broke, holds as fa&s;t as ten. And therfore &s;uffer your con&s;ideration to turn back a little upon this object, that there may be <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu, Guile in the &s;pirit,</HI> in our pretence to all tho&s;e parts of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, which <HI>David</HI> recommends to us in this Catechi&s;me, In the <HI>Forgivene&s;&s;e of tran&s;gre&s;tions,</HI> In the <HI>Covering of &s;in,</HI> In the <HI>Not imputing of iniquity.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Forgiving.</NOTE> in this <HI>Forgiving of tran&s;gre&s;sions,</HI> which is our Saviour Chri&s;ts taking away the &s;ins of the world, by taking them, in the puni&s;hment due to them, upon him|&s;elfe, there is <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu,</HI> Guile in that mans &s;pirit, that will &s;o farre abridge the great Volumes of the mercy of God, &s;o farre contract his generall propo&s;itions, as to re&s;train this &s;alvation, not only in the effect, but in Gods own purpo&s;e, to a few, a very few &s;oules. When Subjects complaine of any Prince, that he is too mercifull, there is <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu,</HI> Guile and deceit in this complaint; They doe but think him too mercifull to other mens faults; for, where they need his mercy for their own, they never think him too mercifull. And which of us doe not need God for all &s;ins? If we did not in our &s;elves, yet it were a new &s;in in us, not to de&s;ire that God &s;hould be as mercifull to every other &s;inner, as to our &s;elves. As in heaven, the joy of every &s;oule &s;hall be my joy, &s;o the mercy of God to every &s;oule here, is a mercy to my &s;oule; By the exten&s;ion of his
<PB N="569" REF="302">mercies to others, I argue the application of his mercy to my &s;elfe. This contracting, and abridging of the mercy of God, will end in de&s;paire of our &s;elves, that that mercy reaches not to us, or if we become confident, perchance pre&s;umptuous of our &s;elves, we &s;hall de&s;paire in the behalfe of other men, and think they can receive no mercy: And when men come to allow an impo&s;&s;ibility of &s;alvation in any, they will come to a&s;&s;igne that impo&s;&s;ibility, nay to a&s;&s;igne tho&s;e men, and pronounce, for this, and this &s;in, This man cannot be &s;aved. There is a &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t; and to make us afraid of all approaches towards that &s;in, Chri&s;t hath told us, that that &s;in is irremi&s;&s;ible, unpardo|nable; But &s;ince that &s;in includes impenitiblene&s;&s;e in the way, and actuall impenitence in the end, we can never pronounce, This is that &s;in, or This is that &s;inner. God is his Father that can &s;ay, <HI>Our Father which art in heaven,</HI> And his God that can &s;ay, <HI>I beleeve in God;</HI> And there is <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu,</HI> Guile in his &s;pirit, the craft of the Serpent, (ey|ther the poy&s;on of the Serpent, in a &s;elf-de&s;paire, or the &s;ting of the Serpent, in an un|charitable prejudging, and precondemning of others) when a man comes to &s;u&s;pect Gods good purpo&s;es, or contract Gods generall propo&s;itions; for, this forgiving of tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, is Chri&s;ts taking away the &s;ins of all the world, by taking all the &s;ins of all men upon him&s;elfe. And this <HI>Guile,</HI> this Deceit may al&s;o be in the &s;econd, in the <HI>Cove|ring of &s;ins,</HI> which is the particular application of this generall mercy, by his Ordinances in his Church.</P>
<P>He then that without Guile will have benefit by this Covering, mu&s;t Di&s;cover.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Covering.</NOTE> <HI>Qui tegi vult peccata, detegat,</HI> is S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> way: He that will have his &s;ins covered, let him uncover them; He that would not have them known, let him confe&s;&s;e them; He that would have them forgotten, let him remember them; He that would bury them, let him rake them up. <HI>There is nothing covered, that &s;hall not be revealed, and hid,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 10.26.</NOTE> <HI>that &s;hall not be knowne.</HI> It is not thy &s;ending away a &s;ervant, thy locking a doore, thy blowing out a candle, no not though thou blow out, and extingui&s;h the &s;pirit, as much as thou can&s;t, that hides a &s;in from God; but &s;ince thou thinke&s;t that thou ha&s;t hid it, by the &s;e|cret carriage thereof, thou mu&s;t reveale it by Confe&s;&s;ion. If thou wilt not, God will &s;hew thee that he needed not thy Confe&s;&s;ion; He will take knowledge of it, to thy con|demnation, and he will publi&s;h it to the knowledge of all the world, to thy confu&s;ion. <HI>Tufeci&s;ti ab&s;condit&egrave;.</HI> &s;ayes God to <HI>David,</HI> by <HI>Nathan, Thou did&s;t it &s;ecretly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.12.</NOTE> <HI>but I will doe this thing before all I&s;rael, and before the Sun.</HI> Certainly it affects, and &s;tings many men more, that God hath brought to light their particular &s;ins and offences, for which he does puni&s;h them, then all the puni&s;hments that he inflicts upon them; for then, they cannot lay their ruine upon fortune, upon vici&s;&s;itudes, and revolutions, and changes of Court, upon di&s;affections of Princes, upon &s;upplantations of Rivalls and Concurrents; but God cleares all the world be&s;ide; <HI>Perditio tua ex te,</HI> God declares that the puni&s;hment is his Act, and the Cau&s;e, my &s;in. This is Gods way; and this he expre&s;&s;es vehemently again&s;t Jeru&s;alem, <HI>Behold, I will gather all thy Lovers, with whom thou ha&s;t taken plea&s;ure,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezch. 16.37.</NOTE> <HI>and all them that thou ha&s;t loved, with all them that thou ha&s;t hated, and I will di&s;cover thy na|kedne&s;&s;e to all them.</HI> Tho&s;e who loved us for pretended vertues, &s;hall &s;ee how much they were deceived in us; Tho&s;e that hated us, becau&s;e they were able to looke into us, and to di&s;cerne our actions, &s;hall then &s;ay Triumphantly, and publiquely to all, Did not we tell you what would become of this man? It was never likely to be better with him. <HI>I will &s;trip her naked, and &s;et her as in the day that &s;he was borne;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 2.3.</NOTE> How&s;oever thou wert co|vered with the Covenant, and taken into the Vi&s;ible Church, how&s;oever thou wert clothed, by having put on Chri&s;t in Bapti&s;me, yet, <HI>If thou &s;in again&s;t me,</HI> (&s;ayes God) <HI>and hide it from me, I am again&s;t thee, and I will &s;hew the Nations thy nakedne&s;&s;e, and the King|domes thy &s;hame.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nahum 3.5.</NOTE></P>
<P>To come to the covering of thy &s;ins without guile, fir&s;t cover them not from thy &s;elf, &s;o, as that thou can&s;t not &s;ee ye&s;ter-daies &s;in, for to daies &s;in; nor the &s;ins of thy youth, for thy pre&s;ent &s;ins: Cover not thy extortions with magnifique buildings, and &s;umptuous furniture; Dung not the fields that thou ha&s;t purcha&s;ed with the bodies of tho&s;e mi&s;era+ble wretches, whom thou ha&s;t oppre&s;&s;ed, neither &s;traw thine alleys and walks with the du&s;t of Gods Saints, whom thy hard dealing hath ground to powder. There is but one good way of covering &s;ins from our &s;elves, <HI>Si bona factamalis &s;uperponamus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> If we come to a habit of good actions, contrary to tho&s;e evils, which we had accu&s;tomed our &s;elves to, and cover our &s;ins &s;o; not that we forget the old, but that we &s;ee no new.</P>
<PB N="570" REF="303">
<P>There is a good covering of &s;ins from our &s;elves, by &s;uch new habits, and there is a good covering of them from other men; for, he that &s;ins publiquely, &s;candalou&s;ly, a|vowedly, that teaches and encourages others to &s;in;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 3.9.</NOTE> <HI>That declares his &s;in as Sodom, and hides it not,</HI> As in a mirror, in a looking gla&s;&s;e, that is compa&s;&s;ed and &s;et about with a hundred le&s;&s;er gla&s;&s;es, a man &s;hall &s;ee his deformities in a hundred places at once, &s;o hee that hath &s;inned thus &s;hall feele his torments in him&s;elfe, and in all tho&s;e, whom the not covering of his &s;ins hath occa&s;ioned to commit the &s;ame &s;ins. Cover thy &s;ins then from thy &s;elfe, &s;o it be not by obduration; cover them from others, &s;o it be not by hypocri&s;ie; But from God cover them not at all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.13.</NOTE> <HI>He that covereth his &s;in, &s;hall not pro&s;per; but who &s;o confe&s;&s;eth and for&s;aketh them, &s;hall have mercy;</HI> Even in confe&s;&s;ing, without for&s;aking, there is <HI>Dolus in &s;piritus,</HI> Guile and deceit in that &s;pirit. <HI>Noluit agno&s;cere, maluit igno&s;cere,</HI> S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> makes the ca&s;e of a cu&s;tomary &s;inner; He was ready to pardon him&s;elfe alwaies without any confe&s;&s;ion; But God &s;hall invert it to his &s;ubver&s;ion, <HI>Maluit agno&s;cere, noluit igno&s;cere,</HI> God &s;hall manife&s;t his &s;in, and not pardon it.</P>
<P>Sin hath that pride, that it is not content with one garment; <HI>Adam</HI> covered fir&s;t with fig-leaves, then with whole trees, <HI>He hid him&s;elfe amongst the trees:</HI> Then hee covered his &s;in, with the woman; <HI>&s;he provoked him:</HI> And then with Gods action, <HI>Quam tu dedi&s;ti, The Woman whom thou gave&s;t me;</HI> And this was <HI>Adams</HI> wardrobe. <HI>David</HI> covers his fir&s;t &s;in of uncleanne&s;&s;e with &s;oft &s;tuffe, with deceit, with fal&s;hood, with &s;oft per&s;wa&s;ions to <HI>Vriah,</HI> to go in to his Wife; Then he covers it with rich &s;tuffe, with &s;carlet, with the blood of <HI>Vriah,</HI> and of the army of the Lord of Ho&s;ts; And then he covers it with &s;trong and durable &s;tuffe, with an impenitence, and with an in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e, a yeare together; too long for a King, too long for any man, to weare &s;uch a garment: And this was <HI>Davids</HI> wardrobe. But beloved, &s;in is a &s;erpent, and he that covers &s;in, does but keepe it warme, that it may &s;ting the more fiercely, and di&s;per&s;e the venome and malignity thereof the more effectually. <HI>Adam</HI> had patched up an apron to cover him; God tooke none of tho&s;e leaves; God wrought not upon his beginnings, but he covered him all over with durable skins. God &s;aw that <HI>Davids</HI> &s;everall coverings did rather load him, then cover the &s;in, and therefore <HI>Tran&s;tulit,</HI> He tooke all away, &s;in, and covering: for the coverings were as great &s;ins, as the radicall &s;in, that was to be covered, was; yea greater; as the armes and boughs of a tree, are greater then the roote. Now to this exten&s;ion, and growth, and largene&s;&s;e of &s;in, no le&s;&s;er covering &s;erves then God in his Church. It was the prayer again&s;t them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nehem. 4.5. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> who hindered the building of the Temple, <HI>Cover not their ini|quity, neither let their &s;in be put out in thy pre&s;ence.</HI> Our prayer is, <HI>Peccata no&s;tra non videat, ut nos videat,</HI> Lord looke not upon our &s;ins, that thou mai&s;t looke upon us. And &s;ince among&s;t our &s;elves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.8. Prov. 10.12.</NOTE> it is the effect of Love, to cover <HI>Multitudinem peccatorum,</HI> The mul|titude of &s;ins, yea to cover <HI>Vniver&s;a delicta, Lov&egrave; covereth all &s;ins,</HI> much more &s;hall God, who is <HI>Love</HI> it &s;elfe, cover our &s;ins &s;o, as he covered the Egyptians, in a red Sea, in the ap|plication of his blood, by vi&s;ible meanes in his Church. That therefore thou maye&s;t be capable of this covering,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 37.6.</NOTE> <HI>Commit thy wayes unto the Lord;</HI> that is, &s;how unto him, by way of confe&s;&s;ion, what wrong wayes thou ha&s;t gone, and inquire of him by prayer, what wayes thou art to go, and (as it is in the &s;ame P&s;alme) <HI>He &s;hall bring forth thy righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e as the light, and thy judgement as the noone day;</HI> And &s;o there &s;hall be no <HI>guile</HI> found in thy <HI>&s;pirit,</HI> which might hinder this <HI>covering of thy &s;in,</HI> which is, the application of Chri&s;ts merits, in the Ordinances of his Church, nor the <HI>Not imputing of thine iniquity,</HI> which is our la&s;t con&s;ideration, and the conclu&s;ion of all.</P>
<P>This <HI>not imputing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Imputing.</NOTE> is that &s;erenity and acquie&s;cence, which a rectified con&s;cience en|joyes, when the Spirit of God beares witne&s;&s;e with my &s;pirit, that, thus reconciled to my God, I am now guilty of nothing. S. <HI>Bernard</HI> defines the Con&s;cience thus, <HI>In&s;eparabilis gloria, vel confu&s;io uniu&s;cuju&s;que, pro qualitate depo&s;iti:</HI> It is that in&s;eparable glory, or that in&s;eparable confu&s;ion which every &s;oule hath, according to that which is depo&s;ited, and laid up in it. Now what is depo&s;ited, and laid up in it? Naturally, hereditarily, patrimo|nially, <HI>Con-reatus,</HI> &s;ayes that Father, from our fir&s;t Parents, a fellow-guiltine&s;&s;e of their &s;in; and they have left us &s;ons and heires of the wrath and indignation of God, and that is the trea&s;ure they have laid up for us. Again&s;t this, God hath provided Bapti&s;me; and Bapti&s;me wa&s;hes away that &s;in; for as we doe nothing to our &s;elves in Bapti&s;me, but are therein meerely pa&s;&s;ive, &s;o neither did we any thing our &s;elves in Originall &s;in, but therein are meerely pa&s;&s;ive too; and &s;o the remedy, Bapti&s;me, is proportioned to the di&s;ea&s;e,
<PB N="571" REF="303">Originall &s;in. But originall &s;in being thus wa&s;hed away, we make a new &s;tocke, we take in a new <HI>depo&s;itum,</HI> a new trea&s;ure, Actuall and habituall &s;ins, and therein much being done by our &s;elves, again&s;t God, into the remedy, there mu&s;t enter &s;omething to be done by our &s;elves, and &s;omething by God; And therefore we bring water to his wine, true teares of repentance to his true blood in the Sacrament, and &s;o receive the &s;eales of our recon|ciliation, and having done that, we may boldly &s;ay unto God, <HI>Doe not condemne me:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 10.2.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hew me wherefore thou contende&s;t with me.</HI> When we have &s;aid as he doth, <HI>I have &s;inned,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 7.20.</NOTE> <HI>what &s;hall I doe to thee?</HI> And have done that that he hath ordained, we may &s;ay al&s;o as he doth, <HI>O thou pre&s;erver of men, why do&s;t thou not pardon my tran&s;gre&s;sion, and take away mine iniqui|ty?</HI> Why doe&s;t thou &s;uffer me to faint and pant under this &s;ad apprehen&s;ion, that all is not yet well betweene my &s;oule and thee? We are far from encouraging any man to antidate his pardon; to pre&s;ume his pardon to be pa&s;&s;ed before it is: But when it is truly pa&s;&s;ed the &s;eales of Reconciliation, there is <HI>Dolus in &s;piritu,</HI> Guile and deceit in that &s;pi|rit, nay it is the &s;pirit of fal&s;hood and deceit it &s;elfe, that will not &s;uffer us to injoy that pardon, which God hath &s;ealed to us, but &s;till maintaine jealou&s;ies, and &s;u&s;pition, between God and us. My heart is not opener to God, then the bowels of his mercy are to me; And to accu&s;e my &s;elfe of &s;in, after God hath pardoned me, were as great a contempt of God, as to pre&s;ume of that pardon, before he had granted it; and &s;o much a greater, as it is directed again&s;t his greate&s;t attribute, his Mercy. <HI>Si apud Deum deponas injuriam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>ip&s;e ultor erit,</HI> Lay all the injuries that thou &s;uffere&s;t, at Gods feet, and hee will revenge them; <HI>Si damnum, ip&s;e re&s;tituet;</HI> Lay all thy lo&s;&s;es there, and he will repaire them; <HI>Si dolo|rem, ip&s;e medicus;</HI> Lay downe all thy di&s;ea&s;es there, and he &s;hall heale thee; <HI>Si mortem, ip&s;e re&s;u&s;citator,</HI> Dye in his armes, and he &s;hall breath a new life into thee; Add wee to <HI>Tertullian: Si peccata, ip&s;e &s;epeliet,</HI> lay thy &s;ins in his wounds, and he &s;hall bury them &s;o deepe, that onely they &s;hall never have re&s;urrection: The Sun &s;hall &s;et, and have a to morrows re&s;urrection; Herbs &s;hall have a winter death, and a &s;prings re&s;urrection; Thy body &s;hall have a long winters night, and then a re&s;urrection; Onely thy &s;ins buried in the wounds of thy Saviour, &s;hall never have re&s;urrection; And therefore take heed of that deceit in the &s;pirit, of that &s;pirit of deceit, that makes thee impute &s;ins to thy &s;elfe, when God imputes them not; But rejoyce in Gods generall <HI>forgiving of Tran&s;gre&s;sions,</HI> That Chri&s;t hath dyed for all, multiply thy joy in the <HI>covering of thy &s;in,</HI> That Chri&s;t hath in&s;tituted a Church, in which that generall pardon is made thine in particular, And exalt thy joy, in the <HI>not imputing of iniquity,</HI> in that &s;erenity, that tranquillity, that God &s;hall receive thee, at thy la&s;t houre, in thy la&s;t Bath, the &s;weat of death, as lovingly, as acceptably, as innocently, as he received thee, from thy fir&s;t Bath, the laver of Regenera|tion, the font in Bapti&s;me. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="57" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LVII. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.3, 4.</HI></BIBL>
<L>When I kept &s;ilence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long.</L>
<L>For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moy&s;ture is turned into the drought of Sum|mer. Selah.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_ALL wayes of teaching, are Rule and Example: And though ordinarily the Rule be fir&s;t placed, yet the Rule it &s;elfe is made of Examples: And when a Rule would be of hard dige&s;tion to weake under&s;tandinge, Example con|cocts it, and makes it ea&s;ie: for, Example in matter of Doctrine, is as A&s;&s;i|milation in matter of Nouri&s;hment; The Example makes that that is pro|po&s;ed for our learning and farther in&s;truction, like &s;omething which we knew before, as A&s;&s;imilation makes that meat, which we have received, and dige&s;ted, like tho&s;e parts,
<PB N="572" REF="304">which are in our bodies before. <HI>David</HI> was the &s;weet &s;inger of I&s;rael; &s;hall we &s;ay, Gods Precentor? His &s;onne <HI>Solomon</HI> was the powerfull Preacher of I&s;rael; &s;hall we &s;ay, Gods Chaplain? Both of them, excellent, abundantly, &s;uper-abundantly excellent in both tho&s;e wayes of Teaching; Poet, and Preacher, proceed in the&s;e wayes in both, Rule, and Example, the body and &s;oule of In&s;truction. So this P&s;alme is qualified in the Title thereof, <HI>A P&s;alme of David giving In&s;truction.</HI> And having given his In&s;truction the fir&s;t way, by Rule, in the two former ver&s;es, That <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e</HI> con&s;i&s;ted in the <HI>Remi&s;sion of &s;innes,</HI> but that this <HI>Remi&s;sion of &s;innes</HI> was imparted to none, <HI>Cui dolus in &s;piritu, In who&s;e &s;pirit there was any deceit,</HI> he proceeds in this Text, to the other fundamentall, and con&s;titutive element of In&s;truction, Example; And by Example he &s;hews, how far they are from that Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, that con&s;i&s;ts in the Remi&s;sion of &s;innes, that proceed with any deceit in their &s;pirit. And that way of In&s;truction, by Example, &s;hall be our fir&s;t Con|&s;ideration; And our &s;econd, That he propo&s;es him&s;elfe for the Example, <HI>I kept &s;ilence,</HI> &s;ayes he, and &s;o <HI>My Bones waxed old, &amp;c.</HI> And then, in a third part, we &s;hall &s;ee, how far this holy Ingenuity goes, what he confe&s;&s;es of him&s;elfe: And that third part will &s;ub|divide it &s;elfe, and flow out into many branches. Fir&s;t, That it was he him&s;elfe that was <HI>In dolo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> In who&s;e &s;pirit there was deceit, <HI>Quia tacuit,</HI> becau&s;e he held his tongue, becau&s;e he di&s;gui&s;ed his &s;innes, becau&s;e he did not confe&s;&s;e them. And yet, in the mid&s;t of this &s;ilence of his, God brought him <HI>Ad rugitum,</HI> to voyces of Roaring, of Exclama|tion, to a &s;en&s;e of paine, and a &s;en&s;e of &s;hame; &s;o far he had a voyce, but &s;till he was in &s;ilence, for any matter of repentance. Secondly, he confe&s;&s;es the effect of this his &s;i|lence, and this his Roaring, <HI>Inveteraverunt O&s;&s;a, My Bones waxed old,</HI> and, <HI>my moi&s;ture is turned into the drought of Summer.</HI> And then thirdly, he confe&s;&s;es the rea&s;on from whence this inveteration in his bones, and this incineration in his body proceeded, <HI>Quia aggravata manus,</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>hand of God</HI> lay <HI>heavy</HI> upon him, heavy in the pre&s;ent waight, and heavy in the long continuation thereof, <HI>day</HI> and <HI>night.</HI> And la&s;tly, all this he &s;eals with that <HI>Selah,</HI> which you finde at the end of the ver&s;e, which is a kinde of <HI>Af|fidavit,</HI> of earne&s;t a&s;&s;everation, and re-affirming the &s;ame thing, a kinde of <HI>Amen,</HI> and ratification to that which was &s;aid; <HI>Selah,</HI> truly, verily, thus it was with me, when I kept &s;ilence, and deceitfully &s;mothered my &s;innes, the hand of God lay heavy upon me, and as truly, as verily it will be no better with any man, that &s;uffers him&s;elfe to continue in that ca&s;e.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>Exemplum.</HI></NOTE> for the a&s;&s;i&s;tance, and the power, that example hath in In&s;truction, we &s;ee Chri&s;ts Method, <HI>Quid ab initio,</HI> how was it from the beginning; Doe as hath been done before. We &s;ee Gods method to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> for the Tabernacle, <HI>Looke that thou make eve|ry thing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 24.40.</NOTE> <HI>after thy patterne, which was &s;hewed thee in the Mount;</HI> And for the Creation it &s;elfe, we know Gods method too; for though there were no world, that was elder bro|ther to this world before, yet God in his owne minde and purpo&s;e had produced, and lodged certaine Idea's, and formes, and patterns of every piece of this world, and made them according to tho&s;e pre-conceived formes, and Idea's. When we con&s;ider the wayes of In&s;truction, as they are be&s;t pur&s;ued in the Scriptures, &s;o are there no Books in the world, that doe &s;o abound with this comparative and exemplary way of teaching, as the Scriptures doe; No Books, in which that word of Reference to other things, that <HI>Sicut</HI> is &s;o often repeated, Doe this, and doe that, <HI>Sicut,</HI> &s;o, as you &s;ee &s;uch and &s;uch things in Nature doe; And <HI>Sicut,</HI> &s;o as you finde &s;uch and &s;uch men, in &s;tory, to have done. So <HI>David</HI> deals with God him&s;elfe, he propo&s;es him an Example; I aske no more favour at thy hands, for thy Church now, then thou ha&s;t afforded them heretofore, Doe but unto the&s;e men now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 83.3.</NOTE> <HI>Sicut Midianitis,</HI> as unto the Midianites, <HI>Sicut Si&s;erae,</HI> as unto <HI>Si&s;era,</HI> as unto <HI>Iabin:</HI> Make their Nobles <HI>Sicut Oreb,</HI> like <HI>Oreb</HI> and like <HI>Zeb,</HI> and all their Princes <HI>Sicut Zeba,</HI> as <HI>Zeba</HI> and as <HI>Zalmana.</HI> For, the&s;e had been Examples of Gods ju&s;tice: And to be made Examples of Gods anger,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 5.26.</NOTE> is the &s;ame thing, as to be a Malediction, a Cur&s;e. For, in that law of Jealou&s;ie, that bitter potion which the &s;u&s;pected woman was to take, was accompanied with this imprecation, <HI>The Lord make thee a Cur&s;e among the people;</HI> So we reade it; But S. <HI>Hierome, In Exemplum, The Lord make thee an Example among the people;</HI> that is, deale with thee &s;o, as po&s;terity may be afraid, when it &s;hall be &s;aid of any of them, Lord deale with this woman &s;o, as thou did&s;t with that Adultere&s;&s;e. And &s;o the prayer of the people is upon <HI>Booz,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ruth 4.11.</NOTE> <HI>Vt &s;it in Exemplum,</HI> (as S. <HI>Hierom</HI> al&s;o reads that place) <HI>The Lord make thee an Example of vertue in Ephrata, and in Bethlem;</HI> that is, that Gods
<PB N="573" REF="304">people might propo&s;e him to them&s;elves, conforme them&s;elves to him, and walke as he did. As on the other &s;ide, the anger of God is threatned &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 5.15. Jer. 48.39.</NOTE> God &s;hall make thee <HI>Exem|plum &amp; &s;tuporem,</HI> An Example and a Con&s;ternation; And <HI>Exemplum &amp; deri&s;um,</HI> An ex|ample and a &s;corne; That po&s;terity, when&s;oever they &s;hould be threatned with Gods Judgements, they might pre&s;ently returne to &s;uch Examples, and conclude, if our &s;ins be to their Example, our Judgements will follow their Example too, a judgement ac|companied with a con&s;ternation, a con&s;ternation aggravated with a &s;corne, we &s;hall be a prey to our enemies, an a&s;toni&s;hment to our &s;elves, a contempt to all the world; We doe according to their Example, and according to their Example we &s;hall &s;uffer, is not a Conclu&s;ion of any <HI>Sorbon,</HI> nor a deci&s;ion of any <HI>Rota,</HI> but the Logique of the univer&s;all Univer&s;itie, Heaven it &s;elfe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 13.5.</NOTE> And &s;o when the Prophet would be excu&s;ed from under|taking the office of a Prophet, he &s;ayes, <HI>Adam exemplum meum ab adole&s;centia, Adam</HI> hath been the example, that I have propo&s;ed to my &s;elfe from my youth; As <HI>Adam</HI> did, &s;o in the &s;weat of my browes, I al&s;o have eat my bread; I have kept Cattle; I have fol|lowed a Country life, and not made my &s;elfe fit for the office and function of a Prophet, <HI>Adam</HI> hath been my Example from my youth. And when <HI>Solomon</HI> did not propo&s;e a Man, he propo&s;ed &s;omething els for his Example, an example he would have;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 24.32.</NOTE> He look|ed upon the ill husbands land, and he &s;aw it over-growne, <HI>Et exemplo didici di&s;ciplinam,</HI> By that example I learnt to be wi&s;er. Enter into the Armory, &s;earch the body and bow|ells of Story, for an an&s;wer to the que&s;tion in <HI>Iob, Quis periit, Who ever peri&s;hed being In|nocent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 4.7.</NOTE> <HI>or where were the righteous cut off?</HI> There is not one example; no where; never. An&s;wer but that out of Records, <HI>Quis re&s;titit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 9.4. Job 11.10.</NOTE> <HI>Who hath hardned him&s;elfe again&s;t the Lord, and pro&s;pered?</HI> Or that, <HI>Quis contradicet, If he cut off, who can hinder him?</HI> There is no Example; No man, by no meanes. So, if thou be tempted with over-valu|ing thine owne purity, finde an Example to an&s;wer that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 14.27. Pro. 20.9.</NOTE> <HI>Quis mundum, Who can bring a cleane thing out of uncleanne&s;&s;e?</HI> Or that, <HI>Who can &s;ay, I have made my heart cleane, I am pure from &s;inne?</HI> There is no Example; No man ever did it; No man can &s;ay it. If thou be tempted to wor&s;hip God in an Image, be able to an&s;wer God &s;omething to that, <HI>To whom will yee liken God, or what likene&s;&s;e will yee compare unto him?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 40.18.</NOTE> There can be no example, no patterne to make God by: for, that were to make God a Copy, and the other, by which he were made, the Originall. If thou have a tentation to withdraw thy &s;elfe from the Di&s;cipline of that Church, in which God hath given thee thy Bapti&s;me, finde an Example, to &s;atisfie thy Con&s;cience, and Gods people, in what age, in what place, there was any &s;uch Church in&s;tituted, or any &s;uch Di&s;cipline practi|&s;ed, as thou ha&s;t fancied to thy &s;elfe. Beleeve nothing for which thou ha&s;t not a Rule; Doe nothing for which thou ha&s;t not an Example; for there is not a more dangerous di&s;temper in either Beliefe or Practi&s;e, then &s;ingularity; for there onely may we ju&s;tly call for Miracles, if men will pre&s;ent to us, and binde us to things that were never belee|ved, never done before. <HI>David</HI> therefore, in this P&s;alme, his P&s;alme of In&s;truction, (as him&s;elfe calls it) doth both; He lays downe the Rule, he e&s;tabli&s;hes it by Example, and that was our fir&s;t Con&s;ideration, and we have done with that.</P>
<P>Our &s;econd is, That he goes not far for his Example;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2 Part.</HI> Exemplum ip&s;e.</NOTE> He labors not to &s;hew his read|ing, but his feeling; not his learning, but his compunction; his Con&s;cience is his Li|brary, and his Example is him&s;elfe, and he does not uncla&s;pe great Volumes, but un|button his owne brea&s;t, and from thence he takes it. Men that give Rules of Civill wi&s;e|dome, and wi&s;e Conver&s;ation among&s;t men, u&s;e to &s;ay, that a wi&s;e man mu&s;t never &s;peak much of him&s;elfe; It will argue, &s;ay they, a narrow under&s;tanding, that he knows little be&s;ides his own actions, or els that he overvalues his own actions, if he bring them much into Di&s;cour&s;e. But the wi&s;e men that &s;eeke Chri&s;t, (for there were &s;uch wi&s;e men in the world once) State&s;men in the kingdome of heaven, they goe upon other grounds, and, where&s;oever they may finde them, they &s;eeke &s;uch Examples, as may conduce mo&s;t to the glory of God: And when they make them&s;elves Examples, they doe not rather choo&s;e them&s;elves then others, but yet they doe not &s;pare, nor forbeare them&s;elves more then other men. <HI>David</HI> propo&s;es his owne Example, to his owne &s;hame, but to Gods glory. For, <HI>David</HI> was one of tho&s;e per&s;ons, <HI>Qui non potuit &s;olus perire,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> He could not &s;in alone, his &s;in authorized &s;in in others: Princes and Prelates, are Doctrinall men, in this &s;en&s;e and acceptation, that the &s;ubject makes the Princes life his Doctrine; he learns his Catechi&s;me by the eye, he does what he &s;ees done, and frames to him&s;elfe
<PB N="574" REF="305">Rules out of his Superiors Example. Therefore, for their Doctrine, <HI>David</HI> propo&s;es truly his own Example, and without di&s;gui&s;ing, tells that of him&s;elfe, which no man el&s;e could have told. Chri&s;t who could doe nothing but well, propo&s;es him&s;elfe for an example of humility,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 3.15. Titus 2.7.</NOTE> <HI>I have given you an example;</HI> Whom? what? <HI>That you &s;hould doe as I have done.</HI> So S. <HI>Paul</HI> in&s;tructs <HI>Titus, In all things &s;hew a patterne of good works;</HI> But whom? for <HI>Titus</HI> might have &s;hewed them many patternes; but <HI>Shew thy &s;elfe a patterne,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; and not onely of a&s;&s;iduous, and laborious preaching, but <HI>of good works.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 16.10.</NOTE> And this is that, for which he recommends <HI>Timothy</HI> to the Church, <HI>Hee works the work of the Lord,</HI> And, not without a patterne, nor without that patterne, which S. <HI>Paul</HI> had given him in him&s;elfe, <HI>He works &s;o, as I al&s;o doe.</HI> S. <HI>Paul,</HI> who had propo&s;ed Chri&s;t to him&s;elfe to follow, might propo&s;e him&s;elfe to others, and wi&s;h as he does, <HI>I would all men were even as my &s;elfe.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 7.7.</NOTE> For, though that Apo&s;tle, by denying it in his owne practi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4.5.</NOTE> &s;eeme to condemne it in all others, To preach our &s;elves, <HI>(We preach not our &s;elves, but Chri&s;t Ie&s;us the Lord)</HI> yet to preach out of our owne hi&s;tory, &s;o farre, as to de|clare to the Congregation, to what manifold &s;ins we had formerly abandoned our &s;elves, how powerfully the Lord was plea&s;ed to reclaime us, how vigilantly he hath vouch&s;a|fed to pre&s;erve us from relap&s;ing, to preach our &s;elves thus, to call up the Congregati|on, to heare what God hath done for my &s;oule, is a ble&s;&s;ed preaching of my &s;elfe. And therefore <HI>Solomon</HI> does not &s;peak of him&s;elfe &s;o much, nor &s;o much propo&s;e and exhi|bit him&s;elfe to the Church, in any Book, as in that which he calls the <HI>Preacher, Eccle&s;i|a&s;tes:</HI> In that Book, he hides none of his owne &s;ins; none of tho&s;e practi&s;es, which he had formerly u&s;ed to hide his &s;ins: He confe&s;&s;es things there, which none knew but him|&s;elfe, nor dur&s;t, nor &s;hould have publi&s;hed them of him, the King, if they had knowne them. So <HI>Solomon</HI> preaches him&s;elf to good purpo&s;e, and poures out his owne &s;oule in that Book. Which is one of the rea&s;ons which our Interpreters a&s;&s;igne, why <HI>Solomon</HI> cals him&s;elfe by this name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lorin. Proleg. C. 5.</NOTE> <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes, Coheleth,</HI> which is a word of the Foeminine gender, and not <HI>Concionator,</HI> but <HI>Concionatrix,</HI> a Shee-preacher, becau&s;e it is <HI>Anima Conciona|trix,</HI> It is his &s;oule that preaches, he poures out his owne &s;oule to the Congregation, in letting them know, how long the Lord let him run on in vanities, and vexation of &s;pirit, and how powerfully and effectually he reclaimed him at la&s;t: For, from this Book, the Preacher, the &s;he-Preacher, the &s;oule-Preacher, <HI>Solomon</HI> preaching him&s;elfe, rather her &s;elfe, the Church rai&s;es convenient arguments (and the be&s;t that are rai&s;ed) for the proofe of the &s;alvation of <HI>Solomon,</HI> of which divers doubted. And though <HI>Solomon</HI> in this Book &s;peak divers things, not as his owne opinion, but in the &s;en&s;e of worldly men, yet, as we have a note upon <HI>Plato's</HI> Dialogues, that though he doe &s;o too, yet what&s;oever <HI>Pla|to</HI> &s;ayes in the name and per&s;on of <HI>Socrates,</HI> that <HI>Plato</HI> alwayes meanes for his owne opi|nion, &s;o what&s;oever <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ayes in the name of the Preacher, (the Preacher &s;ayes this, or &s;ayes that) that is evermore <HI>Solomons</HI> own &s;aying. When the Preacher preaches him|&s;elfe, his owne &s;ins, and his owne &s;en&s;e of Gods Mercies, or Judgements upon him, as that is intended mo&s;t for the glory of God, &s;o it &s;hould be applied mo&s;t by the hearer, for his own edification; for, he were a very ill natured man, that &s;hould think the wor&s;e of a Preacher, becau&s;e he confe&s;&s;es him&s;elfe to be wor&s;e then he knew him to be, before he confe&s;&s;ed it. Therefore <HI>David</HI> thought it not enough, to have &s;aid to his Confe&s;&s;or, to <HI>Nathan</HI> in private, <HI>Peccavi, I have &s;inned;</HI> but here, before the face of the whole Church of God, even to the end of the world, (for &s;o long the&s;e Records are to la&s;t) he propo|&s;es him&s;elfe, for an Exemplary &s;inner, for a &s;infull Example, and for a &s;ubject of Gods Indignation, whil&s;t he remained &s;o, <HI>When I kept &s;ilence,</HI> and yet <HI>roared, Thy hand lay heavy upon me, and my moy&s;ture was turned into the drought of Summer.</HI> And &s;o we are come to our third Part, He teaches by Example; He propo&s;es him&s;elfe for the Exam|ple; and of him&s;elfe he confe&s;&s;es tho&s;e particulars, which con&s;titute our Text.</P>
<P>Three things he confe&s;&s;es in this Example.<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, that it was he him&s;elfe that was <HI>in dolo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> that had deceit in his &s;pirit, <HI>Quia tacuit,</HI> becau&s;e he held his tongue, he di&s;|gui&s;ed his &s;ins, he did not confe&s;&s;e them; And yet, in the mid&s;t of this &s;ilence of his, God brought him <HI>Ad Rugitum,</HI> to voyces of Roaring, of Exclamation, To a &s;en&s;e of paine, or &s;hame, or lo&s;&s;e; &s;o farre he had a voyce; But &s;till he was in &s;ilence, for any matter of repentance. Secondly, he confe&s;&s;es a lamentable effect of this &s;ilence, and this roaring, <HI>Inveteraverunt o&s;&s;a,</HI> His bones were con&s;umed, waxen old, and his moi&s;ture dri|ed up; and then he takes knowledge of the cau&s;e of all this calamity, the waight of Gods
<PB N="575" REF="305">heavy hand upon him. And to this Confe&s;&s;ion he &s;ets to that &s;eale, which is intended in the la&s;t word, <HI>Selah.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, <HI>David</HI> confe&s;&s;es his &s;ilence; therefore it was a fault: And he confe&s;&s;es it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Silentium.</NOTE> as an in&s;tance, as an example of his being <HI>In dolo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> That there was deceit in his &s;pirit; as long as he was &s;ilent, he thought to delude God, to deceive God; and this was the greate&s;t fault. If I be afraid of Gods power, becau&s;e I con&s;ider that he can de|&s;troy a &s;inner, yet I have his will for my Buckler; I remember, that he would not the death of a &s;inner. If I be afraid that his will may be otherwi&s;e bent, (for what can I tell, whether it may not be his will to glorifie him&s;elfe in &s;urprizing me in my &s;ins?) I have his Word for my Buckler, <HI>Mi&s;erationes ejus &s;uper omnia opera ejus,</HI> God does nothing, but that his Mercy is &s;upereminent in that work, what&s;oever; But if I think to &s;cape his knowledge, by hiding my &s;ins from him, by my &s;ilence, I am <HI>In dolo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> if I think to deceive God, I deceive my &s;elfe, and there is no truth in me.</P>
<P>When we are to deale with fooles, we mu&s;t, or we mu&s;t not an&s;wer,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chri&s;ti.</HI> Prov. 26.4.5.</NOTE> as they may re|ceive profit, or inconvenience by our an&s;wer, or our &s;ilence. <HI>An&s;wer not a foole, accor|ding to his fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e, le&s;t thou be like him:</HI> But yet, in the next ver&s;e, <HI>An&s;wer a foole ac|cording to his fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e, le&s;t he be wi&s;e in his own conceit.</HI> But an&s;wer God alwaies. Though he &s;peak in the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of preaching, as him&s;elfe calls it, yet he &s;peaks wi&s;edome, that is, Peace to thy &s;oule. We are &s;ure that there is a good &s;ilence; for we have a Rule for it from Chri&s;t, who&s;e Actions are more then Examples, for his Actions are Rules. His patience wrought &s;o that he would not &s;peak, his afflictions wrought &s;o that he could not. <HI>He was brought as a &s;heep to the &s;laughter, and he was dumb;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 59. P&s;al. 22.15.</NOTE> There he would not &s;peake; <HI>My &s;trength is dried up like a pot&s;heard, and my tongue cleaveth to my jawes, and thou ha&s;t brought me into the du&s;t of death,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> in the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t, and here he could not &s;peak.</P>
<P>Here is a good &s;ilence in our Rule: So is there al&s;o in Examples derived from that Rule.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Reverentiae.</HI> Hab. 2. ult.</NOTE> There is <HI>Silentium reverentiae,</HI> A &s;ilence of reverence, for re&s;pect of the pre&s;ence; <HI>The Lord is in his holy Temple, let all the world keep &s;ilence before him.</HI> When the Lord is work|ing in his Temple, in his Ordinances, and In&s;titutions, let not the wi&s;dome of all the world di&s;pute why God in&s;tituted tho&s;e Ordinances, the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of preaching, or the &s;implicity of Sacraments in his Church. Let not the wi&s;edome of private men di|&s;pute, why tho&s;e whom God hath accepted as the repre&s;entation of the Church, tho&s;e of whom Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Dic Eccle&s;iae, Tell the Church,</HI> have ordained the&s;e, or the&s;e Cere|monies for Decency, and Uniformity, and advancing of Gods glory, and mens Devoti|on in the Church; Let all the earth be &s;ilent, <HI>In Sacramentis,</HI> The whole Church may change no Sacraments, nor Articles of faith, and let particular men be &s;ilent <HI>In Sacra|mentalibus,</HI> in tho&s;e things which the Church hath ordained, for the better conveying, and imprinting, and advancing of tho&s;e fundamentall my&s;teries; for this &s;ilence of reve|rence which is an acquie&s;cence in tho&s;e things which God hath ordained, immediately, as Sacraments, or Mini&s;terially, as other Rituall things in the Church, <HI>David</HI> would not have complained of, nor repented.</P>
<P>And to this may well be referred <HI>Silentium &s;ubjectionis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Subjectionis.</HI> 1 Cor. 14.34. 1 Tim. 2.11.</NOTE> That &s;ilence which is a recog|nition, a te&s;timony of &s;ubjection. <HI>Let the women keep &s;ilence in the Church, for they ought to be &s;ubject:</HI> And, <HI>Let the women learne in &s;ilence, with all &s;ubjection.</HI> As farre as any ju&s;t Commandement, either expre&s;ly, or tacitly reaches, in injoyning &s;ilence, we are bound to be &s;ilent: In Morall &s;eales of &s;ecrets, not to di&s;cover tho&s;e things which others upon confidence, or for our coun&s;ell, have tru&s;ted us withall; In charitable &s;eales, not to di&s;|cover tho&s;e &s;ins of others, which are come to our particular knowledge, but not by a judiciall way; In religious &s;eales, not to di&s;cover tho&s;e things which are delivered us in Confe&s;&s;ion, except in ca&s;es excepted in that Canon; In &s;ecrets delivered under the&s;e &s;eales, of Nature, of Law, of Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Canons, we are bound to be &s;ilent, for this is <HI>Silentium &s;ubjectionis,</HI> An evidence of our &s;ubjection to Superiours. But &s;ince God hath made man with that di&s;tinctive property, that he can &s;peak, and no other creature; &s;ince God made the fir&s;t man able to &s;peak, as &s;oone as he was in the world; &s;ince in the order of the Nazarites in&s;tituted in the old Te&s;tament, though they forbore wine, and outward care of their comeline&s;&s;e, in cutting their haire, and otherwi&s;e, yet they bound not them&s;elves to any &s;ilence; &s;ince in the other &s;ects, which grew up among&s;t the Jews, Phari&s;ees, and Sadduces, and E&s;&s;eans, among&s;t all their &s;uperfluous, and &s;uper&s;titious
<PB N="576" REF="306">au&s;terities, there was no inhibition of &s;peaking, and Communication; &s;ince in the twi|light between the Old and New Te&s;tament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 1.20.</NOTE> that dumbne&s;&s;e which was ca&s;t upon <HI>Zacha|ric,</HI> was inflicted for a puni&s;hment upon him, becau&s;e hee beleeved not that, that the An|gel had &s;aid unto him, we may be bold to &s;ay, That if not that &s;ilence, which is enjoyned in the Romane Church, yet that &s;ilence which is practi&s;ed among&s;t them, for the con|cealing of Trea&s;ons, and tho&s;e &s;ilences which are impo&s;ed upon &s;ome of their Orders, That the Carthu&s;ians may never &s;peake but upon Thur&s;days, others upon other times, they are not <HI>&s;ilentia &s;ubjectionis,</HI> &s;ilences impo&s;ed by a ju&s;tauthority, but they are in <HI>Do|lo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> there is Deceit in their &s;pirit; if not in every one of them, who execute the commandement, not in every poore Carthu&s;ian, yet in them who impo&s;ed it, who by &s;uch an obedience in impertinent things, infatuate them, and accu&s;tome them to a blind and implicite obedience in matters of more dangerous con&s;equence. Silence of reve|rence, &s;ilence of &s;ubjection meet in this, and in this they determine, That we hold our tongues from que&s;tioning any thing ordained by God, and from defaming any thing done by that power, which is e&s;tabli&s;hed by his Ordinance. And this &s;ilence fals not un|der <HI>Davids</HI> complaint, nor confe&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>We have not long to &s;tay upon this &s;ilence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bonum.</NOTE> which we call the Good &s;ilence, becau&s;e it is not the &s;ilence of our Text; This onely we &s;ay, That there is a &s;ilence which is ab&s;o|lutely good, alwayes good, and there is another occa&s;ionally good, &s;ometimes good, and &s;ometimes not &s;o; and that is <HI>&s;ilentium Boni,</HI> or <HI>&agrave; Bono,</HI> An ab&s;tinence from &s;peak|ing, or from doing &s;ome things, which of them&s;elves, if no circum&s;tance changed their nature, were good and requi&s;ite. <HI>Silentium bonum,</HI> that &s;ilence that is ab&s;olutely, and al|wayes good,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernaed.</NOTE> is a quiet contentment in all that God &s;ends, <HI>Ne, unde debueras e&s;&s;e dives, fias pauper,</HI> le&s;t when God meant to make thee rich, and have indeed made thee rich, thou makethy &s;elfe poore, by thinking thy &s;elfe poore, and mi&s;interpreting Gods doing: That thou have not <HI>praecordia fatui,</HI> as the &s;ame Father &s;peaks, The bowels of an empty man, whining, and crying bowels; <HI>Sicut rota currus, foenum portans &amp; murmur ans,</HI> As a Cart that hath a full and plentifull load, and &s;queaks and whines the more for that abun|dance. Neither murmure that thou ha&s;t <HI>minus de Bonis,</HI> not Goods enough, nor <HI>nimis de Malis,</HI> Afflictions too many, but reckon how much more good God hath &s;hewed thee, then thou ha&s;t de&s;erved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 3.28.</NOTE> and how much le&s;&s;e ill. <HI>Sit alone, and keep &s;ilence, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t borne it,</HI> becau&s;e the Lord hath laid affliction upon thee; Thine ea&s;e is within two ver|&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>For the Lord will not for &s;ake thee for ever.</HI> If thou murmure, and &s;ay, <HI>Quid feci,</HI> Lord what have I done to thee, that thou &s;hould&s;t deale thus with me? thou &s;halt heare the ju&s;tice of God an&s;wer thee, <HI>Verumdicis, nihil feci&s;ti,</HI> Thou ha&s;t done nothing, and that is fault enough; Nothing for me, nothing for my &s;ake, but all for re&s;pect of thy &s;elfe, in thine owne wayes, and to thine owne ends.</P>
<P>The other good &s;ilence is not alwayes Good,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A Bone.</NOTE> but occa&s;ionally, and circum&s;tantially &s;o; It is a forbearing to &s;peake Truth, which may bee good then, when our &s;peaking of Truth can doe no good,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.1.</NOTE> and may doe harme. <HI>I will keepe my mouth bridled whil&s;t the wic|ked is in my &s;ight; I was dumbe, and &s;pake nothing, I kept &s;ilence even from good, and my &s;orrow was more &s;tirred.</HI> Though it were a vexation to him, though he had a &s;en&s;e, and a remor&s;e, that this was &s;ome degree of prevarication, to abandon the defence of Gods honour at any time, yet his religious di&s;cretion made it appeare to him, that this pre&s;ent ab&s;tinence would, in the end, conduce more to Gods glory. It was the Wi&s;e mans rule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 8.10.</NOTE> <HI>Kindle not the coales of &s;inners, when thou rebuke&s;t them, le&s;t thou bee&s;t burnt in the fiery flames of their &s;innes.</HI> Poy&s;on works apace upon cholerike complexions; And Phy&s;itians may catch the plague by going about to cure it. An over-vehement, and un|&s;ea&s;onable reprehender of a &s;inne may contract that, or a greater &s;in him&s;elfe. I may reprehend a Bla&s;phemer, in &s;uch a maner, and at &s;uch a time, as I could not choo&s;e but &s;u&s;pect, that he would multiply bla&s;phemies upon my reprehen&s;ion; and, though that take off none of his fault, yet it addes to mine, and now God hath two in the Bond; He &s;hall an&s;wer, and I too, for the&s;e later bla&s;phemies. The Wi&s;e man gave us the Rule, <HI>Kindle not coales,</HI> and a good King gave us the example, when <HI>Rab&s;hakeh</HI> had bla&s;phe|med again&s;t God and the King; <HI>Let not Hezekias deceive you, &s;aying, The Lord will deliver us, Then they kept &s;ilence, and an&s;wered him not a word,</HI> &s;ayes that Text; for, (as it is added) <HI>The Kings commandement was, &s;aying, An&s;were him not a word.</HI> There is a religious ab&s;ti|nence, in not an&s;wering our Adver&s;aries, though their libels, and increpations, and con|tumelies
<PB N="577" REF="306">tend to the di&s;honour of God. S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> ob&s;erved good degrees in this Di&s;cretion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambre&s;e.</NOTE> Hee notes in <HI>David,</HI> that, <HI>&s;iluit &agrave; bonis,</HI> Though it troubled him, hee could hold his peace, when hisreply might exa&s;perate others: He notes in <HI>Iob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 19.7.</NOTE>(as hee reads that place, according to the Septuagint) <HI>Ecce, rideo opprobrium, Behold, I laugh at their reproaches;</HI> That he could take plea&s;ure in the goodnes of his con&s;cience, for all their ca|lumnies. He notes in S. <HI>Paul</HI> a higher degree then that; <HI>Maledicimur, &amp; Benedicimus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.12.</NOTE> That hee when he was rev<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ed could ble&s;&s;e them that reviled him. Religious di&s;cretion allowes us to di&s;gui&s;e our Anger, and &s;mother our &s;orrow, when either our anger would exa&s;perate, or our &s;orrow encourage the Adver&s;ary, to a more vehement oppo&s;ing of God, and his Church, and his Children.</P>
<P>But all this is rather true, in private per&s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mini&s;tri.</HI> Ezek. 3.18.</NOTE> then in tho&s;e whom God hath &s;ent to doe his Me&s;&s;ages to his people. <HI>When I &s;hall &s;ay to the wicked,</HI> (&s;ayes God to the Prophet) <HI>Thou &s;halt &s;urely die, and thou,</HI> The Prophet, <HI>give&s;t him not warning, nor &s;peake&s;t to admoni&s;h that he may live, the &s;ame wicked man &s;hall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hands.</HI> And, if every &s;ingle &s;infull act, and word, and thought of mine, need the whole blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us to expiate that, what blood, and what &s;eas of that blood &s;hall I need, when the blood of a whole Pari&s;h &s;hall be required at my hand, becau&s;e I forbore to &s;peak plainely of their &s;innes, and Gods judgement? It is true, which S. <HI>Bernard</HI> &s;aies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernat.</NOTE> <HI>Di&s;cretio mater, &amp; con&s;ummatrix virtutum,</HI> Di&s;cretion is the mother, and di&s;cretion is the nur&s;e of every vertue, but yet, in this commandement which is laid upon us, for the re|proofe of &s;inne, <HI>Haec omnis &s;it no&s;tra Di&s;cretie,</HI> &s;ayes hee, <HI>ut in hoc nulla &s;it nobis Di&s;cretio;</HI> Let this be all our Di&s;cretion, as Di&s;cretion is wi&s;dome, that we u&s;e no Di&s;cretion, as Di&s;|cretion is Acceptation of per&s;ons. <HI>Haec omnis &s;apientia, ut in hac parte nulla nobis &s;it,</HI> Let this be all our wi&s;dome, to proceed in this way, this fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of Preaching, in &s;ea&s;on, and out of &s;ea&s;on. In Gods name, let us fall within that danger, if we mu&s;t needs, that if the poore man &s;peak, they &s;ay, What fellow is this? We are fellowes in this &s;ervice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 13.23.</NOTE> to Gods Angels, to the Sonne of God Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who is your High Prie&s;t, and wee fel|low-workmen with him, in your &s;alvation: And, as long as we can &s;cape that Imputati|on, Some man holdeth his tongue, becau&s;e he hath not to an&s;wer, That either we know not what to &s;ay to a doubtfull con&s;cience, for our ignorance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 20.6.]</NOTE> or are afraid to reprehend a &s;inne, becau&s;e wee are guilty of that &s;inne our &s;elves; how farre States, and Common|wealths may be &s;ilent in connivencies, and forbearances, is not our bu&s;ine&s;&s;e now; but for us, the mini&s;ters of God, <HI>Vaenobis, &s;i non evangelizemus,</HI> Woe be unto us, if we doe not preach the Go&s;pel, and we have no Go&s;pel put into our hands, nor into our mouths, but a conditionall Go&s;pel, and therefore we doe not preach the Go&s;pel, except wee preach the Judgements belonging to the breach of tho&s;e conditions: A &s;ilence in that, in us, would fall under this complaint, and confe&s;&s;ion, Becau&s;e I was &s;ilent, the&s;e calamities fell upon me.</P>
<P>It becomes not us, to thinke the wor&s;t of <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Silentium malum.</NOTE> that hee was fallen into the deepe&s;t degree of this &s;ilence, and negligence of his duty to God: But it becomes us well to con|&s;ider, that if <HI>David,</HI> a man according to Gods heart, had &s;ome degrees of this ill &s;ilence, it is ea&s;ie for us, to have many. For, for the fir&s;t degree, wee have it, and &s;carce di&s;cerne that we have it: for our fir&s;t &s;ilence is but an Omi&s;&s;ion, a not doing of our religious du|ties, or an unthankfulnes for Gods particular benefits.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.14.</NOTE> When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ayes to his peo|ple, <HI>The Lord &s;hall fight for you, &amp; vos tacebit is,</HI> And <HI>you &s;hall hold your peace,</HI> there <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> meanes, you &s;hall not need to &s;peake, the Lord will doe it for his owne glory, you may be &s;ilent. There it was a future thing; But the Lord hath fought many battels for us: He hath fought for our Church again&s;t Super&s;tition, for our land again&s;t Inva&s;ion, for this City again&s;t Infection, for every &s;oule here again&s;t Pre&s;umption, or el&s;e again&s;t De&s;pera|tion, <HI>Dominus pugnavit, &amp; nos &s;ilemus;</HI> The Lord hath fought for us, and we never thank him. A &s;ilence before, a not praying, hath not alwayes a fault in it, becau&s;e we are often ignorant of our owne nece&s;&s;ities, and ignorant of the dangers that hang over us; but a &s;i|lence after a benefit evidently received, a dumbe Ingratitude is inexcu&s;able.</P>
<P>There is another ill &s;ilence, and an unnaturall one, for it is a loud &s;ilence;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phari&s;ai.</NOTE> It is a brag|ging of our good works; It is the Phari&s;ees &s;ilence, when by boa&s;ting of his fa&s;tings, and of his almes, he forgot, he &s;ilenced his &s;innes. This is the devils be&s;t Merchant: By this Man, the devill gets all; for, his ill deeds were his before; and now, by this boa&s;ting of them, his good works become his too. To contract this, If we have overcome this
<PB N="578" REF="307">incon&s;ideration, if we have undertaken &s;ome examination of our con&s;cience, yet one &s;urvey is not enough;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.12.</NOTE> <HI>Delicta quis intelligit?</HI> Who can under&s;tand his error? How many circum&s;tances in &s;in vary the very nature of the &s;in? And then, of how many coats, and &s;hels, and &s;uper-edifications doth that &s;in, which we thinke a &s;ingle &s;in, con&s;i&s;t? When we have pa&s;&s;ed many &s;crutinies, many inqui&s;itions of the con&s;cience, yet there is never roome for a &s;ilence; we can never get beyond the nece&s;&s;ity of that Petition, <HI>Ab eccultis,</HI> Lord clean&s;e me from my &s;ecret &s;ins; we &s;hall ever be guilty of &s;ins, which we &s;hall for|get, not onely becau&s;e they are &s;o little, but becau&s;e they are &s;o great; That which &s;hould be compunction, will be con&s;ternation; and the angui&s;h, which, out of a naturall tenderne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience, we &s;hall have at the fir&s;t entring into tho&s;e &s;ins, will make us di&s;pute on the &s;ins &s;ide, and, for &s;ome pre&s;ent ea&s;e, and to give our heavy &s;oule breath, we will finde excu&s;es for them; and at la&s;t &s;lide and weare into a cu&s;tomary practi&s;e of them: and though wee cannot be ignorant that we doe them, yet wee &s;hall be ignorant that they are &s;ins; but rather make them things indifferent, or recreations nece&s;&s;ary to maintaine a cheerefulne&s;&s;e, and &s;o to &s;in on, for feare of di&s;pairing in our &s;ins, and we &s;hall never be able to &s;hut our mouths again&s;t that Petition, <HI>Aboccultis;</HI> for, though the &s;in be manife&s;t, the various circum&s;tances that aggravate the &s;in, will be &s;ecret.</P>
<P>And properly this was <HI>Davids</HI> &s;ilence:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Silentium Davidis.</NOTE> He confe&s;&s;es his &s;ilence to have been <HI>Ex dole&s;e &s;piritu,</HI> Out of a &s;pirit, in which was deceit; And <HI>David</HI> did not hope, directly, and deter|minately to deceive God; But by endeavouring to hide his &s;in from other men, and from his owne con&s;cience, he buried it deeper and deeper, but &s;till under more and more &s;ins. He &s;ilences his Adultery, but he &s;mothers it, he buries it under a turfe of hypocri&s;ie, of di&s;&s;imulation with <HI>Vriah,</HI> that he might have gone home, and covered his &s;in. He &s;i|lences this hypocri&s;ie; but that mu&s;t have a larger turfe to cover it; he buries it under the whole body of <HI>Vriah,</HI> treacherou&s;ly murdered; He &s;ilences that murder, but no turfe was large enough to cover that, but the defeat of the whole army, and after all, the bla&s;phe|ming of the name and power of the Lord of Ho&s;ts, in the ruine of the army. That &s;in, which, if he would have carried it upward towards God, in Confe&s;&s;ion, would have va|ni&s;hed away, and evaporated, by &s;ilencing, by &s;uppre&s;&s;ing, by burying multiplied, as Corne buried in the earth, multiplies into many Eares. And, though he might (per|chance for his farther puni&s;hment) overcome the remembrance of the fir&s;t &s;in, he might have forgot the Adultery, and feele no paine of that, yet &s;till being put to a new, and new &s;in, &s;till the la&s;t &s;in that he did to cover the re&s;t, could not chu&s;e but appeare to his con|&s;cience, and call upon him for another &s;in to cover that; How&s;oever hee might forget la&s;t yeares &s;ins, yet ye&s;terdayes &s;in, or la&s;t nights &s;in will hardly be forgotten yet. And therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 14.2.</NOTE> <HI>Tollite vobi&s;cum verba,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet, <HI>O I&s;rael returne unto the Lord;</HI> But how? <HI>Take unto you words, and turne unto the Lord.</HI> Take unto you your words, words of Confe&s;&s;ion; Take unto you his word, the words of his gracious promi&s;es; breake your &s;ilence when God breaks his, in the motions of his Spirit, and God &s;hall breake off his purpo&s;e of inflicting calamities upon you.</P>
<P>In the meane time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rugitus.</NOTE> when <HI>David</HI> was not come &s;o far, but continued &s;ilent, &s;ilent from Confe&s;&s;ion, God &s;uffers not <HI>David</HI> to enjoy the benefit of his &s;ilence; though he con|tinue his &s;ilence towards. God, yet God mingles <HI>Rugitum cum &s;ilentio,</HI> for all his filence, he comes to a voyce of roaring and howling, when I was <HI>&s;ilent,</HI> my <HI>roaring</HI> con&s;umed me;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theodor.</NOTE> &s;o that here was a great noy&s;e, but no mu&s;ique. Now <HI>Theodoret</HI> calls this <HI>Rugitum compunctionis;</HI> That it was the inchoation of his repentance, which began diffidently, and with fearefull vociferations;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellarm.</NOTE> And &s;o &s;ome of our later men under&s;tand it; That becau&s;e <HI>David</HI> had continued long in his &s;in, when the Ice brake, it brake with the greater noy&s;e; when he returned to &s;peake to God, he &s;pake with the more vehemence. And truly the word <HI>Shaag, Rugiit,</HI> though it &s;ignifie properly the voyce of a Lyon, yet <HI>David</HI> u&s;es this word <HI>Roaring,</HI> not onely of him&s;elfe, but of him&s;elfe as he was a type of Chri&s;t: for this very word is in the beginning of that P&s;alme, which Chri&s;t repeated upon the Cro&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 22.1.</NOTE> or, at lea&s;t begun it, <HI>My God, my God, why ha&s;t thou for &s;aken me, and why art thou &s;o far from the voyce of my Roaring?</HI> So that, <HI>Roaring,</HI> may admit a good &s;en&s;e, and does not alwayes imply a di&s;temper, and inordinatene&s;&s;e; for, in Chri&s;t it could not; But does it not in our Text? In our former Tran&s;lation it might &s;tand in a good &s;en&s;e, where the two actions are di&s;tingui&s;hed in time, thus, <HI>When I held my tongue,</HI> or <HI>when I roared,</HI> whe|ther I kept or broke &s;ilence, all was one, no more ea&s;e in one, then the other. But with
<PB N="579" REF="307">the Originall, and with our later Tran&s;lation, it cannot be &s;o, which is, <HI>When I held my tongue, through my roaring,</HI> this and this fell upon me: They were concomitant actions, actions intermixt, and at the &s;ame time when he was &s;ilent, he roared too; and therefore that that he calls <HI>Roaring,</HI> is not a voyce of Repentance; for if hee had beene come to that, then hee had broke his former &s;ilence, for that <HI>Silence</HI> was a not Confe&s;&s;ing, a not Repenting.</P>
<P>This is then that mi&s;erable condition which is expre&s;&s;ed in <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e, (though God delivered <HI>David</HI> from any deadly effect of it) that he had occa&s;ion of <HI>Roaring,</HI> of <HI>howling,</HI> (as the Scripture &s;peaks often) though he <HI>kept &s;ilence:</HI> That he was at never the more ea&s;e, for all his &s;ins: The ea&s;es that he laid hold on, were new &s;ins in them&s;elves, and yet they did not ea&s;e him of his other &s;ins; he kept &s;ilence, and yet was put to exclamations. And how many examples can we pre&s;ent to our &s;elves, in our owne memory, where per&s;ons which have given them&s;elves all liberty to forge writings, to &s;uborne witne&s;&s;es, to for|&s;weare them&s;elves, to oppre&s;&s;e, to murder others, to make their wayes ea&s;ier to their ends, and yet have, for all this, though the hand of Ju&s;tice have not fallen upon them, &s;eene their whole e&s;tates con&s;ume and moulder away? When men out of their ill-groun|ded plots, and perver&s;e wi&s;dome, thinke them&s;elves &s;afe in the &s;ilence and &s;ecrecy of their &s;ins, God overtakes them, and confounds them, with tho&s;e two fearefull blowes, tho&s;e two Thunderbolts, He brings them to Exclamations, to Vociferations, upon For|tune, upon Friends, upon Servants, upon Rivals, and Competitors, he brings them to a Roaring for their ruine, Never man was thus dealt withall as I am, never &s;uch a con&s;pi|racy as again&s;t me.</P>
<P>And this they do, All day, &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> here, <HI>Through my roaring all day.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Totadie.</NOTE> It was long &s;o with <HI>David;</HI> A day as long as two of their dayes, that have dayes of &s;ix months; al|mo&s;t a yeare was <HI>David</HI> in this darke, dead &s;ilence, before he &s;aw day, or returned to &s;peaking. With tho&s;e that continue their &s;ilence all day, the roaring continues all day too; All their lives, they have new occa&s;ions of lamentations, and yet all this reduces them not, but they are benighted, they end their life with fearefull voyces of de&s;perati|on, in a Roaring, but &s;till in a &s;ilence of their &s;ins, and tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions. And this is that that falls fir&s;t under his Confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Roaring</HI> with <HI>Silence,</HI> paine, and &s;hame, and lo&s;&s;e, but all without Confe&s;&s;ion, or &s;en&s;e of &s;in. And then, that which falls next under his ac|knowledgement, is the vehement working, the lamentable effect of this <HI>Silence</HI> and <HI>Roa|ring,</HI> Inveteration of Bones, incineration of his whole &s;ub&s;tance, <HI>My Bones are waxen old, and my moy&s;ture is turned into the drought of Summer.</HI></P>
<P>Both the&s;e phra&s;es, in which <HI>David</HI> expre&s;&s;es his owne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Humidum literale.</NOTE> and prophecies of other &s;uch &s;inners mi&s;ery, have a literall, and a &s;pirituall, a naturall, and a morall &s;en&s;e. For fir&s;t, this affliction of this &s;ilenced and impenitent finner though it proceed not from the &s;en&s;e of his &s;inne, though it brought him not yet to a confe&s;&s;ion, but to a roaring, that is, an impatient repining and murmuring, yet it had &s;o wrought upon his body, and whole con&s;titution, as that it drunke up his naturall, and vitall moy&s;ture;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 17.22. P&s;al. 102.3.63.9.</NOTE> <HI>Spiritus tri&s;tis ex&s;icca|rat,</HI> as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peaks, A broken &s;pirit had dryed him up; <HI>His dayes were con&s;umed like &s;moake, and his bones were burnt like a hearth;</HI> and that <HI>Marrow and fatne&s;&s;e,</HI> in which, hee &s;ayes, he had &s;uch <HI>&s;at is faction,</HI> at other times, <HI>was exhau&s;ted.</HI> This is the mi&s;ery of this impenitent &s;inner, he is beggered, but in the Devils &s;ervice, he is lamed, but in the Devils wars; his moy&s;ture, his blood is dryed up, but with licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, with his overwatch|ings, either to deceive, or to oppre&s;&s;e others; for, as the proverbe is true, <HI>Plures gulae qu&agrave;m gladius,</HI> The Throate cuts more throates then the &s;word does, and eating &s;tarves more men then fa&s;ting does, becau&s;e wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e induces penury at la&s;t, &s;o if all our Ho&s;pitals were well &s;urveyed, it would be found, that the Devill &s;ends more to Ho&s;pitals then God does, and the Stewes more then the wars.</P>
<P>Thus his bodily moy&s;ture was wa&s;ted, literally the &s;inner is &s;ooner infirmed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Humidum morale.</NOTE> &s;ooner deformed, then another man; But there is an <HI>Humidum radicale</HI> of the &s;oulle too: A tender|ne&s;&s;e, and a di&s;po&s;ition to bewayle his &s;ins, with remor&s;efull teares. When <HI>Peter</HI> had denied his Ma&s;ter, and heard the Cocke crow, he did not &s;tay to make recantations, he did not &s;tay to &s;atisfie them, to whom he had denied Chri&s;t, but hee looked into him|&s;elfe fir&s;t, <HI>Flevit amar&egrave;,</HI> &s;ayes the Holy Gho&s;t, <HI>He wept bitterly;</HI> His &s;oule was not withe|red, his moy&s;ture was not dryed up like &s;ummer, as long as he could weepe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Horace.</NOTE> The learned Poet hath given &s;ome character, &s;ome expre&s;&s;ion of the de&s;perate and irremediable &s;tate
<PB N="578" REF="308">of the reprobate, when he calls <HI>Plutonem illacrymabilem;</HI> There is the marke of his incor|rigiblene&s;&s;e, and &s;o of his irrecoverablene&s;&s;e, That he cannot weepe. A &s;infull man, an obdurate man, a &s;tony heart may weepe: Marble, and the harde&s;t &s;orts of &s;tones weepe mo&s;t, they have the mo&s;t moy&s;ture, the mo&s;t drops upon them: But this comes not out of them, not from within them; Extrin&s;ecall occa&s;ions, paine, and &s;hame, and want, may bring a &s;inner to &s;orrow enough, but it is not a &s;orrow for his &s;ins; All this while the mi|&s;erable &s;inner weeps not, but the mi&s;erable man, All this while, though he have winter in his eyes, his &s;oule is turned into the drought of &s;ummer. God de&s;troyed the fir&s;t world, and all fle&s;h with water: Teares for the want, or for the lo&s;&s;e of friends, or of remporall ble&s;&s;ings, doe but de&s;troy us. But God begun the new world, the Chri&s;tian Church, with water too, with the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me. Pur&s;ue his Example; begin thy Regeneration with teares; If thou have frozen eyes, thou ha&s;t a frozen heart too; If the fires of the Holy Gho&s;t cannot thaw thee, in his promi&s;es, the fire of hell will doe it much le&s;&s;e, which is a fire of obduration, not of liquefaction, and does not melt a &s;oule, to poure it out into a new and better form, but hardens it, nails it, confirmes it in the old. Chri&s;t bids you <HI>take heed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.20.</NOTE> <HI>that your flight be not in winter;</HI> That your tran&s;gmigration out of this world be not in cold dayes of Indevotion, nor in &s;hort dayes of a late repentance. Take heed too, that your flight be not in &s;uch a &s;ummer as this; That your tran&s;migra|tion out of this world be not in &s;uch a <HI>drought of &s;ummer,</HI> as <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks of here, that the &s;oule have lo&s;t her <HI>Humidum radicale,</HI> all her tenderne&s;&s;e, or all expre&s;&s;ing of that ten|derne&s;&s;e in the &s;en&s;e of her tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions. So did <HI>David</HI> &s;ee him&s;elfe, &s;o did he more fore-&s;ee in others, that &s;hould farther incurre Gods di&s;plea&s;ure, then he (by Gods good ne&s;&s;e) had done, this ex&s;iccatian, this incineration of body and &s;oule; &s;inne burnes and turnes body and &s;oule to a Cinder, but not &s;uch a Cinder, but that they can, and &s;hall both burne againe, and againe, and for ever.</P>
<P>And the dangerous effect of this &s;ilence and roaring,<NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;&s;a Natu|ralia. <HI>Drut. 29.5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>David</HI> expre&s;&s;es in another phra&s;e too, <HI>Inveter averunt o&s;&s;a, That his bones were waxen old, and con&s;umed;</HI> for &s;o that word <HI>Balah</HI> &s;ignifies, <HI>Your Clothes are not waxed old upon you, nor your &s;hooes waxed old upon your feet.</HI> In the <HI>Con&s;uming</HI> of the&s;e <HI>Bones,</HI> (as our former Tran&s;lation hath it) the vehemence of the Affliction is pre&s;ented, and in the <HI>waxing old,</HI> the continuance. Here the Rule fayls, <HI>Si longa levis, &s;igravis brevis,</HI> Calamities that la&s;t long, are light, and if they be heavy, they are &s;hort; both wayes there is &s;ome intimation of &s;ome ea&s;e. But God &s;uf|fers not this &s;inner to injoy that ea&s;e; God will lay inough upon his body, to kill ano|ther in a weeke, and yet he &s;hall pant many yeares under it. As the way of his Ble&s;&s;ing is, <HI>Apprehendet tritura vindemiam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">vit. 26.</NOTE> <HI>Your vintage &s;hall reach to your thre&s;hing, and your thre&s;h|ing to your &s;owing;</HI> So in an impenitent &s;inner, his fever &s;hall reach to a frenzy, his frenzy to a con&s;umption, his con&s;umption to a penury, and his penury to a wearying and tyring out of all that are about him, and all the &s;ins of his youth &s;hall meet in the angui&s;h of his body.</P>
<P>But that is not all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;&s;a Spiricu|alia.</NOTE> <HI>Etiam animae membra &s;unt,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> The &s;oule hath her Bones too; And tho&s;e are our be&s;t actions; Tho&s;e, which if they had been well done, might have been called Good works, and might have met us in heaven; But when a man con|tinues his beloved &s;inne, when he is <HI>in dolo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> and deals with God in fal&s;e mea|&s;ures, and fal&s;e waights, makes deceitfull Confe&s;&s;ions to God, his good works &s;hall doe him no good, his <HI>Bones</HI> are <HI>con&s;umed,</HI> not able to beare him upright in the &s;ight of God. This <HI>David</HI> &s;ees in him&s;elfe, and fore&s;ees in others, and he &s;ees the true rea&s;on of all this, <HI>Quia aggravata manus, Becau&s;e the hand of God lyes heavy upon him,</HI> which is another branch of his Confe&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>It was the &s;afety of the Spou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aggravata manus. <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">at. 2.6. Gregor.</HI></NOTE> <HI>That his left hand was under her head, and that his right hand embraced her:</HI> And it might well be her &s;afety; for, <HI>Per laevam vita pr ae&s;ens, per dex|tram aeterna de&s;ignatur,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Gregory,</HI> His left hand denotes this, and his right the o|ther life: Our happine&s;&s;e in this, our a&s;&s;urance of the next, con&s;i&s;ts in this, that we are in the hands of God. But here in our Text, <HI>Gods hand was heavy upon him;</HI> and that is an acti|on of pu&s;hing away, and keeping downe. And then when we &s;ee the great power, and the great indignation of God upon the Egyptians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exed. 8.19.</NOTE> is expre&s;&s;ed but &s;o, <HI>Digitus Dei, the finger of God is in it,</HI> how heavy an affliction mu&s;t this of <HI>David</HI> be e&s;teemed, <HI>Quando aggravata manus,</HI> when his whole hand was, and was heavy upon him? Here then is one le&s;&s;on for all men, and another peculiar to the children of God. This appertains to all,
<PB N="579" REF="308">That when they are <HI>in &s;ilentio,</HI> in a &s;eared and &s;tupid forgetting of their &s;innes, or <HI>in Do|lo&s;o &s;piritu,</HI> in half-Confe&s;&s;ions, half-abjurations, half-dete&s;tations of their &s;innes; The hand of God will grow heavy upon them. <HI>Tell you your children of it,</HI> (&s;ayes the Pro|phet) <HI>and let your children tell their children, and let their children tell another generation,</HI> (for this belongs to all) <HI>That which is left of the Palmer worme, the Gra&s;hopper &s;hall eat, and that that he leaves, the Canker worme &s;hall eat, and the re&s;idue of the Canker worme, the Caterpiller.</HI> The hand of God &s;hall grow heavy upon a &s;ilent &s;inner, in his body, in his health; and if he conceive a comfort, that for all his &s;ickne&s;&s;e, he is rich, and therefore cannot fayle of helpe and attendance, there comes another worme, and devours that, faithle&s;ne&s;&s;e in per&s;ons tru&s;ted by him, oppre&s;&s;ions in per&s;ons that have tru&s;ted him, faci|lity in undertaking for others, corrupt Judges, heavy adver&s;aries, tempe&s;ts and Pirats at Sea, un&s;ea&s;onable or ill Markets at land, co&s;tly and expen&s;ive ambitions at Court, one worme or other &s;hall devoure his riches, that he ea&s;ed him&s;elfe upon. If he take up ano|ther Comfort, that though health and wealth decay, though he be poore and weake, yet he hath learning, and philo&s;ophy, and morall con&s;tancy, and he can content him&s;elfe with him&s;elfe, he can make his &s;tudy a Court, and a few Books &s;hall &s;upply to him the &s;ociety and the conver&s;ation of many friends, there is another worme to devoure this too, the hand of divine Ju&s;tice &s;hall grow heavy upon him, in a &s;en&s;e of an unprofitable retiredne&s;&s;e, in a di&s;con&s;olate melancholy, and at la&s;t, in a &s;tupidity, tending to de|&s;peration.</P>
<P>This belongs to all, to all Non-confitents, That thinke not of confe&s;&s;ing their &s;innes at all, To all Semi-confitents, that confe&s;&s;e them to halfs, without purpo&s;e of amend|ment, <HI>Aggravabitur manus,</HI> The hand of God will grow heavy upon them every way, and &s;top every i&s;&s;ue, every po&s;terne, every &s;aly, every means of e&s;cape. But that which is peculiar to the Children of God, is, That when the hand of God is upon them, they &s;hall know it to be the hand of God, and take hold even of that oppre&s;&s;ing hand, and not let it goe, till they have received a Ble&s;&s;ing from it, that is, ray&s;ed them&s;elves even by that heavy and oppre&s;&s;ing hand of his, even in that affliction.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 82. P&s;al. 77. Habak. 3.16.</NOTE> That when God &s;hall <HI>fill their faces with &s;hame,</HI> yet they &s;hall <HI>&s;eeke his face;</HI> yea, when God &s;hall <HI>kill him,</HI> yet he will <HI>tru&s;t in God, and &s;eeke him;</HI> And (as the Prophet carries it farther) <HI>Cum ingreditur putredo,</HI> when <HI>Rottenne&s;&s;e</HI> enters into their <HI>Bones,</HI> yet they &s;hall <HI>re&s;t</HI> even in that <HI>day of trouble,</HI> of di&s;&s;olution, of putrefaction. God &s;hall call upon them, as he did upon Judah, <HI>Tritura mea, &amp; filius are ae, O my thre&s;hing place, and the &s;onne of my floore,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 21.10.</NOTE> Thou whom I have beaten and brui&s;ed with my flayls, when I have thre&s;hed, and winnowed, and &s;ifted thee by the&s;e afflictions, and by this heavy hand, &s;till thou &s;halt fix thy faithfull eyes in heaven, and &s;ee a roome re&s;erved there for thee, among&s;t tho&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 7, 14.17.</NOTE> <HI>which come out of great tribulations, and have made their long robes white in the bloud of the Lambe; who &s;hall there|fore dwell in the mid&s;t of them, and governe them, and lead them to the lively fountains of wa|ters, and wipe away all teares from their eyes.</HI> Even upon his own Children, his hand &s;hall grow heavy, but that heavine&s;&s;e, that waight &s;hall awake them, and that hand &s;hall guide them, to, and in the wayes of peace and reconciliation.</P>
<P>And this both <HI>day</HI> and <HI>night,</HI> as our Text &s;ayes, That is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Die ac nocte.</NOTE> both in the day of their pro|&s;perity, and the night of their adver&s;itie. Even in pro&s;perity, the childe of God &s;hall feele the hand of God grow heavy upon him: He &s;hall finde a guiltine&s;&s;e of not having employed tho&s;e temporall benefits to their right u&s;e; He &s;hall finde the <HI>Pluit laqueos,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 11.6.</NOTE> a &s;howre of &s;nares to have been powred downe upon him; occa&s;ions of &s;inne; occa&s;ions of falling into &s;innes him&s;elfe; occa&s;ions of drawing others, and of buying tho&s;e &s;oules with his money, which Chri&s;t Je&s;us had a pre-emption of, and had bought them before with his bloud: He &s;hall finde the hand of God in adver&s;ity, and love it, becau&s;e it &s;hall deliver him; He &s;hall finde his hand in pro&s;perity, and be afraid of it, becau&s;e that pro|&s;perity hath before, and may againe lead him into tentations.</P>
<P>To end all; all this, the Holy Gho&s;t by the pen of <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Selah.</NOTE> &s;eales with the la&s;t word of this Text, <HI>Selah.</HI> A word of uncertain &s;en&s;e, and &s;ignification; for the Jews them&s;elves do not know exactly, and certainly what it &s;ignifies; but deriving this <HI>Selah,</HI> from <HI>Selal,</HI> which &s;ignifies <HI>Attollere, To lift up,</HI> they think it to be but a Mu&s;icall note, for the rai|&s;ing of the voyce, at that part of the P&s;alme, where that word is u&s;ed; as, indeed the word is never u&s;ed in the Bible, but in the P&s;almes, and twice in one Chapter, in the Prophet <HI>Habakkuk,</HI> which is a Mu&s;icall, a Metricall Chapter. In the Latine Tran&s;lation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 3.3. &amp; 9.</NOTE>
<PB N="582" REF="309">and in the Arabique Tran&s;lation of the P&s;almes it is cleane left out, becau&s;e they were not &s;ure how to tran&s;late it aright. But, to &s;peak upon the be&s;t grounds in the Grammar of that language, and upon be&s;t Authority too, the word &s;ignifies a Vehement, a Pathe|ticall, a Hyperbolicall a&s;&s;everation, and atte&s;tation, and ratification of &s;omething &s;aid be|fore. Such, in a proportion, as our Saviours <HI>Amen, Amen</HI> is, <HI>Verily, verily I &s;ay unto you;</HI> Such, as S. <HI>Pauls fidelis Sermo,</HI> with which he &s;eales &s;o many truths, is, <HI>This is a faithfull &s;aying;</HI> Such, as that Apo&s;tles <HI>Coram Domino</HI> is, with which he ratifies many things, <HI>Be|fore the Lord I &s;peak it;</HI> and &s;uch, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his <HI>Vivo ego,</HI> and <HI>Vivit Dominus, As I live &s;aith the Lord,</HI> and <HI>As the Lord liveth.</HI> And therefore, though God be in all his words, <HI>Yea, and Amen,</HI> no word of his can peri&s;h in it &s;elfe, nor &s;hould peri&s;h in us, that is, pa&s;&s;e without ob&s;ervation, yet, in &s;etting this &s;eale of <HI>Selah</HI> to this Doctrine, he hath te&s;tified his will that he would have all the&s;e things the better under&s;tood, and the deeplier im|printed, That if a man conceale and &s;mother his &s;ins, <HI>Selah,</HI> A&s;&s;uredly, God will open that mans mouth, and it &s;hall not &s;hew forth his prai&s;e, but God will bring him, <HI>Ad rugitum,</HI> to fearfull exclamations out of the &s;en&s;e of the affliction, if not of the &s;in; <HI>Selah,</HI> A&s;&s;ured|ly, God wil &s;hiver his bones, &s;hake his be&s;t actions, and di&s;cover their impurity; <HI>Selah,</HI> a&s;&s;u|redly, God will &s;uffer to be dried up all his moy&s;ture, all po&s;&s;ibility of repentant teares, and all intere&s;t in the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; <HI>Selah,</HI> A&s;&s;uredly, Gods hand &s;hall be heavy upon him, and he &s;hall not di&s;cerne it to be his hand, but &s;hall attribute all to fal&s;e cau|&s;es, and &s;o place all his comfort in fal&s;e remedies; Hee &s;hall leave out God all day, and God &s;hall leave out him all night, all his everla&s;ting night, in which he &s;hall never &s;ee day more. <HI>Selah,</HI> A&s;&s;uredly, Verily, Amen, <HI>Fidelis Sermo,</HI> This is a faithfull, an infalli|ble Truth, <HI>Coram Domino,</HI> Before the Lotd, <HI>Vivit Dominus,</HI> as the Lord liveth, as <HI>Mo|&s;es,</HI> as <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> as S. <HI>Paul</HI> te&s;tifie their, <HI>David</HI> te&s;tifies his Doctrine, All between God and man is conditionall, and where man will not be bound, God will not be bound nei|ther; If man inve&s;t a habit and purpo&s;e of &s;inning, God will &s;tudy a judgement again&s;t that man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Sam 3.11.</NOTE> and doe that, even in I&s;rael, which &s;hall make all our eares to tingle, and all our hearts to ake; Till that man repent, God will not, and when he does, God will repent too; For, though God be not Man, that he can repent, yet that God, who for Mans &s;ake became Man, for our &s;akes, and his owne glory, will &s;o farre become Man againe, as upon Mans true repentance, to repent the Judgements intended again&s;t that Man.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="58" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LVIII. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I acknowledged my &s;in unte thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I &s;aid, I will confe&s;&s;e my tran&s;gre&s;sions unto the Lord, and thou forgave&s;t the iniquity of my &s;in.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis is the Sacrament of Confe&s;&s;ion; So we may call it in a &s;afe meaning; That is, The my&s;tery of Confe&s;&s;ion: for true Confe&s;&s;ion is a my&s;terious Art.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. The&s;&s;. 2.7. Mat. 22.1.</NOTE> As there is a <HI>My&s;tery of iniquity,</HI> &s;o there is a <HI>My&s;tery of the King|dome of heaven.</HI> And the my&s;tery of the Kingdome of heaven is this, That no man comes thither, but in a &s;ort as he is a notorious &s;inner. One my|&s;tery of iniquity is, that in this world, though I multiply &s;ins, yet the Judge cannot pu|ni&s;h me, if I can hide them from other men, though he know them; but if I confe&s;&s;e them, he can, he will, he mu&s;t. The my&s;tery ofthe Kingdome of heaven, is, That onely the Declaring, the Publi&s;hing, the Notifying, and Confe&s;&s;ing of my &s;ins, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es me of the Kingdome of heaven; There is a ca&s;e, in which the notoriety of my &s;ins does harme; when my open &s;inning, or my publi&s;hing of my &s;in, by way of glory in that &s;in, ca&s;ts a &s;candall upon others, and leads them into tentation; for &s;o, my &s;in becomes
<PB N="583" REF="309">theirs, becau&s;e they &s;in my &s;in by example, And their &s;in becomes mine, becau&s;e I gave the example, and we aggravate one anothers &s;in, and both &s;in both. But there is a pub|lication of &s;in, that both alleviates, nay annihilates my &s;in, and makes him that hates &s;in, Almighty God, love me the better, for knowing me to be &s;uch a &s;inner, then if I had not told him of it. Therefore doe we &s;peak of the my&s;tery of Confe&s;&s;ion; for it is not delive|red in one Rule, nor practi&s;ed in one Act.</P>
<P>In this Confe&s;&s;ion of <HI>Davids,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> (<HI>I acknowledged my &s;in unto thee, &amp;c.</HI>) We &s;hall &s;ee more then &s;o; for, though our two Parts be but the two Acts, <HI>Davids</HI> Act, and Gods Act, Confe&s;&s;ion and Ab&s;olution, yet is there more then one &s;ingle action to be con&s;ide|red in each of them. For fir&s;t, in the fir&s;t, there is a reflected Act, that <HI>David</HI> doth upon him&s;elfe, before he come to his Confe&s;&s;ion to God; Something <HI>David</HI> had done, before he came to &s;ay, <HI>I will confe&s;&s;e,</HI> As he did <HI>confe&s;&s;e,</HI> before God <HI>forgave the iniquity of his &s;in.</HI> Now that which he did in him&s;elfe, and which preceded his Confe&s;&s;ion to God, was the <HI>Notum feci, I acknowledged my &s;in;</HI> which was not his bringing it to the knowledge of God by way of Confe&s;&s;ion, for, (as you &s;ee by the Method of the Holy Gho&s;t, in the frame of the Text) it preceded his purpo&s;e of confe&s;&s;ing, but it was the taking knowledge of his &s;in in him&s;elfe, It was his fir&s;t quickning, and inanimation, that grace gave his &s;oul, as the &s;oule gives the child in the Mothers womb. And then in <HI>Davids</HI> act upon him|&s;elfe, followes the <HI>Non operui, I have not hid mine iniquity,</HI> none of mine iniquities from mine owne &s;ight: I have di&s;played to my &s;elfe, anatomized mine own con&s;cience, left no corner un&s;earched, I am come to a perfect under&s;tanding of mine own ca&s;e, <HI>Non operui,</HI> This is <HI>Davids</HI> act upon him&s;elfe, the recalling, and recollecting of his &s;ins, in his own memory. And then finding the number, the waight, and &s;o, the oppre&s;&s;ion of tho&s;e &s;ins there, he con&s;iders where he may di&s;charge him&s;elfe of them; And <HI>Dixi,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> which is a word that implies both Deliberation, and Re&s;olution, and Exe|cution too; I thought what was be&s;t to doe, and I re&s;olved upon this, and I did it; <HI>Dixi Confitebor,</HI> That I would make a true, a full, a hearty Confe&s;&s;ion to God of all tho&s;e &s;ins; for &s;uch we &s;ee the Elements and the Extent of his Confe&s;&s;ion to be; He will confe&s;&s;e <HI>Peccata,</HI> Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, Sins; Neither by an over-tenderne&s;&s;e, and diffidence, and &s;crupulo&s;ity, to call things &s;ins, that are not &s;o, nor by indulgent flattering, and &s;paring of him&s;elf, to forbear tho&s;e things which are truly &s;o; He will confe&s;&s;e <HI>Peccata, Sins,</HI> and <HI>Peccata &s;ua, His &s;ins;</HI> Fir&s;t, <HI>Sua,</HI> that is, <HI>A &s;e perpetrata,</HI> He will acknowledge them to have proceeded, and to have been committed by him&s;elf, he will not impute them to any other cau&s;e, lea&s;t of all to God; And then, <HI>Sua, non aliena,</HI> he will confe&s;&s;e &s;ins that are his own &s;ins, and not meddle with the &s;ins of other men, that appertain not to him. This is the &s;ub|ject of his Confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Sins,</HI> &amp; <HI>His &s;ins,</HI> and then, <HI>Peccata &s;ua Domino, His &s;ins unto the Lord,</HI> both in that con&s;ideration, That all &s;ins are committed again&s;t the Lord, and in that al&s;o, That Confe&s;&s;ion of all &s;ins is to be made unto the Lord; And la&s;tly, all this, (as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> reads this text, and &s;o al&s;o did our former Tran&s;lation) <HI>Adver&s;um &s;e, Again&s;t him&s;elf,</HI> that is, without any hope of reliefe, or reparation in him&s;elf. He begins to think of his own &s;in|full &s;tate, and he proceeds to a particular inqui&s;ition upon his con&s;cience, There is his pre|paration, Then he con&s;iders, and thereupon re&s;olves, and thereupon proceeds to confe&s;&s;e things that are truly &s;ins, And then all them as his own, without imputing them to others, If they be his own, without medling with others, And the&s;e to the Lord, again&s;t whom all &s;in is committed, and to whom all Confe&s;&s;ion is to be directed; And all this &s;till again&s;t him&s;elf, without any hope from him&s;elf. All this is in <HI>Davids</HI> action, preparatorily in him&s;elf, and then declaratorily towards God, and doe but make up our fir&s;t Part.</P>
<P>In the other, which is Gods Act towards <HI>David,</HI> the Ab&s;olution, the Remi&s;&s;ion, the Forgivene&s;&s;e, we &s;hall con&s;ider fir&s;t the fulne&s;&s;e; for, it is both of the &s;in, and the puni&s;h|ment of the &s;in, for the word imports both, and our two Tran&s;lations have expre&s;&s;ed it between them, for that which one Tran&s;lation calls the <HI>Iniquity of the &s;in,</HI> the other calls <HI>The puni&s;hment;</HI> And then we &s;hall con&s;ider the &s;ea&s;onablene&s;&s;e, the &s;peed, the accele|ration of Gods mercy, in the Ab&s;olution, for in <HI>David</HI> it is but <HI>Actus inchoatus,</HI> and <HI>Actus con&s;ummat as</HI> in God, <HI>David</HI> did but &s;ay, I will confe&s;&s;e, and God forgave the iniquity, and the puni&s;hment of his &s;in. Now as this Di&s;tribution is Paraphra&s;e enough upon the text, &s;o a little larger Paraphra&s;e upon every piece of the Paraphra&s;e, will be as much as will fall into this exerci&s;e. For, as you &s;ee, he branches are many, and full of fruit, and I can but &s;hake them, and leave every one to gather his own portion, to apply tho&s;e notes, which may mo&s;t advance his edification.</P>
<PB N="584" REF="310">
<P>Fir&s;t then in this my&s;tery of Confe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Notum &s;eci.</NOTE> we con&s;ider <HI>Davids</HI> reflected act, his prepara|tory act, preceding his confe&s;&s;ion to God, and tran&s;acted in him&s;elfe, of which the fir&s;t motion is, the <HI>Notum feci,</HI> I acknowledged in my &s;elfe, I came to a feeling in my &s;elfe, what my &s;infull condition was. This is our quickning in our regeneration, and &s;econd birth; and til this come, a &s;inner lies as the Chaos in the beginning of the Creation, before the <HI>Spirit of God had moved upon the face of the waters, Dark,</HI> and <HI>voyd,</HI> and <HI>without forme;</HI> He lies, as we may conceive, out of the Authors of Naturall Story, the &s;lime and mud of the River <HI>Nilus</HI> to lie, before the Sun-beames &s;trike upon it; which after, by the heat of tho&s;e beames, produces &s;everall &s;hapes, and formes of creatures. So till this fir&s;t beame of grace, which we con&s;ider here, &s;trike upon the &s;oule of a &s;inner, he lies in the mud and &s;lime, in the dregs and lees, and tartar of his &s;inne. Hee cannot &s;o much as wi&s;h, that that Sunne would &s;hine upon him, he doth not &s;o much as know, that there is &s;uch a Sunne, that hath that influence, and impre&s;&s;ion; But if this fir&s;t beame of Grace en|lighten him to him&s;elfe, reflect him upon him&s;elfe, <HI>notum facit,</HI> (as the Text &s;ayes) if it acquaint him with him&s;elfe, then, as the creatures in the Creation, then, as the new crea|tures at Nilus, his &s;ins begin to take their formes, and their &s;pecifications, and they ap|peare to him in their particular true &s;hapes, and that which hee hath in a generall name, called Plea&s;ure or Wantonne&s;&s;e, now cals it &s;elfe in his con&s;cience, a direct Adultery, a di|rect Ince&s;t; and that which he hath called Frugality, and providence for family and po&s;te|rity, tells him plainly, My name is Oppre&s;&s;ion, and I am the &s;pirit of covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e. Many times men fall into company, and accompany others to hou&s;es of riot and uncleanne&s;&s;e, and doe not &s;o much as know their &s;infull companions names; nay they doe not &s;o much as know the names of the &s;ins that they commit, nor tho&s;e circum&s;tances in tho&s;e &s;innes, which vary the very name and nature of the &s;in.</P>
<P>But then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>Oculos, quos culpa claudit, poena aperit,</HI> Tho&s;e eyes, which &s;inne &s;hut, this fir&s;t beame of Grace opens, when it comes, and works effectually upon us; Till this &s;ea|&s;on of grace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 2.29.</NOTE> this &s;inner is blind to the Sunne, and deafe to Thunder. <HI>A wild A&s;&s;e, that is u&s;ed to the wilderne&s;&s;e, and &s;nuffeth up wind at her plea&s;ure, in her occa&s;ion who can turne her away?</HI> An habituall &s;inner, that doth not &s;tumble, but tumble, as a mighty &s;tone downe a hill, in the wayes of his &s;in, in his occa&s;ion, who can turne him? in his rage of &s;in, what law can withhold him? But &s;ayes the Prophet there, of that wild A&s;&s;e, <HI>All they that &s;eeke her, will not weary them&s;elves;</HI> Friends, Magi&s;trates, Preachers, doe but weary them&s;elves, and lo&s;e their labour, in endeavouring to reclaime that &s;inner; <HI>But in her Month they &s;hall finde her,</HI> &s;ayes the Prophet; That is, &s;ay our Expo&s;itors, when &s;he is great and unweildy. Some &s;uch Moneth, God of his goodne&s;&s;e brings upon this &s;inner; Some &s;ickne&s;&s;e, &s;ome judgement &s;tops him, and then we find him; God by his Ordinance, executed by us, brings him to this <HI>Notum feci,</HI> into company with him&s;elfe, into an acquaintance and conver&s;ation with him&s;elfe, and hee &s;ees his &s;innes looke with other faces, and he heares his &s;ins &s;peake with other voyces, and hee findes then to call one another by other names: And when hee is thus come to that con&s;ideration, Lord! how have I mi&s;taken my &s;elfe, Am I, that thought my &s;elfe, and pa&s;&s;ed with others, for a &s;ociable, a plea&s;urable man, and good company; am I a leprous Adulterer, is that my name? Am I, that thought my &s;elfe a frugall man, and a good husband; I, whom fa|thers would recommend to their children, and &s;ay, Marke how hee &s;pares, how hee growes up, how he gathers, am I an oppre&s;&s;ing Extortioner, is that my name? Ble&s;&s;ed be thy name, O Lord, that ha&s;t brought me to this <HI>notum feci,</HI> to know mine own name, mine owne mi&s;erable condition; he will al&s;o &s;ay, may that ble&s;&s;ing of thine enlarge it &s;elfe farther, that as I am come to this <HI>notum feci,</HI> to know that I mi&s;tooke my &s;elfe all this while, &s;o I may proceed to the <HI>non operui,</HI> to a perfit &s;ifting of my con&s;cience, in all corners: which is <HI>Davids</HI> &s;econd motion in his act of preparation, and our next con&s;ide|ration, <HI>I acknowledged my &s;in,</HI> and I hid none, di&s;gui&s;ed none, <HI>non operui.</HI></P>
<P>Sometimes the Magi&s;trate is informed of an abu&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non operni.</NOTE> and yet proceeds to no farther &s;earch, nor inqui&s;ition. This word implies a &s;ifting of the con&s;cience. He doth not onely take knowledge of his &s;ins, then when they di&s;cover them&s;elves; of his riot and voluptu|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, then when he burnes in a fever occa&s;ioned by his &s;urfets; nor of his licentiou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, then when he is under the angui&s;h and &s;mart of corro&s;ives; nor of his wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e and pride, then when hee is laid in pri&s;on for debt: Hee doth not &s;eeke his &s;innes in his Belly, nor in his Bones, nor in his Pur&s;e, but in his Con&s;cience, and he unfolds that, rips
<PB N="585" REF="310">up that, and enters into the private&s;t, and mo&s;t remote corners thereof. And there is much more in this negative circum&s;tance, <HI>non operui,</HI> I hid nothing, then in the former ac|knowledgement, <HI>notum feci,</HI> I tooke knowledge of my &s;innes. When they &s;ent to &s;ift <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> whether he were <HI>The Chri&s;t,</HI> becau&s;e he was willing to give them all &s;atisfaction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 1.20.</NOTE> hee expre&s;&s;ed him&s;elfe &s;o, <HI>Hee confe&s;&s;ed, and denied not, and &s;aid, I am not the Chri&s;t.</HI> So when <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> pre&s;&s;ed <HI>Achan,</HI> to confe&s;&s;e his tre&s;pa&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h. 7.19.</NOTE> he pre&s;&s;es him with this negative addition, <HI>Shew mee what thou ha&s;t done, and hide it not;</HI> that is, di&s;gui&s;e nothing that be|longs to it. For, the better to imprint a confidence, and to remove all &s;u&s;pition, Men to to their Ma&s;ters, Wives to their Husbands, will confe&s;&s;e &s;omething, but yet <HI>operiunt,</HI> they hide more. Tho&s;e words, <HI>In multitudine virtutis tuae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 66.3.</NOTE> <HI>Through the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power, thine enemies &s;hall &s;ubmit,</HI> S. <HI>Ierome,</HI> and the Septuagint before, and <HI>Tremellius</HI> af|ter, and all that binde them&s;elves to the Hebrew letter, reade it thus, <HI>Mentientur tibi ini|mici tui,</HI> when thy power is &s;hewed upon them, when thy hand lies upon them, <HI>thine enemies will lie unto thee,</HI> They will counterfait a confe&s;&s;ion, they will acknowledge &s;ome &s;ins, but yet <HI>operiunt,</HI> they hide, they cover others.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 15.</NOTE> <HI>Saul</HI> in the defeat of the <HI>Amalekites</HI> re&s;erved &s;ome of the fatte&s;t of the &s;poile, and being deprehended, and reprehended, hee &s;aid hee intended it for &s;acrifice: Many times, men in great place, abu&s;e their owne &s;oules with that imagination, or palliation, That they doe God good &s;ervice in &s;ome &s;inne, and that they &s;hould more hurt the cau&s;e of God, if they &s;hould proceed earne&s;tly to the puni&s;hment of tho&s;e that oppo&s;e it, then if they let them alone, and &s;o leave lawes unexecuted, and Gods truth endangered. But <HI>Davids</HI> i&s;&s;ue was, <HI>non iniquitas, non operui,</HI> I left none iniquity un&s;earched, I hid none.</P>
<P>But any thing &s;erves us for a cover of &s;in, even from a Net, that every man &s;ees tho|row, to &s;uch a cloud of darkene&s;&s;e, as none but the prince of darkene&s;&s;e, that ca&s;t that cloud upon us, can &s;ee us in it, nor we &s;ee our &s;elves. That wee &s;hould hide le&s;&s;er &s;innes with greater, is not &s;o &s;trange; That in an Adultery, wee &s;hould forget the circum&s;tan|ces in it, and the practi&s;es to come to it. But we hide greater &s;ins with le&s;&s;er, with a ma|nifold, and multiplied throng and cloud of le&s;&s;er &s;ins, all comes to an indifferency, and &s;o wee &s;ee not great &s;ins. Ea&s;ines of conver&s;ation in a woman, &s;eemes no great harme; Adorning them&s;elves to plea&s;e tho&s;e with whom they conver&s;e, is not much more; To heare them, whom they are thus willing to plea&s;e, prai&s;e them, and magnifie their perfe|ctions, is little more then that; To allow them to &s;ue, and &s;olicit for the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that which they have &s;o much prai&s;ed, is not much more neither; Nor will it &s;eeme much at la&s;t, to give them po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that they &s;ue for; nay it will &s;eeme a kinde of inju&s;tice to deny it them. We hide le&s;&s;er &s;innes with greater, greater with le&s;&s;er; Nay we hide the devill with God, wee hide all the weeks &s;ins with a Sabbaths &s;olemnity: And as in the Romane Church, they poy&s;oned God, (when they had made their Bread-god, they poy&s;oned the Emperour with that bread) &s;o this is a Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing of God, a making the devill to enter into God, when we hide our &s;ins with an outward &s;anctity, and call God to witne&s;&s;e and te&s;tifie to the Congregation, that we are &s;aints, when we are devils; for this is a &s;uborning of God, and a drawing of God him&s;elfe into a perjury. We hide our &s;innes in his hou&s;e, by hypocri&s;ie, all our lives, and we hide them at our deaths, perchance with an Ho&s;pitall. And truely wee had need doe &s;o, when we have impoveri&s;hed God, in his children, by our extor&s;ions, and wounded him, and lam'd him, in them, by our oppre&s;&s;ions, wee had need provide God an Ho&s;pitall. As men that rob hou&s;es thru&s;t in a child at the window, and he opens greater doores for them, &s;o le&s;&s;er &s;ins make way for greater. <HI>De minimis non curat Lex,</HI> The law is faine to pa&s;&s;e over &s;mall faults; but <HI>De mi|nimis cur at lux,</HI> That light of grace, by which a &s;inner di&s;po&s;es him&s;elfe to confe&s;&s;ion, mu&s;t di&s;cover every &s;inne, and hide none, &s;uffer none to hide it &s;elfe, nor lie hidden under others. When God &s;peaks &s;o much of <HI>Behemoth,</HI> and <HI>Leviathan,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 40. &amp; 41.</NOTE> the great land and &s;ea|oppre&s;&s;ors, he calls us to the con&s;ideration of the in&s;upportablene&s;&s;e of great &s;innes; but in the plaines of Egypt by <HI>haile,</HI> and <HI>locu&s;ts,</HI> and <HI>lice,</HI> little and contemptible things, hee calls us to the con&s;ideration of the&s;e vermine of the &s;oule, le&s;&s;er and uncon&s;idered &s;ins. <HI>David</HI> had not accompli&s;hed his work upon him&s;elfe, his reflected, his preparatory Act, till he had made both tho&s;e &s;teps, <HI>notum feci, non operui,</HI> fir&s;t I tooke knowledge of my &s;infull condition, and then I proceeded to a particular inqui&s;ition of my Con&s;cience, <HI>I tooke knowledge of my &s;inne, and mine iniquity I have not hid,</HI> and then he was fit to thinke of an acce&s;&s;e to God, by confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Dixi confiteber, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<PB N="586" REF="311">
<P>This word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dixi medi|tando.</NOTE> <HI>Dixi, Amar, I &s;aid,</HI> is a word that implies fir&s;t meditation, deliberation, con&s;idering, and then upon &s;uch meditation, a re&s;olution too, and execution after all. When it is &s;aid of God, <HI>dixit,</HI> and <HI>dixit,</HI> God &s;aid this, and &s;aid that, in the fir&s;t Creation, <HI>Cave ne cogites &s;trepitum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> Doe not thinke that God uttered any &s;ound; His &s;peaking was inward, his &s;peaking was thinking. So <HI>David</HI> u&s;es this word in the per&s;on of another, <HI>Dixit in&s;ipiens,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 14.1.</NOTE> <HI>The foole hath &s;aid,</HI> that is, <HI>In corde, &s;aid in his heart,</HI> that is, thought <HI>that there is no God.</HI> There &s;peaking is thinking; and &s;peaking is re&s;olving too. So <HI>Davids</HI> &s;on <HI>Solomon</HI> u&s;es the word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 5.5.</NOTE> <HI>Behold I purpo&s;e to build a hou&s;e unto the Lord,</HI> where the word is, <HI>I &s;ay,</HI> I will doe it, Speaking is determining; and &s;peaking is executing too, <HI>Dixi cu&s;to|diam, I &s;aid I will take heed to my wayes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.1.</NOTE> that is, I will proceed and goe forward in the paths of God. And &s;uch a premeditation, &s;uch a precon&s;ideration, doe all our approaches, and acce&s;&s;es to God, and all our acts in his &s;ervice require. God is the Rocke of our &s;alvati|on; God is no Occa&s;ionall God, no Accidentall God; neither will God be &s;erved by Occa&s;ion, nor by Accident, but by a con&s;tant Devotion. Our communication with God mu&s;t not be in Interjections; that come in by chance; nor our Devotions made up of Parenthe&s;es, that might be left out. They erre equally, that make a God of Nece&s;&s;ity, and that make a God of Contingency: They that with the Manichees, make an ill God, a God that forces men to doe all the ill that they doe, And they that with the Epicures, make an idle God, an indifferent God, that cares not what is done; God is not De&s;tiny; Then there could be no reward, nor puni&s;hment: but God is not Fortune neither, for then there were no Providence. If God have given rea&s;on onely to Man, it were &s;trange that Man &s;hould exerci&s;e that rea&s;on, in all his Morall and Civill actions, and onely do the acts of Gods wor&s;hip ca&s;ually; To go to Court, to We&s;tmin&s;ter, to the Exchange, for ends, and to come to Church, by chance, or for company, or for &s;ome collaterall re|&s;pects, that have no relation to God, Not to thinke of our Confe&s;&s;ion, till the Prie&s;t have called upon us, to &s;ay after him, <HI>We have erred and &s;traied from thy wayes like lo&s;t &s;heepe,</HI> To come for Ab&s;olution,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.3.</NOTE> as <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> came to <HI>Daniel,</HI> for the interpretation of his Dreame, who did not onely not under&s;tand his Dreame, but not remember it, <HI>Somnium ejus fugit ab eo,</HI> He did not onely not know what his Dreame meant, but hee did not know what his Dreame was, Not to con&s;ider the nature of Confe&s;&s;ion, and Ab&s;olution, not to con&s;ider the nature of the &s;ins we &s;hould confe&s;&s;e, and be ab&s;olved of, is a &s;tupidi|ty again&s;t <HI>Davids</HI> practi&s;e here; <HI>Dixit,</HI> He &s;aid, he meditated, he con&s;idered, Gods &s;er|vice is no extemporall thing. But then <HI>Dixit,</HI> He re&s;olved too, for &s;o the word &s;ignifies, Con&s;ideration, but Re&s;olution upon it; And then, that he Re&s;olved, he Executed.</P>
<P>This is not only <HI>Davids dixit in corde,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dixi &s;tatu|endo.</HI> Luke 15.12.</NOTE> where &s;peaking is thinking, nor only <HI>Solomons dixi adificabo,</HI> I re&s;olved how I might build, but it is al&s;o the Prodigals <HI>Dixi revertar, I &s;aid I will go to my Father,</HI> A re&s;olving and executing of that Re&s;olution for that, that execu|tion crownes all. How many thinke to come hither, when they wake, and are not ready when the houre comes? And even this mornings omi&s;&s;ion is an abridgement, or an e&s;&s;ay of their whole lives, They thinke to repent every day, and are not ready when the bell tolls.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cajetan.</NOTE> It is well &s;aid of Gods &s;peaking, in the Creation, It was <HI>Dictio practica, diffinitiva, Imperativa,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> It was an Actuall &s;peaking, a Definitive, an Imperative &s;peaking; And, <HI>Dicto ab&s;olvit negotium,</HI> His &s;aying he would doe it, that is, his meaning to doe it, was the very doing of it. Our Religious duties require meditations, for God is no extemporall God; Tho&s;e produce determinations, for God mu&s;t not be held in &s;u&s;pence; And they flow in|to executions, for God is not an illu&s;ible God, to be carried with promi&s;es, or purpo&s;es onely; And all tho&s;e linkes of this religious Chaine, Con&s;ideration, Re&s;olution, Exe|cution, Thought, Word, and Practi&s;e, are made out of this golden word, <HI>Amar, Dixi,</HI> I &s;aid I will doe it. And then, <HI>Dixi confitebor,</HI> I con&s;idered, that my be&s;t way was to con|fe&s;&s;e, and I re&s;olved to doe &s;o, and I did it; <HI>Dixi confitebor.</HI></P>
<P>It is but a homely Metaphor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Confitebor. <HI>Origen.</HI></NOTE> but it is a whole&s;ome, and a u&s;efull one, <HI>Confe&s;sio vomi|tus,</HI> Confe&s;&s;ion works as a vomit; It &s;hakes the frame, and it breakes the bed of &s;in; and it is an ea&s;e to the &s;pirituall &s;tomach, to the con&s;cience, to be thereby disburdened. It is an ea&s;e to the &s;inner, to the patient; but that that makes it ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary, is that it is a glory to God; for in all my &s;pirituall actions, Apprecations, or Deprecations, whe|ther I pray for benefits, or again&s;t calamities, &s;till my Alpha, and Omega, my fir&s;t and la&s;t motive,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h. 7.19.</NOTE> mu&s;t be the glory of God. Therefore <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> &s;ayes to <HI>Achan, My Son, give I pray thee, glory unto the Lord God of I&s;rael, and make Confe&s;sion unto him.</HI> Now, the glory
<PB N="587" REF="311">of God ari&s;es not out of the Confe&s;&s;ing; but becau&s;e every true Confe&s;&s;ing is accompa|nied with a dete&s;tation of the &s;in, as it hath &s;eparated me from God, and a &s;en&s;e of my re-union, and redintegration with God, in the abjuration of my former &s;ins, (for, to tell my &s;in by way of a good tale, or by boa&s;ting in it, though it be a revealing, a manife&s;ting, is not a Confe&s;&s;ion) in every true confe&s;&s;ion God hath glory, becau&s;e he hath a &s;traid &s;oule, re-united to his Kingdome. And to advance this Glory, <HI>David</HI> confe&s;&s;es <HI>Peccata,</HI> &s;ins; which is our next Con&s;ideration, <HI>I &s;aid, I will confe&s;&s;e my &s;ins unto the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t he re&s;ents his &s;tate, All is not well; Then he examines him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Peccata vera.</NOTE> Thus and thus it &s;tands with me; Then he con&s;iders, then he re&s;olves, then he executes, He confe&s;&s;es, (&s;o far we are gone) and now he confe&s;&s;es &s;ins. For, the Phari&s;ees, (though he preten|ded a Confe&s;&s;ion) was rather an exprobration, how much God had beene beholden to him, for his Sabbaths, for his Almes, for his Tithes, for his Fa&s;ting. <HI>David</HI> confe&s;&s;es &s;ins; fir&s;t, &s;uch things as were truly &s;ins. For, as the element of Ayre, that lyes betweene the Water, and the Fire, is &s;ometimes conden&s;ed into water, &s;ometimes rarified into fire: So lyes the con&s;cience of man betweene two operations of the Devill; &s;ometimes he rarifies it, evaporates it, that it apprehends nothing, feeles nothing to be &s;in, &s;ometimes he conden&s;es it, that every thing falls and &s;ticks upon it, in the nature, and takes the waight of &s;in, and he mi&s;-interprets the indifferent actions of others, and of his owne, and de&s;troyes all u&s;e of Chri&s;tian liberty, all conver&s;ation, all recreation, and out of a fal&s;e feare, of being undutifull to God, is unju&s;t to all the world, and to his owne &s;oule, and con&s;equently to God him&s;elfe, who, of all notions, would not be received in the notion of a Cruell, or Tyrannicall God. In an obdurate con&s;cience that feeles no &s;in, the Devill glories mo&s;t, but in the over-tender con&s;cience he practi&s;es mo&s;t; That is his triumphant, but this is his militant Church; That is his Sabbath, but this is his &s;ix dayes labour; In the obdurate he hath induced a &s;ecurity, in the &s;criptures, which the Holy Gho&s;t hath expre&s;t in &s;o many names, as Sin; <HI>Sin, Wickedne&s;&s;e, Iniquity, Tran&s;gre&s;sions, Offences,</HI> Many, many more; And all this, that thereby we might reflect upon our &s;elves often, and &s;ee if our particular actions fell not under &s;ome of tho&s;e names; But then, le&s;t this &s;hould over-intimidate us, there are as many names given by the Holy Gho&s;t, to the Law of God; <HI>Law, Statutes, Ordinances, Covenants, Te&s;timony, Precept,</HI> and all the re&s;t, of which there is &s;ome one at lea&s;t, repeated in every ver&s;e of the hundred and nineteenth P&s;alme; that thereby we might &s;till have a Rule to mea&s;ure, and try our actions by, whe|ther they be &s;ins or no. For, as the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>He had not knowne &s;inne, if he had not knowne the Law;</HI> So there had beene no &s;in, if there had beene no Law. And therefore that &s;oule that feeles it &s;elfe oppre&s;&s;ed under the burden of a Vow, mu&s;t have recour&s;e to the Law of God, and &s;ee whether that Vow fall under the Rule of that Law; For as an over-tender con&s;cience may call things &s;ins, that are not, and &s;o be afraid of things that never were, &s;o may it al&s;o of things that were, but are not now; of &s;uch &s;ins as were tru|ly &s;ins, and fearfull &s;ins, but are now dead, dead by a true repentance, and buried in the Sea of the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and &s;ealed up in that Monument, under the &s;eale of Re|conciliation, the ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament, and yet ri&s;e &s;ometimes in this tender con&s;cience, in a &s;u&s;pition and jealou&s;ie, that God hath not truly, not fully forgiven them. And as a Gho&s;t, which we thinke we &s;ee, afrights us more then an army that we doe &s;ee: So the&s;e apparitions of &s;ins, of things that are not again&s;t any Law of God, and &s;o are not &s;ins, or &s;ins that are dead in a true repentance, and &s;o have no being at all, by the Devils practi&s;e worke dangerou&s;ly upon a di&s;tempered con&s;cience; for, as God hath given the Soule an Imagination, and a Fancy, as well as an Under&s;tanding, So the Devill imprints in the con&s;cience, a fal&s;e Imagination, as well as a fearefull &s;en&s;e of true &s;in. <HI>David</HI> confe&s;&s;es &s;ins, &s;ins that were truly &s;ins.</P>
<P>But the more ordinary danger is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omniae.</NOTE> in our not calling tho&s;e things which are truly &s;ins, by that name. For, as &s;ometimes when the Bapti&s;me of a Child is deferred for State, the Child dyes unbaptized: So the &s;inner defers the Bapti&s;me of his &s;in, in his teares, and in the blood of his Saviour, offered in the ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament, till he dye namele&s;&s;e, name|le&s;&s;e in the booke of Life. It is a Character, that one of the anciente&s;t Poets gives of a well-bred, and well-governed Gentleman, That he would not tell &s;uch lyes as were like truths, not probable lyes; nor &s;uch truths as were like lyes, not wonderfull, not incre|dible truths; It is the con&s;tancy of a rectified Chri&s;tian, not to call his indifferent actions
<PB N="588" REF="312">&s;ins, for that is to &s;lander God, as a cruell God; nor to call &s;ins indifferent actions, for that is to undervalue God, as a negligent God. God doth not keepe the Con&s;cience of man upon the wrack, in a continuall torture and &s;tretching; But God doth not &s;tupifie the con&s;cience with an Opiate, in an in&s;en&s;iblene&s;&s;e of any &s;in. The law of God is the balance, and the <HI>Criterium;</HI> By that try thine actions, and then confe&s;&s;e. <HI>David</HI> did &s;o; <HI>Peccata,</HI> he confe&s;&s;ed &s;innes; nothing, that was not &s;o, as &s;uch; neither omitted he any thing, that was &s;o. And then they were <HI>Peccata &s;ua,</HI> His &s;ins, <HI>I &s;aid, I will confe&s;&s;e my &s;ins unto the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sua.</NOTE> <HI>Sua, His &s;innes,</HI> that is, <HI>&agrave; &s;e perpetrata,</HI> &s;ins which he confe&s;&s;es to have been of his voluntary committing; He might, and did not avoyd them. When <HI>Adam</HI> &s;aid, by way of alienation, and transferring his fault, <HI>The woman whom thou gave&s;t me;</HI> And the woman &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.12.</NOTE> <HI>The Serpent deceived me;</HI> God tooke this, by way of Information to finde out the Principall, but not by way of extenuation, or alleviation of their faults; Every <HI>Adam</HI> eats with as much &s;weat of his browes, and every <HI>Eve</HI> brings forth her Children with as much paine in her travaile, as if there had been no Serpent in the ca&s;e. If a man &s;in a|gain&s;t God, who &s;hall plead for him? If a man lay his &s;ins upon the Serpent, upon the Devill, it is no plea, but if he lay them upon God, it is bla&s;phemy. <HI>Iob</HI> finds &s;ome ground of a pious Expo&s;tulation with God, in that, <HI>My fle&s;h is not bra&s;&s;e, nor my &s;trength &s;tones; And &s;uch as I am, thou ha&s;t made me; why then doe&s;t thou &s;et me up as a marke to &s;hoot at?</HI> But <HI>Iob</HI> never hopes for ea&s;e, in any &s;uch allegation; Thou ha&s;t made my &s;oule a Ci|&s;terne, and then powred tentations into it; Thou ha&s;t enfeebled it with denying it thy Grace, and then put a giant, a nece&s;&s;itie of &s;inning upon it. My &s;ins are mine own; The Sun is no cau&s;e of the &s;hadow my body ca&s;ts, nor God of the &s;ins I commit. <HI>David</HI> con|fe&s;&s;es <HI>his &s;innes,</HI> that is, he confe&s;&s;es them to be His; And then he confe&s;&s;es <HI>His,</HI> He med|dles not with tho&s;e that are other mens.</P>
<P>The Magi&s;trate and the Mini&s;ter are bound to con&s;ider the &s;ins of others;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non alienae.</NOTE> for, their &s;ins become <HI>Qaodammodo no&s;tra,</HI> in &s;ome &s;ort ours, if we doe not reprove, if the Magi|&s;trate doe not correct tho&s;e &s;ins. All men are bound to confe&s;&s;e, and lament the &s;ins of the people. It was then when <HI>Daniel</HI> was in that exerci&s;e of his Devotion, <HI>Confe&s;sing his &s;inne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 9.12.</NOTE> <HI>and the &s;inne of his people,</HI> that he received that comfort from the Angel <HI>Gabriel;</HI> And yet, even then, the fir&s;t thing that fell under his Confe&s;&s;ion, was his own &s;in, <HI>My &s;in,</HI> And then, <HI>The &s;inne of my people.</HI> When <HI>Io&s;ephs</HI> brethren came to a &s;en&s;e of that &s;in, in having &s;old him, none of them transfers the &s;in from him&s;elfe, neither doth any of them di&s;charge any of the re&s;t of that &s;in:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 42.21.</NOTE> They all take all; <HI>They &s;aid to one another,</HI> &s;ayes that Text, <HI>we,</HI> all we, <HI>are verily guilty, and therefore is this di&s;tre&s;&s;e come upon us,</HI> up|on us all; Nationall calamities are induced by generall &s;ins, and where they fall, we can|not &s;o charge the Laity, as to free the Clergy, nor &s;o charge the people, as to free the Magi&s;trate. But as great &s;ummes are ray&s;ed by little per&s;onall Contributions; &s;o a little true &s;orrow from every &s;oule, would make a great &s;acrifice to God, and a few teares from every eye, a deeper and a &s;afer Sea, about this Iland, then that that doth wall it. Let us therefore never &s;ay, that it is <HI>Aliena ambitio,</HI> The immoderate ambition of a pre|tending Monarch, that endangers us, That it is <HI>Aliena perfidia,</HI> The fal&s;hood of perfidi|ous neighbours that hath di&s;appointed us, That it is <HI>Aliena fortuna,</HI> The growth of others who have &s;hot up under our &s;helter, that may overtop us; They are <HI>Peccata no&s;tra,</HI> our own pride, our own wantonne&s;&s;e, our own drunkenne&s;&s;e, that makes God &s;hut and clo&s;e his hand towards us, withdraw his former ble&s;&s;ings from us, and then &s;trike us with that &s;hut, and clo&s;ed, and heavy hand, and multiply calamities upon us. What a Parliament meets at this houre in this Kingdome? How many &s;uch Committees as this? how many &s;uch Congregations &s;tand, as we doe here, in the pre&s;ence of God, at this houre? And what a Sub&s;idy &s;hould this State receive, and what a &s;acrifice &s;hould God receive, if e|very particular man would but depart with his own beloved &s;in? We di&s;pute what is our own, as though we would but know what to give. Alas, our &s;ins are our own, let us give them. Our &s;ins are our own; that we confe&s;&s;e; And we confe&s;&s;e them, according to <HI>Davids</HI> Method, <HI>Domino,</HI> to the Lord; <HI>I will confe&s;&s;e my &s;innes to the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>After he had deliberated,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Domino pee|cavi.</NOTE> and re&s;olved upon his cour&s;e, what he would doe, he never &s;tayed upon the per&s;on, to whom; His way being Confe&s;&s;ion, he &s;tayed not long in &s;eeking his gho&s;tly Father, his Confe&s;&s;or, <HI>Confitebor Domino.</HI> And fir&s;t, <HI>Peccata Domino,</HI> That his &s;ins were &s;ins again&s;t the Lord. For, as every &s;in is a violation of a Law, &s;o e|very
<PB N="589" REF="312">violation of a Law reflects upon the Law-maker. It is the &s;ame offence to coyne a penny, and a piece; The &s;ame to counterfait the &s;eale of a Subpoena, as of a Pardon. The &s;econd Table was writ by the hand of God, as well as the fir&s;t; And the Maje&s;ty of God, as he is the Law-giver, is wounded in an adultery, and a theft, as well as in an Ido|latry, or a bla&s;phemy. It is not inough to con&s;ider the deformity and the foulne&s;&s;e of an Action &s;o, as that an hone&s;t man would not have done it; but &s;o as it violates a law of God, and his Maje&s;ty in that law. The &s;hame of men, is one bridle, that is ca&s;t upon us. It is a morall obduration, and in the &s;uburbs, next doore to a &s;pirituall obduration, to be Voyce-proofe, Cen&s;ure-proofe, not to be afraid, nor a&s;hamed, what the world &s;ayes. He that relyes upon his <HI>Plaudo domi,</HI> Though the world hi&s;&s;e, I give my &s;elfe a Plaudite at home, I have him at my Table, and her in my bed, whom I would have, and I care not for rumor; he that re&s;ts in &s;uch a Plaudite, prepares for a Tragedy, a Tragedy in the Amphitheater, the double Theater, this world, and the next too. Even the &s;hame of the world &s;hould be one one bridle, but the &s;tronge&s;t is the other, <HI>Peccata Domino,</HI> To con&s;i|der that every &s;in is a violation of the Maje&s;ty of God.</P>
<P>And then <HI>Confitebor Domino,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David, I will confe&s;&s;e my &s;innes to the Lord;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Domino con|fitebor.</NOTE> &s;innes are not confe&s;&s;ed, if they be not confe&s;&s;ed to him; and if they be confe&s;&s;ed to him, in ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;itie it will &s;uffice, though they be confe&s;&s;ed to no other. Indeed, a confe&s;&s;ion is directed upon God, though it be made to his Mini&s;ter: If God had appointed his An|gels, or his Saints to ab&s;olve me, as he hath his Mini&s;ters, I would confe&s;&s;e to them. <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> tooke not the juri&s;diction out of Gods hands, when he &s;aid to <HI>Achan,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 7.19.</NOTE> <HI>Give glory unto the God of I&s;rael, in making thy confe&s;sion to him; And tell me now, what thou ha&s;t done, and hide it not from me.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 14.2.</NOTE> The law of the Leper, is, <HI>That he &s;hall be brought unto the Prie&s;t;</HI> Men come not willingly to this manife&s;tation of them&s;elves; nor are they to be brought in chains, as they doe in the Roman Church, by a nece&s;&s;itie of an exact enumeration of all their &s;ins: But to be led with that &s;weetne&s;&s;e, with which our Church proceeds, in appointing &s;icke per&s;ons, if they &s;eele their con&s;ciences troubled with any weighty mat|ter, to make a &s;peciall confe&s;&s;ion, and to receive ab&s;olution at the hands of the Prie&s;t; And then to be remembred, that every comming to the Communion, is as &s;erious a thing as our tran&s;migration out of this world, and we &s;hould doe as much here, for the &s;ettling of our Con&s;cience, as upon our death-bed; And to be remembred al&s;o, that none of all the Reformed Churches have forbidden Confe&s;&s;ion, though &s;ome practi&s;e it le&s;&s;e then others. If I &s;ubmit a cau&s;e to the Arbitrement of any man, to end it, <HI>&s;ecund&ugrave;m vo|luntatem,</HI> &s;ayes the Law, How he will, yet &s;till <HI>Arbitrium e&s;t arbitrium boni viri,</HI> his will mu&s;t be regulated by the rules of common hone&s;ty, and generall equity. So when we lead men to this holy ea&s;e of di&s;charging their heavy &s;pirits, by &s;uch private Confe&s;&s;i|ons, yet this is &s;till limited by the law of God, &s;o far as God hath in&s;tituted this power by his Go&s;pel, in his Church, and far from inducing among&s;t us, that torture of the Con|&s;cience, that u&s;urpation of Gods power, that &s;pying into the coun&s;ails of Princes, &amp; &s;up|planting of their purpo&s;es, with which the Church of Rome hath been deeply charged.</P>
<P>And this u&s;efull and un-mi&s;-interpretable Confe&s;&s;ion, which we &s;peake of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Adver&s;um me.</NOTE> is the more recommended to us, in that with which <HI>David</HI> &s;huts up his Act, (as out of S. <HI>Hie|rome,</HI> and out of our former tran&s;lation, we intimated unto you) that he doth all this <HI>Ad|ver&s;um &s;e, I will confe&s;&s;e my &s;innes unto the Lord, again&s;t my &s;elfe;</HI> The more I finde Con|fe&s;&s;ion, or any religious practi&s;e, to be again&s;t my &s;elfe, and repugnant to mine owne na|ture, the farther I will goe in it. For, &s;till the <HI>Adver&s;um me,</HI> is <HI>Cum Deo;</HI> The more I &s;ay again&s;t my &s;elfe, the more I vilifie my &s;elfe, the more I glorifie my God. As S. <HI>Chry &s;o|&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes, every man is <HI>Spontaneus Satan,</HI> a Satan to him&s;elfe, as Satan is a Tempter, e|very man can tempt him&s;elfe; &s;o I will be <HI>Spontaneus Satan,</HI> as Satan is an Accu&s;er, an Ad|ver&s;ary, I will accu&s;e my &s;elfe. I con&s;ider often that pa&s;&s;ionate humiliation of S. <HI>Peter, Exi &agrave; me Domine, He fell at Ie&s;us knees, &s;aying, Depart from me for I am a &s;infull man, O Lord;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 5.8.</NOTE> And I am often ready to &s;ay &s;o, and more; Depart from me, O Lord, for I am &s;infull inough to infect thee; As I may per&s;ecute thee in thy Children, &s;o I may infect thee in thine Ordinances; Depart, in withdrawing thy word from me, for I am corrupt inough to make even thy &s;aving Go&s;pel, the &s;avor of death unto death; Depart, in withholding thy Sacrament, for I am leprous inough to taint thy fle&s;h, and to make the balme of thy blood, poy&s;on to my &s;oule; Depart, in withdrawing the protection of thine Angels from me, for I am vicious inough to imprint corruption and rebellion into their nature. And
<PB N="590" REF="313">if I be too foule for God him&s;elfe to come neare me, for his Ordinances to worke upon me, I am no companion for my &s;elfe, I mu&s;t not be alone with my &s;elfe; for I am as apt to take, as to give infection; I am a reciprocall plague; pa&s;&s;ively and actively contagi|ous; I breath corruption, and breath it upon my &s;elfe; and I am the Babylon that I mu&s;t goe out of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 32.10. Mat. 8.8.</NOTE> or I peri&s;h. I am not onely under <HI>Iacobs Non dignus, Not worthy the lea&s;t of all thy mercies;</HI> nor onely under the Centurions <HI>Non dignus, I am not worthy that thou &s;houl|de&s;t come under my roofe,</HI> That thy Spirit &s;hould ever &s;peake to my &s;pirit, (which was the forme of words, in which every Communicant received the Sacrament, in the Primitive Church, <HI>Lord I am not worthy that thou &s;houlde&s;t enter under my roofe;</HI>) Nor onely under the Prodigals <HI>Non dignus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.21.</NOTE> <HI>Not worthy to be called thy &s;onne;</HI> neither in the filiation of A|doption, for I have de&s;erved to be di&s;-inherited; nor in the filiation of Creation, for I have de&s;erved to be annihilated;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 1.7.</NOTE> But <HI>Non dignus procumbere,</HI> I am not worthy to &s;toop down, to fall down, to kneele before thee, in thy Mini&s;ter, the Almoner of thy Mercy, the Trea&s;urer of thine Ab&s;olutions. So farre doe I confe&s;&s;e <HI>Adver&s;um me,</HI> again&s;t my &s;elfe, as that I confe&s;&s;e, I am not worthy to confe&s;&s;e, nor to be admitted to any acce&s;&s;e, any approach to thee, much le&s;&s;e to an act, &s;o neare Reconciliation to thee, as an accu&s;a|tion of my &s;elfe, or &s;o neare thy acquitting, as a &s;elf-condemning. Be this the i&s;&s;ue in all Controver&s;ies, when&s;oever any new opinions di&s;tract us, Be that &s;till thought be&s;t, that is mo&s;t <HI>Adver&s;um nos,</HI> mo&s;t again&s;t our &s;elves, That that mo&s;t layes flat the nature of man, &s;o it take it not quite away, and bla&s;t all vertuous indeavours; That that mo&s;t exalts the Grace and Glory of God, be that the Truth; And &s;o have you the whole my&s;tery of <HI>Davids</HI> Confe&s;&s;ion, in both his Acts; preparatory, in re&s;enting his &s;infull condition in generall, and &s;urvaying his con&s;cience in particular; And then his Deliberation, his Re|&s;olution, his Execution, his Confe&s;&s;ion; Confe&s;&s;ion of true &s;ins, and of them onely, and of all them, of his &s;ins, and all this to the Lord, and all that again&s;t him&s;elfe. That which was propo&s;ed for the &s;econd Part, mu&s;t fall into the compa&s;&s;e of a Conclu&s;ion, and a &s;hort one, that is Gods Act, <HI>Thou forgave&s;t the iniquity of my &s;in.</HI></P>
<P>This is a wide doore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> and would let out Armies of In&s;tructions to you; but we will &s;hut up this doore, with the&s;e two leaves thereof, The fulne&s;&s;e of Gods Mercy, <HI>He for|gives the &s;in and the puni&s;hment;</HI> And the &s;ea&s;onablene&s;&s;e, the acceleration of his mercy, in this expre&s;&s;ion in our text, that <HI>Davids</HI> is but <HI>Actus inchoatus,</HI> He &s;ayes <HI>he will confe&s;&s;e,</HI> And Gods is <HI>Actus con&s;ummatus, Thou forgave&s;t,</HI> Thou had&s;t already forgiven the iniqui|ty, and puni&s;hment of my &s;in. The&s;e will be the two leaves of this doore; and let the hand that &s;huts them be this <HI>And,</HI> this Particle of Connection which we have in the text, <HI>I &s;aid, And thou did&s;t.</HI> For though this Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;in be not pre&s;ented here as an effect upon that cau&s;e of <HI>Davids</HI> Confe&s;&s;ion, (It is not delivered in a <HI>Quia,</HI> and an <HI>Ergo,</HI> Becau&s;e <HI>David</HI> did this, God did that; for mans wil leads not the will of God, as a cau&s;e, who does all his acts of mercy for his mercies &s;ake) yet though it be not an effect, as from a cau&s;e, yet it is at lea&s;t as a con&s;equent from an occa&s;ion, &s;o a&s;&s;ured, &s;o infallible, as let any man confe&s;&s;e as <HI>David</HI> did, and he &s;hall be &s;ure to be forgiven as <HI>David</HI> was. For though this forgivene&s;&s;e be a flower of mercy, yet the roote growes in the Ju&s;tice of God; If wee acknowledge our &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 1.9.</NOTE> he is faithfull and ju&s;t to forgive us our &s;in; It growes out of his faithfulne&s;&s;e, as he hath vouch&s;afed to binde him&s;elfe by a promi&s;e, And out of his Ju&s;tice, as he hath received a full &s;atisfaction for all our &s;ins. So that this Hand, this <HI>And,</HI> in our Text, is as a ligament, as a &s;inew, to connect and knit together that glori|ous body of Gods preventing grace, and his &s;ub&s;equent grace; if our Confe&s;&s;ion come between and tie the knot, God, that moved us to that act, will perfect all.</P>
<P>Here enters the fulne&s;&s;e of his mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Plenitudo.</HI> Rev. 3 20.</NOTE> at one leafe of this doore; well expre&s;&s;ed at our doore, in that <HI>Ecce &s;to, &amp; pul&s;o,</HI> Behold, I &s;tand at the doore and knock; for, fir&s;t he comes; here is no mention of our calling of him before; He comes of him&s;elfe; And then he &s;uffers not us to be ignorant of his comming, he comes &s;o, as that he manife&s;ts him&s;elf, <HI>Ecce,</HI> Behold; And then he expects not that we &s;hould wake with that light, and look out of our &s;elves, but he knocks, &s;olicits us, at lea&s;t, with &s;ome noy&s;e at our doores, &s;ome calamities upon our neighbours; And againe he appeares not, like a light|ning that pa&s;&s;es away as &s;oon as it is &s;eene, that no man can reade by it, nor work by it, nor light a candle, nor kindle a coale by it, but he &s;tands at the doore, and expects us; all day; not only with a patience, but with a hunger to effect his purpo&s;e upon us, he would come in, and &s;up with us, Accept our diet, our poore endeavours; And then, would have
<PB N="591" REF="313">us &s;up with him, (as it is there added) would fea&s;t us with his abundant Graces, which he brings even home to our doores; But tho&s;e he does not give us at the doore; not till we have let him in, by the good u&s;e of his former grace; And as he offers this fulne&s;&s;e of his mercy, by the&s;e meanes before, &s;o by way of Pardon, and Remi&s;&s;ion, if we have been defective in opening the doore upon his &s;tanding and knocking, this fulne&s;&s;e is fully ex|pre&s;&s;ed in this word of this Text, as our two Tran&s;lations, (neither departing from the na|turall &s;ignification of the word) have rendred it.</P>
<P>The word is the &s;ame here, in <HI>Davids</HI> &s;weetne&s;&s;e, as in <HI>Cains</HI> bitterne&s;&s;e, <HI>Gnavon;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Poena.</HI> Gen 4.13.</NOTE> and we cannot tell, whether <HI>Cain</HI> &s;peake there of a puni&s;hment too great to be borne, or of a &s;in too great to be pardoned; Nor which <HI>David</HI> meanes here; It fills up the mea&s;ure of Gods mercy, if we take him to meane both. God, upon Confe&s;&s;ion, forgives the pu|ni&s;hment of the &s;in; So that the ju&s;t terror of Hell, and the imaginary terror of Purga|tory, for the next World, is taken away; and for this World, what calamities and tribu|lations &s;oever fall upon us, after the&s;e Confe&s;&s;ions, and Remi&s;&s;ions, they have not the nature of puni&s;hments, but they are Fatherly Corrections, and Medicinall a&s;&s;i&s;tances, again&s;t relap&s;es, and have their maine relation and pro&s;pect upon the future.</P>
<P>For not onely the &s;in it &s;elfe, but the iniquitie of the &s;in, is &s;aid to be forgiven;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iniquitas.</NOTE> God keeps nothing in his minde again&s;t the la&s;t day; But what&s;oever is wor&s;t in the &s;in, the venome, The malignity of the &s;in, The violation of his Law, The affrontings of his Maje&s;ty re&s;iding in that Law, though it have been a winking at his light, a re&s;i&s;ting of his light, the ill nature, the malignity, the iniquity of the &s;in is forgiven. Onely this re|maines, That God extingui&s;hes not the right of a third Per&s;on, nor pardons a Murder &s;o, as that he barres another from his Appeale: Not that his pardon is not full, upon a full Confe&s;&s;ion, but that the Confe&s;&s;ion is no more full, if it bee not accompanied with Sa|tisfaction, that is, Re&s;titution of all unju&s;tly gotten, then if the Confe&s;&s;ion lacked Con|trition, and true &s;orrow. Otherwi&s;e the iniquity of the &s;in, and the puni&s;hment of the &s;in, are both fully pardoned. And &s;o we have &s;hut one leafe of this doore, The fulne&s;&s;e; The other is the &s;peed, and acceleration of his mercy, and that leafe we will clap to, in a word.</P>
<P>This is expre&s;&s;ed in this, <HI>David</HI> is but at his <HI>Dixit,</HI> and God at his <HI>Remi&s;it;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Promptitudo</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> was but Saying, nay, but Thinking, and God was Doing, nay Perfecting his work. To the Lepers that cryed out for mercy, Chri&s;t &s;aid, Go, &s;hew your &s;elves to the Prie&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 17.11.</NOTE> So he put them into the way; and they went, &s;ayes the text; and as they went, they were healed upon the way. No man comes into the way, but by the illumination, and direction of God, Chri&s;t put them into the way. The way is the Church; no man is cured out of the way; no man that &s;eparates him&s;elfe from the Church; nor in the way neither, ex|cept he goe; If he live negligently, and tru&s;t onely upon the outward profe&s;&s;ion; nor though he goe, except he goe according to Chri&s;t bidding; except he conforme him&s;elf to that wor&s;hip of God, and to tho&s;e means of &s;anctification, which God hath in&s;tituted in his Church, without &s;ingularities of his owne, or Traditions of other mens inventing, and impo&s;ing. This, this &s;ubmitting, and conforming our &s;elves to God, &s;o as God hath commanded us, the purpo&s;ing of this, and the endeavouring of this, is our <HI>Dixit</HI> in the Text, our &s;aying that we will doe it, and upon this <HI>Dixit,</HI> this purpo&s;ing, this endeavou|ring, in&s;tantly, immediately, infallibly follows the <HI>Remi&s;it,</HI> God will, God does, God hath forgiven, the iniquity, and the puni&s;hment of the &s;in.</P>
<P>Therefore to end all, <HI>Poure out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 2.19.</NOTE> No li|quor comes &s;o clearly, &s;o ab&s;olutely from the ve&s;&s;el, not oyle, not milk, not wine, not ho|ny, as that it leaves no ta&s;te behind; &s;o may &s;weet &s;ins; and therefore poure out, &s;aies the Prophet, not the liquor, but the heart it &s;elfe, and take a new heart of Gods making; for thy former heart was never &s;o of Gods making, as that <HI>Adam</HI> had not a hand in it; and his Image was in it, in Originall &s;in, as well as Gods in the Creation. As liquors pou|red out leave a ta&s;te and a &s;mell behinde them, unperfected Confe&s;&s;ions (And who perfects his Confe&s;&s;ion?) leave ill gottten goods &s;ticking upon thine heire, and they leave a ta&s;te, and a delight to thinke, and &s;peake of former &s;ins, &s;ticking upon thy &s;elfe; But poure out thy heart like water; All ill impre&s;&s;ions in the very roote. And for the accompli&s;hment of this great My&s;tery of Godline&s;&s;e by Confe&s;&s;ion, fixe thy Me|ditations upon tho&s;e words, and in the &s;trength of them, come now, (or when thou &s;halt bee better &s;trengthened by the Meditation of them) to the Table of the Lord, The Lord looketh upon men, And, if any &s;ay, I have &s;inned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 33.27.</NOTE> and perverted
<PB N="592" REF="314">that which was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his &s;oule from going down into the pit, and his life &s;hall &s;ee light; and it is added, Loe all the&s;e things worketh God twice and thrice. Here is a fulne&s;&s;e of con&s;olation, fir&s;t plenary, and here is a pre&s;ent for|givene&s;&s;e; If man, if any man &s;ay, I have &s;inned, God doth, God forgives; and here is more then that, an iteration, if thou fall upon infirmity againe, God will on penitence more carefully performed, forgive againe. This hee will doe twice, or thrice &s;ayes the Hebrew, our Tran&s;lation might boldly &s;ay, as it doth, This God will doe often. But yet if God finde <HI>dolum in &s;piritu,</HI> an over-confidence in this, God cannot be mocked; And therefore take heed of tru&s;ting upon it too often, but e&s;pecially of tru&s;ting upon it too late. And what&s;oever the Holy Gho&s;t may meane by the twice or thrice, be &s;ure to doe it once, doe it now, and receive thy Saviour there, and &s;o as he offers him&s;elfe unto thee in the&s;e his Ordinances this day, once, and twice, and thrice, that is, in prayer, in preach|ing, in the Sacrament. For this is thy trinity upon earth, that mu&s;t bring thee to the Tri|nity in heaven: To which Trinity, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="59" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LIX. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For this &s;hall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou maye&s;t be found; &s;urely in the floods of great waters they &s;hall not come nigh unto him.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_YOu would not bee weary of reading a long conveiance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> in which the land were given to your &s;elves; nor of a long Will, in which the body of the &s;tate were bequeathed to you. Be not weary, if at any time your patience be ex|erci&s;ed &s;ome minutes beyond the three&s;core, &s;ometime beyond the houre in the&s;e exerci&s;es, for we exhibit the conveiance, in which the land, the land of Promi&s;e is made yours, and the Te&s;tament, in which even the Te&s;tator him&s;elfe is be|queathed to you. But Legacies mu&s;t be demanded, and oftentimes &s;ued for; and in this text you are directed how to come by it, by prayer, <HI>(For this &s;hall every one, &amp;c.)</HI> And you are encouraged in the &s;uit by the value of that you are to recover, by the effect of prayer, <HI>Surely in the floods of great waters they &s;hall not come nigh to him:</HI> and the&s;e two, the way and the end, the manner and the matter, prayer and the benefit thereof, will be our two parts. And in the fir&s;t of the&s;e, The duty of prayer, though wee be el&s;ewhere commanded <HI>To pray continually,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 5.17.</NOTE> yet for all that continuall di&s;po&s;ition, we have here cer|taine limitations, or rather indeed preparations, le&s;t that which we call Prayer &s;hould not be &s;o, and the&s;e are foure: For fir&s;t, it is but <HI>omnis &s;anctus,</HI> every godly man &s;hall pray, for the prayer of the wicked turns to &s;inne; And then the object of prayer, to whom it mu&s;t be directed, is limited, it is but <HI>ad te,</HI> unto thee hee &s;hall pray, beyond him wee cannot goe, and he that prayes &s;hort of him, to any on this &s;ide of God, falls &s;hort in his prayer; And in a third con&s;ideration, the &s;ubject, the matter of his prayer is limited too, It is but <HI>propter hoc,</HI> for this &s;hall hee pray, that is, for that which hath beene formerly expre&s;&s;ed, not what&s;oever our de&s;ires, or our angui&s;h, and vexation, and impatience pre&s;ents or &s;ug|ge&s;ts to us; And la&s;tly, the time is limited too, <HI>In tempore opportuno,</HI> In a time when thou maye&s;t be found. In the&s;e foure, we &s;hall determine that fir&s;t part, the duty; and in the &s;econd the reward, the benefit, which is deliverance, <HI>(Surely in the floods of great waters they &s;hall not come nigh him)</HI> wee &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, that the world is <HI>diluvium aquarum,</HI> a de|luge of water floods that threaten all; But yet though worldly calamities bee of that &s;preading, and diffu&s;ive, and overflowing nature, <HI>non approximabit,</HI> there are places that it cannot come to, rocks that it cannot &s;hake, hills that it cannot overflow; God hath &s;o erected the godly man, that hee is a <HI>non ultra,</HI> a banke to this &s;ea; It &s;hall not come neere him; and this <HI>David</HI> e&s;tabli&s;hes with that &s;eale of infallibility, Surely, <HI>Surely in the floods
<PB N="593" REF="314">of great waters they &s;hall not come nigh him.</HI> And the&s;e be the &s;teps by which we &s;hall leade you to the greate&s;t happine&s;&s;e, that is, deliverance from all afflictions, and that by the no|ble&s;t meanes, and the faire&s;t way, that is, familiar conver&s;ation with God by prayer.</P>
<P>Into our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> The duty of prayer, wee &s;hall make our entry with this con&s;idera|tion, That our religious Duties, in their precepts, are for the mo&s;t part accompanied with rea&s;ons to induce us to the performance thereof: <HI>Hoc fac &amp; vives;</HI> Doe this, &s;ayes God; doe it, becau&s;e I command it, at lea&s;t doe it, becau&s;e if thou do it, thou &s;halt live for ever. And &s;o, <HI>Bee not forgetfull to entertaine &s;trangers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.2.</NOTE> <HI>for thereby &s;ome have entertained Angels unawares;</HI> Here the rea&s;on of the precept is example; others have pro&s;pered that way, therefore walke thou in it. God illu&s;trates his precepts, comments upon his owne Text much by examples. Fir&s;t, to rai&s;e us to the be&s;t height, God makes him&s;elfe our example, <HI>Sicut Pater, Be holy as your Father in heaven is holy:</HI> Then, becau&s;e we cannot reach to that, he makes men like our &s;elves (at lea&s;t, &s;uch as we &s;hould be) our example, <HI>Sicut Elias, Elias was a man &s;ubject to like pa&s;sions as wee are,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 5.27.</NOTE> <HI>and hee prayed that it might not raine, and it rained not, and that it might, and it did.</HI> If wee be not able to conforme our &s;elves to the &s;ingularity of one particular and tran&s;cendent man, hee &s;ends as to the whole body of good men, his &s;ervants, <HI>Sicut Prophetae, Take, my brethren, the Prophets,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 10.</NOTE> <HI>for an example of long patience.</HI> And becau&s;e he knowes our inclination, to be a declina|tion, and that we ca&s;t tho&s;e lookes, which hee made upward towards him, downward towards the creature, he &s;ends us to creatures of an ignobler nature, <HI>Vade ad formicam, Goe to the Ant,</HI> doe as &s;hee doth, be as indu&s;trious in thy bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, as &s;he is in hers. And then, as in inclining us to good, &s;o al&s;o for avoiding of &s;infull cour&s;es, he leades us by ex|ample too, <HI>Non &s;icut quidam eorum, Bee not idolaters as &s;ome of them, nor fornicators,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.</NOTE> <HI>nor tempters of Chri&s;t, nor murmurers, as &s;ome of them.</HI> And as that Apo&s;tle begins that cata|logue there, &s;o, <HI>The&s;e are examples to us,</HI> &s;o hee ends it thus al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 6. ver. 11.</NOTE> <HI>The&s;e things came unto them for examples:</HI> God &s;uffers the wicked to proceed in their &s;in, and he powres downe his judgements upon them for their &s;ins, not onely for their puni&s;hment, but therefore, that they might be examples to us. Now if God rai&s;e a glory to him&s;elfe in the de&s;tru|ction of the wicked, if he make the wicked in their ruine, even Mini&s;ters in his Church, that is, edifiers, and in&s;tructers of others, by their owne ruine, if their ruine bee a &s;en&s;ible Catechi&s;me, and a vi&s;ible Sermon for the edifying of others, how much more doth it conduce to his glory, that the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and holy conver&s;ation of his Mini&s;ters, and Prophets &s;hould bee a lanterne to the feet of his people? This is all that <HI>David</HI> promi&s;es in thankfulne&s;&s;e for that mercy which he asks of God, This is that that hee asks;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.2.</NOTE> <HI>Re&s;tore me to the joy of thy &s;alvation, Et confirma me &s;piritu principali, E&s;tabli&s;h mee with thy free &s;pirit, Spiritu muni&s;ico,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> with thy liberall, thy bountifull Spirit; This is much that <HI>David</HI> asks; and what will <HI>David</HI> doe for God? This; <HI>I will teach thy wayes unto the wicked, and &s;inners &s;hall be converted unto thee.</HI> And this is that which S. <HI>Paul</HI> ap|prehended to have moved God, to u&s;e his &s;ervice in the Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>For this cau&s;e was I re|ceived to mercy, that Ie&s;us Chri&s;t &s;hould fir&s;t &s;hew unto me all long &s;uffering;</HI> but that was not all; But as it followes there, <HI>Vnto the example of them, which &s;hall in time to come beleeve in him unto eternall life.</HI> It is an unexpre&s;&s;ible comfort to have beene Gods in&s;trument, for the conver&s;ion of others, by the power of Preaching, or by a holy and exemplar life in any calling. And with this comfort <HI>David</HI> proceeds in the recommendation of this du|ty of Prayer, <HI>Day and night I have felt thy hand upon me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 4.</NOTE> <HI>I have acknowledged my &s;inne unto thee, and thou forgave&s;t the iniquity of my &s;in;</HI> thus it &s;tood with me, and by my example,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 5.</NOTE> <HI>For this &s;hall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou maie&s;t be found.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, the per&s;on that hath any acce&s;&s;e allowed him, any title to pray,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnis &s;an|ctus.</NOTE> is he that is <HI>Godly,</HI> holy. Now, <HI>Omnis Sanctus, e&s;t omnis Bapti&s;mate &s;anctificatus:</HI> Tho&s;e are the holy ones whom God will heare, who are of the hou&s;hold of the faithfull, of the Communion of Saints, matriculated, engraffed, enrolled in the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hierom.</NOTE> by that initiatory Sacrament of Bapti&s;me; for, the hou&s;e of God, into which we enter by Bapti&s;me, is the hou&s;e of Prayer; And, as out of the Arke, who&s;oever &s;wam be&s;t, was not &s;aved by his &s;wim|ming, no more is any morall man, out of the Church, by his praying: He that &s;womme in the flood, &s;womme but into more and more water; he that prayes out of the Church, prayes but into more and more &s;in, becau&s;e he doth not e&s;tabli&s;h his prayer in that, Grant this for our Lord and Saviour Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;ake. It is true then, that the&s;e holy ones, who&s;e prayer is acceptable, are tho&s;e of the Chri&s;tian Church; Onely they; but is it all
<PB N="594" REF="315">they? are all their prayers acceptable? There is a &s;econd concoction nece&s;&s;ary too: Not onely to have beene &s;anctified by the Church in Bapti&s;me, but a &s;anctification in a wor|thy receiving of the other Sacrament too; A life that pleads the fir&s;t &s;eale, Bapti&s;me, and claimes the other &s;eale, The body and blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us: We know the Wi&s;e mans coun&s;aile,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 5.5.</NOTE> concerning propitiation, Be not without feare. Though thou have received the propitiatory Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, be afraid that thou ha&s;t not all. Will the milke that thou &s;ucked&s;t from a whole&s;ome Nur&s;e, keepe thee alive now? Or can&s;t thou dine upon la&s;t yeares meat to day? Hee that hath that fir&s;t holine&s;&s;e, The holine&s;&s;e of the Covenant, the holine&s;&s;e of Bapti&s;me, let him pray for more. For <HI>Omnis Sanctus,</HI> is <HI>Quan|tumcumque Sanctus,</HI> How holy &s;oever he be, that holine&s;&s;e will not defray him all the way, but that holine&s;&s;e is a faire letter of credit, and a bill of exchange for more. When can&s;t thou thinke thy &s;elfe holy enough? when thou ha&s;t <HI>wa&s;hed</HI> thy &s;elfe in <HI>&s;now water?</HI> In penitent teares?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 9.30.</NOTE> (as the be&s;t purity of this life is expre&s;&s;ed) why, even then, <HI>Abomina|buntur te ve&s;timenta tua, Thine owne cloathes &s;hall make thee abominable.</HI> Is all well, when thou thinke&s;t all well?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.2.</NOTE> why, <HI>All the wayes of a man are cleane in his owne eyes, but the Lord weigheth the &s;pirit.</HI> If thine owne &s;pirit, thine owne con&s;cience accu&s;e thee of nothing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.4. Iob 4.18.</NOTE> nothing unrepented, is all well? why, <HI>I know nothing by my &s;elfe, yet am I not thereby ju&s;tified.</HI> It is God onely that is Surveyor of thy holine&s;&s;e, And, <HI>Behold, he found no &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e in his Servants, and laid folly upon his Angels; how much more in them, that dwell in hou&s;es of clay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>who&s;e foundation is in the du&s;t? Sordet in con&s;pectu aeterni Iudieis,</HI> When that eternall Judge comes to value our tran&s;itory, or imaginary, our hollow, and ru&s;ty, and rotten holine&s;&s;e, <HI>Sordet quod in intentione fulget operantis,</HI> Even that which had a good lu&s;tre, a good &s;peciou&s;ne&s;&s;e, not onely in the eyes of men that &s;aw it, who might be de|ceived by my hypocri&s;ie, but in the purpo&s;e of him that did it, becomes ba&s;e, more allay then pure metall, more corruption then devotion.</P>
<P>Though <HI>Iacob,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 31.31.</NOTE> when he fled from his Father in law, <HI>Laban,</HI> were free enough him|&s;elfe, from the theft of <HI>Labans</HI> Idols, yet it was dangerou&s;ly pronounced of him, <HI>With whom&s;oever thou finde&s;t thy gods, let him not live:</HI> For, his owne Wife, <HI>Rachel</HI> had &s;tollen them:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> And <HI>Caro conjux;</HI> Thy Wife, thy fle&s;h, thy weaker part, may in&s;inuate much &s;in into thine actions, even when thy &s;pirit is at &s;tronge&s;t, and thou in thy be&s;t confi|dence. Onely thus the&s;e two ca&s;es may differ; <HI>Rachel</HI> was able to cover tho&s;e &s;tollen Idols from her Fathers finding, with that excu&s;e, <HI>The cu&s;tome of Women is come upon me;</HI> But thou &s;halt not be able to cover thy &s;tollen &s;ins, with &s;aying, The infirmity of man is come upon me, I do but as other men do; Though thou have that degree towards &s;ancti|fication, that thou &s;in not out of pre&s;umption, but out of infirmity, though thou maye&s;t in a modified &s;en&s;e fall within <HI>Davids</HI> word, <HI>Omnis &s;anctus,</HI> A holy man, yet every holy and godly man mu&s;t pray, that even tho&s;e infirmities may be removed too. <HI>Qui &s;anctifi|catur, &s;anctificetur adhuc:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Apo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> 22.11.</NOTE> <HI>He that is holy, let him be holy &s;till;</HI> not onely &s;o holy &s;till, but &s;till more and more holy. For, beloved, As in the firmament, of tho&s;e &s;tars which are re|duced into Con&s;tellations, and into a certainty of &s;hapes, of figures, and images, we ob|&s;erve &s;ome to be of one greatne&s;&s;e, &s;ome of another, wee ob&s;erve divers magnitudes in all them, but to all tho&s;e other Stars, which are not reduced into tho&s;e formes, and fi|gures, we allow no magnitude at all, no proportion at all, no name, no con&s;ideration: So for tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed &s;oules which are collected into their eternall dwelling in Heaven, which have their immoveable po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, po&s;ition at the right hand of God, as one Star differs from another in glory, &s;o do the&s;e Saints which are in Heaven; But whil&s;t men are upon this earth, though they be &s;tars, (Saints of God) though they be in the firmament, e&s;tabli&s;hed in the true Church of God, yet they have no magnitude, no proportion, no certainty, no holine&s;&s;e in them&s;elves, nor in any thing formerly done by God in their behalfe, and declared to us; but their pre&s;ent degrees of godline&s;&s;e give them but that qualification, that they may pray acceptably for more; He mu&s;t be &s;o godly before he pray, and his prayer mu&s;t be for more godline&s;&s;e; and all directed to the right object of prayer, To God, <HI>Vnto Thee &s;hall every one that is godly pray,</HI> which is our next, the &s;econd of our foure Con&s;iderations in this fir&s;t part.</P>
<P><HI>Ad Te,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad Te.</NOTE> To God, becau&s;e he can heare; And then <HI>Ad te,</HI> to God, becau&s;e he can give. Certainely it were a &s;trange di&s;temper, a &s;trange &s;ingularity, a &s;trange circularity, in a man that dwelt at Wind&s;or, to fetch all his water at London Bridge: So is it in him, that lives in Gods pre&s;ence, (as he does, that lives religiou&s;ly in his Church) to goe for
<PB N="595" REF="315">all his nece&s;&s;ities, by Invocation to Saints. <HI>David</HI> was willing bee our example for Prayer, but he gives no example of &s;cattering our prayers upon any other then God. Chri&s;t Je&s;us was willing to give us a Rule for Prayer: but if hee had intended that his Rule &s;hould have beene deflected and declined to Saints, he would have taught us to &s;ay, <HI>Frater no&s;ter qui es in Coelis,</HI> and not only <HI>Pater no&s;ter;</HI> to pray to our Brethren which are there too, and not onely to our Father which is in Heaven. If any man have ta&s;ted at Court, what it is to be ever welcome to the King him&s;elfe, and what it is to &s;peake to another to &s;peake for him, he will ble&s;&s;e that happine&s;&s;e, of having an immediate acce&s;&s;e to God him&s;elfe in his prayers. They that come &s;o low downe the &s;treame, as wee &s;aid before, to London Bridge, they will go lower, and lower, to Grave&s;end too; They that come to Saints, they will come to the Images, and Reliques of Saints too; They come to a bracki&s;h water, betweene &s;alt and fre&s;h, and they come at la&s;t, to be &s;wallowed up in that &s;ea which hath no limit, no bottome, that is, to direct all their devotions to &s;uch Saints, as have no certainty, not onely not in their ability, we know not what tho&s;e Saints can doe, but not in their hi&s;tory, we know not that &s;uch as they pray to, are Saints; nay, we know not whether they ever were at all. So that this may be Idolatry, in the &s;tricte&s;t acceptation of the word, Idol; <HI>Idolum nihil e&s;t;</HI> let that be true, which they &s;ay, and in their &s;en&s;e, Our Images are not Idols, for an Idol is nothing, repre&s;ents nothing, but our Images are the Images of Men that once were upon the earth. But that is not through|out true; for they wor&s;hip Images of tho&s;e who never were; <HI>Chri&s;tophers,</HI> and other &s;ym|bolicall, and emblematicall Saints, which never lived here, but were, and are yet no|thing. But let them be true Saints, how will they make it appeare to us, that tho&s;e Saints can heare us? What &s;urety can we have of it? Let us rather pray to him, who we are &s;ure can heare, that is fir&s;t, and then &s;ure he can give that we pray for, that is next.</P>
<P>The prayer here, is forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins; And can Saints give that? The Ho&s;annaes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qui dant.</NOTE> and the Allelujahs, and the <HI>Gloria in Excel&s;is, Glory in heaven, peace upon earth, good will amongst men,</HI> the&s;e are good and cheerfull Notes, in which the Quire of heaven are exer|ci&s;ed; Cherubims and Seraphims, Prophets and Apo&s;tles, Saints and Angels, ble&s;&s;e God and benefit men by the&s;e: But the <HI>Remittuntur peccata, Thy &s;innes are forgiven thee,</HI> is too high a note for any creature in earth or heaven, to reach to, except where it is &s;et by Gods own hand, as it is by his Commi&s;&s;ion to his Mini&s;ter, in his Church, and there onely, in the ab&s;olution given by his Ordinance to every penitent &s;inner. We &s;ee that phra&s;e, <HI>Dimittuntur peccata, Thy &s;innes are forgiven thee,</HI> was a &s;u&s;picious word, even in the mouth of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, among&s;t the Scribes that would not beleeve his Divinity; when Chri&s;t &s;aid to him that had the Pal&s;ie, <HI>My &s;onne be of good cheare, thy &s;innes are for|given thee;</HI> the Scribes cryed out, <HI>he bla&s;phemed:</HI> It &s;trikes any man, to heare of forgive|ne&s;&s;e of &s;ins, from any but God. It was not a harder thing to &s;ay, <HI>Fiat lux,</HI> then to &s;ay, <HI>Dimittuntur peccata:</HI> Not harder to bring light out of darkne&s;&s;e by Creation, then to <HI>bring a cleane thing out of uncleanne&s;&s;e</HI> by Conver&s;ion; for, who can doe that?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 14.</NOTE> And there|fore when the King of Aram &s;ent <HI>Naaman</HI> to the King of I&s;rael, to take order for the cu|ring of his bodily Lepro&s;ie, the King of I&s;rael rent his Clothes, and &s;aid, <HI>Am I a God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 5.7.</NOTE> <HI>to kill and to give life?</HI> The power even of temporall life and death, is proper to God; for, as Witches thinke &s;ometimes that they kill, when they doe not, and are therefore as culpable, as if they did; So a tyrannous per&s;ecutor, &s;o a pa&s;&s;ionate Judge, &s;o a perjured witne&s;&s;e, &s;o a revengefull quarreller, thinks he takes away the life of his enemy, and is guilty of that murder in the eye of God, though the blow be truly from God, who&s;e judgements are ever ju&s;t, though not ever declared. Let them never &s;ay, that they aske not the&s;e things, temporall or &s;pirituall, at the hands of tho&s;e Saints; for, expre&s;ly, literal|ly, as the words &s;tand, and &s;ound, they do aske even tho&s;e very things; and if the Church have any other meaning in tho&s;e prayers, the mi&s;chiefe is, that they never teach the people, by Preaching, what that their re&s;erved meaning is, but leave them to the very letter of the prayer, to aske tho&s;e things, which, if they could heare, yet the Saints could not give. And when the prayer is made aright, directed to God him&s;elfe, yet here in our Text it is limited, <HI>Propter hoc, For this,</HI> this that was &s;poken of before, <HI>every one that is godly &s;hall pray unto thee.</HI> Now what is this <HI>This?</HI> for that is our third Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P><HI>Si &agrave; quo petenda, &s;ed non quae petenda petis,</HI> If thou come to the right Market,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Propter boc. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI></NOTE> but buy unwhole&s;ome hearbs there, If thou come to the Apothecaries &s;hop, and aske for nothing but poy&s;ons, If thou come to God in thy prayer, and aske onely temporall ble&s;&s;ings,
<PB N="596" REF="316">which are ble&s;&s;ings onely in their u&s;e, and may be, and are ordinarily &s;nares and encum|brances, then is this direction of <HI>Davids, Propter hoc, for this &s;hall he pray,</HI> tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed. For, <HI>This,</HI> as appeares in the words immediately before the Text, is, <HI>The forgivene&s;&s;e of the puni&s;hment, and of the iniquity of our &s;inne;</HI> which is &s;o inexpre&s;&s;ible a comfort, to that &s;oule that hath wra&s;tled with the indignation of God, and is now refre&s;hed and re|lea&s;ed, as who&s;oever &s;hould goe about to de&s;cribe it, &s;hould dimini&s;h it; He hath it not that thinks he can utter it. It is a ble&s;&s;ed comfort to find my &s;oule in that &s;tate, as when I la&s;t received the Sacrament with a good con&s;cience: If I enjoy that peace now, that is, the peace of a religious, and of a wi&s;e con&s;cience; for there is a wi&s;edome of the con&s;cience, not to run into infinite &s;cruples and doubts, but <HI>Imponere finem litibus,</HI> to levy a fine in bar of all &s;cruples, and diffidences, and to re&s;t in the peace and a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e of remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, after due means for the obtaining thereof; and therefore if. I be as well now, as when I received, this is a ble&s;&s;ed degree of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e. But yet there is one cloud in this ca&s;e, <HI>Ab occultis,</HI> my &s;ecret &s;ins, which even mine own narrowe&s;t inqui&s;ition extends not to. If I con&s;ider my &s;elfe to be as well as I was at my Bapti&s;me, when I brought no actuall &s;in, and had the hand of Chri&s;t to wa&s;h away the foulne&s;&s;e of Originall &s;in, can I pray for a better &s;tate then that? Even in that there was a cloud too, and a cloud that hath thunder and lightning in it, that <HI>Fomes peccati,</HI> that fuell and tho&s;e embers of &s;in, that are but raked up, and not trod out, and doe breake forth upon every tentation that is pre&s;en|ted, and if they be not effectually oppo&s;ed, &s;hall aggravate my condemnation, more then if I had never been baptized. But <HI>David</HI> conceives &s;uch a forgivene&s;&s;e here, as car|ries up the &s;oule to the contemplation of that &s;tate, which it had before the fall of <HI>Adam.</HI> It is not this pre&s;ent &s;in of a cold delivering, and a drow&s;ie hearing of the me&s;&s;ages of God; It is not my ye&s;terdayes &s;in, nor my &s;ins &s;ince my la&s;t repentance, that are forgiven me, but my &s;in committed &s;ix thou&s;and yeares before I was borne, my &s;in in <HI>Adam,</HI> before any promi&s;e, nay, before any apprehen&s;ion of any need of a Me&s;&s;ias; I am &s;o re|&s;tored, that now by the application of the merits of my Redeemer, I am as well as I &s;hould have been, though there had never been any u&s;e of a Redeemer, no occa&s;ion gi|ven by me in <HI>Adam,</HI> of the incarnation and pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. The comfort of be|ing pre&s;ented to God as innocent as <HI>Adam,</HI> then when God breathed a &s;oule into him, yea as innocent as Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, when he breathed out his &s;oule to God; oh how ble&s;&s;ed is that &s;oule that enjoyes it, and how bold that tongue that goes about to ex|pre&s;&s;e it! This is the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e which the godly attaine to by prayer, but not by eve|ry &s;udden <HI>Lord, Lord,</HI> or every occa&s;ionall holy interjection, but by &s;erious prayer, inve|&s;ted, as with the former, &s;o with that other circum&s;tance that remains, <HI>In tempore oppor|tuno, In a time when thou maye&s;t be found.</HI></P>
<P>This time is not tho&s;e <HI>Horae &s;tativae, Horae canonicae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In tempore.</NOTE> tho&s;e &s;ixed houres in the Romane Church, where men are bound to certaine prayers at certaine houres. Not that it is in|convenient for men to binde them&s;elves to certaine fixed times of prayer in their private Exerci&s;es; and though not by &s;uch a vow, as that it &s;hall be an impiety, yet by &s;o &s;o|lemne a purpo&s;e, as that it &s;hall be a levity to breake it. I have known the greate&s;t Chri|&s;tian Prince, (in Style and Title) even at the Audience of an Amba&s;&s;ador, at the &s;ound of a Bell, kneele downe in our pre&s;ence and pray; and God forbid, he &s;hould be blamed for doing &s;o; But to place a merit in ob&s;erving tho&s;e times, as they doe, is not a right under&s;tanding of this time of finding. Nor is it tho&s;e tran&s;itory and interlocutory pray|ers, which out of cu&s;tome and fa&s;hion we make, and &s;till proceed in our &s;in; when we pretend to &s;peake to God, but like Comedians upon a &s;tage, turne over our &s;houlder, and whi&s;per to the Devill.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 1.15.</NOTE> <HI>When you &s;tretch out your hands, I will hide mine eyes; when you make many prayers, I will not heare; for your hands are full of blood.</HI> And if they be full of blood, they can take in no more; If they be full of the blood of oppre&s;&s;ion, they can lay no hold upon the blood of propitiation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters">.</NOTE> <HI>Irri&s;or e&s;t, non poenitens, qui adhuc agit quod poeniter,</HI> He mocks God, that repents and &s;ins over tho&s;e &s;ins every night, that every day he repents. The Apo&s;tle &s;ayes &s;o too, <HI>He makes a mock of the Sonne of God, and crucifies him againe.</HI> This onely is true Repentance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro.</NOTE> <HI>He makes a mock of the Sonne of God, and crucifies him againe.</HI> This onely is true Repentance, <HI>Plangere &amp; plangenda non committere,</HI> To bewayle our &s;ins, and forbeare the &s;ins we have bewayled. Neither alone will &s;erve; which deludes many. Many thinke they doe enough if they repent, and yet proceed in their &s;in; and many thinke they doe enough, if they forbeare their &s;in now, though they never repent that which is pa&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> both are illu&s;ory, both deceitfull di&s;tempers. <HI>Laoe&s;sit Iudicem, qui po&s;t-po&s;ita
<PB N="597" REF="316" MS="y">&s;atisfactione quaerit praemiis honorari,</HI> He doth but provoke and exa&s;perate the Judge, that &s;olicites him for heaven, before he hath appea&s;ed his anger by repentance for for|mer &s;ins; for this is to call for co&s;ts before he be di&s;charged.</P>
<P>The&s;e then are not the times of finding God; but what are?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Go&s;pel. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Generally it is <HI>Manife|&s;tatio Euangelii,</HI> The time of the Go&s;pel is the time of finding God; now when God hath vouch&s;afed <HI>Induere hominem,</HI> to put on us in his Incarnation, and enabled us <HI>Indue|re Deum,</HI> to put on him in the Sacraments; to &s;tay with us here upon Earth, and to car|ry us up with him in his A&s;cen&s;ion to Heaven; when he is made one body with us, and hath made us one Spirit with him, how can we doubt of a fit time to finde him? Chri&s;ts time was alwayes; for even under the law, God &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 49.8.</NOTE> <HI>I have heard thee in an accepted time, and in the day of Salvation have I &s;uccoured thee;</HI> But this doth the Holy Gho&s;t ap|ply to the time of the Go&s;pel, <HI>Behold now the accepted time, behold now the day of &s;alvation.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 2.6. Calamitie. P&s;al. 116.4.</NOTE></P>
<P>The time then of the Go&s;pel is the time of finding; But now, all times are not alike. Calamities are a good time. <HI>When I found trouble, and &s;orrow, then I called upon the name of the Lord, &s;aying, I be&s;eech thee O Lord, deliver my &s;oule.</HI> This is a good time, but it is &s;omewhat a darke time; the withdrawing of Gods countenance from us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.25.</NOTE> The Egypti|ans when they deprehended their danger, &s;aid, <HI>We will fly from the face of I&s;rael;</HI> But whi|ther? <HI>The Seareturned, and the Egyptians fled again&s;t it, and peri&s;hed.</HI> We may be benigh|ted, benummed by calamities, and they may as well deject us as rai&s;e us. <HI>Ioab</HI> pur&s;ued <HI>Abner</HI> hotly, vehemently; <HI>Abner</HI> asks, What, <HI>V&s;que ad internecionem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 2.25.</NOTE> <HI>Shall the &s;word devoure for ever? Ioab</HI> an&s;wered, (as the Vulgat reads tho&s;e words) <HI>Vivit dominus, &s;i lo|cutus fui&s;&s;es mane, As the Lord liveth, if thou had&s;t &s;poken in the morning, in the morning every man had departed.</HI> If we turne to the Lord in the morning, in the beginning of an affliction, the Lord turnes his fierce wrath from us; but if we &s;tand out long, and bend not under his corrections, he pur&s;ues <HI>Ad internecionem,</HI> even to de&s;truction by obduration.</P>
<P>So then the manife&s;tation of the Go&s;pel, that is, the helpes which God offers us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro&s;peritus.</NOTE> more then Jews, or Gentils, in the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pel, and the Ordinances of his Church, is the time of finding God; And woe unto us, if we &s;eeke him not while&s;t he affords us the&s;e helpes; And then the time of affliction, when God threatens to hide his face, but hath not yet hidden it, but awakens us by a calamity, is a time of finding God. But the be&s;t and the cleare&s;t time is in the Sun-&s;hine, then when he appeares to us in the warme and chearefull &s;plendor of temporall ble&s;&s;ings upon us; Then when thou ha&s;t a good e&s;tate, and good children to let it de&s;cend upon; Then when thou ha&s;t good health, and a good profe&s;&s;ion to exerci&s;e thy &s;trength, and thy labors in; Then when the di&s;hes upon thy table are doubled, and thy cup overflows, and the hungry and thir&s;ty &s;oules of the poore doe not onely feed upon the crums under thy table, and lick up the overflow|ings of thy cup, but divide di&s;hes with thee, and enter into the mid&s;t of thy Bolls; Then when thou ha&s;t temporall ble&s;&s;ings, (that is Gods &s;ilver) and his grace to u&s;e tho&s;e ble&s;|&s;ings well, (that is Gods gold) then is the be&s;t time of finding the Lord, for then he looks upon thee in the Sun-&s;hine, and then thy thankfull acknowledgement of former ble&s;&s;ings is the mo&s;t effectuall prayer thou can&s;t make, for the continuance, and enlarge|ment of them.</P>
<P>In a word, then is a fit time of finding God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nunc.</NOTE> when&s;oever thy con&s;cience tells thee he calls to thee; for, a rectified con&s;cience is the word of God; If that &s;peake to thee now this minute, now is thy time of finding God. That <HI>Now,</HI> that I named then, that minute is pa&s;t; but God affords thee another <HI>Now;</HI> he &s;peaks againe, he &s;peaks &s;till, and if thy con&s;cience tell thee that he &s;peaks to thee, now is that time. This word of God, thy con|&s;cience will pre&s;ent unto thee, but that one condition, which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> pre&s;ented to Gods people, and that is, <HI>That thou &s;eeke the Lordwith all thy heart, and all thy &s;oule.</HI> It is a kinde of denying the Infinitene&s;&s;e of God, to &s;erve him by pieces, and ragges; God is not In|finite to me, if I thinke a di&s;continued &s;ervice will &s;erve him. It is a kinde of denying the Unity of God, to joyne other gods, Plea&s;ure, or Profit with him; He is not One God to me, if I joyne other A&s;&s;ociates, and A&s;&s;i&s;tants to him, Saints or Angels. It is a kinde of diffidence in Chri&s;t, as though I were not &s;ure that he would &s;tand in the favour of God &s;till, as though I were afraid that there might ri&s;e a new favorite in heaven, to whom it might concerne me to apply me &s;elfe, If I make the balance &s;o eaven, as to &s;erve God and Mammon; if I make a complementall vi&s;it of God at his hou&s;e upon Sunday,
<PB N="598" REF="317">and then plot with the other faction, the World, the Fle&s;h, and the Devill, all the weeke after.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jor. 9.13.</NOTE> The Lord promi&s;ed a power of &s;eeking, and an infallibility of finding; but &s;till with this totall condition, <HI>Ye &s;hall &s;eeke mee, and ye &s;hall finde me, becau&s;e ye &s;hall &s;eek mee with all your heart.</HI> This he promi&s;ed for the future, that he would doe; This he te&s;tified for the hou&s;e of <HI>Iudah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chro. 15.15.</NOTE> that he had done, <HI>Iudah &s;ought him with a whole de&s;ire, and he was found of them, and the Lord gave them re&s;t round about:</HI> And the Lord &s;hall give you re&s;t round about; re&s;t in your bodies, and re&s;t in your e&s;tates; re&s;t in your good name with others, and re&s;t in your con&s;ciences in your &s;elves; re&s;t in your getting, and re&s;t in your injoying that you have got, if you &s;eeke him with a whole heart; and to &s;eek him with a whole heart, is not by hone&s;t indu&s;try to &s;eeke nothing el&s;e, (for God weares good cloathes, &s;ilk, and &s;oft raiment, in his religious &s;ervants in Courts, as well as Cam|mels haire, in <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> in the Wilderne&s;&s;e; and God manife&s;ts him&s;elfe to man, as well in the &s;plendor of Princes in Courts, as in the au&s;terity of <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> in the Wilder|ne&s;&s;e) but to &s;eeke God with the whole heart, is to &s;eeke nothing with that Primary, and Radicall, and Fundamentall affection, as God; To &s;eek nothing for it &s;elfe, but God: not to &s;eeke world things in exce&s;&s;e, becau&s;e I hope, if I had them, I &s;hould glorifie God in them; but fir&s;t to finde e&s;tabli&s;hed in my &s;elfe a zealous de&s;ire to glorifie God, and then a mode&s;t de&s;ire of meanes to be able to doe it. And <HI>for this, every one that is holy &s;hall pray unto thee, in a time when thou mai&s;t be found.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t Part, and the foure pieces that con&s;titute that, The Per&s;on, <HI>Omnis &s;anctus,</HI> Every godly man; that is, <HI>Sanctificatus,</HI> and <HI>Sanctificandus,</HI> Hee that is godly enough to pray, and prayes that he may be more godly: And the Object of prayer, <HI>Ad te,</HI> God alone, for God alone can heare, and God alone can give; And then the Subject of prayer, <HI>Hoc, This,</HI> this which <HI>David</HI> expre&s;&s;es, forgivene&s;&s;e of the puni&s;hment, and of the iniquity of fin, In which re&s;pect, (that <HI>David</HI> propo&s;es and &s;peci|ficates the &s;ubject of prayer) wee are fairely directed rather to accu&s;tome our &s;elves to tho&s;e prayers, which are recommended to us by the Church, then to extemporall pray|ers of others, or of our owne effu&s;ion; And la&s;tly, the Time of finding God, that is, Then when we &s;eeke him with a whole heart, &s;eeke him as Principal, and then receive temporall things, as acce&s;&s;ory, and conducible to his glory. Thus much hath fallen into the fir&s;t Part, the duty of Prayer; A little remaines to be &s;aid of the benefit here a&s;&s;ured, <HI>Surely, in the floods of great waters they &s;hall not come nigh unto him.</HI></P>
<P>Taking the&s;e <HI>waters,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part. H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">r. <HI>Aquae.</HI></NOTE> either Di&s;tributively, to every one that is godly, or Collectively, as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> does to the whole Church, the u&s;e will be all one. The Holy Gho&s;t who is a direct worker upon the &s;oule and con&s;cience of man, but a Metaphoricall, and Figu|rative expre&s;&s;er on him&s;elfe, to the rea&s;on, and under&s;tanding of man, abounds in no Me|tophor more, then in calling Tribulations, <HI>Waters:</HI> particularly, <HI>He would bring in wa|ters upon Tyrus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">k. 26.3. Ho&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> 5.</NOTE> And, <HI>He would poure out his wrath upon his enemies, like waters.</HI> Neither doth he onely intimate temporall, but &s;pirituall afflictions too, in the name of <HI>Waters.</HI> And as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> under&s;tands this whole place of the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> collectively, &s;o S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> under&s;tands the&s;e <HI>waters,</HI> to be <HI>Varia Doctrinae,</HI> tho&s;e diver&s;e opinions, that di&s;qui|et and trouble the Church. And though the Church of God were built upon a hill, and compa&s;&s;ed, and environed, and fenced with the blood of him that built it, and de|fended and guarded by the vigilancy of the Apo&s;tles; yet into this Jeru&s;alem did the&s;e waters breake, even in the Apo&s;tles time, as we &s;ee by tho&s;e &s;everall, tho&s;e manifold, tho&s;e contradictory Here&s;ies, that &s;prung up them. Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles had carried two Waters about his Church: The water of Bapti&s;me, that is <HI>Limen Eccle&s;iae,</HI> and <HI>Ianua Sacramentorum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Argu&s;t.</NOTE> The fir&s;t Ferry, by which we pa&s;&s;e into the Church; and by this Water came three thou&s;and, and five thou&s;and at once to the Church, upon particular Sermons of S. <HI>Peter.</HI> And then Chri&s;t gave another Water, by which, they came to another Ab|lution, to Ab&s;olution from actuall fins, the water of contrite teares, and repentance, which he had promi&s;ed before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">k. 24.35.</NOTE> <HI>I will poure cleane water upon you, and you &s;hall be cleane,</HI> And by this water came <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe, when his faith had failed, And by this water came <HI>Mary Magdalen,</HI> when her life had been defiled. But yet for all the&s;e Waters, other Waters &s;oaked in, and corrupted them earely; for, for Bapti&s;me, the Di&s;ciples of <HI>Simon Magus</HI> annulled Chri&s;ts Bapti&s;me, and baptized in <HI>Simons</HI> name; and his Di&s;ci|ple <HI>Menander</HI> annulled the Bapti&s;me of Chri&s;t, and <HI>Simon,</HI> and baptized in his owne name. And then, for the other Water, Repentance, the Heretiques drained up that
<PB N="599" REF="317">&s;hrewdly, when they took away all benefit of repentance for &s;ins committed after Bap|ti&s;me. <HI>David</HI> denies not, nay <HI>David</HI> a&s;&s;ures us, that collectively, the whole Church &s;hall be beaten upon with waters.</P>
<P>Water multiplied; <HI>Aquae multae, Many waters;</HI> &s;o the vulgat reades this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Multae.</NOTE> that wee Tran&s;late here, <HI>Great waters.</HI> So multiplied Here&s;ies. The excellency of the Chri&s;tian Religion is, that it is <HI>Verbum abbreviatum,</HI> A contracted Religion; All the <HI>Credenda,</HI> all that is to be beleeved, reduced to twelve Articles of the Creed; All the <HI>Speranda,</HI> all that is to be hoped for, prayed for, expre&s;&s;ed in &s;eaven Petitions, in the Lords Prayer; All the <HI>Agenda,</HI> all that is to be done in it, compri&s;ed in ten Commandements, in the Decalogue. And then our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, though he would take away none of the burden, (for it is an <HI>ea&s;ie yoke,</HI> and a <HI>light burden</HI>) yet he was plea&s;ed to binde it in a le&s;&s;e roome, and a more portable forme, when he re-abridged that Abridgement, and recon|tracts this contracted Doctrine, in tho&s;e two, <HI>Love God,</HI> and <HI>Love thy Neighbour.</HI> And then the Devill hath oppo&s;ed this Abridgement by Multiplication, by many waters, many here&s;ies: for, it is ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve, that in every Article of the Creed, there have been at lea&s;t a dozen Here&s;ies. And in tho&s;e Articles, which were mo&s;t credible, mo&s;t evident, mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible, mo&s;t of all; Many more Here&s;ies upon the Humanity of Chri&s;t, then about his Divinity: And then, as in matters of Faith, &s;o for matter of Manners, there was &s;carce any thing &s;o foule and &s;o ob&s;cene, which was not taught by &s;ome Here|tiques, to be religious and nece&s;&s;ary; Things which cannot be excu&s;ed, things which may not be named, made by the Gno&s;tiques, e&s;&s;entiall and nece&s;&s;ary in the Con&s;ecration of the Sacrament. And then, when the&s;e waters of death were in a good part dryed up, the&s;e gro&s;&s;e errors in Faith and Manners were rea&s;onably well overcome, Then came in tho&s;e waters of Traditional Doctrines in the Romane Church, which are &s;o many, as that they overflow even the water of life, the Scriptures them&s;elves, and &s;uppre&s;&s;e, and &s;urround them.</P>
<P>Therefore does <HI>David,</HI> in this text, call the&s;e many waters, <HI>Diluvium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Diluvium.</NOTE> <HI>A flood of great waters;</HI> many and violent. For this word <HI>Shatach, Inundans,</HI> &s;ignifies Vehemence, Eager|ne&s;&s;e, and is elegantly applied to the fiercene&s;&s;e of a hor&s;e in Battel, <HI>Equus inundans in Bellum,</HI> A hor&s;e that overflowes the Battell, that ru&s;hes into the Battell.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 8.6. E&s;ay 15.9.</NOTE> Therefore &s;peaks the Prophet <HI>of waters full of blood;</HI> What Seas of blood did the old Per&s;ecutions, what Seas have later times poured out, when in the Romane Church, their owne Authors will boa&s;t of &s;ixty thou&s;and &s;laine in a day, of them that attempted a Reformation in the times of the <HI>Walden&s;es!</HI></P>
<P>Surely, &s;ayes our Prophet, The&s;e waters &s;hall be, Here&s;ies there &s;hall be.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnis &s;an|ctus.</NOTE> And no man may look for &s;uch a Church, as &s;hall have no water; Evermore there will be &s;ome things raw, and unconcocted in every Church ; Evermore &s;ome waters of trouble and di&s;&s;ention, and a man is not to for&s;ake a Church, in which he hath received his Bap|ti&s;me for that. But waiving this generall, and collective application of the&s;e waters to the Church, and to take it as the letter of the Text invites us, <HI>Omnis &s;anctus,</HI> &s;urely every godly man &s;hall finde the&s;e waters, many waters, floods of many waters; for affliction is our daily bread; for, we cannot live in this world a &s;pirituall life, without &s;ome kinde of affliction: for, as with long fa&s;ting we lo&s;e our &s;tomachs, &s;o by being long unexerci|&s;ed in tribulation, we come to lo&s;e our patience, and to a murmuring when it falls upon us. For that la&s;t Petition of the Lords Prayer, <HI>Liberanos &agrave; malo, Deliver us from evill,</HI> may as &s;ome interpret it, &s;uppo&s;e that this Evill, that is <HI>Malum poenae,</HI> Affliction, will cer|tainly fall upon us; and then we doe not &s;o much pray to be delivered from it, as to be delivered in it, not that afflictions may not come, but that they may not overcome, when they come, that they may not be ineffectuall upon us. For, it was <HI>Durus &s;ermo,</HI> A harder and an angryer &s;peech then it &s;eemes, when God &s;aid to his people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.4.</NOTE> <HI>Why &s;hould yee bee &s;mitten any more?</HI> Why &s;hould I keep you at Schoole any longer? Why &s;hould I pre|pare Phy&s;ick, or &s;tudy your recovery by corrections any farther? When God was wearied with their afflictions, and they were not, this was a heavy ca&s;e; He afflicted them forty yeares together in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, and yet he &s;aies, <HI>Forty yeares long was I grieved with this generation:</HI> He never &s;aies, They were grieved, but he was with their &s;tu|pidity; They murmured, but they &s;orrowed not to any amendment. So they perver|ted this word, <HI>Non approximabunt, They &s;hall not come nigh thee,</HI> they &s;hall not affect thee; That they mu&s;t doe; we mu&s;t be &s;en&s;ible of Gods corrections; but yet there is a good
<PB N="600" REF="318">&s;en&s;e, and a plentifull comfort, in this word of our Text. To the godly man, <HI>non appro|ximabunt, the floods of great waters,</HI> though <HI>waters,</HI> though <HI>floods,</HI> though <HI>great floods, they &s;hall not come nigh him;</HI> and that is our la&s;t word, and finall conclu&s;ion.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider the Church of God collectively,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non appro|ximabunt.</NOTE> and the Saints of God di&s;tributively, in which Babylon you will, in the Chaldean Babylon, or in the Italian Babylon, and the&s;e waters doe come nigh us, touch, and touch to the quicke, to the heart. But yet as <HI>David</HI> intends here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 4.7.</NOTE> they touch not us, they come not nigh us; for <HI>wee have trea&s;ures in earth-then ve&s;&s;els;</HI> They may touch the ve&s;&s;els, but not the Trea&s;ure. And this is literally ex|pre&s;&s;ed in the Text it &s;elfe, <HI>non approximabunt, eum;</HI> not that they &s;hall not come neare his hou&s;e, or his lands, or his children, or his friends, or his body, but <HI>non eum,</HI> they &s;hall not come nigh him. For, for the Church, the peace of the Church, the plenty of the Church, the ceremonies of the Church, they are <HI>&s;ua,</HI> but not <HI>illa,</HI> they are hers, but they are not &s;he. And the&s;e things, riches &amp; ceremonies, they may be wa&s;hed off with onetide, and ca&s;t on with another, di&s;continued in one Age, and re-a&s;&s;umed in another, deve&s;ted in one Church, and inve&s;ted in another, and yet the Churches, &s;he in her fundamentall Do|ctrines never touched. And &s;o for us, a wave may wa&s;h away as much as <HI>Iob</HI> lo&s;t, and yet not come nigh us; for if a Heathen could &s;ay, <HI>Vix ea no&s;tra voco,</HI> That outward things were &s;carce worthy to bee called Ours, &s;hall a Chri&s;tian call them not onely His, but Him&s;elfe, &s;o as if they be lo&s;t, he is lo&s;t? How long will a Medall, a piece of Coine lie in the water, before the &s;tampe be wa&s;hed off? and yet how &s;oone is the Image of God, of his patience, his longanimity defaced in us by every billow, every affliction? But for the Saints of God it &s;hall not be &s;o; Surely it &s;hall not. They &s;hall &s;tand again&s;t the wa|ters,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 11 43.</NOTE> And <HI>the Sea &s;hall &s;ee it, and fly, and Iordan &s;hall be turned backe:</HI> And the world &s;hall &s;ay, <HI>What ayled thee O Sea, that thou fledde&s;t, O Iordan that thou turned&s;t back?</HI> For they that know not the power of the Almighty, though they envy, yet &s;hall wonder, and &s;tand amazed at the deliverance of the righteous. <HI>Sto, &amp; pul&s;o,</HI> &s;ayes God of him&s;elfe, <HI>I &s;tand at the doore and knocke;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.22.</NOTE> God will not breake open doores to give thee a ble&s;&s;ing, as well as he loves thee, and as well as he loves it, but will have thee open to him: much more will he keepe Tentations at the doore; They &s;hall not breake in upon thee, except thou open. This then was that, which <HI>David</HI> el&s;ewhere apprehended with feare, <HI>The &s;orrowes of the grave compa&s;&s;ed me about,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> 5.</NOTE> <HI>and the &s;nares of death overtooke mee;</HI> Here they were neare him, but no wor&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 69 15.</NOTE> This is that that hee prayes deliverance from, <HI>Let not the water flood drowne mee, neither let the deepe &s;wallow me up.</HI> And this is that God a&s;&s;ures us all that are his,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">y 43.2.</NOTE> <HI>When thou pa&s;&s;e&s;t through the waters, I will bee with thee, and through the floods that they doe not overflow thee.</HI> Maintaine therefore a holy patience in all Gods vi&s;i|tations: Accept your waters, though they come in teares; for hee that &s;ends them, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, had his flood, his inundation in Blood; and what&s;oever thou &s;uffere&s;t from him, thou &s;uffere&s;t for him, and glorifie&s;t him in that con&s;tancy. Upon tho&s;e words, <HI>Tres &s;unt, There are three that beare witne&s;&s;e, That Spirit, and water, and blood,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard.</NOTE> S. <HI>Bernard</HI> taking water there, (by way of allu&s;ion) for affliction, &s;aith, Though the Spirit were witne&s;&s;e enough, without water, or blood, yet <HI>Vix aut nunquam inveniri arbitror Spiritum &s;ine aqua, &amp; &s;an|guine;</HI> we lack one of the &s;eales of the Spirit, if we lack Gods corrections. We con&s;ider three waters in our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour; He wept over Jeru&s;alem; Doe thou &s;o over thy fin|full &s;oule. He &s;weat in the garden; Doe thou &s;o too, in eating thy bread in the &s;weat of thy browes, in labouring fincerely in thy Calling. And then hee &s;ent water and blood out of his &s;ide,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Argu&s;t.</NOTE> being dead, which was, <HI>fons utriu&s;que Sacramenti,</HI> the &s;pring head of both Sacraments; Doe thou al&s;o refre&s;h in thy &s;oule, the dignity which thou received&s;t in the fir&s;t Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, and thereby come worthily to the participation of the &s;e|cond, and therein the holy Gho&s;t &s;hall give thee, the &s;eale of that &s;ecurity, which he ten|ders to thee in this Text, <HI>Non approximabunt,</HI> How great <HI>water floods</HI> &s;oever come, <HI>they &s;hall not come nigh thee,</HI> not nigh that, which is Thou, that is, thy faith, thy &s;oule, and though it may &s;wallow that, by which thou art a man, thy life, it &s;hall not &s;hake that, by which thou art a Chri&s;tian, thy Religion. Amen.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="60" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="601" REF="318">
<HEAD>SERM. LX. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.7.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Thou art my hiding place; Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve mee from trouble; Thou &s;halt compa&s;&s;e me about with &s;ongs of deliverance.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_AS Rhetorique is &s;aid to bee a fi&s;t extended and di&s;played into an open Hand, And Logique a Hand recollected, and contracted into a fi&s;t; So the Church of God may be &s;aid to be a &s;oule dilated and diffu&s;ed into many Congregati|ons, and a &s;oule may be &s;aid to be the Church contracted and conden&s;ed into one bo&s;ome. So not onely the Canticle of <HI>Solomon</HI> is taken indifferently by the ancient and later Expo&s;itors, by &s;ome for an Epithalamion, and marriage Song be|tweene Chri&s;t and his Church, by others, for the celebration of the &s;ame union between every Chri&s;tian &s;oule and him, but al&s;o many other places of Scripture have received &s;uch an indifferent interpretation, and are left in &s;u&s;pence, whether they be to be under|&s;tood of the Church in generall, or of particular &s;oules; And of this nature and number is this Text, <HI>Thou art my hiding place, &amp;c.</HI> For S. <HI>Hierom</HI> takes the&s;e words (and the whole P&s;alme) to be &s;poken collectively, others di&s;tributively; He in the per&s;on of the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> They of every, or at lea&s;t of &s;ome particular &s;oules. To examine their rea&s;ons is unnece&s;|&s;ary, and would bee tedious; It will aske le&s;&s;e time, and afford more profit to con&s;ider the words both wayes. In them therefore, con&s;idered twice over, wee &s;hall &s;ee a three|fold &s;tate of the Chri&s;tian Church, and a threefold mercy exhibited by God to every Chri&s;tian &s;oule. Fir&s;t, we &s;hall &s;ee the Church under the clouds, in her low e&s;tate, in her ob&s;curity, in her inglorious &s;tate of contempt and per&s;ecution, and yet then &s;upported by an a&s;&s;urance that God over&s;hadowed her, <HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io, Tu latibulum, Thou art my hi|ding place;</HI> And in that fir&s;t part wee &s;hall con&s;ider the &s;tate of a timorous &s;oule, a &s;oule that for feare of tentations dares &s;carce looke into the world, or embrace a profe&s;&s;ion. Secondly, we &s;hall &s;ee the Church emancipated, enfranchi&s;ed, unfettered, unmanacled, delivered from her ob&s;cure and inglorious &s;tate, and brought to &s;plendor, and beauty, and peace, ble&s;&s;ing God in that acknowledgement, <HI>Thou &s;halt pre&s;erveme from trouble.</HI> And in that part, wee &s;hall con&s;ider the &s;tate of that &s;oule exalted to a holy confidence and a&s;&s;urance, that though &s;he come into the world, and partake of the dangers thereof, in opening her&s;elfe to &s;uch tentations, as do nece&s;&s;arily and in&s;eparably accompany eve|ry calling, yet the Lord will pre&s;erve her from trouble. And thirdly and la&s;tly, we &s;hall &s;ee a kinde of Triumphant &s;tate in the Church in this world, a holy exultation, <HI>God &s;hall compa&s;&s;e her with &s;ongs of deliverance.</HI> In which part, we &s;hall al&s;o &s;ee the ble&s;&s;ed &s;tate of that &s;oule which is come, not to a pre&s;umptuous &s;ecurity, but to mode&s;t certainty of continuing in the &s;ame &s;tate &s;till. And the&s;e will bee our three parts in the&s;e words, as they receive a publike accommodation to the Church, and a more particular application to our &s;elves.</P>
<P>Wee enter into the&s;e con&s;iderations, with this ob&s;ervation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> That as God him&s;elfe is eternall and cannot bee con&s;idered in the di&s;tinction of times, &s;o hath that language in which God hath &s;poken in his written word, the Hebrew, the lea&s;t con&s;ideration of Time of any other language. Evermore in expre&s;&s;ing the mercies of God to man, it is an indifferent thing to the holy Gho&s;t whether he &s;peak in the pre&s;ent, or in the future, or in the time that is pa&s;t: what mercies &s;oever he hath given us, he will give us over againe; And what&s;oever he hath done, and will doe, hee is alwayes ready to doe at the pre&s;ent. This ver&s;e is e&s;pecially an exultation for mercies pa&s;t, and yet the two la&s;t clau&s;es are de|livered in the future, <HI>Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve me, Thou &s;halt compa&s;&s;e me,</HI> And the fir&s;t is deli|vered without any limitation at all; The pre&s;ent word, <HI>Thou art,</HI> is but in&s;erted by our
<PB N="602" REF="319">Tran&s;lators; In the Originall it is onely, <HI>Tu refugium, Thou my hiding place,</HI> There is no <HI>fui&s;ti,</HI> nor <HI>es,</HI> nor <HI>eris,</HI> That he was, or is, or will be &s;o, but it is an expre&s;&s;ing of a perpetuall and everla&s;ting mercy, <HI>for his mercy endureth for ever.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;ia.</NOTE> this is an acknowledgement of the Church, contemplating her &s;elfe in her low e&s;tate; for the word <HI>Sether</HI> implies, <HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io,</HI> Though I were in the darke, it was thou that did&s;t over&s;hadow me, Though I were in danger, it was thou that did&s;t hide mo from them. This the Church hath had occa&s;ion to &s;ay more then once; Once in the Primitive plantation thereof, and againe in her Reformation: At both times God &s;hewed mercy to her that way, in hiding her.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then God hid the Primitive Church from the eye of envy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Primitiva.</NOTE> by keeping her poore; and from the eye of jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition, by keeping her in an humble devotion to|wards him. But yet even her poverty, and her humility hid her not &s;o, but that per&s;ecuti|on found her out, and raged &s;o again&s;t her, as that tho&s;e Emperours which rai&s;ed the ten Per&s;ecutions again&s;t the Church, &s;eeme to have laboured to have gone beyond God in the ten Plagues of Egypt, and to have done more at Rome then he did there. All the power of the Roman world was bent again&s;t Chri&s;tians; more home-Chri&s;tians &s;laine then forraine enemies. All the criminall ju&s;tice of the world bent upon them; All other mens crimes, even <HI>Neroes</HI> burning of Rome, imputed to the Chri&s;tians. All the wit of the world bent again&s;t them; All their Epigrammati&s;ts, &amp; Satyri&s;ts, having their wits exalted, with rage, with wine, with rewards, to multiply libels, and calumnies, and defamations upon the Chri&s;tians. All the Mechaniques of that world bent again&s;t them; All the En|giniers employed to invent racks and tortures for the Chri&s;tians. Truly, if I were to work upon Heathen men, We&s;terne Americans, or Ea&s;terne Chine&s;es, for their conver&s;i|on to Chri&s;t, I &s;hould &s;carce adventure to propo&s;e to them the hi&s;tories of the Martyrs of the Primitive Church, becau&s;e to men that had no ta&s;te of Religion before, they would rather &s;eeme fables then truths; and I &s;hould as &s;oone be beleeved, That a Virgin had a Son, or in any maine Article of our Religion, as that man could inflict, or that man could beare &s;uch things, as we are &s;ure the Martyrs in the Primitive Church did. Then God hid the Church; He hid her, in a great part in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, in Ermitages, and &s;uch retirings, &s;inglely one by one; and after in penurious and ob&s;cure Mona&s;teries, many of the&s;e &s;ingle Ermits gathering them&s;elves together into one hou&s;e; when tho&s;e Mona|&s;teries were both Schooles of learning, and &s;hops of Manufactures; they taught and wrought in them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Nemo cuiquam onero&s;us,</HI> No man was a burden to any others, no man fed upon anothers labours, nor drunke the &s;weat of anothers brow: But, <HI>Operabantur manibus ea, quibus &amp; corpus pa&s;ci po&s;sit, &amp; &agrave; Deo mens impediri non po&s;sit,</HI> They laboured in &s;uch manufactures, as might &s;u&s;taine their bodies, and not withdraw their minds from the &s;ervice of God. So God hid the Church, not that the per&s;ecution did not finde and lop off many a great, and top bough, but he hid the roote, and prevented the extirpati|on of that Tree, which his owne right hand had planted.</P>
<P><HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Reformata.</NOTE> <HI>Thou art my hiding place,</HI> &s;ayes the Primitive Church, and &s;o may the Reformed Church &s;ay too. For when the Roman Church had made this <HI>Latibulum,</HI> this hiding place, this refuge from Per&s;ecution, Ermitages and Mona&s;teries, to be the mo&s;t con&s;picuous, the mo&s;t glorious, the mo&s;t eminent, the riche&s;t and mo&s;t abundant places of the World; when they had drawne the&s;e, at fir&s;t remote corners in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, fir&s;t into the skirts, and &s;uburbs, then into the body and heart of every great City; when for revenew and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, they will confe&s;&s;e, that &s;ome one Mona&s;tery of the Benedi|ctan had ten thou&s;and of our pounds of yearely rent; when they were come for their huge opulency to that height, that they were formidable to tho&s;e States that harboured them, and for their numbers, (other Orders holding proportion with that one) to reckon out of one Order, fifty two Popes, two hundred Cardinals, &s;even thou&s;and Archbi&s;hops and Bi&s;hops, and almo&s;t three hundred Emperours and Kings, and their children, and fifty thou&s;and declared and approved Saints; when they were come to that over-valuati|on of their Religious Orders, as to &s;ay, That a Monke, a Fryer merited more in his very &s;leep, or meales, then any &s;ecular man, (though a Church-man too) did in his be&s;t works, That to enter into any Order of Religion was a &s;econd Bapti&s;me, and wrought as much as the fir&s;t; Their revenew, their number, their dignity being come to this, And then their viciou&s;ne&s;&s;e, their &s;en&s;uality, their be&s;tiality, to as great a height and exaltation, as that; yet in the mid&s;t of all the&s;e, <HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io mea,</HI> may the Reformed Church &s;ay, The
<PB N="603" REF="319">Lord was their hiding place, that mourned for this, when they could not helpe, and at all times, and by all meanes that God afforded them, endeavoured to advancea Reforma|tion. And though God expo&s;ed them as a wood to be felled, to a &s;laughter of twenty, of forty, of &s;ixty thou&s;and in a day, yet <HI>Ille ab&s;con&s;io,</HI> He hath beene our hiding place, He hath kept the roote alive all the way; And though it hath beene with a cloud, yet he hath covered us.</P>
<P>God came unto <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> though he came <HI>In caligine Nubis, In a thick Cloud;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 19.9.</NOTE> when <HI>the glory of the Lord</HI> is &s;aid <HI>to have filled the Tabernacle,</HI> even that glory was a <HI>Cloud;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 40.34.</NOTE> And &s;o it was in the &s;econd place of his wor&s;hip too, in <HI>Solomons</HI> Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chro. 5.13.</NOTE> that was filled with a <HI>Cloud.</HI> S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> when he con&s;idered that Chri&s;t a&s;cended in a <HI>Cloud,</HI><NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Acts 1.</NOTE><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> And that he &s;hall returne againe in a <HI>Cloud,</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Mat. 24.</NOTE> <HI>Paternum Currum deligere voluit,</HI> The Son would make u&s;e of his Fathers Chariot, and &s;hew mercy, nay &s;hew glory in a Cloud, as his Father had done often. The Primitive Church, the Reformed Church, mu&s;t not complaine of having beene kept under Clouds; for <HI>Ille ab&s;con&s;io,</HI> God hath made tho&s;e Clouds their hiding place, and wrapped up the &s;eed, and the roote &s;afe in that Cloud. Though the Church were trodden upon like a worme of the earth, yet &s;till &s;he might heare God in that Cloud, <HI>Noli timere vermis Iacob, Be not afraid thou worme of Iacob, for I will keepe thee,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 41.14.</NOTE> <HI>&s;aith the Lord thy Redeemer, the holy One of I&s;rael.</HI> God hid her then, and hath manife&s;ted now, that there was never any time, when he had not &s;ome of his to oppo&s;e her tyrannie and her Idolatry. They can name no time, when wee cannot name &s;ome &s;uch; And it would be much harder for them, to name men in every age, that have profe&s;&s;ed all the doctrines of the pre&s;ent Roman Church, then for us to finde men that have oppo&s;ed tho&s;e points that we oppo&s;e. Will they &s;ay, that the&s;e were too few, to con&s;titute or e&s;ta|bli&s;h, or give name to a Church? They were never &s;o few,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 19.14.</NOTE> as <HI>Elias</HI> thought there had beene in his time, when he &s;aid, <HI>I onely am left;</HI> no nor &s;o few, as God, for <HI>Elias</HI> comfort, named to him, &s;even thou&s;and; they were more then &s;o, el&s;e they could not have found &s;o many to kill, as they did. How&s;oever, &s;ince &s;o great Schoolemen among&s;t them as <HI>Alexander Ales,</HI> and &s;o great Canoni&s;ts among&s;t them, as Cardinall <HI>Turrecremata,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Brondus in Apoc. c. 1. q. 11.</NOTE> with many others, (as they them&s;elves call them) <HI>Gravi&s;simi Theologi,</HI> of the grave&s;t Divines, <HI>a&s;&s;everanter affirmant,</HI> do dogmatically affirme, that during the time that Chri&s;t lay in the Grave, there was no faith, and con&s;equently no Church, but onely in One, in the per&s;on of the Virgin <HI>Mary;</HI> in relation to which it is, that in the Ceremonies of the Church, they put out all their Candles but one, in the Church, at that time, to denote that all the Apo&s;tles lo&s;t their faith, and one She alone retained one; If the Church were then in one per&s;on, they may well afford a Church to have con&s;i&s;ted of &s;uch numbers, as the Lord did hide under his wings, all the &s;tormy time of their Per&s;ecutions.</P>
<P><HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io,</HI> may the Primitive Church, and the Reformed Church &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Anima.</NOTE> <HI>Thou ha&s;t beene our hiding place,</HI> And &s;o mu&s;t every timerous &s;oule too, (for you may remember, that the&s;e words are by our Expo&s;itors a&s;cribed to particular &s;oules in the Church, as well as to the Church in generall) every &s;uch &s;oule, that for feare of tentations in the world, is loth to come abroad from its retiredne&s;&s;e, and venture on the publique view, mu&s;t rely upon that, <HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io,</HI> The Lord is able to hide them, able to cover them.</P>
<P><HI>Iovinian</HI> the Heretique whom S. <HI>Hierom</HI> oppo&s;ed, would needs thinke, or at lea&s;t &s;ay, That after Bapti&s;me no man was tempted of the Devill: not onely not overcome, but not tempted. But our Bapti&s;me does not drowne the Devill.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Pauci inter Athletas in ex|pugnabiles,</HI> Few wra&s;tlers that never tooke fall; none that may not, &s;ince we are all at be&s;t, but wra&s;tlers. <HI>Vita hominis piraterium,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> what Copy &s;oever he followed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ser. 42. Iob. 7.1. Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> Others read it, <HI>Mans life is a warfare;</HI> And that is labour enough, and danger enough. But to be &s;till upon &s;o uncon&s;tant an element as the water, and &s;till pur&s;ued by Pirats, or con&s;orted with Pirates, is more; and <HI>Vita Piraterium,</HI> &s;ayes he, Mans life, every mans life is &s;pent among&s;t Pirats, pur&s;ued by them, or con&s;orted with them. The Devill hath not a more &s;ubtile tentation to en&s;nare me with, then to bring me to thinke my &s;elfe tentation-proofe; above tentation. <HI>Nemo diu fortis e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> is excellently &s;aid by the &s;ame Father: No man continues &s;trong again&s;t tentations long. For when he &s;ees, that &s;ome tentations have done him no harme, hee growes negligent and &s;lacke towards others. <HI>Infoelix ego! victonem me puto, dum capior,</HI> Mi&s;erable mi&s;taking man that I am!<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> I thinke my &s;elfe able to overcome any tentation, and I am overcome even by that tentation of thinking &s;o. I thinke my &s;elfe conquerour, when I am captive, and am chained to the
<PB N="604" REF="320">Chariot, when I thinke I &s;it in it. <HI>Tranquillitas i&s;ta tempe&s;tas e&s;t,</HI> This calme is a &s;torme, this &s;ecurity is a defeat; For, it is one of <HI>Davids</HI> heavy imprecations, <HI>Veniat illi laqueus quem ignorat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.8. Ecclus. 34.9.</NOTE> <HI>Let him be catchedin a &s;nare, that he &s;u&s;pected not: De&s;truction come upon him unawares,</HI> &s;o we read it. We are tempted, and it is well that we are &s;o. <HI>Qui non e&s;t tentatus, quid &s;cit?</HI> He is an ignorant &s;oule, and knowes nothing, that hath pa&s;&s;ed no tentations; Nothing at all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> not him&s;elfe; <HI>Ne&s;cit &s;e homo, ni&s;i tentatione di&s;cat &s;e,</HI> Except he be taught in that Schoole, The Schoole of tentations, no man ever comes to know him&s;elfe. So then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo.</NOTE> <HI>Laqueus e&s;t in &s;ecuritate;</HI> If I be &s;ecure, and negligent, that is a &s;nare; But <HI>Laqueus in timore</HI> too, &s;ayes he; It is a &s;nare ca&s;t by the Devils owne hand, If I be over-timerous, If upon pretence of hiding my &s;elfe from tentations, I withdraw my &s;elfe from the of|fices of mutuall &s;ociety. <HI>Tu ab&s;con&s;io,</HI> The Lord will be my hiding place from tentations that attempt me in my calling,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl. 9.20.</NOTE> but not to hide me from a calling. <HI>Scito quod in medio la|queorum ingrederis,</HI> Know that thou walke&s;t in the mid&s;t of &s;nares, but yet thou mu&s;t walke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> walke in a calling. So S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> reads that; and adds, He does not &s;ay, <HI>Vide,</HI> but <HI>Scito;</HI> He does not &s;ay, &s;ee them, for they are invi&s;ible; but know that there are &s;nares, and be wary.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> And then, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> &s;ayes of the whole Church, (which was our fir&s;t Con&s;ideration) <HI>Eccle&s;ia Catholica inter tentationes vivit, inter tentationes cre&s;cit,</HI> The whole Church is in the mid&s;t of tentations, but lives and growes up in the mid&s;t of them: So, heare thy God &s;ay to thy &s;oule, (which is the Con&s;ideration that we are now upon) <HI>Son of man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 2.6.</NOTE> <HI>though bryars and thornes be with thee, though thou dwell among Scorpions, bee not afraid of their words, nor di&s;maid with their lookes.</HI> Proceed in a lawfull calling, and God &s;hall hide thee though with his Clouds: And though he cover thee with a cloud of poverty, with &s;ickne&s;&s;e, with di&s;grace, and if he &s;ee no other cover &s;afe, cover thee with the cloud of death, and the grave, all is to cover thee from the Tempter, and thereby to pre&s;erve thee for him&s;elfe, which is our &s;econd part, <HI>Thou art my hiding place, Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve me from trouble.</HI></P>
<P>If wee content our &s;elves with that word which our Tran&s;lators have cho&s;en here, <HI>Trouble,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. Trouble.</NOTE> <HI>(Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve me from Trouble)</HI> we mu&s;t re&s;t in one of the&s;e two &s;en&s;es; Ei|ther that God &s;hall arme, and indue tho&s;e that are his, with &s;uch a con&s;tancy, as tho&s;e things that trouble others,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.5.</NOTE> &s;hall not trouble them, but, <HI>As the &s;ufferings of Chri&s;t abound in them,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o their con&s;olation al&s;o aboundeth by Chri&s;t, As unknowne, and yet well knowne, as dying, and behold we live, as &s;orrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing, as poore yet making many rich, as having nothing, and yet po&s;&s;e&s;sing all things;</HI> For, God u&s;es both the&s;e wayes in the behalfe of his &s;ervants; &s;ometimes to &s;u&s;pend the working of that that &s;hould worke their torment, as he &s;u&s;pended the rage of the Lyons for <HI>Daniel,</HI> and the heat of the fire in the furnace, for the others; Sometimes by imprinting a holy &s;tupefaction, and un&s;en|&s;iblene&s;&s;e in the per&s;on that &s;uffers, So S. <HI>Laurence</HI> was not onely patient, but merry and facetious when he lay broyling upon the fire, and &s;o we reade of many other Martyrs, that they have beene le&s;&s;e moved, le&s;&s;e affected with their torments, then their Executio|ners, or their Per&s;ecutors have beene, That which troubled others never troubled them; Or els the phra&s;e mu&s;t have this &s;en&s;e, That though they be troubled with their troubles, though God &s;ubmit them &s;o far, to the common condition of men, that they be &s;en&s;ible of them, yet he &s;hall pre&s;erve them from that trouble &s;o, as that it &s;hall never overthrow them, never &s;inke them into a dejection of &s;pirit, or diffidence in his mercy; They &s;hall finde &s;tormes, but a &s;tout and &s;trong &s;hip under foote; They &s;hall feele Thunder and lightning, but garlands of triumphant bayes &s;hall pre&s;erve them; They &s;hall be trodden into the earth with &s;cornes and contempts, but yet as &s;eed is buried, to multiply to more. So far this word of our Tran&s;lators a&s;&s;i&s;t our devotion, <HI>Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve me from trouble,</HI> Thou &s;halt make me un&s;en&s;ible of it, or thou &s;halt make me victorious in it.</P>
<P>But the Originall word <HI>Tzur</HI> hath a more peculiar &s;en&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Perplexity.</NOTE> It &s;ignifies a &s;traite, a nar|rowne&s;&s;e, a difficulty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 1.26.</NOTE> a di&s;tre&s;&s;e; <HI>I am di&s;tre&s;&s;ed for thee, my brother Ionathan,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Da|vid,</HI> in this word, when he lamented his irremediable, his irrecoverable death. So is it al&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 21.3.</NOTE> <HI>Pangs have taken hold of me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth.</HI> And &s;o the word growes to &s;ignifie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 89.43.</NOTE> <HI>Aciem gladii, Thou ha&s;t turned the edge of the &s;word,</HI> and to &s;ignifie the top and precipice of a rock;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.15.</NOTE> <HI>He clave the rocks in the wilderne&s;&s;e.</HI> So that the word ex|pre&s;&s;es <HI>Angu&s;tiam,</HI> narrowne&s;&s;e, pre&s;&s;ure, precipitation, inextricablene&s;&s;e, in a word, (that will be&s;t fit us) Perplexity; and, <HI>The Lord &s;hall pre&s;erve me from perplexity;</HI> And this may the Church, and this may every good &s;oule comfort it &s;elfe in, <HI>Thou &s;halt pre|&s;erve me from perplexity.</HI></P>
<PB N="605" REF="320">
<P>Con&s;ider it fir&s;t in the Church, and then in our &s;elves; and fir&s;t in the Primitive,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;ia Pri|mitiva.</NOTE> and then in the reformed Church. When God had brought his Church, <HI>ex ab&s;condito,</HI> from his hiding place, from poverty, and contempt, and &s;olitarine&s;&s;e, and glorified it in the eyes of the world, by many royall endowments and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, with which Princes (then become Chri&s;tians) and other great per&s;ons, piou&s;ly and graciou&s;ly inve&s;ted her, though the&s;e were tentations to a&s;pire to greater, yet God pre&s;erved her from perplexities of all kinds; from perplexing of Princes with her claims, that they might not marry, nor make leagues, nor levy Armies, but by her permi&s;&s;ion. The Church called nothing her own, but that which God had called His, and given her, that is, Tithes: All the re&s;t, &s;hee ac|knowledged to have received from the bounty of pious benefactors. This was her plea, <HI>The Lord is my rock, and my fortre&s;&s;e, and my deliverer, my &s;trength, my buckler,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 18.2.</NOTE> <HI>and my high tower.</HI> In all this Inventory, in all this Armory, and furniture of the Church, there is never a &s;word; Rocks, and fortre&s;&s;es, and bucklers, and Towers, but no &s;word, no mate|riall &s;word in the Churches hand; <HI>Arma no&s;tra preces &amp; fletus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> The Church fought with nothing but prayers and teares. And as God delivered her from the&s;e perplexities, from perplexing the affayres of Princes with her intere&s;t in their government; &s;o he delivered her from any perplexities in her own government. No u&s;urpation, no offer of any Prince that attempted to invade or violate the true right of the Church, no practi&s;e of any Here|tiques, how &s;ubtile, how potent &s;oever, though they equalled, though they exceeded the Church in number, and in power, (as at &s;ome times the Arians did) ever brought the Church to a perplexitie, or to an apprehen&s;ion of any nece&s;&s;itie, of yeelding to &s;acrilegi|ous Princes, or to irreligious Heretiques in any point, to procure their peace, or to enjoy their re&s;t, but &s;till they kept the dignitie of Prie&s;thood intire, and &s;till they kept the truth of the Chri&s;tian Religion intire; no perplexity how they &s;hould &s;ub&s;i&s;t if they were &s;o &s;tiffe, ever brought them to goe le&s;&s;e to any prevarications, or modifications, either in matter of Religion towards Heretiques, or in the execution of their religious function to|wards facrilegious u&s;urpers. So God pre&s;erved the Primitive Church from perplexitie; &s;hee was ever thankfull and &s;ubmi&s;&s;e towards her benefactors; &s;hee was ever erect and con&s;tant again&s;t u&s;urpers. And this pre&s;ervation from perplexity, we con&s;ider in the reformed Church al&s;o.</P>
<P>When the fulne&s;&s;e of time was come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;ia Re|formata.</NOTE> and that Church which lay in the bowels of the putative Church, the &s;pecious Church, the Romane Church, that is, tho&s;e &s;oules which groaned and panted after a Reformation, were enabled by God to effect it; when the Iniquity of Babylon was come to that height, That whereas at fir&s;t they tooke of Almes, afterwards <HI>Monachi emunt &amp; Nobiles vendunt,</HI> Monkes bought, and Lords &s;old,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. Ep. ad Demetr.</NOTE> nay Mo|na&s;teries bought, and the Crowne &s;old; when they went &s;o far, as to forgea Donation of <HI>Con&s;tantin,</HI> by which they laid hold upon a great temporall &s;tate, and after that &s;o much farther, as to renounce the Donation of <HI>Con&s;tantin,</HI> by which, for a long time, the Ro|man Church claimed all their temporall &s;tate, S. <HI>Peters</HI> patrimony, and &s;o, at la&s;t came to &s;ay, That all the &s;tates of all Chri&s;tian Princes are held of the Church, and really may be, and actually are forfeited to her, and may, at her plea&s;ure, be re-a&s;&s;umed by her; when for the art and &s;cience of Divinity it &s;elfe, they had buried it in the darkne&s;&s;e of the Schoole, and wrapped up that that &s;hould &s;ave our &s;oules, in tho&s;e perplexed and inex|tricable clouds of Schoole-divinitie, and their Schoole-divinitie &s;ubject to &s;uch changes, as that a Je&s;uit profe&s;&s;es, that in the compa&s;&s;e but of thirty yeares,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tanner. in A|quin. p. 1. ad Lector.</NOTE> &s;ince <HI>Gregory de Valen|tia</HI> writ, <HI>Ver&egrave; dici po&s;sit, novam quodammodo Theologiam prognatam e&s;&s;e,</HI> We may truly &s;ay, that we have a new art of Divinity ri&s;en among&s;t us; The Divinity of the&s;e times, &s;ayes he, is not in our Church the &s;ame that it was thirty yeares &s;ince; &s;ince all parts of the Chri&s;tian Church were &s;o incen&s;ed, both with their here&s;ie, and their tyranny, as that the Greeke Church, which generally they would make the world beleeve, is ab&s;olutely as they are, is by &s;ome of their own Authors confe&s;&s;ed to be more aver&s;e from them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Stenartius Ep. Dedic. ante Calecam.</NOTE> and more bitter again&s;t them, then <HI>Luther</HI> or <HI>Calvin;</HI> &s;ince upon all the&s;e provocations, God was plea&s;ed to bring this Church, the Reformed Church, not onely to light, but to &s;plendor, He hath pre&s;erved this Church from perplexities. If they &s;ay, we are per|plexed with differences of opinions among&s;t our &s;elves, let this &s;atisfie them, that we doe agree all, in all fundamentall things: And that in things much nearer the foundation, then tho&s;e in which our differences lie, they differ among&s;t them&s;elves, with more acri|mony and bitterne&s;&s;e, then we doe. If they thinke to perplex us with the Fathers, we are
<PB N="606" REF="321">ready to joyne that i&s;&s;ue with them; where the Fathers &s;peak unanimou&s;ly, dogmatical|ly, in matters of faith, we are content to be tried by the Fathers. If they thinke to per|plex us with Councels, we will goe as farre as they in the old ones, and as farre as they for meeting in new Councels, if they may be fully, that is, Royally, Imperially called, and equally proceeded in, and the Re&s;olutions grow and gathered there upon debate|ments, upon the place, and not brought thither upon commandment from Rome. If there be no way but Force and Armes, if they will admit no triall but that, God bee ble&s;&s;ed that keepes us from the nece&s;&s;ity, but God bee ble&s;&s;ed al&s;o that he pre&s;erves us from perplexity, or not being able to defend his cau&s;e, if he call us to that triall. And therefore let them never call it a Perplexity in us, let them never &s;ay that we know not what to doe, when we acknowledge the Church of Rome to be truly a Church: for the Pe&s;t-hou&s;e is a hou&s;e, and theirs is &s;uch a Church; But the Pe&s;t-hou&s;e is not the be&s;t ayre to live in, nor the Romane Church the be&s;t Church to die in. <HI>Thou ha&s;t pre&s;erved me from perplexities,</HI> may the Primitive Church &s;ay, and &s;o may the Reformed too, and &s;o al&s;o may every particular &s;oule &s;ay, which is a Con&s;ideration, that from the beginning we propo&s;ed for every Part, and are now come to it in this.</P>
<P>When we were upon this con&s;ideration in our former Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Anima.</NOTE> we &s;hewed you, that no over-tender or timorous &s;oule, might hide it &s;elfe in a retired life, from the offices of &s;o|ciety, but though every particular age bring a new &s;in with it, every complexion a new &s;in, every occupation a new &s;in, every friend a new &s;in, that mu&s;t be loved for his &s;ake, yet <HI>Para te foro,</HI> Thou art bound to come abroad, and tru&s;t upon Gods hiding thee there from tentations, and &s;o a&s;&s;ure thy &s;elf that he will pre&s;erve thee from perplexities. Now, wee con&s;ider in the Schoole, Perplexities, which are &s;uch onely by mi&s;-under&s;tanding; and Perplexities, which are &s;uch in the true nature of the thing. Tho&s;e of the fir&s;t kinde, perplexities in a mi&s;-under&s;tanding, &s;hould fall upon no man; perplexities of the &s;econd kinde, in the nature of the thing it &s;elfe, can fall upon no man. Of the fir&s;t kinde, this is an example, A man &s;weares to conceale all his friends &s;ecrets, and he tells him of a trea&s;onable purpo&s;e again&s;t the State; Either way he mu&s;t offend; Again&s;t his oath if he reaveale it, or again&s;t his Allegeance, if he doe not. This is no perplexity; for in a right under&s;tanding he mu&s;t know, that &s;uch an Oath bindes not. Of the &s;econd kinde there was an example in <HI>Origen,</HI> who mu&s;t, by the commandement of the Per&s;ecutor, either offer &s;acrifice to an Idol, or pro&s;titute his body to an adominable abu&s;e with ano|ther man. Which &s;hould he doe? Neither. God gives a man an i&s;&s;ue in &s;uch ca&s;es, by death;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Et vitam poti&ugrave;s finire d&egrave;bet qu&agrave;m maculare,</HI> He is bound to give his life, rather then to &s;taine his life. This timorous &s;oule then feares where no feare is. He would hide him&s;elfe, he is loath to come into the world, becau&s;e he thinks hee mu&s;t needs &s;in. Hee needs not. Is there a nece&s;&s;ity laid upon him, that he mu&s;t die as rich as the riche&s;t of his profe&s;&s;ion, and that he cannot doe without &s;in? That he mu&s;t leave his wife &s;uch a Joynture, and his children &s;uch Portions, and all that he cannot doe without &s;in? Fir&s;t, all that he may doe without &s;in: We have &s;eene in all Profe&s;&s;ions hone&s;t men die as rich,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 10.29.</NOTE> as di&s;hone&s;t. If thou do not, he that hath &s;aid, <HI>There is no man that hath left wife or children for my &s;ake, but &s;hall have a hundred fold here, and everla&s;ting life,</HI> (which is a ble&s;|&s;ed Codicil to a Will that was abundant before) will al&s;o &s;ay, There is no man that hath left wife and children poore for my &s;ake, but I will enlarge my providence upon them even in this life, and my glory in the next: And this was our &s;econd Part, con&s;idered in the Church and in our &s;elves, <HI>Thou &s;halt pre&s;erve, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>There remaines yet a third Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Part.</NOTE> that as God hides us from tentations, that they reach us not; or pre&s;erves us from intricacies, and perplexities, &s;o that they hurt us not; &s;o if they doe, yet he <HI>compa&s;&s;es us with a joyfull Deliverance,</HI> (as our former) or <HI>with &s;ongs of Delive|rance,</HI> as this Tran&s;lation hath it, that is, imprints in us a holy certitude, a faire a&s;&s;urance, that he will never for&s;ake us; And this voyce we may heare from the Church fir&s;t, and then from every particular &s;oule; for, to both, (as we have told you all the way) doe all the parts of this P&s;alme appertaine.</P>
<P>As it is an exaltation of Gods indignation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Compa&s;&s;e. Lament. 3.5.</NOTE> when he is &s;aid to <HI>Compa&s;&s;e</HI> by way of &s;iege, (&s;o Jeru&s;alem complaines, <HI>He hath builded again&s;t me, he hath compa&s;&s;ed me with gall and travell, he hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out;</HI> So God threatens, <HI>I will camp again&s;t thee round about,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 39.3.</NOTE> <HI>and I will lay &s;iege again&s;t thee</HI>) for this intimates &s;uch a di&s;plea&s;ure of God, as that he does not onely leave us &s;uccourle&s;&s;e, joyle&s;&s;e, comfortle&s;&s;e in our &s;elves,
<PB N="607" REF="321">but cuts off tho&s;e &s;upplies which might relieve us; He compa&s;&s;es us, he be&s;ieges us, hee camps round about us, that no reliefe can enter; &s;o when his love and mercy is expre&s;&s;ed in this phra&s;e, that he <HI>compa&s;&s;es</HI> us, it &s;ignifies both an intire mercy, that no enemy &s;hall break in in any part, whil&s;t he doth compa&s;&s;e us, and a permanent and durable mercy, that as no force of the enemy, &s;o no wearine&s;&s;e in him&s;elfe, &s;hall make him di&s;continue his watches, or his guard over us, but that he will compa&s;&s;e us &s;till.</P>
<P><HI>Thy faithfulne&s;&s;e is round about thee,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David</HI> to God; that is our fir&s;t comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 89.8.</NOTE> that God compa&s;&s;es him&s;elfe with his owne faithfulne&s;&s;e, that is, is never unmindfull of his owne promi&s;es, and purpo&s;es; And then, <HI>He is round about our habitations;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.28.</NOTE> God compa&s;|&s;es him&s;elfe with his owne faithfulne&s;&s;e, and then, he compa&s;&s;es us with him&s;elfe: That as Satan told God one day after another, <HI>Circuivi terram, &amp; perambulavieam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.8.</NOTE> <HI>I have compa&s;&s;ed the earth, and walked it round,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 2.2.</NOTE> but could never &s;ay that he had broke into <HI>Iobs</HI> quarter, for hee found the impo&s;&s;ibility in that, <HI>The Lord had made a hedge about him,</HI> Where note that Gods fir&s;t care is of the man; and the &s;oule is the man; fir&s;t <HI>a hedge about him,</HI> and then, <HI>about his hou&s;e, and about all that he had, on every &s;ide;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.10.</NOTE> So day after day we &s;hall finde arguments to e&s;tabli&s;h our hearts in hope, that the Lord hath compa&s;|&s;ed us, and nothing &s;hall breake in &s;o, as to take us from him; but God &s;hall &s;ay to us, as to his former people, <HI>Leva in circuitu oculos tuos, Lift up thine eyes round about,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 49.18.</NOTE> <HI>and behold,</HI> (which is one great comfort, that he enables us to &s;ee and to know our enemies, to di&s;|cerne a tentation to be a tentation) <HI>Omnes i&s;ti congregati &s;unt, All the&s;e gather them&s;elves together, and come to thee,</HI> (which is another a&s;&s;i&s;tance, that when we &s;ee our enemies multiply, and that there is none that fighteth for us, but onely thou O God, we make a more pre&s;ent recour&s;e to him) But, <HI>Vivo ego dicit Dominus, As I live &s;aith the Lord, Ve|lut ornamento ve&s;tieris, thou &s;halt &s;urely cloathe thee with them all as with an ornament, and binde them on thee as a Bride doth;</HI> (which is the fulne&s;&s;e of the mercy, That as in ano|ther place, he promi&s;es his children, <HI>Panis ve&s;ter &s;unt,</HI> your enemies &s;hall be your <HI>Bread,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Numb. 14.9.</NOTE> you &s;hall feed upon your enemies; So here hee makes our enemies, even our &s;pirituall enemies; our Cloathes, and more then that, our Jewels, our Ornaments, wee &s;hall bee the &s;tronger, the warmer, the richer, by tribulations, and tentations, having overcome them, as we &s;hall, if the Lord compa&s;&s;e us, if he continue his watchfulne&s;&s;e over us) And that <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes here, fir&s;t in the Churches behalfe.</P>
<P>God from the beginning carried a wall about his Church, in that a&s;&s;urance,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Primitiva.</HI> Mat. 16.18.</NOTE> <HI>Portae inferi, The gates of hell &s;hall not prevaile again&s;t it.</HI> The Gentiles, the Philo&s;ophers that were without the Church, found a party, Traitors, Con&s;pirators within, The Heretiques; and all the&s;e led and maintained by potent Princes that per&s;ecuted the Church; The gates of hell were all opened, and i&s;&s;ued all her forces, but <HI>Non praevaluerunt,</HI> they never pre|vailed. The Arians were &s;ometimes more then the true Chri&s;tians in all the world: The Martyrians, a &s;ect that affected the name of Martyrdome, could name more Mar|tyrs then the true Church could, but <HI>Evanuerunt,</HI> yet they vani&s;hed: The Emperours of Rome per&s;ecuted the Bi&s;hops of Rome to death, yet when we looke upon the recko|ning, the Emperors died fa&s;ter then Bi&s;hops. <HI>Thou ha&s;t compa&s;&s;ed me,</HI> &s;ayes the Primitive Church, and &s;o &s;ayes the Reformed too.</P>
<P>Princes that hated one another have joyned in leagues again&s;t the Religion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Reformata.</NOTE> Princes that needed their Subjects, have &s;pent their Subjects by thou&s;ands, in Ma&s;&s;acres, to ex|tingui&s;h the Religion; Per&s;onall A&s;&s;a&s;inates, Clande&s;tine plots by poy&s;on, by fire, by water have been multiplied again&s;t Princes that favour the Religion; Inqui&s;itions, Con|fi&s;cations, Bani&s;hments, Di&s;honours have overflowne them that profe&s;&s;e the true Reli|gion; and yet the Lord compa&s;&s;ing his Church, &s;he enjoyes a holy certainty, ari&s;ing out of the&s;e te&s;timonies of his care, that &s;he &s;hall never be for&s;aken. And this may every good &s;oule have too.</P>
<P>God comes to us without any purpo&s;e of departing from us againe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Anima.</NOTE> For the Spirit of life that God breated into man, that departs from man in death; but when God had a&s;&s;umed the nature of man, the God-head never parted from that nature; no, not in death; When Chri&s;t lay dead in the grave, the God-head remained united to that body and that &s;oule, which were di&s;-united in them&s;elves; God was &s;o united to man, as that he was with man, when man was not man, in the &s;tate of death. So when the Spirit of God hath inve&s;ted, compa&s;&s;ed thy &s;oule, and made it his by tho&s;e te&s;timo|nies, that Spirit e&s;tabli&s;hes it in a kinde of a&s;&s;urance that he will never leave it. Old
<PB N="608" REF="322">Rome had (as every City among&s;t the Heathen had) certaine gods which they called their Tutelar gods, gods that were affected to the pre&s;ervation of that place; But they dur&s;t never call upon tho&s;e gods, by their proper names, for feare of lo&s;ing them; le&s;t if their names &s;hould bee knowne by their enemies, their enemies &s;hould winne away their gods from them, by be&s;towing more co&s;t, or more devotion towards them then they them&s;elves u&s;ed. So al&s;o is it &s;aid of them, that when they had brought to Rome a for|raigne god, which they had taken in a conquered place, Victory, they cut the wings of their new god Victory, le&s;t he &s;hould flie from them againe. This was a mi&s;ery, that they were not &s;ure of their gods when they had them. We are; If he once come to us, he ne|ver goes from us, out of any variablene&s;&s;e in him&s;elfe, but in us onely; That promi&s;e rea|ches to the whole Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.20.</NOTE> and to every particular &s;oule, <HI>Thy Teachers &s;hall not bee remo|ved into a corner any more, but thine eye &s;hall &s;ee thy Teachers,</HI> which in the Originall (as is appliably to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, noted by <HI>Rabbi Mo&s;es</HI>) is, <HI>Non erunt Doctores tui alati,</HI> Thy Teachers &s;hall have no wings, They &s;hall never flie from thee, and &s;o the great Tran&s;lation reads it, <HI>Non avolabunt.</HI> As their great god, Victory, could not flie from Rome, &s;o after this victory which God hath given his Church in the Reformation, none of her Teachers &s;hould flie to, or towards Rome. Every way that God comes to us, he comes with a purpo&s;e to &s;tay, and would imprint in us an a&s;&s;urance that he doth &s;o, and that Impre&s;&s;ion is this Compa&s;&s;ing of thy &s;oule, <HI>with &s;ongs of deliverance,</HI> in the &s;ignifica|tion and u&s;e of which word, we &s;hall in one word conclude all.</P>
<P>God hath given us this certitude,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Songs.</NOTE> this faire a&s;&s;urance of his perpetuall re&s;idence with us, in a word of a double &s;ignification; The word is <HI>Ranan,</HI> which &s;ignifies Joy, exulta|tion, &s;inging;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 2.14. P&s;al. 17.1.</NOTE> But it hath another &s;en&s;e too. <HI>Ari&s;e, Cry out in the night.</HI> And, <HI>Attend unto my cry,</HI> which are voyces far from &s;inging. This God meanes therein, That though he give us that comfort to &s;it and &s;ing of our Deliverance, yet hee would not have us fall a&s;leepe with that mu&s;ique, but as when we contemplate his everla&s;ting goodne&s;&s;e, wee celebrate that with a con&s;tant Joy, &s;o when we looke upon our owne weakne&s;&s;e and un|worthine&s;&s;e, we cry out, <HI>Wretched men that wee are, who &s;hall deliver us from this body of death?</HI> For though we have the Spirit of life in us, we have a body of death upon us. How loving &s;oever my &s;oule be, it will not &s;tay in a di&s;ea&s;ed body; How loving &s;oever the Spi|rit of life be, it will not &s;tay in a di&s;ea&s;ed &s;oule. My &s;oule is loath to goe from my body, but &s;ickne&s;&s;e and paine will drive it out; &s;o will &s;inne, the Spirit of life from my &s;oule. God compa&s;&s;es us with Songs of Deliverance, we are &s;ure he would not leave us; But he compa&s;&s;es us with Cries too, we are afraid, we are &s;ure, that we may drive him from us. Pray we therefore our Lord of everla&s;ting goodne&s;&s;e, That he will be our Hiding-place, That hee will protect us from tentations incident to our &s;everall Callings, That hee will pre&s;erve us from troubles, pre&s;erve us from them, or pre&s;erve us in them, pre&s;erve us that they come not, or pre&s;erve us that they overcome not; And that hee will compa&s;&s;e us, &s;o as no enemy find overture unto us, and compa&s;&s;e us with &s;ongs, with a joyfull &s;en&s;e of our per&s;everance, but yet with cries too, with a &s;olicitous feare, that that multiplicity and hainou&s;ne&s;&s;e of our &s;ins may weary even the ince&s;&s;ant and indefatigable Spirit of comfort him&s;elfe, and cha&s;e him from us.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="61" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="609" REF="322">
<HEAD>SERM. LXI. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.8.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I will In&s;truct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou &s;halt goe, I will guide thee with mine eye.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THis ver&s;e, more then any other in the P&s;alme, an&s;wers the Title of the P&s;alme. The title is, <HI>Davids In&s;truction;</HI> and here in the Text it is &s;aid, <HI>I will in&s;truct thee, and teach thee, in the way thou &s;halt goe.</HI> There are eleven P&s;almes that have that Title, <HI>P&s;almes of In&s;truction;</HI> The whole booke is <HI>Sepher Tehillim, The booke of pray&s;es;</HI> and it is a good way of pray|&s;ing God, to receive In&s;truction, In&s;truction how to prai&s;e him. Therefore doth the ho|ly Gho&s;t returne &s;o often to this Catechi&s;ticall way, In&s;truction, In&s;titution, as to pro|po&s;e &s;o many P&s;almes, expre&s;ly under that Title purpo&s;ely to that u&s;e. In one of tho&s;e, The manner how In&s;truction &s;hould be given, is expre&s;&s;ed al&s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45. Bernard.</NOTE> It mu&s;t be in a loving ma|ner, for the Title is <HI>Canticum Amorum,</HI> A &s;ong of love for In&s;truction. For <HI>Ab&s;que pru|dentia, &amp; benevolentia, non &s;unt perfecta con&s;ilia:</HI> True In&s;truction is a making love to the Congregation, and to every &s;oule in it; but it is but to the &s;oule. And &s;o when S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid, <HI>He was mad for their &s;akes, In&s;anivit Amatoriam in&s;aniam,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Theophylact,</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> was mad for love of them, to whom he writ his holy love-letters, his Epi&s;tles. And thereupon doe the Rabbins call this P&s;alme, <HI>Leb David, Cor Davidis,</HI> The opening and powring out of <HI>Davids</HI> heart to them, whom he in&s;tructs. Wee have no way into your hearts, but by &s;ending our hearts. The Poets coun&s;ell is, <HI>Vt ameris, ama,</HI> If thou would&s;t be truely loved, doe thou love truely; The holy Gho&s;ts precept upon us is, <HI>Vt credaris, crede,</HI> That if we would have you beleeve, wee beleeve our &s;elves. It is not to our Elo|quence that God promi&s;es a ble&s;&s;ing, but to our &s;incerity, not to our tongue, but to our heart: All our hope of bringing you to love God, is in a loving and hearty maner to pro|po&s;e Gods love to you. The height of the Spou&s;es love to Chri&s;t, came but to that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.5.</NOTE> <HI>I am &s;icke of love:</HI> The love of Chri&s;t went farther, To die for love. <HI>Love is as &s;trong as death;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 8.6.</NOTE> but nothing el&s;e is as &s;trong as either; and both, Love and Death, met in Chri&s;t. How &s;trong and powerfull upon you then &s;hould that In&s;truction be, that comes to you from both the&s;e, The Love and Death of Chri&s;t Je&s;us? and &s;uch an In&s;truction doth this text exhibite, <HI>I will in&s;truct thee, and teach thee in the way in which thou &s;halt goe, I will guide thee with mine eye.</HI> God &s;o loved the world, as that he &s;ent his Sonne to die: The Sonne being dead &s;o loved the world, as that he returned to that world againe; and being a&s;cen|ded; &s;ent the holy Gho&s;t to e&s;tabli&s;h a Church, and in that Church, <HI>V&s;que ad con&s;umma|tionem,</HI> till the end of the world, &s;hall that holy Spirit execute this Catechi&s;ticall Office, <HI>He &s;hall in&s;truct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou &s;halt goe, He &s;hall guide thee with his eye.</HI></P>
<P>Though then &s;ome later Expo&s;itors have doubted of the per&s;on, who doth this Office,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>To In&s;truct,</HI> who this <HI>I</HI> in our Text is, becau&s;e the Hebrew word <HI>Le David,</HI> is as well <HI>Davidis,</HI> as <HI>Davidi,</HI> An In&s;truction from <HI>David,</HI> as an In&s;truction to <HI>David,</HI> and &s;o the Catechi&s;t may &s;eeme to be <HI>David,</HI> and no more; yet &s;ince this Critici&s;me upon the word, <HI>Le David,</HI> argues but a po&s;&s;ibility that it may, and not a nece&s;&s;ity that it mu&s;t be &s;o, wee accompany S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> and indeed the whole body of the Fathers, in accepting this In|&s;truction from God him&s;elfe, it is no other then God him&s;elfe that &s;ayes, <HI>I will in&s;truct thee, &amp;c.</HI> No other then God him&s;elfe can undertake &s;o much as is promi&s;ed in this text. For here is fir&s;t, a rectifying of the under&s;tanding, <HI>I will in&s;truct thee,</HI> and in the Originall there is &s;omewhat more then our Tran&s;lation reaches to; It is there, <HI>Intelligere faciam te, I will moke thee under&s;tand.</HI> Man can in&s;truct, God onely can make us under&s;tand. And
<PB N="610" REF="323">then it is <HI>Faciam te,</HI> I will make Thee, Thee under&s;tand; The worke is the Lords, The under&s;tanding is the mans: for God does not worke in man, as the Devill did in Idols, and <HI>In Pythoni&s;sis,</HI> and <HI>In Ventriloquis,</HI> in po&s;&s;e&s;t per&s;ons, who had no voluntary concur|rence with the action of the Devill, but were meerely Pa&s;&s;ive; God works &s;o in man, as that he makes man worke too, <HI>Faciam Te,</HI> I will make Thee under&s;tand; That that &s;hall be done &s;hall be done by mee, but in Thee; the Power that rectifies the act is Gods, the Act is mans; <HI>Faciam te,</HI> &s;ayes God, I will make thee, thee, every particular per&s;on, (for that ari&s;es out of this &s;ingular and di&s;tributive word, <HI>Thee,</HI> which threatens no exception, no exclu&s;ion) I wil make every per&s;on, to whom I pre&s;ent In&s;truction, capable of that In|&s;truction, and if he receive it not, it is onely his, and not my fault. And &s;o this fir&s;t part is an In&s;truction <HI>De credendis,</HI> of &s;uch things, as by Gods rectifying of our under&s;tanding, we are bound to beleeve. And then in a &s;econd part, there followes a more particular In&s;tructing, <HI>Docebo, I will teach thee,</HI> And that <HI>In via, In the way;</HI> It is not onely <HI>De via,</HI> To teach thee, which is the way, that thou maie&s;t finde it, but <HI>In via,</HI> How to keepe the way, when thou art in it; He will teach thee, not onely <HI>Vt gradiaris,</HI> That thou maie&s;t walke in it, and not &s;leepe, but <HI>Quo modo gradieris,</HI> How thou maye&s;t walke in it, and not &s;tray; And &s;o this &s;econd part is an In&s;titution <HI>De agendis,</HI> of tho&s;e things, which, thine under&s;tanding being formerly rectified, and deduced into a beliefe, thou art bound to do. And then in the la&s;t words of the text, <HI>I will guide thee with mine eye,</HI> there is a third part, an e&s;tabli&s;hment, a confirmation, by an ince&s;&s;ant watchfulne&s;&s;e in God; He will con&s;ider, con&s;ult upon us, (for &s;o much the Originall word imports) He will not leave us to Con|tingencies, to Fortune, no nor to his owne generall Providence, by which all Creatures are univer&s;ally in his protection, and admini&s;tration, but he will ponder us, con&s;ider us, &s;tudy us; And that with his eye, which is the &s;harpe&s;t, and mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible organ and in|&s;trument, &s;oone&s;t feeles, if any thing be ami&s;&s;e, and &s;o inclines him quickly to rectifie us; And &s;o this third part is an In&s;truction <HI>De &s;perandis,</HI> it hath evermore a relation to the future, to the con&s;tancy and per&s;everance of Gods goodne&s;&s;e towards us; to the end, and in the end, he will guide us with his eye: Except the eye of God can be put out, we cannot be put out of his &s;ight, and his care. So that, both our fraight which we are to take in, that is, what we are to beleeve concerning God; And the voyage which we are to make, how we are to &s;teere and governe our cour&s;e, that is, our behaviour and conver&s;ati|on in the hou&s;hold of the faithfull; And then the Haven to which we mu&s;t goe, that is, our a&s;&s;urance of arriving at the heavenly Jeru&s;alem, are expre&s;&s;ed in this Chart, in this Map, in this In&s;truction, in this Text, <HI>I will In&s;truct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou &s;halt goe, I will guide thee with mine eye.</HI> And when you have done all this, Beleeved aright, and lived according to that beliefe, and died according to that life, in the la&s;t voyce <HI>Surgite,</HI> you &s;hall finde a <HI>Venite,</HI> as &s;oone as you are called from the du&s;t of the grave, you &s;hall <HI>Enter into your Ma&s;ters joy,</HI> and be no more called <HI>&s;ervants,</HI> but <HI>friends,</HI> no more <HI>friends,</HI> but <HI>&s;ons,</HI> no more <HI>&s;ons</HI> but <HI>heires,</HI> no more <HI>heires,</HI> but <HI>coheires</HI> with the only Son of God, no more <HI>coheires,</HI> but <HI>Idem Spiritus, The &s;ame Spirit with the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. <HI>In&s;truit.</HI></NOTE> the office which God by his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, through us, in his Church, undertakes, is to In&s;truct. And this being done &s;o by God him&s;elfe, God &s;ending his Spirit, his Spirit working in his Mini&s;ters, his Mini&s;ters labouring in his Church, it is &s;trange that S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaking &s;o, in the name of God, and his Spirit, and his Mini&s;ters, and his Church, &s;hould be put to intreat his hearers, To &s;uffer a word of exhortation. Yet he is;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.22.</NOTE> <HI>I be&s;ech yee, brethren, &s;uffer a word of Exhortation.</HI> And the &s;trangene&s;&s;e of the ca&s;e is exalted in this, that the word there is <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Solatii,</HI> and &s;o the Vulgat reads it, and ju&s;tly, <HI>Vt &s;ufferatis verbum &s;olatii, I be&s;cech yee to &s;uffer a word of Comfort.</HI> What will yee heare willingly, if yee doe not willingly heare words of Comfort? With what &s;hall we exerci&s;e your holy joy and chearfulne&s;&s;e, if even words of Comfort mu&s;t exer|ci&s;e your patience? And yet we mu&s;t be&s;eech you to &s;uffer, even our words of comfort; for, we can propo&s;e no true comfort unto you, but &s;uch as carries &s;ome irke&s;omene&s;&s;e, &s;ome bitterne&s;&s;e with it; we can create no true joy, no true acquie&s;cence in you, without &s;ome exerci&s;e of your patience too. We cannot promi&s;e you peace with God, without a war in your &s;elves, nor reconciliation to him, without falling out with your &s;elves, nor eternall joy in the next world, without a &s;olemne remor&s;e for the &s;infull abu&s;es of this. We cannot promi&s;e you a good to morrow, without &s;ending ye backe to the con|&s;ideration of an ill ye&s;terday; for your hearing to day, is not enough, except ye repent
<PB N="611" REF="323">ye&s;terday. But yet, though with S. <HI>Paul</HI> we be put to be&s;eech you, <HI>Vt &s;ufferatis,</HI> That ye would &s;uffer In&s;truction, though we mu&s;t &s;ometimes exerci&s;e your patience, yet it is but <HI>verbum in&s;tructionis,</HI> a word of In&s;truction; and though In&s;truction be Increpation, (for as the word is <HI>Solatium,</HI> Comfort, (&s;o we have told you it is) it is Increpation too, for all true comfort hath Increpation in it) yet it may ea&s;ily be &s;uffered, becau&s;e it is but <HI>verbum,</HI> but a word, a word and away. We would not dwell upon increpations, and chidings, and bitterne&s;&s;es; we would pierce but &s;o deepe as might make you &s;earch your wounds, when you come home to your Chamber, to bring you to a tenderne&s;&s;e there, not to a palene&s;&s;e or blu&s;hing here. Wee never &s;tay &s;o long upon denouncing the judge|ments of God, but that we would, as faine as you, be at an end of that Paragraph, of that period, of that point, that we might come into a calme, and into a Lee-&s;hore, and tell you of the mercies of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. You may &s;uffer In&s;truction, though In&s;truction be increpation, for it is but a word of in&s;truction, we have &s;oone done; and you may &s;uf|fer, them, becau&s;e they are but <HI>Verba,</HI> not <HI>Verbera,</HI> They are but words, and not blowes. It is not <HI>Traditio Satanae,</HI> a delivering you up to Satan, it is not the confu&s;ion of face, nor con&s;ternation of &s;pirit, nor a jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition of Gods good purpo&s;e upon you, that we would induce by our In&s;truction, though it be Increpation, but onely a &s;en&s;e of your &s;ins, and of the Maje&s;ty of God violated by them, and &s;o to a better capacity of this In&s;truction, which the Holy Gho&s;t here pre&s;ents, <HI>In credendis,</HI> in tho&s;e things which you are bound to beleeve; of which his fir&s;t degree is, <HI>Intelligere te faciam,</HI> He will make ye under&s;tand, he will worke upon your under&s;tanding, for, &s;o much (as we noted to you at fir&s;t) doth that word, which we Tran&s;late here, <HI>I will In&s;truct thee,</HI> comprehend.</P>
<P><HI>Oportet accedentem credere;</HI> The Apo&s;tle &s;eemes to make that our fir&s;t &s;tep,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In intellectu.</HI> Heb. 11.6.</NOTE> <HI>Hee that comes to God, mu&s;t beleeve.</HI> So it is our fir&s;t &s;tep to God, To beleeve, but there is a &s;tep to|wards God, before it come to faith, which is, to under&s;tand; God works fir&s;t upon the under&s;tanding. God proceeds in our conver&s;ion, and regeneration, as he did in our fir&s;t Creation. There man was nothing; but God breathed not a &s;oule into that nothing; but of a clod of earth he made a body, and into that body infu&s;ed a &s;oule. Man in his Con|ver&s;ion, is nothing, does nothing. His bodie is not verier du&s;t in the grave, till a Re&s;ur|rection, then his &s;oule is du&s;t in his body, till a re&s;u&s;citation by grace. But then this grace does not worke upon this nothingne&s;&s;e that is in man, upon this meere privation; but Grace finds out mans naturall faculties, and exalts them to a capacity, and a &s;u&s;ciptible|ne&s;&s;e of the working thereof, and &s;o by the under&s;tanding infu&s;es faith. Therefore God begins his In&s;truction here at the under&s;tanding; and he does not &s;ay at fir&s;t, <HI>Faciam te credere,</HI> I will make thee to beleeve, but <HI>Faciam te intelligere,</HI> I will make thee un|der&s;tand.</P>
<P>That then being Gods Method, To make us under&s;tand, certainely tho&s;e things which belong to our Salvation, are not <HI>In-intelligibilia,</HI> not In-intelligible, un-under|&s;tandable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> un-conceiveavable things, but the Articles of faith are di&s;cernible by Rea&s;on. For though Rea&s;on cannot apprehend that a Virgin &s;hould have a Son, or that God &s;hould be made Man and dye, if we put our Rea&s;on primarily and immediately upon the Article &s;ingle, (for &s;o it is the object of faith onely) yet if we pur&s;ue Gods Method, and &s;ee what our under&s;tanding can doe, we &s;hall &s;ee, that out of ratiocination and di&s;cour&s;e, and probabilities, and very &s;imilitudes, at la&s;t will ari&s;e evident and nece&s;&s;ary conclu&s;i|ons; &s;uch as the&s;e, That as there is a God, that God mu&s;t be wor&s;hiped according to his will, That therefore that will of God mu&s;t be declared and manife&s;ted &s;omewhere, That this is done in &s;ome permanent way, in &s;ome Scripture, which is the Word of God, That this booke, which we call the Bible, is, by better rea&s;ons then any others can pre|tend, that Scripture; And when our Rea&s;on hath carried us &s;o far, as to accept the&s;e Scriptures for the Word of God, then all the particular Articles, A Virgins Son, and a mortall God, will follow evidently enough. And then tho&s;e two Propo&s;itions, <HI>My&s;teria credenda ut intelligantur,</HI> My&s;teries of Religion mu&s;t be beleeved before they be under|&s;tood, and <HI>My&s;teria intelligenda ut credantur,</HI> My&s;teries of Religion mu&s;t be under&s;tood before they can be beleeved, will be all one; For God exalts our naturall facultie of under&s;tanding by Grace to apprehend them, and then to that &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion and a&s;&s;ent, which he by grace produces out of our under&s;tanding, by a &s;ucceeding and more power|full Grace he &s;ets to the Seale of faith. Waite thou therefore upon God, his way; pre|&s;ent unto him an humble and a diligent under&s;tanding; conclude not too de&s;perately
<PB N="612" REF="324">again&s;t thy &s;elfe, if thou have not yet attained to all degrees of faith, but admit that pre|paration, which God offers to thine under&s;tanding, by an a&s;&s;iduous and a &s;edulous hear|ing; for a narrower faith that proceeds out of a true under&s;tanding, &s;hall carry thee far|ther then a faith that &s;eemes larger, but is wrapped up in an implicite ignorance; no man beleeves profitably, that knows not why he beleeves. The &s;ubject then, that this worke is wrought in, is that faculty, mans under&s;tanding; There God begins in the In&s;truction of this text, Thou &s;halt under&s;tand, Thou &s;halt; The act &s;hall be thine, but yet, the power is mine, <HI>faciam te, I will make thee under&s;tand,</HI> which is another Con&s;ideration in this part.</P>
<P>God doth not determine his promi&s;e here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Faciam.</NOTE> in a <HI>Faciam ut intelligas,</HI> I will ca&s;t an un|der&s;tanding upon thee, I will cau&s;e an under&s;tanding to fall upon thee, but it is <HI>faciam te intelligere, I will make thee to under&s;tand,</HI> Thou &s;halt be an Agent in thine own &s;alvation. When God made the A&s;&s;e &s;peake under <HI>Balaam,</HI> God went not &s;o far as this fir&s;t &s;tep, (not to the <HI>faciam ut intelligas</HI>) he imprinted, infu&s;ed no under&s;tanding in that Bea&s;t. When God &s;uffers the hypocrite to prai&s;e him, he imprints no under&s;tanding; Here is a <HI>Fru&s;tra colunt,</HI> It is a wor&s;hip that is no wor&s;hip, when it is with the lips onely, and the heart far off. So when a Papi&s;t cryes <HI>Templum domini, Templum domini,</HI> Vi&s;ibility of a Church, Infallibility in a Church, here is no under&s;tanding; He pretends to beleeve as the Church beleeves, but he knowes not what the Church beleeves; no, nor he neither upon whom he relies for his In&s;truction, his Prie&s;t, his Confe&s;&s;or. They are deceived that thinke every Prie&s;t or Je&s;uit, that comes hither, knowes the Tenets of that Church; it is a more re&s;erved, a more perplexed, a more involved matter then &s;o. To contract this Con&s;ideration, when a Preacher &s;peaks well, and de&s;troys as fa&s;t by his ill life, as he builds by his good doctrine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 111.10.</NOTE> here is no under&s;tanding neither. <HI>A good under&s;tanding have all they that keepe the Commandements;</HI> not all they that preach them, but that keepe them: It is all they,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.3.</NOTE> and onely they. There is no other a&s;&s;urance but that; <HI>Hereby we are &s;ure that we know him, if we keepe his Commandements.</HI> This is our <HI>Criterium,</HI> and onely this; hereby we know it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 18.9.</NOTE> and by nothing els. So that as <HI>he that is &s;lothfull in his worke, is even the brother of him that is a great wa&s;ter;</HI> So he that builds not with both hands, life and doctrine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> is &s;lothfull in his worke. He that preaches again&s;t &s;in, and doth it, <HI>In&s;truit domi|num quomodo eum condemnet,</HI> He doth not &s;o much teach his Auditory, how to &s;cape con|demnation, as teach God how to condemne him. In the&s;e ca&s;es there is no under&s;tand|ing at all; In the ca&s;e of the A&s;&s;e, and the hypocrite, and the blind Romani&s;t, and the vicious Preacher. In &s;ome other ca&s;es, there is under&s;tanding given, but without any concurrence, any cooperation of man, as in tho&s;e often vi&s;ions, and dreames, and mani|fe&s;tations of God, to the Prophets, and his other &s;ervants; There was a <HI>faciam ut intelli|gas,</HI> God would make his plea&s;ure knowne unto them, but yet not as in this Text, where God makes u&s;e of the man him&s;elfe for his own &s;alvation. But yet it is God, and God alone that does all this, that rectifies our under&s;tanding, as well as that e&s;tabli&s;hes our faith. It is my &s;oule that &s;ayes to mine eye, <HI>faciam te videre,</HI> I will make thee &s;ee, and my &s;oule that &s;ayes to mine eare, <HI>faciam te audire,</HI> I will make thee heare, and without that &s;oule, that eye and eare could no more &s;ee nor heare, then the eyes and eares of an Idol; &s;o it is my God that &s;ayes to my &s;oule, <HI>faciam te intelligere,</HI> I will make thee un|der&s;tand. And therefore as thou art bound to infinite thanke&s;givings to God, when he hath brought thee to faith, to forget not thy tribute by the way, to ble&s;&s;e and magnifie him, if he have enlarged thy de&s;ire of under&s;tanding, and thy capacity of under&s;tanding, and thy meanes of under&s;tanding; for, as how&s;oever a man may forget the order of the letters, after he is come to reade perfectly, and forget the rules of his Grammar, after he is come to &s;peake perfectly, yet by tho&s;e letters, and by that Grammar he came to that perfection; &s;o, though faith be of an infinite exaltation above under&s;tanding, yet, as though our under&s;tanding be above our &s;en&s;es, yet by our &s;en&s;es we come to under&s;tand, &s;o by our under&s;tanding we come to beleeve. And though the Holy Gho&s;t repeat that more then once, <HI>Domine quis credidit? Lord who beleeves our report?</HI> And that, <HI>Shall the &s;onne of Man finde faith upon earth when he comes?</HI> though he complain of want of faith, yet he multiplies infinitely that complaint for want of under&s;tanding, and there are ten <HI>Non intelligunts</HI> for one <HI>Non credunt,</HI> ten increpations, that his people did not under&s;tand, for one that they did not beleeve; becau&s;e, though faith be a nobler operation, God takes it alwayes wor&s;t in us, to neglect tho&s;e things which are neare&s;t us, as he doth to neglect
<PB N="613" REF="324">the ordinary and nece&s;&s;ary duties of Religion, and &s;earch curiou&s;ly into the unrevealed purpo&s;es of his &s;ecret coun&s;ails. And this In&s;truction to the under&s;tanding, he &s;eemes in this text to extend to all, for this &s;ingular word, <HI>Te,</HI> I will make <HI>Thee,</HI> Thee to under|&s;tand, includes no exclu&s;ion, but is an offer, a promi&s;e to all, which is our other and la&s;t Con&s;ideration in this fir&s;t part.</P>
<P>In this con&s;ideration, let us &s;top a little upon this que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Te.</NOTE> why the Scriptures of God more then any other booke, doe &s;till &s;peake in this &s;ingular per&s;on, and in this familiar per&s;on? &s;till <HI>Tu,</HI> and <HI>Tibi,</HI> and <HI>Te; Thou</HI> mu&s;t love God, God &s;peaks to <HI>thee,</HI> God hath care of <HI>thee.</HI> Certainly in tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages, which are from lower per&s;ons to Princes, no Author is of a more humble, and reverentiall, and ceremoniall phra&s;e, then the phra&s;e of the Scripture is. Who could goe lower then <HI>David</HI> to <HI>Saul,</HI> that calls him&s;elfe a <HI>flea,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 24.15. 2 Sam. 9.8. Dan. 2.37.</NOTE> and a <HI>dead dogge?</HI> Who could goe higher, then <HI>Daniel</HI> to <HI>Nebuchadnezzar, O King, thou art King of Kings; In all places, the children of men, the bea&s;ts of the field, the fouls of the ayre are given into thy hand; Thy greatne&s;&s;e reacheth to heaven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 4.19.</NOTE> <HI>and thy dominions to the ends of the earth.</HI> So is it al&s;o in per&s;ons nearer in nature, and nearer in ranke; <HI>Iacob bowes &s;eaven times to the ground,</HI> in the pre&s;ence of his brother <HI>E&s;au,</HI> and <HI>My Lord,</HI> and <HI>My Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 33.3.</NOTE> at eve|ry word. The Scripture phra&s;e is as ceremoniall and as ob&s;ervant of di&s;tances, as any, and yet &s;till full of this familiar word too, <HI>Tu</HI> and <HI>Tuus, Thou</HI> and <HI>Thine.</HI> And we al&s;o, we who deale mo&s;t with the Scriptures, are more accu&s;tomed to the &s;ame phra&s;e then a|ny other kinde of &s;peakers are. In a Parliament, who is ever heard to &s;ay, Thou mu&s;t needs grant this, Thou maye&s;t be bold to yeeld to this? Or who ever &s;peaks &s;o to a Judge in any Court? Nay, the King him&s;elfe will not &s;peake to the people in that phra&s;e. And yet in the pre&s;ence of the greate&s;t, we &s;ay ordinarily, Amend thy life, and God be mercifull to thee, and I ab&s;olve thee of all thy &s;innes. Beloved, in the Scripture. God &s;peaks either to the Church, his Spou&s;e, and to his children, and &s;o he may be bo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">d, and would be familiar with them; Or els he &s;peaks &s;o, as that he would be thought <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> thee to &s;peake &s;ingularly to thy &s;oule in particular. Know then, that Chri&s;t Je&s;us ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> done enough for the &s;alvation of all; but know too, that if there had been no other name writ|ten in the booke of life but thine, he would have dyed for Thee. Of tho&s;e which were given him, he lo&s;t none; but if there had been none given him, but Thou, rather then have lo&s;t Thee, he would have given the &s;ame price for Thee, that he gave for the whole world. And therefore when thou heare&s;t his mercies di&s;tributed in that particular, and that familiar phra&s;e, <HI>Faciam Te, I will make Thee under&s;tand,</HI> thou knowe&s;t not whether he &s;peake to any other in the Congregation or no; Be &s;ure that he &s;peake to Thee; which he does, if thou hearken to him, and an&s;wer him. If thou can&s;t not find that he means Thee yet, that he &s;peaks to thee now, if thou thinke he &s;peake rather to &s;ome other, who&s;e faith and good life thou preferre&s;t before thine own, doe but begin to thinke now of the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of that man, to whom thou thinke&s;t he &s;peaks, and &s;ay to God, with thy Saviour, <HI>Eli, Eli, My God, my God, why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me?</HI> Why art thou gone to the other &s;ide, or why to the next on my right, or on my left hand, and left out me? Why &s;peake&s;t thou not comfortably to my &s;oule? and he will leave the ninety nine for thee, and thou &s;halt finde <HI>Onus amoris,</HI> &s;uch a waight, and burden, and load of his love upon thee, as thou &s;halt be faine almo&s;t to &s;ay with S. <HI>Peter, Exi &agrave; me Domine,</HI> O Lord goe farther from me, that is, thou &s;halt &s;ee &s;uch an obligation of mercy laid upon thee, as puts thee beyond all po&s;&s;ibility of comprehen&s;ion, much more of retribution, or of due and competent thanke&s;giving. <HI>Mi&s;erere animae tuae,</HI> Be but mercifull to thine own &s;oule, and God will be mercifull to it too; If God had never meant to be mercifull to thee, he would learne of thee; If thou coulde&s;t love thy &s;elfe before God love thee, God would love thee for loving thy &s;elfe; how much more for thy loving his love in thee? Love under&s;tanding, and, <HI>faciet te intelligere,</HI> he will make thee under&s;tand enough for thy pil|grimage, enough for thy tran&s;migration, enough for thy eternall habitation. As we count them wi&s;e&s;t, who are mo&s;t provident, and fore&s;ee mo&s;t, he will make thee &s;ee far|ther then all they, through all generations, beyond children, and childrens children, (which is the pro&s;pect of the world) to all eternity, that hath no termination, and he will allow thee an under&s;tanding for this world too; He will bid thee <HI>Lift up thine eyes to hea|ven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 51.6.</NOTE> and bid thee <HI>Look downe to the earth</HI> too; He will make thy con&s;iderations of this world acceptable to him, as well as tho&s;e of the next; He will remember thee, that An|gels <HI>de&s;cended</HI> as well as <HI>a&s;cended,</HI> that to a religious &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 28.</NOTE> this world is not out of the way
<PB N="614" REF="325">to heaven; <HI>Faciet te intelligere,</HI> He will make thee under&s;tand enough for both. And &s;o we have done with that fir&s;t Part, <HI>De credendis,</HI> Things which we are bound to beleeve, That even for tho&s;e, God workes upon the under&s;tanding, That though God worke all in all, yet it is the man that under&s;tands; and la&s;tly, that in the Holy Gho&s;ts choo&s;ing this word of &s;ingularity, <HI>Te, I will make thee under&s;tand,</HI> there is pregnant intimation of Gods large and diffu&s;ive goodne&s;&s;e to all, This word, Thee, excludes none. And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e to our &s;econd Part, In&s;truction, <HI>De agendis,</HI> what we are to doe, <HI>I will teach thee in the way thou &s;halt goe.</HI></P>
<P><HI>If any man lack wi&s;edome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Docebo.</HI></NOTE> <HI>let him aske it of God;</HI> and <HI>Faciet intelligere,</HI> God &s;hall make him under&s;tand: God &s;hall; I may &s;tudy, and then, you may heare me, but God onely makes us all under&s;tand; for the under&s;tanding is the doore of faith, and that doore he opens, and he &s;huts: So by under&s;tanding he brings us to beleeve. But then, he that truly beleeves, finds that he hath &s;omething to doe too; And he &s;aies to him&s;elf, <HI>Where|with &s;hall a young man clean&s;e his wayes?</HI> And he cannot tell him&s;elfe; He askes them whom God hath &s;ent to tell him, his Mini&s;ters, <HI>Viri, fratres, Men and brethren, what &s;hall we doe to be &s;aved?</HI> And by their leading, he goes to the Spirit of God, to God him&s;elf, and &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.16.</NOTE> <HI>Good Ma&s;ter, what good thing &s;hall I do, that I may have eternall life?</HI> And that good Ma&s;ter will teach him what to doe, which is the promi&s;e of this part of In&s;truction in our Text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> <HI>I will teach thee in the way thou &s;halt goe.</HI> And <HI>Plus e&s;t docere, qu&agrave;m in&s;truere,</HI> God promi&s;es more in this, that he will <HI>Teach thee in the way,</HI> then in the former, that he would <HI>make thee under&s;tand.</HI> Not that the matter or &s;ubject in this Part, is the greater, (for the former had relation to faith, and this but to good works) but that it intimates a more frequent recour&s;e to us, and a more &s;tudious care of us, and a more provident vigi|lancy over us, and a more familiar conver&s;ation with us, that God accompanies us in all our way, and directs us in all our particular actions, then that by under&s;tanding he hath brought us to beleeve. He that hor&s;es a man well for a journey, or he that rewards a man well for a journey, does a greater work, then he that goes along with him as a guide; but yet there is <HI>aliquid magis</HI> in the guide, there is a more continuall, a more in|ce&s;&s;ant courte&s;ie in him. We &s;ee in the Romane Church, they are not in their Beads, without <HI>Credoes,</HI> they beleeve enough; and le&s;t that &s;hould not be enough, they have made a new Creed of more Articles then that, in the Councell of Trent, and to te&s;tifie a &s;trong faith therein, they mu&s;t &s;weare they beleeve it: And then they have to every Creed, more <HI>Pater no&s;ters,</HI> they petition enough, aske enough at Gods hands; They have <HI>Credoes</HI> enow, <HI>Pater no&s;ters</HI> enow, and <HI>Ave Maries</HI> more then enow; But when we con&s;ider them in the Commandements, what we are to doe, (as great Workers as they pretend to be) though they inlarge their <HI>Credoes,</HI> and multiply their <HI>Pater no&s;ters,</HI> they contract the Commandements, and put two into one, for feare of meeting one again&s;t Images.</P>
<P>This then expre&s;&s;es Gods daily care of us, that he teaches us the way. But then, even that implies, that we are all out of our way; &s;till all bends, all conduces to that, An hum|ble acknowledgement of our own weakne&s;&s;e, a pre&s;ent recour&s;e to the love and power of God; The fir&s;t thing I look for in the Expo&s;ition of any Scripture, and the neare&s;t way to the literall &s;en&s;e thereof, is, what may mo&s;t deject and vilifie man, what may mo&s;t exalt, and glorifie God. We are all, all out of our way; but God deales not alike with all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.6. E&s;ay 26.7.</NOTE> for, for the wicked, <HI>Their way is dark and &s;lippery,</HI> And then, <HI>The Angel of the Lord per&s;ecutes them;</HI> But for tho&s;e whom he loves, <HI>He will waigh the paths of the ju&s;t,</HI> (&s;ayes our later Tran&s;lation) And, <HI>He will make the paths of the righteous equall and eaven,</HI> &s;ayes our former; It &s;hall be a path often beaten by him, for it is not righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, to be righteous once a yeare, at Ea&s;ter, nor once a week, upon Sunday. An Anniver&s;ary righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, an Hebdomadary righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, a Sabbatarian righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is no righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e. But it is a path; and &s;o made eaven, without occa&s;ions of &s;tumbling; that is, he &s;hall be able to walk in any profe&s;&s;ion, and to make good any &s;tation, and not be diverted by the power of any tentations incident to that calling. <HI>The Angel of the Lord,</HI> The evill Angel, di&s;tru&s;t and diffidence, <HI>&s;hall per&s;ecute the wicked,</HI> in his <HI>darke</HI> and <HI>&s;lippery</HI> way; this is no teaching; but becau&s;e the godly have a teaching, even their direction hath a correction too; God beats his Scholars into their way too. The difference is expre&s;&s;ed in the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.21.</NOTE> <HI>When the Lord hath given you the bread of adver&s;ity, and the wa|ter of affliction,</HI> (for in Gods Schoole that is Scholars fare) yet, &s;ayes God, <HI>Thy Teachers
<PB N="615" REF="325">&s;hall not be removed from thee into a corner;</HI> Still in thine affliction thou &s;halt have a Teach|er, or even the affliction it &s;elfe &s;hall be Gods U&s;her; and thou &s;halt have evidence of it, Thy Teacher &s;hall not be removed into a corner; thou &s;halt &s;ee it; and (as it follows there) <HI>Thine eares &s;hall heare a voyce behinde thee;</HI> (that is, a voyce ari&s;ing even from that affliction that thou ha&s;t &s;uffered) and that voyce &s;hall &s;ay, <HI>This is the way, walk ye in it;</HI> As dark as affliction is, it &s;hall &s;hew thee the way, <HI>Haec e&s;t via,</HI> This is the way, as much as affliction enfeebles thee, yet it &s;hall enable thee to walk in it, <HI>Ambulate in ea.</HI> God is a Schoole-ma|&s;ter; not as the Law was, to teach with a &s;word in his hand; but yet he teaches with a rod in his hand, though not with a &s;word.</P>
<P>Now in teaching us the way, he in&s;tructs us <HI>De via,</HI> and <HI>In via;</HI> which is the way,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>De via.</HI> P&s;al. 119.168.</NOTE> and what is to be done in it. He &s;ees all our wayes; <HI>All my wayes are before thee,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David.</HI> And he &s;ees them not &s;o as though they belonged not to him, for he con&s;iders them, <HI>Does not he behold all my wayes, and tell all my &s;teps?</HI> He &s;ees them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.4. E&s;ay 24.17.</NOTE> and &s;ees our irremedia|ble danger in them; <HI>Formido, &amp; fovea, &amp; laqueus, Feare, and a pit, and &s;nares are upon thee;</HI> Upon whom? There we &s;ee the generality of this &s;ingle word, <HI>Thee,</HI> that it is all; for &s;o, it followes there, <HI>Vpon thee, O Inhabitant of the earth.</HI> The danger then is ge|nerall, and the Lord knowes it; Who then can teach us a better way, but he? But how doth he teach us this way? When God had promi&s;ed <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> to &s;end an Angel to &s;hew the people their way, <HI>(I will &s;end an Angel before thee) Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ayes to God, <HI>See,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 33.2, 12.</NOTE> <HI>thou &s;aye&s;t, Lead this people forth, and thou ha&s;t not &s;hewed me whom thou wilt &s;end with me;</HI> (&s;o tho&s;e Tran&s;lators thought good to render it) God had told him of an Angel, but that &s;atisfied not <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> He mu&s;t have &s;omething &s;hewed to him, he mu&s;t &s;ee his guide.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 15.</NOTE> <HI>If thy pre&s;ence goe not with me, carry me not from hence,</HI> &s;ayes he to God. For, wherein &s;hall it be known, that I, and thy people have found favour in thy &s;ight? &s;hall it not be when thou goe&s;t up with us? And therefore God &s;atisfies him, <HI>My pre&s;ence &s;hall goe with thee.</HI> Goe? but how? &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es; Wilt thou bee plea&s;ed to &s;hew mee thy glo|ry?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 18.</NOTE> Shall we &s;ee any thing? They did &s;ee that Pillar in which God was, and that pre|&s;ence, that Pillar &s;hewed the way. To us, the Church is that Pillar; in that, God &s;hewes us our way. For &s;trength it is a Pillar, and a Pillar for firmne&s;&s;e and fixation: But yet the Church is neither an equall Pillar, alwaies fire, but &s;ometimes cloud too; The Church is more and le&s;&s;e vi&s;ible, &s;ometimes in &s;plendor, &s;ometimes in an eclip&s;e; nei|ther is it &s;o a fixt Pillar, as that it is not in divers places. The Church is not &s;o fixed to Rome, as that it is not communicated to other Nations, nor &s;o limited in it &s;elfe, as that it may not admit changes, in tho&s;e things that appertain to Order, and Di&s;cipline. Our way, that God teaches us, is the Church; That is a Pillar; Fixed, for Fundamentall things, but yet a moveable Pillar, for things indifferent, and arbitrary.</P>
<P>Thus he teaches, <HI>Quid via,</HI> which is the way, It is the Church, the Pillar of Truth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">In via.</NOTE> He teaches next, <HI>Quid in via,</HI> What is to be done in the way; for, that coun&s;ell of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>See that ye walk circum&s;pectly,</HI> pre&s;umes a man to be in the way;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.15.</NOTE> el&s;e he would have cried to have &s;topped him, or to have turned him, and not bid him goe on, how cir|cum&s;pectly &s;oever. But, <HI>In my path,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 140.5.</NOTE> (not making any doubt but that he was in a right path) <HI>in my path, the proud have laid a &s;nare for me, and &s;pread a net with cords; Ad manum orbitae,</HI> (&s;ayes the Originall) even at the hand of the path; That path which &s;hould (as it were) reach out a hand to lead me, hath a &s;nare in it. And therefore, &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> with &s;o much vehemence in the entrance of that P&s;alme, <HI>Deliver me, O Lord, from the evill man, who purpo&s;eth to overthrow my goings;</HI> Though I goe in the right way, the true Church, yet purpo&s;es to overthrow mee there. This Evill man workes upon us: The man of &s;in; in tho&s;e in&s;truments that &s;till ca&s;t that &s;nare in our way, in our Church, There is a minority, an invi&s;ibility, and a fallibility in your Church; you begun but ye|&s;terday in <HI>Luther,</HI> and you are fallen out already in <HI>Calvin.</HI> So al&s;o works this Evill man among&s;t us, in tho&s;e Sci&s;matiques, who ca&s;t that &s;nare in our way, Your way (though it be in part mended) hath yet impre&s;&s;ions of the &s;teps of the Bea&s;t, and it is a circular, and giddy way, that will bring us back againe to Rome. And therefore, beloved, though you be in the way, &s;ee ye walk circum&s;pectly, for the &s;nares that both the&s;e have ca&s;t in the way, the reproaches, and defamations that both the&s;e have ca&s;t upon our Church. But when thou ha&s;t &s;caped both the&s;e &s;nares, of Papi&s;t, and Sci&s;matique, pray &s;till to be delivered from that Evill man, that is within thee. <HI>Non tant&ugrave;m pote&s;t hominem decipere,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> <HI>qu&agrave;m per Organum hominis,</HI> The Devill hath not &s;o powerfull an in&s;trument, nor &s;o &s;ub|tile
<PB N="616" REF="326">an engine upon thee as thy &s;elfe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Quis in hoc &s;eculo non patitur hominem malum?</HI> Who in this world (or if he goe &s;o farre out of this world, as never to &s;ee man but him&s;elfe) is not troubled with this evill man? When thou praye&s;t with <HI>David,</HI> to be delivered from this evill man, if God aske thee whom thou meane&s;t, mu&s;t thou not &s;ay, thy &s;elfe? Can&s;t thou &s;hew God a wor&s;e?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Qui non e&s;t malus, nihil &agrave; malo mali patitur;</HI> If a man were not evill in him&s;elf, the wor&s;t thing in the world could not hurt him; the Devil would not offer to give fire, if there were no powder in thy heart. What that evill man is, that is in another, I cannot know: I cannot alwayes di&s;cerne anothers &s;nare; for, <HI>What man knoweth the things of a man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ave the &s;pirit of a man which is in him?</HI> Thy &s;pirit knowes what the evill man that is in thee, is. Deliver thy &s;elfe of that evill man that en&s;nares thee in thy way; though thou come to Church; yea even when thou art there. <HI>David</HI> re|peats this word <HI>A viro malo, from the evill man,</HI> twice in that P&s;alme. In one place, <HI>A viro malo,</HI> is in that name, <HI>Mei&s;h,</HI> which is a name of man proper onely to the &s;tronger &s;exe, and intimates &s;nares and tentations of &s;tronger power, As when feare, or favour tempts a man to come to a &s;uper&s;titious, and idolatrous &s;ervice. In the other it is but <HI>Meadam,</HI> and that is a name common to men, and women, and children, and intimates, that omi&s;&s;ions, negligences, infirmities, may encumber us, en&s;nare us, though we be in the way, even in the true place of Gods &s;ervice; and the eye may be en&s;nared as dange|rou&s;ly, and as damnably in this place, as the eare, or the tongue in the Chamber. As S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Nugae in ore Sacerdotis &s;unt &s;acrilegium,</HI> An idle word in a Church-mans mouth is &s;acriledge; &s;o a wanton look in the Church, is an Adultery. Now when God hath thus taught us the way, what it is, that is, brought us to the true Church, (for till then, all is diver&s;ion, all bani&s;hment) and taught us <HI>In via,</HI> what to doe in that way, To re&s;i&s;t tentations to &s;uper&s;tition from other imaginary Churches, tentations to particular &s;ins from the evill men of the world, and from the wor&s;t man in the world, our &s;elfe, the In&s;truction in our Text is carried a &s;tep farther, that is, to proceed and goe forward in that way, <HI>Qua gradieris,</HI> I will teach thee to walk in that way.</P>
<P>When S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aith upon this place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Qua gra|dieris.</NOTE> It is <HI>via qua gradieris, &amp; non cui haerebis,</HI> A way to walke in, not to &s;ticke upon, he doth not meane, That wee &s;hould ever change this way, or depart from it, (that any cro&s;&s;e in this, &s;hould make us hearken after another religion) It is not that we &s;hould not &s;ticke to it, but that we &s;hould not &s;ticke in it, nor loyter in the way. Thou ha&s;t beene in this way (in the true Church) ever &s;ince thy Ba|pti&s;me: and yet, if a man that hath lived morally well all his life, and no more then &s;o, finde by Gods grace a doore opened into the Chri&s;tian Church, and a &s;hort turning into this right way, at the end of his life, hee by the benefit of tho&s;e good Morall actions, &s;hall be before thee, who ha&s;t lived lazily, though in the right way, at his fir&s;t &s;tep; For though tho&s;e good Morall actions were not good workes, when hee did them, yet then, that grace which he layes hold upon at la&s;t, &s;hall reflect a tincture upon them, and make them good in the eyes of God, <HI>ab initio.</HI> If thou have not beene lazie in thy way, in thy Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion hitherto, yet except thou proceed &s;till, except thou goe from hence now, better then thou came&s;t, (better in thy purpo&s;e) and come hither next day better then thou wente&s;t, (better in thy practi&s;e) thou ha&s;t not learned this le&s;&s;on in this In&s;tru|ction, <HI>I will teach thee to walke in this way.</HI> A Chri&s;tian hath no Sol&s;tice, no highe&s;t point, where he may &s;tand &s;till, and goe no farther; much le&s;&s;e hath hee any Aequator, where dayes and nights are equall, that is, a liberty to &s;pend as much time ill, as well, as many houres in &s;infull plea&s;ures,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> as in religious exerci&s;es. <HI>Quicquid citra Deum e&s;t, via e&s;t, nec immorandum in ea;</HI> Hee doth not &s;ay, <HI>praeter Deum,</HI> much le&s;&s;e <HI>contra Deum;</HI> For what|&s;oever is again&s;t God, nay, what&s;oever is be&s;ides God, is altogether out of the way; But <HI>citra Deum,</HI> on this &s;ide of God: Till we come to God in heaven, all our be&s;t is but our way to him. All the zeale of gathering knowledge, all the growth of faith, all the pra|cti&s;e of &s;anctification, is but <HI>via,</HI> the way; and <HI>non immorandum in ea;</HI> &s;ince wee have here a promi&s;e of Gods a&s;&s;i&s;tance in it, in the way, we are &s;ure there is an obligation up|on it, as upon a duty, in this way, humbly, and patiently, and laboriou&s;ly to walke to|wards him, without &s;topping upon any thing in this world, either preferments on the right, or di&s;graces on the left hand, (for a Cart may &s;top us, as well as a Coach, low things as well as high, with as much trouble, and more anoyance) Which is more e&s;peci|ally intended in the la&s;t words of the Text, <HI>Firmabo &s;uper te oculos meos,</HI> I will &s;ettle my providence, fixe mine eye upon thee, <HI>I will guide thee with mine eye.</HI></P>
<PB N="617" REF="326" MS="y">
<P>Thus farre hath our ble&s;&s;ed Lord a&s;&s;ured us, <HI>That he will make us under&s;tand,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part.</NOTE> which is his In&s;truction <HI>de credendis,</HI> what to Beleeve; And <HI>that he will teach us to walke in his way,</HI> which is his In&s;truction <HI>de agendis,</HI> what to Doe, how to avoide tentations; This la&s;t is, <HI>That hee will guide us with his eye,</HI> which is his In&s;truction <HI>de &s;perandis,</HI> what wee are to Hope for at his hand, if in this way we doe &s;tumble, or fall into &s;ome &s;innes of infirmities. But it is but <HI>de &s;perandis,</HI> not <HI>de prae&s;umendis;</HI> when by infirmity thou art fallen, thy Hope mu&s;t begin then; but if the Hope begun before, &s;o as thou felle&s;t upon hope that God would rai&s;e thee, then it was pre&s;umption, and there the Lords eye &s;huts in, and guides thee no longer. Otherwi&s;e he directs thee with his eye, (that is, with his gracious and powerfull looking upon thee) to the meanes of thy recovery. Wee heare of no blowes, wee heare of no chiding from him towards <HI>Peter,</HI> but all that is &s;aid, is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 22.65.</NOTE> <HI>The Lord turned back and looked upon Peter,</HI> and then he remembred his ca&s;e; The eye of the Lord light|ned his darkne&s;&s;e; The eye of the Lord thawed tho&s;e three cru&s;ts of Ice, which were growne over his heart, in his three denials of his Ma&s;ter. A Candle wakes &s;ome men, as well as a noy&s;e; The eye of the Lord works upon a good &s;oule, as much as his hand, and hee is as much affected with this con&s;ideration, The Lord &s;ees me, as with this, The Lord &s;trikes me.</P>
<P>Wee reade in Naturall &s;tory of &s;ome creatures, <HI>Qui &s;olo oculorum a&s;pectu fovent ova,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. l. 10. c. 9.</NOTE> which hatch their egges onely by looking upon them; What cannot the eye of God produce and hatch in us? <HI>Plus e&s;t quod probatur a&s;pectu, qu&agrave;m quod &s;ermone.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> A man may &s;eeme to commend in words, and yet his countenance &s;hall di&s;prai&s;e. His word infu&s;es good purpo&s;es into us, but if God continue his eye upon us, it is a farther approbation, for He is a God of pure eyes, and will not looke upon the wicked.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 11.12.</NOTE> <HI>This land doth the Lord thy God care for, and the eyes of the Lord are alwayes upon it from the beginning of the yeare, even to the end thereof.</HI> What a cheerefull &s;pring, what a fruitfull Autumne hath that &s;oule, that hath the eye of the Lord alwayes upon her? The eye of the Lord upon mee, makes midnight noone, and S. <HI>Lucies</HI> day S. <HI>Barnabies;</HI> It makes <HI>Capricorne Cancer,</HI> and the Winters the Summers Sol&s;tice; The eye of the Lord &s;anctifies, nay more then &s;an|ctifies, glorifies all the Eclip&s;es of di&s;honour, makes Melancholy cheerefulne&s;&s;e, diffi|dence a&s;&s;urance, and turnes the jealou&s;ie of the &s;ad &s;oule into infallibility. Upon his peo|ple his eye &s;hined in the wilderne&s;&s;e; his eye &s;ingled them in Egypt, and in Babylon they were &s;u&s;tained by his eye. They were, and we are;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezra 5.5. P&s;al. 33.18.</NOTE> <HI>The eye of their God was upon the El|ders of I&s;rael,</HI> And, <HI>Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon all them that feare him.</HI> The Proverb is not onely as old as <HI>Ari&s;totle, Oculus domini,</HI> and <HI>Pes domini,</HI> The eye of the Ma&s;ter fat|tens the hor&s;e, and the foot of the Ma&s;ter marles the ground, but it is as old as the Crea|tion, <HI>God &s;aw all that he had made, and</HI> &s;o, <HI>it was very good;</HI> It was <HI>vi&s;io approbationis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> and his approbation was the exaltation thereof.</P>
<P>This guiding then with the eye, we con&s;ider to be his particular care, and his per&s;onall providence upon us, in his Church; For, a man may be in the Kings pre&s;ence, and yet not in his eye; and &s;o he may in Gods. Gods whole Ordinance in his Church, is Gods face; For, that is the face of God, by which God is manife&s;ted to us; But then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> that eye in that face, by which he promi&s;es to guide us, in this Text, is that ble&s;&s;ed Spirit of his, by who&s;e operation he makes that grace, which does evermore accompany his Ordi|nances, effectuall upon us; The whole Congregation &s;ees God face to face, in the Ser|vice, in the Sermon, in the Sacrament; but there is an eye in that face, an eye in that Ser|vice, an eye in that Sermon, an eye in that Sacrament, a piercing and an operating Spirit, that lookes upon that &s;oule, and foments and cheri&s;hes that &s;oule, who by a good u&s;e of Gods former grace, is become fitter for his pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>And this guiding us with his eye, manife&s;ts it &s;elfe in the&s;e two great effects;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Convertit.</NOTE> conver|&s;ion to him, and union with him. Fir&s;t, his eye works upon ours; His eye turnes ours to looke upon him. Still it is &s;o expre&s;&s;ed with an <HI>Ecce; Behold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 33.18.</NOTE> <HI>the eye of the Lord is upon all them that feare him;</HI> His eye cals ours to behold that; And then our eye cals upon his, to ob&s;erve our cheerefull readine&s;&s;e, <HI>Behold,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 123.2.</NOTE> <HI>as the eye of a &s;ervant lookes to the hand of his Ma&s;ter, &s;o our eyes waite upon the Lord our God, till he have mercy upon us.</HI> Where the <HI>Donec, Vntill,</HI> is an everla&s;ting <HI>Donec,</HI> as the ble&s;&s;ed Virgins was; A Virgin <HI>Donec, till &s;he brought forth her fir&s;t Son,</HI> and a Virgin ever after; So our eyes waite upon God, <HI>till hee have mercy,</HI> that is, while he hath it, and that he may continue his mercy; for it was his mercifull eye that turned ours to him, and it is the &s;ame mercy, that we waite upon him.
<PB N="618" REF="327">And then, when, as a well made Picture doth alwaies looke upon him, that lookes upon it, this Image of God in our &s;oule, is turned to him, by his turning to it, it is impo&s;&s;ible we &s;hould doe any foule, any uncomely thing in his pre&s;ence. Will any man &s;olicite a Wife or a Daughter, and call the Father or Husband to looke on? Will any man breake open thy hou&s;e in the night, and fir&s;t wake thee, and call thee up? Can any man give his body to uncleanne&s;&s;e, his tongue to prophanene&s;&s;e, his heart to covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and at the &s;ame time con&s;ider, that his pure, and his holy, and his bountifull God hath his eye upon him? Can he looke upon God in that line, in that Angle, (upon God looking upon him) and di&s;honour him?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 25.15. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Upon tho&s;e words of <HI>David, Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord, Qua&s;i diceretur, quid agitur depedibus?</HI> as though it were objected, Is all thy care of thine eyes? What becomes of thy feete? <HI>Non attendis ad eos?</HI> Doe&s;t thou looke to thy &s;teps, To thy life, as well as to thy faith, To plea&s;e God, as well as to know God? And hee an&s;wers in the words which follow, <HI>Ip&s;e evellet,</HI> As for my feet, God &s;hall order, that is, a&s;&s;i&s;t me in ordering them; If his eye be upon me, and mine upon him, (O ble&s;&s;ed reflexi|on! O happy reciprocation! O powerfull corre&s;pondence!) <HI>Ip&s;e evellet, He will plucke my feet out of the net,</HI> though I be almo&s;t en&s;nared, almo&s;t entangled, he will &s;natch me out of the fire, deliver me from the tentation.</P>
<P>The other great effect of his guiding us with his eye,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vnit.</HI> P&s;al. 17.8.</NOTE> is, That it unites us to him&s;elf; when he fixes his his eye upon us, and accepts the returne of ours to him, then he <HI>keepes</HI> us as the <HI>Apple</HI> of his <HI>eye, Qua&s;i pupillam filiam oculi,</HI> (as S. <HI>Hierom</HI> reads it) as the Daugh|ter, the i&s;&s;ue,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 2.8.</NOTE> the off-&s;pring of his owne eye. For then, <HI>He that toucheth you, toucheth the Apple of his eye.</HI> And the&s;e are the two great effects of his guiding us by his eye, that fir&s;t, his eye turnes us to him&s;elfe, and then turnes us into him&s;elfe; fir&s;t, his eye turnes ours to him, and then, that makes us all one with him&s;elfe, &s;o, as that our afflictions &s;hall bee put upon his patience, and our di&s;honours &s;hall be injuries to him; wee cannot be &s;afer then by being his; but thus, we are not onely His, but He; To every Per&s;ecutor, in every one of our behalfe, he &s;hall &s;ay, <HI>Cur me?</HI> Why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me? And as hee is all Power, and can defend us, &s;o here he makes him&s;elfe all eye, which is the mo&s;t tender part, and mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible of our pre&s;&s;ures.</P>
<P>So have you then this In&s;truction perfected unto you. Fir&s;t, <HI>Decredendis, facit te intel|ligere,</HI> God will make you under&s;tand, you, for he will worke upon your naturall facul|ties &s;upernaturally, and by them, convey faith. And then, <HI>De agendis, docebo in via,</HI> He will teach you which is the way, and what to doe when you are in it. And after that, <HI>De &s;perandis, firmabo oculos,</HI> he will guide you with his eye, watch, if in that way you &s;tumble, and re&s;tore you. That you may con&s;tantly hope for; and when you have but thus much more, you have all, That there is <HI>In omni &s;perando, timendum;</HI> In every hope, there is &s;ome|thing to be feared.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.5.</NOTE> <HI>Hope makes us not a&s;hamed,</HI> But yet hope, (as long as it is but hope) may make us afraid; though not with a &s;u&s;picious feare, reflected upon God, yet with a &s;olici|tous feare,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.2. Heb. 3.6. Phil. 2.12.</NOTE> ari&s;ing from, and returning upon our &s;elves. There is a <HI>Hope of glory,</HI> and there is a <HI>Glory in hope;</HI> but no &s;uch Glory, as exterminates all feare: for we are bid <HI>To worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling;</HI> It mu&s;t be &s;uch a feare, as may &s;till relate to my Salvation; For feare that excludes me from Salvation, is a fearefull feare; but yet a feare it mu&s;t be; for as there is a promi&s;e of guiding by his eye, there is al&s;o a po&s;&s;ibility of taking his eye from thee. God is not in this, like the Sun, that makes no more ha&s;te over a dunghill, then over a Garden; over Babylon, then over Jeru&s;alem. The eye of God is not infected with thy bleare-eye; but yet he will not &s;tay and looke upon it. And when he takes his eye from thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.13. Gregor.</NOTE> he &s;ets his face again&s;t thee; <HI>The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, but the face of the Lord is again&s;t them that doe evill.</HI> And thus, <HI>Ab ejus vi&s;ione, quem con&s;picis, abes;</HI> Thou art out of Gods &s;ight, when thou &s;ee&s;t him onely in his judge|ments. Nay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.20.</NOTE> thou &s;halt not &s;ee him in them; <HI>I will hide my face from them,</HI> &s;ayes God, (though it were an angry face, yet he would hide it) <HI>and I will &s;ee what their end will be.</HI> God &s;hall looke upon thy fearfull end from the beginning, but thou thy &s;elfe &s;halt not &s;ee the horror that appertaines to it, till it be too late; for that is it, in which God does e&s;pe|cially reproach that people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 28.</NOTE> <HI>O that they were &s;o wi&s;e, as to con&s;ider their latter end!</HI> To that purpo&s;e hath God continued his In&s;truction to us, in this text, That we might know from him, what to beleeve, and what to doe, and how to returne to God, when we have gone a&s;tray, <HI>I will in&s;truct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou &s;halt go, and I will guide thee with mine eye.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="62" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="619" REF="327">
<HEAD>SERM. LXII. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Be not as the Hor&s;e, or the Mule, who have no under&s;tanding; who&s;e mouth mu&s;t be held in with bit and bridle, le&s;t they come neere unto thee.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_AS God, above whom there is nothing, lookes downewards to us; So except we, below whom there is nothing that belongs to us, looke up|ward toward him, we &s;hall never meet. And therefore God fore&s;eeing &s;uch a de&s;cent in man, as might make him incapable, and put him out of di&s;tance of the rich promi&s;es of this P&s;alme, in this Text hee fore|warnes him, of &s;uch a De&s;cent, &s;uch a dejection, &s;uch a diminution of him&s;elfe.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> And fir&s;t hee forbids a De&s;cent generally into a lower na|ture; <HI>Nolite fieri,</HI> Be not made at all, not made any other, then God hath made you. God would have man, who was his Medal at fir&s;t, (when God &s;tamped and imprinted his Image in him) And was Gods Robe, and garment at la&s;t, (when Chri&s;t Je&s;us inve&s;ted and put on our Nature) God would have this man pre&s;erve this Dignity, <HI>Nolite fieri,</HI> Be not made any new thing. Secondly, he forbids him a De&s;cent, into certaine particular depravations, and deteriorations of our Nature, in tho&s;e qualities, which are intimated and &s;pecified, in the nature and di&s;po&s;ition of tho&s;e two bea&s;ts, <HI>The Hor&s;e,</HI> and <HI>the Mule, Nolite fieri &s;iout Equus &amp; Mulus, Be not as the Hor&s;e, or the Mule.</HI> But principally, for that which is in the third place, <HI>Quia non intellectus,</HI> Not becau&s;e they have no faith, but becau&s;e they have no under&s;tanding, for then, it is impo&s;&s;ible that ever they &s;hould have faith; And &s;o it is a rea&s;on proportioned to our Rea&s;on; Do not &s;o, for it will vitiate, it will annihilate your under&s;tanding, your rea&s;on, and then what are you, for &s;upernatu|rall, or for naturall knowledge? But then there is another rea&s;on proportioned to the &s;en&s;e, that this Declination of ours, into the&s;e inferiour natures, brings God to a nece&s;|&s;ity to bit, and bridle, and curbe us, that is, to inflict afflictions upon us; And then that rea&s;on is aggravated by the greate&s;t waight that can be laid upon it, That God will in|flict all the&s;e puni&s;hments upon the&s;e perver&s;e men, metamorpho&s;ed into the&s;e Bea&s;ts, not onely <HI>Ne approximent,</HI> That they may not come neare Gods Servants, to do them harme, (which &s;eemes indeed to be the mo&s;t literall &s;en&s;e of the word) But, (as &s;ome of our Expo&s;itors have found rea&s;on to interpret them) <HI>Ne approximent,</HI> That they &s;hall not come neare him; not neare God in the &s;ervice of his Church, to do them&s;elves any good; his Corrections &s;hall harden them, and remove them farther from him, and from all benefit by his Ordinances.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then God armes him with a pre-increpation upon De&s;cent, <HI>Nolite fieri,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">De&s;cen&s;us.</NOTE> Goe no le&s;&s;e, be not made lower. The fir&s;t &s;in that ever was, was an a&s;cending, a climing too high; when the pure&s;t Under&s;tandings of all, The Angels, fell by their a&s;cending; when <HI>Lucifer</HI> was tumbled downe, by his <HI>Similis ero Alti&s;simo, I will be like the mo&s;t High,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 14.14.</NOTE> then he tried upon them, who were next to him in Dignity, upon Man, how that clambring would worke upon him. He pre&s;ents to man, the &s;ame ladder; He infu&s;es into man the &s;ame Ambition, and as he fell with a <HI>Similis ero Alti&s;simo, I will be like the mo&s;t High,</HI> So he overthrew man, with an <HI>Eritis &s;icut Dii, Ye &s;hall be as Gods.</HI> It &s;eemes this fall hath broake the neck of Mans ambition, and now we dare not be &s;o like God, as we &s;hould be. Ever &s;ince this fall, man is &s;o far from affecting higher places, then his nature is capable of, that he is &s;till groveling upon the ground, and participates, and imitates, and expre&s;&s;es more of the nature of the Bea&s;t then of his owne. There is no creature but man that degenerates willingly from his naturall Dignity; Tho&s;e degrees of goodne&s;&s;e, which God imprinted in them at fir&s;t, they pre&s;erve &s;till; As God &s;aw they were good then, &s;o
<PB N="620" REF="328" MS="y">he may &s;ee they are good &s;till; They have kept their Talent; They have not bought nor &s;old; They have not gained nor lo&s;t; They are not departed from their native and na|turall dignity, by any thing that they have done. But of Man, it &s;eemes, God was di|&s;tru&s;tfull from the beginning; He did not pronounce upon Mans Creation, (as he did upon the other Creatures) that <HI>He was good;</HI> becau&s;e his goodne&s;&s;e was a contingent thing, and con&s;i&s;ted in the future u&s;e of his free will. For that faculty and power of the will,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Diony&s;.</NOTE> is <HI>Virtus transformativa;</HI> by it we change our &s;elves into that we love mo&s;t, and we are come to love tho&s;e things mo&s;t, which are below us. As God &s;aid to the Earth, (and it was enough to &s;ay &s;o) <HI>Germinet terra juxta genus &s;uum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Let the Earth bring forth according to her kinde;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro.</NOTE> So, <HI>Vive juxta genus tuum,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> to Man, Live accord|ing to thy kinde; <HI>Non adulteres genus tuum,</HI> doe not aba&s;e, doe not allay, doe not betray, do not aba&s;tardi&s;e that noble kinde, that noble nature, which God hath imparted to thee, imprinted in thee.</P>
<P><HI>Mundi moles liber e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> This whole world is one Booke; And is it not a barbarous thing, when all the whole booke be&s;ides remains intire, to deface that leafe in which the Authors picture, the Image of God is expre&s;&s;ed, as it is in man? God brought man into the world, as the King goes in &s;tate, Lords, and Earles, and per&s;ons of other ranks before him. So God &s;ent out light, and Firmament, and Earth, and Sea, and Sunne, and Moone, to give a dignity to mans proce&s;&s;ion; and onely Man him&s;elfe di&s;orders all, and that by di&s;placing him&s;elfe, by lo&s;ing his place. <HI>The Heavens and Earth were fini&s;hed, Et omnis exercitus eorum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.1.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es, All the Ho&s;t thereof;</HI> and all this whole Army pre&s;erves that Di&s;cipline, onely the Generall that &s;hould governe them, mi&s;-governs him&s;elfe. And whereas we &s;ee that Tygers and Wolves, Bea&s;ts of annoyance, doe &s;till keepe their places and natures in the world; and &s;o doe Herbs and Plants, even tho&s;e which are in their nature offen&s;ive and deadly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> (for <HI>Alia e&s;ui, alia u&s;ui,</HI> Some herbs are made to eat, &s;ome to adorne, &s;ome to &s;upply in Phy&s;ick) while&s;t we di&s;pute in Schools, whether if it were po&s;&s;ible for Man to doe &s;o, it were lawfull for him to de&s;troy any one &s;pecies of Gods Creatures, though it were but the &s;pecies of Toads and Spiders, (becau&s;e this were a taking away one linke of Gods chaine, one Note of his harmony) we have taken away that which is the Jewel at the chaine, that which is the burden of the Song, Man him|&s;elfe. <HI>Partus &s;equitur ventrem;</HI> We verifie the Law treacherou&s;ly, mi&s;chievou&s;ly; we all follow our Mother, we grovell upon the earth, who&s;e children we are, and being made like our Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8.4.</NOTE> in his Image, we neglect him. <HI>What is Man that thou art mindfull of him, and the &s;onne of Man, that thou vi&s;ite&s;t him? David</HI> admires not &s;o much mans lit|tlene&s;&s;e in that place, as his greatne&s;&s;e; <HI>He is a little lower then Angels; A little lower then God,</HI> &s;ayes our former Tran&s;lation; agreeably enough to the word, and in a good &s;en&s;e too; Gods Lievtenant, his Vice-gerent over all Creatures; <HI>Thou ha&s;t made him to have Dominion over the works of thy hands;</HI> (and Dominion is a great, it is a &s;upreme e&s;tate) <HI>And thou ha&s;t put all things under his feet;</HI> (as it follows there) And yet we have forfei|ted this Juri&s;diction, this Dominion, and more, our owne E&s;&s;ence; we are not onely in|ferior to the Bea&s;ts, and under their annoyance, but we are our &s;elves become Bea&s;ts. Con&s;ider the dignitie of thy &s;oule, which onely, of all other Creatures is capable, &s;u&s;|ciptible of Grace; If God would be&s;tow grace any where els, no creature could receive it but thou. Thou art &s;o nece&s;&s;ary to God, as that God had no utterance, no exerci&s;e, no employment for his grace and mercy, but for thee. And if thou make thy &s;elfe in|capable of this mercy and this grace, of which nothing but thou is capable, then thou de|&s;troye&s;t thy nature. And remember then, that as in the Kingdome of Heaven, in tho&s;e orders which we conceive to be in tho&s;e glorious Spirits, there is no falling from a higher to a lower order, a Cherubim or Seraphim does not fall, and &s;o become an Archangel, or an Angel, but tho&s;e of that place that fell, fell into the bottomle&s;&s;e pit; So, if thou depart from thy nature, from that &s;u&s;ciptiblene&s;&s;e, that capacity of receiving Grace, if thou degenerate &s;o from a Man to a Bea&s;t, thou &s;halt not re&s;t there in the &s;tate and na|ture of a Bea&s;t, who&s;e &s;oule breaths out to nothing, and vani&s;hes with the life, thou &s;halt not be &s;o happy, but thy better nature will remain, in de&s;pite of thee, thine everla&s;ting &s;oule mu&s;t &s;uffer everla&s;ting torment.</P>
<P>Now as many men when they &s;ee a greater piece of coyne then ordinary,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> they doe not pre&s;ently know the value of it, though they know it to be &s;ilver, but tho&s;e le&s;&s;er coyns which are in currant u&s;e, and come to their hands every day, they know at fir&s;t
<PB N="621" REF="328">&s;ight; &s;o becau&s;e this &s;tamp, this impre&s;&s;ion of the image of God in Man, is not well and clearly under&s;tood by every Man, neither this de&s;cent and departing from the digni|ty thereof, being delivered but in generall, (<HI>Nolite fieri,</HI> Be yee made like nothing els) Therefore the Holy Gho&s;t brings us here to the con&s;ideration of &s;ome le&s;&s;er pieces, things which are alwayes within di&s;tance and apprehen&s;ion, alwayes in our eye, (<HI>Nolite fieri &s;icut,</HI> De&s;cend not to the qualities of the Hor&s;e and the Mule. Though (as God &s;um|med up his temporall ble&s;&s;ings to the Jews, in that totall, <HI>Et profeci&s;ti in regnum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.13.</NOTE> <HI>Thou did&s;t pro&s;per into a Kingdome</HI>) He may al&s;o &s;umme up his &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings to us in this, <HI>Et profeci&s;ti in Eccle&s;iam, &amp; in Eccle&s;iam credentium,</HI> (for there is <HI>Eccle&s;ia malignantium, Odivi Eccle&s;iam malignantium,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 26.5.</NOTE> <HI>I have hated the Congregation of evill doers</HI>) I have brought thee fir&s;t from the Nations, from the Common, into a vi&s;ible Church, And then from Babylon, from that Church of confu&s;ion, that makes the word of God and the word of Man equall, into an Orthodox and &s;incere Church, yet our &s;innes have ca&s;t us <HI>Infra Gentes,</HI> and <HI>Infra Babylonem,</HI> Below all the&s;e againe. For, for the Gentils,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.14.</NOTE> <HI>The Gentils which have not the law, doe by nature the things contained in the law;</HI> wee that have the helpe of the Law and Go&s;pel too, doe not. And for Rome, the example of our Reformation, and their own &s;hame, contracted thereby, hath wrought upon the Church of Rome it &s;elfe; They are the better for the Reformation, (in frequent Catechizing and preaching) and we are not. Compare us with the Gentils, and we &s;hall fall under that increpation of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>There is &s;uch fornication amongst you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5.1.</NOTE> <HI>as is not once named amongst the Gentils:</HI> We commit tho&s;e things which they forbeare to &s;peake of. Com|pare us with Rome, and I feare that will belong to us, which God &s;ayes and &s;weares in the Prophet, <HI>As I live, &s;aith the Lord, Sodome thy &s;i&s;ter hath not done as thou ha&s;t done.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.48.</NOTE></P>
<P>Where, by the way, be plea&s;ed to note, that God calls eyen Samaria, and Sodome, &s;i&s;ters of Jeru&s;alem; there is a fraternity grounded in charity, which nothing mu&s;t de|ve&s;t; If Sodome and Jeru&s;alem were Si&s;ters, Babylon and we may be &s;o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">; uterin &s;i|&s;ters of one wombe, (for there is but one Bapti&s;me) though fornication it &s;elfe, (and fornication, in the &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e of the Scriptures, hath a heavy &s;ignification, and rea|ches even to Idolatry) have made that Church, as &s;ome thinke, &s;carce capable of the name of a Church, yet Sodome is a &s;i&s;ter.</P>
<P>But be &s;hee as far degenerate as &s;he can, our &s;in hath made a de&s;cent below them that are below us. It hath ca&s;t us below the Inhabitants of the Earth, Bea&s;ts, and below the Earth it &s;elfe, even to Hell; for we make this life, which is the place of repentance, the place of ob&s;tinacy and obduration; and obduration is Hell. Yea, it hath ca&s;t us below the Devill him&s;elfe; our &s;tate is, in this, wor&s;e then theirs; They &s;inned before God had given them any expre&s;&s;e law; and before God had made any examples, or taken any re|venge upon any &s;inners; But we &s;in after a manife&s;t law, and after they, and many others have been made our examples. They were never re&s;tored, we have been re&s;tored often; They proceed in their ob&s;tinacy, when God ca&s;ts them from him, we proceed even when God calls us to him; They again&s;t God which turnes from them, and is glorified in their de&s;truction, we again&s;t him that comes to us, and emptied and humbled him&s;elfe to the &s;hame, to the &s;corne, to the paine, to the death of the Cro&s;&s;e for us. The&s;e be the lamentable de&s;cents of &s;inne: But the particular de&s;cent to which this text doth purpo&s;e|ly bend it &s;elfe, is, That as God &s;aid at beginning, in contempt, and in deri&s;ion, <HI>Ecce A|dam, qua&s;i unus ex nobis, Behold, Man is become as one of us;</HI> So now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.22. Bernard.</NOTE> (as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> makes the note) the Hor&s;e and Mule may &s;ay, <HI>Qua&s;i unus ex nobis,</HI> Behold, Man is become as one of us; and, <HI>Nolite fieri,</HI> &s;ayes God in our text, <HI>Be not as the Hor&s;e or the Mule.</HI></P>
<P>According to the &s;everall natures of the&s;e two Bea&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Equus &amp; Mulus.</NOTE> the Fathers, and other Expo&s;i|tors have made &s;everall interpretations; at lea&s;t, &s;everall Allu&s;ions. They con&s;ider the Hor&s;e and the Mule, to admit any Rider, any burden, without di&s;cretion or difference, without debatement or con&s;ideration; They never aske whether their rider be noble or ba&s;e, nor whether their load be gold for the trea&s;ure, or roots for the market. And tho&s;e Expo&s;itors finde the &s;ame indifferency in an habituall &s;inner, to any kinde of &s;inne: whether he &s;in for plea&s;ure, or &s;in for profit, or &s;in but for company, &s;till he &s;ins. They con&s;ider the Mule to be engendred of two kinds, two &s;pecies, and yet to beget, to pro|duce neither, but to be alwayes barren; And they finde us to be compo&s;ed of a double, a heavenly, and earthly nature, and thereby bound to duties of both kinds, towards God, and towards men, but to be defective and barren in both. They con&s;ider in the Mule, that
<PB N="623" REF="329">one of his Parents being more ignoble then the other, he is like&s;t the wor&s;t, He hath more of the A&s;&s;e then of the Hor&s;e in him; And they finde in us, that all our actions, and thoughts, ta&s;te more of the ignobler part of earth then of heaven. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> thinks fiercene&s;&s;e and ra&s;hne&s;&s;e to be pre&s;ented in the Hor&s;e, and &s;loth in the Mule. And S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> carries the&s;e two qualities farre; He thinks that in this fiercene&s;&s;e of the Hor&s;e, the Gentiles are repre&s;ented, which ran farre from the knowledge of Chri&s;tianity; And by the lazine&s;&s;e of the Mule, the Jews, who came nothing &s;o fa&s;t, as they were invited by their former helps, to the imbracing thereof. They have gone farre in the&s;e allu&s;i|ons, and applications; and they might have gone as farre farther as it had plea&s;ed them; They have Sea-roome enough, that will compare a Bea&s;t, and a Sinner toge|ther; and they &s;hall finde many times, in the way, the Bea&s;t the better Man.</P>
<P>Here we may contract it be&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> if we under&s;tand Pride by the Hor&s;e, and Lu&s;t by the Mule; for, though both the&s;e, pride and lu&s;t, might have been repre&s;ented in the hor&s;e, which is, (as the Philo&s;opher notes) <HI>Animal, po&s;t hominem, &s;alaci&s;simum,</HI> The mo&s;t intem|perate, and lu&s;tful of all creatures, but man, (&s;till man, for this infamous prerogative, mu&s;t be excepted) and though the Scriptures pre&s;ent that &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5.8.</NOTE> Lu&s;t, by the hor&s;e, <HI>(They ro&s;e in the morning like fed hor&s;es, and every man neighed after his neighbours wife)</HI> (and therefore S. <HI>Hierome</HI> delights him&s;elfe with that curious note,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Ho&s;. 3. Numb. 5.12.</NOTE> That when a man brings his wife to that triall and conviction of jealou&s;ie, the offering that the man brings is <HI>Barley,</HI> Hor&s;e|provender in tho&s;e parts, &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome</HI>) though both &s;ins, pride and lu&s;t, might be tax|ed in the hor&s;e, yet pride is proper to him, and lu&s;t to the mule, both becau&s;e the mule is <HI>Carne virgo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> but <HI>Mente impudicus,</HI> which is one high degree of lu&s;t, to have a lu&s;tfull de&s;ire in an impotent body, And then, he is engendred by unnaturall mixture, which is another high degree of the &s;ame &s;in. And the&s;e two vices we take to be pre&s;ented here, as the two principall enemies, the two chiefe corrupters of mankinde; pride to be the principall &s;pi|rituall &s;in, and lu&s;t, the principall that works upon the body. To avoid both, con&s;ider we both in both the&s;e bea&s;ts.</P>
<P>It is not much controverted in the Schooles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superbia.</NOTE> but that the fir&s;t &s;in of the Angels was Pride. But becau&s;e (as we &s;aid before) the danger of man is more in &s;inking down, then in climbing up, in dejecting, then in rai&s;ing him&s;elfe, we mu&s;t therefore remember, that it is not pride,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> to de&s;ire to be better. <HI>Angeli quae&s;iverunt id, ad quod perveni&s;&s;ent, &s;i &s;teti&s;|&s;ent.</HI> The Angels &s;in was pride; but their pride con&s;i&s;ted not in a&s;piring to the be&s;t de|grees that their nature was capable of: but in this, that they would come to that &s;tate, by other meanes then were ordained for it. It could not po&s;&s;ibly fall within &s;o pure, and cleare under&s;tandings, as the Angels were, to think that they could be God; that God could be multiplied; That they who knew them&s;elves to be but new made, could think, not only that they were not made, but that they made all things el&s;e; To think that they were God, is impo&s;&s;ible, this could not fall into them, though they would be <HI>Similes Alti&s;simo,</HI> Like the mo&s;t High. But this was their pride, and in this they would be like the mo&s;t High, That whereas God &s;ub&s;i&s;ted in his E&s;&s;ence of him&s;elfe, for tho&s;e degrees of perfection, which appertained to them, they would have them of them&s;elves; They would &s;tand in their perfection, without any turning towards God, without any farther a&s;&s;i&s;tance from him; by them&s;elves, and not by meanes ordained for them. This is the pride that is forbidden man; not that he think well of him&s;elfe, <HI>In genere &s;uo,</HI> That hee value aright the dignity of his nature, in the Creation thereof according to the Image of God, and the infinite improvement that that nature received, in being a&s;&s;umed by the Son of God; This is not pride, but not to acknowledge that all this dignity in nature, and all that it conduces to, that is, grace here, and glory hereafter, is not onely infu&s;ed by God at fir&s;t, but &s;u&s;tained by God &s;till, and that nothing in the beginning, or way, or end, is of our &s;elves, this is pride.</P>
<P>Man may, and mu&s;t think that God hath given him the <HI>Subjicite,</HI> and <HI>Dominamini,</HI> A Maje&s;ticall Character even in his per&s;on, to &s;ubdue and governe all the creatures in the world; That he hath given him a nature, already above all other creatures, and a nature capable of a better then his owne is yet;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4. 1 John 3.9. Acts 17.28. 1 Cor. 6.17. Dan. 3.17.</NOTE> (for, <HI>By his precious promi&s;es we are made parta|kers of the Divine nature</HI>) We are made <HI>Semen Dei,</HI> The &s;eed of God, borne of God; <HI>Genus Dei,</HI> The off-&s;pring of God; <HI>Idem Spiritus cum Domino,</HI> The &s;ame Spirit with the Lord; He the &s;ame fle&s;h with us, and we the &s;ame &s;pirit with him. In Gods &s;ervants, to have &s;aid to <HI>Nebuchadnezzar, Our God is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us; but, if he
<PB N="623" REF="329" MS="y">doe not, yet we will not &s;erve thy Gods:</HI> In the Martyrs of the Primitive Church, to have contemned torments, and tormentors with per&s;onall &s;cornes and affronts: In all calami|ties and adver&s;ities of this life, to rely upon that a&s;&s;urance, I have a better &s;ub&s;tance in me then any man can hurt, I have a better inheritance prepared for me, then any man can take from me, I am called to Triumph, and I goe to receive a Crown of Immortality, the&s;e high contemplations of Kingdomes, and Triumphs, and Crowns, are not pride; To know a better &s;tate, and de&s;ire it, is not pride; for pride is onely in taking wrong wayes to it. So that, to think we can come to this by our own &s;trength, without Gods inward working a beliefe, or to think that we can believe out of <HI>Plato,</HI> where we may find a God, but without a Chri&s;t, or come to be good men out of <HI>Plutarch</HI> or <HI>Seneca,</HI> with|out a Church and Sacraments, to pur&s;ue the truth it &s;elfe by any other way then he hath laid open to us, this is pride, and the pride of the Angels.</P>
<P>Now there is al&s;o a pride, which is the Hor&s;es pride, conver&s;ant upon earthly things; To de&s;ire Riches, and Honour, and Preferment in this world, is not pride; for they have all good u&s;es in Gods &s;ervice; but to de&s;ire the&s;e by corrupt meanes, or to ill ends, to get them by &s;upplantation of others, or for oppre&s;&s;ion of others, this is pride, and a Be&s;tiall pride. And this proud man is elegantly expre&s;&s;ed in the Hor&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 39.19.</NOTE> <HI>The hor&s;e re|joyceth in his &s;trength, he goes forth to meet the armed man, he mocks at feare, he turnes upon the &s;word, and he &s;wallowes the ground. The River is mine,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Pharaoh,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 29.3.</NOTE> <HI>and I have made it for my &s;efl:</HI> They take all, and they mi&s;take all; That which is but lent them for u&s;e, they think theirs; <HI>(The River is mine)</HI> That which God gave them, they think of their own get|ting; <HI>(I made it)</HI> And that which God placed upon them, as his Stewards for the good of others, they appropriate to them&s;elves; <HI>(I have made it for my &s;elf)</HI> But <HI>when time is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 39.21. Zech. 12.4. Job 39.27.</NOTE> <HI>God mounteth on high, and he mocks the hor&s;e and the rider. In that day, I will &s;mite every hor&s;e with a&s;toni&s;hment, and his rider with madne&s;&s;e. The hor&s;e beleeveth not that it is the &s;ound of the Trumpet;</HI> When the Trumpet &s;ounds to us in our la&s;t Bell, (for the la&s;t Bell that carries us out of this world, and the Trumpet that cals us to the next, is all one voyce to us, for we heare nothing between) the worldly man &s;hall not beleeve that it is the &s;ound of the Trumpet, he &s;hall not know it, not take knowledge of it, but pa&s;&s;e away un&s;en&s;ible of his own condition.</P>
<P>So then is Pride well repre&s;ented in the Hor&s;e; and &s;o is the other, Lu&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mulus.</NOTE> licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the Mule. For, be&s;ides that rea&s;on of a&s;&s;imilation, that it de&s;ires, and cannot, and that rea&s;on, that it pre&s;ents unnaturall and promi&s;cuous lu&s;t, for this rea&s;on is that vice well repre&s;ented in that Bea&s;t, becau&s;e it is &s;o apt to beare any burdens. For, certainly, no man is &s;o inclinable to &s;ubmit him&s;elfe to any burden of labour, of danger, of co&s;t, of di&s;|honour, of law, of &s;ickne&s;&s;e, as the licentious man is; He refu&s;es none, to come to his ends. Neither is there any tree &s;o loaded with boughs, any one &s;in that hath &s;o many branches, &s;o many &s;pecies as this. Shedding of blood we can limit in murder, and man|&s;laughter, and a few more; and other &s;ins in as few names. In this &s;in of lu&s;t, the &s;exe, the quality, the di&s;tance, the manner, and a great many other circum&s;tances, create new names to the &s;in, and make it a &s;in of another kinde. And as the &s;in is a Mule, to beare all the&s;e loads, &s;o the &s;inner in this kind is &s;o too, and (as we finde an example in the Nephew of a Pope) delights to take as many loads of this &s;in upon him, as he could; to vary, and to multiply the kindes of this &s;in in one act, He would not &s;atisfie his lu&s;t by a fornication, or adultery, or ince&s;t, (the&s;e were vulgar) but upon his own &s;ex; and that not upon an or|dinary per&s;on, but in their account, upon a Prince; And he, a &s;pirituall Prince, A Cardi|nall; And all this, not by &s;olicitation, but by force: for thus he compiled his &s;ins, He ra|vi&s;hed a Cardinall. This is the &s;in, in which men pack up as much &s;in as they can, and as though it were a &s;hame to have too little, they belie their own pack, they bragge of &s;ins in this kinde, which they never did, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> with a holy and penitent ingenuity con|fe&s;&s;es of him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>This &s;in then, (though one great mi&s;chiefe in it be, that for the mo&s;t part, it de&s;troyes two together, (the Devill will have his creatures come to his Arke by couples too, two and two together) yet this &s;in we are able to commit without a companion, upon our own bodies, yea without bodies; (in the weakne&s;&s;e of our bodies our mindes can &s;in this &s;in) This which the Wi&s;e-man cals a pit, <HI>The mouth of a &s;trange woman is as a deep pit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 22.14.</NOTE> <HI>he with whom the Lord is angry, &s;hall fall therein.</HI> And therefore he that pur&s;ues that &s;in, is called to a double &s;ad con&s;ideration, both that he angers the Lord in committing that
<PB N="624" REF="330">&s;inne then; And that the Lord was angry with him before for &s;ome other &s;inne, and for a puni&s;hment of that former &s;in, God &s;uffered him to fall into this. And it is truely a feare|full condition, when God puni&s;hes &s;in by &s;in; other corrections bring us to a peace with God; He will not be angry for ever, he will not puni&s;h twice, when hee hath puni&s;hed a &s;in, he hath done: But when he puni&s;hes &s;in by &s;inne, wee are not thereby the nearer to a peace or reconciliation by that puni&s;hment, for &s;till there is a new &s;in that continues us in his di&s;plea&s;ure. Puni&s;h me O Lord, with all thy &s;courges, with poverty, with &s;ickne&s;&s;e, with di&s;honour, with lo&s;&s;e of parents, and children, but with that rod of wyre, with that &s;corpion, to puni&s;h &s;in with &s;inne, Lord &s;courge me not, for then how &s;hall I enter into thy re&s;t?</P>
<P>And this is the condition of this &s;inne; for, <HI>He with whom the Lord is angry, &s;hall fall in|to it.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.</NOTE> And when he is fallen, he &s;hall not under&s;tand his &s;tate, but thinke him&s;elfe well; For <HI>Nathan</HI> pre&s;ents <HI>Davids</HI> &s;inne to him, in a parable of a fea&s;t, of an entertainment of a &s;tranger: He ta&s;tes no &s;owrne&s;&s;e, no bitterne&s;&s;e in it; not becau&s;e there is none, but be|cau&s;e a carka&s;&s;e, a man already &s;lain cannot feele a new wound; A man dead in the habit of a &s;inne, hath no &s;en&s;e of it: This &s;inne of which S. <HI>Augu&s;tin,</HI> who had beene overcome by it, and was afraid that his ca&s;e was a common ca&s;e, &s;aith in the per&s;on of all, <HI>Continua pugna, victoria rara;</HI> In a defen&s;ive warre, where we are put to a continuall re&s;i&s;tance, it is hard comming to a victory; what hope then where there is no re&s;i&s;tance, no defence, but a &s;pontaneous and voluntary opening our &s;elves to all provocations, yea provoking of provocations by high diet, a tempting of tentations by expo&s;ing our &s;elves to dangerous company,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.10.</NOTE> when as the Angels who were &s;afe enough in them&s;elves, yet withdrew them|&s;elves from the uncleanne&s;&s;e of the Sodomits. This &s;inne will not be overcome but by a league,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 31.1.</NOTE> <HI>Iobs</HI> league, <HI>Pepigi foedus, I have made a covenant with mine eyes, why then &s;hould I think upon a maid?</HI> Since I have bound my &s;en&s;es, why &s;hould my mind be at liberty to &s;inne? This league &s;hould bind both; I have taken a promi&s;e of mine eyes, that they will not betray me by wanton glaunces, by carying me to dangerous objects, why &s;hould not I keepe covnant with them? why &s;hould my thoughts be &s;cattered upon &s;uch ten|tations? The league mu&s;t be kept on both parts, the mind and the &s;en&s;es; wee mu&s;t not entertain tentations from without, we mu&s;t not create them within. <HI>Eloquia Domini ca&s;ta, The words of the Lord are cha&s;te words,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 12.7.</NOTE> <HI>pure words,</HI> and &s;o mu&s;t all the talke, and conver|&s;ation of him, that loves God, be. And then, <HI>Ca&s;tificate animas ve&s;tras,</HI> you mu&s;t &s;ee that you keepe your minds pure and cha&s;te.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 1.22.</NOTE> If we have not both cha&s;te minds, and cha&s;t bo|dies, we &s;hall have neither; And then follows the excommunication: S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aith, That according to mo&s;t probability, there were no Mules in the Arke; but undi&s;|putably there are no Mules in the Church, in the triumphant Church, none of our me|taphoricall Mules there:<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.8.</NOTE> The Apo&s;tle hath put it beyond a Problem, <HI>Bee not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate per&s;ons &s;hall inherit the Kingdome of hea|ven,</HI> there is the fearefull excommunication: And therefore <HI>Nolite fieri &s;icut, Be not made like the Hor&s;e or the Mule,</HI> in pride, or wantonne&s;&s;e e&s;pecially, <HI>Quia non Intellectus,</HI> becau&s;e then you lo&s;e your under&s;tanding, and &s;o become ab&s;olutely irrecoverable, and leave God nothing to worke upon: For the under&s;tanding of man is the field which God &s;owes, and the tree in which he engraffes faith it &s;elfe; and therefore take heed of &s;uch a de&s;cent, as induces the lo&s;&s;e of the under&s;tanding, and that is the ca&s;e here, (and our next con&s;ideration) <HI>Non Intellectus, They have no under&s;tanding.</HI></P>
<P>This faculty of the under&s;tanding in man is not alwayes well under&s;tood by men.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Intellectus.</NOTE> The whole P&s;alme is a P&s;alme to rectifie the under&s;tanding; It is in the title thereof, <HI>Davids In&s;truction:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 8.</NOTE> And that office God undertakes in the ver&s;e before our Text, <HI>I will in&s;truct thee,</HI> which is in &s;ome Latin Copies, <HI>Faciam te intelligere, I will make thee under|&s;tand,</HI> and in others, (the vulgat) <HI>Intellectum tibi dabo, I will give thee under&s;tanding;</HI> Now though this <HI>In&s;truction,</HI> and this <HI>Vnder&s;tanding,</HI> which is intended in the Title, and &s;pecified in the former ver&s;e, bee not the &s;ame <HI>Vnder&s;tanding</HI> as this in our Text, (for this is but of that naturall faculty of man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 1.9.</NOTE> wherewith God <HI>enlightneth every man that com|meth into the world,</HI> till hee make him&s;elfe <HI>like the hor&s;e or the mule</HI>) the other is God &s;u|peredification upon this, tho&s;e other &s;uper-naturall Graces, which God produces out of the under&s;tanding, or infu&s;es into the under&s;tanding; yet this <HI>Vnder&s;tanding</HI> in our Text, though it be but the naturall faculty, is a con&s;iderable thing, and hath, in part, the nature of materials for God to worke upon. That <HI>In&s;truction</HI> which is the &s;ubject of the whole
<PB N="625" REF="330">P&s;alem, is that &s;aving Doctrine, <HI>That there is no ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e but in the remi&s;sion of &s;innes.</HI> That <HI>David</HI> e&s;tabli&s;hes for his foundation in the fir&s;t <HI>ver&s;e,</HI> and would &s;ay nothing till he had &s;aid that. But then, though this remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes (which onely con&s;titutes Ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e) proceed meerely from the goodne&s;&s;e of God, yet that goodne&s;&s;e of God, as it excites primarily, &s;o it works &s;till upon that act of man, penitent confe&s;&s;ion, <HI>Notum feci, I acknowledged my &s;inne,</HI> and <HI>Dixi confitebor,</HI> I prepared my &s;elfe to confe&s;&s;e my &s;inne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 5.</NOTE> and thou forgave&s;t all.</P>
<P>This then S. <HI>Hierome</HI> delivers to be the <HI>In&s;truction</HI> of the P&s;alme, <HI>Hominem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> <HI>non pro|priis meritis, &s;ed Dei gratia, po&s;&s;e &s;alvari, &s;i confiteatur admi&s;&s;a;</HI> That man of him&s;elfe is ir|recoverable, But yet there is a way opened to &s;alvation in Chri&s;t Je&s;us: But this way is onely open to them, who enter by Confe&s;&s;ion. And though S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> and S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> differ often in the expo&s;ition of the P&s;almes, yet here they &s;peake almo&s;t the &s;ame words. The In&s;truction of this P&s;alme is, <HI>Intelligentia, qua intelligitur, non meritis operum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ed gratia Dei hominem liberari, confitentem &s;ua peccata,</HI> That no man is &s;aved by his owne merits, That any man may bee &s;aved by the mercy of God in the merits of Chri&s;t, That no man attaines this mercy, but by confe&s;&s;ion of his &s;innes: And that that rule, <HI>In ore duorum aut trium,</HI> may have the large&s;t fulne&s;&s;e, adde wee a third witne&s;&s;e, <HI>Intellectus e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> This is the In&s;truction that <HI>David</HI> promi&s;es, <HI>Nemo ante fidem,</HI> Let no man pre&s;ume of merits, before faith; But in all this they all three agree, Every man mu&s;t know, that hee may bee &s;aved, And that by his owne merits hee cannot, And la&s;tly, that the merits of Chri&s;t are applied to no man, that doth nothing for him&s;elfe. <HI>Quid e&s;t Intellectus?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;aith he againe, What is this under&s;tanding? It is, &s;aith he, no more but this, <HI>Vt non jactes opera ante fidem,</HI> Never to take confidence in works, otherwi&s;e then as they are rooted in faith: For (as hee enlarges this Meditation) if thou &s;hould&s;t &s;ee a man pull at an Oare, till his eye-&s;trings, and &s;inews, and mu&s;cles broke, and thou &s;hould&s;t aske him, whither he rowed; If thou &s;hould&s;t &s;ee a man runne him&s;elfe out of breath, and &s;hould&s;t aske him whither hee ranne; If thou &s;hould&s;t &s;ee him dig till his backe broke, and &s;hould&s;t aske him, what he &s;ought, And any of the&s;e &s;hould an&s;wer thee, they could not tell, would&s;t not thou thinke them mad? So are all Di&s;ciplines, all Mortifications, all whip|pings, all &s;tarvings, all works of Piety, and of Charity madne&s;&s;e, if they have any other root then faith, any other title or dignity, then effects and fruits of a preceding reconcili|ation to God. <HI>Multi pagani,</HI> &s;aith he,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> There are many Infidels that refu&s;e to bee made Chri&s;tians, becau&s;e they are &s;o good already; <HI>Sibi &s;ufficiunt de &s;ua bona vita;</HI> They are the wor&s;e for being &s;o good, and they thinke they need no faith, but are rich enough in their morall hone&s;ty. And there are Chri&s;tians, that are the wor&s;e for thinking and be|leeving that it is enough to Beleeve. It is not faith to beleeve in gro&s;&s;e, that I &s;hall be &s;a|ved, but I mu&s;t beleeve, that I &s;hall be &s;aved by him that died for me. If I con&s;ider that, I cannot chu&s;e but love him too; And if I love him, I &s;hall doe his will; <HI>Ama &amp; ope|raberis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> whom&s;oever thou love&s;t, thou wilt doe what thou can&s;t to plea&s;e him. <HI>Da mihi vacantem amorem;</HI> I would bee glad to &s;ee an idle love, that that man, that loved any thing in this world, &s;hould not labour to compa&s;&s;e that that he loved: But <HI>purga amorem,</HI> &s;aith hee, I doe not forbid thee loving, (it is a noble affection) but purge and purifie thy love; <HI>Aquam fluentem in cloacam converte in hortum;</HI> Turne that water which hath &s;er|ved thy &s;tables, and &s;ewers before, into thy gardens: Turne tho&s;e teares which thou ha&s;t &s;pent upon thy love, or thy lo&s;&s;es, upon thy &s;innes, and the di&s;plea&s;ure of thy God, and <HI>Quales impetus habebas ad mundum, habebis ad Creatorem mundi,</HI> Tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ions which tran&s;ported thee upon the creature, will e&s;tabli&s;h thee upon the Creator.</P>
<P>The <HI>In&s;truction</HI> then of the whole P&s;alme, is peace with God, in the merits of Chri&s;t, declared in a holy life; which being the &s;umme of all our Chri&s;tian profe&s;&s;ion, is farre beyond this <HI>Vnder&s;tanding</HI> in our Text, <HI>(They have no under&s;tanding)</HI> but yet upon this Under&s;tanding God rai&s;es that great building, and therefore wee take this faculty, <HI>The Vnder&s;tanding,</HI> into a more particular con&s;ideration. Here is the danger, He that at ripe yeares hath no under&s;tanding, hath no grace, A little under&s;tanding may have much grace; but he that hath none of the former, can have none of this. God therefore brings us to the con&s;ideration, not of the greate&s;t, but of the fir&s;t thing; not of his &s;uperedifica|tions, but of his foundations, our under&s;tanding, our rea&s;on. For, though <HI>Animalis homo, The naturall man perceiveth not the things that be of the Spirit of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.14.</NOTE> yet let him bee what man he will, Naturall or Supernaturall, hee mu&s;t bee a man, that mu&s;t <HI>probare &s;piritum,</HI>
<PB N="626" REF="331">prove and di&s;cerne the &s;pirit; let him have as much more as you will, it is requi&s;ite hee have &s;o much rea&s;on, and under&s;tanding, as to perceive the maine points of Religion; not that he mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily have a naturall explicite rea&s;on for every Article of faith, but it were fit he had rea&s;on to prove, that tho&s;e Articles need not rea&s;on to prove them. If I beleeve upon the Authority of my Teacher, or of the Church, or of the Scripture, very expedient it were to have rea&s;on to prove to my &s;elfe that the&s;e Authorities are certaine, and irrefragable. And therefore, <HI>Caeteris animalibus, &s;e ignorare, natura e&s;t, homini vitium,</HI> If a Hor&s;e or a Mule under&s;tand not it &s;elfe, it is never the wor&s;e Hor&s;e nor Mule, for it is borne with that ignorance; But if man, having opportunities, both in re|&s;pect of his parts and calling, to be better in&s;tructed, either by a negligent and lazy and implicite relying upon the opinion of others, doe but lay him&s;elfe downe as a leafe upon the water, to be carried along with the tide, or by a wilfull drow&s;ine&s;&s;e, and &s;ecurity in his &s;ins, have given over the debatement, the di&s;cu&s;&s;ing, the under&s;tanding of the maine of his beliefe, and of his life, if either he keepe not his under&s;tanding awake, or over-watch it, if he doe nothing with it, or employ it too bu&s;ily, too fervently, too eagerly upon the world, I would it were true of them, <HI>Facti &s;icut,</HI> you are like the Hor&s;e, and the Mule; but <HI>Vtinam e&s;&s;etis,</HI> I would you were &s;o well, as the Hor&s;e, and the Mule, who, though they have no under&s;tanding, have no forfeiture, no lo&s;&s;e, no abu&s;e of under&s;tanding to an&s;wer for.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then the Hor&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superbus.</NOTE> The proud man, hath no under&s;tanding; He hath forgot his let|ters, his Alphabet; how he was &s;pelled and put together, and made of body and &s;oule. You may as well call him an Anatomi&s;t, that knowes how to pare a naile, or cut a corne, or him a Surgeon, that knowes how to cut, and curle haire, as allow him under&s;tanding, that knowes how to gather riches, or how to buy an Office, or how to hurt, and oppre&s;&s;e others, when he hath tho&s;e meanes. That ab&s;urdity, that height of &s;trange ignorance, that the Prophet ob&s;erves in an Idolatrous Image-maker,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 44.16.</NOTE> is in this proud man; <HI>He burnes halfe in the fire, and the re&s;idue he makes a god.</HI> He hath &s;eene as great e&s;tates as his, burne to a&s;hes, as great per&s;ons as him&s;elfe ruined and de&s;troyed, burne out, and vani&s;h into &s;parks, and &s;tinking &s;moake; He hath &s;eene halfe his owne time burnt out and wa&s;ted, and yet hee dreames of an eternity in him&s;elfe; He &s;ayes, I am, and none el&s;e; hee will not &s;ay &s;o to me in expre&s;&s;e words, but does hee not &s;ay &s;o to the whole world, in his manife&s;t actions?</P>
<P>The Hor&s;e then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mulus.</NOTE> The proud man, hath no under&s;tanding, and the Mule, the licentious man, as little. The Ancients had a purpo&s;e to expre&s;&s;e that, when they placed by their Godde&s;&s;e of Licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e, <HI>Venus,</HI> A Tortoy&s;e, A Creature that had no heart; capable of no under&s;tanding.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.</NOTE> And it is better expre&s;&s;ed in tho&s;e licentious per&s;ons, who pur&s;ued <HI>Lots</HI> gue&s;ts. Their blindne&s;&s;e brought them to an impo&s;&s;ibility of finding the doore, <HI>(They were weary in &s;eeking the doore)</HI> And if they had found it, they had &s;ound it &s;hut. A man that hath wallowed long in that &s;in, when he &s;eekes a doore to repentance, he will quickly be weary, for there lie hard conditions upon him; and he is in danger of finding the doore &s;o &s;hut, as his under&s;tanding (and that is all his key) cannot open; Hee will make &s;hift for rea&s;ons, why he &s;hould continue in that &s;in, and he will call it ill nature, or fal&s;hood, or breach of promi&s;e, and incon&s;tancy, to depart from the Conver&s;ation that nouri&s;hes that &s;in. The doore will be &s;hut, and his Rea&s;on cannot, nay his Rea&s;on would not open it, but rather plead in the &s;ins behalfe.</P>
<P>Thus far our fir&s;t rea&s;on hath carried us, Doe it not, lea&s;t you loo&s;e your under&s;tan|ding, The field of that ble&s;&s;ed &s;eed, The tree of that fruitfull graft, The materials for that glorious building, Faith; For, the under&s;tanding is the receptacle of Faith: But doe it not, the rather, becau&s;e if ye do it, God will be brought to a nece&s;&s;ity, <HI>In chamo &amp; fraeno maxillas con&s;tringere,</HI> to hold in your mouths with <HI>bit</HI> and <HI>bridle,</HI> to come to hard u&s;age, when as he would faine have you reduced by faire and gentle meanes. But to this way God is often brought; and, by this way of affliction, the cure is &s;ometimes wrought upon us. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> propo&s;es to him&s;elfe a wonder, why the fir&s;t woman was called at fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.23.</NOTE> and in her be&s;t &s;tate, but <HI>I&s;ha, Virago,</HI> which was a name of diminution, as &s;he was taken from the man, (for <HI>I&s;ha</HI> is but a <HI>&s;hee-man</HI>) And then in her wor&s;e &s;tate, when &s;he had &s;inned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.20.</NOTE> &s;he was called <HI>Eva, Mater viventium, The Mother of all living;</HI> &s;he had a better name in her wor&s;t e&s;tate. But this was not in re&s;pect of her &s;in, &s;ayes that Father, but in re&s;pect of her puni&s;hment. Now that &s;he was become mortall by a &s;entence of death
<PB N="627" REF="331">pronounced upon her, and knew that &s;he mu&s;t dye, and re&s;olve to du&s;t, now, &s;ayes he, there was no danger in her, of growing proud by any glorious title; affliction had tamed her, and rectified her now; and to that purpo&s;e &s;ometimes does God bit and bridle us with afflictions, that our corrupt affections might not tran&s;port us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 14.</NOTE> Wee finde that <HI>Ab|&s;olom</HI> &s;ent for <HI>Ioab;</HI> The Kings Son for the Kings &s;ervant; There was coldne&s;&s;e, &s;ome drine&s;&s;e betweene <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> and his Father, <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> was under a cloud at Court, and &s;o <HI>Ioab</HI> neglected him, he would not come; <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> &s;ent againe, and againe <HI>Ioab</HI> refu&s;ed; But then <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> &s;ent his &s;ervants to burne <HI>Ioabs</HI> Corne fields, and then <HI>Ioab</HI> came apace. Af|fliction and calamity are the bit and the bridle, that God puts into our mouth &s;ome|times to turne us to him. <HI>Behold, we put bits into the hor&s;es mouthes, that they &s;hould obey us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 3.3.</NOTE> <HI>and we turne all the body about.</HI> And to this belongs that, <HI>A whip for the Hor&s;e, a bridle for the A&s;&s;e, and a rod for the fooles back;</HI> When we are become fooles, made like the Hor&s;e and Mule, that we have no under&s;tanding, then God bits and bridles us, he whips and &s;courges us, &s;ometimes le&s;t our de&s;ires &s;hould mi&s;lead us a wrong way, &s;ometimes, if they have, to turne us into the right way againe; But here in our text, it is, <HI>Ne approximent te, Their mouths mu&s;t be held with bit and bridle, le&s;t they come neere unto thee.</HI></P>
<P>When God, by their incorrigibility, have given over all care of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ne approxi|ment.</NOTE> yet hee takes care of us, of his Servants, of his Church, and he bits and bridles his and our enemies, &s;o, as that they &s;hall not come neare us, they &s;hall not hurt us. So God &s;aid to <HI>Senacherib, Becau&s;e thou rage&s;t again&s;t me,</HI> (God was far enough out of <HI>Senacheribs</HI> reach,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 19.28.</NOTE> but God accounts his Jeru&s;alem as Heaven, and his <HI>Hezekias</HI> as him&s;elfe) <HI>Becau&s;e thy rage is again&s;t me, I will put my hooke into thy no&s;e, and my bridle in thy lips, and will turne thee back, by the way by which thou came&s;t.</HI> When man is become as the Hor&s;e, proud of his &s;trength, <HI>In chamo, et fraeno,</HI> God &s;hall bit him, and bridle him &s;o, as that he &s;hall be able to doe no harme; and certainely, the godly have not a greater joy, when they are able to do good to others, then the wicked have &s;orrow, when having power in their hands, yet they are not able to execute their mi&s;chievous purpo&s;es upon them that they hate. Satan was glad of any Commi&s;&s;ion upon <HI>Iob,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>God made a hedge about him, and about his hou&s;e, Ne approximaret,</HI> That Satan could not come neare him; He was glad God gave him power, to annoy him any way; but &s;orry that he exempted his per&s;on, in that fir&s;t Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>(Onely upon him&s;elfe put not forth thy hand)</HI> He was glad that in a &s;econd Commi&s;&s;ion, God did lay open his per&s;on to his power, but &s;orry that he excepted his life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 2.6.</NOTE> <HI>(Behold he is in thy hand, but &s;ave his life.)</HI> For, till the wicked come to an utter de&s;truction of their enemies, they thinke it no approximation, They are never come neare enough to them. And <HI>In chamo, &amp; fraeno,</HI> therfore God bits &amp; bridles them, that they &s;hal not come neare, not &s;o neare, to de&s;troy; and certainely, Gods children have not &s;o much &s;orrow for that which the wicked doe inflict upon them, as the wicked have for that which they cannot inflict upon them; The wicked are more tormented that they can do no more, then the godly are, that they have done &s;o much. And this is a comfortable, (and truly, the mo&s;t literall &s;en&s;e of this <HI>Ne approximent</HI>) <HI>Their mouths mu&s;t be held,</HI> They mu&s;t, though none can hold them but God, yet God mu&s;t, God him&s;elfe for his owne glory, and the pre|&s;ervation of his Church, is reduced to a nece&s;&s;ity, he mu&s;t, he will <HI>hold</HI> them in <HI>with bit and bridle,</HI> le&s;t they come neare us. But there is a &s;adder, and a heavier &s;en&s;e ari&s;ing out of the&s;e words, as S. <HI>Hierom</HI> accepts and pur&s;ues the words, with which we &s;hall end all that belongs to them.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Hierom</HI> reads the&s;e words &s;o, as that when God hath &s;aid, <HI>Nolite fieri, Be not as the Hor&s;e or Mule, that have no under&s;tanding,</HI> God hath done, and &s;ayes no more; and that in the re&s;t of the words, <HI>In chamo &amp; fraeno maxillas eorum con&s;tringe, (hold in their mouthes with bit and bridle, who come not neare thee)</HI> the Church &s;peakes to God; and &s;o, this inhibi|tion, <HI>Ne approximent, That they come not neare thee,</HI> may very well be, <HI>That they come not neare God,</HI> That God bits and bridles them &s;o, afflicts and multiplies afflictions &s;o, that even tho&s;e afflictions drive them farther from God, and &s;eale their condemnation in their owne blood. Gods Spirit &s;hall fanne them, &s;ift them; That might do them good;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.28.</NOTE> purifie them, clean&s;e them; No, it &s;hall do them no good; for, (as it follows) <HI>God &s;hall &s;ift them with a &s;ieve of vanity;</HI> In vaine, to no purpo&s;e, without any amendment; And there &s;hall be, <HI>Fraenum erroris,</HI> a bridle in their jawes cau&s;ing them to erre; Their impa|tient mi&s;-interpretation of Gods corrections, &s;hall turne them upon a wrong way on the left hand, and depart them farther and farther from God. And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 29.1.</NOTE> <HI>He that being often
<PB N="628" REF="332" MS="y">reproved, hardneth his neck, &s;hall &s;uddenly be de&s;troyed, and that without remedy;</HI> &s;uddenly, and irrecoverably; &s;uddenly, no time given him to deprecate his de&s;truction, no reprieve; Irrecoverably,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jere. 11.14.</NOTE> if he had never &s;o much time; <HI>I will not heare them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.</HI> Shall any be able to cry unto God, and not be heard? Yes, to cry, and to cry for their trouble; for all this may be done, and yet no true prayer made, nor right foundation laid; when onely impatience upon affliction extorts, and pre&s;&s;es, and vents a cry, God will not heare them. No, nor when they are thus di&s;abled to pray for them&s;elves, will God heare any other to pray for them. Thrice doth God chide the Prophet <HI>Ieremy</HI> from that charitable di&s;po&s;ition of praying for that people. <HI>Lift not up a cry nor prayer for them;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid. &amp; 7.16. &amp; 14.11.</NOTE> Not a <HI>Cry,</HI> by way of remembring me of their pre&s;|&s;ures and afflictions, as though that &s;hould move me; Not a <HI>Prayer,</HI> by remembring me of my Covenant of mercy towards them, as though that &s;hould binde me. At other times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezck. 22.30.</NOTE> <HI>God &s;ought for a man among them, that &s;hould make up the hedge, and &s;tand in the gap before him for the land, that he might not de&s;troy it, but he found none.</HI> Here <HI>Ieremy</HI> offers him&s;elfe in the gap, and God will not receive him to that Mediator&s;hip, to that Interce&s;|&s;ion for that people. When <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> importuned God for the people, God tells him, for thy &s;elfe thou &s;halt be no lo&s;er;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.10.</NOTE> what&s;oever become of this people; <HI>(I will make thee a great Nation)</HI> But yet, &s;ayes God, <HI>(Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot again&s;t this people, that I may con&s;ume them.)</HI> O how contagious and pe&s;tilent are the &s;innes of man, that can thus (if we may &s;o &s;peake) infect God him&s;elfe! How violent, how impetuous, how tempe&s;tuous are the &s;innes of man, that can thus, (if we may &s;o &s;peake) tran&s;port God him&s;elfe, and carry him beyond him&s;elfe! for him&s;elfe is mercy, and there is no roome for our own prayers, no roome for the prayers of others to open any doore, any pore of mercy to flow out, or to breath out upon us.</P>
<P>Truly, Beloved, it is hard to conceive, how any height of &s;in in man &s;hould worke thus upon God, as to throw him away, without any purpo&s;e of re-a&s;&s;uming him againe, or any po&s;&s;ibility of returning to him againe. But to impute that di&s;temper to God, that God &s;hould thus peremptorily hate Man, thus irreparably de&s;troy Man, before he con|&s;idered that Man, as a &s;inner, and as a manifold &s;inner, and as an obdurate &s;inner, nay before he con&s;idered him, as a Man, as a Creature, that fir&s;t he &s;hould mean to damne him, if he had him, and then mean to make him, that he might damne him; this is to impute to God, a &s;owrer and wor&s;e affected nature, then falls into any man. Doth any man de&s;ire that his enemy had a &s;onne, that he might kill him? Doth any man beget a &s;onne therefore, that he might di&s;-inherit him? Doth God hate any man therefore, be|cau&s;e he will hate him? Deliver me, O Lord, from my &s;ins, pardon them, and then re|turne to thy fir&s;t purpo&s;es upon me; for I am &s;ure they were good, till I was ill; and my illne&s;&s;e came not from thee; but may be &s;o multiplied by my &s;elfe, as that thou maye&s;t bit me and bridle me &s;o, as that I &s;hall not come near thee, in any of tho&s;e acce&s;&s;es which thou ha&s;t opened in thy Church: Prayer, Preaching, Sacraments, Ab&s;olution, all &s;hall be unavailable upon me, ineffectuall to me. And therefore, as God would have us con|&s;erve the dignity of our nature in his Image, and not de&s;cend to the qualities of the&s;e Bea&s;ts, Hor&s;e and Mule, &s;pecified by the Holy Gho&s;t, to repre&s;ent to us tho&s;e two &s;ins, which are the wombes and mothers of very many others, Pride and Lu&s;t, (the greate&s;t &s;pirituall, and the greate&s;t bodily &s;in) becau&s;e thereby we lo&s;e all under&s;tanding, which is the matter upon which Grace works; &s;o would he have us doe it for this al&s;o, that he might not be put to a nece&s;&s;ity of bitting and bridling us, of hard u&s;age towards us, which may turne us as well to Obduration as Contrition, and &s;o come to lo&s;e our faith at la&s;t, as we had done our rea&s;on and under&s;tanding before.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="63" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="629" REF="332">
<HEAD>SERM. LXIII. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 32.10, 11.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Many &s;orrows &s;hall be to the wicked; But he that tru&s;teth in the Lord, Mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e him about.</P>
<P>Be glad in the Lord, and rejoyce yee righteous; And &s;hout for joy all yee that are upright in heart.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe two Elements, of which Heaven is propo&s;ed to us to be compo&s;ed, are Joy and Glory. That which is oppo&s;ed to the&s;e, is Sorrow and Con|tempt: Of the &s;en&s;e of contempt and ingloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, Men are not alike capable in this world; but of the &s;en&s;e of &s;orrow, we are &s;omewhat more equall. A man mu&s;t have had &s;ome po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, or at lea&s;t &s;ome hopes of glory and greatne&s;&s;e, that apprehends contempt or ingloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e very pa&s;&s;ionately. And be&s;ides, in the lowe&s;t and mo&s;t abject contempt a man may relieve him&s;elfe by conveniences of a plentifull Fortune at home, how much &s;oever he be undervalued and de&s;pi&s;ed abroad. But when it comes to a &s;orrow of heart, which dwells not imaginarily in the opinion of others, as contempt doth, but really in mine owne bo&s;ome, it is a heavy colluctation. Therefore doth the Holy Gho&s;t &s;o often, &s;o very often, blow that coale, and threaten that in&s;upportable, that inextingui&s;hable fire, &s;orrow, &s;orrow of heart, &s;or|row of &s;oule; <HI>Many &s;orrows &s;hall be to the wicked.</HI> But the Holy Gho&s;t is the Spirit of Con&s;olation; He is a Dove that ha&s;ts to a better ayre, to a whiter hou&s;e, to the Arke of Peace, the &s;tation of the Righteous; Joy in the mercy of God; for, <HI>He that tru&s;teth in the Lord, mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e him about; Be glad in the Lord, and rejoyce yee Righteous, and &s;hout for joy all yee that are upright in heart.</HI></P>
<P>Our parts are, the Per&s;ons, and their Portions; Who they Be, and what they Have.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> The Per&s;ons are all the Inhabitants of this world; for all are wicked, or righteous; And the Portion is all that the &s;oule receives here, or hereafter; for all is joy or &s;or|row; <HI>Many &s;orrows &s;hall be to the wicked, but he &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, here are <HI>&s;orrows;</HI> A pa&s;&s;ion which we cannot expre&s;&s;e, and from the under|&s;tanding whereof, in this &s;en&s;e, God ble&s;&s;e us all: A &s;orrow, that is nothing but &s;orrow; a &s;orrow that determines not in joy at la&s;t. And here are <HI>Dolores multi,</HI> his &s;orrows are multiplied, <HI>Many &s;orrows;</HI> And as the word <HI>Rabbim</HI> doth as properly import, and might be as well &s;o tran&s;lated, here are <HI>Dolores magni, Great &s;orrows;</HI> Great in their owne waight, great in them&s;elves, and great al&s;o in the apprehen&s;ion, and tenderne&s;&s;e, and im|patience of the &s;ufferer, great to him; And then all the&s;e heavy circum&s;tances, as the dregs and lees of this cup of malediction, meet in the bottome, in the center of all; That the&s;e &s;orrowes are determinable by no time; for in the Originall, there is neither that which our fir&s;t Tran&s;lation in&s;erted, <HI>(Shall come) Sorrowes &s;hall come to the wicked,</HI> le&s;t the wicked might &s;ay, Let it goe as it came, if I know how it came, what occa&s;ioned the &s;or|row, I know how to overcome it; nor is there that which our later Tran&s;lation added, <HI>(Shall be) Sorrowes &s;hall be to the wicked;</HI> for though that imply a Continuance, when it comes, yet the wicked might &s;ay, It is not come yet, and why &s;hould I anticipate &s;or|row, or execute my &s;elfe before the Executioner be &s;ent? But it is without all limitation of time, and &s;o includes all parts of time; <HI>E&s;t, fuit, &amp; erit,</HI> The wicked are not, never were, or &s;hall be without &s;orrowes, many &s;orrows, great &s;orrows, everla&s;ting &s;orrows. This is the Portion in our fir&s;t part; and then the Per&s;on, for whom this cup is thus fil|led there, is <HI>The wicked;</HI> Which denotes a Plurality, and a Singularity too; For it is not &s;aid, The wanton, The ambitious, The covetous, The man that is a little leavened, or &s;owred, or di&s;coloured with &s;ome degrees of &s;ome of the&s;e; but it is <HI>The wicked;</HI> a man
<PB N="630" REF="333">who&s;e whole complexion, and &s;tructure &s;eemes made up of wickedne&s;&s;e; And &s;o it is <HI>Super impium,</HI> Upon the wicked, Emphatically, <HI>The wicked;</HI> And then, <HI>Super impium,</HI> Upon the wicked, in the &s;ingular; that is, upon every &s;uch wicked per&s;on. The &s;or|row is not le&s;&s;ened by being divided among&s;t many; The wicked is not ea&s;ed by ha|ving companions in his torments. And this is the Portion, and the&s;e be the Per&s;ons of the fir&s;t kinde; which will determine the fir&s;t Part, <HI>Many &s;orrowes &s;hall be to the wicked.</HI></P>
<P>And then in the &s;econd, to give all this the full waight, and to make the &s;orrow the more di&s;cernible, and the more terrible, God puts into the other balance, <HI>The joy of the righteous.</HI> In which, that all may be in oppo&s;ition to the other, we have al&s;o the Per&s;on, <HI>Him that tru&s;teth in the Lord;</HI> Where we have, as in the former part, a plurality intimated, and a &s;ingularity too. For it is not &s;aid, He that tru&s;teth not in Man, He that tru&s;teth not in Princes, He that tru&s;teth not in this or that mi&s;erable Comforter in the world, but <HI>He that tru&s;teth in the Lord;</HI> Who&s;e pre&s;ent refuge, be the ca&s;e what it will, or can be, is <HI>the Lord;</HI> Him, Emphatically <HI>Him, mercies &s;hall compa&s;&s;e.</HI> And then, <HI>Ille,</HI> He, every &s;uch man, is infallibly intere&s;&s;ed in this portion, in this true cau&s;e of joy, which is not, that he &s;hall have no affliction, but that he &s;hall have <HI>Mercy</HI> in his afflictions, patience and ea&s;e all the way, and an end and joy at la&s;t. And then, this mercy &s;hall <HI>Compa&s;&s;e</HI> him; It &s;hall not &s;uf|fer his confidence to break out into a pre&s;umption in God, nor any diffidence, or di&s;tru&s;t in God, to break in upon him; But he &s;hall &s;ee, that only to him, who <HI>Tru&s;ts in the Lord,</HI> to him who is <HI>Righteous,</HI> to him who is <HI>Vpright in heart,</HI> (with which three Characters the Holy Gho&s;t &s;pecifies the per&s;on, in this &s;econd Part of our Text) belong tho&s;e three great priviledges, tho&s;e glorious beames of joy, which flow out here; fir&s;t, <HI>Laetari, To be glad,</HI> that is, to conceive an inward joy; And then, <HI>Exultari, To rejoyce,</HI> that is, to te&s;ti|fie that inward joy, by outward demon&s;trations; And la&s;tly, <HI>Iubilare, To be full of joy,</HI> which our la&s;t Tran&s;lation hath expre&s;t well, in that word, <HI>To &s;hout for joy,</HI> that is, to extend our joy to others, to glorifie God by drawing in of others, and to call upon them, to call up|on God: <HI>Many &s;orrowes &s;hall be to the wicked, but, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part. Sorrow.</NOTE> they &s;hall have &s;orrow, and cau&s;e of &s;orrow. For when we conceive a &s;or|row in the minde, without any reall, and externall cau&s;e, without paine, or &s;hame, or lo&s;&s;e, this is but a melancholy, but an abundance of a di&s;tempered humour, but a naturall thing, to which &s;ome in their con&s;titutions are borne, and to be con&s;idered but &s;o: But when God laies his hand, and his cro&s;&s;es upon us, the &s;orrow of the wicked, conceived upon that impre&s;&s;ion, is the &s;orrow. For this Word, which we Tran&s;late <HI>Sorrowes</HI> here, is according to the Septuagint, <HI>Scourges,</HI> and <HI>Whips;</HI> God &s;hall &s;courge them, and that &s;hall only work to a &s;orrow; So farre, and no farther. As a &s;tartling hor&s;e, they &s;hall avoid a &s;hadow, and fall into a ditch; They &s;hall &s;orrow, and murmure at their afflictions in this life, and fall the &s;ooner for that into the Eternal. Among&s;t the Romans, condemned per&s;ons were fir&s;t whipt; but that excu&s;ed them not; when they were whipt, they were executed too. The wicked are &s;courged by God in this life; and then their temporall afflictions &s;hall meet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and joyne with the everla&s;ting, they have begun already here, that which they &s;hall never end there. <HI>Deeis qui voluntatem Dei facere nolunt, fit voluntas Dei;</HI> It is <HI>Panis quotidianus,</HI> A loafe of that bread which is to be di&s;tributed every day; A &s;aying of S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> worthy to be repeated in every Sermon, That upon them, who will not doe the will of God, the will of God is done; And God executes his righteous &s;entence upon them, and he executes his ju&s;tice upon others al&s;o by giving them in&s;tru|ctions from the impatience and obduration of the&s;e. <HI>Fata fugiendo in fata ruant;</HI> They chide, and they wrangle, they wra&s;tle, and they exclaime at their mi&s;eries in an intem|perate &s;orrow, and this intemperate &s;orrow is the heavie&s;t part of the judgement of God upon them; they are too &s;en&s;ible of their afflictions, that is, too tender, too impatient; and yet altogether un&s;en&s;ible, without all &s;en&s;e of Gods purpo&s;e in tho&s;e afflictions. In hell it &s;elf, they know that they are in hell; And yet in this world, there are <HI>Dolores inferni,</HI> Sor|rowes that have begun hell here, and they that are under them, are &s;tupified, and deve&s;ted of all &s;en&s;e of them. That &s;en&s;e that is bodily, and carnall, they abound in; They feele them impatiently; but of all &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e they are ab&s;olutely de&s;titute; They under&s;tand not them, nor Gods purpo&s;e in them at all; yet they are <HI>Many,</HI> and <HI>Great,</HI> and <HI>Eternall.</HI> For by all the&s;e heavy talents doth the Holy Gho&s;t waigh them in the&s;e words.</P>
<P>They are <HI>Many.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Many.</NOTE> Now the pride of the wicked is to conceale their &s;orrowes, that God might receive no glory by the di&s;covery of them. And therefore if we &s;hould goe about
<PB N="631" REF="333">to number their &s;orrowes, they would have their victory &s;till, and &s;till &s;ay to them&s;elves, yet for all his cunning he hath mi&s;t; they would ever have &s;ome bo&s;ome-&s;orrowes, which we could not light upon. Yet we &s;hall not ea&s;ily mi&s;&s;e, nor leave out any, if we remem|ber tho&s;e men, that even this fal&s;e and imaginary joy, which they take in concealing their forrow and affliction, is a new affliction, a new cau&s;e of &s;orrow. We &s;hall make up the number apace, if we remember the&s;e men, that all their new &s;ins, and all their new &s;hifts, to put away their &s;orrowes, are &s;orrowfull things, and mi&s;erable comforters; if their con|&s;cience doe pre&s;ent all their &s;ins, the number growes great; And if their own con&s;cience have forgotten them, if God forget nothing that they have thought, or &s;aid, or done, in all their lives, are not their occa&s;ions of &s;orrow the more for their forgetting, the more for Gods remembring? <HI>Indgements are prepared for the &s;corners,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 19.29.</NOTE> God fore|&s;aw their wickedne&s;&s;e from before all times, and even then &s;et him&s;elfe on work, <HI>To pre|pare judgements for them;</HI> And as they are <HI>Prepared</HI> before, &s;o <HI>affliction followeth &s;inners,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 13.21.</NOTE> &s;ayes the &s;ame Wi&s;e King; It <HI>followes</HI> them, and it knowes how to <HI>overtake</HI> them; ey|ther by the &s;word of the Magi&s;trate, or by that which is nearer them, Di&s;ea&s;es in their owne bodies, accelerated and complicated by their &s;ins. And then, as affliction is <HI>Pre|pared,</HI> and <HI>Followes,</HI> and <HI>Overtakes,</HI> &s;o &s;ayes that wi&s;e King &s;till, <HI>There &s;hall be no end of plagues to the evill man;</HI> We know the beginning of their plagues;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 24.20.</NOTE> they are <HI>Prepared</HI> in Gods Decree, as &s;oone as God &s;aw their &s;ins; we know their continuance, they &s;hall <HI>Fol|low,</HI> and they &s;hall <HI>Overtake;</HI> Their end we doe not know, we cannot know, for they have none. Thus they are <HI>Many.</HI></P>
<P>And if we con&s;ider farther, the manifold Topiques, and places, from which the &s;or|rowes of the wicked ari&s;e, That every inch of their ground is overgrown with that veno|mous weed, that every place, and every part of time, and every per&s;on buddes out a parti|cular occa&s;ion of &s;orrow to him, that he can come into no chamber, but he remembers, In &s;uch a place as this, I finned thus, That he cannot heare a Clock &s;trike, but he remembers, At this hour I &s;inned thus, That he cannot conver&s;e with few per&s;ons, but he remembers, With &s;uch a per&s;on I &s;inned thus, And if he dare goe no farther then to him&s;elfe, he can look &s;carcely upon any limb of his body, but in that he &s;ees &s;ome infirmity, or &s;ome de|formity, that he imputes to &s;ome &s;in, and mu&s;t &s;ay, By this &s;in, this is thus: When he can open the Bible in no place, but if he meet a judgement, he mu&s;t &s;ay, <HI>Vindicta mihi,</HI> This vengeance belongs to me; and if he meet a mercy, he mu&s;t &s;ay, <HI>Quid mihi?</HI> What have I to doe to take this mercy into my mouth? In this deluge of occa&s;ions of &s;orrow, I mu&s;t not &s;ay with God to <HI>Abraham,</HI> Look up to heaven, and number the Starres, (for this man cannot look up to heaven) but I mu&s;t &s;ay, Continue thy dejected look, and look downe to the earth, thy earth, and number the graines of du&s;t there, and the &s;orrowes of the wicked are more then they. <HI>Many are the &s;orrowes;</HI> And as the word as naturally de|notes, <HI>Great; Great &s;orrowes are upon the wicked.</HI></P>
<P>That Pill will choak one man, which will &s;lide down with another ea&s;ily,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Great.</NOTE> and work well. That &s;orrow, that affliction would &s;trangle the wicked, which would purge, and recover the godly. The coare of <HI>Adams</HI> apple is &s;till in their throat, which the blood of the Me&s;&s;ias hath wa&s;ht away in the righteous; <HI>Adams</HI> di&s;obedience works in them &s;till, and therefore Gods Phy&s;ick, the affliction, cannot work. So they are great to them, as <HI>Cains</HI> puni&s;hment was to him, greater then he could beare, becau&s;e he could not ea&s;e him&s;elfe upon the con&s;ideration of Gods purpo&s;e, in laying that puni&s;hment upon him. But it is not onely their indi&s;po&s;ition, and impatience, that makes their &s;orrowes and af|flictions great; They are truly &s;o in them&s;elves; as the Holy Gho&s;t expre&s;&s;es it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31.3.</NOTE> <HI>Is not de&s;truction to the wicked, and &s;trange puni&s;hment to the workers of iniquity?</HI> A puni&s;hment, which we cannot tell how to mea&s;ure, how to waigh, how to call, <HI>A &s;trange puni&s;hment;</HI> Greater then former examples have pre&s;ented. There the greatne&s;&s;e is expre&s;t in the Word; And in <HI>E&s;ay</HI> it is expre&s;t in the action; <HI>When the &s;courge &s;hall run over you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 28.18.</NOTE> <HI>and pa&s;&s;e thorow you, Eritis in conculcationem, You &s;hall be trodden to du&s;t;</HI> Which is, as the Pro|phet cals it there, <HI>Flagellum inundans,</HI> An affliction that overflowes, and &s;urrounds all, as a deluge, a flood, that &s;hall wa&s;h away from thee, even the water of thy Bapti&s;me, and all the power of that, And wa&s;h away from thee the blood of thy Saviour, and all his offers of grace to worthy receivers; A flood that &s;hall carry away the Ark it &s;elfe out of thy &s;ight, and leave thee no apprehen&s;ion of reparation by Gods in&s;titution in his Church; A flood that &s;hall di&s;&s;olve, and wa&s;h thee thy &s;elfe into water; Thy &s;orrowes &s;hall &s;catter
<PB N="632" REF="334">thee into drops, into teares, upon a carnall &s;en&s;e of thy torment, And into drops, into in|coherent doubts, and perplexities, and &s;cruples, in under&s;tanding, and con&s;cience, and into de&s;peration at la&s;t. And this is the Greatne&s;&s;e: <HI>Solutis doloribus inferni,</HI> In another &s;en&s;e then <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks that of Chri&s;t; There it is, that the &s;orrowes of hell were loo|&s;ed, that is, were &s;lacked, di&s;&s;olved by him: But here it is that the &s;orrowes of hell are loo&s;ed, that is, let loo&s;e upon thee; and when thou &s;halt heare Chri&s;t &s;ay from the Cro&s;&s;e, <HI>Behold and &s;ee, if ever there were any &s;orrow like my &s;orrow,</HI> thou &s;halt finde thy &s;orrow like his in the Greatne&s;&s;e, and nothing like his in the Goodne&s;&s;e: Chri&s;t bore that &s;orrow, that every man might rejoyce, and thou woulde&s;t be the more &s;orry, if every man had not as much cau&s;e of de&s;perate &s;orrow, as thou ha&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Many,</HI> and <HI>great are the &s;orowes of the wicked,</HI> and then <HI>eternall</HI> too, which is more then intimated, in that the Originall hath neither of tho&s;e particles of &s;upplement, which are in our Tran&s;lations, no &s;uch <HI>(&s;hall come)</HI> no &s;uch <HI>(&s;hall be)</HI> nor no <HI>(&s;hall)</HI> at all; but onely, <HI>Many &s;orrowes to the wicked,</HI> Many and great now, more and greater hereafter, All for ever, if they amend not.</P>
<P>It is not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eternall.</NOTE> They have had &s;orrowes, but they are overblown; nor that they have them, but patience &s;hall outweare them; nor that they &s;hall have them, but they have a brea|thing time to gather &s;trength before hand; But as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever &s;hall be, Sorrowes upon them, and upon them for ever. What&s;oever any man con|ceives for ea&s;e in this ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 33.11.</NOTE> it is a fal&s;e conception; <HI>You &s;hall conceive chaffe, and bring forth &s;tubble.</HI> And this &s;tubble is your vaine hope of a determination of this &s;orrow; But the wicked &s;hall not be able to lodge &s;uch a hope, though this hope, if they could apprehend it, would be but an aggravating of their &s;orrowes in the end. It is eternall, no determina|tion of time afforded to it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid. ver. 14.</NOTE> For, <HI>They &s;hall bee as the burning of lime, and as thornes cut up &s;hall they bee burnt in the fire. Who amongst us &s;hall dwell with the devouring fire? Who a|mongst us &s;hall dwell with that everla&s;ting burning?</HI> It is a <HI>devouring fire,</HI> and yet it is an <HI>everla&s;ting burning.</HI> The Prophet asks, <HI>Who can dwell there?</HI> In that inten&s;ene&s;&s;e who can la&s;t?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.22.</NOTE> They that mu&s;t, and that is, All the wicked. <HI>Fire is kindled in my wrath,</HI> &s;aith God; Yet may not teares quench it? Teares might, if they could be had; But <HI>It &s;hall burne to the bottome of hell,</HI> &s;aith God there. And <HI>Dives</HI> that could not procure a drop of water to coole his tongue there, can much le&s;&s;e procure a repentant teare in that place: There, as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;peakes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 18.8.</NOTE> <HI>Plagues &s;hall come in one day; Death, and Sorrow, and Famine.</HI> But it is in a long day; Short for the &s;uddenne&s;&s;e of comming, for that is come already, which for any thing we know, may come this minute, before we be at an end of this point, or at a period of this &s;entence: So it is &s;udden in comming, but long for the enduring. For it is that day,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> when <HI>They &s;hall be burnt with fire, for &s;trong is the Lord God, that will condemne them.</HI> That is argument enough of the vehemence of that fire, that the <HI>Lord God,</HI> who is called the <HI>&s;trong God,</HI> makes it a Ma&s;ter-piece of his &s;trength, to make that fire.</P>
<P>Art thou able to di&s;pute out this <HI>Fire,</HI> and to prove that there can be no reall, no ma|teriall fire in Hell, after the di&s;&s;olution of all materiall things created? If thou be not a|ble to argue away the immortality of thine owne &s;oule, but that that &s;oule mu&s;t la&s;t, nor to argue away the eternity of God him&s;elfe, but that that mu&s;t la&s;t, thou ha&s;t but little ea&s;e, in making &s;hift to give a figurative interpretation to that fire, and to &s;ay, It may be a torment, but it cannot be a fire, &s;ince it mu&s;t be an everla&s;ting torment; nor to give a figurative &s;ignification to the <HI>Worme,</HI> and to &s;ay, It may bee a paine, a remor&s;e, but it can bee no worme after the generall di&s;&s;olution, &s;ince that Con&s;cience, in which that re|mor&s;e, and angui&s;h &s;hall ever live, mu&s;t live ever: If there bee a figure in the names, and words, of <HI>Fire</HI> and <HI>Wormes,</HI> there is an indi&s;putable reality in the &s;orrow, in the tor|ment, and in the manifoldne&s;&s;e, and in the weightine&s;&s;e, and in the everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e there|of. For in the inchoation of the&s;e &s;orrowes, in this life, and in the con&s;ummation of them, in the life to come, <HI>The &s;orrowes of the wicked are many,</HI> and <HI>great,</HI> and <HI>eternall.</HI></P>
<P>This then is the portion prepared here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Per&s;on. P&s;al. 50.18.</NOTE> <HI>Thy portion was with the Adulterers,</HI> as our la&s;t Tran&s;lators have expre&s;t that place in their Margin. Thy portion <HI>was</HI> with them here, in this world, and thy portion <HI>&s;hall be</HI> with them for ever; for God expre&s;&s;es all kind of wic|kedne&s;&s;e, carnall and &s;pirituall, in that name of <HI>Adultery,</HI> throughout the body of the Scriptures. And therefore when you meet judgements denounced again&s;t Adulterers, never thinke that tho&s;e judgements concerne not you, if you have forborne that one &s;in, (and yet even that &s;inne may have beene committed in a looke, in a letter, in a word, in
<PB N="633" REF="334">a wi&s;h, in a dreame) when S. <HI>Iames</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Yee Adulterers, and Adultere&s;&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 4 4.</NOTE> <HI>know you not this?</HI> Thinke not that S. <HI>Iames</HI> cals not upon you if you be but Covetous, but Ambiti|ous, but Super&s;titious, and no Adulteters; for every aver&s;ion from the Creatour, every converting to the creature is Adultery. Even in nature you are made for that marriage; In the covenant of God you were betroathed, and affianced for that marriage; In the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me you were actually, per&s;onally married; and in the other Sacra|ment there is a con&s;ummation of that marriage; And every departing from that con|tract which you made with God at your Bapti&s;me, and renewed at your receiving the other Sacrament, is an Adultery. Thus a Hermite is a husband, and a Nun a wife; and thus both may bee adulterers, though in a Wilderne&s;&s;e, though in a Cloy&s;ter.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Si de&s;eris Deum qui te fecit, &amp; amas illa quae fecit, adultera es;</HI> If thou turne from God that made thee, to tho&s;e things that he made, this is an adultery. Therefore Chri&s;t calls them, <HI>An evill and adulterous generation, becau&s;e they &s;ought a &s;igne;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 12.39.</NOTE> becau&s;e they turned upon other wayes of &s;atisfaction, then he had ordained for them, that was adultery. And as <HI>David</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Thy portion was with adulterers</HI> here; &s;o, as theirs is &s;aid to be,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 21.8.</NOTE> <HI>Thy portion al&s;o &s;hall be in the lake which burneth with fire and brim&s;tone, which is the &s;econd death.</HI> Thou art this per&s;on, if thou be this adulterer, which is intended in this emphaticall word, <HI>The wicked.</HI></P>
<P>So then, as the&s;e <HI>Sorrowes</HI> in our Text, are an inchoative Hell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The wicked</NOTE> they are &s;uch wounds as induce, &s;uch pangs as precede even the &s;econd death, &s;orrowes that flow into de&s;pe|ration, and impenitiblene&s;&s;e, (and impenitiblene&s;&s;e is hell.) As the torment is an in|choative hell, &s;o is the per&s;on, <HI>the Wicked</HI> here, an inchoated Devill: It is S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;toms &s;pontaneus daemon,</HI> and <HI>voluntarius daemon;</HI> He that is a devill to him&s;elfe, that could be, and would be ambitious in a Spittle, licentious in a Wilderne&s;&s;e, voluptuous in a Famine, and abound with tentations in him&s;elfe, though there were no devill. Mo&s;t of the names of the devill in the Scripture, denote &s;ome action of his upon us; As he is called <HI>The Prince of the power of the Ayre,</HI> there he is called &s;o, becau&s;e as it is added there,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>Hee works in the children of di&s;obedience;</HI> As the ayre works upon our bodies, this <HI>Prince of the Ayre</HI> works upon our minds; how works he? hee deceives;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 12.9.</NOTE> <HI>Hee deceived the whole world,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Iohn;</HI> from this infinuation, hee hath tho&s;e other names there, <HI>the great Dragon,</HI> and <HI>the old Serpent.</HI> When hee hath crept in as a Serpent, then hee growes <HI>A roaring Lyon;</HI> He profe&s;&s;es his power, he di&s;gui&s;es not a tentation; then he growes <HI>Satan</HI> an Adver&s;ary, an Enemy, he oppo&s;es all good endeavors in us; &amp; then he growes <HI>Diabo|lus,</HI> an Accu&s;er, an accu&s;er to God, an accu&s;er to our owne con&s;cience; and when he hath made our &s;inne, as great as it can be in our practi&s;e, when by age, or &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or pover|ty, he cannot multiply our &s;innes for the pre&s;ent, then by his multiplying gla&s;&s;e, he mul|tiplies the &s;ins of our former times, and pre&s;ents them greater, then even the mercies of God, or the merits of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. So he growes in mi&s;chievous names, according to his mi&s;chievous actions and practi&s;es upon us; but then out of him&s;elfe ari&s;es the mo&s;t vehe|ment, and the mo&s;t collective name that is given him in all the Scriptures, <GAP DESC="foreign">, and that with the emphaticall article, <HI>The wicked one;</HI> One that is all wickedne&s;&s;e, &amp; one that is the wickedne&s;&s;e of all; One, who if he had no object to direct his wickedne&s;&s;e upon, no &s;ub|ject to exerci&s;e his wickedne&s;&s;e in, If God &s;hould proclaime &s;o generall a Pardon, That all men, All, &s;hould effectually be &s;aved, and &s;o all hope to have enlarged his Kingdome be withdrawne, yet would &s;till be as wicked, and as oppo&s;ite to God as he is.</P>
<P>So then, by this character of Multiplicity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plurality.</NOTE> this emphaticall note of <HI>the wicked</HI> in our Text, the per&s;on, who&s;e portion this &s;orrow is, this &s;orrow which is a brand of Hell, at lea&s;t a match, by which Hell fire it &s;elfe is kindled, is not hee that is <HI>an Adulterer,</HI> or that is <HI>a Murtherer;</HI> not hee that hath fallen into &s;ome particular &s;innes, though great, and continued tho&s;e great &s;innes in habits, though long, for <HI>David</HI> fell &s;o, and yet found a holy &s;orrow, a medicinall &s;orrow: but it is <HI>the wicked,</HI> he that runnes headlong into all wayes of wickedne&s;&s;e, and <HI>u&s;que ad finem,</HI> precludes, or neglects all wayes of re|covery: That is glad of a tentation, and afraid of a Sermon; that is dry wood, and tinder to Satans fire, if he doe but touch him, and is a&s;hes it &s;elfe to Gods Spirit, if he blow up|on him; That from a love of &s;inne, at fir&s;t, becau&s;e it is plea&s;ing, comes at la&s;t to a love of &s;inne, becau&s;e it is &s;inne, becau&s;e it is liberty, becau&s;e it is a deliverance of him&s;elfe from the bondage, as he thinks it, of the law of God, and from the remor&s;e and angui&s;h of con&s;idering &s;inne too particularly. This is the per&s;on, in whom, at fir&s;t, by this em|phaticall note, <HI>the wicked,</HI> we de&s;igne a Plurality, (as we called it) that is, a Complicated,
<PB N="634" REF="335">a Multiplied, a Compact &s;inner, a Body, rather a Carka&s;&s;e of Many, of All &s;ins, all that have fallen within his reach. And then, in the word we noted al&s;o a Singularity, That upon &s;uch a &s;inner, upon every &s;uch &s;inner, the&s;e <HI>Many,</HI> the&s;e <HI>Great,</HI> the&s;e <HI>Eternall &s;orrowes</HI> &s;hall fall and tarry.</P>
<P>As in the former Circum&s;tance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Singularity.</NOTE> we noted that it was the <HI>They,</HI> that aggravated it, it was not an <HI>An, an Adulterer, an Ambitious man,</HI> but a <HI>The, The wicked,</HI> whom God en|wrapped in this irrecoverable, this undeterminable &s;orrow: &s;o here, it is not a <HI>This,</HI> or <HI>That,</HI> This wicked, or that wicked man, but <HI>The wicked,</HI> every wicked man is &s;urrounded with this &s;orrow. He can propo&s;e no comfort in a decimation, as in popular Rebellions, where nine may be &s;pared, and the tenth man hanged; No, nor &s;o much hope as to have nine hanged, and the tenth &s;pared; He is not in Sodoms ca&s;e, That a few righteous might have &s;aved the wicked;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 14.20.</NOTE> But he feeles a nece&s;&s;ity of applying to him&s;elfe, that, <HI>If Noah; Daniel, and Iob were in the mid&s;t of them, as I live, &s;aith the Lord God, they &s;hould deliver neither Son,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>nor Daughter. Iu&s;si&s;ti Domine, &amp; &s;ic e&s;t, ut poena &s;it &s;ibi omnis inordinatus animus;</HI> It is thy plea&s;ure O God, and thy plea&s;ure &s;hall be infallibly accompli&s;hed, that every wicked per&s;on &s;hould be his owne Executioner. He is <HI>Spontaneus Daemon,</HI> as S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;peaks, an In-mate, an in-nate Devill; a bo&s;ome devill, a &s;elfe-Devill; That as he could be a tempter to him&s;elfe, though there were no Devill, &s;o he could be an Executioner to him&s;elfe, though there were no Satan, and a Hell to him&s;elfe, though there were no other Torment. Sometimes he &s;taies not the A&s;&s;i&s;es, but prevents the hand of Ju&s;tice; he de&s;troies him&s;elfe before his time. But when he &s;taies, he is evermore condemned at the A&s;&s;i&s;es. Let him &s;leepe out as much of the morning as &s;ecurelyas he can; embelli&s;h, and adorne him&s;elfe as gloriou&s;ly as he can; dine as largely and as delicately as he can; weare out as much of the afternoone, in conver&s;ation, in Comedies, in plea&s;ure, as hee can; &s;up with as much di&s;ten&s;ion, and inducement of drou&s;ine&s;&s;e as he can, that he may &s;cape all remor&s;e, by falling a&s;leepe quickly, and fall a&s;leepe with as much di&s;cour&s;e, and mu&s;icke, and advantage as he can, he hath a con&s;cience that will &s;urvive, and overwatch all the company; he hath a &s;orrow that &s;hall joyne i&s;&s;ue with him when he is alone, and both God, and the devill, who doe not meet willingly, &s;hall meet in his ca&s;e, and be in league, and be one the &s;orrowes &s;ide, again&s;t him. The anger of God, and the malice of the devill, &s;hall concurre with his &s;orrow, to his farther vexation. No one wicked per|&s;on, by any diver&s;ion or cunning, &s;hall avoid this &s;orrow, for it is in the mid&s;t, and in the end of all his forced contentments;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 14.13.</NOTE> <HI>Even in laughing, the heart is &s;orrowfull, and the end of that mirth is heavine&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>The per&s;on is <HI>The wicked;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Communi|cation.</NOTE> Every wicked per&s;on; He hath no reliefe in a decimation, that &s;ome may &s;cape: Nor reliefe in the communication of the torment; It is no ea&s;e to him, that &s;o many beare a part with him. In &s;ome afflictions in the world, men lay hold upon &s;uch a reliefe, Many men are in as ill ca&s;e, as I; why am I &s;o &s;en&s;ible of it? and they make &s;hift to patch up a comfort of that kinde, out of &s;ome chips of Poets, and fragmen|tary &s;entences; And they that cannot finde this reliefe ready made, will make &s;hift to make it; when they are under the burden of a defamation, of an ill name, they will ca&s;t a&s;per&s;ions of the &s;ame crime, upon as many as they can, and thinke them&s;elves the bet|ter, if they can make others be thought as ill as they. But all the&s;e are among&s;t <HI>Iobs</HI> mi|&s;erable comforters; It is a part of our joy in Heaven, that every mans joy &s;hall be my joy; I &s;hall have fulne&s;&s;e of &s;alvation in my &s;elfe, and I &s;hall have as many &s;alvations, as there are &s;oules &s;aved: But in hell there is no one feather towards &s;uch a Pillow, no de|gree of ea&s;e, in the communication of the torment. Every &s;oule &s;hall murmure again&s;t God, and cur&s;e God, for damning every other &s;oule, as well as for damning his: Though they would have them damned, that are damned, yet they &s;hall reproach God, for dam|ning them: And though they wi&s;h all the Saints in Heaven, in hell, yet they &s;hall call it tyrannie in God, to have &s;ent a <HI>Cain,</HI> or an <HI>Achitophel,</HI> or a <HI>Iudas</HI> thither. And as the per&s;on whom we con&s;ider in this text, is an embryon of the Devill, <HI>Genimina viperarum,</HI> The &s;pawne of the Devill, a potentiall, and as we &s;aid, an inchoated Devill; &s;o is the tor|ment, this &s;orrow, a Lucifer, Such a Lucifer, as hell can &s;end out; not a light of any light, but a cloud of that darkne&s;&s;e: As &s;ure as this man, The wicked, &s;hall be a Devill, &s;o &s;ure this &s;orrow, &s;hall end, not end, but reach to hell.</P>
<P>Yet when all this is thus &s;aid, &s;aid with a holy vehemence, with a zealous animo&s;ity, as indeed belongs to the denouncing of Gods judgements, yet may wee not be askt,
<PB N="635" REF="335" MS="y">where is there any &s;uch per&s;on, or upon whom works there any &s;uch &s;orrow? Is it al|waies true, that the wicked make no good u&s;e of afflictions? or is it alwaies true, that they have them? The fir&s;t may admit a doubt, for if God ju&s;tifie the ungodly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.5.</NOTE> <HI>(God ju|&s;tifieth the ungodly)</HI> then their affliction may be a way, to prepare ju&s;tification in them, as well as in them whom we call godly; And if Chri&s;t dyed for the ungodly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.6.</NOTE> <HI>(Chri&s;t dyed for the Vngodly)</HI> they al&s;o may fulfill his &s;ufferings in their fle&s;h, and their afflictions may produce good effects. But for that, they which are called ungodly, in both tho&s;e places, are only &s;uch as were ungodly before Gods ju&s;tification began to work upon them, be|fore Chri&s;ts Death began to be applied to them, but did not continue in their ungodli|ne&s;&s;e after; But the&s;e ungodly per&s;ons, whom afflictions &s;upple and mollifie no farther, but to an intemperate, and excruciating, and exclamatory &s;orrow, and continue ungodly &s;till, are &s;uch as never have good effect of affliction or &s;orrow.</P>
<P>But then have the&s;e alwaies affliction inflicted upon them? one would doubt it, by that in <HI>Iob, The Tabernacles of robbers do pro&s;per, and they are in &s;afety that provoke God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 12.6.</NOTE> Gods children are robbed and &s;poiled by the wicked, and the wicked &s;hew it in Gods face, they hide not their Theft, they maintaine publiquely their Wantonne&s;&s;e, and their Exce&s;&s;es, with the &s;poile of the poore; They have it, and they will hold it, and they bid God bring his action, and recover how he can. This the Prophet <HI>Ieremy</HI> &s;aw, and was affected, and &s;candalized with it; <HI>O Lord, if I plead with thee, thou art righteous;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 12.1.</NOTE> I know thou can&s;t maintaine, and make good that which thou ha&s;t done; But yet, &s;aies hee, <HI>Let me talke with thee of thy judgements; wherefore doth the way of the wicked pro&s;per? wherefore are all they happy that deale very treacherou&s;ly?</HI> Why, their wayes pro&s;per in a ju&s;t puni&s;hment of God for their former &s;ins, that they may have a larger and a broader way to de&s;tru|ction; and they are happy in temporall happine&s;&s;es, that they may have more occa&s;ions of &s;marting; If their wealth &s;ticke not to their heires, in a third generation, call them not Rich; If their pro&s;perity cleave not to their &s;oules, call them not Happy; He is a poor man, who&s;e wealth can be writ in an Inventorie; That hath lockt all in &s;uch an iron Che&s;t, in &s;uch a Cabinet, and hath &s;ent up nothing to meet him in Heaven. As all the wealth of the wicked is but counterfeit, &s;o is all the joy that they have in it counterfeit too. And how&s;oever they di&s;gui&s;e their &s;orrow, yet if their torment be invi&s;ible to us, it is the liker hell; If we know not how they are afflicted, it is the liker hell; <HI>Their dam|nation &s;leepeth not,</HI> nor they neither; And when at midnight their owne con&s;ciences are a thou&s;and witne&s;&s;es to them, it is but a poore ea&s;e, that other men doe not know, that they are tho&s;e wicked per&s;ons, and their &s;orrow the &s;orrow of this text; that they are <HI>The wicked,</HI> and their &s;orrowes <HI>many,</HI> and <HI>great,</HI> and <HI>eternall &s;orrowes.</HI> But I would be glad to re&s;erve as much time as I could for the other part, The per&s;on and The portion, that is in the other &s;cale; <HI>Mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In this part we will begin with the per&s;ons; For when wee come to their portion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> with which we mu&s;t end, of that we &s;hall be able to finde no end, nay no beginning, for it begins with <HI>Mercy, (Mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e them)</HI> and mercy is as much without begin|ning, as eternall, as God him&s;elfe, and it flowes on to joy and gladne&s;&s;e, and exultation, and this joy &s;hall no more &s;ee an end of it &s;elfe, then God him&s;elfe &s;hall &s;ee an end of him&s;elfe. Upon the per&s;ons we have three characters, and in their portions wee have three waights; Three degrees of goodne&s;&s;e in their per&s;ons, three degrees of greatne&s;&s;e in their portions. The per&s;ons fir&s;t <HI>Tru&s;t in God,</HI> and then <HI>They are Righteous,</HI> and la&s;tly, <HI>They are upright in heart;</HI> So al&s;o, the reward is fir&s;t Inward joy, and then Outward de|claration, and la&s;tly, An exemplary working upon others; And then, all the&s;e are rooted in the roote of all, <HI>that mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e them.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then <HI>They tru&s;t in God.</HI> And that, fir&s;t <HI>Exclu&s;iv&egrave;;</HI> They tru&s;t in him &s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tru&s;t in God.</NOTE> as that they tru&s;t in nothing el&s;e, and <HI>Inclu&s;iv&egrave;</HI> too; &s;o, as that they do actually, and po&s;itively tru&s;t in God. Some have bin &s;o beaten out of all confidences in this world, &s;o evacuated of former power, &s;o deve&s;ted of former favour, &s;o di&s;poiled of former trea&s;ures, as that they are brought to tru&s;t in nothing el&s;e; But then they tru&s;t not in God neither;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Quia Deo non audent dare iniquitatem, auferunt ei gubernationem;</HI> Becau&s;e they dare not &s;ay, that God does any thing ill, they come to &s;ay, that God does nothing at all; and to avoid the making of an unju&s;t God, they make an idle God; which is as great an Athei&s;me as the other. But becau&s;e it goes thus with them, that they have many and great &s;orrowes, they conclude that all have &s;o; But <HI>The heart knoweth his owne bitterne&s;&s;e;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 14.10.</NOTE> They know
<PB N="636" REF="336">their own ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> the ca&s;e of the godly they know not. <HI>The &s;tranger &s;hall not meddle with their Ioy;</HI> He that is a &s;tranger to this tru&s;t in God, under&s;tands nothing of the joy that appertaines to them that have it.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;th. 14.19.</NOTE> Let that be thy prayer, which was the prayer of <HI>E|&s;ther, Thy handmaid hath had no joy but in thee, O Lord God of Abraham; O thou mightie God, above all, heare thou the voyce of them that have no other hope.</HI></P>
<P>Our Adver&s;aries of Rome charge us, that we have but a negative Religion; If that were true, it were a heavy charge, if we did onely deny, and e&s;tabli&s;h nothing; But we deny all their new additions, &s;o as that we affirme all the old foundations. The Nega|tive man, that tru&s;ts in nothing in the world, may be but a Philo&s;opher, but an Athei&s;t, but a &s;tupid and dead carca&s;&s;e. The Affirmative man, that does acknowledge all ble&s;|&s;ings, &s;pirituall and temporall, to come from God, that prepares him&s;elfe by holine&s;&s;e to be fit to receive them from God, that comes for them by humble prayer to God, that returnes for them humble thankes to God, this man hath the fir&s;t marke of this per&s;on upon him, <HI>He tru&s;ts in God.</HI> But he that tru&s;ts not in the world, nor in God neither, is wor&s;e then he, that tru&s;ts in the world, and not in God; becau&s;e he is farther removed from all humility, that attributes all to him&s;elfe; He pretends to be an Athei&s;t, and to beleeve in no God; and yet he con&s;titutes a new Idolatry, he &s;acrifices to him&s;elfe, and makes him&s;elfe his God.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Character,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Righteous.</NOTE> and &s;pecification of this Per&s;on, is, that he is <HI>Righteous.</HI> And this word, we &s;hall doe be&s;t to containe here within a legall Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; that Righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e, in which S. <HI>Paul</HI> prote&s;ted, and proclaimed him&s;elfe to be unblamable. For how&s;oever this apparant Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the eyes of the world, be not enough alone, yet no other Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is enough without this. The hypocrite, by being an hypocrite, may aggravate his own condemnation, when he comes to reckon with God; But to the Church, who knows him not to be an hypocrite, he does good, by his exemplar and outward Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e. He that does good for vaine-glory, may lead another man to good upon good grounds; And the prayers of tho&s;e poore &s;oules, whom he may have benefited by his vain-glorious good worke, may prevaile &s;o with God in his behalfe, as that his vaine-glory here, may become true glory, even in the Kingdome of Heaven.</P>
<P>So then we carry this word <HI>Righteous</HI> no farther, but to the doing of tho&s;e hone&s;t things, which we are bound to doe in the &s;ight of men. The word is <HI>Tzadok,</HI> which is often u&s;ed for the exaltation and perfection of all true holine&s;&s;e; But as it is very often in the old Te&s;tament taken for <HI>Verax</HI> and <HI>Aequus,</HI> when a mans word and worke an&s;wer one another towards men; &s;o in the New Te&s;tament, in the Syriake Tran&s;lation, where the word is the &s;ame as in the Hebrew, it is <HI>Oportuit, It behoved Chri&s;t to &s;uffer;</HI> and in &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, in very many places, to be Righteous, is to doe that which it behoved us to doe, became us to doe, concerned us to doe in the &s;ight of men. Which can be ex|pre&s;t in no one thing more fully, then in this, To embrace a lawfull Calling, and to walke hone&s;tly in that Calling; That is Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; For, <HI>Iu&s;tus &s;ua fide vivit, The Righteous lives by his owne faith;</HI> Not without faith, nor with the faith of another; &s;o <HI>Iu&s;tus &s;uo &s;u|dore ve&s;citur,</HI> The Righteous eats his Bread in the &s;weat of his owne browes; He la|bours in an hone&s;t Calling, and drinks not the &s;weat of others labours; And this is that <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e</HI> in this Text, the &s;econd marke upon this Per&s;on, who is partaker of this Portion.</P>
<P>And the third is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vpright in heart.</NOTE> that he is <HI>Rectus corde, Vpright in heart;</HI> That he direct even all the works of his Calling, all the actions of his life upon the glory of God. If you carry a Line from the Circumference, to the Circumference againe, as a Diameter, it pa&s;&s;es the Center, it flowes from the Center, it looks to the Center both wayes. God is the Cen|ter; The Lines above, and the Lines below, &s;till re&s;pect and regard the Center; Whe|ther I doe any action hone&s;t in the &s;ight of men, or any action acceptable to God, whe|ther I doe things belonging to this life, or to the next, &s;till I mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e all through the Center, and direct all to the glory of God, and keepe my heart right, without variation towards him. For as I doe no good action here, meerly for the interpretation of good men, though that be one good and ju&s;tifiable rea&s;on of my good actions: &s;o I mu&s;t doe nothing for my Salvation hereafter, meerly for the love I beare to mine owne &s;oule, though that al&s;o be one good and ju&s;tifiable rea&s;on of that action; But the primary rea|&s;on in both, as well the actions that e&s;tabli&s;h a good name, as the actions that e&s;tabli&s;h
<PB N="637" REF="336">eternall life, mu&s;t be the glory of God. <HI>Di&s;tortum lignum &s;emper nutat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> A wry and crooked planke in the floore, will alwayes &s;hake and kicke up, and creake under a mans foote. A wry and a crooked heart will alwayes &s;hake di&s;tru&s;tfully, and kicke rebelliou&s;|ly, and creake repiningly, under the hand of God. <HI>Non pote&s;t collineari rectitudine Dei,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father, He is not paralleld with God, he is not leveld with God, if he u&s;e not his ble&s;&s;ings, if he accept not his corrections, as God intends them. Fir&s;t, To tru&s;t in God, and then to deale Righteou&s;ly with men, and all the way to keepe the heart &s;traight upon God; the&s;e three make up the Per&s;on; And the&s;e three his Por|tion, <HI>That he &s;hall be glad, and he &s;hall rejoyce, and</HI> jubilabit, <HI>he &s;hall &s;hout for joy.</HI></P>
<P>Now as three great &s;ummes of gold put into one bagge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mercy.</NOTE> the&s;e three branches of this Portion of the Righteous, are fixt in one roote, rai&s;ed upon one foundation, <HI>Mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e him about.</HI> But then this mercy, this Compa&s;&s;ing mercy reaches not &s;o farre, as that thou &s;halt have no affliction, though thou tru&s;t in God; <HI>David</HI> had been an unfit per&s;on, to have delivered &s;uch a Doctrine, who &s;ayes of him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 73.14.</NOTE> <HI>Daily have I been pu|ni&s;hed, and cha&s;tned every morning:</HI> He had it every day, it was his daily bread; and it was the fir&s;t thing that he had, he had it in the morning. Here is mention of a morning, early &s;orrowes, even to the godly; and mention of a Day, continuing &s;orrowes, even to the godly; But he &s;peaks of no Night here, the Son of grace, the Son of God, does not &s;et in a Cloud of anger upon him. The Martyrs that abounded with this <HI>Tru&s;t in God,</HI> and this <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> and this <HI>Vprightne&s;&s;e of heart,</HI> abounded with the&s;e afflicti|ons too. They that <HI>be&s;towed them&s;elves upon God and his Church,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.15.</NOTE> as the Apo&s;tle expre&s;&s;es it, had the&s;e &s;orrowes plentifully be&s;towed upon them&s;elves. And to pa&s;&s;e from them to the Author of their con&s;tancy, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, He is <HI>Vir dolorum, A man of &s;orrowes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.3.</NOTE> <HI>and acquainted with Griefe.</HI> And now, <HI>Whom he loveth he cha&s;tneth, and he &s;courgeth every one that he receiveth; Flagellat omnem,</HI> He &s;courgeth every one; <HI>Vis audire quem omneem?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Will you know how generall, and yet how particular this is? <HI>Vnicus &s;ine peccato, non ta|men &s;ine flagello,</HI> There was one Man without any &s;in, but even that Man was not with|out puni&s;hment, Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe. So generall is correction, as that in this ca&s;e, and in this &s;en&s;e, it is more generall then &s;in it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>It is not then that the godly &s;hall no afflictions, no &s;orrowes; But <HI>mutant forti|tudinem, They that waite upon the Lord &s;hall renue their &s;trength,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 40.31.</NOTE> &s;ay our Tran&s;lators in the body of their Tran&s;lation; but in the Margin, (and neerer to the Originall) <HI>They &s;hall change their &s;trength.</HI> They that have been &s;trong in &s;inning, that have &s;inned with a &s;trong hand, when they feele a judgement upon them, and finde that it is Gods hand, and Gods hand for their &s;innes, they faint not, they lo&s;e not their &s;trength, but <HI>mutant fortitudinem,</HI> They change their &s;trength, they grow as &s;trong in &s;uffering, as they were in &s;inning, and inve&s;t the Prophets re&s;olution, <HI>I will beare the indignation of the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 7.9. Ezek. 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e I have &s;inned again&s;t him.</HI> The Booke which God gave <HI>Ezekiel</HI> to eate, was writ|ten within and without, with Lamentations, and Mournings, and Woes; but when he eate it, he found it in his mouth as &s;weet as honey. When God offers the Booke, which is the Regi&s;ter of our &s;innes to our Con&s;ciences, or the Decree of his Judgements to our under&s;tanding, or to our &s;en&s;e, it is writ in gall and wormwood, and in the bitterne&s;&s;e of &s;orrow; but if we can bring it to the fir&s;t concoction, the fir&s;t dige&s;tion, to that ma&s;tica|tion, that rumination, which is the con&s;ideration of Gods purpo&s;e upon us in that Judge|ment, we &s;hall change our ta&s;te, for we &s;hall <HI>Ta&s;te and See, Quam &s;uavis Dominus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.9.</NOTE> <HI>How good, and how &s;weet the Lord is;</HI> for even this Judgement is Mercy.</P>
<P>Think not then thy valour &s;ufficiently tried, if thou can&s;t take it patiently, to have mi&s;t a fute long pur&s;ued, or failed of a Preferment long expected; no not if thou have &s;tood in a haile of bullets without winking, or &s;ate the &s;earching of a wound without &s;tarting; but <HI>Muta fortitudinem,</HI> Change thy valour, and when thou comme&s;t to beare great cro&s;&s;es, proportionable to thy great &s;ins, with a &s;pirituall courage, acknowledge that courage to be the mercy of God, and not thine owne morall con&s;tancy. God loves his owne example, to doe as he hath done; <HI>Omni quae&s;tione &s;everius, &agrave; te interrogari;</HI> It was &s;aid to a Romane Emperour, who examined with Wi&s;edome, and Maje&s;ty too: It is truer of God; that it is more fearfull then any rack, or torture, when he comes to &s;earch and &s;ift a con&s;cience: Yet God did come to that office upon <HI>Adam,</HI> before he would condemne him. He came to a wor&s;e place then Paradi&s;e; hee came to <HI>Sodome,</HI> to rack and torture them, with that confe&s;&s;ion, that there could not be found ten Righ|teous
<PB N="638" REF="337">men among&s;t them. But yet this he did, before he condemned them. God will vi&s;it thee in this wrack, in this furnace, in the&s;e trialls, before he proceed to thy condem|nation. But when God doth &s;o, beleeve thou <HI>David,</HI> in his Indulgence to his Son, to have been a Type of Gods di&s;po&s;ition to thy &s;oule. When he &s;ent out his Army again&s;t <HI>Ab&s;alom,</HI> he &s;tood in the gate to &s;urvey the Mu&s;ter, and to every one of the Commanders, <HI>Ioab,</HI> and the re&s;t, &s;till he &s;aid, <HI>Servate mihi puerum Ab&s;alom, Intreat the young man Ab&s;alom well for my &s;ake.</HI> The Lord of Ho&s;ts may &s;end forth his Army again&s;t thee, Sickne&s;&s;e, Lo&s;&s;e, Shame, Paine, Bani&s;hment, Impri&s;onment, (which are all &s;words of his) but he &s;ayes to them all, <HI>Servate mihi Ab&s;alom,</HI> That &s;oule that I have bought with my blood, pre&s;erve for me; Fight but again&s;t mine enemies, his Pride, his Security, his Pre&s;umption; but <HI>Servate Ab&s;alom,</HI> Pre&s;erve his &s;oule un&s;haken, and un-offended. God hath &s;aid it before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 29.11.</NOTE> and he &s;ayes againe to thee, in all thy afflictions, <HI>I know the thoughts that I think towards you, the thoughts of peace, and not of evill, to give you an ex|pected end.</HI> God &s;aid this, when a Fal&s;e Prophet had promi&s;ed them deliverance in two yeares; God prorogues the time; he would doe it, but he would not doe it under three|&s;core and ten yeares. Limit not God in his time, nor in his meanes; The mercy con|&s;i&s;ts in relieving thee &s;o, as that thy &s;oule &s;uffer not, though thou doe. And if that be pre|&s;erved, this mercy is a <HI>Compa&s;sing</HI> mercy, which is al&s;o another Circum&s;tance in this Branch.</P>
<P>The Devill had Compa&s;t all the Earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Compa&s;&s;e.</NOTE> and he was angry that God had Compa&s;t <HI>Iob.</HI> He &s;ayes in indignation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.9.</NOTE> <HI>Ha&s;t thou not made a hedge about him, and about his hou&s;e, and about all that he hath, on every &s;ide?</HI> God did &s;o for <HI>Iob,</HI> and he will doe &s;o for thee: <HI>He redeemeth thy life from the grave,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 103.4.</NOTE> <HI>and crowneth thee with mercy, and compa&s;sion.</HI> This is the <HI>Compa&s;sing</HI> in heaven, when we come to be crowned there. But there is a <HI>Com|pa&s;sing</HI> here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 8 28.</NOTE> and an empailing of Gods children, in S. <HI>Pauls Co-operantur, When all things work together, for good, to them that love God.</HI> When Pro&s;perity and Adver&s;ity, Honour and Di&s;grace, Profit and Lo&s;&s;e, the Lords Giving and the Lords Taking, doe all con|curre to the making up of this Paile, that mu&s;t Compa&s;&s;e us; When we acknowledge that there mu&s;t be nailes in the Paile, as well as &s;takes, there mu&s;t be thornes in the hedge, as well as fruit trees; Cro&s;&s;es as well as Ble&s;&s;ings; when we leere not over the Paile, neither into the Common; that is, to the Gentiles and Nations, and begin to thinke, that we might be &s;aved by the light of nature, without this burden of Chri&s;tia|nity: nor leere over into the Pa&s;tures, and Corne of our neighbours; that is, to think, that we are not well in our own Church, but mu&s;t needs hearken to the Doctrine, or Di&s;|cipline of another; When we &s;ee all that comes, to come from God, and are content with that, then <HI>Omnia co-operantur,</HI> Every piece &s;erves to the making up this Paile, and his <HI>Mercy compa&s;&s;es us about.</HI></P>
<P>This is the roote of our three Branches, the foundation of our three Stories; the bagge of our three &s;ummes, in this portion, <HI>Mercy, Compa&s;sing mercy;</HI> and then the Branches them&s;elves, <HI>Be glad, Rejoyce,</HI> and <HI>Shout for joy;</HI> Which joy, is fir&s;t an inward love of the Law of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Glad. P&s;al. 119.111.</NOTE> <HI>Thy te&s;timonies have I taken as an heritage for ever, for they are the joy of my heart:</HI> It is not <HI>Dant,</HI> but <HI>Sunt,</HI> not that they Bring joy, but that they Are joy; There is no other joy but the delight in the Law of the Lord: For all other joy, the Wi&s;e King &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>Of laughter, thou art mad, and of joy, what is this that thou do&s;t?</HI> True joy is the earne&s;t which we have of heaven, It is the trea&s;ure of the &s;oule, and therefore &s;hould be laid in a &s;afe place, and nothing in this world is &s;afe to place it in: And there|fore with the Spou&s;e we &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.4.</NOTE> <HI>We will be glad in thee, we will remember thy love more then wine.</HI> Let others &s;eek their joy in wine, in &s;ociety, in conver&s;ation, in mu&s;ique; for mee, <HI>Thou ha&s;t put gladne&s;&s;e into my heart, more then in the time that their corne and their wine increa&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Rejoyce therefore in the Lord alwayes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rejoyce. Phil. 4.4.</NOTE> <HI>and againe I &s;ay, rejoyce:</HI> Againe, that is, Rejoyce in the &s;econd manner of expre&s;&s;ing it, by externall declarations. Goe chearfully, and joyfully forward, in the works of your callings. Rejoyce in the ble&s;&s;ings of God with|out murmuring, or comparing with others. And e&s;tabli&s;h thy joy &s;o, in an hone&s;t, and religious manner of getting, that thy joy may de&s;cend to thine heire, as well as thy land. No land is &s;o well fenced, no hou&s;e &s;o well furni&s;hed, as that, which hath this joy, this te&s;timony of being well gotten.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 20.4.</NOTE> For, <HI>This thou knowe&s;t of old, &s;ince man was placed upon
<PB N="639" REF="337">earth, that the Triumphing of the wicked is &s;hort, and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment.</HI></P>
<P>And then the la&s;t degree is louder then this, <HI>Iubilate, Shout for joy;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iubilate.</NOTE> Declare thy joy in the eares of other men. As the Angels &s;aid to the Shepheards,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.</NOTE> <HI>I bring you tidings of great joy, which &s;hall be unto all people,</HI> So be thou a chearfull occa&s;ion of glorifying God by thy joy. <HI>Declare his loving kindne&s;&s;e unto the &s;ons of men;</HI> Tell them what he hath done for thy &s;oule, thy body, thy &s;tate. Say, <HI>With this &s;taffe came I over Iordane:</HI> Be content to tell who&s;e Son thou wa&s;t, and how &s;mall thy beginning. Smother not Gods ble&s;&s;ings, by making thy &s;elfe poore, when he who is truly poore, begges of thee, for that Gods &s;ake, who gave thee all that thou ha&s;t. Hold up a holy chearfulne&s;&s;e in thy heart; Goe on in a chearfull conver&s;ation; and let the world &s;ee, that all this growes out of a peace, betwixt God and thee, te&s;tified in the ble&s;&s;ings of this world; and then thou art that Per|&s;on, and then thou ha&s;t that Portion, which growes out of this root, in this Text, <HI>Mercy &s;hall compa&s;&s;e him about that tru&s;teth in the Lord.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="64" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXIV. <HI>Preached upon the</HI> Penitentiall P&s;almes.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 51.7.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Purge me with Hy&s;&s;ope, and I &s;hall be cleane; wa&s;h me, and I &s;hall bewhiter then &s;now.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN the Records of the growth, and propagation of the Chri&s;tian Church, The Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story, we have a relation of one <HI>Pambo,</HI> an unlearned, but devout, and humble Ermit, who being informed of another man, more learned then him&s;elfe, that profe&s;&s;ed the under&s;tanding, and teach|ing of the Book of P&s;almes, &s;ought him out, and applied him&s;elfe to him, to be his Di&s;ciple. And taking his fir&s;t le&s;&s;on ca&s;ually, at the fir&s;t ver&s;e of the thirty ninth P&s;alme, <HI>I will take heed to my wayes, that I &s;in not with my tongue,</HI> He went away with that le&s;&s;on, with a promi&s;e to returne againe when he was perfect in that. And when he di&s;continued &s;o long, that his Ma&s;ter, &s;ometimes occa&s;ionally lighting upon him, accu|&s;ed him of this &s;lackne&s;&s;e, for almo&s;t twenty yeares together he made &s;everall excu&s;es, but at la&s;t profe&s;&s;ed, that at the end of tho&s;e twenty yeares, he was not yet perfect in his fir&s;t le&s;&s;on, in that one ver&s;e, <HI>I will take heed to my wayes, that I &s;inne not with my tongue.</HI> Now, that which made this le&s;&s;on hard unto him, was, that it employed all his diligence, and his watchfulne&s;&s;e upon future things; to examine and debate all his actions, and all his words; for, el&s;e he did not take heed to his wayes; at lea&s;t, not &s;o, as that hee would not &s;in with his tongue. But if he had begun with this le&s;&s;on, with this P&s;alme, which is but a calling to our memory that which is pa&s;t, The &s;infull employment of that time, which is gone, and &s;hall not returne, The &s;infull heats of our youth, which, &s;ince we wanted remor&s;efull teares to quench them, even the &s;in it &s;elfe, and the exce&s;&s;e thereof hath overcome, and allayed in us, &s;infull omi&s;&s;ions, &s;infull actions, and habits, and all tho&s;e tran&s;itory pa&s;&s;ages, in which the Apo&s;tle &s;hewes us, our prodigality, our unthriftine&s;&s;e, our ill bargaine, when he askes us that que&s;tion of Confu&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.21.</NOTE> <HI>What fruit had you then in tho&s;e things, whereof ye are now a&s;hamed?</HI> If he had begun his fir&s;t le&s;&s;on at this, with the pre&s;enting of all his pa&s;&s;ed &s;ins, in the &s;ight of the Father, and in the Me|diation and merit of the Sonne, he would have been &s;onner perfect in that le&s;&s;on, and would have found him&s;elfe, even by laying open his di&s;ea&s;e, &s;o <HI>purged with Hy&s;&s;op</HI> as that he &s;hould have been <HI>cleane,</HI> and &s;o <HI>wa&s;hed,</HI> as that he &s;hould have been <HI>whiter then &s;now.</HI> For, Repentance of &s;ins pa&s;t is nothing but an Audit, a ca&s;ting up of our accounts, a con&s;ideration, a &s;urvey, how it &s;tands between God and our &s;oule. And yet, as many men run out of plentifull e&s;tates, onely becau&s;e they are loath to &s;ee a li&s;t of their debts, to take knowledge how much they are behind hand, or to contract their expen&s;es: &s;o we
<PB N="640" REF="338">run out of a whole and rich inheritance, the Kingdome of heaven, we profu&s;e and poure out even our own &s;oule, rather then we will ca&s;t our eye upon that which is pa&s;t, rather then we will pre&s;ent a li&s;t of our &s;pirituall debts to God, or di&s;cover our di&s;ea&s;e to that Phy&s;ician, who onely can <HI>Purge us with hy&s;&s;ope, that we may be cleane, and wa&s;h us, that wee may be whiter then &s;now.</HI></P>
<P>In the words we &s;hall con&s;ider the Per&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> and the Action, who petitions, and what he asks. Both are twofold; for, the per&s;ons are two, the Phy&s;itian and the Patient, God and <HI>David,</HI> Doe <HI>thou</HI> purge <HI>me,</HI> doe <HI>thou</HI> wa&s;h <HI>me;</HI> and the Action is twofold, <HI>Purgabis,</HI> doe thou <HI>purge</HI> me, and <HI>Lavabis,</HI> doe thou <HI>wa&s;h</HI> me. In which la&s;t part, and in the fir&s;t branch thereof, wee &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, the Action it &s;elfe, <HI>Purgabis, Thou &s;halt purge mee,</HI> and what that imports; And then the meanes, <HI>Purgabis hy&s;&s;opo, Thou &s;halt purge me with hy&s;|&s;ope,</HI> what that implies; and then the effect, <HI>Mundaber, I &s;hall bee made cleane,</HI> and what that comprehends. And in the other branch of that &s;econd part, <HI>Lavabis, Thou &s;halt wa&s;h me,</HI> wee &s;hall al&s;o looke upon the Action on Gods part, <HI>Lavabis, Thou &s;halt wa&s;h mee,</HI> and the Effect on our part, <HI>Dealbabor, I &s;hall be white,</HI> and the Degree, the Extent, the Exaltation of that Emundation, that Dealbation, that Clean&s;ing, <HI>&s;upra nivem, I &s;hall be whiter then &s;now.</HI> And then we &s;hall conclude all with that con&s;ideration, That though in the fir&s;t part, we finde two per&s;ons in action; for God works, but man prayes that God would worke, yet in the other part, the worke it &s;elfe; Though the worke bee divers, a pur|ging, and then a wa&s;hing of the &s;oule, the whole worke is Gods alone: <HI>David</HI> doth not &s;ay, no man can &s;ay, Doe thou purge me, and then, I will wa&s;h my &s;elfe; nor doe thou make the Medicine, and I will bring the Hy&s;&s;ope; nor doe thou but wa&s;h mee, begin the worke, and I will goe forward with it, and perfit it, and make my &s;elfe whiter then &s;now; but the intire worke is his, who onely can infu&s;e the de&s;ire, and onely accompli&s;h that de&s;ire, who onely gives the will, and the ability to &s;econd, and execute that will, He, He purges me, or I am &s;till a ve&s;&s;ell of peccant humors; His, His is the hy&s;&s;ope, or there is <HI>Mors in olla,</HI> Death in the cup; He, He wa&s;hes me, or I am &s;till in my blood; He, He exalts that cleanne&s;&s;e, which his, his wa&s;hing hath indued, or I returne againe to that red earth, which I brought out of <HI>Adams</HI> bowels; Therefore <HI>Doe thou purge mee with Hy&s;&s;ope, and I &s;hall be cleane; Do thou wa&s;h me, and I &s;halbe whiter then &s;now.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Part.</NOTE> for our fir&s;t part, wee con&s;ider the per&s;ons. Of the&s;e God is the fir&s;t; <HI>E&s;ay &s;poke boldly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus.</NOTE> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>when hee &s;aid, God is found by them that &s;eeke him not;</HI> But &s;till we continue in that humble boldne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.20.</NOTE> to &s;ay, God is be&s;t found, when we &s;eeke him, and ob&s;erve him in his operation upon us. God gives audiences, and admits acce&s;&s;es in his &s;olemne and publike and out-roomes, in his Ordinances: In his Cabinet, in his Bed|chamber, in his unrevealed purpo&s;es, wee mu&s;t not pre&s;&s;e upon him. It was ill taken in the Roman State, when men enquired in <HI>Arcana Imperii,</HI> the &s;ecrets of State, by what wayes, and meanes, publike bu&s;ine&s;&s;es were carried: Private men were to re&s;t in the ge|nerall effects, peace, and protection, and Ju&s;tice, and the like, and to enquire no more; But to enquire in <HI>Arcana Domus,</HI> what was done in the Bed-chamber, was criminall, ca|pitall, inexcu&s;able. We mu&s;t ab&s;taine from enquiring <HI>De modo,</HI> how &s;uch or &s;uch things are done in many points, in which it is nece&s;&s;ary to us to know that &s;uch things are done: As the maner of Chri&s;ts pre&s;ence in the Sacrament, and the maner of Chri&s;ts de&s;cent into Hell, for the&s;e are <HI>Arcana Imperii,</HI> &s;ecrets of State, for the maner is &s;ecret, though the thing bee evident in the Scriptures. But the entring into Gods unrevealed, and bo|&s;ome-purpo&s;es, are <HI>Arcana domus,</HI> a man is as farre from a po&s;&s;ibility of attaining the knowledge, as from an excu&s;e for offering at it. That curio&s;ity will bring a man to that bla&s;phemy of <HI>Alfon&s;us</HI> King of Ca&s;tile, the great A&s;tronomer, who &s;aid, That if hee had beene of Gods Coun&s;ell in the creation of the world, hee could have directed him to have done many things better then he did. They that looke too farre into Gods un|revealed purpo&s;es, are &s;eldome content with that that they thinke God hath done; but &s;tray either into an uncharitable condemning of other men, or into a jealous, a &s;u&s;pitious, a de&s;perate condemning of them&s;elves. Here, in this fir&s;t branch of this fir&s;t part, wee &s;eeke God, and becau&s;e we &s;eeke him, where he hath promi&s;ed to be, we are &s;ure to find him; Becau&s;e we joyne with <HI>David,</HI> in an humble confe&s;&s;ion of our &s;ins, the Lord joyns us with <HI>David,</HI> in a fruition of him&s;elfe. And more of that fir&s;t Per&s;on, God him&s;elfe, we &s;ay not, but pa&s;&s;e to the other, to the petitioner, to the penitent, to the patient, to <HI>Da|vid</HI> him&s;elfe.</P>
<PB N="641" REF="338">
<P>His example is &s;o comprehen&s;ive, &s;o generall, that as a well made,<NOTE PLACE="marg">David.</NOTE> and well placed Picture in a Gallery looks upon all that &s;tand in &s;everall places of the Gallery, in &s;everall lines, in &s;everall angles, &s;o doth <HI>Davids</HI> hi&s;tory concerne and embrace all. For his Per|&s;on includes all &s;tates, betweene a &s;hepherd and a King, and his &s;inne includes all &s;inne, between fir&s;t Omi&s;&s;ions, and complications of Habits of &s;in upon &s;in: So that as S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aid, hee needed no other Booke, for all &s;pirituall u&s;es, but the P&s;almes, &s;o wee need no other Example to di&s;cover to us the &s;lippery wayes into &s;in, or the penitentiall wayes out of &s;in, then the Author of that Booke, <HI>David.</HI> From his Example then, we fir&s;t de|duce this, That in the war-fare of this life, there are no <HI>Emeriti milites;</HI> none of that di&s;|cipline, that after certaine yeares &s;pent in the warres, a man &s;hould returne to ea&s;e, and honour, and &s;ecurity, at home. A man is not delivered from the tentation of Ambition, by having overcome the heats and concupi&s;cences of his youth; nor from the tentation of Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e in his age, by having e&s;caped ambition, and contented him&s;elfe with a meane &s;tation in his middle yeares. <HI>David,</HI> whom neither a &s;udden growth into &s;uch degrees of greatne&s;&s;e, as could not have fallen into his thought, or wi&s;h before, nor the per&s;ecution of <HI>Saul,</HI> which might have enraged him to a per&s;onall revenge, con&s;idering how many advantages, and occa&s;ions hee might have made &s;hift to thinke that God had put into his hands, to execute that revenge; <HI>David,</HI> whom neither the concour&s;e and application of the people, who tooke knowledge of him, as of a ri&s;ing Sun, nor the in|tere&s;t and nearene&s;&s;e in the love and heart of <HI>Ionathan</HI> the Kings Son, which fals &s;el|dome upon a new, and a popular man; <HI>David,</HI> whom not that highe&s;t place, to which God had brought him, in making him King, nor that addition even to that highe&s;t place, that he made him Succe&s;&s;or to a King of whom the State was weary; (for, as the Pane|gyrique &s;ayes, <HI>Onero&s;um e&s;t &s;uccedere bono principi,</HI> It is a heavy thing, and binds a Prince to a great diligence, to come immediately after one, whom his &s;ubjects loved, So had <HI>David</HI> an ea&s;e, in comming after one, with whom the Kingdome was di&s;contented) <HI>David,</HI> whom this &s;udden preferment, and per&s;ecutions, and popularity, did not &s;o &s;hake, but that wee may &s;ay of him, as it is &s;aid of <HI>Iob,</HI> That in all this height, <HI>David did not &s;in,</HI> nor in all the&s;e afflictions, <HI>He did not charge God fooli&s;hly;</HI> Though he had many victories, he came not to a Triumph; but him, whom an Army, and an armed Giant, <HI>Goliah,</HI> neare hand, could not hurt, a weaker per&s;on, and naked, and farre off, overthrowes and ruines.</P>
<P>It is therefore but an imperfect comfort for any man to &s;ay, I have overcome tentati|ons to great &s;ins, and my &s;ins have beene but of infirmity, not of malice. For herein, more then in any other contemplation appeares the greatne&s;&s;e, both of thy danger, and of thy tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion. For, con&s;ider what a dangerous, and &s;lippery &s;tation thou art in, if after a victory over Giants, thou maye&s;t be overcome by Pigmees; If after thy &s;oule hath beene Canon proofe again&s;t &s;trong tentations, &s;he be &s;laine at la&s;t by a Pi&s;toll; And, after &s;he hath &s;wom over a tempe&s;tuous Sea, &s;hee drowne at la&s;t, in a &s;hallow and &s;tanding ditch. And as it &s;howes the greatne&s;&s;e of thy danger, &s;o it aggravates the greatne&s;&s;e of thy fault; That after thou ha&s;t had the experience, that by a good husbanding of tho&s;e degrees of grace, which God hath afforded thee, thou ha&s;t beene able to &s;tand out the great batteries of &s;trong tentations, and &s;ee&s;t by that, that thou art much more able to with&s;tand tentations to le&s;&s;er &s;ins, if thou wilt, yet by di&s;arming thy &s;elfe, by deve&s;ting thy gari&s;ons, by di&s;continuing thy watches, meerely by incon&s;ideration, thou &s;elle&s;t thy &s;oule for nothing, for little plea&s;ure, little profit, thou fru&s;trate&s;t thy Saviour of that pur|cha&s;e, which he bought with his precious blood, and thou enriche&s;t the Devils trea&s;ure as much, with thy &s;ingle money, thy frequent &s;mall &s;ins, as another hath done with his talent; for, as God was well plea&s;ed with the widowes two farthings, &s;o is the Devill well plea&s;ed, with the negligent mans le&s;&s;er &s;ins. O who can be confident in his footing, or in his hold, when <HI>David,</HI> that held out &s;o long, fell, and if we con&s;ider but him&s;elfe, irrecoverably, where the tempter was weake, and afar off?</P>
<P><HI>De long&egrave; vidit illam in qua captus e&s;t. Ber&s;eba</HI> was far off; <HI>Mulier long&egrave;, libido prope,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> but <HI>Davids</HI> di&s;po&s;ition was in his owne bo&s;ome. Yet <HI>David</HI> came not up into the Teras, with any purpo&s;e or inclination to that &s;in. Here was no &s;uch plotting as in his &s;on <HI>Ham|mons</HI> ca&s;e, to get his &s;i&s;ter <HI>Tamar,</HI> by di&s;&s;embling him&s;elfe to be &s;ick, to his lodging. That man po&s;t-dates his &s;in, and begins his reckning too late, that dates his &s;in at that houre, when he commits that &s;in. You mu&s;t not reckon in &s;in, from the Nativity, but the Con|ception;
<PB N="632" REF="339">when you conceived that &s;in in your purpo&s;e, then you &s;inned that &s;in, and in every letter, in every di&s;cour&s;e, in every pre&s;ent, in every wi&s;h, in every dreame, that con|duces to that &s;in, or ri&s;es from that &s;in, you &s;in it over, and over againe, before you come to the committing of it, and &s;o your &s;in is an old, an inveterate &s;in, before it bee borne, and that which you call the fir&s;t, is not the hundredth time, that you have &s;inned that &s;inne.</P>
<P>It is not much that <HI>David</HI> contributed to this &s;in on his part: He is onely noted in the Text, to have beene negligent in the publique bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and to have given him&s;elfe too much ea&s;e in this particular,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 11.</NOTE> that he lay in bed all day; <HI>When it was evening, David aro&s;e out of his bed, and walked upon the Teras.</HI> And it is true, that the ju&s;tice of God is &s;ub|tile, as &s;earching, as un&s;earchable; and oftentimes puni&s;hes &s;ins of Omi&s;&s;ion, with other &s;ins, Actuall &s;ins, and makes their lazine&s;&s;e, who are &s;lack in doing that they &s;hould, an occa&s;ion of doing that they &s;hould not.</P>
<P>It was not much that <HI>Bath&s;heba</HI> contributed to this tentation, on her part. The Vulgat Edition of the Roman Church, hath made her ca&s;e &s;omewhat the wor&s;e, by a mi&s;|tran&s;lation, <HI>Ex adver&s;o &s;uper &s;olarium &s;uum,</HI> as though &s;he had beene wa&s;hing her &s;elfe, upon her owne Teras, and in the eye of the Court; whereas indeed, it is no more, but that <HI>David</HI> &s;aw her, he upon his Teras, not her upon hers. For her wa&s;hing, it may well be collected out of the fourth ver&s;e, that it was a Legall wa&s;hing, to which &s;hee was bound by the Leviticall Law, being a purification after her naturall infirmity, and which it had beene a &s;in in her, to have omitted. But had it beene a wa&s;hing of Refre&s;hing, or of Delicacy, even that was never imputed to <HI>Su&s;anna</HI> for a fault, that &s;he wa&s;hed in a Gar|den, and in the day, and employed not onely &s;ope, but other ingredients and materials, of more delicacy, in that wa&s;hing.</P>
<P>Certainly the limits of adorning and beautifying the body are not &s;o narrow, &s;o &s;trict, as by &s;ome &s;owre men they are &s;ometimes conceived to be. Differences of Ranks, of Ages, of Nations, of Cu&s;tomes, make great differences in the enlarging, or contracting of the&s;e limits, in adorning the body; and that may come neare &s;in at &s;ome time, and in &s;ome places, which is not &s;o alwaies, nor every where. Among&s;t the women there, the Jewi&s;h women, it was &s;o generall a thing to helpe them&s;elves with aromaticall Oyles, and liniments, as that that which is &s;aid by the Prophets poore Widow, to the Prophet <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 4</NOTE> <HI>That &s;he had nothing in the hou&s;e but a pot of Oyle,</HI> is very properly by &s;ome colle|cted from the Originall word, that it was not Oyle for meate, but Oyle for unction, aro|maticall Oyle, Oyle to make her looke better; &s;he was but poore, but a Widow, but a Prophets Widow, (and likely to be the poorer for that) yet &s;he left not that. We &s;ee that even tho&s;e women, whom the Kings were to take for their Wives, and not for Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es, (which is but a later name for Concubines) had a certaine, and a long time a&s;&s;igned to be prepared by the&s;e aromaticall unctions, and liniments for beauty. Neither do tho&s;e that con&s;ider, that when <HI>Abraham</HI> was afraid to lo&s;e his wife <HI>Sara</HI> in Egypt, and that every man that &s;aw her, would fall in love with her, <HI>Sara</HI> was then above three&s;core; And when the King <HI>Abimelech</HI> did fall in love with her, and take her from <HI>Abraham,</HI> &s;he was foure&s;core and ten, they doe not a&s;&s;igne this pre&s;ervation of her complexion, and ha|bitude to any other thing, then the u&s;e of tho&s;e unctions, and liniments, which were or|dinary to that Nation. But yet though the extent and limit of this adorning the body, may be larger then &s;ome au&s;tere per&s;ons will allow, yet it is not &s;o large, as that it &s;hould be limited onely, by the intention and purpo&s;e of them that doe it; So that if they that beautifie them&s;elves, meane no harme in it, therefore there &s;hould be no harme in it; for, except they could as well provide, that others &s;hould take no harme, as that they &s;hould meane no harme, they may participate of the fault. And &s;ince we finde &s;uch an impo&s;&s;i|bility in rectifying and governing our owne &s;en&s;es, (we cannot take our owne eye, nor &s;top our owne eare, when we would) it is an unnece&s;&s;ary, and in&s;upportable burden, to put upon our &s;core, all the la&s;civious glances, and the licentious wi&s;hes of other per&s;ons, occa&s;ioned by us, in over-adorning our &s;elves.</P>
<P>And this may well have beene <HI>Bath&s;hebaes</HI> fault, That though &s;he did not bathe with a purpo&s;e to be &s;eene, yet &s;he did not enough to provide again&s;t the infirmity of others. It had therefore been well if <HI>David</HI> had ri&s;en earlier, to attend the affaires of the State; And it had been well, if <HI>Bath&s;heba</HI> had bathed within doores, and with more caution; but yet the&s;e errors alone, we &s;hould not be apt to condemne in &s;uch per&s;ons, except by Gods
<PB N="643" REF="339">permitting greater &s;ins to follow upon the&s;e, we were taught, that even &s;uch things, as &s;eeme to us in their nature to be indifferent, have degrees of naturall and e&s;&s;entiall ill in them, which mu&s;t be avoyded, even in the probability, nay even in the po&s;&s;ibility that they may produce &s;in.</P>
<P>And as from this Example, we draw that Conclu&s;ion, That &s;ins, which are but the Children of indifferent actions, become the Parents of great &s;ins; which is the indu&s;try of &s;in, to exalt it &s;elfe, and (as it were) ennoble it &s;elfe, above the &s;tocke, from which it was derived, The next &s;in will needs be a better &s;in then the la&s;t: So have we al&s;o from <HI>David</HI> this Conclu&s;ion, that this generation of &s;in is infinite; infinite in number, infinite in duration; So infinite both waies, as that <HI>Luther</HI> (who &s;eldome checks him&s;elfe in any vehement expre&s;&s;ion) could not forbeare to &s;ay, <HI>Si Nathan non veni&s;&s;et,</HI> If <HI>Nathan</HI> had not come to <HI>David, David</HI> had proceeded to the &s;in again&s;t the Holy Gho&s;t. O how im|po&s;&s;ible a thing is it then, for us to condition and capitulate with God, or with our owne Nature, and &s;ay to him, or to our &s;elves, We will &s;in thus long and no longer, Thus far, and no farther, this &s;in, and no more; when not onely the frailty of man, but even the ju&s;tice of God provokes us (though not as Author, or cau&s;e of &s;in) to commit more and more &s;ins, after wee have entangled and enwrapped our &s;elves in former! Who can doubt, but that in this yeares &s;pace, in which <HI>David</HI> continued in his &s;in, but that he did ordinarily all the externall acts of the religious Wor&s;hip of God? who can doubt but that he performed all the Legall Sacrifices, and all the Ceremoniall Rites? Yea, we &s;ee, that when <HI>Nathan</HI> put <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e in another name, of a rich man that had taken away a poore mans onely &s;heepe, <HI>David</HI> was not onely ju&s;t, but he was vehement in the exe|cution of Ju&s;tice; <HI>Hee was,</HI> &s;aies the text, <HI>exceeding wroth, and &s;aid, As the Lord liveth, that man &s;hall dye;</HI> But yet, for all this externall Religion, for all this Civill ju&s;tice in mat|ter of government, no mention of any repentance in all this time. How little a thing then is it, nay how great a thing, that is, how great an aggravating of thy &s;in, if thou thinke to bribe God with a Sabboth, or with an almes; And, as a criminall per&s;on would faine come to Sanctuary, not becau&s;e it is a con&s;ecrated place, but becau&s;e it re&s;cues him from the Magi&s;trate, So thou come&s;t to Chuch, not becau&s;e God is here, but that thy being here may redeeme thee from the imputation of prophanene&s;&s;e. At la&s;t <HI>Nathan</HI> came; <HI>David</HI> did not &s;end for him, but God &s;ent him; But yet <HI>David</HI> laid hold upon Gods pur|po&s;e in him. And he confe&s;&s;es to God, he confe&s;&s;es to the Prophet, he confe&s;&s;es to the whole Church; for, before he pleads for mercy in the body of the P&s;alme, in the title of the P&s;alme, which is as Canonicall Scripture, as the P&s;alme it &s;elfe, hee confe&s;&s;es him|&s;elfe plainly, <HI>A P&s;alme of David, when the Prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bath&s;heba.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Audiunt male viventes, &amp; quaerunt &s;ibi patrocinia peccandi;</HI> Wee heare of <HI>Davids</HI> &s;in,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and wee ju&s;tifie our &s;ins by him; <HI>Si David, cur non &amp; ego?</HI> If <HI>David</HI> went in to a <HI>Bath&s;heba,</HI> why may not I? That Father tels you why, <HI>Qui facit, quia David fecit, id facit, quod David non fecit,</HI> He that does that, becau&s;e <HI>David</HI> did it, does not doe that which <HI>David</HI> did; <HI>Quia nullum exemplum propo&s;uit,</HI> For <HI>David</HI> did not ju&s;tifie his &s;in, by any prece|dent example; So that he that &s;ins as <HI>David</HI> did, yet &s;ins wor&s;e then <HI>David</HI> did; and hee that continues as un&s;en&s;ible of his &s;in, as <HI>David</HI> was, is more un&s;en&s;ible then <HI>David</HI> was; <HI>Quia ad te mittitur ip&s;e David,</HI> For God &s;ends <HI>Nathan</HI> to thee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> with <HI>David</HI> in his hand; He &s;ends you the Receit, his invitations to Repentance, in his Scriptures, and he &s;ends you a <HI>Probatum e&s;t,</HI> a per&s;onall te&s;timony how this Phy&s;icke hath wrought upon another, upon <HI>David.</HI></P>
<P>And &s;o having in this fir&s;t Part, which is the Con&s;ideration of the per&s;ons in our Text, God and <HI>David,</HI> brought them by <HI>Nathans</HI> mediation, together, con&s;ider wee al&s;o, for a conclu&s;ion of this Part, the per&s;onall applications, that <HI>David</HI> &s;catters him|&s;elfe upon none but God, <HI>Tu me,</HI> and hee repeats it, doe <HI>Thou</HI> purge mee, doe <HI>Thou</HI> wa&s;h mee.</P>
<P><HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> hath a Sermon of the A&s;&s;umption of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, which whole Ser|mon is but a Dialogue, in which <HI>Eve</HI> acts the fir&s;t part, and the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin another;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu.</NOTE> It is but a Dialogue, yet it is a Sermon. If I &s;hould in&s;i&s;t upon this Dialogue, between God and <HI>David, Tu me, Tu me,</HI> Doe thou worke upon me, it would not be the le&s;&s;e a profitable part of a Sermon for that. For fir&s;t, when we heare <HI>David</HI> in an anhelation and panting after the mercy of God, cry out, <HI>Domine Tu,</HI> Lord doe thou that that is to
<PB N="644" REF="340">be done, doe Thou purge, doe Thou wa&s;h, and may have heard God, (thereby to ex|cite us to the u&s;e of his meanes) &s;ay, <HI>Purget natura, purget lex,</HI> I have infu&s;ed into thee a light and a law of nature, and exalted that light and that law, by a more particular law and a clearer light then that, by which thou knowe&s;t what is &s;in, and knowe&s;t that in a &s;infull &s;tate thou can&s;t not be acceptable to me, <HI>Purget natura, purget lex,</HI> let the light of nature, or of the law purge thee, and rectifie thy &s;elfe by that; Doe but as much for thy &s;elfe, as &s;ome naturall men, &s;ome <HI>Socrates,</HI> &s;ome <HI>Plato</HI> hath done, we may heare <HI>David</HI> reply, <HI>Domine Tu,</HI> Lord put me not over to the catechizing of Nature, nor to the Peda|gogie of the Law, but take me into thine owne hands, do Thou, Thou, that is to be done upon me. When we heare God &s;ay, <HI>Purget Eccle&s;ia,</HI> I have e&s;tabli&s;hed a Church, &s;ettled con&s;tant Ordinances, for the purging and wa&s;hing of &s;ouls there; <HI>Purget Eccle&s;ia,</HI> Let the Church purge thee, we may heare <HI>David</HI> reply, <HI>Domine Tu,</HI> Alas Lord, how many come to that Bath, and goe foule out of it? how many heare Sermons, and receive Sacraments, and when they returne, returne to their vomit? <HI>Domine Tu,</HI> Lord, except the power of thy Spirit make thine Ordinance effectuall upon me, even this thy Jordan will leave me in my lepro&s;ie, and exalt my lepro&s;ie, even this Sermon, this Sacrament will aggravate my &s;in. If we heare God &s;ay, Shall I purge thee? Doe&s;t thou know what thou aske&s;t, what my method in purging is, That if I purge, I &s;hall purge thee with fire, with &s;eaven fires, with tribulations, nay, with tentations, with temporall, nay, with &s;pirituall calamities, with wounds in thy fortune, wounds in thine honor, wounds in thy con&s;cience, yet we may heare <HI>David</HI> reply,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 24.16.</NOTE> <HI>Tu Domine;</HI> As the people &s;aid to <HI>Io&s;huah, God forbid we &s;hould for&s;ake the Lord, we will &s;erve the Lord;</HI> And when <HI>Io&s;huah</HI> &s;aid, <HI>You cannot &s;erve the Lord, for he is a jealous God; and if yee turne from him, he will turne and doe you hurt, and con&s;ame you after he hath done you good;</HI> The people replyed, <HI>Nay, but we will &s;erve the Lord;</HI> &s;o what&s;oever God threatens <HI>David</HI> of afflictions and tribulations, and purgings in fire, we may heare <HI>David</HI> reply, Nay but Lord, doe Thou doe it, do it how Thou wilt, but doe Thou do it: Thy corro&s;ives are better then others &s;omentations; Thy bitterne&s;&s;es &s;wee|ter then others honey; Thy fires are but lukewarme fires, nay, they have nothing of fire in them, but light to direct me in my way; And thy very frowns are but as trenches cut out, as lanes that leade me to thy grave, or Rivers or Channels, that lead me to the &s;ea of thy bloud. Let me go upon Crouches, &s;o I go to Heaven; Lay what waight thou wilt even upon my foule, that that be heavy, and heavy unto death, &s;o I may have a cheerfull tran&s;migration then. <HI>Domine Tu,</HI> Lord doe thou doe it, and I &s;hall not wi&s;h it mended.</P>
<P>And then when we heare <HI>David</HI> &s;ay, <HI>Domine Me,</HI> Lord purge <HI>Me,</HI> wa&s;h <HI>Me,</HI> and re|turne foure times in this &s;hort Text, to that per&s;onall appropriation of Gods worke upon him&s;elfe, Purge <HI>Me,</HI> that I may be cleane, wa&s;h <HI>Me,</HI> that I may be whiter then &s;now, if we heare God &s;ay (as the language of his mercy is, for the mo&s;t part, generall) As the Sea is above the Earth, &s;o is the blood of my Son above all &s;in; Congregations of three thou&s;and, and of five thou&s;and were purged and wa&s;hed, converted and baptized at par|ticular Sermons of S. <HI>Peter,</HI> whole legions of Souldiers, that con&s;i&s;ted of thou&s;ands, were purged in their owne blood, and became Martyrs in one day. There is enough done to worke upon all; Examples enow given to guide all; we may heare <HI>David</HI> reply, <HI>Domine Me,</HI> Nay but Lord, I doe not heare <HI>Peter</HI> preach, I live not in a time, or in a place, where Crownes of Martyrdome are di&s;tributed, nor am I &s;ure my Con&s;tancy would make me capable of it if I did, Lord I know, that a thou&s;and of the&s;e worlds were not worth one drop of thy blood, and yet I know, that if there had been but one &s;ome di|&s;tre&s;&s;ed, and that &s;oule di&s;tre&s;&s;ed but with one &s;in, thou woulde&s;t have &s;pent the la&s;t drop of that blood for that &s;oule; Ble&s;&s;ed be thy Name, for having wrapped me up in thy generall Covenants, and made me partaker of thy generall Ordinances, but yet Lord, looke more particularly upon me, and appropriate thy &s;elfe to me, to me, not onely as thy Creature, as a man, as a Chri&s;tian, but as I am I, as I am this &s;inner that confe&s;&s;es now, and as I am this penitent that begs thy mercy now. And now, Beloved, we have &s;aid &s;o much towards enough of the per&s;ons, God and <HI>David;</HI> The acce&s;&s;e of <HI>David</HI> to God, and the appropriation of God to <HI>David,</HI> as that we may well pa&s;&s;e to our other ge|nerall part, the petitions which <HI>David</HI> in his own and our behalfe makes to God, <HI>Purge me with Hy&s;&s;op, and I &s;hall be cleane, wa&s;h me, and I &s;hall be whiter then &s;now.</HI></P>
<P>In this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Purgabis.</HI></NOTE> the fir&s;t is a great worke, That which we tran&s;late, <HI>Purge me.</HI> And yet how &s;oone <HI>David</HI> is come to it? It is his fir&s;t period. The pa&s;&s;age of a Spirit is very quick,
<PB N="645" REF="340">but it is not immediate; Not from extreame to extreame, but by pa&s;&s;ing the way be|tween. The Evill &s;pirit pa&s;&s;es not &s;o; no good &s;oule was ever made very ill in an in&s;tant, no, nor &s;o &s;oone as &s;ome ill have been made good: No man can give me Examples of men &s;o &s;oone perverted, as I can of men converted. It is not in the power of the Devill to doe &s;o much harme, as God can doe good; Nay, we may be bold to &s;ay, it is not in the will, not in the de&s;ire of the Devill to doe &s;o much harme, as God would doe good; for illne&s;&s;e is not in the nature of the Devill; The Devill was naturally good, made, created good. His fir&s;t illne&s;&s;e was but a defection from that goodne&s;&s;e; and his pre|&s;ent illne&s;&s;e is but a puni&s;hment for that defection; but God is good, goodne&s;&s;e in his nature, e&s;&s;entially, eternally good; and therefore the good motions of the Spirit of God worke otherwi&s;e upon us, then the tentations of the evill Spirit doe. How &s;oone, and to what a height came <HI>David</HI> here? He makes his Petition, his fir&s;t Petition with that confidence, as that it hath &s;carce the nature of a Petition: for it is in the Originall, <HI>Thou wilt purge me, Thou wilt wa&s;h me,</HI> Thou had&s;t a gracious will, and purpo&s;e to doe it, be|fore thou did&s;t infu&s;e the will and the de&s;ire in me to petition it. Nay, this word may well be tran&s;lated not onely <HI>Thou wilt,</HI> but by the other denotation of the future, <HI>Thou &s;halt, Thou &s;halt purge me, Thou &s;halt wa&s;h me,</HI> Lord I doe but remember thee of thy debt, of that which thy gracious promi&s;e hath made thy debt, to &s;hew mercy to every peni|tent &s;inner. And then, as the word implies confidence, and acceleration, infallibility, and expedition too, That as &s;oone as I can aske, I am &s;ure to be heard; &s;o does it imply a totality, an intirene&s;&s;e, a fulne&s;&s;e in the worke; for the roote of the word is <HI>Peccare,</HI> to &s;in, for purging is a purging of peccant humors; but in this Conjugation in that language, it hath a privative &s;ignification, and literally &s;ignifies <HI>Expeccabis;</HI> and if in our language, that were a word in u&s;e, it might be tran&s;lated, Thou &s;halt un-&s;in me; that is, look upon me as a man that had never &s;inned, as a man inve&s;ted in the innocency of thy Sonne, who knew no &s;in. <HI>David</HI> gives no man rule nor example of other a&s;&s;urance in God, then in the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins: Not that any precontract or Election makes our &s;ins no &s;ins, or makes our &s;ins no hindrances in our way to &s;alvation, or that we are in Gods favour at that time when we &s;in, nor returned to his favour before we repent our &s;in; It is onely this expeccation, this un&s;inning, this taking away of &s;ins formerly committed, that re|&s;tores me; And that is not done with nothing; <HI>David</HI> a&s;&s;ignes, propo&s;es a meanes, by which he looks for it, Hy&s;&s;op, <HI>Thou &s;halt purge me with Hy&s;&s;op.</HI></P>
<P>The Fathers taking the words as they found them, and fa&s;tning with a &s;pirituall de|light,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hy&s;&s;opo.</NOTE> as their devout cu&s;tome was, their Meditations upon the figurative and Metapho|ricall phra&s;e of purging by Hy&s;&s;op, have found purgative vertues in that plant, and made u&s;efull and &s;pirituall applications thereof, for the purging of our &s;oules from &s;in. In this doe S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and <HI>Hierome</HI> agree, that Hy&s;&s;op hath vertue in it proper for the lungs, in which part, as it is the furnace of breath, they place the &s;eat of pride and oppo&s;ition again&s;t the Truth, making their u&s;e of that which is &s;aid of <HI>Saul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.</NOTE> <HI>That he brea|thed out threatnings and &s;laughter again&s;t the Di&s;ciples of the Lord.</HI> And by this interpre|tation, <HI>Davids</HI> di&s;ea&s;e that he mu&s;t be purged of, &s;hould be pride. But except, as the Schoolemen, when they have tyred them&s;elves in &s;eeking out the name of the &s;in of the Angels, are content at la&s;t for their ea&s;e to call it Pride, both becau&s;e they thought they need goe no farther, for, where pride is, other &s;ins will certainly accompany it; and be|cau&s;e they extended the name of Pride to all refu&s;als and re&s;i&s;tances of the will of God, and &s;o pride, in effect, includes all &s;in; Except, I &s;ay, the Fathers take Pride in &s;o large a &s;en&s;e as that they would not pre&s;cribe Hy&s;&s;op to purge <HI>Davids</HI> lungs, for his di&s;ea&s;e lay not properly there; They mu&s;t have purged his liver, the &s;eate of blood, the &s;eat of con|cupi&s;cence; They mu&s;t have purged his whole &s;ub&s;tance, for the di&s;temper was gone o|ver all. And to this rectifying of his blood, by the application of better blood, and <HI>Da|vid</HI> relation in this place.</P>
<P>All the &s;acrifices of Expiation of &s;in, in the old Law, were done by blood, and that blood was &s;princkled upon the people, by an in&s;trument made of a certain plant, which becau&s;e the word in Hebrew is <HI>Ezob,</HI> for the nearne&s;&s;e of the &s;ound, and for the indiffe|rency of the matter, (for it imports us nothing to know, of what plant that <HI>A&s;pergillum,</HI> that Blood-&s;princkler was made) the Interpreters have ever u&s;ed in all languages to call this word Hy&s;&s;op. And though we know no proper word for Hy&s;&s;op in Hebrew, (for when they finde not a word in the Bible, the Hebrew Rabbins will acknowledge no
<PB N="646" REF="341">Hebrew word for any thing) yet the other languages deduced from the Hebrew, Syri|aque, and Arabique, have clearly another word for Hy&s;&s;op, <HI>Zu&s;;</HI> And the Hebrew Rab|bins think this word of our text, <HI>Ezob,</HI> to &s;ignifie any of three or foure plants, rather then our Hy&s;&s;op. But be the plant what it will, the forme and the u&s;e of that Blood-&s;prink|ler is manife&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 12. Levit. 14.</NOTE> In the in&s;titution of the Pa&s;&s;eover, <HI>Take a bunch of Hy&s;&s;op, and dip it in blood.</HI> In the clean&s;ing of the Leper, there was to be the blood of a &s;parrow, and then Cedar wood, and &s;carlet lace, and Hy&s;&s;op: And about that Cedar &s;tick, they bound this Hy&s;&s;op with this lace, and &s;o made this in&s;trument to &s;prinkle blood. And &s;o the name of the <HI>Hy&s;&s;op,</HI> becau&s;e it did the principall office, was after given to the whole In&s;tru|ment; all the &s;prinkler was called an <HI>Hy&s;&s;op;</HI> As we &s;ee when they reached up a &s;ponge of vinegar to Chri&s;t upon the Cro&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 19.29.</NOTE> <HI>They put it,</HI> &s;ayes the text, <HI>upon Hy&s;&s;op,</HI> that is, up|on an Hy&s;&s;op; not upon an Hy&s;&s;op &s;talke, (as the old tran&s;lation had it) for no Hy&s;&s;op hath &s;uch a &s;talke, but they called &s;uch &s;ticks of Cedar, as ordinarily &s;erved for the &s;prinkling of blood, Hy&s;&s;ops. And whether this were &s;uch a Cedar &s;tick, or &s;ome o|ther &s;uch thing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.48.</NOTE> fit to reach up that &s;punge to Chri&s;t, we cannot &s;ay. For S. <HI>Matthew</HI> calls that, that S. <HI>Iohn</HI> calls an <HI>Hy&s;&s;op,</HI> a <HI>Reed.</HI></P>
<P>This then was <HI>Davids</HI> petition here; fir&s;t, That hee might have the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us applied and &s;prinkled upon him; <HI>David</HI> thought of no election, hee looked for no &s;anctification, but in the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. And then he de&s;ired this blood to be ap|plied to him, by that Hy&s;&s;ope, by that Blood-&s;prinkler, which was ordained by God, for the u&s;e of the Church. Home-infu&s;ions, and inward in&s;pirations of grace, are power|full &s;eales of Gods love; but all this is but the Privy &s;eale, <HI>David</HI> de&s;ired to bring it to the Great &s;eale, the publike Ordinance of the Church. In a ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity God gave his children Manna and Quailes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h. 5.</NOTE> In ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity God allowes Sermons, and Sa|craments at home; But as &s;oone as ever they came to the Land of promi&s;e, the &s;ame day both Manna and Quailes cea&s;ed: God hath given us a free and publike pa&s;&s;age of his Word, and Sacraments, the diet and the ordinary food of our &s;ouls, and he purges us with that Hy&s;&s;ope, with the application of his promi&s;es, with the ab&s;olution of our &s;ins, with a redintegration into his my&s;ticall body, by the &s;eales of reconciliation. And this recon|ciliation to God, by the blood of Chri&s;t, applied in the Ordinances of the Church, is that which <HI>David</HI> begs for his clean&s;ing, and is the la&s;t circum&s;tance of this branch, <HI>Purge me with Hy&s;&s;ope, and I &s;hall be cleane.</HI></P>
<P>This <HI>Clean&s;ing</HI> then implies that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clean&s;ing.</NOTE> which wee commonly call the enwrapping in the Covenant, the breeding in the vi&s;ible Church, when God takes a Nation out of the Common, and enclo&s;es it, empailes it for his more peculiar u&s;e, when God withdrawes us from the impo&s;&s;ibility, under which the Gentiles &s;terve, who heare not Chri&s;t prea|ched, to live within the &s;ound of his voyce, and within the reach of our &s;pirituall food, the Word and Sacraments. It is that &s;tate, which the holy Gho&s;t &s;o elegantly expre&s;&s;es and enlarges,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.</NOTE> That God found Jeru&s;alem, <HI>Her father an Amorite, and her mother an Hit|tite,</HI> none of the &s;eed of the faithfull in her; that he found her <HI>in Canaan,</HI> not &s;o much as in a place of true profe&s;&s;ion; that he found her <HI>in her blood, and her navell uncut,</HI> &s;till in|corporated in her former &s;tock; And, <HI>The time was a time of love,</HI> &s;ayes God, <HI>and I cove|red thy nakedne&s;&s;e, and &s;ware unto thee, and entred into a covenant with thee, and thou became&s;t mine.</HI> Will you &s;ay, this could not be the &s;ubject of <HI>Davids</HI> petition, this could not bee the clean&s;ing that he begged at Gods hand, to bee brought into that Covenant, to bee a member of that Church? for hee was in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that before. Beloved, how many are borne in this Covenant, and baptized, and catechized in it, and yet fall away? How many have taught, and wrought, and thought in their owne con&s;cience that they did well, in defence of the Covenant, and yet fell away? And from how many places, which gave light to others, hath God removed the Candle&s;tick, and left them&s;elves in darkne&s;&s;e?<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.8.</NOTE> Though <HI>David</HI> &s;ay, <HI>A day in thy Courts is better then a thou&s;and,</HI> (then a thou|&s;and any where el&s;e) yet he expre&s;&s;es his de&s;ire, <HI>That hee might continue in that happine&s;&s;e all the dayes of his life;</HI> It is as fearefull a thing to be removed from the meanes of &s;alva|tion, as never to have had them.</P>
<P>This then is <HI>Clean&s;ing,</HI> To be continued in the di&s;tance, and working of the meanes of clean&s;ing, that he may alwayes grow under the dew, and breath in the ayre of Gods grace exhibited in his Ordinance. Among&s;t the Jewes there were many uncleanne&s;&s;es, which did not amount to &s;in: They reckon in the Ceremoniall law, at lea&s;t fifty kinds of
<PB N="647" REF="341">uncleanne&s;&s;es, from which if they neglected to clean&s;e them&s;elves, by tho&s;e ceremonies which were appropriated to them, then tho&s;e uncleanne&s;&s;es became &s;ins, and they were put to their &s;acrifices, before they could be di&s;charged of them. Many levities, many omi&s;&s;ions, many acts of infirmity might be prevented by con&s;ideration before, or clean|&s;ed by con&s;ideration now, if we did truly value the pre&s;ent grace, that is alwayes offered us in the&s;e the Ordinances of God. What &s;in can I be guilty of, that is without example of mercy, in that Go&s;pel which is preached to me here? But if you will not accept it, when God offers it, you can never have it &s;o good cheape, becau&s;e hereafter you &s;hall have this pre&s;ent &s;in, of refu&s;ing that offer of grace, added to your burthen.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 24.13.</NOTE> <HI>Becau&s;e I have purged thee, &amp; thou wa&s;t not purged, thou &s;halt not be purged any more, til I have cau&s;ed my fury to light upon thee.</HI> But &s;hall we be purged then? Then, when his fury in any calamity hath lighted upon us? Is not this <HI>donec,</HI> this <HI>untill,</HI> &s;uch a <HI>donec,</HI> as <HI>donec faciam, Till I make thine cne|mies thy foot&s;toole:</HI> Such a <HI>donec</HI> as the <HI>donec peperit,</HI> &s;hee was a Virgin, <HI>Till &s;hee brought forth her fir&s;t &s;onne?</HI> Is it not an everla&s;ting <HI>donec?</HI> That we &s;hall not be purged till Gods Judgements fall upon us, nor then neither: Phy&s;icke may be mini&s;tred too late to worke, and Judgements may fall too late, to &s;ouple or entender the &s;oule: For as wee may die with that Phy&s;ick in our &s;tomach, &s;o may we be carried to the la&s;t Judgement, with that former Judgement upon our &s;houlders. And therefore our later Tran&s;lation hath ex|pre&s;&s;ed it more fully, Not that that fury &s;hall <HI>light,</HI> but &s;hall <HI>re&s;t</HI> upon us.</P>
<P>This clean&s;ing therefore, is that di&s;po&s;ition, which God by his grace, infu&s;es into us, That we &s;tand in the congregation, and Communion of Saints, capable of tho&s;e mercies, which God hath by his Ordinance, annexed to the&s;e meetings; That we may &s;o feele at all times when we come hither, &s;uch a working of his Hy&s;&s;op, &s;uch a benefit of his Ordinance, as that we beleeve all our former &s;ins to be &s;o forgiven, as that if God &s;hould tran&s;late us now, this minute, to another life, this <HI>Do&s;is</HI> of this purging Hy&s;&s;op, re|ceived now, had &s;o wrought, as that we &s;hould be a&s;&s;uredly tran&s;lated into the King|dome of heaven. This clean&s;ing applies to us tho&s;e words of our Saviour, <HI>My &s;onne, be of good cheare, thy &s;innes are forgiven thee;</HI> But yet there is a farther degree of cleane|ne&s;&s;e expre&s;&s;ed in Chri&s;ts following words, <HI>Goe, and &s;in no more;</HI> And that grace again&s;t relap&s;es, the gift of &s;anctification, and per&s;everance, is that that <HI>David</HI> askes in his other Petition, <HI>Lava me, Wa&s;h me, and I &s;hall be whiter then &s;now.</HI></P>
<P>Here we propo&s;ed fir&s;t the action, <HI>Lava, Wa&s;h me.</HI> This is more then a &s;prinkling,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lava.</NOTE> A totall, and intire wa&s;hing; More then being an ordinary partaker of the outward meanes, The Word, and Sacraments; more then a temporary feeling of the benefit thereof in a pre&s;ent &s;en&s;e; for it is a building up of habits of religious actions, vi&s;ible to others, and it is a holy and firme confidence created in us by the Spirit of God, that we &s;hall keepe that building in reparation, and goe forward with it to our lives end. It is a wa&s;hing like <HI>Naamans</HI> in Jordan, to be iterated &s;eaven times, &s;eaventy &s;eaven times, daily, hourly, all our life; A wa&s;hing begun in Bapti&s;me, pur&s;ued in &s;weat, in the indu&s;try of a lawfull cal|ling, continued in teares, for our deficiencies in the workes of our calling, and perchance to bee con&s;ummated in blood, at our deaths. Not &s;uch a wa&s;hing, as the Wa&s;hes have, which are tho&s;e &s;ands that are overflowed with the Sea at every Tide, and then lie dry, but &s;uch a wa&s;hing as the bottome of the Sea hath, that is alwayes equally wet. It is not a <HI>&s;tillicidium,</HI> a &s;pout, a &s;howre, a bucket powred out upon us, when we come to Church, a Sabbath-&s;anctification, and no more, but a water that enters into every office of our hou&s;e, and wa&s;hes every action proceeding from every faculty of the &s;oule. And this is the wa&s;hing, A continuall &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Grace, working effectually to pre&s;ent Habits of religious acts, and con&s;tituting a holy purpo&s;e of per&s;evering in them that induces the Whitene&s;&s;e, the Candor, the Dealbation that <HI>David</HI> begs here, <HI>Lava &amp; Dealbabor.</HI></P>
<P>The purging with Hy&s;&s;ope, which we &s;poke of before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dealbabor.</NOTE> which is the benefit which we have by being bred in a true Church, delivers us from that redne&s;&s;e, which is in the earth of which wee are made, from that guiltine&s;&s;e, which is by our naturall derivation from our Parents imprinted in us; Bapti&s;me doth much upon that; but that that is not Red, is not therefore White. But this is our ca&s;e: Our fir&s;t colour was white; God made man righteous. Our redne&s;&s;e is from <HI>Adam,</HI> and the more that redne&s;&s;e is wa&s;hed off,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 7.1.</NOTE> the more we returne to our fir&s;t whitene&s;&s;e; And this which is petitioned here, is a wa&s;hing of &s;uch perfection, as clean&s;es us <HI>Ab omni inquinamento,</HI> from all filthine&s;&s;e of fle&s;h and &s;pirit. Tho&s;e <HI>inquinamenta,</HI> which are ordinary, are fir&s;t in the fle&s;h, Concupi&s;cence and
<PB N="648" REF="342">Carnality,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 5.19.</NOTE> and tho&s;e other, of which the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>The works of the fle&s;h are manife&s;t;</HI> And in the &s;pirit, they are Murmuring, Diffidence in God, and &s;uch others. But be&s;ides the&s;e, as an over-diligent clean&s;ing of the Body, and additionall beauty of the Body, is <HI>inquinamentum carnis,</HI> one of S. <HI>Pauls</HI> filthine&s;&s;es upon the fle&s;h, &s;o an over purifying of the &s;pirit, in an uncharitable undervaluing of other men, and in a &s;chi&s;maticall departing from the unity of the Church, is <HI>Inquinamentum &s;piritus:</HI> Fal&s;e beauties are a foulne&s;&s;e of the body, fal&s;e purity is a foulne&s;&s;e of the &s;pirit. But the wa&s;hing, that wee &s;eeke, clean|&s;es us <HI>Ab omni inquinamento,</HI> from all foulne&s;&s;e of fle&s;h and &s;pirit. All waters will not clean&s;e us, nor all fires dry us, &s;o as wee may be cleane, &s;moaky fires will not doe that. <HI>I will poure cleane water upon you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 36.25.</NOTE> <HI>and you &s;hall be cleane.</HI> The Sunne produces &s;weat up|on us, and it dries us too: Zeale clean&s;es us; but it mu&s;t be zeale impermixt as the Sun, not mingled with our &s;moaky, &s;ooty, factious affections. Some Grammarians have no|ted, the word <HI>Wa&s;hing</HI> here, to be derived from a word, that &s;ignifies a Lambe; we mu&s;t be wa&s;hed in the blood of the Lambe, and we mu&s;t be brought to the whitene&s;&s;e, the can|dor, the &s;implicity of the Lambe; no man is pure, that thinks no man pure but him&s;elfe. And this whitene&s;&s;e, which is Sanctification in our &s;elves, and charitable interpretation of other men, is exalted here to that Superlative, <HI>Super Nivem, Wa&s;h me, and I &s;hall be whiter then Snow.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Though your &s;ins be as Scarlet,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Super nivem.</HI> E&s;ay 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>they &s;hall be as white as &s;now. E&s;ay</HI> was an Euangelicall Prophet, a propheticall Euangeli&s;t, and &s;peaks &s;till of the &s;tate of the Chri&s;tian Church. There, by the ordinary meanes exhibited there, our Scarlet &s;ins are made as white as Snow; And the whitene&s;&s;e of Snow, is a whitene&s;&s;e that no art of man can reach to; So Chri&s;ts garments in his Transfiguration are expre&s;&s;ed to have beene <HI>as white as Snow,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 9.3.</NOTE> &s;o, as no Fuller on earth could white them. Nothing in this world can &s;end me home in &s;uch a whitene&s;&s;e, no morall coun&s;aile, no morall comfort, no morall con&s;tancy; as Gods Ab&s;olution by his Mini&s;ter, as the profitable hearing of a Sermon, the worthy receiving of the Sacrament do. This is to be as white as &s;now; In a good &s;tate for the pre&s;ent. But <HI>David</HI> begs a whitene&s;&s;e above Snow; for Snow melts, and then it is not white; our pre&s;ent Sanctification withers, and we lo&s;e that cheereful verdure, the te&s;timo|ny of an upright con&s;cience; And Snow melted, Snow water, is the colde&s;t water of all; Devout men departed from their former fervor are the colde&s;t and the mo&s;t irreducible to true zeale, true holine&s;&s;e. Therefore <HI>David</HI> who was metall tried &s;even times in the fire, and de&s;ired to be &s;uch gold as might be laid up in Gods Trea&s;ury, might con&s;ider, that in tran&s;mutation of metals, it is not enough to come to a calcination, or a liquefaction of the metall, (that mu&s;t be done) nor to an Ablution, to &s;ever dro&s;&s;e from pure, nor to a Tran&s;mutation, to make it a better metall, but there mu&s;t be a Fixion, a fettling thereof, &s;o that it &s;hall not evaporate into nothing, nor returne to his former nature. Therefore he &s;aw that he needed not only a liquefaction, a melting into teares, nor only an Ablution, &amp; a Tran&s;mutation, tho&s;e he had by this purging and this wa&s;hing, this &s;tation in the Church of God, and this pre&s;ent Sanctification there, but he needed <HI>Fixionem,</HI> an e&s;tabli&s;hment, which the compari&s;on of Snow afforded not; That as he had purged him with Hy&s;&s;op, and &s;o clean&s;ed him, that is, enwrapped him in the Covenant, and made him a member of the true Church; and there wa&s;hed him &s;o, as that he was re&s;tored to a whitene&s;&s;e, that is, made his Ordinances &s;o effectuall upon him, as that then he dur&s;t deliver his &s;oule into his hands at that time: So he would exalt that whitene&s;&s;e, above the whitene&s;&s;e of Snow, &s;o as nothing might melt it, nothing di&s;colour it, but that under the &s;eale of his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, he might ever dwell in that calme, in that a&s;&s;urance, in that acquie&s;cence, that as he is in a good &s;tate this minute, he &s;hall be in no wor&s;e, when&s;oever God &s;hall be plea&s;ed to tran&s;late him.</P>
<P>We end all the P&s;almes in our &s;ervice,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;io.</NOTE> tho&s;e of Prai&s;e, and tho&s;e of Prayer too, with a <HI>Gloria Patri, Glory be to the Father, &amp;c.</HI> For our conclu&s;ion of this Prayer in this P&s;alme, we have re&s;erved a <HI>Gloria Patri</HI> too, This con&s;ideration for the glory of God, that though in the fir&s;t Part, The Per&s;ons, the per&s;ons were varied, God and man, yet in our &s;econd Part, where we confider the worke, the whole worke is put into Gods hand, and recei|ved from Gods hand. Let God be true, and every man a liar; Let God be &s;trong and every man infirme; Let God give, and man but receive. What man that hath no proprie|ty therein, can take a penny out of another mans hou&s;e, or a roote out of his Garden, but the Law will take hold of him? Hath any man a propriety in Grace? what had he to give
<PB N="649" REF="342">for it? Nature? Is Nature equivalent to Grace? No man does refine, and exalt Nature to the height it would beare, but if naturall faculties were exalted to their highe&s;t, is Nature a fit exchange for Grace? and if it were, is Nature our owne? Why &s;hould we be loath to acknowledge to have all our ability of doing good freely from God, and immediately by his grace, when as, even tho&s;e faculties of Nature, by which we pretend to do the offices of Grace, we have from God him&s;elfe too? For that que&s;tion of the Apo&s;tle involves all, <HI>What ha&s;t thou that thou ha&s;t not received?</HI> Thy naturall faculties are no more thine owne, then the grace of God is thine owne; I would not be beholden to God for Grace, and I mu&s;t be as much beholden to him for Nature, if Nature do &s;upply Grace; Becau&s;e he hath made thee to be a man, he hath given thee naturall faculties; becau&s;e he hath vouch|&s;afed thee to be a Chri&s;tian, he hath given thee meanes of Grace. But, as thy body, concei|ved in thy Mothers wombe, could not claime a &s;oule at Gods hand, nor wi&s;h a &s;oule, no nor know that there was a &s;oule to be had: So neither by being a man indued with natu|rall faculties can&s;t thou claime grace, or wi&s;h grace; nay tho&s;e naturall faculties, if they be not pre-tincted with &s;ome infu&s;ion of Grace before, cannot make thee know what Grace is, or that Grace is. To a child rightly di&s;po&s;ed in the wombe, God does give a &s;oule; To a naturall man rightly di&s;po&s;ed in his naturall faculties, God does give Grace; But that Soule was not due to that child, nor that grace to that man.</P>
<P>Therefore, (as we &s;aid at fir&s;t) <HI>David</HI> does not bring the Hy&s;&s;op, and pray God to make the potion, but, Doe thou purge me with Hy&s;&s;op, All is thine owne; There was no pre-exi&s;tent matter in the world, when God made the world; There is no pre-exi&s;tent merit in man, when God makes him his. <HI>David</HI> does not &s;ay, Do thou wa&s;h me, and I will per|fect thy worke; Give me my portion of Grace, and I will trouble thee for no more, but deale upon that &s;tocke; But <HI>Qui &s;anctificatur, &s;anctificetur adhuc,</HI> Let him that is holy be more holy, but accept his Sanctification from him, of whom he had his Ju&s;tification; and except he can think to glorifie him&s;elf becau&s;e he is &s;anctified, let him not think to &s;ancti|fie him&s;elf becau&s;e he is ju&s;tified; God does all. Yet thus argues S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> upon <HI>Davids</HI> words, <HI>Tuus &s;um Domine,</HI> Lord I am thine, and therefore &s;afer then they, that thinke them&s;elves their owne. Every man can and mu&s;t &s;ay, I was thine, Thine by Creation; but few can &s;ay, I am thine, few that have not changed their Ma&s;ter. But how was <HI>David</HI> his &s;o e&s;pecially? &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine: Quia quae&s;ivi ju&s;tificationes tuas,</HI> as it followes there; Becau&s;e I &s;ought thy Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, thy Ju&s;tification. But where did he &s;eeke it? Hee &s;ought it, and he found it in him&s;elfe. In him&s;elfe, as him&s;elfe, there was no good thing to be found, how far &s;oever he had &s;ought: But yet he found a Ju&s;tification, though of Gods whole making, yet in him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>So then, this is our Act of Recognition, we acknowledge God, and God onely to doe all; But we doe not &s;o make him Soveraigne alone, as that we leave his pre&s;ence naked, and empty; Nor &s;o make him King alone, as that we depopulate his Country, and leave him without Subjects; Nor &s;o leave all to Grace, as that the naturall faculties of man do not become the &s;ervants, and in&s;truments of that Grace. Let all, that we all &s;eeke, be, who may glorifie God mo&s;t; and we &s;hall agree in this, That as the Pelagian wounds the glory of God deepely, in making Naturall faculties joynt-Commi&s;&s;ioners with Grace, &s;o do they dimini&s;h the glory of God too, if any deny naturall faculties to be the &s;ubor|dinate &s;ervants and in&s;truments of Grace; for as Grace could not worke upon man to Salvation, if man had not a faculty of will to worke upon, becau&s;e without that will man were not man; &s;o is this Salvation wrought in the will, by conforming this will of man to the will of God, not by extingui&s;hing the will it &s;elfe, by any force or con&s;traint that God imprints in it by his Grace: God &s;aves no man without, or again&s;t his will. <HI>Glory be to God on high, and on earth Peace, and Good will towards men;</HI> And to this God of Glory, the Father, and this God of Peace and reconciliation, the Son, and this God of Good will and love among&s;t men, the Holy Gho&s;t, be a&s;cribed all prai&s;e, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="prebend" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="343">
<PB REF="343">
<HEAD>PREBEND SERMONS Preached at S^t. PAULS.</HEAD>
<PB REF="344">
<PB N="643" REF="344">
<P>The fir&s;t of the Prebend of <HI>Che&s;wicks</HI> five P&s;almes; which five are appointed for that Prebend; as there are five other, for every other of our thirty Prebendaries.</P>
<DIV2 N="65" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXV. <HI>Preached at S.</HI> Pauls, <HI>May</HI> 8. 1625.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 62.9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; To bee laid in the ba|lance, they are altogether lighter then vanity.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE con&s;ider the dignity of the Booke of P&s;almes, either in the whole body together, or in the particular limmes and di&s;tribution thereof. Of the whole Body,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il.</NOTE> it may be enough to tell you that which S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;aith, That if all the other bookes of Scripture could peri&s;h, there remained enough in the booke of P&s;almes for the &s;upply of all: And therefore he cals it <HI>Amuletum ad profligandum daemonem;</HI> Any P&s;alme is Exorci&s;me enough to expell any Devill, Charme enough to re|move any tentation, Enchantment enough to ea&s;e, nay to &s;weeten any tribulation. It is abundantly enough that our Saviour Chri&s;t him&s;elfe cites the P&s;almes, not onely as Canonicall Scripture, but as a particular, and entire, and noble limme of that Body; <HI>All mu&s;t be fulfilled of me,</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>which is written in the Law,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.44.</NOTE> <HI>in the Prophets, and in the P&s;almes.</HI> The Law alone was the Sadduces Scripture, they recei|ved no more: The Law and the Prophets were (e&s;pecially) the Scribes Scripture, they interpreted that: The Chri&s;tians Scripture, in the Old Te&s;tament, is e&s;pecially the P&s;almes. For (except the Prophecy of <HI>E&s;ay</HI> be admitted into the compari&s;on) no booke of the Old Te&s;tament is &s;o like a Go&s;pel, &s;o particular in all things concerning Chri&s;t, as the P&s;almes.</P>
<P>So hath the Booke of P&s;almes an e&s;peciall dignity in the intire Body, all together. It hath &s;o al&s;o in divers di&s;tributions thereof into parts. For even among&s;t the Jewes them|&s;elves, tho&s;e fifteen P&s;almes which follow immediatly and &s;ucce&s;&s;ively after the 119. P&s;alme, were e&s;pecially di&s;tingui&s;hed, and dignified by the name of <HI>Graduall P&s;almes;</HI> Whether becau&s;e they were &s;ung upon the Degrees and &s;taires a&s;cending to the Altar, Or becau&s;e hee that read them in the Temple, a&s;cended into a higher and more eminent place to reade them, Or becau&s;e the word <HI>Graduall</HI> implies a degree of excellency in the P&s;almes them&s;elves, I di&s;pute not; But a difference tho&s;e fifteen P&s;almes ever had above the re&s;t, in the Jewi&s;h and in the Chri&s;tian Church too. So al&s;o hath there beene a parti|cular dignity a&s;cribed to tho&s;e &s;even P&s;almes, which we have ever called the <HI>Penitentiall P&s;almes;</HI> Of which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> had &s;o much re&s;pect,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> as that he commanded them to
<PB N="654" REF="345">be written in a great Letter, and hung about the curtaines of his Death-bed within, that hee might give up the gho&s;t in contemplation, and meditation of tho&s;e &s;even P&s;almes. And it hath beene traditionally received, and recommended by good Authors, that that <HI>Hymne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 26.30.</NOTE> which Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles are &s;aid to have &s;ung after the In&s;titution and ce|lebration of the Sacrament, was a <HI>Hymne</HI> compo&s;ed of tho&s;e &s;ix P&s;almes, which we call the <HI>Allelujah P&s;almes,</HI> immediatly preceding the hundred and nineteenth.</P>
<P>So then, in the whole Body, and in &s;ome particular limmes of the Body, the Church of God hath had an e&s;peciall con&s;ideration of the booke of P&s;almes. This Church in which we all &s;tand now, and in which my &s;elfe, by particular obligation &s;erve, hath done &s;o too. In this Church, by ancient Con&s;titutions, it is ordained, That the whole booke of P&s;almes &s;hould every day, day by day bee rehear&s;ed by us, who make the Body of this Church, in the eares of Almighty God. And therefore every Prebendary of this Church, is by tho&s;e Con&s;titutions bound every day to prai&s;e God in tho&s;e five P&s;almes which are appointed for his Prebend. And of tho&s;e five P&s;almes which belong to mee, this, out of which I have read you this Text, is the fir&s;t. And, by Gods grace, (upon like occa&s;ions) I &s;hall here handle &s;ome part of every one of the other foure P&s;almes, for &s;ome te&s;timony, that tho&s;e my five P&s;almes returne often into my meditation, which I al&s;o a&s;&s;ure my &s;elfe of the re&s;t of my brethren, who are under the &s;ame obligation in this Church.</P>
<P>For this whole P&s;alme,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;almus in|teger.</NOTE> which is under our pre&s;ent con&s;ideration, as <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> a|mong&s;t all the Fathers, was mo&s;t curious, and mo&s;t particular, and exqui&s;ite, in ob&s;er|ving the purpo&s;e, and u&s;e of every particular P&s;alm, (for to that purpo&s;e, he goes through them all, in this maner; If thou wilt encourage men to a love, and pur&s;uit of goodne&s;&s;e, &s;ay the fir&s;t P&s;alme, and 31. and 140, &amp;c. If thou wilt convince the Jewes, &s;ay the &s;econd P&s;alme; If thou wilt prai&s;e God for things pa&s;t, &s;ay this, and this, And this, and this if thou wilt pray for future things) &s;o for this P&s;alme, which we have in hand, he ob&s;erves in it a &s;ummary abridgement of all; For of this P&s;alme he &s;ayes in generall, <HI>Adver&s;us in&s;idiantes,</HI> Again&s;t all attempts upon thy body, thy &s;tate, thy &s;oule, thy fame, tentations, tribulations, machinations, defamations, &s;ay this P&s;alme. As he &s;aith before, that in the booke of P&s;almes, every man may di&s;cerne <HI>motus animi &s;ui,</HI> his owne finfull inclinations expre&s;&s;ed, and arme him&s;elfe again&s;t him&s;elfe; &s;o in this P&s;alme, he may arme him&s;elfe again&s;t all other adver&s;aries of any kinde. And therefore as the &s;ame Father entitles one Sermon of his, <HI>Contr a omnes haere&s;es,</HI> A Sermon for the convincing of all Here&s;ies, in which &s;hort Sermon he meddles not much with particular here&s;ies, but onely e&s;tabli&s;hes the truth of Chri&s;ts Per&s;on in both natures, which is indeed enough again&s;t all Here&s;ies, and in which (that is the con&s;ub&s;tantiality of Chri&s;t with the Father, God of God) this Father <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> hath enlarged him&s;elfe more then the re&s;t (in&s;omuch, that tho&s;e he|retiques which grow &s;o fa&s;t, in the&s;e our dayes, The Socinians, (who deny the Godhead of Chri&s;t) are more vexed with that Father, then with any other, and call him for <HI>Atha|na&s;ius, Sathana&s;ius</HI>) As he cals that Sermon, a Sermon again&s;t all Here&s;ies, &s;o he pre&s;ents this P&s;alme again&s;t all Tentations, and Tribulations; Not that therein <HI>David</HI> puts him|&s;elfe to waigh particular tentations, and tribulations, but that he puts every man, in every triall, to put him&s;elfe wholly upon God, and to know, that if man cannot helpe him in this world, nothing can; And, for man, <HI>Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter then vanity.</HI></P>
<P>We con&s;ider in the words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> The maner, and the matter, How it is &s;poken, And what is &s;aid. For the fir&s;t, the maner, this is not ab&s;olutely &s;poken, but comparatively, not pe|remptorily, but re&s;pectively, not &s;imply, but with relation. The Holy Gho&s;t, in <HI>Davids</HI> mouth, doth not &s;ay, That man can give no a&s;&s;i&s;tance to man; That man may looke for no helpe from man; But, that God is alwayes &s;o pre&s;ent, and &s;o all-&s;ufficient, that wee need not doubt of him, nor rely upon any other, otherwi&s;e then as an in&s;trument of his. For that which he had &s;pread over all the ver&s;es of the P&s;alme before, he &s;ummes up in the ver&s;e immediatly before the Text, <HI>Tru&s;t in God at all times, for hee is a refuge for us;</HI> and then, hee &s;trengthens that with this, What would yee prefer before God, or joyne with God? man? what man? <HI>Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter then vanity.</HI></P>
<P>Which words being our &s;econd part, open to us the&s;e &s;teps: Fir&s;t, that other Doctrins, morall or civill In&s;tructions may be delivered to us po&s;&s;ibly, and probably, and likely,
<PB N="655" REF="345">and credibly, and under the like termes, and modifications, but this in our Text, is A&s;&s;u|redly, undoubtedly, undeniably, irrefragably, <HI>Surely men of low degree, &amp;c.</HI> For how|&s;oever when they two are compared together, with one another, it may admit di&s;cour&s;e and di&s;putation, whether men of high degree, or of low degree doe mo&s;t violate the lawes of God; that is, whether pro&s;perity or adver&s;ity make men mo&s;t obnoxious to &s;in, yet, when they come to bee compared, not with one another, but both with God, this a&s;&s;everation, this <HI>&s;urely</HI> reaches to both; <HI>Surely, The man of low degree is vanity,</HI> and, as <HI>Surely, The man of high degree is a lie.</HI> And though this may &s;eeme to leave &s;ome roome, for men of middle ranks, and fortunes, and places, That there is a mediocrity, that might give an a&s;&s;urance, and an e&s;tabli&s;hment, yet there is no &s;uch thing in this ca&s;e, for (as <HI>&s;urely</HI> &s;till) <HI>to be laid in the balance, they are all,</HI> (not all of low, and all of high degree, all rich, and all poore, but) All, of all conditions, <HI>altogether lighter then vanity.</HI></P>
<P>Now, all this doth not de&s;troy, not extingui&s;h, not annihilate that affection in man, of hope, and tru&s;t, and confidence in any thing; but it rectifies that hope, and tru&s;t, and confidence, and directs it upon the right object: Tru&s;t not in fle&s;h, but in &s;pirituall things, That wee neither bend our hopes downeward, to infernall &s;pirits, to &s;eeke help in Wit|ches; nor mi&s;-carry it upward, to &s;eeke it in Saints, or Angels, but fix it in him, who is nearer us then our owne &s;oules, our ble&s;&s;ed, and gracious, and powerfull God, who in this one P&s;alme is pre&s;ented unto us, by &s;o many names of a&s;&s;urance and confidence, <HI>My expectation, my &s;alvation, my rocke, my defence, my glory, my &s;trength, my refuge,</HI> and the re&s;t.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then the&s;e words, <HI>Surely men of low degree, and men of high degree are vanity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Quid home erga Deum.</NOTE> are not ab&s;olutely, &s;imple, unconditionally &s;poken; Man is not nothing: Nay, it is &s;o farre from that, as that there is nothing but man. As, though there may bee many other crea|tures living, which were not derived from <HI>Eve,</HI> and yet <HI>Eve</HI> is called <HI>Mater viventium,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.20.</NOTE> The Mother of all that live, becau&s;e the life of none but man, is con&s;idered; &s;o there bee &s;o many other Creatures, and Chri&s;t &s;ends his Apo&s;tles to preach, <HI>Omni Creaturae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 16.15.</NOTE> to every creature, yet he meanes none but Man. All that God did in making all other crea|tures, in all the other dayes, was but a laying in of Materials; The &s;etting up of the work was in the making of Man. God had a picture of him&s;elfe from all eternity; from all eternity, the Sonne of God was the <HI>Image of the invi&s;ible God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.15.</NOTE> But then God would have one picture, which &s;hould bee the picture of Father, Sonne, and Holy Gho&s;t too, and &s;o made man to the Image of the whole Trinity. As the Apo&s;tle argues, <HI>Cui dixit, To whom did God ever &s;ay, This day have I begotten thee,</HI> but to Chri&s;t? &s;o we &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.5.</NOTE> for the dignity of man, <HI>Cui dixit,</HI> of what creature did God ever &s;ay, <HI>Faciamus,</HI> Let us, us make it, All, all, the Per&s;ons together, and to imploy, and exerci&s;e, not onely Power, but Coun&s;aile in the making of that Creature? Nay, when man was at wor&s;t, he was at a high price; man being fallen, yet then, in that undervalue, he co&s;t God his own and one|ly Son, before he could have him. Neither became the Son of God capable of redee|ming man, by any le&s;&s;e, or any other way, then by becomming man. The Redeemer mu&s;t be better then he whom he is to redeeme; and yet, he mu&s;t aba&s;e him&s;elfe to as low a nature as his; to his nature; el&s;e he could not redeeme him. God was aliened from man, and yet God mu&s;t become man, to recover man.</P>
<P>God joyned man in Commi&s;&s;ion with him&s;elfe, upon his Creation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.28.</NOTE> in the <HI>Replete</HI> and <HI>Dominamini,</HI> when he gave Man power to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the Earth, and &s;ubdue the Creature; And God hath made man &s;o equall to him&s;elfe, as not onely to have a &s;oule endle&s;&s;e and immortall, as God him&s;elfe, (though not endle&s;&s;e and immortall as him&s;elfe, yet end|le&s;&s;e and immortall as him&s;elfe too, though not immortall the &s;ame way, (for Gods im|mortality is of him&s;elfe) yet as certainly, and as infallibly Immortall as he) but God hath not onely given man &s;uch an immortall &s;oule, but a body that &s;hall put on Incor|ruption and Immortality too, which he hath given to none of the Angels. In &s;o much, that how&s;oever it be, whether an Angel may wi&s;h it &s;elfe an Archangel, or an Archan|gel wi&s;h it &s;elfe a Cherubin; yet man cannot deliberately wi&s;h him&s;elfe an Angel, be|cau&s;e he &s;hould lo&s;e by that wi&s;h, and lacke that glory, which he &s;hall have in his body. <HI>We &s;hall be like the Angels,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t; In that wherein we can be like them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 12.25.</NOTE> we &s;hall be like them, in the exalting and refining of the faculties of our &s;oules; But they &s;hall never attaine to be like us in our glorified bodies. Neither hath God onely re&s;erved this trea|&s;ure and dignity of man to the next world, but even here he hath made him <HI>filium Dei,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.35.</NOTE>
<PB N="656" REF="346">The Sonne of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 3.9. 2 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> and <HI>Semen Dei,</HI> The &s;eed of God, and <HI>Con&s;ortem divinae naturae,</HI> Par|taker of the divine Nature, and <HI>Deos ip&s;os,</HI> Gods them&s;elves, for <HI>Ille dixit Dii e&s;tis,</HI> he hath &s;aid we are Gods. So that, as though the glory of heaven were too much for God a|lone, God hath called up man thither, in the a&s;cen&s;ion of his Sonne, to partake thereof; and as though one God were not enough for the admini&s;tration of this world, God hath multiplied gods here upon Earth, and imparted, communicated, not onely his power to every Magi&s;trate, but the Divine nature to every &s;anctified man. <HI>David</HI> asks that que|&s;tion with a holy wonder, <HI>Quid e&s;t homo? What is man that God is &s;o mindfull of him?</HI> But I may have his leave, and the holy Gho&s;ts, to &s;ay, &s;ince God is &s;o mindfull of him, &s;ince God hath &s;et his minde upon him, What is not man? Man is all.</P>
<P>Since we con&s;ider men in the place that they hold, and value them according to tho&s;e places, and aske not how they got thither, when we &s;ee Man made The Love of the Fa|ther, The Price of the Sonne, The Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t, The Signet upon Gods hand, The Apple of Gods eye, Ab&s;olutely, unconditionally we cannot annihilate man, not evacuate, not evaporate, not extenuate man to the levity, to the vanity, to the nullity of this Text <HI>(Surely men altogether, high and low, are lighter then vanity.)</HI> For, man is not onely a contributary Creature, but a totall Creature; He does not onely make one, but he is all; He is not a piece of the world, but the world it &s;elfe; and next to the glory of God, the rea&s;on why there is a world.</P>
<P>But we mu&s;t not determine this con&s;ideration here, That man is &s;omething, a great thing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quid home erga homi|nem.</NOTE> a noble Creature, if we refer him to his end, to his intere&s;t in God, to his rever&s;ion in heaven; But when we con&s;ider man in his way, man among&s;t men, man is not no|thing, not unable to a&s;&s;i&s;t man, not unfit to be relyed upon by man; for, even in that re|&s;pect al&s;o, God hath made <HI>Hominem homini Deum,</HI> He hath made one man able to doe the offices of God to another, in procuring his regeneration here, and advancing his &s;al|vation hereafter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Obad. 21.</NOTE> As he &s;ayes, <HI>Saviours &s;hall come up on Mount Sion;</HI> which is the Church. Neither hath God determined that power of a&s;&s;i&s;ting others, in the Character of Prie&s;t|hood onely, (that the Prie&s;t &s;hould be a god, that is, doe the offices and the work of God to the people, by delivering &s;alvation unto them) but he hath al&s;o made the Prince, and the &s;ecular Magi&s;trate, a god, that is able to doe the offices, and the works of God, not onely to the people, but to the Prie&s;t him&s;elfe, to &s;u&s;taine him, yea, and to counte|nance, and favour, and protect him too, in the execution and exerci&s;e of his prie&s;tly of|fice; As we &s;ee in the fir&s;t plantation of tho&s;e two great Cedars, The Secular, and the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Power, (which, that they might alwayes agree like brethren, God plan|ted at fir&s;t in tho&s;e two brethren, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron</HI>) There, though <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> were the tem|porall, and <HI>Aaron</HI> the &s;pirituall Magi&s;trate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7.1.</NOTE> yet God &s;ayes to <HI>Mo&s;es, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh,</HI> (but not onely to <HI>Pharaoh</HI>) but <HI>Aaron thy brother &s;hall be thy Prophet;</HI> for, (as he had &s;aid before) <HI>Thou &s;halt be to him in &s;tead of a God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 4.16.</NOTE> So u&s;efull, &s;o nece&s;&s;ary is man to man, as that the Prie&s;t, who is of God, incorporated in God, &s;ub&s;i&s;ts al&s;o by man; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;idor.</NOTE> <HI>Principes hujus &s;eculi rationem reddituri &s;unt,</HI> The Princes of this world mu&s;t give God an account, <HI>Propter Eccle&s;iam, quam &agrave; Chri&s;to tuendam &s;u&s;ceperunt,</HI> for that Church, which Chri&s;t hath committed to their protection. In &s;pirituall difficulties, and for &s;pi|rituall duties, God &s;ends us to the Prie&s;t; but to &s;uch a <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> as is a man; and (as our comfort is expre&s;&s;ed) <HI>A Prie&s;t which was touched with the feeling of our infirmities,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.15.</NOTE> <HI>and was in all points tempted like as we are:</HI> for the bu&s;ine&s;&s;es of this world, Rights, and Titles, and Proprieties,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 16.18.</NOTE> and Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, God &s;ends us &s;till to the Judge; <HI>(Iudges and officers &s;halt thou make in all thy gates)</HI> Judges to try between man and man; And the &s;word in battaile tryes between State and State, Prince and Prince; And therefore God com|mands and directs the levying of men to that purpo&s;e, in many places of the hi&s;tory of his people;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 6.</NOTE> particularly God appoints <HI>Gideon</HI> to take a certaine proportion of the army, a certaine number of Souldiers.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 32.26.</NOTE> And in another place, there goes out a pre&s;&s;e for Soul|diers from <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> mouth; He pre&s;&s;es them upon their holy allegeance to God, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Who is on the Lords &s;ide, let him come unto me.</HI> So, in infirmities, in &s;ickne&s;&s;es of the body,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 8.22.</NOTE> we aske with the Prophet, <HI>Is there no balme in Gilead? Is there no Phy&s;itian there?</HI> God does not reprove <HI>A&s;a</HI> for &s;eeking of helpe of the Phy&s;itians;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chro. 16.12.</NOTE> but the increpation lyes onely upon this, <HI>That he &s;ought to the Phy&s;itian, and not to the Lord.</HI> God &s;ends man to the Prie&s;t, to the Prince, to the Judge, to the Phy&s;itian, to the Souldier, and &s;o, (in other places) to the Merchant, and to cunning Artificers, (as in the building of the Tem|ple)
<PB N="657" REF="346">that all that man needs might be communicated to man by man.</P>
<P>So that &s;till, &s;imply, ab&s;olutely, unconditionally, we cannot &s;ay, Surely men, men altogether, high or low, or meane, all are le&s;&s;e then vanity. And &s;urely they that per|vert and detort &s;uch words as the&s;e, to &s;uch a u&s;e, and argue from thence, Man is no|thing, no more then a worme or a fly, and therefore what needs this &s;olemne con&s;idera|tion of mans actions, it is all one what he does, for all his actions, and him&s;elfe too are nothing; They doe this but to ju&s;tifie or excu&s;e their own lazine&s;&s;e in this world, in pa&s;|&s;ing on their time, without taking any Calling, embracing any profe&s;&s;ion, contributing any thing to the &s;pirituall edification, or temporall &s;u&s;tentation of other men. But take the words, as the Holy Gho&s;t intends them, comparatively, what man compared with God, or what man con&s;idered without God, can doe any thing for others, or for him|&s;elfe? When the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>That all the world is but dung,</HI> when the Prophet &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.8. E&s;ay 40.15. 2 Cor. 12.11. 1 Cor. 1.21.</NOTE> <HI>That all the Nations of the world are le&s;&s;e then nothing,</HI> when the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes even of him&s;elfe, <HI>that he is nothing,</HI> all this is nothing in compari&s;on of that expre&s;&s;ion in the &s;ame Apo&s;tle, <HI>That even the preaching of the Go&s;pel is fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e,</HI> That that which is the <HI>favour of life unto life,</HI> Gods owne Ordinance, <HI>Preaching,</HI> is but <HI>fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e;</HI> Let it be a <HI>Paul</HI> that plants, and an <HI>Apollo</HI> that waters, if God give not increa&s;e, all is but frivolou&s;ne&s;&s;e, but fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e; And therefore boldly, confidently, uncontroulably we may proceed to the propo&s;itions of our Text, which con&s;titute our &s;econd part, Man, any man, every man, all men, collectively, di&s;tributively, con&s;idered &s;o, (comparatiuely with God, or pri|vatively without God) is but a <HI>lie,</HI> but <HI>vanity, le&s;&s;e then vanity.</HI></P>
<P>To make our be&s;t u&s;e of the words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. Surely.</NOTE> (as our tran&s;lation exhibits them) we make our entrance, with this word of confidence, and infallibility, which onely becomes the holy Gho&s;t, in his a&s;&s;everations, and in which he e&s;tabli&s;hes the propo&s;itions following; Sure|ly, &s;urely men of low degree, and as &s;urely, men of high, and, &s;urely &s;till all men toge|ther, are lighter then vanity. Men deliver their a&s;&s;ertions otherwi&s;e modified, and under other qualifications. They obtrude to us miraculous doctrines of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, and the like, upon a po&s;&s;ibility onely; It may be done, &s;ay they, It is po&s;&s;ible, God can doe it. But that is far from the a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, Surely it is &s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;oft.</NOTE> for <HI>A&s;y|lum hareticorum, e&s;t omnipotentia Dei,</HI> is excellently &s;aid, and by more then one of the Fa|thers, The omnipotence of God is the Sanctuary of Heretiques, Thither they fly, to countenance any &s;uch error; This God can doe, why &s;hould you not beleeve it? Men proceed in their a&s;&s;everations farther then &s;o, from this po&s;&s;ibility to a probability; It will abide argument, it hath been di&s;puted in the Schoole, and therefore is probable; why &s;hould not you beleeve it? And &s;o they offer us the doctrine of the immaculate concep|tion of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin without Originall &s;inne; But this probability reaches not to this a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e of our text, <HI>&s;urely.</HI> They will goe farther then this probability, to a veri|&s;imilitude, it is more then meerly po&s;&s;ible, more then fairly probable, it is likely to be &s;o; &s;ome of the ancient Fathers have thought &s;o; and then, why &s;hould not you beleeve it? and &s;o they offer us prayer for the dead. Farther then this veri&s;imilitude they goe too; They goe to a <HI>Pi&egrave; creditur,</HI> It may be piou&s;ly beleeved, and it is fit to beleeve it, becau&s;e it may a&s;&s;i&s;t and exalt devotion to thinke &s;o; And then why &s;hould you not beleeve it? And &s;o they offer us the wor&s;hip of Images and Reliques <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> But &s;till, all this comes &s;hort of our a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e, <HI>Surely,</HI> undoubtedly, undi&s;putably it is &s;o.</P>
<P>And when the Romane Church would needs counter <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">it the language of the Holy Gho&s;t, and pronounce this &s;urene&s;&s;e upon &s;o many new Articles in the Councell of Trent, it hath not pro&s;pered well with them; for we all know, they have repented that forwardne&s;&s;e &s;ince, and wi&s;hed they had not determined &s;o many particulars to be matter of fait<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> becau&s;e after &s;uch a determination by a Councell, they have bound them&s;elves not to recede from tho&s;e doctrines, how unmaintenable &s;oever they be in them&s;elves, or how inconvenient &s;oever they fall out to be to them. And therefore we &s;ee, that in all the &s;olicitations that can be u&s;ed, even by Princes, to whom they are mo&s;t affected, they will not come now to pronounce &s;o &s;urely, to determine &s;o po&s;itively upon divers points that re&s;t yet in perplexity among&s;t them. Which hath ray&s;ed &s;o many commo|tions in the kingdome of Spaine, and put more then one of their later Kings, to &s;end di|vers Amba&s;&s;ages to Rome, to &s;olicite a cleare declaration in that point, but could never, nor can yet attaine it, that is, The immaculate conception of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin without Originall &s;inne. So al&s;o, for the obligation that the lawes of &s;ecular Magi&s;trates lay up|on
<PB N="658" REF="347">the Con&s;cience, &s;o al&s;o for the Concurrence of Grace, and Free-will, and divers o|thers; in which they will not be drawne to this, Surely, to determine and declare of ei|ther &s;ide; for, indeed that is the language of the Holy Gho&s;t.</P>
<P>It hath been ob&s;erved among&s;t Philo&s;ophers, that <HI>Plato</HI> &s;peaks probably, and <HI>Ari&s;to|tle</HI> po&s;itively; <HI>Platoes</HI> way is, It may be thus, and <HI>Ari&s;totles,</HI> It mu&s;t be thus. The like hath been noted among&s;t Divines, between <HI>Calvin,</HI> and <HI>Melanchton; Calvin</HI> will &s;ay, <HI>Videtur,</HI> It &s;eemes to be thus, <HI>Melanchton,</HI> It can be no otherwi&s;e but thus. But the be&s;t men are but Problematicall, Onely the Holy Gho&s;t is Dogmaticall; Onely he &s;ub&s;cribes this <HI>&s;urely,</HI> and onely he &s;eales with Infallibility. Our dealings are appointed to be in yea, yea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1.20. Rev. 3.14.</NOTE> and nay, nay, and no farther; But <HI>all the promi&s;es of God are yea, and Amen,</HI> that is, &s;urely, verily; for that is his Name; The&s;e things &s;aith <HI>The Amen,</HI> He that is Amen. And it is not (I hope) an impertinent note, That that Euangeli&s;t S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> who con&s;iders the Divinity of Chri&s;t, more then the other Euangeli&s;ts doe, does evermore, con&s;tantly, without any change, double that which was Chri&s;ts ordinary a&s;&s;everation, <HI>Amen.</HI> As oft as the other Euangeli&s;ts mention it in Chri&s;ts mouth, &s;till they expre&s;&s;e it with one <HI>A|men, verily I &s;ay;</HI> S. <HI>Iohn</HI> alwayes, <HI>Amen, Amen, verily, verily,</HI> it is thus and thus. The nearer we come to the con&s;ideration of God, the farther we are removed from all con|tingencies, and all inclination to Error, and the more is this <HI>Amen, verily, &s;urely,</HI> multi|plied and e&s;tabli&s;hed unto us.</P>
<P>It is in doctrines and opinions, as it is in de&s;ignes and purpo&s;es; <HI>Goe to,</HI> (&s;ayes the Pro|phet, by way of reprehen&s;ion) <HI>Goe to, you that &s;ay, we will goe to &s;uch a City, and trade thus and thus there, &amp;c.</HI> So, goe to, you that pronounce upon every invention, and Tradition of your own, a <HI>Quicunque vult &s;alvus e&s;&s;e,</HI> Who&s;oever will be &s;aved, mu&s;t beleeve this, and clogge every problematicall propo&s;ition with an <HI>Anathema,</HI> Cur&s;ed be he, Excom|municated he that thinks the contrary to this; Goe to you, that make matters of faith of the pa&s;&s;ions of men. So al&s;o, goe to you that proceed and continue in your &s;innes, and &s;ay, Surely I &s;hall have time enough to repent hereafter. Goe to you that in a &s;piri|tuall and irreligious melancholy and diffidence in Gods mercy, &s;ay, Surely the Lord hath locked up his mercy from me, &s;urely I &s;hall never &s;ee that Sunne more, never receive, never feele beame of his mercy more, but pa&s;&s;e through this darkne&s;&s;e into a wor&s;e. This word, <HI>&s;urely,</HI> in &s;uch ca&s;es, in &s;uch &s;en&s;es, is not your mothers tongue, not the lan|guage of the Chri&s;tian Church. She teaches you, to condition all in Chri&s;t; In him you are enabled to doe all things, and without him nothing. But ab&s;olutely, unconditionally, this <HI>&s;urely</HI> is appropriated to the propo&s;itions, to the a&s;&s;ertions of God him&s;elfe; And &s;ome of tho&s;e follow in this text.</P>
<P>Now that which the Holy Gho&s;t pre&s;ents here upon this a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Comparatio Divitis &amp; Pauperis.</NOTE> is, <HI>That men of low degree are vanity, and that men of high degree are a lie;</HI> The&s;e are both &s;ure, and alike &s;ure. It is true that it con&s;titutes a Probleme, that it admits a Di&s;cour&s;e, it will abide a debatement, whether men of high degree, or of low degree be wor&s;t; whether riches or poverty, (both con&s;idered in a great mea&s;ure, very rich, and very poore) Pro&s;perity or Adver&s;ity occa&s;ion mo&s;t &s;innes. Though God call upon us in every leafe of the Scrip|ture, to pity the poore, and relieve the poore, and ground his la&s;t Judgement upon our works of mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.34.</NOTE> <HI>(Becau&s;e you have fed and clothed the poore, inherit the kingdome)</HI> yet, as the rich and the poore &s;tand before us now, (as it were in Judgement) as we inquire and heare evidence, which &s;tato<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> mo&s;t obnoxious, and open to mo&s;t &s;innes, we embrace, and apply to our &s;elves that law,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 23.3. Levit. 19.15.</NOTE> <HI>Thou &s;halt not countenance a poore man in his cau&s;e;</HI> And (as it is repeated) <HI>Thou &s;halt not re&s;pect the per&s;on of the poore in Iudgement.</HI></P>
<P>There is then a poverty, which, without all que&s;tion, is the direct way to heaven; but that is &s;pirituall;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.3.</NOTE> <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the poore in &s;pirit.</HI> This poverty is humility, it is not beg|gary. A rich man may have it, and a beggar may be without it. The Wi&s;eman found not this poverty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus 25.2.</NOTE> (not humility) in every poore man. He found three &s;orts of men, whom his &s;oule hated; And one of the three, <HI>was a poore man that is proud.</HI> And when the Prophet &s;aid of Jeru&s;alem in her afflictions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 51.21.</NOTE> <HI>Paupercula es &amp; ebria, Thou art poore, and mi&s;erable, and yet drunke, though</HI> (as he addes there) <HI>it were not with wine,</HI> (which is now, in our dayes an ordinary refuge of men of all &s;orts, in all &s;adne&s;&s;es and cro&s;&s;es to relieve them&s;elves upon wine and &s;trong drinke, which are indeed &s;trong illu|&s;ions) yet, though Jeru&s;alems drunkenne&s;&s;e were not with wine, it was wor&s;e; It was a &s;taggering, a vertiginou&s;ne&s;&s;e, an ignorance, a blindne&s;&s;e, a not di&s;cerning the wayes to
<PB N="659" REF="347">God; which is the wor&s;t drunkenne&s;&s;e, and fals often upon the poore and afflicted, That their poverty and affliction &s;taggers them, and damps them in their recour&s;e to God, &s;o far, as that they know not, <HI>That they are mi&s;erable, and wretched, and poore, and blinde,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 3.17.</NOTE> <HI>and raked.</HI> The Holy Gho&s;t alwaies makes the danger of the poore great, as well as of the rich. <HI>The rich mans wealth is his &s;trong City.</HI> There is his fault, his confidence in that;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 10.15.</NOTE> But <HI>Pavor pauperum, The de&s;truction of the poore is his poverty;</HI> There is his fault, De&s;peration under it. <HI>Solomon</HI> pre&s;ents them, as equally dangerous, <HI>Give me neither poverty, nor riches.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 30.8. Ruth. 3.10.</NOTE> So does <HI>Booz</HI> to <HI>Ruth, Ble&s;&s;ed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, in as much as thou followed&s;t not young men, whether poore, or rich.</HI> That which <HI>Booz</HI> intended there, Incontinency, and all vices that ari&s;e immediately out of the corruption of nature, and are not induced by other circum&s;tances, have as much inclination from poverty, as from riches. May we not &s;ay, more? I doubt we may. He mu&s;t be a very &s;anctified man, whom extreame pover|ty, and other afflictions, doe not decline towards a jealou&s;ie, and a &s;u&s;picion, and a di&s;tru|&s;ting of God; And then, the &s;ins that bend towards de&s;peration, are &s;o much more dan|gerous, then tho&s;e that bend towards pre&s;umption, that he that pre&s;umes, hath &s;till mer|cy in his contemplation, He does not thinke, that he needs no mercy, but that mercy is ea&s;ily had; He beleeves there is mercy, he doubts not of that; But the de&s;pairing man imagines a cruelty, an unmercifulne&s;&s;e in God, and de&s;troyes the very nature of God him&s;elfe. Riches is the Metaphor, in which, the Holy Gho&s;t hath delighted to expre&s;&s;e God and Heaven to us; <HI>De&s;pi&s;e not the riches of his goodne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; And a|gaine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.4.11.33. Ephe&s;. 3.8. ver. 16.</NOTE> <HI>O the depth of the riches of his wi&s;dome;</HI> And &s;o, after, <HI>The un&s;earchable riches of Chri&s;t;</HI> And for the con&s;ummation of all, <HI>The riches of his Glory,</HI> Gods goodne&s;&s;e towards us in generall, our Religion in the way, his Grace here, his Glory hereafter, are all repre|&s;ented to us in Riches. With poverty God ordinarily accompanies his comminations; he threatens feeblene&s;&s;e, and warre, and captivity, and poverty every where, but he never threatens men with riches.</P>
<P>Ordinary poverty, (that is a difficulty, with all their labors, and indu&s;try to &s;u&s;taine their family, and the nece&s;&s;ary duties of their place) is a &s;hrewd, and a &s;lippery tentation. But for that &s;treet-beggery, which is become a Calling, (for Parents bring up their chil|dren to it, nay they doe almo&s;t take prenti&s;es to it, &s;ome expert beggers teach others what they &s;hall &s;ay, how they &s;hall looke, how they &s;hall lie, how they &s;hall cry) for the&s;e, whom our lawes call Incorrigible, I mu&s;t &s;ay of them (in a ju&s;t accommodation of our Saviours words, <HI>It is not meet to take the childrens bread,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 25.26.</NOTE> <HI>and to ca&s;t it to dogs</HI>) It is not meet, that this vermin &s;hould devoure any of that, which belongs to them who are truely poore. Neither is there any mea&s;ure, any proportion of riches, that expo&s;es man naturally to &s;o much &s;in, as this kinde of beggery doth. Rich men forget, or neglect the duties of their Bapti&s;me; but of the&s;e, how many are there, that were never baptized? Rich men &s;leepe out Sermons, but the&s;e never come to Church: Rich men are negligent in the practi&s;e, but the&s;e are ignorant in all knowledge.</P>
<P>It would require a longer di&s;qui&s;ition, then I can afford to it now, whether Riches, or Poverty (con&s;idered in le&s;&s;er proportions, ordinary riches, ordinary poverty) open us to more, and wor&s;e &s;ins; But con&s;ider them in the highe&s;t and in the lowe&s;t, abundant riches, beggerly poverty, and it will &s;carce admit doubt, but that the incorrigible vaga|bond is farther from all wayes of goodne&s;&s;e, then the corrupte&s;t rich man is. And there|fore labour wee all earne&s;tly in the wayes of &s;ome lawfull calling, that we may have our portion of this world by good meanes. For fir&s;t, the advantages of doing good to others in a reall reliefe of their wants, is in the rich onely, whereas the be&s;t way of a good poore man, to doe good to others, is but an exemplary patience, to catechize others by his &s;uf|fering; And then, all degrees of poverty are dangerous and &s;lippery, even to a murmuring again&s;t God, or an invading of the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, and goods of other men, but e&s;pecially the lowe&s;t, the de&s;perate degree of beggery, and then e&s;pecially, when we cannot &s;ay it is inflicted by the hand of God, but contracted by our owne lazine&s;&s;e, or our owne wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>This is a problematicall, a di&s;putable ca&s;e, Whether riches or poverty occa&s;ion mo&s;t &s;ins. And becau&s;e on both &s;ides there ari&s;e good doctrines of edification,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Men of low degree.</NOTE> I have thus far willingly &s;topped upon that di&s;putable con&s;ideration. But now, that which wee receive here, upon <HI>Davids,</HI> upon the Holy Gho&s;ts &s;ecurity, Surely it is thus, It is &s;urely &s;o, is this, That we &s;hall be deceived, if we put our tru&s;t in men; for, what &s;ort of men would
<PB N="660" REF="348">we tru&s;t? <HI>Surely men of low degree are vanity.</HI> And this, if it be taken of particular men, needs no proving, no illu&s;trating, no remembring. Every man &s;ees and acknowledges, that to rely upon a man of no power, of no place, no blood, no fortune, no friends, no favour, is a vanity, <HI>Surely men of low degree are vanity.</HI> The fir&s;t younger brother that was borne in the world, becau&s;e he was le&s;&s;e then another, is called by the very name of <HI>vanity;</HI> The elde&s;t brother <HI>Cain</HI> &s;ignifies <HI>po&s;&s;e&s;sion,</HI> but <HI>Abel</HI> is <HI>vanity.</HI></P>
<P>But take it of a whole body of &s;uch men, Men of low degree, and it is &s;o too; the Ap|plau&s;e of the people is vanity, Popularity is vanity. At how deare a rate doth that man buy the peoples affections, that payes his owne head for their hats? How cheaply doth he &s;ell his Princes favour, that hath nothing for it, but the peoples breath? And what age doth not &s;ee &s;ome examples of &s;o ill merchants of their owne honours and lives too? How many men, upon confidence of that flattering gale of winde, the breath and ap|plau&s;e of the people, have taken in their anchors, (that is, departed from their true, and &s;afe hold, The right of the Law, and the favour of the Prince) and as &s;oone as they hoy|&s;ed their &s;ailes, (that is, entred into any by-action) have found the wind in their teeth, that is, Tho&s;e people whom they tru&s;ted in, armed again&s;t them. And as it is in Civill, and Secular, &s;o it is in Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall, and Spirituall things too. How many men, by a popular hunting after the applau&s;e of the people, in their manner of preaching, and hu|mouring them in their di&s;tempers, have made them&s;elves incapable of preferment in the Church where they tooke their Orders, and preached them&s;elves into a nece&s;&s;ity of run|ning away into forraine parts, that are receptacles of &s;editious and &s;chi&s;maticall Separa|ti&s;ts, and have been put there, to learne &s;ome trade, and become Artificers for their &s;u|&s;tentation? The &s;ame people that welcommed Chri&s;t, from the Mount of Olives, into Jeru&s;alem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 21.9.</NOTE> upon Sunday, with their <HI>Ho&s;annaes to the Sonne of David,</HI> upon Friday mocked him in Jeru&s;alem, with their <HI>Haile King of the Iewes,</HI> and blew him out of Jeru&s;alem to Golgotha, with the pe&s;tilent breath, with the tempe&s;tuous whirlwind of their <HI>Crucifige's.</HI> And of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 10.25.</NOTE> who have called the Ma&s;ter Beelzebub, what &s;hall any &s;ervant looke for? <HI>Surely men of low degree are vanity.</HI></P>
<P>And then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">High degree</NOTE> under the &s;ame oath, and a&s;&s;everation, <HI>Surely,</HI> as &s;urely as the other, <HI>men of high degree are a lie.</HI> Doth <HI>David</HI> meane the&s;e men, whom he calls <HI>a lie,</HI> to be any le&s;&s;e then tho&s;e whom hee called <HI>vanity?</HI> Le&s;&s;e then vanity, then emptine&s;&s;e, then nothing, nothing can be; And low, and high are to this purpo&s;e, and in this con&s;ideration, (com|pared with God, or con&s;idered without God) equally nothing. He that hath the large&s;t patrimony, and &s;pace of earth, in the earth, mu&s;t heare me &s;ay, That all that was nothing; And if he ask, But what was this whole Kingdom, what all Europe, what all the World? It was all, not &s;o much as another nothing, but all one and the &s;ame nothing as thy dung|hill was. But yet the Holy Gho&s;t hath beene plea&s;ed to vary the phra&s;e here, and to call <HI>Men of high degree,</HI> not <HI>vanity,</HI> but <HI>a lie,</HI> becau&s;e the poore, men of low degree, in their condition promi&s;e no a&s;&s;i&s;tance, feed not men with hopes, and therefore cannot be &s;aid to <HI>lie,</HI> but in the condition of men of high degree, who are of power, there is a tacit pro|mi&s;e, a naturall and inherent a&s;&s;urance of protection, and a&s;&s;i&s;tance, flowing from them. For, the Magi&s;trate cannot &s;ay, That he never promi&s;ed me Ju&s;tice, never promi&s;ed mee Protection; for in his a&s;&s;uming that place, he made me that promi&s;e. I cannot &s;ay, that I never promi&s;ed my Pari&s;h, my &s;ervice; for in my Induction, I made them that promi&s;e, and if I performe it not, I am a lie; for &s;o this word <HI>Cha&s;ab</HI> (which we tran&s;late <HI>a lie</HI>) is frequently u&s;ed in the Scriptures, for that which is defective in the duty it &s;hould per|forme; <HI>Thou &s;halt bee a &s;pring of water,</HI> (&s;ayes God in <HI>E&s;ay</HI>) <HI>Cujus aquae non mentiuntur, mho&s;e waters never lie,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 58.11.</NOTE> that is, never dry, never faile.</P>
<P>So then, when men of high degree doe not performe the duties of their places, then they are a lie of their owne making; And when I over-magnifie them in their place, flat|ter them, humor them, a&s;cribe more to them, expect more from them, rely more upon them, then I &s;hould, then they are a lie of my making. But whether the lie be theirs, That they feare greater men then them&s;elves, and &s;o prevaricate in their duties; Or the lie be mine, that canonize them and make them my God, they, and I &s;hall be di&s;appoin|ted; for, <HI>Surely men of high degree are a lie.</HI> But we are upon a Sermon, not upon a Satyr, therefore we pa&s;&s;e from this.</P>
<P>And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mediocrity.</NOTE> for all this, there may &s;eeme to be roome left for the Middle-&s;tate, for a medio|crity; when it is not &s;o low as to be made the &s;ubject of oppre&s;&s;ion, nor &s;o high as to be
<PB N="661" REF="348">made the object of ambition, when it is neither expo&s;ed to &s;corne and contempt, nor to envy, and undermining, may we not then tru&s;t upon, not re&s;t in &s;uch a condition? Indeed, this mediocrity &s;eemes (and ju&s;tly) the &s;afe&s;t condition; for this, and this onely enjoyes it &s;elfe: The lazy man gets not up to it; The &s;tirring man &s;tayes not at it, but is gone beyond it. From our fir&s;t Themes at Schoole, to our Texts in the Pulpit, we continue our pray&s;ing and per&s;wading of this mediocrity. A man may have too much of any thing; <HI>Anima &s;aturata, A full &s;oule will tread hony under his &s;eete;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 27.7. Ier. 10.14.</NOTE> He may take in know|ledge till he be ignorant; Let the Prophet <HI>Ieremy</HI> give the Rule, <HI>Stultus factus e&s;t omnis homo &agrave; &s;cientia, Every man becomes a foole by knowledge,</HI> by over-weening, and over-valu|ing his knowledge; And let <HI>Adam</HI> be the example of this Rule, His eyes were opened by eating the fruit, and he knew &s;o much, as he was a&s;hamed of it; Let the Apo&s;tle be the Phy&s;itian, the moderator, <HI>Sapere ad &s;obrietatem,</HI> not to dive into &s;ecrets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.3.</NOTE> and unrevealed my&s;teries. There is enough of this doctrine involved in the fable, <HI>Acteon</HI> &s;aw more then he &s;hould have &s;eene, and peri&s;hed. There is abundantly enough expre&s;&s;ed in the Oracle of Truth, <HI>Vzza</HI> was over-zealous in an office that appertained not to him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 6.6.</NOTE> in a&s;&s;i&s;ting the Arke, and &s;uffered for that.</P>
<P>We may quickly exceed a mediocrity, even in the prai&s;e of Mediocrity. But all our diligence will &s;carce finde it out. What is mediocrity? Or where is it? In the Hierarchy of the Roman Church they never thought of this mediocrity; They go very high, and very low, but there is no meane &s;tation; I meane no denomination of any Order from meanne&s;&s;e, from mediocrity. In one degree you finde embroydered &s;hooes, for Kings to ki&s;&s;e, and in another degree bare feet; we finde an Order of the <HI>Society of Ie&s;us;</HI> and that is very high, for, Society implies community, partner&s;hip; And we finde low de&s;cents, <HI>Minorits,</HI> men le&s;&s;e then others, And <HI>Minims,</HI> lea&s;t of all men; and lower then all them, <HI>Nullans,</HI> men that call them&s;elves, <HI>Nothing;</HI> And truly, this Order, be&s;t of all others hath an&s;wered and ju&s;tified the name, for, very &s;oone, they came to nothing. Wee finde all extreames among&s;t them, even in their names, but none denominated from this mediocrity.</P>
<P>But to pa&s;&s;e from names to the thing; indeed what is Mediocrity? where is it? Is it the &s;ame thing as Competency? But what is competency? or where is that? Is it that which is &s;ufficient for thy pre&s;ent degree? perchance thy pre&s;ent degree is not &s;ufficient for thee; Thy charge perchance, perchance thy parts and abilities, or thy birth and educa|tion may require a better degree. God produced plants in Paradi&s;e therefore, that they might grow; God hath planted us in this world, that we might grow; and he that does not endeavour that by all lawfull meanes, is inexcu&s;able, as well as he that pur&s;ues un|lawfull. But, if I come to imagine &s;uch a mediocrity, &s;uch a competency, &s;uch a &s;uffi|ciency in my &s;elfe, as that I may re&s;t in that, that I thinke I may ride out all &s;tormes, all di&s;-favours, that I have enough of mine owne, wealth, health, or morall con&s;tancy, if any of the&s;e decay, this is a verier vanity, then tru&s;ting in men of low degree, and a verier lye, then men of high degree; for, this is to tru&s;t to our &s;elves;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Habbak. 1.16.</NOTE> this is a <HI>&s;acrificing</HI> to our owne <HI>nets,</HI> our owne indu&s;try, our owne wi&s;dome, our owne fortune; And of all the Ido|latries of the Heathen, who made Gods of every thing they &s;aw or imagined, of every thing, in, and betweene Heaven and hell, we reade of no man that &s;acrificed to him&s;elfe. Indeed no man flatters me &s;o dangerou&s;ly, as I flatter my &s;elfe, no man wounds me &s;o de&s;perately, as I wound my &s;elfe; And therefore, &s;ince this which we call Mediocrity, and Competency is conditioned &s;o, that it is enough to &s;ub&s;i&s;t alone, without relation to others, dependency upon others, feare from others, induces a confidence, a relying upon my &s;elfe; As, that which we imagine to be the middle region of the ayre, is the colde&s;t of all, So this imagined mediocrity, that induces a confidence in our &s;elves, is the weake&s;t re&s;t, the colde&s;t comfort of all, and makes me a lye to my &s;elfe. Therefore may the Pro|phet well &s;pread, and &s;afely extend his a&s;&s;everation, his <HI>Surely,</HI> upon all, high, and low, and meane; <HI>Surely to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter then vanity.</HI></P>
<P>Here then, upon a full enumeration of all parts, the Prophet concludes upon all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lighter then vanity.</NOTE> If therefore thou have the favour of great ones, the applau&s;e of the people, confidence in thy &s;elfe, in an in&s;tant, the power of tho&s;e great ones may be overthrowne, or their fa|vour to thee withdrawne from thee, (and &s;o, that bladder is pricked, upon which thou &s;womme&s;t) The applau&s;e of the people may be hu&s;hed and &s;ilenced, (either they would not, or they dare not magnifie thee) And, thine owne con&s;tancy may be turned into a
<PB N="662" REF="349">dejection of &s;pirit, and con&s;ternation of all thy faculties. Put all together, (which fals out &s;eldome, that any man can do &s;o) but if he can do that, (which is the be&s;t &s;tate of man, that can be imagined in this world, that he hath all the&s;e together, the favour of High and low, and of him&s;elfe, that is, his owne te&s;timony in his con&s;cience, (though perchance an erring, a mi&s;taking con&s;cience) yet, the Prophet had delivered the &s;ame a&s;&s;urance before (even of that &s;tate of man, which is rather imagined, then ever po&s;&s;e&s;t) <HI>Surely every man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 39.5.</NOTE> <HI>at his be&s;t &s;tate, is altogether vanity;</HI> And here, he adds, <HI>lighter then vani|ty.</HI> Vanity is nothing, but there is a condition wor&s;e then nothing. Confidence in the things, or per&s;ons of this world, but mo&s;t of all, a confidence in our &s;elves, will bring us at la&s;t to that &s;tate, wherein we would faine be nothing, and cannot. But yet, we have a balance in our text; And all the&s;e are but put together in one balance. In the other &s;cale there is &s;omething put to, in compari&s;on whereof all this world is &s;o light. God does not leave our great and noble faculty, and affection of hope, and tru&s;t, and confidence, without &s;omething to direct it &s;elfe upon, and rectifie it &s;elfe in. He does not; for, for that he propo&s;es him&s;elfe; The words immediately before the text, are, <HI>God is a refuge;</HI> and in compari&s;on of him, <HI>To be laid in the balance, Surely they are altogether lighter then vanity.</HI></P>
<P>So then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deus omnia. <HI>Ier. 17.5.</HI></NOTE> it is not enough not to tru&s;t in the fle&s;h (for, for that, <HI>Cur&s;ed be man, that tru|&s;ted in man, or maketh fle&s;h his arme;</HI> Their fle&s;h cannot &s;ecure thee, neither is thine owne <HI>fle&s;h bra&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 6.12. Mat. 16.17.</NOTE> that thou can&s;t endure the vexations of this world, neither can <HI>fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>blood</HI> reveale unto thee the things of the next world) It is not enough not to tru&s;t in fle&s;h, but thou mu&s;t tru&s;t in that that is Spirit. And when thou art to direct thy tru&s;t upon him, who is &s;pirit, the &s;pirit of power, and of con&s;olation, &s;top not, &s;tray not, divert not upon evill &s;pirits, to &s;eeke advancement, or to &s;eeke knowledge from them, nor upon good &s;pirits, the glorious Saints of GOD in Heaven, to &s;eeke &s;alvation from them, nor upon thine owne &s;pirit, in an over-valuation of thy purity, or thy merits. For, there is a pe&s;tilent pride in an imaginary humility, and an infectious foulene&s;&s;e in an imaginary purity; but turne onely to the onely invi&s;ible and immortall God, who turnes to thee, in &s;o many names and notions of power, and con&s;olation, in this one P&s;alme. In the la&s;t ver&s;e but one of this P&s;alme, <HI>David</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>God bath &s;poken once, and twice have I heard him.</HI> God hath &s;aid enough at once; but twice, in this P&s;alme, hath he repeated this, in the &s;econd, and in the &s;ixt ver&s;e, <HI>He onely is my Rocke, and my Salvation, and my Defence,</HI> And, (as it is inlarged in the &s;eventh ver&s;e) <HI>my Refuge, and my Glory.</HI> If my <HI>Refuge,</HI> what enemy can pur&s;ue me? If my <HI>Defence,</HI> what tentation &s;hall wound me? If my <HI>Rock,</HI> what &s;torme &s;hall &s;hake me? If my <HI>Salvation,</HI> what melancholy &s;hall deject me? If my <HI>Glory,</HI> what calumny &s;hall defame me?</P>
<P>I mu&s;t not &s;tay you now, to infu&s;e into you, the &s;everall con&s;olations of the&s;e &s;everall names, and notions of God towards you. But, goe your &s;everall wayes home, and every &s;oule take with him that name, which may mini&s;ter mo&s;t comfort unto him. Let him that is pur&s;ued with any particular tentation, inve&s;t God, as God is a <HI>Refuge,</HI> a Sanctuary. Let him that is buffeted with the me&s;&s;enger of Satan, battered with his owne concupi|&s;cence, receive God, as God is his <HI>Defenoe</HI> and target. Let him that is &s;haked with per|plexities in his under&s;tanding, or &s;cruples in his con&s;cience, lay hold upon God, as God is his <HI>Rock,</HI> and his anchor. Let him that hath any diffident jealou&s;ie or &s;u&s;pition of the free and full mercy of God, apprehend God, as God is his <HI>Salvation;</HI> And him that walks in the ingloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e and contempt of this world, contemplate God, as God is his <HI>Glory.</HI> Any of the&s;e notions is enough to any man, but God is all the&s;e, and all el&s;e, that all &s;oules can thinke, to every man. Wee &s;hut up both the&s;e Con&s;iderations, (man &s;hould not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. ult. 5.</NOTE> (that is not all) God &s;hould be relied upon) with that of the Prophet, <HI>Tru&s;t ye not in a friend, put not your confidence in a guide, keepe the doores of thy mouth from her that lies in thy bo&s;ome;</HI> (there is the exclu&s;ion of tru&s;t in man) and then he adds in the &s;eventh ver&s;e, becau&s;e it &s;tands thus betweene man and man, <HI>I will looke unto the Lord, I will looke to the God of my Salvation, my God will heare me.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="66" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="663" REF="349">
<HEAD>SERM. LXVI. The &s;econd of my Prebend Sermons upon my five P&s;almes. <HI>Preached at S.</HI> Pauls, <HI>Ianuary</HI> 29. 1625.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 63.7.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t been my helpe, Therefore in the &s;hadow of thy wings will I rejoyce.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe P&s;almes are the Manna of the Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 16.20.</NOTE> As Manna ta&s;ted to every man like that that he liked be&s;t, &s;o doe the P&s;almes mini&s;ter In&s;truction, and &s;a|tisfaction, to every man, in every emergency and occa&s;ion. <HI>David</HI> was not onely a cleare Prophet of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, but a Prophet of every par|ticular Chri&s;tian; He foretels what I, what any &s;hall doe, and &s;uffer, and &s;ay. And as the whole booke of P&s;almes is <HI>Oleum effu&s;um,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.3.</NOTE> (as the Spou&s;e &s;peaks of the name of Chri&s;t) an Oyntment powred out upon all &s;orts of &s;ores, A Searcloth that &s;ou|ples all brui&s;es, A Balme that &s;earches all wounds; &s;o are there &s;ome certaine P&s;almes, that are Imperiall P&s;almes, that command over all affections, and &s;pread them&s;elves o|ver all occa&s;ions, Catholique, univer&s;all P&s;almes, that apply them&s;elves to all nece&s;&s;i|ties. This is one of tho&s;e; for, of tho&s;e Con&s;titutions which are called Apo&s;tolicall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;titut. A|po&s;tol.</NOTE> one is, That the Church &s;hould meet every day, to &s;ing this P&s;alme. And accordingly, S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> te&s;tifies, That it was decreed, and ordained by the Primitive Fathers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> that no day &s;hould pa&s;&s;e without the publique &s;inging of this P&s;alme. Under both the&s;e ob|ligations, (tho&s;e ancient Con&s;titutions, called the Apo&s;tles, and tho&s;e ancient Decrees made by the primitive Fathers) belongs to me, who have my part in the &s;ervice of Gods Church, the e&s;peciall meditation, and recommendation of this P&s;alme. And under a third obligation too, That it is one of tho&s;e five p&s;almes, the daily rehear&s;ing whereof, is injoyned to me, by the Con&s;titutions of this Church, as five other are to every other per&s;on of our body. As the whole booke is Manna, &s;o the&s;e five P&s;almes are my Gomer, which I am to fill and empty every day of this Manna.</P>
<P>Now as the &s;pirit and &s;oule of the whole booke of P&s;almes is contracted into this p&s;alme, &s;o is the &s;pirit and &s;oule of this whole p&s;alme contracted into this ver&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ie.</NOTE> The key of the p&s;alme, (as S. <HI>Hierome</HI> calls the Titles of the p&s;almes) tells us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> that <HI>David</HI> uttered this p&s;alme, <HI>when he was in the wilderne&s;&s;e of Iudab;</HI> There we &s;ee the pre&s;ent occa&s;ion that moved him; And we &s;ee what was pa&s;&s;ed between God and him before, in the fir&s;t clau&s;e of our Text; <HI>(Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t been my helpe)</HI> And then we &s;ee what was to come, by the re&s;t, <HI>(Therefore in the &s;hadow of thy wings will I rejoyce.)</HI> So that we have here the whole compa&s;&s;e of Time, Pa&s;t, Pre&s;ent, and Future; and the&s;e three parts of Time, &s;hall be at this time, the three parts of this Exerci&s;e; fir&s;t, what <HI>Davids</HI> di&s;tre&s;&s;e put him upon for the pre&s;ent; and that lyes in the Context; &s;econdly, how <HI>David</HI> built his a&s;&s;urance upon that which was pa&s;t; <HI>(Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t been my help)</HI> And thirdly, what he e&s;tabli&s;hed to him&s;elfe for the future, <HI>(Therefore in the &s;hadow of thy wings will I rejoyce.)</HI> Fir&s;t, His di|&s;tre&s;&s;e in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, his pre&s;ent e&s;tate carried him upon the memory of that which God had done for him before. And the Remembrance of that carried him upon that, of which he a&s;&s;ured him&s;elfe after. Fixe upon God any where, and you &s;hall finde him a Circle; He is with you now, when you fix upon him; He was with you before, for he brought you to this fixation; and he will be with you hereafter, for <HI>He is ye&s;terday,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.8.</NOTE> <HI>and to day; and the &s;ame for ever.</HI></P>
<P>For <HI>Davids</HI> pre&s;ent condition, who was now in a bani&s;hment, in a per&s;ecution in the Wilderne&s;&s;e of Judah, (which is our fir&s;t part) we &s;hall onely in&s;i&s;t upon that, (which is indeed &s;pread over all the p&s;alme to the Text, and ratified in the Text) That in all tho&s;e
<PB N="664" REF="350">temporall calamities <HI>David</HI> was onely &s;en&s;ible of his &s;pirituall lo&s;&s;e; It grieved him not that he was kept from <HI>Sauls</HI> Court, but that he was kept from Gods Church. For when he &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 1.</NOTE> by way of lamentation, <HI>That he was in a dry and thir&s;ty land, where no water was,</HI> he expre&s;&s;es what penury, what barrenne&s;&s;e, what drought and what thir&s;t he meant; <HI>To &s;ee thy power,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 2. Ver. 5. Ver. 3.</NOTE> <HI>and thy glory, &s;o as I have &s;eene thee in the Sanctuary.</HI> For there, <HI>my &s;oule &s;hall be &s;atisfied as with marrow, and with &s;atne&s;&s;e,</HI> and there, <HI>my mouth &s;hall prai&s;e thee with joyfull lips.</HI> And in &s;ome few con&s;iderations conducing to this, That &s;pirituall lo&s;&s;es are incomparably heavier then temporall, and that therefore, The Re&s;titution to our &s;piri|tuall happine&s;&s;e, or the continuation of it, is rather to be made the &s;ubject of our prayers to God, in all pre&s;&s;ures and di&s;tre&s;&s;es, then of temporall, we &s;hall determine that fir&s;t part. And for the particular branches of both the other parts, (The Remembring of Gods benefits pa&s;t, And the building of an a&s;&s;urance for the future, upon that Remem|brance) it may be fitter to open them to you, anon when we come to handle them, then now. Proceed we now to our fir&s;t part, The comparing of temporall and &s;piri|tuall afflictions.</P>
<P>In the way of this Compari&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Afflictio u|niver&s;alis. <HI>2 Cor. 4.17.</HI></NOTE> falls fir&s;t the Con&s;ideration of the univer&s;ality of af|flictions in generall, and the inevitablene&s;&s;e thereof. It is a ble&s;&s;ed Meraphore, that the Holy Gho&s;t hath put into the mouth of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Pondus Gloriae,</HI> That our <HI>afflictions</HI> are but <HI>light,</HI> becau&s;e there is an <HI>exceeding,</HI> and an <HI>eternall waight of glory</HI> attending them. If it were not for that exceeding waight of glory, no other waight in this world could turne the &s;cale, or waigh downe tho&s;e infinite waights of afflictions that oppre&s;&s;e us here. There is not onely <HI>Pe&s;tis valde gravis, (the pe&s;tilence grows heavy upon the Land)</HI> but there is <HI>Mu&s;ca valde gravis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 9.3.8.24.</NOTE> God calls in but the fly, to vexe Egypt, and even the fly is a hea|vy burden unto them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 7.20. 2 Sam. 14.26. Lament. 3.7.</NOTE> It is not onely <HI>Iob</HI> that complains, <HI>That he was a burden to him&s;elfe,</HI> but even <HI>Ab&s;aloms</HI> haire was a burden to him, till it was polled. It is not onely <HI>Ieremy</HI> that complains, <HI>Aggravavit compedes,</HI> That God had made their fetters and their chains heavy to them, but the workmen in harve&s;t complaine, That God had made a faire day heavy unto them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.12. Pro. 27.3.</NOTE> <HI>(We have borne the heat, and the burden of the day.) Sand is heavy,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon;</HI> And how many &s;uffer &s;o? under a &s;and-hill of cro&s;&s;es, daily, hourely afflicti|ons, that are heavy by their number, if not by their &s;ingle waight? And <HI>a &s;tone is heavy;</HI> (&s;ayes he in the &s;ame place) And how many &s;uffer &s;o? How many, without any former preparatory cro&s;&s;e, or comminatory, or commonitory cro&s;&s;e, even in the mid&s;t of pro|&s;perity, and &s;ecurity, fall under &s;ome one &s;tone, &s;ome grind-&s;tone, &s;ome mil-&s;tone, &s;ome one in&s;upportable cro&s;&s;e that ruines them? But then, (&s;ayes <HI>Solomon</HI> there) <HI>A fooles an|ger is heavier then both;</HI> And how many children, and &s;ervants, and wives &s;uffer under the anger, and moro&s;ity, and peevi&s;hne&s;&s;e, and jealou&s;ie of fooli&s;h Ma&s;ters, and Parents, and Husbands, though they mu&s;t not &s;ay &s;o? <HI>David</HI> and <HI>Solomon</HI> have cryed out, That all this world is <HI>vanity,</HI> and <HI>levity;</HI> And (God knowes) all is waight, and burden, and heavine&s;&s;e, and oppre&s;&s;ion; And if there were not a waight of future glory to counter|poy&s;e it, we &s;hould all &s;inke into nothing.</P>
<P>I aske not <HI>Mary Magdalen,</HI> whether lightne&s;&s;e were not a burden; (for &s;in is certainly, &s;en&s;ibly a burden) But I aske <HI>Su&s;anna</HI> whether even cha&s;t beauty were not a burden to her; And I aske <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> whether per&s;onall comeline&s;&s;e were not a burden to him. I aske not <HI>Dives,</HI> who peri&s;hed in the next world, the que&s;tion; but I aske them who are made examples of <HI>Solomons</HI> Rule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 5.13.</NOTE> of that <HI>&s;ore evill,</HI> (as he calls it) <HI>Riches kept to the owners there|of for their hurt,</HI> whether Riches be not a burden.</P>
<P>All our life is a continuall burden, yet we mu&s;t not groane; A continuall &s;quea&s;ing, yet we mu&s;t not pant; And as in the tenderne&s;&s;e of our childhood, we &s;uffer, and yet are whipt if we cry, &s;o we are complained of, if we complaine, and made delinquents if we call the times ill. And that which addes waight to waight, and multiplies the &s;adne&s;&s;e of this con&s;ideration, is this, That &s;till the be&s;t men have had mo&s;t laid upon them. As &s;oone as I heare God &s;ay, that he hath found <HI>an upright man, that feares God, and e&s;chews evill,</HI> in the next lines I finde a Commi&s;&s;ion to Satan, to bring in Sabeans and Chalde|ans upon his cattell, and &s;ervants, and fire and tempe&s;t upon his children, and loath|&s;ome di&s;ea&s;es upon him&s;elfe. As &s;oone as I heare God &s;ay, That he hath found <HI>a man according to his own heart,</HI> I &s;ee his &s;onnes ravi&s;h his daughters, and then murder one another,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 3.17.</NOTE> and then rebell again&s;t the Father, and put him into &s;traites for his life. As &s;oone as I heare God te&s;tifie of Chri&s;t at his Bapti&s;me, <HI>This is my beloved Sonne in whom
<PB N="665" REF="350">I am well plea&s;ed,</HI> I finde that Sonne of his <HI>led up by the Spirit, to be tempted of the Devill.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 4.1. Matt. 17.5.</NOTE> And after I heare God ratifie the &s;ame te&s;timony againe, at his Transfiguration, <HI>(This is my beloved Sonne, in whom I am well plea&s;ed)</HI> I finde that beloved Sonne of his, de&s;erted, abandoned, and given over to Scribes, and Phari&s;ees, and Publicans, and Herodians, and Prie&s;ts, and Souldiers, and people, and Judges, and witne&s;&s;es, and executioners, and he that was called the beloved Sonne of God, and made partaker of the glory of heaven, in this world, in his Transfiguration, is made now the Sewer of all the corrup|tion, of all the &s;innes of this world, as no Sonne of God, but a meere man, as no man, but a contemptible worme. As though the greate&s;t weakne&s;&s;e in this world, were man, and the greate&s;t fault in man were to be good, man is more mi&s;erable then other crea|tures, and good men more mi&s;erable then any other men.</P>
<P>But then there is <HI>Pondus Gloriae, An exceeding waight of eternall glory,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Afflictio &s;pi|ritualis.</NOTE> and that turnes the &s;cale; for as it makes all worldly pro&s;perity as dung, &s;o it makes all worldly adver|&s;ity as feathers. And &s;o it had need; for in the &s;cale again&s;t it, there are not onely put temporall afflictions, but &s;pirituall too; And to the&s;e two kinds, we may accommodate tho&s;e words, <HI>He that fals upon this &s;tone,</HI> (upon temporall afflictions) may be brui&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 21.44.</NOTE> bro|ken, <HI>But he upon whom that &s;tone falls,</HI> (&s;pirituall afflictions) <HI>is in danger to be ground to pow|der.</HI> And then, the great, and yet ordinary danger is, That the&s;e &s;pirituall afflictions grow out of temporall; Murmuring, and diffidence in God, and obduration, out of worldly calamities; And &s;o again&s;t nature, the fruit is greater and heavier then the Tree, &s;pirituall heavier then temporall afflictions.</P>
<P>They who write of Naturall &s;tory, propo&s;e that Plant for the greate&s;t wonder in na|ture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. l. 27.11. Litho&s;permus.</NOTE> which being no firmer then a bull-ru&s;h, or a reed, produces and beares for the fruit thereof no other but an intire, and very hard &s;tone. That temporall affliction &s;hould pro|duce &s;pirituall &s;tonine&s;&s;e, and obduration, is unnaturall, yet ordinary. Therefore doth God propo&s;e it, as one of tho&s;e greate&s;t ble&s;&s;ings, which he multiplies upon his people, <HI>I will take away your &s;tony hearts, and give you hearts of fle&s;h;</HI> And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 11.19. &amp; 36.26. Plin. &amp; Plutar.</NOTE> Lord let mee have a fle&s;hly heart in any &s;en&s;e, rather then a &s;tony heart. Wee finde mention among&s;t the ob|&s;ervers of rarities in Nature, of hairy hearts, hearts of men, that have beene overgrowne with haire; but of petrified hearts, hearts of men growne into &s;tone, we read not; for this petrefaction of the heart, this &s;tupefaction of a man, is the la&s;t blow of Gods hand upon the heart of man in this world.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 16.</NOTE> Tho&s;e great afflictions which are powred out of the Vials of the &s;even Angels upon the world, are &s;till accompanied with that heavy ef|fect, that that affliction hardned them. <HI>They were &s;corched with heats and plagues,</HI> by the fourth Angel, and it followes, <HI>They bla&s;phemed the name of God, and repented not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 9.</NOTE> <HI>to give him glory.</HI> Darkne&s;&s;e was induced upon them by the fift Angel, and it followes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 11.</NOTE> <HI>They bla&s;phemed the God of heaven, and repented not of their deeds.</HI> And from the &s;eventh Angel there fell haile&s;tones of the waight of talents,<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 29.</NOTE> (perchance foure pound waight) upon men; And yet the&s;e men had &s;o much life left, as to <HI>bla&s;pheme God,</HI> out of that re&s;pect, which alone &s;hould have brought them to glorifie God, <HI>Becau&s;e the plague thereof was exceeding great.</HI> And when a great plague brings them to bla&s;pheme, how great &s;hall that &s;econd plague be, that comes upon them for bla&s;pheming?</P>
<P>Let me wither and weare out mine age in a di&s;comfortable, in an unwhole&s;ome, in a penurious pri&s;on, and &s;o pay my debts with my bones, and recompence the wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e of my youth, with the beggery of mine age; Let me wither in a &s;pittle under &s;harpe, and foule, and in famous di&s;ea&s;es, and &s;o recompence the wantonne&s;&s;e of my youth, with that loath &s;omne&s;&s;e in mine age; yet, if God with draw not his &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings, his Grace, his Patience, If I can call my &s;uffering his Doing, my pa&s;&s;ion his Action, All this that is temporall, is but a caterpiller got into one corner of my garden, but a mill-dew fallen upon one acre of my Corne; The body of all, the &s;ub&s;tance of all is &s;afe, as long as the &s;oule is &s;afe. But when I &s;hall tru&s;t to that, which wee call a good &s;pirit, and God &s;hall deject, and empoveri&s;h, and evacuate that &s;pirit, when I &s;hall rely upon a morall con&s;tan|cy, and God &s;hall &s;hake, and enfeeble, and enervate, de&s;troy and demoli&s;h that con&s;tan|cy; when I &s;hall think to refre&s;h my &s;elfe in the &s;erenity and &s;weet ayre of a good con|&s;cience, and God &s;hall call up the damps and vapours of hell it &s;elfe, and &s;pread a cloud of diffidence, and an impenetrable cru&s;t of de&s;peration upon my con&s;cience; when health &s;hall flie from me, and I &s;hall lay hold upon riches to &s;uccour me, and comfort me in my &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and riches &s;hall flie from me, and I &s;hall &s;natch after favour, and good opinion,
<PB N="666" REF="351">to comfort me in my poverty; when even this good opinion-&s;hall leave me, and calum|nies and mi&s;informations &s;hall prevaile again&s;t me; when I &s;hall need peace, becau&s;e there is none but thou, O Lord, that &s;hould &s;tand for me, and then &s;hall finde, that all the wounds that I have, come from thy hand, all the arrowes that &s;tick in me, from thy qui|ver; when I &s;hall &s;ee, that becau&s;e I have given my &s;elfe to my corrupt nature, thou ha&s;t changed thine; and becau&s;e I am all evill towards thee, therefore thou ha&s;t given over being good towards me; When it comes to this height, that the fever is not in the hu|mors, but in the &s;pirits, that mine enemy is not an imaginary enemy, fortune, nor a tran|&s;itory enemy, malice in great per&s;ons, but a reall, and an irre&s;i&s;tible, and an inexorable, and an everla&s;ting enemy, The Lord of Ho&s;ts him&s;elfe, The Almighty God him&s;elfe, the Almighty God him&s;elfe onely knowes the waight of this affliction, and except hee put in that <HI>pondus gloriae,</HI> that exceeding waight of an eternall glory, with his owne hand, into the other &s;cale, we are waighed downe, we are &s;wallowed up, irreparably, ir|revocably, irrecoverably, irremediably.</P>
<P>This is the fearefull depth, this is &s;pirituall mi&s;ery, to be thus fallen from God. But was this <HI>Davids</HI> ca&s;e? was he fallen thus farre, into a diffidence in God? No. But the danger, the precipice, the &s;lippery &s;liding into that bottomle&s;&s;e depth, is, to be excluded from the meanes of comming to God, or &s;taying with God; And this is that that <HI>David</HI> laments here, That by being bani&s;hed, and driven into the wilderne&s;&s;e of Judah, hee had not acce&s;&s;e to the Sanctuary of the Lord, to &s;acrifice his part in the prai&s;e, and to receive his part in the prayers of the Congregation; for Angels pa&s;&s;e not to ends, but by wayes and meanes, nor men to the glory of the triumphant Church, but by participation of the Communion of the Militant. To this note <HI>David</HI> &s;ets his Harpe, in many, many P&s;alms: Sometimes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.60.</NOTE> that God had &s;uffered his enemies to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e his Tabernacle, (<HI>Hee for &s;ooke the Tabernacle of Shiloh, Hee delivered his &s;trength into captivity, and his glory into the ene|mies hands</HI>) But mo&s;t commonly he complaines, that God di&s;abled him from comming to the Sanctuary. In which one thing he had &s;ummed up all his de&s;ires, all his prayers, (<HI>One thing have I de&s;ired of the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 27.4.</NOTE> <HI>that will I looke after; That I may dwell in the hou&s;e of the Lord, all the dayes of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his Tem|ple</HI>) His vehement de&s;ire of this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 42.2.</NOTE> he expre&s;&s;es againe, (<HI>My &s;oule thir&s;teth for God, for the living God; when &s;hall I come and appeare before God?</HI>) He expre&s;&s;es a holy jealou&s;ie, a re|ligious envy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.3.</NOTE> even to the &s;parrows and &s;wallows, (yea, <HI>the &s;parrow hath found a hou&s;e, and the &s;wallow a ne&s;t for her &s;elfe, and where &s;he may lay her yong, Even thine Altars, O Lord of Ho&s;t, my King and my God.</HI>) Thou art my King, and my God, and yet exclude&s;t me from that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.7.</NOTE> which thou afforde&s;t to &s;parrows, <HI>And are not we of more value then many &s;parrows?</HI></P>
<P>And as though <HI>David</HI> felt &s;ome fal&s;e ea&s;e, &s;ome half-tentation, &s;ome whi&s;pering that way,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.3.</NOTE> That God is <HI>in the wilderne&s;&s;e of Iudah,</HI> in every place, as well as in his <HI>Sanctuary,</HI> there is in the Originall in that place, a patheticall, a vehement, a broken expre&s;&s;ing ex|pre&s;&s;ed, <HI>O thine Altars;</HI> It is true, (&s;ayes <HI>David</HI>) thou art here in the wilderne&s;&s;e, and I may &s;ee thee here, and &s;erve thee here, but, <HI>O thine Altars, O Lord of ho&s;ts, my King and my God.</HI> When <HI>David</HI> could not come in per&s;on to that place, yet he bent towards the Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 5.7.</NOTE> (<HI>In thy feare will I wor&s;hip towards thy holy Temple.</HI>) Which was al&s;o <HI>Daniels</HI> de|votion; when he prayed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 6.10.</NOTE> <HI>his Chamber windowes were open towards Ieru&s;alem;</HI> And &s;o is <HI>Hezekias</HI> turning to the wall to weepe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 38.2.</NOTE> and to pray in his &s;ick bed, under&s;tood to be to that purpo&s;e, to conforme, and compo&s;e him&s;elfe towards the Temple. In the place con&s;ecrated for that u&s;e, God by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> fixes the &s;ervice, and fixes the Reward; And towards that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 31.11.</NOTE> (when they could not come to it) doth <HI>Solomon</HI> direct their devoti|on in the Con&s;ecration of the Temple,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 8.44.</NOTE> (<HI>when they are in the warres, when they are in Cap|tivity, and pray towards this hou&s;e, doe thou heare them.</HI>) For, as in private prayer, when (according to Chri&s;ts command) we are &s;hut in our chamber, there is exerci&s;ed <HI>Mode|&s;tia fidei,</HI> The mode&s;ty and ba&s;hfulne&s;&s;e of our faith, not pre&s;&s;ing upon God in his hou&s;e: &s;o in the publique prayers of the Congregation, there is exerci&s;ed the fervor, and holy courage of our faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertull.</NOTE> for <HI>Agmine facto ob&s;idemus Deum,</HI> It is a Mu&s;tering of our forces, and a be&s;ieging of God. Therefore does <HI>David</HI> &s;o much magnifie their ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, that are in this hou&s;e of God; (<HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that dwell in thy hou&s;e, for they will be &s;till prai&s;ing thee</HI>) Tho&s;e that looke towards it, may prai&s;e thee &s;ometimes, but tho&s;e men who dwell in the Church, and who&s;e whole &s;ervice lyes in the Church, have certainly
<PB N="667" REF="351">an advantage of all other men (who are nece&s;&s;arily withdrawne by worldly bu&s;ine&s;&s;es) in making them&s;elves acceptable to almighty God, if they doe their duties, and ob&s;erve their Church-&s;ervices aright.</P>
<P>Man being therefore thus &s;ubject naturally to manifold calamities,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Excommuni|catio.</NOTE> and &s;pirituall cala|mities being incomparably heavier then temporall, and the greate&s;t danger of falling into &s;uch &s;pirituall calamities being in our ab&s;ence from Gods Church, where onely the outward meanes of happine&s;&s;e are mini&s;tred unto us, certainely there is much tenderne&s;&s;e and deliberation to be u&s;ed, before the Church doores be &s;hut again&s;t any man. If I would not direct a prayer to God, to excommunicate any man from the Triumphant Church, (which were to damne him) I would not oyle the key, I would not make the way too &s;lippery for excommunications in the Militant Church; For, that is to endanger him. I know how di&s;ta&s;tfull a &s;in to God, contumacy, and contempt, and di&s;obedience to Order and Authority is; And I know, (and all men, that choo&s;e not ignorance, may know) that our Excommunications (though calumniators impute them to &s;mall things, becau&s;e, many times, the fir&s;t complaint is of &s;ome &s;mall matter) never i&s;&s;ue but upon contumacies, contempts, di&s;obediences to the Church. But they are reall contumacies, not interpretative, apparant contumacies, not pre&s;umptive, that excommunicate a man in Heaven; And much circum&s;pection is required, and (I am far from doubting it) exer|ci&s;ed in tho&s;e ca&s;es upon earth; for, though every Excommunication upon earth be not &s;ealed in Heaven, though it damne not the man, yet it dammes up that mans way, by &s;hutting him out of that Church, through which he mu&s;t goe to the other; which being &s;o great a danger, let every man take heed of Excommunicating him&s;elfe. The imper|&s;wa&s;ible Recu&s;ant does &s;o; The negligent Libertin does &s;o; The fanta&s;tique Separati&s;t does &s;o; The halfe-pre&s;ent man, he, who&s;e body is here, and minde away, does &s;o; And he, who&s;e body is but halfe here, his limbes are here upon a cu&s;hion, but his eyes, his eares are not here, does &s;o: All the&s;e are are &s;elfe-Excommunicators, and keepe them&s;elves from hence. Onely he enjoyes that ble&s;&s;ing, the want whereof <HI>David</HI> deplores, that is here intirely, and is glad he is here, and glad to finde this kinde of &s;ervice here, that he does, and wi&s;hes no other.</P>
<P>And &s;o we have done with our fir&s;t Part, <HI>Davids</HI> a&s;pect, his pre&s;ent condition, and his danger of falling into &s;pirituall mi&s;eries, becau&s;e his per&s;ecution, and bani&s;hment amoun|ted to an Excommunication, to an excluding of him from the &s;ervice of God, in the Church. And we pa&s;&s;e, in our Order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, to the &s;econd, his retro&s;pect, the Con&s;ideration, what God had done for him before, <HI>Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t beene my helpe.</HI></P>
<P>Through this &s;econd part, we &s;hall pa&s;&s;e by the&s;e three &s;teps. Fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> That it behoves us, in all our purpo&s;es, and actions, to propo&s;e to our &s;elves a copy to write by, a patterne to worke by, a rule, or an example to proceed by, Becau&s;e it hath beene thus heretofore, &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> I will re&s;olve upon this cour&s;e for the future. And &s;econdly, That the copy, the patterne, the precedent which we are to propo&s;e to our &s;elves, is, The ob&s;ervation of Gods former wayes and proceedings upon us, Becau&s;e God hath already gone this way, this way I will awaite his going &s;till. And then, thirdly and la&s;tly, in this &s;econd part, The way that God had formerly gone with <HI>David,</HI> which was, That he had been his helpe, (<HI>Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t beene my helpe.</HI>)</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, from the meane&s;t artificer, through the wi&s;e&s;t Philo&s;opher, to God him|&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ideae.</NOTE> all that is well done, or wi&s;ely undertaken, is undertaken and done according to pre-conceptions, fore-imaginations, de&s;ignes, and patterns propo&s;ed to our &s;elves be|forehand. A Carpenter builds not a hou&s;e, but that he fir&s;t &s;ets up a frame in his owne minde, what kinde of hou&s;e he will build. The little great Philo&s;opher <HI>Epictetus,</HI> would undertake no action, but he would fir&s;t propo&s;e to him&s;elfe, what <HI>Socrates,</HI> or <HI>Plato,</HI> what a wi&s;e man would do in that ca&s;e, and according to that, he would proceed. Of God him&s;elfe, it is &s;afely re&s;olved in the Schoole, that he never did any thing in any part of time, of which he had not an eternall pre-conception, an eternall Idea, in him&s;elfe be|fore. Of which Ideaes, that is, pre-conceptions, pre-determinations in God, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> pronounces, <HI>Tanta vis in Ideis con&s;tituitur,</HI> There is &s;o much truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and &s;o much power in the&s;e Ideaes, as that without acknowledging them, no man can acknowledge God, for he does not allow God Coun&s;aile, and Wi&s;dome, and deliberation in his Actions, but &s;ets God on worke, before he have thought what he will doe. And therefore he, and others of the Fathers read that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 1.3, 4.</NOTE> (which we read otherwi&s;e) <HI>Quod factum e&s;t, in ip&s;o vita
<PB N="668" REF="352">erat;</HI> that is, in all their Expo&s;itions, what&s;oever is made, in time, was alive in God, be|fore it was made, that is, in that eternall Idea, and patterne which was in him. So al&s;o doe divers of tho&s;e Fathers read tho&s;e words to the Hebrews,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.3.</NOTE> (which we read, <HI>The things that are &s;eene, are not made of things that doe appeare) Ex invi&s;ibilibus vi&s;ibilia facta &s;unt, Things formerly invi&s;ible, were made vi&s;ible;</HI> that is, we &s;ee them not till now, till they are made, but they had an invi&s;ible being, in that Idea, in that pre-notion, in that purpo&s;e of God before, for ever before. Of all things in Heaven, and earth, but of him&s;elfe, God had an Idea, a patterne in him&s;elfe, before he made it.</P>
<P>And therefore let him be our patterne for that, to worke after patternes; To propo&s;e to our &s;elves Rules and Examples for all our actions; and the more, the more immediate|ly, the more directly our actions concerne the &s;ervice of God. If I aske God, by what Idea he made me, God produces his <HI>Faciamus hominem ad Imaginem no&s;tram,</HI> That there was a concurrence of the whole Trinity, to make me in <HI>Adam,</HI> according to that Image which they were, and according to that Idea, which they had pre-determined. If I pre|tend to &s;erve God, and he aske me for my Idea, How I meane to &s;erve him, &s;hall I bee able to produce none? If he aske me an Idea of my Religion, and my opinions, &s;hall I not be able to &s;ay, It is that which thy word, and thy Catholique Church hath imprinted in me? If he aske me an Idea of my prayers, &s;hall I not be able to &s;ay, It is that which my particular nece&s;&s;ities, that which the forme pre&s;cribed by thy Son, that which the care, and piety of the Church, in conceiving fit prayers, hath imprinted in me? If he aske me an Idea of my Sermons, &s;hall I not be able to &s;ay, It is that which the Analogy of Faith, the edification of the Congregation, the zeale of thy worke, the meditations of my heart have imprinted in me? But if I come to pray or to preach without this kind of Idea, if I come to extemporall prayer, and extemporall preaching, I &s;hall come to an extemporall faith, and extemporall religion; and then I mu&s;t looke for an extemporall Heaven, a Hea|ven to be made for me; for to that Heaven which belongs to the Catholique Church, I &s;hall never come, except I go by the way of the Catholique Church, by former Idea's, former examples, former patterns, To beleeve according to ancient beliefes, to pray according to ancient formes, to preach according to former meditations. God does no|thing, man does nothing well, without the&s;e Idea's, the&s;e retro&s;pects, this recour&s;e to pre-conceptions, pre-deliberations.</P>
<P>Something then I mu&s;t propo&s;e to my &s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Via Domini.</NOTE> to be the rule, and the rea&s;on of my pre|&s;ent and future actions; which was our fir&s;t branch in this &s;econd Part; And then the &s;e|cond is, That I can propo&s;e nothing more availably, then the contemplation of the hi|&s;tory of Gods former proceeding with me; which is <HI>Davids</HI> way here, Becau&s;e this was Gods way before, I will looke for God in this way &s;till. That language in which God &s;pake to man, the Hebrew, hath no pre&s;ent ten&s;e; They forme not their verbs as our We&s;terne Languages do, in the pre&s;ent, <HI>I heare,</HI> or <HI>I &s;ee,</HI> or <HI>I reade,</HI> But they begin at that which is pa&s;t, <HI>I have &s;eene</HI> and <HI>heard,</HI> and <HI>read.</HI> God carries us in his Language, in his &s;peaking, upon that which is pa&s;t, upon that which he hath done already; I cannot have better &s;ecurity for pre&s;ent, nor future, then Gods former mercies exhibited to me. <HI>Quis non gaudeat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> Who does not triumph with joy, when hee con&s;iders what God hath done? <HI>Quis non &amp; ea, quae nondum venerunt, ventura &s;perat, propter illa, quae jam tanta impleta &s;unt?</HI> Who can doubt of the performance of all, that &s;ees the grea|te&s;t part of a Prophe&s;ie performed? If I have found that true that God hath &s;aid, of the per&s;on of Antichri&s;t, why &s;hould I doubt of that which he &s;ayes of the ruine of Anti|chri&s;t? <HI>Credamus modicum quod re&s;tat,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father, It is much that wee have &s;eene done, and it is but little that God hath re&s;erved to our faith, to beleeve that it &s;hall be done.</P>
<P>There is no State, no Church, no Man, that hath not this tie upon God, that hath not God in the&s;e bands, That God by having done much for them already, hath bound him|&s;elfe to doe more. Men proceed in their former wayes, &s;ometimes, le&s;t they &s;hould con|fe&s;&s;e an error, and acknowledge that they had beene in a wrong way. God is obnoxious to no error, and therefore he does &s;till, as he did before. Every one of you can &s;ay now to God, Lord, Thou broughte&s;t me hither, therefore enable me to heare; Lord, Thou doe&s;t that, therefore make me under&s;tand; And that, therefore let me beleeve; And that too, therefore &s;trengthen me to the practi&s;e; And all that, therefore continue me to a per&s;e|verance. Carry it up to the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e and apprehen&s;ion that ever thou had&s;t of Gods
<PB N="669" REF="352">working upon thee, either in thy &s;elfe, when thou came&s;t fir&s;t to the u&s;e of rea&s;on, or in others in thy behalfe, in thy bapti&s;me, yet when thou thinke&s;t thou art at the fir&s;t, God had done &s;omething for thee before all that; before that, hee had elected thee, in that election which S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;peaks of, <HI>Habet electos, quos creaturus e&s;t eligendos,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> God hath elected certaine men, whom he intends to create, that he may elect them; that is, that he may declare his Election upon them. God had thee, before he made thee; He loved thee fir&s;t, and then created thee, that thou loving him, he might continue his love to thee. The &s;ure&s;t way, and the neare&s;t way to lay hold upon God, is the con&s;ideration of that which he had done already. So <HI>David</HI> does; And that which he takes knowledge of, in particular, in Gods former proceedings towards him, is, Becau&s;e God had been his helpe, which is our la&s;t branch in this part, <HI>Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t beene my helpe.</HI></P>
<P>From this one word, That God hath been my <HI>He<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="3 letters"></HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Quia auxi|lium.</NOTE> I make account that we have both the&s;e notions; fir&s;t, That God hath not left me to my &s;elfe, He hath come to my &s;uccour, He hath helped me; And then, That God hath not left out my &s;elfe; He hath been my Helpe, but he hath left &s;ome thing for me to doe with him, and by his helpe. My &s;ecurity for the future, in this con&s;ideration of that which is pa&s;t, lyes not onely in this, That God hath delivered me, but in this al&s;o, that he hath delivered me by way of a Helpe, and Helpe alwayes pre&s;umes an endevour and co-operation in him that is hel|ped. God did not elect me as a helper, nor create me, nor redeeme me nor convert me, by way of helping me; for he alone did all, and he had no u&s;e at all of me. God infu&s;es his fir&s;t grate, the fir&s;t way, meerly as a Giver; intirely, all him&s;elfe; but his &s;ub&s;equent graces, as a helper; therefore we call them Auxiliant graces, Helping graces; and we al|wayes receive them, when we endevour to make u&s;e of his former grace. <HI>Lord, I beleeve,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 9.24.</NOTE>(&s;ayes the Man in the Go&s;pel to Chri&s;t) <HI>Helpe mine unbeliefe.</HI> If there had not been un|beliefe, weakne&s;&s;e, unperfectne&s;&s;e in that faith, there had needed no helpe; but if there had not been a Beliefe, a faith, it had not been capable of helpe and a&s;&s;i&s;tance, but it mu&s;t have been an intire act, without any concurrence on the mans part.</P>
<P>So that if I have truly the te&s;timony of a rectified Con&s;cience, That God hath helped me, it is in both re&s;pects; fir&s;t, That he hath never for&s;aken me, and then, That he hath never &s;uffered me to for&s;ake my &s;elfe; He hath ble&s;&s;ed me with that grace, that I tru&s;t in no helpe but his, and with this grace too, That I cannot looke for his helpe, except I helpe my &s;elfe al&s;o. God did not helpe heaven and earth to proceed out of nothing in the Creation, for they had no po&s;&s;ibility of any di&s;po&s;ition towards it; for they had no bee|ing: But God did helpe the earth to produce gra&s;&s;e, and herbes; for, for that, God had infu&s;ed a &s;eminall di&s;po&s;ition into the earth, which, for all that, it could not have perfected without his farther helpe. As in the making of Woman, there is the very word of our Text, <HI>Gnazar,</HI> God made him a <HI>Helper,</HI> one that was to doe much for him, but not with|out him. So that then, if I will make Gods former working upon me, an argument of his future gracious purpo&s;es, as I mu&s;t acknowledge that God hath done much for me, &s;o I mu&s;t finde, that I have done what I could, by the benefit of that grace with him; for God promi&s;es to be but a helper. <HI>Lord open thou my lips,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.15.</NOTE> that is Gods worke intirely; And then, <HI>My mouth, My mouth &s;hall &s;hew forth thy prai&s;e;</HI> there enters <HI>Da|vid</HI> into the worke with God. And then, &s;ayes God to him, <HI>Dilata os tuum, Open thy mouth,</HI> (It is now made <HI>Thy mouth,</HI> and therefore doe thou open it) <HI>and I will fill it;</HI> All inchoations and con&s;ummations, beginnings and perfectings are of God, of God a|lone; but in the way there is a concurrence on our part, (by a &s;ucce&s;&s;ive continuation of Gods grace) in which God proceeds as a Helper; and I put him to more then that, if I doe nothing. But if I pray for his helpe, and apprehend and husband his graces well, when they come, then he is truly, properly my helper; and upon that &s;ecurity, that te&s;ti|mony of a rectified Con&s;cience, I can proceed to <HI>Davids</HI> confidence for the future, <HI>Be|cau&s;e thou ha&s;t been my Helpe, therefore in the &s;hadow of thy wings will I rejoyce;</HI> which is our third, and la&s;t generall part.</P>
<P>In this la&s;t part, which is, (after <HI>Davids</HI> a&s;pect, and con&s;ideration of his pre&s;ent con|dition,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Divi&s;io.</HI> 3 Part.</NOTE> which was, in the effect, an Exclu&s;ion from Gods Temple, And his retro&s;pect, his con&s;ideration of Gods former mercies to him, That he had been his Helpe) his pro|&s;pect, his confidence for the future, we &s;hall &s;tay a little upon the&s;e two &s;teps; fir&s;t, That that which he promi&s;es him&s;elfe, is not an immunity from all powerfull enemies, nor a &s;word of revenge upon tho&s;e enemies; It is not that he &s;hall have no adver&s;ary, nor that
<PB N="670" REF="353">that adver&s;ary &s;hall be able to doe him no harme, but that he &s;hould have a refre&s;hing, a re&s;piration, <HI>In velamento alarum,</HI> under the &s;hadow of Gods wings. And then, (in the &s;econd place) That this way which God &s;hall be plea&s;ed to take, this manner, this mea|&s;ure of refre&s;hing, which God &s;hall vouch&s;afe to afford, (though it amount not to a full deliverance) mu&s;t produce a joy, a rejoycing in us; we mu&s;t not onely not decline to a murmuring, that we have no more, no nor re&s;t upon a patience for that which remains, but we mu&s;t a&s;cend to a holy joy, as if all were done and accompli&s;hed, <HI>In the &s;hadow of thy wings will I rejoyce.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vmbra Ala|rum.</NOTE> le&s;t any man in his dejection of &s;pirit, or of fortune, &s;hould &s;tray into a jealou&s;ie or &s;u&s;pition of Gods power to deliver him, As God hath &s;pangled the firma|ment with &s;tarres, &s;o hath he his Scriptures with names, and Metaphors, and denotati|ons of power. Sometimes he &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">es out in the name of a <HI>Sword,</HI> and of a <HI>Target,</HI> and of a <HI>Wall,</HI> and of a <HI>Tower,</HI> and of a <HI>Rocke,</HI> and of a <HI>Hill;</HI> And &s;ometimes in that glorious and manifold con&s;tellation of all together, <HI>Dominus exercituum, The Lord of Ho&s;ts.</HI> God, as God, is never repre&s;ented to us, with Defen&s;ive Armes; He needs them not. When the Poets pre&s;ent their great Heroes, and their Worthies, they alwayes in&s;i&s;t upon their Armes, they &s;pend much of their invention upon the de&s;cription of their Armes; both becau&s;e the greate&s;t valour and &s;trength needs Armes, (<HI>Goliah</HI> him&s;elfe was armed) and becau&s;e to expo&s;e ones &s;elfe to danger unarmed, is not valour, but ra&s;hne&s;&s;e. But God is invulnerable in him&s;elfe, and is never repre&s;ented armed; you finde no &s;hirts of mayle, no Helmets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 59.17.</NOTE> no Cuira&s;&s;es in Gods Armory. In that one place of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> where it may &s;eeme to be otherwi&s;e, where God is &s;aid <HI>to have put on righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e as a brea&s;tplate, and a Helmet of &s;alvation upon his head;</HI> in that prophecy God is Chri&s;t, and is therefore in that place, called <HI>the Redeemer.</HI> Chri&s;t needed defen&s;ive armes, God does not. Gods word does; His Scriptures doe; And therefore S. <HI>Hierome</HI> hath armed them, and &s;et before every booke his <HI>Prologum galeatum,</HI> that prologue that armes and defends every booke from calumny. But though God need not, nor receive not defen&s;ive armes for him&s;elfe, yet God is to us a Helmet, a Brea&s;tplate, a &s;trong tower, a rocke, every thing that may give us a&s;&s;urance and defence; and as often as he will, he can refre&s;h that Pro|clamation, <HI>Nolite tangere Chri&s;tos meos,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 105.15.</NOTE> Our enemies &s;hall not &s;o much as touch us.</P>
<P>But here, by occa&s;ion of his Metaphore in this Text, (<HI>Sub umbra alarum, In the &s;hadow of thy wings</HI>) we doe not &s;o much con&s;ider an ab&s;olute immunity, That we &s;hall not be touched, as a refre&s;hing and con&s;olation, when we are touched, though we be pinched and wounded. The Names of God, which are mo&s;t frequent in the Scriptures, are the&s;e three, <HI>Elohim,</HI> and <HI>Adonai,</HI> and <HI>Iehovah;</HI> and to a&s;&s;ure us of his Power to deliver us, two of the&s;e three are Names of Power. <HI>Elohim</HI> is <HI>Deus fortis,</HI> The mighty, The powerfull God: And (which de&s;erves a particular con&s;ideration) <HI>Elohim</HI> is a plurall Name; It is not <HI>Deus fortis,</HI> but <HI>Dii fortes,</HI> powerfull Gods. God is all kinde of Gods; All kinds, which either Idolaters and Gentils can imagine, (as Riches, or Ju&s;tice, or Wi&s;dome, or Valour, or &s;uch) and all kinds which God him&s;elf hath called gods, (as Princes, and Ma|gi&s;trates, and Prelates, and all that a&s;&s;i&s;t and helpe one another) God is <HI>Elohim,</HI> All the&s;e Gods, and all the&s;e in their height and be&s;t of their power; for <HI>Elohim,</HI> is <HI>Dii fortes,</HI> Gods in the plurall, and tho&s;e plurall gods in their exaltation.</P>
<P>The &s;econd Name of God, is a Name of power too, <HI>Adonai.</HI> For, <HI>Adonai</HI> is <HI>Dominus,</HI> The Lord, &s;uch a Lord, as is Lord and Proprietary of all his creatures, and all creatures are his creatures; And then, <HI>Dominium e&s;t pote&s;tas tum utendi, tum abutendi,</HI> &s;ayes the law; To be ab&s;olute Lord of any thing, gives that Lord a power to doe what he will with that thing. God, as he is <HI>Adonai, The Lord,</HI> may give and take, quicken and kill, build and throw downe, where and whom he will. So then two of Gods three Names are Names of ab&s;olute power, to imprint, and re-imprint an a&s;&s;urance in us, that hee can ab&s;olutely deliver us, and fully revenge us, if he will. But then, his third Name, and that Name which hee choo&s;es to him&s;elfe, and in the &s;ignification of which Name, hee employes <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> for the reliefe of his people under Pharaoh, that Name <HI>Iehovah,</HI> is not a Name of Power, but onely of E&s;&s;ence, of Being, of Sub&s;i&s;tence, and yet in the vertue of that Name, God relieved his people. And if, in my afflictions, God vouch&s;afe to vi&s;it mee in that Name, to pre&s;erve me in my being, in my &s;ub&s;i&s;tence in him, that I be not &s;haked out of him, di&s;inherited in him, excommunicate from him, deve&s;ted of him, annihilated towards him, let him, at his good plea&s;ure, re&s;erve his <HI>Elohim,</HI> and his <HI>Adonai,</HI> the ex|erci&s;es
<PB N="671" REF="353">and declarations of his mighty Power, to tho&s;e great puklike cau&s;es, that more concerne his Glory, then any thing that can befall me; But if he impart his <HI>Iehovah,</HI> en|large him&s;elfe &s;o far towards me, as that I may live, and move, &amp; have my beeing in him, though I be not in&s;tantly delivered, nor mine enemies ab&s;olutely de&s;troyed, yet this is as much as I &s;hould promi&s;e my &s;elfe, this is as much as the Holy Gho&s;t intends in this Me|taphor, <HI>Sub umbra alarum, Vnder the &s;hadow of thy wings,</HI> that is a Refre&s;hing, a Re&s;pira|tion, a Con&s;ervation, a Con&s;olation in all afflictions that are inflicted upon me.</P>
<P>Yet, is not this Metaphor of <HI>Wings</HI> without a denotation of Power. As no Act of Gods, though it &s;eeme to imply but &s;pirituall comfort, is without a denotation of power, (for it is the power of God that comforts me; To overcome that &s;adne&s;&s;e of &s;oule, and that dejection of &s;pirit, which the Adver&s;ary by temporall afflictions would induce up|on me, is an act of his Power) So this Metaphor, <HI>The &s;hadow of his wings,</HI> (which in this place expre&s;&s;es no more, then con&s;olation and refre&s;hing in mi&s;ery, and not a powerfull deliverance out of it) is &s;o often in the Scriptures made a denotation of Power too, as that we can doubt of no act of power, if we have this &s;hadow of his wings. For, in this Metaphor of <HI>Wings,</HI> doth the Holy Gho&s;t expre&s;&s;e the <HI>Maritime</HI> power, the power of &s;ome Nations at Sea, in Navies, (<HI>Woe to the land &s;hadowing with wings;</HI>) that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 18.1.</NOTE> that ho|vers over the world, and intimidates it with her &s;ailes and &s;hips. In this Metaphor doth God remember his people, of his powerfull deliverance of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 19.14.</NOTE> (<HI>You have &s;eene what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on Eagles wings, and brought you to my &s;elfe.</HI>) In this Metaphor doth God threaten his and their enemies, what hee can doe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 1.24.</NOTE> (<HI>The noi&s;e of the wings of his Cherubims, are as the noi&s;e of great waters, and of an Army.</HI>) So al&s;o, what hee will doe, (<HI>Hee &s;hall &s;pread his wings over Bozrah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 49.22.</NOTE> <HI>and at that day &s;hall the hearts of the mighty men of Edom, be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.</HI>) So that, if I have the &s;hadow of his wings, I have the earne&s;t of the power of them too; If I have refre&s;hing, and re|&s;piration from them, I am able to &s;ay, (as tho&s;e three Confe&s;&s;ors did to <HI>Nebuchadnez|zar</HI>) <HI>My God is able to deliver me,</HI> I am &s;ure he hath power; <HI>And my God will deliver me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 3.17.</NOTE> when it conduces to his glory, I know he will; <HI>But, if he doe not, bee it knowne unto thee, O King, we will not &s;ervethy Gods;</HI> Be it knowne unto thee, O Satan, how long &s;oever God deferre my deliverance, I will not &s;eeke fal&s;e comforts, the mi&s;erable comforts of this world. I will not, for I need not; for I can &s;ub&s;i&s;t under this &s;hadow of the&s;e Wings, though I have no more.</P>
<P>The Mercy-&s;eat it &s;elfe was covered with the Cherubims Wings;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 25.20.</NOTE> and who would have more then Mercy? and a Mercy-&s;eat; that is, e&s;tabli&s;hed, re&s;ident Mercy, perma|nent and perpetuall Mercy; pre&s;ent and familiar Mercy: a Mercy-&s;eat. Our Saviour Chri&s;t intends as much as would have &s;erved their turne, if they had laid hold up|on it, when hee &s;ayes, <HI>That hee would have gathered Ieru&s;alem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 23.37.</NOTE> <HI>as a henne gathers her chic|kens under her wings.</HI> And though the other Prophets doe (as ye have heard) mingle the &s;ignification of Power, and actuall deliverance, in this Metaphor of Wings, yet our Prophet, whom wee have now in e&s;peciall con&s;ideration, <HI>David,</HI> never doth &s;o; but in every place where hee u&s;es this Metaphor of Wings (which are in five or &s;ixe &s;everall P&s;almes) &s;till hee re&s;ts and determines in that &s;en&s;e, which is his meaning here; That though God doe not actually deliver us, nor actually de&s;troy our enemies, yet if hee re|fre&s;h us in the &s;hadow of his Wings, if he maintaine our &s;ub&s;i&s;tence (which is a religious Con&s;tancy) in him, this &s;hould not onely e&s;tabli&s;h our patience, (for that is but halfe the worke) but it &s;hould al&s;o produce a joy, and ri&s;e to an exultation, which is our la&s;t cir|cum&s;tance, <HI>Therefore in the &s;hadow of thy wings, I will rejoice.</HI></P>
<P>I would always rai&s;e your hearts, and dilate your hearts, to a holy Joy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gaudium.</NOTE> to a joy in the Holy Gho&s;t. There may be a ju&s;t feare, that men doe not grieve enough for their &s;innes; but there may bee a ju&s;t jealou&s;ie, and &s;u&s;pition too, that they may fall into inordinate griefe, and diffidence of Gods mercy; And God hath re&s;erved us to &s;uch times, as be|ing the later times, give us even the dregs and lees of mi&s;ery to drinke. For, God hath not onely let loo&s;e into the world a new &s;pirituall di&s;ea&s;e; which is, an equality, and an indifferency, which religion our children, or our &s;ervants, or our companions profe&s;&s;e; (I would not keepe company with a man that thought me a knave, or a traitor; with him that thought I loved not my Prince, or were a faithle&s;&s;e man, not to be beleeved, I would not a&s;&s;ociate my &s;elfe; And yet I will make him my bo&s;ome companion, that thinks I doe not love God, that thinks I cannot be &s;aved) but God hath accompanied, and com|plicated
<PB N="672" REF="354">almo&s;t all our bodily di&s;ea&s;es of the&s;e times, with an extraordinary &s;adne&s;&s;e, a predominant melancholy, a faintne&s;&s;e of heart, a chearle&s;ne&s;&s;e, a joyle&s;ne&s;&s;e of &s;pi|rit, and therefore I returne often to this endeavor of rai&s;ing your hearts, dilating your hearts with a holy Joy, Joy in the holy Gho&s;t, for <HI>Vnder the &s;hadow of his wings,</HI> you may, you &s;hould <HI>rejoyce.</HI></P>
<P>If you looke upon this world in a Map, you find two Hemi&s;phears, two half worlds. If you cru&s;h heaven into a Map, you may find two Hemi&s;phears too, two half heavens; Halfe will be Joy, and halfe will be Glory; for in the&s;e two, the joy of heaven, and the glory of heaven, is all heaven often repre&s;ented unto us. And as of tho&s;e two Hemi|&s;phears of the world, the fir&s;t hath been knowne long before, but the other, (that of America, which is the richer in trea&s;ure) God re&s;erved for later Di&s;coveries; So though he re&s;erve that Hemi&s;phear of heaven, which is the Glory thereof, to the Re&s;urrection, yet the other Hemi&s;phear, the Joy of heaven, God opens to our Di&s;covery, and delivers for our habitation even whil&s;t we dwell in this world. As God hath ca&s;t upon the un|repentant &s;inner two deaths, a temporall, and a &s;pirituall death, &s;o hath he breathed in|to us two lives;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.17.</NOTE> for &s;o, as the word for death is doubled, <HI>Morte morieris, Thou &s;halt die the death,</HI> &s;o is the word for life expre&s;&s;ed in the plurall, <HI>Chaiim, vitarum, God breathed into his no&s;trils the breath of lives,</HI> of divers lives. Though our naturall life were no life, but rather a continuall dying, yet we have two lives be&s;ides that, an eternall life re&s;erved for heaven, but yet a heavenly life too, a &s;pirituall life, even in this world; And as God doth thus inflict two deaths, and infu&s;e two lives, &s;o doth he al&s;o pa&s;&s;e two Judgements upon man, or rather repeats the &s;ame Judgement twice. For, that which Chri&s;t &s;hall &s;ay to thy &s;oule then at the la&s;t Judgement,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 25.23.</NOTE> <HI>Enter into thy Ma&s;ters joy,</HI> Hee &s;ayes to thy con&s;cience now, <HI>Enter into thy Ma&s;ters joy.</HI> The everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e of the joy is the ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e of the next life, but the entring, the inchoation is afforded here. For that which Chri&s;t &s;hall &s;ay then to us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 24.</NOTE> <HI>Venite benedicti, Come ye ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> are words intended to per&s;ons that are comming, that are upon the way, though not at home; Here in this world he bids us <HI>Come,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 15.10.</NOTE> there in the next, he &s;hall bid us <HI>Welcome.</HI> The Angels of heaven have joy in thy conver&s;ion, and can&s;t thou bee without that joy in thy &s;elfe? If thou de&s;ire revenge upon thine enemies, as they are Gods enemies, That God would bee plea&s;ed to remove, and root out all &s;uch as oppo&s;e him, that Affection appertaines to Glory; Let that alone till thou come to the Hemi&s;phear of Glory; There joyne with tho&s;e Martyrs under the Altar,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 6.10.</NOTE> <HI>V&s;quequo Domine,</HI> How long O Lord, do&s;t thou deferre Judgement? and thou &s;halt have thine an&s;were there for that. Whil&s;t thou art here, here joyne with <HI>David,</HI> and the other Saints of God, in that holy increpation of a dan|gerous &s;adne&s;&s;e, <HI>Why art thou ca&s;t downe O my &s;oule? why art thou di&s;quieted in mee?</HI> That &s;oule that is di&s;&s;ected and anatomized to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 42.5.</NOTE> in a &s;incere confe&s;&s;ion, wa&s;hed in the teares of true contrition, embalmed in the blood of reconciliation, the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, can a&s;&s;igne no rea&s;on, can give no ju&s;t an&s;wer to that Interrogatory, <HI>Why art thou ca&s;t downe O my &s;oule? why art thou di&s;quieted in me?</HI> No man is &s;o little, as that he can be lo&s;t under the&s;e wings, no man &s;o great, as that they cannot reach to him; <HI>Semper ille major e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>quantumcumque creverimus,</HI> To what temporall, to what &s;pirituall greatne&s;&s;e &s;oever wee grow, &s;till pray wee him to &s;hadow us under his Wings; for the poore need tho&s;e wings again&s;t oppre&s;&s;ion, and the rich again&s;t envy. The Holy Gho&s;t, who is a Dove, &s;hadowed the whole world under his wings; <HI>Incubabat aquis,</HI> He hovered over the waters, he &s;ate upon the waters, and he hatched all that was produced, and all that was produced &s;o, was good. Be thou a Mother where the Holy Gho&s;t would be a Fa|ther; Conceive by him; and be content that he produce joy in thy heart here. Fir&s;t thinke, that as a man mu&s;t have &s;ome land, or els he cannot be in ward&s;hip, &s;o a man mu&s;t have &s;ome of the love of God, or els he could not fall under Gods correction; God would not give him his phy&s;ick, God would not &s;tudy his cure, if he cared not for him. And then thinke al&s;o, that if God afford thee the &s;hadow of his wings, that is, Con&s;olation, re&s;piration, refre&s;hing, though not a pre&s;ent, and plenary deliverance, in thy afflictions, not to thanke God, is a murmuring, and not to rejoyce in Gods wayes, is an unthank|fulne&s;&s;e. Howling is the noy&s;e of hell, &s;inging the voyce of heaven; Sadne&s;&s;e the damp of Hell, Rejoycing the &s;erenity of Heaven. And he that hath not this joy here, lacks one of the be&s;t pieces of his evidence for the joyes of heaven; and hath neglected or refu&s;ed that Earne&s;t, by which God u&s;es to binde his bargaine, that true joy in this world &s;hall
<PB N="673" REF="354">flow into the joy of Heaven, as a River flowes into the Sea; This joy &s;hall not be put out in death, and a new joy kindled in me in Heaven; But as my &s;oule, as &s;oone as it is out of my body, is in Heaven, and does not &s;tay for the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of Heaven, nor for the frui|tion of the &s;ight of God, till it be a&s;cended through ayre, and fire, and Moone, and Sun, and Planets, and Firmament, to that place which we conceive to be Heaven, but with|out the thou&s;andth part of a minutes &s;top, as &s;oone as it i&s;&s;ues, is in a glorious light, which is Heaven, (for all the way to Heaven is Heaven; And as tho&s;e Angels, which came from Heaven hither, bring Heaven with them, and are in Heaven here, So that &s;oule that goes to Heaven, meets Heaven here; and as tho&s;e Angels doe not deve&s;t Heaven by com|ming, &s;o the&s;e &s;oules inve&s;t Heaven, in their going.) As my &s;oule &s;hall not goe towards Heaven, but goe by Heaven to Heaven, to the Heaven of Heavens, So the true joy of a good &s;oule in this world is the very joy of Heaven; and we goe thither, not that being without joy, we might have joy infu&s;ed into us, but that as Chri&s;t &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 16.24.22.</NOTE> <HI>Our joy might be full,</HI> perfected, &s;ealed with an everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e; for, as he promi&s;es, <HI>That no man &s;hall take our joy from us,</HI> &s;o neither &s;hall Death it &s;elfe take it away, nor &s;o much as interrupt it, or di&s;continue it, But as in the face of Death, when he layes hold upon me, and in the face of the Devill, when he attempts me, I &s;hall &s;ee the face of God, (for, every thing &s;hall be a gla&s;&s;e, to reflect God upon me) &s;o in the agonies of Death, in the angui&s;h of that di&s;|&s;olution, in the &s;orrowes of that valediction, in the irrever&s;iblene&s;&s;e of that tran&s;migra|tion, I &s;hall have a joy, which &s;hall no more evaporate, then my &s;oule &s;hall evaporate, A joy, that &s;hall pa&s;&s;e up, and put on a more glorious garment above, and be joy &s;uper-inve&s;ted in glory. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="67" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXVII. The third of my Prebend Sermons upon my five P&s;almes: <HI>Preached at S.</HI> Pauls, <HI>November</HI> 5. 1626. <HI>In Ve&s;peris.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 64.10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And all the upright in heart &s;hall glory.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_I Have had occa&s;ion to tell you more then once before, that our Predece&s;&s;ors, in the in&s;titution of the Service of this Church, have declared &s;uch a reve|rence and &s;uch a devotion to this particular Booke of Scripture, The P&s;almes, as that by di&s;tributing the hundred and fifty P&s;almes (of which number the body of this booke con&s;i&s;ts) into thirty portions, (of which number the body of our Church con&s;i&s;ts) and a&s;&s;igning to every one of tho&s;e thirty per|&s;ons, his five P&s;almes, to bee &s;aid by him every day, every day God receives from us (how&s;oever wee be divided from one another in place) the Sacrifice of Prai&s;e, in the whole Booke of P&s;almes. And, though we may be ab&s;ent from this Quire, yet where|&s;oever di&s;per&s;ed, we make up a Quire in this Service, of &s;aying over all the P&s;almes eve|ry day. This &s;ixty fourth P&s;alme, is the third of my five. And when, (according to the obligation which I had laid upon my &s;elfe, to handle in this place &s;ome portion of every one of the&s;e my five P&s;almes) in handling of tho&s;e words, of the P&s;alme immediately before this, in the &s;eventh ver&s;e, <HI>(Becau&s;e thou ha&s;t beene my helpe, therefore in the &s;hadow of thy Wings I will rejoyce)</HI> I told you, that the next world, Heaven, was (as this world is) divided into two Hemi&s;pheares, and that the two Hemi&s;pheares of Heaven, were Joy and Glory, (for, in tho&s;e two notions of Joy and Glory, is Heaven often repre&s;ented unto us) as in tho&s;e words which we handled then, wee &s;ailed about the fir&s;t Hemi&s;pheare, That of Joy, <HI>(In the &s;hadow of thy Wings will I rejoyce)</HI> So, in the&s;e which I have read to you now, our voyage lies about the Hemi&s;pheare of Glory, for, <HI>(All the upright in heart
<PB N="674" REF="355">&s;hall Glory.</HI>) As we &s;aid then of Joy, we &s;ay of Glory now; There is an inchoative joy here, though the con&s;ummative joy be re&s;erved for Heaven; &s;o is there al&s;o &s;uch a ta&s;te, &s;uch an inchoation of glory in this life. And as no man &s;hall come to the joyes of Hea|ven, that hath no joy in this world, (for, there is no peace of con&s;cience without this joy) &s;o no man &s;hall come to the glory of Heaven, that hath not a holy ambition of this glory in this world; for, this glory which we &s;peake of, is the evidence, and the reflexion of the glory from above; for, the glory of God &s;hines through godly men, and wee re|ceive a beame and a tincture of that glory of God, when we have the approbation, and te&s;timony, and good opinion, and good words of good men; which is the Glory of our Text, as far as this world is capable of glory. <HI>All the upright in heart &s;hall glory,</HI> that is, They &s;hall be celebrated and encouraged with the glory and prai&s;e of good men here, and they &s;hall be rewarded with everla&s;ting glory in Heaven.</P>
<P>In the&s;e words we propo&s;e to you but two parts;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, The di&s;po&s;ition of the Per|&s;ons, <HI>Omnes recti corde, All the upright in heart,</HI> and then, The retribution upon the&s;e Per&s;ons, <HI>Gloriabuntur, They &s;hall Glory,</HI> or, (as it is in the Vulgat, and well) <HI>Laudabuntur,</HI> They &s;hall be celebrated, they &s;hall be prai&s;ed. In the fir&s;t, The qualification of the per&s;ons, wee &s;hall pa&s;&s;e by the&s;e &s;teps; Fir&s;t, that God in his puni&s;hments and rewar|dings propo&s;es to him&s;elfe Per&s;ons, Per&s;ons already made, and qualified. God does not begin at a retribution, nor begin at a condemnation, before he have Per&s;ons, Per&s;ons fit to be rewarded, Per&s;ons fit to be condemned. God did not fir&s;t make a Heaven and a Hell, and after thinke of making man, that he might have &s;ome per&s;ons to put in them; but, fir&s;t for his Glory he made Man, and for tho&s;e, who by a good u&s;e of his grace pre|&s;erved their &s;tate, Heaven, and for tho&s;e, who by their owne fault fell, he made Hell. Fir&s;t, he propo&s;ed Per&s;ons, Per&s;ons in being; And then, for the Per&s;ons (as his delight is for the mo&s;t part to doe) in this Text he expre&s;&s;es it; which is, rather to in&s;i&s;t upon the Rewards, which the Good &s;hall receive, then upon the condemnation and judgements of the wicked. If he could chu&s;e, that is, If his owne Glory, and the edification of his Chil|dren would beare it, he would not &s;peake at all of judgements, or of tho&s;e per&s;ons that draw nece&s;&s;ary judgements upon them&s;elves, but he would exerci&s;e our contemplation wholly upon his mercy, and upon Per&s;ons qualified and prepared for his gracious retri|butions. So he does here; He &s;peakes not at all of perver&s;e, and froward, and &s;ini&s;ter, and oblique men, men incapable of his retributions, but onely of Per&s;ons di&s;po&s;ed, ordained, prepared for them.</P>
<P>And, in the qualification of the&s;e Per&s;ons, he propo&s;es fir&s;t a rectitude, a directne&s;&s;e, an uprightne&s;&s;e; declinations downeward, deviations upon the wrong hand, &s;quint-eyed men, &s;play footed men, left-handed men, (in a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e) he meddles not withall. They mu&s;t be direct, and upright; And then, <HI>upright in heart;</HI> for, to be good to ill ends, (as, in many ca&s;es, a man may be) God accepts not, regards not. But, let him be a per&s;on thus qualified, <HI>Vpright;</HI> upright becau&s;e he loves uprightne&s;&s;e, <HI>Vpright in heart;</HI> And then, he is infallably imbraced, and enwrapped in that generall rule, and propo&s;ition, that admits no exception, <HI>Omnes recti corde,</HI> All the upright in heart &s;hall be partakers of this retribution: And in the&s;e branches we &s;hall determine our fir&s;t Part, fir&s;t, That God propo&s;es to him&s;elfe Per&s;ons; Per&s;ons thus and thus qualified; he begins at them. Se|condly, That God had rather dwell him&s;elfe, and propo&s;e to us the con&s;ideration of good per&s;ons, then bad, of his mercies, then his judgements, for he mentions no other here, but per&s;ons capable of his retributions; And then, the goodne&s;&s;e that God con&s;i|ders, is rectitude, and rectitude in the roote, in the heart; And from that roote growes that &s;preading univer&s;ality, that infallibility, <HI>Omnes,</HI> All &s;uch are &s;ure of the Reward.</P>
<P>And then, in our &s;econd Part, in the Reward it &s;elfe, though it be delivered here in the whole barre, in the Ingot, in the Wedge, in Bulloyn, in one &s;ingle word, <HI>Gloriabuntur, Laudabuntur, They &s;hall Glory,</HI> yet it admits this Mintage, and coyning, and i&s;&s;uing in le&s;&s;er pieces, That fir&s;t we con&s;ider the thing it &s;elfe, The metall in which God rewards us, Glory, Prai&s;e; And then, &s;ince Gods promi&s;e is fa&s;tened upon that, (We &s;hall be prai&s;ed) As we may lawfully &s;eeke the prai&s;e of good men, &s;o mu&s;t wee al&s;o willingly afford prai&s;e to good men, and to good actions. And then, &s;ince we finde this retribution fixed in the future, (We &s;hall be prai&s;ed, we &s;hall be in glory) there ari&s;es this Con&s;olation, That though we have it not yet, yet we &s;hall have it, Though wee be in di&s;honour, and contempt, and under a cloud, of which we &s;ee no end our &s;elves, yet there is a determi|ned
<PB N="675" REF="355">future in God, which &s;hall be made pre&s;ent, we &s;hall overcome this contempt, and <HI>Gloriabimur,</HI> and <HI>Laudabimur,</HI> we &s;hall Glory, we &s;hall be celebrated; In which future, the con&s;olation is thus much farther exalted, that it is an everla&s;ting future; the glory, and prai&s;e, the approbation, and acclamation, which we &s;hall receive from good men, here, &s;hall flow out and continue, to the <HI>Ho&s;annaes</HI> in Heaven, in the mouth of Saints, and An|gels, and to the <HI>Euge bone &s;erve, Well done, good and faithfull Servant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.21.</NOTE> in the mouth of God him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, God propo&s;es to him&s;elfe, (in his Rewards and Retributions) Per&s;ons;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Per&s;onae qua|lificatae.</NOTE> Per&s;ons di&s;po&s;ed and qualified. Not di&s;po&s;ed by nature, without u&s;e of grace; that is flat and full Pelagiani&s;me; Not di&s;po&s;ed by preventing grace, without u&s;e of &s;ub&s;equent grace, by Antecedent and anticipant, without concomitant and auxiliant grace; that is Semi-pelagiani&s;me. But per&s;ons ob&s;equious to his grace, when it comes, and per&s;ons in|du&s;trious and ambitious of more and more grace, and husbanding his grace well all the way, &s;uch per&s;ons God propo&s;es to him&s;elfe. God does not onely reade his own works, nor is he onely delighted with that which he hath writ him&s;elfe, with his own eternall Decrees in heaven, but he loves al&s;o to reade our books too, our hi&s;tories which we com|po&s;e in our lives and actions, and as <HI>his delight is to be with the &s;onnes of men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 8.31. Ephe&s;. 3.7.</NOTE> &s;o his &s;tudy is in this Library, to know what we doe. S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>That God made him a Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel, to preach to the Gentils, to the intent that the Angels might know the manifold wi&s;dome of God by the Church;</HI> That is, by that that was done in the Church. The Angels &s;aw God; Did they not &s;ee the&s;e things in God? No; for, <HI>The&s;e things were hid in God,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle there; And the Angels &s;ee no more in God, then God reveales unto them; and the&s;e things of the Church, God re&s;erved to a future, and to an experimentall knowledge, to be knowne then when they were done in the Church. So there are De|crees in God, but they are hid in God; To this purpo&s;e and entendment, and in this &s;en&s;e, hid from God him&s;elfe, that God accepts or condemnes Man <HI>Secundum allegata &amp; Pro|bata,</HI> according to the Evidence that ari&s;es from us, and not according to tho&s;e Records that are hid in him&s;elfe. Our actions and his Records agree; we doe tho&s;e things which he hath Decreed; but onely our doing them, and not his Decreeing them, hath the na|ture of evidence. God does not Reward, nor Condemne out of his Decrees, but out of our actions. God &s;ent downe his Commi&s;&s;ioners the Angels to Sodome, to inquire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.17. Gen. 3.9.</NOTE> and to informe him how things went. God goes down him&s;elfe to inquire, and informe him|&s;elfe, how it &s;tood with <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Eve.</HI> Not that God was ever ignorant of any thing concerning us, but that God would prevent that dangerous imagination in every man, That God &s;hould fir&s;t meane to de&s;troy him, and then to make him, that he might de|&s;troy him, without having any evidence again&s;t him. For God made man <HI>Ad imaginem &s;uam,</HI> To his owne Image. If he had made him under an inevitable, and irre&s;i&s;tible ne|ce&s;&s;ity of damnation, he had made him <HI>Ad Imaginem Diabolicam,</HI> to the Image of the Devill, and not to his own. God goes not out as a Fowler, that for his plea&s;ure and re|creation, or for his commodity, or commendation, would kill, and therefore &s;eeks out game that he may kill it; It is not God <HI>that &s;eeks whom he may devoure:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 5.8.</NOTE> But God &s;ees the Vulture tearing his Chickens, or other birds picking his Corne, or pecking his fruit, and then when they are in that mi&s;chievous action, God takes his bowe and &s;hoots them for that. When God condemns a man, he propo&s;es not that man to him&s;elfe, as he meant to make him, and as he did make him, but as by his &s;innes he hath made him&s;elfe. At the fir&s;t Creation, God looked upon nothing; there was nothing; But ever &s;ince there have been Creatures, God hath looked upon the Creature: and as <HI>Adam</HI> gave every Crea|ture the Name, according as he &s;aw the Nature thereof to be; &s;o God gives every man reward or puni&s;hment, the name of a Saint or a Devill, in his purpo&s;e, as he &s;ees him a good or a bad u&s;er of his graces. When I &s;hall come to the &s;ight of the Booke of life, and the Records of heaven, among&s;t the Reprobate, I &s;hall never &s;ee the name of <HI>Cain</HI> a|lone, but <HI>Cain</HI> with his addition, <HI>Cain that killed his brother;</HI> Nor <HI>Iudas</HI> name alone; but <HI>Iudas</HI> with his addition, <HI>Iudas that betrayed his Ma&s;ter.</HI> God does not begin with a <HI>morte moriendum,</HI> &s;ome body mu&s;t die, and therefore I will make &s;ome body to kill; But God came to a <HI>morte morieris,</HI> yet thou art alive, and maye&s;t live, but if thou wilt rebell, thou mu&s;t die. God did not call up feavers, and pe&s;tilence, and con&s;umptions, and fire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 26.16.</NOTE> and famine, and warre, and then make man, that he might throw him into their mouths, but when man threw downe him&s;elfe, God let him fall into their mouths. Had I never
<PB N="676" REF="356">&s;inned in wantonne&s;&s;e, I &s;hould never have had con&s;umption; nor feaver, if I had not &s;in|ned in Riot; nor death, if I had not tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed again&s;t the Lord of life. If God be plea|&s;ed to looke upon me, at the la&s;t day, as I am renewed in Chri&s;t, I am &s;afe. But if God &s;hould looke upon me, (as he made me) in <HI>Adam,</HI> I could not be un-acceptable in his &s;ight, except he looked farther, and &s;aw me in mine own, or in <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in. I would ne|ver wi&s;h my &s;elfe better, then God wi&s;hed me at fir&s;t; no, nor then God wi&s;hes me now, as manifold a &s;inner as he &s;ees me now, if yet I would conforme my will to his. God looks upon per&s;ons; per&s;ons &s;o conditioned as they were, which was our fir&s;t branch, in this fir&s;t part; and our &s;econd is, That he delights to propo&s;e to him&s;elfe Per&s;ons that are capable of his rewards; for he mentions no others in this place, <HI>All that are upright in heart.</HI></P>
<P>The fir&s;t thing that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> names to have been made,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;i&s;tit in bo|nis.</NOTE> was Heaven, <HI>(In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth)</HI> And infinite millions of generations before this Heaven was made, there was a Heaven, an eternall emanation of beams of glory, from the pre|&s;ence of God. But <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> tells us of no Hell made at the Creation; And before the Crea|tion, &s;uch a Hell, as there was a Heaven, there could not be; for, the pre&s;ence of God made Heaven; and God was equally pre&s;ent every where. And they who have multi|plied Hells unto us, and made more Hells then God hath made, more by their two Lim|boes, (one for Fathers, another for Children) and one Purgatory, have yet made their new Hells, more of the nature of Heaven then of Hell. For, in one of their Limboes, (that of the Fathers) and in their Purgatory, there is in them, who are there, an infalli|ble a&s;&s;urance of Heaven, They that are there, are infallibly a&s;&s;ured to come to Heaven; And an a&s;&s;urance of &s;alvation will hardly con&s;i&s;t with Hell; He that is &s;ure to come to Heaven, can hardly be &s;aid to be in Hell.</P>
<P>God was loath and late in making places of torment; He is loath to &s;peake of Judge|ments, or of tho&s;e that extort Judgements from him. How plentifully, how abundantly is the word <HI>Beatus, Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> multiplied in the Booke of P&s;almes? Ble&s;&s;ed, and Ble&s;&s;ed in every P&s;alme, in every Ver&s;e; The Booke &s;eems to be made out of that word, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> And the foundation ray&s;ed upon that word, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> for it is the fir&s;t word of the Booke. But in all the Booke, there is not one <HI>Vae,</HI> not one <HI>woe,</HI> &s;o denounced; Not one <HI>woe,</HI> upon any &s;oule in that Booke. And when this <HI>Vae,</HI> this <HI>woe</HI> is denounced in &s;ome other of the Prophets, it is very often <HI>Vox dolentis,</HI> and not <HI>Increpantis,</HI> That <HI>Vae,</HI> that <HI>woe,</HI> is a voyce of compa&s;&s;ion in him that &s;peaks it, and not of de&s;truction to them to whom it is &s;poken. God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 9.1.</NOTE> in the per&s;on of <HI>Ieremy,</HI> weeps in contemplation of the calamities threatned, <HI>Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountaine of teares, that I might weepe day and night for the &s;laine of the Daughter of my people.</HI> It is God that was their Father, and it is God, their God that &s;lew them; but yet, that God, their Father weepes over the &s;laughter. So in the per&s;on of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 16.9.</NOTE> God weeps againe, <HI>I will bewaile thee with weeping, and I will water thee with teares.</HI> And without putting on the per&s;on of any man, God him&s;elfe a|vowes his &s;ighing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 1.24.</NOTE> when he comes to name Judgements, <HI>Heu, vindicabor, Alas, I will re|venge me of mine enemies;</HI> And he &s;ighs, when he comes but to name their &s;innes, <HI>Heu abominationes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.11.</NOTE> <HI>Alas, for all the evill abominations of the hou&s;e of I&s;rael.</HI> As though God had contracted an Irregularity, by having to doe in a cau&s;e of blood, He &s;ighs, he weeps when he mu&s;t draw blood from them. God delights to in&s;titute his di&s;cour&s;es, and to take, and to make his Examples, from men that &s;tand in &s;tate of grace, and are capable of his Mercies, and his Retributions, as here in this Text, he names onely tho&s;e, who are <HI>Recti corde, The upright in heart,</HI> They &s;hall be con&s;idered, rewarded.</P>
<P>The di&s;po&s;ition that God propo&s;es here in tho&s;e per&s;ons,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Recti.</NOTE> whom he con&s;iders, is Re|ctitude, Uprightne&s;&s;e, and Directne&s;&s;e. God hath given Man that forme in nature, much more in grace, that he &s;hould be upright, and looke up, and contemplate Heaven, and God there. And therefore to bend downwards upon the earth, to fix our brea&s;t, our heart to the earth, to lick the du&s;t of the earth with the Serpent, to inhere upon the profits and plea&s;ures of the earth, and to make that which God intended for our way, and our ri&s;e to heaven, (the ble&s;&s;ings of this world) the way to hell; this is a manife&s;t Declination from this Uprightne&s;&s;e, from this Rectitude. Nay, to goe &s;o far towards the love of the earth, as to be in love with the grave, to be impatient of the calamities of this life, and murmur at Gods detaining us in this pri&s;on, to &s;inke into a &s;ordid melancholy, or irreligious de|jection of &s;pirit; this is al&s;o a Declination from this Rectitude, this Uprightne&s;&s;e. So is it
<PB N="677" REF="356">too, to decline towards the left hand, to Modifications, and Tempori&s;ings in matter or forme of Religion, and to thinke all indifferent, all one; or to decline towards the right hand, in an over-vehement zeale, To pardon no errors, to abate nothing of here&s;ie, if a man beleeve not all, and ju&s;t all that we beleeve; To abate nothing of Reprobation, if a man live not ju&s;t as we live; this is al&s;o a Diver&s;ion, a Deviation, a Deflection, a Defecti|on from this Rectitude, this Uprightne&s;&s;e. For, the word of this Text, <HI>Ia&s;har,</HI> &s;ignifies <HI>Rectitudinem,</HI> and <HI>Planiciem;</HI> It &s;ignifies a direct way; for, the Devils way was Circular, Compa&s;&s;ing the Earth; But the Angels way to heaven upon <HI>Iacobs</HI> ladder, was a &s;traight, a direct way. And then it &s;ignifies, as a direct and &s;traight, &s;o a plaine, a &s;mooth, an even way, a way that hath been beaten into a path before, a way that the Fathers, and the Church have walked in before, and not a di&s;covery made by our curio&s;ity, or our con|fidence, in venturing from our &s;elves, or embracing from others, new doctrines and opinions.</P>
<P>The per&s;ons then, whom God propo&s;es here to be partakers of his Retributions,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Recti Corde.</NOTE> are fir&s;t <HI>Recti,</HI> (that is, both Direct men, and Plaine men) and then <HI>recti corde,</HI> this qualifica|tion, this &s;traightne&s;&s;e, and &s;moothne&s;&s;e mu&s;t be in the heart; All the upright in heart &s;hall have it. Upon this earth, a man cannot po&s;&s;ibly make one &s;tep in a &s;traight, and a direct line. The earth it &s;elfe being round, every &s;tep wee make upon it, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily bee a &s;egment, an arch of a circle. But yet though no piece of a circle be a &s;traight line, yet if we take any piece, nay if wee take the whole circle, there is no corner, no angle in any piece, in any intire circle. A perfectt rectitude we cannot have in any wayes in this world; In every Calling there are &s;ome inevitable tentations. But, though wee cannot make up our circle of a &s;traight line, (that is impo&s;&s;ible to humane frailty) yet wee may pa&s;&s;e on, without angles, and corners, that is, without di&s;gui&s;es in our Religion, and without the love of craft, and fal&s;ehood, and circumvention in our civill actions. A Compa&s;&s;e is a nece&s;&s;ary thing in a Ship, and the helpe of that Compa&s;&s;e brings the Ship home &s;afe, and yet that Compa&s;&s;e hath &s;ome variations, it doth not looke directly North; Neither is that &s;tarre which we call the North-pole, or by which we know the North-pole, the very Pole it &s;elfe; but we call it &s;o, and we make our u&s;es of it, and our conclu&s;ions by it, as if it were &s;o, becau&s;e it is the neere&s;t &s;tarre to that Pole. He that comes as neere upright|ne&s;&s;e, as infirmities admit, is an upright man, though he have &s;ome obliquities. To God him&s;elfe we may alwayes go in a direct line, a &s;traight, a perpendicular line; For God is verticall to me, over my head now, and verticall now to them, that are in the Ea&s;t, and We&s;t-Indies; To our Antipodes, to them that are under our feet, God is verticall, over their heads, then when he is over ours.</P>
<P>To come to God there is a &s;traight line for every man every where: But this we doe not, if we come not with our heart. <HI>Praebe mihi fili cor tuum,</HI> &s;aith God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 23.26.</NOTE> <HI>My &s;onne give me thy heart.</HI> Was hee his &s;onne, and had hee not his heart? That may very well bee. There is a filiation without the heart; not &s;uch a filiation, as &s;hall ever make him parta|ker of the inheritance, but yet a filiation. The a&s;&s;ociating our &s;elves to the &s;onnes of God, in an outward profe&s;&s;ion of Religion, makes us &s;o farre the &s;onnes of God, as that the judgement of man cannot, and the judgement of God doth not di&s;tingui&s;h them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 1.6.</NOTE> Be|cau&s;e, then when the &s;onnes of God &s;tood in his pre&s;ence, Satan &s;tood among&s;t the &s;ons of God; God doth not di&s;avow him, God doth not excommunicate him, God makes his u&s;e of him, and yet God knew his heart was farre from him. So, when God was in Councell with his Angels, about <HI>Ahabs</HI> going up to Ramoth Gilead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 22.22.</NOTE> A &s;pirit came forth and offered his &s;ervice, and God refu&s;es not his &s;ervice, but employes him, though hee knew his heart to be farre from him. So, no doubt, many times, they to whom God hath committed &s;upreme government, and they who receive beames of this power by &s;ubordination, and delegation from them, they &s;ee Satan among&s;t the &s;onnes of God, hypocrites and impiou&s;ly di&s;po&s;ed men come into the&s;e places of holy convocation, and they &s;uffer them, nay they employ them, nay they preferre them, and yet they know their hearts are farre from them; but as long as they &s;tand among&s;t the &s;onnes of God, that is, appeare and conforme them&s;elves in the outward acts of Religion, they are not di&s;avowed, they are not ejected: by us here, they are not. But how&s;oever wee date our Excommunications again&s;t them, but from an overt act, and apparant di&s;obedience, yet in the Records of heaven, they &s;hall meet an Excommunication, and a conviction of Re|cu&s;ancy, that &s;hall beare date from that day, when they came fir&s;t to Church, with that
<PB N="678" REF="357">purpo&s;e to delude the Congregation, to elude the lawes in that behalfe provided, to ad|vance their treacherous de&s;ignes by &s;uch di&s;gui&s;es, or upon what other collaterall and indirect occa&s;ion &s;oever, men come to this place: for, though they bee in the right way, when they are here, at Church, yet becau&s;e they are not upright in heart, therefore that right way brings not them to the right end.</P>
<P>And that is it which <HI>David</HI> lookes upon in God, and de&s;ires that God &s;hould looke upon in him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 7.21.</NOTE> (<HI>According to thine owne heart,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David</HI> to God, <HI>ha&s;t thou done all the&s;e great things unto us</HI>) (For, &s;ometimes God doth give temporall ble&s;&s;ings to men, upon whom he hath not &s;et his heart) And then in the 27. Ver&s;e he &s;ayes, (<HI>Therefore hath thy &s;ervant found in his heart, to pray this prayer unto thee</HI>) If he had onely found it in the Li|turgy, and in the manner of the Service of that Church, to which hee came with an ill will, and again&s;t his heart, he would not have prayed that prayer, nay he would not have come to that Church.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.11. 40.10.</NOTE> For, though <HI>David</HI> place a great joy in that, (<HI>That he can come to prai&s;e God in the Congregation, and in the great Congregation</HI>) And though <HI>David</HI> &s;eeme even to determine Gods pre&s;ence in the Church, (for he multiplies that expo&s;tulation, that adprecation many times, <HI>When &s;hall I come, in con&s;pectum tuum, into thy pre&s;ence?</HI> And, <HI>Re&s;tore me, O Lord, con&s;pectui tuo, to thy pre&s;ence,</HI> Hee was not right, not in the right way, if he came not to Church) yet there is a ca&s;e in which <HI>David</HI> glories in, though (as hee &s;aith there) <HI>In corde meo ab&s;condi eloquium tuum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.11.</NOTE> <HI>Thy word have I hidden,</HI> locked up, <HI>in my heart.</HI> Though in another, in many other places, he rejoyce in that, (<HI>I have not hid thy righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in my heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 40.10.</NOTE> <HI>I have not concealed thy truth from the great Congregation</HI>) yet here he glories in his <HI>Ab&s;condi,</HI> I have hid it. Which, (as both S. <HI>Hilary,</HI> and S. <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI> referre it to a di&s;creet and &s;ea&s;onable &s;uppre&s;&s;ing of the my&s;teries of Religion, and not to ca&s;t pearles before &s;wine) may al&s;o inferre this In&s;truction; That a man were bet|ter &s;erve God at home, (though not in &s;o right a way, if he thinke it right) then to come hither again&s;t his heart, and con&s;cience. Not, but that there is better meanes of receiving good here, then at home in private prayer, (though made the right way) But his end in comming is not to make this meanes his way to that good; And therefore his very being here, (though hee be thereby in the right way) becau&s;e it comes not from an up|right heart, as it is a greater danger to us, who are deluded by their hypocriticall confor|mity, &s;o is it a greater &s;inne to them, who come &s;o again&s;t their con&s;cience. <HI>David</HI> prayes thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.19.</NOTE> <HI>Incola &s;um, ne ab&s;condas, I am a &s;tranger, hide not thy commandements from mee,</HI> (Let me not be a &s;tranger at Church, at thy Service.) And &s;o it behooves us to pray too, That tho&s;e Doores, and tho&s;e Books may alwayes bee open unto us; But yet I will &s;ay with <HI>David</HI> too, <HI>Ab&s;condam eloquium,</HI> where I am a &s;tranger, and in a place of &s;trange, and &s;u|per&s;titious wor&s;hip, I will hide my religion &s;o farre, as not to communicate with others, in a &s;ervice again&s;t my heart; It is not &s;afe for us to tru&s;t our &s;elves at a &s;uper&s;titious Ser|vice, though curio&s;ity, or company, or dependency upon others draw us thither; nei|ther is it &s;afe to tru&s;t all that come hither, if their hearts be not here. For the Retributi|on of our Text, that is, Thanks and Prai&s;e, belongs onely to them, who are Right, and Right of heart, and to them it is made due, and infallible, by this promi&s;e from God, and made univer&s;all, <HI>Omnes, All the upright in heart &s;hall glory.</HI></P>
<P>How often God admits into his owne Name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnes.</NOTE> this addition of Univer&s;ality, <HI>Omne, All,</HI> as though he would be knowne by that e&s;pecially. He is Omnipotent, There he can doe All; He is Omni&s;cient, There he can know All; Hee is Omnipre&s;ent, There he can direct All. Neither doth God extend him&s;elfe to all, that he may gather from all, but that he may gather all, and all might meet in him, and enjoy him. So, God is all Center, as that hee looks to all, and &s;o, all circumference, as that hee embraces all. The Sunne works upon things that he &s;ees not, (as Mynes in the wombe of the earth) and &s;o works the le&s;&s;e perfectly. God &s;ees all, and works upon all, and de&s;ires perfection in all. There is no one word &s;o often in the Bible, as this, <HI>Omne, All.</HI> Neither hath God &s;pread the word more liberally upon all the lines of this Booke, then he hath his gracious purpo&s;es upon all the &s;oules of men. And therefore, to withdraw Gods generall goodne&s;&s;e out of his generall propo&s;itions, That he would have all repent, That he came to &s;ave all, is to contract and abridge God him&s;elfe, in his mo&s;t exten&s;ive Attribute, or Denotation, that is, his Mercy: And as there is a cur&s;e laid upon them, that take away any part, any pro|po&s;ition out of this Booke, &s;o may there be a cur&s;e, or an ill affection, and countenance and &s;u&s;picion from God, that pre&s;&s;es any of his generall propo&s;itions to a narrower, and
<PB N="679" REF="357">le&s;&s;e gracious &s;en&s;e then God meant in it. It were as ea&s;ily beleeved, that God lookes towards no man, as that there &s;hould be any man (in whom he &s;ees, that is, con&s;iders no &s;in) that he lookes not towards. I could as ea&s;ily doubt of the univer&s;all providence of God, as of the univer&s;all mercy of God, if man continued not in rebellion, and in oppo|&s;ition. If I can &s;ay, by way of confe&s;&s;ion, and accu&s;ing my &s;elfe, Lord, my wayes have not beene right, nor my heart right, there is yet mercy for mee. But, to them who have &s;tudied and accu&s;tomed them&s;elves to this uprightne&s;&s;e of heart, there is mercy in that exaltation, mercy in the nature of a Reward, of a Retribution; And this Retri|bution expre&s;&s;ed here, in this word <HI>Glory,</HI> con&s;titutes our &s;econd Part, <HI>All the upright in heart &s;hall Glory.</HI></P>
<P>This Retribution is expre&s;&s;ed in the Originall, in the word <HI>Halal;</HI> And <HI>Halal,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Laus.</HI></NOTE> to tho&s;e Tran&s;lators that made up our Booke of Common Prayer, pre&s;ented the &s;ignification of <HI>Gladne&s;&s;e,</HI> for &s;o it is there, <HI>They &s;hall be glad;</HI> So it did to the Tran&s;lators that came after, for there it is, <HI>They &s;hall rejoyce;</HI> And to our la&s;t Tran&s;lators it &s;eemed to &s;ignifie <HI>Glory, They &s;hall Glory,</HI> &s;ay they. But the fir&s;t Tran&s;lation of all into our Language (which was long before any of the&s;e three) cals it <HI>Prai&s;e,</HI> and puts it in the Pa&s;&s;ive, <HI>All men of rightfull heart &s;hall be prai&s;ed.</HI> He followed S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> who reads it &s;o, and interprets it &s;o, in the Pa&s;&s;ive, <HI>Laudabuntur, They &s;hall be prai&s;ed.</HI> And &s;o truly <HI>Iithhalelu,</HI> in the Original, beares it, nay requires it; which is not of a prai&s;e that they &s;hall give to God, but of a prai&s;e, that they &s;hall receive for having &s;erved God with an upright heart; not that they &s;hall prai&s;e God in doing &s;o, but that godly men &s;hall prai&s;e them for having done &s;o. All this will grow naturally out of the roote; for, the roote of this word, is <HI>Lucere, Splendere,</HI> To &s;hine out in the eyes of men, and to create in them a holy and a reverentiall admiration, as it was <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;ts</HI> prai&s;e, That he was <HI>A burning, and a &s;hining Lampe.</HI> Properly it is, by a good and a holy exemplary life, to occa&s;ion others to &s;et a right value upon Holi|ne&s;&s;e, and to give a due re&s;pect to holy men. For &s;o, where we read,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.63.</NOTE> <HI>Their Maidens were not given in Marriage,</HI> we finde this word of our Text, <HI>Their Maidens were not prai&s;ed,</HI> that is, there was not a due re&s;pect held of them, nor a ju&s;t value &s;et upon them.</P>
<P>So that, this retribution intended for the upright in heart, as in the growth and exten|&s;ion of the word, it reaches to Joy, and Glory, and Eminency, and Re&s;pect, &s;o in the roote, it &s;ignifies Prai&s;e; And it is given them by God, as a Reward, That they &s;hall be <HI>Prai&s;ed;</HI> now, Prai&s;e (&s;ayes the Philo&s;opher) is <HI>Sermo elucidans magnitudinem virtutis;</HI> It is the good word of good men, a good te&s;timony given by good men of good acti|ons. And this difference we u&s;e to a&s;&s;igne betweene Prai&s;e, and Honour, <HI>Laus e&s;t in ordine ad finem, Honor eorum qui jam in fine;</HI> Prai&s;e is an encouragement to them that are in the way, and &s;o far, a Reward, a Reward of good beginnings; Honour is re&s;erved to the end, to crowne their con&s;tancy, and per&s;everance. And therefore, where men are re|warded with great honours at the beginning, in hope they will de&s;erve it, they are paid beforehand. Thanks, and Grace, and good countenance, and Prai&s;e, are interlocutory encouragements, Honours are finall Rewards. But, &s;ince Prai&s;e is a part of Gods retri|bution, a part of his promi&s;e in our text, <HI>They &s;hall be prai&s;ed,</HI> we are thereby not onely allowed, but bound to &s;eeke this prai&s;e from good men, and to give this prai&s;e to good men; for, in this Coine God hath promi&s;ed, that the upright in heart &s;hall be paid, <HI>They &s;hall be prai&s;ed.</HI></P>
<P>To &s;eeke prai&s;e from good men, by good meanes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Laus &agrave; bonis quaerenda. <HI>Prov. 22.1. Bernar.</HI></NOTE> is but the &s;ame thing which is re|commended to us by <HI>Solomon, A good name is rather to be cho&s;en, then great riches, and lo|ving favour, then &s;ilver and Gold.</HI> For, <HI>Habent &amp; mores colores &s;uos, habent &amp; odores;</HI> Our good works have a colour, and they have a &s;avor; we &s;ee their Candor, their &s;incerity in our owne con&s;ciences, there is their colour; (for, in our owne con&s;ciences our works ap|peare in their true colours; no man can be an hypocrite to him&s;elfe, nor &s;eriou&s;ly, deli|berately deceive him&s;elfe) And, when others give allowance of our works, and are edi|fied by them, there is their &s;avour, their odor, their perfume, their fragrancy. And there|fore S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> and S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> differ little in their manner of expre&s;&s;ing this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> <HI>Non paratum habeas illud &egrave; trivio,</HI> Serve not thy &s;elfe with that triviall, and vulgar &s;aying, As long as my con&s;cience te&s;tifies well to me, I care not what men &s;ay of me;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> And &s;o &s;ayes that other Father, They that re&s;t in the te&s;timony of their owne con&s;ciences, and contemne the opinion of other men, <HI>Imprudenter agunt, &amp; crudeliter,</HI> They deale weakly, and improvidently for them&s;elves, in that they a&s;&s;i&s;t not their con&s;ciences, with more wit|ne&s;&s;es,
<PB N="680" REF="358">And they deale cruelly towards others, in that they provide not for their edifica|tion, by the knowledge and manife&s;tation of their good works. For, (as he adds well there) <HI>Qui &agrave; criminibus vitam cu&s;todit, bene facit,</HI> He that is innocent in his owne heart, does well for him&s;elfe, but <HI>Qui famam cu&s;todit, &amp; in alios mi&s;ericors e&s;t,</HI> He that is known to live well, he that hath the prai&s;e of good men, to bee a good man, is mercifull, in an exemplary life, to others, and promoves their &s;alvation. For, when that Father gives a mea&s;ure, how much prai&s;e a man may receive, and a rule, how he may receive it, when he hath fir&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Nec totum, nec nihil accipiatur,</HI> Receive not all, but yet refu&s;e not all prai&s;e, he adds this, That that which is to be received, is not to be received for our owne &s;akes, <HI>&s;ed propter illos, quibus con&s;ulere non pote&s;t, &s;i nimia dejectione vile&s;cat,</HI> but for their &s;akes, who would undervalue goodne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, if good men did too much undervalue them&s;elves, or thought them&s;elves never the better for their goodne&s;&s;e. And therefore S. <HI>Bernard</HI> applies that in the Proverbs to this ca&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 25.16.</NOTE> <HI>Ha&s;t thou found Honey? eate that which is &s;ufficient. Mellis nomine, favor humanae laudis,</HI> &s;ayes he, By Honey, favour, and prai&s;e, and thankfulne&s;&s;e is meant; <HI>Merit&oacute;que non ab omni, &s;ed ab immoderato edulio pro|hibemur,</HI> We are not forbid to ta&s;te, nor to eate, but to &s;urfet of this Honey, of this prai&s;e of men. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> found this love of prai&s;e in him&s;elfe, and could forbid it no man, <HI>Laudari &agrave; bene viventibus, &s;i dicam, nolo, mentior,</HI> If I &s;hould &s;ay, that I de&s;ired not the prai&s;e of good men, I &s;hould belie my &s;elfe. He carries it higher then thus; He does not doubt, but that the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves had a holy joy, and complacency, when their Preaching was acceptable, and thereby effectuall upon the Congregation. Such a love of prai&s;e is rooted in Nature; and Grace de&s;troyes not Nature; Grace extingui&s;hes not, but moderates this love of prai&s;e in us, nor takes away the matter, but onely exhi|bits the mea&s;ure. Certainly, he that hath not &s;ome de&s;ire of prai&s;e, will bee negligent in doing prai&s;e-worthy things; and negligent in another duty intended here too, that is, To prai&s;e good men, which is al&s;o another particular branch in this Part.</P>
<P>The hundred forty fift P&s;alme is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Laus danda aliis.</NOTE> in the Title thereof, called <HI>A P&s;alme of Prai&s;e;</HI> And the Rabbins call him <HI>Filium futuri Seculi,</HI> A child of the next World, that &s;ayes that P&s;alme thrice a day. We will interpret it, by way of Accommodation, thus, that he is a child of the next World, that directs his Prai&s;e every day, upon three objects, upon God, upon him&s;elfe, upon other men. Of God, there can be no que&s;tion; And for our &s;elves, it is truly the mo&s;t proper, and mo&s;t literall &s;ignification of this word in our Text, <HI>Iithhalelu,</HI> That they &s;hall prai&s;e them&s;elves, that is, They &s;hall have the te&s;timony of a rectified con&s;cience, that they have de&s;erved the prai&s;e of good men, in having done laudible &s;ervice to God. And then, for others, That which God promi&s;es to I&s;rael in their re&s;tauration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zephan. 3.19.</NOTE> belongs to all the I&s;rael of the Lord, to all the faithfull, <HI>I will get thee prai&s;e, and fame in every land, and I will make thee a name, and a prai&s;e amongst all the people of the earth.</HI> This, God will doe; procure them a name, a glory: By whom? When God bindes him&s;elfe, he takes us into the band with him, and when God makes him&s;elfe the debtor, he makes us &s;tewards; when he promi&s;es them prai&s;e, he meanes that we &s;hould give them that prai&s;e. Be all waies of flatterings, and humourings of great per&s;ons pre|cluded with a Prote&s;tation, with a dete&s;tation; Be <HI>Philo Iudaeus</HI> his compari&s;on received, His <HI>Coquus,</HI> and his <HI>Medicus,</HI> One provides &s;weetne&s;&s;e for the pre&s;ent ta&s;te, but he is but a Cooke, The other is a Phy&s;itian, and though by bitter things, provides for thy future health; And &s;uch is the hony of Flatterers, and &s;uch is the wormewood of better Coun|&s;ellors. I will not &s;hake a Proverbe, not the <HI>Ad Corvos,</HI> That wee were better admit the Crowes, that picke out our eyes, after we are dead, then Flatterers that blinde us, whil&s;t we live; I ca&s;t ju&s;tly upon others, I take willingly upon my &s;elfe, the name of wicked, (if I ble&s;&s;e the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth) or any other whom he hath declared to be odious to him. But making my object goodne&s;&s;e in that man, and taking that goodne&s;&s;e in that man, to be a Candle, &s;et up by God in that Candle&s;ticke, God ha|ving engaged him&s;elfe, that that good man &s;hall be prai&s;ed, I will be a Sub&s;idy man &s;o far, &s;o far pay Gods debts, as to celebrate with condigne prai&s;e the goodne&s;&s;e of that man; for, in that, I doe, as I &s;hould de&s;ire to be done to, And in that, I pay a debt to that man, And in that I &s;uccour their weakne&s;&s;e, who, (as S. <HI>Gregory</HI> &s;ayes) when they heare another prai&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Greg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">r.</NOTE> <HI>Si non amore virtutis, at delectatione laudis accenduntur,</HI> At fir&s;t for the love of Prai&s;e, but after, for the love of goodne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, are drawne to bee good.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.8.</NOTE> For, when the Apo&s;tle had directed the Philippians upon things that were <HI>True,</HI>
<PB N="681" REF="358">and <HI>hone&s;t,</HI> and <HI>ju&s;t,</HI> and <HI>purc,</HI> and <HI>lovely,</HI> and <HI>of a good report,</HI> he ends all thus, <HI>If there be any vertue, and if there be any prai&s;e, thinke on the&s;e things.</HI> In tho&s;e two &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> he di|vides all, Vertue, and Prai&s;e; Vertue in our &s;elves, that may de&s;erve Prai&s;e; Prai&s;e towards others, that may advance and propagate Vertue. This is the retribution which God pro|mi&s;es to all the upright in heart, <HI>Gloriabuntur, Laudabuntur,</HI> They &s;hall Glory, they &s;hall have, they &s;hall give prai&s;e. And then it is &s;o far from dimini&s;hing this Glory, as that it infinitely exalts our con&s;olation, that God places this Retribution in the future, <HI>Gloria|buntur,</HI> If they doe not yet, yet certainly they &s;hall glory, And if they doe now, that glory &s;hall not goe out, &s;till they &s;hall, they &s;hall for ever glory.</P>
<P>In the Hebrew there is no Pre&s;ent ten&s;e; In that language wherein God &s;pake,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Futurum.</NOTE> it could not be &s;aid, <HI>The upright in heart, Are prai&s;ed;</HI> Many times they are not. But God &s;peaks in the future; fir&s;t, that he may &s;till keepe his Children in an expectation and de|pendance upon him, (you &s;hall be, though you be not yet) And then, to e&s;tabli&s;h them in an infallibility, becau&s;e he hath &s;aid it, (I know you are not yet, but comfort your &s;elves, I have &s;aid it, and it &s;hall be.) As the Hebrew hath no Superlatives, becau&s;e God would keepe his Children within compa&s;&s;e, and in moderate de&s;ires, to content them|&s;elves with his mea&s;ures, though they be not great, and though they be not heaped; &s;o, con&s;idering what pre&s;&s;ures, and contempts, and terrors, the upright in heart are &s;ubject to, it is a ble&s;&s;ed reliefe, That they have a future propo&s;ed unto them, That they &s;hall be prai&s;ed, That they &s;hall be redeemed out of contempt. This makes even the Expectati|on it &s;elfe as &s;weet to them, as the fruition would be. This makes them, that when <HI>Da|vid</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Expecta viriliter,</HI> Waite upon the Lord with a good courage; Waite, I &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 27.14.</NOTE> upon the Lord, they doe not an&s;wer with the impatience of the Martyrs under the Al|tar, <HI>V&s;quequo,</HI> How long, Lord, wilt thou defer it?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 6.10. P&s;al. 40.1. P&s;al. 52.9.</NOTE> But they an&s;wer in <HI>Davids</HI> owne words, <HI>Expectans expectavi,</HI> I have waited long, And, <HI>Expectabo nomen tuum,</HI> &s;till I will waite upon thy Name; I will waite till the Lord come; His kingdome come in the mean time, His kingdome of Grace, and Patience; and for his Ea&s;e, and his Deliverance, and his Prai&s;e, and his Glory to me, let that come, when he may be mo&s;t glorified in the comming thereof. Nay, not onely the Expectation, (that is, that that is expected) &s;hall be comfortable, becau&s;e it &s;hall be infallible, but that very pre&s;ent &s;tate that he is in, &s;hall be comfortable, according to the fir&s;t of our three Tran&s;lations, <HI>They that are true of heart, &s;hall be glad thereof;</HI> Glad of that; Glad that they are true of heart, though their future retribution were never &s;o far removed; Nay, though there were no future retri|bution in the ca&s;e, yet they &s;hall finde comfort enough in their pre&s;ent Integrity. Nay, not onely their pre&s;ent &s;tate of Integrity, but their pre&s;ent &s;tate of mi&s;ery, &s;hall be com|fortable to them; for this very word of our Text, <HI>Halal,</HI> that is here tran&s;lated <HI>Ioy,</HI> and <HI>Glory,</HI> and <HI>Prai&s;e,</HI> in divers places of Scripture, (as Hebrew words have often &s;uch a tran&s;|plantation) &s;ignifies <HI>Ingloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>contempt,</HI> and <HI>dejection of &s;pirit;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 75.4. E&s;a. 44.25. Job 12.17.</NOTE> So that Inglori|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and contempt, and dejection of &s;pirit, may be a part of the retribution; God may make Ingloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and Contempt, and Dejection of &s;pirit, a greater ble&s;&s;ing and benefit, then Joy, and Glory, and Prai&s;e would have been; and &s;o re&s;erve all this Glory and Prai&s;ing to that time, that <HI>David</HI> intends,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 112.6.</NOTE> <HI>The righteous &s;hall be in everla&s;ting remem|brance.</HI> Though they live and die contemptibly, they &s;hall be in an honorable remem|brance, even among&s;t men, as long as men la&s;t, and even when time &s;hall be no more, and men no more, they &s;hall have it in <HI>futuro aeterno;</HI> where there &s;hall be an everla&s;ting pre&s;ent, and an everla&s;ting future, there <HI>the upright in heart &s;hall be prai&s;ed,</HI> and that for ever, which is our conclu&s;ion of all.</P>
<P>If this word of our Text, <HI>Halal,</HI> &s;hall &s;ignifie <HI>Ioy,</HI> (as the Service Booke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aeternum.</NOTE> and the Gene|va tran&s;lation render it) that may be &s;omewhat towards enough, which we had occa&s;ion to &s;ay of the Joyes of heaven, in our Exerci&s;e upon the precedent P&s;alme, when we &s;ay-led thorough that Hemi&s;pheare of Heaven, by the breath of the Holy Gho&s;t, in handling tho&s;e words, <HI>Vnder the &s;hadow of thy wings I will rejoyce.</HI> So that, of this &s;ignification of the word, <HI>Gaudebunt in aeterno,</HI> They &s;hall rejoyce for ever, we adde nothing now. If the word &s;hall &s;ignifie <HI>Glory,</HI> (as our la&s;t tran&s;lation renders it) con&s;ider with me, That when that Glory which I &s;hall receive in Heaven, &s;hall be of that exaltation, as that my body &s;hall inve&s;t the glory of a &s;oule, (my body &s;hall be like a &s;oule, like a &s;pirit, like an Angel of light, in all endowments that glory it &s;elfe can make that body capable of, that body remaining &s;till a true body) when my body &s;hall be like a &s;oule, there will be
<PB N="682" REF="359">nothing left for my &s;oule to be like but God him&s;elfe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4. 1 Cor. 6.17.</NOTE> <HI>I &s;hall be partaker of the Divine nature, and the &s;ame Spirit with him.</HI> Since the glory that I &s;hall receive in body, and in &s;oule, &s;hall be &s;uch, &s;o exalted, what &s;hall that glory of God be, which I &s;hall &s;ee by the light of this glory &s;hed upon me there? In this place, and at this time the glory of God is; but we lack that light to &s;ee it by. When my &s;oule and body are glorified in heaven, by that light of glory in me, I &s;hall &s;ee the glory of God. But then, what mu&s;t that glo|ry of the E&s;&s;ence of God be, which I &s;hall &s;ee thorough the light of Gods own glory? I mu&s;t have the light of glory upon me, to &s;ee the glory of God, and then by his glory I &s;hall &s;ee his E&s;&s;ence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.33.</NOTE> When S. <HI>Paul</HI> cryes out upon the bottomle&s;&s;e depth of the riches of his Attributes, (<HI>O the depth of the riches, both of the wi&s;edome and knowledge of God!</HI>) how glorious, how bottomle&s;&s;e is the riches of his E&s;&s;ence? If I cannot look upon him in his gla&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 13.12. 1 Joh. 3.2.</NOTE> in the body of the Sunne, how &s;hall I looke upon him <HI>face to face?</HI> And if I be dazeled to &s;ee him as he works, how &s;hall I &s;ee him, <HI>Sicutie&s;t, as he is,</HI> and in his E&s;|&s;ence? But it may be &s;ome ea&s;e to our &s;pirits, (which cannot endure the &s;earch of this glory of heaven, which &s;hall &s;hew us the very E&s;&s;ence of God) to take this word of our Text, as our fir&s;t tran&s;lation of all tooke it, for one beame of this glory, that is <HI>Prai&s;e;</HI> Con&s;ider we therefore this everla&s;ting future onely &s;o, How the upright in heart &s;hall be prai&s;ed in heaven.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The Militant Church &s;hall tran&s;mit me to the Triumphant, with her recommen|dation, That I lived in the obedience of the Church of God, That I dyed in the faith of the Sonne of God, That I departed and went away from them, in the company and con|duct of the Spirit of God, into who&s;e hands they heard me, they &s;aw me recommend my &s;pirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.19.</NOTE> And that I left my body, which was <HI>the Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> to them, and that they have placed it in Gods trea&s;ury, in his con&s;ecrated earth, to attend the Re&s;urrection, which they &s;hall be&s;eech him to ha&s;ten for my &s;ake, and to make it joyfull and glorious to me, and them, when it comes. So the Militant Church &s;hall tran&s;mit me to the Trium|phant, with this prai&s;e, this te&s;timony, this recommendation. And then, if I have done any good to any of Gods &s;ervants, (or to any that hath not been Gods &s;ervant, for Gods &s;ake) If I have but fed a hungry man, If I have but clothed a naked childe, If I have but comforted a &s;ad &s;oule, or in&s;tructed an ignorant &s;oule, If I have but preached a Sermon, and then printed that Sermon, that is, fir&s;t preached it, and then lived according to it, (for the &s;ub&s;equent life is the be&s;t printing, and the mo&s;t u&s;efull and profitable publi&s;h|ing of a Sermon) All tho&s;e things that I have done for Gods glory, &s;hall follow me, &s;hall accompany me, &s;hall be in heaven before me, and meet me with their te&s;timony, That as I did not &s;erve God for nothing, (God gave me his ble&s;&s;ings with a large hand, and in overflowing mea&s;ures) &s;o I did not nothing for the &s;ervice of God; Though it be as it ought to be, nothing in mine own eyes, nothing in re&s;pect of my duty, yet to them who have received any good by it, it mu&s;t not &s;eeme nothing; for then they are unthankfull to God, who gave it, by who&s;e hand &s;oever.</P>
<P>This &s;hall be my prai&s;e to Heaven, my recommendation thither; And then, my prai&s;e in Heaven, &s;hall be my preferment in Heaven. That tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Angels, that rejoyced at my Conver&s;ion before, &s;hall prai&s;e my per&s;everance in that profe&s;&s;ion, and admit me to a part in all their Hymns and Ho&s;annaes, and Hallelujahs; which <HI>Hallelujah</HI> is a word produced from the very word of this Text, <HI>Halal;</HI> My <HI>Hallelujah</HI> &s;hall be my <HI>Halal,</HI> my prai&s;ing of God &s;hall be my prai&s;e. And from this te&s;timony I &s;hall come to the accom|pli&s;hment of all, to receive from my Saviours own mouth, that glorious, that victorious, that harmonious prai&s;e, that Di&s;&s;olving, and that Recollecting te&s;timony, that &s;hall melt my bowels, and yet fix me, powre me out, and yet gather me into his bo&s;ome, that <HI>Euge bone &s;erve,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.21.</NOTE> <HI>Well done, good and faithfull &s;ervant, enter into thy Ma&s;ters joy.</HI> And when he hath &s;ealed me with his <HI>Euge,</HI> and accepted my &s;ervice, who &s;hall &s;tamp a <HI>Vae quod non,</HI> upon me? who &s;hall &s;ay, Woe be unto thee, that thou did&s;t not preach, this or that day, in this or that place? When he &s;hall have &s;tyled me <HI>Bone &amp; fidelis, Good and faithfull &s;er|vant,</HI> who &s;hall upbraid me with a late undertaking this Calling, or a &s;lack pur&s;uing, or a lazy intermitting the function thereof? When he &s;hall have <HI>entred me into my Ma&s;ters joy,</HI> what fortune, what &s;in can ca&s;t any Cloud of &s;adne&s;&s;e upon me? This is that that makes Heaven, Heaven, That this Retribution, which is future now, &s;hall be pre&s;ent then, and when it is then pre&s;ent, it &s;hall be future againe, and pre&s;ent and future for ever, ever enjoyed, and expected ever. <HI>The upright in heart</HI> &s;hall have, what&s;oever all
<PB N="683" REF="359">Tran&s;lations can enlarge and extend them&s;elves unto; They &s;hall <HI>Rejoyce,</HI> they &s;hall <HI>Glo|ry,</HI> they &s;hall <HI>Prai&s;e,</HI> and they &s;hall bee <HI>prai&s;ed,</HI> and all the&s;e in an everla&s;ting future, for ever. Which everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e is &s;uch a Terme, as God him&s;elfe cannot enlarge; As God cannot make him&s;elfe a better God then he is, becau&s;e hee is infinitely good, infinite goodne&s;&s;e, already; &s;o God him&s;elfe cannot make our Terme in heaven longer then it is; for it is infinite everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e, infinite eternity. That that wee are to beg of him is, that as that &s;tate &s;hall never end, &s;o he will be plea&s;ed to ha&s;ten the beginning thereof, that &s;o we may be numbred with his Saints in Glory everla&s;ting. Amen.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="68" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXVIII. The fourth of my Prebend Sermons upon my five P&s;almes: <HI>Preached at S.</HI> Pauls, 28. <HI>Ianuary,</HI> 1626.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 65.5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>By terrible things in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e wilt thou an&s;wer us, O God of our &s;alvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are a far off, upon the Sea.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_GOd makes nothing of nothing now; God ea&s;ed him&s;elfe of that incompre|hen&s;ible worke, and ended it in the fir&s;t Sabbath. But God makes great things of little &s;till; And in that kinde hee works mo&s;t upon the Sabbath;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.21.</NOTE> when by the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of Preaching hee infatuates the wi&s;edome of the world, and by the word, in the mouth of a weake man, he enfeebles the po|wer of &s;inne, and Satan in the world, and by but &s;o much breath as blows out an houre|gla&s;&s;e, gathers three thou&s;and &s;oules at a Sermon, and five thou&s;and &s;oules at a Sermon, as upon <HI>Peters</HI> preaching, in the &s;econd, and in the fourth of the Acts. And this worke of his, to make much of little, and to doe much by little, is mo&s;t properly a Miracle. For, the Creation, (which was a production of all out of nothing) was not properly a mira|cle: A miracle is a thing done again&s;t nature; when &s;omething in the cour&s;e of nature re&s;i&s;ts that worke, then that worke is a miracle; But in the Creation, there was no re|luctation, no re&s;i&s;tance, no nature, nothing to re&s;i&s;t. But to doe great works by &s;mall meanes, to bring men to heaven by Preaching in the Church, this is a miracle. When Chri&s;t intended a miraculous feeding of a great multitude, he askt, <HI>Quot panes habetis?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 6.38.</NOTE> Fir&s;t hee would know, how many loaves they had; and when hee found that they had &s;ome, though they were but five, he multiplied them, to a &s;ufficiency for five thou&s;and per&s;ons. This P&s;alme is one of my five loaves, which I bring; One of tho&s;e five P&s;alms, which by the In&s;titution of our Ance&s;tors in this Church, are made mine, appropriated e&s;pecially to my daily meditation, as there are five other P&s;almes to every other per&s;on of our Church. And, by &s;o poore meanes as this, (my &s;peaking) his Ble&s;&s;ing upon his Ordinance may multiply to the advancement, and furtherance of all your &s;alvations. He multiplies now, farther then in tho&s;e loaves; not onely to feed you all, (as he did all that multitude) but to feed you all three meales.</P>
<P>In this P&s;alme (and e&s;pecially in this Text) God &s;atisfies you with this threefold knowledge: Fir&s;t, what he hath done for man, in the light and law of nature; Then, how much more he had done for his cho&s;en people, the Jewes, in affording them a law; And la&s;tly, what he had re&s;erved for man after, in the e&s;tabli&s;hing of the Chri&s;tian Church. The fir&s;t, (in this Metaphore, and miracle of feeding) works as a break-fa&s;t; for though there bee not a full meale, there is &s;omething to &s;tay the &s;tomach, in the light of nature. The &s;econd, that which God did for the Jewes in their Law, and Sacrifices, and Types, and Ceremonies, is as that Dinner, which was &s;poken of in the Go&s;pel, which was plen|tifully prepared, but prepared for &s;ome certaine gue&s;ts, that were bidden, and no more;
<PB N="684" REF="360">Better meanes then were in nature, they had in the law, but yet onely appropriated to them that were bidden, to that Nation, and no more. But in the third meale, Gods plen|tifull refection in the Chri&s;tian Church, and meanes of &s;alvation there; fir&s;t, Chri&s;t comes in the vi&s;itation of his Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 3.20.</NOTE> <HI>(Behold I come, and knock, and will &s;up with him)</HI> (Hee &s;ups with us, in the private vi&s;itation of his Spirit) And then, (as it is added there) hee invites us to &s;up with him, hee calls us home to his hou&s;e, and there makes us parta|kers of his ble&s;&s;ed Sacraments; And by tho&s;e meanes we are brought at la&s;t to that ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 19.9.</NOTE> which he proclaimes, <HI>(Ble&s;&s;ed are all they which are called to the marriage Supper of the Lambe)</HI> in the Kingdome of heaven. For all the&s;e three meales, wee &s;ay Grace in this Text, <HI>(By terrible things, in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, wilt thou an&s;wer us, O God of our &s;alvation)</HI> for all the&s;e wayes of comming to the knowledge and wor&s;hip of God, we ble&s;&s;e God in this Text, <HI>(Thou art the confidence of all the ends of the Earth, and of them that are a farre off, upon the Sea.</HI></P>
<P>The con&s;ideration of the meanes of &s;alvation, afforded by God to the Jewes in their law, inanimates the whole P&s;alme, and is transfu&s;ed thorow every part thereof; and &s;o, it falls upon this Ver&s;e too, as it doth upon all the re&s;t; And then, for that, that God had done before in nature, and for all, is in the later part of this Ver&s;e, <HI>(Who art the confidence of all the ends of the Earth, and of them that are a farre off, upon the Sea)</HI> And la&s;tly, that that hee hath re&s;erved for the Chri&s;tian Church, God hath centred, and embowelled in the wombe and bo&s;ome of the Text, in that compellation, <HI>(O God of our &s;alvation)</HI> for there the word <HI>&s;alvation,</HI> is rooted in <HI>Ia&s;hang,</HI> which <HI>Ia&s;hang</HI> is the very Name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> the foundation, and the whole building of the Chri&s;tian Church. So then our three parts will bee the&s;e; What God hath done in Nature, what in the Law, what in the Go&s;pel. And, when in our Order wee &s;hall come to that la&s;t part, which is that, that we drive all to, (The advantage which wee have in the Go&s;pel, above Nature, and the Law) wee &s;hall then propo&s;e, and &s;top upon the Holy Gho&s;ts manner of expre&s;&s;ing it in this place, <HI>(By terrible things in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e wilt thou an&s;wer us, O God of our &s;alvation)</HI> But fir&s;t, look we a little into the other two, Nature, and Law.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Natura.</NOTE> the la&s;t words &s;ettle us upon our fir&s;t con&s;ideration, What God hath done for man in Nature, <HI>Hee is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are a far off, upon the Sea,</HI> that is, of all the world, all places, all per&s;ons in the world; All, at all times, every where, have Declarations enow of his power, Demon&s;trations enow of his Goodne&s;&s;e, to confide in him, to rely upon him. The Holy Gho&s;t &s;eemes to have delighted in the Metaphore of <HI>Building.</HI> I know no figurative &s;peech &s;o often iterated in the Scriptures,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.20. Heb. 3.6. P&s;al. 147.2.</NOTE> as the name of a <HI>Hou&s;e;</HI> Heaven and Earth are called by that name, and wee, who being upon earth, have our conver&s;ation in heaven, are called &s;o too, <HI>(Chri&s;t hath a Hou&s;e, which Hou&s;e wee are)</HI> And as God builds his Hou&s;e, (<HI>The Lord builds up le|ru&s;alem,</HI> &s;aith <HI>David</HI>) &s;o hee furni&s;hes it, he plants Vineyards, Gardens, and Orchards about it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 14.6. Matt. 7.13. Ioh. 10.7.</NOTE> He layes out a way to it, <HI>(Chri&s;t is the way)</HI> He opens a gate into it, <HI>(Chri&s;t is the gate)</HI> And when hee hath done all this, (built his hou&s;e, furni&s;hed it, planted about it, made it acce&s;&s;ible, and opened the gate) then hee keepes hou&s;e, as well as builds a hou&s;e, he feeds us, and fea&s;ts us in his hou&s;e, as well as he lodges us, and places us in it. And as Chri&s;t profe&s;&s;es what his owne Diet was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 4.34.</NOTE> what he fed upon, <HI>(My meat is to doe the will of my Father)</HI> &s;o our meat is to know the will of the Father; Every man, even in nature, hath that appetite, that de&s;ire, to know God. And therefore if God have made any man, and not given him meanes to know him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 145.15.</NOTE> he is but a good Builder, he is no good Hou&s;e|keeper, He gives him lodging, but he gives him no meat; But <HI>the eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou give&s;t them their meat in due &s;ea&s;on. All,</HI> (not onely we) wait upon God; and he gives them <HI>Their</HI> meat, though not our meat, (The Word and the Sacramenss) yet <HI>Their</HI> meat, &s;uch as they are able to dige&s;t and endue. Even in nature, <HI>He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are a far off, upon the Sea.</HI> That is his daily bread, which even the naturall man begs at Gods hand, and God affords it him.</P>
<P>The mo&s;t precious and co&s;tly di&s;hes are alwaies re&s;erved for the la&s;t &s;ervices, but yet there is whole&s;ome meat before too. The cleare light is in the Go&s;pel, but there is light in Nature too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 19.9.</NOTE> At the la&s;t Supper, (the Supper of the Lambe in Heaven) there is no bill of fare, there are no particular di&s;hes named there. It is impo&s;&s;ible to tell us what we &s;hall feed upon, what we &s;hall be fea&s;ted with, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; Our way of knowing God there cannot be expre&s;&s;ed. At that Supper of the Lambe,
<PB N="685" REF="360">which is here, here in our way homewards, that is, in the Sacramentall Supper of the Lambe, it is very hard to tell, what we feed upon; How that meat is dre&s;&s;ed, how the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t is received by us, at that Supper, in that Sacrament, is hard to be expre&s;&s;ed, hard to be conceived, for the way and manner thereof. So al&s;o in the for|mer meale, that which we have called the Dinner, which is The knowledge which the Jews had in the Law, it was not ea&s;ie to di&s;tingui&s;h the ta&s;te, and the nature of every di&s;h, and to finde the &s;ignification in every Type, and in every Ceremony. There are &s;ome difficulties (if curious men take the matter in hand, and be too inqui&s;itive) even in the Go&s;pel; more in the Law; mo&s;t of all in Nature. But yet, even in this fir&s;t refection, this fir&s;t meale, that God &s;ets before man, (which is our knowledge of God in Nature) be|cau&s;e wee are then in Gods Hou&s;e, (all this World, and the next make God but one Hou&s;e) though God doe not give <HI>Marrow and fatne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 63.6. 81.16.</NOTE> (as <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks) though he doe not <HI>feed them with the fat of the wheat, nor &s;atisfie them with honey out of the Rock,</HI> (for the Go&s;pel is the honey, and Chri&s;t is the Rock) yet, even in Nature, hee gives &s;ufficient meanes to know him, though they come to neither of the other Meales, neither to the Jews Dinner, The benefit of the Law, nor to the Chri&s;tians Supper, either when they feed upon the Lamb in the Sacrament, or when they feed with the Lamb in the po&s;&s;e&s;|&s;ion and fruition of Heaven.</P>
<P>Though therefore the Septuagint, in their Tran&s;lation of the P&s;alms, have, in the Title of this P&s;alme, added this, <HI>A P&s;alme of Ieremy and Ezekiel, when they were departing out of the Captivity of Babylon,</HI> intimating therein, that it is a P&s;alme made in contemplati|on of that ble&s;&s;ed place which we are to go to, (as, literally, it was of their happie &s;tate in their re&s;titution from Babylon to Jeru&s;alem) And though the ancient Church, by ap|propriating this P&s;alme to the office of the dead, to the &s;ervice at Burials, intimate al&s;o, that this P&s;alme is intended of that fulne&s;&s;e of knowledge, and Joy, and Glory, which they have that are departed in the Lord, yet the Holy Gho&s;t &s;tops, as upon the way, before we come thither, and, &s;ince we mu&s;t lie in an Inne, that is, Lodge in this World, he enables the World to entertaine us, as well as to lodge us, and hath provided, that the World, the very world it &s;elfe, (before wee con&s;ider the Law in the World, or the Church in the World, or Glory in the next World) This very World, that is, Nature, and no more, &s;hould give &s;uch an univer&s;all light of the knowledge of God, as that he &s;hould bee <HI>The confidence of all the ends of the Earth, and of them that are a farre off upon the Sea.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore as men that come to great places, and preferments, when they have entred by a faire and wide gate of Honour, but yet are laid downe upon hard beds of trouble and anxiety in tho&s;e places, (for, when the body &s;eemes in the &s;ight of men, to go on in an ea&s;ie amble, the minde is every day (if not all day) in a &s;hrewd and di&s;ea&s;efull trot) As tho&s;e men will &s;ometimes &s;ay, It was better with me, when I was in a lower place, and fortune, and will remember, being Bi&s;hops, the plea&s;ures they had when they were Schoole-boyes, and yet, for all this, intermit not their thankfulne&s;&s;e to God, who hath rai&s;ed them to that height, and tho&s;e meanes of glorifying him: &s;o, how&s;oever we abound with joy and thankfulne&s;&s;e, for the&s;e gracious and glorious Illu&s;trations of the Law, and the Go&s;pel, and beames of future Glory, which we have in the Chri&s;tian Church, Let us reflect often upon our beginning, upon the con&s;ideration of Gods fir&s;t benefits, which he hath given to us all in Nature, <HI>That light,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 1.9.</NOTE> <HI>by which he enlighteneth every man that commeth into the World,</HI> That he hath given us a rea&s;onable &s;oule capable of grace, here, (that, he hath denied no man, and no other creature hath that) That he hath given us an immortal &s;oul capable of glory hereafter, (and that, that immortality he hath denied no man, and no other creature hath that.) Con&s;ider we alwaies the grace of God, to be the Sun it &s;elfe, but the nature of man, and his naturall faculties to be the Sphear, in which that Sun, that Grace moves. Con&s;ider we the Grace of God to be the &s;oule it &s;elf, but the naturall faculties of man, to be as a body, which mini&s;ters Organs for that &s;oule, that Grace to worke by. That &s;o, as how much &s;oever I feare the hand of a mighty man, that &s;trikes, yet I have a more immediate feare of the &s;word he &s;trikes with; So, though I impute ju&s;tly my &s;ins, and my feares of judgements for them, to Gods withdrawing, or to my neglecting his grace, yet I looke al&s;o upon that which is next me, Nature, and naturall light, and naturall faculties, and that I con&s;ider how I u&s;e to u&s;e them; whether I be as watchfull upon my tongue, that that mini&s;ter no tentation to others, and upon
<PB N="686" REF="361">mine eye, that that receive no tentation from others, as by the light of Nature, I might, and as &s;ome morall Men, without addition of particular Grace, have done. That &s;o, fir&s;t for my &s;elfe, I be not apt to lay any thing upon God, and to &s;ay, that hee &s;tarved me, though he &s;hould not bid me to the Jews dinner, in giving me the light of the Law, nor bid me to the Chri&s;tians Supper, in giving me the light of the Go&s;pell, becau&s;e he hath given me a competent refection even in Nature. And then, that for others, I may fir&s;t &s;ay with the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.20. 11.33.</NOTE> <HI>That they are without excu&s;e, who doe not &s;ee the invi&s;ible God, in the vi&s;ible Creature,</HI> and may &s;ay al&s;o with him, <HI>O altitudo!</HI> The wayes of the Lord are pa&s;t my finding out; And therefore to tho&s;e, who doe open their eyes to that light of Nature, in the be&s;t exaltation thereof, God does not hide him&s;elfe, though he have not manife&s;ted to me, by what way he manife&s;ts him&s;elfe to them. For, God di&s;appoints none, and he is <HI>The confidence of all the ends of the Earth, and of them who are a farre off upon the Sea.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Commit thy way unto the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 37.5.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> And he &s;ayes more, then our Tran&s;lation &s;eemes to expre&s;&s;e; The Margin hath expre&s;&s;ed it; for, according to the Originall word, <HI>Galal,</HI> it is in the Margin, not <HI>Commit,</HI> but <HI>Roll thy way upon the Lord;</HI> which may very well imply, and intend this precept, Carry thy Rolling trench up to God, and gather upon him;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.23.</NOTE> As <HI>Abraham,</HI> when he beat the price with God for Sodom, from fifty, to ten, rolled his Petition upon God, fo roll thy wayes upon him, come up to him in a thankfull acknowledgement, what he hath done for thee, in the Go&s;pel, in the Law, and in Nature; And then, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ayes of publique Prayers, <HI>Ob&s;idemus Deum,</HI> In the Prayers of the Congregation wee be&s;iege God, So this way wee entrench our &s;elves before God, &s;o, as that nothing can beat us out of our trenches; for, if all the Canons of the Church beat upon me, &s;o that I be by Excommunication removed from the a&s;&s;i&s;tances of the Church, (though I be inexcu&s;able, if I labour not my Reconciliation, and my Ab&s;oluti|on) yet, before that be effected, I am &s;till in my fir&s;t trench, &s;till I am a man, &s;till I have a &s;oule capable of Grace, &s;till I have the light of Nature, and &s;ome pre&s;ence of God in that; though I be attenuated, I am not annihilated, though by my former abu&s;es of Gods graces, and my contumacy, I be ca&s;t back to the ends of the earth, and a far off upon the Sea, yet even there, God is the confidence of all them; As long as I con&s;ider that I have &s;uch a &s;oule, capable of Grace and Glory, I cannot de&s;paire.</P>
<P>Thus Nature makes Pearls, Thus Grace makes Saints. A drop of dew hardens, and then another drop fals, and &s;preads it &s;elfe, and cloathes that former drop, and then ano|ther, and another, and become &s;o many &s;hels and films that inve&s;t that fir&s;t feminall drop, and &s;o (they &s;ay) there is a pearle in Nature. A good foule takes fir&s;t Gods fir&s;t drop into his con&s;ideration, what he hath &s;hed upon him in Nature, and then his &s;econd coate, what in the Law, and &s;ucce&s;&s;ively his other manifold graces, as &s;o many &s;hels, and films, in the Chri&s;tian Church, and &s;o we are &s;ure, there is a Saint.</P>
<P>Roll thy wayes upon God; And (as it followes in the &s;ame ver&s;e) <HI>Spera in eo, &amp; ip|&s;e faciet;</HI> we tran&s;late it, <HI>Tru&s;t in him, and he &s;hall bring it to pa&s;&s;e;</HI> Begin at <HI>Alpha,</HI> and hee &s;hall bring it to <HI>Omega:</HI> Con&s;ider thy &s;elfe but in the &s;tate of Hope, (for the &s;tate of Na|ture is but a &s;tate of Hope, a &s;tate of Capablene&s;&s;e; In Nature wee have the capacity of Grace, but not Grace in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, in Nature) <HI>Et ip&s;e faciet,</HI> &s;ayes that Text, God &s;hall doe, God &s;hall work; There is no more in the Originall but &s;o, <HI>Ip&s;e faciet;</HI> Not God &s;hall doe it, or doe this, or doe that, but doe all; doe but con&s;ider that God hath done &s;omething for thee, and he &s;hall doe all, for, <HI>He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are a farre off upon the Sea.</HI> Here is a new Mathematiques; without change of Elevation, or parallax, I that live in this Climate, and &s;tand under this Meridian, looke up and fixe my &s;elf upon God, And they that are under my feete, looke up to that place, which is above them, And as divers, as contrary as our places are, we all fixe at once upon one God, and meet in one Center; but we doe not &s;o upon one Sunne, nor upon one con|&s;tellation, or configuration in the Heavens; when we &s;ee it, tho&s;e Antipodes doe not; but they, and we &s;ee God at once. How various formes of Religion &s;oever pa&s;&s;e us through divers wayes, yet by the very light and power of Nature, we meet in one God; and for &s;o much, as may make God acce&s;&s;ible to us, and make us inexcu&s;able towards him, there is light enough in this dawning of the day, refection enough in this fir&s;t meale, The knowledge of God, which we have in Nature; That alone di&s;charges God, and condemns us; for, by that, <HI>He is,</HI> that is, He offers him&s;elfe to be, <HI>The confidence of all the ends of
<PB N="687" REF="361">the Earth, and of them who are a far of upon the Sea;</HI> that is, of all mankinde.</P>
<P>But then, <HI>Lunae radiis non mature&s;eit botrus,</HI> fruits may be &s;eene by the Moone&s;hine, but the Moone&s;hine will not ripen them. Therefore a Sunne ri&s;es unto us, in the law, and in the Prophets, and gives us another manner of light, then we had in nature.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 4.19.</NOTE> <HI>The way of the wicked is as Darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon;</HI> Wherein? It follows, <HI>They know not at what they &s;tumble.</HI> A man that calls him&s;elfe to no kinde of account, that takes no candle into his hand, never knowes at what he &s;tumbles, not what occa&s;ions his &s;in. But by the light of nature, if he will looke upon his owne infirmities, his own deformities, his own inclinations, he may know at what he &s;tumbles, what that is that leads him into tenta|tion. For, though S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ay, That <HI>by the law is the knowledge of &s;in,</HI> And,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.20. Rom. 5.13. Rom. 7.7.</NOTE> <HI>Sin is not im|puted when there is no law;</HI> And againe, <HI>I had not knowne &s;in, but by the law;</HI> in &s;ome of the&s;e places, the law is not intended onely of the law of the Jews, but of the law of na|ture in our hearts, (for, by that law, every man knows that he &s;ins) And then, &s;in is not onely intended of &s;in produced into act, but &s;in in the heart; as the Apo&s;tle in&s;tances there, <HI>I had not knowne lu&s;t, except the law had &s;aid, Thou &s;halt not covet.</HI> Of &s;ome &s;innes, there is no cleare evidence given by the light of nature: That the law &s;upplied; and more then that. The law did not onely &s;hew, what was &s;in, but gave &s;ome light of remedy a|gain&s;t &s;in, and re&s;titution after &s;in, by tho&s;e &s;acrifices, which, though they were ineffe|ctuall in them&s;elves, yet involved, and repre&s;ented Chri&s;t, who was their &s;alvation. So then, God was to the Jews, in generall, as he was to his principall &s;ervant among&s;t them, <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> He &s;aw the land of promi&s;e, but he entred not into it; The Jews &s;aw Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 34.1.</NOTE> but embraced him not. <HI>Abraham</HI> &s;aw his day, and rejoyced; They &s;aw it, that is, they might have &s;een it, but winked at it. <HI>Luther</HI> &s;ayes well, <HI>Iudaei habuere jus mendicandi,</HI> The Jews had a licence to beg, They had a Breve, and might gather, They had a Cove|nant, and might plead with God; But they did not; and therefore, though they were in|excu&s;able for their neglect of the light of Nature, and more inexcu&s;able for re&s;i&s;ting the light of the law, That they and we might be ab&s;olutely inexcu&s;able, if we continued in darkne&s;&s;e after that, God &s;et up another light, the light of the Go&s;pel, which is our third and la&s;t part, wrapped up in tho&s;e fir&s;t words of our Text, <HI>By terrible things, in righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, wilt thou an&s;wer us, O God of our &s;alvation.</HI></P>
<P>This word, <HI>Salvation, Ia&s;hang,</HI> is the roote of the name of <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>3 Part.</HI> Eccle&s;ia Chri&s;tiana.</NOTE> In the beginning of the Primitive Church, when the followers of Chri&s;t left or di&s;continued their being cal|led <HI>the Di&s;ciples,</HI> and <HI>the Faithfull,</HI> and <HI>the Brethren,</HI> and <HI>the Profe&s;&s;ors,</HI> as they had been called before, and would bring the Name of their founder, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, into more evi|dence and manife&s;tation, yet they were not called by the Name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> but from <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> at Antioch fir&s;t they were called <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI> For, it is well di&s;tingui&s;hed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 11.26.</NOTE> That the Name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI> as it &s;ignifies a <HI>Saviour,</HI> fir&s;t contemplates God, and the Divine nature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bonavent.</NOTE> (which onely could &s;ave us) And then hath relation to Man, and the Humane nature, without a&s;&s;uming of which, the Sonne of God could not have &s;aved us that way, that God had propo&s;ed, The &s;atisfaction of his Ju&s;tice; And then, the Name of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> (as it &s;ignifies <HI>Anointed,</HI> and appointed to a certaine purpo&s;e, as to die for us) fir&s;t contemplates Man, and the Humane nature, which onely could die, And then hath relation to God, and the Divine nature. So that Je&s;us is God, and Man in Him; And Chri&s;t is Man, and God in Him. So the Name <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> &s;eemes to ta&s;te of more My&s;tery, and more Incomprehen|&s;iblene&s;&s;e; And the Name of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> of more Humility, and Appliablene&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>And with this lower Name, to be called <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> from <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> was the Church of God contented; Whereas a later race of men in the Romane Church, will needs take their Denomination from <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> him&s;elfe; But I know not whether they meane our <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> or no. <HI>Io&s;ephus</HI> remembers two (at lea&s;t) of that name, <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;ephus.</NOTE> that were infamous male|factors, and men of blood; and they may deduce them&s;elves from &s;uch a <HI>Ie&s;us.</HI> And a Je&s;uit teaches us, that it is the common opinion, that <HI>Barrabas</HI> the murderer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lorinus. Act. 13.6.</NOTE> was by his proper Name called <HI>Ie&s;us;</HI> that his name was <HI>Ie&s;us Barrabas;</HI> and that therefore <HI>Pilate</HI> made that difference upon our Saviour, <HI>Ie&s;us Nazarenus, This is Ie&s;us of Nazareth,</HI> and not <HI>Ie&s;us Barrabas;</HI> and from that <HI>Ie&s;us, Ie&s;us Barrabas</HI> they may deduce them&s;elves. And we know al&s;o, that that mi&s;chievous &s;orcerer, was called by that Name, <HI>Bar-je&s;u,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> The Sonne of Je&s;us. From which <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> among&s;t the&s;e, they will make their extraction, let them chu&s;e. As among&s;t the Je&s;uits, the bloodie&s;t of them all, (even to the drawing of the &s;acred blood of Kings) is, by his name, <HI>Mariana;</HI> So all the re&s;t of them, both in that
<PB N="688" REF="362">re&s;pect, of &s;ucking blood, and occa&s;ioning ma&s;&s;acres, and other re&s;pects too, are rather Marianits then Je&s;uits, Idolaters of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> then wor&s;hippers of Je&s;us.</P>
<P>We con&s;i&s;t in the Humility of the Ancients; we are <HI>Chri&s;tians, Ie&s;us</HI> is meerly a <HI>Savi|our,</HI> A name of My&s;tery, <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> is <HI>Anointed,</HI> A name of Communication, of Accommoda|tion, of Imitation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.3.</NOTE> And &s;o this name, the name of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> is <HI>Oleum effu&s;um,</HI> (as the Spou&s;e &s;peaks) An oyntment, a perfume powred out upon us, and we are <HI>Chri&s;tians.</HI> In the name of <HI>Ie&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Corn. Lap. Eph. 1.10.</NOTE> S. <HI>Paul</HI> abounded, but in the Name of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> more; for, (as a Je&s;uit gives us the account) he repeats the name of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI> almo&s;t three hundred times, but the name of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> more then foure hundred, in his Epi&s;tles. In this Church then, which is gathered in the Name of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> (though in the power and merit of <HI>Ie&s;us</HI>) This light which we &s;peake of, This knowledge of God, and means of &s;alvation, is in the highe&s;t exaltation. In the &s;tate of nature, we con&s;ider this light, as the Sunne, to be ri&s;en at the Moluccae, in the farthe&s;t Ea&s;t; In the &s;tate of the law, we con&s;ider it, as the Sunne come to Ormus, the fir&s;t Quadrant; But in the Go&s;pel, to be come to the Canaries, the fortunate Ilands, the fir&s;t Meridian. Now, what&s;oever is beyond this, is We&s;tward, towards a Declina|tion. If we will goe farther then to be Chri&s;tians, and tho&s;e doctrines, which the whole Chri&s;tian Church hath ever beleeved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.12.</NOTE> if we will be of <HI>Cephas,</HI> and of <HI>Apollos,</HI> if we will call our &s;elves, or endanger, and give occa&s;ion to others, to call us from the Names of men, Papi&s;ts, or Lutherans, or Calvini&s;ts, we depart from the true glory and &s;erenity, from the lu&s;tre and &s;plendor of this Sunne; This is <HI>Tabernaculum Solis,</HI> Here in the Chri|&s;tian Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.5.</NOTE> God hath &s;et a Tabernacle for the Sunne; And, as in nature, Man hath light enough to di&s;cerne the principles of Rea&s;on; So in the Chri&s;tian Church, (con&s;i|dered without &s;ubdivi&s;ions of Names, and Sects) a Chri&s;tian hath light enough of all things nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation.</P>
<P>So then, &s;till roll thy wayes upon God, Gather upon him nearer and nearer; for, all the&s;e are emanations of lights from him, that he might be found, and &s;een, and knowne by thee. The looking upon God, by the fir&s;t light of Nature, is, to catechize, and exa|mine thy &s;elfe, whether thou doe governe, and employ thy naturall faculties to his glo|ry; whether thou doe &s;hut thine eyes at a tentation, &s;top thine eares at a bla&s;phemy up|on God, or a defamation upon thy neighbour; and withhold thy hand from blood and bribes, and thy feet from fellow&s;hip in &s;in. The looking upon God, by the &s;econd light, the light of the law, is, to di&s;cerne by that, that God hath alwayes had a peculiar peo|ple of his own, and gathered them, and contained them in his wor&s;hip, by certaine vi&s;i|ble, &s;en&s;ible Ordinances and In&s;titutions, Sacraments, and Sacrifices, and rituall Cere|monies, and to argue and conclude out of Gods former proceedings with them, his greatne&s;&s;e and his goodne&s;&s;e towards the pre&s;ent world. And then, to &s;ee God by that la&s;t and be&s;t light, the light of the Chri&s;tian Church, is, to be content with &s;o much of God, as God hath revealed of him&s;elfe to his Church; And (as it is expre&s;&s;ed here) to heare him an&s;wer thee, <HI>By terrible things in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e;</HI> for, that he does <HI>as he is the God of our &s;alvation,</HI> that is, as he works in the Chri&s;tian Church; which is our la&s;t Con|&s;ideration; <HI>By terrible, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>In this Con&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;pondet, ergo Oran|dum.</NOTE> (Gods proceeding with us in the Chri&s;tian Church) this ob|&s;ervation meets us fir&s;t, That Gods conver&s;ation with us there, is called an <HI>An&s;wering; (He &s;hall an&s;wer us)</HI> Now if we looke that God &s;hould an&s;wer us, we mu&s;t &s;ay &s;ome|thing to God; and our way of &s;peaking to God, is by petition, by prayer. If we pre|&s;ent no petition,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10.20.</NOTE> if we pray not, we can looke for no an&s;wer, for we aske none. <HI>E&s;aias is very bold,</HI> (&s;aith S. <HI>Paul</HI>) <HI>when he &s;ayes, That God was found of them that &s;ought him not, and made manife&s;t to them that asked not after him;</HI> Yet though it were boldly &s;aid, it was truly &s;aid; &s;o early, and &s;o powerfull is Gods preventing grace towards us. So it is a ve|ry ordinary phra&s;e among&s;t the Prophets, <HI>God an&s;wered, and &s;aid</HI> thus, and thus, when the Prophet had asked nothing of God. But here we are upon Gods proceeding with man in the Chri&s;tian Church; and &s;o, God an&s;wers not, but to our petitions, to our pray|ers. In a Sermon, God &s;peaks to the Congregation, but he an&s;wers onely that &s;oule, that hath been with him at Prayers before. A man may pray in the &s;treet, in the fields, in a fayre; but it is a more acceptable and more effectuall prayer, when we &s;hut our doores, and ob&s;erve our &s;tationary hou&s;es for private prayer in our Chamber; and in our Chamber, when we pray upon our knees, then in our beds. But the greate&s;t power of all, is in the publique prayer of the Congregation.</P>
<PB N="689" REF="362">
<P>It is a good remembrance that <HI>Dama&s;cene</HI> gives, <HI>Non quia gentes quaedam faciunt,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;e.</NOTE> <HI>&agrave; no|bis linquenda;</HI> We mu&s;t not forbeare things onely therefore, becau&s;e the Gentiles, or the Jewes u&s;ed them. The Gentiles, particularly the Romans, (before they were Chri&s;tians) had a &s;et Service, a pre&s;cribed forme of Common prayer in their Temples; and they had a particular Officer in that State, who was <HI>Conditor precum,</HI> that made their Collects, and Prayers upon emergent occa&s;ions; And <HI>Omni lu&s;tro,</HI> every five yeares there was a review, and an alteration in their Prayers, and the &s;tate of things was pre&s;umed to have re|ceived &s;o much change in that time, as that it was fit to change &s;ome of their Prayers and Collects. It mu&s;t not therefore &s;eeme &s;trange, that at the fir&s;t, there were certaine Col|lects appointed in our Church; nor that others, upon ju&s;t occa&s;ion, be added.</P>
<P>Gods ble&s;&s;ing here, in the Chri&s;tian Church, (for, to that we limit this con&s;iderati|on) is, that here <HI>He will an&s;wer us;</HI> Therefore, here we mu&s;t ask; Here, our asking is our communion at Prayer: And therefore they that undervalue, or neglect the prayers of the Church, have not that title to the benefit of the Sermon; for though God doe &s;peake in the Sermon, yet hee an&s;wers, that is, applies him&s;elfe, by his Spirit, onely to them, who have prayed to him before. If they have joyned in prayer, they have their intere&s;t, and &s;hall feele their Con&s;olation in all the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel, &s;hed upon the Congregation, in the Sermon. Have you asked by prayer, <HI>Is there no Balme in Gi|lead?</HI> He an&s;wers you by me, Yes, there is Blame;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.5.</NOTE> <HI>Hee was wounded for your tran&s;gre&s;si|ons, and with his &s;tripes you are healed;</HI> His Blood is your <HI>Balme,</HI> his Sacrament is your <HI>Gilead.</HI> Have you asked by prayer, <HI>Is there no Smith in I&s;rael?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 13.18.</NOTE> No meanes to di&s;charge my &s;elfe of my fetters, and chaines, of my temporall, and &s;pirituall Encumbrances? God an&s;wers thee, Yes, there is; He bids you but looke about, and you &s;hall finde your &s;elfe in <HI>Peter</HI> ca&s;e; <HI>The Angel of the Lord pre&s;ent, A light &s;hining,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 12.7.</NOTE> <HI>and his chaines falling off:</HI> All your manacles locked upon the hands, All your chaines loaded upon the legges, All your &s;tripes numbred upon the back of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. You have &s;aid in your prayers here, <HI>(Lord, from whom all good coun&s;ails doe proceed)</HI> And God an&s;wers you from hence, <HI>The Angel of the great Coun&s;ell &s;hall dwell with you, and direct you.</HI> You have &s;aid in your prayers, <HI>Lighten our darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> and God an&s;wers you by mee,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 60.19.</NOTE> (as he did his former peo|ple by <HI>E&s;ay</HI>) <HI>The Lord &s;hall be unto thee an everla&s;ting light, and thy God thy glory.</HI> Petition God at prayers, and God &s;hall an&s;wer all your petitions at the Sermon. There we be|gin, (if wee will make profit of a Sermon) at Prayers; And thither wee returne againe, (if we have made profit by a Sermon) in due time, to prayers. For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Confe&s;. l. 1. c. 1.</NOTE> that is S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> holy Circle, in which hee walkes from Prayers to the Sermon, and from the Sermon, next day to Prayers againe. <HI>Invocat te fides mea,</HI> &s;ayes he to God; Here I &s;tand or kneele in thy pre&s;ence, and in the power of faith, to pray to thee. But where had I this faith, that makes my prayer acceptable? <HI>Dedi&s;ti mihi per mini&s;terium Praedicatoris;</HI> I had it at the Sermon, I had it, &s;aith he, by the mini&s;tery of the Preacher; but I had it therefore, becau&s;e thy Spirit prepared me by prayer before; And I have it therefore, that is, to that end, that I might returne faithfully to prayers againe. As hee is <HI>The God of our &s;alvation,</HI> (that is, As he works in the Chri&s;tian Church) <HI>he an&s;wers us:</HI> If we aske by prayer, he applies the Sermon; And, <HI>He an&s;wers by terrible things, in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e two words, <HI>(Terribilia per Iu&s;titiam) By Terrible things in Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Terribilia per Iu&s;titiam</NOTE> are or|dinarily by our Expo&s;itors taken, to intimate a confidence, that God imprints by the Ordinance of his Church, that by this right u&s;e of Prayer and Preaching, they &s;hall al|wayes be delivered from their enemies, or from what may bee mo&s;t terrible unto them. In which expo&s;ition, <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e</HI> &s;ignifies faithfulne&s;&s;e, and <HI>Terrible things</HI> &s;ignifie miraculous deliverances from, and terrible Judgements upon his, and our enemies. Therefore is God called, <HI>Deus fidelis, The faithfull God;</HI> for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 7.9.</NOTE> that faithfulne&s;&s;e implies a Covenant, made before, (and there entred his Mercy, that hee would make that Cove|nant) and it implies al&s;o the a&s;&s;urance of the performance thereof, for there enters his faithfulne&s;&s;e. So he is called, <HI>Fidelis Creator, (We commit our &s;oules to God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 4.19.</NOTE> <HI>as to a faith|full Creator)</HI> He had an eternall gracious purpo&s;e upon us, to create us, and he hath faith|fully accompli&s;hed it. So, <HI>Fidelis quia vocavit, Hee is faithfull in having called us;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.24.</NOTE> That he had decreed, and that he hath done. So Chri&s;t is called, <HI>Fidelis Pontifex,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2.17.</NOTE> <HI>A merci|full and a faithfull high Prie&s;t; Mercifull</HI> in offering him&s;elfe for us, <HI>faithfull</HI> in applying him&s;elfe to us. So Gods whole word is called &s;o often, &s;o very often <HI>Te&s;timonium fidele, A faithfull witne&s;&s;e,</HI> an evidence that cannot deceive, nor mi&s;lead us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.8.</NOTE> Therefore we may
<PB N="690" REF="363">be &s;ure, that what&s;oever God hath promi&s;ed to his Church, (And what&s;oever God hath done upon the enemies of his Church heretofore, tho&s;e very performances to them, are promi&s;es to us, of the like &s;uccours in the like di&s;tre&s;&s;es) he will performe, re-performe, multiply performances thereof upon us.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 25.1.</NOTE> <HI>Thy coun&s;ails of old are faithfulne&s;&s;e and truth;</HI> That is, what&s;oever thou did&s;t decree, was done even then, in the infallibility of that Decree; And when that Decree came to be executed, and actually done, in that very ex|ecution of that former Decree was enwrapped a new Decree, That the &s;ame &s;hould be done over and over againe for us, when &s;oever wee needed it. So that then, ca&s;ting up our account, from the de&s;truction of Babel, by all the plagues of Egypt, through the depopulation of Canaan, and the ma&s;&s;acre in <HI>Sennacheribs</HI> Army, to the &s;wallowing of the Invincible Navy upon our Seas, and the bringing to light that Infernall, that &s;ubter|ranean Trea&s;on in our Land, we may argue, and a&s;&s;ume, <HI>That the God of our &s;alvation will an&s;wer us by terrible things,</HI> by multiplying of miracles, and mini&s;tring &s;upplies, to the confu&s;ion of his, and our enemies, for, <HI>By terrible things in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, will the God of our &s;alvation an&s;wer us.</HI></P>
<P>So then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Per Iu&s;ti|tiam.</NOTE> his Judgements are the&s;e <HI>Terribilia,</HI> Terrible, fearefull things; And hee is faithfull in his Covenant, and by terrible Judgements he will an&s;wer, that is, &s;atisfie our expectation. And that is a convenient &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words. But, the word, which we tran&s;late <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e</HI> here, is <HI>Tzadok,</HI> and <HI>Tzadok</HI> is not faithfulne&s;&s;e, but holine&s;&s;e; And the&s;e <HI>Terrible things</HI> are Reverend things; and &s;o <HI>Tremellius</HI> tran&s;lates it, and well; <HI>Per res Reverendas, By Reverend things,</HI> things to which there belongs a Reverence, <HI>thou &s;halt an&s;wer us.</HI> And thus, the &s;en&s;e of this place will be, That the God of our &s;alvation, (that is, God working in the Chri&s;tian Church) calls us to Holine&s;&s;e, to Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, by Terrible things; not Terrible, in the way and nature of revenge; but Terrible, that is, &s;tupendious, reverend, my&s;terious: That &s;o we &s;hould not make Religion too home|ly a thing, but come alwayes to all Acts, and Exerci&s;es of Religion, with reverence, with feare, and trembling, and make a difference, between Religious, and Civill Actions.</P>
<P>In the frame and con&s;titution of al Religions, the&s;e Materials, the&s;e Elements have ever entred; Some words of a remote &s;ignification, not vulgarly under&s;tood, &s;ome actions of a kinde of halfe-horror and amazement, &s;ome places of re&s;ervation and retiredne&s;&s;e, and appropriation to &s;ome &s;acred per&s;ons, and inacce&s;&s;ible to all others. Not to &s;peake of the &s;ervices, and &s;acrifices of the Gentiles, and tho&s;e &s;elfe-manglings and lacerations of the Prie&s;ts of <HI>I&s;is,</HI> and of the Prie&s;ts of <HI>Baal,</HI> (faintly counterfaited in the &s;courgings and fla|gellations in the Roman Church) In that very di&s;cipline which was delivered from God, by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> the &s;ervice was full of my&s;terie, and horror, and re&s;ervation, <HI>By terrible things,</HI> (Sacrifices of blood in manifold effu&s;ions) <HI>God an&s;wered them,</HI> then. So, the mat|ter of Doctrine was delivered my&s;teriou&s;ly, and with much re&s;ervation, and in-intelligi|blene&s;&s;e, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;peaks. The Joy and Glory of Heaven was not ea&s;ily under&s;tood by their temporall abundances of Milke, and Honey, and Oyle, and Wine; and yet, in the&s;e (and &s;carce any other way) was Heaven pre&s;ented, and notified to that people by <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> Chri&s;t, a Me&s;&s;ias, a Saviour of the World, by &s;hedding his blood for it, was not ea&s;ily di&s;cerned in their Types and Sacrifices; And yet &s;o, and &s;carce any other way was Chri&s;t revealed unto them.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 12.10.</NOTE> God &s;ayes, <HI>I have multiplied vi&s;ions, and u&s;ed &s;imilitudes, by the mini&s;tery of the Prophets.</HI> They were Vi&s;ions, they were Similitudes, nor plaine and evident things, obvious to every under&s;tanding, that God led his people by. And there was an Order of Doctors among&s;t the Jews that profe&s;&s;ed that way, To teach the People by Parables and darke &s;ayings;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sandaei &s;ym|bulica fol. 108.</NOTE> and the&s;e were the powerfulle&s;t Teachers among&s;t them, for they had their very name <HI>(Mo&s;&s;elim)</HI> from power and dominion; They had a power, a dominion over the affections of their Di&s;ciples, becau&s;e teaching them by an ob&s;cure way, they created an admiration, and a reverence in their hearers, and laid a nece&s;&s;ity upon them, of returning againe to them, for the interpretation and &s;ignification of tho&s;e darke Parables. Many thinke that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> cites the&s;e ob&s;cure Doctors, the&s;e <HI>Mo&s;&s;elim,</HI> in that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 21.7.</NOTE> in the booke of Numbers, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Wherefore they that &s;peake in Pro|verbs, &s;ay</HI> thus, and thus, And &s;o he proceeds in a way and words, as hard to be under|&s;tood,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49.4.</NOTE> as any place in all his Books. <HI>David</HI> profe&s;&s;es this of him&s;elfe often; <HI>I will open darke &s;ayings upon my Harpe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 77.2.</NOTE> And, <HI>I will open my mouth in a Parable.</HI> And this was the way of <HI>Solomon;</HI> for that very word is the Title of his booke of Proverbs. And in this way of teaching,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 7.19.</NOTE> our Saviour abounded, and excelled; for when it is &s;aid, <HI>He taught them as one
<PB N="691" REF="363">having authority,</HI> And when it is &s;aid, <HI>They were a&s;toni&s;hed at his Doctrine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 4.32.</NOTE> <HI>for his word was with Power,</HI> they refer that to this manner of teaching, that hee a&s;toni&s;hed them with the&s;e re&s;erved and darke &s;ayings, and by the &s;ub&s;equent interpretation thereof, gained a reverend e&s;timation among&s;t them, that he onely could lead them to a de&s;ire to know, (that darke way encrea&s;ed their de&s;ire) and then he onely &s;atisfie them with the know|ledge of tho&s;e things which concerned their &s;alvation. For the&s;e Parables, and compa|ri&s;ons of a remote &s;ignification, were called by the Jews, <HI>Pote&s;tates,</HI> Powers, Powerfull in&s;inuations, as, among&s;t the Grecians, the &s;ame things were called <HI>Axiomata,</HI> Dignities; And of Chri&s;t it is &s;aid, <HI>Without a Parable &s;pake he not.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.34.</NOTE></P>
<P>So that God in the Old, and Chri&s;t in the New Te&s;tament, hath conditioned his Doctrine, and his Religion (that is, his outward wor&s;hip) &s;o, as that evermore there &s;hould be pre&s;erved a Maje&s;ty, and a reverentiall feare, and an awfull di&s;crimination of Divine things from Civill, and evermore &s;omething re&s;erved to be inquired after, and laid up in the mouth of the Prie&s;t, that the People might acknowledge an obligation from him, in the expo&s;ition, and application thereof. Nay, this way of <HI>an&s;wering us by ter|rible things,</HI> (that is, by things that imprint a holy horror, and a Religious reverence) is much more in the Chri&s;tian Church, then it can have beene in any other Religion; Be|cau&s;e, if wee con&s;ider the Jews, (which is the onely Religion, that can enter into any compari&s;on with the Chri&s;tian, in this kinde) yet, we looke more directly and more im|mediately upon God in Chri&s;t, then they could, who &s;aw him but by way of Prophecie, a future thing that &s;hould be done after; we looke upon God, in Hi&s;tory, in matter of fact, upon things done, and &s;et before our eyes; and &s;o that Maje&s;ty, and that holy amaze|ment, is more to us then ever it was to any other Religion, becau&s;e we have a nearer ap|proximation, and vicinity to God in Chri&s;t, then any others had, in any repre&s;entions of their Gods; and it is a more dazeling thing to looke upon the Sun, in a direct, then in an oblique or &s;ide line. And therefore, the love of God, which is &s;o often propo&s;ed unto us, is as often &s;ea&s;oned with the feare of God; nay, all our Religious affections are reduced to that one, To a reverentiall feare; If he be a <HI>Ma&s;ter,</HI> he cals for <HI>feare,</HI> and,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 1.6.</NOTE> If he be a <HI>Fa|ther,</HI> he calls for <HI>honor;</HI> And honour implies a reverentiall feare. And that is the Art that <HI>David</HI> profe&s;&s;es to teach, <HI>Artem timendi, Come ye children, and hearken unto me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.12.</NOTE> <HI>and I will teach you the feare of the Lord.</HI> That you thinke not Divinity an Occupation, nor Church-Service a recreation; but &s;till remember, That <HI>the God of our Salvation</HI> (God working in the Chri&s;tian Church) <HI>will an&s;wer you;</HI> but yet, <HI>by terrible things;</HI> that is, by not being over-fellowly with God, nor over-homely with places, and acts of Religion; which, it may be an advancement to your Devotion and edification, to con&s;ider, in &s;ome particulars in the Chri&s;tian Church.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, con&s;ider we it, in our manners, and conver&s;ation. Chri&s;t &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In moribus.</HI> Iohn 15.14. Mat. 22.12.</NOTE> <HI>Henceforth I call you not &s;ervants, but friends.</HI> But, how&s;oever Chri&s;t called him <HI>friend,</HI> that was come to the fea&s;t without the wedding garment, he <HI>ca&s;t him out,</HI> becau&s;e he made no difference of that place from another. Fir&s;t then, remember by what terrible things God an&s;wers thee in the Chri&s;tian Church, when he comes to that round and peremptory i&s;&s;ue,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marke 16.16.</NOTE> <HI>Qui non credider it, damnabitur,</HI> He that beleeves not every Article of the Chri&s;tian faith, &amp; with &s;o &s;tedfa&s;t a belief, as that he would dye for it, <HI>Damnabitur,</HI> (no modification, no mollificati|on, no going le&s;&s;e) He &s;hal be damned. Con&s;ider too the nature of Exco~munication, That it teares a man from the body of Chri&s;t Je&s;us; That that man withers that is torne off, and Chri&s;t him&s;elfe is wounded in it. Con&s;ider the in&s;upportable penances that were laid upon &s;inners, by tho&s;e penitentiall Canons, that went through the Church in tho&s;e Primitive times; when, for many &s;ins which we pa&s;&s;e through now, without &s;o much as taking knowledge that they are &s;ins, men were not admitted to the Communion all their lives, no, nor ea&s;ily upon their death-beds. Con&s;ider how dangerou&s;ly an abu&s;e of that great doctrine of Prede&s;tination may bring thee to thinke, that God is bound to thee, and thou not bound to him, That thou maie&s;t renounce him, and he mu&s;t embrace thee, and &s;o make thee too familiar with God, and too homely with Religion, upon pre&s;ump|tion of a Decree. Con&s;ider that when thou prepare&s;t any uncleane action, in any &s;infull nakedne&s;&s;e, God is not onely pre&s;ent with thee in that roome then, but then tels thee, That at the day of Judgement thou mu&s;t &s;tand in his pre&s;ence, and in the pre&s;ence of all the World, not onely naked, but in that foule, and &s;infull, and uncleane action of naked|ne&s;&s;e, which thou committed&s;t then; Con&s;ider all this and confe&s;&s;e, that for matter of
<PB N="692" REF="364">manners, and conver&s;ation, <HI>The God of thy Salvation an&s;wers thee by terrible things.</HI> And &s;o it is al&s;o, if we con&s;ider Prayer in the Church.</P>
<P><HI>God Hou&s;e is the hou&s;e of Prayer;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">In oratione.</NOTE> It is his Court of Reque&s;ts; There he receives peti|tions, there he gives Order upon them. And you come to God in his Hou&s;e, as though you came to keepe him company, to &s;it downe, and talke with him halfe an houre; or you come as Amba&s;&s;adors, covered in his pre&s;ence, as though ye came from as great a Prince as he. You meet below, and there make your bargaines, for biting, for devouring U&s;ury, and then you come up hither to prayers, and &s;o make God your Broker. You rob, and &s;poile, and eat his people as bread, by Extortion, and bribery, and deceitfull waights and mea&s;ures, and deluding oathes in buying and &s;elling, and then come hither, and &s;o make God your Receiver, and his hou&s;e a den of Thieves. His hou&s;e is <HI>Sanctum Sanctorum,</HI> The holie&s;t of holies, and you make it onely <HI>Sanctuarium;</HI> It &s;hould be a place &s;anctified by your devotions, and you make it onely a Sanctuary to priviledge Malefactors, A place that may redeeme you from the ill opinion of men, who mu&s;t in charity be bound to thinke well of you, becau&s;e they &s;ee you here. <HI>Offer this to one of your Princes,</HI> (as God argues in the Prophet) and &s;ee, if he will &s;uffer his hou&s;e to be prophaned by &s;uch uncivill abu&s;es;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 47.3.</NOTE> And, <HI>Terribilis Rex, The Lord mo&s;t high is terrible, and a great King over all the earth;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 96.4.</NOTE> and, <HI>Terribilis &s;uper omnes Deos, More terrible then all other Gods.</HI> Let thy Ma&s;ter be thy god, or thy Mi&s;tre&s;&s;e thy god, thy Belly be thy god, or thy Back be thy god, thy fields be thy god, or thy che&s;ts be thy god, <HI>Terribilis &s;uper omnes Deos,</HI> The Lord is ter|rible above all gods,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 95.3. Deut. 28.58.</NOTE> <HI>A great God, and a great King above all gods.</HI> You come, and call upon him by his name here, But <HI>Magnu~ &amp; terribile, Glorious and fearefull is the name of the Lord thy God.</HI> And, as if the Son of God were but the Son of &s;ome Lord, that had beene your Schoole-fellow in your youth, and &s;o you continued a boldne&s;&s;e to him ever after, &s;o, becau&s;e you have beene brought up with Chri&s;t from your cradle, and catechized in his name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 111.4.</NOTE> his name becomes le&s;&s;e reverend unto you, And <HI>Sanctum &amp; terribile,</HI> Holy, and reverend, Holy and terrible &s;hould his name be.</P>
<P>Con&s;ider the re&s;olution that God hath taken upon the Hypocrite, and his prayer; <HI>What is the hope of the Hypocrite,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 27.8. Ho&s; 7.14.</NOTE> <HI>when God taketh away his &s;oule? Will God heare his cry? They have not cryed unto me with their hearts, when they have howled upon their beds.</HI> Con&s;ider, that error in the matter of our prayer fru&s;trates the prayer and makes it ineffectuall. <HI>Ze|bedees</HI> Sons would have beene placed at the right hand,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.21.</NOTE> and at the left hand of Chri&s;t, and were not heard. Error in the manner may fru&s;trate our prayer, and make it ineffectu|all too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iam. 4.3.</NOTE> <HI>Ye ask, and are not heard, becau&s;e ye ask ami&s;&s;e.</HI> It is ami&s;&s;e, if it be not referred to his will,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 5.12. Iam. 1.6.</NOTE> <HI>(Lord if thou wilt, thou can&s;t make me clean.)</HI> It is ami&s;&s;e, if it be not asked in faith, <HI>(Let not him that wavereth, thinke he &s;hall receive any thing of the Lord.)</HI> It is ami&s;&s;e, if prayer be di&s;continued,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 5.17. Luke 22.44. E&s;ay 1.15.</NOTE> intermitted, done by fits, <HI>(Pray ince&s;&s;antly)</HI> And it is &s;o too, if it be not vehe|ment; for Chri&s;t was <HI>in an Agony</HI> in his prayer, and <HI>his &s;weat was as great drops of blood.</HI> Of prayers without the&s;e conditions, God &s;ayes, <HI>When you &s;pread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes, &amp; when you make many prayers, I will not heare you.</HI> Their prayer &s;hall not only be ineffectuall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 28.9. P&s;al. 129.7.</NOTE> but even their prayer &s;hall be <HI>an abomination;</HI> And not only an abomination to God, but de&s;truction upon them&s;elves; for, <HI>Their prayer &s;hall be turned to &s;in.</HI> And, when they &s;hall not be heard for them&s;elves, no body el&s;e &s;hall be heard for them; <HI>(Though the&s;e three men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 14.14.</NOTE> <HI>Noah, Iob, &amp; Daniel, &s;tood for them, they &s;hould not deliver the~;</HI> Though the whole Congregation con&s;i&s;ted of Saints, they &s;hall not be heard for him, nay, they &s;hall be for|bidden to pray for him, forbidden to mentio~, or mean him in their prayers, as <HI>Ieremy</HI> was. When God leaves you no way of reconciliation but prayer, and then layes the&s;e heavy and terrible conditions upon prayer; Confe&s;&s;e that though he be <HI>the God of your &s;alvation,</HI> and do <HI>an&s;wer you,</HI> yet <HI>By terrible things doth the God of your &s;alvation an&s;wer you.</HI> And con|&s;ider this againe, as in manners, and in prayer, &s;o in his other Ordinance of Preaching.</P>
<P>Thinke with your &s;elves what God lookes for from you,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In concioni|bus. <HI>1 Cor. 1.21.</HI></NOTE> and what you give him, in that Exerci&s;e. Becau&s;e God cals <HI>Preaching fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e,</HI> you take God at his word, and you thinke Preaching a thing under you. Hence is it, that you take &s;o much liberty in cen&s;uring and comparing Preacher and Preacher, nay Sermon and Sermon from the &s;ame Preacher; as though we preached for wagers, and as though coine were to be valu|ed from the in&s;cription meerely, and the image, and the per&s;on, and not for the metall. You mea&s;ure all by per&s;ons;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word"> 4.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> and yet, <HI>Non erube&s;cit is faciem Sacerdotis, You re&s;pect not the per&s;on of the Prie&s;t,</HI> you give not &s;o much reverence to Gods Ordinance, as he does. In
<PB N="693" REF="364">no Church of Chri&s;tendome but ours, doth the Preacher preach uncovered. And for all this good, and humble, and reverend example, (fit to be continued by us) cannot we keepe you uncovered till the Text be read. All the Sermon is not Gods word, but all the Sermon is Gods Ordinance, and the Text is certainely his word. There is no &s;al|vation but by faith, nor faith but by hearing, nor bearing but by preaching; and they that thinke meanlie&s;t of the Keyes of the Church, and &s;peake faintlie&s;t of the Ab&s;olution of the Church, will yet allow, That tho&s;e Keyes lock, and unlock in Preaching; That Ab&s;olution is conferred, or with held in Preaching, That the propo&s;ing of the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pel in preaching, is that binding and loo&s;ing on earth, which bindes and loo&s;es in heaven. And then, though Chri&s;t have bid us, <HI>Preach the Go&s;pel to every creature,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 16.15.</NOTE> yet, in his own great Sermon in the Mount, he hath forbidden us, <HI>to give holy things to dogs,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.6.</NOTE> <HI>or to ca&s;t pearle before &s;wine, le&s;t they trample them, and turne and rend us.</HI> So that if all tho&s;e manifold and fearfull judgements, which &s;well in every Chapter and blow in eve|ry ver&s;e, and thunder in every line of every Booke of the Bible, fall upon all them that come hither, as well, if they turne, and rend, that is, Calumniate us, the per&s;on of the Preacher, as if they trample upon the pearles, that is, undervalue the Doctrine, and the Ordinance it &s;elfe; If his terrible Judgements fall upon every uncharitable mi&s;-interpre|tation of that which is &s;aid here, and upon every irreverence in this place, and in this a|ction; Confe&s;&s;e, that though he be <HI>the God of your &s;alvation,</HI> and doe <HI>an&s;wer you,</HI> yet, <HI>by terrible things doth the God of your &s;alvation an&s;wer you.</HI> And confe&s;&s;e it al&s;o, as in manners, and in prayers, and in preaching, &s;o in the holy and ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament.</P>
<P>This Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour, <HI>Luther</HI> calls &s;afely,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Sacra|mento.</NOTE> <HI>Venerabile &amp; adorabile;</HI> for certainly, what&s;oever that is which we &s;ee, that which we receive, is to be adored; for, we receive Chri&s;t. He is <HI>Res Sacramenti,</HI> The forme, the E&s;&s;ence, the &s;ub&s;tance, the &s;oule of the Sacrament; And <HI>Sacramentum &s;ine re Sacramenti, mors o&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> To take the body, and not the &s;oule, the bread, and not Chri&s;t, is death. But he that feels Chri&s;t, in the receiving of the Sacrament, and will not bend his knee, would &s;carce bend his knee, if he &s;aw him. The fir&s;t of that royall Family,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Alvarez de Auxil. Epi&s;t. ad Phil. 3.</NOTE> which thinks it &s;elfe the greate&s;t in Chri&s;tendome at this day, The Hou&s;e of Au&s;trich, had the fir&s;t marks of their Great|ne&s;&s;e, The Empire, brought into that Hou&s;e, for a particular reverence done to the holy and ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament. What the bread and wine is, or what becomes of it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;c.</NOTE> <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> thinks impertinent to be inquired. He thinks he hath &s;aid enough; (and &s;o may we doe) <HI>Migrat in &s;ub&s;tantiam animae;</HI> There is the true Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, that when I have re|ceived it worthily, it becomes my very &s;oule; that is, My &s;oule growes up into a better &s;tate, and habitude by it, and I have the more &s;oule for it, the more &s;anctified, the more deified &s;oule by that Sacrament.</P>
<P>Now this Sacrament, which as it is mini&s;tred to us, is but a Sacrament, but as it is of|fered to God, is a Sacrifice too, is a fearfull, a terrible thing: If the &s;acrifices of the Law, the blood of Goats and Rammes, were &s;o, how fearfull, how terrible, how reverentiall a thing is the blood of this immaculate Lambe, the Sonne of God? And though God doe &s;o abound in goodne&s;&s;e towards us, <HI>Vt po&s;sint injuriata Sacramenta prode&s;&s;e rever&s;is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyprian.</NOTE>(as S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> excellently expre&s;&s;es it) That that Sacrament which we have injured and abu&s;ed, received unworthily, or irreverently, at one time, may yet benefit us, and be the &s;avour and &s;eale of life unto us, at another, yet when you heare that terrible Thunder break upon you, <HI>That the unworthy receiver eats and drinks his own damnation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.27.</NOTE> That he makes Chri&s;t Je&s;us, who is the propitiation of all the world, his damnation; And then, That not to have come to a &s;evere examination of the Con&s;cience before, and to a &s;in|cere dete&s;tation of the &s;in, and to a formed, and fixed, and deliberate, and determinate re&s;olution again&s;t that &s;in, at the receiving of the Sacrament, (which, alas, how few doe? Is there one that does it? There is &s;corce one) That this makes a man an unworthy re|ceiver of the Sacrament, That thus we make a <HI>mock of the Sonne of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.29.</NOTE> thus <HI>we tread the blood of the Covenant under foot, and de&s;pite the Spirit of grace;</HI> And that for this, at the la&s;t day, we &s;hall be ranked with <HI>Iudas,</HI> and not onely with <HI>Iudas,</HI> as a negligent de&s;pi&s;er, but with <HI>Iudas,</HI> as an actuall betrayer of the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us. Con&s;ider well, with what fearfull Conditions even this &s;cale of your reconciliation is accompanied, and though you may not doubt, but that God, <HI>the God of your &s;alvation does an&s;wer you,</HI> yet you mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e too, That it is <HI>by terrible things,</HI> that he does it. And, as it is &s;o in mat|ter of manners, and &s;o in our prayers, and &s;o in our preaching, and &s;o in the Sacrament,
<PB N="694" REF="365">&s;o is it al&s;o at the houre of our Death, which is as far as we can pur&s;ue this Meditation, (for, after Death we can aske nothing at Gods hands, and therefore God makes us no an&s;wer) And therefore with that Conclu&s;ion of all, we &s;hall conclude all, <HI>That by terri|ble things, the God of our &s;alvation an&s;wers us,</HI> at the houre of our death.</P>
<P>Though death be but a &s;leepe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In morte.</NOTE> yet it is a &s;leepe that an Earth-quake cannot wake; And yet there is a Trumpet that will, when that hand of God, that gathered du&s;t to make the&s;e bodies, &s;hall crumble the&s;e bodies into du&s;t againe, when that &s;oule that evapora|ted it &s;elfe in unnece&s;&s;ary di&s;putations in this world, &s;hall make &s;uch fearfull and di&s;tem|pered conclu&s;ions, as to &s;ee God onely by ab&s;ence, (never to &s;ee him face to face) And to know God onely by ignorance, (never to know him <HI>&s;icuti e&s;t,</HI> as he is) (for he is All mercy) And to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e immortality, and impo&s;&s;ibility of dying onely in a continuall dying; when, as a Cabinet who&s;e key were lo&s;t, mu&s;t be broken up, and torne in pieces, before the Jewell that was laid up in it, can be taken out; &s;o thy body, (the Cabinet of thy &s;oule) mu&s;t be &s;haked and &s;hivered by violent &s;ickne&s;&s;e, before that &s;oule can goe out, And when it is thus gone out, mu&s;t an&s;wer for all the imperfections of that body, which body polluted it, And yet, though this &s;oule be &s;uch a lo&s;er by that body, it is not perfectly well, nor fully &s;atisfied, till it be reunited to that body againe; when thou remembre&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.36.</NOTE> (and, oh, never forget it) that Chri&s;t him&s;elfe <HI>was heavy in his &s;oule unto Death,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.39.</NOTE> That Chri&s;t him&s;elfe came to a <HI>Si po&s;sibile, If it be po&s;sible, let this Cup pa&s;&s;e;</HI> That he came to a <HI>Quare dereliqui&s;ti,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.46.</NOTE> a bitter &s;en&s;e of Gods dereliction, and for&s;aking of him, when thou con&s;idere&s;t all this, compo&s;e thy &s;elfe for death, but thinke it not a light mat|ter to dye. Death made the Lyon of Judah to roare; and doe not thou thinke, that that which we call going away like a Lambe, doth more te&s;tifie a conformity with Chri&s;t, then a &s;trong &s;en&s;e, and bitter agony, and colluctation with death, doth. Chri&s;t gave us the Rule, in the Example; He taught us what we &s;hould doe, by his doing it; And he pre-admitted a fearfull apprehen&s;ion of death. A Lambe is a Hieroglyphique of Pati|ence, but not of &s;tupidity. And death was Chri&s;ts <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> All ended in death; yet he had &s;en&s;e of death; How much more doth a &s;ad &s;en&s;e of our tran&s;migration be|long to us, to whom death is no <HI>Con&s;ummatum e&s;t,</HI> but an <HI>In principio;</HI> our account, and our everla&s;ting &s;tate begins but then.</P>
<P><HI>Apud te propitiatio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 130.4.</NOTE> <HI>ut timearis;</HI> In this knot we tie up all; <HI>With thee there is mercy, that thou mighte&s;t be feared.</HI> There is a holy feare, that does not onely con&s;i&s;t with an a&s;&s;u|rance of mercy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 21.15.</NOTE> but induces, con&s;titutes that a&s;&s;urance. <HI>Pavor operantibus iniquitatem,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Solomon;</HI> Pavor, horror, and &s;ervile feare, jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition of God, diffidence, and di&s;tru&s;t in his mercy, and a bo&s;ome-prophecy of &s;elf-de&s;truction; <HI>De&s;truction</HI> it &s;elfe, (&s;o we tran&s;late it) <HI>be upon the workers of iniquity; Pavor operantibus iniquitatem;</HI> And yet &s;ayes that wi&s;e King,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 28.14.</NOTE> <HI>Beatus qui &s;emper Pavidus; Ble&s;&s;ed is that man that alwayes fears;</HI> who, though he alwayes hope, and beleeve the good that God will &s;hew him, yet al&s;o feares the evills, that God might ju&s;tly multiply upon him; Ble&s;&s;ed is he that looks up|on God with a&s;&s;urance, but upon him&s;elfe with feare. For, though God have given us light, by which we may &s;ee him, even in Nature, (for, <HI>He is the confidence of all the ends of the Earth, and of them that are a far of upon the Sea</HI>) Though God have given us a clea|rer light in the Law, and experience of his providence upon his people throughout the Old Te&s;tament, Though God have abundantly, infinitely multiplied the&s;e lights and the&s;e helpes to us in the Chri&s;tian Church, where he is <HI>the God of &s;alvation,</HI> yet, as <HI>he an&s;wers us by terrible things,</HI> (in that fir&s;t acceptation of the words which I propo&s;ed to you) that is, Gives us a&s;&s;urances, by miraculous te&s;timonies in our behalfe, that he will an&s;wer our patient expectation, by terrible Judgements and Revenges upon our ene|mies, <HI>In his Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> that is, In his faithfulne&s;&s;e, according to his Promi&s;es, and according to his performances of tho&s;e Promi&s;es, to his former people; So in the words, con&s;idered the other way, In his Holine&s;&s;e, that is, in his wayes of imprinting Holine&s;&s;e in us, He an&s;wers us <HI>by terrible things,</HI> in all tho&s;e particulars, which we have pre&s;ented unto you; By infu&s;ing faith; but with that terrible addition, <HI>Damnabitur,</HI> He that be|leeveth not, &s;hall be damned; He an&s;wers us, by compo&s;ing our manners, and rectify|ing our life and conver&s;ation; but with terrible additions of cen&s;ures, and Excommuni|cations, and tearings off from his own body, which is a death to us, and a wound to him; He an&s;wers us by enabling us to &s;peake to him in Prayer; but with terrible additions, for the matter, for the manner, for the mea&s;ure of our Prayer, which being neglected,
<PB N="695" REF="365">our very Prayer is turned to &s;in. He an&s;wers us in Preaching; but with that terrible com|mination, that even his word may be the &s;avor of death unto death. He an&s;wers us in the Sacrament; but with that terrible perplexity and di&s;traction, that he that &s;eemes to be a <HI>Iohn,</HI> or a <HI>Peter,</HI> a Loving, or a Beloved Di&s;ciple, may be a <HI>Iudas,</HI> and he that &s;eems to have received the &s;eale of his reconciliation, may have eat and drunke his own Dam|nation. And he an&s;wers us at the houre of death; but with this terrible obligation, That even then I make &s;ure my &s;alvation with feare and trembling. That &s;o we imagine not a God of wax, whom we can melt, and mold, when, and how we will; That we make not the Church a Market, That an over-homelines and familiarity with God in the acts of Religion, bring us not to an irreverence, nor indifferency of places; But that, as the Militant Church is the porch of the Triumphant, &s;o our reverence here, may have &s;ome proportion to that reverence which is exhibited there,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 4.10.</NOTE> where the Elders ca&s;t their Crownes before the Throne, and continue in that holy and reverend acclamation, <HI>Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, and Honor, and Power;</HI> for, (as we may adde from this Text) <HI>By terrible things, O God of our &s;alvation, doe&s;t thou an&s;wer us in righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="69" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXIX. The fifth of my Prebend Sermons upon my five P&s;almes: <HI>Preached at S.</HI> Pauls.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 66.3.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Through the greatne&s;&s;e of thy Power &s;hall thine Enemies &s;ubmit them&s;elves unto thee.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IT is well &s;aid, (&s;o well, as that more then one of the Fathers &s;eeme to have delighted them&s;elves in having &s;aid it) <HI>Titulus Clavis,</HI> The Title of the P&s;alme, is the Key of the P&s;alme; the Title opens the whole P&s;alme. The Church of Rome will needs keepe the Key of heaven, and the key to that Key, the Scriptures, wrapped up in that Tran&s;lation, which in no ca&s;e mu&s;t be departed from. There, the key of this P&s;alm, (the Title thereof) hath one bar wre&s;ted, that is, made otherwi&s;e, then he that made the Key, (the Holy Gho&s;t) intended it; And another bat in&s;erted, that is, one clau&s;e added, which the Holy Gho&s;t added not. Where we reade, in the Title, <HI>Victori, To the chiefe Mu&s;ician,</HI> they reade, <HI>In finem, A P&s;alme di|rected upon the end.</HI> I think, they meane upon the later times, becau&s;e it is in a great part, a Propheticall P&s;ame, of the calling of the Gentiles. But after this change, they al&s;o adde, <HI>Re&s;urrectionis, A P&s;alme concerning the Re&s;urrection;</HI> and that is not in the Hebrew, nor any thing in the place thereof. And, after one Author in that Church had charged the Jewes, That they had ra&s;ed that clau&s;e out of the Hebrew,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Leo Ca&s;tr.</NOTE> and that it was in the He|brew at fir&s;t, A learned, and a laborious Je&s;uit, (for truely,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lorinus.</NOTE> Schooles may confe&s;&s;e the Je&s;uits to bee learned, for they have a&s;&s;i&s;ted there; and States, and Councell-tables may confe&s;&s;e the Je&s;uits to be laborious, for they have troubled them there) hee, I &s;ay, after he hath chidden his fellow, for &s;aying, That this word had ever been in the Hebrew, or was razed out from thence by the Jewes, concludes roundly, <HI>Vndecunque advenerit,</HI> How&s;oever tho&s;e Additions, which are not in the Hebrew, came into our Tran&s;lation, <HI>Authoritatem habent, &amp; retineri debent,</HI> Their very being there, gives them Authentike|ne&s;&s;e, and Authority, and there they mu&s;t be. That this, in the Title of this P&s;alme, be there, wee are content, as long as you know, that this particular, (That this P&s;alme by the Title thereof concerns the Re&s;urrection) is not in the Originall, but added by &s;ome Expo&s;itor of the P&s;almes; you may take knowledge too, That that addition hath beene
<PB N="696" REF="366">accepted and followed, by many, and ancient, and reverend Expo&s;itors, almo&s;t all of the Ea&s;terne, and many of the We&s;terne Church too; and therefore, for our u&s;e and ac|commodation, may well be accepted by us al&s;o.</P>
<P>We con&s;ider ordinarily three Re&s;urrections: A &s;pirituall Re&s;urrection, a Re&s;urrection from &s;inne, by Grace in the Church; A temporall Re&s;urrection, a Re&s;urrection from trouble, and calamity in the world; And an eternall Re&s;urrection, a Re&s;urrection after which no part of man &s;hall die, or &s;uffer againe, the Re&s;urrection into Glory. Of the fir&s;t, The Re&s;urrection from &s;inne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 60.1.</NOTE> is that intended in <HI>E&s;ay, Ari&s;e, and &s;hine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is ri&s;en upon thee.</HI> Of the later Re&s;urrection, is that harmo|nious &s;traine of all the Apo&s;tles in their Creed intended, <HI>I beleeve the Re&s;urrection of the body.</HI> And of the third Re&s;urrection, from oppre&s;&s;ions and calamities which the &s;ervants of God &s;uffer in this life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin. Iob 19.26. Ezek. 37.</NOTE> &s;ome of our later men under&s;tand that place of <HI>Iob, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in my fle&s;h I &s;hall &s;ee God;</HI> And that place of <HI>Ezekiel</HI> all un|der&s;tand of that Re&s;urrection, where God &s;aith to the Prophet, <HI>Sonne of man, can the&s;e bones live?</HI> Can the&s;e men thus ruined, thus di&s;per&s;ed, bee re&s;tored againe by a re&s;ur|rection in this world? And to this re&s;urrection from the pre&s;&s;ures and tribulations of this life, doe tho&s;e Interpreters, who interpret this P&s;alme, of a Re&s;urrection, refer this our Text, <HI>(Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! Through the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power &s;hall thine enemies &s;ubmit them&s;elves unto thee.)</HI> Con&s;ider how powerfully God hath, and you cannot doubt, but that God will give them a Re&s;urrection in this world, who rely upon him, and u&s;e his meanes, when&s;oever any calamity hath dejected them, ruined them, &s;cattered them in the eyes of men. Say unto the Lord, That he hath done it, and the Lord will &s;ay unto thee, that he will doe it againe, and againe for thee.</P>
<P>We call <HI>Noah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>Ianus,</HI> becau&s;e hee had two faces, in this re&s;pect, That hee looked into the former, and into the later world, he &s;aw the times before, and after the flood. <HI>David</HI> in this Text, is a <HI>Ianus</HI> too; He looks two wayes, he hath a Pro&s;pect, and a Retro&s;pect, he looks backward and forward, what God had done, and what God would doe. For, as we have one great comfort in this, That Prophecies are become Hi&s;tories, that what|&s;oever was &s;aid by the mouthes of the Prophets, concerning our &s;alvation in Chri&s;t, is effected, (&s;o prophecies are made hi&s;tories) &s;o have wee another comfort in this Text, That Hi&s;tories are made Prophecies; That what&s;oever we reade that God had former|ly done, in the reliefe of his oppre&s;&s;ed &s;ervants, wee are thereby a&s;&s;ured that he can, that he will doe them againe; and &s;o Hi&s;tories are made Prophecies: And upon the&s;e two pillars, A thankfull acknowledgement of that which God hath done, And a faithfull a&s;|&s;urance that God will doe &s;o againe, &s;hall this pre&s;ent Exerci&s;e of your devotions be ray|&s;ed; And the&s;e are our two parts. <HI>Dicite Deo, Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works!</HI> (that part is Hi&s;toricall, of things pa&s;t) <HI>In multitudine virtutis, In the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power, &s;hall thine enemies &s;ubmit them&s;elves unto thee,</HI> (that part is Propheticall, of things to come.)</P>
<P>In the Hi&s;tory wee are to turne many leafes, and many in the Prophecy too, to pa&s;&s;e many &s;teps, to put out many branches in each. In the fir&s;t, the&s;e; <HI>Dicite, &s;ay ye;</HI> where we con&s;ider fir&s;t, The Per&s;on that enjoyns this publike acknowledgement and thank&s;|giving, It is <HI>David,</HI> and <HI>David</HI> as a King; for to Him, to the King, the ordering of pub|like actions, even in the &s;ervice of God appertains. <HI>David, David</HI> the King &s;peaks this, by way of coun&s;ell, and per&s;wa&s;ion, and concurrence to all the world, (for &s;o in the be|ginning, and in &s;ome other pa&s;&s;ages of the P&s;alme, it is <HI>Omnis terra, All yee lands,</HI> Ver&s;e 1. and <HI>All the earth,</HI> Ver&s;e 4.) <HI>David</HI> doth what he can, that all the world might concurre in one manner of &s;erving God. By way of A&s;&s;i&s;tance he extends to all, And by way of Injunction and commandement to all his, to all that are under his government, <HI>Dicite, &s;ay you,</HI> that is, you &s;hall &s;ay, you &s;hall &s;erve God thus. And as he gives coun&s;ell to all, and gives lawes to all his &s;ubjects, &s;o he &s;ubmits him&s;elfe to the &s;ame law; For, (as wee &s;hall &s;ee in &s;ome parts of the P&s;alme, to which the Text refers) he profe&s;&s;es in his parti|cular, that he will &s;ay and doe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h. 24.15.</NOTE> what&s;oever hee bids them doe, and &s;ay; <HI>My hou&s;e &s;hall &s;erve the Lord,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Io&s;hua;</HI> But it is, <HI>Ego, &amp; domus mea, I and my hou&s;e;</HI> him&s;elfe would &s;erve God aright too.</P>
<P>From &s;uch a con&s;ideration of the per&s;ons, in the Hi&s;toricall part, wee &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to the commandement, to the duty it &s;elfe; That is, fir&s;t <HI>Dicite, &s;ay.</HI> It is more then <HI>Cogitate,</HI> to Con&s;ider Gods former goodne&s;&s;e; more then <HI>Admirari,</HI> to Admire Gods former
<PB N="697" REF="366">goodne&s;&s;e; &s;peculations, and exta&s;ies are not &s;ufficient &s;ervices of God; <HI>Dicite, Say unto God,</HI> Declare, manife&s;t, publi&s;h your zeale, is more then <HI>Cogitate,</HI> Con&s;ider it, thinke of it; but it is le&s;&s;e then <HI>Facite,</HI> To come to action; wee mu&s;t declare our thankfull zeale to Gods cau&s;e, we mu&s;t not modifie, not di&s;gui&s;e that; But, for the particular wayes of promoving, and advancing that cau&s;e, in matter of action, we mu&s;t refer that to them, to whom God hath referred it. The Duty is a Commemoration of Benefits; <HI>Dicite,</HI> Speake of it, a&s;cribe it, attribute it to the right Author; Who is that? That is the next Con&s;ideration, <HI>Dicite Deo, Say unto God; Non vobis,</HI> Not to your owne Wi&s;dome, or Power, <HI>Non Sanctis,</HI> Not to the care and protection of Saints or Angels, <HI>Sed nomini ejus da gloriam,</HI> Onely unto his name be all the glory a&s;cribed. And then, that which fals within this commandement, this Con&s;ideration, is <HI>Opera ejus,</HI> The works of God, <HI>(How terrible art thou in thy works!)</HI> It is not <HI>Decreta ejus, Arcana ejus,</HI> The &s;ecrets of his State, the wayes of his government, unrevealed Decrees, but tho&s;e things, in which he hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to man, <HI>Opera,</HI> his works. Con&s;ider his works, and con&s;ider them &s;o as this commandement enjoynes, that is, <HI>How terrible God is in them;</HI> Determine not your Con&s;ideration upon the worke it &s;elf, for &s;o you may think too lightly of it, That it is but &s;ome naturall Accident, or &s;ome impo&s;ture and fal&s;e Miracle, or illu&s;ion, Or you may thinke of it with an amazement, with a &s;tupidity, with a con&s;ternation, when you con&s;ider not from whom the worke comes, con&s;ider God in the worke; And God &s;o, as that though he be terrible in that worke, yet, he is &s;o terrible but &s;o, as the word of this Text expre&s;&s;es this terriblene&s;&s;e, which word is <HI>Norah,</HI> and <HI>Norah</HI> is but <HI>Reverendus,</HI> it is a terror of Reverence, not a terror of Confu&s;ion, that the Con&s;ideration of God in his works &s;hould po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e us withall.</P>
<P>And in tho&s;e plaine and &s;mooth paths, wee &s;hall walke through the fir&s;t part, The hi&s;toricall part, what God hath formerly done, <HI>(Say unto God, how terrible art thou in thy works!)</HI> from thence we de&s;cend to the other, The Propheticall part, what, upon our performance of this duty, God will &s;urely do in our behalfe; he will &s;ubdue tho&s;e ene|mies, which, becau&s;e they are ours, are his; <HI>In multitudine virtutis, In the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power, &s;hall thine enemies &s;ubmit them&s;elves unto thee.</HI> Where we &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, That even God him&s;elfe hath enemies; no man therefore can be free from them; And then we &s;hall &s;ee, whom God cals enemies here, Tho&s;e who are enemies to his cau&s;e, and to his friends; All tho&s;e, if we will &s;peake <HI>Davids</HI> language, the Holy Gho&s;ts language, we mu&s;t call Gods enemies. And the&s;e enemies nothing can mollifie, nothing can reduce, but Power; faire meanes, and per&s;wa&s;ion will not worke upon them; Preaching, Di&s;|puting will not doe it; It mu&s;t be Power, and greatne&s;&s;e of power, and greatne&s;&s;e of Gods Power. The Law is Power, and it is Gods Power; All ju&s;t Laws are from God. One Act of this Power (an occa&s;ionall executing of Laws at &s;ome few times, again&s;t the enemies of Gods truth) will not &s;erve; there mu&s;t be a con&s;tant continuation of the exe|cution thereof; nor will that &s;erve, if that be done onely for worldly re&s;pects, to rai&s;e money, and not rather to draw them, who are under tho&s;e Laws, to the right wor&s;hip of God, in the truth of his Religion. And yet all, that even all this, This power, this great power, his power &s;hall worke upon the&s;e, his, and our enemies, is but this, <HI>They &s;hall &s;ubmit them&s;elves,</HI> &s;ayes the text, but how? <HI>Mentientur tibi,</HI> (as it is in the Originall, and as you finde it in the Margin) They &s;hall di&s;&s;emble, they &s;hall lie, they &s;hall yeeld a fained obe|dience, they &s;hall make as though they were good Subjects, but not be &s;o. And yet, even this, Though their &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion be but di&s;&s;embled, but counterfaited, <HI>David</HI> puts among&s;t Gods ble&s;&s;ings to a State, and to a Church; It is &s;ome ble&s;&s;ing, when Gods ene|mies dare not appeare, and ju&s;tifie them&s;elves, and their Cau&s;e, as it is a heavy di&s;cou|ragement, when they dare do that. Though God doe not &s;o far con&s;ummate their hap|pine&s;&s;e, as that their enemies &s;hall be truly reconciled, or throughly rooted out, yet he &s;hall afford them &s;o much happine&s;&s;e, as that they &s;hall doe them no harme.</P>
<P>And, Beloved, this di&s;tribution of the text, which I have given you, is rather a Para|phra&s;e, then a Divi&s;ion, and therefore the re&s;t will rather be a Repetition, then a Dilata|tion; And I &s;hall onely give &s;ome &s;uch note, and marke, upon every particular branch, as may returne them, and fix them in your memories, and not enlarge my &s;elfe far in any of them, for I know, the time will not admit it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, we remember you, in the fir&s;t branch of the fir&s;t part, that <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Rex guber|nat Eccle&s;ia~.</NOTE> in that Capacity, as King, in&s;titutes tho&s;e Orders, which the Church is to ob&s;erve in the pub|lique
<PB N="698" REF="367">&s;ervice of God. For, the King is King of men; not of bodies onely, but of &s;oules too; And of Chri&s;tian men; of us, not onely as we wor&s;hip one God, but as we are to expre&s;&s;e that wor&s;hip in the outward acts of Religion in the Church. God hath called him&s;elfe King; and he hath called Kings Gods. And when we looke upon the actions of Kings, we determine not our &s;elves in that per&s;on, but in God working in that per&s;on. As <HI>it is not I that doe any good,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.10.</NOTE> <HI>but the grace of God in me,</HI> So it is not the King that com|mands, but the power of God in the King. For, as in a Commi&s;&s;ion from the King, the King him&s;elfe workes in his Commi&s;&s;ioners, and their ju&s;t Act is the Kings Act: So in the Kings lawfull working upon his Subjects, God works, &amp; the Kings acts are Gods acts.</P>
<P>That ab&s;tinence therefore, and that forbearance which the Roman Church hath u&s;ed, from declaring whether the Laws of &s;ecular Magi&s;trates do bind the Con&s;cience, or no, that is, whether a man &s;in in breaking a Temporall Law, or no, (for, though it have beene di&s;puted in their books, and though the Bi&s;hop of that Church were &s;upplicated in the Trent Councell, to declare it, yet he would never be brought to it) that ab&s;tinence, I &s;ay, of theirs, though it give them one great advantage, yet it gives us another. For, by keeping it &s;till undetermined, and undecided, how far the Laws of temporall Prin|ces doe binde us, they keepe up that power, which is &s;o profitable to them, that is, To divide Kings and Subjects, and maintaine jealou&s;ies betweene them, be|cau&s;e, if the breach of any Law, con&s;titute a &s;in, then enters the juri&s;diction of Rome; for, that is the ground of their indirect power over Princes, <HI>In ordine ad &s;piritualia,</HI> that in any action, which may conduce to &s;in, they may meddle, and direct, and con&s;traine temporall Princes. That is their advantage, in their forbearing to declare this doctrine; And then, our advantage is, That this enervates, and weakens, nay de&s;troyes and annibi|lates that ordinary argument, That there mu&s;t be alwayes a Vi&s;ible Church, in which eve|ry man may have cleare re&s;olution, and infallible &s;atisfaction, in all &s;cruples that ari&s;e in him, and that the Roman Church is that Seat, and Throne of Infallibility. For, how does the Roman Church give any man infallible &s;atisfaction, whether the&s;e or the&s;e things, grounded upon the temporall Laws of &s;ecular Princes, be &s;ins or no, when as that Church hath not, nor will not come to a determination in that point? How &s;hall they come to the Sacrament? how &s;hall they go out of the world with a cleare con&s;cience, when many things lye upon them which they know not, nor can be informed by their Confe&s;&s;ors, whether they he &s;ins or no? And thus it is in divers other points be&s;ides this; They pretend to give &s;atisfaction and peace in all ca&s;es, and pretend to be the onely true Church for that, and yet leave the con&s;cience in ignorance, and in di&s;temper, and di|&s;tre&s;&s;e, and di&s;traction in many particulars.</P>
<P>The Law of the Prince is rooted in the power of God. The roote of all is Order, and the orderer of all is the King; And what the good Kings of Judah, and the religious Kings of the Primitive Chri&s;tian Church did, every King may, nay, &s;hould do. For, both the Tables are committed to him; (as well the fir&s;t that concernes our religious duties to God, as the other that concernes our Civill duties to men.) So is the Arke, where tho&s;e Tables are kept, and &s;o is the Temple, where that Arke is kept; all committed to him; and he over&s;ees the manner of the religious &s;ervice of God. And therefore it is, that in the Schooles we call Sedition and Rebellion, Sacriledge; for, though the tre&s;pa&s;&s;e &s;eeme to be directed but upon a man, yet in that man, who&s;e office (and con&s;equently his per&s;on) is &s;acred, God is oppo&s;ed, and violated. And it is impiou&s;ly &s;aid of a Je&s;uit, (I may ea&s;ily be beleeved of that Je&s;uit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gretzer.</NOTE> if any other might be excepted) <HI>Non e&s;t Regum etiam veram doctrinam confirmare,</HI> The King hath nothing to doe with Religion, neither doth it belong to him to e&s;tabli&s;h any forme of Religion in his Kingdome, though it bee the right Religion, and though it be but by way of Confirmation.</P>
<P>This then <HI>David,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnibus per&s;uadet.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> as a King takes to be in his care, in his office, To rectifie and &s;ettle Religion, that is, the outward wor&s;hip of God. And this he intimates, this he con|veyes by way of coun&s;aile, and per&s;wa&s;ion to all the world, he would faine have all agree in one &s;ervice of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 1.</NOTE> Therefore he enters the P&s;alme &s;o, <HI>Iubilate omnes terrae, Rejoyce all ye lands;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 4.</NOTE> and, <HI>Adoret te omnis terrae, All the earth &s;hall wor&s;hip thee;</HI> and againe, <HI>Venite &amp; au|dite omnes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 16.</NOTE> <HI>Come and heare all ye that feare God.</HI> For, as S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> &s;ayes of Bi&s;hops, That every Bi&s;hop is an univer&s;all Bi&s;hop, That is, mu&s;t take into his care and contemplation, not onely his owne particular Dioces, but the whole Catholique Church: So every Chri&s;tian King is a King of the whole Chri&s;tian world, that is, mu&s;t &s;tudy, and take in|to
<PB N="699" REF="367">his care, not onely his own kingdome, but all others too. For, it is not onely the mu|nicipall law of that kingdome, by which he is bound to &s;ee his own &s;ubjects, in all ca&s;es, righted, but in the whole law of Nations every King hath an intere&s;t. My &s;oule may be King, that is, re&s;ide principally in my heart, or in my braine, but it neglects not the remo|ter parts of my body. <HI>David</HI> maintains Religion at home; but he a&s;&s;i&s;ts, as much as he can, the e&s;tabli&s;hing of that Religion abroad too.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> endevours that, per&s;wades that every where; but he will be &s;ure of it at home;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Suis imperat.</NOTE> There he enjoyns it, there he commands it; <HI>Dicite,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>Say;</HI> that is, This you &s;hall &s;ay, you &s;hall &s;erve God thus. We cannot provide, that there &s;hall be no Wolves in the world, but we have provided that there &s;hall be no Wolves in this kingdome. Idolatry will be, but there needs be none among&s;t us. Idolaters were round about the children of I&s;rael in the land of promi&s;e; They could not make all tho&s;e Pro&s;elytes; but yet they kept their own &s;tation. When the Arian here&s;ie had &s;o &s;urrounded the world, as that <HI>Vniver&s;a fere Orientalis Eccle&s;ia,</HI> Almo&s;t all the Ea&s;tern Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nicephor. Vinc. Lyra.</NOTE> And <HI>Cuncti pene Latini Epi&s;copi, aut vi, aut fraude decepti,</HI> Almo&s;t all the Bi&s;hops of the We&s;terne Church, were deceived, or threatned out of their Religion into Ariani&s;me; In&s;omuch,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hilar.</NOTE> that S. <HI>Hilarie</HI> gives a note of an hundred and five Bi&s;hops of note, noted with that here&s;ie; When that one Bi&s;hop, who will needs be all alone, the Bi&s;hop of Rome, <HI>Liberius,</HI> &s;o far &s;ub&s;cri|bed to that here&s;ie,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. De Roma. pont. l. 4. c. 9.</NOTE> (as S. <HI>Hieroms</HI> expre&s;&s;e words are) that <HI>Bellarmine</HI> him&s;elfe does not onely not deny it, but finds him&s;elfe bound, and finds it hard for him to prove, That though <HI>Liberius</HI> did outwardly profe&s;&s;e him&s;elfe to be an Arian, yet in his heart he was none; yet for all this impetuou&s;ne&s;&s;e of this flood of this here&s;ie, <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> as Bi&s;hop, excommunicated the Arians in his Dioces, And <HI>Con&s;tantine,</HI> as Emperor, bani&s;hed them out of his Dominions. <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> would have been glad, if no other Church, <HI>Con&s;tan|tine</HI> would have been glad, if no other State would have received them; When they could not prevaile &s;o far, yet they did that which was po&s;&s;ible, and mo&s;t proper to them, they pre&s;erved the true wor&s;hip of the true God in their own Juri&s;diction.</P>
<P><HI>David</HI> could not have done that, if he had not had a true zeale to Gods truth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ip&s;e facit. quod jub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> in his own heart. And therefore, as we have an intimation of his de&s;ire to reduce the whole world, and a te&s;timony of his earne&s;tne&s;&s;e towards his own Subjects, &s;o we have an a&s;&s;u|rance, that in his own particular, he was con&s;tantly e&s;tabli&s;hed in this truth, He cals to all, <HI>(Come and &s;ee the works of God)</HI> And more particularly to all his, <HI>(O ble&s;&s;e our God yee peo|ple)</HI> but he propo&s;es him&s;elfe to their con&s;ideration too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 5. Ver. 8. Ver. 16. P&s;al. 145.3.</NOTE> <HI>(I will declare what he hath done for my &s;oule.) Great is the Lord, and greatly to be feared,</HI> &s;ayes this religious King, in ano|ther P&s;alme; And that is a Proclamation, a Remon&s;trance to all the world. He addes, <HI>One generation &s;hall declare thy works to another;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 4. Ver. 6.</NOTE> And that is a propagation to the ends of the world. But all this is rooted in that which is per&s;onall, and follows after, <HI>I will &s;peake of the glorious honour of thy Maje&s;ly;</HI> And that is a prote&s;tation for his own particu|lar. And to the &s;ame purpo&s;e is that which follows in the next ver&s;e, <HI>Men &s;hall &s;peake of the might of thy terrible acts;</HI> They &s;hall, that is, They &s;hould; and, I would all men would, &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> But, whether they doe, or no, <HI>I will declare thy greatne&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;ayes he there; I will not be defective in my particular. And <HI>David</HI> was to be tru&s;ted with a pious endevour among&s;t his Neighbours, and with a pious care over all his own &s;ub|jects, as long as he nouri&s;hed, and declared &s;o pious a di&s;po&s;ition in his own per&s;on. And truly, it is an injurious, it is a di&s;loyall &s;u&s;pition, and jealou&s;ie, it is an ungodly fa&s;cination of our own happine&s;&s;e, to doubt of good effects abroad, and of a ble&s;&s;ed a&s;&s;urance at home, as long as the zeale of Gods truth remains &s;o con&s;tantly in his heart, and flowes out &s;o declaratorily in his actions, in who&s;e per&s;on God a&s;&s;ures both our temporall &s;afe|ty, and our Religion.</P>
<P>We pa&s;&s;e now from this con&s;ideration of the per&s;ons; which, though it be fixed here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dicite.</NOTE> in the highe&s;t, in Kings, extends to all, to whom any power is committed, To Magi|&s;trates, to Ma&s;ters, to Fathers, All are bound to propagate Gods truth to others, but e&s;pe|cially to tho&s;e who are under their charge; And this they &s;hall be&s;t doe, if them&s;elves be the Example. So far we have proceeded, and we come now to the Duty, as it is here more particularly expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>Dicite, Say unto God,</HI> Publi&s;h, declare, manife&s;t your zeale. Chri&s;t is <HI>Verbum, The Word,</HI> and that excludes &s;ilence; but Chri&s;t is al&s;o <GAP DESC="foreign">, and that excludes ra&s;hne&s;&s;e, and impertinence in our &s;peech. <HI>Inter caeteras Dei appellationes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazianz.</NOTE> <HI>Ser|monem veneramur,</HI> Among&s;t Gods other Names, we honour that, that he is <HI>the Word;</HI>
<PB N="700" REF="368">That implies a Communication, Gods goodne&s;&s;e in &s;peaking to us, and an obligation upon us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;h. 10.12.</NOTE> to &s;peake to him. For, Beloved, That &s;tanding of the Sunne and Moone, which gave occa&s;ion to the drawing of &s;o much blood of the Amorites, is, in the Origi|nall, not <HI>Si&s;te Sol,</HI> but <HI>Sile Sol;</HI> He does not bid the Sunne and Moone &s;tand &s;till, but he bids them &s;ay nothing, make no noi&s;e, no motion &s;o. Be the Sunne the Magi&s;trate, and be the Moone, the Church, <HI>Si &s;ileant,</HI> if they be &s;ilent, command not, pray not, avow not Gods cau&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.3. Mat. 12.22. Mar. 7.32.</NOTE> the ca&s;e is dangerous. The <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> fell in <HI>fiery tongues,</HI> he inflamed them, and inflamed them to &s;peake. Divers dumb men were pre&s;ented to Chri&s;t; but if they were <HI>dumb,</HI> they were <HI>deafe</HI> too, and &s;ome of them <HI>blinde.</HI> Upon men that are dumb, that is, &s;peechle&s;&s;e in avowing him, God heaps other mi&s;chievous impediments too; Deafne&s;&s;e, They &s;hall not heare him in his word, and Blindne&s;&s;e, They &s;hall not &s;ee him in his works.</P>
<P><HI>Dicite,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Magis qu&agrave;m cogitare.</NOTE> <HI>Say,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David,</HI> Delight to &s;peake of God, and with God, and for God; <HI>Dicite,</HI> &s;ay &s;omething. We told you, this was <HI>Magis qu&agrave;m Cogitare,</HI> That there was more required then to thinke of God. Con&s;ideration, Meditation, Speculation, Con|templation upon God, and divine objects, have their place, and their &s;ea&s;on; But this is more then that; And more then Admiration too, for all the&s;e may determine in exta&s;ies, and in &s;tupidities, and in u&s;ele&s;&s;e and frivolous imaginations. Gold may be beat &s;o thin, as that it may be blowne away; And Speculations, even of divine things, may be blowne to that thinne&s;&s;e, to that &s;ubtilty, as that all may evaporate, never fixed, never applied to any u&s;e. God had conceived in him&s;elfe, from all eternity, certaine Idea's, certaine parterns of all things, which he would create. But the&s;e Idea's, the&s;e conceptions pro|duced not a creature, not a worme, not a weed; but then, <HI>Dixit, &amp; facta &s;unt,</HI> God &s;poke, and all things were made. Inward &s;peculations, nay, inward zeale, nay, inward prayers, are not full performances of our Duty. God heares willinglie&s;t, when men heare too; when we &s;peake alowd in the cares of men, and publi&s;h, and declare, and manife&s;t, and avow our zeale to his glory.</P>
<P>It is a duty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Min&ugrave;s quam facore.</NOTE> which in every private man, goes beyond the <HI>Cogitare,</HI> and the <HI>Admirari;</HI> but yet not &s;o far as to a <HI>Facite,</HI> in the private man. Private men mu&s;t thinke piou&s;ly, and &s;eriou&s;ly, and &s;peake zealou&s;ly, and &s;ea&s;onably of the cau&s;e of God. But this does not authorize, nor ju&s;tifie &s;uch a forwardne&s;&s;e in any private man, as to come to actions, though he, in a rectified con&s;cience, apprehend, that Gods cau&s;e might be advantaged by tho&s;e actions of his. For, matter of action requires publique warrant, and is not &s;afely grounded upon private zeale. When <HI>Peter,</HI> out of his own zeale, drew his &s;word for Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> <HI>Nondum manife&s;t&egrave; conceperat Euangelium patientie.</HI> He was not yet well in&s;tructed in the patience of the Go&s;pel; Nay, he was &s;ubmitted to the &s;entence of the law, out of the mouth of the &s;upreme Judge,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.54.</NOTE> <HI>All they that take the &s;word</HI> (that take it before it be gi|ven them by Authority) <HI>&s;hall peri&s;h by the &s;word.</HI> The fir&s;t law, that was given to the new world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 9.4. Gen. 9.6.</NOTE> after the Flood, was again&s;t <HI>the eating of blood.</HI> God would not have man &s;o fa|miliar with blood. And the &s;econd commandement, was again&s;t <HI>the &s;hedding of blood, (Who &s;o &s;heddeth mans blood, by man &s;hall his blood be &s;hed.)</HI> Nay, not onely where <HI>Peter</HI> was over-forward of him&s;elf, to defend Chri&s;t by armes, but where <HI>Iohn</HI> and <HI>Iames</HI> were too vehement, and importunate upon Chri&s;t, to give them leave to revenge the wrong done to him upon the Samaritans,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 9.55.</NOTE> <HI>(Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from hea|ven, and con&s;ume them?)</HI> Chri&s;t rebukes them, and tells them, <HI>They knew not of what &s;pi|rit they were;</HI> that is, of what &s;pirit they ought to be. They knew, &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome;</HI> they had no power of their own; They goe to him who had; And they doe not &s;ay, <HI>Domine jube,</HI> Lord doe thou doe it; but, Thou &s;halt never appeare in it, never be &s;eene in it, onely let us alone, and we will revenge thee, and con&s;ume them. Though they went no farther then this, yet this ra&s;h, and precipitate importunity in <HI>Iames</HI> and <HI>Iohn,</HI> as well as that ha&s;ty comming to action in <HI>Peter,</HI> was di&s;plea&s;ing to Chri&s;t; <HI>Dicite,</HI> &s;peake; &s;o far goes the duty of this Text; Speake by way of Coun&s;ell, you that are Coun&s;ellors to Princes, And, by way of Exhortation, you that are Preachers to the people; but leave the <HI>Facite,</HI> matter of action, to them in who&s;e hearts, and by who&s;e hands, and thorough who&s;e commandments God works.</P>
<P>We are yet in our fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opera.</NOTE> in our Hi&s;toricall part, Commemoration, and there we made it, (in our di&s;tribution and paraphra&s;e) our next &s;tep, what we are to commemorate, to employ this <HI>Dicite,</HI> this &s;peaking upon; and it is upon Gods works; <HI>(Say unto God, how
<PB N="701" REF="368">terrible art thou in thy works!)</HI> So that the &s;ubject of our &s;peech, (let it bee in holy Confe|rences, and Di&s;cour&s;es, let it be in Gods Ordinance, Preaching) is not to &s;peake of the unrevealed Decrees of God, of his internall, and eternall purpo&s;es in him&s;elfe, but of his works, of tho&s;e things in which he hath declared, and manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to us. God gave not alwayes to his Church, the Manife&s;tation of the pillar of Fire, but a pillar of Cloud too; And, though it were a Cloud, yet it was a Pillar; In a holy, and devout, and mode&s;t ignorance of tho&s;e things which God hath not revealed to us, we are better &s;et|tled, and &s;upported by a better Pillar, then in an over-curious, and impertinent inqui&s;ition of things re&s;erved to God him&s;elfe, or &s;hut up in their brea&s;ts, of whom God hath &s;aid, <HI>Ye are gods.</HI> God would not &s;hew <HI>all him&s;elfe</HI> to <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> as well as he loved him, and as freely as he conver&s;ed with him, He &s;hewed him but <HI>his hinder parts.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 33.23.</NOTE> Let that be his De|crees then, when in his due time they came to execution; for then, and not till then, they are works. And God would not &s;uffer <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his body to be &s;eene, when it was dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 34.6.</NOTE> becau&s;e then it could not &s;peake to them, it could not in&s;truct them, it could not direct them in any duty, if they tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed from any. God him&s;elfe would not be &s;poken to by us, but as hee &s;peaks of him&s;elfe; and he &s;peaks in his works. And as among men, &s;ome may Build, and &s;ome may Write, and wee call both by one name, (wee call his Buildings, and wee call his Books, his Works) &s;o if wee will &s;peake of God, this World which he hath built, and the&s;e Scriptures which he hath written, are his Works, and we &s;peak of God in his Works, (which is the commandement of this Text) when we &s;peak of him &s;o, as he hath manife&s;ted him&s;elfe in his miracles, and as hee hath declared him|&s;elfe in his Scriptures; for both the&s;e are his Works. There are Decrees in God, but we can take out no Copies of them, till God him&s;elfe exemplifie them, in the execution of them; The accompli&s;hing of the Decree is the be&s;t publi&s;hing, the be&s;t notifying of the Decree. But, of his Works we can take Copies; for, his Scriptures are his Works, and we have them by Tran&s;lations and Illu&s;trations, made appliable to every under&s;tan|ding; All the promi&s;es of his Scriptures belong to all. And, for his Miracles, (his Mi|racles are al&s;o his Works) we have an a&s;&s;urance, That what&s;oever God hath done for any, he will doe againe for us.</P>
<P>It is then his Works upon which we fix this Commemoration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deutip&s;e, in operibus illis, con&s;ideran|dus.</NOTE> and this glorifying of God; but &s;o, as that wee determine not upon the Work it &s;elfe, but God in the Work, (<HI>Say unto God,</HI> (to Him) <HI>how terrible art thou,</HI> (that God) <HI>in thy Works?</HI>) It may bee of u&s;e to you, to receive this note, Then when it is &s;aid in this P&s;alme, <HI>Come, and &s;ee the Works of God,</HI> and after, <HI>Come, and heare all yee that feare God,</HI> in both places it is not,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 66.5. Ver&s;e 16.</NOTE> <HI>Venite,</HI> but <HI>Ite,</HI> It is <HI>Lechu,</HI> not <HI>Come,</HI> but <HI>Goe,</HI> Goe out, Goe forth, abroad, to con&s;ider God in his Works; Goe as farre as you can, &s;top not in your &s;elves, nor &s;top not in any other, till you come to God him&s;elfe. If you con&s;ider the Scriptures to be his Works, make not Scriptures of your owne; which you doe, if you make them &s;ubject to your private interpretation. My &s;oule &s;peaks in my tongue, el&s;e I could make no &s;ound; My tongue &s;peaks in Engli&s;h, el&s;e I &s;hould not be under&s;tood by the Congregation. So God &s;peaks by his Sonne, in the Go&s;pel; but then, the Go&s;pel &s;peaks in the Church, that every man may heare. <HI>Ite,</HI> goe forth, &s;tay not in your &s;elves, if you will heare him. And &s;o, for matter of Action, and Protection, come not home to your &s;elves, &s;tay not in your &s;elves, not in a con&s;idence in your owne power, and wi&s;edome, but <HI>Ite,</HI> goe forth, goe forth into Aegypt, goe forth into Babylon, and look who delivered your Predece&s;&s;ors, (predece&s;&s;ors in Affliction, predece&s;&s;ors in Mercy) and that God, who is <HI>Ye&s;terday,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.8.</NOTE> <HI>and to day, and the &s;ame for ever,</HI> &s;hall doe the &s;ame things, which he did ye&s;terday, to day, and for ever. Turne alwayes to the Commemoration of Works, but not your owne; <HI>Ite,</HI> goe forth, goe farther then that, Then your &s;elves, farther then the Angels, and Saints in heaven; That when you commemorate your deliverance from an Inva&s;ion, and your deliverance from the Vault, you doe not a&s;cribe the&s;e deliverances to tho&s;e Saints, upon who&s;e dayes they were wrought; In all your Commemorations, (and commemorati|ons are prayers, and God receives that which wee offer for a Thank&s;giving for former Benefits, as a prayer for future) <HI>Ite</HI> goe forth, by the river to the &s;pring, by the branch to the root, by the worke to God him&s;elfe, and <HI>Dicite,</HI> &s;ay unto him, &s;ay of him, <HI>Quam terribilis Tu in Tuis,</HI> which &s;ets us upon another &s;tep in this part, To con&s;ider what this Terriblene&s;&s;e is, that God expre&s;&s;es in his works.</P>
<P>Though there be a difference between <HI>timer,</HI> and <HI>terror,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Terribilis.</NOTE> (feare and terror) yet the dif|ference
<PB N="702" REF="369">is not &s;o great, but that both may fall upon a good man; Not onely a feare of God mu&s;t, but a terror of God may fall upon the Be&s;t. When God talked with <HI>Abra|ham, a horror of great darkne&s;&s;e fell upon him,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.12.</NOTE> &s;ayes that Text. The Father of lights, and the God of all comfort pre&s;ent, and pre&s;ent in an action of Mercy, and yet, a horror of great darkne&s;&s;e fell upon <HI>Abraham.</HI> When God talked per&s;onally, and pre&s;entially with <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 13.6.</NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;es hid his face, for</HI> (&s;ayes that Text) <HI>he was afraid to looke upon God.</HI> When I look upon God, as I am bid to doe in this Text, in tho&s;e terrible Judgements, which he hath executed upon &s;ome men, and &s;ee that there is nothing between mee and the &s;ame Judgement, (for I have &s;inned the &s;ame &s;innes, and God is the &s;ame God) I am not able of my &s;elfe to dye that gla&s;&s;e, that &s;pectacle, thorow which I looke upon this God, in what colour I will; whether this gla&s;&s;e &s;hall be black, through my de&s;paire, and &s;o I &s;hall &s;ee God in the cloud of my &s;innes, or red in the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and I &s;hall &s;ee God in a Bath of the blood of his Sonne, whether I &s;hall &s;ee God as a Dove with an Olive branch, (peace to my &s;oule) or as an Eagle, a vulture to prey, and to prey everla&s;tingly upon mee, whether in the deepe floods of Tribulation, &s;pirituall or tem|porall, I &s;hall &s;ee God as an Arke to take mee in, or as a Whale to &s;wallow mee; and if his Whale doe &s;wallow mee, (the Tribulation devour me) whether his purpo&s;e bee to re&s;tore mee, or to con&s;ume me, I, I of my &s;elfe cannot tell. I cannot look upon God, in what line I will, nor take hold of God, by what handle I will; Hee is a terrible God, I take him &s;o; And then I cannot di&s;continue, I cannot breake off this terriblene&s;&s;e, and &s;ay, Hee hath beene terrible to that man, and there is an end of his terror; it reaches not to me. Why not to me? In me there is no merit, nor &s;hadow of merit; In God there is no change, nor &s;hadow of change. I am the &s;ame &s;inner, he is the &s;ame God; &s;till the &s;ame de&s;perate &s;inner, &s;till the &s;ame terrible God.</P>
<P>But <HI>terrible in his works,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Reverendus.</NOTE> &s;ayes our Text; Terrible &s;o, as hee hath declared him&s;elfe to be in his works. His Works are, as we &s;aid before, his Actions, and his Scriptures. In his Actions we &s;ee him Terrible upon di&s;obedient Re&s;i&s;ters of his Graces, and De&s;pi&s;ers of the meanes thereof, not upon others, wee have no examples of that. In his word, we accept this word in which he hath beene plea&s;ed to expre&s;&s;e him&s;elfe, <HI>Norah,</HI> which is rather <HI>Reverendus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 2.5.</NOTE> then <HI>Terribilis,</HI> as that word is u&s;ed, <HI>I gave him life and peace, for the feare wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my Name.</HI> So that this Terriblene&s;&s;e, which we are called upon to profe&s;&s;e of God, is a Reverentiall, a Maje&s;ticall, not a Ty|rannicall terriblene&s;&s;e. And therefore hee that conceives a God, that hath made man of fle&s;h and blood, and yet exacts that purity of an Angel in that fle&s;h, A God that would provide him&s;elfe no better glory, then to damme man, A God who le&s;t hee &s;hould love man, and be reconciled to man, hath enwrapped him in an inevitable nece&s;&s;ity of &s;inning, A God who hath received enough, and enough for the &s;atisfaction of all men, and yet, (not in con&s;ideration of their future &s;innes, but meerely becau&s;e he hated them before they were &s;inners, or before they were any thing) hath made it impo&s;&s;ible, for the grea|te&s;t part of men, to have any benefit of that large &s;atisfaction. This is not &s;uch a Terri|blene&s;&s;e as ari&s;es out of his Works, (his Actions, or his Scriptures) for God hath never &s;aid, never done any &s;uch thing, as &s;hould make us lodge &s;uch conceptions of God in our &s;elves, or lay &s;uch imputations upon him.</P>
<P>The true feare of God is true wi&s;edome. It is true Joy; <HI>Rejoice in trembling,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Da|vid;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.11.</NOTE> There is no rejoycing without this feare; there is no Riches without it; <HI>Reverentia Ichovae,</HI> The feare of the Lord is his trea&s;ure, and that is the be&s;t trea&s;ure. Thus farre we are to goe;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.28.</NOTE> <HI>Let us &s;erve God with reverence, and godly feare,</HI> (godly feare is but a Reve|rence, it is not a Jealou&s;ie, a &s;u&s;pition of God.) And let us doe it upon the rea&s;on that fol|lowes in the &s;ame place, <HI>For our God is a con&s;uming fire,</HI> There is all his terriblene&s;&s;e; he is <HI>a con&s;uming fire</HI> to his enemies, but he is <HI>our God;</HI> and God is love: And therefore to conceive a cruell God, a God that hated us, even to damnation, before we were, (as &s;ome, who have departed from the &s;en&s;e and mode&s;ty of the Ancients, have adventured to &s;ay) or to conceive a God &s;o cruell, as that at our death, or in our way, he will afford us no a&s;&s;urance, that hee is ours, and we his, but let us live and die in anxiety and torture of con&s;cience, in jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition of his good purpo&s;e towards us in the &s;alvation of our &s;oules, (as tho&s;e of the Romane Here&s;ie teach) to conceive &s;uch a God as from all eternity meant to damne me, or &s;uch a God as would never make me know, and be &s;ure that I &s;hould bee &s;aved, this is not to profe&s;&s;e God to be terrible in his works; For, his
<PB N="703" REF="369">Actions are his works, and his Scriptures are his works, and God hath never done, or &s;aid any thing to induce &s;o terrible an opinion of him.</P>
<P>And &s;o we have done with all tho&s;e pieces, which in our paraphra&s;ticall di&s;tribution of the text, at beginning, did con&s;titute our fir&s;t, our Hi&s;toricall part, <HI>Davids</HI> retro&s;pect, his commemoration of former ble&s;&s;ings; In which he propo&s;es a duty, a declaration of Gods goodne&s;&s;e, <HI>Dicite,</HI> publi&s;h it, &s;peake of it; He propo&s;es Religious duties, in that ca|pacity, as he is King; (Religion is the Kings care) He propo&s;es, by way of Coun&s;aile to all; by way of Commandment to his owne Subjects; And by a more powerfull way, then either coun&s;aile or Commandment, that is, by Example, by doing that him&s;elfe, which he coun&s;ailes, and commands others to doe. <HI>Dicite, Say,</HI> &s;peake; It is a duty more then thinking, and le&s;&s;e then doing; Every man is bound to &s;peake for the advancement of Gods cau&s;e, but when it comes to action, that is not the private mans office, but be|longs to the publique, or him, who is the Publique, <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe, the King. The duty is Commemoration, <HI>Dicite, Say,</HI> &s;peake; but <HI>Dicite Deo,</HI> Do this <HI>to God;</HI> a&s;cribe not your deliverances to your Armies, and Navies, by Sea, or Land; no, nor to Saints in Heaven, but to God onely. Nor are ye called upon to contemplate God in his E&s;&s;ence, or in his Decrees, but in his <HI>works;</HI> In his Actions, in his Scriptures; In both tho&s;e you &s;hall find him <HI>terrible,</HI> that is, Reverend, maje&s;ticall, though never tyrannicall, nor cruell. Pa&s;&s;e we now, according to our order laid downe at fir&s;t, to our &s;econd part, the Propheticall part, <HI>Davids</HI> pro&s;pect for the future; and gather wee &s;omething from the particular branches of that, <HI>Through the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power, thine enemies &s;hall &s;ubmit them&s;elves unto thee.</HI></P>
<P>In this, our fir&s;t con&s;ideration is, that God him&s;elfe hath enemies; and then,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2 Part.</HI> Habet Deus ho&s;tes.</NOTE> how &s;hould we hope to be, nay, why would wee wi&s;h to be without them? God had good, that is, Glory from his enemies; And we may have good, that is, advantage in the way to glory, by the exerci&s;e of our patience, from enemies too. Tho&s;e for whom God had done mo&s;t, the Angels, turned enemies fir&s;t; vex not thou thy &s;elfe, if tho&s;e whom thou ha&s;t loved be&s;t, hate thee deadlie&s;t. There is a love, in which it aggravates thy condemnation, that thou art &s;o much loved; Does not God recompence that, if there be &s;uch a hate, as that thou art the better, and that thy &s;alvation is exalted, for having beene hated? And that profit, the righteous have from enemies. <HI>God loved us then, when we were his enemies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.10.</NOTE> and we fru&s;trate his exemplar love to us, if we love not enemies too. The word <HI>Ho&s;tis,</HI> (which is a word of heavy &s;ignification, and implies deva&s;tation, and all the mi&s;chiefes of war) is not read in all the New Te&s;tament: <HI>Inimicus,</HI> that is, <HI>non amicus,</HI> unfriendly, is read there often, very very often. There is an enmity which may con&s;i&s;t with Euange|licall charity; but a ho&s;tility, that carries in it a denotation of revenge, of extirpation, of annihilation, that cannot. This gives us &s;ome light, how far we may, and may not hate enemies. God had enemies to whom he never returned, The Angels that oppo&s;ed him; and that is, becau&s;e they oppo&s;e him &s;till, and are, by their owne perver&s;ene&s;&s;e, incapable of reconciliation. We were enemies to God too; but being <HI>enemies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.10.</NOTE> we were <HI>reconciled to God by the death of his Son.</HI></P>
<P>As then actual reconciliation makes us actually friends, &s;o in differences which may be reconciled, we &s;hould not be too &s;evere enemies, but maintaine in our &s;elves a di&s;po&s;iti|on of friend&s;hip; but, in tho&s;e things, which are in their nature irreconciliable, we mu&s;t be irreconciliable too. There is an enmity which God him&s;elfe hath made, and made perpetuall: <HI>Ponam inimicitias,</HI> &s;ayes God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.15.</NOTE> God puts an enmity betweene the &s;eed of the Serpent, and the &s;eed of the woman; And, tho&s;e whom God joynes, let no man &s;ever, tho&s;e whom God &s;evers, let no man joyne. The Schoole pre&s;ents it well; wee are to con&s;ider an enemy formally, or materially; that is, that which makes him an enemy, or that which makes him a man. In that which makes him a man, hee hath the Image of God in him, and by that is capable of grace and glory; and therefore, that wee may not hate, which excludes all per&s;onall, and all nationall hatred. In that which makes him an enemy he hath the Image of the Devill, infidelity towards God, perfidiou&s;ne&s;&s;e towards man, Here&s;ie towards God, infectious manners towards man; and, that we mu&s;t alwaies hate; for, that is <HI>Odium perfectum,</HI> A hate that may con&s;i&s;t with a perfect man, nay, a hate that con&s;titutes love it &s;elfe, I do not love a man, except I hate his vices, becau&s;e tho&s;e vi|ces are the enemies, and the de&s;truction of that friend whom I love.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Inimici tui, Dei &s;unt inimici.</NOTE></P>
<P>God him&s;elfe hath enemies, <HI>Thine enemies &s;hall &s;ubmit,</HI> &s;ayes the text, to God; There
<PB N="704" REF="370">thou ha&s;t one comfort, though thou have enemies too; but the greater comfort is, That God cals thine enemies his.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 105.15.</NOTE> <HI>Nolite tangere Chri&s;tos meos,</HI> &s;ayes God of all holy peo|ple; you were as good touch me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 17.8.</NOTE> as touch any of them, for, <HI>they are the apple of mine eye.</HI> Our Saviour Chri&s;t never expo&s;tulated for him&s;elfe; never &s;aid, why &s;courged you me? why &s;pit you upon me? why crucifie you me? as long as their rage determined in his per&s;on, he opened not his mouth; when <HI>Saul</HI> extended the violence to the Church, to his &s;ervants,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 9.</NOTE> then Chri&s;t came to that, <HI>Saul, Saul, why per&s;ecute&s;t thou me? Cains</HI> tre&s;pa&s;&s;e again&s;t God him&s;elfe was, that he would binde God to an acceptation of his Sacrifice; And for that God comes no farther,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4.6. Ver. 11.</NOTE> but to Why doe&s;t thou thus? but in his tre&s;pa&s;&s;e upon his brother, God proceeds &s;o much farther, as to &s;ay, <HI>Now art thou cur&s;ed from the earth. Ieroboam</HI> &s;uffered Idolatry, and God let him alone; that concerned but God him|&s;elfe. But when <HI>Ieroboam</HI> &s;tretched forth his hand to lay hold on the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 13.4.</NOTE> his hand withered. Here is a holy league, Defen&s;ive, and Offen&s;ive; God &s;hall not onely protect us from others, but he &s;hall fight for us again&s;t them; our enemies are his enemies.</P>
<P>And beloved,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Magnitude potentiae.</NOTE> it is well that it is &s;o; for, if we were left to our &s;elves, we were remedi|le&s;&s;e. <HI>It is his mercy that we are not con&s;umed,</HI> by his indignation, by him&s;elfe; But it mu&s;t be the exerci&s;e of his power, if we be not con&s;umed by his, and our enemies; for, there is but that one way in the text, that can bring the&s;e enemies to any thing, that is, <HI>In multi|tudine virtutis tuae, In the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power.</HI> It mu&s;t be <HI>power;</HI> Intreaty, Appliable|ne&s;&s;e, Conformity, Facility, Patience does not &s;erve. It mu&s;t be Power, and <HI>His power;</HI> To a&s;&s;i&s;t our &s;elves by his enemies, by Witches, or by Idolaters, is not his power. It is Power that does all; for, the name that God is manife&s;ted in, in all the making of the World, in the fir&s;t of Gene&s;is, is <HI>Elohim,</HI> and that is <HI>Deus fortis,</HI> The powerfull God. It is <HI>Power,</HI> and it is <HI>His power;</HI> for, his name is <HI>Dominus tzebaoth,</HI> The Lord of Ho&s;ts. Ho&s;ts and Armies of which he is not the Generall, are but great in&s;urrections, great re|bellions. And then, as it is <HI>Power,</HI> and <HI>His power,</HI> &s;o it is <HI>the greatne&s;&s;e of his Power;</HI> His Power extended, exalted. It is in the Originall, <HI>Berob, In multitudine fortitudinis,</HI> in thy manifold power, in thy multiplied power. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> con&s;iders the a&s;&s;urance that they might have in God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 20.4.</NOTE> in this, That God fought their battails <HI>(The Lord your God goeth with you, to fight for you again&s;t your enemies, and &s;ave you)</HI> There was his power declared, and exerci&s;ed one way; and then in this, That he had afforded them particular Laws, for their direction in all their actions, Religious, and Civill; <HI>(To what Nation is God come &s;o neare? what people have Lawes and Ordinances, &s;uch as we have?)</HI> So that, where God defends us by Armies, and directs us by ju&s;t Lawes, that is <HI>Multitudo fortitudinis, The greatne&s;&s;e of his power,</HI> his power magnified, his power multiplied upon us.</P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mentientur.</NOTE> through this <HI>power,</HI> and not without this power, this double power, Law and Armes, <HI>Thine enemies &s;hall &s;ubmit them&s;elves unto thee,</HI> &s;ayes our text. And then, is all the danger at an end? &s;hall we be &s;afe then? Not then. The word is <HI>Caca&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Caca&s;h</HI> is but <HI>Mendacem fieri,</HI> to be brought to lie, to di&s;&s;emble, to equivocate, to modifie, to tempo|rize, to counterfait, to make as though they were our friends, in an outward conformity. And there are enemies of God, whom no power of Armies or Lawes can bring any farther then that, To hold their tongues, and to hold their hands, but to withhold their hearts from us &s;till.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h 9.</NOTE> So the Gibeonites deceived <HI>Io&s;hua,</HI> in the likene&s;&s;e of Amba&s;&s;adors; <HI>Io&s;huahs</HI> power made them lie unto him. So <HI>Pharaoh</HI> deceived and deluded <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron;</HI> Every Act of power brought <HI>Pharaoh</HI> to lie unto them. I direct not your thoughts upon publique Con&s;iderations; It is not my end; It is not my way: My way and end is to bring you home to your &s;elves, and to con&s;ider there, That we are full of weakne&s;&s;es in our &s;elves, full of enemies, &s;infull tentations about us; That onely the power of God, his power multiplied, (that is, The receiving of his word, (that is, the power of Law) The receiving of his corrections (that is, the power of his Ho&s;ts) can make our enemies, our &s;infull tentations &s;ubmit, and when they do &s;o, it is but a lie, They returne to us, and we turne to them againe, <HI>In the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power &s;hall thine enemies &s;ubmit unto thee.</HI></P>
<P>But then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;olatio.</NOTE> (which is our la&s;t &s;tep and Conclu&s;ion) even this, That the&s;e enemies &s;hall be forced to &s;uch a &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, to any &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion, though di&s;gui&s;ed and counterfait, is, in this Text, pre&s;ented for a Con&s;olation; There is a comfort even in this, That tho&s;e enemies &s;hall be faine to lie, that they &s;hall not dare to avow their malice, nor to bla&s;|pheme God in open profe&s;&s;ions. There is a conditionall ble&s;&s;ing propo&s;ed to Gods peo|ple;
<PB N="705" REF="370"><HI>(O that my people had hearkned unto me! O that I&s;rael had walked in my wayes!)</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 80.15.</NOTE> What had been their recompence? This. <HI>The haters of the Lord &s;hould have &s;ubmitted them&s;elves unto them.</HI> Should they in earne&s;t? No truly; there is the &s;ame word, They &s;hould have lyed unto them, they &s;hould have made as though they had &s;ubmitted them&s;elves; and that, God pre&s;ents for a great degree of his mercy to them. And therefore, as in thy particular Con&s;cience, though God doe not take away that <HI>Stimulum carnis,</HI> and that <HI>Angelum Satanae,</HI> though he doe not extingui&s;h all lu&s;ts and concupi&s;cencies in thee, yet if tho&s;e lu&s;ts prevaile not over thee, if they command not, if they divert thee not from the &s;en&s;e, and &s;ervice of God, thou ha&s;t good rea&s;on to ble&s;&s;e God for this, to re&s;t in this, and to call it peace of con&s;cience: So ha&s;t thou rea&s;on too to call it Peace in the Church, and peace in the State, when Gods enemies, though they be not rooted out, though they be not di&s;po&s;ed to a hearty Allegeance, and ju&s;t Obedience, yet they mu&s;t be &s;ubject, they mu&s;t &s;ubmit them&s;elves whether they wil or no, and though they wil wi&s;h no good, yet they &s;hall be able to doe no harme. For, the Holy Gho&s;t declares this to be an ex|erci&s;e of power, of Gods power, of the greatne&s;&s;e of Gods power, that his enemies &s;ub|mit them&s;elves, though with a fained obedience.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="miscellaneous" TYPE="sermons">
<PB REF="371">
<PB REF="371">
<HEAD>SERMONS Preached at COURT, AND ELSE-VVHERE, VPON Severall Occa&s;ions.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="70" TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="372">
<PB N="709" REF="372">
<HEAD>SERM. LXX. <HI>Preached at</HI> VVhite-hall, <HI>April</HI> 8. 1621.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PROV. 25.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ha&s;t thou found honey? eat &s;o much as is &s;ufficient for thee, le&s;t thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THere is a temporall un&s;atiablene&s;&s;e of riches, and there is a &s;pirituall un&s;atiablene&s;&s;e of &s;in. The fir&s;t Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that of riches, the Apo&s;tle cals <HI>The roote of all evill,</HI> but the &s;econd Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that of &s;in, is the fruit of all evill, for that is <HI>The trea&s;ure of Gods wrath,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, when he makes our former &s;ins, the mother of future &s;ins, and then our future &s;ins the puni&s;hments of former. As though this World were too little to &s;atisfie man, men are come to di&s;cover or imagine new worlds, &s;everall worlds in every Planet; and as though our Fathers heretofore, and we our &s;elves too, had beene but dull and igno|rant &s;inners, we thinke it belongs to us to perfect old inventions, and to &s;in in another height and excellency, then former times did, as though &s;in had had but a minority, and an infancy till now. Though the pride of the Prince of Tyrus were ever in &s;ome Ty|rans, who &s;ayes there, <HI>I am a god, and &s;it in the &s;eat of God, in the mid&s;t of the Seas,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 28.2.</NOTE> <HI>and am wi&s;er then Daniel;</HI> Yet there is a Sea above the&s;e &s;eas, a power above this power, a &s;pirituall pride above this temporall pride, one &s;o much wi&s;er then <HI>Daniel,</HI> as that he is as wi&s;e as the Holy Gho&s;t. The world hath ever had levities and incon&s;tancies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 27.11.</NOTE> and the foole hath changed as the Moone; the &s;ame men that have cryed <HI>Ho&s;anna,</HI> are ready to cry <HI>Crucifige;</HI> but, as in <HI>Iobs</HI> Wife, in the &s;ame mouth, the &s;ame word was ambiguous, (whether it were <HI>ble&s;&s;e God,</HI> or <HI>cur&s;e God,</HI> out of the word we cannot tell) &s;o are the acti|ons of men &s;o ambiguous, as that we cannot conclude upon them; men come to our Prayers here, and pray in their hearts here in this place, that God would induce another manner of Prayer into this place; and &s;o pray in the Congregation, that God would not heare the prayers of the Congregation; There hath alwaies beene ambiguity and equi|vocation in words, but now in actions, and almo&s;t every action will admit a diver&s;e &s;en&s;e. And it was the Prophets complaint of old, <HI>You have multiplied your fornications,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.</NOTE> <HI>and yet are not &s;atisfied;</HI> but we wonder why the Prophet &s;hould wonder at that, for the more we multiplie temporally or &s;piritually, the le&s;&s;e we are &s;atisfied. Others have thought, that our &s;oules &s;inned before they came into the world, and that therefore they are here as in a pri&s;on; but they are rather here, as in a Schoole; for, if they had &s;tudied &s;in in ano|ther world before, they practi&s;e it here, If they have practi&s;ed it before, they teach it now, they lead and induce others into &s;in.</P>
<P>But this con&s;ideration of our in&s;atiablene&s;&s;e in &s;in, in my purpo&s;e I &s;epo&s;ed for the end of this houre; But who knowes whether your patience, that you will heare, or who knowes whether yours, or my life, that you can heare, &s;hall la&s;t to the end of this houre? and therefore it is an excu&s;able anticipation, to have begun with this &s;pirituall covetou&s;|ne&s;&s;e
<PB N="710" REF="373">of &s;in, though our fir&s;t paiment be to be made in the literall &s;en&s;e of the text, A re|prehen&s;ion, and in it, a Coun&s;aile, again&s;t our generall in&s;atiablene&s;&s;e of the temporall things of this world. <HI>Ha&s;t thou found honey? eat &s;o much as is &s;ufficient for thee, le&s;t thou bee filled therewith, and vomit it.</HI></P>
<P>In which words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> there being fir&s;t a particular Compellation, <HI>Tu,</HI> ha&s;t <HI>thou</HI> found it? it remembers thee, that there be a great many, that have not found it, but lack that which thou abounde&s;t in; And <HI>Inveni&s;ti,</HI> thou ha&s;t not inherited it, nor merited it, thou ha&s;t but <HI>found</HI> it; and for that which thou ha&s;t found, it is <HI>Honey,</HI> &s;weetne&s;s, but it is but Honey, which ea&s;ily becomes choler, and gall, and bitterne&s;&s;e. Such as it is, <HI>Comede,</HI> thou mai&s;t <HI>eat</HI> it, and eat it &s;afely, it is not unwhole&s;ome; but <HI>Comede &s;ufficientiam,</HI> eat no more then is <HI>&s;ufficient;</HI> And in that, let not the &s;ervant mea&s;ure him&s;elfe by his Ma&s;ter, nor the &s;ubject by the King, nor the private man by the Magi&s;trate, but <HI>Comede &s;ufficientiam tuam,</HI> eat that which is &s;ufficient <HI>for thee,</HI> for more then that will <HI>fill</HI> thee, over-fill thee; perchance not &s;o full as thou would&s;t bee, yet certainly &s;o full, as that there will bee no roome in thee for better things; and then thou wilt <HI>vomit,</HI> nay perchance thou mu&s;t vo|mit, the malice and plots of others &s;hall give thee a vomit, And &s;uch a vomit &s;hall bee <HI>Evacuans,</HI> an exinanition, leave thee empty; and <HI>Immundum,</HI> an uncleanne&s;&s;e, leave thee in &s;corne and contempt; and <HI>Periculo&s;um,</HI> a danger, breake a veine, a veine at the heart, breake thy heart it &s;elfe, that thou &s;halt never recover it. <HI>Ha&s;t thou found honey? eat &s;o much as is &s;ufficient for thee, le&s;t thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu.</NOTE> for that Compellation <HI>Tu,</HI> ha&s;t <HI>thou</HI> found it? It is a word fir&s;t of familia|rity, and then a word of particularity. It is a degree of familiarity, that God hath noti|fied him&s;elfe to us in &s;everall Per&s;ons; that hee hath come &s;o neere to our comprehen&s;i|on, as to be con&s;idered not onely as an univer&s;all, and infinite God, but as a Father, and as a Sonne, and opened him&s;elfe unto us in the&s;e Notions, <HI>Tu Pater, Tu Fili, Thou</HI> O Father, and <HI>Thou</HI> O Sonne, have mercy upon us. A Con&s;table, or Beadle will not bee &s;poke to &s;o, to be <HI>thou'd,</HI> and any Per&s;on in the Trinity, the whole Trinity together is content with it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 92.8.</NOTE> Take God altogether, and at highe&s;t, <HI>Tu alti&s;simus, Thou Lord art mo&s;t high for evermore;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 93.2.</NOTE> Take him from before any beginning, <HI>Tu &agrave; &s;eculo, Thy throue is e&s;ta|bli&s;hed of old, and thou art from everla&s;ting;</HI> Take him from beyond all ending, <HI>Tu autem permanes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 102.27.</NOTE> <HI>Thou art the &s;ame, and thy yeares &s;hall have no end.</HI></P>
<P>In which, we goe not about to condemne, or correct the civill manner of giving diffe|rent titles, to different ranks of men; but to note the &s;lipperine&s;s of our times, where titles flow into one another, and lo&s;e their di&s;tinctions; when as the Elements are conden&s;ed into one another, ayre conden&s;ed into water, and that into earth, &s;o an ob&s;equious flatte|rer, &s;hall conden&s;e a yeoman into a Wor&s;hipfull per&s;on, and the Wor&s;hipfull into Hono|rable, and &s;o that which duly was intended for di&s;tinction, &s;hall occa&s;ion confu&s;ion. But that which we purpo&s;e, in noting this <HI>Tu,</HI> is rather the &s;ingularity, the particularity, then the familiarity; That the Holy Gho&s;t in this collects Man, abridges Man, &s;ummes up Man in an unity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem Alex.</NOTE> in the con&s;ideration of one, of him&s;elfe. <HI>Oportet hominem fieri unum,</HI> Man mu&s;t grow in his con&s;ideration, till he be but one man, one individuall man. If he con&s;ider him&s;elfe <HI>in Humanitate,</HI> in the whole mankinde, a glorious creature, an immor|tall &s;oule, he &s;hall &s;ee this immortall &s;oule, as well in Goats at the left hand, as in Sheepe at the right hand of Chri&s;t, at the Re&s;urrection; Men on both &s;ides: If he con&s;ider him|&s;elfe <HI>in Qualitate,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.22.</NOTE> in his quality, in his calling, he &s;hall heare many then plead their <HI>Pro|phetavimus,</HI> we have prophecied, and their <HI>Ejecimus,</HI> we have exerci&s;ed, and their <HI>Vir|tutes &s;ecimus,</HI> we have done wonders, and all in thy Name, and yet receive that an&s;wer, <HI>Nunquam cognovi,</HI> I doe not know you now, I never did know you. <HI>Oportet unum fieri,</HI> he mu&s;t con&s;ider him&s;elfe <HI>in individuo,</HI> that one man, not that man in nature, not that man in calling,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen Homil. unica in lib. r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">g.</NOTE> but that man in actions. <HI>Origen</HI> makes this u&s;e of tho&s;e words, as he found them, <HI>Erat vir unus, There was one man;</HI> (which was <HI>Elkanah</HI>) He addes, <HI>Nomen ejus po&s;&s;e&s;sio Dei,</HI> this one man, &s;ayes he, was, in his Name, Gods po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion; <HI>Nam quem Daemones po&s;sident, non unus &s;ed mulii,</HI> for he whom the Devill po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es, is not one. The &s;ame &s;inner is not the &s;ame thing; &s;till he clambers in his ambitious purpo&s;es, there he is an Eagle; &amp; yet lies &s;till groveling, and trodden upon at any greater mans thre&s;hold, there he is a worme. He &s;wells to all that are under him, there he is a full Sea; and his dog that is above him, may wade over him, there he is a &s;hallow, an empty River. In the compa&s;&s;e of a few dayes, he neighes like a hor&s;e in the rage of his lu&s;t over all the City,
<PB N="711" REF="373">and groanes in a corner of the City, in an ho&s;pitall. A &s;inner is as many men, as he hath vices; he that is <HI>Elkanah, Po&s;&s;e&s;sio Dei,</HI> po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by God, and in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of God, he is <HI>unus homo,</HI> one and the &s;ame man. And when God calls upon man &s;o particularly, he in|tends him &s;ome particular good. It is S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> note,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> That when God in the Scrip|tures &s;peakes of divers things in the &s;ingular number, it is ever in things of grace; And it is S. <HI>Augu&s;tins</HI> note, that when he &s;peaks of any one thing in the plurall Number, it is of heavy and &s;orrowfull things; as <HI>Ieptha</HI> was buryed <HI>In civitatibus Gilead,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 12.7.</NOTE> in the Cities, but he had but one grave; And &s;o that is, they made <HI>Aureos vitulos,</HI> Golden Calves, when it was but one Calfe.</P>
<P>When Gods voyce comes to thee in this Text, in particular, <HI>Tu, Ha&s;t thou found,</HI> he would have thee remember, how many &s;eeke and have &s;ought, with teares, with &s;weat, with blood, and lacke that, that thou abounde&s;t in. That whereas his Evidence to them whom he loves not, in the next world &s;hall be, <HI>E&s;urivi, I was hungry,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 25.42.</NOTE> <HI>and yee gave me no meate;</HI> And his proceeding with them whom he loves not in this world, is, <HI>Si e&s;urie|ro, If I be hungry, I will not tell thee,</HI> I will not awaken thee, not remember thy con&s;cience,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50.12.</NOTE> wherein thou maye&s;t doe me a &s;ervice; He does call upon thee in particular, and ask thee, <HI>Nonne tu,</HI> Ha&s;t thou not fortune enough, to let fall &s;ome crums upon him that &s;tarves? and, <HI>Nonne tu,</HI> ha&s;t not thou favour enough, to &s;hed &s;ome beams upon him that is frozen in di&s;grace? There is a &s;quint eye, that lookes &s;ide-long; to looke upon riches, and ho|nor, on the left hand, and long life here, on the right, is a &s;quint eye. There is a &s;quint eye, that lookes upwards and downwards; to looke after God and Mammon, is a &s;quint eye. There are &s;quint eyes, that looke upon one another; to looke upon ones own beau|ty, or wi&s;edome, or power, is a &s;quint eye. The direct looke is to looke inward upon thine own Con&s;cience; Not with <HI>Nabuchadnezzar, Is not this great Babylon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 4.30.</NOTE> <HI>which I have built by the might of my power, and for the honor of my Maje&s;ty?</HI> But with <HI>David, Quid re|tribuam?</HI> for if thou looke upon them with a cleare eye, thou wilt &s;ee, that though thou ha&s;t them, thou ha&s;t but <HI>found</HI> them, which is our next &s;tep.</P>
<P>Now, if you have but <HI>found</HI> them, thou ha&s;t them but by chance, by contingency,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Inveni&s;ti.</HI> Co. l. 10. Pand.</NOTE> by fortune. The Emperour <HI>Leo,</HI> he calls money found, <HI>Dei beneficium,</HI> It is a benefit derived from God; but the great Lawyer; <HI>Triphonius,</HI> calls it, <HI>Donum fortunae</HI> too, An immediate gift of fortune. They con&s;i&s;t well enough together, God and fortune. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his Retract: makes a con&s;cience of having named her too oft, le&s;t other men &s;hould be &s;candalized; and &s;o the Prophet complaines of that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;a. 65.11.</NOTE> (as the Vulgat reads it) <HI>Ponitis men|&s;am fortunae,</HI> You &s;acrifice to fortune, you make fortune a god; that you &s;hould not doe; but yet you &s;hould acknowledge that God hath &s;uch a &s;ervant, &s;uch an in&s;trument, as fortune too. Gods ordinary working is by Nature, the&s;e cau&s;es mu&s;t produce the&s;e ef|fects; and that is his common Law; He goes &s;ometimes above that, by Prerogative, and that is by miracle, and &s;ometimes below that, as by cu&s;tome, and that is fortune, that is contingency; Fortune is as far out of the ordinary way, as miracle; no man knows in Nature, in rea&s;on, why &s;uch, or &s;uch per&s;ons grow great; but it falls out &s;o often, as we do not call it miracle, and therefore re&s;t in the Name of Fortune. We need not quar|rell the words of the Poet, <HI>Tu quamcun&abque; Deus tibi fortunaverit horam, Grata &s;ume manu,</HI> Thanke God for any good fortune, &s;ince the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes too, that <HI>Godline&s;&s;e hath the promi&s;e of this life;</HI> The godly man &s;hall be fortunate, God will ble&s;&s;e him with good fortune here; but &s;till it is fortune, and chance, in the &s;ight and rea&s;on of man, and there|fore he hath but found, what&s;oever he hath in that kinde. It is intimated in the very word which we u&s;e for all worldly things; It is <HI>Inventarium,</HI> an Inventory; we found them here, and here our &s;ucce&s;&s;ors finde them, when we are gone from hence.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 9.30.</NOTE> <HI>Iezabel</HI> had an e&s;timation of beauty, and &s;he thought to have drawne the King with that beauty, but &s;he found it, &s;he found it in her box, and in her wardrope, &s;he was not truly fayre. <HI>Achito|phel</HI> had an e&s;timation of wi&s;edome in Coun&s;ell, I know not how he found it; he coun|&s;elled by an example, which no man would follow, he hanged him&s;elfe. Thou wilt not be drawne to confe&s;&s;e, that a Man that hath an office, is pre&s;ently wi&s;er then thou, or a man that is Knighted, pre&s;ently valianter then thou. Men have preferment for tho&s;e parts, which other men, equall to them in the &s;ame things, have not, and therefore they doe but finde them; And to things that are but found, what is our title? <HI>Ni&s;i reddantur, rapina e&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes the Law, If we re&s;tore not that which we finde, it is robbery. S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> hath brought it nearer, <HI>Qui alienum negat, &s;i po&s;&s;et, tolleret,</HI> He that confe&s;&s;eth not
<PB N="712" REF="374">that which he hath found of another mans, if he dur&s;t, he would have taken it by force. For that which we have found in this world, our ealling is the owner, our debts are the owner, our children are the owner; our lu&s;ts, our &s;uperfluities are no owners: of all the re&s;t, God is the owner, and to this purpo&s;e, the poore is God.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> puts a ca&s;e to the point:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. Serm. 19. de verb. Apo&s;t.</NOTE> He &s;ayes when he was at Milan, a poore U&s;her of a Grammar Schoole found a bag of money, 200 <HI>Solidorum;</HI> let it be but one hun|dreth pounds; he &s;et up bills; the owner came, offered him his tithe, ten pounds; he would none; he pre&s;&s;ed him to five, to three, to two; he would none: and then he that had lo&s;t it, in an honorable indignation, di&s;claimed it all; <HI>Nihil perdidi,</HI> &s;ayes he, it is all your own, I lo&s;t nothing: <HI>Quale certamen! Theatrum mundus, &s;pectator Deus,</HI> Out of importuni|ty, he that found it, tooke it all, and out of con&s;cience, that it was not his, gave it all to the poore.</P>
<P>The things of this world we doe but finde, and of the things which we finde, we are but Stewards for others. This finding is not &s;o meerly ca&s;uall, as that it implies no man|ner of &s;eeking;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Matzah</HI> Exu|xit, vel ex|pre&s;&s;it.</NOTE> We mu&s;t put our &s;elves into the way, into a calling. The word is <HI>Mat|za,</HI> and that word is allowed us; but a word like it, is not allowed us; <HI>Matza</HI> is, but <HI>Matzah</HI> is not; if there be an <HI>H</HI> added, an <HI>H,</HI> as it is an a&s;piration, a breathing, a pant|ing after the things of this world, or an Ache, as it is a paine, that it make our bones ake, or our hearts ake, or our con&s;cience ake, it is a &s;eeking, and a finding, not intended in this word. Our pro&s;ecution and &s;eeking mu&s;t be moderate, our title and intere&s;t is but a finding; and what hath the mo&s;t fortunate found? <HI>Hony;</HI> it is true, but yet but <HI>Hony.</HI></P>
<P>That which <HI>Solomon</HI> may ju&s;tly &s;eeme to intend,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mel.</NOTE> e&s;pecially by <HI>Hony</HI> in this Text, is that which the Poets, and other Ma&s;ters of language, have called <HI>Magnas amicitias,</HI> and <HI>Magnas Clientelas,</HI> dependance, and intere&s;t, and favour in great per&s;ons. It appeares by the next ver&s;e, which depends upon this, and paraphra&s;es it; <HI>Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbours hou&s;e.</HI> Where that which we reade, <HI>Withdraw,</HI> is in the Originall <HI>Hokar,</HI> which is <HI>Fac pretio&s;um,</HI> make not thy &s;elfe cheape, not vulgar, have &s;ome re&s;pect to thy &s;elfe, to thine own ingenuity, but principally to the other, to thy great friend: be not im|portune and trouble&s;ome by any indi&s;creet a&s;&s;iduity, to them who are po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, though at &s;ometimes they de&s;cend to thee; This is this <HI>Hony,</HI> where thou ha&s;t acce&s;&s;e, yet doe not pu&s;h open every doore, fling up every hanging, but u&s;e thy favour mode&s;tly.</P>
<P>But in this <HI>Hony</HI> is wrapped up al&s;o all that is delightfull in this life; and <HI>Solomon</HI> car|ries us often to that Compari&s;on;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 13.</NOTE> In the Chapter before this, for Wi&s;edome; <HI>My Sonne, eat thou Hony, becau&s;e it is good; &s;o &s;hall the knowledge of wi&s;edome be to thy &s;oule;</HI> and in the &s;eaven and twentieth ver&s;e of this Chapter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">27.</NOTE> he u&s;es it for Glory; <HI>It is not good to eat much hony; &s;o for men to &s;earch their own glory, is not glory.</HI> In the &s;ixt Chapter of this booke, when <HI>Solomon</HI> had &s;ent us to the <HI>Ant,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 6.</NOTE> to learne wi&s;edome, betweene the eight ver&s;e and the ninth, he &s;ends us to another &s;choole, to the <HI>Bee: Vade ad Apem &amp; di&s;ce quomodo operationem vener abilem facit,</HI> Goe to the Bee, and learne how reverend and my&s;terious a worke &s;he works.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> For, though S. <HI>Hierome</HI> acknowledge, that in his time, this ver&s;e was not in the Hebrew Text, yet it hath ever been in many Copies of the Septuagint, and though it be now left out in the Compluten&s;e Bible, and that which they call the Kings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Ezek. 3.3.</NOTE> yet it is in that &s;till, which they value above all, the Vatican. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> him|&s;elfe takes it into his expo&s;ition, and other Fathers into theirs. So far therefore we may hearken to that voyce, as to goe to the Bee, and learne to worke by that Creature.</P>
<P>Both S. <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ba&s;il. Hom. 8. in Hexa. Chry&s;o&s;t. in P&s;al. 110.</NOTE> and S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> put this difference in that place, between the labour of the Ant, and the Bee, That the Ants worke but for them&s;elves, the Bee for others: Though the Ants have a Common-wealth of their own, yet tho&s;e Fathers call their la|bour, but private labour; becau&s;e no other Common-wealths have benefit by their la|bour, but their own. Direct thy labours in thy calling to the good of the publique, and then thou art a civill, a morall Ant; but con&s;ider al&s;o, That all that are of the hou&s;hold of the faithfull, and profe&s;&s;e the &s;ame truth of Religion, are part of this publique, and direct thy labours, for the glory of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, among&s;t them too, and then thou art a religious and a Chri&s;tian Bee, and the fruit of thy labour &s;hall be <HI>Hony.</HI> The labour of the Ant is <HI>&s;ub Dio,</HI> open, evident, manife&s;t; The labour of the Bee is <HI>&s;ub Tecto,</HI> in a hou&s;e, in a hive; They will doe good, and yet they will not be &s;eene to doe it; they affect not glory, nay, they avoyd it. For in experience, when &s;ome men curious of naturall know|ledge,
<PB N="713" REF="374">have made their Hives of gla&s;&s;e, that by that tran&s;parency, they might &s;ee the Bees manner of working, the Bees have made it their fir&s;t work to line that Gla&s;&s;e-hive, with a cru&s;t of Wax, that they might work and not be di&s;cerned. It is a ble&s;&s;ed &s;incerity, to work as the Ant, profe&s;&s;edly, openly; but becau&s;e there may be ca&s;es, when to doe &s;o, would de&s;troy the whole worke, though there be a cloud and a curtaine betweene thee, and the eyes of men, yet if thou doe them clearely in the &s;ight of God, that he &s;ee his glory advanced by thee, the fruit of thy labour &s;hall be Honey.</P>
<P><HI>Pliny</HI> names one <HI>Ari&s;tomachum Solen&s;em,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin.</NOTE> that &s;pent three&s;core yeares in the contem|plation of Bees; our whole time for this exerci&s;e is but three&s;core minutes; and there|fore wee &s;ay no more of this, but <HI>Vade ad Apem,</HI> practife the &s;edulity of the Bee, labour in thy calling, And the community of the Bee, beleeve that thou art called to a&s;&s;i&s;t others, And the &s;ecre&s;ie of the Bee, that the greate&s;t, and mo&s;t authorized &s;pie &s;ee it not, to &s;up|plant it, And the purity of the Bee, that never &s;ettles upon any foule thing, that thou ne|ver take a foule way to a faire end, and the fruit of thy labour &s;hall bee Hony; God &s;hall give thee the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of this world, honour, and ea&s;e, and plenty, and hee &s;hall give thee thy honey-combe, with thy honey, that which pre&s;erves thy honey to thee, that is, a religious knowledge, that all this is but hony; And honey in the dew of the flowres,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin.</NOTE> whence it is drawne, is but <HI>Coeli &s;udor,</HI> a &s;weaty excrement of the heavens, and <HI>Siderum &s;aliva,</HI> the &s;pettle, the fleame of the &s;tarres, and <HI>Apum vomitus,</HI> the ca&s;ting, the vomit of the Bee. And though honey be the &s;weete&s;t thing that wee doe take into the body, yet there it degenerates into gall, and proves the bittere&s;t; And all this is honey in the An|ti-type, in that which it &s;ignifies, in the temporall things of this world; In the temporall things of this world there is a bitterne&s;&s;e, in our u&s;e of them; But in his hand, and his pur|po&s;e that gives them, they have impre&s;&s;ions of &s;weetne&s;&s;e; and &s;o <HI>Comede, Eat</HI> thy ho|ney, which is al&s;o a &s;tep farther.</P>
<P>Here is libery for any man to eat Honey, if hee have found it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Comede.</NOTE> and <HI>Ionathan</HI> the Kings &s;onne found honey upon the ground, and did but dip his &s;taffe in it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 14 24.</NOTE> and put it to his mouth, and hee mu&s;t die for it. Of forbidden honey the lea&s;t dramme is poy&s;on, how &s;weet &s;oever any collaterall re&s;pect make it. But <HI>Ionathan</HI> knew not that it was forbid|ken by the King: Ignorance is no plea in any &s;ubject again&s;t the Kings lawes; and there is a King, in breach of who&s;e lawes, no King, no Kings &s;onne can excu&s;e them&s;elves by ignorance, if they doe but dip their Scepter in forbidden honey, in any unlawfull delight in this world; For they doe, or they may know the unlawfulne&s;&s;e of it. But for the ho|ney which God allowes us, whether God give it in that plenty, <HI>Terram fluentem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.8.</NOTE> that the land flow with milke and honey, nay <HI>Torrentes mellis,</HI> rivers and &s;treames of honey,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 20.17.</NOTE> that great fortunes flow into men, in this world; or whether God put us to &s;uck honey out of the Rock, that that which we have, we digge, and plough, and thre&s;h for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.13.</NOTE> yet when thou ha&s;t found that, <HI>Comede,</HI> u&s;e it, enjoy it, eat it; <HI>Hee that will not work, &s;hall not eat;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 3.10.</NOTE> He that &s;huts him&s;elfe up in a Cloy&s;ter, till the honey finde him, till meat bee brought to him, &s;hould not eat.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t him&s;elfe are Honey, but after his Re&s;urrection;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.41.</NOTE> when his body needed not re|fection; when our principall end in worldly things, is not for the body, nor for the world, but that we have had a &s;pirituall re&s;urrection, that we can &s;ee Gods love in them, and &s;hew Gods glory by them, then <HI>Inveni&s;ti,</HI> thou ha&s;t found; (for <HI>Invenire,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fe&s;tus.</NOTE> <HI>e&s;t in rem venire, id e&s;t in u&s;um</HI>) to find a thing is to make the right u&s;e of it, and <HI>Inveni&s;ti mel,</HI> thou ha&s;t found Honey, that which God intends for &s;weetne&s;&s;e, for nece&s;&s;ities, conveniences, abundances, recreations, and delights; and therefore <HI>Comede,</HI> eat it, enjoy it; but to thee al&s;o belongs that Caveat, <HI>Comede ad &s;ufficientiam,</HI> Eat but enough.</P>
<P>That great Morall man <HI>Seneca,</HI> could &s;ee, that <HI>Nihil agere,</HI> to pa&s;&s;e this life,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sufficientiam</NOTE> and in|tend no Vocation, was very ill; and that <HI>Aliud agere,</HI> to profe&s;&s;e a Vocation, and be bu&s;ier in other mens callings, then his owne, was wor&s;e; but the <HI>Super-agere,</HI> to over-doe, to doe more then was required at his hands, he never brought into compari&s;on, hee never &s;u&s;pected; and yet that is our mo&s;t ordinary fault. That which hath been ordinarily given by our Phy&s;itians, by way of coun&s;ell, That we &s;hould ri&s;e with an appetite, hath been enough followed by worldly men; They alwayes lie downe, and alwayes ri&s;e up with an appetite to more, and more in this world. An Office is but an Anti-pa&s;t, it gets them an appetite to another Office; and a title of Honour, but an Anti-pa&s;t, a new &s;to|mach to a new Title. The danger is, that we cannot goe upward directly; If wee have
<PB N="714" REF="375">a &s;taire, to goe any height, it mu&s;t be a winding &s;taire; It is a compa&s;&s;ing, a circumven|ting, to ri&s;e: A Ladder is a &s;traight Engin of it &s;elfe, yet if we will ri&s;e by that, it mu&s;t be &s;et a &s;lope; Though our meanes be direct in their owne nature, yet wee put them upon crooked wayes; It is but a poore ri&s;ing, that any man can make in a direct line, and yet it is, <HI>Ad &s;ufficientiam,</HI> high enough, for it is to heaven. Have yee &s;eene a gla&s;&s;e blowne to a hand&s;ome competency, and with one breath more, broke? I will not ask you, whe|ther you haue &s;eene a competent beauty made wor&s;e, by an artificiall addition, becau&s;e they have not thought it well enough before; you &s;ee it every day, and every where. If <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe were here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 14.12.</NOTE> whom for his Eloquence the Ly&s;trians called <HI>Mercury,</HI> hee could not per&s;wade them to leave their <HI>Mercury;</HI> It will not ea&s;ily be left; for how many of them that take it outwardly at fir&s;t, come at la&s;t to take it inwardly? Since the &s;aying of <HI>Solomon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 7.17.</NOTE> <HI>Be not over righteous,</HI> admits many good &s;en&s;es, even in Morall ver|tues, and in religious duties too, which are naturally good, it is much more appliable in temporall things, which are naturally indifferent; Bee not over faire, over witty, over &s;ociable, over rich, over glorious; but let the mea&s;ure be <HI>Sufficientia tua, So much as is &s;ufficient for thee.</HI></P>
<P>But where &s;hall a man take mea&s;ure of him&s;elfe?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tuam.</NOTE> At what age, or in what calling &s;hall he &s;ay, This is &s;ufficient for me? <HI>Ieremy</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Puer &s;um, I am a child, and cannot &s;peake at all;</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Quando puer, When I was a child,</HI> no bigger, <HI>I &s;pake like a child;</HI> this was not <HI>&s;ufficientia &s;ua,</HI> &s;ufficienr for him; for &s;ince he was to be a man, he was to &s;peak like a man: The &s;ame clothes doe not &s;erve us throughout our lives, nay not the &s;ame bodies, nay not the &s;ame vertues, &s;o there is no certaine Gomer, no fixed Mea&s;ure for worldly things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alex.</NOTE> for every one to have. As <HI>Clemens Alexandrinus</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Eadem Drachma data Nauclero, e&s;t Naulum,</HI> The &s;ame piece of Money given to a Water-man, is his Fare; <HI>Publicano Vectigal,</HI> given to a Farmer of Cu&s;tome, it is Impo&s;t; <HI>Mercatori pretium,</HI> to a Merchant it is the price of his Ware; <HI>Operario Merces, Mendico Eleemo&s;yna,</HI> To a Labou|rer it is Wages, to a Begger it is Almes; So on the other &s;ide, this which we call &s;uffi|ciency, as it hath relation to divers &s;tates, hath a different mea&s;ure. I think the rule will not be inconveniently given, if we &s;ay, That what&s;oever the world doth ju&s;tly looke for at our hands, wee may ju&s;tly look for at Gods hands: Tho&s;e outward meanes, which are requi&s;ite for the performance of the duties of your calling to the world, ari&s;ing from your birth, or ari&s;ing from your place, you are to pray for, you are to labour for; For that is <HI>Sufficientia tua,</HI> &s;o much is &s;ufficient for you, and &s;o much Honey you may eat; but eat no more, &s;ayes the Text, <HI>Ne &s;atieris, Le&s;t you be filled.</HI></P>
<P>Hee doth not &s;ay yet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ne &s;atieris.</NOTE> le&s;t thou bee &s;atisfied; there is no great feare, nay there is no hope of that, that he will be &s;atisfied. We know the receipt, the capacity of the ventricle, the &s;tomach of man, how much it can hold; and wee know the receipt of all the recep|tacles of blood, how much blood the body can have; &s;o wee doe of all the other con|duits and ci&s;terns of the body; But this infinite Hive of honey, this in&s;atiable whirl|poole of the covetous mind, no Anatomy, no di&s;&s;ection hath di&s;covered to us. When I looke into the larders, and cellars, and vaults, into the ve&s;&s;els of our body for drink, for blood, for urine, they are pottles, and gallons; when I looke into the furnaces of our &s;pirits, the ventricles of the heart and of the braine, they are not thimbles; for &s;piri|tuall things, the things of the next world, we have no roome; for temporall things, the things of this world, we have no bounds. How then &s;hall this over-eater bee filled with his honey? So filled, as that he can receive nothing el&s;e. More of the &s;ame honey hee can; Another Mannor, and another Church, is but another bit of meat, with another &s;auce to him; Another Office, and another way of Extortion, is but another garment, and another lace to him. But he is too full to receive any thing el&s;e; Chri&s;t comes to this Bethlem, (Bethlem which is <HI>Domus panis</HI>) this hou&s;e of abundance, and there is no roome for Chri&s;t in this Inne; there are no crums for Chri&s;t under this table; There comes <HI>Boanerges,</HI> (<HI>Boanerges,</HI> that is, <HI>filius Tonitrui,</HI> the &s;onne of Thunder) and he thun|ders out the <HI>Vae's,</HI> the Comminations, the Judgements of God upon &s;uch as hee; but if the Thunder &s;poile not his drink, he &s;ees no harme in Thunder; As long as a Sermon is not a Sentence in the Starre-chamber, that a Sermon cannot fine and impri&s;on him, hee hath no roome for any good effect of a Sermon. The Holy Gho&s;t, the Spirit of Com|fort comes to him, and offers him the con&s;olation of the Go&s;pel; but hee will die in his old religion, which is to &s;acrifice to his owne Nets, by which his portion is plenteous;
<PB N="715" REF="375">he had rather have the God of the Old Te&s;tament, that payes in this world with milke and honey, then the God of the New Te&s;tament, that cals him into his Vineyard in this World, and payes him no wages till the next: one <HI>Iupiter</HI> is worth all the three <HI>Elohims,</HI> or the three <HI>Iehovahs</HI> (if we may &s;peake &s;o) to him. <HI>Iupiter</HI> that can come in a &s;howre of gold, out waighs <HI>Iehova,</HI> that comes but in a &s;howre of water, but in a &s;prinkling of water in Bapti&s;me, and &s;els that water &s;o deare, as that he will have &s;howres of teares for it, nay &s;howres of blood for it, when any Per&s;ecutor hath a mind to call for it. The voyce of God whom he hath contemned, and wounded, The voyce of the Preacher whom he hath derided, and impoveri&s;hed, The voyce of the poore, of the Widow, of the Orphans, of the pri&s;oner, whom he hath oppre&s;&s;ed, knocke at his doore, and would enter, but there is no roome for them, he is &s;o full. This is the great danger indeed that accompanies this fulne&s;&s;e, but the danger that affects him more is that which is more literally in the text, <HI>Evomet,</HI> he &s;hall be &s;o filled as that he &s;hall <HI>vomit;</HI> even that fulne&s;&s;e, tho&s;e temporall things which he had, he &s;hall ca&s;t up.</P>
<P>It is not a vomiting for his ea&s;e, that he would vomit; but he &s;hall vomit;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Evomas.</NOTE> he &s;hall bee forced to vomit. <HI>He hath &s;wallowed downe riches, and he &s;hall vomit them up againe;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 20.15.</NOTE> <HI>God &s;hall ca&s;t them out of his belly;</HI> But by what hand? whether by his right hand, by the true way of ju&s;tice, or his left hand, by malice, under colour of ju&s;tice, his money &s;hall be his An|timony, his own riches &s;hall be his vomit. <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ayes, he &s;aw <HI>a &s;ore evill under the Sun;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 5.22.</NOTE> but if he had lived as long as the Sun, he might have &s;een it every cour&s;e of the Sun, <HI>Riches re&s;erved to their owners for their own hurt;</HI> Richmen peri&s;h, that &s;hould not have peri&s;hed, or not &s;o &s;oone, or not &s;o ab&s;olutely, if they had not beene rich. Their confidence in their riches provokes them to &s;ome unju&s;tifiable actions, and their riches provoke others to a vehement per&s;ecution. And in this vomit of theirs, if we had time to doe &s;o, we would con&s;ider fir&s;t, The &s;ordidne&s;&s;e, and the contempt and &s;corne that this evacuated Man comes to in the world, when he hath had this vomit of all his honey; That becau&s;e there can be no vacuity, he &s;hall be filled againe, but <HI>Saturabitur ignominia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Habak. 2.16.</NOTE> <HI>He &s;hall be filled with &s;hame for glory, and &s;hamefull &s;puing &s;hall be upon his glory.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 48.26.</NOTE> <HI>He magnified him&s;elfe again&s;t the Lord, and therefore was made drunk, and &s;hall wallow in his vomit, and be had in deri&s;ion.</HI> His honey was his &s;oule, and that being vomited, he is now but a rotten and abhorred carka&s;s; At be&s;t he was but a bag of money, and now he is but the bag it &s;elfe, which &s;carce any man will &s;toop to take up: And as in a vomit in a ba&s;on, the Phy&s;itian is able to &s;hew the world, what cold meat, and what raw meat, and what hard and indige&s;tible meat he had eaten; So when &s;uch a per&s;on comes by ju&s;tice, or malice to this vomit, every man be|comes a Phy&s;itian, every man brings Inditements, and evidence again&s;t him, and can &s;hew all his fal&s;hoods, and all his extortions in particular.</P>
<P>In the&s;e particulars we would con&s;ider the &s;corne upon this vomit; and then the dan|ger of it in the&s;e, That nothing weakens the eyes more then vomiting; when this worldly man hath lo&s;t his honey, he hath lo&s;t his &s;ight; he was dimme &s;ighted at beginning, when he could &s;ee nothing but worldly things, things neare&s;t to him, but when he hath vomi|ted the~, he hath lo&s;t his &s;pectacles; through his riches he &s;aw &s;ome glimmering, &s;ome co|lour of comfort, now he &s;ees no comfort at all: And a greater danger in vomiting is, that often times it breakes a veine within, and that is mo&s;t commonly incurable; This man that vomits without, bleeds within; his fortune is broke, and his heart is broke; and he bleeds better blood then his owne, he bleeds out the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe; the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us poured into him heretofore in the con&s;olation of the Go&s;pel, and in the Cup of Salvation in the Sacrament (for &s;o much as concernes him) is but &s;pilt upon the ground; as though his honey, his worldly greame&s;&s;e, were his Father, and Mother, and Wife, and Children, and Prince, and friends, and all, when that is lo&s;t by this vomit, he mournes for all, in a &s;ad and everla&s;ting mourning, in &s;uch a di&s;con&s;olate dejection of &s;pirit as ends either in an utter incon&s;ideration of God, or in a de&s;peration of his mercies. This is that <HI>Incipiamte evomere</HI> (as the Vulgat reads it) in this vomit of worldly things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 3.16.</NOTE> God does begin to vomit him out of his mouth; and then God does not returne to his vomit, but leaves this impatient patient to his impenitiblene&s;&s;e. But we mu&s;t not lanch into the&s;e wide Seas now, to con&s;ider the &s;corne, or the danger of this vomit, but rather draw into the harbor, and but repeat the text, transferred from this world to the text, from temporall to &s;pirituall things.</P>
<P>Thus far we have beene <HI>In melle,</HI> In honey, upon honey; but now <HI>Super mel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;io.</NOTE> above
<PB N="716" REF="376">honey.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19.10.</NOTE> The judgements of the Lord are <HI>Dulcia prae melle, Sweeter then honey, and the honey combe;</HI> And the judgements of the Lord are that, by which the Lord will judge us, and this world; it is his word. His word, the &s;incerity of the Go&s;pel, the truth of his Reli|gion is our honey and honey combe; our honey, and our waxe, our Covenant, and our Seale; we have him not, if we have not his truth, if we require other honey; and wee tru&s;t him not, if we require any other Seale, if we thinke the word of God needs the tradi|tions of men. And <HI>Inveni&s;ti tu,</HI> Hath God manife&s;ted to thee the truth of his Go&s;pell? Ble&s;&s;e thou the Lord, prai&s;e him and magnifie him for ever, who&s;e day-&s;pring from an high hath vi&s;ited thee, and left &s;o many Nations in darkne&s;&s;e, who &s;hall never heare of Chri&s;t, till they heare him&s;elfe, nor heare other voyce from him then, then the <HI>Ite male|dicti;</HI> Pity them that have not this honey, and confe&s;&s;e for thy &s;elfe, that though thou have it, thou ha&s;t but found it; could&s;t thou be&s;peake Chri&s;tian Parents beforehand, and &s;ay, I will be borne of &s;uch Parents as &s;hall give me a title to the Covenant, to Bapti&s;me? or could&s;t thou procure Sureties, that &s;hould bind them&s;elves for thee, at the entring into the Covenant in Bapti&s;me? Thou founde&s;t thy &s;elfe in the Chri&s;tian Church, and thou founde&s;t meanes of &s;alvation there; thou broughte&s;t none hither, thou boughte&s;t none here; the Title of S. <HI>Andrew,</HI> the fir&s;t of the Apo&s;tles that came to Chri&s;t, was but that, <HI>Invenimus Me&s;iam, We have found the Me&s;ias.</HI> It is onely Chri&s;t him&s;elfe that &s;ayes of him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 5.1.</NOTE> <HI>Comedi mel meum, I have eat my honey,</HI> his owne honey. We have no grace, no Go&s;pel of our owne, we find it here.</P>
<P>But &s;ince thou ha&s;t found it, <HI>Comede, Eat it;</HI> do not drinke the cup of Babylon, le&s;t thou drink the cup of Gods wrath too: but make this Honey (Chri&s;ts true Religion) thy meate; dige&s;t that, a&s;&s;imilate that, incorporate that: and let Chri&s;t him&s;elf, and his merit, be as thy &s;oul; &amp; let the cleere and outward profe&s;&s;ion of his truth, Religion, be as thy bo|dy: If thou give away that body, (be flattered out of thy Religion, or threatned out of thy Religion) If thou &s;ell this body, (be bought and bribed out of thy Religion) If thou lend this body, (di&s;continue thy Religion for a yeare or two, to &s;ee how things will fall out) if thou have no body, thou &s;halt have no Re&s;urrection, and the cleere and undi&s;gui&s;ed profe&s;&s;ion of the truth, is the body.</P>
<P>Eat therefore this honey <HI>Ad &s;ufficientiam;</HI> &s;o much as is enough. To beleeve implicitly as the Church beleeves, and know nothing, is not enough; know thy foundations, and who laid them; Other foundations can no man lay, then are laid, Chri&s;t Je&s;us; neither can other men lay tho&s;e foundations otherwi&s;e then they are laid by the Apo&s;tles, but eat <HI>Ad &s;ufficientiam tuam,</HI> that which is enough for thee, for &s;o much knowledge is not required in thee in tho&s;e things, as in them, who&s;e profe&s;&s;ion it is to teach them; be content to leave a roome &s;til for the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Aemulamini chari&s;mata meliora,</HI> de&s;ire better gifts; and ever think it a title of dignity which the Angel gave <HI>Daniel,</HI> to be <HI>Vir de&s;ideriorum;</HI> To have &s;till &s;ome farther object of thy de&s;ires. Do not thinke thou wante&s;t all, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t not all; for at the great la&s;t day, we &s;hall &s;ee more plead Catechi&s;mes for their &s;alvation, then the great volumes of Controver&s;ies, more plead their pockets, then their Libraries. If S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;o great an Argo&s;ie held no more, but <HI>Chri&s;tum crucifixum,</HI> what can thy Pinnace hold? Let humility be thy balla&s;t, and nece&s;&s;ary knowledge thy fraight: for there is an over-fulne&s;&s;e of knowledge, which forces a vomit; a vomit of opprobrious and contume|lious &s;peeches, a belching and &s;pitting of the name of Heretique and Schi&s;matique, and a lo&s;&s;e of charity for matters that are not of faith; and from this vomiting comes empti|ne&s;s, The more di&s;puting,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 90.14.</NOTE> the le&s;&s;e beleeving: but <HI>Satura&s;ti nos benignitate tua, Domine, Thou ha&s;t &s;atisfied us early with thy mercy,</HI> Thou gave&s;t us Chri&s;tianity early, and thou gave&s;t us the Reformation early: and therefore &s;ince in thee we have found this honey, let us &s;o eat it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 18.25.</NOTE> and &s;o hold it, <HI>That the land do not vomit her Inhabitants, nor &s;pew us out,</HI> as it &s;pewed out the Nations that were before us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 18.29.</NOTE> but <HI>that our dayes may be long in this land, which the Lord our God hath given us,</HI> and that <HI>with the Ancient of dayes,</HI> we may have a day without any night in that land, which his Son our Saviour hath purcha&s;ed for us with the ine&s;ti|mable price of his incorruptible blood. To which glorious Son of God, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="71" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="717" REF="376">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXI. At the <HI>Haghe</HI> Decemb. 19. 1619. I Preached upon this Text. Since in my &s;ickne&s;&s;e at <HI>Abrey-hatche</HI> in E&s;&s;ex, 1630. revi|&s;ing my &s;hort notes of that Sermon, I dige&s;ted them into the&s;e two.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 4.18, 19, 20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And Ie&s;us walking by the Sea of Galile &s;aw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, ca&s;ting a net into the Sea, (for they were fi&s;hers.) And he &s;aith unto them, Fol|low me, and I will make you fi&s;hers of men; And they &s;traightway left their nets, and fol|lowed him.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_SOLOMON pre&s;enting our Saviour Chri&s;t, in the name and per&s;on of Wi&s;dome, in the booke of Proverbs, puts, by in&s;tinct of the Holy Gho&s;t, the&s;e words into his mouth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8.30.</NOTE> <HI>Deliciae meae e&s;&s;e cum filiis homi|num, Chri&s;ts delight is to be with the children of men;</HI> And in &s;atisfacti|on of that delight, he &s;ayes in the &s;ame ver&s;e, in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, <HI>That he rejoyced to be in the habitable parts of the Earth,</HI> (that is, where he might conver&s;e with men) <HI>Ludens in orbe terrarum,</HI> (&s;o the Vulgat reads it) and &s;o our former Tran&s;lation had it, <HI>I tooke my &s;olace in the compa&s;&s;e of the Earth.</HI> But &s;ince Chri&s;ts adver&s;ary Satan does &s;o too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.7.</NOTE> (Satan came <HI>from compa&s;sing the Earth to and fro, and from walking in it;</HI>) &s;ince the Scribes and Phari&s;ees doe more then &s;o, <HI>They compa&s;&s;e Land and Sea, to make one of their own profe&s;sion,</HI> the mercy of Chri&s;t is not le&s;&s;e active, not le&s;&s;e indu&s;trious then the malice of his adver&s;aries, He preaches in populous Cities, he preaches in the de&s;art wilderne&s;&s;e, he preaches in the tempe&s;tuous Sea: and as his Power &s;hall collect the &s;everall du&s;ts, and atomes, and Elements of our &s;cattered bodies at the Re&s;urrection, as materialls, members of his Triumphant Church; &s;o he collects the materialls, the living &s;tone, and timber, for his Militant Church, from all places, from Cities, from De&s;arts, and here in this Text, from the Sea, <HI>(Ie&s;us walking by the Sea, &amp;c.)</HI></P>
<P>In the&s;e words we &s;hall onely pur&s;ue a twofold con&s;ideration of the per&s;ons whom Chri&s;t called here to his Apo&s;tle&s;hip,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew;</HI> What their pre&s;ent, what their future function was, what they were, what they were to be; They were <HI>fi&s;hermen,</HI> they were to be <HI>fi&s;hers of men.</HI> But from the&s;e two con&s;iderations of the&s;e per&s;ons, ari&s;e many Circum&s;tances, in and about their calling; and their preferment for their chearfull fol|lowing. For fir&s;t, in the fir&s;t, we &s;hall &s;urvay the place, <HI>The Sea of Galile;</HI> And their e|ducation and conver&s;ation upon that Sea, by which they were naturally le&s;&s;e fit for this Church-&s;ervice. At this Sea he found them <HI>ca&s;ting their Nets;</HI> of which act of theirs, there is an emphaticall rea&s;on expre&s;&s;ed in the text, <HI>For they were fi&s;hers,</HI> which intimates both the&s;e notes, That they did it becau&s;e they were fi&s;hers; It became them, it beho|ved them, it concerned them to follow their trade; And then they did it as they were fi&s;hers, If they had not been fi&s;hers they would not have done it, they might not have u&s;urped upon anothers Calling; <HI>They ca&s;t their Nets into the Sea, for they were fi&s;hers</HI>) And then, in a nearer con&s;ideration of the&s;e per&s;ons, we finde that they were <HI>two</HI> that were called; Chri&s;t provided at fir&s;t again&s;t &s;ingularity, He called not one alone; And then they were <HI>two Brethren,</HI> per&s;ons likely to agree; He provided at fir&s;t again&s;t &s;chi&s;me; And then, they were two &s;uch as were nothing of kinne to him, (whereas the &s;econd payre of brethren, whom he called, <HI>Iames</HI> and <HI>Iohn,</HI> were his kin&s;men) He provided at fir&s;t, again&s;t partiality, and that kinde of Simony, which prefers for affection. The&s;e men,
<PB N="718" REF="377">thus conditioned naturally, thus di&s;po&s;ed at this place, and at this time, our ble&s;&s;ed Savi|our calls; And then we note their readine&s;&s;e, they obeyed the call, they did all they were bid, They were bid <HI>follow,</HI> and they <HI>followed,</HI> and <HI>followed pre&s;ently;</HI> And they did &s;omewhat more then &s;eemes expre&s;ly to have been required, for, <HI>They left their Nets, and followed him.</HI> And all the&s;e &s;ub&s;tantiall circum&s;tances inve&s;t our fir&s;t part, the&s;e per|&s;ons in their fir&s;t e&s;tate. For tho&s;e that belong to the &s;econd part, Their preferment up|on this obedience, <HI>(Follow me, and I will make you fi&s;hers of men)</HI> it would be an imperti|nent thing, to open them now, becau&s;e I doe ea&s;ily fore&s;ee, that this day we &s;hall not come to that part.</P>
<P>In our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Andreas.</NOTE> The con&s;ideration of the&s;e per&s;ons then, though in this Text <HI>Peter</HI> be fir&s;t named, yet we are to note, that this was not the fir&s;t time of their meeting; when Chri&s;t and they met fir&s;t, which was, when <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t</HI> made that declaration upon Chri&s;ts walking by him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.35.</NOTE> <HI>Behold the Lamb of God, Peter</HI> was not the fir&s;t that applied him|&s;elfe to Chri&s;t, nor that was invited by Chri&s;ts pre&s;enting him&s;elfe to him, to doe it; <HI>Peter</HI> was not there; <HI>Peter</HI> was not the &s;econd; for, <HI>Andrew,</HI> and another, who were then <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;ts</HI> Di&s;ciples, and &s;aw Chri&s;t declared by him, were pre&s;ently affected with a de&s;ire to follow Chri&s;t, and to conver&s;e with him, and to that purpo&s;e pre&s;&s;e him with that que&s;tion, <HI>Magi&s;ter, ubi habitas?</HI> They profe&s;&s;e that they had cho&s;en him for their Ma&s;ter, and they de&s;ire to know where he dwelt, that they might waite upon him, and receive their in&s;tructions from him. And in <HI>Andrews</HI> thus early applying him&s;elfe to Chri&s;t, we are al&s;o to note, both the fecundity of true Religion; for, as &s;oone as he had found Chri&s;t, he &s;ought his brother <HI>Peter, Et duxit ad Ie&s;um,</HI> he made his brother as hap|py as him&s;elfe, he led him to Je&s;us; (And that other Di&s;ciple, which came to Chri&s;t as &s;oone as <HI>Andrew</HI> did, yet becau&s;e he is not noted to have brought any others but him|&s;elfe, is not named in the Go&s;pel) And we are to ob&s;erve al&s;o, the un&s;earchable wi&s;dome of God in his proceedings, that he would have <HI>Peter,</HI> whom he had purpo&s;ed to be his principall Apo&s;tle, to be led to him by another, of inferior dignity, in his determination. And therefore <HI>Conver&s;us converte,</HI> Thinke not thy &s;elfe well enough preached unto, ex|cept thou finde a de&s;ire, that thy life and conver&s;ation may preach to others, And <HI>Edo|ctus di&s;ce,</HI> thinke not that thou knowe&s;t any thing, except thou de&s;ire to learne more; neither grudge to learne of him, whom thou thinke&s;t le&s;&s;e learned then thy &s;elfe; The ble&s;&s;ing is in Gods Calling, and Ordinance, not in the good parts of the man; <HI>Andrew</HI> drew <HI>Peter,</HI> The le&s;&s;er in Gods purpo&s;e for the building of the Church, brought in the greater. Therefore doth the Church celebrate the memory of S. <HI>Andrew,</HI> fir&s;t of any Saint in the yeare; and after they have been altogether united in that one fe&s;tivall of <HI>All-Saints,</HI> S. <HI>Andrew</HI> is the fir&s;t that hath a particular day.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> He was <HI>Primogenitus Te&s;tamenti novi,</HI> The fir&s;t Chri&s;tian, the fir&s;t begotten of the new Te&s;tament; for, <HI>Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> who may &s;eeme to have the birthright before him, had his conception in the old Te&s;tament, in the wombe of tho&s;e prophecies of <HI>Malachy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.1. E&s;a. 40.3.</NOTE> and of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> of his comming, and of his office, and &s;o cannot be &s;o intirely referred to the new Te&s;tament, as S. <HI>Andrew</HI> is. Be|cau&s;e therefore, our adver&s;aries of the Romane here&s;ie di&s;till, and racke every pa&s;&s;age of Scripture, that may drop any thing for the advantage of S. <HI>Peter,</HI> and the allmightines of his Succe&s;&s;or, I refu&s;e not the occa&s;ion offered from this text, compared with that o|ther, <HI>Ioh.</HI> 1. to &s;ay, That if that fir&s;t comming to Chri&s;t were but (as they u&s;e to &s;ay) <HI>Ad notitiam &amp; familiaritatem,</HI> and this in our Text, <HI>Ad Apo&s;tolatum,</HI> That they that came there, came but to an acquaintance, and conver&s;ation with Chri&s;t, but here, in this text, to the Apo&s;tle&s;hip, yet, to that conver&s;ation, (which was no &s;mall happine&s;&s;e) <HI>Andrew</HI> came clearly before <HI>Peter,</HI> and to this Apo&s;tle&s;hip here, <HI>Peter</HI> did not come be|fore <HI>Andrew;</HI> they came together.</P>
<P>The&s;e two then our Saviour found,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mare Gali|laeum.</NOTE> <HI>as he walked by the Sea of Galile.</HI> No &s;olitude, no tempe&s;t, no bleakne&s;&s;e, no inconvenience averts Chri&s;t, and his Spirit, from his &s;weet, and gracious, and comfortable vi&s;itations. But yet this that is called here, <HI>The Sea of Ga|lile,</HI> was not properly a Sea; but according to the phra&s;e of the Hebrews, who call all great meetings of waters, by that one name, A Sea, this, which was indeed a lake of fre&s;h water, is called a Sea. From the roote of Mount Libanus, &s;pring two Rivers, Jor, and Dan; and tho&s;e two, meeting together, joyning their waters, joyne their names too, and make that famous river Jordan; a name &s;o compo&s;ed, as perchance our River is, Thame&s;is, of Thame, and I&s;is. And this River Jordan falling into this flat, makes this
<PB N="719" REF="377">Lake, of &s;ixteene miles long, and &s;ome &s;ixe in breadth. Which Lake being famous for fi&s;h, though of ordinary kinds, yet of an extraordinary ta&s;te and reli&s;h, and then of extra|ordinary kinds too, not found in other waters, and famous, becau&s;e divers famous Cities did engirt it, and become as a garland to it, <HI>Capernaum,</HI> and <HI>Chorazim,</HI> and <HI>Beth&s;aida,</HI> and <HI>Tiberias,</HI> and <HI>Magdalo,</HI> (all celebrated in the Scriptures) was yet much more fa|mous for the often recour&s;e, which our Saviour (who was of that Countrey) made to it; For this was the Sea, where he amazed <HI>Peter,</HI> with that great draught of fi&s;hes, that brought him to &s;ay, <HI>Exi &agrave; me Domine, Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a &s;infull man;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 5.8.</NOTE> This was the Sea, where him&s;elfe <HI>walked upon the waters;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 14.25.8.23.</NOTE> And where he <HI>rebuked the tem|pe&s;t;</HI> And where he manife&s;ted his Almighty power many times. And by this Lake, this Sea, dwelt <HI>Andrew</HI> and <HI>Peter,</HI> and u&s;ing the commodity of the place, lived upon fi&s;hing in this Lake; and in that act our Saviour found them, and called them to his &s;ervice. Why them? Why <HI>fi&s;hers?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Chri&s;t having a greater, a fairer Jeru&s;alem to build then <HI>Davids</HI> was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cur Pi&s;ca|tores.</NOTE> a greater Kingdome to e&s;tabli&s;h then Juda's was, a greater Temple to build then <HI>Solomons</HI> was, having a greater work to rai&s;e, yet he begun upon a le&s;&s;e ground; Hee is come from his twelve Tribes, that afforded armies in &s;warmes, to twelve per&s;ons, twelve Apo&s;tles; from his <HI>Iuda</HI> and <HI>Levi,</HI> the foundations of State and Church, to an <HI>Andrew</HI> and a <HI>Peter</HI> fi&s;her-men, &s;ea-men; and the&s;e men accu&s;tomed to that various, and tempe&s;tuous Ele|ment, to the Sea, le&s;&s;e capable of Offices of civility, and &s;ociablene&s;&s;e, then other men, yet mu&s;t be employed in religious offices, to gather all Nations to one hou&s;hold of the faithfull, and to con&s;titute a Communion of Saints; They were Sea-men, fi&s;her-men, unlearned, and indocil; Why did Chri&s;t take them? Not that thereby there was any &s;candall given, or ju&s;t occa&s;ion of that calumny of <HI>Iulian</HI> the Apo&s;tat, That Chri&s;t found it ea&s;ie to &s;educe, and draw to his Sect, &s;uch poore ignorant men as they were; for Chri&s;t did receive per&s;ons eminent in learning, (<HI>Saul</HI> was &s;o) and of authority in the State, (<HI>Nicodemus</HI> was &s;o) and of wealth, and ability, (<HI>Zacheus</HI> was &s;o, and &s;o was <HI>Io|&s;eph</HI> of Arimatliea) But fir&s;t he cho&s;e &s;uch men, that when the world had con&s;idered their beginning, their in&s;ufficiency then, and how unproper they were for &s;uch an em|ployment, and yet &s;eene that great work &s;o farre, and &s;o fa&s;t advanced, by &s;o weake in|&s;truments, they might a&s;cribe all power to him, and ever after, come to him cheerfully upon any invitation, how weake men &s;oever he &s;hould &s;end to them, becau&s;e hee had done &s;o much by &s;o weak in&s;truments before: To make his work in all ages after pro&s;per the better, he proceeded thus at fir&s;t. And then, hee cho&s;e &s;uch men for another rea&s;on too; To &s;hew that how in&s;ufficient &s;oever he received them, yet he received them into &s;uch a Schoole, &s;uch an Univer&s;ity, as &s;hould deliver them back into his Church, made fit by him, for the &s;ervice thereof. Chri&s;t needed not mans &s;ufficiency, he took in&s;uffi|cient men; Chri&s;t excu&s;es no mans in&s;ufficiency, he made them &s;ufficient.</P>
<P>His purpo&s;e then was, that the worke &s;hould be a&s;cribed to the Workman,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nequid In|&s;trumentis. <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI></NOTE> not to the In&s;trument; To him&s;elfe, not to them; <HI>Nec quae&s;ivit per Oratorem pi&s;catorem,</HI> He &s;ent not out Orators, Rhetoricians, &s;trong or faire-&s;poken men to work upon the&s;e fi&s;her-men, <HI>Sed de pi&s;catore lucratus e&s;t Imperatorem,</HI> By the&s;e fi&s;her-men, hee hath reduced all tho&s;e Kings, and Emperours, and States which have embraced the Chri&s;tian Religion, the&s;e thou&s;and and &s;ix hundred yeares. When <HI>Samuel</HI> was &s;ent with that generall Commi&s;|&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 16.6.</NOTE> to anoint a &s;onne of <HI>I&s;hai</HI> King, without any more particular in&s;tructions, when hee came, and <HI>Eliab</HI> was pre&s;ented unto him, <HI>Surely,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Samuel,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 30.</NOTE> (noting the goodline&s;&s;e of his per&s;onage) <HI>this is the Lords Anointed.</HI> But the Lord &s;aid unto <HI>Samuel, Looke not on his countenance, nor the height of his &s;tature, for I have refu&s;ed him; for,</HI> (as it followeth there, from Gods mouth) <HI>God &s;eeth not as man &s;etth; Man looketh on the outward appea|rance, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.</HI> And &s;o <HI>David,</HI> in apparance, le&s;&s;e likely was cho|&s;en. But, if the Lords arme be not &s;hortned, let no man impute weakne&s;&s;e to the In&s;tru|ment. For &s;o, when <HI>David</HI> him&s;elfe was appointed by God, to pur&s;ue the Amalekites, the Amalekites that had burnt Ziklag, and done &s;uch &s;poile upon Gods people, as that the people began to &s;peak of &s;toning <HI>David,</HI> from whom they looked for defence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver 6.</NOTE> when <HI>David</HI> had no kind of intelligence, no ground to &s;ettle a conjecture upon, which way he mu&s;t pur&s;ue the Amalekites, and yet pur&s;ue them he mu&s;t, in the way he findes a poore young fellow, a fami&s;hed, &s;icke young man, derelicted of his Ma&s;ter, and left for dead in the march, and by the meanes and conduct of this wretch, <HI>David</HI> recovers the enemy,
<PB N="720" REF="378">recovers the &s;poile, recovers his honour, and the love of his people.</P>
<P>If the Lords arme bee not &s;hortned, let no man impute weakne&s;&s;e to his In&s;trument. But yet God will alwayes have &s;o much weakne&s;&s;e appeare in the In&s;trument, as that their &s;trength &s;hall not be thought to be their owne. When <HI>Pete</HI> and <HI>Iohn</HI> preached in the &s;treets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 4.13.</NOTE> <HI>The people marvelled,</HI> (&s;ayes the Text) why? <HI>for they had under&s;tood that they were unlearned.</HI> But <HI>beholding al&s;o the man that was healed &s;tanding by, they had nothing to &s;ay,</HI> &s;ayes that &s;tory. The in&s;ufficiency of the In&s;trument makes a man wonder natural|ly; but the accompli&s;hing of &s;ome great worke brings them to a nece&s;&s;ary acknow|ledgement of a greater power, working in that weake In&s;trument. For, if tho&s;e Apo|&s;tles that preached,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 8.10.</NOTE> had beene as learned men, as <HI>Simon Magus,</HI> as they did in him, (<HI>This man is the great power of God,</HI> not that he had, but that he was the power of God) the peo|ple would have re&s;ted in the admiration of tho&s;e per&s;ons, and proceeded no farther. It was their working of &s;upernaturall things, that convinced the world. For all <HI>Pauls</HI> lear|ning, (though hee were very learned) never brought any of the Conjurers to burne his bookes, or to renounce his Art; But when God wrought extraordinary works by him, That &s;ickne&s;&s;es were cured by his napkins,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 19.11.</NOTE> and his handkerchiefs, (in which cures, <HI>Pauls</HI> learning had no more concurrence, no more cooperaton, then the ignorance of any of the fi&s;her-men Apo&s;tles) And when the world &s;aw that tho&s;e Exorci&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 13.</NOTE> which went about to doe Miracles in the Name of Je&s;us, becau&s;e <HI>Paul</HI> did &s;o, could not doe it, be|cau&s;e that Je&s;us had not promi&s;ed to worke in them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 19.</NOTE> as in <HI>Paul,</HI> Then the Conjurers came, and burnt their bookes, in the &s;ight of all the world, to the value of fifty thou&s;and pieces of &s;ilver. It was not learning, (that may have been got, though they that heare them, know it not; and it were not hard to a&s;&s;igne many examples of men that have &s;tolne a great mea&s;ure of learning, and yet lived open and conver&s;able lives, and never beene ob&s;erved, (except by them, that knew their Lucubrations, and night-watchings) to have &s;pent many houres in &s;tudy) but it was the calling of the world to an apprehen|&s;ion of a greater power, by &s;eeing great things done by weake In&s;truments, that reduced them, that convinced them. <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Iohns</HI> preaching did not halfe the good then, as the pre&s;enting of one man, which had been recovered by them, did. Twenty of our Sermons edifie not &s;o much, as if the Congregation might &s;ee one man converted by us. Any one of you might out-preach us. That one man that would leave his beloved &s;inne, that one man that would re&s;tore ill-gotten goods, had made a better Sermon then ever I &s;hall, and &s;hould gaine more &s;oules by his act, then all our words (as they are ours) can doe.</P>
<P>Such men he took then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non in-ido|neos.</NOTE> as might be no occa&s;ion to their hearers, to a&s;cribe the work to their &s;ufficiency; but yet &s;uch men too, as &s;hould be no examples to in&s;ufficient men to adventure upon that great &s;ervice; but men, though ignorant before, yet docil, and glad to learne. In a rough &s;tone, a cunning Lapidary will ea&s;ily fore&s;ee, what his cutting, and his poli&s;hing, and his art will bring that &s;tone too. A cunning Statuary di&s;cerns in a Marble-&s;tone under his feet, where there will ari&s;e an Eye, and an Eare, and a Hand, &amp; other lineaments to make it a perfect Statue. Much more did our Saviour Chri&s;t, who was him&s;elfe the Author of that di&s;po&s;ition in them, (for no man hath any &s;uch di&s;po&s;i|on but from God) fore&s;ee in the&s;e fi&s;her-men, an inclinablene&s;&s;e to become u&s;efull in that great &s;ervice of his Church. Therefore hee tooke them from their owne &s;hip, but he &s;ent them from his Cro&s;&s;e; Hee tooke them weatherbeaten with North and South winds, and rough-ca&s;t with foame, and mud; but he &s;ent them back &s;oupled, and &s;moo|thed, and levigated, quickned, and inanimated with that Spirit, which he had breathed into them from his owne bowels, his owne eternall bowels, from which the Holy Gho&s;t proceeded; Hee tooke fi&s;her-men, and he &s;ent fi&s;hers of men. Hee &s;ent them not out to preach, as &s;oone as he called them to him; He called them <HI>ad Di&s;cipulatum,</HI> before hee called them <HI>ad Apo&s;tolatum;</HI> He taught them, before they taught others. As S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 3.6.</NOTE> and the re&s;t, <HI>God hath made us able Mini&s;ters of the New Te&s;tament; Idoneos,</HI> fit Mini&s;ters, that is, fit for that &s;ervice. There is a fitne&s;&s;e founded in Di&s;cretion; a Di&s;|cretion to make our pre&s;ent &s;ervice acceptable to our pre&s;ent Auditory; for if it be not acceptable, agreeable to them, it is never profitable.</P>
<P>As God gave his children &s;uch Manna as was agreeable to every mans ta&s;te, and ta|&s;ted to every man like that, that that man like be&s;t: &s;o are wee to deliver the bread of life agreeable to every ta&s;te, to fit our Doctrine to the apprehen&s;ion, and capacity, and
<PB N="721" REF="378">dige&s;tion of the hearers. For as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, That no man profits by a Sermon that he heares with paine, if he doe not &s;tand ea&s;ily; &s;o if he doe not under&s;tand ea&s;ily, or if he doe not a&s;&s;ent ea&s;ily to that that he heares, if he be put to &s;tudy one &s;entence, till the Preacher have pa&s;&s;ed three or foure more, or if the doctrine be new and doubtfull, and &s;u&s;pitious to him, this fitne&s;&s;e which is grounded in di&s;cretion is not &s;hewed. But the generall fitne&s;&s;e is grounded in learning, S. <HI>Paul</HI> hath joyned them &s;afely together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.2.</NOTE> <HI>Rebuke and exhort with all long &s;uffering, and learning.</HI> Shew thy di&s;cretion in &s;ea&s;onable Re|buking; &s;hew thy learning in Exhorting. Let the Congregation &s;ee that thou &s;tudie&s;t the good of their &s;oules, and they will dige&s;t any whole&s;ome increpation, any medicinall reprehen&s;ion at thy hands, <HI>Dilige &amp; dic quod voles.</HI> We &s;ay &s;o fir&s;t to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Lord let thy &s;pirit beare witne&s;&s;e with my &s;pirit, that thou love&s;t me, and I can endure all thy Pro|phets, and all the <HI>vae's,</HI> and the woes that they thunder again&s;t me and my &s;in. So al&s;o the Congregation &s;ayes to the Mini&s;ter, <HI>Dilige &amp; dic quod voles,</HI> &s;hew thy love to me, in &s;tudying my ca&s;e, and applying thy knowledge to my con&s;cience, &s;peake &s;o, as God and I may know thou meane&s;t me, but not the Congregation, le&s;t that bring me to a confu&s;i|on of face, and that to a hardne&s;&s;e of heart; deale thus with me, love me thus, and &s;ay what thou wilt; nothing &s;hall offend me. And this is the Idoneity, the fitne&s;&s;e which we con&s;i|der in the Mini&s;ter, fitne&s;&s;e in learning, fitne&s;&s;e in di&s;cretion, to u&s;e and apply that learning. So Chri&s;t fits his.</P>
<P>Such men then Chri&s;t takes for the &s;ervice of his Church;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mittebant rete in Mare.</NOTE> &s;uch as bring no confidence in their owne fitne&s;&s;e, &s;uch as embrace the meanes to make them fit in his Schoole, and learne before they teach. And to that purpo&s;e he tooke <HI>Andrew</HI> and <HI>Peter;</HI> and he tooke them, when he found them <HI>ca&s;ting their net into the Sea.</HI> This was a Symbolicall, a Pro|pheticall action of their future life; This fi&s;hing was a type, a figure, a prophe&s;ie of their other fi&s;hing. But here (in this fir&s;t part) we are bound to the con&s;ideration of their reall and direct action, and exerci&s;e of their pre&s;ent calling; <HI>They ca&s;t their Net, for they were Fi&s;hers,</HI> &s;ayes the Text. In which, <HI>for,</HI> (as wee told you at fir&s;t) there is a double rea&s;on involved.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, in this <HI>For</HI> is intimated, how acceptable to God that labour is,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1.</HI> Quia pi&s;ca|tores.</NOTE> that is taken in a calling. They did not forbeare to ca&s;t their nets becau&s;e it was a tempe&s;tuous Sea; we mu&s;t make account to meet &s;tormes in our profe&s;&s;ion, yea and tentations too. A man mu&s;t not leave his calling, becau&s;e it is hard for him to be an hone&s;t man in that calling; but he mu&s;t labour to overcome tho&s;e difficulties, and as much as he can, vindicate and re|deeme that calling from tho&s;e a&s;per&s;ions and calumnies, which ill men have ca&s;t upon a good calling. They did not forbeare becau&s;e it was a tempe&s;tuous Sea, nor becau&s;e they had ca&s;t their nets often and caught nothing, nor becau&s;e it was uncertaine how the Mar|ket would goe when they had catched. A man mu&s;t not be an ill Prophet upon his own labours, nor bewitch them with a &s;u&s;pition that they will not pro&s;per. It is the &s;lothfull man that &s;ayes, <HI>A Lion in the way, A Lion in the &s;treet.</HI> Ca&s;t thou thy net into the Sea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 26.13.</NOTE> and God &s;hall drive fi&s;h into thy net; undertake a lawfull Calling, and clogge not thy calling with murmuring, nor with an ill con&s;cience, and God &s;hall give thee increa&s;e, and wor|&s;hip in it, <HI>They ca&s;t their nets into the Sea, for they were fi&s;hers;</HI> it was their Calling, and they were bound to labour in that.</P>
<P>And then this <HI>For</HI> hath another a&s;pect, lookes another way too,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2.</HI> Quia pi&s;ca|tores.</NOTE> and implies another In&s;truction, <HI>They ca&s;t their nets into the Sea, for they were fi&s;hers,</HI> that is, if they had not beene fi&s;hers, they would not have done it; Intru&s;ion into other mens callings is an unju&s;t u&s;urpation; and, if it take away their profit, it is a theft. If it be but a cen&s;uring of them in their calling, yet it is a calumny, becau&s;e it is not in the right way, if it be extrajudiciall. To lay an a&s;per&s;ion upon any man (who is not under our charge) though that which we &s;ay of him be true, yet it is a calumny, and a degree of libelling, if it be not done judi|ciarily, and where it may receive redre&s;&s;e and remedy. And yet how forward are men that are not fi&s;hers in that Sea, to cen&s;ure State Councels, and Judiciary proceedings? Every man is an <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> to &s;ay to every man, <HI>Your cau&s;e is good,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 15.3.</NOTE> <HI>but the King hath appoin|ted none to heare it;</HI> Money brings them in, favour brings them in, it is not the King; or, if it mu&s;t be &s;aid to be the King, yet it is the affection of the King and not his judgement, the King mi&s;led, not rightly informed, &s;ay our &s;editious <HI>Ab&s;oloms,</HI> and,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 4.</NOTE> <HI>Oh that I were made Iudge in the land, that every man might come unto me, and I would doe him ju&s;tice,</HI> is the charme that <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> hath taught every man. They ca&s;t their nets into a deeper Sea then
<PB N="722" REF="379">this, and where they are much le&s;&s;e fi&s;hers, into the &s;ecret Councels of God. It is well provided by your Lawes, that Divines and Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall per&s;ons may not take farmes, nor buy nor &s;ell, for returne, in Markets. I would it were as well provided, that buyers and &s;ellers, and farmers might not be Divines, nor cen&s;ure them. I &s;peake not of cen&s;u|ring our lives; plea&s;e your &s;elves with that, till God bee plea&s;ed to mend us by that, (thought that way of whi&s;pering calumny be not the right way to that amendment) But I &s;peak of cen&s;uring our Doctrines, and of appointing our doctrines; when men are weary of hearing any other thing, then Election and Reprobation, and whom, and when, and how, and why God hath cho&s;en, or ca&s;t away. We have liberty enough by your Law, to hold enough for the maintenance of our bodies, and &s;tates; you have liberty enough by our Law, to know enough for the &s;alvation of your &s;oules; If you will &s;earch farther into Gods eternall Decrees, and unrevealed Councels, you &s;hould not ca&s;t your nets in|to that Sea, for you are not fi&s;hers there. <HI>Andrew and Peter ca&s;t their nets, for they were fi&s;hers,</HI> (therefore they were bound to do it) And againe, <HI>for they were fi&s;hers,</HI> (if they had not been &s;o, they would not have done &s;o.)</P>
<P>The&s;e per&s;ons then thus di&s;po&s;ed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Duo &s;imul.</NOTE> unfit of them&s;elves, made fit by him, and found by him at their labour, labour in a lawfull Calling, and in their owne Calling, our Saviour Chri&s;t cals to him; And he called them by couples, by paires; two together. So he cal|led his Creatures into the world at the fir&s;t Creation, by paires. So he called them into the Arke, for the reparation of the world, by paires, two and two. God loves not &s;ingu|larity; The very name of Church implies company; It is <HI>Concio, Congregatio, Coetus;</HI> It is a Congregation, a Meeting, an a&s;&s;embly; It is not any one man; neither can the Church be pre&s;erved in one man. And therefore it hath beene dangerou&s;ly &s;aid, (though they confe&s;&s;e it to have beene &s;aid by many of their greate&s;t Divines in the Roman Church) that during the time that our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour lay dead in the grave, there was no faith left upon the earth, but onely in the Virgin <HI>Mary;</HI> for then there was no Church. God hath manife&s;ted his will in two Te&s;taments; and though he have abridged and contract|ed the doctrine of both in a narrow roome, yet he hath dige&s;ted it into two Commande|ments, <HI>Love God, love thy neighbour.</HI> There is but one Church; that is true, but one; but that one Church cannot be in any one man; There is but one Bapti&s;me; that is al&s;o true, but one; But no man can Baptize him&s;elfe; there mu&s;t be <HI>Sacerdos &amp; competens,</HI> (as our old Canons &s;peake) a per&s;on to receive, and a Prie&s;t to give Bapti&s;me. There is but one faith in the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins; that is true too, but one; But no man can ab&s;olve him&s;elfe; There mu&s;t be a Prie&s;t and a penitent. God cals no man &s;o, but that he cals him to the knowledge, that he hath called more then him to that Church, or el&s;e it is an illu&s;ory, and imaginary calling, and a dreame.</P>
<P>Take heed therefore of being &s;educed to that Church that is in one man; <HI>In &s;crinio pectoris,</HI> where all infallibility, and a&s;&s;ured re&s;olution is in the brea&s;t of one man; who (as their owne Authors &s;ay) is not bound to aske the coun&s;ell of others before, nor to follow their coun&s;ell after. And &s;ince the Church cannot be in one, in an unity, take heed of bringing it too neare that unity, to a paucity, to a few, to a &s;eparation, to a Conventicle. The Church loves the name of Catholique; and it is a glorious, and an harmonious name; Love thou tho&s;e things wherein &s;he is Catholique, and wherein &s;he is harmonious, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lyrinen.</NOTE> <HI>Quod ubique, quod &s;emper,</HI> Tho&s;e univer&s;all, and fundamentall doctrines, which in all Chri&s;tian ages, and in all Chri&s;tian Churches, have beene agreed by all to be nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation; and then thou art a true Catholique. Otherwi&s;e, that is, without relation to this Catholique and univer&s;all doctrine, to call a particular Church Catholique, (that &s;he &s;hould be Catholique, that is, univer&s;all in dominion, but not in doctrine) is &s;uch a &s;oleci&s;me, as to &s;peak of a white blackne&s;&s;e, or a great littlene&s;&s;e; A particular Church to be univer&s;all, implies &s;uch a contradiction.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t loves not &s;ingularity;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Duo fratres.</NOTE> he called not one alone; He loves not &s;chi&s;me neither be|tween them whom he cals; &amp; therefore he cals per&s;ons likely to agree, two brethren, <HI>(He &s;aw two brethren, Peter and Andrew, &amp;c.</HI> So he began to build the Synagogues, to e&s;tabli&s;h that fir&s;t government, in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> brethren; So he begins to build the Church, in <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew,</HI> brethren. The principall fraternity and brotherhood that God re&s;pects, is &s;pirituall; Brethren in the profe&s;&s;ion of the &s;ame true Religion. But <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew</HI> whom he called here to the true Religion, and &s;o gave them that &s;econd frater|nity and brotherhood, which is &s;pirituall, were naturall brethren before; And that God
<PB N="723" REF="379">loves; that a naturall, a &s;ecular, a civill fraternity, and a &s;pirituall fraternity &s;hould be joy|ned together; when tho&s;e that profe&s;&s;e the &s;ame Religion, &s;hould de&s;ire to contract their alliances, in marrying their Children, and to have their other dealings in the world (as much as they can) with men that profe&s;&s;e the &s;ame true Religion that they do. That &s;o (not medling nor di&s;puting the proceedings of States, who, in &s;ome ca&s;es, go by other rules then private men do) we doe not make it an equall, an indifferent thing, whether we marry our &s;elves, or our children, or make our bargaines, or our conver&s;ation, with per&s;ons of a different Religion, when as our Adver&s;aries among&s;t us will not goe to a Lawyer, nor call a Phy&s;itian, no, nor &s;carce a Taylor, or other Trade&s;man of another Religion then their owne, if they can po&s;&s;ibly avoid it. God &s;aw a better likelihood of avoyding Schi&s;me and di&s;&s;ention, when tho&s;e whom hee called to a new &s;pirituall brotherhood in one Religion, were naturall brothers too, and tied in civill bands, as well as &s;pirituall.</P>
<P>And as Chri&s;t began, &s;o he proceeded;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non cognati.</NOTE> for the per&s;ons whom he called were Cate|chi&s;ticall, in&s;tructive per&s;ons; per&s;ons, from who&s;e very per&s;ons we receive in&s;truction. The next whom he called, (which is in the next ver&s;e) were two too; and brethren too; <HI>Iohn</HI> and <HI>Iames;</HI> but yet his owne kin&s;men in the fle&s;h. But, as he cho&s;e two together to avoid &s;ingularity, and two brethren to avoid Schi&s;me, &s;o he preferred two &s;trangers before his own kindred, to avoid partiality, and re&s;pect of per&s;ons. Certainly every man is bound to do good to tho&s;e that are neare him by nature; The obligation of doing good to others lies (for the mo&s;t part) thus; <HI>Let us do good to all men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.10.</NOTE> <HI>but e&s;pecially unto them which are of the hou&s;hold of the faithfull;</HI> (They of our owne Religion are of the <HI>Quorum</HI>) Now, when all are &s;o, (of the hou&s;hold of the faithfull, of our owne Religion) the obligation looks home, and lie thus, <HI>He that provideth not for his own, denieth the faith,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.8.</NOTE> <HI>and is wor&s;e then an Infidel.</HI> Chri&s;t would therefore leave no example, nor ju&s;tification of that perver&s;e di|&s;temper, to leave his kindred out, nor of their di&s;po&s;ition, who had rather buy new friends at any rate, then relieve or cheri&s;h the old. But yet when Chri&s;t knew how far his &s;tock would reach, that no liberality, how&s;oever placed, could exhau&s;t that, but that he was able to provide for all, he would leave no example nor ju&s;tification of that per|ver&s;e di&s;temper, to heape up preferments upon our owne kindred, without any con&s;idera|tion how Gods glory might be more advanced by doing good to others too; But finding in the&s;e men a fit di&s;po&s;ition to be good labourers in his harve&s;t, and to agree in the &s;er|vice of the Church, as they did in the band of nature, he calls <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew,</HI> other|wi&s;e &s;trangers, before he called his Con&s;ins, <HI>Iames</HI> and <HI>Iohn.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Circum&s;tances we propo&s;ed to be con&s;idered in the&s;e per&s;ons before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Continu&ograve; &s;e|quuti.</NOTE> and at their being called. The fir&s;t, after their calling, is their chearfull readine&s;&s;e in obeying, <HI>Continu&ograve; &s;equuti,</HI> They were bid <HI>follow,</HI> and <HI>forthwith they followed.</HI> Which pre&s;ent obedi|ence of theirs is exalted in this, that this was fre&s;hly upon the impri&s;onment of <HI>Iohn Bap|ti&s;t,</HI> who&s;e Di&s;ciple <HI>Andrew</HI> had been; And it might ea&s;ily have deterred, and averted a man in his ca&s;e, to con&s;ider, that it was well for him that he was got out of <HI>Iohn Bap|ti&s;ts</HI> &s;choole, and company, before that &s;torme, the di&s;plea&s;ure of the &s;tate fell upon him; and that it behoved him to be wary to apply him&s;elfe to any &s;uch new Ma&s;ter, as might draw him into as much trouble; which Chri&s;ts &s;ervice was very like to doe. But the contemplation of future per&s;ecutions, that may fall, the example of per&s;ecutions pa&s;t, that have falne, the apprehen&s;ion of imminent per&s;ecutions, that are now falling, the &s;en&s;e of pre&s;ent per&s;ecutions, that are now upon us, retard not tho&s;e, upon whom the love of Chri&s;t Je&s;us works effectually; They followed for all that. And they followed, when there was no more per&s;wa&s;ion u&s;ed to them, no more words &s;aid to them, but <HI>Sequere me, Follow me.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore how ea&s;ie &s;oever <HI>Iulian</HI> the Apo&s;tate might make it, for Chri&s;t to work upon &s;o weake men, as the&s;e were, yet to worke upon any men by &s;o weake means, one|ly by one <HI>Sequere me, Follow me,</HI> and no more, cannot be thought ea&s;ie. The way of Rhetorique in working upon weake men, is fir&s;t to trouble the under&s;tanding, to di&s;|place, and di&s;compo&s;e, and di&s;order the judgement, to &s;mother and bury in it, or to empty it of former apprehen&s;ions and opinions, and to &s;hake that beliefe, with which it had po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed it &s;elf before, and then when it is thus melted, to powre it into new molds, when it is thus mollified, to &s;tamp and imprint new formes, new images, new opinions in it. But here in our ca&s;e, there was none of this fire, none of this practi&s;e, none of this
<PB N="724" REF="380">battery of eloquence, none of this verball violence, onely a bare <HI>Sequere me, Follow me,</HI> and <HI>they followed.</HI> No eloquence enclined them, no terrors declined them: No dangers withdrew them, no preferment drew them; they knew Chri&s;t, and his kindred, and his means;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> they loved him, him&s;elfe, and not any thing they expected from him. <HI>Min&ugrave;s te amat, qui aliquid tuum amat, quod non propter te amat,</HI> That man loves thee but a little, that begins his love at that which thou ha&s;t, and not at thy &s;elfe. It is a weake love that is divided between Chri&s;t and the world; e&s;pecially, if God come after the world, as many times he does, even in them, who thinke they love him well; that fir&s;t they love the riches of this world, and then they love God that gave them. But that is a fal&s;e Me|thod in this art of love; The true is, radically to love God for him&s;elfe, and other things for his &s;ake, &s;o far, as he may receive glory in our having, and u&s;ing them.</P>
<P>This <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew</HI> declared abundantly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Relictia reti|bus.</NOTE> they did as much as they were bid; they were bid <HI>follow, and they followed;</HI> but it &s;eemes they did more, they were not bid <HI>leave their nets,</HI> and yet <HI>they left their nets, and followed him:</HI> But, for this, they did not; no man can doe more in the &s;ervice of God, then is enjoyned him, commanded him. There is no &s;upererogation, no making of God beholden to us, no bringing of God in|to our debt. Every man is commanded <HI>to love God with all his heart, and all his power,</HI> and a heart above a whole heart, and a power above a whole power, is a &s;trange exten|&s;ion. That therefore which was declared explicitely, plainly, directly by Chri&s;t, to the young man in the Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.21.</NOTE> <HI>Vade, &amp; vende, &amp; &s;equere, Goe and &s;ell all, and follow me,</HI> was implicitely implied to the&s;e men in our text, Leave your nets, and follow me. And, though to doe &s;o, (to leave all) be not alwayes a precept, a commandment to all men, yet it was a precept, a commandment to both the&s;e, at that time; to the young man in the Go&s;pel, (for he was as expre&s;ly bid to &s;ell away all, as he was to follow Chri&s;t) and to the&s;e men in the text, becau&s;e they could not performe that that was directly commanded, except they performed that which was implied too; except they left their nets, they could not follow Chri&s;t. When God commands us to follow him, he gives us light, how, and in which way he will be followed; And then when we under&s;tand which is his way, that way is as much a commandment, as the very end it &s;elfe, and not to follow him that way, is as much a tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, as not to follow him at all. If that young man in the Go&s;pel, who was bid &s;ell all, and give to the poore, and then follow, had followed, but kept his intere&s;t in his land; If he had deve&s;ted him&s;elfe of the land, but let it fall, or conveyed it to the next heire, or other kin&s;men; If he had employed it to pious u&s;es, but not &s;o, as Chri&s;t commanded, to the poore, &s;till he had been in a tran&s;|gre&s;&s;ion: The way when it is declared, is as much a command, as the end.</P>
<P>But then, in this command, which was implicitely, and by nece&s;&s;ary con&s;equence laid upon <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew,</HI> to leave their nets, (becau&s;e without doing &s;o, they could not forthwith follow Chri&s;t) there is no example of for&s;aking a calling, upon pretence of following Chri&s;t; no example here, of deve&s;ting ones &s;elfe of all means of defending us from tho&s;e manifold nece&s;&s;ities, which this life lays upon us, upon pretence of fol|lowing Chri&s;t; It is not an ab&s;olute leaving of all worldly cares, but a leaving them out of the fir&s;t con&s;ideration; <HI>Prim&ugrave;m quaerite regnum Dei,</HI> &s;o, as our fir&s;t bu&s;ine&s;&s;e be to &s;eeke the kingdome of God.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.14.</NOTE> For, after this leaving of his nets, for this time, <HI>Peter</HI> con|tinued owner of his hou&s;e, and Chri&s;t came to that hou&s;e of his, and found his mother in law &s;icke in that hou&s;e, and recovered her there. Upon a like commandment, upon &s;uch a <HI>Sequere,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 9.10.</NOTE> <HI>Follow me, Matthew</HI> followed Chri&s;t too; but after that following, Chri&s;t went with <HI>Matthew</HI> to his hou&s;e, and &s;ate at meat with him at home. And for this very exerci&s;e of fi&s;hing, though at that time when Chri&s;t &s;aid, Follow me, they left their nets, yet they returned to that trade, &s;ometimes, upon occa&s;ions, in all likelihood, in Chri&s;ts life; and after Chri&s;ts death, clearly they did returne to it; for Chri&s;t, after his Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 21.1.</NOTE> found them fi&s;hing.</P>
<P>They did not therefore abandon and leave all care, and all government of their own e&s;tate, and di&s;po&s;e them&s;elves to live after upon the &s;weat of others; but tran&s;ported with a holy alacrity, in this pre&s;ent and chearfull following of Chri&s;t, in re&s;pect of that then, they neglected their nets, and all things el&s;e. <HI>Perfecta obedientia e&s;t &s;ua imperfocta relin|quere,</HI> Not to be too diligent towards the world,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> is the diligence that God requires. S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> does not &s;ay, <HI>&s;ua relinquere,</HI> but <HI>&s;ua imperfecta relinquere,</HI> That God re|quires we &s;hould leave the world, but that we &s;hould leave it to &s;econd con&s;iderations;
<PB N="725" REF="380">That thou do not forbeare, nor defer thy conver&s;ion to God, and thy re&s;titution to man, till thou have purcha&s;ed &s;uch a &s;tate, bought &s;uch an office, married, and provided &s;uch and &s;uch children, but <HI>imperfecta relinquere,</HI> to leave the&s;e worldly things unperfected, till thy repentance have re&s;tored thee to God, and e&s;tabli&s;hed thy reconciliation in him, and then the world lyes open to thy hone&s;t endeavours. Others take up all with their net, and <HI>they &s;acrifice to their nets, becau&s;e by them their portion is fat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 1.16.</NOTE> <HI>and their meat plente|ous.</HI> They are con&s;ident in their own learning, their own wi&s;edome, their own practi&s;e, and (which is a &s;trange Idolatry) they &s;acrifice to them&s;elves, they attribute all to their own indu&s;try. The&s;e men in our text were far from that; they left their nets.</P>
<P>But &s;till con&s;ider, that they did but leave their nets, they did not burne them. And con&s;ider too, that they left but nets; tho&s;e things, which might entangle them, and re|tard them in their following of Chri&s;t. And &s;uch nets, (&s;ome &s;uch things as might hin|der them in the &s;ervice of God) even the&s;e men, &s;o well di&s;po&s;ed to follow Chri&s;t, had about them. And therefore let no man &s;ay, <HI>Imitari vellem, &s;ed quod relinquam, non ha|beo,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> I would gladly doe as the Apo&s;tles did, leave all to follow Chri&s;t, but I have no|thing to leave; alas, all things have left me, and I have nothing to leave. Even that mur|muring at poverty is a net; leave that. Leave thy &s;uperfluous de&s;ire of having the riches of this world; though thou maye&s;t flatter thy &s;elfe, that thou de&s;ire&s;t to have onely that thou mighte&s;t leave it, that thou mighte&s;t employ it charitably, yet it might prove a net, and &s;tick too clo&s;e about thee to part with it. <HI>Multa relinquitis, &s;i de&s;ideriis renunciatis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> You leave your nets, if you leave your over-earne&s;t greedine&s;&s;e of catching; for, when you doe &s;o, you doe not onely fi&s;h with a net, (that is, lay hold upon all you can com|pa&s;&s;e) but, (which is &s;trange) you fi&s;h for a net, even that which you get proves a net to you, and hinders you in the following of Chri&s;t, and you are le&s;&s;e di&s;po&s;ed to follow him, when you have got your ends, then before. He that hath lea&s;t, hath enough to waigh him down from heaven, by an inordinate love of that little which he hath, or in an inordinate and murmuring de&s;ire of more. And he that hath mo&s;t, hath not too much to give for heaven; <HI>Tantum valet regnum Dei, quantum tu vales,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem.</NOTE> Heaven is alwayes &s;o much worth, as thou art worth. A poore man may have heaven for a penny, that hath no greater &s;tore; and, God lookes, that he to whom he hath given thou&s;ands, &s;hould lay out thou&s;ands upon the purcha&s;e of heaven. The market changes, as the plenty of money changes; Heaven co&s;ts a rich man more then a poore, becau&s;e he hath more to give. But in this, rich and poore are both equall, that both mu&s;t leave them&s;elves with|out nets, that is, without tho&s;e things, which, in their own Con&s;ciences they know, re|tard the following of Chri&s;t. What&s;oever hinders my pre&s;ent following, that I cannot follow to day, what&s;oever may hinder my con&s;tant following, that I cannot follow to morrow, and all my life, is a net, and I am bound to leave that.</P>
<P>And the&s;e are the pieces that con&s;titute our fir&s;t part, the circum&s;tances that inve&s;t the&s;e per&s;ons, <HI>Peter,</HI> and <HI>Andrew,</HI> in their former condition, before, and when Chri&s;t called them.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="72" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="726" REF="381">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXII.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MAT. 4.18, 19, 20.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And Ie&s;us walking by the Sea of Galile &s;aw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, ca&s;ting a net into the Sea, (for they were fi&s;hers.) And he &s;aith unto them, Fol|low me, and I will make you fi&s;hers of men; And they &s;traightway left their nets, and fol|lowed him.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WE are now in our Order propo&s;ed at fir&s;t, come to our &s;econd part, from the con&s;ideration of the&s;e per&s;ons, <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew,</HI> in their former &s;tate and condition, before, and at their calling, to their future e&s;tate in promi&s;e, but an infallible promi&s;e, Chri&s;ts promi&s;e, if they followed him, <HI>(Follow me, and I will make you fi&s;hers of men.)</HI> In which part we &s;hall be&s;t come to our end, (which is your edification) by the&s;e &s;teps. Fir&s;t, that there is an Humility enjoyned them, in the <HI>Sequere, follow,</HI> come after. That though they bee brought to a high Cal|ling, that doe not make them proud, nor tyrannous over mens con&s;ciences; And then, even this Humility is limited, <HI>Sequere me, follow me;</HI> for there may be a pride even in Humility, and a man may follow a dangerous guide; Our guide here is Chri&s;t, <HI>Sequere me, follow me.</HI> And then we &s;hall &s;ee the promi&s;e it &s;elfe, the employment, the function, the preferment; In which there is no new &s;tate promi&s;ed them, no Innovation, (They were <HI>fi&s;hers,</HI> and they &s;hall be <HI>fi&s;hers</HI> &s;till) but there is an emprovement, a bettering, a re|formation, (They were <HI>fi&s;her-men</HI> before, and now they &s;hall bee <HI>fi&s;hers of men;</HI>) To which purpo&s;e, wee &s;hall finde the world to be the Sea, and the Go&s;pel their Net. And la&s;tly, all this is pre&s;ented to them, not as it was expre&s;&s;ed in the former part, with a <HI>For,</HI> (it is not, Follow me, for I will prefer you) he will not have that the rea&s;on of their fol|lowing; But yet it is, Follow me, and I will prefer you; It is a &s;ub&s;equent addition of his owne goodne&s;&s;e, but &s;o infallible a one, as we may rely upon; Who&s;oever doth follow Chri&s;t, &s;peeds well. And into the&s;e con&s;iderations will fall all that belongs to this la&s;t part, <HI>Follow me, and I will make you fi&s;hers of men.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sequere. Humilitas.</NOTE> here is an impre&s;&s;ion of Humility, in following, in comming after, <HI>Sequere, follow,</HI> pre&s;&s;e not to come before; And it had need be fir&s;t, if we con&s;ider how early, how primarie a &s;inne Pride is, and how &s;oone it po&s;&s;e&s;&s;es us. Scarce any man, but if he looke back &s;eriou&s;ly into him&s;elfe, and into his former life, and revolve his owne hi&s;tory, but that the fir&s;t act which he can remember in him&s;elfe, or can be remembred of by others, will bee &s;ome act of Pride. Before Ambition, or Covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, or Licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e is awake in us, Pride is working; Though but a childi&s;h pride, yet pride; and this Parents rejoyce at in their children, and call it &s;pirit, and &s;o it is, but not the be&s;t. Wee enlarge not therefore the con&s;ideration of this word <HI>&s;equere, follow,</HI> come after, &s;o farre, as to put our meditation upon the whole body, and the &s;everall members of this &s;inne of pride; Nor upon the extent and diffu&s;ivene&s;&s;e of this &s;inne, as it &s;preads it &s;elfe over every other &s;inne; (for every &s;inne is complicated with pride, &s;o as every &s;inne is a rebellious oppo|&s;ing of the law and will of God) Nor to con&s;ider the waighty hainou&s;nes of pride, how it aggravates every other &s;in, how it makes a musket a Canon bullet, and a peble a Mil|&s;tone; but after we have &s;topped a little upon that u&s;efull con&s;ideration, That there is not &s;o direct, and Diametrall a contrariety between the nature of any &s;inne and God, as be|tween him and pride, wee &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to that which is our principall ob&s;ervation in this branch, How early and primary a &s;in pride is, occa&s;ioned by this, that the commande|ment of Humility is fir&s;t given, fir&s;t enjoyned in our fir&s;t word, <HI>Sequere, follow.</HI></P>
<P>But fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nihil tam centrarium Deo.</NOTE> wee exalt that con&s;ideration, That nothing is &s;o contrary to God, as Pride, with this ob&s;ervation, That God in the Scriptures is often by the Holy Gho&s;t inve&s;ted, and repre&s;ented in the qualities and affections of man; and to con&s;titute a commerce and familiarity between God and man, God is not onely &s;aid to have bodily lineaments, eyes
<PB N="727" REF="381">and eares, and hands, and feet, and to have &s;ome of the naturall affections of man, as Joy, in particular,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 30.9.</NOTE> <HI>(The Lord will rejoyce over thee for good, as he rejoyced over thy Fathers)</HI> And &s;o, pity too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 39.21.</NOTE> <HI>(The Lord was with Io&s;eph, and extended kindne&s;&s;e unto him)</HI> But &s;ome of tho&s;e inordinate and irregular pa&s;&s;ions and perturbations, exce&s;&s;es and defects of man, are im|puted to God, by the Holy Gho&s;t in the Scriptures. For &s;o, lazine&s;&s;e, drow&s;ine&s;&s;e is im|puted to God; <HI>(Awake Lord, why &s;leepe&s;t thou?)</HI> So corruptiblene&s;&s;e, and deterioration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 44.23. P&s;al. 18.26.</NOTE> and growing wor&s;e by ill company, is imputed to God; (<HI>Cum perver&s;o perverteris,</HI> God is &s;aid to grow froward with the froward, and that hee learnes to go crookedly with them that go crookedly) And prodigality and wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e is imputed to God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 44.12.</NOTE> <HI>(Thou &s;elle&s;t thy people for naught, and doe&s;t not increa&s;e thy wealth by their price)</HI> So &s;udden and ha&s;ty choler; <HI>(Ki&s;&s;e the Son le&s;t he be angry, and ye peri&s;h Inira brevi,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.12.</NOTE> <HI>though his wrath be kindled but a little)</HI> And then, illimited and boundle&s;&s;e anger, a vindicative irreconcili|ablene&s;&s;e is imputed to God; <HI>(I was but a little di&s;plea&s;ed,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zech. 1.15.</NOTE> (but it is otherwi&s;e now) <HI>I am very &s;ore di&s;plea&s;ed)</HI> So there is <HI>Ira devorans;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 15.4. Iob 10.17. Ier. 21.5. P&s;al. 80.4.</NOTE> <HI>(Wrath that con&s;umes like &s;tubble)</HI> So there is <HI>Ira multiplicata, (Plagues renewed, and indignation increa&s;ed)</HI> So God him&s;elfe expre&s;&s;es it, <HI>(I will fight again&s;t you in anger and in fury)</HI> And &s;o for his inexorablene&s;&s;e, his irrecon|ciliablene&s;&s;e, <HI>(O Lord God of Ho&s;ts, Quou&s;que, how long wilt thou be angry again&s;t the prayer of thy people?)</HI> Gods owne people, Gods own people praying to their owne God, and yet their God irreconciliable to them. Scorne and contempt is imputed to God; which is one of the mo&s;t enormious, and di&s;proportioned weakene&s;&s;es in man; that a worme that crawles in the du&s;t, that a graine of du&s;t, that is hurried with every bla&s;t of winde, &s;hould find any thing &s;o much inferiour to it &s;elfe as to &s;corne it, to deride it, to contemne it; yet &s;corne, and deri&s;ion, and contempt is imputed to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 2.4. Prov. 1.26.</NOTE> <HI>(He that &s;itteth in the Heavens &s;hall laugh, the Lord &s;hall have them in deri&s;ion)</HI> and againe, <HI>(I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock you when your feare commeth.)</HI> Nay beloved, even inebriation, exce&s;&s;e in that kinde, Drunkenne&s;&s;e, is a Metaphor which the Holy Gho&s;t hath mingled in the expre&s;|&s;ing of Gods proceedings with man; for God does not onely threaten to make his ene|mies drunke, (and to make others drunke is a circum&s;tance of drunkenne&s;&s;e)(&s;o Jeru&s;alem being in his di&s;plea&s;ure complaines, <HI>Inebriavit ab&s;ynthio,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lam. 3.15. E&s;ay 49.26.</NOTE> <HI>(He hath made me drunke with wormewood)</HI> and againe, <HI>(They &s;hall be drunke with their owne blood, as with new Wine)</HI> Nor onely to expre&s;&s;e his plentifull mercies to his friends and &s;ervants, does God take that Metaphore, <HI>(Inebriabo animam Sacerdotis, I will make the &s;oule of the Prie&s;t drunke;</HI> fill it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ien. 31.14. Ver. 25.</NOTE> &s;atiate it) and againe, <HI>(I will make the weary &s;oule, and the &s;orrowfull &s;oule drunke)</HI> But not onely all this, (though in all this God have a hand) not onely towards others, but God in his owne behalfe complaines of the &s;cant and penurious Sacrificer, <HI>Non inebria&s;ti me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 43.24.</NOTE> <HI>Thou ha&s;t not made me drunke with thy Sacrifices.</HI> And yet, though for the better applying of God to the under&s;tanding of man, the Holy Gho&s;t impute to God the&s;e exce&s;&s;es, and defects of man (lazine&s;&s;e and drow&s;ine&s;s, deterioration, corruptiblene&s;&s;e by ill conver&s;ati|on, prodigality and wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e, &s;udden choler, long irreconciablene&s;&s;e, &s;corne, inebria|tion, and many others) in the Scriptures, yet in no place of the Scripture is God, for any re&s;pect &s;aid to be proud; God in the Scriptures is never made &s;o like man, as to be made capable of Pride; for this had not beene to have God like man, but like the devill.</P>
<P>God is &s;aid in the Scriptures to apparell him&s;elf gloriou&s;ly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104.2. P&s;al. 45.13.</NOTE> <HI>(God covers him with light as with a garment)</HI> And &s;o of his Spou&s;e the Church it is &s;aid, <HI>(Her cloathing is of wrought gold, and her raiment of needle worke)</HI> and, as though nothing in this world were good e|nough for her wearing, &s;he is &s;aid <HI>to be cloathed with the Sun.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 12.1.</NOTE> But glorious apparell is not pride in them, who&s;e conditions require it, and who&s;e revenews will beare it. God is &s;aid in the Scriptures to appeare with greatne&s;&s;e and maje&s;ty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 7.10.</NOTE> <HI>(A &s;treame of fire came forth before him; thou&s;and thou&s;ands mini&s;tred unto him, and ten thou&s;and times ten thou&s;and &s;tood before him.)</HI> And &s;o Chri&s;t &s;hall come at Judgement, with his Ho&s;ts of Angels, in maje&s;ty, and in glory. But the&s;e outward appearances and acts of greatne&s;&s;e are not pride in tho&s;e per&s;ons, to whom there is a reverence due, which reverence is pre&s;erved by this outward &s;plendor, and not otherwi&s;e. God is &s;aid in the Scriptures to triumph over his enemies, and to be jealous of his glory; <HI>(The Lord, who&s;e name is Iealous,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 34.14.</NOTE> <HI>is a jealous God)</HI> But, for Princes to be jealous of their glory, &s;tudious of their honour, for any pri|vate man to be jealous of his good name, carefull to pre&s;erve an hone&s;t reputation, is not pride. For, Pride is <HI>Appetitus cel&s;itudinis perver&s;us,</HI> It is an inordinate de&s;ire of being bet|ter then we are.</P>
<PB N="728" REF="382">
<P>Now there is a lawfull, nay a nece&s;&s;ary de&s;ire of being better and better; And that, not onely in &s;pirituall things, (for &s;o every man is bound to be better and better, better to day then ye&s;terday, and to morrow then to day, and he that growes not in Religion, withers, There is no &s;tanding at a &s;tay, He that goes not forward in godline&s;&s;e, goes backward, and he that is not better, is wor&s;e) but even in temporall things too there is a liberty given us, nay there is a law, an obligation laid upon us, to endeavour by indu|&s;try in a lawfull calling, to mend and improve, to enlarge our &s;elves, and &s;pread, even in worldly things. The fir&s;t Commandement that God gave man, was not prohibitive; God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 1.28.</NOTE> in that, forbad man nothing, but enlarged him with that <HI>Cre&s;cite, &amp; multiplicamini, Increa&s;e and multiply,</HI> which is not onely in the multiplication of children; but in the en|largement of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions too; for &s;o it followes in the &s;ame place, not onely <HI>Replete,</HI> but <HI>Dominamini,</HI> not onely repleni&s;h the world, but &s;ubdue it, and take dominion over it, that is, make it your owne. For, <HI>Terram dedit filiis hominum,</HI> As God hath given &s;ons to men, &s;o God gives the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of this world to the &s;ons of men. For &s;o when God delivers that commandement, the &s;econd time, to <HI>Noah,</HI> for the reparation of the world, <HI>Cre&s;cite &amp; multiplicamini,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 9.1.</NOTE> <HI>Increa&s;e and multiply,</HI> he accompanies it with that rea&s;on, <HI>The feare of you, and the dread of you &s;hall be upon all, and all are delivered into your hands;</HI> which rea&s;on can have no relation to the multiplying of Children, but to the enlarging of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions. God planted trees in Paradi&s;e in a good &s;tate at fir&s;t; at fir&s;t with ripe fruits upon them; but Gods purpo&s;e was, that even tho&s;e trees, though well then, &s;hould grow greater. God gives many men good e&s;tates from their parents at fir&s;t; yet Gods purpo&s;e is that they &s;hould increa&s;e tho&s;e e&s;tates. He that leaves no more, then his father left him, (if the fault be in him&s;elfe) &s;hall hardly make a good account of his &s;teward&s;hip to God; for, he hath but kept his talent in a handkercheif.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 18.25. Prov. 18.9.</NOTE> And <HI>the &s;lothfull man is even brother to the wa&s;ter.</HI> The holy Gho&s;t in <HI>Solomon,</HI> &s;carce prefers him that does not get more, before him that wa&s;ts all.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 48.10.</NOTE> He makes them brethren; almo&s;t all one. <HI>Cur&s;ed be he that does the worke of God negligently;</HI> that does any Commandement of God by halves; And this negligent and lazy man, this in-indu&s;trious and illaborious man that takes no paines, he does one part of Gods Commandement, He does multiply, but he does not the other, he does not increa&s;e; He leaves Children enow, but he leaves them nothing; not in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions and maintenance, nor in vocation and calling.</P>
<P>And truly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6.10. 1 Tim. 9.</NOTE> how&s;oever <HI>the love of money be the roote of all evill,</HI> (He cannot mi&s;take that told us &s;o) How&s;oever <HI>they that will be rich</HI> (that re&s;olve to be rich by any meanes) <HI>&s;hall fall into many tentations,</HI> How&s;oever a ha&s;ty de&s;ire of being &s;uddenly and prematurely rich, be a dangerous and an obnoxious thing, a pe&s;tilent and contagious di&s;ea&s;e, (for what a perver&s;e and inordinate anticipation and prevention of God and nature is it, to looke for our harve&s;t in May, or to looke for all grainst at once? and &s;uch a perver&s;ne&s;&s;e is the ha&s;ty de&s;ire of being &s;uddenly and prematurely rich, yet, to go on indu&s;triou&s;ly in an hone&s;t calling, and giving God his lea&s;ure, and giving God his portion all the way, in Tithes, and in Almes, and then, &s;till to lay up &s;omething for po&s;terity, is that, which God does not onely permit and accept from us, but command to us, and reward in us. And certain|ly, that man &s;hall not &s;tand &s;o right in Gods eye at the la&s;t day, that leaves his Children to the Pari&s;h, as he that leaves the Pari&s;h to his Children, if he have made his purcha&s;es out of hone&s;t gaine, in a lawfull Calling, and not out of oppre&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>In all which, I would be rightly under&s;tood; that is, that I &s;peake of &s;uch poverty as is contracted by our owne lazine&s;&s;e, or wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e. For otherwi&s;e, poverty that comes from the hand of God, is as rich a ble&s;&s;ing as comes from his hand. He that is poore with a good con&s;cience, that hath laboured and yet not pro&s;pered, knows to whom to go,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 4.7.</NOTE> and what to &s;ay, <HI>Lord, thou ha&s;t put gladne&s;&s;e into my heart, more then in the time when corne and wine increa&s;ed;</HI> (more now, then when I had more) <HI>I will lay me downe and &s;leepe, for thou Lord onely make&s;t me to dwell in &s;afety.</HI> Does every rich man dwell in &s;afety? Can every rich man lye downe in peace and &s;leepe? no, nor every poore man neither; but he that is poore with a good con&s;cience, can. And, though he that is rich with a good con&s;cience may, in a good mea&s;ure, do &s;o too, (&s;leepe in peace) yet not &s;o out of the &s;pheare and latitude of envy, and free from the machinations, and &s;upplantations, and underminings of malicious men, that feed upon the confi&s;cations, and build upon the ruines of others, as the poore man is.</P>
<P>Though then S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> call riches <HI>Ab&s;urditatis parentes,</HI> the parents of ab&s;urdities,
<PB N="729" REF="382">That they make us doe, not onely ungodly, but inhumane things, not onely irreligious, but unrea&s;onable things, uncomely and ab&s;urd things, things which we our &s;elves did not &s;u&s;pect that we could be drawne to, yet there is a growing rich, which is not cove|tou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and there is a de&s;ire of honor and preferment, which is not Pride. For, Pride is, (as we &s;aid before) <HI>Appetitus perver&s;us,</HI> A perver&s;e and inordinate de&s;ire, but there is a defire of honor and preferment, regulated by rectified Rea&s;on; and rectified Rea&s;on is Religion. And therefore, (as we &s;aid) how ever other affections of man, may, and are, by the Holy Gho&s;t, in Scriptures, in &s;ome re&s;pects a&s;cribed to God, yet never Pride. Nay, the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe &s;eemes to be &s;traitned, and in a difficulty, when he comes to expre&s;&s;e Gods proceedings with a proud man, and his dete&s;tation of him, and aver&s;ion from him. There is a con&s;iderable, a remarkable, indeed a &s;ingular manner of expre&s;&s;ing it, (perchance you finde not the like in all the Bible) where God &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 101.5.</NOTE> <HI>Hini that hath a high looke, and a proud heart, I will not,</HI> (in our la&s;t) <HI>I cannot,</HI> (in our former tran&s;lation) Not what? Not as it is in tho&s;e tran&s;lations, <HI>I cannot &s;uffer him, I will not &s;uffer him;</HI> for that word of <HI>Suffering,</HI> is but a voluntary word, &s;upplied by the Tran&s;lators; In the O|riginall, it is as it were an abrupt breaking off on Gods part, from the proud man, and, (if we may &s;o &s;peake) a kinde of froward departing from him. God does not &s;ay of the proud man, I cannot worke upon him, I cannot mend him, I cannot pardon him, I can|not &s;uffer him, I cannot &s;tay with him, but meerly <HI>I cannot,</HI> and no more, I cannot tell what to &s;ay of him, what to doe for him; <HI>(Him that hath a proud heart, I cannot)</HI> Pride is &s;o contrary to God, as that the proud man, and he can meet in nothing. And this con|&s;ideration hath kept us thus long, from that which we made our fir&s;t and principall col|lection, That this commandment of Humility, was imprinted in our very fir&s;t word, <HI>Se|quere, follow,</HI> be content to come after, to denote how early and primary a &s;in Pride is, and how &s;oone it entred into the world, and how &s;oone into us; and that con&s;ideration we &s;hall pur&s;ue now.</P>
<P>We know that light is Gods elde&s;t childe, his fir&s;t borne of all Creatures;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superbia in Angelis.</NOTE> and it is ordinarily received, that the Angels are twins with the light, made then when light was made. And then the fir&s;t act, that the&s;e Angels that fell, did, was an act of Pride. They not thanke nor prai&s;e God; for their Creation; (which &s;hould have been their fir&s;t act) They did not &s;olicite, nor pray to God for their Su&s;tentation, their Melioration, their Confirmation; (&s;o they &s;hould have proceede) But the fir&s;t act that tho&s;e fir&s;t Crea|tures did, was an act of pride, a proud reflecting upon them&s;elves, a proud overvaluing of their own condition, and an acquie&s;cence in that, in an imaginary po&s;&s;ibility of &s;tand|ing by them&s;elves, without any farther relation, or beholdingne&s;&s;e to God. So early, &s;o primary a &s;in is Pride, as that it was the fir&s;t act of the fir&s;t of Creatures.</P>
<P>So early, &s;o primary a &s;in, as that whereas all Pride now is but a comparative pride,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superbia po|&s;itiva.</NOTE> this fir&s;t pride in the Angels was a po&s;itive, a radicall pride. The Phari&s;ee is but proud, <HI>that he is not as other men are;</HI> that is but a comparative pride.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 18.11.</NOTE> No King thinks him&s;elfe great enough, yet he is proud that he is independant, &s;overaigne, &s;ubject to none. No &s;ubject thinks him&s;elfe rich enough, yet he is proud that he is able to oppre&s;&s;e others that are poorer, <HI>Et gloriatur in malo, quia potens e&s;t,</HI> He boa&s;teth him&s;elfe in mi&s;chiefe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 52.1.</NOTE> be|cau&s;e he is a mighty man. But all the&s;e are but comparative prides; and there mu&s;t be &s;ome &s;ubjects to compare with, before a King can be proud, and &s;ome inferiors, before the Magi&s;trate, and &s;ome poore, before the rich man can be proud. But this pride in tho&s;e Angels in heaven, was a po&s;itive pride; There were no other Creatures yet made, with whom the&s;e Angels could compare them&s;elves, and before whom the&s;e Angels could prefer them&s;elves, and yet before there was any other creature but them&s;elves, any other creature, to undervalue, or in&s;ult over, the&s;e Angels were proud of them&s;elves. So early, &s;o primary a &s;in is Pride.</P>
<P>So early, &s;o primary, as that in that ground, which was for goodne&s;&s;e next to heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superbia in Paradi&s;o.</NOTE> that is, Paradi&s;e, Pride grew very early too. <HI>Adams</HI> fir&s;t act was not an act of Pride, but an act of lawfull power and juri&s;diction, in naming the Creatures; <HI>Adam</HI> was above them all, and he might have called them what he would; There had lyen no action, no appeale, if <HI>Adam</HI> had called a Lyon a Dog, or an Eagle an Owle. And yet we di&s;pute with God, why he &s;hould not make all us ve&s;&s;els of honor, and we complaine of God, that he hath not given us all, all the abundances of this world. Comparatively <HI>Adam</HI> was better then all the world be&s;ide, and yet we finde no act of pride in <HI>Adam,</HI> when he
<PB N="730" REF="383">was alone. Solitude is not the &s;cene of Pride; The danger of pride is in company, when we meet to looke upon another. But in <HI>Adams</HI> wife, <HI>Eve,</HI> her fir&s;t act (that is noted) was an act of Pride,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.5.</NOTE> a hearkning to that voyce of the Serpent, <HI>Ye &s;hall be as Gods.</HI> As &s;oone as there were two, there was pride. How many may we have knowne, (if we have had any conver&s;ation in the world) that have been content all the weeke, at home alone, with their worky day faces, as well as with their worky day clothes, and yet on Sun|dayes, when they come to Church, and appeare in company, will mend both, their faces as well as their clothes. Not &s;olitude, but company is the &s;cene of pride; And there|fore I know not what to call that practi&s;e of the Nunnes in Spaine, who though they ne|ver &s;ee man, yet will paint. So early, &s;o primary a &s;in is Pride, as that it grew in&s;tantly from her,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.18.</NOTE> whom God intended for a <HI>Helper,</HI> becau&s;e he &s;aw <HI>that it was not good for man to be alone.</HI> God &s;ees that it is not good for man to be without health, without wealth, without power, and juri&s;diction, and magi&s;tracy, and we grow proud of our helpers, proud of our health and &s;trength, proud of our wealth and riches, proud of our office and authority over others.</P>
<P>So early, &s;o primary a &s;in is pride, as that, out of every mercy, and ble&s;&s;ing, which God affords us, (and, <HI>His mercies are new every morning</HI>) we gather Pride; wee are not the more thankfull for them, and yet we are the prouder of them. Nay, we gather Pride, not onely out of tho&s;e things, which mend and improve us, (Gods ble&s;&s;ings and mer|cies) but out of tho&s;e actions of our own, that de&s;troy and ruine us, we gather pride; &s;ins overthrow us, demoli&s;h us, de&s;troy and ruine us, and yet we are proud of our &s;innes. How many men have we heard boa&s;t of their &s;innes; and, (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> confe&s;&s;es of him&s;elfe) belie them&s;elves, and boa&s;t of more &s;innes then ever they committed? Out of every thing, out of nothing &s;in grows. Therefore was this commandment in our text, <HI>Sequere, Follow,</HI> come after, well placed fir&s;t, for we are come to &s;ee even children &s;trive for place and precedency, and mothers are ready to goe to the Heralds to know how Cradles &s;hall be ranked, which Cradle &s;hall have the highe&s;t place; Nay, even in the wombe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 25.26.</NOTE> there was contention for precedency; <HI>Iacob</HI> tooke hold of his brother <HI>E&s;aus</HI> heele, and would have been borne before him.</P>
<P>And as our pride begins in our Cradle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Superbia in monumentis.</NOTE> it continues in our graves and Monuments. It was a good while in the primitive Church, before any were buried in the Church; The be&s;t contented them&s;elves with the Churchyards. After, a holy ambition, (may we call it &s;o) a holy Pride brought them <HI>ad Limina,</HI> to the Church-thre&s;hold, to the Church-doore, becau&s;e &s;ome great Martyrs were buried in the Porches, and devout men de&s;ired to lie neare them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 13.31.</NOTE> as one Prophet did to lie neare another, <HI>(Lay my bones be&s;ides his bones.)</HI> But now, per&s;ons whom the Devill kept from Church all their lives, Separati&s;ts, Libertines, that never came to any Church, And per&s;ons, whom the Devill brought to Church all their lives, (for, &s;uch as come meerly out of the obligation of the Law, and to redeem that vexation, or out of cu&s;tome, or company, or curio&s;ity, or a perver&s;e and &s;ini&s;ter affection to the particular Preacher, though they come to Gods hou&s;e, come up|on the Devils invitation) Such as one Devill, that is, worldly re&s;pect, brought to Church in their lives, another Devill, that is, Pride and vain-glory, brings to Church after their deaths, in an affectation of high places, and &s;umptuous Monuments in the Church. And &s;uch as have given nothing at all to any pious u&s;es, or have determined their almes and their dole which they have given, in that one day of their funerall, and no farther, have given large annuities, perpetuities, for new painting their tombes, and for new flags, and &s;cutcheons, every certaine number of yeares.</P>
<P>O the earline&s;&s;e! O the latene&s;&s;e! how early a Spring, and no Autumne! how fa&s;t a growth, and no declination, of this branch of this &s;in Pride, again&s;t which, this fir&s;t word of ours, <HI>Sequere, Follow,</HI> come after, is oppo&s;ed! this love of place, and precedency, it rocks us in our Cradles, it lies down with us in our graves. There are di&s;ea&s;es proper to certaine things, Rots to &s;heepe, Murrain to cattell. There are di&s;ea&s;es proper to certaine places, as the Sweat was to us. There are di&s;ea&s;es proper to certaine times, as the plague is in divers parts of the Ea&s;tern Countryes, where they know a&s;&s;uredly, when it will be|gin and end. But for this infectious di&s;ea&s;e of precedency, and love of place, it is run over all places, as well Cloy&s;ters as Courts, And over all men, as well &s;pirituall as tem|porall, And over all times, as well the Apo&s;tles as ours. The Apo&s;tles di&s;puted often, <HI>who &s;hould be greate&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">. 19.28.</NOTE> and it was not enough to them, that Chri&s;t a&s;&s;ured them, <HI>that they
<PB N="731" REF="383">&s;hould &s;it upon the twelve thrones, and judge the twelve Tribes;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 19.28.</NOTE> it was not enough for the &s;onnes of <HI>Zebedee,</HI> to be put into that Commi&s;&s;ion, but their friends mu&s;t &s;olicite the of|fice, to place them high in that Commi&s;&s;ion; their Mother mu&s;t move, that one may &s;it at Chri&s;ts right hand, and the other at his left, in the execution of that Commi&s;&s;ion. Be|cau&s;e this &s;in of pride is &s;o early and primary a &s;in, is this Commandment of Humility fir&s;t enjoyned, and becau&s;e this &s;in appeares mo&s;t generally in this love of place, and prece|dency, the Commandment is expre&s;&s;ed in that word, <HI>Sequere, Follow,</HI> Come after. But then, even this Humility is limited, for it is <HI>Sequere me,</HI> follow me, which was propo&s;ed for our &s;econd Con&s;ideration, <HI>Sequere me.</HI></P>
<P>There may be a pride in Humility,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sequere me.</NOTE> and an over-weaning of our &s;elves, in attributing too much to our owne judgement, in following &s;ome leaders; for &s;o, we may be &s;o hum|ble as to goe after &s;ome man, and yet &s;o proud, as to goe before the Church, becau&s;e that man may be a Schi&s;matike. Therefore Chri&s;t propo&s;es a &s;afe guide, him&s;elf, <HI>Sequere me, follow me.</HI> It is a dangerous thing, when Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Vade po&s;t me, Get thee behind me;</HI> for that is accompanied with a &s;hrewd name of increpation, Satan, <HI>Get thee behind me Satan;</HI> Chri&s;t &s;peaks it but twice in the Go&s;pell; once to <HI>Peter,</HI> who becau&s;e he then did the part of an Adver&s;ary, Chri&s;t calls Satan, and once to Satan him&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 16 23. Matt. 4.10.</NOTE> becau&s;e he pur&s;ued his tentations upon him; for there is a going behind Chri&s;t, which is a ca&s;ting out of his pre&s;ence, without any future following, and that is a fearefull &s;tation, a fearefull retrogradation; But when Chri&s;ts &s;ayes, not <HI>Vade retro, Get thee behind me,</HI> &s;ee my face no more, but <HI>Sequere me, follow me,</HI> he meanes to look back upon us;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 22.63.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter wept bitterly,</HI> and all was well; when hee bids us follow him, he directs us in a good way, and by a good guide.</P>
<P>The Carthu&s;ian Friers thought they de&s;cended into as low pa&s;tures as they could goe, when they renounced all fle&s;h, and bound them&s;elves to feed on fi&s;h onely; and yet an|other Order followes them in their &s;uper&s;titious &s;ingularity, and goes beyond them, <HI>Fo|liantes,</HI> the Fueillans, they eat neither fle&s;h, nor fi&s;h, nothing but leafes, and rootes; and as the Carthu&s;ians in a proud humility, de&s;pi&s;e all other Orders that eat fle&s;h, &s;o doe the Fueillans the Carthu&s;ians that eat fi&s;h. There is a pride in &s;uch humility. That Order of Friers that called them&s;elves <HI>Ignorantes,</HI> Ignorant men, that pretended to know no|thing, &s;unk as low as they thought it po&s;&s;ible, into an humble name and appellation; And yet the Minorits, (Minorits that are le&s;&s;e then any) think they are gone lower, and then the Minimes, (Minimes that are le&s;&s;e then all) lower then they. And when one would have thought, that there had not been a lower &s;tep then that, another Sect went beyond all, beyond the Ignorants, and the Minorits, and the Minimes, and all, and called them|&s;elves, <HI>Nullanos,</HI> Nothings. But yet, even the&s;e Diminutives, the Minorits, and Mini|mes, and Nullans, as little, as le&s;&s;e, as lea&s;t, as very nothing as they profe&s;&s;e them&s;elves, lie under this di&s;ea&s;e, which is oppo&s;ed in the <HI>Sequere me,</HI> follow, come after, in our Text; For no &s;ort nor condition of men in the world are more contentious, more quarrel&s;ome, more vehement for place, and precedency, then the&s;e Orders of Friers are, there, where it may appeare, that is, in their publique Proce&s;&s;ions, as we finde by tho&s;e often troubles, which the Superiours of the &s;everall Orders, and Bi&s;hops in their &s;everall Dioces, and &s;ome of tho&s;e Councels, which they call Generall, have been put to, for the ranking, and mar&s;halling of the&s;e contentious, and wrangling men. Which makes me remember the words, in which the eighteenth of Queene <HI>Elizabeths</HI> Injunctions is conceived, That to take away fond Curte&s;ie, (that is, needle&s;&s;e Complement) and to take away challeng|ing of places, (which it &s;eemes were frequent and trouble&s;ome then) To take away fond curte&s;ie, and challenging of places, Proce&s;&s;ions them&s;elves were taken away, becau&s;e in tho&s;e Proce&s;&s;ions, the&s;e Orders of Friers, that pretended to follow, and come after all the world, did thus pa&s;&s;ionately, and with &s;o much &s;candalous animo&s;ity pur&s;ue the love of place, and precedency. Therefore is our humility here limited, <HI>Sequere me, follow me,</HI> follow Chri&s;t. How is that done?</P>
<P>Con&s;ider it in Doctrinall things fir&s;t, and then in Morall;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sequendus in Doctrina.</NOTE> Fir&s;t how we are to follow Chri&s;t in beleeving, and then how in doing, in practi&s;ing. Fir&s;t in Doctrinall things, There mu&s;t have gone &s;ome body before, el&s;e it is no following; Take heed therefore of going on with thine owne inventions, thine owne imaginations, for this is no following; Take heed of accompanying the beginners of Here&s;ies and Schi&s;mes; for the&s;e are no followings where none have gone before: Nay, there have not gone enow before, to
<PB N="732" REF="384">make it a path to follow in, except it have had a long continuance, and beene much trod|den in. And therfore to follow Chri&s;t doctrinally, is to embrace tho&s;e Doctrins, in which his Church hath walked from the beginning, and not to vexe thy &s;elfe with new points, not nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation. That is the right way, and then thou art well entred; but that is not all; thou mu&s;t walke in the right way to the end, that is, to the end of thy life. So that to profe&s;&s;e the whole Go&s;pel, and nothing but Go&s;pel for Go&s;pel, and profe&s;&s;e this to thy death, for no re&s;pect, no dependance upon any great per&s;on, to &s;lac|ken in any fundamentall point of thy Religion, nor to bee &s;haken with hopes or feares in thine age, when thou would&s;t faine live at ea&s;e, and therefore thinke&s;t it nece&s;&s;ary to do, as thy &s;upporters doe; To per&s;evere to the end in the whole Go&s;pel, this is to follow Chri&s;t in Doctrinall things.</P>
<P>In practicall things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sequendus in vitae. <HI>Iam. 5.11.</HI></NOTE> things that belong to action, wee mu&s;t al&s;o follow Chri&s;t, in the right way, and to the end. They are both (way and end) laid together, <HI>Sufferenti|am Iob audii&s;tis, &amp; finem Domini vidi&s;tis; You have heard of the patience of Iob, and you bave &s;een the end of the Lord;</HI> and you mu&s;t goe <HI>Iobs</HI> way to Chri&s;ts end. <HI>Iob</HI> hath beaten a path for us, to &s;hew us all the way; A path that affliction walked in, and &s;eemed to de|light in it, in bringing the Sabaean upon his Oxen, the Chaldean upon his Camels, the fire upon his Sheep, de&s;truction upon his Servants, and at la&s;t, ruine upon his Children. One affliction makes not a path; iterated, continued calamities doe; and &s;uch a path <HI>Iob</HI> hath &s;hewed us, not onely patience, but cheerfulne&s;&s;e; more, thankfulne&s;&s;e for our af|flictions, becau&s;e they were multiplied. And then, wee mu&s;t &s;et before our eyes, as the way of <HI>Iob,</HI> &s;o the end of the Lord; Now the end of the Lord was the cro&s;&s;e: So that to follow him to the end, is not onely to beare afflictions, though to death, but it is to bring our cro&s;&s;es to the Cro&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t. How is that progre&s;&s;e made? (for it is a royall progre&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 16.24.</NOTE> not a pilgrimage to follow Chri&s;t to his Cro&s;&s;e) Our Saviour &s;aith, <HI>Hee that will follow me, let him take up his cro&s;&s;e, and follow me.</HI> You &s;ee foure &s;tages, foure re&s;ting, baiting places in this progre&s;&s;e. It mu&s;t bee a <HI>cro&s;&s;e,</HI> And it mu&s;t be <HI>my cro&s;&s;e,</HI> And then it mu&s;t be <HI>taken up by me,</HI> And with this cro&s;&s;e of mine, thus taken up by me, I mu&s;t <HI>fol|low Chri&s;t,</HI> that is, carry my cro&s;&s;e to his.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t it mu&s;t bee a <HI>Cro&s;&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Crux.</HI> Gal. 6.14.</NOTE> <HI>Tollat crucem;</HI> for every man hath afflictions, but every man hath not cro&s;&s;e. Onely tho&s;e afflictions are cro&s;&s;es, <HI>whereby the world is crucified to us, and we to the world.</HI> The afflictions of the wicked exa&s;perate them, enrage them, &s;tone and pave them, obdurate and petrifie them, but they doe not crucifie them. The affli|ctions of the godly crucifie them. And when I am come to that conformity with my Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1.24.</NOTE> as to <HI>fulfill his &s;ufferings in my fle&s;h,</HI> (as I am, when I glorifie him in a Chri&s;tian con&s;tancy and cheerfulne&s;&s;e in my afflictions) then I am crucified with him, carried up to his Cro&s;&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 4.34.</NOTE> And as <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> in ray&s;ing the <HI>Shunamits</HI> dead child, put his mouth upon the childs mouth, his eyes, and his hands, upon the hands, and eyes of the child; &s;o when my cro&s;&s;es have carried mee up to my Saviours Cro&s;&s;e, I put my hands into his hands, and hang upon his nailes, I put mine eyes upon his, and wa&s;h off all my former uncha&s;t looks, and receive a &s;overaigne tincture, and a lively verdure, and a new life into my dead teares, from his teares. I put my mouth upon his mouth, and it is I that &s;ay, <HI>My God, my God, why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me?</HI> and it is I that recover againe, and &s;ay, <HI>Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my &s;pirit.</HI> Thus my afflictions are truly a cro&s;&s;e, when tho&s;e afflictions doe truely crucifie me, and &s;ouple me, and mellow me, and knead me, and roll me out, to a conformity with Chri&s;t. It mu&s;t be this <HI>Cro&s;&s;e,</HI> and then it mu&s;t be <HI>my cro&s;&s;e</HI> that I mu&s;t take up, <HI>Tollat &s;uam.</HI></P>
<P>Other mens cro&s;&s;es are not my cro&s;&s;es;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Crux mea.</NOTE> no man hath &s;uffered more then him&s;elfe nee|ded. That is a poore trea&s;ure which they boa&s;t of in the Romane Church, that they have in their Exchequer, all the works of &s;upererogation, of the Martyrs in the Primi|tive Church, that &s;uffered &s;o much more then was nece&s;&s;ary for their owne &s;alvation, and tho&s;e &s;uperabundant cro&s;&s;es and merits they can apply to me. If the trea&s;ure of the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us be not &s;ufficient, Lord what addition can I find, to match them, to piece out them! And if it be &s;ufficient of it &s;elfe, what addition need I &s;eek? Other mens cro&s;&s;es are not mine, other mens merits cannot &s;ave me. Nor is any cro&s;&s;e mine owne, which is not mine by a good title; If I be not Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or <HI>bonae fidei,</HI> If I came not well by that cro&s;&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.7.</NOTE> And <HI>Quid habeo quod non accepi?</HI> is a que&s;tion that reaches even to my cro&s;|&s;es; what have I that I have not received? not a cro&s;&s;e; And from who&s;e hands can I
<PB N="733" REF="384">receive any good thing, but from the hands of God? So that that onely is my cro&s;&s;e, which the hand of God hath laid upon me. Alas, that cro&s;&s;e of pre&s;ent bodily weakne&s;&s;e, which the former wantonne&s;&s;es of my youth have brought upon me, is not my cro&s;&s;e; That cro&s;&s;e of poverty which the wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e of youth hath brought upon me, is not my cro&s;&s;e; for the&s;e, weakne&s;&s;e upon wantonne&s;&s;e, want upon wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e, are Natures cro&s;&s;es, not Gods, and they would fall naturally, though there were (which is an im|po&s;&s;ible &s;uppo&s;ition) no God. Except God therefore take the&s;e cro&s;&s;es in the way, as they fall into his hands, and &s;anctifie them &s;o, and then lay them upon me, they are not my cro&s;&s;es; but if God doe this, they are. And then this cro&s;&s;e thus prepared, I mu&s;t <HI>take up; Tollat.</HI></P>
<P>Forraine cro&s;&s;es, other mens merits are not mine; &s;pontaneous and voluntary cro&s;|&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tollat.</NOTE> contracted by mine owne &s;ins, are not mine; neither are devious, and remote, and unnece&s;&s;ary cro&s;&s;es, my cro&s;&s;es. Since I am bound to take up my cro&s;&s;e, there mu&s;t be a cro&s;&s;e that is mine to take up; that is, a cro&s;&s;e prepared for me by God, and laid in my way, which is tentations or tribulations in my calling; and I mu&s;t not go out of my way to &s;eeke a cro&s;&s;e; for, &s;o it is not mine, nor laid for my taking up. I am not bound to hunt after a per&s;ecution, nor to &s;tand it, and not flye, nor to affront a plague, and not remove, nor to open my &s;elfe to an injury, and not defend. I am not bound to &s;tarve my &s;elfe by inordinate fa&s;ting, nor to teare my fle&s;h by inhumane whippings, and flagellations. I am bound to take up my Cro&s;&s;e; and that is onely mine which the hand of God hath laid for me, that is, in the way of my Calling, tentations and tribulations incident to that.</P>
<P>If it be mine, that is, laid for me by the hand of God, and taken up by me, that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sequatur me.</NOTE> voluntarily embraced, then <HI>Sequatur,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, I am bound to <HI>follow him,</HI> with that cro&s;&s;e, that is, to carry my cro&s;&s;e to his cro&s;&s;e. And if at any time I faint under this cro&s;&s;e in the way, let this comfort me, that even Chri&s;t him&s;elfe was ea&s;ed by <HI>Simon</HI> of Cyrene, in the carrying of his Cro&s;&s;e; and in all &s;uch ca&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 27.32.</NOTE> I mu&s;t flye to the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the prayers of the Church, and of good men, that God, &s;ince it is his burden, will make it lighter, &s;ince it is his yoake, ea&s;ier, and &s;ince it is his Cro&s;&s;e, more &s;upportable, and give me the i&s;&s;ue with the tentation. When all is done, with this cro&s;&s;e thus laid for me, and taken up by me, I mu&s;t follow Chri&s;t; Chri&s;t to his end; his end is his Cro&s;&s;e; that is, I mu&s;t bring my cro&s;&s;e to his; lay downe my cro&s;&s;e at the foote of his; Confe&s;&s;e that there is no dignity, no merit in mine, but as it receives an impre&s;&s;ion, a &s;anctification from his. For, if I could dye a thou&s;and times for Chri&s;t, this were nothing, if Chri&s;t had not dyed for me before. And this is truly to follow Chri&s;t, both in the way, and to the end, as well in doctrinall things as in practicall. And this is all that lay upon the&s;e two, <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>Andrew, Follow me.</HI> Remaines yet to be con&s;idered, what they &s;hall get by this; which is our la&s;t Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>They &s;hall be <HI>fi&s;hers;</HI> and what &s;hall they catch? <HI>men.</HI> They &s;hall be fi&s;hers of men.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pi&s;catores hominum.</NOTE> And then, for that the world mu&s;t be their Sea, and their net mu&s;t be the Go&s;pel. And here in &s;o va&s;t a &s;ea, and with &s;o &s;mall a net, there was no great appearance of much gaine. And in this function, what&s;oever they &s;hould catch, they &s;hould catch little for them&s;elves. The Apo&s;tle&s;hip, as it was the fruitfulle&s;t, &s;o it was the barrenne&s;t vocation; They were to catch all the world; there is their fecundity; but the Apo&s;tles were to have no Succe&s;&s;ors, as Apo&s;tles; there is their barrenne&s;&s;e. The Apo&s;tle&s;hip was not intended for a function to rai&s;e hou&s;es and families; The function ended in their per&s;ons; after the fir&s;t, there were no more Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>And therefore it is an u&s;urpation, an impo&s;ture, an illu&s;ion, it is a forgery, when the Bi&s;hop of Rome will proceed by Apo&s;tolicall authority, and with Apo&s;tolicall dignity, and Apo&s;tolicall juri&s;diction; If he be S. <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;&s;or in the Bi&s;hopricke of Rome, he may proceed with Epi&s;copall authority in his Dioces. If he be; for, though we doe not deny that S. <HI>Peter</HI> was at Rome, and Bi&s;hop of Rome; though we receive it with an hi|&s;toricall faith, induced by the con&s;ent of Ancient writers, yet when they will con&s;titute matter of faith out of matter of fact, and, becau&s;e S. <HI>Peter</HI> was <HI>(de facto)</HI> Bi&s;hop of Rome, therefore we mu&s;t beleeve, as an Article of faith, &s;uch an infallibility in that Church, as that no Succe&s;&s;or of S. <HI>Peters</HI> can ever erre, when they &s;tretch it to matter of faith, then for matter of faith, we require Scriptures; and then we are confident, and ju&s;tly confi|dent, that though hi&s;torically we do beleeve it, yet out of Scriptures (which is a nece&s;&s;a|ry proofe in Articles of faith) they can never prove that S. <HI>Peter</HI> was Bi&s;hop of Rome,
<PB N="734" REF="385">or ever at Rome. So then, if the pre&s;ent Bi&s;hop of Rome be S. <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;&s;or, as Bi&s;hop of Rome, he hath Epi&s;copall juri&s;diction there; but he is not S. <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;&s;or in his Apo&s;tle&s;hip; and onely that Apo&s;tle&s;hip was a juri&s;diction over all the world. But the Apo&s;tle&s;hip was an extraordinary office in&s;tituted by Chri&s;t, for a certaine time, and to certaine purpo&s;es, and not to continue in ordinary u&s;e. As al&s;o the office of the Prophet was in the Old Te&s;tament an extraordinary Office, and was not transferred then, nor does not remaine now in the ordinary office of the Mini&s;ter.</P>
<P>And therefore they argue impertinently, and collect and infer &s;ometimes &s;editiou&s;ly that &s;ay, The Prophet proceeded thus and thus, therefore the Mini&s;ter may and mu&s;t proceed &s;o too; The Prophets would chide the Kings openly, and threaten the Kings publiquely, and proclaime the fault of the Kings in the eares of the people confidently, authoritatively, therefore the Mini&s;ter may and mu&s;t do &s;o. God &s;ent that particular Prophet <HI>Ieremy</HI> with that extraordinary Commi&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 1.10.</NOTE> <HI>Behold I have this day &s;et thee over the Nations, and over the Kingdomes, to roote out, and to pull downe, to de&s;troy and throw downe, and then to build, and to plant againe;</HI> But God hath given none of us his Mini&s;ters, in our ordinary function, any &s;uch Commi&s;&s;ion over Nations, and over Kingdomes. Even in <HI>Ieremies</HI> Commi&s;&s;ion there &s;eemes to be a limitation of time; <HI>Behold this day I have &s;et thee over them,</HI> where that addition <HI>(this day)</HI> is not onely the date of the Com|mi&s;&s;ion, that it pa&s;&s;ed Gods hand that day, but <HI>(this day)</HI> is the terme, the duration of the Commi&s;&s;ion, that it was to la&s;t but that day, that is, (as the phra&s;e of that language is) that time for which it was limited. And therefore, as they argue perver&s;ely, frowardly, dangerou&s;ly that &s;ay, The Mini&s;ter does not his duty that &s;peakes not as boldly, and as publiquely too, and of Kings, and great per&s;ons, as the Prophets did, becau&s;e theirs was an Extraordinary, ours an Ordinary office, (and no man will thinke that the Ju&s;tices in their Se&s;&s;ions, or the Judges in their Circuits may proceed to executions, without due tryall by a cour&s;e of Law, becau&s;e Mar&s;hals, in time of rebellion and other nece&s;&s;ities, may doe &s;o, becau&s;e the one hath but an ordinary, the other an extraordinary Commi&s;|&s;ion) So doe they deceive them&s;elves and others, that pretend in the Bi&s;hop of Rome an Apo&s;tolicall juri&s;diction, a juri&s;diction over all the world, whereas how&s;oever he may be S. <HI>Peters</HI> Succe&s;&s;or, as Bi&s;hop of Rome, yet he is no Succe&s;&s;or to S. <HI>Peter</HI> as an Apo&s;tle; upon which onely the univer&s;all power can be grounded, and without which that uni|ver&s;all power fals to the ground: The Apo&s;tolicall faith remaines &s;pread over all the world, but Apo&s;tolicall juri&s;diction is expired with their per&s;ons.</P>
<P>The&s;e twelve Chri&s;t cals <HI>Fi&s;hers;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pi&s;catores, quia nomen humile.</NOTE> why fi&s;hers? becau&s;e it is a name of labour, of &s;ervice, and of humiliation; and names that ta&s;t of humiliation, and labour, and &s;ervice, are mo&s;t properly ours; (fi&s;hers we may be) names of dignity, and authority, and com|mand are not &s;o properly ours, (Apo&s;tles wee are not in any &s;uch &s;en&s;e as they were) Nothing inflames, nor &s;wels, nor puffes us up, more then that leaven of the &s;oule, that empty, aery, frothy love of Names and Titles. We have knowne men part with ancient lands for new Titles, and with old Mannors for new Honours; and as a man that &s;hould be&s;tow all his money upon a faire pur&s;e, and then have nothing to put into it; &s;o whole E&s;tates have melted away for Titles and Honours, and nothing left to &s;upport them. And how long la&s;t they?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 3.14.</NOTE> How many winds bla&s;t them? That name of God, in which, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was &s;ent to <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> is by our Tran&s;lators and Expo&s;itors ordinarily &s;aid to be <HI>I Am that I Am, (Go and &s;ay, I Am hath &s;ent me,</HI> &s;ayes God there) But in truth, in the Origi|nall, the name is conceived in the future, it is, <HI>I &s;hall be.</HI> Every man is that he is; but onely God is &s;ure that he &s;hall be &s;o &s;till. Therefore Chri&s;t cals them by a name of labour and humiliation. But why by that name of labour and humiliation, <HI>Fi&s;hers?</HI></P>
<P>Becau&s;e it was <HI>Nomen primitivum,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pi&s;catores, quia nomen primitivum.</NOTE> their owne, their former name. The Holy Gho&s;t pur&s;ues his owne way, and does here in Chri&s;t, as hee does often in other places, he &s;peakes in &s;uch formes, and &s;uch phra&s;es, as may mo&s;t worke upon them to whom he &s;peaks.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 78.72.</NOTE> Of <HI>David,</HI> that was a &s;hepheard before, God &s;ayes, he tooke him to feed his people.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.2.</NOTE> To tho&s;e <HI>Magi</HI> of the Ea&s;t, who were given to the &s;tudy of the Stars, God gave a Star to be their guide to Chri&s;t at Bethlem.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iehn 6.24.</NOTE> To tho&s;e which followed him to Caper|naum for meat, Chri&s;t tooke occa&s;ion by that, to preach to them of the &s;pirituall food of their &s;ouls.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iehn 4.21.</NOTE> To the Samaritan woman, whom he found at the Well, he preached of the water of Life. To the&s;e men in our Text accu&s;tomed to a joy and gladne&s;&s;e, when they tooke great, or great &s;tore of fi&s;h, he pre&s;ents his comforts agreeably to their ta&s;t, They
<PB N="735" REF="385">&s;hould be fi&s;hers &s;till. Beloved, Chri&s;t puts no man out of his way, (for &s;infull cour&s;es are no wayes, but continuall deviations) to goe to heaven. Chri&s;t makes heaven all things to all men, that he might gaine all: To the mirthfull man he pre&s;ents heaven, as all joy, and to the ambitious man, as all glory; To the Merchant it is a Pearle, and to the husbandman it is a rich field. Chri&s;t hath made heaven all things to all men, that he might gaine all, and he puts no man out of his way to come thither. The&s;e men he calls Fi&s;hers.</P>
<P>He does not call them from their calling, but he mends them in it. It is not an Innova|tion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non Innova|tio, &s;ed Reno|vatio.</NOTE> God loves not innovations; Old doctrines, old di&s;ciplines, old words and formes of &s;peech in his &s;ervice, God loves be&s;t. But it is a Renovation, though not an Innovation, and Renovations are alwayes acceptable to God; that is, the renewing of a mans &s;elfe, in a con&s;ideration of his fir&s;t e&s;tate, what he was made for, and wherein he might be mo&s;t &s;erviceable to God. Such a renewing it is, as could not be done without God; no man can renew him&s;elfe, regenerate him&s;elfe; no man can prepare that worke, no man can begin it, no man can proceed in it of him&s;elfe. The de&s;ire and the actuall beginning is from the preventing grace of God, and the con&s;tant proceeding is from the concomi|tant, and &s;ub&s;equent, and continuall &s;ucceeding grace of God; for there is no conclu&s;ive, no con&s;ummative grace in this life; no &s;uch mea&s;ure of grace given to any man, as that that man needs no more, or can lo&s;e or fru&s;trate none of that. The renwing of the&s;e men in our text, Chri&s;t takes to him&s;elfe; <HI>Faciam vos, I will make yee fi&s;hers of men;</HI> no worldly re&s;pects mu&s;t make us &s;uch fi&s;hers; it mu&s;t be a calling from God; And yet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 1.16.</NOTE>(as the other Euangeli&s;t in the &s;ame hi&s;tory expre&s;&s;es it) it is <HI>Faciam fieri vos, I will cau&s;e yee to be made fi&s;hers of men,</HI> that is, I will provide an outward calling for you too. Our calling to this Man-fi&s;hing is not good, <HI>Ni&s;i Dominus faciat, &amp; fieri faciat,</HI> except God make us fi&s;hers by an internall, and make his Church to make us &s;o too, by an externall calling. Then we are fi&s;hers of men, and then we are &s;ucce&s;&s;ors to the Apo&s;tles, though not in their Apo&s;tle&s;hip, yet in this fi&s;hing. And then, for this fi&s;hing, the world is the Sea, and our net is the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>The world is a Sea in many re&s;pects and a&s;&s;imilations. It is a Sea,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mundus Mare.</NOTE> as it is &s;ubject to &s;tormes, and tempe&s;ts; Every man (and every man is a world) feels that. And then, it is never the &s;hallower for the calmne&s;&s;e, The Sea is as deepe, there is as much water in the Sea, in a calme, as in a &s;torme; we may be drowned in a calme and flattering fortune, in pro&s;perity, as irrecoverably, as in a wrought Sea, in adver&s;ity; So the world is a Sea. It is a Sea, as it is bottomle&s;&s;e to any line, which we can &s;ound it with, and endle&s;&s;e to a|ny di&s;covery that we can make of it. The purpo&s;es of the world, the wayes of the world, exceed our con&s;ideration; But yet we are &s;ure the Sea hath a bottome, and &s;ure that it hath limits, that it cannot overpa&s;&s;e; The power of the greate&s;t in the world, the life of the happie&s;t in the world, cannot exceed tho&s;e bounds, which God hath placed for them; So the world is a Sea. It is a Sea, as it hath ebbs and floods, and no man knowes the true rea&s;on of tho&s;e floods and tho&s;e ebbs. All men have changes and vici&s;&s;itudes in their bo|dies, (they fall &s;ick) And in their e&s;tates, (they grow poore) And in their minds, (they become &s;ad) at which changes, (&s;ickne&s;&s;e, poverty, &s;adne&s;&s;e) them&s;elves wonder, and the cau&s;e is wrapped up in the purpo&s;e and judgement of God onely, and hid even from them that have them; and &s;o the world is a Sea. It is a Sea, as the Sea affords water e|nough for all the world to drinke, but &s;uch water as will not quench the thir&s;t. The world affords conveniences enow to &s;atisfie Nature, but the&s;e encrea&s;e our thir&s;t with drinking, and our de&s;ire growes and enlarges it &s;elfe with our abundance, and though we &s;ayle in a full Sea, yet we lacke water; So the world is a Sea. It is a Sea, if we con&s;ider the Inhabitants. In the Sea, the greater fi&s;h devoure the le&s;&s;e; and &s;o doe the men of this world too. And as fi&s;h, when they mud them&s;elves, have no hands to make them&s;elves cleane, but the current of the waters mu&s;t worke that; So have the men of this world no means to clean&s;e them&s;elves from tho&s;e &s;innes which they have contracted in the world, of them&s;elves, till a new flood, waters of repentance, drawne up, and &s;anctified by the Holy Gho&s;t, worke that ble&s;&s;ed effect in them.</P>
<P>All the&s;e wayes the world is a Sea, but e&s;pecially it is a Sea in this re&s;pect, that the Sea is no place of habitation, but a pa&s;&s;age to our habitations. So the Apo&s;tle expre&s;&s;es the world, <HI>Here we have no continuing City, but we &s;eeke one to come;</HI> we &s;eeke it not here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.14.</NOTE> but we &s;eeke it while&s;t we are here, els we &s;hall never finde it. Tho&s;e are the two great
<PB N="736" REF="386">works which we are to doe in this world; fir&s;t to know, that this world is not our home, and then to provide us another home, while&s;t we are in this world. Therefore the Pro|phet &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mic. 2.10. Luk. 12.19.</NOTE> <HI>Ari&s;e, and depart, for this is not your re&s;t.</HI> Worldly men, that have no farther pro&s;pect, promi&s;e them&s;elves &s;ome re&s;t in this world, (<HI>Soule, thou ha&s;t much goods laid up for many yeares, take thine ea&s;e, eate, drinke, and be merry,</HI> &s;ayes the rich man) but this is not your re&s;t; indeed no re&s;t; at lea&s;t not yours. You mu&s;t depart, depart by death, before yee come to that re&s;t; but then you mu&s;t ari&s;e, before you depart; for except yee have a re&s;urrection to grace here, before you depart, you &s;hall have no re&s;urrection to glo|ry in the life to come, when you are departed.</P>
<P>Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Status navi|gantium.</NOTE> in this Sea, every &s;hip that &s;ayles mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily have &s;ome part of the &s;hip un|der water; Every man that lives in this world, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily have &s;ome of his life, &s;ome of his thoughts, &s;ome of his labours &s;pent upon this world; but that part of the &s;hip, by which he &s;ayls, is above water; Tho&s;e meditations, and tho&s;e endevours which mu&s;t bring us to heaven, are removed from this world, and fixed entirely upon God. And in this Sea, are we made fi&s;hers of men; Of men in generall; not of rich men, to profit by them, nor of poore men, to pierce them the more &s;harply, becau&s;e affliction hath opened a way into them; Not of learned men, to be over-glad of their approbation of our labours, Nor of ignorant men, to affect them with an a&s;toni&s;hment, or admiration of our gifts: But we are fi&s;hers of men, of all men, of that which makes them men, their &s;oules. And for this fi&s;hing in this Sea, this Go&s;pel is our net.</P>
<P>Eloquence is not our net;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rete Euan|gelium.</NOTE> Traditions of men are not our nets; onely the Go&s;pel is. The Devill angles with hooks and bayts; he deceives, and he wounds in the catching; for every &s;in hath his &s;ting. The Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us is a net; It hath leads and corks; It hath leads, that is, the denouncing of Gods judgements, and a power to &s;ink down, and lay flat any &s;tubborne and rebellious heart, And it hath corks, that is, the power of ab&s;olution, and application of the mercies of God, that &s;wimme above all his works, means to erect an humble and contrite &s;pirit, above all the waters of tribulation, and af|fliction. A net is <HI>Res nodo&s;a,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rete nodo|&s;um.</NOTE> a knotty thing; and &s;o is the Scripture, full of knots, of &s;cru|ple, and perplexity, and anxiety, and vexation, if thou wilt goe about to entangle thy &s;elfe in tho&s;e things, which appertaine not to thy &s;alvation; but knots of a fa&s;t union, and in&s;e|parable alliance of thy &s;oule to God, and to the fellow&s;hip of his Saints, if thou take the Scriptures, as they were intended for thee, that is, if thou bee&s;t content to re&s;t in tho&s;e places,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rete diffu|&s;ivum.</NOTE> which are cleare, and evident in things nece&s;&s;ary. A net is a large thing, pa&s;t thy fadoming, if thou ca&s;t it from thee, but if thou draw it to thee, it will lie upon thine arme. The Scriptures will be out of thy reach, and out of thy u&s;e, if thou ca&s;t and &s;catter them upon Rea&s;on, upon Philo&s;ophy, upon Morality, to try how the Scriptures will fit all them, and beleeve them but &s;o far as they agree with thy rea&s;on; But draw the Scripture to thine own heart, and to thine own actions, and thou &s;halt finde it made for that; all the promi&s;es of the old Te&s;tament made, and all accompli&s;hed in the new Te&s;tament, for the &s;alvation of thy &s;oule hereafter, and for thy con&s;olation in the pre&s;ent applicati|on of them.</P>
<P>Now this that Chri&s;t promi&s;es here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non quia tanquam cau&s;a. <HI>Rom. 6.23.</HI></NOTE> is not here promi&s;ed in the nature of wages due to our labour, and our fi&s;hing. There is no merit in all that we can doe. <HI>The wages of &s;in is Death;</HI> Death is due to &s;in, the proper reward of &s;in; but the Apo&s;tle does not &s;ay there, That eternall life is the wages of any good worke of ours. <HI>(The wages of &s;inne is death, but eternall life is the gift of God, through Ie&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord)</HI> Through Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that is, as we are con&s;idered in him; and in him, who is a Saviour, a Redeemer, we are not con&s;idered but as &s;inners. So that Gods purpo&s;e works no otherwi&s;e upon us, but as we are &s;inners; neither did God meane ill to any man, till that man was, in his &s;ight, a &s;inner. God &s;huts no man out of heaven, by a lock on the in&s;ide, except that man have clapped the doore after him, and never knocked to have it opened againe, that is, except he have &s;inned, and never repented. Chri&s;t does not &s;ay in our text, Follow me, for I will prefer you; he will not have that the rea&s;on, the cau&s;e. If I would not &s;erve God, except I might be &s;aved for &s;erving him, I &s;hall not be &s;aved though I &s;erve him; My fir&s;t end in &s;erving God, mu&s;t not be my &s;elfe, but he and his glory. It is but an ad|dition from his own goodne&s;&s;e, <HI>Et faciam,</HI> Follow me, and I will doe this; but yet it is as certaine, and infallible as a debt, or as an effect upon a naturall cau&s;e; Tho&s;e propo&s;i|tions in nature are not &s;o certaine; The Earth is at &s;uch a time ju&s;t between the Sunne,
<PB N="737" REF="386">and the Moone, therefore the Moone mu&s;t be Eclip&s;ed, The Moone is at &s;uch time ju&s;t betweene the Earth and the Sunne, therefore the Sunne mu&s;t be Eclip&s;ed; for upon the Sunne, and tho&s;e other bodies, God can, and hath &s;ometimes wrought miraculou&s;ly, and changed the naturall cour&s;es of them; (The Sunne &s;tood &s;till in <HI>Io&s;hua,</HI> And there was an unnaturall Eclip&s;e at the death of Chri&s;t) But God cannot by any Miracle &s;o worke upon him&s;elfe, as to make him&s;elfe not him&s;elfe, unmercifull, or unju&s;t; And out of his mercy he makes this promi&s;e, (Doe this, and thus it &s;hall be with you) and then, of his ju&s;tice he performes that promi&s;e, which was made meerely, and onely out of mer|cy, If we doe it, (though not becau&s;e we doe it) we &s;hall have eternall life.</P>
<P>Therefore did <HI>Andrew,</HI> and <HI>Peter</HI> faithfully beleeve, &s;uch a net &s;hould be put into their hands. Chri&s;t had vouch&s;afed to fi&s;h for them, and caught them with that net, and they beleeved that he that made them fi&s;hers of men, would al&s;o enable them to catch others with that net. And that is truly the comfort that refre&s;hes us in all our Lucubrations, and night-&s;tudies, through the cour&s;e of our lives, that that God that &s;ets us to Sea, will pro&s;per our voyage, that whether he &s;ix us upon our owne, or &s;end us to other Congre|gations, he will open the hearts of tho&s;e Congregations to us, and ble&s;&s;e our labours to them. For as S. <HI>Pauls Vae&s;i non,</HI> lies upon us where&s;oever we are, (Wo be unto us if wee doe not preach) &s;o, (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes to) we were of all men the mo&s;t mi&s;erable, if wee preached without hope of doing good. With this net S. <HI>Peter</HI> caught three thou&s;and &s;oules in one day, at one Sermon, and five thou&s;and in another.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.41.4.4.</NOTE> With this net S. <HI>Paul</HI> fi&s;hed all the Mediterranean Sea, and cau&s;ed the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t Je&s;us to abound from Jeru&s;alem round about to Illyricum. This is the net,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.19.</NOTE> with which if yee be willing to bee caught, that is, to lay downe all your hopes and affiances in the gracious promi&s;es of his Go&s;pel, then you are fi&s;hes re&s;erved for that great Mariage-fea&s;t, which is the Kingdome of heaven; where, who&s;oever is a di&s;h, is a ghe&s;t too; who&s;oever is &s;erved in at the ta|ble, &s;its at the table; who&s;oever is caught by this net, is called to this fea&s;t; and there your &s;oules &s;hall be &s;atisfied as with marrow, and with fatne&s;&s;e, in an infallible a&s;&s;urance, of an everla&s;ting and undeterminable terme, in inexpre&s;&s;ible joy and glory. Amen.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="73" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. LXXIII.</HI> Preached to the King in my Ordinary wayting at <HI>VVhite-hall, 18.</HI> Aprill <HI>1626.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOH. 14.2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>In my Fathers Hou&s;e are many Man&s;ions; If it were not &s;o, I would have told you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THere are occa&s;ions of Controver&s;ies of all kinds in this one Ver&s;e; And one is, whether this be one Ver&s;e or no; For as there are Doctrinall Contro|ver&s;ies, out of the &s;en&s;e and interpretation of the words, &s;o are there Gram|matticall differences about the Di&s;tinction, and Interpunction of them: Some Tran&s;lations differing therein from the Originall, (as the Originall Copies are di&s;tingui&s;hed, and interpuncted now) and &s;ome differing from one another. The fir&s;t Tran&s;lation that was, that into Syriaque, as it is expre&s;&s;ed by <HI>Tremellius,</HI> renders the&s;e words ab&s;olutely, preci&s;ely, as our two Tran&s;lations doe; And, as our two Tran|&s;lations doe, applies the &s;econd clau&s;e and propo&s;ition, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you,</HI> as in affirmation, and confirmation of the former, <HI>In domo Patris, In my Fathers hou&s;e there are many Man&s;ions,</HI> For, <HI>If it were not &s;o I would have told you.</HI> But then, as both our Tran&s;lations doe, the Syriaque al&s;o admits into this Ver&s;e a third clau&s;e and propo&s;ition, <HI>Vado parare, I goe to prepare you a place.</HI> Now <HI>Beza</HI> doth not &s;o; <HI>Pi&s;ca|tor</HI> doth not &s;o; They determine this Ver&s;e in tho&s;e two propo&s;itions which con&s;titute our Text, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e, &amp;c.</HI> and then they let fall the third propo&s;ition, as an in|ducement,
<PB N="738" REF="387">and inchoation of the next Ver&s;e, <HI>I goe to prepare a place for you, and if I goe, I will come againe.</HI> Divers others doe otherwi&s;e, and diver&s;ly; For &s;ome doe a&s;&s;ume (as we, and the Syriaque doe) all three propo&s;itions into the Ver&s;e, but then they doe not (as we, and the Syriaque doe) make the &s;econd a proofe of the fir&s;t, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e are many Man&s;ions, For, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you,</HI> But they refer the &s;econd to the third propo&s;ition, <HI>If it were not &s;o, I would have told you, For, I goe to prepare you a place,</HI> and being to goe from you, would leave you ignorant of nothing. But we find no rea&s;on to depart from that Di&s;tinction and Interpunction of the&s;e words, which our own Church exhibits to us, and therefore we &s;hall pur&s;ue them &s;o; and &s;o determine, though not the Ver&s;e, (for into the Ver&s;e, we admit all three propo&s;itions) yet the whole pur|po&s;e and intention of our Saviour, in tho&s;e two propo&s;itions, which accompli&s;h our Text, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>This Interpunction then offers and con&s;titutes our two parts.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ic.</NOTE> Fir&s;t, A particular Do|ctrine, which Chri&s;t infu&s;es into his Di&s;ciples, <HI>In domo Patris, In my Fathers hou&s;e are many Man&s;ions;</HI> And then a generall Rule and Scale, by which we are to mea&s;ure, and waigh all Doctrines, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you.</HI> In the order of nature, the later part fals fir&s;t into con&s;ideration, The rule of all Doctrines; which in this place is, The word of God in the mouth of Chri&s;t, dige&s;ted into the Scriptures; In which, wee &s;hall have ju&s;t, more then ju&s;t, nece&s;&s;ary occa&s;ion to note both their di&s;tem|pers, both theirs, that think, That there are other things to be beleeved, then are in the Scriptures, and theirs that think, That there are &s;ome things in the Scriptures, which are not to bee beleeved: For when our Saviour &s;ayes, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you,</HI> he intends both this propo&s;ition, I have told you all that is nece&s;&s;ary to be beleeved; and this al&s;o, All that I have told you, is nece&s;&s;ary to bee beleeved, &s;o as I have told it you. So that this excludes both that imaginary in&s;ufficiency of the Scriptures, which &s;ome have ventured to averre, (for God &s;hall never call Chri&s;tian to account for any thing not notified in the Scriptures) And it excludes al&s;o tho&s;e imaginary <HI>Dolos bo|nos,</HI> and <HI>fraudes pias,</HI> which &s;ome have adventured to averre too, That God &s;hould u&s;e holy Illu&s;ions, holy deceits, holy frauds, and circumventions in his Scriptures, and not intend in them, that which he pretends by them; This is his Rule, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you,</HI> If I have not told you &s;o, it is not &s;o, and if I have, it is &s;o as I have told you: And in the&s;e two branches we &s;hall determine the fir&s;t part, The Rule of Doctrines, the Scripture.</P>
<P>The &s;econd part, which is the particular Doctrine which Chri&s;t admini&s;ters to his Di&s;ciples here, will al&s;o derive and cleave it &s;elfe into two branches; For fir&s;t wee &s;hall inquire, whether this propo&s;ition in our Text, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e are many Man&s;ions,</HI> give any ground, or a&s;&s;i&s;tance, or countenance to that pious opinion, of a di&s;parity, and difference of degrees of Glory in the Saints in heaven; And then, if we finde the words of this Text to conduce nothing to that Doctrine, wee &s;hall con&s;ider the right u&s;e of the true, and naturall, the native and genuine, the direct, and literall, and uncontrovertible &s;en&s;e of the words; becau&s;e in them, Chri&s;t doth not &s;ay, that in his Fathers hou&s;e there are <HI>Divers</HI> Man&s;ions, divers for &s;eat, or lights, or fa&s;hion, or furniture, but onely that there are <HI>Many,</HI> and in that notion, the Plurality, the Multipliciry, lies the Con|&s;olation.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part.</NOTE> for the fir&s;t branch of our fir&s;t part, The generall Rule of Doctrines, our Saviour Chri&s;t in the&s;e words involves an argument, That hee hath told them all that was nece&s;&s;ary; Hee hath, becau&s;e the Scripture hath, for all the Scriptures which were written before Chri&s;t, and after Chri&s;t, were written by one and the &s;ame Spirit, his Spi|rit. It might then make a good Probleme, why they of the Romane Church, not affor|ding to the Scriptures that dignity which belongs to them, are yet &s;o vehement, and make &s;o hard &s;hift, to bring the books of other Authors into the ranke, and nature, and dignity of being Scriptures: What matter is it, whether their <HI>Maccabees,</HI> or their <HI>Tobies</HI> be Scripture or no? what get their <HI>Maccabees,</HI> or their <HI>Tobies</HI> by being Scripture, if the Scripture be not full enough, or not plaine enough, to bring me to &s;alvation? But &s;ince their intention and purpo&s;e, their aime, and their end is, to under-value the Scriptures, that thereby they may over-value their owne Traditions, their way to that end may bee to put the name of Scriptures upon books of a lower value, that &s;o the unworthine&s;&s;e of tho&s;e additionall books, may ca&s;t a diminution upon the Canonicall books them&s;elves,
<PB N="739" REF="387">when they are made all one: as in &s;ome forraigne States we have &s;eene, that when the Prince had a purpo&s;e to erect &s;ome new Order of Honour, he would di&s;grace the old Or|ders, by conferring and be&s;towing them upon unworthy and incapable per&s;ons.</P>
<P>But why doe we charge the Roman Church with this undervaluing of the Scriptures, when as they pretend, (and that cannot well be denied them) That they a&s;cribe to all the books of Scripture this dignity, That all that is in them is true. It is true; they doe &s;o; But this may be true of other Authors al&s;o, and yet tho&s;e Authors remaine prophane and &s;ecular Authors. All may be true that <HI>Livy</HI> &s;ayes, and all that our Chronicles &s;ay, may be true; and yet our Chronicles, nor <HI>Livy</HI> become Go&s;pell: for &s;o much they them|&s;elves will confe&s;&s;e and acknowledge, that all that our Church &s;ayes is true, that our Church affirmes no error; and yet our Church mu&s;t be a hereticall Church, if any Church at all, for all that. Indeed it is but a faint, but an illu&s;ory evidence or witne&s;&s;e, that pretends to cleare a point, if, though it &s;peake nothing but truth, yet it does not &s;peake all the truth. The Scriptures are our evidence for life or death;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 5.39.</NOTE> <HI>Search the Scrip|tures,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, <HI>for in them ye thinke ye have eternall life.</HI> Where, <HI>ye thinke &s;o,</HI> is not, ye thinke &s;o, but mi&s;take the matter, but <HI>ye thinke &s;o,</HI> is ye thinke &s;o upon a well-groun|ded and rectified faith and a&s;&s;urance. Now if this evidence, the Scripture, &s;hall acquit me in one Article, in my beliefe in God, (for I doe finde in the Scripture, as much as they require of me to beleeve, of the Father, Son, and Holy Gho&s;t) And then this evi|dence, the Scripture, &s;hall condemne me in another Article, The Catholique Church, (for I doe not finde &s;o much in the Scripture, as they require me to beleeve of their Ca|tholique Church) If the Scripture be &s;ufficient to &s;ave me in one, and not in the re&s;t, this is not onely a defective, but an illu&s;ory evidence, which though it &s;peake truth, yet does not &s;peake all the truth.</P>
<P><HI>Fratres &s;umus, quare litigamus?</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> Wee are all Brethren, by one Fa|ther, one Almighty God, and one Mother, one Catholique Church, and then why do we goe to Law together? At lea&s;t, why doe we not bring our Suits to an end? <HI>Non inte&s;tatus mortuus e&s;t Pater,</HI> &s;ayes he, Our Father is dead; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.30.</NOTE> <HI>Is not he your Father that bought you?</HI> is <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> que&s;tion; he that bought us with him&s;elfe, his blood, his life, is not dead <HI>inte&s;tate,</HI> but hath left his Will and Te&s;tament, and why &s;hould not that Te&s;tament decide the cau&s;e? <HI>Silent Advocati, Su&s;pen&s;us e&s;t populus, Legant verba te&s;tamenti:</HI> This that Father notes, to be the end in other cau&s;es, why not in this? That the Coun&s;ell give over pleading, That the people give over murmuring, That the Judge cals for the words of the Will, &amp; by that governs, and according to that e&s;tabli&s;hes his Judgement. I would at la&s;t contentious men would leave wrangling, and people to whom tho&s;e things be|longed not, leave blowing of coales, and that the words of the Will might try the cau&s;e, &s;ince he that made the Will, hath made it thus cleare, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not thus, I would have told you,</HI> If there were more to be added then this, or more clearne&s;&s;e to bee added to this, I would have told you.</P>
<P>In the fift of <HI>Matthew,</HI> Chri&s;t puts a great many ca&s;es, what others had told them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.</NOTE> but he tels them, that is not their Rule. <HI>Audivi&s;tis, &amp; ab antiquis,</HI> &s;ays he, you have heard, &amp; heard by them of old, but now I tel you otherwi&s;e. So <HI>Audivimus, &amp; ab antiquis,</HI> we have heard, and heard by them of old, That the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t is &s;o ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary, as that Children were bound to receive it, pre&s;ently after Bapti&s;me, and that no man could be &s;aved without it, more then without Bapti&s;me:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Maldon in Iohn 6.35.</NOTE> This we have heard, and heard by them of old; for we have heard S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> to have &s;aid &s;o, and the practi&s;e of the Church for &s;ome hundreds of yeares to have &s;aid &s;o. So <HI>Audivimus, &amp; ab antiquis,</HI> We have heard, and heard by them of old, That the Saints of God departed out of this life, after their re&s;urrection, and before their a&s;cen&s;ion into heaven, &s;hall enjoy all worldly pro&s;perity and happine&s;&s;e upon the earth, for a thou&s;and yeares: This we have heard, and heard by them of old, for we have heard <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ay &s;o, and <HI>Ireneus,</HI> and <HI>Lactantius,</HI> and &s;o many more as would make the balance more then even. So al&s;o <HI>Au|divimus, &amp; ab antiquis,</HI> We have heard, and heard by them of old, That in how good &s;tate &s;oever they dye, yet the &s;ouls of the departed do not &s;ee the face of God, nor enjoy his pre&s;ence, till the day of Judgement, This we have heard, and from &s;o many of them of old, as that the voyce of that part is louder, then of the other. And among&s;t tho&s;e reverend and ble&s;&s;ed Fathers, which &s;traied into the&s;e errors, &s;ome were hearers and Di&s;ciples of the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, as <HI>Papias</HI> was a Di&s;ciple of S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> and yet <HI>Papias</HI>
<PB N="740" REF="388">was a Millenarian, and expected his thou&s;and yeares pro&s;perity upon the earth after the Re&s;urrection: &s;ome of them were Di&s;ciples of the Apo&s;tles, and &s;ome of them were better men then the Apo&s;tles, for they were Bi&s;hops of Rome; <HI>Clement</HI> was &s;o; and yet <HI>Clement</HI> was one of them, who denied the fruition of the &s;ight of God, by the Saints, till the Judgement.</P>
<P>And yet our Adver&s;aries will enjoy their liberty to depart from all this which they have heard, and heard from them of old, in the mouths of the&s;e Fathers. And where the Fathers are divided in two &s;treames, where all the Fathers, few, &s;carce any excepted, till S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters"> Vo&s;&s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> l. 7. The&s;. 8. &s;o. 538. &amp;c. Bemus ca. 26. Petetius Ro. 8. di&s;p 22.</NOTE> placed the cau&s;e of our Election in Gods fore&s;ight, and fore-knowledge of our faith and obedience, and, as generally after S. <HI>Augu&s;tin,</HI> they placed it in the right Center, that is, onely in the free goodne&s;&s;e and plea&s;ure of God in Chri&s;t, halfe the Ro|man Church goes one way, and halfe the other; (for we may be bold to call the Je&s;uits halfe that Church) And in that point the Je&s;uits depart from that which they had heard, and heard of old, from the Primitive Fathers, and adhere to the later; And their very heavy, and very bitter adver&s;aries, the Dominicans, apply them&s;elves to that which they have heard of old, to the fir&s;t opinion. In that point in the Roman Church they have Fathers on both &s;ides; but, in a point, where they have no Father, where all the Fathers are unanimely and diametrally again&s;t them, in the point of the Conception of the mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Virgin,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Canus.</NOTE> <HI>Et&s;i omnes Sancti uno ore a&s;&s;everent,</HI> &s;ayes a wi&s;e Author of theirs, Though all the Ancient Fathers with one intire con&s;ent affirme that &s;he was conceived in Originall &s;in, <HI>Et&s;i nullus Author contravenerit,</HI> &s;ayes he, Though no one ancient Author ever denyed it, yet &s;ayes he, <HI>Infirmum e&s;t ex omnium patrum con&s;en&s;u argumentum,</HI> Though our opinion have no ground in Scriptures (that, &s;ayes he, I confe&s;&s;e) Though it bee no Apo&s;tolicall Tradition, (that, &s;ayes he, I confe&s;&s;e) yet it is but a weake argument, &s;ayes he, that is concluded out of all the Fathers again&s;t it, becau&s;e, It was a doctrine mani|fe&s;ted to the Church but about five hundred yeares &s;ince, and now for two hundred yeares hath beene well followed and embraced: As the Je&s;uit <HI>Maldonat</HI> &s;ayes in &s;uch another ca&s;e, what&s;oever the ancient Fathers have thought, or taught, or &s;aid, or writ, that the marriage of Prie&s;ts after Orders taken, and cha&s;tity profe&s;&s;ed, was a good mar|riage, <HI>Contrarium nunc verum e&s;t,</HI> what&s;oever was true then, the contrary is true now.</P>
<P>If then the&s;e men who take to them&s;elves this liberty, will yet &s;ay to me, in &s;ome other points, <HI>Si quo minus,</HI> Surely if you were in the right, &s;ome of the ancient Fathers would have told you &s;o; And then, if I a&s;&s;i&s;t my &s;elfe by the Fathers, they will &s;ay, <HI>Si quo minus,</HI> If it were not otherwi&s;e, &s;ome generall Councell would have told you &s;o; And againe, if I &s;upport my &s;elfe by a Councell, <HI>Si quo minus,</HI> if that Councell were to be followed, &s;ome Pope would have confirmed that Councell, And if I &s;how that to have beene done, yet they will &s;ay, that that Confirmation reaches not to that Se&s;&s;ion of the Coun|cell, or not to that Canon of that Se&s;&s;ion, or not to that period in that Canon, or not to that word in that period; And then, of every Father, and Councell, and Se&s;&s;ion, and Ca|non, and period, and word, <HI>Ejus interpretatio e&s;t &s;en&s;us Spiritus Sancti,</HI> His &s;en&s;e and inter|pretation mu&s;t be e&s;teemed the Interpretation, and the Sen&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, as <HI>Bel|larmine</HI> hath concluded us, why will they not allow me a ju&s;ter liberty, then that which they take? That when they &s;top my prayers in their way to God, and bid me turne upon Saints, when they &s;top my faith in the way to Chri&s;t, and bid me turne upon mine owne, or others merits, when they &s;top my hopes of Heaven upon my death-bed, and bid me turne upon Purgatory, That when, as yet it is in debatement and di&s;putation, whether man can performe the Law of God or no, they will multiply their Laws, above the proportion of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> Tables, And when we have <HI>Primogenitum Eccle&s;iae,</HI> The elde&s;t &s;on by the Primitive Church, The Creed of the Apo&s;tles, they will &s;uper-induce another &s;on, by another <HI>venter,</HI> by a &s;tep-mother, by their &s;ick and crazy Church, and (as the way of &s;tep-mothers is) will then make the portion of the later, larger then the elders, make their Trent-Creed larger then the Apo&s;tles, That in &s;uch a ca&s;e, they will not allow me, neither in my &s;tudies in the way, nor upon my death-bed at mine end, to hearken unto this voyce of my Saviour, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you,</HI> this is not onely to preclude the liberty, but to exclude the duty of a Chri&s;tian.</P>
<P>But the my&s;tery of their Iniquity is ea&s;ily revealed, their <HI>Arcana Imperii,</HI> the &s;ecrets of their State ea&s;ily di&s;covered. All this is not becau&s;e they ab&s;olutely oppo&s;e the Scrip|tures, or &s;tiffly deny them to be the mo&s;t certain and con&s;tant rule that can be pre&s;ented,
<PB N="741" REF="388">(for what&s;oever they pretend for their own Church, or for the Super-&s;overaigne in that Church, their tran&s;cendent and hyperbolicall &s;upreme Head, they will pretend to de|duce out of the Scriptures) But becau&s;e the Scriptures are con&s;tant, and limited, and de|termined, there can be no more Scriptures, And they &s;hould be &s;hrewdly prejudiced, and &s;hrewdly di&s;advantaged, if all emergent ca&s;es ari&s;ing in the Chri&s;tian world, mu&s;t be judged by a Law, which others may know before-hand, as well as they; Therefore be|ing wi&s;e in their own generation, they choo&s;e rather to lay up their Rule in a Cupboard, then upon a Shelfe, rather in <HI>Scrinio pectoris,</HI> in the brea&s;t and bo&s;ome of one man, then upon every deske in a &s;tudy, where every man may lay, or whence every man may take a Bible. Therefore have &s;o many &s;ad and &s;ober men among&s;t them, repented, that in the Councell of Trent, they came to a finall re&s;olution in &s;o many particulars; becau&s;e how incommodious &s;oever &s;ome of tho&s;e particulars may prove to them, yet they are bound to &s;ome nece&s;&s;ity of a defence, or to &s;ome a&s;per&s;ion if they for&s;ake &s;uch things as have been &s;olemnly re&s;olved in that manner.</P>
<P>Therefore it was a prudent, and di&s;creet ab&s;tinence in them, to forbeare the determi|nation of &s;ome things, which have then, and &s;ince, falne into agitation among&s;t them. Be plea&s;ed to take one in the Councell, and one after for all. Long time it had, and then it did, and &s;till it doth, perplex the Con&s;ciences of penitents that come to Confe&s;&s;ion, and the under&s;tandings of Confe&s;&s;ors, who are to give Ab&s;olution, how far the &s;ecular Lawes of temporall Princes binde the Con&s;cience of the Subject, and when, and in what ca&s;es, he is bound to confe&s;&s;e it as a &s;in, who hath violated and tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed any of tho&s;e Lawes; And herein, &s;ayes an Author of theirs, who hath written learnedly <HI>De legibus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Carbo.</NOTE> of the hand and obligation of Lawes, The Pope was &s;olicited and &s;upplicated from the Councell, in which it was debated, that he would be plea&s;ed to come to a Determinati|on; but becau&s;e he &s;aw it was more advantage to him, to hold it undetermined, that &s;o he might &s;erve others turnes, and his own e&s;pecially, it remains undetermined, and no Confe&s;&s;or is able to un-entangle the Con&s;cience of his penitent yet. So al&s;o in another point, of as great con&s;equence, (at lea&s;t for the peace of the Church, if not for the profit) which is, tho&s;e differences, which have ari&s;en between the Je&s;uits and the Dominicans, about the concurrence of the Grace of God, and the free will of man, Though both &s;ides have come to that vehemence, that violence, that virulency, as to call one anothers opi|nion hereticall, (which is a word that cuts deepe, and &s;hould not be pa&s;&s;ionately u&s;ed) yet he will not be brought to a deci&s;ion, to a determination in the point, but onely for|bids both &s;ides to write at all in that point; and in that inhibition of his, we &s;ee how he &s;uffers him&s;elfe to be deluded, for &s;till they write with prote&s;tation, that they write not to advance either opinion, but onely to prepare the way again&s;t &s;uch time, as the Pope &s;hall be plea&s;ed to take off that inhibition, and re&s;tore them to their liberty of writing; for this way hath one of their la&s;t Authors, <HI>Arriba,</HI> taken to vent him&s;elfe. In a word, if they &s;hould &s;ubmit them&s;elves to try all points and ca&s;es of Con&s;cience by Scripture, that were to governe by a knowne, and con&s;tant Law; but as they have imagined a Mo|narchy in their Church, &s;o have they a prerogative in their Monarchy, a &s;ecret judge|ment in one brea&s;t, however, he who gives them all their power, make this prote&s;tation, <HI>Si quo minus,</HI> If it were not thus, and thus, I would have told you &s;o.</P>
<P>So then this propo&s;ition in our Text falls fir&s;t upon them, who doe not beleeve All things to be contained in the Scriptures; And it falls al&s;o upon them, who doe not be|leeve All per&s;ons to be intended in the Scriptures, who &s;eeme to be concerned therein. The fir&s;t &s;ort di&s;honor God in his Scriptures, in that kinde, That there is not enough in the Scriptures for any mans &s;alvation; And the other in this kinde, That that that is, is not intended, as it is pretended, not in that largene&s;&s;e and generality, as it is propo&s;ed, but that God hath &s;et a little Diamond in a great deale of gold, a narrow purpo&s;e in large promi&s;es; and thereupon they impute to God (in their manner of expre&s;&s;ing them&s;elves) <HI>Dolos bonos,</HI> and <HI>Fraudes pias,</HI> holy deceits, holy fal&s;hoods, holy illu&s;ions, and circum|ventions, and over-good husbands of Gods large and bountifull Grace, contract his ge|nerall promi&s;es. I di&s;pute not, but I am glad to heare the Apo&s;tle &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.14.</NOTE> That as all were dead, &s;o one dyed for all; and to put the force of his argument there, in that, That ex|cept we can &s;ay, That one dyed for all, we cannot &s;ay, that all were dead. I argue not, but I am glad to heare another Apo&s;tle &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Joh. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>That Chri&s;t is the propitiation for the &s;innes of all the world;</HI> for if any man had been left out, how &s;hould I have come in?</P>
<PB N="742" REF="389">
<P>I am not exerci&s;ed, nor would I exerci&s;e the&s;e Auditories with curio&s;ities, but I heare the Apo&s;tle &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 14.11. 1 Cor. 8.11.</NOTE> <HI>De&s;troy not him with thy meat for whom Chri&s;t dyed;</HI> And I heare him &s;ay, <HI>Through thy knowledge may thy weake brother peri&s;h, for whom Chri&s;t dyed:</HI> and, me thinks, he meanes, That though they might be de&s;troyed, though they might peri&s;h, yet Chri&s;t dyed for them. Onely to deliver God from all a&s;per&s;ions, and to defend par|ticular Con&s;ciences from being &s;candalized with dangerous phra&s;es, and in a pious de|te&s;tation of tho&s;e impious <HI>Doli,</HI> and <HI>Fraudes,</HI> holy deceits, holy fal&s;hoods, I onely &s;ay, God forbid, that when our Saviour Chri&s;t called the Phari&s;ee hypocrite, that Phari&s;ee &s;hould have been able to recriminate that upon Chri&s;t, and to have &s;aid, So are you, for you pretend to offer &s;alvation where you meane it not: God forbid, that when Chri&s;t had made that the mark of a true I&s;raelite in the per&s;on of <HI>Nathaniel, In quo non e&s;t do|lus, In whom there is no deceit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.47.</NOTE> any man &s;hould have been able to have &s;aid to Chri&s;t, Then <HI>Nathaniel</HI> is a better I&s;raelite then you, for you pretend to offer &s;alvation, where you meane it not.<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 35.3.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> hath joyned tho&s;e two words together, <HI>The words of their mouth, are Iniquity and Deceit;</HI> If there be Deceit, there is Iniquity too. Our Saviour hath joyned all the&s;e together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 7.22.</NOTE> <HI>Adulteries, Murders, Bla&s;phemies,</HI> and <HI>Deceit;</HI> where there is Deceit, all mi&s;chiefe is ju&s;tly pre&s;umed. The Apo&s;tle S. <HI>Paul</HI> di&s;charges him&s;elfe of nothing with more earne&s;tne&s;&s;e then that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 12.16. Acts 13.10.</NOTE> <HI>Have I deceived you? have I circumvented you with fraud?</HI> Neither doth he charge him, whom he calls, <HI>The childe of the Devill, Elymas</HI> the &s;orcerer, farther then &s;o, <HI>O plene omni dolo,</HI> That he was full of all Deceit. And therefore they that thinke to gild and enamell deceit, and fal&s;hood, with the addi|tions of good deceit, good fal&s;hood, before they will make deceit good, will make God bad: For, even in the Law, an action <HI>De Dolo,</HI> will not lie again&s;t a Father, nor again&s;t a Ma&s;ter, and &s;hall we emplead God <HI>De Dolo?</HI></P>
<P>In the la&s;t forraine Synod, which our Divines a&s;&s;i&s;ted, with what a ble&s;&s;ed &s;obriety, they delivered their &s;entence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Art. 2. ad The&s;. 3.</NOTE> That all men are truly, and in earne&s;t called to eternall life, by Gods Mini&s;ter; And that what&s;oever is promi&s;ed or offered out of the Go&s;pel by the Mini&s;ter, is to the &s;ame men, and in the &s;ame manner promi&s;ed and offered by the Au|thor of the Go&s;pel, by God him&s;elfe. They knew who&s;e brea&s;ts they had &s;ucked; and that that Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Art. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 word">.</NOTE> our Church had declared, That we mu&s;t receive Gods promi&s;es &s;o, as they be generally &s;et forth to us in the Scriptures; And that for our actions and man|ners, for our life and conver&s;ation, we follow that will of God, which is expre&s;ly decla|red to us in his Word: And that is, That conditionall &s;alvation is &s;o far offered to every man, as that no man may preclude him&s;elfe from a po&s;&s;ibility of &s;uch a performance of tho&s;e Conditions which God requires at his hands, as God will accept at his hands, if either he doe &s;incerely endevour the performing, or &s;incerely repent the not performing of them. For all this is fayrly implyed in this propo&s;ition, <HI>Si quo minus, If it were not &s;o, I would have told you;</HI> That all that is nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, is comprehended in the Scrip|tures, which was our fir&s;t branch; And then, That all that is in the Scriptures, is inten|ded &s;o as it is propo&s;ed, which was our &s;econd; And the&s;e two con&s;titute our fir&s;t part, The generall Rule of Doctrines, and farther we enlarge not that part, but de&s;cend to the other, The particular Doctrine, which Chri&s;t gives to his Di&s;ciples, in the other Propo|&s;ition, <HI>In domo patris, In my Fathers hou&s;e there are many Man&s;ions.</HI></P>
<P>This &s;econd part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> you may al&s;o be plea&s;ed to remember, derives it &s;elfe into two bran|ches; fir&s;t to inquire, whether this propo&s;ition a&s;&s;i&s;t that Doctrine of Di&s;parity and De|grees of Glory in the Saints in heaven; And then the right u&s;e which is to be made of the right &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, <HI>In domo patris, In my Fathers hou&s;e there are many Man&s;i|ons.</HI> The occa&s;ion of the words will be the foundation of all; Our Saviour Chri&s;t had &s;aid to his Di&s;ciples in the Chapter before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 33.</NOTE> That he was to &s;tay with them but a little while; That when he was gone, they &s;hould &s;eeke him, and not finde him; And that whither he went, they could not follow: And when, upon that, <HI>Peter,</HI> who was alwayes forwarde&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 36.</NOTE> and &s;oone&s;t &s;candalized, had pre&s;&s;ed him with that que&s;tion, <HI>Lord, whither goe&s;t thou?</HI> and received that an&s;wer, <HI>whither I goe, thou can&s;t not follow me now, but here|after thou &s;halt follow me,</HI> le&s;t the re&s;t of the Di&s;ciples, who were troubled with that which was formerly &s;aid, &s;hould be more affected with this, to heare that <HI>Peter</HI> &s;hould come, whither none of them might, to e&s;tabli&s;h them all, as well as <HI>Peter,</HI> he &s;ayes to them all, in the fir&s;t ver&s;e of this Chapter, <HI>Let not your hearts be troubled,</HI> for, (And here enters this propo&s;ition of our Text, for their generall e&s;tabli&s;hment) <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e are many
<PB N="743" REF="389">Man&s;ions.</HI> So that, that the&s;e are words of Con&s;olation is certaine, but whether the con|&s;olation be placed in the di&s;parity, and difference of degrees of Glory in Heaven, or no, is not &s;o certaine.</P>
<P>That there are degrees of Glory in the Saints in heaven, &s;carce any ever denied.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non negatur.</NOTE> Hea|ven is a Kingdome, and Chri&s;t a King, and a popular parity agrees not with that State, with a Monarchy. Heaven is a Church, and Chri&s;t a High-Prie&s;t, and &s;uch a parity agrees as ill with the Triumphant, as with the Militant Church. In the Primitive Church <HI>Iovinian</HI> denied this difference, and degrees of glory; and S. <HI>Hierome</HI> was &s;o incen&s;ed, &s;o inflamed for this, as if foundations had beene &s;haken, and the common cau&s;e endan|gered. Indeed it was thus farre the common cau&s;e, that all the Fathers followed this cha&s;e, (if wee may u&s;e that Metaphor) and were never at a default: No one of the Fa|thers, whom I have ob&s;erved to touch upon this point, did ever deny this difference of degrees of Glory. And therefore, as in the Primitive Church, when that one man <HI>Iovi|nian,</HI> came to deny it, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> was vehement upon him, &s;o when in the Reforma|tion, one man (for I never found more then that one, one <HI>Schoufeldius</HI>) denies it too, I wonder the le&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gerard.</NOTE> that another (of the Reformation al&s;o) growes &s;omewhat &s;harpe to|wards him.</P>
<P>We deny not then this difference of degrees of glory in Heaven; But that frame,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Modus in Eccle&s;. Rom. negatur.</NOTE> and that &s;cale of the&s;e degrees, which they have &s;et up in the Romane Church, we do deny. We mu&s;t continue, and returne often to that complaint again&s;t them, That they &s;hake and endanger things neere foundations, by their enormous &s;uper-edifications, by their incommodious upper-buildings: That many things, which might bee well enough ac|cepted, and would bee agreed by all, become ju&s;tly &s;u&s;picious, and really dangerous to the Church, by their manifold con&s;equences which they &s;uper-induce upon them: That many things, which in the &s;incerity of their beginning, and in&s;titution, were pious, and conduced to the exaltation of Devotion, by their additions are become impious, and de|&s;troy Devotion &s;o farre, as to divert it upon a wrong object. In this point which we have in hand, it is &s;o; In the&s;e degrees of glory in Heaven, That Church, which treads all &s;overaigne Crownes in this world, under her feet, pretends to impart, and di&s;tribute Crownes in Heaven al&s;o of her owne making: Wee find <HI>Coronam auream,</HI> a Crowne of gold upon the head of that Sonne of Man, who is al&s;o the Sonne of God, Chri&s;t Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 14.14.</NOTE> in the Revelation. And wee find <HI>Coronas aureas,</HI> particular Crownes of gold, upon the heads of all the Saints that &s;tand about the Throne, in the &s;ame Booke. And the&s;e Crownes upon the Saints are the emanations, and effluences of that Crowne which is up|on Chri&s;t; The glory of the Saints is the communication of his glory. But then, be|cau&s;e in their Tran&s;lation, in the vulgat Edition of the Roman Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 25.25.</NOTE> they find in Ex|odus that word <HI>Aureolam, Facies Coronam aureolam,</HI> Thou &s;halt make a le&s;&s;er Crowne of gold; out of this diminutive, and mi&s;taken word, they have e&s;tabli&s;hed a Doctrine, that be&s;ides tho&s;e <HI>Coronae aureae,</HI> Tho&s;e Crownes of gold, which are communicated to all the Saints from the Crown of Chri&s;t, &s;ome Saints have made to them&s;elves, and produ|ced out of their owne extraordinary merits certaine <HI>Aureolas,</HI> certaine le&s;&s;er Crownes of their own, whereas indeed the word in the Originall in that place of Exodus is <HI>Zer zehab,</HI> which is a Crowne of gold, without any intimation of any &s;uch le&s;&s;er crownes growing out of them&s;elves. This then is their new Alchymy; that whereas old Alchymi&s;ts pre|tend to make gold of cour&s;er Metals, the&s;e will make it of Nothing; Out of a &s;uppo&s;iti|tious word, which is not in the Text, they have hammered and beat out the&s;e <HI>Aureolas,</HI> the&s;e le&s;&s;er crownes. And the&s;e <HI>Aureolaes</HI> they a&s;cribe onely to three &s;orts of per&s;ons, to Virgins, to Martyrs, to Doctors.</P>
<P>Are then all the other Saints without Crowns? They mu&s;t make &s;hift with that beame which they have from the Crowne of Chri&s;t; for, for the&s;e additionall crownes procee|ding from them&s;elves, they have none. And yet, &s;ay they, there are Saints which have &s;ome additions growing out of them&s;elves, though not <HI>Aureolas,</HI> little crownes, and tho&s;e they call <HI>Fructus,</HI> peculiar fruits growing out of them&s;elves; And for the&s;e fruits they di&s;traine upon that place of <HI>Matthew,</HI> where Chri&s;t &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 13.6.</NOTE> That &s;ome brought forth fruit a hundred fold, &s;ome &s;ixty, and &s;ome thirty; And the greater mea&s;ure they a&s;cribe to Virgins, the &s;ixty to Widowes, and the thirty to Maried per&s;ons, but onely &s;uch ma|ried per&s;ons, as have lived continently in mariage. So then, to make this Riddle of theirs as plaine as the matter will admit, They place &s;alvation it &s;elfe, Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, (if
<PB N="744" REF="390">a man will be content with that.) in that union with God, which is common to all the Saints: But then they conceive certaine <HI>Dotes,</HI> as they call them, certaine di&s;po&s;itions in this life, by which &s;ome have made them&s;elves fitter to be united to God, in a nearer di|&s;tance then an ordinary Saint; And the&s;e <HI>Dotes,</HI> the&s;e endowments, and di&s;po&s;itions here, produce tho&s;e <HI>Aureolas,</HI> and tho&s;e <HI>Fructus,</HI> tho&s;e le&s;&s;er crownes, and tho&s;e mea|&s;ures of fruits, which are a particular Joy, not that they are united to God, (for &s;o every Saint is) but that they had tho&s;e <HI>Dotes,</HI> tho&s;e di&s;po&s;itions to take that particular way of being united to God, The way of Virginity, the way of Martydome, and the way of Preaching; for by this, they become <HI>Sancti Majores,</HI> as they call them, Saints in favor, Saints in office, and fitter to receive our petitions, and mediate between God and us, then tho&s;e whom they call <HI>Mediocres,</HI> and <HI>Inferiores,</HI> Saints of a middle forme, or of an infe|riour ranke. Yet the&s;e are &s;o farre provided for, by them too, that wee mu&s;t pray al&s;o to the&s;e Inferiour Saints, either becau&s;e I may have had a more particular intere&s;t in this life in that Saint, then in a greater, and &s;o the readine&s;&s;e, and the a&s;&s;iduity of that Saint may recompence his want of power, Or el&s;e, <HI>Ad tollendum fa&s;tidium,</HI> le&s;t a great Saint &s;hould grow weary of me, if I trouble him every day, and for every trifle in heaven; And &s;ome other &s;uch rea&s;ons, it plea&s;es them to a&s;&s;igne, why though &s;ome Saints have more power with God then others, yet we are bound to pray to all.</P>
<P>And thus they play with Divinity, as though after they had troubled all States with politicall Divinity, with their Bulls, and Breves of <HI>Rebus &s;ic &s;tantibus,</HI> That as long as things &s;tood thus, this &s;hould be Catholique Doctrine, and otherwi&s;e, when otherwi&s;e, And in this politicall Divinity, <HI>Machiavel</HI> is their Pope; And after they had perplexed under&s;tandings with Philo&s;ophicall Divinity in the Schoole, and in that Divinity, <HI>Ari|&s;totle</HI> is their Pope; They thought them&s;elves in courte&s;ie, or con&s;cience bound, to recre|ate the world with Poeticall Divinity, with &s;uch a Heaven, and &s;uch a Hell as would &s;tand in their Ver&s;es, and in this Divinity, <HI>Virgill</HI> is their Pope. And &s;o, as <HI>Melancthon</HI> &s;aid, when he furthered the Edition of the <HI>Alcoran,</HI> that hee would have it printed, <HI>Vt videamus quale poema &s;it,</HI> That the world might &s;ee what a piece of Poetry the <HI>Alcoran</HI> was; So I have &s;topped upon this point, that you might &s;ee what a piece of Poetry they have made of this Problematicall point of Divinity, The di&s;parity, and degrees of Glory in the Saints in Heaven.</P>
<P>Be this then thus &s;ettled;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non liquet ex Scripturis.</NOTE> In the matter, The difference of degrees of Glory, we will not differ; In the manner, we would not differ &s;o, as to induce a Schi&s;me, if they would handle &s;uch points Problematically, and no farther. But when upon matter of fact they will induce matter of faith, when they will extend Problematicall Divinity to Dogmati|call, when they will argue and conclude thus, It may be thus, therefore it mu&s;t be thus, A man may be &s;aved, though he beleeve this, therefore he cannot be &s;aved except hee beleeve this, when (in this point in hand) out of our acknowledgement of the&s;e degrees of Glory in the Saints they will e&s;tabli&s;h the Doctrine of Merits, and of Invocation of Saints, then wee mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily call them to the Rule of all Doctrines, the Scriptures. When they tell us Hi&s;torically, and upon a Hi&s;toricall Obligation, and for a Hi&s;toricall certitude, that <HI>Peter</HI> was at Rome, and that hee was Bi&s;hop of Rome, we are not &s;o fro|ward as to deny them that: But when upon his Hi&s;toricall and per&s;onall being at Rome, they will build that mother Article, of an univer&s;all Supremacy over all the Church, then we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily call them to the Rule, to the Scriptures, and to require them to prove both his being there, and his being Bi&s;hop there, by the Scriptures, and either of the&s;e would trouble them; As it would trouble them, in our pre&s;ent ca&s;e, to a&s;&s;igne evi|dent places of Scripture, for the&s;e degrees of Glory in the Saints of Heaven. For though we be far from denying the <HI>Con&s;entaneum e&s;t,</HI> That it is rea&s;onable it &s;hould be, and likely it is &s;o, and farre from denying the <HI>Pi&egrave; creditur,</HI> That it may advance Devotion, and ex|alt Indu&s;try to beleeve that it is &s;o, Though we acknowledge a po&s;&s;ibility, a probability, a very &s;imilitude, a very truth, and thus farre a nece&s;&s;ary truth, that our endevours may flagge and &s;lacken, except we doe embrace that helpe, that there are degrees of Glory in Heaven, yet if wee &s;hall pre&s;&s;e for places of Scriptures, &s;o evident, as mu&s;t con&s;titute an Article of faith, there are perchance none to be found, to which very learned, and ve|ry reverend Expo&s;itors have not given convenient Interpretations, without inducing any &s;uch nece&s;&s;ity.</P>
<P>At lea&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Minus ex hee Taxtu.</NOTE> however other places of Scripture may &s;eeme to contribute more, this pro|po&s;ition
<PB N="745" REF="390">of our text, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e are many man&s;ions</HI> (though it have beene applyed to the proofe of that) hath no inclination, no inclinablene&s;&s;e that way. For in this text, our Saviour applies him&s;elfe to his Di&s;ciples, in that wherein they needed comfort, That Chri&s;t would go away, That they might not goe too, That <HI>Peter</HI> had got a <HI>Non-ob&s;tante,</HI> He might, and they might not, and Chri&s;t gives them that comfort, that all might, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e are many man&s;ions.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> When the Apo&s;tle pre&s;ents a great part of our Chri|&s;tian Religion together, &s;o as that he cals it a My&s;terie, and a great my&s;terie, yet he cals it a my&s;terie without controver&s;ie; <HI>Without controver&s;ie great is the my&s;terie of God mani|fe&s;ted in the fle&s;h, ju&s;tified in the Spirit, preached to the Gentiles, beleeved in the world, recei|ved into glory.</HI> When he pre&s;ents matter of con&s;olation, he would have it without con|trover&s;ie; To e&s;tabli&s;h a di&s;con&s;olate &s;oule, there is alwaies Divinity enough, that was never drawne into Controver&s;ie. I would pray? I finde the Spirit of God to di&s;po&s;e my heart, and my tongue, and mine eyes, and hands, and knees to pray; Doe I doubt to whom I &s;hould pray? To God, or to the Saints? That prayer to God alone was &s;uffici|ent, was never drawne into controver&s;ie. I would have &s;omething to rely and &s;ettle and e&s;tabli&s;h my a&s;&s;urance upon; Doe I doubt whether upon Chri&s;t, or mine owne, or others merits? That to rely upon Chri&s;t alone was &s;ufficient, was never drawne into Contro|ver&s;ie. At this time, Chri&s;t di&s;po&s;ed him&s;elfe to comfort his Di&s;ciples in that wherein they needed comfort; now their di&s;comfort, and their feare lay not in this, whether there were different degrees of glory in Heaven, but their feare was, that Chri&s;t being gone, and having taken <HI>Peter,</HI> and none but him, there &s;hould be no roome for them, and there|upon Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Let not that trouble you,</HI> for, <HI>In my Fathers hou&s;e are many man&s;ions.</HI> And &s;o we have done with the former branch of this la&s;t part, That it is piou&s;ly done to beleeve the&s;e degrees of glory in Heaven; That they have incon&s;iderately extended this probleme in the Roman Church, That no Scriptures are &s;o evident as to induce a nece&s;|&s;ity in it, That this Scripture conduces not at all to it; and therefore we pa&s;&s;e to our la&s;t Con&s;ideration, The right u&s;e of the right &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, Chri&s;t propo&s;es in the&s;e words Con&s;olation; A worke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;olatio.</NOTE> then which none is more divine, nor more proper to God, nor to tho&s;e in&s;truments, whom he &s;ends to worke upon the &s;oules and con&s;ciences of others. Who but my &s;elfe can conceive the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of that &s;alutation, when the Spirit of God &s;ayes to me in a morning, Go forth to day and preach, and preach con&s;olation, preach peace, preach mercy, And &s;pare my people, &s;pare that people whom I have redeemed with my precious Blood, and be not angry with them for ever; Do not wound them, doe not grinde them, do not a&s;toni&s;h them with the bitterne&s;&s;e, with the heavine&s;&s;e, with the &s;harpne&s;&s;e, with the con&s;ternation of my judgements. <HI>David</HI> propo&s;es to him&s;elfe, that he would <HI>Sing of mercy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 101.1.</NOTE> <HI>and of judgement;</HI> but it is of mercy fir&s;t; and not of judgement at all, otherwi&s;e then it will come into a &s;ong, as joy and con&s;olation is compatible with it. It hath falne into di&s;putation, and admitted argument, whether ever God inflicted puni&s;hments by his good Angels; But that the good Angels, the mini&s;teriall Angels of the Church, are properly his in|&s;truments, for conveying mercy, peace, con&s;olation, never fell into que&s;tion, never ad|mitted oppo&s;ition.</P>
<P>How heartily God &s;eemes to utter, and how delightfully to in&s;i&s;t upon that, which he &s;ayes in <HI>E&s;ay, Con&s;olamini, con&s;olamini populum meum, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 40.1.</NOTE> And <HI>Loquimini ad cor, Speake to the heart of Ieru&s;alem, and tell her, Thine iniquities are par|doned?</HI> How glad Chri&s;t &s;eemes that he had it for him, when he gives the &s;ick man that comfort, <HI>Fili confide, My &s;on be of good comfort, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee?</HI> What a Coro|nation is our taking of Orders, by which God makes us a Royall Prie&s;thood? And what an inthronization is the comming up into a Pulpit, where God inve&s;ts his &s;ervants with his Ordinance, as with a Cloud, and then pre&s;&s;es that Cloud with a <HI>Vae&s;i non,</HI> woe be un|to thee, if thou doe not preach, and then enables him to preach peace, mercy, con&s;olation, to the whole Congregation. That God &s;hould appeare in a Cloud, upon the Mercy Seat, as he promi&s;es <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> he will doe, That from &s;o poore a man as &s;tands here,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Levit. 16.2.</NOTE> wrapped up in clouds of infirmity, and in clouds of iniquity, God &s;hould drop, raine, poure downe his dew, and &s;weeten that dew with his honey, and cru&s;t that honied dew into Manna, and multiply that Manna into Gomers, and fill tho&s;e Gomers every day, and give every particular man his Gomer, give every &s;oule in the Congregation, con&s;olation by me; That when I call to God for grace here, God &s;hould give me grace for grace, Grace in
<PB N="746" REF="391">a power to derive grace upon others, and that this Oyle, this Bal&s;amum &s;hould flow to the hem of the garment, even upon them that &s;tand under me; That when mine eyes looke up to Heaven, the eyes of all &s;hould looke up upon me, and God &s;hould open my mouth, to give them meat in due &s;ea&s;on; That I &s;hould not onely be able to &s;ay, as Chri&s;t &s;aid to that poore &s;oule, <HI>Confide fili,</HI> My &s;on be of good comfort, but <HI>Fratres &amp; Patres mei,</HI> My Brethren, and my Fathers, nay <HI>Domini mei,</HI> and <HI>Rex meus,</HI> My Lords, and my King be of good comfort, your &s;ins are forgiven you; That God &s;hould &s;eale to me that Patent, <HI>Ite praedicate omni Creaturae, Goe and preach the Go&s;pell to every Creature,</HI> be that creature what he will, That if God lead me into a Congregation, as into his Arke, where there are but eight &s;oules, but a few di&s;po&s;ed to a &s;en&s;e of his mercies, and all the re&s;t (as in the Arke) ignobler creatures, and of brutall natures and affections, That if I finde a licentious Goat, a &s;upplanting Fox, an u&s;urious Wolfe, an ambitious Lion, yet to that creature, to every creature I &s;hould preach the Go&s;pel of peace and con&s;olation, and offer the&s;e creatures a Metamorpho&s;is, a transformation, a new Creation in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and thereby make my Goat, and my Fox, and my Wolfe, and my Lion, to become <HI>Se|men Dei,</HI> The &s;eed of God, and <HI>Filium Dei,</HI> The child of God, and <HI>Participem Divinae Naturae,</HI> Partaker of the Divine Nature it &s;elfe; This is that which Chri&s;t is e&s;&s;entially in him&s;elfe, This is that which mini&s;terially and in&s;trumentally he hath committed to me, to &s;hed his con&s;olation upon you, upon you all; Not as his Almoner to drop his con&s;olation upon one &s;oule, nor as his Trea&s;urer to i&s;&s;ue his con&s;olation to a whole Con|gregation, but as his Ophir, as his Indies, to derive his gold, his precious con&s;olation upon the King him&s;elfe.</P>
<P>What would a good Judge, a good natured Judge give in his Circuit, what would you, in who&s;e brea&s;ts the Judgements of the Star-chamber, or other criminall Courts are, give, that you had a warrant from the King, to change the &s;entence of blood into a par|don, where you found a Delinquent penitent? How rufully do we heare the Prophets groane under that <HI>Onus vi&s;ionis,</HI> which they repeat &s;o often, O the burden of my vi&s;ion upon Judah, or upon Moab, or Dama&s;cus, or Babylon, or any place? Which is not only that that judgement would be a heavy burden upon that place, but that it was a heavy burden to them to denounce that judgement, even upon Gods enemies. Our errand, our joy, our Crowne is Con&s;olation: for, if we con&s;ider the three Per&s;ons of the holy, ble&s;&s;ed and glorious Trinity, and their working upon us, a third part of their worke (if we may &s;o &s;peake) is con&s;olation; the Father is Power, the Son Wi&s;dome, and the Holy Gho&s;t Con&s;olation: for the Holy Gho&s;t is not in a Vulture, that hovers over Armies, and infected Cities, and feeds upon carca&s;&s;es, But the Holy Gho&s;t is in a Dove, that would not make a Congregation a &s;laughter-hou&s;e, but feeds upon corne, corne that hath in nature a di&s;po&s;ition to a revivi&s;cence, and a repullulation, and would imprint in you al, the con&s;olation and &s;en&s;e of a po&s;&s;ibility of returning to a new, and a better life. God found me nothing, and of that nothing made me; <HI>Adam</HI> left me wor&s;e then God found me, wor&s;e then nothing, the child of wrath, corrupted with the leaven of Originall &s;in; Chri&s;t Je&s;us found me wor&s;e then <HI>Adam</HI> left me, not onely &s;owred with Originall, but &s;potted, and gangrened, and dead, and buried, and putrified in actual and habitual &s;ins, and yet in that &s;tate redeemed me; And I make my &s;elfe wor&s;e then Chri&s;t found me, and in an inordinate dejection of &s;pirit, conceive a jealou&s;ie and &s;u&s;pition, that his merit con|cernes not me, that his blood extends not to my &s;in; And in this la&s;t and wor&s;t &s;tate, the Holy Gho&s;t finds me, the Spirit of Con&s;olation, And he &s;ends a <HI>Barnabas,</HI> a &s;on of Con&s;olation unto me, A <HI>Barnabas</HI> to my &s;ick bed &s;ide, A Phy&s;itian that comforts with hopes, and meanes of health, A <HI>Barnabas</HI> to my broken fortune, A potent and a loving friend, that a&s;&s;i&s;ts the reparation, and the e&s;tabli&s;hing of my &s;tate, A <HI>Barnabas</HI> into the Pulpit, that re&s;tores and rectifies my con&s;cience, and &s;catters, and di&s;pels all tho&s;e clouds that inve&s;ted it, and infe&s;ted it before. That un-imaginable worke of the Creation were not ready for a Sabbath, though I be a Creature, and a man, I could have no Sabbath, no re&s;t, no peace of con&s;cience; That un-expre&s;&s;ible worke of the Redemption were not ready for that Seale, which our Saviour &s;et to it upon the Cro&s;&s;e, in the <HI>Con&s;umma|tum e&s;t;</HI> All were not fini&s;hed that concerned me, if the Holy Gho&s;t were not ready to deliver that which Chri&s;t &s;ealed, and to witne&s;&s;e that which were &s;o delivered, that that Spirit might ever te&s;tifie to my &s;pirit, That all that Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;aid, and did, and &s;uf|fered, was &s;aid, and done, and &s;uffered for my &s;oule. Con&s;olation is not all, if we con|&s;ider
<PB N="747" REF="391">God, but if I con&s;ider my &s;elfe, and my &s;tate, Con&s;olation is all.</P>
<P>Chri&s;ts meaning then in this place, was to e&s;tabli&s;h in his Di&s;ciples this Con&s;olation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Con&s;olatio vera.</NOTE> but thus, <HI>Si quo minus,</HI> If it were not thus, I would tell you; If this were not true con|&s;olation, I would not delude you, I would not entertaine you with fal&s;e: for he is <HI>Deus omnium mi&s;erationum,</HI> The God of all mercies, and yet he will not &s;hew mercy to them, who &s;in upon pre&s;umption; So he is <HI>Deus omnium Con&s;olationum,</HI> The God of all Com|forts, and yet will not comfort them, who rely upon the fal&s;e, and mi&s;erable comforts of this world. How many, how very many of us doe otherwi&s;e? Otherwi&s;e to others, otherwi&s;e to our own Con&s;ciences? Delude all with fal&s;e Comforts? They would not &s;uffer Chri&s;t him&s;elfe to &s;leepe upon a pillow in a &s;torme, but they waked him with that, <HI>Ma&s;ter, care&s;t not thou, though we peri&s;h?</HI> When will we wake any Ma&s;ter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 4.38.</NOTE> any upon whom we depend, and &s;ay, Ma&s;ter, care&s;t not thou, though thou peri&s;h? We &s;uffer others, whom we &s;hould in&s;truct, and we &s;uffer our &s;elves to pa&s;&s;e on to the la&s;t ga&s;pe, and we never rebuke our Con&s;ciences, till our Con&s;ciences rebuke us at la&s;t, Alas, it is other|wi&s;e, and you never told us.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t comforts then, he di&s;putes not, that is not his way; He mini&s;ters true comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Domus.</NOTE> he flatters not, that is not his way; And in this true comfort, the fir&s;t beame is, That that &s;tate which he promi&s;es them is a Hou&s;e, <HI>In my Fathers Hou&s;e, &amp;c.</HI> God hath a pro|gre&s;&s;e hou&s;e, a removing hou&s;e here upon earth, His hou&s;e of prayer; At this houre, God enters into as many of the&s;e hou&s;es, as are opened for his &s;ervice at this houre: But his &s;tanding hou&s;e, his hou&s;e of glory, is that in Heaven, and that he promi&s;es them. God him&s;elfe dwelt in Tents in this world, and he gives them a Hou&s;e in Heaven. A Hou&s;e, in the de&s;igne and &s;urvay whereof, the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe is figurative, the Fathers wan|ton, and the School-men wilde. The Holy Gho&s;t, in de&s;cribing this Hou&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 21.</NOTE> fills our con|templation with foundations, and walls, and gates, of gold, of precious &s;tones, and all materialls, that we can call precious. The Holy Gho&s;t is figurative; And the Fathers are wanton in their &s;pirituall elegancies, &s;uch as that of S. <HI>Augu&s;tins,</HI> (if that booke be his) <HI>Hiems horrens, Ae&s;tas torrens,</HI> And, <HI>Virent prata, vernant &s;ata,</HI> and &s;uch other harmonious, and melodious, and mellifluous cadences of the&s;e waters of life. But the School-men are wild; for as one Author, who is afraid of admitting too great a hollowne&s;&s;e in the Earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mun&s;ter.</NOTE> le&s;t then the Earth might not be &s;aid to be &s;olid, pronounces that Hell cannot po&s;&s;ibly be above three thou&s;and miles in compa&s;&s;e, (and then one of the torments of Hell will be the throng, for their bodies mu&s;t be there, in their dimen&s;ions, as well as their &s;oules) &s;o when the School-men come to mea&s;ure this hou&s;e in heaven, (as they will mea&s;ure it, and the Ma&s;ter, God, and all his Attributes, and tell us how Allmighty, and how Infi|nite he is) they pronounce, that every &s;oule in that hou&s;e &s;hall have more roome to it &s;elfe, then all this world is. We know not that; nor &s;ee we that the con&s;olation lyes in that; we re&s;t in this, that it is a Hou&s;e, It hath a foundation, no Earth-quake &s;hall &s;hake it, It hath walls, no Artillery &s;hall batter it, It hath a roofe, no tempe&s;t &s;hall pierce it. It is a hou&s;e that affords &s;ecurity, and that is one beame; And it is <HI>Domus patris,</HI> His Fa|thers hou&s;e, a hou&s;e in which he hath intere&s;t, and that is another beame of his Con|&s;olation.</P>
<P>It was his Fathers, and &s;o his; And his, and &s;o ours;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Patris.</NOTE> for we are not joynt purcha&s;ers of Heaven with the Saints, but we are co-heires with Chri&s;t Je&s;us. We have not a place there, becau&s;e they have done more then enough for them&s;elves, but becau&s;e he hath done enough for them and us too. By death we are gathered to our Fathers in nature; and by death, through his mercy, gathered to his Father al&s;o. Where we &s;hall have a full &s;atisfaction, in that wherein S. <HI>Philip</HI> placed all &s;atisfaction, <HI>O&s;tende nobis patrem, Lord, &s;hew us thy Father, and it is enough.</HI> We &s;hall &s;ee his Father, and &s;ee him made ours in him.</P>
<P>And then a third beame of this Con&s;olation is, That in this hou&s;e of his Fathers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Man&s;iones.</NOTE> thus by him made ours, there are <HI>Man&s;ions;</HI> In which word, the Con&s;olation is not placed, (I doe not &s;ay, that there is not truth in it) but the Con&s;olation is not placed in this, That &s;ome of the&s;e Man&s;ions are below, &s;ome above &s;taires, &s;ome better &s;eated, better lighted, better vaulted, better fretted, better furni&s;hed then others; but onely in this, That they are <HI>Man&s;ions;</HI> which word, in the Originall, and Latin, and our Language, &s;ignifies a <HI>Re|maining,</HI> and denotes the perpetuity, the everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e of that &s;tate. A &s;tate but of one Day, becau&s;e no Night &s;hall over-take, or determine it, but &s;uch a Day, as is not of a
<PB N="748" REF="392">thou&s;and yeares, which is the longe&s;t mea&s;ure in the Scriptures, but of a thou&s;and milli|ons of millions of generations:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Qui nec praeceditur he&s;terno, nec excluditur cra&s;tino,</HI> A day that hath no <HI>pridie,</HI> nor <HI>po&s;tridie,</HI> ye&s;terday doth not u&s;her it in, nor to morrow &s;hall not drive it out. <HI>Methu&s;alem,</HI> with all his hundreds of yeares, was but a Mu&s;hrome of a nights growth, to this day, And all the foure Monarchies, with all their thou&s;ands of yeares, And all the powerfull Kings, and all the beautifull Queenes of this world, were but as a bed of flowers, &s;ome gathered at &s;ix, &s;ome at &s;eaven, &s;ome at eight, All in one Morning, in re&s;pect of this Day. In all the two thou&s;and yeares of Nature, before the Law given by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> And the two thou&s;and yeares of Law, before the Go&s;pel given by Chri&s;t, And the two thou&s;and of Grace, which are running now, (of which la&s;t houre we have heard three quarters &s;trike, more then fifteen hundred of this la&s;t two thou&s;and &s;pent) In all this &s;ix thou&s;and, and in all tho&s;e, which God may be plea&s;ed to adde, <HI>In domo patris,</HI> In this Hou&s;e of his Fathers, there was never heard quarter clock to &s;trike, never &s;een minute gla&s;&s;e to turne. No time le&s;&s;e then it &s;elfe would &s;erve to expre&s;&s;e this time, which is intended in this word <HI>Man&s;ions;</HI> which is al&s;o exalted with another beame, that they are <HI>Multa, In my Fathers Hou&s;e there are many Man&s;ions.</HI></P>
<P>In this Circum&s;tance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Multa.</NOTE> an E&s;&s;entiall, a Sub&s;tantiall Circum&s;tance, we would con&s;ider the joy of our &s;ociety, and conver&s;ation in heaven, &s;ince &s;ociety and conver&s;ation is one great element and ingredient into the joy, which we have in this world. We &s;hall have an a&s;&s;ociation with Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; for <HI>where he is,</HI> it is his promi&s;e, <HI>that we al&s;o &s;hall be.</HI> We &s;hall have an a&s;&s;ociation with the Angels, and &s;uch a one, as we &s;hall be &s;uch as they. We &s;hall have an a&s;&s;ociation with the Saints, and not onely &s;o, to be &s;uch as they, but to be they:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.11.</NOTE> And with all <HI>who come from the Ea&s;t, and from the We&s;t, and from the North, and from the South, and &s;it down with Abraham, and I&s;aac, and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven.</HI> Where we &s;hall be &s;o far from being enemies to one another, as that we &s;hall not be &s;trangers to one another: And &s;o far from envying one another, as that all that every one hath, &s;hall be every others po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion: where all &s;oules &s;hall be &s;o intirely knit together, as if all were but one &s;oule, and God &s;o intirely knit to every &s;oule, as if there were as many Gods as &s;oules.</P>
<P>Be comforted then, &s;ayes Chri&s;t to them, for This, which is a Hou&s;e, and not a Ship, not &s;ubject to &s;tormes by the way, nor wrecks in the end, <HI>My Fathers Hou&s;e,</HI> not a &s;tran|gers, in whom I had no intere&s;t, A Hou&s;e of Man&s;ions, a dwelling, not a &s;ojourning, And of many Man&s;ions not an Abridgement, a Modell of a Hou&s;e, not a Mona&s;tery of many Cells, but an exten&s;ion of many Hou&s;es, into the City of the living God, This hou&s;e &s;hall be yours, though I depart from you. Chri&s;t is nearer us, when we behold him with the eyes of faith in Heaven, then when we &s;eeke him in a piece of bread, or in a &s;acramentall box here. Drive him not away from thee, by wrangling and di&s;puting how he is pre&s;ent with thee; unnece&s;&s;ary doubts of his pre&s;ence may induce fearfull a&s;&s;urances of his ab|&s;ence: The be&s;t determination of the Reall pre&s;ence is to be &s;ure, that thou be really pre|&s;ent with him, by an a&s;cending faith: Make &s;ure thine own Reall pre&s;ence, and doubt not of his: Thou art not the farther from him, by his being gone thither before thee.</P>
<P>No, nor though <HI>Peter</HI> be gone thither before thee neither, which was the other point, in which the Apo&s;tles needed con&s;olation; They were troubled that Chri&s;t would goe, and none of them, and troubled that <HI>Peter</HI> might goe, and none but he. What men &s;oe|ver God take into heaven before thee, though thy Father that &s;hould give thee thy edu|cation, though thy Pa&s;tor that &s;hould give thee thy in&s;truction, though the&s;e men may be &s;uch in the &s;tate, and &s;uch in the Church, as thou maye&s;t thinke the Church and &s;tate cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t without them, Di&s;courage not thy &s;elfe, neither admit a jealou&s;ie or &s;u&s;pi|tion of the providence and good purpo&s;e of God; for, as God hath his panier full of Manna, and of Quailes, and can powre out to morrow, though he have powred them out plentifully upon his friends before; &s;o God hath his Quiver full of arrows, and can &s;hoot as powerfully, as heretofore, upon his Enemies. I forbid thee not S. <HI>Pauls</HI> wi&s;h, <HI>Cupio di&s;&s;olvi,</HI> To de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved, therefore, <HI>that thou maye&s;t be with Chri&s;t;</HI> I forbid thee not <HI>Davids</HI> &s;igh, <HI>Hei mihi, Woe is me that I mu&s;t dwell &s;o long with them that love not peace!</HI> I onely enjoyne thee thy Saviours <HI>Veruntamen, Yet not mine, but thy will, O Father, be done;</HI> That all thy wi&s;hes may have relation to his purpo&s;es, and all thy prayers may be inanimated with that, Lord manife&s;t thy will unto me, and conforme my will unto thine. So &s;halt thou not be afrighted, as though God aymed at thee, when he &s;hoots about the
<PB N="749" REF="392">marke, and thou &s;ee&s;t a thou&s;and fall at thy right hand, and ten thou&s;and at thy left; Nor di&s;couraged as though God had left out thee, when thou &s;ee&s;t him take others into gar|ri&s;on, and leave thee in the field, a&s;&s;ume others to Triumph, and leave thee in the Battell &s;till. For as Chri&s;t Je&s;us would have come down from heaven, to have dyed for thee, though there had been no &s;oule to have been &s;aved but thine; So is he gone up to heaven, to prepare a place for thee, though all the &s;oules in this world were to be &s;aved as well as thine. Trouble not thy &s;elfe with dignity, and priority, and precedency in Heaven, for Con&s;olation and Devotion con&s;i&s;t not in that, and thou wilt be the le&s;&s;e troubled with dignity, and priority, and precedency in this world, for Re&s;t and Quietne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;t not in that.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="74" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXIV. <HI>Preached at</HI> VVhite-hall, <HI>the</HI> 30. <HI>Aprill</HI> 1620</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 144.15.</HI></BIBL>
<P><HI>Being the fir&s;t P&s;alme for the day.</HI></P>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed are the People that be &s;o; Yea ble&s;&s;ed are the People, who&s;e God is the Lord.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe fir&s;t part of this Text hath relation to temporall ble&s;&s;ings, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is the people that be &s;o:</HI> The &s;econd part to &s;pirituall, <HI>Yea ble&s;&s;ed is the people, who&s;e God is the Lord. His left hand is under my head,</HI> &s;aith the Spou&s;e;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 2.6.</NOTE> That &s;u|&s;taines me from falling into murmuring, or diffidence of his Providence, becau&s;e out of his left hand he hath given me a competency of his tempo|rall ble&s;&s;ings; <HI>But his right hand doth embrace mee,</HI> &s;aith the Spou&s;e there; His &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings fill me, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e me, &s;o that no rebellious fire breaks out within me, no outward tentation breaks in upon me. So al&s;o &s;ayes <HI>Solomon</HI> againe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 3.16.</NOTE> <HI>In her left hand is riches and glory,</HI> (temporall ble&s;&s;ings) <HI>and in her right hand length of dayes,</HI> all that accompli&s;hes and fulfils the eternall joyes of the Saints of heaven. The per&s;on to whom <HI>Solomon</HI> attributes this right and left hand is Wi&s;edome; And a wi&s;e man may reach out his right and left hand, to receive the ble&s;&s;ings of both &s;orts. And the per&s;on whom <HI>Solomon</HI> repre&s;ents by Wi&s;edome there, is Chri&s;t him&s;elfe. So that not onely a worldly wi&s;eman, but a Chri&s;tian wi&s;eman may reach out both hands, to both kinds of ble&s;&s;ings, right and left, &s;pirituall and temporall. And therefore, <HI>Interrogo vos, filios regni coelorum,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> Let mee ask you, who are &s;onnes and heires of the Kingdome of Heaven, <HI>Proge|niem Re&s;urrectionis in aeternum,</HI> You that are the off-&s;pring of the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and have your re&s;urrection in his, <HI>Membra Chri&s;ti, Templa Spiritus Sancti,</HI> You that are the very body of Chri&s;t, you that are the very temples of the Holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Interrogo vos,</HI> Let me ask you, for all your great rever&s;ion hereafter, for all that pre&s;ent po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion which you have of it, in an apprehen&s;ive faith, and in a holy conver&s;ation in this life, for all that ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, <HI>Non e&s;t i&s;ba &s;aelicitas?</HI> Is there not a ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in enjoying Gods temporall ble&s;&s;ings here too? <HI>Sit lic&egrave;t, &s;ed &s;ini&s;tra,</HI> &s;aith that Father; It is certainely a ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, but a left handed ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, a weaker, a more imperfect ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, then &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings are.</P>
<P>As then there is <HI>dextra,</HI> and <HI>&s;ini&s;trabeatitudo,</HI> a right handed, and a left handed ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e in the Text: &s;o there is <HI>dextra</HI> and <HI>&s;ini&s;tra Interpretatio,</HI> a right and a left Expo&s;ition of the Text. And as both the&s;e ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;es, temporall and &s;pirituall, are &s;eales and te&s;ti|monies of Gods love, though not both of equall &s;trength, and equall evidence; &s;o both the Interpretations of the&s;e words are u&s;efull for our edification, though they bee not both of equall authority. That which we call <HI>Sini&s;tram Interpreiationem,</HI> is that &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, which ari&s;es from the fir&s;t Tran&s;lators of the Bible, the <HI>Septuagint,</HI> and tho&s;e Fathers which followed them; which, though it bee not an ill way, is not the be&s;t, be|cau&s;e it is not according to the letter; and then, that which we call <HI>Dextram Interpreta|tionem,</HI>
<PB N="750" REF="393">is that &s;en&s;e which ari&s;es pregnantly, and evidently, liquidly, and manife&s;tly out of the Originall Text it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>The Authors and followers of the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e reade not the&s;e words as we doe, <HI>Beatus populus,</HI> That people is ble&s;&s;ed, but <HI>Beatum dixerunt populum,</HI> That people was e&s;teemed ble&s;&s;ed; and &s;o they referre this and all the temporall ble&s;&s;ings mentioned in the three former Ver&s;es to a popular error, to a generall mi&s;taking, to the opinions, and words of wicked and worldly men, that onely they de&s;ire the&s;e temporall things, onely they ta&s;te a &s;weetne&s;&s;e, and apprehend a ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in them; whereas they who have truely their conver&s;ation in heaven, are &s;wallowed up with the contemplation of that ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, without any reflection upon earth or earthly things. But the Author of the &s;econd &s;en&s;e, which is God him&s;elfe, and his direct word, pre&s;ents it thus, <HI>Beatus populus,</HI> That people is truely ble&s;&s;ed, there is a true ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in temporall things; but yet, this is but <HI>&s;ini|&s;tra beatitudo,</HI> a le&s;&s;e perfect ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; For the followers of both Interpretations, and all Tran&s;lators, and all Expo&s;itors meet in this, That the perfect, the accompli&s;hing, the con&s;ummatory ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is onely in this, <HI>That our God be the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Interpretatio</NOTE> to make our be&s;t u&s;e of the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e, That temporall things conduce not at all to ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, S. <HI>Cyprians</HI> wonder is ju&s;t, <HI>Deum nobis &s;olis contentum e&s;&s;e, nobis non &s;uf|ficere Deum;</HI> That God &s;hould think man enough for him, and man &s;hould not bee &s;ati&s;|fied with God; That God &s;hould be content with <HI>Fili da mihi cor, My &s;onne give me thy heart,</HI> and man &s;hould not be content with <HI>Pater da mihi Spiritum,</HI> My God, my Father, grant me thy Spirit, but mu&s;t have temporall additions too. <HI>Non e&s;t ca&s;tum cor,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, &s;i Deum ad mercedem colit;</HI> as he &s;aith in another place, <HI>Non e&s;t ca&s;tauxor, quae amat quia dives,</HI> She is never the hone&s;ter woman, nor the lovinger wife, that loves her husband in contemplation of her future joynture, or in fruition of her pre&s;ent abundan|cies; &s;o hee &s;ayes here, <HI>None&s;t ca&s;tum cor,</HI> That man hath not a cha&s;t, a &s;incere heart to|wards God, that loves him by the mea&s;ure end proportion of his temporall ble&s;&s;ings. The Devill had &s;o much colour for that argument, that in pro&s;perity there can bee no triall, whether a man love God or no, as that he pre&s;&s;es it even to God him&s;elfe, in <HI>Iobs</HI> ca&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 1</NOTE> <HI>Doth Iob &s;erve God for nought? ha&s;t not thou hedged him in, and ble&s;&s;ed the works of his hands, and encrea&s;ed his &s;ub&s;tance?</HI> How can&s;t thou tell whether he will love thee, or feare thee, if thou &s;hould&s;t take away all this from him? thou ha&s;t had no triall yet. And this argument de&s;cended from that father to his children, from the Devill there, to tho&s;e followers of his whom the Prophet <HI>Malachy</HI> reprehends for &s;aying, <HI>It is in vaine to &s;erve God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.14.</NOTE> <HI>for what profit is it, that wee have kept his commandements?</HI> When men are willing to prefer their friends, we heare them often give the&s;e te&s;timonies of a man; He hath good parts, and you need not be a&s;hamed to &s;peake for him; hee hath money in his pur&s;e, and you need not be &s;orry to &s;peak for him; he under&s;tands the world, he knowes how things pa&s;&s;e, and he hath a di&s;creet, a &s;upple, and an appliable di&s;po&s;ition, and hee may make a fit in&s;trument for all your purpo&s;es, and you need not be afraid to &s;peake for him. But who ever ca&s;ts into this &s;cale and valuation of a man, that waight, that he hath a religious heart, that hee feares God? what profit is there in that, if wee con&s;ider this world onely?</P>
<P>But <HI>what profits it a man, if he get all the world, and lo&s;e his owne &s;oule?</HI> And therefore that opinion, That there was no profit at all, no degree towards ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in tho&s;e tem|porall things, prevailed &s;o farre, as that it is ea&s;ie to ob&s;erve in their Expo&s;itions upon the Lords Prayer, that the greate&s;t part of the Fathers doe ever interpret that Petition, <HI>Da nobis hodie, Give us this day our daily bread,</HI> to be intended onely of &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings, and not of temporall; So S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;aith, when we ask that bread, <HI>Illum petimus, qui pa|nis vivus e&s;t, &amp; de&s;cendit de coelo;</HI> we make our petition for him, who is the bread of life, and de&s;cended from the bo&s;ome of the Father; and &s;o he refers it to Chri&s;t, and in him, to the whole my&s;tery of our Redemption. And <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> too (and not they two alone) refer it to the Sacramentall bread; That in that Petition, wee de&s;ire &s;uch an application of the bread of life, as wee have in the participation of the body and blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in that Communion. S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> in&s;i&s;ts upon the word <HI>No&s;trum, Our bread;</HI> For, &s;aith he, temporall ble&s;&s;ings cannot properly bee called Ours, becau&s;e they are common to the Saints, and to the reprobates; but in a prayer ordained by Chri&s;t for the faithfull, the petition is for &s;uch things as are proper, and peculiar to the faithfull, and that is for &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings onely. If any man &s;hall &s;ay, <HI>Ideo quaerenda,
<PB N="751" REF="393">quia nece&s;&s;aria,</HI> We mu&s;t pray, and we mu&s;t labour for temporall things, becau&s;e they are nece&s;&s;ary for us, we cannot be without them, <HI>Ideo non quaerenda quia nece&s;&s;aria,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> &s;o much of them, as is nece&s;&s;ary for our be&s;t &s;tate, God will give us, with|out this laborious anxiety, and without eating the bread of &s;orrow in this life, <HI>Non &s;peran dum de &s;uperfluis, non de&s;perandum de nece&s;&s;ariis,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father; It is a &s;u&s;picious thing to doubt or di&s;tru&s;t God in nece&s;&s;ary things, and it is an unmannerly thing to pre&s;&s;e him in &s;uperfluous things. They are not nece&s;&s;ary before, and they are not ours after: for tho&s;e things onely are ours, which no body can take from us: and for temporall thing, <HI>Auferre pote&s;t inimicus homo, invito:</HI> Let the <HI>inimicus homo</HI> be the devill, and re|member <HI>Iobs</HI> ca&s;e, Let the <HI>inimicus homo</HI> be any envious and powerfull man, who hath a minde to that that thou ha&s;t, and remember <HI>Naboths</HI> ca&s;e, and this envious man can take any temporall thing from thee again&s;t thy will. But &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings cannot bee taken &s;o, <HI>Fidem nemo perdidit, ni&s;i qui &s;preverit,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tin,</HI> No man ever lo&s;t his faith, but he that thought it not worth the keeping.</P>
<P>But for <HI>Iobs</HI> temporall e&s;tate &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> all was lo&s;t. And le&s;t any man &s;hould &s;ay, <HI>Vxor relicta erat, Iob</HI> had not lo&s;t all, becau&s;e his Wife was left, <HI>Mi&s;ericordem putatis diabolum,</HI> &s;aies that Father, <HI>qui ei reliquit Vxorem?</HI> doe you thinke that <HI>Iob</HI> lighted upon a mercifull and good natur'd devill, that the devill did this out of pity and compa&s;&s;ion to <HI>Iob,</HI> or that <HI>Iob</HI> was beholding to the devill for this, that he left him his Wife? <HI>Nove|rat per quam deceperat Adam,</HI> &s;ayes he, The devill knew by what in&s;trument he had de|ceived the fir&s;t man, and by the &s;ame in&s;trument he practi&s;es upon <HI>Iob; Suam reliquit adjutricem, non mariti con&s;olatricem,</HI> He left <HI>Iob</HI> a helper, but a helper for his owne ends, but for her Husband a mi&s;erable comforter. <HI>Caro conjux,</HI> &s;ayes the &s;ame Father in ano|ther place, This fle&s;h, this &s;en&s;uall part of ours, is our wife: and when the&s;e temporall things by any occa&s;ion are taken from us, that wife, that fle&s;h, that &s;en&s;uality is left to murmure and repine at Gods corrections, and that is all the benefit we have by that wife, and all the portion we have with that wife.</P>
<P>Though therefore S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> who under&s;tood the Originall Language, the be&s;t of his time, in his Tran&s;lation of the P&s;almes, doe give the true, the right &s;en&s;e of this place, yet in his owne Commentaries upon the P&s;almes, he takes this fir&s;t &s;en&s;e, and beats upon that doctrine, that it is but a popular error, a generall mi&s;taking, to make worldly ble&s;|&s;ings any degree of happine&s;&s;e: he &s;aw &s;o good u&s;e of that doctrine, as that he would not &s;ee the right interpretation of the words: he &s;aw well enough, that according to the letter of the text, temporall things were ble&s;&s;ings, yet becau&s;e they were but left-handed ble&s;&s;ings, remembring the &s;tory in the booke of Judges, of 700. left-handed Benjamites,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudg. 20.10.</NOTE> that would &s;ling &s;tones at a haires breadth, and were better mark-men then the right-handed, and con&s;idering the left-handed men of this world, tho&s;e who pur&s;ue temporall ble&s;&s;ings onely, went with mo&s;t earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, and be&s;t &s;ucce&s;&s;e to their works, to correct that generall di&s;temper, that generall vehemence upon temporall things, S. <HI>Hierom,</HI> and &s;o many of the Fathers as accompany him in that interpretation, were content to embrace that &s;en&s;e, which is not truly the literall &s;en&s;e of this place, that it &s;hould be only <HI>Beatum dixerint,</HI> and not <HI>Beatus populus,</HI> a popular error, and not a truth, that any man, for any people, were ble&s;&s;ed in temporall things; and &s;o we have done with the fir&s;t &s;en&s;e of the&s;e words, and the rea&s;on why &s;o many follow it.</P>
<P>We are come now to the &s;econd Interpretation: where there is not <HI>Beatitudo fal&s;a</HI> and <HI>vera,</HI> for both are true, but there is <HI>dextra</HI> and <HI>&s;ini&s;tra,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2.</HI> Interpretatio.</NOTE> a right-handed and left-handed ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; there is <HI>Inchoativa</HI> and <HI>perfectiva,</HI> there is an introductory, and a con&s;um|matory ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e: and in the fir&s;t of the&s;e, in the left-handed, in the le&s;&s;e perfect ble&s;|&s;edne&s;&s;e, we mu&s;t con&s;ider three things. Fir&s;t, <HI>Beatitudinem ip&s;am,</HI> That there is a ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e propo&s;ed: and &s;econdly, <HI>In quibus,</HI> in what that ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is placed in this text, <HI>Quibus &s;ic,</HI> ble&s;&s;ed are they <HI>that are &s;o,</HI> that is, &s;o, as is mentioned in the three former ver&s;es: and thirdly, another <HI>In quibus,</HI> not in what things, but in what per&s;ons this fir&s;t ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is placed, <HI>Beatus populus,</HI> It is when all <HI>the people,</HI> the whole body, and not &s;ome ranks of men, nor &s;ome particular men in tho&s;e ranks, but when all the people par|ticipate of the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings.</P>
<P>Now fir&s;t, for this fir&s;t ble&s;&s;edne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beatitudo.</NOTE> As no Philo&s;ophers could ever tell us among&s;t the Gentiles, what true ble&s;&s;edne&s;s was, &s;o no Grammarian among&s;t the Jews, a|mong&s;t the Hebrews, could ever tell us, what the right &s;ignification of this word is, in
<PB N="752" REF="394">which <HI>David</HI> expre&s;&s;es ble&s;&s;edne&s;s here; whether <HI>A&s;herei,</HI> which is the word, be a plurall Noune, and &s;ignifie <HI>Beatitudines,</HI> Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;es in the plurall, and intimate thus much, that ble&s;&s;edne&s;s con&s;i&s;ts not in any one thing, but in a harmony and con&s;ent of many; or whether this <HI>A&s;herei</HI> be an Adverbe, and &s;ignifie <HI>beat&egrave;,</HI> and &s;o be an acclamation, O how happily, how ble&s;&s;edly are &s;uch men provided for that are &s;o; they cannot tell. What&s;oever it bee, it is the very fir&s;t word, with which <HI>David</HI> begins his booke of P&s;almes; <HI>Beatus vir:</HI> as the la&s;t word of that booke is, <HI>Laudate Dominum;</HI> to &s;hew, that all that pa&s;&s;es betweene God and man, from fir&s;t to la&s;t, is ble&s;&s;ings from God to man, and prai&s;es from man to God; and that the fir&s;t degree of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is, to finde the print of the hand of God, even in his temporall ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, and to prai&s;e and glorifie him for them, in the right u&s;e of them.</P>
<P>A man that hath no land to hold by it, nor title to recover by it, is never the better, for finding, or buying, or having a faire peece of evidence, a faire in&s;trument, fairely written, duly &s;ealed, authentically te&s;tified; A man that hath not the grace of God, and &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings too, is never the neerer happine&s;&s;e, for all his abundances of tempo|rall ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e. Evidences are evidences to them who have title. Temporall ble&s;&s;ings are evidences to them, who have a te&s;timony of Gods &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings in the tempo|rall. Otherwi&s;e as in his hands, who hath no Title, it is a &s;u&s;picious thing to finde evi|dences, and he will be thought to have embeazeled and purloyned them, he will bee thought to have forged and counterfaited them, and he will be called to an account for them, how he came to them, and what he meant to doe with them: &s;o to them, who have temporall ble&s;&s;ings without &s;pirituall, they are but u&s;ele&s;&s;e ble&s;&s;ings, they are but coun|terfait ble&s;&s;ings, they &s;hall not purcha&s;e a minutes peace of con&s;cience here, nor a mi|nutes refre&s;hing to the &s;oule hereafter; and there mu&s;t be a heavy account made for them, both how they were got, and how they were employed.</P>
<P>But when a man hath a good title to Heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 4.8.</NOTE> then the&s;e are good evidences: for, <HI>God|line&s;&s;e hath a promi&s;e of the life to come, and of the life that now is;</HI> and if we &s;pend any thing in maintenance of that title, give, or lo&s;e any thing for his glory and making &s;ure this &s;alvation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.29.</NOTE> <HI>We &s;hall inherit everla&s;ting life,</HI> &s;ayes the be&s;t &s;urety in the world; but we &s;hall not &s;tay &s;o long for our bill of charge, we &s;hall have <HI>A hundred fold in this life.</HI> S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> &s;eemes loath to take Chri&s;t at that large word, he &s;eemes to thinke it too great u&s;ury, to take a hundred fold for that which we have laid out for Chri&s;t: And therefore he reads that place, <HI>Accipiet &s;epties tantum,</HI> He &s;hall receive &s;even times as much, in this life. But in both the Euangeli&s;ts, <HI>Matthew</HI> and <HI>Marke,</HI> the overflowing bounty and retribution of God is &s;o expre&s;&s;ed, <HI>Centuplum accipiet.</HI> God repaired <HI>Iob</HI> &s;o, as he had beene impaired; God recompenced him <HI>in &s;pecie,</HI> in the &s;ame kinde as he had beene dam|nified. And Chri&s;t te&s;tifies of him&s;elfe, that his comming to us is not onely, <HI>Vt vitam ha|beatis, &s;ed habeatis abundanti&ugrave;s;</HI> More abundantly; that is, as diver&s;e of the Fathers inter|pret it, that you might have eternall life &s;ealed to you, in the pro&s;perity and abundancies of this life.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 9.10.</NOTE> <HI>I am the doore,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, in the &s;ame Chapter: we mu&s;t not thinke to flye over wals, by &s;udden and unde&s;erved preferments, nor to &s;ap and undermine, and &s;up|plant others; wee mu&s;t enter at that doore, by faire and Chri&s;tian meanes: And then, <HI>By me if any man enter,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t there, <HI>he &s;hall be &s;aved;</HI> there is a rich and ble&s;&s;ed in|heritance; but before he come to that &s;alvation, <HI>He &s;hall goe in and out, and finde pa&s;ture,</HI> &s;ayes that text. Now, in Heaven there is no going in and out; but in his way to Heaven, in this life, he &s;hall finde his intere&s;t in the next, conveied and &s;ealed to him in temporall ble&s;&s;ings here.</P>
<P>If <HI>Plato</HI> found and acknowledged a happine&s;&s;e in that, <HI>Qu&ograve;d natus homo,</HI> that he was borne a man, and not a bea&s;t, (<HI>Lactantius</HI> adds in <HI>Platoes</HI> behalfe, when he cites that place out of him, <HI>Qu&ograve;d natus vir,</HI> that he was borne a man and not a woman) if he found a far|ther happine&s;&s;e, <HI>Qu&ograve;d Graecus,</HI> that he was borne a Grecian, and not a Barbarian; <HI>qu&ograve;d Athenien&s;is,</HI> that he was borne in the Towne which was the receptacle, and dwelling of all wi&s;dome; and <HI>qu&ograve;d tempore Socratis,</HI> and that he was borne in <HI>Socrates</HI> his time, that &s;o he might have a good example, as well as a good rule for his life: As all we owe to God an acknowledgement of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, that we are borne in a Chri&s;tian Church, in a Reformed Church, in a Monarchy, in a Monarchy compo&s;ed of Monarchies, and in the time of &s;uch a Monarch, as is a Peace-maker, and a peace-pre&s;erver both at home and abroad; &s;o let all them who are borne of Nobility, or borne up to Nobility upon the
<PB N="753" REF="394">two faire wings of merit and of favour, all that are borne to riches, and born up and born out by their riches, all whom their indu&s;try, and wi&s;edome, and u&s;efulne&s;&s;e to the State, hath or may any way preferre, take heed of &s;eparating the Author and the meanes; of &s;eparating God and the King, in the wayes of favour; of &s;eparating God and their riches, in the wayes of purcha&s;e; of &s;eparating God and their wi&s;edome, in the wayes of pre|ferment; but let them alwayes di&s;cerne, and alwayes acknowledge, the hand of God, the Author, in directing and pro&s;pering the hand of his in&s;trument in all the&s;e temporall things, and then, the&s;e temporall things are truly ble&s;&s;ings unto them, and they are tru|ly ble&s;&s;ed in them.</P>
<P>This was our fir&s;t Con&s;ideration, our fir&s;t branch in this part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In quibus.</NOTE> that temporall things were &s;eales and te&s;timonies of ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e; The &s;econd is, to what particular evidence this &s;eales is annexed in this text, upon what things this ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e is placed here; which are all involved in this one little particle, this mona&s;yllable <HI>So, Ble&s;&s;ed are they that are &s;o;</HI> that is, &s;o, as a prayer is made in the three former ver&s;es, that they might be. Now as the maledictions which were threatned to <HI>David,</HI> were pre&s;ented to him by the Prophet in three formes, of warre, of famine, of pe&s;tilence; &s;o the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings which are comprized in tho&s;e three ver&s;es, may well be reduced to three things contrary to tho&s;e three male|dictions; To the ble&s;&s;ing of peace, contrary to <HI>Davids</HI> warre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 14.</NOTE> <HI>That there may be no inva&s;i|on;</HI> To the ble&s;&s;ing of plenty, contrary to <HI>Davids</HI> famine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 13.</NOTE> <HI>That our barnes may abound with all &s;orts of Corne;</HI> To the ble&s;&s;ing of health, contrary to <HI>Davids</HI> de&s;troying &s;ickne&s;&s;e, <HI>That our &s;onnes may grow up as plants in their youth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 12.</NOTE></P>
<P>For the fir&s;t temporall ble&s;&s;ing of peace, we may con&s;ider the loveline&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pax.</NOTE> the amiable|ne&s;&s;e of that, if we looke upon the horror and ga&s;tline&s;&s;e of warre: either <HI>in Effigie,</HI> in that picture of warre, which is drawn in every leafe of our own Chronicles, in the blood of &s;o many Princes, and noble families, or if we look upon warre it &s;elfe, at that di&s;tance where it cannot hurt us, as God had formerly kindled it among&s;t our neighbours, and as he hath transferred it now to remoter Nations, while&s;t we enjoy yet a Go&s;hen in the mid&s;t of all tho&s;e Egypts. In all Cities, di&s;orderly and facinorous men, covet to draw them&s;elves into the skirts and &s;uburbs of tho&s;e Cities, that &s;o they may be the nearer the &s;poyle, which they make upon pa&s;&s;engers. In all Kingdomes that border upon other Kingdomes, and in I&s;lands which have no other border but the Sea, particular men, who by dwelling in tho&s;e skirts and borders, may make their profit of &s;poile, delight in ho&s;tility, and have an adver&s;ene&s;&s;e and dete&s;tation of peace: but it is not &s;o within: they who till the earth, and breed up cattell, and imploy their indu&s;try upon Gods creatures, according to Gods ordinance, feele the benefit and apprehend the &s;weetne&s;&s;e, and pray for the continuance of peace.</P>
<P>This is the ble&s;&s;ing, in which God &s;o very very often expre&s;&s;es his gracious purpo&s;e upon his people, that he would give them peace; and peace with plenty;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Copia.</NOTE> <HI>O that my people had hearkned unto me!</HI> &s;ayes God, <HI>I would &s;oone have humbled their enemies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 81.13. &amp; ult.</NOTE> (there is their peace) <HI>And I would have fed them with the fat of wheat, and with the honey out of the Rocke,</HI> and there is their plenty. Per&s;ons who are preferred for &s;ervice in the warre, prove of|ten &s;u&s;picious to the Prince. <HI>Ioabs</HI> confidence in his own merit and &s;ervice, made him in|&s;olent towards the King, and the King jealous of him. But no man was more &s;uddenly nor more &s;afely preferred then <HI>Io&s;eph,</HI> for his coun&s;ell to re&s;i&s;t penury, and to pre&s;erve plenty and abundance within the Land. See <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> in an Homily which he made in a time of dearth and drought, in which he expre&s;&s;es him&s;elfe with as much elegancy, as any where, (and every where I thinke with as much as any man) where he &s;ayes, there was in the skie, <HI>Tri&s;tis &s;everitas &amp; ip&s;a puritate mole&s;ta,</HI> That the ayre was the wor&s;e for being &s;o good, and the fouler for being &s;o faire; and where he inverts the words of our Savi|our, <HI>Me&s;sis magna, operarii pauci,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, Here is a great harve&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10.2.</NOTE> but few work|men; but <HI>Operarii multi, me&s;sis parva,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> Here are workmen enow, but no har|ve&s;t to gather, in that Homily; He notes a barrenne&s;&s;e in that which u&s;ed to be fruitfull, and a fruitfulne&s;&s;e in that which u&s;ed to be barren; <HI>Terra &s;terilis &amp; aurum foecundum,</HI> He prophecyed of our times; when not onely &s;o many families have left the Country for the City, in their per&s;ons, but have brought their lands into the City, they have brought all their Evidences into Scriveners &s;hops, and changed all their renewing of lea&s;es every &s;eaven yeares, into renewing of bonds every &s;ix moneths: They have taken a way to in|flict a barrenne&s;&s;e upon land, and to extort a fruitfulne&s;&s;e from gold by u&s;ury. Mon&s;ters
<PB N="754" REF="395">may be got by unnaturall mixtures, but there is no race, no propagation of mon&s;ters: money may be rai&s;ed by this kinde of u&s;e; but, <HI>Non haerebit,</HI> It is the &s;weat of other men, and it will not &s;tick to thine heire. Nay, commonly it brings not that outward ble&s;&s;ing of plenty with it; for, for the mo&s;t part, we &s;ee no men live more penuriou&s;ly, more &s;ordid|ly, then the&s;e men doe.</P>
<P>The third of the&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings is health, without which both the other are no more to any man, then the Rainbow was to him who was ready to drowne; <HI>Quid mihi, &s;i peream ego?</HI> &s;ayes he, what am I the better, that God hath pa&s;t his word, and &s;et to his &s;eale in the heavens, that he will drowne the world no more, if I be drowned my &s;elfe? What is all the peace of the world to me, if I have the rebellions and earth-quakes of &s;haking and burning Feavers in my body? What is all the plenty of the world to me, if I have a langui&s;hing con&s;umption in my blood, and in my marrow? The Heathens had a godde&s;&s;e, to whom they attributed the care of the body, <HI>deam Carnam:</HI> And we that are Chri&s;tians, acknowledge, that Gods fir&s;t care of man, was his body, he made that fir&s;t; and his la&s;t care is re&s;erved for the body too, at the Re&s;urrection, which is princi|pally for the benefit of the body. There is a care belongs to the health, and comeline&s;&s;e of the body. When the Romans canonized <HI>Pallorem</HI> and <HI>Febrim,</HI> Palene&s;&s;e and Fevers, and made them gods, they would as faine have made them Devills, if they dur&s;t; they wor&s;hipped them onely, becau&s;e they &s;tood in feare of them. Sickne&s;&s;e is a &s;word of Gods, and health is his ble&s;&s;ing. For when <HI>Hezekias</HI> had a&s;&s;urance enough, that he &s;hould recover and live, yet he had &s;till a &s;en&s;e of mi&s;ery, in that he &s;hould not have a perfect &s;tate of health.<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 38.15.</NOTE> <HI>What &s;hall I &s;ay,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>I &s;hall walke weakly all my yeares, in the bitterne&s;&s;e of my &s;oule.</HI> All temporall ble&s;&s;ings are in&s;ipid and ta&s;tle&s;&s;e, without health.</P>
<P>Now the third branch of this part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Populus.</NOTE> is the other <HI>In quibus,</HI> not the things, but the per|&s;ons, in whom the&s;e three ble&s;&s;ings are here placed: And it is <HI>Beatus populus,</HI> when this ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e reaches to all, dilates it &s;elfe over all. When <HI>David</HI> places ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in one particular man, as he does in the beginning of the fir&s;t P&s;alme, <HI>Beatus vir, Ble&s;&s;ed is that man,</HI> there he pronounces that man ble&s;&s;ed, <HI>If he neither walke in the coun&s;ell of the wicked, nor &s;tand in the way of &s;inners, nor &s;it in the &s;eate of the &s;cornfull.</HI> If he doe not all, <HI>walke,</HI> and <HI>&s;tand,</HI> and <HI>&s;it</HI> in the pre&s;ence and feare of God, he is not ble&s;&s;ed. So, if the&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings fall not upon all, in their proportions, the people is not ble&s;&s;ed. The City may be ble&s;&s;ed in the increa&s;e of acce&s;&s;e; And the Lawyer may be ble&s;&s;ed in the increa&s;e of &s;uits; and the Merchant may be ble&s;&s;ed in the increa&s;e of meanes of getting, if he be come to get as well by taking, as by trading; but if all be not ble&s;&s;ed, the people is not ble&s;&s;ed: yea, if the&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings reach not to the Prince him&s;elfe, the peo|ple is not ble&s;&s;ed. For <HI>in favorabilibus Princeps &egrave; populo,</HI> is a good rule in the Law; in things beneficiall, the King is one of the people. When God &s;ayes by <HI>David, Let all the people ble&s;&s;e the Lord,</HI> God does not exempt Kings from that duty; and when God &s;ayes by him too, <HI>God &s;hall ble&s;&s;e all the people,</HI> God does not exempt, not exclude Kings from that benefit; And therfore where &s;uch things as conduce to the beeing, and the well-bee|ing, to the &s;ub&s;tance and &s;tate, to the ceremony and maje&s;ty of the Prince, be not chear|fully &s;upplied, and &s;ea&s;onably admini&s;tred, there that ble&s;&s;ing is not fully faln upon them, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is that people that are &s;o;</HI> for the people are not &s;o, if the Prince be not &s;o.</P>
<P>Nay, the people are not ble&s;&s;ed, if the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings be not permanent; for, it is not one|ly they that are alive now, that are the people; but the people is the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion. If we could imagine a ble&s;&s;ing of health without permanency, we might call an intermitting ague, a good day in a fever, health. If we could imagine a ble&s;&s;ing of plenty without per|manency, we might call a full &s;tomach, and a &s;urfet, though in a time of dearth, plenty. If we could imagine a ble&s;&s;ing of peace without permanency, we might call a nights &s;leepe, though in the mid&s;t of an Army, peace; but it is onely provi&s;ion for the perma|nency and continuance, that makes the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings ble&s;&s;ings. To thinke of, to provide a|gain&s;t famine, and &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and warre, that is the ble&s;&s;ing of plenty, and health, and peace. One of Chri&s;ts principall titles was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.</NOTE> that he was <HI>Princeps pacis,</HI> and yet this Prince of peace &s;ayes, <HI>Non veni mittere pacem,</HI> I came not to bring you peace, not &s;uch a peace as &s;hould bring them &s;ecurity again&s;t all warre. If a Ship take fire, though in the mid&s;t of the Sea, it con&s;umes &s;ooner, and more irrecoverably, then a thatched hou&s;e upon Land: If God ca&s;t a fire-brand of warre, upon a State accu&s;tomed to peace, it burnes the more de&s;perately, by their former &s;ecurity.</P>
<PB N="755" REF="395">
<P>But here in our Text we have a religious King, <HI>David,</HI> that fir&s;t prayes for the&s;e ble&s;|&s;ings, (for the three former Ver&s;es are a prayer) and then prai&s;es God in the acknow|ledgement of them; for this Text is an acclamatory, a gratulatory glorifying of God for them. And when the&s;e two meet in the con&s;ideration of temporall ble&s;&s;ings, a reli|gious care for them, a religious confe&s;&s;ing of them, prayer to God for the getting, prai&s;e to God for the having, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is that people,</HI> that is, Head and members, Prince and &s;ubjects, pre&s;ent and future people, <HI>that are &s;o;</HI> So ble&s;&s;ed, &s;o thankefull for their ble&s;|&s;ings.</P>
<P>We come now, <HI>Ad dextram dextrae,</HI> to the right ble&s;&s;edne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> in the right &s;en&s;e and in|terpretation of the&s;e words, to &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, to the ble&s;&s;edne&s;s of the &s;oule. <HI>E&s;t|ne Deo cura de bobus?</HI> is the Apo&s;tles que&s;tion, and his an&s;wer is pregnantly implied,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 9.9.</NOTE> God hath care of bea&s;ts: But yet God cared more for one &s;oule then for tho&s;e two thou&s;and hogges which he &s;uffered to peri&s;h in the Sea, when that man was di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 5.</NOTE> A dram of &s;pirituall is worth infinite talents of temporall. Here then in this &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;edne&s;s (as we did in the former) wee &s;hall looke fir&s;t, <HI>Quid beatitudo,</HI> what it is; and then, <HI>In quibus,</HI> in what it is placed here, <HI>Vt Deus eorum &s;it Dominus,</HI> That their God bee the Lord; And la&s;tly, the extent of it, That all the people bee made partakers of this &s;piri|tuall ble&s;&s;edne&s;s.</P>
<P>This ble&s;&s;edne&s;s then, you &s;ee is placed la&s;t in the Text;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Beatitudo.</NOTE> not that it cannot be had till our end, till the next life; In this ca&s;e, the <HI>Nemo ante obitum</HI> failes, for it is in this life, that we mu&s;t find our God to be the Lord, or el&s;e, if we know not that here, we &s;hall meet his <HI>Ne&s;cio vos,</HI> he will not know us; But it is placed la&s;t, becau&s;e it is the waightie&s;t, and the uttermo&s;t degree of ble&s;&s;endne&s;s, which can be had, <HI>To have the Lord for our God.</HI> Con&s;i|der the making up of a naturall man, and you &s;hall &s;ee that hee is a convenient Type of a &s;pirituall man too.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, in a naturall man wee conceive there is a &s;oule of vegetation and of growth; and &s;econdly, a &s;oule of motion and of &s;en&s;e; and then thirdly, a &s;oule of rea&s;on and under|&s;tanding, an immortall &s;oule. And the two fir&s;t &s;oules of vegetation, and of &s;en&s;e, wee conceive to ari&s;e out of the temperament, and good di&s;po&s;ition of the &s;ub&s;tance of which that man is made, they ari&s;e out of man him&s;elfe; But the la&s;t &s;oule, the perfect and im|mortall &s;oule, that is immediatly infu&s;ed by God. Con&s;ider the ble&s;&s;edne&s;s of this Text, in &s;uch degrees, in &s;uch proportions. Fir&s;t, God ble&s;&s;es a man with riches, there is his &s;oule of vegetation and growth, by that hee growes in e&s;timation, and in one kinde of true ability to produce good fruits, for he hath wherewithall. And then, God gives this rich man the ble&s;&s;ing of under&s;tanding, his riches, how to employ them according to tho&s;e morall and civill duties, which appertaine unto him, and there is his &s;oule of &s;en&s;e; for many rich men have not this &s;en&s;e, many rich men under&s;tand their owne riches no more then the Oaks of the Forre&s;t doe their owne Akorns. But la&s;t of all, God gives him the ble&s;&s;ing of di&s;cerning the mercy, and the purpo&s;e of God in giving him the&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings, and there is his immortall &s;oule. Now for the riches them&s;elves, (which is his fir&s;t &s;oule) he may have them <HI>ex traduce,</HI> by devolution from his parents; and the civill wi&s;edome, how to governe his riches, where to purcha&s;e, where to &s;ell, where to give, where to take, (which is his &s;econd &s;oule) this he may have by his owne acqui&s;ition, and experience, and conver&s;ation; But the immortall &s;oule, that is, the di&s;|cerning of Gods image in every piece, and of the &s;eale of Gods love in every temporall ble&s;&s;ing, this is infu&s;ed from God alone, and ari&s;es neither from Parents, nor the wi&s;e|dome of this world, how worldly wi&s;e &s;o ever wee bee in the governing of our e&s;tate.</P>
<P>And this the Prophet may very well &s;eeme to have intimated, when he &s;aith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 112.1.</NOTE> <HI>The gene|ration of the righteous &s;hall be ble&s;&s;ed;</HI> Here is a permanent ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, to the generation. Wherein is it expre&s;&s;ed? thus; <HI>Riches and trea&s;ure &s;hall bee in his hou&s;e, and his righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e endureth for ever.</HI> Hee doth not &s;ay, that Simony, or U&s;ury, or Extortion &s;hall bee in his hou&s;e; for riches got &s;o are not trea&s;ure; Nor he doth not &s;ay, that Riches well got, and which are truely a ble&s;&s;ing, &s;hall endure for ever, but <HI>his righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;hall endure for ever.</HI> The la&s;t &s;oule, the immortall &s;oule endures for ever. The ble&s;&s;edne&s;s of having &s;tudied, and learnt, and practi&s;ed the knowledge of Gods purpo&s;e in temporall ble&s;&s;ings, this ble&s;&s;edne&s;s &s;hall endure for ever; When thou &s;halt turne from the left to the right &s;ide, upon thy death bed, from all the honours, and riches of this world, to breathe thy &s;oule into his hands that gave it, this righteou&s;ne&s;s, this good con&s;cience &s;hall endure then, and
<PB N="756" REF="396">then accompany thee: And when thine eyes are clo&s;ed, and in the twinckling of his eye that clo&s;ed thine, thy &s;oule &s;hall be gone an infinite way from this honour, and the&s;e ri|ches, this righteou&s;ne&s;s, this good con&s;cience &s;hall endure then, and meet thee in the gates of heaven. And this is &s;o much of that righteou&s;ne&s;s, as is expre&s;&s;ed in this Text, (becau&s;e this is the root of all) <HI>That our God be the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>In which,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In quibus.</NOTE> fir&s;t wee mu&s;t propo&s;e a <HI>God,</HI> that there is one, and then appropriate this God to our &s;elves, that he be <HI>our God,</HI> and la&s;tly, be &s;ure that we have the right God, that <HI>our God be the Lord.</HI> For, for the fir&s;t, he that enterpri&s;es any thing, &s;eeks any thing, po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;es any thing without recour&s;e to God, without acknowledging God in that action, he is, for that particular, an Athei&s;t, he is without God in that; and if hee doe &s;o in mo&s;t of his actions, he is for the mo&s;t part an Athei&s;t. If he be an Athei&s;t every where, but in his Catechi&s;me, if onely then he confe&s;&s;e a God when hee is asked, Doe&s;t thou beleeve that there is a God, and never confe&s;&s;e him, never con&s;ider him in his actions, it &s;hall do him no good, to &s;ay at the la&s;t day, that he was no &s;peculative Athei&s;t, he never thought in his heart, that there was no God, if hee lived a practique Ather&s;t, proceeded in all his actions without any con&s;ideration of him. But accu&s;tome thy &s;elfe to find the pre&s;ence of God in all thy gettings, in all thy preferments, in all thy &s;tudies, and he will be abun|dantly &s;ufficient to thee for all. <HI>Quantumlibet &s;is avarus,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, &s;ufficit tibi Deus,</HI> Be as covetous as thou wilt, bee as ambitious as thou can&s;t, the more the better; God is trea&s;ure, God is honour enough for thee. <HI>Avaritia terram quaerit,</HI> &s;aith the &s;ame Father, <HI>adde &amp; Coelum;</HI> would&s;t thou have all this world? would&s;t thou have all the next world too? <HI>Plus e&s;t, qui fecit coelum &amp; terram,</HI> He that made heaven and earth is more then all that, and thou maye&s;t have all him.</P>
<P>And this appropriates him &s;o neare to us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">No&s;ter,</NOTE> as that hee is thereby <HI>Deus no&s;ter.</HI> For, it is not enough to finde <HI>Deum,</HI> a God; a great and incomprehen&s;ible power, that &s;its <HI>in luce,</HI> in light, but <HI>in luce inacce&s;sibili,</HI> in light that we cannot comprehend. A God that enjoyes his owne eternity, his owne peace, his owne ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, but re&s;pects not us, re|flects not upon us, communicates nothing to us. But it is a God, that is <HI>Deus no&s;ter;</HI> Ours, as we are his creatures; ours, as we are like him, made to his image; ours, as he is like us, in a&s;&s;uming our nature; ours, as he hath de&s;cended to us in his Incarnation; and ours, as we are a&s;cended with him in his glorification: So that wee doe not con&s;ider God, as our God, except we come to the con&s;ideration of God in Chri&s;t, God and man. It is not enough to find <HI>Deum,</HI> a God in generall, nor to find <HI>Deum meum,</HI> a God &s;o particularly my God, as that he is a God of my making: That I &s;hould &s;eeke God by any other mo|tions, or know God by any other notions, or wor&s;hip God in any other fa&s;hions, then the true Church of God doth, for there he is <HI>Deus no&s;ter,</HI> as hee is received in the unanime con&s;ent of the Catholique Church. Sects are not bodies, they are but rotten boughes, gangrened limmes, fragmentary chips, blowne off by their owne &s;pirit of turbulency, fallen off by the waight of their owne pride, or hewen off by the Excommunications and cen&s;ures of the Church. Sects are no bodies, for there is <HI>Nihil no&s;trum,</HI> nothing in common among&s;t them, nothing that goes through them all; all is &s;ingular, all is <HI>meum</HI> and <HI>tuum,</HI> my &s;pirit and thy &s;pirit, my opinion and thy opinion, my God and thy God; no &s;uch apprehen&s;ion, no &s;uch wor&s;hip of God, as the whole Church hath evermore been acquainted withall, and contented with.</P>
<P>It is true, that every man mu&s;t appropriate God &s;o narrowly, as to find him to be <HI>De|um &s;uum,</HI> his God; that all the promi&s;es of the Prophets, and all the performances of the Go&s;pell, all that Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;aid, and did, and &s;uffered, belongs to him and his &s;oule; but yet God is <HI>Deus meus,</HI> as he is <HI>Deus no&s;ter,</HI> my God, as he is our God, as I am a part of that Church, with which he hath promi&s;ed to be till the end of the world, and as I am an obedient &s;onne of that Mother, who is the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t Je&s;us: For as S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine</HI> &s;aith of that Petition, <HI>Give us this day our daily bread, Vnde dicimus Da no&s;trum?</HI> How come we to ask that which is ours, <HI>Quomodo no&s;trum, quomodo da?</HI> if we be put to ask it, why doe wee call it ours? and then an&s;wers him&s;elfe, <HI>Tuum confitendo, non eris ingratus,</HI> It is a thankfull part to confe&s;&s;e that thou ha&s;t &s;ome, that thou ha&s;t received &s;ome ble&s;|&s;ings; and then, <HI>Ab illo petendo, non eris vacuus,</HI> It is a wi&s;e and a provident part, to ask more of him, who&s;e &s;tore is inexhau&s;tible; So if I feele God, as hee is <HI>Deus meus,</HI> as his Spirit works in me, and thankfully acknowledge that, <HI>Non &s;um ingratus;</HI> But if I derive this Pipe from the Ci&s;tern, this <HI>Deus meus,</HI> from <HI>Deus no&s;ter,</HI> my knowledge and &s;en&s;e
<PB N="757" REF="396">of God, from that knowledge which is communicated by his Church, in the preaching of his Word, in the admini&s;tration of his Sacraments, in tho&s;e other meanes which he hath in&s;tituted in his Church, for the a&s;&s;i&s;tance and reparation of my &s;oule that way, <HI>Non er o vacuus,</HI> I &s;hall have a fuller &s;atisfaction, a more abundant refection then if I rely upon my private in&s;pirations: for there he is <HI>Deus no&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>Now, as we are thus to acknowledge a God, and thus to appropriate that God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dominus.</NOTE> &s;o we mu&s;t be &s;ure to confer this honour upon the right God, upon him who is <HI>the Lord.</HI> Now this name of God, which is tran&s;lated <HI>the Lord</HI> here, is not the name of God, which pre|&s;ents him with relation to his Creatures: for &s;o it is a problematicall, a di&s;putable thing, Whether God could be called <HI>the Lord,</HI> before there were any Creatures. <HI>Tertul|lian</HI> denies ab&s;olutely that he could be called Lord till then; S. <HI>Augu&s;tin</HI> is more mode&s;t, he &s;ayes, <HI>Non audeo dicere,</HI> I dare not &s;ay that he was not; but he does not affirme that he was; How&s;oever the name here, is not the name of Relation, but it is the name of his E&s;&s;ence, of his Eternity, that name, which of late hath beene ordinarily called <HI>Iebovah.</HI> So that we are not to tru&s;t in tho&s;e Lords, <HI>Who&s;e breath is in their no&s;trils,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 2. ult.</NOTE> as the Prophet &s;ayes, <HI>For, wherein are they to be e&s;teemed?</HI> &s;ayes he; we are le&s;&s;e to tru&s;t in them, who&s;e breath was never in their no&s;trils, &s;uch imaginary Saints, as are &s;o far from hearing us in Heaven, as that they are not there: and &s;o far from being there, as that they were never here: &s;o farre from being Saints, as that they were never men, but are either fabulous illu&s;ions, or at lea&s;t, but &s;ymbolicall and allegoricall allu&s;ions. Our Lord is the Lord of life and being, who gave us not onely a well-being in this life, (for that, other Lords can pretend to doe, and doe indeed, by preferments here) nor a beginning of a tempo|rary being in this life, (for that our Parents pretend, and pretend truly to have done) nor onely an enlarging of our being in this life, (for that the King can doe by a Pardon, and the Phy&s;itians by a Cordiall) but he hath given us an immortall being, which neither our Parents began in us, nor great per&s;ons can advance for us, nor any Prince can take from us. This is <HI>the Lord</HI> in this place, this is <HI>Iehova,</HI> and <HI>Germen Iehovae,</HI> The Lord,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 4.2.</NOTE> and the off-&s;pring of the Lord; and none is the off-&s;pring of God, but God, that is, the Son, and the Holy Gho&s;t. So that this perfect ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;ts in this, the true knowledge and wor&s;hip of the Trinity.</P>
<P>And this ble&s;&s;ing, that is, the true Religion and profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t Je&s;us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Populus.</NOTE> is to be upon all the people; which is our la&s;t Confideration. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed is the Nation, who&s;e God is the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 33.12.</NOTE> <HI>and the people whom he hath cho&s;en for his Inheritance.</HI> And here againe (as in the former Con&s;ideration of temporall ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e) The people includes both Prince and people; and then, the ble&s;&s;ing con&s;i&s;ts in this, that both Prince and people be &s;incerely affected to the true Religion; And then, the people includes all the people; and &s;o, the ble&s;&s;ing con&s;i&s;ts in this, that there be an unanimitie, a con&s;ent in all, in matter of Religion; And la&s;tly, the people includes the future people; and there, the ble&s;&s;ing con&s;i&s;ts in this, that our po&s;terity may enjoy the &s;ame purity of Religion that we doe. The fir&s;t tentation that fell amon&s;t the Apo&s;tles carried away one of them: <HI>Iudas</HI> was tran&s;ported with the ten|tation of money; and how much? For thirty peeces, and in all likelihood he might have made more profit then that, out of the privy pur&s;e; The fir&s;t tentation carried one, but the fir&s;t per&s;ecution carried away nine, when Chri&s;t was apprehended, none was left but two, and of one of tho&s;e two, S. <HI>Hierom</HI> &s;aies, <HI>Vtin&agrave;m fugi&s;&s;et &amp; non nega&s;&s;et Chri&s;tum,</HI> I would <HI>Peter</HI> had fled too, and not &s;candalized the cau&s;e more by his &s;tay, in denying his Ma&s;ter: for, a man may &s;tay in the outward profe&s;&s;ion of the true Religion, with &s;uch purpo&s;es, and to &s;uch ends, as he may thereby damnifie the cau&s;e more, and damnifie his owne &s;oule more, then if he went away to that Religion, to which his con&s;cience (though ill rectified) directs him. Now, though when &s;uch tentations, and &s;uch per&s;e|cutions doe come, the words of our Saviour Chri&s;t will alwayes be true,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.32.</NOTE> <HI>Feare not little flocke, for it is Gods plea&s;ure to give you the Kingdome,</HI> though God can lay up his &s;eed|corne in any little corner, yet the ble&s;&s;ing intended here, is not in that little &s;eed-corne, nor in the corner, but in the plenty, when all the people are ble&s;&s;ed, and the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit blowes where he will, and no doore nor window is &s;hut again&s;t him.</P>
<P>And therefore let all us ble&s;&s;e God, for that great ble&s;&s;ing to us, in giving us &s;uch Princes, as make it their care, <HI>Nebona caduca&s;int, ne mala recidiva,</HI> That that ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e which we enjoy by them, may never depart from us, that tho&s;e mi&s;eries which wee felt before them, may never returne to us. Almighty God make alwaies to us all, Prince
<PB N="758" REF="397">and people, the&s;e temporall ble&s;&s;ings which we enjoy now, Peace, and Plenty, and Health, &s;eales of his &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;ings, and that &s;pirituall ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e which we enjoy now, the profe&s;&s;ion of the onely true Religion, a &s;eale of it &s;elfe, and a &s;eale of tho&s;e eter|nall ble&s;&s;ings, which the Lord the righteous Judge hath laid up for his, in that Kingdome which his Son, our Saviour hath purcha&s;ed for us, with the ine&s;timable price of his in|corruptible blood. In which glorious Son of God, &amp;c.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="75" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXV. <HI>Preached to the King at</HI> VVhite-hall, <HI>April</HI> 15. 1628.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ESAY 32.8.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But the liberall devi&s;eth liberall things, and by liberall things he &s;hall &s;tand.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_BY two wayes e&s;pecially hath the Go&s;pell beene propagated by men of letters, by Epi&s;tles, and by Sermons. The Apo&s;tles pur&s;ued both wayes; frequent in Epi&s;tles, a&s;&s;iduous in Sermons. And, as they had the name of <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> from Letters, from Epi&s;tles, from Mi&s;&s;ives, (for, the Certificates, and Te&s;timoni|als, and &s;afe-conducts, and letters of Credit, which i&s;&s;ued from Princes Courts, or from Courts that held other Juri&s;diction, were in the formularies and termes of Law called A|po&s;tles, before Chri&s;ts Apo&s;tles were called Apo&s;tles) &s;o they executed the office of their Apo&s;tle&s;hip &s;o too, by Writing, &amp; by Preaching. This &s;ucce&s;&s;ion in the Mini&s;tery of the Go&s;pell did &s;o too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> Therefore it is &s;aid of S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome, Vbi&abque; praedicavit, quia ubique lectus,</HI> He preached every where, becau&s;e he was read every where. And, he that is &s;aid to have beene S.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pelu&s;iota.</NOTE> <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tomes</HI> di&s;ciple, <HI>I&s;idore,</HI> is &s;aid to have written ten thou&s;and E|pi&s;tles, and in them to have delivered a ju&s;t, and full Commentary upon all the Scrip|tures. In the fir&s;t age of all, they &s;carce went any other way, (for writing) but this, by Epi&s;tles. Of <HI>Clement,</HI> of <HI>Ignatius,</HI> of <HI>Polycarpus,</HI> of <HI>Martial,</HI> there is not much offered us, with any probability, but in the name of Epi&s;tles.</P>
<P>When Chri&s;tians gathered them&s;elves with more freedome, and Churches were e&s;tabli&s;hed with more liberty, Preaching prevailed; And there is no exerci&s;e, that is de|noted by &s;o many names, as Preaching. <HI>Origen</HI> began; for, (I thinke) we have no Ser|mons, till <HI>Origens.</HI> And though hee began early, (early, if wee con&s;ider the age of the Church, (a thou&s;and foure hundred yeares &s;ince) and early, if wee con&s;ider his owne age, for, <HI>Origens.</HI> preached by the commandement, and in the pre&s;ence of Bi&s;hops, before he was a Churchman) yet he &s;uffered no Sermons of his to be copied, till he was &s;ixty yeares old. Now, <HI>Origen</HI> called his Homilies; And the fir&s;t <HI>Gregory,</HI> of the &s;ame time with <HI>Origen,</HI> that was Bi&s;hop of Neoce&s;aria, hath his called Sermons. And &s;o names multiplied; Homilies, Sermons, Conciones, Lectures, S. <HI>Augu&s;tins</HI> Enarrations, <HI>Dictio|nes,</HI> that is, Speeches, <HI>Dama&s;cens</HI> and <HI>Cyrils</HI> Orations (nay, one excerci&s;e of <HI>Cae&s;areus,</HI> conveied in the forme of a Dialogue) were all Sermons. Add to the&s;e Church-exerci&s;es, (Homilies, Sermons, Lectures, Orations, Speeches, and the re&s;t) the Declamations of Civill men in Courts of Ju&s;tice, the Tractates of Morall men written in their Studies, nay goe backe to your our owne times, when you went to Schoole, or to the Univer&s;ity; and remember but your owne, or your fellowes Themes, or Problemes, or Common|places, and in all the&s;e you may &s;ee evidence of that, to which the Holy Gho&s;t him|&s;elfe hath &s;et a Seale in this text, that is, the recommendation of Bountie, of Muni|ficence, of Liberalitie, <HI>The Liberall devi&s;eth liberall things, and by liberall things hee &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>That which makes me draw into con&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> the recommendation of this vertue, in civill Authors, and exerci&s;es, as well as in Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall, is this, That our Expo&s;itors, of all the three ranks, and Cla&s;&s;es (The Fathers and Ancients, The later men in the Ro|mane Church, and ours of the Reformation) are very near equally divided, in every of
<PB N="759" REF="397">the&s;e three rankes; whether this Text be intended of a morall and a civill, or of a &s;piri|tuall and Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall liberality; whether this prophecy of <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> in this Chapter, be|ginning thus, <HI>(Behold, a King &s;hall reigne in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 1.</NOTE> and Princes &s;hall rule in judge|ment)</HI> be to be under&s;tood of an <HI>Hezekias,</HI> or a <HI>Io&s;ias,</HI> or any other good King, which was to &s;ucceed, and to induce vertuous times in the temporall State, and government, Or whether this were a prophecy of Chri&s;ts time, and of the exaltation of all vertues in the Chri&s;tian Religion, hath divided our Expo&s;itors in all tho&s;e three Cla&s;&s;es. In all three, (though in all three &s;ome particular men are peremptory and vehement upon &s;ome one &s;ide, ab&s;olutely excluding the other expo&s;ition, as, among&s;t our Authors in the Re|formation, one &s;ayes, <HI>Dubium non e&s;t,</HI> It can admit no doubt,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calvin.</NOTE> but that this is to be under|&s;tood of <HI>Hezekias,</HI> and his reigne, And yet another of the &s;ame &s;ide, &s;ayes too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">He&s;hu&s;ius.</NOTE> <HI>Qui Rab|binos &s;ecuti,</HI> They that adhere too much to the Jewi&s;h Rabbins, and will needs interpret this prophecy of a temporall King, ob&s;cure the purpo&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t, and accom|modate many things to a &s;ecular Prince, which can hold in none, but Chri&s;t him&s;elfe) yet, I &s;ay, though there be &s;ome peremptory, there are in all the three Cla&s;&s;es, Ancients, Romans, Reformed, moderate men, that apply the prophecy both wayes, and finde that it may very well &s;ub&s;i&s;t &s;o, That in a faire proportion, all the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings &s;hall be in the reignes of tho&s;e <HI>Hezekia&s;&s;es,</HI> and tho&s;e <HI>Io&s;ia&s;&s;es,</HI> tho&s;e good Kings which God affords to his people; But the multiplication, the exaltation of all the&s;e ble&s;&s;ings, and vertues, is with relation to the comming of Chri&s;t, and the e&s;tabli&s;hing of his Kingdome: And this puts us, if not to a nece&s;&s;ity, yet with conveniency, to con&s;ider the&s;e words both wayes; What this civill liberality is, that is here made a ble&s;&s;ing of a good Kings reigne; And what this &s;pirituall liberality is, that is here made a te&s;timony of Chri&s;ts reigne, and of his Go&s;pel. And therefore, &s;ince we mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e twice thorough the&s;e words, it is time to begin; <HI>The liberall man devi&s;eth liberall things, and by liberall things he &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>From the&s;e two armes of this tree, that is, from the civill, and from the &s;pirituall ac|commodation of the&s;e words, be plea&s;ed to gather, and lay up the&s;e particular fruits. In each of the&s;e, you &s;hall ta&s;te fir&s;t, what this Liberality thus recommended is; And &s;e|condly, what this devi&s;ing, and &s;tudying of liberall things is; And againe, how this man is &s;aid to &s;tand by liberall things; <HI>The liberall man devi&s;eth liberall things, and by liberall things he &s;hall &s;tand.</HI> And becau&s;e in the cour&s;e of this Prophecy, in this Chapter, we have the King named, and then his Princes, and after, per&s;ons of lower quality and con|dition, we &s;hall con&s;ider the&s;e particulars; This <HI>Liberality,</HI> this <HI>Devi&s;ing,</HI> this <HI>Standing;</HI> Fir&s;t, in the fir&s;t accommodation of the words, In the King, in his Princes, or great per|&s;ons, the Magi&s;trate, and la&s;tly, in his people. And in the &s;econd accommodation, the &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e, we &s;hall con&s;ider the&s;e three termes, <HI>(Liberality, Devi&s;ing, Standing)</HI> Fir&s;t, in the King of Kings, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, And then, in his Officers, the Mini&s;ters of his Go&s;pel, And la&s;tly, in his people gathered by this Go&s;pel; In all which per&s;ons, in both &s;orts, Civill and Spirituall, we &s;hall &s;ee how <HI>the liberall man devi&s;eth liberall things,</HI> and how <HI>by liberall things he &s;tands.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, in our fir&s;t part, In the civill con&s;ideration of this vertue, <HI>Liberality,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. Liberality.</NOTE> It is a communication of that which we have to other men; and it is the be&s;t character of the be&s;t things, that they are communicable, diffu&s;ive. Light was Gods fir&s;t childe; Light opened the wombe of the Chaos; borne heire to the world, and &s;o does po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the world; and there is not &s;o diffu&s;ive a thing, nothing &s;o communicative, and &s;elf-giving as light is. And then, Gold is not onely valued above all things, but is it &s;elfe the value of all things; The value of every thing is, Thus much gold it is worth; And no metall is &s;o exten&s;ive as gold; no metall enlarges it &s;elfe to &s;uch an expan&s;ion, &s;uch an atte|nuation as gold does, nor &s;preads &s;o much, with &s;o little &s;ub&s;tance. Sight is the noble&s;t, and the powerfulle&s;t of our Sen&s;es; All the re&s;t, (Hearing onely excepted) are determi|ned in a very narrow di&s;tance; And for Hearing, Thunder is the farthe&s;t thing that we can heare, and Thunder is but in the ayre; but we &s;ee the ho&s;t of Heaven, the &s;tarres in the firmament. All the good things that we can con&s;ider, Light, Sight, Gold, all are accompanied with a liberality of them&s;elves, and are &s;o far good, as they are di&s;pen&s;ed and communicated to others; for their goodne&s;&s;e is in their u&s;e. It is <HI>Virtus prolifica,</HI> a generative, a productive vertue, a vertue that begets another vertue; another vertue upon another man; Thy liberality begets my gratitude; and if there be an unthankfull barren|ne&s;&s;e in me, that thou have no children by me, no thankfulne&s;&s;e from me, God &s;hall rai&s;e
<PB N="760" REF="398">thee the more children for my barrenne&s;&s;e, Thy liberality &s;hall be the more celebrated by all the world, becau&s;e I am unthankfull. God hath given me a being, and my liberall Benefactor hath given me &s;uch a better being, as that, without that, even my fir&s;t being had been but a paine, and a burden unto me. He that leaves trea&s;ure at his death, left it in his life; Then, when he locked it up, and forbad him&s;elfe the u&s;e of it, be left it. He that locks up, may be a good Jaylor; but he that gives out, is his Steward: The &s;aver may be Gods che&s;t; The giver is Gods right hand. But the matter of our Liberality (what we give) is but the body of this vertue. The &s;oule of this Liberality, that that inanimates it, is the manner, intended more in the next word, <HI>He devi&s;eth,</HI> He &s;tudieth, <HI>The liberall devi&s;eth liberall things.</HI></P>
<P>Here the Holy Gho&s;ts word is <HI>Iagnatz,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Devi&s;eth.</NOTE> and <HI>Iagnatz</HI> carries evermore with it a deno|tation of Coun&s;ell, and Deliberation, and Conclu&s;ions upon premi&s;&s;es. He <HI>Devi&s;es,</HI> that is, Con&s;iders what liberality is, di&s;cour&s;es with him&s;elfe, what liberall things are to be done, And then, upon this, determines, concludes, that he will doe it, and really, actual|ly does it. Therefore, in our fir&s;t Tran&s;lation, (the fir&s;t &s;ince the Reformation) we reade this Text thus, <HI>The liberall man imagineth hone&s;t things;</HI> Though the Tran&s;lator have varied the word, (<HI>Liberall</HI> and <HI>Hone&s;t</HI>) the Originall hath not. It is the &s;ame word in both places; <HI>Liberall man, Liberall things;</HI> but the Tran&s;lator was plea&s;ed to let us &s;ee, that if it be truly a liberall, it is an hone&s;t action. Therefore the liberall man mu&s;t give that which is his own; for els, the receiver is but a receiver of &s;tollen goods; And the Cur&s;e of the oppre&s;&s;ed may follow the gift, not onely in his hands, through which it pa&s;&s;ed, but into his hands, where it remains. We have a convenient Embleme of Libe|rality in a Torch, that wa&s;ts it &s;elfe to enlighten others; But for a Torch to &s;et another mans hou&s;e on fire, to enlighten me, were no good Embleme of Liberality. But Libe|rality being made up of the true body, and true &s;oule, true matter, and true forme, that is, ju&s;t po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion for having, and &s;ober di&s;cretion for giving, then enters the word of our Text, literally, <HI>The liberall man devi&s;eth liberall things;</HI> He devi&s;es, &s;tudies, meditates, ca&s;ts about, where he may doe a noble action, where he may place a benefit; He &s;eekes the man with as much earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, as another man &s;eeks the money; And as God comes with an earne&s;tne&s;&s;e (as though he thought it nothing, to have wrought all the weeke) to his <HI>Faciamus hominem,</HI> Now let us make man; So comes the liberall man to make a man, and to redeeme him out of nece&s;&s;ity and contempt; (the upper and lower Mil&s;tone of poverty) And to returne to our former repre&s;entations of Liberality, Light, and Sight; As light comes thorough the gla&s;&s;e, but we know not how, and our &s;ight appre|hends remote objects, but we know not how; &s;o the liberall man looks into darke cor|ners, even upon &s;uch as are loath to be looked upon, loath to have their wants come into knowledge, and vi&s;its them by his liberality, when &s;ometimes they know not from whence that &s;howre of refre&s;hing comes, no more then we know, how light comes thorough the gla&s;&s;e, or how our &s;ight apprehends remote objects. So <HI>the liberall man de|vi&s;eth liberall things;</HI> And then, (which is our third terme, and con&s;ideration in this ci|vill and morall acceptation of the words) <HI>By liberall things he &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>Some of our later Expo&s;itors admit this phra&s;e, <HI>(The liberall man &s;hall &s;tand)</HI> to reach no further,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Shall &s;tand.</NOTE> nor to &s;ignifie no more, but that <HI>The liberall man &s;hall &s;tand,</HI> that is, will &s;tand, will continue his cour&s;e, and proceed in liberall wayes. And this is truely a good &s;en&s;e; for many times men do &s;ome &s;mall actions, that have &s;ome &s;hew and ta&s;t of &s;ome vertue, for collaterall re&s;pects, and not out of a direct and true vertuous habit. But the&s;e Expo|&s;itors (with who&s;e narrowne&s;&s;e our former Tran&s;lators complied) will not let the Holy Gho&s;t be as liberall as he would bee. His liberality here is, <HI>That the liberall man &s;hall &s;tand,</HI> that is, Pro&s;per and Multiply, and be the better e&s;tabli&s;hed for his liberality; He &s;hall &s;owe &s;ilver, and reape gold; he &s;hall &s;owe gold, and reape Diamonds; &s;owe be|nefits, and reape honour; not honour rooted in the opinion of men onely, but in the te|&s;timony of a cheerfull con&s;cience, that powres out Acclamations by thou&s;ands; And that is a ble&s;&s;ed and a loyall popularity, when I have a people in mine owne bo&s;ome, a thou&s;and voices in mine owne con&s;cience, that ju&s;tifie and applaud a good action. There|fore that Tran&s;lation which we mentioned before, reads this clau&s;e thus, <HI>The liberall man imagineth hone&s;t things, and commeth up by hone&s;ty;</HI> &s;till that which he calls <HI>Hone&s;ty,</HI> is in the Originall <HI>Liberality,</HI> and he <HI>comes up,</HI> he pro&s;pers, and thrives in the world, by tho&s;e noble, and vertuous actions. It is ea&s;ie for a man of any largene&s;&s;e in conver&s;ation, or in
<PB N="761" REF="398">reading, to a&s;&s;igne examples of men, that have therefore lo&s;t all, becau&s;e they were loath to part with any thing. When <HI>Nazianzen</HI> &s;ayes, That man cannot be &s;o like God in any thing, as in giving, he meanes that he &s;hall be like him in this too, that he &s;hall not bee the poorer for giving. But keeping the body, and &s;oule of liberality, Giving his owne, and giving worthily, in &s;oule and body too, (that is, in con&s;cience and fortune both) <HI>By liberall things he &s;hall &s;tand,</HI> that is, pro&s;per.</P>
<P>Now the&s;e three termes, (<HI>Liberality,</HI> the vertue it &s;elfe, the &s;tudying of Liberality,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rex.</NOTE> this <HI>devi&s;ing;</HI> and the advantage of this Liberality, this <HI>&s;tanding</HI>) (being yet in this fir&s;t part, &s;till upon the con&s;ideration of civill, and morall Liberality) wee are to con&s;ider, (according to their Expo&s;ition, that binde this Prophecy to an <HI>Hezckias,</HI> or a <HI>Io&s;ias,</HI> in which Prophecy we finde mention of all tho&s;e per&s;ons) we are, I &s;ay, to con&s;ider them, in the King, in his Officers, the Magi&s;trate, and in his Subjects. For the King fir&s;t, this vertue of our Text, is &s;o radicall, &s;o elementary, &s;o e&s;&s;entiall to the King, as that the vul|gat Edition in the Romane Church reads this very Text thus, <HI>Princeps ver&ograve; ea quae prin|cipe digna &s;unt, cogitabit,</HI> The King &s;hall exerci&s;e him&s;elfe in royall Meditations, and Acti|ons; Him, whom we call a <HI>Liberall man,</HI> they call a <HI>King,</HI> and tho&s;e actions that we call <HI>Liberall,</HI> they call <HI>Royall.</HI> A Tran&s;lation herein excu&s;able enough; for the very Originall word, which we tran&s;late, <HI>Liberall,</HI> is a Royall word, <HI>Nadib,</HI> and very often in the Scrip|tures hath &s;o high, a Royall &s;ignification. The very word is in that place, where <HI>David</HI> prayes to God, to renew him <HI>&s;piritu Principali;</HI> And this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 51.10.</NOTE> <HI>(&s;piritus Principalis)</HI> as many Tran&s;lators call a Principall, a Princely, a Royall &s;pirit, as a liberall, a free, a bountifull &s;pirit; If it be Liberall, it is Royall. For, when <HI>David</HI> would have bought a thre&s;hing|floore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 24.23.</NOTE> to erect an Altar upon, of <HI>Araunah,</HI> and <HI>Araunah</HI> offered &s;o freely place, and &s;acri|fice, and in&s;truments, and all, the Holy Gho&s;t expre&s;&s;es it &s;o, <HI>All the&s;e things did Araunah, as a King, offer to the King;</HI> There was but this difference between the Liberall man, and <HI>David, A King,</HI> and <HI>The King.</HI> Higher then a King, for an example and compari&s;on of Liberality, on this &s;ide of God, hee could not goe. The very forme of the Office of a King, is Liberality, that is Providence, and Protection, and Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, and Peace, and Ju&s;tice &s;hed upon all.</P>
<P>And then, this Prophecy (con&s;idered &s;till the fir&s;t way, morally,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Principes.</NOTE> civilly) carries this vertue, not onely upon the King, but upon the Princes too, upon tho&s;e per&s;ons that are great, great in blood, great in power, great in place, and office, They mu&s;t bee liberall of that, which is depo&s;ited in them. The Sunne does not enlighten the Starres of the Fir|mament, meerly for an Omament to the Firmament, (though even the glory, which God receives from that Ornament, be one rea&s;on thereof) but that by the reflection of tho&s;e Starres his beames might be ca&s;t into &s;ome places, to which, by a direct Emanati|on from him&s;elfe, tho&s;e beames would not have come. So doe Kings tran&s;mit &s;ome beames of power into their Officers, not onely to dignifie and illu&s;trate a Court, (though that al&s;o be one ju&s;t rea&s;on thereof, for outward dignity and &s;plendor mu&s;t be pre&s;erved) but that by tho&s;e &s;ubordinate In&s;truments, the royall Liberality of the King, that is, Protection, and Ju&s;tice might be transferred upon all. And therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;tol. ad Salvian.</NOTE> S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;pea|king of <HI>Nebridius,</HI> who was &s;o gracious with the Emperor, that he denied him nothing, a&s;&s;ignes that for the rea&s;on of his largene&s;&s;e towards him, <HI>Qu&ograve;d &s;ciebat, non uni, &s;ed plu|ribus indulgeri,</HI> Becau&s;e he knew, that in giving him, he gave to the Publique; Hee em|ployed that which he received, for the Publique.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, our Prophecy places this Liberality upon the people. Now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Populus.</NOTE> &s;till this Libe|rality is, that it be diffu&s;ive, that the object of our affections be the Publique. To depart with nothing which we call our owne, Nothing in our goods, nothing in our opinions, nothing in the pre&s;ent exerci&s;e of our liberty, is not to be liberall. To pre&s;&s;e too farre the advancing of one part, to the depre&s;&s;ing of another, (e&s;pecially where that other is the Head) is not liberall dealing. Therefore &s;aid Chri&s;t to <HI>Iames,</HI> and <HI>Iohn,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.23. Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Non e&s;t meum dare vobis,</HI> It is not mine to give, to &s;et you on my right, and on my left hand; <HI>Non vobis, quia &s;inguli &s;eparatim ab aliis rogatis,</HI> not to you, becau&s;e you con&s;ider but your &s;elves, and petition for your &s;elves, to the prejudice, and exclu&s;ion of others.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.16. Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> Therefore Chri&s;t bad the Samaritan woman call her husband too, when &s;hee de&s;ired the water of life, <HI>Ne &s;ola gratiam acciperet,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> That he might &s;o doe good to her, as that others might have good by it too. For, <HI>Adpatriam qu&acirc;itur?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> Which way think you to goe home, to the heavenly Jeru&s;alem? <HI>Per ip&s;um mare, &s;ed in ligno,</HI> You mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e thorow
<PB N="762" REF="399">Seas of difficulties, and therefore by &s;hip; and in a &s;hip, you are not &s;afe, except other pa&s;&s;engers in the &s;ame &s;hip be &s;afe too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.4.</NOTE> The Spou&s;e &s;aith, <HI>Trahe me po&s;t te, Draw me after thee.</HI> When it is but a Me, in the &s;ingular, but one part con&s;idered, there is a violence, a difficulty, a drawing; But pre&s;ently after, when there is an uniting in a plurall, there is an alacrity, a concurrence, a willingne&s;&s;e; <HI>Curremus po&s;t te,</HI> We, <HI>We will runne after thee;</HI> If we would joyne in publique con&s;iderations, we &s;hould runne together. This is true Liberality in Gods people, to depart with &s;ome things of their owne, though in goods, though in opinions, though in pre&s;ent u&s;e of liberty, for the publique &s;afety. The&s;e <HI>Li|berall things,</HI> the&s;e <HI>Liberall men,</HI> (King, Magi&s;trate, and People) <HI>&s;hall devi&s;e, and by Li|berall things they &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>The King &s;hall devi&s;e Liberall things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cogitabit Rex.</NOTE> that is, &s;tudy, and propo&s;e Directions, and com|mit the execution thereof to per&s;ons &s;tudious of the glory of God, and the publique good;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Magi&s;tratus.</NOTE> And that is his <HI>Devi&s;ing of Liberall things.</HI> The Princes, Magi&s;trates, Officers, &s;hall &s;tudy to execute aright tho&s;e gracious Directions received from their royall Ma|&s;ter, and not retard his holy alacrity in the wayes of Ju&s;tice, by any &s;lackne&s;&s;e of theirs, nor by ca&s;ting a dampe, or bla&s;ting a good man, or a good cau&s;e, in the eyes, or eares of the King; And that is their <HI>Devi&s;ing of Liberall things.</HI> The people &s;hall deve&s;t all per&s;onall re&s;pects, and ill affections towards other men, and all private re&s;pects of their owne, and &s;pend all their faculties of mind, of body, of fortune, upon the Publique; And that is their <HI>Devi&s;ing of Liberall things.</HI></P>
<P>And by the&s;e <HI>Liberall things,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Stabit Rex. Magi&s;tratus.</NOTE> the&s;e <HI>Liberall men &s;hall &s;tand.</HI> The King &s;hall <HI>&s;tand;</HI> &s;tand in &s;afety at home, and &s;tand in triumph abroad. The Magi&s;trate &s;hall <HI>&s;tand;</HI> &s;tand in a due reverence of his place from below, and in &s;afe po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of his place from above; neither be contemned by his Inferiours, nor &s;u&s;piciou&s;ly, and guiltily inquired into by his Superiours;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Populus.</NOTE> neither feare petitions again&s;t him, nor commi&s;&s;ions upon him. And the People &s;hall <HI>&s;tand;</HI> &s;tand upon their right Ba&s;is, that is, an inward feeling, and an out|ward declaration, that they are &s;afe onely in the Publique &s;afety. And they &s;hall all &s;tand in the Sun&s;hine, and &s;erenity of a cleere con&s;cience, which &s;erenity of con&s;cience is one faire beame, even of the glory of God, and of the joy of heaven, upon that &s;oule that enjoyes it.</P>
<P>This is <HI>E&s;ays</HI> Prophecie of the times of an <HI>Hezekias,</HI> of a <HI>Io&s;ias,</HI> the ble&s;&s;ing of this ci|vill and morall Liberality, in all the&s;e per&s;ons. And it is time to pa&s;&s;e to our other gene|rall part, from the civill, to the &s;pirituall, and from applying the&s;e words, to the good times of a good King, to that, (which is evidently the principall purpo&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t) That in the time of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and the reigne of his Go&s;pel, this, and all other vertues, &s;hould bee in a higher exaltation, then any civill, or morall re&s;pect can carry them to.</P>
<P>As an <HI>Hezekias,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part. <HI>Liberalitas.</HI></NOTE> a <HI>Io&s;ias</HI> is a Type of Chri&s;t, but yet but a Type of Chri&s;t; &s;o this civill Liberality, which we have hitherto &s;poken of, is a Type, but yet but a Type of our &s;piri|tuall Liberality. For, here we doe not onely change termes, the temporall, to &s;pirituall, and to call that, which we called Liberality in the former part, Charity in this part; nor do we onely make the difference in the proportion &amp; mea&s;ure, that that which was a Be|nefit in the other part, &s;hould be an Almes in this. But we inve&s;t the whole con&s;ideration in a meere &s;pirituall nature; and &s;o that Liberality, which was, in the former acceptati|on, but a relieving, but a refre&s;hing, but a repairing of defects, and dilapidations in the body or fortune, is now, in this &s;econd part, in this &s;pirituall acceptation, the rai&s;ing of a dejected &s;pirit, the redintegration of a broken heart, the re&s;u&s;citation of a buried &s;oule, the re-con&s;olidation of a &s;cattered con&s;cience, not with the glues, and cements of this world, mirth, and inu&s;ique, and comedies, and conver&s;ation, and wine, and women, (mi&s;erable comforters are they all) nor with that Meteor, that hangs betweene two worlds, that is, Philo&s;ophy, and morall con&s;tancy, (which is &s;omewhat above the car|nall man, but yet far below the man truly Chri&s;tian and religious) But this is the Libera|lity, of which the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe is content to be the Steward, of the holy, ble&s;&s;ed, and glorious Trinity, and to be notified, and qualified by that di&s;tinctive notion, and &s;pe|cification, <HI>The Comforter.</HI></P>
<P>To finde a langui&s;hing wretch in a &s;ordid corner, not onely in a penurious fortune, but in an oppre&s;&s;ed con&s;cience, His eyes under a diver&s;e &s;uffocation, &s;inothered with &s;moake, and &s;mothered with teares, His eares e&s;tranged from all &s;alutations, and vi&s;its,
<PB N="763" REF="399">and all &s;ounds, but his owne &s;ighes, and the &s;tormes and thunders and earthquakes of his owne de&s;paire, To enable this man to open his eyes, and &s;ee that Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;tands before him, and &s;ayes, <HI>Behold and &s;ee, if ever there were any &s;orrow, like my &s;orrow,</HI> and my &s;orrow is overcome, why is not thine? To open this mans eares, and make him heare that voyce that &s;ayes, <HI>I was dead, and am alive, and behold, I live for evermore, Amen;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 1.18.</NOTE> and &s;o maye&s;t thou; To bow downe tho&s;e Heavens, and bring them into his &s;ad Chamber, To &s;et Chri&s;t Je&s;us before him, to out-&s;igh him, out-weepe him, out-bleed him, out-dye him, To transferre all the fa&s;ts, all the &s;cornes, all the &s;courges, all the nailes, all the &s;peares of Chri&s;t Je&s;us upon him, and &s;o, making him the Crucified man in the &s;ight of the Father, becau&s;e all the actions, and pa&s;&s;ions of the Son, are appropriated to him, and made his &s;o intirely, as if there were never a &s;oule created but his, To enrich this poore &s;oule, to comfort this &s;ad &s;oule &s;o, as that he &s;hall beleeve, and by beleeving finde all Chri&s;t to be his, this is that Liberality which we &s;peake of now, in di&s;pen&s;ing whereof, <HI>The liberall man devi&s;eth liberall things, and by liberall things &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>Now you may be plea&s;ed to remember, that when wee con&s;idered this word,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cogitabit.</NOTE> in our former part, <HI>(he &s;hall Devi&s;e)</HI> we found this <HI>Devi&s;ing</HI> Originally to &s;ignifie a &s;tudying, a deliberation, a concluding upon premi&s;&s;es; upon which, we inferred pregnantly and ju&s;t|ly, that as to &s;upport a mans expen&s;e, he mu&s;t <HI>Vivere de proprio,</HI> Live upon his owne; &s;o to relieve others, he mu&s;t <HI>Dare de &s;uo,</HI> Be liberall of that which is his. Now, what is ours? Ours, that are Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pell? As wee are Chri&s;ts, &s;o Chri&s;t is ours. <HI>Puer datus nobis, filius natus nobis, There is a Child given unto us, a Son borne unto us;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 9.</NOTE> Even in that &s;en&s;e, Chri&s;t is given to us, that we might give him to others. So that in this kind of &s;pirituall liberality, we can be liberall of no more but our owne; we can give nothing but Chri&s;t; we can mini&s;ter comfort to none, farther then he is capable, and willing to receive and embrace Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>When therefore &s;ome of the Fathers have &s;aid, <HI>Ratio pro fide Graecis &amp; Barbaris,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ju&s;t. Mar.</NOTE> Recti|fied rea&s;on was accepted at the hands of the Gentiles, as faith is of the Chri&s;tians; <HI>Phi|lo&s;ophia per &s;e ju&s;tificavit Graecos,</HI> Philo&s;ophie alone (without faith) ju&s;tified the Grecians;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clemens.</NOTE> <HI>Satis fuit Gentibus ab&s;tinui&s;&s;e ab Idololatria,</HI> It was enough for the Gentiles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> if they did not wor&s;hip fal&s;e Gods, though they knew not the true truly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Andrad.</NOTE> when we heare <HI>Andradius</HI> in the Roman Church poure out falvation to all the Gentiles, that lived a good morall life, and no more; when we heare their <HI>To&s;tatus</HI> &s;weepe away,<NOTE PLACE="marg">To&s;tatus.</NOTE> blow away Originall &s;in &s;o ea&s;ily from all the Gentiles, <HI>In prima operatione bona in charitate,</HI> In the fir&s;t good Morall worke that they doe, Originall &s;in is as much extingui&s;hed in them by that, as by Bapti&s;me in us; When we &s;ee &s;ome Authors in the Reformation afford Heaven to per&s;ons that never profe&s;&s;ed Chri&s;t, this is &s;pirituall prodigality, and beyond that libera|lity which we con&s;ider now; for, Chri&s;t is ours; and where we can apply him, we can give all comforts in him; But none to others. Not that we manacle the hands of God, or &s;ay, God can &s;ave no man without the profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, But, that God hath put nothing el&s;e into his Churches hands to &s;ave men by, but Chri&s;t delivered in his Scrip|ture, applied in the preaching of the Go&s;pell, and &s;ealed in the Sacraments. And there|fore, if we &s;hould give this comfort, to any but tho&s;e that received him, and received him &s;o, according to his Ordinance in his Church, we &s;hould be over-liberall, for we &s;hould give more then our owne. But to all that would be comforted in Chri&s;t, <HI>we devi&s;e libe|rall things,</HI> that is, wee &s;pend our &s;tudies, our lucubrations, our meditations, to bring Chri&s;t Je&s;us home to their ca&s;e, and their con&s;cience, <HI>And, by the&s;e liberall things we &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
<P>In our former part, in that Civill liberality,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Stabit.</NOTE> wee did not content our &s;elves with that narrow &s;ignification of the word, which &s;ome gave, That the liberall man would &s;tand to it, abide by it, that is, continue liberall &s;till habitually, but that he &s;hould &s;tand by it, and pro&s;per the better for it. If this Liberality which we con&s;ider now in this &s;econd Part, were but that branch of Charity, which is bodily reliefe by bountifull Almes, and no more, yet, wee might be &s;o liberall in Gods behalfe, as to pronounce that the charitable man &s;hould &s;tand by it, pro&s;per for it, and have a plentifull harve&s;t for any &s;owing in that kinde. The Holy Gho&s;t in the 112. P&s;alme, and 9. ver&s;e, hath taken a word, which may almo&s;t &s;eeme to ta&s;te of a little incon&s;ideration in &s;uch a charitable per&s;on, a little indi&s;cretion, in giving, in flinging, in ca&s;ting away; for it is, <HI>He hath di|&s;per&s;ed;</HI> Di&s;per&s;ed; A word that implies a carele&s;&s;e &s;cattering. But that which followes,
<PB N="764" REF="400">ju&s;tifies it; <HI>He hath di&s;per&s;ed, he hath given to the poore.</HI> Let the manner, or the mea&s;ure be how it will, &s;o it be given to the poore, it will not be without excu&s;e, not without thanks. And therefore wee have this liberall charity expre&s;&s;ed by S. <HI>Paul</HI> in the &s;ame word too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 9 9.</NOTE> <HI>He hath di&s;per&s;ed;</HI> but di&s;per&s;ed as before, Di&s;per&s;ed by giving to the poore. For there is more negligence, more incon&s;ideration allowed us, in giving of Almes, then in any other expen&s;e; Neither are we bound to examine the condition, and worthine&s;&s;e of the per&s;on to whom we give too narrowly, too &s;everely. Hee that gives freely, &s;hall &s;tand by doing &s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 17.19.</NOTE> for, <HI>He that pitieth the poore, lendeth to the Lord;</HI> And the Lord is a good Debtor, and never puts Creditor to &s;ue. And, if that bee not comfort enough, S. <HI>Hicrom</HI> gives more, in his-tran&s;lation of that place, <HI>foeneratur Domino,</HI> he that pitieth the poore, puts his money to u&s;e to God, and &s;hall receive the debt, and more. But, the liberality which we con&s;ider here, in this part, is more then that, more then any charity, how large &s;oever, that is determined, or conver&s;ant about bodily reliefe; for, (as you have heard) it is con&s;olation applied in Chri&s;t, to a di&s;tre&s;&s;ed &s;oule, to a di&s;con&s;olate &s;pi|rit. And how a liberall man &s;hall &s;tand by this liberality, (by applying &s;uch con&s;olation to &s;uch a di&s;tre&s;&s;ed &s;oule) I better know in my &s;elfe, then I can tell any other, that is not of mine owne profe&s;&s;ion; for this knowledge lyes in the experience of it.</P>
<P>For the mo&s;t part, men are of one of the&s;e three &s;orts; Either incon&s;iderate men; (and they that con&s;ider not them&s;elves, con&s;ider not us, they aske not, they expect not this liberality from us) or el&s;e they are over-confident, and pre&s;ume too much upon God; or diffident, and di&s;tru&s;t him too much. And with the&s;e two wee meet often; but truly, with &s;even diffident, and dejected, for one pre&s;uming &s;oule. So that we have much ex|erci&s;e of this liberality, of rai&s;ing dejected &s;pirits: And by this liberality we &s;tand. For, when I have given that man comfort, that man hath given me a Sacrament, hee hath given me a &s;eale and evidence of Gods favour upon me; I have received from him, in his receiving from me; I leave him comforted in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and I goe away comforted in my &s;elfe, that Chri&s;t Je&s;us hath made me an in&s;trument of the di&s;pen&s;ation of his mercy; And I argue to my &s;elfe, and &s;ay, Lord, when I went, I was &s;ure, that thou who had&s;t received me to mercy, would&s;t al&s;o receive him, who could not be &s;o great a &s;inner as I; And now, when I come away, I am &s;ure, that thou who art returned to him, and ha&s;t re-manife&s;ted thy &s;elfe to him, who, in the diffidence of his &s;ad &s;oule, thought thee gone for ever, wilt never depart from mee, nor hide thy &s;elfe from me, who de&s;ire to dwell in thy pre&s;ence. And &s;o, by this liberality I &s;tand; by giving I receive comfort.</P>
<P>We follow our text,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rex Chri|&s;tus.</NOTE> in the Context, our Prophet, as he places this liberality in the King, in the Magi&s;trate, in the People. Here, the King is Chri&s;t, The Magi&s;trate the Mi|ni&s;ter, The People the people, whether collectively, that is, the Congregation, or di|&s;tributively, every particular &s;oule. Afford your devotions a minute to each of the&s;e, and we have done. When we con&s;ider the liberality of our King, the bounty of God, to man in Chri&s;t, it is <HI>Species ingratitudinis,</HI> It is a degree of ingratitude, nay, it is a degree of for|getfulne&s;&s;e, to pretend to remember his benefits &s;o, as to reckon them, for they are innu|merable. <HI>Sicut in vi&s;ibilibus e&s;t Sol,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Nazlan.</NOTE> <HI>in intelligibilibus e&s;t Deus;</HI> As liberall as the Sun is in Nature, God is in grace. <HI>Bonitas Dei ad extra, liberalitas e&s;t;</HI> It is the expre&s;&s;ing of the Schoole, and of much u&s;e; That God is E&s;&s;entiall Goodne&s;&s;e, within doores, in him&s;elfe; But, <HI>Ad extra,</HI> when he comes abroad, when this interiour Goodne&s;&s;e is produced into action,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Barnard.</NOTE> then all Gods Goodne&s;&s;e is Liberality. <HI>Deus e&s;t voluntas Omnipotens,</HI> is excellently &s;aid by S. <HI>Bernard;</HI> God is all Almightine&s;&s;e, all Power; but he might be &s;o and we ne|ver the better. Therefore he is <HI>Voluntas omnipotens,</HI> A Power dige&s;ted into a Will, as Willing, as Able to doe us all, all good. What good? Receive &s;ome drops of it in S. <HI>Ber|nards</HI> owne Manna, his owne honey; <HI>Creans mentes ad &s;e participandum,</HI> So good, as that he hath fir&s;t given us &s;oules capable of him, and made us &s;o, partakers of the Divine Na|ture; <HI>Vivificans ad &s;entiendum,</HI> So good as that he hath quickned tho&s;e &s;oules, and made them &s;en&s;ible of having received him; for, Grace is not grace to me, till it make me know that I have it <HI>Alliciens ad appetendum,</HI> So good as that he hath given that &s;oule an appetite, and a holy hunger and thir&s;t to take in more of him; for I have no Grace, till I would have more; and then, <HI>Dilatans ad capiendum,</HI> So good, as that he hath dilated and enlarged that &s;oule, to take in as much of God as he will. And le&s;t the &s;oule &s;hould lo&s;e any of this by unthankfulne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.31.</NOTE> <HI>God is kind even to the unthankfull,</HI> &s;ayes God him&s;elfe;
<PB N="765" REF="400">which is a degree of goodne&s;&s;e, in which God &s;eldome is, nay, in which God &s;carce looks to be imitated, <HI>To be kinde to the unthankfull.</HI></P>
<P>But if the whole &s;pace to the Firmament were filled with &s;and, and we had before us <HI>Clavius</HI> his number, how many thou&s;ands would be; If all that &s;pace were filled with water, and &s;o joyned the waters above with the waters below the Firmament, and we had the number of all tho&s;e drops of water; And then had every &s;ingle &s;and, and every &s;ingle drop multiplied by the whole number of both, we were &s;till &s;hort of numbring the benefits of God, as God; But then, of God in Chri&s;t, infinitely, &s;uper-infinitely &s;hort. To have been once nothing, and to be now co-heire with the Son of God, is &s;uch a Cir|cle, &s;uch a Compa&s;&s;e, as that no revolutions in this world, to ri&s;e from the lowe&s;t to the highe&s;t, or to fall from the highe&s;t to the lowe&s;t, can be called or thought any Segment, any Arch, any Point in re&s;pect of this Circle; To have once been nothing, and now to be co-heires with the Son of God: That Son of God; who if there had been but one &s;oule to have been &s;aved, would have dyed for that; nay, if all &s;oules had been to be &s;a|ved, but one, and that that onely had &s;inned, he would not have contented him&s;elfe with all the re&s;t, but would have dyed for that. And there is the goodne&s;&s;e, the liberality of our King, our God, our Chri&s;t, our Je&s;us.</P>
<P>But we mu&s;t looke upon this liberality, as our Prophet leads us, in the Magi&s;trate too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Magi&s;tra|tus.</NOTE> that is, in this part, The Mini&s;ter. As I have received mercy, I am one of them, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks. And why &s;hould I deliver out this mercy to others, in a &s;canter mea&s;ure, then I have received it my &s;elfe from God? Why &s;hould I deliver out his Talents in &s;in|gle farthings? Or his Gomers in narrow and &s;hallow thimbles? Why &s;hould I defalke from his generall propo&s;itions, and again&s;t all Grammar, and all Dictionaries, call his <HI>Omnes,</HI> his All, a few? Why &s;hould I lie to the Holy Gho&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5.</NOTE> (as S. <HI>Peter</HI> charges <HI>Ana|nias</HI>) <HI>Solde&s;t thou the land for &s;o much? Yea, for &s;o much.</HI> Did God make heaven for &s;o few? yes, for &s;o few. Why &s;hould I &s;ay &s;o? If we will con&s;titute a place for heaven a|bove, and a place for hell below, even the capacity of the place will yeeld an argument, that God, (as we can con&s;ider him in his fir&s;t meaning) meant more &s;hould be &s;aved then ca&s;t away. As oft as God tells us, of <HI>painfull wayes,</HI> and <HI>narrow gates,</HI> and of <HI>Camels,</HI> and <HI>needles,</HI> all that is done to &s;harpen an indu&s;try in all, not to threaten an impo&s;&s;ibility to any. If God would not have all, why tooke he me? And if he were &s;orry he had taken me, or were wearied with the &s;ins of my youth, why did he not let me &s;lide away, in the change of &s;ins in mine age, or in my &s;infull memory of old &s;ins, or in my &s;infull &s;orrow that I could not continue in tho&s;e &s;ins, but &s;till make his mercies new to me every mor|ning? My King, my God in Chri&s;t, is liberall to all; He bids us, his Officers, his Mini|&s;ters, to be &s;o too; and I am; even thus far; If any man doubt his &s;alvation, if any man thinke him&s;elfe too great a &s;inner to attaine &s;alvation, let him repent, and take mine for his; with any true repentant &s;inner, I will change &s;tates; for, God knowes his repen|tance, (whether it be true or no) better then I know mine.</P>
<P>Therefore doth the Prophet here, promi&s;e this liberality, as in the King, in Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Populus.</NOTE> and in the Magi&s;trate, the Mini&s;ter; &s;o in the people too, in every particular &s;oule. He cryes to us, his Mini&s;ters, <HI>Con&s;olamini, Con&s;olamini,</HI> Comfort, O Comfort my people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 40.1.</NOTE> and he cryes to every one of you, <HI>Mi&s;crere animae tuae.</HI> Have mercy upon thine own &s;oule,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 30.24.</NOTE> and I will commi&s;erate it too; Be liberall to thy &s;elfe, and I will beare thee out in it. God asks, <HI>Quid potui, What could have been done more to my Vineyard?</HI> Doe but tell him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 5.4.</NOTE> and he will doe that. Tell him, that he can remove this dampe from thy heart; Tell him, as though thou woulde&s;t have it done, and he will doe it. Tell him, that he can bring teares into thine eyes, and then, wipe all teares from thine eyes; and he will doe both. Tell him, that he did as much for <HI>David,</HI> as thou neede&s;t; That he came later to the Thiefe upon the Cro&s;&s;e, then thou put&s;t him to; And <HI>Davids Tran&s;tulit peccatum,</HI> &s;hall be transferred upon thee, And that thiefs <HI>Hodie mecum eris,</HI> &s;hall waft, and guard, and convey thy &s;oule thither. Thinke not thy God a fal&s;e God, that bids me call thee, and meanes not that thou heare; nor an impotent God, that would &s;ave thee, but that there is a Decree in the way; nor a cruell God, that made thee, to damne thee, that he might laugh at thy de&s;truction. Thy King, thy Chri&s;t, is a liberall God; His Offi|cers, his Mini&s;ters, by his in&s;tructions, declare plentifull redemption; Be liberall to thy &s;elfe, in the apprehen&s;ion and application thereof, and by the&s;e liberall things, we &s;hall all &s;tand.</P>
<PB N="766" REF="401">
<P>The King him&s;elfe &s;tands by it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Stabit Rex Chri&s;tus. Mini&s;ter.</NOTE> Chri&s;t him&s;elfe. It de&s;troys the nature, the office, the merit of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, to make his redemption &s;o penurious, &s;o illiberall. We, his of|ficers, his Mini&s;ters &s;tand by it. It overthrowes the credit, and evacuates the purpo&s;e of our employment, and our Mini&s;tery, if we mu&s;t offer &s;alvation to the whole Congrega|tion, and mu&s;t not be beleeved, that he that &s;ends it, means it. The people, every par|ticular &s;oule &s;tands by it. For, if he cannot beleeve God, to have been more liberall to him, then he hath been to any other man, he is in an ill ca&s;e, becau&s;e he knowes more ill by him&s;elfe, then he can know by any other man. Beleeve therefore liberall purpo&s;es in thy God; Accept liberall propo&s;itions from his Mini&s;ters; And apply them liberally, and chearfully to thine own &s;oule; for, <HI>The liberall man devi&s;eth liberall things, and by li|berall things he &s;hall &s;tand.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="76" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. LXXVI.</HI> Preached to the Earle of <HI>Carlile,</HI> and his Company, at <HI>Sion.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>MARK. 16.16.</HI></BIBL>
<P>He that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THe fir&s;t words that are recorded in the Scriptures, to have been &s;poken by our Saviour, are tho&s;e which he &s;poke to his father and mother, then when they had lo&s;t him at Jeru&s;alem,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.49.</NOTE> <HI>How is it that you &s;ought me? knew yee not that I mu&s;t be about my Fathers bu&s;ine&s;&s;e?</HI> And the la&s;t words, which are in this Euangeli&s;t recorded to have been &s;poken by him, to his Apo&s;tles, are then al&s;o, when they were to lo&s;e him in Jeru&s;alem, when he was to depart out of their pre&s;ence, and &s;et him&s;elfe in the heavenly Jeru&s;alem, at the right hand of his Father: of which la&s;t words of his, this Text is a part. In his fir&s;t words, tho&s;e to his father and mother, he doth not rebuke their care in &s;eeking him, nor their tenderne&s;&s;e in &s;eeking him, (as they told him they did) <HI>with heavy hearts:</HI> But he lets them know, that, if not the band of nature, nor the reverentiall re&s;pect due to parents, then no re&s;pect in the world &s;hould hold him from a diligent proceeding in that worke which he came for, the ad|vancing the kingdome of God in the &s;alvation of mankinde. In his la&s;t words to his A|po&s;tles, he doth not di&s;comfort them by his ab&s;ence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.20.</NOTE> for he &s;ayes, <HI>I am with you alwayes, even unto the end of the world:</HI> But he incourageth them to a chearfull undertaking of their great worke, <HI>the preaching of the Go&s;pel to all Nations,</HI> by many arguments, many in|ducements, of which, one of the waightie&s;t is, That their preaching of the Go&s;pel was not like to be uneffectuall, becau&s;e he had given them the &s;harpe&s;t &s;pur, and the &s;tronge&s;t bridle upon mankinde; <HI>Praemium &amp; poenam,</HI> Authority to reward the obedient, and au|thority to puni&s;h the rebellious and refractary man; he put into their hands the double key of Heaven, and of Hell; power to convey to the beleever Salvation, and upon him that beleeved not, to inflict eternall condemnation; <HI>He that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned.</HI></P>
<P>That then which man was to beleeve upon paine of damnation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> if he did not, being this Commi&s;&s;ion which Chri&s;t gave to his Apo&s;tles, we &s;hall make it our fir&s;t part of this Exerci&s;e, to con&s;ider the Commi&s;&s;ion it &s;elfe, the &s;ubject of every mans nece&s;&s;ary be|liefe; And our &s;econd part &s;hall be, The penalty, the inevitable, the irreparable, the in|tolerable, the inexpre&s;&s;ible penalty, everla&s;ting condemnation, <HI>He that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned.</HI> In the fir&s;t of the&s;e parts, we &s;hall fir&s;t con&s;ider &s;ome circum&s;tantiall, and then the &s;ub&s;tantiall parts of the Commi&s;&s;ion; (for though they be e&s;&s;entiall things, yet becau&s;e they are not of the body of the Commi&s;&s;ion, we call them branches circum&s;tan|tiall) Fir&s;t, <HI>An &s;it,</HI> whether there be &s;uch a Commi&s;&s;ion or no; &s;econdly, the <HI>Vbi,</HI> where this Commi&s;&s;ion is; and then the <HI>Vnde,</HI> from whence this Commi&s;&s;ion proceeds; And
<PB N="767" REF="401">la&s;tly the <HI>Qu&ograve;,</HI> how farre it extends, and reaches; And having pa&s;&s;ed thorow the&s;e, wee mu&s;t looke back for the &s;ub&s;tance of the Commi&s;&s;ion; for in the Text, <HI>He that beleeveth not,</HI> is implied this particle, <HI>this,</HI> this word <HI>this, Hee that beleeveth not this,</HI> that is, that which Chri&s;t hath &s;aid to his Apo&s;tles immediatly before the Text, which is indeed the &s;ub&s;tance of the Commi&s;&s;ion, con&s;i&s;ting of three parts, <HI>Ite praedicate,</HI> goe and preach the Go&s;pel, <HI>Ite Baptizate,</HI> goe and baptize them, <HI>Itedocete,</HI> goe and teach them to doe, and to practi&s;e all that I have commanded; And after all the&s;e which doe but make up the fir&s;t part, we &s;hall de&s;cend to the &s;econd, which is the penalty; and as farre as the narrow|ne&s;&s;e of the time, and the narrowne&s;&s;e of your patience, and the narrowne&s;&s;e of my com|prehen&s;ion can reach, wee &s;hall &s;hew you the horror, the terror of that fearefull intermi|nation, <HI>Damnabitur, He that beleeveth not, &s;hall be damned.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, it is within this <HI>Credererit,</HI> that is, It is matter of faith to beleeve,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. <HI>An &s;it.</HI></NOTE> that &s;uch a Commi&s;&s;ion there is, that God hath e&s;tabli&s;hed meanes of &s;alvation, and propagation of his Go&s;pel here. If then this be matter of faith, where is the root of this faith? from whence &s;prings it? Is there any &s;uch thing writ in the heart of man, that God hath pro|ceeded &s;o? Certainly as it is in <HI>Agendis,</HI> in tho&s;e things which we are bound to do, which are all comprehended in the Decalogue, in the Ten Commandements, that there is no|thing written there, in tho&s;e &s;tone Tables, which was not written before in the heart of man, (exemplifie it in that Commandement which &s;eemes mo&s;t removed from naturall rea&s;on, which is the ob&s;erving of the Sabbath, yet even for that, for a Sabbath, man na|turally finds this holy impre&s;&s;ion, and religious in&s;tinct in his heart, That there mu&s;t bee an outward wor&s;hip of that God, that hath made, and pre&s;erved him, and that is the &s;ub|&s;tance, and morall part of that Commandement of the Sabbath) And it is in <HI>Agendis,</HI> that all things, that all men are bound to doe, all men have means to know; And as it is in <HI>Sperandis,</HI> in <HI>Petendis,</HI> of tho&s;e things which man may hope for at Gods hand, or pray for, from him, there is a knowledge imprinted in mans heart too; (for the Lords Prayer is an abridgement of all tho&s;e, and exemplifie al&s;o this in that Petition of the Lords Prayer, which may &s;eeme mo&s;t removed from naturall rea&s;on, That we mu&s;t forgive tho&s;e who have tre&s;pa&s;&s;ed again&s;t us, yet even in that, every naturall man may &s;ee, That there is no rea&s;on for him, to looke for forgivene&s;&s;e from God, who can, and may ju&s;tly come to an immediate execution of us, as &s;oone as we have offended him, if we will not forgive another man, whom we cannot execute our &s;elves, but mu&s;t implore the Law, and the Magi&s;trate to revenge our quarrell) As it is in <HI>Agendis,</HI> in all things which wee are bound to doe; As it is in <HI>Petendis,</HI> in all things which we may pray for, &s;o it is in <HI>Cre|dendis,</HI> all things that all men are bound to beleeve, all men have meanes to know.</P>
<P>This then, that God hath e&s;tabli&s;hed meanes of &s;alvation, being <HI>Inter credenda,</HI> one of tho&s;e things which he is bound to beleeve, (for <HI>hee that beleeveth not this, &s;hall be dam|ned</HI>) Man hath thus much evidence of this in nature, that by naturall rea&s;on we know, that that God which mu&s;t be wor&s;hipped, hath &s;urely declared how he will be wor&s;hip|ped, and &s;o we are led to &s;eeke his revealed and manife&s;ted will, and that is no where to bee found but in his Scriptures. So that when all is done, the Ten Commandements, which is the &s;um of all that we are to doe; The Lords Prayer, which is the &s;umme of all that we are to ask; and the Apo&s;tles Creed, which is the &s;umme of all that wee are to beleeve, are but declaratory, not introductory things; The &s;ame things are fir&s;t written in mans heart, though dimly and &s;ub-ob&s;curely, and then the &s;ame things are extended, &s;hed in a brighter beame, in every leafe of the Scripture; And the &s;ame things are recol|lected againe, into the Ten Commandements, into the Lords Prayer, and into the Apo|&s;tles Creed, that we might &s;ee them al together, and &s;o take better view and hold of them. The knowledge which wee have in nature, is the &s;ub&s;tance of all, as all matter, Heaven and earth were created at once, in the beginning; and then the further knowledge which we have in Scripture, is as that light which God created after; for as by that light, men di&s;tingui&s;hed particular creatures, &s;o by this light of the Scripture, wee di&s;cerne our par|ticular duties. And after this, as in the Creation, all the light was gathered into the body of the Sunne, when that was made; &s;o all that is written in our hearts radically, and dif|fu&s;ed in the Scriptures more exten&s;ively, is reama&s;&s;ed, and reduced to the Ten Comman|dements, the Lords Prayer, and to the Creed.</P>
<P>The heart of man is <HI>hortus,</HI> it is a garden, a Paradi&s;e, where all that is whol&s;ome,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4.12.</NOTE> and all that is delightfull growes, but it is <HI>hortus conclu&s;us,</HI> a garden that we our &s;elves have
<PB N="768" REF="402">walled in; It is <HI>fons,</HI> a fountaine, where all knowledge &s;prings, but <HI>fons &s;ignatus,</HI> a foun|taine that our corruption hath &s;ealed up. The heart is a booke, legible enough, and in|telligible in it &s;elfe; but we have &s;o interlined that booke with impertinent knowledge, and &s;o cla&s;ped up that booke, for feare of reading our owne hi&s;tory, our owne &s;ins, as that we are the greate&s;t &s;trangers, and the lea&s;t conver&s;ant with the examination of our owne hearts. There is then <HI>Myrrhe</HI> in this garden, but wee cannot &s;mell it; and there|fore, <HI>All thy garments &s;mell of Myrrhe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 45.8.</NOTE> &s;aith <HI>David,</HI> that is, Gods garments; tho&s;e Scriptures in which God hath apparelled, and exhibited his will, they breathe the Balme of the Ea&s;t, the &s;avour of life, more di&s;cernably unto us. But after that too, there is <HI>fa&s;ci|culus Myrrhae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.13.</NOTE> a bundle of <HI>Myrrhe</HI> together, <HI>fa&s;ciculus Agendorum,</HI> a whole bundle of tho&s;e things which we are bound to doe, in the Ten Commandements; <HI>fa&s;ciculus Peten|dorum,</HI> a whole bundle of tho&s;e things, which wee are bound to pray for, in the Lords Prayer; and <HI>fa&s;ciculus Credendorum,</HI> a whole bundle of tho&s;e things, which we are bound to beleeve, in the Apo&s;tles Creed; And in that la&s;t bundle of <HI>Myrrhe,</HI> in that Creed, is this particular, <HI>Vt credamus hoc,</HI> That wee beleeve this, this, that God hath e&s;tabli&s;hed meanes of &s;alvation here, and <HI>He that beleeveth not this,</HI> that &s;uch a Commi&s;&s;ion there is, <HI>&s;hall be damned.</HI></P>
<P>In that bundle of <HI>Myrrhe</HI> then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vbi.</NOTE> where lies this that mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily bee beleeved, This Commi&s;&s;ion? In that Article of that Creed, <HI>Credo Eccle&s;iam Catholicam, I beleeve the holy Catholique Church;</HI> For till I come to that graine of <HI>Myrrhe,</HI> to beleeve the Ca|tholique Church, I have not the &s;avour of life; Let me take in the fir&s;t graine of this bun|dle of <HI>Myrrhe,</HI> the fir&s;t Article, <HI>Credo in Deum Patrem, I beleeve in God the Father,</HI> by that I have a being, I am a creature, but &s;o is a contemptible worme, and &s;o is a venemous &s;pider as well as I, &s;o is a &s;tinking weed, and &s;o is a &s;tinging nettle, as well as I; &s;o is the earth it &s;elfe, that we tread under our feet, and &s;o is the ambitious &s;pirit, which would have been as high as God, and is lower then the lowe&s;t, the devill him&s;elf is a creature as well as I; I am but that, by the fir&s;t Artiele, but a creature; and I were better, if I were not that, if I were no creature, (con&s;idering how I have u&s;ed my creation) if there were no more <HI>Myrrhe</HI> in this bundle then that fir&s;t graine, no more to be got by beleeving, but that I were a creature: But take a great deale of this <HI>Myrrhe</HI> together, con&s;ider more Articles, That <HI>Chri&s;t is conceived,</HI> and <HI>borne,</HI> and <HI>crucified,</HI> and <HI>dead,</HI> and <HI>buried,</HI> and <HI>ri&s;en,</HI> and <HI>a&s;cended,</HI> there is &s;ome &s;avour in this; But yet, if when we &s;hall come to <HI>Iudgement,</HI> I mu&s;t carry into his pre&s;ence, a men&s;truous con&s;cience, and an ugly face, in which his Image, by which he &s;hould know me, is utterly defaced, all this <HI>Myrrhe</HI> of his Merits, and his Mercies, is but a &s;avour of death unto death unto me, &s;ince I, that knew the hor|ror of my owne guiltine&s;&s;e, mu&s;t know too, that what&s;oever he be to others, he is a ju&s;t Judge, and therefore a condemning Judge to me; If I get farther then this in the Creed, to the <HI>Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, I beleeve in the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> where &s;hall I finde the Holy Gho&s;t? I lock my doore to my &s;elfe, and I throw my &s;elfe downe in the pre&s;ence of my God, I deve&s;t my &s;elfe of all worldly thoughts, and I bend all my powers, and faculties upon God, as I think, and &s;uddenly I finde my &s;elfe &s;cattered, melted, fallen into vaine thoughts, into no thoughts; I am upon my knees, and I talke, and think nothing; I de|prehend my &s;elfe in it, and I goe about to mend it, I gather new forces, new purpo|&s;es to try againe, and doe better, and I doe the &s;ame thing againe. <HI>I beleeve in the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> but doe not finde him, if I &s;eeke him onely in private prayer; But in <HI>Ec|cle&s;ia,</HI> when I goe to meet him in the <HI>Church,</HI> when I &s;eeke him where hee hath promi&s;ed to bee found, when I &s;eeke him in the execution of that Commi&s;&s;ion, which is propo&s;ed to our faith in this Text, in his Ordinances, and meanes of &s;alvation in his Church, in|&s;tantly the &s;avour of this <HI>Myrrhe</HI> is exalted, and multiplied to me; not a dew, but a &s;hower is powred out upon me, and pre&s;ently followes <HI>Communio Sanctorum, The Com|munion of Saints,</HI> the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Militant and Triumphant Church in my behalfe; And pre&s;ently followes <HI>Remi&s;sio peceatorum, The remi&s;sion of &s;ins,</HI> the purifying of my con&s;ci|ence, in that water, which is his blood, Bapti&s;me, and in that wine, which is his blood, the other Sacrament; and pre&s;ently followes <HI>Carnis re&s;urrectio, A re&s;urrection of my body;</HI> My body becomes no burthen to me; my body is better now, then my &s;oule was before; and even here I have <HI>Go&s;hen</HI> in my <HI>Egypt,</HI> incorruption in the mid&s;t of my dunghill, &s;pi|rit in the mid&s;t of my fle&s;h, heaven upon earth; and pre&s;ently followes <HI>Vita aeterna, Life everla&s;ting;</HI> this life of my body &s;hall not la&s;t ever, nay the life of my &s;oul in heaven is
<PB N="769" REF="402">not &s;uch as it is at the fir&s;t. For that &s;oule there, even in heaven, &s;hall receive an addition, and acce&s;&s;e of Joy, and Glory in the re&s;urrection of our bodies in the con&s;ummation.</P>
<P>When a winde brings the River to any low part of the banke, in&s;tantly it overflowes the whole Meadow; when that winde which blowes where he will, <HI>The Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> leads an humble &s;oule to the Article of the Church, to lay hold upon God, as God hath exhi|bited him&s;elfe in his Ordinances, in&s;tantly he is &s;urrounded under the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and all the benefits thereof; <HI>The communion of Saints, the remi&s;sion of &s;ins, the re&s;ur|rection of the body, and the life everla&s;ting,</HI> are poured out upon him. And therefore of this great worke, which God hath done for man, in applying him&s;elfe to man, in the Ordi|nances of his Church, S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Ob&s;curi&ugrave;s dixerunt Prophetae de Chri&s;to,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>qu&agrave;m de Eccle&s;ia,</HI> The Prophets have not &s;poken &s;o clearely of the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, as they have of the Church of Chri&s;t;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> for though S. <HI>Hierom</HI> interpret aright tho&s;e words of <HI>Adam</HI> and <HI>Eve, Erunt duo in carnem unam, They two &s;hall be one fle&s;h,</HI> to be applyable to the union which is betweene Chri&s;t and his Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.</NOTE> (for &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe applies them) that Chri&s;t and his Church are all one, as man and wife are all one, yet the wife is (or at lea&s;t, it had wont to be &s;o) ea&s;ilier found at home, then the husband; wee can come to Chri&s;ts Church, but we cannot come to him; The Church is a Hill, and that is con&s;picuous naturally; but the Church is &s;uch a Hill, as may be &s;eene every where.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> askes his Auditory in one of his Sermons, doe any of you know the Hill Olympus? and him|&s;elfe &s;ayes in their behalfe, none of you know it; no more &s;ayes he, do tho&s;e that dwell at <HI>Olympus</HI> know <HI>Giddabam ve&s;tram,</HI> &s;ome Hill which was about them; trouble not thy &s;elfe to know the formes and fa&s;hions of forraine particular Churches; neither of a Church in the lake, nor a Church upon &s;even hils; but &s;ince God hath planted thee in a Church, where all things nece&s;&s;ary for &s;alvation are admini&s;tred to thee, and where no erronious doctrine (even in the confe&s;&s;ion of our Adver&s;aries) is affirmed and held, that is the Hill, and that is the Catholique Church, and there is this Commi&s;&s;ion in this text, meanes of &s;alvation &s;incerely executed; So then, &s;uch a Commi&s;&s;ion there is, and it is in the Article of the Creed, that is the <HI>ubi.</HI></P>
<P>We are now come in our order, to the third circum&s;tantiall branch, the <HI>Vnde,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Vnde.</NOTE> from whence, and when this Commi&s;&s;ion i&s;&s;ued, in which we con&s;ider, that &s;ince we receive a deepe impre&s;&s;ion from the words, which our friends &s;pake at the time of their death, much more would it worke upon us, if they could come and &s;peake to us after their death; You know what <HI>Dives</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Si quis ex mortuis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.</NOTE> If one from the dead might goe to my Brethren, he might bring them to any thing. Now, <HI>Primitiae mortuorum,</HI> The Lord of life, and yet the fir&s;t borne of the dead, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, returnes againe after his death, to e&s;tabli&s;h this Commi&s;&s;ion upon his Apo&s;tles; It hath therefore all the formalities of a &s;trong and valid Commi&s;&s;ion; Chri&s;t gives it, <HI>Ex mero motu,</HI> meerely out of his owne goodne&s;&s;e; He fore&s;aw no merit in us that moved him; neither was he moved by any mans &s;olicitations; for could it ever have fallen into a mans heart, to have prayed to the Father, that his Son might take our Nature and dye, and ri&s;e again, and &s;ettle a cour&s;e upon earth, for our &s;alvation, if this had not fir&s;t ri&s;en in the purpo&s;e of God him&s;elf? Would any man ever have &s;olicited or prayed him to proceed thus? It was <HI>Ex mero motu,</HI> out of his owne goodne&s;&s;e, and it was <HI>Ex certa &s;cientia,</HI> He was not deceived in his grant, he knew what he did, he knew this Commi&s;&s;ion &s;hould be executed, in de&s;pight of all He|retiques, and Tyrans that &s;hould oppo&s;e it; And as it was out of his owne Will, and with his owne knowledge, &s;o it was <HI>Ex plenitudine pote&s;tatis,</HI> He exceeded not his Pow|er; for Chri&s;t made this Commi&s;&s;ion then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 28.18.</NOTE> when (as it is expre&s;&s;ed in the other Euange|li&s;t) he produced that evidence, <HI>Data e&s;t mihi, All power is given to me in Heaven and in earth;</HI> where Chri&s;t &s;peakes not of that Power, which he had by his eternall generation, (though even that power were given him, for he was <HI>Deus de Deo,</HI> God of God) nor he &s;peakes not of that Power which was given him as Man, which was great, but all that, he had in the fir&s;t minute of his conception, in the fir&s;t union of the two Natures, Divine and Humane together; but that Power, from which he derives this Commi&s;&s;ion, is that, which he had purcha&s;ed by his blood, and came to by conque&s;t; <HI>Ego vici mundum,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, I have conquered the world, and comming in by conque&s;t, I may e&s;tabli&s;h what forme of Government I will; and my will is, to governe my Kingdome by this Com|mi&s;&s;ion; and by the&s;e Commi&s;&s;ioners, to the Worlds end; to e&s;tabli&s;h the&s;e meanes upon earth, for the &s;alvation of the world.</P>
<PB N="770" REF="403">
<P>And as it hath all the&s;e formalities of a due Commi&s;&s;ion, made without &s;uite, made without error, made without defect of power: &s;o had it this al&s;o, that it was duely and authentically te&s;tified; for, though this Euangeli&s;t name but the eleven Apo&s;tles to have beene pre&s;ent, and they in this ca&s;e might be thought <HI>Te&s;tes dome&s;tici,</HI> Witne&s;&s;es that witne&s;&s;e to their owne, or to their Ma&s;ters advantage; Yet, the opinion which is mo&s;t imbraced is, That this appearing of Chri&s;t, which is intended here, is that appearing, which is &s;poken of by S. <HI>Paul,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.6.</NOTE> when he appeared to more then five hundred at once; Chri&s;t re&s;ts not in his <HI>Te&s;te meip&s;o,</HI> That him&s;elfe was his witne&s;&s;e, as Princes u&s;e to doe, (and as he might have done be&s;t of any, becau&s;e there were alwaies two more that te&s;ti|fied with him, the Father, and the Holy Gho&s;t) he re&s;ts not in calling &s;ome of his Coun|cell, and principall Officers, to witne&s;&s;e, as Princes have u&s;ed too; but in a Parliament of all States, Upper and Common hou&s;e, Spirituall and Temporall Apo&s;tles, Di&s;ciples and five hundred Brethren, he te&s;tifies this Commi&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>Who then can mea&s;ure the infinite mercy of Chri&s;t Je&s;us to us? which mercy became not when he began, by comming into this world; for we were elected in him before the foundations of the world; nor ended it when he ended, by going out of this world, for he returned to this world againe, where he had &s;uffered &s;o much contempt and tor|ment, that he might e&s;tabli&s;h this object of our faith, this that wee are therefore bound to beleeve, a Commi&s;&s;ion, a Church, an outward meanes of Salvation here; &s;uch a Commi&s;&s;ion there is, it is grounded in the Creed, and it was given after his Re&s;ur|rection.</P>
<P>In which Commi&s;&s;ion (being now come to the la&s;t of the circum&s;tantiall Branches,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quo.</NOTE> the extent and reach of this Commi&s;&s;ion) we finde, that it is <HI>Omni Creaturae,</HI> before the Text, <HI>Preach to every Creature,</HI> that is, Meanes of &s;alvation offered to every Creature; and that is large enough, without that wilde extent that their S. <HI>Francis</HI> gives it, in the Roman Church, whom they magnifie &s;o much for that religious &s;implicity, as they call it, who thought him&s;elfe bound literally by this Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>To preach to all Creatures,</HI> and &s;o did, as we &s;ee in his bruti&s;h Homilies, <HI>Frater A&s;ine,</HI> and <HI>Frater Bos,</HI> Brother Oxe, and brother A&s;&s;e, and the re&s;t of his &s;pirituall kindred; But in this Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Omnis Creatura, Every Creature,</HI> is every man; and to every man this Commi&s;&s;ion extends; Man is called <HI>Omnis Creatura,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.20.</NOTE> Every creature, as <HI>Eve</HI> is called <HI>Mater omnium viventium,</HI> though &s;he were but the Mother of men, &s;he is called the <HI>Mother of all living,</HI> and yet all other creatures live, as well as Man; Man is called Every creature, as it is &s;aid, <HI>Omnis caro,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.12.</NOTE> <HI>All fle&s;h had corrupted his wayes upon earth,</HI> though this corruption were but in man, and other creatures were fle&s;h as well as man; Man is every creature, &s;ayes <HI>Origen,</HI> be|cau&s;e in him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> <HI>Tanquam in officina, omnes Creaturae conflantur,</HI> Becau&s;e all creatures were as it were melted in one forge, and poured into one mold, when man was made. For, the&s;e being all the di&s;tinctions which are in all creatures, fir&s;t, a meere being which &s;tones and other inanimate creatures have; and then life &amp; growth, which trees and plants have; and after that, &s;en&s;e and feeling, which bea&s;ts have; and la&s;tly, rea&s;on and under&s;tanding, which Angels have,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregor.</NOTE> Man hath them all; and &s;o in that re&s;pect is every creature, &s;ayes <HI>Origen:</HI> He is &s;o too, &s;ayes <HI>Gregory, Quia omnis creaturae differentia in homine,</HI> Becau&s;e all the qualities and properties of all other creatures, how remote and di&s;tant, how con|trary &s;oever in them&s;elves, yet they all meet in man; In man, if he be a flatterer, you &s;hall finde the groveling and crawling of a Snake; and in a man, if he be ambitious, you &s;hall finde the high flight and piercing of the Eagle; in a voluptous &s;en&s;ual man, you &s;hall finde earthline&s;&s;e of the Hog; and in a licentious man, the intemperance, and di&s;temper of the Goate; ever lu&s;tfull, and ever in a fever; ever in &s;ickne&s;&s;es contracted by that &s;in, and yet ever in a de&s;ire to proceed in that &s;in; and &s;o man is every creature in that re&s;pect, &s;ayes <HI>Gregory.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> But he is e&s;pecially &s;o, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, Quia omnis creatura propter hominem,</HI> All creatures were made for man, man is the end of all, and therefore man is all, &s;ayes <HI>Augu&s;tine.</HI> So that the two Euangeli&s;ts have expre&s;&s;ed one another well; for tho&s;e whom this Euangeli&s;t S. <HI>Marke</HI> cals <HI>all creatures,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 49.6.</NOTE> S. <HI>Matthew</HI> cals <HI>Omnes Gentes, All Nations;</HI> And &s;o, that which is attributed to Chri&s;t by way of Prophecy, <HI>It is a &s;mall matter, that thou &s;houlde&s;t be my &s;ervant, to rai&s;e up the tribe of Iacob, and to re&s;tore the pre&s;erved of I&s;rael, I will al&s;o give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou maie&s;t be my &s;alvation unto the end of the earth;</HI> That which is attributed to Chri&s;t there, is fulfilled in this Commi&s;&s;ion, given by Chri&s;t here; That he &s;hould be preached to all men; In which, wee rather admire
<PB N="771" REF="403">then goe about to expre&s;&s;e his unexpre&s;&s;ible mercy, who had that tenderne&s;&s;e in his care, that he would provide man meanes of &s;alvation in a Church, and then that largene&s;&s;e in his care, as that he would in his time impart it to all men; for els, how had it ever come to us? And &s;o we pa&s;&s;e from the Circum&s;tances of the Commi&s;&s;ion, That it is, And where it is, And whence it comes, And whither it goes, to the Sub&s;tance it &s;elfe.</P>
<P>This is expre&s;&s;ed in three actions; fir&s;t, <HI>Ite praedicate, Goe and preach the Go&s;pel;</HI> And then, <HI>Baptizate, Baptize in the Name of the Father, Sonne, and Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> And <HI>Docete &s;er|vare, Teach them to ob&s;erve all tho&s;e things which I have commanded you;</HI> for that <HI>Hoc, Qui non crediderit hos,</HI> He that beleeves not this, (which is implied in this Text) reaches to all that; as well, <HI>Qui non fecerit hoc,</HI> He that does not doe all this, as <HI>Qui non crediderit hoc,</HI> He that beleeves not this, is within the penalty of this Text, <HI>Damnabitur:</HI> The fir&s;t of the&s;e three, is the ordinance and in&s;titution of preaching the Go&s;pel; The &s;econd is the admini&s;tration of both Sacraments; (as we &s;hall &s;ee anone) And the third is the pro|vocation to a good life, which is in example as well as in preaching; fir&s;t preach the Go|&s;pel, that is, plant the roote, faith; then admini&s;ter the Sacraments, that is, water it, che|ri&s;h it, fa&s;ten and &s;ettle it with that &s;eale; and then procure good works, that is, produce the ble&s;&s;ed fruit of this faith, and the&s;e Sacraments: <HI>Qui non crediderit hoc, He that does not beleeve</HI> all this, <HI>&s;hall be damned.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, <HI>Qui non crediderit,</HI> He that hath this Apo&s;tle&s;hip,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Praedicate.</NOTE> this mini&s;tery of reconci|liation, he that is a Commi&s;&s;ioner for the&s;e new buildings, to erect the kingdome of God by the Go&s;pel, and does not beleeve, and &s;hew by his practi&s;e that he does beleeve him|&s;elfe to be bound to preach, he is under the penalty of this Text. When therefore the Je&s;uit <HI>Maldonat</HI> plea&s;es him&s;elfe &s;o well, that, as he &s;ayes, he cannot chu&s;e but laugh,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Matth. 28.</NOTE> when the Calvini&s;ts &s;atisfie them&s;elves in doing that duty, that they doe preach; for, &s;ayes he, <HI>Docetis, &s;ed nemo mi&s;it,</HI> You doe preach, but you have no calling; if it were not too &s;erious a thing to laugh at, would he not allow us to be as merry, and to &s;ay too, <HI>Mi&s;|&s;i e&s;tis, &s;ed non docetis,</HI> Perchance you may have a calling, but I am &s;ure you do not preach? for if we con&s;ider their practi&s;e, their &s;ecular Clergy, tho&s;e which have the care of &s;oules in Pari&s;hes, they doe not preach; and if we con&s;ider their Lawes, and Canons, their Re|gular Clergy, their Monks and Fryers &s;hould not preach abroad, out of their own Cloy|&s;ters. And preaching was &s;o far out of u&s;e among&s;t them, as that in the&s;e later ages,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cheppinus de Jure Mona&s;t.</NOTE> un|der <HI>Innocentius</HI> the third, they in&s;tituted <HI>Ordinem praedicantium,</HI> An order of Preachers; as though there had been no order for preaching in the Church of God, till within the&s;e foure hundred yeares. And we &s;ee by their Patent for preaching, what the cau&s;e of their in&s;titution was; It was becau&s;e tho&s;e who onely preached then, that is, the <HI>Humiliati,</HI> (which was another Order) were unlearned, and therefore they thought it not ami&s;&s;e, to appoint &s;ome learned men to preach: The Bi&s;hops tooke this ill at that time, that any &s;hould have leave to preach within their Dioce&s;&s;es; and therefore they had new Patents, to exempt them from the Juri&s;diction of the Bi&s;hops; and they had liberty to preach e|very where; <HI>Mod&ograve; non vellicent Papam,</HI> As long as they &s;aid nothing again&s;t the Pope, they might preach. It is therefore but of late yeares, and indeed, e&s;pecially &s;ince the Re|formation began, that the example of others hath brought them in the Roman Church to a more ordinary preaching; whereas the penalty of this Text lies upon all them who have that calling, and doe it not; and &s;o it does upon them too, who doe not beleeve, that they are bound to &s;eeke their &s;alvation from preaching, from that ordinance and in&s;titution.</P>
<P>I cannot remember that in any Hi&s;tory, for matter of fact, nor in the framing or in|&s;titution of any State, for matter of Law, there hath ever been &s;uch a Law, or &s;uch a pra|cti&s;e, as that of Preaching. Every where among&s;t the Gentils, (particularly among&s;t the Romans, where there was a publique Office, to be <HI>Conditor Precum,</HI> according to emer|gent occa&s;ions, to make Collects and Prayers for the publique u&s;e) we finde &s;ome re&s;em|blance, &s;ome repre&s;entation of our common Prayer, our Liturgie; and in their ablutions, and expiations, we finde &s;ome re&s;emblance of our Sacraments; but no where any re|&s;emblance of our Preaching. Certaine anniver&s;ary Panegyriques they had in Rome, which were Coronation Sermons, or Adoption Sermons, or Triumph Sermons, but all tho&s;e, upon the matter, were but civill Commemorations. But this In&s;titution, of keep|ing the people in a continuall knowledge of their religious duty, by continuall preaching, was onely an ordinance of God him&s;elfe, for Gods own people; For, after that in the
<PB N="772" REF="404">wi&s;edome of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.21.</NOTE> the world by wi&s;edome knew not God, <HI>It plea&s;ed God</HI> (&s;ayes the A|po&s;tle) <HI>by the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of Preaching to &s;ave them that beleeve.</HI></P>
<P>What was this former wi&s;edome of God, that that could not &s;ave man? it was two|fold; Fir&s;t, God in his wi&s;edome manife&s;ts a way to man, to know the Creator by the creature,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1.20.</NOTE> <HI>That the invi&s;ible things of him might be &s;eene by the vi&s;ible.</HI> And this gracious and wi&s;e purpo&s;e of God tooke not effect, becau&s;e man being brought to the contem|plation of the creature, re&s;ted and dwelt upon the beauty and dignity of that, and did not pa&s;&s;e by the creature to the Creator; and then, Gods wi&s;edome was farther expre&s;&s;ed, in a &s;econd way, when God manife&s;ted him&s;elfe to man by his Word, in the Law, and in the Prophets; and then, man re&s;ting in the letter of the Law, and going no farther, and re&s;ting in the out&s;ide of the Prophets, and going no farther, not di&s;cerning the Sacri|fices of the Law to be Types of the death of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, nor the purpo&s;e of the Pro|phets to be, to direct us upon that Me&s;&s;ias, that Redeemer, <HI>Ip&s;a, quae per Prophetas locuta e&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alex.</NOTE> <HI>&s;apientia,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Clement,</HI> the wi&s;edome of God, in the mouth of the Prophets, could not &s;ave man; and then, when the wi&s;edome of Nature, and the wi&s;edome of the Law, the wi&s;edome of the Philo&s;ophers, and the wi&s;edome of the Scribes, became defective and in&s;ufficient, by mans perver&s;ene&s;&s;e, God repayred, and &s;upplyed it by a new way, but a &s;trange way, by the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of preaching; for it is not onely to the &s;ubject, to the matter, to the doctrine, which they were to preach, that this fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e is referred. To preach glory, by adhering to an inglorious per&s;on, lately executed for &s;edition and bla&s;phemy; to preach &s;alvation from a per&s;on, whom they &s;aw unable to &s;ave him&s;elfe from the Gallowes; to preach joy from a per&s;on who&s;e &s;oule was heavy unto death, this was <HI>Scandalum Iudaeis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.23.</NOTE> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, even to the Jewes, who were formerly acquain|ted by their Prophets, that &s;ome &s;uch things as the&s;e &s;hould befall their Me&s;&s;ias, yet for all this preparation, it was <HI>Scandalum,</HI> the Jewes them&s;elves were &s;candalized at it; it was <HI>a &s;tumbling blocke to the Iewes;</HI> but <HI>Graecis &s;tultitia,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle there, the Gentils thought this doctrine meere <HI>fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e.</HI> But not onely the matter, but the manner, not onely the Go&s;pel, but even preaching was a fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e in the eyes of man; For if &s;uch per&s;ons as the Apo&s;tles were, heires to no reputation in the State, by being derived from great families, bred in no Univer&s;ities, nor &s;ought to for learning, per&s;ons not of the ci|vile&s;t education, Sea-men, Fi&s;hermen, not of the hone&s;te&s;t profe&s;&s;ions, (<HI>Matthew</HI> but a Publican) if &s;uch per&s;ons &s;hould come into our &s;treets, and porches, and preach, (I doe not &s;ay, &s;uch doctrine as theirs &s;eemed then) but if they &s;hould preach at all, &s;hould not we thinke this a meere fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e; did they not mock the Apo&s;tles, and &s;ay they were drunke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.13.</NOTE> as early as it was in the morning? Did not tho&s;e two &s;ects of Philo&s;ophers, who were as farre di&s;tant in opinions, as any two could be, the Stoiques, and the Epicu|reans,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.18.</NOTE> concurre in defaming S. <HI>Paul</HI> for preaching, when they called him <HI>Seminiverbium,</HI> a babling and prating fellow? But the fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e of God is wi&s;er then men, &s;aid that Apo&s;tle;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.25.</NOTE> and out of that wi&s;edome, God hath &s;hut us all, under the penalty of this Text, If we that are peachers, and you that are hearers, doe not beleeve, that this preaching is the ordinance of God, for the &s;alvation of &s;oules.</P>
<P>This then is matter of faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Euangelium.</NOTE> That preaching is the way, and this is matter of faith too, that that which is preached, mu&s;t be matter of faith; for the Commi&s;&s;ion is, <HI>Praedicate Euangelium,</HI> Preach, but preach the Go&s;pel; And that is, fir&s;t, <HI>Euangelium &s;olum,</HI> Preach the Go&s;pel onely, adde nothing to the Go&s;pel, and then <HI>Euangelium totum,</HI> Preach the Go&s;pel intirely, defalke nothing, forbeare nothing of that; Fir&s;t then, we are to preach, you are to heare nothing but the Go&s;pel; And we may neither po&s;tdate our Commi&s;&s;i|on, nor interline it; nothing is Go&s;pel now, which was not Go&s;pel then, when Chri&s;t gave his Apo&s;tles their Commi&s;&s;ion; And <HI>no man can &s;erve God and Mammon;</HI> no man can preach tho&s;e things, which belong to the filling of Angels roomes in heaven, and tho&s;e things which belong to the filling of the Popes Coffers at Rome, with Angels up|on earth: For that was not Go&s;pel, when Chri&s;t gave this commi&s;&s;ion. And did Chri&s;t create his Apo&s;tles, as the Bi&s;hop of Rome creates his Cardinals, <HI>Cum clau&s;ura oris?</HI> He makes them Cardinalls, and &s;huts their mouths; they have mouths, but no tongues; tongues, but no voice; they are Judges, but mu&s;t give no Judgement; Cardinalls, but have no intere&s;t in the pa&s;&s;ages of bu&s;ine&s;&s;es, till by a new favour he open their mouths againe: Did Chri&s;t make his Apo&s;tles his Amba&s;&s;adors, and promi&s;e to &s;end their in&s;tru|ctions after them? Did he give them a Commi&s;&s;ion, and pre&s;ently a <HI>Super&s;edeas</HI> upon it,
<PB N="773" REF="404">that they &s;hould not execute it? Did he make a Te&s;tament, a will, and referre all to fu|ture Schedules and Codicills? Did he &s;end them to preach the Go&s;pel, and tell them, You &s;hall know the Go&s;pel in the Epi&s;tles of the Popes and their Decretals hereafter? You &s;hall know the Go&s;pel of depo&s;ing Princes, in the Councell of Lateran hereafter; and the Go&s;pel in deluding Heretiques, by &s;afe conducts, in the Go&s;pel of Con&s;tance hereafter; and the Go&s;pel of creating new Articles of the Creed, in the Councell of Trent hereafter? If &s;o, then was &s;ome rea&s;on for Chri&s;ts Di&s;ciples to thinke, when Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Verily, I &s;ay unto you, there are &s;ome here, who &s;hall not ta&s;te death,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 16. ultim.</NOTE> <HI>till they &s;ee the Sonne of man come in glory;</HI> that he &s;pake and meant to be under&s;tood literally, that neither <HI>Iohn</HI> nor the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles &s;hould ever die, if they mu&s;t live to preach the Go&s;pel, and the Go&s;pel could not be knowne by them, till the end of the world: And therefore it was wi&s;ely done in the Romane Church, to give over preaching, &s;ince the preaching of the Go&s;pel, that is, nothing but the Go&s;pel, would have done them no good to their ends: When all their preaching was come to be nothing, but declamations of the vertue of &s;uch an Indulgence, and then a better Indulgence then that, to morrow, and every day a new market of fuller Indulgences, when all was but an extolling of the ten|derne&s;&s;e, and the bowells of compa&s;&s;ion in that mother Church, who was content to &s;et a price, and a &s;mall price upon every &s;inne; So that if <HI>David</HI> were upon the earth againe, and then when the per&s;ecuting Angel had drawne his &s;word, would but &s;end an appeale to Rome, at that price, he might have an inhibition again&s;t that Angel, and have leave to number his people, let God take it as he li&s;t; Nay, if Sodome were upon the earth a|gaine, and the Angel ready to &s;et fire to that Towne, if they could &s;end to Rome, they might purcha&s;e a Charter even for that &s;inne (though perchance they would be loath to let that &s;inne pa&s;&s;e over their hills:) But not to &s;peake any thing, which may &s;avour of jea&s;t, or levity, in &s;o &s;erious a matter, and &s;o deplorable a &s;tate, as their preaching was come to, with humble thankes to God that we are delivered from it, and humble pray|ers to God, that we never returne to it, nor towards it, let us chearfully and con&s;tantly continue this duty of preaching and hearing the Go&s;pel; that is, fir&s;t the Go&s;pel onely, and not Traditions of men; And the next is, of all the Go&s;pel, nothing but it, and yet all it, add nothing, defalke nothing; for as the Law is, &s;o the Go&s;pel is, <HI>Res integra,</HI> a whole piece; and as S. <HI>Iames</HI> &s;ayes of the integrity of the Law, <HI>Who&s;oever keeps the whole Law,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">James 2.10.</NOTE> <HI>and offends in one point, he is guilty of all;</HI> So he that is afraid to preach all, and he that is loath to heare all the Go&s;pel, he preaches none, he heares none. And therefore, if that imputation, which the Romane Church layes upon us, were true, That we preach no fal&s;hood, but doe not teach all the truth, we did lacke one of the true marks of the true Church, that is, the preaching of the Go&s;pel; for it is not that, if it be not all that; take therefore the Go&s;pel, as we take it from the Schoole, that it is <HI>hi&s;toria,</HI> and <HI>u&s;us,</HI> (the Go|&s;pel is the hi&s;tory of the Go&s;pel, the propo&s;ing to your under&s;tanding all that Chri&s;t did, and it is the appropriation of the Go&s;pel, the propo&s;ing to your faith, that all that he did he did for you) and then, if you hearken to them who will tell you, that Chri&s;t did that which he never did (that he came in, when the doores were &s;hut, &s;o that his body pa&s;&s;ed thorough the very body of the Tymber, thereby to advance their doctrine of Tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation) or that Chri&s;t did that which he did, to another end then he did it, (that when he whipt the buyers and &s;ellers out of the Temple, he exerci&s;ed a &s;ecular power and &s;ove|raignty over the world, and thereby e&s;tabli&s;hed a &s;overaignty over Princes, in his Vicar the Pope) The&s;e men doe not preach the Go&s;pel, becau&s;e the Go&s;pel is <HI>Hi&s;toria &amp; u&s;us,</HI> The truth of the Hi&s;tory, and of the application; and this is not the truth of the Hi&s;tory; So al&s;o if you hearken to them, who tell you, that though the blood of Chri&s;t be &s;uffici|ent in value for you, and for all, yet you have no meanes to be &s;ure, that he meant his blood to you, but you mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e in this world, and pa&s;&s;e out of this world in doubt, and that it is well if you come to Purgatory, and be &s;ure there of getting to heaven at la&s;t; the&s;e men preach not the Go&s;pel, becau&s;e the Go&s;pel is the hi&s;tory, and the u&s;e; and this is not the true u&s;e.</P>
<P>And thus it is, if wee take the Go&s;pell from the Schoole; but if we take it from the Schoole ma&s;ter, from Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, the Go&s;pell is repentance, and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes; For he came, <HI>That repentance and remi&s;sion of &s;innes &s;hould be preached in his Name;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 24.47.</NOTE> If then they will tell you, that you need no &s;uch repentance for a &s;inne, as amounts to a contriti|on, to a &s;orrow for having offended God, to a dete&s;tation of the &s;inne, to a re&s;olution to
<PB N="774" REF="405">commit it no more, but that it is enough to have an attrition, (as they will needs call it) a &s;ervill feare, and &s;orrow, that you have incurred the torments of hell; or if they will tell you, that when you have had this attrition, that the clouds of &s;adne&s;&s;e, and of dejection of &s;pirit have met, and beat in your con&s;cience, and that the alli&s;ion of tho&s;e clouds have brought forth a thunder, a fearefull apprehen&s;ion of Gods Judgements upon you; And when you have had your contrition too, that you have purged your &s;oule in an humble confe&s;&s;ion, and have let your &s;oule blood with a true and &s;harpe remor&s;e, and compun|ction, for all &s;innes pa&s;t, and put that bleeding &s;oule into a bath of repentant teares, and into a bath of blood, the blood of Chri&s;t Je&s;us in the Sacrament, and feele it faint and langui&s;h there, and receive no a&s;&s;urance of remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, &s;o as that it can levy no fine that can conclude God, but &s;till are afraid that God will &s;till incumber you with ye&s;terdayes &s;innes againe to morrow; If this be their way, they doe not preach the Go|&s;pell, becau&s;e they doe not preach all the Go&s;pell; for the Go&s;pell is repentance and re|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes; that is, the nece&s;&s;ity of repentance, and then the a&s;&s;uredne&s;&s;e of remi&s;|&s;ion, goe together.</P>
<P>Thus farre then the <HI>Crediderit</HI> is carried,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Baptizate.</NOTE> wee mu&s;t beleeve that there is a way upon earth to &s;alvation, and that Preaching is that way, that is, the manner, and the matter is the Go&s;pell, onely the Go&s;pell, and all the Go&s;pell, and then the &s;eale is the admini&s;tra|tion of the Sacraments, as we &s;aid at fir&s;t, of both Sacraments; of the Sacrament of Ba|pti&s;me there can be no que&s;tion, for that is literally and directly within the Commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Goe and Baptize,</HI> and then <HI>Qui non crediderit, Hee that beleeves not,</HI> not onely he that be|leeves not, when it is done, but he that beleeves not that this ought to be done, <HI>&s;hall bee damned;</HI> wee doe not joyne Bapti&s;me to faith, <HI>tanquam dimidiam &s;olatii cau&s;am,</HI> as though Bapti&s;me were equall to faith, in the matter of &s;alvation, for &s;alvation may bee had in divers ca&s;es by faith without Bapti&s;me, but in no ca&s;e by Bapti&s;me without faith; neither doe wee &s;ay, that in this Commi&s;&s;ion to the Apo&s;tles, the admini&s;tration of Ba|pti&s;me is of equall obligation upon the Mini&s;ter as preaching, that he may be as well ex|cu&s;able if hee never preach, as if hee never Baptize; Wee know S. <HI>Peter</HI> commanded <HI>Cornelius</HI> and his family to be Baptized,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 10. ult.</NOTE> wee doe not know if hee Baptized any of them with his owne hand; So S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, that Baptizing was not his principall function;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.17.</NOTE> <HI>Chri&s;t &s;ent not me to Baptize, but to preach the Go&s;pell,</HI> &s;aith he; In &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as God &s;aid by <HI>Ieremy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 7.22.</NOTE> <HI>I &s;pake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them concerning burnt offerings, but I &s;aid, obey my voyce,</HI> &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, hee was not &s;ent to Baptize; God commanded our fathers obedience rather then &s;acrifice, but yet &s;acrifice too; and hee commands us preaching rather then Baptizing, but yet Baptizing too; For as that is true,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hiero.</NOTE> <HI>In adultis,</HI> in per&s;ons which are come to yeares of di&s;cretion, which S. <HI>Hierome</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Fieri non pote&s;t,</HI> It is impo&s;&s;ible to receive the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, except the &s;oule have received <HI>Sacramentum fidei,</HI> the Sacrament of faith, that is the Word preached, except he have been in&s;tructed and chatechized before, &s;o there is a nece&s;&s;ity of Bapti&s;me after, for any other ordinary meanes of &s;alvation, that God hath manife&s;ted to his Church; and therefore <HI>Quos Deus conjunxit,</HI> tho&s;e things which God hath joyned in this Commi&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 3.5.</NOTE> let no man &s;eparate; <HI>Except a man bee borne againe of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven;</HI> Let no man reade that place disjunctively, <HI>Of Water or the Spirit,</HI> for there mu&s;t bee both; S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe knew not how to &s;epa|rate them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.</NOTE> <HI>Repent and bee baptized every one of you,</HI> &s;aith he; for, for any one that might have beene, and was not Baptized, S. <HI>Peter</HI> had not that &s;eale to plead for his &s;al|vation.</P>
<P>The Sacrament of Bapti&s;me then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Euchari&s;tia.</NOTE> is within this <HI>Crediderit,</HI> it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be be|leeved to be nece&s;&s;ary for &s;alvation: But is the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper &s;o too? Is that within this Commi&s;&s;ion? Certainly it is, or at lea&s;t within the equity, if not within the letter, pregnantly implyed, if not literally expre&s;&s;ed: For thus it &s;tands, they are commanded,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 28. ult. 1 Cor. 11.23.</NOTE> <HI>To teach all things that Chri&s;t had commanded them;</HI> And then S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>I have received of the Lord, that which al&s;o I delivered unto you, That the Lord Ie&s;us tooke bread, &amp;c.</HI> (and &s;o hee proceeds with the In&s;titution of the Sacrament) and then he addes, that Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>Doe this in remembrance of mee;</HI> which is, not onely remem|ber me when you doe it, but doe it that you may remember me; As well the receiving of the Sacrament, as the worthy receiving of it, is upon commandment.</P>
<P>In the Primitive Church, there was an erronious opinion of &s;uch an ab&s;olute nece&s;|&s;ity
<PB N="775" REF="405">in taking this Sacrament, as that they gave it to per&s;ons when they were dead; a cu&s;tome which was growne &s;o common, as that it needed a Canon of a Councell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Carthag. 3. c. 6.</NOTE> to re&s;traine it. But the giving of this Sacrament to children newly baptized was &s;o generall, even in pure times, as that we &s;ee &s;o great men as <HI>Cyprian</HI> and <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> &s;carce le&s;&s;e then vehement for the u&s;e of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mu&s;culus.</NOTE> and &s;ome learned men in the Reformed Church have not &s;o far declined it, but that they call it, <HI>Catholicam con&s;uetudinem,</HI> a Catholique, an univer&s;all cu&s;tome of the Church. But there is a farre greater &s;trength both of naturall and &s;pirituall faculties required for the receiving of this Sacrament of the Lords Supper, then the other of Bapti&s;me. But for tho&s;e who have tho&s;e faculties, that they are now, or now &s;hould be able, to di&s;cerne the Lords body, and their owne &s;oules, be&s;ides that ine&s;timable and inexpre&s;&s;ible comfort, which a worthy receiver receives, as often as he receives that &s;eale of his reconciliation to God, &s;ince as Bapti&s;me is <HI>Te&s;&s;era Chri&s;tiano|rum,</HI> (I know a Chri&s;tian from a Turke by that Sacrament) &s;o this Sacrament is <HI>Te&s;&s;era orthodoxoru~</HI>) I know a Prote&s;tant from a Papi&s;t by this Sacrament) it is a &s;ervice to God, and to his Church to come frequently to this Communion; for truly (not to &s;hake or afright any tender con&s;cience) I &s;carce &s;ee, how any man can &s;atisfie him&s;elfe, that he hath &s;aid the Lords Prayer with a good con&s;cience, if at the &s;ame time he were not in &s;uch a di&s;po&s;ition as that he might have received the Sacrament too; for, if he be in cha|rity, he might receive, and if he be not, he mocked Almighty God, and deluded the Congregation, in &s;aying the Lords Prayer.</P>
<P>There remaines one branch of that part, <HI>Docete &s;ervare,</HI> Preach the Go&s;pell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Docete &s;er|vare.</NOTE> admini|&s;ter the Sacraments, and teach them to practi&s;e and doe all this: how comes matter of fact to be matter of faith? Thus; <HI>Qui non crediderit,</HI> he that does not beleeve, that he is bound to live aright, is within the penalty of this text. It is &s;o with us, and it is &s;o with you too; Among&s;t us, he that &s;ayes well, pre&s;ents a good text, but he that lives well, pre&s;ents a good Comment upon that text. As the be&s;t texts that we can take, to make Sermons upon, are as this text is, &s;ome of the words of Chri&s;ts owne Sermons: &s;o the be&s;t argu|ments we can prove our Sermons by, is our owne life. The whole weekes conver&s;ation, is a good paraphra&s;e upon the Sundayes Sermon; It is too &s;oone to aske when the clocke &s;troke eleven, Is it a good Preacher? for I have but halfe his Sermon then, his owne life is the other halfe; and it is time enough to aske the Saterday after, whether the Sundayes Preacher preach well or no; for he preaches poorely that makes an end of his Sermon upon Sunday; He preaches on all the weeke, if he live well, to the edifying of others; If we &s;ay well, and doe ill, we are &s;o far from the example of Gods children, which built with one hand, and fought with the other, as that, if we doe build with one hand, in our preaching, we pull down with the other in our example, and not only our own, but other mens buildings too; for the ill life of particular men reflects upon the function and mini|&s;tery in generall.</P>
<P>And as it is with us, if we divorce our words and our works, &s;o it is with you, if you doe divorce your faith and your workes. God hath given his Commi&s;&s;ion under &s;eale, <HI>Preach and Baptize;</HI> God lookes for a returne of this Commi&s;&s;ion, under &s;eale too; <HI>Be|lieve, and bring forth fruits worthy of beliefe.</HI> The way that <HI>Iacob</HI> &s;aw to Heaven, was a lad|der; It was not a faire and an ea&s;ie &s;taire ca&s;e, that a man might walke up without any holding. But <HI>manibus innitendum,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> in the way to &s;alvation there is u&s;e of hands, of actions, of good works, of a holy life; <HI>Servate omnia,</HI> doe then all that is commanded, all that is within the Commi&s;&s;ion: If that &s;eeme impo&s;&s;ible, doe what you can, and you have done all; for then is all this done, <HI>Cum quod non fit igno&s;citur,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> When God forgives that which is left undone; But God forgives none of that which is left undone, out of a wilfull and vincible ignorance. And therefore &s;earch thy con&s;cience, and then Chri&s;ts commandement enters, <HI>Scrutamini Scripturas,</HI> then &s;earch the Scrip|tures; for till then, as long as thy con&s;cience is foule, it is but an illu&s;ion to apprehend any peace, or any comfort in any &s;entence of the Scripture, in any promi&s;e of the Go&s;pell: &s;earch thy con&s;cience, empty that, and then &s;earch the Scriptures, and thou &s;halt finde abundantly enough to fill it with peace and con&s;olation; for this is the &s;umme of all the Scriptures, <HI>Qui non crediderit hoc, He that believes not this,</HI> that he mu&s;t be &s;a|ved by hearing the word preached, by receiving the Sacraments, and by working accor|ding to both, is within the penalty of this text, <HI>Damnabitur, He &s;hall be damned.</HI></P>
<P>How know we that? many per&s;ons have power to condemne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> which have not power
<PB N="776" REF="406">to pardon; but Gods word is evidence enough for our pardon and ab&s;olution, when&s;o|ever we repent we are pardoned, much more then for our condemnation; &amp; here we have Gods word for that; if that were not enough we have his oath; for it is in another place, God hath <HI>&s;worne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.3.</NOTE> that there are &s;ome, which <HI>&s;hall not enter into his re&s;t,</HI> and to whom did he &s;weare that, &s;ayes S. <HI>Paul,</HI> but to them <HI>that beleeved not?</HI> God cannot lye, much le&s;&s;e be for&s;worne, and God hath &s;aid and &s;worne, <HI>Damnabitur, he that beleeveth not, &s;hall be dam|ned.</HI> He &s;hall be; but when? does any man make ha&s;t? though that be enough that S. <HI>Chry|&s;o&s;tome</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;ot.</NOTE> It is all one, when that begins, which &s;hall never end, yet the ten&s;e is ea&s;i|ly changed in this ca&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 3.18.</NOTE> from <HI>damnabitur</HI> to <HI>damnatur;</HI> for <HI>he that beleeveth not, is condem|ned already.</HI> But why &s;hould he be &s;o? condemned for a negative? for a privative? here is no oppo&s;ition, no affirming the contrary, no &s;educing or di&s;&s;wading other men that have a mind to beleeve,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Iohn 5.10.</NOTE> that is not enough; for, <HI>He that beleeveth not God, hath made God a lyar, becau&s;e he beleeveth not the record that God gave of his Son.</HI> Here is the condem|nation we &s;peake of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 1.</NOTE> as S. <HI>Iohn</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Light was pre&s;ented, and they loved darkne&s;&s;e;</HI> &s;o that how&s;oever God proceed in his un&s;earchable judgements with the Heathen, to whom the light and name of Chri&s;t Je&s;us was never pre&s;ented, certainely we, to whom the Go&s;pell hath beene &s;o freely, and &s;o fully preached, fall under the penalty of this text, if we beleeve not, for we have made God a lyar in not beleeving the record he gives of his Son.</P>
<P>That then there is damnation, and why it is, and when it is, is cleare enough; but what this damnation is, neither the tongue of good Angels that know damnation by the contrary, by fruition of &s;alvation, nor the tongue of bad Angels who know damnation by a lamentable experience, is able to expre&s;&s;e it; A man may &s;aile &s;o at &s;ea, as that he &s;hall have laid the North Pole flat, that &s;hall be fallen out of &s;ight, and yet he &s;hall not have rai&s;ed the South Pole, he &s;hall not &s;ee that; So there are things, in which a man may goe beyond his rea&s;on, and yet not meet with faith neither: of &s;uch a kinde are tho&s;e things which concerne the locality of hell, and the materiality of the torments thereof; for that hell is a certaine and limited place, beginning here and ending there, and extending no farther, or that the torments of hell be materiall, or elementary torments, which in na|turall con&s;ideration can have no proportion, no affection, nor appliablene&s;&s;e to the tor|menting of a &s;pirit, the&s;e things neither &s;ettle my rea&s;on, nor binde my faith; neither o|pinion, that it is, or is not &s;o, doth command our rea&s;on &s;o, but that probable rea&s;ons may be brought on the other &s;ide; neither opinion doth &s;o command our faith; but that a man may be &s;aved, though hee thinke the contrary; for in &s;uch points, it is alwaies lawfull to thinke &s;o, as we finde does mo&s;t advance and exalt our owne devotion, and Gods glory in our e&s;timation; but when we &s;hall have given to tho&s;e words, by which hell is expre&s;&s;ed in the Scriptures, the heavie&s;t &s;ignifications, that either the nature of tho&s;e words can admit, or as they are types and repre&s;entations of hell, as <HI>fire,</HI> and <HI>brim|&s;tone,</HI> &amp; <HI>weeping,</HI> and <HI>gna&s;hing,</HI> and <HI>darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>the worme,</HI> and as they are laid together in the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 30.33.</NOTE> <HI>Tophet,</HI> (that is, hell) <HI>is deepe and large,</HI> (there is the capacity &amp; content, roome enough) <HI>It is a pile of fire and much wood,</HI> (there is the durablene&s;&s;e of it) <HI>and the breath of the Lord to kindle it, like a &s;treame of Brim&s;tone,</HI> (there is the vehemence of it:) when all is done, the hell of hels, the torment of torments is the everla&s;ting ab&s;ence of God, and the everla&s;ting impo&s;&s;ibility of returning to his pre&s;en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">; <HI>Horrendum e&s;t,</HI> &s;ayes the A|po&s;tle, <HI>It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.31.</NOTE> Yet there was a ca&s;e, in which <HI>David</HI> found an ea&s;e, to fall into the hands of God, to &s;cape the hands of men: <HI>Horrendum e&s;t,</HI> when Gods hand is bent to &s;trike, <HI>it is a fearefull thing, to fall into the hands of the living God;</HI> but to fall out of the hands of the living God, is a horror beyond our expre&s;&s;ion, beyond our imagination.</P>
<P>That God &s;hould let my &s;oule fall out of his hand, into a bottomle&s;&s;e pit, and roll an unremoveable &s;tone upon it, and leave it to that which it finds there, (and it &s;hall finde that there, which it never imagined, till it came thither) and never thinke more of that &s;oule, never have more to doe with it. That of that providence of God, that &s;tudies the life of every weed, and worme, and ant, and &s;pider, and toad, and viper, there &s;hould ne|ver, never any beame flow out upon me; that that God, who looked upon me, when I was nothing, and called me when I was not, as though I had been, out of the womb and depth of darkne&s;&s;e, will not looke upon me now, when, though a mi&s;erable, and a bani|&s;hed, and a damned creature, yet I am his creature &s;till, and contribute &s;omething to his
<PB N="777" REF="406">glory, even in my damnation; that that God, who hath often looked upon me in my foule&s;t uncleanne&s;&s;e, and when I had &s;hut out the eye of the day, the Sunne, and the eye of the night, the Taper, and the eyes of all the world, with curtaines and windowes and doores, did yet &s;ee me, and &s;ee me in mercy, by making me &s;ee that he &s;aw me, and &s;ome|times brought me to a pre&s;ent remor&s;e, and (for that time) to a forbearing of that &s;inne, &s;hould &s;o turne him&s;elfe from me, to his glorious Saints and Angels, as that no Saint nor Angel, nor Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elfe, &s;hould ever pray him to looke towards me, never re|member him, that &s;uch a &s;oule there is; that that God, who hath &s;o often &s;aid to my &s;oule, <HI>Quare morier is?</HI> Why wilt thou die? and &s;o often &s;worne to my &s;oule, <HI>Vivit Dominus,</HI> As the Lord liveth, I would not have thee dye, but live, will nether let me dye, nor let me live, but dye an everla&s;ting life, and live an everla&s;ting death; that that God, who, when he could not get into me, by &s;tanding, and knocking, by his ordinary meanes of entring, by his Word, his mercies, hath applied his judgements, and hath &s;haked the hou&s;e, this body, with agues and pal&s;ies, and &s;et this hou&s;e on fire, with fevers and ca|lentures, and frighted the Ma&s;ter of the hou&s;e, my &s;oule, with horrors, and heavy appre|hen&s;ions, and &s;o made an entrance into me; That that God &s;hould fru&s;trate all his owne purpo&s;es and practi&s;es upon me, and leave me, and ca&s;t me away, as though I had co&s;t him nothing, that this God at la&s;t, &s;hould let this &s;oule goe away, as a &s;moake, as a vapour, as a bubble, and that then this &s;oule cannot be a &s;moake, a vapour, nor a bubble, but mu&s;t lie in darkne&s;&s;e, as long as the Lord of light is light it &s;elfe, and never &s;parke of that light reach to my &s;oule; What Tophet is not Paradi&s;e, what Brim&s;tone is not Amber, what gna&s;hing is not a comfort, what gnawing of the worme is not a tickling, what torment is not a marriage bed to this damnation, to be &s;ecluded eternally, eternally, eternally from the &s;ight of God? E&s;pecially to us, for as the perpetuall lo&s;&s;e of that is mo&s;t heavy, with which we have been be&s;t acquainted, and to which wee have been mo&s;t accu&s;tomed; &s;o &s;hall this damnation, which con&s;i&s;ts in the lo&s;&s;e of the &s;ight and pre&s;ence of God, be heavier to us then others, becau&s;e God hath &s;o graciou&s;ly, and &s;o evidently, and &s;o di|ver&s;ly appeared to us, in his pillar of fire, in the light of pro&s;perity, and in the pillar of the Cloud, in hiding him&s;elfe for a while from us; we that have &s;eene him in all the parts of this Commi&s;&s;ion, in his Word, in his Sacraments, and in good example, and not be|leeved, &s;hall be further removed from his &s;ight, in the next world, then they to whom he never appeared in this. But <HI>Vincenti &amp; credenti,</HI> to him that beleeves aright, and over|comes all tentations to a wrong beliefe, God &s;hall give the accompli&s;hment of fulne&s;&s;e, and fulne&s;&s;e of joy, and joy rooted in glory, and glory e&s;tabli&s;hed in eternity, and this eternity is God; To him that beleeves and overcomes, God &s;hall give him&s;elfe in an everla&s;ting pre&s;ence and fruition, <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="77" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXVII. <HI>Preached at S.</HI> PAULS, <HI>May</HI> 21. 1626.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 15.29.</HI></BIBL>
<P>El&s;e, what &s;hall they doe which are baptized for the dead? if the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_I Entred into the handling of the&s;e words, upon Ea&s;ter day; for, though the words have received divers Expo&s;itions, good and pervers, yet all agreed, that the words were an argument for the Re&s;urrection, and that invited me to apply them to that Day. At that Day I entred into them, with <HI>Origens</HI> prote&s;tation, <HI>Odit Dominus, qui fe&s;tum ejus unum putat diem,</HI> God hates that man, that thinks any holy-day of his la&s;ts but one day, that never thinks of the Re&s;ur|rection, but upon Ea&s;ter day: And therefore I engaged my &s;elfe willingly, according to the invitation, and almo&s;t the nece&s;&s;ity of the words, which could not conveniently,
<PB N="778" REF="407">(&s;carce po&s;&s;ibly) be determined in one day, to returne againe and againe to the handling thereof. For, they are words of a great extent, a great compa&s;&s;e: The whole Circle of a Chri&s;tian is de&s;igned and accompli&s;hed in them; for, here is fir&s;t the fir&s;t point in that Circle, our Birth, our &s;pirituall birth, that is, Bapti&s;me, <HI>Why are the&s;e men thus baptized?</HI> &s;ayes the Text; And then here is the point, directly and diametrally oppo&s;ed to that fir&s;t point, our Birth, that is, Death, <HI>Why are the&s;e men thus baptized for the dead?</HI> &s;ayes the Text; And then the Circle is carried up to the fir&s;t point againe, to our Birth, in another Birth, in the Re&s;urrection, <HI>Why are the&s;e men thus baptized for the dead, if there be no Re|&s;urrection?</HI> So that if we con&s;ider the Militant and the Triumphant Church, to be (as they are) all one Hou&s;e, and under one roofe, here is fir&s;t <HI>Limen Eccle&s;iae,</HI> (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> calls Bapti&s;me) The Thre&s;hold of the Church, we are put over the Thre&s;hold, into the Body of the Church, by Bapti&s;me, and here we are remembred of Bapti&s;me, <HI>Why are the&s;e men thus baptized?</HI> And then here is <HI>Chorus Eccle&s;iae,</HI> The Quire, the Chancell of the Church, in which all the &s;ervice of God is officiated and executed; for we are made not onely hearers, and &s;pectators, but actors in the &s;ervice of God, when we come to beare a part in the Hymnes and Anthems of the Saints, by our Death, and here we are remembred of Death, <HI>Why are the&s;e men thus baptized for the Dead?</HI> And then, here is <HI>Sanctum Sanctorum,</HI> The innermo&s;t part of the Church, The Holy of Holyes, that is, the manife&s;tation of all the my&s;terious &s;alvation, belonging to &s;oule and body, in the Re&s;urrection, <HI>Why are the&s;e men thus baptized for the dead, if there be no Re&s;ur|rection?</HI></P>
<P>Our fir&s;t dayes worke in handling the&s;e words, was to accept, and then to apply that, in which all agreed, that the&s;e words were an argument for the Re&s;urrection; And we did both tho&s;e offices; we did accept it, and &s;o &s;hew you, how the a&s;&s;urance of the Re|&s;urrection accrues to us, and what is the office of Rea&s;on, and what is the office of Faith, in that affayre; And then we did apply it, and &s;o &s;hew you divers re&s;emblances, and con|formities between naturall Death, and &s;pirituall Death, and between the Re&s;urrection of the body to glory at la&s;t, and the Re&s;urrection of the &s;oule by grace, in the way; and wherein they induced, and a&s;&s;i&s;ted, and illu&s;trated one another; And tho&s;e two miles made up that Sabbath dayes journey. When we &s;hall returne to the handling of them, the next day, (which will be the la&s;t) we &s;hall con&s;ider how the&s;e words have been mi&s;|applyed by our Adver&s;aries of the Romane Church, and then the &s;everall Expo&s;itions which they have received from &s;ound and Orthodoxall men, that thence we may draw a conclu&s;ion, and determination for our &s;elves; And in tho&s;e two miles, wee &s;hall al&s;o make up that Sabbath Dayes journey, when God &s;hall be plea&s;ed to bring us to it. This dayes Exerci&s;e &s;hall be, to con&s;ider that very point, for the e&s;tabli&s;hment where|of, they have &s;o detorted, and mi&s;-applyed the&s;e words, which is their Purgatory, That this Bapti&s;me for the Dead mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily prove Purgatory, and their Pur|gatory.</P>
<P>So then this Dayes Exerci&s;e will bee meerely Polemicall, the handling of a Contro|ver&s;ie; which though it be not alwayes pertinent, yet neither is it alwayes un&s;ea&s;onable. There was a time but lately, when he who was in his de&s;ire and inten&s;ion, the Peace-ma|ker of all the Chri&s;tian world, as he had a de&s;ire to have &s;lumbred all Field-drums, &s;o had he al&s;o to have &s;lumbred all Pulpit-drums, &s;o far, as to pa&s;&s;e over all impertinent handling of Controver&s;ies, meerly and profe&s;&s;edly as Controver&s;ies, though never by way of po|&s;itive maintenance of Orthodoxall and fundamentall Truths; That &s;o there might be no &s;lackning in the defence of the truth of our Religion, and yet there might bee a di&s;creet and temperate forbearing of per&s;onall, and e&s;pecially of Nationall exa&s;perations. And as this way had piety, and peace in the worke it &s;elfe, &s;o was it then occa&s;ionally exalted, by a great nece&s;&s;ity; He, who was then our hope, and is now the breath of our no&s;trils, and the Anointed of the Lord, being then taken in their pits, and, in that great re&s;pect, &s;uch exa&s;perations the fitter to be forborne, e&s;pecially &s;ince that cour&s;e might well bee held, without any prevarication, or cooling the zeale of the po&s;itive maintenance of the religion of our Church. But things &s;tanding now in another &s;tate, and all peace, both Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall and Civill, with the&s;e men, being by them&s;elves removed, and taken away, and hee whom we feared, returned in all kinde of &s;afety, &s;afe in body, and &s;afe in &s;oule too, whom though their Church could not, their Court hath chatechi&s;ed in their reli|gion, that is, brought him to a cleere under&s;tanding of their Ambition, (for Ambition is
<PB N="779" REF="407">their Religion, and S. <HI>Peters</HI> Ship mu&s;t &s;aile in their Fleets, and with their winds, or it mu&s;t &s;ink, and the Catholique and Militant Church mu&s;t march in their Armies, though tho&s;e Armies march again&s;t Rome it &s;elfe, as heretofore they have done, to the &s;acking of that Towne, to the holding of the Pope him&s;elfe in &s;o &s;ordid a pri&s;on, for &s;ixe mo|neths, as that &s;ome of his neare&s;t &s;ervants about him died of the plague, to the trea|ding under foot Prie&s;ts, and Bi&s;hops, and Cardinals, to the di&s;honouring of Matrons, and the ravi&s;hing of profe&s;&s;ed Virgins, and committing &s;uch in&s;olencies, Catholiques up|on Catholiques, as they would call us Heretiques for beleeving them, but that they are their owne Catholique Authors that have written them) Things being now, I &s;ay, in this &s;tate, with the&s;e men, &s;ince wee heare that Drums beat in every field abroad, it be|comes us al&s;o to returne to the bra&s;ing and beating of our Drums in the Pulpit too, that &s;o, as <HI>Adam</HI> did not onely dre&s;&s;e Paradi&s;e, but keepe Paradi&s;e; and as the children of God, did not onely build, but build with one hand, and fight with another; &s;o wee al&s;o may employ &s;ome of our Meditations upon &s;upplanting, and &s;ubverting of error, as well as upon the planting, and watering of the Truth. To which purpo&s;e I &s;hall prepare this day, for the vindicating and redeeming of the&s;e words from the Adver&s;ary, (which will bee the worke of the next day) by handling to day that point, for which they have mi&s;|applied them, which is Purgatory, and the mother, and the off-&s;pring of that; for what can that generation of vipers &s;uck from this Text, which is not, If there be no &s;uch Pur|gatory, but, <HI>If there be no &s;uch Re&s;urrection, why then are the&s;e men baptized for the dead? Heaven and earth &s;hall pa&s;&s;e away,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t, <HI>but my word &s;hall not pa&s;&s;e away.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt 24.35.</NOTE> But rather then Purgatory &s;hall pa&s;&s;e away, his word mu&s;t admit &s;uch an Interpretation, as &s;hall pa&s;&s;e away, and evacuate the intention and purpo&s;e of the Holy Gho&s;t therein. How much of the earth is pa&s;&s;ed away from them, wee know, who acknowledge the mercy, and might, and miracle of Gods working, in withdrawing &s;o many Kingdomes, &s;o ma|ny Nations of the earth, in &s;o &s;hort time, from the obedience, and &s;uper&s;tition of Rome, as that if Controver&s;ies had been to have been tried by number, they would have found as many again&s;t them, as with them; &s;o much of the earth is pa&s;&s;ed from them. How much of heaven is pa&s;&s;ed from them, that is, how much le&s;&s;e intere&s;t and claime to hea|ven they can have now, when God hath afforded them &s;o much light, and they have re|&s;i&s;ted it, then when they were in &s;o great a part, under invincible ignorance, God onely, who is the onely Judge in &s;uch cau&s;es, knowes; and he, of his goodne&s;&s;e, enlarge their title to that place, by their conver&s;ion towards it. But how much &s;oever of earth or heaven pa&s;&s;e away, they will not lo&s;e an acre, an inch of Purgatory; For, as men are mo&s;t delighted with things of their owne making, their owne planting, their owne pur|cha&s;ing, their owne building, &s;o are the&s;e men therefore inamoured of Purgatory: Men that can make Articles of faith of their owne Traditions, (And as men to elude the law again&s;t new Buildings, fir&s;t build &s;heds, or &s;tables, and after erect hou&s;es there, as upon old foundations, &s;o the&s;e men fir&s;t put forth Traditions of their owne, and then erect tho&s;e Traditions into Articles of faith, as ancient foundations of Religion) Men that make God him&s;elfe of a piece of bread, may ea&s;ily make Purgatory of a Dreame, and of Apparitions, and imaginary vi&s;ions of &s;ick or melancholike men.</P>
<P>It may then be of u&s;e to in&s;i&s;t upon the &s;urvey of this building of theirs,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> in the&s;e three con&s;iderations. Fir&s;t, to looke upon the foundation, upon what they rai&s;e it, and that is Prayer for the Dead, and that is the Grand-mother Error; And then upon the Building it &s;elfe, Purgatory it &s;elfe, and that is the Mother; And la&s;tly upon the out-hou&s;es, or the furniture of this Building, and that is Indulgences, which are the children, the i&s;&s;ue of this mother, and not &s;uch children as draw their parents dry, but &s;upport and main|taine their parents; for, but for the&s;e Indulgences, their prayer for the Dead, and their Purgatory would &s;tarve; And &s;tarve they mu&s;t all, if they can draw their maintenance from no other place but this, <HI>Why are the&s;e men baptized for the dead?</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then for the fir&s;t of the&s;e three parts, The foundation, the Grand-mother,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1 Part.</HI> Oratio pro mortuis.</NOTE> Prayer for the Dead; The mo&s;t tender Mother, the mo&s;t officious Nur&s;e, cannot have a more particular care, how a new-borne child &s;hall be wa&s;hed, or &s;wathed, or fed, when they con&s;ider every drop of water, every clout, every pin that belongs to it, then God had of his Infant Church, when he delivered it over to her fo&s;ter-fathers, her nur&s;ing-fathers, her god-fathers, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> and bound them by his in&s;tructions, in every particu|lar, as he pre&s;cribed them. How many directions he gave, what they &s;hould eate, what
<PB N="780" REF="408">they &s;hould weare, how often they &s;hould wa&s;h, what they &s;hould doe, in every religious, in every civill action, and yet never, never any mention, any intimation, never any ap|proach, any inclination, never any light, no nor any &s;hadow, never any colour, any co|lourablene&s;&s;e of any command of prayer for the Dead. In all the Law, no precept for it; And this might imply a weakne&s;&s;e in Gods government, in &s;o particular a law no pre|cept of &s;o important a duty: In all the Hi&s;tory no example; And this might imply ill luck at lea&s;t, in &s;o large a &s;tory no Precedent of an Office &s;o nece&s;&s;ary: In all the Go&s;pell no promi&s;e annexed to it; And this doth not imply, but manife&s;t a conclu&s;ion again&s;t it, an exclu&s;ion of it. There being then no precept, no precedent, no promi&s;e for it, how came it into u&s;e and practi&s;e among&s;t the Jewes?</P>
<P>After the Jewes had been a long time conver&s;ant among&s;t the Gentiles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iudaei.</NOTE> and that as fre&s;h water approaching the Sea, contracts a &s;alti&s;h, a bracki&s;h ta&s;t, &s;o the Jewes received impre&s;&s;ions of the cu&s;tomes of the Gentiles, who were ever naturally enclined to this mi&s;-devotion, and left-handed piety, of praying for the Dead, In the faintne&s;&s;e, and lan|gui&s;hing of their Religion, when they were much declined from the exact ob&s;ervation thereof, then, in the time of the Maccabees entred that one example, which hath rai&s;ed &s;uch a du&s;t, and blinded &s;o many eyes. We have mention of many funeralls before that, and after that of many too, even in the time when Chri&s;t was upon the earth, and yet never mention of prayer for the dead, but in this one place of this booke; I doe not &s;ay, in this one &s;tory, (for in this &s;tory reported by <HI>Io&s;ephus,</HI> there is no mention of it) but in this one booke. That is true that I have read, that after Chri&s;ts time, the Rabbins laid hold upon it, and brought it into cu&s;tome; And that is true which I have &s;eene, that the Jewes at this day continue it in practi&s;e; For when one dies, for &s;ome certaine time after, appointed by them, his &s;onne or &s;ome other neere in blood or alliance, comes to the Al|tar, and there &s;aith and doth &s;ome thing in the behalfe of his dead father, or grandfather re&s;pectively. But all this they have drawne into practi&s;e, from this one place, from this booke, from which booke the &s;ame Rabbins draw a ju&s;tification of a mans killing him|&s;elfe, becau&s;e in this booke they find an example of that in <HI>Razis:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Macc. 14.37.</NOTE> The Rabbins tooke no better a ground for their prayer for the dead, then for &s;elfe-homicide, onely matter of fact, out of a Hi&s;toricall booke, which them&s;elves did not beleeve to be Canonicall. But how took this hold of Chri&s;tians?</P>
<P>That which wrought upon the Jewes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chri&s;tiani.</NOTE> prevailed upon the new Chri&s;tians too; for the greate&s;t part of them, by much, being Gentiles, (for few among&s;t the Jewes, in compa|ri&s;on, were converted to the Chri&s;tian religion) they which came from Gentili&s;me, re|tained &s;till many impre&s;&s;ions of &s;uch things as they had been formerly accu&s;tomed unto. And as the Fathers of the Church then, out of an indulgence to the&s;e new Convertits, did &s;uffer and tolerate the practi&s;e of many things, which the&s;e Gentiles brought with them; (as indeed a great part of the ceremonies of the Chri&s;tian Church are of that nature, and of &s;uch an admi&s;&s;ion, Things, which rather then avert their new Convertits from comming to them, by an utter aboli&s;hing of all parts of their former religion, and wor|&s;hip of their gods, tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Fathers thought fitter to retaine, and turne to &s;ome good u&s;e, then altogether to take them away) As in other things, &s;o al&s;o in this prayer for the dead, to which they, as Gentiles, had been formerly accu&s;tomed, the Fathers did not oppo&s;e it with any peremptory earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, with any vehement diligence, partly becau&s;e the thing it &s;elfe argued and te&s;tified a good, and tender, and pious affection; (and though God doe not ground his Decrees upon any di&s;po&s;ition in mans nature, yet in the executi|on of his Decrees, God as hee works in his Church, loves to work upon a good natur'd man) and partly al&s;o, becau&s;e this practi&s;e, being but a practi&s;e onely, and no Dogmati|call con&s;titution, might be (as it was in the fir&s;t practi&s;e thereof) without &s;haking any foundation, or wounding any Article of the Chri&s;tian Religion; And la&s;tly, (that wee may &s;peake truth, with that holy boldne&s;&s;e which belongs to the truth) becau&s;e it was a long time before the Fathers came to a cleere under&s;tanding of the &s;tate of the &s;oule, de|parted out of this life: for though they never doubted of the certaine performance of Gods promi&s;es, That all that die in him, do re&s;t in him, yet where, and how this re&s;t was communicated to them, admitted more clouds then they could at all times di&s;pell and &s;catter, &s;ome ari&s;ing from Philo&s;ophers, &s;ome from Heretiques, &s;ome from ignorance, &s;ome from heat of Di&s;putation.</P>
<P>So then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> at fir&s;t it was a weed that grew wild in the open field, among&s;t the Gentiles;
<PB N="781" REF="408">Then becau&s;e it bore a pretty flower, the te&s;timony of a good nature, it was tran&s;planted into &s;ome Gardens, and &s;o became a private opinion, or at lea&s;t a practi&s;e among&s;t &s;ome Chri&s;tians; And then it &s;pred it &s;elfe &s;o far, as that <HI>Tertullian,</HI> and he fir&s;t of any takes knowledge of it, as of a cu&s;tome of the Church; And truly this of <HI>Tertullian</HI> is very early, within little more then two hundred years after Chri&s;t. But as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;hews us an ear|ly birth of it, &s;o he tells us enough, to &s;hew us, that it &s;hould not have been long liv'd, when he acknowledges that it had no ground in Scripture, but was onely a cu&s;tome po|pularly, and vulgarly taken up. But <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;peaks of more then Prayer; he &s;peaks of oblations and &s;acrifices for the dead; It is true, he does &s;o; but it is of oblations and &s;a|crifices far from the propitiatory &s;acrifice of the Ma&s;&s;e, for <HI>Tertullian</HI> makes a woman the Prie&s;t in his &s;acrifice: <HI>Offert uxor,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>annuis diebus dormitionis mariti,</HI> The wife offers every yeare upon the day of her husbands death; that is, every yeare upon that day, &s;he gives a dole and almes to the poore, as the cu&s;tome was to doe in memory of dead friends.</P>
<P>This being then but &s;uch a cu&s;tome, and but &s;o induc'd, why did none oppo&s;e it?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aerius. Epiphanius.</NOTE> Why it was not &s;ufficiently oppo&s;ed, I have intimated &s;ome rea&s;ons before: The affecti|on of tho&s;e that did it, who were (though mi&s;taken in the way) piou&s;ly affected in the action, And then the harmle&s;ne&s;&s;e in the thing it &s;elf at fir&s;t, And then partly a loathne&s;&s;e in the Fathers to deter the Gentiles from becomming Chri&s;tians, And partly a cloud and darkne&s;&s;e of the &s;tate of the &s;oule after death. Yet &s;ome did oppo&s;e it; But &s;ome not early enough, and &s;ome not earne&s;tly enough; And &s;ome not with much &s;ucce&s;&s;e, be|cau&s;e they were not otherwi&s;e <HI>Integrae famae,</HI> They were not thought &s;ound in all things, and therefore they were beleeved in nothing; which was <HI>Aerius</HI> his ca&s;e, who did op|po&s;e it; but becau&s;e <HI>Aerius</HI> did not come home to all truths, he was not hearkned unto, in oppo&s;ing any error. Otherwi&s;e at that time, <HI>Epiphanius</HI> had a faire occa&s;ion offered, to have oppo&s;ed this growing cu&s;tome, and to have rectified the Church in a good mea|&s;ure therein, about an hundred years after <HI>Tertullian:</HI> For then <HI>Aerius</HI> oppo&s;ed it di|rectly; but becau&s;e he proceeded upon fal&s;e grounds, That &s;ince it was come to that, That the mo&s;t vicious man, the mo&s;t enormous &s;inner, might be &s;aved after his death, by the prayers and devotions of another man, there remained no more for a Chri&s;tian to doe, but to provide &s;uch men in his life, to doe tho&s;e offices for him after his death, and &s;o he might deliver him&s;elfe from all the di&s;ciplines, and mortifications, and from the angui&s;hes, and remor&s;es, and vexations of con&s;cience which the Chri&s;tian Religion induces and requires, <HI>Epiphanius</HI> di&s;cerning the advantage that <HI>Aerius</HI> had given, by im|puting things not throughly true, he places his glory, and his triumph, onely in over|throwing <HI>Aerius</HI> his ill grounded arguments, and takes the que&s;tion it &s;elfe, and the dan|ger of the Church, no farther to heart then &s;o. And therefore when <HI>Aerius</HI> asks, Can prayers for the dead be of any u&s;e? <HI>Epiphanius</HI> &s;ayes, Yes, they may be of u&s;e, to awa|ken and exerci&s;e the piety and charity of the living; and never &s;peaks to that which was principally intended, whether they could be of any u&s;e to the dead. So when <HI>Aerius</HI> asks, Is it not ab&s;urd to &s;ay, That all &s;ins may be remitted after death? <HI>Epiphanius</HI> &s;ayes, No man in the Church ever &s;aid, That all &s;ins may be remitted after death, and never cleares the maine, whether any &s;in might. And yet with all advantages, and modificati|ons, <HI>Epiphanius</HI> lodges it at la&s;t, but upon cu&s;tome, <HI>Nec enim praeceptum Patris, &s;ed in&s;ti|tutum matris habemus,</HI> &s;ayes he, For this which we doe, we have no commandment from God our Father, but onely an In&s;titution, implyed in this Cu&s;tome, from the Church our Mother.</P>
<P>But then it grew to a farther height; from a wild flower in the field,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> and a garden flower in private grounds, to be more generally planted, and to be not onely &s;uffered by many Fathers, but cheri&s;hed and watered by &s;ome, and not above forty years after <HI>Epi|phanius,</HI> to be &s;o far advanced by S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> as that he a&s;&s;ignes, though no Scripture for it, yet that which is neare&s;t to Scripture, That it was an Apo&s;tolicall Con&s;titution. And truly, if it did clearly appeare to have been &s;o, A thing practi&s;ed, and pre&s;cribed to the Church, by the Apo&s;tles, the holy Gho&s;t were as well to be beleeved in the Apo&s;tles mouthes, as in their pens; An Apo&s;tolicall Tradition, that is truly &s;o, is good evidence. But becau&s;e tho&s;e things doe hardly lie in proofe, (for that which hath been given for a good Rule of Apo&s;tolicall Traditions, is very defective, that is, That what&s;oever hath been generally in u&s;e in the Church, of which no Author is known, is to be accepted for
<PB N="782" REF="409">an Apo&s;tolicall Tradition, for &s;o that <HI>Ablutio pedum,</HI> The wa&s;hing of one anothers feet after Chri&s;ts example, was in &s;o generall u&s;e, that it had almo&s;t gained the dignity of be|ing a Sacrament; And &s;o was al&s;o the giving of the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud to children newly baptized, and yet the&s;e, though in &s;o generall u&s;e, and without any certaine Author, are not Apo&s;tolicall Traditions) Therefore we mu&s;t apply S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> words to S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome, Lege ex Lege, ex Prophetis, ex P&s;almis, ex Euangelio, ex Apo&s;to|licis literis, &amp; credemus,</HI> Read us any thing out of the Law, or Prophets, or P&s;almes, or Go&s;pel, or Epi&s;tles, and we will beleeve it. And we mu&s;t have leave to return S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tines</HI> words upon S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> him&s;elfe, who hath much a&s;&s;i&s;ted this cu&s;tome of pray|ing for the dead, <HI>Lege ex Lege, &amp;c.</HI> Read it out of the Scriptures, and we will beleeve it; for S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> does not pretend any other place of Scripture, then this of the Macca|bees, and (not di&s;puting now what credit that Book had with S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>) certainly it fell not within this enumeration of his, The Maccabees are neither Law, nor Prophets, nor P&s;alms, nor Go&s;pel, nor Epi&s;tle.</P>
<P>Beloved, it is a wanton thing for any Church, in &s;pirituall matters, to play with &s;mall errors; to tolerate, or wink at &s;mall abu&s;es, as though it &s;hould be alwayes in her power to extingui&s;h them when &s;he would. It is Chri&s;ts coun&s;ell to his Spou&s;e, that is, the Church, <HI>Capite vulpes parvulas,</HI> Take us the little foxes, for they de&s;troy the Vine; though they &s;eeme but little, and able to doe little harme, yet they grow bigger and bigger every day; and therefore &s;top errors before they become here&s;ies, and erroneous men before they become formall heretiques. <HI>Capite,</HI> &s;ayes Chri&s;t, Take them, &s;uffer them not to goe on; but then, it is <HI>Capite nobis,</HI> Take us tho&s;e foxes, Take them for us, The bargaine is betweene Chri&s;t and his Church. For it is not <HI>Capite vobis,</HI> Take them to your &s;elves, and make your &s;elves Judges of &s;uch doctrinall matters, as appertaine not to your cognizance; Nor it is not <HI>Cape tibi,</HI> Take him to thy &s;elfe, &s;py out a Recu&s;ant, or a man otherwi&s;e not conformable, and take him for thy labour, beg him, and &s;poile him, and, for his Religion, leave him as you found him; Neither is it <HI>Cape &s;ibi,</HI> Take him for his ea&s;e, that is, compound with him ea&s;ily, and continue him in his e&s;tate and errors, but <HI>Cape nobis,</HI> Take him for us, &s;o detect him, as he may thereby be reduced to Chri&s;t and his Church.</P>
<P>Neither onely this coun&s;el of Chri&s;t to his Church, but that commandment of God in <HI>Levit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 23.3. Lev. 19.15.</NOTE> is al&s;o applyable to this, <HI>Non mi&s;ereber is pauperis in judicio, Thou &s;halt not coun|tenance a poore man in his cau&s;e,</HI> Thou &s;halt not pity a poore man in judgement. Though a new opinion may &s;eeme a poore opinion, able to doe little harme, though it may &s;eem a pious and profitable opinion, and of good u&s;e, yet <HI>in judicio,</HI> if it &s;tand in judgement, and pretend to be an article of faith, and of that holy obligation, matter nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvati|on, <HI>Non mi&s;ereberis,</HI> Thou &s;halt not &s;pare, thou &s;halt not countenance this opinion upon any collaterall re&s;pect, but bring it to the onely tryall of Doctrines, the Scriptures. In the beginning of the Reformation in Germany, there aro&s;e a &s;ect, whom they called In|termi&s;ts, and Adiaphori&s;ts, who, upon a good pretence, were like to have done a great deale of mi&s;chiefe: They &s;aid, Since all the hope of a Reformation that we can promi&s;e our &s;elves, mu&s;t come from a generall Councell, and of &s;uch a Councel we can have no hope but by the Pope, it were impertinent, and di&s;-conducing to our owne ends, to vexe or exa&s;perate the Pope, in this Interim, till the Councel be &s;etled, and &s;o the Re|formation put into a way; and in the Interim, for this &s;hort time till the Councel, the&s;e <HI>Adiaphora,</HI> the indifferent things, (in which mild word they involved all the abu&s;es, and all the grievances that were complained of) may be well enough continued. But if they had continued &s;o long, they had continued yet; If they had &s;pared their little foxes then, they had de&s;troyed their vines; If they had pitied the poore in judgement, the cau&s;e had been judged again&s;t them; If they had reprieved tho&s;e abu&s;es for a time, they had got a pardon for ever: And therefore ble&s;&s;ed were they in taking tho&s;e children, and da&s;hing them again&s;t the &s;tones, In taking tho&s;e new-born opinions, and bringing them to the true touch-&s;tone of all Doctrines, <HI>An ab initio,</HI> whether they had been from the begin|ning, or could con&s;i&s;t with the Scriptures.</P>
<P>Neither doth this coun&s;el of Chri&s;ts, <HI>Take us the&s;e little foxes,</HI> nor this commandment of God, <HI>Thou &s;halt not pity the poor in judgment,</HI> determine it &s;elf in the Church, or in the pub|lique only, but extends it &s;elf (rather contracts it &s;elf) to every particular &s;oul and con&s;ci|ence. <HI>Capite vulpeculas,</HI> Take your litle foxes, watch your fir&s;t inclinatio~s to &s;ins, for if you
<PB N="783" REF="409">give them &s;uck at fir&s;t, if you feed them with the milke and hony of the mercy of God, it &s;hall not be in your power to weane them when you would, but they will draw you from one to another extreme, from a former pre&s;umption to a future de&s;peration in Gods mercy. So al&s;o <HI>Non mi&s;ereberis; Thou &s;halt not pity the poore in judgement;</HI> now that thou calle&s;t thy &s;elfe to judgement, and thy con&s;cience to an examination, thou &s;halt not pity any &s;in, becau&s;e it pretends to be a poore &s;in, either poore &s;o, that it cannot much en|danger thee, not much encumber thee, or poore &s;o, as that it threatens thee with poverty, with penury, with di&s;ability to &s;upport thy &s;tate, or maintaine thy family, if thou enter|taine it not. Many times I have &s;eene a &s;uitor that comes <HI>in forma pauperis,</HI> more trouble a Court, and more importune a Judge, then greater cau&s;es, or greater per&s;ons: And &s;o may &s;uch &s;ins as come <HI>in forma pauperis,</HI> either way, That they plead poverty, That they can doe little harme, or threaten poverty if they be not entertained. Tho&s;e &s;ins are the mo&s;t dangerous &s;ins, which pretend rea&s;on why they &s;hould be entertained: for &s;innes which are done meerely out of infirmity, or out of the &s;urpri&s;all of a tentation, are (in compari&s;on of others) done as &s;ins in our &s;leep; but in &s;ins upon deliberation, upon coun|&s;ell, upon pretence of rea&s;on, we doe &s;ee the wi&s;dome of God, but we &s;et our wi&s;dome above his, we do &s;ee the law of God, but we in&s;ert and interline <HI>non ob&s;tantes</HI> of our own, into Gods Law.</P>
<P>If therefore thou wilt corruptly and vitiou&s;ly, and &s;infully love another, out of pity, becau&s;e they love thee &s;o; If thou wilt a&s;&s;i&s;t a poore man in a cau&s;e, out of pretence of pity, with thy countenance and the power of thy place, that that poore man may have &s;omething, and thou the re&s;t that is recovered in his right; If thou wilt embrace any par|ticular &s;in out of pity, le&s;t thy Wife and Children &s;hould be left unprovided; If thou have not taken the&s;e little foxes, that is, re&s;i&s;ted the&s;e tentations at the beginning, yet <HI>Nunc in judicio,</HI> now that they appeare in judgement, in examination of thy con&s;cience, <HI>Non mi|&s;ereberis,</HI> Thou &s;halt not pity them, but (as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;peakes of fal&s;e Prophets,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 13.</NOTE> and by a faire accommodation of all bewitching &s;ins, with plea&s;ure or profit) <HI>If a Dreamer of Dreames have given thee a &s;igne, and that &s;igne be come to pa&s;&s;e;</HI> If a &s;in have told thee, it would make thee rich, and it have made thee rich; <HI>yet if this Dreamer draw thee to another God,</HI> If this profit draw thee to an Idolatrous, that is, to an habituall love of that &s;in, (for <HI>Tot habemus recentes Deos, quot vitiae,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> Every man hath &s;o many Idols in him, as he hath habituall &s;ins) yet, <HI>Though this dreamer</HI> (as God proceeds there) <HI>be thy brother, or thy &s;on, or thy friend which is as thine owne &s;oule,</HI> How neare, how deare, how nece&s;&s;ary &s;oever this &s;in be unto thee, <HI>Non mi&s;ereberis,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Mo&s;es, Thine eye &s;hall not pity that Dreamer, thou &s;halt not keepe him &s;ecret, but thine owne hand &s;hall be upon him to kill him;</HI> And &s;o of this plea&s;urable, or profitable &s;in, <HI>Non mi&s;ereberis,</HI> Thou &s;halt not hide it, but poure it out in Confe&s;&s;ion; <HI>Non mi&s;ereberis,</HI> Thou &s;halt not pardon it, no nor reprieve it, but de&s;troy it, for the practi&s;e pre&s;ently; <HI>Non mi&s;ereberis,</HI> Thou &s;halt not turne out the Mother, and retaine the Daughter, not leave the &s;in, and retaine that which was &s;infully got, but deve&s;t all, roote, and body, and fruits, by confe&s;&s;ion to God, by contrition in thy &s;elfe, by re&s;titution to men damnified; Elfe, that will fall upon thee and thy &s;oule, which fell upon the Church, That becau&s;e they did not take their little foxes, they en|dangered the whole vine; Becau&s;e they did pity the poore in judgement, that is, (as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes) they were loath to wra&s;tle with the people, or force them from dan|gerous cu&s;tomes, they came from that &s;upine negligence, in tolerating prayer for the Dead, to e&s;tabli&s;h a doctrinall point of Purgatory; and for both, prayer for the Dead, and Purgatory, they detort this text, <HI>El&s;e,</HI> that is, if no Purgatory, <HI>why then are the&s;e men baptized for the Dead?</HI></P>
<P>As in the Old Te&s;tament there is no precept, no precedent,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part</NOTE> no promi&s;e for prayer for the Dead, So in the Old Te&s;tament they confe&s;&s;e, there was no Purgatory; no &s;uch place, as could purifie a &s;oule to that cleanne&s;&s;e, as to deliver it up to Heaven; For thither, to Heaven, no &s;oule, &s;ay they, had acce&s;&s;e, till after Chri&s;ts a&s;cen&s;ion. But as the fir&s;t men|tion of prayer for the dead was in time of the Maccabees, &s;o much about the &s;ame time was the fir&s;t &s;tone of Purgatory laid; and laid by the hands of <HI>Plato.</HI> For,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plato. Tertul.</NOTE> <HI>Hareticorum Patriarchae, Philo&s;ophi,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian,</HI> The Philo&s;ophers were the Patriarchs of Here|tiques, evermore they had recour&s;e to them. And then, <HI>Plato</HI> being the Author of Pur|gatory, we cannot deny, but that the Greeke Church did acknowledge Purgatory, that is, that Greeke Church, of which <HI>Plato</HI> is a Patriarch; for, for the Chri&s;tian Greeke
<PB N="784" REF="410">Church, that never acknowledged Purgatory, &s;o as the Roman, that is, A place of tor|ment, from which our prayers here, might deliver &s;oules there. But yet <HI>Platoes</HI> inventi|on, or his manner of expre&s;&s;ing it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;ebius Anno 326.</NOTE> tooke &s;uch roote and &s;uch hold, as that <HI>Eu&s;ebius,</HI> when he comes to &s;peake of Purgatory, delivers it in the very words of <HI>Plato,</HI> and makes <HI>Platoes</HI> words his words, and <HI>Plato</HI> his Patriarch, for the Greeke Church. The Latin Church had Patriarchs too for this Doctrine; though not Philo&s;ophers, yet Poets; for of that which <HI>Virgil</HI> &s;ayes of Purgatory,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Lactantius Anno 290.</NOTE> <HI>Lactantius</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>propemodum vera, Virgil</HI> was very neere the truth, <HI>Virgil</HI> was almo&s;t a Catholique, but then later men &s;ay, <HI>Haec pror&s;us ve|ra,</HI> This is ab&s;olutely true that <HI>Virgil</HI> &s;ayes, and <HI>Virgil</HI> is a perfect, a downe-right Catho|lique; for an upright Catholique, in the point of Purgatory, were hard to finde.</P>
<P>The&s;e then are the fir&s;t Patriarchs of the Greek and Latin Church, Philo&s;ophers, and Poets; And when it came farther, to Chri&s;tians, it gained not much at fir&s;t; for the fir&s;t mention of Purgatory among&s;t Chri&s;tians hath this double ill lucke, that fir&s;t it is in a Booke which no &s;ide beleeves, the Booke called <HI>Pa&s;tor,</HI> who&s;e Author is &s;aid to bee <HI>Hermes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hermes.</NOTE> and he fancied to be S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Di&s;ciple; And then that which is &s;aid of Purgato|ry in that Booke, is put into an old womans mouth, and &s;o made an old wives tale; &s;he tels that &s;he had a vi&s;ion, of &s;tones fallen from a towre, and then mended after they were fallen, and laid in the building againe: And this Towre mu&s;t be the Church, and the&s;e fallen &s;tones mu&s;t be &s;oules in Purgatory, and then they mu&s;t be made fit to be placed in the uppermo&s;t part of the building, in the Triumphant Church.</P>
<P>But to con&s;ider this plant in better grounds, then Philo&s;ophers, or Poets, or old wives tales,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Clem. Alexan.</NOTE> or &s;uppo&s;ititious books, among&s;t men of more waight and gravity; <HI>Clement</HI> of Alexandria, within little more then two hundred yeares after Chri&s;t, &s;pake doubtfully, uncertainly, &s;u&s;piciou&s;ly, di&s;putably of Purgatory; And within twenty yeares after him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen.</NOTE> <HI>Origen,</HI> who was evermore tran&s;ported beyond the letter, upon my&s;teries, &s;ome|what directly. But yet when all is done, <HI>Origens</HI> Purgatory is a purgatory, that would do them no good; for it would bring them in no money; and they could be as well content that there were none, as that it were nothing worth; except they may have the letting and &s;etting of Purgatory at their price, they care not though it were pulled downe. And <HI>Origens</HI> Purgatory is &s;uch a purgatory as the be&s;t men mu&s;t come into it, even Martyrs them&s;elves, that are re-baptized in their owne blood, (and will this purgatory &s;erve their turnes?) And it is &s;uch a purgatory, as the wor&s;t of all, even the Devill him&s;elfe may, and &s;hall get out of it; And will this purgatory &s;erve their turnes? Neither is this an error peculiar to <HI>Origen,</HI> That all &s;oules mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e through Purgatory, but common with others of the Fathers too; <HI>Sive Paulus, &s;ive Petrus,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Origen,</HI> whether it be S. <HI>Paul,</HI> or S. <HI>Peter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> thither he mu&s;t come, And <HI>&s;ive Petrus, &s;ive Iohannes,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> whether it be the Di&s;ciple that loved Chri&s;t, S. <HI>Peter,</HI> or the Di&s;ciple whom Chri&s;t loved, S. <HI>Iohn,</HI> thither he mu&s;t come; And S. <HI>Hilary</HI> extends it farther, he drawes in the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> her &s;elfe into purgatory. And that we may &s;ee cleerely, that that Purgatory which the Fathers intended, is not the Purgatory now erected in the Roman Church, S. <HI>Am|bro&s;e</HI> con&s;igns to his Purgatory, even the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Te&s;taments; <HI>Igne filii Levi, igne Ezekiel, igne Daniel,</HI> The holie&s;t generation, the Sons of <HI>Levi,</HI> and the greate&s;t of the Prophets mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e through this fire: And will &s;uch a purgatory &s;erve their turnes, as was kindled in the Old Te&s;tament?</P>
<P>Well;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Interrogant nos.</NOTE> They are very loath to be put to their &s;peciall plea, very loath to an&s;wer, what Purgatory of the Fathers they will &s;tand to; They would not be put to an&s;wer; They chu&s;e rather to interrogate us; and they ask us, Since the Fathers are &s;o pregnant, &s;o fre|quent in the name of Purgatory, one Purgatory or other, will you beleeve none? None, upon the &s;trength of that argument, that the Fathers mention Purgatory, except they will a&s;&s;igne us a Purgatory, in which tho&s;e Fathers agree, and agree it to be matter of faith, to beleeve it; for from how many things, which pa&s;&s;e through the Fathers, by way of opinion, and of di&s;cour&s;e, are they in the Romane Church departed, onely upon that, That the Fathers &s;aid it, but &s;aid it not Dogmatically, but by way of di&s;cour&s;e, or opi|nion. But then they aske us againe, Since it is cleare that they did u&s;e prayer for the dead, what could they meane by tho&s;e prayers, but a Purgatory, a place of torment, where tho&s;e &s;oules needed helpe, and from whence tho&s;e prayers might helpe them? What could they meane els? Certainly, we cannot tell them, what they meant; If they &s;hould aske them, who made tho&s;e prayers, they could hardly tell them. If a man &s;hould have
<PB N="785" REF="410">&s;urprized S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> at his prayers, and &s;tood behinde him, and heard him &s;ay, <HI>Non du|bitamus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ambro&s;e.</NOTE> <HI>etiam Angelorum te&s;timoniis credimus,</HI> Lord, I cannot doubt it, for thou by thine Angels ha&s;t revealed it unto me, <HI>Fide ablutum, aeterna voluptate perfrui,</HI> That my dead Ma&s;ter the Emperour, was baptized in his faith, and is now in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all the joyes of heaven, and yet have heard S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> &s;ay, &s;ometimes to God, &s;ometimes to his dead Ma&s;ter, <HI>Si quid preces,</HI> if my prayers may prevaile with thee O God, and then, <HI>Oblationi|bus vos frequentabo,</HI> I will waite upon you daily with my Oblations, I will accompany you daily with my Sacrifices; And for what? <HI>Vt des, Domine, requiem,</HI> That thou, O Lord, woulde&s;t afford re&s;t, and peace, and &s;alvation to that &s;oule, And if this man after all this, &s;hould have asked S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> What he meant to pray for him, of who&s;e pre&s;ent beeing in heaven he was already a&s;&s;ured? &s;urely S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> could have given no &s;uch an&s;wer, as would have implied a confe&s;&s;ion, or an argument for Purgatory; But S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> is likely to have &s;aid to him, as he does &s;ay there, <HI>E&s;t in piis affectibus quaedam &s;tendi volup|tas,</HI> In tender hearts, and in good natures, there is a kinde of &s;atisfaction, and more then that, a holy voluptuou&s;ne&s;&s;e in weeping, in lamenting, in deploring the lo&s;&s;e of a friend; <HI>In commemoratione ami&s;si acquie&s;cimus,</HI> Let me alone, give me leave to thinke of my lo&s;t Ma&s;ter &s;ome way, by &s;peaking with him, by &s;peaking of him, by &s;peaking for him, any way, I finde &s;ome ea&s;e, &s;ome &s;atisfaction in commemorating and celebrating of him; But all this would not have amounted to an argument for Purgatory. So al&s;o if a man &s;hould have found S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his Meditations after his Mothers death,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> and heard him &s;ay, <HI>Pro peccatis Matris meae deprecor te,</HI> Lord, I am a &s;uiter now for my Mothers &s;innes; <HI>Exaudi Domine, propter medicinam vulnerum tuorum,</HI> Heare me, O Lord, who acknow|ledge no other <HI>Bal&s;amum,</HI> then that which drops out of thy wounds, <HI>Dimitte Domine, Domine ob&s;ecro,</HI> Pardon her, O Lord, O Lord pardon her all her &s;innes; And then &s;hould have heard S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> with the &s;ame breath, and the &s;ame &s;igh, &s;ay, <HI>Credo qu&ograve;d jam feceris, quae rogo,</HI> Lord, I am faithfully a&s;&s;ured, that all this is already done, which I pray for; and then &s;hould have asked S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> What he meant to pray for that which was already done? S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> could but have &s;aid to him, as he does to God there, <HI>Volun|taria oris mei accipe Domine,</HI> Accept O Lord, this voluntary, though not nece&s;&s;ary De|votion. But if a man would have pre&s;&s;ed either of them for a full rea&s;on of tho&s;e pray|ers, it would have been hard for him to have received it. They prayed for the Dead, and they meant no ill, in doing &s;o; but what particular good they meant, they could hardly give any farther account, but that it was, if not an inordinate, yet an incon&s;iderate piety, and a Devotion, that did rather tran&s;port them, then direct them.</P>
<P>The&s;e then prayed for the dead, and yet confe&s;&s;ed tho&s;e whom they prayed for, to be then in heaven; S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> prayes for others, and yet beleeves them to be in Hell;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Pote&s;t infideles de Gehenna dimittere,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>&s;ed fort&egrave; non faciet,</HI> God can deliver an un|beleeving &s;oule out of hell, perchance he will not, &s;ayes he, but I cannot tell, and there|fore I will try. And yet S. <HI>Gregory</HI> ab&s;olutely forbids all prayer for the dead,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregory.</NOTE> where they dyed in notorious &s;inne; As generally their whole Schoole doth at this day, either for &s;uch &s;inners, as dying in impenitency, are pre&s;umed to be already in Hell, or &s;uch as dy|ed &s;o well, that they are already pre&s;umed to be in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of as much as can be asked in their behalfe.</P>
<P>If then they will &s;till pre&s;&s;e and pur&s;ue us with that que&s;tion, What could tho&s;e Fa|thers meane by their prayer for the Dead, but Purgatory? We mu&s;t &s;end them to tho&s;e Fathers, (and I pray God they may get to them) to aske what they meant. So much as any of tho&s;e Fathers have told us, we can tell them; and among&s;t tho&s;e Fathers,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Areopag.</NOTE> S. <HI>Dio|ny&s;e</HI> the Areopagite hath told us mo&s;t; He hath told us the manner, and the Ceremonies u&s;ed at the funeralls of Chri&s;tians; and among&s;t them the offices, and liturgies, and &s;er|vices &s;aid and read at &s;uch funeralls; and expre&s;&s;ed them &s;o, as that we may ea&s;ily &s;ee, That fir&s;t the Congregation made a declaration of their religious and faithfull a&s;&s;urance, that they that die in the Lord, re&s;t in him; And then a prote&s;tation in the behalfe of that dead brother, that he did die in that faith, and that expectation, and therefore was then in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that re&s;t, which was promi&s;ed to them who dyed &s;o. And this te&s;timony for them&s;elves in generall, and this application thereof to that dead man, &s;ayes he, the Church then expre&s;&s;ed in the forme of prayer, and &s;o &s;eemed to aske and beg at Gods hands, that which indeed they did but acknowledge to have received before; they gave that the forme of a prayer, as of a future thing, which was indeed but a recognition of
<PB N="786" REF="411">that which was pre&s;ent, and pa&s;t, That they did then, and that that dead brother had be|fore embraced that beliefe.</P>
<P>This an&s;wer to their que&s;tion, (What could they meane but Purgatory, by tho&s;e pray|ers?) they may have from tho&s;e of tho&s;e ancient times; And thus much more from daily practi&s;e, That every man who pro&s;trates him&s;elfe in his chamber, and powres out his &s;oule in prayer to God; though he have &s;aid, <HI>O Lord, enter not into judgement with thy &s;ervant; forgive me the &s;innes of my youth, O Lord; O Lord blot out all mine iniquities out of thy remembrance,</HI> though his faith a&s;&s;ure him, that God hath granted all that he asked upon the fir&s;t petition of his prayer, yea before he made it, (for God put that petition in|to his heart and mouth, and moved him to aske it, that thereby he might be moved to grant it) yet as long as the Spirit enables him, he continues his prayer, and he &s;olicits, and he importunes God for that which his con&s;cience a&s;&s;ures him, God hath already granted: He hath it, and yet he asks it; and that &s;econd asking it implies and amounts but to a thanke&s;giving for that mercy, in which he hath granted it. So tho&s;e Fathers prayed for that which they a&s;&s;ured them&s;elves was done before, and therefore, though it had the forme of a prayer, it might be a commemoration of Gods former benefits; it might be a prote&s;tation of their pre&s;ent faith, or an atte&s;tation in the behalfe of their dead friend, who&s;e fir&s;t ob&s;equies, or yearly anniver&s;ary they did then celebrate.</P>
<P>Add to this the generall di&s;po&s;ition in the nature of every man, to wi&s;h well to the dead, And the darkne&s;&s;e in which men were then, in what kinde of &s;tate the dead were, and we &s;hall the le&s;&s;e wonder, that they declined to this cu&s;tome in tho&s;e times, e&s;peci|ally if we con&s;ider,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chemnicius Exam. De pur|gator. fo. 92. b.</NOTE> that even in the Reformation of Religion, in the&s;e clearer times, <HI>Lu|ther</HI> him&s;elfe, and after him, (if perchance <HI>Luther</HI> may be thought not to have been e|nough fined and drawn from his lees) The Apology for the Confe&s;&s;ion of Au&s;pourg, which was written after all things were &s;ufficiently debated, and had &s;iftings, and cribra|tions, and alterations enow, allowes of &s;uch a forme of prayer for the dead, as that of the primitive Fathers may ju&s;tly &s;eeme to have been. All ends in this, that neither tho&s;e prayers of tho&s;e Fathers, nor the&s;e of the&s;e Lutherans, (though neither be in them&s;elves to be ju&s;tified) did nece&s;&s;arily imply, or pre&s;uppo&s;e any &s;uch Purgatory, as the Romane Church hath gone about to evict or conclude out of them; Men might pray for the dead as tho&s;e Fathers did, and as the Lutherans doe, &s;afely enough without a&s;&s;i&s;ting the do|ctrine of Purgatory, if that were all that were to be &s;aid again&s;t &s;uch prayers.</P>
<P>Be then that thus &s;ettled, The Fathers did not intend any &s;uch building upon that foun|dation, not a Purgatory, which &s;hould be a place of torment, upon tho&s;e prayers for the dead; but then, what did they meane by that Purgatory, and that fire, which is &s;o fre|quent among&s;t them? In the confe&s;&s;ion of our Adver&s;aries, the greate&s;t part of the Fa|thers that mention a Purgatory fire, intend it of the generall fire of conflagration at the la&s;t day: They thought the &s;oules of the Dead to have beene kept <HI>in Abditis,</HI> and <HI>in Re|ceptaculis</HI> till the day of Judgement, and that then that fire which was to take hold of all creatures to the purifying of them, &s;hould al&s;o take hold of all &s;oules, and burne out all that might be unacceptable to God in tho&s;e &s;oules, and that this was their Purgatory. Others of the Fathers have called that &s;evere judgement, and examination which every &s;oule is to pa&s;&s;e under, from the hand of God at that time, (becau&s;e it hath much of the nature of fire, and many of the properties and qualities of fire in it) a fire, a purging fire, and made that their Purgatory. If others of the Fathers have &s;poken of a purging fire after this life, &s;o as it will not fall within the&s;e two acceptations, of the fire of conflagra|tion, or of the fire of examination, we mu&s;t &s;ay in their behalfe, as <HI>Sextus Senen&s;is</HI> does, That they are not the le&s;&s;e holy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sext. Senen&s;.</NOTE> nor the le&s;&s;e reverend, for having &s;traied into &s;ome of the&s;e mi&s;takings, becau&s;e it is a fire without light.</P>
<P>In tho&s;e &s;ub-ob&s;cure times,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;t.</NOTE> S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> might be excu&s;able, though he proceeded doubtfully and &s;aid, <HI>Non incredibile,</HI> It is not incredible that &s;ome &s;uch thing there may be, and <HI>Quaeri pote&s;t,</HI> It is not ami&s;&s;e to inquire, (where &s;uch things are to be inquired after, that is, in the Scriptures) whether any &s;uch thing be or no, and <HI>Vtrum latere,</HI> an <HI>inveniri,</HI> whether any &s;uch thing will be found there, or no, I cannot tell: he may be ex|cu&s;able in his proceeding farther in his doubt, <HI>Sive ibi tantum,</HI> whether all our Purgatory be re&s;erved for the next world, <HI>Sive hic &amp; ibi,</HI> or whether God divide our Purgatory, &s;ome here, and &s;ome there, <HI>Sive hic ut non ibi,</HI> or whether God exalt and multiply our Purgatory here, that we may have none hereafter. Of the&s;e things, I &s;ay, how&s;oever S.
<PB N="787" REF="411"><HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> might be excu&s;able for doubting in tho&s;e darke times, we &s;hould be inexcu|&s;able, if we &s;hould not deny them in the&s;e times, in which God hath afforded us &s;o much light and clearene&s;&s;e; And re&s;t in that acknowledgement, that we have in this life <HI>Pur|gationem, &amp; purgatorium,</HI> A purging, and a Purgatory; A purging in this, That Chri&s;t Je&s;us, <HI>Whom God hath made the heire of all things, by whom al&s;o he made the world,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>who was the brightne&s;&s;e of his glory, and the expre&s;&s;e image of his per&s;on; That he, by him&s;elfe hath pur|ged our &s;innes:</HI> There is our purging; But then, becau&s;e after this generall purging, which is wrapped up in the generall nature, as Chri&s;t dyed for mankinde, for all men, and after that neerer application thereof, as it is wrapped up in the Covenant, as he dyed more ef|fectually for all Chri&s;tians, <HI>&s;till our own clothes defile us,</HI> our own evill habits,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob</NOTE> our owne fle&s;h pollutes us, therefore God &s;ends us a Purgatory too in this life, Cro&s;&s;es, Afflictions, and Tribulations, and to burne out the&s;e infectious &s;taines and impre&s;&s;ions in our fle&s;h, <HI>Ip&s;e &s;edet tanquam ignis conflans, God &s;its as a fire, and with fullers &s;oape,</HI> to wa&s;h us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Malac. 3.2.</NOTE> and to burne us cleane with afflictions from his own hand.</P>
<P>Let no man think him&s;elfe &s;ufficiently purified, that hath not pa&s;&s;ed this Purgatory; <HI>Ira&s;caris mihi Domine,</HI> &s;aith S. <HI>Bernard,</HI> Lord let me &s;ee that thou art angry with me;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernar.</NOTE> I know I have given thee ju&s;t cau&s;e of anger; and if thou &s;mother that anger, and declare it not by corrections here, thou re&s;erve&s;t thine anger to undeterminable times, and to un&s;upportable proportions. <HI>Propitius fui&s;ti,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David, Thou wa&s;t a mercifull God to thy people;</HI> for, &s;aith hee, <HI>Thou did&s;t puni&s;h all their Inventions;</HI> In this con&s;i&s;ted his mercy, that he did puni&s;h; for if he had been more mercifull, he had been unmercifull; If he had begun with no Judgements, they had ended in Judgements without end; Affliction is a Chri&s;tians daily bread, and therefore in that petition, <HI>Da nobis hodie, Give us this day our daily bread,</HI> not onely patience in affliction, but affliction it &s;elfe, &s;o farre as it conduces to our mortification is asked at Gods hand. It is an over-pre&s;umptuous confidence, for which they glorifie one in the Romane Church, that he was put often to his <HI>Decede &agrave; me, Domine,</HI> O Lord, withdraw thy &s;elf, and thy grace farther from me, for by mine own &s;an|ctity, or diligence, I am able to wra&s;tle with, and to overcome all the tentations, and tribulations of this life, <HI>Decede &agrave; me,</HI> withdraw thy &s;elfe, and thy grace, and put not thy &s;elfe to this trouble, nor this co&s;t with me, but leave me to my &s;elfe: This was too much confidence; but that was more, which wee find in another, That he begged of God, by prayer, that he might bee po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with the Devill for &s;ome moneths, becau&s;e all the tentations of the fle&s;h, and all the cro&s;&s;es of the world, were not enough for his victory, and his triumph. But it is an humble and a requi&s;ite prayer, to ask &s;uch a mea&s;ure of af|fliction, as may balla&s;t us, and carry us &s;teddily, through all the &s;torms, and tempe&s;ts of this life. As hee that hath had no rubbe in his fortune, in his temporall &s;tate, is in mo&s;t danger to fall, (to fall into murmuring) at the fir&s;t &s;tumble he makes, As hee that hath had no &s;ickne&s;&s;e till his age, hardly recovers then; So hee that hath not borne his yoake in his youth, that hath not beene accu&s;tomed to cro&s;&s;es and afflictions, hath a wanton &s;oule all the way, and a froward and impatient &s;oule towards the end.</P>
<P>This is our true Purgatory; And in this Purgatory, we doe need the prayers of others; and upon this Purgatory, we may build Indulgences, which are tho&s;e te&s;timonies of the remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, which God hath enabled his Church to imprint and conferre upon us, in the ab&s;olution thereof; which are nothing of kinne to tho&s;e Indulgences of the Roman Church, which are the children of this mother of Purgatory, and to the main|tenance of which, they have al&s;o detorted our Text, <HI>El&s;e,</HI> If there be no &s;uch Indulgen|ces, If the works of Supererogation done by other men, may not be applied to the &s;oules that are in Purgatory, If there be no &s;uch u&s;e of Indulgences, <HI>why are then the&s;e men ba|ptized for the dead?</HI></P>
<P>Again&s;t the popular opinion of the Spheare, or Element of Fire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Indulgences.</NOTE> &s;ome new Philo&s;o|phers have made this an argument, that it is improbable, and impertinent, to admit an Element that produceth no Creatures; A matter more &s;ubtill then all the re&s;t, and yet work upon nothing in it; A region more &s;pacious then all the re&s;t, and yet have nothing in it, to worke upon. All the other three Elements, Earth, and Water, and Ayre abound with inhabitants proper to each of them, onely the Fire produces nothing. Here is a fire that recompences that defect; The fire of the Roman Purgatory hath produced Indul|gences, and Indulgences are multiplied to &s;uch a number, as that no heards of Cattell upon earth can equall them, when they meet by millions at a Jubile, no &s;hoales, no
<PB N="788" REF="412">&s;pawne of fi&s;h at Sea, can equall them, when they are tran&s;ported in whole Tuns to the We&s;t Indies, where of late yeares their be&s;t Market hath beene; No flocks, no flights of birds in the Ayre can equall them, when as they &s;ay of S. <HI>Francis,</HI> at every prayer that he made, a man might have &s;eene the Ayre as full of &s;oules flying out of Purgatory, as &s;parkles from a Smiths Anvill, beating a hot Iron. The Apo&s;tle complains of them, that made <HI>Mercaturam animarum,</HI> Merchandi&s;e of mens &s;oules; but the&s;e men make <HI>Lu|dibrium animarum,</HI> a Je&s;t of mens &s;oules: For, if that &s;ad and &s;erious con&s;ideration, that this doctrine concernes that part of man, which nothing but the incorruptible blood of the Sonne of God could redeeme, the &s;oul, did not ca&s;t a devout and a religious bridle upon it, it were impo&s;&s;ible to &s;peake of the&s;e Indulgences, otherwi&s;e then merrily: They do make merchandi&s;e of &s;oules, and yet they make a je&s;t of them too.</P>
<P>The&s;e then, the&s;e Indulgences, are the children, the generation of that Viper, the Sa|lamanders of that fire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pliny.</NOTE> Purgatory; And then, <HI>Inter omnia venenata,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Pliny,</HI> Of all the venemous creatures in the world, the Salamander is <HI>Maximi &s;celeris,</HI> the mo&s;t mi&s;|chievous; for whereas others, <HI>&s;ingulos feriunt,</HI> (as the &s;ame Author &s;ayes) they &s;ting but one at once, the Salamander de&s;troyes whole families, whole Cities together, for all that eat the fruit of any tree, that hee hath touched, peri&s;h. We need not apply this; Our fathers did, and our neighbours doe feele the manifold mi&s;chiefes that the&s;e merce|nary Indulgences work in the world, and to what de&s;perate and bloody actions men are induced, and animated by them; what knives the&s;e Indulgences have whet in Courts, and what Armies they have payed in the open field; A cheape di&s;charge, and ea&s;ie Sub|&s;idy; we have &s;eene Copper coyned, and we have read of leather coyned, but here they coyne paper, and in an Indulgence, which require but as much paper as a Ballad, they &s;end a man more &s;alvation, then the whole Bible can give them. Men that will not &s;ee light, or not watch by the light, will not &s;ee this; Men that delight to wallow &s;till in the mire, can dige&s;t this; <HI>Etiam Salamandra &agrave; &s;uibus manditur,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Pliny,</HI> As venemous as a Salamander is, a Sow will eat a Salamander; As the citizens of the lowe&s;t fire, of hell it &s;elfe, entred into the heard of &s;wine, &s;o the&s;e children of this other fire, of Purgatory, the&s;e Indulgences, enter into &s;wini&s;h men, that con&s;ider not their owne foulne&s;&s;e, but think them&s;elves cleane when they have eaten a Salamander, that is, bought an Indul|gence. But though they have had a &s;purious generation, and yet have la&s;ted longer then &s;purious generations u&s;e to doe, (for they have &s;pread into three generations, Prayer for the dead begot Purgatory, and Purgatory Indulgences) yet they have had a viperous generation too, for they have eaten out the wombe of their owne Mother, and the&s;e Salamanders, the&s;e Indulgences retaine &s;till the nature of <HI>Plinies</HI> Salamanders, <HI>Non gignunt,</HI> They beget no more, they proceed no farther; For in this enormous exce&s;&s;e of Indulgences, the Roman Church tooke her deaths wound; from this extreme abu&s;e of Indulgences, aro&s;e the occa&s;ion of the Reformation, which God advanced and pro|&s;pered &s;o miraculou&s;ly in the hands of <HI>Luther,</HI> upon the indignation that the world took upon the&s;e Indulgences.</P>
<P>How they ro&s;e, how they grew, how they fell, is a hi&s;toricall knowledge, and not much nece&s;&s;ary to be in&s;i&s;ted upon here though indeed our danger be greater from the&s;e Indulgences, then either from prayer for the Dead, or from Purgatory; though all three be equally erronious in matter of doctrine, yet for matter of fact, and danger, Indulgen|ces are the mo&s;t pernicious, becau&s;e that opinion of an immediate pa&s;&s;ing to Heaven thereupon, animates men to any undertakings. But as the Chri&s;tians in aboli&s;hing the Idolatry of the Gentiles, in &s;ome places, &s;ome times, left &s;ome of their Idols &s;tanding, le&s;t the Gentiles &s;hould come to deny, that ever they had wor&s;hipped &s;uch mon&s;ters: So it hath plea&s;ed the Holy Gho&s;t to hover over the Authors and Writers in the Roman Church, &s;o as that they have left &s;ome impre&s;&s;ions of the iniquity of the&s;e Indulgences in their bookes. From them we are able to declare, That Indulgencies in the Primitive Church were nothing but relaxations, moderations of tho&s;e &s;evere penances, which the Canons, called Penitentiall, inflicted upon particular &s;ins, which Canons were for the mo&s;t part the Rule of the whole Church, and which penances, enjoyned by tho&s;e Ca|nons, every Bi&s;hop in his owne Dioces, might according to his holy di&s;cretion mode|rate, according to the bodily infirmity, or the &s;pirituall amendment of the penitent &s;in|ner; That in time, the Bi&s;hops of Rome drew into their hands all this power of remitting penances, re&s;erving to them&s;elves, and &s;hedding upon other Bi&s;hops, as much, and as
<PB N="789" REF="412">little as they were plea&s;ed; That after they had extended this overflowing power over this world, they enlarged it farther to the next world too, to Purgatory. And this, not long &s;ince, <HI>Po&s;tquam aliquandiu ad Purgatorium trepidatum e&s;t, coepere indulgentiae,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Roffen&s;.</NOTE> &s;ayes a good Author of theirs, of our Nation, that Bi&s;hop of Roche&s;ter, who&s;e &s;ervice they re|compen&s;ed with a Cardinals Hat, (but &s;omewhat late, for his head was off before his hat came) After the vapours of Purgatory had blinded mens eyes, after men had beene made afraid of tho&s;e fires, for a good while, &s;ayes that Bi&s;hop, then they began to &s;et on foote their Indulgencies; This beginning was not above three hundred yeares &s;ince, and within one hundred they came to that height, that though in their Schooles they make the paines of Purgatory to be &s;o violent, that they &s;ay no &s;oule is likely to remaine there above ten yeares, yet they give Indulgencies for infinite thou&s;ands of yeares; They give one day <HI>Plenam,</HI> and the next <HI>pleniorem,</HI> and after <HI>pleni&s;simam,</HI> They forgive all to day, and to morrow the re&s;t, and then they finde &s;omething beyond that, which was beyond all: So that as <HI>Seneca</HI> &s;ayes, of the exce&s;&s;e in Libraries in his time, That they had <HI>Biblio|thecas pro Supellectile,</HI> No man thought his hou&s;e well furni&s;hed, if he had not a Library, though he under&s;tood never an Author, So no man thought his hou&s;e well furni&s;hed, if he had not Indulgencies for every &s;ea&s;on, if he bought not all that came to market, if he had not Indulgence upon Indulgencies, pre&s;ent and &s;ucce&s;&s;ive Indulgences, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ory and rever&s;ionary Indulgences, totall and &s;upernumerary, current and concurrent Indul|gences, to delude the ju&s;tice of God withall.</P>
<P>Well; to our true Purgatory which we &s;pake of before, Tho&s;e cro&s;&s;es which God is plea&s;ed to lay upon us, belong true Indulgencies, The con&s;tant promi&s;es of our faithfull God, that he will give us the i&s;&s;ue with the tentation, and that as the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>No tentation &s;hall befall us, Si non humana, but that which appertaines to man:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.13.</NOTE> Now for this <HI>Humana tentatio,</HI> tentation or affliction that appertaines to man, it is not onely affliction that appertaines to man &s;o, as that other men doe inflict it, when wicked men revile and calumniate and oppre&s;&s;e the godly; it is not onely that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> though &s;o S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> inter|prets it; Nor is this affliction appertaining to man, becau&s;e man him&s;elfe inflicts it upon him&s;elfe, our owne inherent corruption being become <HI>Spontaneus Daemon,</HI> a Devill in our owne bo&s;ome; it is not onely that, though &s;o S. <HI>Hierom</HI> interpret it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron.</NOTE> nor is this affliction appertaining to man, &s;o called <HI>Humana,</HI> as <HI>humanum</HI> is oppo&s;ed <HI>Daemoniaco,</HI> That all tor|ments falling upon the Devill, worke in him more and more obduration, but the corre|ctions inflicted by God upon man, worke a reconciliation; it is not onely this, though &s;o S. <HI>Gregory</HI> interpret it; But this affliction appertaines &s;o to a Chri&s;tian man,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gregory.</NOTE> as the &s;oule it &s;elfe, and as rea&s;on appertaines to a naturall man: He is not a man, that is without a rea&s;onable &s;oule, he is not a Chri&s;tian that is without correction; It appertaines unto man &s;o, as that it is convenient, more, that it is expedient, more then that, that it is nece&s;&s;ary, and more then all that, that it is e&s;&s;entiall to a Chri&s;tian: As when the &s;pirit returnes to him that gave it, there is a di&s;&s;olution of the man, So when God withdrawes his vi&s;itati|on, there is a di&s;&s;olution of a Chri&s;tian; for &s;o God expre&s;&s;es the &s;pirituall Death, and the height of his anger, in the Prophet, <HI>I will make my wrath towards thee to re&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 15.42.</NOTE> <HI>and my jea|lou&s;ie &s;hall depart from thee;</HI> That is, I will looke no more after thee, I will &s;tudy thy re|covery and thine amendment no farther.</P>
<P><HI>Have ye forgot the Con&s;olation?</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; what is that Con&s;olation?<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.5. &amp; 6.</NOTE> Is it that you &s;hall have no affliction? No; This is the Con&s;olation, <HI>That whom the Lord loveth he cha&s;teneth, and he &s;courgeth every &s;on whom he receiveth.</HI> It is generall to all &s;ons, for, <HI>If ye be without correction, whereof all are partakers, then are ye ba&s;tards, and not &s;ons;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 8.</NOTE> And then, to &s;hew us how this Purgatory and the&s;e Indulgencies accompany on another, how Gods cro&s;&s;es, and his deliverances doe ever concurre together, wee &s;ee the Holy Gho&s;t hath &s;o ordered and di&s;po&s;ed the&s;e two, Mercy and Correction, in this one ver&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 6.</NOTE> as that we cannot &s;ay which is fir&s;t, the Correction or the Mercy, the Purgatory or the Indulgence: For fir&s;t the Indulgence is before the Purgatory, The Mercy before the Correction, in one place, <HI>Whom he loveth, he cha&s;teneth,</HI> fir&s;t <HI>God loves,</HI> and then <HI>he cha&s;t|neth;</HI> and then after, The Purgatory is before the Indulgence, the Correction is before Mercy, <HI>He &s;courgeth every &s;on whom he receiveth;</HI> fir&s;t <HI>he &s;courges him,</HI> and then <HI>he receives him;</HI> They are &s;o di&s;po&s;ed, as that both are made fir&s;t, and both la&s;t, wee cannot tell whether precede, or &s;ucceed, they are alwayes both together, they are alwaies all one; As long as his love la&s;ts, he corrects us, and as long as he corrects us, he loves us.</P>
<PB N="790" REF="413">
<P>And &s;o we have a ju&s;tifiable prayer for the Dead, that is, for our &s;oules, dead in their &s;ins, <HI>Cor novum, O Lord create a new heart in me;</HI> And wee have a ju&s;tifiable Purgatory, <HI>Purgabit aream,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 4.17. E&s;ay 26.15.</NOTE> If we be Gods <HI>floore,</HI> he hath his <HI>fanne</HI> in his hand, and he will <HI>make us cleane;</HI> And we have ju&s;tifiable Indulgences, <HI>Indul&s;i&s;ti genti Domine, indul&s;i&s;ti genti,</HI> Thou ha&s;t been indulgent to thy people, O Lord, thou ha&s;t been indulgent to us; Wee cannot complaine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ier. 4.10.</NOTE> as they begin, rather to murmur, then to complaine, <HI>Ah Lord God, &s;urely thou ha&s;t deceived thy people, &s;aying, you &s;hall have peace, and the &s;word pierceth to the heart;</HI> For when this &s;word of Gods corrections &s;hall pierce to the heart, that very &s;word &s;hall be but as a Probe to &s;earch the wound, nay that very wound &s;hall be but as an i&s;&s;ue to draine, and pre&s;erve the whole body in health; for <HI>his mercies are &s;o above all his works,</HI> as that the very works of his Ju&s;tice are mercy.</P>
<P>And &s;o, not the Prayer for the Dead, not the Purgatory, not the Indulgences of the Roman Church, but we, who have them truely, doe truely receive a benefit from this Text, which Text is a proofe of the Re&s;urrection. Becau&s;e wee feele a Re&s;urrection by grace now, becau&s;e we beleeve a Re&s;urrection to glory hereafter, therefore we can give an account of this Bapti&s;me for the dead in our Text: The particular &s;en&s;e of which words, will be the Exerci&s;e of another day. This day wee end, both with our humble thanks, for all Indulgences which God hath given us in our Purgatories, for former de|liverances in former cro&s;&s;es, and with humble prayer al&s;o, that hee ever afford us &s;uch a proportion of his medicinall corrections, as may ever te&s;tifie his pre&s;ence and pro|vidence upon us in the way, and bring us in the end, to the Kingdome of his Son Chri&s;t Je&s;us. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="78" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXVIII. <HI>Preached at S.</HI> PAULS, <HI>June</HI> 21. 1626.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 15.29.</HI></BIBL>
<P>El&s;e, what &s;hall they doe which are baptized for the dead? if the dead ri&s;e not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WEE are now come at la&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> to that which was fir&s;t in our intention, How the&s;e words have beene detorted, and mi&s;applied by our Adver&s;aries of the Ro|man Church, for the e&s;tabli&s;hing of tho&s;e here&s;ies, which we have formerly oppo&s;ed, And then, the divers wayes, which &s;ounder and more Orthodoxall Divines have held in the Expo&s;ition thereof; that &s;o from the fir&s;t Part, wee may learne what to avoid and &s;hun, and from the &s;econd, what to embrace and follow.</P>
<P>Of all the places of Scripture which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> brings for the maintenance of Pur|gatory (excepting onely that one place of the Maccabees) (And of that place we mu&s;t &s;ay, as it was &s;aid of that jealous husband, which &s;et a watch and &s;pie upon his Wife, <HI>Quis cu&s;todit cu&s;todes?</HI> Who &s;hall watch them that watch her? So when they prove mat|ters of faith out of the Maccabees, we &s;ay <HI>Quis probat probantem,</HI> who &s;hall prove that booke to be Scripture, by which they prove that doctrine to be true?) But of all other places, there is &s;carce one, to which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> him&s;elfe doth not, by way of objection again&s;t him&s;elfe, give &s;ome better &s;en&s;e and interpretation then that, which him&s;elfe &s;ticks to; and &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, as when the matter of Purgatory is not in que&s;tion, his fel|lowes often times in their writings, and him&s;elfe &s;ometimes in his writings doth accept, and adhere to.</P>
<P>I offer it for a note of good u&s;e, and in the ob&s;erving whereof, I have u&s;ed a con&s;tant diligence in reading the Roman Writers, That tho&s;e Writers which write by way of Expo&s;ition, and Commentaries upon the Scriptures, and are not engaged in the profe&s;|&s;ed handling of Controver&s;ies, doe very often content them&s;elves with the true &s;en&s;e of
<PB N="791" REF="413">tho&s;e places which they handle, and hunt after no curious, nor forced, nor forraine, nor unnaturall &s;en&s;es: But if the &s;ame Authors come to handle Controver&s;ies, they depart from that &s;inglene&s;&s;e of heart, and that holy ingenuity, and &s;tray a&s;ide, or &s;oare up into other &s;en&s;es of the &s;ame places. I looke no farther for a rea&s;on of this, then this, That al|mo&s;t all the Controver&s;ies, between Rome, and the re&s;t of the Chri&s;tian world, are mat|ters of profit to them, and ray&s;e money, and advance their Revenue: So that, as they are but Expo&s;itors, they may have leave to be good Divines, and then, and in that capacity, they may give the true &s;en&s;e of that Scripture; But as they are Controverters, they mu&s;t be good Subjects, good State&s;men, good Exchequer men, and then, and in that capaci|ty, they mu&s;t give &s;uch &s;en&s;es as may e&s;tabli&s;h and advance their profit: As an Expo&s;itor, he may interpret this place of the Re&s;urrection, as it &s;hould be; but as a Controverter, he mu&s;t interpret it of Purgatory, for &s;o it mu&s;t be, when profit is their end: And as our Alchymi&s;ts can finde their whole art and worke of Alchymy, not onely in <HI>Virgil</HI> and <HI>O|vid,</HI> but in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Solomon;</HI> &s;o the&s;e men can finde &s;uch a tran&s;mutation into gold, &s;uch a foundation of profit, in extorting a &s;en&s;e for Purgatory, or other profitable Do|ctrines, out of any Scripture.</P>
<P>So <HI>Bellarmine</HI> does upon this place, and upon this place principally he relyes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De purg. l. 1. c. 6.</NOTE> in this he triumphs, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Hic locus apert&egrave; convincit quod volumus,</HI> Here needs no wre|&s;ting, no di&s;gui&s;ing, here Purgatory is clearly and manife&s;tly di&s;covered. Now certain|ly, if we take the words as they are, and as the Holy Gho&s;t hath left them to us, we finde no &s;uch manife&s;tation of this Doctrine, no &s;uch cleare light, no &s;uch bonfire, no &s;uch beacon, no beame at all, no &s;park of any &s;uch fire of Purgatory: That becau&s;e S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes, That no man would be baptized <HI>Pro mortuis, for Dead,</HI> or, <HI>for the Dead,</HI> except he did a&s;&s;ure him&s;elfe of a Re&s;urrection, that this &s;hould be <HI>Aperta convictio,</HI> an evident Conviction of Purgatory, is, if it be not a new Divinity, certainly a new Logique.</P>
<P>But it is not the word, but the &s;en&s;e that they ground their a&s;&s;urance upon. Now, the &s;en&s;e which &s;hould ground an a&s;&s;urance in Doctrinall things, &s;hould be the literall &s;en&s;e: And yet here, in &s;o important a matter of faith as Purgatory, it mu&s;t not be a literall, a proper, a naturall and genuine &s;en&s;e, but figurative, and metaphoricall; for, in this place, <HI>Bapti&s;me</HI> mu&s;t not &s;ignifie literally the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, but it mu&s;t &s;ignifie, in a fi|gurative &s;en&s;e, a Bapti&s;me of teares. And then that figure mu&s;t be a pregnant figure, a figure with childe of another figure, for as this Bapti&s;me mu&s;t &s;ignifie teares, &s;o the&s;e teares mu&s;t &s;ignifie all that they u&s;e to expre&s;&s;e by the name of Penance, and di&s;cipline, and mortification; Weeping, and fa&s;ting, and almes, and whipping, all mu&s;t be com|prehended in the&s;e teares; And then, as there was a mother figure, and a daughter figure, &s;o there is a grand-child too; for here is a <HI>Pro&s;opopoeia,</HI> an imagining, a ray&s;ing up of a per&s;on that is not; That all this mu&s;t be done by &s;ome man alive, with relation, and in the behalfe of a dead per&s;on, that the&s;e afflictions which he takes upon him&s;elfe in this world, may accrew, in the benefit thereof, to a man in another world. Now if any of this Evidence be defective, if it be not evident, that this is a figurative &s;peech, but that the literall &s;en&s;e is very proper to the place, if it be not evident, that this figure of Bap|ti&s;me is meant for teares, and other penances; If it be not evident, that this penance is more then that man needed to have undergone for his own &s;alvation, but that God be|came indebted to him for that penance &s;o &s;u&s;tained, and if it be not evident, that this pe|nance and &s;upererogation may be applied and communicated to a dead man, it is a little too forwardly, and too couragiou&s;ly pronounced, <HI>Hic locus apert&egrave; convincit quod volu mus,</HI> We de&s;ire no more then this place, for the proofe of Purgatory.</P>
<P>Yet he pur&s;ues his triumph, <HI>Vera &amp; genuina interpretatio,</HI> &s;ayes he; As though he might waive the benefit, of making it a figurative &s;en&s;e, and have his ends, by maintaining it to be the literall &s;en&s;e; This is, &s;ayes he, the true and naturall &s;en&s;e of the place. But it will be hard for him, to per&s;wade us, either that this is the literall &s;en&s;e of the place, or that this place needs any other, then a literall &s;en&s;e. Since he will not allow us a figurative &s;en&s;e, in that great my&s;tery, in the Sacrament, in the <HI>Hoc e&s;t Corpus meum,</HI> but binde us punctually in the letter, without any figure, not onely in the thing, (for in the thing, in the matter, we require no figure, we beleeve the body of Chri&s;t to be in the Sacrament as literally, as really as they doe) but even in the words, and phra&s;e of &s;peech, He &s;hould not looke that we &s;hould allow him a figurative &s;en&s;e in that place, which mu&s;t be <HI>Aper|ti&s;simus locus,</HI> his mo&s;t evident place for the proofe of &s;o great an article of faith, as Pur|gatory
<PB N="792" REF="414">is with them. We have a Rule, by which that &s;en&s;e will be &s;u&s;picious to us, which is, Not to admit figurative &s;en&s;es in interpretation of Scriptures, where the lite|rall &s;en&s;e may well &s;tand; And he him&s;elfe hath a Rule, (if he remember the Councell of Trent) by which that &s;en&s;e cannot be admitted by him&s;elfe, which is, That they mu&s;t interpret Scriptures according to the unanime con&s;ent of the Fathers; and he knowes in his con&s;cience, that he hath not done &s;o, as we &s;hall remember him anone.</P>
<P>Not to founder by &s;tanding long in this puddle, he makes no other argument, that Bapti&s;me mu&s;t here be under&s;tood of afflictions voluntarily &s;u&s;tained, but that that word <HI>Bapti&s;me</HI> is twice u&s;ed, and accepted &s;o in the Scriptures by Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; It is taken &s;o there, therefore it mu&s;t be taken &s;o here. But not to &s;peake at all, of the weakne&s;&s;e of that Con&s;equence, (the word hath been taken figuratively, therefore it mu&s;t never returne to a literall &s;en&s;e) which will hold as well, that becau&s;e Chri&s;t is called <HI>Porta, A Gate,</HI> therefore when <HI>Sam&s;on</HI> is &s;aid to have carried a Gate, <HI>Sam&s;on</HI> mu&s;t be a <HI>Chri|&s;topher,</HI> and carry Chri&s;t; And becau&s;e Chri&s;t is a <HI>vine,</HI> and a <HI>way,</HI> and <HI>water,</HI> and <HI>bread,</HI> where&s;oever any of the&s;e words are, they mu&s;t be intended of Chri&s;t; not to &s;tand upon the argument and incon&s;equence, I &s;ay, this word <HI>Bapti&s;me,</HI> hath not that &s;ignification, which he would have it have here, in any of tho&s;e other places of Scripture, which he cites to this purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>They are but two, and may quickly be con&s;idered; The fir&s;t is, when Chri&s;t askes the ambitious Apo&s;tles,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 20.20. Luk. 12.50.</NOTE> <HI>Are yee able to drinke of the Cup, that I &s;hall drinke of, and to be baptized with the bapti&s;me, that I &s;hall be baptized with?</HI> The &s;econd is in S. <HI>Luke, I mu&s;t be baptized with a Bapti&s;me, and how am I grieved, till it be ended?</HI> In both which places, Chri&s;t doth under&s;tand by this word <HI>Bapti&s;me,</HI> his Pa&s;&s;ion; That is true: And &s;o ordi|narily in the Chri&s;tian Church, as the dayes of the death of the Martyrs were called <HI>Natalitia Martyrum,</HI> The Birth-dayes of the Martyrs; &s;o Martyrdome it &s;elfe, was called a Bapti&s;me, <HI>Bapti&s;ma &s;anguinis,</HI> The Bapti&s;me of Blood; That is al&s;o true; but what then? was the Pa&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, &s;uch an affliction, as <HI>Bellarmine</HI> &s;peakes of here, and argues from in this place, that is, an affliction &s;o inflicted upon him&s;elfe, and undertaken by him&s;elfe, as that then when he did beare it, he might have forborne it, and refu&s;ed to beare it? Though nothing were more voluntary then Chri&s;ts &s;ubmitting him&s;elfe to that Decree of dying for man, yet when that Decree was pa&s;&s;ed, to which he had a privity, nothing was more nece&s;&s;ary, nor unavoydable to any man, then the Death of the Cro&s;&s;e was to Chri&s;t, neither could he not onely not have &s;aved us, but not have been exalted in his humane nature him&s;elfe, if he had not dyed that death; for all that was wrapped up in the Decree, and from that grew out, the <HI>propterea exalta|tus,</HI> and the <HI>oportuit pati,</HI> That all tho&s;e things Chri&s;t ought to &s;uffer, And therefore, therefore becau&s;e he did &s;uffer all that, he was exalted. And will <HI>Bellarmine</HI> &s;ay, that the Martyrdome of the Martyrs in the primitive Church was &s;o voluntarily &s;u&s;tained, as that they might have for&s;aken the cau&s;e of Chri&s;t, and refu&s;ed Martyrdome, and yet have been &s;aved, and &s;atisfied the purpo&s;e, or the commandement of God upon them?</P>
<P>If from us <HI>Bellarmine</HI> will not heare it, let him heare a man of his own profe&s;&s;ion; not onely of his own Religion, but &s;o narrowly of his own profe&s;&s;ion, as to have been a publique Reader of Divinity in a great Univer&s;ity as well as he;<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius.</NOTE> And he &s;ayes, <HI>Sunt a|liqui recentiores, qui baptizari interpretantur affligi;</HI> There are &s;ome, &s;ayes he, not all, nor the mo&s;t, and therefore it is not &s;o manife&s;t a place; <HI>Sunt aliqui recentiores,</HI> There are &s;ome of the later men, &s;ayes he, not of the Fathers, or Expo&s;itors in the primitive Church, and therefore it is not &s;o reverend, and uncontrolable an opinion; But onely &s;ome few later men there are, &s;ayes he, that thinke that Bapti&s;me in this place is to be under&s;tood of Affliction. But, &s;ayes the &s;ame Doctor, It is an Interpretation <HI>valde figurata, &amp; rara,</HI> wholly relying upon a figure, and a figure very rarely u&s;ed; &s;o rarely, &s;ayes he, <HI>Vt non ab alio, quam &agrave; Chri&s;to u&s;urpetur,</HI> That never any but Chri&s;t, in the Scriptures, called Affli|ction, Bapti&s;me.</P>
<P>So that it lacks thus much of being a manife&s;t proofe for Purgatory, as <HI>Bellarmine</HI> pretends, That it is neither the common &s;en&s;e, but of a few; nor the ancient &s;en&s;e, but of a few later men; nor a &s;en&s;e obvious, and ordinary, and literall, but figurative, and that figure not communicated to others, but onely applied by Chri&s;t, and appropriated to his Pa&s;&s;ion, which was not a pa&s;&s;ion &s;o undergone, as that then when he &s;uffered it, he might have refu&s;ed it, which is nece&s;&s;ary for that Doctrine, which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> would e|vict from it.</P>
<PB N="793" REF="414">
<P>But becau&s;e <HI>Bellarmine,</HI> in whom, perchance, the Spirit of a Cardinall hath not over|come the Spirit of a Je&s;uit, will admit no competition, nor diver&s;ity of opinion, except it be from one of his own Order, we have <HI>Iu&s;tinian,</HI> a man refined in that Order,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iu&s;tinian.</NOTE> a Je|&s;uit as well as he, an Italian, and &s;o hath his naturall and nationall refining as well as he, and one, who&s;e books are dedicated to the Pope as well as his, and &s;o hath had an Ora|culous refining, by an allowance <HI>Oraculo vivae vocis,</HI> by the breath of life, the Oracle of truth, the Popes approbation, as well as he, and thus much better, That <HI>Iu&s;tinians</HI> never were, but <HI>Bellarmines</HI> books have been threatned by the Inqui&s;ition, And <HI>Iu&s;tinian</HI> never was, but <HI>Bellarmine</HI> hath been put to his Retractations; And he &s;ayes onely this of this place, <HI>Aliqui referunt ad corporis vexationes, pro Mortuis,</HI> Some men refer the&s;e words to bodily afflictions, &s;u&s;tained by men alive, for the Dead; <HI>Et haec &s;ententia multis vehe|menter probatur,</HI> &s;ayes he, This interpretation hath much delighted, and &s;atisfied many men: <HI>Sed pote&s;t dici,</HI> &s;ayes he, By their leaves, this may be &s;aid, If S. <HI>Paul</HI> aske, Why doe men afflict them&s;elves, in the behalfe of them that are dead? it may be an&s;wered, &s;ayes he, That if they doe &s;o, they are fools in doing &s;o. S. <HI>Paul</HI> intends certainly, to prove the Re&s;urrection by the&s;e words; neither, &s;ayes he, could the Re&s;urrection of the body be proved by all S. <HI>Pauls</HI> argument, if that were admitted to be the right &s;en&s;e of the place; for what were all this to the Re&s;urrection of the body, which is S. <HI>Pauls</HI> &s;cope, and purpo&s;e in the place, <HI>If men were baptized,</HI> that is, (as <HI>Bellarmine</HI> would have it) if they did &s;uffer voluntarily, and unnece&s;&s;arily affliction <HI>for the Dead,</HI> that is, to deliver their &s;oules out of Purgatory; what would all this conduce to the proofe of the Re&s;ur|rection of the body?</P>
<P>But that we may have a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t him, in all his capacities, as wee have produ|ced one, as he is a Je&s;uit, and another equall to him, as he was publique Profe&s;&s;or, &s;o to con&s;ider him as a Cardinall, (for, as a Cardinall, <HI>Bellarmine</HI> hath changed his opinion in &s;ome things that he held, before he was hood-wincked with his Hat) to con&s;ider him therefore &s;o, we have a witne&s;&s;e again&s;t him, in the Con&s;i&s;tory, Cardinall <HI>Cajetan,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cajetan.</NOTE> who finds no bapti&s;me of teares, nor penance in the&s;e words, no application of any affliction &s;u&s;tained voluntarily by the living, in the behalfe and contemplation of the dead, but adhering to that, which is truly the purpo&s;e of the Apo&s;tle, to prove the re&s;urrection of the body, hee &s;ayes, <HI>In hoc qu&ograve;d merguntur &s;ub aqua, mortuos gerunt,</HI> When in Bapti&s;me, they are, as it were, buried under the water, (as the forme of Baptizing was then by Im|mer&s;ion of the whole body, and not onely by A&s;per&s;ion upon the face) they are, &s;ayes he, buried for dead, pre&s;ented by the Church, as dead in Chri&s;t; <HI>Et in hoc, qu&ograve;d ad hoc merguntur, ut emergant, agunt mortuorum re&s;urrectionem;</HI> In this, that they are therefore buried under water, becau&s;e they may bee rai&s;ed above water againe, in this they repre|&s;ent the re&s;urrection of the dead. So in the act of Bapti&s;me literally, and Sacramentally taken, that Cardinall hath found an evident argument, and proofe of the Re&s;urrection. And then, in the next words, he hath found, that that which is done in this action, is done for him, that doth it, and not with relation to any other; <HI>In hoc qu&ograve;d &s;e profitentur mortuos mundo, agunt mortuos,</HI> In this, that in the act of Bapti&s;me, they profe&s;&s;e them|&s;elves to bee dead to the world, they are baptized for dead, And in this, &s;ayes hee, that they profe&s;&s;e them&s;elves to bee dead to the world in Bapti&s;me, therefore that by that Bapti&s;me they may ri&s;e to a newne&s;&s;e of life, <HI>Profitentur re&s;urrectionem mortuorum,</HI> They profe&s;&s;e the Re&s;urrection of the dead: And this de&s;troys utterly the purpo&s;e of <HI>Bellarmine</HI> in the&s;e words, becau&s;e the Bapti&s;me &s;poken of here, be it a Sacramentall Bapti&s;me lite|rally, or a Di&s;ciplinary Bapti&s;me, metaphy&s;ically, yet is a Bapti&s;me determined, for the benefit thereof, upon him that is baptized, and not extended to the dead in Purgatory.</P>
<P>Since then it is the Expo&s;ition of a few onely, <HI>Alii dicunt, Aliqui dicunt,</HI> Others have &s;aid &s;o, Some few have &s;aid &s;o, and tho&s;e few are late men, new men, and of tho&s;e new men, Je&s;uits, and Readers, and Cardinalls have differed from that opinion, this Je&s;uit, and Reader, and Cardinall <HI>Bellarmine</HI> needed not to have made that victorious acclama|tion, <HI>Hic locus,</HI> we de&s;ire no more then this place, for the evident proofe of Purgatory. Much le&s;&s;e did it become that le&s;&s;er man, that Minorite Frier, <HI>Feuardentius,</HI> who for names &s;ake, (it &s;eemes, for his name is <HI>Burning fire</HI>) is &s;o over-vehement for this place, in defence of Purgatory, to pronounce &s;o peremptorily, for this interpretation of this Text, <HI>Qui huic &s;ententiae concordat, Catholicus, qui di&s;cordat, Haereticus e&s;t;</HI> He that inter|prets the&s;e words thus, is a Catholique, and he is an Heretike that interprets them other|wi&s;e.
<PB N="794" REF="415">For thus, hee leaves out the Fathers them&s;elves out of the Arke, and makes them Heretiques; And how&s;oever they pretend peace among&s;t them&s;elves, he proclaimes, at lea&s;t di&s;covers a warre among&s;t them&s;elves, for they are of them&s;elves, whom he calls Heretiques.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 9.4.</NOTE> Indeed, <HI>Quis re&s;titit Domino, &amp; pacem habuit?</HI> who ever re&s;i&s;ted the truth of Gods word, and brought in Expo&s;itions to &s;erve turns, and had peace among&s;t them|&s;elves? When they went about this building of Purgatory, they thought not of that coun&s;ell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 14.28.</NOTE> <HI>When you build, &s;it downe before, and count the co&s;t, le&s;t men mock you;</HI> They ne|ver con&s;idered how they were provided of Materialls, what they had from the Pro|phets, what from the Euangeli&s;ts, what from the Apo&s;tles, for the building of this Pur|gatory: They had the di&s;ea&s;e of our times; If they might build, they thought it a profi|table cour&s;e; If they could rai&s;e a Purgatory, they were &s;ure they &s;hould gaine by it; but neither had they leave to build, that is, to erect new Articles of faith, neither had they wherewithall; And therefore being de&s;titute of the foundation of all, the Scriptures of God, and having raked together &s;ome &s;trawes, and &s;ticks, ends of Poetry, and Philo&s;o|phy, and &s;ome rubbi&s;h of the Manichees, they have made &s;uch a worke under ground, as their Predece&s;&s;ors made above ground, in the Towre of Babell, in which they under|&s;tand not one another, but are in a confu&s;ion among&s;t them&s;elves, <HI>Quia re&s;titerunt Do|mino,</HI> And <HI>who ever re&s;i&s;ted the Lord, and had peace?</HI></P>
<P>Thus farre we have proceeded in re&s;cuing the&s;e words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Patres.</NOTE> from their captivity, from the enemy, that enforced them to te&s;tifie for Purgatory. And, according to my under&s;tan|ding of S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> rule, who &s;ayes, That in interpreting of Scriptures, hee ever propo|&s;ed to him&s;elfe <HI>Nece&s;sitatem, &amp; per&s;picuitatem,</HI> The nece&s;&s;ity being (as I take it) the re|deeming of the words from the ill interpretation of Heretiques, which wee have now done; For the per&s;picuity, and cleerne&s;&s;e, you &s;hall &s;ee fir&s;t, how the Ancients, before they &s;u&s;pected any ill u&s;e of them for Purgatory, received them, and then how the later men, after they had been mi&s;-applied for Purgatory, interpret them: All which I &s;hall propo&s;e with as much cleerne&s;&s;e as I can, as taking my &s;elfe bound thereunto, by that other rule of the &s;ame Father, <HI>Qui per me intellecturus e&s;t Apo&s;tolum, nolo ut ad Interpre|tem cogno&s;cendum, alium quaerat Interpretem,</HI> I would not have them, who come hither to under&s;tand the Apo&s;tle from me, be put to &s;eek help from others, to under&s;tand me; when I mu&s;t tell them what S. <HI>Paul</HI> meant, I would not have them put to aske what I meant; and therefore as farre as the matter will beare it, I would &s;peake plainly to every capacity.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul.</NOTE> for <HI>Tertullian,</HI> he &s;eemes to under&s;tand this <HI>Bapti&s;me for the dead, De vica|rio bapti&s;mate,</HI> of Bapti&s;me by an Atturney, by a Proxy, which &s;hould not be &s;uch a God-father, as &s;hould be a witne&s;&s;e or &s;urety for mee, when I am baptized alive, but &s;uch a God-father, as &s;hould be baptized for me when I am dead. For, that perver&s;e and he|reticall cu&s;tome was then come into practi&s;e, that out of a fal&s;e opinion, (though groun|ded, or coloured with a zeale of reverence to the Sacrament) that Bapti&s;me was &s;o ab|&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary, as that none could po&s;&s;ibly be &s;aved, that were not actually baptized; When any man died without Bapti&s;me, his friends u&s;ed to baptize another in his name; The dead body was laid under the bed, and another man that was laid in the bed, to re|pre&s;ent him, an&s;wered to all tho&s;e que&s;tions which the Prie&s;t &s;hould aske, concerning Bapti&s;me, in the behalfe of him that lay under the bed, (as the Sureties doe now in the Church for a childe, that perchance under&s;tands no more then that dead man did) and then that per&s;on in the bed, was baptized for him who lay under the bed. Now <HI>Tertul|lian</HI> thinks, that the Apo&s;tle argues out of that cu&s;tome, and di&s;putes thus, If there were no Re&s;urrection, why doe you thus provide for them that are dead, by baptizing others for them? To what purpo&s;e doe ye this, if they for whom you doe it have no Re&s;urre|ction? But, be&s;ides that it is not much probable, that S. <HI>Paul</HI> would take an Hereticall action, and practi&s;e, for the ground of his Argument, to prove &s;o great a my&s;tery of our faith, as the Re&s;urrection is, and be&s;ides that, it doth not appeare that this Hereticall pra|cti&s;e (which is attributed to the Marcionits) was entred into the Church in S. <HI>Pauls</HI> time, and therefore he could not take knowledge of it; Be&s;ides all this, all this, if it were granted, did nothing at all conduce to S. <HI>Pauls</HI> ends, who had undertaken the proofe of the Re&s;urrection of the body, and the an&s;wer was ea&s;ie, and obvious, We doe not ba|ptize living men in the name, and in the behalfe of the dead, for any other re&s;pect, then for the &s;alvation of their &s;oules, and what is that to the re&s;urrection of the body? So
<PB N="795" REF="415">that this &s;en&s;e of <HI>Tertullians,</HI> of Bapti&s;me by a Proxy, by an Atturney, &s;eemes not to be the &s;en&s;e of this place; and yet becau&s;e it &s;avours of charity to the dead, though it were an heretical cu&s;tome, <HI>Bellarmine</HI> prefers this interpretation of <HI>Tertullian,</HI> before any other but his owne, which we handled before.</P>
<P><HI>Theodoret</HI> interprets this <HI>Bapti&s;me for the dead</HI> to be a bapti&s;me of Repre&s;entation;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theodoret.</NOTE> That in bapti&s;me, by being put under the water, and rai&s;ed up againe, we repre&s;ent the death and re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t; <HI>for the dead,</HI> is for Chri&s;t, for the te&s;timony of Chri&s;t: And therefore that baptizing by immer&s;ion, by covering the party with water, was &s;o exactly ob&s;erved in tho&s;e times, as it came to be thought, that no man was well bapti|zed, except he had received it &s;o, by Immer&s;ion, as by many Treati&s;es, and many Con|&s;ultations among&s;t the Fathers, by way of Letters, and the Acts of &s;ome Councels, we perceive. And of this repre&s;entation of the death of Chri&s;t, in our Bapti&s;me, admini|&s;tred in that manner, by Immer&s;ion, S. <HI>Paul</HI> is thought by &s;ome to have &s;poken, when he &s;ayes, <HI>Know ye not that all we that have been baptized into Ie&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.3.</NOTE> <HI>have been baptized into his death?</HI> That is, &s;ay they, by that repre&s;entation of his death, in Immer&s;ion. Nei|ther is any thing more evident, then that <HI>Theodoret</HI> was &s;o far in the right, that our bap|ti&s;me (and the rather in that forme of Immer&s;ion) is a repre&s;entation of the death, and buriall, and re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t; but yet to call this Bapti&s;me therefore, becau&s;e it was a repre&s;entation of Chri&s;t, who was dead, a <HI>Bapti&s;me for the dead,</HI> is a phra&s;e &s;ome|what more hard and unu&s;uall, then may be ea&s;ily admitted, in &s;uch a matter of faith as this is. And be&s;ides, that Bapti&s;me, which is this Repre&s;entation, is a Bapti&s;me common to all; all that are baptized, are baptized &s;o; But the Apo&s;tle in this place makes his argument from a particular kind of Bapti&s;me, which &s;ome did, and &s;ome did not u&s;e, <HI>Quid de illis,</HI> &s;ayes he, what &s;hall become of them? and <HI>Quid illi,</HI> what doe they meane that are baptized in this peculiar manner? So that, as not <HI>Tertullians</HI> bapti&s;me by an At|turney, &s;o neither <HI>Theodorets</HI> bapti&s;me by Repre&s;entation, &s;eems to be the &s;en&s;e of this place.</P>
<P>S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> much about the &s;ame time with <HI>Theodoret,</HI> and long after them both,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t. Theophylact.</NOTE>(at lea&s;t &s;ix hundred yeares) <HI>Theophylact,</HI> meet in a third &s;en&s;e; That becau&s;e at the ta|king of Bapti&s;me, they did u&s;ually rehear&s;e the Creed, which Creed concluded with tho&s;e articles, <HI>The re&s;urrection of the body, and life everla&s;ting,</HI> therefore this bapti&s;me for the dead &s;hould onely &s;ignifie a bapti&s;me for the hope of the Re&s;urrection. But &s;ince they rehear&s;ed all the articles of the Chri&s;tian beliefe, as well as that, at Bapti&s;me, it might as properly be &s;aid, that they were baptized for Chri&s;t; baptized for the holy Gho&s;t, bapti|zed for the de&s;cent into hell, as for the dead: And be&s;ides that, this was al&s;o a bapti&s;me common to all, all rehear&s;ed the Articles of the Creed; it was not &s;uch a peculiar bap|ti&s;me, as the Apo&s;tle hath re&s;pect to here, in his <HI>Quid de illis,</HI> and <HI>Quid illi,</HI> what &s;hall be|come of them, and what doe they meane by this their Bapti&s;me? And therefore this &s;eems not to be the &s;en&s;e. That this Bapti&s;me for the dead &s;hould onely be a profe&s;&s;ion of that article of the Re&s;urrection of the dead, though S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome,</HI> and <HI>Theophylact</HI> concur in, or derive from, or upon one other that interpretation.</P>
<P>To come lower, and to a lower rank of witne&s;&s;es, from the Fathers to the Schoole,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aquinas.</NOTE> <HI>Aquinas</HI> hath another &s;en&s;e; and certainly an u&s;efull, a devout, and an appliable inter|pretation; which is, That <HI>Mortui</HI> here are <HI>peccata,</HI> Tho&s;e that are called <HI>Dead</HI> here, are Dead works, &s;ins, and &s;o <HI>to be baptized for the dead,</HI> is to be baptized for our &s;ins, for the wa&s;hing away our &s;ins, in an acknowledgement, That although we did contract a le|prous &s;in, even in our conception, That we were &s;ubject to the wrath and indignation of God, before we were able to conceive that there was a God, That before our bones were hardned, the canker and ru&s;t of <HI>Adams</HI> &s;in was in our bones, That before we were a minute old, we have a &s;in in us that is &s;ix thou&s;and years old, That though we be as blind after we come out of our mothers bellies, as we were there, Though we pa&s;&s;e over our time, without ever asking our owne con&s;ciences, why we were &s;ent hither, Though our &s;ins have hardned us again&s;t God, and done a harder work then that, in hardning God again&s;t us, yet though we have turned God into a Rock, there is water in that rock,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Num. 20.</NOTE> if we &s;trike it, if we &s;olicite it, affect it with our repentance. As in the &s;tone font in the Church, there is water of Bapti&s;me, &s;o in the Corner &s;tone of the Church, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, whom we have hardned again&s;t us, there is a tenderne&s;&s;e, there is a Well of water &s;pring|ing up into everla&s;ting life. As we have changed this water into &s;tone, petrified Gods
<PB N="796" REF="416">tenderne&s;&s;e towards us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 114.8.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>convertit petram in &s;tagna aquarum,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David, He hath turned that rock into a &s;tanding water,</HI> (water, and water that &s;tayes with us, in his Church) <HI>and the flint into a fountaine of waters;</HI> that is, &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine, &s;eip&s;um, &amp; &s;uam quandam du|ritiam liquefecit, ad irrigandos fideles,</HI> At the beames of his owne mercy, God hath thaw|ed that ice, and di&s;&s;olved that &s;tone, into which we had hardned him, and he hath let in a River of Jordan into his Church, the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, in the pre&s;ent act, and &s;ub|&s;equent efficacy whereof, we are wa&s;hed from originall, and from actuall &s;ins. All the&s;e &s;ins are the fruits of death, as they are oppo&s;ed again&s;t the Lord of life, and <HI>pro hi&s;ce mortuis baptizamur,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Aquinas; for the dead,</HI> that is, for the&s;e dead workes, <HI>we are baptized.</HI></P>
<P>And certainly, for a &s;econd &s;en&s;e, to exalt our devotion by, I &s;hould prefer this before any other; But the principall and literall &s;en&s;e of this place, this cannot be, becau&s;e it is a figurative &s;en&s;e; and though the figure be not in the word <HI>Bapti&s;me,</HI> where <HI>Bellarmine</HI> places it, (for <HI>Aquinas</HI> &s;peaks literally of a Sacramentall Bapti&s;me) yet it is in the other word <HI>In mortuis,</HI> (<HI>Aquinas</HI> doth not &s;peak literally, but metaphorically of the <HI>Dead</HI>) and that may as ill be admitted, in a matter of faith, of &s;o great importance, as the other. And be&s;ides, this &s;eems to conclude nothing nece&s;&s;arily for the re&s;urrection of the body, that we are wa&s;hed from our &s;ins; And la&s;tly, this is &s;till a Bapti&s;me common to all, all that are baptized, are baptized from their &s;ins; And therefore this of <HI>Aquinas,</HI> not reach|ing to S. <HI>Pauls Quid de illis,</HI> and <HI>Quid illi,</HI> to the&s;e men thus baptized, is not that &s;en&s;e nei|ther, which we &s;eek.</P>
<P>But the time will not permit us to pur&s;ue the &s;everall interpretations of tho&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Moderni.</NOTE> whom directly, or comparatively we call Ancients; Neither truly, though there be many other Interpreters then we have named, are there many other interpretations then we have touched upon, or then may be reduced to them. And therefore to end here this con&s;ide|ration of the Fathers, and tho&s;e whom they e&s;teem Pillars of their Church, we are thus much at our liberty for all them, That fir&s;t there is no unanime con&s;ent in the interpreta|tion of this place, and that which they binde them&s;elves to follow, is the unanime con|&s;ent of the Fathers; And then though the Fathers had unanimely con&s;ented in one, and that one had been the expo&s;ition which <HI>Bellarmine</HI> pur&s;ues, yet we might, by their ex|ample, have departed from it; for in the Roman Church, Fathers, and Fathers Fathers, Popes them&s;elves, (And how&s;oever the Fathers may be Fathers, in re&s;pect of us, yet in re&s;pect of the Pope, who is S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elfe, and alwayes &s;its in his per&s;on, the Fathers are but children, &s;ayes <HI>Bellarmine</HI>) were of opinion, That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary for children, to their &s;alvation, and this opinion la&s;ted in force and in u&s;e for divers hundreds of yeares, neither was it ever repre&s;&s;ed by Autho|rity, till the other day, in the Councel of Trent, but wore out of it &s;elfe long before, be|cau&s;e it had no foundation; So the opinion of the Millenarians, That Chri&s;t with his Saints &s;hould have a thou&s;and years of a temporall raign here upon earth, after his &s;econd comming, had po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed the Fathers, in a very great partie. The Fathers, in a great partie denied, that the &s;oules of good men departed were to enjoy the &s;ight of God, till the Re|&s;urrection. And the Fathers affirmed, That the cau&s;e of Gods election was the fore&s;ight of the faith and obedience of the Elect. The&s;e errors are &s;o noted, even by the Authors of the Roman Church, (for I depart not herein from their own words, and ob&s;ervations) as that they &s;till pre&s;ent them &s;o, <HI>Omnes, plurimi,</HI> All the Fathers, Mo&s;t of the Fathers, were of this and this opinion; And yet for all the&s;e Fathers, no man in the Roman Church is &s;o childi&s;h now, as to give his child that Sacrament, or to accompany tho&s;e Fathers in tho&s;e other mi&s;takings.</P>
<P>This hath been done in fact, they have departed from the Fathers; And then for a Rule, Cardinall <HI>Cajetan</HI> tels us, That if a new &s;en&s;e of any place of Scripture, agreeable to other places, and to the analogy of faith, ari&s;e to us, it is not to be refu&s;ed, <HI>Quia torrens pa|trum,</HI> becau&s;e the &s;treame of the Fathers is again&s;t it. For they them&s;elves have told us, why we may &s;u&s;pect the Fathers, and by what means the Fathers have falne into many mi&s;-interpretations. Fir&s;t they &s;ay, <HI>Quia glaciem &s;ciderunt,</HI> becau&s;e the Fathers broke the Ice, and undertook the interpretation of many places, in which they had no light, no a&s;|&s;i&s;tance from others, and &s;o might ea&s;ily turne into a &s;ini&s;ter way: And then <HI>Rhetoricati &s;unt,</HI> &s;ay they, The Fathers often applyed them&s;elves in figurative, and Hyberbolicall &s;peeches, to exalt the devotions, and &s;tir up the affections of their auditory, and therefore
<PB N="797" REF="416">mu&s;t not be called to too &s;evere, and literall an account, for all that they uttered in that manner: And againe, <HI>Plebi indul&s;erunt,</HI> as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ayes of him&s;elfe, &s;ometimes out of a loathne&s;&s;e to offend the ignorant, and &s;ometimes the holy and devout, and that he might hold his auditory together, and avert none from comming to him, he was unwil|ling to come to &s;uch an exact truth, in the explication and application of &s;ome places, as that for the &s;harpne&s;&s;e and bitterne&s;&s;e thereof, weaker &s;tomachs might forbeare. So al|&s;o, they confe&s;&s;e too, that <HI>ex vehementia declinarunt,</HI> In heat of di&s;putation, and argu|ment, and to make things &s;traight, they bent them too much on the other hand, and to oppo&s;e one Here&s;ie, they endangered the inducing of another, as in S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> di&s;|putations again&s;t the Pelagians, who over-advanced the free will of man, and the Mani|cheans, who by admitting <HI>Duo principia,</HI> two Caufes, an extrin&s;ique cau&s;e of our evill actions, as well as of our good, annihilated the free will of man, we &s;hall find &s;ometimes occa&s;ions to doubt whether S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> were con&s;tant in his owne opinion, and not tran|&s;ported &s;ometimes with vehemency again&s;t his pre&s;ent adver&s;ary, whether Pelagian, or Manichean.</P>
<P>Which is a di&s;ea&s;e that even &s;ome great Councels in the Church, and Church-affaires have felt, that for collaterall and occa&s;ionall, and per&s;onall re&s;pects, which were ri&s;en after they were met, the maine doctrinall points, and &s;uch as have principally concerned the glory of God, and the &s;alvation of &s;oules, and were indeed the principall and onely. cau&s;e of their then meeting there, have beene neglected. Men that came thither with a fervent zeale to the glory of God, have taken in a new fire of di&s;plea&s;ure again&s;t particu|lar Heretiques, or Schi&s;matiques, and di&s;continued their holy zeale towards God, till their occa&s;ionall di&s;plea&s;ure towards tho&s;e per&s;ons might be &s;atisfied, and &s;o tho&s;e He|re&s;ies, and Heretiques again&s;t whom they met, have got advantage by that pa&s;&s;ion, which hath overtaken and over&s;wayed them, after they were met. And what&s;oever hath fallen into Councels of that kinde, Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Councels, may po&s;&s;ibly be imagined, or ju&s;tly be feared, or at lea&s;t, without offence be pre-di&s;&s;waded, and deprecated, in all Civill Con&s;ultations, and Councels of State, That Occa&s;ionall things may not divert the Principall: for as in the Naturall body, the &s;pleene may &s;uffocate the heart, and yet the &s;pleen is but the &s;ewar of the body, and the heart is the &s;trength and the Palais there|of; &s;o in politique bodies, and Councels of State, an immature and indige&s;ted, an in|tempe&s;tive and un&s;ea&s;onable pre&s;&s;ing of pre&s;ent remedies again&s;t all inconveniencies, may &s;uffocate the heart of the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, and fru&s;trate and evacuate the ble&s;&s;ed and glo|rious purpo&s;e of the whole Councell. The Ba&s;iliske is very &s;harpe-&s;ighted, but he &s;ees therefore, and to that end, that he may kill: So is, &s;o does pa&s;&s;ion. Who would wi&s;h to be &s;harper &s;ighted then the Eagle? And his &s;trength of &s;ight is in this, that he lookes to the Sun; To looke to things that are evident, The evident danger of the State and the Church, The evident malice and power of the enemy, The evident &s;torme upon our peace and Religion, To looke that God be not tempted by us, nor his Lieutenant and Vicegerent wearied, and hardened towards us, This is the object of the Eagles eye, and this is wi&s;dome high enough. Where men &s;ee a great foundation laid, they will thinke, that all that is not onely to rai&s;e a Spittle to cure, or a Church-yard to bury a few di&s;|ea&s;ed per&s;ons. Great Councels are great foundations; and the &s;uper-edifications fit for them, are the &s;afety of the State, and the good of the Church: And, as in comming to &s;uch Councels, every man puts off his owne per&s;on, and leaves him&s;elfe at home, &s;o neither when he is there, &s;hould he &s;o &s;eeke out, or hunt after any particular per&s;on, as that that &s;hould retard publique bu&s;ine&s;&s;e. God forbid that my praying that things may not be &s;o, &s;hould be interpreted for a &s;u&s;picion in me, that things are &s;o; God forbid, that invocation upon God, &s;hould imply a crimination upon men; The Spirit of God, in &s;en&s;e of whom, and in who&s;e pre&s;ence I &s;peake, knowes that my prayer is but a prayer, and not an Increpation, not an In&s;imulation; And therefore may God bee plea&s;ed to heare, and good men be plea&s;ed to joyne in this prayer, That God will &s;o be &s;atisfied, with having laid his owne hand upon us, in the late pe&s;tilence, as neither to make any forraine hand, nor one anothers hand, his in&s;trument to de&s;troy, or farther to puni&s;h us. And &s;o, having beene invited by this Con&s;ideration, that Fathers and Councels have deflected into error, to &s;ay &s;o much of Civill Councels too, wee depart from this Point thus, that though the Fathers had con&s;ented in <HI>Bellarmines</HI> Expo&s;ition, that had laid no obligation upon us; how much le&s;&s;e, when we finde &s;carce any of them to agree with one
<PB N="798" REF="417">another, nor any one of them to agree with him; and therefore we pa&s;&s;e to the Con&s;ide|ration of the later men.</P>
<P>And among&s;t the later men, we will give the fir&s;t place to a Je&s;uit, becau&s;e they love <HI>Primos accubitus,</HI> as our Saviour &s;ayes of the Phari&s;ees, To be placed highe&s;t, and they love to be called, if not <HI>Rabbi, Ma&s;ter,</HI> yet <HI>Abba, Father;</HI> (for that is a name which the younge&s;t Je&s;uit will challenge to him&s;ellfe, to be called <HI>Father;</HI> and among&s;t us, I am afraid, they come to that name, the name of <HI>Father,</HI> a little too literally, they are fathers indeed, where they &s;hould not bee &s;o) Next to the true Fathers, wee place then a imaginary Father,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Maldonat.</NOTE> the Je&s;uit <HI>Maldonate,</HI> who interprets this place thus, That to be <HI>baptized for the dead,</HI> when the Apo&s;tle &s;pake, was to &s;uffer Martyr|dome, or affliction for the te&s;timony of the re&s;urrection of the Dead: for we &s;ee, that the doctrine of the Re&s;urrection e&s;pecially was inquired upon, and given in charge, and made criminall and odious,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 23.6.</NOTE> by that which the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes in the Acts, <HI>Of the hope, and re&s;ur|rection of the dead, I am called in que&s;tion.</HI> Now, I will not &s;ay of <HI>Maldonat,</HI> as <HI>Maldonat</HI> does of us, who, when &s;ometimes he cites the interpretation of our Authors, will &s;ay, This is the likelie&s;t and the probable&s;t &s;en&s;e, and I &s;hould beleeve it to be the true &s;en&s;e, but that an Heretique &s;aid it; I will not &s;ay, I would admit <HI>Maldonats</HI> &s;en&s;e, but that a Je|&s;uit &s;ayes it; for, for all that, I would receive it, &s;o far as it may &s;tand, but yet not for the primary and principall &s;en&s;e; for &s;o, we cannot receive it, becau&s;e it is grounded upon a figure, for he takes not Bapti&s;me, for the Sacrament of Bapti&s;me, but for the Metaphori|call Bapti&s;me, the Bapti&s;me of blood. And then <HI>Bellarmine</HI> will not accept his &s;en&s;e, be|cau&s;e though they agree in the figure, that Bapti&s;me &s;ignifies affliction, yet they differ in the&s;e two important poynts, That fir&s;t <HI>Bellarmin</HI> takes it for affliction voluntarily &s;u&s;tai|ned, (for that only con&s;titutes Supererogation, which is nece&s;&s;ary to <HI>Bellarmines</HI> &s;en&s;e) and <HI>Maldonate</HI> takes it for affliction inflicted by a Per&s;ecutor, for a te&s;timony of his faith, in which ca&s;e to decline the penalty, were to deny the faith, and therefore is no more then, being &s;o called by God, he is bound to &s;uffer: And then <HI>Bellarmine</HI> takes it for affliction &s;u&s;tained in the behalfe, and for the benefit of another dead friend, and <HI>Maldonat</HI> deter|mines it in him that does it, for an outward te&s;timony of his con&s;tancy in the faith of the Re&s;urrection. So that this Je&s;uit hath brought no &s;tone to <HI>Bellarmines</HI> building from this place, he workes not in his harve&s;t, he conduces not to his end, he goes not his way.</P>
<P>But to contract our &s;elves in this la&s;t Part, we finde among&s;t our owne men (Expo&s;i|tors &s;ince the Reformation) two &s;en&s;es of the&s;e words, of which either may be taken, for both come home to the purpo&s;e and intention of the Apo&s;tle, which is, to prove the Re&s;urrection, and to all the other circum&s;tances, in which we have ob&s;erved the other Interpretations to be deficient. The fir&s;t is, that this was a Bapti&s;me of tho&s;e men, <HI>Qui ad te&s;tandam certi&s;siman &s;pem de Re&s;urrectione,</HI> which for a more e&s;peciall te&s;timony of their faith in the Re&s;urrection, did (according to the u&s;e of many, in tho&s;e fir&s;t times) admi|ni&s;ter, or receive Bapti&s;me, upon the tombs and graves of other Chri&s;tians, formerly de|parted this life, and thereby declared both their charitable opinion, that tho&s;e who were there buried, &s;hould receive a re&s;urrection, And that them&s;elves were baptized into the &s;ame faith, and &s;o made up the Communion of Saints. And in this &s;en&s;e is the Originall be&s;t pre&s;erved, which &s;eemes not to be &s;o properly tran&s;lated, <HI>Pro mortuis,</HI> as <HI>Super mor|tuos,</HI> not <HI>for the Dead,</HI> but <HI>upon the Dead,</HI> upon the graves of the Dead: If there be no re|&s;urrection of the Dead, why do &s;ome of you chu&s;e to be baptized upon the Dead, upon the graves of the Dead, rather then in other places?</P>
<P>And this is the Expo&s;ition of him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luther. Melancton.</NOTE> who is evermore powerfull in the Expo&s;ition of tho&s;e Scriptures which he undertakes, <HI>Luther.</HI> And <HI>Melancton,</HI> a man of more learning and temperance then perchance have met in any one, in our perver&s;e and froward times, followes the &s;ame Interpretation, and adds, That hee that was to be Baptized, was brought to the bones of them that were buried there, and that there he was asked, whe|ther he did beleeve that that body which lay &s;o &s;cattered there, &s;hould be re&s;tored again, and made capable of a glorious Re&s;urrection, and upon confe&s;&s;ion of that faith he re|ceived his Bapti&s;me: And this, &s;ayes <HI>Melancton</HI> (a man free&s;t of any from contention) is <HI>Interpretatio &s;implex, nativa, &amp; vera,</HI> The plaine, the naturall, and the true &s;ignification of the place. Neither is this Interpretation &s;ubject to that calumny, which our Adver|&s;aries u&s;e to object, that in any Interpretation of <HI>Luthers,</HI> or <HI>Melanctons,</HI> the re&s;t who profe&s;&s;e them their Di&s;ciples, follow as Sheepe, but others, though of the Reforma|tion
<PB N="799" REF="417">too, doe not &s;o: for we have another, e&s;teemed in his Divi&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pi&s;cator.</NOTE> a learned and nar|row &s;earcher into the literall &s;en&s;e of Scripture, who though he be very far from com|munion (in opinion) with them, whom, for di&s;tinction, the world calls Lutherans, though he be none of tho&s;e &s;heepe, which run after <HI>Luther,</HI> yet out of a holy ingenuity, and inclination to truth, he profe&s;&s;es this interpretation of the place, to be <HI>Omnium &s;im|plici&s;simam,</HI> the mo&s;t &s;incere and naturall interpretation, and that it doth not wound, nor violate the purpo&s;e and intention of the Apo&s;tle, as, &s;ayes he, all the other interpretations, which <HI>Beza</HI> produces, doe. And yet <HI>Beza</HI> him&s;elfe, as well as <HI>Pi&s;cator,</HI> in their tran&s;lati|tions, retaine the <HI>Super,</HI> which is in <HI>Luther,</HI> and make it &s;o, a bapti&s;me <HI>upon the dead,</HI> and not <HI>for the dead.</HI></P>
<P>To be <HI>baptized</HI> then <HI>for the dead,</HI> or <HI>upon the dead,</HI> is, in their under&s;tanding, an expe|ctation of a Re&s;urrection for them&s;elves, together with them, in &s;ight of who&s;e dead bo|dies they were baptized. Here is no figurative &s;peech, but the words taken in their pro|per, and pre&s;ent, and fir&s;t &s;ignification. And this is not of a generall bapti&s;me, common to all, but of a cu&s;tome taken up by &s;ome in the Church of Corinth, out of &s;peciall de|votion, and te&s;tification of the Re&s;urrection. And la&s;tly, this had reference, not onely to the immortality of the &s;oule, but to the re&s;urrection of the body al&s;o, which was then in their contemplation, in which Circum&s;tance, mo&s;t of the former interpretations of the Ancients were defective, for &s;till it might have been an&s;wered to S. <HI>Pauls</HI> que&s;tion, <HI>Quid illi, Quid de illis?</HI> What meane they, and what becomes of them? We doe all this for the &s;alvation of &s;oules, though we doe not binde our &s;elves to beleeve a re&s;urrection of bodies; So that all the particulars that S. <HI>Paul</HI> propo&s;ed to him&s;elfe, meet fully, and &s;trongly, in this interpretation. Nothing can be oppo&s;ed again&s;t it, if the hi&s;tory be true; if the matter of fact be cleare and evident, if it appeare fully, that this was a cu&s;tome in the Apo&s;tles time, that tho&s;e Chri&s;tians did u&s;e to receive bapti&s;me upon the graves of the dead. I doubt not but <HI>Luther</HI> had ground for it; I doubt not but <HI>Melancton</HI> had Au|thors; for he &s;ayes, <HI>Aliqui &s;cribunt,</HI> &s;ome have written it. They may have &s;eene Au|thors, whom I have not; for my part, I confe&s;&s;e, I never found this Cu&s;tome in the Ec|cle&s;ia&s;tique Story, to my remembrance. And when the Centuriators, who gathered the Story of the Church, with &s;ome diligence, and who were of the per&s;wa&s;ion whom the world calls Lutherans, when they &s;ay, <HI>Con&s;tat,</HI> It is manife&s;t, that in the Church of Co|rinth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cent. 1. l. 2. c. 6.</NOTE> they did baptize in that manner, upon the graves of the dead, they never cite any te&s;timony of Hi&s;tory for their <HI>Con&s;tat,</HI> nor for their evidence of this matter of fact, but onely this very place of Scripture, this text; and the directer and the fuller way had been, to have proved the text from the &s;tory, then the &s;tory from the text. The Expo&s;ition is very faire, and very likely, if the matter of fact be proved; and the fact may be proved by &s;ome, whom tho&s;e reverend per&s;ons have read, and I have not.</P>
<P>There is one Interpretation more, which is open to no imputation, &s;potted with no a&s;per&s;ion, &s;ubject to no objection, and therefore fitte&s;t to be embraced, which is al&s;o grounded upon a Cu&s;tome, which came very early into the Church of God, (&s;o early as that we can a&s;&s;igne no beginning) and of which Cu&s;tome for the matter of fact, wee are &s;ure it was in practi&s;e: which was, that upon an opinion, that at the time of Bap|ti&s;me, there was an ab&s;olute wa&s;hing away, and a deliverance from all &s;innes, men did ordinarily, or very often, defer their bapti&s;me till their death-bed, that &s;o they might have their tran&s;migration, and pa&s;&s;age out of this world, in that purity, that bapti&s;me re|&s;tored them to, without contracting any more &s;innes after bapti&s;me. This we are too &s;ure was in u&s;e; for we &s;ee the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Story full of Examples of it, in great per|&s;ons; great in power and authority, for <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> the Emperour deferred his bapti&s;me, long after his re&s;olution to be a Chri&s;tian; And great in e&s;timation, and merit, and know|ledge; for S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> remembers it with much compunction, That in an extreame &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Conf. l. 1. c. 11.</NOTE> <HI>Flagitavi bapti&s;mum &agrave; Matre,</HI> he begged at his Mothers hands, that he might be baptized, and obtained it not, becau&s;e he was a per&s;on, (in her ob&s;ervation) like enough to fall into more &s;innes, after he had been delivered of tho&s;e by bapti&s;me. He notes the generall di&s;po&s;ition of his time, <HI>Sonat undique,</HI> It is every mans voyce, every mans &s;ay|ing, <HI>Sine eum, faciat quid vult, nondum baptizatus e&s;t,</HI> Let him alone yet, let him doe what he will yet, for yet he is not baptized: But, &s;ayes that ble&s;&s;ed Father there, would they &s;ay to a man that lay wounded and weltring in his blood, <HI>Sine eum, vulneretur ampli&ugrave;s, nondum enim &s;anatus e&s;t,</HI> Let him lie, or give him two or three wounds more, for the
<PB N="800" REF="418">Surgeon is not come yet to cure him? And yet, &s;ayes he, his and my ca&s;e is all one.</P>
<P>Before his time, which was after foure hundred yeares, we may &s;ee, that this cu&s;tome of late baptizing, was not onely tolerated, but advi&s;ed and coun&s;elled in the Church, when <HI>Tertullian,</HI> two hundred yeares before S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> chides away young children, from comming to Bapti&s;me, &s;o &s;oone, before, &s;ayes he, they need it; <HI>Quid fe&s;tinat in|nocens aetas ad remi&s;sionem peccatorum?</HI> Why are they brought to the wa&s;hing away of &s;innes, which as yet have committed no &s;inne? And he makes Bapti&s;me &s;o occa&s;ionall a thing, and &s;ubject to &s;o many Circum&s;tances, that very many other occa&s;ions might put off Bapti&s;me. <HI>Innuptis procra&s;tinandus bapti&s;mus,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian, quia eis praeparata ten|tatio;</HI> He would not have them baptized, that meant to marry &s;oone after, becau&s;e they were to wra&s;tle with a great tentation, as long as their fancy and imagination was full of their future marriage. So &s;oone, and &s;o deeply was this opinion rooted, (that it was to little purpo&s;e to baptize till towards our death) that S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> was faine to oppo&s;e it ex|pre&s;ly in the Ea&s;terne Church, And both the <HI>Gregories, Nazianzen</HI> and <HI>Ny&s;&s;en,</HI> and then S. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and others, in the We&s;terne, all arguing again&s;t it, as a cu&s;tome long before in u&s;e, and none a&s;&s;igning any beginning of it.</P>
<P>Upon this cu&s;tome then S. <HI>Paul</HI> argues; If men upon their death-bed, when they are e&s;teemed <HI>pro Mortuis,</HI> as good as dead, no better then dead, (for &s;o the phra&s;e is ordina|rily u&s;ed, <HI>pro derelicto, pro perdito,</HI> when we e&s;teeme a man for&s;aken, or a thing lo&s;t) If men de&s;ire bapti&s;me, when they are held <HI>pro mortuis,</HI> no other then dead, given over for dead, and are to have no fellow&s;hip with themilitant Church here in this life, doe they not in this care of this act to be done upon their bodies, imply a confe&s;&s;ion of the Re&s;ur|rection? The&s;e were they, whom tho&s;e times called <HI>Clinicos,</HI> Bed-bapti&s;ts, Bed-Chri|&s;tians, which either deferred their bapti&s;me, upon the rea&s;ons mentioned before, that they might be &s;ure to have a pure tran&s;migration, pre&s;ently after Bapti&s;me; Or els they were <HI>Catechumeni,</HI> &s;uch Convertits to the Chri&s;tian faith, as the Church had undertaken to in&s;truct and catechize, but did not baptize till a certaine time, (Ea&s;ter, and Whit&s;on|tyde) except they were &s;urprized with &s;udden &s;ickne&s;&s;e, and then they were baptized in their death-bed: And both wayes the &s;en&s;e &s;tands well, That they were baptized <HI>pro Mortuis,</HI> that is, <HI>pro Derelictis,</HI> where they were given over for dead, when there was no hope of life, Or els <HI>pro Mortuis,</HI> that is, <HI>pro &s;tatu Mortuorum,</HI> onely with re&s;pect to their &s;tate after this life, becau&s;e they were going to the dead. And the&s;e be <HI>Divina Compen|dia,</HI> as S. <HI>Cyprian</HI> calls them, Gods Abridgements, who can give his grace in a minute; for,<NOTE PLACE="marg">7. l. 4. 2d Ma|gnum.</NOTE> as he &s;ayes in the end of that Epi&s;tle, <HI>Clinici, an peripatetici,</HI> whether they be walk|ing, or bed-rid Chri&s;tians, <HI>Sacramenti maje&s;tas &amp; &s;anctitas non derogetur,</HI> The Sacrament hath the &s;ame power, whether they be baptized for the living, or for the dead, that is, to remaine with us in this world, or to depart to them of the next.</P>
<P>And this Expo&s;ition is not &s;o much the Expo&s;ition of later men, as that it is de&s;titute of the honour of Antiquity;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Haere&s;. 28.</NOTE> for <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> the elde&s;t whom we have named yet, but <HI>Tertullian,</HI> oppo&s;es this &s;en&s;e and interpretation of the&s;e words, to that &s;en&s;e which <HI>Ter|tullian</HI> laid hold of, <HI>De bapti&s;mate vicario,</HI> of his Bapti&s;me, by Proxy, and Atturney. It is &s;o rea&s;onable, that we need no better approbation of it, but that, (though it be e&s;pecially pur&s;ued by <HI>Calvin</HI>) that great profe&s;&s;or,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;tius.</NOTE> and reader in Divinity, whom we &s;pake of be|fore, hath given of it, that it is <HI>Sen&s;us apertus, &amp; &s;implici&s;simus, omnibus aliis anteponen|dus, &amp; ad probandum id quod Apo&s;tolus in&s;tituit apti&s;simus,</HI> It is the directe&s;t &s;en&s;e, and the plaine&s;t, a &s;en&s;e to be preferred before all the re&s;t, as being fitte&s;t to e&s;tabli&s;h all that the Apo&s;tle propo&s;ed in this place; To be baptized, &s;ayes he, <HI>jamjam moriturus,</HI> when he is ready to die, is to be baptized <HI>pro mortuis,</HI> for the dead, with re&s;pect onely to the &s;tate of the dead; and therefore in this interpretation which even the adver&s;ary hath approved, and ju&s;tified for us, we may &s;afely re&s;t our &s;elves, and the rather, becau&s;e our tran&s;lati|ons have relation to this &s;en&s;e, either as it is in our fir&s;t Edition, <HI>pro Mortuis, for Dead,</HI> that is, as good as dead, or as it is in the &s;econd, <HI>pro Mortuis, for the Dead,</HI> for the &s;tate of the dead, and the hope of the re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>Thus, beloved, S. <HI>Paul</HI> hath made an argument here, to prove the Re&s;urrection of the body; One of the harde&s;t bones in the body, one of the darke&s;t corners in the my&s;te|ries of our Religion, and yet all the Religions of the Heathens had ever &s;ome impre&s;&s;i|ons of it: <HI>Seculum, re&s;urrectionem mortuorum, nec cum errat, ignorat,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Tertullian,</HI> The world knew that there was &s;ome re&s;urrection, though they were not come to know, what
<PB N="801" REF="418">it was; For he remembers, that at their funeralls, they prepared great fea&s;ts upon the graves of the dead, and cried out to them, <HI>Re&s;urgite, comedite, bibite,</HI> Ari&s;e, and come to us, and eat and drink with us, They imagined &s;ome bodily being, and &s;ome po&s;&s;ibility of conver&s;ation with the living, in the Dead. You have under&s;tood S. <HI>Pauls</HI> Argument, and yet perchance, you have not under&s;tood S. <HI>Paul. Quocumque re&s;pexer is fulmina &s;unt,</HI> &s;ayes, S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome.</HI> All S. <HI>Pauls</HI> words work as lightning, <HI>Et capit omne quod tetigerit,</HI> It affects, and it leaves &s;ome marke upon every thing that it touches; And if hee have touched thee now, his effect is not onely to make thee beleeve a future re&s;urrection of thy body, but to feele a pre&s;ent re&s;urrection in thy &s;oule, and to make mee beleeve that thou feele&s;t it, by expre&s;&s;ing it in thy life and conver&s;ation: <HI>Ad intelligendum Paulum vita pura opus e&s;t;</HI> To under&s;tand S. <HI>Paul,</HI> a man mu&s;t be an hone&s;t man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> hee mu&s;t mend his life, that will be beleeved to have comprehended S. <HI>Paul;</HI> For if he be onely the wi&s;er, and the learneder, and not the better, and the hone&s;ter, he hath but halfe under&s;tood S. <HI>Paul.</HI> S. <HI>Paul</HI> condemnes <HI>Hymenaeus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.17.</NOTE> and <HI>Philetus</HI> for &s;aying <HI>The Re&s;urrection was pa&s;t already;</HI> That is, as S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> interprets it, that all the Re&s;urrection which wee are to have, is nothing but a re&s;urrection from &s;in.</P>
<P>If S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ay &s;o bitterly, that this doctrine doth <HI>fret as a canker,</HI> becau&s;e it is not enough, what will he &s;ay, if thou bee&s;t not come &s;o farre, as to a Re&s;urrection from &s;in? We fall away into manifold, and mi&s;erable dejections, but <HI>Qui cadit, non re&s;urget?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 8.4.</NOTE> <HI>Shall we fall, and not ari&s;e? &s;hall we turne away, and not turne againe?</HI> Shall not God be able to multiply our re&s;urrections as well as the Devill our falls from God? Wee are dejected when we &s;ee the wicked pro&s;per; when God &s;eemes to behave him&s;elfe, as a Prince that were not well &s;etled in his government, and dur&s;t not offend nor di&s;plea&s;e any party, nor take knowledge of their in&s;olent and rebellious proceedings. When men that tempt God, and never pray for any thing before hand, nor thank him for it, when they have it, and yet &s;weat in their abundances, when the children of God &s;tarve for their crummes, we are dejected. But <HI>David</HI> found a re&s;urrection in this cafe, and a &s;trange one, which was, that he could <HI>bie downe and &s;teepe in peace;</HI> his re&s;urrection was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 4.8.</NOTE> <HI>Dedi&s;ti laetitiam in corde, Thou ha&s;t put gladne&s;&s;e into my heart, more then in the time that their corne, and their wine increa&s;ed.</HI> If all Gods promifes be not pre&s;ently performed unto us, temporall &s;up|plies in all temporall wants, &s;pirituall &s;upplies in all &s;pirituall di&s;tre&s;&s;es pre&s;ently admini|&s;tred, wee are dejected. But <HI>Abraham</HI> had a re&s;urrection in this ca&s;e; when God had &s;aid to him, <HI>In I&s;aac vocabitur &s;emen tuum, In I&s;aac &s;hall all Nations be ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> and then had commanded him to &s;top up that fountaine, to dig up that foundation, to pull up that root of all this univer&s;all ble&s;&s;ing, to &s;acrifice that very <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> yet <HI>Abraham</HI> erected him|&s;elfe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.19.</NOTE> onely with con&s;idering, <HI>That God was able to rai&s;e I&s;aac from the dead.</HI> Hee left God to his owne will when hee would doe it, it was re&s;urrection enough to him, to e&s;tabli&s;h him&s;elfe in the a&s;&s;urance that God could doe it.</P>
<P>If thou be dejected and depre&s;&s;ed with the waight of thy &s;ins, if the malediction, and cur&s;es, and denunciations of Gods judgements again&s;t &s;inners lie heavy upon thee, make ha&s;t to thy re&s;urrection, rai&s;e thy &s;elfe from it as fa&s;t as thou can&s;t, for it is a grave that putrifies, and corrupts, and molders away a &s;oule apace. <HI>Laetetur cor quaerentium Domi|num,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 105.3.</NOTE> &s;ayes <HI>David;</HI> Thou art not in the right way of finding the Lord, if thou doe not finde a joy in the &s;eeking of him; Though thou can&s;t not &s;etle thy &s;elfe in a &s;en&s;e that thou ha&s;t found him, yet thou ha&s;t, if thou can&s;t find a holy melting, and joy in thy &s;ee|king of him. If the Angels bee come downe to de&s;troy Sodome, If <HI>Ionas</HI> bee come to proclaime de&s;truction to Nineveh, wilt thou make thy &s;elfe beleeve that thou art a Ci|tizen of Sodom, an inhabitant of Nineveh, and mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be wrapped up in that de&s;truction? If <HI>David</HI> &s;ay, <HI>Non &s;ic impii, non &s;ic, The wicked &s;hall not &s;tand in judgement,</HI> wilt thou needs be one of them? As a wi&s;e, and a di&s;creet man will never beleeve that he that writes a Satyr, meanes him, though he touch upon his vices, &s;o what&s;oever the Prophets &s;ay, of an aver&s;ion, and obduration in God, again&s;t &s;inners, yet they meane not thee, nor doe thou a&s;&s;ume it, in an inevitablene&s;&s;e upon thy &s;elfe. The Angel of God, the Spirit of God &s;hall deale with thee, as he did with <HI>Lot</HI> in Sodom; He told <HI>Lot</HI> over|night,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 19.12.</NOTE> that he would burne the City, and bad him prepare; God &s;hall give thee &s;ome grudgings, before he exalt thy fever, and warne thee to con&s;ider thy &s;tate, and con&s;ult with thy &s;pirituall Phy&s;itian; The Angel called him up in the morning, and then ha&s;t|ned him, and when he prolonged, &s;ayes the Text, <HI>The Angel caught him, and carried
<PB N="802" REF="419">him forth, and &s;et him without the City.</HI> Becau&s;e, though there was no cooperation in <HI>Lot,</HI> yet there was no re&s;i&s;ting neither, God was plea&s;ed to doe all; So in this death of diffi|dence, and &s;en&s;e of Gods fearefull judgements, God opens thy grave now, and now he calls to thee, <HI>Lazare veni for as, Come forth Lazarus,</HI> and hee offers his hand to pull thee out now,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Io&s;h. 1.6.</NOTE> Onely <HI>Comfortare &amp; e&s;to robu&s;tus,</HI> as God &s;aid to <HI>Io&s;huah, Bee &s;trong and have a good courage,</HI> and as God addes there, <HI>Comfortare &amp; e&s;to robu&s;tus valde,</HI> Multiply thy cou|rage, and God &s;hall multiply thy &s;trength, in all dejections have a cheerefull apprehen|&s;ion of thy re&s;urrection, and thou &s;halt have it, nay thou ha&s;t it.</P>
<P>But this death of de&s;peration, or diffidence in Gods mercy, by Gods mercy hath &s;wal|lowed none of us, but the death of &s;inne hath &s;wallowed us all, and for our owne cu&s;to|mary &s;innes we all need a re&s;urrection: And what is that? <HI>Re&s;urrectio &agrave; peccato, &amp; ce&s;&s;atio &agrave; peccato,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Durand.</NOTE> <HI>non e&s;t idem;</HI> Every ce&s;&s;ation from &s;in, is not a re&s;urrection from &s;inne. A man may di&s;continue a &s;inne, intermit the practi&s;e of a &s;in, by infirmity of the body, or by &s;a|tiety in the &s;inne, or by the ab&s;ence of that per&s;on, with whom he hath u&s;ed to commu|nicate in that &s;in.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dama&s;c.</NOTE> But <HI>Re&s;urrectio, e&s;t &s;ecunda ejus, quod interiit, &s;tatio.</HI> A Re&s;urrection is &s;uch an ab&s;tinence from the practi&s;e of the &s;in, as is grounded upon a repentance, and a dete&s;tation of the &s;in, and then it is a &s;etling, and an e&s;tabli&s;hing of the &s;oule in that &s;tate, and di&s;po&s;ition: It is not a &s;udden and tran&s;itory remor&s;e, nor onely a reparation of that which was ruined, and demoli&s;hed, but it is a building up of habits contrary to former habits, and cu&s;tomes, in actions contrary to that &s;in, that we have been accu&s;tomed to. El&s;e it is but an Intermi&s;&s;ion, not a Re&s;urrection; but a &s;tarting, not a waking; but an ap|parition, not a living body; but a ce&s;&s;ation, not a peace of con&s;cience.</P>
<P>Now this Re&s;urrection is begun, and well advanced in <HI>Bapti&s;mate lachrymarum,</HI> In the bapti&s;me of true and repentant teares. But, Beloved, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> in this place, hath a relation <HI>Ad bapti&s;mum clinicorum,</HI> to death-bed-bapti&s;ts, death-bed-Chri&s;tians, to them that defer their Bapti&s;me to their death, but he gives no allowance of it; So this <HI>Bapti&s;ma clinicorum,</HI> this repentance upon the death-bed, is a dangerous delay. Even of them, I will &s;ay with S. <HI>Paul</HI> here, <HI>If there were no Re&s;urrection,</HI> no need to ri&s;e from &s;in by repen|tance, <HI>why are they then thus baptized, pro mortuis?</HI> why doe they repent, when they are as good as dead, and have no more to &s;uffer in this world? But if there be &s;uch a re&s;urrection, a nece&s;&s;ity of &s;uch a Bapti&s;me by repentance, why come they no &s;ooner to it? For is any man &s;ure to have it, or &s;ure to have a de&s;ire to it then? It is never impertinent to repeat S. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> words in this ca&s;e, <HI>Etiam hac animadver&s;ione percutitur peccator, ut moriens obli|vi&s;catur &s;ui, qui dum viveret, oblitus e&s;t Dei;</HI> God begins a dying mans condemnation at this, That as he forgot God in his life, &s;o he &s;hall forget him&s;elfe at his death. Compare thy temporall, and thy &s;pirituall &s;tate together, and con&s;ider how they may both &s;tand well at that day. If thou have &s;et thy &s;tate in order, and made a Will before, and have nothing to doe at la&s;t, but to adde a Codicil, this is &s;oone di&s;patched at la&s;t; But if thou leave all till then, it may prove a heavy bu&s;ine&s;&s;e. So if thou have repented before, and &s;etled thy &s;elfe in a religious cour&s;e before, and have nothing to doe then, but to wra|&s;tle with the power of the di&s;ea&s;e, and the agonies of death, God &s;hall fight for thee in that weake e&s;tate; God &s;hall imprint in thee a <HI>Cupio di&s;&s;olvi,</HI> S. <HI>Pauls,</HI> not onely con|tentedne&s;&s;e, but de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved; And God &s;hall give thee a glorious Re&s;urrection, yea an A&s;cen&s;ion into Heaven before thy death, and thou &s;halt &s;ee thy &s;elfe in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of his eternall Kingdome, before thy bodily eyes be &s;hut. Be therefore S. <HI>Cyprians Peri|patetique,</HI> and not his <HI>Clinique</HI> Chri&s;tian; A walking, and not a bed-rid Chri&s;tian; That when thou ha&s;t walked with God, as <HI>Henoch</HI> did, thou mai&s;t be taken with God, as <HI>He|noch</HI> was, and &s;o walke with the Lamb, as the Saints doe in Jeru&s;alem, and follow him whither&s;oever hee goes; That even thy death-bed may bee as <HI>Elias</HI> Chariot, to carry thee to heaven; And as the bed of the Spou&s;e in the Canticles, which was <HI>Lectus flori|dus,</HI> a greene and flouri&s;hing bed, where thou mai&s;t find by a faithfull apprehen&s;ion, that thy &s;ickne&s;&s;e hath crowned thee with a crowne of thornes, by participation of the &s;uffe|rings of thy Saviour, and that thy patience hath crowned thee with that crowne of glory, which the Lord the righteous Judge &s;hall impart to thee that day.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="79" TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="803" REF="419">
<HEAD>SERM. LXXIX. <HI>Preached at</HI> S. PAULS.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 90.14.</HI></BIBL>
<P>O &s;atisfie us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_THey have made a Rule in the Councel of Trent, that no Scripture &s;hall be expounded, but according to the unanime con&s;ent of the Fathers: But in this Book of the P&s;alms, it would trouble them to give many examples of that Rule, that is, of an unanime con&s;ent of the Fathers, in the interpreta|tion thereof. In this P&s;alme, <HI>Bellarmine</HI> in his Expo&s;ition of the P&s;alms, finds him&s;elfe perplexed; He &s;ayes (and &s;ayes truly) <HI>Hieronymus con&s;tanter affirmat, Au|gu&s;tinus con&s;tanter negat,</HI> S. <HI>Hierome</HI> doth confidently and con&s;tantly affirme, and S. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> with as much confidence, and con&s;tancy deny, that this P&s;alme, and all that fol|low to the hundredth P&s;alme, are <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> P&s;alms, and written by him. And this diver&s;e con&s;tancy in the&s;e two Fathers, S. <HI>Hierome</HI> and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> &s;hake the con&s;tancy of that Canon, which binds to a following of an unanime con&s;ent, for that cannot be found. <HI>Bellarmine</HI> expedites him&s;elfe herein, that way, which is indeed their mo&s;t ordinary way among&s;t their Expo&s;itors, which is, where the Fathers differ, to adhere to S. <HI>Augu&s;tine.</HI> So he doth in this point; though mo&s;t of the Ancients of the Chri&s;tian Church, mo&s;t of the Rabbins of the Jews, mo&s;t of the Writers in the Reformation, take it to be <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> P&s;alme, and that way runs the greate&s;t &s;treame, and neare&s;t to a concurrence. And thus far I have &s;topped upon this con&s;ideration, Whether this be <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> P&s;alme or no, That when it appeares to be his P&s;alme, and that we &s;ee, that in the tenth ver&s;e of this P&s;alm, mans life is limited to &s;eventy years, or at mo&s;t to eighty, and then remember, that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him&s;elfe, then when he &s;aid &s;o, was above eighty, and in a good habitude long after that, we might hereby take occa&s;ion to con&s;ider, that God does not &s;o limit, and mea&s;ure him&s;elfe in his ble&s;&s;ings to his &s;ervants, but that for their good and his glory he enlarges tho&s;e mea&s;ures. God hath determined a day, from Sun to Sun, yet when God hath u&s;e of a longer day, for his glory, he commands the Sun to &s;tand &s;till, till <HI>Io&s;hua</HI> have pur&s;u|ed his victory. So God hath given the life of man, into the hand of &s;ickne&s;&s;e; and yet for all that deadly &s;ickne&s;&s;e, God enlarges <HI>Hezekiah's</HI> years: <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was more then foure|&s;core, when he told us, that our longe&s;t terme was foure&s;core.</P>
<P>If we require exactly an unanime con&s;ent, that all agree in the Author of this P&s;alme, we can get no farther, then that the holy Gho&s;t is the Author. All agree the words to be Canonicall Scripture, and &s;o from the holy Gho&s;t; and we &s;eek no farther. The words are his, and they offer us the&s;e con&s;iderations; Fir&s;t, That the whole P&s;alme being in the Title thereof called a Prayer, <HI>A Prayer of Mo&s;es the man of God,</HI> it puts us ju&s;tly, and pertinently upon the con&s;ideration of the many dignities and prerogatives of that part of our wor&s;hip of God, Prayer; for there we &s;hall &s;ee, That though the whole P&s;al me be not a Prayer, yet becau&s;e there is a Prayer in the P&s;alme, that denominates the whole P&s;alme, the whole P&s;alme is a Prayer. When the P&s;alm grows formally to be a Prayer, our Text enters, <HI>O &s;atisfie us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes:</HI> And in that there will be two Parts more, The Prayer it &s;elfe, <HI>O &s;ati&s;|fie us early with thy mercy,</HI> And the effect thereof, <HI>That we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes.</HI> So that our Parts are three; Fir&s;t Prayer, Then this Prayer, And la&s;tly the be|nefit of all Prayer.</P>
<P>For the fir&s;t, which is Prayer in generall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Part. Prayer.</NOTE> I will thru&s;t no farther then the Text leads me in, that is, That Prayer is &s;o e&s;&s;entiall a part of Gods wor&s;hip, as that all is called Prayer. S. <HI>Hierome</HI> upon this P&s;alme &s;ayes, <HI>Difficillimum P&s;almum aggredior,</HI> I under|take the expo&s;ition of a very hard P&s;alme, and yet, &s;ayes he, I would proceed &s;o in the
<PB N="804" REF="420">expo&s;ition thereof, <HI>ut interpretatio no&s;tra aliena non egeat interpretatione,</HI> That there &s;hould not need another Comment upon my Comment, that when I pretend to interpret the P&s;alme, they that heare me, &s;hould not need another to interpret me: which is a frequent infirmity among&s;t Expo&s;itors of Scriptures, by writing, or preaching, either when men will rai&s;e doubts in places of Scripture, which are plaine enough in them&s;elves, (for this creates a jealou&s;ie, that if the Scriptures be every where &s;o difficult, they cannot be our evidences, and guides to &s;alvation) Or when men will in&s;i&s;t too vehemently, and curi|ou&s;ly, and tediou&s;ly in proving of &s;uch things as no man denies; for this al&s;o induces a &s;u&s;pition, that that is not &s;o ab&s;olutely, &s;o undeniably true, that needs &s;o much art, and curio&s;ity, and vehemence to prove it. I &s;hall therefore avoid the&s;e errors; and becau&s;e I pre&s;ume you are full of an acknowledgment of the duties, and dignities of Prayer, one|ly remember you of thus much of the method, or elements of Prayer, That whereas the whole Book of P&s;alms is called <HI>Sepher Tehillim,</HI> that is, <HI>Liber Laudationum,</HI> The Book of Prai&s;e, yet this P&s;alme, and all that follow to the hundredth P&s;alme, and divers others be&s;ides the&s;e, (which make up a faire limme of this body, and a con&s;iderable part of the Book) are called Prayers; The Book is Prai&s;e, the parts are Prayer. The name changes not the nature; Prayer and Prai&s;e is the &s;ame thing: The name &s;carce changes the name; Prayer and Prai&s;e is almo&s;t the &s;ame word; As the duties agree in the heart and mouth of a man, &s;o the names agree in our eares; and not onely in the language of our Tran|&s;lation, but in the language of the holy Gho&s;t him&s;elfe, for that which with us differs but &s;o, Prayer, and Prai&s;e, in the Originall differs no more then &s;o, <HI>Tehillim,</HI> and <HI>Te|philloth.</HI></P>
<P>And this concurrence of the&s;e two parts of our devotion, Prayer and Prai&s;e, that they accompany one another, nay this co-incidence, that they meet like two waters, and make the &s;treame of devotion the fuller; nay more then that, this identity, that they doe not onely con&s;i&s;t together, but con&s;titute one another, is happily expre&s;&s;ed in this part of the Prayer, which is our Text; for that which in the Originall language is expre&s;&s;ed in the voice of Prayer, <HI>O &s;atisfie us, &amp;c.</HI> in the fir&s;t Tran&s;lation, that of the Septuagint, is ex|pre&s;&s;ed in the voice of prai&s;e, <HI>Satura&s;ti, Thou ha&s;t &s;atisfied us;</HI> The Original makes it a Pray|er, the Tran&s;lation a Prai&s;e. And not to compare Original with Tran&s;lation, but Tran&s;la|tion with Tran&s;lation, and both from one man, we have in S. <HI>Hieroms</HI> works two Tran|&s;lations of the P&s;almes; one, in which he gives us the P&s;almes alone; another, in which he gives them illu&s;trated with his notes and Commentaries. And in one of the&s;e Tran|&s;lations he reads this as a Prayer, <HI>Reple nos, O fill us early with thy mercie,</HI> and in the other he reads it as a Prai&s;e, <HI>Repleti &s;umus, Thou ha&s;t filled us, &amp;c.</HI> Nay, not to compare Origi|nall with Tran&s;lation, nor Tran&s;lation with Tran&s;lation, but Originall with Originall, the holy Gho&s;t with him&s;elfe, In the Title of this P&s;alme, (and the Titles of the P&s;alms are Canonicall Scripture) the holy Gho&s;t calls this P&s;alme a <HI>Prayer,</HI> and yet enters the P&s;alme, in the very fir&s;t ver&s;e thereof, with prai&s;e and thank&s;giving, <HI>Lord, thou ha&s;t been our dwelling place in all generations.</HI> And &s;uch is the con&s;titution and frame of that Prayer of Prayers, That which is the extraction of all prayers, and draws into a &s;umme all that is in all others, That which is the infu&s;ion into all others, &s;heds and &s;howres what&s;oever is acceptable to God, in any other prayer, That Prayer which our Saviour gave us, (for as he meant to give us all for asking, &s;o he meant to give us the words by which we &s;hould ask) As that Prayer con&s;i&s;ts of &s;even petitions, and &s;even is infinite, &s;o by being at fir&s;t be|gun with glory and acknowledgement of his raigning in heaven, and then &s;hut up in the &s;ame manner, with acclamations of power and glory, it is made a circle of prai&s;e, and a circle is infinite too, The Prayer, and the Prai&s;e is equally infinite. Infinitely poore and needy man, that ever need&s;t infinite things to pray for; Infinitely rich and abundant man, that ever ha&s;t infinite ble&s;&s;ings to prai&s;e God for.</P>
<P>Gods hou&s;e in this world is called the hou&s;e of Prayer; but in heaven it is the hou&s;e of Prai&s;e: No &s;urpri&s;all with any new nece&s;&s;ities there, but one even, ince&s;&s;ant, and everla&s;ting tenor of thank&s;giving; And it is a ble&s;&s;ed inchoation of that &s;tate here, here to be continually exerci&s;ed in the commemoration of Gods former goodne&s;&s;e towards us. <HI>My voyce &s;halt thou heare in the morning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 5.3. P&s;al. 55.17.</NOTE> <HI>O Lord,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David.</HI> What voice? the voice of his prayer; it is true; <HI>In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee,</HI> &s;aies <HI>David</HI> there. And not only then, but at noone and at night he vowes that Sacrifice; <HI>Evening and morning, and at noone will I pray, and cry unto thee.</HI> But <HI>Davids</HI> devotion began not, when his prayers be|gan;
<PB N="805" REF="420">one part of his devotion was before morning;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.62.</NOTE> <HI>At midnight will I ri&s;e, to give thanks unto thee O Lord,</HI> &s;ayes he. Doubtle&s;&s;e when he lay downe and clo&s;ed his eyes, he had made up his account with God, and had received his <HI>Quietus e&s;t</HI> then: And then the fir&s;t thing that he does when he wakes againe, is not to importune God for more, but to ble&s;&s;e God for his former ble&s;&s;ings. And as this part of his devotion, Prai&s;e, began all, &s;o it pa&s;&s;es through all, <HI>I will ble&s;&s;e the Lord at all times,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34.11.</NOTE> <HI>and his prai&s;e &s;hall be continually in my mouth.</HI> He extends it through all times, and all places, and would faine do &s;o through all per&s;ons too, as we &s;ee by that adprecation which is &s;o frequent with him, <HI>O that men would therefore prai&s;e the Lord, and declare the wondrous workes that he doth for the children of men!</HI></P>
<P>If we compare the&s;e two incomparable duties, Prayer, and Prai&s;e, it will &s;tand thus, Our Prayers be&s;iege God, (as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;peakes, e&s;pecially of publique Prayer in the Congregation, <HI>Agmine facto ob&s;idemus Deum</HI>) but our prai&s;es pre&s;cribe in God, we urge him, and pre&s;&s;e him with his ancient mercies, his mercies of old: By Prayer we incline him, we bend him, but by Prai&s;e we bind him; our thanks for former benefits, is a pro|ducing of a &s;pecialty, by which he hath contracted with us for more. In Prayer we &s;ue to him, but in our Prai&s;e we &s;ue him him&s;elfe; Prayer is as our petition, but Prai&s;e is as our Evidence; In that we beg, in this we plead. God hath no law upon him&s;elfe, but yet God him&s;elfe proceeds by precedent: And when&s;oever we pre&s;ent to him with thank&s;giving, what he hath done, he does the &s;ame, and more againe. Neither certainly can the Church in&s;titute any prayers, more effectuall for the pre&s;ervation of Religion, or of the State, then the Collects for our deliverances, in the like ca&s;es before: And when he heares them, though they have the nature of Prai&s;e onely, yet he tran&s;lates them into Prayers, and when we our &s;elves know not, how much we &s;tand in need of new delive|rances, he delivers us from dangers which we never &s;u&s;pected, from Armies and Navies which we never knew were prepared, and from plots and machinations which we ne|ver knew were brought into Con&s;ultation, and diverts their forces, and di&s;&s;ipates their coun&s;els with an untimely abortion. And farther I extend not this fir&s;t part of Prayer in generall, in which, to that which you may have heard often, and u&s;efully of the duty and dignity of Prayer, I have only added this, of the method and elements thereof, that pray|er con&s;i&s;ts as much of prai&s;e for the pa&s;t, as of &s;upplication for the future.</P>
<P>We pa&s;&s;e now to our &s;econd Part, To this particular Prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Part.</NOTE> and tho&s;e limmes that make up this body, tho&s;e pieces that con&s;titute this Part. They are many; as many as words in it: <HI>Satisfie,</HI> and <HI>&s;atisfie Vs,</HI> and doe that <HI>early,</HI> and doe that with that which is <HI>thine,</HI> and let that be <HI>mercy.</HI> So that fir&s;t it is a prayer for fulne&s;&s;e and &s;atisfaction, <HI>Satura, &s;atisfie;</HI> And then it is a prayer not onely of appropriation to our &s;elves, <HI>Satisfie me,</HI> But of a charitable dilatation and exten&s;ion to others, <HI>Satisfie us,</HI> all us, all thy &s;ervants, all thy Church; And then thirdly, it is a prayer of di&s;patch and expedition, <HI>Satura nos mane, Satisfie us early;</HI> and after that, it is a prayer of evidence and manife&s;tation, Satisfie us with that which is, and which we may di&s;cerne to be <HI>thine;</HI> And then la&s;tly, it is a prayer of li|mitation even upon God him&s;elfe, that God will take no other way herein, but the way of <HI>mercy, Satisfie us early with thy mercy.</HI></P>
<P>And becau&s;e the&s;e are the land-markes that mu&s;t guide you in this voyage, and the places to which you mu&s;t re&s;ort to a&s;&s;i&s;t your memory, be plea&s;ed to take another &s;urvay and impre&s;&s;ion of them. I may have an apprehen&s;ion of a conditionall promi&s;e of God, and I may have &s;ome faire credulity and te&s;timony of con&s;cience, of an endeavour to per|forme tho&s;e conditions, and &s;o &s;ome inchoations of tho&s;es promi&s;es, but yet this is not a fulne&s;&s;e, a &s;atisfaction, and this is a prayer for that, <HI>Satura, &s;atisfie:</HI> I may have a full mea|&s;ure in my &s;elfe, finde no want of temporall conveniencies, or &s;pirituall con&s;olation even in inconveniencies, and &s;o hold up a holy alacrity and cheerefulne&s;&s;e for all concerning my &s;elfe, and yet &s;ee God abandon greater per&s;ons, and de&s;ert &s;ome whole Churches, and States, upon whom his glory and Go&s;pel depends much more then upon me, but this is a prayer of charitable exten&s;ion, <HI>Satura nos,</HI> not <HI>me,</HI> but <HI>us,</HI> all us that profe&s;&s;e thee aright: This al&s;o I may be &s;ure that God will doe at la&s;t, he will re&s;cue his owne honour in re&s;cuing or e&s;tabli&s;hing his Servants, he will bring I&s;rael out of Egypt, and out of Ba|bylon, but yet his I&s;rael may lye long under the &s;courge and &s;corne of his and their ene|mies, 300. yeares before they get out of Egypt, &s;eventy yeares before they get out of Ba|bylon, and &s;o fall into tentations of conceiving a jealou&s;ie, and &s;u&s;pition of Gods good
<PB N="806" REF="421">purpo&s;e towards them, and this is a Prayer of Di&s;patch and Expedition, <HI>Satura nos mane, Satisfie us early,</HI> O God make &s;peed to &s;ave us, O Lord make ha&s;t to help us: But he may derive help upon us, by meanes that are not his, not avowed by him, He may quicken our Coun&s;els by bringing in an <HI>Achitophell,</HI> he may &s;trengthen our Armies by calling in the Turke, he may e&s;tabli&s;h our peace and friend&s;hips, by remitting or departing with &s;ome parts of our Religion; at &s;uch a deare price we may be helped, but the&s;e are not his helps, and this is a prayer of manife&s;tation, that all the way to our end hee will bee plea&s;ed to let us &s;ee, that the meanes are from him, <HI>Satura nos tua, Satisfie us</HI> with that, which is <HI>thine,</HI> and comes from <HI>thee,</HI> and &s;o directs us to <HI>thee:</HI> All this may be done too, and yet not that done which we pray for here; God may &s;end that which is his, and yet without pre&s;ent comfort therein; God may multiply corrections, and judgements, and tribulati|ons upon us, and intend to helpe us that way, by whipping and beating us into the way, and this is his way; but this is a Prayer of limitation even upon God him&s;elfe, That our way may be his, and that his way may be the way of <HI>mercy, Satisfie us early with thy mercy.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Saturae.</NOTE> the fir&s;t word <HI>Satura,</HI> implies a fulne&s;&s;e, and it implies a &s;atisfaction, A quietne&s;&s;e, a contentedne&s;&s;e, an acquie&s;cence in that fulne&s;&s;e; <HI>Satisfie</HI> is, let us bee full, and let us feele it, and re&s;t in that fulne&s;&s;e. The&s;e two make up all Heaven, all the joy, and all the glory of Heaven, fulne&s;&s;e and &s;atisfaction in it. And therefore S. <HI>Hierom</HI> refers this Prayer of our Text, to the Re&s;urrection, and to that fulne&s;&s;e, and that &s;atisfaction which we &s;hall have then, and not till then. For though we &s;hall have a fulne&s;&s;e in Heaven, as &s;oone as we come thither, yet that is not fully a &s;atisfaction, be|cau&s;e we &s;hall de&s;ire, and expect a fuller &s;atisfaction in the reunion of body and &s;oule. And when Heaven it &s;elfe cannot give us this full &s;atisfaction till then, in what can wee looke for it in this world, where there is no true fulne&s;&s;e, nor any &s;atisfaction, in that kind of fulne&s;&s;e which wee &s;eeme to have? Plea&s;ure and &s;en&s;uality, and the giving to our &s;elves all that we de&s;ire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16.</NOTE> cannot give this; you heare God reproaches I&s;rael &s;o, <HI>You have multiplied your fornications, &amp; yet are not &s;atisfied.</HI> Labor for profit, or for preferment, can|not doe it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hagg. 1.</NOTE> you &s;ee God reproaches I&s;rael for that too, <HI>Ye have &s;owne much, and bring in little, ye eat, but have not enough, ye drinke, but are not filled, ye cloath you, but are not warme, and he that earneth wages, putteth it into a broken bag;</HI> that is, it runs out as fa&s;t as it comes in, he finds nothing at the yeares end, his Mid&s;ommer will &s;carce fetch up Michaelmas, and if he have brought about his yeare, and made up his Circle, yet he hath rai&s;ed up nothing, nothing appeares in his circle. If the&s;e things could fill us, yet they could not &s;atisfie us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 20.</NOTE> becau&s;e they cannot &s;tay with us, or not we with them: <HI>He hath devoured &s;ub|&s;tance, and he &s;hall vomit it.</HI> He devoured it by bribery, and he &s;hall vomit it by a fine; He devoured it by extortion, and he &s;hall vomit it by confi&s;cation; He devoured it in other Courts, and &s;hall vomit it in a Star-chamber. If it &s;tay &s;ome time, it &s;hall be with an angui&s;h and vexation; <HI>When he &s;hall be filled with abundance, it &s;hall be a paine to him,</HI> as it is in the &s;ame place. Still his riches &s;hall have the nature of a vomit, hard to get downe, and hard to keep in the &s;tomach when it is there; hardly got, hardly kept when they are got.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 6.</NOTE> If all the&s;e could be overcome, yet it is clogged with a heavy cur&s;e, <HI>Wo be unto you that are full, for ye &s;hall be hungry:</HI> Where, if the cur&s;e were onely from them, who are poore by their owne &s;loth, or wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e, who for the mo&s;t part delight to cur&s;e and maligne the rich, the cur&s;e might be contemned by us, and would be throwne back by God into their owne bo&s;omes; but <HI>Os Domini locutum,</HI> The mouth of the Lord hath &s;poken it, Chri&s;t him&s;elfe hath denounced this cur&s;e upon worldly men, That they &s;hall be hungry, not onely &s;uffer impairement and diminution, but be reduced to hunger.</P>
<P>There is a &s;pirituall fulne&s;&s;e in this life, of which S. <HI>Hierom</HI> &s;peakes, <HI>Ebrietas foelix, &s;atietas &s;alutaris,</HI> A happy exce&s;&s;e, and a whole&s;ome &s;urfet; <HI>quae quanto copio&s;i&ugrave;s &s;umi|tur, majorem donat &s;obrietatem,</HI> In which the more we eate, the more temperate we are, and the more we drinke, the more &s;ober. In which, (as S. <HI>Bernard</HI> al&s;o expre&s;&s;es it, in his mellifluence) <HI>Mutu&acirc;, interminabili, inexplicabili generatione,</HI> By a mutuall and reci|procall, by an undeterminable and unexpre&s;&s;ible generation of one another, <HI>De&s;iderium generat &s;atietatem, &amp; &s;atietas parit de&s;iderium,</HI> The de&s;ire of &s;pirituall graces begets a &s;atiety, if I would be, I am full of them, And then this &s;atiety begets a farther de&s;ire, &s;till we have a new appetite to tho&s;e &s;pirituall graces: This is a holy ambition, a &s;acred covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.23.</NOTE> and a whol&s;ome Drop&s;ie. <HI>Napthalies</HI> ble&s;&s;ing, <HI>O Napthali &s;atisfied with
<PB N="807" REF="421">favour, and full with the ble&s;sing of the Lord;</HI> S. <HI>Stephens</HI> ble&s;&s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 6.5.</NOTE> <HI>Full of faith and of the Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> The ble&s;&s;ed Virgins ble&s;&s;ing, <HI>Full of Grace; Dorcas</HI> ble&s;&s;ing,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.37.</NOTE> <HI>Full of good works, and of Almes-deeds;</HI> The ble&s;&s;ing of him, who is ble&s;&s;ed above all, and who ble&s;|&s;eth all, Chri&s;t Je&s;us,<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Luk. 2.4.</NOTE> <HI>Full of wi&s;edome,</HI><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Luk. 4.1.</NOTE> <HI>Full of the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI><NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.14.</NOTE> <HI>Full of grace and truth.</HI> But &s;o far are all temporall things from giving this fulne&s;&s;e or &s;atisfaction, as that even in &s;pirituall things, there may be, there is often an error, or mi&s;taking.</P>
<P>Even in &s;pirituall things, there may be a fulne&s;&s;e, and no &s;atisfaction, And there may be a &s;atisfaction, and no fulne&s;&s;e; I may have as much knowledge, as is pre&s;ently nece&s;&s;a|ry for my &s;alvation, and yet have a re&s;tle&s;&s;e and un&s;atisfied de&s;ire, to &s;earch into unpro|fitable curio&s;ities, unrevealed my&s;teries, and inextricable perplexities: And, on the other &s;ide, a man may be &s;atisfied, and thinke he knowes all, when, God knowes, he knowes nothing at all; for, I know nothing, if I know not Chri&s;t crucified, And I know not that, if I know not how to apply him to my &s;elfe, Nor doe I know that, if I embrace him not in tho&s;e meanes, which he hath afforded me in his Church, in his Word, and Sacra|ments; If I neglect this meanes, this place, the&s;e exerci&s;es, how&s;oever I may &s;atisfie my &s;elfe, with an over-valuing mine own knowledge at home, I am &s;o far from fulne&s;&s;e, as that vanity it &s;elfe is not more empty. In the Wilderne&s;&s;e, every man had one and the &s;ame mea&s;ure of Manna; The &s;ame Gomer went through all; for Manna was a Meat, that would melt in their mouths, and of ea&s;ie dige&s;tion. But then for their Quailes, birds of a higher flight, meat of a &s;tronger dige&s;tion, it is not &s;aid, that every man had an e|quall number: &s;ome might have more, &s;ome le&s;&s;e, and yet all their fulne&s;&s;e. Catechi&s;ti|call divinity, and in&s;tructions in fundamentall things, is our Manna; Every man is bound to take in his Gomer, his explicite knowledge of Articles ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to &s;al|vation; The &s;imple&s;t man, as well as the greate&s;t Doctor, is bound to know, that there is one God in three per&s;ons, That the &s;econd of tho&s;e, the Sonne of God, tooke our na|ture, and dyed for mankinde; And that there is a Holy Gho&s;t, which in the Communion of Saints, the Church e&s;tabli&s;hed by Chri&s;t, applies to every particular &s;oule the bene|fit of Chri&s;ts univer&s;all redemption. But then for our Quails, birds of higher pitch, meat of a &s;tronger dige&s;tion, which is the knowledge how to rectifie every &s;traying con&s;ci|ence, how to extricate every entangled, and &s;crupulous, and perplexed &s;oule, in all emer|gent doubts, how to defend our Church, and our Religion, from all the mines, and all the batteries of our Adver&s;aries, and to deliver her from all imputations of Here&s;ie, and Schi&s;me, which they impute to us, this knowledge is not equally nece&s;&s;ary in all; In many ca&s;es a Ma&s;ter of &s;ervants, and a Father of children is bound to know more, then tho&s;e children and &s;ervants, and the Pa&s;tor of the pari&s;h more then pari&s;hioners: They may have their fulne&s;&s;e, though he have more, but he hath not his, except he be able to give them &s;atisfaction.</P>
<P>This fulne&s;&s;e then is not an equality in the mea&s;ure; our fulne&s;&s;e in heaven &s;hall not be &s;o; <HI>Abraham dyed,</HI> &s;ayes the text, <HI>Plenus dierum, full of yeares;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 25.8.</NOTE> It is not &s;aid &s;o in the text of <HI>Methu&s;alem,</HI> that he dyed full of yeares, and yet he had another manner of Go|mer, another mea&s;ure of life then <HI>Abraham,</HI> for he lived almo&s;t eight hundred yeares more then he; But he that is be&s;t di&s;po&s;ed to die, is fulle&s;t of yeares; One man may be fuller at twenty, then another at &s;eaventy. <HI>David</HI> lived not the tithe of <HI>Methu&s;alems</HI> yeares, not ten to his hundred, he lived le&s;&s;e then <HI>Abraham,</HI> and yet <HI>David</HI> is &s;aid to have dyed <HI>Plenus dierum, full of yeares;</HI> he had made him&s;elfe agreeable to God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Chro. 29.28.</NOTE> and &s;o was ripe for him. So <HI>David</HI> is &s;aid there to have dyed <HI>full of honor;</HI> God knowes <HI>David</HI> had ca&s;t &s;hrowd a&s;per&s;ions upon his own, and others honor; but, as God &s;ayes of I&s;rael, <HI>Be|cau&s;e I loved thee, thou wa&s;t honorable in my &s;ight;</HI> &s;o becau&s;e God loved <HI>David,</HI> and he per|&s;evered in that love to the end, he dyed full of honor. So al&s;o it is &s;aid of <HI>David,</HI> that he dyed <HI>full of Riches;</HI> for, though they were very great additions, which <HI>Solomon</HI> made, yet becau&s;e <HI>David</HI> intended that which he left, for Gods &s;ervice, and for pious u&s;es, he dyed full of Riches; fulne&s;&s;e of riches is in the good purpo&s;e, and the good employment, not in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. In a word, the fulne&s;&s;e that is inquired after, and required by this prayer, carry it upon temporall, carry it upon &s;pirituall things, is &s;uch a proportion of ei|ther, as is fit for that calling, in which God hath put us; And then, the &s;atisfaction in this fulne&s;&s;e is not to hunt and pant after more worldly po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, by undue meanes, or by macerating labour, as though we could not be good, or could doe no good in the world, except all the goods of the world pa&s;&s;ed our hands, nor to hunt and pant after the know|ledge
<PB N="808" REF="422">of &s;uch things, as God by his Scriptures hath not revealed to his Church, nor to wrangle contentiou&s;ly and uncharitably about &s;uch points, as doe rather &s;hake others con&s;ciences, then e&s;tabli&s;h our own, as though we could not po&s;&s;ibly come to heaven, except we knew what God meant to doe with us, before he meant to make us. S. <HI>Paul</HI> expre&s;&s;es fully what this fulne&s;&s;e is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 4.12.</NOTE> and &s;atisfies us in this &s;atisfaction, <HI>Vt &s;itis pleni in omni voluntate Dei, That yee may be filled according to the will of God:</HI> What is the will of God? How &s;hall I know the will of God upon me? God hath manife&s;ted his will in my Calling; and a proportion, competent to this Calling, is my fulne&s;&s;e, and &s;hould be my &s;atisfaction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 8.21.</NOTE> that &s;o God may have <HI>Odorem quietis,</HI> (as it is &s;aid in <HI>Noahs</HI> &s;acrifice, after he came out of the Arke, <HI>that God &s;melt a &s;avour of re&s;t</HI>) a &s;acrifice, in which he might re&s;t him&s;elfe; for God hath a Sabbath in the Sabbaths of his &s;ervants, a fulne&s;&s;e in their fulne&s;&s;e, a &s;atisfaction when they are &s;atisfied, and is well plea&s;ed when they are &s;o.</P>
<P>So then this Prayer is for fulne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nos.</NOTE> and fulne&s;&s;e is a competency in our calling, And a prayer for &s;atisfaction, and &s;atisfaction is a contentment in that competency; And then this prayer is not onely a prayer of appropriation to our &s;elves, but of a charitable exten|tion to others too, <HI>Satura nos, Satisfie us,</HI> All us, all thy Church. Charity begins in our &s;elves, but it does not end there, but dilates it &s;elfe to others; The Saints in heaven are full, as full as they can hold, and yet they pray; Though they want nothing, they pray that God would powre down upon us graces nece&s;&s;ary for our peregrination here, as he hath done upon them, in their &s;tation there. We are full; full of the Go&s;pel; pre&s;ent peace and plenty in the preaching thereof, and faire apparances of a perpetuall &s;ucce&s;&s;i|on; we are full, and yet we pray; we pray that God would continue the Go&s;pel where it is, re&s;tore the Go&s;pel where it was, and transfer the Go&s;pel where it hath not yet been preached. Charity de&s;ires not her own, &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; but much le&s;&s;e doth charity de&s;ire no more then her own, &s;o as not to de&s;ire the good of others too. True love and charity is to doe the mo&s;t that we can, all that we can for the good of others; So God him&s;elfe proceeds, when he &s;ayes, <HI>What could I doe, that I have not done?</HI> And &s;o he &s;eems to have begun at fir&s;t; when God be&s;towed upon man, his fir&s;t and greate&s;t benefit, his making, it is expre&s;&s;ed &s;o, <HI>Faciamus hominem, Let us,</HI> All us, <HI>make man;</HI> God &s;eems to &s;ummon him&s;elfe, to a&s;&s;emble him&s;elfe, to mu&s;ter him&s;elfe, all him&s;elfe, all the per&s;ons of the Trinity, to doe what he could in the favour of man. So al&s;o when he is drawne to a nece&s;&s;ity of executing judgement, and for his own honor, and con&s;olidation of his &s;ervants, puts him&s;elfe upon a revenge, he proceeds &s;o too; when man had rebel|led, and began to fortifie in Babel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 11.7.</NOTE> then God &s;ayes, <HI>Venite, Let us,</HI> All us come together, And <HI>De&s;cendamus, &amp; confundamus, Let us,</HI> all us, <HI>goe down, and confound their language,</HI> and their machinations, and fortifications. God does not give patterns, God does not accept from us acts of half-devotion, and half-charities; God does all that he can for us; And therefore when we &s;ee others in di&s;tre&s;&s;e, whether nationall, or per&s;onall calamities, whether Princes be di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;t of their naturall patrimony, and inheritance, or private per|&s;ons afflicted with &s;ickne&s;&s;e, or penury, or bani&s;hment, let us goe Gods way, all the way; Fir&s;t, <HI>Faciamus hominem ad imaginem no&s;tram,</HI> Let us make that Man according unto our image, let us con&s;ider our &s;elves in him, and make our ca&s;e his, and remember how late|ly he was as well as we, and how &s;oone we may be as ill as he, and then <HI>De&s;cendamus &amp; confundamus,</HI> Let us, us, with all the power we have, remove or &s;lacken tho&s;e calamities that lie upon them.</P>
<P>This onely is charity, to doe all, all that we can. And &s;omething there is which every man may doe; There are Armies, in the levying whereof, every man is an ab&s;olute Prince, and needs no Commi&s;&s;ion, there are Forces, in which every man is his owne Mu&s;ter-ma&s;ter, The force which we &s;poke of before, out of <HI>Tertullian,</HI> the force of pray|er; In publique actions, we obey God, when we obey them to whom God hath com|mitted the publique; In tho&s;e things which are in our own power, the &s;ubfidies and con|tributions of prayer, God looks that we &s;hould &s;econd his <HI>Faciamus,</HI> with our <HI>Dicamus,</HI> That &s;ince he mu&s;t doe all, we would pray him that he would doe it, And his <HI>De&s;cenda|mus,</HI> with our <HI>A&s;cendamus,</HI> That if we would have him come down, and fight our bat|tayls, or remove our calamities, we &s;hould fir&s;t goe up to him, in humble and fervent prayer, That he would continue the Go&s;pel where it is, and re&s;tore it where it was, and transfer it where it was never as yet heard; Charity is to doe all to all; and the poore&s;t of us all can doe this to any.</P>
<PB N="809" REF="422">
<P>I may then, I mu&s;t pray for this fulne&s;&s;e, (and fulne&s;&s;e is &s;ufficiency) And for this &s;a|tisfaction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mane.</NOTE>(and &s;atisfaction is contentment) And that God would extend this, and other his ble&s;&s;ings, upon others too, And if God doe leave us in an Egypt, in a Babylon, with|out reliefe, for &s;ometime I may proceed to this holy importunity, which <HI>David</HI> inti|mates here, <HI>Satura nos mane,</HI> O Lord, make ha&s;te to helpe us, <HI>Satisfie us early with thy mer|cy,</HI> and God will doe &s;o. <HI>Weeping may endure for a night,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>David.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 30.5.</NOTE> <HI>David</HI> does not &s;ay, It mu&s;t indure for a night, that God will by no meanes &s;horten the time; perchance God will wipe all teares from thine eyes, at midnight, if thou pray; Try him that way then. If he doe not, <HI>If weeping doe indure for a night,</HI> all night, <HI>yet joy commeth in the mor|ning,</HI> faith <HI>David;</HI> And then he doth not &s;ay, Joy may come in the morning, but it com|meth certainly, infallibly it comes, and comes in the morning. God is an early ri&s;er; <HI>In the Marning-watch, God la<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ked upon the h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t of the Egyptians.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 14.24.</NOTE> Hee looked upon their coun&s;els to &s;ee what they would doe, and upon their forces to &s;ee what they could doe. He is not early up, and never the nearer; <HI>His going forth is prepared as the Morning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 6.3.</NOTE> (there is his generall Providence, in which he vi&s;its every creature) <HI>And hee &s;hall come to us, in the former, and later raine upon the earth;</HI> Hee makes ha&s;te to us in the former, and &s;econds his former mercies to us, in more mercies. And as he makes ha&s;t to refre&s;h his &s;ervants, &s;o goes he the &s;ame pace, to the ruine of his enemies, <HI>In matutina inter&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">oiam,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 101.8.</NOTE> <HI>I will early de&s;troy all the wicked of the land:</HI> It is not a weakning of them, It is a de&s;truction; It is not of a &s;quadron or regiment, It is all; It is not onely upon the Land, but the wicked of any band, he will de&s;troy upon the Sea too. This is his promi&s;e, this is his practi&s;e, this is his pace. Thus he did in <HI>Sennacheri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> Army, <HI>When they aro&s;e early in the Morning,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 19.35.</NOTE> <HI>behold they were all dead carca&s;&s;es;</HI> They ro&s;e early that &s;aw it, but God had been up earlier, that had done it. And that &s;tory, God &s;eemes to have had care to have recorded almo&s;t in all the divi&s;ions of the Bible, for it is in the Hi&s;toricall part, and it is in the Propheticall part too; and becau&s;e God fore&s;aw, that mens curio&s;ities would carry them upon Apo|cryphal Books al&s;o, it is repeated almo&s;t in every Book of that kinde, in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticus,</HI> in <HI>Tobit,</HI> in the <HI>Maceabees</HI> in both Books, That every where our eye might light upon that, and every &s;oule might make that Syllogi&s;me, and produce that conclu&s;ion to it &s;elfe, If God bee thus forward, thus early in the wayes of Judgement, much more is he &s;o in the wayes of mercy; with that he will &s;atisfie us <HI>Mane,</HI> early, and as <HI>Tremellius</HI> reads this very Text, <HI>unoquoque mane,</HI> betimes in the morning, and every morning.</P>
<P>Now if we looke for this early mercy from God, we mu&s;t ri&s;e betimes too, and meet God early. God hath promi&s;ed to give <HI>Matutinam &s;tellam;</HI> the Morning-&s;tar;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 2 28.</NOTE> but they mu&s;t be up betimes in the morning, that will take the Morning-&s;tar. He him&s;elfe who is it, hath told us who is this Morning &s;tar; <HI>I Ie&s;us am the bright and Morning &s;tarre.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> God will give us Je&s;us; Him, and all his, all his teares, all his blood, all his merits; But to whom, and upon what conditions? That is expre&s;&s;ed there, <HI>Vincenti dabe, To hin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> that overcommeth I will give the Morning-&s;tar.</HI> Our life is a warfare, our whole life; It is not onely with lu&s;ts in our youth, and ambitions in our middle yeares, and indevotions in our age, but with agonies in our body, and tentations in our &s;pirit upon our death-bed, that we are to fight; and he cannot be &s;aid to overcome, that fights not out the whole battell. If he enter not the field in the morning, that is, apply not him&s;elfe to Gods &s;ervice in his youth, If hee continue not to the Evening, If hee faint in the way, and grow remi&s;&s;e in Gods &s;ervice, for collaterall re&s;pects, God will overcome his cau&s;e, and his glory &s;hall &s;tand fa&s;t, but that man can &s;carce be &s;aid to have overcome.</P>
<P>It is the coun&s;ell of the Wi&s;e man, <HI>Prevent the Sunne to give thanks to God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Wi&s;d. 16.28.</NOTE> <HI>and at the day-&s;pring pray unto him.</HI> You &s;ee &s;till, how the&s;e two duties are mar&s;halled, and di&s;po|&s;ed; Fir&s;t Prai&s;e, and then Prayer, but both early: And it is placed in the Lamentations, as though it were a lamentable negligence to have omitted it, <HI>It is good for a man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lament. 3.27.</NOTE> <HI>that he beare his yoake in his youth.</HI> Ri&s;e as early as you can, you cannot be up before God; no, nor before God rai&s;e you: How&s;oever you prevent this Sunne, the Sunne of the Firma|ment, yet the Sonne of Heaven hath prevented you, for without his preventing Grace you could not &s;tirre. Have any of you &s;lept out their Morning, re&s;i&s;ted his private mo|tions to private Prayer at home, neglected his callings &s;o? Though a man doe &s;leepe out his forenoone, the Sunne goes on his cour&s;e, and comes to his Meridionall &s;plendor, though that man have not looked towards it. That Sonne which hath ri&s;en to you at home, in tho&s;e private motions, hath gone on his cour&s;e, and hath &s;hined out here, in this
<PB N="810" REF="423">hou&s;e of God, upon Wedne&s;day, and upon Friday, and upon every day of holy Con|vocation; All this, at home, and here, yee have &s;lept out and neglected. Now, upon the Sabbath, and in the&s;e holy Exerci&s;es, this Sonne &s;hines out as at noone, the Grace of God is in the Exaltation, exhibited in the powerfulle&s;t and effectualle&s;t way of his Or|dinance, and if you will but awake now, ri&s;e now, meet God now, now at noone, God will call even this early. Have any of you &s;lept out the whole day, and are come in that drow&s;ine&s;&s;e to your evening, to the clo&s;ing of your eyes, to the end of your dayes? Yet ri&s;e now, and God &s;hall call even this an early ri&s;ing; If you can make &s;hift to deceive your owne &s;oules and &s;ay, We never heard God call us; If you neglected your former callings &s;o, as that you have forgot that you have been called; yet, is there one among&s;t you, that denies that God calls him now? If he neglect this calling now, to morrow he may forget that he was called to day, or remember it with &s;uch a terror, as &s;hall blow a dampe, and a con&s;ternation upon his &s;oule, and a lethargy wor&s;e then his former &s;leepe; but if he will wake now, and ri&s;e now, though this be late in his evening, in his age, yet God &s;hall call this early.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 26.9.</NOTE> Bee but able to &s;ay with <HI>E&s;ay</HI> this night, <HI>My &s;oule hath de&s;ired thee in the night,</HI> and thou mai&s;t be bold to &s;ay with <HI>David</HI> to morrow morning, <HI>Satura nos mane, Satisfie us early with thy mercy,</HI> and he &s;hall doe it.</P>
<P>But yet no prayer of ours, how&s;oever made in the be&s;t di&s;po&s;ition, in the be&s;t te&s;ti|mony of a rectified con&s;cience, mu&s;t limit God his time, or appoint him, in what mor|ning, or what houre in the morning, God &s;hall come to our deliverance. The Sonne of man was not the le&s;&s;e the Sonne of God, nor the le&s;&s;e a beloved Sonne, though God hid from him the knowledge of the day of the generall Judgement. Thou art not the le&s;&s;e the &s;ervant of God, nor the le&s;&s;e rewarded by him, though he keepe from thee the knowledge of thy deliverance from any particular calamity. All Gods deliverances are in the morning, becau&s;e there is a perpetuall night, and an invincible darkne&s;&s;e upon us, till he deliver us. God is the God of that Climate, where the night is &s;ix Moneths long, as well as of this, where it is but halfe &s;o many houres. The highe&s;t Hill hinders not the roundne&s;&s;e of the earth, the earth is round for all that hill; The lowe&s;t vaults, and mines hinder not the &s;olidne&s;&s;e of the earth, the earth is &s;olid for all that; Much le&s;&s;e hath a yeare, or ten yeares, or all our three&s;core and ten, any proportion at all to eternity; And therefore God comes early in a &s;ort to me, though I lo&s;e abundance of my reward by &s;o long lingring, if he come not till hee open me the gate of heaven, by the key of death. There are Indies at my right hand, in the Ea&s;t; but there are Indies at my left hand too, in the We&s;t. There are te&s;timonies of Gods love to us, in our Ea&s;t, in our beginnings; but if God continue tribulation upon us to our We&s;t, to our ends, and give us the light of his pre&s;ence then, if he appeare to us at our tran&s;migration, certainly he was favourable to us all our peregrination, and though he &s;hew him&s;elfe late, hee was our friend early. The Prayer is, that he would come early, but it is, if it be rightly formed, upon both the&s;e conditions; fir&s;t, that I ri&s;e early to meet him, and then that I magnifie his houre as early, when&s;oever he &s;hall be plea&s;ed to come.</P>
<P>All this I &s;hall doe the better,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> if I limit my prayer, and my practi&s;e, with the next cir|cum&s;tance in <HI>Davids</HI> prayer, <HI>Tu&acirc;, Satisfie us early with</HI> that which is thine, <HI>Thy mercy:</HI> For there are mercies, (in a faire extent and accommodation of the word, that is Refre|&s;hings, Ea&s;es, Deliverances) that are not his mercies, nor his &s;atisfactions. How many men are &s;atisfied with Riches (I correct my &s;elfe, few are &s;atisfied; but how many have enough to &s;atisfie many?) and yet have never a peny of his mony? Nothing is his, that comes not from him, that comes not by good meanes. How many are there, that are ea&s;ie to admit &s;cruples, and jealou&s;ies, and &s;u&s;pitions in matter of Religion: Ea&s;ie to think, that that Religion, and that Church, in which they have lived ill, cannot bee a good Religion, nor a true Church; In a troubled, and di&s;tempered con&s;cience, they grow ea&s;ie to admit &s;cruples, and then as over-ea&s;ie to admit fal&s;e &s;atisfactions, with a word whi&s;pered on one &s;ide in a Conventicle, or a word whi&s;pered on the other &s;ide in a Con|fe&s;&s;ion, and yet have never a dram of &s;atisfaction from his word, who&s;e word is preached upon the hou&s;e top, and avowed, and not in corners? How many men are angui&s;hed with torturing Di&s;ea&s;es, racked with the con&s;cience of ill-&s;pent e&s;tates, oppre&s;&s;ed with inordinate melancholies, and irreligious dejections of &s;pirit, and then repaire, and &s;atisfie them&s;elves with wine, with women, with fooles, with comedies, with mirth, and mu|&s;ique, and with all <HI>Iobs</HI> mi&s;erable comforters, and all this while have no beames of his
<PB N="811" REF="423">&s;atisfaction, it is not <HI>Mi&s;ericordia ejus,</HI> his mercy, his &s;atisfaction? In lo&s;&s;es of worldly goods, in &s;ickne&s;&s;es of children, or &s;ervants, or cattell, to receive light or ea&s;e from Witches, this is not his mercy. It is not his mercy, except we goe by good wayes to good ends; except our &s;afety be e&s;tabli&s;hed by allyance with his friends, except our peace may bee had with the perfect continuance of our Religion, there is no &s;afety, there is no peace. But let mee feele the effect of this Prayer, as it is a Prayer of ma|nife&s;tation, Let mee di&s;cerne that, that that is done upon mee, is done by the hand of God, and I care not what it be: I had rather have Gods Vinegar, then mans Oyle, Gods Wormewood, then mans Manna, Gods Ju&s;tice, then any mans Mercy; for, therefore did <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> call S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> in a holy &s;en&s;e, <HI>Ambidextrum,</HI> becau&s;e he tooke every thing that came, by the right handle, and with the right hand, becau&s;e he &s;aw it to come from God. Even afflictions are welcome, when we &s;ee them to be his: Though the way that he would chu&s;e, and the way that this Prayer intreats, be only mercy, <HI>Satisfie us early with thy mercy.</HI></P>
<P>That rod and that &s;taffe with which we are at any time corrected, is his.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mi&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">ricordia</HI> E&s;ay 10.5.</NOTE> So God cals the A&s;&s;yrians, <HI>The rod of his anger,</HI> and he &s;ayes, <HI>That the &s;taffe that is in their hand, is his Indignation.</HI> He comes to a &s;harper execution, from the rod, and the &s;taffe to the &s;word, and that al&s;o is his, <HI>It is my &s;word, that is put into the hands of the King of Babylon,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 30.24.</NOTE> <HI>and he &s;hall &s;tretch out my &s;word upon the whole land;</HI> God will beat downe, and cut off, and blow up, and blow out at his plea&s;ure; which is expre&s;&s;ed in a phra&s;e very remarkeable by <HI>David, He bringeth the winde out of his Trea&s;uries;</HI> And then follow in that place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 135.7.</NOTE> all the Plagues of Egypt: &s;tormes and tempe&s;ts, ruines and deva&s;tations, are not onely in Gods Armories, but they are in his Trea&s;uries; as hee is the Lord of Ho&s;ts, hee fetches his judgements from his Armories, and ca&s;ts confu&s;ion upon his enemies, but as he is the God of mercy, and of plentifull redemption, he fetches the&s;e judgements, the&s;e cor|rections out of his trea&s;uries, and they are the Money, the Jewels, by which he redeemes and buyes us againe; God does nothing, God can doe nothing, no not in the way of ruine and de&s;truction, but there is mercy in it; he cannot open a doore in his Armory, but a window into his Trea&s;ury opens too, and he mu&s;t looke into that.</P>
<P>But then Gods corrections are his Acts, as the Phy&s;itian is his Creature, God created him for nece&s;&s;ity. When God made man, his fir&s;t intention was not that man &s;hould fall, and &s;o need a Me&s;&s;ias, nor that man &s;hould fall &s;ick, and &s;o need a Phy&s;itian, nor that man &s;hould fall into rebellion by &s;in, and &s;o need his rod, his &s;taffe, his &s;courge of af|flictions, to whip him into the way againe. But yet &s;ayes the Wi&s;eman,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. 38.1.</NOTE> <HI>Honour the Phy|&s;itian for the u&s;e you may have of him; &s;light him not, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t no need of him yet.</HI> So though Gods corrections were not from a primary, but a &s;econdary intention, yet, when you &s;ee tho&s;e corrections fall upon another, give a good interpretation of them, and be|leeve Gods purpo&s;e to be not to de&s;troy, but to recover that man: Do not thou make Gods Rheubarbe thy Ratsbane, and poy&s;on thine owne &s;oule with an uncharitable mi&s;|interpretation of that correction, which God hath &s;ent to cure his. And then, in thine owne afflictions, flie evermore to this Prayer, <HI>Satisfie us with thy mercy;</HI> fir&s;t, Satisfie us, make it appeare to us that thine intention is mercy, though thou enwrap it in temporall afflictions, in this darke cloud let us di&s;cerne thy Son, and though in an act of di&s;plea&s;ure, &s;ee that thou art well plea&s;ed with us; Satisfie us, that there is mercy in thy judgements, and then &s;atisfie us, that thy mercy is mercy; for &s;uch is the &s;tupidity of &s;infull man, That as in temporall ble&s;&s;ings, we di&s;cerne them be&s;t by wanting them, &s;o do we the mercies of God too; we call it not a mercy, to have the &s;ame ble&s;&s;ings &s;till: but, as every man conceives a greater degree of joy, in recovering from a &s;ickne&s;&s;e, then in his former e&s;tabli&s;hed health; &s;o without doubt, our Ance&s;tors who indured many yeares Civill and forraine wars, were more affected with their fir&s;t peace, then we are with our continuall enjoying thereof, And our Fathers more thankfull, for the beginning of Reformation of Religion, then we for &s;o long enjoying the continuance thereof. <HI>Satisfie us with thy mer|cie,</HI> Let us &s;till be able to &s;ee mercy in thy judgements, le&s;t they deject us, and confound us; <HI>Satisfie us with thy mercie,</HI> let us be able to &s;ee, that our deliverance is a mercy, and not a naturall thing that might have hapned &s;o, or a nece&s;&s;ary thing that mu&s;t have hap|ned &s;o, though there had beene no God in Heaven, nor providence upon earth. But e&s;pe|cially &s;ince the way that thou choo&s;e&s;t, is to goe all by mercy, and not to be put to this way of correction, &s;o di&s;po&s;e, &s;o compo&s;e our minds, and &s;o tran&s;po&s;e all our affecti|ons,
<PB N="812" REF="424">that we may live upon thy food, and not put thee to thy phy&s;ick, that we may em|brace thee in the light, and not be put to &s;eeke thee in the darke, that wee come to thee in thy Mercy, and not be whipped to thee by thy Corrections. And &s;o we have done al&s;o with our &s;econd Part, The pieces and petitions that con&s;titute this Prayer, as it is a Prayer for Fulne&s;&s;e and Satisfaction, a Prayer of Extent and Dilatation, a Prayer of Di&s;patch and Expedition, and then a Prayer of Evidence and Declaration, and la&s;tly, a Prayer of Limitation even upon God him&s;elfe, <HI>Satisfie,</HI> and <HI>&s;atisfie us,</HI> and <HI>us early,</HI> with that which we may di&s;cerne to be <HI>thine,</HI> and let that way be <HI>mercy.</HI></P>
<P>There remaines yet a third Part,<NOTE PLACE="marg">3 Part. <HI>Gaudium.</HI></NOTE> what this Prayer produces, and it is joy, and continual joy, <HI>That we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes.</HI> The words are the Parts, and we invert not, we trouble not the Order; the Holy Gho&s;t hath laid them fitlie&s;t for our u&s;e, in the Text it &s;elfe, and &s;o we take them. Fir&s;t then, the gaine is joy. Joy is Gods owne Seale, and his keeper is the Holy Gho&s;t; wee have many &s;udden ejaculations in the forme of Prayer, &s;ometimes incon&s;iderately made, and they vani&s;h &s;o; but if I can reflect upon my prayer, ruminate, and returne againe with joy to the &s;ame prayer, I have Gods Seale upon it. And therefore it is not &s;o very an idle thing, as &s;ome have mi&s;-imagined it, to repeat often the &s;ame prayer in the &s;ame words; Our Saviour did &s;o; he prayed a third time, and in the &s;ame words; This reflecting upon a former prayer, is that that &s;ets to this Seale, this joy, and if I have joy in my prayer, it is granted &s;o far as concernes my good, and Gods glory. It hath beene di&s;puted by many, both of the Gentiles, with whom the Fathers di&s;puted, and of the Schoolemen, who di&s;pute with one another, <HI>An &s;it gaudi|um in Deo, de &s;emet,</HI> Whether God rejoyce in him&s;elfe, in contemplation of him&s;elfe, whether God be glad that he is God: But it is di&s;puted by them, onely to e&s;tabli&s;h it, and to illu&s;trate it, for I doe not remember that any one of them denyes it. It is true, that <HI>Plato</HI> di&s;likes, and ju&s;tly, that &s;alutation of <HI>Diony&s;ius</HI> the Tyran to God, <HI>Gaude, &amp; &s;ervato vitam Tyranni jucundam;</HI> that he &s;hould &s;ay to God, Live merrily, as merrily as a King, as merrily as I doe, and then you are God enough; to imagine &s;uch a joy in God, as is onely a tran&s;itory delight in deceivable things, is an impious conceit. But when, as another Platonique &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plotinus.</NOTE> <HI>Deus e&s;t quod ip&s;e &s;emper voluit,</HI> God is that which hee would be, If there be &s;omething that God would be, and he be that, If <HI>Plato</HI> &s;hould de|ny, that God joyed in him&s;elfe, we mu&s;t &s;ay of <HI>Plato</HI> as <HI>Lactantius</HI> does, <HI>Deum potius &s;omniaver at, qu&agrave;m cognoverat, Plato</HI> had rather dreamed that there was a God, then un|der&s;tood what that God was. <HI>Bonum &s;implex,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> To be &s;incere Good|ne&s;&s;e, Goodne&s;&s;e it &s;elfe, <HI>Ip&s;a e&s;t delectatio Dei,</HI> This is the joy that God hath in him&s;elfe, of him&s;elfe; And therefore &s;ayes <HI>Philo Iudaeus, Hoc nece&s;&s;arium Philo&s;ophiae &s;odalibus,</HI> This is the tenent of all Philo&s;ophers, (And by that title of Philo&s;ophers, <HI>Philo</HI> alwaies meanes them that know and &s;tudy God) <HI>Solum Deum ver&egrave; fe&s;tum agere,</HI> That only God can be truly &s;aid to keepe holy day, and to rejoyce.</P>
<P>This joy we &s;hall &s;ee, when we &s;ee him, who is &s;o in it, as that he is this joy it &s;elfe. But here in this world, &s;o far as I can enter into my Ma&s;ters &s;ight, I can enter into my Ma&s;ters joy. I can &s;ee God in his Creatures, in his Church, in his Word and Sacraments, and Ordinances; Since I am not without this &s;ight, I am not without this joy. Here a man may <HI>Tran&s;ilire mortalitatem,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca.</NOTE> &s;ayes that Divine Morall man; I cannot put off morta|lity, but I can looke upon immortality; I cannot depart from this earth, but I can looke into Heaven. So I cannot po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e that finall and accompli&s;hed joy here, but as my body can lay downe a burden or a heavy garment, and joy in that ea&s;e, &s;o my &s;oule can put off my body &s;o far, as that the concupi&s;cencies thereof, and the manifold and mi&s;erable en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter"> cumbrances of this world, cannot extingui&s;h this holy joy. And this inchoative joy, <HI>David</HI> derives into two branches, <HI>To rejoyce,</HI> and <HI>to be glad.</HI></P>
<P>The Holy Gho&s;t is an eloquent Author,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Exultatio.</NOTE> a vehement, and an abundant Author, but yet not luxuriant; he is far from a penurious, but as far from a &s;uperfluous &s;tyle too. And therefore we doe not take the&s;e two words in the Text, <HI>To rejoyce,</HI> and <HI>to be glad,</HI> to &s;ig|nifie meerely one and the &s;ame thing, but to be two beames, two branches, two effects, two expre&s;&s;ings of this joy. We take them therefore, as they offer them&s;elves in their roots, and fir&s;t naturall propriety of the words. The fir&s;t, which we tran&s;late <HI>To rejoyce,</HI> is <HI>Ranan;</HI> and <HI>Ranan</HI> denotes the externall declaration of internall joy; for the word &s;igni|fies <HI>Cantare,</HI> To &s;ing, and that with an extended and loud voyce, for it is the word, which is oftne&s;t u&s;ed for the mu&s;ique of the Church, and the &s;inging of P&s;almes; which was
<PB N="813" REF="424">&s;uch a declaration of their zealous alacrity in the primitive Church, as that, when to a|voyd di&s;covery in the times of per&s;ecution, they were forced to make their meetings in the night, they were al&s;o forced to put out their Candles, becau&s;e by that light in the windowes they were di&s;covered; After that this meeting in the darke occa&s;ioned a &s;candall and ill report upon tho&s;e Chri&s;tians, that their meetings were not upon &s;o holy purpo&s;es, as they pretended, they di&s;continued their vigils, and night-meetings, yet their &s;inging of P&s;almes, when they did meet, they never di&s;continued, though that, many times, expo&s;ed them to dangers, and to death it &s;elfe, as &s;ome of the Authors of the &s;e|cular &s;tory of the Romans have ob&s;erved and te&s;tified unto us. And &s;ome ancient De|crees and Con&s;titutions we have, in which &s;uch are forbidden to be made Prie&s;ts, as were not perfect in the P&s;almes. And though S. <HI>Hierome</HI> tell us this, with &s;ome admi|ration, and note of &s;ingularity, That <HI>Paula</HI> could &s;ay the whole book of P&s;almes without booke, in Hebrew; yet he pre&s;ents it as a thing well known to be their ordinary practi&s;e; <HI>In villula Chri&s;ti Bethlem, extrap&s;almos &s;ilentium e&s;t,</HI> In the village where I dwell, &s;ayes he, where Chri&s;t was borne, in Bethlem, if you cannot &s;ing P&s;almes, you mu&s;t be &s;ilent, here you &s;hall heare nothing but P&s;almes; for, (as he pur&s;ues it) <HI>Arator &s;tivam tenens,</HI> The husbandman that follows the plough, he that &s;owes, that reapes, that carries home, all begin and proceed in all their labours with &s;inging of P&s;almes. Therefore he calls them there, <HI>Cantiones amatorias,</HI> Tho&s;e that make or entertaine love, that &s;eeke in the holy and honorable way of marriage, to make them&s;elves acceptable and agreeable to one another, by no other good parts, nor conver&s;ation, but by &s;inging of P&s;almes. So he calls them, <HI>Pa&s;torum &s;ibilum,</HI> and <HI>Arma culturae,</HI> Our &s;hepheards, &s;ayes S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> here, have no other Eclogues, no other Pa&s;toralls; Our labourers, our children, our &s;ervants no other &s;ongs, nor Ballads, to recreate them&s;elves withall, then the P&s;almes.</P>
<P>And this univer&s;all u&s;e of the P&s;almes, that they &s;erved all for all, gives occa&s;ion to one Author, in the title of the Booke of P&s;almes, to depart from the ordinary reading, which is, <HI>Sepher Tehillim,</HI> The booke of Prai&s;e, and to reade it, <HI>Sepher Telim,</HI> which is <HI>Acervorum,</HI> The booke of Heapes, where all a&s;&s;i&s;tances to our &s;alvation are heaped and trea&s;ured up. And our Countryman <HI>Bede</HI> found another Title, in &s;ome Copies of this booke, <HI>Liber Soliloquiorum de Chri&s;to,</HI> The Booke of Meditations upon Chri&s;t; Be|cau&s;e this booke is (as <HI>Gregory Ny&s;&s;en</HI> calls it) <HI>Clavis David,</HI> that key of <HI>David,</HI> which lets us in to all the my&s;teries of our Religion; which gave the ground to that which S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;ayes, that if all the other Books of Scripture could be lo&s;t, he would aske no more then the Booke of P&s;almes, to catechize children, to edifie Congregations, to convert Gentils, and to convince Heretiques.</P>
<P>But we are launched into too large a Sea, the con&s;ideration of this Booke of P&s;almes. I meane but this, in this, That if we take that way with God, The way of prayer, prayer &s;o elemented and con&s;tituted, as we have &s;aid, that con&s;i&s;ts rather of prai&s;e and thanke&s;|giving, then &s;upplication for future benefits, God &s;hall infu&s;e into us, a zeale of expre&s;|&s;ing our con&s;olation in him, by outward actions, to the e&s;tabli&s;hing of others; we &s;hall not di&s;avow, nor grow &s;lacke in our Religion, nor in any parts thereof; God &s;hall nei|ther take from us, The Candle and the Candle&s;tick, The truth of the Go&s;pel, which is the light, And the cheerfull, and authorized, and countenanced, and rewarded Preaching of the Go&s;pel, which is the Candle&s;tick that exalts the light; nor take from us our zeale to this outward &s;ervice of God, that we come to an indifferency, whether the &s;ervice of God be private or publique, &s;ordid or glorious, allowed and &s;uffered, by way of conni|vency, or commanded and enjoyned by way of authority. God &s;hall give us this <HI>Ranan,</HI> this rejoycing, this extern all joy, we &s;hall have the publique preaching of the Go&s;pel con|tinued to us, and we &s;hall &s;hew that we rejoyce in it, by frequenting it, and by in&s;tituting our lives according unto it.</P>
<P>But yet this <HI>Ranan,</HI> this <HI>Rejoycing,</HI> this outward expre&s;&s;ing of our inward zeale,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Delectabi|mur.</NOTE> may admit interruptions, receive interceptions, intermi&s;&s;ions, and di&s;continuances; for, with|out doubt, in many places there live many per&s;ons, well affected to the truth of Religion, that dare not avow it, expre&s;&s;e it, declare it, e&s;pecially where that fearfull Vulture, the In|qui&s;ition, hovers over them. And therefore the Holy Gho&s;t hath added here another de|gree of joy, which no law, no &s;evere execution of law, can take from us, in another word of le&s;&s;e extent, <HI>Shamach,</HI> which is an inward joy, onely in the heart, which we tran&s;late here, to be <HI>Glad.</HI> How far we are bound to proceed in outward declarations of Religi|on,
<PB N="814" REF="425">requires a &s;erious and various con&s;ideration of Circum&s;tances.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 6.10.</NOTE> You know how far <HI>Daniel</HI> proceeded; The Lords had extorted a Proclamation from the King, That no man &s;hould pray to any other God, then the King, for certaine dayes; <HI>Daniel</HI> would not one|ly not be bound by this Proclamation, and &s;o continue his &s;et and &s;tationary houres of private prayer in his chamber, but he would declare it to all the world; He would &s;et o|pen his chamber windows, that he might be &s;een to pray; for, though &s;ome determine that act of <HI>Daniel,</HI> in &s;etting open his windows at prayer, in this, That becau&s;e the Jewes were bound by their law, where&s;oever they were, in war, in captivity, upon the way, or in their &s;ick beds, to turne towards Jeru&s;alem, and &s;o towards the Temple, when&s;oever they prayed, according to that &s;tipulation, which had pa&s;&s;ed between God and <HI>Solomon,</HI> at the Dedication of the Temple, When thy &s;ervants pray towards this hou&s;e, heare them in it; Therefore as <HI>Hezekias,</HI> in his &s;icke bed, when he turned towards the wall to pray, is ju&s;tly thought, to have done &s;o, therefore that he might pray towards the Temple, which &s;tood that way; &s;o <HI>Daniel</HI> is thought to have opened his windows to that purpo&s;e too, that he might have the more free pro&s;pect towards Jeru&s;alem from Babylon; though &s;ome, I &s;ay, determine <HI>Daniels</HI> act in that, yet it is by more, and more u&s;efully extended, to an expre&s;&s;ing of &s;uch a zeale, as, in &s;o apparant a di&s;honor to his God, could not be &s;uffocated nor extingui&s;hed with a Proclamation.</P>
<P>In which act of his, which was a direct and evident oppo&s;ing and affronting of the State, though I dare not joyne with them, who ab&s;olutely and peremptorily condemne this act of <HI>Daniel,</HI> becau&s;e Gods &s;ub&s;equent act in a miraculous deliverance of <HI>Daniel</HI> &s;eems to imply &s;ome former particular revelation from God to <HI>Daniel,</HI> that he &s;hould proceed in that confident manner, yet dare I much le&s;&s;e draw this act of <HI>Daniels</HI> into con|&s;equence, and propo&s;e it for an Example and precedent to private men, lea&s;t of all, to a|nimate &s;editious men, who upon pretence of a nece&s;&s;ity, that God mu&s;t be &s;erved in this, and this, and no other manner, provoke and exa&s;perate the Magi&s;trate with their &s;chi&s;|maticall conventicles and &s;eparations. But how&s;oever that may &s;tand, and how&s;oever there may be Circum&s;tances which may prevaile either upon humane infirmity, or upon a rectified Con&s;cience, or how&s;oever God in his Judgements, may ca&s;t a cloud upon his own Sunne, and darken the glory of the Go&s;pel, in &s;ome place, for &s;ome time, yet, though we lo&s;e our <HI>Ranan,</HI> our publique Rejoycing, we &s;hall never lo&s;e our <HI>Shamach,</HI> our inward gladne&s;&s;e, that God is our God, and we his &s;ervants for all this. God will never leave his &s;ervants without this internall joy, which &s;hall pre&s;erve them from &s;u&s;picions of Gods power, that he cannot maintaine, or not re&s;tore his cau&s;e, and from jealou&s;ies, that he hath abandoned or de&s;erted them in particular. God &s;hall never give them over to an indifferency, nor to a &s;tupidity, nor to an ab&s;ence of tenderne&s;&s;e, and holy affections, that it &s;hall become all one to them, how Gods cau&s;e pro&s;pers, or &s;uffers. But if I con|tinue that way, prayer, and prayer &s;o qualified, if I lo&s;e my <HI>Ranan,</HI> my outward declara|tions of Rejoycing; If I be tyed to a death-bed in a Con&s;umption, and cannot rejoyce in comming to the&s;e publique Congregations, to participate of their prayers, and to im|part to them my Meditations; If I be ruined in my fortune, and cannot rejoyce in an o|pen di&s;tribution to the reliefe of the poore, and a preaching to others, in that way, by ex|ample of doing good works; If at my la&s;t minute, I be not able to edifie my friends, nor Catechize my children, with any thing that I can doe or &s;ay; if I be not able &s;o much, as with hand or eye to make a &s;igne, though I have lo&s;t my <HI>Ranan,</HI> all the Eloquence of out|ward declaration, yet God &s;hall never take from me, my <HI>Shamach,</HI> my internall gladne&s;&s;e and con&s;olation, in his undeceivable and undeceiving Spirit, that he is mine, and I am his; And this joy, this gladne&s;&s;e, in my way, and in my end, &s;hall e&s;tabli&s;h me; for that is that which is intended in the next, and la&s;t word, <HI>Omnibus diebus,</HI> we &s;hall <HI>Rejoyce and be Glad all our dayes.</HI></P>
<P>Nothing but this te&s;timony,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnibus diebus.</NOTE> <HI>That the Spirit beares witne&s;&s;e with my &s;pirit,</HI> that upon my prayer, &s;o conditioned, of prai&s;e, and prayer, I &s;hall &s;till prevaile with God, could im|print in me, this <HI>joy, all my dayes.</HI> The &s;eales of his favour, in outward ble&s;&s;ings, fayle me in the dayes of &s;hipwracke, in the dayes of fire, in the dayes of di&s;placing my potent friends, or ray&s;ing mine adver&s;aries; In &s;uch dayes I cannot rejoyce, and be glad. The &s;eales of his favour, in inward ble&s;&s;ings, and holy cheerfulne&s;&s;e, fayle me in a pre&s;ent remor&s;e after a &s;inne newly committed. But yet in the &s;trength of a Chri&s;tian hope, as I can pronounce out of the grounds of Nature, in an Eclip&s;e of the Sunne, that
<PB N="815" REF="425">the Sunne &s;hall returne to his &s;plendor againe, I can pronounce out of the grounds of Gods Word, (and Gods Word is much better a&s;&s;urance, then the grounds of Nature, for God can and does &s;hake the grounds of Nature by Miracles, but no Jod of his Word &s;hall ever peri&s;h) that I &s;hall returne againe on my hearty penitence, if I delay it not, and rejoyce and be glad all my dayes, that is, what kinde of day &s;oever overtake me. In the dayes of our youth, when the joyes of this world take up all the roome, there &s;hall be roome for this holy Joy, that my recreations were harmele&s;&s;e, and my conver&s;ation in|nocent; and certainly to be able to &s;ay, that in my recreations, in my conver&s;ation, I nei|ther mini&s;tred occa&s;ion of tentation to another, nor expo&s;ed my &s;elfe to tentations from another, is a faire beame of this rejoycing in the dayes of my youth. In the dayes of our Age, when we become incapable, in&s;en&s;ible of the joyes of this world, yet this holy joy &s;hall &s;ea&s;on us, not with a &s;infull delight in the memory of our former &s;innes, but with a re-juveni&s;cence, a new and a fre&s;h youth, in being come &s;o neere to another, to an im|mortall life. In the dayes of our mirth, and of laughter, this holy joy &s;hall enter; And as the Sunne may &s;ay to the &s;tarres at Noone, How frivoulous and impertinent a thing is your light now? So this joy &s;hall &s;ay <HI>unto laughter, Thou art mad, and unto mirth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>what do&s;t thou?</HI> And in the mid-night of &s;adne&s;&s;e, and dejection of &s;pirit, this joy &s;hall &s;hine out, and chide away that &s;adne&s;&s;e, with <HI>Davids</HI> holy charme, <HI>My &s;oule, why art thou ca&s;t downe, why art thou di&s;quieted within me?</HI> In tho&s;e dayes, which <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peaks of,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iob 30.27.</NOTE> <HI>Praevene|runt me dies afflictionis meae, Mi&s;eries are come upon me before their time;</HI> My intemperan|ces have ha&s;tned age, my riotou&s;ne&s;&s;e hath ha&s;tned poverty, my neglecting of due of|ficiou&s;ne&s;&s;e and re&s;pect towards great per&s;ons hath ha&s;tned contempt upon me, Af|flictions which I &s;u&s;pected not, thought not of, have prevented my feares; and then in tho&s;e dayes, which <HI>Iob</HI> &s;peaks of againe, <HI>Po&s;sident me dies afflictionis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 16.</NOTE> Studied and pre|meditated plots and practi&s;es &s;wallowe mee, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e me intirely, In all the&s;e dayes, I &s;hall not onely have a <HI>Zoar</HI> to flie to, if I can get out of <HI>Sodom,</HI> joy, if I can overcome my &s;orrow; There &s;hall not be a <HI>Go&s;hen</HI> bordering upon my <HI>Egypt,</HI> joy, if I can pa&s;&s;e beyond, or be&s;ides my &s;orrow, but I &s;hall have a <HI>Go&s;hen</HI> in my <HI>Egypt,</HI> nay my very <HI>Egypt</HI> &s;hall be my <HI>Go&s;hen,</HI> I &s;hall not onely have joy, though I have &s;orrow, but therefore; my very &s;orrow &s;hall be the occa&s;ion of joy; I &s;hall not onely have a Sabbath after my &s;ix dayes labor, but <HI>Omnibus diebus,</HI> a Sabbath &s;hall enlighten every day, and inanimate every mi|nute of every day: And as my &s;oule is as well in my foot, as in my hand, though all the waight and oppre&s;&s;ion lie upon the foot, and all action upon the hand, &s;o the&s;e beames of joy &s;hall appeare as well in my pillar of cloud, as in theirs of fire; in my adver&s;ity, as well as in their pro&s;perity; And when their Sun &s;hall &s;et at Noone, mine &s;hall ri&s;e at mid|night; they &s;hall have damps in their glory, and I joyfull exaltions in my dejections.</P>
<P>And to end with the end of all, <HI>In die mortis,</HI> In the day of my death, and that which is beyond the end of all, and without end in it &s;elfe, The day of Judgement, If I have the te&s;timony of a rectified con&s;cience, that I have accu&s;tomed my &s;elfe to that acce&s;&s;e to God, by prayer, and &s;uch prayer, as though it have had a body of &s;upplication, and de|&s;ire of future things, yet the &s;oule and &s;pirit of that prayer, that is, my principall inten|tion in that prayer, hath been prai&s;e and thank&s;giving, If I be involved in S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;toms</HI> Patent, <HI>Orantes, non natura, &s;ed di&s;pen&s;atione Angeli fiunt,</HI> That tho&s;e who pray &s;o, that is, pray by way of prai&s;e, (which is the mo&s;t proper office of Angels) as they &s;hall be better then Angels in the next world, (for they &s;hall be glorifying &s;pirits, as the Angels are, but they &s;hall al&s;o be glorified bodies, which the Angels &s;hall never bee) &s;o in this world they they &s;hall be as Angels, becau&s;e they are employed in the office of Angels, to pray by way of prai&s;e, If, as S. <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> reads tho&s;e words of that P&s;alme, not <HI>&s;piritus meus,</HI> but <HI>re&s;piratio mea laudet Dominum,</HI> Not onely my &s;pirit, but my very breath, not my heart onely, but my tongue, and my hands bee accu&s;tomed to glorifie God, <HI>In die mortis,</HI> in the day of my death, when a mi&s;t of &s;orrow, and of &s;ighes &s;hall fill my cham|ber, and a cloude exhaled and conden&s;ed from teares, &s;hall bee the curtaines of my bed, when tho&s;e that love me, &s;hall be &s;orry to &s;ee mee die, and the devill him&s;elfe that hates me, &s;orry to &s;ee me die &s;o, in the favour of God; And <HI>In die Iudicii,</HI> In the day of Judge|ment, when as all Time &s;hall cea&s;e, &s;o all mea&s;ures &s;hall cea&s;e; The joy, and the &s;orrow that &s;hall be then, &s;hall be eternall, no end, and infinite, no mea&s;ure, no limitation, when every circum&s;tance of &s;inne &s;hall aggravate the condemnation of the unrepentant &s;inner, and the very &s;ub&s;tance of my &s;inne &s;hall bee wa&s;hed away, in the blood of my Saviour,
<PB N="816" REF="426">when I &s;hall &s;ee them, who &s;inned for my &s;ake, peri&s;h eternally, becau&s;e they proceeded in that &s;inne, and I my &s;elfe, who occa&s;ioned their &s;in received into glory, becau&s;e God upon my prayer, and repentance had &s;atisfied me early with his mercy, early, that is, be|fore my tran&s;migration, <HI>In omnibus diebus,</HI> In all the&s;e dayes, the dayes of youth, and the wantonne&s;&s;es of that, the dayes of age, and the ta&s;tle&s;ne&s;&s;e of that, the dayes of mirth, and the &s;portfulne&s;&s;e of that, and of inordinate melancholy, and the di&s;con&s;olatene&s;&s;e of that, the days of &s;uch mi&s;eries, as a&s;toni&s;h us with their &s;uddenne&s;&s;e, and of &s;uch as ag|gravate their owne waight with a heavy expectation; In the day of Death, which pie|ces up that circle, and in that day which enters another circle that hath no pieces, but is one equall everla&s;tingne&s;&s;e, the day of Judgement, Either I &s;hall rejoyce, be able to de|clare my faith, and zeale to the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of others, or at lea&s;t be glad in mine owne heart, in a firme hope of mine owne &s;alvation.</P>
<P>And therefore, beloved, as they, whom lighter affections carry to Shewes, and Masks, and Comedies; As you your &s;elves, whom better di&s;po&s;itions bring to the&s;e Exerci&s;es, conceive &s;ome contentment, and &s;ome kinde of Joy, in that you are well and commodi|ou&s;ly placed, they to &s;ee the Shew, you to heare the Sermon, when the time comes, though your greater Joy bee re&s;erved to the comming of that time; So though the ful|ne&s;&s;e of Joy be re&s;erved to the la&s;t times in heaven, yet rejoyce and be glad that you are well and commodiou&s;ly placed in the meane time, and that you &s;it but in expectation of the fulne&s;&s;e of tho&s;e future Joyes: Returne to God, with a joyfull thankfulne&s;&s;e that he hath placed you in a Church, which withholds nothing from you, that is nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, whereas in another Church they lack a great part of the Word, and halfe the Sacrament; And which obtrudes nothing to you, that is not nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation, whereas in another Church, the Additionall things exceed the Fundamentall; the Oc|ca&s;ionall, the Originall; the Collaterall, the Direct; And the Traditions of men, the Commandements of God. Maintaine and hold up this holy alacrity, this religious cheerfulne&s;&s;e; For inordinate &s;adne&s;&s;e is a great degree and evidence of unthankfulne&s;&s;e, and the departing from Joy in this world, is a departing with one piece of our Evidence, for the Joyes of the world to come.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="80" TYPE="sermon">
<HEAD><HI>SERM. LXXX.</HI> Preached at the funerals of Sir <HI>William Cokayne</HI> Knight, Al|derman of <HI>London,</HI> December <HI>12. 1626.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>JOH. 11.21.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Lord, if thou had&s;t been here, my brother had not died.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_GOd made the fir&s;t Marriage, and man made the fir&s;t Divorce; God married the Body and Soule in the Creation, and man divorced the Body and Soule by death through &s;inne, in his fall. God doth not admit, not ju&s;tifie, not authorize &s;uch Super-inductions upon &s;uch Divorces, as &s;ome have imagi|ned; That the &s;oule departing from one body, &s;hould become the &s;oule of another body, in a perpetuall revolution and tran&s;migration of &s;oules through bodies, which hath been the giddine&s;&s;e of &s;ome Philo&s;ophers to think; Or that the body of the dead &s;hould become the body of an evill &s;pirit, that that &s;pirit might at his will, and to his purpo&s;es informe, and inanimate that dead body; God allowes no &s;uch Super-indu|ctions, no &s;uch &s;econd Marriages upon &s;uch divorces by death, no &s;uch di&s;po&s;ition of &s;oule or body, after their di&s;&s;olution by death. But becau&s;e God hath made the band of Marriage indi&s;&s;oluble but by death, farther then man can die, this divorce cannot fall upon man; As farre as man is immortall, man is a married man &s;till, &s;till in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a &s;oule, and a body too; And man is for ever immortall in both; Immortall in his &s;oule
<PB N="817" REF="426">by Pre&s;ervation, and immortall in his body by Reparation in the Re&s;urrection. For, though they be &s;eparated <HI>&agrave; Thoro &amp; Men&s;a,</HI> from Bed and Board, they are not divorced; Though the &s;oule be at the <HI>Table of the Lambe,</HI> in Glory, and the body but at the table of <HI>the Serpent, in du&s;t;</HI> Though the &s;oule be <HI>in lecto florido,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 1.16.</NOTE> in that bed which is alwayes green, in an everla&s;ting &s;pring, in <HI>Abrahams Bo&s;ome;</HI> And the body but in that green-bed, who&s;e covering is but a yard and a halfe of Turfe, and a Rugge of gra&s;&s;e, and the &s;heet but a winding &s;heet, yet they are not divorced; they &s;hall returne to one another againe, in an in&s;eparable re-union in the Re&s;urrection. To e&s;tabli&s;h this a&s;&s;urance of a Re&s;urrection in us, God does &s;ometimes in this life, that which he hath promi&s;ed for the next; that is, he gives a Re&s;urrection to life, after a bodily death here. God hath made two Te&s;taments, two Wills; And in both, he hath declared his Power, and his Will, to give this new life after death, in this world. To the Widows &s;onne of <HI>Zarephtha,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1. King. 17.</NOTE> he bequeaths new life; and to the Shunamites &s;onne, he gives the &s;ame legacy,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 4.</NOTE> in the Old Te&s;tament. In the New Te&s;tament, to the widow of <HI>Naims</HI> &s;onne,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 7.8.</NOTE> he bequeaths new life; And to <HI>Iairus</HI> daughter he gives the &s;ame legacy: And out of the &s;urplu&s;age of his inexhau&s;tible e&s;tate, out of the overflowing of his Power, he enables his Executors to doe as he did; for <HI>Peter</HI> gives <HI>Dorcas</HI> this Re&s;urrection too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.40.</NOTE> Divers examples hath he given us, of the Re&s;urrection of every particular man, in particular Re&s;urrections; &s;uch as we have named; And one of the generall Re&s;urrection, in the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; for, in him, we all ro&s;e; for, he was All in All; <HI>Con-vivificavit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.5.</NOTE> &s;ayes the A|po&s;tle; and <HI>Con&s;idere nos fecit, God hath quickned us,</HI> (all us; not onely S. <HI>Paul,</HI> and his Ephe&s;ians, but all) and <HI>God hath rai&s;ed us,</HI> and <HI>God hath made us to &s;it together in heavenly places, in Chri&s;t Ie&s;us.</HI> They that are not faln yet by any actuall &s;inne, (children newly baptized) are ri&s;en already in him; And they that are not dead yet, nay, not alive yet, not yet borne, have a Re&s;urrection in him, who was not onely the Lambe <HI>&s;laine</HI> from the beginning, but from before all beginnings was <HI>ri&s;en</HI> too; and all that &s;hall ever have part in the &s;econd Re&s;urrection, are ri&s;en with him from that time. Now, next to that great Propheticall action, that type of the generall Re&s;urrection, in the Re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, the mo&s;t illu&s;trious Evidence, of the Re&s;urrection of particular men, is this Re&s;u&s;citation of <HI>Lazarus;</HI> who&s;e &s;i&s;ter <HI>Martha,</HI> directed by faith, and yet tran&s;ported by pa&s;&s;ion, &s;eeks to entender and mollifie, and &s;upple him to impre&s;&s;ions of mercy and compa&s;&s;ion, who was him&s;elfe the Mold, in which all mercy was ca&s;t, nay, the &s;ub&s;tance, of which all mercy does con&s;i&s;t, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, with this imperfect piece of Devotion, which hath a tincture of Faith, but is deeper dyed in Pa&s;&s;ion, <HI>Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not dyed.</HI></P>
<P>This Text which you Heare, <HI>Martha's</HI> &s;ingle words,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;io.</NOTE> complicated with this Text which you See, The dead body of this our Brother, makes up between them this body of In&s;truction for the &s;oule; fir&s;t, That there is nothing in this world perfect; And then, That &s;uch as it is, there is nothing con&s;tant, nothing permanent. We con&s;ider the fir&s;t, That there is nothing perfect, in the be&s;t things, in &s;pirituall things; Even <HI>Martha's</HI> de|votion and faith hath imperfections in it; And we con&s;ider the other, That nothing is permanent in temporall things; Riches pro&s;perou&s;ly multiplied, Children honorably be&s;towed, Additions of Honor and Titles, fairly acquired, Places of Command and Government, ju&s;tly received, and duly executed; All te&s;timonies, all evidences of world|ly happine&s;&s;e, have a Di&s;&s;olution, a Determination in the death of this, and of every &s;uch Man: There is nothing, no &s;pirituall thing, perfect in this world; Nothing, no tempo|rall thing, permanent and durable; And the&s;e two Con&s;iderations &s;hall be our two parts; And then, the&s;e the branches from the&s;e two roots; Fir&s;t, in the fir&s;t, we &s;hall &s;ee in ge|nerall, The weakne&s;&s;e of Mans be&s;t actions; And &s;econdly, more particularly, The weakne&s;&s;es in <HI>Martha's</HI> Action; And yet, in a third place, the ea&s;ine&s;&s;e, the propen&s;ne&s;&s;e, the largene&s;&s;e of Gods goodne&s;&s;e towards us, in the acceptation of our imperfect Sacri|fices; for, Chri&s;t does not refu&s;e, nor di&s;courage <HI>Martha,</HI> though her action have the&s;e imperfections; And in this largene&s;&s;e of his Mercy, which is the end of all, we &s;hall end this part. And in our &s;econd, That as in &s;pirituall things nothing is perfect, &s;o in tempo|porall things nothing is permanent, we &s;hall, by the &s;ame three &s;teps, as in the former, looke fir&s;t upon the generall con&s;ideration, the fluidne&s;&s;e, the tran&s;itorine&s;&s;e of all &s;uch temporall things; And then, con&s;ider it more particularly, in Gods Ma&s;ter-piece, among&s;t mortall things, the body of man, That even that flowes into putrefaction; And then la&s;t|ly,
<PB N="818" REF="427">returne to that, in which we determined the former part, The largene&s;&s;e of Gods goodne&s;&s;e to us, in affording even to mans body, &s;o di&s;&s;olved into putrefaction, an incor|ruptible and a glorious &s;tate. So have you the frame &s;et up, and the roomes divided; The two parts, and the three branches of each; And to the furni&s;hing of them, with me|ditations fit for this Occa&s;ion, we pa&s;&s;e now.</P>
<P>In entring upon the fir&s;t branch of our fir&s;t part,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1. Part.</HI> In &s;piritua|libus, nihil perfectum. Scientia.</NOTE> That in &s;pirituall things nothing is perfect, we may well afford a kinde of &s;pirituall nature to knowledge; And how im|perfect is all our knowledge? What one thing doe we know perfectly? Whether wee con&s;ider Arts, or Sciences, the &s;ervant knows but according to the proportion of his Ma|&s;ters knowledge in that Art, and the Scholar knows but according to the proportion of his Ma&s;ters knowledge in that Science; Young men mend not their &s;ight by u&s;ing old mens Spectacles; and yet we looke upon Nature, but with <HI>Ari&s;totles</HI> Spectacles, and upon the body of man, but with <HI>Galens,</HI> and upon the frame of the world, but with <HI>Pto|lomies</HI> Spectacles. Almo&s;t all knowledge is rather like a child that is embalmed to make Mummy, then that is nur&s;ed to make a Man; rather con&s;erved in the &s;tature of the fir&s;t age, then growne to be greater; And if there be any addition to knowledge, it is rather a new knowledge, then a greater knowledge; rather a &s;ingularity in a de&s;ire of propo|&s;ing &s;omething that was not knowne at all before, then an emproving, an advancing, a multiplying of former inceptions; and by that meanes, no knowledge comes to be per|fect. One Philo&s;opher thinks he is dived to the bottome, when he &s;ayes, he knows no|thing but this, That he knows nothing; and yet another thinks, that he hath expre&s;&s;ed more knowledge then he, in &s;aying, That he knows not &s;o much as that, That he knows nothing. S. <HI>Paul</HI> found that to be all knowledge, To know Chri&s;t; And Mahomet thinks him&s;elfe wi&s;e therefore, becau&s;e he knows not, acknowledges not Chri&s;t, as S. <HI>Paul</HI> does. Though a man knew not, that every &s;in ca&s;ts another &s;hovell of Brim&s;tone upon him in Hell, yet if he knew that every riotous fea&s;t cuts off a year, and every wanton night &s;ea|ven years of his &s;eventy in this world, it were &s;ome degree towards perfection in know|ledge. He that purcha&s;es a Mannor, will thinke to have an exact Survey of the Land: But who thinks of taking &s;o exact a &s;urvey of his Con&s;cience, how that money was got, that purcha&s;ed that Mannor? We call that a mans meanes, which he hath; But that is truly his meanes, what way he came by it. And yet how few are there, (when a &s;tate comes to any great proportion) that know that; that know what they have, what they are worth? We have &s;een great Wills, dilated into glorious u&s;es, and into pious u&s;es, and then too narrow an e&s;tate to reach to it; And we have &s;een Wills, where the Te&s;ta|tor thinks he hath bequeathed all, and he hath not knowne halfe his own worth. When thou knowe&s;t a wife, a &s;onne, a &s;ervant, a friend no better, but that that wife betrayes thy bed, and that &s;onne thine e&s;tate, and that &s;ervant thy credit, and that friend thy &s;ecret, what can&s;t thou &s;ay thou knowe&s;t? But we mu&s;t not in&s;i&s;t upon this Con&s;ideration of knowledge; for, though knowledge be of a &s;pirituall nature, yet it is but as a terre&s;triall Spirit, conver&s;ant upon Earth; Spirituall things, of a more rarified nature then know|ledge, even faith it &s;elfe, and all that grows from that in us, falls within this Rule, which we have in hand, That even in &s;pirituall things, nothing is perfect.</P>
<P>We con&s;ider this therefore <HI>in Credendis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fides.</NOTE> In things that we are bound to Beleeve, there works our faith; And then, <HI>in Petendis,</HI> In things that we are bound to pray for, there works our hope; And la&s;tly, <HI>in Agendis,</HI> In things that we are bound to doe, and there works our charity; And there is nothing in any of the&s;e three perfect. When you re|member who they were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 17.5.</NOTE> that made that prayer, <HI>Domine adauge,</HI> That the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves prayed, that their faith might receive an encrea&s;e, <HI>Lord increa&s;e our faith,</HI> you mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily &s;econd that con&s;ideration with a confe&s;&s;ion, That no mans faith is per|fect. When you heare Chri&s;t &s;o often upbraid, &s;ometimes whole Congregations, with that,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 6.30.</NOTE> <HI>Modicae fidei, O yee of little faith;</HI> And &s;ometimes his Di&s;ciples alone, with the &s;ame reproach,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 8.26.</NOTE> <HI>Modicae fidei, O yee of little faith;</HI> when you may be perplexed with the variety of opinions among&s;t the ancient Interpreters, whether Chri&s;t &s;poke but to the incredulous Jewes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17.17.</NOTE> or to his own Di&s;ciples, when he &s;aid, <HI>O faithle&s;&s;e and perver&s;e gene|ration, how long &s;hall I be with you? how long &s;hall I &s;uffer you?</HI> (for many Interpreters goe one way, and many the other) And when you may be cleared without any colour of perplexity, that to whom &s;oever Chri&s;t &s;poke in that place, he &s;poke plainly to his owne Di&s;ciples,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. 20.</NOTE> when he &s;aid, <HI>Becau&s;e of your unbeliefe you cannot doe this;</HI> In which Di&s;ciples
<PB N="819" REF="427">of his, he denies al&s;o, that there is &s;uch a proportion of faith, as a graine of Mu&s;tard|&s;eed, can ye place a perfectne&s;&s;e of faith in any? When the Apo&s;tle takes knowledge of the good e&s;tate and condition of the The&s;&s;alonians, and gave God thanks for their <HI>Workes of faith,</HI> for <HI>their labours of love,</HI> for their <HI>patience of hope, in our Lord Ie&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 1.2.3.10.</NOTE> does he conclude them to be perfect? No; for after this he &s;ayes, <HI>Night and day we pray exceedingly, that we may perfect that which is lacking in your faith.</HI> And after this, he &s;ees the fruit of tho&s;e prayers, <HI>We are bound to thanke God alwayes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 1.3.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e your faith groweth exceedingly;</HI> &s;till, at the be&s;t, it is but a growing faith, and it may be better. There are men that are &s;aid to be <HI>Rich in faith;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iames 2.5.</NOTE> men that are come from the <HI>weake and beggarly elements of Nature, or of the Law,</HI> to the knowledge of the precious and glorious <HI>Go&s;pell,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Galat. 4.9.</NOTE> and &s;o are <HI>Rich in faith,</HI> enriched, emproved by faith.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 8.7.</NOTE> There are men that <HI>Abound in faith;</HI> that is, in compari&s;on of the emptine&s;&s;e of other men, or of their owne emptine&s;&s;e before they embraced the Go&s;pell, they abound now; But &s;till it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>As God hath given the mea&s;ure of faith to every man;</HI> Not as of his Manna, a certaine mea&s;ure, and an equall mea&s;ure, and a full mea&s;ure to every man; no man hath &s;uch a mea&s;ure of faith, as that he needs no more, or that he may not lo&s;e at lea&s;t &s;ome of that. When Chri&s;t &s;peakes &s;o doubtfully, <HI>When the Son of man commeth, &s;hall he finde faith upon earth?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 18.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> Any faith in any man? If the Holy Gho&s;t be come into this pre&s;ence, into this Congregation, does he find faith in any? A perfect faith he does not.</P>
<P>Deceive not your &s;elves then, with that new charme and flattery of the &s;oule, That if once you can &s;ay to your &s;elves you have faith, you need no more, or that you &s;hall alwaies keepe that alive; The Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>All boa&s;ting,</HI> that is, all confidence,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 3.27.</NOTE> <HI>is exclu|ded; By what Law?</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>by the Law of faith,</HI> Not by faith, but by the Law of faith; There is a Law of faith; a rule that ordinates, and regulates our faith; by which law and rule, the Apo&s;tle cals upon us, To examine our &s;elves whether we be in the faith, or no;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 13.5.</NOTE> not onely by the internall motions, and private in&s;pirations of his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, but by the Law and the Rule, which he hath delivered to us in the Go&s;pell. The Kings pardon flowes from his meere grace, and from his bre&s;t; but we mu&s;t have the writing and the Seale, that we may plead it: So does faith from God; But we mu&s;t &s;ee it our &s;elves, and &s;hew it to others, or el&s;e we doe not ob&s;erve the Law of faith.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 4.11.</NOTE> <HI>Abraham received the Seale of the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of faith,</HI> &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle; Hee had an outward te&s;timony to proceed by; And then, <HI>Abraham</HI> became an outward te&s;timony and Rule to the faith|full, <HI>Walke in the &s;teps of the faith of Abraham,</HI> &s;ayes that Apo&s;tle in that place;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 12.</NOTE> Not a faith conceived onely, but a faith which you &s;aw, The faith of <HI>Abraham;</HI> for, &s;o the A|po&s;tle propo&s;ing to us the example of other men &s;ayes, <HI>Their faith follow you,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13.7.</NOTE> Not faith in generall, but their faith. So that it is not enough to &s;ay, I feele the in&s;piration of the Spirit of God, He infu&s;es faith, and faith infu&s;ed cannot be withdrawne; but, as there is a Law of faith, and a practi&s;e of faith, a Rule of faith, and an example of faith, apply thy &s;elfe to both, Regulate thy faith by the Rule, that is, the Word, and by Example, that is, Beleeve tho&s;e things which the Saints of God have con&s;tantly and unanimely beleeved to be nece&s;&s;ary to &s;alvation: The Word is the Law, and the Rule, The Church is the Practi&s;e, and the Precedent that regulates thy faith; And if thou make imaginary reve|lations, and in&s;pirations thy Law, or the practi&s;e of Sectaries thy Precedent, thou doe&s;t but call Fancie and Imagination, by the name of Rea&s;on and Under&s;tanding, and Opi|nion by the name of Faith, and Singularity, and Schi&s;me, by the name of Communion of Saints. The Law of thy faith is, That that that thou beleeve&s;t, be Univer&s;all, Catho|lique, beleeved by all; And then, that the Application be particular, To beleeve, that as Chri&s;t dyed &s;ufficiently for all, &s;o he dyed effectually for thee. And of this effectuall dying for thee, there ari&s;es an evidence from thy &s;elfe, in thy conformity to him; Thy conformity con&s;i&s;ts in this, That thou art willing to live according to his Go&s;pell, and ready to dye for him, that dyed for thee. For, till a man have re&s;i&s;ted unto blood, he cannot know experimentally what degrees towards perfection his faith hath: And though he may conceive in him&s;elfe a holy purpo&s;e to dye for Chri&s;t, yet till he have dyed for Chri&s;t, or dyed in Chri&s;t, that is, as long as we are in this valley of tentations, there is nothing, no not in &s;pirituall things, not in faith it &s;elfe, perfect.</P>
<P>It is not <HI>In credendis,</HI> in our embracing the object of faith; we doe not that perfectly;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Spes.</NOTE> It is not <HI>In petendis,</HI> in our directing our prayers faithfully neither; we doe not that; our faith is not perfect, nor our hope is not perfect; for, &s;o argues the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Ye aske,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Iames 4.3.</NOTE> <HI>and
<PB N="820" REF="428">receive not, becau&s;e ye aske ami&s;&s;e;</HI> you cannot hope con&s;tantly, becau&s;e you doe not pray aright: And to make a Prayer a right Prayer, there go &s;o many e&s;&s;entiall circum&s;tances, as that the be&s;t man may ju&s;tly &s;u&s;pect his be&s;t Prayer: for, &s;ince Prayer mu&s;t bee of faith, Prayer can be but &s;o perfect, as the faith is perfect; and the imperfections of the be&s;t faith we have &s;eene. Chri&s;t hath given us but a &s;hort Prayer; and yet we are weary of that. Some of the old Heretiques of the Primitive Church abridged that Prayer, and &s;ome of our later Schi&s;matiques have annihilated, evacuated that Prayer: The Cathari then, left out that one Petition, <HI>Dimitte nobis, Forgive us our tre&s;pa&s;&s;es,</HI> for they thought them&s;elves &s;o pure, as that they needed no forgivene&s;&s;e, and our new men leave out the whole Prayer, becau&s;e the &s;ame Spirit that &s;pake in Chri&s;t, &s;peakes in their extemporall prayers, and they can pray, as well as Chri&s;t could teach them. And (to leave tho&s;e, whom we are bound to leave, tho&s;e old Heretiques, tho&s;e new Schi&s;matiques) which of us ever, ever &s;ayes over that &s;hort Prayer, with a deliberate under&s;tanding of every Petition as we pa&s;&s;e, or without deviations, and extravagancies of our thoughts, in that halfe-minute of our Devotion? We have not lea&s;ure to &s;peake of the abu&s;e of prayer in the Roman Church; where they wil antidate and po&s;tdate their prayers; Say to morrows prayers to day, and to dayes prayers to morrow, if they have other u&s;es and employ|ments of the due time betweene; where they will trade, and make merchandi&s;e of pray|ers by way of exchange, My man &s;hall fa&s;t for me, and I will pray for my man; or my Atturney, and Proxy &s;hall pray for us both, at my charge; nay, where they will play for prayers, and the lo&s;er mu&s;t pray for both; To this there belongs but a holy &s;corne, and I would faine pa&s;&s;e it over quickly. But when we con&s;ider with a religious &s;eriou&s;ne&s;&s;e the manifold weakne&s;&s;es of the &s;tronge&s;t devotions in time of Prayer, it is a &s;ad con|&s;ideration. I throw my &s;elfe downe in my Chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noi&s;e of a Flie, for the ratling of a Coach, for the whining of a doore; I talke on, in the &s;ame po&s;ture of praying; Eyes lifted up; knees bowed downe; as though I prayed to God; and, if God, or his Angels &s;hould aske me, when I thought la&s;t of God in that prayer, I cannot tell: Sometimes I finde that I had forgot what I was about, but when I began to forget it, I cannot tell. A memory of ye&s;terdays plea&s;ures, a feare of to morrows dangers, a &s;traw under my knee, a noi&s;e in mine eare, a light in mine eye, an any thing, a nothing, a fancy, a Chimera in my braine, troubles me in my prayer. So certainely is there nothing, nothing in &s;pirituall things, perfect in this world.</P>
<P>Not <HI>In credendis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Charitas.</NOTE> In things that belong to Faith; not <HI>In petendis,</HI> In things that belong to Hope; nor <HI>In agendis,</HI> In things that belong to Action, to Workes, to Charity, there is nothing perfect there neither. I would be loath to &s;ay, That every good work is a &s;in; That were to &s;ay, That every deformed, or di&s;ordered man were a bea&s;t, or that every corrupt meat were poy&s;on; It is not utterly &s;o; not &s;o altogether; But it is &s;o much to|wards it, as that there is no worke of ours &s;o good, as that wee can looke for thanks at Gods hand for that worke; no worke, that hath not &s;o much ill mingled with it, as that wee need not cry God mercy for that worke. There was &s;o much corruption in the get|ting, or &s;o much vaine glory in the be&s;towing, as that no man builds an Ho&s;pitall, but his &s;oule lies, though not dead, yet lame in that Ho&s;pitall; no man mends a high-way, but he is, though not drowned, yet mired in that way; no man relieves the poore, but he needs reliefe for that reliefe. In all tho&s;e workes of Charity, the world that hath benefit by them, is bound to confe&s;&s;e and acknowledge a goodne&s;&s;e, and to call them good workes; but the man that does them, and knows the weakne&s;&s;es of them, knows they are not good works. It is po&s;&s;ible to Art, to purge a peccant humour out of a &s;ick bodie; but not po&s;&s;ible to rai&s;e a dead bodie to life. God, out of my Confe&s;&s;ion of the impuritie of my be&s;t actions, &s;hall vouch&s;afe to take off his eyes from that impurity, as though there were none; but no &s;pirituall thing in us, not Faith, not Hope, not Charitie, have any puri|tie, any perfection in them&s;elves; which is the generall Doctrine wee propo&s;ed at fir&s;t; And our next Con&s;ideration is, how this weakene&s;&s;e appeares in the Action, and in the Words of <HI>Martha</HI> in our Text, <HI>Lord, if thou had&s;t beene here, my brother had not dyed.</HI></P>
<P>Now le&s;t we &s;hould attribute this weakene&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marthae fides</NOTE> onely to weake per&s;ons, upon whom we had a prejudice, to <HI>Martha</HI> alone, we note to you fir&s;t, that her &s;i&s;ter <HI>Mary,</HI> to whom in the whole Story very much is a&s;cribed, when &s;he comes to Chri&s;t, comes al&s;o in the &s;ame voice of infirmity,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver. 32.</NOTE> <HI>Lord, if thou had&s;t beene here, my brother had not died.</HI> No per&s;on
<PB N="821" REF="428">&s;o perfect, that hath not of the&s;e imperfections; Both the&s;e holy Si&s;ters, how&s;oever there might be differences of degrees in their holine&s;&s;e, have imperfections in all three, in the con&s;ideration of their Faith, and their Hone, and their Charity; though in all three they had al&s;o, and had both, good degrees towards perfection. Looke fir&s;t upon their Faith; they both &s;ay, <HI>Lord, if thou had&s;t beene here, our brother had not died.</HI> We cannot &s;ay &s;o to any Con&s;ultation, to any Colledge of Phy&s;itians; not to a <HI>Chiron,</HI> to an <HI>E&s;cula|pius,</HI> to a God of Phy&s;icke, could any man &s;ay, If you had beene here, my friend had not died? though &s;urely there be much a&s;&s;i&s;tance to be received from them, whom God hath endowed with knowledge to that purpo&s;e. And yet there was a weakene&s;&s;e in the&s;e Si&s;ters, in that they &s;aid but &s;o, and no more to Chri&s;t. They thought Chri&s;t to be the be&s;t among&s;t good men; but yet they were not come to the knowledge that he was God. <HI>Martha</HI> &s;aies, <HI>I know, that even now, what&s;oever thou aske&s;t of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 22.</NOTE> <HI>God will give it thee;</HI> but &s;he does not know him to be God him&s;elfe. I doe not here in&s;titute a confuta|tion, but here, and every where I lament the growth, and in&s;inuation of that pe&s;tilent Here&s;ie of Sociniani&s;me; That Chri&s;t was a holy, a thrice-holy man, an unreproach|able, an irreprehen&s;ible, an admirable, an incomparable man; A man, to whom, he that &s;hould equall any other man, were wor&s;e then a Devill; A man worthy to bee called God, in a farre higher &s;en&s;e then any Magi&s;trate, any King, any Prophet; But yet hee was no God, &s;ay they, no Son of God; A Redemer, by way of good example; but no Redeemer, by way of equivalent &s;atisfaction, &s;ay tho&s;e Heretiques. S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ayes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.12.</NOTE> <HI>He is an Athei&s;t, that is without Chri&s;t;</HI> And he is as much an Athei&s;t &s;till, that pretends to re|ceive Chri&s;t, and not as God; For if the receiving of Chri&s;t mu&s;t redeeme him from be|ing an Athei&s;t, there can no other way be imagined, but by receiving him as God, for that onely, and no other good opinion of Chri&s;t, overcomes, and removes his Athei&s;me. After the la&s;t day, what&s;oever is not Heaven, is Hell; Hee that then &s;hall be where the Sunne is now, (if he be not then in heaven) &s;hall be as farre from heaven, as if hee were where the Center of the earth is now; Hee that confe&s;&s;es not all Chri&s;t, confe&s;&s;es no Chri&s;t. <HI>Horribile dictu, dicam tamen,</HI> &s;ayes S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in another ca&s;e; There be|longs a holy trembing to the &s;aying of it, yet I mu&s;t &s;ay it, <HI>If Chri&s;t were not God, hee was a devill that dur&s;t &s;ay he was God.</HI> This then was one weakne&s;&s;e in the&s;e Si&s;ters faith, that it carried them not up to the con&s;ideration of Chri&s;t as God; And then another ro&s;e out of that, That they in&s;i&s;ted &s;o much, relied &s;o much, upon his corporall, and per&s;o|nall pre&s;ence, and promi&s;ed them&s;elves more from that, then hee had ever given them ground for; which was that which Chri&s;t diverted <HI>Mary</HI> from, when after his Re&s;ur|rection manife&s;ting him&s;elfe to her, and &s;hee flying unto him with that impatient zeale, and that impetuous devotion, <HI>Rabboni, Ma&s;ter, My Ma&s;ter,</HI> Chri&s;t &s;aid to her,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ioh. 20.16.</NOTE> <HI>Touch mee not, for I am not a&s;cended to my Father;</HI> that is, Dwell not upon this pa&s;&s;ionate con&s;ide|ration of my bodily, and per&s;onall pre&s;ence, but &s;end thy thoughts, and thy reverence, and thy devotion, and thy holy amorou&s;ne&s;&s;e up, whither I am going, to the right hand of my Father, and con&s;ider me, contemplate mee there. S. <HI>Peter</HI> had another holy di|&s;temper of another kinde, upon the per&s;onall pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t; He was &s;o a&s;toni&s;hed at his pre&s;ence in the power of a Miracle, that he fell downe at his feet, and &s;aid,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 5.8.</NOTE> <HI>Depart from me, for I am a &s;infull man, O Lord.</HI> The&s;e Si&s;ters longed for him, and S. <HI>Peter</HI> longed as much to be delivered of him; both out of weakne&s;&s;e and error. So is it an error, and a weakne&s;&s;e to attribute too much, or too little to Chri&s;ts pre&s;ence in his Sacraments, or other Ordinances. To impri&s;on Chri&s;t in <HI>Opere operato,</HI> to conclude him &s;o, as that where that action is done, Chri&s;t mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily bee, and nece&s;&s;arily work, this is to &s;ay weakly with the&s;e Si&s;ters, <HI>Lord, if thou had&s;t beene here, our brother had not died.</HI> As long as we are pre&s;ent at thine Ordinance, thou art pre&s;ent with us. But to bani&s;h Chri&s;t from tho&s;e holy actions, and to &s;ay, That he is no otherwi&s;e pre&s;ent, or works no otherwi&s;e in tho&s;e actions, then in other times, and places, this is to &s;ay with <HI>Peter,</HI> in his a&s;toni&s;hment, <HI>Exi &agrave; me Domine, O Lord depart from me;</HI> It is enough that thy Sacrament be a &s;igne; I do not look that it &s;hould be a Seal, or a Conduit of Grace; This is the danger this is the di|&s;temper, to a&s;cribe too much, or too little to Gods vi&s;ible Ordinances, and In&s;titutions, either to &s;ay with tho&s;e holy Si&s;ters, <HI>Lord, if thou had&s;t been here, our brother had not died,</HI> If we have a Sacrament, if we have a Sermon all is well, we have enough; or el&s;e with <HI>Peter, Exi &agrave; me,</HI> Leave me to my &s;elfe, to my private motions, to my bo&s;ome in&s;pirati|ons, and I need no Church-work, no Sermons, no Sacraments, no &s;uch a&s;&s;i&s;tances.</P>
<PB N="822" REF="429">
<P>So there was weakne&s;&s;e in their Faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marthae &s;pes.</NOTE> there was &s;o too in their Hope, in their confi|dence in Chri&s;t, and in their manner of expre&s;&s;ing it. For, they did not goe to him, when their brother was &s;ick,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 3.1. Mat. 8.5. Mark 5.25, 33.</NOTE> but &s;ent. <HI>Nicodemus</HI> came in per&s;on for his &s;ick &s;oule; And the <HI>Centurion</HI> in per&s;on, for his &s;ick &s;ervant; And <HI>Iairus</HI> in per&s;on, for his &s;ick daughter; And the woman with the bloody I&s;&s;ue in per&s;on, for her &s;ick-&s;elfe. The&s;e &s;i&s;ters did but &s;end, but piou&s;ly, and reverendly; Their Me&s;&s;enger was to &s;ay to Chri&s;t, not <HI>Lazarus,</HI> not <HI>Our Brother,</HI> but <HI>He whom thou love&s;t, is &s;ick;</HI> And they left this intimation to work upon Chri&s;t; But that was not enough, we mu&s;t bring Chri&s;t and our nece&s;&s;ities neerer toge|ther then &s;o. There is good in&s;truction in the &s;everall expre&s;&s;ings of Chri&s;ts curings of <HI>Peters</HI> mother in the Euangeli&s;ts.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 1.29.</NOTE> S. <HI>Marke</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>They told him of her;</HI> And S. <HI>Luke</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>They brought him up to her;</HI> And S. <HI>Matthew</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>He &s;aw her, and tooke her by the hand.</HI> I mu&s;t not wrap up all my nece&s;&s;ities in generall termes in my prayers, but de|&s;cend to particulars; For this places my devotion upon particular con&s;iderations of God, to con&s;ider him in every Attribute, what God hath done for me in Power, what in Wi&s;edome, what in Mercy; which is a great a&s;&s;i&s;tance, and e&s;tabli&s;hing, and propaga|tion of devotion. As it is a degree of unthankfulne&s;&s;e, to thank God too generally, and not to delight to in&s;i&s;t upon the waight, and mea&s;ure, and proportion, and the goodne&s;&s;e of every particular mercy: &s;o is it an irreverent, and incon&s;iderate thing, not to take my particular wants into my thoughts, and into my prayers, that &s;o I may take a holy know|ledge, that I have nothing, nothing but from God, and by prayer. And as God is an acce&s;&s;ible God, as he is his owne <HI>Ma&s;ter of Reque&s;ts,</HI> and is ever open to receive thy Pe|tions, in how &s;mall a matter &s;oever: &s;o is he an inexhau&s;tible God, he can give infinitely, and an indefatigable God, he cannot be pre&s;&s;ed too much. Therefore hath Chri&s;t given us a Parable of getting <HI>Bread at midnight</HI> by <HI>Importunity,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 11.5.18.7.</NOTE> and not otherwi&s;e; And ano|ther of a <HI>Iudge</HI> that heard the widows cau&s;e by <HI>Importunity,</HI> and not otherwi&s;e; And, not a Parable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 15.21.</NOTE> but a Hi&s;tory, and a Hi&s;tory of his own, of a woman of <HI>Canaan,</HI> that overcame him in the behalfe of her daughter, by <HI>Importunity;</HI> when, but by importunity, &s;he could not get &s;o much as an an&s;wer, as a deniall at his hands. Pray per&s;onally, rely not upon dead nor living Saints; Thy Mother the Church prayes for thee, but pray for thy &s;elfe too; Shee can open her bo&s;ome, and put the brea&s;t to thy mouth, but thou mu&s;t draw, and &s;uck for thy &s;elfe. Pray per&s;onally, and pray frequently; <HI>David</HI> had may &s;tationary times of the day, and night too, to pray in. Pray frequently, and pray fervently; God took it not ill, at <HI>Davids</HI> hands, to be <HI>awaked,</HI> and to be called up, as though hee were a&s;leepe at our prayers, and to be called upon, <HI>to pull his hand out of his bo&s;ome,</HI> as though he were &s;lack in relieving our nece&s;&s;ities. This was a weakne&s;&s;e in tho&s;e Si&s;ters, that they &s;olicited not Chri&s;t in per&s;on; &s;till get as neare God as you can; And that they declared not their ca&s;e particularly; It is not enough to pray, nor to confe&s;&s;e in generall termes; And, that they pur&s;ued not their prayer earne&s;tly, thorowly; It is not enough to have prayed once; Chri&s;t does not onely excu&s;e, but enjoine Importunity.</P>
<P>And then a weakne&s;&s;e there was in their Charity too,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Marthae cha|ritas.</NOTE> even towards their dead brother. To lament a dead friend is naturall, and civill; and he is the deader of the two, the verier carca&s;&s;e, that does not &s;o. But inordinate lamentation implies a &s;u&s;pition of a wor&s;e &s;tate in him that is gone; And if I doe beleeve him to be in heaven, deliberately, advi&s;edly to wi&s;h him here, that is in heaven, is an uncharitable de&s;ire. For, for me to &s;ay, He is pre|ferred by being where he is, but I were better, if he were againe where I am, were &s;uch an indi&s;pofition, as if the Princes &s;ervant &s;hould be loath to &s;ee his Ma&s;ter King, becau&s;e he &s;hould not hold the &s;ame place with him, being King, as he did when he was Prince. Not to hope well of him that is gone, is uncharitablene&s;&s;e; and at the &s;ame time, when I beleeve him to be better, to wi&s;h him wor&s;e, is uncharitablene&s;&s;e too. And &s;uch weak|ne&s;&s;es were in tho&s;e holy and devout Si&s;ters of <HI>Lazarus;</HI> which e&s;tabli&s;hes our Con|clu&s;ion, There is nothing in this world, no not in &s;pirituall things, not in knowledge, not in faith, not in hope, not in charity perfect. But yet, for all the&s;e imperfections, Chri&s;t doth not refu&s;e, nor chide, but cheri&s;h their piety, which is al&s;o another circum&s;tance in that Part.</P>
<P>There is no forme of Building &s;tronger then an Arch, and yet an Arch hath declina|tions, which even a flat-roofe hath not;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Non rejicit Chri&s;tus.</NOTE> The flat-roofe lies equall in all parts; the Arch declines downwards in all parts, and yet the Arch is a firme &s;upporter. Our Devotions doe not the le&s;&s;e beare us upright, in the &s;ight of God, becau&s;e they have &s;ome declina|tions
<PB N="823" REF="429">towards natural affections: God doth ea&s;ilier pardon &s;ome neglectings of his grace, when it proceeds out of a tenderne&s;&s;e, or may be excu&s;ed out of good nature, then any pre&s;uming upon his grace. If a man doe depart in &s;ome actions, from an exact obe|dience of Gods will, upon infirmity, or humane affections, and not a contempt, God pa&s;&s;es it over often times. For, when our Saviour Chri&s;t &s;ayes, <HI>Be pure as your Father in heaven is pure,</HI> that is a rule for our purity, but not a mea&s;ure of our purity; It is that we &s;hould be pure &s;o, not that we &s;hould be &s;o pure as our Father in heaven. When we con|&s;ider that weakne&s;&s;e, that went through the Apo&s;tles, even to Chri&s;ts A&s;cen&s;ion, that they looked for a temporall Kingdome, and for preferment in that; when we con&s;ider that weakne&s;&s;e in the chiefe of them, S. <HI>Peter,</HI> at the <HI>Transfiguration,</HI> when,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mar. 9.6.</NOTE> as the Text &s;ayes, <HI>He knew not what to &s;ay;</HI> when we con&s;ider the weakne&s;&s;e of his action, that for feare of death, he renounced the Lord of Life, and denied his Ma&s;ter; when in this very &s;tory, when Chri&s;t &s;aid that <HI>Lazarus</HI> was <HI>a&s;leepe,</HI> and that <HI>he would goe to awake him,</HI> they could under&s;tand it &s;o impertinently, as that Chri&s;t &s;hould goe &s;uch a journey, to come to the waking of a man, a&s;leep at that time when he &s;poke; All the&s;e infirmities of theirs, multiply this con&s;olation upon us, That though God look upon the In&s;cription, he looks upon the metall too, Though he look that his Image &s;hould be pre&s;erved in us, he looks in what earthen ve&s;&s;els this Image is put, and put by his own hand; and though he hate us in our rebellions, yet he pities us in our grievances; though he would have us better, he for&s;akes us not for every degree of illne&s;&s;e. There are three great dangers in this con|&s;ideration of perfectne&s;&s;e, and purity; Fir&s;t to di&s;tru&s;t of Gods mercy, if thou finde not this purity in thy &s;elfe, and this perfectne&s;&s;e; And then to pre&s;ume upon God, nay upon thine own right, in an overvaluing of thine own purity, and perfectne&s;&s;e; And againe, to condemne others, whom thou wilt needs thinke le&s;&s;e pure, or perfect then thy &s;elfe. Again&s;t this diffidence in God, to thinke our &s;elves &s;o de&s;perately impure, as that God will not look upon us; And this pre&s;umption in God, to thinke our &s;elves &s;o pure, as that God is bound to look upon us; And this uncharitablene&s;&s;e towards others, to think none pure at all, that are not pure our way; Chri&s;t armes us by his Example, He receives the&s;e &s;i&s;ters of <HI>Lazarus,</HI> and accompli&s;hes as much as they de&s;ired, though there were weakne&s;&s;es in their Faith, in their Hope, in their Charity, expre&s;&s;ed in that unperfect &s;peech, <HI>Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not dyed:</HI> for, there is nothing, not in &s;pirituall things perfect. This we have &s;een out of the Text we have Heard; And now out of the Text, which we See, we &s;hall &s;ee the re&s;t, That as in &s;pirituall things, there is nothing Perfect, &s;o in temporall, there is nothing Permanent.</P>
<P>I need not call in new Philo&s;ophy, that denies a &s;ettledne&s;&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Part.</NOTE> an acquie&s;cence in the very body of the Earth, but makes the Earth to move in that place, where we thought the Sunne had moved; I need not that helpe, that the Earth it &s;elfe is in Motion, to prove this, That nothing upon Earth is permanent; The A&s;&s;ertion will &s;tand of it &s;elfe, till &s;ome man a&s;&s;igne me &s;ome in&s;tance, &s;omething that a man may relie upon, and find per|manent. Con&s;ider the greate&s;t Bodies upon Earth, The Monarchies; Objects, which one would thinke, De&s;tiny might &s;tand and &s;tare at, but not &s;hake; Con&s;ider the &s;malle&s;t bodies upon Earth, The haires of our head, Objects, which one would thinke, De&s;tiny would not ob&s;erve, or could not di&s;cerne; And yet, De&s;tiny, (to &s;peak to a naturall man) And God, (to &s;peake to a Chri&s;tian) is no more troubled to make a Monarchy ruinous, then to make a haire gray. Nay, nothing needs be done to either, by God, or De&s;tiny; A Monarchy will ruine, as a haire will grow gray, of it &s;elfe. In the Elements them|&s;elves, of which all &s;ub-elementary things are compo&s;ed, there is no acquie&s;cence, but a vici&s;&s;itudinary tran&s;mutation into one another; Ayre conden&s;ed becomes water, a more &s;olid body, And Ayre rarified becomes fire, a body more di&s;putable, and in-apparant. It is &s;o in the Conditions of men too; A Merchant conden&s;ed, kneaded and packed up in a great e&s;tate, becomes a Lord; And a Merchant rarified, blown up by a perfidious Fa|ctor, or by a riotous Sonne, evaporates into ayre, into nothing, and is not &s;een. And if there were any thing permanent and durable in this world, yet we got nothing by it, be|cau&s;e how&s;oever that might la&s;t in it &s;elfe, yet we could not la&s;t to enjoy it; If our goods were not among&s;t Moveables, yet we our &s;elves are; if they could &s;tay with us, yet we cannot &s;tay with them; which is another Con&s;ideration in this part.</P>
<P>The world is a great Volume, and man the Index of that Booke;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Corpus ho|minis.</NOTE> Even in the body of man, you may turne to the whole world; This body is an Illu&s;tration of all Nature;
<PB N="824" REF="430">Gods recapitulation of all that he had &s;aid before, in his <HI>Fiat lux,</HI> and <HI>Fiat firmamentum,</HI> and in all the re&s;t, &s;aid or done, in all the &s;ix dayes. Propo&s;e this body to thy con&s;idera|tion in the highe&s;t exaltation thereof; as it is the <HI>Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t:</HI> Nay, not in a Metaphor, or compari&s;on of a Temple, or any other &s;imilitudinary thing, but as it was really and truly the very body of God, in the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, and yet this body mu&s;t wither, mu&s;t decay, mu&s;t langui&s;h, mu&s;t peri&s;h. When <HI>Goliah</HI> had armed and fortified this body, And <HI>Iezabel</HI> had painted and perfumed this body, And <HI>Dives</HI> had pampered and larded this body, As God &s;aid to <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> when he brought him to the <HI>dry bones, Fili hominis, Sonne of Man, doe&s;t thou thinke the&s;e bones can live?</HI> They &s;aid in their hearts to all the world, Can the&s;e bodies die? And they are dead. <HI>Iezabels</HI> du&s;t is not Ambar, nor <HI>Goliahs</HI> du&s;t <HI>Terra &s;igillata,</HI> Medicinall; nor does the Serpent, who&s;e meat they are both, finde any better relli&s;h in <HI>Dives</HI> du&s;t, then in <HI>Lazarus.</HI> But as in our former part, where our foundation was, That in nothing, no &s;pirituall thing, there was any perfect|ne&s;&s;e, which we illu&s;trated in the weakne&s;&s;es of Knowledge, and Faith, and Hope, and Charity, yet we concluded, that for all tho&s;e defects, God accepted tho&s;e their religious &s;ervices; So in this part, where our foundation is, That nothing in temporall things is permanent, as we have illu&s;trated that, by the decay of that which is Gods noble&s;t piece in Nature, The body of man; &s;o we &s;hall al&s;o conclude that, with this goodne&s;&s;e of God, that for all this di&s;&s;olution, and putrefaction, he affords this Body a Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>The Gentils,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Re&s;urrectio.</NOTE> and their Poets, de&s;cribe the &s;ad &s;tate of Death &s;o, <HI>Nox una obeunda,</HI> That it is one everla&s;ting Night; To them, a Night; But to a Chri&s;tian, it is <HI>Dies Mortis,</HI> and <HI>Dies Re&s;urrectionis,</HI> The day of Death, and The day of Re&s;urrection; We die in the light, in the &s;ight of Gods pre&s;ence, and we ri&s;e in the light, in the &s;ight of his very E&s;|&s;ence. Nay, Gods corrections, and judgements upon us in this life, are &s;till expre&s;&s;ed &s;o, <HI>Dies vi&s;itationis,</HI> &s;till it is a Day, though a <HI>Day of vi&s;itation;</HI> and &s;till we may di&s;cerne God to be in the action.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 2.</NOTE> The <HI>Lord of Life</HI> was the fir&s;t that named <HI>Death; Morte mo|rieris,</HI> &s;ayes God, Thou &s;halt die the Death. I doe the le&s;&s;e feare, or abhorre Death, be|cau&s;e I finde it in his mouth; Even a malediction hath a &s;weetne&s;&s;e in his mouth; for there is a ble&s;&s;ing wrapped up in it; a mercy in every correction, a Re&s;urrection upon e|very Death. When <HI>Iezabels</HI> beauty, exalted to that height which it had by art, or higher then that, to that height which it had in her own opinion, &s;hall be infinitely multiplied upon every Body; And as God &s;hall know no man from his own Sonne, &s;o as not to &s;ee the very righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of his own Sonne upon that man; So the Angels &s;hall know no man from Chri&s;t, &s;o as not to de&s;ire to looke upon that mans face, becau&s;e the mo&s;t deformed wretch that is there, &s;hall have the very beauty of Chri&s;t him&s;elfe; So &s;hall <HI>Goliahs</HI> armour, and <HI>Dives</HI> fulne&s;&s;e, be doubled, and redoubled upon us, And every thing that we can call good, &s;hall fir&s;t be infinitely exalted in the goodne&s;&s;e, and then infinitely multiplied in the proportion, and againe infinitely extended in the duration. And &s;ince we are in an action of preparing this dead Brother of ours to that &s;tate, (for the Funerall is the Ea&s;ter-eve, The Buriall is the depo&s;iting of that man for the Re&s;urrection) As we have held you, with Doctrine of Mortification, by extending the Text, from <HI>Martha</HI> to this occa&s;ion; &s;o &s;hall we di&s;mi&s;&s;e you with Con&s;olation, by a like occa&s;ionall inverting the Text, from pa&s;&s;ion in <HI>Martha's</HI> mouth, <HI>Lord, if thou hadst been here, my Brother had not dyed,</HI> to joy in ours, <HI>Lord, becau&s;e thou wa&s;t here, our Brother is not dead.</HI></P>
<P>The Lord was with him in all the&s;e &s;teps;<NOTE PLACE="marg">In vita.</NOTE> with him in his life; with him in his death; He is with him in his funerals, and he &s;hall be with him in his Re&s;urrection; and there|fore, becau&s;e the Lord was with him, our Brother is not dead. He was with him in the beginning of his life, in this manife&s;tation, That though he were of Parents of a good, of a great E&s;tate, yet his po&s;&s;ibility and his expectation from them, did not &s;lacken his own indu&s;try; which is a Canker that eats into, nay that hath eat up many a family in this City, that relying wholly upon what the Father hath done, the Sonne does nothing for him&s;elfe. And truly, it falls out too often, that he that labours not for more, does not keepe his own. God imprinted in him an indu&s;trious di&s;po&s;ition, though &s;uch hopes from &s;uch parents might have excu&s;ed &s;ome &s;lackne&s;&s;e, and God pro&s;pered his indu&s;try &s;o, as that when his Fathers e&s;tate came to a di&s;tribution by death, he needed it not. God was with him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 81.11.</NOTE> as with <HI>David</HI> in a Dilatation, and then in a Repletion; God enlarged him, and then he filled him; He gave him a large and a comprehen&s;ive under&s;tanding, and with it, A publique heart; And &s;uch as perchance in his way of education, and in our
<PB N="825" REF="430">narrow and contracted-times, in which every man determines him&s;elfe in him&s;elfe, and &s;carce looks farther, it would be hard to finde many Examples of &s;uch largene&s;&s;e. You have, I thinke, a phra&s;e of Driving a Trade; And you have, I know, a practi&s;e of Driving away Trade, by other u&s;e of money; And you have lo&s;t a man, that drove a great Trade, the right way in making the be&s;t u&s;e of our home-commodity. To fetch in Wine, and Spice, and Silke, is but a drawing of Trade; The right driving of trade, is, to vent our owne outward; And yet, for the drawing in of that, which might ju&s;tly &s;eeme mo&s;t be|hoofefull, that is, of Arts, and Manufactures, to be imployed upon our owne Commo|dity within the Kingdome, he did his part, diligently, at lea&s;t, if not vehemently, if not pa&s;&s;ionately. This City is a great Theater, and he Acted great and various parts in it; And all well; And when he went higher, (as he was often heard in Parliaments, at Coun|cell tables, and in more private acce&s;&s;es to the late King of ever ble&s;&s;ed memory) as, for that comprehen&s;ion of tho&s;e bu&s;ine&s;&s;es, which he pretended to under&s;tand, no man doubts, for no man lacks arguments and evidences of his ability therein, So for his man|ner of expre&s;&s;ing his intentions, and dige&s;ting and uttering his purpo&s;es, I have &s;ometimes heard the greate&s;t Ma&s;ter of Language and Judgement, which the&s;e times, or any other did, or doe, or &s;hall give, (that good and great King of ours) &s;ay of him, That he never heard any man of his breeding, handle bu&s;ine&s;&s;es more rationally, more pertinently, more elegantly, more per&s;wa&s;ively; And when his purpo&s;e was, to do a grace to a Prea|cher, of very good abilities, and good note in his owne Chappell, I have heard him &s;ay, that his language, and accent, and manner of delivering him&s;elfe, was like this man. This man hath God accompanied all his life; and by performance thereof &s;eemes to have made that Covenant with him, which he made to <HI>Abraham, Multiplicabote vehe|menter,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17.2.</NOTE> <HI>I will multiply thee exceedingly.</HI> He multiplied his e&s;tate &s;o, as was fit to endow many and great Children; and he multiplied his Children &s;o, both in their number, and in their quality, as they were fit to receive a great E&s;tate. God was with him all the way, In <HI>a Pillar of Fire,</HI> in the brightne&s;&s;e of pro&s;perity, and in the <HI>Pillar of Clouds</HI> too, in many darke, and &s;ad, and heavy cro&s;&s;es: So great a Ship, required a great Balla&s;t, So many ble&s;&s;ings, many cro&s;&s;es; And he had them, and &s;ailed on his cour&s;e the &s;teadier for them; The <HI>Cloud</HI> as well as the <HI>Fire,</HI> was a <HI>Pillar</HI> to him; His cro&s;&s;es, as well as his ble&s;&s;ings e&s;tabli&s;hed his a&s;&s;urance in God; And &s;o, in all the cour&s;e of his life, <HI>The Lord was here,</HI> and therefore <HI>our Brother is not dead;</HI> not dead in the evidences and te&s;timonies of life; for he, whom the world hath ju&s;t cau&s;e to celebrate, for things done, when he was alive, is alive &s;till in their celebration.</P>
<P>The Lord was here, that is, with him at his death too.<NOTE PLACE="marg">In morte.</NOTE> He was &s;erved with the Proce&s;&s;e here in the City, but his cau&s;e was heard in the Country; Here he &s;ickned, There he lan|gui&s;hed, and dyed there. In his &s;ickne&s;&s;e there, tho&s;e that a&s;&s;i&s;ted him, are witne&s;&s;es, of his many expre&s;&s;ings, of a religious &amp; a con&s;tant heart towards God, and of his pious joyning with them, even in the holy declaration of kneeling, then, when they, in favour of his weakene&s;&s;e, would di&s;&s;wade him from kneeling. I mu&s;t not defraud him of this te&s;timony fro~ <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">y &s;elfe, that into this place where we are now met, I have ob&s;erved him to enter with much reverence, &amp; compo&s;e him&s;elfe in this place with much declaration of devotion. And truly it is that reverence, which tho&s;e per&s;ons who are of the &s;ame ranke that he was in the City, that reverence that they u&s;e in this place, when they come hither, is that that makes us, who have now the admini&s;tration of this Quire, glad, that our Predece&s;&s;ors, but a very few yeares before our time, (and not before all our times neither) admitted the&s;e Honourable and wor&s;hipfull Per&s;ons of this City, to &s;it in this Quire, &s;o, as they do upon Sundayes: The Church receives an honour in it; But the honour is more in their reverence, then in their pre&s;ence; though in that too: And they receive an honour, and an ea&s;e in it; and therefore they do piou&s;ly towards God, and prudently for them&s;elves, and gratefully towards us, in giving us, by their reverent comportment here, &s;o ju&s;t oc|ca&s;ion of continuing that honour, and that ea&s;e to them here, which to le&s;&s;e reverend, and unre&s;pective per&s;ons, we &s;hould be le&s;&s;e willing to doe. To returne to him in his &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e; He had but one dayes labour, and all the re&s;t were Sabbaths, one day in his &s;ick|ne&s;&s;e he converted to bu&s;ine&s;&s;e; Thus; He called his family, and friends together; Thank|fully he acknowledged Gods manifold ble&s;&s;ings, and his owne &s;ins as penitently: And then, to tho&s;e who were to have the di&s;po&s;ing of his e&s;tate, joyntly with his Children, he recommended his &s;ervants, and the poore, and the Ho&s;pitals, and the Pri&s;ons, which, ac|cording
<PB N="826" REF="431">to his purpo&s;e, have beene all taken into con&s;ideration; And after this (which was his Valediction to the world) he &s;eemed alwaies loath to returne to any worldly bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e, His la&s;t Commandement to Wife and Children was Chri&s;ts la&s;t commande|ment to his Spou&s;e the Church, in the Apo&s;tles, <HI>To love one another.</HI> He ble&s;t them, and the E&s;tate devolved upon them, unto them: And by Gods grace &s;hall prove as true a Pro|phet to them in that ble&s;&s;ing, as he was to him&s;elfe, when in entring his la&s;t bed, two dayes before his Death, he &s;aid, <HI>Help me off with my earthly habit, &amp; let me go to my la&s;t bed.</HI> Where, in the &s;econd night after, he &s;aid, <HI>Little know ye what paine I feele this night, yet I know, I &s;hall have joy in the morning;</HI> And in that morning he dyed. The forme in which he implored his Saviour, was evermore, towards his end, this, <HI>Chri&s;t Ie&s;us, which dyed on the Cro&s;&s;e, forgive me my &s;ins; He have mercy upon me:</HI> And his la&s;t and dying words were the repetition of the name of Je&s;us; And when he had not &s;trength to utter that name di&s;tinctly and perfectly, they might heare it from within him, as from a man a far off; even then, when his hollow and remote naming of Je&s;us, was rather a certifying of them, that he was with his Je&s;us, then a prayer that he might come to him. And &s;o <HI>The Lord was here,</HI> here with him in his Death; and becau&s;e <HI>the Lord was here, our Brother is not dead;</HI> not dead in the eyes and eares of God; for as the blood of <HI>Abel</HI> &s;peaks yet, &s;o doth the zeale of Gods Saints; and their la&s;t prayers (though we heare them not) God continues &s;till; and they pray in Heaven, as the Martyrs under the Altar, even till the Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>He is with him now too;<NOTE PLACE="marg">In funere.</NOTE> Here in his Funerals. Buriall, and Chri&s;tian Buriall, and So|lemne Buriall are all evidences, and te&s;timonies of Gods pre&s;ence. God forbid we &s;hould conclude, or argue an ab&s;ence of God, from the want of Solemne Buriall, or Chri&s;tian Buriall, or any Buriall; But neither mu&s;t we deny it, to be an evidence of his favour and pre&s;ence, where he is plea&s;ed to afford the&s;e. So God makes that the &s;eale of all his ble&s;|&s;ings to <HI>Abraham,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15. Gen. 46. Gen. 50. E&s;ay 11.10. Matt. 26.</NOTE> <HI>That he &s;hould be buried in a good age;</HI> God e&s;tabli&s;hed <HI>Iacob</HI> with that promi&s;e, <HI>That his Son Io&s;eph &s;hould have care of his Funerals:</HI> And <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> does cau&s;e his &s;ervants, <HI>The Phy&s;itians, to embalme him, when he was dead.</HI> Of Chri&s;t it was Prophecied; <HI>That he &s;hould have a glorious Buriall;</HI> And therefore Chri&s;t interprets well that profu&s;e, and prodigall piety of the Woman that poured out the Oyntment upon him, <HI>That &s;he did it to Bury him;</HI> And &s;o &s;hall <HI>Io&s;eph</HI> of Arimathea be ever celebrated, for his care in celebra|ting Chri&s;ts Funerals. If we were to &s;end a Son, or a friend, to take po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of any place in Court, or forraine parts, we would &s;end him out in the be&s;t equipage: Let us not grudge to &s;et downe our friends, in the Anti-chamber of Heaven, the Grave, in as good manner, as without vaine-gloriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and wa&s;tfulne&s;&s;e we may; And, in inclining them, to whom that care belongs, to expre&s;&s;e that care as they doe this day, <HI>The Lord is with him,</HI> even in this Funerall; And becau&s;e <HI>The Lord is here, our brother is not dead;</HI> Not dead in the memories and e&s;timation of men.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In re&s;urre|ctione.</NOTE> that we may have God pre&s;ent in all his Manife&s;tations, <HI>Hee that was, and is, and is to come,</HI> was with him, in his life and death, and is with him in this holy Solem|nity, and &s;hall bee with him againe in the Re&s;urrection.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 46.4.</NOTE> God &s;ayes to <HI>Iacob, I will goe downe with thee into Egypt, and I will al&s;o &s;urely bring thee up againe.</HI> God goes downe with a good man into the Grave, and will &s;urely bring him up againe. When? The An|gel promi&s;ed to returne to <HI>Abraham</HI> and <HI>Sarah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 18.10.</NOTE> for the a&s;&s;urance of the birth of <HI>I&s;aac, according to the time of life;</HI> that is, in &s;uch time, as by nature a woman may have a childe. God will returne to us in the Grave, <HI>according to the time of life;</HI> that is, in &s;uch time, as he, by his gracious Decree, hath fixed for the Re&s;urrection. And in the meane time, no more then the God-head departed from the dead body of our Saviour, in the grave, doth his power, and his pre&s;ence depart from our dead bodies in that darkne&s;&s;e; But that which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;aid to the whole Congregation, I &s;ay to you all, both to you that heare me,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 4.4.</NOTE> and to him that does not, <HI>All ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive, every one of you, this day;</HI> Even hee, whom wee call dead, is alive this day. In the pre&s;ence of God, we lay him downe; In the power of God, he &s;hall ri&s;e; In the per&s;on of Chri&s;t, he is ri&s;en already. And &s;o into the &s;ame hands that have received his &s;oule, we commend his body; be&s;eeching his ble&s;&s;ed Spirit, that as our charity enclines us to hope confidently of his good e&s;tate, our faith may a&s;&s;ure us of the &s;ame happine&s;&s;e, in our owne behalfe; And that for all our &s;akes, but e&s;pecially for his own glory, he will be plea&s;ed to ha&s;ten the con&s;ummation of all, in that kingdome which that Son of God hath purcha&s;ed for us, with the ine&s;timable price of his incorruptible blood. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="list of biblical quotations">
<PB REF="431">
<HEAD>&leaf; The Table of &s;uch places of SCRIPTURE, as are illu&s;trated and expounded in this BOOKE.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<LABEL>GENESIS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.16.</HI> _TWo great lights, &amp;c. <HI>81. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.7.</HI> Man was a living &s;oul <HI>71. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>18.10.</HI> According to the time of life <HI>826. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>26.18.</HI> I&s;aac digged the wells of water, which <HI>118. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>29.12.</HI> Iacob ki&s;&s;ed Rachel <HI>407. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>41.45.</HI> Pharaoh called Io&s;ephs name <HI>529. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>51.20.</HI> You thought evill again&s;t me, <HI>171. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>EXODUS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>4.22.</HI> I&s;rael is his &s;onne <HI>56. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>14.14.</HI> The Lord &s;hall fight for you <HI>577. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>23.3.</HI> Thou &s;halt not countenance <HI>782. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>33.13.</HI> Shew me now thy way <HI>66. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>DEUTERONOMY.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>21.23.</HI> He that is hanged is accur&s;ed of God <HI>8. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>30.15.</HI> See, I have &s;et before thee life and death <HI>70. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>30.19.</HI> I have &s;et before you life and death <HI>148. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>JOSHUAH.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>10.12.</HI> Sunne, &s;tand thou &s;till <HI>700. A.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>JUDGES.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2.5.</HI> They wept, <HI>539. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>RUTH.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1.19.</HI> Call me not Naomi <HI>479. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>2 SAMUEL.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>14.14.</HI> We mu&s;t needs die, and are <HI>311. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>26.12.</HI> The &s;leepe of the Lord was upon him <HI>257. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>2 KINGS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>9.3.</HI> None &s;hall &s;ay, This is Iezebel <HI>148. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>11.12.</HI> They put the crowne <HI>336. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>20.7.</HI> Take a lump of figs <HI>514. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>JOB.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>4.18.</HI> His Angels he charged with folly <HI>9. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.7.</HI> Man is borne unto travatle, as <HI>538. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>7.1.</HI> Mans life is a warfare <HI>142. A. &amp; 603 E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8.16.</HI> Woe unto me poor ru&s;h, for &amp;c. <HI>141. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10.20.</HI> Lord &s;pare me a while <HI>162. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>19.25.</HI> I know my Redeemer liveth, &amp;c. <HI>150. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>19.26.</HI> In my fle&s;h &amp;c. <HI>122. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>20.11.</HI> My bones are full of the &s;ins <HI>519. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>PSALMES.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>2.2.</HI> They imagine a vaine thing <HI>433. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.8.</HI> Aske of me and I will give thee &amp;c. <HI>26. E. &amp; 462. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2. ult.</HI> Ki&s;&s;e the Son le&s;t he be angry <HI>541. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>3.7.</HI> Thou ha&s;t broken the teeth <HI>516. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>6.5.</HI> In death there is no remembrance of thee <HI>533. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>15.2.</HI> Lord, who &s;hall a&s;cend to thy Taberna|cle <HI>117. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>19.9.</HI> The judgements of the Lord ju&s;tifie them&s;elves <HI>366. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>22.6.</HI> I am a worme <HI>18. A. 45. C. 65. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>25.15.</HI> Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord <HI>618. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>37.5.</HI> Co~mit thy wayes unto the Lord <HI>686. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>37.26.</HI> The righteous is mercifull <HI>83. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>45.7.</HI> God hath anointed thee with the oyle of gladne&s;&s;e <HI>396. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>50.12.</HI> If I were hungry <HI>101. B</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>55.19.</HI> Becau&s;e they have no changes, there|fore they feare not God. <HI>57. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>65.1.</HI> Prai&s;e waiteth for thee <HI>64. A.</HI></ITEM>
<PB REF="432">
<ITEM><HI>66.3.</HI> Through the greatne&s;&s;e of thy power, &s;hall thine enemies &s;ubmit. <HI>585. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>72.18.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed be the Lord God of I&s;rael, which <HI>394. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>78.63.</HI> Their maidens were not given in marriage. <HI>679. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>82.1.</HI> God &s;tandeth in the <HI>72. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>90.10.</HI> The dayes of our yeares &amp;c. <HI>83. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>101.1.</HI> I will &s;ing of thy mercy and <HI>12. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>101.5.</HI> Him that hath a high looke <HI>729. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>102.5.</HI> My bones cleave to my fle&s;h <HI>519. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>104.29.</HI> They die, and they returne <HI>255. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>105.15.</HI> Touch not mine anointed <HI>55. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>106.20.</HI> They changed their glory <HI>85. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>111.10.</HI> A good under&s;tanding have <HI>612. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>113.5.</HI> He dwels in heaven <HI>134. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>119.57.</HI> The Lord is my portion <HI>14. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>119.136.</HI> Rivers of waters ran <HI>161. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>135.7.</HI> He cau&s;eth the vapours <HI>264. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>136.4.</HI> Facit mirabilia magna <HI>215. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>139.21.</HI> Doe not I hate them <HI>99. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>145.15.</HI> The eyes of all wait <HI>684. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>146.3.</HI> Put not your tru&s;t in Princes <HI>483. A.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>PROVERBS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>11.13.</HI> The fruit of the righteous <HI>84. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12.23.</HI> A wi&s;e man concealeth <HI>565. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>13.22.</HI> The wealth of the &s;inner &amp;c. <HI>83. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>14.23.</HI> He &s;hall have hope <HI>83. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>17.6.</HI> The glory of children <HI>84. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>25.16.</HI> Fill not thy &s;elfe with honey <HI>63. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>ECCLES.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>10.10.</HI> If the iron be blunt, we mu&s;t <HI>356. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10.20.</HI> Tho&s;e that have wings <HI>92. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>38.9.</HI> My&s;on, in thy &s;ickne&s;&s;e &amp;c. <HI>110. C.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>CANTICLES.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.8.</HI> O thou faire&s;t among women <HI>119. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.15.</HI> Take us the little Foxes, for they de|voure the Vine <HI>117. A. 782. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>4.12.</HI> My Si&s;ter, my Spou&s;e is a garden en clo&s;ed <HI>515. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8.6.</HI> Set me as a &s;eal on thy heart, <HI>456. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>ESAY.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>7.13.</HI> Is it a &s;mall thing to weary men, <HI>15. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>9.6.</HI> A childe is given to us, a Son is borne to us <HI>86. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>9.6.</HI> Coun&s;ellor, The mighty God. <HI>6. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>14.12.</HI> How art thou faln from heaven <HI>187. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>18.1.</HI> Wo to the land &s;hadowing with wings <HI>671. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>27.7.</HI> Hath he &s;mitten him as he &s;mote tho&s;e that &s;mote him? <HI>505. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>36.21.</HI> They held their peace, and <HI>410. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>38.2.</HI> Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed <HI>251. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>40.15.</HI> As a drop upon the Bucket <HI>64. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>40.31.</HI> They that waite upon the Lord, &s;hall renew their &s;trength. <HI>637. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>53.10.</HI> It plea&s;ed the Lord to brui&s;e him, but <HI>181. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>55.8.</HI> My thoughts are not your <HI>25. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>58.11.</HI> Thou &s;halt be a &s;pring of water <HI>660. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>60.1.</HI> Ari&s;e, &s;hine, for thy light is come <HI>188. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>JEREMIAH.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.10.</HI> Behold, I have this day <HI>734. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.1.</HI> Run to and fro through the &s;treets of <HI>422. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>18.2.</HI> Ari&s;e and goe downe <HI>147. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>LAMENTATIONS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.2.</HI> She weepeth continually in the night. <HI>540. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.19.</HI> Poure out thy heart like water <HI>591. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.10.</HI> Women eat their children of a &s;pan long <HI>146. D. &amp; 215. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>4.8.</HI> My skin cleaves to my bones <HI>519. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>EZECHIEL.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>9.4.</HI> Set a mark upon the foreheads <HI>537. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>16.29.</HI> Thou ha&s;t multiplied thy fornications, &amp;c. <HI>24. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>44.2.</HI> This gate &s;hall be &s;hut &amp;c. <HI>22. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>HOSEA.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>14.2.</HI> Take unto you words, and turn <HI>578. C.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>MICAH.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2.13.</HI> The breaker is gone up before, <HI>181. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>HABAKKUK.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>2.4.</HI> The ju&s;t &s;hall live &amp;c. <HI>79. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.18.</HI> What good can an Idol, or &amp;c <HI>117. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>HAGGAI.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2.9.</HI> The glory of the later hou&s;e &amp;c. <HI>30. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>ECCLUS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>7.36.</HI> Remember the end, and <HI>371. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>38.1.</HI> Honour a Phy&s;itian with <HI>187. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>38.15.</HI> He that &s;inneth before his <HI>187. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<PB REF="432">
<LIST>
<LABEL>MATTHEVV.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.25.</HI> Till &s;he brought forth her Son <HI>22. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.48.</HI> Be yee perfect as your Father in hea|ven is <HI>823. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.23.</HI> If thou bring thy gift to the Altar, and <HI>33. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>7.19.</HI> He taught them as one <HI>690. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>9.2.</HI> My &s;onne be of good cheare, <HI>343. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10.39.</HI> He that finds his life <HI>150. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>16.24.</HI> He that will follow me, let <HI>732. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>16.28.</HI> There be &s;ome &s;tanding here, <HI>259. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>19.28.</HI> In the regeneration <HI>181. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>20.23.</HI> It is not mine to give <HI>761. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>21.44.</HI> He that falls upon this &s;tone <HI>665. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>24.20.</HI> Pray that your flight be not in the Winter, <HI>580. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>28.19.</HI> Goe and teach all Nations <HI>47. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>MARKE.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>9.24.</HI> Lord, I beleeve <HI>669. C.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>LUKE.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.28.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed art thou amongst women <HI>18. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>4.23.</HI> Phy&s;itian, heale thy &s;elfe <HI>420. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>4.32.</HI> They were a&s;toni&s;hed at his <HI>691. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>7.29.</HI> The Phari&s;ees and Lawyers rejected. <HI>366. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12.32.</HI> Feare not little flock, for &amp;c. <HI>45. C. &amp; 228. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>JOHN.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.3, 4.</HI> All things were made by him <HI>667. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>1.16.</HI> Grace for grace <HI>310. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>1.9.</HI> He was that light &amp;c. <HI>78. B. &amp; 345. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>1.16.</HI> Of his fulne&s;&s;e have all we received, and grace for grace <HI>4. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.4.</HI> Woman, what have I to doe with thee <HI>23. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.25.</HI> Verily, verily, I &s;ay unto you, the houre <HI>150. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.17.</HI> My Father worketh <HI>240. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.39.</HI> Search the Scriptures <HI>339. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8.11.</HI> Sin no more <HI>110. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>9.10.</HI> I am the doore <HI>752. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10.3.</HI> His &s;heep heare his voice <HI>66. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10.11.</HI> The good &s;hepheard giveth his life for the &s;heepe <HI>63. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>19.29.</HI> They put it upon Hy&s;&s;op. <HI>646. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>20.16.</HI> Touch me not, for <HI>821. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>ACTS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.22.</HI> There was a nece&s;sity of one <HI>180. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>17.11.</HI> The Bereans &s;earched the &amp;c. <HI>472. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>20.22.</HI> I goe bound in the Spirit <HI>473. C.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>ROMANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>6.21.</HI> What fruit had yee then <HI>65. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8.15.</HI> Whereby we cry Abba, Father <HI>27. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8.21.</HI> The creature it &s;elfe al&s;o &s;hall be deli|vered from the bondage &amp;c. <HI>9. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>8.23.</HI> Our &s;elves have the fir&s;t fruits <HI>293. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>1 CORINTHIANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.20.</HI> God hath made the wi&s;edome of this world, fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e <HI>180. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>6.3.</HI> We &s;hall judge the Angels <HI>235. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>6.20.</HI> Yee are bought with a price <HI>26. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>10.13.</HI> No tentation &s;hall befall us, but <HI>789. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>15.8.</HI> As of one borne out of due <HI>460. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>15.3.</HI> Chri&s;t dyed for our &s;ins <HI>397. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>15.28.</HI> God &s;hall be all in all <HI>231. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>15.29.</HI> For the dead <HI>56. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>2 CORINTHIANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>7.1.</HI> Let us clean&s;e our &s;elves <HI>118. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12.7.</HI> A thorne in the fle&s;h, the me&s;&s;enger of Satan <HI>526. E. 527. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12.9.</HI> My grace is &s;ufficient for thee <HI>527. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>EPHESIANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.10.</HI> That God might gather in one <HI>9. D.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>2.12.</HI> Without Chri&s;t, without God <HI>71. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>3.19.</HI> That they are filled with all the <HI>4. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.14.</HI> Awake thou that &s;leepe&s;t <HI>188. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>11.6.</HI> Without faith it is impo&s;sible <HI>105. A.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>PHILIPPIANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>4.8.</HI> If there be any vertue. <HI>681. A.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>COLOSSIANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>3.5.</HI> Mortifie your members <HI>151. B.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>1 THESSALONIANS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>4.7.</HI> God hath not called us to &amp;c. <HI>117. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.25.</HI> I pray God your &s;pirit <HI>335. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<PB REF="433">
<LIST>
<LABEL>1 TIM.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2.1.</HI> I exhort you that &s;upplications and pray|ers &amp;c. <HI>510. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>TITUS.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2.14.</HI> Chri&s;t gave him&s;elfe for us <HI>77. C.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>HEBREVVES.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>4.12.</HI> The Word of God pierces &amp;c. <HI>335. D. &amp; 517. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>4.12.</HI> A two edged &s;word <HI>139. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>11.35.</HI> Others were tortured &amp;c. <HI>150. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>13.22.</HI> I be&s;eech you brethren, &s;uffer <HI>610. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>JAMES.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>1.17.</HI> The Father of lights <HI>385. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.3.</HI> Your gold and your &s;ilver &amp;c. <HI>81. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.11.</HI> You have &s;eene the end &amp;c. <HI>399. A.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>1 PETER.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>2.5.</HI> Built of lively &s;tones <HI>35. A.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>2 PETER.</LABEL>
<ITEM><HI>1.19.</HI> We have al&s;o a more &s;ure word of pro|phecie, <HI>59. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>1 JOHN.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>3.2.</HI> Now we are the &s;onnes of God <HI>120. C.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>5.16.</HI> There is a &s;in unto death <HI>348. E.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>REVELATION.</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>3.14.</HI> Thus &s;aith Amen <HI>53. A.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12.4.</HI> The Dragons taile drew the <HI>240. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>12.7.</HI> Michael and his Angels fought a|gain&s;t the Dragon <HI>146. E.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>17.2.</HI> The great Whore &s;itteth upon <HI>310. B.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>22.11.</HI> He that is holy <HI>594. D.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="list of authors cited">
<PB REF="433">
<HEAD>&leaf; The Table of &s;uch Authors, as are either cited, illu&s;trated, or refelled in this BOOKE.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<LABEL>A</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>_ABulen&s;is. 7. A. B. 50. A. 314. D. 763. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Aerius. 781. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Alcazar. 184. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Alvarez. 693. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Alexander Alen&s;is. 379. D. 603. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Alcoranum. 379. C. 744. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ambro&s;ius. 18. A. 24. A. 38. A. 88. A. 105. D. 106. A. 110. E. 262. D. 306. B. 322. A. 390. B. 392. B. 407. A. 410. B. 546. B. 586. D. 603. E. 617. B. 784. C. 785. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Andradius. 314. D. 763. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>An&s;elmus. 171. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Apologia Confe&s;&s;ion: Augu&s;tan: 786. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Aquinas. 17. A. 51. E. 111. B. 156. A. 205. D. 216. B. C. 306. C. 344. A. 369. A. 527. A. 541. E. 795. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ari&s;toteles. 388. A. 562. D. 744. B. 818. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Arriba. 741. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Athana&s;ius. 180. D. 221. B. 235. E. 244. D. 251. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Athenagoras. 204. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Augu&s;tinus. 4. E. 9. B. E. 15. C. 16. C. 17. D. 23. B. 27. D. 31. A. 33. E. 37. B. 48. D. E. 51. E. 59. E. 61. C. 65. B. 66. E. 67. B. 68. A. E. 69. A. 70. A. E. 79. B. 81. A. E. 89. C. 97. B. 98. B. 100. A. 102. A. 105. E. 120. E. 121. C. 122. B. C. 133. B. 148. C. D. 153. B. 154. E. 161. C. 167. A. E. 169. D. 171. B. 180. C. 183. A. 188. A. D. 194. E. 197. B. 200. D. 229. E. 232. E. 295. E. 299. E. 304. C. D. 309. B. 313. E. 323. A. D. 330. D. 369. A. B. E. 386. D. 527. A. 546. B. De libro Enoch. 560. B. 563. D. 756. B. 785. B. 786. E. 802. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Augu&s;tin. Eugubinus. 50. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Augu&s;tinus de Roma. 171. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Aulus Gellius. 6. A. 17. A. 407. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ayguanus. 506. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Azorius. 490. D.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>B</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Baldus. 168. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Baronius. 142. D. 236. E. 489. E. refel|litur. 492. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ba&s;ilius. 16. D. E. 17. E. 42. B. 160. D. 168. C. 269. C. 284. C. 306. B. 309. D. 318. E. 352. E. 455. A. 511. B. 514. B. 515. B. 553. A. 712. E. 815 E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Bellarminus. 790. D. 545. E. notatus. 542. E. 578. E. 699. B. 740. D. 791. B. 803. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Berengarius. 37. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Bernardus. 5. E. 6. B. 7. A. 11. B. 23. A. 51. C. 75. A. 90. A. 91. C. 93. A. B. C. 94. A. B. C. &amp;c. 118. E. 152. C. 153. B. 155. A. 162. B. 200. C. 204. C. 319. E. 340. A. 383. A. C. 389. C. 405. E. 426. A. 456. B. 510. D. 513. B. 550. B. 570. E. 680. B. 787. B. 806. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Beda. 813. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Beza. 220. D. 737. E. 799. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Benius. 740. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Biblia Compluten&s;. 712. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Biblia Vatican. 712. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Biel. 380. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Bodinus. 243. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Bolduccus. 131. E. 133. A. 234. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Boethius. 171. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Bonaventura. 687. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Brigittae Revelationes. 43. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Bradwardinus. 171. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Brondus. 603. C.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>C</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Calvinus. 9. C. 14. E. 18. B. 32. D. 45. D. 49. E. 80. D. 217. E. 218. A. 220. D. 246. D. 271. C. 298. B. 347. B. 477. D. 800. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cajetanus. 131. C. 221. A. 271. B. 490. C. 527. B. 586. D. 793. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Carbo. 741. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Catharinus. 4. E. 237. D. 271. B. 339. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Canones Poenitentiales. 282. B. 402. A. 545. C. 691. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cae&s;arius. 758. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Clemens Alexandrinus. 170. D. 187. D. 314. C. 710. D. 763. C. 772. B. 784. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chry&s;ologus. 161. D. 228. B. 246. D. 249. C. 490. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chry&s;o&s;tomus. 24. A. 48. D. E. 58. B 93. A. 106. D. 152. C. 162. A. 210. E. 217. D. 263. C. 299. D. 314. C. 321. B. 322. C. 326. A. 362. C. 389. C. 401. E.
<PB REF="434">409. E. notatus. 426. B. 546. D. 712. E. 763. C. 785. C. 789. C. 795. C. 815. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cantepraten&s;is. 81. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chemnitius. 32. D. 786. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chiffletius. 246. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Choppinus. 771. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chry&s;ippus. 484. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Clavius. 765. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Clemens Romanus. 758. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Collius. 262. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Nicenum. 216. D. 300. D. 415. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Trident. 234. C. D. 404. D. 471. E. 773. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Lateranen&s;e &s;ub Innocent. ter|tio. 252. B. 773. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Con&s;tantien&s;e. 773. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Senonen&s;e. 231. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Lateranen&s;e &s;ub Leone deci|mo. 237. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Neocae&s;arien&s;e. 216. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Carthaginen&s;e tertium. 775. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Eleberitanum. 80. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Concilium Antiochenum primum, 426. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Con&s;titutiones Apo&s;tolicae. 663. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cornelius &agrave; Lapide. 50. A. 688. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cornelius Mus. 489. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Corpus Juris Civilis. 711. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cramerus. 18. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cyprianus. 17. C. 36. B. 99. D. 269. E. Explicatus. 329. C. 330. D. 355. E. 414. E. 480. B. 800. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cyrillus Alexandrinus. 20. E. 66. B. 67. A. 170. E. 188. C. 190. D. 194. A. 236. C. 302. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cyrillus Hiero&s;olymitanus. 262. C.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>D</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Dama&s;cenus. 16. C. 27. C. 48. C. 49. A. 167. E. 168. B. 189. D. 236. C. 262. B. 309. D. 396. D. 425. E. 689. A. 802. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Demo&s;thenes. 387. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Didymus Alexandrinus. 333. C. 533. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Diony&s;ius Areopagita. 121. A. 168. A. 261. E. 382. E. 480. B. 620. A. 785. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Durandus. 802. A.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>E</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Epictetus. 315. A. 387. E. 667. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Epiphanius. 23. C. 159. B. 164. E. 176. C. 394. D. 781. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ephrem Syrus. 538. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Epi&s;tola Lentuli. 153. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Era&s;mus. 32. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>E&s;tius. 792. D. 800. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Euangelium Spiritus Sancti. 291. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Euangelium Syriacum. 525. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Eu&s;ebius. 42. D. 45. E. 493. C. 540. B. 562. D. 784. A.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>F</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Fau&s;tus Manichaeus. 318. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ferus. 50. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Fe&s;tus. 713. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Feuardentius. 793. E.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>G</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Galenus. 818. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Galelinus. 31. D. 502. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Genebrardus. 17. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Gerhardus. 743. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ger&s;on. 202. E. 251. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Gregorius Neocae&s;arien&s;is. 758. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Gregorius Magnus. 9. E. 35. A. 99. D. 100. A. 107. D. 128. C. 141. B. 161. C. 181. A. 186. E. 247. E. 248. B. 266. C. 274. A. 316. B. 339. E. 342. C. 343. A. 406. A. 408. B. 461. A. 547. B. 552. E. 569. E. 580. E. 724. B. C. 785. D. 789. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Gret&s;erus. 698. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Greg: Nazianzen. 71. C. 121. A. 171. C. 235. E. 385. B. 394. A. 396. C. 417. A. 480. D. 522. B. 539. B. 547. A. 552. C. 699. E. 761. A. 764. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Greg: Ny&s;&s;en. 16. C. 160. E. 249. A. 251. E. 517. C. 542. A. 555. D. 811. A. 813. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Guavantus. 485. E.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>H</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Harmon. Synod. Belg. 115. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Herodotus. 198. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Hermes, &s;ive Pa&s;tor. 784. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>He&s;hu&s;ius. 759. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Hieronymus. 15. C. 24. A. 26. D. 55. A. 72. E. 79. D. 99. B. 111. A. 121. B. 147. E. 164. E. 178. A. 182. D. 190. E. 200. C. 207. B. 217. A. 231. D. 236. C. 244. D. 248. A. 252. D. 272. C. 306. B. 309. D. 363. D. 368. E. 378. E. 405. C. hallucinatus. 430. E. 462. A. de prolo|go ejus Galeato. 670. C. 699. B. 789. C. 794. C. 806. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Hilarius. 16. C. 248. D. 378. E. 416. A. 539. A. 699. B. 784. D.</ITEM>
<PB REF="434">
<ITEM>Holkot. 311. A. 412. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Horatius. 577. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Hugo de Sancto Victore. 157. A. 542. A.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>I</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Ignatius. 758. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Johannes Hu&s;&s;. 480. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Jo&s;ephus. 32. D. 397. E. 491. E. 687. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Irenaeus. 16. C. 57. C. 151. D. 152. B. 415. E. 739. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>I&s;iodorus Hi&s;palen&s;is. 410. E. 411. A. 656. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>I&s;iodorus Pelu&s;iota. 596. E. 758. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Julianus Apo&s;t. 719. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Julianus Pelagianus. 490. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ju&s;tinianus. 793. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ju&s;tinus Martyr. 72. E. 156. A. 236. C. 269. B. 314. C. 401. E. 408. A. 425. E. 763. C.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>L</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Lactantius. 80. A. 306. C. 354. C. 396. A. 408. C. 739. E. 751. E. 784. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Lapide. 50. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Leo Magnus. 42. B. 48. C. D. 63. B. 221. E. 321. B. 431. B. 535. D. 604. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Leo Ca&s;trius. 695. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Lex XII. Tabularum. 445. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Lombardus. 237. B. notatus. 334. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Lorinus. 426. C. 574. C. 687. E. 695. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Lutherus. 18. D. 130. B. 205. A. 231. C. 232. D. 271. D. 301. D. 404. C. A|pophthegma ejus. 405. C. 417. B. 426. A. 479. E. 501. A. 687. B. 786. B. 798. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Lyra. 50. B. 555. D.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>M</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Magdeburgen&s;es. 489. C. 799. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Maldonatus. 197. D. 356. E. 489. D. 739. D. 771. B. 798. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Mariana. 687. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Martialis. 550. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>S. Martialis. 758. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>P. Martyr. 271. B. 347. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ma&s;oritae. 153. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Maximus. 63. A. 535. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Matchiavel. 744. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Melancthon. 92. C. 744. C. 798. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Melchior Canus. 42. A. 740. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Menander. 220. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Mendoza. 162. B. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Mun&s;terus. 747. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Mu&s;culus. 775. A.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>N</LABEL>
<ITEM>Nicephorus. 31. D. dictum ejus de Chry|&s;o&s;tomo. 490. C. 699. B.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>O</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Oecumenius. 66. A. 232. C. 527. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Olea&s;ter. 391. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Origenes. 99. D. 102. A. 118. C. 128. E. 170. E. 201. C. 262. D. 263. C. 299. B. 333. B. 362. C. 363. D. 386. B. 411. C. 546. C. 700. C. 710. E. primus con|cionator. 758. D. 770. D. 784. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>O&s;iander. 221. C. 298. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>P</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Palladius. 473. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Pamelius. 329. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Panigorolla. 166. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Papias. 739. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Paracel&s;us. 64. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Paraphra&s;tes Chaldaeus. 134. A. 269. D. 404. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Pellicanus. 221. C. 404. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Peltanus. 97. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Pererius. 50. A. 740. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Philo Judaeus. 170. B. 417. D. 420. C. 550. B. 561. C. 680. D. 812. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Picus. 531. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Pindarus. 442. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Pi&s;cator. 46. C. 49. E. 131. E. 737. E. 799. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Plato. 46. D. 68. E. 168. D. 318. D. 442. D. 752. E. 783. E. 812. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Plinius. 17. A. 222. A. 385. C. 537. D. 617. B. 665. B. 713. A. 788. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Plotinus. 812. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Plutarchus. 665. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Polycarpus. 758. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Polybius. 482. D. 551. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Porphyrius. 207. B. 289. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Pro&s;per. 240. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Prudentius. 262. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>P&s;almi Arabic&egrave;. 582. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ptolomaeus. 818. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>Q</LABEL>
<ITEM>Quintilianus. 289. B.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<PB REF="435">
<LIST>
<LABEL>R</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Rabbi Aben Ezra. 131. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Rabbi Moy&s;es. 63. E. 66. B. 608. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Rabbi Solomon. 50. B. 404. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Reuchlinus. 541. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Rhemigius. 4. B. 340. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ribera. 184. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Roffen&s;is. 789. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ruffinus. 270. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Rupertus. 51. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>S</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Salmeron. 489. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sanctius. 151. E. 405. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sandaeus. 495. A. 690. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Scotus. 111. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Scribanius. 142. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Schonfeldius. 743. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Seneca. 147. E. 168. E. 362. B. 387. E. 388. A. 713. E. 789. B. 812. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Serarius. 406. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Septuaginta Interpretes. 404. B. 416. A. 528. B. 585. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Severianus. 249. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sextus Senen&s;is. 786. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sidonius Apollinaris. 33. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sophronius. 490. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Stenartius. 605. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Strabo. 198. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Stunnica. 133. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Synodus Dordrecthana. 742. C.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>T</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>Tacitus. 481. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Talmud. 379. C. 492. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Tannerus. 605. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Tertullianus. 17. C. 18. A. 33. E. 80. A. memoria lap&s;us. 101. B. 152. A. 168. C. 181. E. 207. E. 289. B. 290. D. 309. D. 312. B. 334. B. 337. B. C. 369. E. 370. E. 379. B. 388. A. 395. B. E. 397. E. 400. A. B. 408. A. 414. E. 504. B. 739. E. 783. E. 794. C. 800. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Te&s;tamentum Syriacum. 636. C. 737. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Theocritus. 478. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Theodoretus. 91. B. 232. A. 305. D. 462. A. 578. D. 795. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Theophylactus. 91. B. 181. B. 246. B. 527. A. 609. C. 795. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Tremellius. 131. E. 133. E. 510. A. 560. C. 585. A. 690. B. 737. E. 809. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Tri&s;megi&s;tus. 287. B. 295. B. 347. C. 379. C. 501. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Turrecremata. 603. C.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>V</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>G. Valentia. 356. D. 605. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Vincentius Lyrinen&s;is. 47. A. 699. B. 722. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Virgilius. 744. C. 784. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Vita P. Nerei. 116. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Vega. 339. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Ulpianus. 194. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Vo&s;&s;ius. 740. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Us;pergen&s;is. 208. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Vulgata Editio. 146. D. 157. D. 162. C. 260. A. 288. D. 311. A. 505. C. 610. E. 711. D. 717. C. 743. C. 761. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>W</LABEL>
<ITEM>Waldo. 291. D.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="index">
<PB REF="435">
<HEAD>AN ALPHABETICALL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL CONTENTS IN THIS BOOK.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The number of the Figures referreth to the Page; the Letter to the like Letter in the Margin.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<LABEL>A</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>_AB&s;olute Decree;</HI> how dangerou&s;ly man may be abu&s;ed by it 691. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>There is no &s;uch in God, of puni&s;hing man, but as a &s;inner 675. C. D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ab&s;olution of &s;innes;</HI> the power of it 143. A. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The cheerefulne&s;&s;e of their &s;pirits that have newly received it 264. A 596. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The nece&s;&s;ity of it 370. A. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Active life,</HI> and Contemplative, both good 30. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>One, not to de&s;pi&s;e the other <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Admiration</HI> and Wonder, how it &s;tands between Knowledge and Faith 194. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Adoption,</HI> in civill u&s;e; the Lawes and Cu&s;tomes of it 27. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Applyed to our &s;pirituall <HI>Adoption ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Adver&s;ity,</HI> not the be&s;t time to &s;eeke the Lord in 139. C. D. 245. D. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Whether <HI>Adver&s;ity</HI> or <HI>Prosperity</HI> be the cau&s;e of mo&s;t &s;innes 658. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Adultory;</HI> God expre&s;&s;eth all carnall and &s;piri|tuall &s;inne by the name of <HI>Adultery</HI> 632. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Advice,</HI> to bee mixed with Love and Charitie 93. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>How many doe mi&s;carry in it ibid. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Afflictions,</HI> wherefore inflicted upon Men 109. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Wherefore on godly men, 129. B. 480. A. B. C 664. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>They are not evill 170. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Common as well to the good, as bad, 420. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Age;</HI> the center of Reverence 31. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Allelujah</HI> P&s;almes, which they are, and how many 654. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Almes</HI> to be done 94. B. 106. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Cheerfully, and without delay 107. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t tho&s;e that neglect them 414. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Wee, not to con&s;ider the per&s;on too &s;everely that is to receive them 764. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t being <HI>Alone</HI> 51. E. 761. E. 762. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Alphon&s;o,</HI> King of Ca&s;teel, his bla&s;phemy 640. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Amen,</HI> ever doubled by Saint John, and why 658. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Anabapti&s;ts;</HI> their wicked opinions 23. C. 91. C 344. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Anathema;</HI> the &s;everall acceptations of it 401. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Saint <HI>Andrew,</HI> the fir&s;t Saint in the Calendar, and why 718. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Angels,</HI> how reconciled by the death of Chri&s;t 9. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Whether they under&s;tand thoughts 111. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Or, &s;ee the E&s;&s;ence of God 120. E. 121. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>They pray for us 130. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Whether they &s;hall give account of their Steward&s;hip over us, at the day of Judgement 234. E. 235. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Thought in the Greeke Church to be created before the World 235. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nothing in Scripture about their creation 235. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not in them&s;elves Immortall 237 B. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Some men called by the mini&s;try of <HI>Angels,</HI> even from the beginning of the world 261. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>They that fell, might have repented, accor|ding to the Schooles 262. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>They that fell, &s;hall never befor given 346. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of tutelar <HI>Angels</HI> 422. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Angels</HI> created with the Light 729. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Anger</HI> in God; two errours about it, noted by <HI>Lactantius</HI> 408. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Anointing</HI> in Scripture, not alwayes taken for reall Unction 44. E. 45. A &amp;c
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Anointing,</HI> proper to Kings, as well as Prie&s;ts 396. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ant</HI> and the Bee; the difference betweene their labour; and yet we are commanded to learne of both 712. E</ITEM>
<PB REF="436">
<ITEM><HI>Apatheia,</HI> again&s;t indolencie, and emptine&s;&s;e of all Affections 156. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Apochrypha</HI> Bookes; the good u&s;e that is made of them 220. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of their e&s;teeme with the Ancient Fathers 221. A. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Applau&s;e</HI> after Sermon, given to the Primitive Fa|thers 48. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Applau&s;e</HI> of the people, or popularity, a dange|rous and uncertaine thing, not to be affected by any men; e&s;pecially, not by the Clergie, whom it u&s;ually deceiveth mo&s;t. ib.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Approaches</HI> to Sinne, how &s;oone and ea&s;ily they become Sinne 557. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Apo&s;tles;</HI> why cho&s;en out of &s;imple fi&s;her-men 719. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>What things were called <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> before Chri&s;ts <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> were &s;o called 758 C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Apo&s;tolicall</HI> Authority vainely claimed by the Pope 733. E
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Apo&s;tolicall</HI> Tradition, what it is 781. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Articles</HI> of Faith, how they are proved by Rea|&s;on 178. A 611. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Atheist,</HI> nothing &s;o unnaturall as the <HI>Athei&s;t,</HI> 486. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the univer&s;all, particular, and practicall <HI>Athei&s;t ibid. &amp;</HI> 487. A. B. <HI>&amp; vide</HI> 756. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Authority</HI> of the Fathers, not baulked by the Re|formed Churches 557. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Though at the beginning of the Reformation our men were a little &s;tartled at it B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>B</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Bal&s;ame;</HI> of the naturall <HI>Bal&s;ame</HI> in the body and in the &s;oule. 514. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> of children, how nece&s;&s;ary 309. E. 425. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Remembrance of our <HI>Bapti&s;me,</HI> a &s;top a|gain&s;t &s;inne 310. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chri&s;t, why <HI>Bapti&s;ed</HI> 425. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Anabapti&s;ts</HI> argument again&s;t <HI>Bapti&s;me</HI> of Children, an&s;wered ibid. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Bapti&s;me</HI> of John, whether the &s;ame with that of Chri&s;t 425. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The cu&s;tome of late <HI>Bapti&s;ing,</HI> why tolerated in the Church 800. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bees;</HI> the manner of their working <HI>&s;ub tecto</HI> 712. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Commended for their &s;edulity, community, &s;ecrecy, and purity 713. A. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Beggers;</HI> again&s;t <HI>ordinary Street-Beggers,</HI> and relieving them.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Benedictines,</HI> of their encrea&s;e and riches 602. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Benefactours</HI> and Founders, their honorable com|memoration and mention plea&s;es God 85. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Straights, to which, &s;ome of the Refor|med Churches have been put about it ibid.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Benefits</HI> of this world &s;eldom free 550. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bi&s;hops</HI> not nece&s;&s;arily re&s;ident at their Sea 470. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Six thou&s;and <HI>Bi&s;hops</HI> at one time in the Chri|&s;tian Church 471. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The pa&s;&s;age between <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> and <HI>Dracon|tius</HI> who refu&s;ed to be made a <HI>Bi&s;hop</HI> 471. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bi&s;hop</HI> of Rome, again&s;t his tyranny, cruelty &amp;c. 284. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t his Infallibility 698. C. 722. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>His Impri&s;oning of the Holy Gho&s;t 292. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>His Univer&s;ality 371. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t his u&s;urping Apo&s;tolicall Authority, and not contenting him&s;elfe with Epi&s;copall 733. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bla&s;phemy,</HI> not re&s;trained to God alone; other per&s;ons and things may be <HI>bla&s;phemed</HI> 343. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>No <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing</HI> in this world without permanency and continuance 754. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ble&s;&s;ings</HI> of this world, only <HI>Ble&s;&s;ings</HI> in u&s;e 84. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>How God <HI>ble&s;&s;eth</HI> man, and man <HI>ble&s;&s;eth</HI> God 376. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e,</HI> what it is; and what the Philo&s;o|phers have thought of it 119. C. D. 752. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Whom <HI>Plato</HI> commanded the Poets and wri|ters in his State, to call <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed</HI> 562. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>That temporall <HI>Ble&s;&s;ings</HI> doe not conduce at All to true <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e</HI> 750. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The danger of <HI>Temporall Ble&s;&s;ings,</HI> without Spirituall 752. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>What <HI>Plato</HI> thought <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e</HI> 752. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Spirituall <HI>Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e,</HI> how it is &s;uperinduced upon Temporall, as the rea&s;onable &s;oule upon that of &s;en&s;e 755. C. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Blood;</HI> no Remi&s;&s;ion without it, and why 6. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Chri&s;t &s;hed it &s;even times 7. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The will, the <HI>Blood</HI> of the Soule 7. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Blood</HI> taken for &s;in, oftentimes in Holy Writ 132. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bodies;</HI> the Kingdome of heaven imperfect with|out them 145. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The little power we have over our own <HI>Bodies</HI> ibid. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bodies glorified</HI> and their <HI>Dotes</HI> or Endow|ments 189. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Gods love to our <HI>Bodies</HI> 194. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of &s;inning again&s;t our own <HI>Bodies</HI> by lu&s;t and licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e 195. D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bones;</HI> what is meant by <HI>Bones</HI> in Scripture 516. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bribery;</HI> again&s;t it, or receiving of Rewards 389. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Brothers;</HI> the fir&s;t enmity began in them 108. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Browni&s;ts;</HI> their opinion, that no particular Church may con&s;i&s;t of more per&s;ons than may alwayes heare that man, to who&s;e charge that Church is given, cen&s;ured 471. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Building;</HI> the Holy Gho&s;t delights to u&s;e the name of <HI>Building</HI> and Hou&s;e 684. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Bu&s;y-bodies</HI> with other folks matters 721. E. 722. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Burthen;</HI> how every thing, even the lea&s;t, the Fly; even the be&s;t, as riches, beauty, comli|ne&s;&s;e, is a <HI>Burthen</HI> to us 664. C. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>C</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>CArd. <HI>Cajetans</HI> rea&s;ons for not following the Judgement of the fathers in expounding Scripture 796. E. 79<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">. A.</ITEM>
<PB REF="436">
<ITEM><HI>Calamities,</HI> not to be je&s;ted at 478. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not alwayes evidences of Gods di&s;plea&s;ure <HI>ib.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Calling;</HI> the ordinary duties of our <HI>Calling</HI> not to be di&s;puted, but executed 41. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Such as are extraordinary, may 42. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t &s;uch as will take upon them no <HI>Cal|ling</HI> 45. D. 411. B. 606. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>How acceptable to God that labour is, which is taken in an hone&s;t <HI>Calling</HI> 721. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t Intruders, and meddlers with other mens <HI>Callings ibid.</HI> E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Calvin,</HI> an approver of Ceremonies 80. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Candles;</HI> the u&s;e of them in divine Service, ancient 80. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Canonicall</HI> Houres; no inconvenience in ob|&s;erving them, &s;o wee place no merit in them 596. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Catechizing;</HI> the excellent u&s;e and benefit of it 250. A. 561. B. C. D. &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Cathedrall</HI> Churches; why &s;o called 115. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Cen&s;uring</HI> of Preachers, and comparing one with another, condemned 692. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ceremonies;</HI> of their antiquity and u&s;e 80. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>They &s;hould differ from My&s;teries <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Not ha&s;tily to be condemned <HI>ibid.</HI> E</ITEM>
<ITEM>They are <HI>vehicula Religionis</HI> 300. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the Oppo&s;ers of them <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>How we are to love them 512. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not to be di&s;puted of by private men 575. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Changes</HI> of this world, how many 481. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of incon&s;tancy, and changing of minde 483. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Changes</HI> of &s;inne, how dangerous 543. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Children;</HI> of their love and duty to Parents 387 E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>CHRIST; he came of women noted in Scrip|ture for their incontinency 24. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>He came to &s;ave All 26. C. 70. C. 66. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Learning at the height, when hee was borne 72. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Whether hee was Man, whil&s;t in the Grave 157. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHRIST; his Death and Pa&s;&s;ion, how ne|ce&s;&s;ary, and how voluntary 7. D. 792. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Three remarkable Conjunctions at his Birth 11 B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The world how full with expectation of it 21. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHRIST &s;hed blood &s;even times here on earth 7. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>How effectually hee is pre&s;ent in the Sacra|ment 19. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>His Incarnation; no way &s;o proper to deliver us, as it 16. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>His Humane Nature adunited to the Divine, whether Impeccable 169. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The infinitne&s;&s;e of his merits rather placed in <HI>Pacto,</HI> than in <HI>Per&s;ona,</HI> by the Schoole 179. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The difference betweene his <HI>Dying,</HI> and other mens 272. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The &s;everall Here&s;ies concerning CHRIST 316. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>CHRIST dyed for all men 741. E. 742. A. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Church;</HI> the power of it, in applying Chri&s;t to eve|ry particular &s;oule 60. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The true <HI>Church,</HI> which 61 A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How &s;oone multiplied and enriched 72. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The ten Per&s;ecutions of it 184 B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Church,</HI> the ordinary place for knowledge and illumination of a Chri&s;tian 228. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Primitive <HI>Church;</HI> how the whole world was bent again&s;t it 602. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Church,</HI> a Pillar; and how 615. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>What a lo&s;&s;e it is to bee kept from Gods <HI>Church</HI> 664. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The care which God hath ever had of his <HI>Church</HI> 779. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Circle;</HI> the proper Hieroglyphick of God; and why 13. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Citation</HI> of Scripture; the words, much more the Chapter and ver&s;e, not alwayes ob&s;erved in it 250. C. 325. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Complements;</HI> of their abu&s;e and u&s;e 176. A. B. C. 412. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Comforts;</HI> how ea&s;ily we mi&s;take fal&s;e <HI>Comforts</HI> for true 279. E. 382. D. 383. A. B 501. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the true <HI>Comfort</HI> of the Holy Gho&s;t, 353. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that <HI>Comfort</HI> and con&s;olation, which the Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pell is to preach to all people 746. A. B C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Confe&s;&s;ion</HI> to the Prie&s;t, in &s;ome ca&s;es, u&s;efull and nece&s;&s;ary 558. A 568. A. 589. B. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>How nece&s;&s;ary to <HI>Confe&s;&s;e</HI> 569. D. 586. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Confidence;</HI> true <HI>Confidence</HI> proceeds onely from true goodne&s;&s;e 171. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Confirmation;</HI> whether a Sacrament 329. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>The u&s;e and benefit of it <HI>ibid.</HI> D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Continency;</HI> that trial not made as &s;hould be, whe|ther young people can <HI>Conteine</HI> from marriage 217. B C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Contrition, Confe&s;&s;ion,</HI> and <HI>Satisfaction,</HI> three parts of true Repentance 568. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Conventicles:</HI> again&s;t their private opinions 228. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t them 455. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>They are no Bodies 756. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Con&s;ideration</HI> of our &s;elves and our in&s;ufficiencies, how nece&s;&s;ary 44. D. 45. A. &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Con&s;titutions:</HI> No &s;ins to be layd and fathered upon them 90. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Corporations:</HI> how they have no &s;oules 99. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Covering</HI> of &s;innes, what good, and what bad 569. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>It is good to <HI>cover</HI> them from giving other men examples 570. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Coun&s;ell</HI> not to be given, unle&s;&s;e we love tho&s;e to whom we give it 93. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>How many mi&s;carry in that poynt <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Craft:</HI> and that cunning and <HI>Craft</HI> which men affect in their &s;everall Callings 411. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Creatures:</HI> how farre we may love the <HI>Creatures,</HI> and how farre not 398. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Curio&s;ity:</HI> again&s;t the exce&s;&s;e of it in matter of Knowledge 63. E. 64. A. 411. E. 563. B. 701. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Con&s;cience,</HI> obdurate, and over-tender; the effects of either 587. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Cur&s;es</HI> and Imprecations; whether we may u&s;e them 401. C. D. 555. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<PB REF="437">
<LIST>
<LABEL>D</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>DAmned:</HI> the con&s;ummation of their tor|ment, wherein it con&s;i&s;teth in the opinion of the Schoole 344. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>More &s;hall be &s;aved than <HI>damned</HI> 765. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the torments of the <HI>damned</HI> 776. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The ab&s;ence of God, the greate&s;t torment of the <HI>damned ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Day</HI> of Judgement: the manner of proceeding in it 140. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Fearefull, even to the be&s;t 200. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The certainty and uncertainty of it 271. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>To be had ever in remembrance, and why 371. B. 389. C. 392. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Death:</HI> how it may be de&s;ired of us, and how not 38. A. B. C. D. 148. B. C. 531. D.E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the ambition of it in the p&s;eudo|martyrs 142. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The word <HI>Forta&s;&s;e</HI> hath place in all things but <HI>Death</HI> 147. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>It is a law, a tribute, and a duty, and how 147. E. 148. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>We not to grudge if we dy &s;oon, or others live longer <HI>ibid.</HI> B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Death;</HI> how an enemy to mankinde, and how not <HI>ibid</HI> E</ITEM>
<ITEM>God made it not, but maketh u&s;e of it 188. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of undergoing <HI>Death</HI> for Chri&s;t 400. A, B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not a bani&s;hment to good men, but a vi&s;ita|tion of their friends 463. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Death;</HI> why &s;o terrible to the good men of former times 532. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The often contemplation of <HI>Death</HI> takes much from the feare of it 473. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Debts:</HI> of our <HI>Debts</HI> to God 87. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>To our neighbours 93. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>To our &s;uperiors 91. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>To our &s;elves 94. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Deceit</HI> and <HI>Deceiving:</HI> the mi&s;chiefe of it 742. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The law will not &s;uppo&s;e it either in a father or a ma&s;ter <HI>ibid.</HI> 42.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Decrees</HI> of God, to be con&s;idered only by the Execution 330. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>None ab&s;olute, con&s;idering man, before a Sinner 675. C. D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Departing</HI> from &s;inne; to be generall 552. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>We are not to retaine any one 568. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Deprecating</HI> of afflictions, whether or no law|full 504. B. C. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>De&s;peration:</HI> the &s;in of it greater and wor&s;e than that of pre&s;umption 398. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Severall &s;ects there have been; but never any of <HI>De&s;payring</HI> men 346. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t it 360. D E</ITEM>
<ITEM>God brings his &s;ervants to humiliation, often, but never to <HI>De&s;peration</HI> 464.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>De&s;troying;</HI> whether man may lawfully <HI>destroy</HI> any one hurtfull &s;pecies in the world 527. B 620. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>De vi&acirc;,</HI> the name of &s;uch as were Chri&s;tians in the former times; that is, <HI>men of that way,</HI> ac|cording to S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome</HI> 426. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Devils;</HI> capable of mercy, according to many of the Fathers 66. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The <HI>Devils</HI> quoting of Scripture 338. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Devotion;</HI> a &s;erious, &s;edulous, and impatient thing 244. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>It is good to accompany our &s;elves to a gene|rall <HI>Devotion</HI> 512 D</ITEM>
<ITEM>It mu&s;t be con&s;tant 586. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>And not taken up by chance <HI>ibid.</HI> C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Di&s;ciplining,</HI> and mortifying Acts, after God hath forgiven us our &s;innes, commended 546. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>They inferre neither Purgatory, nor Indul|gences, nor Satisfaction 547. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>They are &s;harp arrows from a &s;weet hand <HI>ib.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The nece&s;&s;ity of them, to make our Repentance entire 568. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Di&s;cretion,</HI> the mother and nur&s;e of all vertues 577. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>What <HI>Di&s;cretion</HI> is to be u&s;ed in telling people of their &s;innes <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Divi&s;ion,</HI> the fore-runner of de&s;truction 138. D.E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not alwayes unlawfull to &s;ow <HI>Divi&s;ion</HI> a|mong&s;t men, when they agree too well to ill purpo&s;es 493. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Doubting;</HI> the way to know the truth 322. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Duels;</HI> the inhumanity and &s;inne of them 5. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Duties</HI> of our calling not to be di&s;puted, but ex|ecuted 41. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of our generall weakne&s;&s;e and impotency in &s;pirituall <HI>Duties</HI> 513. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>E</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>EArly</HI> &s;eeking of God, what it is 245. C. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>God is an <HI>Early</HI> God 809. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>And we to &s;eeke him <HI>Early ibid.</HI> D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Eloquence</HI> required in the delivery of Gods Word 47. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Enemies;</HI> profit to be made of them 98. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>We come too &s;oone to the name, and then car|ry it too farre 98. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>God and Religion, both, have <HI>Enemies</HI> 375 D 703. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How we may, and how we may not hate our <HI>Enemies ibid.</HI> D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Our <HI>Enemies</HI> are Gods <HI>Enemies</HI> 704. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Errours</HI> in the way, almo&s;t as dangerous as <HI>Er|rours</HI> in the end 639. A. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Errours</HI> of the Fathers of the Church 490. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>About admini&s;tring the Sacrament to chil|dren; about the &s;tate of the &s;oule after death, &amp;c. 739. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not good for the Church to play with &s;mall <HI>Errours,</HI> and tolerate them, when &s;hee may as ea&s;ily redre&s;&s;e them 782. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>E&s;ay,</HI> rather an Evangeli&s;t, than a Prophet 54. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Evill;</HI> none from God 168. C. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Nothing is naturally <HI>Evill</HI> 171. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Example;</HI> in all our actions and purpo&s;es, wee to propo&s;e unto our &s;elves &s;ome patterne or <HI>Example</HI> 667. D.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Examples;</HI> what power they have in matter of in|&s;truction 572. D. 593. A
<PB REF="437">
<LIST>
<ITEM>What care is to be taken in making the inordi|nate acts of &s;ome Holy men in Scripture our <HI>Examples</HI> 155. C. D. 488. D. E. 489. A. 526. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>How farre <HI>Example</HI> works above precept or command 165. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of giving good <HI>Examples</HI> to others 420. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>God follows his own <HI>Examples</HI> 522. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of giving bad <HI>Examples</HI> unto other men 570. A. 573. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Excommunication;</HI> the u&s;e of it among&s;t the Druides and the Jewes 402. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Much tenderne&s;&s;e to be u&s;ed in <HI>excommuni|cating</HI> any from the Church 667. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How many men <HI>excommunicare</HI> them&s;elves without any Church-cen&s;ure <HI>ib.</HI> B. C. 418. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Expo&s;tulation</HI> with God, how without &s;in 44. B.
<LIST>
<ITEM>We may not excu&s;e the inordinatene&s;&s;e of all <HI>Expo&s;tulations</HI> of good men in the Scripture 132. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nor come neere that exce&s;&s;e which we finde in &s;ome of them 155. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that in the widdow of Zareptha 218. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Extortion</HI> 94. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Extremities</HI> in matters of opinion 42. A. B. &amp;c.
<LIST>
<ITEM>In Religion 326. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>F</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>FAith;</HI> again&s;t implicite <HI>Faith,</HI> 178. C. 411. C
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Faith</HI> and Rea&s;on, how contiguous they are 178. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Faith,</HI> how it is a&s;&s;i&s;ted by Rea&s;on 429. A. 612. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the imperfection that is in our <HI>Faith</HI> 818. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Faith</HI> and Works 78. E. 368. A. 567. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Our Workes more ours than our <HI>Faith</HI> 79. C. D. E. &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Faith</HI> of others, how profitable to us 105. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>And how not 106. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Men, not to deceive them&s;elves with thinking, that if they have <HI>Faith</HI> once, they &s;hall have it ever: or have enough 819. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fall;</HI> &s;inne is a <HI>fall;</HI> and how 186. D. 187. B. C. 462. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t impo&s;&s;ibility, of <HI>falling</HI> from grace received 240. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Fame</HI> and getting a good name; the nece&s;&s;ity of it 680. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fathers;</HI> of the power of life and death which they had over their owne children 388. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>How Je&s;uites &s;light the authority of the <HI>Fa|thers</HI> of the Church 489. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How they are to be followed 490. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Feare;</HI> of the <HI>Feare</HI> of God 386. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The difference between fearefullne&s;&s;e and <HI>Feare</HI> 387. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Servile and Filial <HI>Feare,</HI> both good 386. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Feare</HI> of God a ble&s;&s;ed di&s;ea&s;e 466. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>It con&s;titutes the be&s;t a&s;&s;urance 694. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not only a <HI>Feare,</HI> but even a terror of God may fall upon the be&s;t men 70. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fe&s;tivalls:</HI> the rea&s;on of their In&s;titution in the Church 298. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of applying particular Scriptures, to particu|lar <HI>Fe&s;tivalls</HI> 423. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Filiation;</HI> the markes of our &s;pirituall <HI>Filiation,</HI> le&s;&s;e &s;ubject to errour, than of our Temporall 338. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fa&s;ting;</HI> but thrice mentioned by <HI>David;</HI> and he thrice derided for it 535. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>The commendation, and u&s;e of it <HI>ibid.</HI> D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Finding</HI> of God; the &s;everall times of it 597. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Finding</HI> that which was lo&s;t 711. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The pa&s;&s;age of the U&s;her in S. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> that <HI>found</HI> a bag of money, and would not take &s;o much as the tithe of it 712. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fi&s;hers</HI> of men; the Apo&s;tles why &s;o called 734. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Flatterers;</HI> how men may <HI>flatter</HI> the be&s;t men, the very Angels, yea, and God him&s;elfe 332. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Foliantes,</HI> an Order in the Roman Church, who only feed on roots and leaves 731. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Following</HI> Chri&s;t; how we are to <HI>Follow,</HI> in belee|ving, and in doing 731. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Fore&s;peaking</HI> the Coun&s;els or Actions of the State 535. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Foretelling</HI> of death; the pa&s;&s;age of the Monks of S. <HI>&s;idorus</HI> Mona&s;tery, about it 473. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Forme</HI> of publike Prayer, u&s;ed among&s;t the ve|ry Gentiles 89. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>And they had a particular Officer, who made Prayers and Collects for them, upon emer|gent occa&s;ions <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Which were received every five years <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fortune</HI> and God; how they con&s;i&s;t together 711. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Freewill;</HI> the obliquities of it from whence 283. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>The power of it in our conver&s;ion 309. A. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Funerals;</HI> of the duties belonging to them 196. A. 198. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the &s;everall manner of them, among &s;eve|rall nations 198. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chri&s;tian <HI>Funerals,</HI> an evidence of Gods pre|&s;ence 826. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fulne&s;&s;e;</HI> how in Chri&s;t, and how in others of the Saints 3. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Three <HI>Fulne&s;&s;es</HI> in Chri&s;t, above others 4. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How <HI>Full</HI> all of us are of originall &s;in 2. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>How <HI>Full</HI> God is of mercy 12. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Fulne&s;&s;e</HI> without &s;atisfaction; and of &s;a|tisfaction without <HI>Fulne&s;&s;e</HI> 807. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Abraham</HI> why <HI>Full</HI> of yeares, and yet not &s;o old as <HI>Methu&s;alem ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Severall <HI>Fulne&s;&s;es ibid.</HI> E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>G</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>GEntiles,</HI> and their &s;alvation; how prone the Fathers were in beleeving of it 261. D. 763. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the power of naturall rea&s;on in them; and what many of the Fathers thought of it 314. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of their multiplicity of <HI>Gods</HI> 378. B. 484. D. 502. E</ITEM>
<PB REF="438">
<ITEM>They dur&s;t not call their Tutelar Gods by their names 608. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gentlene&s;&s;e,</HI> meekne&s;&s;e and mildene&s;&s;e; the pow|er of it, both upon man and God 409. E. 410. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Glad;</HI> God, whether he be <HI>Glad,</HI> that he is God 812. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Glorified</HI> bodies; their Endowments applyed to the &s;oule after her fir&s;t re&s;urrection 189. A. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gloria Patri,</HI> after every P&s;alme, how ancient 88. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Glory;</HI> again&s;t our feare of giving God too much <HI>Glory</HI> 58. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>No <HI>Glory</HI> to God in de&s;troying man only for his plea&s;ure 85. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Glory,</HI> what it is 88. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The light of <HI>Glory</HI> in heaven, what 231. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>All things we doe, mu&s;t be to the <HI>Glory</HI> of God 636. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the di&s;parity and degrees of <HI>Glory</HI> in the Kingdome of heaven 742. D. 743. A. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gluttony:</HI> the effects and mi&s;eries of it 579. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>God;</HI> not to be loved in con&s;ideration of the Temporall Ble&s;&s;ings he be&s;toweth upon us, but for him&s;elfe 750. C. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Foure wayes of knowing him 229. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>God,</HI> how pre&s;ent even in hell 226. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Seeing of <HI>God</HI> before us, in our actions, how nece&s;&s;ary 169. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>How we &s;ee him in a gla&s;&s;e 226. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>How we are enemies to <HI>God</HI> 65. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>All his wayes are goodne&s;&s;e 66. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Severall po&s;itions, motions, and tran&s;itions a&s;cribed to him 67. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How omnipre&s;ent, with the Ubiquetary and the Stancari&s;t 67. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Why he makes &s;ome poor, &amp; others rich 84. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Glories not in de&s;troying man, till he finde cau&s;e 85. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Propo&s;eth his glory to him&s;elfe, as the end of all his works 87. C. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>All our wealth and honour to be a&s;cribed to him 95. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Whether his E&s;&s;ence &s;hall be &s;eene in heaven 120. D. 230. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>No evill from him 168. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not the Author of &s;inne 368. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>To be reverenced as a Father 388. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the rea&s;on of many <HI>Gods</HI> among&s;t the Gentiles 484. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>God</HI> hates not any man, but as a finner 628. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>His mercy to all men 679. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The numberle&s;&s;e number of <HI>Gods</HI> Benefits unto man 765. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Our <HI>Goods;</HI> what care to be taken they be well gotten 83. A. 95. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>They are abu&s;ively called <HI>Goods</HI> 168. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Goodne&s;&s;e</HI> &s;peciall in God 167. E. 168. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Golden</HI> Crowns of the Saints, how forged in the Roman Church 743. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Go&s;pell;</HI> whether yet preached over all the world 363. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Why it is called in Scripture the <HI>Kingdome of God</HI> 472. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How compared to a net 736. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Grace;</HI> again&s;t irre&s;i&s;tible <HI>Grace</HI> 456. B
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Grace</HI> and Nature how they cooperate 649. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>No con&s;ummative <HI>Grace</HI> in this life 735. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Graduall</HI> P&s;almes; which, and why they are &s;o called 653. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Great men</HI> not alwayes good; and why 166. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>But when good, the more acceptable; and their ill the more pardonable <HI>ibid.</HI> B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The true end of <HI>Greatne&s;&s;e</HI> 321. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Great men;</HI> how dangerou&s;ly obnoxious to their own &s;ervants 551 A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gretzer</HI> the Je&s;uite, how injurious to the power of Kings, in matters of Religion 698. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>H</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>AGain&s;t making too much <HI>Ha&s;te,</HI> either in Temporall or Spirituall Riches 520. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hatred;</HI> how it may con&s;i&s;t with Charity 100 A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Health:</HI> Spirituall <HI>Health</HI> to be preferred before that of the Body 110. C. 755. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>What a Ble&s;&s;ing the Bodily <HI>Health</HI> is 754. A. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hearing</HI> the Word; again&s;t the neglect of it 331. A. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Hearing</HI> only 455. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Heart:</HI> no inward part of man a&s;cribed unto God, be&s;ide the <HI>Heart</HI> 64. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Heaven:</HI> the joyes of it 73. C. D. 223. A. B. C 266. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Glory 682. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Dotes</HI> or Endowments of the Saints of <HI>Heaven</HI> 266. B. 189. A. B. &amp;c. 824. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Here&s;ie:</HI> of the &s;everall <HI>Here&s;ies</HI> again&s;t the per|&s;on of Chri&s;t 316. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of that of the <HI>Photinians,</HI> and <HI>Nativitarians</HI> 344. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Heretiques:</HI> of &s;everall wayes of dealing with them 355. C. D. 356. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Hi&s;tory,</HI> and returning the memory of man to things that are pa&s;t and gone 290. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Holy Gho&s;t;</HI> not &s;o ea&s;ily apprehended by the light of Rea&s;on, as the other per&s;ons of the Trinity 318. C. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>In the <HI>Proce&s;&s;ion</HI> e&s;pecially; <HI>ibid.</HI> E. 327. A. B. C 335. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The manner how he works upon man 322. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Three branches of &s;ins again&s;t the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> in the Schoole 349. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Refu&s;ing of lawfull Authority, is &s;in again&s;t the <HI>Holy Ghost,</HI> in St. <HI>Bernards</HI> judgement 350. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The power of the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> in blowing where he li&s;ts 364. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>His operations in meere morall men 365. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>St. Paul beleeved of many to be the <HI>H. Gho&s;t</HI> 461. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> only Dogmaticall; the be&s;t men but Problematicall 658. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hope:</HI> how imperfect a Chri&s;tian mans <HI>Hope</HI> is 820. A</ITEM>
<PB REF="438">
<ITEM><HI>How;</HI> a hatefull and a damnable Mono&s;yllable 301. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Honour</HI> and Reputation, which &s;o many &s;tand upon, what it is 410. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Honey;</HI> what is meant by it in Scripture 712. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hospitalite;</HI> the commendation and benefit of it 414. D. E. 415. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hou&s;es</HI> of Progre&s;&s;e, and &s;tanding <HI>Hou&s;es</HI> for God; Heaven and the Church 747. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Humane</HI> learning; how nece&s;&s;ary to the making of a good Divine 562. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Hypocri&s;ie;</HI> the good u&s;e and benefit that may be made by it 297. E. 636. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the wicked practi&s;e of it 585. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>I</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>OF tho&s;e <HI>Idaeas</HI> which are in God 667. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Idlene&s;&s;e</HI> and lazine&s;&s;e, and taking of no Calling 45. D. 411. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Jehovah;</HI> the right pronouncing of that Name; the meanes whereby Chri&s;t did Miracles, ac|cording to the calumniating Jewes 502. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not pronounced till of late <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Je&s;uites;</HI> their uncharitablene&s;&s;e, even to their owne Authors, in defaming and di&s;gracing of them, though their betters 50. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The pride of their Denomination from <HI>Je&s;us</HI> 687. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>How boldly they depart from the Fathers and their Authority 740. B. C. 796. C D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Their pride in taking upon them the name of Fathers 798. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Je&s;us;</HI> of the name of <HI>Je&s;us</HI> 503. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>How S. <HI>Paul</HI> delights him&s;elfe in that Name 503. D. 688. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Jewes;</HI> not one of them in all the world a Souldier 5. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Their opinion of Chri&s;ts comming. 21. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Their impious cu&s;tome of anointing &s;uch as die, with the blood of a Chri&s;tian Infant <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ignorance;</HI> the &s;everall Divi&s;ions and &s;ubdivi&s;ions of it in the Schoole 287. B.
<LIST>
<ITEM>How full the mo&s;t knowing men are of it <HI>ibid.</HI> C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>A learned <HI>Ignorance,</HI> what 295. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the &s;everall <HI>Imperfections</HI> in our <HI>Faith,</HI> in our <HI>Hope,</HI> and in our <HI>Charity</HI> 819.820. A. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Imprecations,</HI> in Scripture, are often only Pro|phecies 401. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not allowed us D. but in &s;ome ca&s;es 555. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Impo&s;&s;ibility</HI> of Falling 240. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Incarnation;</HI> the my&s;tery of it 16. C. D. 395. E. 396. A. D E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Incon&s;ideration:</HI> the mi&s;eries of it. 246. D. E. 247. A. 296. E. 297. B. C. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>In ca&s;e of Zeale, the more pardonable. <HI>ib.</HI> B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Indignation</HI> for &s;inne, how great it ought to be. 542. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that <HI>Individuality</HI> wherein man is to bee con&s;idered. 710. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that <HI>Infallibility</HI> with which the Holy Gho&s;t propo&s;eth his Dictates in the &s;cripture, and how farre it is from that po&s;&s;ibility, pro|bability, and veri&s;imilitude of the Church of Rome 657. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Jnfidels:</HI> of their right unto the things of this world. 214. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Indulgencies:</HI> the vanity the Church of Rome was growne to, in preaching and extolling of them 773. B. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>The multiplicity of them 788. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Reformation aro&s;e from them <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Indulgencies;</HI> what they were in the Primitive Church 788. E.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Ingratitude</HI> for mercies and Diliveran|ces pa&s;t 88. B. 577. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Why &s;o &s;eldome condemned in the &s;cripture. 550. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Injuries:</HI> of patience in &s;uffering them 410. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Innovations:</HI> the difference between <HI>Innovations,</HI> and Renovations 735. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Inqui&s;ition:</HI> of torturing men in the Romi&s;h In|qui&s;ition: and the uncertainty of &s;uch kinde of Tryalls 194.195. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Intentions:</HI> the be&s;t mens be&s;t <HI>intentions,</HI> u&s;ually mi&s;con&s;trued 344. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>In&s;tinct:</HI> the difference between the Rea&s;on of Man, and the <HI>in&s;tinct</HI> of Bea&s;t: what it is; and wherein it con&s;i&s;teth 227. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Inward</HI> &s;peculations, <HI>inward</HI> zeale, <HI>inward</HI> prayer, are not full performances of a Chri&s;tian mans duty 700. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Jordan:</HI> the River Jordan, why &s;o called 718. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ioyes</HI> of Heaven: of their eternity 73. C. D 223. A. B. C. 266. A. 340. D. 747. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Heaven repre&s;ented in <HI>Joy</HI> and Glory 672. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Joy</HI> of the wicked, which they have in this world, counterfeit 635. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Joy</HI> of the godly, which they have in this world 671. E. 672. &amp;c. 673. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Cheerefulne&s;&s;e and <HI>Joy</HI> commended 816. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Judging</HI> of other men condemned 128. D. 479. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>In doubtfull ca&s;es we are ever to encline to|wards Charity 164. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>There may be &s;inne in a charitable <HI>Iudging</HI> of &s;ome holy mens Actions 488. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Judgement;</HI> of the day of <HI>Judgement,</HI> and the un|certainty thereof 271. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Gods <HI>Judgements</HI> have not exactly the name of Puni&s;hments. 544. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How unwilling God is to &s;peak of, or to come to <HI>Judgement</HI> 676. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ju&s;tificare,</HI> to <HI>Ju&s;tifie;</HI> taken three &s;everall wayes 366. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Neither Works nor Faith the cau&s;e of our <HI>Ju|&s;tification</HI> 367. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>K</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>KIngs;</HI> the be&s;t forme of Government by <HI>Kings</HI> 51. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Our duty and debt unto them 91. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Releiving of them, more nece&s;&s;ary than giving of Almes 92. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>What Humility and Reverence in Subjects is due unto them <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM>And afforded in the very Scripture <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<PB REF="439">
<ITEM>Not only their &s;ub&s;tantiall, but their circum|&s;tantiall and ceremoniall wants, to be preven|ted by the Subjects Giving 100. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Their Crowne of Thornes 137. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Kings;</HI> a particular ordinance of God, and no|thing re&s;ulting out of the tacite con&s;ent of the people 391. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>King</HI> to in&s;titute and order matters in the publique &s;ervice of God 698. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>He is Keeper of both the Tables D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t tho&s;e di&s;loyall jealou&s;ies and &s;u&s;pici|ons, which the people have of the <HI>King,</HI> and of his affection to Religion 699. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>In matters of favour, the <HI>King</HI> is one of the people, &s;aith the Law 754. C. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ki&s;&s;es;</HI> of their treacherous, carnall, and &s;acred u&s;es 405.406. A. B. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>U&s;ed of Kinsfolkes 407. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>As a Recognition of Power D</ITEM>
<ITEM>In comming and going E</ITEM>
<ITEM>In religious reverence E</ITEM>
<ITEM>In &s;igne of concord 408. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Kneeling;</HI> the nece&s;&s;itie of it, in the time of prayer 72. E. 73. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Kneeling</HI> at the Sacrament 115. D. 116. A. B.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Knowledge</HI> of Fundamentals, every man is bound to have; but not of the &s;uper&s;tructure and &s;u|peredification 807. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>How Imperfect all our <HI>Knowledge</HI> is, in Arts and Sciences 818. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Knowledge;</HI> again&s;t over-much curio&s;ity, in attai|ning to it 63. E. 308. C. 319. A. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Whether wee &s;hall <HI>Know</HI> one another in the next world 157. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of &s;obriety in <HI>Knowledge</HI> 270. C. 701. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Knowing</HI> of our &s;elves, how hard a thing it is 563. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Knowing</HI> of God; foure ordinary wayes of it in the Schooles 229. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>L</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>LAbour;</HI> three-fold <HI>Labour</HI> in the Scripture 538. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Law</HI> and the <HI>Gospell;</HI> of the &s;everall &s;tate of ei|ther 284. E. 285. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Law</HI> of Nature, under which every man is 362. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How the <HI>Law</HI> is &s;aid to &s;hew what is &s;inne 687. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Lawes</HI> of Temporall Princes; whether or no they binde the con&s;cience of the Subject; wherefore never &s;tated by the Pope, or by any Councell 741. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Liberality</HI> and Bounty, Civill and Spirituall, what 759. E
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Liberality,</HI> a vertue that begets a vertue <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The true body and true &s;oule of <HI>Liberalitie,</HI> what it is 760. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Life,</HI> the excellencie of it 69. D. E. 70. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>All that is good, included in it. 70. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Light,</HI> the fir&s;t creature 759. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Literae Formatae,</HI> in the Primitive Church, their In&s;titution and u&s;e 415. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Lord;</HI> whether God could be called the <HI>Lord</HI> be|fore there were any creatures, a di&s;putable thing 757. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Judgement of <HI>Tertullian</HI> and S. <HI>Augu|&s;tine,</HI> either way <HI>ibid.</HI> B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Love,</HI> the fir&s;t Act of the Will 225. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>How we may <HI>love</HI> the creatures 398. E 598. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the <HI>Love</HI> of the things of this world 187. C. 399. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t loving of God, for the Temporall ble&s;&s;ings he be&s;towes upon us 750. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Loving</HI> our enemies; &s;ix degrees ob&s;erved in it 97. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Lu&s;t</HI> and Licentiou&s;ne&s;&s;e; the burdens that it makes men under goe 623. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Lying;</HI> whether it be lawfull before one that is no competent Judge 491. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>M</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Macchabees;</HI> their torture and patience 221. E. 222. A. B. C. &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Man;</HI> what <HI>Man</HI> is 64. D. E. 65. A. &amp;c.
<LIST>
<ITEM>The dignitie and honour of <HI>Man</HI> 655. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Hee cannot deliberately wi&s;h him&s;elfe an Angel; for, he &s;hould lo&s;e thereby <HI>ibid.</HI> E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of tho&s;e helps and a&s;&s;i&s;tances which <HI>Man</HI> affords to <HI>Man</HI> 656. D. E. &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Man</HI> is called <HI>every creature</HI> in Scripture, and why 770. C. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mary;</HI> the Crownes of England, Scotland, Den|mark, and Hungary, much about one time, fell upon women, who&s;e name was <HI>Mary</HI> 243. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>It is a noble and a comprehen&s;ive name, and why 244. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Marriage;</HI> of &s;econd <HI>Marriages</HI> 216. D. E. &amp;c,</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Masters;</HI> of that e&s;teeme and regard is to bee had to &s;uch as have taught us, or have beene our <HI>Ma&s;ters</HI> 288. E. 289. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>why called <HI>Patres-familias</HI> 388. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mediocrity</HI> of E&s;tate; the commendation of it 661. A. B. &amp;c. 685. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Orders in the Church of Rome from both ex|tremes; but not one from the <HI>Meane</HI> 661. B.</ITEM>
<ITEM>What is a <HI>Mediocrity</HI> to one, is not, nor ought to be to another 714. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Memory;</HI> the Holy Gho&s;ts pulpit oftner than the <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding</HI> 290. B. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the &s;infull <HI>Memory</HI> of pa&s;t &s;ins, how dan|gerous it is 542. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mercie</HI> of God, how much above his judge|ments 12. B. 67. A. 71. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>How full God is of it. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Occa&s;ionall <HI>Mercies,</HI> what, and how many D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Devils capable of <HI>Mercy,</HI> in the judge|ment of many Fathers. 66. A. 262. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The proper difference betweene <HI>Mercy</HI> and <HI>Truth</HI> 530. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t tho&s;e that abridge the great volume of Gods <HI>Mercies</HI> 568. E</ITEM>
<PB REF="439">
<ITEM>Of &s;everall <HI>Mercies</HI> and refre&s;hments, which are none of Gods 810. E. 811. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>God can doe nothing but in <HI>Mercy</HI> 811. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Merits</HI> fore&s;eene; no cau&s;e of Graces in us 5. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Millenarii;</HI> their errour, what, and how gene|rall: almo&s;t all the Fathers tainted with it 261. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Miracles;</HI> again&s;t multiplying of them in the Roman Chuch 36. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mirabilis,</HI> or, the man that workes <HI>Miracles;</HI> the fir&s;t of tho&s;e great names given to Chri&s;t, by the Prophet E&s;ay 58. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Nothing dearer to God, than a <HI>Miracle</HI> 215. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>They are his owne Prerogative <HI>ibid.</HI> B</ITEM>
<ITEM>It is more to change Nature by <HI>Miracles,</HI> than to make Nature 394. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>No man to ground his Faith upon a <HI>Miracle,</HI> as it &s;eemes to him. 429. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How to judge of <HI>Miracles,</HI> whether they bee true or fal&s;e 429. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Dangerous putting of God to a <HI>Miracle</HI> in &s;a|ving us 456. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>What is properly a <HI>Miracle</HI> 683. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Creation it &s;elfe, none <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Monuments;</HI> not in Churches, in the Primitive times 730 D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mortification;</HI> outward <HI>Mortification</HI> and au&s;te|rity, a &s;pecious thing 492. E
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Mortification,</HI> to be generall, of all the parts, and not of one onely 541. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mo&s;&s;elim;</HI> a kind of Doctors among&s;t the Jewes, that taught the people by parables and ob&s;cure &s;ayings 690. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Multitude;</HI> of their levity, judgement, and changing of opinions 482. B. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Murmuring</HI> at Gods ble&s;&s;ings, if they be not as great as we de&s;ire 576. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Mute;</HI> again&s;t &s;tanding <HI>Mute,</HI> at examinati|ons 491. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>My&s;teries;</HI> of two kinds in the Schooles 203. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Every Religion under heaven, hath had her <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> and &s;ome things in-intelligible of all &s;orts of men 690. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>N</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>NAmes</HI> and Titles; nothing puffeth men up more 734. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Heathen never called their Tutelar Gods by their <HI>Names,</HI> and why 608. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of getting a good <HI>Name</HI> among&s;t men, and again&s;t tho&s;e that neglect it 680. A. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of mens retaining tho&s;e <HI>Names</HI> that are mo&s;t acceptable 285. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Name</HI> of Chri&s;tian, and when it was given, and how 426. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Adam <HI>named</HI> all creatures but him&s;elfe, and why 563. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Natalitia Martyrum;</HI> their dayes of &s;uffering &s;o called, and why 268. C. 461. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nativities;</HI> three <HI>Nativities</HI> to every Chri&s;tian, and which they are 424. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nature;</HI> of that &s;ight, which wee have of God, even by the light of <HI>Nature</HI> 227. B. 686. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of that power which &s;ome of the Fathers at|tribute to <HI>Nature,</HI> without Grace 314. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Men doe not halfe &s;o much again&s;t &s;in, as even by the power of <HI>Nature</HI> they are able to doe 315. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the te&s;timony which a <HI>Naturall</HI> &s;oule gives unto it &s;elfe of it &s;elfe 337. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nature</HI> not equivalent to Grace 649 A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nature</HI> not our owne. <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nature</HI> and Grace how they co-operate <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Neighbour-hood,</HI> and evill <HI>Neighbour-hood,</HI> and communicating with evill men 420. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Noctambulones;</HI> men that walk in their &s;leep, wake if they be called by their <HI>Names</HI> 467. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Nothing;</HI> there is nothing more contrary to God, than to be, to doe, or to thinke <HI>Nothing</HI> 265. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Devill him&s;elfe, cannot wi&s;h him&s;elfe de|liberately to be nothing C</ITEM>
<ITEM>An Order of Friars in the Roman Church; that, in humilitie, called them&s;elves Nullanos or Nothings 731. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Numberle&s;&s;e number</HI> of Gods benefits to Man. 765. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>O</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>OCca&s;ionall</HI> in&s;truments of Gods glory; what cold affections they meet with in the world among&s;t men di&s;affected to Gods cau&s;e 154. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Occa&s;ionall,</HI> mercies offered; what, and how ma|ny 12. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Occa&s;ionall</HI> Convertites; who 461. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>God, no <HI>Occa&s;ionall</HI> God, and why 586. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Devotion no <HI>Occa&s;ionall</HI> thing, and why 244. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>A great di&s;ea&s;e both in Church and State, that <HI>Occa&s;ionall</HI> things have diverted the principall, and hindered them from being done 797. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Often contemplation</HI> of death takes much from the feare of it 473. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Old;</HI> again&s;t growing <HI>old</HI> in &s;inne 543. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Opinion;</HI> in a middle &s;tation between ignorance and knowledge 354. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Fooli&s;h and fanta&s;ticall <HI>Opinions</HI> &s;hould not &s;o much as be di&s;puted again&s;t <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of gayning a good <HI>Opinion</HI> among&s;t men 481. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Oppre&s;&s;ion;</HI> again&s;t <HI>Oppre&s;&s;ion</HI> and Extortion 94. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Originall &s;in;</HI> how full we are of it 2. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>It is a Naturall poy&s;on in us; and how it workes 313. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Gentiles, how purged of <HI>Originall &s;in;</HI> in the judgement of &s;ome Romani&s;ts 314. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>How <HI>Originall &s;in</HI> is voluntarie in us 363. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>O&s;traci&s;me</HI> among&s;t the Athenians what 479. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>P</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>PAinting</HI> and adorning of them&s;elves; how u&s;ed, how abu&s;ed of men and women 196. B. C. 541. C. 714. A
<PB REF="440">
<LIST>
<ITEM>The limits of it, not &s;o narrow as &s;ome con|ceive them 643. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Parents;</HI> the honour due unto them 217. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Patience;</HI> in &s;uffering of injuries; the power and benefit of it 410. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Peace;</HI> the con&s;ideration and the benefit of it 145. E. 146. A. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The loveline&s;&s;e and amiablene&s;&s;e of it con&s;ide|red 753. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Peace</HI> and plenty <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Penance;</HI> different <HI>Penances</HI> upon different &s;innes; yet practi&s;ed in our Church 402. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Publick <HI>Penances</HI> in the Primitive Church, and why 545. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>No &s;atisfaction to Gods ju&s;tice in them 544 B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>How to under&s;tand the Fathers, enclining that way 545. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Perplexities;</HI> of the &s;everall kinds of them 606. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Per&s;ecution</HI> of the Primitive Church de&s;cribed 185. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Perfect;</HI> there is nothing in the world <HI>perfect;</HI> no, not in &s;pirituall things 817. D. 818. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Per&s;evering;</HI> and not tru&s;ting to our former goodnes 165. C. D. 303. A. B. 331. A. 547. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Petali&s;me</HI> among&s;t the Syracu&s;ians, what it was 479. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>S. <HI>Peters</HI> being at Rome; how believed, and how not 404. E. 733. E. 744. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>S. <HI>Peter</HI> and S. <HI>Paul,</HI> how magnified by S. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tome.</HI> 462. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Philo&s;ophers;</HI> what knowledge many of them had of Chri&s;t 68. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pilgrimages;</HI> how they begun, and grew on in the Church of Rome 252. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The abu&s;es of them, taxed by the Romani&s;ts them&s;elves <HI>ibid.</HI> C</ITEM>
<ITEM>And by &s;undry Fathers <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Places Con&s;ecrated;</HI> of their honour &amp; u&s;e 251. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t being over-homely, and over-fellow|ly with God and them 691. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Place</HI> and <HI>Precedency;</HI> the fond contentions a|bout it 730. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>E&s;pecially among&s;t the &s;everall Orders of Friars, who all pretend to the mo&s;t humble Names that can be 731. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the &s;inne of <HI>night-Pollutions;</HI> 129. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Popularity;</HI> the &s;inne and danger of it 482. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>The vanitie of it 660. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Poverty</HI> and <HI>Riches;</HI> which occa&s;ioneth mo&s;t &s;innes 658. D. 659. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>What kind of <HI>Poverty</HI> is a ble&s;&s;ing 728. D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Power;</HI> of that <HI>Power</HI> that is in us to di&s;cerne our owne Actions and a&s;&s;i&s;t our &s;elves in our own Salvation 118. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prayer</HI> for the dead; no precept, no example of it in the Law, or Go&s;pel 780. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Fir&s;t u&s;ed of the Gentiles: and of them taken up by the Jewes <HI>ibid.</HI> B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Then of the Chri&s;tians; and how <HI>ibid.</HI> D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Why the Fathers did not oppo&s;e the practi&s;e of it. 780. D. E. 781. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Turtullian</HI> the fir&s;t that tooke knowledge of it. 781. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Aerius</HI> did oppo&s;e it: but not harkened to, and why 781. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How farre allowed by <HI>Epiphanius. ibid.</HI> D.</ITEM>
<ITEM>What the Fathers meant by <HI>Praying</HI> for the dead, out of <HI>Dennis</HI> the Areopagite 735. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>which is allowed by the Apologie for the Confe&s;&s;ion of Au&s;pourg 786. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prayer:</HI> A &s;et forme of <HI>Prayer</HI> u&s;ed of the Gen|tiles 689. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The Office of <HI>Conditor precum,</HI> what it was <HI>ib.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Their <HI>Prayers</HI> received every five yeares <HI>ibid.</HI> A. 771. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prayer;</HI> how wee may <HI>Pray</HI> earne&s;tly, and yet wait the Lords lei&s;ure 34. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Prayer</HI> at home, and at Church 35. C.&amp;c. 90. B. 264. E. 370. B. 688. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Un&s;ea&s;onable <HI>Prayers</HI> not accepted of God 50. E. 521. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prayers</HI> to be &s;aid kneeling 72. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prayer</HI> and Preaching 89. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>ex tempore Prayers</HI> 90. C. 130. C. 668. B. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>And <HI>Praying</HI> to &s;everall Saints, for &s;everall things 90. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>What <HI>Prayer</HI> is properly called <HI>Ours,</HI> 130. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The condition of pure <HI>Prayer</HI> 131. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Not alwayes heard of God, and why 133. B. C. 553. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t fa&s;hionall and cu&s;tomary <HI>Prayer</HI> 512. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the importunity, impudency, and violence of <HI>Prayer</HI> 522. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t incogitancy in <HI>Prayer</HI> 555. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t irreverence in Gods Hou&s;e, in the time of <HI>Prayer</HI> 692. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the &s;everall errours that are ea&s;ily commit|ted, and doe all fru&s;trate our <HI>Prayers</HI> 692. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The duties and dignities of <HI>Prayer</HI> 804. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Repeating the &s;ame <HI>Prayer</HI> often, no idle thing 812 B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of tho&s;e di&s;tractions which the be&s;t of us have in <HI>Prayer</HI> 820. B. C.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the abu&s;es of <HI>Prayer</HI> in the Church of Rome <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>We are to de&s;cend to particulars in our <HI>Pray|ers</HI> 822. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that fervency and importunity which is required in our <HI>Prayers ibid.</HI> B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prai&s;e</HI> and thank&s;giving; all our Religion is no|thing el&s;e 88. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>The nece&s;&s;ity and benefit of it <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of &s;uch <HI>Prai&s;e</HI> as is due to the good actions of men 167 A. B. C. &amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prai&s;e,</HI> what it is 679. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>That it may be fought of good men <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prai&s;e</HI> to be directed upon three Objects 680. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>We may <HI>Prai&s;e,</HI> and yet not flatter D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Praying</HI> and <HI>Prai&s;ing</HI> 804. C. 805. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Preaching</HI> and <HI>Praying;</HI> the benefit and u&s;e of either 689. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Preaching,</HI> more frequent in the Primitive Times than now; and good rea&s;on why 324. C
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Preaching</HI> often <HI>ex tempore;</HI> and <HI>Preaching</HI> of other mens <HI>Sermons,</HI> ordinary <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the &s;odaine extemporall <HI>Preaching</HI> of this time 325. A</ITEM>
<PB REF="440">
<ITEM>Some points of Divinity not fit to bee <HI>Prea|ched</HI> 561. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>In what &s;en&s;e it is good for a man to <HI>Preach</HI> him|&s;elfe 574. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t popular <HI>Preaching</HI> 660. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of Abu&s;es offered to <HI>Preaching</HI> 693. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The &s;everall Names of <HI>Preaching</HI> 758. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>No re&s;emblance of <HI>Preaching</HI> among&s;t the Gen|tiles 771. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prei&s;thood;</HI> the honour and dignitie of it 32. D 391 D.E
<LIST>
<ITEM>That, the particular way of ennobling men a|mong&s;t the Jewes <HI>ibid.</HI> 32. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> to be &s;ent for before the Phy&s;itian 110. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>In extraordinary ca&s;es, above the King; but not otherwi&s;e 396. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Egyptian Kings killed them&s;elves, when the <HI>Prie&s;t</HI> bid them 485. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Pretences</HI> and coverings, and excu&s;es which we find out for our &s;innes 570. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Pride</HI> 65. A
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Pride</HI> the fir&s;t &s;in of the Angels 622. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>All <HI>Pride</HI> is not forbidden Man <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM>What is not <HI>Pride</HI> 623. B. 727. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>How early a &s;in <HI>Pride</HI> is 726. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nothing &s;o contrary to God as <HI>Pride</HI> is 727. E 728. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Prodigalitie</HI> 94. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that <HI>Progre&s;&s;e</HI> which a man is to make, be he never &s;o learned or religious 427. B. C. D. 616. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Promi&s;es;</HI> the difference betweene the <HI>Promi&s;es</HI> of the Me&s;&s;ias, and the Performance of them, by Chri&s;ts comming in the Fle&s;h 68. B. 406. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prophet;</HI> no vi&s;ible calling to the Office of a <HI>Pro|phet</HI> 54. D.
<LIST>
<ITEM>The promi&s;es of God in the <HI>Prophets,</HI> how diffe|rent from tho&s;e in the Go&s;pel 40. E. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>This a &s;editious inference; the <HI>Prophets</HI> did thus and thus in the Law: therefore the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel &s;hould doe &s;o likewi&s;e; and why 734. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>P&s;almes;</HI> The Booke of <HI>P&s;almes;</HI> the dignity and vertue of it 653. D.E
<LIST>
<ITEM>They are the Manna of the Church 663. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Such forbid to bee made <HI>Prie&s;ts,</HI> that were not perfect in the <HI>P&s;almes</HI> 813. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Singing of the <HI>P&s;almes;</HI> how generall and com|mendable in S. <HI>Hieromes</HI> times <HI>ibid.</HI> B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Purgatorie;</HI> none in the old Te&s;tament, and why, 783. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>How derived from Poets and Philo&s;ophers, to Fathers 784. A. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How &s;u&s;pitiou&s;ly and doubtfully the Fathers &s;peak of it <HI>bid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>&s;pecially, S <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> 786. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Bellarmine</HI> refuted about it 792.793</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>Q</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>QVestions</HI> ari&s;ing, taken away by Silencing of both parties 42. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t curio&s;ity in &s;eeking after them 57. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>There is alwaies Divinity enough to &s;ave a &s;oule that was never called into <HI>Que&s;tion</HI> 745. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How peevi&s;h &s;ome Romi&s;h Authors doe deto<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="pdcc" EXTENT="1 letter">t the Scripture, when they fall upon any <HI>Que&s;tion,</HI> or Controver&s;ie; though otherwi&s;e they content them&s;elves with the true meaning and &s;en&s;e of the &s;ame words 790. E. 791. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Quomodo;</HI> to <HI>Que&s;tion how</HI> God doth this or that, dangerous 301. E. 367. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>R</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>REa&s;on,</HI> not to be enquired after, in all points of Faith 23. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> not convincing, never to be proffered for to prove Articles of Faith 205. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>God u&s;eth to accompany tho&s;e Duties which hee commands, with <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> to enduce us to the per|formance of them 593. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Reconciliation,</HI> how little among&s;t the Papi&s;ts 10. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>All Nations under heaven, have acknowledged &s;ome meanes of <HI>Reconciliation</HI> to their offended gods, in the remi&s;&s;ion of their &s;innes 564. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Religion:</HI> again&s;t &s;uch as damnifie <HI>Religion</HI> by their outward profe&s;&s;ion, more, than if they did for|&s;ake it 757. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Every <HI>Religion</HI> had her my&s;teries, her Re&s;ervati|ons and in-intelligiblene&s;&s;e, which were not ea|&s;ily under&s;tood of all men 690. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>And therefore <HI>Religion</HI> not to be made too home|ly and cour&s;e a thing <HI>ibid.</HI> C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chri&s;tian <HI>Religion,</HI> an ea&s;ie yoke; a &s;hort and contracted burden 71. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>All points of <HI>Religion</HI> not to bee divulged to the people 87. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Defects in <HI>Religion,</HI> &s;afer than &s;uperfluities 291. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of peaceable conver&s;ation with men of divers <HI>Religions</HI> 310. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Wee, charged to have but a negative <HI>Religion</HI> 636. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Religion;</HI> how farre we may proceed in the out|ward declaration of our <HI>Religion</HI> 814. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Re&s;urrection;</HI> of three &s;orts 149. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of that from per&s;ecution 185. B. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that from Sinne 186. D. E.&amp;c</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that from Death 189. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>How, a <HI>Re&s;urrection</HI> of the &s;oule; being the &s;oule cannot die 189. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Chri&s;t; how the Fir&s;t <HI>Re&s;urrection</HI> 191. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Our <HI>Re&s;urrection,</HI> a my&s;tery 204. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Re&s;urrection;</HI> All Religions among&s;t the Hea|thens, had &s;ome Impre&s;&s;ions of it 800. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Retrospection</HI> or looking upon time pa&s;t, the be&s;t rule to judge of the future 668. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Reverence;</HI> how much due to men of old Age 31. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>What <HI>Required</HI> in Gods Hou&s;e 43. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Revelations;</HI> wee are not to hearken after them 238 E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Nor yet, to binde God from them 239. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Rewards;</HI> again&s;t bribery, or receiving of <HI>Rewards</HI> 389. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>God fir&s;t propo&s;es to him&s;elfe per&s;ons to be <HI>Re|warded</HI> or condemned, before he thinks of their condemnation or their <HI>Reward</HI> 674. B. 675. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Riches;</HI> the cau&s;e of le&s;&s;e &s;inne than poverty 658. D
<PB REF="441">
<LIST>
<ITEM>E&s;pecially, con&s;idered in the highe&s;t degree, and in the lowe&s;t; that is, abundant <HI>Riches,</HI> and extreme beggerly poverty 659. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the perver&s;e de&s;ire of <HI>Riches.</HI> 728. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Riches,</HI> S. <HI>Chry&s;ostome</HI> calls the parents of ab&s;ur|dities; and why 729. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Remane</HI> Church, a true Church; as the Pe&s;t hou&s;e, is a hou&s;e 606. A. 621. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Rome;</HI> the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> the better for reforma|mation 621. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>They doe charge us that we have but a negative Religion 636. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Why they &s;o much under-value the Scripture; and yet endevour to bring bookes of other Au|thors into that ranke, as the Macchabees and &s;uch like 738. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Rome</HI> it &s;elfe, how it hath beene handled ever by Catholikes in their bloody warres 779. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Almo&s;t all the Controver&s;ies between <HI>Rome</HI> and the Chri&s;tian world, are matters of profit 791. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Rule</HI> and <HI>Example;</HI> the two onely wayes of Tea|ching 571. E. 668. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The onely <HI>Rule</HI> of doctrine, the Scripture and Word of God 738. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>S</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM>THe <HI>Sabbath;</HI> a Ceremoniall Law 92. C
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Sacrament;</HI> how effectually Chri&s;t is pre&s;ent in it 19. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of preparing our &s;elves to the worthy recei|ving of it 32. A.&amp;c. 33. A.&amp;c.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t Super&s;tition and Prophane&s;&s;e too, in the comming to it 34. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of Chri&s;ts reall pre&s;ence in it 36. D. 37. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>That which we receive in the <HI>Sacrament,</HI> to bee Adored 693. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t unworthy receiving of it 693. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of both extremes about Chr&s;ts pre&s;ence in the <HI>Sacrament</HI> 821. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Saints;</HI> again&s;t praying to them 90. D. 378. D. 595. A. 744. A. 757. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>The <HI>Saints</HI> in heaven pray for us 106. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Why they mu&s;t not pray to <HI>Saints</HI> in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> upon good Friday, Ea&s;ter, and Whit|&s;unday 485. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Whether they enjoy degrees of Glory in hea|ven 742. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Salvation;</HI> of the generall po&s;&s;ibility of <HI>Salvation</HI> for all men 66. B. 330. A. B. 742. B. C. D.
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not to be a&s;cribed to our Workes 107. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nor to our Faith <HI>ibid.</HI> E</ITEM>
<ITEM>More that are <HI>Saved,</HI> than that are damned 241. A. 259. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The impo&s;&s;ibility of <HI>Salvation</HI> to any man before hee was a man, a di&s;comfortable doctrine 278. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of that certaintie of <HI>Salvation,</HI> which is taught of &s;ome in the Roman Church; and how farre we are from it 339. D. E. 340. A. 608. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Salvation</HI> offered to all men, and in earne&s;t 742. A. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Saviour;</HI> the name of <HI>Saviour</HI> attributed to others be&s;ide Chri&s;t 528. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Scriptures;</HI> the mo&s;t eloquent Books that are 47. E 556. E. 557. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>foure Elements of the right expo&s;ition and &s;en&s;e of <HI>Scripture</HI> 305. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Moderation in reading of them 323. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Scripures</HI> the only rule of Doctrine 738. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Secrecy</HI> in Confe&s;&s;ion, commended; but in ca&s;e of di&s;loyaltie 92. E. 575. E
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Seeing</HI> of God in our Actions, how nece&s;&s;ary 169. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Selfe-Sub&s;i&s;tence,</HI> or &s;tanding of our &s;elves 240. A. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Selfe-Love</HI> 156. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sermons;</HI> how loth the Fathers were to lacke com|pany at them 48. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of preaching the &s;ame <HI>Sermons</HI> twice 114. C 250. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>The danger of hearing <HI>Sermons</HI> without practi|&s;ing 455. C. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sighing</HI> for &s;inne; the benefit of it 537. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sight;</HI> the noble&s;t of the &s;ences; and all the &s;ences 225. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Signe</HI> of the Cro&s;&s;e; wherefore u&s;ed in the Prima|tive times 538. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>And why by us, in bapti&s;me <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Signes,</HI> how they may be &s;ought after, and how not 15. B. C. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Shame</HI> for &s;inne; a good &s;igne 557. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>To be voice-proofe, not afraid nor <HI>A&s;hamed</HI> of what the World &s;ayes of a Man, an ill &s;igne of a Spirituall obduration in &s;inne 589. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Silence;</HI> the &s;everall &s;orts of it; <HI>Silence</HI> of Reverence 575. C
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Silence</HI> of &s;ubjection <HI>ibid.</HI> D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Silence</HI> which is good 576. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Silence</HI> which is bad 577. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Good to be <HI>Silent</HI> &s;ometimes, even in good things; and when 576. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Simple-men</HI> of this world; why cho&s;en for Chri&s;ts Apo&s;tles 719. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Singular;</HI> Gods &s;peakes of things of grace in the <HI>Singular:</HI> but of heavie things in the plurall num|ber, ever 711. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Single</HI> in&s;tances; no &s;afe concluding from them 460. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Neither in the ca&s;e of the Thiefe on the Cro&s;&s;e, nor S. <HI>Paul</HI> 461. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Singularity;</HI> not ground enough to condemne every opinion 234. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Singularity</HI> 51. D. 177. C. 573. D. 722. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of a <HI>Single</HI> te&s;timony 234. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sinne;</HI> the cau&s;e of all &s;ickne&s;&s;es 109. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>Little light and cu&s;tomarie <HI>Sinnes,</HI> how dange|rous 117. B. 164. C. D. 585. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>All <HI>Sin</HI> is from our &s;elves: not from any thing in God 118. A. 330. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Sin</HI> of the Heart, the greate&s;t of all Sin, and why 140. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>How well &s;ome Men husband their <HI>Sin</HI> 147. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>That it is good for men to fall into &s;ome <HI>Sinnes</HI> 171. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sinne</HI> is a fall, and how 186. D. 187. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Whether it have <HI>rationem demeriti,</HI> and may properly offend God 342. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sinne,</HI> not meerly nothing 342. E</ITEM>
<PB REF="441">
<ITEM>Not &s;o much of any thing as of <HI>Sinne</HI> 343. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How &s;oone <HI>Sinne</HI> is followed of Repentance 540. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>How <HI>Sinne</HI> ri&s;es by little and little, in us 585. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>&s;itting</HI> in the time of Divine Service 72. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Socinians;</HI> their mon&s;trous opinions 317. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>And nicknaming of <HI>Athana&s;ius Sathana&s;ius</HI> 654. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t the growth of that pe&s;tilent Here&s;ie of <HI>Sociniani&s;me</HI> 821. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Sorrow</HI> for the dead; how lawfull 157. C. D. E. 822. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the end le&s;&s;e <HI>Sorrow</HI> of the wicked 632. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>No communication of their <HI>Sorrow</HI> 634. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Soule;</HI> of the mi&s;eries of it in the body 190. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the lazine&s;&s;e of the <HI>Soule</HI> in the di&s;qui&s;ition of any Divine Truths 190. B C</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of her excellency of knowledge in the next world <HI>ibid.</HI> C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of bending the <HI>Soule</HI> up to her proper height, and putting of her home 483. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Soule</HI> and <HI>Spirit;</HI> what the Fathers under&s;tand by them in Scripture 517. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Subjects,</HI> how to looke upon the faults and errors of their Governors 13. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>How reverent to be towards their Princes 92. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Supererogation;</HI> again&s;t Workes of <HI>Supererogati|on:</HI> and of the fondne&s;&s;e of them 390. C 494. E. 495. A. 547. C. 732. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Super&s;tition</HI> better than Prophane&s;&s;e, and why 69. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>The danger of it to be prevented, but how 485. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Supplications;</HI> how they differ from <HI>Petitions</HI> or <HI>Prayers</HI> 553. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Synedrion;</HI> the Originall and power of the <HI>Synedri|on,</HI> or <HI>Sanhedrim,</HI> among&s;t the Jewes 491. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Herod called before it; but not when hee was King 492. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>T</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>TEares;</HI> again&s;t their inordinatene&s;&s;e 155. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Never a&s;cribed to God 156. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Well employed for the dead, though they be at re&s;t 157. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of tho&s;e who&s;e con&s;titution will afford no <HI>Teares</HI> 160. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Foure con&s;iderations that will enforce <HI>Teares</HI> 160. E. 161. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Teares</HI> &s;hed for worldly lo&s;&s;es <HI>ib.</HI> C. D. 162. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>For &s;inne 539. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the effect of <HI>Teares</HI> 162. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>How God is &s;aid in Scripture to heare <HI>Teares</HI> that make no &s;ound 552. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Teares</HI> the humidum-radicale of the Soule 577. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Temporall</HI> ble&s;&s;ings; how &s;eldome prayed for in Antiquitie 750. D. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>They are ble&s;&s;ings; but ble&s;&s;ings of the left hand 751. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nothing permanent in them 823. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tentations;</HI> all men not alike enabled again&s;t them 310. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Whether it be lawfull to pray again&s;t all kind of <HI>Tentations</HI> 527. C</ITEM>
<ITEM>One of the Divels greate&s;t <HI>Tentations</HI> it is to make us think our &s;elves above <HI>Tentations,</HI> or <HI>Tentation-proofe,</HI> that they cannot hurt us 603. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The u&s;e and nece&s;sity of them 789. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thanksgiving;</HI> the duty of <HI>thanksgiving,</HI> better than that of Prayer 549. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>How &s;mall it is, if proportioned to the love of God unto us 550. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thoughts;</HI> of the greatne&s;&s;e of &s;innes of <HI>thought</HI> 140. D. 543. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Titles</HI> and bare empty Names; how men are puffed up with them 734. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Torturing;</HI> whether or no to be admitted, in ca&s;e of Religion 194. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tongue;</HI> how many it hath damned 344. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tradition;</HI> again&s;t the making of <HI>Traditions</HI> articles of Faith 779. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation;</HI> the riddles, and contradictions of it. 36. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>What true <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> in the Sacrament may be admitted. 693. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tribulations;</HI> the benefit of them 563. B 604. A. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Spirituall <HI>Tribulations</HI> and afflictions, heavier than Temporall 665. B. D. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tribulation</HI> and affliction, part of our daily bread which wee ought to pray for, and how 787. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tribute;</HI> God never wrought miracle in the mat|ter of money, but onely for <HI>Tribute</HI> to Cae&s;ar 91. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Trinitie;</HI> the knowledge of it not by naturall rea|&s;on attained 301. B
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not one of a thou&s;and knows what him&s;elfe meanes, when he &s;peakes of the <HI>Trinity.</HI> 307. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Some obumbrations of the <HI>Trinity,</HI> even in nature 379</ITEM>
<ITEM>What, are illu&s;trations of it, to us Chri&s;tians are no Arguments unto the Jewes 417. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Foure &s;everall <HI>trinities</HI> 417. E. 418. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>It is the onely rule of our Faith, the <HI>Trinitie</HI> 426. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>To be believed fir&s;t of all, but not la&s;t of all to be under&s;tood 428. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The opinions of &s;everall Hereticks, concerning it 429. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The &s;everall wayes of expre&s;sing it by figures and letters 429. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Troubles;</HI> five &s;everall &s;orts of <HI>Troubles</HI> 518. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>The univer&s;ality and inevitablene&s;&s;e of them 664. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Truth;</HI> not alwaies to be &s;poken 576. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Turning;</HI> of Gods <HI>Turning</HI> to us, and of our <HI>Tur|ning</HI> to God 524. B. C. D. 525. A. B. 526. A. B</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>V</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>VAgabonds</HI> and incorrigible rogues; again&s;t receiving or harbouring of them 415. B. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Vaine</HI> things in them&s;elves, may be brought to a re|ligious u&s;e 226. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>&V;biquetaries;</HI> 67. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Confuted by the Angels Argument 248. C</ITEM>
<PB REF="442">
<ITEM>Of that <HI>Vici&s;situde</HI> which is in all temporall things; 823. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Vigils;</HI> why di&s;continued in the Primitive Church 813. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Virginitie;</HI> The dignity and pray&s;e of it 17. C. D
<LIST>
<ITEM>Three Here&s;ies impeaching the <HI>Virginity</HI> of the ble&s;&s;ed Lady 17. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t vowed <HI>Virginitie</HI> 30. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Virgin Mary;</HI> The errour of <HI>Tertullian</HI> about her 18. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Of the Manichees and Anabapti&s;ts 23. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t appeales to her in heaven 46. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Borne in Originall &s;inne 314. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>Called of the Fathers <HI>Deipara,</HI> but not <HI>Chri&s;ti|para;</HI> and why 400. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Threatned at a &s;iege of Con&s;tantinople to bee drowned, if &s;hee did not drowne the enemy 418. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Church onely in the <HI>Virgin Mary,</HI> accor|ding to the Schoole 603. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>Vncharitable</HI> objecting of repented &s;innes 499. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Vnitie;</HI> the Devils way to breake it 138. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>Vn&s;atiablene&s;&s;e</HI> of &s;inne 709 C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Vprightne&s;&s;e;</HI> what <HI>Vprightne&s;&s;e</HI> is required of man in this world 677 B. C
<LIST>
<ITEM>What it is to bee <HI>Vpright</HI> in heart <HI>ibid.</HI> 678. A. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>Again&s;t <HI>&V;&s;ury</HI> 753. E. 754. A.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Vulgate</HI> Edition; of the Antiquity and Authority of it 542. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Not to be preferred before the originall <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>W</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>VVArre;</HI> the mi&s;eries and incommodities of it 146. C. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Waters;</HI> tho&s;e of Bapti&s;me, &s;inne, tribulation, and death 309. C.&amp;c.
<LIST>
<ITEM>What is meant by <HI>Waters</HI> in Scripture 598. D</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Waiting</HI> upon Gods time; how it con&s;i&s;ts with fer|vent Prayer 34. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wings;</HI> the &s;everall acceptations of the Word in Scripture 671. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Winning</HI> upon God by prayer, how well God likes it 513. E</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wi&s;dome;</HI> of &s;innes again&s;t it, e&s;pecially ignorance, and curio&s;ity 411. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Witne&s;&s;e;</HI> the credit of the Te&s;timony, dependeth much upon his credit that is the <HI>Witne&s;&s;e</HI> 238. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Women;</HI> our Saviour came from &s;uch as were dangerou&s;ly &s;u&s;pected and noted in Scripture, for their incontinence. 24. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>Never any good Angell appeared in the likene&s;&s;e of a <HI>Woman</HI> 242. D</ITEM>
<ITEM>Whether <HI>Women</HI> were created after Gods Image; a que&s;tion in S. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> his Commentaries upon the Epi&s;tles; that hath called tho&s;e Commenta|ries in doubt 242. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Womens</HI> able in State affaires and matters of Government <HI>ibid.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Powerfull in matters of Religion, both on the right hand, and on the left 243. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wonder;</HI> the difference between the Philo&s;ophers and the Fathers about <HI>wondering</HI> 194. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Word</HI> of God; the very Angels of heaven referre them&s;elves unto it 249. E
<LIST>
<ITEM>Stronger than any rea&s;on to a Chri&s;tian 394. B 815. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>The onely rule of Doctrine 738. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>The <HI>World</HI> is a &s;ea, and in how many re&s;pects, 735. C</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Workes;</HI> wee no enemies to <HI>good workes,</HI> as the Adver&s;arie doth traduce us 82. A.&amp;c.
<LIST>
<ITEM>No Faith without them 136. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>We are to continue in them 554. B</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Workes,</HI> good, when to a good end 82. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>To be done, of what 83. A</ITEM>
<ITEM>How they may be &s;eene of men 141. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Sometimes there is good u&s;e in concealing our <HI>Workes</HI> of mortification 538. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of tho&s;e imperfections which are in the be&s;t of our <HI>Good Works</HI> 820 D. E</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wounds</HI> of love; how God doth &s;o <HI>wound</HI> us, that we ki&s;&s;e that hand that &s;trikes us 463. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<LABEL>Z</LABEL>
<ITEM><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>ZEale</HI> to be reconciled to di&s;cretion 10. A
<LIST>
<ITEM>How the devill makes it his In&s;trument 42. B</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of the <HI>Zeale</HI> we ought to have to Gods &s;ervice 72. D</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Zeale</HI> di&s;tempered, what it will doe 237. A</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Zeale</HI> and uncharitablene&s;&s;e, are two incompa|tible things 480. E</ITEM>
<ITEM>Of <HI>Daniels Zeale</HI> in praying again&s;t the expre&s;&s;e</ITEM>
<ITEM>Proclamation of the King 814. A. B. C</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> he only laughed when he was born 21. A</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>Errata.</HEAD>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>Pag.</HI></CELL>
<CELL><HI>line</HI></CELL>
<CELL><HI>reade</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>22</CELL>
<CELL>39</CELL>
<CELL>waives</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>22</CELL>
<CELL>40</CELL>
<CELL>waives</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>22</CELL>
<CELL>50</CELL>
<CELL>waives</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>110</CELL>
<CELL>52</CELL>
<CELL>when he</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>116</CELL>
<CELL>40</CELL>
<CELL>may come</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>142</CELL>
<CELL>31</CELL>
<CELL>the Cato's</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>164</CELL>
<CELL>39</CELL>
<CELL>Manours</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>196</CELL>
<CELL>15</CELL>
<CELL>in indignifying</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>420</CELL>
<CELL>32</CELL>
<CELL>man</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>426</CELL>
<CELL>45</CELL>
<CELL>blown</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>534</CELL>
<CELL>35</CELL>
<CELL>Topicks</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>710</CELL>
<CELL>46</CELL>
<CELL>exorci&s;ed</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>751</CELL>
<CELL>43</CELL>
<CELL>or any people</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>782</CELL>
<CELL>63</CELL>
<CELL>Interimi&s;ts.</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<P><HI>In the life.</HI></P>
<P>Pag. 15 line 12 for merit, <HI>reade</HI> mercy</P>
<P>Pag. 16. line 40. for friends, <HI>reade</HI> friend.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
